To Rain! (ing)

[Nick]

The training grounds were busy these days. So busy, in fact, that reserving spots became very important if you wanted a place to practice with any kind of peace and quiet to be able to focus - Sure, most training would have been fine to do at home, or at a more 'public' training ground where there was no kind of expectation, but most training didn't involve one girl who could spread spores in such a way that might make an entire population sick if they weren't careful, and another girl whose unwilling abilities forced her to be involved in the emotions of every single person around her at nearly all times. That said, Goro had reserved a training spot for the two, and for some reason even planned to be there.

And so he was there, sitting on a small patch of green that had been transplanted on one side of the training field, which was mostly smooth sand, as this part of the training ground was near the laughing desert, and he was smoking. He was pretty much always smoking, a disgusting habit that Suzuko could hardly stand, but then again, she could hardly stand to be around him at the best of times. His cockiness and overall existence seemed to bother her, and if it were her choice, she'd have had a different teacher from the very beginning, but her requests to transfer over had been denied. She suspected that was also Goro's fault, as most things were.

Suzuko was also there, of course, grumpily doing some warmups while she waited for her Kinoko best friend, who wasn't late yet, but Goro dragging Suzuko out of bed early wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence, either. She wished so badly he didn't have the authority to do that, but not only was he a teacher, he was technically a member of a new age of nobility, which meant that she didn't have the divine right to just ignore him like she would have if he was just another peasant! Her warmups were nothing too crazy, starting with stretching by moving her left arm across her body and pulling, and repeating the process with her right until it just barely felt like a pull on the muscles to do so. She also stretched her back by leaning down to touch her toes, and twisting her whole upper body while leaving her lower body in the same space.

Finally she finished off her warm-ups with a couple of in-place jumps while shaking out her hands and fingers in preparation for performing handseals. Their training today was supposed to be a spar, something that they'd never gotten to do together before. Classes often held sparring sessions as all students were taught some very rudimentary self-defense, along with their optional chakra control and jutsu classes, but they were few and far between, as martial prowess was something one was expected to either find an elective class for, or train at home on your personal time, meaning that still, most families that had an ancient history of being powerful warriors with time to be powerful warriors were often still the strongest.

But not everything could be perfect.

[532 words, Willpower +1]

[Golnax]

Oh, what a day! What a lovely day! Shiun was excited, really, truly, properly excited, because she was going to be training with Suzuko! But not just any kind of training, no, they were going to be soaring together, which they had never done before! They'd known each other for a couple of years now and yet circumstances had never lined up to make it so that the two of them crossed paths in the field of battle, so one could only imagine her surprise when, the evening before, none other than Goro had come knocking in her apartment door, informing the Kinoko of the arrangement which she was all too happy to accommodate (even if she didn't have a choice, being a peasant and all technically).

So it was with bounding excitement that Shiun... Walked over to where Suzuko was stretching. Slowly. More striding, really, her footsteps falling heavily in a rhythm. The dark skinned Akibushi took her time approaching while twirling Musu, that golden spear, in her right hand in long circles that saw the tip of the spear repeatedly drag against the ground and kick up some sand. Then she was spinning it with her left hand as she passed Musu over the front of her body, back to the right after taking a moment to criss-cross doing it with both of her hands in front of her.

After that she tossed Musu up above her head, and the spear was gone! Transformed into its ring form and glinting in the sun before she snatched it out of the air with her left hand and with a small application of her chakra it was once again a spear, and as it was transforming she was spinning into her next stride forward, windmilling Musu around her body back and front before bringing the metal shaft up to the back of her neck and throwing it around her shoulders, sending that heavy polearm orbiting around her throat for a single rotation before she grabbed a hold of Musu again, straightened up her stride, and began to alternate between windmilling the spear in front of her and transforming it into its ring form and tossing it to her opposite hand, all the while the flag-like red cloth attached to it bellowed out it's deep cry as it was dragged through the air, leaving a deep crimson trail to clash against the flashing gold, a dead giveaway to her approach if Suzuko and Goro both had not seen her coming already, and if they had, an anthem to their coming fight!

As Shiun finally got within a few meters of the pair she stopped her spinning and planted the heavy pommel of Musu down into the sand. The wind picked up and blew the red flag along with her braided hair and short purple dress. Her head was tilted slightly so that her mushroom cap, now more than ever resembling a sandogasa, concealed her face. When she tilted her head upwards she was smiling a confident smile, a certain fire in her eyes even! She lifted Musu up twice and stamped it back down before twirling her weapon in front of her once more as she pushed her right foot back into the sand, widening her stance and stopping her spinning by having Musu lifted up and over her head, angled downwards so that the spear tip was almost touching the ground, her hands positioned more to be on the back end of her weapon. The wind blew her flag and hair once more and she looked Suzuko dead in the eye with those pale irises of hers.

"Let's do this!" she cried out, seemingly radiating confidence!

Was... Shiun being intimidating right now!?



624/500 - Willpower +1

Jutsu UsedShow

* Kushou・Low Wind Rising
D-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
The foundational stance of the Kushou style, Low Wind Rising involves the spinning of the user’s spear or polearm around their body constantly whilst remaining in motion. While in this stance, the user will be able to deflect projectiles with less strength than their own, while also making unpredictable movements of their spear.

[Nick]

Suzuko had her back turned for most of Shiun's display, only hearing her approach at the last minute. Goro, on the other hand, had been puffing on his cigarette and staring in her direction from basically the moment she'd been within possible vision, which wasn't that hard out here in the laughing desert. This mean that he had full view of her over the top display, and watched with a quirked brow, and when she finally arrived and announced "Let's do this!" he responded by giving her a polite golf clap, or impolite depending on how deeply you considered a clap could emanate sarcasm more than a hurtful word or two ever could. Suzuko at least saw her friend approach the last bit, and glared at Goro's clap, all too well tuned into his ever emanate sarcasm that evaded some.

Suzuko reached down to pick up Fukuro from the ground, holding him up to her face to wag a finger. "Now you stay out of this unless I ask you for something." She chided her backpack, who stayed as a backpack and made no movement to indicate he did or didn't understand the assignment as she put him back on and reached behind her back to pull her own spear out of the bottomless pack, setting its butt on the ground, a mirror of her mushroom-headed companion. The steam powered puppet was technically ready for combat by this point, but its finer mechanisms might take too long to repair if she was careless with it, and wanted to make sure everything was ready for the inevitable chuunin exams that she wasn't looking forward to.

