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Post by Enjiiro Senboukun on Oct 14, 2012 22:27:30 GMT -5
Enjiiro stood in the middle of a war-torn city, the likes of which looked as though it had been torn apart by decades of war and neglect from it's citizens. And yet here it was, populated by thousands among thousands of people. Not only people, but animals as well. Enjiiro stared at them; motionless, without a single sound or hint that they were there other than his sense of sight telling him that they were indeed standing before him. He wondered to himself why they were here, who they were, and most importantly, where he was.
He tried calling out to them but no sound could be heard coming from his mouth. He tried walking toward them but discovered he couldn't move the slightest bit. He was beginning to grow frustrated when the answers to his many questions came flooding into his memory. He cursed himself for not recognizing that he stood in none other than his zanpakuto spirit's inner world. It also dawned on him that the people and animals at whom he was staring at meant him harm, as they were every living thing he had ever killed in his entire existence.
He frantically looked around the desolate wasteland in an attempt to find Yajuu. While he was doing this he didn't realize that he had regained control of his arms and legs and was moving around quite a bit while searching. He also noticed that, along with his movement, he gained back his ability to talk as well; as he cried out from a sudden jolt of pain. He went down on one knee, and saw, for the first time since he found himself in the inner world of his spirit, the gore that had been afflicted upon his chest. That was the last memory he needed to regain in order to piece together the events that took place from the time in which he was struck by the attack, to the situation he found himself in now.
The sight of his injury combined with the memory of his arrogance that had gotten him into this mess in the first place was enough to bring him to tears. For the first time in his life, Enjiiro was forced to face his fear that he may never be able to fight again. Both people and animals alike all turned toward him and ran in his direction. Just when he thought they were going to all converge on him at once, Yajuu launched himself at Enjiiro out of nowhere, grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the wall of a nearby building. At that moment, Enjiiro, still lost in self pity, decided to accept his fate and just hung there limp; a shell of his former self.
Everything stopped dead in it's tracks at the sight of Yajuu, and at this moment only he moved, as if he had the power to stop time itself; and in this realm that may have well been the truth. Yajuu then spoke, his words directed at the creatures behind him "Begone, or I shall take it upon myself to see each and every one of you suffer an eternity in MY hell." The creatures did as he commanded without a split-second of hesitation. Yajuu then turned back toward Enjiiro and continued in the same harsh tone, "you damned fool, how dare you show your face in this world in your current state? Give me a good answer or I shall take full control and follow my own instincts." Enjiiro gained a sudden burst of strength, as minuscule as it was, and managed to give voice to the words "it's...over."
Yajuu shook him against the wall once and said "Yet again I must call you a fool. You think that you have lost the ability to fight, when actually you are more capable of fighting than before. Now you have something to fight for other than mere entertainment. You must fight your self-pity, your worthlessness, and most of all your arrogance. You must fight to prevent this from happening again." At the word "this", Yajuu motioned to the scenery behind himself and then took his fist and rammed it into Enjiiro's gut. To Enjiiro's surprise no pain was felt, but instead he felt relief, reassurance, and a feeling he had never before felt; the feeling of a terrible wound being taken away all at once. He then met Yajuu's gaze and knew what he must do....
(OOC Notes:Enjiiro is still in his Shinigami garb that he was wearing when he was hit by the attack from the menos grande. Also, Yajuu was able to essentially man-handle Enjiiro for two reasons: 1.Enjiiro was in a weakened state and therefore would have been easier to manipulate both physically and mentally
2. Enjiiro stands at 6' 8", 272 lbs; whereas Yajuu comes in around 8' 4", about 2200 lbs.)
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Post by Enjiiro Senboukun on Oct 22, 2012 22:52:30 GMT -5
Yajuu released his grip, and Enjiiro dropped to the ground, landing on his feet. Still in awe over the fact that his wounds had been fully healed, Enjiiro couldn't give voice to the thought of how to get back to the Soul Society. Yajuu, on the other hand, knew that the wounds were not as they appeared; and he said to Enjiiro, "Your wounds may look and feel as though they have been fully healed, but it is not so. The healing I gave you was only temporary, and I'm afraid it will not transfer over into the Soul Society unless you can prove to me that you deserve it." Enjiiro's feeling of awe was lost, at hearing the news about his injuries not actually being healed and he couldn't help but interrupt Yajuu. "What the hell do you mean by that? I thought you were going to give me another chance!" Yajuu's expression remained calm as he let Enjiiro finish, but when he replied, he did so sternly. "You need to listen to my words Enjiiro, I just told you there was a way. In order to prove yourself you must correctly complete three trials. With the amount of energy you have in the Soul Society at the moment, you will only have three days to complete the three trials. As such, you must pass each trial without failing even once. You will only attempt one trial per day, so you MUST NOT FAIL! Do you understand?" Enjiiro listened to Yajuu as he spoke and by the end of Yajuu's speech, Enjiiro felt confident and determined to pass these trials so that he may return to his full power in the Soul Society. "Yes. I must complete them, therefore I will! What are the three trials?"
