Bazz-B finds himself in a dark place. There was nothing to reach for. Nothing to touch. Nothing to step on
As if he was floating in space, all by himself.
Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure; a handsome man with long, blonde hair reaching his shoulders.
"Jugo?"
He called out his name. Jugram simply looked, but it was enough to get his attention.
"Jugo, wait up" Bazz-B yelled as he's running on air towards him
"Jugo... Jugo?"
He felt something was wrong. Jugram wouldn't call out his usual nickname.
No, he couldn't recognize him. As if he was looking at a stranger
"Who, who are you?" Jugram simply asked about his identity
"What? It's me, Bazz"
"Who? Who? Who?" Jugram's tone becomes incoherent.
Suddenly, Jugram's eyes rolled back, exposing the whiteness in it. His head began to twitch and tilt uncontrollably, as if he's suffering a seizure. His body soon followed twitching violently
Bazz-B watches in horror as his friend suffers violent convulsions. Soon after, Jugram's body grows a huge bump from his legs, then his skin turns yellowish green, veins becoming dark and visible. His face suddenly deformed by itself; his eyes drooping down at cheek's length, followed by small warts growing from his cheeks.
Bazz-B took a step back from what he once considered his childhood friend, only for an arm to grab his shoulder.
"You shall not die on my watch" a faint but familiar voice whispers into his ear.
This caught Bazz-B off guard, allowing a monstrous Jugram to pounce him and swing his arm
" Gahhhh! "
Bazz-B finally awakens from his nightmare. He finds himself strapped into an operating table lying in a dimly lit place where floodlights were reflecting at him.
Without hesitation, he breaks free from his loose straps and collapses away from the table, still trying to catch his breath. He calms himself down as he's trying to process everything he can remember;
The invasion of Soul Society...
The sudden death of Jugram Haschwalth...
Their mission to eliminate Alex Mercer...
Their fight against him at Karakura Town...
His defeat at his hands...
He could vividly remember the time he was dealt a killing blow. That's when it occurred to him
How the fuck am I still alive?
Bazz-B checked his own body, specifically the part where Mercer's claws went through. To his surprise, there were nothing but dark scars.
Now that he knows he's still alive and kicking, another thought came out of his mouth
"Where the hell am I?"
He knows he's not dead, so the plausible explanation is that he's been held captive for an unknown period of time. From what he can remember, this isn't Schatten Bereich. Neither is this Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Research and Development Laboratory, as written in their Daten.
The equipment here is too standard for the 12th Division Captain to own, or at least in this very room. Looking above, there's an observation room, built to allow researchers to see a subject's progress in real time. Despite the distance between them, he can surprisingly overhear people discussing something
"It's imperative that we should burn this thing to the ground"
Me? To be burned?
"Please, at least I need to gather more data regarding our subject"
Subject? Are they talking about me? Who the fuck do they think I am, a guinea pig?
Bazz-B was so put off at their conversation that he contemplated throwing the table at the window, but at his current state, he's unable to do so.
All of a sudden, a door suddenly lifts up. Yellow lights begin blaring at the room, followed by the sound akin to a cautionary warning. Emerging from a small room are a few, mutated creatures with a sword-like arm.
What in the hell are those things? They're definitely not hollows . Bazz-B looked on as he went through three different emotions
Curiosity...
Shock...
Fear...
They bear the same features he saw from Jugram in his nightmare, something Bazz-B could never forget. He immediately regained his composure as he remembers to himself: He's a Quincy
"Huh, at least a little exercise won't hurt." He muttered to himself as he prepared for an attack.
One of the creatures started dashing towards Bazz-B. He immediately sideswipes the creature before grabbing the back of its head and driving it straight through the ground. The creature's head was instantly turned into mush, then it disperses into a lighter red particle which he instantly recognizes
"Reishi? From this thing? Seriously, where the hell am I?" He was confused for a moment, but suddenly remembers there's more of them still on their feet
"Whatever. At least I can gather reishi every time I beat you guys to a pulp"
Bazz-B gets up to his feet and delivers a combo punch against another creature, sending it into a daze. He then immediately delivered a high kick aimed at his jaw. The moment his attack connected, he realizes something is wrong that left him dumbfounded
What is happening? Why would this attack send a number of them flying back? It was just aimed at one man for crying out loud.
