(A/N: Would you all believe me that during writing this chapter I struggled a lot trying to come up with the story. But thanks to a number of things including background music I finally got this chapter done. So without further ado here's a brand new chapter of The Devil and The Reaper, hope you guys enjoy it. )
-Urahara Shop-
Day 7, 2:47 P.M.
The following week has been long and grueling with everybody pushing themselves to new levels. Issei especially having been training under both Yoruichi and Kisuke. All the while Rias spends her time planning for the battle ahead studying both Riser's and her own team's strengths and weaknesses and figuring out the best way to come out of this as the victor with every so often she would spar with Akeno in case she had to fight herself.
Currently, she is in one of the rooms in the shop as her table is filled with stacks of papers while on her right side there is a trash can that is filled up with scrunched up balls of paper with of them on the floor.
Akeno steps into the room and sees the mess that her best friend. "I see that you're working hard."
"Yeah, but the hard part is wondering where the battle would take place," Rias says as she draws up another strategy on another sheet of paper.
"Didn't you try asking your brother or Grayfia?" Akeno asks as she watches Rias working.
"No, if I go to them for help, then I'll never hear the end of it," Rias replies as keeps her eyes on her work.
"Good point." Akeno picks up the balls of paper and throws them in another small trash bin.
"But then again this won't be a normal rating game," Rias says looking up at Akeno
"You know you could just have Ichigo take on Riser's team and we would win easily." Akeno jokingly
"Don't even joke about that, I can't rely on Ichigo to do everything in this battle. Especially since everyone is willing to give their all especially after the last several days." Rias looks back down and continues to work.
"My apologies, I was trying to cheer you up since you spent the last few days planning. Not to mention you really look stressed out." Akeno being concerned for her friend.
"I know, but so far most of the strategies I came up with are either hits or misses but I guess I might be over thinking about this. Honestly, I could use a breather." Rias says as she stands up from the table and walks out of the room with Akeno.
"I'm sure you would but I guess that's one way to say you want to see Ichigo again." Akeno teasing Rias.
"Oh hush."
-Urahara Training Grounds-
Meanwhile, Asia continues to work on her healing and defensive magic with the assistance of Orihime and Chad.
"El Directo!" shouts Chad as he slams his fist against Asia's barrier with the young teen holding her own.
"Ngh, I..can't...no I won't give in!" Asia increases her defensive barrier as Chad press on with his attack while Orihime watches from the sidelines.
"She's doing a lot better and she's not struggling like on the first day."
Asia continues to concentrate as she increases her defensive power eventually outlasting Chad's attack.
"Hm, not bad," says Chad
"Thank you," Asia says with a smile
"That was great Asia you're doing so well." Orihime praising Asia
"Well, I do have you and Rukia to thank for supporting me Orihime." Asia being humble but at the same time blushing by Orihime's praise and encouragement.
On the other side of the training grounds Kiba spars with Rukia as the two go sword to sword with Kiba using his Sword Birth to create a two handed longsword as Rukia comes down on him with her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki.
"You soul reaper folk are quite the interesting bunch," Kiba says as he pushes Rukia back and attacks her with a swing of his longsword only for the petite soul reaper to dodge and shoots a low-level kido spell at the blonde knight.
"We're not all that special, I mean every soul reaper in the soul society has their own zanpakuto. No two zanpakuto are the same." Rukia explaining to Kiba.
"Makes me want to pay a visit someday." Kiba comes at Rukia with several swings with his sword.
"Well, you probably have to have special permission or face one of the four great Seireimon gatekeepers," Rukia replies as she either blocks or evades Kiba's swings while fighting back with her own strikes.
"I take it they won't let just anyone in," Kiba says as he crosses swords with Rukia as the petite soul reaper pushes him back a little.
"Yup, but I could put a good word for you. You are quite talented with your swords, not to mention your Sword Birth is really something else." Rukia says with a grin as she delivers a kick to Kiba's stomach pushing him back.
