A hunt in the Chaos

An invasion, of the Seireitei, could any other event make Chie's anxiety spike higher? The answer is yes, the idea of the fourth division research being stolen and misused, which is one of the reasons she was stationed to watch the division grounds. However, even though she was half a step away from a heart attack from shear anxiety, she refused to let it show, as she knew there were other younger recruits around, some of which are wielding Asauchi's and have not as much Kido experience. Chie may not have been the direct superior, but she needed to set the right example for the younger ones. 

She had her zanpakuto already drawn, resting it on her shoulders, not waiting for if an attack comes, but when, she theorized that there had to be at least one out of four hollow based beings that are intellectually superior. Chie was by the door of the division barracks across from the gate, watching. She felt the reiatsu of a coming individual with chaotic reiatsu, knowing very well it was most likely an arrancar on their way. She started to walk towards the gate, knowing very well that she had to fight to defend the division, the projects, and most importantly the gigai's, she was afraid that if an arrancar got his hands on a gigai, they could specially make it to hide or disguise their chaotic reiatsu.

As she was within hearing distance of the figure, she noted how relaxed he was, she presumed he knew the stakes better than the average hollow, as if he knew the seireitei first hand. She pointed her blade towards the figure, while she was actually scared, she was able to hide behind the cold and collected act she acquired from her zanpakuto. She looked at the figure dead in the eyes, only focusing on him. "Hello arrancar, I am Chie Kira, engineer of the fourth division assigned to gigai department. I am sorry Captain Minamoto or Lieutenant Hazuki is not around to see you personally but I will be your hostess for now, so how about a welcoming gift!" and Chie moved her alternate hand in a triangle as a yellow light engulfed it, the points were glowing. She then pushed forward as she said "Bakudō #30. Shitotsu Sansen" sending three triangles of light towards the figure. 

"I gotta start this hard, don't give an inch and force him into a corner, I need to barrage him into a situation where he needs to fight his way out. Than I can get a read on his style, and produce counter measures immediately."

She was not done yet, she could not flinch for an instant, she knew that she had to barrage him from the start, force him to show his hand. She quickly moved her hand to point her  index finger towards the figure and a yellow light appeared and disappeared as she said "Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō" and six beams of yellow light started to shoot towards the figures abdominal area. Lastly she held her hand up and a blue rod started to form in it, Chie threw the rod as she chanted "Bakudō #62. Hyapporankan" and the rod split into a hundred rods. Chie was initially worried about property damage, but than again, the whole seireitei was gonna be trashed anyways. 

word count 559

Levi made a mental note to work hard on hiding his reiatsu, if he made it out of the Seireitei alive. He was a scientist, not an assassin, but regardless of that this was a blunder that could cost him his life. It wasn’t so much the shinigami that had found him he was worried about, but all the others that hadn’t yet. This one he could defeat. A hundred like her? A single seated officer? Not a chance. Not at his level. But this one he could take.

“Nice to meet you. Chie Kira.” Levi said with a smirk as the shinigami made her opening move. Bakudō #30. Shitotsu Sansen, the sokatsui of bakudo. A common go-to for specialists. It had been one of his own favorites a short lifetime ago. He dodged it. It came close, far too close for comfort, but his sonido was just a split second too fast for the spell. The follow up came closer. Rikujōkōrō was pretty advanced stuff. Unlike simpler bakudo like the Shitotsu Sansen, this one didn’t just shoot out at a target, it virtually appeared right on the target. If he hadn’t been familiar with it he probably would have been caught. But he was familiar with it, and as soon as the number of the spell left Chei Kira’s mouth, Levi was jumping straight up with the full power of his sonido behind him. He could swear he felt the spears brush his foot as they closed in on where his waist had been a mere moment ago.

The last one would be a problem. Hyapporankan by its very nature was extremely difficult to dodge, even in the best of circumstances. Coming a split second after dodging another powerful bakudo, was not the best of circumstances. Levi’s face showed shock for a mere moment, before a smirk wiped it away. He would have to show his hand on this one. Well, not his hand necessarily, but one of his better cards. He pulled his hand back and balled it into a fist as his reiatsu started to gather and pulse around it. “Bala...” The rods were getting closer, each one a serious threat, each requiring a single bala to knock out of the air. But that wasn’t a problem. “Sonido!” Levi threw his punch, and watched as over a dozen bala shot out like pellets from a shotgun, matching the bakudo rods tit for tat. When the dust settled Levi was surrounded by rods, some within an inch of his flesh, an inch of leaving him trapped and helpless. But not one had actually hit him. His smirk widened. He felt like he deserved a moment of pride.

