An hour had passed since Miyako managed to get out of the shaft with her trident-shaped Zanpakutou, and Momoko was still having trouble finding her strength. As for Kaoru, well...
"Damnit!" the tomboy screamed, her voice echoing in the city-locked forest. "Why won't you die!"
"Heh." Ruka only giggled. "There's no way you can kill me!"
Kaoru managed to mask her presence as she quickly shifted her hiding position in the undergrowth. While she slunk around, she gently placed a hand on the tiger's muzzle.
"Lycoris, I can't do this alone." she whispered as Ruka started dancing around in the air, waiting for Kaoru to make her move. "What do I have to do to call your power to my hands?"
"You must find the ribbon that represents your shinigami powers." Lycoris said, a soft purr rumbling from her throat. "That ribbon will locate your Zanpakutou, and the words will come to you naturally."
"I got it!" Momoko said, suddenly jumping up and down happily. " I know just how to get out of this stupid hole!"
Urahara smiled at Momoko's words, even though he sat far enough away to not be seen by the girls. Miyako also smiled, then poked her head over the edge.
"Momoko-San!" she called. "I made it out!"
"Way to go, Miyako!" Momoko called back. "I found a bunch of ribbons in my special place. Maybe the way out is one of those!"
"It's the red one!" Miyako said, showing her trident. "Red, just like a rose."
Miyako went back to Urahara's side as Momoko crouched down, getting ready to sprint at the wall one last time. Before the red-head took off, she focused her attention on the Sanctum within her soul.
"Okami! Help me find a red ribbon!" she said, calling out to the wolves that were scattered amongst the multitude of ribbons.
It didn't take too long. One of Okami's lupine friends had located it and howled for Momoko, holding the ribbon in its jaws. When she grabbed it, Momoko saw a single coconut fall from the tree in the only oasis in her desert, splitting open on contact with the ground. Inside, she saw a crimson hilt of a sword, and when she pulled it out, the guard was engraved with the symbols of the five elements.
"Water, earth, fire, air, and the void." Momoko whispered. "The five rings of Musashi Miyamoto."
"Momo-Chama!" Okami said, putting a hand on the Powerpuff Girls Z leader's shoulder. "You found it! Now, just call for me!"
Closing her eyes, Momoko focused her energy into her feet, then snapped her eyes open, staring at the wall of the Shattered Shaft.
"Balance the cosmos!" she cried, charging at the earthen wall. "Okami!"
As the binds holding her arms back shattered, Momoko felt her steps becoming more swift, the ribbon in her hair growing bigger, and she felt fur coat her arms and legs. When she appeared on the ground outside of the Shattered Shaft, Miyako could only gawk.
Momoko was wearing a fur coat that had sleeves and leggings made of soft gray fur and five wolf-like tails extending from the back of the coat, each one seemingly manipulated at will. Her hands and feet were equipped with gauntlets and greaves, respectively, that had sharpened claws. On the back of the fur cloak was a symbol composed of five smaller ones, the five rings of Musashi Miyamoto. The ribbon that Momoko always wore had grown to the size of being able to pass as wolf-like ears.
"Kirei..." Miyako said, entranced by the beauty of it.
"That's two girls saved." Takuya said as Riku embraced his beloved Momoko. "Now we just have to wait for Kao-"
His words were cut off as a tremendous amount of demonic-feeling energy fused with Kaoru's own erupted in a dual-colored pillar from within the tomboy's allocated shaft. It was a mix of emerald green and violet-laced strawberry-red, spiralling upwards. Kaoru began to scream in pain, and in a flash, both Takuya and Urahara had jumped to the edge of her pit.
"Well." Urahara said, surprised by what was happening. "That's a bit of deja-vu."
"Kaoru-Chan!" Takuya called, trying to call to her.
What was happening was that the remainder of Kaoru's chain of fate had began to devour itself all at once, and an explosion of a bone-white liquid began to coat her face while she was still human. Takuya was not pleased with what he saw. Knowing full well the risks, he did what he thought was right.