"Thank you for your praise Ms. Rukia." Kiba quickly regains his balance as he uses his sword birth to switch out his long sword to a pair of short swords as he quickly dash towards Rukia
"Oh please, flattery is nice. But too bad it would take you nowhere!" Rukia prepares for Kiba's attack as the blonde knight comes down to her with his two swords firmly in his hands.
On the far left in the training grounds where there are a collection of large boulders Koneko is sparring with Yoruichi at the young girl's request. Koneko delivers a collection of punches towards Yoruichi only for the goddess of flash to block and evade most of them with ease.
"You got a long way to go young kitten," says Yoruichi teasing Koneko
"Shut it!" Koneko says as she swings her kick high to hit Yoruichi's head only for the older woman to block it and push it away.
"You got a lot of power kid, but that you have to do more than just that," Yoruichi says with a smile as she can't help but be reminded of her days training Soi-fon.
"So I've been told." Koneko lunges at Yoruichi and swiftly throws another collection of punches with Yoruichi once again blocking and catching each of her punches before grabbing her right fist and sends the young girl flying over her shoulder but Koneko was quick to land on her feet and quickly dash towards Yoruichi and throws a kick at her.
But the flash goddess was quick to react and grabs Koneko's leg and tosses her to the opposite side but like before Koneko lands on her feet.
"My my, looks like my little kitten can land on her feet no problem." says Yoruichi making Koneko groan by the nickname that Yoruichi keeps calling her.
"Stop calling me that." Koneko getting annoyed by Yoruichi's nickname for the white-haired girl.
"Oh come on I think it's cute and it does suit you." Yoruichi continues to tease Koneko.
"No," Koneko says plainly
"Aww, you're no fun." Yoruichi chuckles a little.
"Less talking more fighting." Konko quickly rushes towards Yoruichi with the older woman being prepared to face her 'kitten' head on.
"If that's what you want." As Koneko and Yoruichi keep sparring with each other the rest of the group goes on with their own training especially since this is the last day before tomorrow where they would take the day to relax and rest before the battle.
Tatsuki sitting under one of the trees that are scattered all over the area as she continues to concentrate with the spirit sphere. For the last six days aside her practicing her karate the young woman is doing what Urahara instructed her with her spiritual energy, she even practiced while at home in her room. Mostly doing concentrations and controlling her spiritual power. During her training, Kisuke suggested firing her spiritual spheres like a special attack. Tatsuki attempted it a few times but the attack normally dissipates before reaching her intended target.
Now she is at the moment in a calm state of mind as her spiritual energy calmly swirls inside the sphere.
"I see that you have improved in the last few days," says Kisuke as he walks over to Tatsuki
"Yeah, it was a little wonky at first but I got the hang of it," Tatsuki says opening one of her eyes as she looks up at Kisuke.
"Have you try forming your spiritual energy without using the sphere?" Kisuke asks as he looks at the sphere that Tatsuki is holding and he could already feel the spirit energy that is inside of it.
"I've been working on it, I can make a spirit ball but it normally would reduce to nothing before hitting my targets. But I came up with an idea." Tatsuki puts down the sphere as she gets on her two feet and walks over to one of the training dummies.
"Oh?" Kisuke smiling as he anticipates on what Tatsuki would do.
"Watch!" Tatsuki places the sphere on the ground as she concentrates on her fists and suddenly her fist are covered in bluish flame-like spirit energy.
"Well, that's a neat trick," Kisuke says in a jolly tone in his voice.
"Oh but you haven't seen the best part." Tatsuki then looks over to a practice dummy and runs towards it with both of her fists still enveloped in their spiritual flames as Tatsuki reaches the dummy she hits it a jumping uppercut in which she spins upwards getting engulfed by her spiritual power while the dummy is taking massive damage.
"SHO-RYU-KEN!" Tatsuki shouts her attack name as the training dummy gets destroyed entirely by the attack.
"Ooooh, nice form, and very flashy," Kisuke says as he gives Tatsuki a small golf clap.
