(A/N: I must say I like this chapter a whole lot better than the last one. And for those who didn't get the joke last chapter or weren't sure, I made Yammy into the Soul Chess equivalent of Team Four Stars Nappa. Yes strangely enough the comedy in this series is spawning late lol).
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Code Geass
3rd Person pov
Ichigo walked into class that day, the Monday after the incident to be precise. Soifon had done everyone who had been involved in the incident a courtesy by giving them the day off due to their injuries. Orihime's powers were slow acting trying to heal three people at once and Ichigo himself still had some pretty bad blows to his body, even after healing Kido had been used. These wounds had later been fixed by Orihime herself. Ichigo was trying to keep calm about his 'condition', but anyone who knew Ichigo could tell that he was severely depressed about something.
"Ichiiiigoooooo!" Keigo came charging up to him. When Ichigo didn't clothesline or attack him, Keigo figured something was up. "Hey man what's wrong with you? First you don't show up on Friday and now you're all mellow and stuff." A light bulb went off in his head. "I know maybe you're just low on energy. I've got some red bull if you want."
"No thanks, I'm good." Ichigo stated, walking past Keigo.
"What's your deal man? The last I saw of you I saw you jump out your window in a black kimono. Did you even leave your house over the weekend?" Keigo shouted.
Ichigo stopped walking and glanced back at his friend with surprise. What? Keigo saw me? But how? He doesn't have spiritual pressure…or does he…what the hell?
"It was just special effects." A familiar accented voice walked up from behind Keigo. Shinji seemed to be coming up with an excuse to keep Keigo oblivious to the supernatural. "Ichigo and I were practicing for our project. You obviously couldn't see the thin wire we had dangling from the telephone poles. Right Ichigo?" Shinji said with a big grin.
"Uhhhh…yeah that's right. Just special effects. Smoke and mirrors nothing more." Ichigo said.
"Wow you guys must have a really cool project you're working on. I can't wait to see it!" Keigo said, pumping his fist in the air. He then went inside to take his seat.
"That's the best you could come up with?" Ichigo asked disbelievingly.
"Well at least it worked." Shinji said.
"Do you plan to keep sticking around here until I say yes to becoming a Visored?" Ichigo asked.
"That's the plan." Shinji retorted.
Ichigo sighed. "Whatever." He walked inside where Tatsuki was sitting at her desk. Orihime's power to fix wounds was incredible. It was like nothing happened yesterday. Ichigo's injuries were not as bad as the others, since he had fought in Soul Form, so regular restoration through healing Kido was used on him while Orihime focused her power on Uryu, Chad and Tatsuki. Still, Tatsuki had had it the worst. Chad and Uryu could've lived with modern medicine, Chad would've just to have gone around with one arm the rest of his life, but Tatsuki was living only in thanks to Orihime. Several of her ribs had been broken and one of them snapped and punctured her lung, causing massive internal bleeding and also caused Tatsuki to suffocate on her own blood. "Tatsuki." Ichigo said, walking up to her desk.
Tatsuki turned her head to the side and looked at Ichigo. "Oh, hey, morning." She said.
"I…well…" Ichigo wanted to apologize again for what happened to her. If he had been stronger, less scared, a little more perceptive, he would've been able to have engaged Yammy and Ulquiorra before Tatsuki had gotten hurt, or so he believed. Whether or not that would've been the case, was another matter entirely. However, no words would come.
Tatsuki pushed her chair back and stood up. "If you're not going to say anything then I'll talk and you'll listen." She stood up and looked Ichigo right in the eyes. "What happened yesterday was not your fault." She pointed her right index finger at Ichigo. "I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and I got a little overconfident in my skills. I don't need you to worry about me and I certainly don't need you to pity me. Got it?" Tatsuki asked. She was happy for Ichigo's concern for her, but at the same time he didn't need her checking up on her like she was a helpless damsel like Orihime.
"Who else can I blame though?" Ichigo asked raising his voice, but he wasn't yelling so the entire classroom couldn't hear him. "Chad an Uryu were injured too, but you nearly died. I'm not going to write this off as a big nothing 'oops we'll try better next time'." Ichigo smacked his palm against his chest. "If I was in top form none of that would've happened. I don't know what I can do other than feel guilty." Tatsuki stepped on Ichigo's foot. "Ow." Ichigo began hopping up and down and holding his sore foot.
Tatsuki pointed at Ichigo again. "You can start by not acting like you're a big shot hero that we're all supposed to fawn over and follow. We can all take care of ourselves. We don't need you looking out for us and acting like our injuries are your fault. We should blame ourselves for being so weak. Your defeat is a sign of your own weakness. Our group is a team effort. If you think you're not at your best then get back to being your best. They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, but we're not a chain, we're a chemical compound. When one bond grows weak, it's strengthened by another part of the compound to stabilize it. There are no generally weak links in our nakama, only weak links willfully formed. As long as you have confidence and try your best then you just need to pick yourself up and get stronger. I know that's what I plan to do."
Ichigo put his foot down gently and looked at Tatsuki and listened to her speech. She was always like this ever since his mom died. "Thanks Tatsuki…I appreciate it." Ichigo said and went to take his seat.
Throughout the day Ichigo thought about his friendship with Tatsuki. For five years, now going on six, she had been his biggest support. They'd been friends for a long time, but it was when they made that promise to each other that they would always be a team, the same day that Soifon gave Ichigo his backbone, that he and Tatsuki became a dynamic duo. She was like a trampoline underneath his feet, whenever he fell she would bounce him right back up. Still, while having support was fine, Tatsuki's moral support couldn't compare to the massive, though rather interestingly shown, backing Ichigo received from Rukia.
As the school day neared its end, Ichigo began to wonder how she was doing. He figured she must be working hard and spending plenty of quality time with her sister and friends. He wondered if perhaps he might see her again or anyone from the Soul Society. It had been about a month and he hadn't heard a thing other than that Lelouch had been let go and reinstated as a captain.
