Chapter 32 – Ambush (Ketu)

'Hey Ket slow down, I only just learnt flash step so I'm not that good at it yet,' panted Hanataro trying to catch up with Ketu. They were running at high speed across the Pacific Ocean following Hanataro's directions towards the Ring of Fire. Ketu was going at his usual speed, but that was enough to be faster than a slow Hanataro reading a map whilst running.

'Tch, show some respect, I am a captain after all, and anyway it's not my fault you're slow,' said Ketu.

'Oh sorry, I just said Ket by accidently, please accept my apology captain Zakura,' said Hanataro not being sarcastic thought.

'Ha ha, got ya. I'm just messing with ya, call me what ever you want. By the way, are we there yet?'

'Yep, nearly there, I can see the ring of fire from here,' said Hanataro tucking away the map into his kimono.

'That's another thing, what exactly is the ring of fire?'

'The pacific ring of fire is an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean, in a forty thousand kilometre horseshoe shape. It is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes in total and is home to over fifty percent of the real world's active and dormant volcanoes. Ninety percent of the world's earthquakes and eighty one percent of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a direct result and consequence of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of crustal plates,' recited Hanataro.

'O…kay, I see,' said Ketu with a blank expression on his pace.

'You didn't understand a word I just said did you?'

'Well, it's more to the fact that I lost you completely on the word, area.'

Hanataro sighed, 'well, that doesn't matter, you see that small island coming up.' He pointed at what looks like a small deserted island in the middle of no where.

'Yeah,' confirmed Ketu.

'That's where we're headed.'

'I see, then what are we waiting for,' said Ketu enthusiastically and he shot off at high speed towards the island leaving Hanataro behind.

'Hey, wait for me,' shouted Hanataro desperately trying to catch up.

The island slowly became more and more into view as they ran. The island actually isn't that big, but was quite easy to spot because it stood out being in the middle of the sea.

They ran past mainland areas to their left and right as they constantly splashed up water. They were moving at an incredible pace running the length of Australia in a matter of minutes.

'Look, over to our left is the Tonga and Kermadec trench. And to our right is the Middle America and Peru-Chile trench.' Hanataro went out naming all the trenches the names of volcanoes etc. as they went along. Ketu just nodded and said yes at all the intervals when there was nothing there, to pretend that he was listening.

When they arrived at the island they were surprised to see how bare it was. Basically it was just like a scaled down version of the Sahara desert except it has a little shack in the middle of the desert. The island itself wasn't that big either, to be precise it was about as big as two football fields stuck together length wise. But obviously it the edges isn't straight.

'Wow, it's a wonder how no one spotted this island with radars and stuff these days it should be easy,' said Ketu scratching his head as they stepped onto the island.

'Well, this specific island is covered by a barrier that disables any electronic equipment, so no humans could ever spot this island unless they have a substantial amount of spiritual pressure and are near enough to it.'

'I see,' said Ketu barely paid any attention to Hanataro as he walked around the island studying it. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the island just a normal wasteland.

'Nothing out of the ordinary around here, but I can sense a huge amount of spiritual energy escaping from somewhere below the island. That's probably why it has a barrier around it, with this much spiritual energy leaking out it'd easily attract hundreds of hollows,' explained Ketu.

'Ah, so we need to think of a way to go underneath it right?' asked Hanataro face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

'Indeed,' agreed Ketu. 'Just one problem though. The spiritual energy I sensed is somewhere really deep underground.'

'How deep? It can't be that deep seeing as the island is just this small.'

'Actually this is just the top of a dormant volcano that has formed a crust on the mouth. And from my observations I can tell you that this is no ordinary volcano, for one the sides doesn't slope downwards like a normal mountain or volcano should but the sides virtually goes straight downwards, only slanting only a couple of degrees. Also I'm only sixty percent sure that this is a volcano because it's just so odd for a volcano to be cuboid shaped. But I found many volcanic rocks around the vicinity of the island so that part points towards the island being part of a volcano.'

Hanataro listen quietly and intently until Ketu had finished. 'So how deep is it and have you got any ideas of getting down there?' asked Hanataro.

'Here's the thing, the spiritual energy I sense is about three thousand metres deep. I.e. three kilometres deep underneath the sea. But if I can sense it strongly up here then when we get down there it'll probably be massive and you might not be able to take it.'

'Three kilometres deep?! Are you serious and what do you mean I can't take it?' exclaimed Hanataro.

'To put it simply, if it's big up here then it'll be magnified multiple times down there, so in other words, that much spiritual pressure can flatten you to a pancake.'

Hanataro shrieked in astonishment to Ketu blunt way of putting things. 'Well, what can I do then? And do you have any idea on getting down there?'

'Well firstly I want you to stay up here and stay safe, also I have no clue on how to get down there, but maybe that little shack over there does,' said Ketu nodding to the lonely little shack in the middle of the island.

'Well then, let's go and that a look,' said Hanataro full of enthusiasm, happily walking towards the shack.

