Chapter 4: Intentions
Anne stared at William.
Evokers had such bad taste in cloths; he was wearing a bright orange robe for crying out loud. Why couldn't he just wear something sensible and black like Anne?
"Your Hollow failed to kill the mageling" he said through his ginger beard. Anne carefully filled at her long black nails.
"And your point is?" she said flatly, not bothering to take her eyes of her nails.
"One simple crushing hand would have killed him with ease!" He yelled about an inch from her face.
"And totally given the game away" She said bluntly to the enraged Evoker. "Remember that mistress doesn't want our presence to be known to the Soul Society, we must tread with care and use weapons that don't lead back to us."
Rukia looked over at the group who was in her and the twin's room. Ichigo, Black, Karin and Yuzu. If someone had told her a year ago that she been in the position she was in now, she would have thought they were insane. But a year is a long time when it's a year in which you world is shaken.
"Ok, Let start from the beginning…" Ichigo spoke while looking ratherhandsome. How she love to undo those buttons and run her…. Happy jumpy Chappy doing dances!
She had caught herself just in time; she had to stop thinking such perverted thoughts about him all the time! The fact of the matter was that Ichigo was underage and she was going to have to wait, and the more perverted thoughts she let into her head, the more difficult it would be for her to control herself.
"Oneesan!" Yuzu yelled while looking at Rukia and distracting her from her thoughts "Ichi-nii saved you from being executed!"
Rukia blushed slightly.
"He always repays he debts, however impossible seeming they may be." She said to a clearly amazed Yuzu.
"Ichi-nii…" She said while starting at Ichigo, who clearly didn't know how to respond "You're a real hero and you been hiding it from us"
"I guess I am, but I think any decent person would do the same" he replied calmly.
"And Ichi-nii!" she shouted while hugging him both suddenly and tightly "You don't need to hide anything from us, your sisters! We will always be here for you! Always!" She yelled repeatedly in his face.
"Ok you made your point Yuzu, can you stop shouting in my face now." He said calmly as before. Rukia looked at the Karin and Black reaction to all this. In strong contrast to Yuzu, Karin was looking rather reflective and thoughtful while Black on the other hand was staring at Ichigo with amazement mixed with something that looked suspiciously like awe. Clearly they were both realising just what kind of things Ichigo was capable of doing.
"I still don't understand where this English guy come into it Ichi-nii" Said Karin while motioning to Black "Because I've met Chad, and Ishida isn't an english name is it?"
"That because Black-san is new" Rukia said in a friendly tone. Black did a friendly, if nervous, wave to the twins at this point "He's teamed up with us because he's encounter a problem that we be better working together to solve, rather than doing our own thing."
"So neesan, what's he do exactly, I'm guessing he's not a fighter in the traditional sense?" Karin asked, looking at Black's rather feeble frame.
"Yes he all wimpy and looks really scared all the time too" Yuzu said while nodding. Black just stared at the floor and twiddled his thumbs. Rukia decided to use the same tactic that she sometimes used on Ichigo when he was being an idiot.
"Retainer Black Timothy!" she yelled loudly "Show the girls what your actually skilled at dam it, and go heavy on the explaining!"
The reaction was rather funny to watch. Black jumped up rapidly with a look of pure terror on his face, nearly falling over as he did.
"Yes Kuchiki-dono!" he yelped. "As the great and glorious Kuchiki-dono pointed out, my name is Black Timothy. I'm a wizard of the sixth tier and a specialist conjurer, through of course that means nothing to you of course, because you're all muggles!" He laughed rather nervously at this point.
"So I best explain how my brand of magic operates exactly, since your heads are probably full of lots of silly Harry Potter and Final Fantasy nonsense!"
"First tier conjuration, Summon Blackboard! "He said in a tone, which was turning from nervous to more confident. As he spoke the words, he also moved his fingers in strange motions and out of thin air a floating blackboard appeared, with some chalk floating beside it. Yuzu was enthralled, her siblings, less so.
"Most magic can be separated into the ten tiers of power, starting with the most basic of magic ,cantrips, and going all the way up to the ninth tier" He explained as the chalk then drawn a segmented rectangle with nine written at the top and cantrip at the bottom.
"Spell of the cantrip level are normally things like light effects and frost rays..." the chalk drawn a little stick figure with a orb in one hand and shooting a little ray out the other "Not exactly scary, but you have to start somewhere."
"Third and forth tier is where magic starts getting notable more lethal and impressive, fireballs and making your skin as hard as stone are the kind of spells you see here" a another stick man was drawn , coloured in with a big 'boom' in a bubble next to him.
"Now by the time you reach around the sixth tier, you be able to take over minds, summon powerful weapons out of thin air and turn your self briefly into a killing machine." The new stick figure was twice as big as the others with a big glowing sword in one hand it also had another stick figure at its side.
"Finally a mage of the eighth or ninth tier is called an archmage, they can cast spell of terrible potency, wipe a loved one very existence from your mind, rain meteorites on your head and turn themselves into your worse nightmare"
The chalk drawn a huge demonic bat shaped monster and lots of fallen sticks figures around it, with big rocks with flame effects coming down.
"Thats scary stuff…" Yuzu said from behind a blanket she had grabbed from her bed during Blacks explanation.
"However there are drawbacks and very real limits to arcane power" he continued to explain. "Firstly all tiered magic uses mana, and all mages only have so much based on there natural affinity and experience. Typically a mage can get a few castings of there highest tier spells off a week, through experienced mages have no issues using lower tier magic with considerable more frequency, add into the mix that vast majority of mages are not terribly strong or tough, and you begin to realise that mages on the whole aren't eager to get into protracted combats if they can avoid it."
