Task 6: Stymphalian Birds
A/N: Nemu as Athena came instantly, but the more I thought about it the more the similiarities between them struck me. Neither was really born, Athena sprung from her father's head and Nemu from her father's mind and soul. I imagined that the Squad 11 crew wouldn't have a hard time making the birds fly, but would be more concerned with keeping them close to the ground, since they weren't likely to use slings or arrows like Hercules did, hence the use of an infrasonic device (still sound though right?).
"How did it go, Captain?" Ikkaku asked, as Kenpachi walked into his office after a meeting with Head Captain Yamamoto.
"Well, we got a mission," Kenpachi said noncommittally.
"Oh, a fun one?" Yachiru asked.
"Maybe. There's mixed reports about what's going on, so it's either something completely easy that I would just as soon send a group out to deal with, or something that I'd want to be there myself for. I guess it just depends on how bored I am," Kenpachi answered, rubbing at his face.
"You have been pretty bored," Yachiru offered.
"Yeah, guess I'll be going then," Kenpachi agreed.
"What do you want to do tonight?" Ikkaku asked Yumichika, lying sprawled out on a cushion in their shared living quarters. They could have their own quarters, but Ikkaku hated cleaning up after himself and Yumichika hated taking out the trash. They both disliked living alone after so many years of traveling together and had so gotten used to splitting up chores that it was second nature to them at this point. Since Yachiru was living with Kenpachi, they taken the lieutenant's quarters and had modified it to their own needs, each getting their own room.
"Why do you even bother asking? You're just going to shoot down every suggestion I make saying it seems like too much work and wind up staying in doing nothing," Yumichika said, sitting on another cushion, trying to get a blood stain out of one of his uniforms.
Ikkaku looked up. "Oh hey, I have a hole in one of my hakama, can you…"
"I don't care," Yumichika said. There were definitely limits to how much laziness he would take from Ikkaku. "Besides, what makes you think I know anything about sewing?"
"What? You don't have any holes in any of your things. I've seen you patch things before," Ikkaku said.
"You haven't. I've always convinced other people to do it for me," Yumichika said. "The reason none of my things have holes in them now is that I just replace them."
"What? Geez, that would be like a whole new uniform every week for me," Ikkaku said disbelievingly.
"Just about, but I happen to know the schedule of the consignment office," Yumichika said.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"You just have to know who to flirt with. I don't remember the last time I had to pay for a new uniform," Yumichika admitted.
"Ok, that's just crap. Why do I have to pay more?"
"It's not like beauty doesn't have a price, I have to upkeep all of this you know," Yumichika answered.
Ikkaku snorted with suppressed laughter at that, restraining himself from making a comment.
There was a knock at the door. Ikkaku was shocked to find Nemu Kurotsuchi standing at their doorstep.
"Uh, hi," he said.
"Lieutenant," Yumichika said, standing up.
"My captain would like to request that at least one of the hollows you may fight on your current mission be kept alive and returned to him for testing," Nemu said.
"I really don't see that happening," Ikkaku answered.
"Neither do I which is why I choose to relay this information to you instead of disturbing your captain," Nemu replied.
"Oh," Ikkaku said, wondering why she came at all then.
"I have a device I'd like to lend you," said Nemu, as if answering his unspoken question.
"We're not really keen on using devices in our fights," Ikkaku said.
"If the hollows that you will be meeting at the ones that we have previously encountered, they will fly away when you approach," she explained. "I do not think that there are many on your squad with long range attacks."
"That would be problematic," agreed Yumichika.
"This device can emit infrasonic vibration that will debilitate their flying abilities."
"Our captain most likely would refuse to use something that would make them weaker," Yumichika said.
"It affects equilibrium, making the creatures too dizzy to fly off, but it will affect everyone that same, your team included."
"Oh, that might be ok then," Ikkaku thought out loud.
"A warning, do not use it too long or it will rupture your inner ear. Longer use will rupture organs and cause damage to the brain," Nemu explained.
"Geez, anything else we need to worry about?" Ikkaku said, staring at the now slightly frightening device.
"Some of you may suffer the short term affects of nausea and vomiting," she offered.
"Uh, thanks," Ikkaku handed it to Yumichika.
"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, if you have some free time perhaps you'd like to stay for awhile?" asked Yumichika.
