Chapter 18 version 4
1987
Tanya woke to heavy knocking at her door and scowled. Three years, three very long, arduous years of dealing with these battle maniacs had taught her something about the battle manic archetype.
Her battalion for all she complained about their love of fighting, had specifically enjoyed winning fights as opposed to the 11th division which was full of crazed combat fiends who were just in love with the idea of fighting as a whole, win or lose.
Dressing herself she stumbled to the door fully expecting exactly what she got when she opened it. "11th Seat Tanya, I challenge you to a fight." Yumichika Ayasegawa, the 5th Seated Officer of the division stated with a broad smile and self-conceited tone. The plumed Officer was just standing there with his sheathed sword carried in his hand and a look that said he was ready to use it in order to get that fight today. Thankfully she had an excuse that would save her from having to deal with his battle lust today.
"Renji asked me to do something for him starting today, so I'm afraid I won't have the time to fight you today and I won't be back in town till next month." She attempted to deflect with a smile as she moved to close the door.
Ayasegawa's hand found its way to the door blocking her escape as he suggested his idea of an alternative solution "Hey, next month at the start of the new year when the exhibition matches are scheduled right, how about I get Lieutenant Yachiru to set up a match between us then?"
Tanya audibly gulped at the thought of bringing Yachiru into this and nodded her agreement knowing she really didn't have the ability to say no if Yachiru got involved. She closed the door and stepped back with a sigh.
Every week she had to deal with one or more attempts to fight her, usually from those who were less powerful than her so she could quickly put the fight to an end, winning through sheer overwhelming force more than anything.
When it came to officers however, things got tricky. For the lower ranking seats, she followed through with the fights, seeing it as a quick way to reach a good middle management position which worked quite well as in what felt like no time at all, she reached the relatively safe, well-paid position of 11th Seat. The bane of her existence however turned out to be the challenge of refusing to fight the higher ranking officers as she had to use more "alternative" diversionary tactics.
During the first two and a half years of her stint in the division when any higher-ranking officers came around to demand a fight, she appealed to the ancient right of being the one challenged to decide how they fought, a tenuous position which led to Tanya challenging them to a contest of filing the paperwork they shoveled at the 10th squad.
This practice had brought a smile to her face for the first year as forcing the officers that had dumped their paperwork on her, Visha, and the rest of the 10th squad's shoulders to finally handle their own mess felt rather vindicating.
Naturally, her years of experience filing paperwork and genuine love for the tedium led to her winning most "bouts" which in turn may have led to her becoming a bit too smug about those victories. Something that culminated into Tanya passionately giving a few speeches about how proper officers should be able to file their paperwork as well as fight to the embarrassed recently defeated reapers.
Then one day, she noticed how the third squad's paperwork stopped coming in, at the time she simply thought that Madarame forgot to send it over. She even had Hidenao go over to the third squad officer space to ask about it but he came back empty-handed, at which point the Third Seat showed up in person and demanded a fight.
When she attempted her old diversionary tactic the bald reaper gleefully revealed he had already finished all the paperwork for his unit already. She congratulated him on the win then shut the door in his face, hoping that handing him the victory would put an end to his challenges.
A hope that in one sense came true as it had ended the third squad's horrendous dereliction of paperwork duties Tanya's delight was short-lived however as the next time someone had knocked on her door, it had been lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi, who followed the trend and similarly demanded a fight.
Her attempts to dictate the competition had been rebuffed with simple, "Don't be silly, that's not how it works in 11th, come with me and let's spar." the pink-haired girl ordered, bearing the most frustrated look Tanya had ever seen on her face.
Tanya, having no other options now that it was a direct order, agreed to the fight and spent the day convincing herself that the little girl may not actually be that powerful, that the little tike didn't have a spiritual power level she needed to worry about and that her position was most likely propped up by the captain's massive power and fondness for her.
The resulting beatdown had resulted in Tanya spending a week in the fourth division's tender care. The young Lieutenant's Shikai could summon a pair of monsters that not only shared perfect coordination with her but had enough strength behind their strikes that they ripped large fissures in the arena floor whenever they missed, leaving Tanya with very little room to maneuver.
The fight had quickly gone from 'I'll put up some resistance before surrendering' to 'I'm going to die if she hits me even once.' Thankfully she had not in fact died from being hit but it had been a damn near thing. Part of her wondered if this was what it was like being on the other side of the 203rd artillery-assisted training program.
