See I told you I would have one out soon :P Hopefully this one will be better than the last one I wrote . But one thing is for sure, I had a lot of people read my story so far and it is AMAZING, and I know I've already said it! Thank you so much! To thank you, here is a longererer chapter ^o^!
"... We are going to need backup," Ryoko said as more creatures appeared.
"No shi-" Rangiku started, but was interrupted when a faceless thing flung itself at her.
"Rangiku!" Ryoko shouted but was also cut off when a life form attacked.
"Ahahah!" Akio cackled from behind the wall of beings, "My minions are a little impatient, huh?"
"Shut your mouth," Ryoko spat, anger replacing fear, seeing how much amusement he got out of the situation.
"Oooh, Ryoko. Is that anyway to treat an old friend," Akio mocked.
"I could say the same for you" Ryoko retorted, pushing her subjugator off of her swords.
"Touché, but enough of the small talk," he continued, suddenly appearing in place of the creature, "Why on earth are you in the squads, Ryoko?"
"Why does it matter?" Ryoko answered shortly.
"It doesn't, I just wanted to avoid coming in contact with you... again."
Ryoko gave him a glare that would send anyone running, but unfortunately Mr. Ishikawa wasn't just anyone, now was he.
Akio drew his sword from Ryoko's hold and quickly slice at Ryoko's neck, just nicking the underside of her chin.
"Oops!" Akio said playfully, but with the intent to kill in his eyes.
Ryoko jumped pack a few paces, wiping the small trickle of blood on the back of her hand.
"Damn it," she cursed under her breath, and then she saw Akio flash step out of her field of vision, "Shit!" she cussed as she spun around just in time to clang blades with Akio's.
"Oh, you know me well, Ryoko. Can't fool you twice."
"You're a coward for using that move," Ryoko mumbled.
"Ha! I guess you're right. You know, this is quite boring, don't you think."
"Yeah, fighting with a novice like you is very boring," Ryoko bluffed, but she knew very well Akio could easily be a captain in the squads.
"Well if you insist on livening this up, I have no choice," Akio reasoned, jumping back. He positioned his sword diagonally across his body, making Ryoko's eyes go wide with fear. He was actually going to do shikai!
Ryoko positioned herself in a defensive position ready to call out her zonpokuto as well, when she heard Rangiku cry, "Unare, Haineko!"
"Well, it looks like your friend had the same idea."
Ryoko said nothing focusing only on the movements of Akio. When is he gonna make his move? She thought.
Suddenly, his head shot up to look straight into Ryoko's eyes, making her shudder involuntarily, his brown eyes glowing with faint purple as his reiastu flared.
"Tobikomi, Hayabusa!" Akio called. Adrenalin surged through Ryoko's veins, and every muscle in her body tensed in terror.
Come on Ryoko! Get yourself together! There are people who need you! Ryoko screamed in her head.
"Don't look so pale, Ryoko. It'll be over before you know it!" Akio taunted menacingly as the light dust cleared. His sword glinted in the sunlight, blinding Ryoko briefly. It looked like a battalion with blades on each edge of it. The handle was red and purple, while the blades were dark as night.
"Surely you don't think you can fight me without your sword release," he said as he sauntered towards Ryoko spinning his sword in one hand, "That would be a little arrogant of you, wouldn't you agree?"
"Do we really have to do this?" Ryoko asked, stalling for what she knew would have to happen sooner or later. She took a glance to see how Rangiku was doing and saw her up against three of Akio's minions.
"Yes, now let's get on with it!" he yelled, lunging forward, ringing his sword against Ryoko's.
Ryoko had been expecting Akio to rush at her, but she did not realize how strong he had become. She struggled to push his blade away, until she ducked under Akio, causing him to fall forward. She shot up just as he was somersaulting up.
"Sneaky, sneaky," Akio tsked wagging his finger at her. He flash stepped forward at an alarming speed and hit Ryoko so hard she went flying backward.
Trying to right herself before she hit something in proximity, she didn't see Akio until the last second, barely blocking his cut. She hit a tree, hard, but scrambled up, not so gracefully, and felt the trickle of blood down her right arm. Before she could inspect, she felt a rush of air to her left and only just threw her blades up to thwart a glancing slice.
"Is someone feeling tired today?" Akio asked with a look of fake worry on his face.
"Shut up," Ryoko growled. She knew she didn't have a real chance of beating Akio without activating her shikai, so to Akio's surprise, she raised her spiritual pressure high and called, "Haneru, Keikai Shika!"
Ryoko's blades changed from silver to bronze color, and glowed with the intensity of her reiatsu. They flew out of her hands and became bands that just as quickly slid onto her wrists. Nothing happened for what seemed like forever to Ryoko as she stood there across from Akio who stood dumbstruck at how intense Ryoko's reiatsu was. He too didn't realize how much stronger she had become.
Seconds later, blades shot from the bronze braces on Ryoko's wrists. She muttered some phrases and the blades' lengths adjusted accordingly
"Let's really start," Ryoko announced with a smirk. Her green eyes were sprinkled with gold from her zanpokuto's spirit, a lot like how Akio's were with purple.
"If you say so..." Akio said.
This time, it was Ryoko who lunged first, knocking Akio back a short distance. He reciprocated by flinging his zanpokuto like a boomerang, barely slicing a thin line on Ryoko's cheek.
