Curiosity...Part 2 (Porta/Clyde/1v1)

[Azerik Zaraki]

Azerik came out of the Senkeimon, above the shopping district of Karakura, so he stood there for a moment and surveyed the area. Eventually deciding there was nothing to be gained by looking at things from afar, he began to descend, the fingers on his left hand absentmindedly tapping the hilt of his Zanpaktou.

"I smell a lot of things around here," he commented to himself, "at least half of them being food...some reiatsu as well."

This surprised Azerik, he did not expect to be able to make out the scent of spiritually aware humans so easily. Perhaps there were more of them than they let on...?

[Clyde]

Clyde would be seen atop a ladder outside the manga shop, hanging a small sign over the manga shop. The sign in question was for a sale that a customer had suggested the shop do to bring in more customers. Clyde was not really a business man, or anything even remotely close, so he had decided to listen to the advice of the people who shopped around in the store. With Hasaki gone he had long since taken over the duties of the shop, but he imagined most people did not believe that someone of his age currently owned the building. Technically he didn't, but no one ever asked any questions so it never mattered.

"25% old manga volumes this week. Good." Clyde repeated what the sign had written on it as he leapt down from the ladder effortlessly onto his feet. To the average human this would definitely be impressive, as he descended about six feet as if it were a few inches. The streets were busy though, few if any witnessed his small little use of power. "I hope that's a decent enough sale." As he muttered to himself he began folding up the ladder to place it back inside, wondering just how much money this place actually made...he never even used any of the money he got here. Now that he thought about it he wasn't ordering all these manga either, they just arrived on his doorstep ever week. Odd.

[Azerik Zaraki]

Hearing a thud as he descended, Azerik turned to see a human boy, standing outside what appeared to be a hobby shop of some sort. Sniffing the air, Azerik could tell that the boy was the source of the reiatsu he had been smelling...all of it. This kid's scent literally overpowered the others, including Azerik's own.

Looking closer at the shop now, Azerik realized it was a manga shop, and from what he knew of Nonko's dealings, this should be the location of Hasaki Ryo, a rogue Shinigami...someone who could be considered "friends" with Nonko.

"Excuse me," Azerik directed at the boy as he made it to the ground, "but is Hasaki Ryo in?" He knew it was reckless to approach someone with such an advantage over him so lightly, but his curiosity was getting the best of him. Ryo was a legend...his entry in the database wasn't even up to date and it was impressive.

[Clyde]

"Hm?" The young man stopped in his track when a voice called for his attention. His head turned back casually to see who was speaking to him, and his eyes widened in general surprise when he saw it was clearly a shinigami, dressed in the iconic robes and with his zanpakuto strapped to his waist. "Oh, a shinigami!" The emblem in his arm was, if Clyde remembered correctly, that of higher ranking members of their group. It may be possible that he was here like the other shinigami that were patrolling the area in preparation for the arrancar's next move.

"I welcome you...but," He hesitated in his welcome some what. "I'm afraid you're too late if you wanted to speak with Sensei." Clyde continued, before pushing up of the entrance to start bringing the latter inside. "Come inside, please. I would prefer to discuss things privately. The humans around here already think I'm crazy enough to run this shop instead of getting an education, hehaha." He laughed sincerely briefly before letting himself into the building; he assumed the shinigami would follow him.

"My name is Clyde." He introduced himself as the two entered, placing the latter somewhere in the back storage room. "I trained under Hasaki Ryo for quite some time." He walked back to the front of the room, lifting his hand to offer a handshake. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but Sensei; I mean, Ryo was training humans like me so that they may defend themselves from hollow. As our powers seem to attract the beasts. Until the cusp of the arrancar invasion he had remained here to aid us. But just before the arrival of the arrancar, something caught his attention; something dangerous. Whatever it was, he knew he needed to go and handle it. I'm afraid I have not seen or heard from him since, and its been up to us to handle the arrancar threat." He added, quickly to the end of his explanation. "Well, us and shinigami of course. I'm sorry, hopefully I can address whatever matter the shinigami wanted with him."

[Azerik Zaraki]

"Damn, said Azerik scratching the back of his head, "I was looking forward to picking at Ryo's brain..."