During her recovery, while Tanya had been strapped to the bed and unable to escape the demon child, Yachiru had made a few things clear. "You did good Chaffy but you need to learn your sword's name or you'll end up here a lot or worse. Also no more skipping Cueball's fights, he was really down after you skipped out last week."
To Tanya, the signalling could not be more clear, the command of 11th was frustrated with her lack of progress in achieving Shikai and had sicced the 5th Seat on her thinking it would help her improve. She would either have to fight him when he wanted to or the pink demon child would beat her up under the guise of extreme training, the irony was not lost on her.
This unfortunate situation was why she was standing in front of a mirror applying a bit of makeup before tying her hair up in a ponytail with a green bow Visha had bought for her on a shopping trip last year before throwing her peaked hat on. If they wanted her to achieve Shikai faster, then it, unfortunately, meant dealing with Tasha, but since the scarlet woman was rather tight-lipped about what she actually wanted, Tanya had to make guesses based on context clues.
The fact that she brought up Miss Hildebrand's suggestion from the empire propaganda department became her best guess, which meant dressing in styles other than military standard and excessive grooming when it came to her hair and face. Though she was about to give up on the latter part of that plan, she was starting to think it was a red herring as she found the entire process to be time-consuming, frustrating, wasteful, and unnecessary.
"Scarlet woman, what an utterly despicable thing to call someone, I'm not some harlot, I just find color flattering." Tasha's voice chimed in the back of her mind.
"Didn't we agree not to talk to each other unless invited?" Tanya mumbled out loud.
"An insult is an invitation in my book salarygirl." The superiority in her voice grated on Tanya's nerves.
"Well then unless you are going to give me a clue about what your name is or how to learn it, consider yourself uninvited. I have a busy day ahead of me." Tanya shot back.
"Yes-yes, you have your silly little report to send to Captain Aizen on a possible doomsday scenario if Central 46 isn't reformed. Very pressing, it's not like you yourself theorize it would take one to two hundred years of further lagging behind living world development. I'm also quite sure you are not "missing out" on any take-on paperwork for potential employers you don't plan to join." Tasha mused.
Tanya sighed, even though it pained her to admit it, Tasha was right. Despite the distance from the problem Tanya was still slightly concerned about keeping her millennium-long life span going as comfortably as she could manage.
She had learned a great many things since that day in the library, her theories on the impending doom of Central 46 as it currently existed seemed less likely after seeing what political and social power a captain wielded. Despite this, however, she still believed a turning point in the history of the soul society was inevitable.
The current system worked well enough when living conditions in the world of the living were as desperate as in the Soul Society, especially as most souls didn't need to eat. But the average living condition of a person in the world of the living was now better than soul society, they were managing the souls of a first-world nation by dumping them in a backward foreign society at best and wartorn third-world poverty at worst.
Sooner or later enough souls with the necessary skills and memories would finally reincarnate again within the soul society. Bringing with them the technological and social developments of the 20th and 21st centuries, Tanya suspected that especially the excessive technological advancements would vastly change the social and political power dynamics within the Soul Society.
Massively improved transportation across the vast lands of the Soul Society would result in increased trade, communication, and previously unheard of upwards mobility the likes of which had only really been possible for those with the potential to become soul reapers up until this point.
Deep societal changes that would result in more calls for government accountability as it had in so many other parts of the world, already city-states and oligarchies were constantly forming at the edges of the Rukongai simply due to Central 46's lack of ability to project power effectively, what would happen when these separate entities improved their living conditions beyond that of the lower districts? Central 46 possibly didn't care too much about fringe societies that couldn't ever threaten their power base but when those same ideologies and distaste for the state infected closer districts?
The current relative lack of oversight would eventually allow for businesses and innovators to flourish, and sooner or later that same lack of governmental oversight would either relegate Central 46 to irrelevancy or more likely drive conflict between these separate interests especially since the only things keeping revolutionaries at bay is the current dependency on soul reapers as the only possible way to protect themselves from hollows and the extreme disparity in relative power both militarily and economically.
Any prolonged conflict between whatever possible future revolutionary force decided that the current state of affairs wasn't tenable and the ruling powers that be, would inevitably change the way the Soul Society functioned, completely changing the way Central 46 interacted with the rest of the world regardless of how the conflict ended up.
