Welcome to the next chapter of this story! I hope that you all enjoyed the suspense I left in the last one (Even if it left you wanting for more) and I'm glad to see so many people enjoy my story.
Also I'm sorry for the long update since 1, I had to do several projects over the course of December and 2, help with Christmas shopping. But with Christmas break here, I'll have more time to type and update.
And on a unrelated note, when do you guys think the next big 'End of the World' prediction is going to happen. My bet is sometime between New Year and Valentine. Oh! And I wish you a early Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Lets hope that 2013 will be an interesting year.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Chapter 17: The Witch Princess
Lightning stared at the massive crater with no emotion in her eyes and behind her, several shinigami stood awaiting for her orders. "Spread out. The Ryoka couldn't have gotten that far." They nodded and ran off in different directions with Lightning looking around for a few more minutes before leaving.
Up in a tree, Chad sighed in relief. The pink hair girl's Reiatsu was larger than his own and he didn't want to get capture right in the beginning.
With Toph
The blind girl used her earth abilities to sense if there was anyone unfamiliar nearby and so far none of them stood out. Frowning, Toph walked off to check if they were out of range and hiding on a building, Yoruichi watched her leave before heading somewhere in mind.
With Tenten
The bun hair girl sighed in annoyance as she saw the ball crash several hundred feet away and figure it would take a while to reach it. Shunpo wasn't one of her strong points but she went on, determined to carry out her captain's orders.
With Ganju and Ichigo
"LUCKY!" The bald shinigami, otherwise known as Ikkaku, yelled out as he finished his weird dance in front of Ichigo and Ganju. Silence dominated the air until...
"What the hell was that stupid dance for?" Ichigo said, making Ikkaku hit the ground before he stood back up with an angry tick on his head. "Screw you! My dance isn't stupid and do you know how long it took for me to create it!"
"Or how many bottles of sake." His friend said from behind him while the bald shinigami glared before turning his attention back on Ichigo and Ganju who were whispering to one another.
"What do you mean we should run away?" Ichigo whispered to him as Ganju tried to pull him with him to escape. "I mean we should go! Can't you feel there spiritual pressure is higher than an average shinigami!"
Ikkaku yelled down at them, saying. "Oi! What are you two arguing about? You know what never mind that since nothing is going to change your upcoming demise anyways."
The cleaner looking one walked up to the pit and said, "We should probably kill them now before someone tries to steal our kill."
"Too late for that." Everyone heard another voice say and they looked up to see a young girl standing on the wall with a badge on her left arm, a large hat on her head, and a sword strapped to her back.
"Who are you?" Ichigo said while Ikkaku and Yumichika glared at her for some reason. "Get out of here you little brat. We got here first so we get to fight them first."
The girl sighed and dropped off the wall. "Maybe but I outrank the both of you so you two are the ones who should be leaving."
"Why don't you make us?" Ikkaku flashed a hint of steel but the girl looked indifferent at the threat before aiming a finger at him. A second later, his entire body was glowing red and he was unable to move. "You little brat! Let me go!"
Yumichika glared at the girl before asking, "Why are you even here? If I recall correctly, you ain't much of solo fighter." She shrugged as she ignored the bound shinigami yelling threats at her.
"Yeah but I'm doing this as a favor for a friend so now," She turned to Ichigo and Ganju, both now out of the sand pit. "Are you going to pick the easy way or the hard way?"
Ichigo opened his mouth to say something but was caught offguard when Ganju suddenly grabbed the back of his robes and ran off, dragging him with him and surprising the trio of Shinigami.
"Hey! Get back here!" The girl said before disappearing in a shunpo to give chase. The two eleventh division members then decided to follow, thinking that if those two did managed to beat her maybe they could fight the winner.
With Ichigo and Ganju
"Why are we running!? We could have taken them!" Ichigo yelled at him as he was continued being dragged while Ganju scowled at him. "You idiot, can't you even feel her spiritual pressure? She's even higher than those two and worse she's one of Toshiro's friends."
Ichigo gained a puzzled expression on his face before he remembered. "Wait a minute, you mean she knows that white hair midget that was in your house yesterday?"
A certain white hair midget then sneezed and had the sudden urge to freeze a strawberry.
