Arc 2 Prologue: Dire Straits [PG13, NDE, Medium-Hard]

[Sozen Kuchiki]

Name: [Arc 2 Prologue: Dire Straits]

Participants: [Takashi Kuchiki and two other RPCs]

Location: [Seireitei]

Difficulty Level: [Medium-Hard]

Setting: [NDE]

Plotline: [Explosions have appeared all across the Seireitei! It is said that it's a Ryoka, but everyone is uncertain. For now, people have been dispatched to check it out. There are explosions all around. Many teams have been sent out. One, which includes Takashi Kuchiki, has been sent to Squad 12 to see what the explosion there is all about. This thread's plot is considered to be something that happened BEFORE the Vandenreich Invasion at the beginning of Arc 2. In other words, we're bending liquid time a little bit. (All events of the present tense, minus arc 2's, are still in function. This includes appearances of Azumi and Taiho of the Kasumi'Oji, as well as consistent class/level of all participants, as well as their experiences.)]

Estimated Enemy Strength: [Unknown, for no enemy can be sensed]

Estimated Time Until Completion: [3-4 pages]

Starts: [Now]

Special Conditions: [Insert Here] - Any special conditions, limitations, or other things.

[Amagai Kuchiki]

[Reserving a spot]

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

I reserve the last spot

[Takashi Kuchiki]

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The young Kuchiki Fukutaicho looked out with eyes that were slightly widened. His eyes narrowed in as he saw the flurry of explosions that erupted. The shinigami looked out of his desks window before he pushed the seat back and walked up to the window. His eyes narrowed further as he walked past his desk and then opened the door quickly. In that moment, there was a hell butterfly that came to him. There was obvious instructions to check out a certain sector. Now that Iro-taicho was off on a mission, Takashi was in charge. The acting Taicho quickly took his place and worked quickly.

Things were getting hellish quickly as the explosions erupted. Takashi knew things were going on. It seemed Soul society had taken quick action. It was apparent that he would have to do something. Thoughs were messing around all in his mind. Takashi cleared them up, he was the acting captain. He thought how to word his words carefully. It appeared as now acting captain, everyone would take his word seriously. He would no longer be under the shadow of the captain for now. It was now that Takashi had to think what to do and say. His hand grasped the door knob, turning it quickly. He arrived quickly, in a rather exaggerated way; but he had to be quick, that was for sure.

As he stepped out of his office, he would notice a beautiful woman sitting there. Convenient for him, was that next to his office was the eleventh division secretary. The shinigami turned towards her, his expression seemed bored yet his eyes were intense with color. "Send a hell butterfly to Kuchiki Hotaru instructing her to find the nearest captain or vice captain to fortify the eleventh; that and to take proper action. After, to meet back up with me.". Takashi said very quickly. He hadn't told the secretary where he was going. Simply, he used shunpo to disappear. The shinigami took the shortest and most discrete possible routes to the 12th division for safety sake. It took a while but he arrived safely arrive at the 12th.

SPOILER: Click to show

Stats
Strength - 400 Points (1000)
Speed - 400 Points (1000)
Spiritual Pressure - 200 Points (100)
Reiatsu Strength - 100 Points (50)
Instinct - 160 Points
Senses - 90 Points
Energy sensory - 50 Points
Light Aura - 65 Points
Dark Aura - 35 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points

SKP

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru Kuchiki was just wandering around the barracks. She still couldn't get used to how all the outsides of the barracks looked the same, but the people that came out of them were all so different. She could immediately tell which squad was which just from the shinigami coming out of the barracks. When she actually looked up to see where she was and she had ended up near the barracks for the Third Squad. She knew she had a relative here, but didn't want to disturb him.

It was then that she thought she felt something. Since her energy sensory was pretty poor, she didn't think too much of it. That's when she swore that she heard something getting shot through the air. She looked up and noticed that something was falling out of the sky. She ran towards and building and when it hit the ground, it immediately exploded on impact. She averted her eyes and thankfully the building helped her miss damage from the blast.

It seemed like this blast was the first of many. She heard other explosions start to happen around Soul Society and saw that shinigami were starting to come out of their barracks to investigate the noise. Once they saw the smoldering craters, it seemed like it didn't take long for them to realize what's going on. Some shinigami started to run around almost in a panic. She didn't know how high ranking these shinigami are, but there needed to be some kind of order around here.

"Shinigami! Return to your respective squads and be ready! Get your squad barracks in order and prepare yourselves for orders!" Right after she said that, a hell butterfly appeared. It landed on her shoulder and she heard a woman tell her that her Fukataichou told her to fortify the Eleventh Squad and to take proper actions. She was then to meet back up with him. Then, the butterfly flew off. So, she now needed to find one of those...

Luckily for her, she noticed Takehiko Kuchiki coming out of his squad, the Third. She made it a point to recognize the other Kuchikis by sight and memorize their names. Since they were her new family, she wanted to at least know what they looked like. She ran up to him and then bowed quickly. "Hello Takehiko Kuchiki Fukataicho. I don't know if you know of me yet, but I'm Hotaru Kuchiki. Takashi Fukataichou just informed me that I needed to go back to the Eleventh with a Taichou or Fukataicho to get the squad ready. If you would please accompany me there, I would greatly appreciate it."

