Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
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Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 1 ~ Fire and Rain:
“After it!” An angry, male voice sounded.
“Make sure to kill it! Don’t let it escape!” Another voice echoed.
After another barrage of comments and remarks, the commotion seemed to die down and the voices seemed to chat amongst themselves.
“Fools! Do you think the captain will be proud of your insolence! Failure to defeat one, meager Hollow brings shame to us all!” A strict, female voice yelled.
“That’s enough, Lieutenant,” came a prominent, masculine voice.
“Sir!” The female voice stopped abruptly. “Forgive me, sir, it seems the squad was, again, too incompetent to catch the Hollow.”
“It’s alright,” the captain spoke. In addition to the traditional Soul Reaper uniform, which consisted of black pants and a black shirt over a sleeved, white shirt with a collar, he wore a loose, open, white vest that seemed to go down to his knees. With his left hand, he slowly lifted a somewhat large, white mask into the view of his fellow Soul Reapers. “I already took care of it.”
“I’m sorry, sir, it's my failed leadership that’s put the squad into such poor state as of late,” the lieutenant spoke and proceeded to bow her head in shame. The other Soul Reapers around her did as well.
“It’s all good, Katherine. It just means I need to do a better job maintaining my squad.”
“But, Captain Samson!”
“No ‘but’s, Katherine, we’re just going to have to go over the squad basics one more time. And I wish you wouldn’t use such formalities and just call me my name already.”
“Alright,” she hesitated, “so I shall, James.”
In a much more separated part of Soul Society, a young man sat alone, leaning against a large tree on an open plain. Upon further inspection, one could easily see that he was sleeping.
“Stop! Not one step closer!” He yelled in his dream. He was standing on an empty plain in the night, with several friends and acquaintances shivering and panicking around him. The only light came from that of the moon, the stars, and the piercing, yellow eyes behind the large, white mask of the creature in front of him. It was a massive beast, one with large, humanoid arms and legs. It’s skin was thick and scaly, with an almost maroon hue. The white mask that covered the entirety of its head only provided openings for the monster’s demonic eyes and its malicious teeth, which had been supplemented by the mask. Its roar following the young man’s demand was deafening and echoed throughout the night.
“Jason, just run!” Came the voice of one of his retreating companions.
“Leg it!” Came another.
“Run for it, dumbass!” Another shouted.
Despite all the pleas, demands, commands, and advice to move, he was frozen in place. The monster had him right where it wanted him, and it was charging forward.
With a the sound of clashing metal, the young man awoke from his dream to find a younger, yet more energized boy standing above him.
“Hiya!” The boy said.
“ACK!!!” The young man screamed. “Who the hell are you?!”
“Ah, you must be a newbie like Grandma said,” the boy commented as he proceeded to pick his nose.
“Answer the question, kid!” The young man yelled.
“Look, follow me back to my house, and you’ll figure out everything, dummy.”
“You did not just call me that… You do not know what I’ve been through…” the young man spoke.
“And it don’t matter, neither, you’re in Soul Society now, dude.” The child spoke, “just follow me.”
With nothing better to do, nothing else to go on, and the only potential hope for his new feature residing in this random boy, Jason decided to follow.
“Grandma, we’re home!” The boy called out as he walked into the shack of a home.
“We? Do you mean you do have a guest, Samuel?” An old, female voice came from the back of the shack.
“Yessum, I found another soul wandering around that field!”
“Soul?” Jason asked himself.
“Well, lookie here now!” The old woman said, “looks like we got a ripe, young man here! New to Soul Society are ya?”
“Soul Society?” He questioned.
“Let’s see, how do I put this?” She asked no one in particular. “You recently came here from the World of the Living, Earth as you knew it. When your soul was forced to pass on, you were sent here, to Soul Society.”
“So, you’re saying I am still dead?” He questioned with intrigue.
“Still?” The old woman asked, “usually people are sent here soon after they die. Do you mean to say that you were dead for a long while after your body died?”
“According to my ideology, yeah, although my memories of my post-death life are a little fuzzy… Wait, that made no sense…” he said.
“This guy sure is dumb,” Samuel commented. “His name should be dummy!”
“I already have a name,” he retorted, “it’s Jason Guffey!”
“HAHA!” the child laughed, “Guffey sounds like dummy!”
“It does not, you little-” Jason stopped and proceeded to give the kid a rough noogie, of which he was defenseless to stop.
“At any rate,” Grandma began again, “feel free to stay here, just so long as you pull your weight around here. You work for what you eat; we’re not the wealthiest of families here.”
“Wait, you call yourselves a family? You’re just two people…” Jason questioned.
“That’s how it works here,” she started, “when you arrive in Soul Society, you usually just stick with who’s around, and that’s your family.”
“And I don’t need anything more!” Samuel exclaimed.
“It sounds terrible,” Jason commented, “don’t you ever get to see friends or loved ones from when you were alive?”
“If only we could remember them that well!” Grandma spoke. Jason could only nod in agreement, as he too, realized he couldn’t remember a thing from when he actually was alive.
“Well, if it’s okay with you, I’ll stay here then. It seems like you two could use a fresh set of hands anyways,” Jason complied.
THREE YEARS LATER
“I didn’t know Grandma even had this many chickens!” Jason yelled.
“I think this next one is the last of them!” Samuel said.
The two of them had been running around the fields catching runaway chickens for the entirety of the day. After catching one, the captor would have to run back down to the shack and put it in the fence, then run back up to the field and search for more escapees. It was this kind of labor that had kept the two fit and active over the years.
“Gotcha!” Samuel yelled excitedly as he grabbed the last renegade. The bird squirmed for a bit and managed to scratch his arm. “Ouch!” he yelled as he dropped the creature.
“I’ll grab it!” Jason called and dove at the bird, catching it with his hands. After calming the animal down, he looked over to the boy he now considered a brother. “Looks like just a scratch, but it won’t hurt to have Grandma look it over when she’s done cooking dinner.”
“Yeah, about that, look!” the boy yelled.
Their pairs of eyes examined the dark smoke coming from the shack in the setting sun.
“Did she burn dinner or something?” Samuel asked.
“Sam,” Jason paused, “I don’t think that’s the dinner…” He said.
After another couple seconds, the both of them realized what was going on. “Here, hold this,” Jason said as he passed the last chicken over to the boy. “Now stay here.”
“No, I’m going too!” Samuel yelled.
“Alright, just don’t fall behind!” Jason said.
The two took off down the hill with adrenaline being the only thing keeping their exhaustion over the day’s work from setting in on them. The sun finished falling as the flames from the burning shack lit up the dark night around them.
“No!” Jason yelled as he approached the burning door frame. There wasn’t much left of their home at all.
“Grandma!” Samuel screamed, tears racing to his face almost faster than the speed at which he was running towards the burning building.
“Stop, Sam,” Jason said as he held the boy back. “Stay out here, I’ll go see if she’s in there!”
As the crying boy stayed in place, Jason eased his grip on him and gulped. A drop or two of sweat rolled down his face. Without another moment’s hesitation, he leapt through the burning door frame and looked around. Their shack, their home, was done for. Nothing was clearly present except for ash, cinders, and kindling.
“AHHH!” Samuel screamed. Jason turned around to see his brother through the burned walls of the shack being encountered by a tall monster with a serpentine, snake-like lower half and a humanoid, short-armed upper half. Around each of its wrists was a floating ring of fireballs and on its head was another white mask. A great hole sat agape in its chest. It didn’t seem to care or mind it at all.
It was obvious that this literally heartless creature was responsible for the flames. As Jason was making his way out of the burning shack, one of the few, solid, wooden support beams fell on top of him. He was now face-down on the dirt floor with fire creeping in around him and a monster about to eat his brother outside. He was powerless to move as he saw the fist of the monster collide with the boy outside and send him flying out of view. He tried to scream, but he was unable to as his breath was slowly being pulled away with his consciousness.
“Let your tears fall, Ame Odoriko (lit. Rain Dancer)!” A man in black yelled outside.
He couldn’t really tell what happened, but one of the last things he felt before falling unconscious were raindrops on his face; they were synonymous with his own tears.
When consciousness returned to him, he was immediately able to remove the soggy, yet still weak from being burned, beam off of him. He forced his way out of charred remains of his home and scanned the grasses outside. Sure enough, he soon found the body of Samuel. His eyes were faded, and his breath was silent, but his heartbeat was there. He picked the boy up, piggy-back style, and started walking. Jason didn’t have any idea where to go in this new world, but he did know that he wanted to find a decent place for one of the few people left that had taken him in. He walked down the scarcely used dirt road leading into the distance until he found another, quaint little home. He passed the unconscious boy to the man and woman inside and, rather than taking shelter as well, he kept walking. He didn’t feel he deserved to live anymore after being so powerless, so helpless to assist in keeping the few things he had, and so he just kept walking. He eventually saw several lights in the distance and followed them to his new destination: a city.
“After it!” An angry, male voice sounded.
“Make sure to kill it! Don’t let it escape!” Another voice echoed.
After another barrage of comments and remarks, the commotion seemed to die down and the voices seemed to chat amongst themselves.
“Fools! Do you think the captain will be proud of your insolence! Failure to defeat one, meager Hollow brings shame to us all!” A strict, female voice yelled.
“That’s enough, Lieutenant,” came a prominent, masculine voice.
“Sir!” The female voice stopped abruptly. “Forgive me, sir, it seems the squad was, again, too incompetent to catch the Hollow.”
“It’s alright,” the captain spoke. In addition to the traditional Soul Reaper uniform, which consisted of black pants and a black shirt over a sleeved, white shirt with a collar, he wore a loose, open, white vest that seemed to go down to his knees. With his left hand, he slowly lifted a somewhat large, white mask into the view of his fellow Soul Reapers. “I already took care of it.”
“I’m sorry, sir, it's my failed leadership that’s put the squad into such poor state as of late,” the lieutenant spoke and proceeded to bow her head in shame. The other Soul Reapers around her did as well.
“It’s all good, Katherine. It just means I need to do a better job maintaining my squad.”
“But, Captain Samson!”
“No ‘but’s, Katherine, we’re just going to have to go over the squad basics one more time. And I wish you wouldn’t use such formalities and just call me my name already.”
“Alright,” she hesitated, “so I shall, James.”
In a much more separated part of Soul Society, a young man sat alone, leaning against a large tree on an open plain. Upon further inspection, one could easily see that he was sleeping.
“Stop! Not one step closer!” He yelled in his dream. He was standing on an empty plain in the night, with several friends and acquaintances shivering and panicking around him. The only light came from that of the moon, the stars, and the piercing, yellow eyes behind the large, white mask of the creature in front of him. It was a massive beast, one with large, humanoid arms and legs. It’s skin was thick and scaly, with an almost maroon hue. The white mask that covered the entirety of its head only provided openings for the monster’s demonic eyes and its malicious teeth, which had been supplemented by the mask. Its roar following the young man’s demand was deafening and echoed throughout the night.
“Jason, just run!” Came the voice of one of his retreating companions.
“Leg it!” Came another.
“Run for it, dumbass!” Another shouted.
Despite all the pleas, demands, commands, and advice to move, he was frozen in place. The monster had him right where it wanted him, and it was charging forward.
With a the sound of clashing metal, the young man awoke from his dream to find a younger, yet more energized boy standing above him.
“Hiya!” The boy said.
“ACK!!!” The young man screamed. “Who the hell are you?!”
“Ah, you must be a newbie like Grandma said,” the boy commented as he proceeded to pick his nose.
“Answer the question, kid!” The young man yelled.
“Look, follow me back to my house, and you’ll figure out everything, dummy.”
“You did not just call me that… You do not know what I’ve been through…” the young man spoke.
“And it don’t matter, neither, you’re in Soul Society now, dude.” The child spoke, “just follow me.”
With nothing better to do, nothing else to go on, and the only potential hope for his new feature residing in this random boy, Jason decided to follow.
“Grandma, we’re home!” The boy called out as he walked into the shack of a home.
“We? Do you mean you do have a guest, Samuel?” An old, female voice came from the back of the shack.
“Yessum, I found another soul wandering around that field!”
“Soul?” Jason asked himself.
“Well, lookie here now!” The old woman said, “looks like we got a ripe, young man here! New to Soul Society are ya?”
“Soul Society?” He questioned.
“Let’s see, how do I put this?” She asked no one in particular. “You recently came here from the World of the Living, Earth as you knew it. When your soul was forced to pass on, you were sent here, to Soul Society.”
“So, you’re saying I am still dead?” He questioned with intrigue.
“Still?” The old woman asked, “usually people are sent here soon after they die. Do you mean to say that you were dead for a long while after your body died?”
“According to my ideology, yeah, although my memories of my post-death life are a little fuzzy… Wait, that made no sense…” he said.
“This guy sure is dumb,” Samuel commented. “His name should be dummy!”
“I already have a name,” he retorted, “it’s Jason Guffey!”
“HAHA!” the child laughed, “Guffey sounds like dummy!”
“It does not, you little-” Jason stopped and proceeded to give the kid a rough noogie, of which he was defenseless to stop.
“At any rate,” Grandma began again, “feel free to stay here, just so long as you pull your weight around here. You work for what you eat; we’re not the wealthiest of families here.”
“Wait, you call yourselves a family? You’re just two people…” Jason questioned.
“That’s how it works here,” she started, “when you arrive in Soul Society, you usually just stick with who’s around, and that’s your family.”
“And I don’t need anything more!” Samuel exclaimed.
“It sounds terrible,” Jason commented, “don’t you ever get to see friends or loved ones from when you were alive?”
“If only we could remember them that well!” Grandma spoke. Jason could only nod in agreement, as he too, realized he couldn’t remember a thing from when he actually was alive.
“Well, if it’s okay with you, I’ll stay here then. It seems like you two could use a fresh set of hands anyways,” Jason complied.
THREE YEARS LATER
“I didn’t know Grandma even had this many chickens!” Jason yelled.
“I think this next one is the last of them!” Samuel said.
The two of them had been running around the fields catching runaway chickens for the entirety of the day. After catching one, the captor would have to run back down to the shack and put it in the fence, then run back up to the field and search for more escapees. It was this kind of labor that had kept the two fit and active over the years.
“Gotcha!” Samuel yelled excitedly as he grabbed the last renegade. The bird squirmed for a bit and managed to scratch his arm. “Ouch!” he yelled as he dropped the creature.
“I’ll grab it!” Jason called and dove at the bird, catching it with his hands. After calming the animal down, he looked over to the boy he now considered a brother. “Looks like just a scratch, but it won’t hurt to have Grandma look it over when she’s done cooking dinner.”
“Yeah, about that, look!” the boy yelled.
Their pairs of eyes examined the dark smoke coming from the shack in the setting sun.
“Did she burn dinner or something?” Samuel asked.
“Sam,” Jason paused, “I don’t think that’s the dinner…” He said.
After another couple seconds, the both of them realized what was going on. “Here, hold this,” Jason said as he passed the last chicken over to the boy. “Now stay here.”
“No, I’m going too!” Samuel yelled.
“Alright, just don’t fall behind!” Jason said.
The two took off down the hill with adrenaline being the only thing keeping their exhaustion over the day’s work from setting in on them. The sun finished falling as the flames from the burning shack lit up the dark night around them.
“No!” Jason yelled as he approached the burning door frame. There wasn’t much left of their home at all.
“Grandma!” Samuel screamed, tears racing to his face almost faster than the speed at which he was running towards the burning building.
“Stop, Sam,” Jason said as he held the boy back. “Stay out here, I’ll go see if she’s in there!”
As the crying boy stayed in place, Jason eased his grip on him and gulped. A drop or two of sweat rolled down his face. Without another moment’s hesitation, he leapt through the burning door frame and looked around. Their shack, their home, was done for. Nothing was clearly present except for ash, cinders, and kindling.
“AHHH!” Samuel screamed. Jason turned around to see his brother through the burned walls of the shack being encountered by a tall monster with a serpentine, snake-like lower half and a humanoid, short-armed upper half. Around each of its wrists was a floating ring of fireballs and on its head was another white mask. A great hole sat agape in its chest. It didn’t seem to care or mind it at all.
It was obvious that this literally heartless creature was responsible for the flames. As Jason was making his way out of the burning shack, one of the few, solid, wooden support beams fell on top of him. He was now face-down on the dirt floor with fire creeping in around him and a monster about to eat his brother outside. He was powerless to move as he saw the fist of the monster collide with the boy outside and send him flying out of view. He tried to scream, but he was unable to as his breath was slowly being pulled away with his consciousness.
“Let your tears fall, Ame Odoriko (lit. Rain Dancer)!” A man in black yelled outside.
He couldn’t really tell what happened, but one of the last things he felt before falling unconscious were raindrops on his face; they were synonymous with his own tears.
When consciousness returned to him, he was immediately able to remove the soggy, yet still weak from being burned, beam off of him. He forced his way out of charred remains of his home and scanned the grasses outside. Sure enough, he soon found the body of Samuel. His eyes were faded, and his breath was silent, but his heartbeat was there. He picked the boy up, piggy-back style, and started walking. Jason didn’t have any idea where to go in this new world, but he did know that he wanted to find a decent place for one of the few people left that had taken him in. He walked down the scarcely used dirt road leading into the distance until he found another, quaint little home. He passed the unconscious boy to the man and woman inside and, rather than taking shelter as well, he kept walking. He didn’t feel he deserved to live anymore after being so powerless, so helpless to assist in keeping the few things he had, and so he just kept walking. He eventually saw several lights in the distance and followed them to his new destination: a city.
Last edited by the guffman on Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:00 pm; edited 24 times in total
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 2 ~ City Nights:
From the outskirts of the city, Jason could only make out the lights of the city buildings toward its center and the darkened silhouettes of the numerous small houses and shacks that seemed to comprise the suburban area. As he made his way toward civilization, he finally felt his legs give out and he collapsed, powerless to stand up to gravity in his current state.
The deafening roar of the creature echoed through the night once more, and Jason realized he was once again reliving the same memory in his dreams. Looking around, he could see fleeting shapes of those he once knew as friends moving away from him, but he could not make out any of their faces or hear any of their voices. The intimidation factor of the creature rushing at him was taking its toll.
Just as the creature was taking its final steps toward its soon-to-be victim, the clash of steel echoed through the air. Jason fell back onto the ground and could only look forward in shock to see a figure in black, shielding him with a blade he knew all too well was a katana. The blade worked as a significant defense against the creature’s gaping mouth. The monster recoiled back in pain as it reacted to its now bleeding mouth. With another, now enraged roar, it started charging again, this time with its fists at the ready.
Jason took this time to realize that two of his friends had rushed up to him, one on his left and one on his right. One of them was a taller man, with glasses and dark blonde hair, while the other was a man of average height dressed in orange, which did not seem too strange for some reason.
“What the hell is that thing?!” The one in orange exclaimed.
“I’m not sure,” the taller commented, “c’mon Jason, let’s let them fight it out.”
As the two were pulling their friend off the ground, another figure in black appeared beside them. He had faded, blonde hair and it was now apparent that he wore black pants, a white, sleeved, collared shirt, and a black shirt over it. On his side was the sheath of a katana. Strapped around his forearm was an emblem of some kind.
“It’s called a Hollow,” he said.
“What does it want, and who are you?” The tall friend asked.
“It was probably lured here by all of your combined spiritual pressures,” he explained, “Hollows are evil souls that try to feast upon the souls of the living and the newly departed.”
“So what are you supposed to be, a ninja?” The friend in orange asked.
“I’m what’s called a Soul Reaper. I use my sword here, called a Zanpaktou, to cleanse the Hollows of their sinful lives and safely guide souls to Soul Society. Look out!” he yelled as his comrade that had been fending off the beast flew past the group, having been sent flying by one of the monster’s attacks. She had long, dark hair, and she was badly wounded.
“You bastard!” The male Soul Reaper yelled as he charged forward at the beast, sword drawn.
Jason awoke once more to a bucket of water being dumped on him. “Ahhhh!!! What was that for?!” he exclaimed.
“Wake up, mistuh!” A little girl said.
“You didn’t have to dump that on me!” Jason yelled while shivering.
“Awe you a Sooh Weepuh?” she asked.
“Do you mean Soul Reaper?” he asked in response.
“Uhmhm!” she responded, “you kep menshunin kiwwin’ a white mask in yoh sweep.”
He sighed, while also noticing that he was in one of the many small shacks of houses that he had seen the night before. It was currently daytime outside. “No, I’m not a Soul Reaper,” he said disappointedly. “If I was though, I would be killing all of those damned Hollows.”
“Well den you’re in dah wight pwace!” she exclaimed, “dah thiwteen coat guawd skodds are in the middou of dis city!”
“The what?” Jason asked. “You mean thirteen coat-God squads?”
“Nuh-uh!” She said in annoyance. “Just fowwow dah woad to dah wight!”
“Alright then…” He said in almost a state of confusion.
“Just pwomise me one ting,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Can you check on my bwudder?” she asked. “If you pwomise me dat, you can take his spawe stuff.”
“Alright,” Jason complied as he was handed some relatively unworn cotton pants and a new jacket with a new shirt to match. The outfit was complimented with a leather belt and a wooden practice sword. The whole thing was much better than the rags of clothing he had been wearing since his arrival in Soul Society. “So what’s your brother’s name?”
“Petew!” She spewed.
“And yours?”
“Sawah!” She yelled cheerfully.
“Alright, Sarah,” Jason spoke, “I’ll check on your brother for you. I take it he’s a Soul Reaper then?”
“Mhm!” She nodded happily. The small, blue-eyed girl seemed to jump around with renewed vigor.
“Well, thank you for everything, Sarah. I’ll be back.” He said as he walked out the door.
It didn’t take too long for him to tell that the solid, concrete, steel, and glass buildings toward the center of town was this supposed Soul Reaper headquarters Sarah was talking about. The closer he got, the more people in the same black uniform he would see on the streets. None of them carried any katana, however, and most of them seemed to be quite rude to the common townsfolk.
Jason watched as one man got thrown out of a local bar by one of the more obnoxious Soul Reapers. It was apparent that he had been drinking quite a bit and had gotten into a bar fight with the man.
“That’s what I think of payin’ yer stupid cash!” The Soul Reaper yelled.
The man on the ground scrambled onto his hands and knees so as to crawl away from the man.
“Runnin’ away, are ya?! Coward!” The Soul Reaper yelled as he reached for the present sheath at his side and drew out his Zanpakutou.
The man screamed in terror as he ran to the other side of the town street and realized there was nowhere to run to except for solid, concrete wall. Jason decided to put the wooden sword to use, despite the fact that it was easily no match for a Soul Reaper’s Zanpakutou.
“That’s enough!” Jason yelled as he moved between the man and the Soul Reaper. He had his wooden sword ready.
“Bwahahaha!” his opponent laughed. “You think you can defeat me with that pathetic twig? Gimme a break, retard! I’ll have you know I’m a seated officer in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads!”
“Seated Officer?” Jason asked himself.
“I’ll show you what happens when you mess with Soul Reapers!” He yelled and proceeded to charge.
It was a good thing the man was wasted or else he might have actually used some form of training. Much to his own surprise, Jason was able to remember, not specifically, but remember still that he had had years of practice in the art of sword combat while he was alive. Whether or not he could still use it as a soul, however, remained unknown.
“I’ll crush you!” The drunken man shouted as he slashed his sword down.
Easily maneuvering out of the way, Jason took a swing at the man’s back with the practice sword. A thud indicated that he had made solid contact.
“Ouch! You little bastard, you’re dead meat now!” The man yelled. He tried to swing again and again, but Jason would easily manage to avoid his drunken movements and strike him with the wooden weapon. He eventually jabbed the Soul Reaper in the back of the head with the hilt of his weapon, knocking the drunk to the ground.
“Oh, you are sooooo dead! You don’t even know it yet!” The Soul Reaper yelled, extremely infuriated now. Throughout the fight, he had been reaching to the belt at his side for a bottle, presumably containing some alcoholic content or another. After another swig, he threw the bottle to the ground. “Rage, Domen Natagama (lit. Angry-face Sickle)!” He yelled. With a red glow, his Zanpakutou morphed from a normal katana to a long, scythe looking weapon with a long, black handle pole and a sharp, blood-red blade. “Prepare to die!”
As the man was swinging the weapon, his spiritual pressure seemed to be weakening Jason’s hold on his weapon by the mere presence of his released Zanpakutou. Before Jason could successfully avoid the swing of the powerful weapon, the wooden sword was sliced in two, leaving pieces and fragments to fall to the ground.
“Whacha gonna do now, punk? Hahahaha!” The Soul Reaper laughed. He quickly followed his swing with another and another. It was only a matter of time before one of them managed to successfully reap their enemy.
“Bakudou #1, Sai!” Came a voice from behind.
Before the fighters present could properly react, the Soul Reaper dropped his weapon and was seemingly restrained with his arms tied behind his back by invisible chains and his legs made immovable.
“Argh, what the hell?!” he yelled.
“The most basic of Kidou, any Soul Reaper should know their way around it.” The same voice said.
Jason looked behind him to see a man walk out of an alleyway, the fresh moonlight reflecting off of his glasses. He had dark blonde hair, and not the most pristine of clothing.
“You really are pathetic if you can’t handle that…” he commented.
“Cain! What on earth are you doing?!” came a female voice from inside the bar.
The three men outside turned to see a female Soul Reaper with long, blonde hair walking out of the building. She wore glasses and a skirt rather than the typical black pants Soul Reapers wore. Strapped to her arm was an insignia, inscribed on an emblem of some kind. The drunk man on the ground only grumbled in response.
“Forgive my subordinate for his stupidity,” she said, “it seems he hasn’t quite learned how to properly handle the bottle.”
“Just keep him on his leash,” the man in glasses spoke as he turned around and started to walk away.
“Wait one second!” She beckoned. “That was Kidou you just used,” she looked over to Jason, “while you fought off our third seat with just a wooden sword. Tell me, what are your names?”
“Jason,” one said.
“Hunter,” the other man spoke.
“Jason and Hunter,” she said aloud, “this may be too much to ask, but we’ve been looking for some new recruits for the Thirteen Court Guard Squads for some time now, and with Soul Reapers like Cain here giving our organization a bad name, we could really use some more hands like you. There will be a recruitment speech tomorrow afternoon. You can come if interested.”
“What’s your name, Soul Reaper?” Jason asked.
“Lucielle,” she said, “Lieutenant Lucielle Osmond of Squad Eight.”
“I’ll be there!” Jason said optimistically. It’s true that he did want to partake in the noble cause of helping other souls, but he was also motivated by the fact that he would get his own Zanpaktou if he became a Soul Reaper.
“I’ll consider it,” Hunter said, and walked back into the shadows from whence he came.
“Hunter,” Jason said to himself, “he seems so familiar…”
From the outskirts of the city, Jason could only make out the lights of the city buildings toward its center and the darkened silhouettes of the numerous small houses and shacks that seemed to comprise the suburban area. As he made his way toward civilization, he finally felt his legs give out and he collapsed, powerless to stand up to gravity in his current state.
The deafening roar of the creature echoed through the night once more, and Jason realized he was once again reliving the same memory in his dreams. Looking around, he could see fleeting shapes of those he once knew as friends moving away from him, but he could not make out any of their faces or hear any of their voices. The intimidation factor of the creature rushing at him was taking its toll.
Just as the creature was taking its final steps toward its soon-to-be victim, the clash of steel echoed through the air. Jason fell back onto the ground and could only look forward in shock to see a figure in black, shielding him with a blade he knew all too well was a katana. The blade worked as a significant defense against the creature’s gaping mouth. The monster recoiled back in pain as it reacted to its now bleeding mouth. With another, now enraged roar, it started charging again, this time with its fists at the ready.
Jason took this time to realize that two of his friends had rushed up to him, one on his left and one on his right. One of them was a taller man, with glasses and dark blonde hair, while the other was a man of average height dressed in orange, which did not seem too strange for some reason.
“What the hell is that thing?!” The one in orange exclaimed.
“I’m not sure,” the taller commented, “c’mon Jason, let’s let them fight it out.”
As the two were pulling their friend off the ground, another figure in black appeared beside them. He had faded, blonde hair and it was now apparent that he wore black pants, a white, sleeved, collared shirt, and a black shirt over it. On his side was the sheath of a katana. Strapped around his forearm was an emblem of some kind.
“It’s called a Hollow,” he said.
“What does it want, and who are you?” The tall friend asked.
“It was probably lured here by all of your combined spiritual pressures,” he explained, “Hollows are evil souls that try to feast upon the souls of the living and the newly departed.”
“So what are you supposed to be, a ninja?” The friend in orange asked.
“I’m what’s called a Soul Reaper. I use my sword here, called a Zanpaktou, to cleanse the Hollows of their sinful lives and safely guide souls to Soul Society. Look out!” he yelled as his comrade that had been fending off the beast flew past the group, having been sent flying by one of the monster’s attacks. She had long, dark hair, and she was badly wounded.
“You bastard!” The male Soul Reaper yelled as he charged forward at the beast, sword drawn.
Jason awoke once more to a bucket of water being dumped on him. “Ahhhh!!! What was that for?!” he exclaimed.
“Wake up, mistuh!” A little girl said.
“You didn’t have to dump that on me!” Jason yelled while shivering.
“Awe you a Sooh Weepuh?” she asked.
“Do you mean Soul Reaper?” he asked in response.
“Uhmhm!” she responded, “you kep menshunin kiwwin’ a white mask in yoh sweep.”
He sighed, while also noticing that he was in one of the many small shacks of houses that he had seen the night before. It was currently daytime outside. “No, I’m not a Soul Reaper,” he said disappointedly. “If I was though, I would be killing all of those damned Hollows.”
“Well den you’re in dah wight pwace!” she exclaimed, “dah thiwteen coat guawd skodds are in the middou of dis city!”
“The what?” Jason asked. “You mean thirteen coat-God squads?”
“Nuh-uh!” She said in annoyance. “Just fowwow dah woad to dah wight!”
“Alright then…” He said in almost a state of confusion.
“Just pwomise me one ting,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Can you check on my bwudder?” she asked. “If you pwomise me dat, you can take his spawe stuff.”
“Alright,” Jason complied as he was handed some relatively unworn cotton pants and a new jacket with a new shirt to match. The outfit was complimented with a leather belt and a wooden practice sword. The whole thing was much better than the rags of clothing he had been wearing since his arrival in Soul Society. “So what’s your brother’s name?”
“Petew!” She spewed.
“And yours?”
“Sawah!” She yelled cheerfully.
“Alright, Sarah,” Jason spoke, “I’ll check on your brother for you. I take it he’s a Soul Reaper then?”
“Mhm!” She nodded happily. The small, blue-eyed girl seemed to jump around with renewed vigor.
“Well, thank you for everything, Sarah. I’ll be back.” He said as he walked out the door.
It didn’t take too long for him to tell that the solid, concrete, steel, and glass buildings toward the center of town was this supposed Soul Reaper headquarters Sarah was talking about. The closer he got, the more people in the same black uniform he would see on the streets. None of them carried any katana, however, and most of them seemed to be quite rude to the common townsfolk.
Jason watched as one man got thrown out of a local bar by one of the more obnoxious Soul Reapers. It was apparent that he had been drinking quite a bit and had gotten into a bar fight with the man.
“That’s what I think of payin’ yer stupid cash!” The Soul Reaper yelled.
The man on the ground scrambled onto his hands and knees so as to crawl away from the man.
“Runnin’ away, are ya?! Coward!” The Soul Reaper yelled as he reached for the present sheath at his side and drew out his Zanpakutou.
The man screamed in terror as he ran to the other side of the town street and realized there was nowhere to run to except for solid, concrete wall. Jason decided to put the wooden sword to use, despite the fact that it was easily no match for a Soul Reaper’s Zanpakutou.
“That’s enough!” Jason yelled as he moved between the man and the Soul Reaper. He had his wooden sword ready.
“Bwahahaha!” his opponent laughed. “You think you can defeat me with that pathetic twig? Gimme a break, retard! I’ll have you know I’m a seated officer in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads!”
“Seated Officer?” Jason asked himself.
“I’ll show you what happens when you mess with Soul Reapers!” He yelled and proceeded to charge.
It was a good thing the man was wasted or else he might have actually used some form of training. Much to his own surprise, Jason was able to remember, not specifically, but remember still that he had had years of practice in the art of sword combat while he was alive. Whether or not he could still use it as a soul, however, remained unknown.
“I’ll crush you!” The drunken man shouted as he slashed his sword down.
Easily maneuvering out of the way, Jason took a swing at the man’s back with the practice sword. A thud indicated that he had made solid contact.
“Ouch! You little bastard, you’re dead meat now!” The man yelled. He tried to swing again and again, but Jason would easily manage to avoid his drunken movements and strike him with the wooden weapon. He eventually jabbed the Soul Reaper in the back of the head with the hilt of his weapon, knocking the drunk to the ground.
“Oh, you are sooooo dead! You don’t even know it yet!” The Soul Reaper yelled, extremely infuriated now. Throughout the fight, he had been reaching to the belt at his side for a bottle, presumably containing some alcoholic content or another. After another swig, he threw the bottle to the ground. “Rage, Domen Natagama (lit. Angry-face Sickle)!” He yelled. With a red glow, his Zanpakutou morphed from a normal katana to a long, scythe looking weapon with a long, black handle pole and a sharp, blood-red blade. “Prepare to die!”
As the man was swinging the weapon, his spiritual pressure seemed to be weakening Jason’s hold on his weapon by the mere presence of his released Zanpakutou. Before Jason could successfully avoid the swing of the powerful weapon, the wooden sword was sliced in two, leaving pieces and fragments to fall to the ground.
“Whacha gonna do now, punk? Hahahaha!” The Soul Reaper laughed. He quickly followed his swing with another and another. It was only a matter of time before one of them managed to successfully reap their enemy.
“Bakudou #1, Sai!” Came a voice from behind.
Before the fighters present could properly react, the Soul Reaper dropped his weapon and was seemingly restrained with his arms tied behind his back by invisible chains and his legs made immovable.
“Argh, what the hell?!” he yelled.
“The most basic of Kidou, any Soul Reaper should know their way around it.” The same voice said.
Jason looked behind him to see a man walk out of an alleyway, the fresh moonlight reflecting off of his glasses. He had dark blonde hair, and not the most pristine of clothing.
“You really are pathetic if you can’t handle that…” he commented.
“Cain! What on earth are you doing?!” came a female voice from inside the bar.
The three men outside turned to see a female Soul Reaper with long, blonde hair walking out of the building. She wore glasses and a skirt rather than the typical black pants Soul Reapers wore. Strapped to her arm was an insignia, inscribed on an emblem of some kind. The drunk man on the ground only grumbled in response.
“Forgive my subordinate for his stupidity,” she said, “it seems he hasn’t quite learned how to properly handle the bottle.”
“Just keep him on his leash,” the man in glasses spoke as he turned around and started to walk away.
“Wait one second!” She beckoned. “That was Kidou you just used,” she looked over to Jason, “while you fought off our third seat with just a wooden sword. Tell me, what are your names?”
“Jason,” one said.
“Hunter,” the other man spoke.
“Jason and Hunter,” she said aloud, “this may be too much to ask, but we’ve been looking for some new recruits for the Thirteen Court Guard Squads for some time now, and with Soul Reapers like Cain here giving our organization a bad name, we could really use some more hands like you. There will be a recruitment speech tomorrow afternoon. You can come if interested.”
“What’s your name, Soul Reaper?” Jason asked.
“Lucielle,” she said, “Lieutenant Lucielle Osmond of Squad Eight.”
“I’ll be there!” Jason said optimistically. It’s true that he did want to partake in the noble cause of helping other souls, but he was also motivated by the fact that he would get his own Zanpaktou if he became a Soul Reaper.
“I’ll consider it,” Hunter said, and walked back into the shadows from whence he came.
“Hunter,” Jason said to himself, “he seems so familiar…”
Last edited by Jason on Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 3 ~ Newbie Days:
“And swing!” The instructor yelled.
The kendo students proceeded to swing their swords, each shouting “ha” as they did so.
“Again!” The instructor called.
The students swung once more, again shouting “ha” as they did.
“Once more!”
“Ha!” The students yelled. One could see from all the different movement patterns that it was early on in the class, as the group didn’t yet look the slightest bit formal, professional, or precise in their swing patterns.
It was a large white room, with wooden panels for flooring similar to that of a gymnasium. All of the students were wearing white, sleeved shirts and black pants while the instructor wore the traditional Soul Reaper uniform in addition to an ID hanging from her neck. She had short, banged black hair and sharp glasses.
Jason, standing in one of the anonymous rows of lined students, thought of the lessons as a breeze, as he could remember pretty much all of the basics of kendo from past experience. Keep your right hand on top so as to be the main force of your sword, then use your left hand to keep your motions fluid, direct, and steady. Footing played a major part as well, as it kept the body straight and upright, as well as directing one’s own weight to move in or out with their sword. It was all too simple, so he decided to look around and see who else was in this class of about one hundred.
His eyes almost immediately drifted to a girl two or three people down from him. She was apparently clumsy, as she couldn’t even complete the normal three-slash combination before stumbling around. Her entire sword style was a mess, and she didn’t have the best posture. He decided to go over and help her.
“Hey,” he said calmly.
“Wahhh!” She yelled frantically as she stumbled yet again, almost hitting him with her sword.
“Geez, watch where you’re swinging!”
“Sorry ‘bout that!” She panicked as a sweat drop rolled down her face.
“Looks like you’re having quite a bit of trouble there,” Jason commented.
“Yeah, I’m really new when it comes to this sort of thing,” she said, scratching the back of her head.
“What’s your name?”
“Kendra,” she responded. Although she was clearly embarrassed by her overall clumsiness, she was a rather cheerful person overall. She had somewhat long, dark hair and green eyes.
“Kendra?” he thought, “that’s a kind of serious name… I expected Katie or Kristie or something along those lines.”
She blushed, “Well, I can’t really control what name I was given…” She looked down at the ground.
“Are you seriously embarrassed about it? I was just joking around, geez…”
“I’m sorry,” she said, “so who are you?”
“Jason,” he responded.
“Well, your name sounds too serious too!” She responded.
“Well, maybe I am serious!” He retorted.
“Now look who’s overreacting!” She laughed.
He sighed, “you actually got me there.” She grinned triumphantly. “So do you need some help with your sword stance?” He asked.
“Well, could you help me out a little bit? I can’t seem to get the hang of it…”
“Sure,” he said, “this stuff is pretty easy once you get used to it. You have to start by keeping your feet a good two to three feet away from each other.”
She started to move her feet into position, but then realized that something didn’t feel right, so she decided to hunch down to look at her shoes. On the way down, her head collided with Jason’s stomach, causing him to bend over in pain. Realizing her mistake, she shot back up to address the situation, hitting him again on the way up.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! One of my laces was untied!” She panicked again.
“It’s alright,” Jason coughed a few times after slowly letting go of his pained stomach, “now, you need keep your arms to the right,” he said, while moving her arms into the proper position.
“Umm…” she said as the blushed again.
“What is it now?” Jason said with a hint of frustration.
“You’re kind of close…” she mumbled.
Jason looked to realize what she was saying. He was right behind her, holding her arms with his. Anyone observing this would have thought something else was going on.
“Look, just don’t make this more than what it is, I’m just showing you how to hold the damn sword,” he said.
“Okay,” she answered, more comfortable now that they had gained some distance.
“Now, when you swing down vertically, you want to move your right foot forward in perfect sync with your arms.”
He watched as she did so.
“Good,” he said, finally believing that progress was being made, “now for horizontal swings, you kind of want to do the same thing, but you only want to move whichever foot is in the direction you’re swinging, so a swing to the left, you’d move your left foot left a bit, while a swing to the right would have you move your right foot to the right.”
“Sounds simple, thanks!” she said as the began to practice the different swings.
“No problem. Oh, and remember that thrusts or stabs are like downward slashes; you want to move forward, so you’ll move your lead foot forward with your sword.”
“Cool, thanks again!” she said.
He turned away from her, honestly hoping he wouldn’t have to deal with her that much anymore. He looked around to see if any others had had as much trouble. Most of the trainees were doing just fine, a little rough here and there, but mostly well. One, however, stood out.
“Hunter, is that you?” Jason asked.
Upon hearing his name and the familiar voice, the young man with the familiar dark blonde hair and glasses turned around.
“Jason, right?” He said.
“Yeah, it looks like you’re having some trouble…”
“I’m just not a fan of sword fighting,” Hunter responded, “I much prefer the quickness of kidou.”
“But doesn’t kidou require some huge-ass incantation to memorize? Don’t you need to say that each and every time for like, ever until you can really use it quickly?”
“Normally, yes,” he began, “but I guess I just have a natural hand at it. It’s kind of like you and your sword. For example,” he paused, “Hadou #1, Sho!”
In a couple seconds, a small amount of spiritual pressure pulsated out from his hands and Jason had no choice but to take a step back; the other students, who were spaced significantly farther from him, barely took notice.
“That’s awesome! I wish I was that good at kidou!” Jason exclaimed.
“I guess someone noticed,” Hunter responded, “here comes the instructor.”
“What are you doing?” she asked in a diminutive tone.
“Just talkin’ is all, nothing much,” Jason answered casually.
“Well, one of you just emitted an unreasonable amount of spirit energy for kendo practice,” she started, “you should know by now it’s against the rules to release spirit energy like that!”
“Really,” Hunter began, “the rules are there just in case something bad happens, like if someone were to recklessly release a Red Flame Cannon and blow up half their barracks. They needn’t be enforced on such lowly students that aren’t even capable of Hadou #4.”
“Wow…” was all Jason could say.
“That’s it, I will not tolerate insubordination!” She yelled. “You’re both to spend the next week in Private Holding!”
“Way to go, Hunter…” Jason mumbled.
“Shut up…” he retorted.
A couple hours later, after arriving in Private Holding, the two students had finally been placed in the room. It was a plain white room with a few metal bunks and one window. There was a door to a bathroom and literally nothing else.
“Are you kidding me?” Jason asked rhetorically.
“Just be glad we’re not being unreasonably executed or something,” Hunter responded.
“Psh, they’re short on people, they wouldn’t think of getting rid of Magic Man and me, the Ace of Swords,” Jason joked.
“Did you see how many people were in that room?” Hunter asked, “Another would just come up and take our places.”
“That’s rather pessimistic, don’t you think?” Jason questioned.
“I prefer realistic.”
“Who’d just replace us? Any of those other idiots in there have half the skills we do.”
“That is true, that girl you were rather close to was pretty ridiculous,” Hunter commented, powerless against letting a mocking smile creep to his face.
“Hey, she was just a newbie that needed some pointers!” Jason yelled. “God forbid I ever have to work with her someday!”
“Would you two keep it the crap down?!” A voice yelled. “I can’t even think with all this noise!”
That, too, sounds very familiar. Jason thought to himself.
“Who’s there?” Hunter asked.
Another young man dropped down from one of the higher bunks. He had much lighter blonde hair, and was of average height. “Name’s Jonathon, but just call me Jon please.”
“Whatcha in fer?” Jason asked jokingly, mocking a prisoner.
“I went a little overboard in a practice fight,” the young man answered.
“What’d you do to the guy?” Jason asked.
“I gave him a black eye, dislocated his shoulder, and gave him a bunch of injuries in other places,” Jon said. “It was awesome.”
“Are you kidding me?” Hunter asked. “You’re just insane or something…”
“Hey, hey, shut up!” Jon responded. “He shouldn’t have let me do so much damage to him!”
“This is going to be a long week…” Jason said.
“It doesn’t have to be,” Jon suggested.
“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.
“I was waiting on one or two more people to come around,” Jon began, “I think we could take out the guard pretty easily and just get out of here.”
“You can’t be-” Hunter started.
“Halt! Those rebellious words will not be tolerated!” A voice came.
The three of them looked to see a guard entering the doorway.
“Come with me!”
“Uhh, Hunter, I don’t really have a weapon on me or want to be taken away,” Jason hinted.
Hunter sighed. “Bakudou #1, Sai!”
After the words were spoken, the man was soon bound invisibly and unable to move.
“Hey, let me g-” he tried to yell, but his mouth was soon garbled by a pillow that Jon had decided to improvise with.
“Nice one, Weeber!” Jason commented as he took the man’s wooden sword.
“Weeber?” Jon questioned. “What made you call me that?”
“Your last name is Webster, isn’t it?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, but how did you know that?”
“Lucky guess?” Jason said, stupefied by what he had known.
“Eh, I like Weeber. It’s got a ring to it,” he said.
“Alright then, Weeber, Jason, let’s get out of here,” Hunter said.
“Ugh, no!” Weeber yelled. “You just call me Jon, you’re not cool enough to say Weeber!”
“Fine, Jon,” Hunter said while face palming, “we should probably get out of here…”
“What should we do, raise hell? Paint the town red?” Jason asked, jokingly swinging around the wooden weapon.
“That’s such a good idea, you don’t even know!” Weeber added.
“What am I gonna do with you t-” Hunter began.
“Shut your mouth!” Jon cut him off.
“And swing!” The instructor yelled.
The kendo students proceeded to swing their swords, each shouting “ha” as they did so.
“Again!” The instructor called.
The students swung once more, again shouting “ha” as they did.
“Once more!”
“Ha!” The students yelled. One could see from all the different movement patterns that it was early on in the class, as the group didn’t yet look the slightest bit formal, professional, or precise in their swing patterns.
It was a large white room, with wooden panels for flooring similar to that of a gymnasium. All of the students were wearing white, sleeved shirts and black pants while the instructor wore the traditional Soul Reaper uniform in addition to an ID hanging from her neck. She had short, banged black hair and sharp glasses.
Jason, standing in one of the anonymous rows of lined students, thought of the lessons as a breeze, as he could remember pretty much all of the basics of kendo from past experience. Keep your right hand on top so as to be the main force of your sword, then use your left hand to keep your motions fluid, direct, and steady. Footing played a major part as well, as it kept the body straight and upright, as well as directing one’s own weight to move in or out with their sword. It was all too simple, so he decided to look around and see who else was in this class of about one hundred.
His eyes almost immediately drifted to a girl two or three people down from him. She was apparently clumsy, as she couldn’t even complete the normal three-slash combination before stumbling around. Her entire sword style was a mess, and she didn’t have the best posture. He decided to go over and help her.
“Hey,” he said calmly.
“Wahhh!” She yelled frantically as she stumbled yet again, almost hitting him with her sword.
“Geez, watch where you’re swinging!”
“Sorry ‘bout that!” She panicked as a sweat drop rolled down her face.
“Looks like you’re having quite a bit of trouble there,” Jason commented.
“Yeah, I’m really new when it comes to this sort of thing,” she said, scratching the back of her head.
“What’s your name?”
“Kendra,” she responded. Although she was clearly embarrassed by her overall clumsiness, she was a rather cheerful person overall. She had somewhat long, dark hair and green eyes.
“Kendra?” he thought, “that’s a kind of serious name… I expected Katie or Kristie or something along those lines.”
She blushed, “Well, I can’t really control what name I was given…” She looked down at the ground.
“Are you seriously embarrassed about it? I was just joking around, geez…”
“I’m sorry,” she said, “so who are you?”
“Jason,” he responded.
“Well, your name sounds too serious too!” She responded.
“Well, maybe I am serious!” He retorted.
“Now look who’s overreacting!” She laughed.
He sighed, “you actually got me there.” She grinned triumphantly. “So do you need some help with your sword stance?” He asked.
“Well, could you help me out a little bit? I can’t seem to get the hang of it…”
“Sure,” he said, “this stuff is pretty easy once you get used to it. You have to start by keeping your feet a good two to three feet away from each other.”
She started to move her feet into position, but then realized that something didn’t feel right, so she decided to hunch down to look at her shoes. On the way down, her head collided with Jason’s stomach, causing him to bend over in pain. Realizing her mistake, she shot back up to address the situation, hitting him again on the way up.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! One of my laces was untied!” She panicked again.
“It’s alright,” Jason coughed a few times after slowly letting go of his pained stomach, “now, you need keep your arms to the right,” he said, while moving her arms into the proper position.
“Umm…” she said as the blushed again.
“What is it now?” Jason said with a hint of frustration.
“You’re kind of close…” she mumbled.
Jason looked to realize what she was saying. He was right behind her, holding her arms with his. Anyone observing this would have thought something else was going on.
“Look, just don’t make this more than what it is, I’m just showing you how to hold the damn sword,” he said.
“Okay,” she answered, more comfortable now that they had gained some distance.
“Now, when you swing down vertically, you want to move your right foot forward in perfect sync with your arms.”
He watched as she did so.
“Good,” he said, finally believing that progress was being made, “now for horizontal swings, you kind of want to do the same thing, but you only want to move whichever foot is in the direction you’re swinging, so a swing to the left, you’d move your left foot left a bit, while a swing to the right would have you move your right foot to the right.”
“Sounds simple, thanks!” she said as the began to practice the different swings.
“No problem. Oh, and remember that thrusts or stabs are like downward slashes; you want to move forward, so you’ll move your lead foot forward with your sword.”
“Cool, thanks again!” she said.
He turned away from her, honestly hoping he wouldn’t have to deal with her that much anymore. He looked around to see if any others had had as much trouble. Most of the trainees were doing just fine, a little rough here and there, but mostly well. One, however, stood out.
“Hunter, is that you?” Jason asked.
Upon hearing his name and the familiar voice, the young man with the familiar dark blonde hair and glasses turned around.
“Jason, right?” He said.
“Yeah, it looks like you’re having some trouble…”
“I’m just not a fan of sword fighting,” Hunter responded, “I much prefer the quickness of kidou.”
“But doesn’t kidou require some huge-ass incantation to memorize? Don’t you need to say that each and every time for like, ever until you can really use it quickly?”
“Normally, yes,” he began, “but I guess I just have a natural hand at it. It’s kind of like you and your sword. For example,” he paused, “Hadou #1, Sho!”
In a couple seconds, a small amount of spiritual pressure pulsated out from his hands and Jason had no choice but to take a step back; the other students, who were spaced significantly farther from him, barely took notice.
“That’s awesome! I wish I was that good at kidou!” Jason exclaimed.
“I guess someone noticed,” Hunter responded, “here comes the instructor.”
“What are you doing?” she asked in a diminutive tone.
“Just talkin’ is all, nothing much,” Jason answered casually.
“Well, one of you just emitted an unreasonable amount of spirit energy for kendo practice,” she started, “you should know by now it’s against the rules to release spirit energy like that!”
“Really,” Hunter began, “the rules are there just in case something bad happens, like if someone were to recklessly release a Red Flame Cannon and blow up half their barracks. They needn’t be enforced on such lowly students that aren’t even capable of Hadou #4.”
“Wow…” was all Jason could say.
“That’s it, I will not tolerate insubordination!” She yelled. “You’re both to spend the next week in Private Holding!”
“Way to go, Hunter…” Jason mumbled.
“Shut up…” he retorted.
A couple hours later, after arriving in Private Holding, the two students had finally been placed in the room. It was a plain white room with a few metal bunks and one window. There was a door to a bathroom and literally nothing else.
“Are you kidding me?” Jason asked rhetorically.
“Just be glad we’re not being unreasonably executed or something,” Hunter responded.
“Psh, they’re short on people, they wouldn’t think of getting rid of Magic Man and me, the Ace of Swords,” Jason joked.
“Did you see how many people were in that room?” Hunter asked, “Another would just come up and take our places.”
“That’s rather pessimistic, don’t you think?” Jason questioned.
“I prefer realistic.”
“Who’d just replace us? Any of those other idiots in there have half the skills we do.”
“That is true, that girl you were rather close to was pretty ridiculous,” Hunter commented, powerless against letting a mocking smile creep to his face.
“Hey, she was just a newbie that needed some pointers!” Jason yelled. “God forbid I ever have to work with her someday!”
“Would you two keep it the crap down?!” A voice yelled. “I can’t even think with all this noise!”
That, too, sounds very familiar. Jason thought to himself.
“Who’s there?” Hunter asked.
Another young man dropped down from one of the higher bunks. He had much lighter blonde hair, and was of average height. “Name’s Jonathon, but just call me Jon please.”
“Whatcha in fer?” Jason asked jokingly, mocking a prisoner.
“I went a little overboard in a practice fight,” the young man answered.
“What’d you do to the guy?” Jason asked.
“I gave him a black eye, dislocated his shoulder, and gave him a bunch of injuries in other places,” Jon said. “It was awesome.”
“Are you kidding me?” Hunter asked. “You’re just insane or something…”
“Hey, hey, shut up!” Jon responded. “He shouldn’t have let me do so much damage to him!”
“This is going to be a long week…” Jason said.
“It doesn’t have to be,” Jon suggested.
“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.
“I was waiting on one or two more people to come around,” Jon began, “I think we could take out the guard pretty easily and just get out of here.”
“You can’t be-” Hunter started.
“Halt! Those rebellious words will not be tolerated!” A voice came.
The three of them looked to see a guard entering the doorway.
“Come with me!”
“Uhh, Hunter, I don’t really have a weapon on me or want to be taken away,” Jason hinted.
Hunter sighed. “Bakudou #1, Sai!”
After the words were spoken, the man was soon bound invisibly and unable to move.
“Hey, let me g-” he tried to yell, but his mouth was soon garbled by a pillow that Jon had decided to improvise with.
“Nice one, Weeber!” Jason commented as he took the man’s wooden sword.
“Weeber?” Jon questioned. “What made you call me that?”
“Your last name is Webster, isn’t it?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, but how did you know that?”
“Lucky guess?” Jason said, stupefied by what he had known.
“Eh, I like Weeber. It’s got a ring to it,” he said.
“Alright then, Weeber, Jason, let’s get out of here,” Hunter said.
“Ugh, no!” Weeber yelled. “You just call me Jon, you’re not cool enough to say Weeber!”
“Fine, Jon,” Hunter said while face palming, “we should probably get out of here…”
“What should we do, raise hell? Paint the town red?” Jason asked, jokingly swinging around the wooden weapon.
“That’s such a good idea, you don’t even know!” Weeber added.
“What am I gonna do with you t-” Hunter began.
“Shut your mouth!” Jon cut him off.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 4 ~ Enter the Fat One:
“So Weeber,” Jason began, trying to make conversation as the trio rode the cable car away from the Soul Reaper Academy, “you said you got into a fight or something?”
“Well,” Jon started, turning away from his previous view of the darkened buildings at night to meet his conversation, “it was more like he attacked me, but yeah.”
“So how did you end up beating the crap out of him?” Hunter asked.
“Well, he kept taunting me and trying to get me to fight him,” Jon tried to explain, “eventually he just started swinging at me, so, in my own defense, I just swung, swung, swung!”
“Wow, that doesn’t sound like the best way to win a fight,” Jason commented.
“It really doesn’t sound like you use your head at all,” Hunter added, “wait, what sort of plan did you even have after you met some unlucky students in Private Holding?”
“Uhm, here’s the thing,” Jon began, “I didn’t have any sort of plan, I just didn’t want to break out unless some people did with me.”
“Well, we’re officially screwed when the instructors realize we left,” Hunter said.
“I’m just gonna say we may as well not worry about it until that time comes, and enjoy our free week off,” Jason said.
“So what are we gonna do anyways?” Jon asked, “the car’s coming to a stop.”
A quaint pair of beeps sounded to announce that the cable car had reached its station. The passengers all exited onto a large staircase, which they followed down onto the streets of whatever type of city this was. It was night, so the only light came from streetlights and the lights of buildings that seemed to reach into the sky. There were quite a few buildings, as one could tell that the taller ones overshadowed the numerous shorter ones.
“So is this where the real Soul Reapers hang out?” Jason asked.
“I’d believe so,” Hunter responded.
“Well, we may as well have a looksee,” Jason remarked as he started down the street. Jon and Hunter followed.
“Aw man!” He said as he passed the window of a training dojo. “That looks so cool!”
“What now?” Hunter asked.
“Look at their Zanpakutou! They’re so sharp looking, and shiny too!” Jason gawked.
“As long as they get the job done, it doesn’t really matter to me what they look like,” Jon responded.
“Ooh, ooh, and look here!” Jason said, “now that’s the kind of close quarters combat we should be doing!”
“That just seems fast paced,” Jon commented, “I’d be too tired to do that stuff.”
“Idiot!” A familiar voice yelled as a man was thrown out of a bar onto the street. “Just how much do you think I’d be willing to pay for a drink?!”
“Are you serious?” Hunter asked.
“Oh boy, not again…” Jason added.
“What? Who is it?” Jon said.
Hunter and Jason looked on to see the exact person they’d both not wanted to see anymore: Cain Blanchford, Third Seat of Squad 8. They watched as he walked out of the building and picked the man up by his collar.
“Now are you gonna make me pay for those drinks at that price?!” He yelled, seemingly sober.
“No, not at all sir, of course they’re free!” The man panicked.
“That doesn’t sound too fair!” Jason yelled.
“Is that-” he asked, “holy sh*t, it’s you two!” he yelled.
“Great, nice job not drawing attention to ourselves, Jason,” Hunter commented.
“So’d you plan on just letting him scam this guy?” Jason asked.
“Guys…” Jon tried to say.
“What do you want?” Jason asked.
“He’s coming…”
The three of them looked to see a rather pissed Cain charging at them with his Zanpakutou drawn. “You’re all dead!” He yelled as the three managed to avoid the swing which, although being reckless, was much more accurate than his drunken ones.
Jason reached at his side and pulled out the wooden pole-like weapon he had taken from the incapacitated guard, while Hunter seemed to be looking through Cain’s stance and style for weaknesses. Weeber just jumped back out of the way, not wanting to get involved.
“Why attack me? I didn’t even do anything!” Jon yelled.
“Well you hang out with them two, and that pisses me off!” Cain responded angrily.
“Hunter!” Jason called.
“Right,” he responded, “Bakudou #1, Sai!”
In a few moments, the man was bound invisibly, once again on his knees struggling to move. “Didn’t we tell Lucielle to keep you on your leash?” Hunter mocked.
“You think this shitty little spell will work on me again?!” Cain retorted, “think again!” He seemed to be struggling with the bonds, but, in a few seconds, he was on his feet seeming to wriggle and pull free of the spell. He once again readied his Zanpakutou, and charged at Hunter.
“Hunter!” Jason called again as he snapped the pole weapon in two. He threw the shorter piece to Hunter, who barely managed to block the sword’s swing.
“You think this dinky thing is going to beat my sword? What an idiot!” He yelled as he pressed harder on his weapon. It was clear now that he was actually acknowledging years of training and fighting seriously.
“You should watch all your enemies!” Jason yelled, coming down on the man’s head with the longer part of the pole weapon.
“Argh!” Cain grunted in pain as he felt a new lump on the back of his head. “You’re so dead now! Both of you!”
Hunter took this moment to ready another kidou. “Hadou #1, Sho!”
The force of the low level spell was enough to knock the man to the ground. By this time, a small crowd of souls and Soul Reapers alike had gathered to watch the fight. It was quite a sight to see: three lowly students taking on a seated officer that just so happened to be right under the rank of lieutenant.
“You’re all gonna pay for this!” He yelled angrily as he charged toward Jason.
Jason blocked the blow, and a few more that followed it, but it was becoming evident that he wouldn’t be able to hold a blade lock for much longer with a crummy pole against a well-trained officer. In a couple seconds, Cain grinning madly with each one, the pole snapped in two, the upper part of which flying off and landing a few feet to the side. Jason hopped back, holding his now shortened weapon.
“Hahaha,” Cain laughed, “you’re all dead! You two are so dead!”
His gloats were interrupted by a sharp blow to the back by none other than Jon, who had picked up the broken pole on the ground and struck the man.
