Arc 1 ~ Canon S-2: New Generations: Bount [Easy, DP]

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

Name: Arc 1 ~ Canon S-2: New Generations: Bount, Series 1

Participants: Max of 4 allowed. Restricted to Class 8-6

Location: Karakura Town, Japan

Difficulty Level: Easy

Threat Level: DP

Plotline: Children all over the world have started going missing. What could be causing this? It’s a strange event that has garnered the attention of many, forcing the spiritual world to get involved. Will these children be saved, or will they be made to suffer?

Estimated Enemy Strength: Class 6

Estimated Time Until Completion: 3 pages

Starts: October 26, 2024

Special Conditions: Each character can only join one Canon thread at a time. There is a strict one-week posting timer that begins once a previous participant posts. If the next participant fails to post during their turn during this time period, they get skipped. This does not mean they get dropped, but that participant’s character will suffer the consequences (such as being forced to take whatever damage has occurred due to a previous poster’s actions). Participants are free to drop if they so choose and new participants can join, but there can only ever be a maximum of four participants at any time. If someone gets skipped, the DM will post who was skipped and whose turn it is to post. If any participant is skipped 3 times within the Canon thread, they will be automatically dropped and someone new may be permitted to join.

DISCLAIMER: I fully expect your characters' Classes to increase because of other threads outside of the Canon! That is okay, but you are required to use the stats and skills your character has at the time of Canon entry. They cannot be updated. If your character was Class 6 for an Easy thread, for example, and you post your stats and skills as they were at Class 6, then that is what they will be throughout the duration of the Canon thread. If your character's Class increases to 5, that is okay. They are still required to use their Class 6 values. Likewise, if your character was Class 8 at the time of entry and increased to Class 6 outside of the Canon, they must still use their Class 8 stat and skill values. The same rule applies for any power changes/additions.

[Kane Coo]

Signing up for Kane the bird-man Rogue

[Hanako Nozawa]

Throwing Hanako into this. She'll be a Squad 13 unseated officer for the purposes of story.

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

That night held a battle that would never be forgotten. One man's indomitable spirit against the overpowering might and malice of his adversary. The battle had come to its crescendo, its final act, as both opponents had used everything they had against the other up to this point. The rain fell heavy that night. He was chilled to the bone. His clothes soaked with rain, mud, and blood. The burning, humanoid, construct of Reiatsu that stood above him protected his body from the rain and even pushed back the currents at his feet. He stood there, soaked and bloody, encased in the body of his Inner Power. A humanoid torso towered thirty feet over the man. Admittedly, the technique had not yet been completed. It was rushed, sloppy, unrefined. A power that the man had stolen from another's blood. But it was the last thing he had up his sleeve. From the edge of the crater they stood in, rubble moved. Rocks fell as what looked to be a bird made from solid ice freed itself from where it was trapped. But to say it was in good shape would be a lie. Half of its head was missing. Its left wing was gone. The creature looked to be in rough shape. But this was not what the man encased in true power was staring down.

No, it was the other. What remained of its tail slammed into the vast quantity of water that its body was producing. Lightning cracked through the sky behind its gargantuan form, illuminating it like a silhouette out of a nightmare. Standing twenty five feet tall was the four eyed monstrosity that haunted the hero's doubts and insecurities. Similarly to all combatants, it was also not in a good shape. Its tail had been cut off at some point, leaving little more than a short length. Massive shards of ice protruded through its chest and out its back and yet it did not stop. It was missing its left forearm and its right hand was missing numerous fingers. Various other injuries dotted the monster's form and yet it did not stop. The man could only look on with respect and awe. He did not expect this to be an easy fight. Never once did he. But he hadn’t expected the monster's tenacity.

