For Aizen, what I'm saying simply boils down to 'I wish I could respond to this twist more neutrally versus going 'oh no it's AIZEN!' and dreading his plot vortex.
I see; I can understand that. I will say that there's a reason the fic is titled the way it is - "The Throne of Heavens" was mentioned first in the manga in a quote from Aizen himself. That's not a random choice of title I made. So, in that sense, Aizen always was an inescapable part of this story; really, it wouldn't be a Bleach rewrite if he didn't play at least some part into it.
That said, I do have changes planned for him; I guess the judgment on whether those change make for a better or worse story will remain to be seen. And I will straight up say that the whole "I planned your life from the beginning!" silliness won't be part of this tale at all; hopefully when everything is laid out, it will all make sense. And until then, I think that having to wonder how much of what's going on should be taken at face value now that everybody knows Rukia was in Karakura specifically because Aizen sent her there will add to the narrative. Or at least, it should.
Setting that aside, I'd really like to have some commentary on the battle itself - did it feel good enough, or was there any weakness that I should look to improve on in the future?
Ginjo was a difficult balancing act, yeah - I think he come off the way I wanted him to, from how you're describing your read of him, so overall I think he's working as intended. Of course, we haven't seen the last of him yet.
As for Aizen, not sure I understand the point you're making - could you clarify a bit for me? Also, I'd like a call on the level of surprise for his reveal - I tried my best to seed foreshadowing of this particular reveal into the story from the beginning, but with big plot twists it's always hard to say whether it felt well done or if it seemed to come out of nowhere.
Real talk, I've been waiting for the reveal. The way Rukia kept talking about her Captain suggested it wasn't ****ing Mayuri (HATE HIM).
I'm still trying to get a handle on how you've twisted around some of the major plot points from OG Bleach, but while I didn't have this reveal as 100% guaranteed, I'm not really that shocked.
Battle commentary:
Go Orihime with the A.Sol style! (A.Sol is short for Aurelion Sol, a champion in LoL who primarily fights with three stars that orbit him, which sounds like what Orihime was doing with the platform and attack spheres in the latter portion of her fight.)
Rukia's done well under Aizen in how she gets to smug so often and here even use her smugness to her advantage. Also suddenly appearing in front of Riruka and looming over her was a great moment.
Never played LoL, only heard of it, but I am happy to ear that she comes across as strong, since that's what I was going for. My hope here was to make it clear that every member of Ichigo's group is above average in some manner - so I tried to make it clear that Ishida has a ton of experience, Chad has the strongest soul of the humans and the best emotional control, and for Orihime I was hoping to get across that she's just "the lucky one", including in getting a power that's actually very strong.
And of course, I've been dropping hints about Rukia's real power level for a while now, which hopefully is working fine in making it clear she's no pushover at all, even if sometimes she can miscalculate.
Yeah, I tried to make that much at least very obvious, to get people wondering. However, I'm curious - before the reveal, who did you think it would be?
I'm still trying to get a handle on how you've twisted around some of the major plot points from OG Bleach, but while I didn't have this reveal as 100% guaranteed, I'm not really that shocked.
I think that's good - at least it means that the reveal didn't came out of nowhere, right? Also, would you like to share which major twists have you confused and why? It'd be very useful feedback to see if I'm handling it correctly.
Also, now that the first arc is more or less done and the primary protagonist team has been put together (well, almost), as a question specifically for those who have read Bleach, do you think that it would be possible to follow the story for somebody who hadn't? Or is there some aspects that would be too inscrutable for somebody who lacked the previous knowledge?
Similarly, if somebody is reading this who hasn't actually read Bleach, what do you think of it? Is it working for you, or is it confusing?
Also, I'd like a call on the level of surprise for his reveal - I tried my best to seed foreshadowing of this particular reveal into the story from the beginning, but with big plot twists it's always hard to say whether it felt well done or if it seemed to come out of nowhere.
Well, for me I knew he would be her captain the instant you said she was here on a secret mission to find the visord. At that point I was "oh, neat twist. That will screw up canon massively".
I would have been shocked if her captain was anyone other than Aizen after that.
As to the fight, it was fine. Not the best I've seen written but not anywhere near the worst. Everyone had their part to play and since ichigo is the POV character the lesser focus on the others is understandable.
A little heavy on having ichigo think about what the others are doing. Maybe switching pov characters during the fight so each group could be the focus of their own part, or switching to third person narration? I don't know, I'm not a good writer.
Maybe switching pov characters during the fight so each group could be the focus of their own part, or switching to third person narration? I don't know, I'm not a good writer
Well, for me I knew he would be her captain the instant you said she was here on a secret mission to find the visord. At that point I was "oh, neat twist. That will screw up canon massively".
That's fine - if a twist was truly impossible to guess and coming out of nowhere, it'd be worse than a predictable one. And what of the Fullbringers' alliance with Hirako? Was that more surprising, especially once it became clear what Ginjo hopes to get out of it?
That's fine, don't worry - you honestly dropped off at the best possible point you could have, all Bleach considered.
Still, that gives me a good reason to ask about then - since you're essentially a fresh viewer with regard to the fullbringer, you can just consider them an extension of Hirako's group, and then tell me what you think it might mean for the story that Hirako is willing to work with these people to accomplish this goal, and where do you think that particular plot point is going!
Still, that gives me a good reason to ask about then - since you're essentially a fresh viewer with regard to the fullbringer, you can just consider them an extension of Hirako's group, and then tell me what you think it might mean for the story that Hirako is willing to work with these people to accomplish this goal, and where do you think that particular plot point is going!
Shrug. I'm just assuming the visord are fighting a secret battle against aizen and will take any help they can get.
It they actually did steal the thing from Aizen after they were experimented on, that's a huge twist. If Aizen has the support of soul society in this then that's a huge twist. If urahara doesn't suspect Aizen of foul play and is in fact helping him, even tangentially, then canons dead and buried and the story can go wherever it wants.
If I were to guess where the story is going, either Aizen does a unexpected betrayal thing and they join the visord in fighting him, or Aizen is actually a reasonable authority figure in this AU and is actually trying to fix the screwed up afterlife of the bleach universe.
I think joining forces with the visord is more likely but like I said, canons dead and gone. This could go anywhere.
Thanks! That actually tells me a lot about how things look from an outside perspective (it's hard to be sure when I already know what everybody is doing and why). Those are high expectations you're showing, so I will try not to disappoint!
My first thoughts were along the lines of, "Wait, Aizen's not your traitor?"
Later on, thinking back on it, where better to control the perception of the incident than by being the investigator. The thing I'm confused about is why is Kisuke being so affable with him?
Why would the former Lieutenant of the 12th division not be affable with the beloved Captain of the same, which he served under and on which orders he's currently trying to recover the Hougyoku, which was stolen by the thief Hirako?
I will just say that it's all intentional and will be explained when the story gets there, but feel free to make your guesses - I'd be really interested into seeing what people think is really going on here.
My thoughts were thus:
Aizen's goal in sending Rukia to deal with Quincy?
I figured there's two outcomes he expects:
1. Rukia fails her diplomacy check and eats arrows. Byakuya wants VENGENCE! Cue final war with Quincy, Aizen uses the chaos to further his goal of shanking Soul King. (I'm using Canon AIZEN instead of keeping my eyes open to what this Aizen could be.)
2.Rukia does not get shot, upon which Aizen gets to play off being her Captain to get in good with the Quincy and either actively betray Soul Society OR Aizen plays sutble and gets the Quincy to start shooting Soul Society while maintaining 'political' distance from the rebels who can't let bygones be bygones.
As for the Fullbringers&Hirako? Eh. I'm inclined to assume their stated goal is indeed all there is to know. Ginjo might show up if Soul Society is attacked but who would even do that and why?
I see; that's an interesting position to take, although it is indeed based upon Aizen's canon situation and plans, and as you rightly said, this Aizen might very well be different. I don't want to spoil too much before it comes up in story, but I will say that I think I've revealed enough that at least some of what's going to happen should be guessable.
Either way, thanks for sharing your thoughts - as I said, having good feedback is one of the things I most want out of this whole fanfiction writing experiment.
Aizen listed attentively as Rukia explained what they'd learned from the captured Fullbringer, looking thoughtful at the end as he commented:
"I was honestly not expecting Shinji to seek allies and plan to mount an all out assault on Soul Society; as brazen as he is, that seems excessive, even for him."
Urahara spoke up then, a frown on his face as he asked:
"Do you think he might be aware of our search for him, and this might be a reaction to being cornered? Lashing out in the hope that'll make us stop chasing him?"
"It is a possibility, but I am doubtful; you have done an exceptional job of staying hidden, I would be surprised if anybody but me knew of your team's actions."
Urahara seemed to consider that, then asked:
"Maybe the spy discovered it on your end, Captain, and passed him the information?"
Ichigo jumped in at that, hoping that he might be able to get some clarifications on what the actual plan of the Shinigami was.
"Which spy?"
Aizen turned to him and said, in a bit of a tired tone:
"Shinji has allies here in Soul Society; one of these is the Third Division's Captain, Gin Ichimaru, we are sure of it. However, all the evidence we had of it disappeared before we could present it to the Captain Commander, and in the process Captain Yoruichi was framed instead; the only way this could have happened was if there was a spy within the twelfth Division who handed off the information to him."
Rukia looked morose at that and said, in an annoyed tone:
"I'll bet you it turns out the spy is Mayuri, as I've been saying for the longest time."
Aizen frowned at that, but then his expression turned more neutral and he said, peaceably:
"While I acknowledge that Lieutenant Mayuri is an unpleasant person to be around, Rukia, he is also the one I keep under the strictest supervision, since I need to ensure he confines his research to ethical pursuits; which is why it would be counterproductive for a spy to so openly display their less savory inclinations. I remain of my idea that the Lieutenant is in fact a decoy the real spy uses to keep us distracted while they work in the shadows. Again, I understand your dislike for him, but we cannot let our personal feelings cloud our judgment."
Rukia nodded, although Ichigo could see she wasn't happy about it, but that was when Urahara jumped in, genial:
"Well, regardless of who the spy is, could they have found out about us in some manner, Captain?"
Aizen looked thoughtful for a long moment, then slowly shook his head.
"I exclude it. I have been very careful not to let on that I am in constant contact with you all, which is why I limit the chats we can have only to those absolutely indispensable. Although I do have had some questions from people that wanted to know about Rukia; Momo in particular was concerned."
He paused, then turned a wry smile at Rukia as he added:
"And Captain Ukitake wants to know how long it will take for me to give my evaluation on your Kido skills, Rukia; he thinks I should already have had the time to evaluate you and submit my judgment."
Rukia let out a groan at that and answered:
"You haven't yet, right?"
"No, but I expect that next time, he will show up with your brother in tow, and it will be much harder to keep delaying at that point."
Rukia nodded in a morose manner, then her eyes widened and she said, suddenly energetic:
"Well, you could just say I need more practice under you and-"
"No, I will not lie and say you are lacking abilities in which you excel. Rukia, I understand you have your reasons, and you know I am sympathetic to them or I wouldn't have accepted your transfer in the first place, but you cannot keep hiding forever. Taking your time to make sure you do everything right is the correct way to handle things, but after a certain point, you need to make your move, else you might as well forfeit the game. And if you wanted to forfeit the game, you would not have joined the Gotei 13 in the first place."
Rukia frowned, clearly unhappy as she answered:
"But if you send the letter, the Head Captain would require that I accept the promotion. And, what of the mission here? I can't keep doing this if I have to go back to the Thirteenth, can I?"
Aizen smiled bemusedly at that.
"Are you saying that you would delay the success of the mission just to keep from having to have a discussion with Captain Ukitake and your brother regarding your future?"
"Of course not! But..."
She trailed off, clearly unsure over what she should say, which caused Aizen to smile in an understanding manner.
"I think that my latest talk with Captain Ukitake should have gained us about four more months. I trust you should be able to have the mission wrapped up by then, especially now that you finally have a solid lead, right?"
Rukia's shoulders sagged, but then she shook her head, straightening and steeling herself as she said:
"I will do it, Captain; you can count on me."
Urahara clapped his hands at that and said, amused:
"Right, so I think we can move to interrogating the prisoners then, seeing if you can get something more out of them than we did, Captain?"
Ishida spoke then, with, Ichigo noticed, a certain edge to his voice.
"Captain Aizen, what does he means by that? I might not approve of their actions and fought them, but only because of necessity. I won't condone any torture."