No. There's no time to think over things like this. I need to make it through somehow.
Dismissing his own suspicions, he smashes the creature's head with his own boots, dissipating into reishi once more. The rest of them soon got up to their feet and became more aggressive than before.
"If you're gonna get serious, then so do I"
He then delivers one more combo punch at another creature, but instead delivering a high kick, he punches through his chest. During that time, he felt something tingling in his arm, which made him more wary of himself.
That little hesitation on his part finds one creature an opening for it to strike. It raises his sword-like arm up, then swings it behind him. Bazz-B felt the attack in his back like nothing but a simple paper cut.
"Ahh shit! I could've died from that!"
He turned to the one who attacked him and delivered an elbow to its face. As he does, two more doors opened from each side, and another horde of the walkers appeared on them.
"You all really like to push me to the limit, don't you?"
Perhaps I'm going to try this
"Burner Finger 2"
He pointed two of his fingers on fire with his reishi, then swings it at an oncoming walker, causing it to tumble backwards. Sensing a huge horde from behind, he immediately switches to three fingers
"Burner Finger 3"
He pointed three of his fingers at the floor, and a torrent of hot lava appeared before him. He then directs the lava towards the horde of walkers, causing them to burst into flames.
"Have fun playing 'the floor is lava', suckers."
Before the flames engulfing them could even intensify, they aggressively dashed towards Bazz-B and wildly swung at him. Even the one he struck with Burner Finger 2 immediately recovered like it was nothing. He couldn't comprehend what was happening here
Impossible! My Burner Finger 3 was supposed to reduce them to charred remains, so how are they still able to move? Don't tell me they have some kind of resistance to quincy attacks like this?
Another horde of walkers was released right after he deactivated his Burner Finger ability. Before he could even notice, he was surrounded on all sides.
"Damn it, you're everywhere" Bazz-B irately reacted to the horde as he is forced to switch to hand-to-hand combat.
Surprisingly, he fared better at delivering fatal punches and crowd-breaking high kicks. Nevertheless, this wasn't enough as more of them were spawning into the room to the point that it was nearly filled with walkers.
"To think I'd be dying undignified in a place like this"
Then, a large, spiked humanoid creature with crimson claws swung their arms into his face, sending him flying through the door and leaving a dent.
He suddenly finds himself back in the void. This time, there were no monstrous forms waiting for him. This time, he became annoyed
"Not again! OI, JUST LET ME DIE IN PEACE!" He yelled out at nobody in exasperation
"I'm done for–"
A crimson light shone a few meters before Bazz-B. Enticed, he approached where the light came from; a womb-like structure made out of flesh.
Inside the womb lies a young woman in a fetal position with her hair trimmed at shoulder's length, wearing a darker sweater and leather pants. Bazz-B touches the womb containing the woman, only for tendril-like organisms to envelop and pierce his finger instead.
He was pricked in an instant, however the lingering pain was severe. He began suffering visions of a distant, deserted place unknown to him, as well as strangers from that place who slowly descended into a manic state until they started mutating outside.
He then saw another vision of a subway, where a familiar figure surrounded by armed men, dropped a little vial before being shot numerous times until he collapsed on top of it.
All of a sudden, the people vanished, and he found himself in that particular place.
"Do you feel like giving up right now?" A familiar voice echoed at the subway
"Mercer? Little shit, show yourself!" Bazz-B called him out
He was nowhere to be found, but his voices still echoed throughout the subway
"Do you feel like dying yet?" He condescendingly taunted him
"No, but I feel like I'm gonna rip you apart when I find you"
"And then what? What will that achieve? How many people will you have to drag just to do that? Will ripping me apart make you feel better?"
