Cosgrove:
Difficulty: FULL KUBO
Everything's status quo will be fucked starting this arc.
First, let me explain how dice rolls work here on Bleach Quest. I take the best of three, barring any Critical Successes or Critical Failures. If I have not yet asked for dice, and you roll anyway, your roll will count towards the next time I ask for rolls be it for good or ill. After I get three results for a roll, all others are discarded.
CRITICAL MASTER I
From now on any and all crits within the first ten rolls, good or bad, are stored to be used on the next roll, exponential affecting it if there's more than one.
In the Blood
You've awakened your inherent Quincy blood!
Sixth Sense
Takes the first five rolls when searching for spiritual energy
NEW BLEACH QUEST ARC!
CHAPTER SUMMARY: In which Kon attacks Tokyo.
Bleach Quest
Chapter 11
As you get ready in the morning, you notice that there's been no random attacks from your father for the past two days. Other than the fact that it's rather strange and worrying, you'd be more concerned if that day wasn't on the horizon.
As you eat a quick breakfast and step out the door, Orihime and Tatsuki are there waiting for you. Though still not looking her best, Tatsuki seems to be doing better than you saw her last. As she points a thumb at Orihime, she takes a long look at you.
"Hey, Ichigo, Orihime wanted for us to stop by and walk to school with you. Do you mind?"
You shake your head. "No, I don't mind."
Orihime and Tatsuki smile at you. "Thank you, Ichigo!"
At her informal addressing of you, you see Tatsuki's eyebrow raise before she doubles over laughing. After a few minutes, wiping away the tears accumulated from laughing so hard, Tatsuki lets out a sigh of relief.
"Ichigo, I'm going to be honest, Chizuru is going to try to murder you."
As you walk on the way to school, Orihime tries her best to explain the situation to Tatsuki who seems to be having a bit of a misunderstanding. However, you do notice that Orihime seems really tired, suppressing yawns throughout the walk.
Finally, you arrive at school.
s you walk with them up to the classroom, you make small talk including a vary vague reference to super heroes, but she doesn't seem to notice it or even give any recollection of remembering the events with the hollow. You think about bringing it up until you see Orihime look at you sternly and shake her head while Tatsuki isn't looking.
As you walk into the classroom, you notice that Chad isn't there. The transfer Student Hirako is sitting in his seat and Honsho seems to be stabbing a doll made in your image with needles.
Things seem to be pretty calm spiritually, actually. No signs of any hollows. Your teacher has walked nito the room, though. Seems like class will start soon.
You sit through class paying attention, but whenever there's a free moment you try to keep an ear out spiritually in case any hollows appear. Class seems to drag on, but you're able to keep up with your teacher, Ochi, and answer any questions she shoots at you. Which were quite a lot, actually.
Seems like she's kinda pissed at you about the other day still.
Finally, the lunch bell rings.
Well, considering all that's happened, maybe it would be nice to have lunch with all of your friends. You approach Orihime and Tatsuki first.
"Hey, want to go eat lunch on the roof with Keigo, Mizuiro and me?"
Tatsuki looks ambivalent but eventually agrees when Orihime does. In the background, you hear you name being muttered in a curse as Honsho stares murderously at you.
Following that you call over to Hirako. "Hey, Hirako, want to grab lunch with us?"
Hirako looks bored enough so he shrugs and gets up, following behind you. When you arrive on the roof, Keigo is pointing his finger like he's seen a ghost.
"Ichigo. Y-you brought Orihime with you to lunch! Does that mean our trio is now down to two, Mizuiro?!"
You stare at the sobbing Keigo and the interested looking Mizuiro.
As Keigo begins breaking down in tears, and maybe music, you tune him out and look at the transfer student Hirako.
"Sorry about him. So, how have you been getting on, Hirako?"
Hirako looks surprised at points at himself. "Me, oh, not too badly. Karakura sure seems like a really interesting place."
His face then stretches into a smile. "But ya don't have to be so formal. Go ahead and call me Shinji."
Giving a grunt of affirmation, your attention goes back to the group as a whole as Keigo seems to have calmed down as you all finally sit down and begin eating. You see that Orihime seems really excited.
"Hey, Tatsuki, what did you bring for lunch? I brought bread and honey! Want some?"
Tatsuki gives her a flat look. "No, I brought a normal lunch, thanks. You always seem to get so overexcited at lunch, Orihime."
She gets a light glare as Orihime puffs out her cheeks and enters the approximation of a lecturing pose. "What are you talking about? The only reason normal high school girls come to school is lunch!"
