Does Man Make the Monster?
Chapter 15
Blackout
(A/N I hoping that this chapter will be better. I am taking more time on it. For those that don't know. I WENT BACK AND FIX SOME THE CHAPTER LAST ACTUAL CHAPTER. GIVING IT LONGER FIGHT SCENES. I hope you all will go back a reread that. Thank you for reading and very long wait. I made sure it was longer than most.)
SOUNDS/sounds
Thoughts
(Last Time)
"My heart?" Banjo blinked.
A moment later Shiro flicked Banjo hard in the nose.
"Ow!" Banjo clamped a hand over his abused nose.
"It can be your greatest strength but also your greatest weakness. Learn how to balance it. That means using this too as a counter weight."
He jabbed Banjo in the forehead. Shiro then gave a sharp turn on his bare heel and started moving. He made a come gesture for the others to follow. The ghouls started to follow him as ordered. Banjo stood motionless as the others started to leave.
"He's right you know," Santo said, standing beside his leader. "Physical strength doesn't make a leader. We follow you because of who you are. He read you like an open book. C'mon, Banjo, let's go before we get left behind."
Santo hurried on over to the others, following behind Shiro. Banjo watched for a moment or two before rushing off after them. A slight smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. If this was all really true maybe he should a little harder to be what the others wanted of him. He just actually had to put forth the effort.
(Present Time)
Urahara sat outside on a rickety old piece of lawn furniture with his cell glued his to ear. He had gotten the call a good long while but had yet explain what was going on. The others waited inside wanting to know what was going on over where Yoruichi and Ichigo were at. Nothing bad happened but it was clear some plans weren't going the way they should be going. They could hear Urahara's muffled voice every so often.
"You don't think one of them is hurt, do you?" Orihime asked, looking around the group.
"I don't think so… He's acting too cool for that," Jinta said, munching on some chips.
"Well, something is wrong for him to walk outside," Orihime sighed, pulling her blanket close to her body.
"Don't read too much into this, Orihime," Chad said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "More than likely he just wanted to keep his head clear while he talks to her. I don't talking on the phone in a room full of people even if there's nothing wrong."
"I guess…" she sighed.
"Worrying only leads to more worry," Ururu said, stealing some of Jinta's chips. "If you expect something bad to happen then the worse will happen."
"All right… I get it…" Orihime said, burying her face into her knees.
"Everything will be fine," Uryu said, walking over to her.
"So we have a problem," Urahara announced as we walk back in side and got strange feeling. "I said that at a bad time, didn't I?"
There was a collective nod. He just shrugged and put the phone up.
"Not that kind of bad. No one is hurt or dead. Our dear Ichigo forgot to mention something while training us," Urahara said, sitting down in his chair. "Yoruichi recently discovered some of the soldiers wearing body cams."
"Body cams?" Uryu asked, getting back to his feet.
"Yes. That being said none of you can go help assist in the fight," Urahara sighed, running a hand through his blond locks. "Unlike Yoruichi, you actually exist in this world. If your picture is taken and you are identified it means not only trouble for you but for those around you as well."
"Then what can we do if we are needed?" Chad asked.
"Well… So far that hasn't been the case and be honest with me. Who here would actually be okay fighting in this?" Urahara asked and Jinta's hand shot up and then slowly dropped back down. "This isn't about what Ichigo wants or what is right or wrong. You are just here as a contingency plan. Ichigo made that perfectly clear; if you really don't want to get involved you don't have to."
"What do you think we should do?" Chad asked and Urarah turned to look at him.
"Not really sure... Even if we aren't going to go in as a group I'm going to need at least one person to help in setting something up. It never hurts to get rid of any tangible evidence. No loose ends," Urahara turned and walked over to an old duffel bag and opened it. "I brought these with me originally to give them a test run. It was a project I scrapped after Karakura came under better control by Soul Society. It was meant to help all of you during a fight by knocking out everything around so 'everything will go dark' so to speak."
"You mean like an EMP bomb?" Uryu asked and Urahara pulled out an orb about the size of a softball.
"A very close cousin. I never stopped tinkering but I never actually put it to the test. I have three more like this one," he walked up to the group to showed them the item. "You put your energy into this and boom! Knocks out everything electronic in a pretty sizeable radius. One problem. Is it's a onetime thing. They were designed to make sure you had time to run. They are disposable and not durable."
"What good is that to us?" Ururu asked and Urahara rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It only knocks out the power but they will get that up and running again."
"It can also corrupt stored data in computers. We might only be able to black them out for a little while but it's the data we need to get rid of. Just on the off chance that Ichigo might get recognized. It never hurts… I just need one more person. Yoruichi and Ichigo will take the other two. It needs to be an in and out thing."
"They could also be broadcasting that information to other locations in case something happens to the field base," Uryu pointed out. "It might already be a little late."
"I am aware of that, too. This is just to tie up what we can," Urahara sighed, rolling the orb in his hands. "As far as I know Ichigo has already found Kaneki and is helping to get others to safety as well. The bulk of the issue has been resolved."
"I-I'd… Like to help with this," Orihime said, raising her hand, carefully looking up at him.
"Hm? Orihime this might not be…"
"Please, Urahara. Just hear me out on this… I know I'm not the strongest person here, I really know this, but these ghouls, these friends of Ichigo's… No doubt even some of them might need medical help. I'd like to help them in that way. That's… You see I…"
Urahara looked at her quizzically. She had a valid point but she might not like to be involved in this. She already proved she didn't like guns and she would be in the middle of a blood soaked battlefield.
"Orihime," Uryu sighed and walked over to her. "What are you pushing for this?"
"Please, let me do this one thing. It might not seem like much to the rest of you but it means a lot to me… As a person," she said, turning to look at Uryu. "I want to do something while I'm here. I couldn't train and I felt like a burden this whole time. If I can do this one thing I won't feel so bad, you see? I wouldn't ask for this normally… You all know this. So, please?"
"You do know what you'll see when you get there?" Urahara warned her. "It will not be a pleasant sight. Not at all."
"I know… But I can't keep being coddled," she said, putting on a weak smile. "I'm not a great fighter but I need to stop being so timid about things and you've got to stop babying me so much."
Urahara sighed and lightly rubbed his scruffy chin as he casually looked over at Uryu. Uryu shrugged in response. As it stands right now it was Urahara's decision to let her go or not. He was in charge of the group after all. He had to make the choice. He crossed his arms and pondered a little while more, weighing everything. He sighed again and nodded his head.
