(A/N: Credit goes to L002 for inspiring Ichigo's reaction to Lloyd's poster)
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Tales of Symphonia
Ichigo's pov
I woke up lying on my back.
"I think he's coming to," I heard Marta's voice. I opened my eyes to see her and Emil hunched over me. I sat up and groaned clutching my head.
"Are you feeling okay?" Emil asked me.
"I've been better," I said.
"What happened?" Marta wanted to know.
I stood up. "I came in here and saw you all passed out on the ground after getting trounced by Lloyd. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he turned his weapons on me. And here I thought we're supposed to be friends. I'm going to track him down and pummel some sense into him."
"Never mind that now," Tenebrae said. "Lady Marta the core is missing."
"If you mean that white thing, Lloyd snatched it up," Ichigo said.
"He took it?" Marta cried out.
"Yeah, why, what's the big deal?" I asked.
"The big deal?" Tenebrae got annoyed, "The big deal is that Centurion Lumen's core is essential to our journey. Lady Marta, let's hurry. You and I must go after Lloyd."
"Right," she agreed, and then turned to look at Emil with flushed cheeks, beaming, "Thanks for saving me Emil."
"But I didn't do much of anything," Emil said depressingly, "You should be thanking Ichigo not me. He's the one who…" I whacked Emil at the back side of the neck. "Ow!"
"When a lady compliments you, you should accept it gracefully, no sense in being humble," I told Emil.
"I'm sorry," he said timidly.
"You don't need to apologize for it," I exasperated.
"And besides," Marta said, continuing, "You did save me. You became a knight, a Knight of Ratatosk. That's why you were able to save me, right? I always thought that you would make a wonderful knight! It's true! That's what I thought, ever since the first time we met." Emil was confused. Marta giggled, "It's okay! I guess that it just wasn't as memorable for you. But honestly I'm very grateful to you for saving me. What would I have done without you?" If Emil turned any redder we'd need a 257th color to add to the spectrum of light.
"Lady Marta I hate to be a nag, but time is of the essence," Tenebrae told her.
"I know," she said plainly as she turned to face him and then resumed her concentration back to Emil and me. "Could you two help us, just until we make it out of this place?"
"Sure, we might as well stick together," I said.
"Not a problem," Emil agreed.
I then noticed a yellow object gleaming next to a bunch of rocks. I went over and picked it up. It was some form of mask, "What's this?" I wondered.
"Lloyd was wearing that mask when I encountered him," Marta said.
"Lloyd was wearing this thing?" I questioned examining the mask from all sides, "The kid may have poor fashion sense already as it is, but this thing is just plain tacky." I looked through the eye holes all around the room. The gems in the center gave a ruby tint to everything in the room. I then noticed a poster on the far wall. It was a crude drawing of Lloyd with the words, 'Jewel hunter Lloyd Irving was here' written on it. "What the hell is this?" I shouted, tearing it off the wall and crunching it up. "First he kicks my ass and tries to act like his old man, then he goes and puts up this crude poster on the wall and mocks me," I threw it as far as I could and sent out a weakly powered Getsuga Tensho and destroyed it. I slammed Zangetsu into the ground, "And what the hell was up with that picture? Rukia can draw better than he can." I clenched my fist, "Once I get my hands on you Lloyd so help me I will tie you to a chair and force feed you every one of Orihime's recipes I know." I was only now noticing the switch that the poster had been strung up against.
"What's that?" Emil wondered.
"Hmm," I examined it for a few moments and then cut it with Zangetsu. It gave off a radiant glow and the barrier blocking the exit opened. I turned back towards the others who were giving me blank expressions. "What?"
"It's nothing," Marta said shaking her head, "Come on let's go."
We headed up the stairs and finally got out of the cave. "This isn't good, I'm only able to pick up a small trace of Lumen, it may be too late to following Lloyd."
"Darn it," Marta slumped forward.
"So what's this core thing all about?" I asked.
"Oh right, I suppose you wouldn't know much," Marta said, "To put it simply, the Centurions' cores are the eggs of Centurions, like Tenebrae. Lumen's core is the egg of Centurion Lumen."
