Twin trouble, training trials. (Jun.)

It was a cold day in Kurakara town, though the sun was shining. The weather seemed to have trouble making up its mind. Elayne Arashi, white hair tied back and whipping in the wind, waited next to a tree. Her pale blue eyes scanned for signs of her little twin brother.

Today they wouldn't be playing games and hanging out, no. It was time to get down to business, to defeat the maggots. Elayne didn't like the idea of fighting her brother, that how people got hurt and she didn't want to hurt him, on the other hand if they didn't know what each other was capable of they could get hurt in real combat. If Elayne shouted dodge and Rai didn't know what he was dodging, he might not dodge.

The location she picked wasn't exactly a good place for two people so strong to start fighting, but she didn't think it was a good idea to fight in the Kishi headquarters. She wasn't a member and didn't want to step on anyone's toes. However she had a way to make this fight go elsewhere, and she was preparing to do just that while she waited for her brother.

Rai...was lightly confused. Why were they not using the simulator? He wasn't wearing any of his bizzare clothes this time. Hair color was dyed blue, with a matching long tailed jacket and shirt with a white undershirt beneath, belt was black and holding his sword, and blue jeans and tennis shoes. He soon spotted his sis. Hopping over to her, he spoke up. "So...why aren't we using the simulator in the Kishi base?"

The five foot tall boy scratched his head. Seriously...that was an option. Unless she had other plans on their practice. Or had an opponent that can handle them both but isn't here or something...but only people he knows that could do that are the organization leaders. So he was...thoroughly confused by this choice of his sister's...

Elayne looked up just as Rai arrived and asked about the simulator. "I know, but its better this way, because I intend on using what i'm about to do when we fight the leader.." She said. She threw out both hands and said, "Nichiyō no hashira." As she did this, four pillars of bright light popped out of the ground spaced 40 ft appart, with her at the centre. The light expanded, and then both Rai and Elayne vanished from Kurakara town.

They reappeared seconds later in a pocket demension. The first time she'd done this, she'd felt woozy, so Rai might be feeling the same effects. She waited until he looked ready to listen then began to explain why they were in a 150 foot high and 300 x 300 foot wide. "This is... My training room. I discovered the kido a few years back, and its a good place to train. But it'll be more useful to us than just that.. When we fight this boss, If i cast this, you wont need to restrain yourself because its a large open area, though..." She paused a moment and looked thoughtful, then a pair of walls popped up beside Rai, "I can change the lay out. It can be straining though."

Elayne drew her Zan timidly. "I guess we should begin? pierce the sun, Icyene!" Her Zanpakuto took on the form of a long thin rapier with a revolving barrel in the centre of a three armed grossgaurd. She let Rai Rai do his thing, and then they fight could begin.

Rai cocked his head to the side cutely. And waited. They were transported to what seemed like another dimension. He stared around and listened. Though still didn't know what the hell kido was. "Wow...that's...actually pretty cool..." He backflipped onto the new wall, sword drawn. He watched her unseal her own zanpakutou. "Just so you know...my shikai is somewhat unusual. Unlike most zanpakutou, it has two forms. And they differ dramatically in shape. Renko even mistakened me for using bankai because of how different it is. However, because of the duel forms, it also means I can't just go straight into shikai like other bankai users. Now Shock: Shougeki S!"

His sword also turned into a rapier. However, an electrical cone of energy surrounded the blade. "En garde..." After doing two quick practice swipes, he disappeared. And reappeared behind his sis, doing a series of stabs as fast as he can. Usually he's on the defensive with this form, as his abilities in this form are all defensive in nature. But lets see how his sis handles this...

Eleyne stepped onto the air as Rai vanished, to gain use of her airskates. She twirled gracefully as Rai appeared behind her and met his rapier thrusts with a flurry of parries, then a few thrusts of her own. Her thrusts contained a deceptive amount of piercing power behind them, considering her low pysical strength. She pushed off and glided backwards from Rai and thrust her rapier at the ground as the spinning barrel stopped and turned blue.

