The Iron Sole Alchemist and the Soul Reapers (Chapter 27) The Rukon Revolution
by Howlin
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

"Do you know when they'll be back?" asked Tatski when I finished explaining what had happened at the bounts' hideout.

I shook my head. "It depends on how long it takes them to deal with Karia. The Soul Society already has a senkaimon set up with a spirit particle conversion machine,so we won't have to wait a full week for them to set it up, but beyond that, there's really no way to tell."

Tatski interlocked her fingers behind her head ans stretched, letting out a sigh. "It sucks having to sit on the sidelines like this."

"The sidelines are where it's safe," said Keigo from where he leaned against the fence that kept him from falling off the school roof.

"I can't continue the occlumency lessons until my soul gets back," I said. "I've been thinking. Ichigo and the others have spiritual powers they're going to need to focus on mastering, bt there's no sign you two can do anything more than see spirits."

"I know. That's what I'm so frustrated about," said Tatski.

"How are your science grades?" I asked. "Particularly chemistry."

"Lousy," said Keigo.

"Mine are fine. Why?" asked Tatski.

"When I first came to this world, I didn't have any spirit energy at all. I stole mine from a soul reaper on my first trip to the Soul Society. Before that, I fought hollows using an ability called alchemy."

"Are you saying this is something we can learn?" asked Tatski eagerly.

"Anyone with a soul can learn it," I said. "It'll take a lot longer than the couple months of weekly lessons you'll need to get decent at occlumency. The last alchemist I trained learned it in five years. That was for complete mastery of the craft with no shortcuts, though. I can probably get you enough training that you can fight using an amplifier with a few weeks of dedicated effort."

"I'm in," said Tatski.

"Count me out," said Keigo. "If I see a hollow, I'm running the other way. I am not a fighter."

I smirked, then added, "Did I mention alchemy training includes learning to turn lead into gold?"

"Okay, count me back in," said Keigo. "I'm still running the other way if a hollow comes, but I don't care how much nerd studying I have to do if it'll make me filthy stinking rich!"

"We'll meet after school every day," I said. "And I'll assign you readings on chemistry and geology. Later we'll throw in biology."

"I can't wait," said Tatski.

"One more thing," I said. "Alchemy is the science of understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter. As powerful as a trained alchemist can become in a world made of matter, this skill is nearly useless in spirit worlds like the Soul Society. You'll be able to defend your home, but following Ichigo and the others when they travel between worlds is still not going to be a reasonable thing to do."

In Kusajishi, a meeting was called. People gathered int eh largest building in town, a gambling house run by one of the local crime lords. Koga was seated on an elevated platform alone. Jin and Swatari were nowhere to be seen. I listened as he explained that Karia wanted them to fight the soul reapers in the Seireitei. The Rukon dwellers knew full well that was a hopeless endeavor and weren't shy about saying so.

"Tell us your plan," said the crime boss.

"First you must agree," said Koga. "You have to be with us before I can tell you. Can we count on your support in this fight?"

People were hesitant to sign on without knowing the plan, so Koga said, "Ideally, all souls should be sent to the Soul Society equally, but in reality this entire world is ruled by only a small part of it. The power is all held in the Seireitei. There shouldn't be poverty in the Rukon District.

"This place, Kusajishi, is a place where death can come for you at any time, where blood is washed away with more blood. It was similar for us in the world of the living, though, in a way, we lived in even worse conditions. So you see, we can understand your feelings.

"Don't you ever want to see the light of day again? Don't you want to live your lives the way you choose? Without looks of scorn from the rest of the world?"

"Of course we want it!" called out one of the audience members. "Everyone does. Right?" There was a general murmur of agreement.

Koga stood and said, "Master Karia is going to turn the Soul Society upside down. It's true. Come along with us to a brand new world."

"Very well," said the crime boss, silencing the murmurs of the crowd. "But first, I need proof that you're serious about this plan of yours. Anything will do. Show us all how dedicated you are to this."

In reply, Koga took a knife and made a deep cut in his arm. Holding it up and letting the blood drip, he made sure everyone could see the wound. Then, the wound glowed blue with spirit energy. Parts of the building broke down into luminescent particles that flowed into Koga's wound. The cut closed before our eyes, not even leaving a scar. That explained how he grew his arm back and why he was walking without a limp.

"You see that we are invincible," said Koga. "As long as you are with us, you will have nothing to fear. We are going to destroy the Seireitei. Together with you, we're going to reshape the Soul Society ito the way it should have always been."

