The War of Despair

Chapter 1

Yamamoto definitely knew what he was doing, I'll give him that. Nearly a thousand years ago, when he announced plans to put together a fourteenth squad, we all scoffed at him (behind his back, of course). There was absolutely no need. The Thirteen Court Guard Squads had already put down and locked Aizen away (with the help of Ichigo Kurosaki) and the Espada had disbanded. But when Yamamoto began putting together a new squad, and sent them to train night and day without stop for one thousand years, we thought he had lost his mind. We were wrong of course, but how could we have known that? How could anyone possibly have expected what was to come? But Yamamoto did. Somehow, he knew that one day, both the Human World and the Spirit World would be in grave danger.

I was selected, of course, to join this squad. It was a great honor, but also somehow a daunting task. We were told that we would become the best. The strongest, the highest, the most elite squad ever created. We would train nonstop until we all learned bankai, and we wouldn't stop there. Nearly a hundred of us, we would continue to train, even with our bankais, until our powers matched those of Yamamoto himself. Our squad's specialty would be annihilation. Nothing would be able to stand in our path. At least, nothing that existed at the time of our formation.

"Lieutenant Kaede!" There was a shriek as another explosion rocked the air; fragments of dirt and dust flew everywhere. 9th Seat Haruka was fighting a mutated Hollow, a large green behemoth of a monster. "The arrancar! They've taken the northern street!"

"Thank you Haruka," I spun around as a cero blasted by my head, and flash-stepped away as waves of radiation pierced the air. I didn't have time to deal with these Hollows. Of course, they were a threat, but they were of little importance. They were merely thoughtless, irrational grunts, and time was of the essence. I ran through husks of burnt out buildings, scanning the putrid air for signs of the arrancar, and my Captain.

Karakura Town had, once again, become a battleground. But this time, the fight had been started by the humans. A massive war had broken out in the Human World, and as residents of the Soul Society, we were powerless to stop it. We had watched in horror and repulsion as the humans killed each other, ripping their nations to shreds with weapons of fire and death. Their governments sought to build bigger, more explosive weapons, as the missiles of their enemies rained down upon them in turn. It was horrible, but there was nothing we could do. Their war was their problem, not ours. Until it became our problem.

With so many thousands of people dying, naturally, came the Hollows. They came like locusts, clouding the air, swarming the streets, looking for souls to devour. And they found them. But with the souls, they also found the radiation. The nuclear waste, the residue from the bombs, had somehow warped the very souls of the people they had killed. And when the Hollows came into contact with these warped souls, they mutated. The result was a monster with the ravenous hunger of a Hollow and the raw destructive power of a nuclear weapon. The regular Court Guard Squads could barely hold their own against even these lowliest of creatures. The Captains could hardly fend off the Menos. It became our duty, as the Fourteenth Squad, to defend what was left of the Pluses, and keep the Soul Society safe at all costs.

More explosions tore through the air around me, misdirected ceros that barely came close to hitting me. But what worried me was the radiation; as deadly as it was to humans, it could somehow hurt us as Shinigami as well. And the ceros were laced with it. Our spirit pressure allowed us to actually see the waves of radiation, and get away with time to spare. I flashed from building to building, dodging the ceros and making my way to the northern street.

That was when I saw him. The arrancar. His white robes fluttered in the wind as he disappeared behind a derelict building. At last, I had found them. The arrancar had been moving quickly and efficiently, not even bothering with the humans. We had no idea why they were here, but they seemed to be looking for something. The Captain had immediately taken off after them, leaving us behind to clean up the Hollows. I hoped she was alright… No. I couldn't think like that. Of course she was alright. She was the Captain of the Fourteenth Squad. There was no one stronger than her; it was even rumored that she had once bested Yamamoto himself in a duel.

