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>>1530880
“So when'd you learn that?” Ikkaku asks, sounding more than a bit grumpy.

“Years ago, on Head Captain Yamamoto's orders,” Yumechikka explains, watching you dig your fingers under the gate itself and lift it... first to your waist, then you shift its weight and set it down on your shoulder. “He thought someone in our Division should know useful techniques like that, and picked me as the one to learn them. I had no choice, and honestly I agree with him anyway.”

“You two ladies gonna stand there chatting all afternoon?” you ask, gesturing under the gate with your free hand.

“I guess as long as you don't use that shit in battle... it's fine,” Ikkaku replies, ducking under the gate as Yumechikka follows with a weary sigh. You then switch the gate to your other shoulder, then let it slam down as you sidestep out of the way.

“Try not to think too hard about it, wouldn't want you to pull any muscles before making the run to Kūkaku's place,” you grumble, dusting off your haori's shoulders as you stride past the two Eleventh Division officers. “Let's get going, we don't have all day.”

The Rukongai's arcades, shops, and roads roll past you in a blur as you tear off in the direction of Kūkaku's home, springing from rooftop to rooftop fast enough that the other souls you pass don't even realize you were ever there. You can sense a few hollows here and there, most of them engaged by shinigami from the Ninth, Third, and Fifth Divisions, the latter two already had teams on patrol before the walls came down around the Seireitei.

“Huh, go figure,” you mutter, noticing the towering barrel of your old accomplice's massive cannon from a distance. Strangely enough, the sculpted fists which usually accompany it are absent. Must've been destroyed in the fighting.
>2/3

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>>1530880
It's been too long.

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>>1530887
“Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up,” Kūkaku muses, sitting calmly on a large boulder with a long-stemmed pipe in hand. “So you finally decided to make your move?”

“That prisoner you and Gin sent me had just enough information to make a decision,” you shrug, quickly adjusting your sheathes and sash which have worked themselves a little loose from the continuous wind resistance. “So I got an escort and came as quickly as I could.”

“An escort?” Kūkaku muses, glancing up. “Ah, I see.”

A few seconds later Ikkaku and Yumechikka finally catch up to you, seemingly a little winded from the sustained exertion.

“Man, how the hell do you do that?” Ikkaku grumbles in between deep breaths. “You're a monster.”

“That's what centuries of training on top of natural talent looks like,” you shrug. “It's to be expected from the Onmitsukidō Executive.”

“Here, 'natural talent',” Kūkaku announces, tossing a glassy orb roughly the size of a cannonball at you bearing the crest of the Shiba family. “Catch!”

“Thanks,” you nod, catching the orb in your left palm.

“What is that?” Yumechikka asks. “What's all this about?”

“It's a cannonball,” you explain.

Kūkaku smirks proudly, pointing over her shoulder at the tower behind her. “And that is the cannon!”

Ikkaku's jaw drops in disbelief.

>The two of you will maintain the orb so I can save all my reiatsu for fixing the problem up there.
>We'll split the effort of maintaining the sphere, we all need to minimize strain where we can.
>I'll maintain the sphere, you'll need all the reiatsu you can possibly muster just to survive.
>Other?

>>1530891
>We'll split the effort of maintaining the sphere, we all need to minimize strain where we can.

>>1530891
Ikkaku's going to be shit, probably... so
>split the effort between yoruichi and yumechikka

>>1530891
>>We'll split the effort of maintaining the sphere, we all need to minimize strain where we can.

>>1530891
Is Ikkaku's control issues with reiatsu on par with Berry boy? Probably need to consider just splitting between Yoru and Yume then, though I have a feeling Ikkaku might feel belittled if left out.

Leaning towards this line of thinking personally. But if it's not possible, I'm fine with the vote below.

>>We'll split the effort of maintaining the sphere, we all need to minimize strain where we can.

“We should divide the effort of maintaining the orb between the three of us,” you suggest. “It'll need to be strong to survive what we're gonna put it through, but I don't want any one of us wasting any more energy than we have to. Save it for the enemy.”

“Guess that makes sense,” Ikkaku sighs. “So how's this thing work?”

Kūkaku briefly explains that the orb has three jobs; to form a hard and durable penetrating body, to fit the 'cargo' to the bore of the cannon itself, and to cushion its contents from the forces they would otherwise sustain in the firing. She also explains the mindset that works best for focusing one's reiatsu, though without the amusing moaning and grunting Ganjū usually resorts to when explaining the same concepts.

“Give it a try,” you tell Yumechikka, tossing him the orb.

He looks at it thoughtfully, something which looks strange to your eyes when it's coming from the Eleventh Division.
>3d10, Best of 3, DC 18, no critical

Rolled 9, 6, 2 = 17 (3d10)

>>1530917

>>1530891
>>We'll split the effort of maintaining the sphere, we all need to minimize strain where we can.

>>1530917

Rolled 10, 8, 7 = 25 (3d10)

>>1530917
welp

Rolled 9, 2, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>1530917
screwed up on the previous roll.
>>1530923
bit overkill eh?

>>1530923
>no critical

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With a yell, Yumechikka channels his reiatsu into the orb and creates a respectable sphere on his first try. The orb is hard, of a reasonable size, and the reishi structure is fairly stable.

"Yeah," you nod. "I think I can match that pretty easily. You can release the technique now, Fifth Seat."

With a sigh he does as you ordered, and the orb crumbles away as its reishi structure slowly breaks down. Good... no explosions.

"Well, that went better than expected," Yumechikka grins confidently. "I hardly get the opportunity to practice, but it seems my kidō abilities have not deteriorated."

"Here!"

The Fifth-Seat tosses the orb to Ikkaku, who catches it in both hands. "Alright, then. Can't possibly be that hard."
>dice+3d10, same DC

Rolled 3, 9, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>1530932

Rolled 10, 7, 9 = 26 (3d10)

>>1530932

>>1530937
God DAMN

Rolled 10, 3, 5 = 18 (3d10)

>>1530932

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>>1530937
I'm just gonna go with this.

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>>1530948
With a long, powerful shout Ikkaku starts to pour reiatsu into the orb. But unlike his partner the bald fighter's technique is fundamentally flawed: not because he puts too much effort into it, or because he puts too little in. Those at least you could compensate for. No, Ikkaku's problem is that his effort swings wildly from being too much to too little, in punctuated bursts of power like overlapping tidal waves rolling in. The orb's surface pulses rapidly with each burst, expanding and contracting as it struggles to stabilize.