“DO THE THREE OF YOU JUST WANT TO DIE?!?!?!” Cain yelled angrily as anyone around could feel his spiritual pressure rising. “Rage, Domen Natagama!” His spirit energy pulsed out as his katana transformed into the blood-red scythe Jason and Hunter had seen weeks ago. “Prepare to die!” He yelled as he hastily swung the reaping weapon at Jon, who it did not appear would be able to swiftly dodge it.
“Whoah,” another somewhat familiar voice said with a firm hand keeping the scythe’s blade from reaching its target. “Easy there jackass, you almost cut my burger!”
“No way,” Jason commented.
“Sounds familiar,” Hunter added.
Jon fell to the ground, surprised that he was still alive.
“Who in the hell are you?!” Cain exclaimed to the man standing before him. He was rounder than your average Soul Reaper, and he had glasses and short, brown hair. His white shirt indicated that he was another student.
“It’s called a business, retard,” he spoke, “and the point of it is to make money by selling to customers. If you’re dissatisfied with it, then you should just leave and move on. To do otherwise is just f*cking stupid of you.”
Why do my friends have to be so badass? Jason thought to himself.
“Why are we wasting our time here?” A female voice sounded.
“Can’t we just go back to the bar?” Another female spoke.
“Maybe for another round of drinks?” Another woman spoke.
“And another, and another!” A fourth woman added.
“Ladies, ladies, there’s enough of me to buy you another five drinks!” The man spoke as he wrapped his arms around the four women that had followed him.
“Urgh! Who the hell are you?!” Cain yelled in frustration.
“Ugh, this one’s so noisy!” A woman said.
“Not a friend of yours, I hope?” Another questioned.
“Hellz no!” He yelled. “My name’s Ryan,” he said, “soon to be Soul Reaper of Squad 9. I suggest you leave before I get serious.”
“I’m going to get you all for this, I swear!” Cain said, realizing he was outnumbered four to one. He formed his Zanpakutou back into its katana shape and sheathed it as he started to walk away.
“Yeah, turn around and run, pussy!” Ryan yelled as he proceeded to take a bite out of the burger in his hand. “Ladies, let’s be on our way.”
“You’re so badass, Ryan!” one spoke.
“And so strong, too!” another said.
Even in death, he still gets the girls, huh? Jason thought.
“I can’t help but feel like I know him from somewhere…” Hunter commented.
“Hey!” Jon yelled, “thanks!”
“Don’t men-” he paused to chew his food “-tion it!” Ryan called back. “See you three later!”
And he was gone.
“Just wow…” Hunter said.
“That’s just what,” Jason added.
“So Weeber,” Jason began, trying to make conversation as the trio rode the cable car away from the Soul Reaper Academy, “you said you got into a fight or something?”
“Well,” Jon started, turning away from his previous view of the darkened buildings at night to meet his conversation, “it was more like he attacked me, but yeah.”
“So how did you end up beating the crap out of him?” Hunter asked.
“Well, he kept taunting me and trying to get me to fight him,” Jon tried to explain, “eventually he just started swinging at me, so, in my own defense, I just swung, swung, swung!”
“Wow, that doesn’t sound like the best way to win a fight,” Jason commented.
“It really doesn’t sound like you use your head at all,” Hunter added, “wait, what sort of plan did you even have after you met some unlucky students in Private Holding?”
“Uhm, here’s the thing,” Jon began, “I didn’t have any sort of plan, I just didn’t want to break out unless some people did with me.”
“Well, we’re officially screwed when the instructors realize we left,” Hunter said.
“I’m just gonna say we may as well not worry about it until that time comes, and enjoy our free week off,” Jason said.
“So what are we gonna do anyways?” Jon asked, “the car’s coming to a stop.”
A quaint pair of beeps sounded to announce that the cable car had reached its station. The passengers all exited onto a large staircase, which they followed down onto the streets of whatever type of city this was. It was night, so the only light came from streetlights and the lights of buildings that seemed to reach into the sky. There were quite a few buildings, as one could tell that the taller ones overshadowed the numerous shorter ones.
“So is this where the real Soul Reapers hang out?” Jason asked.
“I’d believe so,” Hunter responded.
“Well, we may as well have a looksee,” Jason remarked as he started down the street. Jon and Hunter followed.
“Aw man!” He said as he passed the window of a training dojo. “That looks so cool!”
“What now?” Hunter asked.
“Look at their Zanpakutou! They’re so sharp looking, and shiny too!” Jason gawked.
“As long as they get the job done, it doesn’t really matter to me what they look like,” Jon responded.
“Ooh, ooh, and look here!” Jason said, “now that’s the kind of close quarters combat we should be doing!”
“That just seems fast paced,” Jon commented, “I’d be too tired to do that stuff.”
“Idiot!” A familiar voice yelled as a man was thrown out of a bar onto the street. “Just how much do you think I’d be willing to pay for a drink?!”
“Are you serious?” Hunter asked.
“Oh boy, not again…” Jason added.
“What? Who is it?” Jon said.
Hunter and Jason looked on to see the exact person they’d both not wanted to see anymore: Cain Blanchford, Third Seat of Squad 8. They watched as he walked out of the building and picked the man up by his collar.
“Now are you gonna make me pay for those drinks at that price?!” He yelled, seemingly sober.
“No, not at all sir, of course they’re free!” The man panicked.
“That doesn’t sound too fair!” Jason yelled.
“Is that-” he asked, “holy sh*t, it’s you two!” he yelled.
“Great, nice job not drawing attention to ourselves, Jason,” Hunter commented.
“So’d you plan on just letting him scam this guy?” Jason asked.
“Guys…” Jon tried to say.
“What do you want?” Jason asked.
“He’s coming…”
The three of them looked to see a rather pissed Cain charging at them with his Zanpakutou drawn. “You’re all dead!” He yelled as the three managed to avoid the swing which, although being reckless, was much more accurate than his drunken ones.
Jason reached at his side and pulled out the wooden pole-like weapon he had taken from the incapacitated guard, while Hunter seemed to be looking through Cain’s stance and style for weaknesses. Weeber just jumped back out of the way, not wanting to get involved.
“Why attack me? I didn’t even do anything!” Jon yelled.
“Well you hang out with them two, and that pisses me off!” Cain responded angrily.
“Hunter!” Jason called.
“Right,” he responded, “Bakudou #1, Sai!”
In a few moments, the man was bound invisibly, once again on his knees struggling to move. “Didn’t we tell Lucielle to keep you on your leash?” Hunter mocked.
“You think this shitty little spell will work on me again?!” Cain retorted, “think again!” He seemed to be struggling with the bonds, but, in a few seconds, he was on his feet seeming to wriggle and pull free of the spell. He once again readied his Zanpakutou, and charged at Hunter.
“Hunter!” Jason called again as he snapped the pole weapon in two. He threw the shorter piece to Hunter, who barely managed to block the sword’s swing.
“You think this dinky thing is going to beat my sword? What an idiot!” He yelled as he pressed harder on his weapon. It was clear now that he was actually acknowledging years of training and fighting seriously.
“You should watch all your enemies!” Jason yelled, coming down on the man’s head with the longer part of the pole weapon.
“Argh!” Cain grunted in pain as he felt a new lump on the back of his head. “You’re so dead now! Both of you!”
Hunter took this moment to ready another kidou. “Hadou #1, Sho!”
The force of the low level spell was enough to knock the man to the ground. By this time, a small crowd of souls and Soul Reapers alike had gathered to watch the fight. It was quite a sight to see: three lowly students taking on a seated officer that just so happened to be right under the rank of lieutenant.
“You’re all gonna pay for this!” He yelled angrily as he charged toward Jason.
Jason blocked the blow, and a few more that followed it, but it was becoming evident that he wouldn’t be able to hold a blade lock for much longer with a crummy pole against a well-trained officer. In a couple seconds, Cain grinning madly with each one, the pole snapped in two, the upper part of which flying off and landing a few feet to the side. Jason hopped back, holding his now shortened weapon.
“Hahaha,” Cain laughed, “you’re all dead! You two are so dead!”
His gloats were interrupted by a sharp blow to the back by none other than Jon, who had picked up the broken pole on the ground and struck the man.
“DO THE THREE OF YOU JUST WANT TO DIE?!?!?!” Cain yelled angrily as anyone around could feel his spiritual pressure rising. “Rage, Domen Natagama!” His spirit energy pulsed out as his katana transformed into the blood-red scythe Jason and Hunter had seen weeks ago. “Prepare to die!” He yelled as he hastily swung the reaping weapon at Jon, who it did not appear would be able to swiftly dodge it.
“Whoah,” another somewhat familiar voice said with a firm hand keeping the scythe’s blade from reaching its target. “Easy there jackass, you almost cut my burger!”
“No way,” Jason commented.
“Sounds familiar,” Hunter added.
Jon fell to the ground, surprised that he was still alive.
“Who in the hell are you?!” Cain exclaimed to the man standing before him. He was rounder than your average Soul Reaper, and he had glasses and short, brown hair. His white shirt indicated that he was another student.
“It’s called a business, retard,” he spoke, “and the point of it is to make money by selling to customers. If you’re dissatisfied with it, then you should just leave and move on. To do otherwise is just f*cking stupid of you.”
Why do my friends have to be so badass? Jason thought to himself.
“Why are we wasting our time here?” A female voice sounded.
“Can’t we just go back to the bar?” Another female spoke.
“Maybe for another round of drinks?” Another woman spoke.
“And another, and another!” A fourth woman added.
“Ladies, ladies, there’s enough of me to buy you another five drinks!” The man spoke as he wrapped his arms around the four women that had followed him.
“Urgh! Who the hell are you?!” Cain yelled in frustration.
“Ugh, this one’s so noisy!” A woman said.
“Not a friend of yours, I hope?” Another questioned.
“Hellz no!” He yelled. “My name’s Ryan,” he said, “soon to be Soul Reaper of Squad 9. I suggest you leave before I get serious.”
“I’m going to get you all for this, I swear!” Cain said, realizing he was outnumbered four to one. He formed his Zanpakutou back into its katana shape and sheathed it as he started to walk away.
“Yeah, turn around and run, pussy!” Ryan yelled as he proceeded to take a bite out of the burger in his hand. “Ladies, let’s be on our way.”
“You’re so badass, Ryan!” one spoke.
“And so strong, too!” another said.
Even in death, he still gets the girls, huh? Jason thought.
“I can’t help but feel like I know him from somewhere…” Hunter commented.
“Hey!” Jon yelled, “thanks!”
“Don’t men-” he paused to chew his food “-tion it!” Ryan called back. “See you three later!”
And he was gone.
“Just wow…” Hunter said.
“That’s just what,” Jason added.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 5 ~ Practice!
Looking to his left, Jason could now clearly make out the silhouettes of Jon, the companion in orange, and Hunter, the taller one with glasses. Further off in the distance, he could see Ryan and a few others; they had decided to gain a good distance from the Hollow before turning to see the man facing it.
The man himself had somewhat long, dark hair that fell past his soldiers into a point. He was bleeding down past his bangs from his hairline over his right eye from one of the Hollow’s attacks. Throughout the fight, he and the monster had been taking hit after hit from each other, each seeming to not back down for an instant.
The creature roared in the light of the moon once more, signifying that it was going to charge in and attack once more. Jason, Hunter, Jon, and their other companions plugged their ears and watched as the creature starting rushing in for the kill, it’s white mask still being its most prominent feature.
Jason turned over to see the Soul Reaper standing in their defense mumble something before pointing his finger straight out at the oncoming enemy and fire what appeared to be a beam of white lightning. The shot tore straight through the creature’s arm, causing it to stumble to the ground.
“Now you’re mine!” The angered Soul Reaper yelled as he seemed to just phase from standing in front of them to being in the air, swinging down at the creature.
In another instant, the creature itself vanished from its spot on the ground, etching a shocked expression on the man’s face. Half a second later, it appeared behind him, swinging its own arm down on the man.
“A sonido?!” He exclaimed in shock before being sent plummeting to the ground. The creature roared triumphantly as an enigmatic green light glowed from the wound of the lightning shot. The wound was closing.
“Let your tears fall,” the man said amidst the risen dust from his impact with the ground, “Ame Odoriko!”
In another second, clouds had filed the sky and it had started to rain.
Jason started to stir as he felt cold and wet all of the sudden. He opened his eyes to feel the results of a bucket of cold water dumped on him, presumably by Hunter or Jon.
“You two are so dead!” he yelled.
He picked up his piece of the guard’s now broken weapon and ran at the two, who were running and now exiting out of the alleyway in which they had decided to stay. It was already several days into the time that they were supposed to have been held in Private Holding, and they had so far enjoyed it.
“You should watch where you’re going!” Jason yelled.
As Hunter was looking back to see him chasing after them, he ran into several uniformed Soul Reapers, as did Weeber.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” one of them yelled as his comrade fell to the ground.
“Oh sh*t!” he screamed as he dropped the paper bag. Its contents, consisting entirely of fresh bottles of some liquid, dropped out onto the street and emptied their own contents all over the ground around them.
“Do you have any idea how much that booze cost?!” Another Soul Reaper complained.
Jason sighed when he approached the scene. “Again with the alcohol?” he commented.
“Damn straight! It’s impossible to tolerate that lazy-ass captain and that bitch-ass lieutenant while sober!” One of them responded.
“Amen to that!” The grounded one added as he got up off the ground. Hunter and Jon got up as well.
“And now we’re gonna beat the sh*t out of you for making us have to go through it!” The third said.
“Wait,” Jason broke in, “how bout a wager?”
“What do you mean?” the man drenched in spilt alcohol asked.
“You three versus us three, three on three. If we win, you pay us and we walk away, if you win, you get to kick our asses and we pay for your drinks.”
“You really think you three little students that haven’t even graduated yet can take on three of Squad 8’s finest?”
“Jason, do you really think we can-” Jon whispered.
“I know we’ll win,” Jason commented.
Hunter simply sighed while face palming.
“Alright then,” the trio decided after chatting amongst themselves, “you can take that little arrogant attitude and shove it, since we know we can kick your scrawny, nooby asses back to the Academy!”
A little while later, the two groups of three had arrived at a clearing in a small, forested area reminiscent of a park. Jason, Hunter, and Jon had been given wooden, practice katana to use, while the three Soul Reapers already had practice swords of their own.
“Jason, Jon,” Hunter said, “I’m going to try and use a new spell to finish this quickly. I’ll need you two to handle them while I’m preparing the incantation.”
“Us two? Take on the three of them?” Jon said as he looked between Hunter, Jason, and the three Soul Reapers almost frantically. “You’re stupid.”
“We can take ‘em!” Jason said as the three Soul Reapers moved into battle stances. Jason and Jon did the same, while Hunter began mumbling the incantation.
“Let’s go!” one of the Soul Reapers yelled as the three of them rushed forward.
“Let’s do this, Weeber!” Jason said as they too began charging forward.
It was strange really, as stick after stick collided. Sometimes two would meet one or one would meet three or even two from the same side would clash with each other. Jason and Jon would continuously have to keep hopping or jumping around to avoid the extra sword that the other side possessed, while sometimes they didn’t quite make it and were given a bruise or cut here and there by an enemy weapon.
Weeber slid back from having his sword hit by two enemies slashing down at him in unison, and Jason barely managed to hold a horizontal guard for a second against the three wooden weapons. He then noticed that the trio’s weapons were actually cutting through his, despite them all supposedly having been made of the same materials.
“How do you like that?” one of them asked, noticing that Jason had noted the difference.
“Your three swords are hollowed, while ours are all think and strong!” another said.
“That’s not the closest thing to fair! You wusses can’t even fight us evenly!” Jason retorted.
Getting mad, Jon ran back into the fray and started almost blindly swinging, letting his weapon propel him around.
“Thanks Weeber,” Jason commented, “how ya doin’ Hunter?” he asked as he took a second’s glance back at their third companion. Much to Jason’s surprise, Hunter was moving in with his sword ready.
“Get all three of their weapons together,” Hunter spoke.
Weeber looked back at Jason while taking a second to back away from their foes. Jason nodded, and the two of them readied their swords against another oncoming rush of weapons. The three weapons smashed up against the two, now three weapons of Jon and Jason, the latter of which had received a second sword to use from Hunter, and the two groups were in a blade lock.
“You two are going down!” a Soul Reaper said as he could feel the other side’s weapons breaking under the pressure.
“Hadou #4,” Hunter said finally, “Byakurai.”
As those final words were spoken, the fight ceased to be. Jason and Jon could only watch as a stream of white lightning shot past them and broke all three weapons of those on the other side. Panicked, the men ran off frantically, dropping several pocket bags of items and leaving their normal steel training katana behind.
“Wow that kicked ass, Hunter!” Jason cheered.
“That was pretty win,” Jon added.
“Th-” Hunter paused to take some much needed breaths, “thanks.”
“When did you learn how to do that one?” Jason asked.
“I’d been reading up on the incantation,” Hunter began, “but, I don’t know, it’s weird I guess.”
“What do you mean?” Jon questioned.
“I didn’t have it all together, but the final pieces just seemed to come to me in a dream or something…” he responded.
Several miles outside of the Soul Reaper Headquarters, two silhouettes sat on a hill, seeming to just be observing the buildings in the sunset distance.
“How many?” a small figure asked the man sitting on a rock.
“Five to seven, perhaps more,” the man responded emotionlessly.
“When, sir, when?” the smaller figure asked, almost getting excited for something.
“Soon, Rokotsu,” the man answered again, “soon…”
Looking to his left, Jason could now clearly make out the silhouettes of Jon, the companion in orange, and Hunter, the taller one with glasses. Further off in the distance, he could see Ryan and a few others; they had decided to gain a good distance from the Hollow before turning to see the man facing it.
The man himself had somewhat long, dark hair that fell past his soldiers into a point. He was bleeding down past his bangs from his hairline over his right eye from one of the Hollow’s attacks. Throughout the fight, he and the monster had been taking hit after hit from each other, each seeming to not back down for an instant.
The creature roared in the light of the moon once more, signifying that it was going to charge in and attack once more. Jason, Hunter, Jon, and their other companions plugged their ears and watched as the creature starting rushing in for the kill, it’s white mask still being its most prominent feature.
Jason turned over to see the Soul Reaper standing in their defense mumble something before pointing his finger straight out at the oncoming enemy and fire what appeared to be a beam of white lightning. The shot tore straight through the creature’s arm, causing it to stumble to the ground.
“Now you’re mine!” The angered Soul Reaper yelled as he seemed to just phase from standing in front of them to being in the air, swinging down at the creature.
In another instant, the creature itself vanished from its spot on the ground, etching a shocked expression on the man’s face. Half a second later, it appeared behind him, swinging its own arm down on the man.
“A sonido?!” He exclaimed in shock before being sent plummeting to the ground. The creature roared triumphantly as an enigmatic green light glowed from the wound of the lightning shot. The wound was closing.
“Let your tears fall,” the man said amidst the risen dust from his impact with the ground, “Ame Odoriko!”
In another second, clouds had filed the sky and it had started to rain.
Jason started to stir as he felt cold and wet all of the sudden. He opened his eyes to feel the results of a bucket of cold water dumped on him, presumably by Hunter or Jon.
“You two are so dead!” he yelled.
He picked up his piece of the guard’s now broken weapon and ran at the two, who were running and now exiting out of the alleyway in which they had decided to stay. It was already several days into the time that they were supposed to have been held in Private Holding, and they had so far enjoyed it.
“You should watch where you’re going!” Jason yelled.
As Hunter was looking back to see him chasing after them, he ran into several uniformed Soul Reapers, as did Weeber.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” one of them yelled as his comrade fell to the ground.
“Oh sh*t!” he screamed as he dropped the paper bag. Its contents, consisting entirely of fresh bottles of some liquid, dropped out onto the street and emptied their own contents all over the ground around them.
“Do you have any idea how much that booze cost?!” Another Soul Reaper complained.
Jason sighed when he approached the scene. “Again with the alcohol?” he commented.
“Damn straight! It’s impossible to tolerate that lazy-ass captain and that bitch-ass lieutenant while sober!” One of them responded.
“Amen to that!” The grounded one added as he got up off the ground. Hunter and Jon got up as well.
“And now we’re gonna beat the sh*t out of you for making us have to go through it!” The third said.
“Wait,” Jason broke in, “how bout a wager?”
“What do you mean?” the man drenched in spilt alcohol asked.
“You three versus us three, three on three. If we win, you pay us and we walk away, if you win, you get to kick our asses and we pay for your drinks.”
“You really think you three little students that haven’t even graduated yet can take on three of Squad 8’s finest?”
“Jason, do you really think we can-” Jon whispered.
“I know we’ll win,” Jason commented.
Hunter simply sighed while face palming.
“Alright then,” the trio decided after chatting amongst themselves, “you can take that little arrogant attitude and shove it, since we know we can kick your scrawny, nooby asses back to the Academy!”
A little while later, the two groups of three had arrived at a clearing in a small, forested area reminiscent of a park. Jason, Hunter, and Jon had been given wooden, practice katana to use, while the three Soul Reapers already had practice swords of their own.
“Jason, Jon,” Hunter said, “I’m going to try and use a new spell to finish this quickly. I’ll need you two to handle them while I’m preparing the incantation.”
“Us two? Take on the three of them?” Jon said as he looked between Hunter, Jason, and the three Soul Reapers almost frantically. “You’re stupid.”
“We can take ‘em!” Jason said as the three Soul Reapers moved into battle stances. Jason and Jon did the same, while Hunter began mumbling the incantation.
“Let’s go!” one of the Soul Reapers yelled as the three of them rushed forward.
“Let’s do this, Weeber!” Jason said as they too began charging forward.
It was strange really, as stick after stick collided. Sometimes two would meet one or one would meet three or even two from the same side would clash with each other. Jason and Jon would continuously have to keep hopping or jumping around to avoid the extra sword that the other side possessed, while sometimes they didn’t quite make it and were given a bruise or cut here and there by an enemy weapon.
Weeber slid back from having his sword hit by two enemies slashing down at him in unison, and Jason barely managed to hold a horizontal guard for a second against the three wooden weapons. He then noticed that the trio’s weapons were actually cutting through his, despite them all supposedly having been made of the same materials.
“How do you like that?” one of them asked, noticing that Jason had noted the difference.
“Your three swords are hollowed, while ours are all think and strong!” another said.
“That’s not the closest thing to fair! You wusses can’t even fight us evenly!” Jason retorted.
Getting mad, Jon ran back into the fray and started almost blindly swinging, letting his weapon propel him around.
“Thanks Weeber,” Jason commented, “how ya doin’ Hunter?” he asked as he took a second’s glance back at their third companion. Much to Jason’s surprise, Hunter was moving in with his sword ready.
“Get all three of their weapons together,” Hunter spoke.
Weeber looked back at Jason while taking a second to back away from their foes. Jason nodded, and the two of them readied their swords against another oncoming rush of weapons. The three weapons smashed up against the two, now three weapons of Jon and Jason, the latter of which had received a second sword to use from Hunter, and the two groups were in a blade lock.
“You two are going down!” a Soul Reaper said as he could feel the other side’s weapons breaking under the pressure.
“Hadou #4,” Hunter said finally, “Byakurai.”
As those final words were spoken, the fight ceased to be. Jason and Jon could only watch as a stream of white lightning shot past them and broke all three weapons of those on the other side. Panicked, the men ran off frantically, dropping several pocket bags of items and leaving their normal steel training katana behind.
“Wow that kicked ass, Hunter!” Jason cheered.
“That was pretty win,” Jon added.
“Th-” Hunter paused to take some much needed breaths, “thanks.”
“When did you learn how to do that one?” Jason asked.
“I’d been reading up on the incantation,” Hunter began, “but, I don’t know, it’s weird I guess.”
“What do you mean?” Jon questioned.
“I didn’t have it all together, but the final pieces just seemed to come to me in a dream or something…” he responded.
Several miles outside of the Soul Reaper Headquarters, two silhouettes sat on a hill, seeming to just be observing the buildings in the sunset distance.
“How many?” a small figure asked the man sitting on a rock.
“Five to seven, perhaps more,” the man responded emotionlessly.
“When, sir, when?” the smaller figure asked, almost getting excited for something.
“Soon, Rokotsu,” the man answered again, “soon…”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 6 ~ Curriculum of a Soul Reaper
“Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all creations of the universe, fluttering of the wings, ye who bears the name of man! Scorching heat and disorder, evolve the transposition of the southern sea barrier,” Jason paused, “Hadou #31, Shakkahou!” he yelled. From his outstretched hands came a glowing ball of red energy that shot forward with great speed, exploding violently as it impacted the practice target across the field. “Well I’m pooped!” Jason said as he plopped down on the ground.
“Ah!” Kendra yelled as yet another Shakkahou exploded in front of her, blowing her hair to and fro. As the smoke around her cleared, her coughs could be heard and her displaced hair could be seen. Noticing it, she began frantically trying to put her hair back down as chuckles rose out from her classmates.
It had been several years since the earlier days of sneaking out of holding or shirking off normal student responsibilities for Jason and his companions. Multiple semesters had gone by, with many instructors met, many lessons taught, and many fights had with rules broken. The group would sometimes even try to be thrown in holding, knowing full well that they would either just incapacitate that guard that they were now by far much better than, or that Ryan would simply pay off the whole shift and take them out to a local bar. They’d have many miscellaneous adventures throughout the Soul Reaper Headquarters, getting into several other fights like they had in past days over alcohol or money or swords or other such foolish and trivial material things. More often than not, however, it would be with the reckless and loudmouthed members of Squad Eight, who had grown quite accustomed to the group, and most of them could identify the group of students on sight.
Hunter grunted in frustration as his wooden practice sword reeled back as it was struck by his opponent’s sword. He never did have too much skill with kendo training, but by this point in time, he had added several more kidou to his arsenal, some of which were beyond the normal curriculum.
“C’mon Hunter, you can do better than that!” his training partner called.
“Fine,” he responded as he held the sword with his left hand then tossed it to his right. He flipped it around in his hand to wield it backhandedly, in sync with his right arm. “Let’s try this now.”
In a few more exchanges of blows, Hunter, and those that fought him, soon came to realize that he was much better with a blade when wielding it in this manner, rather than the proper, strict stances of normal kendo. Jon, on the other hand, was much better at sword fighting moreover, but didn’t follow any real guidelines to fighting.
“Calm down, I just wanted to spar!” Jon’s opponent yelled from across the kendo mat as Weeber came spiraling at him.
“Whoah, sorry there,” Weeber said as he regained his sense of his surroundings and tried to shake off his dizziness.
“I’ll take you on!” another kendo student spoke.
“Um, okay…” Weeber said with hesitation.
The students readied their weapons and Jon was rushed by his new opponent, seemingly faster than most of the class, even himself.
“Haha, little do the rest of you know, but I’ve been practicing up on flash step!” he said.
“Yeah, I don’t even know what that is…” Weeber responded.
“Gah, didn’t you pay any attention in class yesterday?!” the student sounded frustrated.
“Uhhh… Seriously, who does that?” Weeber asked while staring at a fly buzzing through the room.
“Look at who you’re fighting!” the combatant spoke as he charged in at Jon again.
In another instant, his sword was broken and landing on the ground next to him. Jon stood with his weapon down, as if he had made the breaking swing himself.
“How’d you do that?” the student questioned as a sweat drop rolled down his face.
“I just kinda saw your sword and swung,” Jon responded, “you move kinda slow…”
Towards the classroom buildings of the academy, Ryan had just appeared outside of a senkaimon, a door created by Soul Reapers to move to and from the world of the living. The door disappeared behind him.
“Wow, those gigai things are just f*ckin’ uncomfortable as hell to get into!” he complained.
“Ryan, I hope you had an amazing time in the world of the living!” a waiting woman called.
“No Ryan, I hope you had an even better time in that world than her!” another female student yelled.
“So how did it go, Mr. Big Shot?” a third female student asked.
“Let’s just say there are a lot of hot women still alive in this day and age,” Ryan said as he did a quick pelvic thrust or two into the air.
“What?!” A woman exclaimed, “I’m sure I’m hotter than those tramps!”
“In your dreams, hag!” Another yelled as she dove at the first.
In a few seconds, Ryan’s typical entourage of female escorts was in a rumble pit on the ground with each other, but he couldn’t complain. The only thing that bothered him was how uncomfortable the false bodies used to move and interact with those still alive in the world of the living, called gigais, were to fit in and out of. He did, however, like the ease of movement after he had adjusted to it.
“I seriously gotta pay them to put more time into these,” Ryan commented, “I wouldn’t mind one a bit bigger.”
“Alright class,” the new instructor spoke, “today you’re going to learn one of the last of your curriculum techniques.”
“What do you think he means?” Kendra whispered.
“I’m not sure,” Jason whispered back, “Could be some kidou, or maybe even some hand to hand move or sword style we don’t know. I know for sure that we haven’t seen this guy before though.”
“Well,” Hunter began, “since we’ve already learned zanjutsu, kidou, and some hakuda, the last art has to be…”
“Hyouhou,” the instructor spoke, “or as it’s commonly called, the ability to use flash step, or shunpo.”
“Bingo,” Hunter responded quietly.
“Sounds just what,” Jon commented.
“That’s badass,” Jason spoke, “so we’ll be able to do all that whoosh swoosh stuff that the captains and lieutenants and officers can do?”
“Oooh, sounds exciting!” Another girl that they had come to know as Rebecca squealed.
“Calm down, Rebecca,” Hunter said. “Mastering shunpo isn’t an easy thing. There’s a lot of stressful things you have to learn your way around first.”
“Shut up Hunter, no one cares what you say!” Jon responded jokingly.
After a few hours of dialogue and pointing to diagrams of spirit particles being concentrated at the feet and then expanded outward, the instructor decided to demonstrate.
“Now draw your swords and I’ll demonstrate to you the effectiveness of flash step!”
“Why is he making us do this?” Hunter commented while drawing his sword out backhandedly.
“I guess this is why he wanted us to bring our swords,” Jason added.
In another second, the man had disappeared and reappeared in the middle of a crowd of several students. As they readied their swords and prepared a charge, he instantaneously moved between all of them, knocking each of their weapons away with ease.
“I like this guy!” Jason said, trying to get closer.
“I would really prefer not having to do anything with swords at the moment,” Hunter responded.
In another moment, the sound of repetitively clashing blades could be heard as the instructor’s attacks seemed to be paralleled.
“It’s nice to see that a student can keep up with my swings!” He yelled ecstatically.
“I just want to get done with today,” Jon replied as he managed to block attack after hastened attack.
“Just what I expect outta Weeber!” Jason said, arriving at he scene with Hunter trailing behind him.
“You should watch yourself as well!” the instructor yelled, disappearing and reappearing in front of Jason swinging his sword.
Jason managed to avoid several of the swings and block a few more.
“Hunter, you have a plan?” Jason asked, blocking another blow.
“Bakudou #4,” he started, “Hainawa.”
In a few moments, a chain of light shot out from Hunter’s hand and made its way towards the Soul Reaper. It swirled around him a few times, but then, as it was closing in and trying to ensnare its target, the man disappeared. Hunter barely managed to see it in time and block the swing coming from behind him, but his sword was easily knocked out from his grip by the man’s kendo style.
“Who are you?” Jason asked.
“Fourth seat of Squad Nine,” the brown haired man turned towards Jason, revealing a scar going down the right side of his face, “Peter Andrews, but you can just call me your hyouhou instructor.”
“Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all creations of the universe, fluttering of the wings, ye who bears the name of man! Scorching heat and disorder, evolve the transposition of the southern sea barrier,” Jason paused, “Hadou #31, Shakkahou!” he yelled. From his outstretched hands came a glowing ball of red energy that shot forward with great speed, exploding violently as it impacted the practice target across the field. “Well I’m pooped!” Jason said as he plopped down on the ground.
“Ah!” Kendra yelled as yet another Shakkahou exploded in front of her, blowing her hair to and fro. As the smoke around her cleared, her coughs could be heard and her displaced hair could be seen. Noticing it, she began frantically trying to put her hair back down as chuckles rose out from her classmates.
It had been several years since the earlier days of sneaking out of holding or shirking off normal student responsibilities for Jason and his companions. Multiple semesters had gone by, with many instructors met, many lessons taught, and many fights had with rules broken. The group would sometimes even try to be thrown in holding, knowing full well that they would either just incapacitate that guard that they were now by far much better than, or that Ryan would simply pay off the whole shift and take them out to a local bar. They’d have many miscellaneous adventures throughout the Soul Reaper Headquarters, getting into several other fights like they had in past days over alcohol or money or swords or other such foolish and trivial material things. More often than not, however, it would be with the reckless and loudmouthed members of Squad Eight, who had grown quite accustomed to the group, and most of them could identify the group of students on sight.
Hunter grunted in frustration as his wooden practice sword reeled back as it was struck by his opponent’s sword. He never did have too much skill with kendo training, but by this point in time, he had added several more kidou to his arsenal, some of which were beyond the normal curriculum.
“C’mon Hunter, you can do better than that!” his training partner called.
“Fine,” he responded as he held the sword with his left hand then tossed it to his right. He flipped it around in his hand to wield it backhandedly, in sync with his right arm. “Let’s try this now.”
In a few more exchanges of blows, Hunter, and those that fought him, soon came to realize that he was much better with a blade when wielding it in this manner, rather than the proper, strict stances of normal kendo. Jon, on the other hand, was much better at sword fighting moreover, but didn’t follow any real guidelines to fighting.
“Calm down, I just wanted to spar!” Jon’s opponent yelled from across the kendo mat as Weeber came spiraling at him.
“Whoah, sorry there,” Weeber said as he regained his sense of his surroundings and tried to shake off his dizziness.
“I’ll take you on!” another kendo student spoke.
“Um, okay…” Weeber said with hesitation.
The students readied their weapons and Jon was rushed by his new opponent, seemingly faster than most of the class, even himself.
“Haha, little do the rest of you know, but I’ve been practicing up on flash step!” he said.
“Yeah, I don’t even know what that is…” Weeber responded.
“Gah, didn’t you pay any attention in class yesterday?!” the student sounded frustrated.
“Uhhh… Seriously, who does that?” Weeber asked while staring at a fly buzzing through the room.
“Look at who you’re fighting!” the combatant spoke as he charged in at Jon again.
In another instant, his sword was broken and landing on the ground next to him. Jon stood with his weapon down, as if he had made the breaking swing himself.
“How’d you do that?” the student questioned as a sweat drop rolled down his face.
“I just kinda saw your sword and swung,” Jon responded, “you move kinda slow…”
Towards the classroom buildings of the academy, Ryan had just appeared outside of a senkaimon, a door created by Soul Reapers to move to and from the world of the living. The door disappeared behind him.
“Wow, those gigai things are just f*ckin’ uncomfortable as hell to get into!” he complained.
“Ryan, I hope you had an amazing time in the world of the living!” a waiting woman called.
“No Ryan, I hope you had an even better time in that world than her!” another female student yelled.
“So how did it go, Mr. Big Shot?” a third female student asked.
“Let’s just say there are a lot of hot women still alive in this day and age,” Ryan said as he did a quick pelvic thrust or two into the air.
“What?!” A woman exclaimed, “I’m sure I’m hotter than those tramps!”
“In your dreams, hag!” Another yelled as she dove at the first.
In a few seconds, Ryan’s typical entourage of female escorts was in a rumble pit on the ground with each other, but he couldn’t complain. The only thing that bothered him was how uncomfortable the false bodies used to move and interact with those still alive in the world of the living, called gigais, were to fit in and out of. He did, however, like the ease of movement after he had adjusted to it.
“I seriously gotta pay them to put more time into these,” Ryan commented, “I wouldn’t mind one a bit bigger.”
“Alright class,” the new instructor spoke, “today you’re going to learn one of the last of your curriculum techniques.”
“What do you think he means?” Kendra whispered.
“I’m not sure,” Jason whispered back, “Could be some kidou, or maybe even some hand to hand move or sword style we don’t know. I know for sure that we haven’t seen this guy before though.”
“Well,” Hunter began, “since we’ve already learned zanjutsu, kidou, and some hakuda, the last art has to be…”
“Hyouhou,” the instructor spoke, “or as it’s commonly called, the ability to use flash step, or shunpo.”
“Bingo,” Hunter responded quietly.
“Sounds just what,” Jon commented.
“That’s badass,” Jason spoke, “so we’ll be able to do all that whoosh swoosh stuff that the captains and lieutenants and officers can do?”
“Oooh, sounds exciting!” Another girl that they had come to know as Rebecca squealed.
“Calm down, Rebecca,” Hunter said. “Mastering shunpo isn’t an easy thing. There’s a lot of stressful things you have to learn your way around first.”
“Shut up Hunter, no one cares what you say!” Jon responded jokingly.
After a few hours of dialogue and pointing to diagrams of spirit particles being concentrated at the feet and then expanded outward, the instructor decided to demonstrate.
“Now draw your swords and I’ll demonstrate to you the effectiveness of flash step!”
“Why is he making us do this?” Hunter commented while drawing his sword out backhandedly.
“I guess this is why he wanted us to bring our swords,” Jason added.
In another second, the man had disappeared and reappeared in the middle of a crowd of several students. As they readied their swords and prepared a charge, he instantaneously moved between all of them, knocking each of their weapons away with ease.
“I like this guy!” Jason said, trying to get closer.
“I would really prefer not having to do anything with swords at the moment,” Hunter responded.
In another moment, the sound of repetitively clashing blades could be heard as the instructor’s attacks seemed to be paralleled.
“It’s nice to see that a student can keep up with my swings!” He yelled ecstatically.
“I just want to get done with today,” Jon replied as he managed to block attack after hastened attack.
“Just what I expect outta Weeber!” Jason said, arriving at he scene with Hunter trailing behind him.
“You should watch yourself as well!” the instructor yelled, disappearing and reappearing in front of Jason swinging his sword.
Jason managed to avoid several of the swings and block a few more.
“Hunter, you have a plan?” Jason asked, blocking another blow.
“Bakudou #4,” he started, “Hainawa.”
In a few moments, a chain of light shot out from Hunter’s hand and made its way towards the Soul Reaper. It swirled around him a few times, but then, as it was closing in and trying to ensnare its target, the man disappeared. Hunter barely managed to see it in time and block the swing coming from behind him, but his sword was easily knocked out from his grip by the man’s kendo style.
“Who are you?” Jason asked.
“Fourth seat of Squad Nine,” the brown haired man turned towards Jason, revealing a scar going down the right side of his face, “Peter Andrews, but you can just call me your hyouhou instructor.”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 7 ~ The Reject, The Failure, and The Shrimp
“Damn, I just can’t get this!” Jason said in frustration as he got up off the ground from failing yet another flash step. “How do you do it Weeber?”
“I just kinda go,” Jon responded.
“That helps a ton,” Rebecca spoke with obvious sarcasm after also stumbling on the ground.
“It’s just a simple idea of concentrating your spirit energy into your feet,” Hunter commented.
“Then why don’t you show us?” Kendra asked.
“Fine,” Hunter replied as he started to concentrate his energy. In a second, he had disappeared, but in another, he had reappeared ten feet away from them in the air, falling uncontrollably and then landing with a dull thud. “Dang,” he said.
“I wouldn’t recommend taking lessons from Hunter,” Jason said, “he pretends to know wayyyy too much.”
“I can see that,” Kendra said with a dulled expression.
“I can’t remember what Peter said,” Jason spoke, “I know you had to concentrate the energy into your feet and legs, but what then?”
“Ugh, you’re all dumbsh*ts if you ask me,” Ryan added, sitting lazily under a shady tree with a now empty potato chip bag in hand. “Ladies, here’s ten bucks for each of you, go buy me some more chips and some sandwiches from town and show them how it‘s done.”
“Right away,” one spoke.
“Me first!” another replied.
“Not a chance,” the third added.
The fourth woman simply sighed as the other three had already disappeared. In a couple seconds, the four of them were all gone.
“How do you do that?” A now dirtied Hunter asked with a hint of envy and frustration.
“What, command legions of women or know how to use flash step so easily?” Ryan asked condescendingly.
“…both,” Hunter replied.
“Well, the ladies just love me and my ‘goods,’ and we managed to find this book on shunpo in the library,” Ryan answered.
“Ignoring the ‘goods’ comment,” Jason broke in, “what did you mean ‘find’ ? I thought we were only supposed to take books from the library that were curriculum required.”
“Oh, you guys should know me and my ‘green effect’ on people by now,” Ryan spoke.
“So you paid them off… again…” Jason responded.
“That’s just win,” Weeber said.
After another few hours, the group once again found themselves in the academy’s history class, where they learned about the origins of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads in Japan, and later learning about the co-founding of the American division by Chief General Genruusai Yamamoto and Chief General Chogan Yuma. They’d also learn tidbits about certain battles like those between three traitorous captains in the Japanese division and the Espada they commanded, the strongest group of hollows ever assembled that rivaled and seemed to overpower even the captains of the Japanese Gotei Thirteen.
After history class ended, it was once again time for their advanced combat class, a class that replaced the kendo, kidou, and hakuda classes of their past years and combined all three with the addition of hyouhou, flash stepping. Peter Andrews had remained their instructor, but today, they were required to go out on a training exercise in the world of the living.
“This sucks,” Jason spoke between himself, Hunter, and Kendra. “We have to split up in teams of three that we don’t even get to choose!”
“Well, I guess it just prepares us for graduation when we’re all separated into different squads,” Hunter said pessimistically.
“Now each of you has been handed a blank piece of paper,” Peter instructed, “the color of which should become visible as you channel spirit energy through it.”
Jason, Hunter, Kendra, and the rest of their scattered group began to channel energy through their individual papers.
“Green,” Hunter spoke.
“Red,” Jason added.
“Red too,” Kendra replied.
“Oh god,” Jason thought.
“Woohoo, orange!” A familiar voice yelled from across the crowd. It was obvious as to who it was.
“Now,” Peter began again, “your jobs are to find the two other students in your three-man unit and form up. After which, we’ll begin senkaimon practice again and enter the world of the living in soul form. After all, we want to be combat ready and impressive.”
“Combat ready and impressive for what?” Hunter thought, while shifting through the crowd of students looking for two with green parchments. He soon found himself on two more students, both of them male but one shorter than him with lighter and shorter blond hair and amber eyes while the other had semi-long dark hair and was taller than Hunter was. The taller student had dark blue eyes.
Meanwhile, Jason and Kendra looked around the horde of searching students for a red paper. They saw a short, pale hand lifting a red paper as high as it could into the air.
“Found it!” Jason yelled to Kendra over the rest of the voices.
After making their way to the paper, they were somewhat disappointed and stupefied with their third team mate.
“Are you seriously a student?” Jason asked in disbelief.
“You bet I am!” The small boy in front of him claimed. He was short, with green eyes and a deep, almost orange shade of blond hair. “And don’t doubt me either! I’m acing all of these classes!”
“Alright,” Kendra said, eyes wide open in disbelief still. “Are you sure you’re a student?”
“YES I AM!” The boy yelled.
“I’m assuming you’ve all found your partners by now!” Peter yelled over all of the commotion. “Now, one member from each team will open a senkaimon!”
Across the crowd, which had now dispersed into many different groups of three, one member from each team began to open their own doors to the world of the living. Ryan opened the gate for cyan squad, while the tall student opened green squad’s, and other students opened the gates for violet, yellow, orange, blue, saffron, lavender, scarlet, crimson, and plenty of other colors.
“If you’re really a student,” Jason said, “then open up the senkaimon.”
“I don’t think you want me to do that,” the boy spoke.
“Then don’t if you can’t do it,” Jason replied in dominion.
“Fine,” the boy said, while thrusting his student sword into the open air. A small, pint-sized world gate appeared before him and opened up.
Jason and Kendra both stared in surprise at the gate, but disappointment at its size.
“Are you serious?!” Jason yelled, eyes wide open.
“We can’t walk through that little thing!” Kendra exclaimed.
“That’s why I didn’t want to open it myself,” he responded, and then walked through with the door closing behind him.
“Alright Kendra,” Jason responded, “make the door.”
“Um,” Kendra blushed, “this is embarrassing, but I’ve never actually been able to make a door myself.”
“Seriously?!” Jason exclaimed.
“Why don’t you just make it, then,” she said sadly.
“Umm,” he paused, “I never really learned how to make one either…”
“And you complained that I couldn’t?” she retorted.
“Well it can’t be that hard!” Jason said, thrusting the blade into an invisible hole in the hair. Out from the hole expanded a crude metal door frame.
“That one sucks,” Kendra said bluntly.
“Shut up!” Jason said, walking into it, but being met with a glass wall to the face.
“You made a giant window…” She mumbled.
Getting frustrated, his eyes now watery from the impact and a vein pulsing on his forehead, Jason kicked the window in, breaking through the glass and allowing Kendra to follow before the crummy frame almost closed in on her.
“I’ll never leave that to you again!” Kendra complained.
“Then learn it yourself!” Jason responded.
“You two are already on my nerves,” the boy spoke.
“So what’s your name anyways, kid?!” Jason asked in frustration.
“Aiden,” the boy said, having his eyes closed from annoyance, “Aiden Crowler, and yes, like the bird.”
“You do seem like a cranky little crow,” Kendra giggled.
“Just don’t use your kidou or you might shoot him out of the sky,” Jason commented.
Before they could keep going with their back and forths, however, the three of them were approached by team violet, consisting of three averaged height students, one a young man with longer than average arms, eye shadow, and a straight mohawk; one a young man with light, slicked back blonde hair and an arrogant expression; and the third a female with her dark hair tied back in a bun and sharp glasses to match her stern face.
“Wow, look at who we have here!” The blonde man spoke.
“Huh?” Jason said blankly.
“We have the reject that’s always ditching out on classes, the girl who fails at everything she does, and the shrimp!” He laughed. The mohawk man laughed as well.
“Hey, we all have something we’re good at, don’t pretend like you even know who we are,” Jason responded.
“You’re just another stuck up rich kid raised in a noble house,” the boy commented, “what do you pretend to know about the real lives of others?”
“Watch it kid!” He yelled, outstretching his foot and kicking Aiden down to the ground.
“Hey, don’t hit him!” Kendra yelled.
“Don’t tell me what to do, dumb bitch!” He yelled back.
At this comment, attention started to focus on the group of six.
“You have no right to call her that, bastard!” Jason yelled back.
“Control your temper, Lucas,” the woman in glasses spoke.
“Ha, as if the flunkie has some authority over me!” Lucas yelled in response, pulling out his sword, sheath on, and swinging. Jason effortlessly blocked it. “So you can block a swing after all?!”
“There’s a lot about my skills you don’t know,” Jason replied firmly.
Knocking their weapons away in an instant was the fourth seat of Ninth Squad, Peter Andrews, bringing a frustrated expression with him.
“You two should know better than to fight with each other!” Peter complained, knocking both students to the ground and disarming them. “You may be from the Artesian family, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re no different than any other student here!”
“Don’t command me, fourth seat!” Lucas spoke after having a hand offered by the glasses woman but rejecting it and getting up himself. “Don’t pretend we don’t know why you’re here! You’re a lieutenant level Soul Reaper, but you’re only a fourth seat due to your loss against that Hollow ten years ago!”
Peter paused, obviously taken aback. “It’s no surprise you have access to those records, being a snooty little prick like yourself,” Peter paused and turned, revealing a long scar on the side of his face from his hairline down to his chin. “Yes, I lost most of my memories from a hollow attack ten years ago, and yes, that’s keeping me from taking a higher seat, but that does not mean that pansy-asses like you who’ve spent their days with their proper training and book techniques can say a word about my years in actual combat!”
Lucas, obviously without a verbal comeback, took a few steps forward, but was grabbed from behind by the man with the mohawk.
“Consider this test failed for you, Artesian, if you break one more rule,” Peter spoke coolly.
“Fine, but you know I won’t forget this! I’ll take your head someday, fourth seat!” Lucas spoke, walking away through the crowd that had gathered.
“The hell’s the matter with that guy?” Jason asked.
“I just hope we don’t have to see him again,” Kendra responded, making sure Aiden was okay.
After a silence, Peter hopped up onto a degraded bench of the abandoned grounds they had now occupied in the world of the living. “Alright, listen up,” he spoke, “in a few moments, we’re going to have some dummy Hollows on the loose. Your goals are to kill as many as you can as a team! Use hakuda only when deemed appropriate, and try to incorporate hyouhouu in your style as well!”
“Alright, we can do this!” Jason exclaimed. Kendra and Aiden nodded.
“And try not to have anymore incidents,” Peter said, “remember to try and fight at your best today! The eyes of several higher-ups are on us!”
“Higher-ups?” Jason wondered.
“Jason, Kendra,” Aiden spoke, “stick to what you’re best at, but don’t try to be too individualized. Let’s keep it a team effort like it’s supposed to be!”
“Right,” they responded with a nod.
In another few moments, a small black line appeared in the sky. The vertical black line stretched into a larger one that became larger and larger until large, white fingers stretched out from it. The fingers led to hands, which could be seen pulling on the fabric of the normal realm, stretching the opening further until it was a gaping crack in the world of the living. A blurred black and gray scape plagued the other side, with estranged yellow eyes peering down at all of the students through it. Out from the massive crevasse, which matched the size of a standard building, came a considerable number of black dots. The dots moved closer and closer, revealing physical figures with something white on their heads.
“A garganta?” Peter questioned, “that can’t mean… Menos?”
“Are all of those,” Jason paused, remembering the encounters of the past, “hollows?”
“Damn, I just can’t get this!” Jason said in frustration as he got up off the ground from failing yet another flash step. “How do you do it Weeber?”
“I just kinda go,” Jon responded.
“That helps a ton,” Rebecca spoke with obvious sarcasm after also stumbling on the ground.
“It’s just a simple idea of concentrating your spirit energy into your feet,” Hunter commented.
“Then why don’t you show us?” Kendra asked.
“Fine,” Hunter replied as he started to concentrate his energy. In a second, he had disappeared, but in another, he had reappeared ten feet away from them in the air, falling uncontrollably and then landing with a dull thud. “Dang,” he said.
“I wouldn’t recommend taking lessons from Hunter,” Jason said, “he pretends to know wayyyy too much.”
“I can see that,” Kendra said with a dulled expression.
“I can’t remember what Peter said,” Jason spoke, “I know you had to concentrate the energy into your feet and legs, but what then?”
“Ugh, you’re all dumbsh*ts if you ask me,” Ryan added, sitting lazily under a shady tree with a now empty potato chip bag in hand. “Ladies, here’s ten bucks for each of you, go buy me some more chips and some sandwiches from town and show them how it‘s done.”
“Right away,” one spoke.
“Me first!” another replied.
“Not a chance,” the third added.
The fourth woman simply sighed as the other three had already disappeared. In a couple seconds, the four of them were all gone.
“How do you do that?” A now dirtied Hunter asked with a hint of envy and frustration.
“What, command legions of women or know how to use flash step so easily?” Ryan asked condescendingly.
“…both,” Hunter replied.
“Well, the ladies just love me and my ‘goods,’ and we managed to find this book on shunpo in the library,” Ryan answered.
“Ignoring the ‘goods’ comment,” Jason broke in, “what did you mean ‘find’ ? I thought we were only supposed to take books from the library that were curriculum required.”
“Oh, you guys should know me and my ‘green effect’ on people by now,” Ryan spoke.
“So you paid them off… again…” Jason responded.
“That’s just win,” Weeber said.
After another few hours, the group once again found themselves in the academy’s history class, where they learned about the origins of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads in Japan, and later learning about the co-founding of the American division by Chief General Genruusai Yamamoto and Chief General Chogan Yuma. They’d also learn tidbits about certain battles like those between three traitorous captains in the Japanese division and the Espada they commanded, the strongest group of hollows ever assembled that rivaled and seemed to overpower even the captains of the Japanese Gotei Thirteen.
After history class ended, it was once again time for their advanced combat class, a class that replaced the kendo, kidou, and hakuda classes of their past years and combined all three with the addition of hyouhou, flash stepping. Peter Andrews had remained their instructor, but today, they were required to go out on a training exercise in the world of the living.
“This sucks,” Jason spoke between himself, Hunter, and Kendra. “We have to split up in teams of three that we don’t even get to choose!”
“Well, I guess it just prepares us for graduation when we’re all separated into different squads,” Hunter said pessimistically.
“Now each of you has been handed a blank piece of paper,” Peter instructed, “the color of which should become visible as you channel spirit energy through it.”
Jason, Hunter, Kendra, and the rest of their scattered group began to channel energy through their individual papers.
“Green,” Hunter spoke.
“Red,” Jason added.
“Red too,” Kendra replied.
“Oh god,” Jason thought.
“Woohoo, orange!” A familiar voice yelled from across the crowd. It was obvious as to who it was.
“Now,” Peter began again, “your jobs are to find the two other students in your three-man unit and form up. After which, we’ll begin senkaimon practice again and enter the world of the living in soul form. After all, we want to be combat ready and impressive.”
“Combat ready and impressive for what?” Hunter thought, while shifting through the crowd of students looking for two with green parchments. He soon found himself on two more students, both of them male but one shorter than him with lighter and shorter blond hair and amber eyes while the other had semi-long dark hair and was taller than Hunter was. The taller student had dark blue eyes.
Meanwhile, Jason and Kendra looked around the horde of searching students for a red paper. They saw a short, pale hand lifting a red paper as high as it could into the air.
“Found it!” Jason yelled to Kendra over the rest of the voices.
After making their way to the paper, they were somewhat disappointed and stupefied with their third team mate.
“Are you seriously a student?” Jason asked in disbelief.
“You bet I am!” The small boy in front of him claimed. He was short, with green eyes and a deep, almost orange shade of blond hair. “And don’t doubt me either! I’m acing all of these classes!”
“Alright,” Kendra said, eyes wide open in disbelief still. “Are you sure you’re a student?”
“YES I AM!” The boy yelled.
“I’m assuming you’ve all found your partners by now!” Peter yelled over all of the commotion. “Now, one member from each team will open a senkaimon!”
Across the crowd, which had now dispersed into many different groups of three, one member from each team began to open their own doors to the world of the living. Ryan opened the gate for cyan squad, while the tall student opened green squad’s, and other students opened the gates for violet, yellow, orange, blue, saffron, lavender, scarlet, crimson, and plenty of other colors.
“If you’re really a student,” Jason said, “then open up the senkaimon.”
“I don’t think you want me to do that,” the boy spoke.
“Then don’t if you can’t do it,” Jason replied in dominion.
“Fine,” the boy said, while thrusting his student sword into the open air. A small, pint-sized world gate appeared before him and opened up.
Jason and Kendra both stared in surprise at the gate, but disappointment at its size.
“Are you serious?!” Jason yelled, eyes wide open.
“We can’t walk through that little thing!” Kendra exclaimed.
“That’s why I didn’t want to open it myself,” he responded, and then walked through with the door closing behind him.
“Alright Kendra,” Jason responded, “make the door.”
“Um,” Kendra blushed, “this is embarrassing, but I’ve never actually been able to make a door myself.”
“Seriously?!” Jason exclaimed.
“Why don’t you just make it, then,” she said sadly.
“Umm,” he paused, “I never really learned how to make one either…”
“And you complained that I couldn’t?” she retorted.
“Well it can’t be that hard!” Jason said, thrusting the blade into an invisible hole in the hair. Out from the hole expanded a crude metal door frame.
“That one sucks,” Kendra said bluntly.
“Shut up!” Jason said, walking into it, but being met with a glass wall to the face.
“You made a giant window…” She mumbled.
Getting frustrated, his eyes now watery from the impact and a vein pulsing on his forehead, Jason kicked the window in, breaking through the glass and allowing Kendra to follow before the crummy frame almost closed in on her.
“I’ll never leave that to you again!” Kendra complained.
“Then learn it yourself!” Jason responded.
“You two are already on my nerves,” the boy spoke.
“So what’s your name anyways, kid?!” Jason asked in frustration.
“Aiden,” the boy said, having his eyes closed from annoyance, “Aiden Crowler, and yes, like the bird.”
“You do seem like a cranky little crow,” Kendra giggled.
“Just don’t use your kidou or you might shoot him out of the sky,” Jason commented.
Before they could keep going with their back and forths, however, the three of them were approached by team violet, consisting of three averaged height students, one a young man with longer than average arms, eye shadow, and a straight mohawk; one a young man with light, slicked back blonde hair and an arrogant expression; and the third a female with her dark hair tied back in a bun and sharp glasses to match her stern face.
“Wow, look at who we have here!” The blonde man spoke.
“Huh?” Jason said blankly.
“We have the reject that’s always ditching out on classes, the girl who fails at everything she does, and the shrimp!” He laughed. The mohawk man laughed as well.
“Hey, we all have something we’re good at, don’t pretend like you even know who we are,” Jason responded.
“You’re just another stuck up rich kid raised in a noble house,” the boy commented, “what do you pretend to know about the real lives of others?”
“Watch it kid!” He yelled, outstretching his foot and kicking Aiden down to the ground.
“Hey, don’t hit him!” Kendra yelled.
“Don’t tell me what to do, dumb bitch!” He yelled back.
At this comment, attention started to focus on the group of six.
“You have no right to call her that, bastard!” Jason yelled back.
“Control your temper, Lucas,” the woman in glasses spoke.
“Ha, as if the flunkie has some authority over me!” Lucas yelled in response, pulling out his sword, sheath on, and swinging. Jason effortlessly blocked it. “So you can block a swing after all?!”
“There’s a lot about my skills you don’t know,” Jason replied firmly.
Knocking their weapons away in an instant was the fourth seat of Ninth Squad, Peter Andrews, bringing a frustrated expression with him.
“You two should know better than to fight with each other!” Peter complained, knocking both students to the ground and disarming them. “You may be from the Artesian family, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re no different than any other student here!”
“Don’t command me, fourth seat!” Lucas spoke after having a hand offered by the glasses woman but rejecting it and getting up himself. “Don’t pretend we don’t know why you’re here! You’re a lieutenant level Soul Reaper, but you’re only a fourth seat due to your loss against that Hollow ten years ago!”
Peter paused, obviously taken aback. “It’s no surprise you have access to those records, being a snooty little prick like yourself,” Peter paused and turned, revealing a long scar on the side of his face from his hairline down to his chin. “Yes, I lost most of my memories from a hollow attack ten years ago, and yes, that’s keeping me from taking a higher seat, but that does not mean that pansy-asses like you who’ve spent their days with their proper training and book techniques can say a word about my years in actual combat!”
Lucas, obviously without a verbal comeback, took a few steps forward, but was grabbed from behind by the man with the mohawk.
“Consider this test failed for you, Artesian, if you break one more rule,” Peter spoke coolly.
“Fine, but you know I won’t forget this! I’ll take your head someday, fourth seat!” Lucas spoke, walking away through the crowd that had gathered.
“The hell’s the matter with that guy?” Jason asked.
“I just hope we don’t have to see him again,” Kendra responded, making sure Aiden was okay.
After a silence, Peter hopped up onto a degraded bench of the abandoned grounds they had now occupied in the world of the living. “Alright, listen up,” he spoke, “in a few moments, we’re going to have some dummy Hollows on the loose. Your goals are to kill as many as you can as a team! Use hakuda only when deemed appropriate, and try to incorporate hyouhouu in your style as well!”
“Alright, we can do this!” Jason exclaimed. Kendra and Aiden nodded.
“And try not to have anymore incidents,” Peter said, “remember to try and fight at your best today! The eyes of several higher-ups are on us!”
“Higher-ups?” Jason wondered.
“Jason, Kendra,” Aiden spoke, “stick to what you’re best at, but don’t try to be too individualized. Let’s keep it a team effort like it’s supposed to be!”
