Chapter 4
Intrepid Experience
A/N: I dislike how the zanpakuto arc was implemented, so I'm planning on starting it after the first battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow is finished. Also, any suggestions that can be offered would be helpful and appreciated, Thanks.
Karino's POV:
As I approach Rukia her gigai turned to me with a sharp look. "Don't worry; I'm just here to heal her." When I said this, the gigai seemed to be okay with it and thus allowed me to get to Rukia. I got next to her and started the process from my q-computer. Damn, still slower than Orihime's technique. I guess I'll just monitor Ichigo's fight while I wait. So I bring up a skyward display of Ichigo's battle while Rukia finished healing. "What's that?!" Rukia's gigai asked in a girly voice. "Oh, this is a view of Ichigo's fight with the Arrancar… do you want to watch too?" I asked. The gigai seemed eager to do so, so I widened the display and sat back against a nearby fence to watch what unfolded.
Normal POV:
Ichigo comes at Grimmjow, swinging downward with his sword. Grimmjow blocks the advance and kicks Ichigo, sending him back a couple of yards in the air. Grimmjow flashes to Ichigo going to punch him when Ichigo flashes behind Grimmjow before the attack connects. Ichigo is about to swing downward with his sword onto Grimmjow, when Grimmjow flashes to the street below. Ichigo darts down to Grimmjow and Grimmjow flashes a short distance away just before Ichigo reaches the ground. A cloud of dust is kicked up by Ichigo's impact. Ichigo heads towards Grimmjow through the smoke and swings his sword at him. Grimmjow catches the sword mid-swing, and throws Ichigo forward by his sword. Ichigo slides back a few yards through the street, causing pieces of street to be thrown up along the way. Ichigo finally jumps up and Grimmjow flashes right in front of him. Grimmjow is going to punch Ichigo when Ichigo flashes a few inches below Grimmjow fist, and Ichigo then swings his sword at Grimmjow. Grimmjow catches Ichigo's sword mid-swing again "what is this guy?" Ichigo states and Grimmjow proceeds to kick downward onto Ichigo's chest. In the middle of the kick, Ichigo coughs out a bit of blood and spit. Ichigo fly's down to the street below, hitting a traffic light before smashing into the road. Grimmjow moves back and forth like a boxer would a few times before flying down to Ichigo.
Karino's POV:
As Grimmjow fly's towards Ichigo, Ichigo props himself up to stand in the crater he's in, in preparation for Grimmjow attack. Halfway before Grimmjow reaches Ichigo a cone shaped mist ring forms briefly around the path that Grimmjow's following. Shortly afterwards an extremely loud echoing boom sounds around Karino and the gigai shortly after it sounds from the display. "HOLY SHIT! He actually broke the sound barrier!… I'm surprised that he still has his skin on." Karino chuckles at his comment and proceeds to check on Rukia's status. She seems to be completely healed at this point and absorbed in the fight as well, so I sneak away to Ichigo and leave the display running for Rukia and her soul candy to watch. I should probably see what I can do to analyze these two…covertly. So I activate a function to make myself invisible, and hurriedly dash onward.
Normal POV:
Ichigo blocks Grimmjow's punch, but is then launched backwards. Ichigo fly's across the pavement, crashing into the surface several times before being stopped by smashing into a guardrail. Ichigo is hunched over, seeming exhausted, with his arms across the rail. Grimmjow slowly walks to Ichigo, while Ichigo struggles trying to stand up. Grimmjow reaches to Ichigo, and picks him up by the collar of his shihaksho. Grimmjow then proceeds to land a barrage of punches on Ichigo while he's suspended in the air.