“Ikkaku!” you bark. “Keep the power even, otherwise...”

But you don't get the change to finish that sentence. You clap your hands together and focus your own reiatsu, drawing a pyramidal barrier around the Third Seat that you complete a split second before he explodes in a surprised yelp.

“Dammit,” Kūkaku curses, setting aside her pipe. “Nice save, Yoruichi. That would've been a pain to clean up otherwise.”

“Okay,” you sigh, lowering the barrier to reveal a slightly charred shinigami. “Let's leave the kidō stuff to me and the Fifth Seat then.”

“Yeah,” Ikkaku grunts, a bit of ash coming out of his mouth. “Maybe that'd be for the best.”

A few minutes later you and the two Eleventh Division fighters have loaded into the base of the cannon, and you're surprised to be joined by none other than Ganjū. He and Ayasegawa exchange a glance... well, more like a glare really, like they're trying to kill each other with their eyes.

“Hey, isn't that...” Madarame begins, before both men cut him off at the same time.

“It is.”
“I am.”

Ah, so these two probably fought during Ichigo's little invasion?

“That's cute,” you sigh, meaning that it's cute that they think their little squabble actually matters right now. “What's up, Ganjū?”

“Sis wanted me to give you this,” he replies, handing you a small silvery tube. “It's got some kinda transmitter in it.”

“What's it for?” Madarame asks curiously.

“A special surprise,” Kūkaku smiles as she approaches the base of the cannon and draws her sword. "You ready?".

"Always," you grin back. "Let's kick things off with a bang."
>1/2

>>1530978
And what a bang it is.

The power of the blast never really gets to be “familiar” no matter how many times you've done it, even with the cannonball smoothing things out for you. You're always a little surprised you don't end up flattened against the thing's “floor” in a pile of shattered bones and failing organs.
>dice+3d10, DC 17, Crit 21

Rolled 6, 4, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>1530986

Rolled 2, 4, 8 = 14 (3d10)

>>1530986

Rolled 2, 10, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>1530986
Let's go!

Rolled 5, 4, 7 = 16 (3d10)

>>1530986
so many consecutive dice rolls

>>1530995
>fuckin clutch man

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“Ayasegawa,” you shout over the wind. “You need to increase your power a bit.”

“Like this?” he calls back, overshooting what you anticipated slightly.

You shake your head. “No, little less! Right now you're wasting effort.”

“Got it, got it,” he replies, dialing his reiatsu back a bit too much. Figuring that this is about as good as it'll get, you simply reduce the amount of reiatsu you're using to match him.

“Alright, just hold it there!”

Damn, the target's coming up too quickly to make any real adjustments to the plan. You're just going to have to crash into the rocks and accept the fact that it's neither going to be a particularly effective explosion nor is it going to be stealthy. Well, you suppose things can't always go perfectly, that's just how the world is sometimes.

“Brace!” you shout as the terrain of the Valley of Screams rapidly grows in front of you.

There's a loud crash as the cannonball slams into a stone stack, obliterating it and raising a tall column of dust and sand... until it drifts down into Hueco Mundo.

“That's a bit of a head trip,” you cough, emerging from the dust. “Okay, where're we at...”

“Nice landing,” Ikkaku grumbles, dusting himself off as well.

“If you have enough energy to mouth off you've got enough to secure the area,” you snap back. “Come on, get it in gear.”

“Yes, ma'am,” he replies, grabbing Ayasegawa around the arm and hauling him to his feet.

>Help the two of them secure the area.
>Locate the cannonball, see if you can use it as an escape option later on.
>Head towards the spot that woman told you about.
>Other?

>>1531042
>>Head towards the spot that woman told you about.

>>1531042
>>Locate the cannonball, see if you can use it as an escape option later on.

>>1531042
>Locate the cannonball, see if you can use it as an escape option later on.

>>1531042

>Locate the cannonball, see if you can use it as an escape option later on.

>writing

>>1531101
“Gimme a hand here, we'll need to locate the cannonball,” you tell them. “I won't need it to escape, but if I can't get back here you may need it to get back down to the Seireitei.”

“Understood,” Ayasegawa nods curtly. “Ikkaku, eyes up.”

“Yeah, you're right,” the bald man nods. “I don't like how this place feels either, Yumechikka.”

After a few minutes of searching the blast zone you shift a large rock and find the orb Kūkaku gave you, still intact after contracting to its handheld size. “There we are...”

Your words stop short as you stand back up and toss the orb to Ayasegawa. You can feel now that your arrival hasn't gone unnoticed by the blanks, which are beginning to draw closer all around you.

“These guys?” Ikkaku grumbles, drawing his zanpakuto. “There were a few of them in our Division barracks earlier, so they come from here?”

“That's right,” you nod. “This is why you're here.”

“Alright then,” Ikkaku nods grimly. “I was hoping for a good fight, but I guess this'll have to do.”

“Don't underestimate them,” you frown. “They may not look like much but there's no end to them, and they have a nasty habit of blowing themselves up. They'll ruin your day if you're not careful, which is why I wanted you two here.”

“I see your point,” Ayasegawa nods, drawing his sword as well. “So, you take half and I take half?”

“I'll take half plus one,” Ikkaku insists. “Extend, Hozukimaru!”

Now armed with a long three-section spear, Ikkaku makes short work of the small crowd of Blanks that's assembled near your landing site, relieving the immediate pressure someone and quickly justifying his presence. Good, this is working to your advantage so far.

>Move towards the target as a group.
>Have Ikkaku and Ayasegawa hold a corridor for you to withdraw through.
>Have these two make a distraction for you to move up unnoticed.
>Other?

>>1531140
>>Have these two make a distraction for you to move up unnoticed.
Well if anything, being loud is pretty much standard for an 11th Division member.

>>1531140
>Have these two make a distraction for you to move up unnoticed.

>>1531140
>>Have these two make a distraction for you to move up unnoticed.

>>1531140
>>Have these two make a distraction for you to move up unnoticed.

>>1531140
>Have these two make a distraction for you to move up unnoticed.

>writing
Eleventh Division gets to be LOUD

>>1531197
Bet they're going to be happy

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>>1531197
“This is where we part ways,” you declare, cracking your neck once in preparation for what comes next. “So I'll see you back on the ground.”

“What do you mean?” Ikkaku demands sternly. “You're gonna just run off without us?”

