Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material that appears in this drabble/short whatsoever. I make no money off of it and do not intend to in the future. They are the rightful property of their respective owners and associated companies.
Note: I still plan on making this a stand-by-itself fanfic but given how many people disliked where I left off with part one I decided to write a part two. As for when it will become it's own fanfic that will depend on how fast I can finish another of my in progress fanfics like my Rurouni Kenshin/BtVS crossover 'A Reborn Wanderer'.
The Phoenix Effect Part 2:Knight of the Goddess
Last time on 'The Phoenix Effect…
"That's enough playing around. Kill him now so we can deal with the rest of these traitors," Soifon ordered as she glanced at the battered form of the boy Hitsugaya had been assigned to take care of.
In her mind this was something that should have been done from the moment the boy had been brought before the Captains of the Gotei thirteen by that foul messenger of the Powers, Whistler. He was an abomination, an insult to the young woman who might have one day become a Shinigami herself, and should have been wiped from existence immediately. Only the authority of the Commander-General, who had decided to agree to the request of the Powers to take care of the boy, had kept her from slaying him on the spot. He was a mistake that should never have been allowed to come into being and his actions here today had proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. His actions, though, provided her with all the justification she needed for ordering his death and there was nothing the Powers could do to stop her.
"At once, Commander," replied the leader of the group that had responded to her summons.
"I… unh… think you should reconsider you guys." Spoke the boy as stood straighter and looked at her with an inner fire that had not been there a moment ago, "You're on the wrong side here, so don't throw your lives away over a mistake."
"Silence fool! The order has been given. You will die at our hands," said the leader of the Special Mobile Corps unit. "Accept it."
"Well I just got four words to say to that idea," the boy said and then, all at once, a crimson energy exploded out from him, enveloping his form and stretching out fifteen feet in every direction.
So strong was the energy that those who did not evade it in time were thrown back to the ground with parts of their uniform smoking, as if it had been touched by a flame. Not surprising because now that she looked at the crimson energy, it did seem to conform to the shape of fire as well as move like fire would. She wanted to believe that this was just some last desperate attempt by the monster before her to intimidate his enemies, but her ability to sense the spiritual pressure of others told her what she was seeing was real. Her subordinates in the Special Mobile Corps unit, though, were stubborn and refused to accept this display of energy in front of them believing it to only be a trick. Opening her mouth to order them all to keep their distance, she was just a second too late as five of them leapt towards the battered boy with weapons drawn. Unfortunately for them, the boy's words were there to fill the silence for her.
"RISE AND BURN, AMATERASU!" Alexander yelled and, with those words, scorching flames exploded outwards from where he stood and swept over everything in within twenty feet of him in a tsunami of fire.
The zanpakutō of Alexander Harris had been released to its shikai state and Soifon began to worry that anyone that made a mistake of underestimating him from this point on would not get the chance to make a second one.
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And now the continuation…
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The Execution Grounds, Xander's PerspectiveLooks like I've finally shaken the ol' Harris luck!! He thought to himself as he felt the power thrum though his body and took in the changes in his zanpakutō.
Starting at the hilt, he noticed that the standard black and white color combo that was pretty much standard among this type of weapon was gone and in its place was a combination of yellows, oranges and reds in a surprisingly complex design. Next came the hilt guard that had changed from its usual oval shape into a stylized metal sun with the main part equal in diameter to a slightly large saucer. Made of shiny copper, it had metal spikes of 'flame' sticking out from the edges and each spike looked more than sharp enough to cut a person if they weren't careful where they placed their hand. The blade of the zanpakutō, which had not only doubled in both length and width, had also taken to glowing like a piece of metal fresh from a swordsmith's forge. However what was the most impressive change since he released Amaterasu to shikai level were the six comets of flame that stayed ten feet around him at all times, orbiting like an electron around a nucleus. These comets of flame weren't going particularly fast, in fact if one moved quickly enough, they could probably grab a hold of one, but instead of this making them look harmless, it instead made them look like predators circling around their prey. Judging from the looks on the faces of the various members of the Special Mobile Corps members, they were having a tough time getting a grip on the new situation. That led him to believe that perhaps his shikai was among the more unique ones among the shinigami and, if so, perhaps he could play that to his advantage.
"As you can see guys, it's a whole new ballgame now. With my zanpakutō released to shikai level, my power is back and better than ever before." He said making it sound like he had already won even though he was still uncertain in that area, "So I'll give you guys one more chance to back down before things get painful. After all, a good soldier knows when to fight and when to just go home. Make your choice."
Personally, he hoped that this display of power and the unexpected release of his sword to shikai level would be enough to cause them to doubt their ability to kill him. After all, while he may have managed to release his zanpakutō to shikai level, he still didn't quite know what it could do or how well he could control its powers. He didn't want to hurt these guys much and he certainly didn't want to kill them, but if they attacked he would defend himself. Looking at each member of the Special Mobile Corps unit in turn, he did his best to give them the 'attack me and you are making a BIG mistake' look. However, as he watched, each of them tighten their grip on their weapons he knew that by forcing them to make a choice he had also forced them to choose the most common choice for people in their line of work.
To be loyal and obedient to their commander above all other concerns or desires.
Less than two seconds after realizing that they were halfway to him both on the ground and leaping through the air forcing him to push all unnecessary thoughts to the side. The first to reach him was a short looking man with a kodachi in each hand and both thrusting forward to run him through. However the moment he desired that they be stopped before they could reach him two of the comets of flame shot away from their orbits to intercept the weapons. By the time they reached the halfway point, they had reformed into a pair of woman's hands and in an instant they were wrapped around the blades of the attacker. This stopped the enemy's attack in its tracks but the fun didn't stop there because, less than a second after clamping down on the kodachi, the heat from the hands was transmitted through the metal to the hilt, forcing the wielder to let go of his weapons. Not one to pass up an opening like that, he lunged forward with a roundhouse kick to the man's face like he'd seen Buffy do many times before. With surprising swiftness and power, he connected with his attack, sending the man sprawling to the ground dazed as well as disoriented. He had no time to think about this since it was then that two more of his attackers had arrived from above with daggers in their hands.
