Lousy Subordinates! (Part 2)

It took him and Miyuki a few minutes to get to Third company's barracks. They had to stop along the way to beat some sense into one of the members of their division who it seemed had destroyed part of a nearby bar's wall. He hated when they did that, meant more expenses and papers for him to deal with. Luckily the bar owner was pretty laid back about it. It seemed like this was a usual occurrence for him. They just needed to promise him that 11th division would pay for the repairs and he let them go.

When they walked into the barracks they looked around, unsure of where the captain would be located. He walked over to one of the shinigami who cleaning the floors and asked him directions toward Yoshio's office. It took him only a few seconds to find it. He lightly rapped his knuckles on the door. "Captain Yoshio? Its Captain Zafaron. I was wondering if I could get some input about something."

Yoshio was staring off his desk.He fell asleep again at his office while he arranged the reports his subordinates gave to him.He leaned his hands against the desk and stood up,only to be surprised to see that his paperwork was wet. Ah,damn it...I must have drooled it... he thought as he looked a drool that was running off from his mouth.As soon as he cleaned the drool with his right shoulder,someone was knocking the door.Yoshio quickly hid the drooled paperwork in one of his desk's drawers.

He was shocked to hear that one of the captains,and especially the captain of the 11th division,was standing just a few meters away from him. Inputs... he wondered as he stood up and headed towards the door.He then gently put his left hand between the gap of the two doors and pushed the right door aside.

"Please come in and sit" he smiled widely at Zafaron and pointed the cushion on the floor with his right hand.

"Good afternoon Captain Yoshio." Zafaron said smiling as he walked in and sat down. He motioned to Miyuki to sit down next to him. "I am sure you have heard about the problems we have been having with the new rookie group." He could only pull off a slightly strained smile this time. His irritation was quite obvious and was bringing down his usually happy demeanor.

"Well Miyuki and I have been discussing various methods of how to deal with them. However we seem to have differing opinions. So I was thinking that the best idea is to get the opinion of someone not from our division. Someone who isn't influenced from working with them for long periods of time. And someone who isn't influenced by our personal..." His eyebrows came together in thought for a while searching for the best word. [b] "Philosophies about training rookies and about fighting in general."

"So do you have any ideas of your own on how to get the idiotic rookies to obey and train? Or, going on with ladies first, would you just like to hear Miyuki's plan?"

"Well..." he said as he thought for a proper reply, "Well,let us hear your fukutaicho's plan,on how to deal with your subordinates and then I shall fully reply your answer,Uriuc Taichou" he replied back to Zafaron and gulped. He doesn't seem to have such a barbarian behaviour like his subordinates he made a fake smile and looked towards the door's direction,waiting for Miyuki to explain her plan.

Miyuki rubbed the back of her head, not sure how to put things. While her plan was deceptively simple, she was a bit unsure of it's reception due to her captain's disapproval when she had brought it up to him. But that still didn't mean that she thought that his plan would work. "Basically my idea was to run the rookies through a bit of a crucible situation. While more experienced shinigami would be on hand, it would be primarily up to the rookies to take care of the hollows"

"Are you trying to teach them teamwork or a sense of responsibility when faced with a large scale problem?"

The voice of another outside force seemed to originate directly behind Miyuki. To her right stood Captain Roga. Standing with a bit of a mild air to his frame. Tho the first thing someone would notice was the absence of his zanpakuto. As he normally takes it with him where ever he goes. Nevertheless he looked down at the Vice-Captain, and smiled warmly.

"Tho putting them through the test would benefit greatly, you must think of ways to push them in the right direction. Most rookies may learn faster or slower then others while some are just down right hopeless. You have to test them to see what their like, and whats there game. Are they willing to work with others on a level where they knew how each other move, and how to combat almost any situation set before them or will you allow them to make their own mistakes, and learn from them. Seeing what it's like not to have the company of a Captain or Vice-captain around."

"Most of them aren't willing to work period end of story" Miyuki blurted out in frustration "They refuse to do any work that they see as beneath them - despite the fact that they're on the lowest rung of the totem poll, demand respect they aren't due all the while refusing to respect their superiors, and seem to think that they're entitled to all the perks without any of the responsibilities. Half the time they won't even obey a direct order from me 'cause I'm just a woman and what do I know"

Zafaron looked up at Captain Roga in a little bit of surprise. He had sensed the other captain coming but hadn't expected him to join in on the conversation. "Another mind to throw into the mix. Welcome Captain Roga." He gave a smile and nod to the new member of their little group. He wondered if anyone else would show up by the end of this conversation.

