White Sun Rising Ron the True Fan Edition: The Lost Tales
Arc Two: Perfect Fusion
Part 1: Meeting/Secret Theory
The black-blonde nameless man sat reading a massive textbook on Hollows and their home, Hueco Mundo.
He was surrounded by hundreds of such books and dozens of file folders, many of which had the words 'Classified - DO NOT TOUCH' printed on them.
Don't ask how he got his hands on them: it's not a pretty tale.
"Excuse me?"
He looked to see a girl with relatively short black hair and violet eyes standing behind him.
"Ah, a first year. Doing the dare, I see."
"Dare?"
"Talk to Mr. Unsociable. Honestly, it got old three years ago."
He closed the one thousand page long monster and placed it on the desk.
"And what would be your name, kiddo?"
She growled.
"I'm not a kid."
"Your appearance says otherwise, but this is the Soul Society. Who knows how old someone is? Sorry."
"Apology accepted. My name is Rukia."
"Don't be formal with me. I hate it: fucking pointless and slows you down. Don't have a name, but you can call me 401."
"401?"
"That was the number stamped into the propeller that killed me. I think that made me lose my memories just before I drowned."
Rukia blinked.
"You...remember how you died?"
"In all its' technicolor glory. Fittingly, I don't remember who I was in life or my name when I was alive. Or period. All I remember is cold water and death. Lots and lots of death."
He sighed before opening one of the files.
"Run along, Rukia. I'm a bit busy, but I'm usually here if you want to talk."
Rukia nodded, then walked off.
'Nice girl. She'll make someone happy in the future.'
He read the file that entailed what happened (more or less) to the Captains of the 3rd, 5th 7th and 9th Divisions, along with the Lieutenants of the 8th, 9th, and 12th and the vice-commander of the Kido Corps. (AN: We all know who these guys are)
'Gaining Hollow powers by having a Hollow implanted into a person's body is not possible. It can't be, or else they would have become Hollows, which has happened at least 20 times in the history of the Gotai 13. They still had their bodies. They had to have had the powers to begin with, but something happened to awaken them.'
The nameless man, or 401, had made it his mission to solve the mystery of the missing eight, and how they gained their Hollow powers when the current captain of the 9th Division, Kaname Tosen, visited the academy and vaguely mentioned the incident during a lecture on Hollows and their nature during his first year at the Shin'o Academy.
While it was assumed he didn't pay attention, he did.
No one noticed, though: not even hyper-sensitive Tosen.
Because of this, he became the Academy's Hollow expert.
'I'm still missing something. What did it take to awaken those powers in them?'
Reiatsu was out of the question: shinigami recruits that faced Adjuchas-Class Hollows hundreds of times strong then them never gained Hollow powers.
Even during the extremely rare incidents with a Vasto Lorde, they still didn't gain Hollow powers.
'Extreme emotional turmoil: loss of a family, sudden betrayal from a close friend. THAT could wake it up. But they were all friends, and they couldn't've been betrayed so easily. Maybe something in Rukongai did that to them. Better add 'artificial/external influence' to the list.'
He pulled out an old piece of paper, covered in notes.
This was the collimation for three and a half years of work.
'I need to find out what is correct and what is wrong, otherwise the finished version will be torn apart by the Gotai 13 and the Central 46.'
He suddenly yawned.
"Fuck. I've been up for 54 hours. I need to get at least two hours of sleep, otherwise the teachers are going to fucking kill me."
He paused.
"AGAIN."
He packed up his secret files and left, not noticing that he was being spied on by a member of the 5th Division: Lieutenant Gin Ichimaru.
"Huh. He's pulling shit out of his ass that Aizen hasn't even thought of."
Aizen liked keen minds, and 401 was a VERY keen one.
While the asshole Captain of the 5th Division's research was good, 401's was simply better, and the man hadn't even left the academy yet.
'Might as well copy his when he's done.'
Gin watched him walk into his dorm room, then watched as 401 planted a heavy-duty barrier at the door and windows, having taken them down when he entered.