"I must get back to my duties," she responded. She bowed and then left.
"Haha! You got shot down!" Ikkaku laughed at Yumichika.
"I was just asking her in for a little bit," Yumichika said.
"Oh yeah, and you definitely weren't checking out her legs the whole time," Ikkaku smiled.
"Well, it would be hard not to. Besides, like she said, she is still on duty. I'm sure she would have stayed if she could have."
"I don't think so. She probably likes guys that are taller than her," Ikkaku laughed.
"SHE'S WEARING HEELS! She is absolutely not taller than me!" Yumichika said angrily.
"You probably weigh about the same too. Maybe she wants a man with a little more meat on his bones," Ikkaku grinned.
"Shut up! I definitely weigh more than her. Not a lot more, but still," Yumichika fumed. "And if you are inferring that she'd ever look at someone like you over someone like me, you got drunk earlier than usual!"
"Oh yeah," Ikkaku said. "I should probably get back to that."
"I really hate swamps," Yumichika moaned.
"Really? I couldn't tell from the first twenty times you've mentioned it," Ikkaku said irritably, waving away a swarm of gnats.
Captain Zaraki didn't say anything but his mind was basically a litany of curse words followed or preceded by the word "hot". He really hated the heat, and damp swamp heat was pretty much on the top of his hate list.
"These things better be good killing or else I'm going to be really mad at Head Captain Yamamoto," Kenpachi said aloud.
"Let's destroy all of his tea if it turns out to just be some villager's tall tale!" Yachiru said. She'd wanted to do it for awhile, but she knew that it would probably be the most trouble she'd ever been in ever, so she'd been holding off. If Kenny did it though, there was nothing to worry about.
"Sounds like a plan," Kenpachi agreed.
"Um, you know that might not be the best…" Yumichika started to say, but he was interrupted by an absolutely soul shivering cry from some unseen creature.
They all froze, looking around them. Visibility was low due to the over abundance of trees and vines. They waited for almost a full ten minutes without hearing anything else.
"Well, at least something is out here," Kenpachi said, cheered up slightly.
It wasn't until the next day that they got to the place that had been described to them by a traveling tradesman, who had sworn that he had seen scary flying beasts. The place was a large lake that was so wide its furthest bank couldn't be seen.
"So, either these things are just a bunch of scary birds, in which case I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do other than scare them off, or they're giant flesh-eating hollows. In that case, we get to have a little fun," Kenpachi grinned.
"How many of them are they're supposed to be?" asked Yumichika.
"Oh well, the flock was described as filling the sky above the lake, but considering how big the lake is, I'm not sure how accurate that was," Kenpachi said. "Although, it would be nice," he added.
"Are you going to let Yumichika use that thingy?" Yachiru asked.
"As long as it's making us both sick and dizzy, I guess it'll be ok," Kenpachi conceded. He'd thought about it for awhile before deciding, honestly. It would be a real pain if they just all flew away, but using a cheap toy seemed a little on the weak side.
"So, we just sit here and look tasty?" Makizo said.
"I'm pretty sure that if you're the only thing on the menu, even flesh-eating birds are going to give it a pass," Yumichika replied.
"So mean…" Makizo said sadly.
"Don't worry, Maki-Maki, I'm sure that evil bird beasts would love to eat you," Yachiru assured him.
"Thanks," he said. "Wait…"
They set up camp and settled down for the evening as the sun set. Guard shifts were assigned and the rest hunkered down to try and get as much sleep as they could get despite the miserably humid conditions.
A call went out into the air, having the same effect as nails on a chalkboard.
Yumichika hadn't been able to sleep much anyways, so he easily woke, jumping up and looking into the sky. Ikkaku was a little more sluggish. He bolted up when he heard the noise but was disorientated at first. "What the hell…?" he asked.
"Shhh…" Yachiru reminded him, jumping onto his head with her hands over his mouth. He glared at her. Well, he glared at her as much as someone can glare at a person who is behind them.
There was a fluttering in the dark, and then a dark shape flew through the small group, spraying up sparks from the ashes of their campfire. The now fully awakened Squad 11 members quickly backed away, putting their backs to a tree, watching their dying fire and knowing that it would soon be completely dark. The moon wasn't likely to be much help, its wan light covered by a cloudy sky. Mist had risen from the lake, a spreading fog encircling their camp.
