Arc 2: Canon 36: Need No Guns (6) [Complete]

[Akashi Benkei]

Wow. That was a pretty fast ball. Benkei had been taken by surprise by the speed of the throw, but he had managed to perceive its motion with his amplified senses and instinct. Hmm... with Shunkaiten and Shuntsuki, he felt pretty certain that he could hit that ball. "Brock, I concur. I'll hit the next throw. I can help you two with your throws. Make sure to watch what I do carefully." Benkei was about to call his sword to him and attempt to somehow bat with that when the metal bat appeared and fell out of the sky.

The metal bat. Wonderful.

Benkei pulled the bat over to him, gripping it tightly in his hand and taking a spot at the pitcher's mound. He'd seen baseball played before. Benkei assumed as close to a textbook batting stance as he could manage, knees slightly bent, left knee turned inwards in preparation for the spin that would accompany the hit. He raised the bat slightly over his head at an angle. As the ball landed in Goku's hands, Benkei pulled the bat back ever so slightly. This was "the load", a part of batting technique. As the ball approached, Benkei concentrated his Reiatsu to his arms, hips, and left leg. The ball was moving at 800 speed, but with Benkei's senses and instinct, he could see it moving towards him. Perfect. It was headed straight towards his chest. When the ball was a couple yards away, Benkei activated Shuntsuki in both arms, beginning to swing the bat. Using his magnetism, he ensured that the bat was aimed properly to hit the ball at a very slight angle, sending it off to the side but not into foul ball area.

When the ball was close enough to hit, Benkei used the Reiatsu concentrated in his hips and leg to activate Shunkaiten. Spinning, Benkei put the power of his hips and left leg behind that of his arms. Nearly his entire body weight was behind that hit. Not to say he was off balance. His stance was even, but he was putting his hips into the hit on top of his arms. He actually outsped the ball with his Shunken techniques. He wasn't that strong, but with his magnetism, he held the bat still, ensuring that all of the force hit the ball and none went into his hands. At the angle he was hitting the ball, it would arc away from Benkei into right field, too high and far for Goku to catch it. What? How? Benkei isn't that strong! The answer? Momentum. Shunken techniques move as fast as Shunpo. Benkei's speed was significantly greater than that of the ball, and he had both his arms and hips moving, with the twisting of the hips amplifying the momentum of the arms. His strength might not ordinarily be enough to hold that bat in place against that kind of throw, but he was using his magnetism to ensure that the ball was knocked back rather than the bat. He was going to hit that ball, and it was going to go flying up and away.

Shikai Post: 2/10

Remaining Reiatsu: 3150

[Zou ۞]

A huge white baseball mit erupted into existence, starting from Goku's non throwing hand, and growing until Goku himself was no longer in view. Rather, he was behind the glove, which blotted out the sun with a huge shadow because of its size, and acted as a wall. The ball, a mere dot to the glove, struck it, and instantly the glove shrank, the ball having been caught. The glove was the size of a normal mit then, and the ball was within the net of it, spinning constantly, revolving. That was something the glove had the power to do. It took the properties of whatever it caught.

In this case, the ball had momentum. It was still spinning, giving off a huge amount of power and speed. "That's one out." Goku declared, dropping the ball into his hand. His hand seemed completely unaffected by the spinning of the ball, and he gripped it tightly. "Here it comes. Another throw." he said. He threw the ball up into the air, and caught it. He threw it back up again. The ball could be seen spinning in the air. That was one problem with this technique. He always threw the ball into the air, then caught it and lashed out into a throwing motion in a single fluid gesture. He always had a random number of throws into the air, and it was very difficult in that case when trying to predict when he'd throw it.

This time, it was on the second throw, and the ball flew at double its normal speed. The power it had already gained simply added to the power that Goku gave it as soon as he twisted and released, a throw hurling that ball at whoever was next up at bat. It was moving, once again, at twice the speed to which he had thrown it in the last pitch. That wasn't good. In fact, it was probably guaranteed to be a second out. This inning was a disaster for the three, who by now should probably be aware that technically, this was probably a losing baseball game. Their best bet was in fact to find a way to kill Goku during the game. But, how could they do that?

