Now spread out a little better over the Kido Corps' training field, the five Gaians who hadn't gained their Shikai and their Soul Reaper opponents faced each other. Their injuries, the Gaians at least, were all healed and they were ready for another round.
The minute Kisuke called out for them to go ahead and start Yuffie rushed forward, determined to get back at Soi Fon for the brutal attacks yesterday. The assassin had no intention of letting up since the zanpaktou spirit within wouldn't rise if the ninja wasn't in any real danger. So, to one up things, she even switched to Shikai.
"Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi." The short blade in her hand glowed before morphing into something over her middle finger on her right hand. It was a long golden claw with black stripes, a chain at the end attaching to the golden bracelet on her wrist.
"Whoa, easy!" Yuffie ducked under the claw.
"Just so you understand, my zanpaktou is one that can kill in two hits." Soi Fon paused in her attacks, making sure the ninja could see Suzumebachi clearly. "This first hit plants a mark on your body. If I hit the same spot again, you die."
Taking this in quickly, Yuffie promptly began to run.
Across the field, Red growled fiercely at Sajin, who growled back. With one of the wolf creatures able to wield a sword, the other found himself at a disadvantage. Any time Red went in with claws and teeth for a strike, Sajin would block and counter with just as much swiftness.
'Howl for the wolf within.' A soft voice whispered to him in his thoughts.
'I left that behind, I won't become a beast.'
'It is who you are, Nanaki. You helped stop Sephiroth with it; your father saved your town with it. Will you really abandon your instinct?'
Red paused, panting, and stood across from Sajin with a thoughtful glare.
'If I can't beat him with human logic, then I will try your method.'
'If you so wish, but time should not be wasted.'
So Red went back to his same method of fighting, trying to find a way around Sajin's human defenses as well as his natural animal instinct.
Out of the five who had not earned their zanpaktou, Tifa had taken a hint from Rangiku and tried to first make a connection through meditation. She'd managed to at least find the motherly spirit and converse in broken words with her, but there was no chance of learning her name.
Now however, she pushed herself to the limit. If the zanpaktou realized that even at her best she could not overcome the strawberry blonde Lieutenant then perhaps she would be able to fully speak with her and give out a name. On the other end, Rangiku noticed Tifa's determination and gladly obliged.
"Growl, Haineko!" Her blade turned to ash and shot towards the martial artist.
'This ash will kill you!' The motherly voice of her unnamed zanpaktou called out.
'I have to beat her.' Tifa replied with determination in her tone, jumping through the ash towards Rangiku only for it to converge on her again, scraping her along her arms as she protected her face.
"Sorry Tifa, but you can't escape Haineko now." Rangiku said, the blade's hilt in her hand held out in front of her.
'I beg to differ.' The voice growled. Tifa found that her zanpaktou was very much like herself; sweet when speaking to her friends, in this case her Soul Reaper, but venomous to those trying to hurt them.
Vaguely wondering if she should pull back and let Tifa breathe, Rangiku blinked in surprise when violet energy rose up and Tifa's Spiritual Pressure increased, pushing Haineko back.
'She did it!' Rangiku grinned.
"Shine, Berenenda!" Tifa called out and the violet light wrapped around her arms. Dark violet armor with black edges covered from the elbow down like greaves, her hands covered in metallic gloves that moved like leather but protected like diamond. A white symbol stood out on the back of her hands against the dark purple in the shape of a flame.
"Suits you." Rangiku beamed, letting Haineko revert back to her sealed form. "Come on, let's get out of here before Ikkaku or Captain Komamura crushes us."
Unlike the others, Tifa didn't seem to be as exhausted as the others with the release of her zanpaktou. However, for the sake of remaining in one piece, Rangiku grabbed hold of the barkeeper and Flash Stepped quickly to the side before letting her stand on her own. Cloud paused in his 'meditation' long enough to give her a congratulatory grin before Shinji bore down on him.
"If you can grin like an idiot then you're not in your Inner World." The Visored growled, making Cloud tense in surprise. The Soul Reapers were the only mass group of people capable of sneaking up on him, it seemed, not including Vincent and Red.
