The Soul Society has a new contact sport and here is the birth of it. This takes place a little while after A Choice With No Regrets and about a year before the next main story. I'll upload the rules of the game later.

The Dragon Orb Races

Peace reined in the Soul Society and the Living World. Coge hasn't appeared for some time, the Z-Fighters continued to grow stronger, and the 13 Court Guard Squads were now almost back to full strength with the addition of people who once fought beings called Titans back in their old world joining their ranks. And, heh- of course, there's the saiyan prince who makes danger pee itself just by snarling at it. Yep, life was peaceful! ... Too peaceful. Among the squads there were whispers pleading for something to do, for something to happen. Boredom was making some do stupid things, like Zaraki challenging Val the Saboron to a fight. Challenging a member of a race that evolved alongside saiyans, who grew up beside Vegeta and has a volatile temper?- Smart. Kurotsuchi had run out of ideas of things to invent and such. Shunsui spent most of the time hungover or wasted like Rangiku, Shuhei and Izuru. Some captains and lieutenants did have a respite from boredom as the Soul Reaper Academy was full of students, including many of the ones from the Titan ruled world, and they were often called in to assist with lessons. Levi actually learned an interesting new game from Eren and his friends.

Conny: "HA! Suck it, Jean!"

Jean: "Dammit! Every time!"

Reiner: "No one's ever beaten Eren at this game."

Jean: "Shut up! One day he'll loose!"

Eren: "And if it's by you, I'll dress in a skirt and dance around for you, Horseface!"

Eren and the boys laughed. Whenever there weren't any lessons going on at the academy, all of the 104th Trainee squad gathered at Squad 9 for Eren. Levi's wondered about what they were doing for a while so he finally decided to see for himself.

Eren: "Huh? Oh, hey, Captain Levi!"

Levi: "What're you doing?"

Bertolt: "Just playing a game we used to play during our trainee days back in our old home."

Levi just looked at the table the boys were gathered around. Reiner, Jean, Conny and Eren were sitting at the table with nothing but four cups and five dice per each of them. Some of the dice were on the table in front of each player while the rest were mostly kept under the cups.

Levi: "What is it?"

Eren: "Liar's Dice, ever hear of it?"

Levi: "Uh-uh."

Reiner: "It's a gambling game but we play it just for fun. And boy is it fun!"

Armin: "And Eren's the undefeated champ in our graduation class."

Eren: "Hey, you wanna play, Captain?!"

Levi: "I'm afraid I don't know how."

Eren: "It's EASY! C'mon, I'll teach you!"

Armin: "Do we have any more dice and cups?"

Bertolt: "Sorry, no..."

Reiner: "Here, he can take mine. I've only got one die left anyway (chuckles) so I'm pretty much done as it is!"

Eren: "Alright, cool! Sit down, Captain!"

Levi sat down next to Eren as the game restarted.

Eren: "We'll play a mock game for you, and you'll play along."

Conny, Jean and Eren picked up any dice they had discarded and put them back under their cups. Reiner was kind enough to pick up his and put them back under the cup for Levi.

Eren: "Alright. Liar's Dice is an easy game to figure out and tons of fun to play. Basically each player starts with five die each. When you loose a round, the loser discards one die. You keep the dice under the cup after you've mixed them like this."

Eren, Conny and Jean picked up their cups, shook them with the dice inside and then placed the cups top down on the table with the dice concealed. After watching them, Levi did the same.

Eren: "Now then, here's where the game begins. The goal is to be the last one on the table with at least one die. That one wins the game overall. To do that, you must eliminate the others and to do that, you must be honest, lie and guess all at the same time."

Levi: "... How do you do that?"

Eren: (With an evil smile) "Oh I'm sooo glad you asked, Captain... Jean! I'll bet you that there are 3 3s!"

Jean: "Oh yeah? Well I bet that there are 9 6s!"

Bertolt: "Ooh, never go for high numbers immediately."

Eren: "9 6s? Seriously?! I'm calling that!"

Jean: "Be my guest."

The three boys lifted their cups up and revealed their numbers. Eren had Levi wait to reveal his just for suspense.

Eren: "I've got one 6."

Conny: "I got 3!"

Jean: "I've got 3 as well!"