Since Ichigo had board duty that afternoon he got a bucket and began cleaning the chalkboard. At this same time the anime club was filing into the back of the room. Just as he was about to get out the sponge and wash the board the door to the room opened. Standing in the doorway were seven people, dressed in the uniform for his school. They were not students of Karakura High, but Ichigo recognized them nonetheless. Standing before him were Kukaku, Rangiku, Susanna, Kaien, Hisana, Renji and Lelouch.
"K-Kukaku…Kaien…Lelouch…what are you all doing here?"
"Hey, Ichigo sup?" Kaien shot his hand in the air, grinning.
"There's an oncoming storm with the arrancar and as such the Soul Society wants this sector reinforced by high level Soul Reapers." Lelouch responded.
Ichigo turned his head and went back to cleaning the board. "We're fine as we are."
"Oh really," another voice called out, "then explain to me how, if you're 'fine', that you got your butt kicked so thoroughly the other day."
Ichigo heard the voice and turned towards the window where Rukia was standing on its sill, arms folded. "R-Rukia."
"Is…is that Rukia?" one of the club members asked, looking at her.
"I think she just came in through the window." Another member said.
"Forget her, I'm more worried about those other seven individuals over by the door. I mean look at the girl with the silver hair. That is not normal."
Both Lelouch and Susanna heard this and the word 'normal' echoed in Susanna's head. Knowing how conscious she was of her appearance, Lelouch, glare in full swing, walked towards the anime group. "You shouldn't go around judging other people by their appearances." He said. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you all just went and got lost." He removed one of his contacts and stared at them with his Geass. "Go home and put a sign on the door that there's a private meeting going on in here that no one is to disturb." Lelouch commanded.
"Yes master Lelouch." The geeks said in unison and began to shuffle out.
"Lelouch was that warranted?" Rangiku said. "What did the Head Captain say about your geass?"
"It's not like I did anything life threatening." Lelouch said putting his lens back in.
Ichigo didn't know what to make of the situation. So many thoughts swirled about his head that he couldn't focus at all. Rukia leapt from the windowsill and kicked Ichigo in the face. "What the…what the hell was that for?" Ichigo said, fingers by his now bleeding nose. Right after he said that, Kukaku looped her arms underneath his shoulders, holding him in place, with a smug grin on her face as Rukia delivered a few more slaps to Ichigo's face. "Hey!" He barked.
"It's cause you're so pathetic!" Rukia shouted and then put a skull marked glove on and grabbed Ichigo's forehead and then dragged out his soul form through the window and out into the streets.
Lelouch merely sighed, fingers on his forehead. "This is going to be a long mission." He said.
"Captain, you seem stressed is there anything I can do to help?" Rangiku asked.
"Hold on, if anyone's going to help Lelouch-dono relieve stress it's going to be me!" Susanna declared, getting in Rangiku's face.
"Oh really?" Rangiku said with a sly smirk, hand underneath her chin.
Lelouch just growled.
Kukaku pulled out a green tube from her pocket and flipped a tablet from within it through the air that landed in Lelouch's palm. "Here." She said as she handed Lelouch a 200 milliliter bottle of water. She had given him an aspirin for the headache he was obviously starting to get from the aggravation.
"Thanks." Lelouch said as he swallowed the pill.
"What the hell Kukaku?" Rangiku and Susanna both shouted at the Shiba clan deputy head.
"All right." Hisana said, clapping, "Let's play nice kids."
"Who are you calling a kid? We're practically the same biological age!" Susanna shouted, leaning forward and throwing her arms down in front of her, palms facing the ceiling.
"Well you know the old human saying, act your age not your shoe size." Kukaku said with a smug smile.
"You wanna go a round tomboy?" Susanna growled.
"Is that a challenge ya goth bitch?" Kukaku said getting in Susanna's face.
"Quiet the both of you!" Kaien shouted. Everyone became silent.
Shiba-fukutaicho losing his temper? Well that's not something you see every day. Renji thought to himself.
Lelouch massaged his forehead with his fingers. Just how in the hell did I get roped up into this again? He wondered.
Earlier that Day
Lelouch was sitting at his desk, just minding his own business when Rangiku burst in. "Taicho! Taicho, I need your help." She said sort of whining her request.
Lelouch put down his writing utensil. "What is it Rangiku?"
"Well, you know how Kaien, Hisana, Susanna and Kukaku were supposed to go to the world of the living, well Renji and I want to go too, but now Hisana's saying I can't go and Renji and Rukia are arguing and—"
"Lelouch-donooooo!" Susanna burst in.
Susanna began to plead her case to Lelouch about the incident and the situation basically escalated from there as Renji, Hisana, Kaien and Kukaku followed suit in that order and everyone began bickering with each other and trying Lelouch's patience.
"ENOUGH!" Lelouch roared, fists shaking, patience tried. "If no one can get along I'll just come along to supervise."
Present Time
Starting to wish I hadn't said that. Lelouch thought to himself. Friends or not, I just know I'm going to lose a few brain cells from this mission.
"We should probably head over to Ichigo's and wait for him. He and Rukia will probably swing by there when they're done and we can give him the details there." Kaien said rubbing his head.
"You sure he'll be able to handle it?" Kukaku asked. "Ichigo seemed like he was in a pretty big slump."
"If I know my sis well enough she'll take care of it." Hisana said, arms folded. "Those two have a friendship that many others would be jealous to have. Yeah they fight and bicker with each other, but it just shows how much they care. If I didn't know any better I'd think Rukia's just happy to have someone to push around."
"I know what you mean, she got really excited, though she tried hard to hide it, when I told her you, her and me were being sent to help Ichigo. She's like a point on a linear graph that Ichigo constantly travels on. When he's ahead of her or with her, she gives him her full support like a true friend, but when he's behind her, she grabs him by the short hairs and tells him what to do and how to do it. She's the only one he lets push him around in ways that a teacher, like his Sensei, can't, and longtime friends like that Arisawa chick won't. And of course when her points suck he tells her what for without hesitation. There are points, buttons and areas that only she knows how to reach in a way that none of his other friends can. Although, I guess the student learns from the master." Kaien said, bragging at that last statement.