She did a few spear spins and twists to get reacquainted with the weight of the spear, especially with the added weight of the special bandages wrapped around the handle that she'd be able to use for a variety of effects. Mentally she ran a checklist of what she knew her friend was good at, and what she knew that she herself was good at, and tried to find ways to make the two counteract eachother, mental chess in her head before the match began. When it came to the spear, she wasn't actually sure which of them was going to be better. Kushou-Ryu was her home country's martial art, but she hadn't really grown up learning it considering she'd left at such a young, vulnerable age. She only knew as much as she did because of her foster family hiring out to some instructor for her to learn from. It was a kindness they'd given her, and while it had come with another hefty weight of expectation being tossed on her shoulders, she had appreciated them all the more for it, and gave an extra cutesy and fast twirl to show off the pride of her home country.

"Good morning!" She greeted her friend, the opposite of being intimidating right now, when Goro ceased his clapping long enough to stand up. "Alright, get to it you two." He said in a bored tone, as if he had better things to be doing than being present for this. "Ready? Begin."

[527 Words, Speed +1]

[Golnax]

Shiun didn't know Goro that well, but she knew him enough to tell when he was being condescending! So what if he didn't find her twirling all that impressive, it wasn't for him anyways! Nor, really, was it for Suzuko who had been busy stretching the entire time and not actually paid any attention to her for the most part, it was for herself! A warm up just like how Suzuko had done! Hmph! Stupid Goro and his dumb claps...

The purple Kinoko held her stance while Suzuko got ready, pulling her own spear out of that weird backpack puppet thing if hers which Shiun really didn't fully understand yet. Was it alive? Did she just like pretending it was to talk to it? Who knew? Regardless of all of that, once Goro gave the signal it was on, and Shiun start off with way more energy than her friend, pretty obviously entering this sparing engagement more mentally prepared on account of the fact that she'd had a whole night to be ready where as, unbeknownst to her, Goro had sprung this on Suzuko this morning. Oh, that Goro, always making things harder for the emotional heiress...

At his word Shiun would dash forward, kicking up sand as she went and keeping her spearhead pointed downwards.it would only take a few steps to clear the few meters of distance between them, so she had to act fast! Just as before when she approached, and when anyone channeled chakra for that matter, Shiun's body glowed blue with her chakra for a short moment two and a half steps into her charge and then Musu would vanish, becoming a ring once again. Her third and fourth step would find Shiun half turning to the side, skidding on the forth step a bit, and spinning around into the fifth, now almost in range of her spear at irs maximum length of Suzuko. Here she once again flashed blue as she channeled her chakra, probably a dead give away of her in coming spear thrust as she made Musu manifest again, going for one of her trademarked (in progress) tricky approaches to combat that Suzuko and Goro both would probably see coming a mile away!

But they were both of them, deceived, for Shiun was working with layers of deception today!

"Think fast!" she called out as if to announce her thrust, only for her to finish her spin, plant her feet in the sand, and thrust her arm forward with every bit of motion that one would put into thrusting a spear, except at the apex of her extension she opened her hand, fingers splayed wide, throwing something at Suzuko! Something small! Something shiny! SEVERAL SOMETHINGS ACTUALLY! Shiun's opening move of this spar of theirs was to rush in, pretend like she was going to pull off some tricky bullshit with her spear but instead entirely change the game by introducing a literally entirely new element to this match, gold! Money, baby!

Yes, money, Shiun just flung a hefty handful of 10 golden ryo coins at Suzuko just out of the range of her spear, banking on the fact that, one, the heiress had never seen this from Shiun before and, two, the glint of the sun shining off of the coins being extra distracting enough to catch her off guard long enough for Shiun to channel chakra one more time, creating a large purple amethyst deceiver mushroom out of the sand about a foot or so behind where Shiun was currently stood, the Kinoko samurai trying her best to think two or three steps ahead of this engagement and keep Suzuko, who she was fairly certain was more of an accomplished samurai than she was, on her toes! If Shiun was going to stay ahead, she needed to outfox her friend!

All the while, though, Shiun was smiling. This was fun! It was exciting to be sparing off against Suzuko! Finding out where they stood with each other's how they needed to improve! The Kinoko were traditionally not a very martial people, but in this moment, having all this fun, Shiun had to wonder if perhaps her people had been missing out in not fighting back for so many generations! What a thrill this was to be making new techniques, using them in a fun, platonic fight to the not-death that would only inevitably lead to the both of them becoming better at their trade!

Jutsu TrainedShow

Kinton • Money Money Money
D-Rank Ninjutsu
The user performs the handseals or channels Kinton chakra into their hand, creating a numerical amount of ryo coins equal to the user's Control. These coins can be thrown as a distraction or used in other, more creative ways.

744/720

Jutsu UsedShow

~Spring-step Mushroom
D-ranked Ninjutsu
The user gathers chakra and sends it to a point within a number of meters equal to their Control stat in meters at a Speed of [Control]. From this point a single, large mushroom, the cap roughly three feet in diameter with a sturdy, one foot tall stem will sprout. This mushroom sprouts with [Control] Speed and Strength and is constantly creating spores. This msuhroom and it's spores can be used for other jutsu. This mushroom is springy and elastic and can be jumped on to propel the user in any direction with +3 Speed while airborne. This mushroom is capable of propelling individuals or objects up to 10 meters

[Nick]

Suzuko was prepared for this in the way that only a girl who was riddled with anxiety and had a point to prove could be, which is to say at the very least she was always on her toes and almost never got to relax which made every waking moment of her life a combat, mostly against herself. She'd been expecting maybe a bit more ceremony from Goro, who didn't even wait for any kind of response from either of the two girls before telling them to begin, which did catch her off-guard just enough for her to be caught back on guard by Shiun's "Think fast!" As her head rocketed from looking at him to looking at her in an instant, a suddenly very serious look on her face.