“That was really good Chie. Can I call you Chie?” he was wasting time. He didn’t have time to waste. Also, the girl was a more serious threat to him than he cared to admit. Probably more than she realized herself. “Never mind.” He said as his fist started to glow again. “It’s not gonna matter much longer.” He punched the air and the bala shot out toward her chest. With any luck it would kill her. Or at least knock the wind out of her so she couldn’t scream for help.


WC: 541
TWC: 823

Chie saw how the arrancar was countering her moves, noting his responses and analyzing capabilities. She presumed that the first two would show his reflexes but the last one would be a danger response. She watched carefully at his technique, learning all the steps in how it's performed. She paid attention to the three second gap between a punch and the bala energy blast, and realized that she'd have two seconds to react after seeing the punch coming. As soon as she saw his arm move for another bala, she knew she was screwed, that dodging was not an option. In an attempt of quick thinking she held her hand out quickly as she barely muttered the words "Bakudō #39. Enkōsen" creating a barrier in front of her to no avail as it only softened the impact.

The blast still knocked Chie back, not unscathed, she quickly got back onto a knee and propped herself up using her zanpakuto. She was scared she was gonna die but she was amazed by this arrancar, how he controlled such destructive power efficiently. She looked at him with as much determination as she could muster, even though the fear was plain as day in her eyes "I am not going to die that easily, I am a Shinigami of the fourth division, my duty is to protect the projects of the fourth division, like hell I'd roll over and die just because you asked, like hell I'm gonna die cause you asked, and like hell you are gonna step foot inside the division, when you'll be out cold" and as she got back onto her feet she loosened the grip on her zanpakuto as she cut her own hand.

"Flourish, Asatsuyu" after those words the blade in her hand transformed, the handle was now made of wood with a green cloth, and the blade was now 3 feet of vines with buds on the end, Chie than proceeded to wipe the blood she cut on the vines and the buds turned black. "Chiketsu No Doku". Chie flash stepped to behind the arrancar and lash at him with the poisoned whip, predicting that if she can infect him with this spore, she gains an advantage. 


word count 372

total word count 931

Hajime had finally been able to make her way to the 4th Division, after having traversed the war zone that was now the Seireitei. She stared at the building, still standing among rubble as if it were immune to what was happening in the rest of the city. She couldn't quite put a finger on how this made her feel. Maybe it was a mixture between relief and frustration, maybe not. The young girl had never been too good with translating things into words. Through the silence surrounding her, she moved closed to the door and entered hesitantly. 

This particular area seemed to be largely empty and quiet. Some of the lights flickered overhead as she walked through the hall. She was supposed to be standing guard, keeping the information and technology that the 4th Division was responsible for from being stolen. It would spell chaos if someone were to get their hands on where shinigami were deployed or on the latest gigai. However, she didn't exactly know where it was that those things were kept. Aimlessly wandering about the place was inefficient, but it was all she could do right now. 

She was panting slighlty, covered in blood both foreign and not. Her body was sore and injured. She had managed to briefly stop at the 3rd Division while on her way back to her own headquarters to get the bulk of her wounds healed. She was grateful that she could move again, but she still decided to leave the overcrowded hospital so that she could keep fighting. The way she saw it, the shinigami needed all the help they could get, even if it came from someone as weak and inexperienced as she was. Having received rather vague orders from a superior officer, she had made her way back to where her morning had started.

This day was not shaping out the way she had expected. She thought it would just involve the usual menial labor that she had been getting used to over the past few weeks. Instead, she had nearly been killed several times over the course of a few hours. Before today, she had never seen a hollow, let alone a menos grande or an arrancar. Now, she couldn't even stop to count how many she had ran into and fought. It didn't really matter right now. She would have time to reflect on everything later, assuming that she lived through the chaos. From a few rooms away, she could already hear fighting, vague taunting and a shinigami calling out the name of her Zanpakuto.

Not this again.

