Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and Tales of the Abyss.
Sneak Attack
Two Months has passed since first years began their time in the Shin'o Academy and mostly everyone was getting everything down and used to the curriculum of the academy. Within the halls of the Shin'o Academy, various students were walking heading which ever class and activity they were going for. There was one female student who looked out of the window with a downcast look. It was Rukia and she was lost in her thoughts. There was someone sneaking behind Rukia and it was Renji. When he got close enough, he kicked Rukia's behind and caused Rukia to screech. Rukia turned holding her bottom and glaring at Renji.
"Hey, what was that for?!" Rukia asked angrily.
"Yeah, what do you think you doing Renji?" Homura asked angrily.
Homura and Shizuku showed up and got angry at Renji and Renji just gave the expression that he didn't care.
"All this daydreaming is a waste of time," Renji replied as he looked at Rukia, "we've all been here for two months and you still haven't started taken your training seriously."
"What do you know what Rukia is doing Renji?" Homura asked angrily.
"Yeah Rukia is actually working real hard," Shizuku added.
"Seriously Renji," Rukia replied angrily, "who are you to—" Rukia cut herself off when she, Homura, and Shizuku noticed that Renji as well as other students that were with him were carrying their sheathed swords wrapped in cloth and boxed lunches like they were preparing something, "You look like you're going someplace. Are you guys having field training or something today?"
"Yeah," Renji replied with a smile, "we're going to the Human World to practice fighting against dummy Hollows."
Rukia couldn't believe it and it upset her, "Why you?! Why is only your class?! Not to mention you shouldn't be in the Advance Class in the first place!"
"What can I say? They recognize talent when they see it," Renji simply replied.
Rukia simply got irritated and Homura and Shizuku got concerned with Rukia.
"Why do you feel that Renji shouldn't be in the Advance Class?" Luke asked.
Rukia was surprised and turned to see Luke who also had his sheathed sword wrapped in cloth on his back as well as a box lunch.
"Luke…" Rukia said.
"I'm confused," Luke said, "why do you feel that Renji shouldn't be in the Advance Class?"
"Um, well, it's because…" Rukia spoke nervously.
Rukia didn't know what to really say to Luke and Homura and Shizuku had concerned expressions. Luke looked to the young twins and they couldn't give Luke any idea either about Rukia's reaction. Renji just went to Luke and put his arm on Luke's shoulder.
"Don't mind her Luke," Renji said with a grin, "she's just jealous simply because I'm more talented than her."
Rukia looked away and frowned and Renji and the others started to leave.
"And just you wait Rukia," Renji said, "I'm better than you already and when I come back, there won't be any comparison between us."
Rukia was provoked, "Oh, well when you come back, I'll be a..." Rukia's voice got softens, "…I don't know…"
"Rukia," Luke spoke.
Rukia had her head down and felt sad and then left and Homura and Shizuku hurried after her. Luke just watched Rukia, Shizuku, and Homura walk away.
"Hey Luke, c'mon!" Renji called, "The others are waiting!"
Luke turned to catch up, "I'm coming!"
At the academy's Senkaimon Gate, Luke had arrived and was told to take a piece of paper when he got there to assemble. Luke was getting ready for his field training to in the Human World. The students of the Advance Class assembled at the Senkaimon area of the Shin'o Academy and there were three students standing in front of the Senkaimon. They were sixth year students, two of them male and one female. They got the freshmen's attention and they started.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves," The male student in the middle started, "I'm Shuhei Hisagi, sixth year."
"I'm Kanisawa," The female student said.
"I'm Aoga," The second male student said.
"The three of us will be your guides for this exercise," Shuhei said.
The students were amazed and they whispered to each other.
"Huh? What's with everyone here?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, why are they all gawking? Are they famous or something?" Renji asked.
"Huh, do you two seriously not know?" Senna asked as she arrived.
Izuru was surprised and turned to the two red heads, "How could you two not know? The one in the middle, everybody knows who he is."
"The one in the middle?" Guy asked.
They looked and saw Guy and Ion approaching them.
"Guy, Ion," Luke said.
"Hey," Guy said.
"Shuhei Hisagi, right?" Ion asked Izuru.
"Right, that's Shuhei Hisagi," Izuru said with a nod as he looked at Shuhei, "They say he's been assigned to a post in the Gotei 13 even before he graduates, which almost never happens."
"He's even supposed to be in line to be a ranked officer," Senna added.
"Exactly," Izuru responded.
"Wow, really?" Luke spoke amazed, "Now that is impressive."
"Huh, no kidding," Renji spoke.
