The Physical

(Spirit power please. Thank you judges. Also Ryouta and Kaiyo-sans, thank you because I definitely stole this idea from you two. I am by no means taking the credit here. Just using it as a starting point for the rest of the thread. I hope you don't mind and thank you once again.)

Kaito was called to the headquarters of the 3rd squad for what seemed to becoming a frequent habit which he was very unappreciative of, "My, my...the officers that outrank me are crackpots...why do they keep summoning me to meet with them when they are such sociopaths..." he wondered. One his black haired bangs fell over his eye and to the passing person it would seem as if having his hair in such a position would make it almost impossible to see, but he didn't bother to move it since it didn't bother him in the least bit. Swinging each leg nonchalantly enjoying the nice weather that the Sereitei had been experiencing, Kaito hummed a tune to one of his favorite songs that he had picked up on the way of passing a bar, but he never admitted to having learned the song from there. Although Kaito complained about the 3rd squad captain and lieutenant, in truth he really couldn't have seen him self succeeding in any other squad than this one since it was the squad that would probably be the most compatible with his personality. Kaito chewed on his blowpipe lightly as he blew smoke from its tip as he tried to let go of the thoughts that continued to cloud his head since he was right in front of the headquarters; he didn't want the person who had summoned him to detect something was wrong.

Without bothering to look at the person who was sitting in the chair in front of him, Kaito sighed and abruptly asked, "Jimbei-fukutaichou...I have no interest in playing games with you...especially ones that are dangerous enough to get me killed..." he said as he placed his right hand on his forehead. Kaito was checking to see if he had a fever or was suffering from some sort of delusion because at the time when he had decided to look at the seat, he believed that he had seen the figure of his captain sitting in the chair. The captain smiled politely at Kaito, "Well, it seems you and Jimbei certainly have gotten quite familiar...wouldn't you say so, Kaito Saruwatari?" the captain asked as he rested his chin in his right palm and at the same time shuffling the paperwork away from his path. Without much bidding Kaito quickly stopped his slouching and stared the captain in the eyes, "Taichou...I didn't exactly think that you would be the one summoning me so that's why I came in the way I did...why exactly do you need me though?" Kaito asked with his eyes narrowing. The captain moved some papers with his free hand to the center of the desk, "Well actually Kaito-san, you haven't taken the physical assessment portion of your acceptance into the squad. Naturally I can't have my prized the 3rd seat running around without any information on his physical well being." he said calmly.

Although Kaito wasn't very fond of his lieutenant since the guy was first and foremost a narcissist, he found that the captains calm nature seemed to mesh with his own laziness in a way that he hadn't expected it to, "This person seems so relaxed...I can see why he would be a dangerous combatant..." Kaito observed. The captain suddenly disappeared and reappeared again behind Kaito; although the captain's speed and movement seemed to fast Kaito was able to follow the shinigami the moment he left the seat. "I know that you could keep up with my speed Kaito, I have received many reports about how fast of a speed you have..." he said over his shoulder as he continued to wave for Kaito to follow him somewhere. Finally the two entered a room with a bunch of exercise bikes lined up against the wall and before Kaito could even say or ask any questions the captain shoved him onto a bike, "Don't worry I simply have to use a series of tests to see whether or not you spiritual power is up to par..." the captain said as he plugged away at the buttons of the machine dashboard. Suddenly the machine began to move of its own accord and Kaito no longer had a say in whether or not he would complete the assessment test or not since he was moving at a pace that would tire him quickly if he wasted energy trying to talk, "Why me?..." he thought miserably as he stared at the ceiling with tears in his eyes.

Although Kaito thought he possessed above average spiritual power for a shinigami, he quickly found that the bike was no ordinary exercise bike as he continued to pedal one foot after the other in vain trying to finish out the time designated upon the dashboard. He could feel the energy being sucked from his body as the bike continued to beep that he had more time left to keep running on it, "T-taichou...what is this assessment supposed to be doing to me because I think the bike is eating away my life force..." he called out nervously. A cramp began to build up in his left leg and his lungs seemed to be filling up with tar as each breath became more labored as the bike continued to eat away at the spirit power had in his body. At this point Kaito was leaning over the front of the bike and pushing each pedal with very little strength as the bike continued to consume huge sums of his reiatsu the longer that he continued to pedal upon the bike, but Kaito saw that he only had 15 minutes left out of the hour assessment. His face dripping with sweat and his palms were slippery against the leather handles of the bike as he tried to hold on for dear life as his vision even began to waver ever so slightly as he pedaled with the last of his strength, "I hope this test is worth it taichou..." he muttered tiredly under his breath.

