CP9 Recruitment Test Subject #002: Shigan (Mimic)

[BEX]

Demetri has been brought a secluded portion of the island, where a few rhinoceros angrily stare at the procession of armed ninja holding the blindfolded officer by each arm until they stop just beneath the cliff of a crag towering over head. With a nod of the head, the man only known as ‘Director’ for the time being signals the nin to unbind the man’s eyes so that he might look upon his future leader. A hood obscures this black suited chief’s face…while at the same time it clashes impressively with the dinner party-esque black suit that fit nicely over his slim form.

“Mr. Demetir…you don’t mind if I call you ‘Demetri do you?”

What appeared to be a casual question on the surface tingled with a power struggle, a definite battle that hung unspoken in the air as if the ‘Director’ were trying to smother the newly recruited officer with his air of superiority. And then with a smile that remained unseen thanks to that accursed hood, the tension evaporated into nothingness, leaving behind only the stern seriousness maintained between a general and his troops; ‘Director’ saw himself as a general. “I’ll cut to the chase, Shigan, one of the six Superhuman arts is masterable by very few men or women. I ask you now…can you do it? Demetri?”

And just like that a cold grin hidden in the shadows made him giddy inside as the ultimate unit would become united beneath the World Government’s hand…and evil would be purged at all costs.

[White Mimic]

It wasn't regular practice, Demetri thought, to blindfold an officer. Usually it was meant for a civilian to be blindfolded and escorted by agents of the Marines or World Government when the location was intended to be top secret, but then again, what was so top-secret that a marine like him was even allowed to know about it, let alone see it for himself? All he had to go on was that it was another reassignment which he agreed to, even the bit with the blindfold which seemed out of place. With the grips on his arms pulling him along, Demetri followed the leads of his guides, doing his best not to trip while keeping up with the mysterious two at his sides. Patient as he was, he hoped the blindfold would be removed soon, staring at the same fabric pattern in utter darkness had become maddening and staring at the inside of his eyelids had long since become lackluster.

When the blindfold was finally removed, Demetri saw he was at the base of some cliff on an island that didn’t look particularly familiar. It was similar to other islands he had seen before, but instead it was covered in crystals, the cliff, the grass, even the rhinos off in the distance were crystalline. Off behind him was a small crystal protrusion he had almost tripped over, it seemed. No, he hadn’t been to a place like this before.

On each of his sides were ninja who had been leading him behind the hooded man now in front of him. Demetri tried to make out the face behind it but he couldn’t make out much with his eyes still adjusting to light once again. He thought he could make out the man’s chin but he couldn’t be sure until he got his good eyesight back in a few seconds. The way he was leading the ninja indicated he was in charge; he probably outranked Demetri as well, considering this was the destination of his reassignment for now. "Mr. Demetri…you don’t mind if I call you ‘Demetri do you?"

Demetri preferred the standard practice of giving a rank before his last name, but he had been under the command of less than tight regulation. "No sir." Having his eyesight back by now, Demetri took to staring near the top of the hood so his prying eye wouldn’t intrude on the man privacy the hood gave the man. Besides, it was too dark to make out anything but the chin.

"I’ll cut to the chase, Shigan, one of the six Superhuman arts is masterable by very few men or women. I ask you now…can you do it? Demetri?"

Shigan? Demetri was familiar with the six superhuman arts, Rokushiki, if only by name for most. While he was in the Special Ops., he had learned a small bit of Soru for use as a camouflage technique and couldn’t move anywhere near as fast as his teacher could, that wasn’t the point of his learning it partially. He looked down at the ground for a few moments, his eyes darting left and right occasionally as he thought about it, about his fromer incomplete Soru training. "…Possibly." He looked back up with the same neutral scowl he always wore. "I have some experience with the training, minor experience, so I believe I could with practice, yes."

[BEX]

"…Possibly."

The Director could not help the amusement he felt towards the candidness of this officer. Certainly a dry sort of sardonic humor rode behind that scowl, but such things were of little importance for he had already heard a good deal about this ‘Demetri’ from the reports that Spandam had left behind. Behind the shadows rented to him by the impossibly shielding hood he opened his mouth to form words of equal sarcasm when the soldier before him continued to explain his meaning.

"I have some experience with the training, minor experience, so I believe I could with practice, yes."

“I see…very interesting indeed.” With only those mysterious words for Demetri to dwell upon three ninja were summoned, each man pulling on a rope. What lay at the other end of that rope snorted angrily and its hooves thumped the ground sending sprays of dirt and uprooted plants into the small space that divided Demetri and the subtle Director, but the head man of the operation did not flinch the slightest once the muscle strapped men towed the thrashing rhinoceros forth with its diamond horn glittering in the sunlight; such a thing of beauty placed upon so deadly a creature. With an entreating light in his eyes the Director returned his gaze to Demetri, perhaps to gauge him…or perhaps to tell him of the booger that he thought he saw hanging from his nose. That was not so appropriate given the task he was about to ask of the man. Shifting a bit uncomfortably, something uncharacteristic to his nature, he decided if the potential CP9 agent wished to do training with a booger in his nose, then by golly he would do it with a booger in his nose!

“Demetri…Shigan is not only about mastering the art of the ultimate spear. It is also about cultivating the fearlessness that comes with thrusting that spear. This spear may manifest its self in many forms for many people, but in your case it becomes quite literal herego: Shigan.” The words of the Director were spoken softly, but for some reason they would supersede the noise made by the flailing beast, whose beady, blatantly enraged eye turned on the lone man…for some reason the ninja who had previously been standing at Demetri’s side had disappeared. “Your first step to learning Shigan is to cultivate an attitude worthy of the ‘Ultimate Spear’. You see that horn atop the rhinoceros nose?”