After all the Seireitei would be fighting an unwinnable guerilla war, surrounded on all sides and vastly outnumbered, their soldiers though far superior than the average soul were exceptionally limited in number and their recruitment was inherently severely limited. It takes years to fully train even a basic unseated reaper and they'd be recruiting from a populace that would be ever-growing in resentment.
All this wasn't even mentioning how whatever conflicts that did arise would spread the already underpowered Court Guard Squads even thinner resulting in more chaos, anarchy, and disrupting the cycle of rebirth even further.
Central 46, she concluded, was living on borrowed time unless they chose to adapt, which due to the excessive lack of new blood and ideas within the ruling body was going to be difficult at best, catastrophic at worst and either way, change would be inevitable nonetheless.
Not everything seemed bleak and hopeless to Tanya though, there is an easy way to prevent any significant chaos in the future. They had to expand the 13 Court Guard Squads and modernize all districts. If people had safety, entertainment, and a competitive free-market economy they would be less likely to rebel in any significant force. Most of all Central 46 would need reforms, so people felt they had some control of the government, even if that was just an illusion granted by token representation.
The simple fact that the current government had a severe monopoly on force capable of effectively slaying hollows would work in its favour as a bargaining tool there, The thirteen Court Guard Squads are the only faction capable of reliably offering their proven service after all.
"It may not seem like much but filling out reports of prospective problems and sending them to my superior is how the civilized world works. If a report is not there when the problem becomes more apparent there would be nothing to grab on to, but with the report filed in whatever system the Captain-General uses for the Court Guard's emergency planning, there is a chance the problem can be avoided." Tanya responded, picking the report up and forcing it into a bloated letter.
"Yes, but you have 200 years by your estimates, more than enough time to maybe go to one of those drinking parties the 11th and the 8th divisions throw." Tasha proposed.
"As much as I like the idea of improving relations with the Captain of the 8th, until I can rebuild up my alcohol tolerance it would not end well I'm certain." Tanya shot back
"Fine then, keep drinking alone with Visha then." There was something in Tasha's voice that almost sounded like she did not have a problem with that outcome to Tanya. It must have been her imagination she mused, shaking her head as she strapped her saber to her side and stepped outside.
Walking through the 11th division in the early morning was always a quiet, surprisingly peaceful time, most of the division's reapers did not get up or down to work until midday. Either hungover, training elsewhere, or having beaten themselves till they needed a few more hours rest. The only folk she bumped into this early were the small few like her who took this job seriously and the officers who got up this early to train.
Navigating the seemingly maze-like turns she dropped her report off in the secluded mailroom by the front exit before taking the last few steps outside getting a fresh breath of air. Looking to her left she saw the red-haired Renji Abarai 6th seat of 11th division practicing his swordsmanship.
Out of all the battle maniacs she met since joining this division Abarai she liked. He was competent, finished his paperwork on time, dedicated and goal-driven, he may like a fight but from the fights, she had seen he understood that combat should be a short, decisive affair, not a drawn-out slugfest. He also seemed to be on a journey of self-improvement, though she was not quite sure why just yet.
"11th Seat Tanya Degurechaff reporting for duty." She informed her superior officer, coming to attention as she stood to the side of the training field.
Sheathing his sword in a fluid motion Renji smiled and said "Morning Tanya, I see you're fully kitted out for your trip."
Tanya nodded in affirmation "It would not represent our division well to be late to something like this." Referring of course to an inter-division hollow hunt. Every couple of months two divisions would send out two members to hunt hollows together, a simple but effective comradery building exercise and one that most likely saved her life considering she ran into two reapers during her time at the academy.
"So who will I be working with exactly?" Tanya asked as Renji led her towered the gate of the division headquarters.
"Division 13, an old friend of mine, yours too from what I know. Rukia Kuchiki." Tanya made an agreeing noise though she doubted Rukia thought of her as a friend, they were acquaintances at best in Tanya's mind, and if it wasn't for owing the girl for stalling and distracting the hollow. Giving Tanya the opportunity she needed to kill the monster that was going to end her life, she honestly doubted she'd even have completely remembered her name.
"I haven't seen her in nearly a decade," Tanya mused as walked out the gate.
"Wish I could see her that often." Renji mused back. Something about the way he said that caused Tanya to side glance at him, noting there was more wishfulness than she would expect from someone who is an old friend in his eyes.
"Haven't seen her in a while?" Tanya asked out of trying to take the appearance of concern for her fellow division member.
