*If I said I own bleach, you wouldn't believe me. Not to mention that I would be sued should the real owner ever, for whatever reason, choose to read this and be mortally offended at my bastardization of his chosen form of art. In any case, don't own it.*
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"So, you arrive on time now Isamu-san." Old man Yamamoto obviously was enjoying this new, mature Isamu more than he would admit. "The Captain's exam will take place tomorrow, be well rested and prepare yourself. Until then, you may roam Seireitei as you wish, provided you respect the bounds of the division head's authority. This is not the days of old Isamu, do not step out of line here, or I will punish you myself."
"Of course not old man. After all, you do want me to lead a part of it."
"Only if you survive the examination."
"Yeah,yeah,yeah. Old man, I'll be there." As Isamu walked past the Captain-Commander, he grinned, knowing that he wasn't going to take it easy on him. Although the test part could be fun. "Unohana-chan, should we check out my old home?"
"I suppose that would be wise Isamu-san." Unohana was obviously enjoying this moment of normality, considering that they had just encountered an old enemy of Seireitei. And helped her. Something Yamamoto need not know for the time being.
"Unohana-taicho, may I speak briefly with you?" Yamamoto went back to his serious tone of voice, that of her superior.
"Of course Sotaicho. Isamu, I'll be right there, do you remember how to get there?"
"I think so. If I get lost, I'll just ask those stealth force agents for directions." He disappeared in a flash to the amusement of both his old friends. He hadn't lost his skill after all that time after all.
"Though it is your turn for the Captain's exam, I think it appropriate to put another captain in your place."
"Is that so. May I ask why?"
"He knows your abilities far too well, and it would not be a fair test of his mental capacities if you were to take that portion, so I'm afraid I will have to skip over you this time Unohana-taicho."
"I see." Though clearly disappointed, she understood. She wouldn't be a good match against Isamu's physical strength, and because they were old friends, neither she nor Yamamoto could be an unbiased opinion on his mental fortitude. "Who will be taking my place?"
"We don't usually tell others who the examiner's are, however, you have a right to know in this instance. Soi Fon will be taking Isamu on in the mental challenge, while Shunsui Kyoraku will be testing his combat finesse. Although, I wonder if I shouldn't bother with that test altogether. He has proved his abilities against me. But I guess it can't be helped."
"What squad will he be assigned to should he pass?"
"I haven't yet decided. However, the 9th squad has Hisagi Shuuhei, and I believe him to be sufficient. The 3rd squad has had bad experiences with their captains recently, and I'm not sure if they are ready for another. And Hinamori may be unwilling to accept another captain. We shall see where he is needed most."
"There is one last thing Yamamoto-sotaicho..."
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"Well, well, Brecha is back. Where you been?"
"What do you care?"
"Who else would I worry about? Mirigh said I shouldn't, but It's just so much better having the whole crew together." The sarcastic tones were starting to annoy her now. Even though she normally tolerated such behavior, today was not her finest. "Fuck off Phengen. I don't need this right now."
"Ooooh, what's wrong, sweetheart? Something happen away from us that we should know about? Come on, tell us. Come on you can tru..." The Vasto Lorde with the Egyptian skirt around his waist had every intention of continuing the teasing process with his favorite sparring partner. His mask did kind of resemble the god Seth's. But he was brought from his revelry because his throat wouldn't allow air to pass. Brecha's right knee had brought up right into his neck and snapped back his neck before he could even get his arm up to guard. This was to the sound of Mirigh chuckling and Fern's disbelieving smirk. While they had survived centuries together, they were still hollows at the heart of it all. And the four of them were some of the most powerful menos grande to come out of the melee known as Hueco Mundo.
Mirigh was the obvious leader, though they all had reiatsu so intense, normal hollows just evaporated. He was an intimidating creature. He looked like a man, yet had a torso covered in what looked like a white cloth toga, yet was as hard as bone. His legs and skin were a dark green color, and his mask looked as if it had been formed by a pool of white glue, completely irregular, with a single spike, or horn coming from his chin. He had two more curved spikes coming from his knees, and his eyes were always a shade of grey. Fern stood beside him, and while she looked just as Brecha did, namely like a regular woman, her body was covered in a white vine. It wound around her body covering her most delicate area, then rising and covering her breasts before climbing back down her side and around again to the base of her spine where it found a ladder to climb. All the way to the base of her skull. It looked more like a plaster molding coming from her left leg than the immodest attempt to draw attention to herself that it was. Her mask was not all white, but instead was shaped like a single leaf, withering backwards with yellow lines running up to the point of the top. While she was not the strongest of the group, she was by far the fastest, and had the best stealth ability. Finally was Phengen, built like a bodybuilder, with a middle eastern skirt covering his hips and thighs, the white contrasting with his black body. His mask looked like jackel's head, and instead of hair, his bone like mask cave him a sweeping white pharaohs crown to the top of his shoulders. His nails had grown out straight and each one looked like the one Mayuri Kurotsuchi had on his middle finger. He never wore any shoes, because there were two lines of bone running the length of his feet, coming around the crown of his foot and running up his legs where they vanished beyond his skirt.