The tension was palpable as even the ninja, pacifist as they were, knew better than to remain placid around a wild, bull such as this one. It appeared to be in its heat—the females of this species were quite hellacious when they were searching for a mate; usually tearing anything in their paths to pieces if they were not a suitable male. Demetri, did not look like a suitable male for a swooning rhinoceros…or so the Director thought. Might be an interesting experience sometime in the future, but not now....Looking speculatively at Demetri once more he shook his head in affirmation, no, not now.

“I want you hammer that horn…with your bare fist until the rhinoceros relents….and don’t worry we won’t interfere if it looks like you’re really going to die.”

For some reason…those words were not meant to be reassuring.

SPOILER: Click to show

You're going to rp out this particular excericise and basically what I'm looking for is how your character changes/grows and basically would like to see how he reacts in a sitaution like this.

[White Mimic]

“I see…very interesting indeed.”

Without much warning, several ninja stormed in quickly, tugging at ropes taught with the force of the enraged, reluctant rhino on the end. Everything that was big to begin with seemed to be a little bigger when brought up close, like how a hill seemed to change its slope depending on where you were standing. Demetri was no exception to the pattern but no fear arose in his psyche; the animal was well restrained and there were plenty of trained professionals around to deal with the issue, himself included had he only his weapons of choice, left behind as he ‘did not need them’. The beast’s massive horn glittered in several directions like a disco-ball, some of the resulting beams catching him in the eyes for split seconds at a time. He wasn’t much for art.

He stared at the magnificence with his scowling neutrality for a few seconds as the superior talked.

“Demetri…Shigan is not only about mastering the art of the ultimate spear. It is also about cultivating the fearlessness that comes with thrusting that spear. This spear may manifest its self in many forms for many people, but in your case it becomes quite literal herego: Shigan.”

Fearlessness for thrusting the spear. Demetri thought he had proved time and time again he had no remorse for the repossessing of life wastefully given to those who didn’t deserve it. There was no fear for him acting as an agent of death and justice, a swift and brutal agent he was as well, harsh in judgment and merciful (from a certain point of view) in the ultimate punishment. No, no fear at all. But then again, perhaps Demetri would soon realize he didn’t know fear quite as well as he believed he did. The rhino began giving him a funny look he didn’t trust at all.

He wasn’t familiar with Shigan as well as a professional would have been, but from his understanding, it was of the same principle of most martial arts he had heard of. He even recalled many practicing the breaking and slicing of thick boards with nothing but their arms and legs. He hadn’t seen the technique himself, unfortunately, so there wasn’t much for him to go on. What it was even supposed to look like in its execution was a mystery. But he managed to learn half of one Rokushiki, what was there to doing another?

“Your first step to learning Shigan is to cultivate an attitude worthy of the ‘Ultimate Spear’. You see that horn atop the rhinoceros nose?”

Another stray beam met his eye. “Yes Sir.” The look he was getting was really uncomfortable at this point. Only now had he noticed he was standing alone.

“I want you hammer that horn…with your bare fist until the rhinoceros relents….and don’t worry we won’t interfere if it looks like you’re really going to die.”

“…Yes sir.” With his bare fists? He was supposed to tire out an animal like that unarmed? Never before had the sniper been expected to tackle an opponent like this without a means to defend himself. It wasn’t as if he believed it was impossible, he had seen his others do it when he left on game season back home, but he hadn’t done it himself and it didn’t seem like a rhino would be a proper way to train into it. Besides, one mistake and he would probably end up impaled on that harpoon of a crystal on the beasts head, a grizzly way to die. He wanted to formulate a plan to deal with the creature but there wasn’t much time for such a luxury. Almost the moment he gave his affirmative, the creature was released and made a stampeding beeline for a slightly tense Demetri.

As if on an instinct drilled into him over the course of several months, he took a step away from the danger, gritting his teeth together and hissing through them his ‘fall-back’ “Kiri!” Vibrating into the wind, Demetri seemed to vanish, but even with the aid of his incomplete Soru, he could only move so fast. The rhino kept its charge, rushing at where Demetri used to be without any signs of slowing down or uncertainty, he had used it too late. Though the horn had not made contact with the target (thank god), Demetri had snagged himself on the rhino’s hip and staggered to the ground after rematerializing into vision of the naked eye, badly bruised on his side. He had managed to retain his usual scowl in the pain that now coursed through his ribs, though it was a bit shameful that he hadn’t been prepared for it. It seemed like a cruel tutelage, but he knew he would eventually emerge victorious, he just had to turn the fight to his advantage. As the rhino made its turn around to charge at him once more, Demetri hastily got up to his feet and made a run for one of the trees in the distance at the base of the cliff.