After the rally, the people filtered out. I stayed until I was alone with Koga then removed my invisibility cloak.

"That was quite a speech," I said as I revealed myself. "Do you really believe any of it?"

Koga tensed from the surprise of my appearance, then forced himself to relax. "Of course I believe it. You've seen how the people here live."

"I'm not denying there are major systemic social problems in the Soul Society," I said. "I just think you care a lot more about cynically exploiting these people's discontent for your own ends than you care about improving their lives."

"The bounts are as human as anyone else," said Koga. "Is it so strange we, who've been subject to hate, fear, and persecution in the world of the living would feel a sense of kinship with the downtrodden of the Soul Society?"

"They can't win a war with the Seireitei. I know it. You know it. They know it. You can regenerate your wounds using hte spirit particles in this world's air, but they can't. You're feeding them false hope in order to lead them to slaughter."

"A slaughter? Do you think so? And you willingly serve an organization that would condone such a slaughter of the weak and defenseless?"

"I recognize the truth," I said. "Even if you could destroy the Seireitei and kill every soul reaper in it, which you can't, it wouldn't help the people in the Rukon District one bit. The soul reapers didn't cause the crime and poverty in Kusajishi, except through neglect."

"You didn't answer my question," said Koga.

"You think I don't know that the Soul Society's leadership is a mix of corrupt nobles and brutal warlords? I've been planning to murder one of the captains myself. The difference is, I'm planning on doing it within their rules because I know I don't have a chance of winning against the entire organization even if I'm up to killing a captain one on one."

"You don't know what Master Karia's plan is," noted Koga. "How can you be so sure it won't succeed?"

"Because he's already made so many mistakes," I said. "First among those mistakes was attacking the people I care about."

"So this is about a personal grudge for you?" asked Koga. "For that, you would condemn these people to the status quo?"

"It was a tactical mistake," I said. "Ho and Ban died because Karia wasn't worried about pissing off potential allies. Those two could have been very effective against the captains. At this point, thanks to Karia's mistakes and mismanagement, you're down to three bounts. And you've lost your soul reaper able to slip in and out of the Seireitei undetected."

"Ichinose-"

"Is dead," I said, dropping the broken Nijigasumi on the floor. "Rukia Kuchki is my friend. The same miscalculation that cost you Ho and Ban just cost you Ichinose."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Koga.

"Mabashi did the smart thing and walked away from Karia's insane plan," I said. "Ryo and Ugaki are now my prisoners rather than dead because despite everything, I didn't like the idea of exterminating an entire race of people. Karia won't listen, and I have other plans for Swatari, but you still have a chance to walk away."

"I won't walk away," said Koga, "and you can't kill me. We are going to change the Soul Society whether you stand in our way or not. Zeiga dich-"

"Adava Kedavra!" I called out. It was the wrong move. Koga was still a living human and thus a valid target for the unblockable killing curse, but he was a misguided true believer in his cause. After talking to him, I couldn't muster the hatred that was required for the spell. No green bolt of instant death flew at the bount, and he was able to finish summoning his doll.

As Dalk assembled herself, I rushed at Koga and attempted to cut him as I drew my zanpakto. He dodged backward. I drew my zanpakto. He dodged backward. Objectively, he was a lot faster and I was a lot slower than the last time we fought, but this time my spirit energy was enhancing my reflexes, and my eyes could follow his movements. I pursued with a flash step to attempt another slash.

I noticed Dalk unleashing a barrage of machine gun fire on me a split second before it hit. That split second gave me time to raise my left hand, and my shield glove stopped the bullets before they got within a foot of my body.

Koga flash stepped behind his doll, and directed her to finish me off quickly before someone came in to see what was going on. He added that she was only allowed to attack me. Killing his potential recruits would have been bad publicity whether he believed in his cause or not.

"Bind, Tsumi no Rensa," I called out, releasing my zanpkato into its chain form. I twirled the chain overhead and started releasing links like sling bullets. In midair, I added links to the fling projectiles, forming makeshift bolas. Dalk and Koga both dodged, and my bolas ended up wrapping around rafters, pillars, and other structural points in the crude building.

"Too slow," taunted Dalk.

"Not aiming at you," I said with a smirk. I pointed toward one of the lengths of chain and said, "Hado 4: Byakurai!"

The low level kido spell produced a bolt of lightning strong enough to crack stone. Directed at the coiled length of chain, the current turned it into a powerful electromagnet. I casually dropped the length of chain still in my hand as all the metal in the rom was pulled toward the magnet, including Dalk's metal body. It wouldn't hold her more than a second, but in that second, I had an open shot at Koga, who was being tugged painfully by the metal parts of his clothing.

