One Foot - Another Multiverse SI
- Thread starter Ars Poetica
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy Alt. History
- Location
- .
Wait....
It's because he took Kon, right?
It's because he took Kon, right?
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
Hm, I didn't like this chapter... but I'm not sure why.
Maybe it's because I'm empathizing with Poe more then anyone else.
Why isn't Uryu getting the shit kicked out of him for almost massacring the city in the first place? In canon nothing really came down on him for pulling this shit.
Also does driving a van up a building really destabilize the entire thing, buildings are pretty damn hardy when build up to code.
Maybe it's because I'm empathizing with Poe more then anyone else.
Why isn't Uryu getting the shit kicked out of him for almost massacring the city in the first place? In canon nothing really came down on him for pulling this shit.
Also does driving a van up a building really destabilize the entire thing, buildings are pretty damn hardy when build up to code.
Ars Poetica
ULTIMA RATIO NEMO OBLIGATUR
- Location
- The Kingdom of Fiore
- Pronouns
- He / Him / His
Consider that the van was on fire when that happened. Now consider how fast it had to have been going to vertical drive. Every window? Shattered. Fires get started on every floor that the van went through, and it's causing damage all the way up. It's like a massive explosion hit this building and traveled up in the process -- any building "up to code" enough to survive that bullshit deserves a medal of honor, because it's just not possible.
See I'm picturing it like the movie or some comics, shattering all the windows it's going over and driving over what's essentially glass and air.
Not causing explosions everywhere weakening the entire buildings structure and killing the people inside.
Maybe it's unsettling me because he does it a lot in the comics and you don't see entire buildings collapsing behind him, it's treated like his epic mundane method of travel.
The tone of this chapter just gave me whiplash.
The previous chapter is all like: Epic hollow attack! Hack and slash all the things! Now were driving up skyscraper in a demonic VAN! Then the chapter ends sort of humorlessly with a 'how do we get down?'
Next chapter: innocents are dying the SI is getting viciously chewed out by everyone for holding back info (especially Kisuke the guy who is always doing shady shit and never telling anyone.)
A couple death threats for fucking up so bad.
I'm left reeling going 'wait when did this get serious?'
On another note can Poe even do reiatsu manipulation? I though he was going to have to figure out how to replicate their tricks with his Ghost Rider powers?
Ars Poetica
ULTIMA RATIO NEMO OBLIGATUR
- Location
- The Kingdom of Fiore
- Pronouns
- He / Him / His
It's kind of hard to do that when the only way for the Ghost Rider to come out is for Poe to get tossed in the local universe's equivalent to a black hole. Consider that for a moment. His requirements are "absolute darkness" and "imminent death". When the Rider appears, the bad guy loses. The problem is actually getting him to appear.
To his credit, Poe found an interesting loophole. By using Kon to push his soul from his body, he can gain control over the Ghost Rider. But doing this has its own slew of consequences such as losing control over his own power. The Ghost Rider is a god-like being, the consciousness of a puny human can guide it to do many great things, but there are capabilities held by the Rider that are just beyond what the human mind and soul understands.
Coming out of that gave Poe a headache. But later? The consequences might be more severe. The Rider of this story is passively assisting its host, allowing it to survive in increasingly dangerous environments. But there's more at play here than just the flaming skeleton man. A lot more.
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Well that's not certainly ominous...
It's magic. Why would it need to travel faster than normal to go up the side of a building?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Why should we assume that Poe's understanding of Ghost Rider is any more accurate than his understanding of Bleach, for that matter?
In our universe, they're both fictional. In Poe's, well, they're clearly not, and any resemblance to ours is 'coincidental', but he still thinks they were fictional. They weren't; the writers received cross-world information somehow, otherwise there wouldn't be any reason to have a match at all. That means their accuracy depends on the agenda of the being(s) who caused that transfer.
Or else, perhaps worse, this Bleach world--and the Ghost Rider--were created specifically to match his memories.
In our universe, they're both fictional. In Poe's, well, they're clearly not, and any resemblance to ours is 'coincidental', but he still thinks they were fictional. They weren't; the writers received cross-world information somehow, otherwise there wouldn't be any reason to have a match at all. That means their accuracy depends on the agenda of the being(s) who caused that transfer.
Or else, perhaps worse, this Bleach world--and the Ghost Rider--were created specifically to match his memories.
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
Or we could go by the "Infinite Monkeys on Infinite Typewriters Theory" and assume that, due to the infinite multiverse, his ROB just happened to drop him off in that specific universe or one remotely similar.
Chapter 008
Ars Poetica
ULTIMA RATIO NEMO OBLIGATUR
- Location
- The Kingdom of Fiore
- Pronouns
- He / Him / His
The very first time I met Ichigo, he just got his Shinigami powers. The second time I met him, he was leaving the hospital just as I was going in. I wasn't sure if he saw me. He looked frustrated, maybe angry? I don't know. He was scowling at the time. I guess that should have said everything that needed to be said.
The room Tessai was leading me to was, thankfully, on the first floor. So there would be no awkward travelling up an elevator or walking up several flights of stairs. Mentally, I counted down the numbers of the rooms. Tessai stopped at the end of the hallway and gestured to the last room.
One. Zero. Eight.
The symbolism, it hurts! Opening the door, I was greeted with an interesting sight. There was a bed and, standing over it, was a shapely woman in a nurse's outfit – well, if that was a nurse's outfit, then I was a professional basketball player. It was a naughty nurse outfit. At least the woman had the presence of mind to wear a white doctor's coat over the thing, but that only covered so much until she turned around and – purple hair, brown skin, gold eyes.
"Hello, Miss Shihouin." It came out as Shihouin-san, I forced myself to notice as I tore my eyes away from her exposed cleavage. "Uh… You work here?"
She was frowning at me, "What, did you expect me not to have a job? I work here as a doctor."
"And the, uh…" I gestured at what she was wearing, "The outfit?"
"What about it?"
I sucked in a breath. Come on, Kubo, I thought to myself. There was only so much I could accept as true about this world before my suspense of disbelief caved in. On what planet would Yoruichi's outfit count as appropriate apparel for a doctor in a hospital? I mean that skirt was criminally short! And the thigh-high stockings… that strip of revealed skin – what part of this outfit wasn't sexy? I ask you.
"It's uh…" I coughed "It's indecent, is all."
"Huh?" she looked at her outfit, "Ryuken doesn't mind it." She looked at me and shrugged, "As long as I do my job, what does he care what I wear?"
A lot, I didn't say. Uryu's father would care a lot about what Yoruichi would be wearing. But, then, any straight man would… I took a deep breath and composed myself, "Okay. Uh… Tessai, why am I here?" I looked at the taller man.
"Look in the bed." was all he said to me. And so I did.
A young girl was just lying there; almost completely still save for the slight movements of her chest. She was breathing, but that was about the only sign she was alive, really. Then I noticed her hair color.
"…Yuzu? Yuzu Kurosaki?" I looked at him, "Why is she here? What the hell did I miss?"
"Grand Fisher," Yoruichi's voice cut through the air, "You missed Grand Fisher."
