Cero Training

Lets do some math, cause pages are boring.

5 lines a paragraph, two paragraphs, that's ten lines
2 pages at 15 posts a page, that's 10*2*30

In total, 600 lines

Set One



Galihan was lost in the heat of battle with his ferocious opponents. As he straddled the back of the 3rd Menos and used some of the tail feathers he had to stab it rapidly, he found himself in a tight situation as the moment he defeated his target another pounced immediately at him. The Espada was caught off guard for a moment, but was able to at least react in the heartbeat it took for him to thrust his arms forward, catching the menos before it slammed into him. The force of the lunging menos pushed Galihan back several meters into a tree, but he managed to throw him off before it fire off sliced at him with his razor talons.


*Previously: Galihan had been training the ability to increase his cero, Galihan was able to see vast distances from both the air and ground and Galihan wanted that, in fact he had been finding out the many many different ways he could use Galihan’s incredibly eyes for scouting abilities and such, but it was time for Galihan to get his own eyes so to speak. Which led up to today, where Galihan and a few dozen menos were practicing in order to hone his new enhance cero. After three days of training with the cero, the strain it had put on Galihan’s reiatsu had lessened severally, and now his eyes did not water every time he had done it, nor did he get splitting headaches when it was on for any amount of time.

Nevertheless, things do not always go so perfectly, Galihan was not just going to give this secret away; in fact it had been a month or so since Galihan had any sort of training or exercise in fact, he spent much of his time moving from place to place looking at new attractions, one week on Egypt, the next in Brazil, sampling the local cuisine so to speak seeing where his preferred places of residency would be. As Galihan moved, he did just lazily hop on a plane, fly and drink till he felt like taking a walk on the wing of the plane, he would pass out for days at a time from drinking and partying too much at local hotspots, or rather he would sometimes gorge himself at these places and pass out from eating too much.


Return:

Espada Galihan gave a snarling scowl as he brushed his hands clean of the dirt that has gotten on him. Galihan leaped high into the air, preparing to land a crushing blow with his bare hands to the top of the fourth menos whom he had just wrestled with, but was intercepted in the form of the second m slamming into Galihan's leg. A swift kick to the head of the large menos did not loosen its force; if anything, it only hurt his leg.

Galihan growled as he landed hard on the ground, his leg swollen with abundant pain. He stood up, his stance a bit shaky but he would manage. Galihan picked up his discarded long sleeve shirt, and tore into strips and tightly wrapped his wounds in a makeshift bandage. He hobbled on the spot for a moment, adjusting to the painful swelling. He waited and glared coldly into the sky as four sets of glowing eyes stared at him eagerly, waiting for the wounded prey to make a move.

We can stop, Galihan, the flock said in unison. If you are prepared to admit defeat for now, you may live to try again tomorrow night.

Galihan's deep green eyes glared towards the cold dark sky with emotionless pain. He refused to admit defeat to himself, but he knew that death was never an option. He would have to die someday, but hopefully not anytime and definitely not like this. He wanted to die of some natural causes, sleeping peacefully would be a blessing, a worthy death of any Espada and the likes plus the upmost responsibility of his personal Espada principals to uphold that ideal. To die here would be a disgrace to everything Galihan was. He had no choice.

"Damn."

Galihan sat down on the cold ground, and took off his glasses again for a moment before he fell on his back and looked up at the sky. It was almost dawn, and Galihan knew he would have to try again the next night. In addition, the night after that. Moreover, the night after that. And so on, until he could properly see and use this new cero too the upmost of his abilities.

"You win tonight, Menos." Galihan scoffed, beginning to choke in pain as the adrenaline wore off and the pain hit him hard. He ought to check into feeding relatively soon to rejuinvate his strength and to get some of his wounds tended, namely his leg, or at least return to the city and see if anyone had been out and about looking for him, or trouble as Galihan could usually find trouble. The four menoss merged together into one again, but not the giant monster he had been before, just a menos no larger than Galihan himself.

