Scorpion vs. Bee
Soifon flashed stepped into the air the moment Roko was covered by a smoke cloud keeping him from view. She noted that the cloud wasn't large meaning he hadn't pulled out one of his puppet armies as she called them but that only made her even more wary. He's not stupid despite his current stunt so if he only pulled out a few puppets than they are most definitely going to be tough dammit he's had over a hundred years to build without care meaning this thing could range from a second rank threat to being able to destroy Soul Society for all I know.
Soifon kept her eyes glued on the spot where the smoke cloud was finally dissipating only for it to be completely barren. Soifon's instincts kicked in as she dodged to the left when a segmented tai like weapon shot through the spot he had been not a second later. Her eyes quickly followed the tail to a hunched back looking human with a wider version of Roko's cloak covering its body from view and his hat on its head also hiding it from view while the 'tail' came out from under the cloak giving her the impression of a scorpion ready to sting her.
"So you went a pulled Mokera out you know it won't be enough to stop me." Soifon taunted while she drew her zampakto. She would have used Hakuda but unless she pulled out her ace it wouldn't be enough against the armor puppet Roko used so much before he left Soul Society. Not to mention what changes he had no doubt made to it as well the only thing I know for sure is I can't let him so much a scratch me or this fight will be over.
"Perhaps, than again, perhaps not why don't we find out captain." The voice from the puppet was much deeper and raspy compared to Roko's normally smoother and lighter voice making Soifon frown at the puppet before once more flash stepping across the clearing zampakto trusted forward to pierce its head only for it to be blocked by its tail. Soifon dodged and parried the bladed end of Mokera's tail as it tried to skewer her and in an incredible display of flexibility she bent almost in half backwards as the tail soared over her head. Not finished Soifon went into a one hand stand and brought her legs up and around the tail before Roko could retract it and pulled herself up with her blade coming in for a slash at one of the small gaps between the segmented parts of the tail to cut off the blade of his primary weapon.
Unfortunately for Soifon Roko had planned for this and the segments where Soifon was currently wrapped around started spinning and threw Soifon off before she could cut the tail. Soifon quickly got her barring as she hurtled through the air when Roko brought up one of Mokera's arms revealing a missile like object covered in strange bulbs and making Soifon's eyes widen in surprise as the missile shot off in her direction. Soifon quickly flash stepped behind a large tree far enough from the clearing to avoid the attack but close enough to make sure Roko couldn't run from her.
The missile went off and the entire area was blanked in a massive poison cloud with many smaller clouds surrounding it when the blubs were flung in all directions and exploded to cover more ground. Soifon had to flash step even farther from the area when the poison started to cover the tree she was hiding behind. This though left her wide open when senbon needles started to shoot out at her from the poison cloud forcing her to dodge and deflect them or else be turned into a pin cushion.
Soifon gritted here teeth as she avoided yet another wave of senbon only to be forced to dodge whatever was coming at her from behind revealing itself to be Roko's tail. If it wasn't for both Yoruichi's training and my past sparring matches against Roko I would probably be as good as dead right know. The thought was chilling that all Roko needed was one cut and that was it for whoever had the misfortune of fighting him with the sheer amount of poison Roko used with the sole exception being Mayuri thanks to his own high tolerance to poison.
Soifon glared at the poison cloud as another wave of senbon was fired at her. Flash stepping to the edge of the poison cloud Soifon spun her zampakto in the air to begin her Kido spell but was forced to stop when Roko's tail struck at her again but with one crucial difference, the tail came from beneath her feet. Seeing her opportunity Soifon cut of the last five feet of the tail making it less effective (It's nearly impossible to make something useless against Roko unless it's completely obliterated or to that affect.)
"Hmm well done you've rendered my tail to little more than a bludgeoning tool for the most part glad to see you keep your blade as sharp as ever Soi-ch… Soifon." Roko caught himself when he nearly called her by the pet name he gave her long ago. He wasn't sure how she would react if he did actually call her that before he restrained her, he remembered that kick of hers as he subconsciously rubbed his head where she kicked him earlier and he most certainly didn't want to encourage her to kick him even harder.