"DIE!!" They yelled with determination and killer intent in their eyes.
Whipping around to face them, he felt the presence of his zanpakutō's spirit guide his arms as they brought his blade up so that the tip of the blade was directed to where his eyes looked and the hilt was held near his the side of his head. Removing his right hand from the hilt he placed it right below the blade tip of the zanpakutō and watched as a ball of flame began to form.
How are you doing this, Amaterasu? He asked mentally as he watched the orb of heat shine brighter and brighter.
Normally I would have insisted that you learn these techniques on your own so that you would understand fully how they worked. She replied as the approaching airborne enemies began to get a little too close, However circumstances being what they are, I am willing to show you a few tricks earlier than intended.
So what's this one called? He asked as anxiety caused by the approaching implements of death began to seep into his thoughts.
RAY SHOT! She exclaimed in his head and with perfect timing the ball of flame that had been gathering above his right hand was launched like an arrow from a crossbow.
For a moment, though, he thought he was going to have to gripe to her about her aim, but just as it looked like the ray shot would pass between the two oncoming assassins, it split in two pierce both warriors through the wrists. As they cried out in pain he watched as their weapons were dropped out of reflex from the pain and fell to the dirt floor below. However this did nothing to change their trajectory or where they were going to touch down and that left him with two Special Mobile Corps members heading his way. Acting on instinct, he immediately reversed his grip on his sword and, when they were within range, he slammed the pommel of the zanpakutō into the jaw of the attacker on the right while using his sheath to strike a man's most sensitive spot. With a bit of satisfaction he smiled as both men went down with no sign that they'd be getting back to their feet anytime soon. Looking around, he was glad to see that the remaining seven members of the group that Captain Soifon had summoned had stopped their advance. He needed time to think of a more effective strategy for ending this before Miss Bitch decided to intervene herself and tear him limb from limb. He was under no illusions that even if he was somehow at Lieutenant level in terms of power, that he could take down a Captain. He was just planning to buy some time for either aid or divine intervention to come just in the nick of time and save his sorry ass. The remaining members of the enemy unit he could probably defeat but whether or not he could do so before their commander joined the battle was iffy.
Any ideas, Amaterasu? He asked mentally as he made sure to keep all of his enemies in sight.
Remember Xander. I am named after a sun goddess for a reason. She replied in a way that implied that she wanted him to figure the next move out for himself, What aspects of the sun can be used to your advantage?
This is a really bad time for a science quiz, lady! He thought back at her as he began to see signs of a non-verbal planning session come to an end amongst his enemies, We may have managed to catch the first three by surprise, but I don't think blind luck is going to save my ass this time!
Do not lose faith in yourself, Xander! You have always been stronger than you have thought yourself to be, Amaterasu thought to him with determination. If your mind cannot supply you with an answer, then trust your instincts.
With a sigh of resignation, he decided to trust her judgment and began to review what he knew about the sun from science class back in high school. It wasn't much, considering he barely passed the class and never had expressed much interest in a job where know that sort of thing could be useful. Nevertheless, he tried and it was when he pictured the sun up close in the midst of a solar flare that he hit upon a possible move that he prayed he'd be able to passably perform. Picturing what he was about to do in his mind, he willed the energy flowing through his zanpakutō to the power level he wanted, causing it to glow distinctly brighter than before. Seeing this, his enemies tensed for a brief moment in anticipation of what might happen and it was this moment that he took full advantage of when he stabbed the blade of his sword into the ground.
"RISING FLARE!!" He yelled as he willed with all his might to have the energy he'd just released do what he wanted it to do.
With barely three seconds of trembling earth, his willpower came through in spades as columns of flame erupted from the dirt beneath all seven of the remaining members of the Special Mobile Corps. While three of the swifter among the group were smart enough to evade the attack, the remaining four were enveloped inside the columns of fire, subjecting them to heat potent enough that it turned half their clothes to ash. Fortunately his columns only lasted for three or four seconds, otherwise he'd find out a little more than he wanted to about his opponents. What probably surprised the ones that managed to escape the fire columns was that their comrades were more or less untouched physically with nothing more than a nasty sunburn on the surface. Beneath the surface, however, was another story, since it had taken almost all his focus and willpower to control his attack to this degree, but his determination not to irreparably harm someone made it his only move. For beneath the surface of each man caught within the flames, their total volume of water had dropped significantly and bestowed upon them a nasty case of severe dehydration. This would leave the four of them weak as kittens until they replenished their fluids in some fashion and that meant the number of enemies he had to face was now four, if he included Captain Soifon.
Turning to his remaining adversaries, he decided he'd make the offer of letting them throw in the towel one more time. Now that they knew what he was capable of in a fight, perhaps they'd be more inclined to backing off than they were before.
"So what's it gonna be, guys and gal?" He asked as he extracted his zanpakutō from the earth and placed it in a relaxed ready position, "We gonna pack it in an' go home or do I have to make the rest of you eat dirt?"
"It is you who will be tasting the dirt, abomination," Soifon stated before using some unfamiliar hand gesture.
In an instant both the remaining three members of the Special Mobile Corps unit and their fallen comrades vanished in a blur of motion, leaving only him and Soifon standing on the battlefield. Contrary to what most would think, this was NOT a good thing since he was pretty sure it didn't mean that he'd won or that the enemy was afraid of him. No, he was pretty sure that this meant that Miss Eternal PMS was planning on finishing him off herself and had merely wanted room to work her magic. Considering that she was the leader of the group that specialized in assassinations and executions, he was pretty sure he didn't want to see what she was capable when cutting loose, mostly because it would reverse the situation he'd been happy about in, which his enemies didn't know exactly what he was capable of beyond the obvious. Now it would be him without vital knowledge of what Soifon was capable of beyond the basics that every captain in the Gotei 13 divisions. He knew that she'd likely be capable of shunpo, or flash step, which would mean she could go from being a football field's distance away from him to kicking him in the back of the head in an instant. Captains also knew the majority of the demon arts spells, both the Ways of Destruction as well as the Ways of Binding. Fortunately for him, though, only three or four of them could execute such spells effectively without saying the entire incantation. While it was true that he had made some headway in learning the basics of both, he was still not skilled enough in either to use them competently in battle despite his earlier success with geki and sōkatsui.
