The Living Lab (NDE, Medium Adventure

[Ranth]

Ranth had made it halfway down the alley before he realised that something was terribly wrong. At first he'd been guided in his pursuit by the blatant trail caused by the giant bugs passage through the foot deep snow and the clicking of its legs against the stone path beneath. Suddenly, that clicking sound became louder and within a heartbeat Ranth recognised the reason why. It wasn't the the noise was growing louder, but rather that it was coming from more than one source.

At precisely that moment, a shadow fell across the alley and Ranth looked up to see dark shapes swarming over the edge of the rooftops to the front, sides and rear of his position. It was perhaps a small mercy that a large portion of the swarm seemed intent upon rushing towards his companions- who at that point in time were closer to the mouth and entrance of the alleyway- but he didn't have time to worry about them as three of the enormous bugs were coming after him- one from in front another two from the sides.

Thinking quickly, Ranth realised that his only chance of survival was to hold out until his allies could rescue him. The ants were simply too powerful- or he was simply too weak- to inflict damage upon them. He was, after all, just a rookie with no techniques to his name other than Shunpo. Therefore, he did the only thing that someone in his postion could do and dived forwards, sliding through the snow underneath the creature that was mid leap.

The result of this was that all three of the ants which had been lunging for him collided thanks to the leaping ant obstructing the path of the two coming from the sides. This collision created a tangle of appendages which would take them several seconds to extract themselves from, but that was all the time Ranth needed... to escape. Dashing further down the alley, away from the bulk of the swarm that had made their way towards his three companions, Ranth found a door on the left side of the alley and by the grace of some god or another, found it to be open.

Darting through the door, he slammed it shut behind him slid the solid steel locking mechanism shut behind him before getting his first good look at just what kind of building he'd wandered into and after a moment of staring in disbelief at the crowded shelves and pristine display cabinets, a vague smile stretched over his lips. He hadn't just walked into an arms and ammunition store.

60 seconds later, Ranth kicked open the front door (not the door he'd entered through from the alley) with an ammo belt looped around both shoulders to form an 'X' over his chest, a holster around his waist that held a loaded magnum on one side and a Desert Eagle on the other as well as three fragmentation grenades attached to the back and three incediary grenades strapped to the front with quick release apparatus for easy access. He held a large minigun in both hands, its ammo belt dragging along the floor behind him whilst the Zanpakuto strapped across his back now had a partner in the form of an AK-47 with a laser sight.

Whatever these bugs were, they didn't seem to be spiritual beings like Hollows or Beast Clan. They were, somehow, of human world origin and so what better way to deal with them than with human world weapons? Moving towards the entrance to the alleyway once again, Ranth raised his weapon towards the first 'Ant' he saw and began firing. The rest of the group were still inside the mouth of the alley, so they wouldn't be at risk of being caught in the crossfire unless they ran out into the street.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}

STATS

Strength- 100
Speed - 100
Spiritual Pressure - 100
Reiatsu Strength - 100
Light Aura- 100
Dark Aura - 0
Instinct - 50
Senses - 50
Energy Sensory - 0
Healing Expertise - 0

Reiatsu: 1000/1000

SKILLS

Kido: 1
Battle Analysis: 1
Mental Incantation: 1
Learning: 1
Strength of Will: 1
Hakuda: 1
Pain Tolerance: 1

[Connor Greaves]

Of all the things I had expected on this venture to the living world, giant crossbred bugs were not on the list. Hollows that shared the appearance of bugs or spiders, sure, that was the standard. These things however? If I had known I would be fighting these, I would have stayed in bed... Still, no point in complaining. If these things thought they would stop me from completing the mission, then they had another thing coming. There were three heading directly for me, with more heading for the other Soul Reapers. I hoped that the amalgamations were easy to kill.

For the first time in a long while, I unsheathed my blade, and ran at something with the intent to kill. The three raised their front legs, swinging them down in an attempt to strike me. I spun to my right, attacking the rightmost creature, dodging its attack, matching its speed with my own. Running forward, I cleaved my blade downward, aiming for the neck of the beast. Sadly, it turned to face me, catching my blade with its face. Good news, I managed to gouge out one of its eyes. Bad news, that was all the damage I managed to do to it.