”I’m taking back what’s mine,” he declared with resolution. There was nothing left in the gas tank. All the fighters in this battle were spent. It would be decided with the next engagement. The arms of Inner Power raised themselves up into a standard boxing position as the monster only leaned itself forward. When the next lightning strike appeared both made their move. A glowing arm of pure power coursed through the air into a powerful jab only for the beast, despite its injuries, to dodge out of the way and keep moving forward. The arm passed harmlessly by its shoulder. But he accounted for this. In the hand of Inner Power that still had not been used there was a glowing energy. As the monster made its own attack with its one remaining working hand, the man's Inner Power lunged with its own last attack. The powerful energy held in its hand was released and sent directly into the monsters head. Its top half was blown apart leaving it a headless, torsoless, body. But its own attack had, in the same moment of the clash, broken through. Its arm shattered through the body of Inner Power directly at the man inside. Perhaps it was only because of his own attack, but the monster's lunge didn’t reach its true target.

The massive arm tore right through where it did hit, though. The right half of his body. A chunk of his head, his shoulder and arm, and even some of his waist were simply erased from existence by the sheer strength this monster possessed. A strength this man battled to obtain. In that moment, the eagle screamed something out and had maneuvered itself behind the man. Half of his head and the rest of his body were gone. Death was certain. But something that could only be called a miracle occurred. The unconscious part of his brain activated something in that moment. His body immediately went to sleep. He possessed the ability to heal through sleeping from any injury. But this injury was too extreme for even this miracle activation to save him from. He wouldn’t survive near long enough for this healing sleep to work. But that was where the other entity came into play. The other Doll. The bird born of ice enclosed the dead man in its wing and together they became one. A solid construct of ice that froze the man in time, preserving him in that state of near death. His body had not died just yet. His soul had not moved on. In that preserved state, wherein he activated his healing sleep, he was left frozen in a coffin of ice. All of this happened in mere moments. At the speed of a lightning strike. So when the attack released from Inner Power detonated, the coffin was forced into the earth, weakened from the battle. The water that the other Doll had released would be left behind to cover it all up.

---

Events from not too long ago caused quite a stir, unbeknownst to the man who was responsible. All over the world, countless Bount were suddenly made aware of a single man's presence. In some ways, this invited a lot of good. In other ways, it provided a lot of bad. Unfortunately, some of the bad involved the kidnapping of innocent children. These children belonged to powerful people, too. Many were politicians or leaders in some way, and the children were hardly older than ten. There had been rumors, as well, that vampires were the cause. The humans of the world didn't know what this meant, save for a few who were spiritually aware, but none dared talk about it unless they risk being seen as insane.

The setting is Karakura Town, Japan. It's night time, but not too late. People are returning from their evening entertainment choices and settling in for the night as the lights of the city flood the sky without a single star to be seen. The moon, bright and full, was busy rising up into the sky as it danced with the bustling humans below. As everyone began to retire for the night, the secret side of the spiritual world came out to play. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't the best night to goof off from their duties. As organizations caught word of the kidnappings, they sent some of their members to investigate and try to figure out what's going on.

For now, listen to the whispers within the city and allow them to lead you from location to location. Perhaps you'll find the missing children, or maybe someone will find you.

[Hanako Nozawa]

Karakura Town. She shuddered to think of the last time she had been to this place, sent to the World of the Living to learn only to be thrust into a situation well and totally beyond her control. It made her skin crawl to remember it. However, if she were to let that experience scare her away, then could she truly call herself a Shinigami? Could she allow herself to be controlled in that way by fear? Could she abandon people who truly needed her aid?

Hanako Nozawa stood upon the air, far above the well-lit skyline of Karakura Town's center. Behind her, the senkaimon closed, cutting her off from the Seireitei for all but through the phone kept in a pocket inside her shikakusho. The others had already left, departed on their way to carry out their own tasks for the joint mission they all shared tonight. A long, slow sigh escaped her, as she looked to the rising moon and let her thumb play gently over the hilt of her zanpakutō.

"At least, you're here with me." She muttered, then began her quick descent from the sky to land on the roof of a tall building below. Her steps came softly, padded by the footholds of reishi underneath her feet before she stepped down onto the hard concrete in its stead. She looked out over the street below, an amused grin gracing her face while she watched the humans go about their evening plans. She did like this place, after all. The thought of so many going about their days, enjoying themselves with little thought towards where their next meal will come from; it made her happy, in a sad sort of way.

