Chapter 13: Awaken to True Power

"Before we get started," Uryu said, looking to Pyrrha, who was standing behind Ichigo, "Ms. Nikos, I would advise you to leave. You aren't a Soul Reaper, so I have no quarrel with you. You wouldn't want to get hurt over something that doesn't concern you."

"I can take care of myself," Pyrrha said, pulling her staff out of her breast pocket and pressing the button to extend it. "Besides, you've been insulting my friend all day, and I won't stand for that." Plus, the fact that he apparently used a bow and arrow and his smug sense of superiority reminded Pyrrha of a certain woman.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Uryu said, clearly not happy with her decision to stay.

"If you're done being afraid to fight a girl," Ichigo said tauntingly, "Let's get this started already. What are the rules?" Uryu reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small white capsule that looked like a pill, confusing the other two teens.

"We'll use this to begin," he said. "It'll help."

"What is that?" Ichigo asked.

"It looks like a pill," Pyrrha commented. "What is it? Drugs?"

"What, you need to 'roid up to fight us?" Ichigo asked.

"Please, what do you take me for?" Uryu asked, genuinely insulted. "This is bait to bring in Hollows. If I crush this, Hollows will start gathering here quickly." Ichigo and Pyrrha's eyes opened wide in horror.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo yelled.

"The rules here are quite simple. Whoever kills the most Hollows in 24 hours will be the winner. Simple, isn't it? Even you can understand how that works."

"Are you insane?!" Pyrrha asked.

"If you bring Hollows here, you're going to put a lot of people's lives in danger," Ichigo said. "This is just between us."

"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Uryu asked. "Believe me, no one is going to get hurt, because I know I will wipe out every Hollow that shows up here."

"You don't know that for sure!" Pyrrha pleaded with him.

"I know my own strength, so I do know that for sure. If you two had more confidence in your abilities, you wouldn't be worried. With someone with above-average spirit energy like yours, Ms. Nikos, I'm sure you two will have no problem."

"I have above-average spirit energy?" Pyrrha asked.

"Why am I not surprised you didn't notice? Not only can you see spirits, but I've sensed that the spirit energies of yourself, Yang Xiao Long, and Blake Belladonna have been steadily increasing since you three transferred to our school." Pyrrha was surprised by that information. Obviously, her ability to see spirits was because she herself was dead, but to learn that she had spirit energy that was getting stronger came as a real shock. "You'll be fine," he said before snapping his fingers to shatter the bait capsule before either of them could react. A few tense seconds passed as Ichigo and Pyrrha tried to comprehend what had just happened, when they saw a black portal open up in the sky above them. A Hollow stuck its head through the portal and roared, before it was cut short by an arrow made of spirit energy. The arrow vaporized the Hollow, and Uryu stood in the same spot as before, holding his bow.

"And that's one for me," he said, before Ichigo grabbed him by the shirt and tackled him to the ground. "Why does your face look so tense, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"Change things back right now," he growled at the bespectacled Quincy. "You get those Hollows out of here."

"It's too late for that. Soon, the bait will have the whole town crawling with Hollows. Sorry, but the dye has already been cast."

"You fool!" Pyrrha yelled. "If anybody gets hurt, their blood will be on your hands. What were you thinking?!"

"No one will get hurt as long as you do your jobs," he said. "You should stop wasting time here and get moving. There's people out there that need you." Ichigo finally let go of Uryu's collar, allowing the Quincy to stand up. "I'd say you'd better get moving if you're going to protect the entire town from all those Hollows." He pushed Ichigo off him and stood up, walking past Ichigo and Pyrrha.

"Damn you," Ichigo cursed him.

"I suppose I should remind you," Uryu said. "It's a fact that Hollows have a tendency to attack those with high levels of spirit energy first. I hope that helps." Ichigo gasped when he realized who that meant.

"Karin. Yuzu." He took off running, Kon running after him. Pyrrha, however, continued to glare at the Quincy.

"Aren't you going to go with him?" he asked her. "Time's wasting."

"If anything happens to his family or any of our friends," she threatened, "I will hold you personally responsible." And he really didn't want to know what happens when you mess with people a Huntress cares about.

