Tourney Round 2

Anz walked into central park that had been cleared for the fight, to be honest though he initially didn’t want to join this tournament it had become somewhat exciting. Many of the matches had gone in ways different then he would have guessed, and though he had won his first match by default it had been entertaining while it lasted. This next one would be challenging he knew next to nothing about his opponent and on top of that had heard he was an extremely capable fighter named Lance. However, he had arrived a full hour before the fight time and would now need to kill some time, reaching a park bench which overlooked an empty soccer field he wiped down the seat not wanting to get his white suit dirty and sat down flicking open a news paper he perused it with a smile as PATCH scanned for his opponent. This would be an exciting match for him win or lose, this of course being that he had developed a plethora of new combat inventions which he was excited to try out.

Regardless of the outcome the data gained in this fight would prove invaluable to him and offer hours of research opportunities. Using PATCH to flick through his schedule he began moving appointments to create room for his upcoming research even sending a an email to his vice captain to clear lab spaces three and seven. With nothing else to do he settled back into his paper hoping his opponent was punctual.

PATCH perceived the man approaching; since the park was cleared for the fight it was obvious that this man was his opponent. It was strange though he had no outward signs of reiatsu yet of course looks could be deceiving, as he approached PATCH scanned his face and ran it against the mainframe to reveal him to be leader of the human organization known as the Coalition. Raising from his seat and folding his newspaper he dropped it on to the bench, waving back to the man with a polite smile. “A pleasure to meet you Mr. Blazer, I am honored to be fighting the leader of the human organization.” Glancing at the puppet as the man introduced him PATCH scanned the puppet looking for any signs of advanced weaponry only to discover some metal plating and simple machinery. It was strange to Anz that a grown man would carry a puppet perhaps this was this mans Fullbring, yet such hypotheses were as of yet could not be confirmed. Clearing his throat he spoke again, “A pleasure to meet you as well Cal. Well I suppose, now that the pleasantries are over with we must get to the heart of the matter we have a tournament to fight, and I would like the winnings to fund some personal projects. As agreed I have limiter placed on me as you can see”.

Reaching up he pulled down his collar to reveal the mark of his squad placed on his neck, a power limiter that restricted his abilities to that of a vice-captain. Removing his white fedora and bowing in respect to the man he backed away pulling on a pair of mesh metal gloves from his inside coat pocket he stopped exactly twenty feet away and settled into a fighting stance. A personal favorite opening position of his that blended taichi and jujitsu, his body was sideways with his front foot pointing at his opponent and his back leg perpendicular his weight was centered slightly back, and his hands sat in a tight wrist open palm similar to the tigers paw technique. As he prepared for the attack he used PATCH to scan the man, preliminary data always helped trigonometric analysis easily measured his height weight, as well as arm and leg length. Early analysis lead to preliminary attack radius, which was, displayed to him and of course his energy levels and body movements would be recorded and analyzed for weakness and predictability.

“As I arrived first and have had ample time to survey the area it seems only polite to allow you first attack, please take as much time to get ready as you need I dislike unfair fights, but am ready when you… and your… acquaintance are.” Anz eyed the puppet uneasily, perhaps it was just that Lance was grown man but something about it made him feel uneasy, though it could just be his dislike for such frivolities.

Anz watched with interest as Lance took out his phone to call for someone named Robunny and asked him deliver his sword to him at park, just a bit later Anz understood the name; The union of the mechanical servants two natures, robot and bunny. As it handed Lance the sword Anz smiled people were so careless, while the robot was interesting and he did wonder about the cooling system that was involved in creating AI capable of reaching the speeds that the machine was obviously capable of, he was more interested in how Lance changed when the sword was in his hand. People always forgot the little details were the most important, a man’s grip on his blade revealed a lot about his fighting style, the subtle shifts in the muscle structure of his legs indicated a well balanced approach to the blade, he wouldn’t be the mindless charge and swing type, no this man preferred to focus on speed everything about his muscle structure indicated it, and the way he held his blade confirmed it. The man then turned to him speaking of the puppet on his hand.

“I apologize for the misconception, the emotion you are noting is confusion perhaps mingled with a touch of judgment not fear. No offense meant, it’s simply as I understand it considered somewhat strange for a grown man to travel with a puppet. Yet, I may be wrong on social protocols as I’ve been somewhat distracted recently and could have missed the onset of some new socio-cultural trend”

As the man flipped the switch revealing the puppets looped voice track Anz began to wonder about the importance of the puppet in a fight, to the easily distracted a repeated loop such as that could be considered annoying. However, he was given little time to ponder the uses of the puppet as the man surged forth leading with his puppet and seemingly disappearing in the process. An interesting tactic to say the least yet not one he cared to engage blindly, using shunpo he disappeared reappearing a solid fifteen feet to his right and facing the puppet as the man finished a sword slash at where his back would have been. The technique was interesting and revealed a lot, most of all the impressive speed of his opponent. He would need a better way to track the mans’ movements and thus a second example of Lances’ speed. Soundlessly and in just about a second he controlled PATCH switching the visual input to a partitioned system across the infrared, ultraviolet, and reiatsu manifestation wavelengths and linked it to the seireitei’s supercomputer to run heuristic algorithms looking for greatest optic manifestation linked with Lances’ distinctive reiatsu outputs.