-x-
Yoruichi was on the other side of Karakura Town at the time of the attack. Nobody was expecting it, not on the day of Masaki Kurosaki's funeral. But Yoruichi could feel it from where she was. She knew that something had happened and rushed to the scene to deal with it.
What she found was devastation – a cemetery of torn up dirt and grass, uprooted trees and damage suggesting a battlefield. At the center of it was the injured body of Ichigo Kurosaki, inhabited by a Soul Candy and desperately running away while carrying a crying, screaming Karin Kurosaki.
Yuzu was being held down by the impossible figure of Masaki Kurosaki. A massive, slumped-over figure wearing a giant mask stood over her and laughed. And opposite him was a beaten and battered Ichigo, smashed against a tree and fading in and out of consciousness.
Rukia was trying to use Kido on the Hollow, the infamous Grand Fisher, but her attacks were completely useless – they might as well have bounced off of the Hollow for all the effect they had.
Even in the form of a cat, Yoruichi was powerful enough to deal with a Hollow like Grand Fisher. But for all the damage she could do, it would be more important to get everyone out of this alive. Although he was certainly damaged, definitely hurt, Grand Fisher almost did not retreat until he suddenly went still.
It was a remarkable escape. Not many could say they got away from Yoruichi on a warpath, but Grand Fisher had the benefit of forcing her to stay behind – forcing her to help the injured who were left behind.
-x-
"The Soul Candy," Yoruichi explained, "Wasn't fast enough to get away from Grand Fisher. Karin woke up after Yuzu was attacked and almost killed. What Grand Fisher did to her, I don't know, but she's been in this bed since then. That was a few days ago."
I bit my lip, "That… That shouldn't have happened."
"And yet, it did." Tessai looked at me, "If that Soul Candy could somehow make Ichigo's body just a little faster, this might not have ended as badly as it did." He gave me a pointed look, "But he only became a Shinigami last week. There's no way he would be strong enough to fight Grand Fisher and win, anyway."
"Yeah… He wasn't strong enough…" I trailed.
It was bullshit. It was all complete bullshit.
This, I thought, was what Project Spearhead was meant for. Having corpses fight? That wasn't just immoral, it was stupid. A corpse wouldn't be able to do it. But if the goal was just running away, or simply stalling for time, or quickly defending oneself and other humans – a Mod Soul could do that much, at least. It could do that very well.
I took Kon because I thought, hey, maybe he would be useful. It was really just a kind of casual insurance. I didn't have some great or spectacular plan in mind when I did it, I just figured that doing it would make things easier for Ichigo and Rukia – I figured, hey, now they won't run around after a pervert in Ichigo's body.
And because of my help, Yuzu was in a coma in the hospital, Karin was traumatized, Ichigo got the shit beaten out of him, and Yoruichi was left behind to pick up what was left behind. Grand Fisher still got away, but Ichigo received no closure.
"Ichigo is nowhere near as strong as he needs to be." Tessai spoke, "If what you told us is true, if the Soul Society is going to send a captain and vice-captain after Rukia, Ichigo won't stand a chance of surviving that fight."
"That's assuming he cares enough to help." My mouth betrayed me again. This tendency to work faster than my head… why, mouth…? Why?
Yoruichi just looked at me, "You think he won't? After Grand Fisher almost killed his sister?"
"No, see, you're mixing it up…" I considered how to reply, "In the original story… Ichigo knew Rukia for several months. Neither of his sisters got hurt, not like this. The question here is if he cares enough about Rukia to rush off and save her or if he'll just let her be taken to die. I mean, he barely knows her. Since she's shown up, Ichigo's been running around all week, fighting two or more months' worth of Hollows while dealing with situations that endangered all his friends on multiple occasions… with the most recent Hollow attack, he might be reconsidering his career choice." I looked at them, "If Ichigo doesn't go to Soul Society to save Rukia, who will? Who can go?"
Yoruichi thought about it, "I'd suggest Uryu, but… he hates Shinigami. If anything, he hates himself more right now."
"…huh?"
"Over four hundred people died from that Hollow attack, excluding your stunt with the skyscraper. Since then, Uryu's gone silent. I'd ask Ryuken about it, but he's been impossible to contact." She closed her eyes and tilted her head down, "He's strong enough, but there's no way he'd be willing to help."
"Ichigo knows more people than just Uryu, though," I pointed out, "But…" I thought about it, "I don't think he knows anyone who could help him, here… Goddamnit! There's no time to recruit or train anyone for invading the Soul Society. There's no time to bring Ichigo up to par so he can deal with the threats he will definitely encounter. Is there time to do anything?"
"There… might be." Tessai said haltingly, "You said Rukia Kuchiki was gone for two months?"
"Uh, yeah. Two or three… She originally arrived in the middle of May and then, in July… twentieth…? I want to say it happened on the nineteenth, but I'm probably wrong. That should be around when the Shinigami came for her. Are you going somewhere with this?"
Tessai crossed his arms, "The Shinigami will not respond to Kuchiki's disappearance, not after only a week. Doing so would go against their standard methods of operation. Rather, if they are going to send the team you think they will, we have a month to become prepared for it."
"But the timeline's going faster than it originally did. Who's to say whether or not the Soul Society will or won't act?" I asked.
"Us," Yoruichi answered. "What events in the timeline happened when they shouldn't have? Uryu meeting Ichigo could have happened at any point, with or without your intervention. Grand Fisher showed up on time. Don Kanonji came to Karakura Town a month earlier than previously scheduled, but that also has a reasonable explanation… From how you explained it, these events are happening faster than they should. But here, there are causes for all of them. Things just fell into place this way," she looked at me, "Without you, we'd never have known how it was supposed to go. Even with this increased pace, if you hadn't intervened, Ichigo might have managed an impossible victory against Grand Fisher."
"It's still strange." I protested, "This acceleration has already affected people, why wouldn't it affect the Soul Society? Even if their policy is to wait a few months, this Hollow incident was the tipping point in canon. This is when they finally decided to intervene, previous policies be damned."
"Indeed." Tessai agreed, "Which is why instead of fighting, I was tasked with constructing a barrier."
…he was what? I knew Tessai was the head of the Kido Corp, but for him to do what I think he did felt just plain bizarre. Actually, wait a second. Why would it be bizarre? Tessai was the best Kido user in Bleach. Why wouldn't he be able to find a way to fool the Soul Society? Why would it be beyond his ability to trick Kurotsuchi's devices and subordinates? "Are you… Are you telling me you blocked the Soul Society from looking at Karakura Town?"
"Not quite. I just 'looped the footage', so to speak. The readings they were receiving about Hollow activity in this area have been unusually high. A dip in activity would be expected. So, I just altered their results from down here by making this Hollow attack look like an average day."
If the Soul Society had a means of detecting when Hollows were slain, maybe there would be a discrepancy. But from what Tessai was saying, it was a short term solution. It wasn't supposed to hold up to scrutiny. And if the Shinigami weren't coming in a day, then by the time they started their investigation their arrival would be inevitable.