Karino's POV:
I finally reach the tattered street and see that Ichigo is being punched nonstop. Woah! The shear force of the punches he's delivering is keeping Ichigo suspended above the ground, amazing… I… mean… shocking. Anyway time to start analyzing. So I begin recording information regarding every status that I can about the two fighters. just then Grimmjow lands an exceptionally hard punch upwards and Ichigo seems to be floating for a second. Then Grimmjow uppercuts him, sending Ichigo flying several yards upward. Grimmjow flashes above Ichigo and lands a kick that sends Ichigo flying back down to an already made crater. Then Grimmjow pauses to shortly look over to the side of him that I'm on. He couldn't have noticed me, could he have? Then I realize that there seems to be a small glob of liquid heading downwards but I'm too late to doge it. And since I was gaping up at Grimmjow, the small glob somehow lands directly in my mouth. "GACHH! Ah! I think I swallowed it! Blech! Blech! Blech! Blech! Bleeeech!" I sick a hand into my mouth to regurgitate what came into it, I end up making more noise vomiting than I did yelling in disgust. I finished quickly and immediately noticed that Grimmjow, was at that point, staring directly at me. Damn it… covers blown. I'm curious as to what that seemed like to him… I started to laugh and quickly turn to my q-computer to stop the video feed going to Rukia so that I can conserve power. But as I was going to turn a way from the display from the q-computer I noticed something extraordinary, and apparently Grimmjow had as well because he was staring at where Ichigo was. Ichigo jumps toward Grimmjow a few meters and fires a black wave of energy at Grimmjow, immediately firing another. Epic! But as the smoke clears, Ichigo and I both see that Grimmjow is in a blocking position with burn scars across his arms and chest. He puts down his arms and flashes behind Ichigo. Time seems to slow for a second as I witness the surprised look on Ichigo's face and the slow-motion drop-kick that Grimmjow uses on Ichigo. Ichigo is flung onto the same crater below. "Hah! That was pretty impressive kid, but you're going to have to do a lot better than that to defeat me Soul Reaper!" I just stood there waiting for the smoke around Ichigo to clear. I briefly glanced at the readings on Ichigo and notice some extreme peculiarities, aside from the fact that his aetherical density is illogically high. Once the smoke cleared I saw that Ichigo was standing upright and had his head facing down enough for me not to be able to see his face. He stood there for a second before making a slow garbled sigh. Then the sigh grew to a shriek as he lifted his head to Grimmjow, revealing half of a white mask on his face that has interesting red markings across it. Grimmjow seemed to be startled briefly as Ichigo screamed again and headed directly for him. Ichigo slashed repeatedly at Grimmjow and he seemed to have a surprisingly difficult time blocking Ichigo's attacks. They both began to react to each other so viciously and quickly that I had a very difficult time keeping track of them. Within several minuets of the battles progression a garganta opened up to reveal a dark skinned man with a visor over his eyes and a white suit. He flashed to Grimmjow and held him by the neck with his right arm, then he said "Aizen-sama requests your presence…" before quickly flashing back through the garganta. Ichigo screamed and darted to the garganta only making it just as the thing closes. Then he just stands there for a second so I take the opportunity to surround him with the best shield protocol that I had. I temporarily altered it so it wouldn't filter the carbon dioxide and after about six minuets of screeching and bashing against the barrier he eventually passed out. As soon as he did I got rid of the shield and drifted us to the ground. By the time we reached the ground his white mask had completely broke apart and disappeared. Interesting, this definitely will require some investigation. So I have Ichigo float a few feet behind me on the way to the other soul reapers. When I got their, everyone but Ikkaku and Yumichika were talking about the battles they had. When I described what happened to Ichigo, I left out the part about his hollowfication. After I finished, Orihime turned her head to Ichigo and cocked her head a bit "H-hey! Why is Ichigo floating like that?", "Oh, well it's a lot less detrimental to his physical condition if I don't have any contact with him whatsoever." I responded. "I can heal him if you want," she commented. "Actually I'm interested in testing the healing process that I've managed to duplicate from your abilities. This presents a perfect opportunity for me to…" I stopped myself for a second, "…if you don't mind that is." "Oh! Not at all." she replied. So I headed back to my base and started preparations by laying Ichigo across an operating table, standing there in contemplation for a second before starting. "Time to find out what the hell just