Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I just own my OCs.
This takes place long before the SS arc, right at the beginning of the quincy war.
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A shinigami paced across Mayuri's basement lab, trying to explain the simplest of concepts to his taicho. He had a straw hat and droopy white hair that hung over his left eye. He was Kimura Liam, 4th seat of the 12th division.
"Captain, we have received word that a number of gillians are currently decimating a 6th division group. Can't you send any of us to aid them or at least let us notify another division?" Liam pleaded, trying to get his captain to see sense.
Mayuri didn't seem to care as he went about his work, chipping a fragment off a small hollow's mask and placing it in a test tube. Evidently he wasn't interested in anything but his newest branch of hollow research. Nemu turned around to say something and was promptly smacked across the room by her father and sent flying towards a chemical supply cabinet. An arm reached out and caught her. Though its owner stood in the shadows, Mayuri already knew exactly who it was by the piercing red eyes.
It was Kanzaki Raven, his ever faithful third seat, the only one of his subordinates that had never failed him. He might be too soft for his own good, but the wonderful research specimens he brought in made up for that tenfold even if he spent more time designing his own version of kido than he did working.
"Kanzaki, I told you that I did not wish to be disturbed," Mayuri said, his voice laced with annoyance. Raven ran his fingers through his spiky purple hair figuring out how best to sway things his way.
"Last week you made it known that you wanted to study a gillian. It has come to my attention that there have been a number of them spotted in the living world. If I could borrow Nemu, I could procure one for you," Raven reasoned. Sure enough, a wide smile spread across Mayuri's face at the thought of finally getting better research material. He waved them all off, even Liam. Filing out of the room, the trio shunpoed to the nearest senkaimon gate.
"Liam, get some help. Nemu and I will go on ahead," Raven called out. This wasn't really unusual except for the fact that the enemy was probably a fair bit stronger than usual. Liam split off, dashing over to the 11th as Raven and Nemu leapt through the gate. Instantly, they spotted five gillians towering high above the surrounding buildings. Ten or so huge hollows were also present. One was lifting something up to its mouth. Nemu held out the palm of her hand.
"Hadou number 63: Raikouhou (Lightning Tiger Cannon)," Nemu muttered quietly as a burst of blue lightning shot out and nailed the hollow in the face, causing it to drop what it was holding. Raven rushed over to where the probable shinigami had fallen, scooped her up, and deposited her on the ground near where the survivors were fighting. The five gillians all shot cero blasts at the center of the circle where a pile of wounded shinigami lay. Quickly, Raven drew out his zanpakuto with his left hand, sketching a small rune on the ground to strengthen his spell as he thrust out his right hand.
"Reflect!" Raven cried out as a transparent barrier covered the survivors. The ceros bounced off the shield and sent the gillians reeling back in pain. Noticing this, a pair of huge hollows closed in on the source. Already drained, Raven resorted to a less stressful spell. The reflect technique required expending energy equal to the amount used to perform an attack in order to repel it, so reflecting five full power gillian ceros was a draining task.
"Expulse!" Raven yelled as he thrust out his hands. A burst of reiatsu pushed everything away from him. Every single hollow was sent sailing back into the nearby buildings, the smaller ones splattering on contact. The fatigue of his initial spell catching up to him, Raven teetered over and collided with the pavement, still awake but totally exhausted. Nemu hoisted him over her shoulder and shunpoed off before the gillians resumed hunting the one that had interrupted their meal. Taking advantage of the situation, the 2nd division members rushed towards the gate. Now angry at the prospect that dinner might get away, the gillians and huge hollows recovered and began firing cero after cero at Nemu and Raven.
"Tenza shikata, Otsutosei!" (Roughly, it means point the way, northern star)
A shinigami with spiky auburn hair came running towards them, a white broadsword in his right hand and an ethereal white shield strapped to his left arm. He hurled his zanpakuto at one of the gillians. The mask shattered on contact. Another gillian was blasted back with kido. Nemu and Raven just stared blankly at him. He didn't have a fukutaicho's badge or any other rank signification either. It was rather odd, seeing as he was putting out quite a bit of spiritual pressure.
