We continued down the ice-path approaching where the Shadow-beast was doing whatever the heck it was doing near that Gate to the next world. I could feel the strange spiritual presence of the Shadows growing stronger as we got closer, and I was a little dismayed to note that it had gotten even stronger from the time I had fought it just a little while ago.
"It's up ahead," I murmured softly.
Sure enough there was a break in the tree line and Isana brought the recording device around to record the scene before us. It wasn't that different from the time I had just scouted, except that there were a few craters from where my Denkou-Hou's had landed and the Shadow-beast seemed to be even larger and more defined since the last time I'd seen it. It was sort of the difference between a child's blobby little clay animal and a cast-clay figure fired by a professional. I was certain it wasn't made of flesh and bone, this betrayed by the obsidian-like glimmer along every line and curve of its body, the light reflecting off the ridges and valleys made by muscle and bone, by places and by what passed for hide on the beast as if from black marble.
The Shadow beast wasn't just a huge blob-ish obsidian-black hulk of teeth and claws now, it had refined from a roughly-shaped four-limbed thing into something that resembled a real shape. The Shadowbeast had a long whip-like tail with a serration of sparks on one side of it that traveled up along its spinal column, up its back, growing gradually larger. It's hind-feet with haunch-like but slim like a hunting cats, made for powerful leaps and they were much smaller than its forelimbs. It's back claws were shorter and thicker than the ones up front, made for eviscerating its prey by rabbit-kick or gripping onto the soil for traction. The torso featured a trim, muscular abdomen and despite the teeth adorning its spine, it looked flexible, wiry and tough. Its rib-cage was protected by a dark-grey bony plate-armor covering it all the way to it's wide, powerful hunched shoulders that featured a burst of spike-like protrusions jutting in all directions. From the shorter back-limbs the gaze traveled up and up and up to its massive haunch shoulders. The long wiry, muscled forelimbs could be used both to claw and to help it run. It's fore-claws were long as swords on paws with long flexible digits. A long triangular head filled with long, gleaming obsidian tusks was supported on a powerful trunk of a neck that hung the skull low, enabling it to snap and turn with great reach and maneuverability. This thing was lean, sharp and very dangerous-looking.
I drew Zabimaru with a hiss of steel and smiled.
Just the way I liked 'em.
"Missy," I said, looking over at her and catching her eyes to show her that I was serious about what I was saying. "You stay back here and let us do the fighting. Yoruichi and I will handle it, but if we get injured we're going to need a healer and that's you. Stay hidden and safe back here so you can heal us up if we need it. Got it?"
"I can fight!" she protested. "What's the point of me having fighting Guardian Spirits like Djinn and Crusher if I don't get to use them?"
She looked like she was actually a little offended that we asked her to hang back.
"Use them another time," I said firmly. "This is gonna be a tough fight, and if you have to be nearby we'd both feel better if we didn't have to worry about where you are."
Isana crossed her arms and made a hmph-ing noise, but Tanner lowered his bulk to the ground.
"Hurry up cat, or I won't leave any for you," I said.
I knew that I had my feral grin on my face.
"Don't get cocky, boy..." the masculine cat's voice trailed off.
There was a strange sound from behind me, then a rustle of fabric.
"Or I won't leave any for you," the feminine Yoruichi of her woman-form finished.
I glanced behind me and there, wearing a pair of Isana's stretchable pants that were more like capris on a woman as tall as Yoruichi was (compared to Isana at least) and a halter top that strained nearly to bursting across the bust (and missed covering her stomach by about three inches) and no footwear was the Goddess of Flash herself.
:I'm kinda seein' why the Second Squad Captain is so very obsessed with her,: I thought to myself, genetically unable to keep from appreciating the lovely view.
It really was a pity that she spent so much time as a cat.
"Last one in catches dinner!" I said with a howl of pure exuberance.