happened to you, my friend.". I first took out my q-computer and set it on the table in-between us. Then I pulled up a display from the q-computer and started healing Ichigo. Hmm. Not as rapid as it could be, but I guess it still needs a little tweaking anyway. Once Ichigo was healed after a few minuets, I started to initialize scans for the quantity and consistency of his aether. After a few minuets of sifting through and refining the healing protocol I heard a chime that let me know that the scanning was done. Well now, let's see what we… my face flew closer to the display as my eyes widened "Holy shit! It's like he's got a whole fucking universe inside of him!" I immediately flipped through the vast arrays of his data. "Man! It's even growing as I study him. I wonder what else there is here." I started a new scan for patterns and fluctuations. As it scanned I continued to review the data I had on him already. "Huh, seems that he's split in several areas. I wonder if that's related to…" the chime sounded again, letting me know it had finished. I switched to the new data and started to flip through it, occasionally making sounds of amazement. Wow! Several unique planes that intersect inside of him, and that's just the beginning of it. I wonder what correlations there are here… I sifted through a bit more data and then collated it into a single deployment. Once I finished that I studied it for a second. it seems as if there is a singularity through which I might be able to observe him from the inside. I prepared a few connections and sat back in my chair and sighed while I waited for the connections to engage. "…err, maybe I should" just then the connections were made and I was sent strait into the temporary focal point of Ichigo's soul. I open my eyes and slowly realized where I was "large, towering, buildings. Huh, I never would've guessed." I dart my head around "wait! Am I really standing on the side of a freaking building! …uh… agh! Holy shit, my head hurts like hell! Damn it, Serves me right for not fucking taking the extra few minuets to refine my decision… Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" I said as I wacked my head repeatedly. Then I noticed that my zanpakuto was at my side. Hey! It's good to see you again. I took my kunai in my hand and examined it. Then I put it back in its holster and looked around a bit more. I noticed that Ichigo was several meters away from me, lying on the side of the building unconscious. I walked over to him and kneeled down to take a closer look at him. Huh, he doesn't seem to need to breathe in here. I poked him in the ribs to see if I could elicit a reaction. But as I was doing that I noticed footsteps coming my way, so I looked in the direction that they were coming from. Is that an albino version of Ichigo!? "Wh-who are you?" I asked. "Stay the fuck away from him!" is the only response I received before he came at me so fast that I could barely see him move before I put my kunai up which just barely prevented him from slashing through my body. Though as he was passing me he swung his sword back at me and through my chest. I coughed blood as my q-computer started to pull me back out of Ichigo. As I was fading out I glanced over and noticed that the real Ichigo was still laying some distance away from me. So… confusing. I jerked out from my chair, breathing heavily with my hand clasped against my chest. Once my breathing slowed I took the chance to look over to Ichigo lying on the table through the display in front of my face. What a special kid. I feel sad that he has to fight all the time. Ichigo began to rustle on the table. Oh boy. I quickly turned to the display of the q-computer and got to flash Ichigo into his room before he awoke. Wait! Isn't he in soul form? Heh, I hope that isn't too conspicuous. I relaxed back in the chair for a second and put my hand over the spot where the sword came through. More rash decisions, just like when I screwed up with testing on antimatter… with similar repercussions too. I stuck out my right hand and then opened and clenched it once. "I feel tired…" Then I took my q-computer and stuck it back into my shirt pocket. I went to my room and sat on my bed for a second while rubbing my forehead.
Normal POV:
Shiro thrusts his sword through Karino's back. Karino fades out and Shiro holds his sword along his shoulder as he faces Ichigo. "Idiot King." Shiro states crudely.
Ichigo's POV:
"Ichigooo! Ichigoooo!" Yuzu was calling me for dinner so I woke up. As I woke images of the battle with Grimmjow came flooding through my view. I can't believe I lost to Grimmjow. Yuzu was coming to the door when I realized I wasn't in my body. Huh, I must've blacked out. I went over and came back into my body, quickly heading to the door. "I'm coming!" I yell down the hallway. I make my way to the table and sit down. "It's curry; I hope you and your friend like it." Yuzu said as she came to the table with the curry. "What friend?" I asked. "You know, the one that dad is calling right now.
