Trails of Fate [Challenge]

Squee awoke with a start.

Rubbing his head groggily, he looked up at the large metal wall before him and groaned. His mind still reeling, he tried to recall the last thing in his memory and was shocked when it sprang forwards: he had been sitting with his Taicho in his office, enjoying a bottle of sake, and discussing the Trials of Fate's unbelievable difficulty, and everyone's uneagerness to try them. Realising that his captain had taken this as an agreement to partake in the Trials, he sighed wearily, looking up towards the Judge's stand. His eyes couldn't make out any movement in the dimly-lit evening, yet he could sense someone watching his every move. Rising to his feet, he walked towards the wall cautiously, running his fingers across the large, metal surface. "Steel-plated Sekkiseki..." He whispered to himself, turning his head to look back to the stands. "...very clever, taicho."

His head throbbing, he unsheathed his Zanpakutō and looked at the blade, comparing the sheen with that of the wall. "I'm just wasting my time here," he thought, re-sheathing Kesshou Aijin quietly. "or am I..." he continued, noticing the stainless steel's sideways grain. Running his fingertips across it again, he felt out the near-invisible join of many small plates, around two feet across. His mind raced, causing his head to throb all the more, yet slowly he was working out a plan. Finally, after looking at the wall for a full three minutes, he began.

Turning his back to the wall, he drew his Zanpakutō and thrust it into the ground. Removing his sash from his waist, he tied one end to his wrist and the other to the hilt of his sword, before raising both palms towards it. Focusing all his mind on the small space where his Zanpakutō met the floor, he cried out; "Shō!" He felt the blast hit his Zanpakutō and the floor, and felt himself blasted backwards and up, flying through the air and over the wall. The sash around his arm grew taught, and he used it to yank his blade from the ground so it followed his path across the wall. He stumbled as he landed the other side, his hand to catch his Zanpakutō miles off: the pommel struck Squee in the back of the head, causing him to fall forwards onto his face. "Oof!"

Hearing a sniggering from the Judge's stand, he rose graciously to his feet, pulling his Zanpakutō from the ground and re-sheathing it in one fluid movement. Leaping across to the next platform, he cried out: "One down, two to go!"

He stumbled again as he landed, the floor beneath him unsteady, and he dropped to a roll to avoid falling backwards into the boiling lava pit below. "Easy does it," he thought to himself. He walked carefully to a podium in the center of the platform, the ground becoming more stable as he neared the middle.

Seven shining buttons were adorned upon the face of the podium, each blazing a different color. Smiling, Squee knew what this Trial was about instantly. "If Ookami-taicho thinks that I'll go for the obvious Orange choice, because that's the First's color, then he'd think to put it in another one...maybe yellow, just to confuse me..." he thought, looking at the panel. "...unless that's what he wants me to think, in which case it's..." His hand moved, hovering over the Orange button. "...But you're too clever, even for that, aren't you Ookami-taicho," Squee muttered, his hand moving away once again. He heard movement from the Judge's stand, the scuffling sound of disappointed anger. "...hehe..."

He took a step backwards and knelt on the floor, looking underneath the podium for any signs of wires. He knew even before his knees hit the floor that there would be no sign, but he looked anyway. Knowing it and looking anyway was a mistake he would be marked down on, he realised as he sat back on his haunches, angry with himself for ever talking about this to Ookami-taicho's drunken state.

"Ookami-taicho's drunken states reveal too much..." Squee thought as he rose from his knees, a deep grin spreading across his face. He stepped back to the podium, his hand plunging down as he screamed; "His favorite color is purple!"

The floor beneath the podium fell away, revealing a hidden walkway. Dropping through the hole in the floor, Squee followed the walkway to a tall metal ladder, the rungs rusty and unevenly spaced. Sighing deeply, he placed his foot on the first step and began to climb. The heat from the lava pit below was making him sweat now, making him pause to wipe his hands in case he slipped. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of climbing, he came to the final platform. He stepped off the ladder and rolled across the floor, dodging the sword that swept though the air above him.

He rose to his feet, drawing his blade and blocking his opponent's next blow. "Dammit!" cried Squee, his Zanpakutō blasted away by the power of his opponent's arm. He stepped backwards, out of the reach of an uppercut that would have taken off his nose. He leapt forwards, Kesshou Aijin clashing with the broadsword that the suit of armor brought down with all it's might. "Ookami-taicho! This is supposed to be a Brain Trial, not Combat!" Parrying again and again, Squee knew this wasn't supposed to be combat. There were many ways to stop the animated armor from attacking, but which was the right one? Most of them were Kido based, and all of them were combat ... weren't they?

The sweat had dried to his back, his head was throbbing again, and his arms were heavy from the constant defending. Parrying one last time with his Zanpakutō, Squee raised his hand and whispered, "Shō.". The armor blew apart, tumbling backwards across the platform, over the edge and falling into the lava below.

Squee turned his tired, grubby face to the Judge's stand. "Was that good enough for you, Ookami-taicho?!"