"Oh, and you think you're the one who can reach all of Rukia's points?" Hisana inquired.
"I do." Kaien retorted.
"Let's get moving before this turns into another argument." Lelouch said frustratingly.
"Sorry, sir." Kaien and Hisana apologized. Although Hisana and Lelouch were of equal rank, Lelouch was the highest ranked individual in the group with the most experience as a Soul Reaper. Kaien was the only member of the group that had been a Soul Reaper longer than Lelouch and only by about a decade or two. In respect for Lelouch's 15 years of experience to her single month, Hisana considered Lelouch above her.
"Hey!" Keigo suddenly threw the door open. "Whose causing a commotion in here without…" he saw the seven individuals all gathered in a group, "…me present." His body became all twitchy and he began gawking at the sight of the seven people in the room. Out of them all it was Renji with his tattoos, Susanna with her silver hair and red eyes, and Kukaku's angry demeanor that sent a cold shiver through his spine.
"And just what the hell are you looking at ya snot nosed punk?" Kukaku glared at him. "Well…you're a man," her eyes narrowed and she grabbed Keigo by his tie, "Speak up."
"Sis, calm down." Kaien said with a sigh. "He's obviously one of the lesser intelligent members of the species."
"Hey who are you calling lesser intelligent?" Keigo shouted, peering around Kukaku. "I mean…yeah my grades suck, but you don't have to rub it in."
"I told you all, this was a bad idea." Hisana said in sing-song shaking her head with her arms bent and palms facing up at an angle, wrists bent. "But no, you said, Rangiku." She glared at the blonde momentarily. "It'll be fun, you said, Rangiku." Hisana glared.
"It is fun." Rangiku defended, putting her hands on her hips. "It's like reliving the academy days only in the modern world."
"You just like it because the uniform is so tight it shows off your assets." Renji grumbled.
"Can we please stop breaking into an argument every five minutes?" Lelouch asked again, losing his patience one more time.
Upon hearing her assets mentioned, Keigo began staring at Rangiku's cleavage. "Maybe you should let me check those shirt buttons for you!" He leapt at the gorgeous blonde with the same kind of perversion a certain mod-soul would only for Rangiku, without even turning to look at him, to drive her knuckles into his face with an off handed punch.
Lelouch sighed. "And with that let's get going before I get mobbed." Lelouch said stepping outside the door. Of course as he did so a bunch of female students saw him and began fawning in typical 'I just saw a hot guy, let's mob him' fashion and began to tear down the hall after Lelouch. Oh great. Lelouch thought and began to make a break for it. "Kukaku! Hisana! Crowd Control!" He called out. The called upon women formed a barricade in front of the oncoming students in judo poses, prepared to take on anyone stupid enough to try and get by. Kukaku, of course, was much more intimidating than Hisana. With the student body at bay, Lelouch and the others went to Ichigo's house, Hisana and Kukaku eventually followed suit.
Kurosaki Clinic
Rukia and Ichigo arrived in Ichigo's bedroom shortly followed by Rukia kicking Kon in the face for trying to grab her chest and stomping him on the ground. "Same old Kon I see." She said.
"Only one person would stomp me without hesitation after we hadn't seen each other for a whole summer." Kon said, face down on the ground. "It must be Nee-san. I'm so happy I could cry."
"Rukia quit fooling around with," Ichigo said as he shut the door, "and just get in here already."
"Okay." Rukia said nonchalantly and then looked around the room. "Same old tiny bedroom of yours I see."
"Why do have to call it tiny? It's no fair comparing it to where you live."
"You're right," Rukia said mockingly, "I'm sorry it just slipped out."
"Yeah right." Ichigo rolled his eyes only to notice that Rukia was sitting on his bed. "Hey! Don't sit on my bed!"
"You sure are grumpy today." Rukia said.
"Shut up." Ichigo retorted. "And I don't care what you think. You can sit on the floor."
"Oh, I can't believe how stingy you are." Rukia replied in a mock fashion. The two continued their little innocent charade, though it didn't sound so innocent out of context to Ichigo's dad and sister, Yuzu. When Ichigo heard their voices from outside he pardoned himself from Rukia and flung the door wide open.
"What the hell?" he shouted at his dad and sister. "Do you ever shut up?"
"I told you he was gonna be mad." Yuzu said to her father.
"We're sorry Ichigo." his dad apologized.
Ichigo slammed the door. "I can't believe how nosy my sister is and my father is even worse."
"Your family is good for a laugh, as usual." Rukia chuckled.
"Shut up." Ichigo said, emphasizing both words. "Just tell me about the arrancar. I don't know too much about them. I barely even know what they are, let alone what they're after."
"Hey, if you wanna know about the arrancar, let us tell you." A voice called out.
Ichigo's head picked up. "Kaien! Kaien where are you?"
"Up here." Ichigo's light was pushed out of its fixture and Renji, Rangiku, Hisana, Kaien, Kukaku and Susanna appeared from it like bats hanging from a tree branch.
"What the hell are you guys doing in my ceiling?" Ichigo shouted, freaked out.
"Oh, you know." Kukaku said, jumping down. "Secret base stuff and all that."
"Oh haha, very funny. Not!" Ichigo said. His closet door opened.
"I told you the closet would be better." Lelouch said, revealing himself to be inside.
"What are you doing in my closet?" Ichigo asked.
Lelouch stood up and walked over by the others who were forming into Ichigo's bedroom. "Because there wasn't enough room in your ceiling."
"That's not the answer I was looking for." Ichigo growled.
"Oh come on, lighten up," Rangiku said, "Life's too short not enjoy some surprises and good old fun every once in a while."
Her voice alerted Kon who was lying on the ground. He looked up and saw her chest trying to burst out of her shirt. "Your buttons are too tight, let me adjust them please!" He leapt at Rangiku only to get straight armed in the face.