"R-right." Cloud scowled at him before trying once more to find his way into his Inner World. It was far more difficult than he could have imagined using Blade Zen. Morinauro wasn't much help, as he was rather silent, letting Cloud work his way through on his own.
It was midday and the Gaians were growing tired again. Cid's tired old frame couldn't handle Ikkaku's violent attacks and he was taken out, though the pilot still had enough energy to shout profanely, just not enough to stand anymore. Barrett was able to do some damage to his opponent with his metal arm, a fact Soi Fon nagged Marechiyo for as she passed by while chasing down Yuffie, but the large man was beginning to reach his limit as well.
Red limped slightly from a sprain in his back leg but did not back down for one moment. He was still hearing his wolfish spirit speak to him, could still hear it asking for him to revert to his instincts and not use reason to fight. At the rate things were going…Red decided it was time to follow his zanpaktou's advice.
Abandoning his reason, Red leaped forward around Sajin's blade, startling the Captain, and bit into his leg. Grunting, Sajin lifted his blade to cut off the offending wolf only to have Red leap back before rushing around behind, jumping onto the giant's back.
'I can't predict his movements anymore.' Sajin thought to himself, impressed, though outwardly he growled as he threw the fire wolf off of him.
'Keep going.' The voice spoke to Nanaki. 'Can you hear it?'
Red began to circle around Sajin like a predator would, watching for the slightest movement that revealed weakness. Sajin kept his vulnerabilities covered, not wanting this feral version of Red to take the chance.
"Burn," Red growled in a low tone and Sajin's eyes widened as red energy lit up over the red fur of Nanaki's body, "Racanar!"
Flames covered Red's forelegs, back and tail with a fierce red light before dying back down. Black armor covered the spine with short, fang-shaped spikes running down it. Black armor with spikes latched around the tip of Nanaki's tail where the fiery end burned brighter. As for his forelegs, there was black armor there as well, with black metal claws over his natural ones as sharp as any zanpaktou. Due to Red's animal body, the zanpaktou had, in a way, fused with him, covering him completely; a clad-type zanpaktou, similar to Ichigo's Bankai and Tifa's new Shikai.
"Congratulations, friend." Sajin sheathed his blade and Red calmed down his instincts, no longer threatened. The zanpaktou glowed red before reverting to a short blade strapped in a black sheath on his right shoulder where he could grip it with his mouth easily. "You have done well."
Picking the tired wolf up and hoisting him over his shoulder, Sajin quickly left the arena and set him down next to Tifa. The woman quickly shifted over to the wolf, petting him softly to make him feel a little better. Despite seeming mostly wolf-like, Red purred his thanks and relaxed, glad to be done with this part of the training.
Out of the two remaining Gaians still trying to find their zanpaktou spirits, only Barrett could hear the voice. Yuffie thought she heard whispers but couldn't tell, and Cid was too busy cursing himself while Retsu healed him to worry about any voices in his head, though there was one. He mostly ignored it, to the voice's dismay, but it waited, knowing tomorrow it could surprise him.
"If Vincent can do as well as his friends, he should easily manage to find his powers in time." Kisuke whispered to himself, watching amusedly as Kadaj and Shinji argued, since the former wasn't able to properly meditate and enter his Inner World. Cloud seemed to have finally managed it and Shelke had no trouble focusing the right way to get there, even Tifa was able to do it quickly, though he'd been told Rangiku gave her a hint.
"As long as they keep this up, anything Sephiroth does will be pointless."
Despite saying this out loud, Kisuke knew better than to look past any possible outcome that was bad for them. Maybe Sephiroth becomes a Visored, or even an Arrancar, or maybe he gains a Hollow army like everyone expected him to.
Maybe he finds out about Aizen and manages to free him.
Ack, summer boredom is starting to give me writer's block, which is probably why this chapter feels a little on the short side. Usually they go past two pages on Word Document, but this didn't even make two pages. :( Oh well, i'll get out and about for a while to try and get my imagination flowing again.
Anyway, zanpaktou names. Tifa's is Berenenda, which means Brave Heart. I think that's one of her limits, actually...or something similar. Nanaki's, or Red's, is Racanar, which means Wolf Fire.
Hope it was okay despite my dead imagination at the moment Enjoy!