However, not all was well. That was why she was here, after all. Hanako stood straight again, turned her eyes back to the moon overhead for a moment, then closed them so that she may focus. She opened herself up to the world, to the countless spirits both living and not that resided within it, and searched. She was here for a purpose, and she intended to do it well. She needed to make up for her prior mistakes, for her own sake and the sake of the children who had gone missing. Why did the Seireitei care that children had gone missing in the World of the Living? That was an unimportant detail, as far as she was concerned.

So, Hanako cast her mind's eye upon the town all around her. Through every nook and cranny, within a half-mile radius of her location, she searched the reiatsu of many for signs of her targets. Eventually, she hoped, she would find something of interest. Even if she had to move on into a new area, then a new one after that; it was only a matter of time...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills}Strength - 100 (-50%) = 50
Speed - 200 (+50%) = 300
Reiatsu Strength - 224 (+30%) = 291
Spiritual Pressure - 250 (-40%) = 150

Instinct - 67 (-25%) = 50
Senses - 67 (-25%) = 50
Energy sensory - 67 (+50%) = 100

Healing Expertise - 0

Light Aura - 75
Dark Aura - 25

Analyzing - 1

Weapons (Sakabatō) - 1
Martial Arts (Drunken Style Kung Fu) - 1
Kidō (Bakudō) - 1
Hohō - 1

Mental Incantation - 1
Acrobatics - 1
Focused Eye - 1
Stealth - 1
Anti-Stealth - 1

[Kane Coo]

Japan was proving to be very different from the Norwegian countryside that Kane had been residing in up until just a couple weeks ago. He still had no memories of the time he spent in the Gotei 13, a low seated Beast clansman with a zanpakutou based on recording and playing back sound. He had caught the wrong secret from the wrong criminal family and been experimented on, fused to a Bakkoto, and cast into the Land of the Living with nothing else than the recordings on the iPod that connected with his parasite. His mind broken so thoroughly that he no longer had a voice of his own, the irony of his former Shikai’s mimicry powers now being his only way to communicate could have been amusing to an outside observer but was simply a dreary existence for the bird-like man.

Well, not entirely dreary. There were many shiny treasures to “borrow” and hoard in random locations he would easily forget about and there was the beauty of music to get Kane through the day to day. Life was nothing short of perfect when music filled his ears, no, his very soul was infused with the melodies, beats, and lyrics. Something was different about the music on his iPod, the songs that he could lace with spiritual power when feeding the parasite embedded into his shoulder. With most of the voices he picked up to parrot back the memory of them faded within days. But these songs, the voices of Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Adele, and Survivor, are words he can always count on and recall. For this reason on this particular night he softly sang to himself as he stuck to the shadows of alleys prowling for shiny treasures. ”Dark in the city night is a wire… do do dodo… In touch with the ground, I'm on a hunt down after you here forever, you and me together nothing gets better. Just a Kane Coo and his will to survive.” Absentmindedly drifting between songs and voices, Kane was peacefully enjoying the thinning crowds of humans hurrying home for the night. If he was being overheard, the usage of his name in the last line would be extremely out of place, no music to it. That particular voice was of the Kasumi’Oji who had tortured him and left him with a depressing message on the iPod about he was unloved, worthless, and cast out.

Despite being above average in sneaking, Kane was not used to hiding his Spiritual presence and would easily be detected by Hanako. What would she think about the odd combination of beast-clansman and Rogue spiritual energy?

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}

Strength - [100] (x1.25) {125} Points

Speed - [50] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [100] (x1.5) {150} Points

Reiatsu Strength - [50] (x.7) {35} Points

Light Aura - [50] Points

Dark Aura - [50] Points

Instinct - [50] Points

Senses - [100] (x.75) {75} Points

Energy sensory - [0] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [375] Points




Abilities


[Mental: Imitation] {1}
[Utility: Stealing] {1}
[Battle: Weapons: Axe] {1}
[Utility: Other: Guitar] {1}
[Body: Acrobatics] {1}
[Body: Stealth] {1}

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

The bustle of the city could be heard in every direction. Night life was surprisingly strong in Karakura Town despite not being quite the same level as Tokyo or even New York City. Lights everywhere flashed different colors as they illuminated the clouds up above, showing off a beauty all their own. There was something spectacular about being in an area like this as humans ventured from one bar to the next, changing cars, exchanging numbers, and overall just living the lives they were meant to live. They had no idea such strange things were happening in the background or that the spiritual world was nothing but millimeters away at all times.