“You can handle this,” you explain carefully. “All I need you to do is make as much noise as you can, keep the blanks focused on you instead of on me. You Eleventh Division types are naturals at that, so just let loose for a while.”

“And what happens when you pull off whatever you have planned?” Ayasegawa counters, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. “What are we supposed to do then?”

“I'll contact you and tell you to get the hell out of here,” you tell him with a shrug. “Or I fail and we're all gonna die anyway, in which case it hardly matters if I get back to you, does it?”

“Point,” he nods.

“Try not to die!” you tell them with a leap to the top of a nearby column of stone.

“That's all I ever get to do...” Ikkaku grumbles sarcastically, stabbing another blank through its head as it rounds a corner.

You sprint in the direction you think the captive Ryōdoji told you their base of operations is, and focus your reiatsu.

“Kyokkō!”

The air around you warps as you release your kidō, wrapping the light around you and snuffing your reiatsu to keep yourself hidden as you approach the massive plateau. That has to be it, right? There's no other plateau quite this size in sight, and you have to leap between footholds to ascend its steep sides. After a few bounces you leap up over a sharp cliff edge, hanging in the air for a moment before landing lightly on your feet.

Up here, things look a little different... first and foremost there are actual trees.

“That's odd,” you mumble. Isn't it supposed to be the case that nothing grows here naturally? Perhaps the Ryōdoji have found a way to make the blanks take the shape of plants?

That seems likely.

Ahead of you there's something that looks like a cluster of buildings around the base of a tall stone pillar, placed near the center of the plateau below it affording an amazing field of view.

>Examine the trees
>Head towards the structures
>Straight to the top of the pillar
>Other?

>>1531240
>Straight to the top of the pillar

>>1531240
SMASH THE BUILDINGS

>>1531240
>Straight to the top of the pillar

>>1531240
>>Straight to the top of the pillar

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>>1531240
>Examine the trees

>roll for stealth
>3d10, DC 18, Crit 22
>best of four because you are the best at hide and seek

Rolled 4, 1, 10 = 15 (3d10)

>>1531307
Cat sees pole, cat scratches.

Rolled 5, 1, 9 = 15 (3d10)

>>1531307

Rolled 1, 7, 9 = 17 (3d10)

>>1531307

Rolled 1, 2, 7 = 10 (3d10)

>>1531307

>>1531307
>>1531312
>>1531315
>>1531317
>>1531318

Apparently not

>>1531315
>>1531312
>>1531317
>>1531318

Lots of 1s

Uh oh.

I get the feeling the pillar is something nasty.

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>>1531327

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>>1531312
>>1531315
>>1531317
>>1531318
Wow.

We who were once part of the stealth force have failed a stealth DC....

We tell no one about this.

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You decide to skip the formalities and head straight to the top of the pillar, sensing that there's somebody up there. This takes you past the low stony structures, which are all uninhabited a the moment and possess no outward characteristics that would suggest what their purposes were. So you pass them by, continuing to bound up the nearly-vertical rock face. Unfortunately you realize when you clamber to the top that there's noplace to hide up here: in fact there's barely enough room to turn around.

And you were right, the place is occupied.

“Welcome, Captain,” the man replies. His hair is pale and long, and his chest is covered by the same sort of green plate armor that the captive Ryōdoji was wearing, covered over by a long black mantle. There's a long, jagged scar across one of his temples, from a blow of some kind that managed to barely miss his eye some time ago. “I must admit that I'm surprised it took so long for someone to come here.”

He spins on his heel and blasts his reiatsu at the stone between you, blasting you back off the edge and forcing you to use a shunpō to recover. For his part he leaps down and lands heavily in a low crouch, then rises.

“I assume you know who I am?”

“Only a little,” you reply, reasoning that your cover has already been blown. “I know that you're one of the Ryōdoji.”

“Then allow me to introduce myself,” he declares, throwing off his cloak. “I am Ganryū, of the Ryōdoji. The last prodigal son of a dead clan, but with any luck the one who will achieve our final victory.”

“If you can consider this meaningless squabble winnable,” you retort, throwing a punch at his head that he raises his right arm to block. There's a sword there, which seems to have near-instantly manifested.

So he can sense that you're here? Well then, there's no point in maintaining your camouflage now so you release it to save yourself a little reiatsu for the long run.

“So you have some sense!” Ganryū taunts, slinging a handful of short blades at you which you almost instinctively counter with a handful of anken.

>Drag it out, try and get him talking about his plan.
>Use Shōsōtō to examine his capabilities.
>All out offense, beat him in a way he can't regenerate.
>Other?

>>1531495
>>Use Shōsōtō to examine his capabilities.

>>1531495
>Use Shōsōtō to examine his capabilities.

>>1531495
>All out offense, beat him in a way he can't regenerate.

We are angry!

>>1531495
>Use Shōsōtō to examine his capabilities.

>>1531495
>>Use Shōsōtō to examine his capabilities.

>dice+3d10
>DC 17, Crit 22

Rolled 5, 1, 6 = 12 (3d10)

>>1531566
Ah hell

Rolled 1, 5, 8 = 14 (3d10)

>>1531566

Rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8 (3d10)

>>1531566

>>1531572
>>1531574
>>1531576
NOT Yoruichi's day huh?

Maximum RIP. We're reaching levels of bad luck previously thought impossible.

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>>1531572
>>1531574
>>1531576

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>>1531495
Ganryū immediately goes on the offensive, striking at your left side and forcing you to draw your swords. One stout blade meets his with a clash of steel, and as you pivot to lodge the second one in his side he manifests a second blade, using it to parry your own attack. Before you get the chance to kick him in the solar plexus like you'd usually do if you found yourself in a double-bind, you find that your legs have been bound by what look like blanks that have been stretched and contorted to wrap around your ankles.

In a momentary loss of balance the man lands a solid blow on your left shoulder, and in the same instant you break free of your bind with a burst of reiatsu. You're bleeding a little, but it's not that bad.

“Shōsōtō!” you call out, using your zanpakuto's ability to examine Ganryū's weaponry.

That's not right... Shōsōtō is saying there's nothing unusual about any of his kit. No special abilities, no enhancement, no reiatsu of their own, his weapons are entirely mundane. Made from blanks of course, but the only thing extraordinary about them beyond that is the density of reiatsu within them, as if each has been folded together from dozens of souls.

