[a / b / c / d / e / f / g / gif / h / hr / k / m / o / p / r / s / t / u / v / vg / w / wg] [i / ic] [r9k] [cm / hm / y] [3 / adv / an / cgl / ck / co / diy / fa / fit / hc / int / jp / lit / mlp / mu / n / po / pol / sci / soc / sp / tg / toy / trv / tv / vp / x] [rs] [status / ? / @] [Settings] [Home]
Board:  
Settings   Home
4chan
/qst/ - Quests


File: SSQ_PRICEDOWN_OP.png (484 KB, 590x739)
484 KB
484 KB PNG
You are Kurosaki Ichigo, and you have no idea how long it's been since you first entered the Dangai. Your time with Zangetsu and... other Zangetsu... has been some of the most grueling, non-stop training you've ever had to endure. But you feel like it was worth it in the end, and when it comes time to open your eyes again it's with a sense of determination if not readiness.

“Wow, dad,” you feel your eyes widen as you see the state your father's in now. He's grown the actual beginnings of a beard, not just the typical peach-fuzz he gets sometimes when work doesn't leave him time to shave clean. “You really let yourself go.”

“Don't get cute with me, Ichigo,” your dad sighs. “It's not as endearing as when your sisters do it.”

“So how long have we been in here anyway?”

Kurosaki Isshin scratches his beard, then tries to count it out on his hands. “About an eternity?”

You roll your eyes.

“It was at least a week and a half?” he eventually offers, giving up the joke.

“Then it really didn't” you begin, before your father interrupts.

“Since we last spoke,” he amends himself.

So that means it was more like a month and a half total? No wonder your dad seems so exhausted, he hasn't eaten or slept in all that time.

“Are you... okay?” you ask nervously.

“Never better!” he lies. “It's not like I'm as much of a glutton as your aunt... either one of 'em really. Riku would've had to leave halfway through, eat an entire Sichuan place right down to the foundation, and come back.”

“So that's why you've never invited them over for dinner...”

Your dad nods. “Your mom and I aren't exactly made of money, and what we do have has to feed you and your sisters first.”
>1/2
>>
File: 1471474395020.jpg (119 KB, 640x480)
119 KB
119 KB JPG
>>3483025
You look around, and find Tatsuki leaning up against one of the walls. “How has Tatsuki been doing? You talk to her recently, or has she been in jinzen this whole time?”

“She's asleep now,” he explains. “Finished her own training yesterday, she's spent the last several hours resting.”

“Should we wake her up?” you ask.

Your dad simply shrugs. “That's no you, Romeo. But yeah, we're gonna have to get out there some time soon.”

So you're gonna just take that as a yes, then, and decide to reach down and gently shake Tatsuki by the shoulder.

“Wakey-wakey...” you begin, only for her eyes to fly open at the slightest touch.

In an instant she's upside-down and your neck hurts for some reason... oh. Right.

“Good to see you've still got that much energy,” you grumble, rolling off your shoulders and eventually back onto your feet. “But let's save it for Aizen and his thugs?”

“Right,” Tatsuki nods in agreement, blushing ever so slightly. “Sorry.”

“Speaking of which,” your father interjects, “either of you have a plan yet?”

>Yeah. We meet up with anyone who followed them that's still standing and pound Aizen into the ground as a team.
>We'll take the shinigami tactic... something about striking from behind when you really need to win, or whatever?
>I'll confront him head-on. That will ensure that Tatsuki has the best chance of getting a free shot on Aizen.
>Other?
>>
>>3483029
>>We'll take the shinigami tactic... something about striking from behind when you really need to win, or whatever?
>>
>>3483029
>Yeah. We meet up with anyone who followed them that's still standing and pound Aizen into the ground as a team.
>>
>>3483029
>>We'll take the shinigami tactic... something about striking from behind when you really need to win, or whatever?
I really wanted the teamwork option, but at this point that's basically getting people killed due to Aizen's current powerlevel, depending on who's still standing.
>>
>>3483029
>>We'll take the shinigami tactic... something about striking from behind when you really need to win, or whatever?
>>
>>3483029
>>We'll take the shinigami tactic... something about striking from behind when you really need to win, or whatever?
>If his shikai is making perfect illusions his bankai is likely somethin really stupidly nasty. Best to take him out without him getting a chance to defend.
>>
>>3483029
>>We'll take the shinigami tactic... something about striking from behind when you really need to win, or whatever?
>>
>>3483029
Secondary vote:
>Ask your dad if he can get you as close as possible to Aizen
>Ask if he can get you a fair distance from Aizen
>Ask if he has any advice for how to approach unnoticed
>>
>>3483543
>>Ask if he has any advice for how to approach unnoticed
>>
>>3483543
Depending on how "loud" Goat face's method of getting them close is, it might be better or worse to drop off right on top of Aizen.
>>
>>3483543
>>Ask if he has any advice for how to approach unnoticed
>>
>>3483543
>Ask if he has any advice for how to approach unnoticed
>>
>>3483543
>>3483543
>>
>>3483543
>>Ask if he has any advice for how to approach unnoticed
>>
>>3483543
>>Ask if he has any advice for how to approach unnoticed
>>
>>3483543
“How would you suggest we get to Aizen without him noticing?” you ask your dad, and he sighs loudly at the question.

“It'd be easier if you had any kidō skills whatsoever,” your dad tells you, “Like Kyōkko would do exactly what you need to. It'd still be a hard sell against Aizen though... if I were back in good form maybe I could do it, and your various aunts could probably do it too.”

“Can we count on any of them to do it for us?” Tatsuki asks quietly.

Your dad shakes his head. “Yoruichi and Riku are already fighting, and Kaoru was the linchpin of the seireitei's big battle plan. So she's probably even more exhausted than I am.”

“What about Kūkaku?” you ask.

“Yeah!” Tatsuki quickly agrees. “I'm sure she'd help us if she could.”

“Problem being I don't actually know where she lives right now,” your dad points out. “So you'd have to spend hours if not [i]days[/i] tracking her down first. And I'd assume you'd rather be [i]relevant[/i] in the battle, right?”

That's a little disheartening, especially since it means...

“So we'll need to just suppress our reiatsu and cross our fingers?” you realize aloud.

Unfortunately, your dad nods in agreement. “Yeah, that's about the size of it. Lower your reiatsu and stick to the alleyways, that's your best bet.”

“Can you do it?” Tatsuki asks you quietly, behind her hand.

“I'm gonna have to,” you grumble. “There's really no alternative.”

“So are you ready now?” your dad asks you. “Because I can't keep this up all that much longer.”
>Yes
>No
>>
>>3486163
>>Yes
>>
>>3486163
>>Yes
>>
>>3486163
>Yes
>>
>>3486163
>Yes
>>
>>3486163
>Yes
>>
>>3486163
>>No
>>
>>3486163
>>Yes
We've had more than enough time training. Let's not drag this out.
>>
File: fellow.gif (920 KB, 400x226)
920 KB
920 KB GIF
>>3486625
>>
File: 1513217056213.gif (2.12 MB, 320x240)
2.12 MB
2.12 MB GIF
>>3488104
>>
>>3486163
“Let’s get this show started,” you sigh, glancing at Tatsuki. “No sense dragging things out.”

“Sure,” your dad agrees. “Just gimme a sec.”

He quickly withdraws the dagger-like tools from the walls, which immediately begin re-liquifying the second he does so. But unlike you and Tatsuki, he doesn't immediately start moving towards the end of the tunnel that should be the exit.

“Sorry,” he grumbles. “Seems I'm worse off than I thought. Give an old man a hand?”

You shrug. “Yeah, sure. Didn't realize you were that old already.”

“Hey now, I'm over a hundred you know,” he shoots back. “Consider this paying me back for carrying you around all the time when you were a kid.”

“Or preparation for when you and mom are old as shit,” you retort.

“God I hope so,” he sighs as you get him situated on your back. “I'd love nothing more than to grow that old together with a woman like that...”

“Right,” Tatsuki interjects, seemingly a little uncomfortable with the implications of marital bliss. “You two coming or not?”

It only takes a few minutes to get out of the Dangai, appearing in what you understand to be the lower level of the Kuchiki manor. It's strange when you realize that it's abandoned, though you guess with the ungodly reiatsu you're feeling from elsewhere in the Seireitei it should come as no surprise people would be ducking for shelter. There could even be some guards hiding within the compound that you just can't sense for all the interference.

When you get out into the gardens, your dad thumps you on the chest with his palm. “Somewhere around here is good.”

You let him down under a tree near a carp pond, and he fishes a cigarette and lighter out of his shihakusho. “Byakuya would be pissed, but Ginrei'd understand.”

“What was that?” you ask.

He flicks the lighter closed and takes a drag. “Nothing. Go be a hero.”

>3d10, dc 18, crit 23
>>
Rolled 2, 7, 9 = 18 (3d10)

>>3488145
>>
Rolled 2, 7, 7 = 16 (3d10)

>>3488145
>>
Rolled 3, 7, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>3488145
>>
>>3488145
You keep your reiatsu as low as possible, which if you're doing it right should at very worst put you beneath Aizen's notice. So that's going to help you, or so you hope. Really, it comes down to how powerful Aizen has become, how reckless his new power has made him, and whether he's still preoccupied fighting someone else.

Tatsuki lowers her reiatsu as well, and seems to do slightly better at it. Once that's accomplished you maneuver closer to the area where you can tell that the reiatsu is densest. And when you arrive there, the scene you find shocks you to your core.

Yoruichi is on the ground, lying motionless in a pool of her own blood. Riku is on the ground as well, seemingly crippled by a wound of her own. And as you watch, Aizen impales a round, bearded man with his sword.

Tatsuki puts her arm across your chest. “Remember the plan.”

