The Games Begin
Roko sighed as he set down his tools and wiped the sweat off his forehead. His current project was giving him trouble in both collecting and in creating as he only had a limited amount of time to collect the bodies before they disintegrated and place the modified fuinjutsu seal on them.
"And wasn't that a pain to recreate to." Roko said to himself as he looked at the time and saw it was almost time for him to get ready for work so he quickly sealed up everything and went to take a shower. As the water cascaded down his skin Roko's mind wandered to all the plans he had for his newest project now that he could devote more time to it.
Maybe I should try to recreate my old absorption seals it would save me time and energy to use them than the more conventional ways not to mention it would definitely give the old bats back at Soul Society a heart attack to watch an attack being absorbed right before their eyes. Roko chuckled at the thought as he finished his shower and got dressed.
"Perhaps I should ask Orihime-chan for advice hell if she unlocks the power I can feel in her I would gladly take her as my apprentice after all a true master of the Art must have creativity along with control to truly succeed." Roko chuckled again, he could already hear Naruto's loud cry of shock if he heard he planned to take on an apprentice along with Gaara's quiet congratulation for finding someone to teach.
His mental image was quickly forgotten when he felt a massive amount of Hollows entering Karuku town. Roko rushed to the ladder that led to the trapdoor on the roof when he felt something land on his shoulder. A quick glance showed him an almost life like scorpion only the tail looked more like a mini cannon instead of a stinger.
"Master I sensed a large amount of Hollows entering the human world do you need me to watch over your vessel until you return?" the scorpion asked him in a calm if slightly high pitch voice similar to that of a child.
"Most Likely Saso but I need to get a proper view of the situation before I act." Was Roko's reply making Saso nod as best as a scorpion could. Roko took another glance at His personal mod soul's current body as he opened the trapdoor to the roof noting the wear and tear the puppet had from constant use and making a mental note to fix up Saso's body the next time he had a chance.
Both looked at the Hollows swarming the area in a mad frenzy while extending his senses to find Rukia, Ichigo, and surprisingly Uryu in the area where the most hollows were while Chad was alone with several Hollows closing in on his position and Orihime with Tasuki and another group of hollows closing in on them.
"Figures she would be with her, Saso!" Roko said as he turned to face Saso who had raised his tail like he was going to strike him but instead shot out a small green ball shaped pill that Roko immediately swallowed making him separate from his giga and Saso catch his scorpion body which he held carefully.
Roko looked almost identical to his everyday look with the addition of a large scroll stand on his back with four scrolls on it. Roko turned to face where the hollows were again as he scanned for a spot that would give him a bird's eye view and relatively close to the others when he saw the hospital. As good as I'm probably going to get. Was the thought going through his head as he flashed stepped toward the building.
Once he was in position Roko smirked as he said to himself, "Well this is a little earlier than I planned to do this but I probably won't get a better chance to a more grand display than this within my time frame." With this said Roko grabbed the top scroll with a reiraku string and pulled it into his hand and opened it.
"Red Puppeteer Art: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!" Roko cried out as he sent a small pulse of reiatuse to the scroll and a much larger one to draw the Hollows attention. The scroll let out a large puff of smoke and surrounding Roko was a hundred Puppets each different from the others but all of them wore a red cloak with a number ranging from one to one hundred on it as he took control of them.
All the Hollows turned to the source of the reiatuse along with the two Shinigami and Quincy as all three thought what was that? Before they saw a bunch of red dots shoot off the hospital and attack the Hollows.
"What the hell who are those guys?" Ichigo was the first to recover from his surprise as he looked at Rukia who was also wondering who the red dressed people were.
Uryu was wondering the same thing as he had tried to recognize the particular type of Reiatuse that he had felt moments earlier. It was almost like a Shinigami's but it missed the distinctive feel all Shinigami have the only clear thing I could get was that who or whatever it is has a lot power.
The three though had to wait on figuring out who the red cloaked people were as the Hollows that didn't move to attack them returned their focus onto the three.
Roko couldn't help but let out a contented sigh as he sent two puppets to decapitate the Hollows sneaking up on him. It was almost therapeutic to watch his puppets cut down swarms of Hollows while they tried and failed to destroy the smaller and more agile puppets when he felt Kisuke land next to him.
"Well you seem to be having fun I see." Kisuke said with his fan in place as he watched the puppets tear through Hollow after Hollow and Roko who stood in an almost relaxed stance as his fingers twitched and spun in constant motion.
"You have no idea, this is just what I needed something to cut loose on and the Hollows are happy to offer themselves for my Art." Kisuke only stared blankly at his old student as more Hollows were destroyed under a combination of poison and blade.