She waited a few minutes. She then started off towards her division. She hoped that her new relative was following her. It didn't take them long to get to her squad's barracks. She could see that the squad was in somewhat of a mess, shinigami running around like mad. The other seated officers were trying to help, but to really no avail. She stepped up and just screamed out hey as loud as she could. It got the attention of everyone there.

She stood on a table in the barracks. "Alright guys, as you can tell, Soul Society is being bombarded with explosives. I have no doubt that the captains are making plans to counter this, as well as the First division. Since we're the fighting division, we will more than likely be called on. But, until we receive orders, we need to fortify our own division before we get sent out. Fortify the building, and any other necessary building with sandbags filled with the dirt and sand from outside. I'll give the other seated officers the directions.

"After you guys have finished this, get yourselves ready and the ENTIRE squad will meet in our training grounds. They should be big enough to fit everybody. This way, you can all be together when the order comes down. This is Fukataichou Kuchiki from the Third division here to help, and all of you better listen to the both of us, or I will personally punish those who don't. Believe me, you wouldn't like it. I won't be staying for too long, I have my own orders. Now, LET'S GO!" She immediately heard the cheers from her squad as they started their duties.

She walked over to the other seated officers and told them what she thought needed to be done. Then, she looked out over her squad. Since neither Iro-taichou or Takashi-fukataichou were here, she was in charge of the squad. She would linger on a few of the squad member and they hurried up. They knew she had a fire zanpaktou and they didn't want to mess with her fire. Most people didn't. It made her chuckle a little to herself.

After about ten minutes, she could tell that the help from Kuchiki-fukataichou was helpful and she felt ready to leave the squad to meet with her own Fukataichou. She walked up to Takehiko. "Thank you so much Fukataichou, I really appreciate it. But, I have been given orders to meet up with my own Fukataichou. I can barely feel a familiar reiatsu presence in the Twelfth Division and I have a feeling that's him. I don't know what your orders are, but I don't think your help will be needed here anymore. I know for a fact no one wants to taste my Rivu~aiasan's fire, so the squad should be good now. Thank you again." She bowed quickly and ran over to the Twelfth Squad.

Once she got there, she saw that the Twelfth was busy as well, trying to discern what the explosives actually were, how they got in and she was sure they were figuring out other things. She walked through, looking for her Fukataichou. It didn't take her too long. He was standing around near the front of the division. She quickly walked over to Takashi, tapped him on the shoulder and bowed quickly. "The squad is prepared as you wanted Fukataichou and I'm reporting as ordered."

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}
Strength - 200 (150) Points.
Speed - 185 (250) Points.
Spiritual Pressure – 235 (176) Points.
Reiatsu Strength – 185 (250) Points.
Light Aura - [70] Points
Dark Aura - [30] Points
Instinct - [100] Points.
Senses - [100] Points.
Energy sensory - [50] Points
Healing Expertise - [0] Points
Total SP = 955

[Weapons: Swords] 2
[Pain Tolerance] 2
[Bleeding Tolerance] 1
[Illusion Resist] 1
[Damage Recovery] 2
[Poison Resist] 1
[Learning] 1
[Battle Focus] 1

[Amagai Kuchiki]

Just another day in the office. Endless amounts of papers pouring in from every scout they had deployed, with oodles of information, only a fraction of which was useful in any significant way. Takehiko enjoyed the position of Vice Captain, but he was less of a fan of the work that went into it. Well, the desk work at least. He loved the field work, and enjoyed the opportunities he was given to leave Soul Society and explore the three worlds. But that was a small percentage of his work.

Of course, he had more commitments than just to the Third Division. Although he had sworn to his captain, Alexander Kuma-Hebi, to put his family after Soul Society, the Kuchiki meant more to him than his position as Vice Captain. And he spent a considerable amount of time getting his hands dirty for the sake of Sozen, the head of the family. Of course, that didn't cut into his time that he set aside for Third Division duties too much, but it certainly occupied him.

Takehiko was halfway through analyzing a report which suggested that a new Tercera had appeared in Las Noches when the first blast occurred. The shockwave shattered the windows of his office, and he quickly raised his arm, flying glass harmlessly bouncing off of it. An instant later, he was out of his chair, opening the door, bursting through, looking for the source of the explosion. Utter chaos was being unleashed, and the source wasn't apparent at the moment.

As Takehiko was assessing the situation, a girl ran up to him, and introduced herself. Hotaru Kuchiki, one of his younger cousins, another adopted child. And it sounded like she was the Third Seat of the Eleventh Division, and that Takashi had sent her to retrieve him, or any other Captain or Vice Captain on hand. "You go ahead, I'll meet you there." Of course, he had every intention of joining her and Takashi, but he first needed to make sure his own squad was safe.

