Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I own my OCs. Gyo Rushin and all quincys that aren't from Japan belong to Astonish.
Well, let's keep moving. We're up to chapter 7 now, and we're just getting warmed up.
--
Raven hauled himself off the couch and ran out of the room. Luck really hated him. He ran down the hall, kicking each door as he went by. Within a minute, a dozen angry quincys were glaring him down.
"I just received word that the 46 ordered a worldwide assault on the quincys!"
The glares increased. One lifted Raven up by the collar, Gyo Rushin, one of the few strong man quincys.
"You told us that it would be at least a month before an attack," Rushin seethed. If anything, Rushin hated trickery, dishonesty, and anything related. A few years ago, in his early 20's, he used to be on good terms with a number of shinigami, including Komamura. Rumor also had it that he used to go out womanizing with Shinobu and Kyoraku. Such things were no longer safe anymore, though.
"Look, my sources aren't perfect. None of the taichos even knew until twenty minutes ago," Raven reasoned. They were wasting precious time. Soichiro's door slid open.
"All of you, stop it. This bickering is pointless. Let's talk this out slowly," Soichiro said in a tired voice. Shinobu stepped up.
"Fools! Four eyes wouldn't dare do something that'd get you all mad if it weren't an emergency!"
Several quincys looked at each other. It was plausible, and the 46 had been erratic lately.
"Old man, I don't think we have time for a nice chat. Raven, how much time have we got?"
By now, every quincy was glaring holes into Shinobu. Only he would have the gall to call their top general an old man. Soichiro bit back the urge to shoot back a retort, saying that he was only 34, hardly an old man. Still, even as disrespectful as he was, Shinobu's instincts usually served the quincys well.
"We have eight minutes," Raven replied solemnly, "The third division will attack Japan."
Those in the room stared at Raven in disbelief. An entire division would cause huge casualties not with skill but sheer numbers. There was a beeping sound, signaling an update from Kratos. Scouts had confirmed quincy presence in Japan, so the 12th division was being sent as well.
"The 2nd and 11th are going to attack America. The 5th is attacking Europe. The 9th is attacking Central America, and the 7th is attacking China. The 3rd is coming here, and the 12th is coming with them."
The entire room was silent. That was seven divisions, more than half of the Gotei 13's fighting force. At least the strongest taichos weren't in this attack, but it wasn't promising either way. Soichiro swept from the room and tapped a floorboard several times in different places. It fell out, revealing a small hatch and a ladder. He quickly descended and motioned for Raven to follow. Rushin reluctantly released the shinigami, allowing him to fall to the floor with a thud. Raven got up and hurried down the ladder. They had about six minutes. At the bottom of the ladder, Raven entered a white training room. He and Soichiro entered a closed off area with a number of computer screens.
"I'm going to contact all the other quincy factions. You're in charge of the battle for Japan. Do whatever you need to do to buy enough time for the others to hide themselves. Every quincy in the country can contact with this terminal. I have to deal with the worldwide problem."
With that, Soichiro was off. He flipped open his cell phone and began to dial. Raven sat down at the chair in front of the terminal and turned back to the screens. He had five minutes left. A cold, chilly voice resounded in the back of his head.
"Hello, Raven. What have you been up to?"
A bead of sweat rolled down Raven forehead. Where was Shoukyaku?
"Your little friend is still asleep from fending me off last time. Besides, you're not bad, just confused. You don't understand what war is like. I'm sure you'll find out soon."
"Nevar, what do you want? I'm busy." Raven replied, trying to keep a straight face.
His double smiled widely with an insane grin.
"Don't be so hostile. I just want to show you reality and open your eyes. You'll understand my position soon enough."
"No thanks. Maybe later," Raven replied as he sat there, running scenarios through his head. Each one was flawed in one way or another.
"So rude. I guess I won't help you save the quincys then."
Raven froze. Did he just hear that right?
"What?"
"For you to see what I want you to see, you'll have to live, now won't you?" came Nevar's chilling voice again. A chill ran up Raven's spine. His left and grasped a map and placed it on a table. Then he picked up a pen and began to draw some lines. Raven's eyes widened as a battle plan began to unfold on the map. Then he opened a virtual map on the quincy terminal, issuing orders, only his hand was moving by itself. Rushin and Shinobu were shown dispatched to Yokohama. One minute left. A voice came over the communicator.
