Chapter 2
Threads of Fate
Sitting in the cell, for what seemed to be hours, doing nothing but sitting on the bed and staring at the wall was as unbearable as reading the fanfic titled "My Immortal". Eventually I heard foot steps coming down the hallway. I pondered what position would be the least threatening within the first 20 minuets of imprisonment, so I laid flat out on the bed looking at the ceiling. The person who walked up had somewhat long black hair that had metallic looking clips at the front and the right side of his head. The black kimono he was wearing was covered by a white one that had several detailing markings. Probably some sort of high ranking individual. I wonder what that means he's like. "So… my name's karino, what's yours?" he barely seemed to react to what I just said. "It's Byakuya. State your business in the soul society." "Soul what?" I responded "I barely know what kind of place I'm in let alone why I got here." He was consistently wearing what seemed to be a perma-frown the whole time he was there. "What is your intention here?" "My intention!" I interjected as a sat up. I then fell back onto the bed and continued. "The only thing that I intended today was to follow your cultures procedures to see what I could find." "What do you mean?" "I mean that I need to find another way back to my aetherical plane. You do believe me, right? Or at least do you have some sort of understanding of what I'm saying." "Don't question my intelligence." He retorted sternly. Damn! What's with the cold ass attitude on this guy? "That's not what I meant. I think that there has to be some way to travel through dimensions again. Even if you guys don't have the capabilities already, I would prefer to at least try with the resources available. And in return I am willing to construct devices that could benefit your society, as long as they are not used for… war. Any way, in any respect I do not wish any harm upon any being as long as they don't deserve it. Though that doesn't mean I'll exact punishments outside of the law either. Anyway, aside from my rambling what have you decided to do with me?" "That's not for me to decide. You'll have to take that up with the head captain." "Huh, well as long as I don't get locked up for being thought of as crazy I think I'm fine with that." So he guided me to a large gate that was very impressive. When the doors opened, they revealed a row on either side of the room of what seemed like officials. And in the very back was an ancient old man with a long beard and bald head. His eyes seemed to be clenched tight and he was hunched over leaning on a cane. Whelp, he's definitely their leader. Which means that he's either the most powerful or the wisest… once I glanced at him his stair seemed to look into my soul, shivers ran up my spine. …or both! Byakuya took a lineup on one of the sides of the room and I took center. I felt all of their gazes upon me. "Speak now!" the head captain said with a booming voice. "O-oh yeah!" I looked down at the floor, put my left hand in one of my pockets, started rubbing my chin, and began to explain the precarious circumstances that led to my arrival to the soul society, in great detail. There were points at which the way that I explained things required clarification through terms they were familiar with. The most involved in these questionings seemed to be a man in disturbing headgear and face paints named Kurosutchi. After the explanation the head captain seemed to take an endless amount of time to respond. "For now we will provide you with temporary living quarters. We expect full cooperation in any orders given by any lieutenant or higher class soul reaper. We will later decide what to do with you after that." "Of course," I replied "that sounds perfectly reasonable." And with that the meeting was dismissed. Soifon was told by the head captain to escort me to my chosen quarters. A few minuets after leaving the silence between us became awkward for me. "Soo… it seems as though something significant happened here to get you all worried. Would you be able to tell me?" I waited a few seconds. "Hello?" I hope that all the people here aren't as cold as this. *sighs* though I guess that it's natural considering that I am a form of intruder through their perspective. Soifon glares at me for a second and then looks forward again. "To me you're just another riouka. I don't trust you enough to tell you anything." "Oh… yeah." We walked the rest of the way without communicating. She stops at the door of a small barrack that has one story and seems to be in average condition. She opens the door "get in." so that's what I do. After two steps into the barrack I see that there are only three rooms. One is a bathroom, one is a bedroom, and one seems to be some sort of recreational room. The recreation room has a small woodstove in the corner, the bedroom has one bed without a pillow but with a blanket, but otherwise the whole house seemed empty. "Thanks I think I can work with…" but as I turned around, I saw she seemed to have disappeared. "Oh well. I guess I'll get to work." I took a few moments to bring up a few routines on the q-computer's hollow display to prepare for the reconstruction of any available waste matter. Done with that, I went out the back door to see an insignificant portion of yard and a small space for growing plants which was infested with weeds. I deconstructed the plant matter to a few volumes of liquid and solid base elements, the few gasses that were produces just escaped. I levitated the collective materials and managed to construct two small chairs, and a pillow. The material that was left wasn't nearly sufficient to produce anything else useful so I loaded it into the AAP and was about to head back outside to find something else when there was a quick knock on the door so I went to it. I opened it to reveal a tall woman with black braided hair. "Um… is there something you need?" I asked. "Master Mayuri demands your presence." "Huh? Well I guess that's ok. What does he need?"… "Come with me." Huh? Something's off about her… We walk a few paces and I get a chill down my spine. "Uuuh… I think I've changed my mind. If Mayuri decides that he wants to talk to me I'll be at the shack. "Sorry." She responded. Hmmm. As I turn to go towards the shack I feel that she's preparing to strike at me so I whip around, teleport behind her and precede to teleport her to the place that I know I can do safely, "Sorry!" I mock sarcastically as she wisps away before my eyes. I wish I knew the location of that guys personal quarters but the meeting hall is going to have to do for now. I chuckle thinking about her reaction, or the reaction of someone who may be in there as well. I then proceed to my room. Well I guess that it's been a pretty eventful day but I should go to bed. Just before closing my eyes I realize that, considering the insident with the woman, I should keep my shield at full. So I adjust a few settings and fall asleep.
