The Hunters Attack

As they headed back to the Seireitei, Vegeta contacted Goku and some of the others to meet him and Val at Yamamoto's office as soon as possible for an emergency. Although it was getting late in the evening, that didn't stop the prince. Testament to the severity of the new discovery.

Vegeta: (Talking on the phone) "Listen just get there! I'll explain everything the moment I get there myself!"

Vegeta ended the call. But there was something else he had to take care of first. He took Levi to the Squad 10 office where Toushiro was finishing a few files. The saiyan barged in and shoved the soldier inside roughly right before Toushiro's eyes!

Toushiro: "What the hell?!"

Vegeta: "Both of you stay inside until I say otherwise! (Points to Levi) Especially you!"

Levi looked down in submission, regretting his choice in going to the meadow now.

Toushiro: "Vegeta, what's going-"

Slam! Vegeta shut the door and left for Yamamoto's office, leaving Levi with Toushiro and the young captain confused and shocked.

Toushiro: "... What-the-fuck-is-going-on?! You mind filling me in here, Levi?!"

Levi: "I found the things responsible for all those disappearances."

Toushiro: "You did?! Seriously?!"

Levi: "Yeah... They're these big creatures that I've never seen before. ... ... And they attacked me."

Toushiro: "What?! Are you alright?!"

Levi: "I'm fine... thanks to Vegeta. He killed them with some injury to himself. But they were just kids, there're still four adults out there! And what's more, Vegeta's now ferocious with me! He screamed at me after we got to safety!"

Toushiro: "What?! That son of a bitch! That's it- this has gone on long enough! C'mon, Levi! I'm puttin' my foot down!"

Levi: "But what about-"

Toushiro: "I ain't believin' it! Vegeta's probably just once again blowin' things out of proportion!"

Levi just watched as Toushiro grabbed his sword and headed to the door.

Toushiro: "C'mon! Show me where these things are! I'll take care of them myself!"

Levi: "... Ok."

And Levi followed Toushiro out.

Levi: "I've got a bad feeling about this."

If only they knew how right Levi's hunch was. At Yamamoto's office, Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Val and Yamamoto listened to Vegeta has he told them everything. Val was the only one of them horrified to hear what was behind the attacks.

Val: "Seriously, Vegeta?! Hunters?! There are Hunters here?!"

Vegeta: "I didn't get these cuts and such from nothing!"

Yamamoto: "So these Hunters as you call them are responsible for the attacks, hm? Good job in killing them, Vegeta."

Vegeta: "I'm afraid celebrating isn't an option. The ones I killed were just juveniles, we still have the adults to deal with and those'll be much harder to kill."

Val: "How many did you count?!"

Vegeta: "Four. Four mature adults."

Val: "Shit! Why?! Of all the creatures in the universe- why Hunters?!"

Gohan: "What are these things, Vegeta?"

Vegeta: "Hunters. They're an alien race of vicious pack creatures! In fact its a mutual agreement across the entire universe that they are the most dangerous creature to ever exist!"

Val: "Let me put it to you this way, Gohan! Frieza, his father and his brother together used to piss themselves in fear at just the mention of one of these fuckers!"

That sent shivers down everyones spines! Some even panicked to the extreme.

Goku: "H-How nasty a-are they, V-Vegeta?!"

Vegeta: "You know first hand how deadly my Gorgonops form is, Kakarot. Imagine that but smarter, faster, and more agile!"

Even the mighty Goku panicked right before everyones eyes! He was all too familiar with Vegeta's Gorgonops form. That form symbolized his aggression, and it fit the bill all right! Vegeta had no control of it whatsoever, not even the transformation of it! In fact he would've had no idea that he even had that form if not for Goku and the others! He could never remember changing into that form at all. So a creature that was exactly like that and then some was truly frightening!

Krillin: "You're kidding me! That form is INSANE! And you're saying these things are just like that!?"

Val: "Actually it's worse than that because we're dealing with four of them! A mature adult can reach seven feet tall and has the power of at least 3 adult male lions! And then there's the intelligence. These things are wickedly smart, smart enough to be a real danger!"

Vegeta quickly turned to Yamamoto.

Vegeta: "Yamamoto, you must get the word out right this second to everyone in the Soul Society! These things are relentless and they don't just hunt to eat! They'll do it just for the hell of it! And with the death of their young, they'll be out for blood big time!"

The old man could clearly see the seriousness of the situation in the saiyan's eyes.

Vegeta: "Until these things are caught and killed, no one is safe..."

Meanwhile, Toushiro and Levi were heading back to the place where Levi had found the Hunters. However the soldier could not shake the bad feeling he was having. They were entering the woods when they heard a distant rumble of thunder. They both stopped and looked up at the reddening sky of twilight. A storm was brewing a few miles away and, judging by the growing wind, it was going to be a brief but bad one.

Levi: "... I really don't think we should be out here, Toushiro."