He moved around the compound, flitting at comfortably high speeds, checking in each room to make sure that no one was injured. For each survivor that he encountered, he told them "Group up in the central courtyard, and go through standard emergency procedures. There is likely an unknown foe attacking Soul Society, and we need to be ready for it. I will be aiding the Eleventh Division due to pressing concerns, rouse Alexander and do not engage the enemy. Jun Genshi is in charge, until Alexander is capable of leading."

And with that, he vanished, moving to the Eleventh Division with high speed movement in the form of Shunpo. He arrived at the end of Hotaru giving some kind of rousing speech, and dismissing the squad to complete their duties. "Where is Takashi and Iro? This is an emergency situation, they should be helping with their squad." There was a tint of disappointment in his voice, but it was subtle enough that it wasn't likely she'd pick up on it.

Ah, for whatever reason, Takashi had chosen to go to the Twelfth Squad. He had reasons, assumably. Hotaru took off again, and this time Takehiko followed her, even if that meant slowing down a fair amount. It was better that they arrive at the same time, rather than he arrive significantly before her. They arrived to Takashi standing at the entrance to the Twelfth division, and Hotaru approached him, informing him that the squad was as he requested. Takehiko noded curtly to greet Takashi, and looked expectantly at the gates of the Twelfth.

[Sozen Kuchiki]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Homage to Naruto}

THE TIME IS EVENING. BY MILITARISTIC TIME KEEPING STANDARDS IN THE SEIREITEI, IT WOULD BE 0900. AS DARKNESS BEGINS TO FALL, SOUL REAPERS ALL AROUND CANNOT HELP BUT WONDER WHAT IS ATTACKING THEM, AND WHAT HAS RAISED THEM FROM THEIR WARM BEDS. IS IT THE GAME MASTER, BERITH, WHO HAS ALREADY BEEN DEFEATED? IS IT THE QUINCY ARMY THAT PROMISED ITS INEVITABLE ARRIVAL? SQUADS HAVE HAD TIME TO REST SINCE THE END OF THE WAR, AND ARE QUICK TO MOBILIZE. SOON, HOWEVER, THEY DISCOVER THAT THERE IS NO REIATSU PRESENCE TO BE FOUND. THEIR ASSAILANT IS HIDING SOMEWHERE, WAITING FOR THE CORRECT MOMENT TO STRIKE. NOW IT IS ALL A GAME OF UNCOVERING HIM.

More explosions. They didn't stop or let up even once. Some were extremely small, able not even to demolish a single building. Others were very large, and the damage that they caused to the barracks of some of the squads was frightening. In the midst of this invasion, Captains were scattered around. Azumi was on a mission in the human world collecting samples, Alexander was in the human world fighting Hollows, Okusa Shogen was on a mission for Central 36, and Taiho Kasumi'Oji and Kenryoku Kawada were gone on a stealth mission. Meanwhile, Squad 13 was the first to have taken heavy damage, and the Senkai Gates were being unresponsive and wouldn't let anyone back in or anyone out just yet.

Therefore, all they had left were Sozen, Iro, Hokori, Raion, Enma, Rose, and the Captain Commander himself. Barely half their force was present! Had the enemy foreseen this, and chosen this optimal time to attack? The possibility was incredibly likely! Sozen, Iro, and Hokori had all been deployed to the source of the largest explosion, which continued to reoccur every few minutes to create a continued geyser of flame and destruction. The crater left in its wake would be massive, and it read such a powerful reiatsu signature that the Captain Commander had no choice but to assume three Captains would be necessary to observe it. This left Raion, deployed to another squad's barracks, and Rose, sent all over the place to perform healing.

For other, smaller explosions, those of lower rank than Captain would have to do. At that time, three Kuchikis of mid rank arrived at the barracks of Squad 12, where they were expected to investigate. Opening up the barracks and headed inside, it was clear that fires were raging all around inside. Once inside, there was a pathway to three main rooms. The fire hadn't reached beyond them, but it had reached them, and these rooms were all in danger. These were the information room, containing on computer all of Squad 12's files, including recently investigated Negacion and Garganta technologies Azumi had been trying to reboot. There were portable storage units in the room too. It was possible to save that information, and one of them had to do it.

The other two rooms were different. One was a healing experimentation room, which experimented on new methods of healing. The data in that room also needed to be saved, because those healing processes could become invaluable in later warfare. Finally, there was a third room, which had weapons. It was not necessarily necessary to save it, but those weapons could also be invaluable in coming wars and battles. There were three Kuchiki and three rooms, so it should hypothetically be possible for them to each go and save something. They only needed to decide who went where and what each should save. After they had saved everything, it would be in their best interest to report back to the Captain Commander for further instructions.

[Takashi Kuchiki]

The quiet night air was now filled with the red-orange embers which danced at the beating drum of explosions, rocking soul society. There was nothing less than pure chaos that erupted within the Gotei 13.
Confusion was present upon the face of each individual soldier; unsure of this unseen enemy. Like clockwork, there were large explosions which produced minor tremors. Within the chaos was Takashi, Takehikko, and Hotaru Kuchiki. These soldiers from nobility were seemingly the only hope of saving the twelfth division from utter destruction. Upon arriving, it seemed Hotaru had taken Takashi's side quite respectfully. He was a bit disappointed to see the arrival of Takehiko though. He assumed this was the Vice Captain she brought to fortify the division. His hope was that one of the Vice Captain's could stay behind and guard the 11th division.

