Rebirth the Edge, Part I [Tsubine/Kaminari]

Tsubine had a few plots of land he owned that he left undeveloped. For some, it was a source of irritation. How could he be squandering precious land? For others, they saw it as a shrewd move—owning land for future development was always financially sound. The truth was that he just needed remote areas for him (and those in his organization that needed space) to practice. The empty field he stood in was just such a place. A few large mounds of earth made makeshift berms, but the field itself was flat.

Tsubine had one goal here today, and he had invited someone else out here to help. He was just hoping she'd be on time. They had a brief back and forth about when and where to meet, but he had been cagey about why they'd be meeting. Kohaku and the other members of his guard were at the entrance to this property to make sure no one got in—for their sake, not his. Kōgin Reimei tsked in his ear about needing another woman. Tsubine rolled his eyes. "You can't help me on this one." It was going to be a difficult day between those two.

"I'm glad you didn't get lost," Tsubine spoke when he heard someone exit the forest that encircled the field. "I, well, need your help with something. ...I guess technically it's with 99, no 198 somethings. Well, probably less than that. ...or more, I don't know. I'm good with this," Tsubine patted his Zanpakutō, "not this." Tsubine wiggled his fingers. He didn't know how to really explain that he was ready to take a second step in learning how to better utilize his Reiryoku reserves—Kidō.

Tsubine let out an annoyed sigh. Of course he knew the word kidō. He knew many words, in fact. Two of them together sounded like "stuck hue" and were close to exiting his mouth. Thankfully, the sigh helped re-center him. He was asking someone for help. That was the part that made him hesitant and cagey. He could do very, very basic Kidō—and even then, his range was pitiful. But he needed more tools in his belt for what he felt was coming. "The only other person I could really ask was Kei. She taught me the very basics of it, but after that... Honestly, my eyes started glazing over. She doesn't know how to dumb it down from the academic level she's at. So will you help me or not?"

Tsubine conceded he could have communicated better. But how could she just text Kaminari "hey, can you teach me MAGIC?" That just sounded weird. But again, Kidō was weird to him. He could understand Reiryoku, Reiatsu, and even Zanpakutō—but Kidō didn't fully click with him. How did saying funny words, a classification, a number, and a name result in explosions, lightning bolts, etc.? Hopefully Kaminari could teach him without having to go into details about the innate mechanics behind it.

Tsubine picked up a rock and held it in an outstretched hand. He spoke the incantation. He knew Kaminari likely knew which one it was, but perhaps she didn't know immediately. It was such a simple incantation that she likely didn't need it. "Hadō One: Shō." The rock flew out of his hand... for about ten yards before falling. "It just doesn't click with me. And I can't... uh, I think Kei said 'project' my Reiryoku far enough to make my Kidō a viable ranged option."

Tsubine expected that. He had others he could do, of course, but that was the most... apparent. His Shō required contact to be effective, and even then it was more like a large thrust of air than magic telekinesis. He glared at her and that seemed to make her realize he was being serious about this.

Tsubine took up a different stance than she instructed. A slingshot would not work, and he didn't get what she meant by a snap. Instead, he held another rock up with the same hand—his right. But instead of merely holding it, Tsubine twisted as he chanted. He pulled his other arm back—as if he were drawing a massive arrow. He tried to force Reiryoku from his left arm into his right. It was a difficult flow to channel. He strained to focus on the words, the buildup, and the transfer all at the same time. But with the final words—the rock flew. The initial burst had more oomph, but it ended up falling to ground sooner and rolling to Kaminari's feet.

He tried again and again with different rocks and stances. Each one landed about where Kaminari was—though the one he spiked like a volleyball came up much shorter. "Any time I try to externalize it beyond my immediate self, it's like... I'm trying to push a brick through a round pipe that's smaller than it. "

Tsubine thought the stance looked dumb. The guy who thought one of the ways to use Kidō was to spike it didn't like this one. It just seemed cheesy! Or rather, it was too simple. Unlike Kaminari, however, he had experience with a real firearm. Tsubine leaned some away from Kaminari as she tried to help. She was getting a little close for comfort with certain assets.

Tsubine pulled his thumb back to "cock" the "hammer." As she began to walk him through it, he eyed the target—a tree near the edge of the field. It was well beyond his normal range, so he wasn't expecting it to hit. He chanted the incantation and tried to move his Reiryoku through his body. There was almost a disconnect between the forming spell and his body. His Reiryoku was trying to connect, but it wasn't fully able to. Instead of a constant flow, it was a sporadic drip.

As the Kidō was cast, Tsubine's own large Reiryoku reserves did react. It tried to feed into the spell. It reached out but wasn't able to reach far enough to connect to anything. In fact, that was what Kaminari would likely be able to best sense—that his Reiryoku was actively trying to find a pathway to the spell, but it wasn't able to find anything to latch onto, or worse, that it wasn't able to latch onto something. Sighing as nothing happened to the tree, Tsubine dropped his now-empty hand-gun. "There is another Kidō I can cast, but it's a bit more... dangerous and a lot less apparent."