So what is he planning, you wonder as you trade blows again. For a second time he uses a strange attack, and that's when you realize that the entire Valley of Screams is made up of the same stuff the blanks are: he's literally transforming portions of the terrain to serve his ends.

“So, even the ground I'm walking on is an enemy here?” you muse grimly.

“That's right,” Garyū replies confidently. “My clan spent centuries perfecting the technique of bending the Valley and its inhabitants to our will, and I've grown quite good at it.”

You're forced to dodge again when a column of writing blanks shoots out of the ground like a water cannon from the ground in front of the Ryōdoji scion, surging towards you and only narrowly missing as it tries to bend midflight to compensate for your speed. Then Garyū himself falls upon you, and you beat his blade away with your own short swords.

This isn't going anywhere good. This is his turf, and he knows how to use it to his advantage.

>Try using “that”... overpower him.
>See if you can't suss out his end game.
>Fall back for now, reassess the situation.
>Other?

>>1531654
>>Fall back for now, reassess the situation.

>>1531654
>>See if you can't suss out his end game.

>>1531654
>>Fall back for now, reassess the situation.

>>1531654
>that's when you realize that the entire Valley of Screams is made up of the same stuff the blanks are
>literally transforming portions of the terrain to serve his ends

Perhaps the appeal and power of having a plane of existence under control (however small) with nothing but a thought got it into his head that, I dunno, he could plant it in Seireitei territory and let it expand from there?
>>See if you can't suss out his end game.

>>1531654
>>See if you can't suss out his end game.

So many poor rolls....do the dice like drama or just dislike Yoruichi?

>>1531654
>>Try using “that”... overpower him.

>dice+3d10, best of 3
DC 18, critical is 22. Unlike most Bleach villains Ganryu is feeling pretty tight-lipped.

Rolled 8, 10, 9 = 27 (3d10)

>>1531724

Rolled 13, 4, 13 = 30 (3d20)

>>1531724

Rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>1531724

>>1531724
And as an aside, feel free to suggest tactics for gathering information from the situation as well.

Rolled 5, 6, 1 = 12 (3d10)

>>1531724

Rolled 5, 3, 1 = 9 (3d10)

>>1531724

Rolled 7, 6, 3 = 16 (3d10)

>>1531724

>>1531728
Woops

>>1531727
Nice!

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>>1531727

>>1531730
>feel free to suggest tactics for gathering information from the situation as well.
Well, if the walls are all Titans— I mean, the landscape's almost all Blanks, does it also have the potential to violently explode?

That's my immediate concern for our group and Soul Society here worth keeping an eye for.

>writing

>>1531730
Hmm, use Utsusemi's as a feint. Send an afterimage charging at him in a kamikaze when he thinks we might be desperate and hae him reveal a trump card, the afterimage reacts (dunno how Yoruichi does it but she does), while we examine the trump card and then backstab.

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>>1531764
You need to figure out what this man's actual objective is, what he thinks he can still do at this point to eke out some sort of victory. He's fast, nearly as fast as Ichigo is when he's using Tensa Zangetsu, which is quite frankly ridiculous seeing how he's not even using a zanpakuto: it's keeping you from thinking clearly and focusing on figuring this all out. After all, when there's a sword at your throat it's damn hard to think about much else.

So you take a flying leap backwards, ducking behind a building for a moment to try and assess your surroundings.

“More hide and seek?” Ganryū sneers as he crashes through the wall in a cloud of shattered stone bricks and turns with his momentum to try and slice off your head. You raise your blades to parry and slash back at him, but he keeps moving and all you manage to do is cut a strip off of his cape.

“Such a shame, and here I was led to believe you Captains were fearsome warriors.”

Focus, Yoruichi. Just focus on the task at hand.

You meet a renewed assault with your own zanpakuto, parrying and weaving while using the edges to keep a constant distance. Focus, he has nothing on his person that could count as a “win condition”, there are no artifacts here. There's nothing to suggest that this place has anything to do with his plans... but about this place.

A trio of blanks ripped up from the earth itself become daggers at your enemy's direction, and you spin Raijūsenkō by its handle and guard to knock them down out of the air. As the daggers sink point-first into the ground you have a sudden moment of inspiration: this entire place is under his direction, so who's to say it's not being directed by someone or something at this very moment?

Sure enough, turning your senses onto the very fabric of the Valley of Screams alerts you to a vast danger. The entire plane seems to be moving, either in parallel or something very close to it, like a vast ocean of writhing snakes all heading in one direction.

“What's wrong?” Ganryū gloats, his blade catching yours once more. “Tiring out already?”

You make a dash parallel to the movement you sensed, only to face a massive explosion before you manage to get more than a couple of hundred meters. He's set off some of the blanks... but not before you got a good sense that the angle they're moving at over here is slightly different.

They're all heading towards a single point, somewhere near the center of the Valley. And in that direction you can sense something even more telling: it's faint, but there's shinreiryoku present at the spot where every bit of the Valley of Screams, from the blanks to the very rocks themselves, is trying to get to.

>Head to the source of shinreiryoku, see what it is for yourself.
>Grill Ganryū, make him explain what the hell is going on.
>Fight to kill, you may not have time to play nice anymore.
>Other?

>>1531821
And by parallel I mean perpendicular, literally the opposite of that. It's been a long day.

>>1531821
>Head to the source of shinreiryoku, see what it is for yourself.

With our rolls today I see no way this could go wrong

>>1531821
>Head to the source of shinreiryoku, see what it is for yourself.

>>1531821
>>Head to the source of shinreiryoku, see what it is for yourself.

>>1531821
>>Head to the source of shinreiryoku, see what it is for yourself.

>>1531821
>>Head to the source of shinreiryoku, see what it is for yourself.

>>1531834
I mean, in case people don't realize this already it means you have to disengage from Ganryu. Which given the fact that to him the whole plane is one big bomb is easier said than done.

>>1531844
Alright, so I guess we're doing this.
>3d10 to disengage, best of three
>DC 19, Crit 23 because the entire plane is literally bombs

Rolled 8, 4, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>1531882

Rolled 6, 2, 7 = 15 (3d10)

>>1531882

Rolled 8, 9, 6 = 23 (3d10)

>>1531882

Rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10 (3d10)

>>1531882

>>1531894
Noice

>>1531882
>>1531894

This chapter has had some very silly rolls.