"You didn't do that bad." Menos mentioned as he approached his master, shimmering next to him and beginning to dissipate into a cloud of steam until all that remained was the necklace with the menos medallion that was Galihan’s sidekick. Galihan rubbed his hand along the steel medallion, still hot but rapidly cooling down until it could was placed around his neck.

"Not tonight," Galihan said aloud to himself. "You better watch out though, because I'm going to do this soon, I can feel it."

The sun began to lighten up the horizon of the dawn sky, and Galihan got up on his feet. He would be back the next evening at the same spot to resume his training.




*Some time had passed, Galihan recovered from the battle, his spirit could not be quieted about the war, his brain moved like a jack hammer about tonight, darkness could not come quick enough, and Galihan was too excited to really think of anything else, it was if hundreds of ideas came in, yet instead of throwing bad ones out, he focused on turning them into good ones, a process that made it seem like forever and a day before nighttime arrived. The entire day Galihan had spent donning the glasses, taking in everything around him, then taking it off only to repeat the process again and again over the course of the day, he must have looked moronic to some people as he ran across the roof tops in broad daylight with a menos like glasses on his face, his laughter at some of the things he saw was enough to make people stop and stare. However night did eventually come, it was something of a blessing and a sin, as Galihan still wanted to run around staring at things, as weird as that sounds. As the sun rolled back, and night began its gentle embrace, Galihan made his way towards the grounds where he had practiced last night.*


Time seemed to be slowed to a halt, the few minutes as Galihan took to observe the wreckage of his training session last night, it felt as if it were at least two months of nothingness. Galihan of the Espadas took a heavy breath of the evening air, a deep sense of determination flooding his mind as if anticipating the power awaiting him by the time his eyes set upon the next sunrise. Tonight, he would surely be able to overcome his weaknesses and force his Galihan to grant him full precision of this cero.

"It’s about time we begin, isn't it?" The shadowy Espada said out loud, although directed at his back and also to himself as if ensuring he'd hear it for certain. It was time to begin.

He leaped down from his perch high in the trees, landing on lower branches and leaping again all the way till he reached the forest floor. The cold dirt and fallen leaves made for a soft landing, silent to the untrained ear. Galihan made haste, sprinting with utmost speed and stealth along the ground, between the massive trunks, under the occasional low branch and over the large roots which would easily dispatch a careless person running at such speeds as was being ran by this Espada. It was not long at all before he made his way to the very clearing he was in at the beginning of the day. Before he began his training session, he moved towards the waterfall and took a look at himself in the pool below.

Staring back at him, was the face of one determined to succeed no matter the cost? He grinned at his own reflection and performed a large back flip, landing in the middle of the meadow with his Galihan already out and lazily making circles in the sky. Galihan watched as the menos slowly descended from his sky loft, landing a few yards away, it took two hops towards Galihan before speaking in its metallic voice.

"What are you doing?" Galihan asked, his echoing voice filled with strong dumbfounded overtones.

"What do you mean, 'what am I doing?' We're about to fight, right?" Galihan replied confusedly, loosening his body and relaxing his stance to one more casual and less implying prepare to die at my hands.

"Who ever said you were going to fight me now?"

"Last night you yourself said if I admitted defeat for now I could try again tonight!"

"I said 'If you are prepared to admit defeat for now, you may live to try again tomorrow night.'"

"That's what I just said you retarded freak!"

"Last time you began at midnight. It is not even nighttime yet, it is still only sunset. There'd be no point if you had a few more hours extra this time round."

Galihan was not pleased at all, at what he just heard his doll say to him. No pleased at all. He felt his temper begin to raise fast, his reiatsu starting to skyrocket with dangerous intent.

"No point," he began. "Tch, your just scared I might actually do it tonight, you’re afraid that a few extra hours might tip the scales in my favor, how weak are you that you cannot compete with me for a prolonged period of time, and how weak to you think I am that I would fall for such a futile and pathetic argument as that !"

He paused, the power of his own words sinking into his own words sinking into his head. It was one thing to try and bemuse the situation, however his doll was way of course if it thought that type of rationalizing would demonstrate a superior intellect in what Galihan could and could not do.