I flashed in to attack the shadow-beasts forelimb. It seemed to regard my attack as no real threat to it for some reason and I was about to show it otherwise. I swung downwards, aiming for its torso and could have swore I hit it, but... my blade passed through nothing. Well, it hadn't quite been nothing, after many decades of battle in very different battlefield conditions I could tell even minute differences in the air around me by how my blade sliced through the air, whether the air was moist or dry, filled with smoke or dust, or where the wind was coming from or if there was an object nearby. There was definitely something in the air and my blade passed right through it, but it met with no impact. I heard a battle-yell come from another part of the shadowbeast nearby, while I had been attacking it from the front, Yoruichi had flashed around and behind it to try to nail a vital. I was a little gratified to note that she hadn't made any more of a dent in it than I had. I did note that when she attacked, it seemed to flicker a little.
We both flashed back to avoid its counter attack. Whether or not my blade had managed to land a blow or had somehow missed it, the beast counter attack was substantial enough; I could feel the wind that it displaced whisper against my skin as it just barely missed me. Even my flash-step was barely fast enough to get us out of the way of its swift reprisal. It was a blur of grey on black and fluid movements of shadow that barely even registered on my senses before it's claws were nearly at my face. I leaped to its right as its massive head lunged at me, teeth snapping. By reflex I swiped at its exposed neck, and passed again through a nothingness that wasn't quite nothingness. The shadowbeast's hand shot out to grab me, however and I brought my un-shikai'ed Zabimaru around to block the move. A mistake. With such casual strength and speed that it looked like the blow couldn't possibly hurt, it knocked its fisted forepaw into me and sent me flying through the air in an arc. The impact hit me like a pile-driver, knocking wind and blood out of my body. I was kinda wishing I'd taken the elves up on their offer for some (armor is for wimps) armor right then. I'd forgotten how delicate a mortal shell could be. The feeling of flesh and bone jolting and jarring with every little impact as I rolled along to distribute my momentum reminded me rather painfully that I didn't really have time to play around.
"Ho-"
The shikai-ing of my blade was interrupted by a strange, almost metallic shrieking sound, sort of like the sound of metal being rent in half. I looked up from my crouch to see the shadowbeast rear up onto its hind legs and cup its forepaws to on either side of its chest and in the air between it hands gathered a sphere of darkness that seemed to crackle with a negative power. Whatever that thing was, it couldn't be good.
A heartbeat later the orb launched itself with dizzying speed at the spot I was standing in, and I dodged and rolled out of the way, only to be caught by the blast of its impact hitting the ground. Soil and rocks went flying up into the air, making visibility not so good for me right then.
A moment later the shadowbeast jerked its maw around to face behind him instead of concentrating on me. I saw Yoruichi's body flicker in and out of different spots, her actual motion too fast for my eyes, who was growing accustomed to seeing the Kuchiki move it when he wanted to, to follow. No wonder they called her the Goddess of Flash, she could give the brat in Bankai mode a run for his money.
:I wonder...: I thought vaguely.
The notion of trying out Snakeys enhanced speed senses out to see if I could actually track her occurred to me. But I recalled what Zabimaru had said about it; using that power came with prices, first among them a severe drain on the amount of energy I could handle at the current time (meaning I wouldn't be able to keep up the speed for very long) followed in a close second by the fact that once I did come out of the trance-like state I would be severely disoriented. I wasn't sure I could afford taking the risk in this battle.
I closed my eyes and opened another chakra ,gathering up my reiatsu, curious to know if I could shikai him while simultaneously pushing power down his blade instead of doing one and waiting and doing the other.
"Howl! Zabimaru!" I commanded.
The long, wide, elegant hour-glass-shaped diamond-headed blade seemed to burst out into being, and it was already glowing with my reiatsu, a glowing coppery color like the amber disk of the sun as it was just touching the horizon. I pushed more power into it and sprang back into the battlefield. A fore-claw swiped at me, coming from right to left; I flash-ducked and swerved, just flashing out of the way of its second, downward swing and launched myself up into the air to avoid the back-swing from its right paw.
"Denshou Hou!" I cried gathering power at the tip of the blade and launching it with a swing of Zabimaru's blade even as I hung in mid-air avoiding its swiping paw.
The shadowbeast blurred out of the path of my reiatsu-strike. That was the problem with straight-line reiatsu attacks like arrows or even burst-shots like the brat's Getsu Gatensho, they worked in a straight line in only one direction and if an enemy can see it coming and spot its trajectory it could dodge out of the way, forcing me to waste energy in dealing out more attacks.
