Rukia lunged forward, her sword poised to skewer. Her opponent, the little purple-haired arrancar, sidestepped the attack, but still got nicked on the cheek. Touching a sleeved hand to her face, Tinlinn Georgicks frowned. "Owie," she shrieked, tears welling up in her eyes. "That hurt, you meanie!"
Rukia blushed, but then quickly changed her face to a scowl. "Be serious!" she shouted, swinging her sword at the arrancar again. They had been at it for some time now, and Rukia was beginning to lose her patience. The arrancar she was facing was small, childish, and rather weak as far as Rukia was concerned. She had been dodging Rukia's blows, barely, but when it came to attacking or blocking Rukia was easily able to overwhelm her and strike back.
The arrancar ducked another attack, and then quickly closed the gap between her and Rukia. "You're wide open, you retard!" she shouted with glee.
Rukia put up a hand. "Hado #31: Shakkahō!" A red blast of energy sent the small arrancar crashing to the ground. Rukia landed nearby, her sword at her side. "Just give up," she called with a huff. "If this is the best you can do, then I can tell you for a fact that there's no way you can beat me."
The arrancar jumped to her feet. Her clothes were singed, and she was covered in dust and dirt, but she looked relatively unharmed. Even so, she was out of breath and slightly wobbly on her feet. "You… You're no fun… You ugly lesbian!" she screamed, flailing her arms in the air.
"L-Lesbian?!" Rukia exclaimed, blushing all over. "Wh-why would you… How dare-!" The arrancar rushed forward and swung her sword down at the Shinigami. Rukia dodged the blade, and then smashed Tinlinn in the head with the pommel of her Zanpakutō. "Too slow," she said, spinning her sword in both hands. The small arrancar quickly recovered from the strike and began thrusting her blade in rapid succession. Rukia's spinning sword acted as a shield that deflected each jab away. "Your attacks don't have enough power behind them to break my guard." The Shinigami stepped past another lunge, and then kicked the small arrancar lightly in the back. Tinlinn stumbled, and then fell on her face.
"…Sh-shit-eater…" The small arrancar slowly got to her feet and turned to face her opponent. "You're the meanest bitch I've ever met!"
"And you're by far the foulest little girl I've had the misfortune to listen to…" Rukia said with a sigh. "Didn't anyone teach you basic courtesies?"
"Screw your courtesies, you flat-chested lesbian!" the little girl turned around and began smacking her butt at Rukia, who had gone beet-red again. "Go to hell! Go to hell!"
"Why you…!" Rukia's sword smashed into the earth with such force that the concrete ground around the two crumbled to pieces and flew into the air. Tinlinn jumped out of harm's way, screaming as she did so.
The small arrancar waved her hands in front of her. "H-hey now, let's all just relax," she said sweetly, sweat dripping from her face. "No need to go and kill anyone, r-right?"
Rukia held her sword out in front of her. "Raise your sword, arrancar. No more games."
Tinlinn lowered her gaze, and for a moment, she looked like she might cry. A grin stretched across her face. "But we haven't even begun the games yet," she said, raising her sword over her head. Her long sleeve fell back, and now Rukia could see that the sword had an indigo hilt and a star-shaped guard. "Grant my wish… Estrella Fugaz!"
There was a burst of smoke and light, and then a strong gust of wind shot out in all directions. Rukia covered her face with an arm, but she still wasn't able to block out all the smoke. It got caught in her lungs and she coughed.
When the smoke cleared, Tinlinn Georgicks stood looking more or less the same as before but with a few aesthetic changes. Her headdress had changed from a biretta to that of a mitre with elaborate gold and jewel adornments. Her too-long-for-her-small-body-robes were now trimmed with golden thread, and her sword had transformed into a small white wooden staff. The staff was gnarled and bent, and at the top of it was the broken star that had previously adorned her biretta. The star now had a large grey gem in the center of it. She waved the staff over her head with both hands, and then held it out to her side. "My resurrección," she said with a giggle. "Isn't it super cool?"
Rukia did not reply. She looked the girl up and down. Nothing's really changed, she thought to herself. She slowly began circling around the arrancar, her sword poised to attack. Her reiatsu is exactly the same as it was before… Does that staff possess any new abilities? Rukia didn't wait to find out. She lunged at the arrancar and swung her sword upwards. Tinlinn held her staff in both hands as she blocked the blow, but the force still sent her quickly closed the gap, and swung down hard on the girl. The purple-haired girl blocked the attack again, and once again the blow sent her flying backwards, this time towards the ground.