The chances of the Shinigami coming here were already at a hundred percent, so that kind of trick wouldn't increase that possibility any higher! It'd be like the cherry on top of an already sizable ice cream sundae – interesting to have, but ultimately unnecessary to promote any further digging.
"So… basically, they won't be sending anyone down until August?" I couldn't believe it. This was huge. We'd gone from worrying about the immediate future to actually having a legitimate chance of getting out of this situation. "That's… That's great!"
"Not great." Yoruichi interjected, "We still need to look into getting Ichigo strong enough to face the Soul Society at its best. If we assume that the acceleration has finally stopped, that we have the necessary time to get ready, then that leaves us a month to bring Ichigo up to the same level as a Captain-class Shinigami." Yoruichi frowned at the idea, "I know he has an incredible potential for growth, but after what's happened… you raised a good point, Poe. I don't know if he will be willing to become stronger after losing so much."
I considered it for a moment, "Okay, I have an idea."
"…" Tessai looked at me silently.
"It's a good idea." I nodded to myself.
Yoruichi stared. "Your last idea put his sister in the hospital."
"Well this plan won't." I smiled, "The Soul Society wants to kidnap Rukia Kuchiki, but we don't know if Ichigo will save her. So we just need to be sure he'll act on her behalf when the time comes, and if we find out how strong he is in the process that's just an added bonus!"
Tessai blinked, "I'm not sure I'm following…" He went silent at the sight of my widening grin.
"It's simple," I gesticulated with my hands, "Let's kidnap Rukia Kuchiki."
Complete and utter silence, broken only by the steady beeping of a heart monitor – if not for the smell of antiseptic, if not for that echoing beep, and if not for the rapid beating of my heart, it could be called calm.
Following a solid minute of baffled staring, Yoruichi face-palmed.
-x-
One Foot on the Platform
OR: One Foot on the Train
End-08
The room Tessai was leading me to was, thankfully, on the first floor. So there would be no awkward travelling up an elevator or walking up several flights of stairs. Mentally, I counted down the numbers of the rooms. Tessai stopped at the end of the hallway and gestured to the last room.
One. Zero. Eight.
The symbolism, it hurts! Opening the door, I was greeted with an interesting sight. There was a bed and, standing over it, was a shapely woman in a nurse's outfit – well, if that was a nurse's outfit, then I was a professional basketball player. It was a naughty nurse outfit. At least the woman had the presence of mind to wear a white doctor's coat over the thing, but that only covered so much until she turned around and – purple hair, brown skin, gold eyes.
"Hello, Miss Shihouin." It came out as Shihouin-san, I forced myself to notice as I tore my eyes away from her exposed cleavage. "Uh… You work here?"
She was frowning at me, "What, did you expect me not to have a job? I work here as a doctor."
"And the, uh…" I gestured at what she was wearing, "The outfit?"
"What about it?"
I sucked in a breath. Come on, Kubo, I thought to myself. There was only so much I could accept as true about this world before my suspense of disbelief caved in. On what planet would Yoruichi's outfit count as appropriate apparel for a doctor in a hospital? I mean that skirt was criminally short! And the thigh-high stockings… that strip of revealed skin – what part of this outfit wasn't sexy? I ask you.
"It's uh…" I coughed "It's indecent, is all."
"Huh?" she looked at her outfit, "Ryuken doesn't mind it." She looked at me and shrugged, "As long as I do my job, what does he care what I wear?"
A lot, I didn't say. Uryu's father would care a lot about what Yoruichi would be wearing. But, then, any straight man would… I took a deep breath and composed myself, "Okay. Uh… Tessai, why am I here?" I looked at the taller man.
"Look in the bed." was all he said to me. And so I did.
A young girl was just lying there; almost completely still save for the slight movements of her chest. She was breathing, but that was about the only sign she was alive, really. Then I noticed her hair color.
"…Yuzu? Yuzu Kurosaki?" I looked at him, "Why is she here? What the hell did I miss?"
"Grand Fisher," Yoruichi's voice cut through the air, "You missed Grand Fisher."
-x-
Yoruichi was on the other side of Karakura Town at the time of the attack. Nobody was expecting it, not on the day of Masaki Kurosaki's funeral. But Yoruichi could feel it from where she was. She knew that something had happened and rushed to the scene to deal with it.
What she found was devastation – a cemetery of torn up dirt and grass, uprooted trees and damage suggesting a battlefield. At the center of it was the injured body of Ichigo Kurosaki, inhabited by a Soul Candy and desperately running away while carrying a crying, screaming Karin Kurosaki.
Yuzu was being held down by the impossible figure of Masaki Kurosaki. A massive, slumped-over figure wearing a giant mask stood over her and laughed. And opposite him was a beaten and battered Ichigo, smashed against a tree and fading in and out of consciousness.
Rukia was trying to use Kido on the Hollow, the infamous Grand Fisher, but her attacks were completely useless – they might as well have bounced off of the Hollow for all the effect they had.
Even in the form of a cat, Yoruichi was powerful enough to deal with a Hollow like Grand Fisher. But for all the damage she could do, it would be more important to get everyone out of this alive. Although he was certainly damaged, definitely hurt, Grand Fisher almost did not retreat until he suddenly went still.
It was a remarkable escape. Not many could say they got away from Yoruichi on a warpath, but Grand Fisher had the benefit of forcing her to stay behind – forcing her to help the injured who were left behind.
-x-
"The Soul Candy," Yoruichi explained, "Wasn't fast enough to get away from Grand Fisher. Karin woke up after Yuzu was attacked and almost killed. What Grand Fisher did to her, I don't know, but she's been in this bed since then. That was a few days ago."
I bit my lip, "That… That shouldn't have happened."
"And yet, it did." Tessai looked at me, "If that Soul Candy could somehow make Ichigo's body just a little faster, this might not have ended as badly as it did." He gave me a pointed look, "But he only became a Shinigami last week. There's no way he would be strong enough to fight Grand Fisher and win, anyway."
"Yeah… He wasn't strong enough…" I trailed.
It was bullshit. It was all complete bullshit.
This, I thought, was what Project Spearhead was meant for. Having corpses fight? That wasn't just immoral, it was stupid. A corpse wouldn't be able to do it. But if the goal was just running away, or simply stalling for time, or quickly defending oneself and other humans – a Mod Soul could do that much, at least. It could do that very well.
I took Kon because I thought, hey, maybe he would be useful. It was really just a kind of casual insurance. I didn't have some great or spectacular plan in mind when I did it, I just figured that doing it would make things easier for Ichigo and Rukia – I figured, hey, now they won't run around after a pervert in Ichigo's body.
And because of my help, Yuzu was in a coma in the hospital, Karin was traumatized, Ichigo got the shit beaten out of him, and Yoruichi was left behind to pick up what was left behind. Grand Fisher still got away, but Ichigo received no closure.
"Ichigo is nowhere near as strong as he needs to be." Tessai spoke, "If what you told us is true, if the Soul Society is going to send a captain and vice-captain after Rukia, Ichigo won't stand a chance of surviving that fight."
"That's assuming he cares enough to help." My mouth betrayed me again. This tendency to work faster than my head… why, mouth…? Why?
