-Sorry about the delay everyone, alot of things have been happening in the week. School started, homework, didn't have internet. Once again I'm sorry.-
"Well it could be worse."-Speaking
'Don't say that you fool...'-Thinking
"Pathetic" -Hollow
"Fight!" -Zanpakuto/Yelling
It's been about a week since Ichigo's first eventful day at the DWMA and surprisingly he had become sort of adjusted to the craziness many people considered normal around here. When it came to the wake up times that came with school was a pain in the ass, but he got used to it.
Maka had become a somewhat dear friend of Ichigo during his short time at the school, not to mention she remind him somewhat of both Rukia and Orihime. She was a kind person who treated most people with the upmost kindness…until you annoyed her. Then she would unleash her fury upon you, most of the time with a really thick book. Ichigo learned that the hard way when he commented on her reading habit alongside Soul, his headache from her Maka Chop didn't go away for about three days.
Soul on the other hand was a rather interesting character. Being the silent type, Soul often displayed a cool personality around everyone expect those close to him. But despite that, Soul and Ichigo were able to get along pretty well.
BlackStar…well other than still being very annoying and his constant requests/demands for a rematch with Ichigo, he was slightly less of pest to Ichigo…most of the time.
Then it came to Tsubaki. Now she had unknowingly gained some respect from the orange haired shinigami by putting up with all of her blue haired meister's antics. If Ichigo was in her position he would have pulled his hair out of his head in pure anger long ago. He had to give her credit, she was able to put up with some unbelievable bullshit from the loud ninja, something most couldn't do, and she was still able to think clearly. He had to give her credit for that.
Sid hasn't really changed much after Ichigo first meet him. He was still the stern teacher who treated the majority of his students with respect and decency (not counting a certain blue haired one).
Overall the school was pretty interesting and Ichigo had grown somewhat accustom to it in the short time he had been attending at it. Grade wise he was doing quite well like he had done so at his previous school, not to mention the fact that with the absence of hollow attacks Ichigo didn't have to stay up half the night to prepare for a test anymore.
But that was also a major cause of annoyance for the young shinigami. Without stress release his hollow patrols had granted him, Ichigo had become rather restless in his spare time. Beating up on BlackStar during spars (Ichigo really only expected them when he was in a really bad mood) could only do so much. Add the fact that he still wasn't allowed to take on a mission because of his brief time attending the academy equals one of the most painful headaches and restlessness Ichigo had ever experienced in his life.
And if you thought this was a pain, think of what his hollow was feeling at this exact same time. He was so bored that he couldn't even enjoy sparing with Zangetsu anymore. The Zanpakuto wasn't even trying and the hollow had just plain grown bored with the same sparing matches with Zangetsu's same boring fighting style. Being so bored, the hollow actually made a remarkable discovery while exploring the endless reaches of Ichigo's inner world. It actually had stuff inside it!
Before hand anyone would have thought the entire city was just an empty representation of the boy's soul, but it turns out it was much more than that. While he was walking around the empty streets of the sideways world the hollow noticed a liquor store. Turns out that the endless city actually contains everything a real city would actually have in it. Unfortunately for Ichigo that also meant that the liquor in the store his hollow found was very real.
The hollow had a hangover that last for about three days. Ichigo actually asked Zangetsu to go around the city and lock up every place that had any type of liquor. The amount of keys the Zanpakuto collected in that short of time is unknown to even the sword spirit himself, there was just far too many keys.
Overall this development gave Ichigo some breathing room when it came to his hollow and even Zangetsu. His hollow found some things (other than liquor) that would distract him from the boredom of his king's life. Things from gun shops, car departments, video outlet stores (they contains every movie and television show Ichigo had ever seen), and very many more places really caught the hollow's attention.
Even Zangetsu discovered a fairly green park a good distance from his legendary flag pole perch. He figured that after he asked his wielder about having some trees in the world, Ichigo had created this park unknowingly and never mentioned it. This is where the sword spirit normally spends his time nowadays; it's quite a peaceful place and the hollow never really showed his face around there anymore (you can blame that on an incident involving a flamethrower, but that's a story for another day).
Overall this was the closest thing Ichigo could consider as a normal week in his life. There were no hollow attacks, not wandering sprits, and no insanely crazy antics (no, BlackStar does not count). But unfortunately just as the young shinigami was getting used to this odd taste of normality, he had no idea that all of that was going to turn into a giant pile of insanity.
Present Time; 2:25pm, the DWMA:
The boredom radiating off everyone in the Crescent Moon classroom was nearly unbearable. There was nearly thirty minutes left until the final bell and everyone just wanted it all to be over with. Hell, everyone had their own way of coping with the boredom.
Maka was reading a book while Soul was sleeping in his seat next to her in his own seat. BlackStar was just scribbling some nonsense onto some scraps of paper, most likely practicing his signature. Tsubaki was one of the few remaining students who were actually trying to pay attention to Sid's lesson. Speaking of their teacher, even Sid himself was bored out of his wits. He was so bored that he was even tempted to just let everyone have the rest of the day off and do what they wanted. But unfortunately for everyone else, that's not the kind of man he is.
And finally when it came to Ichigo, our resident vizard was just staring off into space. Currently his thoughts were switching between going into his inner world and seeing what his two personal spirits were doing or taking Soul's approach and catch some sleep.
But before he could decide on ether, the sound of the bell echoed throughout the classroom. Apparently time goes by faster when you're thinking about going to sleep than by listening to a boring ass lecture. But that's beside the point, once that final bell was heard everyone got ready to leave.
With a sight yawn, Ichigo gathered up his books and placed Zangetsu on his back before making his way to the door. But on the way there, he couldn't help but notice everyone else getting ready to head home. Maka had already gathered up all of her supplies and was currently trying to wake up her sleeping weapon partner. You'd think Soul would be smart enough to wake before his meister resorted to…
"Maka…Chop!"
