Rivals, Friends, Battles, Promotions [Private, Ragar]

Yato stood at the edge of the training field, waiting for his Rival to arrive. They were both called to do a preliminary battle for their Captain to watch, to make sure they were both progressing at the right speed. Yato had been progressing fairly quickly in his own opinion, it hadn't been long since he had met Ragar and he had already achieved his shikai, and was on track to training for his Bankai in the coming months. He also planned to apply to the Captain for the position of Lieutenant in a week or so, so he felt he was doing pretty well. Glancing up, he could just make out the white coat of their Captain watching the match from the top floor of the HQ, it was an unofficial official match, so she wouldn't be speaking with them, she just wanted to see their skill put forth. Shifting his weight, he felt Tengetsu on his back slide a little, and the chain wrapped around his wrist clinked from the movement, his body ready to rock and roll.

[Applying for Promotion to Lieutenant of First Division]

Ragar was feeling very excited about finally awaking his Shinigami. The first thing he had to do was reach out to Yato. This was his closest friend at the moment and he wanted to share his progress and maybe slightly brag. He would rush to the training field as soon as he could as this was where they planned to meet. As he arrived he would notice his rival had already arrived and there was something very different about him. "You... Youre much stronger then the last time I saw you. Its a visible difference. Haha how foolish of me to think I could come here and brag. Just your aura alone tells me you've done a lot of work." Although Ragar was still happy about awakening his Shikai he had know that he was already left behind by his rival. "I must work harder..." Seeing his friends progress was enough to lit his soul ablaze. He had thought his progress was fast but looking at Yato his accomplishments felt less significant.

[Applying for Promotion to First Seat of First Division]

Yato smiled as his rival arrived, he could sense that he had also grown more powerful than before by a significant amount. Just how powerful was hard to tell for sure with how much battle experience he had at the moment, which was zero bar the weak hollows that would manifest from time to time. It was an odd thing to think they had met doing such low tier missions and now here they were ready to show their captain their progress. "You have grown stronger as well my friend! It looks like the captain wants us to test our might and prove our progress to her. Don't hold back!" With that said, he would draw Tengetsu and hold it in front of him in a double handed ready stance, prepared to allow his rival the chance to make the first move. He could feel his Zanpakutō pulsating with excitement for the opportunity to clash with one of its own.

Ragar would clear all thoughts from his brain. He knew that he had to focus if he wanted to pull out his full potential. He knew that this spar would be a good learning experience for the both of them so it was best to refine their techniques and abilities in the spar. "Let's see start this off with an attack to test his power." Ragar would dash forward at his full speed while placing his right hand on the sheath of his Zanpaktuo. "You maybe be stronger than me right now but this doesn't mean Im not gonna give you a run for your money... Prepare yourself." Ragar would stop talking as he then place his left hand onto the hilt of his still sheathed sword before finally attacking. He would rapidly release his blade from his sheath to attack his rival. This attack would be a slightly slanted vertical slash using only his left arm to put force behind the attack. If landed, would leave behind a nasty cut from his right hip to his left shoulder. His right hand and arm would be left in reserve for the sheath of his Zanpaktuo. He needed to have some sort of plan to defend himself and what better tool was there then the sheath of his trusted soul weapon.

Yato saw the attack coming from a mile away, it wasn't that the attack wasn't executed properly, no, his form was flawless. It was just that his reaction speed had greatly improved. Though, he had absolutely no combat experience until now outside of Academy Spars and facing down weak Hollows, so his response wasn't exactly perfect. He would use his Tengetsu to parry the offending blade to the side, using his right foot to kick Ragar in his chest, if this ploy worked it would no doubt leave Ragar open for another attack, but Yato would instead use this opportunity to create a bit of space, as he passed by Rager, he would bring Tengetsu close enough to graze his skin should he not do anything to dodge. At that moment, he would activate one of Tengetsu's base abilities, to cause a layer of frost to form on the area he had cut slightly, provided Ragar hadn't dodged. "I wouldn't dream of going easy on you." 

Techniques used:

Ragar had known Yato was stronger than him but it was clearly an understatement. He had watched as his rather simple, yet direct attack was easily countered by his opponents blade. But this was not enough to discourage the the purple haired shinigami. Ragar made sure to watch his movements as he knew that there was a follow up attack coming. Sure enough, a rather forceful kick had been heading towards his way but there was not much he could do to stop it.