Karino's POV:
As I get ready to sleep my q-computer makes the alarm sound for when someone above is calling for me. Oh crap, I'm way too fucking tired. I flashed up behind Isshin who was stomping on the grass and calling my name. I taped him on the shoulder and he quickly turned around towards me. "Hey, how'd you sneak up on me like that?" he asked. "Uh, what did you want me for exactly?" I quibbled. "For dinner, of course." Isshin responded. "Oh… okay." I walked with Isshin to the table and saw that Ichigo was staring at me with suspicion in his eyes. "h-hey Ichigo." I said. After sitting at the table, I noticed that we were having curry. Once I could smell it my stomach unexpectedly made low grumbling noises. "Heh, I guess I haven't eaten in a while." Now that I think about it, it's probably been about three days. Isshin makes his way to his seat, and everyone begins eating. As I eat I get my q-computer to copy the curry since it's so delicious. I finish my curry within two minuets and I sit there to wait until everyone else finishes. First, Karin and Isshin finished, and then Yuzu and Ichigo finish and leave the table. Finally! I take several cubes of material out of my lab coat and use them to make a fresh bowl of curry. I continued to scarf-down bowls of curry unrestrained for about six minuets before, in the middle of going through a bowl, I noticed that Yuzu and Karin were peeping at me through a doorway off to the side. I stopped at that instant and calmly made the rest of the curry I made back into material cubes and walked into the bathroom. Once I noticed that they were at the door I teleported to the outside of the house so I could see what they were doing. Just spying on me huh? I decide to walk around to the back of the house and go back to my lab and I see Ichigo back there looking at the sky. I walked up to him and asked him how he was doing. "I'm alright." He responded. "Hey, um, I'd like to talk to you about what happened recently." As I said this, Ichigo turned to me with a serious look on his face. "What is it?" he asked. "Well I saw you… hollowfy?... at least, that's what it seemed like. And you started to fend off Grimmjow when someone showed up from a garganta to collect him. After he left I rendered you unconscious and you seemed to return to normal, as well as most of your more serious injuries being healed." I said. "Were you the one who brought me home?" he asked. "Well yes, and no. you see, I actually brought you back to my lab and healed you. But I kind of got a little too curious and started to scan you to see what I could find out." "What!? Just what did…" I interrupted before he could finish "hold on a sec! It's not like I did anything really significant. I just scanned your aether composition… a.k.a. spirit energy… to see what was going on." I'd better not tell him that I went into his inner world yet. He got a concerned look on his face after I said this. "What did you find out?" he asked. I stood there in contemplation for a second. How should I describe this?... hm… ah, I know! "Well it turns out that you have massive amounts of spirit energy. It even seems large enough to be capable of containing an entire planet, maybe smaller than earth when you're at your weakest that I've seen. Though this means that it is extremely compressed, which explains why you aren't fully capable of accessing it yet." I stood there while I let Ichigo take this in. " also… and this is still a theory in the works… but there seems to be a subconscious entity, likely the same one that took over during your fight with Grimmjow, that is responsible for the maintenance and regulation of the greater portions of your spirit energy. This would explain how you're able to sustain such massive concentrations of spirit energy with little effort on your part. But as for now, that is all I can definitively ascertain from the data that I've gotten from you so far." As I let him further digest what I said he eventually looks back at me again. "So… how did I end up in my room on the floor?" he asked "Oh!" *I chuckle* "as you started to wake up I teleported you back into your room. But I completely forgot that you weren't in your physical body yet… sorry about that." "That's okay." He responded. I yawn and stretch a second. "Well, I'm going to head off to bed. Good night!" "…good night." Ichigo responded. I teleport back into my lab and I decide to finally finish the chamber. I reach the chamber and think for a moment. Hm. Just so that I don't have a repeat of the incident with Ichigo I think that I'll do a few more calculations. I paced around the hatch to the spiritualization chamber before I suddenly stopped in exclamation. "Ah!" I decide to make a few adjustments in order to attach my q-computer to the top of the chamber. There that should be able to prevent anything really bad from continuing uninterrupted. So I open the hatch and step inside. "Here goes nothing!" I press the red initialization button next to me and wait as the quarts charges up. As I wait I see a blue light of increasing intensity circle me faster and faster. Eventually the light looks like an immensely bright ring around me. I sway back and forth as I become nauseous and disoriented. Everything fades into a blackness that seems to go on forever. "… Hello?" I call out in the hopes of reaching my zanpakuto. I think that I hear rustling nearby and I turn to the direction that I heard it from but there was still only black around me. "Hello!?" I yell again, hoping to elicit a response. I hear nothing after that so I walk a little ways until I reach what seems to be a faintly glowing surface. I reach