Chapter Six: The Rival
Orihime Inoue woke up.
Rising out of her bed, the buxom auburn-haired girl stretched as she made her way to the window. Opening it, she stared out at the rising sun that morning, and then Rukia ran up and punched her in the face. Orihime blinked as she saw her body fall limp to the ground.
"Orihime, another hollow is about to attack a boy in the park," said Rukia.
Orihime looked at her Soul Reaper garb and drew out her blades. "Right, let's get going, Rukia!"
Orihime and Rukia raced out of her apartment, leaping across rooftops. As Orihime ran, she soon caught sight of a huge praying mantis descending toward a boy. Shooting forward, Orihime sliced through it with one blow. Descending, she saw more hollows coming out of many portals.
Hurling her circular blade, she cut through many of them, even as she slashed down another. Leaping into the air in a ball, she called her blade back to her. Rising into the air as even more of the creatures came after her, she raised her blades.
"In the name of the Soul Society, I will punish you!" cried Orihime, auburn hair flowing around her and breasts bouncing. "Hiyaa!"
Descending, Orihime sliced through them in a blaze of blades. Landing, she struck a pose and gave a thumbs up to uh... somebody. Nobody was actually around, but it was important to show off. A shounen hero had to be cool, after all.
"More of them over there, Orihime," said Rukia in deadpan.
"Oh, right," said Orihime.
And so the day began.
Orihime hunted all over town, purifying hollows wherever they went. As Orihime slashed one after another down, she noticed something. Hollows would come out of their portals above the buildings. When that happened, a bolt of blue light would consume them.
On and on it went, and Orihime started to work up a bit of a sweat. Which was kind of weird since she was way stronger and faster in this form. Still, she thought she could go on, so she could. At last, she killed yet another hollow and decided that was enough for today.
When somebody made a manga about her, it wouldn't make sense to keep hunting weaker hollows. So they'd stop coming now, and Orihime would face some super cool rival.
"Okay, that takes care of that," said Orihime. "You know it's a good thing that video went viral just before the weekend. Otherwise, we'd have totally been out of school all day." Though she doubted school would actually get in the way. It never seemed to be a problem for others.
"Just be glad the hollows seem to be winding down," said Rukia, walking. "The spiritual pressure of humans here has gotten a bit more restrained."
"Why do you think that is, Rukia?" asked Orihime.
Rukia shrugged. "It's likely a defense mechanism.
"You may have noticed that humans are almost always absent when we fight hollows. Humans have a subconscious awareness of the danger that drives them off the street. That's why most hollows strike at night; their prey is asleep.
"My guess is that all the hollows have made people control their spiritual pressure. Still, the Soul Society probably noticed what happened.
"We'll have to be careful.
"Now come on, I've got some business with Kisuke Urahara to discuss."
"What kind?" asked Orihime, moving forward to walk beside her.
Rukia sighed. "We need a Soul Pill.
"Something to create a replacement soul to run your body while you're gone."
"Is that really necessary?" asked Orihime.
"Well, you want someone to be able to fill in for you in class, don't you?" asked Rukia, brushing a strand of black hair from her face.
"I guess, but-" began Orihime.
And then there was a shriek. "More hollows," said Rukia. Wait a minute, that wasn't right. Orihime had already established herself as a badass hollow slayer in this episode. This seemed kind of repetitive, really. "Orihime, quickly-"
A series of bolts of blue light shot out a lot faster than normal to destroy them. Orihime stared blinking. Uryu shot faster and faster. Oh, he must have attained some awesome new power level. Probably training really hard to defeat her.
Although they weren't really enemies.
Maybe he was trying to impress her. Then there would be this whole fan analysis. Eh, maybe Orihime was just overthinking this.
"Nevermind," said Rukia.
"Wow, you sure can rely on Uryu to pick up the slack lately, huh?" asked Orihime.
"We'll check back with him later. Come on," said Rukia. "And remember, don't tell anyone about what we found out here. Not a word that we know about Ichigo."
"Why do we have to keep the secret?" asked Orihime.
"Because if Urahara knows we know, he might do something even more illegal," said Rukia. "I've read a bit about him, and well... I shouldn't say more."
"Oh, so we're like secret agents then," said Orihime.
"Sure, why not-" began Rukia.