"You might say that Centurion's cores are like Centurions in hibernation," Tenebrae said.
"I get it, sort of like the monsters you're holding onto for Emil, right?" I connected.
"Something of that nature," Tenebrae said.
Marta pointed to the jewel on her forehead, "The core on my forehead is Ratatosk's core,"
Emil took a step back, "The demon lord?"
"I told you he's not a demon," Marta insisted.
"Perhaps we should take the time to explain all of this to Emil and Ichigo," Tenebrae said.
"Ichigo?" I just realized up until now that I had yet to introduce myself to Marta. She seemed to recognize me by appearance and started bouncing in place, "Oh wow, I thought you looked familiar. You're Ichigo Kurosaki right?"
"Yeah, what of it?" I asked.
"I know this is a strange request, since we've just met, but it would really mean a lot to me if you could help us out. Since Lloyd seems to be after the cores I could really use your help in collecting them before he does. With your superior speed I'd have all the cores in no time," she said.
"Ummm," I didn't really know what to say.
Marta stared at the ground, "Oh…you can't…I see."
"I didn't say anything about that," I said suddenly.
"Then you'll help?" Marta seemed hopeful.
"I didn't say anything about that either," I said trying to make her understand where I stood on this. Marta just looked at me with a hardened expression. "Look," I said, "I got wrapped up into this whole mess just by chance. I really only came here to pay a visit to someone, but I stopped by Luin to pick something up first."
"O-oh," Marta seemed to be a lot less jubilant at hearing this.
"I'm not on orders from Soul Society. I'm only battle ready to fend off monsters from the cave since Emil's Uncle asked me to take care of some monsters in exchange for some pocket change and then I just so happened to run into you when that Richter guy asked me to look for you and things just spiraled out of control from there," I told her.
"Oh…I see," Marta seemed to understand things a lot better now. I exhaled and thanked my lucky stars I had gotten her to see things correctly.
"Look why don't we all sit down and discuss what's going on? After that I'll make a decision on whether or not I'll help out. I really want to get to Mizuho and meet up with a friend of mine," I explained.
"All right, that sounds like a fair deal," Marta said.
"Maybe you can tell us more about Lloyd too while you're at it," Emil suggested.
I nodded. I saw Lloyd's actions with my own eyes. Was that really the same Lloyd I knew two years ago? Did Lloyd change so much he'd act like a younger version of his own dad? And what about what Emil said about Lloyd killing his parents? I have a really bad feeling about all this. I looked up at the sky, Sorry Sheena. Looks like it'll be a while before I'm able to meet up with you.
My train of thought was broken by the fact that Marta was upset over the fact that Lloyd must've known about the Lake's location because we were in the ruins of the Tower of Mana. We then decided to head back to Luin, now that Tenebrae had completely lost trace of Lumen. On our way out of the ruins though our path was barred by a pink rabbit, standing on its hind legs and it was staring right at Emil.
"Well, well, well," Tenebrae chuckled. He turned towards Emil, "It appears this monster wants to fight you Emil, as a test of a Knight of Ratatosk."
There was a flash of energy around Emil and his eyes turned red and his voice mimicked mine, "Is that so? Well," Emil drew out his weapon, "Bring it on you little fuzz ball!"
Emil's pov
I charged at the rabbit. It leapt out of the way. It's fast. I turned sharply and saw it coming at me with a flying kick. "Demon Fang!" It landed just before the shockwave hit it and bounced back into the air. Oh no you don't! I leapt up into the air and slashed at it with my sword. I missed. The monster let out it's cry as it pounced on my back and leapt over me. "You damn piece of crap!" I turned around and ran at it. "I'm going to turn you into a pelt!" As I ran forward I gained immense speed and slammed down with battle energy. "Havoc Strike!"
Ichigo's pov
Emil came slamming down with a drop kick and a downward slash onto the poor creature breaking it into pieces. Marta gasped at the sheer violence of the scene at seeing a rabbit getting that kind of pounding. If Rukia were here she'd be throwing a fit. The pact magic activated and Emil attempted to form a pact with the rabbit he just defeated. The creature was sealed up into a seal sphere with the Earth Emblem on it. Tenebrae called it to him and pulled it into his system. Emil stood up and turned around still in his other form.