Crystaline magic spikes 10ft long burst from the ground in a 20ft long, 3 foot wide line ahead of her. Using the momentary distraction she created a platform at a 45 degree angle behind her and launched off it over Rai, using airskate to glide past. Twirling to face him as she glided backwards she spun the rapier barrel again and it stopped on orange. She moved her arm in a circle infront of herself. A magic circle appeared with 6 bolts of energy at equal points around it. They shot off after Rai at half the speed of a bala.

They would track him until they hit or were destroyed, which he could do with a quick jab of his rapier. Of course he didn't know that. She didn't know if she should warn him or not. She'd started singing quietly as she waited for Rai's counters.

Rai barely moved to avoid the countering thrusts. He did get a small scratch on his cheek, arm, and body...but only a few. He followed her...only to stop when the spinning thing in her rapier stopped, and cystaline spikes started exploding towards him. If he was any slower at changing directions...they would have got him as he dashed straight back. He made note of their range and how wide. He quickly looked at her just as she fired 6 bolts of energy at him. He grinned and dodged once to the right. Rai had expected them to hit the ground...instead they curved and headed towards him. The range plus surprise did not allow him to dodge them. Good thing he had average durability.

From the smoke, he spoke. "Well played. Interesting ability..." His voice was lightly warped. A blue-grey cero came out of the smoke. It was stronger than most, oddly enough. Rai came out soon after, mask gone. Instead of a thrust, he slashed once. He was above her when he did this. If it was dodged, he would spin to her side and kick, spin, and a barrage of thrusts. He had no offensive abilities with Shougeki S...hence his sudden use of his mask and cero. And his ability with his hollow powers were very good...considering he had harmonized with his inner hollow...

Eleyne seen her attacks hit and was worried she hurt him. But a cero fired back said enough and she stopped worrying. The barrel on her rapier stopped on red, and a red energy formed around her sword. Elayne shunpo'd right at the cero and gave it a quick jab, which sent it flying back in Raiden's direction.

Then Raiden appeared above her. She dodged and appeared to his right and started a thrust, but was caught by a kick from her side which sent her sliding. That was followed by a barrage of thrusts she countered with quick parries of her blade. Elayne dodged to his right on the last attack and slashed under Raiden's sword, aiming for his ribs. It wouldn't contain much force but the blade was still sharp.b She slid farther right and unleashed her own barrage of thrusts.

A platform appeared between them and she kicked off, sending herself shooting back. She slipped on her mask, a white mask with femanine features and a streak of red running down over one eye the color of blood, and pointed her rapier at Rai. A bolt of white lightning shot from her swords tip at raiden. It was as fast as a bala and strong as a cero. Elayne too had achieved harmony with her inner hollow, but 23 more bolts and she'd loose her mask. There was already a hairline crack in it.

She was certainly skilled with a blade. And could repel his cero...that one was a shocker. No one's done that before. She dodged to his right and aimed a strike to his ribs. Rai was fast enough to block it with the handle...below his hand. Deflecting it, he backstepped, weaving and dodging and parrying. He was about to jab at her gut with his free hand, the platform appeared again, and she rebounded away. Then came the white lightning bolt and mask. Her mask...was utterly boring. He hated it.

"Kagami." An electrical net surrounded the boy. He couldn't move from that one spot, but he could spin, dodge, block, whatever. It caught the lightning bolt. It circled him before heading off at twice the speed, but also a little weaker. He stood and waited. Her mask got a fracture...possible hollow ability. Similar to his too, except faster while retaining strength, while his was more adjustable. Also seemed like like she can use her's a lot more often. He kept the net up.

Elayne barely dodged the lightning bolt as it shot back at her after hitting Raiden's net thing. It was an interesting ability, she noted. She did have to wonder what could go through it and what couldn't. She left her mask on to keep the speed boost as she circled her little brother and though about how to get through his net.

Elayne spun the barrel of her rapier and stopped it on blue as she dashed towards the net. She jabbed her rapier at the ground and unleashed her magic crystals that shot along the ground towards Raiden, hopefully going through the net to hit him. If the net went down she would then fire another bolt at Raiden and closed the disdance to attack up close with a cluster of thrusts. If the net stayed up she would back off to wait it out, and think of a better way through.