“You hear me! No more hiding in the darkness, I already can do that! This is so I can fight, so I can unleash your power on my enemies, and win! No more running from an inescapable foe! I will fight you head on, and defeat you so I can then defeat anyone in my way! Do you hear me, Galihan? I intend to defeat you, no, tonight I will defeat you with my every ounce of being! Tonight, you will submit to my will, my resolve to fight!"

Galihan stared at the menos figurine of his doll angrily, focusing his determination into rage. He raised his hands like claws, his predatory instincts bringing out the beast in his soul and extending that to his body. Galihan stared back, his own body pulsating brighter as he moved, ready to pounce.

"Good," the menos mewed in a deep tone. "Let me see your rage, and turn that rage into strength, don't let your anger blind your senses, only let it sharpen your claws, empower your soul, prove to me that you are worthy of my power!"

Galihan laughed, a massive haunting laughter filling the air for miles as the moon began to rise in the evening sky while the Espada began his new training against his doll. The man roared as if a beast himself, channeling his energies into his fist as he lunged at the doll Galihan with a burst of speed and power, causing a raise in reiatsu that could probably be felt all throughout Kyūshū itself, especially at this hour when most people were settling down. His punch hit empty air as the Galihan effortlessly leaped out of harm’s way, but Galihan did not let his momentum stop, he leaped backwards and threw a powerful kick that also nothing and another punch that only hit a tree, breaking it into hundreds of wooden splinters. He looked back at the angry doll, which now stood exactly where it had before having avoided the first attack of the evening.

In the golden light of the evening, Galihan looked brilliantly magnificent, a metal being made of blacks and blues that appeared to melt into the dimming sunset itself. Its powerful voice echoed throughout the clearing,

"Are you deaf, stupid, or both," It chastised. "What part of not blinding your senses did you not understand? Am I speaking in riddles? S h o u l d . I . S p e a k . S l o w e r . F o r . Y o u ? Pathetic, and to think that you fancy yourself worthy of wielding my power as your own! If that's your best than give up now, I don't have time to play with a pup who fancies himself the king of the pack! I can see you're determined, but effort alone isn't strength by itself."

Galihan donned the glasses, his cero increased, his emotions still ran rampart across his mind, but somehow the glasses made everything seem crystal clear and bright as day. Adajuchas did not split itself apart like last time, instead he took to the air in a mighty leap, his wings flapping downwards as a mighty gust picked up in his wake. Galihan could see everything, from the jump to how high the menos was, to the slightest tip of his wing, to how one small twist changed his course. Therefore, now it was a waiting game for Galihan, Galihan was the one who would have to attack, seeing as the menos was literally watching him like a hawk for any signs of aggression. The first dive was nothing more than a fake out, Galihan could clearly see the menos was not anywhere near the proper depth for the dive to work out correctly, and when he started pulling up he would only wiz past Galihan’s head.

With the new release form, Galihan took a chance to pluck two feathers out from Menos’s tail feathers as the swoop came in, one in each hand he readied himself for the next attack, however Menos stayed up in the sky for some time, long enough for Galihan to move towards the forest for some better cover, and better angles for opportune strikes. Suddenly Menos split into the dreaded six, and each of them came swooping in, but Galihan with that wonderful release form was able to accurately predict the speed, trajectory of each of the menoss, his body twisted in the air, contorting in a horizontal fashion, one of the daggers whizzed past his body directly into the closest raptor as it disappeared into dust. The other dagger was slicing upwards at the raptor zooming next to his head, neatly cleaving it off; it too disappeared in a cloud of dust. Galihan was left with one dagger and menoss, each of them having taken a vicarious preach on nearby trees. Watching Galihan to see what he would do neck. It did seem that the ball was in Galihan’s court, even with the release form, it was not like he could accurately predict the future or slow down time. However Galihan also knew that even with four menoss, he could take out another with that dagger, and three on one was much better odds that four.