Reiner: "If Captain Levi doesn't have at least 2 6s under his cup, Jean looses this round."

Eren: "And my Captain has..."

With Eren giving him the signal, Levi lifted up his cup and looked at his dice.

Eren: "How many ya got?"

Everyone looked at the dice Levi had. He didn't have any 6s.

Conny: "He doesn't have any, hah-hah!"

Eren: "7 6s! False bid!"

Jean: "Dammit-dammit-dammit!"

Armin: "Man you suck at this game."

Jean: "Grrr! Quiet!"

Bertolt: "As I said, never go for high numbers immediately."

Jean then discarded a die onto the table in defeat.

Levi: "So he lost?"

Eren: "Only this round. You see, you pick a number and the quantity in the face of your choice. As there are four players here, you can only pick 1 through 20 as each of us has five dice at the start. Basically you just say how many of any number you think there are in total on the table- like say 2 5s. So long as there are AT LEAST 2 5s on the table in total, you win and the one who called your bluff looses. And as Jean-Horseface here just demonstrated, it's highly recommended to stick with low amounts at the beginning. After each round, we gather up the dice we have left and mix them again like we did at the start and basically repeat. You keep bidding until someone either calls your bluff or thinks the bid is Spot-On. Now here's where it gets a little tricky. If I say 2 6s and Conny then says 4 1s, I must bid on a quantity of 4 or more on either the same number or a different one, meaning I can't go back and say something like 3 5s after he's said 4 1s. You still with me?"

Levi: "Yeah. It's a probability game."

Conny: "Hey, not bad! He got it on his first explanation! (Mocking) Unlike someone we know..."

Jean: "Say it and you're dead!"

Levi: "So... What're 'Spot-On' calls?"

Eren: "Spot-On calls are just as the name implies. If I say that I think there are 7 2s and you think there are exactly that many, you say so! But that particular call is dangerous and here's why. If you think the bid is Spot-On, it has to be just that. Unlike with the Bluff call, there can't be any more then the amount stated, so if you think there are 7 2s but there's more or less than 7, YOU loose the round. That particular call is best left for around the end when there are fewer dice in play, but even then it's still dangerous."

Conny: "Remember Jean's first game? He kept making Spot-On calls and lost the game all together in record time, HAH-HAH!"

Jean: "Grrrgh! SHUT UP! I was a rookie at the game back then, but now I'm better!"

Eren: "Really? I've yet to see improvement and I was the one who taught you!"

Jean: "You were a shit teacher!"

Eren: "You were a shit listener!"

Conny: "Hey I know how to settle this! Why don't Captain Levi and Jean go up against each other?!"

Armin: "Hey, yeah! Eren taught them both, so it'll all just come down to how well they listened!"

Bertolt: "I'm into that."

Eren: "You wanna give it a go, Captain?"

Levi just glanced at Jean who was feeling a little cocky, since the older man hadn't even heard of the game until a few minutes ago.

Levi: "... ... Alright... You're on."

Conny: "Ha-HA! Oh this'll be good!"

Reiner: "The Newbie vs. The Sucky Player? This I GOTTA see!"

Well at least Squad 9 was being entertained by Levi beating Jean again and again in a game he's only just learned. Looks like Eren wins that fight. This was pretty much the daily scene now. Even an up-coming annual festival didn't excite the Soul Society too much. The festivals main attraction was a boat race in the canals, once a big attraction. However, compared to all the excitement that has occurred around Vegeta, Toushiro, Levi and their friends lately... Well you get the picture. A few days before the regatta, however, there was a bit of commotion over at one of the large farms. Apparently a number of chickens had escaped, 16 to be exact. A few people volunteered to round up the escapees. Levi and Vegeta, Jean, Conny, Eren and Armin, Erwin, and Hange. But there was one question that needed to be answered first.

Hange: "Where exactly did all these chickens come from?"

Toushiro: "That would be 'Once Silent-Not So Silent Anymore' Lee. Once upon a time he never spoke, hence why everyone called him Silent Lee. But now he speaks so he's no more 'Silent'."

Erwin: "But why are the chickens only just now escaping?"

Toushiro: "Apparently, the flock took a vote, and they aren't too thrilled with the sound of his new voice."