Now he just needed the man to move at high speeds again, game theory indicated the best way to elicit a response was to offer competition and directed reward, thus it would seem prudent to display his skills as a subconscious challenge to the mans ego. “Quite an impressive display of speed Mr. Blazer. However, if you wish to catch me off guard I would recommend perhaps moving faster” Pushing off he shunpoed right appearing for a moment roughly seven feet to the Lances’ left and disappearing once again now roughly thee feet up, two feet to the right, and five behind the man two fingers pointed at him. “Horin!” an orange rope flew from his fingers swirling through the air to grasp the puppet off the man’s hand, while it had not yet revealed it’s self to be a threat he could already tell from the obvious emotional connection displayed to the puppet that it held some significance, perhaps even a Fullbring.

Anz watched as Lance moved the results were intriguing to say the least admittedly the puppet caught him off guard as it landed on him, reaching out with his free hand he quickly attempted to snatch the puppet off his back before his opponent could recover it, however the momentary distraction allowed the man to escape his kido and get the puppet back thanks to his great speed. However, all was not lost the mans movement’s in this endeavor worked as excellent preliminary data already the algorithm was pushing out results showing a red image which predicted the path of Lances’ movements by studying the electro kinetic interactions of the mans’ muscle structure and internal reiatsu, the view it produced was quite intriguing using a combination of reiatsu and thermal frequencies as a medium. Though for the moment it could only predict the path he had already taken the algorithm would adapt quickly soon he would be able to follow and even predict the mans’ movements despite his incredible speed. In the meantime he needed to stay alive and for that purpose keep moving.

Though his kido missed Anz was more then happy with the results but still quite wary of his opponent and thus remained cautious in his interactions. When Cal once more appeared in front of him he readied himself for an attack sliding right and trying to get around the puppet, the red projected form of Lance indicated the man had come at him and history had shown that leading with the puppet was generally a distraction. His thesis proved true as the old puppet was quickly replaced by a second one which Anz deftly side stepped marking it’s special location and probable final point of movement and moving away in case it was an explosive. Momentarily distracted by the puppet Lance managed to move without him noting, however PATCH was able to keep track of his movements allowing Anz to spin to face the incoming attack bringing his hand up to try and block the attack however he was only able to catch the soft fabric of the leg the metal plate in the foot whipping albeit reduced in strength into his cheek knocking him back a few feet a dark bruise swelling on his cheek.

Using shunpo he once more moved away from the man, the algorithm was getting better and it had saved him from possibly serious damage in that case, however it still needed time to reach completion even supercomputers weren’t perfect. Next the man started moving all over the place an obvious distraction technique, as it seemed that was how he fought. Yet the movements worked quite well with each time Cal popping up closer and closer to predicted models, soon he would turn that speed into a disadvantage however he still needed to set the stage for his trap. Opening his injured jaw to stretch the muscle slightly and relieve swelling he pushed off with shunpo not towards his opponent but away a full fifteen feet, he wanted to see the man come the algorithm was almost ready and now all he needed was for Lance to provide him with the opening, however first he needed to create a false image of his own personal fighting style. Hado had never been his forte he had skill in bakudo but low level hado was the most he was comfortable with, luckily that was all he needed pointing at Cals location he spoke out hoping to convince the man that he was a long distance fighter and he needed to close the gap. “Byakurai” the lightning arced from his finger aimed at the most recent appearance of Cal. If he was right, the blast would be easily dodged and the man would probably charge in an attempt to use Cal as a close range decoy, however if he did Anz would use PATCH to predict the man’s arrival a puff of green smoke appearing around his right hand as he flung it forward tossing two of his patented LaS bombs just below Cal and hopefully hitting Lance. If the bombs exploded and they only would if they hit Lance he would follow through with a powerful round house kick at the mans gut, and a shunpo behind him with a barrage of open palm jabs aiming for the various vital organs in the body starting with liver, then kidney, then C6 vertebrae which controlled peripheral limb coordination, pinching the nerve there would drastically reduce his opponents reaction speed.

(OoC: LaS bombs description is in the spoiler

Spoiler:

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Lance watched carefully at his opponents movements, he continued to show no emotion at all, his body still perfectly calm as he continued to move around, watching from all angles of this man, he appeared to be analyzing Lance's movements, which Lance quickly figured out, but he didn't really understand what could be analyzed, his pattern perhaps, but Lance didn't have a specific pattern, he constantly changed his locations in a way that had no pattern at all, at least, to his knowledge anyway. He figured he should put Cal down sooner or later, Cal was obviously not going to be useful for the most part, though he did manage to harm the mans cheek, Cal of course, still singing his song, "HAA HAA HEE HEE HOO HOO" Which kept on replaying over and over.