The tree wasn’t too far away, he barely managed to beat the rhino to it and scale it to one of its mid-height branches. The rhino rammed straight into the tree as he climbed, partially dislodging it from its rooted seat as well as sending a good crack up the trunk. The entire tree leaned away from the force upon impact, lightly crashing into the cliff and perching there for the time being. As the rhino backed away from the tree for a second charge after circling once, Demetri, his heart racing in the excitement, reached towards a perch on the cliff for one of the crystalline rocks that laid there, hoping to use it as a sort of makeshift weapon he could throw from higher ground. With luck, he could merely toss down a few hard things he found to get the rhino to ram into the wall and beat itself to death with the cliff or turn its back and leave where he might have a chance at sneak attacking it. He had taken hold of the rock when a sudden, more violent tremor shot up the tree and it quickly started scraping down the side of the cliff to the ground below. One hand holding onto the cliff ledge and the other holding the rock, Demetri hung high above the rhino, high enough to keep him safe but it wasn’t quite as good a position as he hoped.

Kicking his legs out and trying to pull himself up to the tiny alcove of the perch, he had to let go of his makeshift weapon. He managed to pull himself up the perch, but with the steepness of the cliff and what room he had on the perch, it didn’t do much good. He only had enough room to sidle, maybe with his torso turned slightly, MAYBE. And there weren’t enough rocks up here to last him as long as he hoped anyway, the tree was merely obscuring his view of the perch at the time.

But, at least he had time now, time to think and catch his breath. It was difficult to remember the last time something brought him to a heart rate this fast so quickly. He held his bruise and looked down at the pacing rhino, waddling backwards for a ram at the wall. It hadn’t seemed as steep from below.

"..."

((I do have an idea for the development he makes, I'm just building up to it.))

[BEX]

The Director smirked knowingly as the former Captain disappeared from sight, fading into space itself for a flicker of a moment before appearing not in front of the charging rhinoceros as he’d been, but somehow impossibly he’d managed to flank it. It seemed his choice in this man was a good one even as the animal turned its head towards the fleeing marine. It seemed the official had not escaped completely unscathed from the initial exchange; another charge like that and there might not be much of Demetri left to learn the other Rokushiki arts. The ninja who were peaceful nature stepped forth believing that it was the right moment to save the endangered man, but with an absentminded raising of his hand the ‘Director’ halted men physically more powerful than he. His power was not his body…his power was their bodies.

“Don’t move an inch to save that man.” ordered the powerful executive head. He watched as Demetri fell back on what appeared to be basic training; examining the environment around and making use of it in a situation—a smart tactic with a charging four legged animal racing towards you. Even from where he stood, safely removed from the situation, the raw power of those thundering hooves quaked the soil beneath his feet and when he licked his lips he found that they were dry. Perhaps he wasn’t as fearless as he believed himself to be after all. For some reason that thought amused him. By the time his focus returned to the training at hand, Demetri had taken to a tree and was possibly waiting for the rhino to knock itself out against the bark. It seemed that soldier had overcome the situation after all…until the tree itself collapsed leaving the poor man dangling invitingly like a side meat from the cliff.

Grinning again from the angle he observed all this at, the ‘Director’ watched as his recruit preserved and strained to survive. Little by little scraping away that fragility of the human mind which clung to morals and righteous standings—even things such as fear were a hindrance to one’s task and this exercise was set to erase all of that.

“Don’t fail me now, Demetri…”

[White Mimic]

There wasn’t much to use up on the cliff now. The rock Demetri had grabbed and dropped earlier was really the only suitable object that could boast the title of ‘weapon’ to a creature like that, and even then it might not have worked at all. While the rhino had started scraping at the ground with its stubby feet, Demetri was able to hurl a few rocks with superb aim at the creatures head, hoping to get its eyes. An enraged creature without its eyes was doomed to rampage until it exhausted itself to a point where he would be able to finish the job. It was probably the best course of action for him, a man who could fight the only way he knew how: from a distance.

But the rhino had no good blind spot for him, to exploit, not in this position. It could see through its own horn well enough to smack away each rock he threw at it. Discouraging, but it was important to keep in mind that even with his aim, his arm was no gun. His throws couldn’t travel thousands of feet in seconds nor could they penetrate a human skull completely, let alone break the thick hide of a massive beast. He would simply have to exploit the weakness nearly every living thing on earth had.

When the stones did nothing, all Demetri could do was wait on his perch for the opportunity to present itself, thinking over the plan with the little time he had. He would need to catch the creature off guard somehow and he would need to get it right the first time else it would learn. If he couldn’t dispatch the animal at all, he clearly wasn’t worthy of the position and he would have no one to blame but himself for that. Prepared for its onslaught and no more stones to be thrown, the rhino stampeded into the cliffside. Demetri was thinking it would have had a little more integrity than that but he was grossly underestimating the strength behind a crystal headed ram of such force. The perch crumbled beneath him and he barely managed to stay out of harm’s way by grasping at of one of the footholds in the side of the cliff. For an assassin of his caliber, it was humiliating to be degraded something like this but he seemed to be making more mistakes than normal. It hadn’t been this difficult before but he also had his weapon proficiency backing him up to this point.

In his grip, it felt like the foothold he had taken as a life guard had almost been dislodged in the ram and didn’t feel like it would survive the next impact. His time on the cliff was limited and there weren’t any more good grips within reach. He looked down behind him to see the rhino blow a cloud of rage out its nose as it started backing up once more. There wasn’t much to use in the area, all he could see nearby that could have been of any use was the felled tree, some of the crystal outcroppings that popped up across the landscape, and several small stones among the ones he had already thrown down. Quickly cobbling together a plan, Demetri pushed his legs against the wall like a swimmer, prepared for the rhino which had just begun its next charge.

He leapt off the wall right before the rhino made contact, landing on his feet behind it. His foothold fell apart as he expected as more bits of cliff toppled out of their precarious positioning. As the rhino turned around to charge him again, he managed to pull off a more successful Kiri, vanishing once more into scenery in a vibrating image.