"Put on your gear, Orihime, you'll come with me," he said, looking at the orb in his hand. "This is against my better judgement but if you really want to do this then I'll let you."
"Urahara?" Uryu snapped.
"Let her spread her wings for once," the blond said, handing her the orb. "Go on and get dressed. We'll head out right after."
"Thank you so much," she bowed and went over to the gear next to her cot. "I won't take long."
She grabbed her things and left the area to get dressed.
"Are you sure this is a wise choice?" Chad added, looking at Urahara. "She runs the risk of being hurt in there. She might not be able to deal with situation as a whole."
"I think she can do it if she really wants," Ururu spoke up. "It is her choice after all. She is not defenseless and has proven herself to be fighter when she's put into those situations."
"Yeah! She can put up a fight when she has to," Jinta snorted, looking between Uryu and Chad. "Grant it she's not the greatest… But she's just operating one of those orb thingies. It's not like she's going to actually fight, right?"
"Hopefully that is the case and we will just blend into the background. I don't know the situation personally but it sounded like the complex is close to being secure by the CCG. So hopefully she won't be noticed or in harm's way," Urahara said, walking over to bag and pulled out the other three orbs and put them in a smaller pack. "I'm just praying they will work as I want them to. Preliminary tests have worked out just fine. I don't expect them to fail so we should be just fine."
"Hope so," Chad said, leaning back in his camping chair.
"You know I still feel like this was a bust. We came all the way here, steal all this gear, and learn all this stuff but we did nothing with it," Jinta grumbled, crossing his arms in a bit of a huff.
"You got a trip to the capital out of this. This is not a total bust," Ururu pointed. "This has been fun."
"I wouldn't mind staying another day or two just to see the city," Chad added.
"That would be great but we have jobs waiting for us back home," Uryu stated bluntly.
"Hey, Four-eyes, don't ruin this for the rest of us," Jinta snapped as Uryu glared at him.
"Four-eyes? Why, you! I'm not ruining anything! I was just making a point that we can't stay too long," Uryu defended and glared diggers at Jinta. "You were the one that was complaining first and foremost about not getting any action."
"If you want to leave early I can just set up a gate to take you back to my shop," Urahara stated happily. "It won't be that hard to do."
"I didn't say I wanted to leave early either," Uryu huffed, turning his attention to a smile Urahara. "I was just… You know what? Never mind… I'd like to stay here another day. That would be greeeaaat…"
"The sarcasm is strong with this one," Ururu muttered under her breath.
"I'm sitting right beside you," Uryu replied sharply.
"I wasn't trying to hide that remark," Ururu turned to face him with a phantom smile on her lips.
He just glared at her before shaking his head and looked away.
"I'm just going to shut up from now on," Uryu snorted, slumping down in his seat.
"Oh, come now. Don't be like that, Uryu," Urahara waved at him and Uryu snorted. "We're just picking on you. Don't get all bent out of shape over this."
Uryu just glared at him before turning to look at the door. Orihime just stepped back into the room. She was in her uniform but was holding her armor. She was going to need help with the adjustments. Urahara got up and helped fit Orihime into her vest. She nervously took her rifle and strapped that onto her shoulder. She didn't want to carry this but she needed to look the part.
She looked over at the others in the room as Uraraha collected all of his gear. Jinta looked rather envious of her, Ururu was giving her a small grin with her thumbs up, Chad gave her a light wave, and Uryu didn't even look at her. She took a few steps over to him and he finally turned to look at her.
"Are you all right, Uryu?" Orihime asked as he sat up straight in his chair again. "I know you're not happy about me doing this."
"I'm not," Uryu sighed, looking up at her. "But I can't stop you."
"You know… After Ichigo moved to Tokyo you… Well, you used to not be this way about me fighting," Orihime stated, awkward pulling at her armored vest. "But once we came to Tokyo you just… I don't know… You're overprotective, I guess."
"I just know how you are about things. This isn't like fighting Hollows, not even close," Uryu stated bluntly.
"I know that. Honestly, I really do. I just want to do this one thing. I-I want to prove I can do something," Orihime said as Uryu just stared at her. "What's wrong with that? I know I'm not the strongest fighter but I'm not going to get better unless I try."
"Forgive me for being forward and I don't mean to hurt you by saying this but… Why are you really doing this?" Uryu asked, crossing his arms. "After Ichigo told you, 'no,' you moped around but now you suddenly want to be active in this fight."
"I told you… I don't want to be coddled anymore and I might be able to help his friends that might be hurt," Orihime said her voice cracked a little.
"I see… So, and again I apologize, this isn't a way to get Ichigo to—"
"N-no! Th-that's not it all," Orihime choked out her face turned a pale pink under Uryu's hard blue gaze. "I just w-want to be useful to this mission somehow."
"How about this… We can have this discussion at another time," Urahara broke in and put a hand on her shoulder. "We can't keep standing around like statues. We have to do this quickly while there is still some chaos going on."
"Right," Orihime nodded, turning to follow Urahara.
He turned on the converter, pushed few buttons, and open a Senkaimon. Orihime clung to the sphere in her hands. She looked over her shoulder again Uryu and the others before turning to face Urahara.
"You ready?" he asked.
She gave him a silent nod. He stepped in first and she followed right after. He quickly led her down the branch off that would take them to the complex where Ichigo and Yoruichi were. They reached the end of the tunnel and the gate opened.
"Stay put a moment, Orihime," Urahara ordered, taking a careful look around to make sure they just didn't appear out of clear blue air to someone.
He took a little look around just inside the gate. He didn't see anyone right off. It looked like they were on the edge of the complex near the woods. This was good spot to start off. He signaled Orihime to follow and stepped out along with him. The gate glided shut and vanished into the night air. There was no missing the smell of gunpowder and blood that clung to the air. The sounds of screaming and gunfire blasted loudly just ahead of them.
"Just stick close to me for right now," he told her, patting her shoulder. "This way if you don't mind."
Orihime stayed close to his side as they started toward the actual building complex. She shivered and it wasn't from the night air. The closer she got to the fighting the more anxious she was becoming.
"You can't back out now," Urahara said, turning to look at her.
"I-I… I-I'm not," she nervously shook her head. "I'm going to s-see this all the way th-through."
Urahara drew in a deep breath as she slowly started to fall farther and farther back. He stopped and looked at her face to face. She hung her head low and fidgeted badly. He scratched the back of helmeted head before looking at her rather seriously. She seemed to cower more under his hard glare.