"Ever since we left the academy 30 years ago we haven't had many chances to talk." He replied before continuing "Things got difficult after that."
Difficult, an odd and rather undescriptive turn of phrase, curiosity getting the better of her Tanya decided to give a little push. "Difficult?" She asked in such a tone that implied it was okay to not answer.
As a cart pulled around a corner heading towards them he managed to say "She graduated from the academy as part of the nobility, things have just never been the same since then."
The cart came to a stop in front of him and Rukia stepped out giving them a shallow bow and a curt greeting. "6th Seat Renji Abarai, 11th Seat Tanya Degurechaff."
Renji returned the bow "Lady Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia, it's good to see you."
"Good to see you too, Renji." Rukia said with a smile.
Tanya knew she should speak but it was not every day she walked into a modern? Romeo and Juliet story playing out in front of her. The way Renji carried himself had completely shifted. And Tanya had seen enough dumb romance plots to pick up what was going on through the smile on Rukia's face.
"Good to see you too, Rukia." Tanya managed to get out as she watched the victims of some circumstance or another make longing glances while the other wasn't looking. Perhaps she was overthinking it, maybe it was just an urge to continue their friendship that was tampered with by some situation. Either way, she decided it was none of her business so she took control of the situation before her. "So we'll be taking a wagon to the mid-20s I believe, correct?"
Her question seemed to have broken whatever thought was going through Rukia's mind as the noble quickly responded. "Yes there's been a report of one, possibly two hollows that need to be handled and we need to make a little check around to see if there's any reason that they've decided to make an appearance in the region. The hollows usually stick to the outer districts, them being this close often means someone with strong spiritual energy has drawn them in."
Tanya nodded, being one of those individuals in the past. "Then let's not dally a moment longer, there are people that need our help." grunting slightly as she stepped up into the cart and took a seat opposite Rukia. That her seating also happened to give her a good view of the long final glance Rukia gave as she and Renji parted ways was coincidental.
Rukia Kuchiki watched the blond girl closely, trying to figure out if her first impression of the girl was wrong. All those years ago when the girl had been shorter, leaner and more fragile-looking than herself, she swore the girl's eyes had the same carnal lust for combat as Zaraki. She knew the girl would enter the 11th division eventually, but what she heard about the girl did not match up with that impression. She was a Kido expert, she did not give anyone the impression she liked to fight and had in fact, from what she had been able to learn from Tanya's friend Nicole, even convinced the school she didn't like to fight.
Was the crazed monster behind the eyes of the little girl she had seen just a hallucination or was she missing something? She didn't know, hell if the girl had not responded to the name Degurechaff she would not have known it was her.
Though once short enough to be a child, Tanya was now a few inches taller than her and had a body that made Rukia look thinner by comparison. She heard some male members of her division call her mini Rangiku after seeing her at an exhibition match, a resemblance she could see through, thankfully Degurechaff dressed far more conservatively than the similarly blonde Lieutenant of the 10th.
After riding the carriage for a while, Rukia brought up the nerve to talk with the blond officer. "So Miss Degurechaff it's been quite a long time since we last met, how have you been acclimatizing to your life as a soul reaper, I heard you got to graduate early."
Tanya who had been looking out the nearby window turned to face her more squarely, her piercing eyes focusing on her. "My life has been good since I joined the afterlife military, I even found some old companions, get three square meals a day and I'm allowed to stretch my academic skills whenever I get the chance. How has your life been since we last met?"
"Oh well, my life has been fine." Not exactly true, she had not progressed in her own division to an officer position yet, she missed her old friends like Renji, and her adopted brother Byakuya was not exactly the most caring person in the world on a good day. Rukia shivered as she noticed the blonde girl studying her, Tanya's eyes seeming to judge her very existence.
Rukia needed to come up with something to get the girl talking and quick. Wait a moment, didn't Renji's letter say Tanya was still having trouble with her Shikai? Perhaps that was the way to get on her good side and stop the incessant staring. "I have been trying to perfect my control of my Shikai actually since it can be a bit hard to control." A shared burden, that would work she was sure.
"Hard to control? How so?" Tanya asked as she leaned back in her seat.
"Well Sode no Shirayuki is an ice-type release and if I'm not careful it can cause harm to my body" She explained.
Tanya nodded before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper, writing something down then handing it over. "Not knowing the exact cause I'm not sure if it will help but this was a spell we used during high altitude flights. It can help keep body warmth even at some coldest temperatures."
