Hey readers, how's it going? Kujo here. I just wanted to clarify. I'm aware it does take time, effort, and experience to become a good fanfic writer, and I know I don't have as many readers as people like my friend Axel Nightblazer, but I know he gets a lot of help from his readers and fellow authors which I think is an instrumental part of improvement. So if you want to, I'm not telling anybody they have to, but leave a tip or two or three or a hundred, however many you like as to what you think about my writing, be it character development, plot line, descriptions, conflict, etc. I just want to make my stories as interesting for you guys as possible. It's not about me, it's about you guys, my audience, no matter how big or small (I hope it's a large crowd, or will be) and your enjoyment of fiction writing, because that's what I do this for. So long story short, please, please, PLEASE drop me a review with your suggestions. Into the Storm Part 1 ends here, I won't spoil this chapter at all, but in Part Two (My idea for the name is in my profile under the heading "Update") I want to be seeing some suggestions! So review!
The squad of Shinigami sprinted effortlessly through the clear skies. It was a strange setting for what was sure to be a bloodbath. As they ran, Kujo decided to give his new lieutenant a pep talk.
"Listen up, Kurosaki. I don't know much about you, but I have heard that you're not much for the rules," said Kujo.
"Got a problem with that?" asked Ichigo.
"On the contrary. Fortunately for you I'm not either, so this should work out well. I'm going to tell you this: I'll let you have some slack, and you don't always have to call me 'Captain' or 'sir', 'cause I don't much like that anyway. But you still have to follow orders."
"No problem, I guess," replied Ichigo.
"Hold up!" shouted Soifon. "We are approaching the attack point!"
The group halted on a cliff overlooking a suburban neighborhood.
Suddenly a burst of red energy blasted through their ranks, scattering them.
"There was no reiatsu signature in that!" shouted Kujo.
"Then it must be him! Be careful, we don't know what this guy can do yet!" Soifon yelled back.
"Then I'll just show you!" laughed a voice from above.
"Watch out for- UGH!" coughed Soifon as Rojo kicked her in the gut and knocked her into the ground.
Kujo and Ichigo flash stepped around the Arrancar and scissored him with their swords.
"Oops, not fast enough," Rojo said as he disappeared again. "Cero de la Sangre (Blood Red Zero Blast)!"
Red energy charged in front of his mask and fanned out in a huge flash. Kujo took a cut to the arm and dodged three more strikes, swinging his sword up.
"Engulf, Sunaarashi!" he shouted. He looked around and saw the others fighting about ten fearsome looking humanoid Hollows. Keeping his sandstorm focused in a sword blade-like form, he exchanged a quick flurry of blows with the Arrancar, who retaliated with his escrima stick. He suddenly swung upward and hit Kujo under the chin, staggering him. Rojo grabbed his weapon at the top and bottom and pulled. A hint of red was suddenly visible. He drew from his escrima a short red sword and slashed it across the space between them. A massive Cero blast erupted from that space and obscured Kujo completely.
"HA HA HA! Just sad, Shinigami!" screeched Rojo.
"Try this out for size, then! Getsuga Tensho (Moon Fang Heaven Shocker) !" yelled Ichigo from behind him.
Rojo dodged the blast of blue energy and struck at Ichigo's head. His sword was blasted away by a sudden burst of orange sand. "What!?" he exclaimed.
"If you think my fighting is funny, you'll find this downright hysterical." growled Kujo.
He was revealed, empty-handed, amidst a whirling cloud of orange dust. "Bankai."
"Bankai, eh. Come at me, then!" yelled Rojo.
"Sunaarashi Isoireppu: Namiutsu Kawa no Shikensu (Rushing River Sequence)" commanded Kujo. The dust cloud phased out of existence.
"What is this?" sneered Rojo. And he was enveloped by a massive, rippling column of orange sand.
"My spirit energy is immediately utilized to cause my Bankai to travel through space instantaneously. It's a deadly technique, wouldn't you say?" remarked Kujo as Rojo yelled in outrage.
Suddenly Kujo descried another massive reiatsu from behind him. He dodged as a hail of yellow energy spikes shot through the space he had been in. Above him stood a man in a flowing white coat marked with a Roman numeral six in yellow on both lapels. He had straight blond hair that framed cold yellow eyes, shimmering like the moon on a dark night.
"Greetings, Shinigami captain," he said. "Rojo. The Dark One orders you to initiate Operation Rift. I'll take this from here."
Rojo used Sonido and appeared next to the newcomer. "Goodbye, Kujo Shihoin. I'll see you in hell!" He smirked, and then vanished once more.
The blond man turned back to the Shinigami. "Are you ready?" he asked.
"You bet I am," said Kujo indignantly.