In short: I am SO screwed! He thought even as he brought his zanpakutō up into a stronger defensive stance, Still, it'll be a cold day in hell before I go down without a fight!!
"Then let's get to it, Captain Soifon, 'cause I ain't getting any younger and listening to you definitely is not getting any more pleasant!" He said with fire in his voice and determination in his eyes.
It happened in an instant, but one minute she was standing a few feet away from him with zanpakutō in hand and the next she was gone. He didn't even bother to think before he willed all six of the flame comets to converge behind him to protect his back while he used his own sword to protect his head. Definitely a smart move since, a fraction of a second after both tools were in position, he felt a blow strike his convergence of flame comets with enough force to rattle his teeth. Dropping to the ground, he executed a leg sweep in the hopes of taking Soifon's feet out from under her so he could put a few feet between the two of them, but all his leg hit was air. It was a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye that saved him next and while he was able to use his katana to parry the captain's thrust away from vital spots, it still sliced open his right arm.
Deciding that giving her both time and room to manoeuvre was a very bad idea, he decided to keep things in close, where he could at the very least keep an eye on her. When she took a step back to prepare for another assault, he followed her every move to keep his blade locked with hers. Thrusting his knee up towards her stomach, he hoped to be able to knock some of the wind out of her sails, but apparently she was the master to his amateur in this area since she easily blocked his attack with her own knee. He had only a moment to contemplate this before something powerful slammed into the side of his head, sending him to the ground in pain. His eyes were a bit of a mess at this point, but he thought he saw Soifon lowering her leg from a high kick position telling him it had been her that had hit him. It turned out to be the first of several hits, since the moment he gained solid enough footing to even begin standing up, something slammed into his side, sending him rolling along the dirt floor almost fifty yards. A flash of reflected sunlight alerted him to the second attack almost a half second too late, but as it was he had enough warning so that instead of piercing his heart, Soifon's blade pierced his left shoulder. Biting his lip in order to keep from crying out in pain, he looked into the eyes of his attacker with nothing but defiance and courage in his eyes.
"This is how it will end, abomination, how it was always meant to end, with the removal of something that never should have been allowed to exist in the first place." She said with deadly confidence before twisting her blade viciously, "Do not worry, though. Co-lieutenants Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarō Kotsubaki will be joining you shortly in oblivion."
N-not of the g-good! He thought as he did the best he could to block out the pain that was coming from his left shoulder, She's got me dead to rights and I haven't so much as scratched her! Either I come up with a miracle or I get to find out if there really is a place for shinigami to go when they die.
Fortunately, though, the divine intervention he had hoped for earlier decided to make an appearance less than a second later as Soifon was gone and so was her zanpakutō. This was sort of a good thing / bad thing outcome since, on the one hand, it meant he wouldn't die, but on the other hand removing the blade that fast hurt like a sonuvabitch. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at the wound to inspect its severity and was met with another good-bad situation, since while the damage wasn't bad enough to render his left arm completely useless, something important had been cut, which was causing a lot of blood to pour out. It didn't take a genius to know that unless something is done to stop the bleeding, the chances of him surviving until he can receive proper medical treatment was slim. So he decided to do the only thing he can think of to stop it and does it without hesitation.
He pressed the heated blade of his zanpakutō to the wound and cauterizes it.
"AAAARRRGGHHH!!" He cried as the pain was finally sufficient to make it past his control.
However the move worked for, after removing the blade from his left shoulder, he was satisfied enough by what he saw that bleeding to death is nor longer a concern. Nevertheless, the pounding he received from Soifon combined the energy expended on her subordinates was enough that conserving what was left would definitely be a good idea. Fortunately it took only a thought to cause his zanpakutō to revert to its sealed state, allowing him to slide it back into its sheath and tucking it beneath his belt. Getting to his feet was a little more difficult than he would have liked, thanks to the bruise in his side courtesy of Soifon, but he managed to do it just the same. Looking about the area, he could see that some time during his fight with the Special Mobile Corps and Miss I-Need-To-Get-Laid, the two co-lieutenants, as well as the three lieutenants that Ichigo had laid out, had been moved someplace else. Probably by Captain Unohana, since it was not only her job to take care of the wounded but also in keeping with her caring personality. Out of all the shinigami he'd met and talked with, he found that he liked her the most and sort of looked to her like he used to do with Joyce back in Sunnydale. With the people he'd been trying to protect gone, though, it left him with something of a dilemma as far as what to do next.
Fortunately a blast of spirit force powerful enough to almost knock him on his butt again told him exactly where he wanted to be.
Anywhere but THERE!
Getting himself where he wanted to be, though, was going to be tricky one way or another as he could determine only two possible ways of getting clear of the increasingly violent battle between Captain Kuchiki and Ichigo. The first was to follow Captain's Kyōraku and Ukitake's example by leaping off the cliff and using what he presumed was a variation of the sky treading technique to cushion their landing. He'd seen some of the other students at the academy perform the technique and had some measured success using it himself during training, however stepping off a tree branch and leaping off the edge of a very tall cliff were two very different things with the latter being potentially fatal if he screwed up.
The other would be to try and make it to the stairs he'd used to get up here before the execution began, but that would mean skirting dangerously close to the battle between Ichigo and the Ice Lord himself. Looking at the two of them going at it, he knew that if he went that route, he'd run the risk of getting caught up in their battle and that would be just as potentially fatal as leaping off the cliff. Looking back and forth, he tried to weigh the two options and figure out which one was more dangerous and most likely to kill him.
Why can't it ever be easy!? He yelled mentally before making a mad dash for the trees, beyond which would be the staircase leading down.