"Orihime, you were warned and we haven't actually stepped foot onto the complex yet," Urahara stated as she shrunk back a little more. "You can't be timid right now. This is not the place or time for it. To be quite honest if you don't pull yourself together I'm going to just let you stay here out of sight."
"You wouldn't!" she choked out as he narrowed his eyes a little more. "You would…"
"Yes, most certainly I would. You wanted to prove yourself but the way you are right now you're not going to prove anything," Urahara stated bluntly. "Either pull yourself together and let's do our job or you can just sit here out of the way. I'm not giving you another choice and we don't have time for a lecture or to piddle around."
Orihime let out a long sigh and nodded. Urahara turned around with Orihime right behind him. She gripped the orb tightly as they started to near the border between the forest and the complex. It had been so long since she had last fought and she honestly doubted her skills. Practice was practice after all.
"Oh, here, I almost forgot," Urahara stopped short and handed her a small thin black scarf. "Wrap it around your nose and mouth. It'll keep some of the smell out and reduce your risk of being identified should you have to resort to your powers. Try to avoid it if you can."
"Yes, of course," she said, taking the scar and wrapped around the lower half of her face and tucked the end under her armor.
Urahara did the same and they quickly broke through the forest border and started their way into the complex. Orihime kept close to Urahara as they started to get into the real heart of it. Urahara grabbed his radio and quickly pressed the button.
"This is Hat-n-Clogs. I'm in the complex now—and I'm with Hime."
"With Hime? What is she doing here?" Kuro-Neko asked, sounding worried and a little scornful.
"I know, I know but she volunteered to help. And she raised a few good issues so… One is she might be able to heal the wounded should any need some assistance."
"There are some that could use some help. Where are you now?" Shiro radioed in not sounding overly happy.
"Looking around… I think tower 8 or so."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Shiro replied.
"Hang back, Shiro, you can't be seen engaging in with a solider casually out in the open, you should know that."
"Hahaha! Yeah, I guess you're right. That wouldn't go over too well."
"I'll give you some brief instructions when you arrive. The devices won't be hard to operate," Urahara stated, looking over at Orihime. "There are four in total. Each of us should have one. I'll be heading toward the field base once you collect the devices."
"Roger that," Kuro Neko answered.
"I am just now dropping off some people to a safe location. I'll be heading back to the complex in a minute," Shiro stated.
"Kuro-Neko, find a location to deliver the device to Shiro."
"Can do," Kuro-Neko affirmed.
"YOU TWO! STOP STANDING THERE AND FOLLOW YOUR TEAM," a CCG soldier yelled at them a good bit away.
"Rodger," Urahara gave a quick, firm salute.
Orihime awkward did the same as the officer seemed to click his tongue at them. Urahara took charge with Orihime following him inside. He picked up his radio again.
"Kuro-Neko, slight change of plans. Meet us inside tower 8. We just got fussed at," Urahara half laughed. "We're on the ground floor."
"On my way. Out."
Yoruichi clipped the radio back to her belt and turned to look at Yomo and Uta.
"Well, I'm being called elsewhere. I'm sure you two don't actually need me," she said with a faint smile.
"We can handle this on our own," Yomo gave a small nodded.
"That being said… Catch you two later," she gave a small wave and vanished in the mere blink of an eye.
A little dust was kicked up from where she had just been standing. Yomo and Uta just stared at the dark empty space that once held a young woman. They exchange glances at each other.
"Sooo, uh… That was something…" Uta said, crossing his arms. "How did you meet her again?"
Yomo let a long sigh and started moving again. Uta quickly followed right after him they were close to where they needed to be anyways. They needed to locate Touka, Kaneki, and the others.
Yoruichi quickly stopped just outside tower 8 and had a look around. She hurried inside and followed Urahara's energy signature. She spotted them in a corner and hurried over to them. Orihime was practically buried behind Urahara as this point. Given the amount of blood, bodies, and spirits hanging around it wasn't a welcoming sight.
Urahara pushed off the wall and met Yoruichi halfway. He reached into his bag and pulled out two orbs and put one in each of her hands. She weighed them a little in her hands out of curiosity. They had some weight but not much.
"They are easy enough. Focus your energy into this and when it reaches max it will beep three times and basically release something akin to am EMP. It'll knock everything electronic out around you. It should mess with the cameras enough that any stored data will be rendered useless and the live feeds will be cut. I am going to the field base personally."
"Understood. Is she all right being here?" Yoruichi asked, glancing over at Orihime.
"She's holding it together but that's about all I can say," Urahara sighed. "Get one of those to him. I'll keep her with me."
"The Shinigami will be here soon as it is. They are going to be asking a lot of questions seeing us here," Yoruichi said as Urahara rubbed the back of his head. "Are we still in Squad 10's jurisdiction?"
"We're in that odd gray area, I think. I'm not sure," Urahara shrugged. "Just get that to him."
"Do these need to be synchronized?"
"No. We just roughly need to be at the four corners of the complex."
"Okay, see you again in a bit," Yoruichi said, turning and hurried out. "Hime, take care of yourself."
"I-I will," Orihime nodded as Yoruichi darted away from them.
Urahara hurried over to her.
"Go on ahead and active your device this isn't ideal but we need to make sure we weren't recorded," Urahara said as she held onto her orb. "It won't touch our radios."
Orihime nodded and went to put her energy into the orb.
"You there," an officer yelled at them. "You look well enough."
"Sir?" Urahara said, turning around to properly address that man.
"We are looking around for soldiers that are still in fairly good shape to help finish with the operation," the soldier said, looking Urahara up and down and then over at Orihime. "Solider, stand up straight when addressing your senior officer."
"Y-yes, sir," Orihime tried her best to stand like Urahara was.
"Hmph… I'm going to assign you to new teams. Don't like it deal with it. It won't take us much longer to root out the rest of those monsters," the officer said, looking at some papers in his hands.
"Is he going to break us up?" Orihime quietly asked.
"Most likely. Stay at attention," he lightly nudged her.
"I don't know if I can do this… I wasn't—"
"You," he pointed at her. "Is there a problem?"
"No, sir," she said quickly.
"Your name?" he said, pulling out a pen.
"Uhh… Inoue…" she squeaked out and Urahara fought to urge to face-palm.
"Inoue what?" he asked, not looking at all amused with her. "And what team were you originally assigned to?"
It was at this moment Urahara was really regretting bringing the only person in the whole group that didn't receive any actual training. This was going to hell and fast. He had better think of something quick or things were not going to end well. Thankfully thinking was one of Urahara's greatest talents.
