Tatsuki groaned as she felt sunlight from the rising sun on her face, causing her to raise a hand for shade. "What the hell hit me?" She moaned.
"A soul-eating tentacle monster." Tatsuki didn't even need to recognize the voice to know who said that, the absurd statement could only come from one person she knew.
"Hey, Orihime," Tatsuki muttered as she turned her head to her best friend and Ichigo, both of which were standing next to her bed. She groaned as she tried to get up. "Seriously, what happened?"
Ichigo frowned. "Did Hat-and-Clogs hit you with that mind wipe thing when I wasn't looking? That was barely a few hours ago."
"What do you-" Tatsuki flinched as her memories of being attacked flooded through her mind. She gasped, almost jumping to her feet as memories of Orihime, Ichigo, and friends showing up to save her. In a surge of panic, she grabbed Ichigo by her shoulders and shook him violently. "Who the hell were those guys?! WHAT the hell were those guys?! Where did everyone else go?!"
"It's a long story," Ichigo groaned as Tatsuki shook her, only to get shook even harder.
"That's hardly an excuse!" Tatsuki snapped. "Just give me the Tl:dr!"
"All right, fine!" Ichigo replied, breaking out of Tatsuki's grasp. He knew this would happen, and wanted only himself and Orihime to tell, under the impression that she'd likely only believe them quickly. "Remember how Rukia's left for a bit?"
"Yes?" Tatsuki answered. "She has something to do with this?"
"You could say she started this," Ichigo started to explain. "Rukia is a shinigami."
"...Shinigami?" She repeated. "As in god of death?"
"Yeah," Orihime confirmed. "Her job is to ferry the souls of dead people to the afterlife, the Soul Society. Souls can't cross over on their own, and if they stay in the human world for too long they get corrupted and turn into soul-eating monsters. Monsters named hollows."
Tatsuki looked horrified but didn't reply prompting Ichigo to continue. "Rukia was in charge of handling our town, but then one of these monsters attacked my siblings and me and she got hurt defending us. She had to transfer some of her power to save us from the hollow but turns out Ichigo already was a shinigami-"
"What?"
"My dad used to be a shinigami." Ichigo quickly added. "Because I was a shinigami and an artifact that the candy shop owner Hat-and-Clogs made and slipped in Rukia's person, she gave all her powers to me and had trouble getting them back. So I had to take her place as the protector of the town. Got everything so far?"
"Yeah," Tatsuki sighed, still somewhat overwhelmed by the story but wrapping her head around it. Suddenly she frowned. "Wait, why did you get Chad and Orihime's help and not mine?"
"That wasn't intentional." Ichigo frowned. "Uryū caused a massive hollow outbreak that spread over the whole town."
"Remember that?" Orihime asked. "We and Chizuru got attacked by that tentacle monster."
"Oh!" Tatsuki's eyes widened as she remembered fighting off everyone that thing controlled and getting shot down by it. The last thing she remembered before consciousness left her was Orihime standing up against the monster with...things flying around her.
"Those things flying around you..." Tatsuki asked. "Were they your power?"
"Yes." Orihime's hairpins glowed, before splitting into six fairies. "My power is Shun Shun Rikka. And these fairies represent its power."
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you!" Hinagiku bowed dramatically, the rest of the fairies, even Tsubaki, bowing along with.
"Thank you for being Orihime's friend and protecting her before we could," Ayame stated as she bowed. "You gave her the motivation to bring us to the surface and give us life. We couldn't pay you enough."
Tatsuki flushed at the praise, not expecting to be partially responsible for the birth of Orihime's powers. "You're...uh, welcome." She shook her head. "What happened next?"
"A shinigami named Aizen happened," Orihime said darkly, surprising Tatsuki with the vitriol in her voice.
"The bastard tricked everyone in the Soul Society into trying to execute Rukia, even her own brother," Ichigo growled, causing Tatsuki's eyes to widen. "Giving your shinigami powers to humans is kinda against the law. But Aizen killed the guys that ruled the place and impersonated them to order the death penalty."
"Why?" Tatsuki growled, clearly outraged at the thinly veiled murder attempt.
"To drag us in," Orihime continued. "His plan was for us to storm around the place, take out a few people, and generally cause a ton of trouble so when he faked his death, everyone would blame it on us."
"Then when we managed to rescue Rukia despite that, the bastard and his cronies snuck up on us and kicked our asses!" Ichigo growled. "Aizen did all this to get the Hōgyoku, an artifact that can give anyone hollow or shinigami powers that Hat-and-Clogs to make sure Aizen never got it. Unfortunately, it didn't work."
"And why did he do all this?" Tatsuki asked. "What reason would anyone have to do any of this?"
"Kill God and take over the world," Orihime stated, getting an incredulous look from Tatsuki. "I'm serious, and he wants to destroy Karakura Town to do it."
"What?!" Tatsuki jumped to her feet. "Why?!"
"Not entirely sure about the details," Orihime admitted. "But the just of it is that he needs spiritually powerful souls to create a key to God's, or the Soul King's domain. And Karakura Town is full of them."
"And those assholes that came in from that portal and attacked me are part of that organization he made," Tatsuki concluded. "What were they anyway? Shinigami or hollows?"
"Arrancar," Ichigo responded. "Hollows with shinigami powers."
"And you two?"
"I'm a fullbringer," Orihime explained. "A human with hollow powers."
"Vizard. Shinigami with Hollow powers." Ichigo added with a sigh. "It's a bit more complicated than that," He thought. "But I want to explain this as fast as possible."
Tatsuki mulls all this over before speaking. "All right...who else is in on this?"
"From Karakura?" Ichigo replied. "Uryū, his dad, my dad and sisters, and Chad."
"There's also a band of fullbringers from outside that showed up recently and noticed our fight with the Arrancar," Orihime added. "We aren't sure if they want to work with us."
"That's basically everything you need to know." Ichigo finished. "Orihime, heal her up, and let's go-"
"I want to help," Tatsuki said, cutting Ichigo off.
Ichigo and Orihime swallowed the spit in their mouths. They knew that it would come to this, but they hoped it wouldn't. "I don't think that's a good idea, Tatsuki-chan. I mean, you don't have any powers of your own."
Tatsuki scowled at that, knowing it to be true, but didn't give up. "I know that, but I can't just let do this on your own."
"You don't get it, Tatsuki, these aren't human beings!" Ichigo tried to explain, his frustration getting the better of him. "Martial arts aren't going to cut it!"
"Then make me understand, Ichigo!" Tatsuki challenged. "Show me how powerful these monsters are!"
"Fine!" With a swift movement, Ichigo slammed his Shinigami badge against his chest, letting his human body fall to the ground. "You asked for this Tatsuki…"
"The only thing I'm seeing is you in a strange robe with a big-ass sword!" Tatsuki responded as she glared at him, chilled despite herself at Ichigo's tone.
"Wait!" Orihime called out in concern. "Ichigo, you aren't seriously thinking of fighting her in this condition?!"
"No," Ichigo said, making a mask. "This'll be more than enough."
Tatsuki could suddenly sense a feeling of deep foreboding as she looked at the mask. "What the hell-" Her voice cut off when Ichigo put it on as sheer animalistic terror crept up on her and overwhelmed her, causing her knees to go weak and her to fall back onto her bed. To her side, she could see Orihime visibly freeze up.