The bug awkwardly smacked me with a limb, sending me tumbling backwards into the wall. The hit stung, but was far from life threatening. The other two made to follow me, moving around the one that attacked. However, for some reason, the monster that had actually struck me was limping, as if injured. There was no time to understand why, but I knew I was in a bad position. I was unable to grievously injure these things. I needed new plan of attack. I used shunpo to get on the top of the closest bug. I turned to sit down, legs wrapping around its neck.

Grabbing onto the antenna, I yanked it towards the companions of my new steed. I was rewarded with a screech of pain, and the ant-like creature turning to lash out at the next closest one. My beast bit into the face of the other, causing it to do the same. While they were occupied, I stabbed into the eye of the attacking insect. More screeches were heard, as it fell down, dead. I jerked the antenna towards the last one, getting the bug to follow my command. Unfortunately, the injured bug had not been content with sitting idly by.

It was turned around, pointing its abdomen at the two of us. Not liking how it pointed at us, I yanked my improv handlebar up, causing the beast to jerk itself up. The injured one sprayed webbing at the two of us. The underbelly of my beast was coated in sticky webs, as well as gluing me to my mount, but ultimately leaving us untethered to the snowy floor. I almost cursed at the situation, before juerking the antenna forward once more. Through the screeches and cries, the bug forced itself to move, though not as fast as it could have without the web around it.

But the other bug was faster, turning around, and lunging at me. I leaned back, letting go of the insect beneath me, as I tried to avoid being split open by the mandibles of the attacking bug. They were sharp and fast, and I just barely managed to avoid death, holding it off with my blade. It was physically stronger than I was, pushing me to my back, and inching ever closer. I had to do... Kido! "Hado... Number Four... Byakurai!" I said, pointing two fingers towards the mouth of the beast. While it was true that I was very poor at Kido, and a chantless spell would be weaker than if I had done it, a bolt of lightning down the throat would kill most anything, and that held true here.

It screeched and thrashed, as it spasmed from the electricity bouncing around inside it. With a grunt, I managed to get the dead beast off of me, before correcting my position on my steed. I quickly grabbed an antenna before it could try to fruitlessly shake me off. As much as I wanted to try and get the webbing off of me, I knew it could be done later. I pulled the appendage towards one of the other insects, charging towards it, hoping that I could still continue to aid the others in this battle.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats} Strength- 100
Speed- 150
Reiatsu Strength- 30
Spiritual Pressure- (160+50%) 240
Senses- 50
Instinct- 50
Energy Sensory- 0

Dark- 100
Light- 0

Skills: Strength of Will- 1
Weapons, Swords- 1
Weapons, Guns- 1
Street Fighting- 1
Acting- 1
Disguise- 1
Crafting- 1
Charisma- 1

[Maeda Jirou]

He had through himself rather clever by taking the chase to the rooftops in a bid to get ahead of the creature and stop it. However things went far from planned as the young shinigami who not only made a poor shot at the creature and only injuring a limb he soon after caught glimpses of similar beings all around their location ''It's an amb-!'' no further did he get in his sentence as he attempted to warn his allies before Jirou himself was flanked from a blindspot and tackled off the roof. Managing to land without harm he recognized his luck that the creature that struck him had not the mind to injure him but rather just drop him back in their trap.

Granted now they were all surrounded so with little delay Jirou embedded himself within the group again joining up with Shiro as the two guarded the remaining flanks of attack and the shinigami finally drew his katana at the ready. ''Finally getting serious eh?'' his zanpakuto spirit jested with a cheeky grin, unafraid to the point of stupidity as always which wasn't far from the reality. ''I'm always fighting seriously, i'll die if i don't'' the zanpakuto spirit's master said in a tone far more serious than his counterpart, the situation was bad, and they both knew it.

''Oh well if that's all you've got i guess i'll have to drag you to victory all on my lonesome!'' ''harr harr very funny'' Jirou said in an overwhelmingly dry response as the fighting began and the other two shinigami had already gotten into action taking the fight to the bugs. Seeing that the bugs were about to attack and this time being able to see it in time to react Jirou quickly grabbed hold of Shiro and transported the two of them away with the flash of another shunpo as webbing struck their prior location. To dodge most effectively Jirou had actually darted right ahead with webbing shooting past him and Shiro on both sides.

Once he reappeared the insects were still inconvenienced by the stance by which they had placed themselves in order to shoot and without hesitation they both made use of that fact with Jirou almost hurling the smaller but naturally well armed Shiro forwards, the zanpakuto spirit swinging one of it's densely scaled, clawed arm forwards to rip into the creature's head or core or at
the very least grab onto it and grapple onto it's back to dodge any blows as he'd start ripping the insect apart with his bare claws and ferocity having little other in terms of options as he didn't have a weapon of his own.

