Isshin and Igaka's blades had just come together and separated in a matter of seconds. Igaka grunted in anger with every swing of his blade but Isshin simply dodged or parried the strikes, not bothering to even attack.
"Come on you fool! FIGHT!!!" Igaka growled as Isshin just shrugged.
"Why?" Isshin asked like a child would as he effortlessly dodged blows.
"ARRRRGGGGG!!! You are so INFURIATING Kurosaki!!! How did a smug noble like yourself ever become Captain when all you do is dodge your opponents attacks?!" Igaka sneered as he continued to swing his Zanpakuto around.
"I dunno." Isshin shrugged innocently as he stepped out of the way of a vertical swing.
"What the heck is he doing?! He's just prancing around avoiding his sword! Why won't he fight!?!" Karin asked angrily.
"Hey you've never seen your old man in a serious fight before kid. Neither have I but from what I've heard, he was well deserving of both the titles of eleventh squad Captain and Kenpachi." Kenpachi Zaraki explained with a wide grin.
"You think he's going to win anyway Kenny?" Yachiru asked as she sat on his shoulder, kicking her legs casually.
"I'd bet you on it." Kenpachi said to his Lieutenant who giggled.
"Ooh that means your minds made up! Go Ichi's dad!!!" Yachiru cheered.
"Be quiet and let him concentrate." Kaichou said as she appeared out of nowhere. Rangiku and Momo were close behind.
"Okay." Yachiru said with a big smile.
"Nice to see you made it Sensei." Tatsuki said as Kaichou nodded.
"I wouldn't miss this for anything." Kaichou said with a smirk.
"FIGHT KUROSAKI!!!" Igaka growled as he managed to get Isshin cornered near a wall.
"If you insist." Isshin said as he drove his Zanpakuto into the ground and entered a fighting stance. Igaka groaned in annoyance as he thrust his blade forward but Isshin quickly dropped to the ground and kicked his feet out from under him. Isshin then grabbed his Zanpakuto from the ground and leapt over to the opposite side of the clearing, sheathing his Zanpakuto in the process.
"And now for my special attack!" Isshin shouted with an excited grin as he did a back flip and landed on his hands. His head turned backwards so he could see right side up. Karin and Yuzu were slack jawed at what they were seeing.
"OH you have GOT to be kidding me!!!" Karin shrieked in disbelief.
"Must kill technique: ISSHIN'S SLIDING!!!" Isshin shouted as he charged forward on his hands at a surprisingly fast speed towards Igaka, (who was understandably confused) then leapt into the air on his hands with his forward momentum and drew his Zanpakuto in mid-air. He thrust his Zanpakuto out forward as he landed in a slide across the ground, running Igaka through the crotch in the process and then delivering a devastating slash up the back as he slid beneath his legs.
Isshin quickly leapt to his feet as Igaka sprayed blood from the wounds. Karin and Yuzu were slack jawed yet again…but they weren't the only ones this time. Everyone but Kaichou, Kenpachi, and Yachiru were stunned. Kenpachi was rather intrigued and Kaichou was snickering.
"What the-?! THAT ACTUALLY WORKED?!?!" Karin freaked.
"That's one of Isshin's specially invented moves. When facing opponents one on one he'll use that attack to catch them completely off guard. However that's his only one…I think." Kaichou explained as she scratched her chin.
"So wait, you mean his insane and childish behavior is actually what made him so successful?!" Shuhei asked as Kaichou nodded.
"That and his deadly skill with a sword…in fact if he had done that with Shikai, the fight would be over by now." Kaichou explained.
"Incredible." Shuhei said as Rangiku whipped out a notepad and started taking notes.
Igaka (having not heard a word said just now) was visibly stunned at what had happened. Not only had he suffered a grievous injury along his spinal cord, but he had suffered an inhuman castration in only a matter of seconds.
"Kurosaki! You-…oh hell is this my voice?!" Igaka asked with a voice reminiscent of one of the chipmunks thanks to getting his manhood chopped like kindling.
"That's the thing about my must kill techniques…they don't always work. That one is usually a fifty-fifty for men and a zero for women. But this one won't be quite so generous." Isshin said as he placed the hilt of his Zanpakuto square in the middle of his back with the blade pointing outwards. He then turned around and ran for a tree.
"Must kill technique: Backswing times four!" Isshin shouted as he leapt up and used the tree as a trampoline to shoot himself towards Igaka. Igaka however didn't fall for it and ducked. But the joke was on him as Isshin did a barrel roll in midair and swung the blade out from around him, leaving four horizontal slashes across Igaka's back before landing on his feet.
Igaka roared…or rather squeaked in pain as he whirled around towards Isshin. The five cuts now touched each other via the central cut down the back.
