Unfortunately this isn't a new update. I'm just moving everything back to where it's supposed to be.
A/N: Wow, I messed up on this update lol. I'm sorry it took so long. College applications suck and Among Us is still addictive. And being more social is kinda exhausting. That's all I gotta say on that XD
But thank you to ghostboy1225 and zixalZane for reviewing. I really enjoyed the feedback! Mad love to all of y'all. Now, I don't wanna waste your time so here we go!
Chapter 21: Highway to Hell
The group of friends surrounded the two captive Bounts. Ichigo looked down at the two boys with mild annoyance. They didn't look the slightest bit repentant of the mess they were causing and still looked cheeky as hell. The only upside was that they seemed to, at least, somewhat understand the gravity of their situation.
"So," drawled Urahara, "what's Kariya's real plan?"
"He's going to take the Infi-Map from those backwater Yetis!" spat a twin.
"What's the Infi-Map?" asked Ichigo.
"The Infi-Map is real, eh?" Urahara rubbed his stubbled chin, thoughtfully. "What could he want with that thing?"
"Likely nothing good," Tessai chimed in. "There's no telling what he could do with all of that power! He could go anywhere almost instantaneously!"
"Hey-"
"True, but there are more powerful artifacts out there. I'm certain there's more to this. There has to be."
"Can you-"
"I fear you may be right, Urahara-sama."
"Hey!" shouted Ichigo. "What the hell's the Infi-Map?!"
Urahara, being the cheeky bastard he was, hid his smile behind a fan. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't hear you there, Ichigo."
"Just answer the damn question," Ichigo ground out.
"It's a door to all of the realms, known and unknown. It's been fabled to be made from the mind of the Soul King, himself. If Kariya gets his hands on that thing, he'll be truly invisible." Urahara turned back to the boys. "So, where is it?"
"Wouldn't you like to know!"
The word annoying didn't do the twins justice. Ichigo was five seconds away from smacking them all the way to Hueco Mundo. "He didn't tell you, did he?" asked Urahara jovially, holding his fan in front of his mouth. "Doesn't seem like Kariya has too much faith in his lackeys. . ."
Ichigo smirked. The indignant looks on the boys' faces were absolutely worth the suffering they'd put him through.
"He has the utmost faith in us!"
"He sent us to stop you!"
Urahara sighed as he stepped back from their prisoners. "Hmph. They've got it bad. It seems you weren't lying about their master's charisma, Yoshino."
It was like a switch had been flipped in the Bounts' heads. Their previously indignant expressions became hostile as their eyes burned with hate. "You traitor! Kariya-sama should've killed you!"
Yoshino glared defiantly at the Bounts, a far cry for her previous uncertainty. "Open your eyes! He's using you! He's used all of us! He'll use you until he has no use for you! We're nothing but pawns in his plan!"
One of the boys sputtered, red in the face. "Ma-maybe that's how it is for you but not for us!"
"Enough!" Tessai shouted. "All of this squabbling will get us nowhere."
Urahara nodded as he pocketed his fan. "Right. Tessai, we need to send a Hell Butterfly. We're going to have to get to the Ghost Zone fast."
The Yetis of Far Frozen were nothing if not resourceful. They had made the best of a frozen wasteland and had surprisingly good technology for such a backwater ghost species. The technology was stronger within the cave than anywhere else. After all, it held their precious Infi-Map. Vlad's mouth curled in distaste at the misuse of the map.
"So, what's your plan of attack?" asked Kariya. "I don't think you'll launch a frontal assault?"
"As bothersome as they are physically, their technology is their biggest threat. I'll use my Ghost Stinger and short out as much of their security as I possibly can. I trust that you'll be able to handle the two guards in the front, correct?"
Kariya smiled, easily. It was an amused self-assured grin that he'd seen many times on his own face. "Do you have to ask? They won't be able to touch me here, and I have ghost weapons. This will be short."
Vlad surprised himself as a chuckle rumbled from his own throat. A half chuckle, anyway, as he cut it short before it could fully escape. "Alright, then. I'll be off."
Vlad disappeared in a flash of pink before reappearing inside of the cave. The two guards stood side-by-side with their imposing build easily towering over the halfa.
Too bad it would do them no good.
Vlad made a finger gun and shot at the back of a guard's head. The guard winced before whirling around in anger, his fellow guard not far behind.
"Who goes there?!"
"I'm disappointed that you beasts don't remember me," laughed Vlad, baring his fangs. "No matter, I'll be sure to leave an impression this time. Ghost Stinger!"
Lighting shot from his finger tips and struck a nearby wall. The electricity raced through the ghostly technology, sending sparks all throughout the cave. The remaining tech flickered weakly for a few moments before going dim and lifeless.