Marta ran over to him giggling, "You're so amazing."
He turned around, blushing, "Shut up, that was nothing."
Marta swooned, "I love the way you said that."
"I'm outta here," There was a flash of energy and Emil reverted to his regular self.
"She's quite taken with him isn't she?" I asked Tenebrae.
"Emil saved Lady Marta's life during the Palmacosta Blood Purge and so Lady Marta wanted Emil to be her knight as a thank you for saving him," Tenebrae stated.
"Really?" I asked, scratching my head, "Cause Emil doesn't seem to remember that all that well." Tenebrae made no response. I just realized what Tenebrae said and called out to Marta, "Hey Marta!"
"Yes what is it?" she asked as I drew near.
"What's this about the Palmacosta Blood Purge?" I asked.
"You don't know about it? It was a pretty big thing," she said.
"Look I haven't been here in a little over two years, and I just got here today so I'm clueless."
"Well, I guess we might as well sit down and talk," she looked at Emil and said real cutesy like "Is that ok with you?"
"It's fine," he blushed, "really. Besides, I need to catch my breath after all that fighting."
"That settles it then," I plopped down onto the ground. "Why don't we all sit around and discuss things?"
"Sounds good to me," Tenebrae said joining us. We all sat around and started talking.
"So Emil how much do you know about the Chosen's journey to regenerate the world and the state of the world before that?" Marta asked him.
"Not much," Emil shook his head slightly.
"You're kidding," I laughed, "Ah well then I'll summarize it for you," I cleared my throat, "Long ago there was this Giant Tree that sustained the world and the end of the world was within close proximity."
Tenebrae picked up the story, "The Goddess Martel and the Hero Mithos managed to prevent this destruction by dividing the world into two. But two years ago Colette the Chosen successfully reunited the two separated lands by sprouting the new World Tree to support the world. While the world was divided in two, Lord Ratatosk transformed into his core and became dormant."
"That's the core on my forehead," Marta pointed to it.
"You mean that's the demon lord Ratatosk's egg?" Emil panicked.
"He is not a demon," Tenebrae said rather annoyed, "Lord Ratatosk was a summon spirit of the Great Tree of Old and is the Lord of all Monsters."
"In order to awaken Ratatosk, we have to first awaken all of his servants, the Centurions, by hatching them. That's why we're on a journey looking for the Centurions' cores," Marta explained.
"Why is it so important that Ratatosk awakens?" I asked.
"If he's asleep, nature will be thrown off balance and destroy the world. For instance Ratatosk's sleep is the reason why Lake Sinoa has dried up. And without him around to oversee things, most monsters have cut ties with the Centurions they serve. So the monsters are running wild and causing the world's mana to fall out of balance," Marta explained.
"So wait, monsters control this world's Mana?" I asked.
"Indeed," Tenebrae responded.
"Huh, you learn something new every day."
Tenebrae continued, "Even while Lord Ratatosk is dormant, the Centurions are supposed to form ties with monsters and maintain order. Yet, the Centurion of Water, Aqua, has allied with Richter, and is neglecting her duties. This is precisely the reason why we have seen one water-related disaster after another. It's absolutely deplorable."
"Why did Aqua sever her bond with Ratatosk?" I asked.
"How should I know that?" Tenebrae asked.
There is definitely something between those two, I said to myself. Still. "That still doesn't explain why you guys are fighting to get these cores."
"It's because these cores have remarkable powers and on top of that there are several people who would use the cores for their own selfish reasons. Lloyd and Richter are among them," Tenebrae said.
"Richter I can't say anything about, but Lloyd wouldn't do all this without a good reason behind it. Jerkass or not, I just know that he's doing what he's doing for the right reasons," I said.
"What about my parents?" Emil whined.
"That I don't know about. Were your parents hiding some deep secrets of mass murder and assassination works?" I joked. Tenebrae laughed a bit.
"That's not funny," Emi whined back.