Shiun was her friend, certainly, but now they were fighting, and it seemed like a switch flipped in Suzuko's mind and the usually somewhat friendly girl looked almost angry at her friend's existence. In an instant, it didn't matter that her opponent was toying with her, because she would not and could not toy with her opponent, not with people watching, not with the weight on her shoulders pushing down with such strength that it hurt to remain standing sometimes. An expected reaction from Suzuko might have involved her stepping out of the way of the expected thrust, but Goro had been drilling into her that she needed to hold her ground sometimes, too. Her hands flicked and the spear in her hands spun a bit, the bandages wrapped around the handle coming loose as her partner advanced, and forming a shield between the two of them, tall and imposing to block the incoming coins being tossed her way, while she jammed the front of her spear into the ground to leap over the wall she'd just made.

With vision blocked, Suzuko wouldn't be able to tell what Shiun might have been up to after her coin attack, but the mushroom girl wouldn't be able to see what her partner was up to, either. In an instant, Suzuko would pop back up and over the wall, spear raised, still attached by the butt to the shield she'd planted between them both, and immediately began her aerial assault of the swallow riding the wind. The momentum and surprise nature of the assault would carry her through the series of strikes that had been drilled into her by the boy she'd learned them from. His teaching style had been so much more casual and friendly than she'd been used to, and it had been nice...

The blows may have been powerful, but it was clear that Suzuko was distracted by her own thoughts if nothing else. The first one would have been at full strength, but as her emotions and mind wandered the second two that would keep her afloat would be haphazard and weak by comparison, if she even got them off before Shiun found some way to interrupt her. Being in the air was an advantage and a disadvantage at the best of times, without more advance techniques to maneuver oneself around as if they were on the ground.

[529 words, Strength +1]

Jutsu usedShow

These corded weapon jutsu say goro because they're a copy and paste from him, but it's still suzuko using them haha

Natural
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Corded Weapons]
Having spent many hours with different kinds of corded weapons, Goro can use whips, chains, wire, and of course his bandages as if they were an extra limb or prehensile tail.

Shield
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: [Corded Weapons]
By loosening his bandages and then tightening them up just right with a wave of his hand, Goro can make them quickly form a 2.5m square shield to absorb impacts, protecting himself or anyone else hiding behind the bandages. This shield can be made up to [strengthx2] meters away.

* Kushou・The Swallow Rides the Wind
C-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: * Kushou・The Swallow Takes Flight
The user of this technique must first launch themselves high into the air as if with The Swallow Takes Flight. They will then begin to spin and unleash a flurry of blows from above. The user is capable of performing up to three strikes in the air, each of them prolonging the user’s airtime. The Swallow Rides the Wind is useful as it maintains the advantageous high ground and all of the forward momentum toward the opponent throughout all of its blows, giving the user an effective +6 Strength and -6 Control for the three blows.

[Golnax]

It was sometimes easy to forget that Shiun and Suzuko used the same weapon. They'd even learned at the same time, roughly, the Kinoko picking up much of the basics from her friend after the mysterious Musu had been found one morning. Usually, though, when Shiun thought of weaponry her mind usually went to the backpack, the puppet thing she'd been working on for who knew how long now. Despite the spear being her primary weapon of choice, it had become secondary in Shiun's mind - even when Suzuko was holding it right in front of her!

Part of that cognitive dissonance was the ways in which they used their spears. Despite starting at the same base, both of the Akibushi had elected to go completely different routes in how they used their weapon of choice. Suzuko demonstrated this wonderfully by blocking the oncoming shower of shiny coins with the cloth that has attached to her spear, forming a wall that the ryo bounced off of and fell to the sand below harmlessly. In the instant after, while Suzuko was jumping upwards, Shiun was jumping back, covering a much shorter distance than her sparring partner and thus making it to the top of the elastic, bouncy mushroom first, leaping again and springing backwards through the air 10 meters in an arch, rendering Suzuko's spear thrusts null as she struck thin air.

As Shiun put distance between them, she would demonstrate her choice of wielding the spear. Where Shiun opted for a more medium range way of fighting, taking after her teacher Goro and his bandages which kept her weapon anchored to her at all times, Shiun, similarly, took advantage of the traits of her weapon, and in doing so, adopted a long range style of fighting with the spear. While still rising, she licked her eyes onto her target, Shiun, who was also in the air. Her practices discipline with her spear as a projectile gave her the focus necessary to not only keep Suzuko in her sights, but to adjust her calculations on where she would be as she moved through the air and how best to take her shot. As she continued to rise she lifted her right arm up and, channeling chakra into Musu, transformed it into a spear once more.

Now at the apex of her bounce Shiun would once again channel chakra into Musu, but this time, instead of releasing it, as she made to throw her spear she held onto the shaft, and instead, sent from within Musu itself an identical copy, sans it's unique abilities, flying at Suzuko in an arching shot, intending to strike from above! Perfectly aimed and flawlessly executed, Shiun was falling now with the roar of the red flag blaring out like a lion as the replica made for Suzuko and the purple Kinoko spun Musu around her body and behind her, catching the shaft into her elbows and bringing her hands together for a string of seals.

These seals would be completed only once her feet touched the ground, Shiun sliding backwards a couple of feet in the fluid sand below her. Where Suzuko had been (unknowingly, to Shiun) distracted in her opening move, the darker.samursi was intensely focused! She understood that Goro would likely allow no harm to come to either one of them, and so she had thrown the spear with everything she had, treating the engagement very much like a real battle (albeit with the comfort that, again, the older, stronger samurai observing probably wouldn't let either of them come to harm. Probably.)

That mentality, of treating this as real, was also why she had cast the genjutsu she had just now. Unhooking the spear from her elbows, Shiun would once again begin to twirl it around her body, the sound of the spear slicing through the air and the red flag billowing the main reason she was doing it now. There was roughly ten meters of distance between them thanks to her earlier preparation and quick action. "What do you say, Suzuko? Not a bad start to this spar, huh?" she called out loudly, speaking over her spear. She wasn't sure if Suzuko would hear it clearly from where she was, nor was she certain that the sound of it cutting through the air would be sufficient to activate it. She knew the ribbon-like flag wouldn't be. So, to be sure, while she was spinning Musu with one hand, Shiun reached into her butt bag and pulled out a kunai.