Lance analyzed the mans movements, making sure to follow him, the man used shunpo to appear fifteen feet away from him, He seemed to be waiting for something, perhaps an attack, probably to fuel his research he is currently doing, if he is doing any anyway, Lance didn't really care much though, if he wanted to he could close this gap in under a second, but he wanted a fair fight. Suddenly the man pointed his finger, firing off blue lightning, a hado technique which he had heard about from his research on shinigami at home. It was clearly aimed at Cal but Lance's impressive speed easily made it miss the target, was this man a long ranged fighter? Perhaps he is, only one way to find out, He figured he'd change it up a bit though, Lance enjoyed distracting his opponents, the man didn't seem to phased with Cal alone, so how about a little more.

Lance sent Cal flying at the enemy, appearing ahead Cal for a moment before disappearing again, Cal still flying forward, he appeared behind Cal for an instant, the man appeared to fire off some things towards him, Lance kept his cool as the bombs nicked him, exploding, Lance's reiatsu was incredibly INCREDIBLY low however, at most all he could do was see spirits, 1% of that in damage was not enough enough to push him at all. The man appeared in front of him, attempting to send a kick towards his gut, Lance raised his hand, open palm, blocking the kick and stopping it in place receiving absolutely no damage, his gloves were patted and his strength was easily enough to block a gigantic boulder with little to no damage. The man disappeared again, appearing behind him, Lance put on a smirk as the man started to open palm attack him. Lance shifted his weight in such a way that he pushed forward, away from the man, disappearing, grabbing Cal and turning his sound box off, pulling out a mini-puppet, throwing it at the mans palm, having it expand, it getting sent flying, and Lance appearing behind the man sending Cal's foot down onto his head, while at the same time, letting go of Cal, his physical force from Lance's strength still in effect, Lance appeared in front of the man, blocking his palms with the side of his sword to make sure not to cut the mans hand.

Lance had to admit this was a great fight, he loved fighting with people so long as no one was severely harmed. It relaxed him and put him at ease, his smirk left his face to keep his cool, He realized this guy was clearly a captain for a reason, finding a pattern that Lance himself wasn't really aware of, or perhaps it was just luck, either way this man was clearly a tough fight, and Lance loved every moment of it.

((To sum it up, in 1 second Lance dodged the first open palm hit and grabbed Cal, the 2nd second Lance tossed a puppet at his hand for a distraction and went behind the man, the 3rd second was sending Cal's foot down onto the mans head and going in front of him and blocking his attacks with the side of his sword, he is actually using blocking as a distraction here.)

Anz glanced at his bombs as they struck and he charged, however they did next to no damage. Yet he had little time to ponder the significance of that as the man blocked his kick with his hand, hoping to at least use the distraction to land a blow he shunpoed to strike again only to be blocked by one of his puppets. Lance moved again however, PATCH used the thermal signatures of his bodies’ movement in concurrence with shift in the electrochemical energies of his body to follow the movement, allowing Anz to side step the overhead attack ducking and weaving it down to glancing blow along his bicep another black bruise forming as he continued his assault, only to have his open palm strikes blocked by the flat of his opponents blade, it was a solid tactic and rather kind as well though not necessary since even the strongest of zanpakuto couldn’t damage the powerful energy displacement gloves which he wore. Yet he now had an opening, closing his right hand around the blade that had blocked him his combat gloves preventing injury he pulled at the weapon-attempting draw the man closer to him while he flung a small white ball out of a hidden pocket in his left sleeve and shunpoed behind Lance. As the ball expanded it would hopefully envelope the man in a thick toffee like ball. While the ball was weak taking a mere 2-3 seconds to dislodge oneself from it was also highly combustible and incredibly sticky.

As he appeared from shunpo behind the man who was hopefully stuck in the now eight foot in diameter sphere of toffee like goo, he pulled out a small green bean from the lining of his clothes placing a small drop of energy into the bean he flung it at the mass of goo. The bean would strike with a small spark setting the goo ablaze like a match on gasoline, as a large seven-foot cloud of obscuring smoke surrounded the area as Anz backed away not continuing the assault showing the man a flash of courtesy as a response to his previous actions, and to give him a chance to asses what he had learned. He had wondered why the man had seemed strange, and his mines had confirmed a suspicion he wasn’t even sure if he had considered, the man had next to no reiatsu just enough to be spiritually aware. The implications, were intriguing humans with powers had always been a bit of a blank spot in the seireitei’s scientific database and now it seemed they had some way of reaching incredible strengths without reiatsu perhaps a variation on a quincy’s skill yet he saw no indication of particle gathering. Still this offered an intresting opportunity how much reiatsu would he have to drain out of man before he could no longer detect spiritual presences… such as his own.