I drew my wand, channeled my spirit energy through it, and called out, "Sectumsempra!"

Koga got his arms up in time to protect his face and throat. Both of his forearms were cut to the bone and bleeding freely from the powerful cutting curse.

Dalk freed herself and pounced at me. I stopped her in midair with an impediment jinx before she could land her bulk on top of me. Undeterred, she extended her insect-like legs at me in a parody of my Ultimate Spear. I managed to dodge the attacks, rolling out from under her and springing back to my feet near the coil of chain that was my zanpakto.

"What did you do to me?" asked Koga s he stared at the deep cuts on his arms that would not heal. Dalk paused in her attacks to hear my answer.

"I've killed you," I said simply. "It would've been faster if you hadn't tried to block, but the result will be the same either way. The wounds inflicted by my Sectumsempra spell don't heal on their own, and require a specific counter curse to treat. Captain Unohana of squad four managed to heal it, but you don't strike me as being a healer on her level. Blood is going to keep pumping out of those wounds until you're dead." I shiethed my wand.

"Dalk, cut off my arms," ordered Koga.

"My pleasure," said Dalk, turning one of her metal arms into an axe.

I grabbed the nearest length of chain, sealed my zanpakto back into sword form, and flash stepped between the bount and his doll, blocking a heavy overhead strike from the doll's axe hand.

"Awe, you want me to cut off your arms first, soul reaper? I can do that." Dalk formed a second axe hand and started swinging both at me. I was able to keep pace with her attacks and keep blocking, but there was no opening I could take advantage of for a counterattack.

"Clever," I said to Koga as I fended off his doll. "Excise the tissue that's suffered the cursed wound then regenerate the whole limb intact. I wont' make it that easy."

Attempting a technique Yoruichi had explained to me, I flared my spirit energy a split second before I flash stepped backward away from Dalk, leaving a brief afterimage behind. Energy from every cell in my body had gone into creating that afterimage, which meant it was anatomically accurate. When Dalk slashed through it, blood seemed to spurt out before the image faded away completely.

Koga held up his arms for Dalk to chop off. As Dalk did so, I appeared behind Koga, calling out, "Sectumsempra!" as I slashed his back. Spirit particles gathered at the stumps to begin regenerating his arms, but his legs collapsed from under him. My attack had severed part of his spine.

"Pathetic," spat Dalk, looking down at Koga. "I suppose I'd better put you out of your missery."

"I don't think so," I said with a smirk. I grabbed hold of Koga and apparated outside of town with him.

"Why?" Koga struggled to ask as blood continue to pour from the wound on his back.

I slapped a pair of spirit energy sealing manacles on his newly regenerated wrists and said, "You're no threat to me anymore. What would be the point in letting you die?"

I sheathed m zanpakto, rolled him onto his stomach, and drew my wand. I applied the appropriate counter curse to heal his wound. I briefly considered a blood replenishing potion, but thought better of it. The spirit particles in the air had already regenerated most of his lost blood, and I'd acted quickly to seal his wounds after I'd slapped on the manacles. Koga was shaky, but he'd live. I helped my prisoner to his feet.

Raising my wand above my head, I called out, "Acio Mancho!" A small steel marble flew to my hand. Koga's eyes tracked it as I caught it and placed it into a pouch on my belt.

Back at the Shiba house, I handed Koga over to Kukaku's retainers to keep restrained until the conflict was over. Ichigo and the others had headed out to Kusajishi in the hope of ending this conflict. Sloth was waiting for me.

"Did you have to use your trump card?" asked Sloth.

I helped up my substitute badge. "Had it on me the whole time."

"And you managed a nonlethal take down without any injuries," said Sloth. "You lost a leg going up against swatari."

"Koga was a much more straightforward fighter," I said. "I also didn't have to worry about keeping anyone else safe. Swatari took hostages. Koga actively tried to keep them out of it."

"Mayuri isn't a straightforward fighter," said Sloth. "I'm going to be there recording it and not getting involved. I need you to go full power from the start. Don't take chances with him."

I nodded. "Full power and then some. I can seal my powers and train up my spirit energy later. Mayuri dies as quickly and efficiently as I can manage it. I won't underestimate him."

"Do you know when the fight's coming?"

"Soon. We're down to two bounts. Mayuri hasn't left the Seireitei and Swatari hasn't entered. When they fight each other that'll be our cue."

