The abandoned forest stretched endlessly in every direction, its skeletal trees reaching toward a gray sky like gnarled fingers. Perfect for what we needed—a place where we could cut loose without worrying about collateral damage or curious onlookers.
Because nothing says 'team bonding' like a friendly spar that could level a small city.*
"This place gives me the creeps," Yoruichi said, stretching languidly in her borrowed clothes "When you said abandoned, you weren't kidding. Even the bugs noped out of here."
"That's why it's perfect. No wildlife, no innocent bystanders to accidentally turn into pancakes." I rolled my shoulders, feeling the familiar pre-fight tension settling inn"Plus, if we accidentally level a few acres, the environmental impact is basically zero."
"Level a few acres?" Her eyebrows shot up "Just how hard are you planning to hit me?"
"Well, you did say you used to be a captain. Seemed rude to not give my all it in." I moved to the center of the clearing, putting some distance between us. "Besides, I need to know what's your potential before we walk into whatever my enemies are cooking up."
"Hah! Fair enough" Yoruichi rolled her shoulders, and suddenly her entire posture shifted. The casual, almost lazy way she'd been moving disappeared, replaced by something that made my instincts alarmed "Just don't blame me if you end up eating dirt."
Oh good. The scary cat lady is taking this seriously. This can only end well for me.*
"Ready when you are."
She tilted her head, considering. "You know, most people I spar with at least pretend to take a fighting stance."
"Most people you spar with probably can't—"
She was gone. Just... gone. One second she was standing fifteen feet away, the next there was empty air and the sound of displaced wind behind my head.
I threw myself sideways on pure instinct, feeling knuckles brush past my ear hard enough to ruffle my hair. When I rolled back to my feet, Yoruichi was standing where I'd been, looking mildly disappointed.
"Really? That's your big strategy? Duck and hope for the best?"
Okay, so the super speed thing is even more ridiculous than I thought*
"Still gathering intel," I said, which was partially true. Mostly I was trying not to panic about fighting someone who could apparently teleport, it's my first time fighting someone moving around so fast.
"Intel, huh?" She disappeared again, and this time I was watching for it. Not her movement—that was impossible—but the little signs. The way the air shifted, the subtle change in spiritual pressure, the barely perceptible sound of her feet leaving the ground.
I caught her next punch with both hands, the impact rattling my bones despite my enhanced physiology. She felt like she was made of compressed steel wrapped in velvet.
"Hm, you're tougher than you look" she admitted, then promptly vanished from my grip like wind breeze "But you're still thinking in two dimensions."
Two dimensions? What does that even—oh. Oh shit.*
I looked up just in time to see her dropping from directly overhead, one leg extended in a kick that would've driven my skull into the forest floor like a tent peg.
Rolling away, I activated my gravity manipulation, reducing my personal gravity to near zero. Suddenly I wasn't bound by the normal rules of physics either.
"Ooh, anti-grav?" Yoruichi landed gracefully where I'd been and looked up at me floating about ten feet off the ground. "Neat trick. Let me show you one of mine."
Her hand began to glow with red energy, and every one of my survival instincts started screaming.
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"
A ball of crimson energy erupted from her palm like a cannon shot. I threw up a wall of water on pure reflex, the liquid flash-boiling into superheated steam as it absorbed the blast.
Holy crap. She wasn't kidding about the combat magic thing.*
"Kidō," she called out through the steam cloud. "Think of it as... supernatural artillery."
"Not bad" I muttered, using the steam as cover while I spread water throughout the entire clearing. "My turn."
Instead of trying to match her impossible speed, I decided to make speed irrelevant. Every drop of moisture in the forest—dew, humidity, the water vapor still hanging in the air from her attack—came under my control all at once.
The clearing filled with dense fog, but more importantly, I suddenly had a three-dimensional awareness of everything within a hundred meters. Every movement, every displacement of air, every step created ripples in my improvised sensor network.