"Run for the gate, you fools!" the shinigami barked at the pair as he ran to retrieve his zanpakuto. Nemu did as she was told, ignoring Raven's protest about how the captain was going to kill him if he didn't get a gillian. Liam strode by in the other direction.
"Don't worry about it. I'll get it for you. After all, you got the captain to let us come," Liam said with a smile. Quickly, he spotted the gillian that had been injured earlier. Now to get it over to the senkaimon gate…
Meanwhile, Raven and Nemu made it out the other side of the gate. Several captains were waiting for them. Ichimaru Gin, Kuchiki Byakuya, Kyoraku Shunsui, and Ukitake Jushiro stared down at them. There was silence for a few seconds before a gillian came flying through the gate, followed by Liam and the shinigami that had helped them before. Byakuya recovered from the shock first.
"I would like to inquire as to why a live gillian has been brought here," Byakuya stated in his usual stoic voice. He looked Raven as the eye as he was usually the ringleader for such escapades. When he collapsed, all eyes turned to Liam, who looked from one taicho to the next, unsure of how to respond. Raven was by far a more persuasive orator. He was bailed out by the timely appearance of Kurotsuchi-taicho who instantly spotted the gillian and stared at it like it was pure gold. Of course, to him, research material this rare was priceless.
"Excellent work, Kanzaki. Take a week off. Nemu! Get the new specimen into the lab!" Mayuri shouted as he went running back to his lab to prepare. Several eyebrows raised at hearing Mayuri tell someone to have a vacation. Nemu obediently did as she was told. Unfortunately, that meant that she had to drop Raven. He hit his head hard on the floor. Liam hoisted him onto his shoulders.
"I think I'll go take him to 4th," Liam said nervously. The captains nodded, already having found out what they wanted to know. Liam hurried off for fear of having to explain something else to them.
--
Raven awoke to an incessant tapping sound. Looking over, he saw Liam sitting in a chair, reading a book as usual. It was probably a novel of some sort.
"Liam, could you stop tapping your foot?" Raven asked as an anger mark grew on his forehead. It was probably more to due with the massive headache he was having than undue annoyance with his friend. After all, it was more than a habit than anything else.
"Oh. Sorry," Liam muttered. The tapping stopped, and Raven breathed a sigh of contentment.
"Hey, how many casualties were there last night?" Raven inquired. There had to have been at least six or so gauging by the number of wounded he'd seen during the brief fight even if they'd been extremely lucky.
"Actually, there were none thanks to your division's quick response."
Raven looked over and saw the shinigami that had helped them out before with the gillians.
"Raven, this is Aurion Kratos. He's the third seat of the 6th division, but he's far beyond any fukutaicho," Liam explained. Kratos shot him a glare, indicating that he didn't want a full bio on himself out there. Truth be told, he had declined the currently empty fukutaicho position because he wanted to stay out of Soul Society's politics, at least officially.
"The 6th thanks you for your help. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask," Kratos said as he walked out. The kid had good intentions, but he wasn't anywhere near strong enough to make the kind of difference he probably wanted to. It was time to do some background research.
"I guess he just had his say and left," Raven said quietly. It was really a disappointment as he'd wanted to find someone to help him improve his swordsmanship. Now he had, but the favor would come in handy later. With his new project, he'd definitely need it.
"Liam, we're going to move ahead of schedule. The Council of 46 voted on war against the quincys yesterday, and I think that we just found a possible ally even though we'll eventually need more," Raven said, "Go on ahead and have Nemu get those files for me." Liam got up and strode off back to the 12th. He had a feeling that work was about to get really complicated.
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This is a bit of a short chapter, but this isn't even close to warmed up. On the bright side, writers block will never happen as this is done written by hand. Unfortunately, I am a slow typist.
On another note, I'm a firm believer that OC protagonists shouldn't be overpowered in relation to upper echelon characters except maybe very late in a story. If you find that I ever do that, please let me know. However, keep in mind that in some cases, power can be balanced out with a lack of endurance or a deficiency elsewhere.
Feel free to leave a review, but please try to give me reasons as to why you think the way you do, good or bad.