Hello again, everyone. I am, for those that read my series, very, very sorry that I haven't posted a new chapter in…6 months? Oh well, as the old saying goes, better late than never, right?
Anyways, I do hope that this chapter will help clear up some potential gaps that may have occurred in the last chapter, especially with how Eli survived such a horrific attack that should have killed him. Also, we get introduced to the rest of Ichigo's crew and all of the background information is filled in. Lastly, the shadows grow deeper as the evil intentions behind the perplexing attack are revealed.
I want to thank my beta, now named Lady Silvera Wolfe, for supporting and nagging me about writing this chapter, as well as beta-ing her chapters for Nature of Devotion. Please check it out when you can, if you are interested. It is a Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's ff.
I do not own Bleach or Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I do own the characters, story, and other aspects that you don't recognize. (FYI: '' = thinking, "" = speaking)
Chapter 3: New Allies and Darker Shadows
Following the strangers that appeared at the end of his fight, Eli carried Heather, heavily injured from the encounter, in his arms. 'I can't believe there were zanpakutou capable of doing so much damage,' he thought. 'I know this isn't the last time we'll see those three. What's worse…Ian…what happened to you…who are you working for?'
"We're here!" the orange-haired Ichigo yelled out before the group stopped in front of the hotel room's window. He knocked on the pane and called inside, "Hey, Uryu, it's us! We need Orihime to heal someone!"
"Get in here, Kurosaki," Uryu responded, opening the window for the warrior party. After stepping in, Eli took a look around at the room and the people in it. The man who opened the window, Uryu, had a slender figure with a scholarly look about him. The long black hair, accompanied by the stern eyes behind the glasses, gave the soul reaper the impression of a no-nonsense teenager.
There was another man in the room, one who was much bigger than the Uryu character, but he was out the door before Eli could get a good look at him. "Eli, lay your friend down on the bed. Uryu sent Chad to get Orihime from the other room," informed Ichigo.
"I hope this Orihime friend of yours can heal her," Eli responded.
"She will," Rukia said. "She has an incredible power. Your friend will be good as new in no time."
"Please understand. Heather's all I have in this world, my only companion. I can't lose her," Eli told them, trying to hide his sadness and worry. "Let's spare stories until she's healed. Then, we can sit down and talk."
Just then, the door opened and the man from earlier came in with a girl. The man had a muscular, yet gentle appearance, much like Eli himself. He has tan skin, a tall body, and shaggy, black hair that covered his eyes. 'So that's Chad,' Eli thought to himself. 'Then, this girl must be Orihime.' She was shorter than Chad, but taller Rukia. This girl, however, reminded Eli of Heather in almost every way physically: rather slender build, large breasts, long, red hair, which had two flower-shaped hairpins, and white skin. The soul reaper blushed, but looked away quickly to hide his now-rosy cheeks.
Unfortunately, Orihime approached him and asked, "Is this your friend here, on the bed?" to which he responded with a shaky "Yes".
The group gathered around the bed that Heather was lying on. Orihime touched her hairpins, chanting, "Souten Kisshun, I reject." Suddenly, to Eli's surprise, two orange lights shot out from the girl's hairpins, one from each, met right above Heather's stomach, and spread out to create a thin orange barrier over his dear friend. Then, right before his eyes, the injuries she sustained healed in a matter of seconds, and even her broken zanpakutou was repaired. Within two minutes of being healed, Heather shuddered a little and slowly opened her eyes, showing that she regained consciousness. "Where am I? Am I alive?" she asked, still dazed.
"Please don't move," Orihime requested of the female shinigami. "You are alive, and I've almost healed all of your wounds."
"Ok, and thanks, whoever you are," Heather responded.
After a few more minutes, Orihime recalled the barrier, and the two lights returned to her hairpins. As Heather sat up in the bed, her eyesight became clear, and she saw Eli, alive and well, sitting next to her. Tears welling in her eyes, she gave her beloved friend a big hug. "Eli! I thought you died! Thank God you're alive!" she exclaimed as she cried on his shoulder.
"And I thank God you're alive too, Heather. I'm alright," Eli assured his friend.
"How did you do it?" she asked, looking into his eyes, confused about how he could have survived such an attack.
"That's what we'd like to know, too," Ichigo interjected. "Those were some nasty wounds I saw on you, and yet you recovered from them without a scratch, minus the blood on your uniform."
"I will explain everything," Eli told the teen, "But first, let's all get comfortable and try to make sense of what's going on around here."
"Good idea," Rukia said. "Ichigo, I'll get into my gigai, you get back into your body, and let's get some water. I'm sure we're all a bit thirsty."
"Thank you," Eli and Heather said in tandem.
"You're welcome."
After everyone was settled in their bodies, minus Eli and Heather, and had a bottle of water to drink, they all took a place in the room. Eli and Heather were still on the same bed, now holding each others' hands, and Rukia sat down at the end of the bed. Orihime and Chad sat next to each other on the other bed, Uryu stood in the passageway leading to the door, and Ichigo sat backwards in a chair between the ends of the two beds.
