Under a Tree, in My Mind [Solo/R]

The colors were beginning to form shapes, all of the green was moving towards what seemed to be the ground, and the blue into the sky. Brown pillars formed all around the space, however it still seemed to have no end. White blotches were in the sky, and small brown dots on the ground. The green on the ground formed into a luscious grassy field. There were many flowers along with little animals such as squirrels and deer, which explained the brown blotches on the ground. The sky was baby blue with pure white cottony clouds. Birds flew in the air while the brown columns turned into thick oak and redwood trees. Their canopies weren't too large to block out the sky, but enough the hold the habitats of owls, robins, and squirrels. A large gust of wind burst out from where Bariton was singing. He suddenly stopped and the colors stopped moving, and time suddenly began. The critters and clouds were moving, and wind was blowing through the leaves. Bariton spoke, "So... how do you like my world? Or rather, your world."

"That- was awesome... to say the least." Gakushi said still in awe from what just happened. He was making sure the ground was real, wiggling his toes on the ground and stomping the green field. He clenched his fists to make sure he was really here, and Bariton looked at him. "This isn't your real body, this an image of your body in your inner world. However you can still feel pain, you die in here, you die out there. So don't over exert yourself." Bariton warned him. Gakushi looked up in shock, not his real body? That's odd...The thought that I can train in something that won't leave scars but cause pain.[/i] Gakushi thought, "Alright let's get started with this..."

"Perfect. Well, to start, you seem to be very fast. Let's teach you some of those famous Shinigami techniques for speed." Bariton said, pacing around the realm he created viewing the critters running around, "This technique, the art of fast movement and agility, if you didn't know is called hohō. And you are going to start this training by using your shunpo to me, back and forth from your current location, to me. And I will be moving farther and farther. You will do this ten times, go!"

While Gakushi was taking all this in, he heard Bariton yell, "go!" and jumped up in his skin. Bariton was waiting for his reaction and informed him, "C'mon you gotta do this fast!" Gakushi took a deep breath in and stabbed his zanpakutō into the ground to mark his position. Gakushi suddenly disappeared from his location in burst of speed. The grass blades moving form the wind generated by his movements. Appearing in front of Bariton, Bariton yelled, "Now continue! Don't stop until you've done it 10 times!" Gakushi started to rely less on focus and more on the reflexes he has gained over the years. Bariton and Gakushi disappeared simultaneously sending a burst of wind from their concentrated movement in the same area. Bariton appeared at least 5 feet farther from his original location. Gakushi stood next to his zanpakutō and disappeared once more. Appearing by Bariton once again no problem, they continued this process 5 times until Bariton was 110 feet away from his current location. Gakushi appeared back at his zanpakutō, took a breathe in and disappeared once more. Appearing the 110 feet away from the original location, Gakushi appeared there and fell. Pulling himself up, this exercise made him energetic and ready to continue.

Words - 596 10GP [20]

The farther apart the shunpoing distance became the more stamina he was losing. He started to pant heavily after the 5th at 110 feet. The 6th was 135 feet, 7th was 160, 8th was 200, 9th was 250, and lastly the 10th was 300 feet. The distance was slowly deteriorating his muscles, theoretically. His muscles felt like they were bound to large boulders. His legs were in such excruciating that it felt he was stabbed with multiple barbed knives. His head was so light headed he felt like his head was flying and the rest of his body was bound to the ground. Once he reached the 10th shunpo at 300 feet, he went back to his starting spot, drowning in his own sweat. His jaw was dropped from the need for relaxation and he knelt on the ground. His upper half of his body fell forward and the rest straightened. Gakushi passed out from the extreme exhaustion from the shunpo training.

Bariton picked him up from the ground and placed him under a tree. Bariton began singing a lullaby. The world reverted back into the blur of colors in an instant. The blue of colors started to move into a square all around Gakushi and Bariton. Different colors were placed around the cube of colors. The colors made the environment very home like. Suddenly Gakushi was on top of a bed with a big wooden frame, a fluffy mattress and pillows, with silky smooth blankets to comfort Gakushi after a day of very, very, hard work. Dressers appeared across the bed with a large mirror with clothes sticking out. A nice area rug covered the section under and around the bed with bean bags and wood chairs on top of it. This room felt like it would be a room of a clean teenager.