While this combination didn't inspire fear right out of the gate, their abilities far exceeded their looks. Each one had fought at least one captain of the Gotei 13, and three of them had killed their targets within thirty seconds. And they had honed their skills on each other for many years, before the plugs that they had stolen from Seireitei had been assimilated into their bodies. These plugs, the missing portion of their existence, had been taken from the shinigami killed so many years ago. Back then, they had been instruments of rage and violence, only brought together by the fact that their master of old was the first Vasto Lorde to exist at all. The only reason they had stayed together was so that they could gather the plugs they needed and bring peace to their hollow natures. After using the shinigami, they left Seireitei, and came here to complete the necessary actions. Unfortunately one of them couldn't handle it and went berserk, and was subsequently killed by the rest. One that had been wounded, namely Phengen, healed himself and was the last to have his hollow hole disappear and have his personality reformed. No longer were they driven by lust, pain, anger, and hunger. The emptiness was gone. Or so they told themselves.
"You never learn, Phengen, maybe you ought to take notes this time," shouted Fern. Then, picking herself up from the ground, she walked over to Brecha, chuckling to herself about the lack of clothing. "Brecha-chan, you really don't care that you have nothing covering your body. Want some more wrappings?"
"I'm not ashamed of my body, what the hell do I need clothes for," she said as Fern began quickly forming threads of reishi into a white ribbon 2 and a half inches wide. "Besides, you're fucking naked too, so don't talk to me about 'covering my body.'"
"Teehee, you are touchy today, come now, tell us what happened, it can't have been very fun. Who'd you find in the real world. Someone finally arouse your hollow instincts again?" As mischievous as always, she merely chuckled as she remembered the last time she indulged in her carnal nature. Brecha finally broke her silence and began to tell of her encounter with Los Noches and the arrancar in it, how she was surprised by two of them and forced into the garganta. By this time, Fern was done and had begun wrapping up Brecha with the new cloth. "That shinigami will pay for that. You cannot insult on of the caste and get away with it."
"Hold your fucking horses, I ain't done yet. I passed out when I got to the other side and I was caught by none other than a shinigami/Quincy. Him and his shinigami bitch healed me, and released me. The bastard even offered to be friends." Certain that this comment was sure to draw their attention in the form of a laugh, she then crossed her arms, waiting for the response. Mirigh just stared at her, and Fern finished wrapping things up before starting to giggle. "See, I told you, she found her hollow desires again."
"Ugh, you horny bitch, go fuck up some arrancar or something. He was strong too, he could have taken me on, and probably won since I'm not at 100%. He had no reiatsu, but he was faster than I could even see. Not like those shinigami bastards, it was smoother. Che, he offered to be my friend if I wanted to fight alongside the shinigami against the Los Noches crowd."
"You said his name was..." Mirigh was the first to speak.
"Isamu Ritter was what he told me."
"He is the one that killed the first. But he should be dead by now. Why has he come back now? Whatever, it doesn't really matter. If we were still as we were, we'd probably go for vengeance, but I don't see the point. Do what you want."
"I was going to anyway. Maybe another journey to their Seireitei."
"If you do that, we'll join you."
"What? I Thought I got to do whatever I wanted. Now you want to babysit me? Just fuck off Mirigh."
"If you go, you cause trouble for all of us, besides, he's already told them about us. If we want to prevent our peace from disappearing, you should make friends with him, and to do that, you need to make sure you survive to meet him. We will go with you."
"Fine, so be it."
Perhaps they were more family than they cared to admit, but it seemed to Brecha that this was more than just Mirigh feeling the need to lead a life with no complications. Was he actually putting her wants ahead of his own? This didn't make sense. At least not to a being that had grown from greed and pride. Maybe these plugs had filled the holes within their hearts.