"Let's start with names before we move on to stories," Eli suggested. "My name is Eli Schrader."
Heather was the next to go. "Heather Magner."
Afterwards, everyone introduced themselves in a circle.
"Orihime Inoue."
"Yatsutora Sado, or Chad."
"Uryu Ishida."
"Ichigo Kurosaki."
"And I'm Rukia Kuchiki."
"Nice to meet you all," Eli said.
"Likewise," Ichigo replied. "Now, first things first. How did you survive that attack? Your wounds were definitely fatal."
"I can explain," Eli began. "I have abilities that are unheard of by you normal shinigami, so it's only natural that you are curious. My powers are related to a card game that humans play in the real world called "Yu-Gi-Oh!". I can call upon monsters and use the spell and trap cards like kidou spells. Unfortunately, I can no longer use the kidou that you know, not even a simple bakudo spell. However, these abilities are more than enough to compensate. Also, my zanpakutou, Hiromaru, is directly linked to the deck that I use while I hide amongst the population, an Elemental Hero deck. I have the closest bonds to these cards because of the incident that gave me these powers.
"About two human-world years ago, I was on a training mission with my former squad, squad 11, here in the human world, not too far from here. At one point, I noticed a deranged human attacking other humans, so I separated from my group and went after it. I managed to corner and kill him, but not without suffering injuries. I don't know how it could see me, but it did and attacked with the intent to kill. Some of his blood got into my wounds, and I started to feel sick, eventually losing consciousness. As I fell over, I knocked over a trash can and some of my blood got on some of the cards that spilled out, which were the Elemental Hero cards that I use now. Heather here came and helped me, taking me back to her house and helped me get better."
"Slow down," Rukia interrupted. "Heather, how could you have seen him? He was a spirit."
Heather responded, "I traveled a lot because my father was in the navy. I could have been near someone with high spiritual energy before the night I met Eli. Before then, however, I could barely see spirits, but I knew they existed. Eli was the first spirit I could actually see and hear clearly. It's possible that his fluctuating spiritual pressure pushed my own spiritual powers to the point that I could see him."
"That is a very valid conclusion, and her prolonged exposure to Eli's spiritual pressure since then could have allowed her abilities to grow, eventually allowing her to unlock her own shinigami powers," Uryu chimed in, arms crossed over his chest.
"Impressive, you are as analytical as you look," Eli said in response to Uryu's statement. "I can also say the same for you and your friends. I can sense that all of you have spiritual powers. I know that Ichigo and Rukia are shinigami, but I'm not familiar with you, Orihime, and Chad. I'm pretty sure you all got your powers from being around Ichigo."
"Eli, I am a Quincy, I was born with my powers!" Uryu said, irritated. "And you're one to talk about 'strange powers'."
"Uryu, enough!" Rukia barked at the Quincy. "I apologize for his behavior, he's not exactly fond of shinigami or strangers. Your powers are strange Eli, but you can show us how they work later. However, you still haven't told us how you survived that attack."
"I'm sorry, I shall continue," Eli responded. "When I released the shikai power of my most powerful form, Shining Flare Wingman, a lot of dust was kicked up, creating a smoke bomb-like effect. While I could sense a third shinigami, I was more concerned with the powers of the one that inflicted the damage to Heather, which you healed. I had to think of a way to protect myself and act upon that decision quickly while my enemies could not see me.
"I decided to summon a monster that could bond to me and protect me, a metallizing parasite called Lunatite. However, because he was a powerful monster, I needed to use a spell to make it easier to summon him. I used a spell called Star Blast, which cost me some of my spiritual energy, but that energy acted as a catalyst and allowed me to summon the parasite. I then had him bond to me, with him taking cover under my armor, thus hiding him from my enemy's sight. That entire process took about 10 seconds, after which I picked up Heather and flew up in front of the moon to give the parasite enough time to completely bond to me. Luckily, the bonding was successful.
"The shinigami that delivered the 'killing' blow was the third man I sensed, and fortunately, none of the three of them sensed what I or the parasite did. After I fell to the ground, the parasite gave its life to revitalize my own and healing my injuries in the process."
"That makes sense," Ichigo commented. "Whatever the case, what you chose to do paid off, and now we can focus on what to do next. Do you know who they were, the people that attacked you?"
"The only one I know out of the three of them, my brother from Soul Society, Ian," Eli answered. "I don't know why he attacked me, but he's working for someone…someone who was after my blood."
"And it's highly possible that the human that Eli encountered was a Bount," Uryu said out loud.
"A Bount?" Eli and Heather asked together. Eli continued, "What the hell is that?"