"Well then I guess you'd better make sure the two of you do a good job so that doesn't happen." She glared at him for a few more seconds, clearly wanting to continue the argument, but instead took off after Ichigo. Uryu looked behind him at their retreating forms.

"Ichigo, you are blind, unaware of the other gifted people around you. Besides your family, you know others with spirit energy that need your help. They're lucky I'll be killing all the Hollows that could harm those close to them. No matter. All this will still make him realize just how weak his power is. At last, he's reached the point of no return." He remembered the face of an old man, with curly hair, a mustache, and wearing a cloak. He growled before summoning his bow. "Soul Reapers are such useless scum."

Tatsuki was leaning up against the wall of the gym, wearing her white karate gi with a black belt. She had a red towel draped around her neck, and was drinking from a water bottle while she took a break from karate club. Ever since Yang had joined the club, things had gotten a hell of a lot more rowdy. While Tatsuki really enjoyed her company and having a good sparring partner for once, she really just needed to get away from all the noise every now and again. Unfortunately, she had a new problem that was really ruining the peace and quiet that she was attempting to enjoy: The two ghosts making kissy faces at each other.

She had gained the ability to see ghosts a while ago. She didn't remember exactly what happened, but she had brought dinner to Orihime's place. She remembered feeling very uneasy and suddenly experiencing a lot of pain before blacking out. When she came to, someone that looked a lot like Rukia was standing over her. When she talked to Orihime about it, it turned out that she remembered something similar. Ever since that day, Tatsuki had the ability to see ghosts. And these two were really cramping her style.

"Mika, you're the cutest, I mean it," the male ghost said. It was a couple, and seemed to be in their early twenties, and they were floating in the air above Tatsuki. The male ghost's words made the female ghost, "Mika" evidently, giggle.

"Really, Yoshi?" she asked happily.

"I'm serious."

"Oh, stop that, Yoshi. Someone might see us."

"Hey, it's alright. No one's watching us."

"Oh, don't you have a car or somewhere that's more private?" Tatsuki practically gagged at the scene.

"Oh, great," she groaned. "Just what I need to see. Ghosts making out." It was a lot like a car accident. She didn't want to watch, but she just couldn't look away. She was so engrossed in watching the two dead lovers (and boy, didn't that just sound weird to say) that she didn't really hear the voice trying to get her attention.

"Tatsuki," the voice said, the person owning it standing right next to her. "Remn—uh—Earth to Tatsuki." She finally turned to look at the voice and saw a head of long blonde hair staring back at her.

"Oh, hey Yang," Tatsuki said. "What's up?" Yang was wearing the same white karate gi as she was, but with a white belt instead of a black belt. Tatsuki didn't expect the blonde to keep the belt for too much longer with her skills.

"Coach sent me to get you," she said. "He said your break's over." She tried to follow where Tatsuki's eyes were. "What were you staring at?"

"Nothing," she said stepping off the wall. She then noticed that Yang had looked back at her with a suspicious look on her face. "I'm serious. It was nothing. Come on, we have to break our tie." Despite Tatsuki being the best in the karate club for years, Yang had managed to tie with her. Each girl had won five matches, and Tatsuki loved every second of sparring with the blonde.

"Let's do it," Yang said, cracking her knuckles, the thought of a fight making her lose the suspicious look from earlier. They rounded the corner to head back to the gym, when they heard a voice call out to the black-haired girl.

"Tatsuki?" They looked to the source of the voice and saw Orihime standing there nervously.

"Orihime?" Tatsuki said.

"What's up?" Yang asked.

"Tatsuki, can we talk?" Orihime asked. "Right now?" Tatsuki was about to answer, but unfortunately, a ghost chose right that second to get right in her face and start trying to get her attention. It worked, as she found herself too distracted by the ghost to pay attention to what Orihime was saying. Tatsuki had finally had enough of its presence when it started making obscene gestures at her.

"Would you get the hell out of here?" she yelled angrily while shooing the ghost away. Orihime recoiled from her friend and Tatsuki realized how that looked and instantly started apologizing for it. Yang, however, was looking at her in surprise.