"You are a total IDIOT!!!" Igaka spat angrily.
"If you want to improve your odds then what say I let you use your equivalent to Bankai while I am simply allowed to use Shikai?" Isshin asked curiously. Isshin could feel the smirk from within Igaka's helmet.
"So be it." Igaka said as he started glowing with bright blue spirit energy.
"Je Suis Akagi!" Igaka shouted before exploding in a ball of blue energy. When the light faded, his body had changed greatly. He had taken the form of a hideous hybrid of a Centaur and a Spider. His human-ish section was perched atop the Spider's cephalothorax (Where the head usually is) but it still sported a pair of razor sharp fangs that were dripping with venom. On the back of his human part were the faded outlines of the five marks that Isshin had dealt him earlier.
"So you merged with your Zanpakuto's Bankai form…how interesting." Isshin said as he leaned against his sword like a cane.
"Your words are now empty. Now that I am at my full strength Kurosaki, I can annihilate you easily." Igaka sneered. His mask had even changed to look like an insect's head.
"Then I guess it's time to release my Shikai." Isshin said as he held his Zanpakuto out straight to his right side with the blade pointed straight up.
"Reap, Chuushuunomeigetsu." Isshin said as his blade started to glow with a blood red aura. Then a massive whirlwind of red energy started to swirl around him moments before its glow became blinding. When the light faded, Isshin's Zanpakuto had become a scythe on a black metal rod. The blade itself was black with a white edge like Ichigo and Kaichou's Zanpakutos. (Chuushuunomeigetsu: Harvest Moon)
"Whoa! What is that?!" Yuzu exclaimed.
"Chuushuunomeigetsu…a Zanpakuto whose Shikai form has gone down in infamy in the human world…especially whenever there is a war or plague on. You're looking at one of many Soul Reapers who throughout the ages have bared the title of the Grim Reaper simply by wielding a Zanpakuto shaped like that. It's not the first Scythe styled Zanpakuto to bear that distinction and it certainly won't be the last." Kaichou explained as Kenpachi laughed.
"Grim Reaper? That title has no worth here." Kenpachi said with his usual grin.
"Maybe not to us Soul Reapers…but to humans in the world of the living who don't know anything about us…it's a different story." Kaichou said with a smirk as she turned her attention back into the arena.
Isshin held his Zanpakuto in both hands as Igaka started laughing.
"You are indeed finished Isshin Kurosaki! With a blade like that there is no need for you to even continue!!!" Igaka laughed.
"If that's so, why don't you just hit me with everything you've got? I'll even let you have a few free shots. I won't even try to defend myself." Isshin asked with a smirk.
"Is he insane?!" Toshiro asked as he, Ganju, Izuru, and Nel arrived from the battle with Uryu and Ihsoy.
"No-no…just wait and watch. I know what he's thinking because I've seen him do this before." Kaichou said with a smirk.
"Fine then Kurosaki…I'll kill you RIGHT NOW!!!" Igaka shouted as the Spider mouth opened wide with a blue glow inside. Suddenly a Fleche Vent launched out from inside and headed straight for Isshin. The blast hit Isshin head on, consuming him within the beam.
Igaka stood with a sinister glare from within his helmet as the dust started to settle. Isshin's friends and family were afraid that he had been destroyed. Only Kaichou didn't look worried. Finally the dust settled and what they saw made their eyes widen. Isshin was standing right where he had been, still holding onto his Zanpakuto with his free hand stuffed inside his robes and not looking at all injured.
"What?! HOW?!?!" Igaka asked in disbelief. Isshin didn't answer but simply raised his Zanpakuto up a little before bringing it back down forcefully. When it hit the ground, the blade started to glow red for a moment before fading away. Igaka didn't notice that the top of the four horizontal cut outlines started to glow with blue energy.
"That's your first free shot…take another, you might get me this time." Isshin taunted casually as Igaka growled angrily and the large bulbous spider sack (the opisthosoma) swung down underneath and started shooting a bluish web at Isshin, coating him in it. During all this Isshin noticed something right above the web spinner, it was his Core.
"My constrictor web will crush the life out of you Kurosaki and that will kill you!" Igaka cackled as he glared at Isshin's web coated form. Then without warning the web started to crack. Suddenly it shattered with Isshin standing inside, picking his nose with his pinky as if nothing was wrong. He then tapped the end of his Zanpakuto on the ground again and the second cut started glowing blue as well.
"Next attack?" Isshin asked as he flicked a booger off his pinky towards Igaka, enraging the latter.
"RRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!! DIE!!!" Igaka shouted as he leapt into the air towards Isshin. All eight of his legs suddenly became sword blades in mid-air. He landed flat on Isshin, causing a cloud of dust to erupt from the ground. Igaka was seen backing away, out of the cloud while laughing as his legs morphed back to normal. His laughing stopped when he saw Isshin still standing there without a scratch.