Therefore, Galihan decided just that, taking the dagger he tossed in the air once, and then threw it like a knife at the closest raptor, which vanished once again into a cloud of dust. Galihan took off like a jackrabbit with a wolf nipping at its butt. He moved through the forest adeptly, he could see behind them the raptors, gaining on him quickly, as he moved. Suddenly one was overhead; a loud screech was head as the trees around him burst from the pitch of the noise. Doing a rolling tumble, Galihan came up on his feet only to be knocked down once again by another of the raptors. Three huge slashes across his back, from the talons ripping into him, a cry went out as pain rippled through his body. Galihan managed to get to his feet by holding to a protruding root next to him, using it as leverage. Steadying himself, Galihan scanned the area for the remaining three raptors, his eyes caught one, however the second one was currently rising on a thermal, and the third one must still be behind him, however he didn’t want to take his gaze away from the one he did have in front of him. “Damn” he said softly, he needed another set of knives to properly handle the situation.

Galihan moved himself on the back of a tree, at least guarding himself from that angle, and there he waited for the next set or waves to begin. The forest around him was incredibly silent, beads of sweat dripping of Galihan’s face fell to the ground like shattering glass, and his breath seemed to be the thunder of tanks rolling by. Galihan scanned the skies, number one and number two were flying in the vicinity, and however number three was still unaccounted for. Then it happened, or more properly Galihan was stunned and awestruck, the third came up from behind and sliced the tree he had his back to clean off, its razor sharp talons sliced through it like a loaf of bread.

Galihan moved faster than he had in a long time, his body dove headfirst out of the way, not even glancing to see exactly what happened, he rolled a few yards before springing to his feet. Coming up he watched as the third menos came in, like a perfectly laid out map in his head, the distance, speed, all that was sent from the release form. His hand filled slightly with green aura and as the menos came in, he struck out with a clenched fist, punching threw the raptors metal feathers, pain lancing out as it happened, bloodied and cut, the raptor vanished in a cloud of dust. The first thing in Galihan’s mind was *dam, I needed those feathers* before grasping his hand in agony, as it was cut up worse than previous encounters.

Overhead number one dove at him stream line like, its beady eyes focused intently on him, Galihan by the grace, no not grace, by the release form’s amazing sight capabilities managed to alert him from the corner of his eye. Judging the distance, and the closing speed, Galihan nimble side stepped out of the way as the raptor whizzed past him only to pull up at the last second. Galihan adeptly plucked three feathers from its tail, and as it trailed upwards, threw one at the base of its head, sticking the raptor started to fall towards the ground before vanished in a cloud of dust. Two knives left, Galihan’s right hand bloodied and stiff loosely clutched one of them, his left however held it in a throwing manner, as if at any given second it was ready to be launched.

Menos softly landed, cocking its head before it spoke, “I suppose you plan on using those last two feathers on me, do not waste your time, you could not hit me even from this distance. I commend your efforts tonight; you have nearly mastered the release form”

Galihan stared at Menos, his cold green eyes staring intently at the menos he could almost drill a hole through it. Galihan threw the dagger in his right hand, it was strong enough to making the whooshing noise, but its aim was for the wings, not the body, Menos simply jumped to the side, only to have the left knife land at its feet a split second afterward. Galihan smirked, “Nearly huh” before sitting on the ground, right arm limp from pain.

“Perhaps I underestimated your abilities, indeed such a gain as this deserves a good meal no?” Questioned Menos, the raptor knew it was beaten, but it didn’t want to admit it just yet, there would still be other battles before this war was one.

Galihan stared at the menos, his fist loosening and he let out a frustrated sigh. He knew that at this rate he'd tire himself out despite having just started the night's training and that Menos was right, this wouldn't get him any closer to achieving bankai. He thought of himself as one of the greatest espada in all of Soul Society to fight like this, but that alone wasn't enough and he damn well knew it from the very beginning.

"I guess you're right," Galihan chuckled lightly. "It really is impossible for a espada to beat down his own doll with only his fists, isn't it?"

Galihan vanished using shunpo and appeared right next to Menos and shoved his hand into the beast's chest, performing a kick off of it's head to get away after ripping out a chunk of the doll's actual body itself, which materialized into the form of it's sealed sword form. He landed gracefully and silently, a swish of the blade through the air shaking off the remaining nuts and bolts. His glare was serious and calm, and he launched himself at Menos again, this time only missing its metal body with his blade because at that moment Menos had slit up into six separate smaller versions. Well only five because one of them was struck down and reduced to a flash of blue fire that was sucked into the blade itself.