Gakushi woke up during what seemed to be morning time in his inner world, but rather approximately an hour in the outside world. Gakushi got out of his bed and stretched, feeling refreshed in his mind, however this didn't affect his outside body at all. Bariton was sitting in a bean bag waiting for him to wake up. Before Gakushi could ask any questions Bariton sang yet another song. The ground disappeared below him into a rainbow of colored blurs like when he first appeared in the world. Gakushi's jaw was wide open watching all this happen. Everything that seemed to be the sleeping room was sucked into a small point as Bariton sang. He was back in the trippy land of colors and blurs. This time however, Bariton began yelling. This song wasn't as happy as fields of green and small animals. All of the warm colors converged around them. The reds formed most of the scenery, but there were also big, what seemed to be pools, of fiery colors. Once the screaming song was done, Gakushi was in a cave with red stone and lava pits. The weird thing was, there were lava pits on the ceiling. The lava pits on the ground sprayed geysers of lava, the top pits dripped pools of lava, each filling each other up.

Words - 519 10GP [30]

Gakushi looked around the near endless cave. The stalagmites and stalactites were clearly painful obstacles. But the most obvious obstacles were the huge pools of lava transferring each other's lava. Bariton stood next to him watching Gakushi be amazed even more at his own complexed inner world. "Well, your task here, is to learn how to use the hohō technique named Utsusemi, or Cicada." Bariton said crossed his legs and sitting onto the ground to watch. "So... what am I supposed to d-" Gakushi said before being cut off by a blast of Bariton's reiatsu sending Gakushi flying forward.

Gakushi was flying in the hot, humid air in the dark red cave. The ceiling grew higher and Bariton stuck his hand out. "Byakurai" Bariton chanted as white lightning flew from his hand towards Gakushi, "Now quick, move fast enough and at the right moment to leave an afterimage behind to appear you have been struck." Gakushi was flying in the air towards a vat of lava and vaguely heard his words. Landing onto the ground roughly, Gakushi tumbled on the ground and stared at the lightning flashing towards him. Gakushi quickly shunpōed out of the way. The lightning smashed into the vat of lava and Gakushi appeared by Bariton. "Shō!" Bariton chanted again with his palm facing Gakushi, sending a pulse of energy sending Gakushi flying again, "Byakurai! Another bolt of white lightning flew towards Gakushi. Gakushi once again merely shunpōed out of the way. The lightning past by him.

Gakushi stood next to Bariton once he shunpōed back to him. "Well this clearly isn't going to work." Bariton said standing up and facing Gakushi, "What you do is... You have to one, shunpō at the right time. But also you must be able to leave an image behind. You do this by leaving energy behind in the form of your body. This afterimage, which it's called, can only be sustained for about a second or two after you shunpōed away, so unless you do it right it won't do well." Bariton was showing Gakushi every step of the way while explaining. Bariton seemed to stop talking at one point, but the voice was continued behind Gakushi. The afterimage was sustained for a couple seconds, but Bariton was really behind him. "And that's how it's done."

"Alright..." Gakushi said focusing his mind, "Let's try this..." Gakushi shunpōed to the right of himself, but did not leave an afterimage behind. Gakushi released a large amount of reiatsu to attempt to create the image. Gakushi sent his reiatsu around him and shunpōed once more. The reiatsu stayed behind before moving back into Gakushi, not forming a picture. "Alright... this is the last time. I'll get this." Gakushi said, attempting to encourage himself. Gakushi released reiatsu to surround him and shunpōed one last time. The blur left behind from the shunpō's extreme movements formed with the reiatsu to form an afterimage. And one more to practice. Gakushi used his new Utsusemi technique to get back to Bariton. Bariton was watching carefully, and the reiatsu formed the afterimage once more, Gakushi was getting the hang of this.

Words - 531 - 10GP [40GP]

Bariton turned around, sitting in midair like usual and looked as Gakushi finished his Utsusemi. Bariton was surprised how fast he obtained the ability. "Uh... Okay, now let's put this into a situation shall we?." Bariton said looking at Gakushi with a grin. Gakushi was sort of afraid of being smashed back into a vat of lava. "Shō." Bariton said facing his palm towards Gakushi. From Gakushi's palm a pulse of energy flew out sending Gakushi flying once more. "Byakurai." Bariton chanted sending white lightning from his middle and index fingers towards Gakushi, "Now make it look like you go hit with your Utsusemi!"