The bike now flashed that he had 5 minutes left upon his test, but Kaito felt as if those five minutes would feel like an eternity that would never seem to end as he continued to churn out one pedal rotation after the other with his breaths becoming raspier. Kaito closed his eyes as he continued to push out the last couple of cycles, his shikakushou was drenched in sweat and visible pools of the sweat made themselves evident in places that even Kaito didn't want to admit to having them appear. Finally the beeping of the bike signaled that he had finished the hour long fitness test that the captain had issued him upon the spot, Kaito collapsed to the floor as his gasps were greedily sucking air into his lungs in order to try and stabilize itself. The captain crouched by the sweaty, gasping Kaito and patted him on the back, "Not bad Kaito-san, you know you really must be something because just a few days ago the lieutenant's took this test and a lot of them couldn't finish the hour training..." the captain said as he stared at the young shinigami thoughtfully. Standing once again the captain rubbed Kaito's scalp which was still dripping with sweat, "Hurry up and rest because you still have three more aspects of the squad physical to complete, my friend" the captain cheerily said. Kaito was sure that his moan fell upon deaf ears as his face crashed into the ground with a loud thud as he began to stare blankly at the floor, "This guy...he might actually be out to kill me..." he concluded.

lol +2 spirit ^_^

(Spirit power please. Thank you judges)

Kaito had gotten the unexpected chance to rest when one of the subordinates from the 8th sqaud ran into him and reported something that the 8th squad captain had wanted to relay to Kaito's superior, but the rest period didn't last long since as soon the messenger left the captain turned towards Kaito. "As I said before Kaito-san, there are still three more aspects of the test that you must take for the squad evaluation form since you didn't take them upon your entering the squad..." the captain explained. This explanation didn't make Kaito feel any better as he groaned his disappointment for the captain to hear while he arose from his resting spot which was a stump in the path way that they had been walking through, "Things are definitely going to become a lot more troublesome from here on out..." he worried. Even though the captain was a carefree eccentric everyone that was apart of the Gotei 13 knew better than to underestimate this man whose skills were on par with the great fighters of the past. The Captain unsheathed his zanpakutou and tapped it against the ground in the same manner three straight times; Kaito had no clue what exactly to expect from this strange ritual until he saw huge trees sprout out of the ground at an incredible rate.

Once the trees finished growing, the captain turned to Kaito, "Now I need you to touch the tree with you right hand while injecting reiatsu into it..." the man demanded of Kaito in an authoritative voice that even seemed to make the captain's white hakama quiver in fear. Knowing better than to question why the captain would ask him to do something like that Kaito placed his right hand against the trunk of the tree and began forcing his reiatsu into the tree which caused it to quiver slightly a couple of times. Suddenly on a patch of ground a little ways from the tree, the ground seemed to give away to a shadow that seemed to look exactly like his shadow and at first he was simply sure that he could handle something like that on his own. A sword swung past his face, nicking his chin since there was just the chance of making a foot ball play that could enjoy the passion that comes on with being fired up, but Kaito won't get mad at made because you got the outside. Stepping towards the two shadows Kaito watched as they seemed to reach at their hips for something that resembled a zanpakutou and it was then that Kaito realized what the next aspect of the physical would be, "W-wait a minute, Taichou!" he called out as the first shadow burst at him with great speed.

The first shadow swung at Kaito's head with a familiar grip on its sword and Kaito's fears were confirmed as he ducked underneath the blade just narrowly avoiding having his head lopped off in the process of testing the fitness level of his soul. Cutting a glance of genuine hatred at the captain, Kaito drew his own zanpakuto and prepared to try and fight against himself, "Ah...Kaito-san!" the captain called out just when Kaito pushed away the shadow's sword away from his body after a strike. "I forgot to tell you that these shadows are unique in that they remain at you maximum reiatsu level throughout the fight even when you, the original began to struggle against the utilization of the zanpakutou's ability to use their combat skills. In other words, the copies are always at their maximum reiatsu!" the captain finished. Sighing, Kaito raised his reiatsu to the max level in an attempt to try and counter the shadow's dangerous level of attack which he would knew would be equivalent to a maximum power attack of his own. The shadow leaped into the air with speed even Kaito wouldn't have thought he could keep up with and the shadow quickly spun while in mid air ready to strike as it's featureless face seemed to stare at Kaito's own body before it struck him.

Even though Kaito recognized the movement of his own technique he could barely raise his blade up in time to completely block off the powerful attack that sent him sailing through the air and into the trunk of a tree, "Dammit...that can't be my strength...I mean...I'm nowhere near that strong..." Kaito thought bewildered. "Kaito-san, the point of this test is to see how well you can stand up to opponents of your level..." the captain added lightly as Kaito stood up once again to face the shadow. Suddenly he became aware of another presence behind him and he whirled around to see the second shadow slice diagonally at him with ferocious speed which he again didn't recognize as his own speed and power, "This can't be the level that I fight at..." he observed as he ducked below the swing that would have surely ripped his head off. The struggle against the two shadows that retained Kaito's form in fighting continued to wage with Kaito pouring more and more power into the fight; he hadn't expected things to get so tough for him in the second part of the evaluation as he countered yet another vicious combo from one of the shadows. Sweat and blood dripped from his being in a variety of places, but Kaito continued to try and control his breathing that had reached a feverish level forcing his chest to rise erratically and out of rhythm.