(Spoiler: the foam grenade does not change strength with the amount of reiatsu drained it’s still relatively weak and very very sticky. Info for both equipment in set 2 under equipment in the link in my sig, also just to warn you Anz uses his equipment way more then his shikai. )

Anz watched with interest as the man used the kinetic energy of is blade to create a friction coefficient too high for his foam grenade to attach; it was a brilliant tactic and had reduced the damage of the attack significantly. Even better then that PATCH had caught the whole thing and he would be able to use the information adjust the properties of his grenades and prevent the action from occurring in the future though he would need to return to the lab to do that. As the man patted out his arm and spoke Anz listened replying to his comment about his inventions and replied slightly confused. “Thank you, I must say I found your animatron quite intriguing, as well my compliments to the designer of it’s shock and cooling system as to withstand those speeds the design must truly be marvelous, however while I do understand the complimentary nature of your comment, the word rad I’m afraid is lost in me, I’m assuming a colloquialism of some sort?” After listening to the mans response (or lack there of) he watched him set aside the puppet, draw his blade, and vanish.

The rapid increase in speed appeared as a red directional blur the algorithm he was using to understand the mans movements unable to quickly adapt to the new parameters. Unable to determine where the man would appear he spun right hoping to catch a glimpse and succeeding, spotting the arc of the mans blade with less then a second to respond he threw his gloved hand up in defense the blade landing squarely into it the cutting force was displaced, but the blunt force pushed him backwards and rattled down his arm. As fast as he appeared he disappeared, the algorithm once more only showing the initial direction of movement as it attempt to adapt to the mans new speed. Knowing he was currently at a disadvantage he spun around guessing from the mans ‘attack style that he would once more attack straight on from behind, however at the same time he reached to his belt buckle pressing a button with his left hand. A turquoise green shield of energy surrounded his body as Lance once more appeared thrusting his blade forward, hoping to dodge he slid back the man once more disappearing his blade falling way short of its mark. The realization hit him instantly it was a feint in less then a second the man would if the pattern held attack from behind. With no time to turn and block he had to do the next best thing try and counter, pushing off into shunpo as PATCH instantly calculated the correct frequency he vibrated his body with the movement, momentarily leaving behind a clone of electric energy where his body once was.

If the man hit the clone with his sword a surge of energy would course through the blade into his body equivalent in strength to tsuzuri raiden. Anz would appear from shunpo roughly five feet from his previous position a cattle prod forming from green smoke in his hand, the powerful weapon was another of his inventions capable of storing several hado within itself he pointed it at the man who would hopefully be stunned from the surge of electricity that would have run through his body, and clicked the button on the hilt of the rod. From the tip the two stored hado would burst forth the combined might of hado 31: shakkaho and hado 33: Sokatsui.

Anz watched with surprise as the man dropped his blade, it was an intuitive move one he would not have guessed at, however with incredibly speed perhaps created an incredible reaction rate. The data was intriguing he would need to factor that the man was able to adjust his swings and momentum with such acuity for the next time he took the offensive. However he had new problems at the moment for the man quickly disappeared abandoning his blade, guessing at his destination; Anz spun looking directly behind himself to find the man standing and talking, pausing for a moment he replied with a dry and even tone similar to a lecturing professor, “Actually quite the contrary, I applaud your reaction speed and risk management analysis”. As he finished his reply Lance disappeared again popping up in front of Anz and tossing another of the expanding puppets as he disappeared, expecting an attack from behind he spun. Surprised to see a second puppet surging towards him he quickly spotted the attack as a double feint, and possible pinch maneuver. Few understood the value of retreat but nothing was stronger in a situation like this, as the puppet approached him he shunpoed aiming for a large distance he appeared twenty feet to his right spinning around to his former position as the ground where he stood exploded into a cloud of dust and dirt. Appearing from the rubble Lance stood next to his puppet accomplice apparently waiting for something, his arms crossed.

The momentary break was extremely useful Anzs’ arm still tingled from blocking the mans’ slash before, as well as his cheek and bicep which stung from the deep dark bruises given to him by the puppet. However, this break allowed him to directly access PATCH’s data and check on the process of the algorithm, the mans speed was truly impressive and the previous set of data points was corrupting the new data, dumping some old data and adjusting the program to account for his opponents lack of reiatsu he set the algorithm running again, however the data was quite conclusive he was not fast enough to keep up with the man. The information was conclusive, at this rate he would lose the battle, he had been waiting for the man to release some sort of full bring or power yet none had shown, it would seem the man relied purely on his physical strength and speed, though there wasn’t enough data to conclusively prove that yet. Still as much as he hated being the first to use his release at this rate he had no choice.