my hand out to it to feel it and my hand goes strait through it. Disturbing it like a body of water. I feel a slight breeze on the other side so I go completely through to investigate. Upon entering I'm blinded by the light coming from above, and I just stand for a few seconds to let my eyes adjust. Once I can see clearly I notice a small slightly hilled field that ends in what seem to be four white walls that surround me. I immediately notice the rain and how it seems, odd. The rain drops are falling at an incredibly slow pace and I even hold my hand under a droplet as it falls to by feet without touching it at all. The entire field is lighted by a dim sphere directly in the middle of what seems to be an all white sky. I turn behind me and touch the wall I just came through. This time it feels like the surface of a pillow except completely rigid. Huh. I turn back to the small field and walk about 11 meters before I reach the opposite wall. Interesting inner world I have. But sadly not nearly as cool as Ichigo's. I hear a scurrying sound and I look around again. Till after a few seconds I notice a small light at a corner of the field. I walk to it and I notice that it seems to be a fuse of some kind. "What the…" I snap back around to what seems to be a small brown weasel snickering. "EXPLOSION!" it exclaims. And I notice that the fuse is already underneath the ground. Before I can react I am blasted upward by an explosion that went off a few feet away from me near the center of the field. I hit the wall behind me and I slide abruptly to the ground before getting pelted with clods of dirt. I look up and notice that the rain is absent in a spherical pattern above me as it falls slowly to the ground. "This is… weird." I brush off the small clods of dirt as I look around again and notice that the small craters around me are having dirt reformed in them as the rain hits them. By the time I walked around several of the craters they got halfway filled with dirt again. Once I reach near one of the walls I notice that it seems to be more concave than I first noticed. Then I hear a sound of stretching and I look back to the filled craters having patches of grass rapidly form on them. Once I look back at the wall it seems to be a little bit farther from me now and perfectly flat again. …hm, seems to be growing. I look around once more and I notice that the whole place looks the same as when I came in. "Hey weasel! Where are you?" I yell out. I'm responded by sounds of frustration. "Aw, come on! I'm not a fucking weasel!" the response seems to come from all around me. I turn and look around to see if I can find him. "Well, where are you?" I repeated. "Right here." This time his voice is coming from right behind me. When I look at where I heard him I see the small brown ferret from earlier. I stand for a second stuck in thought. "A-are you…" "No duh! Who do you think I am genius." He interrupts. "Why did you bring me here?" I asked. "Cause what you're doing fucking hurts!" Konryo retorts. "Wow, I didn't think…" "You're damn right you didn't think! *sighs* you honestly will never know how painful it is in being stretched across different spiritual plains." Konryo interrupted. "… sorry. I guess I don't really have to use you." I said guiltily. "Now now, you won't have to do that. Just be a little patient until we're in a realm with a higher ambient aetherical density, okay?" I stand there pondering what Konryo just said. "Wait!" I exclaim excitedly. "What if I just got my spirit to be temporarily separate of my body?" I see Konryo's whiskers twitch as he thinks about it. Dang, he's really cute when he's thinking. "What the fuck!" he yelled. "You know that I can hear everything that you think out loud in here! And by the way, I hate being a ferret! Why couldn't you have just been less fucking antsy and curious about everything!?" I could barley stifle a laugh as Konryo was chastising me. "You have to admit though, you do look somewhat adorable." I said in a false adoring tone. Konryo growls and runs over to me as I'm laughing and bites my leg. "Ow!" I say as he lets go and lands a few feet away. *scoffs* "well I guess I'm okay with you doing that as long as it doesn't do anything to me." When Konryo says this he is facing away from me. "I guess I'm going to go then…" I say as Konryo and the field around me start to fade around me. "…you don't really have a choice." He responds. I don't understand what he means until I am jolted awake by the alarm sounding in the chamber I was in. I get to my feet and notice a splitting headache. "Aagh!" I've got to take a vacation. I open the doors to the chamber and see smoke coming out from the sides of it. Hmm. I must have melted through the electrolytic converters with the resistance that my body put on it. *sighs* well, I'm way too tired to fix it now. I'll just do some planning for tomorrow and go to bed. I get the q-computer from the chamber and head to my desk to start designing.
Normal POV:
Rukia slams open the door to Ichigo's room with a serious look on her face. Ichigo looks over to her, wondering what's wrong. "Ichigo! There's a problem in the soul society, we have to go now!" Rukia says hurriedly. "Fine, let's go!" Ichigo quickly grabs kon from the stuffed animal and swallows him. Ichigo is ejected from his body as kon (in Ichigo's body) lands on the bed. "Take care of my body while were gone… and don't do anything perverted with it while we're away." Scolds Ichigo. Kon agrees and after Rukia swallows a chappy, she and Ichigo head out through the window of Ichigo's room. They then open a doorway to the soul society and rush in.