Gakushi was spinning in the air, he could barely make out Bariton's words... Deja Vu. This time however Gakushi managed to find the area where the lightning was sparking towards him. Gakushi released some reiryoku and shunpōed in launch. The blur formed with the reiryoku and formed an afterimage. The afterimage to the utsusemi appeared to take damage from the lightnign, but merely disappeared a second later. Gakushi appeared behind Bariton. "Good, now for multiple afterimages." Bariton told Gakushi the next step of the training, "It's simple, release reiryoku in a wide spread and quickly shunpō throughout the area. The blur from the multiple shunpōs will create more afterimages. Just like regular utsusemi, but larger. I call this utsusemi gunatsu, or Cicada Swarm."

Gakushi listened carefully to this. Gakushi released a thin layer of reiryoku spread across a semi wide area. He then shunpōed multiple times within the area, the blur forming afterimages. "You were right, that was extremely easy." Gakushi said. The afterimages faded away quickly, probably because of the reiryoku no longer being stabilized. "Now we're going to make the afterimages last longer, first with the single." Bariton informed. Gakushi stood steady and released reiryoku within his vicinity. He shunpōed within the area and appeared next to Bariton. The afterimage stayed for a bit, but disappeared like normal. "You need to keep your own reiryoku stable, don't send some out and completely forget about your reiryoku." Bariton aided Gakushi to hold out the afterimage.

Gakushi released reiryoku around him once more and shunpōed a little to the right. This time he closed his eyes and focused his reiryoku. The reiryoku continued to be charged over by the afterimage. The afterimage was formed right there, but broke away once again, it did stay longer however. "What am I doing wrong?" Gakushi said to Bariton. "Well, based on your spiritual pressure you may only hold your reiryoku afterimage for a certain amount of time. To recreate the afterimage you must shunpō back into the afterimage and out to leave another blur to support the afterimage." Gakushi released the reiryoku and used shunpō to create another afterimage. Gakushi held his reiryoku and started counting. 1, 2, 3... Gakushi counted in his head. The counting simply echoed around the inner world since it was his own mind he was inside. Gakushi got distracted by his own echoing inner thought booming around the dimension and released his reiryaku. The afterimage disappeared soon after.

Words - 516 - 10GP [50]

After falling onto his ass from the booming sound of his own voice all across the realm. Gakushi slowly got up, with the help of his hands. Focusing on not screwing up the technique. Gakushi released more reiryoku before shunpōing away. Once he felt he released enough, Gakushi shunpōed away. The blur formed more afterimages of himself. Counting in his mind, but not out loud in his mind. He waited for 10 seconds to be up. in what felt like forever, Gaushi shunpōed back through the area and resupplied the afterimages with a new blur. "Before you waste your energy I need you to learn to get even more afterimages." Bariton said. Bariton began explaining the way to create more afterimages, the process was the same as multiple, but he had to released reiryoku as he moved between the shunpō activation and shunpō ending. That meant, while Gakushi was moving faster than any normal person should, he had to release his own energy while doing so.

Once Bariton finished explain, Gakushi reluctantly said, "Alright..." Once finishing his acceptance, Gakushi took a big gulp of saliva that formed. Gakushi released more reiryoku like did with multiple afterimages. Shunpōing away, Gakushi's blur created more afterimages. But while he was travelling at extreme speeds he released more invisible reiryoku. After about 4 seconds, Gakushi appeared to be standing still with an unknown location since he was supplying multiple afterimages at once. This ability was taking a lot of energy out of him though. He surrounded Bariton with afterimages, gasping for air every now and then. This technique took more than a couple times to get it right though. After holding this technique for awhile around Bariton, he released it voluntarily. Appearing to one image, revealing his true location. Floating back down to Bariton, after being in the air by supporting his feat with reiryoku essence around his feet. Standing next to Bariton, Gakushi couldn't say anything, all he could do was gasp for air. His body was slumping, this technique made his entire body heavy. This ability would be a big tole on his body during battle, this must be worth it if Bariton was teaching it to him.