"Jeez what's that the second time today?" Lelouch asked, looking at the knocked out Kon.
"Has that thing lost its mind?" Renji asked Ichigo.
"No." Ichigo returned, grumbling at Kon's misbehavior. "He's always like that."
"He's a mod soul isn't he?" Lelouch noted.
"Yeah and a defective one at that." Ichigo stated.
"Who the hell are you calling defective?" Kon growled.
"Shut up factory reject." Kukaku said plainly and stomped on Kon. "There, that should keep him quiet." She said, shoe firmly planted on Kon's head, pressing him into the ground. "Let's continue with the goal we set out, shall we?"
"So, Ichigo, just how much do you know about the Arrancar?" Kaien asked, taking a seat next to Rukia. Kukaku stood where she was. Ichigo sat in his desk chair. Rangiku knelt down on the floor. Hisana sat on Rukia's other side. Renji sat behind the trio, back to the wall. Lelouch stood at the foot of Ichigo's bed, back to the wall and Susanna was knelt down on the ground next to Kukaku.
"Not much. I've run into three in total and the first one said they were hollows interested in obtaining Soul Reaper powers." Ichigo said.
"Well you've got the gist of it, but allow me to explain the rest." Kaien said. "Rukia, if you will." The short Soul Reaper took out her notebook and showed representative pictures while Kaien explained things to Ichigo. "Arrancar were originally hollows that have removed parts of their masks and have gained the powers of both hollows and Soul Reapers. Until recently they were few and imperfect, though some had quite a lot of power. Aizen developed quite a bunch of them on his own, so the research we found would indicate. Talbumosuke probably picked up where he left off and is continuing his research in Aizen's stead. A lot of important documents were missing from Aizen's files. We can only guess that Talbumosuke took them at some point to Hueco Mundo before he and Aizen defected. Because of that, more and complete arrancar are popping up. To test them out Talbumosuke has been sending them to outposts across the galaxy. We've lost five hundred units in the last month, some were seated officers and collateral damage has been high as well. We pegged Talbumosuke as possibly being inept and inadequate to lead the Arrancar, or even pose a threat but we've started to realize that the situation may even be worse than if Aizen was the one in charge."
"Wait, what do you mean worse?" Ichigo asked, sitting up.
Rukia flipped the page to show a crude drawing of what was supposed to be Talbumosuke and Aizen in a split diagram, Aizen on the left, Talbumosuke on the right. Aizen was drawn as being crafty and backhanded, noted by Rukia's interpretation of Kyoka Suigetsu to get Aizen to make his opponent's kill each other. Talbumosuke however was shown to be less tactful than Aizen, but much more skilled in combat. This was noted by a bunch of Soul Reapers swarming him in an ambush and Talbumosuke standing atop them in a defeated pile, which Rukia had written as "Mount Tal".
"As you can see, Aizen was a crafty and manipulative bastard. Kyoka Suigetsu let him use underhanded tactics and dastardly plans to confuse us and make us screw each other over. He also had his own strength that he demonstrated when he ripped his replacement, Hitsugaya Toshiro and also brought down Lelouch in combat, which you witnessed. Talbumosuke on the other hand doesn't have the brilliant tactful mind of Aizen, but research on him would suggest he doesn't need it. Even if we were to ambush him he'd probably just kill everyone who attacked him flat out. He's that powerful or so reports would indicate. You with me so far?" Kaien asked.
"Yeah, but it'd be easier to understand without the crappy drawings." Ichigo stated.
Rukia chucked her sketch pad at Ichigo in anger, which fell to the ground after it hit him in the face. She calmed down shortly afterward and sat down calmly.
"Anyway, as I was saying we were going to wait and see what was going on with the Arrancar development and also thought perhaps Talbumosuke might be an enemy very easy to take down, turns out this hasn't gotten easier. In fact it might have gotten harder. If we were dealing with Aizen still, with Captain Tosen on our side, his blindness would give us an advantage against Kyoka Suigetsu, but Talbumosuke's Zanpakuto not only can manipulate time, we also have no idea what his Bankai is capable of." Kaien said.
"Just how do you guys know he has Bankai?" Ichigo asked.
"Simple, he took out Soifon didn't he?" Lelouch said from the wall. Ichigo looked at him. "A battle between Soul Reapers is a battle of reiatsu. Soifon is captain class all on her own, if he could take her out and your friends like he did on Sokyoku hill, same with Hisana, we have a problem."
"And we all know who to blame." Renji said, jokingly.
"Shut your mouth!" Lelouch snapped back. "You're lucky we only have one monster to deal with instead of two!" Lelouch took a deep breath and then nodded to Kaien to let him know to continue.
"Anyway, like I was saying, Talbumosuke is not only more dangerous than we originally believed, but it seems he's also carrying out Aizen's plans in the man's stead. So a team sent to reinforce Karakura Town as was going to be the original order sent out anyway when Aizen began to target you. That's us." Kaien pointed to himelf.
"Who made the selections?" Ichigo asked.
"Lelouch wanted to, but ultimately decided to let Yamamoto decide what was best for the Soul Society as a whole." Kaien stated. "With the Central Forty Six wiped out, final decision making power belongs to the Head Captain."
"I should be the one making tactical choices though." Lelouch spoke up.
"Give it a rest Lelouch," Hisana told him, "The Head Captain told you that while he respects your tactical prowess as an individual that if he wanted your input he'd ask for it directly. Trust him to know what he's doing."
"I know, but still…" Lelouch looked to the side.
"Anyway," Kaien continued, "Rukia was sent because she knows you best."
"Not true," Rukia protested, "I was chosen because of my abilities!"