"Do not underestimate my willpower," he stated strongly. "I am not delusional nor a lair."

"That's good," Menos replied after a brief pause of appreciation. "This is what you must be in order to defeat me!" The smoldering canines' bodies ignited into bright, flames all charging at Galihan from five angles.

He leaped high above and they merged back together as a single large being, who followed him skyward. Galihan sheathed the blade onto his back and held his hands down at the incoming beast.

"Almighty serpent of destruction! Soar above the heavens and earth, judge our actions as benign or wretched and punish us accordingly. Deem us worthy of your divine presence, rain catastrophe on the wicked! Hadō Number Fifty, Dragon's Wrath!"

A powerful explosion of fire erupted from his palm that lasted half a minute while he kept raising into the air. When it subsided, Menos still came at him but was met head on with a powerful kick to the head which send it falling into the forest. Galihan began to fall and soared towards the fire spirit, drawing the blade and landing in a tree that wasn't destroyed by the meteor-like projectile that was Menos's falling body. Menos again split into a group of 5 and began to run vertically up the trunk of the tree that Galihan was in. The Espada hopped off and began to slide down the vertical trunk, eventually running and he cut through another one of the Menoss, sucking it's fiery form into the sword.

Something isn't right, he thought to himself. This is being too easy to be actual bankai training, it's almost as if he's letting me think I'm winning to catch me off guard for some sort of trick. So it won't work on me, I'll be ready for whatever nasty surprises he has for me.

Galihan lowed himself to the ground, a small target is often times more likely to get missed, in fact he was almost counting it as a blessing that he had found himself a small rut in the ground, anyone looking on with angle below 45 degrees would have missed him completely. He sat it utter silence, his mind running over simulation after simulation of what exactly would happen if this, or if that, however each one always ended the same way, a cliché where he was victor, sadly life never went so perfectly like that. Off in the distance a cool night breeze started to sweep in, the temperature dropping, dew point falling, the night chill was something to be adored when working so strenuously, however he had sat for several moments, and the cold sweat stung at his body as he held in several shivers.

Above him, a pierce broken the dead of night, almost as if the very fabric of reality had shattered, high and a bit of a whine to it, however it was sharp and clear like the tolling of a bell to signal the hour. It was him, Galihan couldn’t discern the direction from which it came, it sounded as if it was everywhere at once, bouncing and rebounding off the ground, trees and even his own body. Silence once again filled the air, nevertheless broken once more by the high pitch pierce, a scream, it sounded closer, and somehow higher in frequency. Galihan readied himself for an assault, his sword clutched in his hand, his grip tightening; but shock and awe captured the night, for in that next, second, his body ripped in pain, two mighty talons grasped into his flesh of his left shoulder and arm, the grip was sickeningly strong, and it felt razor hot. A gauntly laughed spurred the menos, his words matched his near victorious effort “You defended yourself poorly, I gave you two warnings, aerial combat is my domain, but I will drop you back to yours.” He said as his talons, as quickly as they entered, the left, body searing in pain, Galihan plummeted to the ground landing hard on his right shoulder, the only thing protecting it from dislocation was his guard.

Wounded, slightly disorientated from the fall, Galihan staggered to his feet, Menos swooped in several times, slightly above his head, as if playing with him, each time Galihan raised and swung his sword in a feeble attempt to fend off the attack. Then there was silence, the earth itself became still, Galihan started clenching and unclenching his left hand in an attempt to regain feeling, and eat away and the numbness of it. A single flap was heard off in the distance, Menos launching himself from some perch, watching me thought Galihan, he smiled weakly, at the end a menos is just a menos. Steadying himself on his sword, Galihan swallowed a lump in his throat, if his plan was going to work, he would need to be perceived as vulnerable and defenseless. No screech came this time, just a small down draft of air and the giant menos pulling Galihan up, 6 more holes pricking into his flesh as the menos rose into the air. Galihan was ready this time, or was more prepared however, his right hand reached up and his voice was horse and rash “Caja Negaction” he meekly managed to get out, instantly huge stripes of some material wrapped itself around the menoss wings, folding them straight upwards at an angle most unbecoming. With a scream, the menos and Galihan fell towards the ground at an alarming pace. The menos doing a nosedive, Galihan hanging limply from its talons, sword in his wounded and searing left hand.