Isshin tapped the ground again and now the third cut was glowing.
"Come on. Is that the best you can do?" Isshin asked as Igaka's eye twitched.
"I don't know what you're doing to avoid my attacks Kurosaki, but whatever it is you're going to find yourself annihilated with this next attack!" Igaka shouted angrily. He then lurched forward with the spider's mouth open and it bit into Isshin's arm.
"This venom is deadly. You'll be dead in a matter of seconds with this bite!" Igaka cackled as he finally removed the fangs and backed away. Isshin just stood casually as if nothing happened. He rocked on his heels, whistled, and checked his watch (which wasn't there).
"Hey sis, what time you got?" Isshin hollered.
"I've got two thirty two." Kaichou replied.
"What ya got planned for dinner?" Isshin asked curiously.
"What makes you think I'm fixing it?" Kaichou asked with her arms crossed. The others, including Igaka, were all sweat dropping.
"Relax it was an innocent question. Wait who's making dinner then? There aren't any restaurants here last I checked." Isshin said as Orihime raised her hand excitedly.
"I'll make dinner! I can make rice cakes with red bean paste and hot buttered watermelon!" Orihime exclaimed happily. Everyone but Rangiku was an understandable shade of green.
"I'll just alert squad four right now then and give them a heads up that there's going to be several cases of food poisoning tonight." Shuhei said with a shudder.
"Uh that's okay Orihime, I'll make dinner." Yuzu said quickly.
"Yeah and I can be talked into it…and the thought of Orihime making dinner talked me into it." Kaichou muttered with a sweat drop.
"DA-DA-DA-DA-da-da!!! How the hell are you still standing Kurosaki?!?! You should be dead by now!!!" Igaka shrieked as Isshin turned his attention back to his opponent and tapped the ground again. Now the fourth cut was glowing blue.
"I dunno…I guess its cause I'm a doctor and I know how to deal with poisons…however I don't have the stuff to treat it with right now so…I don't know." Isshin said casually as Igaka roared in frustration.
"THAT'S IT!!! I'M USING MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!!!" Igaka shrieked as he started glowing with blue energy. His Zanpakuto then appeared in his hand and his web slinger swung back down underneath him and started firing a glowing blue web of energy that started forming a web like cage around Isshin.
"This attack combines all four of my last attacks and creates a cage of pure Reishi that will destroy the target as it constricts around it. The web itself, besides being charged with Reishi is also razor sharp like my Zanpakuto and the venom will make sure that the target dies if they survive!" Igaka explained as the cage then started collapsing in on Isshin. Isshin didn't look at all worried as the cage came down around him and finally exploded in a ball of light.
Igaka was grinning underneath his mask as the dust started to settle again. They then heard a faint tap and they could see a bright red light start to glow from within the cloud of dust. The fifth and final cut on Igaka's back started to glow blue too for a moment but then all five of the cuts started glowing bright red. The dust settled and Isshin stood unharmed and holding his Zanpakuto in both hands. The blade on the Zanpakuto was the glow inside.
"You fell for it." Isshin said as he glared straight at Igaka who arched his eyes, confused.
"What?! How are you still ali-AUGH!?!?" Igaka grunted in pain, "What…is…this?!"
"One of Chuushuunomeigetsu's special abilities. If I deliver five connecting cuts anywhere on your body before I release my Zanpakuto's Shikai form, I am rendered immune to the next five of your attacks. More than that, the damage from each of your attacks is stored in my Zanpakuto and once the limit is reached I can then turn the combined power of each of those attacks back on the one who dealt them in the first place. So you weren't attacking me…you were attacking yourself." Isshin said as he turned his Zanpakuto down as if he were about to thrash a stalk of wheat.
Igaka was frozen in fear as he realized he might have very well have destroyed himself.
"Reap what has been sown, Chuushuunomeigetsu." Isshin said as he swung the blade and a brief beam of red light appeared where he swung before the light from his Zanpakuto dissipated. Igaka was frozen in fear as things fell deafly silent.
There was hardly a sound heard.
You could hear a pin drop.
Finally Igaka exploded in a cloud of smoke and dust as his armor disintegrated leaving only a hideous withered torso with an equally as hideous head and pair of arms that looked like it was once human, underneath.
"Akagi..." Isshin said softly as he approached the still living carcass, "...this is why you never made Lieutenant. For as long as I can remember, you were only third seat because of your skill with a blade, but that's all. You might not rush headlong into battle but you would always underestimate your opponents and overestimate your skill. You were a shrewd planner beforehand but when it came to straight fighting you were always overconfident. You never bothered to try and study your opponent moves and look for weaknesses. Whenever you couldn't lay a successful blow on your opponent you would get angry and frustrated...and it cost you."