Rukia reached out to take the note from the girl and ended up feeling rather surprised when looking at the spell she saw something she had never seen before, Kaidō #4 Insulation. She had never seen a healing spell laid out this way, heck most healing spells focused on transferring energy, this was something entirely different.
Ultimately Rukia suspected that the proposed spellwork would not help alleviate her specific issues, she needed to be able to maintain control of herself with a body at lower temperatures for her Shirayuki to be able to function at full power not stop herself from losing body heat in the first place.
Recognizing a potential solution though Rukia resolved herself to ask the girl about any spells that might help her when she got the chance, but for now, though, she simply replied with a. "Thank you, Tanya."A smile gracing her lips, feeling more secure in the knowledge that this trip would be a good experience with the blond girl.
"Another one coming from the left!" The blond-haired reaper yelled as she ran down the alleyway in front of Rukia giving her the space and foreknowledge to slash her sword at the hollow that tried to get in between them.
Things had not gone well for their little expedition into the 20s. Instead of one or two hollows, it turned out to be six or more. They weren't particularly powerful but they seemed to have developed a tactic around switching out with each other so they could continuously harry their opponents and heal in between contact with the reapers.
Unless they managed to kill one in a single hit it would pull back, let one or two of its friends take its place, and use the exceptional regeneration that hollows possess to repair itself.
"We need to find a place so we can destroy these things," Tanya shouted back over her shoulder as they crossed into the open street between the buildings.
"Over there!" Rukia called, pointing towards what appeared to be the former town hall of this destroyed town. Someone had screwed up, this was supposed to be a simple operation to exterminate one, possibly two, hollows attacking a small town.
Instead what they had stumbled into was a massacre, most of the population were either dead or in hiding and significant portions of the town were up in flames. This was the kind of operation that would usually require between four and an entire squad of soul reapers and it was now up to the two of them to try and deal with it.
Tanya was the first up the steps of the town hall stopping at the front door and smashing her booted foot through the area next to the lock, breaking open the door and allowing them entry. Once inside Tanya pushed a bookcase that had been near the door in the way as an impromptu barricade.
Taking a moment to look around Rukia saw that whoever had been in the building last had sealed it up sufficiently placing wooden boards or anything else they could get in front of the windows.
All in all, not a great situation but it was better than being outside, the hollows would either have to break their way in or try to use their ability to transport between Hueco Mundo and this world to get in. Either option would be noticeable and give them the time they needed to react.
That is of course if the Hollows even tried breaking in, it had obviously been under siege for a few days. Which meant if they wanted to they could try and starve the soul reapers out and just hunt the civilians left in the town while they waited.
Breathing heavily Tanya kicked a stool from its side up on its legs and took a moment to sit down on it. "Well, whoever was in charge of this operation denied us need-to-know information it would seem." She muttered in a low tone as she took out a rag from her pocket and started cleaning her sword.
"I'm sure it's nothing that bad Tanya," Rukia stated, taking a seat on an overturned box. "The captain of my division showed me the report himself. A small town was complaining about a few isolated attacks."
Tanya glanced over at Rukia as she finished cleaning her blade and sheathed it once more, "Well if that's the extent of the information we are given I am going to have to settle for the belief that the second division does not do a great job at gathering information and needs to improve on that."
"That's not exactly fair, confirming each received report isn't exactly their job.".
"Their job is gathering information. Intel is what keeps soul reapers alive and they have not provided enough intel for our survival. There is a good chance that if we screw up we will die, so I will forward my official complaint if we survive this, and leave it for those above me to deal with." Tanya said.
"Miss Degurechaff?" A young female voice chimed in from the back of the room causing the pair to turn towards a stairway leading into a basement. The door to the basement had been half open when they entered.
By now it was fully open and a tall, somewhat lanky girl with dark black hair was staring at the pair of them. The girl looked rather worse for wear with her clothing shoddy and torn and her body covered in various shades of dirt and bruises.
Rukia looked at Tanya and saw her eyes widening with recognition. "Miss Lehrgen." She said before standing up. "What are you doing here? The last time I saw you was in the '60s".
The answer to that question was not forthcoming as the girl seemed to break down into tears as she rushed Tanya with a hug. The only thing Rukia could make out of the mess of jumbled sounds was a few prayers of thanks to the Soul King as Tanya stood there with her arms to her side looking rather confused by the situation.