Most everything else Clyde said was unimportant to Azerik, excluding the mentions of Arrancar, and his training under Ryo...

"Wait did you say he trained you?" Azerik said suddenly, "You were trained by arguably the strongest 11th Division Captain to hold the rank?" Azerik gripped his sword in excitement. Fighting and his research were the only things Azerik enjoyed in life, and fighting someone with combat training that could rival a Captains was something he enjoyed most of all.

"I wonder if you're in the database at all?" Azerik said as he tapped the button on the side of his glasses only to make a disappointed sound, "no data...all I can get are your power levels from the analysis engine. Impressive mind you...what sort of powers do you have?"

[Clyde]

"Oh, uh, yes. He did train me." The young man confirmed with slight embarrassment. the shinigami's question, scratching the back of his own head on instinct. "I'm sorry for asking; why is it you are here, exactly?" The grayed eyed boy questioned curiously; the individual he spoke to did little to explain what he was doing here at all and was in fact ignoring some of the conversation Clyde had with him.

Clyde watched the as the excited brown haired individual fiddled with his glasses, looking through records that were somehow accessible with the lens. The terms he used however did sound familiar to the human. He recalled his meeting with Nonko, back after his defeat against Karzan; when the two met Nonko did a very similar thing as the shinigami did now. "Analysis engine...are you apart of Nonko-sama's division, then? I remember he used something similar when we first met."

"My powers?" The boy awkwardly said, a small sweat drop forming on the side of his forehead. This shinigami definitely was a part of Nonko's division; the way they acted always seemed just a little impersonal and creepy. Still the shinigami were allies, and Clyde had no reason not to tell the man about his powers. "Ahem;" he cleared his through, "Uh, alchemy...and reiatsu manipulation." He quietly admitted, not exactly sure what kind of reaction he would get. If it was anything like Nonko, it would probably weird. It was not that the young man was nervous, he just was not exactly prepared to have a conversation with a shinigami; especially one like this individual. He imagined the man had been here for business related to the arrancar...but it was become more obvious he was just poking around on his own.

[Azerik Zaraki]

"Oh right sorry, forgot to introduce myself," Azerik as he smacked his forehead into his palm before extending his hand in greeting, "Azerik Zaraki, Vice-Captain of the 12th Division...of which Nonko is the Captain of yes...and your observation is correct, Nonko's right eye is a mechanical body modification that's linked to our databases. My glasses work in a similar fashion, since they were made from spare parts the Captain left around. I couldn't stomach the thought of pulling one of my eyes out though."

Azerik blinked as Clyde gave a simple synopsis of his power/ "Alchemy?" he questioned, "As in transmutation of one substance into another?" Azerik was confused...from what his research told him, Alchemy was not much more than ancient chemistry that peasants and idiots thought was magic...or perhaps it was in fact both things?

"Could you display how you use your power for me? he said suddenly in a serious tone, "This warrants first hand study." As he spoke, Azerik scratched at where the wires were implanted under his left wrist. Perhaps an understanding of Clyde's "Alchemy" would help him upgrade his devices for energy efficiency...Reiatsu manipulation wouldn't be bad either...

"I would suggest we take it elsewhere though...it's my understanding that Nonko had a training facility built under this shop for Ryo, is that correct?"

[Clyde]

The boy looked on unfazed as the shingami revealed his name; however it did not go unnoticed to him. “Zaraki? It couldn't be...” His name…that name…it wasn’t possible. He thought he had misheard it, prayed he had; but Clyde already knew that he had not. The shinigami said his last name was…Zaraki. There was only one other with that last name that Clyde knew of. Was it possible, was Karzan somehow related to this shinigami? The human saw though, noticed that the shinigami seemed to hold no weight behind the name at all, like it did not matter. Did he-was it possible that he did not know? …If that was true, Clyde knew now was not the time to discuss such things. This shinigami sought out knowledge, but certainly not that kind of knowledge; that was a revelation that for now would remain dormant.