Aizen seemed surprised at that, then smiled in understanding and said:
"You need not worry, mister Ishida, that was never our intention. Urahara merely meant that my superior perceptive ability would help me more easily spot any lie they tried to feed to us."
"How so?"
"Well, you certainly know of Shikai, I would assume?"
"Yes, it's when Shinigami call upon their Zanpakuto to release their inner power."
"Exactly. My Zanpakuto, Kyoga Suigetsu, is of the mind type, and whenever I release it, I gain the power to perceive anything that anybody who the sword has touched after its release is perceiving."
Ichigo frowned and commented:
"That doesn't seem a very effective power, compared with what Sode no Shirayuki does."
Aizen's smile became one of amusement as he said:
"You would be surprised at how useful it can be to know which of your feints are going to work and which aren't, and it is actually not that difficult to guess what an opponent will do next when you can feel their very emotions at the same time they do. But that is not really relevant right now, since my sword cannot reach our targets through this connection. However, in order for me to properly interpret the data it sends to my brain, Kyoga Suigetsu, when in its released state, also increases all of my senses, as well as my ability to process and understand information."
Urahara sighed wistfully at that and commented:
"See, now that's a power worth having - I'd be able to do so much more with my research if I had a sword that literally makes me smarter."
Aizen chuckled at that and shot back, with clear fondness:
"Come on now, surely having all the time you could possibly need to carry out your experiments is just as good, if not better?"
"I don't know; it's true it allows me to try and retry anything as much as I want, but if I just can't get the right idea, or figure out the proper hypothesis to work off of, no amount of time is gonna help."
"I rather think that you are so used to taking advantage of your power that you take it for granted, Kisuke, but I suppose you would say the same about me, right?"
That caused the blonde man to chuckle awkwardly, which was quite the difference from how he usually acted when training Ichigo; before the two Shinigami could continue with their clearly friendly banter any further, however, Ishida spoke up again.
"So, if I understood correctly, you were about to say that, thanks to your expanded senses, you'd be able to understand if they were lying to you even at this distance, is that correct, Captain Aizen?"
The man nodded.
"Indeed. While not as effective as if I had them under the direct effect, since nobody can lie to me when I have that advantage, I still believe that my enhanced perception should still enable me to spot any falsehood they tried to feed us. It is at least worth trying, I believe."
Everybody agreed at that and Rukia said, serious:
"Let's try it then."
Orihime raised an hand at that, almost like she would in the classroom, and when Aizen's expression turned questioning, she asked him, sounding apologetic:
"Uhm, mister Aizen, do we all have to listen to your questioning of them?"
"I suppose that is unnecessary; we can call you back in once we are finished with it."
Ishida opted to stay behind to oversee the interrogation, but Ichigo was more curious about Orihime and Chad's new abilities - he was sure that Rukia would tell him everything he needed to know, anyway.
As they headed out of the back room, Ichigo asked Orihime, with some curiosity:
"So, you've gotten spiritual powers now? How did that happen?"
"We became Fullbringers."
It was Chad who had answered, so it was to him that Ichigo turned; his friend then explained, in his usual slow and measured tone:
"The woman, Jackie, explained that the power of Fullbring comes from feeling strong emotions, and pushing them into an item you feel strongly attached to. We just did that."
Orihime jumped in at that, adding:
"Sado is very good at this, he learned it all from one explanation! I sort of managed it by accident, but it's really cool - look, I'll introduce you!"
Then she closed her eyes, focusing for a moment, and six glowing orbs of light formed around her head - except that, now he could look at them up close, Ichigo saw they were six small fairies. They waved and spoke together, with a voice Ichigo could only barely ear:
"We are Shun Shun Rikka, ready to fight for Orihime!"
Ichigo nodded, then commented:
"It seems similar to how Zanpakuto works, in a way."
Hardly.
Ichigo was surprised by that, and Sode No Shirayuki explained, sounding smug:
A Zanpakuto is a separate soul from your own, with its own powers born of its nature; we are independent and offer our power at our own convenience. These items the Fullbringer use, on the other hand, are empowered by their own soul - they are still co-dependent, and without the wielder, they have no real power of their own. They would never be able to fuse with their owner spirit to create a superior soul capable of accessing the combined power of Bankai, for example. They're just a shallow copy, nowhere near the level of power a real Zanpakuto grants.
Ichigo was about to ask what Bankai was, but before he could, Orihime interrupted his thoughts by adding, sounding excited:
"It's so fun! Each of them can control time around themselves, but if I have them working together they can cover an entire area! I only tried it up to four, but I wonder if I can make some more interesting effects with different combinations!"
Ichigo chuckled at that - he was a good enough student, but Orihime was the third best in their year and, for some reason, a real monster in more math oriented courses - and answered with a smile:
"It's good that you are having ideas about how to use your power; I'm just glad you'll be able to protect yourselves now."
Chad nodded in understanding, while Orihime smashed her fist into her open palm and said:
"Yup, we can! And we can protect you too, and each other! We're gonna be the best ghostbuster team ever, and Tatsuki is gonna be so glad I can fight now - she always complained that I should learn to defend myself too!"
Then Orihime's eyes widened and she asked, suddenly anxious:
"Oh no, Tatsuki! Why isn't she here, did she get hurt? She was fine when we got trapped!"
Ichigo let out a long breath, and answered:
"She did got hurt helping me fight than Ginjo guy, but I brought her to dad, and he made sure she was fine. I guess she just got trapped with my dad when the Fullbringer time-froze the clinic... they should be freed by now; maybe when we are done here you can come with me, show her your new powers?"
"Oh, that's a great idea! I can't wait to introduce Shun Shun Rikka to her!"
"We already know your best friend, Orihime!"
"You do?"
"Of course we do, we were with you the whole time even if we were asleep!
Ichigo watched in fascination as the discussion devolved into a silly conversation between Orihime and the fairies - which he gathered lived within her hairpins - about whether they were spying on her all the time, until Chad distracted him by asking:
"When we speak to Tatsuki, do you know what to tell her?"
"About what?"
"Training. She wants to be involved, and she'll need spiritual powers of her own to do it."
"...I didn't think of that."
He really hadn't. Which was silly, since he and Tatsuki had been speaking of it just a few hours ago, before this whole debacle with Ginjo's team started. He really should figure out some plans for it.
"And now that you are thinking of it, do you have any ideas to suggest her?"
"Honestly... I'm not sure. I thought I would just get Rukia to give you the same thing I have so you can walk out of your body and we all train together, but she wouldn't have a Zanpakuto like I do, and Rukia said that learning to cast spells like she does takes a lot of time. Seeing how strong you became, maybe she should train as a Fullbringer with the two of you? Or maybe I can ask Ishida to help her, if she's more suited to the Quincy arts..."
"I don't know that I can teach much about how Fullbringers fight, Ichigo, I know very little of it. I saw that guy you were fighting walking on midair, but I wouldn't know how to do that, for example."
Ichigo frowned; he hadn't considered that... still, he could at least help Chad with this.
"I don't know much either, but I was watching how Ginjo did it, and he was pushing reiatsu only out of his feet, but in a different manner than you do with the full-body defense you can put up. Maybe try experimenting with that, pushing your reiatsu out of a single body part, see if that help?"
Chad frowned, and experimentally pushed a puff of reiatsu out of his fist, then commented:
"Maybe. Awakening an item works by pushing the energy... reiatsu, you said it's called? Pushing it inside the item. Maybe..."
Seeing that his friend was thinking it over, Ichigo added, hoping it might help:
"It's also the way you see ghosts, you're constantly emitting a very low amount of reiatsu that bounces back from spiritual things and is collected back in your eyes. If you focus, you can send a stronger pulse that travels farther and deeper, giving you more information and a greater visual range."
He demonstrated, letting out one of the pulses, which caused Chad to blink for a moment, before he copied, doing the same - except that, for some reason, his pulse traveled about twice as far as Ichigo, and felt a good bit more powerful too; he supposed it might just be Chad's natural inclination for the art.
His friend nodded and said:
"I see. I think I might be able to work with this."
Then he looked up at Ichigo and added:
"But I might not be able to train somebody else. I will try if you think it's the best path, but it'll be hard to teach somebody when I'm still learning myself."
Ichigo could see the logic in it, and didn't complain - the mere fact that Chad was still willing to at least try was more than most other people would have wanted to do.
Seeing that his friend was working on trying out his new suggestion, Ichigo refocused his attention to Orihime, who seemed to be done making sure that the fairies wouldn't share any embarrassing details they'd happened to see while spending their time as her hair ornament, and was then happy to proceed introducing each of her fairies; apparently, they all had differing personalities and interests, the only thing in common among them all being their desire to protect Orihime.
By the time Rukia showed up to call them back to Aizen, Ichigo was feeling better - the antics of Orihime's fairies had helped with that, if nothing else - so he was better able to focus as Aizen explained what they'd learned.
"Apparently, what you surmised was mostly right. Ginjo has allied himself with Shinji, who used the Hougyoku to alter the Awakened Item of the youngest member of their group, Yukio Voraben, so that he could open portals to Hueco Mundo. They are not yet able to aim it at Soul Society correctly, but in the meanwhile Ginjo was using it to grow in power by stockpiling hollow powers. The other Fullbringer, Riruka Dokugane, also gave us some information on the goals of their leader, Ginjo Kugo. Apparently, he is after a specific Shinigami that wronged him in the past; they do not know the name, but Shinji was able to identify him from the description, and had promised to lead mr. Kugo to him once they are there. Sadly, miss Dokugane wasn't able to repeat this description back to us, so we cannot do the same. Still, we also know that Shinji was planning to use the Fullbringer to cause confusion while he headed for me directly; apparently revenge is what he is after, but he sold it to the Fullbringers as justice. He told them that I framed him."
Urahara scoffed at that and offered, in an annoyed tone:
"Which is ridiculous. I fought him personally when he went to steal the Hougyoku, was there when he used it on himself to make himself strong enough to survive against Yorouichi and escape, and all of that was after I'd personally found out about his crimes and exposed him."
Aizen nodded at that, then went on:
"In any case, we are on a tight schedule. Miss Dokugane was of the opinion that mr. Kugo will contact Shinji soon, and when he does, we fear that, knowing we've tracked him down and with his one hope of being able to travel back to Soul Society thwarted by the fact that we hold mr. Voraben, we fear that he'll just cut his losses and leave Karakura. Which puts us on quite the tight timer."
Rukia smiled at that and commented, sounding smug:
"Luckily, Captain Aizen has come up with a plan for that!"
The man looked amused at Rukia's enthusiasm, then explained:
"I did nothing exceptional, I just suggested that we use bait to keep Shinji here. The idea was that we would let miss Dokugane and mr. Voraben go, while withholding their Awakened Items. This way, either mr. Kugo, to avoid losing the help Shinji promised him, will attack us himself to get the items back, hopefully not even letting Shinji know that we are on his tail, or at worse he will rope Shinji into the attack. And just as an insurance, when we let the two of them go, we will also tail them to heir hideout, so that we can at least keep an eye on them and, if they seem to be hesitant, we can attack them directly."
Rukia nodded and added:
"Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I think I'd be good enough to follow them without being noticed."
"That won't be necessary; I can do it much better."
Ichigo turned at the new voice, as did everybody else; Aizen smiled ruefully at the sight, while Urahara grinned and Rukia looked ecstatic... looking at what looked like a very normal black cat wearing a red collar with a silver bell attached to it.
"Captain Yoruichi! You're back!"
The cat cocked its head to the side, then, faster than Ichigo's eyes could track, she was standing on midair just in front of Rukia, and gave her a small bop on the nose with its tail - except the way Rukia suddenly was holding it, it looked like it'd hurt quite more than one would expect. Then the cat spoke again, using a deep male voice as it said:
"What have I said you about calling me that? You can never know when somebody with long-range hearing powers might be around; it could blow my cover if you just blurt out my name so openly."
"Ah... I'm sorry, Cap- I mean, mistress..."
The cat nodded.
"That's better."
Aizen had been smiling at the whole exchange, and then went on to say:
"You're sure you're not going a bit overboard? I think at this point we are close enough that such extreme subterfuge should not be necessary anymore."
"It's exactly when you are the closest to the target that you need to exercise the most caution; the final steps are always the hardest. You wouldn't understand, you've never been Omnitsukido, but Urahara can confirm that I'm right; can't you, Kisuke?"
The man grinned and shot back:
"Well, you certainly never relented on us, that much I can confirm for sure."