The rhino hadn’t started its charge this time so it was relatively safe to move about without danger, but there wasn’t much time to waste. The beast’s nostrils flared and puffed, sniffing out the vanished man as it treaded around where he had disappeared, determined to make him regret ever being there. Demetri had actually relocated to the private interior branches of the tree and had since dropped his Kiri ability, holding one of the stones the tree had landed on in his hand. It was a small, rough pebble, like the kind of stone a geologist shows to others as a mineral example. He waited for the right moment, for the rhino’s head to be facing the right direction, for its eyes to be visible but not looking at him. It wasn’t long, he had a clear shot within seconds, and he took it.

It was the perfect throw, good vector trajectory, on target, optimal spin, it was perfect, but the rhino saw it coming. What Demetri didn’t quite anticipate was this particular rhino’s lack of a blind spot. In the geometric shapes of the crystal horn atop its snout, it could make out plenty of details at various angles, and while a small rock wasn’t quite a large enough detail to see in a shimmering frame, the moving silhouette of a man in a tree definitely was. It turned its head as the stone approached, smacking it to the side with its horn as was the fate of the stone’s predecessors. Demetri’s heart skipped a beat as the plan suddenly crippled and he came to the realization that he couldn’t do much damage to the creature on his own, and that the environmental approach would probably take a long time, a long time he wasn’t sure he could last. He could only use Kiri for so long and so many times without exhausting himself, and with the creature’s advantage of focal range, he couldn’t sneak attack it or get at its vulnerable parts at all. Meeting the rhinos gaze with his own, he suddenly made his way to the back of the tree, frantic but doing his best to hold his composure. There was a crevice in the wall that opened up into a small abandoned den in the side of the cliff, just big enough for him to get through without the rhino following him. He broke for the back cave as the rhino smashed through the tree and slammed into the side of the crevice.

Demetri kept his distance, pressing his back against the wall furthest from the crevice as the glittering horn backed out of the tiny cave. He saw several tree branches snap back into place though mangled and bent out of shape. He couldn’t make an escape with Kiri now, it would make too much noise and he’d probably trip over the branches. Going out normally would be-

The horn crashed into the crevice once again.

-like suicide. There was a larger opening above the crevice that led to one of the small perches lining the cliff. This perch was much smaller than the previous one, no standing room at all, but just outside was a boulder he could probably stand on until it would be demolished by the rhino.

The objective he was given was practically a bust. Not only was he failing to deal with the creature, it was making a mockery of his own accomplishments. Sprawled against the wall as far as he could possibly get from danger, Demetri was falling back on all the rules he had made for himself as a sniper. He had taught himself to never throw himself in the direct line of danger, he was no use to anyone dead. He had taught himself to always act from a safe distance from danger, he was a better use to others when the danger couldn’t effectively fight back. He had taught himself to learn the enemy before the learned him, and so far he had done a good job of that but what good did it do if all he got from learning the rhino was that he was absolutely no use at all? Was he scared? Demetri would later argue that he wasn’t, not truly, but one thing was for sure.

Without his weapons, he was utterly and completely useless.

((Okay, the development should be coming next, but I don’t know if he’s going to defeat the rhino just yet.))

[BEX]

Beneath the shade of two hastily erected sprouts, the Director lounged easily with one leg crossed handsomely over the other, his dark face kept hidden beneath what was slowly becoming a hallmark hood. Ninja chatted amongst each other though not much had to do with the new recruit, Demetri’s progress…or the fact that he might actually already be dead—that would be hard to explain to HQ, but what the hell, this was CP9 training dammit.

The sandwiches had been passed and the bets as two when the taciturn soldier would meet his untimely end courtesy of that brutish horn had already begun, but not the Director. Cool and self possessed in his own power the man with enough power to summon a Buster Call if precedents served as any indication flaunted his political authority by…

Munch! Munch-Munch!

The sandwiches were really what he came to this base for. Swallowing another slab of the ruthlessly rough turkey-and-bread mixture, he sat upright and stared into the distance were Demetri was probably still fighting for his life. One of those unexpected twangs of guilt struck him as he brushed away the heavenly flakes of bitter crust from his refined black suit—and what caused this guilt: the thought that somewhere, in the grassy, exotic plains of Crysiland, Demetri was suffering without a sandwich to ease his hurts. “Can I get a summary of the situation with the recruit?” Perhaps the guilt was getting to him.

Rather than hopping to his command as they usually did, the dark bathed shinobi froze in place and if one peered closely enough they might actually have made out the subsequent perspiration running down their faces.

“I see…so there’s no one then? Nobody keeping an eye on him?”

Silence was infrequently broken by the shuffling sounds of fabric grating against skin—the head of the mercenary pacifists swiveling side to side in indication of the dilemma that had suddenly arisen. A small vein popped and it looked like heads would roll as the figure of CP9’s savior rose to his feet once again, fist quivering as if to lash out angrily as rulers often did when their subjects screwed up….

Needless to say when the retreating image of the Director was last spotted heading towards the bathroom there was a moment of uncertain hesitation as if everyone were wondering if CP9 was every really going to be saved at this rate.