The guard he'd struck snarled in rage as he stepped forward. "You'll regret that Plasmius!"
"Oh, so you do remember me. I suppose that I won't have to absolutely humiliate you after all. I'll leave that to him."
The guard barely had time to squint in confusion when he collapsed, unconscious from an altered ectoranium dart lodged in his back.
The other guard soon followed his partner to unconsciousness as Jin leisurely strolled in, stepping around the downed bodies. His gun was held deceptively loose by his side with a finger still on the trigger. "You took your time."
"I was mesmerized by the show you put on. You certainly have a flair for the dramatic."
Vlad rolled his eyes as he walked to the case holding the Infi-Map. With a quick ghost ray, the glass shattered and the Infi-Map was free. Alarms began to blare all around the cave in a cacophony of shrieks.
"I thought you shorted out their technology?"
Vlad cursed as he pocketed the map before making his way over to Jin. "Blast it all! They must've had a separate electrical system for their alarms. We'd better leave if we wish to avoid-"
"Vlad Plasmius, I should have known," Frostbite boomed, glaring defiantly at the two men. He had his trusted warriors behind him; twenty of them in total. Each of the warriors brandished their ice weapons.
". . . the other idiots." Vlad sighed as he sized them up. "You won't find this too bothersome, I hope?"
Jin smiled that familiar self-assured grin. "Quite the contrary, I needed the opportunity to stretch my legs."
"Good. It would be a shame to keep them waiting."
"Seriously, is that the best you've got? I've seen better aim from the Guys In White"
"Hold still!"
"Uh, dude? I think that defeats the point, Stormtrooper."
Danny fired a ghost ray that Utagawa ducked under, letting it explode violently against the wall. The Bount swung his whip at the halfa only for him to phase through it.
Danny pressed his advantage, flying ahead with a fist cocked back. He returned to tangibility at the last minute and just barely grazing Utagawa's chin.
Utagawa stumbled back with a scowl, gripping Fried, tighter. "You're stronger than I expected, shinigami."
Danny just shrugged. "Surprising people is sort of a habit of mine."
He could dimly see Dani fighting out of the corner of his eye. She was in a battle of attrition with the female Bount. Dani was reluctant to use her abilities, but the female Bount couldn't touch her. It was a stalemate.
Danny inwardly groaned at their mutual lack of progress.
"You should focus on me if you wish to win this fight, Daniel. My brethren are all around you, after all."
The halfa was well aware of the building number of snakes born from every whip slash. There had to be at least fifty of them; each of them were hissing and writhing all over each other like a bunch of, well, snakes.
It was kinda gross to be honest.
Danny glanced, with no small amount of boredom, at Utagawa. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get this over with. I've got a crazy psycho calling my name."
"As you wish, shinigami!" Utagawa reared his arm back before slinging his Doll at the halfa.
Danny smacked the whip strike away with the flat of his blade as he Flash Stepped backwards. He gasped in shock when he found himself, instead, face to face with the Bount. Utagawa hit him with a firm backhand, sending him skidding across the floor before slamming into the already ravaged wall.
"Danny!"
"Ah? Where has all that bravado gone, shinigami?"
Danny shook the dust from his hair as his eyes flared green with rage. He stood up and sheathed his sword, holding his hands out in front of him. "I'm really starting to get tired of listening to you! Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!"
Utagawa began to laugh. "You think yourself so bold that you'd hit me with a Bakudo from that far away? You truly are foolish!"
Danny cracked a smirk, enjoying the uncertain look it brought onto the Bount's face. "Bakudo 61: Rikujokoro!"
At the last second, he thrust his hands towards the female Bount. A beam of light raced towards her and she could only gape in shock as it collided with her. The six-pointed seal soon formed around her, and she dropped to one knee.
Utagawa snarled at Danny, rearing his whip back. "You would do something so dishonorable?!"
"Dude, you guys are the ones talking about fair fights. I never said anything about it. I just wanna leave."
"Hmph. Just like a rotten shinigami! Fried, attack!"
The whip cackled with mad glee as it was swung just in front of Danny's feet. He scowled as he yanked his sword from its sheathe. "Alright, you asked for this! Reap, Karitoriki!"
His sword was replaced by his familiar double-scythe as he charged towards Utagawa. His flaming blade clashed against the whip Doll with a loud clang. Danny's eyes widened as his flames jumped onto the Doll. He tried to call it back, but the flames kept surging ahead. Utagawa's eyes widened in surprise as he leaped back, thrashing his whip wildly to no avail.
"What is this?!"
"Ho-hold on! Maybe I can. . ."
Danny focused on the flames. He felt their coldness. It was a bit surprising for fire to feel so frigid. He heard its hungry cries for more souls to absorb. He sensed it their rage. He sensed their hate. He sensed their greed.