Might as well try to see if my onmi-directional attack would work. I gathered a greater amount of reiatsu and concentrated into a great shining halo around the tip of Zabimaru.
"Raikou Enjin!" I shouted, launching the ring of individual reiatsu bursts circling in to wheel around the shadowbeast.
"Ha!" I kirrup-ed as I landed and mentally ordered the reiatsu blasts, like my higa zekkou attack with snaketail, to dart in on the target they surrounded.
The orbs of power closed in and met in the center with a great explosion that made me stagger for a moment. I waited for the air to clear enough to see if it had been effective against the shadowbeast. Two pin-points of scarlet light appeared in the haze that obscured the air after the explosion from Raikou Enjin. I had a feeling that it wasn't from Yoruichi. I wasn't sure how it had managed to dodge it, but somehow my attack must have missed because the beast showed not the least sign of wear from the attack. It didn't have a single scratch n it. Was it somehow flash-stepping out of the way, faster than I could perceive it?
"Shakahou!" the voice of yoruichi said from somewhere in the crowd.
I could feel her reiastu flickering about the battlefield, like the heartbeat of a humming bird, she didn't stay still long enough for me to register her presence as anything but a brief flicker on my senses. Her first attack was followed quickly by another and the Shadowbeast dodged both of them easily, snaking out of the way with a limber blur of motion. Her third attack continued to herd it to the right. Seeing what she was up to, i flashed in on its left as Yoruichi fired off another of her kido attacks. I pushed more power into my blade, making it glow gold-white with power, lightning sparks flickering off from the double edges as I slashed at its side.
I could have sworn my hit landed this time. I felt the blade pass through something that was thicker than the smoke-clogged air, but it wasn't solid. I looked over just barely in time to see the edge of Zabimaru slice into the obsidian-night form of the shadowbeast, the edges of what would have been a wound on anything else separated into whorls and eddies like someone passing thier hand through smoke. That was why my hits were not registering, they were just passing right through it! Was the shadowbeast even real?
The momentum of my attack on the creature carried me closer to the strange shadow-covered spell-array than i had gotten in the battle so far, and I was about to stick my sword in it to bring myself around when suddenly the thing was on me like white on rice.
My wondering question was answered a moment later when, the shadowbeast moved faster than a snake striking, turning at bay and, crouching down, it opened its mouth and let out an enormous basso roar almost directly into my face. The shrill sound of tearing metal that characterized its roar wasn't the only aspect of the attack, a gout of jagged black edged with star-shimmer launched itself from inside its gaping jaws and straight at me. Like a lightning strike it happened in an instant, it was so fast that I didn't quite have time to bring zabimaru around to block the attack. On reflex my body twisted to one side to avoid most of its attack and the blast caught me in the shoulder. I went flying back, my limbs and body gyrating wildly at odd angles in the air, and my shoulder burned and my ribs made a soft crackling sound, like the sound of a branch cracking. I curled up and rolled automatically and a sharp pain flared up from the action.
:I think one of my ribs just cracked,: I thought distantly to myself even as righted myself and shoved my feet into the ground to skid to a stop.
The force of the shadowbeasts glancing blow was enough to make me skid against the ground for several feet before I wore out enough force through friction to stop. I paused, frowning. My battle instincts told me that I might have just stumbled across the key. To test my theory, I flashed in a wide circle out to my right.
"Keep it busy!" I yelled over to Yoruichi as I flashed quickly right on past where she was quickly evading the shadowbeasts foreclaw and black-lightning attacks before she could ask me what I was doing.
I pushed another burst of reiatsu down to the end of my blade on the run as I rushed at the spell-array that was covered in liquid shadow, the red glowing gem floating in the air over the center, pulsing steadily like a heartbeat. I launched myself upwards sending more power down my blade in a wave as I brought my blade up over my head and struck downwards. I was targeting the gem, hovering there in the center like a target. I wasn't exactly sure what it was or what it did but I was certain that it had to be important because that shadowbeast seemed to be protecting it.