"Here," Yoruichi said, handed the orb to Ichigo as they hid out in a dark secluded area just off the property. "He said put your energy into it and when it peeps three times it'll discharge. Something about it acting like an EMP. Should wipe out a lot of things for us."
"Not really attentive this time, huh?" he snorted only to have her reach out, grab his horn and harshly jerk his head down. "OWWW! Ow! Shit!"
"This coming for the moron that didn't warn us about the body cams in the first place. Don't even start with me," she barked, letting go of his horn.
He rubbed the back of his aching neck.
"Sorry… But you didn't have nearly break my neck to get your point across," he grumbled.
"He roughly wants us to use them at the 4 corners of the complex. He said he was going to be at the command post and he's taking Hime along with to watch her," Yoruichi said. "Given the 'roughly' bit I think it's more of an approximation. We don't have to be in the exact spot and there is no synchronization either."
"So I put energy into this, three peeps, and then detonation?" Ichigo recited and Yoruichi nodded. "That seems simple enough."
"Glad to hear it. By the way… I'm sure you've noticed that battle energy not too far from us," Yoruichi turning to look behind her. "I am picking up Yomo and that Uta character in the same area. Something big must be really going down over there."
"Yeah, I've sensed it…" Ichigo sighed, looking at the orb in his hands.
"Kaneki?" she questioned and he gave a slight nod. "I never met him but I'm guessing this isn't the same young man you told us about. What happened exactly?"
"I only have scant details myself but… When he was kidnapped he went through same serious tortures at the hands of another ghoul, Yamori. His real name if I recall correctly was Omori Yakumo. He was also known by the CCG as the 13th ward's Jason…" he mumbled. "Kaneki said… 'You don't come out of hell the same way you came in.' I've seen and experienced enough to know…"
"We all have by now… How broken is he exactly…?"
"He's completely shattered… I didn't recognize him when we made first contact. He even attacked me without any actual provocation. He's… He's changed and is letting his ghoul nature take over."
"I hope you never let your hollow instincts overtake you," she said, adjusting her body armor.
"I think I've got that under control," Ichigo said as she turned to leave and gave him a harsh glare. "S-seriously! I'm not like that anymore!"
"So no berserker mode?"
"Uhhh…" he looked embarrassed and unsure.
She sighed.
"An enrage ghoul is disastrous but an enraged vasto lorde will be catastrophic," Yoruichi stated. "Don't do anything stupid to get you in that state of mind, mister."
She poked a finger into the middle of his chest.
"I won't," Ichigo stated quickly. "I promise!"
"Also… Where did you pick up that blade?" she motioned to the large quinque hidden up in a large tree above them. "It reminds me of your zanpakuto."
"Oh, him…? Yeah, actually there's a story behind that. This, uh, this was my actual quinque, Tsume."
"How did you manage to get your hands on him?" she choked out in surprise.
"My former upperclassmen was using him and I took it off her hands. Without a case and no other way to carry it I just put him up there for safe keeping. I have that shadow blade of mine. I'm not going to use Tsume anymore tonight so I figured he would be safest there."
"Hm… Well, all right… I needed to get this to where it needs to be. It shouldn't take too long," she said, lightly tossing her own orb before vanishing.
Ichigo let out a long breath as he looked around a good bit as to where to go at the moment. He wanted to go check on Kaneki and his friends but something told him not to jump into that. It was best dealt with them and then alone. He looked at the orb again and he lightly tapped a claw on the smooth, hard casing. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. He focused in senses to see where everyone was. When he realized Orihime was nowhere near Urahara that didn't settle well. Why had they broken up? He pulled out his radio.
"Hat-n-Clogs. Why isn't Hime with you?"
"Do you have eyes on her?"
"No. But I know she's not with you. Mind explaining that?"
"They wanted everyone that wasn't badly hurt or overly taxed to regroup and remove the last of the resisting ghouls. We got separated because of that. I tried to work it out where we could stay together but that clearly was a no. I just did manage to save our identities. She's headed to tower 7 I believe."
Ichigo sighed and leaned against a tree.
"You're close to the field base, right?"
"Close enough. It might take me a few minutes to pull back from the others to use this."
"I'm worried about her being out there alone."
"I think everyone is but we'll just have to put our faith in the young lady. She is not our strongest fighter but she's still a fighter regardless. She said she was tired of being coddled. Let's give her some breathing room and see what she can do."
"Still not onboard with this idea."
"Just release that item and then go look for her thereafter. Time is running short as it is."
"Kuro-Neko… Can you…"
"I'm not a babysitter, Shiro. I've been listening. Hime chose to come because she wanted to prove herself in some way. She wasn't forced or kidnapped. If she's in true danger she knows how to call us to her," Yoruichi scorned with a bit of sass. "Just complete your job and then locate her. It shouldn't take you anytime to do this. If anything you have more freedom than us. You're not masquerading around like some military grunt."
"Well, when you put it that way… I'll set this off and go after her then."
He got no other responses and put the radio back up. He rubbed the back of his neck again still feeling that hard yank from earlier. Where to go…? It didn't have to be perfectly placed so… He knew to leave Kaneki and them alone so…
He suddenly looked up to the building in front of him. That looked like a good place. He noticed a lot of people centered upstairs in one area. A fight for sure but with who? He focused little a more.
"Yoshimura?" he blinked, looking at the upper level floor. "It's him but… Something isn't right. I don't like it. What else am I picking up on? Better check that out first."
Ichigo took off running towards the building before jumping up into the air and digging his fingers and toes into the concrete of the building and climbed around a little more to look through the fractured windows. There was indeed Yoshimura but… Wow… Ichigo's mouth hung opened under his mask. Yoshimura was a kakuja ghoul? Who was he fighting against? He leaned in a little more to get a better look.
What in the world? he quietly gasped. Special Investigators Kuroiwa and Shinohara? What…? What are those things they are wearing? Don't tell me those are… Are those quinque? I've never seen anything like that before. They must be some type of new weapon. Something isn't right with those suits… They seemed to have a will of their own…
Ichigo's talons dug deeper into the building's exterior wall. Those suits were going to consume them if they continued to wear them. Shinohara's suit seemed to most problematic from the looks of things and was already well on its way to doing just that. He clinched his teeth under his mask, trying to come up with an idea to get those contraptions off them. It might come down to him cutting them off, assuming he could. He would really have to focus on his blade to make it sharper. Quinque were hard as hell after all.