Kaito's limbs throbbed from the exertion of fighting against the shadows that seemed to be at a much higher fighting level than him at this point and he struggled to keep his arms from shaking as they held his zanpakutou pointed at the two figures walking slowly towards him. Suddenly the figures were on either side of him preparing to slash at his sides, but he leaped into the air while doing a backwards flip so as to avoid the brutal combination that the two copies of himself had tried to use to finish him off. Rotating his body in mid air, Kaito swung down his zanpakuto upon one of the copies in an attempt to try and damage it which he had tried many times before to no avail; the shadow very easily and efficiently parried Kaito's now weakened attacks. As he landed from his assault on one of the shadows the other one closed in on Kaito faster than he could react to and brought the edge of its blade to Kaito's neck before the young shinigami could move any of his tired limbs to protect himself. The shadow suddenly disappeared at Kaito caught sight of the captain strolling towards him while clapping his hands, "Now that was a real display of determination, Kaito-san..." the captain said as Kaito dropped to his knees thankful for the second aspect being over. The only problem that he had now was that it was going to be very troublesome for him to continue taking on the exam if they were all going to be as hard as the first two.

+2.5!!!!!

(Spirit power please. The fact that he has to overcome the feeling of reiatsu being drained away from his body. Thank you judges.)

Kaito was left standing in the middle of a room where the captain had told him to wait until he came back since it was part of the requirement of the examination that each of the ranking officers where given although, Kaito didn't feel that it was necessary to torture him in order to see how combat ready he was. Sighing the young shinigami watched as the captain left the room via a door on the side, but it was strange because he was certain that they had come in through a another door on the outside. The only doorway that was visible once you entered the room however was the side door that the captain had exited from and because of this Kaito was sure that something fishy was going on, but he was too lazy to fret about it for long since he began to yawn after a only a couple of seconds after the captain's departure. The 3rd seat plopped down to the cold, hard metal ground underneath him in an cross-legged position as he let out another sigh that was an indication of his boredom. "Why me? Don't these two crazy people know that I'm the guy with the least motivation throughout the Sereitei?" Kaito asked the empty ceilings as he placed his chin in his hands; it wasn't long before the young shinigami had passed out in laid out position on the cold floor.

A slight pressure was felt against his chest and this caused Kaito at his chest in an irritated fashion as he tried to get back to sleep although he was unsuccessful because he felt the same pressure yet again, but instead of opening his eyes to see what it was he simply swatted at it again. This happened for a couple more minutes as Kaito went through a cycle of swatting at his chest and turning away from where the pressure seemed to be coming from until finally he propped himself up with half open eyes to yell at the captain only to realized that it was the captain that was poking him. "Nice of you to finally wake up Kaito-san-seki!" Kaito heard the captain's voice over a loud speaker, "To explain your current predicament I will start off by telling you that your are in the 3rd squad interrogation room" the captain explained. Kaito looked down to see that he had been tied to a chair with his arms bound behind him with powerful kido, "Just what the hell..." Kaito thought as he struggled half-heartedly knowing that he wouldn't be able to escape the ropes. After a couple of seconds of pointless struggling the young shinigami gave up and then awaited to hear what else the captain had to say since he was sure that he was being monitored somehow.

When the captain didn't say anything for awhile Kaito began to get sleepy once again as he didn't bother thinking about a way to get out since such things normally presented themselves in due time, but he was also a bit wary because he knew the captain could be a shrewd man when it came to strategy. Suddenly Kaito heard the side door open and heard numerous footsteps came clacking upon the metal floor towards him, but without warning his vision was suddenly taken away as a blindfold was put across his face. Sighing Kaito asked, "Oh come on captain...is all this really necessary for a simple physical?" he asked earnestly, but his only response was an awkward silence and then a group of grown men laughing as if something ridiculous was said. "I see so that's how Pano got you to come here without actually having to knock you unconscious!" one of the voices laughed, but Kaito wasn't sure what to make of it so he simply asked, "Oi, where is captain-san at? I don't have time to play with little underlings of the interrogation unit..." he said with no emotion. Again there laughter burst out in unison, "Well, it's fine then. Haven't you noticed that your reiatsu had slowly been leaking away since you have been in this room, eh? Baka! Do you think that you fell asleep because you were bored?" the unknown voice asked him.

At this point Kaito realized that the part about his reiatsu being drained from his body was true as he thought back to the moment that he walked into the room with the captain and it was then that he realized that he had been tricked by someone other than the captain; in fact at this point the captain probably had nothing to do with this. "What is it you want from me then?" Kaito asked the unknown captors as he tried to focus his reiatsu so that he could break free of the binding that held him, but he couldn't gather any energy because he felt as if it had all been sucked out of his body. "Shit...there's no power in my body...this is just like that time..." Kaito realized as for the first time the seriousness of the situation hit him as he felt a hand touch his face, "You probably just tried to break free of the kido binding, didn't master Kaito Saruwatari?" asked a feminine voice. Pulling his chin out of the woman's hand Kaito once again tried to gather reiatsu into his being, but it was futile as all that was accomplished was that he was left gasping for breath after several seconds of the attempt, "Shit...I'm probably not even in the interrogation room am I?" he wondered. Kaito was in the worse possible situation that he could think of with little to no information about his opponents and for the most part he barely had enough energy to stay conscious, "Come now, Kaito-baby, I just had to add you to my collection..." the woman's voice said.