"I should head in to the Department of Research and Development now, then," said Sloth. "I've been thinking about how to get in and do what I need to do."

"I knew you'd figure something out," I said. "After tracking down and recovering my corpse from the Nazis, this should be a piece of cake."

"I'm taking the map with me," said Sloth. "I'll map out Research and Development while I'm there."

"Good luck," I said, kissing her.

"You're going to need it more than I am," said Sloth, giving me a longer, deeper kiss.

Then she disappeared beneath her invisibility cloak. I stared at my substitute badge and removed the silencing spell I'd placed on it to keep from being overheard. Soon, this would all be over.

While I waited for word from Ichigo or Sloth, I employed my legilimency on Koga. Karia's compartmentalization of information continued to serve him well. Koga knew that the men they were recruiting would be used to build and operate a set of siege engines to force open the gates of the Seireitei, but Karia hadn't told him the next step of the plan once they were inside.

Koga had been growing concerned about Karia since they arrived in the Soul Society. He was acting oddly and behaving recklessly. Shortly before the speech I sat in on, Karia had sensed the approach of Captain Byakuya Kuchki and left to fight him one on one. I'd been able to confront Koga as I had because Karia had done so.

My interrogation was interrupted by the arrival of Orihime's rika. The small fairy creature was being used as a messenger. The others had gone to Kusahishi and found it abandoned. The men Koga had been gathering had relocated after my fight. Taking the rika in my hand, I apparated back to Kusajishi. The only people there were Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Ganju's gang, and the mod souls. Orihime's messenger returned to her hair pin and we compared notes.

Ichigo and Byakuya had teamed up to fight Karia. Karia's ability to manipulate wind let him keep pace with Ichigo's speed enhancing bankai and Byakuya's flash steps. Using bankai, both had managed to penetrate the wind barriers Karia used for defense, but it had taken bankai, and Karia was able to regenerate those injuries anyway.

The fight had ended when Ran Tao, the soul reaper scientist who'd created the bounts a thousand years ago, stepped in. Ran Tao looked exactly like Yoshino because the experiments Ran Tao had been conducting involved using cloned souls that eventually formed the basis for mod soul technology. Yoshino had been a spiritual clone of Ran Tai, altered by the process that created the bounts.

Karia had fled the battle, and Byakuya left. Ran Tao invited Ichigo and Uryu back to her place to talk and she filled them in on the bounts' history. Shortly after the bounts' creation, there was a disagreement among those in the Seireitei. Ran Tao argued the Soul Society should take responsibility for their creations and find a place for them in the Soul Society. Central 46 decided differantly, and Ran Tao had been banished from the Seireitei with her powers sealed after she helped some bounts escape a soul reaper purge.

There were a few useful tidbits of information. The bounts had been based on soul reaper souls. Their dolls were essentially zanpakto spirits bound to a homunculus body instead of a sword. That let me finish decrypting the bounts' doll summoning array.

Ran Tao herself had apparently developed some useful technologies. She had a method to radically extend a soul reaper's lifespan, perhaps indefinitely, at the cost of reduced stamina and an increased need for sleep. She'd developed a device that let her heal injuries nearly instantly without resorting to spells, potions, and the like.

Finally, and most significantly, Ran Tao had developed a weapon of some sort that was powerful enough that a person with no spiritual pressure could injure captain class opponents. I needed to find out more, since a weapon like that could not only keep Tatski and Keigo safe, but if it could be mass produced could turn the Soul Society upside down far more effectively than Karia ever could.

After getting directions to Ran Tao's hidden underground lab in the forests of Kusajishi, I filled the others in on my fight with Koga and what I'd learned from him about the bounts' plans. We set to work searching the forest for the army's new camp where they'd be building their siege engine.

"It's so frustrating," snapped Renji. "Ever since they got to the Soul Society, the bounts have been more careful about hiding their spiritual pressure. Unless they get in a fight or we get really close, they're going to be almost impossible to find."

"What about that bount sensor Kiske made?" I asked Ichigo.

"It got damaged in the fight with Koga back in the world of the living," said Ichigo. "With everything else going on, I didn't think to pick up the pieces to see if it could be fixed."

"Neither of us were thinking of it at the time," I admitted.

"Too bad you left your dog behind," said Chad. "We could use Karia's blood from Ichigo's fight to find him."

"No disrespect for your dog," prefaced Ganju, "but as far as tracking's concerned, he's no match for my Bonnie." Ganju patted his boar affectionately.