"Raven, are you sure about this? Yokohama? There's almost no quincy population there."
It was Shinobu. Raven heard the creepy voice in the back of his head once more.
"Give the orders."
"Y-yes. Yokohama. Once there, you'll release a small amount of hollow bait and cause a riot outside the city. I'll give you further instructions one the way," Raven ordered shakily. Shinobu hung up and was off with Rushin right behind. Time was up. The attack had begun. Immediately, he got to work, contacting every patch of quincys in the country to usher everyone into hiding. About a half hour later, he was done. Then he dispatched Yukari, Mayumi, and Okumura Jun to help defend China, namely Beijing. It would be a waste for them to sit around the house, and they were all quite capable of defending themselves. Now it was a matter of disrupting the searches. Even in hiding, two divisions could easily sniff most of them out.
"Now, let's continue…" Nevar drawled on calmly, almost as though this was a game.
Raven's hand was soon put to work again, drawing out further plans on the virtual map. Then it lifted the reiatsu concealing field over Karakura Town.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Raven yelled in frustration.
"You see, we're in between Kyoto and Osaka. The shinigami will start in Tokyo. Now that we've shown ourselves, they'll come for us. By the time they get halfway here, Shinobu and Rushin will be causing an uproar in Yokohama. They'll turn back, wasting time." Nevar explained as though he were talking to a child. Of course the child would be traumatized for life, but Raven knew he was being treated like he was stupid. As soon as Nevar had finished speaking, Raven's hand was moving again, ordering the evacuation and wiring of the city of Urawa, a city where almost the entire population was composed of quincys. A beep signaled an incoming message from Shinobu.
"Hey Raven, we released the hollow bait. Both divisions are here. Your crazy captain is bent on catching one of us to dissect. Now what?"
"If I order the detonation of Urawa, hundreds of shinigami die," Raven thought in the back of his head.
"What's worth more to you? Is it thousands of quincys and thousands of shinigami or just maybe a hundred shinigami or so? If you don't give the order, we get caught," came Nevar's voice again. After thinking about it briefly, Raven closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Hiren Kyaku to Urawa, putting out as much reiatsu as you can. Then detonate the city. I've already had it evacuated."
Raven closed communications.
"Excellent… Once those two detonate the city, order the quincys in Nagano to flee here quietly." Nevar continued. Raven was beginning to see what his crafty double was doing. He was playing the shinigami for fools. Doing as he was told, then sent orders for Shinobu and Rushin to suppress their reiatsu and head home. Then he leaned back in the chair and sighed. It was over. Now all he could do was wait.
"Now, Nevar, why did you help me?" Raven asked.
"Well, you'll find out eventually. Shoukyaku is waking up, so I'm afraid it is time for me to disappear for now." Nevar said. A moment later, his presence was gone. A beep broke Raven's thoughts. The shinigami had all retreated back to the Seireitei. Opening all communications, Raven ordered a head count of casualties and any shinigami contact.
"No casualties and no shinigami contact, Sir."
No casualties and no shinigami contact, Sir."
No casualties and no shinigami contact, Sir."
"One minor injury during the scramble of the evacuation but no deaths or shinigami contact, Sir."
"No casualties and no shinigami contact, Sir."
Raven fell back in the chair again, trying to wrap his mind around these events. Genesis tapped him on the shoulder. He was so focused that he hadn't even noticed her approach.
"Soichiro would like your report now that the battle was over," Genesis informed Raven kindly. Nodding, he glanced over the reports and walked upstairs to Soichiro's office. He poked his head in the door. The top general of the quincys was not doing so well. He had his head buried in his hands as he looked over the reports of the battles across the world.
"American division, 78 percent dead, 1 percent wounded. European division, 59 percent dead, 28 percent wounded. Central American division, 36 percent dead, 41 percent wounded. Chinese division, 17 percent dead, 61 percent wounded…" Soichiro drawled on with sorrow. Raven stepped inside. The top general of the quincys looked up with tired eyes.