I had a clear shot and was already inwardly congratulating myself on my victory as the glowing edge of Zabimaru sliced cleanly through the air towards the glowing red bead. I did not hit it. Just as the edge of the sword was about to split the floating gem there was a sudden reddish flare of power and a shield made of lines of power with single flowing inside them like ticker-type appeared around it like a multifaceted gemstone, sealing the stone away. The power of the blast held me suspended, frozen in mid air for an eternal moment before it flared up and sent me flying backwards. There was a loud roar that made my bones tremor from the shadowbeast behind me but even as I was in mid-air I kept my eyes firmly on the gemstone. Hidden behind the translucent multi-faced shield the red gemstone slowly began to sink into the spell array covered by liquid shadow. The surface of the pool underneath it rippled and moved on its own.
I let my blody slam into the ground, and instead of rolling with it, I stabbed Zabimaru into the dirt, burying him mid-length and used my backward momentum to slingshot myself around pushing my feet up into the air to launch myself higher and pulling Zabimaru up and out then around as I went. I was flying over to make another downward strike at the stone that was slowly lowering itself to the ground when I was interrupted by a wiry whip-like tail. I noted absently that the shadowy surface of its hide shimmered in the light from Zabimaru. It looked like someone had scattered winking black diamonds underneath the surface of its body and they winked and flashed with every movement it made. The shadowbeast looked somehow more substantial. It felt substantial as the tail swooped in and knocked me out of the air like Jinta hitting a homerun. I went flying back again. As a final insult the beast finally managed a powerful downward crushing stroke with one of its massive forelimbs, the blow hit me, almost literally, like a ton of bricks. I went down. My head rang and i felt myself coughing blood even as I registered the sound of multiple bones snapping.
:I hate being mortal,: I thought distantly in that second I had before the pain hit me.
So did the ground. I rolled again, but this time, instead of curling into a ball my body just rolled flat-out for a moment and I then slid, face-down, along the ground for a long minute. I tried to get up, pushing myself up by my arms but one of them was broken and I slumped back down, gasping in pain. Pain was really different when you were stuck in a mortal body. I'd been injured many times on the battlefield, some of them came within a hairsbreadth of ending my afterlife for good (Kuchiki), but i could honestly say that it felt different with flesh. For one thing, it seemed that it was weaker than spirit, certainly it seemed to break more easily. I groaned in pain and tried to move.
"...Hear my call and come to my aid! Djinn, I summon thee!" a dismayingly familiar voice said from behind me.
:When I get this over with, I'm going to strangle the woman!: I thought hotly through the haze of pain that had overtaken my senses.
Why couldn't she just stay back there like we told her to? She would have been safer and i might have gotten a breather for a moment to think about the thought that had occurred to me in mid-air as I watched the little stone sink into the inky pool of darkness with a little ripple and the pool had started to move on its own. Now I had to pull up and get back in there without thinking about what it might mean. That was alright, I was really more of a fly by the seat of my pants style of fighter rather than a strategizer.
The great flame-maned beast stepped out of the circle of fire and roared in announcement of its presence on the battlefield. I'd forgotten how impressive it looked.
"Djinn! Flame-rain!" Isana commanded, gesturing with her flaming staff.
The beast threw its head back and roared into the air. At the tip of it snout a great orb of flame and power gathered in and expanded, growing ever greater until it reached a size that was as big as i was tall then, with a swat of its forepaw, Djinn smacked the orb of flame into the air. A moment later the Guardian Spirit leaped straight up after it, rolling once in the air, it smashed its paws down on the giant flaming fireball and shattered it into a thousand smaller fireballs that rained down on the shadowbeast circling in and making many smaller impacts that added up to a great fire. Silhouetted in its center was the dark of the shadowbeast.
It wasn't even flinching.
"Get back!" I roared over at Isana, or I would have if breathing hadn't been so painful right then.
What came out was a strangled growl. Isana ignored me, ignored me! and directed her Guardian Spirit to gather another attack. I was going to kill her, once i got her thick-headed carcass back to safety.
"Djinn! Flame-rain!"
I could only watch somewhat helplessly as I tried to get my battered body to pull itself together and get back in the fight. it wasn't working so well, I needed a healer.