Karino's POV:
I find myself slouched over on my desk on top of my completed sketches as I'm woken up by the sound of my q-computer telling me that I've been asleep for eight hours. I yawn and stretch in my chair for a minute. Oh, it's nine already? Then I head over to the chamber and finish modifying it so it can successfully delineate my spirit energy. Then I go near the circle of Latin incantations on the floor in front of the chamber to complete inscribing them so that I can use them to come back here from any distance or realm I may be at. Man, I don't know who made this language but whoever did must've known a lot more than I do. Once I finish I hear the sound of my stomach complaining. "Ah, I guess I should eat." I teleport out of my lab and near the front door of Ichigo's house. I knock on the door and after it opens I see Isshin standing there. "Hey, uh, do you mind if I help with making breakfast" I ask. Isshin ushers me in quickly and takes me to the kitchen. I see that Rukia is putting frozen waffles into a toaster. I walk over quickly and stop her before she starts the toaster. "Hey! Wait a second, I know how to make better waffles than these freeze dried disappointments." Rukia cheerfully steps aside to let me work. Hm, she seems to be chappy. I wonder if she and Ichigo went somewhere… again I hear my stomach growling at me. Well, I could always find out after breakfast. I take the water from the sink faucet and make a new multi-spaced waffle iron. Then after I plug it in I take more water and make the ingredients for batter. Then I use their blender to mix the ingredients and pour them into the waffle iron. After about sixteen minutes I take twenty-five waffles on a plate and put them in the middle of the table that everyone's waiting at. Then I pick up the maple syrup and swish it around for a bit as I convert the diluted contents in it into pure maple syrup. As I put it down Karin asks me why I was swirling it. I have no idea if Isshin wants them knowing. Hmm. I pause for a moment before taking my seat as I think of an excuse. "Uh… swirling it in a special way makes the sugars more homogeneous in the mixture." That explanation seems to work, or at least they seem to forget about it altogether, as everyone is thoroughly enjoying the homemade waffles and real maple syrup. I manage to finish first, so I head to the kitchen and remove all the leftover matter from the surface of all the things I used and make it into a small cube of marble. Then, as I head out the door I thank them for having me over and they are barely able to respond as they continue through the plate of waffles I left for them. I take their collective enjoyment as a 'thank you' and I walk out. Once I teleport back into my lab I sit in my desk chair and turn to stair at the circle and chamber near the side of the room. …huh. Now that I think about it, I didn't really need to go up there to make that stuff. Then a familiar voice sounds in my head. 'Maybe you're just tired of being alone. I mean think about it! You recently lost you co-worker, and years before that your wife. Clearly you're starved for company.' In an effort to quibble I think about something else. Hey! I didn't know I could communicate to you like this. Is this a recent development?
'No duh Sherlock! Your little experiment kind of left us scarred.' So I'm stuck with you now? '… Deal with it.' I turn back to my desk and take out my q-computer. I wonder if Ichigo and Rukia went to the soul society. Upon reading quantum scans of the area around Ichigo's house I find that a rift to the soul society was made at about seven in the morning. Well, it does seem to be a convenient excuse for trying out my chamber. After I make an 80% quartz sphere I place the pure one in the slot at the top of the entrance to the chamber. A low humming can be heard as the aether currents are collected and prepared. 'So that breakfast just made you more desperate for attention, huh?' …shut up. The door to the chamber opens after it warms up and I step inside. Once the door closes I turn off my shield and watch as glowing droplets of un-stabilized aether flies from the bottom plate to the top plate. So awesome! It kind of looks like brightly colored reversed rain. As the frequency of the droplets increases everything around me seems to be becoming more and more distorted until I can only see white. Then, after a few seconds I notice that my vision seems to be slowly clearing up. The first thing that comes into my view is the chamber in front of me. After a few minutes of waiting and squinting at everything, I'm finally able to see clearly again. I look down and see that I'm in the circle of Latin runes. Yes! Finally an experiment this week that didn't make significant problems for me. 'Easy… for you to say… jerk.' Huh? You sound kind of funny Konryo. 'Hell yeah! Whatever you did made me extremely nauseous.' *Karino chuckles* hey, just don't throw up in my head okay? *Karino continues laughing* 'fuck you! I told you not to do anything to me damn it!' well I assume that you aren't disfigured or anything right? '…' right then! So there's no significant damage. I look down to my side and I see Konryo in his sealed state. In all seriousness, I am sorry. *Konryo grumbles acceptance of the apology* I look down at Konryo for a second and then I pick him up to inspect him. Once I held him at eye level I saw that he had lines strewn across the guard. I drew the sword out slightly and I could see that the hilt had been changed from the original circle I made to a triangular shape. The blade had carved in it the number three, the letter C, the Roman numeral for three, and the end of the blade had three sharp points to it. Soo… what's with the obsession on three? 