To Catch a Potatoe Thief

Namiko was strolling through the Kidou Corps. barracks in her shihakkusho when a messenger stopped in her path. Panting, he quickly stood at attention and cried out: "5th Seat Kiyomizu! You are requested to take part in a special joint squad mission by the Kidou Commander! He recieved a request for one of his officers and selected you!" He stood for a few more moments in an uncomfortable silence until Namiko raised an eyebrow. "And the mission is...?" The obviously inexperienced messenger fumbled with his pouch and pulled out a manilla envelope, Which he then handed to the fifth Seat.

---Gotei 13-

--

There has been a small issue with the food supply as of yet, seeing as the farmer's crops of tasty and wholesome potatoes has been vanishing. If a small group of Shinigami could investigate the farms, that'd be great. Also, there are reports that the Land of the Living will be having the same problems. Two teams are requested. The team staying in the Soul Society can meet at the East Gate, and the team going to the Land of the Living will group up at the Senkaimon. Please hurry, for most of the more impoverished Rukongai districts can afford nothing but potatoes, and they enjoy those potatoes very much.

Reading over the mission request, Namiko sighed: 'The loss of all those potatoes, how can we recover from it? I MUST take action! Rukongai takes precedence, the world of the living can wait. It seems I'll have to head to the east gate then.' finished, she read over the rest of the mission specifications and signed her assent to the mission. She then handed the request back to the messenger."Tell the Commander I will be accepting this mission and am heading to the Rukongai Task Force." Saluting and with a "Yes Ma'am!", the messenger took the envelope and dashed away.

As Namiko began to walk towards her quarters to collect her equipment, Namiko began to ponder the mission. 'Rukongai? Potatoes? This mission must be important. I better pack for a hard one.'

[spoiler=STATS]

Strength – [75] Points
Speed - [175] Points
Spiritual Pressure - [125 (x2)] 250 Points
Reiatsu Strength - [125 (x2)] 250 Points
Instinct - [100] Points
Senses [100] Points
Energy sensory - [100] Points[/spoiler]

Kyomei was already at the East Gate when Namiko arrived with all of her supplies that she had retrieved from her room. As she arrived, she'd notice the powerful fourth seat in front of her. He was one rank higher than her, officially, but with her adept level of Energy Sensory she'd understand that he had an immense reiatsu signature. It was obvious that he was holding himself back to avoid hurting people with his presence. He was quite short for a man of the Seireitei, only measuring 5'3", and his hair was a light brown, of medium length. He shook the hair out of his eyes and examined the Soul Reaper that approached him. "Ah, they sent a Fifth Seat. It is a low ranked mission after all. Let me introduce myself. I am Kyomei Kuchiki, fourth seat to Squad 6. And you are? Also, the more important question, where is your Zanpakutou... It is war time after all."

The Kuchiki raised an eyebrow towards Namiko. She could have forgotten it for all he knew. A Technique Master was a very rare occurrence in the Soul Society, and Shinigami did not generally assume that because there was no Zanpakutou belted on the other's side that they were one. Kyomei himself was a Technique Master, though that wasn't purely obvious as there was a sword belted to his side, as well as the fact that he was part of a typical Squad. Whether she explained about her Zanpakutou or not, Kyomei would simply nod and beckon for her to follow him. He would lead her out through the East Gate into the Rukongai, and a short walk would lead them to the area where the farmers had most recently lost their potatoe crop. Kyomei nodded to Namiko as if to say, "Go do something". The Kuchiki seemed to be an escort more than a teammate for this mission, so the fifth seat would do a lot of the work, probably.

---

Itou would find no problem getting to the Land of the Living, though he'd probably find the Senkaimon a little bit scary, if not creepy, if it was his first time through the tunnel of sludge, being chased by the sweeper. He made it through just fine, as even an average human could muster up the speed required to get through it if they had the determination, and Itou was much faster than an average human. He emerged from the Senkaimon in beautiful Scotland, with a nice salty breeze and a lovely ocean view past the cliff that he stood on. If he turned around, he'd see a sprawling landscape of farms stretching a good ways, but no farm hands in sight despite it being harvest season and the middle of the day. Itou was not in a Gigai if he was able to place his hand on his Asauchi, meaning the spiritually uninclined could not see him, so investigation of the populace would be impossible. So how would Itou go about the initial investigation before any other Shinigami showed up?