Placing his left hand on the hilt of his zanpakuto he pushed off into shunpo appearing two feet in front of Lance he quick drew his blade in a slashing motion, however instead of aiming for his opponent he instead aimed for a small soap bubble which floated out of the sleeve of his right hand as he appeared from shunpo. The bubble was a burst bubble another of his many inventions this targeted flash bang struck anyone besides Anz with a blinding burst of light, and deafening explosion noise. Timed exactly as he made contact with the bubble Anz called out “Michiru, Umigumo”, a vapor like mist surrounded him as six barnacle covered silver gauntlets formed (two on his hands four floating), the four floating gauntlets fired out curled into fists and covered in a yellowish liquid they targeted Lances shoulders and lower ribs, each gauntlet covered in zanpakuto hard barnacles rough and ready to shred the skin on contact (like a surfing wound).

(Active poison on gauntlets: Crabs pinch, release boosts: speed 3x Kido strength 2x endurance 2x)

Anz frowned his opponent had dodged all four of his gauntlets and taken the flash bang in stride, noticing the shades he wondered if perhaps they were polarized enough to deter the flash bangs affects, if so that could prove advantageous. Still Lance was using his speed to his advantage, moving about at incredible velocity he popped in and out, however this was a major strategic error on the mans part as Anz began to move as well following him while keeping a large distance, it wasn’t so much to attack but to move PATCH at a velocity closer to his opponent, a velocity he couldn’t achieve outside Shikai. The added data set the algorithm to work pumping out projections and analysis at a rate and speed only a supercomputer could, by the time his foe recovered his senses his sensors could follow the mans’ movements. With his free floating gauntlets next to him he waited for the opportunity to put his advantage to use.

Lance then charged appearing behind him, Anz spun with the mans movements making sure to lag, and thus not let him know that he could now follow his movements. Left, behind, away, then near each movement was followed just behind as if he was reacting and not following. Lance was fast he gave the man that, but not faster then the processing power of seireitei mainframe super computer and Anz had more then enough data to set his trap now. This would be an important moment, the timing would have to be perfect if his plan were to work, and of course Lance would need to give him the opportunity. Sending one gauntlet to block an incoming strike he spun with the mans movements watching as he jabbed forward while throwing something up, the moment was perfect with the momentum commitment such an action would take his reaction speed would be delayed by a quickly calculated minimum of 3.62%, enough to set his plan in motion.

Once more he shunpoed leaving behind an electric image, however this time he shunpoed directly behind the man while one of his gauntlets exploded into a five foot cloud of vapor, anything enveloped in the cloud in this case Lance himself would be instantly turned 180 degrees around. Appearing from his shunpo at the moment the gauntlet exploded he spoke pointing at Lances’ face “Sho”, the kido based punch would hopefully knock the probably disorientated man back the few inches between him and the electric clone, surging energy through his body. However, that was not the end goal tossing a foam grenade at the man as he finished his quick kido the expanding foam would, if Lance was hit, be ignited by the electricity of the shunpo afterburn turning into a giant flaming ball. To finish the attack green smoke swirled around Anz as a miniature replica of himself appeared and rapidly expanded, “Rush, grasp, and slam the knee”; his Anz doll was a life size replica made of the same material as a zanpakuto it drove forth through the flames attempting to ram its’ tremendous weight into the hopefully injured mans knee while grabbing the lower leg, upon completion or failure of its’ task the doll would shrink to six inches and fall lifelessly to the ground.

Meanwhile shunpoing ten feet away after throwing the doll Anz stood breathing heavily a line of sweat running down his cheek, combining those attack had taken a toll on him and he would need some time to catch his breath. Hopefully at a minimum, so would Lance, still just in case he kept a burst bubble on hand, if Lance charged he would use the miniscule amount of energy necessary to activate it and hopefully buy himself a few more seconds of respite. His other three gauntlets floated towards him from his starting position, they moved slowly as he wanted to use the minimum amount of energy necessary.

(OoC: Anz’s gauntlet burst move (shifting tides) works by shifting the molecular space occupied by Lance into the opposite confirmation, while there is no pain or damage involved the process is incredibly fast and for most disorientating. The Anz doll is as fast and strong as Anz, but made of reiatsu infused metal so weighs a massive amount.)

Anz perhaps wouldn’t have noticed the sudden switch of Lance and his puppet, but the sensors in his PATCH couldn’t be fooled so easily, still shunpoing away he frowned seeing his attempt had failed not even leaving the slightest scratch on his opponent. He would have seconds if that to prepare for Lances incoming attack and still quickly recovering he would need more then that to prepare for his opponent, still it would seem he needed a new strategy and only one came to mind, the one he hated to use. Shunpoing away to gain some time and distance he way almost immediately be met by Lance’s blade coming down at him, throwing his gauntleted hands up in defense the blow shoved him back a few feet luckily he was still protected by his reiatsu shield from earlier and the damage was significantly reduced. Still he had little time to rest as Lance threw his sword sending it hurtling towards him, however a sword was not a throwing weapon and could easily be deflected due to it’s large size and wobbled aerodynamics. As his gauntlet slammed into the blade sending it hurtling to the ground, he spotted the hilt and started formulating his new plan.