"I was joking, like I said, I have no idea," I repeated, "That's why I want to catch up with Lloyd. If I have to I'll beat the answer out of him."
"In any case," Marta spoke up, "I did manage to recover Ratatosk's core myself, but the core attached itself to my forehead. To be honest, it's a bit frustrating."
"I'll bet," I agreed.
"So Ichigo what can you tell us about Lloyd?" Marta asked.
"Well, when I travelled with Lloyd he was your typical idiot hero. He was an idealist and a good person at heart. Hell I crossed swords with him a bunch of times to get him stronger," I stated.
"You trained Lloyd?" Emil asked.
I nodded, "When we first met Lloyd couldn't even stand against my Shikai. Now it seems that without Bankai I won't be able to stay on level with him."
"What's Bankai?" Marta asked.
"What you don't know?" I asked.
Marta shook her head, "The only things I know about Soul Reapers is that they come from another world and are spirits from the afterlife, and only those with a high affinity for Mana can see them, but while the world was split, Mana was so unstable that anyone could see them."
"However, given the current situation it wouldn't be surprising to think that this same phenomenon is currently going on," Tenebrae stated.
That's right, I realized, Emil's Uncle didn't seem like he had any affinity for Mana at all, but he was still able to see me. I looked over at Emil. Emil too, up until he formed a pact with Ratatosk he was the same way.
"So what's this Bankai thing then?" Emil asked.
"It's hard to put it in words, and a demonstration would be tiring on my part," I said, standing up.
"Wait, aren't you going to tell us more about Lloyd?" Marta asked.
"I've told you guys the anonymities, any more and I'd have to go into detail about his achievements which I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear right now," I said. I could tell that just from the evil eye Emil was giving me. Every time Lloyd entered the conversation he got really tempered. He must really believe that Lloyd killed his parents.
Luin
We all headed back towards the town and entered into it.
"I'll drop out of sight since my presence may draw unwanted attention," Tenebrae said and became transparent.
"I can still see you, you know," I told him.
"Understandable I guess since Soul Reapers are themselves Spirits," Tenebrae stated.
"Ichigo, you can see Tenebrae when he blends in with the Shadows?" Marta asked me.
"Are you telling me you can't?" I asked.
Marta shook her head, "I guess that's just an advantage of being a Soul Reaper. There are several times I've wanted to know where Tenebrae's been when he's been hiding," she scowled.
"H-hey you weren't one of the monsters that attacked the village were you?" Emil asked Tenebrae.
"Of course not," Tenebrae said outright, "Those monsters were lured to the village by Lumen's core. When Centurions are in their core state, they're unable to control their powers. Resulting in the disruption of the mana balance and throws nature into chaos."
"Wow. That sucks," I said.
"Couldn't have put it better myself," Marta said. She turned towards Emil and leaned forward with her hands behind her back, "Let's go to your house for a little while. We can discuss our next move there."
"Uh…ummm…"
Right away I could sense Emil's lack of comfortableness with the situation and decided to bail him out. "H-hey why don't we go to the Mayor's house first and ask about Richter?"
"That's not a bad idea actually," Marta agreed, "We can ask about Lloyd too while we're there see if he knows anything about what Lloyd's been up to since you've been away for so long."
"Well excuse me for putting my studies as the top priority," I pretended to be insulted. Marta and Tenebrae walked on.
Emil looked at me. "Thanks Ichigo, I didn't want Marta to see me getting yelled at by my aunt and uncle."
"No worries," I told him. Although I doubt that would've been the least of your problems if we had gone to your house.
Tenebrae's pov
"Rats!" Lady Marta said as we walked, rather far ahead of Emil and Ichigo, "And here I was getting all ready to visit Emil's house," she put my hands together and her eyes glistened, "Introduce myself to his family and make our status as a wonderful new couple official!"
"So that's why you demanded him to take you to his home so suddenly," I commented.
"Oh I get it," she said having like she was having an epiphany, "Emil's so shy he must be too embarrassed to return home with his girlfriend."
"That sounds like wishful thinking to me," I said.