Iro was currently away, taken to a mission to asses some sort of material. As for Takashi, there was business in the 12th. In any case, he gave a nod towards Takehiko, acknowledging that his presence. Takashi rushed into the twelfth division. The other members had known he was conducting some sort of research here. With his familiarity with the building, he took it upon himself to take the lead. As the fires raged and the smoke began to envelope the area, the white hair took action. "Hotaru-kun, please go to the room on the right. There, you should find some stairs which lead you downstairs. Upon arriving, you shall find the armory where the weapons are kept. Please find a way to bring the valuable ones out of the fire. If possible, rush them out of the facility or to storage units.".

It was then that he turned towards Takehiko. "Takehiko-san, please take the room ont he left. There, you will find the medical bay with a great deal of information on healing. This should aid you to extact the files; it may take some time. I trust you shall be able to do it". Takashi handed Takehiko something from his pocket. It appeared to be a blank small storage device that he had for himself. "Please upload the data and save any equipment possible; I would greatly appreciate it. I would appreciate your assistance in aiding Hotaru-kun after you have completed this; I imagine her requiring aid with the heavy weaponry." He then looked forward.

"As per myself, I shall be saving the room of where I conduct my research. Please work quickly and do not linger. I will attempt to do what I may but it will take quite a while; do as you must". With that Takashi gave a quick nod. He attempted to speak as quickly as possible as time was off the essence. It was only moments as Takashi dissappeared, shunpo-ing towards stairs and again to the far end of the hall to the main door. He presented his badge which unlocked the door. A moment later, it would close manually behind him. He finally made his way to the larger computer and took one of the portable storage devices. The shinigami swiped his card. An image popped up on the screen.

Takashi's finger's began pressing away as the square buttons lit up a bright yellow color. It was only moments as he placed the storage device into the jack. His fingers stroked upon the keys as a bar began to fill, golden, taking some time with green percentage. Takashi would wait for it to fill. A moment later, there was yet another bar. Takashi's fingers swopped past the keyboard. Things were really heating up. He felt another shake that was quaking the area. He kept his calm, as a red bar soon appeared. The red bar began filling as Takashi's fingers began to stroke away once more at the keys. The shinigami had to work as quickly as possible; hearing the explosions outside was interesting to say the least. It took some time, but finally the bar had filled and Takashi would eject the storage and place it into his pocket.

OOC: Permission of training and lab access stuff given by Azumi, just played it up for effect.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

When Hotaru Kuchiki arrived, she was a little winded. She just hoped that whatever they needed to do at the Twelfth Division would be quick, since they needed to get back to their own divisions and help out there. Takehiko followed closely behind her and by the time she reported back to Takashi, Takehiko was already there and waiting with her. She was curious to see what the inside of the division actually looked like.

On the way there, she heard all of the explosions, some she could definitely tell were bigger than others. It seemed that when the first explosions hit, they weren't that large, or else she would've gotten injured pretty badly. It sounded to her like they were varying the sizes of the explosions. Right now, she was curious as to who was actually doing all this damage to Soul Society. Was it Arrancars or this Vandenreich? She had no idea, but she just hoped that they would find the people responsible soon.

Once Takashi opened the doors, she couldn't believe how much destruction there was in the division. She knew that some of the divisions got hit hard, but the outside of this division didn't look that bad. Obviously, looks can be deceiving. There were fires raging all over the place, but thankfully, these looked like the first three rooms that got hit by the flames. It was one good thing about this whole thing, but it seemed like these rooms were important.

She saw all the computers in the room and knew it would be a pretty bad thing if the computers got destroyed. She had no idea how much information was in those banks, but she was pretty sure it was a lot and it would be bad if any of that information got lost. It was probably the reason that they were called over her in the first place. She looked around at the rooms and was trying to figure out what they should do first. But, she noticed that Takashi was already formulating plans.

Takashi turned to her and told her to go take the room on the right. This room would have stairs in it that would lead down into an armory. She had no idea that they had an armory here, but she then knew that she should've known better. It's the science division, so of course they would be making weapons here. He then told her that she needed to go and save the most valuable weapons from the fire by rushing them out of the facility or going to the storage units.

She nodded to her Fukataichou and rushed to the room on the right. She found the stairs and rushed down them. When she emerged from the stairs, she saw the armory. It was huge! She couldn't believe how big it actually was. She saw all variety of weapons in there and she had no idea which ones would be more important than others. So, she started grabbing all of the weapons that she could tie into her sash around her waist.

She was able to fit at least ten more swords, if not more on her waist. She then looked around and saw a pretty big heavy weapon. She grabbed it and ran up the stairs and out of the division. She saw some storage bins that had been placed outside and started to unload her weapons and sash. She quickly ran back in and made another trip, this time, carrying all swords, in her arms and her sash. She was able to carry more this way.