He jumped into the Shattered Shaft.
"Lycoris, what the hell's happening?" Kaoru asked in a panic as the entirety of the city and forest had been suddenly swallowed by a veil of darkness.
"Your other self has thrown the trial into chaos!" Lycoris said. "You must find the crimson ribbon that represents the bond between Shinigami and Zanpakutou before we are swallowed by the darkness, or else all is lost!"
Kaoru simply stood, revealing her location, and let her energy cap in an instant. This not only made the remainder of the forest around her blow away from her, but it revealed three ribbons. One was white, a dud as far as she was concerned, and the other two were both red. One of the red ones had the same shade as a rose, the other was the color of blood.
"Oh, shit!" Kaoru said. "I can't remember which one it was Shimabara-Kun said, so I'll just grab both!"
Tugging on both ribbons, Kaoru revealed not only a Zanpakutou hilt from the rose-colored ribbon, but a bone-like mask from the blood-ribbon. The mask itself appeared to be a cross between a Mexican luchadore, or masked wrestler, and a coyote's skull. Not caring at the moment, she grabbed the mask and hilt at the same time, just as her vision became nothing but darkness. She felt herself settling down on solid ground, and when she opened her eyes, she felt as though she was looking through a mask with narrow eye slots.
"K-Kaoru-Chan?" Takuya was saying, holding a hand to his face which was for some reason bleeding badly from the bridge of his nose.
"Shimabara-Kun, what happened?" Kaoru stopped short, hearing the same warble in her voice that Ruka had in hers.
She looked down at the heavy weapon that rested in her right hand. When she saw the blood dripping from it, she dropped it in shock. The claymore blade made a loud clang as it hit the rocks beneath her feet, and she saw that the hilt resembled a gun's grip and the guard looked like an actual gun.
"Oh my god!" Frantically, Kaoru grabbed at the edge of the mask she now wore and ripped it off as hard as she could and threw it as far from her as she could. Then she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands, tears flowing uncontrollably. "I...I'm sorry!"
"I...I'm fine, Kaoru-Chan." Takuya said, his words muffled by his hands.
"It'll take a bit more than a gunblade slashing his face to take him out of the game." Urahara joked, earning him a trident resting against the back of his neck.
"Don't ever make fun of Ta-Kun getting hurt." Miyako said, her voice sounding almost as cold as it had when the girls had fought Kare.
"Easy now," Urahara said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I was just stating truth. Sorry if it came across as poking fun at him."
"Can we focus on the matter at hand, Urahara?" Riku asked, bringing the attention back to Kaoru, at whose feet the mask she'd thrown had returned, as if it were a boomerang. "What the hell just happened with Kaoru?"
"Well, it's kind of complicated." Urahara said.
"Complicated, my ass!" Takuya said. "There's nothing complicated about it!"
"Shi-Shimabara-Kun..." Kaoru started, still having not moved from her spot with the mask at her feet.
"Face it, Urahara-San." Takuya continued, ignoring the tomboy. "Kaoru-Chan ended up like both Kurosaki-San and myself because of your stupid Shaft! This is exactly why I've been against using the damned thing!"
"I can't predict everything, you know." Urahara said, his voice taking a serious tone. "You knew that even though it was the only way to save them, it was possible that one, if not more, could transform."
"LOOK AT ME!" Kaoru screamed, getting everyone's attention. "Shimabara-Kun, what the hell happened? What's that mask, who was that bitch in my Inner Sanctum that looked like me, why hasn't my weapon turned into a katana like you said it would. ANSWER ME!"
"Kaoru-Chan," Takuya said, his voice reflecting the despair. "In order, it's the mask of a Hollow. Specifically, your mask. As for the mirror of you, that would be your Hollow self. She's someone who represents everything directly in opposition to you. An example would be the fact that while you're a tomboy who loves to fight as much as the next guy, she would be a prime example of what a girl would do."
"Meaning what?" Kaoru asked.
"Well, she would be wanting to wear skirts at all times, have no concern about letting others see her lingerie, and would actually WANT to have a boy, specifically me or Riku, see her in her skivvies or less."