As Rukia flew at her target, the arrancar pointed the star-tip of her staff at the Shinigami. "Take this!" she screamed, and a purple jet of energy erupted forth. Rukia's eyes went wide; she didn't have time to dodge the attack. "Hado #33: Sōkatsui!" A surge of blue flames blasted from Rukia's palm and collided with the Cero. The two energies merged with each other and then dissipated it a dazzling explosion of light.
Tinlinn landed on the ground safely, searching the skies for Rukia. The air was still lit up from their blasts, and it was hard to make out anything. She did, however, see a large dome of energy over the sky. "Someone must have put up a barrier…" she thought to herself. Still looking through the skies, she notices something else—her breath. The air around her had gone cold, and her breath was coming out in small white puffs of steam. "What the hell…?"
Tinlinn dodged to the side as a thin white blast flew by. When she looked, she saw that it was a long stream of ice. Looking up in the air, she saw the Shinigami floating overhead, a snow-white sword in hand. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki," Rukia landed on the ground a few feet away from the arrancar. "Now we've both released our true powers," she said with a small smile. "Although, it seems your change wasn't much at all."
The purple-haired girl frowned. "Shorties like you don't know anything," she said with a huff.
"You're shorter than I am!" Rukia shot back.
The arrancar held out her staff. "Do you like games?" Tinlinn said, cocking her head to the side. "I have a really fun game we can play."
Rukia raised her sword. "I'm not sure now is the time for games,"
"No, really, it's a lot of fun," the arrancar said, smiling wide. It was an innocent smile; the smile of a child. "But we can only play if you agree to it."
"I don't think so," Rukia took a step forward.
"Wait, please!" The arrancar waved her staff in front of her. "If you win, my Zanpakutō will break and then you'll win the battle too!"
Rukia stopped. "…Explain."
The little girl smiled again. "It's like a wagering game. If you win my Zanpakutō breaks—"
"But if you win…"
"—but if I win then I get to open the prize!"
"Prize?" Rukia was becoming skeptical.
"It's a surprise-prize. A sur-prize! Get it?" the girl giggled loudly.
Rukia remained silent. Whatever this game was, the arrancar had to have the advantage. It only made sense, since she was offering it. Even so, Rukia knew that she was stronger, faster, and probably stronger than her opponent. Why shouldn't she be able to best her at a silly game? "What are the rules of this game?"
"So you accept?" the girl asked excitedly.
"I didn't say that. I asked what the rules were."
The girl frowned, but relented. "It's really simple, and reeeaaally fun: All you have to do is keep the ball from hitting the ground."
Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Ball?"
The little arrancar smiled. "I can't bring out the game until you agree to play, so I can't show you. But yes, there's a ball. Your goal will be to keep the ball in the air until time runs out, while my goal will be to hit the ball onto the ground before time runs out."
"And how much time is there?"
The girl held up a hand. "5 minutes. That's it."
A simple children's game… It all sounded easy enough. "…Very well. I'll play."
Tinlinn's eyes went wide. She began hopping up and down. "Yay! Yay! Someone's gonna play with me! Finally!" She skipped around on the ground. "No one eve plays with me! Yay, yay, yay! Maybe you're not such a bitchy lesbian after all!"
Rukia could feel herself beginning to blush. "Watch your tongue," she warned, gripping her Zanpakutō tight.
"Sorry, sorry," the little girl said with a nervous laugh. She ran over to Rukia and extended her staff. "Grab hold and say 'I accept.' It's the only way we can play, okay?"
Rukia cautiously extended a hand, and then she gripped the staff firmly. "I accept." She recited.
A purple circle of light extended outward from the two, and it encapsulated a fairly large section of the town. "This is our playing field, or the 'Zone of Activity'," The gem at the top of Tinlinn's staff began blinking yellow, and a yellow ball, no bigger than a soccer-ball, appeared overhead. It slowly drifted downward, until it was floating right above the staff. "Once the timer starts, the ball will fly into the air, but after that it will get all heavy and start falling," the girl explained. Rukia let go of the staff and took a step back. A large hourglass appeared in the sky. Tinlinn smiled. "3… 2… 1… Game on!"
The hourglass flipped over, and the ball shot up into the air at high speeds. Tinlinn followed it quickly, giggling madly as she swung her staff to and fro. She smashed the ball with her staff, and it went rocketing toward earth.