"Tatsuki, did you just—?" Her question was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. "Oh, what now?" She groaned in frustration.

"We'll talk later," Tatsuki said. "Come on, let's go see what just happened." The three girls ran off to investigate the noise, but Orihime stopped, feeling something wasn't right. She looked up at the sky, and saw ominous pitch-black lines forming. They were like clouds, but not quite. Whatever they were, they made her really uneasy.

Karin was playing soccer in a field with her friends. She was about to kick the ball, but stopped just as her foot was about to make contact when she felt a chill run down her spine. She looked up at the sky, and could only feel an overwhelming sense of dread.

Ichigo and Pyrrha had made it to the main gate of Yuzu and Karin's school to look for Karin. Yuzu was usually home immediately after school so Ichigo didn't feel the need to worry about her. Karin, however, usually stayed behind to hang out with her friends, so he never had any clue where she could be in the afternoon. They had just stepped inside the gate when they saw a portal open up in the sky above the school and a Hollow come out. The Hollow instantly flew towards Ichigo. For his part, the orange-haired teen just stood his ground with his sword raised. When the Hollow reached him, he effortlessly cut it in half.

"That's three," he said out loud, keeping count of how many Hollows he killed as per the rules of his little "duel" with that smug Quincy. He may not have agreed with the duel itself, but since he no longer had any choice except to fight the Hollows, he might as well play along. He heard a roar from his right side and turned around to see another Hollow charging at him, but before he could react to it, Pyrrha intercepted it, smashing it in the face with her staff hard enough to crack its mask. It landed on its back, and Pyrrha stood over it before jamming her staff as hard as she could through the weakened, cracked section of the mask, killing the Hollow and causing it to dissolve into the usual black particles.

After Uryu informed them that Pyrrha had fairly strong spirit energy, she had asked to take on the second Hollow they encountered, and sure enough, she was able to kill them. In fact, it kind of disturbed Ichigo just how effortless it was for her. Granted, he knew about her Huntress training back in her world, so she had experience fighting monsters, but it was another thing entirely to see it happen with such efficiency.

"Make that four," she said, turning back to him. Ichigo took a look at the school grounds, specifically the courtyard where Karin usually played.

"Karin's not here," he determined. "She's probably off playing with her friends somewhere. Where is she?"

"Come on, let's keep looking," Pyrrha said, and the two ran off.

Uryu fired off 5 arrows from his position on a small bridge, each one connecting with the face of a Hollow. He counted as each Hollow fell.

"Seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven," he counted off with a smirk on his face. Then he noticed the sky. There was some sort of distortion in the sky above him, looking like some kind of black mass.

Kisuke felt it. Something wasn't right.

"So, Urahara," Rukia said, "What's going on here?" At that moment, her Soul Pager started beeping again. "Damn it. A Hollow alarm at a time like this." She pulled it out of her pocket. "Excuse me, Urahara. Business." She turned around and opened her Soul Pager, but just as she did so, the beeping suddenly stopped. She looked at her Pager in confusion. "Why did the signal disappear?" she asked to no one in particular. She turned to look at Kisuke, who had an intense look on his face. "Oh, I get it," she said. "Ichigo must be doing well. He's working quickly today." She went to put the Pager back in the pocket, only for it to start beeping again. But as soon as she looked at it, it stopped again.

"It went blank again?" she asked. "What is with this thing? It must be broken. I mean, it's going haywire." The Pager started beeping again, and Rukia took a look at the screen. "This is strange," she said. "I've never seen this many signals coming in so fast." As she stared at the screen of her Soul Pager, more and more Hollow signals just kept popping up. "This can't be," she said, her breathing starting to increase in a panic. "Can it?" Soon her screen was filled almost entirely by Hollow signals. She could only stare in ever-increasing horror as more and more Hollow signals appeared in her Pager. She was finally taken out of her stupor when she heard the tell-tale roar of a Hollow. She quickly ran out of the front of the store to investigate, and saw a black mass hovering in the sky, that looked suspiciously like a hole.

"I'm feeling all this agitated heavy spirit energy," she said, staring at the mass in the sky. "No. What destruction is about to happen here?"