Ganju nodded as he turned a corner. "Yeah I recognized her when Nee-sama asked if she could meet some of his friends and Yoruichi said to avoid him at all costs."
"And how does that relate to us running away from her?" Ichigo angrily asked as they came to a stop in a large open area and was hit in the back of the head by Ganju.
"Didn't you hear her you dumb strawberry!? She said that she's going to fight us as a favor to a friend! That means that Toshiro probably told her and his other friends to watch out for us and what do you think will happen if they caught us?"
He did think and paled, remembering what Yoruichi said if he caught one of them. "Do you really think that brat will really torture one of us if he captures us?" His concerns were mostly focused on his friends rather than himself. Ichigo hoped that they would take care of themselves.
"I don't know but I don't want to find out." Ganju said as he began to run again. "Come on! If we keep running we'll bound to lose he-!" He was cut off when he face planted into an invisible wall, comically sliding down it while Ichigo laughed at his misfortune.
"Nowhere to run now." Ichigo turned around to see the girl standing there, her Zanpakuto ready in her hands. "Last chance for you to give up or..." She trailed off when she noticed a little closer exactly who smack into her wall. "Ganju? Is that you?"
The man got up and smiled sheepishly at the girl. "Hey Yukari. Do you think you can take this wall down so I could run away?"
"Not a chance. You may be close to Toshiro but right now you are invading Seireitei so its my duty to take you both in." She got into an odd stance, one hand was holding her blade out in front of her in defend and one hand was pointed at them with two fingers pointed at each of them.
A second later, they found out why her fingers was like that.
The two barely dodged a yellow glowing rope in time that flew pass them and ran at her from different directions. Yukari quickly slammed her free hand on the ground just as the two got to her and a cloud of red smoke appeared, covering them. After a hit and punch was heard, it cleared to reveal that Ichigo had hit Ganju with the side of his sword while Ganju had punched him in the face. Yukari was in the air and had a hand pointed down at them.
"Shakkaho!" She yelled as a bright ball of red flames shot out of her hand and impacted the ground they were standing on, barely managing to dodge it in time.
Ichigo's eyes widen at the charred crater it left and asked aloud. "Who is this kid?"
The two were now on separate sides of the girl who landed gracefully on the ground with a smirk and held up a finger over her head. "I am Lieutenant Sendo Yukari of the Kido Corps and the Witch Princess of Seireitei!" Some firework and lightning shot out of her finger, somehow forming her name in flames and lightning.
"..."
"..."
"Better than yours Ikkaku." Yumichika said getting a glare from said man as they watched the fight from there view on the wall. Ichigo ran at the girl but Yukari stopped his charge with a quick lightning bolt before ducking to avoid a swing from Ganju and wrapped a glowing rope around his waist and throwing him into Ichigo.
She then fired the same ropes, only this time it had more Reiatsu in it to make it stronger and hopefully capture both of them in one go, but Ichigo and Ganju, who broke out of the weaker ropes, jumped away in time to avoid it.
'This isn't good,' Yukari thought as she kept the duo at bay with a series of lightning bolts and weaker Shakkaho. 'I suck at direct battles and those two don't look like they're going to help me anytime soon.'
"Shall I lend a hand?"She heard her Zanpakuto say. 'Not yet. We have to wait for the right moment.' Ichigo finally got close enough and swung at the girl with the flat of his blade, not wanting to hurt someone so young looking but missed when Yukari jumped up. However, she was forced to make a shield when Ganju threw several balls at her which blew up in fireworks, blinding her.
"Now Ichigo! Get her!" Said person didn't waste a second when he jumped at Yukari's falling body, the flat of his blade ready to knock her out. However, despite being blinded, she was still about to sense people's Reiatsu signatures and felt Ichigo coming at her from behind. At the last second, she spun around and put a finger on the blade, yelling.
"Shō!" Yukari put much more power into the basic kido which is the reason why Ichigo was sent flying back into another invisible barrier while she landed on her feet, blinking away lights in her eyes. 'That was close. I doubt that I can last a hit against that blade.'
Ichigo and Ganju quickly got together, waiting for Yukari to move which she didn't. Ganju then whispered. "We need to go! If we keep fighting then more Shinigami can come here."