>>1531902
Yeah, kinda. So here's where I want some additional input:
>Try and slip away in an explosion
>Try and evade, use your speed
>Counterattack, put him off balance
>Counterattack, put him six feet under

No additional rolls will be called for.

>>1531908
>Try and slip away in an explosion

>>1531908
>Try and evade, use your speed

He knows where we are anyway, stealth isnt going to really work, So i say we just outpace him and then try to hide.

>>1531908
>>Counterattack, put him off balance

>>1531908
>Counterattack, put him off balance
>Try and slip away in an explosion

Force out an AOE attack and ditch while the explosion overwhelms his senses.

>>1531908
>Counterattack, put him off balance

>>1531908
>>Counterattack, put him off balance

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Yeah, you're not hanging around here any longer than you need to. You extend your arm and cast one of Riku's favorite bakudō: Tenteikura.

“Heads up, I think I found what's really going on here,” you tell Ikkaku and Ayasegawa, who have been fighting nonstop since you got here. “You have a few minutes to escape, get going.”

“That's just sweet,” Ganryū sneers, “sending your subordinates off to escape with their lives... sweet, but pointless.”

“Don't be so sure,” you reply, severing the mental connection with a grin of your own. “Or did you really think I've been fighting you with my full strength?”

“A substantial boast,” Ganryū replies, driving you back with a ferocious string of attacks ending in a palm strike that falls ever so slightly short of catching you in the chin. “But do you have anything to back it up?”

You try to disengage while he's overextended, dashing across several hundreds of meters of plateau before the explosions drive you back towards your opponent, barring your progress towards the center of the Valley. It's enough to make you wonder if he knows you've figured something out of if he really just wants you dead and is unwilling to let you escape. Either way, you take the opportunity to suppress your reiatsu for a moment and duck out of the way, falling to the ground between two large stone pillars to collect your thoughts.

“I guess using that form might be my best option,” you muse quietly ass Ganryū takes to the skies to try and spot you. Even as you stand here debating you can sense the blanks are starting to coalesce in the distance... you need to get over there, and just because you wanted to save this technique for a special occasion doesn't make it any less the best shot you have.

“Alright, here it goes... Purr, Raijūsenkō!”
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny24zPeQLks

You release your Resurrecìon, but instead of allowing its power to coalesce in the usual manner you harness that outburst of reiatsu, cycling it back through your own nerves in a stable loop. The power is almost overwhelming at first, and you let out an involuntary cry of pained determination that levels your cover for a good radius around your body.

Even from here, you can see a look of panic creep across Ganryū's face.
>1/2

>>1532013
You can feel it throughout your body, a static tingle across your skin and a new strength in your muscles. Your hair must be standing on end from the dancing arcs of electricity that cycle through your limbs, concentrated, tangible power that burns bright as a second sun.

With a primal scream of fury you build up energy in your legs, preparing for a mighty leap. Ganryū lifts his arms and contorts the landscape into something like a webbed lattice reaching skyward, intending to block your progress with a curtain of explosions.

Too little, too late.

He sets off the blasts in sequence, a column of them reaching into the air and buffeting you as you charge him down and emerge from the smoke with your fist cocked back and a look of pure rage in your eyes. The single punch tears through his defenses, be they metal or blank, and connects with his jaw as an open palm. Throwing your entire weight into the movement you grasp him by the face and hurl him headfirst towards the ground with such speed that he leaves several rings of cloudy condensation from the displaced air he passed through.

The plateau his clan made their homes on collapses under the force of the blow, rock shattering and reverting to something more spiritual than solid, no doubt the only thing allowing Ganryū to survive such an impact.

“Bye,” you taunt down at him, using your newly enhanced speed to tear in the direction of the shinreiryoku you sensed earlier.

Sure enough, it's just as bad as you'd feared. Blanks have begun to swirl and coalesce, slowly compressing the entire Valley of Screams. If the Valley creates enough negative pressure, you really could see bits of Hueco Mundo slamming into the Seireitei and vice-versa. Not entire planes being destroyed, but the loss of life and resulting imbalance in the cycle of souls would be catastrophic.

>Study it with Shōsōtō, try and determine its weakness before Ganryū gets up.
>Use your raw, overwhelming power to obliterate the object that's drawing them in.
>Surely there's something you've got memorized with Shōsōtō that can help...
>Other?

>>1532067
>Surely there's something you've got memorized with Shōsōtō that can help...

>>1532067
>>Surely there's something you've got memorized with Shōsōtō that can help...

>>1532067
>Surely there's something you've got memorized with Shōsōtō that can help...

>>1532067
>>Surely there's something you've got memorized with Shōsōtō that can help...

>>1532067
>>Surely there's something you've got memorized with Shōsōtō that can help...
I can only recall the items Inari and Artemis provided which had trace amounts of shireiryoku stored. Kinda makes me wonder if a copy of them can be used to take in the shinreiryoku the Blanks are converging on.

Otherwise, it'll have to be some other item being pulled out.

Seems pretty much decided, so
>3d10, best of 3
>DC 17, crit 20

Rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11 (3d10)

>>1532109

Rolled 6, 10, 8 = 24 (3d10)

>>1532109

Rolled 9, 3, 3 = 15 (3d10)

>>1532109

Rolled 9, 4, 9 = 22 (3d10)

>>1532109

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>>1532109
Ah, the solution is simple.

“Raikōhō!” you roar, a powerful column of lightning gathering at your palm then blasting forward, clearing a path straight through the swirling blanks and leaving a clean shot for you. At its center appears to be something like a small, portable wooden shrine painted in black lacquer with gold patterns and figures.

“Bankai!”

You choose to manifest your Bankai as a strand of beads, each about the size of a grapefruit, made of what looks for all the world like cut and polished amber. But whatever these beads strike is weakened at the molecular level from the blast, and a second direct strike will destroy most targets provided the two beads strike more or less the same spot in fairly quick succession.

“Stop!” Ganryū shouts. “If you do that you'll die too!”

You glance at the exposed object at the center of the blanks, knowing you don't have much time to decide, then glance back at Ganryū.

“That's right, Captain, nice and easy...” he begins before you sling the string of orbs at a blinding speed straight for the center of the blank nexus, all without breaking eye contact.

“Not likely,” you reply as you hear a chain of explosions from the weapons striking, clearly audible over your own reiatsu's crackling and popping.

“You've destroyed it...” Ganryū observes, seemingly devastated. “The shinenju is destroyed. If I take any solace in this, it's the knowledge that you'll be forgotten along with me.”