"That thing with the cloth was a neat trick, but I think we know our of the two of us I'm the trickier one!" she challenged, holding her spear out in front of her and bringing the kunai to bear, dragging its edge across the metal handle and causing the two to sing out in shrill notes. That Suzuko would have easily heard over the short distance, unless she did something to cover her ears of course. If she did, Shiun's genjutsu would activate, and the ten ryo coins, as well as the replica Musu, would begin to shine and sparkle more intensely, more enticingly! She would be filled with a sudden, deep urge to collect any and all gold she saw, and if she succumbed, Shiun expected her to try and collect them.

That would be the chance she needed to once again strike!

Jutsu TrainedShow

All That Glitters
C-Rank Warp Genjutsu
Prerequisite: Kinton Release
The user performs the handseals and causes one or more pieces of gold to make a sound (IE toss coins, tap a mass of gold, etc.) Anyone who hears the chime of gold is caught within this genjutsu. Upon activating, any gold within the area appears to glitter and shine more brilliantly, standing out more, becoming more appealing to the eye and overall more distracting. Additionally, this genjutsu makes individuals caught in it more covetous of gold, making them stop what they're doing and attempt to collect as much of it as they can. This genjutsu lasts for 4 posts.

1283/1120

Jutsu UsedShow

Quick Draw
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned to a point of it being second nature how to flawlessly and quickly draw their weapons from their person, limited only by the boundaries of their full physical speed. Though seemingly irrelevant, this is often the difference in who shoots first. Secondary to this learned skill is also the ability to quickly re-holster or store weapons and draw different weapons.

Trajectory Prediction
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

On The Move
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned how to accurately launch projectiles while moving through the flow of combat: whether jumping, rolling, airborne, sliding, or doing other basic combat movements at full speed, they are capable of hitting their mark.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Tracking]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After much training and study, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements and adjust their aim accordingly to compensate without penalty. This Discipline allows the practitioner to accurately hit moving targets, though sudden changes in the opponent's movements will still affect accuracy.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Arcing Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
The practitioner can launch projectiles in arcs up and over most obstacles, being able to accurately hit a target that is behind obstructions as if they were in the open. The practitioner must still be able to locate their target by some other means to ensure the projectile will hit its target.

[Nick]

Suzuko was in something that might be considered her element; Not in combat, necessarily, but being forced to think on her feet, and more importantly, being under a lot of pressure. In fact, this element as almost as much to her disadvantage as it was to her advantage, as for the slightest moment her eyes left her opponent to look over at Goro. Even she wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for. Approval? Concern? Any sort of general interest at all? None of the above were present on the man's face as he sat with his chin nearly on his knees, cigarette lazily dangling from his lips, unlit. When Suzuko's eyes flashed back to Shiun, her face was deep set in a frown that made her look as if she were angry at the mushroom headed girl who'd been one of her only real companions.

The momentary lapse of judgement wouldn't hurt her combat efficacy too much, as turning back allowed her to quickly reassess the situation at hand. The spear up in the air was quickly taken care of as the shield made of bandages was whipped around with a spear twirl of her own to smack it out of the air and off to the side. This wouldn't help her defend herself against the incoming genjutsu, however, and Shiun speaking made her hesitate once more. Right. A spar. This was for training, and her friend was having fun. Why wasn't Suzuko having fun? Why couldn't she see this the same way? The frown turned from less of an angry one into more of a thoughtful and concerned one. "Y-yeah..." She said hesitantly as the sound of metal ringing against metal rung out. "I've still got lots of tricks up my sleeves!"

She was aware of the fact that her friend used genjutsu as a tool in her arsenal, but that didn't help, as the effects of a genjutsu were partially to trick the brain into thinking they were as realistic as possible, and a deep goblin part of her brain activated to collect the shiny knick-knacks. Her eyes widened and sparkled in the same way they did when she walked past a beautiful jewelry stall. She wasn't one to wear much, her little amber necklace her only real shiny accessory, but she had a strong affinity towards pretty clothes, and likewise, pretty accessories already. Business had to come with pleasure, and so while she looked around at the gold coins moreso than the spear, her hands flashed through a series of handseals. As the handseals completed, she reached back to grab a smoke bomb from her backpack, tossing it onto the ground where it exploded on impact, filling the training ground with smoke, making it hard for anyone to see.

Suzuko was slowed after this point, running while bent at the waist a bit to pick up a few of the glittery coins on the way to where she'd remembered where the spear was. Thankfully, unlike most, she had a very convenient place to put lots of extra pickups, and they were shoveled into her backpack just as fast as she picked them up off the ground while she made her way out to the outer ring of the smoke bomb where she would be able to see better. Assuming Shiun hadn't ran headfirst into the deepest parts of the smoke bomb, the girl would have her spot of advantage now, and begin forming several other handseals, shooting out a deadly fast bullet of wind towards the mushroom-headed girl.

[593 Words, Willpower +1]

Jutsu UsedShow

[Genjutsu • Enhanced Smoke bomb]
D-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
The user will do a series of hand seals, and then throw down a smoke bomb. Those who see smoke will see the smoke reach out to double the size of the actual smoke, obscuring all within it for those affected by the genjutsu, but allowing the user to sit outside of the smoke and still have full use of their vision. The extra smoke lasts for up to 4 posts.

Fuuton • Wind Bullet
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the required hand seals or channeling chakra, the user expels a sphere of wind ranging in size from 10cm to 1 meter from their mouth. This ball of wind travels up to 15m at [Control] speed and explodes with [Control] Strength on contact with solid matter or at the end of its range expanding into a 5-meter diameter impact of cutting winds. This technique was developed by Takeshi.

[Golnax]

Ha! Leave it to Suzuko to think on her feet even when caught in a genjutsu! Throwing down a smoke bomb to cover her tracks while she scrambled around gathering coins and a spear was genius as far as the Kinoko was concerned! Although... She would have to remember to get that spear back once they were done sparing... And any other spears she threw that Suzuko might pick up for that matter...

Business for after the fight! As the smoke bomb detonated and spread it's smoke all over the field of battle, in fact kicking up quite a bit of smoke really, wow! Was that a special kind of smoke grenade? Did Goro make that for her?Shiun wanted one or five! Regardless, there was only one flaw in Suzuko's course of action: distance was to Shiun's advantage, not Suzuko's! As the smoke enveloped her even from over ten meters away the purple clad Akibushi would cough twice as she weaved together handseals before a film of green chakra would form over her mouth and nose, a mask to filter out to smoke!

