Ch. 3

"Hey, I think I saw one over here!" shouted a Soul Reaper. "This way."

As the pursuing Soul Reapers headed down the road in hopes of capturing an intruder, Dante peered from the alley he hid in. "So much for a little rest. If I stay here any longer, those robes are gonna catch my ass," he said to himself. The black teen stood up, his weapons strapped to his back and sides. "Okay, now I gotta find somewhere safe for a while." Jumping on a rooftop, the teen scanned the area in hopes of finding somewhere hospitable.

Aside from the numerous small buildings that dotted the area stood a large tree-covered hill in the distance. Sitting on top of it was a tall tower known as the Tower of Penitence (a.k.a. the big jail where Rukia's at). On a cliff pretty close to it was the infamous Sokyoku Hill. As he scanned his surroundings, Dante couldn't help but to marvel at the scenery. "Damn…" he said. "This is one big-ass place. The cartoon didn't give it justice."

"Hey you!" a voice from behind called. Dante froze before turning around. Looking behind he saw two Soul Reapers approaching him. "We got you now!"

"Come with us quietly if you don't want to get hurt," said the other.

"Naw, that ain't how I roll, son," Dante said with a smirk as he pulled out his blade. "So how 'bout you try and put up so I can shut you up." With that said, the enemy Death Gods rushed at the black teen, who stood in a defensive pose. By the time the foes were in close range, Dante dispatched them with strong swipes of his spiked blade. The black teen looked down to the street below and saw his opponents lying on the ground. "So much for those two," Dante said to himself.

However, the fight (as short as it was) brought more Soul Reapers to the scene like sharks to a frenzy. It didn't take long for one of the wounded enemies to point to where he and his comrade received their injuries. The Death Gods looked up at Dante who stood with a blank stare and a sweatdrop. "Oh shit…" he muttered to himself as he slowly walked backward in an attempt to hide.

"It's one of the intruders!" shouted one of the foes. "Get him!"

"Shizznit!" Dante shouted as he ran north. Trailing not too far behind, the large group of Soul Reapers were giving chase. From the street below to the rooftops behind, the teen was pretty much a wanted man. "Hey, why the hell am I running?" Dante thought to himself. "I can take these fools on without even trying." After landing on the next building, Dante skidded to a stop before pulling out his scythe and setting his MP3 Player to "Scherzo di Notte," from Kingdom Hearts II. "You Soul Reapers think you can take the Grim Reaper? Bring it on, mothafuckas!" Not long after saying that, the first wave of swordsmen began their attack. Using the pole of his weapon, Dante blocked the storm of strikes, walking back with every attack dealt. He then retaliated with a powerful swipe of his scythe, throwing the opposition back. From behind, another group of Soul Reapers jumped on the roof from the street below. Before the foes could step foot on the surface, Dante swung his lengthy blade, sending a wave that tossed the death gods back to the road below. He then leapt to another rooftop and ran to the end before turning around and facing the enemies that caught up to him. The black teen moved to the other of the roof, dodging and blocking attacks from the incoming blades before throwing his foes in the air with a strong flick of his scythe. With immobile Soul Reapers up in the air, Dante attacked with strong cross slashes. After landing back on the surface, the bodies of defeated Shimigami rained from above. "Yeah that's right!" he shouted. "I make it rain on these hoes!" He then turned and saw that he was surrounded by an even larger number of Soul Reapers. "Death Gods to the left of me. Soul Reapers to the right. Can't a black man go his own business with a scythe and shit with out a bunch of samurai wannabes up in his grill!?" Dante shouted at the angry, yet wary Soul Reapers that covered the streets below and nearby rooftops. "This is some racist-ass bullshit! Imma give you all the royal right hand of the holy pimped one!"

As if on cue, the Soul Reapers started ganging up on the Dante, believing that power in numbers would be the key in capturing the rogue.

Not too far away from the action, a young woman with her hair in a bun wearing a black robe was hurrying to her squad's headquarters. During her trip, she was tightly holding on to a few documents tightly to her chest. This was Momo Hinamori, lieutenant of Squad 5. "I hope Captain Aizen won't be upset," she thought as she hurried to her captain's quarters. "I was so busy, that I nearly forgot about these forms."