"Yeah, I may not be able to fire spirit balls yet but with this I know I can keep up with the rest."
"That's the spirit, but for tomorrow I do agree with Rias and advice to take it easy for the day after." Kisuke then begins to head back to the shop.
"Yeah, I know….and Mr. Urahara." Tatsuki calls out to Kisuke.
"Yes, Ms. Tatsuki?" Kisuke looks over his shoulder to Tatsuki.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it, Ms. Tatsuki doesn't mention it," Kisuke says with a smile as he continues to head back to the shop upstairs.
During the week Ichigo spends a few hours in his inner world sparring and training with Old Man Zangetsu as he grows more and more confidence in fully controlling his powers. While in the real world he would be practicing his sword swings and doing sword forms with his Zangetsu that Urahara provided during the week.
But at the moment Ichigo is taking a break as he takes one of the juice boxes that Orihime brought for everyone and he picked the apple juice one. He was sipping away when Issei walks towards him.
"Hey Ichigo, got a minute."
"What's up?" Ichigo looking over at the young teen.
"Is it ok if I spar with you?" says Issei as he brings out his sacred gear
"Sure about that?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow at Issei as he finishes his juice as he turns to Issei.
"Yeah for the last week I've been sparring with almost everybody and since we haven't sparred I figure now would be a good chance as any. Plus I feel a lot stronger than before the whole training thing. I feel like I can take on the world." Issei says with confidence and excitement.
"Welp, if you really want to, let's go." Ichigo walks towards the training ground with Issei following close behind.
The two face each other with Ichigo already has Zangetsu drawn while Issei has his sacred gear active with a small distance in between them.
"Don't be surprised when I show how strong I've gotten!" Issei exclaims as he raises his boosted gear high.
BOOST!
"Alright let's see what you got." Ichigo remains in his current position letting Issei make the first move.
"Here I come!" Issei quickly dashes towards Ichigo as his boosted gear glows the second time.
BOOST!
Ichigo quickly goes to the defense as Issei throws a punch with his sacred gear hand at him only for the substitute soul reaper blocking it with the wide side of Zangetsu.
BOOST!
After the third boost, Issei quickly backs away from Ichigo and points his boosted gear as it is resonating with powerful energy.
"Now take this DRAGON SHOT!" Issei fires his attack at Ichigo with the older teen remaining calm as the attack zeros in on him. As the attack lands a large explosion was made by it.
"Ah crap!" Issei covers with his arms as the smoke and debris from his attack hit him.
-Kisuke's Office-
As Kisuke was handling data on his computer he feels the rumbling of the explosion that is below his shop.
"Hmmm…..it's probably nothing, now where is that document?" Shrugs off the explosion as he continues to look around on his computer for his missing document.
-Urahara Training Ground-
As the smoke clears Issei quickly looks around for Ichigo only there was no sign of him.
"Oh crap! I think I evaporated him! Ichigo I'm sorry!" Issei cries as he drops on his knees thinking that his attack actually killed Ichigo.
"Hey, I'm right behind you."
Issei hearing Ichigo's voice and as he turns around he stops halfway when he finds the sharp blade side of Zangetsu resting on his shoulder.
"Ichigo!? But how? I though-
"I'm just really fast, so are you going to surrender?" Ichigo asks as he has Issei pinned with Zangetsu
"Ye-yeah sure, you win!" Issei says quickly as Ichigo brings Zangetsu off of Issei's shoulder and have its backside rest on his own shoulder.
"Wow, I guess I have a long ways to go."
"I wouldn't say that I mean that attack of yours really packs a mean punch. If I hadn't moved out of the way, I probably would have taken some damage." Ichigo says and he stabs Zangetsu into the ground.
"Really...damn I didn't expect my attack to be this strong, I guess all this training really did pay off. I guess there was a point of Mr. Urahara constantly pushing me to my limits and using me as a guinea pig."