Kaoru paled at the thought of having something in her own soul that would willingly allow a boy to see her underwear. Even though Takuya noted this, he continued.
"The reason your Zanpakutou hasn't transformed into a katana yet is simple." he said, hoisting the gunblade that had carved a rather nice gash into his face not two minutes earlier. "Your spiritual pressure was out of control when it was released, and it was high enough to be on par with my own. These two facts mean that your Zanpakutou is like Kurosaki-San's in that it's gonna be in its released state at all times."
"All right, everyone, I think it's time we give Kurosaki-San a call." Urahara said. "He just got back from Hueco Mundo, and from what I hear, he's achieved a new level as a Vaizard."
"A what?" Momoko asked, her outfit already sealed into a katana that rested on her hip.
"Vaizard." Riku said. "It's the title given to people like Takuya and Ichigo who are able to summon not only the powers of their Zanpakutou, but also summon the powers of their inner Hollow in the form of a mask."
"Riku, you go get Kurosaki-San." Takuya said, turning towards the ladder with his wings outstretched. "I'll go see Sarugaki-Chan and her friends and let them know that there's one more to add to the ranks."
Ichigo lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. His last fight with Ulquiorra had been so taxing that he'd nearly died. Actually, he had died for a moment, but Orihime's words had somehow brought him back from the grave. Now, when he had a moment to rest, Kon was running his mouth about some wierd cat-eared kid who was in the twins' room alone with them.
"Oi, Ichigo! Ain't ya gonna do something about that kid?"
"What kid?" Ichigo asked, finally realizing the mod soul was talking.
"That red-head kid with the cat ears and tail who's currently sitting alone with your sisters in their bedroom after sealing the door with some sort of kido to make the room soundproof!" Kon yelled, pointing a suede claw at the orange-haired teen. "I thought you wanted them to be safe! What if he's trying to do naughty things with them?"
"Oh, you mean Yoruichi's kid." Ichigo said in a voice that sounded like he didn't give a damn. "He's an innocent boy. The only thing anyone would have to worry about is him asking to see Karin and Yuuzu naked."
"You bastard! That's serious!" Kon said, panicking. "Do something before it gets to be wanting to TOUCH them!"
The only response that the mod soul got was the tip of Tensa Zangetsu aimed at his face, since Ichigo hadn't dropped out of Bankai yet, let alone returned to his body.
"If you're so worried, you do something." he said, having been to tired to bother doing anything else. "I just need to lay here for a bit."
Kon took the hint and ran towards the twins' bedroom, only to have someone's foot land on his face as the door opened. The poor lion-plush bound soul could see with one eye who'd stepped on him, and he frowned mentally as he noticed that it was the cat-boy.
"Ora! Would you mind getting your foot off of my face?" Kon cried out, voice muffled by the neko-boy's foot.
"Kon-San! Just who I was looking for!" Koichi said, picking the plushy up and dusting it off. "I asked Karin-Chan and Yuu-Chan to try on an outfit I made for them, and I want your opinion on how they look."
That got Kon's attention, and his attitude changed into one of interest.
"And why would you want my opinion?"
"Because you know what girls look good in, duh." Koichi said. "Now get in here."
He set Kon down again after straightening the mane, and the mod soul followed him in. What Kon saw made him turn red.
"Y-you made those outfits for them?" he asked in awe.
"Yep! Whaddaya think?"
To be honest, Kon didn't know what to say. Somehow, Koichi had pulled off the seemingly impossible. Yuuzu was wearing a camellia-yellow, spaghetti-string miniskirt with a deep-V neck. There were a couple Celtic designs on the lower hem of the skirt, and they only served to add to the beauty of the dress. Karin, on the other hand, was where the impossible had become miraculously possible.
The tomboy of the Kurosaki household was wearing a charcoal-grey V-neck tank-top with a crimson-colored dragon emblazoned on the back. She also wore a matching skirt that came about half-way down her thighs, and the skirt had a semi-transparent lace-work pattern to it. Underneath the skirt, she wore jet-black short-shorts, and she was currently crimson because of the skirt.