I sped up, gaining ground between the arrancar and myself, sidestepping around the rubble that filled the streets. The arrancar had merely been walking when I saw him, so it wouldn't take too long to catch up. As I passed by the building that his robes had flashed behind, I suddenly felt a very sharp pain in my abdomen. I stumbled, tripped, and came crashing to the ground. Damn it. I should have been more careful. I had been blind-sided, taken off guard. After a thousand years of training, I definitely should have expected that. That was the problem with emotions, they blinded you. Trying my best not to look like a fool, I quickly caught myself and sprang to my feet, just as a cero exploded at the exact spot where I had fallen.

"Well, well, well." Oh god, his voice… It grated against my ears like nails on a chalkboard. "I'd have thought the Fourteenth Squad Lieutenant would be a little more careful than that. You're the elite, aren't you? What are your subordinates? Ants?" He cackled as he stepped out from behind a busted pillar, and I finally got a full look at my attacker. Oh, no… He was definitely radiated, I could tell by the faint glow of his skin. All Hollows took on a glowing hue once they had absorbed the nuclear waste. His shaggy blue hair fell down around his grotesque face; bits of a broken, skull-like mask seemed to be embedded in his flesh. A large, jagged, white mouth piece extended from the corner of his lips, and his Hollow hole gaped through his left cheek. "Looks like I've caught you. Tell me, where is your Captain?" Again, his sharp cackle ripped at my eardrums, making the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

I merely stared back at him. My eyes were cold, completely void of emotion. That was what Yamamoto taught us. Show nothing, reveal nothing. I would not let him unnerve or embarrass me, even after he had taken me off guard. I was a killer. "No, arrancar, let me ask the questions. Why are you here, and what do you want? Karakura Town is destroyed. There's nothing here for you."

"Why are you here, and what do you want?" He was mocking me. No, he was starting to piss me off. "How 'bout I just kill you so I don't have to answer your questions?"

That was the only cue I needed. He wasn't going to talk, he wanted to die. My hand flashed to my scabbard as I drew my zanpakuto. "Tear and bloom, Kurai Mori (Dark Forest)!" As I drew the handle from my belt and slashed my blade in front of me, I could feel the entire sword change texture, reshaping itself in my hand.

With a glimpse at my sword, the arrancar's eyes widened, and suddenly… he started laughing. He cackled, he wheezed, he doubled over. Tears began welling from his eyes. "That's your shikai? I… I can't… breathe! Ahahahaha!" His cackling echoed off the buildings on either side. "It's a wooden sword! And I thought the Fourteenth Squad was dangerous! The Lieutenant... has… a… wooden sword!"

He stopped laughing. His eyes widened once more, and he fell to his knees as my sword exited through his backside, the edges of the blade now razor sharp. Where I had been more than twenty feet away from him merely a second ago, I was now standing directly in front of him. "A wooden sword, yes. But I'm also a Lieutenant, arrancar. Never forget that." As I spoke, thorns began to grow on my wooden zanpakuto, starting at the base of the blade and spreading their way up. The arrancar shrieked as the thorns pierced his body, growing in size. His death would be bloody and painful, my zanpakuto would eviscerate him from the inside out.

This arrancar had been weak. He was stupid, and let his arrogance destroy him. I sheathed my blade, averting my eyes from the bloody mess before me as my sword returned to its original form. Still, it wouldn't do to be careless. Even though I managed to kill him, he had gotten the drop on me. I flash-stepped away, trying not to dwell on what could have happened, had the arrancar been smarter.

The street seemed to be quiet; despite Haruka's claim that the arrancar had taken the northern street, they were nowhere to be seen. I scanned the area quietly and thoughtfully. Could it be another trap? No… They would have come to their fellow's aid, would they not? Or at least, when I was on the ground, they would have stolen his kill. They had probably moved on already, deeming this spot of ground as worthless as the last. What were they looking for? Something had to have called them here.

I made it to the far end of the street when I finally found her. The Captain! She was standing there, still and silent, her hand lightly upon the Zanpakuto at her belt. I began to run toward her, making sure that the area was clear. "Captain Katsume, where are the-" She held out a hand to silence me. I slowed down a little, but continued until I was by her side. "Captain, What's going on?"