After that Shiun would jump backwards repeatedly while Suzuko gathered up her bounty, weaving handseals as she did. Now almost thirty meters away Shiun would burst out of the perceived smoke and slide backwards in the desert sand before stabbing Musu blade first into it and once more bringing her hands together, a devious smile on her face. Oh, sure, she was far away now, yeah, and true, she couldn't see Suzuko just this moment, but the one thing she knew for certain was that her friend was still caught in her genjutsu, and Kinton was still a game changing element to this spar that Suzuko wouldn't know how to deal with.

"Try this on for size, Suzuko!" Shiun said confidently as she finished her last seal, took in a deep breath and then blew it out infused with Kinton chakra through her mouth, creating a great, glittering cloud of golden dust that pushed into the smoke in front of her, a shining smoke screen to combat the obscuring one, as it were! Unbeknownst to Shiun, caught in Suzuko's genjutsu, who thought that the smoke really did extend as far back as it did, she had performed this jutsu in the hopes that the glittering gold would catch enough sunlight to catch Suzuko's attention and draw her forward into the field of golden dust, to be ensnares by its effects and weigh her down!

What she didn't realize was that her use of it would be more effective than she realized! Potentially. For if Suzuko caught a glimpse of the cloud of golden dust, covering a ten meters area in front of Suzuko, because of the effects of the genjutsu she was under, Suzuko would perceive the cloud, unhindered by smoke, as a shining, irresistible beacon! An entire area covered in gold for her to covet, to gather how she may, to be surrounded by! With the desert sun shining down and the genjutsu both making the cloud seem more spectacular than it actually was, Suzuko might just see the blanket of gold in the air and think to herself in her forcibly goblin brain that over yonder was a little slice of Heaven, just waiting to be scooped up!

In any case, Shiun would grab a hold of Musu and pull it out of the sand, holding it with both hands, spearhead pointed forward, waiting for any sign of Suzuko appearing through the smoke. As she waited she took a few steps backwards, putting distance still between herself and Suzuko, and waiting...

Jutsu UsedShow

*[Iijutsu • Personal Protective Equipment]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
When real latex equipment is not on hand, the user will perform a single hand seal and will focus chakra onto their hands, nose, and mouth to form a thin layer of chakra around them at [Control] Speed and Strength. This chakra will filter bacteria and other particles to and from the user, the environment, and their medical equipment. This technique can be held as long as the user has chakra.

Jutsu TrainedShow

Kinton • Golden Breath
D-Rank Ninjutsu
The user performs the handseals and takes in a deep breath before blowing, exhaling a fine golden dust from their mouths that covers an area equal to the user's [Control] in meters. Coming into contact with this golden dust increases the weight of whatever is in it equal to the user's [Control] as per the Kinton passive. This dust hangs in the air for 3 posts before settling to the ground.

763/720

[Nick]

Suzuko had finished gathering up what she could see, which was around 5 coins and the spear that she'd knocked to the side, before she realized that was an odd set of actions for her to do, now that her basal goblin urges had been satisfied and she had more brain power to think for herself. The rest of the glittery pieces were deep within the real smoke, while she was hid within the genjutsu smoke that would obscure her from Shiun's vision, but not the other way around. The space provided by the smoke gave her room to breath and think for a moment about how to handle what was coming next, and also gave her time to process her goblin urges.

In her own room especially she was a bit of a clean freak, and she liked shiny things, because who didn't, but she'd never felt the desire to stop in the middle of a training to tidy up like that! Cleaning as you went was important during an activity, but doing so in the midst of combat was not only stupid, but deadly, and she knew that without having needed to experience it first hand! She slowly started to put two and two together just as the vomit of golden glitter left the mushroom-headed girl's mouth, and Suzuko's own eyes started to glitter in greed for the gold... When she brought her hands together for a single handseal to kai herself free from the effects.

So tricksy, that Shiun! Well, two could play at that sort of mindgame. She reached behind herself, grabbing a handful of kunai, and throwing them strongly into the sand far off to the side of where she was at intervals designed to imitate the sound of heavy footfalls as if they were coming closer out of the smoke to rush towards Shiun! With that distraction in place, the flow of thrown objects would continue, though none would be outside of the genjutsu smoke, until they were finally aimed at Shiun directly! A kunai first, then a pair of shuriken thrown at the same time, and a fistful of five senbon right behind them coming from the opposite direction of the fake footfalls she'd been creating!

Suzuko would be channeling chakra through her body even as she threw the projectiles, allowing the attacks to be followed up by a larger fuuton jutsu, temporarily anchoring her into place as she blew out divine wind, hoping to catch her off guard with her bevvy of projectile attacks, and maybe even blow her own gold dust back into her with the power of wind!

[Carrying over wordcount from last post, 438 Words, Willpower +1]

JutsuShow

Quick Draw
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned to a point of it being second nature how to flawlessly and quickly draw their weapons from their person, limited only by the boundaries of their full physical speed. Though seemingly irrelevant, this is often the difference in who shoots first. Secondary to this learned skill is also the ability to quickly re-holster or store weapons and draw different weapons.

Shoot From The Hip
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
Requires: Quick Draw
The practitioner has learned to transition straight from a draw into an attack- using the draw itself as part of the attack and momentum. They can do this at full power, with a slight edge even, and with full accuracy.

Trajectory Predicition
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

Fuuton • Great Breakthrough
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
By performing the needed hand seals and bringing their hands to their mouth, the user can release a wide blast of air. This wave of air moves outward in a cone shape at a 1:1 ratio, 1 meter away from the user being 1 meter wide and a 25m width at the end of the cone. The wind moves with [Control] Speed. This cone of wind both cuts and pushes away with [Control] strength. This blast goes out for a maximum of 25m and can be held for a maximum of 2 posts and moved side to side to cover a large area so long as the user remains stationary. This technique was developed by Takeshi.

[Golnax]

Shiun stood ready and waiting... And waiting. And waiting some more. She wasn't really waiting for long but it felt like a long time anyway! Mostly it was just the anticipation for what might happen next getting to her. Her heart was pounding in her chest! This was so exciting! What was Suzuko going to try next!?