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The Rooftops of the Seireitei, Heading Towards the Central 46 Chambers,
Thirty Minutes LaterI swear! The very next thing I'm going to master is shunpo even if I have to clean out the sewers for a YEAR to convince Whitey to teach me how it's done He thought to himself as he watched the surface entrance to the Central 46 chambers getting larger in the distance.
It had been about half an hour since he had left the battlefield that was at this very moment being torn up by Ichigo and Captain Roboto and, while not out of breath or sweating too badly, it was enough to persuade him to up his training regime. Still, that would have to wait until after he caught up to Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto, both of whom he suspected were going to the top brass to alert them to the conspiracy in their midst. Ever since the first piece of unusualness showed up in the form of a non-Captain being punished by Sōkyoku, all three of them had felt something was wrong as the days passed and the date for the execution kept being moved up with no apparent reason given. While most did not think much of this, probably trusting that the governing body had its reasons, to them it only made everything look even stranger. Then the mess with Captain Aizen happened and Lieutenant Hinomori's mental breakdown only made Whitey even more determined to get to the bottom of all the odd occurrences. While he was not informed of all of the Captain's thoughts on the matter, nor what information the kid had uncovered, what he had been told was enough to make his brain itch. That itch had led him here, since a meeting with the Central 46 was the only thing he could think of that would necessitate him standing in for him and Rangiku at the execution.
As he reached the home stretch, a blur of motion catches his eye coming from the east, signifying someone using shunpo to move quickly. Thankfully, though, he wasn't even given enough time to be concerned, since at the precise moment between flash steps he is able to identify the blur as Captain Hitsugaya.
"Captain!!" He yelled out in order to catch the kid's attention and hopefully slow him down a bit.
While no longer using shunpo, Whitey was still moving at a fairly decent clip, forcing Xander to speed up considerably in order to catch up. Once he got close enough, he was able to get a good look at the young captain's face and it was enough to tell him everything he needed to know about the current situation. In all the time he had known the kid, his face had always been the picture of cool professionalism with the only emotion even gaining a partial grip on his face being boredom. However, at the moment, the look on his face was nothing less than a high level of concern for someone and a fear that he might already be too late. Seeing this, he didn't bother to ask the kid to slow down so he could catch up, but rather increased his own pace despite the fact that he would be a little winded when they arrived at their destination.
"Report, Xander," Hitsugaya ordered without breaking pace or looking in his direction as they dropped to the ground and entered the courtyard of the entrance to the Central 46 chambers.
Promptly and efficiently he summarized what happened at the execution grounds, who he felt was fighting who at the moment, as well as the reasons he had for coming here. To this all, Whitey did was nod in acknowledgment of the facts as they leapt through a hole made in the front door and proceeded down the numerous steps towards the main conference hall of the Central 46. However, when they reached the level where the bridge to the chambers existed, he was surprised to see Hitsugaya go right past it and proceed even deeper into the building. This puzzled him but he still trusted the kid enough to follow his lead and so they went down the numerous staircases, clearing a few of them in one leap when possible. It took a while but eventually they reached the bottom and entered a chamber filled with column-like buildings that kinda looked like weird cabins. He assumed that this was where the members of the Central 46 stayed for security reasons between meetings. However as he looked at the one directly across from the entrance to the chamber, he saw two people who should not have been there and one that was supposed to be 'dead'.
Sōsuke Aizen and Ichimaru Gin.
"Hello Hitsugaya-kun and… Xander isn't it?" Aizen said as though the two pairs had just stumbled across each other during a leisurely walk through a park.
"Lookin' pretty lively for a dead guy, Aizen," he said, making it clear how he saw the alive-again shinigami. "Then again, I had a feeling you were still around breathing somewhere."
"Oh?" Was all Aizen said in response.
"Yeah. While I might not have had access to either the 'crime scene' or been able to get a good enough look at the 'body', I was able to learn enough from those who had to tell that something fishy was going on." He replied as he casually moved to a more favourable tactical position, "For one thing, the serious lack of battle damage both at the scene of the crime and the surrounding area was odd to me. Even with surprise on one's side, a battle between two captains would have made a bigger mess both in terms of blood spatter and structural damage. Another thing that struck me as odd was the way you 'died'."
"Oh? What would that have been?" Aizen asked as though he was genuinely interested in the flaws that had been found in his deception.
"According to what I heard from Captain Unohana, you were 'killed' via impalement a good twenty feet up on a wall with your own zanpakutō. Considering you're a captain in the Gotei 13, I would imagine it would be pretty hard to both disarm you and then use your own weapon to kill you." Xander replied, coming to a stop once he reached what he believed was a favourable spot, strategically speaking, "After all, even if swordsmanship wasn't your strong suit, I find it quite hard to believe that you'd get schooled even if it was by another captain. So when you combine the lack of environmental evidence along with the improbability of a captain being disarmed and then stabbed with his own weapon, I knew something was up."
"Superb, Xander. While most would have overlooked such details, you seem to have an eye for seeing more than most," Aizen stated in what appeared to be genuine respect towards him for picking out all the clues successfully. "I assume it was these inconsistencies that caused you to break into the Central 46 chambers Hitsugaya-kun?"
"Yes. While I didn't think much of Xander's suspicions at first, the more I considered them, the more it seemed plausible," Hitsugaya replied with hostility in his voice. "What I didn't expect was that you'd kill the Central 46 and assume their positions."
"You have done the unexpected itself, Captain Hitsugaya. Your return here so soon after leaving to pursue Kira-kun was most unexpected," Aizen said conversationally as he turned to look at Gin.
"Sorry. Seems like Izuru's diversion wasn't good 'nough," Gin said in apology, although the look on his face never changed.
"What? What the hell are the two of you talking about?!" Hitsugaya asked with heightened concern about the choice of words used.
"'What are we talking about?' Just some strategy. Division of the enemy's forces is the first step of battle strategy, isn't it?" Aizen asked rhetorically with that annoying smile on his face.
