Ichigo felt someone grab onto his shihakusho as he plummeted to the ground, but the force of which he was thrown made it difficult to move his head to see who the person was. He saw a flash of green and white. Ganju. It was just his luck that he had to end up with the most annoying person in the group, well second most annoying person. No-one could hope to outsmart his parabatai in pissing the hell out of him. The pair crashed into the Seireitei, hitting the ground with such power that it made a crater. Miraculously though, both of them were seemingly unharmed. Ichigo felt as if his back was slightly bruised but it was incredible how they had both survived the crash.
"Ganju?" Ichigo called out to his ally. "You alright?"
"Yeah, yeah." The man replied brushing the dirt off his clothes. "Come one, kid, let's get going."
The two were about to jump out of the pit when they heard a voice, that seemed filled with glee. "Oh look, Yumichika, we found the Ryoka! This must be my lucky day!" Said a bald headed Soul Reapers with red eye-liner. His companion, who must be Yumichika, was some-what feminine-looking in appearance, with jaw-length black-blue hair and lilac eyes. He had two feathers woven into his hair and eyebrow.
"Yes, well, if we don't fight them first, the others will come and take all the glory." Yumichika replied looking quite calm, but you couldn't mistake the blood-thirsty glint in his eyes. While they were talking, Ganju was trying to get Ichigo's attention so they can both run away before being attacked. The bald-head, who noticed what he was planning, drew his sword and pointed it at them.
"Oh no, you don't." He drawled. "I'm gonna fight one of you, it's been a long time since I could full-on battle it out."
"C'mon, Ichigo!" Ganju hissed at the orange-head who wasn't budging. "We should run before reinforcements arrive."
"What happened to the tough guy act? What happened to the 'Self-proclaimed number one Soul Reaper hater of the west Rukon'?" Ichigo teased.
"Soul Reaper hater?" Asked Yumichika, the grip on the hilt of his sword tightening. His eyes narrowed at Ganju, who looking quite frightened, made a run for it, leaving Ichigo behind. Yumichika chased after the man, still intent on fighting someone.
"So, kid, ain't gonna run?" The bald-head asked, smirking now that he had someone to use all his new moves on. Ichigo shook his head and took a fighting stance, only making the man cackle at his defiance. "What's your name, eh?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki." The substitute replied.
"Ichigo? They say guys with 'ichi' in their name are overflowing with talent and good-looks, we'll see how talented you are!" He yelled drawing his Zanpakto as Ichigo leapt out of the pit and made his way over to his opponent.
"Since you're asking my name, what's yours?"
"Ikkaku Madarame, third seat of Squad Eleven!" He shouted, beating a fist against his chest in pride.
Ichigo reached for Zangetsu, wrapping his fingers around the hilt before bringing it in front of him. "Well, Ikkaku, let's see which one of us will be the last man standing." He said, grinning enthusiastically.
Uryuu and Orihime had hit the ground hard, so hard that Orihime had injured her arm badly. After hurriedly, carrying the girl away from the crater, he treated her injuries. The Quincy finished bandaging her arms, helping the girl sit up. They needed to get out of the area as quickly as possible; Soul Reapers would be arriving soon.
"Orihime, we need to get going. Do you think you can move?" Uryuu asked, standing up and taking in their surroundings.
"Thanks, Uryuu! I'm much better now!" Orihime answered in her usual cheery voice. Suddenly, they heard voices coming in their direction. Grabbing Orihime by her uninjured arm, he pulled the girl into a space between two buildings. A group of Soul Reapers passed by, following after a black hell butterfly.
"It might be a good idea to be on higher ground, that way we can find the others." Uryuu said as the duo climbed onto the roofs. From there they could see the entire Seireitei, the cliff in the distance and some parts of Rukon.
"You're right Uryuu, this is a good idea!" Orihime exclaimed, taking in the sight.
"Not for you it isn't." Said a deep voice. Both the red-head and the Quincy spun around to face a large man, similar in appearance to Jidanbo. He laughed in delight at the looks of shock before drawing his blade.
Uryuu took out his bow but before he could start firing, he was swatted out of the way across the roofs. The giant moved towards Orihime, who was easy prey. The girl placed her fingers over her hairpins, ready to call out Tsubaki, when a flicker of movement caused her to hesitate. Still, Tsubaki flew in the direction of the giant only to be whacked aside, cursing at the red-head before fading and returning to her pins. Uryuu emerged from where he had fallen and moved swiftly to aim his arrows at the back of the giant's head. The large man who was so focused on beating the girl didn't notice Uryuu fire a line of arrows from behind. With a scream he dropped his Zanpakto, and turned around to Uryuu, who then shot his arm making him fall to the floor partly-unconscious with blood oozing out of his wounds. Orihime lifted a hand to cover her mouth at the sight of blood as Uryuu dragged her by the arm to the ground again.