"I don't know how you pulled it off, Kiddo," Kon stated as he held a paw to his nose. "But you made Yuuzu even cuter, and you also managed to get Karin into a skirt! I...I'm speechless!"
"Koichi-Kun...can I take off the skirt, now?" Karin asked. "It doesn't suit me..."
"Let's see..." Takuya muttered to himself. "Seven...Ten...ah, there's Number Thirteen."
He landed in front of a seemingly abandoned warehouse, but he could see a rather large golden-colored barrier surrounding it. Folding his wings so that they formed a sort of feathery cape, he placed his hand on the barrier and walked through it. Down below, a rather large man with short pink hair perked his head up.
"We've got company." he said, having sensed Takuya's invasion of the barrier.
"Now's not the time, Hachi!" a girl with blonde feathered pigtails said, currently engaged in a sparring match with a boy with blonde bowl-cut hair and exposed upper teeth. "Send the dickhead away! I ain't got the patience to deal with Ichigo right now!"
As if in response, a boy's voice echoed down into the training area, and the entire group of eight all called themselves to attention.
"Sarugaki-Chan? Hirako-Taicho? You guys home?"
"What's the new Kido Corps Captain doing down here?" asked a silver-haired man who looked like a drill seargent as he greeted the winged boy. "It's not time for us to join the war just yet, you know."
"Muguruma-Taichou, there's been some recent developments with the public saviors of Tokyo." Takuya said, giving the former Captain of Division Nine a quick salute, more so out of habit. "They've all three become Shinigami, but Kaoru-Chan, better known to most, including you guys, as 'Powered Buttercup', has become a new addition to the Masked Army."
"Is that true, Taku?" Hirako Shinji, the blonde bowl-cut boy asked. "I mean, that Miss Matsubara is now a Vaizard?"
"I saw the transformation with my own eyes," Takuya said, pointing to the brand new scar on his face, still edged with blood. "And nearly lost them along with my nose."
"So why the hell'd you come to us?" Sarugaki Hiyori, the pigtailed blonde, asked. "Can't you have Kurosaki train her or something?"
"You guys have a better and more effective method than any Kurosaki-San would utilize." Takuya said. "Besides, I needed an excuse to see you guys again. Yukitaka is giving me a bit of trouble, and I need to re-subdue him."
"Re-subdue?" Muguruma Kensei, the drill seargent, asked. "What the hell caused you to lose control?"
"I think it's simple, Kensei." came the voice of Otorobashi Rojuro, known as 'Rose' amongst his friends. "In his most recent battle against the Sexta Espada, Takuya here nearly fell, and he ended up panicking."
"Whatever!" Hiyori barked. "Just do what he asked, alright? Hachi! Give him a five-layer one this time!"
As the large pink-haired Ushoda Hachigen brought up the quintuple-thick barrier as requested, Hiyori donned her Hollow mask, which resembled an oni with a single horn in the center of the forehead and a row of crimson diamond markings on either side.
"As for you, Bird-Brain! Draw your damned sword and let's get it on!"
Kensei watched as Hiyori began her intense training regimen, sighing in annoyance. The he turned to a green haired girl who wore an outfit that was reminiscent of Kamen Rider.
"Mashiro, I want you, Rose, and Love to come with me to check out Urahara's newest recruits." he said. "If what Takuya here said is accurate, we ain't got much time before she gets a bit carried away."
"Gotcha, Kensei!" Mashiro said.
"Why me?" a slightly tanned man with a star-shaped afro asked. "Why not Shinji or Lisa?"
"Because only Shinji and I were able to help Hiyori and Hachi last time Takuya came to train with us." a girl in a schoolgirl outfit said, flipping the page in her magazine almost casually. "Now quit whining, Love, and get going."
A bit of a blunt end, I know. Don't worry too much, because Heart of Soul will swing back with a new twist in the next exciting chapter, so hang tight!