Although Kaito still felt that things were getting a bit too tedious for him to just make any simple move he also wasn't positive that he could simply sit around and take things as lightly as he had initially, "Just what are these crazy people trying to do here would be the starting point..." he started to analyze what the voices had said. He could feel as more and more of the energy was being ripped away from his body making his thoughts more incoherent by the second; with his greatest asset completely disposed off Kaito was in trouble more than he had been in awhile. As drool began to form at the sides of his weakened body and he could feel as each of his muscles began to sag lifelessly into the chair, Kaito tried to keep his mind sharp so that he could fight against the murky clutches that threatened to clutch at his mind. His power was leaving his body in huge amounts, but Kaito still fought against the weakening feeling as he thought about the ambitions that he was too lazy to fulfill before, "I can't lose here...there's too much at stake here..." the shinigami told himself. When images of things that he wanted to do, the people that had slowly become apart of his life, and achievements that he reluctantly would accept flashed into the young shinigami's head a huge wave of reiatsu burst forth from his body as he let out a loud yell that filled the room that he was being contained in.

+1.5 spirit

(Spirit power please. Thank you judges)

At first Kaito could hear the voices of the people around him laughing confidently when they had thought that they were safe, but once Kaito felt the restrains that were holding him in the chair begin to loosen the laughter began to die down as well. "What the hell?...is he breaking free? Impossible..." he heard the voice of a man mutter when suddenly he felt a heavy fist crash into his stomach with enough force to make him gasp. Wheezing from the unexpected blast from the punch Kaito hunched over as he tried to gather his wits about him once more so that he could focus his reiatsu and break free from their wretched clutches. Once he was able to subdue the pain that had been emanating from the area where he had been struck, Kaito heaved another breath and began releasing as much reiatsu as he could once again. The restrains seemed to be stretching to their maximum level as Kaito could even rotate his wrists around within the confines of the restraints which gave him the encouragement to continue pressing.

Just as Kaito was about to give one more big push with all the reiatsu that he could muster he heard the female's voice laugh as he felt someone's hands untying his wrists, but he didn't know what to make of it. The instant that the wrist restraints had been taken off, Kaito felt a needle plunge into his arm at the same time that the blindfold that he had been wearing was ripped off as well allowing light to come flooding into his retinas. He stumbled forward oddly as he couldn't seem to support the weight of his own body once he lifted himself out of the chair much to the delight of his kidnappers, "My legs...I can't even pick them up?" he stared bewildered at his feet. Suddenly Kaito turned around to see the woman come walking towards him with her odd pink flowing hair and just as he was about to ask her what they planned to do with him, she landed a powerful kick that sent Kaito flying through the air until he finally crashed into the wall. Dazed Kaito slid down the wall from a standing position to a seated position on the floor short of breath and feeling as if the life had been sucked out of his body.

Bracing his hands against the ground, Kaito attempted once more to stand up only to totter a couple of times before falling straight back to the ground again with absolutely no breath in his chest, "Just...what...is going...on..." he wheezed out as he stared at the woman who had kicked him with one eye open. The girl looked young as if she were just reaching her early twenties, but Kaito new that despite her innocent looks that there was a devil behind those pretty eyes which was quickly confirmed as she walked over to him with a smirk of superiority on her face. "So, you're that genius that everyone is talking about..." she said with a smile on her face as she began to stroke his cheek playfully, "Too bad you didn't have the chance to join my side...I could have made a real man out of you..." she said playfully as she bit her bottom lip. Kaito's body was beginning to fill with fatigue even as he was barely standing he could feel even more strength leaving his body which didn't make sense because he knew the room couldn't have possibly sucked away his reiatsu that quickly based upon the previous instances when he had been in the room. As he remembered that he had felt a needle pierce his arm, Kaito immediately concluded that they had somehow drugged him so that his reiatsu was drained away with each passing second that he was alive.

The panting that Kaito had been exhibiting previously had grown dramatically noticeable and that was when he realized that he was in a dangerous situation which meant that he had to try and escape this room before he ended up dying here at the feet of some pink haired bimbo. The girl's eyes narrowed and her smirk widened even further across her face as she regarded Kaito's thoughtful nature, "Amazing...even now. You're not panicking at all...you're simply trying to find the best way to handle the situation..." she said as she threw an uppercut into Kaito's stomach before walking away. Once again Kaito immediately dropped to the floor and coughed out spittle as he struggled to keep himself up even with all four limbs on the ground, "Bye-bye, Kaito Saruwatari, it was nice meeting you for the first and last time..." the girl said as she walked away. Although Kaito didn't look up he heard the woman's instructions to finish Kaito off in his weakened state which he knew would be relatively easy since it took almost every ounce of strength that he had to simply stand on his own to feet, but he would try and fight the men who were now menacingly cracking their knuckles with smiles on their faces. Staggering to his feet, Kaito readied himself by reaching for his zanpakutou only to find that it wasn't in its usual place on his left hip which was even more of a shocker as he stood breathing as his energy continued to get sucked away in large quantities.

