Episode 2 – Enter the Eclipse

Surrounded by around thirty Hollows, Matsuo drew his katana, bringing it behind himself and taking a low stance. Behind him stood the spirit of a young girl, whom Matsuo decided he had to protect at all costs. He wasn't sure why such a number of Hollows had gathered for just this one soul, but it wasn't the time to be going over reasons. As the Hollows rushed towards him, he readied himself to fight back.

"Darken heaven…"

Three Hollows charged forward with surprising vigor, driven on by the feast before them. Anticipating this, Matsuo braced for a strike—

Suddenly, three bolts of energy blasted straight down through the heads of the oncoming Hollows. They fell before Matsuo, evaporating almost instantaneously. The other beasts froze, some falling back into the woods out of sheer surprise.

Matsuo looked up, having difficulty distinguishing anything in the blinding sunlight. All he could make out was a faint glimmer…

And then there was movement directly in front of him. Blinking from the difference in lighting, Matsuo stared ahead, where someone stood at the center of the field. He wore light grey pants, a blue tunic lined with silver, and a small silver cross pendant around his wrist. But what truly drew Matsuo's attention were the large, round spectacles this man wore over his eyes, and the thick over-ear headphones on his head. He looked rather ridiculous in such garb, and the way he was standing didn't help. He stood completely still as though poised for something unknown, his hand raised in the air. He bit his lower lip, as if apprehensive for some reason.

"Who…who are—" Matsuo began, but the man lifted a hand, pointing a finger straight up in a quieting gesture. Matsuo's brow creased in confusion. Even the little girl peeked out from behind him to have a look at this strange man. Despite the oddity of the moment, something caught Matsuo's eye: a silver shimmer from the man's arm. On either of his forearms were small, crossbow-like weapons.

The man inhaled slowly through his teeth, taking a good ten seconds. Then…

"Pow!" he shouted, bringing his raised hand straight down. After that, he began hopping around, his head bobbing to some unheard rhythm. His pace kept shifting, as though the beat he was moving to was inconsistent; and the whole time, he was humming to himself, in addition to making other sounds.

Matsuo couldn't make head or tail of it – and the Hollows seemed equally clueless…

And then Matsuo realized why the Hollows were so apprehensive about attacking again. This person had taken out three Hollows, but moreover, they had completely vanished after being struck. Only one kind of warrior was capable of such feats.

"So you're a Quincy," Matsuo called out to the man.

"In!...The!...Flesh!" he replied in rapid but solid succession.

Matsuo was surprised his voice could be heard over the music playing in the newcomer's ears. A few moments later, the Quincy took out his music player and paused it. He ceased his hopping and bobbing, and lifted the goggles off of his eyes.

"I love the drop in that sound!" he exclaimed with a grin. "And the progression – genius!"

Matsuo had kept his sword drawn up until now; he lowered it to his side and stood up straight.

"So are you the one who brought all of these Hollows together? What do you have against the Shinigami?"

"Whoa, whoa, pal, slow down!" the Quincy said, raising his hands innocently. "One question at a time! What's more, I have no reason to answer to you. I don't even know who you are."

"Then let's get introductions out of the way." Matsuo grinned. "I'm Matsuo Taiki, Lieutenant of Squad Three of the Gotei Thirteen Court Guard Squads."

"Quite the title. I'm Yamashita Junichiro…Quincy in training."

"Alright if I call you Yama for short? I'm not good with long names," Matsuo said sarcastically.

"Eh, what the hell, why not?" Yamashita shrugged. "We're practically brothers-in-arms anyway. Although I have to say, I'm not impressed with what I've seen so far."

"So far? I haven't even gotten started fighting." Matsuo took a few steps forward. "You haven't seen anything yet."

"As a matter of fact, I have seen what you can do," said Yama with a smirk. "I've tailed you for quite some time now, and you seem to handle the small fry decently enough. It was just coincidence that I happened to find you here. Now I'll be able to see the full extent of your ability!"

"So it's a competition, then?" asked Matsuo as he walked further toward the center of the field. "What do you say… first to kill half the Hollows wins?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's entirely even…" Yama pondered aloud. Glancing around, he set his sights on a Hollow that had been bold enough to try and sneak towards them as they chatted. Yama drove his fist straight toward the Hollow, shooting a bolt of blue spiritual energy from the small crossbow on his forearm. It hit the beast squarely in the forehead, and it evaporated instantly.

