A message from the writer: Well school has finally calmed down enough to let me write more. I am a bit too proud to beg but please review after you read. I work really hard on my stories and I need feed back so I know in what areas I need to improve in. Since I allow anyone to review, you don't even need an account. See, it is that simple.

RE: Chapter 11: Dance of the Lightning!

A few minutes had passed since Rukia separated from her body and managed to calm her MOD soul Bunny down. Courtney looked in grimace as she was waiting for the battle to start.

"Any time would be great," Courtney sighed as she tapped her sword to her back.

"I'm ready now," Rukia commented as she pulled out her sword and pointed it at Courtney.

"Let's begin," Courtney smiled in anticipation.

"Damn she's fast," Rukia mentioned as Courtney's blade came from behind her and she barely had anytime to block the attack. Courtney vanished again and Rukia didn't know which way she would attack from next.

"Quit hiding and fight for real!" Rukia ordered. Courtney appeared in front of Rukia and swung at her. Rukia blocked the blow with one of her own and started swinging her blade over and over again at the girl Courtney who was very skilled; she blocked each and every swing and even countered with some of her own.

"We're evenly matched," Rukia pointed out as she took a few steps back from the battle.

"You wish," Courtney taunted as she stepped back as well.

"I see. You don't know a good opponent when you see one, do you?" Rukia asked.

"I do, but neither of us is trying so it's hard to judge," Courtney confessed.

"Quit being so damn arrogant!" Rukia commanded.

"So easy to lose your cool," Courtney pointed out.

"Does she normally lose her temper this fast?" Trace questioned.

"Pretty much," everyone answered.

"It's the same with Renji and Ichigo," Shuhei added. Rukia and Courtney stared each other down, looking for the perfect moment to strike. Courtney tightened her grip and dashed at Rukia. She swung several time, each time Rukia could barely dodge the blows. Rukia stepped back, then launched herself at Courtney swinging wildly hoping that one of the blows would make contact. Courtney could barely read Rukia's moves, let alone block any of them. The assault finally ended, allowing Courtney to take a step back. She felt something cold drip along her arm. She looked to see what it was, and saw that is was blood. Somehow one of Rukia's attacks must have landed.

"I see you have some skills," Courtney pointed out.

"Why yes, I have a few," Rukia said in a humbled manner.

"It's been a while since anybody managed to land an attack on me other than that loser when we spar together," Courtney explained.

"Are you serious?" everyone asked at the same time.

"Indeed, he is quite powerful," Courtney confessed," I think I only managed to beat him a few times."

"I'm just really lucky," Trace modestly bragged.

"I see, guess I made some right choices for my mission," Shuhei smiled.

"Well then, let's take this battle up a notch," Rukia invited.

"Fine with me," Courtney accepted, "after all, I was getting bored."

"Dance! Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia called out. Her zanpakuto transformed and became completely white with a ribbon formed at the pommel. "Just to let you know, my blade is the most beautiful in the Soul Society," Rukia bragged.

"This isn't a Miss America pageant," Courtney told her. (Random question that was brought up in my math class last year. What is the difference between Miss America and Ms. USA? If you know or have a good idea, please add it in your review.)

"A what?" Rukia asked confused.

"A Miss America pageant is a contest where one person from every state enters to see which state has the most beautiful woman of the year," their host explained.

"Isn't that a bit shallow?" Orihime questioned.

"Normally it would be, like with most pageants," he answered.

"What the hell is the difference then?" Ichigo asked.

"These are well rounded woman," Trace replied.

"Who the hell cares about their breast?" Renji grunted.

"It's not that idiot! These women actually have advance degrees and, never mind. Let's just say that these are not stereotypical women," Trace explained as simply as he could. He should have learned by now who he was dealing with.

"I would like to see one," Shuhei told him.

"Okay, enough of the perverted conversation," Courtney demanded.

"Miss America," Rukia mumbled.

"Electrify! Surge!" Courtney called out. A bolt of lighting shot out from the blade and went towards Rukia. Rukia jumped out of the way to dodge it. She slowly looked up and saw Courtney's soul sword. The hilt (the handle part, I actually don't remember the names of the part) was wrapped in what seemed to be an electric blue cloth, and the blade was bent to resemble that of a lighting bolt.