“There are certain individuals whom I would allow to live at this point,” Aizen admits, leaning in to speak to his victim. “But you are not among them. Your experience, power, and intransigence make you a danger, even to my ambitions... and your involvement in the original sin of the Seireitei demands that you be put to the sword.”

“Regret your evil and repent as you die.”

“You dare say such things to...” the fat man begins, before Aizen withdraws his blade and with a simple sweep slices him through his head, pulling the blade out near his waist.

Dark blood seeps heavily into the stones.

“Is that finally it?” Aizen muses. “Is the way finally clear, at long last?”

“... fuck the plan.”
>1/2
>>
>>3489008
You are Arisawa Tatsuki, and while you can't say you're too thrilled with Ichigo's decision you also can't say you're surprised. He's always been more of a spur-of-the-moment type of guy, and confronting Aizen like this is totally in line with that part of who he is. And that's part of why you care so much about him, of course.

He confronts Aizen, face to face, drawing his attention from where Riku and Yoruichi have fallen.

He's giving you a shot...

>3d10, best of three
>>
Rolled 1, 8, 3 = 12 (3d10)

>>3489285
>>
Rolled 2, 9, 4 = 15 (3d10)

>>3489285
>>
Rolled 3, 1, 8 = 12 (3d10)

>>3489285
>>
Rolled 2, 1, 1 = 4 (3d10)

>>3489285
>>
>>3489287
>>3489311
>>3489312
>>3489306
Calling it now, tatsuki is gonna get murdered
What the fuck dicegods ...
>>
>>3489334
It's simple. The dice gods don't want the protagonist to fail right now.
>>
File: d4acc01.jpg (115 KB, 900x655)
115 KB
115 KB JPG
>>3489285
You swing around the side, keeping to the remaining cover offered by broken walls and fallen rooftops, before you have a clear line of sight to Aizen's back.

Then you make your move.

With a swift dash you raise your blade. “Pummel, Tōōkenju!”

A thrust of your blade meets a high parry as Aizen turns on you with a smirk... which turns to a look of horror as your sword phases through his. Then, as the tip is placed through his torso, you rematerialize it. Aizen's eyes widen.

And then you feel a searing pain across your chest.

“That was a fascinating attack,” Aizen admits as he kicks you in the chest. You barely manage to hold onto the hilt of your zanpakuto, prying it free as the force of the blow sends you hurtling through a wall.

“But unfortunately, it did not seem to work. I am beyond the level where a simple stab will kill me.”

>Ichigo
>Tatsuki
>>
>>3489523
>Tatsuki
>>
>>3489523
>>Tatsuki
>>
>>3489523
>Ichigo
>>
>>3489523
>>Ichigo
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3489523
Tatsuki
or
Ichigo
the dice will decide for me
>>
>>3489523
>Ichigo
>>
>>3489523
>Ichigo
He should be pretty pissed right about now.
>>
>>3489976
Riku's the one that will be pissed due to him showing up and complicating or ruining her plan.
>>
>>3489982
tbf, she never told anyone that appearing to be dead was going to be part of her plan
honestly, it is surprising that people still think stealing a sword formed piece of someone elses soul to use its power to make everyone think you are dead wouldn't be possible for her to pull off
>>
>>3489523
>>Tatsuki
Tatsuki all the way.
>>
>>3489523
>Tatsuki
>>
>>3489523
You are Kurosaki Ichigo, and there were a lot of ways you could see this going. While Tatsuki going down immediately was a possibility that you'd briefly considered you never really imagined that it'd be the one that actually ended up happening. So because of that blind spot, because you never seriously contemplated it, the fact that it happened caused a far more visceral reaction than you were prepared for.

Is what someone smarter and less mad than you might say.

You're not smarter, and you're definitely mad.
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 4, 8, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>3491203
i bite the first bullet, someone avenge me!
>>
Rolled 2, 7, 5 = 14 (3d10)

>>3491203
>>
Rolled 3, 9, 10 = 22 (3d10)

>>3491203
>>
Rolled 7, 4, 4 = 15 (3d10)

>>3491203
>>
>>3491203
You charge with a massive burst of reiatsu, bringing down your blade across Aizen's chest, or at least you thought you did. He steps back instantly and leaves an afterimage, before trying to cut you across your back.

“Too slow, ryōka boy,” he taunts you.

“Zangetsu!”

You slam your hilt into Aizen's arm, then turn your blade to protect your high line as you summon a hand bow and fire a trio of holy arrows at him. Surprisingly he turns his back on you, and a shield of reishi springs into existence at the base of his neck to defend him. He keeps turning, and shouts the name of what you gather is a kidō.

“Ōkasen!”

“Getsuga Tensho!”

The two blasts meet at perpendiculars, dissipating in a chaotic swirl of flashing reiatsu.

Meanwhile you spot movement out of the corner of your eye.

“Just like you, Kusajishi Riku,” Aizen declares calmly. “To put the lives of others before your own, to the point of pushing yourself so hard while mortally wounded... it suits you completely.”

Riku is crouched over Tatsuki, cradling her with one glowing hand pressed to the girl's chest. Between the two, it's actually your aunt who looks the worst by far... she's still bleeding profusely, both from the wound on her torso and from the corner of her mouth.

“But will it be enough?” Aizen muses.

Even as a fresh stream of blood drips down her chin, Riku smirks. “Things are rarely... as bad as they seem.”

>You need to buy time for Riku to heal Tatsuki.
>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
>There has to be someone else who can still fight.
>Other?
>>
>>3491979
>You need to buy time for Riku to heal Tatsuki.
>>
>>3491979
>>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
>>
>>3491979
>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
>>
>>3491979
>>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
>>
>>3491979
>>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
>>
>>3491979
>>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
>>
>>3491979
>>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
If Ichigo is going all out, that just means Tatsuki might get a second alpha strike if she plays her cards right and Ichigo keeps Aizen's attention.
>>
>>3491979
>Riku is out of the battle. You need to go all-out.
And By Go all out, I mean, Fight to win, not go apeshit.
If Ichigo really is the only fighter left standing, then he better play all his cards, but play them smart
>>
>>3491979
>>There has to be someone else who can still fight.
>>
>>3493076
Also,just occurred to me, defending his loved ones is like Ichigo's entire deal, he should be doing this to give his aunt time to heal anyway. If anything, this is his element
>>
>>3491979
>3d10, best of three
>>
Rolled 2, 4, 4 = 10 (3d10)

>>3494031
>>
Rolled 4, 7, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>3494031
>>
Rolled 1, 4, 3 = 8 (3d10)

>>3494031
>>
Rolled 10, 6, 4 = 20 (3d10)

>>3494031
don't mind me, i just wanna see how long it takes to get a good roll
>>
>>3494052
>>3494056
>>3494063

I can't believe ichigo is fucking dead
>>
Jesus Christ Ichigo you absolute jobber
>>
File: That day.jpg (168 KB, 623x414)
168 KB
168 KB JPG
>>3494074
>>
>>3494031
Alright, gimme best of three again. 3d10.
>>
Rolled 3, 3, 3 = 9 (3d10)

>>3494212
>>
Rolled 5, 6, 6 = 17 (3d10)

>>3494212
>>
Rolled 3, 9, 1 = 13 (3d10)

>>
>>3494212
It's not really a question that Riku is going to heal Tatsuki... when that madwoman sets out to do something she does it, and from what you've heard a mortal wound or two really isn't enough to slow her down. The real question is whether she'll be able to do it as quickly as she would normally, and whether...

No. Not “whether” you can hold out, because you have no choice in the matter anymore. You're going to have to hold out no matter what, because if you don't everyone you know and love is going to die. So backing down isn't an option. If you can't do it yourself, you'll just have to hold out until Tatsuki can join you again.

Or not.

Is holding out really good enough? Tatsuki went down so quickly, even despite how much she's improved. So really, if you want to win, you're going to have to go all out and grasp that victory with your own hands.

“Are you quite finished fooling around?” Aizen asks you, his expression perfectly tranquil.

“Yeah,” you reply, feeling your focus return after having lost it when Tatsuki got hurt. “Let's go, Aizen.”

“Such an impudent little ryōka,” Aizen muses. “But no matter. When I have defeated you there will be plenty of time...”

He raises his blade instinctively as you slash at him, pushing against Zangetsu's spine with your fist.

“Bankai...”

A massive release of reiatsu pushes Aizen back, rattling the Seireitei down to its very foundations. You can feel it... the transformation taking place. Your blade changes shape, extending into a monstrous blade. The edge is almost as long as your armspan, with an extended hilt protected by a swept blade that guards your hands, and a chain that trails from the pommel. It's a blade similar in shape to the horn you know has emerged from the left side of your head, above your ear.

The hand bow clutched in your left fist flares brighter and wilder as your reiatsu skyrockets.

“That form...” Aizen muses. “It seems I may have underestimated you.”

You launch a volley of arrows and charge behind them, only for Aizen to take the arrows to his chest and shoulders and parry your blade with his own.

“But only a little.”

Though the force of your swing clearly dislocated his shoulder, the flesh there writhes as he forces it to move anyway.
>1/2
>>
>>3494295
And thus, in the next panel Ichigo's bankai will be broken, just like in the manga.
Good job, Ichigo. Emphasis on the "job", ya jobber.
>>
>>3494295
As impossible as it seems, he forces you back with nothing but brute strength and sheer force of will. You manage to pepper him with holy arrows as he charges after you through the air, though his nonsensical arm manages to move his blade fast enough to parry them all. Even when you find your balance again and turn back to the offensive he turns his waist, or rather breaks his back from his waist all the way up to his shoulders, to evade your strikes and land a blow on your right shoulder.

If it weren't for your Blut that would have severed your arm entirely.

“Damn!” you hiss. “Getsuga Tenshō!”

Your attack is more like a fast-moving black cloud than a slicing fang, though that helps you do three things. First you hide a series of holy arrows within that cloud, little surprises for Aizen, and second you manage to move around his flank to attack from what you hope is behind.