Inside the meeting hall:
Kyoraku and Ukitake walk up to the head captain. "What are you planning on doing about the riouka?" Kyoraku asked. "I will decide upon further investigation." With that Nemu appears right behind Kyoraku and Ukitake, a little confused. "Lieutenant! What is the meaning of this." Head captain ordered. "I need to speak with master Mayuri." And with that she left the room.
Karino's POV:
I woke up not knowing what time it was. I decided that it was best to get some start on the research I need to understand their culture. So I got up and went to the bathroom, only to find something I didn't notice before; a white kimono that was folded up with a pair of sandals on top. Hmm… not really my style, but I don't really want to let it go to waste… so I reconstructed the kimono and sandals into a new set of the same clothes I'm wearing. I then changed into those and deconstructed the old clothes into raw materials, proceeding to compact it into a portable size and stuff it in my pocket. "Just right!" then I leave the barrack to look for information. My search at first leads me nowhere. Everyone gives me looks of disdain, worry, or irritation. Anyone that I talk to seems to be highly intimidated or on the offensive. Until I eventually find a small captain named Toshiro who points me to the department of development and research, and tells me that there is a library there that should help. To thank him for his kindness I construct him a mint from the raw material in my pocket and give it to him. "I'M NOT A KID!" he shouts angrily and then storms off grumbling to himself. Was it something I said? Huh. I then proceed to the department of research and development. When I reach the building I realize something. Wait a minuet! Isn't Mayuri in charge of this department? I cautiously open the door and get directions from a few people down the way to the library. I'm glad that I haven't run into Mayuri or that lieutenant of his. Once I reached the library I found all the answers to the questions I had about this society and more. Most importantly I found much correlative information to my research, and that they already have a way back to what they call the world of the living. By the time I had my fill of info, it was pitch black outside. I finished putting all the books away when the door to the hallway opened. "Hello?" I mumbled. "Intriguing!" I spun around to find Mayuri directly behind me "Boy, come with me." "Um, I don't really wan…" "Don't toy with me!" he interjected. I began to back away when he yelled "NEMU!" a swift hand came from behind and wacked me on the shield around my neck. The look of surprise on each of their faces was astonishing to me. So before anything really bad happened I teleported out of the library and back to my barrack. Whew! That was probably not good but I think their faces made up for it. Hmm. I went to my bed taking in what had happened the past few days. It's never going to be the same again, is it? With that I went to sleep. In my dreams I opened my eyes to see what seemed to be a surreal view of space. There were several galaxies off in the distance and what seemed to be spherical masses scattered around me. Other than that and the stars in the distance, there wasn't much. I began hopping from asteroid to asteroid in an attempt to find something when I heard voices echoing around me. "Hello?" there was no response other than the voices getting louder and more pronounced. After continuing through the field of asteroids for a while, I saw a star growing in size while some of the asteroids hit it. While I gaze up at it, it starts to spit out arcs of molten plasma. And before I knew it, the whole thing exploded. I woke up in my bed sweating and hearing the voices fade. Hmm. I got up and washed my face, deciding that it's best to start an experiment today. "Back to work." After several hours of calculations I headed out of the barrack for a stroll. Along the way I asked many people where I could find an accumulation of garbage, but all the responses included looks of disgust all the way to running out of sight. Eventually I stumbled across a lieutenant called Renji who had a look of suspicion in his eyes. "I hear that you've been causing a lot of disturbances, tell me what you're trying to do." "Well… a lot of people seem to be acting abrasively towards me, and I'm starting to suspect that it has something to do with my attire." I responded. "What did you do with the kimono in the barrack?" he inquired. "Oh!" I brought out the lump of material in my pocket and he looked at it. "You turned it into that!" "Certainly not! I'm wearing the material that was the kimono. This is the lump I constructed from the materials of my worn clothes… minus the amount I turned into a mint for Toshiro." He seemed flabbergasted for a moment after I spoke "Oh! And I'd like to have some sort of meeting with the captains when they're available, thanks." So I walked off back to the barrack leaving Renji there with an odd expression on his face. When I got back to