Namiko explored the abandoned farm with all of her senses, her Energy Sensory, her sight, her hearing, and her sense of taste. For sight, she saw the tops of the potatoe plants, the inedible part, was still sticking up out of the ground. For hearing, she heard nothing out of order. For taste... well the air kinda tasted dusty due to the dry ground that the two Shingami were turning into dust as they walked along it. For Energy Sensory, which was the most honed of the six senses, she would sense something about the size of a pig just underneath the surface of the ground, not moving or doing anything abnormal. Namiko's physical senses were only of an athletic human, and her energy sensory skills weren't spectacular, so she might have missed things with her precursory scan. But then again, there was the pig sized thing under the ground a few feet in front of her. Kyomei did nothing, just watching the fifth seat and checking the horizon for anything that might be incoming.

As Itou arrived at the Senkaimon, his partner was already awaiting him. Aramis Tezuka, one whom Itou had crossed blades with before. He looked stronger than he had when they had faced off, but his eyes were the same. Bored but questioning. Eyes that seemed to examine everything around him with meticulous detail, before determining it not being worth the interest he had initially put into it. He raised his ungloved hand to his face to adjust his glasses slightly. If he recognized Itou, he gave no indication of it.

It seemed Itou wasn't interested in talking either however, and was eager to begin the mission, for he jumped through the Senkaimon without a word. Aramis followed him at a brisk but leisurely pace. "Why are potatoes so important? If it were takoyaki it might be more interesting. Potatoes are so basic. Too rudimentry." He commented as he traversed between the worlds and emerged in Scotland. Aramis had not slid his zanpakuto into his belt, but rather carried it in one hand. As it had been when he had fought Itou, while the sleeve on one half of his body was short, exposing a slender arm, the opposite sleeve covered the entire arm, wrist and hand, draping over it like a child wearing a robe that was too big for them.

"I've never been to Scotland." Aramis commented. "But wasn't it Ireland that was in lack of potatoes at one time?" He commented. "Proximity is unusual, but likely coincidental." His voice was airy, as if he were in another world altogether. "Unusual place to base operations, if there are any here, but I suppose there are plenty of hiding places. Would have suggested scans for notable reiatsu signatures before we arrived." He added on, disapprovingly.

"So... Potatoes, huh? Namiko had begun to dig at the object she had located in the dirt. While her shovels scooped dry, cracked dirt away from the area, the fifth seat turned to Kyomei to chat a little. "I'm not really here for the potatoes, as good as they are. I'm here to evaluate the newest member of the Kidou Corps, which one day I will control." Namiko wouldn't have a lot of time, or any time really, to respond to that statement, because as soon as the Kuchiki finished what he was saying, the Gramayre shovel got the last shovel full of dirt and hit the pig sized object. What was as big as a pig turned out to be a simple box, and by hitting it with the pure reiatsu, red circles started to form on top of it. There was an audible clicking sound, and the box started to play music and open.

The music was slow in tempo, very much like a child's lullaby. As the music started to play, the red circles that had formed on top of the box started to detach from the side of the metal, actually floating in the air as they spun and grew. What was thought to be circles was actually very tiny words that became more visible as they grew. The first circle to grow had a single repeating phrase. THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS CRY OUT Did this mean the Earth as in the Land of the Living, or the earth as in the ground? It wasn't clear. The all caps didn't help much either. Each instance of that phrase was separated by a series of non-Germanic letters, but neither were they any sort of Kanji. It was of no language that Kyomei or Namiko would have ever seen. Quite possibly no one in the Soul Society nor the Land of the Living would have ever seen such characters.