“Right,” they responded with a nod.
In another few moments, a small black line appeared in the sky. The vertical black line stretched into a larger one that became larger and larger until large, white fingers stretched out from it. The fingers led to hands, which could be seen pulling on the fabric of the normal realm, stretching the opening further until it was a gaping crack in the world of the living. A blurred black and gray scape plagued the other side, with estranged yellow eyes peering down at all of the students through it. Out from the massive crevasse, which matched the size of a standard building, came a considerable number of black dots. The dots moved closer and closer, revealing physical figures with something white on their heads.
“A garganta?” Peter questioned, “that can’t mean… Menos?”
“Are all of those,” Jason paused, remembering the encounters of the past, “hollows?”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 8 ~ The Hollow Attack
Hunter watched as team after team braced themselves for a dummy Hollow attack that didn’t seem staged in any way at all. Unlike the Hollows seen in the books, or those he had remembered from a past encounter or two, these Hollows wore armor, consisting of two spiked shoulder plates, breasted plate mail, leggings and armored grieves, and gauntlets around their clawed hands. They were rather humanly in form, but their masks, not actually being their faces but rather more like hats, were on top of their heads, the shading of which over their faces hid their real expressions, but revealed two peering yellow eyes. On each of their backs was the sheath of a katana, almost reminiscent of, but slightly shorter than, Zanpakutou.
“Stay together!” Peter yelled, “stick to your teams and your training!”
“Those are actual Hollows,” Aiden spoke, “we have to work as a team or we’re done for!”
“Alright,” Jason said, “what’s the plan?”
“We’ll focus on one at a time and take them out individually,” Aiden responded, “use kidou or flash step only when necessary so as to conserve spirit energy. Let them come to us, but don’t let them outnumber us, and don’t hesitate to yell something to communicate to the team or another.”
The three of them pulled out their swords, Jason’s being the longest since he was the tallest, Kendra’s being somewhat shorter, and Aiden’s being reminiscent of a short sword.
“So what’s the plan?” A member of team orange asked.
“Psh, planning, who does that?” Weeber mocked, “just attack ‘em ‘til they’re all gone, that’s what I do and it’s worked so far.”
“What’re we gonna do?” green team questioned.
“Are any of you decent at kidou?” Hunter asked.
They both nodded, “I’d say we’re both pretty good,” one said.
“Then let’s use the hadou #39 shield and the offensive spells to kill as many as we can quickly,” Hunter explained, “you cast the Arc Shield while,” Hunter turned to the blond man, “what was your name?”
“Joseph,” he responded.
“Joe and I will use Shakkahou and Byakurai from behind the defense. If things get bad, Joe, you should jump in and use the shield as well. Only break out higher spells like Sokatsui if you have to.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Joseph responded.
“So what to do now?” One tall man with short brown hair asked the other members of team cyan.
“I don’t really care, I just want another sandwich,” Ryan responded.
“Is all you think about food?” The third member, a girl with lengthy red hair asked.
“Food, women, booze, and money, babe,” Ryan responded.
“I take it we’re just going to improvise, then?” The male student asked.
“Pretty much, I’m too lazy for plans and Hollows are too retarded to take money over fighting,” Ryan responded.
The red haired girl sighed and face palmed.
In a few more moments, the discussions had to end as the Hollows began their descent onto the abandoned grounds. Each squad of three students readied themselves for not only their chance to prove themselves highly capable of becoming Soul Reapers, but to fight for their own lives as well. The large white hands keeping the giant rift open remained in place, with the eyes of their owner staring down through the spatial opening. The Hollows landed on the ground, revealing that their height was roughly five feet tall. They each drew their katana, which were actually shorter than a Zanpaktou.
Jason and Kendra each blocked Hollows that had jumped at them, while Aiden was readying an incantation for a kidou.
Hunter, Joseph, and their third member, Reggie, had been using kidou shields to block the Hollow swords.
“Hadou #31, Shakkahou!” Hunter yelled, shooting a red projectile out at his enemy.
“Hadou #4, Byakurai!” Joe called, shooting a beam of lightning at another.
Across the field, Rebecca and team brown struggled against some Hollows.
“Dammit, there’s too many of them!” She yelled, holding a sword lock with one of the creatures. Around her were her other two team mates, struggling against creatures of their own.
“Need some help?” Peter asked, flash stepping onto the scene and cutting down the Hollow in front of her.
“Thanks,” Rebecca responded, “but my other team mates…”
“Bakudou #61, Rikujoukourou!” Peter shouted. Six pillars of light shot into the sides of another Hollow, stunning it and holding it in place. “Bakudou #9, Geki!” He spoke, trapping another in an encasement of red light. “You and your team should be able to handle them now, but I gotta help the others!” Peter spoke, flash stepping into a larger group of Hollows and engaging them in battle.
Ryan yawned, blocking another Hollow. “I’m getting bored fighting all you f*ckers!” he yelled.
“Calm down, Ryan,” the girl on their team spoke, “just please focus on defeating your enemies!”
“Don’t be such a buzz kill, Kass,” the other male responded, “you need to focus on your enemy too.”
“Shut up, Dylan!” She responded, barely blocking another sword.
“Charge!” Came a familiar voice.
“Oh, jesus,” Ryan spoke.
Out from the voice’s direction came three figures, each with the parchment of team orange. Three young men, one blond, one with light brown hair, and one with red, all three of which close to the same height, rushed forward past the trio of team cyan into several more Hollows, constantly swinging relentlessly until the enemies fell.
“We shouldn’t let them take all of the kills!” Ryan yelled.
After this, Ryan, Dylan, and Kassandra cut down their enemies and followed team orange into the next group of enemies.
The claw of a Hollow knocked Jason off of his feet and away from Aiden and Kendra, who kept fighting in their own circle of enemies. Jason managed to land upright, but off balance from his fall. He blocked the claw swipe of the Hollow above him while diving out of the way of the sword swing of another. He soon realized he was alone on the battlefield, and obviously screwed over.
“Dammit,” he said out loud as the Hollows encircled him.
“Jesus Greg, it’s not that hard to just shoot them!” an unpleasant, yet familiar voice shouted out. In a couple seconds, a light blue burst of energy shot through the Hollows around him.
Jason coughed at the dust that had flown up from the explosive display, but almost dropped dead when he saw who had unintentionally helped him out.
“Lucas?!”
“Oh look, it’s the maggot,” Lucas responded.
“Sorry Luke, I just can’t use any more kidou,” the mohawk by the name of Greg panted.
He was unable to be scolded harshly by the arrogant blond as a Hollow claw swept by and sent him flying into the air.
“Greg!” The woman with sharp glasses exclaimed, while blocking an attack from her own enemy Hollow.
As Greg went spinning into the air, a translucent shield of yellow energy appeared and caught him. Sitting on the shield was Reggie of team green. Appearing in the air next to him were Hunter and Joseph, each firing a red flame cannon kidou-shot at the numerous Hollows.
Without knowing it, Jason and Lucas had each been stepping back from the horde of enemies until they were virtually back-to-back.
“Guffey,” Lucas spoke.
“Artesian,” Jason responded.
The two took turns swinging at the horde on each of their respective sides. They fought back to back for what seemed like twenty minutes before the rest of teams violet, green, and even red, brown, cyan, and orange arrived on the scene.
“How ‘ya doin’?” Kendra asked while panting.
“Fine, you two?” Jason replied.
“We’ve been better,” Aiden responded, having several scratches and tears all over him.
“There’s just too many,” Hunter spoke.
“We just can’t keep up enough spirit energy to keep using kidou,” Joseph said.
“Psh, we don’t need kidou for this!” Jon broke in.
“Yeah, blunt force will solve everything!” another orange team member added.
“Ridiculous and stupid,” the woman with glasses responded.
“But it just might work, Kayla,” replied Greg, the pale man with the mohawk.
“I have an idea,” Kendra broke in, “who here still has enough spirit energy to effectively use their kidou?”
Hunter, Aiden, Lucas, Dylan, Kassandra, Kayla, Reggie, and Rebecca raised their hands.
“Then,” Kendra paused, “those that don’t have enough left or those that don’t use it will provide cover for you. When you can use it, try and combine forces to destroy as many as possible.”
“Great idea, Kendra!” Rebecca exclaimed.
“Whatever, as long as it works,” Lucas said with disgust.
Without another moment’s hesitation, team orange charged in, with two team brown members right behind them.
“Shall we?” Jason asked to Kendra.
“Let’s go,” she responded.
With the addition of the two team red members, Joseph from team green, Greg from team violet, and Ryan from team cyan, they were now a decent sized fighting force. It wasn’t until a half-hour later that other teams realized what they were doing and joined in as well.
“Fire!” Rebecca commanded from inside the circle of kidou users.
“Hadou #4, Byakurai!” Hunter, Dylan, and Rebecca called.
“Hadou #31, Shakkahou!” Lucas, Kassandra, and Reggie cast.
“Hadou #33, Soukatsui!” Aiden and Kayla yelled.
With the addition of numerous other students using kidou, the large scale attack decimated the Hollow force. After the debris and dust clouds pulled up from the ground after the destructive attack cleared, the creatures were dissipating from existence in the typical fashion of defeated Hollows.
“We did it!” Jon exclaimed.
“Woohoo!” Reggie yelled.
Hunter and the other kidou users plopped on the ground, exhausted from energy use, but this did not stop them from being bothered by the attack decoy students that were hyper from their victory.
“Nice one, Kendra!” Jason exclaimed.
“Thanks!” she replied happily.
“Guffey,” Lucas spoke emotionlessly.
“Artesian,” Jason responded.
“Good job, everyone!” Peter spoke, flash stepping onto the scene. “Those higher-ups I mentioned saw the whole thing. I’m sure you’ll all be getting high recommendations for this!”
The widespread cheer soon ended as the group noticed a red glow emanating from the rip in space. The once hidden red-eyed creature now stuck its head out of the opening in full form. It had a long, pointed white noise on its pale white mask, a mask almost the size of a house for its building-sized body. The teeth of the mask were prominent and fierce, while the rest of its body was long and vertically robe-like, of a pitch black shade. Silver spikes stuck out two thirds of the way down in a circular arrangement around the creature, while a large gaping hole represented its hollow and heartless nature. The mouth was wide open, and a large red sphere of energy cycled in front of it. From inside the rift, innumerable numbers of armored Hollows were pouring out once more.
“Nevermind…” Jason spoke.
“What a buzz kill!” Weeber complained.
“Boner kill,” Ryan added.
“And now we’re screwed,” Greg replied.
“Don’t lose hope,” Peter tried, “remember, higher-ups are watching!”
Each and every one of the students had been confused by what he meant by this until this moment, when they appeared. One of them was a taller man with short, dark spiky hair that reached down to the bottom of his neck. He had three parallel lines going down the left side of his face, and a bandage going from across his nose to the right side of his face, where the number sixty-nine was tattooed in block letters. Instead of the normal black t-shirt and white sleeve shirt, however, he wore robes reminiscent of something from Japan. His sleeves, however, were rolled up to reveal the entirety of his muscular arms. A Japanese character was drawn on an emblem strapped to his right arm.
“Damn impressive kids,” he said, “reminds me of when I was instructing the students back in our region.”
“We’ll take it from here,” a female voice came.
The second was a shorter woman, overshadowed by her taller companion. She had somewhat long, black hair that went past her shoulders, contrasting her pale skin. She had a long lock of hair curving down from her hairline down past her chin, with one or two strands curving off from it. Her violet eyes and petite appearance contrasted the tough look of her companion, but her overall look and seriousness demanded authority. She wore a black robe-like outfit similar to the man, but she wore a white hayori over it, extending down to her feet like an overcoat, but revealing her black sleeves.
“A lieutenant… and a captain?” Jason thought.
“You’ve done a good job here, Peter,” the man spoke. “We’ll put in a good word for you to your captain and lieutenant when they get back from our school.”
“You’re too kind, Shuhei,” Peter responded.
“You take the Menos,” the woman spoke, “I’ll take the rest of them.”
“Alright, Captain,” Shuhei responded, flash stepping past the army of out flowing Hollows and pulling out his Zanpakutou in front of the glowing energy sphere, ready to be fired by the giant creature.
The creature let the sphere go, and with the sounds of loud, free energy, the giant red ball exploded into a red beam of what one would assume to be pure death. It looked like suicide to be standing in front of it.
The students could do nothing but watch silently with eyes of anticipation at what was going to happen. Jason, Hunter, and even Lucas watched with both worry and excitement. They’d never seen a real lieutenant in action before.
“Bone of a straggling beast, spire, crimson crystal, disc of steel, when the wind shifts, and the emptiness ceases, let the clash of lances resonate through the relinquished castle!” Shuhei spoke, the red beam getting closer to him. He stuck out both of his hands. “Hadou #63, Raikouhou!” He yelled. From his hands came a massive yellow burst of a beam that shot forward through the red oncoming beam, destroying it and effectively shooting the large beast that had conjured it, making it fall back through the large rift in the sky and closing the opening with it. The other Hollows shifted their focus from the group of students to the airborne lieutenant.
“Dance,” the woman spoke, “Sode no Shirayuki (lit. sleeve’s white snow).” Her sword, now drawn, was held parallel to the direction she was turned next to her face, with both arms on its handle almost as if it was some large-scale projectile weapon. The blade, hilt guard, and handle were all pure white, while a long, snowy ribbon flowed in the wind from its hilt. It was definitely an elegant and beautiful weapon. “Tsugi no mai,” she paused, the sword now glowing with white light, “Hakuren (lit. the next dance, white ripple).” Spirit energy seemed to rise up out of the ground around her in white fragments reminiscent of snowflakes. A large, concentrated white beam of spirit energy flowed out of the blade, heading straight for the Hollows.
“Amazing,” Peter commented.
“Yeah,” Shuhei added, reappearing beside him and the students, “that’s the Zanpakutou of my captain.”
Each and every student present could only stare in awe as the massive blast encased each and every Hollow that once stood before them in a shining encasement of ice. After the attack had covered them all, it dissipated into the air as little fragments of ice and snow, taking the Hollows with it.
“That was just…” Jason thought, “awe-inspiring…”
“So that’s the shikai of a captain,” Hunter gawked.
“That was SO WIN!!!” Weeber burst.
“Truly incredible!” Rebecca exclaimed.
“Such beautiful power,” Kayla spoke, the bits of snow still reflecting off of her glasses.
“Consider this test passed for all of you,” the woman spoke.
“You’ve done a good job training them so far, Peter,” Shuhei commented.
“It’s not just me,” Peter responded, “we’ve got a real good group of students here. I’m proud to have taught them.”
It was only after another ten or fifteen minutes of simple awe that the students realized that Peter and his two acquaintances had opened a senkaimon that they were now leaving through. Unlike their metal doors, this one looked like a sliding door of feudal Japanese times. The students began to shuffle out of it, but only after exiting did they realize they were exhausted.
“Dismissed!” Peter said after they got back.
With quite a day’s worth of events to take in and exhaustion beyond how much they thought capable, the students went off to their barracks for some much needed sleep. It was hard to put to rest, however, their many rushing trains of thought, but, after some time, they each managed to doze off.
Hunter watched as team after team braced themselves for a dummy Hollow attack that didn’t seem staged in any way at all. Unlike the Hollows seen in the books, or those he had remembered from a past encounter or two, these Hollows wore armor, consisting of two spiked shoulder plates, breasted plate mail, leggings and armored grieves, and gauntlets around their clawed hands. They were rather humanly in form, but their masks, not actually being their faces but rather more like hats, were on top of their heads, the shading of which over their faces hid their real expressions, but revealed two peering yellow eyes. On each of their backs was the sheath of a katana, almost reminiscent of, but slightly shorter than, Zanpakutou.
“Stay together!” Peter yelled, “stick to your teams and your training!”
“Those are actual Hollows,” Aiden spoke, “we have to work as a team or we’re done for!”
“Alright,” Jason said, “what’s the plan?”
“We’ll focus on one at a time and take them out individually,” Aiden responded, “use kidou or flash step only when necessary so as to conserve spirit energy. Let them come to us, but don’t let them outnumber us, and don’t hesitate to yell something to communicate to the team or another.”
The three of them pulled out their swords, Jason’s being the longest since he was the tallest, Kendra’s being somewhat shorter, and Aiden’s being reminiscent of a short sword.
“So what’s the plan?” A member of team orange asked.
“Psh, planning, who does that?” Weeber mocked, “just attack ‘em ‘til they’re all gone, that’s what I do and it’s worked so far.”
“What’re we gonna do?” green team questioned.
“Are any of you decent at kidou?” Hunter asked.
They both nodded, “I’d say we’re both pretty good,” one said.
“Then let’s use the hadou #39 shield and the offensive spells to kill as many as we can quickly,” Hunter explained, “you cast the Arc Shield while,” Hunter turned to the blond man, “what was your name?”
“Joseph,” he responded.
“Joe and I will use Shakkahou and Byakurai from behind the defense. If things get bad, Joe, you should jump in and use the shield as well. Only break out higher spells like Sokatsui if you have to.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Joseph responded.
“So what to do now?” One tall man with short brown hair asked the other members of team cyan.
“I don’t really care, I just want another sandwich,” Ryan responded.
“Is all you think about food?” The third member, a girl with lengthy red hair asked.
“Food, women, booze, and money, babe,” Ryan responded.
“I take it we’re just going to improvise, then?” The male student asked.
“Pretty much, I’m too lazy for plans and Hollows are too retarded to take money over fighting,” Ryan responded.
The red haired girl sighed and face palmed.
In a few more moments, the discussions had to end as the Hollows began their descent onto the abandoned grounds. Each squad of three students readied themselves for not only their chance to prove themselves highly capable of becoming Soul Reapers, but to fight for their own lives as well. The large white hands keeping the giant rift open remained in place, with the eyes of their owner staring down through the spatial opening. The Hollows landed on the ground, revealing that their height was roughly five feet tall. They each drew their katana, which were actually shorter than a Zanpaktou.
Jason and Kendra each blocked Hollows that had jumped at them, while Aiden was readying an incantation for a kidou.
Hunter, Joseph, and their third member, Reggie, had been using kidou shields to block the Hollow swords.
“Hadou #31, Shakkahou!” Hunter yelled, shooting a red projectile out at his enemy.
“Hadou #4, Byakurai!” Joe called, shooting a beam of lightning at another.
Across the field, Rebecca and team brown struggled against some Hollows.
“Dammit, there’s too many of them!” She yelled, holding a sword lock with one of the creatures. Around her were her other two team mates, struggling against creatures of their own.
“Need some help?” Peter asked, flash stepping onto the scene and cutting down the Hollow in front of her.
“Thanks,” Rebecca responded, “but my other team mates…”
“Bakudou #61, Rikujoukourou!” Peter shouted. Six pillars of light shot into the sides of another Hollow, stunning it and holding it in place. “Bakudou #9, Geki!” He spoke, trapping another in an encasement of red light. “You and your team should be able to handle them now, but I gotta help the others!” Peter spoke, flash stepping into a larger group of Hollows and engaging them in battle.
Ryan yawned, blocking another Hollow. “I’m getting bored fighting all you f*ckers!” he yelled.
“Calm down, Ryan,” the girl on their team spoke, “just please focus on defeating your enemies!”
“Don’t be such a buzz kill, Kass,” the other male responded, “you need to focus on your enemy too.”
“Shut up, Dylan!” She responded, barely blocking another sword.
“Charge!” Came a familiar voice.
“Oh, jesus,” Ryan spoke.
Out from the voice’s direction came three figures, each with the parchment of team orange. Three young men, one blond, one with light brown hair, and one with red, all three of which close to the same height, rushed forward past the trio of team cyan into several more Hollows, constantly swinging relentlessly until the enemies fell.
“We shouldn’t let them take all of the kills!” Ryan yelled.
After this, Ryan, Dylan, and Kassandra cut down their enemies and followed team orange into the next group of enemies.
The claw of a Hollow knocked Jason off of his feet and away from Aiden and Kendra, who kept fighting in their own circle of enemies. Jason managed to land upright, but off balance from his fall. He blocked the claw swipe of the Hollow above him while diving out of the way of the sword swing of another. He soon realized he was alone on the battlefield, and obviously screwed over.
“Dammit,” he said out loud as the Hollows encircled him.
“Jesus Greg, it’s not that hard to just shoot them!” an unpleasant, yet familiar voice shouted out. In a couple seconds, a light blue burst of energy shot through the Hollows around him.
Jason coughed at the dust that had flown up from the explosive display, but almost dropped dead when he saw who had unintentionally helped him out.
“Lucas?!”
“Oh look, it’s the maggot,” Lucas responded.
“Sorry Luke, I just can’t use any more kidou,” the mohawk by the name of Greg panted.
He was unable to be scolded harshly by the arrogant blond as a Hollow claw swept by and sent him flying into the air.
“Greg!” The woman with sharp glasses exclaimed, while blocking an attack from her own enemy Hollow.
As Greg went spinning into the air, a translucent shield of yellow energy appeared and caught him. Sitting on the shield was Reggie of team green. Appearing in the air next to him were Hunter and Joseph, each firing a red flame cannon kidou-shot at the numerous Hollows.
Without knowing it, Jason and Lucas had each been stepping back from the horde of enemies until they were virtually back-to-back.
“Guffey,” Lucas spoke.
“Artesian,” Jason responded.
The two took turns swinging at the horde on each of their respective sides. They fought back to back for what seemed like twenty minutes before the rest of teams violet, green, and even red, brown, cyan, and orange arrived on the scene.
“How ‘ya doin’?” Kendra asked while panting.
“Fine, you two?” Jason replied.
“We’ve been better,” Aiden responded, having several scratches and tears all over him.
“There’s just too many,” Hunter spoke.
“We just can’t keep up enough spirit energy to keep using kidou,” Joseph said.
“Psh, we don’t need kidou for this!” Jon broke in.
“Yeah, blunt force will solve everything!” another orange team member added.
“Ridiculous and stupid,” the woman with glasses responded.
“But it just might work, Kayla,” replied Greg, the pale man with the mohawk.
“I have an idea,” Kendra broke in, “who here still has enough spirit energy to effectively use their kidou?”
Hunter, Aiden, Lucas, Dylan, Kassandra, Kayla, Reggie, and Rebecca raised their hands.
“Then,” Kendra paused, “those that don’t have enough left or those that don’t use it will provide cover for you. When you can use it, try and combine forces to destroy as many as possible.”
“Great idea, Kendra!” Rebecca exclaimed.
“Whatever, as long as it works,” Lucas said with disgust.
Without another moment’s hesitation, team orange charged in, with two team brown members right behind them.
“Shall we?” Jason asked to Kendra.
“Let’s go,” she responded.
With the addition of the two team red members, Joseph from team green, Greg from team violet, and Ryan from team cyan, they were now a decent sized fighting force. It wasn’t until a half-hour later that other teams realized what they were doing and joined in as well.
“Fire!” Rebecca commanded from inside the circle of kidou users.
“Hadou #4, Byakurai!” Hunter, Dylan, and Rebecca called.
“Hadou #31, Shakkahou!” Lucas, Kassandra, and Reggie cast.
“Hadou #33, Soukatsui!” Aiden and Kayla yelled.
With the addition of numerous other students using kidou, the large scale attack decimated the Hollow force. After the debris and dust clouds pulled up from the ground after the destructive attack cleared, the creatures were dissipating from existence in the typical fashion of defeated Hollows.
“We did it!” Jon exclaimed.
“Woohoo!” Reggie yelled.
Hunter and the other kidou users plopped on the ground, exhausted from energy use, but this did not stop them from being bothered by the attack decoy students that were hyper from their victory.
“Nice one, Kendra!” Jason exclaimed.
“Thanks!” she replied happily.
“Guffey,” Lucas spoke emotionlessly.
“Artesian,” Jason responded.
“Good job, everyone!” Peter spoke, flash stepping onto the scene. “Those higher-ups I mentioned saw the whole thing. I’m sure you’ll all be getting high recommendations for this!”
The widespread cheer soon ended as the group noticed a red glow emanating from the rip in space. The once hidden red-eyed creature now stuck its head out of the opening in full form. It had a long, pointed white noise on its pale white mask, a mask almost the size of a house for its building-sized body. The teeth of the mask were prominent and fierce, while the rest of its body was long and vertically robe-like, of a pitch black shade. Silver spikes stuck out two thirds of the way down in a circular arrangement around the creature, while a large gaping hole represented its hollow and heartless nature. The mouth was wide open, and a large red sphere of energy cycled in front of it. From inside the rift, innumerable numbers of armored Hollows were pouring out once more.
“Nevermind…” Jason spoke.
“What a buzz kill!” Weeber complained.
“Boner kill,” Ryan added.
“And now we’re screwed,” Greg replied.
“Don’t lose hope,” Peter tried, “remember, higher-ups are watching!”
Each and every one of the students had been confused by what he meant by this until this moment, when they appeared. One of them was a taller man with short, dark spiky hair that reached down to the bottom of his neck. He had three parallel lines going down the left side of his face, and a bandage going from across his nose to the right side of his face, where the number sixty-nine was tattooed in block letters. Instead of the normal black t-shirt and white sleeve shirt, however, he wore robes reminiscent of something from Japan. His sleeves, however, were rolled up to reveal the entirety of his muscular arms. A Japanese character was drawn on an emblem strapped to his right arm.
“Damn impressive kids,” he said, “reminds me of when I was instructing the students back in our region.”
“We’ll take it from here,” a female voice came.
The second was a shorter woman, overshadowed by her taller companion. She had somewhat long, black hair that went past her shoulders, contrasting her pale skin. She had a long lock of hair curving down from her hairline down past her chin, with one or two strands curving off from it. Her violet eyes and petite appearance contrasted the tough look of her companion, but her overall look and seriousness demanded authority. She wore a black robe-like outfit similar to the man, but she wore a white hayori over it, extending down to her feet like an overcoat, but revealing her black sleeves.
“A lieutenant… and a captain?” Jason thought.
“You’ve done a good job here, Peter,” the man spoke. “We’ll put in a good word for you to your captain and lieutenant when they get back from our school.”
“You’re too kind, Shuhei,” Peter responded.
“You take the Menos,” the woman spoke, “I’ll take the rest of them.”
“Alright, Captain,” Shuhei responded, flash stepping past the army of out flowing Hollows and pulling out his Zanpakutou in front of the glowing energy sphere, ready to be fired by the giant creature.
The creature let the sphere go, and with the sounds of loud, free energy, the giant red ball exploded into a red beam of what one would assume to be pure death. It looked like suicide to be standing in front of it.
The students could do nothing but watch silently with eyes of anticipation at what was going to happen. Jason, Hunter, and even Lucas watched with both worry and excitement. They’d never seen a real lieutenant in action before.
“Bone of a straggling beast, spire, crimson crystal, disc of steel, when the wind shifts, and the emptiness ceases, let the clash of lances resonate through the relinquished castle!” Shuhei spoke, the red beam getting closer to him. He stuck out both of his hands. “Hadou #63, Raikouhou!” He yelled. From his hands came a massive yellow burst of a beam that shot forward through the red oncoming beam, destroying it and effectively shooting the large beast that had conjured it, making it fall back through the large rift in the sky and closing the opening with it. The other Hollows shifted their focus from the group of students to the airborne lieutenant.
“Dance,” the woman spoke, “Sode no Shirayuki (lit. sleeve’s white snow).” Her sword, now drawn, was held parallel to the direction she was turned next to her face, with both arms on its handle almost as if it was some large-scale projectile weapon. The blade, hilt guard, and handle were all pure white, while a long, snowy ribbon flowed in the wind from its hilt. It was definitely an elegant and beautiful weapon. “Tsugi no mai,” she paused, the sword now glowing with white light, “Hakuren (lit. the next dance, white ripple).” Spirit energy seemed to rise up out of the ground around her in white fragments reminiscent of snowflakes. A large, concentrated white beam of spirit energy flowed out of the blade, heading straight for the Hollows.
“Amazing,” Peter commented.
“Yeah,” Shuhei added, reappearing beside him and the students, “that’s the Zanpakutou of my captain.”
Each and every student present could only stare in awe as the massive blast encased each and every Hollow that once stood before them in a shining encasement of ice. After the attack had covered them all, it dissipated into the air as little fragments of ice and snow, taking the Hollows with it.
“That was just…” Jason thought, “awe-inspiring…”
“So that’s the shikai of a captain,” Hunter gawked.
“That was SO WIN!!!” Weeber burst.
“Truly incredible!” Rebecca exclaimed.
“Such beautiful power,” Kayla spoke, the bits of snow still reflecting off of her glasses.
“Consider this test passed for all of you,” the woman spoke.
“You’ve done a good job training them so far, Peter,” Shuhei commented.
“It’s not just me,” Peter responded, “we’ve got a real good group of students here. I’m proud to have taught them.”
It was only after another ten or fifteen minutes of simple awe that the students realized that Peter and his two acquaintances had opened a senkaimon that they were now leaving through. Unlike their metal doors, this one looked like a sliding door of feudal Japanese times. The students began to shuffle out of it, but only after exiting did they realize they were exhausted.
“Dismissed!” Peter said after they got back.
With quite a day’s worth of events to take in and exhaustion beyond how much they thought capable, the students went off to their barracks for some much needed sleep. It was hard to put to rest, however, their many rushing trains of thought, but, after some time, they each managed to doze off.
EPISODE NINE
Episode 9 ~ The Final Days
Kendra stood poised as she took a deep breath, preparing for the next swing of her sword. She was in a clearing, presumably of some wooded area or another. In front of her was a wooden post of about her height. It had several cuts and gashes throughout, indicating it had been used for sword practice quite frequently.
“Hmph,” she grunted as she swung the practice blade down. It embedded itself in the post.
After several more slashes, the post now seemed like it had grown much weaker. Despite her past failures with a blade, it was now apparent that she had trained plenty in the field of kendo, a sign that it had been about a year since their trial in the world of the living.
“Haa!” She yelled with one final swing, cutting the wooden post down the middle.
“Looks like you’re having quite the time there, little lady!” A voice called. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to be here out of campus hours?”
“I know that voice,” she thought, “You’re Lucas’s friend, Greg.”
“Heeheehee, that’s me!” He creepily said while walking out from the trees, his mohawk seeming to have no problem with the branches.
“They call you ‘the ghost,’ I guess I now know why,” Kendra commented.
“I guess my appearance and disposition do seem rather eerie,” he responded, “but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re breaking the rules by being here.”
“I would think you are as well, Gregory,” another female voice came.
“Rebecca?” Kendra questioned the girl who was sitting up in a tree, “aren’t you supposed to be further in with the others?”
“Cha,” she responded, “but I easily sensed this creeper’s spirit energy over here and knew it couldn’t be good.”
“So did you just come here to tell us the rules?” Kendra inquired Greg.
“Nah, I just came to see what you ladies were doing out here on such a night as this. A full moon shows as a bad omen, you know.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Rebecca spoke in condescension, “without your master walking you around on your leash, you’ve got nothing to do now! Tell me, did Lucas finally crack and go off the deep end?”
“Don’t you dare talk about him like that!” Greg yelled, “you have no idea what he’s been through!”
“Do you?” Kendra asked innocently. “I thought he just locked himself in his room and wouldn’t open up for anyone, not even you or Kayla or Instructor Andrews.”
“Shut up, you don’t know him,” Greg spoke, looking away.
“Seems to me like the master’s disowned his lapdog,” Rebecca added.
“Whatever,” Greg spoke, turning around and walking off into the trees from whence he came. After a couple steps, he flash stepped away and he was gone.
“With Lucas gone, I almost feel sorry for him,” Kendra spoke.
“Psh, don’t bother!” Rebecca said, hopping down to the ground, “it’s because of Lucas being gone that him and Kayla have been so harsh to us lately. They just assume it’s our fault, so they treat us like crap!”
“C’mon Hunter, you’ll never make it if you can’t even swing a sword right!” Weeber joked, easily blocking another sword swing.
“You know what,” Hunter said, taking a step back and pointing his hand out, “Byakurai.”
In another second, a beam of white lightning shot forward at Jon, who quickly raised his sword up to block it. He did manage to shield himself from the blow, but the force of the beam was enough to push him back along the ground until he collided with a tree.
“Ouch,” Ryan commented, then throwing another handful of chips into his mouth.
“Hunter, don’t use so much spiritual energy, you’ll get us caught!” Jason explained.
“Hey, he shouldn’t think he’s better than me!” Hunter said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t think you’re better than me,” a battered Weeber commented as he flash stepped out from the explosive burst and appeared right next to Hunter, swinging at him.
Hunter barely blocked the swing and proceeded to flash step away as well, but Weeber appeared right next to him.
“Your flash step is still too slow to beat mine!” Weeber commented, “you lose.”
“I hate you,” Hunter commented.
“I know,” Weeber responded.
“So why didn’t Dylan show up, Ryan?” Jason asked on the sidelines.
“Well,” Ryan began, “I suppose he had some kids to watch or some work to do actually on campus. You know all of us don’t really like to break the rules and come out here so close to graduation.”
“That does sound like Pickle,” Jason responded, “how ‘bout everyone else?”
“I let the ladies have a girls’ night out tonight, while Kass is studying for her finals, as typical. Joe said something about a hunt, and Reggie had a date I believe.”
“So why are you out here by yourself?” Rebecca asked. “It’s freezing, couldn’t you pick a better night?” She shivered.
“…” Kendra hesitated before asking, “you know I’ve never done too great in our class, right?”
“Where did that come from?”
“…and for the six years we’ve been here, I’ve always been the failure of our class, the one who’s never been good at anything?”
“Don’t talk like that,” Rebecca spoke.
“So I often get a lot of insults from the higher students,” Kendra added, “but I keep going with all of you guys and I follow your examples. Jason has his swordplay, Hunter has his kidou, Jon has his fighting power and shunpo, and even Ryan has his people skills and strength. They’ve all done a great deal since we first got here.”
“Right, but you and I have too,” Rebecca commented.
“But I can’t match their natural skill,” Kendra responded, “I guess you could say I don’t have that instinct, or that will for battle.”
“Then why are you here?” Rebecca asked blankly, not knowing what to say. “What do your instincts tell you?”
“I like to see the moon,” Kendra responded. “Even though it has a dark side, it always has at least part of a bright side. What I want to do is…” she paused. “I want to do whatever I can to keep that light going.”
The following morning was the day of the year's finals, the last test they would take as students at the Soul Reaper Academy. History was easy enough, remembering which high-ranking officer did what and where and when. Spirit Anatomy, on the other hand, was tough. One had to be able to focus spirit particles over several listed parts of the body, like the arms and torso. Technical Applications was easier, as they only had to properly write down the steps to using a false body in the world of the living, and prove that they could properly open a working senkaimon.
It was now time to test their combat skills, a skill that would be measured by the results of a “Field Exhibition,” or, in other words, the students would all fight each other. They’d all been gathered in a large gymnasium building of sorts, with Peter supervising from the stands. Several students that had been described as “Easily Passable” were sitting in the stands twiddling their thumbs, talking, or simply watching. Ryan and his flotilla of women comprised many on this group, as it was obvious that he had paid his and all their way out of doing any real work. Those that had also privately demonstrated their skills did not have to show up as well. Lucas never showed up.
“Begin!” Peter commanded.
The students weren’t assigned combatants, but it seemed unspoken that that’s how it would be done. They each broke off into small groups, most likely pairs, that would go about sparring with one another. Kendra immediately flash stepped into the air, only to be met by Rebecca, who had perceived the move. Hunter was faced against Joseph, who had showed up for the test. Jason flash stepped away from the group of students, only to be followed by both Reggie and Kayla, while Weeber was left with a low-lying student named Bryan. Several other members they knew were fighting, but Jason couldn’t make them out amongst the group.
“Oh, an Arc Shield,” Joe commented after having his blue burst of energy deflected by Hunter.
“Of course,” Hunter responded sticking his hands out, “Hadou #33, Sokatsui!”
“I have to deal with both of you?” Jason questioned, not really hoping for two enemies at once.
“I guess it ended up that way,” the dark haired Reggie responded.
In an instant, Kayla, sword drawn, was right in front of Jason.
“Serious, are we?” Jason asked, blocking with his weapon.
“I’m gonna make you pay for messing with Lucas!” She said in a lethal voice.
“I’ve told you all, I didn’t do anything to him!” Jason tried.
“Hadou #4,” Reggie spoke, making both Jason and Kayla turn their attention towards him, “Byakurai.”
“This is lame!” Weeber commented, “I’m a ninja, why do I have to fight the noobs?”
Bryan panted heavily, his sword on the ground next to him.
Jon looked into the stands, watching Ryan eying their little spectacle with amusement. With a flash step, he appeared in the air above him.
“You need to fight too!” He yelled.
“The hell is wrong with you?!” Ryan exclaimed, seeing the red sphere of energy coming from Weeber’s hands.
“Shakkahou!” Jon yelled. The area around him and Ryan exploded.
“Can’t you see I was eating?!” Ryan yelled.
“Sorry, I’ve never been good at controlling spells,” Jon responded in between coughs from the smoke of his attack.
“You’re so dead!” Ryan yelled, pulling out his sword.
Fights went on like this for quite some time, with the lowest ranking students falling one at a time. Kendra managed to stay standing long enough for Peter to blow the whistle on the whole charade.
With all of the exams passed, tests done, and time spent, they were now faced with the oncoming graduation ceremony, where they would each be assigned a spot on the squad roster, shake the hand of the lieutenant of Squad One, and be given their very own Zanpakutou and black uniforms of the Soul Reapers by Peter himself. They were all in a single file line, waiting for their names to be called. Considering that they’d been having graduations like this yearly for hundreds of years now, it was nothing special, but there were plenty of Soul Reapers and underclassmen present to see it, each one having one of the many seats in the auditorium.
One by one, names were being called for them to go up and achieve what they’d been striving for these past six years, but Jason, Kendra, Jon, and Reggie had arrived late.
“Oooh, man! They’ve already started!” Jason exclaimed.
“And we have to go to the back of the line!” Weeber added.
“Haha, I remember that I got here late when my friends and I graduated too,” a cheerful, male voice echoed from the door behind them. After turning to see him, he had on the typical Soul Reaper uniform, and he was slightly above the average height of a man. He had an aged look, but he wasn’t that old. He had somewhat long brown hair, and an eye patch over his right eye. His left eye was blue in color. Rolled up in his right arm was a white cloth of some kind.
“Oh, we apologize, sir!” Kendra spoke.
“Hahaha, it’s fine,” the man responded, “hey, isn’t that your friend?” he asked.
“What?” Jason looked up to see Ryan shaking hands with the lieutenant and walking over to Peter.
“You certainly were the resourceful one,” Peter commented, “but I’d probably watch that mouth of yours, along with other things,but not that you actually will, hahaha,” he laughed.
“Hell no!” Ryan responded, then taking his new shirt and his Zanpakutou. “Feels kinda heavy,” he said, but Peter simply smiled and waved him off.
“Hey, how’d you know he was my-” Jason said, looking back to the man, but he was gone.
“Anderson! FN GOT: The Friendly Neighborhood God of Thunder!” The lieutenant called.
“Woohoo!” Jason yelled.
“Good job!” Kendra cheered.
“Yeah!” Reggie yelled.
“You suck!” Jon added.
“Yeah, I don’t know them,” Hunter commented.
“Due to your unique fighting habits, you’ll be assigned to the Stealth Force in Squad Two. You’ll be the fifth seat.”
“Wow, fifth seat right away?” Hunter thought.
“And as such, with your back-handed sword style, you’ve also had a customized, curved Zanpakutou created for you.”
“Wow, awesome!” Hunter said, being handed the weapon and his shirt from Peter. The handle was curved, while the blade lacked a hilt guard and only had a gem instead. The blade itself went straight for a small length before coming out and curving off the same way as the handle.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how you fare in Squad Two, Mr. Kidou,” Peter laughed.
Hunter would have replied, but for some reason, after grabbing the handle of his new sword, he felt a sudden dizziness take him over, almost as if he was in a daze.
“You need to move,” Peter commented.
“OH, right,” Hunter said in embarrassment, the daze suddenly leaving.
After student after student went up, each getting words from Peter like “keep on trying even when it looks like no one else will” for Kendra or “try and keep your cool and think about your battles in Squad Eleven” to Jon, Jason was finally called.
“You’ve been recognized for your skills all-around,” the lieutenant spoke, “you’ve been assigned third seat of Squad Ten.”
“Squad Ten?! I’m still with Kendra?” Jason quivered with his thoughts. “Wait, did you say third seat?!”
“Indeed,” the lieutenant said.
“Woot!” Jason exclaimed.
After getting his shirt from Peter, Jason placed a hand on his new weapon for the first time. The air around it seemed to exude some sort of chill factor, while the handle itself seemed rather cold.
“Hopefully you can try and keep your peers in check,” Peter spoke.
“Yeah, hopefully,” Jason chuckled, disregarding the cold feeling.
Kendra stood poised as she took a deep breath, preparing for the next swing of her sword. She was in a clearing, presumably of some wooded area or another. In front of her was a wooden post of about her height. It had several cuts and gashes throughout, indicating it had been used for sword practice quite frequently.
“Hmph,” she grunted as she swung the practice blade down. It embedded itself in the post.
After several more slashes, the post now seemed like it had grown much weaker. Despite her past failures with a blade, it was now apparent that she had trained plenty in the field of kendo, a sign that it had been about a year since their trial in the world of the living.
“Haa!” She yelled with one final swing, cutting the wooden post down the middle.
“Looks like you’re having quite the time there, little lady!” A voice called. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to be here out of campus hours?”
“I know that voice,” she thought, “You’re Lucas’s friend, Greg.”
“Heeheehee, that’s me!” He creepily said while walking out from the trees, his mohawk seeming to have no problem with the branches.
“They call you ‘the ghost,’ I guess I now know why,” Kendra commented.
“I guess my appearance and disposition do seem rather eerie,” he responded, “but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re breaking the rules by being here.”
“I would think you are as well, Gregory,” another female voice came.
“Rebecca?” Kendra questioned the girl who was sitting up in a tree, “aren’t you supposed to be further in with the others?”
“Cha,” she responded, “but I easily sensed this creeper’s spirit energy over here and knew it couldn’t be good.”
“So did you just come here to tell us the rules?” Kendra inquired Greg.
“Nah, I just came to see what you ladies were doing out here on such a night as this. A full moon shows as a bad omen, you know.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Rebecca spoke in condescension, “without your master walking you around on your leash, you’ve got nothing to do now! Tell me, did Lucas finally crack and go off the deep end?”
“Don’t you dare talk about him like that!” Greg yelled, “you have no idea what he’s been through!”
“Do you?” Kendra asked innocently. “I thought he just locked himself in his room and wouldn’t open up for anyone, not even you or Kayla or Instructor Andrews.”
“Shut up, you don’t know him,” Greg spoke, looking away.
“Seems to me like the master’s disowned his lapdog,” Rebecca added.
“Whatever,” Greg spoke, turning around and walking off into the trees from whence he came. After a couple steps, he flash stepped away and he was gone.
“With Lucas gone, I almost feel sorry for him,” Kendra spoke.
“Psh, don’t bother!” Rebecca said, hopping down to the ground, “it’s because of Lucas being gone that him and Kayla have been so harsh to us lately. They just assume it’s our fault, so they treat us like crap!”
“C’mon Hunter, you’ll never make it if you can’t even swing a sword right!” Weeber joked, easily blocking another sword swing.
“You know what,” Hunter said, taking a step back and pointing his hand out, “Byakurai.”
In another second, a beam of white lightning shot forward at Jon, who quickly raised his sword up to block it. He did manage to shield himself from the blow, but the force of the beam was enough to push him back along the ground until he collided with a tree.
“Ouch,” Ryan commented, then throwing another handful of chips into his mouth.
“Hunter, don’t use so much spiritual energy, you’ll get us caught!” Jason explained.
“Hey, he shouldn’t think he’s better than me!” Hunter said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t think you’re better than me,” a battered Weeber commented as he flash stepped out from the explosive burst and appeared right next to Hunter, swinging at him.
Hunter barely blocked the swing and proceeded to flash step away as well, but Weeber appeared right next to him.
“Your flash step is still too slow to beat mine!” Weeber commented, “you lose.”
“I hate you,” Hunter commented.
“I know,” Weeber responded.
“So why didn’t Dylan show up, Ryan?” Jason asked on the sidelines.
“Well,” Ryan began, “I suppose he had some kids to watch or some work to do actually on campus. You know all of us don’t really like to break the rules and come out here so close to graduation.”
“That does sound like Pickle,” Jason responded, “how ‘bout everyone else?”
“I let the ladies have a girls’ night out tonight, while Kass is studying for her finals, as typical. Joe said something about a hunt, and Reggie had a date I believe.”
“So why are you out here by yourself?” Rebecca asked. “It’s freezing, couldn’t you pick a better night?” She shivered.
“…” Kendra hesitated before asking, “you know I’ve never done too great in our class, right?”
“Where did that come from?”
“…and for the six years we’ve been here, I’ve always been the failure of our class, the one who’s never been good at anything?”
“Don’t talk like that,” Rebecca spoke.
“So I often get a lot of insults from the higher students,” Kendra added, “but I keep going with all of you guys and I follow your examples. Jason has his swordplay, Hunter has his kidou, Jon has his fighting power and shunpo, and even Ryan has his people skills and strength. They’ve all done a great deal since we first got here.”
“Right, but you and I have too,” Rebecca commented.
“But I can’t match their natural skill,” Kendra responded, “I guess you could say I don’t have that instinct, or that will for battle.”
“Then why are you here?” Rebecca asked blankly, not knowing what to say. “What do your instincts tell you?”
“I like to see the moon,” Kendra responded. “Even though it has a dark side, it always has at least part of a bright side. What I want to do is…” she paused. “I want to do whatever I can to keep that light going.”
The following morning was the day of the year's finals, the last test they would take as students at the Soul Reaper Academy. History was easy enough, remembering which high-ranking officer did what and where and when. Spirit Anatomy, on the other hand, was tough. One had to be able to focus spirit particles over several listed parts of the body, like the arms and torso. Technical Applications was easier, as they only had to properly write down the steps to using a false body in the world of the living, and prove that they could properly open a working senkaimon.
It was now time to test their combat skills, a skill that would be measured by the results of a “Field Exhibition,” or, in other words, the students would all fight each other. They’d all been gathered in a large gymnasium building of sorts, with Peter supervising from the stands. Several students that had been described as “Easily Passable” were sitting in the stands twiddling their thumbs, talking, or simply watching. Ryan and his flotilla of women comprised many on this group, as it was obvious that he had paid his and all their way out of doing any real work. Those that had also privately demonstrated their skills did not have to show up as well. Lucas never showed up.
“Begin!” Peter commanded.
The students weren’t assigned combatants, but it seemed unspoken that that’s how it would be done. They each broke off into small groups, most likely pairs, that would go about sparring with one another. Kendra immediately flash stepped into the air, only to be met by Rebecca, who had perceived the move. Hunter was faced against Joseph, who had showed up for the test. Jason flash stepped away from the group of students, only to be followed by both Reggie and Kayla, while Weeber was left with a low-lying student named Bryan. Several other members they knew were fighting, but Jason couldn’t make them out amongst the group.
“Oh, an Arc Shield,” Joe commented after having his blue burst of energy deflected by Hunter.
“Of course,” Hunter responded sticking his hands out, “Hadou #33, Sokatsui!”
“I have to deal with both of you?” Jason questioned, not really hoping for two enemies at once.
“I guess it ended up that way,” the dark haired Reggie responded.
In an instant, Kayla, sword drawn, was right in front of Jason.
“Serious, are we?” Jason asked, blocking with his weapon.
“I’m gonna make you pay for messing with Lucas!” She said in a lethal voice.
“I’ve told you all, I didn’t do anything to him!” Jason tried.
“Hadou #4,” Reggie spoke, making both Jason and Kayla turn their attention towards him, “Byakurai.”
“This is lame!” Weeber commented, “I’m a ninja, why do I have to fight the noobs?”
Bryan panted heavily, his sword on the ground next to him.
Jon looked into the stands, watching Ryan eying their little spectacle with amusement. With a flash step, he appeared in the air above him.
“You need to fight too!” He yelled.
“The hell is wrong with you?!” Ryan exclaimed, seeing the red sphere of energy coming from Weeber’s hands.
“Shakkahou!” Jon yelled. The area around him and Ryan exploded.
“Can’t you see I was eating?!” Ryan yelled.
“Sorry, I’ve never been good at controlling spells,” Jon responded in between coughs from the smoke of his attack.
“You’re so dead!” Ryan yelled, pulling out his sword.
Fights went on like this for quite some time, with the lowest ranking students falling one at a time. Kendra managed to stay standing long enough for Peter to blow the whistle on the whole charade.
With all of the exams passed, tests done, and time spent, they were now faced with the oncoming graduation ceremony, where they would each be assigned a spot on the squad roster, shake the hand of the lieutenant of Squad One, and be given their very own Zanpakutou and black uniforms of the Soul Reapers by Peter himself. They were all in a single file line, waiting for their names to be called. Considering that they’d been having graduations like this yearly for hundreds of years now, it was nothing special, but there were plenty of Soul Reapers and underclassmen present to see it, each one having one of the many seats in the auditorium.
One by one, names were being called for them to go up and achieve what they’d been striving for these past six years, but Jason, Kendra, Jon, and Reggie had arrived late.
“Oooh, man! They’ve already started!” Jason exclaimed.
“And we have to go to the back of the line!” Weeber added.
“Haha, I remember that I got here late when my friends and I graduated too,” a cheerful, male voice echoed from the door behind them. After turning to see him, he had on the typical Soul Reaper uniform, and he was slightly above the average height of a man. He had an aged look, but he wasn’t that old. He had somewhat long brown hair, and an eye patch over his right eye. His left eye was blue in color. Rolled up in his right arm was a white cloth of some kind.
“Oh, we apologize, sir!” Kendra spoke.
“Hahaha, it’s fine,” the man responded, “hey, isn’t that your friend?” he asked.
“What?” Jason looked up to see Ryan shaking hands with the lieutenant and walking over to Peter.
“You certainly were the resourceful one,” Peter commented, “but I’d probably watch that mouth of yours, along with other things,but not that you actually will, hahaha,” he laughed.
“Hell no!” Ryan responded, then taking his new shirt and his Zanpakutou. “Feels kinda heavy,” he said, but Peter simply smiled and waved him off.
“Hey, how’d you know he was my-” Jason said, looking back to the man, but he was gone.
“Anderson! FN GOT: The Friendly Neighborhood God of Thunder!” The lieutenant called.
“Woohoo!” Jason yelled.
“Good job!” Kendra cheered.
“Yeah!” Reggie yelled.
“You suck!” Jon added.
“Yeah, I don’t know them,” Hunter commented.
“Due to your unique fighting habits, you’ll be assigned to the Stealth Force in Squad Two. You’ll be the fifth seat.”
“Wow, fifth seat right away?” Hunter thought.
“And as such, with your back-handed sword style, you’ve also had a customized, curved Zanpakutou created for you.”
“Wow, awesome!” Hunter said, being handed the weapon and his shirt from Peter. The handle was curved, while the blade lacked a hilt guard and only had a gem instead. The blade itself went straight for a small length before coming out and curving off the same way as the handle.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how you fare in Squad Two, Mr. Kidou,” Peter laughed.
Hunter would have replied, but for some reason, after grabbing the handle of his new sword, he felt a sudden dizziness take him over, almost as if he was in a daze.
“You need to move,” Peter commented.
“OH, right,” Hunter said in embarrassment, the daze suddenly leaving.
After student after student went up, each getting words from Peter like “keep on trying even when it looks like no one else will” for Kendra or “try and keep your cool and think about your battles in Squad Eleven” to Jon, Jason was finally called.
“You’ve been recognized for your skills all-around,” the lieutenant spoke, “you’ve been assigned third seat of Squad Ten.”
“Squad Ten?! I’m still with Kendra?” Jason quivered with his thoughts. “Wait, did you say third seat?!”
“Indeed,” the lieutenant said.
“Woot!” Jason exclaimed.
After getting his shirt from Peter, Jason placed a hand on his new weapon for the first time. The air around it seemed to exude some sort of chill factor, while the handle itself seemed rather cold.
“Hopefully you can try and keep your peers in check,” Peter spoke.
“Yeah, hopefully,” Jason chuckled, disregarding the cold feeling.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 10 ~ Meeting The Squads:
“It’s my pleasure to be working with you all,” Peter told the newest members of Squad Nine.
“Ehh, whatever,” Ryan shrugged it off.
“It’s an honor to work with you, sir!” Kassandra responded.
“Look at the little suck-up!” one of the women with Ryan said.
“I can’t believe her!” another added.
“Like you two are any better,” a third replied.
“Seriously, you two are just annoying,” the fourth spoke.
In a matter of seconds, the four had began to fight with each other over trivial issues like Ryan’s food, their own looks, and who was going to be the best in the squad. Kassandra face palmed. Ryan shrugged and had another bite of the triple cheeseburger in his hand.
“I can see where this is going already…” Peter deadpanned.
“So Squad Eleven…” Weeber spoke aloud.
“I have no idea where it is…” a Soul Reaper with him replied.
“Don’t look at me,” another acquaintance said.
“Fail…” Weeber commented. “So we’re lost!”
“Squad Two, Squad Two!” Hunter told himself, running through the streets of Soul Society looking for his destination.
“I can’t believe the directions just said to ‘find it, good luck!’ That’s not fun at all…” Joe added.
“Gah!” Hunter spoke in exasperation, “we’re lost! I have no idea where to go!”
“Hey Jason,” Kendra spoke from behind him as she peered out the window of the hallway to the figures running in the streets below, “is that Hunter and Joey?”
“Even if it is, we should be more worried about ourselves,” Jason responded, “Hunter’s not THAT stupid, so he should be able to find Squad Two alright.”
The two of them, along with three other students they didn’t know, had all been assigned to Squad Ten, and each one trembled before the door of the building they were in. In the upper center of the door was a large plaque, protruding from the door, with a straight, black square drawn around it. In the square sat the number “10,” in large, black print.
Jason took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” he said, knocking on the door.”
“Come in,” a voice responded from inside.
Jason opened the door and proceeded inside, the other four new Soul Reapers following him.
“Now those are some bright shirts!” an older Soul Reaper commented.
“They’re black, how are they bright?” Jason asked in his mind.
“Guessing from how new and mystified you guys look, I’m guessing you five are the new recruits?” another Soul Reaper asked.
“Yup, just graduated yesterday,” one of the newly graduated students responded.
Jason finally took a moment to examine the place. There were a few desks here and there, papers placed in folders, placed in stacks, placed on walls, some just thrown on the floor. The walls were the typical white, of course, and the floors were hard wood. Cylindrical light shades attached to the corners of the large room kept the place lit, while a few windows here and there added some natural light of their own. The room doorlessly connected to several other rooms, one consisting of mostly beds and nightstands, while another had several practice posts and wooden swords. At the end of the small hallway between all of the interconnecting rooms sat one lone door.
“Well, welcome to Squad Ten!” A friendly Soul Reaper with dark brown hair spoke.
“Just need to know a few rules,” another Soul Reaper spoke.
“One, no hogging the coffee!” a female Soul Reaper looked up from the papers at her desk and spoke commandingly.
“Two, no funny business in the barracks!” a male Soul Reaper standing before them spoke.
“What the hell do they think we’d do?” Jason thought.
“Three!” another joined in, “status or position doesn’t matter!”
“What?” Jason asked.
“What do you mean?” a graduate added behind him.
“Everyone besides the captain and lieutenant are on equal footing here, so just because someone’s a higher seat than someone else, it only makes them better in reputation.”
“I can see how that makes some sense,” Jason spoke, “but who thought of such a system with no real ladder?”
“The captain did.”
“Any ideas?” Hunter asked.
“Make a right here!” Joe responded as they came up on a turn in the street.
As they turned to try another route, they collided with another group of people.
“What the crap?!” Jon complained after falling to the ground.
“Where did you guys come from?” Joey asked after witnessing the collision.
“I don’t know, but somebody here just needs to go away!” Weeber said in frustration, pulling out his sword.
“You really want your first use of your Zanpakutou to be on me?” Hunter said with a blank expression.
“Why not?” Weeber responded, “as long as I got this sword in my hand, there’s no problem I can’t solve!”
Hunter sighed. “Bakudou #4, Hainawa!” he said as a red rope of spirit energy coiled around Jon, making him drop his sword and fall to the ground.
“Grr, that’s not fair!” Jon complained as his squad mates tried to help him.
“Let’s go, Joey,” Hunter spoke, walking away.
“Right behind ‘ya,” Joey responded.
“So this is Squad Seven,” Dylan commented, arriving at the Squad Seven barracks.
“Yup, and this is our assigned medic from fourth squad,” an older Soul Reaper told him, “beware though, he’s kinda feisty.”
“Feisty?” Dylan questioned, “I’m pretty sure I can deal with feisty.”
“Who’s this guy?” the medic asked. He had a mumbley voice, dark hair of longer than average length, glasses, and pale skin.
“This is Dylan a.k.a. Pickle,” the Soul Reaper spoke. “Dylan, meet Ben.”
“Yo,” Pickle said, “you mess with me and we’re gonna have some problems.”
“Hey, I’m just supposed to heal you, we don’t need to be friends,” Ben responded.
“Aight, sounds good to me,” Pickle responded.
“Phew, finally found it!” Hunter said, arriving at a large open area, the opposite end of which had a semi-large one-story building with a “2” on it in thick, black print.
“And it only took us a thousand turns and alleyways to get here!” Joey added.
On the roof of the building they were now looking at was a woman sitting, dangling her legs over the edge.
“What took you guys so long?” She asked cheerfully, hopping down to the ground. She had short, dark hair that went down to her shoulders in a clean cut. She had a slight bit of bangs that barely touched down on her eyebrows. She also wore a black skirt rather than the typical black pants of common Soul Reapers.
“What do you mean? We had no idea where to go!” Joey spoke.
Hunter just now noticed the emblem strapped to her arm. Printed on it was a large number “2.”
“Are you our lieutenant?” He asked.
“Yessir, you bet I am!” She said cheerfully. “Name’s Ashley Speers. I take it you two are the noobies?”
“Yeah, that’s us,” Joey said.
“Ugh, noobies,” Hunter thought.
“So is there any way to see the captain?” Jason asked.
“Only when he’s in and he’s not busy,” a Squad Ten Soul Reaper responded.
“Is he in right now?” Kendra asked, catching on to what Jason intended to do.
“He’s been out for a few days now if I remember,” another Soul Reaper responded.
“Yeah, he’s always jumping to and fro trying to get this and that done,” a female Soul Reaper added.
“So what do you guys do?” A newly graduated student asked.
“Well, the lieutenant usually maintains the general order while the captain’s not around, but she’s usually busy in the captain’s office. We just kinda sit around and do whatever comes up that needs doing.”
“So nobody makes any of you do anything around here?” Jason asked.
“Nope, not really…” the Soul Reapers responded.
“HAHAHAHA!” Lieutenant Speers laughed as she poked Hunter in the face. “You’ll be newbie one, and the other dude will be number two!”
“How could such a non-serious person as you be the lieutenant of Squad Two?!” Hunter asked in disbelief.
“Like this!” She said cheerfully, but then disappearing and reappearing behind Hunter in an instant, kicking him to the ground.
“Nice one,” Joey commented.
“Teeheehee!” She laughed.
“Whatever,” Hunter said, getting up off the ground, “let’s just get on with it.”
