KylarPierce: "I've been reading since chapter one first dropped and i gotta say, im enjoying the more slice of life feel to this. I'm glad you're expanding more on Bambietta as a character, but i just hope when it actually gets to the action she doesnt just solve all Ichigos problems for him, shes strong enough to take some of the captains at the beginning of the series no problem, but if she does that it would make it difficult for Ichigo to grow. Also im curious how youll handle the reveal for her being a sternritter and how Ichigo will react. I'm loving this story, please keep it up!"
Thank you for the support, but onto the topic of Bambiettas strength. Althouth Bambietta is by far the most powerful out of the Karakura kids currently, there'll be various narrative handicaps placed on her which'll prevent her from just solving everyone's problem when the main series starts, so don't worry about that. And I have a few various concepts for how her Sternritter reveal will play out but that's a topic for way later down the line.
missmartian369: "Hi! I really like your story so far! I love that Bambietta was chosen for this mission and I love seeing her interact with Ichigo, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo. She's strictly there for a mission, but her being in the human world and around this group of people is bound to possibly to change aspects of her personality and how she views things.
I'm excited to switch to Uryu's perspective next chapter. I'm also excited for him and Bambietta to meet and see how you have them interact with each other. I have two Bleach stories in the works (It's Funny Isn't It? and New Guy at the Wandenreich) where I've gotten into their dynamic in one and about to get into their dynamic in the other, and it's interesting to see how others write their dynamic compared to mine. I just think they'd play off of each other really well.
I'm also excited for when Orihime gets brought into the mix. It's my HC that her and Bambietta would be good friends and if you actually end up going that here, I'd be so happy."
Thanks for leaving this review. These first few chapters are more so meant for establishing characters and future plot lines rather which leads to it having a more slice of life feel which I usually associate with the start of the series. The Karakura squad as I like to calll them will definitely have a massive impact on how Bambietta turns out as a person. (Maybe they already have.) My goal for these first to chapters were to establish the characteristics which would cause her to become the unhinged and chaotic individual that we know and love in the main series before then writing her divergence from that path. (Quilge will play a major part in this, but I won't elaborate any further.) I also have a handful of personal moments planned between her and Orihime as well when that time comes. I'm pretty excited to write Uryu and Bambiettas dynamic. Even though this chapter doesn't dive too deep into there dynamic, there will be a much higher emphasis on Soken, Ryuken, Uryu and Bambietta in the coming chapters which will eventually culminate in a pretty significant moment for both Bambiettas and Uryus characters in this story.
blahblahblech: "While I'm not into explaining how powers work, it's fine since Tite Kubo and other shonen writers love to do that and it shows your knowledge on how Bleach operated. Was Ichigo really in contact with that milf chaser and that pervert since elementary school? Ehh, it's alright, we really know nothing about those two ( Tatsuki too IG) beyond them being Ichigo's friends. Now that I think about it, fullbring really does have the short end of the stick compared to the other factions of the Bleach series. They're basically like the branched off version of the hollow family line except they are on training wheels since most of them don't really hold a candle to like other powerhouses like Ulquiorra much less have a power-up equivalent to their arsenal aka the fullbring bankai equivalent. Rambling done. Keep up the great work."
I couldn't help but write that unnecessarily long explanation on the Quincies abilities in that chapter, and speaking of the Fullbring arc that's actually the arc that I'm looking foward to writing the most besides the TYBW. It was a pretty chill and cathartic arc in the main series, but in this story I plan on dialing up the stakes and incorporating various new plot lines as well if or when I eventually get there.
Three months ago
Uryu woke up in the middle of the night due to a recurring nightmare. His mom had died due to an unknown illness and every time he went to sleep he rewatched her condition worsen again and again. Every time he went to sleep he watched his mother go from the loving figure who'd play with him at the park, console him whenever he couldn't sleep, teach him how to be responsible and always looked optimistic no matter what happened to a bedridden individual with no hope of recovering.
She was hardly able to move, all the optimism in her eyes would fade as her condition got worse, her voice became more and more strained each time she spoke, so Uryu would tell her not to speak to prevent it from getting any worse. Whenever she did talk to Uryu it was about his future as if she herself didn't believe she'd live. Uryu had been nearly inseparable from his mother while she was dying until the moment her monitor flat lines which brought along with it the screeching beep of the monitor and the footsteps of various doctors and his father.
Even though he had woken up he could still hear the sound of the monitor beeping as she died. Uryu tried to go back to sleep, but he was restless. All he could do was recall everything that transpired, unable to return to the thoughtlessness that's needed to fall back to sleep.
Uryu got up and stumbled around the morgue looking for his parents room. When he got there he knocked on the door but nobody answered. He cautiously opened his door and noticed that no one was there. Uryu wanted to stay with his dad, but he wasn't in his room. Uryu wandered around the manor in search of his father. He wandered around the study hall, his off limits office and nearly every other crevice of the building, but his dad was nowhere to be found. His car was still in the garage, so he didn't leave either.
Disappointed by the empty results his search yielded, Uryu began to walk back towards his room. On his way back though something caught his intention. A door which his father said was strictly forbidden from entering had cutting noises coming from the other side of it. Uryu knew that he was forbidden from entering, but he wanted to see his dad so badly that he didn't care about the consequences. He tried to open the door and the knob just shook in place which indicated that it was locked.