“Forgotten?” you ask. “The hell does that mean?”

“The very core of the Valley has been destroyed,” Ganryū explains. “It's closed off from the other planes once more, and will disappear in just a few minutes. Like it and anything inside it never existed... you and I are going to die, and nobody will ever remember that you were alive to begin with.”

A shinenju... a memory nexus? Ah, so that's why you sensed shinreiryoku from the vessel: the memories of these blanks which formed the Valley itself concentrated within an object fit to hold a god. Good thing you didn't decide to try and mess with it, that much concentrated memory might have driven someone less wary of it insane trying to handle it.

>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.
>Don't bother, just leave. Nobody will remember him anyway.

>>1532205
>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

>>1532205
>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

We did promise his wife. Depowered him tho because fuck him for trying this bullshit.

>>1532205
>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

>>1532205

>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

We want to remember this fucker.

>>1532205
>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

Keep your words.

Hope baldie and his buddy got out fine.

>>1532205
>>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

>>1532205
>Use the Garganta to escape, drag this moron out with you.

Also i *totally* want to see ikkaku and yumichika's reactions to seeing and more importantly - feeling yoruichi's resurreccion

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You can sense from here that your team made it safely out of the Valley already, so it's about time you did the same.

“Normally this is the part where I'd leave you to die, but I made a promise,” you muse. “So today's your lucky day.”

“What do you mean?” Ganryū demands angrily. “Leave? You? Don't be ridiculous.”

“I can use the Garganta at will, dumbass,” you retort with a sly grin. “I'm guessing you won't come quietly, so I'll just have to force the issue.”

Ganryū takes a half-step back at the brazenness of your pronouncement, only to find that your new speed is far greater than he bargained for. By the time he realizes you've closed the distance you've already delivered a vicious stomp to the side of his right knee, breaking bone at the joint and buckling the limb under his body weight. As he topples over the back of your right fist meets his chin in a powerful backhand, easily shattering his jaw and damn near snapping his neck from the force.

Badly staggered and no doubt on the edge of consciousness, he can't even respond as you follow through the momentum and turn, finishing with a roundhouse kick that sends him crashing into and through the ground.

His lifeless body is easy enough to carry through the Dangai as the Valley of Screams disappears behind you like a bad dream in the morning.

“Wonder what Kūkaku was planning anyway?” you wonder aloud as you step out into the forests outside the Maggots' nest, the last of the Ryōdoji still slung over your shoulder like a sack of stupid, traitorous potatoes.

“Oh well. Probably better that we didn't need to find out.”

>>1532328
And that's where I'm calling it a night, it's one in the morning and I'm exhausted. Archive is up, thanks for playing, and hope you enjoyed!

SoZ will be tomorrow evening for a few hours followed by a bit more SSQ to wrap this arc up. Also omakes.

>>1532337

thanks for running Queen.

>>1532337
Thanks for running!

>>1532328
Thanks for running dude, i needed my SSQ fix.
Too bad the rolls weren't a clean BTFO sweep

>>1532328
Wait why did she kill him? Didn't she promise to take him alive?

>>1532628
>Wait why did she kill him? Didn't she promise to take him alive?
Because she didn't? She knocked him out and dropped him in the maggots nest (prison).

>>1532906
The wording probably threw him off when Queen described his body as lifeless.

>>1532328
Now I wanna see an omake of Benehime and Ganryū reuniting at the maggot's nest.

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>"So, Captain Hotshot, you want to fight me?"
>"Fight you? No, I wanna kill you."
Will resume after SoZ, I'll keep the omake for Monday.

>riku gets BTFO
>shit DOESN'T go down the tubes in a hurry
>riku faction fucks shit up in her stead
>can't help but feel proud

Is this what old man genocide felt when he died?

>>1534988
That he could safely leave things in the hands of others, that is.
That things would be alright even with him gone. Worse off, but alright.

>>1534748

You know, that pic reminds me: I was going through the archives the other day rereading the quest, and Yoruichi's initial hollow form was pretty well designed--and terrifying. I liked it.

Just throwing out my 2 cents and making a wish here, but if Segunda Etapa ever becomes a thing, AND if it turns out that it is applicable to Yoruichi/Riku, I thought it would be cool to incorporate that design into Yoru's greater Resurrección. Maybe with an open faced mask or some similar symbol of it being a more controlled/perfected form.

Come to think of it, what is the significance of Yoruichi and Riku's current Resurrección? I mean, I know it makes them stronger somehow, just wondering about the specifics and how it works. If any of that has been thought out, I'd be curious to know more about it.

The canon compares Resurrección to Bankai. Bankai, in addition to providing some specific gimmick, always results in a huge increase in reiatsu. Resurrección is a significant, across-the-board stat increase in addition to enhancing an arrancar's existing techniques and allowing access to new ones . . . AND they gain their true form. The Bankai comparison is well founded.

So far, Riku and Yoru's Resurreccións, when compared to canon examples, have been significantly less obvious in their specific impact beyond a blatantly obvious spike in their reiatsu. Is there anything else it does we should know about? Do they gain any of the Arrancar advantages like Hierro?

Oh, I guess it does allow Riku access to some new techniques and I think Yoru gets Reishi claws. Still sounds a bit incomplete to me, but maybe it just has less effect for them since they aren't Arrancar.

>>1535378
Rosa's physically the same as Riku, so the physical changes are purely cosmetic. The business end of the release state are mental/spiritual.

Raijūsenkō is a wildcat made out of condensed, tangible lightning: its bite would be measured in megatons. Yoruichi's imitation amplifies her nervous system's electricity and basically condenses it into her fingernails and/or knuckles: which would be terrifying if the amount of energy involved per ounce of medium was actually comparable to a lightning bolt.

>Not feeling great, so give me a half hour to get ready and I'll run for another hour or so

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>>1537489
You are still Captain Shihōin Yoruichi, and you have a man thrown over your shoulder whose armor you've completely shattered... though you're a little confused as to where you found him or how you fought. In fact you're not entirely sure what you were just doing, other than the fact that you really needed to beat the everloving shit out of this specific person.

“That's strange,” you mutter, taking note of your unusual case of amnesia. “Well, guess I need to take care of this.”

It seems like wherever you just came from you've emerged into the Seireitei on your own Division's grounds, right near the Maggots' Nest, so it's not even out of your way.