"Right now, I'm more powerful than the asshole that knocked you out without trying," Ichigo said casually in his dual-tone. He didn't want to be harsh, but Tatsuki had to know what she was getting into. "If this was a fight between normal people, you know I'd trust you with my life. But this is anything but normal. If you can't handle this, you have no chance of taking on the monsters we're fighting."
Tatsuki strained her body to get back up and Ichigo, despite primal instincts screaming at her to run or stay down. "Damn...it," She as she rose to her knees, to Ichigo's surprise. She refused to lie down and take her friends shoving her out of the turmoil to protect her. "What...am I? What am I...to you, Ichigo? Aren't...we friends? Friends...since pre-school? I've...seen you...in trouble...countless times! I...helped you out! If the people...you're fighting...are so fucking scary...I'll just get stronger myself!"
"Tatsuki-chan..." Orihime gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't want her friend to get hurt fighting monsters no human should have to fight, let alone be able to survive against, but it was clear they have been putting her down too soon.
At this point, Tatsuki had managed to actually get up on her feet, to the shock of her friends. She looked ready to fall right back over with a stiff wind, but the effort and strength she displayed were more than enough to exceed the expectations of her friends. "Is this...strong enough...to fight the guys...you're fighting?"
"...No," Ichigo admitted, greatly shocking Tatsuki and nearly knocking her back on her ass. "I have a form stronger than this. And that form had trouble keeping up one-up them."
"You..." Tatsuki gasped, collapsing back onto the ground. Ichigo quickly drew back his power, bringing a massive weight off the two girls. "Can't be serious..."
"He is," Orihime replied. "You're one of the strongest people I know, Tatsuki. But I doubt you could fight these guys with just martial arts."
"Well," Tatsuki groaned. "How did you get your own powers? How could I get some?"
Ichigo frowned. "That's the thing. The Hogyoku was responsible for Orihime and Chad getting their fullbringers or whatever they were called. And Uryu got his powers from his parents."
"Those other fullbringers might help." Orihime offered. She didn't want her friend to get hurt in this mess. But if she could handle Ichigo's hollow strength in her current state, then it clearly wasn't impossible for her to fight with them. "Although we just met them."
"Who are these guys anyway?" Tatsuki asked as she laid on her bed, her remaining strength utterly drained after fighting through Ichigo's power.
Ichigo sighed. "Looks like this might take a little more time." He thought before explaining. "OK, here's where it started.
Ichigo frowned as he stepped into the apartment, his friends coming in as well. Urahara and Yoruichi had gotten Tatsuki back to her house as stealthily as they could, Uryu went back to his father for more training, and the captains were back at the Vizards for their training, so it was just him, Orihime, and Chad in Naruki City.
The apartment was rather spacious and well furnished for its dilapidated state, having an honest to god bar and table.
Orihime squirmed at the dark atmosphere and cool stares leveled at them as they walked in. Aside from Ginjo, there were also three others showing nothing but mild interest. Ginjo quickly introduced them. "Yukio Hans Vorarlberna." The young boy with green eyes and spiky, blonde hair looked up from his video game console, a Sony PSP if Orihime saw correctly.
"Giriko Kutsuzawa." Ichigo glanced, seeing the middle-aged bartender with a mustache and a leather strap across his eye. The confusion was clear on his face as he took a closer look at his strap in particular. "What kinda eyepatch is that?" He thought. "There has to be a better way of getting that eye covered. Assuming that eye isn't hiding some crazy power." After Kenpachi, the thought didn't seem too crazy to him.
"Jackie Tristan." The tall dark-skinned woman with straight chin-length dark hair, brown eyes rose her hand and waved. Orihime waved right back. "I wonder if she and Chad come from the same place." She thought.
"We have more members," Ginjo added, taking a seat down on the couch. "But this is everyone here."
"All right," Ichigo sat down as well along with Chad and Orihime. "You said that you wanted to recruit Chad and Orihime because they were fullbringers, but what are fullbringers specifically?"
"It'll be easier if I just show you," Ginjo says as Giriko pours him a glass of wine. The man placed his hand on the top of the glass, and to the newcomer's astonishment, small green light flickered around the drink as it flowed upward into the man's mouth. After he took a few gulps of the drink it flowed into the glass. He then smirked at the stunned faces. "As the guy in the hat said, our power is to draw out the soul of that dwells in objects."
"I thought only living things had souls," Orihime questioned.
"You'd think that," Ginjo answered. "The soul of a plate or a tire would be smaller than a human or animal, but they are there." He brandishes his pendant. "The longer you use or wear something, the better you get at using it and the more you understand its soul. And when someone with enough spiritual power understands an item enough, they can draw out its power. Usually, this is in basic ways. Increasing the elasticity of a surface for better jumps, making drink hover into our mouth, boosting the surface tension of water to walk on it, that stuff. But if you feel truly connected to something and understand its soul completely..." The pendant glowed a bright green before morphing into a massive broadsword. "We can change and evolve their very shape. Sound familiar?"
Orihime brought her hands to her hairpins in shock. "Very..." Orihime gasped. "How did-"
BAM!
Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad all jumped as they heard the door slam and whipped around to see a young girl storm into the room. "What the hell guys?! What happened to we meet the newbies together?! Also, would it kill you guys to turn on a light or some shit?!"
"These aren't newbies, Riruka." Ginjo admonished. "I saw them fighting off some hollows and helped, and they wanted to know how I could see and fight hollows. As for the lights, you could get glasses or contacts."
"I hate glasses! They're so uncute!" The newly dubbed Riruka snapped as she fumbled around for the light switch. "And my eyes are way too big for contacts. They dry out so quickly-Ah! There!"
All the inhabitants squinted their eyes as the darkened room lit up and showed everyone in more detail.
"Oh thank lord," Orihime thought as she got a better look at the fullbringers. "I wanted someone to turn on the lights for ages and no one else said anything."
"We really need to work on your assertiveness." Shun Shun Rikka snarked.
"Hey!" Orihime argued. "I wanted to know how to use fullbringers. You want me to get better with...my..." Orihime's mental argument trailed off as saw the newcomer, Riruka ogling Ichigo with a stunned, blushing face.
"...Are you OK?" Ichigo asked, shocking Riruka back into movement.
She quickly turns away, her blush growing. "Y-Yeah, I am."
"Dammit, Ichigo!" Ichigo flinched as his hollow's enraged voice roared in his head.
Orihime's eyes narrowed, suddenly scooting over to Ichigo's side. "How did you get your powers again?" She quickly stated.
"Do you know how a hollow is formed?" Ginjo replied.
"...Of course," Ichigo stated. "Plus souls that aren't saved by shinigami turn into hollow by either staying in the human world too long or losing their hearts to regrets. The hole in the chest represents the missing heart. It's why they are called hollows."
"And where do the hearts go?" Ginjo questioned further.
"The..." Ichigo paused, realizing he never really thought of that. "Masks?"
"Good answer, but not quite," Ginjo added. "Not just their masks, but their appearance and powers all come from the heart. And when our parents were attacked by hollows," Ichigo and co jumped at that. "They left imprints on our unborn selves. As such, our powers are hollow-like."