And then a hollow descended toward them with pincers readied. Orihime ducked aside and sliced it in half. These things really didn't know how this thing was supposed to go, did they? Hurling her blades, Orihime cleaved through two more and caught it.
"These hollows really are attacking fast now, aren't they?" asked Orihime.
"Just be glad they seem to be targetting you," said Rukia. "They could be going after other people. Actually, that seems a bit odd in itself. By now, the creatures ought to have learned their lesson and gone after easier prey.
"But they seem to be totally focused on killing you."
Another flurry of bolts took the hollows out. They were like fireworks in the sky. "How does Uryu keep getting them like that?"
"I think he picked a vantage point at a high elevation and is using it to shoot them down," said Rukia. "It's a standard Quincy practice, developed by Sokken Ishida. There were plans for cooperation between Quincy and Soul Reaper. But Central 46 refused to ratify them.
"Instead... well, the Quincy all got picked off one by one."
"...He's a pretty good shot, isn't he?" asked Orihime, not really wanting to focus on the subtext. She was sure they'd beat whatever bad guy was responsible for that.
"Come on," said Rukia. "Let's find Kisuke Urahara's place."
They arrived at Urahara shop, and Rukia knocked on the door politely. As they did, the door slid open, and a young girl peered through with droopy eyes. "Hello?"
"Ururu," said Rukia. "I'd like to speak to Urahara."
"Right this way," said Ururu.
Ururu led Rukia and Orihime into a waiting room. There they halted and sat down, waiting while she left. A moment later, Urahara came back in, cane tapping the ground beneath her feet. "Oh, Rukia Kuchiki. I'm honored you decided to visit me again. How can I help you?"
"Save it, Urahara," said Rukia. "This gigai you gave me can hardly move, and I'm less than satisfied with it. And I can't help but note my Soul Reaper powers aren't recovering."
"Sorry, no refunds," said Urahara. "You sure you aren't using it too much?"
"Positive," said Rukia. "I need a mod soul. Now."
Urahara nodded. "Well, I'll see what I can do. I like to keep on good terms with the Soul Society. The only way to stay alive." And he headed back behind into another room. A moment later, he came back with a pill dispenser topped by a duck.
"Let's see, ah, this ought to do it," said Urahara.
"Do you have Chappy the Rabbit?" asked Rukia.
"Sorry, at the moment, those are fresh out. They're fan favorites, you know," said Urahara. "Really have to come in early for that kind of thing."
"Fine, put it on the Soul Societies tab," said Rukia.
"Any time," said Urahara. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"
At that moment, the door opened, and Ichigo barged through it. "Hey, Hat and Clogs!"
"Oh, Ichigo, there you are," said Kisuke, eyes shifting.
"Huh, you're that transfer student who came to school before, aren't you?" asked Ichigo, looking to Rukia.
"Yes, yes, I am," said Rukia. "Just what are you doing here?"
"Ichigo is working a part-time job for me. He's hoping to get some life experience," said Urahara.
"Right, I'll keep it in mind," said Rukia. "Ichigo... I hope you know what you're getting into. Juggling school and extracurricular activities can be pretty hard."
"Well, I've handled it so far," said Ichigo. "Who are you to get on my back about this.
"Oh, hey, Orihime. What's with those robes?"
"Oh, uh... I'm cosplaying, yeah, cosplaying-" said Orihime. "I'd better get home and get back into my normal clothes so I can play volleyball!"
"Right, be careful," said Ichigo.
Orihime and Rukia got out while they could. As they did, Rukia looked to Orihime. "How odd, he should know about you being a Soul Reaper by now. Tatsuki said he was there when Urahara said as much."
"Oh, I'm sure he's just focused on training," said Orihime. "Kurosaki-Kun tends to forget things he's not focused on at the moment."
"Wonderful," said Rukia. "Let's see if this pill works on your body, and then we'll get to work."
By the time they got back to Orihime's apartment, it was mid-morning. Several times they had to stop along the way to kill another horde or two of hollows. But finally, they got into the house. Orihime quickly got back into her body and took a shower.
It was only once the water was flowing down her form that she realized she was not actually sweating. Even so, the water pouring down her shoulders helped her a great deal. Somewhat reluctantly, she dried herself off and went out. Finding Rukia with the pill, she drew out a pill.