"I don't really like the form Surge takes in his first release. The lightning bolt is a dead giveaway of his type of power," Courtney sighed.

"I hate to admit it, but I agree with you," Rukia nodded.

"Unlike yours, if it wasn't for your blade turning white I would have never guess that it was an ice user," Courtney explained.

"What, you can tell just by looking at it?" Ichigo inquired.

"It's not that hard really," Courtney answered.

"You don't have to be a bitch about it," Ichigo grumbled.

"What she meant was that after you encounter ability after ability, you start to see a pattern," Trace defended his friend.

"No, I meant what I said asshole!" Courtney called out to him.

"Who are you calling an asshole?" Trace asked.

"You, of course, idiot," Courtney replied.

"I rather be an asshole than some jerk who does nothing but-" Trace started to rant before Shuhei covered their host's mouth with his hand.

"You should never speak to a woman that way," Shuhei explained.

"It's okay, we have an agreement," Trace mumbled under Shuhei's hand.

"Tsugi no mai, hakuren [the next dance, white ripple]," Rukia chanted as she fired a massive wave of ice from the tip of her blade. Courtney glanced at the attack and calculated the time it would make impact.

"Don't have anything in your arsenal to counter it?" Rukia asked in a mocking tone. The attack drew closer to Courtney and she didn't even blink.

"Light screen," Courtney mumbled as the attack was a few feet away from making contact. What seemed like a shining sheet of glass appeared in from of Courtney took the attack and reflected it back at Rukia.

"No way!" Renji shouted from the sidelines.

"What powers from hell do they have here?" Ichigo asked. Rukia's eyes widened as she saw her attack be sent flying back at her with twice the power she initially put in.

"Light Screen is one of Surge's abilities that I recently discovered. It blocks all special attacks and reflects them back with twice the power," Courtney explained. Rukia was hit by the attack and sent flying back into Ichigo and Renji, knocking them down.

"Rukia!" Bunny shouted. She rushed towards Courtney ready to attack, only to be blocked by Razeo who grabbed her arm and shook his (actually her because he is in Courtney's body) no. Rukia slowly got up almost undamaged but looked really shocked.

"That was interesting," Rukia confessed as she managed to get back to her feet.

"I told you it would be," Courtney mocked.

"Now it's my turn to show you something," Rukia chuckled.

"Go ahead, entertain me," Courtney coaxed her.

"Some no mai, tsukishiro, [first dance, white moon]," Rukia said. A giant white circular area appeared around Courtney who appeared unfazed by this attack. Out of no where, a giant pillar of light emerged and froze everything within the circle from the ground until it reached the sky.

"That was really something," Trace complemented, "but too bad it wasn't effective."

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

"Everyone, pay careful attention or you just might miss the show," he smiled. The ice pillar started to crack and it busted with Courtney emerging unharmed and with her sword glowing a dim yellow.

"How did you manage to escape the attack?" Rukia questioned shocked, even though this isn't the first time that it had happened.

"Shard of Lightning," Courtney explained.

"I don't get it," Rukia confessed.

"The Shard of Lightning ability Surge possesses allows me to move as fast as lighting. With the time and speed I gained I was able to deflect the attack the moment it started to freeze everything," Courtney explained with some detail.

"Impossible," the crowd muttered.

"There's no way, I didn't see anything," Ichigo complained.

"How many slashes did it take you to deflect the attack?" Orihime asked.

"Seventeen," Courtney answered.

"No way, I saw eight slashes," Shuhei commented.

"I hate to say it, but your eyesight is better than mine. I only say flashes of light," Renji confessed.

"I saw every move," Trace bragged, purposely making them mad.

"It's impossible to see it though," Ichigo informed everyone, "a bolt of lightning can only be seen for three seconds at max, there is no way you could have moved that fast. How did you do it?"

"Only the darkness knows," Courtney told him with a smile as she put away her blade and went inside her body. Rukia still had an expression of surprise on her face; there was no way her attack could have been countered with just a few swings of her sword. Bunny rushed to Rukia's side and touched her hand. In a flash of light, Rukia was back in her gigai and had Bunny's MOD capsule in the palm of her hand. She fell to her knees trying to figure out how she could have countered that.