After a few moments Tanya was able to escape the embrace and had the young girl sit down in the chair Tanya had just vacated. "Let's try this again. Miss Lehrgen, What are you doing here?"
"I'm running from the hollows. They attacked my hometown and they've been chasing me ever since. The girl stammered out
"What about your father, where is he?" Tanya asked.
"I don't know we were separated in the attack. He told me to run and so I ran."
Rukia saw a look of annoyance pass over Tanya's face before she responded. "And you happened to run in the right direction, well don't worry about it, I will have some friends in my division go see what happened and we'll try to get you reunited with your father." It was amazing watching Tanya lie without ever changing her cadence. If Rukia didn't know that the chances of her father being alive were near zero she might have believed the blonde reaper as eagerly as the black-haired civilian did.
Rukia shook her head understanding straight away the terrible story in front of her though something was off. "The '60s that's 40 districts away from here minimum, how did you survive and get here for so long with that many hollows after you?" She was genuinely interested and confused by the girl's story.
"I was moving with a convoy of survivors from my town for a long time, but over time we were picked off one by one, they seemed to make a sport out of it, most towns we tried to take shelter in would not let us stay for long," The black-haired girl said.
Tanya brought her left hand to her face, her fingers massaging the bridge of her nose to relieve some tension or frustration. After a moment she seemed to come out of whatever state that had been muttering "Another life Being X has made me responsible for.".
With a heavy sigh, she kneeled down and pulled a dagger out of her boot handing it to the girl. "Since the hollows are after you, you may have a large quantity of spiritual energy, take this dagger and say' "Hadō #5 Mage Blade" whilst trying to channel your reiryoku into the dagger, it's not much but it might give you something to defend yourself with."
The girl nodded and did as she was ordered, Tanya smiled as by some miracle the blade started to glow a deep Blue. "All right I was afraid of that, the situation has changed. You are going to come with me for now, I will get you enrolled in the spiritual arts academy as soon as possible." Tanya said standing up and cracking her neck "That is a long-term goal though, the short-term goal is you're going to stay here, and if anything comes into this building and tries to eat you stab it repeatedly. That dagger may not be a Zanpakuto but with a mage blade attached to it the blade should be able to pierce a hollow's skin and cause some damage."
Turning to Rukia she continued "We're going to go out there and kill every single hollow between us and the wagon home okay."
Rukia found herself nodding before she realized what she had just been told they were doing. "But it's the two of us versus at least six of them. How are we going to defeat them and prevent them from switching out.?"
Overwhelming force and not giving them the chance." Tanya curtly stated, walking towards the doorway as she began shoving the bookcase back out of the way.
"But you haven't even achieved Shikai, how are you going to produce this overwhelming Force?"
"That is not a problem, Tasha and I are in complete agreement that everything around here must die so we're just going to put these hollows in the grave they'd so rightly deserve." She said as she finished removing the barricade and pushed the double doors open and turned Rukia.
"Or At least enough of them to start a panic and make the others flee. They may be controlled by their hunger but they seem to still have some reason buried in them which means they will likely flee if given proper incentive to do so."
"Do me a favor to make sure nothing gets past these doors?" Tanya's eyes glowing a deep cerulean as she made her request.
Rukia found herself unable to refuse responding with a quick "I will" as she watched Tanya unclip her saber from her belt and draw the sword from its scabbard with her right hand before flipping the scabbard around in her left. Both sword and saber scabbard began to glow blue as Tanya resolutely walked down the steps of the town hall.
Rukia wasted no time drawing her own sword and releasing Sode no Shirayuki, the simple black handguard switching to a pure white snowflake and draining the nearby heat.
Looking around she came to the conclusion that if she could perhaps catch some of the hollows in the area of effect abilities of her blade she could prevent them from retreating and increase their chances of surviving this.
Tanya, as opposed to turtling up in a defensive position that would allow her to funnel the enemies to her, walked straight into the center of the town square, in front of the hall, and waited. Finally after what felt like a short eternity, one of the monsters, a creature twice the size of a man, stepped into view.
The black and red beast had two sets of arms slamming it's twin left fists into its right palms before charging at her with an inhuman screech. Tanya for her part stayed absolutely still, maintaining the stance she started with her saber in her right hand pointed at the oncoming enemy her scabbard held in her left held off to the side.