Orihime and Chad looked on in horror. The mere thought of a pregnant woman attacked by a hollow was disturbing enough, but their parents never seemed like they were aware of what hollows were. Then again, hollows don't always attack spiritually sensitive humans...
Ichigo was even more horrified. He knew that her mother suffered from hollowfication after that fight with Aizen's hollow, surely that would've caused him to get a fullbring. "At least, if it weren't for me having shinigami powers." He thought. "Zangetsu. Could this be why you're hollow and shinigami?"
"Probably." Zangetsu wasn't full of dread like Ichigo, but he was still caught off guard. "I thought I came into being when Rukia stabbed you and jumpstarted your powers. But me being around since birth and growing with you explains how my powers are so great despite me never eating a single hollow."
"I'm sorry for what happened to you," Orihime said somberly.
"Don't be," Ginjo added. "As unpleasant as this power is, we used to get some great things."
"Not much compared to what I got." Yukio snarked, getting annoyed looks from the other fullbringers. Riruka in particular.
"What did you get?" Chad asked.
"Stole a business from some rich jerks," Yukio said simply, making Ichigo and co to gawk.
"He's actually the one paying for this place," Ginjo added nonchalantly, clearly not bothered by the insane statement. "But on to the point of our meeting."
"Recruitment, right?" Orihime replied. "For what? What do you guys do?"
"Help people like us, and obtain further power and influence," Ginjo answered. "Also possibly find out more about the Soul Society."
"Our previous encounters with shinigami have been...less than cordial." Giriko chimed in. "They don't like spiritual humans interfering with our work. Our powers being hollow in origin likely further irritated them."
"However, we have gotten more info on our powers from them," Ginjo added. "Mostly on how to get rid of them, unfortunately."
Ichigo and co sighed at that. They all were rather keen on Soul Society's opinion on things that aren't normal.
"Apparently Substitute Shinigami can steal and transfer fullbring powers," Ginjo added, greatly surprising Ichigo. "Shinigami powers purify hollows, but humans with hollow powers have a buffer, being alive and all. Humans with shinigami powers can somewhat get around this, but doing so causes the hollow powers to transfer over to the Substitute Shinigami. As such, most shinigami can't really touch us without express permission."
"That's...really weird," Chad stated.
"So?" Riruka added. "Wanna join? If there's was anyone who could help all of your friends hone your fullbrings, it would be us."
"...I'll think about it," Orihime added. "I and Chad already have a few exiled shinigami for teachers."
"...Just you and Chad?" Ginjo said curiously. "What about that black-haired girl?"
Orihime blinked in confusion. "Tatsuki? She doesn't have any powers?"
"...I felt hollow reiatsu in her," Ginjo asked, mildly confused. "She doesn't have anything to defend herself with?"
"They don't entirely know how to make a fullbring come out other than fighting and stress," Orihime explained. "And considering what you do for a living, I'm not sure if they really how to help. But they did offer."
Tatsuki looked all the more determined. "I'll do it."
"You sure?" Ichigo replied. "We have no idea what these guys really want."
"I just proved that I have more raw power than most of them but the boss if your power was any indication," Tatsuki argued. She then turned to Orihime. "I could handle myself with you and Chad at my back. And if these guys really are up to something, I'll help take them down! At the very least, you won't have to worry about what they're planning."
Ichigo wanted to argue, to say that Tatsuki didn't need to get involved. However, a stray memory came back to him.
"You have been fighting on your own for very long now." The spirit stated. "Especially since you've become a shinigami. But some enemies we will fight will be stronger than what we can handle alone. In these times, you will need to be able to rely on your friends.
Ichigo sighed as he relented. "Alright, I'll let you help."
Tatsuki beamed as Orihime hugged her. "We'll show you the place tomorrow," Orihime added. "But I think we could all use some sleep first. It's still night."
Tatsuki nods, her expression warring between determination, tiredness, and satisfaction. "Trust me guys, you won't regret this."
Soifon and Mashiro moved like lightning across the underground area as they engaged in a Hakuda free for all with their masks on. Punches and kicks at various angles flew everywhere as the two Vizard fought to win. Mashiro's attacks were incredibly powerful and fast; however, Soifon's skill and experience allowed her to maneuver and counter on an equal level despite her prominent speed and strength becoming less so each time her mask broke. The mask stayed on longer each time she put it back on, being around 20 seconds at the moment.
"Way to go, Bee-chan!" Mashiro called out as she smoothly spun on the ground and swept with her leg in an attempt to ground Naruto. "Keep it up!"
"Don't call me that." Soifon snapped as she instinctively fell on her back, arching over Mashiro's fast-moving leg. She quickly bounced back on her feet to deflect under the oncoming chop powered by Mashiro's rotating motion. "Only Yoruichi can call me that." She added before her mind caught up with her mouth. Her natural temper, once only aimed at those that defy Soul Society's rules had become harder to contain with the mask on. Further incensed by her revealing statements and the knowing look in Mashiro's eyes, Soifon aimed a punch at the green-haired vizard's side while underneath the outstretched arm, but Mashiro canceled it with a punch from her other arm as she bent forward to give herself room. As if that wasn't enough, her mask chose that moment to shatter, showing Soifon's increasingly irritated face.
"Oooh," Mashiro beamed as she took advantage of Soifon's missing mask and frustration to grab the outstretched arm and hurl her opponent away. "Your former captain right? She left for so long and you still like her? That's so cute!"
"That's none of your business!" Soifon growled as she used Shunpo to rush back in with one hand cocked back in a fist with howling winds swirling around it and the other creating another mask on her face. "And it's not like that! She was merely my respected superior!"
Mashiro's grin grew behind her mask as she blurred from vision and all but teleported a good distance above Soifon, foot covered in green energy. "Keep telling yourself that. Mashiro Bala!"
Soifon's eyes widened as she rose her covered arm to block the blast coming down. After stopping it, she tried to use Shunpo to get out of firing range, not wanting to get hit by a Bala Barrage. One Mashiro was clearly charging if her glowing fists were any indication.
It was at this point that something abnormal happened to Soifon. As she performed the motions needed for Shunpo she was since used to, her Hollow reiatsu instinctively formed a pattern based on the captain's need, and she found herself far out of the blast radius, leaving a sudden massive explosion in her wake as she nearly tripped from the sudden burst of speed. Mashiro squawked as she was blown further into the air by the blast. Fortunately for her, Mashiro was high enough in the air to avoid the brunt of the blast and could Shunpo her way back down.
"What was that?!" Mashiro squealed in awe, stars clear in her eyes. "You went so far and the air exploded!"
Soifon stumbled, her mask having broken off again. "I...I don't know."
As Soifon and Mashiro engaged in the elegant art of punching each other, Komamura and Hiyori were having a more Zanjustu focused duel, albeit with a twist.
"This is ridiculous!" Hiyori snapped as she slashed at the blindfolded Komamura, narrowingly dodging the large canine shinigami's counterattack. "What kind of busted ass Bankai would even warrant training like this?"
Komamura was very familiar with Tōsen's Bankai, being his best friend. They knew, theoretically, that it would deprive them all senses except that of touch. Sight, hearing, taste, smell, even reiatsu sense was dampened to the point of nonexistence. Tōsen himself called the effect "Ignorance". The only one immune to the effects was anyone touching Tōsen's Zanpakuto. But knowing what the Bankai does and being able to counter it were two very different things. Especially for a Bankai like Tōsen's.