At this point, Ichigo felt that he could interject himself into the banter and ask, perplexed:
"I thought the Captain Yoruichi you spoke of to be a woman, not a talking cat - one that sounds male, at that."
Suddenly, the cat was in front of Ichigo, and said, with a very cute expression on its muzzle:
"Last warning! Don't call me that, it's dangerous. You shall refer to me as either mistress or goddess, whichever you like better; I'm not picky. And to answer the question: I'm undercover. My real body is that of a woman; changing the voice when in this form is an extra step to ensure security."
Ichigo was skeptical of that.
"And it works?"
The cat raised an eyebrow, which was quite the unusual sight, then answered:
"Come on, try your best to scan me, see if you can spot anything that would give away my disguise."
Ichigo frowned, but nodded, and used all three of his detection methods at once; the strain was quite a lot, but he should have at least been able to sense the real spiritual power of Yorouichi, or at least some sign that it was hidden, with at least one of them. Yet all he could feel was a very normal cat, with no telling tale of being anything else; if he'd had to pick her out of a lineup of animals with his spiritual senses alone, he doubted he'd be able to do it.
When he dropped his detection abilities and shook his head, Yoruichi assumed a very satisfied expression, then turned back to Aizen and said:
"Alright then, it's decided; you let the two Fullbringer go, I follow them, and then we wait and see if they take the bait or not."
Aizen nodded, then went on:
"Very well. Now, I cannot keep this meeting going for too long, and we have already spent quite the amount of time here, so, unless there is something else..."
"Actually, Captain Aizen, I was wondering if you could do anything to check over Ichigo's situation with the Auswhal? I know it's not the same as being able to check it over personally, but maybe if you saw it in action, you could tell us if there's any way to reverse the process?"
Aizen seemed surprised, but then nodded, turning his eyes toward Ichigo as he asked:
"Mr. Kurosaki, how well can you use the Auswhal?"
Ichigo pulled out the black sword, getting into a ready position as he answered:
"Pretty well, I'd say. We had some trouble at first, but now we can speak with each other freely and even work together in combat the way a Shinigami and Zanpakuto are supposed to."
Aizen seemed intrigued by that.
"Oh? So the spirit of Sode no Shirayuki was able to resist you?"
Ichigo shook his head.
"No, quite the opposite, she has to obey anything I say that could be construed as an order, so I need to be careful about how I phrase my questions. I meant that we managed to find a common ground, so that she is now working to help me of her own free will, which makes us much more effective in combat."
"I see. That is quite the interesting detail. And I am given to understand, from what Rukia reported, that you are also able to access her Shikai?"
"I am."
"Show me, please."
Ichigo nodded and performed the release routine; then, just to prove he was capable of it, he traced an arc in the air, leaving a thin strip of ice behind. Aizen nodded, eyebrows furrowed, and said:
"It is as I thought then. The Auswhal absorbed the entire Zanpakuto, connection and soul both, instead of simply copying the connection as it was intended to."
"Can it be reversed in any way that you can think of, Captain?"
Aizen shook his head at Rukia's question and told her, sounding apologetic:
"None that easily comes to mind, other than breaking the Auswhal itself. But I would not recommend doing that, as the backlash would certainly result in the death of mr. Kurosaki. Maybe when you have successfully completed your mission, I could be able to take a journey to the mortal realm and examine what the connections is like personally; using Kyoga Suigetsu on him directly might allow me to find some way of solving the issue. But you know I cannot do that now, the presence of a Captain in the mortal world would be immediately detected, and you know how much Captain Tousen despise me and my work; he would complain it loudly enough that the spy would surely learn of it and warn Shinji. He knows he cannot stand against me any more he could have against Yorouichi, he will flee if he thinks I might be showing up. Please, Rukia, just be patient, and mr. Kurosaki, do take care that your sword does not break, and I am sure that I will be able to help more eventually."
"You really shouldn't be discussing this much information, you know? If somebody were to learn of it, they could use it against us in many way."
Aizen offered a friendly smile to Yoruichi and said, in a self-assured tone:
"Don't worry, my friend, nobody would be able to tap into my private channel, not even the best minds the twelfth division has to offer; I handled all the cryptography personally. This line if fully secure."
That caused the cat to shake her head and comment:
"We didn't think there could be a spy in your division in the first place until they helped Hirako escape and Gin avoid justice. You're too confident in yourself, my friend, and it's gonna be your downfall someday."
Aizen chuckled at that, then waved the group goodbye, and disconnected.
Ichigo let out a long breath, then turned to Rukia and said:
"I wanted to ask you something, as well."
"Oh?"
"See, Orihime and Chad have Fullbringer powers now, but Tatsuki doesn't; but she'll want to be involved in our fighting anyway, and thus need training. Except she doesn't have a Zanpakuto, so I was wondering what would be better for her to learn? Chad and Orihime aren't really skilled enough at the whole Fullbringer thing to be able to help her train either, and I don't even know if she has any skill at the Quincy thing, much less if Ishida would be willing to train her."
Being called upon, Ishida shook his head as he answered:
"I can already tell you, she's not inclined to using the Quincy arts at all; I can tell when somebody has the proper leaning at a glance, it's why I though you might be one of us. And even if she had the ability, which she doesn't, I wouldn't be able to train her myself - I would need to ask my Master."
Ichigo nodded, then turned back to Rukia, who said:
"I see the problem. I suppose teaching her Hoho would be necessary, but you're right that it on its own isn't really enough for fighting; I suppose I could try Hakuda, but I'm really not so good at it I'd be confident teaching another..."
"All the more reason you should train in it as well, don't you think? I did always found you neglected that part of your training far, far too much. We really should remedy that!"
Rukia started to sweat at the words of Yoruichi, who was now sitting on the girl's shoulder - when she had got there, Ichigo wouldn't be able to say - and said, in what sounded like a pained tone:
"Ah, mistress, there's really no need for you to bother with it - I'm sure I can do it on my own after all..."
"Nonsense! Why should you, when you can have a real Hakuda Grandmaster tutoring you in the finest of the shinigami arts in the greatest of detail? It'll be a bracing experience, it's a promise!"
For some reason, looking on Rukia's face, Ichigo suspected that he wasn't going to enjoy whatever training Yoruichi had in store for them - but then he gathered his resolve and nodded; even if it was hard, if it helped Tatsuki become able to protect herself, it would be worth it.
"I am then at your disposal for the training, Sensei."
Yoruichi grinned, which in a cat's body was somewhat threatening, then she purred as she said:
"Oh, I like this one - we're gonna have so much fun together!"
That sent another shiver down Ichigo's spine; he really, really hoped this would be worth it.
******
Sitting on the bench, Ginjo tried to understand how it had all gone wrong. Isshin's boy wasn't all that strong, in fact he'd had him on the ropes, but then the others had joined him and he'd let himself be distracted like a beginner, and as a result Riruka and Yukio had both gotten caught, and he'd also lost the Cross of Scaffold. Giriko was looking after Jackie now, but he knew that, when the woman was back on his feet, he would insist on them going to speak with Shinji Hirako, the traitorous Shinigami who had chosen to help them... but Hirako was only helping them because he hoped to use Yukio's power to get back to Soul Society. Once he knew that Yukio was captured, probably dead - why would they keep him alive, really - the Shinigami would leave them to die, that was if he didn't just decide to murder them himself to cover his tracks. They couldn't go to him.
But what could they do then? He would love nothing better than to track down Isshin's boy and steal their items back from him, but on his own, he didn't really stand a chance, and while he was good enough of a Fullbringer to awaken a new item for himself - the only one in Xcution capable of doing it, really - it would never be as useful or powerful as his Cross was, which meant Giriko would think it too risky to help him. He needed a way to get Giriko - and thus also Jackie - on board if he was to succeed.
He was still trying to figure out his next action when a sound of steps suddenly echoed within the room, and then a voice that he would never forget said, in a mocking tone:
"Why, if it isn't a complete failure of a Fullbringer. You really think you'll ever get your revenge on me, if brooding like this is all that you're left with after a bunch of kids gave you a bloody nose?"
Ginjo was moving before he had even registered it, fishing out his pocket knife and wrapping it in his reiatsu as he struck at the Shinigami in front of him, a tall young man with long, wavy black hairs and a small scar to the left of his dark, judging eyes. Ginjo's knife went straight through the Shinigami's throat, but no blood came from the cut; then the man tilted his head to the side, in the process widening the wound some more, and when he took a step back, Ginjo could see that the flesh underneath was a white paste with no features, instead of sporting anything like muscles, bones or blood.
The man in front of him grinned, and then his look changed, his body turning in that of a woman with very familiar brown eyes, the wavy hairs also changing color to brown as the wound knitted itself together on its own, and Ginjo took a step back from the figure of Masaki Kurosaki, the Quincy he hated the most... but she should be dead, shouldn't she? She'd been killed, by...
Laughter, rich and deep and threatening, came from behind him, and Ginjo turned, as a massive figure emerged from the shadow, moving on four legs that each sported a red hand rather than any feet, its whole hunched form covered in dark green fur, with a mask as huge as a whole human body that sported a set of four holes under each of the two deep sockets that showed glowing red eyes withing, and an unsettlingly human grin straight underneath.
"You know, you'd looked so much tougher the last time we met. Have you gone soft, Fullbringer?"
Ginjo was dead, he knew this; Grand Fisher was the strongest hollow he'd ever fought, and he was a master of deception alongside with it - he couldn't even be sure he was really facing the real body right now, and he had no real weapon to fight with. If the hollow wanted him dead, he could do nothing to stop him. But he wouldn't go down without a fight, and certainly not cowering, so he put on his best challenging grin and answered instead:
"Why are you here, Hollow? Looking for a fight?"
The hollow chuckled, and answered:
"If I was, you certainly wouldn't be able to give me one, weak as you are, especially without your weapon. No, I am here on behalf of a group that has a vested interest in bringing down the Shinigami, and one of our agents just intercepted a very interesting conversation, which suggested contacting you would offer a possibility that'd be mutually beneficial to us both."
"Really now? Hollows cooperating with Shinigami? And I'm supposed to believe it?"
"Believe what you will. The people we're working with have a vested interest in destroying Soul Society; they see it as a corrupt system that brought great harm to their loved ones. They want the same thing you do, which is why we want to offer you this chance at revenge. Do you want it?"
Ginjo looked at the hollow for a long time, remembering how many of his old friends had died at its very hand, and let out a bark of dark laughter before finally answering:
"You win, monster. I'm in."
I've read somewhere that, in the very first draft of Bleach, Gin Ichimaru was actually supposed to be the main villain, but this was later changed because he was too similar to Orochimaru. Still, I've often wondered: what would the story have been like, if he really WAS the story's main villain? It'd be an interesting variation, wouldn't it?
...Huunh. I can buy that given how much Gin oozes 'slimeball', but...
Well, it's Aizen. And I realize this is because Aizen but I don't trust that guy's words much. Tousen being opposed to Aizen and loud enough to wake the living with his angry ranting is a hilarious mental image.
As for Mayuri, I can just hear him getting angry about Aizen saying he needed to watch him- if Mayuri DID do something horrible he'd say so! And yes, I think Mayuri would indeed hang himself on his own rope like that.
Aizen made me nervous with how he got along with Kisuke there talking about zanpaktu powers, and time manipulation. Kisuke's canon powerset was either not revealed or the fans didn't get it and like to fanon their own powers for the shopkeeper. Hrum.
Rukia's delaying on lieutenant/being head-hunted by Ukitake is a thing, as is Byakuka apparently being cool with her being lieutenant this time around...
And Grand Fisher shows up with what I imagine is either going to be the Vizord or the Arrancars...I'm betting the Arrancars myself, but I'm not entirely sure. SOMETHING is up there but with the hollows you never can tell...And never can be sure...
Both Kisuke's Shikai and Kisuke's Bankai were actually revealed in the Manga; I greatly hated them both, thus for this story they have been changed.
Kisuke actually already revealed his Shikai in this story - he can create "scarves" of energy from his sword that, when wrapped around a sentient target, affect that target's perception of time. He can use them as whips or fire them as projectiles, and although this hasn't yet been shown in the story, he can direct their flight path as well if necessary. It's a relatively strong ability.
His canon one, as per the Bleach Wiki, allows him to produce and manipulating a crimson-colored energy to perform a variety of technique by declaring the proper verbal command that corresponds to each ability, of which he revealed a energy beam, a hexagonal shield, an arc of cutting energy, the nullifying of an enemy's attack that he's had time to study, a self-constricting net, and an exploding net.