"Enemy?!" Exclaimed Hitsugaya at the pronouncement of his former comrade before something important occurred to him, "Where is Hinamori?!"
Hinamori? Isn't that Aizen's Lieutenant and Whitey's childhood friend? He asked himself mentally before his Murphy's law engine kicked in and produced the worst case scenario for him, NO! H-he wouldn't have!
"Well, where could she be…" Aizen replied before falling silent and allowing the youngest captain of the Gotei 13 to fill in the blanks.
It took Hitsugaya less than a second to do so and, in a blur of shunpo, he vanished, only to reappear just inside the structure Aizen and Gin had just exited. Two seconds passed but then he heard Whitey speak in a way that confirmed his Murphy engine's results beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Hina… mori." Hitsugaya said at a volume just above that of a whisper and thus barely audible to those outside the building.
"Too bad. You found her," Aizen said in a tone laced with amusement at the emotional turmoil the young captain was most certainly going through. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I suppose I should have at least ground her to dust so you wouldn't find her."
"Aizen… Ichimaru… Since when were you accomplices?" Hitsugaya asked with his rage just barely being kept in check, "Since before you faked your death?"
"From the beginning, of course. Since I became captain, I never once considered anyone but him my lieutenant." Aizen replied with his voice never once losing its laid back and conversational tone.
"So then, up until now, Hinamori, me, your subordinates, every other shinigami, everyone…" Hitsugaya said with his control over his anger beginning to show signs of slipping, "…you've been deceiving us all?!"
"I never intended to deceive. It's just… that not one of you comprehended… my true nature." Aizen replied as though it should have been simple to see through the mask he wore.
"Didn't comprehend…Hinamori… Hinamori looked up to you, and joined the Gotei 13 just to be closer to you. She seriously worked herself to death so she could be useful to you…" Hitsugaya stated as moment by moment his control began to slip, "…and finally became your lieutenant!"
"I know. There's no one so easy to control as someone who admires you. That is why I pressed to have her as my subordinate," Aizen said as though he didn't care that he had used his lieutenant's feelings against her. "This is a good opportunity. There's something you should remember, Hitsugaya-kun. Admiration is the farthest emotion from comprehension."
Hoo boy! That did it! Better get ready to join the party. He thought to himself as he began to pull his zanpakutō from its sheath.
His gut feeling was proven accurate as, in an explosion of spiritual energy, the column-like structure that Hitsugaya had been in exploded outwards reducing the building to a pile of debris. Deciding to take advantage of that distraction, he brought his katana into a ready position and spoke the words that had less than an hour ago helped to turn the tide against the Special Mobile Corps unit.
"Rise and Burn, AMATERASU!" He said just below yelling volume and soaked up the feeling of power that arose from releasing his zanpakutō to shikai level.
It had been a pretty impressive transformation of his sword as well as the comets of flame that now orbited around him but as he looked to the captain of the tenth division he found that his change was a mere parlor trick.
"Ban Kai!" Hitsugaya said with a voice that was neither a yell nor a whisper but somewhere in between.
With those words, ice began to flow from the hilt guard of the captain's sword and in seconds the boy was encased in ice armor beneath his shinigami uniform with the right arm taking on the appearance of an ice dragon three times as big as the kid himself. Add to this two flower-shaped masses of ice floating in the air behind him and it became clear just how much of a difference in power there was between shikai and ban kai.
"Grand Blazing Hyourinmaru!" Hitsugaya growled out once the final release had finished.
With a blast of gale force sub-zero winds, Whitey apparently wanted to start the hurtin' of form Captain Aizen as soon as possible but sadly a little application of shunpo was all that was needed for Sousuke to evade it. Deciding that the kid would need some help to pin down his target, he charged forward with the intention of getting the traitor's attention and thus give Whitey an opening to attack. However it was just as he was about three steps away from the platform that the column building had stood on that he was reminded that there were two traitors present in the room. In a blur of motion, Captain Ichimaru appeared in front of him and it was only thanks to the training he received both by fighting alongside the Slayer and his training in Soul Society that allowed him to block the man's attack.
"I think ya should leave this to the two captains, Xander-kun." He stated with that infuriating grin of his.
This recommendation came with a potent shove that sent him stumbling backwards many feet and almost causing him to land on his ass. However he managed to regain his balance in time and immediately began to reassess the situation before him in order to determine how he could be of most help to Captain Kid. After his rather pathetic fight against Soifon, he was not delusional about his chances of being able to beat Gin anytime soon. While the grinning jerk might choose to play with him before delivering the final blow, he would likely be just as quick as the commander of the Special Mobile Corps if not more so. Add to that the likelihood of a shikai level zanpakutō being able to harm a captain level shinigami and the odds were most definitely stacked against him. Looking up at the platform, he could see that Whitey was about to make his second charge at Aizen, who at the moment was just standing there with his arms at his side. This immediately struck him as odd since even a cocky bastard like him couldn't be foolish enough to think he could dodge the kid's attacks forever especially at ban kai level.
Not everything is as it seems Alexander. Amaterasu said to him in his mind, Close your eyes and look for energy that my namesake bestows upon the world.
Trusting his zanpakutō completely, he closed his eyes and began to try sensing the things that matched the description she had given him. His first thought had been light but he didn't think that something like that could be perceived with his eyes closed so that went to the next obvious choice: heat. It took some concentration but as he focused on that aspect of the sun's power something happened that almost shattered his concentration due to the shock of it all. Where once there was nothing but the blackness of the back of his eyelids, he now 'saw' everything in the room with each object made up of varying shades of red. Lifeless objects were the hardest to perceive since they could only soak up the heat of other things rather than generate their own. For living beings, though, like Gin, Whitey and Aizen, they stood out from the environment like torches of heat making them easy to spot even though Captain Kid was obscured by his ice armor. It was then that he noticed something odd that quickly evolved into alarming as he realized what would happen if something was not changed and soon. From Hitsugaya's stance and the direction he seemed to be looking on he could tell that he was about to charge straight ahead to attack Aizen. However if this heat perception ability of his was accurate Aizen was actually standing a little right of where Whitey would be going. Recalling what he had seen when his eyes were open, he tried to figure out why his eyes said Aizen was standing in front of Hitsugaya but his heat senses told him the traitor was standing to right of that position.