"Yasu?" Blake asked Chad, who was just staring up at the sky. They had met up after Chad finished his band practice, and she got to meet his bandmates, Shigeo and Ide. Of course, they gave him no small amount of grief for having a date with "such a pretty girl" as Shigeo put it, but overall they seemed like nice guys. It turned out that Chad played bass in their band while Shigeo played guitar and sang and Ide played drums. They of course, invited her to watch them play next time, to which she agreed, and then she and Chad left to find something to eat. They were in the middle of a fairly busy commercial area when Chad stopped and stared up at the sky with an intense look on his face. Her calling out his name snapped him out of it, and he looked at her, adjusting the guitar case slung over his shoulder that contained his bass.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"It's nothing," he said, shaking his head. "So, what did you want to eat?"

"I'm not sure," she said, secretly happy that he had asked her for her input. While she hadn't been on many dates before, she appreciated that he wanted to know her opinion, rather than just assuming she'd go along with whatever he wanted. Adam just dragged her along on the rare occasion they actually went out, and Sun only ever did what she wanted to do in an attempt to impress her, even if he was bored out of his mind. He never realized that she could tell he wasn't enjoying himself, which completely ruined the dates they went on. Chad was a very welcome change of pace. "I'm still not very familiar with the area or what food we can get around here. Any suggestions?"

"Have you ever had sushi before?" he asked. She shook her head.

"What's that?"

"It's a piece of chilled raw fish on top of a clump of rice."

"Fish?!" She yelled excitedly. He and a few other people nearby flinched in surprise a little bit at her sudden outburst, causing her to blush profusely. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I just really like fish." He chuckled.

"It's Ok. If you like fish that much, I'm sure you'll love sushi. There's a pretty good place nearby."

"Do they have tuna?" She asked hopefully. He nodded. "Let's go! Where is it?!" He pointed down the street and she quickly grabbed his arm and started dragging him in the direction he pointed.

"Uh, Blake?" He said to get her attention. "You don't have to drag me." She immediately snapped out of her tuna-induced frenzy and realized what she was doing. She quickly let go of his arm and covered her face in shame.

"Oh my God," she groaned into her hands. "I'm so sorry!"

Great, she thought. He didn't think I was a freak when he saw my ears, but he definitely does now. Instead of shunning her, though, he just chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, if you like tuna that much, make sure to eat as much as you want." She looked up at him and smiled, when suddenly an explosion knocked them both down.

When the dust cleared, she saw Chad standing over her defensively. She looked at the center of the explosion, and her eyes widened in fear.

Standing in a crater was a Hollow.

It was tall and muscular, with a gray body, and its mask looked like a chubby face.

"What is that thing?" She heard Chad ask.

"You can see it?"

"Not really. I can see something shimmering, like heat waves, but that's it."

"There's definitely something there. I don't really know how to explain it." Just as she finished speaking, she saw the Hollow rear back a fist. Before she could react to the Hollow's attack, she was scooped up into Chad's arms as he dove to the side, pulling her to safety with him. He put her down before looking back at the Hollow. Her eyes widened as she saw another fist come flying at them. She dove to the side, and to her astonishment, Chad was able to sidestep it as well.

He saw that coming? She thought.

"Yasu," she called, "I think that thing's after us!"

"I think so, too," he said, grabbing her by the hand and running down the street. "Let's go!"

"Wait! Yasu!" she said. "We can fight it!"

"Too many people," he said simply. "Someone could get hurt." His words made Blake mentally kick herself. How could she forget about the civilians around them, again? First there was that time during her second semester at Beacon when she and the rest of Team RWBY fought Roman Torchwick in his stolen Atlesian Paladin. For reasons even she didn't understand looking back, she and Sun thought it would be a good idea to let a giant mech suit chase them onto the damn freeway, causing who knows how much collateral damage. She liked to think she learned from that incident, but here she was again, about to get into a fight with a monster in the middle of a crowded street without even thinking about the other people that might get caught in the crossfire. And so she let Chad pull her along with him down the street, the Hollow giving chase.