'Paranoid bastard, but that's understandable.'
Gin shunpo'ed out of the Academy grounds.
8 hours later
"So, what's he like?"
Rukia looked at Renji.
This was one of the few times the two could spend any time together, although she had friend-zoned him decades ago.
"He's a bookworm. Polite, but very busy."
"Seriously? According to everyone here, you're the only one to get more then four words out of him in four years other then the teachers! Did you at least get his name?"
"He doesn't have one: lost his memory when he died, but he remembers HOW he died."
"Huh? How?"
"Propeller hit him over the head and he drowned."
"That propeller weighed at least 50 tons and was made of bronze."
Both turned to face the nameless man.
"Rukia. I see I'm still talk of the Academy, if you guys are any indication."
Renji blinked.
"You know, there's rumors that you're doing some freaky shit, buddy."
401 shrugged.
"Nothing like that. I was reading up on Hollows. Always do."
Renji scoffed.
"Hollows? Why read up on them? Just hack off the mask and kill them."
401 raised an eyebrow at Renji.
"You do realize that YOU could have been a Hollow at one point in time. Cycle of Reincarnation's a royal bitch, you know."
Renji almost screamed at the thought.
401 chuckled at the look on Renji's face.
"It's not the hollows themselves that interest me. Oh, I'm being rude. You can call me 401."
"401?"
"It's the last thing I remember seeing before I kicked the bucket."
Renji raised an eyebrow.
"Before I DIED, you idiot."
Renji chuckled.
"What district did you come from? Me and Rukia are from North 78, Inuzuri."
"South 80, Zaraki."
Both gaped.
"ZARAKI?!"
"As in the new Captain of the 11th? Yeah, THAT Zaraki. And keep it down."
He looked at the two more intently.
"You guys want to know what I'm working on? Let's make a deal. You tell me a secret, I'll tell you mine. I will never say anything, and neither will you."
"How can we trust you?"
He took out a knife and cut deeply into his hand.
"Ever hear of a blood oath? I break it, you get to kill me and I won't do anything to stop you."
Rukia and Renji shared a look.
"We once took care of a few kids in Inuzuri. They got sick and just..."
"Say no more."
He pulled out a piece of paper.
"This is what I've been working on. I've been trying to work out how souls, be they normal or shinigami, can turn into Hollows. Normal ones, I understand, but shouldn't a shinigami's reiatsu resist the transformation?"
"Good question."
"It took me three and a half years to figure this out. Hollow and shinigami are nothing but titles: labels for power. And then there's THIS."
He pulled out a folder and pulled out a photograph of a man with what looked like a mask fragment on his head and a Hollow hole in his chest.
"What the hell?"
"I've discovered that that is called an Arrancar. Only one thing can make the whole Gotai 13 panic more then a Vasto Lorde, and THIS is it: a Hollow that gained shinigami powers."
It was then that they noticed the zanpakutō on his hip.
"And if HOLLOWS can gain shinigami powers, what's to say the opposite is not true? That a shinigami can gain Hollow powers? It's not impossible, but it hasn't been proven."
'Not publicly, and I'm not mentioning the incident 40 years ago.'
"At least, that's the theory. Unless the Central 46 repels a few laws, it'll stay that way, too. This also lists ways that will most likely awaken an 'Inner Hollow': emotional stress, mostly." He put the papers away.
"I need to go. I'm going to deliver this to the Schoolmaster's office, so he can forward it to the 12th Division. I think the Captain-General will fry my ass, but I think it's worth it."
A special reward (an OC in the WSR sequel with a zanpakutō of their own creation, as long as it's not overpowered) to the one who can guess what ship had the yard number 401 in the years 1900 to 1950 without looking it up.
I've dropped a few hints. Good luck.
Nemo did not graduate early because of his power or skill, but because of his mind.
He found out things about Hollowfication that even Aizen didn't know about. And this is AIZEN we're talking about.
Next Time on WSR Lost Tales: The Hollow that 'killed' 401, and his transformation into the not-shinigami Nemo.
Ja Ne!