Uryu took out his secret skeleton key which he used to access other rooms he wasn't allowed to, and inserted it into the lock before twisting the key and unlocking the door.
He silently opened the door and entered with everything being obscured by a medical curtain which was just transparent enough for Uryu to make out the silhouette of a man and a body.
Uryu hesitantly opened the curtain and saw his dad mutilating a woman's already deceased body.
"Dad?" Uryu asked in a confused voice which caught Ryukens attention.
"What are you doing? That's mom isn't it?" Uryu said as his voice started to become shaky as he unknowingly started to tear up. His voice had an undertone of shock, confusion and betrayal.
"Why are you cutting her? She's already dead… Don't dad." Uryu begged with his voice being overwhelmed by his emotions.
Ryuken turned to see Uryu's expression before he started speaking.
"Uryu, go back to your room." He said apathetically much to Uryu's shock. Uryu was stunned by his fathers response. Up until this point he had never felt so disappointed and disgusted by something in his entire life. He wanted to yell or fight back against his father in some way, but he was too taken aback and stunned to do anything. He froze up entirely until his father spoke again.
"You weren't supposed to be here." Ryuken said remorsefully. Upon hearing this Uryu sprinted out of the room and began to break down, unsurprised to notice that his father didn't put in the effort to pursue him. Uryu had started crying while he sprinted back to his room. When he made it back he started impulsively stuffing anything he needed into a duffel bag. His Quincy cross, his Quincy garbs, some regular clothes, school items and other important possessions including a framed picture of him and his mother were all put into the bag.
He put on his bag before leaving the house through a side entrance which was on the opposite side of the building from the room that he discovered to be the morgue.
"Why was he cutting up mom? Shouldn't she rest in peace?" Uryu asked himself as he left. Is this what it meant to be a doctor? "If being a doctor means cutting up your wife…. Then I don't want to be one." Uryu thought as his reality was shattering.
He ran on and on towards the direction of his grandad's small house. He was the only person that Uryu felt he still had left. He navigated through the silent streets which he had memorized by this point. When he reached his house he sprinted through the door since he knew his grandfather left it open, so that Uryu could come whenever he needed to. Uryu went upstairs towards his grandfather's room, and when he barged his father had been getting up defensively no doubt mistaking Uryu for an intruder until he saw the panicked, betrayed and desolate look on his grandson's face.
Before Soken could even ask what happened Uryu had already sprinted into him and began crying into his chest. Soken wanted to ask what had happened but right now all he could do was rub Uryus back as he nuzzled and bawled into his chest until he eventually cried himself to sleep.
The Present
"Uryu, I know you've been spending time with my father again." Ryuken said scoldingly to a guilty looking Uryu.
"How many times have I told you not to go there?"
"B-But." Uryu stammered.
"I don't want to hear excuses. I've told you about that too." Ryuken said before Uryu had a chance to explain himself.
"There's no sense in saving the dead. That's the Soul Reapers' job. Your time would be better spent learning to save the living." Ryuken explained to Uryu.
"Besides, I have no interest in it, and you don't have the talent for it anyways. Let the Quincies die out with my fathers generation. Understood?" Ryuken questioned.
"But dad. Why do you hate being a Quincy so much?"
"Because you can't make a living off of it." Ryuken responded after taking a moment to consider his words.
Uryu stared back at his fathers blank expression in disappointment before leaving the room. He walked through the pale hospital walls until he reached an elevator which took him back to the lobby.
Uryu left the hospital as soon as he could, and he headed towards the woods on the outskirts of the town where he usually met up with his grandfather. He weaved through the trees and jumped over creeks having remembered and mentally mapped out the location of their meet up spot long ago. Within a short amount of time Uryu saw his grandfather's white Quincy garbs in the distance and solemnly walked towards him.
Soken quickly caught on to Uryus negative attitude while he was approaching him.
"What's wrong Uryu?" Soken questioned.
"Dad told me to stop seeing you again!" Uryu vented out in frustration.
"He said that he wanted the Quincies to die out with your generation. He said that dealing with hollows is the job of the Soul Reapers! When I asked why he hated the Quincies he said because he can't make a living off of it. Can you believe that?" Uryu said in disappointment.
Soken considered Uryus words and easily understood why Uryu was disappointed, and he understood why Ryuken turned on the Quincies even better considering the Auswahlen and his daughter in laws passing. It seemed that Ryuken had chosen his words to Uryu very deliberately.
"Well he does have a point." Soken responded much to Uryus surprise.
"It's not easy making a living as a Quincy these days, and your father has to support you. There's nothing wrong with what he said." Soken elaborated even though he noticed that tears were trickling down Uryu's face despite him looking down in an attempt to hide it.
"Of course you aren't wrong either Uryu."
"But I can see them! The hollows and the people they attack. The Soul Reapers can't handle it by themselves. I've seen it with my own eyes! Why? Dad must be able to see those things too so how? How can he ignore them?" Uryu said in frustration and sorrow.
"Master…I want to be strong!"
"I want to be a powerful Quincy and protect everyone from the hollows! Then maybe dad will think Quincies are worth something." Uryu finished as Soken listened.
"Thank you Uryu. But, Uryu try to understand your father. What you think is right depends on what you want to protect. That's how people are." Soken explained as he started walking which caused Uryu to follow behind.