To duplicate the effect, Komamura had worn a blindfold, stuffed his ears and nose, and enlisted Urahara to make a modified reiatsu-sense dampener. Unsurprisingly, he couldn't fight a captain level opponent like that, and so had gotten one of the lieutenants, Hiyori, to fight instead. At first, the small blonde Vizard had danced circles around the man, not even needing her hollow mask to get many a win on him, Komamura only getting back in the fight so quickly via Hachigen's healing kidō. However, slowly but surely, Komamura's attacks had gotten closer and closer, nearly grazing the girl after an hour of nonstop slashing.
Instinct. That was the key to battling Tōsen's Bankai. It was how Kenpachi had won, and the only reasonable way he could win as well. Fighting with just the sense of touch is something only someone truly experienced in battle could reasonably achieve. Fortunately, for how much of a battle junkie Kenpachi was, the other captain all had their fair share of life-or-death battles over the centuries. Komamura was no exception. Adding to this, his animal soul had given him more inclinations to these instincts. Instincts made greater by the hollow within. Long-buried urges that now had to be utilized.
"Tch!" Hiyori hissed as Tenken's spiritual blade finally hit, cutting into her side. It had taken hours, but Komamura's crazy plan was working. He was reacting faster to Hiyori's attacks. It rankled her something fierce that Komamura could keep up with her as handicapped as he was, and it pissed her off more considering the guy Komamura was preparing for wasn't even Aizen. "What kind of uber monsters are we actually going to be fighting?"
Elsewhere, Rukia was testing out his new skills on Lisa. The two clashed in a regular duel, at least by Komamura's standards. Lisa's long spear was giving the younger shinigami notably more trouble than she expected. She had trouble getting enough distance to do her dances aside from San no Mai, which was far too lethal for a mere spar.
"Gah!" Rukia swung her sword out in time to block a strike to her chest, deflecting the blade to her right side before dodging more attacks within the span of a few seconds. Eventually, an opening showed itself, and the smaller vizard weaved around an overextended swing before striking out, leaving a decent cut on Lisa's side. One that quickly grew cold and red.
Lisa winced in pain. "I thought you couldn't use ice without your dances." She asked.
Rukia gave a cheeky grin. "I didn't know how to. Not until recently." After her fight with her hollow and its final foreboding words, she had asked Sode no Shirayuki if she was hiding anything, and to her surprise she was. In reality, Sode no Shirayuki does not attack with ice from its blade; its actual ability is to bring the body temperature of its wielder to a temperature below freezing. As a result, anything its wielder touches freezes, the sword itself merely increasing its reach. The dances are merely ways to freeze the body safely. Doing it manually allowed for greater versatility and attack power, especially factoring the hollow mask, but it was also far more deadly.
Finding this out was quite a shock for Rukia. Sode no Shrayuki was her comrade in arms for decades, and for her to be withholding that information was a lot to swallow. But being reasonable, an ability reliant on lowering one's body temperature was dangerous at best. She likely would've never used it before her encounter with Ichigo and Aizen's betrayal.
"Let's see how powerful that trick is..." Rukia would begin to hear, suddenly feeling the rushing sensation as much as she would see the rapid high-speed movement performed by the Vizard. Spinning upon the balls of her feet, she would parry a thrust towards her back, sending a vast array of sparks to flourish between her and the former lieutenant and releasing a small shockwave from their reiatsu. During the clash, she would flip backward, landing a snap kick with her right foot to her chin.
"Let's!" Rukia retorted as the stumbling Lisa gave her enough time to make one of her dances. "Tsugi no mai," Stabbing her sword in the ground multiple times, a blast of cold wind rushed toward Lisa. "Hakuren!"
A quick shunpo allowed Lisa to avoid being frozen before swung at Rukia again. Though she did still shiver. The cut she got from Rukia was still sore and cold, impairing her movement. This allowed Rukia to quickly dodge under the spear strike and rush close enough to actually strike her again. Lisa quickly turned the handle to block the stab, but Rukia was still too close for comfort as they danced around each other.
Rukia kept up the offense, but very few of her attacks seemed to hit compared to Lisa's as the Vizard avoided most and deflected the rest. Lisa struck more frequently, especially whenever Rukia's mask broke. However, the few times Rukia managed to get so much as a nick, the cold sapped the strength of the other fighter. Rukia was tiring from her lower body temperature and cuts, but Lisa was tiring far faster.
While the Vizards all trained vigorously, the Vizard captains all watched impassively. The plan was for the newcomers to train their skills and fight against the lieutenants to get used to the power of the mask before fighting the captains. This training was more for improving their time with the masks than anything else, however, they were clearly improving in other ways as well. Soifon was improving her Sunpo and apparently her Sonido as well. Komamura was preparing to fight hTōsen and his Bankai in particular. And Rukia was getting a handle on the true power of her Shikai. And so far, they were improving rapidly. On the side, Kensei whistled, impressed. "A little longer and they might be able to upgrade to us." He said to Shinji, Love, Rōjūrō, who nodded appreciatively.
"Like me?" The Vizard Captains turned to see Ichigo walking into the room.
"What took you so long?" Shinji asked. "Surely Aizen's didn't send anything too deadly yet, did he?"
Ichigo shook his head. "Nah, we just bumped into a new group fighting them off. A group of fullbringers."
"Fullbringers!" Shinji bonked himself on the head, realization surging through him. "That's what Chad and Orihime are!"
"Yeah," Ichigo agreed. "They don't really know about what's going on, and I just told them it's a serious issue for shinigami."
"Kay," Shinji sighed. "We'll deal with that tomorrow." He then unsheathed his sword. "Now let's see what you've got."
Ichigo pulled out Zangetsu as well. "Right."
The next morning, everyone was exhausted. They had been training their skills for the whole night and while the improvements had been great, the exhaustion was more so. Ichigo's hollow mask time was already a lot longer than everyone else with him on good terms with his hollow, a good minute and a half. But now it's grown to almost half an hour. He was also more used to handling the strain Bankai gave him. Rukia, Soifon, and Komamura could only keep their masks on for half that time, give or take a few minutes but their other skills had improved as well. This greatly surprised the other vizard, as other than Mashiro, they had only managed around 3 minutes.
Boom!
Soifon stumbled at another explosion going off behind her and growled in frustration. "Dammit." Soifon had realized what that explosion she made was. The Shunpo was a technique for stealth as much as speed. A swishing noise, if any sound at all, was the only sound one would make while using the technique. This was achieved by leaving a bit of one's own reiatsu in the void where the user was, resulting in no boom.
Sonido, being a more instinctual technique, had no manner of stopping the sonic boom. Normally, this would merely cause a loud shockwave, but because she accidentally used both at the same time, the reiatsu used to stop the sonic boom was screwed up, and then only increased the pressure. Then, as quickly as he had disappeared, the area collapses in on itself, causing a terrifying explosion.
Soifon didn't like the phenomenon, the blatantly destructive and unpredictable nature clashing with her assassin skills, but the trick was seen as useful by most. However, after they attempted it the technique was shown to have a clear speed required to use it. Mashiro and Ichigo were the only ones to use it and the latter only in his Bankai.