"Come on, kick it!" One of Karin's friends shouted to her. Ever since she had that weird feeling earlier, she had just been off her game and only half paying attention. Unfortunately for her friend, it meant she wasn't really aiming the soccer ball with as much precision as she usually had, so when she kicked it, she hit him square in the face, causing him to fall over with his nose bleeding.

"Oops," she said, realizing what she had just done. "Sorry." She looked down in embarrassment while two of her friends approached her angrily from either side.

"Come on, Karin," one of them said in frustration.

"There you go, spacing out again," another one chastised her. "Then you kicked the ball without aiming."

"Do you want to play or not?" a third friend asked her. She sent the four boys a scowl that would make Ichigo proud, causing the boys to back up in fear.

"Hey, you wanna fight?" One of the boys asked with his knees shaking so hard they were hitting each other.

"We're not afraid of you," another one said from behind the safety of his hands. "You want to rumble? Bring it on."

"Sorry, guys," she said sadly. "I think I should just go home now." Her words shocked the boys, and she turned around to walk away.

"W-Wait, Karin!" One of her friends called to her. "No hard feelings, right?" She ignored him and just kept on walking away from the field.

Today sucks, she thought. I can't concentrate on anything. I keep thinking about that weird thing I felt. I guess I'll go take a bath, eat, and go to bed early. As she was approaching the exit to the field, her path was suddenly blocked by two people. They were both panting heavily, as if they'd been running for several minutes. They were both teenagers, one boy, and one girl. The boy was facing Karin's direction, while the girl was frantically looking around behind them. The boy was tall, and had shaggy brown hair covering his eyes. He was wearing a pink Hawaiian shirt and gray pants. The girl had long black hair and was wearing a white bow. She was wearing a white zip-up jacket that exposed her midriff and black pants. That guy looks familiar, she thought.

"Hey, you're Ichigo's friend, aren't you?" she asked the giant boy. "The cockatiel's uncle?" At her words, the girl behind the tall boy stopped looking around, and looked at Karin in surprise.

"You're Ichigo's little sister," Chad said, causing the girl behind him to open her eyes wide in surprise.

"Oh, no," the black-haired girl said under her breath for reasons Karin didn't understand. She stepped forward so she was in between Karin and Chad. "You have to leave, now."

"What are you talking about?" Karin asked. "This is our playground." Instead of either of them answering her question, however, Chad scooped up both girls into his arms and dove to avoid a sudden impact where the two teenagers were once standing. Looking at the spot where the impact came from, she saw a tall creature with a gray, muscular body, and a white, chubby face. It looked at them and growled, clearly upset about missing his prey.

"What is that?" Karin asked. Chad's grip on the two girls tightened as the monster made another attack. Chad stood firm as the attack hit his back, refusing to let either of the girls in his arms get hurt. Karin could faintly hear her friends express curiosity at what was going on, but she paid it no mind and just kept her eyes on the monster.

Chad released his grip on the two girls and turned around to face the monster while Blake made sure Ichigo's sister was okay. Well, he wasn't so much facing the monster as looking at a shimmering blob of air. He still couldn't really see what he was looking at, but he could definitely tell something was there. He continued to stare at the invisible blob intently.

It doesn't look like that thing is moving, he thought. Is it waiting for us to move or what? It's hard to tell. This would be a lot easier if I could see it clearly.

"Blake," he called, "What's it doing?"

"It's starting to come back this way," she said.

"What is that thing?" Ichigo's sister asked. "It's so ugly."

"Wait a minute," Chad said, looking to the girl. "You can see it clearly?"

"Of course I can," she said. "It's right there." He looked at her in surprise when Blake yelled out.

"Yasu, watch out!" Chad scooped the girls into his arms again and dove out of the way of the attack, skidding a little bit when he landed. He looked back up at where he saw the blob earlier, but he couldn't even see that anymore.

"Where'd it go?" he asked.

Blake easily transitioned from being held in Chad's arms to being positioned on his back.