"Well what does dad want to protect? His money?" Uryu asked in a way that was both snarky and genuine. Soken looked over at Uryu before he responded.
"You'll find out in time. And when you do you'll know what you want to protect too. So I'm entrusting you with this for when that time comes." Soken finished as he took out a box and handed it to Uryu.
"You'll eventually learn what your father cares about most when you find out what you truly want to protect, and if you still wish to walk the path of a Quincy. Then you will face a battle you cannot avoid. A battle beyond your abilities. A time will come when you will have to sacrifice yourself. When it comes, use this." Soken opened the box to show Uryu a glove made from a technology which he didn't recognize.
"This is Sanrei Shuto, or the scattered spirit glove. Put it on for seven days and seven nights, and you'll reach the current limit of your Quincy powers. But don't forget Uryu. Once you put it on, you can never take it off. If you do then your powers as a Quincy will be lost."
Soken's conclusion lingered in the air as Uryu stared at the Sanrei Shuto. Soken closed the box before handing it over to Uryu.
"This will be all for today."
"What? We're done already?" Uryu asked in surprise considering that it's only been a few minutes.
"I've already said everything that needed to be said." Soken explained.
"Besides you wouldn't want your father to get worried would you?" Soken said in an upbeat tone which Uryu interpreted as a bad joke. Uryu huffed in response before hugging his grandfather with one arm because the box was in the other.
Uryu and Soken both went in opposite directions following this. Uryu made his way home and put away the box before staring at his Quincy cross.
"If it's the duty of the Soul Reapers to protect the dead then I'll kill the hollows to protect the living. Being a doctor isn't the only way to save people." Uryu told himself as he changed into his Quincy garbs.
"If the Soul Reapers aren't doing enough to protect people from the hollows then I will do so myself." Uryu thought to himself as he left his room through the window and started tracking down any hollows.
Prior to this his grandfather would strictly supervise any small scale hollow hunts Uryu went on by using hollow bait, but regular hollows wouldn't wait for his grandfather to properly schedule and plan Uryus battles before they went after people. To really save people Uryu would have to be capable of hunting hollows himself whenever and wherever he was needed.
Uryu tried to sense any hollows and he noticed a presence flare up on the industrial end of the town. It was powerful, but Uryu believed that he could handle it. Uryu used his hirenkyaku which his grandfather only recently taught him to quickly jump from building to building. Uryu moved as fast as he can, hoping to stop the hollow before it can harm anyone.
The closer Uryu got to the hollow the better he could perceive its power. Its reiatsu was intimidating and strong, but Uryu wouldn't let his doubts stop him. How would he save anyone by worrying for just his own life? Uryu thought to himself as he reached the location of the hollow near a factory.
He looked around for it from the top of a silo and saw that the hollow was scaling the side of a factory. Physically, the hollow was extremely lanky with limbs that can extend and contract at will to extremely inhuman proportions. It almost looked like a four legged spider with distorted human characteristics, and of course a hollow mask which for this specific hollow also resembled an insectoid creature.
The hollow noticed Uryus presence and swiftly leaped to the building Uryu was standing on despite the massive distance between them, and it began to to scale the side of the building towards Uryus silo. Uryu formed a Heilig Bogen and shot the hollow right in the center of his mask at nearly full power, but this didn't kill it. All it did was crack the mask and infuriate the hollow which made it climb the building even quicker.
Uryu began to panic as he dashed over to the roof of the nearest building while the hollow ravaged the silo he had been previously standing on. Uryu shot multiple more arrows which did practically nothing to the threat that crawled before him. It leapt from the building it was standing on towards Uryu, but before Uryu can react the hollow was shot out of the air by a bright blue arrow which can only come from a Quincy. Uryu turned towards the direction of the arrow, and expected to see his grandfather, but instead he saw the silhouette of a small girl standing at the top of the much taller building behind him.
The hollow once again climbed the side of the building with only one arm since the girl shot the other one clean off and unleashed a guttural screech at Uryu before it was cut off by an arrow directly through the center of it's head which decimated its mask on impact in ways that an arrow shouldn't be able to do.
Uryu turned over again, and saw the girl still standing on the building.
"What… are you?" Uryu asked in disbelief. The girl leapt down to his building before responding which gave him a clear view of her. She was a beautiful young girl who looked nearly the same age as him who had black mid length hair on the front and sides with long and flowing straight hair on the back, dark eyes, a confident expression on her face and an immediately recognizable Quincy garb.
"Isn't it obvious?" The girl responded.
"I'm a Quincy." She claimed.
"What? How? My father and master said that we're the last of the Quincies." Uryu said in utter shock and confusion.
"Well then they might be a bit misinformed. You're not the last of the Quincies, you're one of the last of the Quincies. Big difference." The girl replied confidently, clearly amused by Uryus shocked expression. Uryu began stammering, unable to properly form any words.
"Oh by the way that hollow was way out of your league. The reason why it's presence was so weak was because it was suppressing its reiatsu. However it can't properly control it's reiatsu, so it was still pretty noticeable. It probably wanted to ambush anyone that passed by." The girl explained.
"Then how were you able to beat it so easily?" Uryu asked.
"Because I'm a lot stronger than it." The girl replied matter of factly which stunned Uryu.
"It seems like there's a few more hollows here." The girl said.
"Where? I can't sense them."