Rai frowned at the gesture. As she spun the barrel on her sword again, he got ready to use his other shield ability. As the crystals came, he activiated it. "Sekisho!" He slammed his lightning shield on the ground as the crystals passed his net undisturbed, stopping it cold. That was when he spoke. "Kagami catches energy and non-physical based elemental abilities and sends them right back, faster, but a little weaker. However, while I can still move and block or dodge, my movement is very much restricted while it is still up. However...it *cue hollow mask forming without him clawing his face* can also work for my own abilities..." Deactivating his Sekisho, he fired a cero, which the net caught, spun around him, and was fired at twice the speed, but a little weaker.

It was then he went in doing a barrage of thrusts and slashes. But something seemed off. Black lightning was gathering around his blade as he kept up with her, parrying and dodging and countering when necessary. Suddenly, the black lightning exploded out in a 50 feet radius with tremendous strength. When the smoke subsided, a third of Rai's mask was gone. "Kurigari Arashi. My strongest ability and my hollow ability. Start explaining something too. That crystal thing...that white lightning bolt...that platform...c'mon sis...we're suppose to be learning about our moves too, not just facing them and dealing with them..."

She listened to Raiden explaine his moves as he used them. Then showed her that his net could catch his own moves. He launched a cero that spun around the net and shot at her much fast. Elayne threw up a hand and shot white lightning into the cero, causing both to explode, leaving a flickering of white static in the air. Then Raiden rushed her.

Elayne faught back with her own trusts and slashes and parries. She did slip up on a parry and Raiden's thrust made it through, stabbing into the soft flesh at the edge of her ribs. Elayne recoiled from the blade and used a platform between her and Raiden to escape close range. She noticed black lightning crackling, and then it exploded outwards and sent her flying farther back. This time she used a platform to catch her as she fell.

"Ok.." She said getting up. blood stained the lower half of her white jacket and was seeping down her dress. "Well, besides the platform and my lightning, my abilities are all channeled through my sword. The crystal is crystalised magic, its pretty sharp but a very straight forward attack.. The magic bolts are homing attacks, they're pretty relentless but easily destroyed. The lightning, well every time i fire one my mask cracks a little. when i hit 24, it goes poof. But otherwise there's no time limit." Elayne stood back up and made a pillar appear behind Raiden. The barrel of her revolver began to spin.

"There was one other thing I can do in Shikai, besides the red aura that sent your cero back." The sword suddenly began to glow white as the barrel stopped. strange runes appeared along the blade. Elayne thrust the blade as she launched towards raiden at near shunpo speeds, with the force of a gran rey behind the blade. The thing raiden might not notice is she perposely aimed to miss him, moving past him even if he stood still, and hit the pillar with the blade. The force from the attack exploded out the other side of the pillar sending shards of white rock flying away. She pulled the blade out and whipped it through the air as the white runes vanished, and turned to look at her brother.

As she was standing up, Rai spoke again. "That reminds me...Kurigari Arashi I can only use three times before my mask goes poof." He watched, listened, and waited. The thing in her sword started to spin. As a precaution, Rai used his last defensive ability. "Hekireki Koutetsu." Lightning consumed his body like an armor. It lowered his speed by a tenth, but the defensive capabilities were well worth it. When the thing stopped spinning. She came at him. He was ready to defend, but stopped and let her slip by, hitting the piller. He turned to her. "Interesting. My Hekireki Koutetsu is an armor that acts like a tough hierro. Combining it with my natural lightning resistance makes lightning abilities useless against me. But it's at a price in speed. But the defensive bonuses is well worth it."

That makes for an interesting possibility in strategy. Rai had a distinct feeling he had the greater durability between the two. He shunpoed towards her, leaving an after image in his wake. Another from above would kick down on her, but it was also an afterimage. The boy was to the right, sword in his right hand. When he got close, he would swing it left to right. But it was a fake. He switched hands to his left. He wasn't ambidextrious, but it was a cool trick to maybe use. Even if she moved to dodge, it would lessen the time it would take to adjust to her new position. He would stab three times, slash once, and do a downward slash with both hands.

Elayne dodged each after image as they came, appearing behind or to on side of each and slashing through them. When Raiden actually attacked he nicked her on the arm before she could dodge the other attacks, but then she moved to his side and countered with her own trio of thrusts.