“Too obvious.”

Your blade meets his again as your Getsuga clears, revealing that he stopped it with a now-destroyed kidō barrier of some sort.

Aizen reaches forward with his fingers.

“Kuyō...”

In an instant you spit a silver Gintō at him, which you hid under your tongue as you rushed to attack under the cover of your Getsuga Tenshō.

“Gritz!” you shout the conclusion to the incantation, your recitation of which was hidden by the roar of the Getsuga in Aizen's ears.

A silver barrier leaps into existence around Aizen's body, the segments meeting in a five-armed cross at the front.

Of course, it doesn't take a genius to realize what the purpose of that obvious weak spot is. You place your reishi bow against that spot and fire it in a continuous barrage, each holy arrow ricocheting countless times inside the confines of your trap.

After a few seconds the barrier shatters, and a badly-bloodied Aizen bursts through the back.

“That is twice now that you two ryōka might otherwise have killed me,” Aizen muses. “Were it not for one crucial fact.”

“And that is?” you growl, only to find the tip of Aizen's sword placed right against the base of your throat.

“A fundamental difference in standing.”
>2/3
>>
File: 1448113221223.jpg (47 KB, 540x474)
47 KB
47 KB JPG
>>3494346
Instead of a sharp pain in your throat, you feel a dull but powerful thump under your ribs that sends you flying as a newcomer arrives on the field of battle.

“Kurosaki Ichigo,” the dark-skinned woman addresses you solemnly. “This is no longer a battlefield where you have a place. Leave it to others.”

“But I...” you begin, only to be interrupted by Aizen's laughter.

“And who are you to suggest that?” Aizen demands with a sarcastic grin. “As fascinating as you were, neither arrancars nor the failed mockeries called the visored have any place on a battlefield such as this. The only ones who have the right to battle me now are those who have transcended the limitations of mortals entirely.”

“Transcended mortals?” you demand. “The hell does that even mean?”

“He means those who possess a fraction of divinity,” the newcomer, who you gather by Aizen's assessment to be an arrancar, clarifies. Then she turns her face to glance at you, and it seems for a moment that she's familiar...

“You're one of my aunt's friends, from Hueco Mundo?” you realize. “Hang on... it's in there somewhere...”

“Tia Halibel,” the newcomer declares, turning her attention back to Aizen. “Aizen Sōsuke, I will have you answer for your actions to this point.”

>Continue as Ichigo
>Continue as Halibel
>Other?
>>
>>3494378
>Continue as Ichigo
>>
>>3494378
>>Continue as Halibel
>>
>>3494378
>>>Continue as Halibel
>>
>>3494378
>Continue as Halibel
woooo shark
>>
>>3494378
How can I pass up best shark?
I cant!
>>
>>3494378
>Continue as Ichigo

Yeah no, we wasted too many threads not to get some payoff. Unlock your shonen bullshit Ichigo, you need It RIGHT, NOW.
>>
>>3494378
>>Continue as Halibel
>>
>>3494378
>Continue as Halibel
Fuck Ichigo, Halibel's ready to steal the show.
>>
>>3494378
>>Continue as Halibel
>>
>>3494378
>>Continue as Halibel
Aizen backstabbed the hell out of Halibel in canon right? Time for some meta justice.
>>
>>3495088
And then Dice Gods strike down our attempt by giving us shitty rolls. Just you wait.
>>
>>3494378
You are Tia Halibel, an arrancar.

It has been a long time since you awakened in Hueco Mundo, naked and alone in the dark. You were powerless then, terrified and confused and empty. That is all you remember of those days. Even when you became a Gillian, all you can remember was the constant struggle to maintain yourself in the face of the howling torrent of souls all compressed into one body. But when you finally became an adjuchas that changed.

The world became one which followed a predator's logic. You were obliged to kill and eat others like you to survive. You had to move forward to remain yourself.

It was years, but you eventually reached a level where you were free of that obligation, free to consider your new position as a Vasto Lorde. And when you gave that consideration, you realized something disturbing: that despite how far you had come, your life was surprisingly... empty.

You are not the same as the hollow which existed before, the one lost in the moonlit desolation of Hueco Mundo. Nor are you the person who existed before then, the living woman whose image you feel almost as though you have stolen. So you couldn't really say that you had anything resembling a purpose.

No being could survive like that.

What you eventually found was a little collection of other menos, who each gathered around you for their own reasons. Mila Rose was too proud to simply thank you for saving her life and move on, Sung-Sun was much the same in her own way you think. But Apacci was brought to you, by a shinigami of all things. You can't say something like 'I didn't think much' about that day, because it always stood out to you. But at the time it was because of how surprising it was, seeing a shinigami not only spare a hollow but shepherd her to safe harbor.

Your life really got out of control after that. That same shinigami turned you into an arrancar, and didn't even ask for anything in return. That was where it started.

And now you're standing before Aizen Sōsuke, the one who betrayed Kusajishi Riku one hundred years ago.
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 5, 2, 2 = 9 (3d10)

>>3496331
>>
Rolled 5, 1, 2 = 8 (3d10)

>>3496331
>>
Rolled 8, 5, 7 = 20 (3d10)

>>3496331
>>
Rolled 7, 2, 7 = 16 (3d10)

>>3496349
>>3496359
goodbye shark, we hardly knew ye
thats a lie we know you pretty good, rest in piece
>>3496331
>>
>>3496331
Your brow furrows slightly as you take stock of the situation, reckoning it against what you know.

Shihōin Yoruichi is down, and apparently has not even been disturbed since she fell. There is no evidence that the blood around her has been smeared, no sign that she has been moved to reveal her wounds.

Blood flows freely from deep wounds all over Kusajishi Riku's body, and yet she struggles to heal a human girl. Arisawa, you recall her name was. So evidently Kurosaki and Arisawa arrived shortly before you did, and Arisawa was quickly neutralized.

So if Riku still had the strength to heal wounds so grievous as Arisawa's, why did she not immediately take the initiative and heal Yoruichi? The two are not just close companions in and out of battle, they're still passionately in love after many decades.

From what you've heard, you can't even be sure that Aizen Sōsuke understands emotions like love, let alone selfless love that places the lucky recipient of that love before the lover.

“I cannot take such a demand seriously,” Aizen replies, treating you as something contemptible. As if you were something he tracked in on the soles of his sandals. “Not coming from one such as yourself.”

“Do I hear contempt in your tone?” you ask, watching Riku carefully for a few seconds before turning your attention fully towards Aizen.

“No, of course not,” Aizen insists. “You do not rise to a level where you warrant my contempt. A hollow's existence lacks the inherent value.”

You feel a twinge of what you recognize to be anger. “Lacks inherent value...”

You repeat his words. A hundred years ago they might not have bothered you, but now?

>Continue the banter. If you get Aizen talking you might be able to discern Riku's true motives.
>Probe Aizen's abilities, discern what he can do in his current state.
>Try to draw on your limited supply of shinreiryoku, see if that causes Aizen to change his mind.
>Other?
>>
>>3496461
>>Continue the banter. If you get Aizen talking you might be able to discern Riku's true motives.
>>
>>3496461
>Probe Aizen's abilities, discern what he can do in his current state.
>>
>>3496461
>Probe Aizen's abilities, discern what he can do in his current state.
>>
>>3496461
>Continue the banter. If you get Aizen talking you might be able to discern Riku's true motives.
>>
>>3496461
>>Probe Aizen's abilities, discern what he can do in his current state.
>>
>>3496461
>Continue the banter. If you get Aizen talking you might be able to discern Riku's true motives.
>>
>>3496461
>>Continue the banter. If you get Aizen talking you might be able to discern Riku's true motives.
>>
>>3496461
>>Continue the banter. If you get Aizen talking you might be able to discern Riku's true motives.
Banter is fun.
>>
>>3496461
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>3497982
>>
Rolled 9, 6, 8 = 23 (3d10)

>>3497982
>>
Rolled 9, 8, 8 = 25 (3d10)

>>3497982
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16 (3d10)

>>3497982
>>
File: 1470062027120.jpg (130 KB, 800x1158)
130 KB
130 KB JPG
>>3497982
“Avenge,” you declare, holding out your zanpakuto and unleashing your reiatsu. “Tiburón.”

Aizen Sōsuke watches as you emerge from the water, heavily laden with your own reiatsu. The expression on his face is something you didn't expect: amusement.

“Well now,” he muses with a grin. “This is unexpected. After your defeat in the world of the living I had not expected you to be back on your feet so soon.”

“Then you underestimated me,” you reply.

His response comes with a nod of agreement. “Indeed, it seems so. But do you believe that this engagement will end any differently from when you failed to defeat myself and the Sternritters?”

“Perhaps,” you muse, taking another swing at him from behind. “But the alternative is unconscionable.”

“What interest do you have in fighting against me?” he demands, a quick series of blows forcing you to use Tiburón as a shield. “A hollow should only care about survival and power, unless she is somehow defective.”

“If I did not, Kusajishi Riku and those others who are close to her will suffer,” you observe sternly.

He doesn't seem to accept that logic. “A hollow who cares about others is an aberration. Though, perhaps that is part of the reason why those selected by Captain Kusajishi proved to be exceptional.”

It's difficult to tell, but at this level you're not positive that Yoruichi and Riku together should have been beaten. Either they were worn down by other opponents, or Aizen is holding back substantially against you. Which is inconsistent with how you understand him to be... and it also fails to explain Riku's current state.

The only consistent explanation is that somehow, for some reason, an illusion is being used to make it seem as though Yoruichi and Riku have been defeated.

Which leaves Aizen's motivations.

“Who is this?” you demand, after nearly tripping over a fallen body belonging to someone you do not recognize. “He wears a haori similar to a Captain, but I do not know him.”