"Oh, that was a close call," Akio observed catching his sword as it flew back to him.
"Yeah, but not close enough," Ryoko retorted. Shortening her blades, she flew forward for close combat fighting. She sliced, just getting Akio's arm. He grunted from the pain and retreated a little ways away to assess the situation.
"What's wrong? Can't take me anymore?" Ryoko called to Akio.
"You just got in a lucky shot, that's all."
"Okay, what ever you say," Ryoko taunted.
Unexpectedly, he shot forward, faster than before, and caught Ryoko right on the shoulder.
"Ah!" she cried out.
"Now we're even," Akio explained.
"It's not about getting even, you fool. It's about winning," Ryoko barked.
"But doesn't winning mean death? I can see your resolve as clear as day, and you don't want to kill me. I'm correct, aren't I?" he said slyly.
Ryoko froze, she didn't even know what her resolve included, but he just read her like a book.
"C'mon, Ryoko. You think I would forget your persona in such a short amount of time," Akio asked with a pout.
Ryoko came out of her trance with a spark of anger and flash stepped with incredible speed and sliced a diagonal cut across Akio's mid-section.
"Gah!" he yelp, falling to a knee, "How did I not see that coming..." he mumbled to himself.
"Why did you make me have to do that to you?" Ryoko said regretfully.
Blood fell from the wound Ryoko inflicted, and as the drops fell to the ground, Ryoko flinched.
"Hah," Akio laughed, "This is nothing I can't handle."
"Heh-" Ryoko started, but the rest caught in her throat as she heard a cry from none other than Rangiku.
"Looks like your friend won't last much longer," Akio observed.
"Matsumoto!" Ryoko screamed ignoring Akio, and running to her aid. Ryoko flash stepped over to Rangiku and saw blood gushing from a wound on her left arm.
"Matsumoto!" Ryoko yelled again, slicing several creatures that gathered around Rangiku, making them fall to the ground.
"Ryoko, I called for back up, but no one's coming!" Rangiku said with wild eyes.
"Then we'll need to do this by ourselves," Ryoko replied grimly, cutting down more creatures.
"I don't think we can, more just keep coming! No matter how many I kill, they just come back!"
Ryoko glanced at a bloodied Rangiku surprised to see how much blood was on her.
"Matsumoto, is that your own blood?" Ryoko said none too calmly.
"Heh, a lot of it," Rangiku answered sheepishly. Ryoko could already see her faltering from blood loss.
"You've lost a lot of blood; we need to finish this quickly. Ger!" Ryoko growled as a blade met her other shoulder.
"Okay," Rangiku said dazedly. Though her mind was clouded, Rangiku was still fighting decently, until she got stabbed in the shoulder blade by a minion.
"Ah!" Rangiku howled.
"Matsumoto! Are you okay?" Ryoko asked with concern, turning briefly to see Rangiku fall to the ground.
"Shit!" Ryoko said ducking under a blade and going to Rangiku, "Matsumoto, stay with me," she called blocking more blades from getting to her and Rangiku.
"Ryoko," Rangiku uttered painfully, " Retreat, and save yourself."
"Hah, we're not going to do the cliché movie scene, I'm staying with you until help comes to us."
"Suit yourself," Rangiku muttered then passed out from blood loss.
"Matsumoto!" Ryoko said frantically, but didn't have time as three creatures lunged forward, the third going through Ryoko's defense and stabbing her right under her collar bone.
"Gahhhh!" she screamed, a new wave of adrenalin kicking in. She kicked the being away as hard as she could crying out as the blade came out of the wound.
Crazed with fear and adrenaline, Ryoko began hacking every which way, not caring about form, or if she was hitting anything. From a distance she heard running but didn't pay attention to it because a voice rang out and said, "Finish her!"
All the remaining minions stopped suddenly, startling Ryoko, and formed a tight circle around her and Rangiku.
"Hahahaha! You should have finished me off before going to the aid of your comrade!" Ryoko spun around to see Akio, battered and bloodied, standing no more than ten feet away.
He looked away briefly to look at where the foot steps were coming from and said with a smile, "There too late."
Ryoko knew what he was talking about. The backup was too late, and she was probably going to die. She looked at the people coming around the building, and saw Kira and Hisagi running towards their direction. Kira was the first to see Ryoko who was bleeding badly with her swords up, and Rangiku on the ground, passed out, clutching her sword hilt tightly.
Before either of the men could come to their aid, Akio said one word that changed everything.
"Now," he called calmly and all the creatures brought their swords up and stabbed, too fast for anyone to react.
All of the swords stabbed Ryoko at the same time, making her gasp in intense pain, blood spewing from all of the entry points.
"Ryoko!" Kira screamed running forward to cut down the monsters but they all disappeared before his drawn sword could make contact.
Ryoko stood there for a moment, eyes wide, not breathing, until she fell to the ground, the world turning red then black.
CLIFF HANGER! AHAHAHA! Okay did you like it? I liked it :D I love fighting~ Some things- Akio's zanpokuto is called 'hayabusa' which means 'peregrine falcon' and is one of the awesomest motorcycles evar, but, I digress. The command means 'dive' I don't know if it really translates to 'dive' because I don't know Japanese but, bear with me. Ryoko's is 'prance, nimble deer' it may be like 'bounce, light deer' or something similar, but you get the point ;) Thank you, come again!