She didn't move until the exact last second where she dodged low and slashed the creature's legs as it attempted to punch where she had been standing. Before the creature could realize that it might be in a bit of trouble. Tanya, now underneath the belly of the beast, used her shoulder to finish off the creature's legs, forcing it to crash forward onto the ground.
Rukia had time to see the blonde girl shove her sword scabbard to the back of the creature's head before chanting several hadō #1. Shō at close range causing the hollow's head to crack and burst like a watermelon.
That was the last Rukia could see before she had to deal with her own hollow, this one looking like a distorted pterodactyl, that just appeared next to her and attempted to ambush her.
Unsuccessfully attempted that is, as Rukia was already preparing her first dance Some no mai, Tsukishiro, the hollow beast, and the majority of the entrance to the town hall were frozen solid in a pillar of ice further decreasing the ambient temperature.
Dancing back from the collapsing ice structure, Rukia had a good view of Tanya as the blonde reaper unleashed half a dozen or so hadō #1. Shō at close range at another hollow, this one shaped like a giant spider had attempted to jump down at her from the roofs above.
Enough hit that it was thrown off course and it attempted to retreat into Hueco Mundo. Mercy, however, wasn't something Tanya seemed interested in, refusing to let it escape as she jumped and met the beast midair, slashing her blade and taking three of its spider-like arms away, throwing it off course again and causing it to crash into the building below.
Rukia noted that Tanya hovered for a few seconds before she came down hard, bringing the blade of her sword through the back of the beast. Aiming her scabbard at the skull of the pinned hollow she used it to deploy a hadō #4. Byakurai at close range, sending a flash of lightning through its head ending it's a futile struggle.
A crocodile-like hollow smashed through the building wall across from Rukia charging her with an open wide jaws of its mask. She danced around it and cut its lower jaw off the hinge causing the hollow to release another loud scream before she jabbed her sword through its brain ending its misery.
Looking around she wondered if that was it, if they got them all. Looking at Tanya she had hoped to celebrate their victory only to see the largest hollow of the bunch, a massive elongated humanoid figure with a giant fist that could crush a person in a single blow, appear behind her blonde compatriot. "Tanya!" she started to call then she saw the look on her face. Her eyes are still blazing blue highlighting a full tooth smile that looked at home on Kenpachi.
"Set up that ice dance a couple of yards in front of me." She called as the fist came down and smashed into a shield just above Tanya's head before she kicked off the ground and slid backward, cutting both legs out from underneath the massive hollow. As the beast started to fall forward Tanya jumped up, landing firmly on its back.
Rukia could not see what was happening but the creature was screaming in pain as Tanya did something causing it to walk forward. Then it fell forward exactly where Rukia had been preparing her first dance, revealing what that something had been, Tanya had cut into its spine, tearing chunks from its body in several places with brutal precision. The ice pillar rose around the beast's head, freezing it, killing it, and ending the fight for good.
For a few good moments, they waited in halted breath for a confirmation that nothing else was coming, with nothing popping up after a short while Rukia took a step closer as Tanya jumped down from the hollow's slowly deteriorating body. She arrived close enough just in time to hear her admit "Fine you're right, that was fun."
Confused, Rukia asked, "Are you okay?"
Turning towards her Tanya flashed another unnerving grin before responding "I feel more alive than I have in years." Then she sheathed her blade and attached it to her belt.
"Well, I think we've accomplished our mission. I think it's time we get the child somewhere safe, don't you think?" The young reaper mused, walking towards the town hall.
Rukia shook her head, surer than ever that there was something deeply wrong with Tanya, but not quite minding her quirks as long as the woman was on her side.
Writer note
Emberwing saved a whole page worth segment on this chapter from my brain being a dumbass, other than that ah still not sure if i got handles on fights yet.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Emberwing, Starstruck, Lord Feunoyr, Tisaku
response to reviews from last time
Jctherebel: thank you
EricFreak: You feel bad for visha what about Tasha, she has to live in Tanya head.
skrapsynneh: and here more for ya in fact the longest chapter yet
Scarlet Anne: ah well you come aross anything good let me know, until then i'll keep up the work.
arthurpendragon1940: thank for the cookie, and I hope it is not too far off from how Tanya is meant to be.
Grocamol: that time... not so much the next time.
PsylentFox: you're going to enjoy parts of this chapter I can tell. just in case your think I wrote this chapter in response to your comment at this very moment I'm staring at the document marked chapter 21 chapter 19 and 20 are already written.
KureijiRyuu: here hoping you enjoy the next one.