“That is Ichibē, the Monk who calls the Real Name,” Aizen explains, blasting away a building behind you with a mass of dark reiatsu. It has a heavy, oppressive feel to it, even more so than any of the Sternritters. “He lead the Royal Special Task Force, which I have subsequently defeated.”

The Royal Special Task Force.. so what does that mean about his goal?

What do Riku and Yoruichi know about his goal, and how are they playing against him?

>Go all out with Segunda Etapa. Whatever plan Riku is coming up with will be easier if you can weaken Aizen.
>Work together with Ichigo, drag this out as much as possible to give Riku and Yoruichi more time.
>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
>Other?
>>
>>3498194
>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
>>
>>3498194
>>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
>>
>>3498194
>>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
still, go secunda, it can't hurt
>>
>>3498194
>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
>>
>>3498194
>>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
Fuck it I'm down for the long con.
>>
>>3498194
>Set up a more elaborate plan of your own using your weather manipulation abilities.
>>
>>3498194
>3d10, best of 4
>>
Rolled 6, 4, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>3500003
>>
Rolled 2, 8, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>3500003
>>
Rolled 1, 5, 7 = 13 (3d10)

>>3500003
>>
Rolled 5, 4, 9 = 18 (3d10)

>>3500003
>>
File: 37075517_p0.jpg (1.03 MB, 2820x1626)
1.03 MB
1.03 MB JPG
>>3500003
It's best to get away from those who have already fallen, regardless of what they may or may not be planning. On the off chance your instincts are wrong, you wouldn't want for a stray attack to obliterate Riku, Yoruichi, and Arisawa all at once.

You hold out the massive blade, shrouding its length in pressurized, reiatsu-enriched water.

“La Gota.”

The teardrop-shaped blast is enough to level a building beyond Aizen, who evades in the direction you intended for him to. And so you take to the skies, raining down powerful, block-leveling blasts into what is thankfully a mostly-empty cityscape. When you have to you mix in a cero, correcting Aizen's path and forcing him towards the open area of the Second Division's expansive grounds near the base of the Sōkyoku hill.

“Interesting change of scenery,” Aizen comments. “Did you shepherd me to this location out of some misguided belief that your own power was too great to properly control?”

“I would prefer not to risk having you use someone I think highly of as a shield,” you counter.

“Not an unfair notion,” Aizen admits. “Though an unnecessary precaution, as you lack the power to force me to use so underhanded a tactic.”

“Tempestad de Gotas.”

This time not one drop, but dozens in a rapid series, each with roughly the mass of a swimming pool, slam into the forest below. Trees snap like twigs under the weight of each shot, and a fine mist fills the air.

“Your aim seems to be...”

You don't allow Aizen the time he needs to taunt you. “Cascada Hirviendo.”

A massive column of boiling-hot compressed water and vapor crashes into the forest, taking Aizen with it... a direct hit?

“That one... connected...”

Aizen quickly recovers, torso bared and steaming as the boiled flesh begins to regenerate. You only recognize him by his voice, as his face was basically peeled off like the shell of a cooked shrimp by your attack.
>1/2
>>
>>3500235
“I see that will not be sufficient to kill you,” you muse, swinging your blade to parry Aizen's next assault.

“I do not understand why you would think otherwise,” Aizen taunts you, reaching out his hand. “Raikōhō.”

At this range you can block the kidō blast, but its force against Tiburón's massive blade and the shock that runs through your body still have a profound effect. You careen through a solid tree... a pine, you think... and into the ground.

“Ola Azul!”

Your blast interrupts Aizen's charge, though he still manages to crash down near you and swing for your hip. Tiburon's lower beard, the one near your elbow, is what you use to parry in a broad sweeping movement that aims the edge of its blade for the inside of Aizen's right wrist.

His fist meets your cheek, your knee hits his hip before you bring your foot down against the side of his knee.

Another broad swing charged with reiatsu drives Aizen back. “Cero.”

>Resume inundating the battlefield with water, preparing for a single massive blow.
>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>You will likely need the raw power of your Segunda Etapa
>Other?
>>
>>3500268
>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>>
>>3500268
>>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>>
>>3500268
>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>>
>>3500268
>>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>>
>>3500268
>>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>>
Am I the only one who thinks banking on an endurance/long term battle with the regenerator seems like a bad idea? It's not like it worked on the Sternritter...
>>
>>3500436
I mean, we're trying to buy time for Riku here. Going full power would make Aizen go full power too and end the battle earlier.
>>
>>3500436
and regeneration does not mean he has infinite stamina, even aizen can make mistakes if he has been mentally exhausted enough
>>
>>3500268
>>He thinks you little better than an animal: play into that by changing tactics, don't let him suspect you have a long term plan.
>>
>>3500268
EARLY ROLL CALL!
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 10, 9, 6 = 25 (3d10)

>>3502638
>>
Rolled 7, 4, 10 = 21 (3d10)

>>3502638
>>
Rolled 9, 2, 5 = 16 (3d10)

>>3502638
>>
Rolled 8, 8, 7 = 23 (3d10)

>>3502638
>>
File: 45591948_p0.jpg (276 KB, 1600x1309)
276 KB
276 KB JPG
>>3502638
It begins to truly dawn on you, the reason why Aizen was able to so callously throw aside the lives of the arrancar army he himself raised. Here is a man who sees all other mortals as so utterly beneath him as to be irrelevant in his plans, save perhaps for Kusajishi Riku who possesses a spark of divinity that you estimate to not only rival his own but exceed it. And to this man, hollows are even further beneath all other forms of life.

To him you are among the misbegotten and wretched, redeemable only through expending your existence in service to his goals. He probably wouldn't even tell you what those goals are, as you aren't significant enough in his mind to warrant it... much like Neliel, or Bambietta.

What he doesn't know, you reason as you're forced to weather another barrage of blades and spells, is that you too possess a small amount of shinreiryōku. Not enough to defeat him in and of itself, but any capacity that he does not know that he should be expecting is an advantage you want to keep.

And so you decide to play into his prejudices.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD8xrOCKbOI

“Your ranged attacks have proven to be ineffective,” Aizen tries to taunt you, unknowingly giving you an avenue to keep your true goals hidden a while longer. “What will you do...”

“La Gota.”

Aizen evades your projectile, but his eyes widen as he realizes that you're no longer where you were a moment before. Instead you've charged along with the surge of water, only separating from it a fraction of a second after it passes by Aizen's right shoulder. When you emerge from the water you find yourself perfectly positioned for close quarters.

“I see,” Aizen grunts, resting his sword against his right forearm and using his entire body to halt your powerful swing. “Denied of your strategy you fall back into barbarism, seeking my head. But can you grasp it?”

He slides several feet backwards under the relentless force, before you release a glowing mass of reiatsu from the edge that knocks him back and nearly off his feet.

“You talk too much,” you observe with a frown, pivoting on your toes after taking a single sonido to move behind Aizen's back to attack from the opposite side.

Your attack meets a kidō barrier, and Aizen immediately follows up on the loss of tempo. “Cero.”

Aizen's cero is a dark shade of purple, bordering on black, and is remarkably heavy. Its impact scours a massive crater into the side of the Sōkyoku hill, leading its flank to partially collapse behind you. You know at least a few Captains who wouldn't mind seeing its total destruction, but if that blast were to have hit an area where there are still shinigami sheltering the results could be disastrous.

In response you release a downward-stroking cero through Tiburón's blade that pushes Aizen back through the forest and onto your waiting blade.
>1/2
>>
File: 61938166_p0.png (361 KB, 1024x768)
361 KB
361 KB PNG
>>3502706
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyxSjllrklQ
In a series of rapid thrusts you stab at Aizen, each attack missing by mere inches, before you turn and sweep the blade behind you. You catch him there, forcing him to take a swift half-step back before bringing his blade down towards you. An instant later your left palm meets his elbow, and your shins collide as you each try to immediately land an opportunistic kick.

Aizen extends his arm into your space, violet kidō massing along his outstretched fingers and as spears floating in the air, all aimed at you. His voice, distorted by the speed of his words, names the spell. "Senjū Koten Tai...”

Flipping backwards your white-armored foot slams into the bottom of his wrist an instant before he can release the spell.

“...hō!”

The spears take out another massive chunk of the execution grounds, this time causing a massive collapse. Chunks of stone tumble from on high, crushing some of the buildings nearest the base of the lower slopes. Then the blast wave pushes past you, as your toes lightly touch the ground before propelling you forward along with the wave itself, your blade already surrounded by compressed water and reiatsu.

Aizen sidesteps, and you release the teardrop-shaped blast of water at the ground in front of you, the recoil and the blast itself changing your direction instantly. His eyes widen as you sever his right arm at the shoulder, sending both limb and sword tumbling through the air. But his gaze narrows again almost instantly, and you notice the fingers on his left hand.

“Byakurai.”

A lance of lightning blasts through your side even as you turn to minimize the effect, searing pain telling you that it's most likely burned itself closed from the intense heat.

The former Captain catches his own arm out of the air and holds the stumps together, taking a flickering flash step backwards to gain himself precious seconds to complete the reattachment.