---

Meanwhile, Aramis and Itou would be ambused by some strange contraption. Surrounding them on the cardinal points of North, East, West, and South were devices that just popped out of the ground, forming a circle approximately ten meters in diameter. These devices looked like small garden lamps, with a small pole that emerged from the ground and a glass bulb on top. They only were about a foot tall, if that, and had a red glow to them. The glow started spinning, to reveal red circles that grew to also form words like the box was doing in the Soul Society. As the red circles formed, four talons appeared in between the four light fixtures, creating a bubble that appeared over top of Aramis and Itou. The two Shinigami were trapped, with no way to break out. They'd just have to watch as the circles grew and the message was revealed. The message that followed was the same in the Soul Society where Namiko and Kyomei watched.

---

As the circles had now grown upwards and outwards to form a cone seven feet high and three feet in diameter at the largest point, suddenly they stopped growing. The message dissolved away and the cone filled itself in, tipping downwards to point at the inside of the bubble in the Land of the Living, and the new fifth seat in the Soul Society. A swirling vortex of stars appeared inside the cone, and there was a flash of light and a pull so strong that nothing could overcome it. It would be a waste to even attempt to do so. Namiko was sucked in, as well as Aramis and Itou. Kyomei stood alone in the Soul Society when the light faded, leaving behind a crater where the box used to be. Namiko was gone. In the Land of the Living, no one would have been the wiser, as Aramis and Itou, as well as the trap, had been invisible. They too were gone, though there was no damage to the landscape.

The three Shinigami would probably wake up at nearly the same time to find themselves alone. Their eyes would be hurting from the intense flash of light, as well as be unable to see for a moment. Aramis would be the first to recover, as he had the best eyesight, and Itou would be the last to recover, as he had the worst eyesight of the group. When the light faded from their eyes, they would find themselves in a massive cavern made up solely of dirt. The walls were dirt, the ceiling was dirt, the ground was dirt. It would have been considered more a tunnel than a cavern if it didn't appear so natural. On the walls were a few torches, though they didn't appear normal, as the flame had a green tint to it and floated off the edge of the wooden stick that was attached to the wall.

If they looked around, they'd see that behind them was a closed gateway, inscribed with the same types of characters that the message had appeared with. No sort of effort would budge the doors, as if they were made up of the ground itself. The gateway was made up of the only stone present in the area, however what appeared to be dirt and felt like dirt had the durability of incredibly strong stone, resisting any attempts to dig at it. So there appeared to be only one way to go, and that was away from the gate and further down the cavern/tunnel. As soon as each of them walked a few feet, they'd notice something at the edge of the path, just past an opening in the far wall. Sitting on the ground was a singular potatoe, clear of any and all dirt, just resting on top of the soil.

As the bubble formed around them, Aramis observed it with what seemed to be a mute interest. "Not unlike one of the forbidden kido, that separates those inside it from the outside world. Likely unbreakable for individuals of our level." He stated, without sounded particularly concerned. "However. Nonlethal, and not even harmful. Most likely intended to hold the target long enough for--" He was then interrupted by the message that appeared in the air. He stepped up by Itou to observe it.

"What the hell?" "Hell? I should hope not, I've had enough of that place. That's a C." Aramis commented quietly. And then they were gone. When he came to, Itou was nowhere in sight. "Unlikely that he left on his own, which means we have been separated." He mused. So. He was alone now. Completely alone. Aramis observed the shackle on his wrist for a moment. Would it be safe to....? Aramis's hand hovered over the shackle on his left hand for a moment, before pulling back. No. Even if there wasn't anyone, he didn't want to have to face that.

He then observed the walls for a moment, and brought his left hand up and across, creating a loud grating sound, as the concealed talons on his left hand gouged scratches into the dirt. "Hmmm.... should take some back for analysis..." He considered, taking his index finger and chipping at the wall with the claw until he could get a bit of the wall to break away. He swiftly picked it up and then continued down the passage until he got to the potato room.

Aramis, however, was less concerned with the potato and more interested in the opening in the wall, which he turned to look through. Potatoes were uninteresting. He had been drafted for this assignment, he had not chosen it himself. There was nothing interesting in that aspect of this assignment. It was the tertiary information that held value to Aramis. He was much more interested in the party performing this work, than the work itself (though the "why" was a question to be answered, indeed).