"I will only tell you one trial at a time so that you will be able to focus on that days' trial. We will begin immediately with the first trial: Self Pity. You are overly critical of your mistakes, and in order to prove yourself you must show me that you can keep going after an error as big as this one occurs. In this trial, you must defeat....yourself! The fight begins NOW!" Enjiiro found himself standing in front of a mirror image of himself, only this Enjiiro had a Zanpakutou. The real Enjiiro didn't. The copy drew his Zanpakutou and advanced on Enjiiro, whom was still trying to locate his weapon. Enjiiro dodged the first attack, ducking under an aggressive slash, and jumped back in an attempt to re-distance himself from the copy. The copy was able to keep up, adding even more pressure to his frenzied assault, all the while shouting insults and obscenities at Enjiiro. This would have bothered Enjiiro, but seeing as how he was in the middle of combat, it didn't.
Enjiiro kept ducking, dodging, and avoiding the attacks to the best of his abilities. He wasn't built for speed, and as a result, some of the attacks landed. Of those that landed, the most influential was the huge gash that had been dealt on his left thigh, which impeded his movement even more. As the fight went on, he knew that the chances of a fatal blow landing increased. Then Enjiiro realized that despite his situation and all the insults that had been directed toward him, he was still able to carry on and avoid his enemy's attacks efficiently enough to avoid being killed. The next thing Enjiiro knew, he was standing over what he realized to be the copy. Enjiiro was holding his Zanpakutou, whereas the copy held a broken katana. He noticed that his Zanpakutou was in Bankai state; and as he looked down at the copy he knew he had prevailed in the first trial, so he brought the massive weapon down onto the copy's head. It connected, and he heard a loud crack as the skull was shattered, followed by Yajuu suddenly standing before him. He was again weaponless, but his injuries had been healed once more. Yajuu nodded to Enjiiro and then said, "Well done, however, you should rest because tomorrow you face trial number two: worthlessness."
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Post by Enjiiro Senboukun on Oct 24, 2012 22:50:30 GMT -5
Enjiiro wasn't able to sleep much, so when it finally came time to begin trial number two, he reluctantly got out of bed and made his was to Yajuu after getting dressed. When he arrived at the location that he was instructed to be at, Yajuu was nowhere to be found. Instead, to his surprise, he found what looked be the former Squad 11 Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi. Enjiiro's surprise faded, replaced by dis-belief, as he said, "Never thought I'd see you again, but I guess I shouldn't be saying that because I highly doubt that it's really you. Let me guess, you are actually Yajuu and you've taken on the form of Kenpachi to put me through the next trial." Kenpachi replied, "Hmm....no, I'm actually Kenpachi and I've killed Yajuu. Next I'm going to beat the hell outta you and take back my squad." With that, Kenpachi rushed Enjiiro before he had the time to respond. Enjiiro was hit hard by an elbow to the face and went to the ground. He would have at least tried to block the attack, but figured there was no point since Yajuu had been killed.
Enjiiro's resolve had been broken, any hope of returning to the Soul Society was lost, and at this point he was content with lying there and letting himself be killed. He probably would have let it happen too, but after the third hit landed against his gut, he knew instantly that this Kenpachi was a fake. As the fourth blow came toward him, his resolve renewed at this newly formed hypothesis. He landed an up-kick that had enough force behind it to knock the impostor back a couple steps. He then jumped up and put a little more distance between him and the impostor so he could say, "well, you had me going there for a sec. Unfortunately for you I knew Kenpachi very well; and Kenpachi would never have kept striking a downed opponent, especially after they had given up like that." At the conclusion of this statement, Yajuu appeared in front of Enjiiro and told him that trial two had been correctly completed. The impostor was nowhere to be found, so Enjiiro asked which trial was next; to which Yajuu replied, "The next and final trial will be trial three: arrogance." Enjiiro nodded and after Yajuu healed his injuries, as minor as they were, made his way back to his room. Enjiiro thought about what Yajuu might have in store for him tomorrow and then pushed all thoughts from his mind in an attempt to get some rest.