Realizing he had been thinking to himself for the moment, he cleared his through and continued with the conversation. “Ahem…A pleasure to meet you Azerik.” He bowed to the shinigami. “If you wish to see a demonstration I suppose I could do that for you; Nonko is an ally so I can’t just turn away his vice-captain.” He turned his arm and pointed it back towards the end of the shop. “The wasteland is done that hall…wait, Nonko made that? Huh, I guess I never thought about how it got made…figured Sensei built it himself; I suppose it’s not that much of a surprise though.” The young man thought aloud as he led the shinigami to a more appropriate area.

“It’s not much further…” He started to say as his feet echoed against the hard surface of the steps leading the wasteland. No matter how far they descended, Clyde’s mind drifted back to Karzan and Azerik. It was surreal; the head of the arrancar invasion had a relative in the shinigami ranks? Whatever it meant, Clyde knew that there were vastly more important things to be focused on than this. At the very least, he had a guest…an ally even, and he needed to show him respect, regardless of what he thought. “Here we are, Azerik.” He introduced loudly as they exited the dark cramped staircase and entered the large training area. The endless dirt and mountains that covered the area bathed in the illusionary light from above. It was always quite an interesting thing to see.

“This will be more than subtle for a demonstration of Hou-renkinjitsu.” The boy would take a few short hops forward, which thanks to his leg strength actually bounced him quite a few feet with every bound. Once he was a safe distance in, he turned to face Azerik, lifting his right arm up; the arm still bandaged heavily from his training with Drystan. “This, is all I require;” he admitted with a slight hint of pride in his voice. Lowering the hand, he grabbed hold of a section of dirt and lifted it up to show the shinigami. The palm squeezed the dirt tightly; gray reiatsu shining through the cracks. When he opened his hand, a small crystal was in his palm. “Alchemy.” He repeated with a light smile. “Though I must admit, this field of my power is somewhat limited in its current form.”

[Azerik Zaraki]

"Impressive," Azerik said with a whistle, "its much larger than I thought it was."

Azerik looked on with interest as Clyde demonstrated his "Alchemy" changing a simple handful of dirt into a small crystal. "Interesting," he said as he tapped the hilt of his Zanpaktou, "do the transmutations maintain their shape indefinitely? Or does it require constant use of your power?"

As soon as Clyde responded to his questioning, Azerik would draw his sword with a flourish, and holding it with both hands-left hand on top in his peculiar habit of switching dominant hands for two handed strikes-pointing down to his left. "I'd also like to know your ability's uses in combat," Azerik said flashing a grin, "like I said...first hand study."

As he waited for Clyde to assume a combat ready position, Azerik's vision would narrow, as his pupils dilated to the point of becoming slits, and his canines became more prominent fangs. He was itching to fight this boy, he just knew it would be interesting.

[Clyde]

“It’s not quite that simple. Alchemy is the guiding of objects with your reiatsu into new shapes and forms.” He admitted as he turned his palm over allowing the crystal to fall to the ground which actually did maintain its shape. Thanks to his training with Drsytan, Clyde did have small amounts of knowledge for him to create simple, but permanent, objects. “My power is the manipulation of reiatsu, the breaking down of particles to create new things. It’s not just transforming an object; it’s rebuilding it completely from scratch. One might consider it a much more ‘raw’ power of alchemy; while I am capable of making permanent objects it requires much more concentration and my knowledge with it is limited. In my current form it is not usable in combat.” The human explained briefly. There was much more the explanation than that, but it would take hours if not days just to go over the basics that Clyde himself was still rather new to.

“No, where my power excels is the control over reiatsu itself.” He continued as he brought his hand down once more on a mound of dirt. “My arm is the generator and the objects around me are a catalyst,” At those words another flash of his reiatsu engulfed his hand, creating a gauntlet of pure energy that surrounded his hand. “Once I have a catalyst I can bend it to my will and empower it with my own reiatsu; manipulation of the particles in its purest form.” Clyde showed an example as the gauntlet changed again to a sword shape, then a ball, and finally a walking cane shape. This shape then bent like a noodle and snaked around Clyde’s bandaged arm effortlessly. “This is my power over alchemy.”