"So they instead need people like say, Shinigami, if they expect to be involved in protracted combats, right Black-san?" Said Karin with a rather probing tone. Blacks reply was rather nervous
"Erm yes, excellent observation!"
"Black-san, don't worry, I watch your back" Ichigo said in a reassuring tone while getting up and patting his shoulder "But I ask you to be open about anything that going of ok?"
"Its ok, no one is after me... except possibly that fifth tier necromancer I called body stealer back in Italy" Black said while smiling. "But I be able to handle him easy if somehow managed to find me anyway, I mean its not like I got a bunch of archmages out trying to kill me or anything, now that be scary!"
The Seer considered its servants that it had managed to gather to its cause. First there was Anne, the archmage Necromancer. Then William, the Archmage Evoker. Rye the Archmage Eldritch Samurai. Susan, the Archmage Spellspear. Bret, the Archmage Conjurer and finally Mary the Archmage Bewilder.
"Sos can I have a go ats killings the mageling next prettys please?" Mary asked in a cutesy tone.
"Good to know we got no serous worries for the time being then." Ichigo said with a sigh of relief.
"Erm… Kurosaki-san, we do actually have a really big worry…." Black said in a very nervous and quiet voice. Ichigo face rapidly took on a worried aspect.
"What do you mean, we actually have a really big worry Black-san?" he said in such a tone that Black was looking rather more scared than normal.
"The area's high spiritual energy source…" he said in a scared tone "Is not old, it's new and I guess from what I can figure out so far that it's probably going to start bleeding into people"
Rukia mind rapidly put the puzzle together. She had seen the effects of spiritual power bleeding before and she understood things well enough to understand the logical consequence of what Black was going on about.
"More and more people will become spiritually aware, causing Hollows to swarm here and attempt to consume there souls" She stated "Resulting in death and panic on a huge scale"
Black nodded gravely in reply.
"So why the hell we just sitting around here then?!" Ichigo exclaimed.
"Kurosaki-san, to get even a rough idea of the source of this spiritual energy I will require full accesses to my highest tier divinations, which I currently don't have access to due to the large amount of mana I used in teleporting here." Black said in his nervous tone.
"So you're all going to have to wait a bit before running of to save the world" said Karin calmly "Which is convenient, because it means neesan and me can go to the Soul Society and explain things to them"
Ichigo blinked.
"Look you don't need to go to the Soul Society Karin, Rukia can handle it all by herself" Ichigo explained, clearly he not picked up on the look in Karin's eyes.
"But how can I become a Shinigami without getting the Soul Society's permission Ichi-nii?" Perhaps it was the casual way she said it; perhaps it was because Ichigo was still highly emotional over Rukia's confession of love the night before and his own emotions toward her. But what happened next was something she never seen Ichigo do since she knew him.
"Karin, you're not becoming a Shinigami ever, end of story!" Ichigo yelled loudly in Karin's face. Even through the mask of indifference she put up to the world, it was clear that she been hurt. The effect on Yuzu was far more visible.
"Ichi-nii!" she wailed as the tears started to flow "Karin! Don't fight!" she was really wailing now, Ichigo least had the decency to look ashamed, but Rukia had no intention of letting him get of so lightly as mealy feeling bad.
"Boy" she said in her most superior tone, knowing full well that being referred to as a child would hurt Ichigo's ego "You take care of Yuzu, while Karin and I see to some important matters in the Soul Society".
With that the two of them left and Rukia really hoped Ichigo was man enough to face the future on there return.
Shinigami's Secrets
Soifon carefully sneaked past the guards, using methods she had learned from her beautiful and highly skilled mentor Yoruichi, combined with her own agility. Jumping through the second story window, she landed and opened the secret door behind the bookshelf to find her fellow players who would be amazed by her creativity soon enough.
Before her they stood, four fellow Shinigami, skilled in fighting Hollow.
Yachiru: Bumblebee you finally made it! *bounces up and down happily*
Nanao: Now we can play….
*dum dum dum!*
Nanao:.... the game!
Nanao: So Nemu and Hanatarō you got your characters ready yet?
Nemu: Affirmative games master
Nervous Hanatarō: Erm, well I got a few characters rolled up, you know just in case party balance is a bit out…
Soifon considered her fellow players, while they may of made character they considergood, nothing they could think up would compare to the utterly divine creation she had spent the last week working on.
Nanao: So what characters have you all made for this game of…
*dum dum dum!*
Nanao: Shinigami and Hollows™!
Nemu: I carefully constructed a Quincy archer, using the latest rules and building methods, resulting in his ability to shoot four arrows per round with a plus twelve to hit at level six.
Nanao: ..and what's his personality like?
*ominous silence*
Nanao: Will let it come across in game then, Yachiru?
Yachiru: Well my character is half Vizard, half Vasto Lorde class Arrancar, with a Zanpakutō that always in it released state!
Nanao: Remember that little talk we had the last time we played about manageable level adjustments on our characters…
Yachiru: It's only a single figure; I just start a bit lower than everyone else!
*Nanao starts rapidly checking through various rules books*
Nemu: I calculate it to be a grand total of nine games master.
*awkward silence*
Hanatarō: It like that time she played a physical strength modsoul inside a t-rex Gigai isn't it?
Nanao: Will sort out a more... modest version in a bit. What character have you made then Soifon?
Finally a chance to blow then away with her perfect creation!
Soifon: She had beautiful violet hair, silver eyes and can turn into a white cat at will; in addition she's highly skilled in infiltration!
Nanao: It's another Yoruichi clone isn't it?
Soifon: Its not, she vastly different from Yoruichi-sama, she has different coloured hair and eyes and turns into a white cat not a black one!
*Nanao starts hitting her head against the table*
Nanao: Why me? Why did my game group have to have the insane players in existence for?
Hanatarō: Guess I be playing the healer again in real life and in the game…