"This" is talking
"This" is Zanpakuto/Kurama/Techniques
"This" is thinking
Chapter 9:
*CRASH*
Naruto flipped backwards off the tree branch just as the giant wrecking ball that was Marechiyo's shikai just as it crashed through said branch. Up in the large trees, Orihime was having a difficult time with the multiple Onimitsukido attacking her, having to switch constantly between her attack and defensive shields to keep herself alive which was straining her Reiryoku output.
"I don't think I can keep this up!" She thought in a panic.
Then before she could react, one of the sharp blades pierced through her shield and imbedded itself in her shoulder
"AAHH!" Orihime cried in pain
Naruto gnashed his teeth when he saw his partner in pain; he angrily launched one of his Zanpakuto in the direction of his new love interest and used his wind variant Hiraishin to appear in front of her assailant.
"Kaze no Yaiba Kyouran (Wind Blade Fury)!" The edge of Naruto's right kunai glowed white before launching a barrage of chakra blades at the Omnitsukido member cutting him severely.
Marechiyo swung his giant spiked ball of a Zanpakuto, slamming the distracted Naruto off the tree branch and to the ground below.
"URGH!" Naruto grit his teeth in pain when he felt his left forearm snap upon contact with the heavy ball.
"Naruto!" Orihime yelled.
"Don't worry, I've had worse happen to me," Naruto said, clenching his now broken arm now unable to hold one of his Zanpakuto. "Just try to stay back, keep yourself safe."
"R-right," She responded uncertainly as she watched her new friend struggle to stand.
The second division vice-captain laughed mockingly at both teenagers, approaching them slowly while casually throwing the spiked ball up and down as if it was a basketball.
"You brats don't stand a chance against me," Marechiyo shunpoed in front of a startled Naruto and grabbed his face roughly. "And guess what; even if you somehow managed to beat me you don't have a prayer against my captain. You might as well let me finish you here and save you both some pain and misery."
Naruto's response was to spit angrily in the obese vice-captain's face, catching him in the eye
"Ew, you little brat! I'll rip you to pieces." Marechiyo shouted, rubbing his eye giving Naruto the opening he needed.
He hurriedly gathered chakra in his hand and shoved it into the arrogant Shinigami's gut.
"Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!" The fat bastard spun out uncontrollably and broke through several trees until he stopped in an open field unconscious.
Both Naruto and Orihime looked on in disbelieve, did this guy really just lose with one attack?
"And a weak one at that, I put barely any power in that Rasengan." Naruto added mentally
"Well that was…interesting." The red-headed beauty said.
"More like a complete waste of time." Naruto stated dryly "How the hell did he even make vice-captain?"
"Well he did break your arm so he's not totally pathetic." Orihime stated innocently
Naruto looked away in both anger and embarrassment and resealed Shinku no Hayate. He then grabbed Orihime and shot back off into the trees, leaving an unconscious idiot behind along with most of the Omnitsukido which was now unconcious, minus 50 or so members who Naruto had killed. Little did the two know that if they had stayed for a few more seconds they would've caught the sight of a petite and stern looking woman grabbing her vice-captain and dragging him away back to their barracks.
"That blonde brat must be Uzumaki Naruto, interesting. I'll deal with him personally; he'll pay for making the Omnitsukido look like a joke." Soifon thought angrily
With Uryu and Chad
The gentle giant of Mexican descent chucked the unconscious Shinigami casually in a random direction as he sighed in frustration. He and Uryu had been going around interrogating the non-seated officer that they had come across about Rukia and so far they all had the same answer, 'We are not inclined to answer you, Ryoka scum'. And every time their answer was met with either a fist or arrow; it was safe to say that both the boys were getting angry with these idiotic beings of the dead. Chad looked in the sky and noticed the sun was setting; they would have to find a place to hide out for the night.
"We should get moving, the later it gets the harder it'll be for us to navigate." Uryu said, getting Chad's attention
"Right,"
The two teens ran along the roofs of the Seireitei, being careful not to get caught by the patrolling Shinigami on the ground who were headed to the decimated area the two were coming from. Once the area was clear the two dropped down in order to find a place to stay the night. However, while trying to find somewhere to hide out, Uryu felt his senses go on high alert and he wasn't one to not trust his instincts. His eyes searched the area, they were in a narrow corridor and the fact that it was night didn't help his vision much.