the barrack I had collected a few articles of trash along the way. I guess the rest will have to be extracted from the dirt in the back yard. Once I had collected the materials I began the formation of a quartz sphere of complete purity. It's a good thing there is so much ambient aetherical density otherwise this wouldn't be possible. After it finished, I copied the information from my sphere into it, and it adhered almost immediately. Wow even more efficient than I thought! So I put the 6 centimeter sphere in the modified holder on the inside of my lab jacket. "Perfect fit!" I then set up the old sphere to provide an access-only shield flowing through the walls, floor, and ceiling of the barrack so any solar radiation wouldn't adversely effect the field. I placed it inside the woodstove and set it so the display would come out through the severed vent duct. "Fantastic!" so with a home base in order I prepare to go to sleep when I hear a knocking on the door. I tap my q-computer through the house one to see the person at the door and it seems to be Nemu. "Go away!" I yell. She appears to try and knock the door down, but is bounced back by the field. She seems to have just been confirming something because she just turns and walks away. Guess I'll have to be expecting more of them from now on. I should also probably be more careful with any encounters with them. So I just go to my bed and sleep.
Next day at the meeting hall:
"Is this information credible captain Kuchiki?" "The information was received through my lieutenant and a number of reliable sources." Byakuya replied. "I have had the stealth squad keep track of him, and can personally verify these facts." Soifon said. Then Kyoraku stepped forward with an idea "well he did ask for a meeting, lets offer him one. So he can explain himself", "So be it." Yammamoto decided.
Karino's POV:
I woke up to the sound of loud knocking at the door. "Coming!" I called. I looked at the q-computer and saw it was some bald dude. I opened the door and the look on his face gave me the oddest feeling he'd enjoy punching me… or getting punched. "There is a meeting going on. I was told that you're wanted there." "Oh" I replied. "Well I'll just test something out if you don't mind. Do you need to be there too?" "No, and you ne…" "Well I'm sorry but I need to test this out so I'm taking you there." I interrupted. With that, I doge his attempts to grab me while he's yelling something. At the same time I adjust the settings to teleport us both to the meeting hall and then engage the system. "Hold still." I say. Then we appear instantly in the middle of the meeting hall. Everyone immediately points there attention at me and the guy next to me. "Excuse me everyone, but I just wanted to test multi-person teleportation using my bald friend righ…" I sense the aetherical signals behind me and jump up to avoid an attack by the bald man using his sheath. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME BALD!" "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, but I didn't know your name so I had to use a physical description. My name's Karino by the way." "Huh, my name's Ikkaku." Ikkaku then just walked out and shut the large doors. "I suppose I have a significant amount of explaining to do." "Then speak" retorted Yammamoto. "Well I've finally been able to construct a quartz computing sphere thanks to the ambient aetherical density, or reiastu, which is in this environment." I pull out the q-computer and several of the captains put their hands on their zanpakutos. "Relax, this is mainly harmless. I just need it for demonstration purposes." I set it down in front of me and brought several display functions into view. "This is a computation device that utilizes the numerical qualities of aether flowing inside and through high purity quartz. In the world of the living I was able to construct one of near complete purity with our technology. Using that I can deconstruct and reconstruct matter at an atomic level to make virtually anything. I used that one to make this one using raw materials. The articles of trash I collected provided the majority of the matter that I needed, and the rest I obtained from the dirt in the yard of the barrack I'm staying at. I assume that this isn't all that I need to explain, and I'm happy to answer most of any of your questions." As I waited for them to soak in all that I said, I picked up my q-computer and put it back in my pocket. "What's the type of flash-step you're using?" Toshiro asked. "Aah, that's not a flash-step exactly…" I pull off my lab jacket and shirt to reveal the quartz crystals strapped to my knees, arms, neck, and chest "these quartz crystals and the ones in my shoes and in these rings make an encompassing field of aether currents that deflect the force projected onto them back on to the intrusive object or objects... There are limitations but I don't feel safe disclosing them right now." "How does the power source work for this system?" Kurosutchi asked. "… any other inquisitors." I passively