"It seems your skills have gone sloppy 'Ro-kun' has your time away from Soul Society caused your skills to dull?" Roko didn't need to see Soifon's face to know she had that smirk of hers again although he did catch the use of her pet name for him whether intentional or not he didn't know but if she was going to use hers than he was going to use his.
"Unfortunately for use Soi-chan I was hoping you would do that." Soifon didn't even have time to blink when the tail piece she had cut off released a large cloud of poison gas catching her right in the middle of it before she flash stepped out even as she started to feel the effects of the poison in her body when she almost crashed into a tree only for Roko out of his Mokera puppet to catch her and land feet first on said tree.
"Now now Soi-chan, what did I tell you about watching where you're going." If looks could kill Roko would be a corpse on the ground right now from the look Soifon was sending his way right now.
"Well I said I would explain what was going on after are fight might as well as get started." Roko said as he gently laid Soifon against the tree he had been standing on earlier while he sat cross legged in front of her with a serious look on his face as they stared at each other.
"I suppose the best place to begin would be when I was forced to flee from Soul Society. I take it you heard the report about my sudden disappearance which was later explained by Kisuke experimenting on me collimating in me dying via Hollowification?" Roko waited for Soifon to respond but remembered she was paralyzed so he pulled out a syringe and injected it into Soifon's neck much to her silent protests.
"There that should free up the muscles from your neck and up so we will be able to talk but anyway the truth was that while I was experimented on and it wasn't Kisuke who did it although I might have 'borrowed' something of his to help out after I got away from my captors." Roko said his face grim till he reached the part about 'borrowing' something from the blond scientist with his face giving way to a small grin at the thought of one upping his old teacher.
Soifon's reaction though was quite different, her eyes going wide at the fact Kisuke, a man who she could honestly say she hated for what she had believed crimes against Roko and for dragging Yoruichi into it with him. She still hated the man but if Roko was telling the truth she wasn't going to blame him for what happened to Roko if he is indeed not responsible for it. She still hated the lazy bastard but it might not be as bad now as it was before.
"If Urahara wasn't responsible for it than whom and what did they do to you?" Roko sighed at her question although he felt happy she still cared enough for him to go after his captors even if that would only complicate his problems right now. He was thinking what he could reveal to her without throwing his plan completely off track any more than they were now.
"Sorry Soi-chan but for things to work out how I want them to I can't have any one acting out of character around them or they might run before I can catch them." Roko said only to flinch at Soifon's glare as she started to yell at him.
"What the hell do you mean act out of character around them I'm the captain of the Second Division I know dam well how to keep a secret and how to maintain a facade Akasuna no Roko you know that so why won't you tell me?" That question hit Roko hard as he looked at Soifon's face while her mask broke and all the pain and sadness that had built up for over a hundred years poured out of her. Despite all this Roko if only barely was able to keep calm until he heard her next question.
"Why, don't you trust me enough to be able to help?" The question broke Roko as he did the only thing he could think of. Gently tilting her chin up Roko leaned in and Kissed Soifon with all the love and care he could place into it while Soifon's eyes widened before they closed and returned the kiss with just as much love as Roko if not more so. The kiss while long was not a passionate one with the tongue battles or groping like they had had before his untimely departure. No this kiss was rather tamed when compared to that but it did what it was meant to do which was to show all the love they felt for each other even after their forced separation.
Roko soon separated partly because he still needed to finish his explanation and partly because he was almost out of air which he still needed if he wanted to continue his existence. Soifon was also catching her breath but her mind had wandered down a different path than Roko's that would have made Yoruichi giggle and tease her relentlessly hence why her cheeks had a slight pink tinge to them.
"Soifon you know I would trust you with my life but these people are strong enough to make Yamamoto wary of fighting them and I don't want to put you at any more risk than your in now." Roko said as he leaned his forehead against hers while his eyes stared back into her. Soifon for her part was having trouble fighting down the feeling she had buried deep in her heart now that she had let them run free but she managed to get them under control.