It's like my normal five senses are being told one thing and this heat sensor power of mine is telling me another. He thought to himself as he heard Whitey and Aizen exchange words, Question is: which one do I trust?
In the end he chose to believe that the Aizen that had the greatest chance of hurting the captain of the tenth division was the real one and brought his zanpakutō quickly to head level. With all the will he had, he tried to speed up the charging process of the ray shot as best he could and just as he saw Whitey lift off the ground towards Aizen, he fired his shot. Like light unleashed from a flashlight, it shot across the distance between him and his target but just as it reached the halfway point, Gin appeared with his sword in place to block the attack. He could see the trail of heat that the former shinigami captain had left behind him as he passed through the air and filed this effect away for later consideration. Instead he focused on directing the ray shot he had fired to split in two so that they could go around the interfering jerk and, thankfully, it only cost the attack a fraction of a second in terms of time. However with two projectiles to direct instead of just one, he had to alter his initial plan a bit to compensate. His initial plan had been to strike Aizen in a critical spot in order to force the criminal to abort his assault on Whiety. Now, though, the strength of the shots had been cut in half so hurting the criminal was not as likely as it had been before. As the attacks reached the point of no return, he decided to go with his gut instinct on where to aim them.
One of the arrows of fire he directed at Aizen's head.
The other he aimed at the man's sword arm right at the wrist.
Both hit their marks.
He smiled in satisfaction as he watched Aizen abort his attack and moved into a defensive stance with a little wobble in his movements. While he doubted he'd done more than give the asshole more than a sunburn, the attacks had done their job and Captain Hitsugaya was safe for the time being. However it also left three people looking at him for answers although the only one he really gave a shit about answering was Whitey.
"Xander?" Hitsugaya asked with his tone clearly implying that he better choose his words carefully if he didn't want to land himself in the traitor column along with Gin and Aizen.
"Don't trust your senses Captain Hitsugaya! I don't know how he's doing it but somehow Aizen's making it look like he's in one place when he's really in another." He explained without once opening his eyes, "Trust your zanpakutō and use its power to sense where he really is."
Please get it! He thought pleadingly as he hoped that the Captain would get what he was trying to say before Aizen and Gin did.
A smile grew onto his face as he saw Whitey close his eyes and it only got bigger when he saw the kid whirl around and lock onto Aizen's true location. Without any further words the commanding officer of the tenth division of the Gotei 13 attacked the traitor once more except this time he was right on target. However it seemed that this change in the situation, the nullification of his sensory deception technique, only put Aizen off balance for a moment. As the criminal brought up his right hand, the Xan-man knew that something was up and immediately began to gather his six flame comets in front of him.
"Way of Destruction sixty-three: sōren sōkatsui!" Aizen said calmly but what shot from his hands was anything but calm.
In a flash of neon blue light, two bolts of energy that looked like lightning shot from the traitor's hand with one heading for Hitsugaya and the other coming right at him. He tried his best to bring all of his flame comets up to block the attack but was only able to bring up four of the six in time before the energy struck. For a split second the two forms of energy clashed and it looked like he might actually stand a chance of stopping the spell completely. However it turned out that that was just a trick on the part of Murphy because, one second later, the attack shattered the protective wall of feminine hands that he had constructed and hit both his sword and his chest like a freight train.
A freight train made of electricity of course.
Pain suffused his body and, peripherally, he could sense his body convulsing as the energy went through him. For him it seemed like an eternity before the pain finally shrank to manageable levels, but by then he could do nothing more than fall face first to the ground with his zanpakutō returning to normal being the only thing he could see. For a moment it was all he could do to remain conscious but as the seconds began to tick by, his strength rose high enough that he could use his hands to push himself up onto his elbows. It was shaky, his arms along with the rest of him screaming at him to rest, but he ignored what his body was telling him in favor of keeping on top of the current situation. What his eyes revealed to him was something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand it looked like Whitey had been caught off guard by Aizen's demon art spell, resulting in him being knocked to the ground. This was bad, since it meant that even without releasing his zanpakutō to ban kai level, Aizen was strong enough to kick a captain's ass. The good part of what he saw, though, was that standing at the entrance to the chamber they were in was reinforcements in the form of Captain Unohana and Lieutenant Kotetsu. While not the kick ass shinigami he would have liked, such as say Zaraki Kenpachi or Sajin Komamura, it increased the odds in favor of the good guys to about two to one assuming he could get back on his feet.
"Captain Aizen." Unohana said before she caught her own mistake, "No, I suppose I should not call you 'captain' any longer. Perpetrator of high treason, Aizen Sousuke."
"How do you do, Captain Unohana?" Aizen said in polite greeting to the new arrivals, "I was thinking if you were going to come, it would be soon. Did you know I was here right away?"
"In the Court of Pure Souls, the Purewood Towers residence is the one area where entry is completely forbidden no matter what the reason." Unohana replied in her usual matronly voice, "If you went to the trouble of creating such an elaborate corpse figure as that to hide yourself, your destination would be the one place in the Court most difficult to be found in: nowhere else but here."
"Close. You've deduced well, but you have made two mistakes." Aizen said with his own version of mock respect, "First of all, I didn't come here to hide myself. And the other, this isn't a corpse figure."
How the--? He thought to himself as suddenly the traitor had a limp yet perfect replica of himself dangling from his right hand, Where'd that come from? I knew he was messing with our senses but I didn't think he could do this.
"When did he--?" Kotetsu gasped as a half question since that was all she could get out thanks to the shock she was in.
"When did I? I've been holding this the entire time." Aizen said as though he couldn't understand why they were so confused, "Only, until this very moment, I just hadn't decided to show you that."