"Yeeeaaaah, I better check the last one if I were you." Ichigo with an uneasy look on his face.
"Why?" Issei asks wondering what Ichigo meant by that.
"Just trust me, if I knew that crazy nut long enough and unfortunately I do. I suggest that you check that all of your organs are in place." Ichigo answers as he goes back to the small fridge and takes out a bottle of water.
-Next Day, Gremory Villa-
Today under Rias's orders there was no training as everyone was given the day to fully rest up before tomorrow is a big day ahead of them. Currently, everyone was arriving in one of the Gremory Villas thanks to Rias and her teleportation magic.
"Wow Rias, this place is beautiful!" Orihime says as she is amazed by the beauty of the villa as she begins to explore the place.
"No kidding this place looks like one of those super fancy hotels," Tatsuki says as she looks around inside.
"Yeah, you're right." Ichigo looks around being impressed by what he sees.
"It's really nothing special this is one of the many villas that my family owns," Rias says as she shows everyone around including the rooms that they would be staying.
For the rest of the day, everyone was relaxing and even having fun in the swimming pool in the backyard. When evening came around Orihime volunteered to make dinner with Asia assisting her and learning a few cooking tricks from Orihime. That night the whole gang had Orihime special Chocolate-covered Sushi and wasabi chicken with pepper and apple steaks and fried rice with sprinkles and it was actually good with Koneko asking seconds.
But as the day is slowly coming to an end, for Issei the teen started to get all kinds of nervous as he is in his room in the villa pacing back and forth with his mind asking over a hundred questions a minute.
It was already eleven o'clock and tomorrow is the rating battle. Issei couldn't sleep even after talking with Ichigo during dinner and while the talk helped the teen boost his confidence he still feels nervous and having the fear that he might fail everyone.
"Maybe taking a small walk can help me calm my nerves." Issei then steps out of his room and would walk around the estate eventually reaching the balcony area hoping that the night air would help him clear his thoughts.
"Wait is that?" Issei looks closer and sees Ichigo looking out at the night sky while resting against the balcony rails.
"Is he nervous too?" Issei thought as he was about to walk over to Ichigo until Rias steps out making Issei stop in his tracks while remaining hidden by the shadows of the night.
"I see you can't sleep either, are you anxious about tomorrow?" Rias asks in a low voice.
"Nah, after last week's training I believe that tomorrow, we will win this," Ichigo says as he looks over to Rias.
"Ichigo….I just want to thank you again. I don't know how I could repay you…..heh...I still remember when we first met. How you would just come to my aid without a second thought." Rias looks down for a bit as her cheeks blush a bit.
"Well..to be honest, it took a bit for me to put my foot down on those thugs," Ichigo says as he rests his elbows on the balcony bar.
"Heh,..you're right….Ichigo, I really am grateful that I met you." Rias looks up to Ichigo while coming closer to him.
"Don't forget that I'm not the only one helping you out," Ichigo says reminding Rias as the crimson-haired devil girl coming closer to him
"Yeah...how silly of me," Rias says as she rests her head against Ichigo's chest as the night wind blows her long beautiful crimson red hair.
"So what's up? You're kinda acting weird." Ichigo asks as he looks down on Rias with the girl being a few centimeters shorter than him.
"Nothing really, I'm just happy that I met you and that…."
Issei watches them but couldn't hear what they're saying until he sees Rias walking up to Ichigo and to his complete shock he sees Rias wrapping her arms around Ichigo's neck and kisses him. Before thinking Issei quickly goes back to his room only to bump into Asia in the hall knocking her down by accident.
"Ouch." Asia lands on her rear.
"Oh, Asia I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Issei quickly helps Asia up.
"It's ok Issei, it was an accident." Asia gets back on her feet with the help from Issei.
"Yeah, an accident...sure." Issei looks down after what he just witnessed.
"Issei..is there something the matter?" Asia asks as she noticed that something was troubling Issei.
Not wanting to make Asia worry Issei quickly dismisses it and quickly change the subject. "Wha-no no it's nothing just a bit nervous about tomorrow is all."