"Now it's even." Yama smiled with satisfaction.

"Well then – shall we get started? I doubt these Hollows will want to sit around and humor us much longer," Matsuo said, raising his sword in preparation for battle. Indeed, the creatures had become restless after the last Hollow's execution.

"Alright, I just need to find the right song to fight to," said Yama, and he started to browse through his player. "Feel free to prep any way you see fit. I mean, I'm not holding back – and you certainly shouldn't."

"Wasn't planning on it," Matsuo said. "In fact, you sort of interrupted me back there…"

"Well, make it quick, because here they come!" said Yama, turning his back to Matsuo as the Hollows began to advance out of the cover of the trees.

Matsuo resumed the stance he'd taken before, with the sword behind him.

"Darken heaven…"

As he spoke, he released his left hand from the hilt of the sword and brought it to his right. The katana blade glowed golden, and evaporated into rays of light that rapidly circled behind Matsuo, creating a large disk behind him. With a bright flash of gold reiatsu, he raised a huge windmill shuriken above his head, casting a cross-shaped shadow over Yama in front of him. The reiatsu then condensed to form a golden chain that connected to the center handle of the shuriken, wrapping around Matsuo's bare right arm. The chain flowed to his left hand, where a black kunai knife formed.

"Nisshoku!" Matsuo said with a smile.

Yama turned to eye the new weapon with interest. "So you know the name of your Zanpakuto," he noted. "Haven't seen too many Shinigami capable of that." Then he pressed play on his music player. With the resounding first beat of the song, he rushed towards the oncoming Hollows. Matsuo followed suit, hurling the shuriken straight in front of him.

"Taiyou en!" he called out. Immediately, the shuriken's blades glowed with golden reiatsu as it spun with increasing speed; it sliced right through three Hollows, the beasts behind them dodging instantly. Matsuo pulled back on the chain, and the blades of the shuriken folded as it flew back to his open hand.

Meanwhile, Yama was strafing in and out of the Hollows, punching in sync with the music in his ears. When quicker beats played, he threw his fists faster, firing bolts of reishi from the bows on his forearms.

"One! Two! One, two!" he counted aloud with the music. He struck four Hollows, three in the head and one in the chest. The first three dissolved, but the fourth dashed off into the greater swarm of beasts. Reaching a safe distance from the horde and a build in his song, Yama paused and materialized a large longbow and arrow made entirely of deep blue reishi from around the cross pendant on his wrist. He drew back his bolt, but hesitated. Hollows rushed at him, but he remained fixed, his round goggle glasses shining blue as he trained his sights.

Just as a Hollow was about to reach him, he reached the drop in his song, and promptly fired the bolt he'd been holding. It pierced through four white masks in a row before dissipating, along with the Hollows themselves.

Yama glanced over to see Matsuo taking his folded shuriken and spinning it rapidly above his head. Nearby Hollows hung back warily as the weapon, glowing golden, whirled around. With one large sweep, Matsuo swung the shuriken out in a wide semicircle that cut through the torsos of six Hollows; as it finished its pass around, Matsuo leapt forward and sliced his kunai through each of the Hollows' masks. All six dissolved, and Matsuo ran towards a seventh. He kicked off its mask and back-flipped away from the swarm while pulling the folded shuriken back into his hand. He landed a few feet from Yama, and glanced over at him with a grin.

"How many have you gotten so far?" Matsuo asked.

"Seven," Yama mouthed in response, his head still nodding to the beat of his music.

"I've gotten nine."

Yama only grinned and pushed the fast forward button on his music player. He hopped around on the balls of his feet, his faster pace matching the beginning of a new song. As bass blasted in his ears, he sprinted forward, leaped into the air, and flipped upside down, firing fifteen rapid fire bolts of reishi. It was a scattershot, killing four Hollows and injuring several others. Still in mid-jump, Yama drew his bow and let fly one final, massive bolt. It shot straight through a Hollow and exploded in a blast of blue reishi as it hit the earth. Yama landed on his feet with ease, and lifted his goggles off of his eyes as he surveyed his surroundings. He took a quick glance at his music player.