As if the signal came at the same time all the men charged Kaito and the young shinigami tried to bring his fists up in a fighting position, but his body just wouldn't respond to him as the only reaction that his arms gave him was to twitch slightly before resting gently at his side, "Dammit...what's going to happen now..." he asked himself. The first man threw a vicious elbow that sent Kaito skidding across the tile floor before he finally managed to press his hands into the ground so that he could stop, but even as he tried to convince himself that the pain was nothing his body continued to disagree with him. Trying to get up once more, Kaito only made it into the kneeling position before another henchmen came and kicked him right in his chin which sent his body tumbling even more across the unforgiving tile floor, "Hey...hey just wait a second here..." he said as he raised his right hand in the air signaling for the men to pause on their beating of his ragged body. The men didn't listen as suddenly someone grabbed Kaito's raised hand and flung him to his feet as he stumbled in the direction that the momentum had carried in having no energy so that he couldn't right himself before he ran into the huge fist that had suddenly appeared in his path. Numerous colors flashed in Kaito's mind as the pain permeated through his nerve endings and finally rested in a shattering jab in the base of his skull as he dropped to the ground from having his energy being sucked away while at the same time getting throttled by thugs.

+1.5 spirit

(Spirit power please. Thanks judges)

Kaito continued to suffer from the vicious kicks and punches that the thugs had forced him to suffer through only with the gritting of his teeth becoming an evident from the expressionless face that the tried to keep while they jeered with each blow that seemed to cause Kaito to bleed. As he continued to get tortured, Kaito wondered whether his purpose was really to end his search on such a shitty note, "Is this all my existence is worth really? Just some unknown mafia coming after me for reasons that are completely unknown?...how shitty is that..." he cursed himself. Sweat and grime ran down his face as he tried to distance himself from the feelings of remorse that continued to bubble up within him, making him angry to the point where he began to actually regret having ever attempted to be anything great. The world seemed to slow down around him making each kick last longer and the sting that the blows brought with them seemed to last hours instead of mere seconds. Eventually Kaito couldn't take it anymore as being in the room that sucked away his reiatsu and getting beaten on left him with no more energy much less resolve, "I should just pass out here so that I can at least die in free of pain and in my sleep...coward or no coward...I choose to no longer fight..." he consoled himself.

Suddenly a voice came booming in Kaito's head, "Why are you so ready to give up and die when you have such talent within your body? You have a much greater destiny than this so why underestimate yourself here?" the voice asked Kaito as he tried to let go of his consciousness. Even this strange voice, Kaito tried to ignore since it seemed to be holding him to the terrible reality that he was getting his ass kicked by thugs and chances are that they weren't going to let him walk free from the spot that he was currently in. Although he was strongly trying to convince himself that there was no reason to get up and fight anymore since there was no way that he could possibly win, Kaito continued to feel this strange sensation that wouldn't allow him to simply give in to the fate that he had chosen for himself. "Why do I continue to feel this way? I just want to distance myself from this entire ordeal and give up peacefully so that at least I can know that in the end my fate was this and not anything more..." he tried unsuccessfully to convince himself. No matter what he tried to do to shake that feeling and accept his defeat at the hands of the thugs he couldn't shake the feeling that he was letting himself down somehow which only deepened his curiosity to understand what the thing he was feeling was.

Then after moments of struggling with himself, Kaito realized that what he was feeling wasn't resolve at all since that was simply a feeling of determination that stood up against odds even when the chance of victory was known to be lower than the chance of defeat. What Kaito was feeling was conviction, somewhere within his being he knew that it wasn't supposed to end like this and that he was going to move on to a greater destiny it was simply a matter of him embracing that feeling so that he could move forward in the way that he was meant to. As Kaito slowly began to accept the thing that had been so evident, torrents of reiatsu began to slip from his body going unnoticed by the thugs who continued to jeer as they rained blow after blow upon what was Kaito's broken body. The more Kaito began to accept that his fate of death was only a figment of his imagination, the conviction began to gather up within his being more and more until he felt as if he would burst if he didn't act upon. At that exact moment, purple reiatsu exploded in an upward stream that sent all of the henchmen flying backward in frightened surprise as Kaito felt every ache in his body begin to make itself known, but at the same time he refused to show it.