:If she had to push her way onto the field the least she could do was heal me like she's supposed to instead of fighting,: i grumbled to myself as I thrust the point of Zabimaru into the dirt and used him as a cane to lever my tired mortal shell up to its knees.
I leaned heavily against it for a moment and contemplated the task of getting to my feet. Meanwhile the Guardian Spirit had completed its attack and once more the shadowbeast seemed spectacularly unaffected by it. Yoruichi had appeared at Isana's side sometime in the middle of its second attack. That was a relief, sort of, at least she'd have someone to get her out of there.
After the second attack, Isana looked like she was starting to feel weak in the knees and she banished Djinn through the portal to his own realm and looked over at me.
"Are you okay Renji?" she asked worriedly.
"No!" I snapped. "Get your ass back to the horse before that thing tears your head off!"
The Shadow beast moved faster than i could easily track it and i was accustomed to watching my opponents move really really fast. it was headed straight towards Isana and Yoruichi. I was closer. Without consciously thinking about it (or knowing how I achieved it) I found myself on my feet and moving despite the pain, moving to intercept the shadowbeast before it could attack Miss Isana. I ran forward into the fire that was still burning around the great beasts hulking form and launched myself at it, Zabimaru out and swinging. I'd given my word to protect her and I was a man of my word.
"Hoi! Hoooiii!" I called, attracting the sourceless attention of the shadowbeast who reared back and turned to face me.
"That's right, I'm right here!"
:With a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder,: I finished internally.
I'd fought on worse before... maybe.
The shadowbeast eeled out of the way of my attack with a lightning-quick fluid movement and replied with a swing of its fisted forepaw that I intercepted with Zabimaru. I could feel the impossible strength behind the blow, fully as powerful as anything Zaraki had ever dealt out, jolting down the length of Zabimaru and sending me crashing to the earth but I managed to keep my feet underneath me. I held my ground as it crushed down on me, its fist pressing down, trying to flatten me. I held, pushing back with all my strength. It redoubled its efforts, the weight and pressure of its shove was incredible, my feet were slowly dragged backwards, the earth itself giving way before I would and the furrows I rent in the turf went up to my knees. Making no progress by merely leaning on me and pushing, it pulled back and then swung down at me with a growl. The shadow-shimmer forepaw crashed into Zabimaru with the force of a landslide barreling down. i became the epicenter of a crater bursting into the ground around me as a result of its swing. I felt my arms begin to buckle despite my resolve, and I tried in vain to shove it back, even just and inch. it was so damn strong, I'd never felt power like this before.
:That's funny,: a detached part of my noted even as i struggled against the might of the shadowbeast. :Its arms are the only thing with that star-shimmer in it...:
I raked my gaze over it from around the glowing blade of Zabimaru and noted that my observation was basically a valid one. It's body was matte-black, a tone that did not seem to reflect any light at all, except for the ends of its back haunches, its tail and its forelimbs where it was in contact with my blade. Partly out of desperation and partly out of inspiration, and partly because i needed to test something, I gathered a mass of power up and shoved it down my blade, causing it to light up blindingly and focused the power at the tip. I had a haunch.
"Denskou Hou!" I shouted, shooting the blast from the tip of Zabimaru right directly into its face.
It passed right through it, even leaving behind a hole in the skull of the beast for a moment. The odd thing about the wound was that it did not resemble any kind of wound I'd ever seen before, not like a tear made in the physical form of a creature. it was like I'd punched a hole into a thick cloud of smoke, it filled in quickly. The Shadow gazed down at me, its eyes glowing red. I heard my heartbeat pound through my head.
:It's not all completely solid!:
It seemed my guess had been right. It looked like the only parts of it that were substantial were the parts that actually came into contact with the world. The rest of it was just a shadow...
:Just a shadow...: I thought, a feeling of realization dawning on me.