"I don't think so," Ichigo's eyes wander around the surroundings and noticed that they were within an invisible barrier from all sides. "She wants us to stay trapped so we would be forced to fight her alone."
"Still, the more time we waste fighting her, the less time we have to rescue your friend." Ichigo then got a stupid yet crazy idea and grinned. "Say Ganju, can you turn anything to sand?"
Ganju was confused but nodded although the grin on Ichigo's face slightly unnerved him. "Yeah why?" He got his answer when Ichigo whispered it to him and gulped. "Can't you think of a better plan?"
His answer was Ichigo suddenly grabbing the back of his robes with one hand and throwing him. "Nope!" Yukari was completely caught off guard when Ganju came flying toward her at dangerous speeds and quickly put up a barrier which stopped him cold, about two feet in front of her.
However Ganju move his hand in a circle on the ground and said, "Renkan Seppa Sen!" Suddenly the ground turned into sand and the two was stuck in a giant sandpit.
"What the!" Yukari was quickly buried waist deep into the sand and tried fruitlessly to get out. Ganju, however, was also stuck but heard Ichigo say, "Oi! Ganju Grab on to this!" He threw his blade next to Ganju, using the cloth as a rope to pull him in as Ganju grabbed onto the hilt.
'This isn't good, they're going to get away.' "Perhaps now its time to show them why your called the Witch Princess."Yukari nodded her head, unwilling to let the two escape and prepare to enter her Shikai.
Yumichika was about to jump in to stop them from leaving but Ikkaku held him back. "Ikkaku you do know that they'll get away right?"
"Nope," The bald shinigami said as he watched Yukari held her blade in front of her, both hands held around the hilt and felt her Reiatsu rise. "Those two are about to find out why she's called the Witch Princess."
Ichigo grunted as he finally pulled Ganju out of the sand. "Man what do you eat?" Ganju said some less than kinder words but was ignored as the two turned to the barrier. Placing a hand on it, Ganju asked. "You think you can bust through this?"
The strawberry hair teen grinned and held his blade high. "Watch me." Before he could do that, the two felt the air turned thicker with Reiatsu and looked behind them with wide eyes in shock.
"Come Forth Regina Magica!"The sand blew away from her as a small size pink circle with unfamiliar signs on it and Yukari was in the middle of it, her zanpakuto gone and replaced with a staff that had a pink heart at the end. All the sand within the circle was gone to reveal a solid ground underneath it.
With Toshiro
The white hair boy looked at the direction of Yukari's Reiatsu. 'These Ryoka must be powerful if they can forced Yukari into her Shikai State.'
Lightning
The pink hair girl stopped in her tracks and stared at the direction of Yukari. She had to admit that she wasn't on the level that Yukari was on yet and if the Ryoka can force her into Shikai then they must be powerful.
Tenten
The bun hair girl stared at the direction of Yukari's Reiatsu and wondered how powerful the Ryoka are.
Toph
The blind girl continued her walk, ignoring that one of her friend's Reiatsu had been forced into Shikai.
Yukari
'The circle is too small. I have to be careful not to let them get too close then.' She thought as she looked at the circle before addressing Ichigo and Ganju.
"You should be honored. People rarely get to see my Shikai." Yukari then charged up three kido at the same time, all at full power, much to the shock of her two opponents. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. I just need to make sure that you can't escape me."
A trio of glowing triangles appeared around her and the two barely dodged the beams of light that shot at them with Ganju going left and Ichigo going right. The two avoided stepping in the sand since they knew that it would slow them down and they needed all the speed they can muster.
Seeing the two separate, she shot a rod into the air before it transformed into a storm of short rods that the two had to dodged and weaved. However they couldn't dodged them all...
"Shit!" Ganju yelled as one of rods managed to hit him in the leg, pinning him to the ground and leaving him an open target. Yukari saw this and sent glowing chains at him. Luckily Ichigo threw his sword hard enough to hit and cut through the chains, making Yukari's eyes widen.
'I heard of people breaking out of Bakudo spells before but cutting through them? That orange one is no joke.'