Never mind. After that excellent display of head to book combat, Ichigo turned his attention toward possibly the loudest thing in a ten mile radios. Turns out that BlackStar had burst out of his seat the moment the bell rang and made his escape through a nearby window. Luckily Sid had foreseen this and opened all the windows ahead of time. Unfortunately this caused Tsubaki to rush out of the classroom in a attempt to catch up with her meister. For that Ichigo couldn't help but feel sorry for her, trying to catch up with that nutcase was like trying to give Kenpachi clear directions. It never works out like you want it to.
Putting those thoughts aside for now, Ichigo nearly made it out the door before a piece of chalk nailed him in the back of the head. Look behind him, he saw Sid walk over to him and hand him a note. But before he could question the teacher he vanished. Curse those assassin skills of his! They were really starting to piss him off.
Putting his plans for payback off to the side, Ichigo looked at the note that was just handed to him.
Ichigo, Shinigami-sama wishes to speak to you in the death room. He apparently has something important he needs to discuss with you. Please head down to his office right after the final bell.
Oh and P.S, if you see BlackStar please grab the little nutcase and bring him to me. I need someone to clean off his stupid signature off all the desks and the janitor refuses to do anything that has to do with him.
-Sid Barret
Ichigo couldn't help but lightly chuckle at that last bit. Sid's reaction this morning when he discovered that every single desk in the classroom had BlackStar's crudely dawn signature on it was priceless. He had to thank that hyperactive goofball before he dragged his sorry ass back Sid for punishment. But first things first, he needed to see the Reaper himself.
After a long walk to the death room, Ichigo opened the doors and saw the office's normal residences standing there waiting for them.
"Ichigo! Hey there! How's it going?" Shinigami-sama waved at Ichigo, his normal cheerfulness clearly present. Spirit only gave the young shinigami a nod in his direction, but coming from the death scythe it was pretty normal.
"This better not be something stupid like washing your windows again!" Ichigo called out to the duo, his frustration nearly overriding his common sense.
Last time the shinigami called Ichigo to his office he claimed he had a way to distract the young boy from his overwhelming boredom. But after three seconds of explain what exactly he had in mind, Ichigo realized that it was just a bunch of chores that the old man just really didn't want to do. The carnage the young vizard caused could have nearly destroyed the entire south portion of the DWMA if he really wanted too. Hopefully this time the old shinigami had something more important for Ichigo to spend his time on.
"No! no, this time it's actually something important this time!" Spirit wisely interrupted the situation, he still had a few bruises from the last time they angered the boy.
"Really?" Ichigo replied dryly, he was in no mood for any annoying bull crap from either of them. If this was just more of their useless crap, than all Ichigo wanted to do was go home and get away from all this craziness (Blair was likely there, but he really didn't think she counted).
"Oh yes!" Shinigami-sama finally said, now pretty sure that Ichigo wasn't going to try to smash his face again.
"I have a very important mission for you, one that I'm certain that none of my other students could handle." Now this got Ichigo's (and his Hollow's) attention, looks something interesting was going on and he didn't even know it.
Shinigami's mirror then displayed several images of destroyed trucks and trailers. They looked like something huge had gone an smashed them like pancakes. Hell, some of them even looked like it had a bite taken out of it.
"There is something destroying nearly all of local traffic coming to and from death city."
The mirror then changed to series of ghastly images of the injuries these attacks have caused. There were people gravely hurt by these acts of destruction. Broken bones, fractured skulls, and there were even a few body bags in the background. It was all sickening. But despite all the carnage these images had shown, there was still a single bit of importance to all of this pain. In the final picture, there was a small detail was shown in the far corner of the image. There, in the desert, was the image of something slithering into the earth and escaping the scene.
"Whatever this creature is," Shinigami-sama's words brought the visard's attention back to reality. "It needs to be stopped, before more lives are lost. Understood?"
Ichigo didn't need another thought on the matter; he simply nodded and made his way towards the exit. But with his back turned to the duo, Ichigo didn't notice the piles of sweat pouring down the back of their heads. But once he vanished from their sight into the halls of the school, the two released a sigh of relief they seemed to be holding for the last few hours.
"Phew...you think he bought it?" Spirit asked, still slightly concerned at the recent events.
The shinigami merely looked at him cheerfully and patted him on the back, "I'm sure of it! This should keep him busy for a few days…hopefully."
Spirit's expression picked up a little bit before looking at his boss with concern, "Are you sure he can handle this? I mean he's powerful and all but can he handle that…thing?"
The boss just waved his weapon's worries off and turned back to his mirror, he was certain that Ichigo could easily handle that creature. Hell, he didn't even have to explain what that creature really was. Knowing Ichigo's aggressive and destructive nature, he'd tear that thing apart with no second thoughts in the slightest. In the end it would all end ok.
Right?
Later at Ichigo's Apartment.
"What! You're going somewhere and leaving me here?"
Yeah, you'd think the extremely powerful human who possessed both the powers of a god of death and a hollow, a person who had fought against gods and demons. One who had achieved a level of power beyond all of imagination would be far beyond the whining of a cute cat girl.
"But ichi, I want to go with you!"
Eh…turns out not so much.
The moment Ichigo had returned from the academy he quickly began gathering the supplies he would need while he would be in the desert outside the city. Things like water, food, clothing to protect him from the sun, everything a normal person would need in the hot heat of the desert. But while he was packing all of those items in a small duffle bag he unknowingly attracted the of the resident cat girl. With her curious attitude she quickly asked the orange haired boy why he was doing this. Ichigo then spent the next two minutes explaining to his roommate the situation and what he was going to do about it.
After fully grasping the situation, Blair instantly asked if she could come with him. But knowing Ichigo's protective personality, it wasn't surprising when he said no. But of course his denial of her request lead to the current situation, Blair bugging the unholy crap out of Ichigo until he either told her off (little to no chance in that happening) or reconsidering taking her with him (not happening, ever).
Rubbing his temples in annoyance, Ichigo turned to his eyes on the sad expression on Blair's face (although that pout was somewhat suspicious).
"Blair, it why do you want to come with me? I can think of multiple reasons why you shouldn't and wouldn't want to come with me." Ichigo sighed, he really wanted to get this over with and she really wasn't making it easy.
The neko girl just gave him a confused look, what reasons could he have for her to not come with him? Still being the cat that she is, Blair rested her arm of the couch and waited for him to continue.