>Don't let him, stay close and in maintain your control over the battle's tempo.
>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>Keep the distance open and use La Gota to control spacing and slowly advance your strategy.
>Other?
>>
>>3502733
>Don't let him, stay close and in maintain your control over the battle's tempo.
>>
>>3502733
>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>>
>>3502733
>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>>
>>3502733
>>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>>
>>3502733
>>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>>
>>3502733
after all these fights with spells and abilities on such a ludicrous level, the seireitei is gonna be in ruins
>>
>>3502733
>>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>>
>>3502733
>>Use this opportunity to strike with another Cascada, greatly advancing your original strategy.
>>
>>3502733
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 10, 9, 6 = 25 (3d10)

>>3502881
>>
Rolled 9, 10, 6 = 25 (3d10)

>>3502881
>>
File: 12038830_p0.jpg (95 KB, 1000x800)
95 KB
95 KB JPG
>>3502887
>>3502888
>>
Rolled 4, 7, 10 = 21 (3d10)

>>3502881
>>
Rolled 4, 1, 8 = 13 (3d10)

>>3502881
>>
Rolled 2, 9, 2 = 13 (3d10)

Unlikely to beat the two other rolls, but hey it is best of 4
>>
>>3502881
There's enough here to work with now, and a spare moment to act on that realization. Charging after Aizen to maintain the distance, you gradually build up a powerful, surging mass of water and reiatsu. Then with a wide overhand sweep of your blade, you send it forward like a roiling tsunami to envelop Aizen from all sides, leaving him nowhere to evade.

“Cascada.”

You lose sight of him entirely.

Trees are uprooted, boulders picked up and carried away. Nothing stands in the face of your onslaught, which leaves the land scoured down to bare, dead dirt and piles up against the base of the Sōkyoku hill. The rumbling soon subsides, and the water runs away leaving a tangle of shattered pines and granite.

Could any mortal survive that attack? It's entirely possible, but it would require the use of a power you do not yet understand and cannot predict. That means the moment Aizen blasts himself free of the rubble several seconds later is a learning experience for you.

“Are you finished?” he asks, forcing his limbs back into anatomically correct positions. “There is no technique you can use that will have a lasting effect on me. That is the incontrovertible truth that you must certainly be realizing by this point.”

“I do not realize this 'truth' you're speaking of,” you reply sternly. “And even if it was true, it does not change what I must do.”

“What you must do?” Aizen repeats with a scowl. “Your words are nothing more than the loyal barking of a dog... what scraps has your master offered you that are worth self-sacrifice?”

'Master'... 'dog'... the words Aizen has chosen are enough to rile you. Not because they're accurate, but because of their wild inaccuracy, because of their presumptuousness.

>Mutual trust, long-earned and sincere. She has my support now as I have long had hers.
>I owe her a debt of gratitude I can never repay... for the unprecedented act of treating me as a friend.
>I cannot explain why, I simply wish to be at her side. Nothing more complex than that.
>Other?
>>
>>3503395
>>Mutual trust, long-earned and sincere. She has my support now as I have long had hers.
>>
>>3503395
>I cannot explain why, I simply wish to be at her side. Nothing more complex than that.
>>
>>3503395
>>I cannot explain why, I simply wish to be at her side. Nothing more complex than that.
>One such as you would never understand the feeling, nor would you try.
>>
>>3503395
>Mutual trust, long-earned and sincere. She has my support now as I have long had hers.
>>
>>3503395
>>I owe her a debt of gratitude I can never repay... for the unprecedented act of treating me as a friend.
>>
>I cannot explain why, I simply wish to be at her side. Nothing more complex than that.
>>
>>3503395
>>I cannot explain why, I simply wish to be at her side. Nothing more complex than that.
>>
>>3503395
>>Mutual trust, long-earned and sincere. She has my support now as I have long had hers.

>One such as you would never understand the feeling, nor would you try.
>>
>>3503395
>Writing, will probably be tomorrow
>>
>>3503815
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 2, 8, 5 = 15 (3d10)

>>3504723
>>
Rolled 6, 4, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>3504723
>>
Rolled 8, 1, 8 = 17 (3d10)

>>3504723
I am the sacrifice
>>
Rolled 1, 2, 9 = 12 (3d10)

>>3504723
>>
>>3504723
At first you struggle with the task laid out before you... how do you explain a human feeling to someone who seems so completely to lack those? But eventually you feel as though you can settle on an account that can at the very least clarify it for yourself, even if Aizen truly comprehend it. You also feel a strange gnawing, almost burning sensation low in your gut, but you ignore it.

“It took me a long time to understand it myself,” you admit, never lowering your blade even as you take the time to answer his question. “But I think I can understand her, just a little... the decisions she makes.”

“Enlighten me,” Aizen narrows his eyes, anticipating a further development to your line of thinking.

“Kusajishi Riku and I are alike in more ways than one,” you continue. “The most important of these ways is that we tend to become very strongly attached to those who are important in our lives.”

Aizen seems distinctly unimpressed. “That's all?”

You nod curtly. “It sounds so simple, does it not?”

“It sounds like you wasted my time.”

You shrug, trying to remain calm despite the sensation . “It comes as no surprise that you feel that way.”

“That's not even an explanation,” Aizen contends.

“It is,” you counter. “Both of us have surrounded ourselves with those we trust above all others. Both of us assembled surrogate families to which we are intensely loyal. Both of us fight zealously when those families are threatened.”

“That does not explain your servile attitude towards that woman,” Aizen asserts. “Or is it merely the natural state of a hollow to find meaning in servitude?”

Your gut feels almost like it's on fire now, right around where...

“That's quite the assertion,” you frown. “And it's also incorrect. Over the years, Kusajishi Riku seems to have grown as attached to me as I have to her... and so I desire to remain at her side, to protect what she holds dear as she protects what I hold dear.”

“That's why I expected you not to understand. You, who would betray or sacrifice even those who place their trust in you, who seems to so utterly lack and true human attachments to the world, could not possibly rationalize something which comes down entirely to a human sentiment.”

The sensation is suddenly gone.
>1/2
>>
File: 349327826.0.jpg (14 KB, 240x265)
14 KB
14 KB JPG
>>3504738
Aizen stares at you in complete non-comprehension as, immediately after your little speech, your hand plunges under the shadowy “skirt” that forms around your hips when you release Tiburón, fingertips probing for something that should be there...

… but isn't.

You feel your eyes widen slightly in shock at the discovery.

“You're finally right,” Aizen admits, still staring at you motionless. “This I don't understand, nor am I sure I especially want to?”

Your hand is back out in the open almost the same instant, though you glance down at it as if to make sure your failure to find the hole that marks you as a hollow was due to the absence of what you were searching for and not the sudden absence of your hand instead.

It's definitely not a problem with your hand.

That possibility having been eliminated your grip on Tiburón's enclosed hilt tightens.

>Segunda Etapa. Time to show this sad excuse for a man what you're made of.
>Continue to grind him down with powerful attacks until you're relieved.
>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>Other?
>>
>>3504742
>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
As much as I want to go Segunda Etapa, this seems important
>>
>>3504742
>>chase this new feeling
EVOLUTION BOYS!
>>
>>3504742
>>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>>
>>3504742
>>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>>
>>3504742
>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>>
>>3504742
>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>>
>>3504742

>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>>
>>3504742
>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
>>
>>3504742
>>Chase this sudden new feeling of... for lack of a better word, 'completion'.
Nothing quite like adhoc science in the name of shonen power-ups in the middle of a fight.
>>
>>3504742
>3d10, best of three
>>
Rolled 2, 5, 3 = 10 (3d10)

>>3505132
Go Shark
>>
Rolled 1, 7, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>3505132
>>3505132
>>
Rolled 9, 9, 10 = 28 (3d10)

>>3505132
>>
>>3505151
You glories basterd!
>>
>>3505151
>>
File: 1469133001575.jpg (379 KB, 900x800)
379 KB
379 KB JPG
>>3505132
You feel... different, somehow. You can't even explain it, you just know your own body well enough to say definitively that something fundamental has changed. And when you really think about it the reason becomes obvious: if you are no longer a hollow, what would happen if you used your Segunda Etapa? Can you even still use it?

Your initial feeling is no.

But does that mean you've left yourself less powerful?

You can still use your Resurreccion, which is obvious based on the fact that you're still using it at the moment. So where do you go now...

“It seems you're distracted,” Aizen muses, taking a swing at you which you parry with a blow from your own weapon. “Ryō for your thoughts?”

“Something unprecedented has happened,” you admit, landing lightly on your toes as you turn to face Aizen. “I'm grappling with the implications.”

There was a time, a hundred years ago, when Yoruichi and Riku had only just been exposed to Aizen's machinations. They would summon masks, like those of a hollow, in a process which they referred to as “hollowfication”.

In theory you may be able to tap into your reserves of hollow powers in that manner... but you also recall that there is a very real difference between yourself and the arrancars Aizen considers to have 'failed'. Your zanpakuto was once a proper Asauchi, like those actual shinigami carry. So in theory, you should be able to...

… but how do you do it? Part of the incantation is always the same, but what should the name be...

A brief flash of memory, the smell of fire and smoke and salt and a vision of the sea rushing up to embrace you.

Of course. What else could it be?

You extend your right arm and the wide blade of Tiburón out to your right side. Golden reiatsu swirls and dances wildly all around you.

“Bankai...”
>1/2
>>
>>3505187
HYPE!
i am on the edge of my seat here!!
>>
>>3505187
Holy moly
>>
>>3505187
“Usachi-yu no Tiburón.”

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz4czkVwuZw

In a powerful rush of water and reiatsu, you release something entirely new into the world: your Bankai. The sensation of your right hand hasn't changed that much, and when the violent swirling distraction has ceased you glance down to see an even narrower and slightly shorter arm blade, this one with a shorter beard on the inside of your arm and a longer one protecting your elbow. It should be much more maneuverable than the last incarnation, but not that much lighter.

You can also tell that your body has been covered once more by the vicious, ripping fangs of your former Segunda Etapa in some places... most notably round your torso, and all over the outside of the most striking new addition: you have a shield now.

It's not dissimilar in shape to the Tinbe of traditional Okinawan martial arts, though its lines are far less natural than a turtle shell's would be. And of course its textured surface will make it a dangerous weapon as well as an effective defense.

Around your hips is the last difference: slightly more developed bone plates protecting the outsides of your hips and thighs, and a 'skirt' that now cuts away from a point several inches below your crotch and meets behind your legs somewhere just around the backs of your knees.