Both bodies hit the ground that left a small creator and trail in the ground, dust and debris filling the air for a few moments before slowly subsiding back towards the ground. Menos bleated out a few harsh cries of agony or whatever it is it was feeling, Galihan however was a bit more seriously wounded, blood flowed freely from his sword size holes the menos’s talons created, his left arm was useless, and his right was sore and most likely bruised up and down. He was thankful that his right arm had taken the brunt of the fall and that his arm guard was even there, but his right leg around the kneecap was in bad shape, most likely sprained and the likes. Galihan just laid on the ground for a few moments, his arms and legs spread eagle out in a fashion, his head off to one side, and his eyes staring coldly at Menos, the giant metal menos staring back at him just as cold and menacingly as Galihan was staring at it. Neither one spoke, in fact neither one wanted to be the first to say something; both thought that the other would admit defeat. Galihan was determined, Menos was stubborn, and eventually one would have to give, today was not Galihan’s lucky day. His will was strong, the body was weak, giving out before he even had a chance to speak, in a flash Menos was sealed, Galihan on the ground chocking on his own blood.
End of Night Two

Galihan did not come back to the hill for some time, his body had recovered mainly, however his mind had not, unwilling to “betray” his friend for so many long years, he was not able to even properly comprehend sealing its fate by killing it, or even something remotely close to that. For about a week Galihan contemplated exactly how to handle the situation, and how he could win without harming Menos as much as he had done before, which oddly enough was not part of his plans. Galihan began to train by himself during this time a simple escape from the reality and gravity of the situation. It began with just simple hand-to-hand combat; slowly it increased its grade to performing kidou in “dire” circumstances he created just in case something dire happened. At first it was simple spells, basic level fire balls and the like for target practice, however it grew into something more, his Dragon’s Breath technique became a regular for the exercise, huge burn marks straddling across the ground, in a pattern that would make even the noblest espada worry what was making those marks. It wasn’t as if he was moving along at a good click, rather he was using them breath to literally burn holes into boulders, or cut down trees without causing them to burst into flames, several times he used it on water sources and nearly boiled several small ponds of coy fish alive. The ones he did manage to fry, where simply delicious and a wonderful mid day snack. However, Galihan realized that the ground was becoming sooty and black with all of his effort, track marks that looked as if huge machines had come through and burned whatever was in there path. Galihan left his sword alone, he did not want to even touch it recently, his brain factoring out so many plausible scenario’s that it became almost a phobia to touch it, for fear that every time he did somehow his bankai would burst forth and decimate him and his surroundings. So Galihan went on this way for a while, practicing his dragon’s breath every day, sometimes twice or three times a day, just to get the kinks out of his system, as he worked at it, the more he wished to once again hold his sword, and so the cycle continued for several days.
It was on the fifth day that Galihan tried out a kidou he had been working on for the past few years, a mist like substance that when used dulled the sense’s of those inside the cube, which was perfect because it went along so beautifully with another kidou spell he had come up with, one that would trip and cause general confusion amongst those who haven’t fought that way before. One might imagine recanting a self made incantation to form a specific kidou in mind might be easy, however the difficulties of it were so vast and great that even saying the new spell would take more out of Galihan on the first try than fighting off several hollows at once. The formation of any spell in particular is harrowing on the mental stamina of the user as much as it is on the physical strain of using such as spell. With this in mind Galihan formulated a plan, starting off slowly, figuring out exactly how much reiatsu to use and the proper sequence to use it in would be key to properly utilizing the spells conditions and availability.
The mist ebbed out from under his feet, the drain it put on his mind was immense, as the first time he had actually tried to formulate the plan in the confines of his mind.