Fire and Brimstone

[Kazuya Hikari]

(OOC: This thread will be where all training of the NPC's in the Flame Battalion will be posted.)

Training Session #1

Even though his personal army were used to waking up early in the morning for training, even they didn't expect to be woken up like this. Shirtless and dressed in a pair of grey Karate pants tucked inside black instep foot guards, a white Karate belt tied around his waist, a red headband tied around his head, and black arm guards and fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of each hand, after entering into the bar and heading into the elevator and down to Level 2, once he had exited the elevator, Kazuya would rear his arm back and swiftly slam his fist into the floor, sending a quake through the facility floor to shake them all up and awake.

["TIME TO GET UP BOYS AND GIRLS! ON YOUR FEET AND OUTSIDE NOW!"]

A slight smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth as he heard shouts and cries of shock and surprise issue from each room, followed by sounds of struggling, dull thumps heard all around, as each door would slam open, everyone scrambling out of their rooms, and despite the general shock, all of them were dressed in their training clothes. Today had been a day off for all the members of The Flame Battalion, meaning both day and night shift groups were not on guard duty. But just because they didn't have guard duty, did not mean they could slack off on training. Once everyone was gathered outside of the bar in formation, Takahiro and Hiroshi would take their places beside and slightly behind Kazuya, his hands clasped behind his back.

["... Good to see you all knew why I woke you all up so early. We'll start off with a nice warm-up, a five mile run to wake you all up fully. But neither Takahiro nor Hiroshi will be leading you. I will be. Let's go!"]

And turning and taking off, Kazuya would lead the front of the pack, keeping them moving at a brisk pace. He wanted to wake them up, not make them drop from exhaustion. The only person that wasn't running was Yoshio, as he was still just a kid, only thirteen, instead, Kazuya had something else in mind for his training. Coming back full circle to the front of the bar, having had them run a loop around the area of Midgard California the bar was located in, Takahiro and Hiroshi had finished setting up the training rings for today's training session.

["Flame Battalion, form up! Today's training session will be building up your strength and toning your muscles, as well as testing and building up your stamina. In pairs, you will wrestle against one another, to try and send your opponent out of the ring either by forcing the other wrestler out of the ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet, but you also have to avoid being sent out of the ring or thrown to the ground yourself. Now then, pair up!"]

As soon as everyone was in pairs, under Tadashi's watchful eyes, they would begin, as the swords smith and armor maker slowly but gracefully patrolled around the rings and acting as the referee. Soon the sounds of grunts and growls could be heard, as each member had been paired up with another member that was at the same physical level, so that each of them would grow equally, and it would be more challenging, as one did not have an advantage over the other. Though it sounded simple enough, in truth, it was anything but simple. Though each member worked out regularly, it became clear that they would have to work to force their opponent out of the ring, because their opponent wanted to do the same to them. This also helped to build up their resistance, which would make it harder for an opponent to take them down.

The members of The Flame Battalion would not be the only ones training however. Kazuya too, would be training, but not to build up his strength or tone his muscles or resistance. Instead, he was training his ability to fight without his sight. Standing in the middle of one of the training rings set up, a blindfold was tied over his eyes, as the three of his father's numerous top assassins that had come with him to California, Ichigo Sohma, Kasumi Sohma, and Masashi Sohma, surrounded him in a triangle formation. To train up his other remaining senses, most especially his hearing, there were no better opponents to fight than assassins who were trained to be absolutely silent in their footfalls, so as to sneak up on their target and kill them swiftly.

With a barely perceptible nod of his head, all three of them would silently rush at Kazuya, only to disappear and reappear right beside him, thrusting the metal poles they held at him, as he would leap up and flip backwards to avoid the strikes, but was not fast enough, and would end up being struck by the poles, sending sparks through his body and causing him to wince in pain. Shakily balancing on one arm, his hand on top of the metal poles, he would push off the poles just as sparks would run through the poles to shock him again, and flipping in mid-air to right himself, would try to evade the lunges that came as the three came at him silently again, and though he managed to evade a few, the rest of the strikes would hit him, numbing his body and causing him to fall on one knee.

Though it was difficult to move, he would try to fight through the numbness and push off of his back foot, the three disappearing and reappearing once more beside him, as he would try to evade once more. Just like before, he managed to evade a few strikes, but not all, and the shocks would numb his body once more, this time making it nearly impossible for him to move, and bringing his own training session to an end.