"Yasu, he's over there!" She yelled, pointing in the direction of the Hollow, the action bringing back memories of them fighting the Hollow that was after Yuichi. Right now, Blake wanted nothing more than to pull her daggers out and help Chad fight the Hollow, but she saw that there were still people in the field, specifically children. She knew that seeing someone brandishing weapons wouldn't go over well, so she decided to help Chad see the Hollow instead, just like last time. Speaking of the Hollow, it started throwing a punch in their direction. "Move!" she yelled, and he ran down the field, Blake perched on his back, and Ichigo's sister (Karin, if she recalled correctly) being held in his arms.

"Hey," Karin said. "Can you two see that monster?"

"I can," Blake confirmed.

"Just a little," Chad said.

"It looks to me like you can't see it at all," she said to him flatly. "I've seen these things before."

"You have?" Blake asked. That's weird, she thought. I thought Rukia altered everyone's memories after the Hollow incidents.

"Yeah. I got this weird feeling that this has something to do with my brother Ichigo."

"With Ichigo?" Chad asked, surprised. Blake suddenly saw the Hollow appear on Chad's left side and warned him. He jumped backwards to dodge, and much to Blake's surprise, he was able to stop the Hollow's next attack by punching it's hand. The Hollow roared in pain and brought its other hand around to swipe at Chad's right side.

"Yasu, on the right!" Blake called out, but he couldn't react in time. The Hollow slapped him across the face, knocking all three of them to the ground. Blake fell off of his back and she rolled several feet away from him, hitting her head in the process and dazing her. Chad came skidding to a stop, Karin held tightly in his arms, before his body went limp.

Yasu! She thought in concern. Damn it! Come On! Get up! She tried to get up to help him, but the blow she took to her head made her too dizzy.

"Hey, are you alright?" Karin asked to the large teenager when he stopped moving. She could see that his eyes were closed, and there was a trickle of blood rolling down his face. "Come on, buddy. Wake up." She moved his arm off of her so she could sit up, and she started to shake his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up.

"Karin!" she heard her friends call out to her. She completely forgot they were still here. She turned around to see them all running towards her. When they saw the state Chad was in, they stopped.

"Whoa," one of the boys said. "What happened? That guy's all covered in blood."

"Who is he?" A second boy asked. "And that girl, too?"

"Get out of here!" She yelled frantically, knowing that her friends couldn't see the monster. She didn't care. She couldn't let them get hurt. "You don't want to be here!"

"You have finally lost it," a third boy said angrily, pointing his finger at her. "We only came over here because we were concerned about you."

"Why are you being such a head case?" The fourth boy asked. Karin saw the monster appear behind her friends, and her eyes widened. They had no idea that it was there, and they were in terrible danger. So she did the first thing that came to mind.

She pounced on one of them.

Chad came to just in time to see Ichigo's sister tackle one of the boys to the ground, and right before his eyes, the monster started to appear before him more clearly. He remembered the words of his grandfather. The advice he gave him all those years ago, that the world was a cruel place, but he needed to find a good use for his fists. It was why he never fought back and never threw the first punch. But he very well could protect people. And now, he saw someone that needed protecting. He slowly pushed himself up off the ground, the action causing the boys to run away in fear. He could faintly hear Blake calling his name in concern. He turned to face the monster, finally able to see it clearly. It was readying a punch, so Chad let out a roar and met its fist with his own.

When Chad's fist collided with the monster's, there was a magnificent flash of light, and with a mighty explosion of energy, the monster's arm was blown clean off.

"Yasu!" Blake called in concern as Chad's fist collided with the monster's before she was suddenly blinded by a bright flash of light. There was an explosion of energy, and when the dust cleared, something was very different about the boy.

His right arm had transformed.

Instead of the usual tanned flesh of his right arm, the skin was pure black, with the exception of a red stripe running along the center of the outside of his arm. There were little wing-like attachments on his wrist, and prong-like appendages sticking up past his shoulder.

Even being from a world where people have superpowers and learn to fight monsters, she had never seen anything like this before.

"What the hell?" She heard Karin ask. "What happened to your arm?"

"Yasu?" Blake simply asked, astonished at what she was seeing. The Hollow roared and raised its remaining hand for another attack, and Chad let out his own roar and charged at it. She could only watch in amazement as bright blue energy exploded out of his fist, hitting the Hollow straight-on. She heard the creature cry out in pain, and when the light died down, the Hollow flew backwards, cut in half vertically, and dissolved.