“Fine,” Ashley said, raising her right hand in the air, “meet the squad!” She waved her hand downward once and, as if moving like a swarm of bugs, a number of ninja-looking Soul Reapers flash stepped in front of them. “This is Squad Two,” she began, “but the cooler name is the Stealth Force!”
“So we finally found number eleven!” Jon commented, pooped from all the running around.
“Seems like it,” another graduate assigned to Squad Eleven responded next to him.
“HEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!” a voice echoed from the street behind them.
“What the crap?” Weeber questioned.
It didn’t take long for the source of the voice to come running out of an alleyway and into the open area in front of the Squad Eleven barracks. He was a somewhat tall man, with his light brown hair curving over to the right side of his face. He had a carefree expression on his face, despite how he had been seemingly searching for them desperately.
“You won’t believe how long it took me to find you guys!” he spoke.
“Who the heck are you?” Jon asked.
“Seriously, you seem kind of weird to me,” another graduate spoke.
“Just call me Ivan for now!” He spoke, “I’m your superior!”
“That’s just,” Weeber paused, “that’s just what.”
“You wanna fight so I can prove it?” Ivan dared.
“Why not, this’ll be simple,” Jon responded.
The two pulled out their swords and took up crude stances that were obviously not comparable to a formal style in any way.
“So what seat are you?” Jon asked, blocking a couple swings.
“Third,” Ivan responded, throwing on several more strings of sword hits.
“Hehe, you gotta use ‘yer face to look where you’re swinging,” Weeber taunted, flash stepping behind him.
“I am using my face!” Ivan responded cheerfully as he flash stepped behind Weeber without his knowledge.
“Faster than me?” Jon thought.
“Haha!” Ivan smirked, putting his palm out in front of Jon’s face, “you’re dead!”
“Then I’m a zombie?” Jon asked jokingly.
“ACK, ZOMBIE!!!” Ivan screamed.
“Hahaha, that was fun to watch,” another voice commented.
Ivan, Jon, and the graduates with him looked up to see a lone man standing atop the barracks building. He had dark red hair, a height a bit greater than Ivan’s, and a white overcoat blowing in the wind.
“Dynamic entry!” He yelled.
“Who’s that guy?” Weeber asked.
“That’s our captain,” Ivan responded.
“It’s my pleasure to be working with you all,” Peter told the newest members of Squad Nine.
“Ehh, whatever,” Ryan shrugged it off.
“It’s an honor to work with you, sir!” Kassandra responded.
“Look at the little suck-up!” one of the women with Ryan said.
“I can’t believe her!” another added.
“Like you two are any better,” a third replied.
“Seriously, you two are just annoying,” the fourth spoke.
In a matter of seconds, the four had began to fight with each other over trivial issues like Ryan’s food, their own looks, and who was going to be the best in the squad. Kassandra face palmed. Ryan shrugged and had another bite of the triple cheeseburger in his hand.
“I can see where this is going already…” Peter deadpanned.
“So Squad Eleven…” Weeber spoke aloud.
“I have no idea where it is…” a Soul Reaper with him replied.
“Don’t look at me,” another acquaintance said.
“Fail…” Weeber commented. “So we’re lost!”
“Squad Two, Squad Two!” Hunter told himself, running through the streets of Soul Society looking for his destination.
“I can’t believe the directions just said to ‘find it, good luck!’ That’s not fun at all…” Joe added.
“Gah!” Hunter spoke in exasperation, “we’re lost! I have no idea where to go!”
“Hey Jason,” Kendra spoke from behind him as she peered out the window of the hallway to the figures running in the streets below, “is that Hunter and Joey?”
“Even if it is, we should be more worried about ourselves,” Jason responded, “Hunter’s not THAT stupid, so he should be able to find Squad Two alright.”
The two of them, along with three other students they didn’t know, had all been assigned to Squad Ten, and each one trembled before the door of the building they were in. In the upper center of the door was a large plaque, protruding from the door, with a straight, black square drawn around it. In the square sat the number “10,” in large, black print.
Jason took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” he said, knocking on the door.”
“Come in,” a voice responded from inside.
Jason opened the door and proceeded inside, the other four new Soul Reapers following him.
“Now those are some bright shirts!” an older Soul Reaper commented.
“They’re black, how are they bright?” Jason asked in his mind.
“Guessing from how new and mystified you guys look, I’m guessing you five are the new recruits?” another Soul Reaper asked.
“Yup, just graduated yesterday,” one of the newly graduated students responded.
Jason finally took a moment to examine the place. There were a few desks here and there, papers placed in folders, placed in stacks, placed on walls, some just thrown on the floor. The walls were the typical white, of course, and the floors were hard wood. Cylindrical light shades attached to the corners of the large room kept the place lit, while a few windows here and there added some natural light of their own. The room doorlessly connected to several other rooms, one consisting of mostly beds and nightstands, while another had several practice posts and wooden swords. At the end of the small hallway between all of the interconnecting rooms sat one lone door.
“Well, welcome to Squad Ten!” A friendly Soul Reaper with dark brown hair spoke.
“Just need to know a few rules,” another Soul Reaper spoke.
“One, no hogging the coffee!” a female Soul Reaper looked up from the papers at her desk and spoke commandingly.
“Two, no funny business in the barracks!” a male Soul Reaper standing before them spoke.
“What the hell do they think we’d do?” Jason thought.
“Three!” another joined in, “status or position doesn’t matter!”
“What?” Jason asked.
“What do you mean?” a graduate added behind him.
“Everyone besides the captain and lieutenant are on equal footing here, so just because someone’s a higher seat than someone else, it only makes them better in reputation.”
“I can see how that makes some sense,” Jason spoke, “but who thought of such a system with no real ladder?”
“The captain did.”
“Any ideas?” Hunter asked.
“Make a right here!” Joe responded as they came up on a turn in the street.
As they turned to try another route, they collided with another group of people.
“What the crap?!” Jon complained after falling to the ground.
“Where did you guys come from?” Joey asked after witnessing the collision.
“I don’t know, but somebody here just needs to go away!” Weeber said in frustration, pulling out his sword.
“You really want your first use of your Zanpakutou to be on me?” Hunter said with a blank expression.
“Why not?” Weeber responded, “as long as I got this sword in my hand, there’s no problem I can’t solve!”
Hunter sighed. “Bakudou #4, Hainawa!” he said as a red rope of spirit energy coiled around Jon, making him drop his sword and fall to the ground.
“Grr, that’s not fair!” Jon complained as his squad mates tried to help him.
“Let’s go, Joey,” Hunter spoke, walking away.
“Right behind ‘ya,” Joey responded.
“So this is Squad Seven,” Dylan commented, arriving at the Squad Seven barracks.
“Yup, and this is our assigned medic from fourth squad,” an older Soul Reaper told him, “beware though, he’s kinda feisty.”
“Feisty?” Dylan questioned, “I’m pretty sure I can deal with feisty.”
“Who’s this guy?” the medic asked. He had a mumbley voice, dark hair of longer than average length, glasses, and pale skin.
“This is Dylan a.k.a. Pickle,” the Soul Reaper spoke. “Dylan, meet Ben.”
“Yo,” Pickle said, “you mess with me and we’re gonna have some problems.”
“Hey, I’m just supposed to heal you, we don’t need to be friends,” Ben responded.
“Aight, sounds good to me,” Pickle responded.
“Phew, finally found it!” Hunter said, arriving at a large open area, the opposite end of which had a semi-large one-story building with a “2” on it in thick, black print.
“And it only took us a thousand turns and alleyways to get here!” Joey added.
On the roof of the building they were now looking at was a woman sitting, dangling her legs over the edge.
“What took you guys so long?” She asked cheerfully, hopping down to the ground. She had short, dark hair that went down to her shoulders in a clean cut. She had a slight bit of bangs that barely touched down on her eyebrows. She also wore a black skirt rather than the typical black pants of common Soul Reapers.
“What do you mean? We had no idea where to go!” Joey spoke.
Hunter just now noticed the emblem strapped to her arm. Printed on it was a large number “2.”
“Are you our lieutenant?” He asked.
“Yessir, you bet I am!” She said cheerfully. “Name’s Ashley Speers. I take it you two are the noobies?”
“Yeah, that’s us,” Joey said.
“Ugh, noobies,” Hunter thought.
“So is there any way to see the captain?” Jason asked.
“Only when he’s in and he’s not busy,” a Squad Ten Soul Reaper responded.
“Is he in right now?” Kendra asked, catching on to what Jason intended to do.
“He’s been out for a few days now if I remember,” another Soul Reaper responded.
“Yeah, he’s always jumping to and fro trying to get this and that done,” a female Soul Reaper added.
“So what do you guys do?” A newly graduated student asked.
“Well, the lieutenant usually maintains the general order while the captain’s not around, but she’s usually busy in the captain’s office. We just kinda sit around and do whatever comes up that needs doing.”
“So nobody makes any of you do anything around here?” Jason asked.
“Nope, not really…” the Soul Reapers responded.
“HAHAHAHA!” Lieutenant Speers laughed as she poked Hunter in the face. “You’ll be newbie one, and the other dude will be number two!”
“How could such a non-serious person as you be the lieutenant of Squad Two?!” Hunter asked in disbelief.
“Like this!” She said cheerfully, but then disappearing and reappearing behind Hunter in an instant, kicking him to the ground.
“Nice one,” Joey commented.
“Teeheehee!” She laughed.
“Whatever,” Hunter said, getting up off the ground, “let’s just get on with it.”
“Fine,” Ashley said, raising her right hand in the air, “meet the squad!” She waved her hand downward once and, as if moving like a swarm of bugs, a number of ninja-looking Soul Reapers flash stepped in front of them. “This is Squad Two,” she began, “but the cooler name is the Stealth Force!”
“So we finally found number eleven!” Jon commented, pooped from all the running around.
“Seems like it,” another graduate assigned to Squad Eleven responded next to him.
“HEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!” a voice echoed from the street behind them.
“What the crap?” Weeber questioned.
It didn’t take long for the source of the voice to come running out of an alleyway and into the open area in front of the Squad Eleven barracks. He was a somewhat tall man, with his light brown hair curving over to the right side of his face. He had a carefree expression on his face, despite how he had been seemingly searching for them desperately.
“You won’t believe how long it took me to find you guys!” he spoke.
“Who the heck are you?” Jon asked.
“Seriously, you seem kind of weird to me,” another graduate spoke.
“Just call me Ivan for now!” He spoke, “I’m your superior!”
“That’s just,” Weeber paused, “that’s just what.”
“You wanna fight so I can prove it?” Ivan dared.
“Why not, this’ll be simple,” Jon responded.
The two pulled out their swords and took up crude stances that were obviously not comparable to a formal style in any way.
“So what seat are you?” Jon asked, blocking a couple swings.
“Third,” Ivan responded, throwing on several more strings of sword hits.
“Hehe, you gotta use ‘yer face to look where you’re swinging,” Weeber taunted, flash stepping behind him.
“I am using my face!” Ivan responded cheerfully as he flash stepped behind Weeber without his knowledge.
“Faster than me?” Jon thought.
“Haha!” Ivan smirked, putting his palm out in front of Jon’s face, “you’re dead!”
“Then I’m a zombie?” Jon asked jokingly.
“ACK, ZOMBIE!!!” Ivan screamed.
“Hahaha, that was fun to watch,” another voice commented.
Ivan, Jon, and the graduates with him looked up to see a lone man standing atop the barracks building. He had dark red hair, a height a bit greater than Ivan’s, and a white overcoat blowing in the wind.
“Dynamic entry!” He yelled.
“Who’s that guy?” Weeber asked.
“That’s our captain,” Ivan responded.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 11 ~ Routine Exercise:
Hunter sat outside the Squad Two training grounds, reading a nameless book in his hands to calm his mind after the week’s events. It’d been a rough several days, with the always-jumping-around lieutenant having the entire squad wake up three hours earlier than he was used to at the academy to do over five fast-paced training exercises that each took a couple hours. They were all speed based too, so they weren’t very lenient on energy use. This was his first real chance to take a breather from it all, in a spot where he hoped no one would notice him. His serenity was soon disrupted as he felt someone brush up against him, and soon detected the spirit pressure that accompanied it.
“What-cha dooinn’?” Ashley asked, putting her hands on his head from behind him and leaning over him to see the book in his hands.
“Too close…” Hunter thought. “Just reading a book,” he said briskly, closing the book while feeling a blush grow onto his face.
She leaned over further, almost appearing upside down in front of him and again poking him in the face. “Hahaha, you’re blushing!” she laughed.
“Shut up, I just blush easily,” he responded in frustration, growing redder. “Wayyyyy too close now…” he thought.
“Is it a…” she paused dramatically, “dirty book?”
“What?!” Hunter gawked, jerking away from her. “No! I don’t read books like that!”
“Riiiiiiiiggggghhhhttt,” she said sarcastically, “no need to deny it, but I’ll just leave you to it,” she said, flash stepping off out of sight.
“What is with her?!” Hunter thought.
In his bed in the Squad Eleven barracks, Weeber snored randomly as he noticed in his sleep that he had lost his blanket. Irritated, he swatted around, grabbing for it until he subconsciously realized it was no use. He opened his eyes just in time to grab his sword from his bedside and block a blow from Ivan.
“Good reflexes!” Ivan complimented.
“C’mon, I’m tired…” Weeber commented, covering his face with his pillow.
“Well at least have some breakfast,” Ivan spoke, gesturing towards a tray on Jon’s nightstand.
Jon looked over to it and took a whiff. “Is that a pie?” he asked.
“Of course, nothing better to start the day!” Ivan said with glee.
“No cake or ice cream too?” Jon said sleepily, throwing his sword back down to the floor.
“Course not!” Ivan responded, “no one in Squad Eleven believes in cakes!”
Jon let show a subtle grin as he thrust the fork in and took his first bite of pie. "That's awesome," he mumbled between bites.
Ryan placed another large bite into his breakfast bacon sandwich at the Squad Nine breakfast table. One of his female companions took a bite out of her smaller breakfast sandwich as well, but a small bit of egg slipped out and landed on her blouse.
“Ugh, you pig!” Another woman complained after taking a bite of French toast.
“You’re one to talk!” she responded after the other woman had a bit of syrup drip off her food onto the table.
“Quiet you two! Can’t you see you’re both repulsive?” a third woman responded, sipping a cup of coffee.
“I think you’re all annoyingly disgusting,” the fourth said, stabbing her fork into her potatoes.
“Look who’s disgusting now!” The first woman said, throwing a piece of egg at her.
“Piggy!” The second woman retorted, landing a drop of syrup in the first woman’s hair.
Peter watched the food fight unfold from his own end of the table, with several other friends of his from Squad Nine commenting on the newbie behavior. Kassandra sat more towards his end, her red hair straightened professionally once again and her look poised.
“How annoying,” she commented.
“Give ‘em a break, Kass,” Peter responded, “I just wonder how long Ryan’ll be able to pay his way through his situations.”
“Gah, where is the damn captain?!” Jason fumed.
“Seriously, it’s been a week!” a graduate added.
“We really need to talk to him about the condition of the squad,” Kendra spoke, “they’re all so lazy!”
“Yeah, it’s like ten and half of them are still asleep!” another new Soul Reaper spoke.
“What’s going on here?” A man said as he walked by, noticing the small group gathered outside the captain’s chamber. He had dark gray hair that dropped past his shoulders, and he had an aged look about him that expressed utter seriousness. His black sleeves were a bit longer than those of the normal Soul Reaper shirts.
“We need to talk to the captain,” a Soul Reaper spoke up.
“It’s urgent,” Jason added.
“Well I can tell you he ain’t here,” the man spoke, “if I remember, the buffoon’s out supervising some training exercise with Squad Eleven.”
“So what are you doing here?” another Soul Reaper asked.
“I was forced to be your sit-in for your lazy captain and cooped up lieutenant,” he spoke, “I’m Lieutenant Vector Serlusian of Squad Six, but you don’t need to know me.”
“That’s nice,” Kendra whispered, noticing that the man seemed to radiate with a mood of disgust.
“Hey, did you guys hear?” a member of Squad Thirteen mumbled at the breakfast table.
“Yeah, I think I heard that too,” another said down the table.
Rebecca decided she was bored enough to listen in.
“Did you hear about it?” another Soul Reaper asked her.
“Hear about what?” she responded.
“What happened to the new graduates during one of their field exercises a little while back?” he told her.
Images of the Hollow onslaught from her days in school refreshed themselves in her mind.
“No, what happened to them?” Rebecca feigned ignorance.
“They say that they were attacked by a thousand Hollows and Menos!” he explained.
“A thousand, really?” she questioned, only remembering a couple hundred at most.
“Yeah,” he added, “heard they were about to get beaten pretty bad too until a captain that was temporarily stationed over here saved their asses!”
“What captain did you hear it was?” Another Soul Reaper asked.
“I heard it was Squad Nine’s captain, but we know she’s been stationed overseas in Japan for a while now with their lieutenant.”
“Of course, dumbass. That’s why that captain and lieutenant were stationed here in the first place.”
“So what captain was it?”
“I heard it was Captain Kuchiki…”
“Captain Kuchiki?! No way, that guy’s a legend, and a noble too! No way he’d be here for our crummy squads.”
“I heard they used ice attacks, who could it be then?”
“Could it be Captain Hitsugaya from Japan’s Squad Ten?”
“You mean that hero from the Hollow war those years ago? Nah, it couldn’t have been him or else the students would have all died too!”
Rebecca frowned. She knew that these “Captain Kuchiki” and “Captain Hitsugaya” characters they’d been mentioning were both men with female lieutenants, but the captain that she remembered appearing was a girl, with a male lieutenant.
“Alright, that’s enough!” Came the voice of Captain Bryan Sanders at the head of the table. He had somewhat long white hair, the length of which was bound into a ponytail at his neckline. More often than not, he would seem like the laid-back type, but today his brown eyes held anxiety. His white jacket completed his captainly appearance. “The official report of the incident is classified,” he said, “so we’ll only begin to investigate if or when we’re supposed to, alright?”
The Soul Reapers of Squad Thirteen nodded. Rebecca took special note on the captain’s edginess about the situation.
“Attention!” The fifth seat of Squad Seven spoke from the table they were sitting at. “We’re to head out and wipe out a group of Hollows outside of Residential District Fifteen. We’re supposed to go in place of the entire squad.”
They all groaned.
“Well, time to see if my practice has been paying off,” Pickle said, with several others thinking similar ideas.
“Just remember to yell for me when you get your ass kicked,” Ben responded.
It took the assigned members of Squad Seven, a small portion of its actual size considering that a large number of members, including the captain and several other high-ranking officers, were out on leave. It was only a fraction of the fighting force it should have been. Several hours after leaving the Squad Seven barracks, they arrived at Residential District Fifteen, a rather poor, unkept section of crude shacks for homes. It was empty and silent.
The Fifth Seat decided to speak first. “Alright, I can already sense some spirit pressures,” he said, “let’s just get this patrol done, wipe these Hollows out, and get back home.”
They all nodded and readied themselves for a battle as anyone with a sense of spirit energy could tell there were Hollows closing in. With an echoing roar, they began to appear out of a nearby forest.
“There they are; move in, move in!” The Fifth Seat Officer commanded.
Dylan and a few others were the first to meet the Hollows. There were about twenty-five of them, some serpentine and some quadrupedal and monstrous. Some even walked upright with large muscular legs and thick, powerful looking fists, while others had claws that looked made to slice flesh.
After clashing one Hollow’s claws against his sword, Dylan flash stepped out of the way of the tail of another Hollow attacking him from behind.
“Hadou #31, Shakkaho!” He spoke, shooting a red ball of fire-like energy out of his hands. The red blast collided with the two Hollows, temporarily incapacitating them, but three more appeared in their place.
“Doesn’t look too good,” Pickle commented, “guess we’ll have to go all out!” He looked at his sword, which began to glow brightly in a golden aura.
“Shine down,” he said as the sword flashed white, “Koukin (lit. Jew’s Harp).” In a flash of light, the sword completely changed from being a standard katana to a golden six-pointed-star shaped ring, with each point holding a gold chain that connected to a smaller star. In the middle of the large star were many pole-like handles going back and forth across the shape, making it easy to hold and move around in a multitude of ways.
Putting both hands on one of the new weapon’s central grips, Dylan began to spin the weapon in the air above him, and, with one powerful swing, sent three of the six miniature stars spinning violently at the Hollows, slicing through them and ultimately destroying them. The three stars returned back to the original in a boomerang-like fashion, and, with one more swing, he launched two more stars at the previous two Hollows, destroying them as well.
From atop one of the dilapidated houses, a man in a long, white jacket stood, with light blonde hair blowing lightly in the breeze. On the back of his white vest-jacket sat a black number “7.” “Now there’s a candidate for Second Seat,” he spoke.
"BEN!" Pickle yelled, "I got a scratch!"
"Hey, other people need to be healed more than you do," Ben retorted.
"Then heal me quickly and get to them after," Pickle reasoned.
"Fine," Ben mumbled, placing his hands in the air above Dylan's right arm, a green glow enveloping the scratch.
In a few seconds, the wound was gone. Dylan jumped up, grabbing his golden star weapon, and moved back into the fight.
"Aren't you gonna say thanks?!" Ben complained.
Dylan simply sighed, and, paying him barely any mind, pushed Ben onto the ground and walked off.
"Ouch, jerk..." Ben grumbled.
Hunter sat outside the Squad Two training grounds, reading a nameless book in his hands to calm his mind after the week’s events. It’d been a rough several days, with the always-jumping-around lieutenant having the entire squad wake up three hours earlier than he was used to at the academy to do over five fast-paced training exercises that each took a couple hours. They were all speed based too, so they weren’t very lenient on energy use. This was his first real chance to take a breather from it all, in a spot where he hoped no one would notice him. His serenity was soon disrupted as he felt someone brush up against him, and soon detected the spirit pressure that accompanied it.
“What-cha dooinn’?” Ashley asked, putting her hands on his head from behind him and leaning over him to see the book in his hands.
“Too close…” Hunter thought. “Just reading a book,” he said briskly, closing the book while feeling a blush grow onto his face.
She leaned over further, almost appearing upside down in front of him and again poking him in the face. “Hahaha, you’re blushing!” she laughed.
“Shut up, I just blush easily,” he responded in frustration, growing redder. “Wayyyyy too close now…” he thought.
“Is it a…” she paused dramatically, “dirty book?”
“What?!” Hunter gawked, jerking away from her. “No! I don’t read books like that!”
“Riiiiiiiiggggghhhhttt,” she said sarcastically, “no need to deny it, but I’ll just leave you to it,” she said, flash stepping off out of sight.
“What is with her?!” Hunter thought.
In his bed in the Squad Eleven barracks, Weeber snored randomly as he noticed in his sleep that he had lost his blanket. Irritated, he swatted around, grabbing for it until he subconsciously realized it was no use. He opened his eyes just in time to grab his sword from his bedside and block a blow from Ivan.
“Good reflexes!” Ivan complimented.
“C’mon, I’m tired…” Weeber commented, covering his face with his pillow.
“Well at least have some breakfast,” Ivan spoke, gesturing towards a tray on Jon’s nightstand.
Jon looked over to it and took a whiff. “Is that a pie?” he asked.
“Of course, nothing better to start the day!” Ivan said with glee.
“No cake or ice cream too?” Jon said sleepily, throwing his sword back down to the floor.
“Course not!” Ivan responded, “no one in Squad Eleven believes in cakes!”
Jon let show a subtle grin as he thrust the fork in and took his first bite of pie. "That's awesome," he mumbled between bites.
Ryan placed another large bite into his breakfast bacon sandwich at the Squad Nine breakfast table. One of his female companions took a bite out of her smaller breakfast sandwich as well, but a small bit of egg slipped out and landed on her blouse.
“Ugh, you pig!” Another woman complained after taking a bite of French toast.
“You’re one to talk!” she responded after the other woman had a bit of syrup drip off her food onto the table.
“Quiet you two! Can’t you see you’re both repulsive?” a third woman responded, sipping a cup of coffee.
“I think you’re all annoyingly disgusting,” the fourth said, stabbing her fork into her potatoes.
“Look who’s disgusting now!” The first woman said, throwing a piece of egg at her.
“Piggy!” The second woman retorted, landing a drop of syrup in the first woman’s hair.
Peter watched the food fight unfold from his own end of the table, with several other friends of his from Squad Nine commenting on the newbie behavior. Kassandra sat more towards his end, her red hair straightened professionally once again and her look poised.
“How annoying,” she commented.
“Give ‘em a break, Kass,” Peter responded, “I just wonder how long Ryan’ll be able to pay his way through his situations.”
“Gah, where is the damn captain?!” Jason fumed.
“Seriously, it’s been a week!” a graduate added.
“We really need to talk to him about the condition of the squad,” Kendra spoke, “they’re all so lazy!”
“Yeah, it’s like ten and half of them are still asleep!” another new Soul Reaper spoke.
“What’s going on here?” A man said as he walked by, noticing the small group gathered outside the captain’s chamber. He had dark gray hair that dropped past his shoulders, and he had an aged look about him that expressed utter seriousness. His black sleeves were a bit longer than those of the normal Soul Reaper shirts.
“We need to talk to the captain,” a Soul Reaper spoke up.
“It’s urgent,” Jason added.
“Well I can tell you he ain’t here,” the man spoke, “if I remember, the buffoon’s out supervising some training exercise with Squad Eleven.”
“So what are you doing here?” another Soul Reaper asked.
“I was forced to be your sit-in for your lazy captain and cooped up lieutenant,” he spoke, “I’m Lieutenant Vector Serlusian of Squad Six, but you don’t need to know me.”
“That’s nice,” Kendra whispered, noticing that the man seemed to radiate with a mood of disgust.
“Hey, did you guys hear?” a member of Squad Thirteen mumbled at the breakfast table.
“Yeah, I think I heard that too,” another said down the table.
Rebecca decided she was bored enough to listen in.
“Did you hear about it?” another Soul Reaper asked her.
“Hear about what?” she responded.
“What happened to the new graduates during one of their field exercises a little while back?” he told her.
Images of the Hollow onslaught from her days in school refreshed themselves in her mind.
“No, what happened to them?” Rebecca feigned ignorance.
“They say that they were attacked by a thousand Hollows and Menos!” he explained.
“A thousand, really?” she questioned, only remembering a couple hundred at most.
“Yeah,” he added, “heard they were about to get beaten pretty bad too until a captain that was temporarily stationed over here saved their asses!”
“What captain did you hear it was?” Another Soul Reaper asked.
“I heard it was Squad Nine’s captain, but we know she’s been stationed overseas in Japan for a while now with their lieutenant.”
“Of course, dumbass. That’s why that captain and lieutenant were stationed here in the first place.”
“So what captain was it?”
“I heard it was Captain Kuchiki…”
“Captain Kuchiki?! No way, that guy’s a legend, and a noble too! No way he’d be here for our crummy squads.”
“I heard they used ice attacks, who could it be then?”
“Could it be Captain Hitsugaya from Japan’s Squad Ten?”
“You mean that hero from the Hollow war those years ago? Nah, it couldn’t have been him or else the students would have all died too!”
Rebecca frowned. She knew that these “Captain Kuchiki” and “Captain Hitsugaya” characters they’d been mentioning were both men with female lieutenants, but the captain that she remembered appearing was a girl, with a male lieutenant.
“Alright, that’s enough!” Came the voice of Captain Bryan Sanders at the head of the table. He had somewhat long white hair, the length of which was bound into a ponytail at his neckline. More often than not, he would seem like the laid-back type, but today his brown eyes held anxiety. His white jacket completed his captainly appearance. “The official report of the incident is classified,” he said, “so we’ll only begin to investigate if or when we’re supposed to, alright?”
The Soul Reapers of Squad Thirteen nodded. Rebecca took special note on the captain’s edginess about the situation.
“Attention!” The fifth seat of Squad Seven spoke from the table they were sitting at. “We’re to head out and wipe out a group of Hollows outside of Residential District Fifteen. We’re supposed to go in place of the entire squad.”
They all groaned.
“Well, time to see if my practice has been paying off,” Pickle said, with several others thinking similar ideas.
“Just remember to yell for me when you get your ass kicked,” Ben responded.
It took the assigned members of Squad Seven, a small portion of its actual size considering that a large number of members, including the captain and several other high-ranking officers, were out on leave. It was only a fraction of the fighting force it should have been. Several hours after leaving the Squad Seven barracks, they arrived at Residential District Fifteen, a rather poor, unkept section of crude shacks for homes. It was empty and silent.
The Fifth Seat decided to speak first. “Alright, I can already sense some spirit pressures,” he said, “let’s just get this patrol done, wipe these Hollows out, and get back home.”
They all nodded and readied themselves for a battle as anyone with a sense of spirit energy could tell there were Hollows closing in. With an echoing roar, they began to appear out of a nearby forest.
“There they are; move in, move in!” The Fifth Seat Officer commanded.
Dylan and a few others were the first to meet the Hollows. There were about twenty-five of them, some serpentine and some quadrupedal and monstrous. Some even walked upright with large muscular legs and thick, powerful looking fists, while others had claws that looked made to slice flesh.
After clashing one Hollow’s claws against his sword, Dylan flash stepped out of the way of the tail of another Hollow attacking him from behind.
“Hadou #31, Shakkaho!” He spoke, shooting a red ball of fire-like energy out of his hands. The red blast collided with the two Hollows, temporarily incapacitating them, but three more appeared in their place.
“Doesn’t look too good,” Pickle commented, “guess we’ll have to go all out!” He looked at his sword, which began to glow brightly in a golden aura.
“Shine down,” he said as the sword flashed white, “Koukin (lit. Jew’s Harp).” In a flash of light, the sword completely changed from being a standard katana to a golden six-pointed-star shaped ring, with each point holding a gold chain that connected to a smaller star. In the middle of the large star were many pole-like handles going back and forth across the shape, making it easy to hold and move around in a multitude of ways.
Putting both hands on one of the new weapon’s central grips, Dylan began to spin the weapon in the air above him, and, with one powerful swing, sent three of the six miniature stars spinning violently at the Hollows, slicing through them and ultimately destroying them. The three stars returned back to the original in a boomerang-like fashion, and, with one more swing, he launched two more stars at the previous two Hollows, destroying them as well.
From atop one of the dilapidated houses, a man in a long, white jacket stood, with light blonde hair blowing lightly in the breeze. On the back of his white vest-jacket sat a black number “7.” “Now there’s a candidate for Second Seat,” he spoke.
"BEN!" Pickle yelled, "I got a scratch!"
"Hey, other people need to be healed more than you do," Ben retorted.
"Then heal me quickly and get to them after," Pickle reasoned.
"Fine," Ben mumbled, placing his hands in the air above Dylan's right arm, a green glow enveloping the scratch.
In a few seconds, the wound was gone. Dylan jumped up, grabbing his golden star weapon, and moved back into the fight.
"Aren't you gonna say thanks?!" Ben complained.
Dylan simply sighed, and, paying him barely any mind, pushed Ben onto the ground and walked off.
"Ouch, jerk..." Ben grumbled.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 12 ~ Preparations Part I:
“Ugh, I don’t really want to,” Jon said frustratedly.
“C’mon, just one more round!” Ivan goaded.
“Fighting isn’t really that fun,” Jon responded, sheathing his sword. “It’s just a way to get things done…”
“Yeah, but getting stuff done may as well be fun!” The blonde man reasoned simplistically.
“Look,” Jon started, “you and Captain Whatshisname can have fun fighting all you want, but I get bored of it pretty fast…”
“Would a cake be able to convince you otherwise?” Ivan tried, not wanting to end the sparring session.
“No! Cakes are wrong! Don’t try and bribe me with stuff that isn’t there!” Jon exclaimed.
“Whoah, calm down…” Ivan tried. “I just want to get a battle outta you like I’d see from your lieutenant friend.”
“Well,” Weeber responded, “I don’t really see Pickle that much anymore…”
“So’d you hear about Dylan?” Rebecca asked, taking a bite out of the doughnut from a napkin in her hand.
“No, I don’t see him around too much,” Kendra responded after a bite of a sandwich. The two had actually made the free time from Squads Ten and Thirteen for a lunch break together. “What’s he up to?”
“They say he got promoted to lieutenant already!” Rebecca announced. “I thought it would have been Ryan first honestly, paying his way into the position.”
“Nah, he’s too lazy for that!” Kendra giggled.
The two laughed, knowing full well of Ryan’s lackadaisical attitude.
“So…,” Rebecca paused, “how are things going in Squad Ten? Your captain still barely appearing?”
“The funny thing about that,” Kendra started, “we actually ran into him a couple days ago, but he didn’t seem like a very authoritative figure…”
Stepping back several days, Kendra waited with Jason and one other Soul Reaper that graduated with their class. The others had all gotten tired of it and were taken in by the lack of order in Squad Ten. Their actual lieutenant still had yet to break from the papers of her captain, and the stand-in lieutenant of Squad Six only scolded them, but nothing more.
“Dammit, where is he?!” Jason yelled, punching the wall.
“This has to be the fiftieth time you’ve been out here waiting for him,” Vector spoke condescendingly, “just give it up and get some work done.”
“I’m starting to think that’s the right idea,” the other Soul Reaper with them commented.
“But there’s no real work to do!” Jason tried to explain, “we just sit around until we’re asked to go on patrol or something! There’s barely any papers to do, no one here really trains, and as for discipline, there isn’t any! The squad is a mess without this guy here! He can’t be in support of this!”
Vector grunted in frustration. “Speaking of patrols,” he said, “we have an order to check out Residential District 57. Five members are required to go, so if you really feel like doing something Mr. Third Seat, feel free.”
“Fine,” Jason huffed, “Kendra, grab Jacklyn and Cecilia. Roy, you’re coming too.”
“Alright,” Kendra responded before walking away from the captain’s quarters door and towards the central foyer of Squad Ten’s facility.
“Finally, some action,” Roy, the other Soul Reaper with them, said.
A few hours of stressed travel later, the anxious group made their way to a night fallen District Fifty-Seven. The homes here were far better than the shanties of District Eleven, but they were still small, quaint, one-story homes.
“So there was a Hollow reported near here?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah, apparently a big one too, thus the need for five of us,” Jason explained.
A distant roar and the sound of birds flying away from the grove of trees next to the area indicated that the creature was currently distressed.
“Let’s move,” Jason spoke. The other four members of the small party silently agreed as the five of them began flash stepping through the trees.
It didn’t take long for them to find the creature, which stood motionlessly in a clearing as if deciding what to do next. It was humanoid in shape, but it was slouched forward, its large head with a large protrusion on each side reminiscent of a hammer-head shark. A curved fin on its hunched back and a pointed tail past its legs also indicated this. The group arrived on the scene, still hidden by the veil of trees.
“What’s the plan?” Roy whispered.
“Me and you will attack the creature first,” Jason explained, then looking over to the three girls. “After we distract it, you three will move through the trees until you’re behind it, then blast it with kidou.”
“Will Shakkahou be good enough?” Jacklyn asked, not really wanting to put too much effort into exterminating one Hollow.
“Three of them should be enough, yes,” Jason answered. “So three,” he began, holding three fingers and then counting down, “two, one!”
Jason and Roy jumped out of the trees pulled out their swords. Flashing up to the creature from behind, they each tried swinging, but their swords barely scratched the creature’s tough skin.
“What’s this?!” it spoke, turning to face them with its red eyes and sharp toothed mask showing. “Who are you?”
“We’re here to wipe you out for attacking those Souls,” Jason responded.
The creature seemed to ponder this for a moment. “You think two Soul Reapers will be enough to destroy me?”
“Not quite,” Jason responded, waving his arm as if beckoning the creature forward.
It looked confused in response, but three figures hopped out of the trees behind it with their hands facing the creature.
“Hadou #31,” they said in unison, “Shakkahou!”
Red spheres of spirit energy appeared in front of their hands and shot forward at the creature, combusting in a burst of explosive energy. A cloud of smoke engulfed the area, reducing visibility to none.
“Woohoo, we killed it!” Jason heard Roy yell through a smoke, but this was followed by a disturbing grumble of gutteral sounds.
It didn’t take Jason much longer to see through the smoke enough, but a large claw of the creature's could be seen stabbing through Roy’s torso. Jason immediately flashed up to the creature and cut off the claw, taking advantage of the fact that it still couldn’t see him yet.
“Down to four…” It spoke, seeming to not even care that one of its claws was gone.
Roy was down on the ground, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his stomach. It was hard to believe a human could produce so much blood. Jason tried to hold the wound.
“Kendra! Jackie! Ceci!” he yelled desperately, “get over here now!”
They appeared next to him and their wounded comrade.
“Use whatever healing kidou you know and help him!” Jason ordered frantically.
“What will you do?” Kendra asked.
“I’m going to kill it!” Jason replied, feeling a rush of adrenaline. “This is nothing like those Hollows we fought in the academy,” he thought, “this one’s powerful… He might be too powerful for me…”
He looked over to Roy, who had been holding his entrails with his bare hands and seemed to be fading out of consciousness.
“This is what real combat is like…” he continued in his mind, as the creature moved into a position as if readying a charge, a look as if he was going to destroy them all at once. “There’s no one here to save us this time, and it’s only five of us here, rather than a hundred students… I don’t want to end up like him…” Jason froze, and the creature began a charge.
Had he been in a calm sense of mind, he would have noticed the large spirit pressure moving towards their position, but he was stuck in place, his eyes locked on the idea of the oncoming enemy and his sword shaking in his hands before him.
Kendra noticed. She yelled and screamed for him to act, but he was frozen in fear as the distance between him and the monster closed and the large clawed hand of the creature moved closer and closer to him.
“So you’re the Hollow that’s been terrorizing this part of town,” a man spoke. His brown bangs in the night hid the fact that he wore an eye patch over his left eye. He was taller than Jason, maybe a little taller than six feet, and the white overcoat he wore seemed to absorb the moonlight. Easily identifiable from the perfect white was a black “10” displayed on the back of his jacket. He stopped the creature’s claw with his bare hand.
“And you’re the Soul Reaper that’s been killing my companions,” the creature spoke, realizing it was at a loss. “I’ll deal with you another time,” it said, turning away as if to leave.
“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling out a shimmering Zanpakutou, “I can’t allow you to leave after hurting my comrades.” He moved the blade out in front of him, pointing it right at the creature. “Transform,” he spoke, “Seiritsuragawa (lit. Formed of the Moon).”
After speaking the sword’s name, it glowed brightly with blue energy, but then seemed to take the form of a normal katana. The only difference was that the blade and hilt now had a blue tint.
The creature took off, but space seemed to blur as the man immediately caught up to the creature and brought it down with one slash, dissipating its body. He sheathed his sword.
Seconds seemed to be hours to Jason as he never realized that he had fallen to the ground and gotten cut in one arm. The man moved over to Roy’s dying body, Ceci, Jackie, and Kenra’s healing abilities not strong enough to save him, and generated a light green glow from his hands over Roy’s wound. Roy was moving around and fine in seconds. The man then walked over to Jason and knelt down on the ground beside him.
“Are you alright?” he asked, “that was kind of a close one.”
“Who are you?” Jason heard Kendra ask.
“Why I’m your captain of course! Isaac Gloritine, and pleased to meet you, new comrades.”
“Where... were you…?” Jason mumbled, using his sword to prop himself up.
“Gone…” he responded, “I had things to do, but the important thing is that I’m here now, and I’m here to stay.”
“So how is everyone now?” Rebecca asked after Kendra finished the story.
“Jason seemed pretty disturbed by the whole thing, but Roy is up and excited to get back into battle,” she responded.
“Well that’s a relief,” Rebecca followed, “so that Hollow said it was part of a group?”
“That’s the scary part,” Kendra answered, “if there’s more of them, we could be in trouble. It seemed like only captain and lieutenant level Soul Reapers would be able to take them down.”
Rebecca’s expression grew disgruntled.
“But don’t worry!” Kendra waved her arms, “it also said that Captain Gloritine was killing them, and if he’s been away as long as he has, he must’ve destroyed plenty!”
“So have you heard about anyone else?” Rebecca asked, “Like Ryan in Nine or Hunter in Two?”
“Sadly no,” she answered, “it’s only because Jason wasn’t adamant about talking to the captain today that I’m actually here now. With the captain back though, we’re going to have a lot to do in Squad Ten…”
“I see,” Rebecca mumbled.
“Now remember Dylan, you’re still only Lieutenant in name,” a Squad Seven Soul Reaper told him, “the paperwork hasn’t all gone through yet.”
“Yeah,” another started, “as far as I’m concerned, you’re still the Seventh Seat!”
“Hey, I didn’t volunteer for this guys,” Dylan responded. “Everything’s gonna stay the same; I’m not gonna take advantage of anything.”
“Surrrrrrrre,” Ben responded with sarcasm.
“Shut up, medic,” Dylan retorted, “nobody cares what you say.”
“Awwww,” Ben frowned.
“And you still have to pass the lieutenant’s exam, too!” came the voice of Squad Seven’s captain as he entered through the double doors leading into the room. He was a man of average features with dark blonde hair and green eyes. A stubble of facial hair made him identifiable. His white vest jacket was torn in several places, indicating that it had been in battles frequently.
“Ah,” Dylan responded, “is it difficult?”
“Not at all!” the captain responded, “if you study and review for it that is!”
“I might be in trouble then,” Pickle thought.
"Yeah, you're so going to fail!" Ben taunted.
"SHUT UP, BEN!" the captain yelled as he proceeded to give the poor medic a sharp kick in the torso, sending his body flying off like a ragdoll through a nearby wall. He fortunately lived, but his consciousness escaped him. “When you go down to the central offices,” the captain said while slowly pushing Dylan out the door, “tell ‘em Captain Sheppard sent you and they’ll know who you are.”
“That’s grave news indeed,” Captain Bryan Sanders of Squad Thirteen responded to his aide. “Attention, everyone!” he called, standing up at his head of the investigation table. “I’ve received a report from Squad Ten’s Captain Gloritine, who had been missing until recently.”
The Soul Reapers turned from their duties or work desks to face him, giving their full attention. Rebecca had some idea of what was going on.
“It’s come to our attention that a large organization of Hollows has formed in the Soul Society. Captain Gloritine had been investigating several reports of large Hollow groups and encountered them himself. He described the most powerful of them as lieutenant-level. He also found several gathering spots they frequently join up at. He even managed to bring with him several samples of spirit energy from the group’s leaders, which we’ll be able to look into, with the help of Squad Twelve’s Research and Development Team.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” a Soul Reaper asked.
“We’re to track and locate the leaders of this organization, but destroying them will be left in the hands of the Stealth Force of Squad Two.”
“How can we be sure killing the leaders will end the whole thing?” another member asked.
Before Captain Sanders could respond, another member decided to speak. “If you cut off the head of a snake, its body dies, no?”
“Ugh, I don’t really want to,” Jon said frustratedly.
“C’mon, just one more round!” Ivan goaded.
“Fighting isn’t really that fun,” Jon responded, sheathing his sword. “It’s just a way to get things done…”
“Yeah, but getting stuff done may as well be fun!” The blonde man reasoned simplistically.
“Look,” Jon started, “you and Captain Whatshisname can have fun fighting all you want, but I get bored of it pretty fast…”
“Would a cake be able to convince you otherwise?” Ivan tried, not wanting to end the sparring session.
“No! Cakes are wrong! Don’t try and bribe me with stuff that isn’t there!” Jon exclaimed.
“Whoah, calm down…” Ivan tried. “I just want to get a battle outta you like I’d see from your lieutenant friend.”
“Well,” Weeber responded, “I don’t really see Pickle that much anymore…”
“So’d you hear about Dylan?” Rebecca asked, taking a bite out of the doughnut from a napkin in her hand.
“No, I don’t see him around too much,” Kendra responded after a bite of a sandwich. The two had actually made the free time from Squads Ten and Thirteen for a lunch break together. “What’s he up to?”
“They say he got promoted to lieutenant already!” Rebecca announced. “I thought it would have been Ryan first honestly, paying his way into the position.”
“Nah, he’s too lazy for that!” Kendra giggled.
The two laughed, knowing full well of Ryan’s lackadaisical attitude.
“So…,” Rebecca paused, “how are things going in Squad Ten? Your captain still barely appearing?”
“The funny thing about that,” Kendra started, “we actually ran into him a couple days ago, but he didn’t seem like a very authoritative figure…”
Stepping back several days, Kendra waited with Jason and one other Soul Reaper that graduated with their class. The others had all gotten tired of it and were taken in by the lack of order in Squad Ten. Their actual lieutenant still had yet to break from the papers of her captain, and the stand-in lieutenant of Squad Six only scolded them, but nothing more.
“Dammit, where is he?!” Jason yelled, punching the wall.
“This has to be the fiftieth time you’ve been out here waiting for him,” Vector spoke condescendingly, “just give it up and get some work done.”
“I’m starting to think that’s the right idea,” the other Soul Reaper with them commented.
“But there’s no real work to do!” Jason tried to explain, “we just sit around until we’re asked to go on patrol or something! There’s barely any papers to do, no one here really trains, and as for discipline, there isn’t any! The squad is a mess without this guy here! He can’t be in support of this!”
Vector grunted in frustration. “Speaking of patrols,” he said, “we have an order to check out Residential District 57. Five members are required to go, so if you really feel like doing something Mr. Third Seat, feel free.”
“Fine,” Jason huffed, “Kendra, grab Jacklyn and Cecilia. Roy, you’re coming too.”
“Alright,” Kendra responded before walking away from the captain’s quarters door and towards the central foyer of Squad Ten’s facility.
“Finally, some action,” Roy, the other Soul Reaper with them, said.
A few hours of stressed travel later, the anxious group made their way to a night fallen District Fifty-Seven. The homes here were far better than the shanties of District Eleven, but they were still small, quaint, one-story homes.
“So there was a Hollow reported near here?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah, apparently a big one too, thus the need for five of us,” Jason explained.
A distant roar and the sound of birds flying away from the grove of trees next to the area indicated that the creature was currently distressed.
“Let’s move,” Jason spoke. The other four members of the small party silently agreed as the five of them began flash stepping through the trees.
It didn’t take long for them to find the creature, which stood motionlessly in a clearing as if deciding what to do next. It was humanoid in shape, but it was slouched forward, its large head with a large protrusion on each side reminiscent of a hammer-head shark. A curved fin on its hunched back and a pointed tail past its legs also indicated this. The group arrived on the scene, still hidden by the veil of trees.
“What’s the plan?” Roy whispered.
“Me and you will attack the creature first,” Jason explained, then looking over to the three girls. “After we distract it, you three will move through the trees until you’re behind it, then blast it with kidou.”
“Will Shakkahou be good enough?” Jacklyn asked, not really wanting to put too much effort into exterminating one Hollow.
“Three of them should be enough, yes,” Jason answered. “So three,” he began, holding three fingers and then counting down, “two, one!”
Jason and Roy jumped out of the trees pulled out their swords. Flashing up to the creature from behind, they each tried swinging, but their swords barely scratched the creature’s tough skin.
“What’s this?!” it spoke, turning to face them with its red eyes and sharp toothed mask showing. “Who are you?”
“We’re here to wipe you out for attacking those Souls,” Jason responded.
The creature seemed to ponder this for a moment. “You think two Soul Reapers will be enough to destroy me?”
“Not quite,” Jason responded, waving his arm as if beckoning the creature forward.
It looked confused in response, but three figures hopped out of the trees behind it with their hands facing the creature.
“Hadou #31,” they said in unison, “Shakkahou!”
Red spheres of spirit energy appeared in front of their hands and shot forward at the creature, combusting in a burst of explosive energy. A cloud of smoke engulfed the area, reducing visibility to none.
“Woohoo, we killed it!” Jason heard Roy yell through a smoke, but this was followed by a disturbing grumble of gutteral sounds.
It didn’t take Jason much longer to see through the smoke enough, but a large claw of the creature's could be seen stabbing through Roy’s torso. Jason immediately flashed up to the creature and cut off the claw, taking advantage of the fact that it still couldn’t see him yet.
“Down to four…” It spoke, seeming to not even care that one of its claws was gone.
Roy was down on the ground, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his stomach. It was hard to believe a human could produce so much blood. Jason tried to hold the wound.
“Kendra! Jackie! Ceci!” he yelled desperately, “get over here now!”
They appeared next to him and their wounded comrade.
“Use whatever healing kidou you know and help him!” Jason ordered frantically.
“What will you do?” Kendra asked.
“I’m going to kill it!” Jason replied, feeling a rush of adrenaline. “This is nothing like those Hollows we fought in the academy,” he thought, “this one’s powerful… He might be too powerful for me…”
He looked over to Roy, who had been holding his entrails with his bare hands and seemed to be fading out of consciousness.
“This is what real combat is like…” he continued in his mind, as the creature moved into a position as if readying a charge, a look as if he was going to destroy them all at once. “There’s no one here to save us this time, and it’s only five of us here, rather than a hundred students… I don’t want to end up like him…” Jason froze, and the creature began a charge.
Had he been in a calm sense of mind, he would have noticed the large spirit pressure moving towards their position, but he was stuck in place, his eyes locked on the idea of the oncoming enemy and his sword shaking in his hands before him.
Kendra noticed. She yelled and screamed for him to act, but he was frozen in fear as the distance between him and the monster closed and the large clawed hand of the creature moved closer and closer to him.
“So you’re the Hollow that’s been terrorizing this part of town,” a man spoke. His brown bangs in the night hid the fact that he wore an eye patch over his left eye. He was taller than Jason, maybe a little taller than six feet, and the white overcoat he wore seemed to absorb the moonlight. Easily identifiable from the perfect white was a black “10” displayed on the back of his jacket. He stopped the creature’s claw with his bare hand.
“And you’re the Soul Reaper that’s been killing my companions,” the creature spoke, realizing it was at a loss. “I’ll deal with you another time,” it said, turning away as if to leave.
“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling out a shimmering Zanpakutou, “I can’t allow you to leave after hurting my comrades.” He moved the blade out in front of him, pointing it right at the creature. “Transform,” he spoke, “Seiritsuragawa (lit. Formed of the Moon).”
After speaking the sword’s name, it glowed brightly with blue energy, but then seemed to take the form of a normal katana. The only difference was that the blade and hilt now had a blue tint.
The creature took off, but space seemed to blur as the man immediately caught up to the creature and brought it down with one slash, dissipating its body. He sheathed his sword.
Seconds seemed to be hours to Jason as he never realized that he had fallen to the ground and gotten cut in one arm. The man moved over to Roy’s dying body, Ceci, Jackie, and Kenra’s healing abilities not strong enough to save him, and generated a light green glow from his hands over Roy’s wound. Roy was moving around and fine in seconds. The man then walked over to Jason and knelt down on the ground beside him.
“Are you alright?” he asked, “that was kind of a close one.”
“Who are you?” Jason heard Kendra ask.
“Why I’m your captain of course! Isaac Gloritine, and pleased to meet you, new comrades.”
“Where... were you…?” Jason mumbled, using his sword to prop himself up.
“Gone…” he responded, “I had things to do, but the important thing is that I’m here now, and I’m here to stay.”
“So how is everyone now?” Rebecca asked after Kendra finished the story.
“Jason seemed pretty disturbed by the whole thing, but Roy is up and excited to get back into battle,” she responded.
“Well that’s a relief,” Rebecca followed, “so that Hollow said it was part of a group?”
“That’s the scary part,” Kendra answered, “if there’s more of them, we could be in trouble. It seemed like only captain and lieutenant level Soul Reapers would be able to take them down.”
Rebecca’s expression grew disgruntled.
“But don’t worry!” Kendra waved her arms, “it also said that Captain Gloritine was killing them, and if he’s been away as long as he has, he must’ve destroyed plenty!”
“So have you heard about anyone else?” Rebecca asked, “Like Ryan in Nine or Hunter in Two?”
“Sadly no,” she answered, “it’s only because Jason wasn’t adamant about talking to the captain today that I’m actually here now. With the captain back though, we’re going to have a lot to do in Squad Ten…”
“I see,” Rebecca mumbled.
“Now remember Dylan, you’re still only Lieutenant in name,” a Squad Seven Soul Reaper told him, “the paperwork hasn’t all gone through yet.”
“Yeah,” another started, “as far as I’m concerned, you’re still the Seventh Seat!”
“Hey, I didn’t volunteer for this guys,” Dylan responded. “Everything’s gonna stay the same; I’m not gonna take advantage of anything.”
“Surrrrrrrre,” Ben responded with sarcasm.
“Shut up, medic,” Dylan retorted, “nobody cares what you say.”
“Awwww,” Ben frowned.
“And you still have to pass the lieutenant’s exam, too!” came the voice of Squad Seven’s captain as he entered through the double doors leading into the room. He was a man of average features with dark blonde hair and green eyes. A stubble of facial hair made him identifiable. His white vest jacket was torn in several places, indicating that it had been in battles frequently.
“Ah,” Dylan responded, “is it difficult?”
“Not at all!” the captain responded, “if you study and review for it that is!”
“I might be in trouble then,” Pickle thought.
"Yeah, you're so going to fail!" Ben taunted.
"SHUT UP, BEN!" the captain yelled as he proceeded to give the poor medic a sharp kick in the torso, sending his body flying off like a ragdoll through a nearby wall. He fortunately lived, but his consciousness escaped him. “When you go down to the central offices,” the captain said while slowly pushing Dylan out the door, “tell ‘em Captain Sheppard sent you and they’ll know who you are.”
“That’s grave news indeed,” Captain Bryan Sanders of Squad Thirteen responded to his aide. “Attention, everyone!” he called, standing up at his head of the investigation table. “I’ve received a report from Squad Ten’s Captain Gloritine, who had been missing until recently.”
The Soul Reapers turned from their duties or work desks to face him, giving their full attention. Rebecca had some idea of what was going on.
“It’s come to our attention that a large organization of Hollows has formed in the Soul Society. Captain Gloritine had been investigating several reports of large Hollow groups and encountered them himself. He described the most powerful of them as lieutenant-level. He also found several gathering spots they frequently join up at. He even managed to bring with him several samples of spirit energy from the group’s leaders, which we’ll be able to look into, with the help of Squad Twelve’s Research and Development Team.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” a Soul Reaper asked.
“We’re to track and locate the leaders of this organization, but destroying them will be left in the hands of the Stealth Force of Squad Two.”
“How can we be sure killing the leaders will end the whole thing?” another member asked.
Before Captain Sanders could respond, another member decided to speak. “If you cut off the head of a snake, its body dies, no?”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 13 ~ Preparations Part II:
Ryan yawned as he once again realized he had nothing to do. The four girls that usually hung around him were off doing their own individual errands for once, leaving him in an undisturbed state of solitude. He was laying on his side on a couch in Squad Nine’s barracks, using one arm to keep his head up. All over the floor in front of him were empty wrappers, drink cans, and bags that once contained something relatively edible.
“I KNEW I’d find you here!” Came a female voice.
“Whaddaya want, Kass?” Ryan groaned, knowing the red-head probably wanted him to do something.
“I’ve been looking through your budget sheets like you asked me to,” she paused, fixing her glasses.
“And?” Ryan said impatiently.
“What in the world did you fork over one thousand dollars for so soon after graduation?!” She exclaimed, “everything we needed was provided for us by our squads.”
“Well, a good chunk of it went to getting the four ladies in the same squad as me,” he explained.
“And the rest? Please tell me it wasn’t reckless spending…”
“Nope,” he said lazily, “you know Luke’s little posse from our class?”
“How could I forget…” she lacked enthusiasm.
“I paid for them to get into Squad Six with him,” Ryan explained.
“Why would you do that?!” she burst.
“Eh, they asked me to,” he said, “and the money was there. I figured, ‘why not, they’ll pay me back’.”
“And you just went right along and paid their way in? Are you stupid or something?!” Kassandra fussed.
“It’s no big deal,” Ryan commented, “they’ll just have to pay me back later.”
“You can’t just flaunt your money around like tha-” she started.
“Now what’s taking any of them so long to bring me back some god damn food!” Ryan complained.
“C’mon!” Ivan pleaded, trying to goad Jon into one more sparring session.
“I just don’t like training and fighting and stuff THAT much,” Weeber explained. “It gets the job done, but other than that, I’d really like to avoid having to do anything.”
“That’s so boring!” Ivan responded.
“And you tried to bribe me with a cake!!!” Jon boomed, angry at the lie.
“You’re still mad about that?” Ivan said, a puzzled expression on his face. “It was just a joke, dude…”
“Well I was insulted!” Jon responded.
Their conversation was soon interrupted when the doors of Squad Eleven opened and the brown haired man with the eye patch walked in, his white coat with the number “10” on it flowing behind him.
“Ah, well met, Isaac!” The red haired captain of Squad Eleven said, enthused. “Glad to see your finally back!” He stuck his arm out, semi bent at the elbow.
“It’s nice to see you too, Joshua,” Isaac Gloritine responded to the man in a friendly voice, sticking his arm out and giving him a firm handshake.
“Again with this Joshua crap?” The Squad Eleven captain said jokingly, “I don’t see you in weeks and this is how you greet me?”
“Sorry,” Isaac scratched the back of his head.
“Ha, same old you!” the man grinned, “I knew those weaklings wouldn’t kill you! So how many did you take down?”
“Oh, I dunno,” Captain Gloritine hesitated, “about a… hundred?”
“ONLY ONE HUNDRED?!” The other captain gawked. “You beat me in a fight but you only killed a hundred of them?!”
“Hey, it was a stealth mission, I didn’t intend on killing any!” Isaac tried to reason.
“Just what I’d expect,” Joshua shook his head, “you were always the ‘mind over muscle’ brother.”
Ivan and Jon watched the conversation take place.
“I didn’t know the captains of squads ten and eleven were brothers…” Jon mumbled.
“Any idea what they’re talking about?” Ivan asked.
“Nope,” Weeber responded.
Hunter sneezed as he stood on the Squad Two training grounds, irritated by the cowl he was forced to wear per squad protocol.
“Quiet!” another member scolded.
“How are we supposed to be stealthy with you making such noise?” another added.
“Sorry,” Hunter mumbled. “This is not turning out to be as fun as I’d had hoped,” he thought.
Being a member of Squad Two’s Stealth Force required one to be regularly garbed in an almost ninja-like attire and one’s sword on the back, rather than at the side. One needed to be able to pull the blade out back-handedly and be ready to use it in an instant, an easy guess as to why Hunter was placed in this squad.
After stealth training was done, combat practice would ensue. For being a newer member, and a rather obnoxious and arrogant one at that, Hunter would often get ganged up on by the other squad members, but it was good practice. Joey had no trouble fitting in.
Hunter pulled out his sword as a member slashed at him backhandedly, then using a backhanded swing himself to push the attacker back. This proved futile when three more squad mates flash stepped around him.
“I don’t believe this!” Hunter thought.
“Just use your real power, if you can manage it,” another voice sounded in his mind.
Without time to properly address it, he aimed his hands forward, palms facing his foes. “Hadou 31, Shakkahou!” he called, separating himself from the attackers with a large burst of red energy.
“That’s not your real power, you’re deluding yourself,” the voice spoke again.
“Shut up!” Hunter yelled angrily, losing his focus and allowing an enemy to slash his hood, splitting it and leaving it to fall to the ground beside him in two separate pieces. His attackers noticed the outburst and looked at him with confusion.
It wasn’t too long into the exercise, however, that Lieutenant Speers decided to pop in with a new order, but this time was different. It was on this rare occasion that the members of Squad Two got to see their captain in person, a rare chance as the man didn’t like to show himself much.
