Chapter 3: Trials and Tribulations

"…and so, your honor, this Shinigami clearly violated the rules of not only curfew, but also behavior." Shindou finished. The trial had been going on for several hours, and with each passing minute things appeared worse and worse for Jaice. Shindou had just completed his closing remarks, and it was Jaice's turn.

"This looks bad," Baiten whispered to Tairos. "I doubt he will be acquitted with all the evidence and laws against him."

"I agree," Tairos answered. "Not gonna lie, but Jaice will look like a prime murder suspect because of this."

Baiten and Tairos, as Jaice's peers, had been asked to sit on the jury, though their two votes would be nothing against the multitude of other Shinigami who sat beside them.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Captain Komamura of the 7th Squad said from atop his podium in the courtroom. Komamura was one of the most mysterious captains in all of Seireitei; he was much taller than any of the other Shinigami and constantly wore a wooden mask to hide his face. It was rumored that since he had become captain that no one, not even the Captain-Commander, had seen Komamura's face.

Jaice sighed and stood up from his seat in the middle of the courtroom. Everyone sat on the edge of their seats as Jaice walked away from his seat and approached Komamura on the podium. "What the hell is he doing?" Someone in the jury whispered.

Jaice ignored the whispers and murmurs as he stood before Komamura. Raising his right arm above his head so the tall Captain could inspect, Jaice pulled back his sleeve. Instantly, Komamura let out a gasp and whispered something to the bailiff that stood beside him. Then, turning to the jury, Komamura began to speak.

"This man, Jaice, is acquitted of his crime, he is to go free," the booming voice of the 7th Squad Captain rang out.

"What?" "How can he do this?" "What's on his arm?" "How can the captain remove the guilt so easily?" The cries of the jury filled the room.

"SILENCE!" Komamura yelled above the din. "My verdict is final; those who argue may wish to hold their tongues lest my zanpakuto become restless." The noise died down as Komamura finished his threat and descended from the podium. "Court dismissed."

As the jury began to file out of the room, Tairos and Baiten rushed over to Jaice who hastily pulled up his sleeve to cover his right arm.

"What was that?" Baiten asked puzzled, but Jaice just snorted.

"At least we don't have to worry about you being penalized or anything," Tairos stated. "Without you our team would lack its murderous-loner archetype." Tairos and Baiten laughed a little at this to lighten the mood, but Jaice glared at them coldly.

"How can you both be so happy?" Jaice inquired.

"No need to be so angry," Baiten responded in an attempt to soothe Jaice's hot blood.

"You'd be angry too if you were assigned a mission after having to stand trial for several hours." Jaice answered curtly.

"WHAT?" Baiten and Tairos gasped, stepping backwards at what Jaice had informed them.

"You two obviously need to pay better attention," Jaice replied. "If you noticed our Captain, Tousen, was also present at this trial. While you two were busy fighting your way through the crowds to reach me, he said we have an assignment to take down some Hollows in the mortal world."

"That's crap," Tairos said, spitting on the courtroom floor to show his disgust. "Where exactly are we going this time?"

"Nowhere special," Jaice drew his zanpakuto and stabbed it into midair to open the gate to the mortal world. "Just some human city known as Montreal."

"Montreal eh? Isn't that French for Royal Mountain?" Baiten said as Jaice pushed him into the portal.

"We can worry about 'fun facts' after we send those Hollows to Hell."

"Damn it, fighting now?" Tairos sighed as he kicked at a pebble on the courtroom floor. "Mind if I skip out this time? I need to relax."

"You were just sitting on your ass watching that trial for a few hours, so no!" Jaice also forced a struggling Tairos into the portal before jumping in himself just as it closed.

"Cool city, literally and figuratively." Tairos cracked a joke as the three Shinigami materialized in Montreal. Around them, the concrete buildings of this city rose up as snow blanketed the bases of these structures. It was winter in this Canadian city, and around the three friends people wore heavy layers as they passed through the streets.

"I don't see the Hollow anywhere around this area, we should move," Jaice commanded. Almost in answer, a screeched pierced the sounds of the city as the ground shook. Screams were heard as a mailbox and streetlamp were crushed by the beast's massive feet and a small earthquake rocked the sidewalk back and forth knocking some of the people to the ground. Despite the damage, the humans did not see the monstrosity commit such actions.

"Jaice, bad things always happen when you say things like that," Tairos sighed as he attempted to take charge. "Jaice, you go protect the civilians while Baiten and I fight off the Hollow…on second thought I'll go save the humans and you two can deal with it." Tairos rushed over to a mother and child who were about to be crushed by the Hollow's foot; grabbing them, Tairos pushed them out of the way just before the massive foot smashed into the sidewalk, sending rubble flying from the crater the movement created. Tairos covered the woman and her child with his body, shielding them from the stones dislodged by the Hollow.

Baiten and Jaice took the initiative and drew their swords to confront the Hollow. It was one of the largest Hollows they had ever seen; at least half as tall as the skyscrapers that surrounded them. The most striking feature of this Hollow was that it had gigantically disproportionate feet and hands, which were easily the size of some of the buses parked on the road. Its mask was a stark white with square eye-holes and a green "X" crossing over its eyes and nostrils. The Hollow turned away from the civilians it had been assaulting and turned to Jaice and Baiten's challenge.

The Hollow clapped its massive hands in the direction of the Shinigami; as the palms collided, a shockwave erupted through the air and smashed Jaice and Baiten into the side of a building. Jaice rose from the impact, but Baiten was knocked out cold, his zanpakuto slipping from his hands to rest in the pool of blood by his feet.