Yoruichi just looked at me, "You think he won't? After Grand Fisher almost killed his sister?"
"No, see, you're mixing it up…" I considered how to reply, "In the original story… Ichigo knew Rukia for several months. Neither of his sisters got hurt, not like this. The question here is if he cares enough about Rukia to rush off and save her or if he'll just let her be taken to die. I mean, he barely knows her. Since she's shown up, Ichigo's been running around all week, fighting two or more months' worth of Hollows while dealing with situations that endangered all his friends on multiple occasions… with the most recent Hollow attack, he might be reconsidering his career choice." I looked at them, "If Ichigo doesn't go to Soul Society to save Rukia, who will? Who can go?"
Yoruichi thought about it, "I'd suggest Uryu, but… he hates Shinigami. If anything, he hates himself more right now."
"…huh?"
"Over four hundred people died from that Hollow attack, excluding your stunt with the skyscraper. Since then, Uryu's gone silent. I'd ask Ryuken about it, but he's been impossible to contact." She closed her eyes and tilted her head down, "He's strong enough, but there's no way he'd be willing to help."
"Ichigo knows more people than just Uryu, though," I pointed out, "But…" I thought about it, "I don't think he knows anyone who could help him, here… Goddamnit! There's no time to recruit or train anyone for invading the Soul Society. There's no time to bring Ichigo up to par so he can deal with the threats he will definitely encounter. Is there time to do anything?"
"There… might be." Tessai said haltingly, "You said Rukia Kuchiki was gone for two months?"
"Uh, yeah. Two or three… She originally arrived in the middle of May and then, in July… twentieth…? I want to say it happened on the nineteenth, but I'm probably wrong. That should be around when the Shinigami came for her. Are you going somewhere with this?"
Tessai crossed his arms, "The Shinigami will not respond to Kuchiki's disappearance, not after only a week. Doing so would go against their standard methods of operation. Rather, if they are going to send the team you think they will, we have a month to become prepared for it."
"But the timeline's going faster than it originally did. Who's to say whether or not the Soul Society will or won't act?" I asked.
"Us," Yoruichi answered. "What events in the timeline happened when they shouldn't have? Uryu meeting Ichigo could have happened at any point, with or without your intervention. Grand Fisher showed up on time. Don Kanonji came to Karakura Town a month earlier than previously scheduled, but that also has a reasonable explanation… From how you explained it, these events are happening faster than they should. But here, there are causes for all of them. Things just fell into place this way," she looked at me, "Without you, we'd never have known how it was supposed to go. Even with this increased pace, if you hadn't intervened, Ichigo might have managed an impossible victory against Grand Fisher."
"It's still strange." I protested, "This acceleration has already affected people, why wouldn't it affect the Soul Society? Even if their policy is to wait a few months, this Hollow incident was the tipping point in canon. This is when they finally decided to intervene, previous policies be damned."
"Indeed." Tessai agreed, "Which is why instead of fighting, I was tasked with constructing a barrier."
…he was what? I knew Tessai was the head of the Kido Corp, but for him to do what I think he did felt just plain bizarre. Actually, wait a second. Why would it be bizarre? Tessai was the best Kido user in Bleach. Why wouldn't he be able to find a way to fool the Soul Society? Why would it be beyond his ability to trick Kurotsuchi's devices and subordinates? "Are you… Are you telling me you blocked the Soul Society from looking at Karakura Town?"
"Not quite. I just 'looped the footage', so to speak. The readings they were receiving about Hollow activity in this area have been unusually high. A dip in activity would be expected. So, I just altered their results from down here by making this Hollow attack look like an average day."
If the Soul Society had a means of detecting when Hollows were slain, maybe there would be a discrepancy. But from what Tessai was saying, it was a short term solution. It wasn't supposed to hold up to scrutiny. And if the Shinigami weren't coming in a day, then by the time they started their investigation their arrival would be inevitable.
The chances of the Shinigami coming here were already at a hundred percent, so that kind of trick wouldn't increase that possibility any higher! It'd be like the cherry on top of an already sizable ice cream sundae – interesting to have, but ultimately unnecessary to promote any further digging.
"So… basically, they won't be sending anyone down until August?" I couldn't believe it. This was huge. We'd gone from worrying about the immediate future to actually having a legitimate chance of getting out of this situation. "That's… That's great!"
"Not great." Yoruichi interjected, "We still need to look into getting Ichigo strong enough to face the Soul Society at its best. If we assume that the acceleration has finally stopped, that we have the necessary time to get ready, then that leaves us a month to bring Ichigo up to the same level as a Captain-class Shinigami." Yoruichi frowned at the idea, "I know he has an incredible potential for growth, but after what's happened… you raised a good point, Poe. I don't know if he will be willing to become stronger after losing so much."
I considered it for a moment, "Okay, I have an idea."
"…" Tessai looked at me silently.
"It's a good idea." I nodded to myself.
Yoruichi stared. "Your last idea put his sister in the hospital."
"Well this plan won't." I smiled, "The Soul Society wants to kidnap Rukia Kuchiki, but we don't know if Ichigo will save her. So we just need to be sure he'll act on her behalf when the time comes, and if we find out how strong he is in the process that's just an added bonus!"
Tessai blinked, "I'm not sure I'm following…" He went silent at the sight of my widening grin.
"It's simple," I gesticulated with my hands, "Let's kidnap Rukia Kuchiki."
Complete and utter silence, broken only by the steady beeping of a heart monitor – if not for the smell of antiseptic, if not for that echoing beep, and if not for the rapid beating of my heart, it could be called calm.
Following a solid minute of baffled staring, Yoruichi face-palmed.
-x-
One Foot on the Platform
OR: One Foot on the Train
End-08
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Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
My god. That is so audacious that it just might work.
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
Yeah, that is a bit of a glaring plot hole. I mean, Ghost Rider doesn't kill innocents, so why would he use a form of transportation that results in tons of dead people?
Ars Poetica
ULTIMA RATIO NEMO OBLIGATUR
- Location
- The Kingdom of Fiore
- Pronouns
- He / Him / His
Except the Ghost Rider wasn't driving the van, Poe was. The Ghost Rider's power was on the van, but Poe was driving it. If the Ghost Rider was driving that van, he wouldn't have gone up that building. Maybe he'd have gone up a different building with no people in it? Maybe he'd have just gone through the building -- it's oddly more believable that the building would survive that than a vertical drive.
The Ghost Rider would definitely have done it differently. But Poe is not the Ghost Rider. He is the host of the Ghost, not the Ghost itself. They are separate entities and the Ghost Rider is just chillin' in the back seat of Poe's body and soul most of the time. But when the Rider takes the wheel, things become hectic for everyone involved. Poe can access some of the Ghost Rider's powers, but they are two separate beings.
And if Poe uses the Rider's powers the wrong way, bad things are probably going to happen.
- Location
- .
Reasonable, but you DO know that the Ghost Rider's "Ride" tends to be semi-intellegent to a degree, correct?
Hell, even in the movie his motorcycle drove up to him several times, without turning into a burning scary ghost ride.