Izuru grinned, "Strangely enough, he failed the academy entrance exam two times and given that my exam score was the highest in our class, I might be better than him."
"Oh?" Renji, Senna, and Luke simultaneously spoke narrowing their eyes at Izuru.
Guy simply scratched his head in response in what Izuru had said and Ion chuckled weakly.
"Now listen up," Kanisawa started, "we'll split up into groups of three and get ready to go. Everyone take out the lots you drew when we assembled and then find the two students who got the same mark as you have."
The students began looking at their lots and went to find fellow students who had the same marks.
"Oh, so that what these little pieces of paper were for," Renji said looking at his paper.
"You and I are together Renji," Izuru said, "how about you guys?"
"Looks like it's me, Guy, and Ion," Luke said.
"Nice, the three of us," Guy said happily.
"This is great," Ion said happily, "this is just like our time in the past."
"…Yeah," Luke said.
"What about you Senna?" Renji asked, "Are you with us?"
"No, it's seems that I'm a different group," Senna said.
"Oh, I see," Renji said, "then who's our third?"
"Excuse me," Momo said as she approached them, "Renji, Izuru, I'm your third."
"Oh I see," Renji said, "hello Momo."
"Glad to have you onboard," Izuru said with a smile.
"Oh well," Senna said, "I better go find my team."
Senna left to find her own teammates and not long afterwards, she found them and they were two girls. One of them had long black hair that went down to her lower back and the other had short brown hair. They greeted Senna and Senna greeted them back and they were pleased to work together and then all the students turned their attention back to the three sixth year students.
"All right, now that everyone has found their groups, we'll brief you on today's exercise," Shuhei said.
"An advance party of sixth year students have already entered the Human World and constructed a temporary barrier," Kanisawa explained.
"Once inside that perimeter," Aoga continued, "each group will engage in combat with dummy Hollows."
"The sixth year students are here only to create a combat readied environment for you," Shuhei explained, "they will not assist in the combat itself. Are we clear?" Shuhei saw the freshmen that they understood and then he and his two classmates turned to face the Senkaimon, "then let's go."
"Yes sir!" The freshmen said in unison.
"Open!" Shuhei said.
The Senkaimon opened up and the students of the Shin'o Academy entered in the Senkaimon and went to the Human World.
Human World
Within the designated area for the field training, the sixth year students that made up the barrier unit were prepared and kept watch.
"It's begun," One of the sixth year students said, "maintain barrier strength. Often dummy Hollows can attract the real thing."
"Right, right," Another sixth year student said, "but this is a safe zone so it won't likely happen."
"Just the same, make sure you don't let your guard down," The first sixth year student said, "This is part of our training as well."
"Okay, okay…" The other sixth year student said.
A huge shadowy figure approached them and barrier unit students and they didn't see nor did they feel its presence as the creature was sneaking up on them. Meanwhile, a dummy Hollow was making its way and Renji was chasing it until he stopped.
"Damn," Renji said as he stopped, "all right Momo, it's coming your way!"
The dummy Hollow continued on and then it saw Momo with her hand out to it.
"Hado#31: Shakkaho!" Momo said as she shot the spell and saw that the dummy was able to move out of the way of the Kido spell and kept moving in a fast pace, "Izuru, I missed it!"
Izuru appeared and slashed the dummy Hollow vertically with his sword and destroyed it and Izuru sheathed his sword. Renji and Momo went to Izuru.
"Good job Izuru," Renji said.
Izuru nodded, "Thanks, you too."
They heard noise and looked what was happening and saw another dummy Hollow and they also saw Guy appear chasing it.
"Hey look, it's Guy," Momo said.
Guy was stopped and glared at the dummy Hollow, "All right then, how about this," Guy raised his sword horizontally in front of him, "Hado#32: Okasen!"
Guy created a yellow orb that generated and widens itself along the length of his sword and once it fully charged, he fired outward as a horizontal blast in a wide arc of yellow energy at the dummy Hollow, only to have the dummy Hollow dodge.
"Ha, Ion, go for it!" Guy said.
"Right!" Ion responded as he moved his hand, "Bakudo#4: Hainawa!"
Ion created a crackling yellow energy rope wrap around one of the dummy Hollow's legs, stopping it in its tracks.
"Now Luke!" Ion called out.
Luke appeared and slashed the dummy Hollow vertically with such force destroying it.
Ion smiled and ran to Luke and Guy was pleased as he went over to Luke as well.
"Excellent work Luke," Ion said.
Luke nodded with a smile, "Thanks, you too Ion and you as well Guy."
"I didn't really do much," Guy said.
"No, that's not true," Luke said, "you slowed it down."
"Luke's right," Ion said.