"So what now?" asked Orihime.
"Now you take this," said Rukia.
Orihime nodded, took the pill, and swallowed it. Or tried to, she rapidly ended up choking and had to pour herself a glass of milk. No doubt the cows would be angry at the waste.
Finally, Orihime got it down.
Instantly, Orihime was thrown out of her own body. Looking at herself, Orihime saw she was still standing. "What the... how did that happen?"
"Okay, so state your purpose," said Rukia.
"Yes, ma'am, I'm a bubbly high-school student," said the girl. "My purpose is to ensure Orihime Inoue's grades don't fall. That and make sure her relationships don't get sabotaged.
"Also, pink hippos, apparently." The Orihime across from her looked depressed, however. Like she was trying to force herself to feel happy but couldn't do it.
"Um..." Orihime shifted. "It doesn't seem very much like me, Rukia."
"Mod souls generally take a while to break in," said Rukia. "They usually come to share the personality traits of the Soul Reapers they work for. Though often they put an emphasis on different aspects of their personality."
"Yeah, I..." said the girl. "I'm getting that impression. I'm going to go to um... study or something." And she wandered off into Orihime's bedroom.
"Uh, is something wrong?" asked Orihime, going after her.
"No, nothings wrong, go hunt hollows," said the mod soul. "Maybe someone will actually notice you then.
"I'll just stay here..." And then she started sobbing.
"Um..." Orihime paused.
"Oh, this is so awful!" cried the girl. "I live all on my own, and my parents were abusive! And Tatsuki is always having to step in and protect me, and oh... this is so awful...
"And I'm not even a real person."
"Uh... is that my personality?" asked Orihime.
"I uh... well possibly," said Rukia. "I mean, mod souls tend to bring out repressed emotions in their portrayal of the person. They often have a different interpretation of the same personality. I mean, my Chappy the Rabbit is always saying what I was thinking, but...
"You're only pretending to be happy, aren't you?"
Orihime blinked and raised her hands. "No, no, I totally am.
"Being happy is how I forget I'm sad." She looked over to the girl, whose sobs were continuing. "Um, are you going to be alright?"
"Just go! Leave me to my misery!" moaned the girl.
"Do you think maybe we should help her?" asked Orihime.
"Mod souls are programmed to never commit self-harm, so uh..." said Rukia.
"I'm a total nuisance," moaned the girl. "Just a placeholder meant to make sure the real Orihime doesn't get in trouble. I'm worthless and weak, and nobody wants anything to do with me..."
"Now hold on a second, you're not worthless at all!" said Orihime, feeling obligated to stand up... for herself? "By taking my place, you're keeping me from getting detention or going to prison or something. And if I got in trouble, then I wouldn't be able to hunt hollows at all.
"So just be being me; you're saving a lot of lives. Tell you what, after I get back, we can trying cooking together. We can make some special recipes."
"We only make those weird recipes because we can't afford ingredients," said the other. "We use weird combos of all the cheapest stuff."
"Wait, seriously?" asked Rukia. "That actually-"
"It doesn't matter what the price tag is," said Orihime. "Well, it does, but it's cheap. We enjoy making it. So we'll make something nice after we get back."
The sobs faded. "...Okay."
"Now let's go, Rukia," said Orihime.
"We actually don't have any orders at the moment," said Rukia. "I just wanted to familiarize you with how mod souls work."
Oh, well, that was weird.
This kind of conversation needed to be cut off by something epic. I mean, Orihime guessed she could do cooking with herself, but-
Oh good, Rukia's phone was ringing.
"Uh oh," said Rukia, and her eyes went wide.
"What?" asked Orihime.
"We've got hollows coming out near here. It's... oh no," said Rukia. "Run, Orihime!"
"What is it?" asked Orihime.
"Orihime, we've got to get out of here now!" said Rukia, voice panicked. "We'll head back to the Soul Society and get reinforcements! This is way above our level of power!"
"What's so terrible?" asked Orihime. There would be an epic duel with a rival.
"There is..." Rukia paused. "There's a Vasto Lord's appearing. We have to run!"
"Run to where Rukia?" asked Orihime, curious.
Rukia shuddered. "...Nowhere. I can't leave. But... but if you get Tatsuki and run, we might be able to escape the town before..."
"But then who will protect the town?" asked Orihime.