"Could she really do that?" asked Orihime.

"It's worth a try," said Uryu, though he eyed the boar skeptically.

Ichigo took out a cloth he'd used to wipe his blade clean after the battle and held it up to Bonnie. The boar sniffed then took off at a dead run. Ichigo and I were forced to use flash step to keep up with the animal. The only other person in our party able to keep up was Uryu, using a quincy high speed movement technique that offered at least equivalent speed (though he claimed superior) relying on an entirely different mechanism. The others would be able to catch up by following our spiritual pressure.

We came to a stop in an area that looked like it'd been the site of a battle. Trees had been uprooted, sliced clean through, and burned. Deep gouges had been torn in the earth. Wide areas had been violently cleared of vegetation. Ichigo gritted his teeth and raised a clenched fist to keep himself from screaming.

"This stupid pig just led us back to where I fought Karia!" growled Ichigo.

Uryu adjusted his glasses and said, "Now that I think about it, Bonnie's tracking the scent of Karia's blood. That worked in the world of the living because Koga hadn't stopped bleeding. In the Soul Society, Karia can heal his wounds with reshi, so this is probably the last place his blood fell."

"Still, there's got to be plenty of sweat and the like here Bonnie can use to track him farther," I said.

We were still trying to encourage Bonnie to pick up Karia's scent when Ganju and the others arrived. None of the mod souls were picking up anything more than the lingering presence of Karia's spirit energy from the battle.

I detected the approach of someone with a high level of spiritual power a second before Uryu said, "Someone's coming."

There was a visible flicker as a boy who looked to be about fourteen flash stepped to the edge of our group. He had short white hair and icy green eyes. A larger than usual zanpakto was strapped to his back by a green sash and he wore a white captain's coat identifying him as the captain of squad ten.

"Toshiro? What are you doing here?" asked Ichigo.

"That's Captain Hitsugaya," corrected the soul reaper captain. "I've been put in charge of finding and dealing with the bounts. Squad thirteen member Rukia Kuchki reported that they were gathering forces in Kusasjishi. I was on my way there when I sensed your spiritual pressure."

"Kusajishi has been abandoned," explained Kurodo. "We think they've relocated somewhere in this forest to build a siege engine to force open the gates of the Seireitei."

Souls without spirit energy moved at the same speed as normal humans, meaning there was only so far the people of Kusajishi could have gone, even if Karia himself could move faster. Between Ichigo, Uryu, Captain Hitsugaya, and I, we managed to search the entire area they could have gone in an afternoon, but there was no sign of any of them. We regrouped in the abandoned city.

"Are you sure about how long it's been since you left them?" asked Captain Hitsugaya.

I nodded. "I keep a watch on me for situations like this."

"But if that's the case, where are they?" asked Orihime.

"There is a way they could've gotten farther," said Noba. "The bount we fought could manipulate dimensional spaces like I can. He could have relocated them."

"If he did that, they could be anywhere," said a frustrated Renji.

"Not anywhere," I said. "If they could use that to bypass the Seireitei's sekiseki stone walls, they wouldn't need to build siege engines in the first place."

"That's true," said Hitsugaya, "but it doesn't help narrow it down much. The Rukon District has more forests than every soul reaper in the Seireitei could search in a decade."

"It sounds as though we're stuck waiting for them to make their move," said Uryu.

Hitsugaya returned to the Seireitei to coordinate a search of the forests closest to the Seireitei on the off chance he'd get lucky. The rest of us returned to Kukaku's house. I prepared four portkeys, one for each gate, so when the bounts made their move, we'd be able to deploy to whichever gate they attacked the instant we got word.

No one was comfortable waiting and doing nothing, so I took advantage of the break in the action to give Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, and Orihme their next occlumency lesson. I took advantage of our current, frustrating situation to punch through their mental defenses and provide a lesson on the value of emotional control to this skill.

I wasn't the only one who decided to pass the time by giving lessons. Uryu got started explaining how to hide your spiritual pressure. For the rest of the evening, until we went to bed, the four of us practiced under Uryu's supervision. He'd warned us this wasn't something we'd be able to master overnight, and none of us proved genius protegees at the technique.

Author comments:
The Rukon District's lawlessness and poverty is something you can ignore when you briefly stop off on your way to deal with a time sensitive mission like with rescuing Rukia, but any extended stay in the area is going to make it significantly harder to ignore the problems. Koga spoke eloquently on the issues there, and though his methods are awful, the good points he raised aren't going to be ignored going forward.