A/n: Hello Readers! PsychoJack here with the twelfth installment of Bleach POPG. After a much needed and kinky RR Keigo has now been revealed to the world of spirits. Despite his resistance at first, he is willing to continue to both understand the world Ichigo resides in and gain answers as to maintaining his currently fragile spirit. A hollow has now attacked him during his most vulnerable moment. Despite Yoruichi's presence, will Keigo survive? Time to find out!
Keigo's heart skipped in instinctual fear as the gigantic beast stalking the gym sped in his direction. It was so fast, almost like a blur or more specifically like a flash, as when the hollow charged it seemed from Keigo's perspective that it literally teleported in a flash.
Before Keigo even had time to register a potential plan or countermeasure to ensure his well being the monster flashed again in front of him, extending its bulding simian arms flexed in preparation for a devastating strike.
"Time to feast!" The hollow bellowed and swung. Even it's arms moved in a blur to Keigo.
BASH
CRACKLE
Debris and smoke from the impact spread throughout the spot where the hollow struck. His strike was meant to literally squish Keigo like a bug, the devastation alone was prominent enough to see that the hollow had smashed through the entire floor spraying wooden pieces all over the place.
As the smoke cleared, the inhuman being noticed that the boy he attempted to consume was not there, not even a trace of the sweet nectar of a humans' blood.
"*Tssk* Damn Soul Reapers! Always interfering with the natural order of things!"
The hollow turned around, practically sensing where Keigo's position was.
Behind the unnamed hollow, Keigo was currently held by Yoruichi in a bridal like position. Yoruichi looked at the hollow in a smirk. She was the Goddess of Flash after all, there was no way a simple hollow would out run her.
Keigo's eyes, which were closed at the sheer amount of speed at the blow he was rescued room peeked with his left eye, noticing that he was being cradled in Yoruichi's arms. He looked at the spot he was at originally, now nothing more than a literal steaming crater.
"What the- that was almost me in there! How the hell did you run so fast!?" Keigo was shocked at the speed of the dark skinned beauty who saved him from a sudden and bloody demise.
"Spirit Energy, and lots of training. It's a lot harder than it looks, trust me. Now Keigo, I need you to stay back. Let me handle this." Yoruichi said while standing Keigo up on his feet.
"Wait! You want me to just leave you here! Hell no I can't…I wont!" Keigo spoke with concern.
"Keigo, I appreciate the concern but I've fought things way worse than this before, for many years. I can handle this, what I want from you is to simply pay attention. Think of it as your first among many lessons.
Keigo sweatdropped, looking back between Yoruichi and the excessively imposing beast in front of them. He didn't want to abandon her but in retrospective what the hell could he even do. Being that Yoruichi seemed to save his ass in the blink of an eye, it is clear enough to Keigo that to her, this is the norm. This must mean that she knows what she is doing.
Keigo gulped and closed his eyes tight. He had to swallow his pride but he would sit this one out. He couldn't fight this thing anyway, even if he wanted to.
He took a few steps back. Yoruichi smiled in sympathy as she understood that Keigo's pride had taken a blow, and yet he was willing to place his faith in her. Considering their current connection, Yoruichi couldn't help but blush.
"Thanks Keigo. Don't worry I'll be fine."
"How cute. You want to protect the boy. Couldn't help but notice the smell in this room. You two have something more than friendship going on, the pheromones do not lie. I have no delusions of beating you in direct combat, reaper." The hollow said.
Yoruichi narrowed her eyes at the hollow.
"If you know what's good for you, you'd best quit while you can. I'm feeling generous today, so why don't you crawl where you came from."
"You are wrong reaper. You may possess a strong reiatsu, but you are not my target, you will need to protect the boy and yourself. Divided attention is bound to make you slip up, even for a microsecond."
The hollow narrowed it's yellow eyes beneath the bovine skull.
Yoruichi stood at the ready, her stance was not necessarily combat ready, a testament to the overflowing confidence and power she possessed in comparison to the hollow in front of her.
The hollow took a breath through its mask. It was sniffing something.
"And then, there's the fact that you have neglected your current…predicament."
The shapeshifter didn't understand what the hollow meant. Whatever it was, the beast had something planned.
The hollow revved itself up for another charge. This time however as it scraped its hooves against the floor, spiritual energy crackled like electricity under its feet. One scrape caused sparks to fly everywhere, a second caused reiatsu to practically surge outward like a flame, a third resulted in the sonic boom that rippled the air around him as he made his charge towards Keigo.