Basically, it's a grab bag of mixed abilities that have no coherent theme to themselves. So I adapted; I wanted Urahara to still have access to his "condensed time" training room which he had in the manga, but without having such a device actually existing (since if it did, why didn't anybody else ever use it?), while also keeping as true to his canon's abilities as possible; so I altered his power as described. Note how creative use of the power that I've let him have would actually allow him to mimic most of those tricks he had in the manga, except here there's a sense to it, and it's just one ability cleverly used. This is something I plan to do with almost every character who had weird powersets made up of multiple thematically-disconnected abilities - I already did it with Sode No Shirayuki, which in the manga has a dozen different "dances" each of which produces a different ice-related effect; instead I just gave the sword a simple effect that can be exploited by being creative with it.
I hope that doesn't feel too much like I'm making the abilities up from nothing; I understand that, in a sense, I am, but the idea is to have them make more sense and be easier to explain and understand while staying as close to the original as possible. That's the goal, ultimately. If it'll work or not, I'll leave it up to you all to decide!
...Now that you mention it...
So. During the Soul Society arc, it was established that Zabimaru could attack three times but after that HAD to be retracted.
During the Fullbringer arc, it was established Ichigo's fullbring power was that bomerang blade thing right? The more...'limbs? sides?' it had, the stronger it was, but it lost sides over time/use and then he'd have to refresh it.
I SUSPECT HIGHLY that Kubo wanted that to be an actual full-on thing, that characters had patterns to their attacks relevant to their personality/mastery and what not.
But again, Editor fight, delicate plot-lines disrupted, Kubo bends over and just gives us what he tosses out his butt.
And that might very well be an example of the sort of losses made as a result of that. He intended everyone to have their own pattern and style, but time crunch meant no bueno.
Yeah, the heavy editorial interference was one of the big problems Bleach had. It wasn't the only one, but it most certainly contributed to the story's scattershot nature and the multitude of issues, both big and small.
As I said, fixing those is one of the things that this rewrite is all about - all the characters are gonna have their powersets fine-tuned or refined (or sometimes outright changed) to both fit better thematically as well as being more interesting to read (and write) about.
It had taken three days for Tatsuki to recover completely, even with her healing accelerated thanks to Rukia briefly removing her soul, alongside another of her Henkan-Ki trinkets so that now Tatsuki, too, could move around incorporeally.
Which was how they'd ended up in their usual spot in the park, except that Rukia was standing next to them with a defeated expression, while teaching them on the other side was Yorouichi, still in her form of a black cat which, she'd assured them, would be no impediment at all to proper training.
She looked quite satisfied with herself, in that way cats could often look, as she said:
"Very well, I hope you're all ready to give it your all! Proper training into Hakuda is very demanding, which is why, of the four Shinigami art, it is the one mastered last and, generally, only by those who want to progress in their career, since mastery of it is required for a promotion to Captain and at least an advanced level of proficiency is required to be accepted as Lieutenants. I do hope that those of us who are uninterested in that won't slack off just because of that, yes?"
Rukia let out an annoyed huff at that and said:
"I'm not bad at Hakuda because I don't want a promotion, I'm bad at it because it's difficult, and I don't really need it anyway."
"Don't you? Seeing as Hakuda is the best way Shinigami have to actually go on the offensive when they can't use their zanpakuto for whatever reason, I would have expected a Shinigami who has lost her sword to need it more than ever."
"I can get by with Kido perfectly fine, really. I'm only doing this to help the others."
"Right, of course."
The tone Yoruichi had used, Ichigo doubted she was in agreement with Rukia; and he could see Rukia didn't think so either and seemed ready to continue the discussion further, so he interrupted to ask, in the hope it would actually start the lesson:
"So, it's a more direct style than Hoho, right? How does it work exactly?"
Yoruichi offered a smile, or as much of one as a cat could manage, and answered:
"Oh, at its core, it's actually quite simple, and in fact, there's plenty of affinities with Hoho, since they're both about emotional control. The primary difference is that, where Hoho is focused on controlling the emotions that keep your soul together to affect your soul's own reishi, Hakuda is about using them to shape and direct the reiatsu flowing out of your body instead, giving it shape and form so it can be weapon and armor both."
To demonstrate, she surrounded her body with an armor of reiatsu, which had Ichigo's frowning at the sight, as he commented:
"That looks the same as what Fullbringers do."
Yoruichi turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow - how did she manage that - and said, sounding bemused:
"I don't think so; there's nothing alike between Hakuda and Fullbring, I've fought enough users of both to know."
"They look the same to me."
"And that's why you're the student and I'm the teacher. If you could put up a Fullbringer defense, I'd show you how they're different, but..."
"I can, actually."
That caught Yoruichi by surprise, and she motioned with her tail for him to do so as she said:
"Well, show me then; a demonstration will make the difference clearer than an explanations would."
Ichigo nodded, and once again replicated the trick he'd learned from Chad, wrapping himself into an armor of reiatsu; Yoruichi moved closer, nodding to herself as she commented:
"As I thought."
Then she turned to Ichigo's left.
"Tatsuki, right?"
Ichigo's friend seemed to suddenly wake up out of her stupor when Yoruichi addressed her directly; until then, she'd been too shocked by the whole experience of being taught an entirely new martial art to fight ghosts by a talking cat, which had kept her uncharacteristically silent. Still, when Yorouichi addressed her directly, she shook herself, and her eyes assumed the most focused expression he knew was her default when learning and practicing anything related to physical fitness.
"Yes, Sensei?"
"Press down on Ichigo's arm, tell me what it feels like; Ichigo, please hold up your arm and then keep it as still as possible."
He nodded, offering his arm to Tatsuki, and his friend grabbed it, trying to push it down; however, she completely failed, and he could feel how: the force of her push was dampened enough by the layer of reiatsu to be completely dispersed. Tatsuki frowned and put more effort into it, but even with all her strength she couldn't - considering Ichigo knew the armor was enough to withstand explosions, he wasn't surprised.
"It's... it's immovable."
Yoruichi nodded, then asked:
"How would you say it felt? Was it the same as it would be if you were in your bodies, or different?"
"It... it felt like my effort was dampened somewhat? Like my fingers had grip on the arm, but when I pressed down, they pushed only on the skin rather than the arm itself. Like it would if his harm was standing on a table, maybe."
"Good. Now try it with this."
She offered her tail, and Tatsuki looked it for a moment, then nodded and grabbed it, but was once again unsuccessful in moving it in any way. However, she frowned after she let go, and Yorouichi asked:
"It was different, wasn't it?"
"Yes, Sensei. It was as if I was trying to push down a steel bar; it was clearly the tail that was too rigid and fixed to be moved, not something that was supporting it. A subtle difference, but I know that in combat every little detail can be crucial."
"Just so."
Then she turned her attention to Ichigo and went on:
"See, what you were doing was to collect the reiatsu around yourself and attach it to your skin, basically imbuing it with your power. That's how all Fullbringer powers work - they push reiatsu into their items to awaken their powers, or into their surroundings to bend them to their will."
"That's really it? I've seen them use technique like air walking."
"I expect they were simply applying their reiatsu to the air surrounding them."
Ichigo nodded; he should explain this to Chad when he next saw him, it might help with his training.
Unaware of Ichigo's train of thought, Yorouichi went on:
"Hakuda doesn't work like that at all, however; it is focused on manipulating the reiatsu itself, not using it to affect another medium. That's what makes it the best of all spiritual martial arts."
Rukia let out a long breath at that and commented:
"Really? Isn't your family's traditional martial art supposed to be Hoho? In fact, being the best Shunpo user ever is what you're famous for, isn't it?"
"Eh, I never really liked those labels that much, you know? Very superficial."
"As you say, Lightning Goddess."
That caused Yoruichi to smile as she commented:
"I always thought that nickname was more of a reference to my equal ability in both, so you're free to keep using it to address me, I won't get offended."
Rukia shook her head, although Ichigo could see the smile forming on her lips, while Yoruichi went on, more serious:
"Anyway, to truly master Hakuda you need to understand how reishi works. Ichigo, what do you know of it?"
"That it's more durable due to being made of feeling, emotions and memories. And stronger emotions also make your strikes more powerful, if I understood correctly."
Yoruichi nodded, then turned to Tatsuki and asked:
"So, how do you think that could be used, Tatsuki? Any ideas?"
Ichigo's friend took a moment to think it over, clearly doing her best to quickly get to grasp with the new concept she was being presented with, before finally answering, with her usual confidence:
"If I understood correctly, I would guess that somehow managing to feel, or at least focus on, certain emotion or memories on command, would cause specific effects? In other martial arts I know, that's the way it normally works - understand the composing elements, then use them at the right time, with the proper timing."
Yoruichi smiled at that and commented:
"Very good! That's mostly it for the emotional portion. Then there is the shaping; reiatsu is mostly like a gas constantly leaking from your soul, but since it is still a part of you, it can be shaped."
She raised her tail, and surrounded herself with reiatsu, clearly shaping it like a coat to cover her whole body, and then went on:
"Now, using reiatsu as an armor is the basics of Hakuda, but once you get good at it, it can actually be reshaped into any form that might be useful. Like a shield, or a sword, or an additional limb."
Ever time, she demonstrated, extending the coat over her tail to twice the length, then changing the portion that was jutting out to match her words. She had the hand of reiatsu she'd shaped at the end of her tail flex its fingers, just to prove that it could, before returning to the normal form of the coating as she went on:
"The applying of emotions is different, and harder, but even more useful. Essentially, every emotion has an effect upon your soul. You must learn to call on the emotions, or at least the memories that would awaken those emotions within you, on command, and then impress them onto the reiatsu. It's really not that complicated; everybody already knows instinctively how emotions work. Rage will inflame your spirit, fear will make you freeze, determination hardens you like rock, disdain is cold and hard like steel, and excitement is electrifying."
Once again, she demonstrated as she spoke, with the reiatsu around her form seeming to burn, then crystallize, then suddenly become still, then taking a glinting sheen, and then it seemed to turn into a storm of electricity surrounding her entire form, the currents running all over her fur even as she offered a grin which, in her cat's body, resulted quite fearsome. Then she went on to say, keeping the smile on:
"Don't worry, it might seem difficult, but once I'm done with you, it will feel second nature."
Ichigo couldn't help the sense of dread that proclamation gave him - perhaps this whole training thing hadn't been that good of an idea after all.
********
Tatsuki grinned as she went through the motions of the weird new kata once more, and thought confidently to herself that this training was one of the best ideas Ichigo had ever had.
Sure, having to be trained by a weird talking cat who was apparently some sort of military leader for the armies of soul reapers wasn't something she would have ever expected to happen to her, but she didn't really care too much. It was clear her new teacher knew what she was talking about, and besides, with how involved Ichigo had become with this weird thing, she wasn't going to let herself be left behind. Plus, learning a new martial art was always cool.
Said coolness was somewhat tarnished by the fact that her sensei insisted in pitting Tatsuki against Rukia in sparring, which was clearly several levels of skill above her, and just as clearly completely bored by the training, even as she applied herself the required amount. The girl already got a bit on her nerves from how she'd tried to intimidate her into not helping Ichigo, but the fact that she didn't enjoy perfecting her combat skills at all was, in Tatsuki's eyes, even more grating.
The fact she was obviously holding back a lot to not wipe the floor with her didn't help matter either.
"So, Tatsuki, do you think you have the kata down?"
"Let me take one more run through it, Sensei, then I'll be ready."
The cat nodded to her, and Tatsuki once more closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on her emotions. She surrounded herself into an armor of her own energy while remembering all the reasons while she was doing this, the determination hardening it around her like hard stone; then she moved forward, keeping the determination pushing her forward, giving more impetus to her every step and increasing the power of her fists; then she focused on peace and tranquility, focusing hard as she could to held both the emotions so that she could keep the external portions of her armor hardened even as she turned the rest fluid like water, so that she could flexibly move the armor itself around to deflect incoming attacks, and then she finished with a single punch that focused all of her anger - which was always among the easiest things to do - as well as making it extend as far past her punch as she could - which was way harder - which was meant to result in the equivalent of firing a puff of fire from her punch, in spiritual terms.
She nodded to herself for having successfully completed the kata once more, then turned toward the waiting Rukia, and when Yoruichi nodded, she moved, starting with the armor to stop Rukia's non-charged attack, then delivering her set of attacks that her opponent pushed aside in turn by applying her own sliding defense, before Rukia shifted to offense herself, and Tatsuki could feel her rage raising as she saw how the other girl had clearly let a beat pass before doing so, to give Tatsuki time to prepare for it. She didn't need to be babied like this!