"Yes well you might want to tone it down a bit or Soul Society's going to pick up on your reiatuse signature." Roko only turned to actually look Kisuke in the eye and the older man could see his eyes almost shine with a knowing look and a small smirk on his face instantly putting Kisuke on guard.
"You say it like I don't know that." Roko said his smirk never leaving his face as Kisuke's eyes hardened and his hand rested in a more ready stance on Benhime although not drawn but ready for a fight.
"Roko what are you planning?" Roko's smirk grew slightly at Kisuke's question when Kisuke realized all the fighting around them had stopped. Taking a quick glance Kisuke saw that the Hollows that had been swarming them were dead or fleeing back to Hueco Mundo and all the puppets were gathering around them.
"I'm not your enemy Kisuke but for my plan to work I need to give Soul Society to send an investigation down here and we both know Mayuri won't stop pestering till they send someone down to investigate." Kisuke nodded, if the Mayuri did get a reading on Roko's reiatuse than the man won't stop till he has Roko on a lab table for him to experiment with.
"Looks like Ichigo's in trouble you might want to go check on him and the others Kisuke." With that Roko sealed up his puppets and flashed stepped back to his home to prepare for the Shinigami that will be arriving soon and to fix Saso's body.
In the twelfth division the members were running around as they detected two massive Shinigami signatures and a Gillian level Hollow only for the Gillian to retreat as one of the signatures attacked it while the first one seemed to vanish completely.
Mayuri stood in the midst of all the chaos his mad skeletal grin in place as he studied the signatures. The one that attacked the Gillian was completely unknown and made the mad captain excited at the prospect of a new test subject and all the things he could do once he got his hands on it. The other signature though was what truly caught his attention as there had been a match and the match was one that left him both thrilled and terrified. He had met and worked with the famed Scorpion of Soul Society and the man was truly a master of his Art in such ways even he respected. The sheer power several of his puppets had was something anyone other than the brute in the eleventh division could respect if not like.
But when Mayuri had learned how he had created some of them did he truly respect the man as his equal. After all the ingenious way to turn the strength of a enemy to your own advantage is just pure genius. If I ever meet Roko's father I will have to offer him a position within my division as it would be nice to have someone here with true vision.
Mayuri was cut off when his 'daughter' Nemu bowed before him and said, "Captain the cataloging of the reiatuse found in Karuku town is ready to be delivered to the captions meeting." Normally Mayuri would have been angry at his lieutenant for interrupting him mid thought but he let it pass for now too excited by what he had just found so he grabbed the report and left to the captions meeting.
Yamamoto nearly let out a sigh as all the captains bickered at each other as they waited on Mayuri to arrive who had sent a hell butterfly ahead of him to state he would be late for unusual reading coming from Karuku town.
Unusual reading my beard more likely an experiment knowing that man, was the thought in the head-captains head as Kenpachi tried to pick a fight with Sajin although the large caption wouldn't rise to the bait when the door opened and Mayuri walked in his smile stretching from ear to ear in a rather gruesome display of happiness as the other captains quieted down wondering what could make the mad scientist smile just like that.
"Caption Kurotsuchi seeing as your late can you explain what caused you to be held up?" Yamamoto asked in a calm voice masking his irritation and the scientists grin somehow grew even larger causing several caption to shudder internally at the sight.
"But of course, earlier today we detected the use of Hollow bait in Karuku town as the cause of the sudden increase of Hollow activity when they fled and a Gillian class Hollow arrived only to be driven off by an unknown Shinigami reiatuse signature."
Many captains frowned; if the reiatuse signature was unknown then the Shinigami was not from Soul Society which was impossible unless a Shinigami gave their powers to a human. The sole exceptions were Yamamoto who had his neutral mask on his face and Kenpachi who had a large grin at the thought of fighting the unknown Shinigami.
"But that's not even the best part during the time before the Gillian arrived we detected a strong pulse of reiatuse that we had trouble identifying." Now everyone stared at the skeletal man in confusion or curiosity when Sosuke Aizen captain of the fifth division asked the question on everyone's mind.
"And what was the source of this reiatuse pulse?" Mayuri's next words caught everyone by surprise and made Soifon stiffen like a board.
"I believe we have just found Soul Society's long lost Scorpion." The older captains all went wide eyed even Gin opened his eyes slightly showing everyone a rare look at his crimson eyes.
"Long lost Scorpion what are you talking about?" this was asked by Hitsugaya Torshiro as he watched almost all the captains gasp or flinch at the mentioning of this scorpion.