"There exists no reason to take another's life! Any act of taking a life is equally evil," Yoshimura stated to the investors boldly. "I believe there are such things as souls and it seems that Arata does not intend to lend you a hand."
Ichigo manifested his blade and sharpened it to its fullest. While they were still focused on Yoshimura it was best to act now. In a flash he jumped in through the shattered window and with momentum slid around behind Shinohara. He swung the large shadowy blade sideways. He filleted into the back of the suit, opening it up with no harm the person within. No one knew what to do at that moment. It was just so sudden. The barely there blade vanished and Ichigo quickly reached down and broke into the back of the suit, tearing it right down the middle with a loud crack. Kuroiwa suit didn't seem so advanced so Ichigo wasn't going to worry about it.
"Let's bolt," Ichigo ordered, glancing briefly at Yoshimura.
Yoshimura said nothing as he turned and dashed out the window. Ichigo put his energy into the orb and listened to it beep three times. Hopefully this might help with Kuroiwa's suit and keep it from possibly advancing as well. It had to be powered by something or another. He tossed the orb up and it let out a blinding white light. There was a bit of an unseen force to it. It pushed everyone unceremoniously onto the ground.
When the light was gone, everyone sat up a little dazed. Both the Owl and the one horned ghoul were gone. The strange ball the horned ghoul had thrown into the air was on the ground, shattered, and was disintegrating rapidly.
"Somebody radio that into Commander Murude and get us a med team as well," Kuroiwa ordered.
"Sir, the radios are out. They are completely dead," a solider said.
"All of our electronics out," another announced.
"Your suit, Sir," the first solider exclaimed running over to him. "It's stopped…."
"That might be a good thing considering… Ngh, Shinohara?" Kuroiwa said, crawling over him and helped him to sit up. "Shinohara, are you all right?"
"Could be… A lot better… C-could also be a lot worse…" he replied, using Kuroiwa for some support. "Wh-what just happened?"
"Not exactly sure but the one horned ghoul might have just saved you," Kuroiwa said, looking at the window. "He cut into your suit before practically tearing it off your back. It was so fast we didn't have time to really register what happened until after the fact."
"Even the radios downstairs are out. Was that some sort of EMP he detonated?" a solider asked as he and a few others helped to get Shinohara and Kuroiwa out of their quinque suits. "I think everything is completely out, even outside.
"Someone will have to run down and physically request help," Kuroiwa said, finally getting an arm out of his suit.
"We already have several men on that, Sir."
"Good. This is going to be one hell of a mess to explain…" Kuroiwa sighed.
"Commnader Marude, we've completely lost contact with Special Investigator Shinohara and his team," a solider stated as Marude turned to face him.
"There are a few other blackouts of other teams. The whole complex is just about to go completely dark!"
"Well, find out what the cause it and remedy the problem! We are too close to have this happen now," Marude snapped.
A moment later there was a strange, faint pulse that ran through the area right before the command center suddenly powered down. A few men tried to turn on some of the flashlights and lanterns but nothing was working.
"Our generators are completely down," a solider yelled from outside.
"So is all communication," a soldier grumbled holding up a dead cell phone. "Right down to our personal phones. They are useless as well."
"Vehicles too," another man yelled. "We are completely blind at this point, Sir."
"I can see that! No need to point out the obvious! Ugh! Can we get something up and running?" Marude snapped, looking into the dark space around him. "Let's move people! Get up and do your damn jobs!"
"Rodger," a collective sounded out.
A moment right after the sounds of chairs being toppled over and people stumbling filled the dark space. No one could see a damn thing. Marude slapped a hand to his face as everyone tried to sort out what was going on. Without the emergency lights or even flashlights everyone had an issue figuring out where others were, where to go, and how to fix the problem.
"Stop floundering around and—ACK!" Marude choked out after being knocked down by another man stumbling in the dark. "Get off me! Off!"
"S-sorry, Commander."
Some mild snickering came from the darkness from several soldiers.
"This situation is not funny! Straighten up and figure out what to do," Marude said, wriggling out from under the soldier. "We can't afford to remain in the dark like this! Rip into the tent walls if you have to!"
Orihime tried to stay out the way as everyone focused on trying to figure out the strange outage. It looked like the situation with the ghouls was pretty much dealt with. She had released her bomb a little while ago in a secluded area. The orb just crumbled in her hands, leaving no trace. This was not good. There were so many dead bodies on the floor and souls still fighting with each other. She was huddled in a corner near a shattered window with her unused rifle propped up beside her. This really wasn't the place for her but she made that choice and she was still sticking with it.
"Hey, you there?" Orihime quickly snapped to an awkward attention.
"Mm, y-yes?" she asked, trying not to tremble as a man called to her from a short distance.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"N-no! I'm fine," she answered.
"Then help in finding any survivors instead of sitting on your ass," he snapped at her.
"R-roger," she said as he gave her an odd look.
"Hold on," he said as she went to turn.
"Sir?" she asked as he moved to stand directly in front of her.
He looked down at her small stature as her grey eyes looked at him. He reached out and yanked down her scarf. She tried not to react too much to the sudden act.
"Keep that off," he ordered as she tucked it more under her chin, out of the way. "What's your name?"
"Inoue Kimi," she answered, trying to hold herself together.
"You new?" he asked, crossing his arms.
"Yes, Sir," she nodded.
"That explains a few things. You're going to have to toughen up out here. This isn't like in school," he stated in a hard tone.
"I'm learning that," she answered, looking down at the quinque in his hands. "I'll do better from now on, Sir."
"You can't be timid out here. I'm not trying to berate you but you need to understand the danger you're in. You can't be sitting on your butt even with the building cleared," he said, running a hand through his short black hair. "Anything can still happen at any given moment. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir," she gave a faint head nod.
"I'm Amon Kotaro, Rank 1," he said as she looked at him a little surprised.
"Oh! I think I've heard about you before," she said as he gave her a ghost of a smile.
"Yes, well… Start looking for survivors like I asked," he said, turning away from her.
"Ah, there you are, Amon," a man with sunk cheeks said, walking up to them.
"Mado, Sir," Amon said, looking at his partner. His arm had a good size gash in it. It was wrapped with a makeshift bandage "Your arm…"
"It's nothing to worry about. I had to take a guess as to where you might be," Mado said, turning to look at the girl. "As we did get separated a good while ago. And you are, miss?"
"Oh, Inoue Kimi, S-sir," she gave him an awkward salute.
