Ltd. Edition [Aryll, IO, nk]

As he began to rise into the air, Kozurou already had a plan as to what to do next. With that strange enhancement on the mech gone, he had the advantage in ability, but not in position. After all, he was in midair! He'd land back on the ground and kick this thing until it broke. Well, that WAS his plan until he saw the puppet raise its appendage. Crap, it was going to keep him in the air until his chakra ran out. As he reached the apex of his ascent, he would have already stretched his hand out, palm towards the machine, targeting the girl inside.

The hazy genjutsu was a fairly simple technique, and pretty easy to escape if you were good at gen release. However, Kozurou was banking on one of two things: either she wasn't adept with the technique yet and would be hopelessly caught, or she would need to waste time to break the genjutsu. Either way, he cast the hazy genjutsu on her. Should it land (which there shouldn't be anything to prevent as far as he saw), then she would be immediately paralyzed, caught within the illusion of the forest and the sand trap.

This would allow him to land, knees bent slightly to absorb the impact. A couple of lightning-fast shifts would be enough to get him out of range of the puppet, putting him about ten meters away from its base. Damn unfortunate, this. There was no way he was going to let the puppet enter that powered state again. In addition, he couldn't maintain this technique forever, so he needed to end it quickly. To this effect, he would seize a rock from the ground and perform a single one-handed handseal, turning the rock into a cane about a meter long, light enough to wield with his right hand. He knew that if he threw it, the girl would probably use some trick to intercept it, so instead, he would begin to run back in. He didn't want to dismantle this machine, as the girl (or whoever had actually made it) had clearly put very hard work into it, which he respected.

Still, he had his own honor to think of. Failure was not an option.

Should everything go through as state, Kozurou would now have started moving toward Thane from a distance of about 10 meters, the white aura of the Mystic Soul Star still surging around him but weakening noticeably as his chakra dipped below the halfway point or so.

TWO.

[TWC 2172]

As the boy soared into the sky, Aryll prepared Thane to fire a blast upon him, but then, the boy thrust out his hands at her, and Aryll felt herself being pulled away from this place. Suddenly, the setting shifted, and the falling boy, who had been at her mercy, was now gone from her view. Replacing it was the shadow of a huge forest. The area appeared to be some sort of jungle, something she knew for a fact was not native to Kirigakure’s setting. The way the scene had morphed, the way her opponent had vanished, she knew this could not be real. Taking one look at her own chakra via her byakugan told her as much. What the hell was going on…?

In the real world, Thane’s cannons suddenly lowered, his arms falling slightly into their resting position, useless. Thane stopped moving, which would affirm to the boy that the girl piloting the puppet was indeed trapped within both the genjutsu and the puppet. The protective armor of Thane would save her for now from any major damage, but it would be useless against the enhanced strength of the boy’s form.

Within the illusion, Aryll glanced down, her byakugan showing her the ground beneath her was… Sinking. Thane’s feet were sinking into the sand, which was quickly flowing faster and faster, sucking her down into it.
”Shit, shit, shit.” She muttered, fighting against it, forcing Thane’s legs to fidget and fight the sand. No, wait, that wasn’t how it worked. She remembered reading that you weren’t supposed to fight against quicksand like that, that it would only make you sink faster. Thane’s huge arms latched onto a tree and tugged, trying to force her up. Still, her strength was not enough. She racked her brain for a way out of this place. She knew that this was an illusion, and she knew that fighting it was useless. The massive strength of Thane should have freed her, yet it did not. She also knew that Kirigakure did not have a jungle, nor did it have quicksand. Plenty of regular sand, yes, but not quicksand.

So this was a genjutsu. She’d heard about them in the academy, and she’d even seen one used when Haru fought with that guy who was holding her hostage. There was a technique, she knew, that would save her from this illusion, but she’d never formally learned it. Still, she’d heard the basic concept behind it. If she purged her chakra system by rapidly flowing chakra through it, she’d be able to free herself, she knew that much. As a Hyuuga, she already had phenomenal chakra control, so the ability to purge her system would come naturally to her. The trouble now was remembering which hand seal the instructor had told her to use for this technique. It had been so long since she’d been in the academy, and they hadn’t placed all that much emphasis on fighting genjutsu, for some reason. Ugh.

Aryll knew she didn’t have much time. She knew that there was only one hand seal, so she just rifled through as many hand seals as she could. Monkey? No. Dragon? No. Rat? No. Bird, maybe? No. Ox, it had to be Ox! No. Snake. No. Dog, yes! It was Dog… No, no it wasn’t. Horse! No! Ram? No. Boar? No. Hare? Nope. That just left….