He squashed it.
The flames surged.
Utagawa gave an abrupt yell as Danny backed away. The flames swarmed around the Doll, like a hungry pack of wolves. They ran up his arm, eating away at the Bount.
"Ah, geez! What's going on, Kari?!"
He didn't even care about how his voice cracked as fear gripped his mind. "Kari?!"
He didn't hear a thing from his zanpakuto spirit. It was maddening; he never felt anything like it before. He didn't want too, but he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to Noritaka's point.
Karitoriki would abandon him.
Danny shook his head, ignoring the niggling of doubt. He focused again, so hard that he absently worried if he'd pop a vessel. Slowly, but surely, the flames began to recede until they were all gone.
To his surprise, Utagawa was still standing albeit more than a little off-kilter.
"What was that?" hissed Utagawa.
"My flames take pieces of the soul. How are you still talking, right now? Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you're not a walking brainless zombie or something, but. . . how?"
"That would explain it. Bounts don't have souls. You seem to know very little about your kind's failed creations."
Danny paused slightly. This sounded a lot like a supervillain sob story. "What are you talking about?"
"Centuries ago, there was an accident in the Soul Society's Research Division. It released an explosion of supercharged Reishi that spread across the Seireitei. It just so happened to get into the next batch of reincarnated souls. These souls winded becoming different. They lost their soul-like properties and evolved into a husk with consciousness; the body being the only thing keeping them together. These beings could live forever at the price of never reaching the afterlife upon dying. Even then, they were freaks unfit among the living or the dead. This was our fate. The hand we were dealt. By your kind."
"But that isn't my fault!" Danny protested. "I didn't know about any of this!"
"You are correct. But if I'm also correct, this knowledge won't be enough to dissuade you?"
Danny sighed as he willed his shikai away. He felt like he was being tested by Utagawa's hateful gaze. It was almost akin to whenever Dash was feeling particularly spiteful towards him, baiting him and challenging him to fight back. Utagawa wanted him to get angry, so he'd be proven right. Whatever the heck that meant.
"I'm not gonna say that the Soul Society is perfect," Danny said, slowly. "I have my own problems with it. But what you guys are doing isn't right either."
Utagawa chuckled scornfully. "Do you even know what we're doing or are you assuming?"
"I-what?"
"What are we doing?" Utagawa pressed. "What is so wrong about we are doing? Simply surviving in a world that hates us!"
"What are you talking about? You're eating living souls! That's all kinds of messed up!"
"It is a means to an end. Your kind is capable of far worse. I can assure you of that."
"Look, dude. I am not them. I'm me. If you can't understand that then I'll have to knock it into you!"
"If you say so, shinigami," Utagawa murmured, shifting to a defensive stance.
Vlad phased through a punch. He flew behind a Yeti. He knocked the ghost over as he returned to tangibility. His body natural split in half, avoiding a failed stabbing attempt from another soldier. He hit the soldier with an elbow to the kidney before turning and blasting the beast through a wall.
From the sound of thudding bodies, Jin was fairing just as well. Vlad decided to spare a glance at the Bount leader. What he saw elicited a new wave of grudging respect and a bit of something else (jealousy?).
Jin weaved through the ghosts like a dancer. Every once in a while, he would tap one of the ghosts, stopping it dead in its tracks, or shoot a dart, hitting his targets with extreme precision.
Vlad hit another warrior with a vicious gut punch after dodging a spear strike. He almost paused in surprise at the amount of force that he'd used. He usually didn't lose control of his attacks like that. He measured and thoroughly calculated every blow he dished out.
The small lapse in focus was enough to get his hands frozen in ice. He scowled at encased appendages before dodging another ice blast and firing a blast of his own in retaliation.
He lit his hands in purple ecto-fire, easily melting the ice into steam. "You have a truly bothersome army, Frostbite. Well, not much of an army anymore."
A quick glance told him that all of Frostbite's warriors were incapacitated and riddled with darts.
"Plasmius, you are free to leave at any time. Just return us the map and we can avoid anymore violence."
Vlad chuckled. "Now you know I can't do that. I have a reputation to keep. The map is more fitting put to use than just hiding away in some barren wasteland anyway."
"You are a scoundrel, Plasmius," Frostbite rebuked. "A greedy scoundrel."
Vlad sneered Frostbite, hovering higher into the sky until he was looking down on the ghost. "You're mistaken. I'm just following the natural order of life, and I'm not weak enough to allow a chance to ascend the pecking order to pass me by."
Frostbite lowered himself into a stance with his arms crossed over his chest. An icy wind began to pick up and whip around him, shielding his body from view.
Vlad's eyes brightened with intrigue. 'What are you planning Frostbite?'
