Chapter 2 - Encounter

Terri emerged out of the garganta and stepped into the heart of a forest. A glimpse of the sun could be seen through the thick density of trees, high above in the sky. It was midday, but inside the forest the darkness made it seem like night.

"Maybe I should practice this more. I've got nothing else to do these days," she thought. She walked around for a bit and realised that she had no idea where she was. After thirty minutes of pointless wandering and getting nowhere, she thought to herself 'Am I still in Rukongai? I have to be, it is the largest place in Soul Society, maybe I'm just in a really unfamiliar place.'

The trees looked the same, as if she was stuck in a large maze. Just as she was about to move off again, a sudden scream diverted her attention. It sounded like a young girl's voice. She turned towards the direction it came from and rushed off.

The same voice screamed again and she quickened her pace. As she got closer, she sensed the spiritual pressures of several medium-level hollows. She followed the spiritual pressure and arrived in mere seconds.

There was a little girl and boy running for their lives, being chased by a large crowd of hollows. The boy turned around, grabbed a stick from nearby and threw it at the hollows, to no effect.

"Hurry or they'll catch us," the girl shouted desperately, with fear in her voice.

With imminent death staring at him and with his entire body shaking with fear, he still put on a brave face and smiled. "It's fine, you go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

"NO!" the girl screamed, "I'm not leaving you behind!"

"Trust me, I'll be fine, just go!" the boy shouted back.

Terri flash stepped from where she stood and appeared next to the boy. He couldn't have been more than ten or so years old, by his childish looks.

"I think you're a little young to be saying such brave words," she said, and patted the boy on the head.

"Wh… who are you?" the boy asked.

Terri winked and smiled at him, "A friend. Now, I think you two should hurry along before this gets dangerous." A sudden small breeze whipped up around Terri as the hollows inched closer. They howled ferociously at her, snapping their hungry jaws.

"But…" the boy hesitated, but then ran for it when Terri gave him a little push, and dragged the girl along.

"Well now, I did come out to help the poor and unfortunate. So this is as good time as any to start," said Terry, as the breeze around her turned fierce and the hollows drooled at her vast spiritual pressure. "You like that huh? You're lucky I can only let loose a tiny fraction of my spiritual pressure because of those kids. Otherwise you'd all have been squashed like the bugs you are," she smirked, confidently.

The hollows, as if they understood her strength, stopped their advance.

"Too late," she said, as the wind around her erupted with a blast, and her right hand charged up with cobalt sparks. She brought her arm above her head and vanished. A second later she appeared exactly where she had been, and everything around her calmed down. The hollows, however, all disintegrated.

"Alright you two, you can come out now," said Terri, as she noticed that the boy and girl had stayed hidden behind a tree. They came out slowly, with expressions of amazement.

"Wow, that was so cool," said the boy excitedly, "What was that? Are you a soul reaper?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," said Terri with a constant warm smile, "But if you practice and train hard enough, anyone can do that." Terri then scratched his head and asked with a slightly embarrassed tone, 'Now, this may be strange for me to ask, but do you two know the way out of here? I'm slightly lost."

"Yeah, just follow us, but it's a long way though," said the boy with a happy face. He grabbed Terri's hand and pulled her along.

True to what he said, they were out of the forest after an hour or so. The two explained to Terri that they were playing around when the hollows appeared suddenly, and they were chased deeper into the forest. They appeared out of the forest and arrived in a small village on the outskirts of a small district of Rukongai.

As the children made their way home, a woman stood outside it with a worried look. She saw the two of them and immediately rushed over to embrace them, and then they both launched into an explanation of what happened.

The woman walked up to Terri and bowed, "Thank you for saving my children," she said.

Terri smiled, "It was nothing, I'm just glad that they're fine."

"Why don't you come in for dinner? I won't take no for an answer."

"Well," said Terri, although reluctant, saw the kindness in the woman and thought it would be rude to refuse. "Sure, thank you."


Zeo leaned against a cold, hard rock wall with an impatient look on his face. He sensed someone approach and then Naomi appeared in front of him. "Sorry I'm late, forgot where we were meeting," she said.

"It's about time, let's go, I want to get this over with as quickly as possible," said Zeo.

"It's just the two of us?" asked Naomi, noticing no one near them for miles.

"It's a reconnaissance mission, so a low number of people is better suited for this. I would've gone alone but you insisted on coming." Naomi smiled and nodded. Zeo sighed, and opened a garganta. They jumped through and quickly arrived on the other side, in Hueco Mundo.

"You sure we're in the right place?" asked Naomi, as all she saw was an isolated desert.

"Positive. This is the location that the huge amount of spiritual pressure is gathering." They looked around and still saw nothing apart from a few thin, dead trees and the perpetual desolate desert of Hueco Mundo. Naomi gave up her search quickly and sat down to watch Zeo. He was concentrating hard and was able to sense faint spiritual pressures from everywhere.