"However, Miyuki is right on that point. It would be less of a problem if they at least had some power to back up their words or would do, well, anything. All they do is increase the amount of money I have to spend to pay for the damages they create. In my mind their main problem is that they are extremely egotistical. 11th division runs on respect, even if it doesn't seem like that to many of the other divisions." He smiled lightly at the other two captains. He knew the way most people thought about his division. And... well it wasn't like their opinions weren't warranted.

"We value strength above all else. If you are strong we give you more respect. And you are given more battle responsibility and switch the menial jobs to those that have less power. We respect our enemies and our fellow warriors. Unfortunately, this group seems to have WAY too high of an opinion of themselves. They think that they are strong even when I wouldn't trust them to even fight most hollows. And no matter how many times Miyuki has beat them down, that still hasn't changed. Thus they don't show respect which makes it so they don't work. Then they can't improve and stay weak."

"It took me awhile to understand why this is until I realized that for some reason, most of them have never fought or ever seen an actual hollow. So they have no idea what a hollow's strength is compared to their own. And since they are idiots, they automatically assume they are stronger. So no matter how many times someone stronger then them beats them, they still figure that as long as they can beat hollows, it is all good."

"So at the very least they got to either fight a hollow or observe someone else fighting one. While Miyuki feels it is better if they fight some hollows, I don't like the risks of sending a bunch of inexperienced rookies into a brawl, even with supervision. You never know what one might pull or what crazy attack a hollow might suddenly use. Worse scenario is that they don't learn anything and I have a bunch of dead rookies."

"My idea is to have the rookies watch their superiors battle some really strong hollows. Even if we follow Miyuki's plan and have them fight, we are going to have to find hollows they can actually kill which would just strengthen their egos. If you have them watch someone fighting a hollow that would have killed them 10 times over in a matter of minutes, it might be more of an effective message. What do you all think?" Geez, I am going to run out of a voice before the end of this day. Another thing I can add to the list of reasons I want to just throw them out a window. He had decided just to explain his plan and his problems with Miyuki's plan in one large speech. He felt it would speed up the conversation in the long run.

"Welcome to the 3rd's quarters,Roga Taichou" he bowed his head with acknowledgment of his presence and turned his attention again at Miyuki.

After hearing Miyuki's plan and Zafaron's speech
"In order to gain respect,you have to give respect,treat your subordinates with the way you would like to be treated,I must confess that the plan is quite a brilliant one,Miyuki fukutaichou, but yet,there is no need to undergo through such plans in order to gain respect." he said and took a deep breath.It was unnaturally uncommon for him to have 3 superiors in his own room.

"Atleast thats what I think" he further added and waited the others's opinions.

((I am assuming Yoshio is a fairly new captain due to the other topic you made earlier. If that is wrong just tell me.))

Zafaron frowned slightly at Yoshio's comment. However, it wasn't the fact that he supported Miyuki's plan that made him frown. After all if other captains agreed, at the very least it would bring down his personal guilt if something did happen. It was his lines 'In order to gain respect, you have to give respect' and 'treat your subordinates the way you would like to be treated'. In a nice perfect world that would work great but here, it just seemed a little naive.

"Unfortunately, respect is a two-way street. If we give respect they should also give respect back to us. But it also works visa-versa. They should give respect so they earn ours. And so far they have neither accepted our respect, nor have they given any of their own. Everything grinds to a halt because of that. We show respect to all rookies equally until they show talent and then we leave them generally alone from then on. We don't usually have to micromanage or deal with our subordinates that often. That is our way of showing respect for their abilities. However, this group is so inexperienced when it comes to fighting that we just don't know what to do. So in a way we can only show so much respect when they are like this."

He would make another argument for his plan after Captain Roga spoke. For now he just wanted to express that the "respect the subordinates" plan had already gone down in flames.

(( You just answered your own question ^^.I will wait for Roga to reply then I will reply back.))

((Well, it could have been that you had just made the topic for fun and it actually happened a while ago. Or something like that. >.> but yeah I can wait. ))

Ranryou stood with his eyes closed. Tho this was his normal pasture the Captain slightly opened his eyes in a narrowed slit. His eyes dry as he looked to his fellow Captains.

"Then one should teach them a lesson. Those with overconfidence tend to die easily on the battle field. If you are to teach them that their so called POWER is absolutely nothing but an illusion created by their own egos then you must put them into a situation in which it looks hopeless for them. Then. Further prove your point by having an outside force other then someone from their squad intervene. Embarrassing them into growing stronger as a team. All while teaching them that that ego will be the death of them."

