Training
As the fist collided with his face Xander Krane wondered whether or not this was really all worth it. He had been training for most of his life with his older brother who was 8 years his senior in preparation for his induction into The Order of Souls. His brother, Tedge Krane, was one of the Knight-Admirals in The Order. Thus this was more or less a one sided battle, or it used to be until Xanders 19th birthday. Since that day his power has been growing by leaps and bounds. It was fitting seeing as his 20th was just a month away and that is when he would officially be inducted into The Order. He stood up and got in his favorite fighting stance. His brother regarded him for a second and then did the same.
They went at it for another 3 hours before the next blow was landed. This time Xander was able to get a piece of his brother something that was becoming more and more common as their training progressed.
"Thats enough" Tedge said with a look of amusement in his eyes " its time for swords"
"Seriously" replied Xander "you know I'm no match for you when it comes to sword play"
"And thats why we train" was Tedges cold reply.
Tedge tossed Xander a worn looking broad sword and then picked up one of the other practice swords.
"awwww why don't you use your sword big brother?" asked Xander
"you well know why I don't" replied Tedge
With that Xander charged, like in most things his brother grossly outclassed him when it came to sword play. Xander was getting better, but his sword skills weren't improving nearly as fast as his hand-to-hand skills. In fact he thought he might actually be better than Tedge, who was currently considered the best overall combatant in The Order, at hand-to-hand.
This session ran for a long time as they usually did. He's getting better nearly exponentially Tedge thought to himself. Father thinks he could actually be the next...no thats just to ridiculous of a thought. Though the time is right, its probably not Xander. By the time it was over Xander was covered nearly head to toe in minor cuts and slashes. Tedge had a few, nearly triple the amount Xander was able to inflict the day before. It was truly amazing just how fast his little brother was improving. Something happened then that no one had expected. Tedge felt a sudden spike in spiritual pressure and when he looked back at his brother he had manifested a sword.
"....you can manifest a sword? When did you manage that, by all rights you shouldn't be able to for at least another month." Tedge said with a look of shock
"I don't know how" began Xander "I just suddenly realized that I could, so I did"
At that point their father walked in, he looked between the two and smiled. He waved Tedge off and manifested his own blade. Xander held a look of shock, none of them, not Tedge nor Juba had ever been able to best their father in a sword fight. Their father who had been one of the most respected Knight-Captains ever. There were stories of Hollows actually fleeing from this man. Xander didn't know what to do.
"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna show me what you are made of?" his father asked.
Xander suddenly had the strange urge to smile. He smiled the most vicious smile anyone had ever seen on another human being and charged his father. The fight was amazing it seemed to everyone watching, which included all the Knight-Admirals and Knight-Captains, that Xander might actually best his father. It took another two hours before they got their answer.
"It is amazing, son, how you are able to change and adapt to my every move. No matter what I throw at you, you find a way to adjust your own style and counter" stated Mr. Krane
With that he disarmed his son "but you still have a lot to learn." Again there was a massive spike in spiritual pressure and Xander was surrounded in a bright blue light. When the light faded he had his sword in hand again and his cloths had changed. He was now wearing a Dark blue Hawaiian print shirt, a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a pair of sandals. Everyone stared in shock, Tedge ran through the date in his head. His brother was still a month away from this.
Again Xander and his father fought, Xanders speed and strength had risen beyond what anyone had thought possible. It had gone from a venerable master training his student, to the student training the master. Xander jumped back looked at the crowd and smiled at his two brothers.
"Why don't you join us my brothers" Xander said with a sadistic smile.
So they did, both Juba and Tedge manifested their swords and entered the fray. To everyones surprise Xander was able to fight on equal ground with the three of them. For a time at least, eventually the skill and numbers caught up with Xander and they were able to disarm him again. Tedge and Juba regarded their brother with shocked expressions on their faces. Neither of them had been able to manifest their powers before they turned twenty. It was even more surprising that his cloths had changed, that meant he was officially a member of the order. His position and rank would be decided latter that day by the combined council of the Knight-Captains and Admirals.
Xander sat by his favorite tree thinking to himself, his meeting with the council was but minutes off. He had not manifested his armor while fighting but he knew if he did he may have been able to beat his father and brothers. He had not manifested his armor yet and decided to give it a shot before he went before the council. He directed his ever increasing spirit energy at his feet, his sandals started to glow and from his feet up a magnificent suit of plate mail started to form. When it had fully formed he looked at his hands and arms and with a expression of pure shock he just stood there and stared. I can't believe this, he thought to himself, this just isn't possible. How can I be...they will never believe it. With that he heard his father calling for him, he unmanifested his armor and headed over to meet with his father.