"Huh. That was only thirty seconds into the song," he muttered to himself. "Maybe I need to save the faster songs for when there's—"

Momentarily distracted, he couldn't react quickly enough to a Hollow that rushed at him from behind. He raised his free arm in retaliation, but there was nothing he could do except stretch it out into the Hollow's waiting jaws…

Then the beast was thrown sideways as Nisshoku struck the Hollow square on the side of its head. With a tug, Matsuo returned his weapon to his hand.

"You ever wonder why people don't listen to music on the job very often?" he asked Yama sarcastically.

The Quincy stood stunned for a moment, then smiled, punching an arm in Matsuo's direction. A bolt flew straight past his ear and struck a Hollow behind him.

"Same goes for slacking off," Yama retorted. "Consider us even."

He and Matsuo turned to the remaining Hollows. Matsuo had five left to kill, while Yama only had four.

"Seeing as I'm behind, it seems I'll actually have to resort to going faster," Matsuo murmured to himself.

"You say something?" Yama asked, pausing his music.

And then Matsuo vanished. One moment he was standing firmly in place, and the next moment, Yama was blinking Matsuo's afterimage out of his eyes. Yama glanced around, his gaze coming to rest on the remaining Hollow swarm. Matsuo had teleported right into their midst.

"Flash step… impressive," Yama commented.

By this time, Matsuo had already killed off two more Hollows. After Yama's last strike, many of them were injured, easy targets to finish off. Now Matsuo proceeded to combat a third Hollow, throwing the kunai instead of the shuriken and piercing the beast's right shoulder. With a great yank, Matsuo reeled the Hollow towards himself like a small fry on a professional fishing rod. His shuriken was folded, glowing with reiatsu, and Matsuo thrust the blades forward. With help from the Hollow's own momentum, they split the creature right down the center.

"One more Hollow, and I'll win!" Matsuo thought with a savage grin.

However, Yama had dispatched three more Hollows with ease, leaving both fighters with only a single Hollow between themselves and victory. With a quick glance at one another, they both dashed toward one of the two remaining beasts. Matsuo hurled Nisshoku, while Yama fired multiple bolts from his bow.

Both weapons struck the Hollow at nearly the same moment, the combined onslaught killing the Hollow. Neither of their owners could determine which had struck first.

"So… whose kill was that?" Matsuo asked.

"Don't ask me, I couldn't even tell," Yama replied with a shrug.

Then their expressions changed from ones of confusion to ones of sudden realization. There was only one Hollow left. Whoever killed it would be the winner. Slowly, Matsuo and Yama turned to face the last Hollow, frozen with fear behind them. It was completely uninjured, but it still seemed rather docile in comparison to the rest of the Hollows the two fighters had slain.

Matsuo and Yama stared each other down, waiting to see who would be bold enough to make the first move. Tension was high as they stood stock-still, ready to strike at a moment's notice—

"Wait!" Yama said suddenly.

Matsuo flinched but held his ground.

"Look," said the Quincy. "You could use the flash step to get to that Hollow in an instant. But I could use the Quincy equivalent, Hirenkyaku, to get there just as fast. I swear by my pride as a Quincy that I could match you."

Matsuo nodded. "I'll take your word for it. But… if you're implying what I think you are… you think we should both use our weakest weapons and abilities to determine who is superior. Am I right?"

Yama nodded in return. "Exactly."

"But since your bolts would clearly be faster than me with my sealed Zanpakuto… I find it fair that I keep my weapon as is." Matsuo grinned. "Let's see which is better: strength, or accuracy."

"And if we both strike at the same time, like before?" Yama inquired.

"Then whoever strikes closest to the center of the Hollow's mask is the winner," Matsuo stated.

"Very well… On three then?"

"Wait, as in, 'One, two, three,' and then we go? Or, 'One, two, three,' and we go on 'three'?"

Yama looked dumbfounded. "You really aren't taking any chances, are you?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Can't afford them," Matsuo answered with an innocent shrug.

"Fair enough." Yama sighed. "We'll both go on 'three'… not after."

"Fine." Matsuo tensed for the countdown.

"One," Yama began.

Matsuo brought his arm holding Nisshoku back, twisting his core as well as lowering his stance; Yama drew back his bow, gathering a basic bolt.

"Two."

The combatants' bodies were rigid, ready to strike.

"…Three!"

END EPISODE 2

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