"W-what does that…?" Isane asked obviously not able to recover from the shocks she was getting to form complete sentences.
"You'll know very soon. Here, I'll undo it." Aizen said as though he was doing them a great favor, "Shatter, Kyouka Suigetsu!"
With those words the body that Aizen had been holding in his hands shattered like glass to reveal his zanpakutō gripped in his hand, then in a move that seemed just as crazy as what he'd just seen, Sousuke let the sword fall to the ground allowing to stick blade tip first into the steps in front of him.
"My zanpakutō's, Kyouka Suigetsu's, ability is complete hypnosis." Aizen explained as though giving an interview.
"Complete…hypnosis?" Lieutenant Kotetsu asked rhetorically with her mental equilibrium almost back to normal, "But you said Kyouka Suigetsu is a flowing water type zanpakutō and…it uses diffused reflections of fog and water streams to confuse the enemy and make them attack one another! Captain Aizen, that's what you said! You gathered the lieutenants and actually demonstrated it right before our eyes!"
"I…h-hate to state the obvious, Lieutenant, but I think it's pretty obvious he lied to you." Xander said as he reviewed this new information in order to form his own opinion, "It's another common rule of battle strategy, isn't it, Aizen? Never show either your enemy or your allies everything you're capable of."
"Exactly, Xander-kun. I see you have a keen mind to go with those sharp eyes of yours." Aizen said as he began to walk down the stairs.
"I see. So that is the hypnosis ceremony." Unohana stated as she realized what he had concerning the tactical advantage hypnotizing the lieutenants would give Sousuke.
"Precisely. Complete hypnosis controls all five senses and can make the enemy mistake the appearance, shape, mass, texture, even smell of an object." Aizen explained once he was at Gin's side, "In other words, it's possible to make a fly look like a dragon, or a swamp like a flower garden. And the condition for its use is to show the enemy the moment of Kyouka Suigetsu's release. Anyone who sees that even once falls completely into hypnosis from that moment and thereafter, every time I release Kyouka Suigetsu, they become a prisoner of complete hypnosis."
"See it even once…" Unohana said as though speaking the words would give her a better grasp on the concept.
A moment later she gasped in surprise and it took him three seconds to deduce what had caused this. If the condition for Kyouka Suigetsu's power was that the target had to see the initial release then there was one person in all of Soul Society capable of being immune to it.
"It looks like you've realized it." Aizen said a moment later, "That's right, if you see it even once, you will fall under the spell which means those who cannot see cannot fall under the spell. In other words, from the beginning, Tousen Kaname has been my subordinate."
This caused a ripple of shock to run through all the good guys as it was revealed that the treason against Soul Society ran deeper than anyone thought.
"However it would seem that there exists another way to neutralize Kyouka Suigetsu's complete hypnosis." Aizen stated before looking right at the still down Xander, "That is a very intriguing use of your zanpakutō's abilities, Xander-kun. I can see I will have to keep a closer eye on you."
Then without warning, Gin removed a long length of white ribbon from within his uniform and, as though it had a mind of its own, it encircled both him and Aizen repeatedly.
"Lastly, let me compliment you, Captain Unohana." Aizen said as the ribbon picked up speed, "Although you touched it the longest for your examination, you were superb to sense even a slight incongruity about my corpse while under complete hypnosis. Farewell. I doubt we shall meet again."
"Stop!" Isane cried as she rushed forward with her drawn zanpakutō drawn as she realized like the rest of them had that Aizen was making his getaway.
However before she could even get two thirds of the way there, Gin's white ribbon did its job and teleported the two of them out of the room in a flash of light. As a credit to the lieutenant's skills, though, it only caused her to hesitate for a moment before she withdrew what was apparently a canister of ink from her uniform and began drawing something on the floor where Aizen disappeared.
"Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain. Way of Binding number fifty-eight: Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows!" She chanted before placing her hands on either side of whatever she drew on the floor, "Thirty-one… sixty-four… eighty-three… ninety-seven…teleportation site acquired! East three hundred and thirty-two, North fifteen hundred and sixty-six. It is the Soukyoku…"
"Very well. Immediately locate all captains and lieutenants and relay the message…" Unohana ordered as she turned to go up the steps to the platform where Hinamori lay, "…of everything we have learned about Aizen Sousuke and his destination."
"Yes m'am." Isane replied removing her hands from the binding spell she used to track down the traitors' teleportation destination.
"And send the same message to those ryoka, as well." Unohana added almost as an afterthought to her initial order.
"Understood." Kotetsu stated with determination in her eyes.
"I am counting on you. As of now, I will begin life-saving measures for Lieutenant Hinamori and treat Xander-san's wounds." Unohana stated as she began to go to work on the obviously more serious case of healing Hinamori.
Looks like the pros have things well in hand now. He thought as he rolled over onto his back and began to rest, With all the captains and lieutenants after them, as well as Ichigo's people, those traitors don't stand a chance. Looks like I can finally take five.
Nevertheless, even as he thought these words, he could not shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach that Aizen, Gin and Tousen would somehow manage to escape. The polite bastard had been so thorough in his planning every step of the way that it wasn't inconceivable that he might have planned for his scheme being found out before it was finished. If that was true, then it would take a pretty big miracle to stop them now, a miracle that he couldn't be a part of given how banged up he was at the moment, but if there was one thing his time with the Scoobies had taught him it was that baddies always screwed up somewhere along the way.
I just hope that he doesn't wind up making me that screw up. He thought as he stared at the ceiling of the chamber.
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Mortal Realm, Kyoto City Hospital, Japan, Xander's RoomXander, please, wake up! Willow thought beseechingly as she looked at her comatose friend lying still in his bed, I need you and so does everyone else!
It had been a little over two months since the original Scooby gang managed to foil the demon Dra'koth's plan to obtain the power of a god of death. A little over two months since their victory put her best friend into a coma that he showed no signs of coming out of anytime soon. After the first two weeks, the gang had begun to worry that something other than the wounds he suffered might be keeping Xander from waking up, so first they had a couple of doctors on the Council payroll (meaning they knew about demons and magic) examine Xander using the best equipment money could buy. Unfortunately the test results they got only reinforced what was already known: Alexander LaVelle Harris was in a coma. Nothing using conventional medicine was revealed that was not consistent with this single fact.