Elayne jumped back then, and threw up a hand. "Hado 61, Kyodaina Shakkaho." She said. As she did, a 10ft wide ball of feiry red energy formed and shot at raiden. Even if it missed, it with explode in a rather epic display of power, though it was no stronger than her lightning bolts.

"Besides demonstrating all of my kido, i dont have much more to show you in Shikai." Elayne said as she circled her brother. She decided to demonstrate one more though. "hado 41, Fukusū Byakurai." 3 beams of lightning fired from around her finger tips at her brother.

He parried only one of the thrusts, the others striking his shoulder. It surprised him that the blade got through his armor. When she backed off and fired a blast, he quickly fired a cero to match it. When she started circling him, he waited. Three bolts of lightning. The point was to demonstrate...but that...wasn't gonna do anything to him. So he just took it. When the dust settled...he was unharmed. "Well...since that was all of your shikai's stuff...let me show you my other half. Shock: Shougeki C!" His armor disappeared, and his rapier turned into a ten foot long, four inch diameter, five foot long sickle blade, scythe. It was light blue and had a trio of rings on the opposite side of the blade as a counter weight and for crushing. His boost in durability also moved to his physical strength.

He held the huge weapon horizontally. "Shottogan." A shotgun of a dozen lightning bolts, each acting like a hado 4. He did that once...twice...three times before shunpoing behind her with single jab with the non-bladed end. If she was still near, he would spin himself like a poll dancer to avoid a hit, and tried to kick her before swing the massive weapon down on her.

Dodging the shottogan was easy enough but that huge weapon had a lot of weight behind it. Elayne blocked the jab with her rapier and the force jarred her arm. She backed off and dodged his kick and was forced to try block the massive weapon again. This time it knocked her flying and she had to throw up a platform to catch herself.

There was no point waiting about so Elayne held out her blade. "Bankai, Icyene Runa." She said. A Shield Appeared in her other hand. Elayne used magic bolts first, sending the six balls of energy speeding towards Raiden. While he was distracted she quickly slashed the ground beneath her feet, hoping he would spot that. Elayne put up her shield and waited for raiden to come at her.

Once Raiden came in close Elayne would dodge aside and slash the same symbol into the air, causeing a magic circle to appear on the ground and explode. hopefully Raiden would be standed where she wanted but if not she could explain what just happened after.

She didn't have physical strength. That's what he gathered. Then she went bankai. "Bankai. Niruida Shougeki!" He followed suit in activating his bankai. Lightning swirled and dust was kicked up. And fired a lightning crescent blast that not only destroyed the incoming "magic" bolts, but continued on to her. "Ikazuchi. Without my mask and Kurigari Arashi, it's my strongest attack." When the dust settled, it showed Rai without his mask. His forearms had armor on them, along with his shoulders, and feet and leggings up to his knees. The spikes on the shoulder plates had a blue aura around them. He maintained his scythe, and started to walk towards her.

"My bankai allows me to use all six of my abilities." He dashed at her, swinging his scythe horizontally. She dodged it and drew some symbol in the air. A magic circle below him appeared and exploded, catching him. And flung him at a diagonal line. He caught himself...but damn did that hurt. The blast tore off some of his clothes, and his armor was stained. He stood up, shaking a little bit. Yeah...that certainly wasn't something he wanted to get hit by again.

Lightning surrounded him, and then exploded outward in a 30 yard radius of him, forming a box. One could force their way in or out, but they would be electrocuted constantly, but only if going in or out. Just touching it wouldn't do anything. Any attack would also be slowed down by half when entering. Now he waited, inviting his sister to come inside.

Elenye dodged the incoming lightning wave. She managed to catch her brother with the explosive circle. He looked hurt, and she started to worry. Elayne hadn't shown off everything she could do yet though, so she wouldn't stop yet. She formed a green magic circle in front of her and it began firing blades of magic at bala speed towards raiden. When they hit the electrical field they slowed. 100 hundred would fire before the attack ended, and the circle itself would track and fire at Raiden. 

Elayne used this time to prepare a way to get through the electrical field. She could stay outside but she  wanted to see what it felt like to pass through. As the last attack from the green magic circle shot through, Elayne shot at the field at full force. She burst through the opposite side and staggered, shaking her head. She would not be doing that again any time soon.