"Sir, one injury, no deaths. Three hundred and sixty-five unseated shinigami were injured or killed." Raven murmured quietly. Soichiro looked at him wide eyed and grabbed the reports.
"You… What kind of general are you?" he whispered softly. This had to be some kind of joke. There was no way they could have survived thousands of shinigami could have swept across the country with the only injury they sustained was a trip while doing the Hiren Kyaku. There must have been almost no battle at all. Shinobu walked in, laughing his head off. An upset looking Rushin was right behind him.
"Report. How did it go?" Soichiro ordered.
"We led those fools in a wild goose chase across the country. They were so occupied with us and false alarms that they're now scouring the mountains around Nagano in small search waves. The main forces have retreated," Shinobu answered.
"You two are serious, aren't you? We really won."
"No, we lost! Everything is destroyed! There's no Japan left!" Shinobu cried out in his typical sarcastic idiocy. Rushin smacked him in the head, knowing full well what had happened everywhere else except Africa and Australia. Neither continent really had any quincy presence at all, so there was no attack there. Soichiro smiled slightly and got to his feet.
"Excuse me. I have to have a meeting with the other quincy generals." Soichiro said as he ambled towards the door.
"With what just happened, Raven out to come too," Shinobu suggested jokingly. He was elbowed in the ribs for butting in where he wasn't wanted.
"Maybe someday, but now is not the time. The quincys need to recover, and many of the other generals would be less than understanding. Expect some guests as well."
With that, Soichiro was gone. Rushin moved to leave as well.
"Oh no, you don't. I got more of them than you. You lost the bet, so pay up," Shinobu ordered, palms open. A small stack of bills was deposited into it and greeted warmly as the quincy ran off to horde his winnings.
--
Back in Soul Society, Kratos rushed into the 6th division office.
"Kuchiki-taicho, over a thousand quincys have somehow slipped into Soul Society and are making their way through the Rukongai," Kratos informed his taicho. In less than five minutes, the 6th was on the move. It wasn't that he wanted the quincys destroyed, but those who invaded had to be destroyed. At least in this case, the shinigami were not the guilty party. The 8th, 10th, and 13th divisions were close behind. Ukitake was in the 4th after another coughing fit, so Shiba Kaien became the active commander. All in all, it was going to be a slaughter. One thing said it all, and that was the face of Kyoraku-taicho. He'd been visiting Ukitake in the 4th, and he was less than happy to be called out to fight. Naturally, the 8th ended up in the front lines. The 10th was ordered to comb the opposite side in case of a sneak attack.
In the 45th district, a rain of arrows cut down a group of patrolling shinigami. They were making good time, almost halfway through the Rukongai with almost no substantial resistance. About 2300 quincys were there. The head quincy in China, Li Shin had organized a counter invasion to draw attention away from the living world. Though only 21, he was the next in line after the dozen higher ranked quincys in the country were killed when Komamura's bankai crashed their meeting. At first, many had griped over his taking charge. After all, he stood at a hardly imposing 5-5, his curly black hair made him stick out like a sore thumb, and he looked like a wimp. Still, it wasn't long before they agreed to the counter attack when their friends were getting slaughtered out there. The European division approached from the opposite side while the American divisions joined the Chinese. With another barrage, another wave of shinigami was cut down. A short woman with shoulder length black hair was quickly ushering a group of children indoors.
"Chire, Senbonzakura."
"Hana kaze midarete kashin haki, tenpuu midarete tenma warau, Katen Kyokotsu."
"Suiten sakamake, Nejibana."
"Tenza shikata, Otsutosei."
An army of pink petals shot out to deflect the barrage of arrows. A wave of water rushed through the streets. Kyoraku Shunsui shunpoed forward, mowing through the quincy lines in a dance of death. The stragglers panicked and began firing in all directions. Kaien rushed forward and rammed his trident into the nearest quincy, then threw him off to deflect a barrage of arrows by whirling it around. Up on a rooftop stood the only unconcerned quincy.
"Gotcha."
"Watch out! On the roof!" called out the woman in the street.