Her brother’s favorite hand seal, the tiger seal. That was the answer. She made the hand seal, confident that it would allow her to escape, and… Nothing. She knew that this was the seal, it made perfect sense! Then her eyes grew wide. Her body, outside of this illusion, wasn’t moving. That was the reason she could not escape. She was paralyzed inside this genjutsu. That meant only one thing… She had to get out of here, without using hand seals. It would not be easy, but her natural talent and her Hyuuga heritage would assist her. Aryll had always been a quick learner, after all. She focused on her chakra, as if she were making a tenketsu needle whilst using the gentle fist, and then forced that same change along her entire body. She forced her chakra to erupt quickly, again and again, pushing harder and harder as her chakra began to flow faster and faster, pausing periodically and then starting again, rushing throughout her system. As she did this, Thane sunk deeper and deeper, mercifully providing her with oxygen, but also proving to be a coffin for her, as sand quickly poured in through the vents.

This is not real, this is not real, just focus, Aryll. Focus and you’ll be free. She told herself, sighing as she closed her eyes and concentrated on her chakra, making a tiger seal merely out of habit and because it helped her focus, even if it wasn’t going to have any actual effect. She took a deep breath and released her chakra once more, forcing it to accelerate, to purge this foreign chakra. Learning a jutsu without being able to use the hand signs was incredibly difficult, but if anyone could do it, Aryll could. She forced herself to focus despite the quickly rising levels of sand that threatened to entrap and suffocate her. Thane’s body was now completely covered, Aryll could see, and that was rather terrifying. She was breathing frantically now, unable to focus, but unwilling to give up.

Calm down. This isn’t real. This is just a trick. You’re gonna break yourself out of here, and then you’re gonna kick that little shit’s ass for cheating. She told herself, and the notion calmed her, her anger and competitiveness motivating her to shut the hell up, control her breathing, and concentrate. She returned to forcing her chakra to flow, faster and faster throughout her system, and this time, it felt much easier. She gave one last push, willing her chakra to explode from within, to force this poison from her mind, and then…

Aryll’s eyes seemed to open as her byakugan told her she was back in the fight. As her eyes seemed to open from that horrible nightmare, the boy would have just landed, and was quickly dashing away from Aryll to put some distance between them. This would work well in Aryll’s favor, as it gave her time to establish her link to Thane once more. She shot five threads from her hands, and Thane’s frozen form whirred to life, his four arms rising in a combative stance.

”Nothing like a trial by fire.” She muttered shakily, still a little out of her own mind from the genjutsu. Still, she was back in the fight now. She knew that boy’s magical bullshit that he was using made him very fast and very strong. She knew her puppet dash was the only thing that could allow her to keep up, but her chakra cannons were currently recharging. That meant that she had no option but to try and tire him out. Her barrier could eat a few attacks, but she doubted it’d last long against him. She hadn’t had time to load Thane with caltrops, damnit, otherwise she could have kept him at bay. That left… Her chakra dome, the four shots left in the water cannons, and the barrier. Less than a stellar arsenal, but it would have to do.

As the boy bent down to retrieve a rock, Aryll made her first move, firing a blast from the top right of Thane’s cannons, directed straight at Kozaru. At the same time, Thane would begin to backpedal to put more ground between them, having recognized that the boy had very little in the way or ranged tools. Thankfully the training area still had like 300 meters of space before she would reach the edge, so Kozaru wasn’t about to run her off of the training area. She knew so far that he was unskilled at ranged combat, so she would just take advantage of his own weakness.


(TWC: 2815)


Mid thread claiming 14 stats and both Genjutsu release and its mastered form (No hand signs ofc)

Damn, she was able to snap out of it that quickly? Well, that's fine. He'd achieved what he needed to, which was ensuring that he got back on solid ground. He noticed that the puppet had already started moving, which was bad. He had been hoping for a little more time, but people didn't always get what they wanted. He noted that she had started to fire on him from a distance, but since he had started to move before the water jet reached him, just a simple body adjustment, leaning slightly forward and down would let him avoid it before he straightened up safely out of the path of the stream, the whole time accelerating towards the puppet.

At about six meters away, his arm would move, throwing the cane at Thane's head like some kind of javelin. He was tired of playing around with this girl, but part of him still wanted to know how durable the behemoth was. Even if he didn't manage to punch through the armor with this projectile, it would still be thrown with enough force to knock it over, most likely. He knew the non-appendage parts of the thing probably weren't nimble, but he wanted to bait out any more traps the girl might have in store for him.

Those water cannons worried him a little, but he was sure that he'd be fine. What was REALLY concerning was the buildup in stellar energy within him. He knew that he could just tote it around with him, but he kind of didn't want to. What he did next though would depend on the girl's actions. The best case scenario here was if she became pre-occupied with the cane, but he knew that she was smarter than that. Despite how annoying her toy was, he was growing to enjoy this somehow. The weak really could become strong with the right talents, and she was an example of that. Either way, by the time the makeshift javelin cane reached Thane, Kozurou would be around two meters from its base, keeping a close lookout for its arms.