"Baiten!" Tairos cried as he began to push more civilians out of the way from the shockwaves generated by the Hollow's clapping and stomping. "Jaice, let's get out of here before Baiten dies!"

"We can't just let this Hollow run rampant!" Jaice shot back and he rushed at the monster, delivering a swift series of slashes to the creature's arms. It roared in agony as Jaice's blade managed to shear off two of the fingers on its right hand, but the Hollow continued to fight on, kicking Jaice into another building. The force of the attack blasted the Shinigami through a wall, leaving his bloodied body in a pile of concrete. Oddly, the Hollow's fingers began to regenerate and the slashes Jaice had made disappeared. The Hollow turned away, believing its enemy beaten, and turned its eyes towards Tairos.

"I'm not dead yet, bastard," Jaice grunted as he rose from the rubble.

"Jaice you're going to die if you keep fighting in that condition, let me take over," Tairos said, drawing his zanpakuto and walking toward the Hollow. The creature seemed to laugh, and stomped its feet; the resulting quake knocked Tairos to the ground, along with fifteen or so civilians. Tairos managed to stand up, but not for long as the beast slammed its palms and feet into the ground simultaneously, creating a massive shockwave which forced Tairos to the ground a second time; this time, the Shinigami clunked his head on a fire hydrant, leading him to be knocked as Baiten had been.

The Hollow edged closer to Tairos and the injured civilians, licking its pale lips as it readied to consume their souls.

"You have one enemy left," Jaice yelled from behind the Hollow. "My friends might be better at some aspects of being a Shinigami than I am, but the difference among we three is that I'm the first to pick a fight, and the last to lose one."

Its interest piqued, the Hollow looked at Jaice. The Shinigami's brown hair was blowing upward as reiatsu surrounded his body. It walked towards the Shinigami who lunged and sliced off several fingers, only to watch them grow back. The monster laughed, and, for the first time, spoke.

"Pathetic Shinigami, you should realize that being so reliant on my feet and hands would allow me to regenerate part or all of them. Surrender and I promise to kill you quickly."

Jaice replied by laughing hysterically, covering his face to try and hide his humor-filled expression. "Pathetic Hollow, you should realize that Shinigami can do more than just swing swords around."

"I know all about your worthless Kidou," the Hollow replied. "Those weak magic attacks cause little more than an itch to me; I have killed dozens of Shinigami who thought that would counteract my regeneration powers."

"Pff…Kidou?" Jaice chuckled. "That shit isn't my style; long range combat is way too dull for my taste." Jaice raised his zanpakuto above his head and ran his left hand across the blade. "Each Shinigami has a zanpakuto, and each zanpakuto has an individual spirit. This spirit can manifest itself over the sword to give it a special power, and even change the form. The basic version of this can be done by a good deal of Shinigami and is called Shikai, or Initial Release."

"Enough talk!" The Hollow screamed as it stomped towards Jaice. "Any last words?"

"Just two," Jaice replied. "Bleed, Sangren!" Jaice's zanpakuto changed from a katana into a machete, and he jumped into the air as he held his Shikai forward. Jaice delivered another series of slashes at the creature's hands. Again, the monster laughed.

"Weren't you listening? I CAN REGENRATE!" It roared. The wounds, however, did not heal, as a strange green liquid washed over the slashes. Steam rose from the liquid and the Hollow's hands dissolved before its eyes. "WHAT IS THIS?" The Hollow cried as it toppled onto its back.

"Weren't you listening?" Jaice answered as he slashed his machete at the creature's feet, causing both to meet the same fate as its hands. "This is my Shikai, Sangren. That liquid is acid, and is emitted through my blade. When I made the cuts, the acid eats through your cells and continues dissolving them, making regeneration impossible." Jaice raised the machete and pointed to the liquid which ran along the blade. As he did so, some of the acid trickled onto his exposed face to which the Hollow let out another laugh.

"Ha! Now your own weapon will kill you!"

"You Hollows really are narrow-minded," Jaice said as he walked over to the monster, acid still running down his face causing no noticeable damage. "Sangren makes the acid from my own blood; I could bathe in this stuff and it wouldn't do a thing to me!" The Hollow began to shudder as Jaice approached, only able to raise its worthless arms and legs which bore no way of defense. "Now, die!" Jaice brought Sangren down across the Hollow's mask, slashing through the material as the acid ate away what was left of the article. As the mask dissolved, the remainder of the Hollow's body dissipated. Jaice grabbed a communicator from inside his kimono. "I need 4th Squad medics here ASAP, we have two wounded Shinigami and at least a score of injured civilians; mind wipes will also be required, Jaice out."

Two hours (and a lot of healing) later, back at their house…

"Shikai? Awesome dude!" Baiten congratulated Jaice, giving him a high-five.

"Congrats, man," Tairos said, delivering a low-five to Jaice. "But isn't your Shikai supposed to return to being a regular katana after it is deactivated?" Tairos pointed to the machete, no longer dripping with acid, in Jaice's hand.

"I guess not," Jaice said. "There have been other Shinigami who have had their zanpakutos stay released constantly; at least I can control the acid's flow so I don't dissolve things everywhere I walk. Only problem is…the damn thing won't fit in my sheath!"

Author's Note: Sangren is an entirely fictitious name, though it partially comes from a foreign language; feel free to guess in your review! The winner gets a special prize!