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"My dear espada, I would like two of you to accompany me into the desert to search for these Vasto Lordes that have so mocked you. I will take care of them myself. Obviously, it is something I should have done myself in the beginning. Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, you will be accompanying myself and Gin. Tousen will take charge until I return. I shall return with more brothers and sisters for you, however, they will not be espada. Instead they will form a second group. They will be incredibly powerful once made into arrancar, much more than any of you, but it would be unfair to my dear espada to remove them just for that reason. They will take the positions of shock troops. You will be their subordinates. Dismissed. Ulqiorra and Grimmjow, you will assemble at the northern gate for departure tomorrow, and then we shall begin our search."
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The Captain's Examination will now commence. Captains Kyoraku and Soi Fon will assist me to see whether you have the ability to lead and defend a squad of shinigami for the betterment of Seireitei. Soi Fon-taicho, please begin."
"Right away, Yamamoto-sotaicho. Sting all enemies to death, Suzumabachi. Prepare yourself Isamu-san, this will not be pleasant. Two strikes with this, and you will die. Survive ten minutes here and I will consider a good grade for you." He had taken a stance, and his face was impassive. Good, composure and non-aggression were key when facing an unknown quantity, he showed confidence, but kept his head.
Yamamoto spoke up quickly though, "Isamu, you will not be permitted to use your zanpakto or kido here. For this test, you must simply survive for ten minutes."
"But...fine," he sighed the words realizing that this wasn't going to be as easy as he had hoped. Slamming his staff into the ground, and removing his heavy cloak, he readied himself once more. He wished he still had some of the white armor that he had made so many years ago, but there was no time to form any now, and the old set had long since been broken in numerous fights with hollows. His opponent was no slouch. Though she appeared to be a woman, she had physical strength, and was obviously fast enough to compensate for the size of her zanpakto. Close combat wasn't his forte, but he could spar efficiently enough. Then he saw her move. It was only a twitch of the legs, but he knew enough to brace himself for the strike he knew was coming. Her gold and black right hand was the first to reappear, and graze his left shoulder. Though she only drew a thin line of blood, as her hand passed him, she grabbed, and held him with a grip that gave her enough leverage to knee him in the face.
"Looks like you have some reflexes. But you didn't dodge completely. My Homonka has already appeared on you," she explained pointing her released zanpakto at him, and the dark tattoo barely noticeable on his fitted black clothes. "If you are hit there again, you will die. That's my zanpakto's special ability. Better try harder if you want to pass this test. Or at least live to say you failed."
This chick was definitely serious, and she was hiding her reiatsu well, so being cautious was an understatement. However, it didn't stop her from getting two more hits in to the right of the first, and right in his gut, although he had deflected both away from their targets. He started to take a little initiative of his own, and in a flash managed to make her back off a little. Now, he thought, jumping to the opposite of the large hall they were having the exam in. There was a few rooms with stone dividers between them, and maybe if he could take advantage of their strategic value, he might avoid getting pricked again. She appeared right beside him again, damn she was fast, but he managed to block her foot with his right shin, and her gauntleted hand with his forearm. What he didn't see were the three black clothed agents hiding above them. He hadn't sensed any reiatsu from there, and now they were descending on them both, and his arms were tied.
"Shit, I assume I'm not supposed to kill them."
"Who..." Soi Fon seemed as surprised as he had, and broke her old on his limbs. While he jumped back to a defensible position, she hit the ground and leaped up towards them, taking an aggressive stance. He heard a heavy grunt as one of the men fell, and panting as she began to fight the other two. He looked back for his zanpakto, but it was gone, with his cloak and the other two captains. There was a sound behind him, and turning, he saw both Yamamoto and Kyoraku fall forward, with their swords in hand, and swords in each of their backs. As more black robed figures appeared behind them, he heard Soi Fon cry out, and she too, fell.
"What the fuck is going on in here?" He didn't actually expect an answer, and none came, but he did now sense the hidden reiatsu of the twelve dark silhouettes. This was going to be weird. And something didn't seem quite right here. Not that he had much time to think, the first of the men had reached him, and began swinging his zanpakto at him. A woman began to join in the fray, but she was different. She didn't hold a zanpakto, it was just a katana, he knew by the generic hilt and guard. Perfect. As she descended on him with another blow, he grabbed her wrist and pulled it over his body to parry the first man's blow. Giving it a quick snap, he broke her grip and her wrist and flipped the katana into his own hand. It was a little short for him, but good enough for what he wanted. Engaging the first man once again, he held the sword in check while kicking someone coming from behind him. And taking one hand off the handle of his replacement weapon, he blocked another attack with his bare arm, concentrating reiatsu there so that he barely took a scratch.