Byakuya's eyes snapped up to the roof. Shin aimed at taicho and fired away only to have a swarm of petals deflect the attack. Without missing a beat, he dismissed his bow and reformed it into what looked like a sniper rifle and fired again. The beam punched straight through the petals. Byakuya's eyes widened. Kratos stepped in front of him and stabbed. The shot scattered in all directions, leveling the closest buildings. The woman who was ushering the children to safety was shot through the shoulder. Byakuya locked eyes with the quincy on the roof.
"Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
Kyoraku whistled.
"They're in for it now."
Two rows of swords rose up from the ground. They scattered into millions of pink petals, slicing away at every quincy in the area. Shin fired another sniper shot into the swarm. It was consumed, and the petals turned toward him. A senkaimon gate opened behind him, and a hand yanked the Chinese quincy to safety. Within minutes, every surviving quincy was gone, albeit that only amounted to a couple hundred, and most of them were injured. Kaien flipped open his soul pager.
"We need a team from the 4th in the West Rukongai as soon as possible. A cleanup crew would be good too."
Byakuya walked over to the woman who had warned him of the quincy sniper. Her shoulder was bleeding profusely.
"You will tell me your name, and you will receive proper medical treatment."
"Hisana…"
With that, Byakuya picked up the woman himself and shunpoed back to the Kuchiki mansion. It was only fair as the 4th would be far too busy to help those from the Rukongai.
--
Back in the living world, Soichiro was busy chewing out all the quincy leaders.
"Li Shin! Invading the Soul Society was short sighted and reckless! Now over 2000 quincy have died that would not have otherwise, and any hope we may have had for peace may just have been shattered!" Soichiro thundered. Then he turned to a short dark skinned boy with spiky black hair. Next to him stood a brunette with bluish green eyes.
"Anandus Harshi and Olivia Lu! You both are new to politics, but parading through the streets with thousands of quincys to get to the Seireitei defies all logic and common sense! It was suicide! Plus, the attacking divisions paid no heed to your movements! All that happened was the removal of the defenses of every major country!"
Then Soichiro's eyes flashed over to a redhead with green eyes who was putting on her makeup. His eyebrow twitched.
"Rosa Maria de Melquiades. Put that stuff away when I'm lecturing you!"
The makeup fell to the floor, and Soichiro moved on to the last one. She was an ex-model with dirty blonde hair and sad brown eyes.
"And miss Sasha Carter. You did the best with your situation, but the attack should have been avoided as it was doomed to fail, both in war and in politics. You will all move in. This is the new quincy base of operations. Dismissed."
"What gives you the right to make that call?!" Anandus retorted. He received a sharp glare.
"Look. Japan has more quincys left than all of your countries combined. You all had your chance, and you blew it! Now you're all going to stay so I can keep an eye on you." Soichiro answered, voice laced with venom.
"That's impossible! Japan's quincy division was the smallest!" Anandus shot back. There were a few murmurs of agreement.
"Japan's new general prevented any deaths during the invasion-" Soichiro started.
"Yeah right! There isn't a quincy out there with that kind of genius!" Anandus piped up. Soichiro opened his mouth to silence the young quincy but was interrupted as Shinobu dragged Raven through the door.
"Come on, some coffee would do you good. It helps relieve the stress."
"No… I'm tired. I just wanna sleep…"
The foreign quincys stared.
"What's that shinigami doing here?!" Rosa screeched at Soichiro.
"That's Japan's new general and your new boss."
Shinobu stopped dragging Raven. The reaction was a mix of slacked jaws and glares. Raven looked uneasily at the crowd and gave a small wave. Did he just hear that right? He was a scientist, not a general. In fact, he was pretty much a puppet for that battle. In fact, he was even terrible at chess. He'd lost to Shinobu the other day, proof of his strategic incapability. In his head, he was given a whack. Apparently, he was going to have inner world chess lessons for an hour a day until he got decent. He was just supposed to come to the living world and design some kind of purifier. He hadn't asked for this. Man, life was so unfair.
--
That's all for now. I promise my other stories will be updated soon. One will come tomorrow hopefully, then the rest a week later once summer school is over.