She had long since shaken off her dizziness, and she and Karin approached him warily. He was simply standing in the field with his back turned to them.

"Hey, big guy," Karin said. "What happened to your arm?"

"Are you OK, Yasu?" Blake asked. He turned around, and instead of answering them, he just gave them a thumbs up, much to Blake's amusement and Karin's horror. Then, a second later, he fell over.

Chad was barely aware of Blake and Ichigo's sister calling his name in concern as he lay on the cold ground. He looked over at his new arm.

What just happened? He thought. Where the hell did this arm come from? It just appeared out of nowhere. And when it did, I could finally see that monster completely. But how did—I can't comprehend it. He looked up and saw the concerned faces of Blake and Ichigo's sister standing over him.

"Neither of you are hurt, are you?" he asked.

"I should ask you that," Blake said with a smile on her face that made all of this seem worth it.

"You're the only one here who's hurt," Ichigo's sister said.

"I see," he said. "Well to me, that sounds damn good."

"That's not good, you jerk!" Karin yelled, kicking him in the head.

"Yasu!" Blake yelled in concern before glaring at the younger girl. "What do think you're—"

"What in hell's name is good about someone—I mean anyone, getting hurt? What kind of macho crap are you trying to sell me, you overgrown, risk-taking dumbass?" Blake's anger deflated at her words, and they could only listen to her continue to ramble on, with blank expressions on their faces. "I've had it!" She finally yelled, pointing at Blake. "You!" She yelled. "Keep and eye on him! And you!" she yelled, pointing at Chad. "You stay put! I'll go call my dad so he can put you back in one piece again. Now, don't you move, or I'll kick you again, you lame-brained kook." She ran off after saying that, leaving Chad and Blake alone.

"She is definitely Ichigo's sister," Chad said. "She kicks just like him."

"I could tell just from the language," she said jokingly. "She didn't even have to kick me." The two of them heard a loud bang, and they looked to see another monster inside of a large crater. It was tall and human-shaped, had pitch black skin, and its mask looked similar to a bird. Chad's and Blake's eyes widened in surprise before the monster started approaching them. Chad struggled to try to get up, but he was too tired.

"Yasu, stay down," Blake said firmly, pulling her retractable knives out of her pocket and extending them. "I'll take care of this. It's my turn." Before he could protest, she charged at the monster, her weapons held in what he could tell was an expert grip. The monster tried to throw a punch, but Blake simply ducked underneath its legs to avoid it, slashing the back of its leg as she passed below it. It fell to its knee, and Blake quickly climbed up its back and slashed at the monster's neck with both knives, slicing its head clean off. In total, the whole fight was over in less than ten seconds. Chad could only look at her stunned before she retracted her knives and put them back in her pocket. "I guess I can kill these things after all," she said quietly to herself. "I wonder how long I've been able to do that." She turned around and walked back towards Chad, before sitting down next to him. "How are doing? Everything still OK?" He nodded. "Good."

"Blake," he said, "that was incredible."

"Thanks," she said with a blush. "Just sit tight. They'll probably be back to help you soon." Before he realized it, she had taken his left hand in hers and was holding it soothingly. "So, this was quite the first date, huh?" He chuckled.

"I'd do it again."

AN: And with that, we are halfway through the mini-arc introducing Uryu. Now a few people mentioned in the reviews if I was going to ship Pyrrha with Uryu. I'm not going to say if I will, as I had something else in mind, but if I decide to change my mind and pair those two up, it will take a lot of work. This is a terrible first impression of him, after all.

With this chapter, we also get the revelation that the RWBY girls are growing stronger. Their spirit energy is increasing and now that two of them have tried killing Hollows, they've learned that they can.

So, with two more chapters out of the way, I'm going to write the next two chapters of RWBY: Aqua's Mission. If you haven't had a chance to check that one out yet, please do. This will also give me some time to plan things out here. I made a bit of a mistake. I decided that Yang was going to be hanging out with Tatsuki and Orihime during this whole debacle, but I didn't think of how to integrate her into the fight with the Hollow that attacks them at the school. So, this will give me time to think of something.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.