"But the poor Soul Reaper!" Cried Orihime, her eyes brimmed with tears.
"Don't worry about him." Hissed Uryuu, then pointed at the group of Shinigami that were now on the roofs, fussing over the injured man. "They'll heal him, now let's go!"
Zayla knew she was unlucky. But never knew she was this unlucky; the Shadowhunter had crashed into a tree. She could feel splinters all over her body, piercing into her skin. One particularly large splinter had planted itself into her left thigh, after pulling it out, she realised exactly how bad it was. Sharp pain shot up her leg as blood flowed out of the wound staining her clothes, her shihakusho was ripped in various places and small cuts marked her skin. Zayla tried standing up and immediately regretted it; there was no way she could walk with her leg in that state. Sitting back, she drew her Zanpakuto and stabbed it into the ground, then holding onto the hilt for support, she helped herself up. Naturally, the girl would've just used her stele to draw an iratze and heal the wound, but recently the healing runes were almost completely useless on her unless it was Ichigo who marked her. It did make sense as he was her parabatai, but she didn't understand why she couldn't just heal herself. Zayla pulled out the chain of light that normally secured Raitoenjeru to her back, holding it in her hands, the chain was slightly warm and felt like cotton. She set to work wrapping it around her thigh to stop the bleeding.
The Shadowhunter heard a group of Soul Reapers in the distance and they were heading her way. Limping, she went in the opposite direction, occasionally hiding behind buildings when Shinigami passed by. After a group of what seemed like Soul Reaper medics crossed her, she started across the street but stopped shortly in her tracks.
A Soul Reaper with black hair pulled into a bun and glasses was standing before her. The woman was dressed in a standard shihakusho but wore a badge around her right arm.
"And who might you be?" She asked, adjusting her glasses. The woman stared at her injured leg and Zanpakuto.
"Zayla Krieger. Might as well introduce myself to my opponent, right?"
"You must be the Ryoka. I am lieutenant of Squad Eight, Nanao Ise." She held her hands up in front of her as if about to do Kido.
"You don't suppose, you'll just let me pass by?" Zayla questioned, already knowing the answer.
"Not a chance. The Ryoka must be captured." She stated as if reading from a rule book. "Hado No.31, Shakkaho." Zayla brought her Zanpakuto up like a shield as a ball of red light headed in her direction.
Ikkaku groaned as he opened his eyes. He, the third seat of the Zaraki Squad had lost to a Ryoka. Even the thought of it was humiliating, how was he supposed to explain it to his Captain. He saw Ichigo sitting and observing him carefully, that's when he realised that his wounds had been bandaged up by the kid.
"Hey, kid, why did you treat my cuts?" He asked.
"Huh? Well, of course I did. I wasn't going to leave you bleeding to death." Ichigo replied standing up.
"You can't defeat your enemies then treat them, idiot. Especially not if you're gonna fight my captain."
"Your captain?"
"Yeah, Kenpachi Zaraki. He'll wanna fight you, so be prepared; you'll know who it is when you see him."
Ichigo nodded before placing Zangetsu on his back. The last thing Ikkaku saw before he passed out was the substitute Soul Reaper's distant figure.
Nanao knew she was going to lose the moment she saw Zayla's Shikai. The girl's blade was incredible, a light-type Zanpakuto- she had never seen one so powerful. She thought of the intense but rapid battle, if she had that right to call it that, as she lay bleeding.
Nanao fired a line of Shakkaho balls but each was deflected by the girl's weapon. "Hado No. 33, Sokatsui." She yelled as a line of blue fire burned through the ground in front of the girl, making her leap into the air to escape it.
"Incinerate, Raitoenjeru." The silver edges of her golden Zanpakuto seemed to draw in the light from her surroundings. Zayla pointed her sword at Nanao as a beam of intense white light was emitted from the blade; it was quicker than her own flash-step. She dodged the first beam but the second seared through the skin on her left arm, she cried out in pain as it burned through flesh. In those seconds Nanao had let her guard down, that was all it took for the Shadowhunter to strike, slashing her blade across her chest in one move. The lieutenant fell back her eyes wide, she couldn't believe it; she had been beaten by a mere child.
Nanao's eyes fluttered open as she felt a stinging sensation on her forearm, the blue-haired girl was drawing something with a pen and the black tattoo was glowing faintly.
"Wh-what are you doing?" She demanded the panic rising in her voice.
"Relax. I'm healing your wounds. Sorry about almost killing you, I felt kinda bad just leaving you here, bleeding." She finished the tattoo and leant back. "There, finished."
"It's a tattoo." Nanao stated simply.