“Bankai... you said...” Aizen repeats, staring at you for perhaps the first time with genuine surprise. “It's smaller than I would have imagined.”

Your shield clashes instantly against his sword, forcing him back with a painful, grinding screech of tiny hooked scales against steel, and an instant later the blade of your right-hand weapon crashes into his guard with bone-shattering force. A surge of water, instinctively released, carries him away.

When the wave settles, you glance down at a remaining puddle to see that your face is partly covered by a mask once more... from the neck up, it greatly resembles how you recall appearing as a Vasto Lorde, complete with a bladed 'tail' trailing behind your head like a lethal ponytail.

>Explain to Aizen the significance of the name, and why you are now worth his time.
>Use this chance to disengage, find Riku and Yoruichi. Even now you'll need their help.
>No words. No running. Only beatings now.
>Other?
>>
>>3505234
>>Use this chance to disengage, find Riku and Yoruichi. Even now you'll need their help.

3 way beatings? 3 way beatings!
>>
>>3505234
>Explain to Aizen the significance of the name, and why you are now worth his time.
>>
>>3505234
>No words. No running. Only beatings now.
>>
>>3505234
>Use this chance to disengage, find Riku and Yoruichi. Even now you'll need their help.
>>
>>3505234
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lsn2tT5yTc
>>
>>3505234
>>Use this chance to disengage, find Riku and Yoruichi. Even now you'll need their help.
>>
>>3505234
>>Explain to Aizen the significance of the name, and why you are now worth his time.
>>
>>3505234
>Explain to Aizen the significance of the name, and why you are now worth his time.
>>
>>3505234
>Use this chance to disengage, find Riku and Yoruichi. Even now you'll need their help.
>>
>>3505234
>No words. No running. Only beatings now.
>>
>>3505234
>>Explain to Aizen the significance of the name, and why you are now worth his time.
How can I say no to a monologue from Best Shark?
>>
>>3505234
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 1, 9, 1 = 11 (3d10)

>>3506545
>>
Rolled 9, 2, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>3506545
Shinigami's sucked up all the good dice.
>>
Rolled 3, 8, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>3506545
>>
>>3504738
>>3504742
Damn shark crushing hard
>>
>>3506545
Still need one more.
>>
Rolled 4, 3, 2 = 9 (3d10)

>>3506545
>>
File: 74162631_p5.jpg (522 KB, 2737x2736)
522 KB
522 KB JPG
>>3505234
“Do you know what that name means?” you quiz Aizen, already reaching out with your sixth sense to try and find Riku and Yoruichi. They're not where you expected them to be...

Aizen, thankfully, responds to your question with something vaguely approximating interest. “Enlighten me.”

“The name draws from Okinawan folk religion,” you explain, feeling Yoruichi much closer than anticipated... not only is she mobile, she has been keeping track of you and Aizen while Riku finished healing Arisawa?

You continue your explanation. “It reads as Imperial Shark Empress, Tiburón, of the Age of Gods, Usachi-yu no.”

“And is that supposed to have some meaning?” he demands.

“It does,” you assert. “It means two things... one is that I have recalled a part of who I was before becoming a hollow. Or at least, a significant part of the personality which would remain dominant over the various stages of evolution.”

“Fascinating, but irrelevant to the ultimate outcome,” Aizen decides. “And the second meaning?”

“I was a noro priestess once,” you explain, “a kaminchu, a godly person. You said that only one with shinreiryoku could be worthy to face you?”

Aizen's eyes narrow. “What are you trying to imply?”

“Perhaps this too was fate,” you muse, having finally pinpointed Yoruichi. “To have once more become kaminchu, after all that has transpired.”

And with that pronouncement, you abruptly take flight through the forest. It takes you only a few minutes to get there, which is strange... Aizen has taken a totally different route, but does not seem to be pursuing any sort of policy of destruction against the Seireitei in your absence.

“I figured something strange was going on,” you greet Yoruichi when you arrive at her refuge on the far side of the execution grounds. “Care to explain?”

“I'd ask you the same, but there's not enough time,” Yoruichi grumbles. “Riku has borrowed Kyōka Suigetsu's hypnotic power and is working on Aizen at the moment. But with all the unexpected developments she may be forced to tip her hand soon.”

“She is allied with Aizen's own zanpakuto?” you ask, shocked at what you're hearing. “Even for her, that's...”

“I had the same response at first,” Yoruichi admits, “but Riku's left the realm where conventional wisdom is of any use. And Kyōka Suigetsu herself is apparently trying to get Aizen killed now... which means that Aizen's soul is starting to shatter.”
>1/2
>>
File: 24875761_p0.jpg (109 KB, 1000x1375)
109 KB
109 KB JPG
>>3506589
“His soul is shattering?” you repeat, almost dumbstruck at the implication.

Yoruichi nods, her expression grim. “It's not unprecedented, particularly if there is a wedge between shinigami and zanpakuto caused by madness, or in this case Aizen's own meddling.”

“I suppose neither one lives within the realm of 'conventional wisdom' any longer,” you muse.

Her response is a wry grin. “Equal but opposite nonsense.”

>Are you communicating with Riku at this moment? We should really coordinate.
>I'm going to re-engage Aizen. I could use some assistance.
>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.
>Other?
>>
>>3506601
>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.
>>
>>3506601
>>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.

"I suppose neither one lives within the realm of `conventional Wisdom` any longer"
.... says the insanely powerful hollow shark goddes with a bankai, someone give best shark a mirror soon
>>
>>3506601
>>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.
>>
>>3506601
>>>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.
>>
>>3506601
>>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.
>>
>>3506601
>You possess some shinreiryoku as well? We need to make use of that now.
>>
>>3506601
“You possess some shinreiryoku yourself, do you not?” you ask.

Shihōin Yoruichi nods. “I do.”

“Good,” you nod. “I suspect we will need it... my own divine presence is highly limited.”

“That bad?” she sighs.

You shut your eyes, recalling the details as though they're playing out in front of you even now. “No wound I inflicted, no matter how grievous, seemed to last.”

“Unfortunate,” Yoruichi grumbles, “but I think I have a few possible ways to work around it. I just need time to figure out which of those will work.”

>I can buy you that time. Sit back and observe.
>We should work together, back each other up.
>I can back you up if you need to get close.
>Other?
>>
>>3507512
>>We should work together, back each other up.
>>
>>3507512
>>We should work together, back each other up.
>>
>>3507512
>>We should work together, back each other up.
>>
>>3507512
>>I can buy you that time. Sit back and observe.
>>
>>3507512
>We should work together, back each other up.
>>
>>3507512
>3d10, best of four
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 4 = 14 (3d10)

>>3508479
>>
Rolled 10, 8, 4 = 22 (3d10)

>>3508479
>>
Rolled 1, 10, 1 = 12 (3d10)

>>3508479
>>
Rolled 8, 10, 6 = 24 (3d10)

>>3508479
>>
Rolled 2, 10, 5 = 17 (3d10)

>>3508479
>>
>>3508479
“If you want to observe Aizen's newest form up close,” you offer, “then you should come with me. I would appreciate the support.”

“Hey now,” Yoruichi counters with a grin. “You may have some new tricks up your... purely proverbial at this point... sleeves, but I'm not ready to play second fiddle just yet.”

You nod, understanding perfectly the sentiment. “A duet, then.”

“At least until the rest of the ensemble arrives,” Yoruichi agrees.
>1/2
>>
>>3508536
Aizen Sōsuke has grown tired of the chase already. With prey as uninteresting as an arrancar it would be understandable to be sure, but this arrancar had gone to the trouble of teasing him with the prospect of shinreiryoku before turning tail. But when she finally turns to fight it's with a defiant glare.

“So, have you decided to stop running?” Aizen demands of Halibel. “Because it seems so from your attitude.”

“I was not running,” Halibel asserts. “Merely changing our positioning.”

“Do you truly believe you have gained the upper hand?” Aizen presses.

Halibel nods, before reappearing immediately in front of Aizen. “I do.”

She attacks swiftly, swinging her arm-blade with near blinding speed and nearly crushing him under the weight of her watery assault. But he does manage to weather it, somehow, and his counterattack clashes against her shield in a shower of sparks.

Aizen's blade slides past Halibel, who turns around Aizen's side and raises her shield. When Aizen turns to face his foe he finds that shield blocking his view, only for Halibel to sidestep with a swift sonido to reveal her duplicity.

Yoruichi's punch catches Aizen right on the jawline, rocking him back on his heels. When he recovers an instant later, he seems openly surprised at what he sees.

“You?”

Yoruichi grins. “Aw, you missed me!”

The Captain of the Second Division avoids a retaliatory swipe by simply leaning back, and follows through with a powerful kick along Aizen's midline that he's forced the block with his forearm. Aizen takes a moment to pop his shoulder, giving Halibel a chance to attack from behind.

“Cero.”

Her sweeping horizontal cero slams against a small barrier at the back of Aizen's neck... so it's a more or less automatic defense, she wonders for a moment?

“Two on one,” Aizen muses. “Like this, it may just be worth taking you as seriously as Kusajishi Riku.”

>Play as Yoruichi
>Play as Halibel
>>
>>3511325
>>Play as Halibel
>>
>>3511325
>Play as Halibel
>>
>>3511325
>>Play as Halibel
>>
>>3511325
> Play as Halibel
We need moar of based Selachimorpha waifu
>>
>>3511325
>>Play as Yoruichi
>>
>>Play as Yoruichi
>>
>>3511325
>play halibel
No offence to best cat, we have to take every bit of shark we can get to balance out the cat
>>
>>3511325
> Play as Halibel
Shark is best girl
>>
>>3511325
>3d10, Best of 4
>DC 16, Crit 21
>>
Rolled 7, 5, 5 = 17 (3d10)

>>3513393
>>
Rolled 2, 1, 1 = 4 (3d10)

>>3513393
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16 (3d10)

>>3513393
>>
Rolled 5, 9, 10 = 24 (3d10)

>>3513393
>>
File: 58515416_p2.jpg (202 KB, 600x934)
202 KB
202 KB JPG
>>3513393
You are Tia Halibel, and you are not entirely sure what you are anymore.