The answer came with the sound of bounding footsteps coming from Shiun's right through the smoke. Aha! A frontal assault spurred on by her use of Kinton in conjunction with her genjutsu! Just as planned! The Kinoko adjusted her body by turning slightly in the direction of the 'footsteps' and waited for a sign for Shiun to appear - but none came. At least, not how she was expecting at least. Instead of the visage of her friend and sparing partner emerging from the smoke covered in gold dust coming from the right, instead she would be greeted by the flash of gold coming from her left as a kunai, glittering with gold dust, shit towards her!

Fortunately for Shiun she was faster than what the kunai was being thrown, helped even further by the gold slowing it down by virtue of making it heavier. On top of that, as a long distance fighter, her situational awareness of her surroundings was superb so turning back to the left and bringing Musu up to smack the kunai out of the air was ultimately trivial for her. Ducking out of the way of the two huriken, equally slowed down by the gold dust, was a bit trickier since her impulse was to bring her spear back up and strike them down as well, but she recognized in the split second that she likely couldn't get both of them, so, ducking sufficed. Being down low was well and good enough even to dodge most of the senbon, but even still Shiun needed to roll out of the way to get out of the way of all of them!

And still Suzuko wasn't done! As Shiun came to a stop about a meter away from where she had been in a crouched position she looked up in time to hear the roar of a fuuton jutsu that she couldn't... Properly... See... Wait hang on that wasn't right. Not quite enough to think about that, though, as she saw some of her dust getting pushed back her way, causing the purple Kinoko to leap even further backwards through the sand repeatedly, putting further distance between her and Suzuko. As she kept she took a second to realize something - the smoke! It hadn't moved when the projectiles had been thrown through it! And only her dust had been moved back whatever wind jutsu Suzuko used just now, so that could only meant that... That...!

Ding!

That tricky bitch! How dare she use a genjutsu on her!? Her!? Shiun was the better genjutsu user out of the two of them and they both knew it! How rude! As Shiun hooked and hooked backwards she brought her hands together to kai her way out of the genjutsu and, sure enough, there went the smoke! There wasn't nearly so much of the stuff! Aw, man, that meant no special grenade either! Damn it! Now Shiun was annoyed!

Coming to a skidding halt once again now roughly sixty meters away from Suzuko, Shiun held Musu at around the mid point of the shaft and stood in a relaxed pose, her arms down by her side, her hand in a reversed grip. As before while she had been in the air she sized up her target and locked her focus on Suzuko. The funny thing about being an eleven year old girl who wasn't particularly strong wielding a, by comparison, heavy spear while simultaneously being more of a long ranges practitioner with it was that her range, ultimately, wasn't terribly long! Oh, sure, for an Akibushi or Genin level soldier, a roughly thirty meters range was plenty to work with since most individuals were unable to surmount that distance, but the Amethyst Deciever was well aware that 30 meters wasn't much in the grand scheme of things.

She also knew that Suzuko roughly understood that to be her range limit as well, since the two knew each other so well and often spent time training together. But, the funny thing about throwing distance was that strength, as it turned out, wasn't everything! Sometimes, what mattered more, was technique. And that's exactly what Shiun was going to prove now!

Banking on the fact that Shiun was probably comfortable with the amount of distance between them, at least in the sense that she might assume to be safe enough away from her Kinoko friend to set up or charge forward to close the distance or maybe even just wait for Shiun to do it herself, the purple Akibushi would take up her position, anchoring her feet by squaring up her hips and foot position, sliding one foot back and angling her heavy spear upwards, and prepare to throw. With a hopping step forward and the same throwing technique she had used before - an arching shot combined with unleashing one of the duplicate spears held within Musu - and a grunt if effort, Shiun would send her second spear flying over the haze of gold dust half way between the two girls, aimed for where Suzuko was stood! Roughly speaking, anyway.

The thing was she was still obscured to Shiun by the real, actual smoke from the grenade earlier, but, that was fine! The heiress' multiple projectiles a minute ago had given her an idea. As the spear flew Shiun would channel her chakra, sending it into the spear and, with a puff of smoke, multiplying them! Now, instead of one spear being thrown at Suzuko, thirty were on their way! Oh, true, most of them weren't the actual spear and would vanish after their impact, but, the important thing was that those false spears covered a much wider area than her one spear possibly could, spread out over 10 meters or so. Shiun would be unable to hide behind her smoke with a blanket if that many coming at her all at once! She'd have to move and risk being out in the open, where Shiun could see her and still be at a distinct advantage given the distance between them!

So, how would she deal with this conundrum?

Jutsu UsedShow

Ninjutsu • Shadow Clone Shuriken
C-Rank Ninjutsu
The user will channel chakra into a projectile as they throws it then the projectile will emit a puff of smoke that reveals a 30 meter wall of that projectile moving at the same Speed and Strength as the user out into the initial throw, creating up to the user's Control x 3 number of said projectile. These projectiles impact in the same way as the weapon thrown, and disappear after they've hit a target.

Situational Awareness
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has keen senses and perception and has trained to use them to have advanced spatial sense. This allows them to envision complex happenings around them with ease: this means it is hard to surprise attack the practitioner as they are always aware of their position and their surroundings. Likewise, they have a greatly sharpened ability to judge the speed of things, and the spatial aspect of them.

Trajectory Prediction
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Tracking]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After much training and study, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements and adjust their aim accordingly to compensate without penalty. This Discipline allows the practitioner to accurately hit moving targets, though sudden changes in the opponent's movements will still affect accuracy.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Arcing Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
The practitioner can launch projectiles in arcs up and over most obstacles, being able to accurately hit a target that is behind obstructions as if they were in the open. The practitioner must still be able to locate their target by some other means to ensure the projectile will hit its target.

Jutsu TrainedShow

[Flawless Aim - Javelineer]
C-Rank Taijutsu Stance
[Prerequisite:] Must have a polearm weapon to use, [Polearms]
This Stance has two positions to it, Resting and Active. To assume this Stance while Resting, the user need only to hold their polearm down at their side, their body and stance relaxed, but, importantly, their hand must be at least halfway down the shaft of the weapon, ideally two thirds down, with the hand holding the shaft in the reverse position. While Resting, the user is primed to enter the Active portion of this Stance at any time. To assume this Stance while Active, the user must square up their legs and hips, extending one out in front of them while simultaneously angling their polearm in an upwards angle with their arm raised and held backwards, primed to throw. These differences, Resting and Active, are merely transitory states meant to go from one to the other and back again as needed. While in this Stance, the distance which the user may throw their polearm is doubled.