Rukia dove after it. If I just catch it, then I can wait for time to run out that way! She jumped into the air and grabbed the ball with her free hand. A searing, almost overwhelming pain shot through her arm immediately as the touched the ball and she recoiled quickly.
The arrancar laughed overhead. "You can't touch the ball with your body, that's cheating," she said in between giggles. "Use your sword, shithead!"
You neglected to mention that rule before the start of the game…! Rukia lunged for the ball again, and smacked it with the flat-side of her sword. It lobbed back up into the air, where Tinlinn was waiting. The arrancar popped the ball up in the air with the end of her staff, and then juggled the ball with her staff for a moment. Knocking it into the air again, she pointed her staff at Rukia and fired off a Cero. Rukia dodged the blast, but when she looked up again, she couldn't find Tinlinn or the ball. Scanning the field quickly, she saw Tinlinn was flying towards the ground right beside the ball. She's guarding it, Rukia realized. Making use of her shunpo, Rukia moved in to where the ball was in no time. She swung for the ball, but the arrancar intercepted the attack.
"Are you having fun yet?" the little girl asked, a light-hearted grin on her face.
"I'll be happy once it's over," the Shinigami replied, knocking the girl back and moving after the ball. Smashing the ball back into the air, Rukia turned to the arrancar. She stabbed the air in front of her four times, leaving four white marks that made a half-circle in front of her. Holding her white Zanpakutō overhead, she took a battle stance. "Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!" a large wave of white ice jetted towards the arrancar, who had gone wide-eyed. She dodged to the side just in time, but her left arm got caught in the blast and was completely encased in the ice tube. Once the tube shattered, the small girl was left with a bleeding stump.
Tinlinn cried out. "You play dirty, you meanie! Fuck-faced meanie!"
Rukia ignored her, only focused on the ball. She looked up at the hourglass. It was a little more than half empty now. Just a little bit longer… Rukia was suddenly hit in the back by a strong force. She went tumbling downward, and crashed into a building nearby. Quickly getting up, she was able to dodge the next Cero blast that came her way. She leapt out a window on the other side of the building, and saw that the ball had almost reached the ground. Extending her sword out in front of her, she exclaimed, "San no mai, Shirafune!" Ice encased her blade as it extended forward to great lengths. She aimed her great sword underneath the ball, and swung upwards. The ball impacted with the sword and flew into the air, and Rukia's ice extension shattered. Whirling around, she was able to catch the arrancar's staff with her sword before it smashed into the side of her face.
"This is a really exciting game!" Tinlinn exclaimed, still beaming despite being short one arm. "You've gotta be having fun, just admit it!"
"Not really, no," Rukia replied, throwing the arrancar off her.
Tinlinn frowned. "I guess you'd rather be fantasizing about kissing girls, huh?"
Rukia swung at Tinlinn. "That's enough of your crudeness!" The two of them exchanged blows until Tinlinn finally got the upper hand and send Rukia crashing to the ground.
When Rukia got up, Tinlinn was right above her. "I can be fast, too!" she cried, staff raised overhead.
Rukia spun her Zanpakuto in her hands until it was pointing downward, eyes slanted at the arrancar. Just as Tinlinn was about to strike, Rukia did so first. She slashed past the arrancar, and a circle formed around Tinlinn on the ground. "It's over," Rukia said, sheathing her sword. "Some no mai, Tsukishiro!" A large pillar of ice rose into the air, completely encasing the purple-haired arrancar.
As Rukia walked away from her opponent, she heard a loud buzzing sound. Turning, she saw that the ball had hit the ground, and underneath it a small circle was flashing red. She looked up at the sky, and saw that a few grains of sand were still left in the top of the hourglass. Suddenly, the hourglass vanished completely, and letters flashed in the sky instead. WINNER: TINLINN GEORGICKS. PRIZE ACTIVATED. Rukia felt a tremendous surge of energy, and she slowly turned to look at the pillar of ice. The girl inside was glowing brightly, and the ice pillar was beginning to crack all over. Rukia barely had time to draw her sword again before a massive wave of ice and energy knocked her backwards.
Hey guys. Hope you liked this chapter. Part II will be coming very soon! Comments are greatly appreciated, so keep them coming!
P.S. Last time I updated, I forgot to translate what DiAnglez's sword meant. It was pretty obvious, since it was a cognate, but it meant "Arachnophobia". I think that was the only translation necessary... Thanks for reading!