Jirou in the meanwhile went for the more classical approach and made use of his blade gripped with both hands to increase his striking power as he'd dash forwards and thrust his blade towards the head of the creature and regardless of wether it was a hit or not he would transition the swing into a curved upwards slash followed by a big step forward to close any remaining distance and delivering a full force downwards cut. A basic attack pattern if it had ever been seen but it was a common maneuver for a reason. It usually served it's purpose and didn't require the skills of a master to pull off and a master he certainly was not.

As for the two remaining web shooting insects as soon as the central primary targets were dealt with if they did succeed in dealing with them Jirou would once again rely on Shunpo to avoid a fair confrontation with a more physically imposing opponent and appear to the side of it, aiming to bring a quick end of a second insect with a firm downwards thrust aimed to behead it. As for Shiro, Shiro technically knew how to do anything Jirou did but being a fragment of Jirou's power split from him the zanpakuto spirit simply couldn't pull of spiritual techniques all that well yet.

Thus with little hope in winning an unequal confrontation he would seek to retreat to Jirou while delivering what defensive punches and swipes of his claws that he could and if feasible grapple onto his opponent to deliver a killing blow as aimed with the first. If any of them were about to be ensnared in webbing they would of course try to cut themselves free with blade and claw but if risked with being overwhelmed Jirou would attempt to quickly grapple onto Shiro ande bug out with a potential third Shunpo closer to his allies.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Jirou & Shiro Stats}Jirou
Type: Fractured

Strength - 80 [108] (135%)

Speed - 50

Spiritual Pressure - 80 [120] (150%)

Reiatsu Strength - 30 [21] (70%)

Light Aura - 40

Dark Aura - 60

Instinct - 50

Senses - 50

Energy sensory - 0 [0] (75%)

Healing Expertise - 0

Total SP: 350


Shiro
Type: Fractured

Strength - 50 [68] (135%)

Speed - 45

Spiritual Pressure - [[60]]

Reiatsu Strength - 0 [0] (70%)

Instinct - 40

Senses - 40

Energy sensory - 0 [0] (75%)

Healing Expertise - 0

Total SP: 175

• [Strength of Will] {1}
• [Weapons: Swords] {1}
• [Cold Tolerance] {1}
• [Martial Art: Kyokushin] {1}
• [Pain Tolerance] {1}
• [Mental Incantation] {1}
• [Anti-Stealth] {1}

-50 Shunpo
Jirou Reiatsu: 675/800


Shiro Reiatsu: 600/600

[Deleted]

Well the ambush that the insect like creatures did wasn't exactly one hundred percent successful, however they did manage to at the very least take out one of the shingami. Ranth, the young and prideful shingami thought that he had busted into a gun shop and was firing out bullets at the insects. That was all a fever dream, one caused by a combination of the insects bite injecting some sort of odd poison into Ranth's body as well as them wrapping him up in their webbing taking him out of the fight for the moment. Ranth however in his dream would be able to do whatever he wanted, as the only limit would be his imagination.

Conner had a bit of better luck with dealing with the creatures that were attacking him atempting to mount the beast wasn't the brightest move, but then again it wasn't expected which is why it worked for a moment. While mounted the beast did move as Conner wanted, however by the time Conner used a Byakurai to shoot and kill the third attacking bug one of the arms of the insect he was riding would move in it's own accord. Rushing right to the massive wall of webbing that was created by the other insects. It would leap so that Conner would be slammed into the sticky webbing entrapping him and keeping him from being able to move. The biting would follow shortly after if Conner didn't act quickly. However this was if Conner was still on the insect however being webbed up on it didn't make easy to escape.

Shiro.... Shiro's attempt wasn't the smartest move in the world. Sure he did land on the head of one of the creatures and he did manage to get on the back of the insect. However as he continued to slam and claw at the insect he would notice something strange. The skin of the creatures was hard and sturdy as if it was made of bone. Those familiar with insects would know that almost all insects have an exoskeleton that was durable and lightweight. While normally not strong enough to keep a person from crushing them, at this size the exoskeleton was much more durable than what Shiro could dish out. The insect that Shiro was on would run towards it's allies all of them ready to bite down and web down the hanging shingami.