Speaking of which, Mashiro was laughing near manically as she blasted off at insane speeds, leaving craters in the ground from the blastwaves that follow. All while Kensei looked on impassively. "This is my life now." He said in a dead tone. "I am in hell."
Komamura meanwhile was currently practicing his swordsmanship while in Bankai. The massive giant swung its sword along with its master as they engaged in basic and advanced swordplay. All while the captain was deep in thought about Hiyori. He and Soifon had managed to grab their hollow's zanpakuto in their respective fights, and yet none of their attempts to form the second sword had been successful. Calling out the blade's name while using the hollow's mask was the obvious answer, but it was rather unsuccessful. Asking the other vizard also yielded little to no results. None of them had even thought of grabbing the swords of their hollows and using the blades against them. Hiyori however, quite liked the idea of two blades and offered to fight her hollow again to find out how.
Whether this was a consequence of fighting Komamura or her own impulsiveness wasn't relevant at the moment. The big dog gave a look at the barrier a while off, Hiyori performing Jinzen while bound by kidō. "I hope that's going well." He thought, not just for more ways of handling hollow power but for the former lieutenant's safety as well.
As if started by that thought, Hiyori's body bulged as her mask formed around her face. "Looks like she found it," Shinji said casually as Hiyori started her transformation. "Haven't seen this in years." Everyone else was less calm seeing this, momentarily taking their eyes off their training to witness the monstrous hollowfication. Her muscles bulked up noticeably, her nails grew into claws, and her skin paled. And finally, white goo splashed from her mask and started covering her arms, hardening into bone-like armor.
A hollow cry pierced the area as Hiyori strained against the chains, and Shinji stood right outside the barrier ready to come in when the shackles broke.
Hiyori scowled as she scoured over her inner world, a barren smokey desert. "Where are you, you bitch?" She growled as she walked across the sands in search of her hollow, not bothered by her environment despite her general attire. She'd been here far too much for that.
However, her inability to find her hollow was frustrating her just as much as the world would stymie any normal person. "I know she's here somewhere." She muttered to herself, before snapping her fingers in realization. "Ah! Kubikiri Orochi probably knows." She then called out. "Kubikiri Orochi! I need your help!"
Right on cue, a massive crested serpent slithered into view, his scales a mixture of red and white. "You called?" The serpent hissed.
"Yeah," Hiyori nodded. "I need to find my hollow and kick her ass again."
"Ah," Kubikiri Orochi hissed in a pleased tone. "That's simple. You buried her in your mind, did you not?"
Hiyori blinked, before groaning as she looked down. "Don't tell me she's underground."
"You were the one who put her in there," The serpent chuckled. "Reap what you sow and all that."
"Smartass snake." She grumbled as she summoned Kubikiri Orochi's blade and dug it into the ground. She quickly jumped back as a roar reverberated throughout the world and hollow reiatsu burst from the ground.
"Well, at least I didn't have to dig too deep," Hiyori growled as she got over her shock. She saw her hollow crawling out of the ground with a gasp of air.
"Freedom!" The hollow roared as she dug herself out before snarling at her real self with untold anger and resentment. "YOU!"
"Me." Hiyori snapped back, not afraid of the apocalyptic rage of her hollow self. "I beat this bastard once. I can do it again." She told herself.
"What do you want?! What are you doing here? " Hollow Hiyori snapped. "You've missed your chance to gloat by a century. Doing it this late is just embarrassing for both of us."
"Your sword." Hiyori cut to the chase. "I need to get stronger, and that blade with help."
"And why should I give it to you?"
"Because you could fight me for another chance at my body."
That got the hollow's attention. "Alright. I'm listening."
"Fight me again. Right here. Right now." Hiyori demanded. "You win, you shove me down and get full control over my body. I win, you give your sword and tell me how your powers work."
"Deal." The hollow growled, drawing her version of Kubikiri Orochi's blade. "You won't get lucky twice, ruler, you little shit."
"I don't get lucky," Hiyori retorted as the spirit of Kubikiri Orochi slithered off to watch the battle from a distance.
The two eyed each other for a few moments before roaring and charging each other head-on, swinging at one another so harshly that the impact sent out a very strong shockwave. The battle was on.
Uryū shook his arms, trying to numb the soreness that came from firing so many arrows without stopping. The secret training room they fought in was covered in small scuff marks from arrows and Hirenkakyu enhanced running.
"Getting tired, are we, Uryū?" Ryūken said condescendingly. "Don't tell me you intend to stop rouge shinigami with that level of power."
"Hardly." Uryū snapped back, firing as many arrows as he could as fast as he could at his father, rushing across the room with Hirenkakyu all the while. Ryūken countered by firing over a hundred at him with a single shot, over an area twice as wide as Uryū was tall. What was even more impressive, however, was the fact that Ryūken had not used his other hand to draw the arrow, merely his reiatsu manipulation.
Uryū scowled at the undodgeable barrage of reishi shots. "You got to be kidding me." He groaned before a mad idea came to him. Stopping his Hirenkakyu, he flooded his Ginrei Kojaku with an insane amount of reishi causing it to grow abnormally and reishi to fill in the gaps. Ryūken's rain of arrows was stopped and absorbed by the improvised reishi shield.
Ryūken pushed up his glasses as if only marginally impressed by the creative action. "Impressive, but how long can you keep that up?"
"Long enough," Uryū countered, his bow quickly turning back into such before glowing abnormally along with his shoulder. "Licht Reigen!" A volley not unlike a machine gun poured out of the bow at Ryūken. Unperturbed, Ryūken flashed to the left only to see a silver rod flying in his direction.
"A silver rod strikes the five-fingered stone bed!" Uryū incanted, his words causing the rod to explode out into a film of stone that quickly covered Ryūken. Uryū didn't dare slow down, to give his father an inch was to guarantee defeat. He pulled out a Seele Schneider and aimed it. He didn't want to risk killing his father, but he knew the man could easily survive this. He fired the weapon at where he knew Ryūken's chest was, unloading another barrage of arrows for good measure. The Gritz started to tear apart just as the Seele impacted, creating a massive blue explosion. Uryū quickly used Hirenkakyu again, rushing to the highest point in the room, trying to ensure that Ryūken would get shot at the second.
"That was better, Uryū." Was the only warning the Quincy had before a white blur came out of the smoke cloud. Uryū quickly fired at will, but the Ryūken was suddenly too fast to be more than grazed. When he stopped, it was clear that Ryūken had taken a few hits from that. His clothes had various rips all over, but Ryūken himself, to Uryū's mixed infuriation and lack of surprise, was relatively untouched. "Perhaps I can fight more seriously."
"You can't possibly have not been trying this whole time!" Uryū yelled, trying in vain to shake the pain out of his bleeding fingers.
Ryūken sighed and pushed his glasses back up his face. "I have not. I have far more strength in store to show." His bow started to glow. "Duck."
Hiyori took a big gulp of air as she clashed with her hollow, again and again, the two trying to get past the other's blade and strike. Despite their blades being bigger than their bodies, their duel was fast-paced and brutal.
"You've gotten better," Hiyori growled, twisting her blade to unlock their blades. "I thought you'd get rusty after spending so long buried underground." With a heave of her muscles, she swatted her opponent's blade aside and swung for the face.