Bariton was looking in dismay at his exhaustion, he needed rest. So, Bariton began singing a lullaby again. The red cave of death turn back into the realm of blurry colors. The reds, oranges, and other colors formed to make the brown ground and walls. The white and red colors were swirling around next to Gakushi, about to form the bed. Under their feet blue and green colors moved together to for the area rug. Bariton continued singing, the song was at a nice angelic note that was being held. The colors were moving faster and faster forming the objects faster and faster. Once the bed formed, Gakushi jumped in it and immediately started sleeping. His body on the outside was doing perfectly fine. No one would dare attack or steal from him, he was an officer in the Gotei 13, that could penalize them to death. The pretty pictures and the fake outside of the house formed by the windows. Bookshelves grew with a desk and wooden chair.

Words - 531 - 10 GP [60]

Bariton laid down on another bed in another room he created. They both woke up after a very long time, the difference was that Bariton woke up on his own. Bariton woke up from his bed, rubbed his eyes while he walked into Gakushi's room, opening the homey wooden door, and looked at him still sleeping. Bariton shook Gakushi, even though he was being shook, Gakushi was as lifeless as a rock. He wouldn't react, so Bariton just pushed him off of the bed. Gakushi hit the strong wooden ground hard, like the lazy rock he was. He continued to sleep until he woke up with a cute little yawn and said with his eyes half closed, "...Why am I on the floor?..." Gakushi had no idea that he was even being disturbed in his sleep. In fact, Gakushi fell back asleep for a minute until Bariton kicked him in his side. Gakushi shook from the shock of the kick and woke up again. Gakushi jumped up and shouted, "Ah! Geez you didn't have to be so rough." Bariton didn't even bother answering his stupid response. "Alright then... It's time to put the Utsusemi Gunatsu I showed you to use in a technique I made." Bariton said. Bariton started singing a slow, lifeless, sad song.

The browns reverted back into the red and orange blobs, the bed reverted back into red and white blobs, the furniture turn back to their colorful blobs, and they were back into the realm of tripping. Suddenly, while Bariton was singing, the colors stopped flowing together. Every color blob stopped moving right where they were. The shapes were starting to sharpen. Blobs turned into squares, kites, rectangles, triangles, any straight shape you could imagine. The shapes started to move again, but they didn't flow. The shapes bumped together and passed through each other. While they moved, the color started to get sucked out of each shape. The shapes let out a colored gas according to the color they were. The corners started to fade, becoming pale, then becoming gray, and finally becoming either black or white. All of the colored gas gathered above Bariton's head into a solid ball of fused color. The ball imploded into itself, completely disappearing. The only color now, was on Bariton and Gakushi. The blacks and whites started to fold together, like origami. A stripe of black formed in between Gakushi and Bariton. The black started to flow, and the ground around the black was completely white. Within the white plains were black lines to simulate grass, and the black stripe simulated a river. A black river. White trees with black texture marks sprouted from the ground. The canopies they made were darker than the shadows they cast. In the plain white sky were black puffs. These puffs were clouds, black clouds floating in the sky. The lack of color and the odd choice of what to make black and what to make white made this realm very, very depressing.

Words - 500 10GP [70]

Gakushi looked around this depressing realm for awhile, Bariton let the feeling sink in. The black water was making no sound, the wind wasn't blowing, no animals, no rustling leaves. Everything was... silent. "Are you ready yet?" Bariton inquired Gakushi, after a minute. "Uh... Yeah, yeah I am. So what is this technique?" Gakushi answered with another question. Bariton paced around in front of Gakushi before answering. Finally, Bariton sat down in front of the lifeless black river. "Come, sit down, I'll show you." Bariton said to Gakushi, moving stones and swirling his fingers around in the dirt.