Waving her off they start into their lunches as Mizuiro looks at you. "So, how have things been with you Ichigo? Anything exciting happen?"
"Yeah, Had an interesting run in with a bird and a bat. Ended far more violently than one would expect. Also, Chad got in an accident, he'll be fine, but that's why he's not here."
Scratching your chin, you think further. "That and I had a pretty bad run-in with a few skateboarding punks a few days ago."
Looking at them you shrug nonchalantly. "That's about it. How about you guys?"
Keigo waves his hand excitedly. "Ooh, me Ichigo! I got this new game-"
Tuning out Keigo, you eat your lunch and the bell rings, signifying the return to class, where you manage to keep up with the schoolwork, despite not having studied for the past few days.
Finally, the bell for the day rings. You can hear Orihime apologizing to Tatsuki before running off. Looks like she's going somewhere in a hurry.
Walking a decent distance from school, you look around to find an isolated area and take the Soul Candy. You immediately find yourself staring at the modified soul in your body who waves.
"Yo. What's the situation? Hollow?"
You shake your head. "No. I just figured we could talk while I go to Urahara's to train."
The mod soul frowns. "Man, I hate that guy. Could we not do something else, like pick up chicks?"
You shake your head as he lets out a sigh of frustration. "Alright. So what do you want to talk about?"
He looks at you curiously as the two of you begin making your way to Urahara's?
You think about his question as you find that, other than wanting to live, you don't know anything about him.
"About you mostly. I mean, other than a strong desire to not die I know nothing about you. Which kinda bothers me considering that I'm going to be trusting my body to you every so often. So, anything really."
He looks surprised before his facial expression softens. "Well, I won't kill anything. Ever. Even if its as small as ants, I'll protect them. Everyone has that right."
He then shrugs. "Other than that, I'm just doing what I can. The first body I had was this one, so I identify myself as a guy and figure I'd try to do things normal guys do. I also have managed to pick up an appreciation of the female form, too."
He gives you a perverse grin. It looks rather unsettling considering that it's your own body.
"As for my name, I don't have one."
You shrug at him. "Take your time. A name's important, after all. So find a name that's right for you."
He nods firmly as you scratch at your nose awkwardly. "It's gotta suck being in that pill all the time. Want me to see if Urahara has a body he can give you?"
The mod soul stares at you before wiping at his eyes and shaking his head determinedly. "No. My job's to get you out of your body so you can fight hollows. While a body sounds cool, that would leave you high and dry, so I'll suffer it out."
He gives you a weak grin, but you can see he's not willing to argue on the matter. Soon enough you find yourself at Urahara's store. When you walk in, you see a large, muscular man with a handlebar moustache, cornrows, and glasses looking at you.
"Can I help you, sirs?"
"I'm looking for Hat n' Clogs. Magic sword business. Who are you? Are you a coworker of Urahara's?"
The man nods, his voice booming. "Yes, I am Tessai Tsukabishi. I run the shop when the owner is busy. If you would wait for a few minutes, I will retrieve him right away."
As you give your assent, the man goes off to where you know the underground training facility is. About twenty minutes later he returns, with Urahara in tow, who looks at you and smiles.
"Ah, Ichigo. You came by. Good. Your friend is all fixed up, by the way. I sent him on the way after giving him a rough explanation of the situation. What can I do to help you?"
"Hey, sandal-hat, there been any word from Rukia?"
Urahara shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. Though, to be fair things go slower for the Soul Society. Not to mention she's a Kuchiki, a member of one of the noble clans, so she might be held up by familial duties. Either way, nothing's happened yet, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
You search him for any falsehoods, but he seems to be honest through his playful persona. "Secondly, after making such a big deal about this guy having a right to be alive, it occurs to me that it's pretty shitty of me to have him be left in some kind of dormant state until he's immediately convenient.
Is there any way he can have some kind of body, while still being able to serve as my stunt double in short notice? Like something portable or concealable?"
The mod soul looks shocked at your question before Urahara nods. "Yeah, theoretically, it can possess any body. Even that of something like a stuffed animal, so you can easily get him a temporary one, Ichigo."
Your body looks somewhere between grateful and outraged, but doesn't say anything. But , there's another matter that's been bothering you…
"Also, when I met Zangetsu, there was this gray copy of me with yellow eyes. Is that normal? Zangetsu warned me that dealing with it would be dangerous."
Urahara lets out a thoughtful noise before shrugging. "Who can say? There are Zanpakuto with multiple spirits, yes. If your one of them? I don't know. What is that thing? I have my suspicions, but…"
He trails off, clearly unwilling to answer.
