Chapter 4: Remember the Name
"What the hell?" Ichigo complained, "Another dud."
"I know", I complained turning on my iPod (playing "Another One Bites the Dust", at such an appropriate time), "First they come en' mas, and now they're playing a city-wide game of Whac-a-Mole."
"Whac-a-Mole?" Rukia asked.
"Oh right", I scratched my head, "You guys don't have that arcade game in Japan." That was the second time that a hollow had appeared and then just vanished into thin air. It was driving me nuts. But now was not the time to get upset. If a hollow isn't around, there's no trouble in the town's spiritual side, simple as that.
.
That day, our grades came out and we got to see who was the best of the best.
"Whoa!" I said, "Way to go, Orihime! Third in the class!"
"Eh, let the girls get their high scores," Keigo smirked, "At least none of our gang made a fool of us by being in the top fifty."
"Take another look", his friend pointed to number twenty-three and nineteen.
"WHAT?!" he said horrified, "Ichigo's ranked number twenty-three?! And Ash is number nineteen?! You cheaters! There's no way you possibly could have scored that high!"
"Shut up", Ichigo growled, "I score high on tests because I study. You should try it sometime."
"Ah-ha!" Keigo replied, "So that's what you were doing all those nights when I asked you to hang out! You always said that you were too busy, but the truth is that you were studying like a total nerd! And Ash is even worse!"
I was right behind him in an instant and I jabbed my pointer and middle finger down right behind his collarbone and I squeezed, "Make up your mind you dolt! You were jealous of Ichigo and me a moment ago and now you're saying that a little studying is bad! And I don't recall ever associating with your 'gang'." I let him go and he shook of the stun.
"At least you wouldn't go and do something embarrassing like scoring in the top fifty! Right, Chad old pal!" Keigo elbowed Chad who silently pointed to spot number ten. Keigo and his friend bolted backwards in surprise, "I had no idea I was hanging out with a bunch of geeks and brainiacs! I'm through with all of you!" they ran away.
"They'll be back", Tatsuki sighed.
"I know", I shivered, "That's the freaky part. Say, who got the number one spot?
"Some guy named Ishida", Ichigo read.
"Oh, you mean Uryu Ishida", Orihime said, "He's in our class."
"Dark hair with glasses? Quiet and mysterious?" I asked.
"That's him!" Orihime tilted her head and smiled.
"No offense to the guy, but he kind of creeps me out", I said, "He's too quiet."
"Is that so?" a quiet voice almost hissed behind me. I screamed, whirling around to see said person.
"Case and point much?!" I said with my back against the wall.
"I don't think it's a matter of me being quiet", he pushed up his glasses, "It's just a matter of you having an overactive sympathetic nervous system. Not that you'd know what that means."
"So I have a fine-tuned fight or flight response. Better safe than sorry, pal", I glared at him.
"Ash! Ichigo! I need you!" Rukia dashed down the hall and tugged us with her.
"Whoa! What's going on?! Slow down!" I told her.
"No time! We have to catch this hollow before it just vanishes like the others!" she told us.
.
"Again, you dragged us out here and there's no hollow!"
"Stop whining and get back in your body!" she scolded.
"Fine", Ichigo returned to his body, "But would you do something about that stupid soul pager?"
"These false alarms aren't my fault!" Rukia barked, "When it goes off, I have to assume that a hollow's appeared, so I report it. What else can I do?"
"Have it fixed, because it's obviously busted", Ichigo stood up again.
"They don't fix them at-."
"Hold up!" I stopped them, "I think I know the problem. It works, but someone else is getting them before we do. And that someone is right behind us. No use in hiding! Come out!" I turned around to see a boy our age dressed in white.
"So you can detect my exact location even when inside of my pressure bubble. Professional. And good evening, Ichigo, Rukia, and Ash. And I also know that you're able to see spirits, Ichigo."
"How did you know that?" Ichigo gasped.
"For starters, he can see me too. He knows", I inferred. He went tense and looked to our right. I heard a high pitched sound and looked there too. My "echolocation" was activating again.
"Hollow!" I said at the same time as the boy.
Rukia's phone beeped a moment later, "There's a new one here alright. How did you two know?"
"It's that way!" I said pointing to my left just a second before the other guy did.
"Wait a minute", he scowled "You didn't even extend your spiritual energy. How did you pick up on the hollow's location before me? You're not even a soul reaper."
"I don't know!" I replied sternly, "It happens off and on! And for the record I'm half soul reaper on my mother's side!"
"Whatever", he growled. The cross on his bracelet glowed and turned into a bow of pure energy. He pulled back on the string as an arrow formed and flew off in the direction he pointed.