retort, Kurosutchi then proceeds to grumble to himself. "Oh wait! I forgot the question was about the teleporting function…" I picked up my shirt and jacket and put them back on. "observe." I teleport five feet forward and then back again. "This is accomplishable by manipulating the properties of the shield and creating a flux of energy which any matter inside travels with, or in other words me. Though, as you saw earlier I can widen the reach of the shield to include two entities and teleport them both to the same location, or if the situation requires it different locations. In the world of the living I had already done this test to subjects with the old q-computer, which refers to the quartz computation device, and was successful. But I had made this yesterday, and I wanted to make sure that the increase in purity had no detrimental effects." "But what if it didn't work?" asked captain Unohanna. "Well… if it didn't work both of our particles would've been distributed around the teleport destination or as a trail from start to finish. And the effect of that either would've been harmless but noticeable, harmless and unnoticeable, or catastrophically explosive. Anyway, that's why I always do calculations before testing since the one time I didn't, and wanted to test the teleportation with two objects, I ended up creating option three all over my driveway. It took at least a month to repair everything, and even then I'll never replace my faithful pets." *sniffles* "anyway, any more questions?" "What was the blast that was fired when the hollow arrived through the precipice world with you?" Byakuya inquired. "Excellent question!" I pull out the AAP and nearly every one grabs their zanpakutos. "Hey, hey. Even though this isn't harmless, I don't plan on using it on any of you. Anyway as you can see this looks like a very odd version of a pistol from the world of the living. That's because it's my invention called the AAP which stands for Antimatter Assimilation Pistol. This pistol takes matter and through a process so complex I don't feel like explaining, it turns the matter atomically into antimatter. Antimatter destabilizes any matter around it at an atomic level. The radius of this effect depends on what matter, atomically, was used to produce antimatter. This however wasn't my invention. What was my part is the aetherical influences used to project forces onto the antimatter so that it, A, doesn't destroy the gun itself, and B, shoots the antimatter at an adjustable velocity. Another implementation, that I added only a few weeks ago, is to fire blasts of energy at adjustable frequencies and wavelengths. The one I used the day of the incident was a very high frequency energy blast… Now, through research into the subjects at the library I've found that that blast I used resembles a gran-rey cero, as you can see here." I proceeded to take out the lump of material from my pocket, shape it into a small square plate, and shoot the same blast mentioned at the plate creating a singed hole in the center. "Anything els…" as I was finishing that sentence, I felt a disturbingly powerful presence and everyone seemed to reciprocate the same feeling. "What was that?" I asked heading for the door. Once I opened it everyone rushed out of the room heading for somewhere. I teleported to the top of the building we were in to get a better view. There was another rip in the sky, but it was different than the one I came through. It also looked more like a mouth and it was greyer inside than pitch black. I went a few kilometers closer to the dots that were around it and I saw some freakishly pale figures with masks on there faces. There were three of them and one was looking right at me. He had a mask covering his face. Hmm. His eye seems familiar. "Karino!" the one looking at me shouted angrily. He knows me? He flashed up and pounded his fist on me. The shield protected me from most of the impact but it was still horrendously painful. I crashed into a building off into the distance and awoke to find rubble all around me. Well, I guess it's time to defend myself. I look around for the materials I need. Huh. Swords really are the best melee weapons… in most cases. I just hope this works. I take the rubble and reconstruct it into a sword. I then meditate with the sword strewn across my lap. I know that only a zanpakuto works well here so… let's see… I delve into meditation attempting to brand the blade with my essence. After several minuets I'm too deep in meditation to even worry about whether it's working or not. "Karino…" a feeling of tense power flows through my arms and I stand up holding the sword in my right hand. "BLAST THEM AWAY… KONRYO" my sword turns into a shuriken, and materialized on my belt is a holder for it. I throw it up, catch it and throw it at the wall next to me. Then it explodes after a second, I look down at the holder and another one is there. "Awesome!" and I jump (AKA teleport) to battle with whatever adjucha that was.
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