Ichigo then sat on the couch beside her and gave her a sincere look, "What I'm going after is dangerous, from what I've heard from the old man is that whatever this thing is has killed a large number of people and hurt even more."
Noticing her still paying attention he continued, "Knowing that, I cannot willingly take you with me." Putting his hands on her shoulder, Ichigo looked into his friend's eyes, "I don't want you to get hurt ok? I just can't have that."
Blair's ears instantly drooped at this but understood what Ichigo was saying. If someone as powerful as her orange haired ichi was worried for her safety, then her magic wouldn't cut it this time. But before she could make one last attempt at reasoning with him, Ichigo decided to put one last nail in the coffin.
"Besides, do you really want to be in the hot dirt-filled desert for the next few days?"
Now that finally ended the conversation on Blair's end. She actually hated the heat, being part cat does that to a person. Being covered in fur makes her very susceptible to the heat. Hell that's one of the reasons why she liked to stay at Ichigo's apartment all the time. Seeing how Ichigo didn't have to pay bills, she could keep the air conditioning on full blast. But add the burning desert to the list of things Ichigo was going through to kill that thing? It was just a little too much.
Seeing the depressed expression on his friend's face, Ichigo gave her a small hug before grabbing his stuff and heading towards the door. But before he made his way out the door he stopped and turned toward her.
With a small wave, Ichigo departed from his apartment and started to make his way to the city's front entrance.
But as he left, he didn't notice a depressed look Blair laid her head back onto the couch. She really wanted to go with her orange haired friend, but in the end she would have probably just been a liability to him. Sighing to herself, Blair merely opened one of the windows and jumped out. Landing on all four of her feet (she transformed into her cat form in mid-fall), Blair decided to head back to her home until Ichigo got back.
It wouldn't be that bad anyway, she could spend this time doing things she really couldn't with Ichigo. Maybe go shopping, hit the clubs, do some dancing, there was countless things she could do while her shinigami was away. But one thing was decided; the moment she got home she was going to take a nice long bath. Nothing can go possibly go wrong with a simple bath.
Right?
A few hours later, Blair's house.
"It's Crow Time!"
That was the sound that Soul Eater Evens made when he smashed his way into their targets house. When he and his meister had accepted this mission, they expected to be hunting a evil, disgusting witch so he could finally become one of shinigami-sama's private weapons. So imagine what happened when all he saw was the sight of a completely naked woman taking a bath.
If you guessed "fall comically to the ground with a massive nose bleed" then you would be right.
But unknown to him and his meister (who unfortunately arrived to see the embarrassment that was her weapon), Blair was thinking very different thoughts during this completely random situation. Maybe these next few days would be fun, even without Ichigo.
The Nevada Desert (outside Death City) Same time.
There were a few ways Ichigo could describe the situation he was in. So many words, hell most of them he couldn't say in public (well his hollow would scream it into the heavens at this point). But in the simplest of terms, Ichigo could summarize all of this in two simple words.
"This sucks…"
He had been in this god forsaken desert for a few hours now and there had yet to be a single sign of whatever had been terrorizing the area. You'd think that something that could cause that much destruction would be easier to find, right?
On a much more interesting note, there were also no signs of all that destruction that thing had caused. No destroyed cars, jeeps, trucks, or anything, there was nothing. Had all of been cleaned up or something? How was that possible? Hell, did that thing just come back and eat everything that it missed sometime later? It just didn't make any sense.
Sighing to himself, Ichigo spotted a nearby rock and decided it was the closest thing he would find to a chair in this sandy mess of land. Sitting himself down, Ichigo grasped his Zanpakuto by its hilt and pulled it off his back and stabbing it into the ground. Letting his sword sink into the ground alittle bit, he then pulled out a small mirror about the size of a dvd case.
One of the first things Ichigo had learned while at the academy was Death's number. Apparently instead of a normal cell phone number or a home phone, Shinigami had his own way of communication. If a person were to write a series of numbers onto a mirror or window, they could instantly contact the death god via the mirror inside his death room.
"42-42-564…" Ichigo muttered to himself as he traced the numbers on the small mirror. It took a few minutes of listening to the sound of a phone ringing, but soon enough the clear image of the goofy god of death appeared, look as amused as ever.
"Hey Kurosaki-kun! How sot going? Find that weird thingy yet?" The shinigami asked, more excited than he should be.
"In order? shitty and no, I still haven't found whatever this thing is." Ichigo response was as expected, annoyed and furious with the desert heat. Then something struck Ichigo, how on earth was he going to find this thing? He was in a freaking desert! If this thing could hide in the ground than it would be nearly be impossible to locate.
"Hey old man!" Shinigami-sama looked at the young vizard with interest, "Do you have any idea how the hell I'm suppose to find this thing in the entire Nevada desert?"
Now that was a question, Truth be told, the shinigami never thought about that piece of information. What if that creature had moved onward past death city, what if it simple left the area? Oh the destruction it could cause. Holy Shit! What would happen if that thing got to Los Vegas? Oh this could end bad…
"Um…hold on, I'm going to ask Spirit about this." The shinigami then disappeared from the mirror's view and Ichigo was greeted with the background image of the death room. Sighing in annoyance, Ichigo just let his hand drop to his side and let his gaze fall on the desert around him. Thinking about it now, Ichigo really wondered why they called the Nevada desert a 'desert'. If anything it was just a stretch of lifeless dirt, no sand, no nothing. Thinking about it still, Ichigo wished it was more like Huceo Mundo's desert. Sure it had some hollows that actually lived in the sand, but other than that it was pretty nice.
But as Ichigo's thoughts turned away from his surrounding area, he didn't seem to notice something small start digging its way of the dirt. It had a very distinct serpent like quality about it. With two small horn-like appendages sticking out of the back of its head, the creature started to slither around the local area for something.
But it made a fatal mistake when it actually noticed the nearby foot belonging to the local vizard. When it tried to snag the young boy's leg in its maw, it unknowingly brought the boy's attention away from his inner thoughts and to the creature itself.