As suddenly as the cyclone started, it stopped. A long silence filled the air, and the mist was slowly beginning to dissipate. "Fine," Frostbite called out. "Prepare yourself, Plasmius. You'll find that I am not to be trifled with."
Danny panted, slumping over with his hands on his knees. Everything was going straight to Hell. He didn't even know why he felt so tired. This wasn't anything he hadn't done before, and he hadn't taken any major blows. It didn't make any sense, and it was clear Karitoriki wouldn't be helping any time soon.
To make things worse, Utagawa didn't look tired in the slightest. He couldn't even get help from Dani with that shinigami dealing with her.
"Danny!"
He turned around, slightly ticked off. Yoruichi looked extremely alarmed, but Danny's panic-addled brain was a little too over it to care. "Oh, now, you can show up! What is it?!"
"Urahara sent a Hell butterfly!"
"A what?!"
"It's for messaging! Just come on! We need to get to the Ghost Zone! Now!"
Danny gave a slightly irked grumble as he turned back to the Bount. "Alright, it's been fun Utagawa, but I'm out!" Danny soared over to Yoruichi's position, only to jerk back when Utagawa's whip cracked before him. "Uh, dude? Seriously? Can we take a rain check?"
"You aren't so arrogant to believe we'd let you leave so easily?"
"Dude, I'm flattered, but I don't have time for this."
Danny fired off an ice blast at the Bount's whip to freeze it solid. At least that's what was supposed to happen. What happened instead was Danny staring blankly at his now frozen hand. "What the heck is going on?!"
"Danny watch out!"
Danny turned intangible on instinct only to wince in pain as a projectile hit him. He was forced back into tangibility as he clutched his shoulder, now oozing rivulets of ectoplasm. He glanced around him, noticing the Bount he had captured was now free.
The bloodthirsty female Bount lifted her gun, her finger still lingering on the trigger.
"What's going on with you?" asked Dani.
He nearly jumped ten feet in the air. He hadn't noticed when she'd gotten there. "I dunno! My powers just keep shorting out. I have no idea why."
"We're gonna have to leave on our own then," muttered Yoruichi. "Use your Flash Step on three. One. . . Two. . Three!"
Danny, Dani, and Yoruichi burst out the door with blazing speed. If the Bounts wanted to catch them, they would be too late.
Frostbite stood reborn. He had sharp, ice claws and longer canine's protruding from his teeth. He had two gnarled icicle horns, protruding from his head and multiple icicles coming out from his back. Most alarmingly was the center of his chest. There was a hole of space there where ghostly "flesh" had once been.
Inside was a diamond ice crystal, hovering in the center.
"I didn't think you'd managed to unlock this form, Frostbite," Vlad laughed, fighting the uncertainty staining his voice. "There aren't many ghosts who can claim such a feat."
"Then I trust you'll know just how much damage I can give like this. I suggest you surrender now."
"Yes, I know of your form's power. I also know just how damaged you can get from it. If that crystal is destroyed, you'll die permanently. Am I correct?"
Frostbite gave a low growl as slipped into a stance. "You won't live long enough to find out."
Vlad gave a small malignant smile. There was nothing to worry about. Of course, he had no idea what Frostbite's amplified power would be, exactly, but he knew his weakness well. It would only be a matter of time before they were exploited.
"Jin-"
"I know, Vladimir-san," Jin replied. "He's all yours."
Vlad felt his grin become all the more wider. He floated into the air, charging pink ecto-energy in his hands. "You're going to die here, Frostbite. Just you wait."
The two warriors stayed silent for a moment, each calculating the parameters of their opponent. Frostbite charged first with a loud roar, launching a powerful swat at the halfa. He merely struck at air as Vlad sunk through the ground.
Vlad channeled ghostly energy into his foot to kick Frostbite in the side. He gave a grunt as he slammed into the wall, wrecking a couple of wall scrawlings. He soared through the wall after Plasmius hit him with a powerful ghost ray, skidding along the ice.
Vlad laughed as he cracked his knuckles. He felt superior once again with his cape fluttering in the wind. "Is this all? I could have gotten a better fight from Youngblood. If you're going to fight me, you'll need to do much better than this."
Frostbite growled as he went onto all fours. Vlad frowned at the murderous look on the leader's face. He'd seen him angry before many times today, sure, but this was different. He had still had his more peaceful underneath that anger. He'd been willing to hold back.
Now, there was only bloodlust.
"OK, Plasmius. I'll show you exactly what I'm capable of."
A/N: Again, I am so sorry this took so long, but. . . yeah I got nothing else to say. Uh, remember to check my profile for updates and remember to review and stuff. Thank you for reading! It means the world to me :)
Also, stay strong in November y'all lol