"Hisana and I are closer to Rukia than most, so we were chosen." Kaien continued. "Then, both of us were asked who we trusted to fight by our side outside the Captain class. I chose Kukaku and Hisana asked Susanna to come with her. Of course that would've been fine, but things got out of hand." Lelouch snorted at this, remembering just how out of hand things got. "The next thing I know Renji started saying he wanted to come and when Rangiku heard about she said it sounded interesting. Of course Rukia and Renji started having a fight on our way here and Rangiku started getting on Hisana's nerves and we almost left without them so Lelouch had to come along just to supervise us all." Kaien took a breath. "And here we are."
Is this a mission or a picnic? Ichigo asked himself.
"Whatever the case," Lelouch said, leaned up against Ichigo's wall, "Aizen was, and Talbumosuke is now by extension, interested in you. We can't have that without doing something about it. Not to mention that the Head Captain wanted extra reinforcements here considering what happened to five hundred of our outposts. And Kaien, you forgot a few details."
"Details?" Kaien asked, blinking.
Lelouch walked into the center of the room and then over to Ichigo's desk, where upon he leaned up against it. "It's true that Arrancar are born through hollows that have lost parts of their mask, but simply taking parts of a mask of a run of the mill hollow wouldn't result in anything particularly dangerous. Anyone who was serious about declaring war on the Soul Society would need something powerful. In other words, menos level and above."
"Above a menos?" Ichigo questioned. "Are you trying to tell me that there are hollows out there that are even stronger than a menos?"
"Ah, I suppose you wouldn't know that part." Lelouch said and pushed up off the desk and stood with his hands behind his back. "To clarify there are three levels of creatures under the classification of menos. The first is called the Gillian. They are the lowest class. There are many of them. Their main characteristic is that they all look relatively the same: long black bodies, with penguin like faces. The menos that you banished from this world was a Gillian. They are considered giant foot soldiers."
Ichigo became panicked. "That…was a foot soldier?"
Lelouch nodded and continued. "They're big but they're slow and their intelligence is only slightly more than a wild animal. It's hardly any trouble at all for a captain such as Hisana or myself to subdue and purify one of them. Even for lower ranked officers it's not that difficult if proper coordination can be handled. I myself, when I first started out helped dispatch a pack of menos."
"An entire pack of them!" Ichigo was starting to become very scared as his knowledge of the supernatural began to shock him with how very little he knew and how very insignificant he was.
"What are you trying to do? Scare the poor kid?" Renji asked.
"A little bit of a reality check is good for the overly arrogant." Lelouch said coldly. "Moving forward though, for those Gillain that don't have those faces, they are menos with particularly strong wills. These are beings capable of evolving into the next level of menos: Adjuchas. And here's something else I should point out, menos and hollows alike evolve not just by eating the souls of humans, Soul Reapers and souls, but also by eating each other. Cannibalism is a trait of their species."
"What?" Ichigo was shocked to hear this.
"Continuing," Lelouch went on, "An Adjuchas is the second class of menos. There are fewer of them, perhaps about one for every twenty Gillian, perhaps less…perhaps more. We don't know for certain. Many don't venture beyond Hueco Mundo. They are highly intelligent and much better fighters. They also are capable of directing Gillains like the foot soldiers that they are. As if that weren't bad enough there is one more class: the Vasdo Lordes. They are equal to humans in size are there are very few in number only a handful of them exist at any given time. To make matters worse their combat capabilities can vary from between on par or high above that of the Soul Reaper captains."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Ichigo shouted.
"I wish I were." Lelouch said with a serious look. "I lost my very first captain to a Vasdo Lordes. If Talbumosuke collects even fifty percent of the Vasdo Lordes under his command, we might as well start waving a white flag."
"But we won't, cause we're stubborn like that." Kukaku said.
"I hear that!" Renji said with a grin.
Hueco Mundo
Ulquiorra and Yammy calmly walked into the assembly hall of the arrancar. The Espada, and many other arrancar were there as well as Talbumosuke himself to welcome them back.
"We have returned, Atrumier-sama." Ulquiorra announced.
"And I caught a Frisbee!" Yammy added. Ulquiorra resisted the urge to inflict more brain damage upon his large companion.
"How nice." Talbumosuke said, almost feeding Yammy's ego. He then looked directly at Ulquiorra and much more seriously. "So, what did you accomplish, Ulquiorra? Show us."
"Yes sir." Ulquiorra said. He unhinged his eye and crushed it, allowing the memories and visions to flow into the minds of the other arrancar as well as Talbumosuke.
"I see," the black haired defector said when he had processed the events, "How interesting. I see though that you decided not to kill the primary target."
"Your orders were for me us to engage and disable those who would pose a threat in Karakura Town, to test the current limits of our enemies. In truth they are nowhere near the danger threat that the Soul Society's reinforcements will possess. They are no danger to you, and with the five hundred outposts we eliminated that are closest to Karakura Town across the galaxy, there will not be any major reinforcements able to be sent sometime soon that aren't coming directly from the Soul Society" Ulquiorra stated.
"You're soft!" an angry voice shouted. Talbumosuke, Ulquiorra, Yammy and the rest of the arrancar looked to where a blue haired arrancar, with mask fragments made to resemble his left jaw bone, complete with teeth, sat. "If it had been me, I would've killed them all in a single strike."
"Grimmjow." Ulquiorra called the arrancar by name.
"What the hell were you thinking? If terminate him was part of the order then obviously you and that oaf should've killed him right? Right?" Grimmjow antagonized.
"And I agree." A nearby arrancar that looked like he had a toilet seat stuck to his head, going by the name of Shawlong Kufang, said. "The boy stood up to you. I say you should've killed him, be he worthy or not."
"And look at you Yammy," Grimmjow continued, "You're a mess. You guys come back and say he wasn't worth killing, but it looks to me like you guys couldn't kill him!"
"Grimmjow, I know what you saw, it was clear. That blonde smiling guy and the short chick with the braids beat me up, not the kid." Yammy said.
Did he forget who it was that sliced off his arm? Ulquiorra thought to himself.
"That is so pathetic. A guy with an overbite and a female beat you up!" Grimmjow shouted.