Rogue Hollows traveled through the skies. Shinigami chased after them. Quincies were out in open fields practicing their archery. An abundance of spiritually aware beings were all around, yet none of them were familiar to either Kane or Hanako. They weren't the focus of the mission these two had been sent on. For Kane, perhaps it was happenstance or word of mouth. For Hanako, the Gotei 13 had been hearing rumblings of kidnappings within the Human World that were causes of concern. It all started with the President of the United States and a former President after each one lost a young daughter. These poor girls had barely been ten years old.

There had been whisperings for some time now about these events. One after another, the information began reaching news outlets. No one could figure out why these kidnappings were happening or where the children had been taken. No one even knew who was responsible outside of the rumors of vampires, but what was interesting was that none of these vampires were ever truly sighted. The only reason why these rumors even existed was because of strange shadow techniques being used and odd body modifications reminiscent of Bount techniques. What this did mean, though, was that Hanako and Kane would likely be all too familiar with what this meant, assuming they knew what Bounts were.

Still, with no confirmation either way, that would be a good start. Hanako and Kane would eventually need to meet up, then find themselves outside of a storefront where the news was showing on the television. A brunette woman was talking about the most recent kidnapping; the prime minister of Japan's son. His son was only eight years old and had been missing already for two days. Search parties were everywhere within the country, but no one had any luck finding him. Once the news reel had ended, Kane and Hanako would need to figure out a plan to get them both to the Kotei where the prime minister and his family resided. It was in their best interest to start looking for clues there.



OOC: The official posting order is Hanako, Kane, then the Canon Master. This is the order we will go off of in the event of skipped posting turns. Each participant has a week since the previous participant's post to make their own post before they get skipped. The Canon Master counts as a participant in this case.

[Hanako Nozawa]

A quick breath passed her lips, and Hanako opened her eyes again. A look of displeasure crossed her face for a moment, then she turned her attention to her next search area. Effortlessly, she spun on the ball of her foot and kicked off, flying through the night sky with grace between steps upon an unseen floating ground. Once satisfied with her new location, she repeated herself and searched for any signs of suspicious spiritual activity that might lead her to a clue. Then again. And again. It took some time before, during one of her periods of moving to a new location, something on the street below had caught her attention.

"If you have any clues as to the whereabouts-"

Hanako felt herself drop gently from sky to rooftop, to street lamp, and finally to the ground. Unseen by the living, she joined a small crowd gathered around a window, behind which a screen was playing the evening news report:

"How awful!" One woman said with a gasp.

"Another one already?" A man in the crowd scoffed.

As the crowd dispersed, off to enjoy whatever plans they might have for the evening, Hanako stepped closer to the window. In seconds, the attractive woman on the screen began to repeat herself, though more succinctly than before. Even underneath her makeup, her eyes seemed puffy and tired. The shinigami felt a pang of empathy strike through her heart, and paid close attention to the information that was being shared. For those seconds, she became almost blind and deaf to the outside world, and instead focused only on memorization and the hand currently combating through her shikakusho for the phone she had been given.

"Yes, this is Nozawa." She spoke flatly into the device, her voice bereft of its usual playful lilt. She sounded almost as distressed as the newswoman had been, in fact. "I've got a possible lead on the Bount situation. I need the coordinates for the home of the Prime Minister of Japan." The voice on the other end of the line repeated back her request, then instructed her to hold. While the information was retrieved, her senses opened to the world again, and Hanako's attention turned curiously towards a nearby alleyway, and the myriad of voices coming from within. If she weren't mistaken, then it sounded as though multiple people were joined in singing clashing lines from various songs.

There was only the single reiatsu coming from the shadows, however.