"Luke! Guy! Ion!" Momo called out.
Luke, Guy, and Ion looked and saw Renji, Momo, and Izuru walking toward them.
"Hey guys," Luke greeted happily.
"Look like you three finished as well," Guy said.
"Yeah, we did," Izuru said.
"Good to hear," Ion said with a smile.
"All right, that's great," Izuru said, "well we succeeded and it's all because we all worked together as a team."
"That's true," Guy said as he nodded, "none of us would be able to do it on our own as we are now."
"Nah, by myself, I would have done it much faster. In fact, they should let me fight real Hollows instead of dummies," Renji said with a grin.
Luke and Momo just looked at Renji with annoyed expressions.
"Are you serious?" Luke asked.
"Huh, you're nothing but talk Renji," Momo added.
"Hey, I'm serious," Renji insisted.
"C'mon, c'mon, let's go already," Luke said.
"Yeah, let's go," Momo said as she was pushing Renji to move.
"Hey, don't push me Momo!" Renji complained.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go Mr. Tough Guy," Momo said not caring.
The others followed suit. As they kept walking, Momo felt something and looked back and looked around.
"Hey, Momo, what are you doing?" Renji called out, "let's go."
Momo turned to Renji, "Uh, right. I'm coming."
"Do you feel it too Momo?" Luke asked as he was also looking around.
Momo looked at Luke and nodded, "Yeah but there's nothing there."
"Yeah," Luke paused for a moment, "I guess it's just us."
"Let's go Luke," Momo said smiling at Luke.
Luke smiled at Momo as well and nodded, "Yeah."
There was a blurry silhouette stalking the six students. Meanwhile most of the other freshmen as well as the three sixth year students were at the rendezvous point. Senna with two other female classmates was talking to each other.
"I think that everyone has returned safely," Aoga said.
Kanisawa nodded, "So the exercise was a success."
Shuhei spoke in his communicator, "This is Hisagi at the rendezvous point. Barrier unit, what is the situation there?"
The area where the barrier unit students were stationed had blood that was dripping on the ground and the students there were all dead.
"Barrier unit, acknowledge," Shuhei continued from his communicator, "Barrier unit, can you hear me? Report in at once! Barrier unit, report!"
Back at the rendezvous point, the three sixth year student felt that something was very wrong.
"What could have happened?" Kanisawa asked.
"I don't know," Shuhei said, "it certainly is strange for them not to answer."
Kanisawa turned and saw something that shocked her, "Oh no!"
"What is it?" Shuhei asked as he turned and saw what Kanisawa saw and was surprised.
Meanwhile with Renji, Izuru, Momo, Luke, Guy, and Ion, they were heading back to the rendezvous point and having conversations when all of a sudden, they heard screams. This surprised them and they were concerned.
"What was that?" Izuru asked.
"Let's go," Renji said.
They rushed to get to the rendezvous point. Not long afterwards, they got there and Luke saw Senna and called out to her. Senna turned back and had a mortified expression.
"Luke, everyone," Senna said.
"Senna, what's wrong?" Guy asked.
Senna pointed at a direction and the six other students looked and were mortified in what they saw and what they saw was a real Hollow and the Hollow was huge. The Huge Hollow had also impaled Kanisawa by its talon, killing her.
"What is that thing? It's huge!" Renji said.
The Huge Hollow tossed the dead Kanisawa off his talon. Shuhei and Aoga drew their swords.
"Aw damn it!" Shuhei said in his head, "It's a Hollow and a big one! But why didn't we sense it approaching?"
"You bastard, you killed her!" Aoga said angrily as he charged towards the Huge Hollow.
Aoga, no!" Shuhei pleaded.
Aoga charged at the Huge Hollow, only to get himself swatted away and Shuhei was horrified.
"Aoga!" Shuhei then turned to the freshmen, "Freshmen, get out of here! Run as fast as you can!"
The freshmen panicked and did what Shuhei ordered and they fled.
"So that's what a real Hollow looks like," Renji said as he turned to leave but then he stopped to see Izuru frozen with fear and went to grab him, "C'mon, are you deaf? Let's go!"
"Uh, right…" Izuru responded as he and Renji fled.
"The monsters we've seen before seem nothing compare to this," Ion said.
"Maybe…" Guy said.
"This is bad," Luke said.
"Luke?" Ion asked.
Ion and Guy saw Luke and Senna who were still horrified and they were remembered the time that they were stalked and hunted by the Hollow Mad Eater. They suddenly had their shoulders tapped and it was Guy and Ion.
"Don't just stand you two," Guy said, "we need to retreat."
"But Guy…" Luke said.
"But running is not…" Senna said.