Ars Poetica
ULTIMA RATIO NEMO OBLIGATUR
- Location
- The Kingdom of Fiore
- Pronouns
- He / Him / His
I... wouldn't call that intelligence. At least, not actual intelligence. Maybe 'functional' intelligence? Methinks that is an ability that requires at least some level of understanding of the Rider to function. I'll have to watch the film again to be sure, but even then I'm mostly using the varying comics as my main source. The varying, conflicting canons of the comics. Oh god the canons.
That's actually a legitimate criticism. I've never done a daily update thing before, so it's probably going to be a bit clumsy at first. You basically nailed my biggest problem as a writer on the head. So, I'm hoping to turn that on its head within the next two or three chapters.
Poe is basically doing what I might in his position. At the end of the day, he is an SI. The issue is, I know what I'd do and (looking from the outside in as the author), I'm pretty sure what will happen as a result... it's the stuff in between that gets to me.
If the problem persists, I'm pretty sure I've got a friend who can take a look at the next chapters before I put them up, but asking for a Beta adds time to the chapter that may compromise my "write under constant pressure" strategy. And if I stop for too long, I might just forget to update anymore... it's a hell of a cycle, really.
Well, as I said, while you obviously have an idea of where to go with the story, the question you should ask yourself is not 'what must the SI do to get to point X' but rather 'what will happen if he does XY'. This runs the risk of the story getting away from you and running into a writer's block, of course, but the narrative will be much more organic.
Aside from that bit, the story is great (I'm biased, because I love any self inserts that don't have horribad grammar and harems), except the dearth of descriptions - there were a lot of times when I had no idea about the location, like, I didn't even realize they were in Urahara's basement until you mentioned it was devastated. The beginning was also rather confusing, jumping from place to place, but I assume that was intentional, even if it could have been better executed.
Overall, I like it so far, and things were getting easier to comprehend as you went along.
Aside from that bit, the story is great (I'm biased, because I love any self inserts that don't have horribad grammar and harems), except the dearth of descriptions - there were a lot of times when I had no idea about the location, like, I didn't even realize they were in Urahara's basement until you mentioned it was devastated. The beginning was also rather confusing, jumping from place to place, but I assume that was intentional, even if it could have been better executed.
Overall, I like it so far, and things were getting easier to comprehend as you went along.
I used to have the same problem. What helped me was writing down main points of a story/essay/chapter. I go over each point and then expand upon them adding in more details, really helped me, might help you.I... wouldn't call that intelligence. At least, not actual intelligence. Maybe 'functional' intelligence? Methinks that is an ability that requires at least some level of understanding of the Rider to function. I'll have to watch the film again to be sure, but even then I'm mostly using the varying comics as my main source. The varying, conflicting canons of the comics. Oh god the canons.
That's actually a legitimate criticism. I've never done a daily update thing before, so it's probably going to be a bit clumsy at first. You basically nailed my biggest problem as a writer on the head. So, I'm hoping to turn that on its head within the next two or three chapters.
Poe is basically doing what I might in his position. At the end of the day, he is an SI. The issue is, I know what I'd do and (looking from the outside in as the author), I'm pretty sure what will happen as a result... it's the stuff in between that gets to me.
If the problem persists, I'm pretty sure I've got a friend who can take a look at the next chapters before I put them up, but asking for a Beta adds time to the chapter that may compromise my "write under constant pressure" strategy. And if I stop for too long, I might just forget to update anymore... it's a hell of a cycle, really.
Chapter 009
Ars Poetica
ULTIMA RATIO NEMO OBLIGATUR
- Location
- The Kingdom of Fiore
- Pronouns
- He / Him / His
Well that escalated quickly. I mean, it really got out of hand.
-x-
It was a Monday when the plan to capture Rukia Kuchiki was launched. With school cancelled for the day, Ichigo might have found himself wandering around aimlessly. Or maybe he would have stayed home? In either case, Rukia wanted to do something that day and decided to drag Ichigo along with her.
Of course this made sense, but that made it a little harder to grab her. I recall that most of that cloudy Monday in June was spent in the van of wonder, waiting for something to happen as I followed her from one place to another.
With any good kidnapping, the breakfast of champions was absolutely necessary – moreso if we were going to capture someone who was a step below being royalty. Kind of. Sort of. Soul Society politics are weird like that.
So, in my most amazing van in the world, I went into a drive-thru. Yoruichi was sitting next to me, gripping the seat tightly, "This is the last time," She said to me, "That I ever go anywhere with you."
"I told you he was insane!" snapped Kon from the dashboard, "But you didn't listen! He's a maniac!"
"Kon, Yoruichi, please don't reveal the supernatural to the teenager behind the speaker." I slowly drifted forwards in my mega van, "We are going to kidnap a princess today. But if we're going to do it, we're doing it on full stomachs. I haven't had anything to eat for over a day. And now I'm hungry."
"…something about this feels wrong," Yoruichi said to me, "I know we haven't lost sight of her, yet, but this just doesn't feel like a kidnapping operation."
"Give it time."
Kon looked like he was shuddering. He shook his hula girl head and looked at me, "How do you intend to pay for anything? You don't even have any money!"
The morbidly obese man in the tiny car behind us, however, was a different story.
"Welcome to Burger Bling, may I take your order?" came out of the speaker.
I looked dead at the speaker, "Yeah, uh, I missed my turn a while ago and I'm just passing through on my way back. Don't mind me!" My voice was positively chipper.
"Alright, then. Have a shiny day!"
We drove a little further and went past the first window. I waved at the fellow behind it and kept going, but stopped a few feet away from the second window. "Now, we wait."
"Wait for what?" Kon asked.
I checked the rearview window and saw the large man pay for his food. I drove up to the second window, "Good afternoon," I smiled at the girl in the second window as she handed me three 'shiny deluxe specials'. "Thank you, and have a shiny day!" Smiling, I drove away, went down the road a bit, and turned into a small area between two buildings.
Rukia was in a small clothing store across the street marveling at a dress of some kind. Ichigo was just standing by and sulking. I opened the first bag and, "You're an asshole." Thank you, Kon.
"I might be an asshole, but at least I won't be hungry. Lady and gentleman, breakfast is served."
I took one bite of the first burger…
…
…The food tasted like shit.
-x-
After an hour of watching Rukia and Ichigo in a clothing store, they finally walked out and started going down the street. "Okay…" I said, "Let's do this. Kon, we're leaving you behind to be his Soul Candy. Once you get into Ichigo's body, take him to Urahara's."
"…Wait, you're letting me go into his body? You're letting me run around? That's…" Kon thought about it, "I am completely okay with this plan."
"Great!" with my left hand, I gave him a thumbs-up, "Yoruichi, you'll be helping me get Rukia into the back. While I drive, tie her up."
"I don't have hands while I'm in this form, you realize." She looked at me.
"Then become human to do it." I shrugged, "Easy solution to an easy problem."
"I'll be naked."
