The next world we stepped out on made me stop and stare from the top of the platform.
"Whoah..." Isana marveled looking around her in awe.
It was like we were on top of the world. A vast mountain range of pointed, snow capped mountains spread our before us in every direction for as far as we could see. The ridges and peaks were stark and clean and majestic.
It was also fuckin' cold.
The air bit cruelly at me and when a sudden gust of wind blew through my relatively thin clothes, my boys tried to crawl up inside me. Isana quickly scrambled to dig inside that sling-bag of hers. After an interminable moment she pulled out the two heavy parkas that she'd bought before we'd left the human world. I was glad she was so forward thinking, because the cloak wasn't helping much. Isana quickly donned hers over her armor, zipping up the front and pulling on gloves and hood and even pulling a scarf from out of one of the pockets until the only part of her that I could readily see were her eyes rimmed by the fur-edged hood. I followed her example, or tried to, no-one had ever shown me the mysteries of the zipper before and I couldn't figure out how it worked until Isana got down and showed me. Then, as if I were a five year old, she pulled up my hood and tried to put a scarf on me with a mother-like
"Put this on or you'll catch cold.'
I snorted.
"I'm a man," I grumbled to hide my embarrassment at having to be dressed like a three-year-old going out to play in the snow. "We don't get cold."
Isana shook her head at me and mounted up again. The strange riding beast didn't look at all bothered by the shocking cold.
"Hey Renji, get up here," she said with a beckoning motion.
I looked up at her like she'd lost her mind. I eyed the beast beneath her which looked back at me through a soulless glassy slit-pupiled eye.
"No way," I said flatly.
"Why not?" she asked.
Did she have to ask? One I didn't ride, and two, I didn't want to be any closer to her than absolutely necessary. I'd discovered, to my very great embarrassment, that being flesh had more disadvantages than just having to eat and eliminate waste all the freakin' time. This body had biological imperatives that my proper Soul form did not feel nearly to the same level. And it didn't seem to have much of a preference either, any reasonably attractive woman of child-bearing age seemed to make it react. I was fuckin' embarrassing! If this was what that poor brat had to go through day in and day out I was now prepared to grant him a greater leniency and a greater amount of credit than before.
"I'll walk thanks," I growled at her in warning. I took up the reins and started out. The moment I stepped off the platform, I was waist deep in snow. It was difficult to move. The beast she was riding on however had longer legs than me and the snow only went to mid-haunch on it. It simply pulled its legs up higher when it stepped and continued on. I waded through the thick fluffy stuff with grim determination.
"Oh geeze! Just get up here already!" Isana said in a tone that implied I was being unreasonable.
I ignored her.
"If you'll ride along with me, I'll give you a cookie," she enticed.
I looked back up at her, mildly insulted at the implication. What was I, five?
"I mean it, I'm freezing over here and if you get on behind me I'll have something to block out the wind and keep me warm," she said practically.
I reluctantly nodded and plowed over to the side of the not-horse she rode. I found an empty stirrup secured to the side and pulled it out then stepped in and floundered my way onto the back of the creature. I'd never been on even a carriage or a rikshaw before, let alone a horse, and this thing wasn't even a horse.
"That's better," Isana said. "Much warmer."
Until the wind came at us from the side, that was.
"Let's just go," she said.
I tugged on one of the reigns until the creature was pointed in the right direction then gave a starting motion with my heels and it moved forward through the snow. To keep myself distracted I looked at the sky above us. It was night time, and so probably actually even colder than it would have been otherwise, but that didn't seem to matter much on this world. The sky over my head was spangled with perhaps more stars than I had ever seen in my life, but more than that...
"What are those?" I asked, in a tone of enraptured awe.
There were strange and beautiful bands of colored light, in all different colors, dancing in coruscating lines if misty fire across the sky. Green changed to blue, pink to deep red then to orange, yellow segued to green to purple. It looked like someone had taken the light from the windows of a cathedral and smeared it across the sky where it shifted and morphed unpredictably. I'd never seen anything like it before. It was... beautiful.
"I've heard if it before, they call them the Northern Lights, the aurora boreilis," Isana said, sounding just as awed by the display as I felt. "They supposedly happen in the dark of winter in places way to the north. I've seen pictures of them, but never the real thing."
At least I wasn't the only one.
"Hey, you got that bubble-shaped thing I got from the elves on ya?" I asked curiously.
"It's in my pack, why?" Isana asked curiously.
II wanna test it out and see if it works," I said.
Isana shrugged and dug around in her bag and a few minutes later pulled out the item I was looking for. It was a strange-looknig thing consisting of a small tube with a half-sphere lens sticking out of ine end, a main compartment that was bulbous and opened up in half where a person put the "dream crystals" which was an awfully pretentious-sounding name, but I guessed in this case it was accurate. The last but was a mirror-screen covered by a flap of suede leather or something to protect it. I did as the elf had showed me and inserted one of the blank crystal balls into the central compartment, uncovered the viewing screen and pointed the lens-end. I pushed in a little reiatsu to activate it and the crystal ball in the center started to glow.