Meanwhile. . .

Arashi flew. He'd been hit hard, and he was flying across the battlefield, his inner world. He just managed to come to a skidding stop, and then just barely managed to turn and block an attack from his own zanpakuto, Gekko Jikyou. Arashi held his blade against Gekko Jikyou's, the two of them holding neck and neck in this battle of power. However, three of the Blades of Abhorrence were behind Arashi, rushing forwards and preparing to all slash him. Arashi turned around, and slashed at them. "RASSHINGU TENGOKU!" he declared. His huge blast fired out again, causing all three to have to disperse and move away to dodge. They came from different angles, and Arashi used shunpo to dodge the first two, though the third had anticipated this. As the first two missed, the third appeared with Arashi, slashing across his back. Blood sprayed out.

[Kaen Youji]

Looks like it was Kaen's turn to bat. Benkei's attempt had NOT gone very well. Not well at all. Kaen silently cursed to himself. This was going to be really hard. "Hang on a second. Out?" Kaen stated in an irritated tone. "I thought you had to be hit, in order to get an out." He stated. This gets worse and worse all the time..... He took the bat from Benkei and watched. With a glove that size, how the hell were they expected to get a ball past him!?

"Guess there's no use in not trying...." Kaen muttered, and Hachiryuu began to surround itself with flames as it began to shape a flame attached. But Kaen seemed to be paying the armguard no mind, watching Goku's shoulder as the ball came up and down. That's where he'd see the throw. As fluid as Goku's throwing was, his shoulder would inevitably move differently when he went to actually throw it! ...Which did indeed happen. Because of their comparable speed, Kaen was able to see the blur of movement as Goku's shoulder moved in a different pattern, and Kaen did two things at once.

As Kaen swung the bat at the ball, Hachiryuu blazed with a sudden flash of fire, momentarily hiding the ball from Goku's view. Kaen had anticipated the ball to be moving at a high velocity and that's why he'd been able to hit it. He'd swung the instant Goku's shoulder had begun to move, and given the speed of the ball, his bat would connect with it on time. But as for why Kaen brought up a sheet of fire. Why would he? It was an almost futile gesture, right? Afterall, even if Kaen disguised the instant the bat and ball connected, there was no way he could hide the ball's trajectory from someone like Goku!

....Well that would be true, if not for the fact that not one flaming ball emerged from behind the sheet of flame but thirteen! Prior to going up to bat, Kaen had been forming balls of flame on his zanpakuto and at the moment of impact with the bat, he released them in a sudden flurry of fireballs, striking Goku's own baseball back through the flames and consuming it with fire! So intensely was the fire burning that the actual baseball was indistinguishable to the twelve other actual fireballs Kaen had launched.

The real baseball lanced off at a low altitude, shooting off towards left field. The other twelve lanced off in various directions. Some went shooting towards the sky. Some went streaking off at a moderate height towards right field. Some went as low as the genuine article. In fact, one was shooting right at Goku's face! Maybe Goku would think that was the genuine article and take it to get the out, but instead just get a facefull of fire! The issue Goku faced was trying to determine which was the real one in time! At the speed the ball would be travelling he'd only have one shot at it, and even his supersized glove couldn't stop all the balls. Maybe four to five of them, tops. And despite his formidable senses, because of the speeds they were all travelling at, he likely wouldn't be able to pick out which ball was the necessary one.

...Or so Kaen hoped. This was really the best thing he could come up with on such short notice. Force Goku to play a guessing game in order to determine which baseball he was supposed to catch.

Shikai: 3/10
Reiatsu: 1300/1500

[Zou ۞]

Kaen would be shocked when he heard something. A loud snapping sound, though a bit dull, was what sounded in the air upon connection. It wasn't the usual crack of the bat as the ball flew. No, it was a dull sound. It was followed by a loud crashing sound. Benkei and Manabu, who would be able to look behind them, would see that there was an enormous hole in the wall of a nearby building. Kaen, if he looked down, would see that the bat had snapped in half because of the force of the ball. That...how did it count? The bat had snapped in half! This did happen sometimes in real baseball, as they used wooden bats. Sometimes the bats broke.