However, while he was blocking the blade Lance had appeared above him tossing down more of those expanding puppets. Quickly identifying them as a distraction, since PATCH detected no energy from them he spun in time to see Lance appear with a punch about to block he pivoted only to be caught off guard and off balance as Lance suddenly appeared on his opposite side with a kick. Still off balance and recovering from mixing shunpo afterburn with a shikai ability there was no way to dodge or block the blow completely so he went for the next best thing, throwing one gauntlet in between him and the kick he reduced some of the damage but was still sent hurtling backwards, yet as the kick connected with the gauntlet a small fleck of barnacle would break off attaching its’ self to Lances shoe with thousands of small microscopic hooks. Flying back and slamming into the ground Anz felt his back slamming into the dirt, even with the protection offered by his reiatsu shield the pain was a bitch.

Rising perhaps a bit slowly to his feet and still catching his breath, he felt the pain in his back, cheek, and arm quite vividly, while his stamina was great and with a few moments he would recover his endurance was weak even with the shikai boost and he needed to take less damage or he would lose. Needing time to complete the plans for his new strategy he looked around spotting Lances sword. Shunpoing to the blade on the ground he would use it like Lance had as a distraction and a weapon, sliding one gauntleted finger to the bottom of the hilt he deposited another barnacle fleck and tossed the blade at Lance hopefully distracting him. Throwing one of his smoke beans to the ground he whispered “Kyakko”, the kido causing him to shimmer and disappear masking any trace of him he quickly moved well out of the smoke. Using his remaining three gauntlets still coated in the yellowish liquid he had them charge and punch a few times at his opponent while he invisibly rested and watched.

Anz watched his opponent carefully, at the same time slowly regaining his composure. In truth he hurt, endurance had never been his forte and he could take little hits in combat especially from a powerful physical fighter like Lance. In fact his energy shield had taken the brunt of the mans attacks and his body still ached from blocking the close combat fighter, normally he outmatched his opponents in speed and he was finding having an opponent much faster then him extremely troublesome. Listening to Lance declare his lack of preparation he quickly lost some respect for the man, choosing to not bring all of ones strengths and abilities to a battle was fool hardy arrogance and while some may consider it honorable to relinquish his own equipment in response to this declaration, it just seemed illogical by his own standards. Surveying his surroundings and noting the small meter which indicating the remaining energy of his shield was running low he decided it would soon be time to spring his next trap and hopefully his final one.

However in order for the technique to work he still needed to prepare the last two pieces of the puzzle and he was running out of time. Invisibly he knelt depositing a barnacle on the ground in front of him. Then he moved slowly paying careful attention to keep his presence masked with the bakudo spell he moved his way roughly fifteen feet to his left. All his remaining gauntlets coated themselves in the standard crab pinch poison. Reaching into the lining of his clothes he pulled out another smoke bean and slammed it to the ground creating a massive cloud of smoke which all his gauntlets flew into it. Each gauntlet criss-crossed his position while he threw several of his burst bubble pills into the air each gauntlet catching one. From the smoke four Anzs would appear as each gauntlet expanded under the cover of the smoke to create illusionary copies of their master. The three copies, consisted of a liquid refraction of water creating the image of Anz with the gauntlet hidden within.

The three clones would charge out of the smoke first, however they were the distraction upon contact they would deploy their burst bubble. Still yet this was a double feint as their actual goal was to attack Lances sword arm and keep it occupied while the real Anz shunpoed to his non-armed side and attack with a flurry of quick open palm jab. Any hit except those blocked by the sword if that happened would have the two-fold damage of depositing a barnacle (up to three), and using the attached barnacles to shred the skin and inject crabs pinch poison. Blocked, successful or evaded, Anz would then Shunpo so that he was standing on the ground; with the barnacle he had placed earlier directly behind him.

Lance gripped his sword tightly, being sure to keep his ears and eyes open for any signs of movement. He figured he would need to use gadgets to win this, this man was a captain after all, but in truth, this was more of a test on himself to see how much he had grown, to be honest, he got farther then he thought he would. He suddenly heard a noise, seeing another smoke bomb go off he made a battle stance in that direction, staying perfectly still and calm he awaited to see what the man was planning next. He could hear some things happening inside the smoke, but he kept his ground, not rushing in like he did before. It was time for a chance of plans in strategy, not just rushing in and confusing, it was about time he really dished out what he was capable of. Gripping his sword tightly he put it out in front of him. He could see the silhouettes of the man, but again, decided not to rush it, it appeared as though there were more then 1 of him, which obviously meant there was a trick happening here.