She made three more trips with just swords and thankfully after that, she had managed to get all the swords out. The next thing she did was grab more of the staffs and other long cylindrical weapons. It took her another two trips. Now, all she had left were the heavy weapons. During these trips, the fires had gotten worse, but due to using Shunpo, she got a lot more trips done quicker. She glanced around and tried to pick the heaviest ones first. Even though she needed to take a few breaks with them, she was finally done. Once she was finished, she met back in the room that Takashi was at, completely out of breath, sore and leaning up against a wall.

[Amagai Kuchiki]

As the trio rushed into the twelfth division, Takehiko internally noted that Takashi took charge with ease. He didn't mind, and it made quite a bit of sense. Afterall, Takashi had sent for him, not the other way around. He was proud of how much his younger cousin had grown, and how much effort he had devoted into protecting and serving the Kuchiki family. However, regardless of how proud Takehiko currently was, there were bigger problems at hand, so it was time to refocus.

Takashi had given orders for him to examine the room on the left, and handed him a small storage device, used for collecting data. "I will do so right away." Takehiko said with a curt nod, and bolted into the room. The primary computer was on, and unlocked, which seemed strange. Takehiko made a mental note of it, but had no real time to complain, he wouldn't have had time to figure out or crack the password, so it was a blessing in disguise.

As he plugged it in to download the files, he noted that there was a large amount of paper notes lying around the room. He collected those as well, trying his best to keep the order of piles intact as he swept around the room clockwise. Most of the information on the paper was scientific goobly gook that he couldn't really understand, which was a bother. A theme through a lot of them appeared to be a test subject of some sort, but some of the experiments seemed outright lethal.

Although Takehiko didn't have time to read them in depth, he got somewhat lost in the notes, finding them utterly fascinating. The test subject, referred to in the notes as "Subject 25", seemed to have regenerative capabilities that didn't function in a standard manner, and most of the notes were focused at trying to understand the underlying mechanics of them. However, at some point, the notes transitioned into talking about other aspects of the Subject.

Subject 25 had requested that the 12th division examine and assist him in understanding bodily traits that he possessed. The first appeared to be a horrific aura that would cause an infectious madness to overpower the opponents mind if they attempted to alter his with reiatsu based techniques. The second of which, Takehiko balked at. Apparently, the Subject was capable of producing lethal doses of radiation passively, and did so for fun, and in order to hurt his opponents over time. 

Takehiko wanted to read more but didn't have time. The data had finished downloading. He took it all, including the notes, and brought it to the original atrium, where Hotaru and Takashi were waiting. "Apologies for my lack of assistance, Hotaru, I was occupied more than anticipated. Are we ready to go? I can take the weapons if you take the paper notes." He offered forth the papers to her before picking up large amounts of the heavy equipment, using his massive strength to his advantage.

[Sozen Kuchiki]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play that funky music, white boy}

Explosions continued to rock through the Seireitei for a few more minutes, until these too sputtered out. Next thing, in the place of explosions, large geysers of magma erupted out, spewing lava and ash everywhere. They were continuous, unending geysers, and emerged from every crater that had previously been from an explosion. With the situation getting so heated, the three Kuchiki got what they needed to and regrouped back at the start of the Squad 12 barracks. What needed saving had been saved. Well, hopefully it had been, anyway. They still had to get it back to somewhere safe. Nowhere safer than the Squad 1 barracks, where the Captain Commander presided.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the rooms the three Kuchikis had just come from. Well, actually, only one room exploded. It was the room that Takashi had been in, where most of the experimental data had been kept. Obviously, it was the most important room of the three, containing literally decades worth of data and information. The explosion could only mean that the room, and the computers, had been annihilated, and completely destroyed. It meant that data was gone, except for one copy of all of it, which Takashi had with him because he had backed it up. It also meant someone had planned all of this in advance, and hadn't been able to just show up to destroy Squad 12, and so had programmed it to self destruct if someone came and took the data.

It meant that Takashi, who held the last bit of data, could be targeted. There was no reiatsu to be sensed yet, but if Takashi was truly carrying the last copy of Squad 12's data, then someone would be coming after the three Kuchikis soon to destroy it and cripple the Thirteen Court Guard Squads once and for all. And with the magma continuing onward around Seireitei, more and more healers and containment units had to be sent out. At first, it hadn't been many explosions. Then it had been chaos. Now it was something more. Seireitei was in the midst of a cataclysmic event! Whatever was happening, they needed to get to the bottom of it! But first, these things needed to be taken to Squad 1.

As the three Kuchikis stepped out of Squad 12, they would see the lava pillars reaching toward the sky, and they would sense some of Seireitei's finest, the Captains, going around trying to contain it. This included the head of their family, Sozen Kuchiki, who earlier had unleashed a massive water Kido to quiet some of the geysers. As they saw him fly over the rooftops, he saw them, and looked each of them in the eye as he was passing. "Get it done!" Sozen ordered, referencing their mission, which he most likely inferred from seeing them. Get it done, he said. So, it needed to get done. As Sozen moved away, they'd see him land on one of the rooftops.