Bazz-B gave a pained look upon hearing that. He had slowly begun to realize what was going on.
You're looking for your own grave...
You fucking idiot...
Bring it...
Countless thoughts started ringing within his head, bringing himself down on his knees and screaming in agony
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
Will ripping me apart make you feel better?
"No... But somebody has to make you pay for what you did to us"
"I have already paid enough for my sins before, I'm not afraid to commit another sin once more, even if it means I'll pay for them again. The question is; are you?"
A shadow is cast before Bazz-B. He looked up and saw his own figure looking at him
"The only thing you'll ever fear is yourself. Embrace that, and you'll become unstoppable. Let your hatred against me disappear by the flow of time, and you'll become invincible" His own figure said in a distorted voice resembling his own.
He held out his hand towards Bazz-B
"Do you feel like living yet?"
Let your hatred against me disappear? Like hell I could after what you did to me...
That said...
If I wanted to...
Then I must live!
Bazz-B finally reached out to his own hand as the light swallowed everything around it
He awakens to find the giant creature approaching towards him, its clawed arms raised up in the air with the instinctive intent to kill.
"You annoying humongous"
He dodged the attack, followed by a dropkick that barely sent it a few steps backwards.
"Sorry if I showed you something shameful, now bring it"
His eyes glowed red as he glared at everyone surrounding him.
One walker attacks him from behind, only for him to tear its sword-like arm from his body with such stronger force. Grabbing it with both hands, he swings it at the disoriented giant into his face, ripping it apart as it screams in agony.
"Yes, keep screaming. That's nothing compared to what I'm going to do with you"
Discarding the dismembered arm, he grabs one of his arms and starts pulling at it. The creature took notice and tried to swing him off of his arm, however Bazz-B had firmly held onto him.
Landing on his feet, he mustered enough strength to yank the clawed arm before finally tearing it apart from his body. He then leaps up and crushes its head with the dismembered arm.
Rather than dispersing into reishi, the giant turned into a mush of biomass that engulfed Bazz-B in whole before embedding into his body. Feeling a sudden surge from within, he tapped into his newfound power and transformed both of his arms into claws
"Nice, but something else is missing"
He raises his right clawed arm into the air. All of a sudden, countless reishi particles present in the room gathered towards him for a minute or two. The walkers instinctively backed off as he did so.
Having gathered enough, he transformed into his claws once more; this time, flames are coming out in each of his fingers
"Now that's more like it"
Content, he dashes at the walkers and slices them into shreds, engulfing them in red flames in the process. The rest made their attack, dashing towards Bazz-B like a rabid dog.
He immediately sprints to meet them head-on, slicing anything within his reach. Those who were caught in his attack were scorched all over their body before dispersing into reishi. He then spots a tight group of walkers opposite him and drives three of his claws through the ground
"Burner Finger– no, Burner Claw 3"
Biomass from his claws are channeled through the ground, causing it to erupt and impale a number of them. They then begin to burn from the inside out before suddenly engulfed in flames.
"Now that was handy, time to finish this"
He points four finger claws forward, causing them to merge into a large blade of fire with an elongated crossguard around his hand
"Burner Claw 4"
He swings the sword at the remaining walkers, bifurcating them as they are engulfed in flames before dispersing into reishi for the last time.
"Now then, time to get out"
He transformed his arms back to normal. Using his strength, he lifts up the operating table from the ground, then proceeds to throw it towards the window. At that point, he felt something has returned from his body
He uses hirenkyaku to get inside the observation room, which was surprisingly empty. Recognizing inscriptions shown from a number of monitors, he finally realized what happened; the room he awakened restricted him from using that move.
Ironically, he never thought about using hirenkyaku and was preoccupied with killing off the walkers. However he paid no mind to his blunder
"If you're aren't all here, then you must be outside the room waiting for me to come out"
His suspicions came true; he heard heavy footsteps outside the room. They were preparing to shoot him on sight.
Undeterred, he transformed his arms into claws once more and kicked the door open