"…Easy solution to an easy problem-" Yoruichi growled. "Okay, if you're that concerned with your identity, wear this," I gestured to one of the bags. I had poked eye-holes in them. "I'll be wearing one, too. So…"
"I'll hit you. And it will hurt." Yoruichi glared at me.
"I kid, I kid. There should be a pair of pants and a shirt in the back. But don't you have your own outfit?"
"In Kisuke's van?" she almost scoffed at me, "Why?"
"Well, I always assumed you two were… uh…" I coughed, "Nevermind."
"…No, not 'nevermind'. I kind of want to hear this."
"Well, it's just that you two are really close in the original story. And a lot of people thought that you two were, uh, an item…?"
Yoruichi stared. "…Nope." Visibly, past her black fur, I could see her turning green at the idea. "Just… no… We're like siblings. Or… or really close cousins. That's… He's a close friend, but I'd never… That's just weird."
"Hey," Kon looked around, "Even if they were in a relationship, why would Yoruichi's clothes be in the van?"
I thought about how to answer that and opened my mouth to reply. "Not a word." Yoruichi hissed at me, "Not one more word out of your mouth…"
We sat in the van of awesome for ten minutes in complete silence.
"…Oh…!" Kon called out, "Now I get it!"
"Shut up, Kon!" Yoruichi and I snapped at him in unison.
-x-
"I feel awful…" I moaned, "Why did I do this to myself?"
Yoruichi looked at me with something between pity and awe, "That food was obviously bad, why did you eat the rest of it?"
"I was hungry…" I did not whine at Yoruichi as I held my gut. I took a deep breath. "And besides, the milkshake was worth it." It was the best chocolate milkshake I'd ever had.
"If you're not well, there are better plans than this." Yoruichi sighed, outside of her cat form. "Honestly, I'd rather not go through with this."
"No, no…" I took a deep breath, "No. It's not the food. It's just nerves." It wasn't nerves. It was the food. "Just… Give me a sec…" I took another breath and exhaled slowly, "Okay. Okay, let's do this."
My hands gripped the wheel tightly, "If you're sure…" Yoruichi trailed as she took Kon out of the hula girl, "Do you have the note?"
"The one saying he has to meet us by the construction site?" I asked, "Yeah, I've got it."
"Great." She gave me another side look, "This plan is terrible, by the way."
"I know."
I drove.
-x-
One moment, Rukia and Ichigo were walking down the sidewalk. The next moment, my van was barreling down the road, making an impossibly sharp turn so the back faced them. Wearing empty food bags over our heads, Yoruichi and I opened the back doors of the van from the inside, burst out, and grabbed Rukia.
"Get in the van! Get in the fucking van!" I was shouting at the top of my lungs. Ichigo was watching in complete surprise. Just as planned, Yoruichi 'dropped' Kon and the note. The doors were shut, I started driving again, and Rukia was quickly tied up in the back.
"What the hell…?!" she snapped at us, "What the hell is this?!"
"We're kidnapping you," I explained, "But don't worry! It's for a good cause!" I rounded the next corner in a turn as sharp as I could manage. "Phase one is complete, Agent Cat! Which way to the construction site!"
Yoruichi was silent for a moment, "…You don't know where we're supposed to hold her?"
"…No…" I trailed as my van ran two red lights and almost flattened a pedestrian.
"This was your plan! How don't you know where to take her?!" she snapped at me.
Rukia, quickly getting past the surprise of being kidnapped, just stared, "Oh my god, I've been captured by idiots."
"Don't associate me with him!" Yoruichi snapped at her.
The van of super sprinkled mega yes flew off the top of a hill and crashed back onto the road with a heavy thump, "Quit arguing back there! Don't make me turn this van around!"
We went into a tunnel with the sound of screeching tires.
"Are you insane?!" Yoruichi cried, "You're driving on the wrong side of the road!"
"No I'm not! I'm driving on the exact right side of the road!" I looked at her, "Get it? Right? Because…"
"Watch out for the truck!"
Rukia just stared wide-eyed, "Oh my god, I'm going to be killed by a pair of idiots."
"You're not going to die! Nobody's dying today! We're just kidnapping you!" I rounded another corner and burst into the open world, "There's a huge difference!"
I nearly hit a Prius. I wish I hit that fucking Prius.
-x-
"Okay, all that's left is to wait." It was dark, now. With the light pollution from the rest of Karakura Town, it was hard to make out most of the stars in the skies. The moon was visible, though. It was a nice moon. "And wait."
Yoruichi stared at me from inside the van. "This is a terrible kidnapping and a worse idea." She exhaled, "How do you expect to fight him, anyway?"
"Carefully?" I suggested, "I don't know. Well, no, I know… Just don't know how I know, or how I know I know. Does that help?"
"No." Yoruichi deadpanned, "It doesn't. Are you telling me you know how to use a sword?"
I fingered the handle of my Asauchi. "Yeah. Well, no. I've had some training… but two days ago, I was cutting down Hollows left and right and I don't know how I did that."
Yoruichi frowned, "That's what's surprising to you?" she asked, "Didn't Kisuke or Tessai explain to you that souls are better at acquiring information? I wouldn't be surprised if you just knew how to use that Asauchi. It might not have a name, but it's still a Zanpakuto – an extension of your body, soul, and mind…" A frown crossed her face, "It might be odd that you're getting proficient with it as fast as you are, but then, as someone who 'knows the future', you should also know that humans generally hold a greater potential for growth than Shinigami given the right circumstances."
That… was true, wasn't it? Someone might have been able to say that Ichigo became much stronger because of his heritage as being half-Shinigami and half-Quincy, but the Quincies themselves were absurdly strong. None of them, to my knowledge, were spiritual beings. All of them appeared to be living people and they were capable of some pretty absurd bullshit.
Being a Shinigami was one way of getting power, but it was normally a very slow-going process. And why is that? I had an idea for it. Shinigami, as beings who already had died, could live for centuries or even millennia. They had all the time in the afterlife to become powerful. But people, living people such as the Quincies or people who used Fullbring, these people had limited lifespans. They could not live for hundreds or thousands of years.
Breaching a hundred would be a challenge in itself. And with as little time as they had in the world, exposed on all sides to threats such as Hollows, they would have to become stronger, faster. Ichigo was just one example. Since I was alive, technically, that would mean my growth potential in this world would be proportional to how much time I had left to live… or something like that.
It was a running theory. It could have been completely wrong. But if it wasn't, then it might have explained why I was apparently forming a connection with my nameless sword.
"I guess that makes sense," I said, "So is it feasible that Ichigo is actually strong enough to threaten me?"
"Hmm…" Yoruichi pondered it for a moment, "I have no idea."
"Hah?"
"I don't know how strong you are. And I'm not sure how strong Ichigo is right now. I'd guess you two are about even, but that's not much of a help on things. And, in the end, it doesn't really matter… does it?"
A fifty-fifty chance? Not even that. If Ichigo and I were on the same level, at the moment, it was anyone's game. I'd be fighting to hurt him, but not to kill him. The goal was to see if he could defend himself against others while also testing to see if he'd come for Rukia Kuchiki if she was kidnapped.