The Denkou Hou that I'd fired it had caught it off-guard but not for long. It rushed at me, slamming its forelimbs into the ground I had quickly vacated via flash-step the instant I saw it twitch my way. It kept coming at me, I definitely had its attention now. Dust and debris exploded into the air on its every attempt to smash me flat. It's blows were beyond powerful, they were like explosions going off against the ground. I evaded via flash-step, dodging left and right as I retreated. Part of my concentration was on trying to keep out of the powerful blows of the shadowbeast and the other part of my attention was on trying to find what I was looking for.
I glanced frantically around me, searching for it... there! Behind the shadowbeast lay a pool of inky-black shadow, discernible from the twilight-shadows beginning to grow long all around me only by the slightly ink-like gleam inside the matte-black shadows of absent light.
I tried to make for it, but before I could move, the other forelimb clashed against Zabimaru, trying to flatten me. I flared more reiatsu down into the length of Zabimaru and shoved back. He pulled his other limb back and slammed it into Zabimaru's edge, trying to break through my guard. The crater around me deepened from the force of its blows. By some miracle I held fast.
:So damn strong... I don't think I can hold out...:
::Open up your fourth chakra,:: Zabimaru's voice told me in my head. It was Baboon King Zabimaru, when he gave advice it was always worth listening to. So far I had only really be able to handle the power up to my third chakra, anything beyond that had thus far been too much for me to handle.
::Push your power into the blade. Then strike back.::
I didn't hesitate. I threw wide the sluice gate that held all the reiatsu locked behind my fourth chakra and the immense green power of the flooded into me, filling me near to bursting and like a man drowsing I momentarily flailed against the tide, unable to find purchase in the unpredictable currents of power pushing and pulling within me. I hardened my will and mentally slapped my self into sharpening my focus. Straining mentally I managed to wrap myself around that roiling, wild, unpredictable reiatsu of mine and yank and shove into some semblance of order. With a mental heave I shoved it down into Zabimaru who glowed white as the heart of a star, flaring out with purple-white lightning crawling up and down the blade, sparks of white trailing off from its edge like the tail of a comet. Then as i poured the last of the power I could gather into the blade an unexpected thing happened. The pressure of the Shadowbeast, which until now had been up to my limit, suddenly slackened off. I was no longer driven to one knee, just barely able to keep my sword from pressing back onto me, but I could regain my feet and even begin to push back. Maybe it had finally gotten tired?
:No, it hasn't gotten weaker,: I realized as I began to push back against the Shadowbeast and its hindpaws clawed at the earth and began to slide slightly backward. Noting this, the shadowbeast disengaged and brought both forelimbs up above its head in a fist and slammed them downward, intending to hit me with its full power.
::Strike him! Strike him hard!:: Zabimaru howled inside my mind.
I flared out my power into my sword and swung my sword around and up. Our forces met with a flash that was like a sun exploding. I couldn't see, only hold myself against the power that had been unleashed by the clash. The wind howling around me, whipping at my clothes and hair was saturated with energy. The white wind faded after a moment and the shadowbeast went crashing to the ground a few feet away from the blast-crater created by where we had met in battle a moment before. I hadn't just met his blow, I'd knocked him up into the air.
:He didn't get weaker, I got stronger,: I realized with a feeling of elation. Whoah! with power like this I was sure to win my next fight! Alright!
::Don't get too cocky cub,:: Zabimaru warned me dryly into my mind. ::Like the Snaketail's increased speed, borrowing my god-like strength, even for a short amount of time, comes with a price of its own. This is especially true with the level you're at right now. You need greater control over your spiritual power, and a great deal more practice, before you can handle the true strength of Baboon King Zabimaru's enhanced strength.::
So each of them gave me a different kind of edge, now that my chakra were cleared out. Snaketail gave me enhanced speed, and Baboon King gave me enormous strength. Useful.
I sensed the shadowbeast nearby beginning to climb to its feet.
"Don't he know when ta quit?" I exclaimed as it rose a little shakily to its feet.
:: You had best find a way to defeat it and do so quickly before your reiatsu runs out,:: Zabimaru said.
"Yoruichi!" I yelled across the battlefeild.
"What?" she asked as she flashed directly to my side. "And after this s over, with by the way, you and I are going to have a little talk."
I frowned at that and dismissed it as secondary right then.
"I got an idea, keep the beast busy!"
I flashed over to Isana's side.