"Are you ready?" asked his father
"As ready as I will ever be" he replied
They then headed to the council room, the captains and admirals sat at a center table and most of their knights and agents were in attendance. As well as some squires and operatives, Xander stood on the platform in front of the captains and admirals. The one to speak was the eldest current member of the Order, Winston.
"This emergency meeting has been called because it has been brought to our attention that the time for you to officially join the Order of Souls has come much earlier than expected. Are you prepared to show us your armor and rank?"
"Yes" was Xanders simple reply.
"Well ok then, get on with it" Winston responded
With that and a quick glance at Melissa, his friend since they were kids and captain of the Black squad Xander propelled himself into the history books. He again fed his spirit energy into his feet, and again the armor proceeded to manifest itself. When it was fully manifested there were many expressions of shock from those in attendance. His armor was black plate mail with gold trimming, his sword had also changed its handle was two dragons with their tails forming the handle and their heads and upper bodies the cross guard. The blade was made of what looked like onyx with rivulets of gold shooting through it.
Tedge and Juba stood up in shock.
"This can not be" shouted Tedge
"Use your eyes brother" said Juba "it is as true as we are gathered here today. Our brother is now the Grand Knight and our superior."
Xander couldn't believe it, his head started to spin, he was in charge of The Order. He would the next day be officially declared the Grand Knight and all decisions concerning The Order and their activities would now be his. He felt sick, and moments later passed out.
He slept for a long time, he didn't know how long exactly. He woke up to the sound of screaming coming from his parents living room. He sat up with a start and realized that he was in his bedroom. He rushed out to the living room to find a very strange, maddening, and terrifying sight. His parents were surrounded by three men in Japanese style clothing similar to what a samurai would wear when he wasn't in battle. One of them also had a white coat thing over the rest of his cloths, one of them wore a orange scarf and gray glasses, one of them had purple hair and what seemed to be a permanent evil smile, the other wore glasses and had relatively normal hair. He didn't have time to think so he just acted. He rushed the one with the scarf and landed a punch on the left side of his head sending him sprawling. Xander than squared off with the purple hair freak and aimed a kick for the guys legs. This connected and knocked the guy off balance, he then landed a punch square in the guys chest sending him through the living room window.
Just as he turned to face the third one he felt a sword slip between his rips and a explosion of pain erupt from the area. Xander began to cough up blood and fell to the floor.
"Why?" was all Xander could manage.
"Why?" the man in glasses started "mostly because your parents spirit energy is around the level I need to complete my experiments. I don't see how it matters to you seeing as you are going to be dead soon I had wished to complete this without killing any of their children."
"Who are you?" Xander barely whispered the question.
"Feel honored to have been slain by the blade of Captain Aizen of the thirteen court guard squads"
With that Xander passed into unconsciousness. While he was out his mind wandered, most of it assumed he would die. There was a part, however, that burned with the need for vengeance and it was that part that was actively thinking. Who the hell is this Aizen, he said he was a captain and I know all of our captains so does that mean there is another organization outside of The Order that had spirit energy abilities? What are the thirteen court guard squads, we only have four squads so that almost definitely means that he is part of another organization. How am I ever going to find the man that took away my parents and what about his followers. I was able to easily deal with them but I also had the element of surprise I'd wager they weren't slouches when it came to fighting. It seemed that he knew I had siblings, does that mean that he knows about The Order? After that his brain completely shut down. He awoke some days later in The Orders hospital his brothers were there as well as Melissa, the other captains and admirals were there as well.
"what happened" Tedge asked him
"I don't really know aside from the fact that I was stabbed and mother and father were kidnapped by some Japanese looking people, at least their cloths were Japanese anyways."
"Can you tell us anything else" Juba asked
"Only that I'm going to hunt down the ones responsible and kill them. Only I'm not going to start right away, I'm going to let them think they left no survivors on the scene. They are going to think they got away with it, and while they are sitting pretty and congratulating themselves we are going to find out as much as we can about this Aizen and what organization he works for. Of course it is entirely possible that whatever organization it may be has no idea what he is doing. In which case we may have an ally that may be able to give us much useful information in dealing with him."
They just stared at him, no doubt they didn't understand why he was willing to sit back and let the kidnappers get away, but he was the Grand Knight now so his word was law. They had to listen to him and he would do his best to be fair to his own. Aizen would pay, of that one thing he was sure, Aizen would feel the wrath of his blade and wish he had never crossed Alexander Krane.