His shinigami robes flapping about him as he was breathing heavily and he looked down to see that there was blood dripping from his lip onto the floor; the young shinigami smiled a painful smile that filled with blood stained teeth as he wiped the overflowing blood from his bottom lip. Although Kaito had the will to fight now, he knew that it didn't gurantee his victory considering how beat up his body was, "I just had to wait so long to be sure of who I really was didn't I?...heh...at least it's better late than never..." he muttered to himself as the thugs made their way back to their feet. Most of them stared at Kaito with open jaws as their own bodies began to shiver at the amount of reiatsu that he was releasing into the environment around him, "How can he being doing that? I mean this room eats away 40% of any normal person's reiatsu alone...what is he?" the man asked. Even though Kaito felt powerful now, he knew he didn't have much time since the boost of reiatsu wouldn't wipe away the damage already done to his aching body, but refusing to let that be the reason that he gave up he took a step forward at the first of the thugs. Gesturing for the thug to come at him Kaito then readied himself in a fighting stance so that when the thug took the bait he could strike him quickly and move on to the next victim, but he was taken by surprise by a blow to the back of the head.

The blow forced Kaito to one knee and he wanted to get up once again because he knew that another blow would most surely be coming, but his body throbbed leaving him no other option except to stay on that knee, "Dammit...now is not the greatest of times to be hindering myself..." he scolded himself. Once more Kaito tried to scramble back to his feet only to flop backwards onto his elbow and at the feet of the thug who was holding a huge club in his hand; a club that was already stained with someone's blood and Kaito figured that it was his blood. The man lifted the club from his shoulder and raised it in the air with a laugh that showed that the confidence had returned to his voice, but Kaito didn't care about any of that since it was his destiny to win; at least that's what he kept telling himself as he squeezed his eyes shut trying to force his body to move, "Move...move...MOVE!" he screamed in his head. When the man saw Kaito shut his eyes he laughed out loud and called out, "There Mr. Genius, even your best attempt at fighting back was simply not enough so just disappear into oblivion!" the man crowed as he brought the club down with all his might. Kaito heard the guy scream out and opened his eyes to see the club rushing towards him, but the only movement that he could make was to bring his right hand up in front of his face before he blacked out on the impact of the club striking him.

+1.5 spirit power

(Spirit power please)

Kaito could smell the dank, moisture of the dungeon that he was in before he could see; there was even a foul taste in his mouth, but he guessed that was from the blow to the head that he had received from his previous encounter. Rubbing his head softly, the young shinigami didn't move his body in case he was in any danger of agitating any of the injuries he had incurred while in his previous skirmish with the unnamed assailants. "I wonder where the hell I am..." he said as he stared up into the dark annals of the place that he had been transferred to, he was hoping that he might be able to recognize where he was. Unfortunately, he had no clue where he was so he heaved a sigh of acceptance which he quickly regretted as pain erupted from his chest area reminding him quite efficiently that he wasn't in the best of conditions. His lung burned with pain as they filled with the air from Kaito's sigh forcing him to sit up abruptly before he realized what he was doing, but thankfully there was no serious repercussions from his actions.

Peering into the dark more thoroughly, Kaito realized that he wasn't alone as he caught glimpses of shadowy figures in the dark, but they weren't an immediate threat to him he noted since they were trapped in what looked like cells. Suddenly a laughter filled the space around the young shinigami and voice boomed, "Nice of you to join us, Genius-san...we were afraid that you might have met an untimely end..." the voice cooed. From what Kaito could tell the voice was speaking into a speaker system which explained why it was so loud and obnoxious, "...residents of Prison # 146...I have a game for you to play..." the voice said. Kaito blocked out the annoying noise as he scoured the area once more to see if he could find any clues as to where he was or what this group of people wanted with him, but he could find nothing in the ominous darkness. By the time that Kaito had tuned back into what the voice was saying, the public announcement was nearly over, "...in short...if you guys make the hotshot here cry uncle...you all go free..." the voice finished dramatically.

Apprehension immediately filled Kaito's spirit as he heard the excited jitter zip through the atmosphere of the cells which was signified by the emotional grunts from one another that they shared, most likely in collaboration of the task they had been given. Flood lights that were positioned over the cells revealed that Kaito, himself was not in a cell, but in fact in the center of a room completely chained to the floor with four heavy, black, iron links. Another thing that the lights revealed was that the cells didn't only surround him, but there were also cells stacked upon cells which dramatically increased the players in the game the voice had mentioned. Struggling to free himself from the chains as he was able to rise to one knee, the young shinigami felt the frustration of being sealed away in hot, rank place like this slowly drive the inmates into a frenzy as they slowly made their way to the center of the room; where he was. Kaito was still struggling with the chains when he heard the patter of bare feet upon the stony floor so he quickly whipped his head around in the direction of the noise.

By the time he had turned, the only sight that he actually caught a glimpse of was a loin cloth coming in his direction before he felt an impact on the side of his head quickly followed by a burst of colors in his vision. Although the strength of the blow was great, it wasn't enough to knock the shinigami from his position on one knee which seemed to rile up the inmates even more. While they were nervous about attacking a high ranking shinigami like himself, there were bold ones who stepped out of the crowd to deliver a beating to Kaito, who was completely unable to defend himself. The young third squader went from trying to see where the attacks were coming from to curling into fetal position so that he could protect himself. The assaults slowly began to become more and more violent as the inmates began to get increasingly comfortable with the game that they were participating in, "I have to do something quickly..." Kaito thought as a man suddenly mounted him.