Rukia answered the two guests "The Bounts were the results of an experiment in the Soul Society that went wrong under Ran'Tao. They were immortal humans, and behaved in a manner similar to the vampires of human folklore. They absorbed human souls, normally ones that were already dead. However, some time ago there were reports of living humans being attacked, and the Bounts were behind it. It was against their ethics to do so, but their leader, Kariya, convinced those who followed him to consume human souls. Doing so increased their powers exponentially.
"The Soul Reapers committed unspeakable acts against the Bounts, notably exiling and massacring them. Some still survived, and they led an attack in both Japan and the Soul Society in order to exact their revenge on the shinigami. We were able to stop the attack, but not without casualties. It is likely that this was a Bount that did not join with the ones that we faced."
"Enough of the history lesson," Eli interrupted. "What do they have to do with me?"
"Your powers are somehow similar that those of the Bounts. The sheer fact that your powers are connected to material objects is proof of that. Their powers came from what were called dolls, which were like zanpakutou, but with slight differences. They were their user's powers manifested in a physical form, and usually their sealed form had something to do with their power. Your powers are based around material objects, these cards of yours, yet overall, they are manifested through your zanpakutou spirit, Hiromaru."
"So you're suggesting I have the powers of both shinigami and Bounts? It seems a little far-fetched."
"We can't give you the answers now," Rukia said, reaching out to hold onto Eli's knee, "but we know of someone who can help you find any answers you need."
"You're in luck, you two!" Orihime interjected. "Our plane home leaves tomorrow. I believe that Urahara might be able to help Eli figure out who attacked him and gave him his powers. Maybe he can help us determine what the mastermind behind this is after."
"I agree," Chad said. "If we stay here, more people can get hurt. I'm certain that whoever this Ian is will attack again."
"Looks like we can only offer you two options, Eli," Uryu said, still leaning back with crossed arms. "You can either stay here, risk the lives of the citizens, and be left with the questions you have, or come with us, reduce the risk to the civilians, and finally get some answers."
Heather then wrapped her arms tightly around Eli's left arm. "Wait! If he goes, I go too!" she told the group. She had a determined look on her face, one that gave everyone the message that they could not change her mind.
"You do understand how dangerous this can be, don't you Heather?" Rukia asked the girl.
"I don't, but I do not fear it at all," Heather told the shinigami. "I've helped Eli through his time here in the human world from the very moment I found him. We've been friends for a few years, but we've been through a lot. From protecting this city to helping each other through our own personal lives, we've been there for each other. He's helped me unlock my own shinigami powers. Now, it's time I help him unlock the secrets to the mysteries behind this attack and his own powers."
"It's settled then," Ichigo said out loud. "We'll see if we can get you two seats for the flight tomorrow. We'll take care of everything, and you can pay us back later. It's getting really late, so I think you two should go home and get some rest."
"Agreed," Eli said. "It's been a long day, and it was a lot of information to give and take in."
"We can escort you two back to your houses, if you want," Rukia offered the two friends.
"We appreciate it," Heather told the black-haired shinigami.
"Well," Ichigo interjected as he used his Soul Reaper badge to separate from his body, "might as well be on our way." He opened the window and stepped outside. Rukia used a gikongan pill and she went into her shinigami form as well. Eli helped Heather out of the bed, now that she's able to walk again, and assisted her out of the window. "It was nice meeting you all," Eli said to the Orihime, Chad, and Uryu.
"Likewise!" Orihime exclaimed. "See you two tomorrow!"
"Take care," Chad told the two friends.
"And don't be late tomorrow!" Uryu yelled at the four shinigami.
"We won't be," Eli promised. After saying that, the four warriors flew back in the direction of Heather's house, the light of the still-present full moon guiding there path.
"Nicely done, my servant," a deep voice spoke out from the poorly-lighted room. "This will be more than enough blood for me to draw conclusions on my experiment, as well as run more."
"I accomplished my end of the bargain," Ian told the source of the voice, "now when can I expect you to uphold yours?"
"All in due time. I'll give you new powers soon enough. Your brother made a perfect test subject, but I did not appreciate him killing off the one Bount I had. However, what's done is done, and with him out of the picture, no one can stand in my way! Soon, I will be able to overthrow the Soul Society; returning the favor for what they did to me," the voice told the shinigami, releasing an inhumane laughter as he did so.
Wow, that's one long chapter! Took a long time to write this one, but now it's finished for your reading pleasure. I'm sorry if this leaves more confusion than answers, but I will answer any of your questions in upcoming chapters. I hope that with the new semester I will have more time to think about the next chapters.
If you have any questions, please do leave a PM or a reply. If you are curious about anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh!, for those not familiar with the game, head on over to the wikia, (www)..com.
Lastly, I want to thank my beta again, Lady Silvera Wolfe, for bearing with me until I wrote this chapter, and for nagging me to no end until I did so.
That's all I have for you all. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will have the next one up within 1 (I repeat, ONE) month this time. Until then, take care!