"You remember that Binding Spell, the one fore the Shadows?" I asked without preamble.
"Y-yes," she said, looking perplexed and worried. "Renji you have to let me-"
"Prepare it and keep it ready to use when i tell you," I ordered her.
I didn't have time to stick around and make sure she did it or not, I didn't have long before the effects of my borrowed strength wore off and I needed to get this done before that time.
I flashed back onto the battlefield where Yoruichi was dutifully keeping the Shadowbeast amused. She looked like she was having a good time, but I supposed that a woman who spent so much of her time running around as a cat would have some strange notions of fun.
:Now, where did it go?: I wondered to myself as I scanned the nearby terrain. I caught it by a subtle movement of shadow-within-shadow.
On the ground behind the shadowbeast there stretched a long shadow that stretched longer than it should have given the angle of the light, the end of it shimmered like light reflecting off a moonlit lake.
:Found it,: I thought triumphantly.
::are you sure that that's a wise idea?:: Babs questioned me as he caught the edge of my thought on what I intended to do.
:No,: I said honestly. :But I have ta play it. My battlefield instincts are telling me that this is the only way to beat it.::
Zabimaru shrugged mentally and prepared himself. We were goin' in.
I launched myself into the air and took a deep breath, not knowing what i was going to find on the inside. We plunged through the inky black surface of the Shadowbeasts shadow... or maybe the shadowbeast was in fact only the shadow of the real Shadow. I opened my eyes and couldn't tell that I had. I'd never experienced such absolute and total blackness before. There was no light, no sound and i couldn't feel a thing except...
It was cold. It was cold, and there was something pulling at me from the inside out.
:No!: I thought in a panic as my spiritual energy began to be pulled from me, sucked out of me the way a sponge absorbs water. it was slight at first but gradually began to mount in force. I was being drained. I flailed around, panicking in this sightless, soundless world I floated in. All thoughts of my mission and why I had chosen to leap down the rabbit hole head-first flew from my head in the midst of my sudden and overwhelming rush of terror. Flailed about in a frenzy, not knowing which way was up or down, desperate to escape before the vaccuum that surrounded me drained me of all of my spiritual essence. I was beyond panic and entering into the realms of hysteria.
::Get a hold o' yerself dumbass!:: Snakey yelled in my mind.
Not one of my better ideas. I forced myself to remember why I'd come. The stone. I thought I might know what it was, and what it was for. If I was right, then this might be the only way to beat the Shadow. I forced myself to beat back the tide of panic and focus. i sent out a searching burst of reiatsu in all directions, searching for an unfamiliar energy presence.
:There!: I thought with a relief that was almost painful. I didn't have long... already I could feel the steady drain of energy really start to take its toll on me, making my thoughts and movements sluggish. I might have to open another chakra and that in and of itself was a danger to me if I couldn't control it.
It was down beneath my feet and slightly to the left of me, at least, I thought it was left, it was so damn hard to tell in this place. Anyway, I began to mentally push myself in that direction. At first I thought my eyes, unaccustomed to such incredible blackness, were playing tricks on me, making me see desperately wanted light where there was none, but after a few long moments of pushing myself the spot of red light began to grow. It wasn't very big in the first place, but it was bright, like a miniature sun, pulsing like a slow heartbeat in the dark. I approached it.
The ruby-lit crystal, a multifaceted round bead the size of a large marble hovered before me and I reached out-
::Don't,:: Zabimaru warned me.
:Probably good advice,: I realized a moment later as the last of my straggling wits finally caught up with me. This crystal was designed to take in energy, touching it with my bare hand was probably a bad idea. So how was i supposed to get it out of there?
:Ya know whatcha need ta do...:
I could hear Snakey grinning inside my mind. He was just itchin' ta get out there.
I felt a tug on my neck. The collar flared green, and in the absolute darkness of the shadow-world, I saw a thread of green light trailing through the dark, pointing my way back. It looked like the damned collar had its uses after all. Now I had a direction to get back.