The squad 8 Captain closed his eyes once again. Exhaling deeply before his voice returned in it's normal authority.

"But that is only if you choose. I personal have a nice squad of rookie. Most ready to learn......Perhaps a Squad battle. A test. A second squad battles your squad. in a training exercise. Tho tho this way create tention they could see the respect given by the two squad Captains, and see the example, and respect for their power. Hopefully leading them to see other squads as equals. Or at the least a few get beat in that case respect being earn. It's all a matter of the way you come at them."

Ranryou opened his eyes once again. Cutting them at Miyuki where he smiled warmly, and kindly.

"Sometimes getting beat is the best medicine for an Ego."

"Quite a good plan you have thought up there,Roga Taichou" he said and turned his half-sleeping gaze at Zafaron "What is your opinion,Uriuc Taichou,do you think thats a good plan or we should drop Roga Taichou's idea? " he answered Zafaron.He didn't want to choose any of their ideas yet,until two of them choose the same one. It is evident that this will take some time he sighed and continued hearing the conversation.

Zafaron cracked his neck back and forth as he started to think about the idea. He hadn't thought of actively pitting the rookies against hollows that would be more powerful then them. He had thought of just having them fight hollows that they had a chance of beating or pitting himself and some captains against some more powerful hollows to show that they would be defeated easily. But Roga's plan seemed to mix the two together in a very effective way. It would be able to give the rookies some combat experience and break their egos at the same time.

"I have to say Captain Roga, I actually do like that idea." His smile reappeared on his face as began to think of various ways that the mission could occur. No matter how how he thought of it, the results would probably be great. "I really like this idea. I hadn't thougt of it that way. See Miyuki, I told you that talking with other captains could generate more ideas. You never know what other people might think of. He stopped cracking his neck and looked directly at Captain Roga.

"So you are recommending that we pit them against hollows they actually can't win against right? Thus they get some combat experience and realize that they need to train a lot more at the same time. It works with both my and Miyuki's plans. The battle between squads wouldn't be very effective on this group but this plan probably would work well. He turned and looked over at Miyuki. "So I assume that you also agree with this plan Miyuki?" He figured she would approve. She was surrounded by three captains that liked the idea and it would seem weird that she would disagree.

"Yes" Miyuki nodded. It was a good plan, and she had always been behind the idea of training through combat. She had always held the belief that figuring out where you stood against hollows in terms of strength and power involved going up against them; if you won easily then you were stronger, if you won but it was a close thing then that was your level, and if you lost... well sometimes loosing just happened and it still gave you an idea of where you stood.

Ranryou opened his eyes once again. Looking out towards the sky. Marveling at it's freedom.

"It would only be a matter of time before they came across one in the battlefield. Where freezing up at the sign of a stronger power gets you killed. And only makes our enemies that much more dangerous. I would call for a Unified Militiary Training Exercise. To push them to grow stronger we can release hollows of different power types, and abilities. Having the Squads battle them, and the fastest to defeat all there hollows would win. Not only are we not observing the skill level of the new recruits but it all gives the chance for the previous plan to succeed. Seeing as most squad members will see a unified Squad tackling down hollows faster, pushing them to work together, and bring forth the same results. All within the safety of Soul Society.

Captain Roga smiled lightly to himself. He himself was getting bored, and wouldn't mind the chance to cut loose, and have a friendly competition with his fellow Captains. Plus most Captain would push for perfecting, not wanting to be out done by another Squads shine. Testing the leadership skills of the Captain as well while also letting the rookies learn to respect their. It was an all around plan that would benefit every single squad.

"Then it is decided!" he exclaimed with excitement, "Now,excuse me for my rudeness captains but I sadly I am busy" he said as he dread at the idea of having to do all the paperwork again.

He stood up from his cushion and walked towards the doors.Again,he put his right hand between the doors's gap and opened them,by simply pushing the aside. "Please notify me when this competition is about to happen,preferably with a letter or by sending a subordinate of yours" he said with a widely drawn smile on his face, "Although my squad will not be victorious,it will be certainly worth the chance" he further added.

A completely confused look appeared on Zafaron's face as the two other captain's suddenly agreed on a completely different idea then what they had just decided on. Somehow they had come up with something completely different then what he had meant.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Time out for a second." He looked at Yoshio still rather perplexed. "If you are still busy I can discuss this alone with Captain Roga. But we suddenly switched plans here and I am going to have to disagree with the new one. I have personal reasons against this, and there are a lot of logistical problems involved in it. It was a much stronger plan when it was just one or two companies fight some powerful hollows and when it looks like they are in trouble, the higher ranked members step in."