Then again, you think as you pause outside the entrance, you don't know what this guy can do when he wakes up.

>Kill him.
>Hit his Saketsu and Hakusui, leave him crippled.
>Whatever, not like he can escape either.
>Other?

>>1537761
>Hit his Saketsu and Hakusui, leave him crippled.

>>1534988
>Hit his Saketsu and Hakusui, leave him crippled.

>>1537761
>>Hit his Saketsu and Hakusui, leave him crippled.

>>1537761
>>Hit his Saketsu and Hakusui, leave him crippled.

>>1537775
whoops, mislinked

>>1537761
>Hit his Saketsu and Hakusui, leave him crippled

Wait, if we do that will he age as rapidly as a normal soul, effectively shortening his lifespan massively?

>>1537790
Oh no, a normal lifespan. The horror.

But yeah, it basically would.

>>1537813
Ah, i don't really want to do that... or at least, we should do the same to his wife so they live the same length.

>>1537813
With surgical precision born of years of experience you draw an anken and stab the stranger twice through his chest: once through each spiritual “pressure point”, missing his vitals entirely. With how clean the wounds are he won't even need more than basic medical attention for either incision: even Byakuya and Suí Fēng would have trouble matching it, and Riku probably wouldn't even bother.

Then you pass him off to the guards at the gate.

“Patch up his chest and drop him into the main chamber,” you instruct. “Let me know if he causes any problems.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

With that bit of business taken care of you have a choice to make: you could find the Head Captain and report to him, despite not really knowing what just happened. But that strikes you as a waste of time, because what would you even say to Shunsui about it?

Or you could go speak with Riku, try and compare notes on what you remember. Maybe she can shed some light on what it is you feel that you've forgotten. That way you can also start to assess whether your now-forgotten efforts were even effective or not, which would be nice.

The third option is that you can try heading back to your own headquarters, check to see if you might have written down any details of what you were intending to do.

>Get in a report to Shunsui.
>Confer with Riku.
>Search for your notes?
>Other?

>>1537900
>Search for your notes?

>>1537900
>>Search for your notes?

>>1537900
>>Confer with Riku.

>>1537900
>Search for your notes?

>>1537900
>>Confer with Riku.

>>1537900
>>Search for your notes?

>>1537900
>>Confer with Riku.

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>>1537900
You head back to your headquarters and settle back in at your office, which you seem to have left in a hurry. No paperwork left out however, and none of the guards you ask seem to be able to recall why it was you left in such a hurry. Strange, unless it was an unusual emergency you would've written down your reason for deploying someplace and if it was that urgent you'd imagine someone would be able to tell you something about it.

“Damn...”

As you ponder the question, a runner finds you with a notice from Head Captain Kyōraku for all Captains and Lieutenants currently commanding the Gotei 13.

“Apparently several Divisions have found themselves deployed widely in the Rukongai with little indication as to why,” the runner reports, taking a knee and bowing his head. “This includes the Ninth Division and all of its arrancar auxiliaries, and several teams from our own Patrol Unit. The Head Captain is ordering that these shinigami be recalled immediately.”

“And?” you ask, sensing that there's a continuation to this story.

“And it seems that the Seireitei's defensive barriers are active for unknown reasons. These are to remain in place until such time as the nature of their malfunction can be determined,” the man continues. “That is all.”

This keeps getting stranger and stranger. You found yourself in the forest with a badly-beaten man in a green shihakusho thrown over your shoulder, the Seireitei's on full defensive alert for no explicable reason, and Riku has her Division on full offensive deployment? What's more you know she's in the hospital, but you're having some trouble recalling the reason why. She got into a fight, and was badly mauled, but who was she fighting?

>You need to talk to Shunsui. This is getting disturbing.
>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.
>Other?

>>1538023
>>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.

>>1538023
>>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.

>>1538023
>>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.

>>1538023
>>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.

>>1538023
>>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.

>now is the part where a very confused yoruichi walks in on a horribly injured and confused riku

>>1538023
>A lot of this involves Riku. Maybe she has an answer.

>>1538066
Unless the phlebotinum kicks in.

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You are Captain Kusajishi Riku, and you're sitting up in your hospital bed waiting for your wife to get back and wishing you could be out there fighting at her side. Your wounds have almost healed entirely, and your reiatsu has nearly been replenished. In fact if you hadn't promised Unohana that you'd behave yourself you could probably sneak out this afternoon, but as things are you'd probably be wiser to just wait for your official discharge tomorrow morning.

As it happens, Yoruichi is on her way to see you. That's nice of her.

She eventually peers in your window, scratching lightly at the glass. You get up and unlatch it, letting her open it from the outside and slip in to sit on the edge of your bed as you settle back down.

“Feeling better?” she asks.

“I'll be back out there tomorrow morning, bright and early,” you tell her, raising your fist confidently. “So I take it from your mood you dealt with the Valley of Screams? How'd you end up doing that anyway?”

Yoruichi's grin fades a little bit, and you can tell she's confused. “The Valley of Screams? What's wrong with it?”

“The Ryōdoji were using one to try and crash Hueco Mundo down on our heads,” you tell her, a little confused yourself at how she could be confused. “You know, that thing you went out to deal with. That thing I was dealing with when that Ryōdoji brat wrecked my shit like that.”

“Which we're never going to mention after this, by the way.”

Your wife simply shakes her head. “What are you talking about?”

“This has to be a joke,” you insist.

“All I know is some weird shit is going on,” Yoruichi explains carefully. “The Seireitei's on full alert and nobody knows why, your Division's on full combat deployment and nobody knows why, my patrol unit's on full deployment and I don't know why, and just now I found myself standing in the forest with a half-dead guy hanging off my shoulder.”

>Well, let's all just thank the Ryōdoji for that and move on.
>Explain to her precisely what's happened, even if she doesn't believe it.
>Something's altered peoples' memories, maybe yours remained somehow?
>Other?

>>1538143
>>Explain to her precisely what's happened, even if she doesn't believe it.
>>Maybe it's because of all my shin Reiryoku? Or because I fiddled with the valley before it poofed so I still remember it?

>>1538143
>>1538158
I'll second this

>>1538143
>Explain to her precisely what's happened, even if she doesn't believe it.
>Something's altered peoples' memories, maybe yours remained somehow?
>Maybe i still remember because of my shinreiryoku or something
>You can find the sword of the guy who did this to me in the morgue as proof i'm not bullshitting, probably along with records of who he was

>>1538143
>>Explain to her precisely what's happened, even if she doesn't believe it.