As he wrapped up his explanations to Azerik, the shinigami seemed to get more excited by each passing word. The “science” behind it interested him greatly, and he wanted to test it to the fullest capabilities. The boy’s gray eyes lowered somewhat expectedly as if he knew things would lead to this. “You wish to see my abilities in combat situations? I could show it to you if that is truly what you want…but I must ask for something in return.” At this a small gust of wind passed over the artificial land. “I feel the arrancar invasion within the human realm will be reaching its final moments soon. ...You need to convince the shinigami to be here and ready to support the humans as soon as your return to the Soul Society; we need everyone to be here and prepared before the final battle happens. If you do this for me, then I will let you test my powers first hand right now.”

[Azerik Zaraki]

Azerik paused for a moment, his eyes flickering back to their plain grey appearance, while his other wild features remained.

"I can't make any promises Clyde," Azerik said slowly as he loosened his grip on his sword, "not only am I not on good terms with the Captain-Commander because of a spat I had with his brother, but I'm not supposed to be here...Vice-Captains are supposed to remain in Soul Society unless ordered by their Captain, and are supposed to have half their power sealed when entering the World of the Living. Because I've used alternative methods to get here, I'm currently for all intents and purposes abandoning my post...and evading the power limiter that's placed on high level Shinigami who leave Soul Society through normal methods...the most I can promise you is that I can be present for the battle should it take place. I'm also sure one of my subordinates will come, and I can ask Nonko and Nanako to come...I can also ask Nonko to hint at the possibility of an attack on this world, but as things stand, I cannot promise you the support of the Shinigami, just my own."

Azerik stood still, now only one hand gripping his sword. He knew what it was like to have one's home attacked...it was one of the things that stood out in his memory...like it was burned into his soul. He remembered the moment he had died, and when he had been sent to Soul Society by the Shinigami that had found the rampaging Hollows that had been Azerik's family...that was over 200 years ago, and unlike other residents of Soul Society, he was incapable of forgetting it. He wouldn't abandon anyone to the same fate.

[Nonko Ryuuza]

"You'll have no trouble from the Captain-Commander, Azerik." Nonko said as he and Nanako walked up to the two. After letting themselves in and come to this training area Nonko heard just about everything said in the last couple of seconds. He looked at the human boy for a moment before turning back to Azerik.

"Currently you are assigned to follow me on a mission to evaluate Spiritually Aware human's possible threat to this realm's balance." He smiled as he lied through his teeth. No such assignment was set, nor was there any real mission. Nonko had left false orders on records on the system to prevent any future issues of him and his vice-captain being here.

[Clyde]

Before Clyde could respond properly to Azerik, a third voice was heard coming from the steps leading down into the training area. It was familiar to the boy, and when the two came into view he instantly recognized Nanako and Nonko. “Ah~! Nanako-san, Nonko-sama, welcome,” He bowed some what excitedly on their arrival to the training grounds, “I see you are both in good health, I feared the invasion might have taken its toll on both of you, but I can see that I had no reason to worry.” He exclaimed sincerely to the two shinigami. He raised himself from his bow and looked on as Nonko explained the legality of Azerik’s “mission.” It seemed like the captain was feeling a bit nicer than usual, which was fine by Clyde.

When Nonko revealed the false mission to his subordinate Clyde would reply with a sly grin. “Hmm, well it’s a good thing you bumped into me if that’s your mission. Though a mission like that might take a long time to evaluate…” It was good to see Nonko doing his best to help within the situation they were in. At the very least, Clyde could count on these three in aiding against the arrancar’s next attack. “I’ll of course help in anyway I can, so long as there are shinigami to help Karakura town.” The boy reiterated his promise; he played along with the little lie. When you thought about it though there was really even no reason to lie; no one was listening to them down here.

[Azerik Zaraki]

Azerik stared at Nonko as he entered the underground facility, and blinked twice before shifting the position of his glasses-in actuality bringing up the false order to display on his left lens-and saying, "Understood Captain."

Azerik suddenly bared his fangs in a wide smile, his eyes reverting to their golden state. "Well that's that then," he said as he rotated his neck and stretched his arms before gripping his sword in both hands again, "lets get the show on the road."