Jirou's first attack was actually very successful, by dashing into the insect's head with his blade downward the thrust actually pushed into the head of the creature killing it. The combined impact of those two movements did allow Jirou's attack to work, if he didn't do it like that, then the attack would have bounced off. The other attacks sadly didn't have enough strength behind them to actually strike through the exoskeleton. However one of the strikes would land on the eye of the insect and deal damage. It would seem that the eyes were a weakpoint, however if Jirou would be able to relay this information would be up to him while he was being surrounded by a few more of the insects.

[Ranth]

One fever dream, coming right up.

Ranth was in a fever dream. He didn't know he was in a fever dream, yet at the same time he did know. It was a lucid dream which lacked the lucidity that would have normally allowed the dreamer to take control. His real body, lying listless in the alley and left for dead by the insects who determined that their time and energy was better spent going after the other three intruders. Thus we return to the un-licid lucidity of the lucidity which was the lucid dream that Ranth was trapped in at the time of this most definitely lucid documentation.

His bullets sprayed down the alley way and at first, everything seemed normal. The bullets slowed the approach of the bugs as the super fast pieces of lead drilled and bounced off of their carapace in equal measure. Yes, at first this was normal. But then the bullets began to change their trajectory, no longer moving in straight lines, but rather swirling around like a leaf trapped in a twister. These anomalous bullets also began to leave trailes of brilliant neon light that caused the rest of the world to fade away by comparison.

Before Ranth knew it, he was in space and the spinning bullets had become the milky way and he could see the various planets that made up the solar system. He never questioned why this was happening or how he could breathe. He was too captivated by all of the shining stars and planets and nebulae and... was that a UFO? Ranth waved absently at the little flying saucer and the green alien inside as it sailed past him, on course for a destination far beyond whatever portion of the universe this was.

All at once, Ranth was falling and the tingling sensation of free-fall coursed through him with such intensity that he tried to scream. However, no sound come out. Instead, only a vivid rainbow burst forth, creating a path for him to walk upon. Around him, the scene alternated between inside and outside, day and night, warm and cold, wet and dry. In the blink of an eye he'd experienced the passage of centuries and forgotten the experience whilst simultaneously remembering vaguely what it was that he'd forgotten to remember forgetting in the first place.

Suddenly the rainbow gave way and Ranth fell into a vast ocean and sank like a stone to the bottom. Air didn't seem to be a problem here, but as he touched the bottom and gazed up towards the shimmering surface thousands of leagues above, he felt a sudden chill that sank into his core and his eyes snapped open and he found himself back in the alley where the bugs had launched their ambush. His comrades were fighting and the memories of the fever dream were already fading as he sat up and looked around at his surroundings. Ranth was back, or rather, he would be back in a few more seconds once the final remnants of the fever dream wore off. Until then, his comrades would just have to hang on a little longer. Or, with any luck, take care of the remaining bugs on their own. A guy could dream, right?

[Maeda Jirou]

''STAND STILL YOU- YOU OVERSIZED ROACH! I'M TRYING TO STAB YOU SO DIE!!'' a seriously peeved Shiro was shouting as the insect which seemed to be ignoring his attempts to skewer it unsuccessfully as it began running towards the other group with him attached and still trying to slash his way through. It didn't surprise Jirou that his zanpakuto spirit was finding it difficult to penetrate, after his own successful thrust into his own opponents head he certainly noticed just how dense the bugs were as his following attacks lacking the same punch as his first failed to penetrate on his second foe. Until he got a lucky hit on it's eye, of course! he should have thought of that earlier!

It wasn't a kill but it was a penetration and as to not waste his effort as soon as he noticed the vulnerability of their eyes he directly proceeded to throw himself forwards to thrust his sword against it's eye sockets attempting to reach the brain before the creature could back off. The eyes, go for the eyes! he briefly relayed to his Zanpakuto spirit who, in response found himself with a dumbfounded expression of realization as his claws attempted to force their way through the insects compound eyes and dig around a little in search for some brain matter to scoop out. Maaan Jirou, you should have said so sooner! i felt like an idiot! the shinigami heard in response from the now overly cheery spirit.

Could you please relay it to the others? I'll relay it to whatever his face is that's left that was... disconcerting but Jirou had no more time to spare chatting about the situation as he noticed the approach of several more bugs beginning to surround him. His means of fighting back were few, but whereas he lacked the skill and power to deal with them easily he would have to fill in with grit and foolhardy recklessness if he wanted to survive. Filling his lungs he bellowed out a battlecry shortly afterwards as he raised his sword and charged at one of the bugs to claim the initiative and deny them the opportunity of picking him apart from all sides.