"No one!" said Rukia. "This thing is... it's a Vasto Lordes! It's the most powerful kind of hollow! Shrieker and all the kinds we've faced so far they're... they're nothing to a Menos Grande. And that's three steps lower than a Vasto Lorde.
"We need a Captain out here! Maybe two!"
Orihime saw where this was going. "Oh, right, I get it. So it's our job to stall this Vasto Lourdes until help arrives! And I'll bet we'll meet some super cool badass who'll teach us a new move! Right, time to go!" And she raced out.
"Orihime, wait, we can't win this!" said Rukia, grabbing her by the shoulders.
"Don't worry, Rukia. If we can't hold them off, we're all going to die anyway," said Orihime with a reassuring smile. "No point in getting worked up over it."
"That's uh..." Rukia paused. "That's actually a good point. Go ahead."
Orihime wasn't worried.
All anime had a point where the hero faced some unstoppable foe nobody else could beat. Then the hero beat them and proved themselves to be really awesome, and everyone cheered. Then that previously unstoppable foe was rendered insignificant later on.
Well, unless the threat was a reoccurring rival or something.
Orihime raced toward the threat, and she could sense it now. Two sorts of auras were before her now. One of them was... violent and brutal, simmering with absolute rage. The other was cold, seeming more like a void than a real presence. Both were in the central park.
Orihime hoped both of them were somewhere away from all the innocent people.
Racing forward, she leaped to the top of a tree and saw them. The first was a tan-skinned giant of a man. He had a mask in the shape of jaws at the bottom of his face. He was like, nine feet tall and wore an all-white trenchcoat. The other was a boy about Orihime's height and had half a white samurai helmet on his head. He wore a long white coat, and his skin was very pale. His hairstyle was actually similar to Rukia's, and he was... beautiful in a dead sort of way.
Both had swords.
"Ugh... the air here is so thin. I can hardly breathe," said the big guy, who was probably fodder. His was the violent aura.
"Quit complaining, Yammy," said the other. Judging from his voice, Orihime guessed him to be reoccuring antagonist material. "Our orders were quite plain. We are to investigate the strange energy readings and... provoke a response. Certain creatures within this place have been demonstrating abilities we do not understand.
"Szayel wants us to observe, and our Master authorized the operation."
"So, do we start killing everything in sight, Ulquiorra?" asked Yammy.
"No," said Ulquiorra. "The population of this area is to remain intact. That is why I chose an isolated area."
Well, time to make an entrance. "Not so fast, evildoers!" She leaped down. "I am Orihime Inoue, Substitute Soul Reaper! In the name of the Soul Society, I will bring you to justice!" Come to think of it, they hadn't done anything evil yet. Just talked about killing everyone in town and decided against it.
Either way, she was descending toward the boy. She had intended to put her sword at his throat; however, he caught her frontmost blade between two hands. Orihime tried to move it and found it held in place.
Ulquiorra, however, adjusted his posture. "...Ah, excellent.
"Now we don't have to go to the trouble of searching. Yammy, break her."
"Right," said Yammy, raising a fist.
Orihime had the feeling this was not going quite the way she expected. "Um, wait, aren't you going to like, explain your evil motivations? Declare your intention to prove me inferior? Demonstrate your total superiority."
"No," said Ulquiorra.
Yammy attacked.
Ulquiorra let go of Orihime's blade, and she ducked away. Yammy's fist blew a huge crater in the ground, and he was after her. Even as she slid to a halt, Orihime found herself dodging and weaving beneath his attacks. Yammy struck with powerful blows, but grasping his shoulder, she vaulted over him.
Landing behind him, she readied her blades. Obviously, Yammy was physically stronger between the two, so she had to evade, not block. "Huh, wow, you're pretty fast. I guess you're like, his second in command. And he's some sort of controlled lone wolf demon Prince or something."
"Shut up and fight," said Yammy, swinging another fist.
Orihime narrowly leaped over the fist before ducking under another. This was pretty hard, but she ought to try and be confident. "But I am fighting; you just aren't responding all that fast."
"Shut up!" snarled Yammy, swinging down a fist.
As the blow fell, Orihime raised one of her blades and caught the fist. There was a clash, and beneath his strength, she was hardly holding him back. Then Yammy opened his mouth. "CERO!"