[White Mimic]

With every delayed crash, several cracks would form in the walls and a bit of the floor as well. Thanks to the opening above Demetri, there wasn’t much of a ceiling to truly threaten a cave-in if the furious animal was capable of that kind of destruction. Perhaps he would have been grateful for the feature had the situation been one that didn’t hog his attention and thought. With every impact, the noise of crashing and crumbling quietly echoing throughout the open chamber at each, the rhino would manage to chip away a few inches in the opening. In between some of the crashes, the wait for the charge would be longer than the rest, perhaps because the rhino was catching its breath or resting its bones from the tremors of a nearly unbreakable horn. Either way, it wasn’t enough time to give him any appreciable advantages.

At a particularly long wait, Demetri inched along the back of the cave to get a better look through the opening… still there. He was both relieved and a tad disappointed. While it was good news he still had a target to eliminate and the mission wasn’t completely failed, he still knew there was nothing he could do and it was either fail or die at this point, and he honestly couldn’t decide which was worse. Using one of the moderately sized rocks as elevation, Demetri was able to run jump himself to the opening and onto the large rock outside, keeping out of view and movement whenever the rhino happened to be looking at the Cliffside. When it finally charged, Demetri had to duck down, sacrificing his ability to see its progress but he sure felt a massive force through the rock. No strong crashing noise, it hadn’t broken through yet. But when it did, he would still have several minutes left with the rock.

Fearless spear, almost laughable. Now that he had the time to think about nothing else but what time there was until the rhino crashed through the wall and the bruise on his ribs, he probably could’ve at least taken a position suited to the fodder he was now and awaited his fate properly. What he was doing wasn’t fearless at all, what he had done wasn’t fearless either. Even what he had taught himself, now that he thought about it, could be incredible cowardice interpreted by even the shrewdest individual. But he wasn’t a coward, was he?

No, he was no coward. Deep down, he was certainly no coward, he had the resolve to kill another man, he had faced hardship many times without breaking, he was not afraid. The answer was obvious; throughout his life and career, he had only placed himself in positions where his well-being was almost completely assured to remain as it was. He hadn’t taken a risk or suffered the consequences since his childhood and it still went against his instincts to even consider what he was now considering. If he was to be worthy of the Shigan technique, he had to have the fearlessness to thrust the ultimate spear, which was to say for him, he had to have the fearlessness to face the consequences of the necessary risks he would have to make alone in the CP9 and up to this point he had not shown such valiance.

The rhino crashed into the cave opening once again, now able to shove its entire head through. The next ramming would most likely demolish the cave and there wouldn’t be enough room to act, he had to do something now. Before it managed to pull its own head completely out of the crevice, Demetri jumped from the rock, landing on the beast’s back and hopefully prepared for what was to come.

Once again, he might have over-estimated his own abilities. What was for certain was that this would prove to be one of his greatest physical challenges in a long time.

[BEX]

Fuming slightly so that small tendrils of smoke might have been seen streaming up from where the hood was placed ever so gently upon his head, the Director made his way back to the site where the rhino was still tearing through various avenues of the island. He was about to give the order sending the ninja at his back flitting over the small acre of land separating them from the rampaging beast until he realized the four legged titan was bellowing fiercely with its head stuck within a cave wall. Thumbing his chin, thoughts of what could possibly be holding such an immense monstrosity hostage came rushing all at once before settling on the only viable possibility: Demetri.

“I knew that man was interesting, but certainly didn’t expect him to be so reckless. We’ll wait a little longer and see.” A leader amongst the ninja horde stepped to his side placing a warning hand upon his arm, a gesture stating that they were obligated to aid in the training, yet they would not see a man die simply because the Director wished to test his potential. With a half snarl the powerful man shook the fool’s arm off, spittle flying from his mouth as bared teeth faced the unfazed ninja standing in the wake of his anger.

“I said leave him!!”

A beastly snarl it was, but of course not one ninja blinked nor did any move to protect the elder ninja stood about two heads shorter then the raging operative commissioner. Each person in that setting knew well what would take place in a physical altercation and they also knew well what the repercussions would be for their entire isle should the Director report any physical harm coming to him on the ninja’s behalf. Tension drained away quickly where there was no room for it to fester; their roles were not decided by their status, but by the situation in which everyone had been brought together. Snorting as he adjusted his tie, the Director turned northwards to further observe the interesting man versus beast struggle that took place only a football field’s distance from where he stood. Cracks were apparent on the outside wall of the cave as the mighty mammal continued thrashing wildly to escape the enclosure which held it so tightly. “Look at it…the battle between nature and man…it’s beautiful. Your peace, my desire to fight. It all boils to nothing when faced against their one-on-one battle. We are not the judges of this fight, they are. So stand back and watch as the man becomes a god.”

For some reason those words resonated with the soul of the man who spoke them. Surely he could not have believed them himself, but men in power had many strange religions in this day and age.

[White Mimic]

Immediately after landing on the rhino, Demetri regretted it. It flung itself out of the crevice and began to thrash about. He soon lost his balance and was flung to the side, hanging on the behemoth’s side as he held onto its spine for dear life and keeping his legs up under it so they wouldn’t be trampled. It wasn’t like a horse bucking at all, contrary to what Demetri had been hoping. Instead, the rhino ran around violently, turning back and forth and trying to shake its victim loose. The worst moments of the endeavor were when the rhino pulled up its hind legs a little before slamming back down and changing its direction completely. Demetri had barely managed to keep himself on at all the first time, taken aback by the tactic on the wild animal’s part. His leg was kneed into the first time and another large bruise formed on his body. The blow had been much harder than when his side was clipped at the start of the test and in a much more painful place. While it was excruciating, and his face did bend a little to express the agony, he fought back a grunt and tried to focus on breathing without biting his own tongue, as well as a person could do on the back of an enraged anything.

