Demonic Language [Momo, Ranma]

Oh shizzlebricks.

”He was? I mean, I saw the white… the white jacket and all, but I thought it was just decoration,” Ranma commented in surprise. So the white-haired, short boy actually used to be a Captain… fuck, he wouldn’t do so well against any Captains as of now. Even when Ranma began losing confidence, Hinamori-sensei’s comments about this guy actually made him grin in a mixture of disbelief, humor, what-the-fuckness and a bunch of other emotions.

A guy who overused his Bankai like that? Bankai, Bankai, Bankai… so was he like Shura? No, that couldn’t be, she used her Bankai very shortly, and he’d only seen her use it once against Noharu. But still, the idea of just… Bankai after Bankai- maybe the Vice-Captain was right. Bankai wasn’t the be-all-end-all.

“… So what you’re saying is- he’s a pushover?” I mean, a previous Captain could hardly be called a pushover, could they? But Hinamori-sensei likely knew them personally, so he’d take her word for it. Now, he actually felt a lot more relieved – bring on his Bankai! But not now… Ranma needed to take her advice and prepare.

…

Ranma had finished his tea quickly – it was too good to just be left brooding on the table, after all. He was ready to work himself to the bone in order to be able to cast this Shitotsu Sansen and add it to his arsenal of funny Bakudō spells. Almost skipping steps on his way outside, like a child eager to go to school for the first time.

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmh, at least around the 50s… just kinda thought of it,” he revealed, “Zan-Ken-So-Ki! Proficient in all four cornerstones of Shinigami combat arts – that’s what makes a full-fledged Shinigami… that’s what my uppers told me. I wanna see if I can become this complete Shinigami they talked about.”

“He’s certainly no pushover and I imagine that you’d definitely struggle against him should you have faced him in battle but there were glaring weaknesses that can and were exploited. I’ve no idea where he is now but maybe one day you’ll come across him. If you do and do end up in battle, remember what I’ve said. His ego is what does him in.” Momo answered, a brief moment of recollection crossing her face as she remembered their last time together but she quickly brushed it aside.

Once they were back out in the garden and ready to kick things off again, Momo would listen with interest as he spoke about where he wanted to be in terms of his abilities, nodding her head in agreement. “It’s wise to at least become proficient with each of the four arts but I’d advise you to perhaps have an ace in the hole. Perhaps one favourite where you push for a little higher than simply adept. You’ll find that there are times where just being an all rounder is not enough. Bankai, Shunko or any other release will only become yours if you go beyond the rank and file.”

Giving him a moment to think about her words, she’d then say with a smile. “As for 50’s kido, that’s a fair place to get to and I’m certain you can reach that. Never be afraid to reach a little higher though if one day you wish to grow further in the field. There are some pretty nifty spells once you reach the higher echelons.”

Turning to face the moving target of the white haired Captain, she’d focus back on the task at hand. “Now, watch me as I use Shitotsu Sansen and pay close attention to how it looks. It will make it far easier to cast without incantation once you have the look of it in your head.”

Creating a burst of energy into her left palm, Momo would proceed to draw an inverted triangle using it, causing three smaller solid triangles to form at each of the points. “Bakudō #30. Shitotsu Sansen!” The three triangle would then fire, with one striking each arm but it was the third one which caused Momo to giggle. It had struck the target directly in the crotch instead of one of the legs.

Ego… damn, how the mighty could fall. Ranma would remember that to the best of his ability.

Funny enough, Hinamori-sensei did remind him of his own interests within Zankensoki – he hadn’t always been so intent on trying to do anything with all four classes. His favorite was Zanjutsu, after all – that was why he was able to do so much with Hōkamaru! The silence aside, Hōkamaru and Ranma were a solid sword team… wait, shit, maybe there was some insight right there for Ranma to think through! Argh, topic for later…

But she had a point. Choose something he’d genuinely count on in his time of need… Hōkamaru. Maybe that was why he was so desperate to hear anything from his Zanpakutō – it was genuinely the best he had. His strongest ally was a mute! How fucked up was that?! I know you’re in there… still listening to us, aren’t you?! Like some sort of… fly on the wall or something! I don’t know if you think so stupidly little of me, or if you’re just the most timid motherfucker in the history of Zanpakutō! One day… I know you’ll reply to me. So take your damn time, I’ll wait. I’ll wait, I’ll wait, I’ll play your stupid, little game… until you want to talk to me.