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Post by Enjiiro Senboukun on Oct 30, 2012 0:11:13 GMT -5
Enjiiro stood before Yajuu yet again; Hopefully the last time for a while. It wasn't that he disliked visits to the inner world of his Zanpakutou, but the reason for his current visit was anything but pleasant. Enjiiro felt better about himself than he had in the past two days; Everything seemed to be falling into place. He was able to complete the first two trials, and now he was only one away from returning to the Soul Society. Yajuu nodded in reply to Enjiiro's greeting and said, "Enjiiro, you have done well in the first two trials and now you have only one left. Are you ready to begin?" Enjiiro nodded, a smug smile appearing on his face. Enjiiro was already feeling better than usual, and after the compliment from Yajuu, his ego had swollen to a size seen quite often within his squad's training sessions. Yajuu replied to his nod and smile by motioning over to the left of Enjiiro. Enjiiro turned to face in the direction to which Yajuu had motioned and saw what appeared to be a person standing off in the distance about 300 yards away. He glanced back to where Yajuu had been and discovered an empty spot had taken his place. When he looked back the person was significantly closer now and Enjiiro could make out a Zanpakutou on his back, as well as some other details. Enjiiro thought to himself how eerily familiar this person looked and how his spiritual pressure felt familiar. Then the person suddenly stopped about 100 yards away and gave a taunting motion as if to say: "come get me". Before Enjiiro could talk himself out of it, he Shunpo'd toward the person, closing the distance between them in just two bounds.
He arrived behind the person, who didn't move at all, and was stunned to find his Zanpakutou strapped across this person's back. Enjiiro realized whom it was, but not before he was knocked to the right a couple yards by a spinning back-fist delivered by the right hand of....himself. Not only was this person him, but a younger him; A much younger him. The person looked to be about 6' 6", 233 pounds, with a shaved head and very muscular. Enjiiro managed to stay on his feet and was overwhelmed by anger at the fact that this young punk thought he could beat him. On top of that, he had taken Enjiiro's Zanpakutou and tried to pass it off as his own. Enjiiro let go of his anger as amusement took it's place; He had just realized that he was fighting a younger version of himself. Enjiiro used Shunpo to get behind the youth once again. He reached toward the Zanpakutou in an attempt to take back what was rightfully his and was overcome by pain and surprise as he saw his left hand fall to the ground. He hadn't even seen the youth draw the weapon. A split second after this had occurred, he felt a kick land on the back of his head with enough force behind it to put him down on one knee. He stood, and swung wildly with his left arm in an attempt to land a back-fist of his own, forgetting that there was no hand on the end of his arm. Instead of landing a blow on the youth, his forearm met steel and fell to the ground, joining his hand. Enjiiro yelled a war-cry, giving a voice to both feelings of pain and frustration alike. Pain because his hand and arm had just been lopped off. Frustration, not because he was getting beaten, but because he could have easily avoided this if he hadn't given in to his swollen ego. Enjiiro was in survival mode now. He had lost who knows how much blood and half of his left arm. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he had to defeat the youth so he could return to the Soul Society.
He staggered back to his feet and tried to locate the youth, but he was nowhere to be seen. Oddly enough, this didn't bother Enjiiro, as he figured he would use this time to try and come up with a way to get himself out of this mess. After about one minute of thought, he cursed himself for even thinking of this solution, but a solution it was; and he decided that this was his only way out. As if it were an answer to his thought, the youth appeared in front of Enjiiro and attempted to land a front kick to Enjiiro's chest. Enjiiro let the hit land and was knocked backwards to the ground. The youth followed up by using Shunpo to get near Enjiiro's head. Enjiiro didn't know if the youth had done this as a way to let Enjiiro know he was in control or if he was about to try and deliver a death blow; either way it didn't matter to Enjiiro because this was exactly where he wanted the youth to be. Enjiiro quickly flipped over onto his stomach and reached out with his right hand, grabbed the youth's ankle, and shouted, "Hado number 96: Itto Kaso." A huge pillar of fire, the shape of a katana's tip, erupted from the ground and engulfed the youth. When the spell ended, Yajuu stood in place of the youth. Yajuu told Enjiiro to stand, to which he obeyed and used everything he had left to get to his feet. Once on his feet, Yajuu informed him that the trials were over and that he may now go back to the Soul Society. Enjiiro thanked him and asked about his injuries, to which Yajuu replied, "I'm sorry Enjiiro, the injuries you have can't be healed this time. I'm afraid you will have to recover when you return to the Soul Society, and that includes your arm."
Enjiiro knew that he would not be able to fight the same with one arm, or even a prosthetic, but he decided that he would have to get over it and live with what he now was. At least he could still fight. At least he wasn't dead. "I understand, it was my own arrogance that caused this, and I must live with the outcome." At the conclusion of these words, Yajuu smiled and told him, "well done Enjiiro, you truly have grown these past few days. I'm sorry I had to lie to you, but I felt it was the only way to truly test your mettle. I will heal your injuries, and when you next awaken, you will be back in the Soul Society at full health. Now go get some rest." Enjiiro thanked him countless times as he tested the range of motion and strength in his left arm. After one last stretch, he said farewell to Yajuu and made his way back to his room. As he drifted off to sleep he thought about how he would finally be able to get back to the Soul Society, practice, and most of all, his squad.
(OOC: In the next post this thread will conclude and Enjiiro will finally be back!)
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