"Oh, I see, well you could say I feel the same way. But I know we'll do our best and we even have Ichigo and the rest to help us out." Asia says with a positive attitude and believing that they would come out on top.
"Ichigo...yeah." Issei looks down with a bitter look on his face.
"Huh? Issei did something happen?" Asia asks starting to worry about Issei.
"No, it's nothing Asia really. Well, I better call it a night before it gets too late, gotta need my beauty sleep...hahaha." Issei trying to laugh it off so not to worry Asia as he heads back to his room.
"Well… if you say so, good night Issei." Asia then heads to the bathroom.
"Night Asia." Issei closes the door to his room and once he's fully alone Issei falls on his hands and knees as the image of Rias kissing Ichigo appears in his mind while feeling a sharp pain in his heart.
"Rias….why?...why him?" Issei slams his fist against the floor while a small tear falls from his right eye. The teen then crawls to his bed and curls up in a ball as he slowly falls asleep.
-Issei's Dream-
"Huh, where am I? Why am I wearing a suit?" Issei looks around and when he turns around he's in front of a church and in front of the entrance is Rias in a wedding dress.
"Huh...Rias!? Wha-what's going on? why are you wearing that?"
"I'm sorry Issei, but I just prefer guys with more potential, if I were to settle with someone of your level it would be sinking a new low, wouldn't you agree," Rias says coldly as she goes inside the church.
"Wait, Rias! Hold it!" Issei rushes into the church only to see everyone he knew was there including a large collection of faceless people filling out the place. On one side he sees Akeno, Kiba, Koneko and Asia, his classmates from Kuoh, the council president Sona Sitri and her peerage some of the teachers. While on the other side are Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Tatsuki, and Yoruichi with Mr. Urahara acting as the pastor of the ceremony.
"Wha-what's going on? Why's everyone here!?" Issei exclaims while being surprised to see everyone in the church.
"Don't you get it Issei….I'm getting married….and it's not to you," Rias says as she walks down the aisle with her groom waiting for her.
"Oh gross who would marry that loser pervert!?" says one of the students of his former school.
"Yeah like Rias deserves so much better!"
"Wait! Did we lose the rating battle!?" Issei says fearing that Rias would end up marrying Riser.
"Oh stupid Issei, of course, we won. Ichigo practically cleaned house on Riser and his peerage single-handedly. I very much doubt you could do that." Rias giving Issei a cold stare.
"Then...who are you marrying?" Issei asks as he falls on his knees unable to believe what's happening.
"Quit being an idiot, you're just embarrassing yourself more with your stupid questions," Ichigo says as he turns around wearing the groom outfit while giving Issei an annoyed glare.
"It's already bad enough that you lost the first fight by one of the weaker pawns," Ichigo says with a bitter and annoyed tone.
"Wai-but I don't remember fi-"
"Enough, Issei! In case it hasn't sunk in yet. You are nothing more but a pawn and you will never be good enough for me or anyone for that matter." Rias says harshly to Issei as both her and Ichigo look at each other and as they are about to kiss.
"N-o...please...Rias...that's not..that's not."
"OK, Enough of that! Wake Up you sad excuse of a pervert!" says a loud booming voice shaking the church itself.
"Wait what-AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Before realizing it Issei falls into a dark void as his nightmare comes to an end.
-Issei's Inner World-
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Ouph!...Ouch!" After falling for who knows how long Issei finally lands what looks like a large red and white chess board surrounded by fire and flames.
"Where in the world am I? I just want to wake up already!" Issei shouts in frustration slamming his fist on the floor.
"Can you shut up for one lousy minute!" From the fires a large red dragon emerges and as it spreads his wings and flies over to Issei landing in front of him.
"Wait! Who are you!?" Issei falling on his rear as the dragon approaches him.
"You know exactly who I am, I've been living inside you this whole time." The dragon's emerald eyes glow as Issei's arm transforms into his sacred gear.