When the creature actually tried to drag Ichigo's leg back into the ground, it painfully met the tip of Zangetsu when it was stabbed through the lower part of its body. Of course, the moment the blade broke through its skin the creature began to flop about, trying to escape its entrapment.
But despite this, Ichigo lifted his sword off the ground and with it, the creature too. Surprisingly this action also lead to a very interesting discovery, turns out that the creature was much longer than it appeared, the end of its body still buried deep into the ground. But while Ichigo was wonder what on earth he had discovered, he didn't notice Shinigami-sama reappear in the mirror's glass surface.
"So I asked Spirit and he…OH You found it!" Those simple words caused an involuntary twitch inside Ichigo. This 'thing' was what he was looking for? This tiny little worm caused all that destruction? Really? This unleashed an uncontrollable rage inside the orange haired vizard that completely overwhelmed all other reasoning skills he possessed.
"This…thing...is what you want me to kill….WHAT?"
"ALL that destruction, ALL that pain, ALL of it was caused by this…this…WORM!" If Ichigo was paying attention to his surroundings, then maybe he would have noticed some of the other living creatures in the area were dropping dead from the intense killing intent he was releasing. He was that enraged at the idea of being sent out in this scorching desert to kill this pathetic little worm.
"Now Ichigo let me explain…" The shinigami attempted to calm the young boy down, but that was abandoned when he noticed something terrifying in the mirror's reflection.
"Are you telling me, that you sent me out in the damn dessert…" Unfortunately for Ichigo, because of his enraged rant he didn't notice the sound of dirt breaking or a practically large shadow start looming over his head.
"Um…Ichigo…"
"...to kill a tiny ass WORM? That's it? That's all? Seriously?" The rant just continued, all the while Ichigo was completely unaware of the danger behind him.
"…Um…that's not the worm…" The shinigami's words finally got through to the ranting boy, who unfortunately still didn't notice the massive threat looming behind him.
Ichigo had to do a doubt take at the ld shinigami before replying, "What do you mean this isn't the worm? If this isn't the worm then I don't know what…it …is…"
That was the moment Ichigo noticed it. The massive shadow, the pile of dirt pushing against his back, and finally the stench of rotting corpses in the air. His head turned slowly, eyes widening as the sight of the creature entered his view. In the shock of this revelation, Ichigo dropped the mirror in his hand in utter shock, just as the shinigami on the other end finished his sentence.
"…that's its tongue…"
The creature was massive, at least the size of Ichigo's entire apartment, just think of that a gigantic worm the size of a two story apartment. Its head consisted of a massive, black, armored beak which opened up into beak opens up like a grotesque flower; it consisted of a wide upper jaw, a thinner lower jaw, and a pair of hooked mandibles on either side. Speaking of its mouth, pouring out of that monstrous hole was hundreds of these tentacles that bared the exact likeness of the one impaled on Zangetsu's blade.
The creature roared at the shinigami and lunged at him, and with its massive size nearly crushed Ichigo with his massive size. Luckily for the orange haired shinigami, his speed allowed him to bypass the massive creature while unknowing ripping the creature's 'tongue' free from his Zanpakuto. Landing on the nearby earth, Ichigo had to dodge the creature's continued attacks as it once again rushed at him. For a few minutes this went on, Ichigo dodging out of the way of this monster's attacks and the moment he landing back on the ground, the creature would come at him again.
It wasn't until Ichigo landed on a nice big piece of stone that the creature finally stopped coming after him. Seeing this as a moment of rest, Ichigo collapsed onto his knees and took a deep breath. Maybe it would have been better if he had used his combat badge a little earlier…well too late now.
After donning his shinigami garbs and looking towards the location where shinigami-sama's mirror used to be, only one idea came to the boy's mind. The accursed waiting game had begun…and with a giant monstrous worm no less.
Oh this was not going to be fun at all.
Death City, a few days later.
Turns out, Blair was actually having some fun with these two goofballs. For about three days now this little blond meister and her white haired weapon partner. For about three days now, these two goofballs have been making attempts on her life while believing she was a witch. You'd think that a person in her situation should take these events a little more seriously, but for Blair she couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing.
She was sure that when it came to evil humans or such these two were expert hunters, but when it came to her…well they were amateurs. And Blair couldn't help but laugh out loud at that.
Sighing to herself, the magic induced kitten glanced out the window at the laughing moon. When was Ichigo going to come back? Despite how much fun these two could be, she really did miss the orange haired friend she had grown attached to.
Sighing to herself, Blair spotted the two academy students approaching her house. Well at least these two could entertain her for awhile.
The Desert, same time:
Hell, which is the only word Kurosaki Ichigo would describe the current situation he was in.
For three days, three unbearable days. That's how long Ichigo had been sitting on this bloody rock, sitting on his ass while waiting for a giant ass worm. Now, most would be wondering why Ichigo hasn't just demolished this oversized earthworm with a simple swing of his Zanpakuto. Well it's not the power that's lacking, Ichigo has plenty of that, no, what's missing is the target itself.
Turns out that despite its massive size the monstrous worm can move surprisingly fast, much too fast for any of Ichigo's attacks. Add the fact that that thing can dig it was through the deserts' earth like a dwarf digging a hole just makes Ichigo situation even worse for him.
So for the last three days, all Ichigo could do was sit on a lone rock in the middle of the god forsaken desert while a gigantic worm from hell was waiting for its next meal, yep, that's how Ichigo wanted to spend his week.
And that brings us to this moment of boredom. At this moment Ichigo was attempting to drive off the insanity trying to take a hold of his mind by tossing some stones into the distance. You'd think that really wouldn't be entertaining, but when you see a worm the size of a apartment building burst out of the ground every time you throw a rock really does make the time go by.
Well, that and having your Zanpakuto and inner hollow pick ideas back and further on how to get out of this situation didn't hurt the situation either.
"Ok, how about we try firing some ceros into the ground? Eh, it could work"
"No, we don't need to make a mess, besides how would we know if we hit it or not…" Ichigo didn't even bother replying in his head, there was no one around besides him and the worm.
"Damn….where's that stupid stuffed animal when we actually need it? We could use him as bait…" The hollow grumbled.