Just like before it was his aim to thrust his sword through one's head or eyes with the full force of his body but there being several of them and only one of him he doubted they would just let him repeat his killing move, the second he sensed danger Jirou would Shunpo himself forwards right in front of what ever insect looked to be the most vulnerable at the moment after attack or closest and thrust at them in the same way with the speed built up from the technique, if possible he'd continue to charge and thrust his blade against their eyes, relying on the reach of his blade to minimize the risk of retaliation as he would resort to thrusts and downwards swings alone and if about to be flanked he would point his finger against the second opponent and unleash a hurried and poorly aimed Byakurai to scare them off to give him space.

Shiro in the meanwhile regardless if he still had a ride or not at that point would make his way over to the others and shouting for all to hear what he had heard in what was a 90% accurate translation ''AIM FOR THE EYES OR YOU'LL BE ROACH GRUB!!'' was exclaimed as the dragon youth made a mad dash for the insect that was making a cocoon of Ranth, distracted as it was it were his hope to flank the fucker, jump and grab onto it's hideous head and break all the rules of sportsmanship by attempting to fist it's eyesocket to save Jirou's useless comrade. Of course this wasn't for free, he'd expect compensation from master later. Preferably in the form of snacks, but not that sweet stuff! he craved licorice to chew on.

-50 Shunpo
-25 Byakurai
Jirou Reiatsu: 600/800
Shiro Reiatsu 600/600

[Connor Greaves]

Well, this was rather unfortunate. I suppose this is the result of me pushing my luck, what little I have. I did some damage to the ant spiders... spider ants?... Spid-ants? Whatever, I took two down, and that was all I was allowed to have before the hybrid monstrosity beneath me acted of its own accord, and began charging at a wall covered in webbing. I tried to get the creature back under my control, but it refused to obey me. I acted on reflex, and tried to jump away, only to be reminded that my legs were bound.

The wall was quickly approaching, and would prefer not to be ironically splattered like an ant. Or a spider. Tossing my blade skyward, I moved as quickly as I could, and loosened my pants before jumping out of them, and off the animal. I landed roughly on the ground, watching as my not-so-trusty steed slammed into the wall back first, making me sigh in relief. That was uncomfortably close, and certainly not something I would want to repeat any time soon. Speaking of close, my blade decided to embedded itself into the ground an inch from my right hand, nearly impaling me.

I jerked the limb away for a second, before grabbing the weapon. I could hear the faint sounds of malicious laughter, and groaned in frustration. I pointed my fingers at the recovering hybrid, shaping my reiatsu in my fingers. "Hado Number Four Byakurai." I fired off another Kido, intent on burning through the head of the unnatural animal, either killing it, or wounding it enough to force it to flee, I would settle for either option. Actually, the first would be better since I could recover my pants after the battle ended.

And that was the issue, was it not? There was little I could do to aid the others in this fight. I had no release, my kido was shoddy at best, non functioning at worst. I had barely managed to hold my own against a few of these things, and that was purely dumb luck on my part. If they were any smarter, I would have likely died already, instead of just standing in freezing weather in my boxers looking like the incompetent idiot I already was. Still, I had to persist, continue fighting or I would die. Turning towards the next ant, I used shunpo to attack the closest one, intending on stabbing it through the eye.

Byakurai:50
Shunpo: 50
Total reiatsu remaining: 2200/2400

[Samael Moreira]

While Ranth was happy in his little daydream inflicted mostly by the bite of the strange insects the rest of the group would be quick at work trying to kill the rest of the strange creatures that they had attracted. All of them had been lucky in finding the weakness of these creatures. While they had a very sturdy exoskeleton, they lacked any sort of defense in the eyes which lead right to their brains. An easily abused weakness if you were able to get close enough to them to strike them there, but with swords and kido that was something that they could do. It wouldn't take long for them to easily take care of almost all of them.

As Shiro  aimed for the bug that was wrapping up Ranth, it dropped the shingami that it was holding in it's claws and dodged backwards avoiding being struck in the eyes and dying. In that same instance it fired out a sticky web to entangle Shiro , keeping him from being able to attack more. With the other shingami entangled it looked over to see that it's allies were pretty much all dead. Seeing this it started to run up the wall and away from them all, their surprise attack had failed and it was going back to the nest to recover and who knows what else.