Then she was forced to focus on the defensive as Rukia delivered her own set of attacks, but despite them being as hard as Tatsuki's own had been, she could just see it in her eyes, how controlled and neutral Rukia was, how she clearly wasn't putting even close to her full determination into it. Tatsuki wasn't stupid and had had structured sparring with superior opponents before, but she was usually good enough to draw out some effort from her opponents, to make them push themselves just a bit past what was needed, which in turn helped her push herself to get better in turn. But with Rukia, there was none of that, and it was grating.
They moved to the end of the kata, with Rukia taking the step backwards that was supposed to be her opening for the final attack, and Tatsuki couldn't help herself as she let out all of the rage she'd been accumulating out at once, far more and more powerful than the kata was supposed to be; she could see the spiritual flames quite literally exploding forward... and Rukia just made a single circular motion with her hand, creating a shield of freezing disdain that stopper her attack dead - which was the proper ending to the kata and, most importantly and annoyingly, she had delivered without any hint of extra effort at all, as if the fact that Tatsuki had struck with over five times the power she should have was no inconvenience to her, no reason to push herself in any way.
Rukia looked neutral for a moment, then thoughtful, but before she could say anything, Yoruichi was there and said to Tatsuki, in a lecturing tone:
"You're doing well, but you need to become faster with your emotional control. You let the emotions build too much before applying them, which makes you easy to read and counter. I think we need to find some way to have you practice under greater pressure, that might help, but I'm not sure you're ready for free-form sparring yet... Perhaps-"
Yoruicihi interrupted herself suddenly, her head snapping to the side; a moment later, Rukia's did as well, and the Shinigami commented, perplexed:
"That's... quite a lot of hollows to have appeared all at once. Should we investigate it?"
Yoruichi smiled in that threatening way of hers and said:
"Of course! We need to dispose of them, after all, and it'll be an excellent way for Tatsuki to test her progress, and maybe the danger of live battle will help her work out how to quickly swap between emotional states. Come on, get going!"
Tatsuki turned to the cat woman with a certain surprise.
"You're not coming, Sensei?"
"No, I shall be watching from here; I need to keep myself hidden, I can't be getting into battle like that. Besides, small fries like these would just be down in less than a second and let me frustrated, and that'd be annoying."
She then patted her on the shoulder with her paw, and added:
"Don't worry, if you seem to be in too much trouble, I can just get there in an heartbeat. Half an heartbeat? Might be I could be able to get there, solve everything and then get back here in half-an-heartbeat... that'd be a fun challenge to try, especially since I need to remain undercover... could I manage it? Maybe..."
Rukia interrupted Yoruichi's increasingly less intelligible mumbles as she said, in a serious tone:
"I think that maybe Tatsuki shouldn't come; last time I let her come along she almost got killed, and while these hollows seems week, there's enough of them to make it dangerous..."
Before Rukia could say anything more, Tatsuki had moved forward, without even realizing it, and grabbed the front of Rukia's clothes as she very nearly growled at her:
"Again with this? I thought we had this discussion already - whatever the rest of you are doing, I'm gonna do it too, and you're not gonna scare me away. You might be the one in charge of this whole mission, but whether or not I want to risk my life is my own decision to make, not yours."
Tatsuki paused there, feeling almost shocked with herself at the emphasis she'd just berated Rukia with; the Shinigami, on the other hand, looked completely dumbfounded for a moment, before eventually she grinned, even if there was still surprise on her face as she said:
"I suppose it is, at that. Alright then, try to keep up - we've no time to waste!"
And with that, she darted forward, running on air at ludicrous speed; Tatsuki frowned, realizing she couldn't really follow that, but before she could figure out some way around it, Ichigo was next to her, offering to carry her, which she allowed.
As they rushed forward, Ichigo told to her, sounding serious:
"I know you want to fight, but Hollows can be very dangerous - the first I ever met was strong enough he almost killed me and Rukia both."
Tatsuki felt annoyed at that, even though he wasn't sounding patronizing, and asked:
"And where all others equally dangerous?"
Ichigo shook his head, answering:
"No, that one was the scariest I've met yet, but that doesn't mean another one like it can't come along at any time."
He seemed to sense that she was about to tell him to stop worrying so much, for his next sentence was spoken with a certain urgency.
"Look, I'm not telling you not to fight, but if you think the enemies are too strong, go on the defensive and wait for one of us to help - and whatever you do, don't underestimate them. I've seen the kind of tricks these things can pull, and they can be quite nasty."
Tatsuki took that in for a moment; she supposed that it was only fair, for him to be worried after her pathetic showing in their fight with the Fullbringers - she couldn't believe she'd been taken down in a single attack - and that she'd never faced an hollow before, so she nodded and answered, trying to match his own seriousness:
"Alright, I'll be careful."
Ichigo nodded, but before either of them could say anything more, they were in the middle of a park, twelve hollows fighting an already there Rukia, the girl darting around in the air while placing barriers in their paths to stop them or shooting giant spheres of glowing fire to send the hollow smashing into the barriers, which exploded on contact.
Ichigo landed, dropping her to the ground as he drew her sword, which he then pointed to a group of hollows that looked smaller than the rest and were separated from them by several layers of Rukia's barriers, and said:
"Take care of those; just keep them occupied if you can't beat them, we'll be done with the rest as soon as we can!"
Then, trusting her to handle herself, he jumped into the air again to go helping Rukia, which caused Tatsuki to grin; it seemed her best friend did trust her to fight on her own after all.
She slammed her fists together, calling on her determination and excitement as she did; she could feel her hands strong and heavy as stone as they hit each other, sparks of electricity surging from the point of contact as she launched herself forward, shouting:
"Alright, you monsters, let's see what you've got!"
The monsters immediately turned toward her, and the one in the front, a massive, ape-like creature sporting a long beaked mask like a bird and long tendrils sprouting from the top of its head, as well as its wrists and heels, grinned a terrifying smile as it said, with a deep, dark voice:
"Ah, fresh meat. I was just looking forward to a nice snack!"
The monster barreled forward, running on all fours in an attempt to shoulder check her, but Tatsuki used her newly learned ability to give her legs the strength of stone to just jump over the creature; then, while she was flying over the creature, she snapped downward with her hand. The creature had no fur and its skin was smooth and slick like a frog's, but this one was easy, as she called on the feeling of clinginess and affection - Orihime had given her plenty of experience with both of those - which caused the gauntlet around her hand to become suddenly sticky, strongly enough to arrest her momentum. She grinned, and then slammed her other fist down with as much determination as possible, the power of the hit almost terrifying to her in how her now stone-hard fist caused ripples to echo throughout the air as it shattered her enemy's spine.
She jumped down from the monster's back, moving forward to face the other three hollows who didn't seem at all fazed by the bigger of their number's being defeated, with the smallest one, a sleek creature with scythes in the place of its hand and a chameleon-like mask, being the first to go on the attack, blades swinging at her with a passion. Tatsuki dodged as she advanced, focusing on forming the flowing armor of detachment and determination so that the attacks she couldn't stop were deflected away; she slid into the kata almost instinctively, mixing it up so that she transitioned between the defenses and attack portions of it and, sure enough, as the enemy took a step back to free itself from the onslaught, she let out all of her rage into a blast of spiritual fire that sent the creature retreating with a scream, rolling itself onto the ground as it tried to put out the flames it was enveloped by.
Tatsuki looked at the other two hollows who had moved to her sides - a small, doglike one with five tails and a spiked crest all over its back, and a round one that didn't seem to have limbs, moving around by rolling onto itself, with a mask very flat, devoid of nose and recessed into its form; it was also covered in holes, which Tatsuki suspected it could use for attacks in some form.
She focused on the spherical hollow more carefully, just keeping her eye out for the dog one... and was thus unprepared when she suddenly found herself wrapped in tentacles from behind her back; she tried to glance back, and while she was quickly forced to stop as a number of tentacles wrapped around her neck and face, she did saw that the big hollow she'd thought defeated had risen again... and she realized she'd forgotten the rule to kill hollows - strike for the mask - that Ichigo had told her about.
The big hollow let out a dark, threatening chuckle and said, as it inched closer:
"Well, I think I'm gonna eat you very slowly, make you suffer as much as possible..."
Tatsuki focused the best she could to find her bravado, and once she had it, she smiled and replied, focusing as much as she could on the satisfaction of knowing herself better than her opponent:
"How about no?"
And then, she unleashed the feeling straight into her armor, extending it as much as she could over the tentacles themselves while she did so, and in a moment the energy turned into electricity; the monster screamed as the power surged through the tentacles and very much fried it, while Tatsuki grit her teeth; even with knowing it in advance and having shielded herself by hardening the layer underneath, she could still feel the pain of it. It left her a bit woozy, and it had been less than a second; she resolved to herself not to try to use electrifying emotions until she had a better control.
Still, she had accomplished what she wanted, as the huge hollow had fallen to the ground; she moved at it, and before it could recover enough to defend itself, she brought down what might well have been a stone booth straight on the creature's mask, shattering it.
Then, she turned to the other two hollows, which had been left stunned for a moment by her show, but now recovered, and charged at them from both sides.
Tatsuki took the attack head on, aiming at the spherical hollow first and kicking it away; then she turned with a sweeping kick, giving it just enough of a steel covering - she couldn't yet shape it to be sharp, and keeping up the right emotional focus was difficult, but it allowed her to move faster than stone would - to send the doglike hollow falling to the ground. She went for the finishing blow, but then her attack was stopped as a long, sticky and firm appendage wrapped itself around it, blocking it with incredible strength for something so frail-looking.
She turned to her left to see that the chameleon hollow, while smoking, wasn't on fire anymore, and it was using its blades to anchor itself to the ground while keeping her still with its tongue; she went to strike at it, but before she could, the sphere hollow smashed into her back just as the chameleon let go, sending her crashing to the ground.
That was when the Chameleon shouted, angry:
"Keep up the pressure, don't let her get her breath! We tire her out first, and eat her only once she's too weak to fight it off! Don't try to take a bite or go for the kill, just keep attacking!"
Tatsuki got to her feet as fast as she could, but before she could find proper footing, the doglike hollow slammed into her legs, sending her to the ground away; she kicked it away, but then the spherical one - which, she now saw, could somehow propel itself around by shooting air out of its many holes - smashed in her side again. She went on the defensive, just as Ichigo had suggested, keeping up the mixed flowing and hardened defense, and tried to look for a moment to strike as the hollows kept the pressure up by attacking one after the other with the specific goal of leaving her no respite.
And they kept succeeding. Tatsuki couldn't manage to find her footing, only barely managing to counterattack, and even then without gaining any chance to collect herself from it. The chameleon had joined the charge, attacking her in melee whenever the other two had to retreat; as it thrust a blade at her, she managed to grab it by moving the armor to cover only the palms of her hands, and threw the enemy away, but even as she turned back to the other two she could feel them almost falling onto her... and that was when they slammed into a glowing, triangular wall of golden light.
Tatsuki looked at the sudden defense with a mix of shock and confusion, unsure where it had appeared from even as the two hollow fell to the ground from it, and then a familiar voice shook her up.
"Tatsuki! I'm so glad you're fine!"
She turned, to see that, matching the voice she'd heard, her savior was actually Orihime. The orange-haired girl was standing on another triangular wall, except this one was horizontal rather than vertical, but she jumped down from it as soon as she was next to her and started to say, worried:
"We need to rush back - this whole thing was a distraction, to keep us all away while Jackie's group stole the items! We need to hurry!"
Then, before Tatsuki could answer, Orihime turned toward the chameleon hollow who was charging at them, and the platform dissolved itself, its three corners turning into glowing globes of lights that immediately smashed into the hollow in quick succession, their circular motion around them so fast that the impact was powerful enough to send the hollow flying in the direction of Orihime's other platform.
Her friend turned, following the monster's flight with her eyes, and before it could impact the wall, she snapped her fingers and the wall disappeared; the hollow smashed straight into the other two, sending them all toppling to the ground together, and then Orihime gestured again, the six globes of light forming into three different lines of light that flew forward at high speed, each angled differently. They went though the hollows like hot knives through butter, cutting the three of them into several pieces; and the lines went through them again on their way back, making sure that no masks had been spared.
The whole thing had taken less than five seconds, and then Orihime had reformed the platform she'd been flying upon earlier, and dragged Tatsuki on top of it as she said:
"Come on, we need to warn Ichigo and Rukia, we need to regroup at the shop!"