"Look over there at that build board." She said while pointing to a worn out billboard in the distance. Uryu narrowed his vision and managed to see two small hollows that appeared to be just smaller versions of the one that the girl just killed.
"They're also suppressing their reiatsu right now." The girl said as she formed a crossbow shaped Heilig Bogen which was completely unheard of to Uryu. He replicated what she was doing and created his own Heilig Bogen.
"I got the one on the left." The girl declared. Uryu nodded in approval and took aim at the hollow on the right. Him and the girl simultaneously released their arrows, and watched as both of the minuscule hollows got destroyed by their attack.
Uryu proudly grinned in response and the girl looked at their deceased targets with a subtle smile.
"That should be everything here." The girl claimed. As she stood up and dissipated her Heilig Bogen. Uryu collected his prior thoughts and said what he couldn't properly say earlier.
"If you're a Quincy then how have you gone on for so long without any of us noticing?"
"I'm not from around here. I'm from the west, but my Quincy parents both died recently; My mentor, a family friend who's immensely knowledgeable on the Quincy arts despite not being one himself moved me over here because he knew about the Ishidas. One of the last remaining Quincy bloodlines. I've been looking for them for the past few months, but nobody has been hunting down the hollows, so I couldn't find any other Quincies until now. I imagine that you're an Ishida right?" The girl asked.
"Yeah, I'm Uryu Ishida." Uryu said as he extended his arm towards her to shake her hand.
"I'm Bambietta Bären." Bambietta said as she took his hand.
"Well it certainly doesn't sound eastern."
"Believe me now? My first name actually means little girl and Italian and my last name means bears, plural in German." Bambietta explained.
Uryu smiled in response, ecstatic by the fact that there was another Quincy his age.
"That seems pretty fitting." Uryu said, which earned an unserious huff from Bambietta.
"Since you're a Quincy, maybe you can join me and my master." Uryu suggested. Bambietta appeared to be considering his words before nodding at him which indicated that she accepted his offer. Uryu slightly smiled in response.
"Follow me. I'll show you our meet up spot." He said as he used hirenkyaku to flash away with Bambietta following right behind him.
"You guys have a secret meet up spot?" Bambietta asked.
"My father doesn't want me to practice the Quincy arts, so me and my master started practicing secretly in the woods rather than at his home." Uryu explained to her.
"Hmm? Why doesn't your father want you to be a Quincy." Bambietta questioned as they flashed around the town.
"Because he can't make a living off of it, per his own words." He said in a much more scornful tone than he'd ever used to her prior. "He said that protecting the dead is the duty of the Soul Reapers as if hollows only attack the dead." Uryu finished.
"Well if your father doesn't train you then who's your master?"
"My grandfather." Uryu responded with his tone of voice becoming calm once again as he thought of his grandfather.
"That seems like a really awkward family dynamic." Bambietta said. Uryu rolled his eyes in response even though Bambietta couldn't see the gesture.
"Oh, we're here. This trail that starts on this street right here leads directly to our meeting spot." Uryu told her.
"Follow me" He said as he walked along the trail until they both reached a waterfall. This is where my grandfather teaches me, Uryu said. Bambietta looked around and analyzed the location.
"It's pretty nice. Much more scenic than my training location back home." Bambietta claimed, which earned a proud chuckle from Uryu.
"That's why we chose it." Uryu said.
"Do you have a set time or anything or do you both just happen to stumble here at the same time." Bambietta joked.
"We usually just stumble into each other. We technically don't have a set schedule." Uryu said much to Bambiettas confusion.
"However I usually come here after school, so around 15:30."
"You still have school? Mine ended a few weeks ago" Bambietta asked.
"Huh?! That isn't fair." Uryu complained which Bambietta found pretty entertaining.
"So I'll come around at 3:30 PM then." Bambietta said before using hirenkyaku to jump to the top of a tree. "See you tomorrow." Bambietta said before she flashed away quicker than Uryu can keep up with. Uryu grinned in anticipation for the upcoming day as he used hirenkyaku to return home as well. This was the first time he's ever seen another Quincy that was his age. The thought of training side by side with another apprentice was overwhelmingly exciting to Uryu. He happily entered his room through his opened windowsill and his mood instantly flipped when he saw his father staring at him from the other side of the room by the door. It certainly didn't help that he was currently wearing his Quincy garb.
"Where were you?" Ryuken asked.
"Uryu stammered. Well uh. I went to see Soken." Uryu claimed despite knowing that he was forbidden from doing so.
"Then how come I was talking to Soken for the past few hours and you just so happened to not be there." Ryuken questioned catching Uryu in a lie.
"Were you hollow hunting on your own." Ryuken sternly questioned. Uryu just stared deeply into the floor in response which confirmed Ryukens suspicions to be true.
"It appears as if I've been too lenient with you." Ryuken said.
"Since you can't seem to listen, I'll have to take measures to enforce my rules." Ryuken claimed coldly.
"Make sure that what happened tonight won't happen again." Ryuken said before leaving the room.
Uryu felt a wave of emotions wash over him afterwards for various reasons which culminated in him burying his face into a pillow. He had been so thrilled by the prospect of meeting another Quincy, and he might not even be able to meet up with her and his grandfather tomorrow. Uryu turned to stare up at the ceiling as he waited for the next day to come by.
Bambietta arrived back at her apartment and noticed that Quilge whose injuries had mostly healed by this point had been awaiting her.