It's an interesting question, actually. You've been becoming less and less like a hollow over the years, and now your hollow hole has disappeared entirely. But you can still draw on your hollow abilities through your zanpakuto... so you suppose that makes you like Shihōin Yoruichi and Kusajishi Riku in that you are a “complete” arrancar, in that your hollow essence has been entirely sealed into your zanpakuto.

What does that mean in terms of raw power though, you wonder?

Based on what you felt earlier, you could probably force many of the current Captains of the Gotei 13 to release Bankai to face your own Resurreccion, which places your own Bankai in a league entirely its own. Yoruichi and Riku may well outstrip you somewhat in their abilities by virtue of possessing two zanpakuto to release, but not by as much as it would seem to one unfamiliar with your own capabilities.

“Now,” Aizen addresses you, holding his sword out level. “Come.”

“Normally I'm not one to simply do as my enemy wishes,” you muse before charging forward with a movement that's unfamiliar to you.

He brings down his blade against yours as you attack his ribs on the right side, stopping your momentum before turning and bringing that blade down on your shield. You manage to block that attack easily enough, before trying something new: you channel a cero through the shield you're blocking with and release it in a burning pulse of raw energy.

Aizen is blasted backwards, and as he recovers he finds his sword-arm encased in ice from Tiburón's blade.

It's then that Yoruichi makes her move.

Aizen's eyes widen as his body is surrounded by glowing kidō spheres, all glowing gold and dancing in a hypnotic pattern.

“You've stopped moving,” Yoruichi observes. “Is it because you've seen what's strung between my Danmaku?”

“Even for me, that would be an inconvenience,” Aizen acknowledges. “Very good.”

“Zangerin.”

Aizen turns in place and releases a sharpened ring of kidō that slices through Yoruichi's razorwire, then points at Yoruichi to release a cero.

Yoruichi's body flickers away, an afterimage left so quickly even your eyes failed to notice when she actually did it.

“Damn...” Aizen grunts as Yoruichi's blade sinks into his side, and he kicks himself free. His own foot meets the broad side of a second blade, using it as a springboard.

“Purr,” Yoruichi grins deviously, flipping the blades in her hands and leaving trailing arcs of electricity. “Raijūsenko.”
>1/2
>>
>>3513420
What feels like several minutes pass, mostly trading clawing attacks, sweeping strikes, shield bashes, and blasts of reiatsu. No matter how hard you hit Aizen it feels like he just takes it in stride... without shinreiryoku, it's likely that this battle would come down to a matter of endurance which you and Yoruichi would likely win.

“So, how you liking things?” Yoruichi asks, using her lightning claws to parry a series of rapid swings of Aizen's blade. “Getting a good feel yet?”

“Your fighting style is intense,” you admit, bringing down your blade on empty air as Aizen sidesteps. You instantly intercept a retaliatory attack meant for Yoruichi, blocking it with your shield and giving her an opening to advance. “But then again, we are both somewhat less familiar with each other than we should be.”

Yoruichi grunts, exchanging a claw across Aizen's face for a knee to the flank. “You've got a point.”

“Are you ready?”

Yoruichi rejoins you, taking a chance to catch her breath as Aizen regenerates his face.

“Perhaps.”

>I can give you a little more time to make sure.
>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>Can you give me an opening to attack cleanly?
>Other?
>>
>>3513432
>Can you give me an opening to attack cleanly?
>>
>>3513432
>>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>>
>>3513432
>>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>>
>>3513432
>>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>>
>>3513432
>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>>
>>3513420
>Based on what you felt earlier, you could probably force many of the current Captains of the Gotei 13 to release Bankai to face your own Resurreccion, which places your own Bankai in a league entirely its own.
Holy shit Tia is strong. Now this is the kind of thing that makes the statement "3 or 4 Vasto Lordes would wholesale destroy the Gotei 13" actually mean something. Not that she's really a normal Vasto Lorde at this point lol
>>3513432
>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>>
>>3513923
Canon Halibel was strong enough to force Hitsugaya to Bankai against her BASE form. SSQ Halibel's base form is just noticeably stronger than that, and her released form is substantially stronger and more flexible.

Then there's THIS. To face it you need to be one of three things: a transcendent being, two thousand years old, or a two-zanpakuto'd freak of nature.
>>
>>3513950
we have yet to see what new/other abilities halibels bankai has, or if there are any

are you willing to spoiler or was her secunda just changed into a bankai?
>>
>>3513950
Tia really went through the entire spectrum hasn't she? Hollow > Arrancar > Complete Shinigami/Hollow Hybrid
>>
>>3513432
>I can give you a little more time to make sure.
>>
>>3513432
>If you have a plan then I'll give you an opening.
>>
Rolled 10, 10, 9, 3 = 32 (4d10)

>>3513432
3d10, best of three
>>
Rolled 4, 2, 3 = 9 (3d10)

>>3515276
>>3515276
>>
Rolled 4, 5, 7 = 16 (3d10)

>>3515276
>>
Rolled 5, 2, 4 = 11 (3d10)

>>3515276
Oi
>>
Rolled 7, 9, 3 = 19 (3d10)

>>3515276
>>
>>3515282
>>3515286
>>3515287

and back to mediocrity ...
>>
Rolled 1, 5, 6 = 12 (3d10)

>>3515276
>>
File: 61528201_p5.jpg (2.21 MB, 1360x1228)
2.21 MB
2.21 MB JPG
>>3515276
“I'll give you an opening,” you tell Yoruichi, before charging in at Aizen.

He raises his blade to parry your thrust, and in doing so opens himself to your true attack: a cero released through your raised shield. The blast isn't enough to kill him of course, but it does knock him back and blind him for just a moment, allowing you to maneuver freely.

“La Gota Hiela.”

Four freezing teardrops of reiatsu-laden water hit Aizen's forearms and ankles, freezing his four limbs and weighing him down... but for only an instant, before Aizen shatters the ice and counterattacks. But his thrust slides off your blade, and suddenly you extend yourself to a reckless degree to pull off one last desperate trick.

Using the beard on Tiburón's blade you catch Aizen by the neck between your zanpakuto and your arm. Then you turn in place, flinging Aizen by his throat.

Yoruichi grins wickedly as she flips through the air, crackling with electricity as she slams a series of glowing golden orbs into Aizen's head as he tries to recover.

“Gotcha!”

The first explodes, seemingly doing little to actually hurt your shared foe... but the second causes Aizen's head to completely disappear. It dissipates outwards, the fragments themselves disappearing immediately afterwards.

“What WAS that?” you demand, shocked at the effect as Aizen's body falls lifelessly to the ground.

“A weapon kept sealed by the Shihōin clan,” Yoruichi explains, “for damn good reason I might add. Honestly I have no idea why it was ever even invented in the first place... like most of the stuff I'm in charge of.”

You're about to make a comment, but you instantly forget what you were going to say when you both realize that Aizen's head is regenerating.

“Oh, you've gotta be...” Yoruichi sighs, her shoulders drooping.
>1/2
>>
>>3515444
It's hard to believe that Aizen can still regenerate after losing his head... no arrancar could have done that, and that's all you have as a base for comparison.

“How absurd,” you shake your head. “Is there another strategy you had in mind?”

Yoruichi shakes her head. “Usually that works.”

You watch together as Aizen's head reconstitutes itself from the stump of his neck upwards, until the last bits of hair re-emerge from his newly reformed scalp.

“I can't believe what I'm seeing,” Yoruichi scowls, looking disgusted with Aizen.

“Why should this be surprising?” Aizen muses. “We are long beyond the point where anything you see...”

Abruptly, Aizen starts coughing... long, protracted, wracking coughs that fill his hands with blood. Then the blood starts to run purple, and a visible aura of dense, dark reiatsu coalesces around him. His power fluctuates wildly, when it's low it's inconsequential and when it's high it's almost impossible to reckon.

Yoruichi catches your eye and motions for you to back away, which you do as a duo. Once you have a little bit of space she turns to you.

“I don't know what's going on,” she admits, “but keep your guard up.”

“Right,” you nod, still watching the man carefully.

After a few minutes, he stops writhing and his reiatsu settles...

“No...” he mutters, staring at something in his hands. “No! How can this be!?”

>Press the attack.
>See if you and Yoruichi can bind him.
>Withdraw, coordinate with Riku.
>Give Yoruichi a chance to assess the situation.
>Other?
>>
>>3515997
>>See if you and Yoruichi can bind him.
>>
>>3515997
>See if you and Yoruichi can bind him.
>>
>>3515997
>>See if you and Yoruichi can bind him.
>>
If we destroyed his head/eyes does that mean the illusions are dispelled or something?
>>
>>3515997
Sounds like he’s got the same issue as Ichigo did when he first met Arrancar. Someone is trying to usurp the top spot in his being.
>>
>>3515997
>>Give Yoruichi a chance to assess the situation.
>>
>>3515997
>>Give Yoruichi a chance to assess the situation.
>>
>>3515997
>See if you and Yoruichi can bind him.
>>
>>3515997
>See if you and Yoruichi can bind him.
>>
>Give Yoruichi a chance to assess the situation.
>>
>>3515997
>3d10, best of three
>>
Rolled 3, 2, 8 = 13 (3d10)

>>3517735
>>
Rolled 7, 9, 8 = 24 (3d10)

>>3517735
>>
Rolled 1, 9, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>3517735
>>
>>3517735
“Yoruichi!” you call out. “We have to act!”