He had only managed to stay with the rhino for a couple of seconds, however. It soon decided it could scrape him off with the cliff side, and as soon as it began approaching the side, Demetri caught on with what good it did him. Throwing his legs away from the creature’s underbelly, he thrust himself away from the beast at least, landing hard on the ground and rolling into one of the nearby rocks. The impact cut his back but that was a minor injury compared to the one his leg had just taken and what could’ve been his fate if he stayed on or didn’t fall off properly. Free of its burden, the rhino began turning around with its top speed in order to smash the temporarily immobile Demetri into the cliff behind him. Demetri, on the other hand, was simply trying to stand up before the rhino had the opportunity to kill him while he was down, that wasn’t how he wanted to go.

He helped himself up with the rock he had slammed into, glad that nothing had been broken brutally. If it was anything, he had broken ribs only, perhaps a fractured leg too but he wasn’t so cynical to suspect that so quickly. Staggering backwards to the wall as the rhino advanced, he lowered a little, bending his legs and stretching out the bruise a bit. The rhino bowed its head, bringing its horn into an attack of impalement, not bludgeoning. Motionless, he stared into the creature’s eyes as he awaited the ultimate test of his destiny, live or die. When the creature was just far enough away that it would be too late, he took a small step to the side.

“Kiri!”

Once more, he vibrated away into the air, the beast’s horn only mere feet away from where he once was and, more importantly, the wall he was leaning against. Without the room to slow down, the rhino slammed into the cliff and several chunks of dust, rock, and crystal fell out. Demetri, who had reappeared next to the rhino’s head holding his leg from the pain of using Kiri with the injury he had, picked up one of the crystals that had been dislodged and swirled around coldly and violently, plunging it into the rhino’s left eye. Deep. He was hoping he would manage to get to its brain, but he was not so lucky. The rhino which had still been trying to remove itself from the wall suddenly went into spasms of pain and panic as Demetri not only blinded it in one eye but had shoved an entire crystal into its skull.

Determined to finish the job, he backed away from the animal to retrieve another, larger crystal. While pain coursed through his body, he leapt for the back of the rhino once again, half mounting it and crashing the crystal into its skull and face. Repeatedly, he brutally brought the crystal down onto the creatures head until it started to cease its thrashing. He didn’t know if it was dying or simply having difficulty maintaining the rage with blood loss, brain flooding, or the horrible blows Demetri was raining down upon its thick skull without it having the ability to fight back, but he would have his ‘submission’, one way or another. He was even tempted to take out the other eye with the intent of puncturing its brain if it tried anything else, but he was fairly sure he was safe with the horn lodged into the crystalline cliff side.

When it seemed to stop fighting back (whether or not it was dead was of no concern to Demetri), he got off on its right side and wiped his forehead of the sweat he had accumulated in the struggle and was left to his own injuries. He kept close to the animal’s unwounded eye for safety, the bloody crystal still in his hand. It was only now that he realized he had lost his hat somewhere along in the fight, possibly the ride he had been given, it was sort of blur to him now. Nothing left to do now but be retrieved, it seemed.

[BEX]

When the man had narrowly avoided the smearing across the slab of crystal embued rock, the Director halted where he was, holding his arms out as symbolic bonds to the remainder of his entourage. Of course there had been no need for such a gesture since the ninja had paused with disbelief lurking beneath those impersonal masks as they observed the feats which men were capable of under the duress of survival. For a moment it appeared that Demetri had gone mad. Pounding away at the slowing beast which seemed to have given into its fate, dying at the hands of a superior opponent; the cold sweat on the Director’s forehead was hardly from the heat of the hood he wore.

It was when the impassive recruit took pause to wipe away the sweat that had accumulated during the dreadful task that the Director breathed once more—an awe inspiring realization not only to himself, but to the rest of the group. Hustling with speed that might be admired among lesser mortals all the dark outfitted bodies, man and ninja, alike rushed quickly to join Demetri. Upon arriving in the small basin beside the cliff, a few of the older ninja blinked, not quite hiding their disdain for what had been done to the animal yet not especially going out of their way to reveal their feelings to those around them. Of course the Director’s hawk like eyes observed their behavior quietly, wondering to himself whether the barbaric display was only the tip of the iceberg or if the chilly individual of a soldier he’d met was becoming even more frigid in personality.

“Heh…I guess the deed is done. Though…I’m not all that sure the hammering portion really got done there.” A mild observation, but after watching a display of cold cunning mixed with barely restrained volatility even the Director wasn’t quite wishing to press the other man’s presence; and that was with the dozen or more highly trained ninja masters flanking them on both sides. “I guess we should bring you back to the small camp we’ve made…so you can…wash up. Training will begin in two days and until that time you’ll be under medical surveillance. Understood?”

A river of words one might think, but there was purpose in the cold hearted manner he’d addressed the victorious recruit. For order to be maintained, structure had to be maintained and for a such a thing to be balanced, then distance was required. One had to know their place and realize that there was indeed a gap between themselves and their superior. As he turned easily, leaving Demetri to the capable hands of the ninja who slowly approached the young man, the Director bit back an excited grin as he considered what was left of this training. He had hardly believed that he’d find such an interesting piece to his puzzle, but now there was no doubt about Latvidas ability.