With that out of the window, his eyes sparkled at the possibility of learning even higher-ranked spells – spells so potentially devastating and efficient that they could be reliable game-enders, rivaling even the power of releases! He’d heard of some Shinigami who didn’t even rely on their Zanpakutō for combat, fully capable of humiliating their opponents with Hadō and Bakudō alone.

If he could fix this loss of power when skipping chants… then he could use Kidō as a sort of quick-drawing surprise attack! The potential was endless!

“Yes ma’am,” he replied diligently, his eyes widened and fully locked onto the spell that Hinamori-sensei was casting. Spiritual Energy emitted from her hand, bright and blinding in color, but he kept looking… and she shaped the energy in the air akin to drawing, and what did she draw? A triangle, obviously – it was in the name, and it wasn’t any fancy-looking triangle. Just an inverted one, an upside-down triangle. A triangle pointing downward.

It was what was happening at the edges of the triangle that was special – on each edge, a smaller triangle burst out like a pyramid or cone. They fired out like missiles, hitting the dummy in its arms and- oh my fucking lord, you could target groin areas too! “A-Owwwww, I could almost feel that myself…” he grimaced, instinctively crossing his legs a little, “Ssssssssomething tells me you really don’t like him… n-not that it’s any of my business- please, I won’t ask any further into the matter, not my problem! Mphf!”

It was his turn, anyway. Stepping forward, he decided to target the taller dummy with the glasses – what a funny-looking science guy, that must’ve been. Kinda too stereotypically nerdy in appearance, though, but Ranma wasn’t trying to hurt any nerds – just hold them in place with spikes. If Reishi is launched from my hand, that shouldn’t be an issue, he confirmed, closing his eyes and emitting his own, bright Reishi from his left palm – just as Hinamori-sensei did it, Shouldn’t it be my right? Ah, maybe it doesn’t matter…

He simply let his Reishi linger in the air as his hand moved ahead, drawing an inverted triangle in front of him. It was faint, and by opening his eyes, he too could see that. D-Damn it, even I can tell that’s weaker than it should be. C’mon… triangle… triangle with triangles… missile, cone, pyramid-like missile cones…

He let his thoughts densify on that specific image – a triangle with a triangle on each edge. It took effort to make it the only thought he had in mind, but he’d seen the technique used. That was how it should be.

While the triangle itself was faint, the missiles manifested on each edge were dense and solid, stronger than the beginning part. “Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen!” he casted, letting the three pyramids shoot forward and shoot the nerdy dummy in both its arms and nerdy face. The cones dug in about… that wasn’t just half-way, that was about 70% of the cone dug into the target!

“…” But Ranma couldn’t exactly see the improvement from his position, “Hey, that’s… pretty deep, right? Yours looked like nails flattened into a wall, but mine look like tent pegs.”

“I didn’t mean to hit him there.” Momo answered, although the smirk on her face might just tell Ranma a different story. Either way, she was clearly amused by her own effort and while she was a little rusty with a spell of that calibre, it had more than done the job. If anything, it was a reminder that she should go back and practise the lower ranked spells again from time to time. You could never tell when they could come in useful, after all.

As he attempted the spell himself, Momo would fold her arms, watching with interest as he zealously went about his work. He clearly had a gift for spellcraft and the dark haired woman hoped that he’d be able to overcome whatever doubts he had still had about his ability. There was nothing wrong with his technique as far as she was concerned and all he needed was confidence, something that would only come with hard work.

To her delight, he was able to do it on his first try and as he asked her about the depth of penetration, Momo would walk over to the target and examine the effects of his spell. “Sounds about right. The spell hasn’t completely pinned it but I’d say you’re about 60 to 70% there with it. This would be considered a good effort for a first casting with an incantation, let alone without. You’ve got a knack for this Ranma.”

Walking back over to him, she’d smile. “How about giving it another try? It should be much easier this time.”