Suddenly, three clones of the man popped out, at least, they appeared to be clones, they rushed towards Lance which Lance quickly analyzed the situation, something seemed fishy. Since when did this man rush out at Lance so suddenly, it wasn't like him at all, perhaps he changed his strategy too, might be why he created so many of himself, to increase his fighting capabilities. When they got close Lance decided to slash at them, moving at such amazing speed it would hit all 3 of them in the same second, however, it appears it was a trap as he figured, they each had a burst bubble that exploded causing a deafening sound and a bright light, Lance quickly closed his eyes before seeing them for too long, luckily his sunglasses shielded the light some. He opened his eyes soon after to see Anz next to him. He couldn't hear anything, but he could see the basic shape of Anz's attacks, little did this man know. He shifted his sword to his other hand, he was actually capable of using both hands in combat, he did after all, train for years and years, his other hand wasn't quite as good as his other, but that didn't matter as much. He quickly moved his sword quickly to block the jabs that were heading towards him.

The man's jabs were quick, and while Lance did block them, a few managed to hit Lance's body, thinking of them as just simple attacks, he soon realized that his body began to feel pain, putting his hand over the areas he was hit, he looked at the man who shunpo'd away, "So that was your game huh?" He stood up straight putting himself into a stance, "I guess I know not to stand still anymore, let's see if you can keep up with me constantly moving then shall we?" He winced at the pain he felt from the areas he was hit, disappearing due to his incredible speed, he appeared in front of the man, delivering a series of incredibly fast sword slashes before disappearing and reappearing to the side of the man, but, at the same time, constantly moving from there to behind the man, sending his blade down it was as if he was striking from 2 areas at once. He then disappeared afterwards to appear to the only side he hadn't' been before, stabbing his blade forward several times before disappearing again, continuing to constantly move before appearing 5 feet in front of the man, but it appeared as though there were shadows of Lance going around the area, but he still appeared to be standing in place, you could see the calm look on Lance's face, as though he was concentrating.

Anz felt his jabs hit home each attack landing and leaving behind two surprises, the first a small injection of his crabs pinch poison, and the second each jab placed a small barnacle into the wound. As he shunpoed away he began the mental calculations necessary to spring his trap. This trap known to those who have seen it as the pinch, slam, grasp was the goal of Anz’s shikai a link of several of its’ abilities with his inventions to procure a winning outcome in combat. However Lance was no easy foe, quickly adapting he began to move driving forward with a flurry of sword attacks Anz back pedaled a foot or two his hands moving quickly to block most of the blows as a few slashed across his arms, leaving thin gashes the strength of the attack reduced by the shield which still covered his body. However, the signal on PATCH showed the shield was running low and he would need to purge the system soon. Lance continued his assault using his incredible speed to attack from seemingly multiple angles simultaneously Anz spun towards his opponent small cuts opening across his arm and back as a few slashes slid through. The rate of attack was impressive and his speed made tracking his movements while blocking the attacks a difficult task even with the enhancing tracking algorithm PATCH provided.

Bleeding from several wounds and knowing he couldn’t defend from an onslaught like this for much longer he decided to use the one attack of his shikai specifically designed for intense damage. First as Lance appeared to the side he psychically linked with the poison that now would have passed the blood brain barrier due to the increased blood flow necessary to reach such speeds. As Lance began to thrust Anz connected with his hypothalamus sending false signals to the brain, these signals (one for each landed jab) would travel instantaneously down the spine to the lower back, left shoulder blade, and right rib cage activating neuro-receptors in the muscles telling the body that he had just been punctured by a sword slash in each of those areas. As Lances responded to the false wounds Anz jumped two feet into the air pressing the button on his belt to purge his reiatsu shield, this would cause a radial blast of kinetic energy which while weak in comparison to most attacks had enough strength to push back even the heaviest of foes ten feet. Finally as he landed green smoke swirled around his hand as his etherium box released his kido rod; “Grasp” the final trigger for his trap the words rolled off his tongue with a hint of regret. Upon command each of the hidden barnacles placed on Lances body and the unused one on the ground, would rapidly expand a covering of foot long needles dripping with highly concentrated acid, which would eat through flesh. Finally he pressed the button on his kido rod releasing a dual blast of both hado 33: sokatsui and hado 31: shakkaho with full incantation at his hopefully injured opponent. As the dust cleared Anz stood breathing hard and bleeding from several wounds throughout his body as his gauntlets came to his side having been too far before to help defend him.

