TTGL: So this is the Heavens.
Chapter 7: A Clown and an Emo.
The Building that Kamina was stood before may once have looked like any other squad barracks in the Seireitei. Now though it was encased in, wires, extensions, lights, pipes and all manner of strange objects that made the place look more like the inside of a machine than an actual building.
The shinigami that guarded the building watched him like hawks as he approached. One had a third eye under his nose while the other had an octopus like tentacle coming from his chin like a beard. Kamina had seen some weird looking creatures in his time, but these guys took first place.
"Hey, squid face. Your captain is expecting me. Care to let me in?" called Kamina when he was stopped by the two guards.
"Squid face?" growled the man now dubbed squid face. "You bastard!"
"Ignore him." muttered three eyes. "Go ask one of the officers if this guy is welcome."
Squidface marched off, muttering to himself, leaving Kamina and three eyes alone in awkward silence. Kamina broke the quiet after a while. "So…you've got three eyes then. How's that working for you?"
"Fine." came the replying grunt.
"Doesn't it bug you when you have a cold? You know, what with your nose running into that extra eye?"
"Shut…Up."
Before Kamina could make any other comments, Squidface returned.
"Captain Kurotsuchi is waiting inside." he announced grudgingly. "Please enjoy your stay." he growled with a forced smile.
"Ha ha. Looks like Scarface managed to talk him over. Anyone with a 69 tattoo on his face has to be cool." Kamina laughed to himself as he entered the warped grounds of the Twelfth Division.
Inside looked even more nightmarish. The only light was from the hundreds of tiny blinking bulbs that were dotted across the walls, each hooked up to wires and monitors that had no visible purpose.
A hunched back shinigami in a white scientists coat met with him and escorted him through the maze of tangled corridors. They entered a room that was clustered with monitors and scientists but a large screen mounted upon the wall was the main focus point.
Kamina made his way directly toward the white robed man with Twelve written acroos its back. He was not facing Kamina and the only defining feature was the huge mane of dark blue hair that crested his head.
Kamina smacked his back. "Heya captain. Is everything…" The captain turned to face him. "Holy crap clown! What happened to your face?"
The man wore lots of black face paint, leaving not skin bare. He had no lips or eyelids which gave him a permanent maniacal grin. There were golden cups over his ears that did nothing to improve his freakish image.
"Hmmm. You must be the anomaly. Are you ready for your annual check-up?" smiled the clown, a slightly deranged look in his eyes.
"Nice try." replied Kamina. "I'm just here to check on the human world, like I'm sure Scarface told you."
"Such a shame, you would have made such a nice specimen. You sure you don't want any improvements?"
"What's to improve?" grinned Kamina with unwavering confidence as he held out his arms wide, allowing the captain a good look at him.
"I could think of a few things." murmured the captain.
One of the scientists near the large screen approached them. "Captain Kurotsuchi, the Cross-World Viewscreen is ready."
"Focus it on the gunship Dai-Gurren, coordinates J372 9006P."
"Gunship Dai-Gurren. Ha. Nice name. Catchy." laughed Kamina to himself. Hearing those words lifted his spirits, confirmed that they really had won, that his sacrifice had meant something.
The giant screen came to life. Its screen was blurred and full of static until the coordinates were keyed in. It took a few seconds but the image gradually morphed into a birds-eye view of Earths plains. In the centre was a small red dot that slowly made its way across the screen. The scientist punched a few more buttons and the image began to zoom in. the dot became bigger and bigger until it was obviously the huge bulk of the former Dai-Gunzan.
It had gotten a new paint job since the last time Kamina had seen it. It stomped slowly forward with seemingly uncertain steps.
The screen zoomed further in until the details of the deck could be seen. No one was outside though, the plains and deck void of all life. The screen didn't stop though but continued to downwards until the deck was so close that the screen became black. A second later the screen lit up again, this time with a duller light that revealed the inners of the giant gunman.
The image moved around the ship like it was on a tour of the ship. It passed several people that Kamina knew but there was no sign of Yoko or Simon. Even from where Kamina stood he could sense the sombre mood within the ship.