He was average height for a man of his age, but his most striking features were of his unorthodox appearance. His entire body was wrapped in bandages or other white cloths except for the upper half of his face. A scar-like line traced his face from his left ear to his lip and then to his right ear, with his bottom jaw and cheeks being the white, lifeless color of the rest of his body. His eyes seemed to be squinted most of the time, and his mouth barely opened, at most showing a tooth or two. A white hat completed his shady appearance, circling around his head and providing a shadow over his upper face. His upper face also had some sort of black shade to it, giving off a burned look, but it didn’t seem unskinlike in texture. Besides his strange characteristics, he wore the normal Soul Reaper uniform and carried a Zanpakutou at his side in the traditional manner, while he wore the white overcoat of a captain that had the number “2” printed on the back.
“…” He said nothing as he appeared with Ashley.
“C’mon, I guess you just want me to tell them then?” She responded to him, playfully tugging at one side of his coat.
He grunted.
“Aright, suit yourself,” she said, closing her eyes and shrugging expressively. “Listen up everybody!”
Hunter and the rest of the squad had already aimed their attention at the two, but they had just now gotten into an order-ready position of a crowd.
“As some of you have heard,” the lieutenant began, “a syndicate of Hollows has formed outside of the boundaries of our residential areas of Soul Society. It was Captain Gloritine of Squad Ten who discovered this organization.”
“Squad Ten?” Hunter thought.
“The investigators of Squad Thirteen are going to be providing a follow-up report on the group by the end of the week, and we’re going to be the group to take them out once they do. Everyone understand?”
“Sir!” They all said, saluting in acknowledgement of the order. All but Hunter, who never really took a liking to the whole “saluting” thing.
“Then keep up with your training and be prepared to move out as soon as possible! Dismissed!” She said, and the captain that Hunter would later learn to know as Wallace Roman and his lieutenant walked off, leaving the squad to do whatever.
Jason rolled over on his side in the bed of a private room that would have normally been his for being a third seat, but due to the squad’s lack of regard for a chain of command, the room had been unused for quite some time now. Captain Gloritine had opened it for him to use after the Hollow attack, and he had mostly been there ever since.
It was a simple room, one with white walls and a single window in the middle of the wall opposite the door. A small, circular clock hung on the wall beside the window, while the other side of the window had a black nightstand and next to it the bed Jason was laying on.
He made another sigh, trying to clear his mind and think.
“What was I expecting?” he asked in his thoughts. “Wasn’t this exactly what I was expecting when I decided to become one of these ‘Soul Reapers’ in the first place?”
He rolled over onto his other side, facing the wall.
“Life and death, that’s what this whole thing has been about,” he thought, “to live in the Soul Society, you need to die. To obtain the powers of a Soul Reaper, you need to have died, but what about when you die after that? Does it keep going in a cycle? If it does, why do we even fear death at all? What are we losing?”
He remembered the old woman and the young boy that took him in when he first arrived in Soul Society, how long it had been since he’d simply lived like any other normal soul. He remembered catching runaway chickens in the field with Simon, but he also remembered the fear of losing the only two people he called family to the Hollow that attacked.
“We live and die, each time making a new life for ourselves once more, with new people and new faces, is that what we’re so afraid of losing?”
He remembered the Soul Reaper that defended him and his companions in the world of the living before they were sent to Soul Society.
“Let your tears fall, Ame Odoriko (lit. Rain Dancer)!” the Soul Reaper yelled with rage as he engaged the Hollow, his female comrade laying on the ground unconscious beside him.
He was fighting not just because it was his duty to protect souls from the attacks of Hollows, but because he had something that he was willing to use his current life as a Soul Reaper to protect.
Jason thought back on his days in the Soul Reaper Academy, when Hunter, Jon, and himself would mess around in town. He remembered when Ryan interrupted their fight with Cain, and when Aiden mocked him and Kendra for not being able to use a Senkaimon gate. He remembered fighting alongside all of them when they were attacked by the group of armored Hollows, and then being saved by that captain and her lieutenant.
“It seems like we fight just because we care,” he thought, leaning up in the bed. The sun was setting outside the window. He got up off the bed and walked over to the door. Just as he opened the door to walk out and finally discuss what needed to be discussed with the captain, he walked into Kendra, who was just about to knock on the door.
“Ouch,” she mumbled as she fell to the floor in front of him.
“Third Seat Guffey!” Another female voice called, this one sounding more tired.
Kendra and Jason, while shocked to see each other, looked down to see their lieutenant walking towards them. The lieutenant’s eyes, though exhausted in appearance, widened when she saw them. Jason was standing up, and Kendra was kneeling on the floor in front of him, her head aligned just about to his waist.
“OH, NEVERMIND, I’LL COME BACK LATER!” she panicked, face growing red and rushing back out of the hallway.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Jason called down the hallway in vain, realizing what she thought.
“What was that about?” Kendra asked, getting up.
“Nothing…” Jason mumbled.
“I was just coming by to get you,” she told him, “the captain wants to speak with us.”
“Alright, let’s go,” he said abruptly.
Deep inside the buildings of the research department of Squad Twelve, Aiden worked tirelessly at a large computer screen, several windows open before him. Throughout the windows, multiple looped motion animations of colored particles of light flowed downward and upward and in all sorts of different patterns.
He started rapidly moving his hands across the keyboard, punching in a number of different keys in order to start different operations. The monitor he was stationed at was one of a few that were situated around him, some with standby screens on them to show that they hadn’t been used in a few minutes, while others seemed to be loading several different processes.
“Now run the particle examination,” a robotic, male voice spoke as Aiden looked to see “100%-READY” displayed on one of the windows. With a stroke of the “ENTER” key, two animations of a set of red particles and green particles popped up side by side, soon followed by blue, white, black, and several other color patterns of particles.
“Initiate the bug trace,” the robotic voice said again, and Aiden followed with another few lines of seemingly random key strokes and code. A glass cylinder off to the side started to fill with what appeared to be round insects of some kind, but upon closer inspection would obviously have been nanomachines of some kind, spherical in shape with an eye-like structure in the center and small, paper thin wing-like structures that buzzed too fast to see. An opening made itself in the container, and the machines flew out like a swarm, but, due to their small size, they wouldn’t have been seen unless someone really tried. They flowed out of the container, out of the room, out of the building, and into the sky where they soon dispersed.
“Can you tell me what you just did, lieutenant?” The robotic voice asked.
“After running the spirit particle examination on the samples of spirit energy we got from those Hollows,” Aiden paused, “we sent the nanobots out to track the Hollows, so that the data will be sent to Squad Two upon acquisition.”
“Good,” the voice replied as the man it belonged to walked into the limited light of the room. He had long white hair that seemed to be all over the place, and his eyes were of a pale blue shade that seemed to go well with his pale skin. Perfectly straight black lines fell down from the middle of his eyes to the bottom of his face, and his expression was completely lifeless.
In the captain of Squad Two’s chambers, a beeper went off, indicating the new arrival of information on his communicator. In a room with walls lined with books, the scarred man sat silently at an old oak desk.
“…” he grunted.
“Well that’s our cue!” Ashley cheered, getting up off the desk that she was laying on for no apparent reason and practically skipping out of the room.
“…” the captain sighed.
“Okay,” Captain Bryan Sanders of Squad Thirteen broke out, “we’re finally done looking through the files on this Hollow syndicate. Squad Twelve’s been giving us locations over the past few hours, showing the success of our work. The Stealth Force has been assigned to take care of the actual assassinations, so we’re to remain here. For now, congratulate yourself on a job well done. Dismissed!”
“Good luck, Hunter…” Rebecca thought.
“Arm up, guys!” Captain Gloritine of Squad Eleven shouted, “Squad Two’s got the alert to move, and we’re not gonna miss out on the chance to get in a little piece of action ourselves!”
The captain went on to talk about how they were going to stay out of Squad Two’s way, but were going to make sure to kill some Hollows on the side. Ivan beamed at the idea, but Jon groaned.
“I don’t really like this guy,” he thought, “he always wants to do stuff.”
Jason sat in a random chair of the almost empty Squad Ten building, as most of the other members had already left. Kendra sat in another chair in the same room. Isaac and his lieutenant walked out of the long hallway from the officer’s quarters into the foyer-like room.
“Get ready,” Isaac said, tossing them each their sheathed Zanpakutou, “you’re going to want to see this.”
Ryan yawned as he once again realized he had nothing to do. The four girls that usually hung around him were off doing their own individual errands for once, leaving him in an undisturbed state of solitude. He was laying on his side on a couch in Squad Nine’s barracks, using one arm to keep his head up. All over the floor in front of him were empty wrappers, drink cans, and bags that once contained something relatively edible.
“I KNEW I’d find you here!” Came a female voice.
“Whaddaya want, Kass?” Ryan groaned, knowing the red-head probably wanted him to do something.
“I’ve been looking through your budget sheets like you asked me to,” she paused, fixing her glasses.
“And?” Ryan said impatiently.
“What in the world did you fork over one thousand dollars for so soon after graduation?!” She exclaimed, “everything we needed was provided for us by our squads.”
“Well, a good chunk of it went to getting the four ladies in the same squad as me,” he explained.
“And the rest? Please tell me it wasn’t reckless spending…”
“Nope,” he said lazily, “you know Luke’s little posse from our class?”
“How could I forget…” she lacked enthusiasm.
“I paid for them to get into Squad Six with him,” Ryan explained.
“Why would you do that?!” she burst.
“Eh, they asked me to,” he said, “and the money was there. I figured, ‘why not, they’ll pay me back’.”
“And you just went right along and paid their way in? Are you stupid or something?!” Kassandra fussed.
“It’s no big deal,” Ryan commented, “they’ll just have to pay me back later.”
“You can’t just flaunt your money around like tha-” she started.
“Now what’s taking any of them so long to bring me back some god damn food!” Ryan complained.
“C’mon!” Ivan pleaded, trying to goad Jon into one more sparring session.
“I just don’t like training and fighting and stuff THAT much,” Weeber explained. “It gets the job done, but other than that, I’d really like to avoid having to do anything.”
“That’s so boring!” Ivan responded.
“And you tried to bribe me with a cake!!!” Jon boomed, angry at the lie.
“You’re still mad about that?” Ivan said, a puzzled expression on his face. “It was just a joke, dude…”
“Well I was insulted!” Jon responded.
Their conversation was soon interrupted when the doors of Squad Eleven opened and the brown haired man with the eye patch walked in, his white coat with the number “10” on it flowing behind him.
“Ah, well met, Isaac!” The red haired captain of Squad Eleven said, enthused. “Glad to see your finally back!” He stuck his arm out, semi bent at the elbow.
“It’s nice to see you too, Joshua,” Isaac Gloritine responded to the man in a friendly voice, sticking his arm out and giving him a firm handshake.
“Again with this Joshua crap?” The Squad Eleven captain said jokingly, “I don’t see you in weeks and this is how you greet me?”
“Sorry,” Isaac scratched the back of his head.
“Ha, same old you!” the man grinned, “I knew those weaklings wouldn’t kill you! So how many did you take down?”
“Oh, I dunno,” Captain Gloritine hesitated, “about a… hundred?”
“ONLY ONE HUNDRED?!” The other captain gawked. “You beat me in a fight but you only killed a hundred of them?!”
“Hey, it was a stealth mission, I didn’t intend on killing any!” Isaac tried to reason.
“Just what I’d expect,” Joshua shook his head, “you were always the ‘mind over muscle’ brother.”
Ivan and Jon watched the conversation take place.
“I didn’t know the captains of squads ten and eleven were brothers…” Jon mumbled.
“Any idea what they’re talking about?” Ivan asked.
“Nope,” Weeber responded.
Hunter sneezed as he stood on the Squad Two training grounds, irritated by the cowl he was forced to wear per squad protocol.
“Quiet!” another member scolded.
“How are we supposed to be stealthy with you making such noise?” another added.
“Sorry,” Hunter mumbled. “This is not turning out to be as fun as I’d had hoped,” he thought.
Being a member of Squad Two’s Stealth Force required one to be regularly garbed in an almost ninja-like attire and one’s sword on the back, rather than at the side. One needed to be able to pull the blade out back-handedly and be ready to use it in an instant, an easy guess as to why Hunter was placed in this squad.
After stealth training was done, combat practice would ensue. For being a newer member, and a rather obnoxious and arrogant one at that, Hunter would often get ganged up on by the other squad members, but it was good practice. Joey had no trouble fitting in.
Hunter pulled out his sword as a member slashed at him backhandedly, then using a backhanded swing himself to push the attacker back. This proved futile when three more squad mates flash stepped around him.
“I don’t believe this!” Hunter thought.
“Just use your real power, if you can manage it,” another voice sounded in his mind.
Without time to properly address it, he aimed his hands forward, palms facing his foes. “Hadou 31, Shakkahou!” he called, separating himself from the attackers with a large burst of red energy.
“That’s not your real power, you’re deluding yourself,” the voice spoke again.
“Shut up!” Hunter yelled angrily, losing his focus and allowing an enemy to slash his hood, splitting it and leaving it to fall to the ground beside him in two separate pieces. His attackers noticed the outburst and looked at him with confusion.
It wasn’t too long into the exercise, however, that Lieutenant Speers decided to pop in with a new order, but this time was different. It was on this rare occasion that the members of Squad Two got to see their captain in person, a rare chance as the man didn’t like to show himself much.
He was average height for a man of his age, but his most striking features were of his unorthodox appearance. His entire body was wrapped in bandages or other white cloths except for the upper half of his face. A scar-like line traced his face from his left ear to his lip and then to his right ear, with his bottom jaw and cheeks being the white, lifeless color of the rest of his body. His eyes seemed to be squinted most of the time, and his mouth barely opened, at most showing a tooth or two. A white hat completed his shady appearance, circling around his head and providing a shadow over his upper face. His upper face also had some sort of black shade to it, giving off a burned look, but it didn’t seem unskinlike in texture. Besides his strange characteristics, he wore the normal Soul Reaper uniform and carried a Zanpakutou at his side in the traditional manner, while he wore the white overcoat of a captain that had the number “2” printed on the back.
“…” He said nothing as he appeared with Ashley.
“C’mon, I guess you just want me to tell them then?” She responded to him, playfully tugging at one side of his coat.
He grunted.
“Aright, suit yourself,” she said, closing her eyes and shrugging expressively. “Listen up everybody!”
Hunter and the rest of the squad had already aimed their attention at the two, but they had just now gotten into an order-ready position of a crowd.
“As some of you have heard,” the lieutenant began, “a syndicate of Hollows has formed outside of the boundaries of our residential areas of Soul Society. It was Captain Gloritine of Squad Ten who discovered this organization.”
“Squad Ten?” Hunter thought.
“The investigators of Squad Thirteen are going to be providing a follow-up report on the group by the end of the week, and we’re going to be the group to take them out once they do. Everyone understand?”
“Sir!” They all said, saluting in acknowledgement of the order. All but Hunter, who never really took a liking to the whole “saluting” thing.
“Then keep up with your training and be prepared to move out as soon as possible! Dismissed!” She said, and the captain that Hunter would later learn to know as Wallace Roman and his lieutenant walked off, leaving the squad to do whatever.
Jason rolled over on his side in the bed of a private room that would have normally been his for being a third seat, but due to the squad’s lack of regard for a chain of command, the room had been unused for quite some time now. Captain Gloritine had opened it for him to use after the Hollow attack, and he had mostly been there ever since.
It was a simple room, one with white walls and a single window in the middle of the wall opposite the door. A small, circular clock hung on the wall beside the window, while the other side of the window had a black nightstand and next to it the bed Jason was laying on.
He made another sigh, trying to clear his mind and think.
“What was I expecting?” he asked in his thoughts. “Wasn’t this exactly what I was expecting when I decided to become one of these ‘Soul Reapers’ in the first place?”
He rolled over onto his other side, facing the wall.
“Life and death, that’s what this whole thing has been about,” he thought, “to live in the Soul Society, you need to die. To obtain the powers of a Soul Reaper, you need to have died, but what about when you die after that? Does it keep going in a cycle? If it does, why do we even fear death at all? What are we losing?”
He remembered the old woman and the young boy that took him in when he first arrived in Soul Society, how long it had been since he’d simply lived like any other normal soul. He remembered catching runaway chickens in the field with Simon, but he also remembered the fear of losing the only two people he called family to the Hollow that attacked.
“We live and die, each time making a new life for ourselves once more, with new people and new faces, is that what we’re so afraid of losing?”
He remembered the Soul Reaper that defended him and his companions in the world of the living before they were sent to Soul Society.
“Let your tears fall, Ame Odoriko (lit. Rain Dancer)!” the Soul Reaper yelled with rage as he engaged the Hollow, his female comrade laying on the ground unconscious beside him.
He was fighting not just because it was his duty to protect souls from the attacks of Hollows, but because he had something that he was willing to use his current life as a Soul Reaper to protect.
Jason thought back on his days in the Soul Reaper Academy, when Hunter, Jon, and himself would mess around in town. He remembered when Ryan interrupted their fight with Cain, and when Aiden mocked him and Kendra for not being able to use a Senkaimon gate. He remembered fighting alongside all of them when they were attacked by the group of armored Hollows, and then being saved by that captain and her lieutenant.
“It seems like we fight just because we care,” he thought, leaning up in the bed. The sun was setting outside the window. He got up off the bed and walked over to the door. Just as he opened the door to walk out and finally discuss what needed to be discussed with the captain, he walked into Kendra, who was just about to knock on the door.
“Ouch,” she mumbled as she fell to the floor in front of him.
“Third Seat Guffey!” Another female voice called, this one sounding more tired.
Kendra and Jason, while shocked to see each other, looked down to see their lieutenant walking towards them. The lieutenant’s eyes, though exhausted in appearance, widened when she saw them. Jason was standing up, and Kendra was kneeling on the floor in front of him, her head aligned just about to his waist.
“OH, NEVERMIND, I’LL COME BACK LATER!” she panicked, face growing red and rushing back out of the hallway.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Jason called down the hallway in vain, realizing what she thought.
“What was that about?” Kendra asked, getting up.
“Nothing…” Jason mumbled.
“I was just coming by to get you,” she told him, “the captain wants to speak with us.”
“Alright, let’s go,” he said abruptly.
Deep inside the buildings of the research department of Squad Twelve, Aiden worked tirelessly at a large computer screen, several windows open before him. Throughout the windows, multiple looped motion animations of colored particles of light flowed downward and upward and in all sorts of different patterns.
He started rapidly moving his hands across the keyboard, punching in a number of different keys in order to start different operations. The monitor he was stationed at was one of a few that were situated around him, some with standby screens on them to show that they hadn’t been used in a few minutes, while others seemed to be loading several different processes.
“Now run the particle examination,” a robotic, male voice spoke as Aiden looked to see “100%-READY” displayed on one of the windows. With a stroke of the “ENTER” key, two animations of a set of red particles and green particles popped up side by side, soon followed by blue, white, black, and several other color patterns of particles.
“Initiate the bug trace,” the robotic voice said again, and Aiden followed with another few lines of seemingly random key strokes and code. A glass cylinder off to the side started to fill with what appeared to be round insects of some kind, but upon closer inspection would obviously have been nanomachines of some kind, spherical in shape with an eye-like structure in the center and small, paper thin wing-like structures that buzzed too fast to see. An opening made itself in the container, and the machines flew out like a swarm, but, due to their small size, they wouldn’t have been seen unless someone really tried. They flowed out of the container, out of the room, out of the building, and into the sky where they soon dispersed.
“Can you tell me what you just did, lieutenant?” The robotic voice asked.
“After running the spirit particle examination on the samples of spirit energy we got from those Hollows,” Aiden paused, “we sent the nanobots out to track the Hollows, so that the data will be sent to Squad Two upon acquisition.”
“Good,” the voice replied as the man it belonged to walked into the limited light of the room. He had long white hair that seemed to be all over the place, and his eyes were of a pale blue shade that seemed to go well with his pale skin. Perfectly straight black lines fell down from the middle of his eyes to the bottom of his face, and his expression was completely lifeless.
In the captain of Squad Two’s chambers, a beeper went off, indicating the new arrival of information on his communicator. In a room with walls lined with books, the scarred man sat silently at an old oak desk.
“…” he grunted.
“Well that’s our cue!” Ashley cheered, getting up off the desk that she was laying on for no apparent reason and practically skipping out of the room.
“…” the captain sighed.
“Okay,” Captain Bryan Sanders of Squad Thirteen broke out, “we’re finally done looking through the files on this Hollow syndicate. Squad Twelve’s been giving us locations over the past few hours, showing the success of our work. The Stealth Force has been assigned to take care of the actual assassinations, so we’re to remain here. For now, congratulate yourself on a job well done. Dismissed!”
“Good luck, Hunter…” Rebecca thought.
“Arm up, guys!” Captain Gloritine of Squad Eleven shouted, “Squad Two’s got the alert to move, and we’re not gonna miss out on the chance to get in a little piece of action ourselves!”
The captain went on to talk about how they were going to stay out of Squad Two’s way, but were going to make sure to kill some Hollows on the side. Ivan beamed at the idea, but Jon groaned.
“I don’t really like this guy,” he thought, “he always wants to do stuff.”
Jason sat in a random chair of the almost empty Squad Ten building, as most of the other members had already left. Kendra sat in another chair in the same room. Isaac and his lieutenant walked out of the long hallway from the officer’s quarters into the foyer-like room.
“Get ready,” Isaac said, tossing them each their sheathed Zanpakutou, “you’re going to want to see this.”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 14 ~ The Hit:
“It’s cold out here,” Jason mumbled.
“Yeah Captain, where are we going?” Kendra asked as the group of four moved through a seemingly random forest.
“It’s only a bit further,” Isaac spoke. He’d left his captain’s jacket back at the Squad Ten home and instead wore a white sash around his waist that had the letter “X” on one end.
The lieutenant kept to herself, seeming to know all too well what was going on.
Ashley drew a diagram in the dirt of another forested area, but the creeping darkness of night made it almost impossible to see it. One large circle was in the center of the drawing, and many other smaller circles were placed in lines around it. Her face, like all of those of the Stealth Force around her, was concealed in a ninja-like cowl of sorts, making it difficult to tell who she was, besides the sash with the Squad Two emblem on her arm.
Hunter was able to eye through the crowd what she was drawing out, but he already guessed what they were going to do. The large circle was the Hollow they were currently targeting. Captain Roman had already divided the squad into multiple groups, and this one was sent to take out one of the more powerful Hollows leading the syndicate, which was why it had more officers than the other groups. Joey was in this group as well, nodding and taking in the plan. The lines represented the trees, and the little circles were members of this squad, ready to ambush the large creature.
After another few seconds of explanation and failed focus on dirt drawings in the dark, Hunter felt disoriented as he felt himself begin to daydream. It seemed as if his imagination was taking him to another location that was clearly not the night time forest they had been plotting at.
The new environment was still at night, but the prominent light of the moon was blocked off by clouds above, and mist seemed to be ever present in this atmosphere. Other than that, it was completely empty.
“Where am I? What is this?” he thought.
“This is your mental world,” an answerer said, “this is the world inside your soul.”
“Who are you? Show yourself!” Hunter demanded.
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here the whole time.”
Hunter looked around, only to see nothing. “There’s nothing here,” he thought.
“I suppose that would be a logical deduction, wouldn’t it?” The voice asked.
“So you can hear my thoughts then?” Hunter asked.
“Precisely. Maybe you don’t see me because I don’t want you to see me, or could it be that you don’t want to see me at all?”
“You’re talking nonsense,” Hunter said frustratedly, “just come on out.”
The mist ahead of him cleared just a bit, and Hunter could make out the silhouette of a lone tree, a tree that was completely barren and void of any life. As he got closer to it, he could see himself in the supposed tree, and it became apparent that the entire tree was made of some sort of reflective material, like a perfect mirror.
“What the heck?” he asked, “what’s going on here?!”
“I told you, this is your inner world…”
“What’s with this tree?!”
“It’s not just the tree, it’s all around you.”
Hunter was confused for a couple seconds until he looked at the ground around him. It was all the same, perfectly reflective, exactly like a mirror that spanned as far as the eye could see. Unlike a mirror, however, ripples appeared around his feet with each step he took, as if they were under or behind the surface. He reached a finger out to the tree, and it resulted in the same effect.
“This is a pretty gloomy place,” Hunter said.
“You’re not so bright and friendly yourself,” the voice responded.
“Point taken, so what are you?” he asked, really intrigued.
“I am a part of you, which is the only way I’m able to be here,” it answered, “you could probably guess which.”
“My Zanpakutou…” Hunter answered.
“Correct.”
“Isn’t it too soon though?” He asked, “I mean, I haven’t been a Soul Reaper for very long…”
“Though immediate logic would make you question this, think back on yourself for one moment. You trained in Soul Society for a considerable amount of time even before any of your companions did, learned Soul Reaper kidou entirely on your own, excelled in your classes at the academy, and became a Seated Officer in the Stealth Force no less, right out of graduation.”
“Except kendo…” Hunter mumbled.
“Except kendo…” it mumbled back. “So I think it’s about time we started working as a team. It’s only practical.” The owner of the voice finally revealed itself from behind the tree. He was a tall figure, donning a thick leather trench coat and a leather hat of the same color to match. The coat was buttoned all the way to his collar, leaving no openings. His gloves were pure white, and his face could not be seen under the shade of the hat. Two yellow eyes peered out from the darkness, an unreasonable amount of shade coming from such a small hat. It didn’t appear to have any feet.
“So then,” Hunter paused, taking in the appearance of his Zanpakutou, “what is your name?”
“You may call me,” it paused, “Gi Diforume (lit. False Logic Distortion).”
“I didn’t hear it…” Hunter mumbled.
“You didn’t hear me?” Ashley said, indicating that he was now back in real life, “I only said it about five times!” She pushed him over, knocking him out of his daze and into the dirt.
“Ouch,” he said.
“You’re going to take part of the squad and attack from the south flank after Joey and Nigel make their attacks. Then, when you and your guys have joined in the attack, my group will attack from the north, understand?”
“Gotcha,” Hunter answered, looking to the handle of the sword, sheathed on his back.
“Siiiirrrrrr, why do we have to come out here?” A member of Squad Eleven groaned. They were marching up a darkened hill in the forest.
“I’m tired! Can’t we just go back?” another complained.
Jon just drooped and dragged his feet, moving lazily up the hill.
“C’mon Weeber, put some more energy into it!” Ivan said with excitement.
“You know what, I don’t even care anymore,” Jon said. “We’ve been walking for hours and we haven’t seen anything. This whole idea is just… fail…”
“Hey, if we get some fighting out of it, it’ll all be worth it!” Ivan cheered.
“No, no it won’t,” Jon responded, “if you and the captain weren’t so crazy about doing stuff all the time that’s all just physical work, we wouldn’t all be tired and exhausted, and we could just be relaxing at base.”
“But what fun is thaat?” Ivan asked humorously.
Up ahead, the red haired captain raised his hand, providing a signal to stop.
“Thank god,” Jon muttered.
“Alright guys, listen up,” Joshua began to speak, “there’s a large group of Hollows up ahead at the end of the forest. There’s none here too powerful, but that doesn’t mean you can let your guard down!”
Jon sighed.
“Oh come on,” Ivan said, “remember, you fight because it’s a simple way to get things done.”
“Let’s go!” the captain shouted, and the energetic members of the squad charged forward. Jon, and the other tired members followed lazily.
“Where are we going, Reggie?” Rebecca asked as the was led forward by the man that had his hands over her eyes.
“I told you already, it’s a surprise!” He answered happily.
After a few staircases and doors, they arrived in a small room with a desk, a spinning chair, and several monitors. On each monitor was a live feed of a Hollow. He moved his hands away from her eyes.
“Ta-da!” He said.
“What is this?” she asked, sitting at the desk.
“I know you like to see the results of your work,” Reggie began, “so I pulled some strings with my captain and he let me use our Squad Three monitor room to see it.”
“So let me get this straight,” Rebecca began, eyeing the screens, “you pulled me away from work, made all sorts of promises and agreements to show me something amazing, and practically snuck me down here without my knowing it, all so you could show me the Hollows I investigated being killed on camera?”
“Yup,” the tall Soul Reaper with short, dark hair answered.
“That’s…” she paused, “the greatest thing ever!”
“Happy birthday Rebecca,” he said, walking over to her and giving her a light peck on the head.
She hugged him in response. Now she’d get to see all of those monsters suffer for their monstrous doings. He placed a bag of popcorn on the desk.
“Now I’ve got some work to do myself, so I’ll leave you to it,” he said, “take as long as you like.” He opened the door and walked out.
“Hey!” she said, resulting in him coming back into the doorway. “Love ya!” she said.
“Hehehe,” he laughed, “love you too!”
She turned back toward the monitors, beaming with energy. Different squads of the Stealth Force were getting rid of Hollows both large and small, but one group caught her attention.
“Is that Hunter?” she asked herself, zooming in the camera that was probably from one of the nanomachines from Squad Twelve. “It is!”
Hunter’s squad sat lying in wait on the south side of an opening in the forest. They could easily see the massive Hollow ahead of them. It was gargantuan in size, being much larger than any normal Hollow Hunter had ever seen before. It’s body was serpentine and thick, but large wings protruded from its sides, almost making it appear like a dragon of sorts. Its skin was a dark yellow color, and blood trickled from the mouth of its sinister mask, which had large white horns coming from the top. It was feasting on another, smaller Hollow, presumably from its same group.
It roared fiercely. “Come on out,” it said, “you’re amateurs at hiding your spirit energy.”
Joey’s group broke cover from the eastern forest, and Nigel’s came from the west.
“There are more of you…” the monster spoke.
“That’s not for you to know,” Nigel answered, “but now it’s time for you to pay for your crimes!”
“Crimes?” it questioned, “what do you mean?”
“We know your group,” Joey answered, “and we’re going to take you all down.”
“Group?” it asked, “Very well Soul Reapers, prepare to die!”
It swung its massive tail around, knocking a large portion of Joey’s group away, but some of the Soul Reapers flash stepped into the air. The assassin-like members of the Stealth Force pulled out their Zanpakutou, Joey included, and charged at the beast. Nigel’s group also tried the same approach from the opposite side.
The creature predicted this however, and proceeded to roll over on the ground in one quick motion, crushing the majority of the two groups.
“Fools! You dared challenge me!” the monster yelled, flapping its great wings and sending the wounded Soul Reapers flying into the air around it like rag dolls.
“Let’s go!” Hunter signaled to his group.
The group proceeded with their attack from the southern flank with swords drawn, but flash stepping only made them more vulnerable to the wind of the great creature’s wings.
“If this works, it‘ll be for only a second,” Hunter thought, “Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel,” Hunter began, “With light, divide this into six! Bakudou #61, Rikujokoro!”
As a result of the high-level incantation, six yellow poles of light seemed to materialize from his own spirit energy and shoot at the large monster from all directions, encasing it in a ring of light pillars jutting out from its sides.
“You think this will bind me?!” it yelled.
It was his first time casting such a high level spell, so weakness began to take its toll on Hunter. He could see the remaining members of the three groups trying to attack the stunned creature while its wings were immobile, but its tail and general movements alone kept them all at bay.
“Where is the lieutenant?” Hunter asked aloud.
“You don’t need her, or anyone to come help you,” an inside voice said, “just use me! Use our real power!”
He thrust the curved blade into the ground, propping himself up before he faded out.
Joey on the other hand, as well as Nigel and several other leading members of the Stealth Force, had no problems using the powers of their Zanpakutou.
“Devour,” Joey mumbled excitedly, “Kanibaru (lit. The Cannibal).”
His sword transformed into a ball of light in its entirety and then seemed to attach itself to his face and form around his lower head, transforming into a metallic and bladelike pair of jaws of sorts. He bit into the creature’s neck, drawing blood. He seemed to be draining the creature’s spirit energy by eating it.
This, along with several other Shikai Zanpakutou, managed to wound the creature in several locations, but it wasn’t close to being done. The rods of light disappeared and, with one flap of the Hollow’s large wings, the squad was dispersed and sent into the air once more.
“Do you see it?” the voice asked Hunter as he leaned against his curved sword for support. Everything around him seemed to slow down until it utterly stopped, along with all sense of color fading to a black and white grayscale. The trench coat Zanpakutou showed up beside him.
It took a few steps forward, now almost in front of him. “They’re all dying. Do you want them to die?”
“Of course not,” Hunter responded.
It took a few steps forward again, but this time, it stood right in front of him. The buttons on its coat loosened, and its inside was revealed. Underneath its coat, there was no torso, or body of any kind. Instead, the coat seemed to open like a door or window, revealing a spiraling vortex of black and white that seemed to go forward into infinity.
“Do you feel space distorting?” it asked.
“No…” Hunter uttered.
“That’s because you don’t want it to, but you need to, or else they will die…”
“So you’re telling me to disrupt space, and that will save all of us?”
“Precisely!”
Hunter snapped back into the night time battle that his squad mates were now suffering in. He stood up, pulling his curved sword out of the ground, and held his sword right in front of him.
“Disrupt,” he paused, “Gi Diforume!”
The space around the creature seemed to freeze and get brighter, as Hunter willed the darkness to give way to light, and the creature to stop its movements. It seemed to be frozen in time.
“Just the opening I needed!” Lieutenant Speers said, appearing as if out of nowhere. “Glow, Ichiraimei (lit. Life Thunder)!” The sword in her right hand transformed into a black leather glove, with silver studs on its knuckles. As she clenched a fist, electricity generated itself in her hand. She leaned her arm back, and, with one swift movement, delivered a heavily powerful punch to the creature’s skull from the air above it.
“Fools… all fools…” the monster managed to mutter as it faded away.
“It’s cold out here,” Jason mumbled.
“Yeah Captain, where are we going?” Kendra asked as the group of four moved through a seemingly random forest.
“It’s only a bit further,” Isaac spoke. He’d left his captain’s jacket back at the Squad Ten home and instead wore a white sash around his waist that had the letter “X” on one end.
The lieutenant kept to herself, seeming to know all too well what was going on.
Ashley drew a diagram in the dirt of another forested area, but the creeping darkness of night made it almost impossible to see it. One large circle was in the center of the drawing, and many other smaller circles were placed in lines around it. Her face, like all of those of the Stealth Force around her, was concealed in a ninja-like cowl of sorts, making it difficult to tell who she was, besides the sash with the Squad Two emblem on her arm.
Hunter was able to eye through the crowd what she was drawing out, but he already guessed what they were going to do. The large circle was the Hollow they were currently targeting. Captain Roman had already divided the squad into multiple groups, and this one was sent to take out one of the more powerful Hollows leading the syndicate, which was why it had more officers than the other groups. Joey was in this group as well, nodding and taking in the plan. The lines represented the trees, and the little circles were members of this squad, ready to ambush the large creature.
After another few seconds of explanation and failed focus on dirt drawings in the dark, Hunter felt disoriented as he felt himself begin to daydream. It seemed as if his imagination was taking him to another location that was clearly not the night time forest they had been plotting at.
The new environment was still at night, but the prominent light of the moon was blocked off by clouds above, and mist seemed to be ever present in this atmosphere. Other than that, it was completely empty.
“Where am I? What is this?” he thought.
“This is your mental world,” an answerer said, “this is the world inside your soul.”
“Who are you? Show yourself!” Hunter demanded.
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here the whole time.”
Hunter looked around, only to see nothing. “There’s nothing here,” he thought.
“I suppose that would be a logical deduction, wouldn’t it?” The voice asked.
“So you can hear my thoughts then?” Hunter asked.
“Precisely. Maybe you don’t see me because I don’t want you to see me, or could it be that you don’t want to see me at all?”
“You’re talking nonsense,” Hunter said frustratedly, “just come on out.”
The mist ahead of him cleared just a bit, and Hunter could make out the silhouette of a lone tree, a tree that was completely barren and void of any life. As he got closer to it, he could see himself in the supposed tree, and it became apparent that the entire tree was made of some sort of reflective material, like a perfect mirror.
“What the heck?” he asked, “what’s going on here?!”
“I told you, this is your inner world…”
“What’s with this tree?!”
“It’s not just the tree, it’s all around you.”
Hunter was confused for a couple seconds until he looked at the ground around him. It was all the same, perfectly reflective, exactly like a mirror that spanned as far as the eye could see. Unlike a mirror, however, ripples appeared around his feet with each step he took, as if they were under or behind the surface. He reached a finger out to the tree, and it resulted in the same effect.
“This is a pretty gloomy place,” Hunter said.
“You’re not so bright and friendly yourself,” the voice responded.
“Point taken, so what are you?” he asked, really intrigued.
“I am a part of you, which is the only way I’m able to be here,” it answered, “you could probably guess which.”
“My Zanpakutou…” Hunter answered.
“Correct.”
“Isn’t it too soon though?” He asked, “I mean, I haven’t been a Soul Reaper for very long…”
“Though immediate logic would make you question this, think back on yourself for one moment. You trained in Soul Society for a considerable amount of time even before any of your companions did, learned Soul Reaper kidou entirely on your own, excelled in your classes at the academy, and became a Seated Officer in the Stealth Force no less, right out of graduation.”
“Except kendo…” Hunter mumbled.
“Except kendo…” it mumbled back. “So I think it’s about time we started working as a team. It’s only practical.” The owner of the voice finally revealed itself from behind the tree. He was a tall figure, donning a thick leather trench coat and a leather hat of the same color to match. The coat was buttoned all the way to his collar, leaving no openings. His gloves were pure white, and his face could not be seen under the shade of the hat. Two yellow eyes peered out from the darkness, an unreasonable amount of shade coming from such a small hat. It didn’t appear to have any feet.
“So then,” Hunter paused, taking in the appearance of his Zanpakutou, “what is your name?”
“You may call me,” it paused, “Gi Diforume (lit. False Logic Distortion).”
“I didn’t hear it…” Hunter mumbled.
“You didn’t hear me?” Ashley said, indicating that he was now back in real life, “I only said it about five times!” She pushed him over, knocking him out of his daze and into the dirt.
“Ouch,” he said.
“You’re going to take part of the squad and attack from the south flank after Joey and Nigel make their attacks. Then, when you and your guys have joined in the attack, my group will attack from the north, understand?”
“Gotcha,” Hunter answered, looking to the handle of the sword, sheathed on his back.
“Siiiirrrrrr, why do we have to come out here?” A member of Squad Eleven groaned. They were marching up a darkened hill in the forest.
“I’m tired! Can’t we just go back?” another complained.
Jon just drooped and dragged his feet, moving lazily up the hill.
“C’mon Weeber, put some more energy into it!” Ivan said with excitement.
“You know what, I don’t even care anymore,” Jon said. “We’ve been walking for hours and we haven’t seen anything. This whole idea is just… fail…”
“Hey, if we get some fighting out of it, it’ll all be worth it!” Ivan cheered.
“No, no it won’t,” Jon responded, “if you and the captain weren’t so crazy about doing stuff all the time that’s all just physical work, we wouldn’t all be tired and exhausted, and we could just be relaxing at base.”
“But what fun is thaat?” Ivan asked humorously.
Up ahead, the red haired captain raised his hand, providing a signal to stop.
“Thank god,” Jon muttered.
“Alright guys, listen up,” Joshua began to speak, “there’s a large group of Hollows up ahead at the end of the forest. There’s none here too powerful, but that doesn’t mean you can let your guard down!”
Jon sighed.
“Oh come on,” Ivan said, “remember, you fight because it’s a simple way to get things done.”
“Let’s go!” the captain shouted, and the energetic members of the squad charged forward. Jon, and the other tired members followed lazily.
“Where are we going, Reggie?” Rebecca asked as the was led forward by the man that had his hands over her eyes.
“I told you already, it’s a surprise!” He answered happily.
After a few staircases and doors, they arrived in a small room with a desk, a spinning chair, and several monitors. On each monitor was a live feed of a Hollow. He moved his hands away from her eyes.
“Ta-da!” He said.
“What is this?” she asked, sitting at the desk.
“I know you like to see the results of your work,” Reggie began, “so I pulled some strings with my captain and he let me use our Squad Three monitor room to see it.”
“So let me get this straight,” Rebecca began, eyeing the screens, “you pulled me away from work, made all sorts of promises and agreements to show me something amazing, and practically snuck me down here without my knowing it, all so you could show me the Hollows I investigated being killed on camera?”
“Yup,” the tall Soul Reaper with short, dark hair answered.
“That’s…” she paused, “the greatest thing ever!”
“Happy birthday Rebecca,” he said, walking over to her and giving her a light peck on the head.
She hugged him in response. Now she’d get to see all of those monsters suffer for their monstrous doings. He placed a bag of popcorn on the desk.
“Now I’ve got some work to do myself, so I’ll leave you to it,” he said, “take as long as you like.” He opened the door and walked out.
“Hey!” she said, resulting in him coming back into the doorway. “Love ya!” she said.
“Hehehe,” he laughed, “love you too!”
She turned back toward the monitors, beaming with energy. Different squads of the Stealth Force were getting rid of Hollows both large and small, but one group caught her attention.
“Is that Hunter?” she asked herself, zooming in the camera that was probably from one of the nanomachines from Squad Twelve. “It is!”
Hunter’s squad sat lying in wait on the south side of an opening in the forest. They could easily see the massive Hollow ahead of them. It was gargantuan in size, being much larger than any normal Hollow Hunter had ever seen before. It’s body was serpentine and thick, but large wings protruded from its sides, almost making it appear like a dragon of sorts. Its skin was a dark yellow color, and blood trickled from the mouth of its sinister mask, which had large white horns coming from the top. It was feasting on another, smaller Hollow, presumably from its same group.
It roared fiercely. “Come on out,” it said, “you’re amateurs at hiding your spirit energy.”
Joey’s group broke cover from the eastern forest, and Nigel’s came from the west.
“There are more of you…” the monster spoke.
“That’s not for you to know,” Nigel answered, “but now it’s time for you to pay for your crimes!”
“Crimes?” it questioned, “what do you mean?”
“We know your group,” Joey answered, “and we’re going to take you all down.”
“Group?” it asked, “Very well Soul Reapers, prepare to die!”
It swung its massive tail around, knocking a large portion of Joey’s group away, but some of the Soul Reapers flash stepped into the air. The assassin-like members of the Stealth Force pulled out their Zanpakutou, Joey included, and charged at the beast. Nigel’s group also tried the same approach from the opposite side.
The creature predicted this however, and proceeded to roll over on the ground in one quick motion, crushing the majority of the two groups.
“Fools! You dared challenge me!” the monster yelled, flapping its great wings and sending the wounded Soul Reapers flying into the air around it like rag dolls.
“Let’s go!” Hunter signaled to his group.
The group proceeded with their attack from the southern flank with swords drawn, but flash stepping only made them more vulnerable to the wind of the great creature’s wings.
“If this works, it‘ll be for only a second,” Hunter thought, “Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel,” Hunter began, “With light, divide this into six! Bakudou #61, Rikujokoro!”
As a result of the high-level incantation, six yellow poles of light seemed to materialize from his own spirit energy and shoot at the large monster from all directions, encasing it in a ring of light pillars jutting out from its sides.
“You think this will bind me?!” it yelled.
It was his first time casting such a high level spell, so weakness began to take its toll on Hunter. He could see the remaining members of the three groups trying to attack the stunned creature while its wings were immobile, but its tail and general movements alone kept them all at bay.
“Where is the lieutenant?” Hunter asked aloud.
“You don’t need her, or anyone to come help you,” an inside voice said, “just use me! Use our real power!”
He thrust the curved blade into the ground, propping himself up before he faded out.
Joey on the other hand, as well as Nigel and several other leading members of the Stealth Force, had no problems using the powers of their Zanpakutou.
“Devour,” Joey mumbled excitedly, “Kanibaru (lit. The Cannibal).”
His sword transformed into a ball of light in its entirety and then seemed to attach itself to his face and form around his lower head, transforming into a metallic and bladelike pair of jaws of sorts. He bit into the creature’s neck, drawing blood. He seemed to be draining the creature’s spirit energy by eating it.
This, along with several other Shikai Zanpakutou, managed to wound the creature in several locations, but it wasn’t close to being done. The rods of light disappeared and, with one flap of the Hollow’s large wings, the squad was dispersed and sent into the air once more.
“Do you see it?” the voice asked Hunter as he leaned against his curved sword for support. Everything around him seemed to slow down until it utterly stopped, along with all sense of color fading to a black and white grayscale. The trench coat Zanpakutou showed up beside him.
It took a few steps forward, now almost in front of him. “They’re all dying. Do you want them to die?”
“Of course not,” Hunter responded.
It took a few steps forward again, but this time, it stood right in front of him. The buttons on its coat loosened, and its inside was revealed. Underneath its coat, there was no torso, or body of any kind. Instead, the coat seemed to open like a door or window, revealing a spiraling vortex of black and white that seemed to go forward into infinity.
“Do you feel space distorting?” it asked.
“No…” Hunter uttered.
“That’s because you don’t want it to, but you need to, or else they will die…”
“So you’re telling me to disrupt space, and that will save all of us?”
“Precisely!”
Hunter snapped back into the night time battle that his squad mates were now suffering in. He stood up, pulling his curved sword out of the ground, and held his sword right in front of him.
“Disrupt,” he paused, “Gi Diforume!”
The space around the creature seemed to freeze and get brighter, as Hunter willed the darkness to give way to light, and the creature to stop its movements. It seemed to be frozen in time.
“Just the opening I needed!” Lieutenant Speers said, appearing as if out of nowhere. “Glow, Ichiraimei (lit. Life Thunder)!” The sword in her right hand transformed into a black leather glove, with silver studs on its knuckles. As she clenched a fist, electricity generated itself in her hand. She leaned her arm back, and, with one swift movement, delivered a heavily powerful punch to the creature’s skull from the air above it.
“Fools… all fools…” the monster managed to mutter as it faded away.
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Episode 15 ~ Pressing the Charge:
Jason and Kendra sat and watched through Isaac’s established barrier. The lieutenant sat silently as well, as if off in her own little world. Even though they were in an orange barrier in the middle of a forest, a very strange sight, no one noticed them.
“Whoah, so that’s Hunter’s Shikai…” Jason said.
“Gi Diforume…” Kendra added.
“Neither of you have your own Shikai yet, do you?” Isaac asked.
“No…” Jason said, watching as the giant Hollow fell from the attacks of Hunter’s Gi Diforume and Lieutenant Speers’s Ichiraimei.
“Now do you see why I brought you out here?” the captain asked, “I can’t have my third seat being outclassed by a fifth.”
Jason gulped, realizing his intentions.
“What about me?” Kendra asked.
“Sasha!” Isaac spoke.
“Yessir,” the lieutenant responded, getting up off the ground.
“It’s not like I have an official fourth,” Captain Gloritine said.
“Ahh!” Weeber shouted as another large Hollow swung its arm down at him in a crushing motion. He managed to flash step away from the beast, which was rather humanoid in form despite its hunched-over position and its oversized arms, obviously meant for smashing. The creature had dark blue-green skin, and protruding from its elbows were bones that curved up and over its shoulders, as if they could be moved around like bodily shields.
Seeing a potential opening from the time the creature spent stalled from the impact of its own punch with the ground, Jon used another flash step to close the distance between the two and slash at its exposed torso.
The slash was in vain, however, as to Jon’s surprise, the Hollow used its other arm to deflect the sword as if it were nothing. It laughed through its mask.
“What the heck are you?!” Jon asked, a feeling of helplessness rising inside of him.
“I thought you Soul Reapers did your homework!” It responded. “You’ll simply know me as Hollow, but my real name is Smashclaw.”
“It talked back?!” Jon thought, weirded out by the idea. “That’s not a very cool name!” he taunted.
“Like Jonathon Webster is any better, human!” It responded in its warped and twisted voice.
“You know my name?” He asked.
“Of course,” the monster responded, “we’ve done our research on all of your ranking Soul Reapers! We needed to figure out who the toughest were and who were the weakest. You and your pathetic Squad Eleven are among the least powerful squads!”
“Oh contraire!” Came Ivan’s voice from the battlefield up ahead. He let his sword fall on his right shoulder as fresh blood dripped off of it, indicating he had just killed another Hollow.
“And Ivan, one of the higher seated members of the pathetic squad!” The Hollow taunted.
Weeber leaned forward on his sword. “Well Ivan, if you wanna fight Mr. Happyface over here, feel free to. I’m leaving,” he said, flash stepping away.
He didn’t make it very far, however, as the monster soon appeared in front of him and used one of its large armored arms to smack him back to the battlefield.
“It seems it doesn’t want any of us to get away,” Ivan spoke.
“Your friend has quite a unique Zanpakutou, I’ll give him that!” Isaac said, putting the finishing touches on another barrier he’d erected.
“What kind of kidou is this?” Jason asked.
“My own special kind,” Isaac responded, “using my own special power, I can make barriers like this that prevent any detection from the outside world, even the captains! It’s kind of like making my own private training ground anywhere I want to.”
“It’s pretty cool, I’m not gonna lie,” Jason responded.
“See, I knew you’d like it. It’s also cool that I can forge it into separate segments so that others can have their own areas too!”
“So for the lieutenant and Kendra?”
“Exactly,” the captain responded.
“So what exactly are we going to do here?” Jason asked.
“I told you,” Isaac paused, releasing his Zanpakutou without even calling its name or giving a release command, “I’m going to train you to use Shikai.” Unlike the previous blue katana form of his Zanpakutou that Jason had first seen, this one was a blue halberd.
Ivan unleashed a flurry of slashes at the Hollow, but the speed with which it moved its natural shields made all of his attacks ineffective.
“Any ideas?” He asked Weeber, who simply sat on the ground not wanting to do anything.
“How ‘bout we both attack it at once?” Jon asked.
“If that works and we didn’t try it already, I’m just going to throw a cake in your face!” Ivan threatened.
Ivan charged forward again with a rush of sword swings that Squad Eleven was known for. Weeber got up off his seat on the ground and attempted to join in the attack, only to trip and fall on his face. Ivan turned around to see that he wasn’t getting any support, only to have the creature take advantage of this opening and send a fist right into his stomach, sending him flying into a tree behind Jon and breaking it.
“Ouch,” he mumbled, spitting blood.
“That didn’t happen!” Weeber attempted, getting up off the ground and wiping the dirt off of his face.
“I… can’t… move…” Ivan mumbled, not even able to keep his grip on his sword that fell loosely to the ground beside him.
“So much for the idea of us both attacking at once then,” Jon responded to the situation, now trying to find a way to beat this thing himself. Seeing none, he helped Ivan sheathe his sword and managed to pick him up and sling him over his shoulder. “Let’s see how fast you can really go,” he told the Hollow before disappearing into the trees.
By keeping to the spaces between the thicker trees, he could maneuver his way through parts of the forest the Hollow would surely not fit into, though he could see it easily smashing through all of the trees in its way. It was only a matter of time before-
“That spirit energy?” Jon asked, sensing a large amount of energy somewhere nearby. The pressure from it, although unfamiliar, was definitely of Captain level, and it took all of his strength just to keep his own balance.
As if sensing it as a signal of some kind, the Hollow turned around and headed in its direction.
Across the forest, Captain Joshua Gloritine of Squad Eleven also detected the energy. He knew who it was.
“Brother?” He questioned in his own thoughts.
After slicing his blade through another Hollow, Captain Wallace Roman of Squad Two detected the force as well, also knowing that it belonged to Captain Isaac Gloritine. Lieutenant Speers appeared in front of him, expecting an order.
“Captain?” she asked.
“…” he responded.
“Return to base?” she questioned.
An aggravated look rose on his face.
“Alright,” she responded, proceeding to give the order to withdraw.
Jon and Ivan sat idle in the forest as the energy boomed back and forth around them. Through some of the trees, they could make out silhouettes of Soul Reapers and Hollows alike, all being cut down one by one. It could easily be made out in the night that the killer was a male Soul Reaper with short hair and a white sash tied around his waist. The end of the sash held a black letter “X.”
Jason and Kendra sat and watched through Isaac’s established barrier. The lieutenant sat silently as well, as if off in her own little world. Even though they were in an orange barrier in the middle of a forest, a very strange sight, no one noticed them.
“Whoah, so that’s Hunter’s Shikai…” Jason said.
“Gi Diforume…” Kendra added.
“Neither of you have your own Shikai yet, do you?” Isaac asked.
“No…” Jason said, watching as the giant Hollow fell from the attacks of Hunter’s Gi Diforume and Lieutenant Speers’s Ichiraimei.
“Now do you see why I brought you out here?” the captain asked, “I can’t have my third seat being outclassed by a fifth.”
Jason gulped, realizing his intentions.
“What about me?” Kendra asked.
“Sasha!” Isaac spoke.
“Yessir,” the lieutenant responded, getting up off the ground.
“It’s not like I have an official fourth,” Captain Gloritine said.
“Ahh!” Weeber shouted as another large Hollow swung its arm down at him in a crushing motion. He managed to flash step away from the beast, which was rather humanoid in form despite its hunched-over position and its oversized arms, obviously meant for smashing. The creature had dark blue-green skin, and protruding from its elbows were bones that curved up and over its shoulders, as if they could be moved around like bodily shields.
Seeing a potential opening from the time the creature spent stalled from the impact of its own punch with the ground, Jon used another flash step to close the distance between the two and slash at its exposed torso.
The slash was in vain, however, as to Jon’s surprise, the Hollow used its other arm to deflect the sword as if it were nothing. It laughed through its mask.
“What the heck are you?!” Jon asked, a feeling of helplessness rising inside of him.
“I thought you Soul Reapers did your homework!” It responded. “You’ll simply know me as Hollow, but my real name is Smashclaw.”
“It talked back?!” Jon thought, weirded out by the idea. “That’s not a very cool name!” he taunted.
“Like Jonathon Webster is any better, human!” It responded in its warped and twisted voice.
“You know my name?” He asked.
“Of course,” the monster responded, “we’ve done our research on all of your ranking Soul Reapers! We needed to figure out who the toughest were and who were the weakest. You and your pathetic Squad Eleven are among the least powerful squads!”
“Oh contraire!” Came Ivan’s voice from the battlefield up ahead. He let his sword fall on his right shoulder as fresh blood dripped off of it, indicating he had just killed another Hollow.
“And Ivan, one of the higher seated members of the pathetic squad!” The Hollow taunted.
Weeber leaned forward on his sword. “Well Ivan, if you wanna fight Mr. Happyface over here, feel free to. I’m leaving,” he said, flash stepping away.
He didn’t make it very far, however, as the monster soon appeared in front of him and used one of its large armored arms to smack him back to the battlefield.
“It seems it doesn’t want any of us to get away,” Ivan spoke.
“Your friend has quite a unique Zanpakutou, I’ll give him that!” Isaac said, putting the finishing touches on another barrier he’d erected.
“What kind of kidou is this?” Jason asked.
“My own special kind,” Isaac responded, “using my own special power, I can make barriers like this that prevent any detection from the outside world, even the captains! It’s kind of like making my own private training ground anywhere I want to.”
“It’s pretty cool, I’m not gonna lie,” Jason responded.
“See, I knew you’d like it. It’s also cool that I can forge it into separate segments so that others can have their own areas too!”
“So for the lieutenant and Kendra?”
“Exactly,” the captain responded.
“So what exactly are we going to do here?” Jason asked.
“I told you,” Isaac paused, releasing his Zanpakutou without even calling its name or giving a release command, “I’m going to train you to use Shikai.” Unlike the previous blue katana form of his Zanpakutou that Jason had first seen, this one was a blue halberd.
Ivan unleashed a flurry of slashes at the Hollow, but the speed with which it moved its natural shields made all of his attacks ineffective.
“Any ideas?” He asked Weeber, who simply sat on the ground not wanting to do anything.
“How ‘bout we both attack it at once?” Jon asked.
“If that works and we didn’t try it already, I’m just going to throw a cake in your face!” Ivan threatened.
Ivan charged forward again with a rush of sword swings that Squad Eleven was known for. Weeber got up off his seat on the ground and attempted to join in the attack, only to trip and fall on his face. Ivan turned around to see that he wasn’t getting any support, only to have the creature take advantage of this opening and send a fist right into his stomach, sending him flying into a tree behind Jon and breaking it.
“Ouch,” he mumbled, spitting blood.
“That didn’t happen!” Weeber attempted, getting up off the ground and wiping the dirt off of his face.
“I… can’t… move…” Ivan mumbled, not even able to keep his grip on his sword that fell loosely to the ground beside him.
“So much for the idea of us both attacking at once then,” Jon responded to the situation, now trying to find a way to beat this thing himself. Seeing none, he helped Ivan sheathe his sword and managed to pick him up and sling him over his shoulder. “Let’s see how fast you can really go,” he told the Hollow before disappearing into the trees.
By keeping to the spaces between the thicker trees, he could maneuver his way through parts of the forest the Hollow would surely not fit into, though he could see it easily smashing through all of the trees in its way. It was only a matter of time before-
“That spirit energy?” Jon asked, sensing a large amount of energy somewhere nearby. The pressure from it, although unfamiliar, was definitely of Captain level, and it took all of his strength just to keep his own balance.
As if sensing it as a signal of some kind, the Hollow turned around and headed in its direction.
Across the forest, Captain Joshua Gloritine of Squad Eleven also detected the energy. He knew who it was.
“Brother?” He questioned in his own thoughts.
After slicing his blade through another Hollow, Captain Wallace Roman of Squad Two detected the force as well, also knowing that it belonged to Captain Isaac Gloritine. Lieutenant Speers appeared in front of him, expecting an order.
“Captain?” she asked.
“…” he responded.
“Return to base?” she questioned.
An aggravated look rose on his face.
“Alright,” she responded, proceeding to give the order to withdraw.
Jon and Ivan sat idle in the forest as the energy boomed back and forth around them. Through some of the trees, they could make out silhouettes of Soul Reapers and Hollows alike, all being cut down one by one. It could easily be made out in the night that the killer was a male Soul Reaper with short hair and a white sash tied around his waist. The end of the sash held a black letter “X.”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 16 ~ Consequences:
Captain Gloritine fired another arrow of energy out of his new bow form of his Zanpakutou, which Jason barely managed to dive out of the way of and avoid.
“C’mon, if dodging is the best you can do, I don’t even know how you graduated,” the captain mocked.
“This is nuts!” Jason thought, “his sword just changes from one form to another just like that! If I come up with one way to fight him, he just makes it into another form and twists the battle in his favor again!”
Isaac swung the bow out like a sword as it began to glow, indicating a form change. Spirit particles began to show through translucently, and the bow soon became a double-edged longsword, with metal brackets going down each side for a couple feet, allowing for at least a bit of stabbing.
With a flash step of lightning speed, Isaac closed the gap between them and swung, but Jason barely managed to block it with his own sword. It was apparent, however, that the captain’s strength was obviously too much for him, and Jason could feel the muscles in his arms weakening in strength just by holding his sword there in defense.
“Put some effort into it,” the captain said, easily holding Jason’s sword. “I heard you were supposed to be good at kendo, now I’m gonna force it out of you.”
“This is insane,” Jason thought, “he’s a captain! What does he possibly expect me to be able to do? And he’s even using his Shikai! I can’t beat that!”
“Damn,” Jason grunted, trying desperately to hold his sword. He soon, however, felt a slight chill emanate from the blade’s handle and shoot down his spine.
“You’re making me do this,” Isaac said, placing a hand on one of the frames around the blade. With a quick stream of power, the blade broke into several pieces, each one starting to rotate at high speeds resembling a sort of multi-bladed chainsaw. The frames held the blades in place.
The spinning saw blades started cracking the normal Zanpakutou of Jason’s, and he had to use all his might to pull it back. His hands felt completely numb from the rotating blades.
“You don’t stand a chance,” Isaac said, spinning and stopping the blades several times for intimidation purposes, “come on Jason.”