And with that, she directed them forward; Rukia let herself be carried by the flying platform, but within, she was in turmoil. If she'd struggled so much against enemies that even Orihime had dispatched like it was nothing, then... had Rukia been right? Was she really too weak to fight alongside her friends, so incapable of protecting them that Orihime had had to protect her instead?
Was she going to become useless, left behind by her friends?
This chapter felt a little clunky, and I'm not sure if I really captured Tatsuki's voice, made it differently enough from Ichigo's. Also, I'm not sure about the initial portion - I felt like it was better to have the exposition on how Hakuda works be from Ichigo's POV, but maybe it'd be better if it was from Tatsuki's instead? What does everybody thinks?
*Frowns* *shrugs* Can't tell ye, I'd have to see the section as written from Tatsuki's perspective, whatever that means. Problem is, I'm inclined to think it'd just add a layer of 'Tatsuki' to the proceedings instead of really meaningfully altering the scene?
As for Tats having a hard time well...
I'd say it's more down to the nature of her opponents-Hollows are basically the beefgate faction that's all about raw stats- it makes sense to me a physical-focused fighter that's non-hollow would indeed get clobbered. And sure, Yoruchi IS sitting right there just waiting for someone to call Hakuda weak but...It also strikes me as the sort of thing that would take a very long time, just by the level of self-mastery and control that would be needed to make it function.
Rukia chilling as Tatsuki hits her with an honest to goodness fireball probably didn't help.
Flipside though, if Tatsuki was say, fighting some of those Xcution guys though...That might be another story entirely. Assuming she doesn't get shrunk out of the fight by Riruka.
Yeah, Tatsuki is probably being too hard on herself, but then again, that's sort of the best character arc I could think of for her - she didn't really have any in canon, and the common complaint about her character was that she was left behind, so I felt like going for having that be her main issue to solve would be the best way to go.
We'll see if it works or not... although yeah, I admit I weighted things heavily against her, with having to compare with Yorouichi and Rukia (who've had decades, if not centuries, to get good) and Orihime (who just got lucky with an overpowered ability). In my defense, it was the only way to make the start of her character arc work, and I'm glad at least that it's clear this is mostly Tatsuki's failure of perspective rather than either Hakuda as a martial art or herself as a person being weak.
As for the intro, my worry was mainly that, if I explained Hakuda from Tatsuki's point of view, I'd need to have her ask questions about stuff that Ichigo already knew - whereas with the introduction I went with, I can say that she asked the relevant questions during the brief time skip for training, so that the readers didn't have to re-read stuff I already explained in the past. I'm just not sure if the shift in perspective works or not, is all.
So, I can already say with certainty that the next chapter won't be ready tomorrow, so I'll need to delay it to next Monday; I apologize for the inconvenience.
As an aside, and also so that this post isn't a complete downer, I should mention that I've plans to eventually update this on other sites - I'm just lazy as well as not very willing to just get a profile on too many things online - but hopefully a more polished version. So, considering that there is only the introductions and the Fullbringer arcs available so far (almost, next chapter should conclude it while leading into the Vizards arc, so long as it doesn't grow too long), what would any reader suggest I fix in any hypothetical updated version? Any opinions will be appreciated; as I said, the primary goal of posting this is to have some solid criticism on it, and any idea on how to make it work better is something I would read with interest.
Alright, the chapter has honestly grown a bit too big and I really wouldn't be able to finish the end in the next two hours (GMT +1 here, so Monday ends in two hours for me). And I think the chapter would grow up to be pretty huge anyway, since there's two whole fights plus a denouement for both the chapter itself and this entire Fullbringer arc left to write. So, I'm breaking this off here; hopefully it's interesting enough to stand on its own.
Chapter 14 - Fullbring
As he followed after Orihime, Ichigo asked, trying to get his bearings:
"So, what's going on? Can you tell us?"
Orihime nodded with a determined expression and answered:
"It seems that the bad guys allied with big squads of hollows; they sent one to keep Ishida occupied, while they had another few helping in the attack to the shop, and these we just beat."
Rukia grinned at that and said:
"That's good! It means that we're in the best case scenario."
"What do you mean?"
"It has to have been Hirako who gave them these group of hollows, and if he did that, it means he learned of their failure but didn't cut and run; and also means that once they get their stuff back, they'll lead us straight to Hirako's base, so we can finally capture him!"
Ichigo nodded, then focused on what he saw as the big problem right now.
"That's fine, but we can't just let these hollows they called upon run free."
Rukia sobered at that, going into her more analytic mode.
"Right. We're most definitely looking at a chase, and they'll likely split into groups to divide our focus and allow the team with Yukio's item to make it back to Hirako. I think I'll need to be in whichever group is at the head of the pursuit; Ishida is the only one faster than I am, but if he's not there, it's probably better for me to take the lead alone, rather than risk losing them. I'd probably ask the rest of you to split as necessary and then try to catch up if you can manage it, but I think it's best to keep it fluid for now, since everybody has different specialties - if it's a single strong Hollow, you'd be the better choice, but if it was a large number of very weak stragglers, Orihime would probably be the one capable to dispose of them the fastest."
Orihime pumped her fist in satisfaction at that as she commented:
"I'll show you how awesome I am, Rukia - none of those ghost shall escape the wrath of my hairpins!"
That caused Ichigo and Rukia both to chuckle a bit, which in turn made Ichigo notice that Tatsuki seemed out of it; she was deep in thought and didn't seem to be listening to the conversation at all. Curious as to the why of it, as well as a bit worried that she might have gotten hurt in her fight, he asked:
"Tatsuki? Is everything fine?"
Being addressed directly seemed to snap his friend out of her fugue, as she refocused her gaze on him and was quick to nod and answer:
"Yeah, nothing worth worrying about, I was just reviewing the fight in my head, thinking of ways to improve."
Ichigo chuckled at that - from the way Yoruichi kept picking up a never-ending laundry list of mistakes in every form she'd taught him, while only having the occasional minor correction for Tatsuki, he was pretty sure that his friend had very little to worry about. Still, he knew she was very driven to be the best, especially when it came to fighting, so he said to her, trying to be reassuring:
"If you want, we could stick together for this next fight then - maybe being able to compare how we go about it will help, and we're a terrific team when we're together."
She seemed surprised at his first words, but the final comment caused her to chuckle and answered:
"Oh yeah, that we are; I bet the guys we faced in that team tournament three years ago still have nightmares from the experience!"
They both laughed at that, and he was glad to see that Tatsuki seemed more relaxed after that, at least until they got in sight of Urahara's shop and Rukia said, back to being all business:
"All right, we're here; get ready!"
Ichigo nodded, releasing Sode no Shirayuki in preparation. As they reached their destination, they could see that Chad seemed to be fighting with a large amount of hollows - none of them looked particularly powerful, and in fact Ichigo's friend seemed capable of pulverizing several at once with a single blast, but there were at least two dozen in total, and they were very spread out.
Rukia looked at the battlefield critically for a moment, then said:
"I'll try to corral them out in a single place, that was the rest of you can take them out more easily."
Ichigo nodded, then an idea formed in his mind as he watched Chad fire another one of his energy beams and said to Rukia:
"Actually, once you have them grouped together, I think I can take them all out in a single attack."
"Good!"
Rukia didn't wait or ask for explanation, instead moving both of her hands in front of her to create the gigantic variant of her golden fire sphere that Ichigo had only seen her use during their first meeting, and sent it barreling toward the enemies, the attack smashing into the entire group; it didn't have enough power to finish them, but it did carried them along with itself, concentrating their entire group all in one place.
Ichigo then darted forward, even as he shouted:
"Chad, fire another beam in front of you, right now!"
His friend did so immediately, trusting Ichigo to know what he was doing, and he sliced with Sode No Shirayuki straight through the beam, spreading its power through it all; he had the sword spirit herself ensuring the power was applied just right, so that, the very moment the zanpakuto had cut through it all, Ichigo found himself in front of a straight up massive pillar of ice. Then he struck forward with his other hand, pushing out all of his hatred and disgust for hollows in the precise way Yoruichi had taught him to, which resulted (obviously, according to her) in giving his reiatsu a powerful repulsive force.
Which right now resulted into the huge ice pillar being sent flying straight into the enemy hollows, smashing them into the wall and turning most of them into paste, which was subsequently annihilated when what few of the energy on the inside of the beam hadn't been frozen yet exploded outwards as the ice broke on impact and released it.
Chad raised a thumb up to Ichigo in recognition of the success of his attack, but before they could talk Rukia was there and asked, serious:
"Right, so that was the hollows, but where are the fullbringers?"
"They went that way."
Rukia moved to watch in the direction Chad was pointing and nodded to herself as she said:
"That's the direction we know their hideout to be at, which means we can catch up if we move fast enough. I was hoping my trick would have hold them here for longer."
"What trick?"
Rukia offered him a very smug smile as she slowly pulled out something from her pocket:
"You see, while we had to let them find the videogame console or they'd never lead us to Hirako, we didn't have to let them recover all of their stuff; I was hoping they would waste time looking for the rest. Shame they didn't, but at least we won't be fighting them at full power, you know?"
She showed the cross pendant and the white toy gun decorated with a lot of hearts to Ichigo in the most self-satisfied way imaginable, then put them back into her own pocket as she said:
"Alright then, let's get going - we can't let them get away, they've a lot of head start already!"
Ichigo nodded, and once more they were off, running on air as fast as their feet could lead them, with Rukia slowly gaining more and more of a lead while, behind Ichigo, Orihime's platform that was carrying everybody else was lagging behind somewhat - and the girl herself seemed to look just a bit tired by the effort of keeping it manifested.
Ichigo frowned at that, then realized he might help - he'd wanted to talk with Chad and Orihime about Yoruichi's explanation on fullbringer, but hadn't had the time. Now that he could, however, he slowed down to match Orihime's flying pace and explained:
"Chad, Orihime, when I was speaking with our new teacher, she said something about fullbringer abilities that I think might help - that Fullbringers push their feelings into their surroundings to get their power - and that perhaps the technique to walk on air might work by imbuing the air itself with it. Do you think that's worth trying, so that we could move faster?"
Chad seemed to be considering the idea, but that was when Tatsuki spoke up, sounding disappointed:
"Even if they could master the trick right now, Ichigo, I wouldn't be able to - so Orihime would still need to keep the same pace to carry me along. And if that's the case, it's better for everybody to not risk trying new techniques right now, so we can all be in top form for the battle."
Tatsuki had a point, Ichigo had to concede, although...
"I could carry you?"
She shook her head at his offer and shot back:
"And then it'd be you who'd be tiring himself. Didn't you tell me that you almost lost the last time you fought this Ginjo guy?"
"Yeah, but he's unarmed now - that's gotta make him weaker than before, so -"
"Enemy ahead!"
Everybody turned to Rukia, who was slowing down as three Fullbringers were standing over a roof - Ichigo recognized them as Jackie, Giriko and Riruka, although it was weird for the latter to be there when she didn't have her item with her. It was the older one who shouted at the group, in a confident tone:
"Give up, Shinigami! We'll stop you here, and even if you win, Ginjo will come back with allies powerful enough to crush you all! You've no idea what you're up against - I suggest you to just stop with this futile battle right now, and save everyone a lot of pain."
Rukia didn't even slow down, instead she shouted:
"Orihime, Sado, you take on the three of them! Ichigo, Tatsuki, you keep following me if you can!"
Then, before anybody could intercept her, she shot another of her huge golden spheres - the enemies easily dodged out of the way of it, but they hadn't realized that, just as she fired, she'd also grabbed on the projectile, using it to push herself forward while ensuring none of the enemy was in her way; she let go of it immediately afterwards before waving to the enemies in a very smug manner, and then continuing her chase immediately afterwards. Jackie went to jump after her, but she slammed straight into an invisible wall that Rukia had left behind, her mocking wave having actually been meant, Ichigo realized, to conceal her own casting; he chuckled at how Rukia had turned the fact that her Kido could be cast with nothing more than a single hand's gestures to her advantage - a trick like that wouldn't have worked with the kind of spells found in stories, that required wands and magic words and other such things.
With the Fullbringers stumped, Ichigo turned to Tatsuki and said to her, offering the most apologetic grin he could:
"I'm sorry - it seems I'll need to carry you after all."
She let out an annoyed huff as she answered:
"Fine - but you're going to be teaching me this air walking trick next chance we have, got it?"