Your face twists into a scowl. "Damn it, you know more about this than anyone else I know. My dad's a shinigami, my mom was a Quincy and was part hollow and I almost became a hollow when I got my powers! Zangetsu warned me he couldn't guarantee my safety is I confronted that thing."
You grab him by the collar and drag him in close, pulling out the mask you had tucked into your robes. "So if you have any sort of answer, even if its just a suspicion, tell me!"
He locks eyes with you, looking mournful. "Ichigo, I think you already know that answer yourself, but I'll say only one thing…"
Loosening himself from your grip he looks away ashamed. "If you're so sure you escaped becoming a hollow, then why are you holding a hollow's mask in your hand?"
You step back, looking at the mask in shock.
You look up at him. "I don't have any desire to hurt the ones I care about or eat souls, so what does this mean?"
"It means, Ichigo, that in the depths of your soul, there is a hollow lurking. It hasn't acted yet, and it might never act. It might even be held in place thanks to the measures your father took to help your mother."
He looks at you. "However, I haven't undergone hollowification. You'd have to ask someone who has. I'll get into contact with people who might be able to help you, so please give me some time. Unless things change and it acts out, leave it be until I can get help."
You look into Urahara's eyes. The man seems regretful, but he isn't lying to you.
You give a curt nod. "Alright. I'll trust you on this."
Urahara gives you a relieved look. "Thank you, Ichigo."
Trying to recover his usual persona, he gives a grin at you. "So, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Yeah, I need to train. In any case, I need to be better at what I do for multiple reasons."
Urahara smiles at you. "Alright, but I have to warn you that Yoruichi is away taking care of some business for now and my underground training facility is currently unavailable.
"Still, I can assist you in your training, if you would like."
You look over at the mod soul, who looks a bit lost. "Hey, how do you feel bout the whole stuffed animal thing? You know, for a body?"
He shrugs. "I suppose, so long as it isn't something embarrassing."
You nod towards the door. "Why don't you go find one you like? I have some money on me, so you should be able to get something. Just don't go overboard. I'm trusting you, here."
He gives you a determined look and nods before sprinting out the door, as you turn towards an actually amused Urahara.
"Alright, so how would you like to train, Ichigo?"
You look at your sword. "Can you help me improve at using Zangetsu?"
Urahara nods. "After a fashion, yes. Your Zanpakuto spirit would do the teaching, but I can help you there."
He sits down in a meditative pose, his cane on his lap. "You should be in this position and attempt to meditate with your Zanpakuto. This is Jinzen, the technique used by Shinigami to commune with their Zanpakuto."
Mimicing him you try to meditate and find yourself in your inner world, though there seems to be some clouds here and there right now. Standing nearby is Zangetsu.
"Ichigo. Good to see you."
"Zangetsu.
"I want to learn how to actually wield a sword. I'm barely competent enough to fight hollows with one at the moment, which seems like something I should work on. Especially since I'm half shinigami, which is pretty heavily sword focused."
"I don't need any of the complicated stuff right now, just how to use it for basic attack and defense. I can build up from there. I already know my way around a fight, so I just need to understand how to use my weapon better."
Zangetsu nods his head. "The basics, it is then. Let me show you the way to properly wield me, then."
He spends what feels like the next couple hours teaching you basic offensive and defensive maneuvers to use with your Zanpakuto. After a certain poin the pauses.
"Ichigo, it is getting late in the real world. We should call an end to the training for today."
You stare as he fiddles with a small plush Godzilla before he looks up at you. "Oh, you're back. I decided on this guy, he looks cool."
You nod your head and soon enough you find yourself in your body, bidding farewell to Urahara with the mod soul of your shoulder, looking around.
It's late evening. There's not many people around. You could head straight home, but you also thing you might have enough time to take a more scenic walk, too.
Well, it seems like a nice enough night. You could take a walk along the waterfront as you make your way back home without anyone noticing.
As you walk down it, you listen to the idle chatter of the mod soul talking about its new body….
As you walk down the road, your blood freezes as you see a black haired girl down by the water. The same one you saw on that day…
But you immediately snap out of it as what looks to be an arrow of light explodes onto the ground in front of you. You look around for a moment for the source, but don't immediately see it. However, the figure on the waterfront is gone.
Sixty feet away, a cloaked figure readies a bow and arrow made of energy. It looks in your direction saying only one word hatefully in a raspy voice.
"Shinigami"
Before it fires the arrow at your feet, blinding you momentarily. When you can see again, the cloaked individual is gone.
BLEACH QUEST XI END
TO BE CONTINUED