Why? Because in the distance, there was a mountain. No, not a mountain. A wave. That was a wave. And it was getting closer. It was literally a wave as high as a mountain, and had already obliterated all of the Rukon districts on that side. Sozen stood ready, and with him, others began to appear, some whose names were not even known. One such figure, Kenpachi Shingai, an adviser to Sozen, also appeared, and both began chanting. They had to combat the wave. But, as it approached, towering over Seireitei and casting a shadow over it, it then disappeared, and Sozen stood surprised. The Rukon districts were fine. The wave had never even been real, but an illusion. Nothing had been destroyed by it, because it had never existed. It had merely been a distraction.

Cursing, Sozen disappeared in a flash step, as did his allies. They were off to fight more things. This left these three to decide what to do. Yes, Squad 1 was an option. But it was not the only option. There were others. Hell butterflies were moving around acting as speaker phones, and one announcement was, The Senkai Gates are 85% fixed! They will soon be operational for travel to the human world, though not yet for travel back! This meant that Squad 13 might also be plausible, because the Kuchikis could take their retrieved items and supplies to the human world if they needed to escape the Seireitei. But there were still a lot of options.

Other options they could take. They had a lot of technologies. AND all else failed, they actually had partial Garganta and Negacion technologies with them. Maybe not stable, but usable at least enough to help them if a powerful enemy did appear. Time to make some decisions, though. Reiatsu flares began to appear all over Seireitei. Anyone with energy sensory would detect foreign reiatsu. Was this it? Enemies? Ryoka? Had an invasion at last decided to show itself? No, no time to worry. One did approach the three Kuchikis, but their prerogative was to get those retrieved items and sundries somewhere safe, before they went out for the rest of their mission.

Get it done Sozen had said. What next?

[Takashi Kuchiki]

(OOC: Sorry for the wait, my posts will be very quick from now on)

The situation was rather tense. There were explosions going off all over the area; it was rather unsettling. The shinigami had moved from his location and gone out of the twelfth division now. Takashi had had everyone make their way out. It was only momvents later that the Kuchiki's had found themselves standing outside. There was yet another explosion, but it rocketed the halls of the division behind them. BOOM! It was a huge blast that emitted. Takashi didn't flinch as he examined the explosion, interesting indeed. Takashi looked back towards Takehiko and Hotaru-kun, making sure they were safe and had the artifacts in hand. He blinked only once before he turned to see something shocking.

There were huge lava pillars that rose to the heavens. Takashi's looked towards them before sensing some presence. They were the Captains whom were all rushing around to get things done. In particular, there was the head of the Kuchiki Household, Sozen Kuchiki. This man had given a simple instruction as he continued to pass by; 'get it done' he said. That was all Takashi needed to hear to formulate a plan. He couldn't be distracted by all these miscellaneous happenings. Instead, he turned back towards Hotaru and Takehiko. It seemed his expression was bored as per usual, however, his eyes held something intense and something different.

"Takehiko-san, please allow me to carry the file which you have acquired. I will also bear the burden of the weapons you have collected. Hotaru-kun, I shall take yours as well, the ones that require most safekeeping. I am the most likely to see Azumi-Taicho and perhaps most trusted due to conducting research with her. I feel it my duty to take care of her possessions. I wish to hide the weapons and data within the 11ths confines, where protection is not needed. In addition, I wish to check up on the men to see how they are holding.". He would look out towards the 12th, it seemed the sprinklers were already in effect to dowse the flames. He looked back towards them a moment later.

"If you would, I would greatly appreciate placing the other weaponry in another division. I fear if an attack is imminent, we may lose other things. However, the 11th is rather fortified. I simply feel it not in our best interest placing all of our eggs into one basket.". He would reach out, hoping they would listen. He wasn't exactly the commanding senior officer, but Takehiko seemed to allow it. He would continue speaking for now. "After this, let us meet the Captain Commander; our orders were absolute". Takashi spoke, this entire situation was interesting.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

"Thank you Takehiko-fukataichou." But before she could actually take the file, she watched what was going on outside. It was like a war zone, much like the ones she had dealt with before she died. The only real difference was that these explosions were much larger and there wasn't too much hand-to-hand combat going on. Just people running from all the explosions. While outside, she took in the semi-fresh air. It was much better than dealing with the fires inside the division.

It was then Hotaru heard a huge explosion from inside the division. She looked back and saw that the room Takashi was in had just exploded. She was barely able to see the computers on fire. It was almost like it was meant to explode when he took the data out. So, now they were the ONLY ones that actually had backups of the Twelfth Division data. She was pretty sure when these people showed themselves, they were going to come after them.

It meant that they needed to move quickly and get all this stuff somewhere safe. But, before that she saw all the lava pillars reaching up to the sky. While looking up, she saw the head of their family, Sozen-sama, running rooftop to rooftop. He ordered them to get it done, before landing on a rooftop. She looked the same way he was and noticed a huge wave of lava coming towards them. The wave was bigger than their tallest building.