Igaka weakly reached for Isshin but his strength gave out and his arm dropped to the ground.
"How did it happen Akagi? Was it on that mission to the world of the living you were sent on all those years ago? Did you encounter a Quincy and assume that it was an easy kill? Then when you thought you had dealt with them, they shot you in the ass? Yeah I saw where your Core was. I just wish you hadn't been so damn cocky...look where it got ya." Isshin said as Igaka's eyes closed and his head slowly landed onto the grass beneath him.
"My only hope for you now Akagi, is for you to rest in peace." Isshin said as he turned away from the dying Igaka and sheathed his now sealed Zanpakuto. Igaka's form slowly disintegrated into dust and blew away with the wind.
Kaichou had her hat over her chest respectfully.
"Wow." Was the only word that anyone could utter.
"Come on...let's go home." Isshin said as he turned with a smile towards Yuzu and Karin who both nodded and hurried over to his side.
"You know. I never knew you were that cool dad...I don't give you enough credit." Karin said as she scratched the back of her head.
"Really?! Oh Karin I never knew you were so thoughtless of your old man now come on and give daddy a HUG!!!" Isshin said excitedly before Karin leapt up and...kicked him square in the face with both feet.
"I TAKE IT ALL BACK!!!" Karin shrieked.
"And he's right back to his old self." Kaichou said with a smirk as she donned her hat again and sauntered up with the rest of the group.
"Come on Aunty Kaichou lets go get dinner ready!" Yuzu exclaimed as she tugged at Kaichou's sleeve.
"Momo, care to join us?" Kaichou asked as her Lieutenant smiled.
"I'd be honored Captain." Momo said as she fell in with the group.
"Before you get too excited Captain Wrangler, I would like to inform you that Uryu Ishida suffered some injuries during his fight with the Ryoka Ihsoy a while ago." Toshiro said as Orihime, Chad, and Tatsuki paused.
"Uryu's been hurt? We better hurry and see if he's okay." Orihime said worriedly.
"Nah don't worry about him. Kukaku dragged him over to the squad four relief station already. Besides Kukaku's got some medical skill, she keeps healing me after all." Ganju said with his arms crossed.
"I still think we should check on him. Besides he might want some company." Orihime said as Tatsuki and Chad nodded.
"Okay then, we'll be waiting for you back at the estate." Isshin said as Toshiro, Rangiku, and Ganju led Orihime, Chad, and Tatsuki off to the relief station.
"If there's nothing else Captain Wrangler, then we will be returning to our posts." Izuru said with a bow.
"You've done well boys, dismissed." Kaichou said as Izuru and Shuhei flash stepped away.
"I'm rather disappointed. I didn't once get to be in a good fight. Perhaps I can find Ichigo and get him to fight me." Kenpachi pondered.
"Give the guy a rest Zaraki." Kaichou said over her shoulder.
"What? Do you want to try me Kurosaki?" Kenpachi asked as Kaichou sighed and flash stepped away.
"Now I know why Ichigo runs away from him all the time." Kaichou said in her hawk form as she flew back to the estate.
End Chapter 24.
Soul Reaper Illustrated Guide.
Tatsuki leaps into the air and brings down a powerful fire filled blow to the ground, creating a fair sized crater large enough to hold her. Kaichou is standing on the edge and shaking her head.
"No I don't think that's enough. Try putting a little more umph into it." Kaichou suggests as Tatsuki nods then leaps into the air again and punches the ground in the center of the crater, both widening and deepening the crater.
"Hmm...One more time and I think you've got it." Kaichou said as Toshiro approached with a curious expression.
"What are you doing?" Toshiro asked as Tatsuki again deepened and widened the crater in one blow.
"That's got it. Toshiro would you do me a huge favor and ice that hole over?" Kaichou asked as Toshiro shrugged and complied. Tatsuki managed to emerge from the crater in time.
"Reign over the Frosted Heavens Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro exclaimed as he drew his Zanpakuto and instantly filled the crater with ice.
"Thanks Toshiro." Kaichou said as she drew her Zanpakuto and morphed it into a flamethrower.
"Uh, why did you have me fill the crater with ice if you were just going to melt the ice?" Toshiro asked confused.
"Simple." Kaichou said as she then sheathed her Zanpakuto and made a loud whistle, what happened next caused Toshiro to blink in confusion. Suddenly there was a series of loud splashes, as Yuzu, Karin, Isshin, Nel, Chad, Uryu, Ichigo, and Rukia each dived into the water filled crater in their respective swimming gear.
"I've always wanted to add a pool to this place." Kaichou said with a grin as Toshiro's eye twitched.
End