What happened in this case? In the meantime, Goku's huge glove materialized again to catch all the incoming fireballs that would otherwise have hit him and damaged him. A few got the borders of the glove too. The glove shrank back down, and the fire charged into a single large orb, then vanished. Goku was smiling coldly. "Whoops. It looks like you had a stroke of bad luck. However, don't complain. I never once intended to play fairly against you. This is counted as an out." A new bat formed for Kaen, Benkei, and Manabu. So Goku had never planned on a "fair game", really. That should tell them that playing this game with him was pointless.

"If you want, you can abandon my little game and fight me normally." Goku offered, extending his left hand, the gloved one, outwards as if asking for friendship. "But I can't guarantee your chances of winning won't get even worse if you do." Was he implying that he was strong enough to take them all on? That would indeed be disastrous. What should the three do? They might have to talk this out among themselves. It was probably best to decide on continuing to play, or taking Goku's offer and just fighting him. Things might become easier for them if they took the offer. Or, things might become harder, for then Goku would not have any real restrictions, either. Decisions had to be made.

"While you make your decision, be ready to bat." Goku said, a new baseball forming in his right hand. This one was spinning wildly from the momentum property Goku had absorbed, and it was covered in flames from the fire property Goku had absorbed. His hand appeared unaffected by both. He threw it up and down a few times, catching it each time. With the last catch, his hand tightened menacingly around the ball as his body burst into a whip-around motion, hurling the ball at whoever was going to bat. The speed was double what it was normally, and the ball was also on fire.

Meanwhile. . .

Arashi was having trouble. His blade met with the blade of an enemy, and it cracked right there. He was taking heavy damage and punishment. A blast of fire earlier had sprayed Arashi, and this was evident by the fact that the sleeve was completely torn off of his left arm on his outfit, and his body had burns in addition to slashes and blood now. Arashi had a lot of stamina for this in his own inner world, but he was obviously having massive trouble against these guys. With eight on one, all high level, it was of course no wonder. Arashi pinned his left hand over his face, though. This time, he was coming in serious. "Fine. I have no choice then, for you guys. Hollowfication." Arashi's mask burst across his face, and he roared a hollow's roar as he moved with improved speed, scoring his first slash across Kodaiyiseki's chest. Gold blood flew outi. Arashi roared, turning as Myoseki arrived. "RASSHINGUTENGOKU!"

[Manabu Brock]

SPOILER: Click to show

"No."

The word pounded out of Manabu's mouth with a slow, massive impact. He wasn't shouting or anything. He wasn't speaking in anger. He was simply stating a fact with authority. Manabu Brock, student and teacher at The Universe, was speaking now to correct a mistake with benevolence. Few learn from an angry teacher, but just retribution has its place. Here. Manabu unsheathed his faithful pupil and pointed him at Goku.

"Observe, Shonen. I want you to see this man and his sword. They both play unfairly and selfishly. They abuse the rules. They mock them. This is not the reason we exist. It's a mockery of life itself. I called you out here to see this so that you could learn from their folly. Even his own sword is prepared to kill him in accordance with their twisted game. I did not summon you to play with them. I brought you here as an example of what a sword should be. Together, I hope we will have taught them the value of Truth. Now, say good bye, Shonen. This 'game' is over."

With that, a shimmering burst of green erupted from the katana and passed through the arrancar and two shinigami. The diamond dissolved in the path of the energy, and suddenly Goku, Kaen, Benkai, and Manabu were left standing with simple blades in their hands. Manabu swung his katana to hold it downwards as he pointed at Goku.

"Bakudo number 26, Kyakko!" Manabu dissolved on the spot and resolved directly in front Goku with his pointed index finger in the hole in Goku's throat. Goku would probably either strike at Manabu or get away from him. Of course, neither of those would be terribly effective since the Manabu in front of him was just an image, and Goku wouldn't be able to tell right away because he had the energy sensing capabilities of a stool. After he made whichever move, Manabu would take that opening to actually shunpo in front of him with his finger actually in his hollow hole at which time he would place an actual reiatsu needle straight up into his brain stem before moving away, invisible all the while.