"Pathetic huh?" Yammy said, getting angry and rising to his feet.
Ulquiorra walked forward and placed a hand up by Yammy's hollow hole. "Enough." He said. "Grimmjow, you must understand. That boy is not a threat at this point in time."
"Huh?" Grimmjow was confused.
"Aizen-sama was interested in the boy's growth rate. Atrumier-sama is interested not only in the boy's growth rate and potential, but I believe that if he doesn't self-destruct he could prove as a useful pawn to a plan Atrumier-sama is willing to use of Aizen-sama's." Ulquiorra stated. "That's why I let him live."
"I still maintain that you're soft!" Grimmjow raged. "How can you be sure that he won't become stronger than you predict or will act out of what you believe he'll do? What then?"
"Then we kill him." Talbumosuke stated. Grimmjow said and looked over to Talbumosuke. "However, since you seem so eager to fight, perhaps you'd like a chance to test his power for yourself, Grimmjow. No, perhaps I should say, maybe you'd like to test the abilities of Head Captain Yamamoto's handpicked reinforcements." Talbumosuke stated.
"You bet your ass I'd like a freaking crack at him!" Grimmjow shouted.
"Then why not?" Talbumosuke said. Baraggan squinted and looked towards Talbumosuke's direction at hearing this. "Take your fracciones and mount an assault on the World of the Living, see how you fare. In fact, I'll help you a bit. Yammy," Talbumosuke called to him, earning the Espada to look in his direction, "Go down to the medical station and get your arm reattached. Have some of Szayel's patented energy boosters while you're at it. You're going back out into battle." Talbumosuke stated.
"All right! Tengo bueno suerte!" Yammy shouted.
"Atrumier-sama." A very relaxed and sexy feminine voice called out. From the shadows, an arrancar with long blue hair, part of it covering her right eye, which hid her mask fragments that took the shape of a cave painting of a sun over her eye. Her uniform was open to show a slight amount of cleavage of her c-cup breasts. She carried a no-daichi with a navy blue handle at her left hip inside a deep purple scabbard. Her uniform had detached sleeves, showing off her shoulder skin. The sleeves went all the way to her fingers and terminated into attached fingerless gloves. She wore tight fitting leather leggings that terminated down by her sandals and socks. She had blue eyes and was rather thin, much like Ulquiorra. Her skin tone was vibrant, like Grimmjow's. Her hollow hole was just underneath her bust. "Please allow me to go as well."
Talbumosuke smirked. "While, I don't dislike your enthusiasm Mia, why the sudden interest in the conflict?" Talbumosuke wanted to know. Mia preferred to be in Las Noches unless ordered to. She had…power over the lesser arrancars that she used to attract them. Her talents included seduction, swordsmanship mastery, speed, and hand to hand expertise. She was one of the more stable arrancars that had been created.
"The girl, Kuchiki Rukia, she will join the reinforcements yes?" Mia asked.
"I do believe she will, yes." Talbumosuke answered.
A very eerie and dastardly smile crossed over Mia's face. She laughed in a way that would make Ichigo's inner hollow a more preferable noise to hear in terms of sheer creepiness. "Then I know who will be sure to follow. And that is why I wish to go. My primary target is sure to be in the fray."
"Then go. Have a pleasant time." Talbumosuke said.
"Please allow me to join the fight as well sir." A much more childish and seriously toned feminine voice called out. From the shadows an arrancar with sea green hair and a tribal mark along her nose stepped out. She had tan eyes, mask fragments on top of her head vaguely resembling a goat and she wore a stripped arrancar uniform with a sword with a light blue handle in a green scabbard with a four pointed star pattern sheathed at her left side. She had a much bigger bust than Mia and was one of the more powerful arrancar. "Letting Grimmjow lead the charge might prove to be a foolish move. Someone has to make sure he doesn't get everyone killed."
"Nelliel," Talbumosuke said with a grin, "You always look out for the others, but that's why you are one of my elite. Go, lead the charge, keep the casualties to a minimum."
Nel crossed her arm over her chest and put the side of her fist against her bosom. "Sir, I will not let you down." She saluted.
"I should certainly hope not." Talbumosuke said. "You will strike at night and stir the enemy when they are at their most relaxed. Now then, you are all dismissed."
The Espada and arrancar filed out and Grimmjow had a few choice words for Nelliel. "I don't need to babied you know." He said.
"I'm not doing this just for you." Nelliel responded. "We must keep damage minimum, this charge was your idea, I'd hate for it to go wrong."
Grimmjow spit on the ground. "That is so like you."
"When this war is over there won't be very many of us left you know. Whether we win or lose, I'd like for you to be there when it ends." Nelliel said to him.
"Whatever." Grimmjow turned around. "Don't you have some friends waiting for you that you should be telling that you'll be leaving?"
"Ah you're right," Nelliel realized, "Pesche, Dondochakka!" she ran down the hall in the other direction. Grimmjow just sighed and trudged off to prepare for tonight.
Kurosaki Clinic
Renji was fumbling with his hand down Kon's throat trying to get the pill out of the stuffed animal.
"Huh?" Rangiku asked, looking at his actions. "You sure it's a good idea to just stick it in bare like that?"
"Only if you don't have a glove." Renji said.
"You know you're lucky we all know what's really going on that sounds really bad out of context." Hisana commented.
"Since when do you have your mind in the gutter?" Kaien asked her.
"Shut up." She snapped.
Renji got out Kon's pill. "Mission accomplished. Here it is."
"Ugh, that is totally disgusting." Rangiku responded. She picked up Kon's empty plush body. "You got the soul out without too much trouble. It's certainly constructed simply or should I say shoddily."
"Hey!"
"That's the R&D department for you, always unique." Rangiku said.
"I said hey!" Ichigo repeated.
"What do you want?" Renji asked, taking Kon from Rangiku and putting his pill back in his stuffed body.
"Any ideas when you guys are gonna leave?" Ichigo asked.