"Rather timid to be out here doing this sort of work. I think you would better suited for an office job," he stated bluntly, walking over a little closer and looked her up and down. She's awfully awkward and nervous… Hm? Her armor is pretty damn clean given all this fighting. She doesn't look hurt and she isn't showing any signs of exhaustion. Something smells a little fishy with this young lady.
He then turned, walked over to her rifle, and picked it up. The barrel was ice cold and there was no smell of fresh gunpowder. She hadn't used that gun once this entire time. Mostly likely the chamber was still full, too. He set it back down and gripped his quinque's handle a little harder. Either she was an enormous coward or she wasn't part of the CCG. The latter sounded more accurate.
"Is something the matter?" Amon whispered.
"Hm, maybe…" he said, turning to face the pair again. "How long have been you part of the CCG, Inoue?"
"Only a couple of weeks…" she answered as the elder investigator walked up to her again.
He was actually a little too close. He was all up her personal space.
"So new to the game and already put on such a high risk mission?" he questioned as she tried to hold her ground.
Her heart was racing at this point. She got the feeling she was just found out by the well-seasoned investigator. This was going to be bad. If he attacked she was going to have use her powers to survive. She knew she couldn't get out of this. If she stayed they were liable to attack her and if she ran they would instantly know that she was a fraud. She was damned no matter what. Her nerves were starting to break down the longer he stayed in her personal space. He was testing her to see what she would do. She was almost on the verge of tears as he leaned ever so closer.
She suddenly felt something land behind her on the window ledge. Mado and Amon took a sudden jump back in surprise. What was standing behind her? She was debating whether to look or not. She then felt a person quickly grab her from behind.
"EEEEEEYAAAHHH!" She screamed, feeling her feet lift off the ground.
The two investigators momentarily stalled looking at the tall figure standing in the window with Inoue wrapped up in his arms. He was dressed in dark clothes with completely different cloak from the Aogiri Tree members. His mask was different too it was nearly solid white and full of teeth. There was one solid back stripe that ran down his right eye and two shorter stripes tapering off to a points over his left. There was one sharp angled horn coming out from the left side of his head. His all over presents was horrify but it was his yellow eyes that struck Amon hard. Those were same gold and black eyes he remembered Incognito having.
"Those eyes…" Amon gasped as he quickly pulled his new quinque around. Mado had given it to him considering his last one was destroyed by Eye Patch. "Monster! I won't let you take her!"
Mado quickly charged with his partner towards the window and its occupants. The creature jumped back, taking Inoue with him. She let out another shriek as Amon and Mado both brought down their quinque into the window ledge just a second too late. The investigators watched as the yellow eyed ghoul landed on the paved ground still toting the terrified woman, which he now had swung over his shoulder. The pair then vanished leaving only a small cloud of dust behind. Other soldiers had seen it too as they huddle around the windows.
"Well, that was certainly interesting," Mado said, looking around a bit before ducking his head back inside the window. "I did not see that coming… Hmhmhm!"
"Sir, that ghoul had the same type of eyes I reported with Incognito. That strange gold on black," Amon said, turning to his senior officer.
"I see… I believe Hayashi had the luck of confronting him head on and managed to live. I don't know all the details but given that she had the most interaction with him she was quickly pulled off the field and taken to a hospital. Her firsthand account could be a very valuable to us."
"She faced him? Alone?" he gasped.
"Again I'm short on all of the details but she clearly has what we need as far as information goes. Since you engaged Incognito a little more than I did, do you think those two are one in the same?"
"Uh… I can't really say. The outfits and masks are completely different from each other. This creature also didn't seem to be as cautious as far as his appearance goes. He wasn't hiding nearly as much."
"Hm, yes, now that you mention it he was a bit bolder than the other… As for our lovely Inoue… I don't think she was randomly kidnapped or kidnapped at all for that matter. Her rifle was never once fired and her uniform was nearly spotless."
"You don't think she was a ghoul, do you?"
"She was far too nervous to be of any use on a battle field. You also should have known that the CCG would never let some newbie like her go on such a high risk mission that fresh out of the academy. That loon Juzo being a strange exception… I wouldn't be surprised if her rifle was one of those stolen from the armory the other day."
Amon turned to look at rifle propped up against the wall.
"I'll have the rifle investigated along with her name."
"I'm almost positive there is no Inoue Kimi anywhere in the CCG and if there is I highly doubt it'll be the same woman. There is a lot more going on here than we realize, Amon. I'm very curious to know just what it is."
"Mado, Sir… I want to report that I saw Eye Patch here too. Not too long ago. He's changed from the last time I saw him."
"Oh? Changed you say? Do tell me more, Amon, things are just keep getting better and better."
Ichigo arrived where Banjo, Kanki, and the others were taking refuge on the cliff overlooking the bay. The group was a little surprised to see them suddenly pop out of no-where and with a woman no less. A couple of Banjo's gang let out a small scream before stumbling back. Orihime was clinging to him so tightly that he was actually having an issue with breathing.
"Hime… Hime… I-I can't breathe! Hime, let go…" he gasped, patting her back franticly. "I'm s-serious having… A h-hard time… Need air… A-air…"
"Huh? Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry," she quickly let go of his neck as he drew in a large breath of fresh air. "I didn't know I was clinging on that tight! Did I hurt you?! Don't pass out! I'm sorry!"
She set her feet down to stand on her own as Ichigo almost crumbled to the ground. He put a hand on his spinning head and tried to balance himself
"I'm not going to pass out…" he grumbled, standing up straight and lightly shook his head. "But what did you do? Take a page out Nel's handbook on how to smother people? Sheesh!"
"It was a complete accident! I'm really, really sorry! Are you sure you're okay?" she asked looking panicked.
"I'm fine. Don't stress over it," he put a hand on her head. "I know it wasn't intentional."
"So you're okay…?"
"I'm fine."
"Ahem!"
They turned to face the rest of the group. Yomo was the one to get their attention. Everyone was there from Banjo, Kaneki, Touka, Nishio, and so on. Urahara and Yoruichi were the only ones missing. Come to think of so was Yoshimura, Hinami, and Irimi.
"Sooo… Uh… Who's this?" Banjo asked, looking at Orihime still supporting his teammate on his back. "This isn't Kuro-Neko, is it?"
"This is Hime. I guess you can call her our team medic," Ichigo said as she gave them. "If anyone knows anything about gaming I suppose she's our healer."
Everyone looked at them weird.