"My power is entwined with yours." The hollow chuckled darkly as she jumped back, narrowly avoiding the savage blow. "I get stronger as you do. My power has gotten a major work out from you using it so much over the centuries. And now you've given me another chance to use it, to take your body and become the true ruler of the world. And I have marshaled my strength for this moment. You see, ruler. I've learned some new tricks as well."
"Well then show me!" Hiyori roared as she lunged again. The two mammoth blades arced in seemingly endless directions as the two girls tried to end the life of the other. The sounds of the two large pieces of metal ringing were accompanied by small shocks like thunder as they reached the lone spectator of the rematch. Each blow was meant to kill and each swing had enough power to cut through flesh, bone, and soul with ease. The power behind each deceptively fast swing was frequently proven every time the blades clashed or when one of the weapons cut or scraped through the ground without slowing down in the slightest.
Jumping back once more, the two glared at one another before running in the same direction. After a few seconds, the hollow decided to show one of her new tricks. The space between them flashed red, and Hiyori only had a moment to pale and raise her sword before the blast crashed into it. The girl was flung away by the Cero, her arms nearly tearing from the force of the blast.
The hollow didn't slow down in her assault, instantly upon Hiyori with a feral swing. Hiyori didn't even have time to hit the ground before she had to block the savage strike, which did fling her into the sand. Even after the first hit, the hollow wasn't done. Slash after savage slash impacted the downed Vizard, under to get up or retaliate to the violent onslaught. And with each strike, her arms hurt more and more.
"I'm not going back! I'm not going back to getting stuck in your head! I will be the ruler of this world! You're no ruler to me! You're no master when you can't even control your own stolen power! You don't deserve the power you've stolen, but I'll take it back. I'll take it all!"
"Shut up!" Hiyori snapped back, swinging her foot upward in a desperate attempt to get the raving lunatic off her. Amazingly, the foot managed to catch her hollow off guard, who was so focused on her attack. The hollow stumbled and near tripped, allowing Hiyori a chance to fight back. With a shriek almost as feral as her hollow, she swung her arms and batted the hollow off her, sending it flying off in another direction.
Hiyori quickly got up to ensure the hollow couldn't deliver another onslaught on her. However, it was pretty clear that another problem was showing itself. "My arms are killing me!" She groaned as she strained her limbs, the two screaming with a second of holding the blade. While she had managed to block the cero and rampage of the hollow with her blade and avoid being murdered, the effort of doing so was murder on her arms. She could barely keep hold of her weapon.
The hollow quickly noticed and gave a dark chuckle as she shouldered her weapon. "You're done, Ruler. You had a shot against me when you were at your peak, but in your state, you don't stand a fucking chance." Her grip on her blade tightened as lunged. "I'm going to enjoy butchering you!"
"Fuck!" Hiyori used Shunpo to back away from the psychotic hollow, trying to think of a way to fight the berserk. "I can't fight like this! The only reason I beat her last time was because I got the drop on her before she did." She thought as she ducked and dove under the swings of her blade, not able to block or attack in her condition. "Dammit, how is this fair?! She couldn't fire Ceroes willy nilly the last time we...fought..." Her eyes widened. "Wait, she's stronger because her hollow powers grew, but they grew because I was using them. I had full control over them for the last century. What's so different now?"
"Cero!" The hollow shrieked, firing a red death laser at the Vizard.
"This better work!" Hiyori put a hand to her face and made an all too familiar motion. To her satisfaction, she could see her fingers starting to emit the sinister-feeling Hollow reiatsu. She could feel her mask there, just waiting to be called into existence. She called it with gusto, feeling strength flow back into her arms. With a laugh, she jumped over the blast and descended upon the hollow.
"No..." The hollow gasped.
"Yes!" Hiyori roared in victory, bringing her sword down like a guillotine. The hollow was just a fraction of a second too late as Hiyori metaphorically and literally disarmed her hollow. The hollow roared in rage and pain as her arm and weapon flew away, spraying blood in a variety of directions. She didn't get the chance to do anything else as Hiyori decapitated her with one more sword swing.
"Dammit, all!" The hollow screamed as she began to disintegrate. "How did you know you could use my hollow power here?!"
"Kubikiri Orochi's been off to the side this whole fight and we were using his blades the whole time," Hiyori said triumphantly. "Besides, you said yourself my power is entwined with yours. Your hollow strength is as available to me as Kubikiri Orochi is to you. But now it's time to cough up." Turning away, Hiyori ran off and grabbed the bloody blade of the hollow off the ground. "How do I use this?"
"You can't. Not without me locked up." The hollow rasped as she vanished with a smirk. "To use my sword, you have to call upon me."
Hiyori groaned as the hollow was gone. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm not done with that bastard."
A barely conscious Uryū fell on his back as his bow disappeared, physically and spiritually exhausted. A half-hour of constant battle with his father had left the boy wiped and sore all over. His fingers had been cut into so much that he had no strength left to pull back and fire arrows, he had used all of his Quincy spirit capsules, and his body felt like it was burning from the inside out for gathering large quantities of spiritual energy from his surroundings for such a prolonged fight. He had improved greatly over the arduous exercise, Ryūken had stated as such, albeit reluctantly, he was prepared for more. However, he simply didn't have more in him, not even enough to stay conscious.
Ryūken sighed as he walked over and picked up his son. He wasn't as unscathed as he seemed to be. A few cuts were littered around his body and his legs in particular. However, his ability to gather reiatsu allowed him to absorb the arrows before they cut too deep, a trick too advanced for Uryū to apply just yet.
"To think I'd be teaching not just you, but Isshin's daughters as well." He thought in irritation as he used Hirenkyaku to rush to the medical station in the training chamber. He had no desire to give the children here more reason to focus on the dead, but Uryū and his friends were aware of a threat greater then the dead could actually handle, a threat that, upon further elaboration from Urahara and Isshin, they'd honestly be fools to not prepare for.
"Foolish children." He muttered as he tended to the boy's wounds. Hopefully, the Soul Society wouldn't have more trouble with the rouge Captains than they already are. "Otherwise, these kids might end up having to clean up their mess entirely. And they'll never focus on their actual lives after that."
Either way, he had to finish Uryū's wounds quickly. He still had two kids to teach in a couple of hours.
Tatsuki swallowed hard as she stepped out of the elevator, Orihime, and Chad right behind her. They were there for more help and insight on fullbringer abilities, but also to ensure nothing happened to Tatsuki as they were working. Ginjo greeted them well enough. "So you came." He stated. "Good. Nice gi."
Tatsuki gestured to her karate uniform, a lightweight two-piece white garment with small rips from wear and tear over the years, most of them patched up. "You said that one's object had to be pretty important to you to be used as a fullbring, didn't you? This is very important to me." She gave the fabric an experimental tug. "So this is the place?" Tatsuki whistled as she looked around the darkened bar. "Swanky, but rather small. How am I supposed to train to get my powers in a room like this?"
BAM!
Tatsuki, Orihime, and Chad jumped as they heard the door slam and whipped around to see Riruka holding a dollhouse. "I've got your training room right here!" She stated proudly as she carried the playhouse into the room and placed it on a table.
"Do you have to do that every time we show up?" Orihime sighed.
"Do what?"