"At Urahara's shop probably, maybe he's being used as a mascot or something…" Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at that, maybe Urahara was selling a bunch of merchandise with Kon's face on it. Now that would be hilarious.
"Back on topic, we still need a way to defeat this creature and get back to the city." Zangetsu was really tired of all of this crap, the boredom running throughout Ichigo's inner world was causing a massive drought and that was killing off his plants. And if Ichigo knew Zangetsu as well as he did, Zangetsu wanted this thing dead just as much as he did.
"Right…any ideas." Really though, Ichigo was just sick and tired of trying to think about how to kill this thing.
"Well, its huge, ugly, smells worst than Yammy, and needs to die…I don't see anything else we need to know to kill it." The hollow was actually happy he wasn't in control of Ichigo's body at the moment, that thing smelled worst than the nastiest hollow they had ever killed.
"…I know that…I mean do either of you have any ideas on how to kill this thing."
That let left the hollow thinking for a few moments, "Right…let's see, Oh how about you let it eat you and then kill it from inside its gut!"
Ichigo nearly gagged at that idea, "Oh hell no! I'm not getting anywhere that thing's stomach until its dead."
But at that moment an idea came to the young Vizard. He quickly dug into his nearby duffle bag and pulled out his wallet. Flipping it open, he quickly came t face a mirror attached to the inside of the leather wallet. But while he was writing Shinigami-sama's number into the wallets surface, his hollow made a very interesting comment.
"Um king…why do you have a tiny mirror in your wallet…?"
Ichigo scoffed at this hollow while the 'phone' was ringing, "Kon put it there one time he was using my body."
Soon enough the mirror's reflective surface was replaced with the goofy image of the senor shinigami and for some odd reason… the bleeding form of spirit in the background. Now normally Ichigo wouldn't think that hard about seeing spirit beaten senseless by his commanding officer, but seeing how it looked like this wasn't the first time the scythe had been on the receiving end of a shinigami chop today, Ichigo couldn't help but wonder what's been going on while he's been gone (the fact that his hollow had been laughing his ass off at the sight of Spirit didn't help either).
"Um…old man?" Shinigami-sama nearly jumped at the voice before turning his eyes on the new image appearing in the corner of his mirror (nobody really understood how a mirror could have a three-way call system, but it worked), "Am I interrupting something?"
"Ah Ichigo! How is your mission going?"
With all the commotion with Maka's mission the duo had nearly forgotten about their vizard friend out in the desert. No giant explosions, no earth quakes, no unbelievable spiritual pressure, it was hard to notice he was even out there.
"Oh its going fine, just fine…hey old man?" Ichigo let a few seconds pass by, "Do you mind if I ask a favor?"
Five minutes later.
"Ok, you ready on your end old man?" Ichigo as ready on his end, but he needed to be sure about the other end of his plan.
On the other end of the mirror, the personification of death himself was prepared. While the plan Ichigo had described to him was strange, he had seen much stranger ones before so he really didn't question it. So with the boom box's (one he had magically pulled out of his cloak somehow) volume set to maximum, he was only waiting for Ichigo's say so.
The plan was actually quite simple. Ichigo figure that sense this giant monster of a worm had no eyes to be seen, he figured it had to hunt by sound. With that in mind, the plan was simple; throw a device making a large amount of noise in the opposite direction and run like hell. Sure, Ichigo really hadn't thought of what to do after that, but he was sure he would think of something on the way.
"All ready on my end!" And with those final words from his ally, Ichigo took one last glance at the insane look on the moon's face and…
"Now!" And with that final shout, Ichigo ripped the tiny mirror from his wallet's fabric and tossed it as far as he could into the desert's wasteland.
And at that same moment on the other end of the mirror, Shinigami-sama clicked the 'on' button on the boom box and released an earful of music. It sounded like an odd mix of both heavy metal and gothic chorus, but what kind of music it was really didn't matter as long as it was ear-drum bursting loud. For thanks to the connection between the two mirrors, the music erupted into the previously silent desert.
The creature, which had been waiting for the simplest of sounds, instantly went after the music producing mirror in an insane frenzy. It had been awhile sense its last meal after all and it was starving.
Luckily this is what Ichigo was waiting for. The moment he saw that monstrous creature go after the mirror, he took off in the opposite direction in a burst of shunpo, only making ever slit contact to the ground when needed.
Unfortunately, that's all the creature needed. For the moment it devoured that tiny source of noise, it instantly felt the vibration of footsteps, ichigo's footsteps. That's all the invitation the monster needed, as it took off after its prey at insane speeds.
A few seconds into his escape, Ichigo noticed the ground rumbling under his feet every time his feet touched the earth. Looking over his shoulder, Ichigo saw a gigantic mound of dirt racing at break neck speeds towards him. Recognizing his hunter, Ichigo increased the speed of his shunpo even further, hoping to see the vague outline of the city's walls soon enough.
Luckily for him, a few flash steps and about a few miles later the city's gate came into view. Unfortunately for Ichigo however, during those few moments his pursuer had easily gained ground on the orange haired shinigami and was less than hundred feet behind him and gaining. With that in mind, Ichigo did the only thing he could do and kept his mind on his target.
Seconds later with the help us his enhanced speed, Ichigo arrived at the base of one of the city's walls. Turning his head back to the desert, Ichigo saw the creature approaching him at incredible speeds; it would only be about thirty seconds before it was upon him.
20 seconds
Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu and readied himself as the creature entered a hundred feet ratios.
10 seconds
The creature's head finally surfaced from the ground, its monstrous horde of tongues reaching out for their prey.
5 seconds
There was less than a football field's length between the two of them now; the stench of the creature could be smelled by the residences living inside the city itself.
1 second
All Ichigo could see in all of his vision was the monster's gigantic maw. The countless numbers of those vile tongue-like creatures, the endless black void that severed as its throat and that horrible stench…god it was revolting. It was in that moment that the young shinigami nearly found himself consumed by it.
