Free Warmup

Tetsuo stepped out into the training grounds. Taking his time, he walked up the short steps to one of the marble arenas. A gentle breeze blew by, gently shaking the patches of grass growing through the tiles.
"Now where is he?" Tetsuo asked himself aloud, as if his challenger would hear him. "He said he wanted to have a practice duel, but he hasn't showed up yet? As far as I know, it's not like him to be late."

(OOC: This is an open challenge, anyone can accept it. I just need to get used to the combat system.)

Risa was on her way to the training grounds, knowing that it would be likely less crowded this time of the day. Her zanpakuto was destructive enough she had been asked to keep her practices short and out of the way of others. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of the seventh division taichou seemingly talking to himself in the middle of the grounds. Curiosity, her favorite vice, seized her as she made her way over to him.

"Can I help you, taichou?" she asked putting one of her more determined curls behind her ear. Honestly, her hair was going to be the death of her one day.

"Help isn't exactly the word I'd use, but a certain Shinigami hasn't shown up for a duel I'd promised him," Tetsuo grunted. He was clearly frustrated. Tetsuo was generally very punctual when he obligates some time to his peers, so when one didn't return the favor, it struck him where he lived.
"I don't usually go pick fights, but it seems like you're in the mood for a duel, and I'm a bit out of practice," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, Risa," he said, unsheathing his Zanpakuto, "shall we begin?"

"As you wish, Taichou," the title came out of her mouth a little mockingly as she slid her tsurugi Zanpakuto from its sheath. The golden blade glinted in the sunlight as she jumped back from him in order to create room for her stance. Her grip on the blade was odd, the sword pointed down like a dagger instead of the upright positioning of most. Burnished gold eyes narrowed as she waited for him to make the first move. Just how serious was this fight going to be?

"Oh come now, Risa, you don't have to be so formal," Tetsuo jokingly. Suddenly, with a flick of his wrist, his Zanpakuto was out. The silver blade gleamed in the sunlight, and quietly settled on its broad edge in Tetsuo's left palm. In a meditative fashion, he raised his blade in front of him, then tilted it to point in Risa's direction. "I suppose I'll move first," he said, and vanished.
Tetsuo realized that his Shunpo was out of practice, and now was as good a time as ever to brush up on it. A few steps later and he appeared to Risa's left. He thrust the blade forward, using his left hand as a guide. "This shouldn't prove to be problematic to you, Risa!" he called out, anticipating a counterattack.

"But isn't formality demanded between the ranks?" Risa was teasing him with her sarcasm as she moved. She had felt him the second he had arrived to her left and knelt to dodge the blow that went whistling by her ear. She swung her back leg out intending to try to sweep his feet out from under him, using the hand that was free of her blade for support. Straight up fights like this had never been her forte, but if this was the type of fighting he wished to engage in she would indulge it. The exercise would be a welcome change to the hours she spent behind her desk.

Tetsuo saw Risa's attempted attack, and took action immediately. He used his Shunpo to launch himself into the air to Risa's opposite side. "Well, I've never been called out for it," he said with a smirk, holding his blade out jokingly in a stance not unlike a fencer's, peculiarly. "I think you're just afraid of breaking the rules," he chuckled as he retracted his blade and took a standard Kendo stance. "Your move."

((please type your speech in bold it's much easier to read))

((Aye-aye, Cap'an))

Oh, now he had done it. Risa had never admitted to being afraid of anything in her life. She narrowed her eyes as she rose from the ground.

"As you wish, Te-chan," Risa practically hissed, cutting his name off at the first syllable and added an overly familiar suffix. She turned towards him, the sleigh bells on her obi jingling angrily at the movement. She tossed her Zanpankuto into the air. It was time to get serious. "Strike, Raihebi!"

At the command the sword transformed into its release. The chakram was as big as she was if you turned it sideways, a silver snake etched into the inner rim. She caught it on the downward arch, standing in the middle of the giant circular blade. The few wisps of hair not pulled back into her braid stood on end from the mild electric charge flowing between her and the blade. The small crowd that had gathered to watch moved back. Her casualty radius was famous, even if it was accidental most of the time.

Risa shunpo'd behind him, swinging the blade so it was slice him cleanly through the middle if he failed to move in time.

Tetsuo sighed and held his blade behind him. "Stretch Out, Hagukimaru."
The Zanpakuto suddenly expanded and started to turn pink in color. Risa's blade struck Hagukimaru, but the sudden soft form of the Zanpakuto absorbed the impact. "You haven't actually seen my released Zanpakuto, have you?" he asked Risa, trying to blow a lone strand of hair out of his face to no avail. "Hagukimaru can change its form and size to seemingly limitless levels." At the moment it caught Raihebi's blade, its form could be compared to solidifying liquid rubber. From that moment, it had slowly been wrapping over the blade, like butter melting over a warm slice of bread. "I hope you've been paying attention," Tetsuo said smugly, as the strange pink substance began to harden.

Risa's smirked and raised an eyebrow. So her blade wasn't sharp anymore. That was hardly what made it dangerous.

"You seem disappointed," Risa noted as she assessed the amount of electricity in the blade. It was worth a shot. "Take-down." As soon as the command was issued the lightning expanded outside of the blade, dancing along the edges as it looked for a way to reach the ground. She did her best to keep its levels at non-lethal as she pushed the blade close enough to allow the electricity to follow its natural course and leap to what it would see as the quickest way to the ground-Tetsuo.

The lightning dispersed quickly. "You know, you really should be more careful if you aren't aware of your opponent's capabilities," Tetsuo said. "You should have realized that Hagukimaru has been engulfing your Zanpakuto since you struck it," he informed his attacker. "Hagukimaru's composition is not unlike rubber in one sense," he continued; "It doesn't conduct electricity. Instead of pulling your Zanpakuto out of its grasp while it was still soft, you've allowed it to harden, effectively trapping your blade in a place where it poses no threat to me."

Risa tilted her head to the side. She knew her temper had gotten the better of her and she had launched straight into the fight. She moved it from the aggressive/defense posture where it was across her body at an angle to one where it was behind her and she could lean on it. She bit her lip and rested one foot on the inner rim where it met the ground.

"Hai. You're right. I should've been more interested in defense than offense with an unknown quantity," Risa was unafraid to acknowledge her mistakes. She never would've made it out of Academy if she had. "I'll concede the fight, but only if you'll do me a favor." Risa smiled a little. "I need a training partner who can help to control the lightning. It tends to go everywhere trying to seek a place to ground and I've taken out bystanders and allies in fights before. Would you be willing to help?"

"Considering the nature of my own Zanpakuto, I would certainly be willing to assist you in your training," Tetsuo said. The blade of his Zanpakuto softened and released its grip from Raihebi's blade. It slowly reformed into the shape of the unreleased Katana, hardened, and returned to its original silver color. Sheathing his blade, Tetsuo began to step down from the arena. As he walked away, Tetsuo called out, "By the way, next time you might not want to leave the audience with such an anticlimax!"

Risa made a face at the last comment as her own Zanpakuto returned to its previous form.

"I'm not interested in entertaining the masses. If I wanted to do that, I'd been a belly-dancer!" Risa replied as she sheathed her own blade and glared at the small crowd. "Beat it!" She had a stack of paperwork to go shred and now that she had a promise out of the other, strategy to think up. Tetsou would be in for a bit of a surprise if she had her way.