Not a bad first session, and the Flame Battalion had better results than he did. With the hours that had passed, eventually each of them had managed to push their opponent out of the ring at least once while avoiding being pushed out themselves, and all of them were exhausted. With evening almost upon them, it was long enough for the first session, and once he had regained movement in his limbs, Kazuya would dismiss all of them. It had been a job well done.

[Kazuya Hikari]

Training Session #2

A few weeks after the first training session, Kazuya decided today was a good day to begin the second session of training, especially since the next day would be the weekend, and like the first session, he would announce it with a quake, and though most of them reacted with shock, surprisingly, a couple had expected it, and were ready almost immediately. Unlike the first one however, this session was taking place at night, the darkness adding another level of difficulty. After the usual run, all of them filed into formation in front of Kazuya, as he would look them up and down, his hands clasped behind his back. Behind Takahiro and Hiroshi, a large, wide circle of wooden towers with one torch attached to the railing had been built, each tower connected to the one beside it by a simple wooden plank bridge.

["Today's training session will be building up and increasing your speed and agility, as well as your reaction time! Each of you will be taking on an obstacle round of sorts. Sounds simple enough, right? Well it is not I'm afraid. The obstacles will test not only your speed, but how fast can you react to hazards being thrown at you from all different directions. Now then, line up!"]

Takahiro at the head of the line, not only to demonstrate what they would be subjected to, but also to lessen the anxiety on the other members, up above on the towers, stood Tadashi, Yoshiro, and Takashi, the former acting as observer and mediator, Yoshiro holding a bow in his hands and a quiver full of arrows made out of just wood on his back, and the latter equipped with a belt of throwing stars, kunai, and wooden throwing poles. Each of them stationed at one tower, eight in total, allowing them to switch to the tower beside them easily, to attack from different angles, the moment Takahiro was positioned in the center of the circle, they would begin. In rapid succession, Yoshiro would begin firing a series of arrows at Takahiro, while Takashi would toss a series of kunai with explosive tags attached with rapid flicks of his wrist. The darkness of evening making it that much harder to evade, and the only light from the torches set up, which in itself did not help much, as it was meant to only light up the tower area, not the area below.

With his sight not much use to him, Takahiro would have to rely on his other senses only to evade the arrows and kunai, but that was no easy task, and though he managed to avoid the slew of weapons shot and thrown at him, he couldn't evade all of them, and would be hit by Yoshiro's arrows occasionally, Takashi's explosive kunai's landing too close to him for comfort. But just as he managed to get a rhythm down, Yoshiro and Takashi would switch up their angles of attack, forcing him to stay on his toes to avoid being hit. As the other members of The Flame Battalion watched on, seeing what their leader was faced with, it became clear why Kazuya decided to train them in the evening, as opposed to morning.

While The Flame Battalion was doing their training, once more, Kazuya was off doing his own training with The Shadow Trio, to improve his ability to fight without his sight. Standing in the middle of a grove of tall trees, each member of the trio hidden high up in the branches of one of the trees, with a slight nod of his head, they would disappear and reappear, swiftly moving from one tree to another, as Ichigo would appear out of nowhere and would toss a series of explosive kunai at Kazuya, to serve as a distraction, while drawing his electric pole and try to hit his arm with it. Picking up on the whistling of the kunai, Kazuya would deftly evade it, and spinning on his heel, would dart backwards just as Kasumi and Masashi would appear out of nowhere, swinging their own electric pole down, all three hitting the spot where Kazuya had previously been. The three of them disappearing into thin air, they would keep up their assault on Kazuya, not relenting once, and though Kazuya would manage to avoid a majority of their strikes, he could not avoid all of them, and would sustain a few shocks. Slowly however, he was improving and his hearing was steadily growing more acute, allowing him to react to their silent movements faster. The shocks took their toll though, and though his body was not as numb as the first session, it was still enough to end the training session.

The second session a success, the Flame Battalion had just as equally, if not better, results than he did. With the hours that had passed, each of them had managed to successfully evade the waves of attacks Yoshiro and Takashi had thrown at them, literally, but all of them were greatly exhausted and rather sore from all the arrows and the small explosions. Almost nearly midnight, it was long enough for the second session, and once he had regained movement in his limbs, Kazuya would dismiss all of them. It had been another job well done.