II. The Strange Newcomer
"Taichou, this seems to be the place where the reiatsu spike has been detected."
The ever so-silent captain gave only a curt nod as a sign of acknowledgement. They slowly moved across the vast grassland with a small beeping device at the vice-captain's hand. After another moment or so, the beeping from the small hand-held device grew louder and faster. His expression darkened. His hand immediately readied itself to draw his zanpakuto.
"On your guard, Abarai. It may be hiding somewhere here."
A black hole ripped the scene before the two, and out of it first came a gloved hand waving frantically, and then a foot seemingly clothed in a kind of colorful outfit, and finally the rest of the body came out.
"Oww oww oww…" a high-pitched male voice called out. The two placed their hands on their zanpakuto. They set their gaze on what came out of the portal that opened before them. It looked like a clown dressed in a deep blue bodyfit outfit, with a few splotches of red and yellow at some places. It…or he, wore a jester's hat that atop each of the extensions hung a small bell. His face was white, with two small teardrop-like red decorative paintings on each eye, and a violet tracing was painted on his lips. His eyes were much like a hollow's, a yellow pupil surrounded by a deep black, except that the middle of his yellow pupils was a small red spot. He held a small baton in one hand, the small stick decorated with small curved floral engravings. After fixing himself, he looked at the two shinigami standing before him with a wide grin, and twirled his baton in one hand before speaking.
"Hello there, shinigami. My name is Juego the Jester, and I know a thing or two about this place..."
Renji drew his zanpakuto from its confines. "What are you? Are you a hollow?"
He answered playfully. "Hollow? Now that's quite a bit confining, ain't it? Now let's see… hmmm… truth is, I don't know either." He then laughed insanely at the shinigami. A ball of red energy flew straight at him, and a large explosion hid him in a cloud of dirt and smoke. The two looked closely at the clearing, and saw nothing more but falling confetti from where the ball 'hit' the clown. The same high-pitched voice spoke from above them. They looked up to see the clown looking at them in a surly position, except that he was floating in air upside down.
"Now, now, there's no need to use violence, shinigami. I'm just a harmless clown looking for some fun here." he said before laughing once more. He stopped when he realized that the royal-blooded captain was missing. He heard a voice speak to him from his back.
"Disappear from my sight, lunatic peon. The likes of you who disturb Soul Society will be cut down."
The captain's sword pierced the inverted enemy through the chest. The stab caused not blood to come out, but rather colored paper to burst from the wound, and after a few moments the body crumbled into a large rain of confetti. He as well as his vice-captain was dumbfounded at what happened. They heard a laugh from behind the red-haired shinigami that seemed to mock them more and more.
"A little feisty, aren't we, shinigami captain?" he managed to say before laughing once more.
"Howl, Zabimaru!"
He smiled as Renji rushed at him with his released zanpakuto. He blocked the incoming attack with his baton, and managed to push his opponent away a good few meters from him. He laughed once more as he raised his baton in the air. Renji was startled.
"Impossible… he blocked Zabimaru's attack with nothing more but a stick?"
"Stick? What did you think this was?" He showed them the baton. Energy radiated from the small object, and soon after the stick shrunk in size, and a red blade came out of one end.
"He has a zanpakuto?" Renji spat out. "So you are an arrancar, after all."
"Arrancar? That's quite limiting, shinigami. But well, I love guessing games after all. If you can guess what I really am, then I'll give you a prize."
Renji scoffed. "Who cares what you are, you dumbass? I'm gonna kill you anyway, so there's no need to know."
"Sure you're not interested? Well, maybe this'll make you find me quite intriguing…" He pointed the red blade at him. "Howl, Zabimaru…"