[AN- I really suck at naming things ( Hollow Fire, much original,such creative, wow) :D End AN] "Hollow Fire ?" said the priest slightly surprised"Could you please explain why this particular name ?"
"I think it's a fitting name, if it is incomplete it means that it lacks something so it's hollow"[AN- couldn't find a better reason, don't judge me End AN]
"Indeed it can be seen as such, well it's your spirit after all." said Priest Long slightly surprised this time by the lack of creativity. "Let's see now next is miss Diao Chan, please step up in order to get tested"
"An incomplete fire spirit, quite fascinating indeed, leaving his naming sense aside, its quite rare.I wouldn't thought that I'll actually see something interesting today given that these brats came from a small village."
"What is so special about his spirit Pill Master Lao, isn't his spirit just trashy.I couldn't help but notice that despite his rare spirit the amount of heat it was giving could hardly be used to make a pill furnace warn, making an actual pill is simply impossible."
"Well it's just as they say, the ignorant is truly blessed, a shame that we will benefit from this blessing seeing as the others are convinced that it's a weak spirit" ,"Ang we are leaving, it rereally was a waste of our time coming I have an better idea, you wait and see if anything good enough appears I have a bunch of Marrow Cleansing Pills that are waiting for me to concoct them." Alchemists Lao said slowly leaving the hall, maintaining an calm demeanour.
An blindingly white light was emitted from the artifact as soon as Diao Chan touched it. "M-Mi-Middle level spirit root" Priest Long announced with genuinely surprise in his voice"Well girl you truly are gifted, only heirs of major clans have better roots that you" "A shame you were born in a poor village"was the thought of both the audience and priest Long "Now for your spirit, please raise your dominant hand above your head" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Middle level spirit root, well it's our luck that Pill Master Lao left, I'm sure he's gonna regret this decision later." "Well it isn't really a surprise, Master Lao is rather known for this kind of behavior. Now the only question is whether her spirit will be anything special don't you think so, Manager Heng?"
"It is as you say Manager Fang" the now named Heng responded
"Whatever spirit this girl has is definitively strong, judging by the sheer amount of energy consumed just to making it slightly active it shouldn't be anything less impressive than her roots"
Making an effort Diao Chan directed half the energy from her dantian toward her couldn't help but notice just hot the seems to grow colder as an blue light started coalescing in her hand.
"An ice spirit, this really isn't something you see everyday around here"said Priest Long"This isn't right, it simply not possible a mere ice spirit could consume that amount of power, but I'll leave it be for now"
"Next, Xiao Bai please step up the for..."
"Congratulations Diao" was the first thing she heard after for the source of the voice she could only see one thing, that the speaker was Ichigo she tried to respond.
"Thank you Ichigo, congra..."she stopped as she saw the scowl.
"Is everything alright Ichigo, does your tummy hurts?"asked the girl with concern
"No, it's just that I overheard someone taking about my spirit like it was some kind of trash"responded Ichigo
"They most likely dont know what they're talking about" a new voice interrupted the children.
The owner of said voice was an plump middle aged man, Ichigo couldn't help but notice the smell that this newcomer gave.
"He smells almost like our village herb gatherer" not realizing that he had just done an inhuman feat by sensing this person smell from across the 50 metres long hall.
"I am Lao Mào, a Pill Master from the Heavenly Pill Association."[AN- yep still suck at naming things End AN]
"This kid isn't even slightly surprised, did he got taught by a cat ?"
Several worlds across the chaotic void.
A black cat is watching the statue of the hero of the blood war.
"Achoo"sneezed the cat in a deep obviously male voice
"Bless you Yoruichi-san"sounded a voice from inside a small shop called Urahara Shoten
[AN come on, everybody knows that something like that is an unwritten rule End AN]
"Heavenly Pill Association" screamed Ichigo surprised earning an content smile from Alchemists Lao.
"What's that ?" asked Ichigo making the alchemists choke.
"Under what rock did you live kid until now."yelled Alchemists Lao
In the same world as the black cat a rock positioned above a secret training ground tried to sneeze...luckily it couldn't
[AN I demand for someone to slap me now, as this was the lamest joke I ever said, and this is telling something End AN ]
"I did not live under a rock mister Inoyama*"
"How the hell did you managed to butcher my name so bad ? Leaving this apart I came here with an small offer, just how old are you Ichigo ?"asked Alchemists Lao
"Where did you hear my name."responded Ichigo slightly scared
"I was in the audience when you got tested, and upon seeing your spirit I decided to take an head start on recruiting you."came the response
"Oh..I am six years old mister"said Ichigo
"You see Ichigo your Hollow Fire is an unusual fire spirit, it can be considered as trashy by the unknowing see an incomplete spirit is a spirit that isn't mature enough, such is the case of your fire normal circumstances this can be considered an curse, but for alchemists an incomplete fire is way better than an regular spirit level fire"
"Why is that mister Lao ?" quickly asked Ichigo with renewed hope
"The reason is a something I demand you keep quiet about, and this includes you as well little girl. If you want to hear what makes your fire special make a oath on your roots that you'll never tell anyone outside the Heavenly Pill Association about this"
"How do I do that" asked both children
"It's rather simple, hold your dominant hand above your dantian and repeat after me :I swear upon my very core to never reveal by any means what secrets are given now"[AN this took more time that I'm willing to admit End AN]
Both children made the oath amd as soon as the las word was said a strange feeling came from inside their body
"What are you feeling now its normal, a oath made by an cultivator cannot be broken, it is the best way to keep a let us continue, your fire as an incomplete one has the ability to consume another fire in order to be you allow me I can look at your spirit and tell you what kind of fire it can consume"
"Sure?"said Ichigo unsure as he summoned his spirit a small flame red in color
"Blood red not really a usual color, but it's not unheard of either."I'm going to transfer some of my energy inside your spirit do not resist"said Alchemists Lao as he lifted his hand almost touching the small flame
"What is this, its cold strange it definitively was a warm tipe before, but if he got a cold flame it's even better as some advanced pills requires cooling during the condensation process..."His thoughts were interrupted by a vision"A mask, what the hell is this, could it be a second spir..."His thoughts got interrupted again by a pain in his chest kicking him off from that strange vision
"Well kids you should leave now its probably time for you to go home,as for the fire spirit ,I'll do some research"said Alchemists turning around and leaving
"Can you really help me mister Lao ?"said Ichigo whilst heading for the door
"I ll definitively try kid"
"Mainly because whatever that was I want it on my side not against me" thought Alchemists Lao, placing his sleeve at the corner of his mouth and cleaning some blood.