But then, just as quickly as the wave appeared, it disappeared. So, the enemies were using some illusion-based attacks, which made them all the more deadly. It almost made it so people would question what was real and what wasn't. It was a very interesting tactic to use in battle. She then heard the Hell Butterflies say that the gates to the human world were almost operational. So, they had a lot of options with what to do now.

Takashi spoke up, saying that he was going to carry the files they acquired and most of the weapons that they've collected in the division. He was taking everything of the most importance because he said he would be the one that would see Azumi-taichou first due to his research here. Hotaru could believe that, so she gave over what he wanted. He continued, saying that he would take his load with him to the Eleventh, checking on the men as well.

Takashi then suggested they take the rest of the weaponry to another division, to spread everything out. She agreed. It would be stupid of them to put all of the weapons and information from the Twelfth Division all in one area. After they did this, he said to meet with the Captain Commander because the orders were absolute. She nodded in agreement. They were absolute and she wasn't one to blatantly ignore direct orders.

She looked towards Takashi. "Please let me know how the men are holding up when we meet up again at the First Division." She then turned her attention towards Takehiko. "Well Takehiko-fukataichou, my opinion on where to send the rest of the weapons is to your division. But, since you're the senior officer out of the two of us, I leave the decision in your hands. Just lead the way when you're ready, Fukataichou."

[Sozen Kuchiki]

OOC: Alternating two scenes simultaneously

SPOILER: Click to show

{EPIC MUSIC}

Squad 13 barracks Squad 1 barracks

Sozen Kuchiki had arrived to join Kenryoku Kawada at the Squad 13 Barracks, Captain of Squad 6 and Kuchiki Head joining Captain of Squad 2 and Kawada Head. They were most in charge of the Senkai Gates right now, with Shade wherever he was. Whenever Shade was not present, that duty of the gates fell to his brother, Kenryoku, who took aid from Sozen, an ally to the Kawada family under Shade. These two had both arrived at the gates because they had been called by private Hell butterflies over some kind of an anomaly near Squad 13. In front of Senkai Gate 1, some sort of golden reiatsu aura had begun to form in front of the gateway itself.

Hotaru and Takehiko, now separate from Takashi, would arrive before the Captain Commander in the Squad 1 barracks. No Captains were present when they did. The Captain Commander was alone, staring out at dozens of holographic screens around himself, monitoring the situation. In other rooms, many other Squad 1 members were doing the same, and were using butterflies to strategize and coordinate with other Soul Reapers. The Captain Commander, however, was silent. He simply observed everything, as if seeking the source of the problem. Upon Takehiko and Hotaru entering, he turned to them to acknowledge them. His enormous muscles could be seen.

"What is that?" Kenryoku asked as Sozen and he arrived. Sozen's eyes, though remaining untouched by this scene, were incongruous with his voice. His voice was shaking. "Prior to my departure from the Seireitei for travels, Sonken Kouhai was the Lieutenant of Squad 12," Sozen told Kenryoku. The golden reiatsu aura was starting to grow bigger too, slowly at first, though, so that it was difficult to tell quite what it was meant to do upon visual observation. Kenryoku said nothing as Sozen continued to speak. "He was researching many things back then, including an anomaly which appeared to be an aura of gold reiatsu emanating from nothingness and empty space."

"Separate," the Captain Commander ordered of Hotaru and Takehiko, indicating that they should go on separate missions from one another. "No enemy has yet shown himself. It is probable that the enemy is hiding among us. Within the ranks of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. Our best effort would be to first secure the safety of our devices and people." The Captain Commander wanted them to be out rescuing people, and out getting more data and weapons that were not to be destroyed. He clearly had some kind of mission in mind for them, but suddenly, his eyes turned to the screen with Sozen and Kenryoku, and widened.

Kenryoku still said nothing, but it didn't matter. Sozen continued to speak. "This isn't a reiatsu aura..." Sozen said. "It's a portal to another world." And soon, Kenryoku would see that Sozen was correct. Opening up now, there was a golden flaming portal which showed into another world, of molten magma and ash, and of dust, of fire, and destruction. The smell of sulfur emanated from the portal, which began to grow at a far more alarming rate, nearly tripling in size every second. "Kouhai was working on a new form of Kido..." Sozen admitted, his eyes staring in awe at what was now to appear. Something truly monstrous. "Summoning spells."

And suddenly, from out of the portal, there rushed a huge monster with a black and red, spiked, four legged body. Emerging from its back, shoulder blades, and chest, were arms covered in purple fire and purple reiatsu. It had six arms in addition to its legs, and a monstrous horned head with two mouths in snout form, one on top of the other. Both mouths roared with an unheard of sound that was more than deafening. It was downright agonizing to the soul. It was also, by the way, colossal. They had probably never seen a monster this big before. It was literally the size of a quarter of the Seireitei, and it appeared in an instant.