"Okay…" Nishio drawled and point at Ichigo. "And you are who exactly?"
"Name's Shiro and long story. Banjo, bring your friend over here. Set him down."
"All right," Banjo moved a little closer and set him down. "Now what?"
"Hime…"
"On it," with a small flash from the sides of her head a large orange oblong dome form over him.
Everyone looked a little be wildered at the strange glowing object. Within a few moments Usu started to come around and his visible wounds started to close up. Usu opened his eyes a look through an orange has a Banjo, what looked like a CCG operative, and some strange creature he had never before.
"Usu! You're okay," Banjo gasp as the rest of group surrounded them.
"I… What happened? And who are you?" he asked as he worriedly looked over at Orihime and Ichigo. "And where am I? Banjo, explain this to me."
"I'm so glad you're awake," Banjo said as the rest of his group rushed in.
"Wow! That girl's the real deal!"
"Usu, are you okay? You were in pretty bad shape."
"Yeah, that girl really helped out just now."
Orihime got up and looked at everyone else, retracting the oblong dome from Usu and had it float beside her. "So, um, who's next? I can do a lot more than just one at a time. It doesn't hurt or anything."
They just stared at her in shock.
"I thought you were joking about the healer thing," Nishio almost gawked, looking at the woman up a down. "But you were actually being serious!"
"I thought the same, too. But I'm starting to accept some pretty odd things," Uta said, scratching the side of his head. "Especially with what Yomo and I witnessed. Imagine a cat turning into naked woman…"
Shiro slammed a hand into his face and groaned. Yomo mirrored the same motion. Everyone turned to look at them with very puzzled and worried looks.
"She didn't…" Shiro grumbled. "Please tell me she didn't."
"Full frontal. Completely bare and proud of it," Uta said, looking over at Yomo. "Of course this prude over here…"
Yomo turned a glared at him.
"Uta, that's enough about that," Yomo almost growled.
A moment later Touka pushed off her uncle and walked over to Orihime. She sat down in the grass and let the woman work her magic. Surprisingly Touka was healing at a rather quick pace and was good as new within moments. She checked to see if there was anything left. This "Hime" person was something else.
"Let me get his straight…" Banjo gapsed, walking over to them, a little disbelieving. "You saw some cat turn into a naked lady?"
"Not by choice," Yomo grumbled.
"Ouch. My ears are burning. Is someone talking about me?"
Yomo jumped away, seeing Yoruichi standing behind him along with a blonde man. Both were dressed in CCG uniforms.
"Ah, Kaneki, Kirishima," Urahara said, taking off his helmet and lightly bowed at them. "It's good to see you two again."
"I should have known something was up after seeing you the other day," Touka she huffed, crossing her arms.
"Oh, my, you say it like that's a bad thing, Ms. Kirishima," Urahara grinned pulling his usual striped hat out from his helmet and put on his head proper. "And I came all the way back here to help. So cold."
"HEEEEY! I want some explanations! Everyone knows somebody from somewhere or somehow and I'm standing here in the dark feeling like an idiot," Nishio yelled, looking at everyone around them. "Who are you people?! Seriously! Am I the only that hasn't at least met at least one of these people?!"
"I haven't met you," Orihime chimed up.
"Mm, nope," Yoruichi.
"Same," Urahara.
"Uh, I don't believe so," Ichigo. That's a blatant lie of course.
"Of course not…" Nishio rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Can I at least get an explanation as to why you all are here?"
"Hinami asked to help save Kaneki," all four chimed.
"HINAMI?" the rest gasped.
"Yeah… Apparently she got ahold of a certain phone number, got up the courage to call, and well… Here we are," Urahara stated, looking over at Touka. "I believe you know what number I am referring to."
"Hinami…? She didn't?!" Touka gawked in disbelief.
"So she called him…?" Kaneki said with a small grin, looking over at Urahara and then at Shiro. "I think I understand a little bit better now. You were quite vague, Shiro."
"You were also trying to kill me or at the very least severely maim me," Shiro snapped in response. "Talking wasn't actually going to happen. I got out what I could just to keep my head on my shoulders."
"I'm still totally lost…" Nishio grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Hey, look… If it makes you feel any better I'm not in the full loop either," Banjo said walking over to the brunet ghoul. "The only one I know is creepy over there."
"I can hear you, Banjo," Shiro grumbled turning to look at him. Banjo rubbed the back of his head. "Bottom line is that Hinami was worried about Kaneki. She found that particular number and called it. He in turn, contacted us to come help find Kaneki. After all Kaneki and a certain someone were somewhat friends at one point."
"So then… Everyone here is an Esper like he was?" Kaneki asked.
"More or less, give or take," Yoruichi shrugged, walked up beside Yomo who turned the other way.
"Esper?!" the rest snapped.
"You mean those exist?" Nishio gaped.
"I'm one," Orihime raised her hand as he turned to look at her. "I can help heal people, remember!"
Suddenly Yomo stepped away from Yoruichi a little more.
"Wow! Do I make you that uncomfortable?" she mused as he turned away. "It was a joke! Lighten up, you spoilsport."
"What did she do?" Urahara asked, looking at Ichigo.
"As far as I know she went from cat to human right in front of him and this guy over here," Ichigo pointed between both men.
"I should have known…" Urahara hung his head a groaned. "Neko… Why you do that…? You don't do that with me…"
"Oh, don't get jealous. It was meant as a joke," she said, walking over to him and pulled his hat over his eyes.
"But still…" he pouted, putting his hat back on straight.
"Um, Kaneki, right? Are you hurt at all?" Orihime asked, speaking up. "You don't look so good."
"I'm perfectly fine," Kaneki said sharply, giving her a sideways glance.
"Oh… Okay…" she whispered, casting her ash gray eyes down.
She pulled lightly at her uniform's armor, feeling a little uncomfortable. She even took a couple of side steps away from him, making a little extra space. It didn't go unnoticed. Ichigo's eyes were now locked on Kaneki who was doing the same with him. Ichigo instantly moved and wedge himself between the two.
Kaneki gave him a bit of a snort before turning on his bare heel and started to move away. Touka looked around Uta and hurried over to him. She put on smile as he turned to look at her also giving her a small smile.
"It's good to have you back, Kaneki," she said, taking one more step towards him. "It's been rather dull without you goofing up everything at Anteiku. But before you come back we might want to do something with that hair. It won't do with you serving customers looking like that."
His smile widened a little more but Touka didn't like the feeling behind it. She was fearing what was going to come next from his mouth. He turned from her and let out a long breath.