Should any more threatening actions occur to him, Kozurou wouldn't stop performing his actions, instead making actions to dodge them, given the appropriate circumstances.

[TWC 2756]

Aryll could have sworn the boy was moving slower, but it seemed something had changed. Perhaps some divine force had changed the boy’s actions at the last second, but the results were the same. He dodged the first blast of water, and Aryll knew it would do no good to keep trying to hit him. He was too fast. Still, she did have enough time for one trick. The boy was moving at her quite quickly, even with her backpedaling at speeds that were somewhat comparable to his, and would likely be unable to turn very sharply. His plan would go accordingly, up to the point where he drew back his arm to throw the cane. As he did this, Aryll would do two things at once. Firstly, a barrier would form across Thane’s chassis, but this would likely not be noticed due to the second action.

As the boy began to release the cane, still running towards her, a dome of chakra would begin to form around Thane. While the boy was moving incredibly fast, the dome would, mercifully, have time to form about 2 meters in any direction from Thane by the time the cane reached her. She was banking on this being enough, and, to her delight, it was. The cane disintegrated against the force of the chakra dome, its form not durable enough to survive the sheer force of the barrier, even in spite of the force that it carried.

Now, by this point, Kozaru, who would definitely not stop his actions even if Aryll did something threatening, would likely have collided with Thane’s chakra dome due to having made no effort to slow down. While perhaps he was strong enough to pierce the dome, it wouldn’t feel great, as the dome would attempt to disintegrate him, the swirling chakra battering the form of any who enter it.

Damn it, just how many hidden tricks did that thing have up its figurative sleeves? In theory, he could just pick up another rock and toss it, but he doubted that she'd let him do it. With this chakra dome coming up, he also doubted that he'd be able to survive contact with it. Damn, was this some kind of last resort defense? In that case, he'd have to respond in kind. Within a fraction of a second, he checked that enough stellar power had condensed within him, and with a slight motion of his arm, the countdown ended as he released the built up power within him.

This would occur right as he saw the dome being released, the cane first hitting the dome, then the shockwave released from his body at 105 power and 89 speed. The dome, being not solid chakra, wouldn't inhibit the shockwave as it would pass through and hit the puppet. Upon doing so, Kozurou would find that the barrier it had thrown up would have been enough to dissipate its force. Dammit, he had to-

But before he could do anything, the expanding dome would blast him back, knocking him away from the puppet and onto his back several meters back.

"I... I won't lose...!"

He got up, the power churning around him, flaring even higher as he attempted to pour more of that medical enhancement chakra into his body. His right forearm bone changed and a part emerged, becoming a sword in his hand. However, rather than charge back in, he'd wind up for a throw at his maximum speed. However, just as he was moving his arm forwards to throw the solid bone in hopes of penetrating through the puppet, the Stellar Transformations and Mystic Soul Star suddenly sputtered and died. The blazing auras around him snuffed out, and he fell face-first into the dirt from pure exhaustion.

Damn it... pushed myself too hard again.

There wasn't any permanent damage to his body, thank goodness. This kind of limit training was good for him, but losing was not. Still, he'd learned a thing or two about the girl's machine. When they had at each other again, he'd be more prepared, though she'd probably have a few more toys of her own. Still, this was perfect. Essentially, to him, these were extremely powerful training dummies. She'd clobbered him pretty soundly, so he'd probably find her and ask to spar with him again at some point. In time, after he'd been beaten down over and over again, his body would improve.

For a few seconds, he remained there, his whole body drained and aching. It burned... but it was a damn good burn.

[TWC 3206]

Aryll's chakra dome expanded, the boy seemed to throw something out that was very similar, releasing his own blast of energy that seemed to overlap with her chakra dome and strike Thane. Thankfully, her barrier ate the blast, shattering under the force but defending Thane from an otherwise unpleasant battering. As Aryll’s own dome blasted the boy back, she smirked, before realizing just how exhausted she was. She hadn’t registered just how much chakra she’d used in the fight, but using both the barrier and the dome immediately after breaking the genjutsu was a bit too much for Aryll. Her hands were shaking as they cast threads into Thane, and she felt herself unable to sustain them anymore. Releasing Thane, she saw the boy readying himself for another attack, seemingly pulling a sword from… From his arm? Okay, well, he readied himself to attack, and then…

Promptly fell flat on his face. Aryll grinned as her vision blurred and her byakugan’s powers deactivated.
”Heh…” She muttered, smiling weakly, the grin of someone who held victory in their hands. She sat there in silence, her byakugan deactivated, nothing but the dim sunlight that came in from Thane’s vents to grant her vision. A few shaky breaths quickly became slow, controlled ones, as Aryll tried to recover. She sat there for awhile, her eyes closed, her body protected by the cocoon of Thane’s metallic armor. She could rest here for a moment…