"Please you two," Ion pleaded.
"Come on you two!" Renji called out, "Where's Momo?"
Shuhei was making contact with his communicator.
"Soul Society, come in, emergency!" Shuhei contacted, "Shuhei Hisagi requesting assistance! I'm in the Human World, coordinate point ! Huge Hollow attack at this location!"
The Huge Hollow shot blasts from its mouth and Shuhei dodged them. Luke and Senna looked on.
"This is just like what happened when we were hunted by Mad Eater," Luke said.
"Yes, I feel the same way," Senna said, "but Luke…"
Senna looked at Luke and Luke looked back at Senna and nodded.
"Yeah, I feel the same way," Luke said.
"Right," Senna said with a nod.
They turned to Momo and noticed Momo's expression.
"Hey Momo?" Luke asked.
"Why are they all running away?" Momo asked in her head, "Someone should stay and fight."
"Hey you three!" Guy called out, "Let's go!"
Izuru and Renji saw Momo, Luke, and Senna just standing there and they stopped
"Hey, what are you three doing?!" Izuru asked, "We were told to clear the area! You're disobeying a direct order!"
"Momo," Senna said as she stood next to Momo, "What are you thinking about?"
"That someone should stay and fight," Momo said with a determined expression.
"Really?" Luke said as he stood next to Momo, "It just so happens that we were thinking the same thing."
"Hey, that thing just killed two sixth year students!" Renji reminded.
"Renji's right," Ion said.
"We know that," Momo said.
"But even so," Luke said as he turned to the others, "we have to try to do something."
"Hang on," Guy said, "Luke, Senna, Momo."
"Sorry about this," Senna said.
The three left much to the other four surprised.
"Hey Momo! Senna! Luke!" Renji and Guy called out.
"Wait, are you crazy?!" Izuru added.
Ion just looked on and then turned to Guy. Meanwhile, Shuhei was pushed back and hit the wall before he landed on the ground injured. He was also bleeding and he was wounded from the area of his right eye.
"Damn, I can barely see it," Shuhei said in his head.
The Huge Hollow shot multiple blasts from its mouth and Shuhei was dodging them. He then proceeded to go slash the Huge Hollow from the mask only to be pushed back again and the Huge Hollow sprout out multiple talons.
"Is that all you got?" Shuhei asked in defiance against the creature, "Well bring it on!"
Shuhei charged in a rage against the enemy. The Huge Hollow brought its talons towards Shuhei only to have them blocked unexpectedly by the swords of Momo, Senna, and Luke.
"You three…" Shuhei spoke surprised.
The Huge Hollows raised its other talons to strike but they were blocked by the swords of Izuru, Renji, and Guy. Shuhei was surprised again at what had just happened.
"We just wanted to help sir," Izuru explained, "sorry to disobey."
"We came back to save you so we hope you can forgive us," Renji added.
They all pushed back the Huge Hollow's talons and put their hands out to perform a Kido spell.
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh," Momo chanted.
"All creation, flutter of wings," Izuru chanted.
"Ye who bears the name of Man!" Renji chanted.
"Inferno and pandemonium," Luke chanted.
"The sea barrier surges," Senna chanted.
"March on to the south!" Guy chanted.
The six first years chanted, "Hado#31: Shakkaho!"
The six Shakkahos struck the Huge Hollow. The six freshmen nodded and then they saw the Huge Hollow narrowing its eyes at them. Suddenly Ion appeared in front of them and slashed one of its legs with his sword causing it go off balance.
"Ion!" Izuru spoke surprised.
"We told you to leave us and go with the others," Renji said.
"I couldn't help it, I was worried about you guys," Ion admitted.
Momo nodded, "Thanks Ion."
"Ion," Luke said as he and Guy went to him.
Ion nodded and looked at Shuhei with remorse, "Sorry to disobey as well sir," Ion turned to the Huge Hollow and held his hand out towards the Huge Hollow, "Hado#63: Raikoho!"
Ion generated a high level lightning Kido and fired it and striking the Huge Hollow in the face.
"Got him," Ion said.
"He was able to perform that Kido without an incantation," Senna said in her head surprised.
The Huge Hollow growled as it was still disoriented.
"I suggest we run sir!" Izuru suggested to Shuhei
"Right!" Shuhei replied as he as well as the seven freshmen ran.
They all ran to buy themselves time.
"How could such a gigantic Hollow manage to sneak up on us like that?" Renji asked.
"I don't know," Shuhei responded, "it seem like it was able to conceal its Reiatsu somehow."
"A Hollow able to conceal its Reiatsu?" Senna spoke, "That shouldn't be possible."