They waited for several minutes for an attack, but none came. "You know, I've never been good with this type of game," Kenpachi said to no one in particular. "Hold on," he warned him men. "Get ready, Yumichika," he said as he stepped back into the open.
Looking out over the lake, Kenpachi roared, his primal yell met with his increased spiritual pressure, both rolling out over the water in violent waves. The response was immediate. Although they could barely see the shapes, it seemed as though the sky was swarming with living creatures, all crying out in a cacophony of sound.
"Do it!" Kenpachi yelled back to Yumichika, who flipped the switch on the small device that Nemu had given them. Yumichika frowned at it. He had expected some sort of sound but there was nothing. Was it even working?
"Oh…not good…" Ikkaku said, leaning over.
"Are you ok, baldy?" Yachiru said, still hanging on his head.
In response Ikkaku vomited.
"Ewwww!" Yachiru said, quickly jumping over to Yumichika.
There was a crash as one of the things in the air above them ran into a tree, falling to the ground. "Ha, it's working," Kenpachi said. "Well, everyone have fun. Stay out of my way."
"Ikkaku, are you ok?" Yumichika asked, concerned for his friend.
"I'm fine, I'm still gonna kick these stupid things…UUUrrrgg," Ikkaku said, falling to his knees with another bout of projectile vomit.
"Um, as long as you're really ok, I'm going to stay far away," Yumichika said.
"What did you eat?" Yachiru said, intrigued by the bright colors.
"Ahhhhhh!" Ikkaku yelled turning and slashing at one of the creatures that had been approaching from behind.
"Oh hey, looks like they can walk," Yachiru pointed out.
"Yeah, now go kill some," suggested Ikkaku, looking about two seconds from puking again. He stumbled off into the forest to find some more of those ugly bastards to cut in half.
Kenpachi was having a lot of fun. The more he killed, the more there seemed to be. The darkness made it more exciting because he never knew where they were coming from until they were close. They attacked in groups, like a pack, forcing him to be agile and quick, something he didn't have to be very often.
"HAHAHAHHAAHA!" he laughed into the darkness during a break. "Come and get me, I know there has to be more of you!"
The darkness answered him in an agreeable fashion. A dozen more of the flying brutes came at him, sprinting quickly towards him with small jumps. They had beady eyes like a bird, although they had two too many of them. Their feathers seemed hard, and their bodies more reptile like than bird like. Their call was seemed a combination of an eagle and a boar, alternatively low and roaring and high pitched and shrieking. Kenpachi grinned; it was definitely a sound that got the blood going. "MORE!" he yelled.
By daybreak things had settled down. Everyone was sitting around their now rekindled campfire, patching up wounds, wiping off blood, and sharing stories. In typical Squad 11 fashion, the expressions on their faces all looked more like a group of school boys that had just gotten away with a particularly good prank rather than a group of soldiers who had battled for their lives all night.
"Ok, so it was worth the stupid swamp, right?" Ikkaku asked Yumichika.
"Fair to say," agreed Yumichika. "Plus it was pretty funny watching you try to look fierce while vomiting every other minute. Maybe I should keep this thing," he said, holding up the infrasonic weapon.
"Hey, don't be that way," Ikkaku said. "My stomach hurts like I've been doing push ups all day and I can barely swallow."
"Thanks for letting us borrow this," Yumichika said to Nemu.
"Did everything go ok?" she asked.
"Well, I had a reaction to it, but it wasn't lasting," Ikkaku admitted.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Nemu said. "Are you ok now?"
"Hm, well if you want you can check me out to make sure I'm fine," he said, trying not to grin.
"I'm a little busy now, maybe if you come back later," she replied.
"Haha!" Ikkaku said as they walked away. "I told you she'd go for me over you."
"Nothing of the kind, she just wanted to make sure that her device didn't injure you. For all you know she's going to knock you out and do crazy experiments on you," Yumichika answered.
"Hm, I guess it would depend on the experiments…" Ikkaku pondered.
"Ikkaku, you are so hopeless sometimes," Yumichika sighed.
"You have a rip in your sleeve," Ikkaku lied.
"Oh! Where?" Yumichika turned trying to find it.