1563/1120

[Nick]

Suzuko didn't know why, but she felt a feeling of pride well up, like when someone mentions your name from any distance and you have to sneeze no matter where you're at. She was a tricky bitch, and it felt good to be so! A smile crept onto her face as she felt the warm embrace of a hidden compliment, and perhaps more importantly, it seemed like she was having fun! She hadn't even glanced over at Goro for approval in the last ten seconds, which also meant she was focused, thriving, and in her lane! This also meant that she pretty clearly saw Shiun kai her genjutsu, which would leave Suzuko exposed with that grin on her face like the tricky bitch she was.

Shiun might not like to admit it, but they were fairly close in their genjutsu abilities, though Shiun knew a broader variety of tricks to do with them that made it harder to tell if what she was doing was a genjutsu or not. All this flashed through her mind as her friend tossed her spear high into the air and multiplied it, wondering briefly if it was a genjutsu and she only needed to keep track of the single spear... But the risk wasn't worth the reward, and a second shuriken in the shadow of the first was the oldest trick in the book for ninja, and Shiun practically worshipped ninja!

Suzuko's 'real' fighting style mostly relied on tanking techniques with the assistance of her puppet armor before using that to create openings to strike. In the moment before the first spears started to land, she wondered if she might should reach into her pack to draw out the puppet and step into it for protection, but the reason she hadn't started the fight in it was because she needed more practice outside of it, which meant changing up her fighting style appropriately. Taking a deep breath, she stepped to the side of the first spear relatively easily, and had to weave in and out of the bevvy of others that fell after it, looking at least moderately graceful as she avoided most of them, one tearing at her sleeve, and another leaving a shallow cut in her calf.

She couldn't spend all day staying on the defensive, though, and started to weave handseals. "Try this one on for size!" She called out as the last seal finished, causing a strong burst of wind to lift up from underneath her opponent in an area of 10m. Using this to close the distance, she would leap into her own windstream, spear at the ready, launching the bandages at the end towards Shiun and trying to grab onto any limb, relying on the awkward maneuverability of being in the air to aid her strike in landing. Channeling chakra into her left hand, she formed a fist and pulled the two towards eachother with the bandages, before attempting to deliver a devastating haymaker punch towards her mushroom capped pal that if it hit would likely send her careening back down into the desert sand!

[519 Words, Speed +1]

Jutsu UsedShow

Fuuton • Lift
C-Ranked Fuuton Jutsu
After forming a set of hand seals the user will focus his chakra into an area within 30 meters of himself. Activating this supplementary technique will cause winds to rise up from the selected location, covering an area of up to 30x30x30 meters in [Control] Strength and [Control] Speed winds. These winds contain no cutting properties but can still be quite dangerous and difficult to traverse through, sending anything soaring high into the sky unless they are anchored with a Strength greater than the technique. The winds can persist for up to 4 posts. This technique was developed by Takeshi.

Natural
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Corded Weapons]
Having spent many hours with different kinds of corded weapons, Goro can use whips, chains, wire, and of course his bandages as if they were an extra limb or prehensile tail.

Grapple
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: [Corded Weapons]
Throwing out his bandages towards a target, he can wrap them around a limb, or even their entire body if given the opportunity, and tighten the bandages down, squeezing and holding tight. He can continue to squeeze down on the wrapped object to inflict serious injuries, or if his strength is high enough, use them to pull the target back towards him.

*[Ninjutsu • Chakra Burst]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After channeling chakra into one of their fists, the user will then attempt to strike their target and if successful, they will release additional concussive force in the form of an outward explosion at [control] force from their fist. If the user does not strike a target within 3 posts the jutsu dissipates.

[Golnax]

At this point in the spar Goro was getting a good idea of just how amateurish that the two girls were when it came to actual combat. Not that they didn't have good points, of course, but the fact that they were amateurs was glaringly obvious to the stern, smoking samurai. Each of them had respectively performed well and poorly in different ways: making good use of your primary weapons and their capabilities, good. Increasing distance to take advantage of your strengths, good. Catching each other in genjutsu, especially in accidentally retaliation, very good. Throwing up cover to conceal your movements and actions from one another, a bit dishonest perhaps but, good.

Recklessly attacking or defending against an unknown element before you knew what it could do, bad. All this jumping around and unnecessary acrobatics, bad. Excessively using chakra to be fancy and/or stack jutsu on top of each other instead of conserving energy and going for straight forward, easy to execute movements, bad. Rushing forward headlong into the attack range of a foe you know likes to fight by throwing spears, bad. Oh Suzuko was going to get an ear full about all of this later on, the good and the bad. Shiun would be soared the tongue lashing, but in a way that was worse; she was going to have to figure out where she messed up all on her own.

Observations of a surly samurai aside, as Suzuko dodged and weaved through her hail of spears, a couple managing glancing blows against her even, the copies disappearing into puffs of white smoke after making impact with the ground it was hard for the purple Kinoko to not be impressed with her friend! Like... Wow! Talk about a gutsy move, dashing forward like that, headlong into danger! She even tried to spice things up by using an enormous gust of wind to properly herself upwards half way through getting to Shiun through all of that! Truly Suzuko was the spitting image of a fearless samurai incarnate!

Now a samurai with some experience under their belt would have realized, as Goro did, that this was a suicidal move to make because Shiun could just... Huck another spear, multiply it again, and just like that Suzuko was a sitting duck in the air! Thankful for everyone involved, Shiun was a certified green horn and didn't JUST not see this line of action, she, like Suzuko, wanted to show off. So while her friend was dodging and weaving through a storm of spears and headed her way, Shiun took the time and advantage of the distance to channel her chakra, sending that special blend of Kinton into her lips and costing them in a spectacular layer of gold that stood out marvelously against her skin!

As Suzuko rose skyward, Shiun stood still and watched her, waiting. She didn't do anything as Suzuko wrapped out of her arms in bandages and yanked her up and off of the ground, soaring up into the air with gut wrenching exhilaration! It wasn't until she was in the air that Shiun reacted, and how would she do that? Simple, really. By channeling chakra into her feet, the Kinoko would let it burst from her soles, propelling her up and over Suzuko as she threw her punch, smiling all the while. She flipped up and over her fellow Akibushi and, while up in the air, she brought her bound arm up and to her lips, placing a metallic kiss on the bandage, giving it a bit of Kinton chakra.