The screen continued to explore the ship before finally entering a room that was near pitch black. Through the gloom, Kamina could just make out dozens of strange shapes dotted throughout the room. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he realised that the shapes were all him. Statue after statue of Kamina.
Looking further into the gloom he saw a figure hunched over, his back turned, face to the wall. His arms moved slowly as he drilled idly into the wall.
"Simon…"
The screen swivelled around to view the boy's face. He had huge bags below his eyes and his pale skin was waxen. His right eye twitched constantly. "Must bring back bro, must bring back bro…" was the flow of mutterings that escaped Simon's mouth.
"Simon! Get a hold of yourself! You won! Look what you achieved, this place is yours! Now that I'm not here its your job to protect Yoko and the others!" roared Kamina at the screen.
"You do realise that he can't hear you?" stated the captain scathingly.
"Even if its only by sheer force of will, I will make sure that he can hear me!" Kamina continued to shout. He banged his fist against the screen. "Listen damn it!"
"If you leave a mark on that equipment then I will turn your sweat into a powerful acid then imprison you within a giant treadmill so that you slowly, and incredibly painfully, dissolve yourself." Captain Kurotsuchi's face suggested that this statement was not an idle threat but rather something that he would love to do and do to you regardless of what you did but only law held him back.
Kamina turned on the captain. "Your head of technology, I know that you have to have a way into the human world otherwise shinigami couldn't protect humans from these hollows that I keep hearing about. I need to get down their and snap Simon outta it! All I need is time for one punch! That's all!"
"No. that is against procedure. Only full shinigami can enter the human world and only then on official orders. That, and I have no reason to let you." scowled the clown.
Kamina grabbed hold of Kurotsuchi's robes and lifted the man off of the ground. "Now listen here you freak! My bro is in need of some help and I'm gonna make sure he gets it. I promised that if he ever doubted himself then I would beat some sense into him. Send me there now or I'll beat you to a pulp!"
The other shinigami looked on in horror, most backing well away from the two men.
The captain's face contorted with rage. "You insolent swine. You dare lay a hand upon me? I'll teach you some respect. Ashisogi Jizo."
Kamina stumbled back, blood dripping from his stomach. Kurotsuch held in his hand a golden trident that was a twisted weapon in every meaning of the word. The three blades curved and had barbs while its hilt was in the shape of a baby's face.
"You bastard!" Kamina growled. He moved forward to smash his fist into the other man's face but froze mid swing. He fought for control of his body for a moment then dropped to his knees. He strained himself them fell to the floor, his body limp.
"This is my zanpukuto." said Kurotsuchi. He held the blade loosely in his hand and watched as Kamina's blood slowly dripped from the three points. "It has a unique ability to paralyse anyone that it cuts while not effecting the nervous system like other anaesthetics. In words that your little brain could understand, it stops you from moving while making sure that you can still feel pain. Like this!"
The captain stabbed at Kamina's shoulder causing him to shout out.
"I'll kill you!" hissed the brawler but his body still didn't move.
"How do you plan to do that, eh?" Kurotsuchi inquired, cocking his head to one side.
"Force of will." replied Kamina, his look of anger morphing into a savage grin. "The ever spiralling path that lies before us, the Heavens that loom before us and the earth that will entomb our bones. Hado number eight, Explosion of epic manliness!"
The lab was engulfed in flames. The building shook violently and flame and smoke shot from every window and door. When the smoke cleared, the room was wrecked. Most of the scientists were sprawled upon the floor unconscious. Kamina was just a man shaped pile of ash.
Kurotsuchi stomped forward towards Kamina, his face a mask of rage. His white robes were burnt and blackened, his face paint smudged beyond recognition and his hair as charred. He grabbed at the ash pile and pulled Kamina from it by his throat.
"You insolent bastard!" the captain spat. He raised his sword and thrust it at the teen's face.
The weapon stopped short. Captain Shuhei held Kurotsuchi's arm.
"What going on. I came to check how things were going and when I get here the place is on fire and you're about to kill an academy student." asked Shuhei, trying hard to keep his voice calm and neutral.
Kurotsuchi snorted, pulling his arm from the other captain's grip. He released Kamina but he was still unable to move so simply crashed to the floor like a rag doll.