Maybe if she backtracked, they would't notice her there at all. Part of her was tempted to do just that. It was quickly drowned by the other, which urged her not to forget her duty. With a deep breath, she drew her cursed Zanpakuto - a wakizashi whose name she would likely never know. 

"Last chance before I jump into the fray again," she announced to the spirit living inside her weapon. 

The only answer she got was a cold stare that nearly made her shiver. 

"Thought not," Hajime mumbled. 

The blue haired girl walked into the area int time to see the other shinigami's Zanpakuto flash to life and take its initial form. It was a beautiful weapon, truth be told, adorned with colorful flowers that soon turned black. Standing a few feet away behind the girl, she hesitated, not really knowing how to intervene. Maybe she could provide backup and let her handle the main fight, lest she get in the way. "I'm here to help," she announced awkwardly and clumsily, just in case her presence had gone unnoticed. She placed her body into a basic stance and prepared herself for whatever was to come. 

Word Count: 629 (12 GP)
Total GP: 12

OOC: I hope it's still alright for me to join! 

As Chie heard the other recruit enter the fray, she immediately reacted. "Crap! Are you kidding me!" She knew that she could not use her zanpakuto in a team, especially with the current poison. She had a choice, divulge the weakness of her zanpakuto to a stranger and an arrancar, or seal her zanpakuto. At the last possible moment she resealed her zanpakuto, taking away a lot of the force of impact from the weapon, leaving the equivalent wound of a paper cut.

She jumped back and flash stepped to oppose the arrancar yet again, but she was directing her words towards the new shinigami. "Thanks for the assist... but you screwed us over. I can't release my zanpakuto if your around. You better be experienced in hado as that is the only way to get to this guy except for zanjutsu. My zanpakuto is a nature/poison hybrid, with the poison I tried to use he'd be on his knees shortly but if I risked you getting affected I'd be court marshaled. As far as weak goes, you sent us to the bottom"

Chie tightened her grip of the blade in her hands, knowing very well that this fight is gonna get more difficult. However she had an idea, that this might be very risky and would probably fail, but at this point she was really struggling. She stabbed her zanpakuto into the ground and cracked her knuckles. "Newcomer, take a crack at him, I think he'd like something new to observe, I am painfully dull anyways."

"Arrancar, mind teaching this newcomer why she should be careful before interrupting a fight?" Chie was having difficulty maintaining her act of act of being such a horrible person. Truth be told she would be quaking in fear but she has learned that fear gets nothing done, and that to protect the fourth division she has to fight. She tried imagining something scarier, such as her captains zanpakuto running through her chest for failure, but couldn't figure out anything to make her fear this situation any less.

Word count 345
total word count 1276

Levi grinned as his bala shattered the shinigami’s shield like a baseball would a window and slammed into the flesh it protected. It had been a pitiful defense, but it was commendable that she was able to throw up any defense at all when competing with a bala’s speed. What little credit she had earned quickly wore off however when she launched into a heroic speech which amounted to rambling about duty and honor and all the typical shinigami garbage. Then she cut herself.

“Isn’t that my job?” Levi chuckled as he readjusted his glasses with one hand and prepared another bala with the other. He was no idiot. He knew her actions were probably related to her zanpakuto’s power. He was still a bit surprised though. He had seen a lot of zanpakuto with a lot of unique designs, but never one that turned into a literal vine. Perhaps this merited further observation?

She caught him off guard a bit when she charged behind him. He had reasonably assumed that she was a long-range only fighter. He twisted his body around and brought his arm up to block the attack. He had been careless, and he was about to pay the price.

Or he would have, if his worst nightmare hadn’t come true. When another shinigami announced her presence, Chie Kira made the strange decision to seal her zanpakuto. With the sudden decrease in length, it barely cut his skin at all. The wound had regenerated even before Chie had stopped her retreat.

Then Chie started talking, divulging all of her secrets to her new ally, in a horribly condescending way no less, all while Levi was within earshot. Then she had the audacity to ask him to fight the other one while she prepared... something that involved stabbing the ground. Levi actually laughed a little.