As he spoke, the device on his arms would rotate 90 degrees, and from it would form a circular energy shield, purple in color. This was his first test of the device, and Clyde's ability seemed to be the perfect thing to test it on.
"Don't hold back too much," Azerik said lightly, "you may be stronger than me, but I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve."

[Clyde]

((Skipping over you Nonko cause you're a bystander in this thread :3c Sorry!))

Clyde titled his head towards the shinigami, whose movements and appearance certainly resembled something a little more feral than most other shinigami. It was odd, but only helped remind the human of Karzan and the way he acted in his released form. The boy only had encountered it once but it had left quite an impression on him.

Now Azerik stood in front of him, activating some sort of barrier around his arm, like a small buckler. “Hm, that's interesting,” The boy looked on curiously, “That doesn’t look like it’s related to your zanpakuto.” Clyde commented as he formed an object of his own using the swirling energy around his arm. In a flash a long blade of about four feet long was crafted, though from how the boy held it, it seemed to be weightless.

“Don’t worry Azerik-san; I promise by the end of this fight you’ll have a good understanding of what I’m capable of.” Clyde assured the shinigami. The young man bent his knees at this moment, keeping his eyes on the vice-captain. With incredible force his legs would push against the rock beneath his feet and launched him forward at an incredible speed. Lifting his right arm up, he would simply swing his sword down upon Azerik’s shield to see what it was capable of.

[Azerik Zaraki]

The shield took the attack with ease, and Azerik bent his knees to absorb the shock of the impact. "You're right about the shield," Azerik said as he pushed on the shield to shove Clyde back, "this device uses my Reiatsu to create a stable energy field to propel physical and energy based attacks...its only as strong as the user though, and I've taken precautions to make sure I'm the only one who can use it."

After shoving Clyde back, Azerik shouted, "Bakudou #47: Cadvar Thread!" as purple reishi threads began to sew Clyde's feet to the ground. Taking the opportunity, Azerik lowered his shield and jumped at Clyde, bringing his sword down in a vertical slash. Hit or miss, he would follow up by gripping his sword in both hands, and slashing horizontally to his right, which would bring his shield up to his normally undefended front left side.

[Clyde]

Clyde was impressed that the shield was able to block his strike completely, but was not exactly caught off guard by the deflection. He jumped back from the shield to avoid a counter attack from Azerik’s Zanpakuto moving a fair distance away from him while he explained how his shield worked. The explanation was very quickly ended as Clyde reached the ground in time for Azerik to shout an incantation at the young man. Suddenly threads of reiatsu wrapped around Clyde’s legs to keep him on the ground. “...What the?” The boy called out as he was caught off guard by the sudden Kido; he had never faced an opponent before who could perform such an ability.

His gray eyes darted upward when Azerik approached him, who swung his zanpakuto down at the young man. Clyde was quick though, and brought his weapon up to deflect the blow; when he did however, the hilt he held onto changed, manipulating in length and shape until it maneuvered and stabbed through the threads that tied the human down to free his legs. Freed from the spell Clyde moved back from the horizontal strike before stabbing forward at Azerik once again, his sword changing shape into a spear-like object as it struck at the barrier in front of the shinigami. The purpose was not to harm, but to push the shinigami back with his strength. He would stab forward again, but this time aim higher up on the shield to try and break his balance.

[Azerik Zaraki]

Azerik's eyes widened as he saw Clyde's weapon shift its shape to free its master from the ties that bound him to the ground. "Fascinating," he said with a fanged grin, "near instantaneous shape-shifting of transmuted weapons, allowing for versatility beyond use of conventional weapon users..."

Azerik didn't have time to say anymore, as he tilted forward when Clyde moved back. Catching himself just in time, Azerik cringed as he was shoved back by the force of Clyde's blow, but readied himself for the next move, thrusting his sword around the top of the shield, missing Clyde's weapon which hit his shield again, knocking him off balance.

As he fell, Azerik pointed the index and middle fingers of the hand with shield on it at Clyde saying, "Hadou #4: Byakurai!" and firing a bolt of lightning to try and keep the human boy distracted. After casting the kido, Azerik placed used his shield to break his fall, and pushed himself up as quickly as he could, getting back into a defensive position.