Suddenly, the entire bandage connected to the spear would become heavier, gaining twice the weight out of nowhere! Now, doubling the weight of a bandage once wasn't much, but three times? As Shiun arched over Suzuko she would kiss the bandage twice more, doubling and then doubling it's weight again. Now it would be undeniably heavier, and Shiun was going to have to use more strength to throw it around like she had been which would, ultimately, slow her down while Shiun remained light and free! If she could manage to place more kisses upon the bandage or, better yet, Suzuko herself, the heiress was going to find herself biggest down by the weight of expectations in more ways than one faster than she would know what to do!

Jutsu UsedShow

Ninjutsu • Double-Jump
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By channeling chakra into his feet, Taiga will cause his foot to release a controlled blast of chakra from it's bottom equal to a D-Rank explosion. A clever technique, the force created by the weak explosion gives his foot enough resistance to push off of seemingly thin air, allowing him to "spring" himself up.

Jutsu TrainedShow

Kinton • Heavy Kissing
D-Rank Nintaijutsu
The user performs the handseals, sending Kinton chakra into their lips and coating them with a thin layer of gold. For the next 3 posts, whenever the user places their lips on an object, that object's weight increases as per the Kinton passive equal to the user's [Control].

(3 kisses placed on the bandage, requiring 3 Strength more to wield it)

850/720

[Nick]

That tricksy jerk! She had wanted to try out some of the cool things that Takeshi had taught her, and she hadn't expected it her friend to have mid-air mobility! On the bright side, her bandages had made contact at least, and with a point of contact she was able to maneuver herself in the air using Shiun as a bracing point. Suzuko was taken by surprise with the initial airjump performed, and certainly could do nothing to stop the golden kisses on her bandages, but heavier bandages didn't matter so much when they were already stuck to your opponent, and you were both suspended in the air. Twirling the butt of her spear, she simultaneously yanked the bandages to suck Shiun in, while at the same time shortening the distance between them, yanking her in bit by bit while able to otherwise conserve her energy.

The nature of both of them being off the ground meant that for every foot she pulled Shiun in, she was pulling herself in towards Shiun as well, making the process much quicker than it otherwise would have been on the ground where either would have been braced. Shiun could have attempted to hop away with further chakra bursts, but with the connection of the bandage, she'd need to find a way to remove or sever it if she wanted to avoid the grapple at this point. If she did sever the connection, Suzuko would use one last mighty pull to get momentum she needed to tackle the mushroom capped girl mid air, grabbing on with her own two arms to finalize the connection.

If the connection could be finalized, Suzuko would grin widely, seeming to have fun for the first time in the fight, "Wanna go for a trip?" She'd ask cheekily, before suddenly turning off the lift jutsu that was holding them aloft, giggling gleefully as they would plummet to the ground, much, much higher up than really made sense to be doing this sort of thing from... Thankfully, Suzuko's body would glow with that gentle green glow of fuuton chakra, and right before impact with the desert sands below, she would spin her body to try and ensure that Suzuko landed first, but also plant a cushion of Fuuton beneath them. It wouldn't absorb all of the impact from such a height, but it would be more likely to knock the wind out of both of them rather than crushing nearly every bone in their body. Being on sand helped, too.

Suzuko was tough, though, her strength and endurance would make it so that even with her on the bottom absorbing the impact so that she didn't accidentally murder her Kinoko friend, she'd try to recover as quickly as possible, holding her grip on Shiun tightly to try and continue being able to have some kind of control over the fight. She was getting tired, though. Ninjutsu was quite draining, and being able to physically dodge all those spears earlier as well as suffer this fall was clearly phasing her, but she hoped this maneuver would allow her to get her second wind, or at least let her last until Goro called the spar over.

[536 Words, Endurance +1]

JutsuShow

Fuuton • Wind Cushion
D-ranked Fuuton jutsu
After forming the required hand seals the user will focus chakra into a location within 15 meters of his person. At the designated location a platform of wind will emerge at [Control] Speed with up to a 10-meter radius and up to 2 meters of depth. When a force impacts this accumulation of wind it will act as a cushion, absorbing any impact up to [Control] Strength. With an additional handseal the force can be repelled, acting as a trampoline of sorts. The platform will persist for 4 posts or until it is used to repel a physical force. This technique was developed by Takeshi.

[Golnax]

This spar between the two friends had had lots of twists and turns, each one getting the upper hand on the other at various points. In many ways it had been an impressive showing between two young warriors! But, all good things come to an end. Eventually one of them was going to run out of tricks to play on the other, of things they could do in the moment that would keep the fight going.

Unfortunately it was Shiun that ran out of steam first. Oh, sure, she could have tried jumping around in the air some more (an inevitably disorientating herself because she wasn't used to aerial combat), and sure, she could have tried severing the bandage to detach herself from Suzuko, but the truth was this; Shiun wasn't really fast enough or proficient enough with her chakra control to pull off either of those feats in time before Suzuko yanked her towards herself!

"Woah!" Shiun cried out as she was yanked through the air with not all that much effort, really. In retrospect, she'd think later, a bit of bandaged cloth wasn't all that heavy to begin with, so doubling or even quadrupling it's weight with some kisses wouldn't have done very much in the moment up there in the air. On the ground? Maybe it would have made using the bandages more difficult and unyeildy, but up there a simple tug was sufficient to pull Shiun in and enter the embrace of Suzuko. She should have tried to give her friend a kiss instead!

Falling thirty meters down through the air doesn't take as much time as you'd think. Shiun was barely finished processing her friends' question before they were nearly half way to the ground and she was screaming out in fright! Of course Suzuko had them covered, sort of, the two impacting a gust of wind that acted as a cushion before the sandy ground itself, the impact, ironically, knocking the wind out of Shiun and breaking the hold the two had together to send the purple mushroom rolling through the sand. She stopped on her back a few meters away, arms splayed out, groaning. Suzuko had managed to land a good hit with the impact and dive and impact again in much the same way that Shiun had managed to cut her earlier.

The spar was over. A more or less even match.