"Tell me everything of significance." Quilge said plainly.
"Uryu at this moment in time is extremely weak. He's pretty decently below our expectations right now. His Heilig Pfeils couldn't even destroy the mask of a regular hollow however his bow skills are exceptional. His aim is better than mine. He's aware of how to use Hirenkyaku, reishi subjugation, reiatsu detection and manifesting reishi constructions like his Heilig Bogen, but he has displayed no Quincy skills besides this. He's unaware of the Wandenreich and believed himself and his immediate family to be the last of the Quincies. Uryu stated that Ryuken doesn't want him to study the Quincy arts although he and Soken do. Ryukens reasoning that he gave Uryu is that he can't make a living as a Quincy, and dealing with hollows should be the Soul Reapers' responsibility." Bambietta explained in detail.
"Did you arrange to meet Soken Ishida?" Quilge questioned.
"I have. I've arranged to meet up with them tomorrow. Uryu and Soken meet up at a waterfall in the northern woods near where the gate of the sun first dropped us off."
"That's good." Quilge said.
"Make sure that you don't give up anything that exposes you or the Wandenreich. I can't emphasize that enough. Everything hinges on you keeping your real identity a secret, so you know what the consequences for failure will be." Quilge said coldly. Bambiettas eyes narrowed.
"I do." She said which made Quilge grin and push up his glasses.
"If that's everything then you're now dismissed." Quilge finished much to Bambiettas relief. She was slightly grateful that she didn't have to interact with Quilge for too long, but she still had one more question before she left.
"If I need to, should I feign full ignorance on the Wandenreichs' existence or claim that I know about it but I'm unassociated with it." Bambiettas asked. Quilge seemingly thought about it before responding.
"To Soken you should feign full ignorance entirely and stick to your story." Quilge said. Bambietta nodded in understanding before leaving the room.
Bambietta went up to her room and switched out of her Quincy garb. She had been planning on watching TV, but Quilge was here which meant that he'd hog the TV, giving her no opportunity to use it whatsoever. The next best thing for Bambietta to do is sketch something which is a hobby she recently picked up due to having literally nothing better to do. Well she did get a dart board too, but that was too easy and too boring. She started sketching events from that day such as Uryu, the hollow, her and Uryus differing Quincy crosses and Uryus waterfall until she started to feel drowsy which Bambietta took as a sign to go to sleep. Bambietta laid down in her now much more comfortable bed since she managed to get actual high quality blankets and pillows before easily falling asleep.
Bambietta woke up late since school was on break right now, and she realized that she had been planning on meeting up with Ichigo, Mizuiro and Keigo to go to the arcade today. Thankfully she didn't wake up late enough to miss their arranged meeting time, so she quickly got dressed and went through her morning routine before taking an apple for breakfast and rushing out of the apartment. She also packed her Quincy garb and shoes in a book bag, so she can immediately go and meet up with Uryu afterwards.
She made her way to Mizuiros house, and was pleased to see that everyone was already there.
"Took you long enough." Mizuiro said.
"Yeah, because you're never late, right Mizuiro? And besides, I'm not even late. We can still make it to the arcade on time."
"Not if we stay here we won't." Ichigo interrupted.
"We can talk and walk at the same time." Ichigo elaborated.
"Thanks for explaining that, we wouldn't have been able to realize that on our own." Bambietta teased, which got Mizuiro and Keigo to subtly giggle a bit.
"Pffff, whatever." Ichigo said in annoyance as they all walked towards the arcade.
"You made sure to get the tickets right Keigo?" Mizuiro asked.
"Yeah, I got them here." Keigo said as he took four tickets from his pocket."
"It's real bold of you to trust Keigo with that." Bambietta remarked.
"Hey! I managed to do it, did I not." Keigo protested
"Miracles can happen every now and then."
"Do you seriously consider me remembering to bring the tickets a miracle." Keigo asked no one in particular. Mizuiro and Ichigo looked away, refusing to look at Keigo since they'd both probably burst out into laughter if they did.
"I guess that's a yes." Bambietta snarked.
"Oh fuck off!" Keigo shouted out.
"Shut up Keigo. People are gonna start looking at us sideways if you keep it up." Ichigo said, which caused Keigo to scoff in protest.
"We'll see who's gonna have the last laugh when you all need tickets again."
"You're not even the one who bought all the tickets. We just gave you the money to buy the tickets. Literally anyone of us could have done that." Bambietta said antagonistically.
"Fuck off you witch."
Bambietta laughed in response.
If it had been anyone else in the world Bambietta probably would have severely beat their ass for it, but Bambietta found Keigo so pathetically amusing that she allowed it to slide. Especially since the first time they met Keigo tryied to hit on her which resulted in Bambietta jabbing his windpipe in response, so he definitely knows not to actually fuck with her at the very least.
"We're almost there." Ichigo said as he approached the street where the arcade was located. Since the hype died down since the opening last week, and it was the morning on a weekday there wasn't a big line when they got here, so they quickly got full access to the arcade after Keigo handed over their tickets in exchange for credits to use the machines when they arrived.
Mizuiro rushed over to a lottery machine, so that he can get some small tickets which he can spend on whatever at the little ticket store in the corner of the arcade.
Whereas Bambietta and Ichigo played against each other in Mortal Kombat.