"Clever little bastard," Yoruichi's voice came from somewhere to my left. "But if you think a smoke screen is going to—"
She moved again, that impossible burst of speed that defied physics. But this time, I felt her coming through the water particles she displaced, tracked her approach through the microscopic changes in humidity.
When she materialized behind me for what should have been a surprise attack, I was already turning, Incursio forming in my hand as I brought the blade up to meet her strike.
She caught the sword's edge with her bare hand, spiritual pressure crackling around her fingers like she was wearing invisible armor.
"Nice reflexes," she said, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she was gripping a blade that could cut through tank armor. "But you're still reacting instead of—"
She vanished mid-sentence, using our point of contact as a pivot to spin around my guard. I felt her knee coming up toward my ribs in a strike that would've folded a normal person in half.
So I let her hit me.
The impact was tremendous—like getting kicked by a very tough hammer—but my Viltrumite physiology absorbed most of the kinetic energy. It hurt like hell, but I'd been counting on my alien heritage to tank hits that would hospitalize normal humans.
What Yoruichi hadn't expected was for me to grab her leg during the impact, using her own momentum against her as I spun and hurled her toward the biggest tree in the clearing.
"Oh, you sneaky little—"
She recovered mid-flight, naturally, using that air-walking technique to redirect herself. But I wasn't trying to slam her into the tree—I was herding her.
The moment her feet touched the trunk, I activated the gravity manipulation I'd been charging up since the fight started. Not around her—in the tree itself. All fifty tons of oak suddenly weighed five hundred tons, and the root system couldn't handle the sudden load.
The tree went down like a falling skyscraper, forcing Yoruichi to use that speed technique again to avoid becoming a pancake. But I'd been tracking her movement patterns, and there were only so many directions she could go without slamming into other obstacles.
She appeared exactly where I'd calculated, and this time I was ready.
Bungee Gum erupted from the ground beneath her feet—not to trap her, but to launch her at a specific angle while water jets created an aerial corridor that funneled her movement. It was like playing three-dimensional billiards with a person.
Yoruichi realized what was happening half a second before she ran out of options.
"Again—"
I intercepted her trajectory with enhanced speed, riding a controlled gravity field as Incursio extended toward her projected landing point. When the dust settled, she was pressed against another tree with the blade resting gently against her throat.
Both of us were breathing hard, and I was pretty sure I'd have some colorful bruises by tomorrow, but the spar was clearly over.
"Well," she said after a moment, and that dangerous smile was back. "That was actually fun."
Fun. She calls nearly taking my head off 'fun.' I'm definitely collecting psychopaths as allies.*
"You're faster than anything has a right to be," I said, dismissing Incursio and stepping back. "If I hadn't figured out how to track you through the water particles, you would've kicked my ass six ways ."
"And you fight like a paranoid chess master." She rubbed her throat where the blade had been. "Most people with your kind of overwhelming power just try to punch their opponents into submission. You actually use your brain."
"Survival 101, when someone is trying to kill you" I stretched, feeling various joints pop back into place. "Adapt fast and target their weak spots"
"Speaking from experience?" Her golden eyes studied me with uncomfortable intensity.
Way too much experience, actually.*
"Something like that." I deliberately changed the subject. "How much were you holding back? Because I get the feeling you could've ended this a lot sooner if you wanted to."
"Oh, definitely." Her grin turned downright predatory. "Bankai would've turned this whole forest into a crater, but that seemed like overkill for a friendly spar. Plus, I was curious to see how you'd handle someone faster than you."
Bankai. Right. The city-leveling trump card I keep forgetting Soul Reapers have.*
"Rain check on the crater demonstration?"
"Absolutely. Might be useful for tomorrow's clusterfuck." She paused, head tilting. "Though I have to ask—where the hell did you learn to fight like that? All those environmental tricks, the way you set up three different contingencies... that's some absurd level of power you got."
"Like I said, you adapt or—"
My stomach chose that moment to remind both of us that we'd been beating the crap out of each other for over an hour and had worked up quite an appetite.
"Food?" I suggested.