"Wait you're my sacred gear?" Issei looks up at the dragon.
"Why ask a question when you know very well the answer! I tried speaking to you for some time but it looks like the only reason I could speak to you now is probably that you've gotten a lot stronger in the past week." The dragon says in his deep voice.
"So what exactly do you want, Mr. Dragon in my head?"
"Two things, first to say hello since we will be fighting together from now on."
"And then second?"
"I'm getting to that, the second is to forget what you saw."
"What!?"
"Is there an echo in here? I want you to forget what you saw before rushing back to your room."
"You mean...Rias and Ichigo's.."
"Yes that, you can't have that in your perverted mind especially tomorrow. If you really want to help her you must keep your head in the battle ahead. Remember that Issei!" The Dragon and the world around Issei slowly disappear within the powerful flames.
"Wait! I still have more questions!" Issei shouts as the world around him is engulfed in flames.
-The Gremory Villa, 7:00 A.M.-
"Issei wake up! It's time to get ready!" Asia says as she knocks on Issei's door.
Issei quickly wakes up in a cold sweat and sees that it's already morning with his clock telling him the time.
"Issei!"
"Yeah, Asia I'm up." Issei slowly gets up from his bed while looking at his left arm and remembering what the dragon had told him only for the image flash in his mind.
"...this is going to be a very long day."
To be Continued!
Ending Theme - Roundabout by Yes
(A/N: So yeah a lot has happened while writing this chapter from the grand finale of Samurai Jack being a mixed bag to the fact that next weekend I'll be going to Puerto Rico Comi-Con with my friends and releasing another fanfic Code: Digital-X-World. Not to mention being stuck on the dreaded first page for days while wondering how should I write this chapter. But hey I pulled an all-nighter making this chapter and hope that you guys enjoyed it. Going back to my digimon/code geass crossover this was something I've been planning since September of last year and now that the first chapter is out for the last few weeks it didn't get that much attention but then again it has only one chapter. I will be updating CDXW every now and again but I will be mostly concentrating on DnR since this is my most popular fic I've written so far. Next month will be the 1st year anniversary of this fic so huzzah for the first year milestone.
Now to tackle the reviews and questions: first, off we have treyalexander63917 with not one but three questions and I'll answer them in order.
1: Kokabiel will be a lot stronger than in the anime/manga especially since I have plans for him and some of his followers ;)
2. Ok dude first off I already said it in the last chapter's A/N Ichigo will only have his Soul Reaper and Hollow powers and that's it. As for the rest of the quincies, that's still up for debate if I will add them or not but it all depends on when I finish with Season 3 and when Season 4 comes out. Lastly what in the heck made you think that Quincies automatically go to hell when they die!? O_o like seriously the heck man?
3. It is strictly IchigoXRias and other pairings like IsseiXAsia and maybe a few others it just depends if they fit together or not.
TwiX Illusions: I'm just going to stick with the English prefixes since I don't 100% know the Japanese honorifics since I only know a few of them.
HaremLover: No, Ichigo will not have a harem much less someone else's peerage, I already explained this few times already.
Lightningblade49: Nelliel will have her moment just won't be for a long time.
NS120121: While I would agree with you on the first parts of the DxD Universe not as strong as Bleach. But for the sake of the story, I would have to raise the strength of the character but it will depend on any given situation at hand while making sure that no one character is too overpowered.
SpudyPotato: Oh trust me when I say that the upcoming fights will be ones to remember I will guarantee that.
Daizuke: Lo siento pero Ichigo se va quedar con Rias.
So with all of that being said Next, it's the start of the Rating Battle Arc as this will take around seven chapters or less depending on how each fight will turn out and the possibility of each fight being either one on one, tag team or two on one! And yes Ichigo vs. Riser will be the main event. So til next time guys it's currently 9 am and as I write this so I'm going to bed, Later!)
(The Devil and The Reaper is written and edited by Alpha Espada. Please support the official release of both series used in this crossover.)