He turned and looked at Roga, a frown on his face. "I understand kind of where you are coming from, as it would be fun to have some type of tournament thing. But it would be difficult to pull it off and wouldn't work very well. Every company has its own specialities and having them all try to compete in speed of killing hollows would not be fair in any way." In truth he thought the idea was terrible but he was trying to tone down his dislike for it. Maybe a tournament between captains would make sense but between the squad members? There were way too many variables to be considered.

Roga silently laughed within his mind. He was quite sure the 11th division Captain would be against the idea. Even tho his squad would have the advantage. Even tho Roga himself trained constantly with his squad. teaching them to be faster, and stronger. Helping him reach the level to where nothing can stop them. Or at least something in there range.

To tell the truth Ranryou himself didn't like the plan. Only because it would turn into something quite ugly. Squad members would most likely turn against one another to get the most glory, and things would get out of hand. Roga simply spoke from his mouth and not his head. Looking for the quickest way to get some excitement. Or at the least get him out of paperwork.

"Very well then. Captain Uriuc I believe we can carry on this little conversation at my own barracks. It was a pleasure to come visit you Captain Toshio. I shall come visit again. Till then far well.

Slowly a slight breeze washed into the room. Then suddenly blowing in the opposite direction. The breeze being sucked out like a vacuum. With it Captain Roga disappeared like a mirage. Returning to his own barracks where he would wait for his fellow Cap[tain, and company.

For some reason, Zafaron couldn't shake the idea that Captain Roga had really enjoyed his outburst. But that was probably him just imagining things. He sighed as he got up as well. He wasn't going to let this idea go through on his watch. The safety of all the squads and all of the shinigami could be jeopardized by such a foolhardy plan. "I also thank you for your time Captain Yoshio. It was good being able to hear everyone's opinions. If Captain Roga is able to push through this idea then he will be the one to tell you. Regardless, I won't be having 11th participate so you don't have to worry about us winning."

He continued to frown the more he thought about the idea. Perhaps he was just pulling my leg. There is no way he could actually have thought such a crazy idea would be helpful in the least. His mind suddenly drifted to the other suggestions he had heard from his squad members in past. And then he thought of how many times he had used Mr. Veto Hammer. Okay maybe he is serious about this. And if he is, I need to make sure to get him to change his mind.

He looked down at his vice-captain who had been unusually quiet during the whole meeting. I guess it must have been weird for her to be in a room with three other captains. Especially with no other vice-captains. She is used to speaking her mind around me but I guess this is a very different scenario. He thought for a moment before making a decision.

"Miyuki. I am just going to talk with Captain Roga about this crazy plan and then see if I can meet with the Sotaicho. You can come along if you want or you can just go hang out for the rest of the day. We don't have that much work except solving this dilemma so you are free to do what you wish." He waited for her response.

"Alright. I think I'll go back to the barracks and make another attempt to conquer our eternal enemy: paperwork" she replied. It would also give her time to think over the plan. It was a good plan in it's own way, and she did hope it worked - not so much the interdivisional contest bit, since she agreed with her captain in terms of the problems inherent with pitting one division against another, but because the idea of pitting the rookies against hollows and only stepping in to save the day if the rookies had bit off more than they could chew made sense to her.

"You don't even need to do that much paperwork. Most of your was just more complaints about the rookies. And since we are dealing with it right now you can just reply with an explanation that 'we are putting our full force in trying to solve this problem. We apologize for all of the trouble that has been caused.' or something like that. And any bills just leave on my desk. I have been getting them all together so I can pay large packets of them at the time. So you could just take a break right now and just relax or train or whatever else you might want to do. Or if you REALLY want to do paperwork then I guess you might as well."

It was Zafaron's way of giving her a break after having to already deal with discussion and debates all day. He was sure she wouldn't actually want to go from debates to paperwork. But it was still her choice in the end. He just didn't want her to think he expected her to immediately go back to filling out papers.

With another word of thanks to Captain Yoshio he walked out of the third barracks. He strolled this time to the eight company's barracks. He marveled at how nice a day it is. Why must it be this nice on a work day. Ah, but at least it helps bring down my blood pressure. By the time he actually reached the barracks he was much calmer then he had been earlier. Whether that would last through the next conversation, time would only tell.

(Exiting towards eighth)