Suddenly a loud, ear piercing scream echoed! It was Once Silent-Not So Silent Anymore Lee, chasing down one of his own chickens.

Once Silent-Not So Silent Anymore Lee: "You ungrateful bag of eggs! Come back!"

As he ran off, everyone could finally relax from the ear piercing screams.

Levi: (Rubbing the inside of one ear) "Ow!"

Jean: "That's like nails on a chalkboard!"

Toushiro: "*Sighs* This is the last thing I need right now. Listen can you guys take care of this? Just round'em up and put them back in their pen."

Conny: "Sure but where are you going?"

Toushiro: "Yamamoto wants to see me, so I gotta get. Can I trust you guys to handle this?"

Levi: "We'll get this under control, Toushiro. Don't worry."

And the round up began. Erwin had one in his sights when Hange swooped in and grabbed it! Eren and Armin had two cornered when Jean stole them! It would seem as though they were making the round up into a competition. In the end, the five groups all returned to the pen with 3 each. But there was one more.

Once Silent-Not So Silent Anymore Lee: "Where is he?! Where is my prized rooster?!"

Hange: "Looks like there's a tie-breaker out there!"

Jean: "And it's gonna be mine!"

Conny: "As if!"

Armin: "So whoever catches the rooster, wins?"

Jean: "That's right!"

Just then, Levi and Vegeta flew in. And under Levi's arm... Once Silent-Not So Silent Anymore Lee's prized black rooster.

Erwin: "Of course..."

Meanwhile, Toushiro followed behind Yamamoto as the old man spoke to his future successor.

Yamamoto: "I will be away on an important meeting for a few days, until then you are Acting Head-Captain, Hitsugaya."

Toushiro: "Me, sir? That's a lot of responsibility!"

Yamamoto: "It will be a good opportunity for you to gain some experience until the day when you become the Head-Captain for real."

Toushiro: "Understood, sir."

Yamamoto: "Good. I don't think I need to tell you about how important these next few days are. Your sole focus should be-"

Toushiro: "Let me guess. The regatta."

Yamamoto: "You don't seem all that excited."

Toushiro: "Oh, no, I'm excited. I love puttin' up banners and stands, getting everyone fired up to watch a few boats go sloooowly across the channels."

Yamamoto: "Hitsugaya the regatta has held a long tradition in the Soul Society."

Toushiro: "I understand that, sir. But compared to everything that's been going on lately, all the excitement that has happened since Vegeta, Levi and more have arrived, a boat race seems a little... dull. Last year we had 15 boats compete. This year... I'm only seeing 2 actually being built."

Yamamoto: "Never the less, just get everything set up. I'll be back in time for the festival."

Toushiro: "Yes, sir..."

That night, Toushiro told Levi, Shunsui and Ukitake about what Yamamoto said.

Ukitake: "That's quite an honor!"

Toushiro: "I know. So is there anything I can do to make the regatta exciting?"

That was when the other three, conveniently, went mute.

Toushiro: "I didn't think so..."

Ukitake: "I'm all for tradition and everything, but a regatta seems a little boring now."

Shunsui: "Yeah. I mean, I don't like goin' against Old Man Yama, but he could at least think of something as exciting as that little competition involving Once Silent-Not So Silent Anymore Lee's chickens that went on today. THAT was exciting."

Toushiro thought he was hearing things.

Toushiro: "Chicken round up competition?..."

Levi, while taking a drink of tea, suddenly remembered that he hadn't exactly told Toushiro about that just yet. The soldier's eyes just slowly roamed down to the child prodigy who was staring at him while tapping his fingers on the table.

Toushiro: "... Is there something you'd like to tell me, Levi?"

Levi: "Uh, yeah... Everyone but Vegeta and I sorta made the round up into a competition. Each of them came back with three chickens each and I came back with the only rooster. Sorry. But it did excite a lot of people. Some have already asked if we were gonna do it again."

Although a bit annoyed at first that they didn't do exactly what he asked, that quickly changed.

Toushiro: "Levi... You've just given me an idea!"