Soon, CP9 would be resurrected and the seas would belong to the World Government with him at the helm. These thoughts turned in the cogs of the man’s head while two shinobi took a firm enough hold of Demetri’s arms; part of the reason for the pressure was to ensure the man made it safely to the camp, the other part to remind him that he was not the only one with power there. Even as the natives of the island stared at the back of the departing Director they held distrust in their hearts that the man in their custody could really become a refined master; they were of the opinions that beasts should be kept in cages or simply put down.

Of course, how could they understand? They didn’t have the Director’s vision.

SPOILER: Click to show

Sorry about my own lateness. This first thread will be double exp, I'll make sure of it.

[White Mimic]

Demetri was lying against the rhino’s body, exhausted and wrought with pain, when he was approached by the Director and his posse. He slowly got up, his legs wobbling as they uncurled into straight lines and his torso bent to one side until he absolutely had to unbend it for the salute he gave the director to be perfect. He must’ve looked quite the sight, a ragged soldier covered in dust, dirt, bruises, and scratches, still doing the best he could to give a proper salute.

“Heh…I guess the deed is done. Though…I’m not all that sure the hammering portion really got done there.”

Demetri noticed he was still holding the crystal, animal blood dripping off it lightly and at a slow, steady pace. He glanced back at the animal, looking into its eye once again. There was no rage as it stared into the realm from which it was nearly impossible to return. The skin around its jaw hung slack and the beast’s mighty girth remained lifeless, no breath. Slowly turning back to the director, tossed the crystal he still held to the side wiping the blood in his hands off on the handkerchief he pulled from his front pocket. He tucked it away almost precisely as it was before, stained with the essence of his former opponent. It would simply have to be washed when he got the chance, along with his suit. “I apologize for killing it too quickly then.” He wasn’t trying to be snarky, but perhaps he was a little biased against his superior’s sadism.

“I guess we should bring you back to the small camp we’ve made…so you can…wash up. Training will begin in two days and until that time you’ll be under medical surveillance. Understood?”

“Yes sir.” As the ninja approached him to assist him to camp, he gestured that he didn’t need the help. “I’ll be fine.” He almost made it to the fourth step before stumbling onto the ground. His attempts to get up were meager at their best and overly miserable and he conceded to the assistance he had been offered, being held almost the same way he had been when they had arrived. With his head held down and his feet dragging across the dirt and rock, he looked over at some of the other ninja, maintaining his scowl as best he could, though his voice held in his repressed pain as well as a leaky bucket. “Could someone retrieve my hat for me please?” It wasn’t that important that he get his hat back, but it would save him a trip to the haberdashery. The only other one he had was the white one, and that was better suited to sea travel and ceremony. It stained too easily.

The trip to camp was relatively easy compared to what he had just gone through. The ordeal wasn’t incredibly long, but it had felt like hours in a hurricane and while he was proud enough to reject their help before, the ninja were a welcome luxury.

((Well, I'm sorry for beating the rhino too fast, super posts end up doing that to me.))

[BEX]

SPOILER: Click to show

Don’t apologize when you did nothing wrong weirdo…I told you this is your development thread. Really you learn the technique as fast or as slow as you wish, even though I will have the final say so should we reach that point. You’re doing an excellent job and I’ve actually referred others to look at you and Nasa’s thread for examples of how to get it done.

The walk back was silent. Many of the ninja were remotely shocked as it wasn’t often that they met someone who could challenge a rhinoceros of this land as their first test; killing it of course was an entirely different matter. Even as the shinobi carried Demetri, the Director could sense the eyes watching the injured marine and when he asked to have his hat retrieved there was a brief moment of rebellion in their spirits before a look from the man in charge mowed them down with a glance. While it seemed Demetri was his favorite so far, the ninja held the man as if he were some sort of beast. I hope he learns all the techniques before they end up killing him.

Attempting to ease the tension heavy atmosphere the Director struck a conversation which was more functional than might have appeared on the surface, “So what do you think? Have you found your spear Demetri?”

He hadn’t necessarily intended to spark curiosity, but the ninja holding the wounded recruit seemed to understand his meaning and looked at the man with renewed interest—one that was without the malice held for him only a few moments ago. Smirking at his own ingenuity, he stoked the flames of interest while sauntering along easily, the camping grounds coming up ahead. The dancing light of the flame at its center barely offering enough light to make out the silhouettes of the guard ninja stalking around in the shadows in case enemies should make an attempt to breach the stronghold. If there was anywhere the Director felt impregnable, it was this place. Even if Whitebeard, Sengoku bless his soul, were to attempt to storm upon the land with his hoard of villains, the man would have met as fierce a defense as seen at Marineford.

At least the Director hoped and believed so.

“Two days from now will be the final test before you begin actually learning the technique though I have to tell you. I’ve already sent one recruit to complete this task before and I’m still waiting on the results….if there are any” he said. With those words he moved on past the barricade and entered the well stocked camp site. Barrels of wine lined its edges and it seemed that the aroma of well cooked meat hung heavy on the air as the Director sniffed pleasantly recalling last night’s succulent meal. Inclining his head towards the former Captain he left with these parting words.

“Rest and eat. These may the last couple of days of your life, lad.” With a warning glance to the ninjas he took his leave in grandiose fashion

[White Mimic]

“So what do you think? Have you found your spear Demetri?”