Lady Marta proceeded to bop me on the noggin. "Quiet Tenebrae!" she told me, "That settles it! I've got to get him to like me more!" she ran over to Emil and clung to his arm. "Hey Emil," she swooned, "When's your birthday? What's your favorite food? Do you like girls with long or short hair better?"
"C-cut it out Marta! Quit clinging to me!" I heard Emil say nervously.
I sighed, "I guess this will be an unrequited love."
Ichigo's pov
I took one look at Marta clinging to Emil and couldn't help, but play a little practical joke. Her eyes were closed so she wouldn't know it was me and not Emil. I cleared my throat silently and then proceeded to mimic Emil's voice. "I like girls like you actually," I said. Emil looked at me like he couldn't believe I just did that. Marta of course heard it and totally bought into it.
"Ah I knew it," she squealed, "We're meant to be." She hugged Emil as tight as she could.
"I…can't…breathe," Emil gagged.
Tenebrae could hardly contain his laughter. It actually was pretty funny. The fact that Emil and I sounded the same would prove to be rather comical on this journey…wait since when did I actually agree to help them with anything? I had to go to Mizuho and find Sheena. "Marta, Emil," I said. Marta let go of Emil and both turned their attention to me, "Listen, it's been fun, but I need to get going."
"You're not gonna help us?" Marta asked.
"I said before I'm not on orders from Soul Society, I came here to buy something at the accessory shop and just got wrapped up into all this," I told her. "I'll look for Lloyd on my own, but with any luck you guys could find someone else who could help you."
"So you're just going to abandon people in need for your own selfish reasons? I thought I taught you better than that."
"That voice," I turned around to see someone who I hadn't seen in a long time walk up from behind Tenebrae. It was a girl with short black hair, violet eyes and short height. "Rukia, what are you doing here?"
"I'm on orders from Soul Society to investigate what's going on with this world, from the Vanguard uprisings to the matter with the Centurions and it sounds like your right smack in the middle of it."
"Who's she?" Emil asked, tilting his head.
"I know you. You're Rukia Kuchiki," Marta said.
"Marta it's been a while," she said with a smile.
"You two know each other?" I asked.
"Marta's a former member of the Vanguard. I helped her narrowly escape pursuit about a month before the Blood Purge when she was crossing over the borders from Tethe'alla back into Sylvarant," Rukia said.
"You're a member of the Vanguard?" Emil asked Marta.
"Former vanguard," Marta emphasized.
"Man I just walked into one big mess," I lamented.
"Bemoan all you want, but I'm not just going to stand around and watch you abandon some people who clearly need our help," Rukia said.
"Hey," I argued, "I came here for a vacation. I'm not exactly required to help out."
"Oh is that so?" Rukia asked getting in my face.
"Yeah it is," I said scowling back. Both of us smirked.
"You haven't changed a bit," Rukia said pulling back.
"Seems like you haven't either," I said.
"Um excuse me," I forgot Emil was still out of the loop.
"Oh right, Emil this is Rukia Kuchiki. She's…"
"Lady Marta!" Suddenly a guy with tan hair curved out into a v-shaped pattern on his head wearing a military uniform and wielding a pair of Katars came running up to us. He had a group of soldiers with him.
Rukia got defensive, "Hawk." Marta got defensive as well.
"Let me guess former co-worker?" I asked.
"Yup," Marta answered.
"Lady Marta there's no reason for you to act hostile. Commander Brute says that if you return Ratatosk's core, all will be forgiven, and you will be welcomed back into the Vanguard," Hawk told her.
Marta copped a tude, "You can tell Commander Brute that what you did—what all of you did—isn't something I can forget."
Hawk played dumb, "Whatever do you mean?"
"Acting dumb won't save you, Marta's not going back to the Vanguard," Rukia said.
"Then we shall show you no mercy!" Hawk said and thrust out his arm in command, "Men! Seize lady Marta and eliminate the others!"
"Not on my watch," I said calmly and held up Zangetsu with both my arms up in the air. I charged a mid-level Getsuga Tensho and fired it.
"Good work Ichigo," Rukia lowered her weapon and ran towards the exit of town, "Follow me."