"Strange," he said. Naomi turned to him. "I sense many strong arrancar spiritual pressures close by, and even a familiar one, but I certainly don't see anything. And for some reason I also sensed the faint presence of Captain Zakura."

Naomi wore a puzzled look, "Captain Zakura? What could she be possibly doing here?" Zeo shrugged. "Either way, we've found nothing, so that's all we can report."

Zeo walked away from Naomi for a second, "There is definitely some familiar spiritual pressure nearby. So why can't I see them?" he asked himself. Naomi sighed and sat down again to wait.

After a while, Zeo finally decided to give up. "We should've given up ages ago," said Naomi.

"Sorry, but I just needed to make sure. Maybe it's just me then," said Zeo. He opened up another garganta, and the two left Hueco Mundo, unaware that a huge arrancar city was only a few metres away.


It was late in the afternoon as Terri sat down to dinner with the woman and her two children.

"It's not much, but please help yourself," said the woman, as she handed Terri a bowl of porridge and a plate of fried fish.

Terri, who had been sick of all the fancy food she always ate, was quite glad to see some normal food. "Thanks, it looks lovely," she said, and gladly ate it all.

After she ate, various questions started to fill her head. "It's not usual for hollows to turn up here is it?" asked Terri, with her mind still on the incident earlier.

The woman shook her head, "No, but in the past few weeks hollows have been appearing much more frequently, and it seems there is someone leading them as well. There've been rumours about someone who looks like a soul reaper but dresses differently, who's always seen talking to the hollows."

'An arrancar?' thought Terri, as she looked up at the ceiling. 'So this is what they were talking about at that last meeting. Have they moved out already though? Maybe I should hurry and get back in case something's happened.'

The other three looked at her with confused expressions. "Is something wrong?" asked the woman.

Terri snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head, "No, it's fine, just got a lot on my mind. Anyway, thanks for the lovely meal but I really should be going now."

"Are you sure? It's getting late and it's dangerous at night. I'm quite happy for you to stay here overnight."

Terri held her hands up, "Thanks, but no thanks, I'll be alright. If I don't go soon my friends may worry. So I really should be off now. I hope we meet again sometime," she said, stepped out of the door and instantly flash stepped away.


"Lady Roaetaro Matteruno, I shall be off then," said a respectable male voice.

"Excellent. We shall act as the vanguard for this beautiful assault on Soul Society. Show them that there's a new Gotei in town. Wreak as much havoc as you can, Marc, phase one of my plan will be under way shortly."

Marc raised his right fist into the air, the number 11 tattooed proudly on its back. "They won't know what hit them," he said, and disappeared using sonido.

Roaetaro smirked, "In war, sacrifices have to be made to be able to come out on top."


Nanao spotted Crystal as she was rushing around Seireitei. "Captain Kyoraku," she called and stopped in front of her. "Sorry to bother you, but have you seen Captain Zakura anywhere?"

Crystal stopped and thought, "Terri? Hmm… don't think so, though knowing her if she doesn't want to be found you won't find her, not without a lot of effort at least. Do you need her for something?"

"Oh, nothing. Just paperwork that was supposed to have been finished two days ago."

"Ha ha, she's sounding more and more like Shunsui, I think you're spoiling her too much. And speaking of Shunsui, I need to get going fast, he's coming back today for dinner and I'm already late."

"Oh, sorry to have kept you," said Nanao apologetically.

"Not at all," smiled Crystal, "Don't worry about Terri, she'll be back soon, and if you want you can come over sometime after dinner to meet Shunsui."

"Thanks for the offer but I'm not going anywhere until I find my captain."

"Good luck then, you'll need it," laughed Crystal and rushed off again.


Terri arrived in a familiar part of Rukongai, a place where her parents had once lived. She stared up at the large mansion in front of her and wondered how her parents were now. It had been a long time since she saw them last. The mansion itself now belonged to another family, everything was moved into Seireitei when the Zakura House was set up.

Terri stood there for ages, just staring at the mansion, unaware of the time flying by.

When she finally stopped, it was very dark. She looked up at the night sky and sighed.

'I think I should be heading back now. I really don't want to meet Nanao though, I'm gonna have such a scolding,' she thought, with a cheerful smile on her face.

Just as she was about to leap away, she sensed a garganta being opened and a sizeable spiritual pressure emerge from it.

'Wonder what this is about?' As she didn't recognise the pressure she thought it'd be best to check it out, and rushed off in its direction.


Marc stepped arrogantly out from the garganta, along with other lower-level arrancar. They arrived on the edge of the district that Terri was in. "Squad Eleven is here," his voice howled out. "Time to kill!" He gestured for everyone to move off, but stopped halfway when he saw someone running towards them. "Oh look, a civilian has presented herself as an offering. She's all yours guys," he smirked and carried on with his command.

The arrancar around him all instantly shot off towards Terri.

"Well now, looks like the war's already begun," thought Terri, as her hand lit up with blue sparks, "And the first kill's mine."