Bambietta played Scorpion while Ichigo played as Raiden.
"Oh come on!" Bambietta yelled after her fourth defeat to Ichigo.
"You keep on spamming the same annoying attack, and I can't even do anything about it." She complained which caused Ichigo to smugly laugh in response.
"Just dodge it." Ichigo said with a confident smirk on his face.
"Why couldn't I think of that myself?! Where would I be without you Ichigo Kurosaki." Bambietta mockingly responded in annoyance as she once again lost because of Ichigo spamming the same move.
Bambietta growled in irritation before immediately leaving that machine to see what else the arcade had to offer.
She walked over to the machine that Keigo was at which featured a yellow orb and some cartoonish ghosts.
"Huh? What game is that?" Bambietta asked as she approached Keigo.
"You don't know about Pac-Man? It's like… one of the most popular games of all time."
"Never heard of it. I have more important things to worry about." Kiego simply scoffed at her response.
"How do you play it?" Bambietta asked?
"Just run away from the ghosts and eat all the dots. If you get any of the big dots then the ghosts will turn blue and you can eat them." Keigo finished right before dying.
"Damn it!" Keigo yelled before leaving the machine which left it open for Bambietta to play freely.
Ichigo went over to try out space invaders after repeatedly shitting on Bambi in Mortal Kombat, and nearly managed to break the arcades record. The arcade only recently opened, but Ichigo was still proud of this feat nonetheless. He wrote his family name when prompted too which displayed that a Kurosaki had a top three score in the arcade.
Ichigo went looking for Bambietta again, so that they can play each other in Street Fighter this time, but Bambietta wasn't at the Pac-Man machine anymore, so he started wandering around in search for her and instead stumbled across Mizuiro who had already spent all of his credits on slot machines for tickets. He used said tickets to buy nearly a bag full of candy.
"Can I have some?" Ichigo asked,
"If you let me use some of your credits then yeah." Mizuiro responded.
"Sounds fine to me." Ichigo responded before going over to the Street fighter machine with Mizuiro completely forgetting about his prior idea of playing against Bambi again. Although he quickly remembered after getting repeatedly outplayed Mizuiro who actually knew how to block and counter attack in arcade games unlike Bambi.
Bambietta was scrambling around and playing every arcade game at least once since this experience was completely foreign to her until she eventually settled for replaying her favorite game that the arcade had repeatedly, which was Tetris and Donkey Kong strangely enough. She quickly ran out of credits like Mizuiro did, so she wandered around the arcade in search of any of the others. She had eventually found Ichigo and Mizuiro taking turns at Space Invaders. Mizuiro spoke to her before she even had the opportunity to think about opening her mouth.
"Bambietta look at this. Ichigo just broke his own record, and he's about to break the arcade's highest record." Mizuiro said in anticipation and excitement. Bambietta and Mizuiro both watched Ichigo in stunned silence as he broke the old record for the machine.
"Hey do any of you guys still have credits or-"
"SHHH." Mizuiro and Bambietta simultaneously exclaimed towards Keigo at the same time.
"Ichigo's about to set a new record" Mizuiro explained to Keigo who was now curiously watching Ichigo with the rest of them. Soon enough Ichigo broke the old record and vastly exceeded it before he himself died with Keigo and Mizuiro patting him on the back for his success. Ichigo then plugged in his own name into the arcade machine.
#1. Ichigo
#2. Kurosaki
Afterwards all four of them left the arcade since they each ran out of credits. Bambietta noted the time and realized that she was supposed to meet up with Uryu soon.
"You guys wanna go get something to eat?" Ichigo asked.
"I would if I had money." Keigo said.
"I'm down to eat out somewhere." Mizuiro inserted.
"What about you Bambietta?" Ichigo asked.
"I actually had something planned for 15:30, so I probably won't have time to eat out." Bambietta responded.
"Oh well. See you guys later." Ichigo said to Bambietta and Keigo as he walked away with Mizuiro. Bambietta waved back at them before turning around and leaving without saying anything to Keigo once Ichigo and Mizuiro were out of view. She had hoped to meet Tatsuki later tonight as well, so she hoped that the meeting with Uryu and his grandfather wouldn't take too long.
Bambietta made way to the street that Uryu talked about before then identifying the trail that led to the waterfall. She used hirenkyaku to silently flash through the trees until she saw Soken sitting near the river before quietly jumping down to the edge of the river that the waterfall flowed into.
"You must be Uryus friend right?" Soken asked softly. Bambietta nodded in response.
"Speaking of which, do you know where Uryu is? He said that he was supposed to be here at this time." Bambietta questioned.
"We took measures to make sure that he wouldn't be here today.?" Soken stated.
"What do you mean?" Bambietta asked as she backed up and subtly went on guard.
"Me and his father didn't want Uryu to be here today."
"Why? Uryu told me that his father didn't want him to study the Quincy arts, but he said that you did."
"That is true but neither want Uryu anywhere near a Wandenreich infiltrator?" Soken said coldly. Soken was weak and soft but his tone of voice had the same stern edge that Quilge had which showed that this feeble old man was once a Sternritter himself.
"The Wandenreich?" Bambietta questioned in fake ignorance as Soken's voice made her tense up.
"Don't try to hide your ignorance." Soken said sternly.
"What… Are you talking about?" Bambietta replied apprehensively.