About right… AYY! First try, baby! Okay, well, yeah, either Ranma had terrible memory and forgot this spell back at the Shin’ō Academy, or learning a Kidō spell around the 30s wasn’t the biggest hurdle for him. Nothing like the amount of time he’d taken trying to master the, uh, Bakudō #55: Sei-kotsu Sōkō, which was still in the works. He felt like he’d grow grey hair and a beard before he’d mastered that spell in the same manner as Morikawa-sensei had…

But there was something else to learn from all of this, right? Diligence. Discipline. Tenacity! Surely, he got more and more of those qualities as time passed on. Time… oh damn you, time…

“Whoa… see, Bakudō’s just right up on my alley, isn’t it?!” he jubilated with a fistbump to the air, “By all means, lemme show ya again…” Aaaaaaaaaaand back to total focus. Now, that shit wasn’t a foreign concept to Ranma anymore. As long as he could visualize those triangles as starkly as he did earlier…

He drew his palm across the air, drawing a triangle in his mind. It was bright-blue, with a tint of lavender, just some of his favorite colors – but it wasn’t the color that was important. It was the shape! If he had to compare it to something… then it’d be like one of those pyramids from the Living World. No, no, not that! That was, shit was in the name, a pyramid – its bottom had four edges. He needed a flat, flat, completely generic triangle… just a line drawn with three edges. That shouldn’t be so hard!

He should think less of existing objects similar to the shape he was trying to make… the spell itself had been seen twice now. Yes, just like that, brain! That was a totally generic triangle – sharp, three edges, and drawn in a line blazing blue. Perfect! That was a perfect triangle! He could feel it!

“Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen!”

Three cones fired off from each edge, sharp and pointy like the tips of arrows. They each dug into the nerdy dummy’s groin area, prompting Ranma to gaze at his large triangle from which the missiles were launched-

That was a triangle pointing upwards. “…”

“That’s an interesting twist.” The brown eyed woman would comment, wandering over again to look at the spell. It certainly made an impact on the target and Momo mused and muttered to herself briefly to place a hand on the spell, as if she could detect the strength by touch. Intriguing indeed and as she admired his attempt, a couple of nods soon followed as she turned to him.

“I’d say that you got the target well and truly pinned down this time and I must compliment you on having the confidence to add your own flair to it. When you said that Bakudo was your thing, you weren’t fooling around. It takes a lot of skill to be able to manipulate your spells like this and I encourage you to keep trying. As I said at the start, it’s all about imagination and creativity when it comes to kido and you seem to have both.” Her tone was awfully chipper and as she returned to stand by his side, she’d give him a friendly slap on the back. “Call me impressed.”

All that being said, she wanted to be certain that he hadn’t just got lucky with his last attempt and the thought caused her to laugh. “All right then. I want you to try it one more time but you’ve got to come up with a different modification this time. Let’s see what you can really do.”

He’d deserved the chance to show off and Momo was willing to let him have his moment in the sun.

Ooohhh? Hinamori-sensei saw improvement where even Ranma’s eyes skipped over. Her observation skills were pristine! Even when his brain did the ‘?’ sign, she saw but a unique flair added to the Shitotsu Sansen… flair? Yeah, flair – it didn’t really change the spell, though…

Wait, change the spell…

“I- yeah, yes, ma’am,” he agreed with rapid nods, his face reddening at her approval of his efforts, “For a second, I thought my spell was about to blow up on my face again- forget I said that…” Despite the height difference, he really was just a lively kid wanting to impress his teachers. A sort of teacher’s pet, but spiced with all the trouble-attracting seasoning in the world.

“A different- oh, so like what I just did? S-Sure! I mean, I just did it without meaning to – should be e-“

He was about to say ‘easy’, and that was when Morikawa-sensei’s words shot through his head like an arrow. Treat. Kidō. With. Respect.

“-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…” He wanted to find a replacement for the word ‘easy’, but he blanked on it. Hurry, Ranma, just… just do what she said, you’re making things awkward again!

Spiritual Energy, exerted as his Spiritual Pressure, emitted from his left palm this time. What… what exactly did he imagine? He saw the normal triangle- this time, it was pointing down, just like hers did. He couldn’t see all of the triangle at once, though, because it took up a lot of space – after all, the triangle was the size of himself. Smaller… yes, just like that! Now, I can see the entire triangle…

Envisioning it in his mind was just as much a challenge as the casting, remember! Bakudō was still his favorite branch, but Ranma’s road to becoming an expert spellcaster was littered with his own, mental walls that he needed to tear down. One after another.

…

“B-Bakudō #30… Shitotsu… S-Sansen?”