Jason looked to his sword, barely still in one piece, with cracks running down the blade. Another shiver shot down his spine.
“Emergency! Emergency!” megaphones sounded all through the headquarters of the Soul Reapers. Students, captains, and everything in between turned away from what they were doing to hear the warning sirens and emergency messages.
In his office, Captain Sheppard of Squad Seven looked to a floating machine next to him, displaying a message of a destination. Captain James Samson of Squad Three, the female captains of Squads Six and Eight also answered the call, while several other captains throughout Soul Society waited on receiving theirs. Two of the monitor machines met Joshua Gloritine and Wallace Roman on the battlefield, while the one sent to Isaac Gloritine never reached its target.
The captains all began to assemble in a large, conference-type room, a large glass window overlooking the rest of their headquarters. In a chair at the head of the room sat an old, red-skinned man, whose long, black hair was tied and braided down behind him in a traditional manner. He held a spear in his hand, the point of which was on the floor. His long white coat displayed the number “1,” while the same buzz cut lieutenant that showed up at the academy graduations sat idly by him. Captains started shuffling through the double doors of the room, sitting down at solid chairs arranged along a long, glass table.
The first was James Samson, the humble, law-abiding captain of Squad Three. The next was a short figure completely cloaked in white, a “5” on the back. Ronald Durham, the short white haired, aged captain of the medical Squad Four was next, followed by Matthew Sheppard of Seven, always nervous about such meetings. A dark skinned woman with short, black hair appeared as the captain of Squad Eight, and a dark-skinned man with an afro showed up as the captain of Squad Nine. Squad Six’s captain was a short woman with short black hair, serious in appearance, while the captain of Squad Twelve showed up lifelessly. Squad Thirteen’s investigative captain walked in, followed by Wallace Roman appearing with a flash step and Joshua Gloritine rushing in beside him. The rest of Squads Two and Eleven were on their way back from the battlefield. Isaac Gloritine left an empty seat for Squad Ten.
Each of the twelve captains present took their seats at the table.
“As you’re all aware,” the chief captain began, “an organization of Hollows has formed in the outer lands of our Soul Society. Were it just a group of normal Hollows, we would think nothing of it, but reports from Squads Two, Twelve, and Thirteen have indicated the presence of Menos Grande.”
“But we’ve all fought hundreds of Menos before,” James Samson of Squad Three spoke, “so why should we be worried?”
“Hold your tongue, fool!” The short captain of Squad Six scolded, “he’s obviously not done.”
“Going on,” the chief captain started again, “Gillian level Menos would not have disturbed us, but Adheuchas levels have been detected as well.”
“How many?” Ronald Durham of Squad Four asked.
“Hundreds,” the chief captain paused, “perhaps a thousand.”
The red haired captain of Squad Eleven whistled, “that’s a lot of fun.”
“…” Wallace Roman grunted.
“And that’s still not the worst of it,” Bryan Sanders of Squad Thirteen’s Investigation unit broke in, “care to share your findings, Logan?”
The captain of Squad Twelve broke his silence, pulling out a control device. With a press of it, a screen appeared inside the glass of the table in front of each captain. Two windows were open, one showing green particle movement, while the other showed a much faster red one.
“The two displays before you are the spirit particle patterns of two types of Menos Grande Hollows,” he paused, “the one on the left is the Adheuchas class, and you can see how the power of the Hollow keeps the movement in check.”
The captains listened closely.
“The display on the right, unfortunately,” he paused again, “is the swift and powerful motions of Vasto Lordes level spirit particles. We managed to get this sample before most of our sensor machines were destroyed.”
“Vasto Lordes?!” The dark-skinned woman of Squad Eight exclaimed with a Mexican accent.
“Are you serious?” Squad Seven’s Captain Sheppard asked, astonished.
“Of course, I wouldn’t be telling you otherwise,” Squad Twelve’s captain mocked, “and we weren’t able to retrieve enough information as to how many of them there are, but my best estimate is only two or three at maximum.”
“So are they attacking now, is that the emergency?” Squad Nine’s afro captain asked.
“No, but a group of Adheuchas has broken through the southwestern defenses,” the chief said, a hint of regret in his voice, “Squads Seven through Nine are assigned to the duty of fending them off.”
“How did they possibly break through our defenses?” the cloaked little figure from Squad Five questioned. All eyes turned toward the head captain.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he paused, the more quick-witted captains looked down at the table in silence, “someone has betrayed us.”
“Of course, it would have to be someone of high-enough a rank to have access to those fortifications,” Bryan Sanders spoke.
“So that’s why the man’s gone…” the afro captain muttered.
Several pairs of eyes moved down to Joshua Gloritine, and the empty seat next to him. He soon took noticed to the implication, and, shocked, said, “you don’t mean…”
“Eye witness reports from your own squad members and spirit energy detectors from the area have made it abundantly clear,” Squad Twelve’s captain said, opening up another window that displayed a balanced level of blue spirit particles with the words, “MATCH: ISAAC GLORITINE,” and an identification picture displayed next to it of the captain with the eye patch.
“It’s official,” the head captain spoke, “Isaac Gloritine is a traitor to the Soul Society.”
Captain Gloritine fired another arrow of energy out of his new bow form of his Zanpakutou, which Jason barely managed to dive out of the way of and avoid.
“C’mon, if dodging is the best you can do, I don’t even know how you graduated,” the captain mocked.
“This is nuts!” Jason thought, “his sword just changes from one form to another just like that! If I come up with one way to fight him, he just makes it into another form and twists the battle in his favor again!”
Isaac swung the bow out like a sword as it began to glow, indicating a form change. Spirit particles began to show through translucently, and the bow soon became a double-edged longsword, with metal brackets going down each side for a couple feet, allowing for at least a bit of stabbing.
With a flash step of lightning speed, Isaac closed the gap between them and swung, but Jason barely managed to block it with his own sword. It was apparent, however, that the captain’s strength was obviously too much for him, and Jason could feel the muscles in his arms weakening in strength just by holding his sword there in defense.
“Put some effort into it,” the captain said, easily holding Jason’s sword. “I heard you were supposed to be good at kendo, now I’m gonna force it out of you.”
“This is insane,” Jason thought, “he’s a captain! What does he possibly expect me to be able to do? And he’s even using his Shikai! I can’t beat that!”
“Damn,” Jason grunted, trying desperately to hold his sword. He soon, however, felt a slight chill emanate from the blade’s handle and shoot down his spine.
“You’re making me do this,” Isaac said, placing a hand on one of the frames around the blade. With a quick stream of power, the blade broke into several pieces, each one starting to rotate at high speeds resembling a sort of multi-bladed chainsaw. The frames held the blades in place.
The spinning saw blades started cracking the normal Zanpakutou of Jason’s, and he had to use all his might to pull it back. His hands felt completely numb from the rotating blades.
“You don’t stand a chance,” Isaac said, spinning and stopping the blades several times for intimidation purposes, “come on Jason.”
Jason looked to his sword, barely still in one piece, with cracks running down the blade. Another shiver shot down his spine.
“Emergency! Emergency!” megaphones sounded all through the headquarters of the Soul Reapers. Students, captains, and everything in between turned away from what they were doing to hear the warning sirens and emergency messages.
In his office, Captain Sheppard of Squad Seven looked to a floating machine next to him, displaying a message of a destination. Captain James Samson of Squad Three, the female captains of Squads Six and Eight also answered the call, while several other captains throughout Soul Society waited on receiving theirs. Two of the monitor machines met Joshua Gloritine and Wallace Roman on the battlefield, while the one sent to Isaac Gloritine never reached its target.
The captains all began to assemble in a large, conference-type room, a large glass window overlooking the rest of their headquarters. In a chair at the head of the room sat an old, red-skinned man, whose long, black hair was tied and braided down behind him in a traditional manner. He held a spear in his hand, the point of which was on the floor. His long white coat displayed the number “1,” while the same buzz cut lieutenant that showed up at the academy graduations sat idly by him. Captains started shuffling through the double doors of the room, sitting down at solid chairs arranged along a long, glass table.
The first was James Samson, the humble, law-abiding captain of Squad Three. The next was a short figure completely cloaked in white, a “5” on the back. Ronald Durham, the short white haired, aged captain of the medical Squad Four was next, followed by Matthew Sheppard of Seven, always nervous about such meetings. A dark skinned woman with short, black hair appeared as the captain of Squad Eight, and a dark-skinned man with an afro showed up as the captain of Squad Nine. Squad Six’s captain was a short woman with short black hair, serious in appearance, while the captain of Squad Twelve showed up lifelessly. Squad Thirteen’s investigative captain walked in, followed by Wallace Roman appearing with a flash step and Joshua Gloritine rushing in beside him. The rest of Squads Two and Eleven were on their way back from the battlefield. Isaac Gloritine left an empty seat for Squad Ten.
Each of the twelve captains present took their seats at the table.
“As you’re all aware,” the chief captain began, “an organization of Hollows has formed in the outer lands of our Soul Society. Were it just a group of normal Hollows, we would think nothing of it, but reports from Squads Two, Twelve, and Thirteen have indicated the presence of Menos Grande.”
“But we’ve all fought hundreds of Menos before,” James Samson of Squad Three spoke, “so why should we be worried?”
“Hold your tongue, fool!” The short captain of Squad Six scolded, “he’s obviously not done.”
“Going on,” the chief captain started again, “Gillian level Menos would not have disturbed us, but Adheuchas levels have been detected as well.”
“How many?” Ronald Durham of Squad Four asked.
“Hundreds,” the chief captain paused, “perhaps a thousand.”
The red haired captain of Squad Eleven whistled, “that’s a lot of fun.”
“…” Wallace Roman grunted.
“And that’s still not the worst of it,” Bryan Sanders of Squad Thirteen’s Investigation unit broke in, “care to share your findings, Logan?”
The captain of Squad Twelve broke his silence, pulling out a control device. With a press of it, a screen appeared inside the glass of the table in front of each captain. Two windows were open, one showing green particle movement, while the other showed a much faster red one.
“The two displays before you are the spirit particle patterns of two types of Menos Grande Hollows,” he paused, “the one on the left is the Adheuchas class, and you can see how the power of the Hollow keeps the movement in check.”
The captains listened closely.
“The display on the right, unfortunately,” he paused again, “is the swift and powerful motions of Vasto Lordes level spirit particles. We managed to get this sample before most of our sensor machines were destroyed.”
“Vasto Lordes?!” The dark-skinned woman of Squad Eight exclaimed with a Mexican accent.
“Are you serious?” Squad Seven’s Captain Sheppard asked, astonished.
“Of course, I wouldn’t be telling you otherwise,” Squad Twelve’s captain mocked, “and we weren’t able to retrieve enough information as to how many of them there are, but my best estimate is only two or three at maximum.”
“So are they attacking now, is that the emergency?” Squad Nine’s afro captain asked.
“No, but a group of Adheuchas has broken through the southwestern defenses,” the chief said, a hint of regret in his voice, “Squads Seven through Nine are assigned to the duty of fending them off.”
“How did they possibly break through our defenses?” the cloaked little figure from Squad Five questioned. All eyes turned toward the head captain.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he paused, the more quick-witted captains looked down at the table in silence, “someone has betrayed us.”
“Of course, it would have to be someone of high-enough a rank to have access to those fortifications,” Bryan Sanders spoke.
“So that’s why the man’s gone…” the afro captain muttered.
Several pairs of eyes moved down to Joshua Gloritine, and the empty seat next to him. He soon took noticed to the implication, and, shocked, said, “you don’t mean…”
“Eye witness reports from your own squad members and spirit energy detectors from the area have made it abundantly clear,” Squad Twelve’s captain said, opening up another window that displayed a balanced level of blue spirit particles with the words, “MATCH: ISAAC GLORITINE,” and an identification picture displayed next to it of the captain with the eye patch.
“It’s official,” the head captain spoke, “Isaac Gloritine is a traitor to the Soul Society.”
Last edited by the guffman on Tue May 11, 2010 1:21 pm; edited 2 times in total
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 17 ~ Rallying Forces:
Ryan rolled over lazily on the couch he was laying on, a mint passively falling out of his mouth as he vainly tried to shake off a tired feeling.
“Get up!” the angered redhead yelled as she slammed his door open and threw a book at him, hitting him square in the jaw.
“OW! Don’t be a bitch Kass,” Ryan yelled, feeling his now pained face.
“I will be when I want to!” She yelled back, “haven’t you been hearing the sirens?! The alarms?! All the damn noise?!”
“Ya,” Ryan responded nonchalantly, “but I’m lazy… I don’t wanna get up…” He yawned, then dozed off on the couch once more.
A vein popped out of her forehead as she stomped over to the couch and screamed, “GET YOUR ASS UP NOW!” and kicked the couch over, sending the other Squad Nine member tumbling onto the ground behind him, the couch landing on him.
“…alright,” Ryan responded, muffled from the furniture on top of him, “let’s get going then.”
Hunter sat in his assigned office in the Squad Two barracks, filing the necessary paperwork about his previous assignments involving the large Hollow that he had helped many of Squad Two’s other members defeat.
“What’s worrying you?” Gi Diforume spoke to his ears and his alone.
“I’m sure they noticed that power,” Hunter spoke to himself, “they’ll probably want me to take some higher position for this.”
“There’s no problem in taking what you deserve,” his Zanpakutou responded.
Hunter grunted.
“…but that’s not the real issue here, is it?”
“I’m comfortable fighting along with everyone else,” Hunter spoke, “I don’t want to get some leading job; I know I wouldn’t do a good job of it…”
“Then you won’t have to. Remember what we can do with our real power, and that alone will be enough for me.”
“Thank you, Gi Diforume,” Hunter responded.
“Fifth Seat Anderson!” Lieutenant Speers called from the halls outside, then knocking on his door.
“Come in,” Hunter spoke, knowing full well that the bubbly girl would barge in anyway.
“Soooo,” she paused, taking her time to walk into the room and examine his disposition, “how ya holdin’ up?”
“You know very well how I’m holding up, Ashley…” Hunter said with a hint of frustration.
“Whoah, now is that any way to properly great your concerned lieutenant?” She teased.
Hunter sighed, “Lieutenant Speers…”
“Thank you,” she responded cheerfully.
“So I know that’s not all you wanted,” Hunter prodded.
“Most of the squad’s been talking about your Zanpakutou since the fight,” she said matter-o-factly, “so you’re probably going to get a lot of attention for it.”
“Oh god,” Hunter muttered.
“You should be excited! You could be Mr. Popular in no time!” She said cheerfully, almost as if going through the scenarios in her head, “Promotions being handed out like candy, men begging to receive training from you, women swooning at your feet!”
“OH GOD!!!” Hunter shouted fearfully.
“Just know that the higher seats of the squad have their eyes on you,” she said, making her way towards the door.
Hunter slammed his forehead on his desk in frustration, but this sudden movement of his head triggered something in his brain.
“Hey Ashley,” Hunter called back before she left.
“Yeah?” She turned back to face him.
“Disrupt,” he whispered under his breath, “Gi Diforume.”
“You say somethin’?” she asked, unable to hear what he said.
“Please let this work,” he said in his mind, “you’re forgetting that I still don’t know the name of my Zanpakutou…”
She stared at him for a minute, leaving him to wonder if his forced deception had been successful. She walked up to the desk his was working at and leaned in towards him, still staring blankly at him. She leaned in closer until he turned beat red.
“Um… Lieutenant…?” he muttered.
She blinked a few times, then slowly closed her eyes. Just as Hunter was about to have a panic attack, her eyes snapped open and she slapped his head down into the desk once more. She hopped back a few feet and started to skip back towards the door.
“You should really get onto that then, everyone will be so disappointed!” she shouted back to him.
Hunter rubbed his head in pain, but with a bit of relief. “Haha, it actually worked… That was a close call…”
Dylan stood in the Squad Seven barracks, putting the finishing touches on his Soul Reaper uniform. A messenger had just stopped by and given him an envelope, giving him the details of his newest task: to defend the Soul Society from a Hollow breach in the southwestern sector along with Squads Eight and Nine.
He placed the envelope and mission details down on a chair beside him, and reached for a pentagonal emblem of some kind on the table in front of him. He slid a white sash through a bracket on each side of the wooden emblem, and lifted the piece of wood up onto his upper left arm. Although it fit nicely, he couldn’t quite find a way to tie it on comfortably.
“Hey Pickle!” Ben, the Squad Four medic assigned to his squad yelled, “it’s just about time to go!”
“Gah,” Dylan mumbled, unraveling the white sash and letting the emblem drop onto the chair beside him. On the face of the emblem sat the proud number “7.”
Ben walked into the room to find Dylan standing there, seeming to be wasting time.
“Come on, let’s go!” Ben complained.
“Fine,” Dylan groaned, walking out of the room and leaving the emblem to sit on the chair. The two walked out of a set of double doors that led to the Squad Seven meeting room.
Kassandra led Ryan out of his room and to the Squad Nine meeting room, where their lieutenant stood as if ready to make an announcement.
“Attention Squad Nine, I bring urgent news from the court of captains themselves!”
“You dragged me off the couch for this?” Ryan said with disappointment, still half-asleep.
“Shh!” Kassandra scolded, kicking him hard in the side of the leg.
“The southwestern perimeter has been breached, and Squads Seven and Eight have already been dispatched to contain and then eliminate the threat. The attacking party is a large group numbering in the hundreds of Hollows, thus the need for our entire three squads to go. The injured or sick will stay here, but it should be noted that since this is an emergency, your regular duties will still be required upon our return…”
Ryan looked around, bored out of his mind. The four girls that usually hung around with him were nowhere to be seen, most likely further up in the crowd. Peter stood at the side of the room looking out the large glass window, as if he didn’t want to be there either. To Ryan’s left, however, sat a tray of lunch foods that had been prepared hours earlier when he was lounging in his room. He decided to help himself.
“You should all know,” the lieutenant continued on, “that there are confirmed reports that there are many Menos Grande in this group, Gillians and Adheuchas level like the ones encountered by Squads Two and Eleven. If you’re to encounter either of these two types of Hollow, it is advised that you retreat immediately and seek the assistance of your nearest seated officer of rank five and above. These monsters will kill you if they get the chance.”
“Oh sh*t,” Ryan said with food crammed in his mouth, “happy promotion to fifth seat for me…”
At the broken point of the southwestern district, low-level Hollows began pouring in in an attempt to overpower the Soul Reapers there. Large claws and fierce teeth cut through the rookie Soul Reapers that were stationed there, and few managed to survive until Squad Eight arrived, the first of the assigned three squads to make the scene.
A cowering Soul Reaper apprentice ducked for his life as a Hollow leapt at him, several flaming shacks and small buildings around them. The creature lashed its claws out at him, but Cain Blanchford cut it down effortlessly with his large scythe. The black pole and blood red blade cut through Hollow after Hollow until the area had been cleared. Lieutenant Lucielle Osmond appeared shortly after, her long blonde hair and skirt blowing in the wind while her glasses reflected the flames around them.
“Th-thank you m-m-miss!” the rookie managed to say as she appeared.
“HAHA! I’LL KILL ALL OF THESE DAMN HOLLOWS!” Cain yelled from up ahead.
“Are there more of you?” Lucielle asked.
The young Soul Reaper nodded. “The rest of my team was up ahead… We were all separated in the attack…”
Lucielle thought for a moment. Up ahead would be the bulk of the horde, the main force of the attack, and backup from Squads Seven and Nine wouldn’t show up for a while… but the novice Soul Reapers ahead didn’t have that much time, if they were still alive at all… “Damn,” she cursed under her breath before unsheathing her sword and following Cain further onto the battlefield.
Jon sat bored beyond belief as he stared at the ceiling in Squad Eleven’s barracks. Captain Gloritine had taken the day off since the meeting and ordered his squad to do so as well. Weeber looked over at the empty bed next to him that belonged to Ivan, who was now unconscious in the Squad Four infirmary.
Images flashed in his mind as he remembered the battle from before. Hollows that squad mates had been fighting were being cut down like cattle, and the Soul Reapers that had been fighting them were being massacred as well. That Hollow called Smashclaw, did he leave so as to escape, or for something else? Either way, he was sure that the man he saw cutting them all down was the captain of Squad Ten, Jason’s squad, Isaac Gloritine. He’d heard positive things about the man, but he didn’t have any ideas as to why he did it…
Thoughts swirled around in his mind, much to his disapproval. He didn’t like thinking about things, since it just seemed to complicate everything and make things much worse. He preferred things to be simple, and, as they were, nothing was. He reached into a drawer in his nightstand and pulled out a rubber band ball that he had been working on for some time. After bouncing it on the floor for a little while, he felt tired and put it away. He plopped his head back down on the pillow and dozed off.
He awoke in a carnival of some kind, perhaps a fair or some sort of festival. The sun was only just setting, leaving the sky to a blaze of orange, but the place was empty. Lights were strung from one striped tent to the other, shining brightly, while stuffed animal prizes seemed to taunt players that weren’t there to play any games. Jon looked down to his own appearance, only to see that he was wearing an orange hoodie and khaki pants.
“Hello?” he asked aloud. No response. “Hello???!!!!!” he yelled. Still no response. “The hell is this place?”
“Hello, and welcome t-” an automated female voice came from a speaker on a pole above him, but cut off before he could finish. He could see that the wires from the speaker led to a tent nearby, and he decided to check it out. He walked over and slipped past the tarp door. Much to his surprise, the tent was empty.
Empty was an understatement. There was literally nothing in the tent. It was completely white, as if he’d tripped and stumbled into a dimensional rift that had led him straight to purgatory. Looking on into the back of the room, however, he could make out a silhouette, a statue of some kind.
He walked towards the statue, seeing it as the only way to end this vision he had now figured out was very much a dream. As he got closer, he could make out that it was a suit of chain mail armor, approximately his size, seated on a weight metal cube of some kind, with a colorless heart in the center of a circle on each of the cube’s faces. The armor itself seemed to lack any luster or shine at all, as if it was the armor of a long since deceased ghost. It held a flail in its hands. He reached a hand out to touch it.
“Stop. What Are you doing?” The female machine voice said through speakers that couldn’t be seen. “You don’t want to Do that. I mean it.”
He looked around, confused that a recording was talking to him. “Well what else am I supposed to do…?” he thought in confusion.
“Here. If you turn back now, you may have some cake,” the voice told him as an opening appeared on the floor and a table started to rise up. Situated on the table was a triple chocolate cake adorned with candles. Although it was tempting, Weeber’s distrust for cake got the better of him.
He turned towards the cake, but quickly grabbed the flail out of the armor’s hands and swiped at the cake, resulting in the dessert flickering and fuzzing out of existence like an old television.
“You passed, though I’m not surprised,” a male voice sounded from the direction of the armor. Jon looked towards it to see that the room now looked like the normal inside of a tent. The wooden table sat plain and blank in the tent, while the cube now had a plain metallic color and a pink heart on each face. The chain mail armor was now orange with a yellow trim, and a man with orange hair sat inside of it.
“Of course I wouldn’t go for the cake,” Jon responded. “So can someone please tell me what this place is?!”
“This is your soul world,” the armored figure responded, still sitting on his cube, “and I am called Gase Meisu (lit. Lie Mace).” He held an orange mace in his hands with a weighted ball chain attached at the end of the handle. Jon noticed that he himself was no longer holding the flail at all.
“Gase Meisu huh?” Jon asked, “so why’s my inner soul world so lame? No unicycles or jugglers or nothing?”
“Nope, you’re not that enlightened of a person I guess,” Gase Meisu responded. “But I am your Zanpakutou.”
“That’s cool, so we can smash stuff?” Jon asked.
Gase Meisu smiled from underneath his helmet, “yup.”
“Win,” Jon said.
“I can’t believe they just ordered us back like that!” Jason said.
“I know, and after all that talk about training us too!” Kendra responded.
“What is with you, Captain?!” Jason thought, letting his hand fall idle to his sword, sheathed at his side. The handle felt cold.
The colored barrier around the area disappeared, and the two of them started to make their way back to the Squad Ten headquarters.
Ryan rolled over lazily on the couch he was laying on, a mint passively falling out of his mouth as he vainly tried to shake off a tired feeling.
“Get up!” the angered redhead yelled as she slammed his door open and threw a book at him, hitting him square in the jaw.
“OW! Don’t be a bitch Kass,” Ryan yelled, feeling his now pained face.
“I will be when I want to!” She yelled back, “haven’t you been hearing the sirens?! The alarms?! All the damn noise?!”
“Ya,” Ryan responded nonchalantly, “but I’m lazy… I don’t wanna get up…” He yawned, then dozed off on the couch once more.
A vein popped out of her forehead as she stomped over to the couch and screamed, “GET YOUR ASS UP NOW!” and kicked the couch over, sending the other Squad Nine member tumbling onto the ground behind him, the couch landing on him.
“…alright,” Ryan responded, muffled from the furniture on top of him, “let’s get going then.”
Hunter sat in his assigned office in the Squad Two barracks, filing the necessary paperwork about his previous assignments involving the large Hollow that he had helped many of Squad Two’s other members defeat.
“What’s worrying you?” Gi Diforume spoke to his ears and his alone.
“I’m sure they noticed that power,” Hunter spoke to himself, “they’ll probably want me to take some higher position for this.”
“There’s no problem in taking what you deserve,” his Zanpakutou responded.
Hunter grunted.
“…but that’s not the real issue here, is it?”
“I’m comfortable fighting along with everyone else,” Hunter spoke, “I don’t want to get some leading job; I know I wouldn’t do a good job of it…”
“Then you won’t have to. Remember what we can do with our real power, and that alone will be enough for me.”
“Thank you, Gi Diforume,” Hunter responded.
“Fifth Seat Anderson!” Lieutenant Speers called from the halls outside, then knocking on his door.
“Come in,” Hunter spoke, knowing full well that the bubbly girl would barge in anyway.
“Soooo,” she paused, taking her time to walk into the room and examine his disposition, “how ya holdin’ up?”
“You know very well how I’m holding up, Ashley…” Hunter said with a hint of frustration.
“Whoah, now is that any way to properly great your concerned lieutenant?” She teased.
Hunter sighed, “Lieutenant Speers…”
“Thank you,” she responded cheerfully.
“So I know that’s not all you wanted,” Hunter prodded.
“Most of the squad’s been talking about your Zanpakutou since the fight,” she said matter-o-factly, “so you’re probably going to get a lot of attention for it.”
“Oh god,” Hunter muttered.
“You should be excited! You could be Mr. Popular in no time!” She said cheerfully, almost as if going through the scenarios in her head, “Promotions being handed out like candy, men begging to receive training from you, women swooning at your feet!”
“OH GOD!!!” Hunter shouted fearfully.
“Just know that the higher seats of the squad have their eyes on you,” she said, making her way towards the door.
Hunter slammed his forehead on his desk in frustration, but this sudden movement of his head triggered something in his brain.
“Hey Ashley,” Hunter called back before she left.
“Yeah?” She turned back to face him.
“Disrupt,” he whispered under his breath, “Gi Diforume.”
“You say somethin’?” she asked, unable to hear what he said.
“Please let this work,” he said in his mind, “you’re forgetting that I still don’t know the name of my Zanpakutou…”
She stared at him for a minute, leaving him to wonder if his forced deception had been successful. She walked up to the desk his was working at and leaned in towards him, still staring blankly at him. She leaned in closer until he turned beat red.
“Um… Lieutenant…?” he muttered.
She blinked a few times, then slowly closed her eyes. Just as Hunter was about to have a panic attack, her eyes snapped open and she slapped his head down into the desk once more. She hopped back a few feet and started to skip back towards the door.
“You should really get onto that then, everyone will be so disappointed!” she shouted back to him.
Hunter rubbed his head in pain, but with a bit of relief. “Haha, it actually worked… That was a close call…”
Dylan stood in the Squad Seven barracks, putting the finishing touches on his Soul Reaper uniform. A messenger had just stopped by and given him an envelope, giving him the details of his newest task: to defend the Soul Society from a Hollow breach in the southwestern sector along with Squads Eight and Nine.
He placed the envelope and mission details down on a chair beside him, and reached for a pentagonal emblem of some kind on the table in front of him. He slid a white sash through a bracket on each side of the wooden emblem, and lifted the piece of wood up onto his upper left arm. Although it fit nicely, he couldn’t quite find a way to tie it on comfortably.
“Hey Pickle!” Ben, the Squad Four medic assigned to his squad yelled, “it’s just about time to go!”
“Gah,” Dylan mumbled, unraveling the white sash and letting the emblem drop onto the chair beside him. On the face of the emblem sat the proud number “7.”
Ben walked into the room to find Dylan standing there, seeming to be wasting time.
“Come on, let’s go!” Ben complained.
“Fine,” Dylan groaned, walking out of the room and leaving the emblem to sit on the chair. The two walked out of a set of double doors that led to the Squad Seven meeting room.
Kassandra led Ryan out of his room and to the Squad Nine meeting room, where their lieutenant stood as if ready to make an announcement.
“Attention Squad Nine, I bring urgent news from the court of captains themselves!”
“You dragged me off the couch for this?” Ryan said with disappointment, still half-asleep.
“Shh!” Kassandra scolded, kicking him hard in the side of the leg.
“The southwestern perimeter has been breached, and Squads Seven and Eight have already been dispatched to contain and then eliminate the threat. The attacking party is a large group numbering in the hundreds of Hollows, thus the need for our entire three squads to go. The injured or sick will stay here, but it should be noted that since this is an emergency, your regular duties will still be required upon our return…”
Ryan looked around, bored out of his mind. The four girls that usually hung around with him were nowhere to be seen, most likely further up in the crowd. Peter stood at the side of the room looking out the large glass window, as if he didn’t want to be there either. To Ryan’s left, however, sat a tray of lunch foods that had been prepared hours earlier when he was lounging in his room. He decided to help himself.
“You should all know,” the lieutenant continued on, “that there are confirmed reports that there are many Menos Grande in this group, Gillians and Adheuchas level like the ones encountered by Squads Two and Eleven. If you’re to encounter either of these two types of Hollow, it is advised that you retreat immediately and seek the assistance of your nearest seated officer of rank five and above. These monsters will kill you if they get the chance.”
“Oh sh*t,” Ryan said with food crammed in his mouth, “happy promotion to fifth seat for me…”
At the broken point of the southwestern district, low-level Hollows began pouring in in an attempt to overpower the Soul Reapers there. Large claws and fierce teeth cut through the rookie Soul Reapers that were stationed there, and few managed to survive until Squad Eight arrived, the first of the assigned three squads to make the scene.
A cowering Soul Reaper apprentice ducked for his life as a Hollow leapt at him, several flaming shacks and small buildings around them. The creature lashed its claws out at him, but Cain Blanchford cut it down effortlessly with his large scythe. The black pole and blood red blade cut through Hollow after Hollow until the area had been cleared. Lieutenant Lucielle Osmond appeared shortly after, her long blonde hair and skirt blowing in the wind while her glasses reflected the flames around them.
“Th-thank you m-m-miss!” the rookie managed to say as she appeared.
“HAHA! I’LL KILL ALL OF THESE DAMN HOLLOWS!” Cain yelled from up ahead.
“Are there more of you?” Lucielle asked.
The young Soul Reaper nodded. “The rest of my team was up ahead… We were all separated in the attack…”
Lucielle thought for a moment. Up ahead would be the bulk of the horde, the main force of the attack, and backup from Squads Seven and Nine wouldn’t show up for a while… but the novice Soul Reapers ahead didn’t have that much time, if they were still alive at all… “Damn,” she cursed under her breath before unsheathing her sword and following Cain further onto the battlefield.
Jon sat bored beyond belief as he stared at the ceiling in Squad Eleven’s barracks. Captain Gloritine had taken the day off since the meeting and ordered his squad to do so as well. Weeber looked over at the empty bed next to him that belonged to Ivan, who was now unconscious in the Squad Four infirmary.
Images flashed in his mind as he remembered the battle from before. Hollows that squad mates had been fighting were being cut down like cattle, and the Soul Reapers that had been fighting them were being massacred as well. That Hollow called Smashclaw, did he leave so as to escape, or for something else? Either way, he was sure that the man he saw cutting them all down was the captain of Squad Ten, Jason’s squad, Isaac Gloritine. He’d heard positive things about the man, but he didn’t have any ideas as to why he did it…
Thoughts swirled around in his mind, much to his disapproval. He didn’t like thinking about things, since it just seemed to complicate everything and make things much worse. He preferred things to be simple, and, as they were, nothing was. He reached into a drawer in his nightstand and pulled out a rubber band ball that he had been working on for some time. After bouncing it on the floor for a little while, he felt tired and put it away. He plopped his head back down on the pillow and dozed off.
He awoke in a carnival of some kind, perhaps a fair or some sort of festival. The sun was only just setting, leaving the sky to a blaze of orange, but the place was empty. Lights were strung from one striped tent to the other, shining brightly, while stuffed animal prizes seemed to taunt players that weren’t there to play any games. Jon looked down to his own appearance, only to see that he was wearing an orange hoodie and khaki pants.
“Hello?” he asked aloud. No response. “Hello???!!!!!” he yelled. Still no response. “The hell is this place?”
“Hello, and welcome t-” an automated female voice came from a speaker on a pole above him, but cut off before he could finish. He could see that the wires from the speaker led to a tent nearby, and he decided to check it out. He walked over and slipped past the tarp door. Much to his surprise, the tent was empty.
Empty was an understatement. There was literally nothing in the tent. It was completely white, as if he’d tripped and stumbled into a dimensional rift that had led him straight to purgatory. Looking on into the back of the room, however, he could make out a silhouette, a statue of some kind.
He walked towards the statue, seeing it as the only way to end this vision he had now figured out was very much a dream. As he got closer, he could make out that it was a suit of chain mail armor, approximately his size, seated on a weight metal cube of some kind, with a colorless heart in the center of a circle on each of the cube’s faces. The armor itself seemed to lack any luster or shine at all, as if it was the armor of a long since deceased ghost. It held a flail in its hands. He reached a hand out to touch it.
“Stop. What Are you doing?” The female machine voice said through speakers that couldn’t be seen. “You don’t want to Do that. I mean it.”
He looked around, confused that a recording was talking to him. “Well what else am I supposed to do…?” he thought in confusion.
“Here. If you turn back now, you may have some cake,” the voice told him as an opening appeared on the floor and a table started to rise up. Situated on the table was a triple chocolate cake adorned with candles. Although it was tempting, Weeber’s distrust for cake got the better of him.
He turned towards the cake, but quickly grabbed the flail out of the armor’s hands and swiped at the cake, resulting in the dessert flickering and fuzzing out of existence like an old television.
“You passed, though I’m not surprised,” a male voice sounded from the direction of the armor. Jon looked towards it to see that the room now looked like the normal inside of a tent. The wooden table sat plain and blank in the tent, while the cube now had a plain metallic color and a pink heart on each face. The chain mail armor was now orange with a yellow trim, and a man with orange hair sat inside of it.
“Of course I wouldn’t go for the cake,” Jon responded. “So can someone please tell me what this place is?!”
“This is your soul world,” the armored figure responded, still sitting on his cube, “and I am called Gase Meisu (lit. Lie Mace).” He held an orange mace in his hands with a weighted ball chain attached at the end of the handle. Jon noticed that he himself was no longer holding the flail at all.
“Gase Meisu huh?” Jon asked, “so why’s my inner soul world so lame? No unicycles or jugglers or nothing?”
“Nope, you’re not that enlightened of a person I guess,” Gase Meisu responded. “But I am your Zanpakutou.”
“That’s cool, so we can smash stuff?” Jon asked.
Gase Meisu smiled from underneath his helmet, “yup.”
“Win,” Jon said.
“I can’t believe they just ordered us back like that!” Jason said.
“I know, and after all that talk about training us too!” Kendra responded.
“What is with you, Captain?!” Jason thought, letting his hand fall idle to his sword, sheathed at his side. The handle felt cold.
The colored barrier around the area disappeared, and the two of them started to make their way back to the Squad Ten headquarters.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 18 ~ Defending the Base!
Cain yelled aggressively as his scythe cut through Hollow after Hollow, dark blood throwing itself around the flaming battlefield until the creatures disintegrated and faded out of existence. The Soul Reaper, after jumping to kill another creature, landed in the square of flaming structures as one Soul Reaper after another fled from the scene around him towards the direction he had come from.
"Fine, run you cowards!" He yelled angrily, "just more monsters for me!"
Before the Third Seat realized it, however, more Hollows had shown up to replace the ones he had defeated, and then some. In the distance, a rip in the fabric of the sky indicated the presence Menos Grande, and the red eyes of the Gillians could be seen peeking through it.
"Bring it on!" He taunted, swinging the scythe in several circular motions of extreme quickness, cutting down enemy after enemy after enemy. Their numbers didn't seem to dwindle, however. He thrust his weapon into the ground, leaning on it for support and taking several deep breaths. "This is endless," he thought, "there's too many here, even for me."
"Cain!" the female voice of his lieutenant called. He turned around to see her hop down from one of the few stable structures left standing in the area, which she had presumably used as a vantage point to look for him, and flashstep over to him.
"What is it, Lieutenant Osmond?" he asked, lifting his scythe again.
"Well, I can see you didn't need my help," she said sarcastically, maneuvering her released Zanpakutou, a black fist attached to her palm by some sort of silver thread, to retract back into her grip.
"Tch," he spat, "do you really think we can take this many?"
"If you hadn't rushed off so soon," Lucielle started, "we'd have all of Squads Seven, Eight, and Nine to back us up and we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Cain reached for a jug at his waist and lifted it to his mouth, taking a swig of its contents. Before he could respond to the lieutenant's remarks, however, a large red beam shot towards the two, and they each flashed away from each other, looking to see a Gillian level Menos, now peering its head through the opening.
"Hadou #33, Shakkahou!" Lucielle yelled, putting her hands out and firing a powerful ball of spirit energy at the two-story creature. The attack proved ineffective, however, as several weaker Hollows moved in front of the ball to shield the move's original target. The Gillian released a deafening roar, its eyes opened widely through its white mask and its mouth gaping open. Its large, black, cloaked visage now fully through the rift in the sky, with several more pairs of white hands prying the gap open to claw their way through.
"Sh*t!" Cain yelled at his own situation, as numerous weak Hollows seemed to be surrounding him and overwhelming him in number. No matter how many successful scythe hits he made, they kept coming.
Lucielle's eyes jumped to her subordinate only for a moment before she realized that the gathered Menos were charging a barrage of Cero blasts, deadly beams capable of decimating anything but a captain. Glowing red spheres dotted the sky as the charged attacks shown brighter.
"Bakudou #39, Enkosen (lit. Arc Shield)," she cast quickly, summoning a golden shield of spirit energy in front of her. The beams seemed to fire all at once, an engulfing red beam of death charging forward at a ferocious speed. "Please let us make it through this..." the lieutenant thought, closing her eyes.
In another instant, the red beam collided with the Kidou shield, and with a little bit of force, broke it into several pieces. The female lieutenant opened her eyes at the shattering, expecting the worst, only to see a lone figure appear in front of her, a round, six-pointed shield of gold in front of him. The light of the clash engulfed the area, but she didn't feel any damage or pain to her body from the attack. The brightness soon died down with a fade and eventually ceased altogether.
"You alright?" a male voice asked.
Lucielle looked around with pure surprise as she saw the pieces of her Kidou shield fading away on the ground. She looked up to see a Soul Reaper with short brown hair standing before her, his large, golden round shield positioned in front of him with six points around it glowing brightly. He seemed like he hadn't taken a scratch from such a combination of Cero blasts.
"Wh-what the...?" she muttered.
"Oh, yeah," he started, "this is awkward, I should introduce myself. I'm Dylan Follis, Seventh Seat of Squad Seven, but most people just call me Pickle. This is Daiou Koukin (lit. King Jew's Harp)," he said, gesturing to the large shield in his hand.
"Aren't you going to tell her your reaaaaalll rank?" another, more whiny voice said.
"Shut up Ben," Dylan responded, "nobody likes you, so go be emo and cry in a corner somewhere!"
"Aww," Ben said as Lucielle looked over to him, "but I'm bad at that..."
"Well Dylan, I guess we made it just in time," came another voice, this one belonging to a scarred man that the lieutenant had heard about before. He was Peter Andrews, the Fourth Seat of Squad Nine, and quite skilled in the use of flashstep. Over his shoulder was the unconscious body of Cain, whom he had saved from the blast moments prior.
"D-nyidh we marke idd ind dhime?" Ryan said, walking up after Peter with a mouthful of sandwich.
"I think it's obvious we did, idiot!" Kassandra added.
"You can understand him?" Peter asked.
"Before we get going, might I suggest you let me handle this one?" Ben asked, referring to the unconscious and wounded Cain.
"Sure," Peter responded, placing his body down beside them.
"So you're the reinforcements from Squads Seven and Nine? But why'd they send the Seventh Seat-" Lucielle asked, but before she received an answer, the group looked upwards to see the growing group of Menos charging another barrage of blasts. Dylan raised up his left hand, hidden behind his large shield, and lifted a golden, machete-like blade into the sky. With a slash of this new weapon, a golden arc of energy shot forward at the large group, breaking into a multitude of golden, six-pointed star projectiles that collided with and destroyed the charging blasts upon contact, doing immense damage to the creatures they were in front of.
"Well, I'm not really the Seventh Seat of Squad Seven anymore," Pickle began, "I'm the new lieutenant."
"And where have we been?" asked the stagnant voice of Vector Serlusian, lieutenant of Squad Six that had been standing in for Captain Gloritine and his lieutenant while they were gone.
"Nowhere important," Jason answered, to which Kendra stared blankly.
"Have you heard what's been said about your fool of a captain and his mindless lieutenant?" Vector questioned, as if taking the role of an interrogator.
"No, did something happen?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, Soul Society was put into a state of emergency a little while ago, how did you not hear the sirens?! The yelling?! Receive orders?!" Vector grew increasingly frustrated.
"What about Squad Two?!" Kendra asked with concern. "Did something happen to them?" They both looked to Vector for answers.
"Oh, they're fine," Vector answered, "it just seems that a large group of Hollows, including Menos, managed to breach our defenses near the Soul Reaper Academy."
"How did Hollows get through there?" Jason asked, "aren't the walls specifically designed to repel those types of intrusions?"
"That's the strange part," Vector said with a hint of anger, "they say it has to have been a high ranking Soul Reaper, maybe of captain level, to have been able to weaken the fortifications..."
"Are you implying-" Jason began.
"No! He wouldn't!" Kendra broke in.
"I won't say anything more," the stubborn lieutenant spoke, "but you two, since you're apparently close to your captain and his faithful lieutenant, have been assigned to a location in the World of the Living until this whole thing is straightened out. You're going to be supervising the construction of a new supply depot we have going in the midwest. Open your senkaimon and leave immediately."
"Wait, isn't there any time to prepare for this?" Kendra pleaded.
"This is insane! There's no way you can be sure the captain did anything!" Jason shouted.
"This order came from above me," Vector said, "from the captains council itself."
Joshua Gloritine slammed the Squad Eleven door open, much to the surprise of the Squad Eleven members standing around talking amongst themselves. Weeber just sat idly on his bed with a colored cube. He never really did like to socialize with any of the other squad members, even Ivan.
"Hey Captain, what's going on?" one squad member asked.
"Whatever it is, we're just gonna train, right captain?"
"Yeah, let's go kick some ass!"
Despite the numerous questions on the issues at hand, the captain decided that he'd have none of it, and brushed right past the group. Slamming his office door behind him, he proceeded to plop himself down on his chair, throwing his white coat to another chair beside him. His eyes darted from his desk, papers strewn across it, to the number "11" on his coat, and then to the Zanpakutou in its sheath to his side.
"I don't know what to believe here, brother," he thought, "you know I'm not a thinker..."
Wallace Roman sat at his desk in the Squad Two facility. The quill pen in his hand moved over the blank paper in front of him until he had drawn a black and white portrait of a Soul Reaper with glasses and dark blonde hair. Around him sat a circle of circles. The captain seemed to envision some sort of movement in his mind, as a pondering gesture assumed itself on his face.
Ashley Speers walked in without knowing he was back from his meeting yet. "How'd it go?" she said. He didn't respond to her, but instead, simply kept his focus on his drawing. "Well, I know you don't like too much company when you're in an artistic mood, but I just wanted you to know that I got the rest of the squad back here in one piece, just like you asked. I'll let you be alone now," she said, and with that, flew out the door.
The silent captain simply kept his gaze on the paper before him, his white hat and bangs not revealing the eyes of his scarred face. His pale hand raised its pen again to draw another figure next to the first, this one donning white like a captain and wearing a hat. He drew a circle of circles around this one as well, and drew a curved sword in the hand of the normal Soul Reaper. After drawing this sword for the first Soul Reaper, his pen moved over to the second figure and ended up drawing several question marks, as if confused. He seemed to ponder again for a bit, but then drew several sharp, arrow like symbols pointing from the second figure to the first, going between the circles as if piercing through them.
"..." He sighed, picking up the paper as if done with it and opening a drawer on his desk, almost bursting with other similar papers. He placed this newest paper inside and managed to slide the drawer shut. Captain Roman then proceeded to get up out of his chair and walk out the door.
Cain yelled aggressively as his scythe cut through Hollow after Hollow, dark blood throwing itself around the flaming battlefield until the creatures disintegrated and faded out of existence. The Soul Reaper, after jumping to kill another creature, landed in the square of flaming structures as one Soul Reaper after another fled from the scene around him towards the direction he had come from.
"Fine, run you cowards!" He yelled angrily, "just more monsters for me!"
Before the Third Seat realized it, however, more Hollows had shown up to replace the ones he had defeated, and then some. In the distance, a rip in the fabric of the sky indicated the presence Menos Grande, and the red eyes of the Gillians could be seen peeking through it.
"Bring it on!" He taunted, swinging the scythe in several circular motions of extreme quickness, cutting down enemy after enemy after enemy. Their numbers didn't seem to dwindle, however. He thrust his weapon into the ground, leaning on it for support and taking several deep breaths. "This is endless," he thought, "there's too many here, even for me."
"Cain!" the female voice of his lieutenant called. He turned around to see her hop down from one of the few stable structures left standing in the area, which she had presumably used as a vantage point to look for him, and flashstep over to him.
"What is it, Lieutenant Osmond?" he asked, lifting his scythe again.
"Well, I can see you didn't need my help," she said sarcastically, maneuvering her released Zanpakutou, a black fist attached to her palm by some sort of silver thread, to retract back into her grip.
"Tch," he spat, "do you really think we can take this many?"
"If you hadn't rushed off so soon," Lucielle started, "we'd have all of Squads Seven, Eight, and Nine to back us up and we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Cain reached for a jug at his waist and lifted it to his mouth, taking a swig of its contents. Before he could respond to the lieutenant's remarks, however, a large red beam shot towards the two, and they each flashed away from each other, looking to see a Gillian level Menos, now peering its head through the opening.
"Hadou #33, Shakkahou!" Lucielle yelled, putting her hands out and firing a powerful ball of spirit energy at the two-story creature. The attack proved ineffective, however, as several weaker Hollows moved in front of the ball to shield the move's original target. The Gillian released a deafening roar, its eyes opened widely through its white mask and its mouth gaping open. Its large, black, cloaked visage now fully through the rift in the sky, with several more pairs of white hands prying the gap open to claw their way through.
"Sh*t!" Cain yelled at his own situation, as numerous weak Hollows seemed to be surrounding him and overwhelming him in number. No matter how many successful scythe hits he made, they kept coming.
Lucielle's eyes jumped to her subordinate only for a moment before she realized that the gathered Menos were charging a barrage of Cero blasts, deadly beams capable of decimating anything but a captain. Glowing red spheres dotted the sky as the charged attacks shown brighter.
"Bakudou #39, Enkosen (lit. Arc Shield)," she cast quickly, summoning a golden shield of spirit energy in front of her. The beams seemed to fire all at once, an engulfing red beam of death charging forward at a ferocious speed. "Please let us make it through this..." the lieutenant thought, closing her eyes.
In another instant, the red beam collided with the Kidou shield, and with a little bit of force, broke it into several pieces. The female lieutenant opened her eyes at the shattering, expecting the worst, only to see a lone figure appear in front of her, a round, six-pointed shield of gold in front of him. The light of the clash engulfed the area, but she didn't feel any damage or pain to her body from the attack. The brightness soon died down with a fade and eventually ceased altogether.
"You alright?" a male voice asked.
Lucielle looked around with pure surprise as she saw the pieces of her Kidou shield fading away on the ground. She looked up to see a Soul Reaper with short brown hair standing before her, his large, golden round shield positioned in front of him with six points around it glowing brightly. He seemed like he hadn't taken a scratch from such a combination of Cero blasts.
"Wh-what the...?" she muttered.
"Oh, yeah," he started, "this is awkward, I should introduce myself. I'm Dylan Follis, Seventh Seat of Squad Seven, but most people just call me Pickle. This is Daiou Koukin (lit. King Jew's Harp)," he said, gesturing to the large shield in his hand.
"Aren't you going to tell her your reaaaaalll rank?" another, more whiny voice said.
"Shut up Ben," Dylan responded, "nobody likes you, so go be emo and cry in a corner somewhere!"
"Aww," Ben said as Lucielle looked over to him, "but I'm bad at that..."
"Well Dylan, I guess we made it just in time," came another voice, this one belonging to a scarred man that the lieutenant had heard about before. He was Peter Andrews, the Fourth Seat of Squad Nine, and quite skilled in the use of flashstep. Over his shoulder was the unconscious body of Cain, whom he had saved from the blast moments prior.
"D-nyidh we marke idd ind dhime?" Ryan said, walking up after Peter with a mouthful of sandwich.
"I think it's obvious we did, idiot!" Kassandra added.
"You can understand him?" Peter asked.
"Before we get going, might I suggest you let me handle this one?" Ben asked, referring to the unconscious and wounded Cain.
"Sure," Peter responded, placing his body down beside them.
"So you're the reinforcements from Squads Seven and Nine? But why'd they send the Seventh Seat-" Lucielle asked, but before she received an answer, the group looked upwards to see the growing group of Menos charging another barrage of blasts. Dylan raised up his left hand, hidden behind his large shield, and lifted a golden, machete-like blade into the sky. With a slash of this new weapon, a golden arc of energy shot forward at the large group, breaking into a multitude of golden, six-pointed star projectiles that collided with and destroyed the charging blasts upon contact, doing immense damage to the creatures they were in front of.
"Well, I'm not really the Seventh Seat of Squad Seven anymore," Pickle began, "I'm the new lieutenant."
"And where have we been?" asked the stagnant voice of Vector Serlusian, lieutenant of Squad Six that had been standing in for Captain Gloritine and his lieutenant while they were gone.
"Nowhere important," Jason answered, to which Kendra stared blankly.
"Have you heard what's been said about your fool of a captain and his mindless lieutenant?" Vector questioned, as if taking the role of an interrogator.
"No, did something happen?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, Soul Society was put into a state of emergency a little while ago, how did you not hear the sirens?! The yelling?! Receive orders?!" Vector grew increasingly frustrated.
"What about Squad Two?!" Kendra asked with concern. "Did something happen to them?" They both looked to Vector for answers.
"Oh, they're fine," Vector answered, "it just seems that a large group of Hollows, including Menos, managed to breach our defenses near the Soul Reaper Academy."
"How did Hollows get through there?" Jason asked, "aren't the walls specifically designed to repel those types of intrusions?"
"That's the strange part," Vector said with a hint of anger, "they say it has to have been a high ranking Soul Reaper, maybe of captain level, to have been able to weaken the fortifications..."
"Are you implying-" Jason began.
"No! He wouldn't!" Kendra broke in.
"I won't say anything more," the stubborn lieutenant spoke, "but you two, since you're apparently close to your captain and his faithful lieutenant, have been assigned to a location in the World of the Living until this whole thing is straightened out. You're going to be supervising the construction of a new supply depot we have going in the midwest. Open your senkaimon and leave immediately."
"Wait, isn't there any time to prepare for this?" Kendra pleaded.
"This is insane! There's no way you can be sure the captain did anything!" Jason shouted.
"This order came from above me," Vector said, "from the captains council itself."
Joshua Gloritine slammed the Squad Eleven door open, much to the surprise of the Squad Eleven members standing around talking amongst themselves. Weeber just sat idly on his bed with a colored cube. He never really did like to socialize with any of the other squad members, even Ivan.
"Hey Captain, what's going on?" one squad member asked.
"Whatever it is, we're just gonna train, right captain?"
"Yeah, let's go kick some ass!"
Despite the numerous questions on the issues at hand, the captain decided that he'd have none of it, and brushed right past the group. Slamming his office door behind him, he proceeded to plop himself down on his chair, throwing his white coat to another chair beside him. His eyes darted from his desk, papers strewn across it, to the number "11" on his coat, and then to the Zanpakutou in its sheath to his side.
"I don't know what to believe here, brother," he thought, "you know I'm not a thinker..."
Wallace Roman sat at his desk in the Squad Two facility. The quill pen in his hand moved over the blank paper in front of him until he had drawn a black and white portrait of a Soul Reaper with glasses and dark blonde hair. Around him sat a circle of circles. The captain seemed to envision some sort of movement in his mind, as a pondering gesture assumed itself on his face.
Ashley Speers walked in without knowing he was back from his meeting yet. "How'd it go?" she said. He didn't respond to her, but instead, simply kept his focus on his drawing. "Well, I know you don't like too much company when you're in an artistic mood, but I just wanted you to know that I got the rest of the squad back here in one piece, just like you asked. I'll let you be alone now," she said, and with that, flew out the door.
The silent captain simply kept his gaze on the paper before him, his white hat and bangs not revealing the eyes of his scarred face. His pale hand raised its pen again to draw another figure next to the first, this one donning white like a captain and wearing a hat. He drew a circle of circles around this one as well, and drew a curved sword in the hand of the normal Soul Reaper. After drawing this sword for the first Soul Reaper, his pen moved over to the second figure and ended up drawing several question marks, as if confused. He seemed to ponder again for a bit, but then drew several sharp, arrow like symbols pointing from the second figure to the first, going between the circles as if piercing through them.
"..." He sighed, picking up the paper as if done with it and opening a drawer on his desk, almost bursting with other similar papers. He placed this newest paper inside and managed to slide the drawer shut. Captain Roman then proceeded to get up out of his chair and walk out the door.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 19 ~ The Comeback
The door appeared in the sky at roughly seven p.m., two Soul Reapers walking out of it into the open air as if it were solid ground, light flowing out from behind them. Below them was a city, somewhat large in comparison to the city that housed the Soul Reaper Headquarters. Jason stepped out first, his black uniform blowing lightly in the weak breeze, while the sheath that held his sword hung on the belt at his side. Kendra appeared next, her short, dark hair also flapping innocently in the wind and her own Zanpakutou sheathed at her side. The door closed behind them, taking the light it created with it.
"I can't believe we just got dumped into doing grunt work like this!" Jason huffed.
"Normally I'd like a break from our usual work to come here," Kendra started, "but how could they just assume that our captain, our lieutenant, even both of us, are all in on some plot to ruin Soul Society?!"
"Gah, let's just get on with finding this supply depot before this pisses me off even more," Jason responded, flash stepping down into the city of living humans that wouldn't be able to even see him. Kendra followed suit.
Dylan blocked another blast of combined Cero attacks with the golden shield of his Daiou Koukin, then used the machete like weapon in his other hand to launch another wave of star projectiles at the creatures. Each managed to cut into its target like a spinning saw blade, but, due to their size, didn't do much real damage to the giant Hollows. The sheer number of them, however, seemed to inflict real pain on the creatures.
Lucielle of Squad Eight released the black, fist-like projectile attached to the thread on her hand, tossing it at the other nearby Hollows with enough uncoiled force to take down a solid wall. With each throw of the punch-esque technique, she would pull the weapon back to her hand, recoil it, and launch it out again with a renewed killing force. The flames from the burning land around her mirrored in her glasses.
Peter unleashed a great slash across the torso of a Gillian, wounding it deeply, but not enough to kill it. A red cluster of energy appeared at its mouth in retaliation, and within seconds it fired another Cero blast. Due to the close proximity of the beam, however, it would take multiple flash steps in an instant to avoid it altogether. He knew full well that he was one of, if not the, best present at flash stepping, but even he wouldn't be able to escape this attack unscathed. He mustered up the most prominent boost of speed he could, and put his sword up into a guard stance to do the rest. The beam collided with his sword and engulfed him, launching the fourth seat out of the fray and into the distance.
Ben immediately went after the Fourth Seat of Squad Nine, but immediately found himself surrounded by low level Hollows. This wouldn't be as much of a threat, were he an actual combat specialist Soul Reaper and not a medic. Luckily, Ryan and Kassandra appeared nearby and cleared the way, Ryan mustering up powerful swings to take down the bigger ones while Kassandra used flash steps and quick strokes of her sword to take down the weaker ones.
"C'mon Medic!" Ryan taunted, "do your damn job!" Before Ben could make a comeback, the three were attacked once more by another round of Hollows. "F*ck this!" Ryan yelled, holding onto his sword with two hands, "Destroy, Akaneirozashi! (lit. Madder Red Crushes to Death)" The sword grew about a foot and a half in length, easily describable as a two-handed sword, and became double edged, curving outward and then inward again at it's tip. The blade was a blood red color, with a diamond of dark blue in the center of where it curved out and then inward.
"Die!" he exclaimed, swinging the sword down and slamming it into the ground like a hammer. The mere impact with the ground created a paralyzing sound wave reminiscent of a sonic boom, while the swing of the sword carved a rift through the surface that erupted with energy from below. The stunned Hollows didn't stand a chance.
"When did you get your Shikai?" Kassandra asked in shock.
"Oh, I've had it for a while now, I just didn't get around to bringing it up in conversation," Ryan responded, planting the sword in the ground with one hand and pulling a soda can and half a sandwich out of his seemingly endless food pocket.
Dylan took a moment to analyze the situation. Cain, or Squad Eight's Third Seat, had already been knocked out by the time they arrived, while Peter had just been incapacitated by a Cero blast point black, with Ben, the Squad Four medic going after him. Lieutenant Osmond was obviously tiring out, with Ryan and Kassandra of Squad Nine slowly getting exhausted as well, but the main worry was that they were only fighting normal Hollows and Gillian level Menos, despite having been informed of the presence of Adhuchas level spirit energies. If one such Adhuchas, only defeatable by someone of at least lieutenant level, were to show up now, he'd be the only one able to take it down. This was not taking into effect, however, that the fact that this was only the first time he'd used the second level of his Shikai and the seemingly infinite number of Hollows, Menos included, were beginning to wear him down.
Sure enough, an Adhuchas appeared amidst the horde at this worst possible of times. It seemed almost like a bear in appearance: large with four, powerful legs on the ground and a thick, muscular torso. The mask on its face seemed perfectly shaped with the rest of its body, not so much like a mask that a humanoid would wear, but one just so suited for the face and head of a creature on all fours. Its appearance as a Hollow was finalized by the gaping hole in its chest. In a frenzied charge of sorts, it rushed through Soul Reaper after Soul Reaper, knocking them to and fro with ease, until it stopped in front of Dylan, eyeing him like a wolf looking into the eyes of its prey.
Dylan could already presume that it rushed throughout the group, finding the Soul Reaper with the highest spirit energy, and he could only speculate, only hope, that this was the only Adhuchas present.
"What do they call you, Soul Reaper?" it asked in a distorted voice.
"Dylan Follis, Lieutenant of Squad Seven," he answered.
"Well then, Lieutenant Follis," the creature paused, "think you can tango with The Beast?"
"Well, how is he?!" Greg asked, his mohawk waving with him as he threw his question at Kayla.