"Yeah it shouldn't," Guy said, "and yet it was able to."
"And there's no way we're strong enough to defeat it so what do we do?" Izuru asked, "Just keep running?"
"I've already called the Soul Society and requested back up," Shuhei said, "Until then, we just have to stay alive."
They get to an area and they stopped when they noticed that the area seemed blurry.
"Hey, what the hell…?" Izuru asked.
"The hell is going on here?" Luke asked, "Why is everything here blurry?"
They got their answer when more Huge Hollows appeared and surrounded them and they were shocked and Izuru screamed in horror.
"Are you kidding me?!" Luke spoke angrily.
"How could this have happened?" Momo asked.
"You have got to be kidding me," Guy said.
"No, this is not good," Ion said as he was terrified.
"It must have called its friends," Renji said.
"This whole thing is crazy," Shuhei commented, "so many Hollows!"
The Huge Hollows were getting closer and the eight students had no options left.
Izuru was scared out of his mind, "No way, I don't want to die like this," Izuru's eyes widened in horror, "I don't want to die you guys."
Momo and Ion were frozen in fear, Shuhei, Guy, and Renji clenched their teeth, and Luke and Senna was looking around wondered if he was going to lose everything again without getting to reach their goals and Luke was thinking about his adopted family as he didn't want to leave them and make them sad. Izuru screamed loudly when the Huge Hollows moved in to attack but suddenly a white blade extended and struck a Huge Hollow in the head, disintegrating it and stopping the other Huge Hollows in its tracks and the blade reeled back. The students were shocked and they looked behind them and they were surprised to see who had just saved them and they saw two people approaching them.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Aizen said, "we got here as quickly as we could,"
The students were amazed as they recognized them.
"It's Captain Aizen, leader of the 5th Division," Shuhei said, "and his lieutenant, Gin Ichimaru."
"Wow, they here," Luke said, "thank goodness."
"We're saved," Ion said.
Guy just looked at Aizen and Gin, "Yeah… saved," Guy spoke in a whisper tone, "Lucky us… or maybe we're unlucky in this situation."
"Huh, Guy, did you say something?" Senna asked.
"No, it's nothing," Guy said.
Senna looked at Guy a bit confused. Aizen approached them and put his hand on Momo's head.
"You've all done well," Aizen said warmly with a smile, "I'm sure you were scared but you're safe now. We'll take over from here so leave it to us."
Momo nodded as she was amazed and the two members of 5th Division went to confront the Huge Hollows.
"My, my, there are certainly a lot of you," Gin commented and then pointed his Zanpakuto at the Huge Hollows, "Impale them, Shinsou!"
Gin's blade of his Zanpakuto extended to a high speed and impaled and eliminated numerous Huge Hollows. An incoming Huge Hollows targeted and went after Aizen. It attempts to hit the 5th Division Captain with its fist, only to have Aizen block it with his bare hand and literally blew it away with his own Reiatsu. Aizen then turned and gave a warm smile. Momo looked at Aizen with amazement and Luke was so impressed.
Luke had his thoughts with a smile, "I will be strong so that I protect and be able to fend off enemies with no fear, just like them… just like Father, Matsuri, and Fujimaru."
After all the Huge Hollows were eliminated, the Senkaimon was opened and the students were passing through heading back to the Soul Society. There were talks about what had happened and sadness over the deaths of some of the sixth year students including Kanisawa. Aoga was able to survive but he felt ashamed that he couldn't do anything for his classmates and fell in depression. Luke, Senna, Guy, Ion and Momo looked up in the sky and Renji and Izuru joined them.
"Hell of a day," Luke commented.
"Yeah…" Renji spoke.
Izuru sighed, "I'm so relieved, I glad that we didn't lose our lives as well."
"They were amazing," Luke said.
Momo looked at Luke, "Captain Aizen and Lieutenant Ichimaru."
Luke nodded, "Yeah."
"Hey, what are you seven doing?!" The injured Shuhei called, "It time to head back, move it!"
"Yikes, we better move ourselves now!" Luke said in urgency.
"Yes, let's go," Ion said.
"Uh, right," Renji said.
The seven male students rushed to hurry back and they turned to see Momo and Senna hasn't moved yet.
"Momo, c'mon!" Renji called.
"Senna, you two," Luke called.
"We have to go you two!" Izuru called.
"Oh right, we're coming!" Momo responded.
"We're coming, we're coming," Senna responded as well.
They hurried to head back as well and they all passed through the Senkaimon.
That's it for this chapter. Next chapter: Rukia is approached by Byakuya Kuchiki and then Luke and the others make contact and activate their Zanpakutos.