Scrunching her lip in wary intrigue, Hanako glanced at the still silent device in her hand before taking a few cautious steps towards the alleyway; she otherwise kept the phone held to her ear so that she could hear the coordinates being read back in due time. From the well lit sidewalk, she couldn't see well into the shadows, but she very well could feel the creature that lie within. Whatever it was, it most certainly was not a Hollow.

"-awa-san." The voice had returned to the device.

"Yes!" Hanako replied, visibly perturbed at what sort of reiatsu she was feeling, but not so distracted to forget what she was doing.

"We have the coordinates." The voice proceeded to read aloud where it was she needed to go, earning a few quick hums of acknowledgement from the black-haired woman while her eyes remained fixated on the dark alleyway. Finally, she hung up and stowed the device safely away in the pocket inside her shikakusho once more, and turned away from the strange oddity. Voices or no, she didn't think it mattered in the grand scheme of things. Not tonight, anyway.

Taking a few steps away from the opening in the side of the street, Hanako drew her zanpakutō and momentarily unshackled her carefully hidden reiatsu. With a swift thrust, her sword disappeared into the air, only to turn like one might a key within a lock and prompt the doorway to open. Light poured out from the old fashioned Japanese doors that appeared suspended over the road, and as they opened, a black butterfly fluttered out to land on the shinigami's shoulder. Her reiatsu and zanpakutō both returned to their sheathes, and Hanako stepped through the doorway into the dangai beyond.

She could only temper her anxious worrying over the fate of the children.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills (Halloween update)}Strength - 100 (-50%) = 50
Speed - 200 (+50%) = 300
Reiatsu Strength - 231 (+30%) = 300
Spiritual Pressure - 250 (-40%) = 150

Instinct - 67 (-25%) = 50
Senses - 67 (-25%) = 50
Energy sensory - 85 (+50%) = 127

Healing Expertise - 0

Light Aura - 75
Dark Aura - 25

Analyzing - 1

Weapons (Sakabatō) - 1
Martial Arts (Drunken Style Kung Fu) - 1
Kidō (Bakudō) - 1
Hohō - 1

Mental Incantation - 1
Acrobatics - 1
Focused Eye - 1
Stealth - 1
Anti-Stealth - 1

[Kane Coo]

Kane was not a particularly well informed member of the spiritual society he belonged to. What knowledge he had previously held as a member of the Gotei 13 had been tortured out of him. As a result, the concept of Bounts or Shinigami or Hollows or any spiritual entity was simply a category of "wants me dead" in contrast to the spiritually unaware whose category was "can't see or hear me". The third category of those he had come across in his travels that had been kind to him or helped him in some way contained so few individuals that Kane was still immediately wary and defensive whenever he was being actively observed. Especially when the observer carried a sword. Swords made the Rogue uncomfortable and anxious. So when he saw a suspicious figure watching the news broadcast about a kidnapping say something about needing coordinates to the scene of said crime then pull out a sword and create a magic doorway, he decided to act against his flight instincts. Dashing from his safety in the dark alleyway he attempted to follow Hanako through the senkaimon even if he needed to tackle her to do so. He'd address her at the earliest possibility.

"Nozawa need the home of lost school boy's situation?

If the singing voices in the alley had been disconcerting, it would probably be even more so hearing her own words in her own voice mixed with tiny snippets of song lyrics coming from the beak of this five foot four bird man in a tattered brown cloak that just tried to muscle his way into her personal space.

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

Upon arrival to the Kotei, Hanako and Kane would stumble upon some bushes outside the main walkway that led to the front door. Expertly landscaped, it was clear that this was the residence of the Japanese Prime Minister. Voices could be heard from all around the large stone building, and the architecture boasted both traditional and modern designs. It was truly a mix of past and present, professional and yet serene. Symmetrical windows lined the walls on every side of the building, each one with an arched shape at the top. The doors were large and made of wood with chunky boxed patterns that looked stronger than any steel.