"Bust the door open and no she doesn't." An irritated voice added from the other side of the room. Riruka glared at Yukio, who took his eyes off his screen to give Riruka a look. "I'm the one who's going to pay for that door when it breaks if it hasn't already."
"Oh please," Riruka snapped. "Like paying for a door is really taking a chunk out of your 'allowance'."
"...I mean, it won't, but it's the principle of the matter," Yukio argued. "Besides, you end up flashing your underwear every time you kick the door open and I'm sick of seeing it."
Riruka's face went bright red. "W-W-What the hell are you doing looking under my skirt you game obsessed creep?!" She snapped. "And when did you start ordering me around like an equal?!" She pointed at a thoroughly confused Tatsuki and friends. "Don't get uppity just because we some visitors!"
"Oi!" Tatsuki snapped. "These visitors wanted help and you promised to give it." She stepped up. "Can you save the sexual tension for later?"
Everyone froze. Riruka in particular went stock still. The next moment, Tatsuki found herself grabbed by her Riruka, who proceeded to lift her clean off the ground and violently shake her. "WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA THAT I'M INTO HIM?! IT'S NOTHING LIKE THAT YOU HERE?!" She continued flailing Tatsuki back and forth as the girl tried and failed to tear the girl's grip off her. "YUKIO! TELL HER THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THAT BETWEEN US!"
"Sorry, you were saying something?" Yukio drawled, causing Riruka to twitch and heave as she throttled Tatsuki.
"Tatsuki, no!" Orihime squealed as she and Chad ran up and ripped her from the other girl's grasp. "Calm down! It was just a joke!"
"Can we start this thing already?" Jackie asked.
"Fine..." Riruka growled, still red in the face. Addressing the still dazed and heavily breathing Tatsuki, she gave opened the dollhouse with pride. "Rejoice! This cute box will be your training ground!"
"What the...hell are you...talking about?" Tatsuki rasped.
"I could tell you," Riruka smirked. "But it would be quicker to show you." A small heart appeared in her hand. "My fullbring, Dollhouse. It allows me to move people and things into or out of anything that I deem cute. Observe!" The heart floated over to Tatasuki and landed on her chest.
"What the..." Tatsuki blinked in confusion at the heart-shaped mark on her chest.
"That is your pass." Riruka grinned as she opened the dollhouse. "I permit you to come inside."
"Permit her?" Chad questioned.
"What are yoooooouuuu?!" Tatsuki didn't even have time to finish her question before she felt her body dragged by an insane force. An alarmed shriek ripped out of her as her body bent, contorted, and was sucked into the dollhouse.
Orihime and Chad quickly ran over to the dollhouse to see a dazed, confused, and very tiny Tatsuki in the dollhouse.
"Woah." Chad gaped. He had seen a lot of crazy stuff since Ichigo became a shinigami but this still blew him away.
"She's so small and cute!" Orihime squealed despite herself. Riruka preened at that. At least someone was appreciating her talent.
"The hell was that?" Tatsuki groaned as she got back up, only to notice her new size and the dollhouse. "Woah." She gaped before frowning. "Wait, how is this supposed to get me a fullbring?"
"Simple." Giriko chimed up. "Your opponent should give you enough pressure to jump-start your strength."
"My opponent-" Tatsuki suddenly saw a shadow covering and jumped back, twirling around to see a moving pig doll. "Oh."
"Mr. Pork will be your opponent." Riruka smiled. "Isn't it cute!?"
"Adorable." Tatsuki snarked before adopting the fighting stance she was so familiar with. "So I merely have to defeat this thing to get my fullbring?"
"You'll likely get your fullbring as you fight him but yeah." Riruka stated simply. "Do your karate until he keels over!"
"Isn't this a bit much right off the bat?" Chad questioned.
"What do you mean 'right off the bat'?" Riruka frowned. "Better to get it done sooner or later. Are you going to nitpick my way of doing things?"
Tatsuki gave a big grin as she ducked under one of the doll's wild swings. "Much obliged!" She bolted over to the beast, easily dodging its unrefined swings before kicking it right in the face, hard enough to make flip over.
Riruka gaped. "Wow." She stated. "Not bad."
Orihime smiled brightly. "That's Tatsuki for you!"
Despite the impressive kick, it was clear Mr. Pork wasn't staying down. With a groan, the beast rose back up and lunged at the miniaturized girl. A lunge easily sidestepped and flung off course by a punch in the face, sending the pork doll careening to the floor. The next few minutes consisted of this, the doll attacking Tatsuki, Tatsuki dodging the attacks with ease and counterattacking with relative ease, and the doll getting back up to try again. Tatsuki got rather frustrated at the pork beast not staying down and tried to channel her reiatsu into her gi as she kept attacking. Although this did little more than making her faster.
"This isn't working!" Tatsuki snapped as she punted Mr. Pork again. "I've been fighting this thing forever, and nothing changed! Orihime, Chad, give me a hint or something!"
"I don't really know." Orihime embarrassedly stated. "I was thinking of how much I wanted to save you when we were fighting that parasite hollow, and my powers just...appeared."
"Same with me," Chad added. "I was protecting Ichigo's sister and her friends when my powers appeared."
"All of us could use our fullbrings since we were born," Riruka added, addressing the other Xcution members. "There's no way we'd know any hints or tricks to gain them."
Tatsuki frowned as she smacked Mr. Pork away again. "That not much to go on." She thought. "Orihime and Chad found their fullbrings by trying to protect something, and the other just got them at birth. I likely have more in common with my friends than these other guys. What do I want to protect? That easy-"
Click.
"15 minutes have passed." An automated voice droned in the background. "In accordance with the conditions, no manifestation of fullbring was recognized within that time. And as such, Mad Beast Mode has been activated."
"Mad Beast Mode?" Tatsuki repeated, feeling a drop in her gut. A feeling justified by the now growing and screaming Mr. Pork. By the end of the transformation, his body was much wider and his head hunched over. His body, as well as his limbs, were longer and more muscular. Finally, three more eyes appeared on his head.
"Oh dear," Giriko mused. "It seems that the timer has activated."
"Timer?!" Chad gaped. "What Timer? You never said anything about that!"
"The hell did you do, Giriko!?" Riruka snapped.
"My goodness," Giriko scoffed. "You were the one who asked for help with this girl's training, did you not Riruka?"
"Yeah, but don't make it into something gross like that!" Riruka snapped. "There had to be better ways than this!"
"Well," Orihime chimed in while still looking in the box. "Tatsuki still isn't in much trouble at the moment, so I think we don't have to panic yet."
Looking back in the box, Riruka and Chad could see that Tatsuki was handling the Mad Beast Pork with difficulty, but still handling him. Her gi was now glowing small green lights as she slammed her fists and legs against the monster with precision and strength. While these attacks were clearly powerful, Mr. Pork was still tanking through them all. Much better in fact, as he was no longer getting knocked down.
"I'm so close!" Tatsuki thought frustratedly as she delivered a roundhouse kick to the pig's snout. To little effect. "I want to protect my friends. I want to fight alongside them. I have something I cherish dearly. I can almost feel the soul of this gi!" The feeling was in her grasp. "What am I missing?!"
It was at that something clicked for Chad. He realized the last push Tatsuki needed. "Pride!" He suddenly roared into the box, startling everyone else. "Pride was what was in my heart the first time I could use Brazo Derecha de Gigante! The matter that serves as the basis for my fullbring is the skin on my arms!"