The next day and Toushiro relayed his idea to everyone. A Round Up Race. It definitely got more excitement than the regatta. The next day Toushiro worked on creating a few rules and the basic perimeters of the new sport he had in mind. But the following day, just as the racers were about to start-

Yamamoto: "TOUSHIRO HITSUGAYA!"

Toushiro: "Uh-oh..."

Yamamoto was back... Early.

Toushiro: "Sir, I can explain!"

Yamamoto: "You'd better, because these don't look like regatta decorations to me!"

Toushiro: "Yes, well um... As you know, sometimes you gotta make hard choices for the good of the people, right?"

Yamamoto: "Uh-huh."

Toushiro: "Well I had to make one of those... really hard choices and uh... Replaced the regatta with a Round Up Race!"

Yamamoto: "So you contradicted my orders."

Toushiro: "Y-Yes. Yes, again, yep."

Yamamoto: "Then I suppose there's only one thing left for me to do..."

Yamamoto was about to discipline the young captain in front of everyone when someone came to his rescue!

Levi: "Wait! Yamamoto!"

Yamamoto: "What is it, Levi?"

Levi: "Sir, I know that I'm still new to this world and that this regatta thing is tradition and everything, but look at the amount of buzz this new competition has created!"

Levi just pointed to the crowd all around as he sat on Vegeta's back in mid-air. Yamamoto gazed over the crowd and saw that everyone was excited, more excited than they've been for all of the last few weeks. After a moment, the old man finally spoke again.

Yamamoto: "... Then I have no choice..."

Everyone waited...

Yamamoto: "Kurotsuchi!"

Kurotsuchi: "Sir?"

Yamamoto: "I have a job for you... I want you to create something alternative for the race than chickens."

Gasps echoed all around!

Toushiro: "Sir..."

Yamamoto: "Levi is right and you were right. This is a far more entertaining sport than a boring ol' boat race. But I think we need to make a few tweaks..."

Toushiro: "... Whatever you say, sir!"

And so, with Yamamoto and Toushiro working together, a new contact sport was created! Under their supervision, Kurotsuchi created something else for the racers to collect instead of chickens. Three different sets of orbs, colored white, green and gold. The orbs were made specifically based upon their point level. The large white orbs were worth 1 point so they just floated in the air. The green orbs were smaller and worth 5 points each so they flew around at a moderate speed. The gold orbs, however, were worth 10 points each and there were only five of them. Those orbs were very small and were very fast, making them harder to catch. But there was an issue with the name of the orbs.

Kurotsuchi: "I call them: Death Orbs!"

Shunsui: "Um..."

Rukia: "Death Orbs?..."

Ichigo: "Doesn't exactly make me want to grab one..."

Levi held up a gold orb to the sun and it reminded him of something.

Levi: "Ya know... These kinda remind me of the dragon balls."

Toushiro: "That's it! That's what we'll call the orbs! The Dragon Orbs!"

Armin: "Hey I like that!"

Goku: "Catchy!"

Soifon: "Much better than Death Orb Races."

Yamamoto: "Then it's official. From this day forth, this event shall be known as The Dragon Orb Races!"

The crowd and the races cheered as they set everything up. There were seven teams. Erwin Smith and Mike Zacharius were known as the White Team. Hange Zoë and Rukia Kuchiki were the Green Team. Jean Kristein and Ichigo Kurosaki were the Orange Team. Eren Yeager and Armin Arlert were the Yellow Team. Mikasa Ackerman and Momo Hinamori were the Red Team. Conny Springer and Sasha Blouse were the Purple Team. And finally, Trunks and Goten were the Blue Team. With Toushiro right next to him, Yamamoto prepared to get the first race underway.

Yamamoto: "Each team has a net with their team color painted on it where they could drop any orbs they collected. The maximum amount of points you can collect is 50. Hitsugaya and I have decided that each team can only collect two orbs per lap around the marked course. You are allowed to take orbs from another team while on the course. Are we ready?!"

The crowd cheered loudly! They were ready!

Yamamoto: "Hitsugaya... When you are ready."