"The signal's gone!" Rukia looked to her phone in shock.
"Just who or what are you?!" Ichigo asked.
"What? You don't recognize him?" I asked, "He's Uryu Ishida, from our class!"
"Quite so", he pushed up his glasses, "I am a Quincy. Soul reapers are my enemy. You are my enemy."
.
I told you before that I had a bad feeling about that guy. When I get that feeling, you know that all hell is about to break loose. I find that as something of another anti-jumpscare. I ran into Ichigo the next morning with Orihime, peeking into the home handicraft room. Oddly enough, there was Uryu, sitting with a book.
"I can't believe he's really in the home handicrafts club. Look at him! He's reading, not doing macramé!" Ichigo said in disbelief.
"Yeah, you wait. It looks like Michiru's got a job for him", Orihime said.
"I don't know, he looks more like a chemist than a member of the sewing circle", I said.
Just like that, Uryu took the broken stuffed animal from the girl and whipped out a tool chest of supplies and within seven seconds flat, he sewed the toy back together perfectly.
"Hey! It's almost as good as new! Thanks so much Uryu!"
"It's alright. Don't mention it. In fact, don't talk to me anymore at all."
"Uh…I'll see you later then", poor Michiru walked away despondently.
"That jerk!" I squeezed my fist tight enough to pop my knuckles on both hands, "That heartless bastard doesn't care about the way he treats a girl! Pathetic!"
"He's insane, that's why", Ichigo said as we walked away.
"Wait a sec!" Orihime stopped us, "Do you two and Uryu….have some kind of problem?"
"You could say that", Ichigo said.
"Definitely", I confirmed, "But it's nothing we can't handle peacefully."
"That's good!" she said with a smile as we walked away. But I looked back to see her drastically drooping. She noticed this and tried to put a fake smile on.
.
Right after school I sensed Ichigo and Uryu together, spiritual pressure sensing this time. All of a sudden their presences dispersed as they took opposite directions. Very, very quickly. A blue streak of light came out of an alleyway and sniped down a dark form six blocks away. Uryu had just shot down a hollow. In the other direction I saw the lights of a spirit being purified. Ichigo was busy too.
"Ash!" a familiar voice called out and I saw a little toy car racing down the sidewalk before commando rolling in front of me.
"What's going on out there?" I asked.
"I don't know for certain as to why, but someone just used a pack of hollow bait! This entire town is going to be swarming with hollows soon!"
I smirked, "I get it now. It looks like Uryu has challenged Ichigo to a duel. Maybe it's a race to see who can kill the most hollows."
"That's what I'm thinking. Six o'clock!"
"Already spotted him!" I said as I whipped out my scythe and killed the hollow behind me before my weapon could even finish unfolding, "Damn, this sonar thing is cool! I'm gonna join in the fight. I need you to go find help from either my mom or Kisuke. Maybe both if possible."
He whirled around and peeled out towards my house, and I called after him, "Floor it, Speed Racer!"
My spider sense was tingling again, pointing me towards the school! This was bad. Some of the clubs were still there!
"Alright then. Triple time!" I said as I triple flash stepped into the air above the buildings and straight for the school. I sensed something weird though. That hollow's presence was…spreading, like some sort of bacteria. I reached the school and looked down to see what looked like a zombie apocalypse! Several of the students were shuffling forward like the undead while only three remained untouched. Then I saw the hollow, something that looked like a mix between a squid, and one of the ghosts from Pac Man. It was rapidly firing green "darts" at the students who quickly turned into zombies, charging at the remaining three.
"Don't worry, darlings", the hollow crooned in an old woman's voice, "I won't eat you. You shall live on as part of my army!" One of the girls was hit in the shoulder and began to lose control, grabbing on to the girl beside her. That second girl was Orihime! Tatsuki, also in the group, was busy hammering away at the other students, disabling them all.
"Leave her alone you jerks!" she yelled, "Hey! You stupid blob up there! Pick on someone your own size!"
"I'm afraid that's not how you play the game!" the hollow fired away nailing the girl. It drifted closer and put an arm under Tatsuki's chin, "You shall make a fine puppet."
But Tatsuki still had plenty of fight left. When the hollow least expected it, Tatsuki bit down as hard as she could while the hollow struggled to shake her off for a full five seconds! She fell to the ground unconscious.
"Tatsuki! No!" Orihime cried.
"Forget it!" the old hag said, "You're not even worth controlling! Now die!" a set of darts fired at her and dust flew into the air. The hollow cackled but gasped to see that Tatsuki was gone.