The strange thing was he wasn't just moving fast.
He was moving in multiple directions at once.
More specifically, when he charged two after images charged with him. They were enclosed in spiritual energy, moving at different angles spreading outward in their charge.
Yoruichi's eyes widened as she literally held the hollow back with one hand, however the two after images exploded on her sides.
In the nick of time she jumped backwards from the explosion. Though she is fast, the hollow seemed to have this trump card ready.
It was effective enough to make her move from her spot, thus enabling the hollow to charge again towards Keigo's position.
'Crap, he just needed me out of the way to get to Keigo. He must be more concerned with consuming his soul before fleeing.'
Yoruichi then increased her reiatsu output, enabling her already naturally fast speed to increase.
Yoruichi was about to strike from behind, however at the last second, the hollow jumped to the left side mid-charge. This caused Yoruichi with her leg extended at her current speed to be heading straight for Keigo!
The hollow used her speed against her to obtain his goal of securing Keigo's soul.
And considering that his gaping maw was already extended towards Yoruichi, it would seem that it was prepping to take care of her at the same time with one gulp.
'This hollow…he's literally using Keigo as an extension of his battle plan. Despite being hungry, his tactics are sharp! He's used to this kind of fight!'
Keigo sweatdropped as Yoruichi's foot was shooting like a bullet towards his head.
"Dammit, I'm gonna die from friendly fire!" Keigo wept in panic.
He flinched as Yoruichi's foot came close. At the last second, Yoruichi flexibly extended both her palms at the same time to bounce away from the wall on Keigo's sides and aerodynamically reaim her leg to dropkick the hollow backwards.
BOOMPH
The resounding shockwave of Yoruichi's kick left the hollow catapulting against the gym floor, ragdolling from one end where Keigo and Yoruichi were to the opposite end where the bleachers were.
The hollow remained stiff, practically unconscious if the lack of yellow glowing eyes within its mask were any indication.
Yoruichi stretched her left leg high and rolled her foot, cracking her joints with her smirk still attached.
"I will be honest, it's been a long time since a hollow showed that much cunning as opposed to sheer instinct. I guess I'll take my time with you." Yoruichi taunted.
The hollow shakily rose up and shook its head to bring itself into consciousness. It looked at Yoruichi with eyes prominent through the smoke brought about by its own crash.
This time he revved its left leg, then its right, charging its fatal spirit charge.
Yoruichi stood there, her left hand balled into a light fist.
The hollow breathed in a gust of air and blow out steam from its mouth, spreading throughout the entirety of the gymnasium in a very thick steam like fog.
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed. 'This hollow…he's good.'
Yoruichi immediately reacted by cartwheeling backwards from two swipes moving in her direction, her swiftly and effortlessly dodging the hollows overwhelmingly big fists and swipes, each strike causing the fog to shift harshly like a wind.
Yoruichi spun while upside down and kicked the hollow in its obscured bovine mask. A bull-like snarl could be heard from the hollows mask in response, it then exploded.
'An enhanced after image? That one felt like a real body just now!'
Yoruichi looked backwards and heard Keigo choke. As if he was grabbed.
'His speed increases in the smoke!' The ex reaper captain deduced.
She ran forward towards the sound, seeing the hollow grabbing Keigo and holding him by his throat.
"Stop right there. Make even the slightest nudge and I'll shoot a cero and bring the whole building full of those nobody teens down on us." The hollow threatened.
Yoruichi was about to unleash all her speed instantaneously, until she felt her heart almost hammer like a gong in her ears. She looked at her hands, and noticed that her hands were currently spasming wildly. Her eyesight saw the world's colors inversely.
"Do you understand now reaper. Your reiatsu, though strong, is currently unstable. In fact I haven't seen symptoms of spiritual implosion in a while. Why else did you think I would risk my neck and take you on if I didn't have a little advantage on my side. Hehe." The cow headed monstrosity explained. He squeezed Keigo a bit causing the boy to squeal in agony from his ribs being crushed.
'Implosion, but my reiatsu should be fine…Wait a minute. Keigo's healing from earlier.' Yoruichi looked upwards in shock at a sudden and in Keigo's case fatal realization.
Keigo's healing wasn't healing. Not by a longshot.