She sent more chains at Ganju but he managed to free himself from the rod and dodged it just in time and grabbing Ichigo's Zanpakuto as he did. Although the huge blade did slow him down and barely dodged several more kido spells that was aimed at him. Ichigo, seeing that Ganju was in trouble, picked up a bit of rubble and yelled.
"Hey over here!" He threw it at her but she merely looked at it and it stopped halfway toward her and shot back at him, making him dodge as it made a small hole in the wall. 'Okay bad idea.'
Ganju threw several more firework balls at her but again she stopped them and made them fly up into the air so that they won't blind her again. Finally he grabbed the hilt of Ichigo's Zanpakuto and yelled. "Catch this!" He threw it, but despite his strength, it only made it halfway and everyone sweatdropped at the fail. However Ganju did use the moment to run to Ichigo side and whisper.
"We need to beat her now or else more shinigami will come!" Ichigo then whisper back. "You just threw my Zanpakuto at her so how am I suppose to get it back?... And why are we whispering?"
Ganju grinned and whispered his plan, giving him something. Ichigo nodded and made a dash toward his Zanpakuto, making Yukari yell, "Oh no you don't!"
She then combined and fired a spell that looked like a merge of Sajō Sabaku and Shitotsu Sansen which the beams of light spinning in a triangle and the chains forming a net between them.. Just as he reached his blade, Ichigo pulled out a small ball out of his sleeves and threw it on the ground just as the fuse ran out, creating a red smoke cover which the kido spell flew out of the other side of.
Ichigo jumped out of the smoke and into the sky, the sun right behind him and Zanpakuto in hand. She charged up several different kido to capture him but forgot one important detail, her other opponent.
"Don't forget about me!" Ganju yelled, making a circle on the ground in front of her and turned the ground into sand again and interrupting her in the middle of the kido, thus making it fade away. He then threw something at her which she caught with her mind right before it hit her but paled when she saw it was a larger firework ball with its fuse already done.
BOOM!
"AH!" She yelled, face slightly burnt by the fireworks and blinded once more. However she did managed to sent out a glowing chain that hit Ganju dead center on the chest as payback. Yukari blinked away the lights in her eyes and paled once more when she saw Ichigo coming down with his Zanpakuto and made a quick barrier to defend herself.
However, with his strength and the momentum from the fall, he broke through it and hit the sand right in front of her hard enough to send her flying back and outside her circle which faded away. She hit a wall hard and felt her staff fall out of her hands.
Yukari gritted her teeth when she exhausted thanks to a con of her Shikai and felt two shadows fall over her. She looked up and it was Ichigo and Ganju, who was cut free from the chains.
"So what should we do with her?" Ichigo said as Ganju grinned and pulled out some rope making Yukari pale a third time.
A few minutes later, Yukari was tied up and yelling some rather... colorful words at them before Ichigo gagged her with some cloth from his blade. "Man whoever taught you those words should be locked up."
The duo then began to walk off, talking to each other as they did. "You know I feel like we forgot something Ichi-" This time, both of them face planted into a invisible wall when they tried to walk down a corridor, making everyone sweatdrop at the display.
Ikkaku and Yumichika then stood up, both of them having grins on there faces. "Hold it! You may have beaten the Kido Brat but now you have to fight some real shinigami." The two jumped toward them until they too hit an invisible wall, comically sliding down it like two bugs.
'Did those idiots really think I didn't think about them when I made this barrier.' Yukari thought with a sweatdrop as Ikkaku pounded on the wall with Ichigo and Ganju teasing him from the other side. Deciding to let the two have there chances at fighting them, Yukari mentally dropped the barrier making the Eleventh Division Third Seat grinned and the two pale.
With Toshiro
Toshiro's eyes narrowed when he felt Yukari's drop, not enough to be consider dead but enough to say that she was beaten. 'This isn't good. If those Ryoka are able to be her then maybe I shouldn't have sent my friends to fight them.'
He considered his thoughts for several minutes, unaware of a black cat watching him from the manor's rooftop.
With Aizen
The man himself was going through several files in the Central 46 Compound database who were all dead and have been for a while. Beside him was Gin, the captain of the Third Division who apparently had something important to show him.