Emil and I seemed to be thinking the same thing, How in the world did we get wrapped up into this? Hawk and the others caught up to us at the fountain. We became surrounded from all sides. "Damn, now what?" I asked. As if to answer my questions knights wearing the armor of the Papal Knights came out of nowhere and knocked out Hawk and his men. Leading them was a Man with similar styled hair as Hawk's, but the color was black. He was also heavier than Hawk and had a mustache. He also wore bronze armor. "Ok, who's this guy?" I wondered. I didn't lower my guard. On my last journey here the Church of Martel caused us nothing but trouble.
The man announced himself, "I am Magnar, Commandant of the Martel Knights. By the orders of Lloyd the Great, I have come to take the demon lord Ratatosk and the Centurion's core!"
Damn it Lloyd, what the hell are you doing? I thought to myself.
"You're all the same," Marta spat, the spinner like weapon on her arm, out and prepared for use.
Magnar meant business though, "Hand over Ratatosk's core and I will guarantee that none of you will be harmed. However, if you refuse, this town will meet the same fate as Palmacosta."
"What the hell are you talking about you bastard?" I shouted.
"You don't know?" Magnar laughed, "And they said the famous Ichigo Kurosaki had a good head on his shoulders." I growled. "Fine I shall tell you, wretched whelp. The foolish Vanguard planned to use Ratatosk's core to start a rebellion in order to destroy the Church of Martel and the Chosen."
"According to reports," Rukia said, giving me the notion that she knew what was going on, "Lloyd killed a lot of innocent people to steal Ratatosk's core, and to quell the rebellion."
"But that's…" I couldn't believe it. That just didn't sound like Lloyd at all. What the was going on?
Tenebrae appeared to all and summoned the monsters that Emil had formed pacts with, "Go my servants! Attack!"
"That should keep them busy," Rukia said twirled her sword, "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki," she pointed her sword at the knights guarding the exit to town, "Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!" She put them on ice. "Come on everyone!" she called out. I agreed and we followed Rukia out of the town to a safe location and then snuck around the outside and concealed ourselves from the knights.
"Damn that Magnar, I oughta charge right back in there right now and give him a piece of my mind," I growled.
"And what good would that accomplish? Soul Society has strict orders not to make direct enemies of the Martel Knights or the Vanguard if we can help it. The brigade I took out to save Marta had no notable officers in it, but if you take out the Commandant of the Martel Knights…"
"How many times do I have to say it?" I growled at Rukia, "I'm not here on orders from Soul Society!"
"That won't stop them from lumping you in with us," Rukia said to me, "Face it Ichigo you're involved in this, like it or not."
I growled under my breath. Emil looked at Marta, "Marta give them the core on your forehead."
"Huh? But…"
"If you…if the Vanguard hadn't attempted a rebellion, Palmacosta never would've been destroyed in the first place!" Emil said. Marta looked depressed, "I'm sorry," Emil apologized, "But if we don't do something, Luin will be destroyed," his voice got rather pitiful, "And everyone will blame me because I'm the one who brought you here."
"Hey, I'm part of this too," I said.
"But you have a reputation with the people of Luin. Your statue is evidence of that," Rukia explained. "Emil has a point."
Marta sighed, "You're right. I'm truly sorry about what happened in Palmacosta."
"Marta?" I asked. She prepared to head out into the open.
Without turning around she said, "I'll give them Ratatosk's core, sorry Tenebrae." She continued onwards.
Tenebrae looked at Emil, quite angered by the looks of it, "Emil you have just sent Lady Marta to her death. Lord Ratatosk's core on her forehead requires energy from her body. The core cannot be separated from her before Lord Ratatosk awakens. Removing it beforehand will surely cause her death."
"What? We've got to do something!" I shouted.
"She already knows," Tenebrae said darkly and looked at Emil, "She intends to die for this town and for you, for your petty desire to protect yourself. I just wanted you to know the consequences of your words."
"You proud of yourself?" I asked Emil, now angry.
"I…no…I…"
"Let's go stop her then," Rukia said.
"What happened to not making enemies of the Martel Knights?" I asked her.