He nodded, and then Tatsuki turned to Orihime, suddenly hugging her as she said:
"And you stay safe, ok?"
The taller girl looked to be almost crying, but she recovered quickly as she nodded while pumping her fist and adding:
"You bet I will - they won't even know what hit them!"
And with that, Ichigo darted forward, leaving his friends behind to face the three Fullbringers - trusting that they'd manage on their own while he and Tatsuki headed forward to help Rukia in her continuing chase.
***
With Tatsuki, Ichigo and Rukia gone, Orihime refocused her attention on the three enemies in front of them, before puffing her cheeks in annoyance and placing a hand on her hips, the other pointing straight at the older of the two women among them.
"Jackie! Why are you and your friend being so mean? You lied to us and are trying to start a war! That's bad!"
The older woman looked at least a bit chagrined at that, which soothed Orihime's ruffled feelings somewhat - if nothing else, she knew she was being mean and shouldn't have lied to them - and she eventually said:
"I'm sorry girly, but that's just the way things are. To get his revenge his Ginjo's goal, and he did a lot to help every one of us - we owe it to him to help him achieve his goal."
"But other people will get hurt! Don't you care about that?!"
That caused Jackie's expression to darken as she answered:
"Nobody cared when I got hurt; why should I care about them in turn? They're all already dead anyway, it doesn't matter at all."
Orihime stomped her foot on the platform they were standing on, and was about to answer to that - really, Jackie had to see how repaying pain with pain would never lead anywhere nice - but before she could, the redhead, whose name Orihime couldn't remember, shouted:
"Enough of this silliness, we need to take them down if we want to go help Ginjo! Move, both of you!"
Jackie and her one-eyed friend nodded and charged, with Jackie on front; Orihime prepared herself to call the other half of Shun Shun Rikka that wasn't currently keeping her afloat to stop the attack, but before she could, Sado got in the way, his arm covered in his shield-glove with which he stopped Jackie's falling kick. The impact caused a shockwave that forced Orihime to take a couple steps back, but Sado didn't budge an inch, instead eyeing the other woman as he told her, in his usual serious tone:
"You aren't the only one to fight for her friends; I will protect mine with all of my strength."
Then he pushed her away, before heading forward, blasting at Jackie with a beam of energy that she deflected away with a kick. Then Orihime refocused on the other enemy, who was coming for her, and with a gesture - it felt a bit silly, but Tsubaki had insisted that proper ninja used hand signals to communicate without the enemy knowing, and the idea of being a ninja was way too cool to pass off - a new barrier formed in front of her, causing the butler's spinning pocket watch to bounce off of it without arm; she knew it was a powerful attack, on the bounce-back it pulverized the rooftop fence it slammed into, but Orihime was confident that her shield was indestructible.
She deactivated the one she was standing on with a snap of her fingers, landing on the rooftop in a crouch as the three fairies that had been forming it started to orbit around her in lazy circles, while she frowned and said to the man:
"You know you're gonna lose just like last time, right? Your clock can't beat my shield. Couldn't you just surrender? That way, there'd be no need for anybody to get hurt."
The mustachioed man shook his head sadly at that, and replied:
"I'm afraid things will go differently this time, miss. You are right that you can beat me, of course, but that's precisely why I'm not your real opponent - just the distraction."
Orihime frowned a moment at that, but then Shin'O, who was leading the group defending her, shouted suddenly:
"Orihime, jump! Now!"
She did, fast as she could, and a moment later the redhead smashed the ground with a punch, her long red pigtails trailing after her even as she held her hat in place with the other hand. Orihime watched with surprise as her new opponent raised her fist, cracking her neck to the side as she glared at Orihime with disgust clear on her features and said:
"It seems your Awakened Item is even better than I expected. Typical, really - some people have all the luck."
Orihime's eyes narrowed at that, while Shin'O preened, in a very smug tone:
"Of course we are! Who do you think you're dealing with, lady? We're the best!"
"The name's Riruka, if you don't mind using it, little pixie, but I wasn't talking to you, rather your master."
Orihime raised a hand to stop the spirit of her item from starting a spat, while Riruka went on, sounding annoyed:
"Let me ask you one thing, Orihime Inoue. Why were you trying to solve this with words, when you have a power so much stronger than any of the rest of us here does?"
That had Orihime's determination fade a bit, as she looked at the other girl in confusion. How could she not understand? It wasn't a difficult concept.
"Because I don't want anyone to get hurt!"
Riruka glare strengthened as she raised both fists and said, in a dark tone:
"That's too bad then - because somebody will be getting hurt for sure."
Then she charged at her, moving far faster than Orihime thought anybody could; Orihime sent her fairies onward, but when the first was about to smash into her, Riruka suddenly stopped, letting it pass in front of her before snatching her hand forward, grabbing the fairy - Lily, Orihime was sure - so that she was dragged forward by it; Lily realized what had happened and slowed suddenly, to allow Baigon behind her to catch up and smack into Riruka... but just as that was about to happen, Riruka let go, causing the two fairies to smash into each other, while the moment Riruka touched the ground, it seemed to flex under her like a trampoline, allowing her to shot herself onward so fast that Orihime barely had the time to raise her hands in front of her face before the fist hit her and sent her rolling backwards.
As she got up, Orihime could feel the pain of her cheek throbbing from the bad bruise left by Riruka's attack despite the fact she'd interposed her arms - one of which, she also realized, felt incredibly numb; she tried to flex it and had to stifle a scream, before deciding that letting it dangle at her side was perhaps a best option.
Riruka was now glaring down her nose now - Orihime's three fairies had moved back to circle around her defensively, but the redhead didn't seemed fazed at all. Instead, she spoke, her tone matching her expression.
"You know, people like you disgust me."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, people who think they can decide who gets hurt and who doesn't, just because they think to be the strongest ones. What they call it, the law of the jungle? The strong rule, the weak do as they're bound to?"
"That's not what I meant at all!"
Riruka scoffed.
"One who is fighting for survival doesn't have the choice not to hurt those who want to kill them. Here, I'll show you."
And then, Riruka darted forward again; Orihime glanced at her shield, but the other Fullbringer was still trying to move around it and striking it occasionally - he wasn't achieving anything, but Orihime just couldn't recall the shield back.
So she focused once more on Riruka, and tried something different, sending Shin'O, Baigon and Lily forward all together in a direct charge; but, just as they were about to strike her, the air in front of Riruka seemed to turn into a trampoline again, except one that pushed her backwards; then she seemed to slam into another air trampoline behind her, but this one angled to send her flying high above Orihime's fairies; they were already turning to follow Riruka skyward, but before they'd covered even half the distance she had, Riruka struck at the air with the hand, and a moment later it turned into another trampoline, this one aimed so that, bouncing from it, Riruka was shot down like a missile straight at her. Orihime had just enough time to roll out of the way, a moment before Riruka slammed into the concrete, creating another small impact crater within. Orihime scrambled backwards, but then Riruka slammed her foot onto the ground, and the rooftop turned suddenly slippery, causing Orihime to fall to the ground as Riruka moved to loom over her.
She couldn't understand what was going; she thought they'd taken Riruka's magic item, hadn't they?
The redhead chuckled at seeing Orihime's confusion, and said:
"You thought I was powerless, didn't you? Fullbring is more than just that. It is reaching out with your soul to the world around you, and asking it to bend, just a little - you can't ask too much, not of anything but an awakened item, because the world is not so smart, but with enough practice, you can get it to do little things. Like asking air to stick together when you put your weight on it rather than parting under it - maybe bending a little, even. Or asking the ground to let itself become just a little bit looser, making friction go away for a few moments. Or making your muscles and skin a bit sturdier, just enough to not tear on impact for the duration of a battle. Starting to get it now?"
Orihime couldn't say that she fully did, but she'd gotten enough to understand - it was the same trick the other Fullbringer used to walk on air, just being used better; perhaps Rurika was just more skilled. Still, Orihime knew that her fairies were heading back already, so she asked, both to gain time and because she just wanted to understand:
"So, is this what you meant about strong and weak? That you're the stronger one because you know more tricks than I do?"
Riruka shook her head at that.
"No, that's the second wrong point about the whole prey and predator thing. It's a lie the strong tell to the weak, that they could get strong too with just some effort. But that's not it either; real strength, the one thing which always wins over everything else, comes from numbers. The real predators, the real strong ones, are those who have the majority on their side; there is no strength that is greater than that."
As her speech ended, she jumped backwards, just in time to avoid Orihime's returning fairies; Orihime could see now that she'd made the ground into a trampoline too in order to make the jump fast enough, and as she stopped in midair, she knew she'd made another one to shot herself forward again, so Orihime did the only thing she could think of, and ordered her barrier to form, causing Riruka to slam straight into it.
The fullbringer rolled backward, apparently unbothered even if she'd gotten hurt in slamming against the shield, and instead she shouted:
"Giriko, now!"
Orihime turned to look the older man, who raised his pocket watch and said, in a tone that sounded amused:
"You probably didn't know, miss, but my item has the ability to slow down the passage of time for anything I hit with it - or restore it to its proper speed, if I disengage the effect. Like so."
He pressed the button on top of the pocket watch, and suddenly, Orihime was falling; she watched down, and realized that, between striking the wall, Giriko had also being striking the ground, hard enough to pulverize it just as he had the rooftop's fences before, while also applying his effect to it to keep it from collapsing, by having it stay frozen in time... until now, when it'd turned into a pit under Orihime's feet.
They'd tricked her, she realized - Giriko said he'd be the distraction, but instead, Riruka had been.
Still, she knew she could still save herself, so she quickly called for Shun Shun Rikka to disengage both barriers, calling them to fly underneath her and form into a new, horizontal one to stop her fall; it stole her breath for a moment, but at least she was safe.
Or at least, so she thought, until she saw Giriko bearing down on her, swinging his watch like a flail; she quickly raised her second wall, stopping him, and that was when Riruka landed in front of her, hitting her straight in her belly with a knee strike that sent Orihime to smash into her own barrier. The hit left her on her knees, head ringing and spitting blood from the sheer power of the hit.
Riruka slowly moved to loom over her once again, and this time Orihime couldn't disperse either barrier - the one underneath her was the only thing separating her from a lethal fall, and the other was all that kept Giriko from striking her. Riruka smile was grim as she said:
"And once again, numbers wins the day. By which I don't just mean that we're two against one - it's that the whole world is part of our team, since it'll do what we ask it to, which makes it so that we have the largest numbers than everybody else around. Except for the Shinigami. With their army, powers and unity, they're too many for even us; but Ginjo has offered us a way forward, by helping him. We just need to get the Shinigami to fight each other, and once they do, we'll be stronger than even them, and we'll get to make the rules. We'll decide who get hurts and who doesn't, and then, yes, there will no longer be any need for us to get hurt."
Riruka grabbed her by the chin, forcing Orihime to look her in the eyes, and then asked:
"I bet you get it now, don't you? Now that you're the one who's about to get hurt, to die, I bet you're ready to kill us in return, aren't you? Come on, try at least, and maybe I'll let you join our team."
Orihime didn't say anything for a moment, as she looked into Riruka's eyes, so full of anger and disdain, and she found something else deep in there, hidden very well but still visible to her... loneliness. And suddenly, Orihime knew what she had to do as she answered, coughing some more blood as she did:
"I will... make it... so that nobody... will be hurt... at all."
She saw the disbelief in Riruka's eyes, but before the other girl could process what was going on, Orihime snapped the fingers of her one still functioning hand, and the platform underneath them disappeared; as she was still holding on Orihime, Riruka got dragged down for just a moment - but it was enough for Orihime to gesture at her other barrier, and Tsubaki separated from it, for a moment leaving only a long cable of glowing light.
Giriko hadn't been expecting that, and between that and the loss of the ground he was standing on, he didn't have time to react as the thread of light dashed upward at blinding speed, acting like a reverse guillotine and cutting through the Fullbringer's wrist, which caused him to scream as he fell down.
Riruka let go of Orihime then, moving to her ally, and a moment after she did, she slammed into a new barrier - except when she stumbled backwards, she bumped on a flat plane, and as she looked around herself, she found that she was trapped inside a pyramid of glowing light, while Giriko's hand was slowly regenerating itself, as were the wounds Riruka herself had took in the fight.
Orihime smiled, her hand grabbed firmly around Tsubaki's glowing globe of light the way Riruka had before, keeping her from falling down, while Shin'O was holding Giriko's pocket watch. Riruka watched her with confusion on her face, and Orihime grinned as she said, smiling with red teeth:
"See? I won... even if I didn't have... the numbers... and I didn't... kill anyone... to do it."