"I'm up here, Blinky!" I called, and the hollow looked to the top of the building to see me, holding poor Tatsuki in a bridal carry.
"Who the hell are you?!" the hag hissed.
"Isn't it obvious?" I asked, "I'm here to take rid the student body of scum like you! I've said it once before today, and I'll say it again: that is no way to treat a girl!"
"A soul reaper. No, a half soul! Interesting, but this girl comes first!" the monster fired.
"I reject!" Orihime said as a triangle shaped shield formed, blocking the shots.
"What?!" the hollow and I gasped.
"Now, Tsubaki! I reject!" a bright red streak shot from Orihime, splitting the hollow down the middle, instantly purifying it. All at once, the poison that was spread to the students disappeared.
Tatsuki stirred in my arms and opened her eyes, "Who's there?"
"So you can see me?" I asked.
"Sort of. You're that guy who helped Konoji, aren't you?"
I stuck my scythe in the ground and decided to play along, "Very perceptive. Hades, at your service."
"Why are you here now?" she asked coughing.
"What you saw before was a hollow, a feral demon that feeds on human souls and the ghosts who have yet to pass on. That wrongly interferes with the balance of life and death. That was incredibly brave, what you just did."
"Well….thank you", she said blushing, "Wait a minute! I'm not dead am I?! "
"No, but you came close", I said, trying to make my distorted voice's laugh sound slightly more heroic, "It's not your time yet. You have a long life to live, Tatsuki. I'll be watching the area for more so I must go."
"Wait!" she said wincing as she clutched her hurt shoulder, "What about Orihime?! Is she alright?!"
"She's safe, and the hollow is no more. But for now you must rest. You've had a rough day. Just don't tell anyone you saw me", I held her closer and gently kissed her on the lips for a moment for dramatic effect, "May the spirits ever be with you." I touched her forehead releasing a sleeping spell that my mom taught me, and Tatsuki went limp.
I sighed with relief, dropping my formal superhero demeanor. But hey, she'd never know it was me, so I figured, "What the heck?"
I looked down to see Kisuke bringing an unconscious Orihime back to his shop, possibly to explain what transpired here. It was obvious that Orihime could see what was really going on. Nemo must have alerted them.
Then I looked up to see hollows flying to a single point in the park. Ichigo and Uryu were in the heat of battle with the swarm, and thankfully not each other. I flash stepped high into the air and dropped down towards the fighting. My zanpcto, emitted an epic high pitched scream as I came down and sliced through a group behind Uryu.
"That makes ten for me! You guys alright?" I asked. I went tense as I picked up something on sonar.
"Uryu. Do you feel that?" I asked.
"I sense it alright…..up there!" he said. I looked up and gasped as the sky above began to crack! A giant blue fragment fell down to the ground and shattered into dust beside me.
"The sky is falling!" I said, finally starting to believe the words of Chicken Little.
"It's a portal!" Uryu stated, "No, it can't be!" A pair of giant white claws reached out and tore open the gate like a shower curtain, "That bait shouldn't have call it!"
What stood before us was the biggest, scariest hollow I've ever seen. It stood as tall as a skyscraper and it wore boots and a mask with a pointy nose, like how we would picture a witch on Halloween. Even its black skin looked like a witch's cloak. It was a horrifying sight.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Ichigo asked horrified. The other hollows rushed forward to catch us off guard. I blocked with my scythe.
"Go! Take that thing down and I'll cover you!" I told them.
"Are you insane?!" Uryu yelled, "They'll kill you!"
I roared and used my flash step to make an x formation, every hollow in that area was killed, "Run that by me again and I'll put you in the crosshair next time! Now go!" I yelled, and they both got far away as fast as they could.
At long last, I could prove my strength in a real hollow battle! I grinned almost in an evil way and flash stepped behind the hollow in the very back, slicing him in half before doing right back to where I was. The hollows all liked to their fallen comrade in shock and I attacked while their backs were turned again!
"Let's dance!" I leaped forward and began an infinity loop as I sliced away at the hollows without relenting. But I didn't just see monsters. I saw the poor souls of those who had been forgotten, those who were devoured. All of them were innocent people, now forced to live in the frames of the hollows. It was like a virus. I had to heal them. I had to save them!
I kept counting my total kills as I fought.
Then one of them caught me from behind, grabbing my right hand just as I was about to switch and I was forced to strike back with my left. Then the other hollows came in right behind the blade and sent me to the ground. The entire hoard tried to crowd in after me.
"No!" I yelled, kicking and squirming from their grasp, but it was too late now, I was done for. Slowly, my spirit energy began to drain away.