Remaining reiatsu: 1,124

[Zou ۞]

OOC: Looks like Brock's taking initiative and attacking! Skip my post for now. Combo this.

[Akashi Benkei]

"Observe, Shonen. I want you to see this man and his sword. They both play unfairly and selfishly. They abuse the rules. They mock them. This is not the reason we exist. It's a mockery of life itself. I called you out here to see this so that you could learn from their folly. Even his own sword is prepared to kill him in accordance with their twisted game. I did not summon you to play with them. I brought you here as an example of what a sword should be. Together, I hope we will have taught them the value of Truth. Now, say good bye, Shonen. This 'game' is over."

Um, goddamn. Benkei was extremely impressed with Brock's assertive nature and boldness in the face of such a powerful foe. He had heard stories of the sheer power of those in the Seventh Division, but this was still extremely impressive. Such defiance from an unseated Shinigami! Benkei would have to keep his eye on Brock. This one had potential.

Suddenly, Benkei's Shikai disappeared. His mind began to race, processing information at a speed twelve times that of the average human. Evidently, Brock had an ability that allowed him to seal the Releases of others. This meant that he was probably going in for a close-quarters attack. Against somebody with Reiatsu Strength so much higher, no Kido would suffice. "Bakudo number 26, Kyakko!" Suddenly, some Reiatsu flared up and Brock seemed to dissolve, appearing in front of Goku. Wait, but Kyakko was a Kido that used a burst of light! How did he... Oh. Wow. This guy really was impressive. He'd used the Kido's light-bending powers to not just hide himself, but actually create false images.

Wordlessly, Benkei channeled Reiatsu and cast a spell. Eight dark purple orbs would materialize around the Escudo even as Brock went through his attack, a ninth appearing at the Arrancar's sternum to immobilize him completely. "Bakudo 79, Kuyoshibari," Benkei muttered. The use of Kojutsu Eisho to cast the Kido before stating its name, while costly in terms of Reiatsu, left the Escudo with no warning. He had no sensory, meaning that there was no chance for him to evade. This was a spell that the infamous Kisuke Urahara had used to confine Azeru Cho all those years ago. Benkei was too close to Goku in spiritual power for the Arrancar to have even a small chance of escaping.

Benkei sensed another small flare of Reiatsu, probably a Shunpo. Hmm... that took Kurohitsugi off the list of options. Brock was moving in. That said, there were other things Benkei could do. "Bankai, Jibaken Henkyoukabe!"

Suddenly, two hundred swords would materialize around the combatants. In a flicker, they would all move as Benkei used Shunpo to move closer to the Escudo, about five meters away and to his left. At this point, Brock had already moved away from the Escudo. Perfect. Benkei arrayed twelve of the swords around the Escudo (avoiding Brock while doing so), pointing them straight inwards momentarily before they closed in to impale the Escudo all around his torso and through each limb, carefully making sure not to disrupt the large purple orb immobilizing Goku. How? Simply impale in the spots around it. There would be no escape for Goku; the swords moved at 1200 stat speed. That was over 100 meters per second.

Benkei honestly didn't really expect this to end it. This was one of the top Escudo, one of the strongest Arrancar around. That said, given how well an unseated member of Squad Seven had performed, a seated officer should be able to finish things just fine.

Bankai posts: 1/10

Remaining Reiatsu: 2100 (minus 600 for Kojutsu Eisho Kuyoshibari, 400 for Bankai, 50 for Shunpo)[/b]

[Kaen Youji]

As Kaen hit the ball, the loud crack stunned him for a moment. Stunned as in the "what the hell was-- oh shit" reaction. He saw Goku catch his fireballs. Judging by what had happened with Benkei, that meant that the guy was now going to be chucking FLAMING baseballs. That the three of them still couldn't hit now! Crud. They were in a really tight spot.... well. Until Brock started to speak. Kaen blinked at him. What was he-- no way. Kaen had heard that his subordinate could do this, but he had never seen it in action. The green pulse washed over Kaen and he felt Hachiryuu seal. Right. I remember a report that said Brock's zanpakuto had the ability to seal an opponent's release... that would extend to an arrancar's resurrection too![/i]