Ketu arrived first, he knocked. No answer. He knocked again. No answer. They stood there and waited for a few minutes. A chilling breeze blew gently across the island.

'Maybe we should come back later?' suggested Hanataro.

'Tch, like we've got time.' He tried pushing the door, but it was locked so that was a no go. 'That's it I'm breaking it down, unless.' He reached out to turn the knob.

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' said Hanataro who was shivering slightly.

'Don't be such a wuss, I'm opening the door.' But just when he was about to touch it, there was a slight shake and the entire shack instantly vanished revealing a large square shaped area underneath it which was surprisingly covered in a patch of grass. 'Now that's looking very suspicious,' said Ketu in a slow and studious voice. Then suddenly the island started shaking violently and stopped just as suddenly.

'Heh heh, did the barrier just break down, looks like it's my lucky day,' sniggered a freakishly high hollow voice behind them, like that of a mad clown.

Ketu immediately drew his sword and turned around to a scary sight. There were thousands of hollows that filled the skies surrounding the island even Gillian and Adjuchas menos.

'Oh shit,' he cursed staring into the group of hollows with disbelief.

Hanatarou was freakishly panicking and randomly running around like a headless chicken going, 'Oh dear, oh dear, what do we do, what do we do, we're dead, we're dead,' really fast and repeating it.

'Hey calm down, it's not as bad as it seems. There's only a couple of thousand hollows. We can take them,' said Ketu confidently.

'Only a couple of thousand! Have you lost your mind, we can't take this many. We need to call for backup,' panicked Hanataro getting his phone.

'Hold the phone, let's see why this many hollows appeared here in the first place. You see I'm rather intrigued.

'Your friend there seems to be a little over energetic,' laughed one of the Adjuchas who was commanding the attack.

'Never mind him. Tell me what business do you have here?' asked Ketu forcefully pointing his sword at the hollow.

'Well seeing as neither of you will survive I see no reason why I shouldn't tell you. This island has always been leaking high amounts of spiritual pressure, and we as hollows are very attracted to that.'

'That still doesn't mean why this many gathered,' thought Ketu glancing around trying to get an estimate.

'Over the years we've been carefully observing the island trying to find out who exactly was leaking this much spiritual energy just incase it was someone powerful.'

'You know, you're very smart for a hollow,' said Ketu but there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

'Flattery will get you no where. Wasn't I talking before anyway? Well, when the years went by more and more hollows gathered around here, and me, being an Adjuchas had a bit of control over them, I made them wait so they didn't hastily rush in. In the end someone finally came out of that little shack and it was just a young girl, not even a soul reaper. And we went for her straight away, but then she used some sort of weird magic and formed a barrier around the entire island and we couldn't get within a fifty metre radius of it. We've been waiting here ever since and our numbers have grown as well, we've all been attracted here by that spiritual energy. We will have the girl,' the hollow finished and licked his lips hungrily.

'You're sick. You're gonna die before you get anywhere, it's actually your unlucky day to run into a captain ranked soul reaper,' said Ketu fearlessly.

'Ooo, I'm shaking now. Ha, after this many hollows have gathered do you really think we'd fear just one mere captain ranked soul reaper? You're too full of yourself soul reaper, don't underestimate us.' The hollows were getting ready to strike, they were already slowly closing in on the island.

'Tch, guess we'll have to do it the hard way,' he poised his sword ready to attack. He put a hand out behind him, 'Hanataro stay back, I'll handle this.'

'Er, okay sure,' stuttered Hanataro backing off.

Why don't you just surrender yourself now soul reaper. It'll save you the hassle of a humiliating defeat. I promise you death will be painless,' sneered the hollow with a sarcastic caring voice.

'You make me sick, hado number four, pale lightning,' he shouted launching a preemptive strike on the Adjuchas controlling the other hollows. But the attack didn't make contact as a squirrel sized hollow jumped in the way and blocked the shot, but was blasted to pieces.

'You've hand your attack, now it's our turn. GET HIM,' commanded the hollow and as soon as he gave the order every hollow in the sky flew straight for Ketu.

Ketu jumped up and blasted a few hollows out of the sky before they reached him using a few hado spells. He was about to release his sword, but the hollows grabbed his arm before he could throw his sword up.

'Bastards, get of me,' he shouted pushing off the hollows. The hollows hovered in front of him looking at him hungrily as he backed off. He stopped as he bumped into Hanataro. They were back to back, in the middle of the island standing on the only patch of grass completely surrounded by hollows.

'Erm, any clue as to how to get away or beat them?' asked Hanataro nervously.

'Well, I've always got my bankai as a last resort. I should be able to blast a hole through their lines and we can escape through there.'

'How about doing it now then?' you could see the sweat trickling down from Hanataro's head, he was obviously scared.

'Alright, if you're that scare.' Ketu got ready to release his bankai, 'Ban-' before he could complete the word. The floor beneath them opened up, he only had a seconds notice before he plummeted underground into the darkness. The grass patched floor was actually a trap door, and it had closed again. Hanatarou screamed as they fell, deeper and deeper into the volcano.