All of a sudden his opponent was right next to him. The man raised a long, thin, yellow-bladed broadsword not unlike the claymores wielded by European knights during the Middle Ages. "You may know me as Amarillo (Yellow). The sixth of Los Generales." He brought the sword down.
"Sunaarashi Isoireppu: Yama no Kao no Shikensu (Looming Cliffside Sequence)," Kujo invoked.
Interlocking hexagonal plates of glowing orange, glasslike energy now separated the two of them.
Amarillo battered the shell repeatedly. "You think such a meager defense will hold me? Insolence!" He charged a burst of yellow energy in his sword blade and readied it for release.
"Yama no Kao no Shikensu, Niban (Second): Nadare (Avalanche)," murmured the captain, and his defense exploded into millions of lethal shards which shredded the Arrancar's body. "You act tough, but you're nothing but a blowhard!" he yelled.
Amarillo's deep voice sounded from the rubble on the ground where he had fallen. "Hearken, and arise, Vengador (Avenging Knight)!" Instantly, in a flash of yellow energy, the shape of a horse galloped the circumference of a ring surrounding Amarillo. It collided with him and whipped up a storm, bursting outward to reveal a centaur-like creature. It had four blade-like steel legs that bent forward at the knee and had jagged symmetrical black patterns on the flats, a smooth, muscular body, a long golden cape that fell across its back, and a steel cuirass on its chest. The man part of the creature wore silver gauntlets and a mask shaped like a wolf's head, with a mane of gold hair blowing behind it. Amarillo rose up, holding a wide-bladed yellow greatsword, and said, "Face now, if you are skilled enough, Kujo Shihoin, the Resurrección (Returning Blade) of one of Los Generales!"
"Hardly impressive. Let's see what you're capable of." Kujo said disdainfully.
"I think you'll find it's more than you think," replied Amarillo.
He raised his sword. "Cero del Marcador (Lock-on Zero Blast)!" A golden pentagon of energy centered itself around Kujo. "Jurado Para La Muerte (Marked for Death)." He charged golden energy and fired it in a rapidly thinning beam that headed straight for its target. Kujo flash stepped out of the way, but it spontaneously changed direction and came right at him again. "It follows the marked target until they are terminated," gloated the Arrancar. "You cannot escape."
"I'm not done yet. This is nothing." Kujo assured him as the beam roared toward him. He raised his hand. "Hado no Nanaju: Dankutsume (Way of Destruction #70: Splitting Void Claw)" Kujo shot a line of black energy from his palm and split the Cero in two.
"Nothing, eh? Estallar (Explode)!" And the remnants of the beam released massive shockwaves, obscuring Kujo in yellow light.
"You really are arrogant," said Kujo. "Namiutsu Kawa no Shikensu (Rushing River Sequence), Niban: Hayase (Rapids)!" Kujo thrust out his arm and instantly a trail of orange energy shot across the distance between them, halting directly at the Arrancar's feet. Suddenly it burst forward in a torrent of orange sand, connecting with Amarillo's chest. He yelled in surprise and backpedaled away from the sandstorm.
"You'll pay for that," Amarillo spat. "Flechas del Sagittario (Arrows of the Divine Archer)!" He waved his sword in an arc in front of him, and a trail of light followed the tip. Suddenly yellow dots separated from the line, blazing into long, sharp energy arrows. One slashed toward Kujo's heart, and he was forced to raise a barrier of orange plates to stop it. Naturally it had to explode. Kujo dropped out of the cloud of smoke and landed on one knee.
"I didn't expect him to be this strong!" he said to himself. "I'll have to finish this before I batter myself to death!" He looked up at the Arrancar. "Amarillo, it's time to end this."
"Fine, then," replied his opponent. "One serving of death, coming right up!" And he charged another round of energy arrows.
"It sure is," said Kujo under his breath. "Ought I to try this? I must." He raised his hand, and called forth a lethal looking blast of orange energy. "Yama no Kao no Shikensu, Sanban (Third): Kazan (Obliterating Volcano Blast)." The energy lengthened into a spear shape, topped with three prongs. Kujo hurled it at his opponent.
And then a massive explosion ripped open the sky.
Panting, Kujo watched the ensuing cloud of debris for signs of life. Confident that he saw none, he turned to go check on the others.
"Wait," said Amarillo's voice.
"You're still alive, then." Kujo said, not turning around.
"Yes, of course. You soon won't be." He said. "Llama de Rehacerse (Rallying Call)!"
A massive Garganta opened in the sky in front of Kujo, and thirty or so beings walked out. They all wore the same thing: long white coats and oval shaped eyeless masks with yellow stripes lining the bottom of them, and they all carried katanas with X-shaped guards. "My warriors are powerful beyond compare. You will never win in the state that you are in."
Kujo was in bad shape. As he watched his adversaries, no one noticed the streak of black creeping its way across the sclera of his right eye.
And the warriors charged him.