Naturally none of the Scoobies had been satisfied with this so they had moved onto possible magical or demonic maladies that could explain why their friend wasn't waking up.
That pretty much had taken up the remaining time up to the present but the information they gained from the diagnostic spells were only slightly more helpful than the accepted medical tests. While they had not been able to tell them what was keeping Xander from waking up, they had been able to tell them what was not responsible for keeping him in a coma. The well-known maladies caused by magic or demons had been ruled out within the first three weeks and it was now the more exotic kinds that were being looked into. Unfortunately, the means by which a person could tell if a patient was afflicted with these more exotic maladies were not easy to come by in terms of either ingredients or talismans. Some they had been able to find in the storehouses of the Old Council while others they had to tap their various sources around the world for. Then there were the ones currently in the possession of those that would not be interested in doing the New Council a favor. That and the price some of them would ask for this favor would be too horrible to mention as well as something Xander wouldn't want them to do just for his sake. That was why just about everyone with the exception of Dawn were scattered across the globe looking for the necessary ingredients to bring their friend back to them.
Giles should be here in about a week. Faith and Robin should be here about two weeks after that. She thought as she recalled what the current assignments were for those in the field, Buffy…well…she'll get here as soon as she can, but it all depends on the time difference between the rest of the world and where she is.
That was the one thing that was the same for each of the Sunnydale survivors no matter who they were. They all were willing to do their best to help the one-eyed carpenter and heart of the original Scooby gang recover and get back to doing what he did best, which was give them the kind of help they needed from time to time. That was why everyone from Rona to her girlfriend Kennedy was working double time to pick up the slack that the others left behind to find the stuff they needed to help Xander. While they couldn't do it forever, it was pretty much the consensus that it would at least be another six months before they had no choice but to resume their official duties. Giles had said that if it came to that he would do his best to get her transferred to some post nearby so she could visit Xander whenever she wanted. The Council would also foot the medical bills for his stay here for as long as it took to bring their friend back to them.
She was about to get up to get a bite to eat from the hospital cafeteria when brief dizzy spell overcame her and forced her to sit back down or risk falling down. However, what stuck in her mind the though was that for the brief period that the disorientation lasted, she could have sworn she saw some kind of chain going from her friend's chest to some kind of blue portal. After a brief shake of her head and a rubbing of the eyes, though, it was gone and all was as it had been for the past two months. That was to be expected, since if there had been a chain or a blue portal or something they would have noticed it before now.
I guess the stress of it all must be getting to me. She thought as she carefully got to her feet and, thankfully, did not suffer another dizzy spell, Better go eat something before it happens again.
With that she left the room determined to get a full meal in before resuming her bedside vigil over her best friend. She didn't even notice that it was a whole ten minutes later then when she had first stood up to get something to eat.
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Outside the Hospital, Heading Towards the Main Parking Lot, One Minute Later"Whew Now that was a close call!" Whistler thought as he headed towards the car he used when he was on Earth, "Red is definitely building up a resistance to that concealment and obliviation spell the higher ups had me cast on Harris' body. Gonna have to come up with something better soon or things 're goin' to get complicated."
Still, orders were orders and if the Powers That Be wanted him to keep Summers and her crew in the dark about what was really going on with their friend, then that's what he'd do. Sure, they had given him no reason why they were so obsessive over keeping Harris in Soul Society and, sure, they had made it clear what would happen to him if the New Council found out the truth, but like all messengers he wasn't paid to think for himself. He was paid to pass on information between the Powers and their champions as well as occasionally keep tabs on special projects like this one. That was why he'd been given a car, since he was actually being told to live in an apartment building a few blocks away so he could be at the hospital in a flash if something troublesome happened. Normally all he did was pass on whatever message needed to be passed on and then went back to his private pocket dimension apartment, but this project was apparently so important that the Powers also wanted to keep how big it was from getting out, so frequent teleportations between dimensions was to be avoided at all cost.
I wonder what could be so important about Harris that the brass would be in this much of a tizzy over it. He thought as he pulled the keys to his BMW out and unlocked the doors, As far as I know, the kid isn't mentioned in any of the big prophecies aside from the ones that put a Slayer in the starring role.
However, as he recalled everything he knew about Alexander LaVelle Harris, he remembered the alias Caleb and Angelus had given the kid.
The One Who Sees.
If he remembered his ancient prophecies correctly, there was at least one mentioning someone like that as being a trigger of some kind.
And so there shall come a warrior of mankind,
A warrior among champions great and small;
He shall be known by the strength of his morals and his courage,
With them he will come to be able to walk in the three worlds;
Then shall come a time of great peril and a call to arms will sound,
The Elementress, The Amazon, The Panther, The Sage and the Spear Master will come;
Together with the One Who Sees they shall play a pivotal role in the battle of souls,
The battle that will be harbinger of the Twilight of those who rule from above;
At least that was how he thought it went but as he hadn't read that particular book of prophecies in about a century, so he could have gotten some of the words wrong. He knew that the One Who Sees was Harris and he was willing to bet that the five allies of this warrior of mankind were probably the Slayer and her crew. As for this battle of souls, he didn't have a clue but 'those who rule from above' were probably his bosses, the Powers That Be. However the very idea that anything could bring about their end was laughable in the extreme and he felt like smacking himself for even considering it a possibility. His bosses had been around since the beginning of the war against the darkness and would be around long after it came to an end. The very idea that one battle of souls could do anything to bring them even a step closer to destruction was insanity. With that in mind, he tossed such useless thoughts into the abyss of his mind and focused on more important things.
If I hurry back and the traffic isn't too bad I should make it to my place just in time to catch that new Power Rangers show. He thought to himself as he drove out of the hospital parking lot.