The shingami had survived the first encounter with these strange creatures, Ranth would be slipping out of his daze to see that he was wrapped up in webbing while there were countless corpse of strange animals all over the place. The other three had to make a choice if they would chase down the spider like ant or retreat from this area. Either way they had gotten the first clue as to what was going on in this place. Cutting Ranth and Shiro out would be easy given that the web wouldn't hold up to the blades that they all carried.

[Ranth]

By the time Ranth had been cut down from his cozy little cocoon by his companions, the last effects of the venom had worn off and he was back to being his usual self with all of his five senses in tact. "Thanks, not sure what happened there", Ranth said as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and surveyed the small army of dead bugs that littered the ground. He'd let his comrades down in this instance and he'd make sure that it didn't happen again.

Everything had happened so quickly that it was only now that Ranth had a chance to take stock of what had happened and what it might mean. The mostly abandoned city, the destruction of the pet store and these bugs were surely connected somehow. "Are you guys all unharmed?", he asked with genuine concern as he examined the two shinigami and zanpakuto spirit in turn. Thankfully, none of them seemed to have been harmed and so the next question was simple: where to from here?

As the thought occurred, one of the bugs that had been lying in the snow stirred and all eyes turned to it as it turned out that t had merely been stunned rather than killed. Apprently it was smart enough to know a lost cause however, as rather than attacking them it instead scurried off to wherever it had come from in the first place. "These things must be behind what's going on here. if we can track it back to its lair then maybe we can finally get to the bottom of this".

They all seemed to be in agreement on this point and with their quarry on the run, they had no choice but to give chase over the rooftops as a merry chase across the city ensued. It would have been comical if anyone could have seen the four of them leaping and bounding from rooftop to rooftop as they followed the injured bug which was still remarkably agile despite its wounds. It would have been impressive if it wasn't so annoying to keep the stupid thing in sight.

[Maeda Jirou]

After having saved Ranth's useless ass Shiro had only barely opened his mouth to hurl another insult before Jirou arrived behind him and forcibly shut the Zanpakuto Spirit's mouth forcibly with his free hand. With the creatures backing off it seemed they had the chance to regroup again and the young shinigami took the opportunity to make sure Ranth hadn't grown any oddly shaped boils or discoloration to the flesh, walking past Shiro he examined Ranth briefly, trying to find the injection site as he spoke stiffly ''Yeah we're all fine, question is if you've got an infected wound that might wreck havoc on you later. It is unfortunate but among us we have no member of the fourth squad so you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.''

But he had not the time to examine it for more than a glance as the last of the still living insects ran for it, if they were unfortunate it would be another trap but he hoped insects weren't clever enough for a bait ambush into a massive one. Hearing Ranth's idea about following it to it's lair it seemed sensible but the young shinigami still worried ''So long as you're sure whatever it injected you with isn't going to hamper you, i'm not responsible if you kill yourself!'' he made certain to add, he didn't want responsibility for another's recklessness but with the Vice Captain gone would any of them really be responsible for the others? he hoped not with how things had gone so far.

Regardless Jirou followed behind Ranth and Shiro behind him, if it were another ambush at least the insects would get to attack their familiar friend first yet again. ''And don't make me rescue you again! one is all you get!'' the child-like spirit chimed in after they were already on the move after the creature. His intent to make mockery out of all of the party members at least once evident with his constant behavior, Jirou didn't have the time nor care to reprimand him for it this time however, he did have to admit a bit of annoyance that Ranth had failed to carry his weight but he didn't want to show it. He knew well enough that his comrade probably felt bad enough about it as it were and Jirou could empathize with that.

[Connor Greaves]

The small feeling of accomplishment that lingered in my chest for my victory quickly faded away, as the others got together to talk, or something. I saw my blue haired companion start to cut Ranth out of a cocoon, and thanked my lucky stars that the same did not happen to me. I was glad that I did not have it the worst off, but at the same time, hoped that the other white-haired Reaper would be okay. While they those two were doing that, I was busy getting getting my pants off of the dead bug, returning only after he was cut down.