"The centurions seem to be the focal point of this whole problem, preserving Marta's life correlates with the mission and that is what takes priority," Rukia said.
"And what about you?" I asked Emil.
"I'll help too," he said.
"You'll be ostracized by the people of the town," Tenebrae chimed.
"I don't care!" Emil shouted.
"Well then, let's go. I can feel Imp, Wolf and Wild Rabbit all starting to dwindle in power. I should call them back willingly before they are defeated," Tenebrae said.
"Right then it's settled," we all charged forward to get back Marta.
Rukia's pov
When we managed to catch a glimpse of Marta, Luin was already under siege by the Martel Knights. "Damn Bastards!" Ichigo shouted engaging several in battle and attacking.
"Stop it!" Emil shouted only for an explosion to go off, that of which flung him forward and sent him spiraling along the ground. I felt a swift surge of energy surround him.
What's with this weird spiritual pressure? I wondered.
Emil stood up there was something about his posture that made him seem different. I cut down another Knight and went over to him. "Didn't you hear what I said?" I stopped. His voice sounded identical to Ichigo's. Emil drew out the sword that was sheathed behind his back, "I said stop you miserable swine!"
Talk about a complete personality change. I observed. Emil ripped through two Martel Knights with his bare hands, his fists breaking through armor as if it were aluminum foil. He then drew out his sword and cut down two more knights that attempted to attack him. Emil stood over Marta and gave him her hand, "Stand up Marta," he told her calmly and helped her to her feet.
"Emil watch out!" Marta called out before I could as Magnar attempted to attack Emil from behind. Emil blocked with his sword. "Don't think I forgot about you," Emil said. He pivoted and turned, standing side by side with Marta in preparation for a fight, "You'd better pray to Martel one last time. Pray to her, for a painless death." Magnar stood his ground, but I watched Emil carefully. He executed what appeared to be speeds as fast as that of a Shunpo practitioner and shouted, "Ravaging Tiger!" he slashed upward into the air, destabilizing Magnar and causing him to lose his footing. Emil spun and slashed downward while turing his body 360 degrees, like he was turning over in an invisible bed, while still in midair, whacking the tip of Magnar's lance and knocking it out of the man's hands and then came down with powerful battle energy with a final downward slash and cut straight into Magnar's armor. The force of the blow sent Magnar barreling away. Ichigo then came up from behind with a high powered Getsuga Tensho and sent Magnar sailing toward the fence aligned parallel to the bridge that led to the town exit. Magnar lay there like a lump. All the troops began to disperse. Emil went over to Magnar and flipped him over. Magnar still seemed dazed. "So, where's your divine punishment?" Emil asked and decked Magnar across the side of the face. Magnar didn't put up a sign of defense. "Well?" he punched him again. "Show me!" he hit him again. "What's the matter?" he attacked again. "Can't say anything?"
"Emil stop it! You're going to kill him!" I shouted.
"Emil stop this please!" Marta pleaded. I felt that pulse of weird spiritual pressure I felt earlier and Emil backed off of Magnar, whose face had seen better days, and seemed frightened at what he had done.
"Wh-what was I just doing?" Emil turned around and ran away on his own.
"Emil!" I called out to him.
Ichigo stopped me, "Let him go Rukia," he said, "give him a chance to cool down. I saw a little of what happened. If I were in his position,I'd want a little space. If he doesn't come back on his own. I'll go talk to him."
"You see a lot of you in him don't you?" I asked.
Ichigo nodded. "If he decides to go looking for Lloyd I'm going to go with him."
"What about Sheena?" I asked.
"She hasn't seen me in nearly two years. She can wait a little while longer," Ichigo said.
I smiled and then looked in the direction I saw Emil run off in. What I had just witnessed reminded me of when Ichigo was having problems controlling his inner hollow. Emil. Just what sort of power are you wielding?
To be continued…
(A/N: 8D Yay Rukia! So yeah she's going to stick around with the group for what I hope will be the rest of the series. And it seems Emil is gaining power rather quickly and has gained 3 monsters under his command. What will happen? Find out next time in Tales of Bleach: Return of the Samurai)