A wave of energy surged toward Orihime, who raised her blades and spun them on reflex. As she did, an energy field appeared before her. The waves of power washed over the field, only to be deflected back. They hit Yammy in the face and sent him staggering away.
"Wow, that's like a ki blast or something! How do you do that?" asked Orihime.
And then Orihime became aware of Ulquiorra behind her, charging another ki blast. "Let me demonstrate."
Orihime leaped just in time, only for Ulquiorra to not release the blast. Instead, he turned it upwards and fired a beam at her. Orihime made the same move as before and reflected it, but the backlash never hit Ulquiorra. Suddenly he was behind her again.
Turning around, Orihime warded off an assault.
The two of them slashed, hacked, and dueled. Orihime could hardly move fast enough to stop him. However, eventually, Ulquiorra simply broke off. His bright green eyes were so intense, actually. And he seemed to be examining her. Suddenly he surged forward with a roundhouse kick. Orihime, however, blocked it and forced him to withdraw.
"Wow, you're really fast, huh?" asked Orihime.
"Something is wrong here, Ulquiorra," said Yammy. "A second ago, I was fighting even with her. Now all of a sudden, she's fighting even with you.
"Is she holding back or something?"
"No," said Ulquiorra. "I have not perceived any spiritual alterations in her nature nor any real change of posture. By all accounts, she is utilizing the same techniques at the same level. They are just equally effective against two wildly varying opponents.
"And yet I cannot sense her abilities. Blocking one of your punches was a struggle. But a far more powerful attack on my part was easily deflected."
"So what gives?" asked Yammy.
"There are three possibilities I can find," said Ulquiorra. "One, we are under the influence of a hallucination, and what we perceive has no basis on rational reality.
"Two, our existing paradigms for calculating powers are insufficient to properly calculate hers.
Or three, Orihime Inoue's powers hinge on how effective she perceives them to be. Because of your size and her ignorance, she thought you were physically more powerful. Therefore she struggled against your attacks and had problems with my speed. Merely believing herself to be on her level, thus makes her at our level. That is regardless of her spiritual pressure or training."
"What the hell does the third one mean?" asked Yammy.
"It means that she will override the innate rules of the universe. Apparently, without even knowing she can do it," said Ulquiorra. "In the third scenario, Orihime Inoue is God. She just doesn't know it yet."
Orihime had the feeling she was missing something here. "Well, um... that's really flattering and all, but um... I don't think I ever told you my name before. Who are you guys anyway?"
"Orihime!" said Rukia, racing through the trees.
Orihime looked up brightly. "Oh hey, Rukia, I'm just fighting these guys."
"SHUT UP AND DIE!" said Yammy.
This was the part where Orihime defeated the thug so her fight with her rival could go on uninterrupted. Dodging under Yammy's fist, Orihime roundhouse kicked him in the side. The strike sent him flying into a tree. With a roar of anger, however, Yammy pointed his fist at Rukia.
"RUKIA?!" cried Orihime.
A wave of red energy surged toward Rukia. All of a sudden, Orihime realized this could be the point where her mentor got killed. There could be an entire arc about learning to operate without her. But she didn't want there to be an arc about that; she wanted Rukia to live.
But now that Orihime knew it was happening, she wasn't moving fast enough. The wave surged toward Rukia, who couldn't move in time. Orihime raced toward it-
And then Ulquiorra got there first.
The blast was caught and died even as it struck. Ulquiorra looked suddenly furious without changing expression. The voice, which was his energy, got just a bit more deadly. "Yammy, do you remember our target priorities list?"
Yammy stood up, and his anger died. He started shaking visibly. "I uh... I didn't mean anything by it, Ulquiorra, honest I-"
"Enough," said Ulquiorra. Then he turned to Orihime. "...So, you aren't God.
"How reassuring. We're leaving Yammy."
"What?" said Yammy. "But the fight was just getting good."
"We have the information we need," said Ulquiorra. "Our Master will be very interested in this."
"Um, okay, goodbye!" called Orihime. "I hope we can all become friends later!"
"Shut up," said Ulquiorra, as the portal closed around them.
"Well, they seemed nice," said Orihime. "Rukia, why are you gawking like that?"
"...Orihime," said Rukia, "we need to talk about this power of yours."
Today had been pretty good overall.