"Tell me Gin, what is so important that you had to drag me all the way over here?" The grinning man simply went up to the keyboard and entered a certain number of words and numbers. "I managed to find this when I got bored of walking around Seireitei a few days ago."
The computer screen became blank except for one file on it. This file was heavily guarded with several firewalls and passwords but Gin just entered 'DRAGON' and it opened to show its secrets.
Aizen allowed a smile to appear on his face as he read what was on the screen. "I believe its time to complete what I said to Kisuke all those years ago."
Duh duh duh! The first one to battle was Yukari and it appears that the duo of Ichigo and Ganju was too much for her. Now before you say that she was beaten too easily, notice that I only made her use Bakudo spells instead of Hado spells when she released her Shikai state and she was trying to capture them without harming them too much. If she was fighting at her full strength then those two would have a much harder time fighting her but I will say this now, the rest of Toshiro's friends will not be underestimating Ichigo and Co from now on. They will have a harder time beating them now and will sustain a few injures along the way.
Also here's a special Omake for this chapter!
Zanpakuto Encyclopedia!
Hello everyone! Starting from this chapter, I will be doing this to give you a general understanding of the characters I put in here and the Zanpakuto's they wield. First up is Yukari's own Zanpakuto
A screen turns on to show it was Yukari from this chapter. "Come Forth Regina Magica!"The video paused as her sword turned into a staff.
First off, the name of her Zanpakuto means Queen Magic in latin which in turns makes Yukari sort of a princess, thus her name for herself, the Witch Princess. Her Zanpakuto takes on the simple appearance of a staff with a pink heart at the end but don't let it fool you, her Shikai abilities are nothing to be laughing at.
The screen split into four different squares, each one showing Yukari fighting in it before it enlarged on her throwing the rubble Ichigo threw at her with her mind.
One of its abilities is telekinesis which allows her to move things her mind but there is a limit to that. She can only move things that doesn't have Reiatsu and she has to be able to see it to move it. I didn't want to make this ability too over powered and it sort of connects to her controlling brooms in her original anime/manga
The screen then was filled up with her firing several kido at the same time.
Another one of her Shikai abilities is that she can cast several different kido at the same time and fire them without the downside of not saying the full incantation which is that they are weaker. Along with that she can merge Kido together to form dangerous combinations as the result.
It focused on her firing the combination spell of Sajō Sabaku and Shitotsu Sansen.
I call this one, the Tri Chain Net and it has the power of both spells used to form it, making it difficult to get out of once caught inside. Not to say that all Kido fusions will have power behind it, some will be faster when combine and others will be more difficult to dodge. However, keep in mind that this is still Kido and follows one of its rules.
The screen showed Yukari kido spells interrupted by Ganju when he turned the ground into sand a second time.
If she is interrupted when casting them, they will fade away leaving her open for a few seconds which is a major reason why she hates to fight an opponent directly. Another thing is that there is a limit of Kido spells she can fire off at the same time but I won't say how much until later
Now finally the circle that appeared when she called out her Zanpakuto.
The screen then showed nothing but Yukari with her standing on the circle.
This is the reason why she was able to fire off so many Kido spells without her Reiatsu reserves taking a dive. This circle uses the surrounding Reiatsu to make the kido while she uses a portion of her own to focus it. This allows her a virtually endless amount of Reiatsu and thus an near endless attack or defense of Kido.
Not to say that this doesn't have its cons. Like stated above, the circle uses the surrounding Reiatsu to make the kido and while this isn't a problem in Seireitei, where there is so much Reiatsu in the air thanks to the Shinigami, there is a problem when she uses it in the World of the Living.
She would have to depend on how many living things are around her since all living things have a portion of Reiatsu within them but lets say she was fighting in a ghost town, Yukari would be at a major disadvantage since there is no Reiatsu for the circle to use.
Another thing is the size of the circle is random each time she calls out her Zanpakuto. Sometimes it could be the size of a football field and other times it can be as small as a ball. The moment she steps out of the circle, Yukari will feel the effects of casting so many Kido, thus her feeling exhausted when Ichigo knocked her out of it, and the circle will disappear. It will not appear until the next time she activates her Shikai. However her circle can appear on anywhere, whether it'll be on the water, air, or ground.