"What are you talking about Ichigo? We're not gonna go home." Renji stated. "We're staying here till our battle with the Arrancars is finished. No one leaves till then."
"What? You'll be staying? But where the hell do you plan on sleeping?" Ichigo asked. "Let me make this perfectly clear. We don't have enough room for you all to stay here."
"Ahhhhhhh," Rangiku whined and then said real cutesy like, "You don't mean me do you?" She blinked innocently a few times.
"Yi! What the hell?" Ichigo recoiled. "No way! You gotta be kidding me!" He got defensive. "You're the last person I'd let stay here! What makes you think I would in the first place?"
Rangiku looked down and started undoing one of the buttons on her shirt. Lelouch, Renji and Kaien looked at her with growing curiosity.
"Yah! What do you think you're doing? You can't change my mind by undoing a button!" Ichigo shouted, blushing.
Rangiku looked at Ichigo and decided to try another tactic. She grabbed the folds of her skirt and began to lift up her skirt bit by bit.
"Not even if you lift you're skirt a little!" Ichigo covered his eyes. "Dammit! I will not give into temptation! A man like me doesn't give into temptation!"
"Really?" Rukia asked in disbelief. "Then why are you peeking through your fingers?"
In the end Lelouch, signaled everyone outside and they left one by one through Ichigo's window and assembled outside. "Well then, I'll just be Orihime's guest and stay in her bed." Rangiku declared.
Kon perked up.
"What do you mean? Did you already get her permission?" Ichigo asked.
"There isn't any rush. She's the kind of girl that doesn't know how to say no." Rangiku smiled with a wink.
There are so many different ways I could take that. Lelouch chuckled to himself.
Lelouch! Eien Tamashi chastised.
Rangiku and Orihime will be staying in the same room. Kon's mind short circuited. He leapt at Rangiku. "Oh please, let me be a mascot in your forbidden flower garden!" Rangiku slammed him onto the ground.
"Captain, you should join us." Rangiku said.
Lelouch found the idea of staying with two very attractive women very tempting indeed, but business before pleasure as they say. "Sorry, I already have business and reservations elsewhere." He said.
"What? Did you book a hotel or something?" Kaien asked.
"Considering this is Lelouch-taicho we're talking about I wouldn't be surprised." Renji said in response.
"Something like that." Lelouch said and looked at his watch. "Sorry to run, but I need to get going." He headed off down the street.
"I'll join you." Susanna said, sidling up along Rangiku. "I don't think I'll find anywhere on my own."
"Yay! Sleepover!" Rangiku grabbed Susanna by the arm and dashed down the street with her.
"I suppose I'll head on over to Kisuke's." Kaien rubbed the back of his neck. "There are a couple things I wanna discuss with him since Lelouch seems to be going off the radar except for a crisis." He began to walk away and looked over his shoulder. "You coming Renji?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm right behind." The newly appointed vice-captain followed suit.
"I should be heading out too. Yoruichi said I could crash with her and Soifon till this all blows over." Kukaku stated and began to walk away.
"Bye, Kaien-dono! Kukaku-sama!" Rukia waved.
"You two be careful." Hisana added, also waving.
"And? What do you two plan to do?" Ichigo asked with a sideways glance.
Hisana and Rukia exchanged glances and then headed for Ichigo's front door.
"Hey! What the hell? I didn't say you two could stay here! My family has already seen Rukia! What the hell do you two think you're doing?" Unbeknownst to Ichigo, Rukia, Hisana and his dad were well acquainted with one another. Of course, to keep that knowledge to a minimum they would pretend not to know each other for the sake of Ichigo's sisters.
Hisana made up a sob story, which Rukia backed up, about the two of them having abusive parents and escaping with nothing, but the clothes on their backs and absolutely no money. It was very effective on the easily emotionalized Isshin as well as Ichigo's younger twin sister, Yuzu.
"Please let them stay here, please dad!" Yuzu begged.
"You got it Yuzu, in the corner of my heart I thought the same thing. You two can stay here as long as you'd like, poor girls!"
Ichigo rolled his eyes. Hisana gave him a thumb's up and a wink. "You're lucky my dad's an idiot, Yuzu's a sucker for drama and Karin's upstairs. That would've never worked otherwise." Ichigo said.
"Masaki!" Isshin went over to the large poster of Ichigo's mom. "We now have four daughters!"
"Then again…" Ichigo said with a sigh.
Karakura Town, City limits
Lelouch stepped up to an abandoned warehouse. Despite their desire to hide it, he could sense several large reiatsu's concealed within it. Even if that were not the case, Urahara had given him the 411 on the location of those within. He entered the building casually, hands in his coat pockets. He found his destined party all eating lunch together out in the open. He had found them: the banished Soul Reapers from 101 years ago.
Shinji looked over his shoulder and was the first to notice Lelouch. "Hmm, well look who it is. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Shinji got up and waltzed over towards Lelouch. "What's it been Lelouch, a century?"
"A century a year and a few months, but no reason to get specific." Lelouch said. "Nice haircut by the way."
"Oh, you like it? Thanks." Shinji rubbed his head. "Yeah I tried better to fit in. Don't know how well it's been working though."
"What the hell?" An angry voice shouted as an irate Hiyori went sailing through the air towards Lelouch. To Shinji's utter amazement, Lelouch took a step back and at an angle and completely dodged Hiyori's assault.
"Nice to see you too Hiyori." Lelouch said with a straight face. "Sorry for not saying hello sooner."
"Since when did you get so perceptive?" Shinji asked and then closed his eyes. "Wait…is it just me or are you emitting captain class reiatsu?"
Lelouch held up a gikongan device and popped the soul into his mouth, emerging in Soul form, complete with 10th division haori. Lelouch's gikongan was personally designed by him. He made the personality design choices himself. His gikongan, to which he called Reio, was desgined to be quiet and out of the way. Basically Reio was Lelouch without the scheming. "Go sit in the corner Reio. Your master has some business to discuss."
Reio simply nodded and did as he was told.