"No… I guess not." And besides, I considered morbidly, we'd be finding out in a moment, anyway.
Minutes later, Ichigo Kurosaki had arrived. His giant sword was already out and he was ready for a fight. I pulled out my sword and stepped forward, ready to begin introductions.
He looked frustrated, angry, and mostly distressed. He looked like a scared kid in way over his head. This was a person who had been through hell and I didn't know what to say to him.
The only thing keeping my identity a secret was a bag from a fast food chain I'd never heard of. He didn't even know what to call me, just that I'd kidnapped one of his friends.
And no matter how afraid he was of fighting me, at the end of the day he was scared more of losing Rukia. It would have been sweet if it wasn't so terrifying.
This was the person who would be attacking the Soul Society in a month? This was the same Ichigo Kurosaki who could fight Captains? This kid had the potential to level mountains and he was afraid of me. It was… a hard to describe feeling. If this was the person that the entire world depended on, then the world was fucked.
I felt my priorities change.
Rukia Kuchiki has been kidnapped. Ichigo has come to save her. But visibly, obviously, he lacked resolve. So my job would not be to test if he was strong enough or willing enough – to have survived as long as he did after this week of hell should have demonstrated both in spades.
My challenge was to see if he had the necessary resolve to keep going. I'd either break him, or he'd become exactly the person this world needed. Actually, no. Could I break Ichigo Kurosaki?
Not in a million years. There were no words that came to mind that I could use, nothing that I could think of saying that would do that – let alone things that I could do. Even after losing to Grand Fisher, Ichigo kept going.
All that was left was to determine if it was stubborn, stupid pride… or blind, unresolved obligation. A new plan in mind, I prepared to "introduce" myself. I barely made it two steps forward…
…when, right in the middle of what would soon be our battlefield, the Senkaimon opened.
-x-
One Foot on the Platform
OR: One Foot on the Train
End-09
-x-
It was a Monday when the plan to capture Rukia Kuchiki was launched. With school cancelled for the day, Ichigo might have found himself wandering around aimlessly. Or maybe he would have stayed home? In either case, Rukia wanted to do something that day and decided to drag Ichigo along with her.
Of course this made sense, but that made it a little harder to grab her. I recall that most of that cloudy Monday in June was spent in the van of wonder, waiting for something to happen as I followed her from one place to another.
With any good kidnapping, the breakfast of champions was absolutely necessary – moreso if we were going to capture someone who was a step below being royalty. Kind of. Sort of. Soul Society politics are weird like that.
So, in my most amazing van in the world, I went into a drive-thru. Yoruichi was sitting next to me, gripping the seat tightly, "This is the last time," She said to me, "That I ever go anywhere with you."
"I told you he was insane!" snapped Kon from the dashboard, "But you didn't listen! He's a maniac!"
"Kon, Yoruichi, please don't reveal the supernatural to the teenager behind the speaker." I slowly drifted forwards in my mega van, "We are going to kidnap a princess today. But if we're going to do it, we're doing it on full stomachs. I haven't had anything to eat for over a day. And now I'm hungry."
"…something about this feels wrong," Yoruichi said to me, "I know we haven't lost sight of her, yet, but this just doesn't feel like a kidnapping operation."
"Give it time."
Kon looked like he was shuddering. He shook his hula girl head and looked at me, "How do you intend to pay for anything? You don't even have any money!"
The morbidly obese man in the tiny car behind us, however, was a different story.
"Welcome to Burger Bling, may I take your order?" came out of the speaker.
I looked dead at the speaker, "Yeah, uh, I missed my turn a while ago and I'm just passing through on my way back. Don't mind me!" My voice was positively chipper.
"Alright, then. Have a shiny day!"
We drove a little further and went past the first window. I waved at the fellow behind it and kept going, but stopped a few feet away from the second window. "Now, we wait."
"Wait for what?" Kon asked.
I checked the rearview window and saw the large man pay for his food. I drove up to the second window, "Good afternoon," I smiled at the girl in the second window as she handed me three 'shiny deluxe specials'. "Thank you, and have a shiny day!" Smiling, I drove away, went down the road a bit, and turned into a small area between two buildings.
Rukia was in a small clothing store across the street marveling at a dress of some kind. Ichigo was just standing by and sulking. I opened the first bag and, "You're an asshole." Thank you, Kon.
"I might be an asshole, but at least I won't be hungry. Lady and gentleman, breakfast is served."
I took one bite of the first burger…
…
…The food tasted like shit.
-x-
After an hour of watching Rukia and Ichigo in a clothing store, they finally walked out and started going down the street. "Okay…" I said, "Let's do this. Kon, we're leaving you behind to be his Soul Candy. Once you get into Ichigo's body, take him to Urahara's."
"…Wait, you're letting me go into his body? You're letting me run around? That's…" Kon thought about it, "I am completely okay with this plan."
"Great!" with my left hand, I gave him a thumbs-up, "Yoruichi, you'll be helping me get Rukia into the back. While I drive, tie her up."
"I don't have hands while I'm in this form, you realize." She looked at me.
"Then become human to do it." I shrugged, "Easy solution to an easy problem."
"I'll be naked."
"…Easy solution to an easy problem-" Yoruichi growled. "Okay, if you're that concerned with your identity, wear this," I gestured to one of the bags. I had poked eye-holes in them. "I'll be wearing one, too. So…"
"I'll hit you. And it will hurt." Yoruichi glared at me.
"I kid, I kid. There should be a pair of pants and a shirt in the back. But don't you have your own outfit?"
"In Kisuke's van?" she almost scoffed at me, "Why?"
"Well, I always assumed you two were… uh…" I coughed, "Nevermind."
"…No, not 'nevermind'. I kind of want to hear this."
"Well, it's just that you two are really close in the original story. And a lot of people thought that you two were, uh, an item…?"
Yoruichi stared. "…Nope." Visibly, past her black fur, I could see her turning green at the idea. "Just… no… We're like siblings. Or… or really close cousins. That's… He's a close friend, but I'd never… That's just weird."
"Hey," Kon looked around, "Even if they were in a relationship, why would Yoruichi's clothes be in the van?"
I thought about how to answer that and opened my mouth to reply. "Not a word." Yoruichi hissed at me, "Not one more word out of your mouth…"
We sat in the van of awesome for ten minutes in complete silence.
"…Oh…!" Kon called out, "Now I get it!"
"Shut up, Kon!" Yoruichi and I snapped at him in unison.
-x-
"I feel awful…" I moaned, "Why did I do this to myself?"
Yoruichi looked at me with something between pity and awe, "That food was obviously bad, why did you eat the rest of it?"
"I was hungry…" I did not whine at Yoruichi as I held my gut. I took a deep breath. "And besides, the milkshake was worth it." It was the best chocolate milkshake I'd ever had.
"If you're not well, there are better plans than this." Yoruichi sighed, outside of her cat form. "Honestly, I'd rather not go through with this."
"No, no…" I took a deep breath, "No. It's not the food. It's just nerves." It wasn't nerves. It was the food. "Just… Give me a sec…" I took another breath and exhaled slowly, "Okay. Okay, let's do this."