The instant his zanpakuto was sealed, Kaen went into a very different release. "BANKAI!" Kaen exclaimed! Now, to those present this would probably be surprising. Neither of them had known about Kaen gaining bankai, and at third seat, Bankai was rare. Normally this would be a momentous event. However, this was a battle, and there was no time for theatrics. Kaen was releasing his bankai as quickly as possible. In a flash, Kaen's shikuhasho had been burned away to be replaced by a similar but notably different outfit. A blue sleeveless gi with a black undershirt, and a second Kodachi, like Hachiryuu's sealed form was on his back. Rather than the one armguard Kaen had in shikai, he now had two. Also, there was a giant dragon composed out of fire behind him. But more on that later. If Kaen had his way, he wouldn't NEED the dragon. He heard Brock disappear with his Kyakko technique. Kaen had seen him use it before, and knew he was very accomplished at it. He also saw Benkei casting a high level Bakudo.

Well. Time for Kaen to step in as well! The shinigami dashed off to his side. In time with Brock's own attack and Benkei's, Kaen launched his. "Immolation." Kaen hissed, attempting to create a fireball inside of Goku's body with his Bankai's special ability. It would take five seconds to complete this technique, but Goku would likely only become aware of the threat it presented after two seconds had passed, effectively giving him three seconds to get out of the way, before Kaen's fireball would erupt inside of him and set his innards on fire.

Bound by such a powerful Bakudo, and dealing with so many other attacks, could Goku manage this in time? Kaen certainly hoped not. If the Escudo managed to get free of the Bakudo and release his zanpakuto a second time then all of them were in a bit of a bind for certain! The wonderful thing about what Kaen was doing though is that, if it worked, it'd be one hell of an epic death for Goku. Have Brock's reiatsu needle driven into him, impaled by twelve swords and then erupting in flames? Painful yes, but it'd be an epic death that it took that much to bring him down, at any rate. Assuming this did bring him down, of course. Kaen hoped it did, but realized they were fighting an Escudo. Even with a captain on their side there were no guarantees in this sort of battle.

Reiatsu remaining: 900 (-400 for Bankai)

Bankai: 1/10

[Zou ۞]

Unfortunately, Manabu Brock had been the one to make the mistake this time around. The mistake had been to negate the releases of everyone present. Essentially, it would mean that Kaen and Benkei had to release again before they got to attack. When Benkei chose to bind Goku with his Kido as Brock began to attack, of course this meant that he should take the opportunity. Normally, that incoming mirage would be something he'd use as an excuse to Sonido. However, with Benkei pulling out such a powerful binding spell, there could be only one more option for Goku, who grinned even as the real Manabu approached. Though unaware of the invisible Manabu, he was aware of the illusion one, which he assumed to be the actual one.

"Play ball, Diamante." Benkei and Kaen? Same boat. They were trying to get their releases back out. They didn't get any more time than Goku, nor did they get any more speed. Release was release. His reiatsu blasted around him, the sudden surge of power shattering the Bakudo in an instant. This led to mistake #2. Attempting to take the fight in one hit. Kyakko was blasted off of Brock, and he was blasted back by the sheer force of the reiatsu surging around Goku to release. By the time Goku was released, Kaen and Benkei were as well, and their attacks were getting ready. Kaen got near to do his flame thing, while Benkei got near and had his swords zoom in. There was a best course of action to defend against any combo, given that Goku had that kind of time.

Everyone used Shunpo to get there? Goku used Sonido to get out of there. He was gone instantly, having moved to a different part of the air ground. He was several meters away from all of them, but facing them all at once so that he could observe. Instantly, Goku's bat materialized. However, the game was no longer running. This meant that he'd be using this bat for actual battle. Essentially, things were going to get difficult. Once again, though, Goku did not have a defined time limit on Ressurection. The result was rather obvious. He could outlast them. There was a second mistake by these people. An attempt at a one hit finish. They had yet to wound him. While they should end it quickly, given his ability, one hit was impossible.