Luckily for the powerful vizard, the timing he had was precise. For at the last critical moment, Ichigo unleashed a powerful burst of shunpo at the last possible moment to dodge the massive creature's attack. Sure it was a close call; Ichigo even got the lower portion of one of his legs nicked by the worm's tongues. It didn't really hurt that much seeing how he slipped right through its grasp, but the fact that it actually touched him makes it a very close call.
Unfortunately for the worm, this close call had some devastating consequences of it. Sense the creature didn't even consider the chance that its meal could vanish into thin air, it just continued forward on it way and ended up face first into the city's stone wall. Ichigo, who was still in mid air, took this golden opportunity and prepared his assault.
Lifting his massive Zanpakuto over his head, Ichigo unleashed one of the most destructive Getusga Tencho he could muster.
The monstrous worm howled in agony as the attack tore into its back. The destructive technique carved a valley of carnage in the creature's flesh, it was so big that the amount of orangey-red blood that was pouring out of it was more than enough to fill a couple dozen swimming pools. But despite all of that, the damn worm was still alive!
Now that really ticked off Ichigo. Was this thing really that hard to kill? It was like trying to beat a released Yammy to death with a bloody club! It just won't die!
With those enraging thoughts, Ichigo dispersed the layer of air he was standing on and set his sights on the beast below.
After flying through the air for a few seconds, Ichigo landed roughly on the thrashing beasts back with Zangetsu tip digging into the creature's exposed flesh. Due to the excruciating pain it was already in, the monster didn't take notice of the orange haired shinigami's arrival until it was far too late.
Landing a few yards above where his Getsuga Tencho had struck, Ichigo immedently started to channel more of his spiritual energy into his weapon. Although the concentration it required was a little difficult, the monster's endless thrashing was similar to a bull riding contest.
Pushing his blade forward, Ichigo unleashed a massive wave of spiritual energy, one that carved a pathway of pure destruction down the creature's back. Adding to the other wound that had already been inflected previously, the creature now had a very crude and painful looking cross that covered the most of its body.
It was unknown what caused the creature's death at this time. Maybe it was the overwhelming pain from the wounds, the blood loss, or hell, maybe it was from the creature's brain being smashed into paste when it collided with the city's wall.
Whatever the cause was, after Ichigo had sent that attack down the creature's back, its thrashing becoming nothing more than a series of simple twitches and finally…nothing.
Ichigo just signed to himself and dropped to his knees, utterly thankful that the creature was finally dead. But before he could take a few seconds to catch his breath (hey, covering countless miles in less than a few minutes and killing a giant worm is tiring) something extraordinary happened, it exploded.
No, this was not some over dramatic slow-mo type of explosion like you see in the movies, it just exploded. Nothing fancy, it just blew up. It was like a overstuffed balloon, and as such it covered everything nearby in its remains, the desert ground, the city's wall, and of course, Ichigo. It was a disgusting experience, being covered in the fluid of a creature that smelled worse than every dump in the world was basically unspeakable. And you wanna know the worst part of all of it? Some of it got into his mouth.
"What…the…fuck…" Those we the only words Ichigo could say, the disgusting taste occupying his mouth.
"I've…..got nothing to say about this…." His hollow was even speechless, now that was a surprise.
"Sick…" For the next few days, Zangetsu would wear a gasmask.
After that no more words were shared between them. Ichigo returned his sword to his back, stood up, and vanished in a burst of shunpo over the city's walls. There was only one thought in the young shinigami's mind as he raced through the city's streets.
'God lord I need a shower…'
Meanwhile at the Death Room.
Shinigami-sama actually chuckled at the scene he was looking at. Ichigo, his powerful student at the academy had just defeat a giant monstrous worm-like creature…and it just exploded on him. If it wasn't for the fact that Ichigo could easily beat him senseless if he found out, the shinigami would be laughing his ass off. He really had to thank Stein for accidentally releasing that sick experiment of his.
Sure, about five minutes ago he was sure that his punishment for that crazy mad scientist was going to be severe, but now after such entertainment? He hadn't the hart to punish him for it. Hell, he may just send Sid over to his house to thank him for all of this. He might even send him a gift basket as well.
But while he was thinking about thanking that madman, he failed to notice Maka and Soul's battle against the witch make its way into the city streets.
Sometime later, the streets of Death City.
Where is she? For all the times for that goofy little cat to disappear why did it have to be now?
Those were the words that were ringing throughout Ichigo's head. He had arrived back inside the city's safe haven about a half an hour ago, and the first thing he did was take a nice, long shower. And after a nice change of clothes, a sever cleaning of his Zanpakuto, and some dinner Ichigo then took to the city in search of his kitty friend. Now it's not that he was worried about her (too much), it's just that whenever Ichigo returned to his apartment for whatever reason Blair would just magically appear out of nowhere and nearly hug him to death.
So with her absence, Ichigo felt like looking for her. Besides, he was sure she missed him these last few days and he needed to apologize to her anyway.
So that's how we got to this situation. Ichigo was currently jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of his magical friend. He had already checked her usual spots like that fish store and a handful of shops and yet he had still seen no sign of her. You'd think it would be easy to find a magical cat in a city filled with weapons and meisters…guess not when it comes to Blair.
'Damn it, for all the times for her to disappear…'
Annoyed with his lack of progress in finding her, Ichigo was about to make his way to the academy and ask the old man about her. But as he turned toward the towering academy, he was nearly knocked on his ass by a giant explosion in the distance. Normally Ichigo would rush over to see what was going on, but there was something particular about this one.
The explosion was in the shape of a Jack-o-lantern. And there was only one person Ichigo knew who could create an explosion like that.
'Blair!'
Quickly activating his combat badge, Ichigo took off towards the site of the explosion at breakneck speeds. He was certain that if Blair was anywhere in this city, then she was going to be there.
Explosion/Battle site:
Landing on a nearby rooftop, Ichigo took notice of the destruction littering the street. There were countless scorch marks and even a few craters along the street. Following the path of destruction, soon enough Ichigo saw three figures in the distance.
'Soul? Maka? What are those two doing here?...'
But before Ichigo could question his classmates reasons for being there Ichigo saw something very ominous transpire. Soul, who was standing next to Blair for whatever reason, transformed his right arm into a giant blade and wrap it around Blair's waist.