"You're awfully powerful for such a young girl. I had noticed that Uryu was going after a presence which he couldn't handle, so I acted to intervene before Uryu could get hurt, but you shot the hollow out of the air as it leaped towards Uryu right before I was about to fire an arrow through it. No ordinary novice Quincy should be that powerful." Soken explained.
"Well I'm an Echt Quincy, and my mentor said that Echt Quincies are naturally more powerful than other Quincies."
"So it would seem. I overheard your conversation with my grandson until he left to take you here. At which point I immediately alerted my son to what was happening." Soken explained.
"Bambietta Bären is it?" Soken had recognized that family name. The Bärens along with a few other European Quincy houses had completely vanished from the other Quincies after the second genocide two centuries ago. Nothing indicated rather they were living or dead, and they never showed up to the Wandenreich Soken thought as he recalled the daten which he vigorously studied back then. The sheer lack of information on them would make it impossible to confirm or deny anything about them. It's a perfect identity for an infiltrator to steal, so Soken aimed to get the girl to unknowingly reveal inconsistencies in her story to confirm that she was from the Wandenreich.
"The Bären bloodline has long been presumed to be extinct along with its neighboring European bloodlines after the genocide over two hundred years ago." Soken said.
"The Bärens and a few other Quincy families mutually agreed to disperse and hide themselves from all other Quincies while maintaining connections with one another to preserve their Quincy purity and traditions. Although our numbers only got smaller overtime, so our families taught the Quincy arts to human servants and associates to preserve our culture if need be. With the death of my parents I became the last surviving Echt Quincy in my bloodline." Bambietta solemnly explained.
"I see, well then how did your parents die?" Soken questioned.
"My dad died of a mysterious illness which stripped him of his Quincy powers, and my mom died due to an unrelated event shortly afterwards."
"How did your mother die?" Soken persisted.
"Does that matter?" Bambietta snapped back.
"In this matter it does. Neither me nor my son will allow you anywhere near my grandon until you cooperate." Soken stated coldly.
"You can't be serious? Why do I have to get interrogated to be allowed to see the only other Quincy my age that I've met."
"Because of the Wandenreich." Soken said.
"What the hell is the Wandenreich?!" Bambietta yelled back, clearly becoming increasingly angered.
"You should know about it as well as I do."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Bambietta responded in frustration.
"Just answer the previous question, Bambietta." Soken said patiently.
"Since you want to know, so damn badly. My mother killed herself after my father died. There! Is that what you wanted to hear? Is that what I need to tell you just to be able to see Uryu?" Bambietta said in complete fury and frustration from Sokens' interrogation.
"I see." Soken said as he considered Bambiettas words. It would appear that only Bambiettas father was affected by the Auswahlen, yet Bambietta is most certainly an Echt Quincy considering that she was unaffected by the Auswahlen. Soken also rationalized that Uryu survived the Auswahlen as well along with her exceptional power, but that event was such an outlier that it can even be concluded that Uryu's survival is the reason the Wandenreich may have sent an infiltrator which put the possibility of Bambietta being a Gemischt under intense scrutiny which left two other possible explanations for how she was an Echt Quincy. Either she was the result of an affair or she was from the Wandenreich.
"Why was your mentor a regular human and not your own family?" Soken asked softly in an attempt to dissolve the tense pressure between them. Bambietta appeared appalled and even more irritated by his question.
"Because my parents didn't give a damn about me, so my mentor took on their duty himself." Bambietta irritably responded, which Soken noticed wasn't entirely directed at him.
"Why didn't your parents care about you?" Soken finally asked since Bambiettas response to this would be the deciding factor in confirming rather or not she's from the Wandenreich. Bambietta understandably responded by staring at him in rage and complete disbelief due to his audacity.
"Are you fucking serious?! Why the hell does that matter to you! What lengths are you gonna force me to through just to be able to see another of my own kind?" Bambietta passionately yelled at him.
"This is the last question." Soken tried to reassure him.
"Is that supposed to change my mind?! There's no reason why you need to know something like this. I've already been far too courteous towards you. I've already revealed several family secrets, why do you still need to know more?!" Bambietta yelled in genuine frustration, anger and anguish. Even though she had somewhat been acting prior her frustration at this time was entirely real. Quilge had previously warned her that she'd likely experience something like this right before she went out to help Uryu, but this topic was far too personal to Bambietta and her real parents for her to tolerate.
Bambietta hated that part of her history so vehemently in the Wandenreich that a part of her hoped she could escape it when she left to the world of the living. In the Wandenreich people would continuously harass Bambietta on the topic no matter how hard Bambietta tried to stop it. What does it matter if she might be the result of an affair? Did that diminish her own accomplishments and efforts in any way? She never understood why it mattered so much in the Wandenreich, and she'll be damned if it became an issue in the world of the living as well regardless of whatever her mission demanded. She'll meet up with Uryu in secret just like he did with his grandfather if she had to, so long as no one else in the world of the living knew about that aspect of her past. Bambietta trusted no one with that information except Ichigo, and she intended for things to stay that way.
"Please Bambietta, you have to understand that this is for Uryus safety. We have to take precautionary measures to ensure his safety." Soken pleaded.
"So I'm a hazardous threat to Uryu? After I already saved his life from a hollow attack?" Bambietta scornfully asked.
Bambietta merely scoffed before turning around flashing up to the top of the waterfall.