(OoC: Location of barnacles: Sword hilt, Shoe, rib cage x3, ground. (Total number 6): Start of fatigue state)

Anz watched as Lance stood from his attack, managed to remove his shoe and release his grip on his blade in the instant the barnacles expanded. Even more he had managed to resist the natural impulse to remove the barnacles, which would probably have led to his lungs collapsing. The man constantly impressed, yet still the surface area of each of the barnacles was covered in needles their acid coating even now probably burning the punctured vital organs behind the ribs, creating a small amount of space between the needle and the flesh. Lance then moved maintaining his incredible speed to retrieve his puppet companion; however moving at that rate would only hasten the end of this fight. If his calculations were right and Lance was in fact just using his energy to boost his body’s natural abilities, then enhanced speed would cause his heart to pump blood with greater efficiency to bring oxygen to the muscles allowing them to be used at such an enhanced rate. The high blood flow would cause a greater leak within the chesty cavity, if his lungs didn’t flood with blood then the actual inter-muscle space would.

However for now Anz needed to stay alive long enough to win, Lance pointed his thumb at him and made some strange comment about a crown. Raising an eyebrow Anz didn’t get the reference he was never wearing any sort of crown, nor had claimed superiority by divine right. About to question the validity of the limerick, he wasn’t given the chance as Cal appeared behind him. Shifting forward Anz continued to breathe heavily swinging two of his gauntlets to punch the puppet. At the same time his fourth gauntlet reformed near him its’ cool down having ended. This however was in vain, as he just managed to get his hand up in time to block a punch the force moving through his gauntlet and into his face sending him hurtling backwards, small streaks of blood on the ground where he landed.

Rising to his feet and breathing deeply he slid a burst bubble and a foam grenade into his right and left hand respectively. Suddenly an idea occurred to him one that was incredibly simple, if in his weakened state he couldn’t follow Lance he would follow the electromagnetic field produced by Cals’ voice box. If Lance came within four feet of him, he would pop a burst bubble in his hand, toss a foam grenade, and detonate it with a smoke bean while he moved ten, fifteen yards away. These actions required little to no effort and energy so he would at least have a few more seconds of rest, before the next attack. And if he was right the bleeding would be slowing down his opponent to a near halt within three to seven minutes.

Lance saw through Anzs’ maneuver following close behind he could feel the man’s energy as he readied himself to kick, diving forward Anz rolled right as the kick swished overhead. Popping to his feet he stood just in time to get whacked by Cals leg the attack causing him to stumble back a little bit. However the strength of the attack was of course reduced by his opponents deteriorating health. Tired but never one to lose mental acuity he instantly linked the strange dancing puppet in front of him as a sign of the previous pattern of decoy backside attacks. Spinning he used the one of the two inventions he had as of yet not used to its full potential, the creation function of his etherium box. The concept was simple though the box could make a multitude of complex objects with some simple calculations using PATCH in this limited time he would have to improvise something simple, in this case a crash mat. The nearly six foot bag normally associated with Hollywood stunt doubles was brilliant in the simplicity of its’ design, nothing more than pressurized air, microscopic one way valves in the form of a porous skin, and a soft interior in this case foam.

The attack struck into the mat, the force traveled through delineated by the pocket of pressurized air that surged out the side reducing the attack to a gentle thump which pushed Anz back like he was holding a boxers bag. Shunpoing backwards as he regained his strength Anz stood trying to return his breathing to normal as he started to catch his second wind. The mat crumpled to the ground without its support blood stains from his still opened wounds streaked across the mat where it had hit his body. Looking at his opponent he used PATCH to visualize his thermal spectra, the blood pooling his chest would change the bodies heat distribution as blood rushed from the extremities in a vain attempt to close the inner wounds held open by the acid covered barnacles. Still his quest to win and his competitive nature may have gotten the best of him as the wounds inflected on Lance could quickly become fatal. Still he could not concede as a Captain of the gotei 13, he represented the organization as much as himself in this fight.

Frowning as Lance pulled out the cotton balls; he knew he probably didn’t have the endurance to keep up this fight. Taking advice from Sun Tzu’s art of war he quickly realized the best way to win this fight was not to fight at all. “You are an impressive opponent Lance but I fear this fight draws to a close, my body hurts and I don’t know how many more hits I can take. Thus you place me in something of an awkward position for it’s not in me to concede, nor and perhaps more importantly is it appropriate considering my position within the gotei. I would ask that you concede, if you haven’t realized yet the barnacles in your chest have likely punctured several vital organs; possibly including the lungs. You’re a smart man anyone with your knowledge of mechanics would understand basic pressurization, hence the reason you didn’t remove the barnacles. Yet, they are my shikai and if I sheathe my blade they will disappear possibly ending your life.” In truth he wasn’t sure what would happen however, the math made sense. By sealing his shikai the barnacles would disappear creating a void space which air would rush into, if his lungs were indeed punctured they would collapse and if not the damage done by the equalization of pressure would cause the wounds to expand and contract as air flew in and out in moments attempting to equalize the low pressure zone within the body. Anz waited patiently however if Lance did not concede he would sheathe his shikai and pop a burst bubble as he shunpoed back. At the same time his mind ran over the several medical options to reduce the mans’ pain and expedite the healing process.