“In a metaphorical sense possibly.” His voice was flat and his eyes were trained on the ground. Demetri was doing his best to keep from tripping and making more work for the ninja at his sides. He couldn’t say for sure he had a ‘spear’ to work with, he wouldn’t be able to figure out the technique by himself so it wouldn’t be correct to say he did. But at the very least, he had the resolve to use it for real when he did learn it. It wasn’t as simple as being able to kill something when the time called for it; Shigan was a martial technique, he would have to face his opponents up close and with dignity. But, the mission was completed with no unintended casualties, a good pull-off in Demetri’s books.

Still, it was a shame he couldn’t be more humane about it. Without a means to kill the animal quickly, it must’ve gone through a lot of pain, which was generally frowned upon by the hunters back home. But what was he to do about that, the creature was dead now and he had done his best. Mission accomplished.

As the group pulled into camp, Demetri got a good look at the place he would be staying at for the next few days as he learned what he needed to. It seemed alright, he hadn’t stayed at many campsites designed for more than a few people so there was no way he could aptly judge it. Overall, it seemed a bit much for camping but he’d rather be more comfortable than less.

“Two days from now will be the final test before you begin actually learning the technique though I have to tell you. I’ve already sent one recruit to complete this task before and I’m still waiting on the results… if there are any”

The way the director spoke sounded like he didn’t quite trust the recruit in question to fulfill his training. If such was the case, Demetri intended to do better. That wasn’t to say he would barely half-ass it, as a less sophisticated marine would have said, he would definitely give his all no matter the circumstances since the quality of the work was just as important as the ultimate success. But still, his competitive side was tempted to nearly go overboard if it had to in order to ensure he remained at the top. He waved the idea of competition off. Even if it did push others to become greater, it had the potential to cause rifts in the organization of a team and greatly burden a mission. "I will have to get my results to you more punctually then."

“Rest and eat. These may the last couple of days of your life, lad.”

Demetri nodded at the dismissal and was left to his own devices for the time being. He pitifully limped off to a wine barrel and sat against it in the manner most comfortable for his leg and ribs. The period of rest would be a welcome break from his battle with nature as well as a trial of patience and endurance as he waited for his body to heal. Bruises generally didn’t take long to heal but since he hadn’t suffered a real one like this in a while and for all he knew, the two days of inactivity could potentially make him soft. Looking at the wine and food, he decided to hold off until he felt he really needed to eat something, and to only eat what was necessary. It was important that he didn’t deteriorate or over-indulge himself, especially before his training started. Last couple of days of his life… unlikely, but there was always that threat he supposed. It would depend if he saw the other recruit at the training site, or on the way back, or maybe not at all even.

Turning his head to look at the wine barrel for a brief second, Demetri soon turned his head forward and licked his lips. Not yet. Not yet.

[BEX]

One night since Demetri’s exhilarating show and the ninja still seemed wary of the man. Shooting emotionless glances as they passed him, putting an extra man or two on watch wherever the man went, or even something as simple as him wanting to remain unbothered for a time—he did appear to be a man of solitude and forethought—they were always suspicion lurking behind those masked faces. Part of the Director’s psyche enjoyed these cold hearted martial artists being shaken up for a change, while other side was a bit annoyed at how narrow minded these people could be. Even his attendants, two women which he’d come to believe were a cut or two above the rest shared their clansmen’s anxiety about the man who slew the rhino.

It was now midday and the Director sipped cautiously at the steaming cup of chamomile brewed with the herbs of the land and as he waited for an opening that would not leave his tongue singed to near numbness he noted the faint signs of worry contorting ‘Hannah’s’ posture. A dainty little thing he neither knew if her name was in fact ‘Hannah’ or if she even liked being given a name like that, but he did enjoy her presence even if he made sure to indulge in relishing her more pleasing…amenities. Now though she seemed uptight and very unlike the calculating young woman who generally aided him with relations with her people; she was quite good at masking problems and handling them on her own, but it seemed this issue was too great. Placing the finely crafted ceramic mug down on the polished desk’s surface, the dank haired man interlocked his fingers in front of his face to create a small sense of power on his part before questioning her, “A problem, Hannah?” he asked simply.

For the first time since she’d presented herself to him upon arrival she seemed unsure of whether to tell the truth or simply reassure her ‘boss’ that everything was fine. Knowing prematurely what the dilemma was the director interjected with an order that seemed enigmatic on the surface, “If you don’t mind I’d like you to ready my suit—I’m going to visit Demetri’s tent.” he declared absentmindedly as he picked up his mug once again…perhaps to forestall any objections the woman held. She was pretty, but it seemed her and her people were forgetting their places in this matter; they were paid tutors nothing more.

Nothing was more valuable than these seven, nothing.

It was only a matter of minutes before he striding from his tent, coated in finely pressed cotton pants and decent blue collared shirt, all topped off with a nice slightly shimmering black coat completed by the presence of authority that hung on his shoulders. Long, powerful strides created the image of a lion stalking through the camp area and most of the nin steered clear of the man as he opened the flaps of the tents before either ‘Hannah’ or ‘Fae’—the second of his attendants could perform the menial task for him as they normally would. Before entering Demetri’s tent, which was where he assumed the man would be, he turned towards both women and gave them one order to follow.

“I wish to speak to him with no ears listening…including yours. See that it’s done please.” he said almost coldly. The pair nodded, spared a nanosecond long glance between one another before rocketing into the air in a tower of dirt clumps and rushing winds. A half hearted grin started to appear before he entered the tent and as soon as the Director had his head shoved in he greeted without really bothering to see if anyone was actually present, “How are you feeling there, Demetri?”