Toushiro held a huge horn to blow to signal the start of the race. The moment he blew the horn, the race began! With their ODM Gear, the people from the Titan world could easily play. After a few minutes, the teams were already battling it out. The White Team had 10 points with two green orbs. The Green Team had 13 points with one green and a number of white orbs. The Red Team had 25 points with one gold orb, two green and five whites. The Blue Team had 15. The Orange Team had just 10 points. The Purple Team had 12. And the Yellow Team had 30 points. But then, Jean runs into Eren hard and busts the brunettes arm badly. The whole game stops as Eren is checked on. Sadly he was out of the race. Reiner joined Armin as a substitute. There was a set time limit and at the end of it, a problem emerged. The Yellow, Orange, and Red teams were tied with 50 points each.

Yamamoto: "This is a problem."

Toushiro: "We didn't expect them to tie."

Komamura: "So what's the plan?"

Yamamoto and Toushiro tried to think of something. As they did, Levi noticed there was a single black orb left in the chest Kurotsuchi held the other orbs in. It was no bigger than a dragon ball and it didn't seem to do anything.

Levi: "Hey... What's with this black orb?"

Kurotsuchi: "Oh that. The first orb I made, a failure."

Levi suddenly had an idea. Because of Vegeta's monstrous strength, unsurpassed speed and almost freakish flexibility, he and Levi couldn't participate as they would just win every time. But Levi has an idea to allow them to participate.

Levi: "Hey, Toushiro! A tie-breaker is needed, right?!"

Toushiro: "Yeah!"

Levi: "We can fix that!"

Levi then turned to the three tied up teams.

Levi: "Vegeta and I are gonna end the tie! After a few laps, I'm gonna drop this single black orb into one of the nets and that team will win automatically! But if you can take it from us and drop it into your own net, you win instead! Whadda say?!"

All three teams shouted in excitement at the idea! As they did, Levi leaned down and whispered the team he wanted to drop the orb in. The saiyan smiled a big toothy grin as he prepared to take off.

Toushiro: "Alright! Tie-Breaker! Take the orb from Levi or let him drop it into the chosen net and PRAY it's yours! Ready!?"

The three tied teams whooped and cheered, ready to go! With a drop of his arm, Toushiro signaled Levi and Vegeta to go. The saiyan jumped off the platform and just dropped down. As they did, the two continued to gain speed. Right before they hit the water in the canals, they shot up with blazing speed and started to race! The first ones to try and take the orb were Jean and Ichigo. The two of them tried to just rush in and take it from both the left and right sides. But Vegeta saw their plan and just stopped dead short, meaning Ichigo and Jean hit each other instead! The tie-breakers and the crowd just winced at the sight.

Vegeta: "Oh that's gonna leave a mark."

Levi: "Did not think that one through."

Momo and Mikasa tried next as the two tie-breakers continued on around the course. Momo tried a few kido spells to stop Vegeta and allow Mikasa to swoop in and take the orb. But the saiyan just rolled in mid flight and broke the spells easily! However Mikasa was not easily bested. She remained on their tail for some time before they gave her the slip by ducking down into the shallow cave along the course where the young woman lost sight of them. Unbeknownst to her, they were right next to her the entire time while in the cave. Vegeta had covered Levi and himself with those gigantic black wings and it hid them in plain sight. When the coast was clear they rushed out! Armin gave them the hardest time as he was able to figure out most of their moves in time to react. And with Reiner being pretty much a bruiser, they had their work cut out. But Levi had the cunning to thwart Armin and Vegeta could easily out-bruiser Reiner with just weight alone! After 5 laps around the course, the two tie-breakers finally went for the nets! Jean and Ichigo tried one more time to take the orb from Levi, but some quick maneuvering had Vegeta swinging around under the nets, back up and over them where Levi dropped the pitch black orb into the Red Team's net!

Yamamoto: "The Red Team wins!"

The noise was explosive and full of energy! Mikasa and Momo had won the very first official Dragon Orb Race! On the sidelines Eren congratulated Armin and Reiner for making it this far before turning his attention to the winners. Jean and Ichigo were checked over for injures after their little 'accident'. Although the first game was a success, Toushiro Hitsugaya and Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto tweaked the game a little further like adding a rule about injuring another player and added a Tie-Breaker Round with Levi and Vegeta as the tie-breakers. And thus, the new contact sport quickly became the talk of the Soul Society and the new entertainment tradition. So far no new teams have signed up, but more are always welcome! So long as you can handle it that is.

The End.