"Hmm!" It was then that a rather risky idea would pop into his head. Ragar would raise his right knee in preparation to clash with the kick of Yato. This of course alone would be rather damaging to his knee if stuck directly but he had something that would allow him to mitigate some of the force behind his opponents attack. Just a few seconds before the kick would reach his knee, Ragar would position his sheath between the kick and his knee. That right! His sheath, this is what he had decides to use to mitigate some of the force against his knee and help him take the kick. In fact the sheaths protection had offered him even more help, the remaining force behind the kick instead of damaging his knee had been helpful in pushing Ragar back a few feet allowing him to just barely avoid the slash aimed at him. Although in exchange the sheath was forcefully knocked away landing over 20 feet away from him.

"It seems like I have still be underestimating the strength you have obtained during our short time away. I was lucky to mitigate the force behind the kick and escape your Zanpaktuo... Tell me what is its name? I felt such a dangerous cold aura just barely miss me... Oh wait how rude of me. I think I should introduce you to my Zanpaktuo first..." Ragar wouldn't allow for Yato to respond just yet. As he said he was going to introduce his weapon first and to do that he was sure going to attack! "Secure the future... MASAYOSHI!"

As Ragar called out the name of his Shikai the once singular blade would rapidly seperate into two within a flash of light. The once singular blade had now become two short and long blades similar in appearance to its unsealed state. Before one could even focus on the new appearance of these weapons, the long of the two would then be pointed at Yato. "Long Arm of Justice!" Suddenly the longer blade of the two would rapidly began extending at a speed twice that of Ragars own speed hurtling towards the abdomen of Yato. This suddenly extension would surely catch his opponent of guard but Ragar was sure that this wouldn't be enough to take him down.

"Now you know its name haha. Feel free to share yours after you deal with my attack!"

Techniques Used:

Yato grunted as his kick and follow up slash met solid resistance from his rival. It was clear that not only had he grown stronger, but he was just as crafty as before, if not more so. This was further proven when he unleashed his Shikai. That was something he hadn't been expecting, but luckily, the distance Ragar's defense of his previous attack had been enough for him to have space to react. Barely. He would sidestep, bringing his blade across to block just in case Ragar swung the extended blade at him. He moved barely fast enough, as he noticed part of his clothes were cut. "Fine then, I'll meet fire with fire. Slaughter, Tengetsu!" His chokuto would glow with a blast of blue fire before solidifying into a massive, black broadsword with no guard and a long hilt. The blade itself was roughly four to five feet in length with another foot making up the hilt. Yato however was able to wield it easily with one hand. "Now... its MY turn." He would point Tengetsu at Ragar, before it would glow with a golden light, then extending in a similar manner to Ragar's own blade.

Techniques Used:

"I see... What a strong weapon and interesting powers. But don't think you'll gain the upper hand just yet! I have a few more tricks up my sleeve friend." Ragar stared down the sword of light coming his way in quiet a similar fashion to his own. But there was no panic in his face in fact he had already expected his own assault to be countered. It would be then that Ragar lifted the short blade still resting peaceful in his other hand to fact the sword beam. "Short Arm of Justice!"

Ragar would call out the name of his technique as the short blade would be covered in a white light before transforming in a mid sized round shield capable of helping him defend against attacks. This shield had direction clashed with Yato's own attack capable of completely stopping countering the attack from moving forward or dealing any damage to him. His shield had been completely able to stop ant attacks on par with its skill level.

Only attacks of a higher level could potentially go against the shield but even then Masayoshi had an ability to occasionally deal with attacks stronger then it as well... Right before Yato could recover from having his own attack blocked, Ragar would flip the long sword in his hand before forcefully spinning his body to allow his extended sword to attack the opposite side of Yato's body with its sharp edge. This would be seen as the sword moving exactly one hundred and eighty degrees in an attempt to hit his opponent where there was an opening.

Techniques Used:

His opponent apparently specialized in both offence and defense as he was able to not only block Yato's attack, but also immediately counter attack with the longer of his two blades. Yato had only a moment to think before he was sliced in half by Ragar's blade. Activating the Shunpo ability, he would leap into the air over the blade, lashing out with his chain in an attempt to wrap it around Ragar's extended arm carrying the long blade, while aiming his still activated light blade to keep the shield occupied. "You are certainly full of tricks! This is a much tougher bout than I even anticipated!" And that said he even expected a difficult fight.

"Haha I of course cant match you in raw power and ability thus far... However my ability to scheme against my friends is something you'll never be able to match! Alas such scheming only has little effect against true power. I am aware that I cannot win this fight however there is no harm in displaying all my abilities and tactics anyway. Don't think you got me on the ropes just yet I have one more ability I can use against you. If its not able to touch you then I'll sure have lost."