Kujo raised his hands again.
"No, Kujo, don't do it!" shouted a voice.
Kazetora landed in front of him, activating her Bankai. "Tenshô Sosaiko! Kitakaze Zangeki (North Wind Strike): Hyôsosai (Blizzard)!" Snow began to whirl within the tornado spilling off her shoulders like a cape, and instantly the entire legion of warriors was encased in light blue freezing ice, which shattered and destroyed all of them.
"You'll never get away with this!" shouted Amarillo, finally appearing, his defeat having returned him to his original form. He struck at Kazetora with his claymore. She blocked it with one sword, and cut him from shoulder to hip with the other.
"You're not looking so good yourself," she reminded him. "Nishikaze Zangeki: Kagi no Arashi (West Wind Strike: Firestorm)!" And she cast him away, and blasted him with an inferno. In pain and on fire, Amarillo fled through the portal and disappeared. As the Garganta closed with a thoom, Kazetora turned back to Kujo. "Are you okay?" she asked him.
"As good as anyone who just got blown up four or five times can be," he said with a smile.
She grinned, and then the two of them walked back through the wreckage to the cliff.
"Karakura's people will not be pleased," said Kujo as he looked around.
"They'll come back. That I'm sure of." Kazetora told him. "The Human World will become a battleground." She paused. "Unless we stop them."
"We will. We must." Kujo said firmly, making eye contact at last.
"Yes. We will." Kazetora said. "Wait, what's that?" She was looking at his eyes. "Something's wrong with your face!" she exclaimed.
"Well, I've been told I'm not much of a looker." Kujo grinned.
"No, really. Look!" she told him.
Seeing a piece of shiny metal on the ground, Kujo picked it up and looked at his reflection.
"What the hell!?" he shouted, jerking away. He had seen it. His eyes were each a different color: one was normal, and one was dark blue with black sclera. "What is this?!" he exclaimed.
"I don't know. I've never seen it before." Kazetora said nervously.
"I think I have, actually," said Kujo, shuddering. He thought back to his first use of Bankai, and remembered his power as he fought Rose, and…a face. A pale, pure white face. His face, with those same eyes. And he realized. Bankai, he thought, that's what's causing it! "Sunaarashi, come!" And a torrent of sand seethed out of the rubble into his hand, solidifying into its sealed form. Kujo sheathed it.
"Captain Otoribashi told me. He said 'So you have one, too.' And I knew what he meant, I just didn't want to believe it."
"What is it, Kujo? I'm worried about this." Kazetora asked him.
Kujo took a deep breath. "A Hollow. But, me, somehow at the same time."
"I think we need to talk to Otoribashi again, and see if he can help." Kazetora told him.
"I agree. Let's get back to Soul Society."
The Seiretei, First Division Barracks, Captain-Commander's Quarters…
"Captain Shihoin, Captain Kasumioji. How went the operation?" asked Ukitake.
"The criminal Rojo escaped. We badly hurt another one of their leaders." Kujo reported.
"What was he like?" asked Ukitake curiously.
"He was strong, that's for sure. Only with a high level of my Bankai's power was I able to drive him off at last. And we met some of their 'army'. We don't know what they can do yet," Kazetora told him.
"Interesting. I know it was a little before your time, but this is remarkably similar to the Espada invasion from a few years back." Ukitake mused.
"More importantly, we heard them mention something called 'Operation Rift'." Kujo said wonderingly.
"Ah, yes. Strange that this would come up," cackled a high voice. From a door to the left emerged the captain of the Twelfth Division, Mayuri Kurotsuchi. "The Rift. A word the Arrancar sometimes use in place of 'Dangai'. A code name, you might say."
"So what you mean is that they have a base of some kind in the Dangai?" asked Ukitake. "It would be an ideal place. Nothing there is as it seems. A good place to hide a large force. That and we almost never linger in there. We may have to send an investigation. I will consult with all of the captains on this subject in tomorrow's meeting. You have brought us valuable information. Dismissed."
"Yes, sir." The two of them left the room.
As Kujo turned to leave for his company barracks, someone said, "You are troubled. Most likely because of the thing I saw during our fight."
Kujo turned slightly, seeing Rose standing against the wall.
"Yes, unfortunately. He has resurfaced." Kujo fully faced him. "My inner Hollow." He sighed. "I won't be able to defeat Rojo unless I can fight at full power. And Captain Ukitake says we may have to enter the Dangai in search of more answers."
"Then we shall have to remedy that." Meet me in the cave where you achieved Bankai, tomorrow morning. We shall conquer this fiend once and for all. You must face him, and you must win."
Kujo was afraid, but he did not show it. "Very well. Let's get this done."
Rose nodded. "If we are to stop whatever demons are coming, we must first defeat those inside ourselves. Fare thee well, Kujo Shihoin."
End of Part One