Suddenly, a long, pink, and fleshy rope with a sharp spear at the end shot out of the darkness.
"LOOK OUT!" Uryu shouted, jumping to a roof for safety while the unfortunate Chad was grazed on his left arm
"URGH!" Chad gritted his teeth as he felt the searing pain and an odd feeling of numbness shoot through his appendage. "W-what's going on?"
"My, my, you're an odd one. To be able to withstand my poison is quite a feat for a human." Chad and Uryu watched as a man with a captain's haori, a strange headpiece, and a HUGE amount of make-up over his body, approached them with a calculating and borderline psychotic gleam in his eye. Behind the man was a rather beautiful woman with purple hair in a braid wearing a more provocative version of the Shinigami uniform with a vice-captain badge tied to her arm.
Both young men were on edge, to think that both a captain and vice-captain would confront them like this and in the dead of night no less. To both of them, this was the worst case scenario and now was not a matter of whether they would fight but how they would survive. A tense silence ensued as the opposite parties began to stare each other down, Uryu and the captain keeping their sights on one another in particular.
"Who the hell are you?" Uryu said, breaking the silence
The captain kept his creepy gaze on the young Quincy for a few seconds before a familiar gleam came into his eyes making our heroes shudder.
"So it seems a Quincy is still alive, interesting." The captain deduced, rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist who just got a new subject to play with. (A statement which couldn't be anymore accurate.)
"Unfortunately, I've already analyzed and dissected your species and abilities so you are of no concern." The captain then set his sights on Chad who was standing up shakily due to the poison still in his system. "However, your friend over there is definitely not an ordinary human. I was watching you two fight off my division and his ability to coat his arm in a liquid metal for combat is indeed unus-"
The captain was cut off from his ramblings by and arrow of reishi grazing his cheek.
"Enough of your crap, now tell us who you are and what did you mean by 'dissected your species'!?" Uryu's calm façade was breaking; his anger towards this man couldn't be more obvious.
"Tch, very well," The man began to draw his Zanpakuto, resulting in Uryu aiming his bow and Chad's arm transforming. "I am the Captain of the 12th Division and head of Research and Development, Kurotsuchi Mayuri. And if the young man with the strange arm would come with me, I can kill you Quincy and be on my way with a new test subject."
"I am-" the woman next to him began before being back-handed by the scientist
"Shut up, Nemu and speak only when spoken to!" Mayuri ordered harshly
"Y-yes, Mayuri-sama," Nemu responded while rubbing her abused cheek
Both boys didn't take kindly to seeing a woman being treated in such a manner, enemy or not, and proceeded to launch an arrow and a blast of Reiryoku at their enemy. Mayuri used shunpo to avoid the joint attack much to the two's frustration.
"Hm, so you are able to concentrate Reiryoku in your fist to launch a high concentration of said energy. You will make a very special experiment indeed; I can already imagine drilling into that skull of yours to see what makes you tick." Mayuri said, not fazed by the reiatsu pouring out of the angered and disgusted teenagers before him. In response, the maniac released his own reiatsu while holding his sword in a downwards position,"Claw out, Ashisogi Jizo"
The Zanpakuto began to morph in shape until it took the form of a gold-colored, deformed trident with three serpentine blades which were all connected at the base of a baby's head which looked to be praying. To both boy's, the blade was disturbing in every sense of the word.
Before either could react, Mayuri was between them, stabbing at Uryu who was barely able to move out of the way of the deadly looking blades. Chad went to try and help, but was intercepted by the abused woman, Nemu who punched the giant hard enough to send him flying in the opposite direction but not hard enough to hurt him. Chad was surprised at the woman's actions; he didn't think one who was being beaten by the man Uryu was struggling to fight would defend said man so easily.
"Why are you stopping me?" Chad couldn't help but ask, Nemu didn't look like she was the fighting type and Chad, being the gentle man that he was couldn't bring himself to try to harm her.
"You are an important specimen for Mayuri-sama; it would be a shame for you to be killed trying to help the Quincy." Nemu explained emotionlessly, getting a look of confusion from the dark-skinned giant.