Ragar had watched the chain being aimed at his arm but he did not panic. The chain being lunged at him had so happened to coincide with the ending of the extension time of Long Arm of Justice. Luckily the blade being quickly retracted would allow him to activate his final offensive technique one of the strongest in his arsenal currently. "Rain of Justice!" The once now retracted long sword have suddenly shot forward in quick speed aimed at the chain being launched at its master. But this was not the end of the attack. The sword would once again retract before extending again knocking the chain off its set trajectory even more.

This process of retraction and extension would repeat twenty times in succession allowing a flurry of sharp sword images to lunge out to attack and deflect he chain. There had even been five sharp sword images to be launched at Yato that were capable of slipping past the defenses of the chain. "Look my dear rival we have garnered the attention of the captain a long time ago... So give this final clash your all. Maybe well be able to advance in our positions and be one step closer to achieving our goal. Dont hold back!"

Techniques Used:

Yato was stunned at the capabilities displayed by his rival. Not only was he able to deflect his chain, but he was able to attack him even through that! It was astounding, and the speed was incredible! It seemed that his opponent had also taken note of the Captain watching their bout and was content with giving his all into this final assault. Fine, he would give likewise. Spinning Tengetsu in front of himself, he would generate a thousand icicles before they all caught fire. Pointing his blade, the icicles would launch forwards, meeting Ragar's Rain of Justice with his own Thousand Flaming Icicles! "Sen no Tsurara!" With his technique activated, he made sure to just put in enough juice to cancel out the other attack, not wanting to hurt his friend. Glancing up, he saw the captain motion in a manner that said, "That's enough." so he would stop. She would expect to see them both individually later he had no doubt.

Ragar watched. As the thousand icicles head his way. He knew that he couldn't contend with such an attack but he just didn't intend to just lie down and take the loss. He would push his ability to the limit allowing him to fight off a good portion of the icicles with his Rain of Justice. "Such Power!" He would keep struggling against the flurry of icicles until some finally made its way through his attack landing on his body and knocking both his long blade and his shield from his hands. Not long after he would even be knocked back causing his body to lay on the ground as he heavily breathed and looked into the sky. "I have lost..."

This would be said loud enough to declare his defeat as his brain went over the events of the fight. He studied where he should improve and what new insights he gained into the power of his Shikai. This match had been very helpful for him and he knew that he had chosen the right person to befriend. He would stare off into the distance as his eyes rested upon the captain of the first divisions wondering what was going through her mind about the spar.

Yato sighed as he released his Shikai and sheathed his blade on his back. Walking over to Ragar he would extend his hand to help his friend up. "You did very well. Your innovative tactics could give anyone a run for their money!" Right when he finished speaking, he sensed a powerful but highly suppressed pressure behind him. He immediately stiffened up, he knew that pressure anywhere though he had only ever felt it once before. Turning stiffly, provided he had helped Ragar up, he would back into line with his rival and stand at attention. "Captain!" 

Captain Yamamuro would smirk, "You two put on quite the show, as such, I will be bestowing the following rewards. Ragar Rose III, I hereby raise you to the First Seat. You have proven not only tenacity in difficult odds but the capability for complex thought and strategy on the fly." She would then turn to Yato, "And as for you, I promote you to Lieutenant of First Division. You displayed not only great potential, but you have grown a lot since you met your rivals. So I can tell you will only continue to grow." With her piece said, she would turn and walk away. Her word was law after all.

Yato would grin as she left, "Congratulations, Ragar! We have great things ahead of us, but for now, I think i'll return home. I need to rest!" He would laugh and then Shunpo away, to his home to celebrate in private.

[Exit]

Ragar would accept Yato's help to raise to his feet. He was truly exhausted but he had learned alot and was truly happy. "I tried my best haha" It was true he did try his best but he knew that this was not his limit. He would continue to keep working harder and make sure that he doesnt fall to far behind his friend. It was not long after that Yato called out the captains arrival that Ragar would silently bow to her. He would listen closely to her compliments as a smile was plastered across his face. "YES, I have been promoted this is great. I have finally surpassed where my dad has in the past. Hes truly going to be shocked." While all this ran through he head he surely chose to remain silent until the captain was finished. "Thank you Captain Yamamuro." It was that he too congratulated Yato for his big promotion of Lieutenante as he bid him farewell. "It looks like were both progressing a lot faster than we thought. For the captain to take notice means were doing something right. We have to keep going down that path and be prepared for anything." This would be the last thought that ran through the Shinigami's head before he would walk off into the distance to return to his private quarters and get some rest.

[Exit]