Riruka continued to look at her in disbelief, even as Orihime nodded to her fairies, all six of which very slowly raised until they were standing over the solid ground of the rooftop once again, Riruka and Giriko still trapped within the healing pyramid while Orihime kneeling on the ground. She was still recovering her breath as Riruka moved to the edge of the pyramid and asked, sounding annoyed:
"What do you think you proved with your stunt? We might be trapped now, but you're on the verge of collapse. And even if you weren't, you can't keep this cage up forever, and once you drop it, you won't be able to fight at all, while we'll be fresh and new. It's just a delaying tactic, nothing more."
Orihime chuckled, which caused her to cough some more blood, but then sat down and turned toward Riruka to explain to her, after taking a long breath to ensure she would be able to speak properly:
"You're wrong. I don't need to keep this up forever, only until Ichigo and Tatsuki and the others come back here. Then I'll let you out, and you'll be safe and unhurt, but still have lost."
"That doesn't change anything - it just proves that I'm right, when your numbers will have won the game! You couldn't beat us alone!"
Orihime shook her head.
"See, that's not the point. I never said that it isn't true that having help is good; of course it is. Without my friends, I never would have been here at all, I wouldn't be a magical girl who protects ghosts from monsters. But I can still decide not to hurt people as I fight; you said that it is a choice that only the stronger can make, but I don't think that. I think that it's just the harder choice to make, whether you're stronger or weaker. And yeah, maybe I'll need to choose between hurting others or getting hurt myself some times. But if that's what I have to do, then I'm gonna choose myself, every time. It doesn't matter if I'm weaker or stronger or alone or what; I have my beliefs, and if I stick to those, I'll win every time."
Riruka was lost, so Orihime smiled, placing her still working hand over the wall as she said:
"Is it so strange to you, that I don't want you to get hurt, too?"
Riruka's eyes widened at that, and then she started to cry; instinctively, Orihime dropped the barrier, and moved to hug the other girl, letting her keep at it for a while. Eventually, Riruka's cry turned to short sobs, and then she said, her voice broken:
"You know, you're really silly and naive. If... if I wanted, right now, I could just squeeze you and you'd be dead. You shouldn't have let me out."
Orihime smiled at that, and asked:
"And will you?"
It took a long moment, but then Riruka shook her head and muttered:
"Don't feel like it right now."
"Great! I'm so happy to hear it. Also, if you had tried to, I'd just close the pyramid again with all of us inside - that way anything you did to me would be undone, and you'd still be trapped until my friends showed up. Plus, nobody would be hurt any longer that way, not even I!"
Orihime smiled at that, which caused Riruka to start to chuckle, to which Orihime herself joined into; when, a few minutes later, Sado reached them with an unconscious Jackie slung over his shoulder, he was quite puzzled of finding the two girl laughing together like that.
*****
As it turned out, Rukia's speed was enough to catch up to Ginjo and Yukio soon enough; she then slowed down just a notch, enough to keep up but not to reach them, which Ichigo knew was in the hope that she could follow them to their real target's hiding place.
However, it seemed clear that Ginjo wasn't going to just accept that, as eventually he and his friend headed down to a rooftop and once they landed Ginjo said, glaring up at them:
"You really think it would be so easy to take advantage of us? We knew you would try to follow us, and it's not going to work."
They landed then, with Ichigo putting Tatsuki down, and Rukia said, raising an eyebrow:
"Are you sure that's a good idea? You're outnumbered and outgunned here - you really might need all the help you can get."
She paused, then added, with a certain cockiness:
"Unless you have a few more hollows to drop on us? I suppose that might be enough to delay us for a handful of seconds, with the quality of the support you managed to scrounge up."
Ginjo didn't seemed annoyed at all at, as instead he answered, with a grin:
"Maybe I have just one left... but you'll never know if I keep you here, will you? Yukio, go! As we planned!"
Immediately, the younger fullbringer resumed his escape, and Rukia darted after him - except he'd barely cleared two rooftops before whipping his game console around; Rukia had already dodged, clearly expecting him to be trying to catch her in the trap like Orihime and Chad had been, but instead the gate he opened was in another zone entirely from the one she'd being occupying, and a massive, furred green hollow was dropped down of it.
Then Ichigo had to refocus his attention, as Ginjo had pulled out something from his pockets... although he relaxed as he saw it was a knife and said back:
"Really? Is that all you've got?"
Ginjo growled as he said:
"It'll be enough to take you down and have my revenge, don't worry - you see, unlike most Fullbringers, I can make my own replacement weapons if I really need to."
And then, before Ichigo's eyes, he immediately pumped a huge amount of power in the knife, causing it to transform into another huge sword like the one he'd been wielding before. It looked remarkably similar; it even had the extended handle inside the hilt, the only real difference seemed to be that the cross-guard was shaped like curved horns and there was a skull in the middle of it. Seeing that, Ichigo had to ask:
"I thought these awakened items were unique?"
"They are, but they're still fueled by my personality and my connection with it, since meaningless items won't manifest a proper ability. So they tend to be similar, especially if, like I did, the Fullbringer plans for it in advance, and woke them up with a similar emotion."
That said, Ginjo grinned, aiming his blade at Ichigo as he concluded:
"But enough pointless explanations - you won't need them, because you're gonna be dead soon!"
And then, with no further warning, a massive beam was fired from the sword straight at Ichigo, like a cannon; he instinctively jumped backwards even as he spun Sode no Shirayuki in front of himself, creating a sturdy ice shield than managed to stop the beam for long enough that both Ichigo and Tatsuki managed to get themselves out of the way before the ice was finally cracked and the beam continued onward to explode in the distance behind them.
The fullbringer smiled, taking up the blade with both hand, and continued:
"Don't think I missed your weakness in our previous fight - you have no ability to attack at range at all. Even if I don't have access to all the powers I stole from hollows and stored in my Cross of Scaffold across the years, I feel confident that getting this type of ability is just what I needed to take you out!"
And with that, he dashed forward, sword hefted over his shoulder; Ichigo wondered for a moment why he was doing that when he'd just said he was gonna use attacking at range to beat him, but he got his answer when Ginjo swung his blade, as a multitude of beams erupted from all points of the blade. Each ray had been fired in such a short fraction of a second that a myriad of them were unleashed in the time of that one attack, with the slash itself obviously meant to give that many attacks coverage of as big of an area as possible, and Ichigo had to move upwards and backwards with all of this speed to avoid them all - which left him even further away from Ginjo.
The Fullbringer didn't stop waving his sword, continuing to send a multitude of beams in Ichigo's direction; at such distance, avoiding most of them wasn't hard, but the sheer number made it a constant effort, and getting closer was impossible, as nearer to the man the density was so high it'd be impossible to dodge anything.
And then, suddenly, the barrage stopped, and Ichigo needed a moment to realize that Tatsuki had dashed toward Ginjo and was now engaging him in close quarters; the Fullbringer had to focus on dodging her attacks as she pressured him, clearly more interested in stopping him from bringing his sword to bear or blasting her away than in actually delivering the hurt, her quick and repeated short distance jabs and thrusts obviously meant to emphasize speed of delivery over all others considerations.
Ichigo couldn't help but grin to himself at Tatsuki's display of skill, but then he dived downwards, taking advantage of the opening she was creating for him as fast as he could while calling upon Sode No Shirayuki's power.
He slammed into the roof just next to Ginjo with a impact that sent a wave of shattered concrete rippling outwards from his landing point and send both combatants stumbling away, but Ginjo was closer, so he had no defense when Ichigo once more used the Hakuda trick of focusing fully on disgust and hatred and pushed the slabs at Ginjo like a hail of heavy projectiles, which the man had to use his large sword to deflect.
Ichigo glared at his opponent.
"As you can see, I learned a few new tricks since we last met - I'm not as useless as I was at range anymore. Not that I'd need it to kick your ass."
He charged as he spoke, crossing blades with him; he could see as Ginjo swung that he was trying to fire more beams at him, but by remaining this close, Ichigo could slash through them to turn them to ice with the zanpakuto's power before they really got going, often even deflecting the small icicles created this way back at the Fullbringer with the returning swings of his sword.
Ginjo growled and said, in a dark tone:
"Facing me will be the last mistake you make, boy - when I'm done with you, there'll be nothing left!"
Then the man redoubled his efforts; Ichigo was forced to take a couple steps back by the sheer superior strength his enemy was putting into his strikes, but then he focused, calling up his own determination to strengthen his body with Hakuda, and the next time their blades clashed, Ginjo was the one sent skidding back. Ichigo then charged ahead, ready to deliver a finishing blow, but just as his blade was to strike it bounced back softly for a moment, as if it'd impacted a springy surface; Ichigo was so surprised that it took him a moment to realize he could have just powered through if he struck again, and before he could, Ginjo's sword let out a new, powerful beam that hit Ichigo straight in his belly, sending him flying. He crashed into the rooftops, smashing the concrete from the strength of the impact; only the combination of being in his spiritual form and the fact he'd been reinforcing his body kept the wounds from being lethal, but he still felt stunned and out of it as he tried to get up. Before he'd even fully gotten to his knees, he saw Ginjo's massive shadow over him as the Fullbringer raised his weapon - and then Ginjo was sent down as a fast moving, solid form slammed into his side with the strength and power of a cannonball, sending him smashing into the ground.
Tatsuki smiled at Ichigo as she offered him a hand, and once he was back up, they both turned toward Ginjo, who was cleaning blood from his mouth with the back of his hand as he glared at them with pure hatred.
"You're really an annoying fly, you know that, little girl?"
Tatsuki shrugged at that, raising her fists as she said:
"I would rather a bee, if you don't mind - 'cause I'm looking forward to stinging you a whole lot."
Then she nodded to Ichigo, who nodded back; they really could take him if they worked together, considering each of the two of them had been giving him an hard time on their own.
Ginjo raised his eyebrows at that and commented, apparently unfazed:
"Feeling confident, aren't you? But I suppose that's to be expected, when you have the numbers on your side."
He paused, cocking his head, and then pointed with his thumb to a place behind his back as he continued:
"But, are you sure it's me you should be tag-teaming? Your friend there sure look like she'd need the help more, doesn't she?"
Ichigo frowned for a moment, trying to understand what Ginjo was talking about, until he realized that, due to the way they'd moved around the battlefield, he could now see the rooftop where, he'd been expecting, Rukia should have defeated the big hollow and left to keep trailing the boy Yukio... except that's not what he saw. The blonde Fullbringer was nowhere to be seen, and Rukia wasn't fighting only the huge hollow he'd seen before, but also another one that looked like a black robed man with dark hair from this distance, and from what he could see, she was losing.
It was clear something wasn't right, as she seemed to freeze and only barely defend herself from the man whenever he attacked, and then the big hollow struck with what looked like a sharp tongue at her whenever she tried to get away from her opponent, cutting her; the shinigami was bleeding in several places, and while Ichigo wasn't sure, it looked like one of her arms was moving stiffly, thus reducing her ability to use Kido.
Ichigo was paralyzed with indecision for a moment, but then to his side Tatsuki spoke.
"Go help her - if whatever that is can take Kuchiki down, we can't beat it, even together, but perhaps if you're fighting alongside her, that'd be enough to win it. After all, you said you can kill Hollows with just one strike, isn't it?"
It wasn't that Ichigo didn't want to help Rukia, but... he motioned with his head toward Ginjo.
"What about him?"
Tatsuki scoffed, slamming her fists together as she said, her tone and posture exuding confidence:
"Don't worry about this guy, I'm gonna take him down and come save your ass in a few minutes at most."
Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at that, but he nodded and answered:
"Alright then; I'll try not to kill the hollow too fast, so you can have some fun too!"
Then he was off, jumping high into the air and moving toward the roof where Rukia was fighting.
numbers numbers...The fullbringers certainly seem like they're hung up on numbers this time around. Possibly even before then and I didn't notice until Riruka had her speech about it.
But as a general rule, they sound like Peasants wanting to be Nobles so they can have the power to protect themselves, or at least promise Vengence against any who would harm them.
If only the game was that simple...But it's not.
And it's no surprise Ginjo immeadiately has problems once he's no longer duelling, given how much of his fighting style seemed to be based around the notion of kiting his foes to death.
Fun Rukia moment for me this chapter was her rolling her katamari kido and throwing up a wall for Jackie to splat into while Rukia just smugs for the camera. Aizen's revealed, and Rukia's a good student so now you can say it overtly eh?