"But he physically harmed you, so why do you still help him?" Chad questioned, he just couldn't understand what was going through this women's head.
"It is my duty as Mayuri-sama's vice captain and artificial daughter to carry out his orders." Nemu answered
"Artificial?"
"Mayuri-sama created me using cells from his body. I am loyal only to him and besides, technically I cannot die as he can simply make me new again."
Chad had to give it to the homicidal researcher, despite his disgusting and psychotic nature; he truly was a genius if Nemu was any testament.
"It doesn't matter whether you're artificial or not, you're still living and you shouldn't follow someone so blindly if they treat you like trash." Chad retorted in a cool tone
"Regardless, I can't let you pass," Nemu said defiantl.y
"Then I'm sorry," Before the purple-haired woman knew what happened, Chad struck her hard in the neck effectively knocking her out before racing towards Uryu and Mayuri.
Said Quincy was currently having the worst time of his life; while Chad talked to Nemu, he tried fighting off the 12th Division Captain alone and was holding his own rather well at first until Mayuri brought up some rather disturbing news. It was revealed that this man was responsible for not only experimenting on man Quincy but he had been the one to end the life of Uryu's grandfather who was also his sensei. After that, Uryu's anger got the better of him and that resulted in him getting ran through by the trident Zanpakuto and the blade's abilities didn't help the situation. Ashisogi Jizo was able to shut of neural receptors to the brain which resulted in paralysis to the inflicted area but on a more gruesome scale, the pain receptors are completely unaffected which meant that the victim would be in pain while being unable to move. Mayuri towered over the paralyzed Uryu with a sick grin on his face and his Zanpakuto raised above his head.
"Well I must say, you were far more interesting than the other Quincy I have dealt with. Too bad you have to die here."
Uryu didn't have a look of anger or horror on his face instead he was…smirking?
"That's where you're wrong."
*BANG*
The surprised captain was sent flying into the wall, courtesy of a very hard punch to the jaw from Chad.
"You won't be killing anyone today," The mostly gentle man stated "El Directo (One Strike of the Giant)!
A blast of green Reiryoku slammed into the already downed captain, gathering debris around the area. Uryu stared at his friend in awe, that attack was the most concentrated he had seen of anything Chad had thrown so far.
"Chad, what exactly was that?" Uryu asked
"…Would you believe me if I told you I just thought of it on the spot?" Chad questioned
In awkward silence ensued,
"…You can't be serious."
Before Chad could say anything else, a familiar cackle echoed throughout the area and both boys turned to see a shocking sight. Mayuri was walking towards them with only one arm and he didn't even looked bothered or affected by that fact, he just continued to laugh maniacally.
"What the hell is he!?" Was the mutual thought of the two teenagers.
Mayuri paused for a second, glaring at both enemies before bringing his sword in front of him.
"Bankai," the baby's face on the blade opened both eyes and it's mouth which began seeping purple gas. The surrounding area began to darken and quiver as the reiatsu coming off the captain became denser.
"What is this, ban-what?" Uryu thought, trying to move to no avail.
"This is bad," Chad said, sweating "His power is increasing even more than before."
As Chad finished his sentence, a giant caterpillar with a golden baby head and arms wearing a red cape appeared behind Mayuri. The grotesque creature began seeping purple gas from its mouth and let out a loud whine as its master cackled in triumph.
"Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!"
"W-what the hell is that? I thought knowing the Zanpakuto's name released its full power." Uryu shouted in shock
"How naïve of you, this is Bankai, every Zanpakuto has two release forms. The form you see now is the true power of my Zanpakuto and it will crush you." Mayuri announced as his Zanpakuto raced towards its enemy.
Uryu looked down at his glove, pondering his next move with clear hesitance on his face. He glanced at Chad briefly before speaking.
"Chad, I'm going to need a second, I have a way to win but I'm going to need you to hold that thing off for now. Can you do that while I prepare?" Uryu asked
"Don't worry I've got your back. Just hurry, my new attack won't be able to hold that thing off for long." With that said, Chad jumped in front of his friend, concentrating all of his power into his arm. "El Directo (One Strike of the Giant)!"
