The alarms on Moll & Joel's phones went off simultaneously, signaling the appearance of a Hollow

"Of all the fucking times" Moll growled, ducking under a swipe from a hook "What are we going to do about that?"

Joel caught the blood blade & the woman's blade with Soul Eater with a grunt of exertion

"Survive first… where on earth are Renji & co? And where on earth is the damned limit break?!"

"Hey Denkyu!"

Tatsuki shouted at Jim, shaking him from his reverie, waving in his direction

"Tatsuki-san?"

"I don't really get it, but Orihime and those guys had to run off unexpectedly, and they said we should all meet up later, so I came to get you"

"Orihime… and those guys?"

Jim thought hard to think who she could possibly be referring to, it couldn't be Ichigo and his friends, they seemed to want absolutely nothing to do with him

"That sounds great…if those guys didn't hate my guts"

"What are you talking…"

Before Tatsuki could finish her sentence a giant black hand swatted her out of the way while Jim watched in complete disbelief

"Tatsuki…san?"

A voice reverberated in his head, scaring him down to his very soul

"This one doesn't smell appetizing at all"

It could only be described as a monster, a vaguely humanoid shaped figure that stood nearly five stories tall, it's skin impossibly black, the light seemed to melt into its edges, with a bright white mask that resembled Mexican dancers on the Day of the Dead

It turned its head towards Jim and the voice reverberated in his head once again

"This one… this one smells absolutely delicious"

Jim's stomach sank as he realized that the monster was talking about eating him

"You're kidding me right…monsters like this, they don't exist right… this is just a dream… right Tatsuki-san, if this is a dream I can take control of it…. Like lucid dreaming right?

Tatsuki's only response was a slight groan

"Yeah… like a dream and in a dream I can do anything" Jim said… though he didn't sound convinced by his own words in the slightest

It's definitely a dream, but then why do I feel like wetting myself?

The monster continued to stare at Jim

"I'm…hungry"

That gave Jim just enough warning to leap to the side, the monsters mouth only catching on his left side, ripping his uniform shirt and breaking the skin

Jim cried out in pain, but continued his roll, evading another swipe from the monster, before turning around and clutching his side

What the hell, that fucking hurts, what's up with this nightmare… no, dream, if I call it a nightmare I've already lost my chance, I need to take control of this dream while I still can… but I can't fight like this

Jim locked his eyes on his bag, left on the side of the river where he'd been sitting…his wrist wrappings were in there, and if this was only a dream, there's no way in hell he was going to fight without them.

But there was a huge ugly monster between him and his bag

"Stop…running…I'm…so…hungry"

"I'm not your food monster"

Jim stood up and dashed right at it, ducking under its swing and sliding between it's legs and reached into his bag, grasping his wrist wrappings as the monster turned and swiped up his back

Jim shouted out in pain as his back was sliced up and fell forwards, before rolling on his back to keep eyes on the monster now advancing on him, the grass under him quickly becoming slick with his blood

I have to wake up; I have to wake up, holy shit I have to wake up

Left without recourse, Jim closed his eyes and began to pray

Dear lord… this is without a doubt the most selfish prayer I have ever offered, but this dream is going to scar me for the rest of my life… so if I can't wake up… at least let me forget

Jim opened his eyes to see the monster still bearing down on him, but thought he saw something behind the monster that caused him to shout

"LAYNE! IF THAT'S YOU…HELP ME!"

Layne looked back at him, and slowly pointed at the wrist wraps in his hand

"Help yourself"

Joel looked down at the wristwraps in his grip, and the air around him began to crackle

The thunderclap was immediate, and blasted Moll, Joel, Blood, Hookhand and the woman they were with off their feet, sending them to the all to the ground, their ears ringing

It was as if they'd been at ground zero of an explosion

Joel was the first to recover, his ears were ringing uncontrollably, and he raised a hand to an ear, his suspicions confirmed when he felt the blood leaking out of his ear

He grabbed Moll and rolled her over to check her condition, but she was out cold, blood leaking out of her ears as well,

Hookhand & the Woman looked to be dead to the world as well, but Blood appeared to be stirring and Joel caught his eye as the hefted Moll over his shoulder and the silent message that passed between them was as clear as day

This wasn't over

Joel turned and began running towards the source of the sound, he couldn't hear, but he could feel the vibrations as more thunder erupted, matching the lightning that was blasting down

Lightning… with no rain?

The largest bolt of lightning had hit Jim dead on, incinerating the claw of the monster that had been about to grasp him, and Jim heard the sound, but it didn't hurt… in fact no part of him hurt anymore, not the cut on his side, or the gash up his back.

Jim felt the best he'd ever had in his life, yellow electricity crackled across his skin at random intervals, every hair on his body was standing on end and his eyes glowed a deep gold as he looked at his hands, he was now wearing his wrist wraps, though they had changed form from the simple bandages that he was expecting and now looked more like thin cloth armor, and orbiting each hand was six small balls of electricity, they sparked and jolted his hands occasionally, but it didn't hurt… none of it hurt anymore

"Still hungry monster?" Jim asked, looking up at it, the his glowing eyes brightening slightly "I wonder if you can stomach electricity?"