Goku's Remaining Reiatsu: 2200 Reiatsu

[Manabu Brock]

Well, that was no good. At least they were no longer playing that infernal game. Manabu was largely done attacking now. He no longer had the element of surprise, and he had no hope of doing anything in a regular engagement. No, he was hopelessly outclassed physically and spiritually. Not much for him to do at this juncture...

"Kansatsu, Shonen. Please assist Benkei-taicho." With that, Manabu stabbed Benkei with his tanto! Betrayal? Of course not. This was Shonen's Help ability. The three blades dissolved into green reiatsu and resolved around Benkei's torso as two crisscrossed belts of throwing knives totaling 10 knives. That was it for Manabu. No zanpakuto, no relevant kido, too slow, and too weak. All he could do now is watch...

Remaining reiatsu: 924

Shikai 1/10

[Zou ۞]

OOC: Post skipped.

[Akashi Benkei]

Troublesome. He had escaped and released his Zanpakutou again. Well, at least that game was gone. The Escudo stood midair on the air ground several meters away, which was still within Benkei's magnetic range. Benkei noticed then that he was pretty low on Reiatsu, compared to when he was at maximum. That wouldn't do. He clenched his fists, entering his Tosshin formation. What? That cost a ton of Reiatsu! True, but guess what? It could recover it way faster. Tosshin's form was no different than the base release form, so it was an instant change. In much less than the blink of an eye, thirteen Benkei's swords buried themselves in the ground, taking in electrons from the ground around and converting them to electrical energy. The ground was concrete, and he figured that each one could absorb 100 pounds of energy. He was experienced enough to basically gauge from his remaining Reiatsu how much energy he needed.

Benkei felt some momentary muscle spasms in his gut as he absorbed the energy, restoring himself to maximum capacity. He felt some pain for a bit, but he had used this power many, many times before and was expecting the pain. As this happened, he arrayed thirty of his swords around himself in an almost-complete dome, with the only gap directly in front of him. From the way he had consumed the concrete, the ground around him was devastated. The only way to get to him was through that space.

Now, to attack! Benkei sent a shower of swords - 24, to be precise - rocketing towards Goku, who was within his range, albeit a couple meters from being out of range. Detaching one of the Shonen knives, he concealed it within the swords. Goku would have no chance to see him add it to the attack. Depending on how Goku tried to defend against the sword shower, Benkei would maneuver the swords differently.

Simultaneously, Benkei began to snake his five wires out along the ground around him in the directions of a pentagon's edges. He was careful to move them slowly so that they wouldn't suddenly reflect light and make Goku aware of them. He was making sure to be very prepared for the Arrancar's inevitable attack.

Remaining Reiatsu: 3800

Bankai posts: 2/10

[Zou ۞]

OOC: Horrible news for Benkei. You went beyond the parameters of your Tosshin. It's stated that it takes objects. The ground is not an object. It would be OP if it could do that, especially at that speed. I accepted the ability because I believed you were aware of this. Also note, there's no way it would do it that quickly if it can absorb that much reiatsu. You also ignored your own drawback. I accepted this because I also figured you'd know how to play out your own vaguely listed drawback.

Penalty Game.

Here's what happens when you go beyond your own ability's powers, and ignore your own drawback entirely.

SPOILER: Click to show

IC:

Suddenly, there were two enormous holes in Benkei's leg, and a third in his gut. They were all the size of a baseball, and cauterized and steaming already. What...but how?! How had this happened without him noticing?! When had Goku been able to do that with the baseballs? And then it became clear. Benkei had underestimated his enemy and overestimated his own powers. That level of rejuvenation wasn't easy, and it took a huge concentration. Furthermore, his ability wouldn't work on the ground, which wasn't an object like his ability was meant to pull in. He'd been desperate, of course. His intense focus had prevented him from being able to realize something was coming. Something else had also done so.