"I'm not going back to Anteiku," he said, catching everyone's attention. "There's something else I want to do."
Touka looked rather shocked at those words. She was sort of hoping things would go back to some form of normalcy but that wasn't going to happen. The others also seemed rather shocked. Ichigo lightly shook his head. This was not Kaneki. He did go through hell and he brought a demon back with him.
"I need to prepare and get stronger than I am now," he said, turning to face the bay. "There's a lot I need to find out, too. I won't have the time."
"So after all of this, you're just going to leave them?" Ichigo asked, taking a step forward.
"What I do is none of your concern. I appreciate you coming all the here to look for me but you aren't really needed anymore," Kaneki stated, looking over his shoulder at Shiro. "I told you that there is something else I want to do. I won't have time for Anteiku and that, too."
"Fine. Point taken. I'm not going to argue," Shiro snapped, turning on his toes and took a few steps away before vanishing.
"That's not going to end well when we get back to the house," Urahara muttered and Yoruichi shook her head.
"Not at all," she sighed.
"Kaneki… Do you mind if I help you?" Banjo asked, taking a couple of steps forward. "I'm not the strongest person but I'll do what I can. I'll be your shield or your gofer. Whatever you need me to be."
Kaneki stared at the older ghoul for a moment or two.
"That would be great. Thank you," Kaneki extended his hand out to the man.
"You mean it? All right," Banjo quickly took Kaneki's offered hand.
"If Banjo is going, I think we should go too."
"Yeah, especially if Banjo slows Kaneki down."
"Kaneki…" Touka spoke up as he put his focus back on her. "I wanna… I wanna go—"
"Are you going to college, Touka?" he asked as she looked devastated. "The entrance exam is next year, isn't it? You should probably start preparing for it now. Anteiku will be short staffed because of me…"
It was clear that Kaneki had indeed gone through some major changes. Urahara could clearly see that. He was far from the mild-mannered young man he met just under 2 weeks ago. That was most likely why Ichigo bolted the way he did. He didn't want to get into a fight. He might revealed himself if he got into one. This was indeed a sad sight to see but nothing could be done. They couldn't turn back time and fix this. This was going to be their new reality.
Ichigo sat on the low branch of a tree, hidden a little a ways into the woods. It was more than a little upset. He was also disappointed as well. He didn't know that Kaneki had changed that much. It actually hurt to see Kaneki that way also knowing how he got to be that way. It really wasn't fair that someone like that had to go through that.
"Maybe I wasn't needed any more but he didn't have to say it like that," he grumbled, digging his fingers into the rough tree bark. "I came all the way here with my friends just help him… Feh… He didn't have to say it like I was some sort burden on him."
A moment later he felt something hit the back of his head.
"Hey, I know you can hear me," Hinami shouted from below, holding another small rock. "I've been calling you for a like a minute now."
"Oh, Hinami? Sorry," Ichigo said, jumping down to greet her. He spotted Yoshimura and Irimi with him, coming out of some bushes. "I was a little spaced out. I wasn't meaning to ignore you."
"Why aren't you with the others?" Hinami asked.
"And why aren't you?" he countered.
"Well, uh…" she stammered.
"I did not feel like we should get involved at the moment," Yoshimura said, using Irimi for support.
"Might not be a bad call," Ichigo said sourly before walking over to the elderly ghoul. "Let me help you."
Ichigo got on the other side of Yoshimura and helped take some of the weight of Irimi's shoulders.
"How hurt are you?" Ichigo asked, looking over at him. "A friend of mine can heal you if you need her help."
"I should be fine in a little while. I just have to remember I'm not as young as I use to be," Yoshimura answered. "It's been quite some time since I was in such a serious fight."
"What were those things that those two were wearing?" Ichigo asked.
"Creations that should not exist in this world. Quinque suits made from a good man and a good father," Yoshimura answered. "There are just some things that no one should ever tamper with."
"Enough said, sir," Ichigo nodded.
"Um, Shiro? What happened back there that caused you to leave so suddenly?" Irimi asked, looking around Yoshimura at Ichigo.
"Differences in opinions," he growled from under his mask. "I was told off and that I was no longer needed, so I split. I wasn't going to cause a scene."
"Huh? Who told you that?" Hinami asked.
"Kaneki," he said flatly.
"He said that to you?" Irimi almost gasped and he nodded. "That doesn't sound like him."
"I fear that the Kaneki we knew is no more," Yoshimura sighed, hanging his head low. "I am sorry to see that young man go…"
"Where do we need to help you off to?" Ichigo asked.
"Take me back to Anteiku for now. I can rest and heal there," Yoshimura ordered as Ichigo and Irimi readjusted him on their shoulders and started moving. "Things are going to be different from now on and I don't know if it's going to be for better or for worse."
"Commander! Commander Marude," soldier called out, running into the torn tent.
They had just gotten everything back up and running only to find that all of the data they had collected was completely wiped out. Whatever blacked them out took out everything with it. Communications was still very limited but they were finally getting something out now that some backup showed up with new gear. Marude was fuming at this mess. Everything that was collected was completely gone. They would have to reply on what was relayed to another location.
"What?" Marude snapped, turning the face the man.
"Sir, we may have lucked out. Hayashi's camera was taken with her well before the blackout," the soldier stated as Marude's eyes widened. "It was forgotten on her person when she was rushed to the hospital. It is already being processed at the 20th HQ."
"Her camera…? You mean we…? Hahahaha! So we do have evidence of that beast after all?!" Marude laughed. "Perfect. I want to see just what this thing looks like firsthand! If she's telling us the truth may very well have new species walking in this world. A devil as she put it."
(A/N I made this extra-long given the long wait. It's like 27 pages. Once the inspiration hit me again I quickly got on it. Ironically the chapter after this one I had written months in advance. Why? I don't know but I've been sitting on a chapter meant for later in the story. So after a week or so I'll drop that chapter since it's already written. I am a weird person. Since there is like a 6 month gap between the end of book 8 and the beginning of 9 I'm going to play with that time lapse. Woot! Free range!
(Also I would like to add I am very close to finishing up my first chapter for a web comic. When it's up on Line Webtoon I'll let y'all know. I'm still in the coloring stage and I finally got my hands on Photoshop Elements 15. I've had Elements 10 for years but I think it's time for an upgrade. I can't wait to play with my new toy! I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. It was a long time coming I know. I am so sorry.)
Millie M. Banshee