My hands gripped the wheel tightly, "If you're sure…" Yoruichi trailed as she took Kon out of the hula girl, "Do you have the note?"
"The one saying he has to meet us by the construction site?" I asked, "Yeah, I've got it."
"Great." She gave me another side look, "This plan is terrible, by the way."
"I know."
I drove.
-x-
One moment, Rukia and Ichigo were walking down the sidewalk. The next moment, my van was barreling down the road, making an impossibly sharp turn so the back faced them. Wearing empty food bags over our heads, Yoruichi and I opened the back doors of the van from the inside, burst out, and grabbed Rukia.
"Get in the van! Get in the fucking van!" I was shouting at the top of my lungs. Ichigo was watching in complete surprise. Just as planned, Yoruichi 'dropped' Kon and the note. The doors were shut, I started driving again, and Rukia was quickly tied up in the back.
"What the hell…?!" she snapped at us, "What the hell is this?!"
"We're kidnapping you," I explained, "But don't worry! It's for a good cause!" I rounded the next corner in a turn as sharp as I could manage. "Phase one is complete, Agent Cat! Which way to the construction site!"
Yoruichi was silent for a moment, "…You don't know where we're supposed to hold her?"
"…No…" I trailed as my van ran two red lights and almost flattened a pedestrian.
"This was your plan! How don't you know where to take her?!" she snapped at me.
Rukia, quickly getting past the surprise of being kidnapped, just stared, "Oh my god, I've been captured by idiots."
"Don't associate me with him!" Yoruichi snapped at her.
The van of super sprinkled mega yes flew off the top of a hill and crashed back onto the road with a heavy thump, "Quit arguing back there! Don't make me turn this van around!"
We went into a tunnel with the sound of screeching tires.
"Are you insane?!" Yoruichi cried, "You're driving on the wrong side of the road!"
"No I'm not! I'm driving on the exact right side of the road!" I looked at her, "Get it? Right? Because…"
"Watch out for the truck!"
Rukia just stared wide-eyed, "Oh my god, I'm going to be killed by a pair of idiots."
"You're not going to die! Nobody's dying today! We're just kidnapping you!" I rounded another corner and burst into the open world, "There's a huge difference!"
I nearly hit a Prius. I wish I hit that fucking Prius.
-x-
"Okay, all that's left is to wait." It was dark, now. With the light pollution from the rest of Karakura Town, it was hard to make out most of the stars in the skies. The moon was visible, though. It was a nice moon. "And wait."
Yoruichi stared at me from inside the van. "This is a terrible kidnapping and a worse idea." She exhaled, "How do you expect to fight him, anyway?"
"Carefully?" I suggested, "I don't know. Well, no, I know… Just don't know how I know, or how I know I know. Does that help?"
"No." Yoruichi deadpanned, "It doesn't. Are you telling me you know how to use a sword?"
I fingered the handle of my Asauchi. "Yeah. Well, no. I've had some training… but two days ago, I was cutting down Hollows left and right and I don't know how I did that."
Yoruichi frowned, "That's what's surprising to you?" she asked, "Didn't Kisuke or Tessai explain to you that souls are better at acquiring information? I wouldn't be surprised if you just knew how to use that Asauchi. It might not have a name, but it's still a Zanpakuto – an extension of your body, soul, and mind…" A frown crossed her face, "It might be odd that you're getting proficient with it as fast as you are, but then, as someone who 'knows the future', you should also know that humans generally hold a greater potential for growth than Shinigami given the right circumstances."
That… was true, wasn't it? Someone might have been able to say that Ichigo became much stronger because of his heritage as being half-Shinigami and half-Quincy, but the Quincies themselves were absurdly strong. None of them, to my knowledge, were spiritual beings. All of them appeared to be living people and they were capable of some pretty absurd bullshit.
Being a Shinigami was one way of getting power, but it was normally a very slow-going process. And why is that? I had an idea for it. Shinigami, as beings who already had died, could live for centuries or even millennia. They had all the time in the afterlife to become powerful. But people, living people such as the Quincies or people who used Fullbring, these people had limited lifespans. They could not live for hundreds or thousands of years.
Breaching a hundred would be a challenge in itself. And with as little time as they had in the world, exposed on all sides to threats such as Hollows, they would have to become stronger, faster. Ichigo was just one example. Since I was alive, technically, that would mean my growth potential in this world would be proportional to how much time I had left to live… or something like that.
It was a running theory. It could have been completely wrong. But if it wasn't, then it might have explained why I was apparently forming a connection with my nameless sword.
"I guess that makes sense," I said, "So is it feasible that Ichigo is actually strong enough to threaten me?"
"Hmm…" Yoruichi pondered it for a moment, "I have no idea."
"Hah?"
"I don't know how strong you are. And I'm not sure how strong Ichigo is right now. I'd guess you two are about even, but that's not much of a help on things. And, in the end, it doesn't really matter… does it?"
A fifty-fifty chance? Not even that. If Ichigo and I were on the same level, at the moment, it was anyone's game. I'd be fighting to hurt him, but not to kill him. The goal was to see if he could defend himself against others while also testing to see if he'd come for Rukia Kuchiki if she was kidnapped.
"No… I guess not." And besides, I considered morbidly, we'd be finding out in a moment, anyway.
Minutes later, Ichigo Kurosaki had arrived. His giant sword was already out and he was ready for a fight. I pulled out my sword and stepped forward, ready to begin introductions.
He looked frustrated, angry, and mostly distressed. He looked like a scared kid in way over his head. This was a person who had been through hell and I didn't know what to say to him.
The only thing keeping my identity a secret was a bag from a fast food chain I'd never heard of. He didn't even know what to call me, just that I'd kidnapped one of his friends.
And no matter how afraid he was of fighting me, at the end of the day he was scared more of losing Rukia. It would have been sweet if it wasn't so terrifying.
This was the person who would be attacking the Soul Society in a month? This was the same Ichigo Kurosaki who could fight Captains? This kid had the potential to level mountains and he was afraid of me. It was… a hard to describe feeling. If this was the person that the entire world depended on, then the world was fucked.
I felt my priorities change.
Rukia Kuchiki has been kidnapped. Ichigo has come to save her. But visibly, obviously, he lacked resolve. So my job would not be to test if he was strong enough or willing enough – to have survived as long as he did after this week of hell should have demonstrated both in spades.
My challenge was to see if he had the necessary resolve to keep going. I'd either break him, or he'd become exactly the person this world needed. Actually, no. Could I break Ichigo Kurosaki?
Not in a million years. There were no words that came to mind that I could use, nothing that I could think of saying that would do that – let alone things that I could do. Even after losing to Grand Fisher, Ichigo kept going.
All that was left was to determine if it was stubborn, stupid pride… or blind, unresolved obligation. A new plan in mind, I prepared to "introduce" myself. I barely made it two steps forward…
…when, right in the middle of what would soon be our battlefield, the Senkaimon opened.
-x-
One Foot on the Platform
OR: One Foot on the Train
End-09
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A Nation's Virtue
南國山河南帝居
...someone dun fucked up.