"You still want him as a test subject?" Shuhei asked sceptically.
"Hmmm." muttered the squad twelve captain, quickly regaining his composure. "I would very much like to see him get mashed to a pulp. Fine."
From his sleeve the scientist removed a vial of florescent purple liquid. "Hold still."
"Ha ha." growled Kamina as he was injected with the stuff. It was a horrible feeling as the liquid passed into his body but after a few seconds he felt movement return to his toes. Shuhei helped him to his feet.
"Man, a clown and an emo. Of all the people that could send me to help Simon, it has to be a damned clown. And then Simon didn't listen to me. I said believe in yourself yet there he is being emo. I have to sort everything out. So much for rest in peace." grumbled Kamina.
A hand grabbed his ankle. He looked down to see a battered scientist laying on the ground. "What was that Kido just then? It certainly wasn't the real hado number eight." the man ground, pain and curiosity joined within his voice.
"I just made it up. Cool right? Eight is my lucky number." responded Kamina happily.
"You can't just make kido up. It doesn't work like that." the man stated. Kurotsuchi trod on him as he walked past.
"Follow me." Kurotsuchi ordered. Kamina looked over to Shuhei who nodded. They both followed him into the dark maze of corridors. Eventually he stopped and entered a large room that resembled a dojo.
"This is purely for scientific purposes you must understand so don't get the wrong idea. I'd love to watch you get beaten to a pulp but, alas, science must come first. Beside, I can get you beaten later." said Kurotsuchi in a matter of fact tone.
"Give me your zanpakuto."
"Hell no! You aren't laying a finger on my Gurren, ya damn freaky clown." shouted Kamina as he held the weapon in his arms defensibly.
"Give it him." affirmed Shuhei.
Grumbling, Kamina gave Gurren to the madman. "What is this experiment then?"
"Put simply, it is a way to improve the offensive capabilities of a zanpakuto. It is a prototype form of kido."
"I'm not the right person for testing kido. As you saw, things tend to explode."
"Exactly." exclaimed Kurotsuchi. "Who better to test it than a useless fool. If you can use it successfully then any proficient kido user can too, and so reduce their uselessness in close combat."
"Despite not being able to control your spiritual energy, you have vast reserves of it. This particular kido is like a leech. Once activated it simply feeds off of the users reiatsu." informed the crazy scientist as he removed a strange looking pen from a pocket. He scratched some symbols onto Gurren's blade near to the hilt then passed it back.
Kamina examined the symbol. It was the colour that thin layers of oil appear as in light, like a swirling rainbow. The image was of a full human skeleton with fire spread across every bone in a huge blaze. It held a sword in one hand and the kanji symbol for power in the other.
"Cool. How does it work?"
"All you have to so is speak the release phrase. Flaming arc of Heaven's wrath, avenging hand of a vengeful angel. Mashi number one, Blazing Sword. Simple." stated the captain. "Just don't get the words wrong or your head may be pulled inside your body and fired out of an unsanitary area."
"Nice to know." muttered Kamina. With a look of intense concentration he repeated the words. As he spoke the last word nothing happened. He cringed, expecting either an explosion or strange feeling in his head. Instead, his sword was suddenly engulfed with bright crimson flames.
"Pretty sweet." he grinned as he made a few experimental cuts through the air. An arc of flames followed the blade.
"You entering squad Eleven's little tournament?" Shuhei asked.
"Hell yeah. I can kick some major ass with this."
"That is the plan." said Kurotsuchi. "There will be many students taking part and some of them are set up for seated positions within squads as soon as they graduate. If you, with no particular skill and very little training could win, then that would look very good on my research. If you fail and make my research look pointless then I will implode each of your fingers and toes one by one."
"This is gonna be awesome. All I have to do is win this contest, get a place in this eleventh division and then I can finally go help Simon out. Its time to show the Soul Society who the hell I am!"
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AN/ Another chapter down, sorry it was a bit late. Please review if you enjoyed the story or have any suggestions. Next chapter will be out on time so until Friday, cya.
PS - Mashi means roughly: augment.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.
-FWF