"He..." Kayla paused, shutting the door to Lucas's room, "he almost attacked me... he drew his sword and..." she shook like a leaf, needing to pause and catch her breath.
"So all that yelling I heard earlier," he threw another question, this one slightly calmer, "that was him?"
She nodded, eyes darting back and forth in a sort of panic that Greg had never seen her with before. This was their first time seeing Lucas since before they had graduated months prior. It had always been a wonder how he'd managed to stay in Squad Six for so long without ever showing his face, even for orientation or to meet its officers, but one could assume his status of being an Artesian family noble kept him in the spot. "That mask..." she froze, an image creeping into her mind, "that mask with those creepy yellow eyes... it wasn't human..."
"What do you mean?!" Greg asked, putting his arms on her shoulders and shaking her lightly, "that's our friend, Lucas! The one that got us out of the slums and into the Soul Reaper Academy! The one that stuck with us all that time! How can you say that about him?!"
"I-I don't know..." she responded, "I'm starting to wonder if it's still him at all..."
Through the door, Lucas Artesian lay on his bed face down in silence, but leaning his head up to look towards the sky out the window he was facing, but his attention was really on his thoughts. He moved his right hand up to his face, vanishing the white mask that was on his face, making the whites of his eyes black and his irises a dull yellow. After its disappearance, his eyes returned to their normal blue color.
He plopped his head back down on the pillow. "What's happening to me?" he thought, the question he'd asked himself countless times since that encounter that seemed like it was only yesterday...
He walked briskly down the halls of the practice wing of the Soul Reaper Academy, ready to start another training session with Greg and Kayla. Leaning up against the wall was a man, dressed in a Soul Reaper uniform with long black sleeves going down to his wrists and an upturned collar, the buttons of which were open, revealing another black shirt underneath it topped with a hood, coming up from under his collar to cover his head and shadow his face. He was definitely a mysterious figure.
"Where you off to?" he asked in a serious, yet not too worried tone.
"Is that any of your business?" Lucas responded, walking past him.
"I think I've made it mine," the man spoke, making his way past the student in an instant and, sword drawn, threatening him to move another step.
"What do you want?" Lucas asked hesitantly.
"I believe I already made my question..."
He didn't know what to say. "Just to practice some kidou..."
The man, although his expression invisible, was obviously thinking for a moment. "Yes, you seem like you'd be a pretty good Soul Reaper," he paused, "but I think your full potential would be realized if you were more..."
"Listen," Luke started, "I don't know if you're some sort of squad recruiter or school faculty or what, but if you've got some kind of proposition, feel free to take it up with my-" he blinked, only for an instant, but the man had slashed him up from his lower right hip up to his upper left shoulder in a back-handed fashion. His eyes gaped open as he could feel the blood splash out of his torso into the air. He collapsed on his hands and knees, only to be in too much pain to keep himself up, ending up on the floor. As his spirit energy went into distress, his assailant unleashed an overwhelmingly large, yet somehow still concealed, amount of his own to suppress that of Lucas.
"Now I'm going to take you back to your room to avoid making a fuss when people see you," he said. "What I've just put into your blood stream is a mixture of a sedative and my own concoction that I keep on my sword. When you wake up, you'll be completely different, but you have to retain control or else something really bad will happen..."
Lucas woke up several hours later in his room, his wound healed, but a large scar now across his torso. On his face he could feel something, and it wasn't until he looked in a mirror that he noticed what it was. A white mask, like that of a Hollow's. He threw it to the ground, feeling a knot in his stomach and a heaviness in his chest. Not having any energy left, he collapsed on his floor, eyes fixed on the white object until he dozed off. He awoke the next morning to find it missing, but on his face again.
Experimenting in his spare time allowed him to realize that it was made from his own spirit energy, which he seemed to have abundant amounts of now, but the utilizing of which made a voice announce itself in his mind. This voice wanted to control him, to order him to do as it pleased, whatever carnage and mayhem it wanted. Like the attacker advised, he put all of his effort into retaining control and laying low, isolating himself in his chambers even after being placed in Squad Six. While laying there in thought, the voice inside would often disappear completely, but when coming into contact with another human, it would jump at the chance to act, further requiring his own will to suppress it.
Kayla had decided to come into his room instead of the girl that normally delivered his food, and this is how today's confrontation started. This surprise had him letting his guard down, and this allowed it to take control, the mask forming on his face and it gaining control over his body, pulling out his Zanpakutou as if about to really kill her. At the last possible second, he regained control and forced it back into submission, dissipating the white mask and throwing the sword to the ground, but he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hold it off. It was going to get loose, and its destructive nature would be free to do whatever it pleased.
The door appeared in the sky at roughly seven p.m., two Soul Reapers walking out of it into the open air as if it were solid ground, light flowing out from behind them. Below them was a city, somewhat large in comparison to the city that housed the Soul Reaper Headquarters. Jason stepped out first, his black uniform blowing lightly in the weak breeze, while the sheath that held his sword hung on the belt at his side. Kendra appeared next, her short, dark hair also flapping innocently in the wind and her own Zanpakutou sheathed at her side. The door closed behind them, taking the light it created with it.
"I can't believe we just got dumped into doing grunt work like this!" Jason huffed.
"Normally I'd like a break from our usual work to come here," Kendra started, "but how could they just assume that our captain, our lieutenant, even both of us, are all in on some plot to ruin Soul Society?!"
"Gah, let's just get on with finding this supply depot before this pisses me off even more," Jason responded, flash stepping down into the city of living humans that wouldn't be able to even see him. Kendra followed suit.
Dylan blocked another blast of combined Cero attacks with the golden shield of his Daiou Koukin, then used the machete like weapon in his other hand to launch another wave of star projectiles at the creatures. Each managed to cut into its target like a spinning saw blade, but, due to their size, didn't do much real damage to the giant Hollows. The sheer number of them, however, seemed to inflict real pain on the creatures.
Lucielle of Squad Eight released the black, fist-like projectile attached to the thread on her hand, tossing it at the other nearby Hollows with enough uncoiled force to take down a solid wall. With each throw of the punch-esque technique, she would pull the weapon back to her hand, recoil it, and launch it out again with a renewed killing force. The flames from the burning land around her mirrored in her glasses.
Peter unleashed a great slash across the torso of a Gillian, wounding it deeply, but not enough to kill it. A red cluster of energy appeared at its mouth in retaliation, and within seconds it fired another Cero blast. Due to the close proximity of the beam, however, it would take multiple flash steps in an instant to avoid it altogether. He knew full well that he was one of, if not the, best present at flash stepping, but even he wouldn't be able to escape this attack unscathed. He mustered up the most prominent boost of speed he could, and put his sword up into a guard stance to do the rest. The beam collided with his sword and engulfed him, launching the fourth seat out of the fray and into the distance.
Ben immediately went after the Fourth Seat of Squad Nine, but immediately found himself surrounded by low level Hollows. This wouldn't be as much of a threat, were he an actual combat specialist Soul Reaper and not a medic. Luckily, Ryan and Kassandra appeared nearby and cleared the way, Ryan mustering up powerful swings to take down the bigger ones while Kassandra used flash steps and quick strokes of her sword to take down the weaker ones.
"C'mon Medic!" Ryan taunted, "do your damn job!" Before Ben could make a comeback, the three were attacked once more by another round of Hollows. "F*ck this!" Ryan yelled, holding onto his sword with two hands, "Destroy, Akaneirozashi! (lit. Madder Red Crushes to Death)" The sword grew about a foot and a half in length, easily describable as a two-handed sword, and became double edged, curving outward and then inward again at it's tip. The blade was a blood red color, with a diamond of dark blue in the center of where it curved out and then inward.
"Die!" he exclaimed, swinging the sword down and slamming it into the ground like a hammer. The mere impact with the ground created a paralyzing sound wave reminiscent of a sonic boom, while the swing of the sword carved a rift through the surface that erupted with energy from below. The stunned Hollows didn't stand a chance.
"When did you get your Shikai?" Kassandra asked in shock.
"Oh, I've had it for a while now, I just didn't get around to bringing it up in conversation," Ryan responded, planting the sword in the ground with one hand and pulling a soda can and half a sandwich out of his seemingly endless food pocket.
Dylan took a moment to analyze the situation. Cain, or Squad Eight's Third Seat, had already been knocked out by the time they arrived, while Peter had just been incapacitated by a Cero blast point black, with Ben, the Squad Four medic going after him. Lieutenant Osmond was obviously tiring out, with Ryan and Kassandra of Squad Nine slowly getting exhausted as well, but the main worry was that they were only fighting normal Hollows and Gillian level Menos, despite having been informed of the presence of Adhuchas level spirit energies. If one such Adhuchas, only defeatable by someone of at least lieutenant level, were to show up now, he'd be the only one able to take it down. This was not taking into effect, however, that the fact that this was only the first time he'd used the second level of his Shikai and the seemingly infinite number of Hollows, Menos included, were beginning to wear him down.
Sure enough, an Adhuchas appeared amidst the horde at this worst possible of times. It seemed almost like a bear in appearance: large with four, powerful legs on the ground and a thick, muscular torso. The mask on its face seemed perfectly shaped with the rest of its body, not so much like a mask that a humanoid would wear, but one just so suited for the face and head of a creature on all fours. Its appearance as a Hollow was finalized by the gaping hole in its chest. In a frenzied charge of sorts, it rushed through Soul Reaper after Soul Reaper, knocking them to and fro with ease, until it stopped in front of Dylan, eyeing him like a wolf looking into the eyes of its prey.
Dylan could already presume that it rushed throughout the group, finding the Soul Reaper with the highest spirit energy, and he could only speculate, only hope, that this was the only Adhuchas present.
"What do they call you, Soul Reaper?" it asked in a distorted voice.
"Dylan Follis, Lieutenant of Squad Seven," he answered.
"Well then, Lieutenant Follis," the creature paused, "think you can tango with The Beast?"
"Well, how is he?!" Greg asked, his mohawk waving with him as he threw his question at Kayla.
"He..." Kayla paused, shutting the door to Lucas's room, "he almost attacked me... he drew his sword and..." she shook like a leaf, needing to pause and catch her breath.
"So all that yelling I heard earlier," he threw another question, this one slightly calmer, "that was him?"
She nodded, eyes darting back and forth in a sort of panic that Greg had never seen her with before. This was their first time seeing Lucas since before they had graduated months prior. It had always been a wonder how he'd managed to stay in Squad Six for so long without ever showing his face, even for orientation or to meet its officers, but one could assume his status of being an Artesian family noble kept him in the spot. "That mask..." she froze, an image creeping into her mind, "that mask with those creepy yellow eyes... it wasn't human..."
"What do you mean?!" Greg asked, putting his arms on her shoulders and shaking her lightly, "that's our friend, Lucas! The one that got us out of the slums and into the Soul Reaper Academy! The one that stuck with us all that time! How can you say that about him?!"
"I-I don't know..." she responded, "I'm starting to wonder if it's still him at all..."
Through the door, Lucas Artesian lay on his bed face down in silence, but leaning his head up to look towards the sky out the window he was facing, but his attention was really on his thoughts. He moved his right hand up to his face, vanishing the white mask that was on his face, making the whites of his eyes black and his irises a dull yellow. After its disappearance, his eyes returned to their normal blue color.
He plopped his head back down on the pillow. "What's happening to me?" he thought, the question he'd asked himself countless times since that encounter that seemed like it was only yesterday...
He walked briskly down the halls of the practice wing of the Soul Reaper Academy, ready to start another training session with Greg and Kayla. Leaning up against the wall was a man, dressed in a Soul Reaper uniform with long black sleeves going down to his wrists and an upturned collar, the buttons of which were open, revealing another black shirt underneath it topped with a hood, coming up from under his collar to cover his head and shadow his face. He was definitely a mysterious figure.
"Where you off to?" he asked in a serious, yet not too worried tone.
"Is that any of your business?" Lucas responded, walking past him.
"I think I've made it mine," the man spoke, making his way past the student in an instant and, sword drawn, threatening him to move another step.
"What do you want?" Lucas asked hesitantly.
"I believe I already made my question..."
He didn't know what to say. "Just to practice some kidou..."
The man, although his expression invisible, was obviously thinking for a moment. "Yes, you seem like you'd be a pretty good Soul Reaper," he paused, "but I think your full potential would be realized if you were more..."
"Listen," Luke started, "I don't know if you're some sort of squad recruiter or school faculty or what, but if you've got some kind of proposition, feel free to take it up with my-" he blinked, only for an instant, but the man had slashed him up from his lower right hip up to his upper left shoulder in a back-handed fashion. His eyes gaped open as he could feel the blood splash out of his torso into the air. He collapsed on his hands and knees, only to be in too much pain to keep himself up, ending up on the floor. As his spirit energy went into distress, his assailant unleashed an overwhelmingly large, yet somehow still concealed, amount of his own to suppress that of Lucas.
"Now I'm going to take you back to your room to avoid making a fuss when people see you," he said. "What I've just put into your blood stream is a mixture of a sedative and my own concoction that I keep on my sword. When you wake up, you'll be completely different, but you have to retain control or else something really bad will happen..."
Lucas woke up several hours later in his room, his wound healed, but a large scar now across his torso. On his face he could feel something, and it wasn't until he looked in a mirror that he noticed what it was. A white mask, like that of a Hollow's. He threw it to the ground, feeling a knot in his stomach and a heaviness in his chest. Not having any energy left, he collapsed on his floor, eyes fixed on the white object until he dozed off. He awoke the next morning to find it missing, but on his face again.
Experimenting in his spare time allowed him to realize that it was made from his own spirit energy, which he seemed to have abundant amounts of now, but the utilizing of which made a voice announce itself in his mind. This voice wanted to control him, to order him to do as it pleased, whatever carnage and mayhem it wanted. Like the attacker advised, he put all of his effort into retaining control and laying low, isolating himself in his chambers even after being placed in Squad Six. While laying there in thought, the voice inside would often disappear completely, but when coming into contact with another human, it would jump at the chance to act, further requiring his own will to suppress it.
Kayla had decided to come into his room instead of the girl that normally delivered his food, and this is how today's confrontation started. This surprise had him letting his guard down, and this allowed it to take control, the mask forming on his face and it gaining control over his body, pulling out his Zanpakutou as if about to really kill her. At the last possible second, he regained control and forced it back into submission, dissipating the white mask and throwing the sword to the ground, but he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hold it off. It was going to get loose, and its destructive nature would be free to do whatever it pleased.
Last edited by the guffman on Tue May 11, 2010 1:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 20 – Redemption (Part I)
Weeber lay bored in his Squad Eleven room, his Rubik's Cube becoming evermore tiring over time. He could always solve one or two sides, but never the entire thing at once. All of Squad Eleven had been pretty much lifeless since the incident with Ivan, who was still in a coma-like state from the attack. Their normally lively captain had also been cooped up in his chambers since the resulting captain's meeting, out of character for him, considering that there was a battle going on that he would have loved the squad to take part in. It was just when Jon was about to actually leave the facility that Hunter slammed the door open.
Hunter, with the addition of Joey from Squad Two and Rebecca from Squad Thirteen, had found out about the battle going on, and, despite having his own energy exhausted during his previous fight, decided that he wanted to take part. Rebecca had been given the information from her superiors in Squad Thirteen, and had been trying to gather up old academy acquaintances to help defend it.
“Yo,” Weeber said nonchalantly.
“You know about the battle going on?” Hunter asked. Weeber nodded.
“We're gonna go help out,” Rebecca spoke, “we were wondering if you'd want to go, but if you still need time from your last battle-”
“I will,” Jon cut her off, “I'm bored here...”
Meanwhile, in the world of the living, Jason and Kendra walked down the night time streets, the glow of the night's new moon trailing their dark silhouettes. Not a single living soul in this town could see them since they were Soul Reapers in a world of normal humans.
“Can you believe how people dress nowadays?” Jason asked, trying to initiate some form of small talk.
“I haven't payed attention to how they dressed before,” Kendra answered, a sudden realization hitting her, “wait, how do you know that if this is the first time we've ever been here?”
“I remember it from when I was alive,” he answered. “I can actually remember quite a bit really, some events, some people, etc.”
“That's not normal,” Kendra spoke sympathetically, “who else knows?”
“Nobody,” he told her, “I'm the only one that can remember, it seems. Sometimes it's just in dreams, while other times it's when I meet people again. Like Hunter and Jon for example, I knew them during my last times living here,” he explained, “same with Ryan, Ben, and the new Lieutenant Follis.”
While Jason was explaining that he did remember what he shouldn't have remembered, Kendra listening intently the whole time, they had stumbled upon a back alley shack-type building with an easily seven foot tall man out front sweeping. One could see three adult silhouettes on the inside from the emitted light from the windows.
“Excuse me!” Jason said, “is this the supply depot?”
“How do you know this is the place?!” Kendra whispered harshly, “don't just ask random people!”
“We'll he'll hear us if it's the place-”
“Yes, this is District 2047 Supply,” the tall man spoke with a deep voice while turning towards the two. He seemed even taller when he wasn't hunched over sweeping, and his plain white t-shirt showed off his well-toned body. This, with a blue working apron contrasted his dark skin tone, mustache, and almost cornrowed hairstyle. His glasses beamed in the moonlight. “You must be the two Soul Reapers that were assigned here.”
“Well, it was kind of an out-of-the-blue decision,” Jason responded, “I'm surprised you're as well-informed as you are.”
“Yes, how is the issue with your traitor captain going?” the large man asked.
“He's not a traitor!” Jason burst.
Kendra tried to calm the situation, “just tell us what you need us to do...”
“The shopkeeper will be out in a minute-” he spoke, then moved out of the way of the door that two men and one woman stepped out from. One man wore a gray-green overcoat, sandals, and a white and green striped hat that, coupled with his light hair, shaded his eyes from view. This man walked with a cane of some kind. The other wore a dark, buttoned up suit with gold buttons and a pair of well-shined black dress shoes. He had short, combed back dark hair, and a different sort of walking cane, one that was shorter and more like a night stick. The woman had long, white hair and red eyes, while wearing loose-fit dark pants without any socks or shoes and a black tank top that exposed her stomach and upper chest, each with a finely tanned pigmentation.
“That's enough, Tessai,” the man with the hat and sandals spoke in a cool and collected voice. The mere flow of his voice was enough to imply that the man could kill you with his tongue. “Give our guests a bit of time to relax.”
“You,” the suited man looked at Jason, “you mentioned something about your living memories?”
Jason wanted to play it off and feign ignorance, but he knew it was already too late. “Wow, you overheard that from that far away and through a building?”
Before the suited man could respond, sandal-hat broke in again, “let's not rush into things too quickly, Nate,” he spoke calmly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder and using the other to keep his hat in place, “let's explain to them why they're here first...”
“We know why we're here,” Jason spoke up.
“I'm afraid you don't,” the man responded seriously.
Dylan struggled to deflect another swipe of the Beast off his shield, but the monster's claws were far stronger than he'd originally anticipated. Another claw, this one almost like a punch or stabbing motion, impacted the golden shield, sending its wielder skidding back. The Soul Reaper stuck his machete in the ground to reduce his motion, then forced himself back up on his feet, taking a couple breaths while he could.
“Looks like you're having some trouble, Soul Reaper!” The Beast yelled.
“I'm just getting started,” Pickle called back. Raising his sword, he strained for the energy in his Zanpakutou, launching a wave of shining stars at his opponent.
With a powerful swipe, the Beast smote the projectiles away like a group gnats. “Stop toying with me,” the monster roared, insulted by the attacks, “show me the power that lieutenants are known for, or rest assured Soul Reaper, you will die here.”
“Damn,” Pickle thought, “he's tougher than I'd heard. . .” Raising his shield up into the air resulted in the outer circumference of the disc retracting back into itself, forming a sort of small, discus shape. He leaned forward, raising his machete this time in his right hand. The blade shrunk down to that of a thick knife, and he charged forward at the Beast.
In response, the monster charged as well, laughing inside at what he suspected to be another meager attempt at an attack. Before the two collided, however, Pickle reeled his left arm back and thrust his shield forward, the chain keeping it connected to the handle's end of the sword in his other hand while the actual disc spun forward, cutting into the left front leg of the Beast as it charged, while sliding along the ground beside it, using the grip from the shield in its leg to pull himself up onto its body, stabbing his knife into its neck. In a frenzied reaction, it forced its neck forward, slamming Pickle into the ground in front of him. Though he was stunned from hitting the ground with such force, he had placed the golden chain in the moth of the creature, holding himself up. In one, final maneuver, he stabbed his knife into the mouth of the creature.
“You lose,” Dylan spoke, launching innumerable golden stars through the head of the monster, splitting its skull open with the half-shocked, half-frozen-in-fear expression etched on its face. Blood and brain matter splashed all over his body, and, within seconds, the creature's body disappeared into the air.
“And you're really sure about this, Kisuke?” The suited man asked, wheeling out an armoir-looking object into the small, old-fashioned room. Classic white paint and dark, hardwood floors made the twenties feel of the environment complete.
“Should I ready the training chamber, master?” the woman asked.
“Yes, but I told you not to call me that Charon,” Nathan responded. The woman walked over to a large hatch in the floor and bent over to put in a pass code of some kind. Although Jason preferred to avoid thoughts like these, she looked very attractive from behind. After a few more security precautions had been undone, the hatch popped open and she jumped down. The big buff man in the apron known as Tessai picked up the armoir and hopped down the hole as well. Nathan and Kisuke were soon to follow. Jason and Kendra, though completely perplexed by this whole setup in the first place, had no choice but to quit their dawdling and follow suit.
Down the rabbit hole was an impossible sight: a recreation of an outdoor wasteland environment, complete with rocks, desert, plateaus, and crevasses marking its surface. The ceiling was very high off the ground and painted like a blue sky with clouds that never moved, but well-lit enough to look like a sunny day. At their landing point was an elevated platform with stairs leading down to the artificial desert ground, while a ladder led back up to the shop's normal front. The group of four had already made their way down to the ground, with Tessai placing the armoir on the flat surface.
“So what's going on?” Jason asked, walking down the staircase toward the group with Kendra closely behind.
“To be honest,” Nathan began, “Soul Society's had its eye on you and your little band of trouble makers since you were in the academy. We've learned from our mistakes in the past, so now any group of strangely skilled young adults doesn't go unnoticed.” Kisuke veiled a slight chuckle, while Tessai opened a large drawer of the furniture piece and pulled out a large, rectangular object wrapped in cloth.
Kisuke pulled a paper fan out of seemingly nowhere and started waving it. “I'm very proud of this device,” he began, “it'll let us see into your very memories that you keep referring to.” Tessai pulled the cloth off the object to reveal a rectangular frame holding an oblong mirror. The glass piece was set on the armoir.
“How can you do that?” Kendra asked.
“And why...” Jason added.
“It's simple,” Kisuke folded his fan in on itself, “we need to see your memories so that we can hope to understand the causes of what's going on in Soul Society now, and this mirror will let us, through the reflection of your own spirit particles, see your inner memories that you have from being alive. In order to do that, however, we need to see the entirety of your soul. . .”
“And what does that mean?” Jason questioned.
“You need to unleash your shikai,” Kisuke said.
Weeber lay bored in his Squad Eleven room, his Rubik's Cube becoming evermore tiring over time. He could always solve one or two sides, but never the entire thing at once. All of Squad Eleven had been pretty much lifeless since the incident with Ivan, who was still in a coma-like state from the attack. Their normally lively captain had also been cooped up in his chambers since the resulting captain's meeting, out of character for him, considering that there was a battle going on that he would have loved the squad to take part in. It was just when Jon was about to actually leave the facility that Hunter slammed the door open.
Hunter, with the addition of Joey from Squad Two and Rebecca from Squad Thirteen, had found out about the battle going on, and, despite having his own energy exhausted during his previous fight, decided that he wanted to take part. Rebecca had been given the information from her superiors in Squad Thirteen, and had been trying to gather up old academy acquaintances to help defend it.
“Yo,” Weeber said nonchalantly.
“You know about the battle going on?” Hunter asked. Weeber nodded.
“We're gonna go help out,” Rebecca spoke, “we were wondering if you'd want to go, but if you still need time from your last battle-”
“I will,” Jon cut her off, “I'm bored here...”
Meanwhile, in the world of the living, Jason and Kendra walked down the night time streets, the glow of the night's new moon trailing their dark silhouettes. Not a single living soul in this town could see them since they were Soul Reapers in a world of normal humans.
“Can you believe how people dress nowadays?” Jason asked, trying to initiate some form of small talk.
“I haven't payed attention to how they dressed before,” Kendra answered, a sudden realization hitting her, “wait, how do you know that if this is the first time we've ever been here?”
“I remember it from when I was alive,” he answered. “I can actually remember quite a bit really, some events, some people, etc.”
“That's not normal,” Kendra spoke sympathetically, “who else knows?”
“Nobody,” he told her, “I'm the only one that can remember, it seems. Sometimes it's just in dreams, while other times it's when I meet people again. Like Hunter and Jon for example, I knew them during my last times living here,” he explained, “same with Ryan, Ben, and the new Lieutenant Follis.”
While Jason was explaining that he did remember what he shouldn't have remembered, Kendra listening intently the whole time, they had stumbled upon a back alley shack-type building with an easily seven foot tall man out front sweeping. One could see three adult silhouettes on the inside from the emitted light from the windows.
“Excuse me!” Jason said, “is this the supply depot?”
“How do you know this is the place?!” Kendra whispered harshly, “don't just ask random people!”
“We'll he'll hear us if it's the place-”
“Yes, this is District 2047 Supply,” the tall man spoke with a deep voice while turning towards the two. He seemed even taller when he wasn't hunched over sweeping, and his plain white t-shirt showed off his well-toned body. This, with a blue working apron contrasted his dark skin tone, mustache, and almost cornrowed hairstyle. His glasses beamed in the moonlight. “You must be the two Soul Reapers that were assigned here.”
“Well, it was kind of an out-of-the-blue decision,” Jason responded, “I'm surprised you're as well-informed as you are.”
“Yes, how is the issue with your traitor captain going?” the large man asked.
“He's not a traitor!” Jason burst.
Kendra tried to calm the situation, “just tell us what you need us to do...”
“The shopkeeper will be out in a minute-” he spoke, then moved out of the way of the door that two men and one woman stepped out from. One man wore a gray-green overcoat, sandals, and a white and green striped hat that, coupled with his light hair, shaded his eyes from view. This man walked with a cane of some kind. The other wore a dark, buttoned up suit with gold buttons and a pair of well-shined black dress shoes. He had short, combed back dark hair, and a different sort of walking cane, one that was shorter and more like a night stick. The woman had long, white hair and red eyes, while wearing loose-fit dark pants without any socks or shoes and a black tank top that exposed her stomach and upper chest, each with a finely tanned pigmentation.
“That's enough, Tessai,” the man with the hat and sandals spoke in a cool and collected voice. The mere flow of his voice was enough to imply that the man could kill you with his tongue. “Give our guests a bit of time to relax.”
“You,” the suited man looked at Jason, “you mentioned something about your living memories?”
Jason wanted to play it off and feign ignorance, but he knew it was already too late. “Wow, you overheard that from that far away and through a building?”
Before the suited man could respond, sandal-hat broke in again, “let's not rush into things too quickly, Nate,” he spoke calmly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder and using the other to keep his hat in place, “let's explain to them why they're here first...”
“We know why we're here,” Jason spoke up.
“I'm afraid you don't,” the man responded seriously.
Dylan struggled to deflect another swipe of the Beast off his shield, but the monster's claws were far stronger than he'd originally anticipated. Another claw, this one almost like a punch or stabbing motion, impacted the golden shield, sending its wielder skidding back. The Soul Reaper stuck his machete in the ground to reduce his motion, then forced himself back up on his feet, taking a couple breaths while he could.
“Looks like you're having some trouble, Soul Reaper!” The Beast yelled.
“I'm just getting started,” Pickle called back. Raising his sword, he strained for the energy in his Zanpakutou, launching a wave of shining stars at his opponent.
With a powerful swipe, the Beast smote the projectiles away like a group gnats. “Stop toying with me,” the monster roared, insulted by the attacks, “show me the power that lieutenants are known for, or rest assured Soul Reaper, you will die here.”
“Damn,” Pickle thought, “he's tougher than I'd heard. . .” Raising his shield up into the air resulted in the outer circumference of the disc retracting back into itself, forming a sort of small, discus shape. He leaned forward, raising his machete this time in his right hand. The blade shrunk down to that of a thick knife, and he charged forward at the Beast.
In response, the monster charged as well, laughing inside at what he suspected to be another meager attempt at an attack. Before the two collided, however, Pickle reeled his left arm back and thrust his shield forward, the chain keeping it connected to the handle's end of the sword in his other hand while the actual disc spun forward, cutting into the left front leg of the Beast as it charged, while sliding along the ground beside it, using the grip from the shield in its leg to pull himself up onto its body, stabbing his knife into its neck. In a frenzied reaction, it forced its neck forward, slamming Pickle into the ground in front of him. Though he was stunned from hitting the ground with such force, he had placed the golden chain in the moth of the creature, holding himself up. In one, final maneuver, he stabbed his knife into the mouth of the creature.
“You lose,” Dylan spoke, launching innumerable golden stars through the head of the monster, splitting its skull open with the half-shocked, half-frozen-in-fear expression etched on its face. Blood and brain matter splashed all over his body, and, within seconds, the creature's body disappeared into the air.
“And you're really sure about this, Kisuke?” The suited man asked, wheeling out an armoir-looking object into the small, old-fashioned room. Classic white paint and dark, hardwood floors made the twenties feel of the environment complete.
“Should I ready the training chamber, master?” the woman asked.
“Yes, but I told you not to call me that Charon,” Nathan responded. The woman walked over to a large hatch in the floor and bent over to put in a pass code of some kind. Although Jason preferred to avoid thoughts like these, she looked very attractive from behind. After a few more security precautions had been undone, the hatch popped open and she jumped down. The big buff man in the apron known as Tessai picked up the armoir and hopped down the hole as well. Nathan and Kisuke were soon to follow. Jason and Kendra, though completely perplexed by this whole setup in the first place, had no choice but to quit their dawdling and follow suit.
Down the rabbit hole was an impossible sight: a recreation of an outdoor wasteland environment, complete with rocks, desert, plateaus, and crevasses marking its surface. The ceiling was very high off the ground and painted like a blue sky with clouds that never moved, but well-lit enough to look like a sunny day. At their landing point was an elevated platform with stairs leading down to the artificial desert ground, while a ladder led back up to the shop's normal front. The group of four had already made their way down to the ground, with Tessai placing the armoir on the flat surface.
“So what's going on?” Jason asked, walking down the staircase toward the group with Kendra closely behind.
“To be honest,” Nathan began, “Soul Society's had its eye on you and your little band of trouble makers since you were in the academy. We've learned from our mistakes in the past, so now any group of strangely skilled young adults doesn't go unnoticed.” Kisuke veiled a slight chuckle, while Tessai opened a large drawer of the furniture piece and pulled out a large, rectangular object wrapped in cloth.
Kisuke pulled a paper fan out of seemingly nowhere and started waving it. “I'm very proud of this device,” he began, “it'll let us see into your very memories that you keep referring to.” Tessai pulled the cloth off the object to reveal a rectangular frame holding an oblong mirror. The glass piece was set on the armoir.
“How can you do that?” Kendra asked.
“And why...” Jason added.
“It's simple,” Kisuke folded his fan in on itself, “we need to see your memories so that we can hope to understand the causes of what's going on in Soul Society now, and this mirror will let us, through the reflection of your own spirit particles, see your inner memories that you have from being alive. In order to do that, however, we need to see the entirety of your soul. . .”
“And what does that mean?” Jason questioned.
“You need to unleash your shikai,” Kisuke said.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 21 – Redemption (Part II)
Dylan took the moment to wipe the mix of dirt and blood and flesh off his face before another Hollow moved in to strike. Loud roars and white masks seemed as familiar to him now as the flames that surrounded the area. The battle looked endless.
Though the situation seemed to get only bleaker, a new hope soon arose when Ryan and Kassandra appeared to assist the new lieutenant, followed by Ben, struggling to hold Peter's body on his own. Lucielle appeared in another second, completing the group. Ben laid Peter's body down next to third seat Blanchford of Squad Eight, also incapacitated.
“Need some backup there, lieutenant?” Ryan asked cockily.
“Not like we're in too much shape to be helping anyway,” Kassandra broke in, “you can barely stand yourself.”
“Why ya always gotta be ruining my epic moments?” Ryan asked.
“I think it's obvious that we can't handle much more of this,” Lucielle spoke, getting back to the matter at hand, “Ben's preoccupied with keeping Cain and Peter alive, so that means we're going to have to keep fighting as we are now.”
“Let's just face the facts and say we can't keep this up without reinforcements then,” Dylan stated, “I don't know what happened with the rest of the squads, but we're screwed if another Adhuchas shows up-” He was cut off by two high level spirit energies coming from the sky above them. Two white silhouettes moved into the air like drills, revolving at speeds fast enough to blur their real appearance.
“You just had to f*cking jinx us...” Ryan commented.
The two landed on the ground creating small craters as they did so, allowing them to slow down to speeds where their true appearances could be displayed. They were both generally humanoid in shape, while having white Hollow-esque bone making up their entire bodies. One had two pincers for hands while the other had long claws reminiscent of a praying mantis. The mantis had what appeared to be breasts, indicative of it being female, while the crab had no such features, but was a bit taller.
“No!” Dylan thought, “two more Adhuchas!”
--------------------------------------------------------------
“But why do you need my memories at all?” Jason asked skeptically, “what's so special about them?!”
“Look,” Kisuke tried to explain, lifting his hat just a bit, “you shouldn't have memories from your life in the world of the living anyway. The fact that you have them alone is enough reason for us to investigate, but we already have a hypothesis as to why you still have them.”
“And that is?”
“I can explain that one,” Nathan answered, sitting up from the rock he had been seated on, “when we normally die, our souls go to Soul Society, but for some, attachment to this world keeps their spirits here. The same can be applied to memories. Depending on the significance of the memories, some souls can keep them even after passing on.”
“But these aren't even from my life!” Jason explained, “they're from after I died!”
Nathan began again, “souls that stay in the world of the living keep their memories. It just makes sense that the two chances would intertwine eventually, and it turns out they did with you.”
“And you, for some reason, think that my 'significant memories' have some relevance with what's going on in Soul Society now? You also have an underground training facility bigger than most buildings and a mirror that lets you see into souls! What kind of crazy supply store is this?!” Jason fumed. Kendra stood by, equally confused.
“You can guess that we're not the most normal supply depot for Soul Society in the living world there is,” Kisuke elaborated.
The woman gritted her teeth in frustration, “this is taking too long, let's just force him into the damn thing already!”
“Whoah Guffey-san, looks like Charon's getting upset with us,” Kisuke spoke.
“And trust me, you wouldn't like her when she's mad!” Nathan added, “she's quite the violent type.”
A bead of sweat rolled down Jason's forehead, “let's just do whatever I was supposed to be doing here then...”
“We need to be able to see your entire soul at once, and we need you to go and get your shikai before that can happen,” Nathan explained.
“Shall I ready the mirror then, sir?” the large man known as Tessai asked.
“Alright Tessai, start her up,” Kisuke responded.
Tessai pounded his fists into the ground, swiftly drawing an arcane circle of sorts into the dirt before him. The brightly lit area darkened from the energy of the spell, while Tessai began chanting an incantation of some kind. The mirror began to glow brightly, with Jason's face reflecting in it. In Jason's eyes, the world seemed to blur out to white, while the touch of a cold, new snowflake surprised his face.
------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Shepard had just finished getting his Zanpakutou from his quarters in the Squad Seven barracks. He'd felt extremely guilty about his squad going off to battle without him, and didn't want to start off his relatively recent promotion to captain with a bad record.
Ximena Deifilia of Squad Eight arrived back in her chambers. They were the smallest of any of the captains' rooms, exactly as she preferred it. She had no need for luxuries or excess space, considering that most of her work dealt with helping the impoverished of the Soul Society's slum districts, keeping her out of office most of the time.
Marcus Cullen adjusted the comb in his Afro before opening the door to his office at the Squad Nine headquarters. He threw his white jacket onto a chair in the corner and walked over to a wardrobe on the side wall. Opening the door, he fingered through the jackets and coats and shirts until finding the one black leather one he wanted. He pulled it out and put it on, moving his arms to make sure he looked okay, then striking a pose for a nearby mirror. He grabbed his Zanpakutou, which had been dangling on a coat rack in its sheath, and tossed it behind his back, catching it with another hand and attaching it to his belt. He then proceeded out the door.
------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan slammed his released Zanpakutou into the Adhuchas with crab claws, creating another booming noise as the two forced collided. The creature blocked the blow with a pincer, but was knocked back a few steps from the sound wave. Taking this opportunity, Ryan delivered another powerful swing at the monster's torso. To his surprise, it had no effect.
The Adhuchas he was facing had two short, thick legs that it walked on, always bent so it never stood up tall. Its torso increased in width as it went up, so it was widest at the top. The monster's head was shielded by what appeared to be natural armor on all sides, while its two arms extended out from the upper corners of its body, then ending with the aforementioned claws. It even had a bit of a pointed tail. All in all, it looked like some sort of amphibian shellfish creature.
It took notice of Ryan's shock and kicked him right in the stomach, sending him and his large two-handed sword flying backward. It lunged forward at him while he was downed, but Kassandra was able to hold it in place with her sword, just in time.
“Our Zanpakutou don't do any damage to it!” She grunted.
“What the hell are you?” Ryan asked.
“Roughjaw,” it spoke out in a fierce, yet gargled voice, “Adhuchas lieutenant.” It raised up and swung its arm, smiting Kassandra away.
“A lieutenant?!” Lucielle spoke, catching the black projectile of her shikai in her hand, “like in an army?”
The other monster lifted its bladed arm back to position, since it had just knocked Lucielle's weapon away. It had thin legs that narrowed down to points where its feet would be, and thick rings of white armor separating leg from torso. Its stomach had no armor, but simply led upward to the trademark Hollow hole, just below the breasts. Its arms were completely armored up to its shoulders, leaving pointed extensions parallel to its neck, which was also armorless. Her face was covered as well, leaving no signs of eyes, only the white plate and teeth of a Hollow mask.
“And what do they call you?” Dylan asked it.
“Mantien,” the female Adhuchas responded.
Dylan took the moment to wipe the mix of dirt and blood and flesh off his face before another Hollow moved in to strike. Loud roars and white masks seemed as familiar to him now as the flames that surrounded the area. The battle looked endless.
Though the situation seemed to get only bleaker, a new hope soon arose when Ryan and Kassandra appeared to assist the new lieutenant, followed by Ben, struggling to hold Peter's body on his own. Lucielle appeared in another second, completing the group. Ben laid Peter's body down next to third seat Blanchford of Squad Eight, also incapacitated.
“Need some backup there, lieutenant?” Ryan asked cockily.
“Not like we're in too much shape to be helping anyway,” Kassandra broke in, “you can barely stand yourself.”
“Why ya always gotta be ruining my epic moments?” Ryan asked.
“I think it's obvious that we can't handle much more of this,” Lucielle spoke, getting back to the matter at hand, “Ben's preoccupied with keeping Cain and Peter alive, so that means we're going to have to keep fighting as we are now.”
“Let's just face the facts and say we can't keep this up without reinforcements then,” Dylan stated, “I don't know what happened with the rest of the squads, but we're screwed if another Adhuchas shows up-” He was cut off by two high level spirit energies coming from the sky above them. Two white silhouettes moved into the air like drills, revolving at speeds fast enough to blur their real appearance.
“You just had to f*cking jinx us...” Ryan commented.
The two landed on the ground creating small craters as they did so, allowing them to slow down to speeds where their true appearances could be displayed. They were both generally humanoid in shape, while having white Hollow-esque bone making up their entire bodies. One had two pincers for hands while the other had long claws reminiscent of a praying mantis. The mantis had what appeared to be breasts, indicative of it being female, while the crab had no such features, but was a bit taller.
“No!” Dylan thought, “two more Adhuchas!”
--------------------------------------------------------------
“But why do you need my memories at all?” Jason asked skeptically, “what's so special about them?!”
“Look,” Kisuke tried to explain, lifting his hat just a bit, “you shouldn't have memories from your life in the world of the living anyway. The fact that you have them alone is enough reason for us to investigate, but we already have a hypothesis as to why you still have them.”
“And that is?”
“I can explain that one,” Nathan answered, sitting up from the rock he had been seated on, “when we normally die, our souls go to Soul Society, but for some, attachment to this world keeps their spirits here. The same can be applied to memories. Depending on the significance of the memories, some souls can keep them even after passing on.”
“But these aren't even from my life!” Jason explained, “they're from after I died!”
Nathan began again, “souls that stay in the world of the living keep their memories. It just makes sense that the two chances would intertwine eventually, and it turns out they did with you.”
“And you, for some reason, think that my 'significant memories' have some relevance with what's going on in Soul Society now? You also have an underground training facility bigger than most buildings and a mirror that lets you see into souls! What kind of crazy supply store is this?!” Jason fumed. Kendra stood by, equally confused.
“You can guess that we're not the most normal supply depot for Soul Society in the living world there is,” Kisuke elaborated.
The woman gritted her teeth in frustration, “this is taking too long, let's just force him into the damn thing already!”
“Whoah Guffey-san, looks like Charon's getting upset with us,” Kisuke spoke.
“And trust me, you wouldn't like her when she's mad!” Nathan added, “she's quite the violent type.”
A bead of sweat rolled down Jason's forehead, “let's just do whatever I was supposed to be doing here then...”
“We need to be able to see your entire soul at once, and we need you to go and get your shikai before that can happen,” Nathan explained.
“Shall I ready the mirror then, sir?” the large man known as Tessai asked.
“Alright Tessai, start her up,” Kisuke responded.
Tessai pounded his fists into the ground, swiftly drawing an arcane circle of sorts into the dirt before him. The brightly lit area darkened from the energy of the spell, while Tessai began chanting an incantation of some kind. The mirror began to glow brightly, with Jason's face reflecting in it. In Jason's eyes, the world seemed to blur out to white, while the touch of a cold, new snowflake surprised his face.
------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Shepard had just finished getting his Zanpakutou from his quarters in the Squad Seven barracks. He'd felt extremely guilty about his squad going off to battle without him, and didn't want to start off his relatively recent promotion to captain with a bad record.
Ximena Deifilia of Squad Eight arrived back in her chambers. They were the smallest of any of the captains' rooms, exactly as she preferred it. She had no need for luxuries or excess space, considering that most of her work dealt with helping the impoverished of the Soul Society's slum districts, keeping her out of office most of the time.
Marcus Cullen adjusted the comb in his Afro before opening the door to his office at the Squad Nine headquarters. He threw his white jacket onto a chair in the corner and walked over to a wardrobe on the side wall. Opening the door, he fingered through the jackets and coats and shirts until finding the one black leather one he wanted. He pulled it out and put it on, moving his arms to make sure he looked okay, then striking a pose for a nearby mirror. He grabbed his Zanpakutou, which had been dangling on a coat rack in its sheath, and tossed it behind his back, catching it with another hand and attaching it to his belt. He then proceeded out the door.
------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan slammed his released Zanpakutou into the Adhuchas with crab claws, creating another booming noise as the two forced collided. The creature blocked the blow with a pincer, but was knocked back a few steps from the sound wave. Taking this opportunity, Ryan delivered another powerful swing at the monster's torso. To his surprise, it had no effect.
The Adhuchas he was facing had two short, thick legs that it walked on, always bent so it never stood up tall. Its torso increased in width as it went up, so it was widest at the top. The monster's head was shielded by what appeared to be natural armor on all sides, while its two arms extended out from the upper corners of its body, then ending with the aforementioned claws. It even had a bit of a pointed tail. All in all, it looked like some sort of amphibian shellfish creature.
It took notice of Ryan's shock and kicked him right in the stomach, sending him and his large two-handed sword flying backward. It lunged forward at him while he was downed, but Kassandra was able to hold it in place with her sword, just in time.
“Our Zanpakutou don't do any damage to it!” She grunted.
“What the hell are you?” Ryan asked.
“Roughjaw,” it spoke out in a fierce, yet gargled voice, “Adhuchas lieutenant.” It raised up and swung its arm, smiting Kassandra away.
“A lieutenant?!” Lucielle spoke, catching the black projectile of her shikai in her hand, “like in an army?”
The other monster lifted its bladed arm back to position, since it had just knocked Lucielle's weapon away. It had thin legs that narrowed down to points where its feet would be, and thick rings of white armor separating leg from torso. Its stomach had no armor, but simply led upward to the trademark Hollow hole, just below the breasts. Its arms were completely armored up to its shoulders, leaving pointed extensions parallel to its neck, which was also armorless. Her face was covered as well, leaving no signs of eyes, only the white plate and teeth of a Hollow mask.
“And what do they call you?” Dylan asked it.
“Mantien,” the female Adhuchas responded.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 22 – Redemption (Part III)
Jason awoke in a forest, snowed in entirely, leaving barely any green to one's sight. Snow fell in a wide variety of different sized flakes, but very slowly. It was almost too serene, other than the bitter cold. He was still in his normal Soul Reaper uniform, with his normal Zanpakutou sheathed at his side, but he wore a thick, gray coat over it, obviously meant for keeping him warm. Looking up at the sky revealed a dense, slow moving cloud of snow that appeared to be endless, but small breaks in the clouds revealed a starry night and a full moon above.
“Took you long enough,” a firm male voice called to him.
“This must be my soul world,” Jason muttered to himself, “fitting. . . I'd heard rumors about people having them, but I guess if anyone would have shown me something like this it'd be that mad scientist, Kisuke. . .”
“To what do I owe the honor of you finally gracing me with your presence?” the same male voice said again.
“Listen, spirit, or whatever you're supposed to be,” Jason started, “just let me find my Zanpakutou so I can get on with this stupid mission and be done with this damn place!”
“Haha,” it chuckled, “you think this is supposed to be easy? You think gaining your shikai is just like any other objective to be done? You think this kind of power is something just out there to be obtained, like some prize?!”
“It's my official objective now,” Jason answered. “I've been trying for it for some time now, but it's been all but impossible so far. I never expected it to be easy,” he paused, remembering his fight with Captain Gloritine where the man nearly killed him trying to unleash his Zanpakutou, “but it's always been my objective. My “goal” would be a more precise term for it.”
“The object you seek lies somewhere in this frozen forest,” the voice riddled, “although the direct path won't be so easy to find, it would most likely assist you to know that each one of the flakes you see before you represents a thought.”
“A thought?” Jason questioned curiously, “of mine?”
“Obviously,” it answered, “but I cannot hold your hand for you. You will have to persevere and move forward for yourself.”
Jason sighed, “as if I'm not used to that. . .” He looked around the area, the snow continuing to fall. “Do I really think this much?” he asked no one in particular, his attention focused on the difficult task ahead of him. He let a flake fall on his hand, the resulting contact triggering an image in his mind.
The first image was of a young boy, standing under a tree at the top of a hill.
“Samuel,” he remembered, his memories of the boy that had basically been his brother for his first three years in Soul Society entering his mind. He took a step forward, feeling significantly colder than before. He reached his hand out, letting another snowflake fall on it, this one denser.
The next image was one of an old woman, her body stuck under burning debris.
“I was powerless,” Jason muttered, a lump in his throat. He remembered the old woman that had taken him in as a complete stranger and given him a home in this strange world. Trying to get the depressing thoughts out of his mind, he took a couple more steps forward, stumbling in snow that was somehow significantly deeper than what he had been walking in seconds prior. Another flake landed on the ground before him, just a tad bigger than the surrounding ones.
The third image was of the large Hollow rushing at him, one of the last of his living memories.
“That's right, that dream. . .” He recalled as he saw, again, the dream that had been playing in his mind over and over since he got to Soul Society. As a spirit, wandering with his friends, he had been attacked by a monstrous Hollow, being defenseless to stop it. They were saved by a Soul Reaper, the first he had ever seen, but at the cost of the life of the Soul Reaper's female companion. They were all sent to Soul Society soon after that. “I was just a human then, though,” he tried to reason, pulling his way out of the deep snow and onto what seemed like solid ground again. Freezing, he tucked his arms in his coat to keep warm. He noticed several flakes falling around him, trying to see more than one this time.
One of the images was his graduation from the academy, the day he met Isaac Gloritine. Another was when he and his squad mate Roy were nearly killed by an Adhuchas, while the next flashed an image of his battle with his captain, his sword nearly breaking in half as a result.
“I know I've had some rough spots,” he paused, shivering, “but I keep going. . .”
“Not on your own two feet,” the voice came again, "not without standing on others for support."
“I don't know what you want me to see here!” Jason yelled, “I'm freezing, my limbs are starting to go numb and I can't feel my face anymore! Just tell me what you want!”
“You should know,” it called to him, “I just want exactly what you want.”
“What do you think I want?!” He yelled again, “reminders of how weak I am or how helpless I've been before?! Maybe you're going to call me pathetic next!”
“Why are you here, Jason?”
“To learn the name of my Zanpakutou and gain its abilities.”
“Why do you want the abilities of a sword? What good does a sword do one who can't hope to do anything but think?”
“It-” Jason paused, trying to put words to his answer, “it keeps me from being helpless. When my friends are fighting, dying, for my sakes, it lets me fight for them too.”
“Fight? And why do you wish to fight? People die and people live. It's an endless cycle that's gone on since the dawn of time. Why would you fight this?”
“Of course,” a grin formed on his face, “the question I've always asked myself.” He closed his eyes. “I wondered too, why we Soul Reapers even try to fight the laws of life and death. Life leads to death leads to life; the pattern never ends. Each life brings us to a new time constraint, a time limit that we have to work with until it starts again. I think we bother to make the most of it because we don't want to lose what we have in our lives. People are just naturally inclined to care I guess.”
“Hmm, time and life. . . I see.”
“And you, I don't even know who you are. . .”
“Avion will do for now.”
------------------------------------------------------------
Lucielle wound her coil around one of Mantien's arms, holding it in place as Pickle moved in to strike with his golden machete-like sword. The creature raised up its other pointed blade of an arm, blocking the blow.
“You're the one that killed the Beast,” she said in a creepy tone.
“I am,” Dylan responded as he held the blade against the white Hollow blade.
“Just kill him and get this over with Mantien! My patience wears thin!” Roughjaw gargled, holding Ryan's large sword at bay with ease. The Adhuchas was much taller than the Soul Reaper, using his large pincer-arm to hold the red and blue two-handed sword in place. With his claw pinched down on the blade, he picked up, the Soul Reaper holding it as well, and tossed it, Ryan flying in the air with it. Kassandra tried to stop the creature by attacking it, but her sword couldn't scratch the creature's body armor.
“Fine,” Mantien responded in her ghostly voice as her arm started to rotate in place like a drill, sending the golden Zanpakutou flying upward and cutting the chain it had been attached to. Pickle was down to just his shield, which he used to block a stabbing motion from the creature's new drill arm.
Meanwhile, Ben had, again, been surrounded by a group of weaker Hollows. Picking up Peter's Zanpakutou had allowed him to swipe at the smaller ones and scare them off, but the group soon realized that his bark had no bite. They were moving in.
“Damn, we are so screwed!” Ben panicked, rushing as fast as he could to use healing kidou on Cain. He could tell the situation was bleak already with Dylan and the others, and Cain wouldn't be up on his feet fast enough to-
“The hell are you doing, you stupid medic!” came the cranky voice of Squad Eight's third seat.
“Healing. . . you?” Ben answered, a hint of both sarcasm and shock in his voice.
“I don't need your damn healing,” Cain complained, reaching to the brown bottle on his belt and practically flailing it over to his mouth to get a big drink. “I just need my booze.” He stumbled up onto his hands and knees, picking up his sword once again.
“You can't be serious,” Ben said in disbelief, “you're barely healed at all. . .”
“Maybe if someone DID THEIR F*CKING JOB!” Cain yelled back in response, taking another drink. “Just worry about Peter, I can take these guys.”
“Alright,” Ben answered, but before he could tend to the Squad Nine member on the ground, a Hollow attacked from behind and knocked the poor medic unconscious. “Sh*t,” Cain commented on his own situation. With Ben and eventually Peter here, he could take these Hollows easily, but without either of them, the odds looked grim.
“Devour,” a voice came from behind the group, “Kanibaru.” Cain watched as a pair of razor sharp metallic jaws ripped right through one of the Hollows, the Soul Reaper eating with them seeming to enjoy it. Three other Soul Reapers with him started hacking away at the remainder, while the bulk forces of Squads Seven, Eight, and Nine showed up to engage the regular Hollows.
“I take it this is the battle site?” a girl with a short brown pony tail that Cain learned to be named Rebecca asked. He nodded in shock. As the other Soul Reapers showed up, one in particular stood out.
“GAH! IT'S YOU!” Hunter and Cain shouted out in unison as they pointed at each other, each with a grim expression on their faces.
“You two know each other?” Rebecca asked. Joey and Weeber stood idly by.
“You could say I know this idiot,” Hunter said, looking away.
“I can't believe this douchebag is my backup. . .” Cain despaired.
Hunter got back to the matter at hand, “so how many Adhuchas are here?”
“Two,” Cain answered, “Lieutenant Follis killed one, but then two more showed up. My lieutenant and a couple others from Squad Nine are up there fighting still, including your friend with all the money and the girls and the huge sword.”
“Ryan,” Hunter said, sensing his spiritual pressure. It was fading. “We need to get there fast,” he added, but Weeber, Joey, and Rebecca had all already flashstepped ahead with the rest of the reinforcements.
Pickle surveyed the scene in despair as Ryan was once again launched by Roughjaw, while he himself had barely blocked another blow from Mantien, even with his Daiou Koukin. Kassandra and Lucielle had been exhausted by the two Adhuchas.
“Hadou thirty-one,” Kassandra chanted desperately, “Shakkahou!” A large red fireball shot forth from her hands and right into Roughjaw's body. He remained unscathed from the attack.
“Such weak kidou,” Roughjaw remarked, “you Soul Reapers are pathetic.”
“Then how 'bout this,” Hunter said, flashstepping in behind the Adhuchas. “Hadou four,” he pointed his finger right at the creature's shoulder, “Byakurai.” A beam of pure, white lightning energy shot straight out through the creature's shoulder, actually leaving an expression of pain on its face.
“Smash, Gase Meisu!” Weeber called, transforming his sword into a flail. A swing of the flail's blunt, mace end sent Mantien's drill flying away from Pickle and his shield, causing the creature to lose its balance and stumble back.
“Thanks Weeber,” Dylan said, barely getting up from where he had been hunched down holding his shield.
“No,” Jon responded.
Roughjaw and Mantien each took a few steps toward each other, reassessing their battle. “Who,” Mantien paused, “are you?”
At this point, Rebecca, Joey, and Cain appeared as well, with the rest of Squads Seven through Nine, excluding captains, showing up as well, engaging the rest of the Hollow horde. “Fifth seat of Squad Two, Hunter Anderson,” Hunter threw in, “Jon Webster of Squad Eleven,” Jon added awkwardly. “Thank you. . .” Lucielle muttered before passing out on the ground. Cain moved over to her body and picked it up, carrying her to the area where the newly arrived medics had shown up. Peter, Ryan, Ben, and Kassandra had all already been taken off.
“You might want to leave this fight to us, Pickle,” Hunter said, realizing that it was now four to two, even without the lieutenant's aid.
“Thanks but no thanks, Hunter,” Dylan began, “this is my fight, and I'm gonna finish it.”
Jason awoke in a forest, snowed in entirely, leaving barely any green to one's sight. Snow fell in a wide variety of different sized flakes, but very slowly. It was almost too serene, other than the bitter cold. He was still in his normal Soul Reaper uniform, with his normal Zanpakutou sheathed at his side, but he wore a thick, gray coat over it, obviously meant for keeping him warm. Looking up at the sky revealed a dense, slow moving cloud of snow that appeared to be endless, but small breaks in the clouds revealed a starry night and a full moon above.
“Took you long enough,” a firm male voice called to him.
“This must be my soul world,” Jason muttered to himself, “fitting. . . I'd heard rumors about people having them, but I guess if anyone would have shown me something like this it'd be that mad scientist, Kisuke. . .”
“To what do I owe the honor of you finally gracing me with your presence?” the same male voice said again.
“Listen, spirit, or whatever you're supposed to be,” Jason started, “just let me find my Zanpakutou so I can get on with this stupid mission and be done with this damn place!”
“Haha,” it chuckled, “you think this is supposed to be easy? You think gaining your shikai is just like any other objective to be done? You think this kind of power is something just out there to be obtained, like some prize?!”
“It's my official objective now,” Jason answered. “I've been trying for it for some time now, but it's been all but impossible so far. I never expected it to be easy,” he paused, remembering his fight with Captain Gloritine where the man nearly killed him trying to unleash his Zanpakutou, “but it's always been my objective. My “goal” would be a more precise term for it.”
“The object you seek lies somewhere in this frozen forest,” the voice riddled, “although the direct path won't be so easy to find, it would most likely assist you to know that each one of the flakes you see before you represents a thought.”
“A thought?” Jason questioned curiously, “of mine?”
“Obviously,” it answered, “but I cannot hold your hand for you. You will have to persevere and move forward for yourself.”
Jason sighed, “as if I'm not used to that. . .” He looked around the area, the snow continuing to fall. “Do I really think this much?” he asked no one in particular, his attention focused on the difficult task ahead of him. He let a flake fall on his hand, the resulting contact triggering an image in his mind.
The first image was of a young boy, standing under a tree at the top of a hill.
“Samuel,” he remembered, his memories of the boy that had basically been his brother for his first three years in Soul Society entering his mind. He took a step forward, feeling significantly colder than before. He reached his hand out, letting another snowflake fall on it, this one denser.
The next image was one of an old woman, her body stuck under burning debris.
“I was powerless,” Jason muttered, a lump in his throat. He remembered the old woman that had taken him in as a complete stranger and given him a home in this strange world. Trying to get the depressing thoughts out of his mind, he took a couple more steps forward, stumbling in snow that was somehow significantly deeper than what he had been walking in seconds prior. Another flake landed on the ground before him, just a tad bigger than the surrounding ones.
The third image was of the large Hollow rushing at him, one of the last of his living memories.
“That's right, that dream. . .” He recalled as he saw, again, the dream that had been playing in his mind over and over since he got to Soul Society. As a spirit, wandering with his friends, he had been attacked by a monstrous Hollow, being defenseless to stop it. They were saved by a Soul Reaper, the first he had ever seen, but at the cost of the life of the Soul Reaper's female companion. They were all sent to Soul Society soon after that. “I was just a human then, though,” he tried to reason, pulling his way out of the deep snow and onto what seemed like solid ground again. Freezing, he tucked his arms in his coat to keep warm. He noticed several flakes falling around him, trying to see more than one this time.
One of the images was his graduation from the academy, the day he met Isaac Gloritine. Another was when he and his squad mate Roy were nearly killed by an Adhuchas, while the next flashed an image of his battle with his captain, his sword nearly breaking in half as a result.
“I know I've had some rough spots,” he paused, shivering, “but I keep going. . .”
“Not on your own two feet,” the voice came again, "not without standing on others for support."
“I don't know what you want me to see here!” Jason yelled, “I'm freezing, my limbs are starting to go numb and I can't feel my face anymore! Just tell me what you want!”
“You should know,” it called to him, “I just want exactly what you want.”
“What do you think I want?!” He yelled again, “reminders of how weak I am or how helpless I've been before?! Maybe you're going to call me pathetic next!”