He'd been in pain. The spasms in his gut had been incredibly, and massively painful. It had been a complete and utter shock to him, something that he would definitely be unable to recover from or ignore so quickly. Therefore, it was only natural that he'd be unable to keep himself multifocused through the pain and the attempt at sucking in that much reiatsu from something he couldn't suck from anyway. His reiatsu efforts had failed, his reiatsu thus failing to rejuvenate. Furthermore, it had failed because he'd been hit so hard. Worse yet, he'd made a stupid error. One couldn't just try to regenerate all reiatsu in the midst of a battle. That wasn't how it worked. People were unable to do such a thing. He was in the middle of fighting. He should have known better.

The expert marksman that he was due to his pitching and batting skills, Goku had easily been able to hit three balls into their designated locations. Benkei would not possibly be able to mobilize his defenses on time, nor would they have been able to keep up any power that would prevent the impact of the baseballs, purely because Benkei had had to devote so much focus to his reiatsu. That was how that sort of ability would work. It was a high level, after all. Therefore, naturally Benkei lost reiatsu for his rejuvenation, rather than gaining it. He'd made such a huge tactical error that it was a surprise he could call himself a tactical genius. He had just forfeit himself from battle, quite possibly.

The wounds were not fatal, assuming Squad 4 got to him. However, he was practically neutralized physically. This meant that any further fighting would be relying purely on his blades dancing for him. His legs and torso were no longer mobile. Basically, he couldn't even Shunpo. He was stuck there, and unable to even do something simple such as standing. Goku stood in place, his bat steaming, watching Benkei closely. "You fool. You got cocky against me. And it looks like Squad 9's strategic genius made one huge mistake."

A baseball materialized in Goku's grasp. Benkei was so afflicted by the pain of the hits that he'd be unable to mobilize his blades for that moment. It would take insane concentration. As such, when they finally began to move, Goku simply slammed his bat into each one as they came. They were slowed down. The pain would be so sudden, and the Squad 9 Captain was probably so unused to such a massive and life threatening injury, that he would barely be able to command his blades so recently after those hits. They were so slow, that a hit from Goku's bat was able to intercept all of them with a few swift movements and various hits. This also shattered each blade that came inwards. Goku was pissed at being underestimated.

His hand flew up, the ball launching into the air. As it landed back in his hand, he whirled around in a spinning maneuver, hurling the ball at incredible speed towards Benkei. He was intending to really make things a living hell for the Squad 9 Captain. This one was heading for the chest. It would be up to Kaen to save Benkei in some way. Was this mission as good as over? Had they failed because of Benkei's error here? What was going to happen to all these Shinigami?! What was going to happen to the mission?!

Goku's Remaining Reiatsu: 2200 Reiatsu

[Kaen Youji]

Dammit. Things had really taken a turn for the worst. Goku had easily batted away their attacks, and restored his release. So it looks like all that Shonen had accomplished was to end the game. Well.... Kaen guessed that was alright. A straight up fight was much more his style anyways! Kaen quickly used a Shunpo of his own to match Goku's Sonido as he pulled away, landing diagonally behind him and to Goku's left. He was simply trying to position himself to better take advantage of the fact that they outnumbered the arrancar. And then.... things kind of went to shit, as Kaen saw Benkei get those holes blasted through him. That.... was pretty bad. Fortunately, in this case, Benkei's number hadn't quite come up just yet! The shinigami could help him out!

As Goku prepared to lob his baseball, Resshin Hachiryuu-- the dragon, lunged in front of Benkei and then launched itself forwards at Goku, jaws agape. The baseball would impact the dragon, but due to its tremendous size, and the fact it was composed of fire, the baseball would have virtually no effect. It didn't matter if it was going ridiculously fast, or hard, you can't destroy a flame with brute force alone. The dragon was attempting to catch Goku in its jaws to bite down on the arrancar-- trying to at least cause a serious injury. Its fangs were huge, and as they were composed of fire, they'd scorch Goku at the same time, giving him all the pleasures of being impaled by several blades AND being burned alive at the same time!