'What! Why are they...' But Ichigo's thoughts were quitly interrupted by a simple moment from nearly a week ago. A simple sentence uttered in desperation, a confestion.
Flashback, Ichigo's apartment.
"I can do magic, and because of that people think I'm a witch! Please don't hate me!"
Flashback End.
'No, no, no...they can't think that can they?'
But then it happened, in one sudden moment it happened. In less than a simple moment, Soul reached out to his miester and began to transform. It was almost instantaneous for most people, but not for Ichigo. For Ichigo, it was like iternity. For those insanely long seconds, Ichigo saw a sight more horrifying then all the hollows he had ever seen in his life.
For three agonizing seconds, Maka ripped through Blair's torso with her weapon, splitting the neko in half in a devastating display.
His mind just collapsed, there was no other way to explain it. That sight, that image, everything about those few seconds had made his world shatter. He thought he could protect her, his first friend in this crazy city. There were no hollows, no shinigami, no Espada, nothing overwhelming that he would have to protect her from. But he didn't expect having to protect her from his classmates, really? Who would think about that? But maybe he should have then this wouldn't have happened. She'd be safe, and he...he wouldn't have failed...again.
He failed her. After so much, after promising to her that he would protect her, he failed. And that's all the reason he needed.
"You Bastards!"
Maka and Soul never saw it coming. They had finally collected their final soul needed, the witch's soul. But moments before Soul could devour it and become a death scythe, a loud, booming, and enraged roar exploded from behind them. And what they saw nearly scared them shitless. Flying at them a unbelievable speed was Ichigo. But it wasn't the Ichigo they knew. No, those eyes, the hatred, the burning fury within them is not the same kind soul they had met in class a week ago.
No, these were the eyes of someoone who wanted you dead.
But before they could understand what was happening, Ichigo was right in their faces. With a savage swing from Zangetsu, Ichigo nearly took both of their heads with the gigantic blade. In a shaky response, Soul transformed back into his weapon form and flew to Maka, who took a defensive stance. Not that it helped anyway. Ichigo was in a blood socked rage, and if his attacks didn't kill them then, his hollow would.
Meanwhile: The Death Room.
This was bad. No wait, this wasn't bad, it was ungodly horrible.
Those were the thoughts that were running throughout Shinigami-sama and Spirit's minds. This not suppose to happen, Ichigo was not suppose to go into a rage, he was not suppose to see Maka's fight, and finally, he wasn't suppose to try to murder his friends. Now that's where their minds kind of split on the issue. The shinigami had a idea, although a slight one, but an idea none the less of why Ichigo was going on his blood rage. Now he was just going to wait until it was going to show itself, but unfortunately that's not where Spirits mind was going.
"Don't worry Maka! Papa will save you!"
Spirit's mind was in full on "protect my daughter mode" and was completely ready to kill to save his daughter. Luckily for him, he had a great boss. For Shinigami-sama was currently holding the enraged weapon back by the scruff of his shirt, saving his ass from getting the unholy shit beat out him by the furious visard. Now the shinigami was completely aware of his death scythes combat abilities, he wouldn't be his personal weapon otherwise. But this was not the situation where you just run into the fight and save the day, no, that type of mind would get him killed.
"Shinigami-sama! Let me go!" he was currently trying to pry the large hand of the death god from his coat, "Damn it! I have to save Maka!"
"Nope."
"God damn it! Let go of me!" Hell at this point he was biting the hand stopping him, "Why 'Chomp' won't you 'Chomp' let me save 'Chomp' Maka?"
That was enough. With those words, Shinigami-sama then pulled his death scythe to his side, gripped his neck, and lifted him into the air. Now at each other's level, the shinigami stared into the worried father's eyes and explained himself.
"Reason, there is always a reason." Those words didn't calm down the weapon at all. All they did was confuse him.
"Ichigo is not the type of person who would just go off on someone and try to kill them, there has to be a reason." While that still din't calm the weapon down, he did start to see it from the old death god's point of veiw.
"Give it a chance, I have an idea why this is happening and all of this will blow over if I'm right."
Luckily for him, those final words seemingly reached the inner works of the red haired death scythe. Finally giving up his struggle, Spirit just silently returned his attention back to the viewing after seeing the down expression on his weapon's face; the shinigami could help but think.
'God please let me be right...'
Back to the streets.
Why is this happening?
Those were the words that were going through Maka's head as she felt her back smash into another brick wall. Most would call a battle between these two warriors a one-sided domination. But not Maka, she called this a slaughter. But why? Why was he doing this? To Maka, Ichigo had been this quite, bold, and somehow intelligent kid who just arrived at this school a week ago. But this? No. This was a monster.
But Maka's thoughts were cut short when a muscular hand grabbed her head and smashed it against a local brick wall. With a small tickle of blood running down her forehead, Maka dropped to her knees, no longer having the strength to stand. Her eyes were heavy, the beating was just too much for her. But as the enraged shinigami drew ever closer, Soul instantly transformed back and held his meister close.
Ichigo was less than a yard away from them, his Zanpakuto at his side. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn't help it. The pain of failure was something he couldn't bare again; add his hollow's influence and Ichigo couldn't control himself.
His yellow clad eyes staring painfully at the duo, Ichigo lifted his Zanpakuto into the air and gathered as much of his rage as he could. With rage burning through him, he brought his weapon down and...
"Ichi?...what are you doing?"
...froze, Ichigo couldn't move the moment that sound entered his ears.
Those words, that tone, that nickname. How? He saw them kill her, they cut her in half. But is it possible?
Turning his head slowly, Ichigo noticed something in the distance. Standing on top of a nearby staircase was a cat, a small black cat wearing a witch's hat. That sight just killed him, he had just nearby beat two of his classmates to death with his bare fists and now she was standing how she was there?
Those questions just continued to run throughout his head, all the stress, the regret, and the relief was just overwhelming. In the heat of the moment, Ichigo's grip on his weapon vanished and dropped his sword to the ground; he just couldn't hold it anymore. And while all of this was going on, Ichigo didn't notice his furry friend walk up to his side.
Blair was deeply confused.