"Your skin?" Tatsuki gaped at the statement. The other Xcution members were surprised themselves. Having a body part as the basis for a fullbring was unprecedented.
"My skin is darker than most others. It is because of the Mestizo blood in me." Chad stated proudly. "I may have run into a lot of trouble because of my skin and size, but I never once lost pride in who I am or this skin of mine. And my ability to keep holding on to that pride is all thanks to Abuelo! He was what was in my heart when I first used my powers! He instilled that pride in me!"
"That's right!" Orihime realized. "You were in my heart when I used Shun Shun Rikka, remember?"
Tatsuki went still as the lights around her gi flared as she did just that.
"Thank you for being Orihime's friend and protecting her before we could," Ayame stated as she bowed. "You gave her the motivation to bring us to the surface and give us life. We couldn't pay you enough."
"Your courage and desire to fight for me was inspired my power! You saved me so many times! Hell, you were the only person I had after my brother died!" Orihime continued. "I wanted to be more like you! I wanted to protect you for a change!"
"Orihime..." Tatsuki breathed. She knew their meant much to the girl, but to hear it so blatantly and loudly was a heartwarming experience.
"You feel it too don't you?" Orihime pleaded. "Remember a time where we helped each other! Remember a time you proved our bond! With and Ichigo!"
"Remember a time...we proved our bond..." Tatsuki chuckled, her gi finally morphing from emotions. "I can't even begin to count them all!"
An explosion of light billowed forth, temporarily blinding everyone looking in. When it subsided, the gi Tatsuki was wearing had changed drastically. All the tears had vanished. The cloth had stretched over her hands and feet, morphing into something akin to claws. Red scale-like tattoos were covering the whole outfit. And craziest of all, the black belt had grown in length the tassels from the knot swiveling to the back and forming a tail.
"Woah." Tatsuki laughed. "I did it!"
"You did it!" Orihime cheered, almost crying tears of pride.
"In the same way that all of your experiences are etched into your soul," Ginjo commented. "So too are they etched into the soul of what you possess. The battles you've had are no exception."
Tatsuki grinned as she cocked a clawed fist back as Mad Beast Pork charged her. "Let's see what these powers can do!" With a shout, Tatsuki socked the pig doll right in the face. A loud boom went as the fist glowed and exploded in the pork's face. The doll went flying to the other side of the room, nearly cracking through the wall. "Holy crap!" She gaped. "It's like a bomb went off in my hand!" She looked at her hand, still glowing with reiatsu. "Maybe I could shoot-"
A squeal cut her off her musing as pork got back up, although obviously not unscathed this time as the giant dent in his face showed. It charged Tatsuki faster than ever, trying to bite her head. Unperturbed, Tatsuki tensed her muscles to dodge when her body suddenly moved on its own.
"What-" Tatsuki yelped as she suddenly, yet very smoothly jumped to the side, causing Pork to slam to the ground in a daze. He kicked his foot out at Tatsuki, but her body once again acted of its own according and expertly jumped over the kick and into the air. Still confused about her body moving without permission, she decided to test her idea about ranged attacks and focused the reiatsu on her hand. To her pleasant surprise, the attempt worked perfectly. A blast of reiatsu shot from her hand at the pig and struck him in the back of the head.
"Tatsuki's fullbring is incredible!" Chad gaped. "She just got but she's using it so well!"
Tatsuki was having a blast using her powers. Knocking around this colossal beast was child's play with her strength and powers. Not to mention her body was acting on its own accord almost. Every attack Mr. Pork made, her body dodged and evaded with near-pristine agility. It was as if her powers knew how to dodge better than she did. The issue was it left her little time to attack, though every attack she did make was more than powerful enough to damage him. Her tail was a lot to get used to as well. The tail moved as if it was a fifth limb, swerving out of danger and directing itself to assist in evasive maneuvers. Eventually, the pig went down and didn't get up, and Tatsuki stood over it in triumph.
"Hell yeah!" She roared in victory. "I win! Let me out!"
"You should wait until Mr. Pork reverts to normal." Giriko suddenly argued. "Being rash could be dangerous."
"Why?" Orihime asked. "Tatsuki already won."
"I put a timer on the doll, Mr. Pork to make it activate 'Mad Beast Mode' if a fullbring wasn't achieved in 15 minutes," Giriko explained. "And another on the box, saying that unless Mr. Pork is defeated, it will 30 minutes until they can leave."
"...And if we took them out before then?" Orihime asked, getting a bad feeling.
"Tatsuki, Mr. Pork, and the box would be incinerated by the flames of time." Giriko finished to Orihime's and Chad's shock. "I would have rather explained my power before a situation like this happened, but she came in the day after you did."
Orihime and Chad gave the old man before Riruka caught their attention.
"Mr. Pork's back to normal!" Riruka called out, taking out a feather. "Taking them out!"
Tatsuki blinked in confusion then trepidation as Riruka took the feather to her nose. "Hey. What are you-"
Achoo!
"GAH!" Tatsuki shrieked as she lept out of range of the sneeze. Mr. Pork, still immobile, was covered in snot. "What are you doing?!"
"I undo my powers by sneezing on you." Riruka stated as Mr. Pork glowed and a full-grown man popped out.
"What the-" Chad gaped. "Who is-"
"Some Yakuza member that owed me a favor." Riruka mentioned offhandedly. "Now stay still, will you?"
Tatsuki groaned as she released her fullbring. "Alright." She grimaced. "Hit me."
Achoo!
Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow gave a smirk as he addressed his Fraccion. "Alright, everyone!" He declared. "We are going to raid the human world tonight! Kill everyone with spiritual power! Get stronger with the souls of shinigami! And bring back stories that will make Ulquiorra and Aaroniero Arruruerie keel over dead!"
The Fraccion cheered in mingled bloodlust and excitement. They were as excited for this night as their boss was.
"My My. You aren't planning on stealing all the fun are you Grimmjow?" A new voice caught everyone's attention. Grimmjow narrowed his eyes as Nnoitora revealed himself. The other Fraccion took a step back as they saw the man come in. It wasn't fear that crossed their faces. Most of them could barely feel such an emotion. Grimmjow and his men didn't feel fear easily. Rage, anger, fury… all of those and more, yes. But even if they aren't afraid, Nnoitora does see the wariness on their faces.
"The hell do you want, Nnoitora?" Grimmjow snarled.
"In," Nnoitora growled. "I want to butcher that human girl. The one that scratched Aizen."
Grimmjow's glare didn't fade, but his snarl changed into a smirk. "Really now? Are you of all people declaring that human girl a threat?"
"Fuck no!" Nnoitora roared in rage, insulted by the insinuation. "That fake hollow bitch has been getting lucky is all! I'll kill the whore and show everyone's been bitching over nothing!"
"Fine." Grimmjow scoffed. "Just don't get in my way. I'm getting Kurosaki and the Quincy. I want to see if the punk that took out Luppi is anything special."
Nnoitora laughed at that. "I'll let you have them. Then I'll kill them after they tear you apart."
"The hell they will!" Grimmjow snarled as he got Nnoitora's face. "My Resurreccion will be more than enough!"
Nnoitora laughed. "We'll see about that!"