However, her thoughts of duty were interrupted by a loud blast. She turned to the source of the noise and saw smoke rising from the west. "A ryouka!?" she said. At the moment, she didn't know what to do. She could continue on her way to deliver the documents to her captain. Of course, that would mean she didn't fulfill her duty by stopping the intruder when she had a chance. "Captain Aizen will understand," she thought to herself with resolve. "At least, I hope so."

"Lieutenant Hinamori!" called a voice from behind. She turned and saw a low ranking male Soul Reaper from her coming to her. "There was an explosion coming from this area. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," the young lieutenant said. She looked down at the papers she carried before looking back at the officer. "Excuse me, but can you give these papers to the captain?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Hinamori. Right away!" With the papers received, the officer hurried to Captain Aizen's office as Hinamori headed to the direction of the blast.

Standing on a pile of worn-out bodies and pained groans at least fifteen feet high, Dante stood triumphantly on the hill of Soul Reapers. With hands on the sides of his hips, he guffawed. "Hell yeah! That's right! You don't mess wit' the best!" he shouted. "I ain't no Soul Reaper! I ain't no Grim Reaper! I. Am. Da 'Pimp Reaver!' Masta slasha numba one in this mother bitch! No one got shit on the OG!" Jumping off his defeated foes in a front flip, Dante landed on his feet and began walking off. "After fighting those punks back there, I have the strength to switch to that Deinonychus form anytime. Now to find a place I can crash at…"

"Hold it right there!" a woman shouted from behind the black teen. Dante turned to face the woman and smiled. It was Hinamori who had just arrived and was ready to fight. "On behalf of Squad 5, you're under arrest!"

"Hey, I know you!" Dante said with a flirtatious eye. "You're that Hinamori chick from the 5th. Old buddy of Toshiro. Gotta say, you're a lot cuter in person."

"Wh-what?" Momo replied in a stunned manner as her cheeks were flushed red. "How do you know about me?" she asked as she tried hiding the red on the cheeks brought by the last sentence.

"Well… Let's just say it would take a lot of broken walls to patch and too much off the Rolex," the black teen answered nonchalantly. "Let me guess. You're gonna take me into the slammer and throw away the key."

Momo regained her composure, her face more serious. "That's right. You ryouka are trespassers. You will be detained until you await further punishment." Dante gave a smirk. Even when she's ready to fight she looked cute. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing. But I just can't throw in the towel now, girl. I'm trying to find my way back to my world. Can't do that in a cage, you feel me?" Dante armed himself with his scythe and "Children's Story" by Slick Rick playing in his ears. "The name's Dante and maybe after this is over, we can get a bite. I know this one KFC where I saw Christopher Walken chowin' on a BLT. Cool guy. Love his work." Hinamori also drew her zanpaukto before charging at the black teen. Quickly, Dante made haste toward the Lieutenant. By the time they met, Hinamori slashed at her opponent, who blocked the strike with the pole of his weapon. In retaliation, Dante pushed the young woman back and struck with a cross slash. The Soul Reaper blocked the blow before coming in and making a slash of her own. Dante was barely able to move his face from the blade's path as he made room between himself and the Death God. "Hey babe, watch where you swing that," he said. "Somebody could get hurt."

"If it's the only way to stop you, then so be it." Hinamori rushed to his left flank and attacked. Dante quickly blocked the hit and struck with the blunt end of his weapon. Hinamori moved back, holding her stomach. Dante then slashed upward with his blade, but the attack missed as Hinamori rolled to the side. Quickly, she slashed with her blade, causing the scythe-wielder to stagger. Just as he recovered from the hit, Dante looked up and saw the Soul Reaper in the air, her zanpakuto ready to pin him in the ground. Dante rolled under the attack, leaving the Lieutenant to stab empty road. He then stabbed the bottom of the scythe's pole into the ground and vaulted himself forward, his legs kicking Hinamori back. He then rushed to Momo's location and was ready to strike once more until… "Snap! Tobiume!" the Lieutenant shouted as she raised her sword to block the attack. Dante was surprised by the action and her blade's drastic change. Now her zanpakuto was not a katana, but a long, straight jian (Chinese longsword) with three smaller blades sprouting from its side like a tree. He was also sweating as one of the blades was only inches from his nose.