An even bigger blast than before shot out of his fist, covering the entire face of Mayuri's Bankai. Chad grit his teeth and dug his shoes into the ground while keeping his attack going. Unfortunately, it looked like the Zanpakuto was going to win the struggle. Chad's attack was beginning to shrink and the teen was beginning to become exhausted but he still kept trying to keep the attack going.
"You're wasting your time boy," Mayuri said, seeing Chad's struggle "The power of a Bankai increases a Shinigami's power ten times over, you can't win."
The researcher's claim fell on deaf ears as Chad continued to pump out more power until… something peculiar happened. Chad's arm began to change in shape, something the giant himself didn't notice as he was too focused on his current task but Uryu noticed. First, it changed from its current form to a black and magenta color with a longer shoulder extension that was split into three sections. It than changed again to a type of arm shield briefly, making Chad's power strong enough to stop the approaching Bankai in its tracks. With the enemy stopped for the moment, Chad's arm returned to the previous state.
He looked at his new arm in shock as he hadn't noticed the change till now. He didn't have enough time to ponder the change as he felt Uryu's power spike. Chad turned around to see his friend's form had changed and he had a high concentration of reishi coming from his shoulder.
"U-Uryu,"
"I don't know what happened to your arm Chad," The energy Uryu was exhibiting flared. "We can figure that out later, in the meantime allow me to finish him off."
A new bow formed from Uryu's form and a solid arrow from in his hand. He launched it far quicker than Chad had ever seen, the resulting explosion completely destroying the giant Bankai. When the smoke cleared, Uryu and Chad were met with a very damaged Mayuri with a giant hole in his chest.
"So what now?" Chad asked.
"We finish hi-"
Before Uryu could finish his sentence, Mayuri stabbed himself with his broken sword. The act shocked both teens who were about to scream about the guy doing himself in until they saw him turn…into liquid?
"I commend you both for being able to defeat me." The puddle that was Mayuri said in amusement.
Uryu was prepared to launch another arrow until the puddle spoke again. "Don't bother, in this state I'm immune to damage and I can't damage you until my form is restored so we can call it a draw for now. Better luck next time, Quincy."
The puddle seemed through the wall, leaving both boys alone and angry.
"Bastard," Uryu mumbled before falling to his knees as the familiar feeling of the poison returned. "Damn."
"Are you alright?" Chad asked, lifting his friend to his feet.
"I'll be fine; we've got to keep moving." Uryu said, trying to hide his pain
"Wait."
Both looked back to see Nemu holding a bottle.
"Please take this; it's a cure to the poison in your system." Nemu stated
"Why are you helping us, better yet why should we trust you?" Uryu demanded with narrowed eyes.
"Whether you use the cure is completely up to you. Consider it a thank you for not killing my father." Nemu said, handing the bottle to Chad who handed it to his friend.
Uryu looked at the bottle for a moment before sighing and downing the entire bottle.
"You shouldn't thank me; I was aiming for his head when I launched that arrow. If it weren't for the poison I would have succeeded."
With that said, both boys began to walk away leaving a surprised Nemu behind.
Later
Chad looked concerned as he saw Uryu's pale face. Ever since they defeated the 12th Division Captain, the Quincy's powers were depleting rapidly to the point where he felt like a normal human.
"Hey Chad," said giant looked at the weakened Uryu. "Wouldn't it be hilarious…if we rescued Rukia? I'm sure…Ichigo…would be pissed."
"Yeah, that sounds like him." Chad said with a small chuckle as they approached the top of the staircase that led to Rukia's cell, having gotten the girl's location from Nemu who gave it to them just as they left her. As they made it to the top, they were met with a sight that made their blood run cold.
A purple-haired, dark-skinned captain with a visor over his eyes blocked their path.
"I'm sorry," he said lowly "but I cannot allow you to go further, now rest." The man said as he drew his blade. Chad let go of Uryu and rushed the man while summoning the power of his right arm. Unfortunately…he was too slow.
"Cry, Suzumushi,"
With Ichigo
The carrot top hero stopped in his tracks as he felt both Chad's and Uryu's reiatsu disappear.
"Oh no," He said
"Ichigo, you ok?" Ganju asked when he noticed Ichigo's behavior
"…It's nothing, we should keep moving."
Ichigo's pace began to pick up a bit as he headed for the Senzaikyu, never noticing the giant man with a sick grin staring down at him.