“Why are you here, Jason?”
“To learn the name of my Zanpakutou and gain its abilities.”
“Why do you want the abilities of a sword? What good does a sword do one who can't hope to do anything but think?”
“It-” Jason paused, trying to put words to his answer, “it keeps me from being helpless. When my friends are fighting, dying, for my sakes, it lets me fight for them too.”
“Fight? And why do you wish to fight? People die and people live. It's an endless cycle that's gone on since the dawn of time. Why would you fight this?”
“Of course,” a grin formed on his face, “the question I've always asked myself.” He closed his eyes. “I wondered too, why we Soul Reapers even try to fight the laws of life and death. Life leads to death leads to life; the pattern never ends. Each life brings us to a new time constraint, a time limit that we have to work with until it starts again. I think we bother to make the most of it because we don't want to lose what we have in our lives. People are just naturally inclined to care I guess.”
“Hmm, time and life. . . I see.”
“And you, I don't even know who you are. . .”
“Avion will do for now.”
------------------------------------------------------------
Lucielle wound her coil around one of Mantien's arms, holding it in place as Pickle moved in to strike with his golden machete-like sword. The creature raised up its other pointed blade of an arm, blocking the blow.
“You're the one that killed the Beast,” she said in a creepy tone.
“I am,” Dylan responded as he held the blade against the white Hollow blade.
“Just kill him and get this over with Mantien! My patience wears thin!” Roughjaw gargled, holding Ryan's large sword at bay with ease. The Adhuchas was much taller than the Soul Reaper, using his large pincer-arm to hold the red and blue two-handed sword in place. With his claw pinched down on the blade, he picked up, the Soul Reaper holding it as well, and tossed it, Ryan flying in the air with it. Kassandra tried to stop the creature by attacking it, but her sword couldn't scratch the creature's body armor.
“Fine,” Mantien responded in her ghostly voice as her arm started to rotate in place like a drill, sending the golden Zanpakutou flying upward and cutting the chain it had been attached to. Pickle was down to just his shield, which he used to block a stabbing motion from the creature's new drill arm.
Meanwhile, Ben had, again, been surrounded by a group of weaker Hollows. Picking up Peter's Zanpakutou had allowed him to swipe at the smaller ones and scare them off, but the group soon realized that his bark had no bite. They were moving in.
“Damn, we are so screwed!” Ben panicked, rushing as fast as he could to use healing kidou on Cain. He could tell the situation was bleak already with Dylan and the others, and Cain wouldn't be up on his feet fast enough to-
“The hell are you doing, you stupid medic!” came the cranky voice of Squad Eight's third seat.
“Healing. . . you?” Ben answered, a hint of both sarcasm and shock in his voice.
“I don't need your damn healing,” Cain complained, reaching to the brown bottle on his belt and practically flailing it over to his mouth to get a big drink. “I just need my booze.” He stumbled up onto his hands and knees, picking up his sword once again.
“You can't be serious,” Ben said in disbelief, “you're barely healed at all. . .”
“Maybe if someone DID THEIR F*CKING JOB!” Cain yelled back in response, taking another drink. “Just worry about Peter, I can take these guys.”
“Alright,” Ben answered, but before he could tend to the Squad Nine member on the ground, a Hollow attacked from behind and knocked the poor medic unconscious. “Sh*t,” Cain commented on his own situation. With Ben and eventually Peter here, he could take these Hollows easily, but without either of them, the odds looked grim.
“Devour,” a voice came from behind the group, “Kanibaru.” Cain watched as a pair of razor sharp metallic jaws ripped right through one of the Hollows, the Soul Reaper eating with them seeming to enjoy it. Three other Soul Reapers with him started hacking away at the remainder, while the bulk forces of Squads Seven, Eight, and Nine showed up to engage the regular Hollows.
“I take it this is the battle site?” a girl with a short brown pony tail that Cain learned to be named Rebecca asked. He nodded in shock. As the other Soul Reapers showed up, one in particular stood out.
“GAH! IT'S YOU!” Hunter and Cain shouted out in unison as they pointed at each other, each with a grim expression on their faces.
“You two know each other?” Rebecca asked. Joey and Weeber stood idly by.
“You could say I know this idiot,” Hunter said, looking away.
“I can't believe this douchebag is my backup. . .” Cain despaired.
Hunter got back to the matter at hand, “so how many Adhuchas are here?”
“Two,” Cain answered, “Lieutenant Follis killed one, but then two more showed up. My lieutenant and a couple others from Squad Nine are up there fighting still, including your friend with all the money and the girls and the huge sword.”
“Ryan,” Hunter said, sensing his spiritual pressure. It was fading. “We need to get there fast,” he added, but Weeber, Joey, and Rebecca had all already flashstepped ahead with the rest of the reinforcements.
Pickle surveyed the scene in despair as Ryan was once again launched by Roughjaw, while he himself had barely blocked another blow from Mantien, even with his Daiou Koukin. Kassandra and Lucielle had been exhausted by the two Adhuchas.
“Hadou thirty-one,” Kassandra chanted desperately, “Shakkahou!” A large red fireball shot forth from her hands and right into Roughjaw's body. He remained unscathed from the attack.
“Such weak kidou,” Roughjaw remarked, “you Soul Reapers are pathetic.”
“Then how 'bout this,” Hunter said, flashstepping in behind the Adhuchas. “Hadou four,” he pointed his finger right at the creature's shoulder, “Byakurai.” A beam of pure, white lightning energy shot straight out through the creature's shoulder, actually leaving an expression of pain on its face.
“Smash, Gase Meisu!” Weeber called, transforming his sword into a flail. A swing of the flail's blunt, mace end sent Mantien's drill flying away from Pickle and his shield, causing the creature to lose its balance and stumble back.
“Thanks Weeber,” Dylan said, barely getting up from where he had been hunched down holding his shield.
“No,” Jon responded.
Roughjaw and Mantien each took a few steps toward each other, reassessing their battle. “Who,” Mantien paused, “are you?”
At this point, Rebecca, Joey, and Cain appeared as well, with the rest of Squads Seven through Nine, excluding captains, showing up as well, engaging the rest of the Hollow horde. “Fifth seat of Squad Two, Hunter Anderson,” Hunter threw in, “Jon Webster of Squad Eleven,” Jon added awkwardly. “Thank you. . .” Lucielle muttered before passing out on the ground. Cain moved over to her body and picked it up, carrying her to the area where the newly arrived medics had shown up. Peter, Ryan, Ben, and Kassandra had all already been taken off.
“You might want to leave this fight to us, Pickle,” Hunter said, realizing that it was now four to two, even without the lieutenant's aid.
“Thanks but no thanks, Hunter,” Dylan began, “this is my fight, and I'm gonna finish it.”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 23 ~ Redemption (Part IV)
Roughjaw's facial expression turned to rage as the pain spread across his body from the hole Hunter had formed in his chest moments prior.
“Face it,” Rebecca said, facing the two Adhuchas with a firm look, “it's over.”
“Your Soul Reaper arrogance is your downfall,” Mantien responded, raising her wounded arm up to her face, spinning it a couple times to show that it still worked perfectly.
“You're severely outnumbered,” Hunter commented, “just give up now. You're going to lose.”
Roughjaw and Mantien looked at each other for a second, then back at their five opponents. “You think our loss means anything? Do you really think death is something we fight to avoid?”
“What else do you have to fight for?” Hunter asked, “you're Hollows.”
“Doesn't matter,” Dylan broke in, “they obviously aren't going to back down, and its our duty to kill them anyway.”
“Now you're talking like Soul Reapers,” Roughjaw remarked before speeding in toward the unsuspecting group.
Dylan moved in to intercept the attack with his shield, but the force of the charge combined with his weakened state caused him to skid several meters back into the wall of a dilapidated building. Roughjaw took a few steps forward again, but Rebecca moved in to intercept him using shunpo. To her surprise, Mantien used her own form of flash step to block the Soul Reaper. Roughjaw moved closer and closer to the downed Squad Seven lieutenant, who had been pushing rubble off of his body.
“Hollows can't use flash step!” Rebecca yelled, “was that some special ability?”
Mantien chuckled. “It's called sonido,” she answered in a ghostly voice, “it's far superior to the shunpo you Soul Reapers use!”
“Oh really,” Joey spoke, appearing behind Mantien with a flash step of his own for the killing blow that Squad Two's Stealth Force was known for. The Hollow barely managed to move out the way, resulting in the biting off of her left shoulder spike.
“Damn you,” she muttered, “Roughjaw, handle him!”
“Fine,” the other Hollow responded as it turned away from Dylan and towards Joey.
“Don't get distracted now,” Hunter taunted, appearing beside the two Hollows. “Hadou thirty-three,” he put his arms out with his palms facing his foes, “Sokatsui (lit. Blue Fire Crash Down).” A large burst of blue spirit energy fired at the two, seeming to engulf them both. A large cloud of dust and smoke surged about from the explosion created, hiding whether or not the two enemies still stood on the battlefield, but several seconds passing revealed that they were both still alive and well, despite several cracks and scratches in both their armored bodies and obvious signs of exhaustion. Hunter took a couple gasps for air.
“I'll kill you for that!” Roughjaw yelled, charging toward him.
“I disagree!” Weeber commented, appearing beside him and smacking the creature with his mace, launching it into the air where it fell down, several yards away. Pieces of its armor began to peel off from the powerful weapon.
While Weeber engaged Roughjaw, Mantien attacked Hunter, who blocked the Hollow's claw backhandedly with his curved, black sword.
“Disrupt, Gi Diforume,” he called out. A wave of dizziness began its assault on the female Hollow, distorting its sense of feeling and giving it the illusion that it was fighting with more strength than it really was. To Hunter, the creature's attacks were weaker than those of any common Hollow. “It's time to finish this,” Hunter spoke, swinging upward and hacking off the Hollow's wounded arm entirely.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Jason reached what he suspected to be a clearing in this godforsaken forest of ice and snow. His coat did little more than provide him with the mental comfort that he was wearing it, while ninety percent of his body was completely numb.
“I think we bother to make the most of it because we don't want to lose what we have in our lives. People are just naturally inclined to care I guess,” the thought flashed in his mind once more. Why he'd fought on even after death, why he'd struggled to become a Soul Reaper in the first place, and why he had decided on obtaining his shikai in the first place, were all because he cared enough about this life and the people in it to fight for it.
“This may be too much,” he said, leaning on a tree as he fought for another breath, his throat completely dry and his eyes on fire. His nose had been running nonstop for a little while now, but the numbness in his face wouldn't allow him to feel it. Another icy gust blew by, snow and microscopic ice hitting him in the face over and over and over again. He collapsed on his knees.
“What am I even doing here?” he asked himself desperately. “Thousands of Soul Reapers have gone through their entire careers, their entire lives, without their shikai. Do I really need mine, just because a couple back alley kooks thought so?”
He felt something, nuzzling against his arm that had been propping him up against the tree, but what was it? He looked. To his astonishment and disbelief, a canine stood beside him, but with four dull, red eyes and blue, white-streaked fur that faded to white as it spread down the new creature's legs. As a result, the creature's legs and its movements were nearly invisible in the snow.
“A wolf,” Jason muttered, “how cliché. . .”
“Cliché, perhaps, but important, undoubtedly,” the wolf spoke without moving its mouth, obviously through some telepathy of some kind.
“Here to lecture me on how to do good in the world?” Jason asked sarcastically.
“I am here to assist you,” it responded, “you may call me Fenrir.”
“First Avion, and now Fenrir, huh?” Jason asked, “what are all of you?”
“That will come in due time, but you must move forward now,” and with that, Fenrir hopped forward and grabbed Jason's sword from his side, running off with it.
“Hey!” he yelled at the creature, but to no avail. He took off running after it, avoiding trees and bushes and plants and things until the canine suddenly stopped before another clearing, this one brighter than the rest. The clouds were a bit lighter up here, and further inspection revealed that it wasn't a clearing at all, but rather a large frozen lake, covered by snow. A large white mound sat in the middle, strangely peculiar in appearance compared to the rest of the snow here.
“It took you a long time to make it here,” the familiar voice called.
“Avion?!” Jason asked, “where are you? Show yourself!”
With that, the large white mound began to move. It separated into two clearly definable shapes that seemed over each other in some way. It became clearer and clearer now, that rather than being a mound of snow at all, the object was instead simply a pair of white wings, folded over to conceal their owner. The clouds finished their last movements, displaying the wings as they opened in one, great movement, revealing the man underneath.
He was a tall man, with a long, white overcoat that dropped down to his shoes and a black outfit of some kind underneath, other than the dark brown belt that went around his waist. He wore rectangular metallic glasses with lenses dark enough to hide his eyes, while his opened collar hid the lower half of his face whenever the wind blew. He had short, white hair, uneven in some places, especially his bangs, where one lock in particular spread down the right half of his face to the bottom of his nose. Other than the great white wings on his shoulders, his only other features were pale skin and a sword sheathed at his side. It was Jason's.
“So you're Avion, huh?” Jason asked.
“I am the man you call Avion, yes.”
“And Fenrir?” Jason asked as the wolf brushed up and nestled against the side of the man.
“He represents a part of you, as do I.”
“Look, can I just have my Zanpakutou and be on with it?” he asked, “I really don't have any time to waste.”
“Oh,” Avion said coldly as his eyes moved down to the sword at his side. He unsheathed it, the blade glistening in the moonlight, “you mean this thing?”
“Yes,” Jason spoke, feeling coming back to parts of his body as he stood out of the snow, “it is my Zanpakutou after all.”
“Sorry,” the man began, “you don't deserve this weapon. Go get another one instead.”
“Listen,” Jason started, “That sword is important to me; I don't want to have to take it back by force.”
“What can a low level Soul Reaper such as yourself possibly do without your sword?”
“This,” Jason responded, flashstepping onto the frozen lake and extending his arms out. “Hadou thirty-one, Shakkahou!” A red ball of flaming energy shout out at the man, who disappeared into a newly formed blizzard with what appeared to be a flashstep. His eyes couldn't keep track of what happened next, but the ice had shattered, freezing water splashing around chaotically in the silence. He felt the cold blade pierce through his body as the life left him, the white wings closing around him as the man caught his falling body.
“Fenrir represents your resolve,” he said in a warm voice, “and when you collapsed, Fenrir left your body and came out on his own, leading you onward. When you attacked just now, Fenrir returned to you.”
Jason felt his eyes drooping to a close as the world around him seemed to fade to white.
“And I am your Zanpakutou. I've called to you so many times now; I thought you had ignored me. Now I see that I am, indeed, important to you, and I will fight beside you.”
He fell to his knees as everything in this world seemed to disappear entirely, himself included.
“And my name, my real name, is. . .”
He passed out on the ground of Kisuke and Nathan's underground chamber, Kendra rushing over to his body in a panic as worried expressions formed on the faces of all but Kisuke Urahara himself, who simply smiled to himself in secret.
“Tenseii Rouyouu (lit. Reborn Aged Hero).”
Roughjaw's facial expression turned to rage as the pain spread across his body from the hole Hunter had formed in his chest moments prior.
“Face it,” Rebecca said, facing the two Adhuchas with a firm look, “it's over.”
“Your Soul Reaper arrogance is your downfall,” Mantien responded, raising her wounded arm up to her face, spinning it a couple times to show that it still worked perfectly.
“You're severely outnumbered,” Hunter commented, “just give up now. You're going to lose.”
Roughjaw and Mantien looked at each other for a second, then back at their five opponents. “You think our loss means anything? Do you really think death is something we fight to avoid?”
“What else do you have to fight for?” Hunter asked, “you're Hollows.”
“Doesn't matter,” Dylan broke in, “they obviously aren't going to back down, and its our duty to kill them anyway.”
“Now you're talking like Soul Reapers,” Roughjaw remarked before speeding in toward the unsuspecting group.
Dylan moved in to intercept the attack with his shield, but the force of the charge combined with his weakened state caused him to skid several meters back into the wall of a dilapidated building. Roughjaw took a few steps forward again, but Rebecca moved in to intercept him using shunpo. To her surprise, Mantien used her own form of flash step to block the Soul Reaper. Roughjaw moved closer and closer to the downed Squad Seven lieutenant, who had been pushing rubble off of his body.
“Hollows can't use flash step!” Rebecca yelled, “was that some special ability?”
Mantien chuckled. “It's called sonido,” she answered in a ghostly voice, “it's far superior to the shunpo you Soul Reapers use!”
“Oh really,” Joey spoke, appearing behind Mantien with a flash step of his own for the killing blow that Squad Two's Stealth Force was known for. The Hollow barely managed to move out the way, resulting in the biting off of her left shoulder spike.
“Damn you,” she muttered, “Roughjaw, handle him!”
“Fine,” the other Hollow responded as it turned away from Dylan and towards Joey.
“Don't get distracted now,” Hunter taunted, appearing beside the two Hollows. “Hadou thirty-three,” he put his arms out with his palms facing his foes, “Sokatsui (lit. Blue Fire Crash Down).” A large burst of blue spirit energy fired at the two, seeming to engulf them both. A large cloud of dust and smoke surged about from the explosion created, hiding whether or not the two enemies still stood on the battlefield, but several seconds passing revealed that they were both still alive and well, despite several cracks and scratches in both their armored bodies and obvious signs of exhaustion. Hunter took a couple gasps for air.
“I'll kill you for that!” Roughjaw yelled, charging toward him.
“I disagree!” Weeber commented, appearing beside him and smacking the creature with his mace, launching it into the air where it fell down, several yards away. Pieces of its armor began to peel off from the powerful weapon.
While Weeber engaged Roughjaw, Mantien attacked Hunter, who blocked the Hollow's claw backhandedly with his curved, black sword.
“Disrupt, Gi Diforume,” he called out. A wave of dizziness began its assault on the female Hollow, distorting its sense of feeling and giving it the illusion that it was fighting with more strength than it really was. To Hunter, the creature's attacks were weaker than those of any common Hollow. “It's time to finish this,” Hunter spoke, swinging upward and hacking off the Hollow's wounded arm entirely.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Jason reached what he suspected to be a clearing in this godforsaken forest of ice and snow. His coat did little more than provide him with the mental comfort that he was wearing it, while ninety percent of his body was completely numb.
“I think we bother to make the most of it because we don't want to lose what we have in our lives. People are just naturally inclined to care I guess,” the thought flashed in his mind once more. Why he'd fought on even after death, why he'd struggled to become a Soul Reaper in the first place, and why he had decided on obtaining his shikai in the first place, were all because he cared enough about this life and the people in it to fight for it.
“This may be too much,” he said, leaning on a tree as he fought for another breath, his throat completely dry and his eyes on fire. His nose had been running nonstop for a little while now, but the numbness in his face wouldn't allow him to feel it. Another icy gust blew by, snow and microscopic ice hitting him in the face over and over and over again. He collapsed on his knees.
“What am I even doing here?” he asked himself desperately. “Thousands of Soul Reapers have gone through their entire careers, their entire lives, without their shikai. Do I really need mine, just because a couple back alley kooks thought so?”
He felt something, nuzzling against his arm that had been propping him up against the tree, but what was it? He looked. To his astonishment and disbelief, a canine stood beside him, but with four dull, red eyes and blue, white-streaked fur that faded to white as it spread down the new creature's legs. As a result, the creature's legs and its movements were nearly invisible in the snow.
“A wolf,” Jason muttered, “how cliché. . .”
“Cliché, perhaps, but important, undoubtedly,” the wolf spoke without moving its mouth, obviously through some telepathy of some kind.
“Here to lecture me on how to do good in the world?” Jason asked sarcastically.
“I am here to assist you,” it responded, “you may call me Fenrir.”
“First Avion, and now Fenrir, huh?” Jason asked, “what are all of you?”
“That will come in due time, but you must move forward now,” and with that, Fenrir hopped forward and grabbed Jason's sword from his side, running off with it.
“Hey!” he yelled at the creature, but to no avail. He took off running after it, avoiding trees and bushes and plants and things until the canine suddenly stopped before another clearing, this one brighter than the rest. The clouds were a bit lighter up here, and further inspection revealed that it wasn't a clearing at all, but rather a large frozen lake, covered by snow. A large white mound sat in the middle, strangely peculiar in appearance compared to the rest of the snow here.
“It took you a long time to make it here,” the familiar voice called.
“Avion?!” Jason asked, “where are you? Show yourself!”
With that, the large white mound began to move. It separated into two clearly definable shapes that seemed over each other in some way. It became clearer and clearer now, that rather than being a mound of snow at all, the object was instead simply a pair of white wings, folded over to conceal their owner. The clouds finished their last movements, displaying the wings as they opened in one, great movement, revealing the man underneath.
He was a tall man, with a long, white overcoat that dropped down to his shoes and a black outfit of some kind underneath, other than the dark brown belt that went around his waist. He wore rectangular metallic glasses with lenses dark enough to hide his eyes, while his opened collar hid the lower half of his face whenever the wind blew. He had short, white hair, uneven in some places, especially his bangs, where one lock in particular spread down the right half of his face to the bottom of his nose. Other than the great white wings on his shoulders, his only other features were pale skin and a sword sheathed at his side. It was Jason's.
“So you're Avion, huh?” Jason asked.
“I am the man you call Avion, yes.”
“And Fenrir?” Jason asked as the wolf brushed up and nestled against the side of the man.
“He represents a part of you, as do I.”
“Look, can I just have my Zanpakutou and be on with it?” he asked, “I really don't have any time to waste.”
“Oh,” Avion said coldly as his eyes moved down to the sword at his side. He unsheathed it, the blade glistening in the moonlight, “you mean this thing?”
“Yes,” Jason spoke, feeling coming back to parts of his body as he stood out of the snow, “it is my Zanpakutou after all.”
“Sorry,” the man began, “you don't deserve this weapon. Go get another one instead.”
“Listen,” Jason started, “That sword is important to me; I don't want to have to take it back by force.”
“What can a low level Soul Reaper such as yourself possibly do without your sword?”
“This,” Jason responded, flashstepping onto the frozen lake and extending his arms out. “Hadou thirty-one, Shakkahou!” A red ball of flaming energy shout out at the man, who disappeared into a newly formed blizzard with what appeared to be a flashstep. His eyes couldn't keep track of what happened next, but the ice had shattered, freezing water splashing around chaotically in the silence. He felt the cold blade pierce through his body as the life left him, the white wings closing around him as the man caught his falling body.
“Fenrir represents your resolve,” he said in a warm voice, “and when you collapsed, Fenrir left your body and came out on his own, leading you onward. When you attacked just now, Fenrir returned to you.”
Jason felt his eyes drooping to a close as the world around him seemed to fade to white.
“And I am your Zanpakutou. I've called to you so many times now; I thought you had ignored me. Now I see that I am, indeed, important to you, and I will fight beside you.”
He fell to his knees as everything in this world seemed to disappear entirely, himself included.
“And my name, my real name, is. . .”
He passed out on the ground of Kisuke and Nathan's underground chamber, Kendra rushing over to his body in a panic as worried expressions formed on the faces of all but Kisuke Urahara himself, who simply smiled to himself in secret.
“Tenseii Rouyouu (lit. Reborn Aged Hero).”
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 24 ~ Carpe Diem, Weeber and Hunter:
Mantien screamed in horror as Hunter's Zanpakutou made her feel far more pain than she normally would have from losing an arm. Blood squirted out into the dirt as her panicked eyes watched her once-attached limb fall to the ground before her. She leapt back, trying to keep her distance while fighting to gain back both her breath and her composure.
“This is the end, Hollow,” Hunter said, swinging his sword in one swift motion so as to wipe the blood off of it.
“You bastard!” Mantien screamed, holding the spot where her arm once was. “What the hell did you do?!”
“So you did notice,” Hunter stated. “My Shikai allows me alter your perception of reality when you're around me, so your moves are far weaker, or your pain is far greater, so long as I wish it.”
“It seems I underestimated you, Soul Reaper,” Mantien said surprisingly calmly while eying past Hunter to see her arm on the ground behind him. With deep concentration, she made the arm separate from the drill attached to it. Hunter didn't seem to notice.
“That's a mistake you'll never make again,” the Soul Reaper commented as he raised up his sword, pointing it right at her. He did take notice, however, of a sudden twitch in her body as if motioning for something behind him, and his sense of spirit energy told him something was moving toward him. He jerked to the left, but without enough speed to avoid Mantien's detached drill shooting past his right shoulder, scraping and grinding into him until he could no longer move the arm, and the projectile shot closer to its owner. She reached out her hand, dissipating the drill into a white dust upon impact, and waving it over to where her arm was. It formed back together in a regenerative manner to recreate her left arm. Her previous arm began disintegrating into dust behind the Soul Reaper, who held his arm in pain.
“Or perhaps I didn't,” the Adhuchas spoke as her left arm and drill had now fully regenerated.
Meanwhile, Weeber was actually pulling off a successful offense against Roughjaw with his mace. The large shellfish-like creature thrust its clawed arm forward, but Jon easily knocked it back with a swing of Gase Meisu.
“You're powerful, Soul Reaper,” the Hollow commented. “However,” he began, aiming his arm out like a cannon, “that strength is only when you are within a close range.” Roughjaw opened up his claw, revealing a small hole in between that small bits of water began bubbling out of. The droplets formed into bubbles themselves that floated in the air between the two, some the size of a baseball while others were the size of a small person.
“Bubbles? Are you serious?” Weeber asked, astonished that such an attack even existed.
“Don't think they're just any bubbles,” Roughjaw responded, “these are physical manifestations of my own energy. They're not as soft and meager as you might think.”
“We'll see,” Jon said, swinging the mace into the closest one. To his surprise, the weapon recoiled back is if being blocked by another weapon. The bubble was tougher than steel.
“The hell?” Weeber asked in frustration, whacking the bubble over and over again to no avail.
All the while, Roughjaw had been churning out bubble after bubble until the battlefield became engulfed in them.
“This is ridiculous,” Rebecca remarked, “Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!” She placed her palm out, facing the barrage of bubbles, “Shakkaho!” A red energy sphere fired into the floating objects, but to no avail. “Nothing?!”
“Let me try,” Joey spoke through the metallic jaws of his shikai. He ran up to one, biting down on it with his razor-sharp teeth. It, too, had no effect, but left his teeth sore. “Ouch...” he muttered in pain.
“These are getting old,” Dylan said as he swung his machete, sending out numerous golden star projectiles. They all bounced off the bubbles harmlessly.
“So what are these supposed to do anyway?” Weeber asked nonchalantly, “they're just kinda floatin' here...”
“You'll see soon,” Roughjaw commented, and, with a wave of his other arm, signaled the floating objects to move in on Joey. The Stealth Force Soul Reaper, frozen with shock, was crushed into incapacitation by the spherical objects harder than steel. Blood seeped out from his body in numerous places.
The bubbles began moving around the battlefield to crush their targets. “Pickle!” Rebecca yelled after realizing that he wouldn't be able to outmanuever them in his weakened state. The lieutenant tossed his shield out at one while swinging his blade at another, still doing barely anything to stop them, or even slow them down. Rebecca used a well-timed flashstep to move in and force him out of the way, but the objects intercepted her ankle, crushing it out of use. She screamed in pain.
“Okay, this is fail,” Weeber said, flipping his mace over in his hand to reveal the true flail that Gase Meisu really was. Yellow chains sprouted out from the orange handle, and three spiked, weighted balls were attached to them. He swung the weapon around in his hands, the balls swinging around on their chains with an orange and yellow blur of motion. With a swing towards the bubble closest to him, the first ball came into contact with it, then the second, and finally the third. The combination of hits managed to overwhelm the floating object, popping it.
“So you managed to pop one,” Roughjaw commented, slightly impressed, “but there's still plenty more to go!” He moved his arms up, opening his claws in a maniacal manner so as to show the endless looking amount of bubbles in the air.
“Angry face!” Jon yelled, swinging the flail around wildly. Orange spirit energy swirled into it, forming into more and more chains and spike balls until he had about fifteen of them swinging around. How he managed to handle so many at once was a mystery.
“Make all you want, they're still outnumbered,” Roughjaw remarked.
“Hey, hey, stop existing!” Weeber yelled in some attempt at a comeback or another. He swung the flail out, letting loose the gathered number of spiked balls he had chained to it. They flew off in all directions, some hitting bubbles here and there, while others missed completely and landed harmlessly on the ground. They were now all on the ground, while the flail in his hand generated more.
“What a meager attack,” Roughjaw mocked, “you barely managed to hit anything, let alone puncture them. I'll consider that your desperation attack, seeing as how you're completely out of options.” The Adhuchas waved its arm again, signaling for the bubbles to move in on the Squad Eleven Soul Reaper.
“Hmm, what was that special attack called?” Jon asked in his mind, trying to remember the attack that Gase Meisu had taught him. “Oh yeah, I think it was...” he remembered, “...Hougeki (lit. Bombardment).” Compressed air in each ball launched spikes out in all directions, popping any floating bubbles they hit upon contact. Weeber struggled to avoid his own attack, while Dylan, who had been using his shield to protect the wounded bodies of both Joey and Rebecca from Roughjaw's attacks, was now struggling to defend them against Weeber's own spikes. Before even looking around to see the damage caused or check to see the safety of his allies, Jon pressed a button on the mace pummel of his weapon, triggering the explosion and fragmentation of each sphere that had been laying on the battlefield. The number of exploding balls now numbered around thirty.
A large cloud of smoke covered the area after the explosive attack loosed a combination of ash, dirt, and dust into the air. Weeber could be heard coughing in the midst of it, but nothing could be seen.
All the while, Hunter and Mantien had been far away enough to avoid any of the other battle's spikes or bubbles or explosions. The Adhuchas had now regenerated its other arm entirely, but Hunter still stood poised, with his Gi Diforume ready.
“Looks like your friend just lost,” Hunter commented, referring to the unknown status of Roughjaw after the attack.
“You really like to underestimate us, don't you?” Mantien questioned, “I wouldn't worry too much about Roughjaw, he can handle himself.”
“She's right,” Hunter thought, “I can still sense that Hollow's spiritual pressure. All I need to do is get her in the range of Gi Diforume, and then I can finish this fight in an instant.”
“Deep in thought, are we?” Mantien asked, aiming her left drill at the Soul Reaper, “I don't think you have the time for that!” She launched her drill out, the object shooting straight toward Hunter.
With a backhanded swing, he sent the object spiraling into the air. “Hado four,” he pointed at the drill, “Byakurai.” The familiar beam of white lightning shot out at the airborne drill, destroying it upon contact.
“Didn't you realize that it's futile?” She spoke, gathering the energy to regenerate her arm.
“Yeah,” he responded, flash stepping right next to her, slashing his weapon. She blocked it with her other arm. “You're finished,” he added, using Gi Diforume's powers to manipulate the Hollow into losing its ability to move; he reached out his hands. “Ye lord. Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, you who bears the name of man,” he spoke the incantation, doubling the spell's power, “truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado thirty-three, Sokatsui.” He fired the beam of blue kidou point blank at the immobile Adhuchas, engulfing the two in light.
--------------------------------------------------
A knock came at the door of Lucas Artesian, who he rolled over in his bed, facing the wall.
“I want to help you,” an unfamiliar male voice said. “I can sense that you're in trouble.”
He felt his forhead, touching the white mask that was on his face. “Go away.”
“I know what you are,” the man added. To this, Lucas dissipated the mask into the air and moved to open the door. The man before him was taller than average, with brown hair and an eye patch. The white sash he wore around his waist that went up and over his left shoulder had the letter “X” on the end of it, representing the Roman numeral ten.
“What makes you think you know anything about me?!” the blonde Soul Reaper yelled.
“Because I have one too,” the man with the eye patch spoke, using his spirit energy to create another white mask, or rather, half of one, in his hand.
Mantien screamed in horror as Hunter's Zanpakutou made her feel far more pain than she normally would have from losing an arm. Blood squirted out into the dirt as her panicked eyes watched her once-attached limb fall to the ground before her. She leapt back, trying to keep her distance while fighting to gain back both her breath and her composure.
“This is the end, Hollow,” Hunter said, swinging his sword in one swift motion so as to wipe the blood off of it.
“You bastard!” Mantien screamed, holding the spot where her arm once was. “What the hell did you do?!”
“So you did notice,” Hunter stated. “My Shikai allows me alter your perception of reality when you're around me, so your moves are far weaker, or your pain is far greater, so long as I wish it.”
“It seems I underestimated you, Soul Reaper,” Mantien said surprisingly calmly while eying past Hunter to see her arm on the ground behind him. With deep concentration, she made the arm separate from the drill attached to it. Hunter didn't seem to notice.
“That's a mistake you'll never make again,” the Soul Reaper commented as he raised up his sword, pointing it right at her. He did take notice, however, of a sudden twitch in her body as if motioning for something behind him, and his sense of spirit energy told him something was moving toward him. He jerked to the left, but without enough speed to avoid Mantien's detached drill shooting past his right shoulder, scraping and grinding into him until he could no longer move the arm, and the projectile shot closer to its owner. She reached out her hand, dissipating the drill into a white dust upon impact, and waving it over to where her arm was. It formed back together in a regenerative manner to recreate her left arm. Her previous arm began disintegrating into dust behind the Soul Reaper, who held his arm in pain.
“Or perhaps I didn't,” the Adhuchas spoke as her left arm and drill had now fully regenerated.
Meanwhile, Weeber was actually pulling off a successful offense against Roughjaw with his mace. The large shellfish-like creature thrust its clawed arm forward, but Jon easily knocked it back with a swing of Gase Meisu.
“You're powerful, Soul Reaper,” the Hollow commented. “However,” he began, aiming his arm out like a cannon, “that strength is only when you are within a close range.” Roughjaw opened up his claw, revealing a small hole in between that small bits of water began bubbling out of. The droplets formed into bubbles themselves that floated in the air between the two, some the size of a baseball while others were the size of a small person.
“Bubbles? Are you serious?” Weeber asked, astonished that such an attack even existed.
“Don't think they're just any bubbles,” Roughjaw responded, “these are physical manifestations of my own energy. They're not as soft and meager as you might think.”
“We'll see,” Jon said, swinging the mace into the closest one. To his surprise, the weapon recoiled back is if being blocked by another weapon. The bubble was tougher than steel.
“The hell?” Weeber asked in frustration, whacking the bubble over and over again to no avail.
All the while, Roughjaw had been churning out bubble after bubble until the battlefield became engulfed in them.
“This is ridiculous,” Rebecca remarked, “Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!” She placed her palm out, facing the barrage of bubbles, “Shakkaho!” A red energy sphere fired into the floating objects, but to no avail. “Nothing?!”
“Let me try,” Joey spoke through the metallic jaws of his shikai. He ran up to one, biting down on it with his razor-sharp teeth. It, too, had no effect, but left his teeth sore. “Ouch...” he muttered in pain.
“These are getting old,” Dylan said as he swung his machete, sending out numerous golden star projectiles. They all bounced off the bubbles harmlessly.
“So what are these supposed to do anyway?” Weeber asked nonchalantly, “they're just kinda floatin' here...”
“You'll see soon,” Roughjaw commented, and, with a wave of his other arm, signaled the floating objects to move in on Joey. The Stealth Force Soul Reaper, frozen with shock, was crushed into incapacitation by the spherical objects harder than steel. Blood seeped out from his body in numerous places.
The bubbles began moving around the battlefield to crush their targets. “Pickle!” Rebecca yelled after realizing that he wouldn't be able to outmanuever them in his weakened state. The lieutenant tossed his shield out at one while swinging his blade at another, still doing barely anything to stop them, or even slow them down. Rebecca used a well-timed flashstep to move in and force him out of the way, but the objects intercepted her ankle, crushing it out of use. She screamed in pain.
“Okay, this is fail,” Weeber said, flipping his mace over in his hand to reveal the true flail that Gase Meisu really was. Yellow chains sprouted out from the orange handle, and three spiked, weighted balls were attached to them. He swung the weapon around in his hands, the balls swinging around on their chains with an orange and yellow blur of motion. With a swing towards the bubble closest to him, the first ball came into contact with it, then the second, and finally the third. The combination of hits managed to overwhelm the floating object, popping it.
“So you managed to pop one,” Roughjaw commented, slightly impressed, “but there's still plenty more to go!” He moved his arms up, opening his claws in a maniacal manner so as to show the endless looking amount of bubbles in the air.
“Angry face!” Jon yelled, swinging the flail around wildly. Orange spirit energy swirled into it, forming into more and more chains and spike balls until he had about fifteen of them swinging around. How he managed to handle so many at once was a mystery.
“Make all you want, they're still outnumbered,” Roughjaw remarked.
“Hey, hey, stop existing!” Weeber yelled in some attempt at a comeback or another. He swung the flail out, letting loose the gathered number of spiked balls he had chained to it. They flew off in all directions, some hitting bubbles here and there, while others missed completely and landed harmlessly on the ground. They were now all on the ground, while the flail in his hand generated more.
“What a meager attack,” Roughjaw mocked, “you barely managed to hit anything, let alone puncture them. I'll consider that your desperation attack, seeing as how you're completely out of options.” The Adhuchas waved its arm again, signaling for the bubbles to move in on the Squad Eleven Soul Reaper.
“Hmm, what was that special attack called?” Jon asked in his mind, trying to remember the attack that Gase Meisu had taught him. “Oh yeah, I think it was...” he remembered, “...Hougeki (lit. Bombardment).” Compressed air in each ball launched spikes out in all directions, popping any floating bubbles they hit upon contact. Weeber struggled to avoid his own attack, while Dylan, who had been using his shield to protect the wounded bodies of both Joey and Rebecca from Roughjaw's attacks, was now struggling to defend them against Weeber's own spikes. Before even looking around to see the damage caused or check to see the safety of his allies, Jon pressed a button on the mace pummel of his weapon, triggering the explosion and fragmentation of each sphere that had been laying on the battlefield. The number of exploding balls now numbered around thirty.
A large cloud of smoke covered the area after the explosive attack loosed a combination of ash, dirt, and dust into the air. Weeber could be heard coughing in the midst of it, but nothing could be seen.
All the while, Hunter and Mantien had been far away enough to avoid any of the other battle's spikes or bubbles or explosions. The Adhuchas had now regenerated its other arm entirely, but Hunter still stood poised, with his Gi Diforume ready.
“Looks like your friend just lost,” Hunter commented, referring to the unknown status of Roughjaw after the attack.
“You really like to underestimate us, don't you?” Mantien questioned, “I wouldn't worry too much about Roughjaw, he can handle himself.”
“She's right,” Hunter thought, “I can still sense that Hollow's spiritual pressure. All I need to do is get her in the range of Gi Diforume, and then I can finish this fight in an instant.”
“Deep in thought, are we?” Mantien asked, aiming her left drill at the Soul Reaper, “I don't think you have the time for that!” She launched her drill out, the object shooting straight toward Hunter.
With a backhanded swing, he sent the object spiraling into the air. “Hado four,” he pointed at the drill, “Byakurai.” The familiar beam of white lightning shot out at the airborne drill, destroying it upon contact.
“Didn't you realize that it's futile?” She spoke, gathering the energy to regenerate her arm.
“Yeah,” he responded, flash stepping right next to her, slashing his weapon. She blocked it with her other arm. “You're finished,” he added, using Gi Diforume's powers to manipulate the Hollow into losing its ability to move; he reached out his hands. “Ye lord. Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, you who bears the name of man,” he spoke the incantation, doubling the spell's power, “truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado thirty-three, Sokatsui.” He fired the beam of blue kidou point blank at the immobile Adhuchas, engulfing the two in light.
--------------------------------------------------
A knock came at the door of Lucas Artesian, who he rolled over in his bed, facing the wall.
“I want to help you,” an unfamiliar male voice said. “I can sense that you're in trouble.”
He felt his forhead, touching the white mask that was on his face. “Go away.”
“I know what you are,” the man added. To this, Lucas dissipated the mask into the air and moved to open the door. The man before him was taller than average, with brown hair and an eye patch. The white sash he wore around his waist that went up and over his left shoulder had the letter “X” on the end of it, representing the Roman numeral ten.
“What makes you think you know anything about me?!” the blonde Soul Reaper yelled.
“Because I have one too,” the man with the eye patch spoke, using his spirit energy to create another white mask, or rather, half of one, in his hand.
Re: Forum Fanfic (Bleach) ~ Episode 27 up!
Episode 25 ~ Finish the Fight!:
The smoke on the battlefield cleared, and Roughjaw was, surprisingly, still standing, though he was far from unscathed. Spikes and burn marks littered his body, while his breathing was slow and heavy, indicative of his current struggle to keep on fighting. Weeber, however, only had a couple scuff marks here and there from the explosion.
On Hunter's side, Mantien stood before him, the right half of her body blown off entirely. She had barely managed to force her body out of the way enough to salvage something of herself.
“Face it, you're done,” Hunter spoke to the two, dying Hollows.
“Lololololol,” Weeber added, feeling victorious.
“Roughjaw,” Mantien got out desperately, “you know what you need to do!”
“We can still fight!” Roughjaw told her.
“Don't deny it,” she responded sadly, “just accept what needs to be done. It's better than dying here.”
“Fine,” the male Adhuchas responded. He closed his eyes and looked to be in a tight focus while pieces of his armor starting cracking around his stomach and ribs. As the pieces began to fall off, his soft, flexible stomach tissue could be seen, growing larger and larger like that of a frog. Mantien put all of her remaining energy into a sonido, appearing in front of Roughjaw, who opened his mouth far beyond what would have been expected from his shellfish appearance. With a great breath, he inhaled the Hollow before him, ingesting the remains of Mantien's body while she was still living before their eyes. The Soul Reapers could see the bulge in his throat as he powerfully swallowed, completely digesting the female Adhuchas that had once been their opponent. He leaned forward, closing his mouth and glowing brightly until bright flashes of light consumed the area. The Soul Reapers covered their eyes to avoid being blinded.
“What's happening?” Rebbecca yelled.
“I can't tell!” Weeber responded.
“It's transforming!” Hunter said, detecting the change in spiritual pressure.
“It's about done,” Pickle said.
The light died down a bit and the creature that stood before them was now far more intimidating than any they had faced before. The white armor over Roughjaw's body turned brown and sharp spikes jutted out from his shoulders, sides, and tail, which lengthened to that of a large lizard's. His face even came out from underneath where his armor once was. All in all, he looked like a humongous, armored salamander.
“What the hell did you just do?!” Rebecca yelled.
“The thing about Adhuchas,” Roughjaw began in a new voice, this one with less gargling and more of a smooth flow to it, “is that we need to eat other Menos to increase our powers, or else we will revert back into mindless Gillians. You've just witnessed this perfection firsthand.”
“He's too big,” Hunter thought, “I can't fit him in my range!”
Acting quickly, Dylan swung his machete, launching golden saw stars at the creature, while Weeber acted in sync and swung his flail, launching spiked balls at it. Rebecca opened her palms at it, “Hado thirty-two, Okasen (lit. Yellow Fire Flash).” A wide arc of yellow energy shot out at the target.
“Foolish attempts,” Roughjaw remarked, pulling a large spike out of his shoulder and swinging it like a sword, knocking away the stars, balls, and kido like toys. The gust created from the massive swing was enough to make the Soul Reapers cover their eyes from wind. “And now to finish you,” he added, pointing his large hand, now with four, clawed fingers rather than the crab-like pincers it once possessed. Large amounts of red energy began pouring into a rotating sphere in front of it. “Cero,” he said, firing the red beam that Menos Grande Hollows were known for. The red light seemed to engulf the entire area as certain death appeared imminent to the four Soul Reapers.
When all seemed lost, something intercepted the massive beam, launching it off harmlessly into the sky until it could no longer be seen. One man stood on his hands, having just flipped over onto them after kicking the Cero into the air. His Afro and black leather jacket were his most obvious of features, while sunglasses covered his eyes and glittery black boots shined on his feet.
“What. . .” Hunter paused, “. . .the hell?”
“Yo, sorry we were late man,” the Afroed man spoke. He was a black man taller than Hunter and his tone seemed cool and collected.
“Captain Cullen from Squad Nine,” Rebecca said in awe.
“It doesn't matter who you bring out, your end will be the same,” Roughjaw broke in.
“I disagree,” came the new Latin-accented voice. The female captain with long, black hair dropped down from the air, hacking off the creature's clawed hand entirely.
“Try as you might,” the Hollow spoke again, “your attacks are futile now.” Spirit energy starting funneling into his body from around the area, and the monster's hand regenerated, just as Mantien had done earlier.
“I'll take it,” came another male voice, this one emanating with combat experience. It was Matthew Sheppard, the dirty blonde, short haired captain with a long scar running down the right half of his face and an “x” shaped one on his left cheek. Three scars together reminiscent of a claw traced his neck down into his shirt.
“Captains Deifilia and Sheppard of Eight and Seven. . .” Hunter added in disbelief.
“Captain!” Pickle yelled.
“Ah Pickle,” Matthew began, running over to his Lieutenant in exaggerated motions, “you're looking a little worse for wear!”
“This Adhuchas is too tough,” Dylan began, “you wanna kill it for us?”
The captain sighed, “if I really have to. . .”
“What will you three do?” Roughjaw asked out of curiosity.
“Sendotama (lit. Death Bullet),” Captain Sheppard spoke before swinging his sword backhandedly in one, swift motion over the course of an instant. A round, oblong formation of what appeared to be wind grew out of his weapon and shot at the monster before them, going through its torso effortlessly. It started regenerating in response.
“I really don't wanna use my release, dawg,” Captain Cullen said, a look of disapproval forming on his face.
“Then let's just Kido it,” Ximena responded.
“Sounds like a plan,” Matthew added.
“What now?” the Hollow asked, its wound completely healed.
“This,” Marcus said, pointing his hands out, “Hado thirty-one, Shakkaho!”
“Hado thirty-two,” Ximena followed, flash stepping into the air to the creature's right, “Okasen!”
“And last but not least,” Matthew finished, appearing in the air to the creature's left, “Hado thirty-three, Sokatsui!”
They each fired beams of red, yellow, and blue respectively, hitting the giant Hollow at three different angles and engulfing it in their Kido. After the three-pronged attack, the monster was surprisingly still there, but its arms, now regenerating, were completely disintegrated, as were half of each of its legs and its tail.
“A nice attempt,” Roughjaw managed to get out, “but not powerful enough to destroy my armor.”
“Fine,” Matthew Sheppard said as the three captains appeared next to each other on the ground. The captain turned away from the rest of the group to face the creature head on. He held his katana, then pointed it straight at the creature before him with his right arm, a serious look on his face, “Bankai.”
Waves of light exploded out from the blade as if the sun was rising directly in front of them. Spirit energy began swirling around the area like a storm. “I don't usually like to use my Bankai like this,” the captain spoke from beneath the light, “but I make rare exceptions for those that bring harm to my subbordinates.” Everything settled down and vision returned. The man had now donned a green camouflage tunic of some kind over his captain's jacket. A black fabric covered his mouth and skin down into his shirt, while a tri-lensed rotating eyepiece sat perched above his left eye. On each of his shoulders was a belt holding various types of pouches, some with small handles protruding from them and some not. A belt at his waist also held several pouches, these larger and containing more than the ones going over his shoulders. “Reikon Tenmaryoushi (lit. Soul Demon Hunter).” In his hands was a sophisticated, black, long barrel rifle of some kind, scope and all, but on his back was a strap clearly meant for holding it.
“So that is what you call a Bankai,” the Hollow said.
“You don't deserve to see it,” the captain spoke as he placed the rifle behind his back. The noncaptain-level Soul Reapers marveled at the awesome energy coming from it. “Prepare to die.”
Roughjaw seemed to sense that something was amiss as his previously stoic expression changed to that of absolute panic.
The captain got down on his feet, bending his knees to place his hands straight out on the ground before him in one swift motion. “First trap, Shuukan (lit. Imprisonment).” A ripple echoed out from the dirt around him, ripping a giant, circular pitfall hole in the ground beneath the Hollow, causing it to fall in. Captain Sheppard sat at the edge, raising his arms up and crossing them in front of his face.
His hands faced the hole as light blue runes appeared on his fingers, which he moved like a puppeteer. “Second trap, Matsuri (lit. Entanglement).” Large roots shot out the sides of the hole at the falling creature, catching it and restraining it in midair.
He placed his left hand firmly on his right wrist while his right hand began to glow blue. He moved his palm to face towards the sky, “Third trap, Sanshoku (lit. Encroachment).” Spikes of earth erupted out from the bottom of the gaping hole, penetrating and stabbing the Hollow in numerous places.
In a quick series of movements, the captain began pulling knives and daggers of all lengths and shapes out of their sleeves on his belts, some round and some straight, tossing them into the air where they glowed light blue and levitated around him. At this time, he was now standing up again, “Fourth trap, Kantsuu (lit. Impalement).” The weapons turned towards the entrapped Hollow, shooting at it like bullets and stabbing it in over fifteen different places. The creature coughed blood as blades littered its neck.
Matthew Sheppard reached behind his back for a small, light-weight pouch made of canvas, a small string holding it closed. He turned it upside down in his right hand, using his left to undo the tie, leaving the contents, a fine golden powder of some kind, to blow freely around the large circular pit. “Final trap, Kanjou (lit. Annulment).” A mixture of yellow and cyan light exploded out from all sides of the circular hole, blinding everyone on the battlefield once more. With a couple moments passing, the light cleared, and the Soul Reapers present sighed in relief as Roughjaw's spirit energy could be detected no more. In the place of the large crater was a flat patch of dirt, as if nothing had ever happened.
“Overkill much?” Marcus Cullen, relaxed captain of Squad Nine asked.
“You would have killed him at three,” Ximena Deifillia added to the statement of her fellow captain.
“I had to avenge my subordinates,” the Squad Seven captain responded, scratching the back of his head as his Bankai dissipated into the air around them, the sword returning proudly to its sheath.
“That's why we're so glad to have you as our captain!” Dylan broke in.
“Amazing,” Rebecca managed to utter.
“Crazy,” Weeber gawked.
“What a Bankai...” Hunter thought.
The smoke on the battlefield cleared, and Roughjaw was, surprisingly, still standing, though he was far from unscathed. Spikes and burn marks littered his body, while his breathing was slow and heavy, indicative of his current struggle to keep on fighting. Weeber, however, only had a couple scuff marks here and there from the explosion.
On Hunter's side, Mantien stood before him, the right half of her body blown off entirely. She had barely managed to force her body out of the way enough to salvage something of herself.
“Face it, you're done,” Hunter spoke to the two, dying Hollows.
“Lololololol,” Weeber added, feeling victorious.
“Roughjaw,” Mantien got out desperately, “you know what you need to do!”
“We can still fight!” Roughjaw told her.
“Don't deny it,” she responded sadly, “just accept what needs to be done. It's better than dying here.”
“Fine,” the male Adhuchas responded. He closed his eyes and looked to be in a tight focus while pieces of his armor starting cracking around his stomach and ribs. As the pieces began to fall off, his soft, flexible stomach tissue could be seen, growing larger and larger like that of a frog. Mantien put all of her remaining energy into a sonido, appearing in front of Roughjaw, who opened his mouth far beyond what would have been expected from his shellfish appearance. With a great breath, he inhaled the Hollow before him, ingesting the remains of Mantien's body while she was still living before their eyes. The Soul Reapers could see the bulge in his throat as he powerfully swallowed, completely digesting the female Adhuchas that had once been their opponent. He leaned forward, closing his mouth and glowing brightly until bright flashes of light consumed the area. The Soul Reapers covered their eyes to avoid being blinded.
“What's happening?” Rebbecca yelled.
“I can't tell!” Weeber responded.
“It's transforming!” Hunter said, detecting the change in spiritual pressure.
“It's about done,” Pickle said.
The light died down a bit and the creature that stood before them was now far more intimidating than any they had faced before. The white armor over Roughjaw's body turned brown and sharp spikes jutted out from his shoulders, sides, and tail, which lengthened to that of a large lizard's. His face even came out from underneath where his armor once was. All in all, he looked like a humongous, armored salamander.
“What the hell did you just do?!” Rebecca yelled.
“The thing about Adhuchas,” Roughjaw began in a new voice, this one with less gargling and more of a smooth flow to it, “is that we need to eat other Menos to increase our powers, or else we will revert back into mindless Gillians. You've just witnessed this perfection firsthand.”
“He's too big,” Hunter thought, “I can't fit him in my range!”
Acting quickly, Dylan swung his machete, launching golden saw stars at the creature, while Weeber acted in sync and swung his flail, launching spiked balls at it. Rebecca opened her palms at it, “Hado thirty-two, Okasen (lit. Yellow Fire Flash).” A wide arc of yellow energy shot out at the target.
“Foolish attempts,” Roughjaw remarked, pulling a large spike out of his shoulder and swinging it like a sword, knocking away the stars, balls, and kido like toys. The gust created from the massive swing was enough to make the Soul Reapers cover their eyes from wind. “And now to finish you,” he added, pointing his large hand, now with four, clawed fingers rather than the crab-like pincers it once possessed. Large amounts of red energy began pouring into a rotating sphere in front of it. “Cero,” he said, firing the red beam that Menos Grande Hollows were known for. The red light seemed to engulf the entire area as certain death appeared imminent to the four Soul Reapers.
When all seemed lost, something intercepted the massive beam, launching it off harmlessly into the sky until it could no longer be seen. One man stood on his hands, having just flipped over onto them after kicking the Cero into the air. His Afro and black leather jacket were his most obvious of features, while sunglasses covered his eyes and glittery black boots shined on his feet.
“What. . .” Hunter paused, “. . .the hell?”
“Yo, sorry we were late man,” the Afroed man spoke. He was a black man taller than Hunter and his tone seemed cool and collected.
“Captain Cullen from Squad Nine,” Rebecca said in awe.
“It doesn't matter who you bring out, your end will be the same,” Roughjaw broke in.
“I disagree,” came the new Latin-accented voice. The female captain with long, black hair dropped down from the air, hacking off the creature's clawed hand entirely.
“Try as you might,” the Hollow spoke again, “your attacks are futile now.” Spirit energy starting funneling into his body from around the area, and the monster's hand regenerated, just as Mantien had done earlier.
“I'll take it,” came another male voice, this one emanating with combat experience. It was Matthew Sheppard, the dirty blonde, short haired captain with a long scar running down the right half of his face and an “x” shaped one on his left cheek. Three scars together reminiscent of a claw traced his neck down into his shirt.
“Captains Deifilia and Sheppard of Eight and Seven. . .” Hunter added in disbelief.
“Captain!” Pickle yelled.
“Ah Pickle,” Matthew began, running over to his Lieutenant in exaggerated motions, “you're looking a little worse for wear!”
“This Adhuchas is too tough,” Dylan began, “you wanna kill it for us?”
The captain sighed, “if I really have to. . .”
“What will you three do?” Roughjaw asked out of curiosity.
“Sendotama (lit. Death Bullet),” Captain Sheppard spoke before swinging his sword backhandedly in one, swift motion over the course of an instant. A round, oblong formation of what appeared to be wind grew out of his weapon and shot at the monster before them, going through its torso effortlessly. It started regenerating in response.
“I really don't wanna use my release, dawg,” Captain Cullen said, a look of disapproval forming on his face.
“Then let's just Kido it,” Ximena responded.
“Sounds like a plan,” Matthew added.
“What now?” the Hollow asked, its wound completely healed.
“This,” Marcus said, pointing his hands out, “Hado thirty-one, Shakkaho!”
“Hado thirty-two,” Ximena followed, flash stepping into the air to the creature's right, “Okasen!”
“And last but not least,” Matthew finished, appearing in the air to the creature's left, “Hado thirty-three, Sokatsui!”
They each fired beams of red, yellow, and blue respectively, hitting the giant Hollow at three different angles and engulfing it in their Kido. After the three-pronged attack, the monster was surprisingly still there, but its arms, now regenerating, were completely disintegrated, as were half of each of its legs and its tail.
“A nice attempt,” Roughjaw managed to get out, “but not powerful enough to destroy my armor.”
“Fine,” Matthew Sheppard said as the three captains appeared next to each other on the ground. The captain turned away from the rest of the group to face the creature head on. He held his katana, then pointed it straight at the creature before him with his right arm, a serious look on his face, “Bankai.”
Waves of light exploded out from the blade as if the sun was rising directly in front of them. Spirit energy began swirling around the area like a storm. “I don't usually like to use my Bankai like this,” the captain spoke from beneath the light, “but I make rare exceptions for those that bring harm to my subbordinates.” Everything settled down and vision returned. The man had now donned a green camouflage tunic of some kind over his captain's jacket. A black fabric covered his mouth and skin down into his shirt, while a tri-lensed rotating eyepiece sat perched above his left eye. On each of his shoulders was a belt holding various types of pouches, some with small handles protruding from them and some not. A belt at his waist also held several pouches, these larger and containing more than the ones going over his shoulders. “Reikon Tenmaryoushi (lit. Soul Demon Hunter).” In his hands was a sophisticated, black, long barrel rifle of some kind, scope and all, but on his back was a strap clearly meant for holding it.
“So that is what you call a Bankai,” the Hollow said.
“You don't deserve to see it,” the captain spoke as he placed the rifle behind his back. The noncaptain-level Soul Reapers marveled at the awesome energy coming from it. “Prepare to die.”
Roughjaw seemed to sense that something was amiss as his previously stoic expression changed to that of absolute panic.
The captain got down on his feet, bending his knees to place his hands straight out on the ground before him in one swift motion. “First trap, Shuukan (lit. Imprisonment).” A ripple echoed out from the dirt around him, ripping a giant, circular pitfall hole in the ground beneath the Hollow, causing it to fall in. Captain Sheppard sat at the edge, raising his arms up and crossing them in front of his face.
His hands faced the hole as light blue runes appeared on his fingers, which he moved like a puppeteer. “Second trap, Matsuri (lit. Entanglement).” Large roots shot out the sides of the hole at the falling creature, catching it and restraining it in midair.
He placed his left hand firmly on his right wrist while his right hand began to glow blue. He moved his palm to face towards the sky, “Third trap, Sanshoku (lit. Encroachment).” Spikes of earth erupted out from the bottom of the gaping hole, penetrating and stabbing the Hollow in numerous places.
In a quick series of movements, the captain began pulling knives and daggers of all lengths and shapes out of their sleeves on his belts, some round and some straight, tossing them into the air where they glowed light blue and levitated around him. At this time, he was now standing up again, “Fourth trap, Kantsuu (lit. Impalement).” The weapons turned towards the entrapped Hollow, shooting at it like bullets and stabbing it in over fifteen different places. The creature coughed blood as blades littered its neck.
Matthew Sheppard reached behind his back for a small, light-weight pouch made of canvas, a small string holding it closed. He turned it upside down in his right hand, using his left to undo the tie, leaving the contents, a fine golden powder of some kind, to blow freely around the large circular pit. “Final trap, Kanjou (lit. Annulment).” A mixture of yellow and cyan light exploded out from all sides of the circular hole, blinding everyone on the battlefield once more. With a couple moments passing, the light cleared, and the Soul Reapers present sighed in relief as Roughjaw's spirit energy could be detected no more. In the place of the large crater was a flat patch of dirt, as if nothing had ever happened.
“Overkill much?” Marcus Cullen, relaxed captain of Squad Nine asked.
“You would have killed him at three,” Ximena Deifillia added to the statement of her fellow captain.
“I had to avenge my subordinates,” the Squad Seven captain responded, scratching the back of his head as his Bankai dissipated into the air around them, the sword returning proudly to its sheath.
“That's why we're so glad to have you as our captain!” Dylan broke in.
“Amazing,” Rebecca managed to utter.
“Crazy,” Weeber gawked.
“What a Bankai...” Hunter thought.
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