Since I couldn't touch it physically, I was just going to have to knock it out of there. The world around me began to tremble, there was no other way to describe it, it was like I was floating in a huge vat of still water and someone came along and sloshed it around. It's hard to describe, but i got the feeling of something incomprehensibly big and powerful grunting and rumbling in its sleep. Suddenly, i felt like a little mouse scampering by the sleeping form of a tiger, trying to steal its food out from under it.
:Stupid Renji,: I admonished myself. :Vain, proud, stupid Renji. Whatever possessed you to try something this half-baked?:
I'd done some pretty damn stupid things in my life, but this one had to be, hands down, the least wise thing I'd ever done.
:Better hurry up, before whatever that is that made that noise finishes waking up.:
I held Zabimaru out before me and sheathed Babs' shikai. I felt his presence retreat as the blade shrank back to it quiescent state.
"Roar, Zabimaru!" I commanded. Silhouetted by the ruby light coming off from the stone in this shadow world was the serrated widening form of snaketail Zabimaru. I maneuvered until I was around the other side of the stone, the thread of green light leading the way back to the real world trailing directly out in front of me.
"Bankai!" I shouted.
The Snaketail sprang out with an internal shout of jubilation. A massive serpent of vertebrae held together by sections of my own spiritual power
I lined up my shot.
"Hikutsu Taiho!" I said, sending a massive flare of reiastu down the length of Zabimaru where it blasted out the other end, growing exponentially larger and more powerful with each segment it passed through until it exploded out of Zabimaru's maw, blasting a massive wave of energy straight out to the end. I let Zabimaru pull me along after it. The world around me began to shake and move. The owner of the nothingness around me was aware of its uninvited visitor and it was not happy with the intrusion.
"Let's get out of here!" I urged him onwards, rushing after stone caught up in the crest of the energy wave released from the Hikutsu Taiho I'd fired off. Not a second too soon my eyes made out a black shimmer in front of me, and I burst out of the cold, dead space where there was (almost) no light, no sound, no sensation and into the wildness of the real world.
A great blast of light and shadow bust out all around and beneath me and swirled around me. Zabimaru's blast shredded the shadow around me, dissipating it like smoke before the wind.
"Isana!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "The stone!"
I pointed at the brightly glowing red crystal still flying into the air.
"Bind it, before the Shadow regains its form!"
It seemed an interminable moment, in which I worried that she wasn't prepared and my risking my life, or worse, my essence, in getting the Shadow's crystal away from it had gone to waste, but I heard her voice, a little timidly, begin to chant.
"The four palaces of Heaven, the four pillars of the world. You who dwell in the North, strong firmament. You who dwell in the East, flowing life. You who dwell in the South, vital energy. You who dwell in the West, breath of wisdom. Form of Ten Thousand Things. Chain of Gold earth-bound be. Shield that encompasses all shapes, sink into the lowest form. Flame that burns away impurity, call the energy. Locks of the zephyr, claim the skies..."
I looked over in time to see Isana surrounded in a whirlwind of energy, light of three different hues swirled around her in a vortex, with motes of rainbow power as big as gold balls flitting like fireflies over a river in and out of the sourceless wind. Her three charms from the charm bracelet were now full-sized circling around her surrounded by a brilliant aura of power. She pointed at the stone.
"Bind!" she commanded firmly.
A blinding burst of power shot out from her fingertip, the power that gathered and swirled around her rushed forward and surrounded the bead. The gem flared out with reddish power, trying to fight against the tide of the binding spell, the inky blackness gathered in around it, trying to protect it, but instead it was pushed down into the gem by the light that surrounded. Like a leaf caught up in a tidal pool, the Shadow had no chance after the light surrounded it. It was engulfed, and with a final flare of light the bead was surrounded by an orb-shaped shield that quickly hardened over turning into a smooth solid crystal ball. The gem which had given us so much trouble sparkled harmlessly from its crystal prison, the center of the bead was dark surrounded by a red glassy gem. The shadowbeast disappeared without a single whimper as soon as the bead was imprisoned.
Anticlimactically, it dropped down harmlessly to the dirt. An instant later, the battle caught up to me, and I joined it, sinking into unconsciousness before my head even hit the ground. My last thought before leaving the world was that I had the proof I needed.
Whew! Whadja think? Reveiws are love... love me.