Gakushi walked over by the riverbed and took a seat cross legged. He looked down to Bariton's taloned fingers moving two rocks, thinking of how to get it right. He finally seemed to decide on a position. Once he figured this out, Bariton stuck the talon on his index finger into the ground multiple times, the dirt barely moved. No dust rose, even those tiny things showed how lifeless this realm was. Bariton finally finished his diagram and looked up to Gakushi, "You see these rocks? This one, is you." Bariton said pointing to the rock not surrounded by the dirt indents, "And this is your opponent." Pointing to the rock surrounded by the dirt indents. "These dirt indents are your afterimages. This ability is called Zanzō Rikugun Kanryō, Afterimage Army Finish. You create an army of afterimages, as stated in the name and then you form into one image. After that, the finish part comes in. You dive onto a single point on the opponent, but this isn't any normal hit. The afterimages you created move so fast with you that you can hit them in a focal point at least ten times, pretty self explanatory. Bariton said getting up after his long winded explanation. Bariton pointed to one of the black canopy, white bark trees on the blank field of emptiness, "You are going to split this tree straight down the middle with nothing but your fist. Now get to it."

Gakushi got up from his seat on the white grass and looked at the tree. He focused his mind and let loose some of his reiryoku around him. He begins to shunpō within the area, the blurs creating afterimages in the reiryoku. Continuing to move and letting loose more reiryoku, more afterimages form. He begins to surround the tree with afterimages in a matter of moments. Beginning to pant out of exhaustion, he continued making afterimages and resupplying the previous images. All of the afterimages appeared to stop moving and look to be staring down the tree. Gakushi started to pant even more, holding himself up by holding his knees. Gakushi took a deep breathe in and gathered the afterimages directly above the tree. Gakushi's image began to become like static on a television, it was trembling and shaking. The outline of his image was like it was a mere illusion from all of the concentrated afterimages focused onto one point.

Words - 502 - 10GP [80]

Gakushi's form was twitching. Not Gakushi, but his form. You could see him struggle to contain the power of these afterimages, but finally he turned to look down at the tree. Gakushi clenched his fist tightly, pulling it behind his body. His elbow angling at a sharp point behind his back. Gakushi then proceeded to dive towards the lifeless tree at a blinding speed. In a matter of milliseconds, the sound of a Gatling Gun went off. It wasn't a Gatling Gun though, Gakushi's repeated strikes within the split second made that sound on the poor white bark of the tree. In a moment's notice, a large crack was heard across the realm. The leaves dropped off the tree like lifeless rocks. The black foliage striking the pale ground. The bark split off onto the ground, and the tree started to break apart. Falling in two, all the way down to the roots. The tree smacked onto the white field with a loud, "thud."

He looked to the fist he used to crack a tree in half. "What strength..." Gakushi thought in awe. However the awe could not stop his bleeding, splintered knuckles. His muscles started to fell heavy, "Ugh... no wonder it's so powerful , it takes so much out of you." Gakushi sighed. Falling onto his bum, Gakushi leaned back and stared at the lifeless sky. He was panting from the training. "Tired eh? Maybe next time we'll get your physical endurance up a little more." Bariton said walking over to the resting Gakushi, "As if this wasn't enough..." Bariton was leaning over Gakushi. Gakushi was not listening to a damn word his spirit was saying. Bariton didn't bother singing for the resting realm again, it was useless. He wasn't about to pass out, he just was not used to the physical encumbrance of this new technique. Next time he uses it, he will be able to hold up the rest of the fight, "This is a finisher after all." Bariton said chuckling walking back to the black river.

Hours later in the spirit world, Gakushi woke up. He was expecting to be in a nice comfy bed in the resting realm. He was not, however he was on a lifeless white field cover in white tree bark that he had split hours ago. Gakushi got up and cracked his back, rubbed his eyes, rubbed his head, same old same old. Gakushi sat on a rock next to the resting Bariton. "Hey... Get up." Gakushi said boringly from being recently awoken, "What's next." Gakushi nudged Bariton. Bariton twisted his body to face Gakushi rather than the river. He answered, "What's next?" He said inquiring, "Nothing, you can go now."

"Really? This training is over?" Gakushi said semi-excited, "Wait... but how do I get out of here?"

"Oh! This is how." Bariton said with a grin staring at Gakushi. In a fraction of a second Bariton disappeared, in another he was behind Gakushi. Before a single second was up Bariton delivered a quick chop to the back of the neck. Gakushi passed out on the lifeless ground... again.

Words - 518 - 10 GP [90]