Now Blair hadn't expected these two rookies to defeat her, she had planned on having a little more fun with the two before Ichigo got back. But when they were able to pull the wool over her eyes and defeated her? Now that was a surprise, but not completely unexpected. So she was thinking, how about walking out in front of them right after the boy ate one of her souls? That would be a laugh right? But then, Ichigo showed up...at the worst time possible.
How long had he been there? Why was he there? Ok maybe he was searching for her, four days being gone and she's not there to greet him? It's not a surprise that he would go out looking for her. But why was he hurting them? What reason does he have for beating them up like this? What had they done to him? Maybe...oh god...did he see them...kill her?
Oh God! That's it, that's why he was doing this...for her.
It was at this very moment Ichigo returned to his nearly shattered senses. And at the moment he saw the small kitten standing less than a foot away, he acted on impulse. He instantly scooped the small feline up into his arms and held her close, the overwhelming relief overriding his common sense. Now on the other end of this interaction Blair's blush was luckily hidden by her black fur or otherwise she'd be as red as a sapphire.
And of course, sitting against a nearby wall was the duo from the academy and they were utterly confused.
"Soul..." Maka said, her head wasn't hurting as much now but that still didn't clear up the fog of randomness her day had turned out to be.
Soul didn't bother to look away from the scene in front of him, "Ya..."
"What on earth just happened?..."
"Believe I can explain that!" A certain goofy voice startled the two tired academy students. Turning their heads towards the building they were resting on and noticed a nearby window. They were pleasantly surprised to see a rather cheerful Shinigami-sama and spirit (who was currently crying big goofy anime tears).
So, about five minutes later and a rather lengthy explanation later, Soul, Maka, and Ichigo (who had Blair sitting on his shoulder) were about ready to head home. The old headmaster had explained to the two students about Blair's status, her relationship with Ichigo, and a modified version of why Ichigo behaved like the way he did (he wisely left out the part about the war with Aizen and being a shinigami, no need to drop a bomb like that right now). While of course the two of them understood Ichigo's reaction (although Soul was still a little sore about it, but Maka was certain he'd be over it in no time).
"So...no hard feelings?" Ichigo asked, his hand extended in a friendly manor. He hadn't expected them to understand so easily, if was in their position he wouldn't be so forgiving.
"Ya it's ok, we understand." Maka said with a nod. Soon after Shinigami-sama had finished explaining the situation Ichigo had left for a few moments and returned with a few bandages to the meister and weapon. Considering what he had done previously, it's the least he could do for them.
And with a simple wave and a subtle wink from Blair, Ichigo and the kitty vanished in a burst of Shunpo, leaving the scene of the battle in a much simpler and peaceful manor then either of them arrived.
Maka sighed to herself. It had been one hell of a night and at this moment, all she wanted to do was go home, take a nice long shower, and get a nice night long sleep. But before she turned her attention back to her headmaster and papa, she noticed something missing. Not too much had happened to the street during the time between their battle with Blair and Ichigo, so there was something that had yet to be accounted for.
She turned toward her weapon partner, who was already making his way back to their apartment, "Hey Soul, what happened to that Soul we got from Blair after we beat her?"
Soul stopped his walking and turned back to his meister. Thinking for a few seconds, the truth dawned in him, "Oh yea, I ate it while Shinigami-sama was explaining stuff," he then started to pick his teeth, "Eh...it kind of tasted a little furry for some reason."
Unfortunately for the both of them, Shinigami and Spirit were still looking at them through the nearby window.
"What..." Maka couldn't help but whisper, this was not happening.
"What's the big deal? I ate it after we knew she was a cat, it's not like I..."
"Unfortunately Soul, you and Maka are still on your mission, and since you ate a cat soul instead of a witch's soul, you both fail." The terrifying interruption by the shinigami sent shivers down Maka's spine. This cannot be happening!
"And so..." The shinigami then pointed his goofy cartoonish hands at the duo, "...all of you Ninety-Nine kishin eggs will be confiscated."
Nether of the two said anything, the truth had just begun to sink in. There was only silence, well for about a few more seconds anyway…until.
"WHAT?"
The Moon, if it was even possible, started to laugh even harder...much to Maka's and Souls misfortune. What did they do to deserve this? Crazy magic cats, and kid with a portecting obsession? Why does this crap always have to happen to them...and unfortunately for them, their craziness had just begun.
Now to clear some things up.
This story is not and will not be a massive AU story where events in canon do not happen. I want a story that keeps the main storyline with the addition of a certain Orange haired shinigami. Now to do this, the Blair and Maka/Soul fight had to happen. There had to be a way for Soul and Maka to lose their 99 Kishin eggs and for Blair's status to be revealed to to main faction. So to do that I needed to take Ichigo out of the equation for a few days, so in came the monster worm.
I'm sure that atleast some of my readers would recongize what I based the creature on, but if you're not one of them, I'll tell you. The main theme and concept of this creature is based off the Graboid from the Tremors series, its a massive prehistoric underground worm that terroized a small country town by eating anyone it came across. Now I did make it a hell of alot bigger and added a few hundred more of its tongue creatures to it.
To tell you all about the worm's origins, we have to go into the world of Soul Eater's favorite mad scientist. Conecting Shinigami-sama's comment about 'thanking' Stein, its fairly obvious that he had something to do with it.
To tell you the truth, I've always wondered what exactly Stein is doing inside that creepy house of his all the time. We always see him in there doing something, but we never see what it actually is. So I want to imagen the worm monster as one of Stein's experiments gone alittle out of hand. So who did he ask to clean up his mess? And who did the guy he asked get to clean up the madman's mess? Well its pretty obvious now. So Shingami-sama made up all of those photos and sent Ichigo to kill the worm, its that simple.
Now I have a challenge for you all, during this chapter I made a few refences to other subjects and series. Can you find them all? (And no, since I already explained the worm's origin, it does not count). The person who does find them all will get a shoutout next chapter and may even have their say in something important in the story's future (No changes to the pairings though, I already have those set in stone).
Anyway, Next Time: A Samurai vs Ninja, and a Son?...oh hi ther-WHAT THE HELL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?