“How about no?” He said sarcastically as he raised his hand, pointed it straight at Chie Kira, and started charging a cero. He didn’t have any time left to fool around with. “Bitch you are not nearly strong enough, experienced enough, or smart enough to be acting this high and mighty." The cero wasn’t his only play of course. Without a doubt the other one would be coming for his head within another second, and for her he was preparing a special surprise. His special surprise. As he charged the cero, drawing their attention to the obvious threat, nine invisible spectral hands emerged from the back of his hollow hole. They were only visible when they moved, appearing as little more than disturbances in the air even then, and the reiatsu they put out was nothing compared to the cero. They moved slowly as he charged the spell, taking their places hovering around his shoulders, neck, and ribs, ready to grab punch or just block whatever got within 8 meters of him. Playtime was over.

He fired the cero straight at Chie’s face.

WC: 490
TWC: 1313

Just as quickly as the Zanpakuto had been released - both graceful and deadly in its appearance - it had disappeared once again, leaving behind a simple katana. Hajime was confused for a moment. The feeling washed away with each one of the other girl's words. Not even an introduction and she was already being talked down to. This was bound to be wonderful. "How the hell was I supposed to know that?" Hajime mumbled under her breath. Right now wasn't the time for an argument. They had a Hollow to take care of. Wait - no. This wasn't an ordinary Hollow, she reminded herself. This was an Arrancar - smarter and therefore deadlier than the common demon she was becoming so used to fighting now. 

Disregarding what her begrudging companion was doing, Hajime turned her attention to her new opponent. She could act as a distraction and buy time. If all she needed to do was fight him for a while as she prepared something, then she would. The young girl had a tendency to be reckless when it came to herself. The mission was a priority. Whatever collateral damages or injuries she caused herself, she could deal with later. In the meantime, she would do what needed to be done. It was simple: protect the girl, keep the Arrancar busy. 

His reaction, however, was to ignore her entirely. Being looked down on by both of the people there was enraging. Part of her felt like she needed to prove them wrong. She was stronger than they were giving her credit for. A few hours ago, she would have agreed that she wasn't much to look at, but after all the fights she had been through in just once day, she begged to differ. Anger was fuel. Maybe it wasn't the healthiest kind and maybe it would lead her astray eventually. However, right now, it was all she had to keep moving forward. She might not be the strongest, or the brightest, but she had survived up until now and everything be damned if that wasn't worth something. She had fought her way through a horde of monsters only to be dragged into a one on one fight with possibly one of the strongest Adjuchas out there. She had been broken and beaten, but she was still standing. 

A well aimed kick to his wrist would throw his aim off enough for the Cero to miss the other girl. If she was lucky, she would even crack his bone. She stood to his right, flanking him, in a way as he faced the other girl directly. Hajime ran towards him, closing the short distance between them. Once she was close enough, she would put all of her weight into a roundhouse kick to his hand. She couldn't see the hands standing still around him. However, if they moved, she would have enough time to see them and react. If they moved to grab her before the kick landed, she would throw her wakizashi at his hand instead so as to catch him off guard and stab through his skin. Being only a few inches away, it was unlikely that he would get the chance to move the weapon out of the way. However, If he dodged that as well, she would use Shunpo to appear above him and catch her weapon. As she descended, she would try to stab her Zanpakuto into his shoulder. 

Regardless of what she ended up doing, she would use Shunpo once again to reposition herself in between the Arrancar and her fellow Shinigami. 

"Focus on me if you know what's good for you," she hissed, keeping her eyes on him and his surroundings to make sure that his extra limbs or whatever they were didn't catch her by surprise. Worst case scenario, she would receive the Cero blast on her shoulder in an effort to keep the girl safe. She could stand the pain, after all.

Word Count: 658
Total Word Count: 1236

This arrancar presented a danger that Chie can't easily ignore, she has no other option, try something she never done before. As Hajime was getting in the way she was glad, as Hajime would take the blast. Normally she would not be alright with someone taking a hit, especially a cero to something as crucial as a shoulder, but Chie needed to take the chance she was given, and risk everything on one last chance. She ran around on the right side, not aware she forgot her zanpakuto. 

She maintained her focus on the arrancar,  as she was drawing a symbol with her fingers her body glowed in a red light bur her finger tip was orange. She chanted "Carriage of thunder, disintegrate bridge of a spinning wheel you black dog of Rondanini!! With light,  Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! divide this into six!" and when she stopped it was revealed she drawn the symbol for air with her fingers. "Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō and Bakudō #9. Geki!" And simultaneously a red light covered the arrancar as six pillars of light once again came at him.