Then I heard something, a ringing sound from my right. I reached over and I found my scythe. It was radiating a bright turquois light that pulsed with the ring. I immediately reached out and grasped the handle and everything froze, and faded away.
I found myself in a large dark arena with glimmering black walls. My footsteps echoed on the polished black onyx floor. A turquois line appeared along the walls.
"So, you finally made it", a slightly auto tuned voice said, and the line on the wall spiked and wavered with each word. "Ash Valero. Or should I just call you Ash Kozuki?"
"Who's there?" I reached for my zanpacto only to find that it wasn't there.
"I was honestly hoping I could at least make this dramatic, but it seems that we both don't have much time left. Introductions!" the line disappeared.
A loud guitar riff blasted through the air (a low F) and the walls to my nine o'clock exploded in a display of fiery pixels. They were giant flat screens all along. But in the center of that screen, there was a silhouette. Could be seen rocking out on electric guitar, playing "Through the Fire and Flames". As he finished and let that last note hang through the air, a set of spotlights from the ceiling whirled in a pattern around the arena before all focusing on that silhouette.
I recognized him. It was that man who appeared in my room several days ago! This time he wore a dark grey hoodie Jacket with a system of glowing turquoise cybernetic veins, all connecting to the highlights of the same color. He put his guitar behind his back and began to walk towards me.
"Very well done out there!" he said applauding me.
"Who are you?" I asked, putting my left foot back.
"There's no need to be hostile towards me. I'm with you. Always have been, always will be."
"Answer the question", I said sternly, "Wait, then again, I should be in battle right now! I have to go back!"
"Slow down, tough guy", he stopped me, removing his hood to reveal that it was not armor underneath his clothes. He was a robot! Something like a mix between the terminator and Daft Punk. His eyes were turquois and he held a kind expression. A metal mask over his nose and mouth retracted to reveal a shining silver face with metallic skin that looked shockingly like human skin.
"You'll be back out there in a moment. Actually, you're still out there right now. I just pulled you into this mindscape so we'd have enough time. Your mother and I have trained you well."
"You?" I asked in confusion, and the robot pulled my scythe out from behind his back where his guitar was a moment before, "You. You're my zanpacto!"
"Indeed!" He nodded as I inspected him.
"Well, I was expecting something more…oriental", I confessed.
"Like hell", he said rolling his eyes, "For the record, your mother was not Japanese, she was a soul reaper. On this earth, your father was straight up American. As such, so am I. More of an American concept anyway. As for why I'm here now, I'm just here to get you out of this situation." He handed me his scythe form.
"Thanks", I said, "But what do I do now? I'm being eaten alive by a hoard of hollows. All I've got now is you pinned down on the ground and a sonar."
"You think that sonar is the full extent of your power?" he almost laughed, "That is merely scratching the surface! Your power is…" He whipped out his guitar and strummed a chord so loudly that the force of the shockwave sent me back seven feet, "is sound. Why else do you love music so much? Why else would we be in a place like this? Why else would I have this name?!"
"But what should I do?" I asked as the walls of the arena fell away to reveal that we were on top of a sky scraper overlooking a bright city. Somehow, even with all of the city lights, the stars could be seen as clear as day.
"All you have to do is say my name. Scream it out loud enough for every hollow to hear!" the world disappeared and I found myself on the ground in the hollow hoard again.
"Now echo, Banshi!" I roared and a shockwave emitted from me, blasting the hollows away from me. I found myself standing up again only this time I was wearing my zanpacto's clothes in my size along with the mask.
This was my true Soul Reaper uniform.
I looked in my hands to see my scythe and I gasped. It had grown! The handle was now as tall as I was and the blade was almost as long! But its design had drastically changed.
On the hinge where the blade met the handle, there was a large ring on which the blade could still open and close. The entire thing was a dark metallic grey, with a turquoise blade edge and hinge. It was overall, of cyberpunk design.
"Banshi" (like banshee but with emphasis on both syllables), "So that's your name."
The blade closed up as the hollows approached and I held Banshi backwards and strummed my hand like an electric guitar as he guided me. At the same time, he played a rapid paced guitar solo before letting out a shockwave on the final note!
The force shattered the masks of the hollows beside me.
"Oh, I am loving this!" I said as I switched into melee mode and sliced my way through the swarm faster than ever before! Within minutes, the swarm had been completely purified.
"Ash!" Rukia yelled running over, "You found your zanpacto's name!"
"Yes", I confirmed, "but never mind that. What the hell is that thing?!" I said pointing at the giant hollow that Ichigo and Uryu were trying to fight unsuccessfully.