A man inside was crying loudly. People around him were trying to say comforting words, and a woman's voice could be heard even from outside. Everyone must have been on one of the decks that led out into a large gardened area with a gazebo. The Japanese enjoyed their zen-type things, so it wasn't uncommon for residents of larger estates to have such a garden available. It was also quite likely that the Prime Minister held meetings in this particular place, which explained why the voices may be coming from there. Hanako and Kane would be able to hear the screaming quite clearly, and the Prime Minister was having a fit.

"He is gone! My only son is gone! He is probably dead by now. I am certain one of my enemies did this. I want to find them and make them pay! They cannot take my son from me!"

It was tough on him. His son was his only child, and his wife had already entered a type of hypnotic state where she hadn't spoken in over a week. She barely reacted to anything at all. Whoever thought the woman's voice that could be heard before belonged to the boy's mother would be sorely mistaken. They'd soon find that the voice instead came from her mother; a stout young woman who had her child at too young of an age. She was doing her best to console her daughter over the loss of her grandchild. It was awful, but not nearly as bad as what her daughter was going through as his mother.

Files had been sent to the police only for them to turn up empty-handed. They insisted the child was dead since it had been several days by now since he'd gone missing. It was impossible for them to say goodbye to the thought of having their son back, and both parents began to suffer immensely. Meetings were being held over the mental health of the Prime Minister and if it made sense to have a new one step up. Poor Hanako and Kane would be subject to such conversations, though no one would be having the conversations with those two, specifically. They were all in their own world.



OOC: You'll want to explore the Kotei and see if you can listen in on any information. This next round can be you guys wandering around, and I'll give you guys information after playing off where you go to explore! You're just trying to gather as much info as you can for now.

[Hanako Nozawa]

Maybe it was her worry over the fate of the children. Maybe it was some new sense of commitment to her job. Either way, Hanako failed to notice the approach of the strange reiatsu behind her as she stepped forward into the senkaimon. She failed to hear the footsteps on the concrete as her own carried her beyond the world of the living for just a brief moment.

She did not fail to heed the sensation of something standing immediately behind her, and attempting still to get closer.

"Ack!" A sharp squeak escaped her throat first, followed by a maneuver that could only be described as deft and more swift than any mortal creature could have hoped to be. Hanako dove, fell, and twisted her body out of the way of the stranger as his path carried him forward through the other end of the senkaimon, then she herself followed quickly with her arms raised and readied in a wide, circular form. When she finally came to a stop, it was on an unsteady footing that seemed ready to topple her at any moment, though her eyes were clearly trained on the stranger, conveying a mixture of surprise and budding anger.

However, before she could get a word out to question the creature, it had beat her to the punch; in her own voice. Hanako's expression turned, somewhat quizzical but nowhere near as much as it was unsettled by what she was hearing. She swore it had spoken in three distinct voices, but her own made up the brunt of the statement. A cold chill ran down her spine, despite the knowledge she couldn't question that, at the very least, this wasn't a Hollow. Nor, she came to decide after a few seconds' glance, did it appear to be a threat. At least, not at the moment.

"So," Hanako breathed, returning to a neutral posture and lowering her arms, where her hands proceeded to fidget for a moment in front of her. "You want to help?" She cocked an eyebrow at the stranger as she asked, and gave it a few seconds to reply however it would. Once she was satisfied, or as close as she was going to get, with its answer, her eyes would flit in the direction of the large home and the sound of mournful wailing coming from nearby. The way the mother's voice affected her deeply shown clear as moonlight on her face. It wouldn't be so bad to have backup, she surmised. She was the only one left of the team sent out, now that the others had gone off on their own part of the mission, and having someone to watch her back would help to find the children safely, right? After giving her thoughts the chance to play out, she turned back to the stranger, chewing the corner of her lip a little.

"Okay. You can help, but no funny business." She breathed again, and smirked a little at the creature. "Stay low." As if to demonstrate, the shinigami quashed her reiatsu to the best of her ability, removing it from the senses of anyone but those exceptionally gifted at sensing. Keeping herself low and behind the bushes and walls of the home -using one hand to hold her zanpakutō still in its sheathe, she lead the impromptu pair around the lavish residence and towards the direction the voices were coming from inside. First things first, she thought, was that the parents might be able to give her more information than blindly searching around.