Kaito tried to peek from under his arms which were now protecting his face, but the shinigami didn't have anymore than a couple of seconds before furious punches came crashing into every part of his body as the man showed no discretion as to where he was striking. One punch even penetrated through Kaito's defenses and hit him squarely in the face causing his head to bounce of the floor. Blood spewed from his noise in large amounts causing the men to cheer even more wildly than they had been before as the man grabbed Kaito by his hair and began punch while he laughed maniacally. Blood splattered in wide arch on the ground as each blow seemed to cause more damage than the last one had, "Shit...I...I have to calm down...or else..." he said through clenched teeth as his mouth quickly filled up with blood once more. The inmate dropped Kaito's head as he walked away with his arms raised in the air victoriously as his inmate brethren cheered him on, "Ugh..." Kaito uttered as he tried to raise his head to see the extent of the damage, but quickly found that he didn't have the strength to do so as his head dropped back down to the floor.

+2 spirit kaito

(I know I'm capped Marl...just had this one written out before so I figured I might as well put it up)

Each breath that managed to make its way out of Kaito's broken body hurt as he lay in the dungeon that his captors had locked him in, there didn't seem to be any hope of the shinigami escaping this situation especially since the condition that he was in made it very hard for him to move much less fight, "I-I...can't die here..." he whispered desperately as he tried to move his elbows. He could feel his muscles wearily struggling against the pain that seeped into every corner of his body even in the face of his determination and just as the young soul allowed his body to drop to the ground peacefully he felt a gnarled hand grab his collar roughly, "Hey, hey. Don't pass out now...we can't win unless ya say uncle..." the sweaty meat-head of a prisoner said to Kaito. No matter how the shinigami looked at it there wasn't much he could do in current situation so he simply stared blankly at the prisoner who had told him to remain conscious which apparently didn't seem to sit too well with the man whose agitation visibly showed on his face, "Come on, asshole! Just freaking give consent so that I can get out of this hell hole!" the man roared into his face. Instead of responding to the man's request Kaito looked past the man to see that the cells lining the walls on the upper levels opened as well, "This really isn't my day..." he said deliriously as his focus returned to the screaming cell mate who now raised his fist again as more globs of spit flew into the air as he bellowed at Kaito. Despite the expression on the man's face and the obvious work that his mouth was doing, Kaito couldn't seem to hear any of the words that were coming from the man's mouth, "Maybe I got hit so hard that my inner ear is starting to act funny...which would explain my loss of balance" he guessed, but he knew better than to think something like that; in truth his situation looked quite bleak and beyond his influence.

As he lay on the ground with each breath rattling painfully against his shattered ribs, young Kaito wondered whether this was the price of him attempting to find the strength to figure out the meaning behind everything; the thought made him close his eyes as he realized that the reason that he may very well end up dying on this day would be because he sought out the purpose behind his living. His eyes began to blur as the image of the man standing above him continued to speak words that Kaito couldn't hear and probably would never have to worry about hearing again he had the thought that changed the way he viewed the entire situation around him, "If I don't live here...then I can never again come before that person...my way of living will be a whisp in the wind..." he reminded himself. Although Kaito was naturally lazy and would have easily accepted the defeat as long as it meant that he didn't have to continue trying exert effort anymore, he remembered at the last second that he wasn't only fighting to find out what his purpose of living was, but he also had to prove something as well. As if to answer the prayers that he had been whispering in his heart, the voice that had crackled over the loud speaker boomed once more and filled the room with the voice of one of the thugs that had brought him to the dungeon to be flogged, "Attention prisoners, to make this game more interesting to watch we are going to let him go now...beat up on the moving target at will" the voice finished. A few seconds later Kaito heard the clink of the metal bands releasing his arms from eminent defeat and at the same time ensuring that he would be given a fighting chance, "I guess...this means that troublesome things are going to have to take place from now on..." he muttered as he stood up.

The prisoners around him crept towards him as they all giggled like small children when they have found a new toy to play with, the feet pattered against the cement ground beneath them as they all ran to get a piece of the shinigami that had been freed from his shackles and Kaito remained hunched over so that his face wasn't visible to the prisoners around him. Flakes of crusted dirt and blood dripped down the young shinigami's face as he tried to focus on the task at hand which he knew would not be an easy one, "This isn't the kind of day I had imagined at all...in fact I'm not even sure if it's even the same day anymore..." he cackled to himself causing his entire body to shake painfully in the process. Raising his head for the first time, Kaito took in the view of the hungry prisoners, he could see their desperation as they came closer and closer to him with greedy eyes that were filled with selfish ambitions, but Kaito knew that this was no reason to hate them, "After all...this is their one chance out of this rat hole...given the opportunity I'm sure most people would take it" he decided. Managing to stand up straight despite his condition, the young shinigami prepared himself to fight until he could no longer move or until he was at the worst killed in his plans for escape, "I'm sure there are plenty of other people who will be very disappointed if you kill me here...especially in the shadows where no one can see you..." he baited the nearest prisoner. The prisoner seemed to consider the 3rd squader's offer before he finally scoffed and jeered back at Kaito, "Even if that was the case...what do you want me to do, eh? Fight on your side and get my ass handed back to me in pieces?!" the prisoner yelled as he emotionally shook his fists at Kaito, apparently insulted by his offer.