“Right!” she calls back, reaching out with her hands. “Hainawa! Hainawa!”

Two winding chains of light wrap and weave around each other, tightly binding Aizen in place, before she clasps her hands together and extends both index fingers together. “Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide into six!”

“Bakudō 61, Rikujōkōrō!”

Both the chains individually burst into six petals of light each, magnified simultaneously by the same incantation.

But you're not finished. You join in, sending the mass of water crashing down on him from on high all at once with a bellow.

“Cascada Hiela!”

The water ices over in an instant, completely encasing both Aizen and the kidō binding him. Were you a certain Captain who shall here remain nameless you might simply assume that you'd killed him, but it's clear to you and Yoruichi both that Aizen is very much alive even now.

“What is it going to take to kill this guy?” Yoruichi sighs, shaking her head.

“Unconventional methods,” a voice replies solemnly. “Hello, Tia. Apologies for the initial deception.”

The ice begins to crack ominously, reiatsu leaking from several deep rends in the chilly pyre.

“We can discuss my various shortcomings later,” the woman wearing Kusajishi Riku's face insists, watching Aizen with a disapproving frown. “Unfortunately this must come first.”
>Will continue with the next thread
>>
>>3517827
Next thread we'll start with Riku, Yoruichi, and Halibel against final-form Aizen.
>>
>>3518149
K
>>
>>3518149
Nice.
>>
>>3518149
Okay so still final-final form, the secret form and the final-secret form left.
>>
>>3518304
Don't forget the optional double-secret mega-plus form. But I don't think we rang enough bells on tuesday afternoons to unlock the encounter.
>>
File: 1439151472865.gif (601 KB, 291x386)
601 KB
601 KB GIF
>>3518304
>>3518739
>>
>>3518149
Omake requests?
>>
>>3520455
Riku as a vasto lorde or the zanpakuto of some one else (maybe Tatsuki)
>>
>>3520455
Apacci goes on that date with Strawberry.
More high school Riku and friends shenanigans
>>
>>3520455
Halibel and co sightseeing in the living world/another country
>>
>>3520455
a typical day in the life of kenny of zaraki
>>
>>3520455
I like the Riku as a zampakuto or the high school shenanigans
>>
>>3520455
People's reactions to unhollowfication through the power of friendship
>>
>>3520485
i assume the people that know her even a little just sigh and mumble something about nothing making sense anymore since riku came into their lifes
>>
>>3520485
>Halibel: "So this is what this feels like. I was starting to wonder."
>Yoruichi: "So this is what this looks like. Nice."
>Riku: "Took her long enough."
>Apacci: "Whew... way to go Lady Halibel!"
>Sung-Sun/Mila Rose: "Of course, it's to be expected of Lady Halibel after all."
>Grimmjow: "These people are all insane."
>Starrk: "Neat."
>Neliel: "So such a thing is possible through our own abilities... I'm happy to know that Aizen was wrong about us."
>Loly: "Menoly, who the hell is it you've been getting mixed up with?"
>Bambietta: "And that's why she's the most tolerable hollow."
>Shunsui: "She did what? For the love of... I have a meeting I need to be at. Excuse me."
>Hitsugaya: "It would seem our trust and patience have been validated."
>Kisuke: "Damn it, Riku."
>Mayuri: "How exceedingly fascinating! But also pointless to discuss, as I cannot study her properly with Captain Kusajishi in the equation."
>Aizen: "Fucking power of friendship bullshit."
>>
>>3520455
Rukia & Tatsuki teasing each other about StrawberryFeelings. Keep escalating because both of them refuse to be the first to break

Also, Captcha is being an ass today.
>>
>>3520521
>>Kisuke: "Damn it, Riku."
>>Mayuri: "How exceedingly fascinating! But also pointless to discuss, as I cannot study her properly with Captain Kusajishi in the equation."
>>Aizen: "Fucking power of friendship bullshit."

kek
>>
>>3520455
Shark attempting to court the cat and fox.
>>
>>3520521
>meanwhile in Ulquiorra's corner: Hm...
>>
File: 60091870_p0.jpg (840 KB, 5098x3624)
840 KB
840 KB JPG
>>3520455
HIGH SCHOOL OMAKE

Karakura High School.

10:30am, on a Tuesday.

“Byakurai.”

A lance of reiatsu flickers through the air, blasting the head off a hollow that was unfortunate enough to poke said head out into the living world at that precise time, in that precise place.

A few seconds later, Captain Kusajishi Riku sighs and glances down at her watch.

“I'm bored,” she declares.

Downstairs the students are killing time, waiting for the period to change, and in a rare turn of events four of the exchange students are present: Kuchiki Rukia, Apacci Emilou, Cyan Sung-Sun, and Franceska Mila Rose.

A few of the students glance up towards the ceiling, which causes Apacci to chuckle.

“Whatcha lookin' at, Arisawa?” she asks with a smirk. “Seems like you've been distracted lately.”

There's a clap of thunder that only the spiritually-sensitive members of the class can hear... Orihime, Mizuiro, and Asano seem confused by it, while Ichigo just seems slightly annoyed.

“Tryin' to do my finals here...” he grumbles. “Chad? How are you so focused?”

The giant boy shrugs. “Your aunt came all this way. It would be rude not to do our best.”

“That's right,” Ishida adds quietly, adjusting his glasses. “It's because she's been on duty here that we've been able to study properly.”

“Speaking of which, shouldn't she and miss Yoruichi be here?” Arisawa asks, slightly confused at their absence.

Kuchiki suddenly interjects, taking her seat after leaving for a drink of water from out in the hall. “This is two Captains you're talking about, Arisawa. They made arrangements and took the exams last week.”

“How'd they find time to study?” Arisawa presses.

“Study?” Appaci snorts. “Like they'd bother. Hell, they were tutoring us more than they actually studied.”

“Some of us got more out of it than others,” Mila Rose adds, prompting a sharp glare from Appaci.

“After all,” Sung-Sun agrees in her usual breezy tone, “Appaci here started off illiterate.”

“There's this human invention called “Hooked on Phonics”, you know,” Mila Rose smirks.

Appaci rolls her eyes. “Very funny, fuzz-butt. But remind me, which of us thought a 'Bashō' was something you ate?”

“Hey, I might've at some point!” Mila Rose retorts.

Upstairs, Kusajishi Riku dispatches another hollow with a simple punch to the face. "Ah, to be so young and carefree again..."
>1/3
>>
>>3520759
GREAT WAR OMAKE
Before Shihōin Yoruichi stands an exceptionally small hollow, one whose reiatsu is impossible to ignore. Even amidst the rage of war it's impossible to tear her eyes away even for an instant.

What catches her off guard is the remarkably human face, at least from the nose down, that peers out from behind the mask to regard her with... what is this? Curiosity? Or is it wariness? Behind its back a cluster of tails wave idly. On closer inspection their white volume is composed of long white spines, each coming to a wicked point.

After a roll of artillery, Yoruichi speaks first.

“Who are you?”

The words are a demand, but the tone is carefully controlled. After all, this hollow has made no effort to attack... unusual, given the fact that so far each of its predecessors has emerged into an immediate feeding frenzy.

After a few tense moments, the hollow replies. “Inari... Rosa.”

“And more importantly I suppose,” Yoruichi presses, “just WHAT are you?”

“I am what you would call a Vasto Lorde,” Inari Rosa replies calmly, eyes still locked on the Captain. “I have a question of my own.”

“Remain so polite and I will try to answer,” Yoruichi offers, still wary as if expecting a sudden attack.

Inari Rosa is about to speak when a shell burst forces her to evade with a sonido. Yoruichi's zanpakuto is out in an instant, pressed against the base of the Vasto Lorde's neck, but is withdrawn when she notices that hollow's raised hands.

“Sorry,” Yoruichi apologizes. “We've all been a bit jumpy lately.”

“That was what I was about to ask about,” Inari Rosa admits. “This... all of this... what is it?”

“A war between human nations,” Yoruichi explains. “Now in its second year.”

After a few moments of silence, Inari Rosa sighs. “Wasteful.”

“No arguments here,” the Captain shakes her head. “Why are you here?”

“Curiosity.”

The Vasto Lorde opens a Garganta, and begins to withdraw.

“Leaving so soon?” Yoruichi demands, raising her sword.

Inari Riku turns her back. “I have seen enough death and misery already.”

“Good luck in your mission, shinigami.”

As the Garganta closes, Yoruichi's eyes fall on the Vasto Lorde's empty 'hole'... as though a sharp knife has cut out her heart. For just a moment, her features betray a sudden sense of pity.
>2/3
>>
>>3520830
Nice!
>>
>>3520830
“What was it, then?” a voice asks from the darkness.

Inari Rosa lies on her side in the sand, tucked under a rocky overhang with the speaker.

“Something vile,” she explains. “A catastrophic war. That is what has been drawing so many powerful hollows into the living world.”

“Are we not going as well?”

Rosa shakes her head. “Somehow, I feel that doing so would offend my pride.”

“I understand the sentiment,” the speaker admits. “After all, we have no further need to feed. Going as we are would only lead to more bloodshed, for no point.”

A few moments later, Rosa glances over her shoulder. “Speaking of bloodshed, it is likely much of Barraggan's army has gone over to feed.”

“A reasonable deduction.”

“What say we pay him a visit then, some time tomorrow?”

The other hollow lays down in the sand as well, her back turned to the vulpine Vasto Lorde and her head resting on her own arm. “A sound strategy. I was wondering if we would ever get a decent opportunity to move against him.”

“Tomorrow it is then,” Rosa declares. “I will be counting on you as always, Tia.”

“Of course,” Tia Halibel replies, shutting her eyes. “We are sisters, are we not?”
>3/3



Delete Post: [File Only] Style:
[Disable Mobile View / Use Desktop Site]

[Enable Mobile View / Use Mobile Site]

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties. Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.