Keigo's eyes shook in and out of shock as he was crushed. His heart ached, and once more he felt the sensation of smoke sizzling in his throat, his eyes burned. He bit the bottom of his lip as a blood streamed downwards.
'I can't breathe. It hurts!'' Keigo could only think in his mind.
'Not again…I don't want to die…' The brunette thought to himself as his body felt heavier.
'I…I hate this…I hate how my life will end…when I just got it back…when I just…when someone got to tell me how brave I was…' Keigo thought to himself, as his eyesight blurred.
He could hear the laugh of the bull hollow, a distorted and mocking laugh. He could see Yoruichi struggling with her body if that makes sense to Keigo. He wasn't sure what was going on but he did know one thing.
He hated the piece of shit that seemed to find pleasure in the destruction he caused. He was too proud of his win, more from inflicting pain as opposed to eating like the beast claimed earlier.
It reminded him of bullies since he was a kid, it reminded him of many people who struggled with such people in general. Himself, Chizuru, Orihime, Yoruichi, and Ichigo. They all had to deal with bastards like this at some point.
'Screw this asshole!' Keigo felt rage boiling in his gut. He clenched his teeth as he felt his muscles burn. His haphazard breathing flowed smoothly despite his crushed ribs. Even the pain seems to have grown numb and yet he remained fully alert. His eyesight grew clearer, but he couldn't help but notice everything was silent. White noise was practically soaring through his ears.
'I want to live! I'm not ready! I refuse for it to end because of you!'
Keigo proceeded to extend his hands.
Yoruichi was about to call for Keigo to stop moving as the Hollow already pinned him.
With the hollow distracted, Keigo's hands were currently holding the Hollows mask by its edges. When he did so, everything grew quite, no sound, just the simple action of removing that stupid mask off its face.
"AGGGGGGHHHGGHGHGH"
The hollow was screaming as the boys gripped his mask and pulled.
*Sfx: Tearing Flesh*
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? LET GO!?"
The hollow let his grip of Keigo go. The boy however used his feet to balance himself on its giant bull skull face and kept pulling. The mask began shifting forward, giving way to Keigo's pull.
*Sfx: Tearing flesh. Meaty sounds.*
"AGHH, GET OFF ME YOU FREAK!" The hollow smashed itself against the wall with Keigo hitting it. He grunted and stilled for a second the boy covered in plaster and dried paint.
Then he pulled again.
*SFX: Glass Shatter!*
Yoruichi watched as Keigo had literally broke off a huge chunk of the hollows mask, causing blood to rupture outward from within the mask. It was quite brutal as the hollow fell to the floor writhing as it his face, screaming in extreme pain. Blood pooled on the floor of the gymnasium, the hollow spasming once then twice before remaining still, it's mask more than halfway torn. It's face however was missing, as obscure as darkness though small flesh like tendrils emanated from the darkness of what was once its face.
Despite dying from such a vital point of a hollows' physiology, the hollow did not dissipate normally as a normal hollow would when destroyed. It remained, much like a regular body.
Yoruichi looked at the mess, shocked at the unexpected manner and brutality used against the hollow. Keigo was currently on the floor, laying down in exhaustion, his torso moving as he gasped for the comfort of breath.
The mask remained in his hand, however it was cracked under his grip, practically worthless and as sensitive as porcelain given its fractured state.
Yoruichi went to Keigo, lifting him a tad to decipher his condition. His soul has yet to fall apart, but he is weak. She will need to take him to Urahara's for the night. She had to head there anyway, as it would seem that she herself was out of commission in terms of her own captain rank strength.
Keigo opened his eyes towards Yoruichi, who stared in worry.
Keigo's brown eyes were faintly glowing a deep shade of emerald that encompassed his entire iris.
The mask he had torn from his enemy was currently disintegrating into dust under Keigo's grip.
And the more it broke, the more Keigo's breathing became normalized.
"Keigo…" Yoruichi looked at him in concern.
Keigo refocused his eyesight, his eyes were back to normal, as was his ribs for the moment. He looked at his bloody right hand that grasped the last bit of the hollows mask.
"Yoruichi, what the hell's happening to me?" Keigo asked seemingly afraid of what he himself just did.
Yoruichi looked back to where the hollows body laid.
It was gone. Only a bloodstain remained…
…and a trail of it led outside.
CHAPTER END