"God, yes." Her eyes lit up like I'd just offered her the secrets of the universe. "I'm starving."
Twenty minutes later, we were sitting on a fallen log while I unpacked what I'd optimistically called "a light snack." Yoruichi took one look at the first bento box and proceeded to snatch it from my hands like a feral animal.
And I thought Valerie had an appetite. This woman eats like she's been starving for a century.*
"Holy shit," she mumbled around a mouthful of grilled fish and rice. "There's actual magic in your cooking. How the hell do you cook this good?"
"Practice," I said, opening my own considerably smaller portion. "When you're feeding people with enhanced metabolisms, you learn to pack maximum flavor and nutrition into everything."
She'd already demolished the first bento and was eyeing the second like a hawk. I quietly summoned additional portions from storage, setting them within easy reach before she could ask.
Mental note: former Soul Society captains apparently have the same caloric requirements as a small army.*
"So," Yoruichi said during a brief pause in her feeding frenzy, "did you get some kind of prize for kicking my ass? You mentioned something about rewards for accomplishments."
"Actually, yeah." I closed my eyes and summoned the familiar blue interface that only I could see. A single gacha ticket floated in the center—Rank 5, which was higher than anything I'd gotten from sparring with my regular team.
Let's see what fighting a captain-class opponent gets me.*
I mentally selected the ticket, watching it dissolve into light and reform into a scroll covered in intricate diagrams.
Thunder Breathing - Complete Training Manual*
A comprehensive combat breathing technique. This method enhances physical capabilities through specialized breathing patterns, focusing on lightning-fast movement and electrical discharge. Mastery allows for superhuman speed, enhanced reflexes, and the ability to generate electrical energy through physical attacks. Advanced practitioners can move with lightning-like speed and deliver electrified strikes.*
Breathing techniques that enhance combat ability. That's... actually really versatile.*
"Did you get ticket to my home?" Yoruichi asked, though her tone suggested she already knew the answer.
I shook my head. "No dice. But I got something that might help you out."
I materialized the scroll from the system interface and held it out to her. Yoruichi paused mid-bite, looking at the offered item with curiosity.
"What's this supposed to be?"
"See for yourself."
She set down her food—temporarily—and carefully unrolled the scroll. I watched her golden eyes widen as she read, her expression shifting from mild curiosity to genuine amazement.
"This is..., this is a high level sword style," she breathed. "These breathing patterns would supercharge spiritual pressure circulation, and the movement techniques..." She looked up at me with something approaching disbelief. "You get rewards like this just for beating people up?"
"Apparently the system likes it when I fight strong opponents." I stretched my arms above my head, working out the lingering soreness from our spar. "Keep it. Should mesh pretty well with your existing skillset."
"Keep it?" Yoruichi stared at me like I'd just offered to give her a expensive toy that she couldn't afford. "This is a complete combat system that could take decades to develop, and you want to give it to someone you met yesterday? For nothing?"
"I already told you—you're part of the team now. Everyone I care about gets stronger, not just me. That's how we survive when the universe keeps throwing impossible bullshit at us."
"You're too trusting," she said, but there wasn't any bite to it. "Too generous. You keep handing out power like candy, and eventually someone's going to stab you in the back with it."
"Wouldn't be the first time." I shrugged, going back to my bento. "I'm used to trouble at this point."
Before Yoruichi could respond to that cheerfully fatalistic statement, my phone buzzed with an urgent message from Benemune.
Come to the castle office immediately. Urgent developments regarding Georg and the summit.*
"Well, shit," I muttered. "Looks like our peaceful afternoon just ended."
"What's wrong?"
"Emergency meeting. Something about Georg and the supernatural summit." I stood up, brushing crumbs off my clothes. "Want to come along? You're going to be involved in whatever comes next anyway."
"Lead the way," Yoruichi said, transforming back into her cat form with that disconcertingly casual shapeshifting. "And thanks for the scroll. And the food. And the first decent fight I've had in months."
Just another day in my increasingly complicated life.*
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