"I yes I forgot you weren't a caption when he left Hitsugaya-san so it's understandable you wouldn't know who he is." This came from Yamamoto as observed the other captains reactions.
Soifon had frozen when he was first mentioned but now it was easy for him to see the woman ready to rush out and most likely make a quick beeline for Karuku town which didn't surprise him considering her relation with Roko.
Gin who had recovered from his initial surprise wore his usual grin but he had a nervous tension around him as he turned to look at the others.
Unohana's reaction was not one that most would associate with what most would who knew the woman as her smile turned into a angry frown and her eyes went cold at the mention of Roko as she glared at Mayuri who almost flinched.
Aizen looked concerned but other than that was unaffected as far as he could tell. In Aizen's mind though he was truly concerned with the report that Roko was still alive especially with the puppeteer's notorious spy network that even he doubted he had truly taken control of if he didn't know Roko was still around.
Byakuya kept a calm face but he had seen the nervous twitch the man had made earlier and how his hand had slid to his zampakto unconsciously. Byakuya had had a run in with the puppeteer and there meeting had left a lasting impression on the noble captain especially to never insult anything someone considered an 'Art'.
Sajin who still had his helmet on so he couldn't read his face but it wasn't needed as said man was shaking from head to toe. Sajin's experience with Roko was when Roko along with Naruto and Gaara first arrived. Roko even without puppets or poison had still proven to be a deadly opponent as he had in the midst of the battle created his reiraku strings to simulate his chakra strings that he had lost when he died. With them he had been able to take control over several unsuspecting Shinigami and used them like he would his puppets. Thankfully only one was truly hurt after the battle and the three had settled down in Soul Society as best they could.
Shunsui was relaxed as ever although he did have a small frown on his face. While Shunsui hadn't had much of a connection to Roko he had gotten to know Naruto and Gaara and had helped them as best he could when they heard their old friend had died.
Kaname was as pale as he could be while his hand shook violently. Kaname, Yamamoto remembered had been the one who had been hurt when Roko first arrived as the red haired puppeteer had blinded Kaname with a zampakto slash across his eyes.
Kenpachi looked angry as he muttered under his breath. He hated Roko even more than Unohana which was saying something since the time they fought and Roko won with a single cut and a lot of paralytic poison. Roko had stated that Kenpachi was weak for not branching out or preparing to face others who won't fight the way Kenpachi wants them to.
Finally Jushiro had the same look on his face as Shunshi while he figured out how he going to break this to Naruto.
With his observation done Yamamoto spoke, "Akasuna no Roko otherwise known as the Scorpion of Soul Society was once a member of the Gotei Thirteen and apprentice of Urahara Kisuke before he vanished along with several other souls which was later discovered to be Urahara conducting experiments to fuse hollow reiatuse with Shinigami reiatuse. It was believed that the process ended with to our knowledge in his death a hundred and twenty years ago but it seems we were mistaken."
Torshiro was surprised but while that explained why he didn't know of him it didn't explain why everyone reacted the way they did. Before Torshiro could ask Yamamoto continued speaking.
"He was also one of Soul Society's most deadly Shinigami to the point I ordered all information on him to be kept secret from everyone under Captain rank with the exceptions of Captain Soifon, Lieutenant Nanao, And Lieutenant Matsumoto."
Now Torshiro was truly surprised that HIS lieutenant had been entrusted with such an important secret but none of this answered why the other captains reacted the way they did but he doubted he would get an answer so remained silent but resolved to ask his lieutenant when he got back.
"Commander Yamamoto I request that you let the apprehending of Akasuna no Roko be handled by the Second Division as this is a matter involving a rouge Shinigami." The request came from Soifon in her typical clipped and cold manner but anyone who knew her well enough would have noticed the slight change in her voice when she said Roko's name.
"That is something you will have to discuss with my Lieutenant Gaara as this concerns Roko and he is the best judge for a retrieval mission to catch him." Was Yamamoto's answer to her request as he figuratively threw Gaara to the wolves. He may be the strongest Shinigami but he was also the oldest and with that came a lifelong lesson that you never get in the way of any female who is dead set on finding someone particularly if said person was very close to their heart.
Yamamoto broke that rule when he sent Naruto and Gaara to catch her before she ran off after Yoruichi and Naruto had ultimately paid for it as he spent the next week in the fourth division when she was done with him.
Soifon glared at him but nodded and the meeting continued with him sending Byakuya and his lieutenant Renji to collect Rukia for punishment.
wow longer chapter hope you all like it and I revealed some of Roko's past here and where he stands with most of the other captains. R&R