Twisting his now bloodied arm, he grabbed the sword and squeezed, shattering it. Reaching forward, he tried to grab his first opponent, but was dodged and sliced from behind just below the knees. He tried to gather enough reiatsu inside his bones to create hadou 4, but found himself unable to change the makeup of the reishi. This had never happened before. His next action was biting off three of the chain links around his shoulders. There was no burst of reiatsu, and no crushing pressure for his opponents to fight under, but he did have compensation for that. Seen by only four of the remaining stealth force operatives, he was weaving thin strands of reishi all over his body. His arms and legs were covered in them, and his neck and torso looked like they had blue netting on them for only an instant before they blended back in with their background. While the Heavenly Wild Puppet Suit gave him an extra set of muscles to use, they required a great deal of concentration, and the moment he needed to form them allowed two more operatives to sneak in close enough to swing at him. In exchange for his severed tendons, he took the hilt of his borrowed katana to their faces, knocking on out cold, and the other leaving on the ground in a haze. The battle progressed quickly now, and with an incredible burst of speed, he buried, without killing, six of the attackers. This left four standing, one with a broken wrist.
However, the mental fatigue was increasing. He didn't know why, but he felt very tired, very heavy. It didn't make sense, but he wanted to sleep. His eyelids were drooping, and he did a check on his condition. The ransotengai was intact, and holding, although he had to readjust his right thigh. He felt so tired though. The lighting, which wasn't the best to begin with chose now to fail, and, to his annoyance, his assailants backed into the new darkness, and focused on hiding their reiatsu. They succeeded too at least to the point where even he couldn't figure out their location. The pause in battle gave him time to think about what had just transpired. Had the stealth force really rebelled? That had been a fear of every new officer when he was in the Gotei 13. The Shihouin nobility was so mysterious, it lends itself well to rumors. And he felt so damned tired. Why? This battle had only lasted maybe a few minutes. And Yamamoto had fallen so fast. He hadn't known the other captains, but they too had fallen very quickly. The element of surprise could only take you so far. He tried gathering reiatsu in his bones once more, trying to form the charge necessary to fire Hadou 4, but at realizing that he could not, he whispered in surprise, "Bakkoudo 92, Suppression? Of course, that explains why they fell. This is not the stealth force. It's the Kido corps. They are suppressing my ability to manipulate my own reiatsu, which is why I feel so tired after using ransotengai, and a half dozen flying screen steps. I've got to get out of here."
"Bakkoudo 63, Winding Binding Chains," he heard come from a voice behind him. A female voice.
"Damn it." As the chain touched him, he had already begun to counter the move. But it might be too late, as a dark figure appeared behind him.
"It's over here, you're done. Although, I'll give you credit. You drew the right conclusion. Usually only the kido corps would have the skill required to use such high level techniques at such range, but I've had enough practice with shunko to pull it off for a short period of time. And I am surprised that you did this much damage without your zanpakto, or the ability to manipulate your reiatsu. Well, by the looks of things, you are too tired to fight any longer, so I will end this now," as she finished speaking, Isamu saw Soi Fon, the captain he saw fall, step into a sliver of light. Not wearing her Haori any longer, she was clothed in the Shihouin dress of the punishment squad. Raising her arm back, she aimed and flew at Isamu with a speed that Isamu only saw because his eyes had adjusted to the dark. "You can sleep as long as you like."
"You don't think I'm that easy, do you?" While she had bound him in the golden chains, he had released his ransotengai from his body, and wound it around the restraints. Now using that strength, he easily released their hold and dodged her second death strike aimed at the first homonka. Bringing up his hand into her abdomen was precisely what he had planned, but he never got that far, as two operatives grabbed each of his hands, and held them back. Realizing he'd just been handed his death sentence, he looked up to find her in the same situation. Then the realization hit him, just as she spoke, with an impassive look on her face.
"Guess my ten minutes are up."
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So ends another exciting chapter, and I'm kinda pleased with it. It was a long flight, so I had plenty of time to rewrite a few areas.
In case you have forgotten, Ransotengai is the Quincy Heavenly Wild Puppet Suit. Ishida preformed it against Mayuri during their fight
Yes, I made up Bakkoudo 92, let me know what you think of it
And I'm kinda of curious to know how I described the fight scene, was it too much? Or not enough? You can probably guess what's next, but I'd like to hear what you think first before I publish it
Any questions, concerns, hell, even a fucking cynicism would be nice right about now
Don't you ppl on the internet want to just rip into someone? As long as it's about the story, rip away
:P