'What! I can't like a particular number more than the others?!' …that's not it, it's just… oh! When we were in my inner world, weren't there more than three explosions? 'Nine actually.' Huh… 'What!?' nothing I just don't know… 'It's because it's a multiple of three! Sheesh, I though you'd be able to understand that.' …that's not it. I'm just not sure where that came from. 'Huh?' well the way I see it, your characteristics are manifestations derived from my characteristics. So logically there should be something about me that correlates to that aspect of you. 'Maybe it's because you always want to where that outfit of yours?' nah, that couldn't be it… maybe?... Nah. "Oh! Wait a second…" I head over to the reflective metal on the chamber and I look at my attire. "Aw man! I'm wearing one of those black kimonos now." I tug and inspect the kimono now draped around me. Oh! I have an idea! '…better not fuck me up again' Konryo warns. Don't worry… at least; I think it won't do anything bad. Then I head over to the desk and pick up the q-computer I made before I went into the chamber. Then I alter the representation of the kimono to look like my normal clothing. "There!" feeling alright? 'So far' Konryo says, unsure about it. Well it wasn't a complex modification… at least by my standards… so there shouldn't be any adverse side effects. I say reassuringly 'there damn well better not be.' I also did something to try and stop the nausea. Do you feel better? '…yeah, a lot better. Thanks.' No problem, now let's go. I put the q-computer in my pocket and then walk over to the chamber. As I look into the small window on the door I see my body being suspended in the middle of the aether flowing from below. Kind of looks odd. I teleport out of my lab and use the remnants of the spatial coordinates Rukia and Ichigo used to go through to the same location that they went to. As I walk towards the swirling multicolored vortex in front of me I think about the one they used. *Karino chuckles* "mine looks better." I say proudly. I reach what seems to be a small allocation of trashed buildings and up-heaved soil. "Well, this is… unexpected." I say as I walk around surveying the damage. One battle after another, huh? 'Clearly' …the commentary is not needed. *Konryo laughs* I can't help but laugh with him at what was said, at first. Then I started laughing again in the thought of what it must look like from and outside perspective watching me laugh right in front of the ruins, of what used to be buildings, caused by a major battle. 'That's a little much isn't it?' I just think that watching me laugh like that in this environment would be funny to… er… uh… huh; I guess they'd actually be furious. 'Now doesn't that make more sense?' I ignore Konryo's sarcasm as I continue to analyze the area to see what transpired. I find that multiple battles have taken place while migrating to different areas. Before I head out I should probably be prepared. I walk back over to some rubble and use it to construct a pure quartz sphere. Then I instill the programs I have onto it and put it in my inside pocket. I place the tainted quartz sphere in one of the pockets to my side. "That may come in handy later." As I put the pure q-computer away I notice that my shield projectors aren't on me anymore. *Karino sighs* "well I guess I have to remake those too." I gather the leftover material from making the new q-computer and some torn-apart wooden foundation from a nearby building to make several strap-on quartz plates that are fifty percent quartz and fifty percent gold deposit. Once I have them strapped on I get them up and running to see how they're functioning. Aah. It's got that new shield smell. 'Lame!' what? Isn't it at least a little… 'LAME!' …fine. Off to the distance there is what seems to be the sound of explosions. I look over and I see smoke coming from several different places. "hm…" I bring up a display from my q-computer so I can scan around to find out who's near me. "Oh! Ichigo and Rukia are fairly close." I head in their direction but while I'm on the way I nearly come into view of a girl that is using two giant bells attached by a length of fabric to fling fireballs at nearby buildings. I wait in a dark crevice in the ally that I'm in so that she doesn't see me as she passes by. Once she's a safe distance away I stand up and get going again. I get to the roof of the building that was across from the alleyway that I was in when I get a weird reading from my q-computer. I look behind me and I see a man with long fingernails and shadowing around his eyes who is staring at me. I decide to make a run for it, but before I can teleport away I'm frozen in place. "w-what?" I manage to blurt out in my confusion. "I honestly didn't expect a human to have a zanpakuto." The man says as he comes closer to me. Thoughts of what could be about to happen play out as a movie reel before my eyes. When he's within arms length of me he strikes his hand into my chest. I scream in agony as he rips something from me and takes a few steps back with it. After I become coherent enough to take notice of what is in front of me I become frozen again, but this time with shock. I stare directly at a boy with short smooth brown hair with baggy shorts, a light brown hoody, and a pair of sandals. He has small furry brown ears atop his head, and a fluffy brown tail trailing behind him. "K-Konryo?" I ask, really pleading for an explanation. He looks at me with such contempt that I become unsure whether what's going on is real or not. Before I can find out, I pass out from the horror and confusion overwhelming me.