The triangle was tiny. Fully formed, and the cones were ready to shoot out as well, but it was the size of his palm. It was almost as if he drew it with his fingers. “I did try to see it as a bit smaller, but not this small…”

Momo blinked when she saw his effort, a little taken aback by it. Surely that couldn’t have been what he’d imagined? Hmm. Still, she didn’t doubt that he simply hadn’t put a lot of effort into it and after musing to herself for a moment or two as to what to say, she’d fold her arms and reply. “Maybe you should try to visualise the same look again and have another try? We’ve got plenty of time and I’d like to see what you meant to do.” As cheerful as ever, she’d smile, encouraging him onwards.

Pondering to herself further, she’d then add. “Before you do though, how about I show you something that I suppose we can call the next step in light based Bakudo? It’s probably a little out of your comfort range at the moment but maybe one day it’ll be something you can do.” She wanted to give him something to consider, even though it may have been rather higher than he actually wanted to achieve.

Pointing her left index finger at one of the targets, she’d say, skipping the chant once more. “Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō.” Similar to other light based spells, a spark of yellow spiritual energy would leave Momo’s hands but this time, it’d become six beams of solid light that would slam into the target’s midsection, completely paralysing it.

Turning to Ranma, she’d chuckle. “Neat, huh?”

Hmh… yeah, Ranma could do it again. Wait, wow, he felt oddly… confident in his skills now, eh? That was a new feeling- sike. This was often the ‘pride before the fall’ moment that had done Ranma in before! But with Hinamori-sensei’s encouragement, he felt the need to go even further and, maybe, make a square-shaped Shitotsu Sansen! That’d blow her mind, definitely! Yes, Ranma! You really were a genius! Do it! DO IT!!!!

“A-“

Thank the heavens for the intervention – Hinamori-sensei wanted to show him something before he unleashed his creative pressure. He felt a cold sweat run down his back at the mention of ‘next step’ and the whole theme of today, but Hinamori-sensei was the expert spellcaster here. Nothing was going to blow up in her face… he prayed.

Nah, she was smooth in her execution of Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō. It looked like tendrils of light shot out from her fingertip and dug into the target dummy-

“T-That’s so gritty! That shit would hurt to get hit by,” he commented, not even aware of the added paralysis that the spell brought with it, “That’s… defffffffffffffffffffffffffinitely way up there in numbers. You sure that’s my next step? I know I said I was good at Bakudō, I am good at Bakudō, I’ve been good at Bakudō…”

Calm your heart, Ranma.

“… I feel pretty comfortable with #30 right about now. Actually, y’know what- watch me.”

Kidō… it deserved so much more respect than what he’d given it up until recently. It felt like the very school itself was actively punishing Ranma for his recklessness throughout the years, but if he genuinely apologized to it, then maybe they could reconcile.

“Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen,” he chanted, short and precise, drawing a fucking square. The spell wasn't super-small, but the square appeared more transparent than his other attempts, eluding to the weaker amount of Reishi emitting from it. Yet another minor alteration of the spell, but his grin could easily be spotted under his bandages. It was a straightforward joke – now the name of the spell itself didn’t really make sense…

But once he fired it… it still fired out three cones. Only three. “…” His widened, disbelieving eyes watched the cones engrave themselves into the available target dummy, making Ranma question a lot of things right now. The fourth corner of the square hadn’t manifested any projectiles. His own spell was spitting in his face. “… I haven’t drunk yet… *blink* *blink*”

“There are other Bakudo spells in between but in terms of light based ones then this probably is the next one. Don’t worry about it though. I just wanted to show you what you could do later on. You’ve already made great progress today and you should take heart from how you’ve done. If you practise often and keep tinkering, who knows how far you could reach?” She answered with another smile.

Turning once more to watch him try Bakudo #30 again, Momo would raise an eyebrow as he attempted to create another shape rather than a triangle, with the result being a little bit disappointing. Pondering for a second, she’d then comment. “It seems that what you were trying to do was little beyond you there. To change the entire shape of the spell and have it fire more than 3 cones takes a significant amount of skill. I encourage you to keep trying though and try and find out just where your limits are. Of course, make sure not to endanger your squadmates when doing so.”

“I think you were on the right lines before though and if you’d like to have another go then by all means do so. We could also try a different spell if there’s another one you’ve heard of and would like to try it out. I reckon I’ll know it.” She added with a confident and cheeky chuckle.