The road back was uneventful and by nighttime all the kids were reunited with their families.
"Ichi, Ichi, can I see it, can I see it ?" Kohaku asked as soon as her brother entered the house
"Sure" responded Ichigo lifting his hand and summoning his spirit
All of his family happily talked about Ichigo's spirit, all besides Aiko.
"There it is again, that strange feeling, its coming from the 's much harder to detect now but it's spring fire power is masking it and unless you know what to look for its almost impossible to notice"Thought Aiko, an concerned look on her face.
"Is everything alright Aiko ?" Asked Isamu
"I'm fine dad, just concerned about Ichigo now that he gained his spirit" Responded Aiko trying to sound convincing
"Is that so ? Well it doesn't really matter now since your free time is almost over."
"I still have several days, and I was thinking...how about I start training with Ichigo"
"Well it's obvious you are very concerned with Ichigo's spirit so I don't see why, maybe it'll help you calm your mind."
"Can I really ?"
"It's the best for the both of you, good night Aiko."
"Good night dad."
The Heavenly Pill Association the Huoshan city division.
Alchemists Lao is concerned, several hours after the incident, even though the pain disappeared, he cannot sleep every time he closes his eyes he cancan see it.
A mask, a mask with 2 blood red stripes, one across each eye starting from around the temporal lobe down to the lower jaw, a mask with an constant unnatural grin, and every other time he tries to sleep a the same mask with an sickly yellow eye.
"This is going to be a long night, sigh"thought Alchemists Lao as he tried to close his eyes only to open them again a terrified expression on his face.
"It changed again, now that damned mask grew some freaking horns. This is definitively unusual, it must be some sort of soul attack even so it's worth it nonetheless if we manage to gain an ally capable of attacking the soul we will become an unequalled force in the area. As for this nightmare, I can always take some sleeping pills." thought Alchemists Lao happily as he retrieved one pill from inside a ring.
"Ichigo I talked to dad and starting from today until I leave we will train your spirit"
"Really big sis, that's amazing"
"Training will start in three hours from now and we will train you for 5 hours in that period I am not your sister"
"Really ? But who are you then ?" asked Ichigo innocently
"This is really going to be hard, wait that's it."Ichigo I've decided to change something I won't train you until you answer a question"not letting Ichigo asking the obvious question Aiko continued"Why do you want power Ichigo ? when you can answer this and be satisfied with your answer I won't train you."said Aiko and left leaving Ichigo alone to think about this question.
"Why do I want power ? I want power to help big sist..no, big sis is stronger than me she doesn't really need my help"thought Ichigo as he slowly left his room heading outside"Why do I need power ? Sis told me that those that entered a school are somewhat safe from danger but not always, so why do I need power when I can stay home with mom and dad ?"As he slowly made his way towards the center of the village Ichigo noticed a group of kids younger then him kicking his way towards them he eventually saw what it was, the were kicking an dog pup.
"What are you doing" screamed Ichigo angered at them and breaking their circle.
As he headed for the small animalanimal, Ichigo noticed something, it wasn't moving dawned upon him as he ran back to his house, nobody seeing the blue glow in his eyes.
"Aiko"screamed Ichigo"I know I really know"
"What is your answer Ichigo ?"
"I want power to protect, to protect everyone and most important I want the power to prr those that cannot protect themselves"
"Very good Ichigo" responded Aiko appearing calm but truly surprised by the conviction behind those eyes.
"Let's go outside Ichigo, I want to show you something"said Aiko leaving through the back door
"Pay attention" said Aiko whilst summoning her spirit, a white flame five times bigger than Ichigo's
"I'm going to teach you how to use your spirit elemenelemental 's nothing special in itself but this is the foundation for almost all other techniques. Just like your's my spirit is a fire type so obviously its elemental attack is this" said Aiko as she launched several small flames towards a bunch of logs, completely incinerating them.
"Now you try, but since it's quite a difference between my stage an yours
lets start small"said Aiko whilst holding an small branch, about 20 cm* long, full of green leaves, indicating that it was taken recently.
"Now summon your spirit Ichigo,and since you don't have a way of launching fire i'll hold this branch inside your fire spirit to see it's power."
Ichigo did just that and as Aiko put the branch inside of the spirit preparing for the worst, nothing happened.
"Well this was anticlimactic. And Ichigo can barely hold his spirit outside for about 20 seconds, sigh, I guess we'll stop here for now." thought Aiko as she threw the branch aside.You are tired Ichigo, let's get inside we'll continue tomorrow" said Aiko as she took Ichigo inside
Only se remained several more seconds, she whold have seen the branch touched by Ichigo's spirit slowly turning into dust. [AN- see Ulquiorra's death End AN ]