"Bambietta wait!" Soken pleaded unable to catch up with Bambiettas immense speed as she used blut vene to get away quicker. Bambietta was so pissed off right now that she can feel that she was on the verge of lashing out in anger. She attempted to calm herself down as she knocked on Tatsuki's door since that was the first place she thought to go to. A disheveled looking Tatsuki opened the door in concern since she noticed the pained look on Bambiettas face through the peephole along with Bambietta showing up a few hours earlier than expected.
"What happened?" Tatsuki asked Bambiette in concern as she walked into her house and took off her Quincy shoes.
"I don't want to talk about it right now." Bambietta said irritably. Tatsuki had several other questions such as what was the weird outfit she was wearing, but Tatsuki recognized that now wasn't the time to ask that.
Bambietta flopped down onto Tatsukis living room couch and stretched out.
"Do you need anything?" Tatsuki asked.
"No, I just needed some place to clear my head. Thanks for asking though." Bambietta said quietly. Tatsuki nodded in understanding while they sat together in silence for a while.
"Oh by the way I already got the VHS tape, so we can start the movie if you want." Tatsuki said.
"Now's as good of a time to play it as any." Bambietta replied. Tatsuki walked over to the VHS player and inserted the tape before going to the kitchen to buy snacks that they both bought for the occasion.
The movie started and although it started off fine it got increasingly more boring overtime.Bambietta was already tired and stressed, so it didn't take long for her to begin to dose off despite the snacks that they bought. Eventually Bambietta collapsed entirely and laid her head on Tatsukis lap as she began to fall asleep which left Tatsuki completely bewildered by Bambiettas out of character behavior. Tatsuki caressed Bambiettas hair while she began to fall asleep on her lap. Tatsuki wanted to ask what happened again so she could know what left Bambietta in such a vulnerable state, but Bambietta had already fallen asleep before she had the opportunity to ask.
Tatsuki noted how much more relieved and at peace Bambietta was in her sleep than at any other time. She was genuinely concerned about Bambiettas wellbeing considering how out of character and hurt she seemed before she fell asleep, so Tatsuki promised herself that she'd ask Bambietta about what was going on when she woke up. Eventually though as the movie went on Tatsuki felt that she was getting overcome by drowsiness as well, and she herself fell asleep soon after Bambietta did.
Soken met up with Ryuken for dinner as they had planned the night prior. Soken sat down at a round table which had already been prepared for the two of them, and they began discussing events that transpired once Ryuken had sat down.
"Where's Uryu? Shouldn't he be back by now." Soken said.
"I decided myself that it would be for the better if I kept him held up for a bit longer." Ryuken explained as he cut up a chunk of sirloin steak. Soken nodded in understanding before Ryuken continued.
"How did it go?"
"I fear that I've made a mistake." Soken replied he set down his utensils, so he can properly talk rather than eat.
"I was so confident that the girl had been an infiltrator from the Wandenreich that I treated her as such, and by doing so I have sowed resentment between us." Soken said regretfully.
"Was she not from the Wandenreich? What about the inconsistencies in the story she told Uryu?" Ryuken questioned.
"Those weren't inconsistencies, she simply left out context about her past and for good reason. We had assumed that both of her parents had died due to the Auswahlen which brought into question why she survived but that wasn't what happened. During my interrogation I found out that only her father died to the Auswahlen and that her mother killed herself afterwards, yet the girl also claims that she's an Echt Quincy." Soken elaborated.
Ryukens eyes narrowed as he predicted where Soken was going with this.
"Her servant taught her the Quincy arts rather than her parents because her parents didn't care for her. When I asked why her parents didn't care for her she lashed out and then ran away. She didn't confirm that she was the result of an affair, but her anger and appalment for my inquiries was entirely genuine."
"You know better than anyone else how good I am at deciphering lies from the truth, and I can say with full certainty that the girl's story wasn't a lie. At the verge least the part regarding her parents negligence entirely wasn't. In my mind this clears any suspicion regarding her allegiance, but unfortunately I destroy all odds of any positive relationship between us." Soken said shamefully.
"That's for the better." Ryuken responded.
"The less Quincy influence there is on my son the better." Ryuken said while he stared at Soken directly in the eyes. Ryuken was continuously baffled by Sokens behavior. He knew that the Quincies killed his daughter in law, his grandson's mother yet he still trained Uryu in the Quincy arts against Ryukens wishes. Ryuken stood up to leave the room.
"Leaving already?" Soken asked.
"I finished my food, and the girl seemingly isn't a part of the Wandenreich from what you've gathered. What else is there to discuss?" Ryuken finished before he left the room, leaving behind a regretful Soken.
Soken audibly sighed and left Ryukens household having lost his appetite.
I was initally going to add another section here with Bambietta briefing Quilge on what happened during her time with Soken, but I've deemed it unesccecary even though I did have some characterization planned out for Quilge.
The next few chapters will all have increased focus on the Quincies before moving onto middle school which'll introduce Chad and Orihime before continuing on to the high school time frame which includes the start of the main series.
Yes most of Uryus screentime in this chapter is just restating what the main series has already said, but those moments are extremely important to how I interpret Uryus character, so I had to include that even if it resulted in less original Uryu content. Don't worry about that though since the next few chapters will have plenty of focus on Uryu and the other Ishidas.