"Damn!" he replied. "Any closer and I would've needed more nose surgeries that Philis Diller and Michael Jackson!" Quickly, Dante leapt back. Hinamori quickly went on the attack using powerful slashes and stabs. All Dante could do was stay on the defensive, block and dodge the attacks until he was able to put some distance between himself and the Soul Reaper. However, the enemy used her zanpakuto's ability and fired pink balls of spiritual energy at the black teen. Dante dodged the strikes, replacing his scythe for his sword during the evasion as he continued his approach to the Lieutenant. Hinamori launched her attacks at Dante, who held his blade in front of him. However, one of the strikes managed to hit the ground in front of him, tossing the teen back. Hinamori stood defensively, her sword ready for attack. She scanned the street, which was covered in a wall of smoke.

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed from the cloud ahead before a pair of jaws filled with sharp teeth charged toward her, its long feathered body flying out of the smoke like a serpent. Hinamori quickly blocked with her blade which was caught in the creature's jaws. Jerking the beast off Momo stood awe-stricken. "What the…!?" she replied. "Could this be…?"

"What's wrong, babe? Missed me?" Dante purred before as he displayed his hand claws and tapped his sickle foot talons on the ground with anticipation. The risen feathers on his head and arms rustled violently. "Let's do it!" With a screeching roar, Dante charged toward Momo, who had also charged after him. Momo fired her spirit blasts at the Deinonychus, but the raptor's speed and agility allowed it to dodge with a primitive grace. "Heh… I'm a hell of a lot faster in this form that my normal body," he thought as the corners of his mouth were upturned in a smirk. After seven rounds, Momo once again fired another large ball of spiritual energy which headed straight toward Dante. Before the round hit, Dante somersaulted high into the air, dodging the attack and heading straight to Momo. Quickly, Momo sidestepped from Dante's landing point as his feet touched the ground with almost cat-like grace. Momo quickly struck the beast with her released blade, but Dante backed away from the strike before snapping his jaws. Now both the Soul Reaper and Dante were parrying blows, spirit sword clashing with curved claws. However, the raptor, using his ninja-like style, overtook Momo when he suddenly swung his long tail at the Soul Reaper, causing her to hit a nearby wall and drop her blade. Momo opened her eyes and saw her sword, which reverted to normal. She tried to get to it, but was intercepted by Dante as he stood just in front of the blade. "No sword for you!" he roared.

Momo was now motionless, staring at the Deinonychus with fear written on her face. Dante moved his long face closer to Momo's. "What will you do?" she asked. "Finish me off?"

Dante moved back and began chirping and honking. "Naw, girl," it translated. "See I don't usually fight wit' chicks unless they can throw down, ya feel me? Besides…" he then brought his head toward her again, his slit iris in the middle of his red eye focusing on her. "Why would a brother like me wanna cut down such a cute flower?" Dante walked backward, stepping over the blade before moving it forward with his snout. Dante ran down the street until he was at an intersection before returning to his human form and shooting her a smile. "See you later, cute Momo." With that said, he took a left turn.

Momo was still standing with mixed emotions. Even with the sword out of her hand, she still could have used her kido against the ryouka. Then there was the question of why he didn't finish her off? However, the Lieutenant quickly returned to reality and hurried to give her report of the battle to Captain Aizen. She can ponder about all of that later.

A couple hours after the battle and Dante finally found a place to rest. It was a small shed between the fifth and sixth squads. Clutched in his claws was a robe he stripped from a wayward Squad 10 officer (don't worry, Dante didn't kill him. He only knocked him unconscious, stripped his clothes, and hung him upside down from a roof). Going inside after returning to his human form, the black teen slipped on the stolen attire. The inside of the shed was pretty empty. With nothing but brooms and other cleaning equipment. Though there was a small bottle of sake that sat on a top shelf (don't ask why). "Man what a day," he said to himself as he sat against the wall. It didn't take long until a thought crossed his mind. Looking at his weapons and back to his clothes, he knew that his disguise would be compromised if he ran around with those weapons. "Great," he thought. "Might as well run around with a neon arrow saying 'Seireitei's Most Wanted!'" Walking over and placing his hand on both the scythe and sword, both weapons reverted to their katana forms. "Alright, playtime's over, you two. Go back to what you were." In a small flash of light, both weapons changed to slender katanas. He placed them on his back in a crossing fashion and grabbed the sake bottle and drank it in a corner.