"Fine but your still in trouble and when this is over we are going to have a long talk understood." It wasn't a question and both of them knew it as Roko's mouth twitched into a smile and he leaned back to give her some space making Soifon pout for a second before it vanished and her mask was back on her face.
"Understood Captain Soifon a full debriefing after the mission has been completed." Roko said grin fully in place as he brought his hand up for a mocking salute while Soifon's eyebrow twitched whether in amusement or anger he didn't know nor was he going to ask.
"Right I'm off the poison will where off in about a minute or so after which you should probably head back to Soul Society to deliver your report to the captains." Roko turned to leave only to stop and reach into his cloak and pull out a scroll and set it in her lap.
"You mind giving that to Naruto it's a gift for how he kept me remembered in his division and I feel this will do nicely." Soifon was about to yell at Roko when she saw the look in his eye and the twisted grin on his face and just kept quiet. She had seen both before and it normally meant someone was about to suffer for whatever wrong they did to Roko or someone he was close to. It suddenly crossed her mind that Naruto who was one of Roko's closest friends was also often the target of his ire in some way or form.
Nodding she watched as Roko flash stepped away just as feeling returned to the rest of her body causing her to stretch slightly before she got up and opened the way back to Soul Society to deliver her report while a certain black cat watched them go smiling at the them before it turned and headed off to see a certain blonde scientist.
Ok I know I said I would update Lost Alchemist but this chapter was stuck in my head and just wouldn't move aside till I typed it. I do hope I did ok with the fight scene and before anyone says I made Roko OP or nerfed Soifon I will say this right now that while Roko may seem to be op Sasori was the same it's just that Sakura who in a rare moment proved her usefulness in making an antidote to Sasori's poison otherwise she would have been dead and Sasori's grandmother soon after. In this case no one has had a real chance to properly make an antidote other than Roko and he's constantly switching poisons so that he makes it even more difficult to counter.
As for Soifon she was going through emotional stress added to the fact she was fighting against Roko not only in an area he had prepared ahead of time but also against a puppet specifically designed to counter hand to hand combat with its only weakness being something with a lot of power or another method that Soifon knows but didn't get the chance to use.
I'm also going to be making a list for specific puppets for people to see what they are but I won't do spoilers on them if they have stuff that u haven't seen yet.
Mokera- Armor puppet- Mokera is Roko's version of Sasori's Hiroko hence why where similar to each other including the missile arm although where Sasori's had senbon Roko's had poison gas that is meant to cover a wide area for long periods of time. Normally he uses it as a smoke screen so he can attack at different areas or hide traps for his enemies to stumble on. Mokera also had the same tail design as Hiroko but it's more advanced with the segments able to spin and poison gas compartments in the segments of the tail. This though means that the tail is bigger than Hiroko's and isn't a fast or flexible in comparison.
Right so there u go and also sorry if Soifon was a little ooc I loosely based this off from her match with Yoruichi with the obvious differences.
Another thing to one Cyril about how Naruto seemed weak I would like to point out a few things right now.
One, Soifon is a CAPTAIN not something to overlook and while Naruto is at captain level there is simply no open spots for him at the moment so he hasn't been promoted yet.
Two, Naruto at the time wasn't fighting her at full power because he knew she was going through a tough time as just twenty years before Yoruichi left Roko had gone missing add to the fact that the one person who was her mentor and the closest person she had at the time up and runs off with the man accused of killing Roko via hollowification meaning she was pretty messed up at the time.
Three, despite making him both smarter and stronger Naruto is still willing to take a beating if it will help his friends and to him Soifon along with Nano are practically sisters with how close they are to Roko and Gaara respectively so if beating him up will help her feel better then he will take the beating.
That said this is probably the only time I will have Naruto take a one sided beating in this story though I can see Rangiku having her own way of keeping him in line :)