Suddenly the man that had been beating on Kaito's body when he was chained down brought his hand up so that he would get everyone's attention, "Forget it! Don't listen to anything he says and let's just start this beating now!" he screamed to the frenzied prisoners with passion; the young soul watched as the prisoners rallied to their makeshift leader's call and he wondered if he could ever become a leader like that. He didn't have much time to think because immediately two of the prisoners broke away from the crowd and ran at him with raised fists while screaming a war cry that seemed to echo throughout the entire dungeon, "Geez...guys like that make me cringe...is it really necessary for them make so much noise when fighting?" he wondered to himself as he observed their movements. The younger looking prisoner of the two made it to Kaito first and threw an ill advised right hook towards Kaito's head, but the shinigami leaned just out of the way so that the boy's momentum carried him past Kaito, "If they come at me in small groups then I may actually have a shot of finding an opening in this mess..." he thought to himself. As the boy continued to fall to the ground, Kaito expertly struck the boy in the chest with a well placed knee and then he followed it with an elbow to the back of the head causing the prisoner to fall against the concrete ground with a sickening crack before he grew still. Not a moment after he had defeated the first of his attackers, the rough looking gentleman ran at him with the same crude fighting style that the first one had except when he reached Kaito he instead tried to use the left hook to hit him, "It seems that these guys have nothing more than basic combat skills in here...Maybe I can just fight my way out of here..." he observed as he leaned to the right so as to avoid the punch.

The man let out a surprised whimper as he too flew past Kaito, but instead of striking this one the young shinigami grabbed the prisoner's arm and used his momentum to fling the man's body over Kaito's shoulder, "The first rule of combat is that you should never give your opponent an opening when you attack" Kaito lectured the man as he he hurled him against the wall of the prison. He watched as the man struck the wall and fell limply to the ground, "That should make the prisoners a little more hesitant to attack me head-on, but it doesn't solve my problem of getting out of here" he thought as he scanned the room to see if there was any detail that he missed when suddenly he felt his body spasm forcing him to one knee. Blood spewed from his mouth as he rested upon his knee, the dark red liquid swirling upon the even cement floor, "Damn...I didn't think that even my own attacks would work against my body like this..." he cursed under his breath as he looked at the prisoners through squinted eyes as they took a confident step towards him, "...that boosted their confidence for sure..." he thought as he pushed up using his knee as a foundation. Rising to his wobbling feet, the 3rd squad shinigami prepared himself for the next assault that he knew was coming since he had that moment of weakness giving the prisoners the go ahead nod to attack him, but he wouldn't stop fighting when he was so close, "So contrary to my nature...it's like a joke..." he thought to himself. Just when he was ready to accept a fight to the death, a hole blew open from the ceiling and light poured into the damp dungeon blinding everyone in the process, "What could be happening now?" Kaito asked, but as he tried to figure out what was happening a large chunk of concrete struck him in the back of the head effectively knocking him out.

Kaito shuddered as he awoke in the room of one rooms in the medical center with a few of the 4th squad shinigami stood at the bedside with their faces peering down at him with looks of apprehension, "It looks as if he has stabilized...maybe we can just leave him rest for now" the aid said and just as they were about to walk away from him Kaito reached out to catch hold of one of the shinigami's kimono. The shinigami wailed for help to his comrades who rushed to their partner's side swiftly, but Kaito didn't want any trouble since his body was far too damaged to be creating a ruckus in the medical squad barracks no less, "Relax...I don't mean you any harm...I...I just want to know what happened down there and where my zanpakuto is..." he said without looking at the shinigami. The words seemed to have placated the group as they looked from one another as if trying to decide whether to tell Kaito or not, "Well sir, your zanpakutou is on the seat over there and as for what happened to you in the dungeon..." the shinigami trailed off indicating that there was a bad story following. After several moments of hesitating Kaito gripped the shinigami's clothing tighter and pulled him closer to the bed, "Well?" he asked impassively as he locked eyes with the shinigami, who was now quivering in his grasp which made Kaito even more irritated as he waited for the rest of the story that would explain who the people were that attacked him. Letting out a sigh as the shinigami looked down at the beautifully tiled ground of the medical room they were in the story began, "Well...so far the only thing that the Omnitskido has confirmed is that there were at least three of your fellow squad members involved in your kidnapping and they have been placed in the Maggot's Nest without much chance for being let out" the shinigami explained with a pained expression. The heaviness of the story filled the room, quieting everyone that understood what the meaning behind the story was; Kaito's own comrades disliked and possibly even hated him that much that they kidnapped him with the intentions of killing him, "So that's it..." were the only words the shinigami uttered before falling into the sleep that he had been fighting the whole time.

(LOL just cause you cap doesn't mean you can't throw up basic RP posts )

BTW, I'm sure you can still make posts that would swap some skill points around...