"It's a monster that is formed from hundreds, maybe thousands of hollows molded and crushed together. It is a menos grande."
The hollow fired a giant red beam at Ichigo who struggled under its power, but suddenly flicked it away and sent a line of blue energy back up the hollow's body and cracking part of its mask!
"But how?!" Uryu gasped. The hollow began to slowly retreat back into its portal. But I hardly paid any mind to that. That name sounded familiar.
Then I remembered what Mom told me, back when she fell in love with Dad. She had almost died at the hands of a menos, but dad leaped out of a building and killed the beast by attacking a massive crack that my mom previously made in its mask.
"My dad…..killed that thing?" I whispered quietly, then I smiled with an evil grin, "Come back here you coward!" Banshi whispered instructions to me, "Echo through the skies! Banshi!"
Banshi leaped out of my hands and his blade split in two down the middle. Before he could hit the ground, I grabbed the bars that extended from his handle, jumped onto the flat of the blades. Before I even knew what his plan was, we blasted off into the sky.
That's right, Banshi can fly. Fast. If you know what the Green goblin looks like flying on his glider, that's essentially what we looked like. The only catch was that I couldn't use my blades or sound abilities while taking flight.
"Aim for the top of its mask", Banshi told me, "That's its weak point!"
I deactivated flight mode and Banshi changed back into his scythe form beneath me. Since he flies handle first, that meant that I wouldn't have to draw the blade back for a strike. But I chose to do it anyway. I spun Banshi around on my right side to build up speed and then I brought it down hard into the skull of the beast. It screamed and tried to shake me off, and I released a blast of force down through the blade as I cracked it further.
I growled at the strain and I slowly began to walk down to front of the mask, dragging Banshi through the mask. My growl grew louder as I struggled to pull.
"Ash! Stop this now! You'll be killed!" Rukia cried out.
"No!" I growled, "If my father, was capable of this," another beam was fired upwards as the hollow tried to shake me, "then so am I!"
"STOP!" Rukia yelled.
"RRAAAAAAAAAUGGH!", I roared as I blasted another shockwave and surged forward down the face of the menos, and finally sliced through its chin and I began to fall.
With one last scream, the hollow's mask exploded and a piece of shrapnel sliced up my left cheek, and my eye! I screamed in pain as I skidded to a halt, using Banshi to slow my fall against the hollow's body. I flopped to the ground and looked up to see the menos releasing thousands of souls, blue ghosts that spiraled in a group all cheering with delight as they were taken back to the Soul Society.
I knelt on the ground holding the left side of my face. My eye was gone. That stupid hollow had gotten his two cents in after all. It hurt. But I didn't care about the pain.
I laughed out of sheer joy, "Take that you worthless hollow! This one's for you, Pops!" Then I buckled over and screamed as the pain suddenly grew worse. It felt like there was acid boiling in that wound! And in moments, I blacked out.
.
When I woke up I could see again and the pain was gone.
"Well, nice to see that you're still among the living", a relaxed voice said, and I looked over to see Kisuke, sitting on a mat.
"How…." I whispered as I touched my left eyelid. It was still there! "You healed me?"
"No, I'm afraid that you've merely returned to your physical form", he said fanning himself, "Your spiritual form on the other hand, was in much more serious shape, bad enough to knock you out for a full day. That wasn't any ordinary shrapnel. That menos was in the process of charging up another cero, when its mask exploded, and that same energy stayed in the fragments for a moment and infected your wounded left eye. Thankfully Orihime was able to heal it enough, but the infection had a slight side effect."
I stood up and went straight to the nearest mirror and changed into spirit form. I gasped as I saw that my eye had indeed healed, but not in the way I expected. My eye was very much in tact, but a ragged scar now crossed it. But over that eye was a piece of a hollow mask. It had grown there, fitting over my eye while still allowing me to see clearly, like a monocle.
"It looks awesome!" I said in glee, surprising the shop owner.
"You're saying you don't want it removed?"
"Of course not! It's a battle scar! Warriors bear them with pride!" I responded.
"That's not what I meant", Kisuke lowered his hat, "With that mask partially over your face, you'd look like an arrancar to any visiting soul reapers, and that might just get you killed."
"Come on. What's the worst that could happen?" I shrugged.
Fate had a sense of humor.
"ASH!" a voice hollered as Nemo raced into the shop, rolling over to me, "Bad news! Rukia's gone!"
(End of Chapter 4)
.
Beowulf here.
I honestly don't have much to say right now since I just posted chapter 3 not but a day ago and frankly nothing much has changed since. I've already started on chapter five so get ready. We're jumping straight to the Serati!
Beowulf out!