"I'm not sure if I'm lucky or not," Azerik said with a rough laugh, "I always end up fighting opponents that force me to release early...but I'll hold out for as long as I can...you need to enjoy this too after all."

[Clyde]

Clyde saw that as Azerik fell he began quickly yelling a chant once again, this one a different name and number. When the shinigami raised his index finger, Clyde reasoned the attack would most likely be a projectile. “Hmm, got it!” The moment it fired the human pressed his feet to the ground before jumping upward, sending him a just over the beam of electricity as it whizzed by him.

Now in the air the boy’s jump arc was putting him right over Azerik as he was recovering from getting knocked down. With a grin the boy lifted his spear over his head and very quickly gathered a small surge of reiatsu to its tip. “Crescent Slash!” He yelled down at the shinigami, as he swung down and sent a crescent shape blast of energy down upon him.

The recoil from the small blast was enough to keep Clyde in the air just long enough to fall behind the shinigami. Spinning his weapon in his right hand he instantly changed its shape back to a sword similar in appearance to Azerik’s zanpakuto and spun himself around to face the older spirit, delivering a horizontal slash towards him in the process.

“I think I understand those spells you’re yelling out.” The boy spoke casually of his analysis as he stared at the shinigami. “The first name is the category of the ability, Hadou or Bakudou, with each being its own class and list of spells, right? The number is the rank of the spell and then finally the last name is the spell itself which is how you activate its power. Tell me, am I close?” He questioned curiously, his face completely sincere.

The young man lifted his left arm and placed it upon his own “sword” as he explained his analysis, “It’s kind of like when I call the name of my attacks, except…” He trailed off as energy gathered into the blade, “I don’t actually need to call it to use it.” Then, as if on cue, another small blast of reiatsu was released from the sword even though the boy had not even swung it this time.

[Azerik Zaraki]

Azerik reeled as the blast slammed into his shield, exploding on contact, and tearing away a chunk of the energy that composed the shield. When the dust cleared, it would show Azerik with the shield slowly regenerating as it took more of his reiatsu into it.

"That's correct," Azerik said with deep breath before he continued, "those are called Kido, or Demon Arts. Most Shinigami can use them but not all. Hadou are 'Destruction Spells', and Bakudou are 'Binding Spells'...and you're supposition about the number being their rank is correct. Some spells also have a preceding incantation, but not all of them do, but using the incantation increases the-"

Azerik cut himself off to dodge the smaller blast Clyde used to demonstrate what he was saying, smiling as he did so. "...to increase the strength... he finished with a laugh, "there are some who can use Kido without the words, but they're masters of the Demon Arts...

As he finished talking, Azerik looked at his slowly regenerating shield.
"This won't hold up very long against you," he decided, I guess its time to get serious."

Without further word or movement, the shield disappeared, and the device rotated back to its original position on Azerik's arm, only to be hidden by the sleeve of his shihakushou.
"This is gonna be fun," Azerik as he gripped his sword with both hands, "it's always more fun this way."

Opening his mouth wide to take in a breath, Azerik shouted into the desolate area, a note of feral laughter in his voice.

"Bare your Fangs! Sumasshuyochi!"

SPOILER: Click to show

Reiatsu: 140 +35 = 175

Attack: 190 + 35 = 225

Speed: 160 + 35 = 195

Weapon Skill: 140 + 35 = 175

As the words left his mouth, Azerik would be surrounded in a purple aura, as his reiatsu poured out of his sword blade, engulfing the katana. In his hand it began to writhe and shift, growing and straightening. When the transformation was complete, the purple aura faded, revealing his massive Zanpaktou. Lifting it easily in one hand, Azerik slashed at Clyde from where he stood, sending a blast of super condensed air toward the Human boy.

As the blast traveled, Azerik would cause a ribbon of purple energy to erupt from the tip of his sword, and by swinging his sword as well as controlling the reiatsu put into the ribbon, Azerik caused it to swirl around him, tapering to a point above him. He then jumped into the air as high as he could, and angled his descent toward Clyde, the spiraling ribbon tightening and focusing in front of the tip of his sword, forming a drill of purple energy.
"Rasen no Joukai!" Azerik shouted as he descended, aiming the point of the drill toward his opponent.