The stark, snowy majesty of the ice-capped mountains fanned out in all directions, colored in multi-colored hues by the shifting, dancing lines of fiery glow moving overhead of us. I got a good long view of the mountains and then pulled up the camera to look at the sky.
"Rukia's not going to believe this, even if I tell her," I said to my traveling partner.
"You brought a camera?" Isana said incredulously.
"Izzat what it is?" i asked curiously. "I got it with those coins they threw at me from the tournament I won. Thought I'd like to get something that would prove where I've been, right?"
"Huh..." Isana said.
We rode in silence for a while, I was getting used to the strange beasts swaying side-to-side gait and the scent of my quarry was strong on my tongue, even stronger than the scent of frost and snow and the stark stone of the world. The wind shifted and I straightened, catching scent of something else. I couldn't say how I knew, but my instincts told me that the thing I was smelling on the wind was not anything harmless, nor was it an ally. It was an enemy. A moment later the scent from upwind grew stronger. It was coming this way.
"Renji, what-?" she asked as I abruptly dismounted and pulled out Zabimaru.
The still and starry air was rent by the sound of a deep howling bellow. Whatever it was that I'd scented, it sounded big. Good, I hated picking up weak, puny guys anyway. I crouched in front of Isana on her steed. I guessed it was a steed, it wasn't a horse and she was riding on it, so steed certainly fit.
Silhouetted by the fire in the sky at the peak of a nearby precipice, was the thing that I'd scented. It was big alright, as big as a menos grande. But no menos grande would ever have achieved that sort of mass and shape. It was shaped like someone had taken the worlds biggest mutant polar bear and crossed it with a gorilla, then gave it walrus teeth as a finishing touch. Charming. Still, it looked like it'd be fun to fight, that last feind on the previous world hadn't been any fun at all.
"Stay out of the way," I told her, flashing up to the feind waiting for me.
"Renji, wait!" Isana cried into the howling wind behind me.
"Howl, Zabimaru!" I roared, and my blade transformed.
I was getting used to Zabimaru's new form. The beast met my opening swing with a powerful knock from his paw that jarred my arm. He was a strong one, I'd give him that. Good.
:Those fighter tendencies from the Zaraki Squad sure do stick with ya,: I noted to myself in amusement.
I tested out his strength and speed and maneuverability. He was powerful, but slow and he wasn't very smart.
"That's... that's an abominable snowman!" Isana called over to me. "Be careful! Those things are legendary for their strength and ferocity."
I only listened with half an ear as most of my attention was brought to bear on blocking one of the swings from his massive forelimbs. The sheer force behind the blow sent me sliding backwards through the snow, my body leaving a plowed up rent in the snow. I leaped up onto the air and shot a Denkou Hou at him from above. The hit landed, but he barely even seemed to feel it. That was what I got for thinking I could scrape by with only releasing one Chakra. Still, it would be a matter of pride to me not to have to use my full strength on an enemy like this.
::Oh, go ahead and use more of your strength Renji,: Babs contradicted. ::You are so unaccustomed to weilding it, that you could use the practice.::
I mentally shrugged and slowly began to unbind my chakra. I felt a small tingle across my skin as the binding marks on my body erased themselves followed by that uncomfortably bloated feeling as the power of my reiatsu pushed out of its confines and seethed and roiled beneath the surface of my skin. How did the boss do it all the time? How did any of the higher-ups live with this nonsense day in and day out?
I pushed a small fraction of my power down the blade and it lit up along the tang, lightning frissioning and sparking off from the edges like sparks from a fire-cracker. It didn't help the annoying boiling of my power churning within my body much, and a small wind kicked up snow around me, the breeze turning alive with the smell of lightning and power.
I charged again at the (snerk) abominable snowman, and it met me with another lunging-punch meant to knock me off my feet. The joke was on him. As I swung down, I released a flare of my reiatsu to add an extra bit of power to my swing, and the beast was the one that got knocked back a pace or two. I followed up quickly by gathering my power for another denkou hou and knocked him completely over sideways. The beast rolled to its feet and smashed the ground, unleashing a blast of power bursting out from its fists. I blocked the brunt of it with Zabimaru but it still made me stagger a bit. In reply I swung and hit it, scoring its tough, furry hide with a long bloody scratch down the side. The blood steamed on the snow, staining it from pristine white to violent red.
We exchanged blows for a bit, with me dodging and testing around it. I knew I was acting like a cat playing with its food, but the main purpose of the fight was my own inner struggle to keep all of that damned reiatsu of mine in check. It kept trying to burst out in waves and push away at my inner defenses, its unexpected flares and tides kept making me lose my balance. The fight against the yeti was secondary to trying to gain control of all that power seething beneath the surface.
"Grahhh!" The snow-beast howled and charged again at me, I closed my eyes to concentrate on getting my reiatsu to stop trying to jerk and pop around inside of my like a restless beast and expanded my senses outwards, trying to feel his movements coming. At the last moment I dodged to the side and slashed with my sword, packing some power into the swing. Zabimaru's enormous blade hit cleanly and precisely on target, taking out one of the yeti's arms. I turned again to face the creature as it howled its agony into the crisp, clear air. The mountainsides seemed to shake with the force of its roar.