"It was a great match Ruika," Courtney offered her hand to help her up, "if Surge hadn't reminded me about that ability at the last minute, you would have won," Courtney confessed.

"I'm confused," Orihime told everyone, "what does she mean if Surge hadn't reminded her at the last minute?"

"It means that Surge told her what to do before the attack landed," Renji explained.

"I knew that much. I meant what did she mean that Surge reminded her?" Orihime asked clearly this time.

"That is a good question. I know that soul reapers can communicate with the spirit inside the sword, but I doubt you able to talk to them freely," Renji contemplated.

"So they can talk to their swords freely, who the hell cares?" Ichigo sighed.

"It means that they can formulate a plan in the midst of the battle," Shuhei explained.

"It's not as great as it sounds," Trace told them.

"Why not?" Orihime asked.

"Well for one thing, sometimes they don't shut up," Courtney sighed.

"Or in Corey's case, his blade has MPS, so depending on who the sword is at the time, it might take on a difference appearance and have a different release form," Trace added.

"What is MPS?" Orihime asked innocently.

"It stands for Multiple Personality Syndrome. It means that one person thinks they are several different people. I don't want to go into too great detail, otherwise I might overwhelm you," Courtney explained.

"My brain hurts just thinking about it," Orihime confessed. Rukia got back to her feet and walked over to the group.

"I think it's about time that we look for the others," Rukia suggested.

"What's the hurry?" Shuhei asked.

"America is too weird and I want to leave as soon as possible," Rukia answered.

"That doesn't really matter right now," Ichigo stated, "I still want to know how the hell we are going to convince the others."

"Well I could 'distract' Corey and we can take him by force," Courtney offered.

"No!" Trace disapproved.

"Why not? It sounds like a good plan." Shuhei asked.

"Trust me, it's something to be used as a very last resort," Trace explained.

"What kind of hellish attack is it?" Ichigo asked.

"It is every guy's weakness," he told them.

"I don't get it," Renji stated.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ichigo asked. Just then, Courtney kicked with all her might and racked Ichigo causing him to scream out in pain. He fell to the floor and his eyes teared up. Everyone eyes widened at what Courtney had just done, while Trace's eyes were closed as he shook his head. A few minutes had passed and they all stayed silent until Ichigo got back up on his feet with rage in his eyes.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked Courtney in anger.

"You didn't get what I meant, so I showed you by example," Courtney told him.

"I told you that you didn't want to know," Trace added. Ichigo sighed; he was pissed at Courtney, but it was his own fault, he wanted to know.

"Okay, I think it's time to go look for the others before this goes any further," Shuhei suggested.

"Good idea," Rukia agreed like almost everyone else.

They continued to walk through the park, hoping that they may encounter someone else so they would have to search that far. Ichigo was still pissed and it seemed that even the slightest conversation might set him off, so everyone stayed quite. Courtney had a big smile on her face from what she did moments earlier and every time Trace glanced over at her, he shook his head. Renji tried to cheer Ichigo up but he shot him the death glare so he backed off. Rukia and Orihime were in the back still giggling about the incident while everyone remained silent. A few minutes had passed and Ichigo's stomach started to rumble.

"You're hungry already? We just ate not too long ago." Rukia asked as she slapped him in the back of the head.

"Yeah it's strange, I never get hungry this fast," Ichigo commented.

"There must be some American explanation about it," Renji suggested as he looked at their host and his friend.

"Don't look at me," she demanded as she pointed at Trace.

"America isn't to blame for everything, despite what everyone may think," Trace sighed.

"Well can we go somewhere to eat?" Ichigo asked.

"That's going to have to wait," a voiced called out, "first we have to wipe out the enemy soul reapers!"

"That voice..it couldn't be," Trace gasped ironically.

"Corey..!" Courtney muttered.

Preview for chapter 12:

Corey appeared out of the blue with orders to wipe out the soul reapers, little does he know that they are not enemies. What reasoning is there behind his mission? Last RE chapter before the new story line takes place.