Ranth, bless his caring heart, immediately asked if we were okay. I merely gave him a thumbs up, putting a little umph into it to really sell the wordless message. I assumed that Jirou was similar, seeing as he was Ranth to make sure he was truly unharmed. I ignored how the man nagged Ranth, chalking it up to less than subtle bragging on the part of the former. The child confused me, but neither of my fellow Reapers acknowledged it, so neither did I. Regardless, as they made to leave, I silently followed, not caring if I was unaware of the whole situation, knowing enough to let them take the lead.

[Deleted]

The four shingami would find that the large insect like creature was quick and fast. Looking at the alleyway which the creature had run down wouldn't show where the insect like being was. It was no longer in sight, yet all hope wasn't lost. The creature had been nicked by one of them in the fight, as it had ran away from them it oozed out a bright green liquid. This liquid would form a clear and bright trail that would allow the four shingami to follow. This trail of bright green liquid would eventually bring them to a manhole cover that was slightly pulled off.

If they wanted to peruse the creature they would have to go into the sewers. While one would expect to be hit with the stench of human waste and god knows what else to hit oyur nose the four of them after entering would find that the sewers didn't have that stench. However the sewers wasn't without it's own stench. The entire place had a musty dank odor while it wasn't a foul stench the musky odor wasn't a pleasant one to inhale. With the light from above shining down into the sewers the four would notice that this place was clean, too clean for sewers. From what the light showed the sewers appeared if they hadn't been in use, yet obvious signs of use and wear was clear.

In the darkness the green liquid that had been leaking from the insect glowed in the darkness. That green ooze would be the only source of light in the dark empty sewers. The sewers would be wide enough for all four of them to walk  side by side if two of them would walk in the water, if not then only two would be able to fit across. The shingami would have to follow this green ooze deeper and deeper into the sewers to get to the bottom of what was going on. As the shingami followed the green path there would be the soft sounds of scattering footwork echoing from the darkness.

Even if the shingami ran at full speed the four of them would never catch up to the insect. The creature was much faster than the four of them and with the time it took for Ranth to get up it had gotten a good head start. The shingamis would have some time to talk with one another as the path of ooze that they would follow would take half an hour through the sewers till they came across something different.  In the stone sewer wall was a large hole, not at man made hole but one crudely made and broken in. Rubble from the wall was strewn all about the floor of the sewers. The green trail was going in towards the cave.

The inside of the cave was very different compared to the sewers. Unlike the sewers that had smooth and even flooring the cave's floor was rough and uneven making it difficult to navigate for them given the lack of light. It would be clear as the shingami walked in this cave that this place was large and unnatural. It was wide enough for the four of then to walk side by side without issue and tall enough that in the darkness they couldn't see the top of the cave. Whatever had made this place was either massive or countless. This cave would continue on for what seemed like hours and so did the trail.

Eventually the green ooze veered away from the path and towards a wall, the ooze trickled against one of the walls. High up in that wall there was a smallish hole large enough for a dog to slip into, this hole would be where the trail of green ooze would vanish into. There would be no way for the shingami to get into the hole as none of them were small enough to get into. It seemed as if the three of them would come to a dead end. There wasn't a clear way for the shingami to continue, it seemed that the path for now was a dead end, or was it? From where the trail ended the shingami would see something else, or rather they would see a red flashing light in the distance.

Going to the red light they would see a large metal door in the cave wall. The red light would be coming from a light bulb in a metal cage. The door was still sealed and looked as if it hadn't been open in a long time. There was a keypad on the door that had a few numbers worn down making the combination to open this place easy to guess. It was clear that this door would lead to the same area that the insect had ran into. They had found what seemed to be the nest of these things, but the question was would they go in or would they try to back track and go out the way they came?

[Ranth]

Ranth was genuinely ashamed of himself for being so useless during their initial encounter and so he took to heart the words of Maede's zanpakuto spirit when he told him that if he got himself into a mess like that again he couldn't depend upon an unconditional rescue. Which seemed fair enough to Ranth given the circumstances. He didn't want to be a liability after all. Too embarrassed to speak, Ranth could only nod as the group moved out in pursuit of the injured insect. He was just thankful that Connor didn't have any harsh words for him either.

Eventually, they would make their way into the sewer and it didn't even need to be said that it would be better to proceed two abreast rather than trudge through god only knew what kind of sludge was flowing through the bowels of the sewer. All the while, they were guided by the trail of fluorescent green blood from their target, yet there was no sign of the bug itself even after trekking through the sewer system for quite some time. Occasionally they would see signs of scratching on the walls and floor, but it wasn't until they came across the destroyed section of wall that Ranth truly felt that they were on the right track.