Normal POV:
Konryo walks into a damp cave where the other soul-reapers' zanpakutos are staying in. "hey, who's the new kid?" Kazeshini exclaims as Konryo comes into view of the rest of them. Hyzukimaru jumps down from a ledge and lands near Konryo. "Come on, this thing's just a pipsqueak!" he says as he picks Konryo up by the strings of his hoody and keeps him in the air. Konryo yells and complains in protest as he struggles to get free. Muramasa walks into the room from where Konryo came in and looks at Hyzukimaru, then at the rest of the zanpakuto. "Konryo is the zanpakuto of a human named Karino. Set him down please." Muramasa says as he looks back to Hyzukimaru. "Tch…" Hyzukimaru scoffs as he drops Konryo to the ground. Once Konryo is on his feet he brushes himself off and walks past Hyzukimaru. Once he's a few feet away he turns back to Hyzukimaru and stands with a smile on his face. "EXPLOSION" Konryo yells as an explosive detonates on the back of Hyzukimaru. Hyzukimaru is blasted onto his face, and as he gets up he looks around angrily for Konryo. "Agh! Where'd that little runt go!" Hyzukimaru says, annoyed. Konryo is already sitting in a corner and staring at the small waterway at the one end of the cave. As Hyzukimaru storms out of the place, Konryo looks around from where he's sitting. Once Konryo sees Sode No Mi Shiryuki he gets a short look of surprise on his face, but then he huffs and turns back to the water. "Karino is certainly in for a surprise." Konryo mumbles to himself.
Karino's POV:
As I become conscious I'm immediately aware of pain coursing through my whole body. I try to open my eyes, but that effort is only met with more pain. I manage to get one eye partially open and everything at first is blurry to me. Soon I'm able to notice that there are others around me in beds as well. I must be in the fourth company medical barracks. I hear a couple of people rushing over to me. I try to speak, but my face feels like it's made of stone. By now there are three people around me, one of which I recognize as the fourth company captain. Ugh, she looks concerned. I hope that I'm okay… scratch that, I'm fucking paralyzed! CLEARLY there's something wrong with me. The other two appear to administer something to me and I go back under. Though, I start to hear footsteps echoing in my head and I still only see blackness. After a little bit the sound stops, this makes me relieved, until I get a familiar feeling. At first I don't recognize it, but then I hear screaming coming from what sounds like my wife. "SONYA…" I stammer as I'm jolted awake, but this time I'm inside my spiritualization chamber. I look down to my left hand and at a light blue quartz ring on my third finger. "Sonya…" I say, this time more reminiscently. Wait a minute? How am I inside… before I can think of what's going on I'm struck with pain jolting through my entire body like I'm being electrocuted. Then I'm back to a sightless, soundless setting for the duration of the pain, though I have no comprehension of the length of time it lasts before I'm left at stagnancy again. Agh damn it! After what seems like forever I start to sense movement. Though, it's as if I'm on a rollercoaster and I can't see or hear anything. What the fuuuuck! I think as I feel like I'm being thrust every-which way. Suddenly I'm met with a halting stop which leaves me feeling like I ran directly into a brick wall at a high speed. I get a ringing in my head as I start to hear conversations between people around me. My vision sets in very blurry but starts to get clearer as I wait. My thoughts progressively get foggier as my vision clears up. By the time I can see what is around me I don't even remember what had just been happening.
A/N: just so that I can make sure that you know, I wan to say that I'm going in the direction of a flashback. I hope that it doesn't detract too much from the story for you… and since it's been a fairly significant time since I last updated (sorry about that) I'll put this up now and leave the flashback for the next chapter. And since I've taken so long with updating this I'll just have the next chapter be singularly a flashback so that I will continue with the story on the next chapter. Also, sorry about taking so long. I've been extremely busy this year and I don't have internet at home, so thanks for reading .
A/N: please comment and/or review, I need the input.
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