Toushiro looked around. The storm clouds were darkening everything with a crimson hue, giving everything an eerie feel. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Toushiro: "... Yeah... I think you're right... Let's head back."

They started to turn around, nervously close to a deep steep hillside. All of a sudden, a flock of crows came rushing out of the bushes just as an adult Hunter lashed out at them! Frightened, Toushiro and Levi jolted back! But they were too close to the edge and Toushiro fell down to the bottom hard!

Levi: "Toushiro!"

The Hunter took a swipe at Levi but the soldier ducked down the hill in time! The hillside was too steep for the Hunter and its pack to travel down so they had to go and find a shallower decent. But this gave Toushiro and Levi time to run in the opposite direction. They were close to one of the underground tunnel entrances so they headed there. The entrance was nothing but a hole in the ground and Levi had to help Toushiro down before going down himself. Only when the adrenaline started dying down, Toushiro realized that he was hurt.

Toushiro: "AH! Shit!"

Levi: "What's wrong?!"

Toushiro: "My foot. I must've hurt it back there!"

Levi: "Just our luck... What now? Those things aren't far behind! They might track our scent into here!"

Toushiro: "We'll head further into the caves, agh! That'll at least buy us some time and we can get out a different way."

Levi: "It might buy us time but it's only delaying the inevitable. We need to get in contact with the others right away."

Toushiro: "I know... Got any ideas?"

Levi: "I'm afraid not... You?"

Toushiro: "Uhh... Nothing comes to-"

A flock of crows flew by.

Toushiro: "Wait! I know!"

Toushiro then whistled up towards the cave opening above them. A second later and a little yellow bird flew down.

Ali: "Toushiro! What happened?!"

Toushiro: "Ali, listen! I need you to do me a huge favor and fast!"

Ali: "Anything!"

Toushiro: "I need you to relay a message to Vegeta! Tell him that Levi and I are being hunted by those things and that I've twisted my ankle! We need him to find us as quickly as possible, I can't stand and Levi can't fight those things! Lead him and anyone else with him back here as fast as you can! Can you do that, Ali?!"

Ali: "I'll do my best, just hang in there guys!"

Toushiro: (As Ali flies away) "We're counting on you, Ali!"

Levi and Toushiro watched until Ali was no longer visible. At least she gave them hope. But Levi knew that they couldn't stay here.

Levi: "C'mon. We can't stay here."

Toushiro: "Agreed. You'll have to help me."

The soldier helped Toushiro up. The youth put his arm over Levi's shoulders as they both started going further into the cave systems. The alarm sounded all over the Soul Society! Only those given permission were outside while everyone else stayed indoors. The 13 Court Guard Squad captains and lieutenants were out along with the Z-Fighters joined by Ichigo. They were being briefed on the situation when the training excursion from the academy returned just then. Naturally, Eren and the others were all wondering what was going on.

Renji: "Boy did you guys pick a bad time to come back!"

Eren: "Why?! What's going on?!"

Shunsui: "We've had a serious string of disappearances happening while you guys were chaperoning the students. And we've only just found out what was behind them!"

Eren: "What was behind them?!"

Val: "A pack of aliens called Hunters, a vicious species that is almost as dangerous as a saiyan!"

Mikasa: "You can't be serious?..."

Izuru: "She doesn't play around!"

Eren only just now realized that there was someone missing.

Eren: "Wait... Where's Captain Levi?!"

Everyone started looking around.

Rangiku: "Now that you mention it, my captain's nowhere to be seen either!"

Just then, Ali found them!

Ali: "Vegeta!"

Vegeta looked up to find Ali flying down to him.

Vegeta: "Ali?"

Ali: "Vegeta- come quick, hurry!"

Vegeta: "Why? What's wrong?"

When Ali told him the message, the prince was horrified. Meanwhile Levi was being directed by Toushiro as they headed through the caves. They finally left the caves through one of the entrances, but now Toushiro could no longer move. His foot was too messed up to continue and Levi couldn't carry him all the way back to the Seireitei anyway. They both could hear the Hunters. They were closing in on them. Toushiro could no longer move yet he was their only chance against those creatures. Levi could move but he wouldn't stand a chance against even a single Hunter. They had no choice but to wait for the inevitable.

Toushiro: "Damn!... Sorry, Levi. This is all my fault..."

But then Toushiro looked up at Levi and saw something that disturbed him.

Toushiro: "Levi?..."

The look on the soldier's face was that of when someone was about to sacrifice themselves to save another. The young captain didn't have to guess.

Toushiro: "Levi, don't..."

The soldier started inching away while staring at the youth with apology.

Toushiro: "Don't you dare-"

Suddenly Levi bolted out towards the open path!

Toushiro: "NO, LEVI!"

The soldier quickly grabbed a rock and jumped out in front of the Hunters as they turned the corner! Without hesitating, he threw the rock at one of them and hit it! The Hunters stopped and snarled at him as Levi started running away and towards the east, leading the Hunters away from Toushiro.