Beyond the ruined wall, Ranth sighed as he realised that the bug had taken a route they they could not follow, but then a flashing red light further down the corridor beyond the broken wall drew his attention. "I'm no expert on the human world... but the last time I checked, sewers didn't have high tech security doors installed", Ranth said to the others upon approaching the source of the light and finding a fancy looking number pad that looked to be connected to an incredibly sturdy door that obviously wasn't meant for just anyone to pass through. Remembering what had happened before when he'd gotten too carried away and moved without consulting the group, Ranth took a step back from the keypad. "Should we see if we can guess the code, or try to find some other way to get inside? I don't know about you guys, but I feel like the answer to whatever brought us to this city in the first place is somewhere beyond that door", he said solemnly.

As Shinigami, they possessed a number of ways to approach a problem that mere human's couldn't conceive of. Whilst the door was certainly well reinforced, there was always the possibility that they could simply phase through it, cut through it or blast it open using Kido or their zanpakuto. Then again, if such a method didn't work, there was the risk of attracting unwanted attention and Ranth didn't relish the idea of fighting more of those bugs in such a confined space as this.

[Maeda Jirou]

The speed at which the creature moved was none too surprising, they’ve made their quickness known from the earlier engagement the group had barely survived. Fortunately while quick they were pretty slow to respond to attacks so when fighting them the shinigamis had been able to repel them, of course when the bastards ran away there wasn’t any hope at all to follow except to settle for tracking the trickling of one’s blood. When encountering the manhole Shiro made known what probably everyone had thought, at least in the back of their minds if not consciously so. ’’Just… wonderful, fighting overgrown spiders in tight spaces. We might as well throw ourselves into their nets and sprinkle seasoning on ourselves!’’ it was hard to disagree with him Jirou thought, it seemed pretty suicidal to delve below but they had a job, and it was about to get far smellier than he was used to. Regardless, while hesitant the two joined after Ranth down into the great stink.

Following slightly behind Ranth the shinigami wasn’t particularly brave when down there, tightly gripping his sword he was paranoid of the insects webbing both the path ahead and behind them shut or something equally horrible. Fortunately the cave that he could only assume was a construction of the insects making appeared to be a far more open space, a space they could fight in with less trouble. Unable to follow the trail to its host in the end as it had fled into a crevice too dangerous to attempt to follow it through they instead located a door which saying that it was out of place was a serious understatement. ’’It’s probably for the best we don’t over complicate matters, some of the buttons look really worn. guessing our way in should only take a few minutes.’’ he surmised, Jirou wasn’t all that great at technology, he used to be a rukongai born farmer so the only tech he had ever touched was of shinigami make!

Still, shinigami too had locks of this variety so in this instance it didn’t present a problem. Walking forwards to the door and the keypad that was by it Jirou began to try out combinations one by one using his left arm, beginning from the lowest possible solutions and slowly working his way up as his sword would be gripped in the right, ever ready to slash at any unwelcome surprises. ’’I doubt we will be seeing a lot of friendliess on the other side of this door so i suggest everyone get ready for a second clash should we be unfortunate.’’ he warned the group as Shiro stood by the edge of the door just next to his master. Ever since going down through the sewer he’d been quiet as a mouse, unnerved by the lack of escape routes available to him and his master.

[Connor Greaves]

Following his fellow Soul Reapers was difficult, but he had been a difficult task, be it was one that he had managed. They were faster than he was, which was something he planned to amend once he returned to the Soul Society. Still, the other two had led him into the sewers. The stench stank to high Heaven, which is why he was glad he wore a mask. That was sarcasm, because the stench lingered underneath the mask, making it even worse for the tall man. He removed the mask, fanning the air away, while keeping his face still obscured. He wore a mask for a reason people!

And then the three of them reached a door. A big, metal, hightech door. In a sewer. What was this, comics? A spy movie!?Connor, his patience was wearing thin, almost entirely due to how poorly the place smelled. Ignoring the other two entirely, Connor examined the door, then the keypad. Some of the keys were worn down, clearly indicating that those were the keys used in the code. Being somewhat of an expert on the human world, or at least more so of than either of these two, Connor clicked a couple of the worn buttons, and was reward with a green flashing approval light, and the door opening. Connor looked over his shoulder, and gave what his companions would clearly be able to tell was a smug look, before walking inside, and out of the sewer.