"My god..." the Captain Commander said, seeing the monster on his monitors. Takehiko and Hotaru would be privy to watch. Even the Captain Commander was shocked by what he saw. By the huge, incredible monstrosity. Even he must have felt terror in that moment. The Captain Commander was quick to turn to Hotaru and Takehiko, eyes wide, and begin bellowing at them. To Hotaru he had very specific orders. "GO IMMEDIATELY TO SQUAD 5, AND SEEK OUT HOKORI KUCHIKI. FIND HIM, AND BRING HIM TO THE SQUAD 13 BARRACKS!" Next, the Captain Commander turned to Takehiko. "YOU NEED TO GO TO SQUAD 6's BARRACKS NOW AND RESEARCH THE LIBRARY THERE. FIND INFORMATION ON 'SHOKAN' SPELLS."

A black orb of reiatsu charging in its mouth showed that it was not an illusion. The monster, whose reiatsu was palpable in the air, had enough power to destroy everything here. It was just that big, and it was just that powerful. For it to have been summoned like this must have required a tremendous amount of reiatsu and energy. There was no way that this monster had come into being without its caster suffering horrible consequences. Sozen stared up at the monster, eyes wide, as did Kenryoku. Neither knew how to solve the problem of its existence, but it was charging a reiatsu orb. Sozen was quick to unveil his Shikai, and stab the creature through blades from its red snouts, but this served only to extinguish the reiatsu orb, and not cause it to explode and damage the beast.

It then looked down again, and began charging its reiatsu orb again. Sozen and Kenryoku stared in shock. How could they stop this thing?! It was inconceivably large and powerful. When it released the orb, it came out not as an orb, but a river. Literally the size of the nile, it was a giant river of black reiatsu coming down. Enough to vaporize everything in that vicinity. Sozen's eyes widened, as did Kenryoku's. How could they possibly counter it? Only then did Kenryoku, thinking quickly, bring one of the larger Senkai Gates into the way, and utilize the controls to expand its size to be able to take in the whole river of an attack, which appeared somewhere in a deserted part of the human world, and detonated deep underwater with the force of a hundred nuclear bombs. Some nation later would receive a tsunami for it. Senkai Gate 1 shattered completely and was destroyed from this effort.

The monster continued to roar, and Sozen and Kenryoku weren't sure of how to proceed. They were ready to attack, but how could they attack THIS bigass monster thing? Meanwhile, Takashi should be arriving at Squad 11, where only lower ranks were available, and it was mostly deserted. Here, he had the options of approaching men to ask for reports, or of commanding them, or of doing other things. But, he had to do what he had come to do, and then resume his main mission. The chaos here was enormous, too. Oh man. HOW DO GET OUT OF THIS FUCKING PICKLE, BRUH?

[Amagai Kuchiki]

After he had handed over the file to Takashi, and trusted his younger cousin with the weapons that Hotaru had fetched, Takehiko and Hotaru quickly decided on where to relocate the weapons. Given that Hotaru had trusted him with the decision, Takehiko made the call: given that they were meant to see the Captain Commander as soon as possible, it made sense to trust the executive division with the weaponry. Besides, Kagami Murai, one of Takehiko's closest friends, was the Vice Captain of the First Division, and Takehiko trusted him to take care of the situation.

They arrived at the First Division shortly after departing, traversing Soul Society with step techniques and quick movement. Hotaru was slower than Takehiko, and thus he was forced to slow himself for her, allowing her to keep up, but they still were able to make it through relatively quickly. It hurt to see Soul Society in this bad shape, with buildings burning and rubble thrown everywhere due to explosives. People were hurt. People were dying. And right now, he couldn't help any of them directly.

Once they had arrived at the First Division, both Takehiko and Hotaru rushed through the building to the Captain Commander's office. This was one of the few times that Takehiko had been in the audience of the Captain Commander, and the only time that he had done so without any Captains present. It was strange, to say the very least. The Strong Man was still an intimidating figure, especially given he was taller than Takehiko and outranked him significantly, but seeing him alone was rather humanizing.

Kyousou Ningen was examining a variety of holographic displays, which appeared to be showing what was happening all over the Gotei 13 in real time. However, before Takehiko could examine them too thoroughly, the Captain Commander spoke, delivering an order to both Takehiko and Hotaru. The order would violate their existing agreement with Takashi in regards to plan, but he was certain that his younger cousin would realize what had occurred, and wouldn't hold it against them.

It seemed that their mission was simple. Leave, get more data, rescue people. Plenty of hands on work that Takehiko couldn't wait to do, however, he waited to be dismissed by the Captain Commander. And that hesitation proved to be a good decision, once The Strong Man turned back to the displays and his eyes widened. Takehiko peered at them, trying his best to examine what it was that caused such a reaction, but all he could see was just a large, overwhelmingly big darkness.

Oh. Oh. Oh, apparently that was a monster. Right now, it was difficult for Takehiko to process the state of the situation, until the Captain Commander turned back to them and shouted orders. Hotaru was to retrieve their cousin Hokori from the Fifth Division, likely due to his capabilities of addressing such a massive monster. Takehiko, on the other hand, was meant to go to the Sixth Division, and find Shokan spells in the massive library that the Kuchiki family held. He didn't need to be told twice, and vanished in an instant, heading towards the Squad that Sozen lead.