"Get down!" She shouted, just as three ceros converged above our heads. We both ducked, flying apart from each other. Radiation and dust blossomed in the air around us. "Lieutenant Kaede, draw your weapon!" Her beautiful red hair whipped around her face as she drew her own zanpakuto. "There's a Vasto Lorde in that building!"

"A- What? A Vasto Lorde? Here?" What the hell was going on? A Vasto Lorde, here in the middle of Karakura Town? There wasn't much time to question it though. If there truly was a Vasto Lorde, we had to fight it. But, I will admit, I was scared. A Vasto Lorde was the strongest classification of Hollow. Not even a regular Captain could hold their own against one, and I had certainly never faced one before. But there was no point in dawdling on it. "Tear and blossom, Kurai Mori!"

"Obliterate, Kukan (The Void)!" The Captain had already released her own shikai. Her zanpakuto had taken the shape of a beautiful silver katana, with a white hilt and a small pearl attached to a chain at the end. The weapon looked simple enough, but I knew just how dangerous it was. "Kaede, look out!"

All of a sudden the air was thick with Hollows. They were absolutely everywhere, as if someone had summoned them out of nowhere. We were in the middle of a war zone. I slashed my blade at the nearest Hollows, shooting thorns the length of my arm to soar through the air. As they impaled the demons, they exploded upon impact, destroying the Hollows one by one. I jumped into the air, spun around, and sent out another wave of thorns.

Captain Katsume was cutting down Hollows with ease. Everything her zanpakuto sliced began to melt down, starting at the wound, slowly dissolving until it became a puddle of silvery liquid. As more Hollows came into contact with the liquid, they too began to melt down. It was both horrifying and fascinating at the same time; I watched as hordes of Hollows melted away into puddles of acid. With a motion of her arm, Captain Katsume could control the liquid, making it rise into the air like some beautiful, terrible puppet, and splash it down upon our enemies. "Kaede, the Vasto Lorde!"

As we were cutting down the Hollows, he was making his escape. He soared up into the air, way above our heads. I had never seen a Vasto Lorde before, but I knew at once that this was him. He was humanoid in shape, but with slightly longer, thinner limbs. His skin was gray and translucent, with the soft glow of radiation. Four large, delicate wings unfolded themselves from his backside.

"Kaede, stop him! He's too high up for my bankai to work!" Katsume was being overwhelmed by the Hollows, trying her best to splash as many as she could with her shikai's acid.

"Bankai! Nageki no Kurai Mori (Dark Forest of Grief)!"I plunged my wooden sword into the ground and watched as it began to take root, spreading vines into the rubble, trying to find soil beneath. "Come on, come on…" The ground suddenly erupted; a lush, titanic tree shot out of the ground in front of me, rising up to tower above the buildings, covering the immediate area in a large, dark shade. The tree kept growing, higher into the sky, until it was higher than the Vasto Lorde himself. Vines shot out from the tree, roping the Vasto Lorde in place. "Got him."

I began running my way up the side of the tree, my zanpakuto in hand, ready to impale and destroy the Vasto Lorde. But before I could make it up to the vines that were ensnaring him, there was a burst of light up near the top of the tree. Two arrancar had appeared, holding their zanpakuto above the vines. With two deft movements, the arrancar sliced through the vines. The Vasto Lorde came free, and with another burst of light, all three had disappeared.

"Damnit!" Somehow, everything had gone silent. I looked down to the base of the tree to see Katsume, panting, but alone. As the Vasto Lorde and the arrancar disappeared, it seemed that so too did the rest of the Hollows. "Kaede, he's gone. And he took her with him!"

Confused, I stared at Katsume. "What? Who? Who'd he take?"

"It's over, Kaede. Our last hope for the Human World. They took the Kurosaki girl. The last living descendant of Ichigo Kurosaki."