This was a true test of Chie's knowledge of Kido,  as she just performed Nijū Eishō,  a confusion technique designed to mix two kido spells together by saying both enchantments simultaneously and it allowed for what she wanted, an opening in the arrancar.

"He has to shake of geki before he can get to Rikujōkōrō, that leaves two seconds between geki and Rikujōkōrō and just a moment for a complete break. I need to get in there and strike first!"

Chie proceeded to Shunpo over to the side of the arrancar arrancar and ran while her hand reached for her sheath only to realize she forgot her zanpakuto, soon after she tripped and landed right at the arrancars feet. "This is pathetic! I am pathetic! I wasted my opening all because I forgot my freaking sword! Is this all I am capable of! Rising and falling! No, I gotta prove myself, I gotta stand, I won't fail, failure means death, running away won't solve anything, I gotta solve this here and now"

Chie tried to roll over onto her side and kick the arrancar in the hip, no longer able to think of a good plan, deciding to wing things even though at this point she was at his mercy, as withought her zanpakuto, she has no way to win.

word count 420
total word count 1696

The newcomer fell for his trap perfectly. Unfortunately, she was skilled. One of Levi’s phantom hands moved to grab her foot out of the air as she charged, but as it moved the shinigami saw it and avoided the attack. She also threw her zanpakuto, which stabbed straight through his hand, knocking it off course and causing the cero to fire on an insignificant building somewhere to his left. On the bright side, her weapon was now stuck in his hand.

Levi’s face contorted into a disturbing cross between a grimace of pain and a satisfied grin. “Focus on you huh? Ok, if you insist.” He hissed as he pulled her sword out of his palm so that the wound could heal properly. Every one of his ghastly appendiges did exactly as the shinigami requested. They all started charging ceros and focused on her. All nine of them. Just as they were about to fire however, he realized that that had been a horrible mistake. His Manos Fantasmales were made entirely visible for the first time as a red light engulfed is entire body, and a mere second later he was impaled by spears of magic. He was completely paralyzed.

His cero however, were unaffected. He fired them immediately, hoping to kill, hurt, or at the very least distract the stronger shinigami while he broke his bonds. Weak and unrefined as they were, nine of them aimed at the swordswoman would be likely to do some damage, if he was fast enough.

Next he strained against the magic that held him in place. As Chie Kira charged him, no doubt intending some sort of Coup de Grad, Levi focused all of his power into his Manos Fantasmales. If he could just get them free, he would be more than capable of fighting back, but that required breaking Geki entirely which almost took him one split second too long. She probably could have gotten him, if she hadn’t tripped just as the red glow entrapping Levi fizzled away. He stared at her in bewilderment for a full second, before bursting out laughing, the spears of Rikujōkōrō shaking along with his ribs.

When she tried to kick him, her foot was caught in a ghostly hand which lifted her into the air and slammed her back down again, stunning her before she could react. Three more reached out to grab her other limbs, pulling them apart and holding her in the air like a human X. Next a fifth reached down a pulled the other shinigami’s zanpakuto, so foolishly discarded for a slight injury and a momentary advantage, out of his hand, and held it to Chie Kira’s throat.

“Well, I’ve got good news, bad news, and worse news, newcomer.” He said as his four remaining phantom libs started pulling at one of the spears of light still stuck in his body. “The bad news is that if you move a muscle, I’ll slit Chie’s throat with your own zanpakuto. Try explaining that one to your superiors.” He said as the first spear was pulled free, and a sadistic grin stretched across his face. “The worse news is that without your sword, and without her bakudo, you can’t beat me. The good news is that you’ve successfully stopped me from invading the fourth division and stealing your precious research. See although I’m confident that I could, and would, kill you both, we’ve already drawn too much attention to ourselves for me to make it the rest of the way. And besides...” He hissed as the las spear was drawn out of him and his grin reached its apex. “I was mostly here to get a gigai anyway. So I don’t really have to have that research. I just need...” A garganta opened behind the two with a snap of his fingers, and the four phantom fists that were free started glowing with the chaotic energy of an amateur’s cero. “... Miss Chie Kira here.” With that he threw the zanpakuto and fired the ceros in the other shinigami’s general direction, and jumped back into the throat of the garganta, taking his hostage with him.
[exit]

WC: 693
TWC: 2009
GP: 40