Wait. The mountainsides were not just seeming to shake... they were shaking.
My eyes widened as I tried to tke in what was happening, the ground at my feet started to tremble. Quickly I dashed in and fired of another denkou-hou, knocking the yeti back, which I quickly followed up with a powerful swing of Zabimaru. The head came off in a spurt of blood and the body fell to one side, the head rolling some distance away. I turned back to Isana in time to see the mountainside behind her crack in a line a ways upslope and start to move. I flashed over to her grabbed the reins to pull her elvensteed's head around and shouted
"Hang- on!"
I started running, leaving the beast to follow after me. It ran faster than it ever had before, even keeping up with my glide-step. The ground went from trembling to a powerful shake that would have made us stumble if we had been anything less than what we were; a Lieutenent of the Court Guard Squads and a magical construct designed to travel over the tough and dangerous terrains of the Divine Realms. I wasn't even trying to keep track of the scent, I was just running to try to get us out of the way of that avalanche before we could get caught up in it.
I could smell the icy blast-wind that heralded the massive shock-wave-like movement of tons and tons of ice and snow and stone. Not much time left.
"Renji!" Isana screamed in panic.
No help for it. I pivoted on a dime and flash-leaped up onto the back of her steed, putting both arms around her in a last ditch effort to protect her fragile mortal shell. I pushed my reiatsu out in a powerful flare to hopefully act as a buffer between us and the worst of the wave.
It hit us. The immense, raw, chaotic power that was the force of nature hit us like a pile driver. I heard Isana scream in terror as we were rolled over and over in the wave of snow, pummeled from all sides by ice and rock. I could feel my crude reiatsu shield taking the worst of it, otherwise we both might have died there. Were we tangled up in the reins of the beast, which seemed to dissolve underneath us into some strange orb of light and then I was just holding onto Isana, trying to protect her from being pulverized in the churning avalanche. My body felt a thousand times worse than the worse beating I'd ever had in my life, worse than the time that merchant in the Rukongai had actually manage to catch me stealing and beat me with a two by four, worse than the time I'd fought Captain Kuchiki. I was more worried for the person I was supposed to be protecting though, what had I ever been thinking taking this woman along with me? She couldn't even fight! If she died here, Kuchiki was gonna kill me...
"...I call upon you, hear my call and come to my aid... Djinn, I Summon thee!"
:Wha-? A spell?: I half wondered to myself.
Then I felt a massive furred body, warm as the side of a furnace, wrap itself around me and pull upwards. In a moment, where all had once been spinning, pummeling roaring chaos, there was peace and stillness. Another moment later, I felt the cold snowy ground firm beneath me, not moving in a chaotic wave down slope but vibrating intently with the movement of the rocks. I looked up in surprise, I'd thought for sure we were done for.
I let Isana go and she smirked at me.
:She looks exactly like Rukia when she smirks,: I noted absently.
The massive, fiery form of one of her Guardian Spirits loomed over one shoulder, powerful arms crossed over his massive chest. Isana nodded her thanks and him and made a banishing gesture with the fire-staff in her hand and the beast leaped backwards and disappeared into a hole in the air. I grinned up at her. Maybe bringing her along hadn't been such a bad idea after all.
"Nice save," I congratulated her.
Isana straightened her spine and tossed her head back.
"Naturally," she said with a blithe tone, like she did it every day. "I'm just that good."
:Like sister, like sister,: I thought to myself, shaking my head.
"It's a pity we lost yer riding-critter," I said.
It looked like I was back to carrying her ass.
"Not true," she said, a further smirk in her voice.
She put her fingers up to her mouth and whistled shrilly. From out of the still churning avelanche of snow an orb of red light popped up and drifted over toward us. It hovered next to her for a moment then spun itself out into lines and stars of light that quickly resolved itself into the draconic form of her not-horse beastie. Complete with saddle.
:Now that's convenient,: I thought to myself.
If it hadn't meant having to go back to their Realm, I'd thank the Elves again. They were not only wonderful craftsmen, but good with magic too. Of course, they had a long time to perfect it. I wasn't even a century old yet and I was still working on mastering my sword and my reiatsu.
"What do you think we should call him?" Isana mused out loud.
"Who?" I asked, confused by the non-sequiter.
She gestured over to the thing she rode on. I shrugged, leaving it up to her.
"I think I'll call him Tanner," she grinned wickedly at me. I looked blankly at her.
"After my ex-boyfriend," she clarified. "There's something so right about me getting to ride along on his back after so long of me carrying his tired ass on mine."
I snickered at the observation and waited for her to mount up. I didn't feel like riding again so I just took up the reins and led the beast along behind me. After the avalanche there wasn't a whole lot of snow anymore, it was mostly bare scraped rock. There was something sort of pleasant about the stark white of my surroundings, everything looked so clean and pristine. The mountains themselves seemed to exude a proud and intimidating majesty just by being there... a little bit like the Captain at his most Kuchiki-ness. I mean, not that he wasn't Kuchiki all the time but there were some times more than others that he seemed even cooler.