"So tenth eh? I can tell by the inside of the haori. So you decided to take after good old Mari eh? Good for you." Shinji praised.
"As much as I'd enjoy a friendly conversation, there are things I need to bring to your attention that Urahara may or may not have told you." Lelouch said.
"If you're going to tell us about how Aizen's dead and that you got him to commit suicide using a special power called 'Geass' save your breath," Shinji rubbed the back of his head. "I heard it from Kisuke already, but you know what," Shinji put his arm around Lelouch, I'm sort of glad we had a chance to bond a little way back when. Times like this shows it was worth it." The blonde Visored beamed. "I mean Aizen had the whole Seireitei under his thumb, as far as I know, the entire time we've been here. You should give yourself a pat on the back for your accomplishment.
"Hey hold up! This is news!" Lisa said. "You tell us about your failed attempts to recruit Ichigo, but information like this you keep to yourself, what the hell Shinji?"
"Don't get your panties in a bunch. Lelouch, explain." Shinji pushed the captain forward. Lelouch sighed and told the rest of the Visoreds what was going on.
"But then where does this leave us? If Aizen is dead doesn't that make recruiting Ichigo pointless?" Hachigen asked.
"Not exactly, as I explained, Talbumosuke isn't a pushover. Ichigo still needs to control his inner hollow if we're going to be in top form. If he doesn't accept what he is, he may just wind up trying to kill us all." Lelouch responded.
"Still, the Atrumiers…man." Shinji said, scratching the top of his head. "Always figured they'd prove to be trouble. I never did like Rehten all that much back in the day."
"Still, it sounds like you did a pretty good job with Aizen, why are you worrying about Talbumosuke, just lure him like you did Aizen and problem solved." Kensei shrugged off.
"Now that my Geass has been used where everyone can see it, while Talbumosuke may not understand how it works, I think he'll soon realize that I need eye contact for it to work. He's not a fool, he's been taught by one of the most brilliant minds in Soul Society how to play the ultimate game. I won't be surprised if he takes measures to prevent me from using it on him like developing contacts similar to mine. I found some interesting data in his records. His Zanpakuto is called Jikan Kami. It was listed as only being able to manipulate time on objects like drying up a river bed, disintegrating a building, turning projectiles into dust or turning fire back into harmless oxygen. Such a power was proven to be ineffective against Souls, but reports indicate that he's now capable of stopping time, slowing down others and speeding himself up. And of course his Bankai is a complete enigma." Lelouch stated.
"How do you even know he has one?" Rose wanted to know.
"Simple, as I explained to Ichigo, don't down the former Executive Militia Commander so easily without being captain class. If it wasn't for the fact that my mere existence has become an igniter to his temper I probably would've met the same fate as Ichigo's nakama and Aizen would still be alive and kicking." Lelouch responded.
There was a long pause of no one saying anything. The Visoreds were all taking in Lelouch's information in and Lelouch was preparing his next point.
Lelouch was the first to speak. "Ichigo is still a useful pawn. If Talbumosuke is going to be brought down we can't have our biggest variable unable to beat a couple of minions."
"But Berry-tan turned us down." Mashiro commented.
"No problem." Lelouch said and looked at Shinji. "Leave Ichigo's recruitment to me. Or, if you prefer, we can devise a plan together."
"Can't you just compel Ichigo to join us with your little mind trick?" Shinji asked.
"Can't. I already used my Geass on him once before. It only works on a given person once." Lelouch stated.
"Agh, that's limited." Shinji complained. "All right, let's you and me work on a plan to get Ichigo to quit being such a dumbass and realize this is the only proper solution then."
"Sounds good to me." Lelouch stated with a grin.
While the Visoreds and Lelouch devised a plan together, night fell over Karakura Town. A garganta opened wide and Grimmjow emerged. An hour later he was met up by his fracciones, plus Nel, Yammy and Mia.
"You're here early." Nel said, looking at the arrancar as he sat on the rooftop while the rest of them stood on air.
"No, you're late. Talbumosuke said to attack at night. The sun went down a half an hour ago." Grimmjow said.
"My someone's impulsive." Mia chuckled.
"Like you're one to talk." Grimmjow barked back.
Yammy, who had recovered in a matter of hours thanks to Szayel's technology and even stored up a little extra energy so that now he was about three feet taller than he'd initially been, spoke up, "So, when do we get to take our hands to the heads of those flesh creatures and crush their heads like grapes? Mmmm, grapes." He said.
"In a minute." Nel said. "First let us take a moment to seek out our targets." She and the others took note of every individual with reiatsu in the entire town. "Everyone take a target. Remember that we are here to engage the enemy not to kill. If you feel yourselves being overpowered, retreat."
"Fuck that!" Grimmjow said with a large grin. "Attack anyone you see! Kill them all!"
"I like the way this guy thinks!" Yammy said pointing at Grimmjow.
Nel sighed. "You're all beasts. Do what you will, just try not to get yourselves killed." She disappeared via Sonido.
"All right, listen up!" Grimmjow shouted. "Show the enemy no mercy. If they can see you, kill them! If they can attack you, kill them! If they show even a glimmer of reiatsu, kill them!"
"What if they offer you a banana split?" Yammy asked.
Everyone looked at Yammy like he was nuts. Grimmjow just sighed and said. "You take the ice cream and you kill them." He said.
"Yay!" Yammy went off.
Grimmjow sighed again. "If any of you find Yammy within an inch of his life, finish him off."
"Yes sir!" Grimmjow's fraccion saluted.
"Now, Let's go!" Grimmjow shouted.
To be continued…
(A/N: Next time on Soul Chess it's an all-out war with the Soul Reapers against the arrancar. A question I leave with you all is: who is this mysterious blue haired arrancar Mia? Where did she come from? What is her purpose? Who is her "primary target". I also ask you who will fight who? Who shall live and who shall die? What do you think of the chosen reinforcments? Things get even more interesting than they already are and it all happens next time on Soul Chess)