"Not really, your cut should stop bleeding and start closing up. There will be a thin scar though." Zayla looked around at the cracks in the ground and burnt walls, taking out the golden pen again she drew another tattoo on the lieutenant's arm. Instantly, Nanao felt herself losing consciousness.
"Wha now…?" She said her word's slurring together.
"Sorry, again. Can't have you following me, don't worry though; I'm sure your comrades will be here in a minute. She stood to full height and stuffed the pen in her pocket. "See ya Nanao. It was a good fight." Zayla flashed a grin before running off.
A good fight? I didn't last five minutes. Nanao thought as she fell into deep sleep.
Ikkaku and Nanao woke up in the Squad Four Barracks, with the intimidating face of Mayuri Kurotsuchi above their own. Ikkaku tried smacking him in the face but the scientist held his wrist in a vice-like grip.
"I'm not interested in you, bald-head." He said, then pointed at Nanao. "She's the one I need to experiment on." Nanao brought her arms across her chest defensively and gave Captain Kurotsuchi a look of pure disgust.
"Now, now, Captain Kurotsuchi, there's no need to carry out experiments on my lieutenant." All three of them turned their heads towards the door and found Captain Kyoraku smiling sheepishly at them. "Though Nanao could explain to us what happened."
By now Captain Ukitake and Captain Hitsugaya had entered the small room. Nanao glanced at them nervously before starting her story. "I met one of the Ryoka, she said her name was Zayla Krieger. She only looked around fifteen years old but she was wearing a shihakusho and carried a Zanpakuto." At this, Toshiro Hitsugaya muttered something about judging people by their age, probably referring to everyone who underestimates him. "Her Zanpakuto was called Raitoenjeru so obviously it was a light-type. I fired Shakkaho and Sokatsui at her but she deflected them easily. Then before I knew it, she had slashed across my chest and defeated me. When I regained consciousness, she was drawing something on my arm. Zayla said she was healing me, but then she drew another one that made me sleep." Nanao's eyes scanned her arm and saw only one faint marking. She looked up at the captains. "There were two, but one is gone."
"When my men found you, Lieutenant Ise, you were unconscious. You had no injuries, but there where cuts and burns in your clothes." Jushiro Ukitake explained. "There were two tattoos, one has now completely faded away but the other, as you can see, is there but very faint."
"If what you told us is correct, it means that the Ryoka healed you using some kind of technique that we are we unaware of." Toshiro said.
"This means, I have a new test subject!" Exclaimed Mayuri.
"It means you can carry out supervised observations of these tattoos on my lieutenant." Shunsui moved over to stand by Nanao side. "And I'll be the one supervising."
Mayuri rolled his eyes, then adjusting his toilet-seat hat, called for his lieutenant. Nemu entered the room as the Jushiro and Toshiro walked out. "You" He said pointing poking Ikkaku in the face. "Tell me about the Ryoka you fought."
"I'm sorry Captain Kurotsuchi, but I will only answer to my Captain." Ikkaku replied through gritted teeth.
At the moment the towering figure of Kenpachi appeared "That's right. My third seat can give the details, so move punk." He said smirking at Mayuri's face twitching in annoyance.
The insane scientist opened his mouth to retort, but was stopped by Captain Kyoraku. "Not to interrupt, but my lieutenant and I have work to attend to so would be grateful if you got this over and done with." Kurotsuchi and Nemu lead Shunsui and Nanao into a lab in the Department of Research and Development.
Chad beat through yet another group of Shinigami, they seemed to be coming from all directions. He slammed his fist into the ground, the impact sent dozens of Soul Reapers flying back. The teen took advantage of their weakness and ran in the opposite direction only to be running into more trouble. But this time it was a lone Soul Reaper, and guy with blonde hair that covered half his face and wore a badge around his arm. The man didn't say anything, instead charged at Chad with his Zanpakuto drawn, Chad, who saw this coming and raised his forearm to block the strikes.
"Raise your head, Wabisuke." The Soul Reaper whispered as his Zanpakuto took on a new form; a blade that looked like rectangle with the base missing and the longer side coming from the hilt. Chad didn't understand how this helped his opponent, the blade was blunter and didn't do much damage, after twenty or so slashes, however, Chad came to realise the power of this particular Zanpakuto; it had made his right arm unbearably heavy. It fell to the floor and he couldn't lift it without putting incredible strain on his shoulder.
"This is the power of my Zanpakuto, Ryoka, it doubles the weight of any object with one strike. My blade made contact with your arm twenty three times to be exact, right now, you won't be able to move that armoured arm of yours." He pointed the corner of his blade at Chad and brought it down with one strike, the stoic teen fell forward, unconscious, as he sunk into a sea of black.