She had recovered enough, though she was still dangerously low on chakra. She pushed Thane’s hatch open and attached a few threads to one of the big guy’s arms, which reached inwards and wrapped its fingers around her, lifting both her and her chair out, and depositing her on the ground. Thane’s hand went back to a dutiful position supporting its crouched form, and Aryll disconnected the threads. As she wheeled herself towards her opponent, part of her expected a sucker punch for what she was about to do, but she’d cross that bridge when she got to it. From what she’d seen, this boy had some modicum of honor, even if he was kind of a dick. She wheeled herself until she was paralel with him, then lowered her hand to him, offering to help him up.

”...You’re pretty good.” She said, grinning tiredly. ”Come on, stand up.” She’d say, either helping him up or dragging the poor guy to his feet. ”I’m Aryll.” She’d say simply. She felt it was right for the two to exchange names, as she had still not gotten a name to the face of the one she’d fought.

The fact that the puppet didn't walk over and toss him out said quite a bit about the girl within. Firstly, was she as exhausted as he was? Her body didn't seem to strong, but appearances could be deceptive. Still, if throwing up those defenses required chakra... well, that was useful knowledge as well. He'd keep it in mind for next time. As she wheeled herself closer to him, he was tempted to pop up and knock her out, but knew that it probably wouldn't go well. Sitting up as she came closer, he blinked twice to clear his vision.

"Not good enough." He took her hand as she helped him to his feet. "Didn't think you'd have that many defenses on your toy. Guess I should've known better. I'm Kozurou, by the way." He had enough energy to stand, maybe even to maintain the Origin Style, but probably not the best idea. Besides, the girl seemed perceptive enough to not be fooled by it. Looking down at the bone sword he'd made, he wondered if he'd have had enough energy to throw it had he shut off the Stellar Transformations earlier. As it was, though, he had no way of knowing. Besides, without the durability it gave him, he might not have survived that expanding dome of chakra.

In the end, better safe than dead... or torn up. Either way, looked at the girl, his face skeptical. How did she train, exactly? Surely, it wasn't just all chakra and puppet practice. If it was, he'd be mightily surprised. Then again, he knew no training regimen but his own. Pushing himself as far as possible without killing himself, then fighting progressively stronger opponents to determine what he lacked in. Sure, he dabbed in some meditation here and there, but it was mostly to clear his mind and organize his thoughts rather than help control his chakra.

Still, despite all his hard word, he'd still lost. How humiliating. Destroyed by a cripple girl and her baubles. It just meant that he had to work harder, but most of all, he needed to fight smarter. Kozurou had a tendency to rush in, and attempt to deliver a powerful blow as quickly as he could, but he had few ways of dealing with those who hid behind tricks and suits of armor. So, all he really had to do was learn from this. Shouldn't be too hard.

"Well, I guess you won." Bowing slightly, he would turn to leave...

[TWC 3622]

As she wheeled herself towards him, Aryll was practically positive that he was going to go for a cheap shot. Her tired mind raced and she almost considered hopping back in Thane before something shitty happened, but she continued regardless. She couldn’t show fear, and he was too exhausted to continue, it seemed. As he took her hand and was helped to his feet, Aryll considered applying a palm bottom strike to his chest. It wouldn’t be particularly difficult, just a sharp influx of chakra into her hand and from there into his chakra circulatory system. The results would probably sting and, at this point, render him unconscious. She left her form ready in case he tried something cheap like that genjutsu he used, but it seemed she was fine. It wasn’t hard to hide this preparation from her opponent, as she didn’t have to change how she was standing at all on account of being in a wheelchair. No, instead, she merely placed her hand in her lap, chakra experimentally flowed to her hand. Piece of cake.

As it turned out, she wouldn’t have to use the Palm Bottom maneuver, which was a bit disappointing as she hadn’t had much time to practice such things as of late, and while Taijutsu was rarely an option for her anymore, she liked the flexibility very much. Still, at least she was spared from a close quarters fight with someone who was obviously much stronger than her. While gentle fist would eliminate most of his strength advantage against her, he had quite the speed advantage, in no small part due to the condition of her legs.

His remarks about not being good enough, and his comment on Thane being her “Toy” said quite a lot about the character of the one she’d just fought. Still, she filed this away and didn’t think much on it. He introduced himself as Kozaru, and she slowly got to his feet, before, to her surprise, admitting defeat, even bowing. She smiled at this, waving him off as he left. He had tried to kick her out, so it was quite amusing to watch him go with his honor intact.

Now, what was she here for again?


(Exit)
(Total WC after Mid-thread claim: 682)
+3 Stats
+Palm Bottom

Thou art approved good wheel chair person