And hopefully it wasn't going to be easy to avoid the attack, as, while Goku had been readying his baseball to throw (the one he'd hurled at Benkei) and talking, Kaen had formed a whip of fire, and had lashed out at Goku from his blindspot, intending to wrap the whip around Goku's leg, and yanked hard on it. Kaen doubted this would do much more than perhaps offbalance Goku for a second. Goku was stronger than Kaen, but not by an insurmountable margin, and Goku's leg versus all of Kaen's body weight and physical strength shouldn't be able to hold out, especially since it was from a blindspot-- he shouldn't have expected it! Perhaps he might have anticipated an attack, but it was unlikely he'd anticipated a flame whip to target his leg!

If Kaen was successful, Goku would, for a moment likely be pulled off balance. With his physical strength it was doubtful it'd be for more than a moment, but with Resshin Hachiryuu bearing down on him, a moment was all that Kaen would need, for his dragon to land its attack. It had a very large mouth, and was coming in with speed comparable to Kaen's own, so Goku would need to put in a bit of legwork to avoid it. Which was why Kaen had gone to offbalance him. The dragon's bite probably wouldn't kill Goku, but it would still be a very brutal injury, that could hopefully weaken him, as well as buy Benkei and Brock some time to recover from Goku's attack.

Reiatsu: 850 (-50 for Shunpo)
Bankai: 2/10

[Zou ۞]

Goku's eyes darted back to see someone coming at him. He'd already thrown the ball when the dragon came at him. It saved Benkei's life. This of course was quite convenient for the three, who were still in a bad position because Benkei had taken such injuries. Their strongest player on the field had just been severely hurt. Goku looked at the bat he held, and it vanished, transfiguring instead into the gigantic white glove that he used earlier. It was in front of his entire body, shielding the whole thing at the front. Even when Kaen's attack yanked him offbalance, Goku's front stayed facing the dragon.

This caused it to ram directly into the catcher's glove, failing to do anything about it. It was there, unable to bypass the defense. Goku tore free of the whip while defending against the dragon, taking a standing position. In an instant, Sonido brought him to a position high in the air, standing there looking down at everyone. The dragon had been unable to touch him, and Goku had made it away without being burned at all. His catcher's glove was gone, replaced instead by a baseball in his hand. It was red rather than the white that it had been before. That didn't look good. It looked rather ominous, in fact. His eyes gazed coldly out at Kaen, Benkei, and Brock. The three of them were in his mercy now.

Brock had given his remaining power to Benkei, who in turn had been hurt pretty badly. While his cauterized wounds ensured that he wouldn't bleed out, the injuries of course made it clear that his mental process was going to be directly impacted. That level of pain wasn't easy, and plus he still had huge pains in what was left of his stomach because of his earlier technique. His body would be in such agony that he'd have difficulty focusing to make his technique work. It should also be noted that he'd have trouble talking, and have trouble breathing. There was a hole in his stomach, after all. Essentially, while he wouldn't bleed out, he'd lost part of an organ, if not all of it. He needed to get medical help no matter what happened. That meant that not only was his focus going to have a hard time, but even in general, they had to end this fight quickly. They couldn't afford to prolong it.

Goku hurled the baseball at Kaen without any wind up. This was more unexpected. Previously, in dozens of throws, he'd either hit it with the bat, or if he didn't have that, he'd tossed it up and then whirled and hurled it when he got it. In this case, he hadn't done that. He'd just instantly blasted into the throwing position. The ball kept the same speed, but this time had no warning signal or warning time. Essentially, it wasn't something that could be expected at that moment. Worse yet, it wasn't just a ball. A large dragon of flames surrounded it. Right, that ball stole properties. While it didn't take Kaen's abilities, it took the generalized form of his Bankai, which had been caught in the glove. It took the form of a dragon made of fire. Fire was fire, and the dragon didn't lose its size. Kaen either had to step it up, or that dragon could destroy his, or destroy his comrades. It was headed for Kaen in that moment, though, so it was probably him that would have to keep himself safe. Or something like that. Fire was fire. And fire burned.

Goku's Remaining Reiatsu: 2200 Reiatsu