>>1538168
Didn't Gin shoot his sword up as well? Or was it just his ashes?

>>1538186
I... don't remember. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Either way, the records at least will be there.

>>1538143
>>Explain to her precisely what's happened, even if she doesn't believe it.
>>Something's altered peoples' memories, maybe yours remained somehow?
>>Other?
Explain shit to Shunsui, eventually.

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>>1538143
You explain to Yoruichi, who to her credit waits quietly despite most of what you're saying sounding pretty crazy to someone who apparently doesn't remember it, the entire series of events from the first signs of a problem until now. Some of it you admit you have to guess, because you weren't there or else you were unconscious, and you give credit wherever credit is due: Rangiku, Apacci, Gin, and Kūkaku did the heavy lifting against the Ryōdoji themselves, and Yoruichi used Kūkaku's cannon to get up there and finish the job.

“That's quite the story,” Yoruichi admits once you're done. “If it were anyone else telling it I'd have Lieutenant Kotetsu take a second look at your head even if it does seem to match the evidence pretty much exactly.”

“When Madarame and Ayasegawa turn up with a Shiba cannonball that should confirm it beyond doubt,” you shrug, “so until then I guess I'm happy one person believes me.”

“I didn't go that far,” Yoruichi purrs, clearly joking around with you. “But one thing bugs me, why are you the only one who remembers all this?”

You have to admit you don't have any concrete answers either. “Maybe it's because I basically have three minds. Maybe it's Tenkotsuki. Maybe it's that Rosa acts as an external backup. Or maybe it's because I used my abilities to do a minor alteration to the Valley before it disappeared as part of my investigation.”

“You altered the terrain?” Yoruichi muses. “Maybe that had an effect. Certainly can't be having shinreiryoku at all, otherwise I'd remember it too.”

“I'm sure there are little bits of information still left behind,” you insist with a smile. “Some of Kisuke's instruments must've recorded something, and I'll bet there's at least a contact report or two floating around out there that can corroborate my account.”

“It'd be good to have some actual information about all this for later,” Yoruichi agrees, “since it seems like planar collisions is just a thing that happens now. We'll get started in the morning.”

“Yeah,” you nod in agreement, “sounds like a plan. Now you should probably go... Captain Unohana'd yell at us if she knew I was having visitors outside regular hours.”

“Wouldn't want that,” Yoruichi teases, rolling her eyes.

>>1538309
And thus concludes SSQ for the weekend, it's nearly 2am and I need to get some sleep. Thanks for playing, and hope you enjoyed the wrap-up of this little arc!

Omake will happen some time tomorrow, so look forward to that.

>>1538318
Thanks for running!

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>also, feel free to drop more omake ideas
>tomorrow will be Dordonis' time out of confinement

>>1538439
Maybe one with Suì-Fēng and Yūshirō. Could be neat.

>>1538439
>What if Ichigo was born a girl and Riku decided to train her.
>Best cat gets dropped in Sailor Moon but it all ends being a dream... or was it?
>Evil Riku gets her wish granted, it doesn't turn into what she expected but she ends happy with it.

>>1538439
Omake Idea:
>Ganryū reunites with Benehime in the Maggot's Nest. There will be lots of arguing and the tension gets physical. They make out in the end.

Question:
So what happens now with Sena?

>>1539024
It's Benin

Benehime is Urahara's sword

>>1539024
>>1538439
>>1539036
>correction: Benin and Ganryu reunite.

>>1538872
>What if Ichigo was born a girl

I wonder if Renji would be the one hard crushing instead of Rukia?
Also the Zaraki fights would take on a whole new dimension of fucking creepy.

>>1538439
Question:
What happens if a child is born in the Maggot's Nest? Speaking of which there's a pair of prisoners which an omake about childbirth in prison is possible.
Omake Idea:
>A series of Doctor Visits with Unohana treating a garden variety of high-class patients. Example: an unfortunate person (Uryu?, Kira?, Kai?, Ichigo?, Ganju?, Ikkaku?, your choice) makes contact with Menoly's sap in her ressurecion. Patient and Menoly herself get brought in for treating the very uncomfortable swelling and irritation.

>>1538439
Commandos reactions to finding out what just happened and the seriousness of Riku's injuries again/for the first time.

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“Your turn, buddy,” an even, deep voice interrupts Dordoni's afternoon reading.

“To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of your company, Señor?” he replies without looking away from his book.

Starrk sighs wearily, unlocking the cell door and motioning for Lilynette to bring up a wheelchair. “Fourth Division wants to take a look at you.”

“And this requires me to be moved for... what reason, exactly?”

“Their equipment's even more of a pain in the ass to move than you are,” Starrk admits. “That and the Captain wants you to get some fresh air, same as Cirucci.”

“So you don't really get a say in the matter,” Lilynette scoffs, throwing the sheets off the bunk. “Get in the chair, old man.”

“Little niñas like you would do well to show a bit more respect for their elders,” Dordoni counters.

Lilynette's eye twitches in frustration. “And you should try an' remember that we don't owe you shit!”

“Lilynette...” Starrk warns quietly.

“No, Starrk,” she replies hotly, wheeling on her partner. “You might be fine with watching this asshole sulk all day long, but I'm not gonna put up with it. Everyone's already gone out of their way for him, and this passive-aggressive bullshit's the thanks we get?”

“You have a big mouth, niña,” Dordoni sighs.

“And now that she's gone and said it, she also has a point,” Starrk observes carefully. “You're kinda bein' a pain for us and I wish you'd cut it out.”

“We are enemies,” Dordoni reminds them both with a stern look. “Why would you expect anything else?”

“If we're enemies then your opinion is rejected,” Starrk counters almost lazily. “So shut up and get in the damn wheelchair.”

The captive arrancar sighs, realizing he has no choice in the matter, and allows himself to be maneuvered into the wheelchair.

“Alright, finally,” Lilynette grumbles as she pushes off, wheels bouncing dangerously as she uses a series of sonido.
>1/?

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>>1540760
By the time Lilynette finally comes to a complete stop in front of the Forth Division medical center, Dordoni is left wide-eyed. He practically throws himself from the wheelchair and onto his hands, immediately kissing the ground several times as if it was his long-separated lover.

“Aw, come on!” Lilynette scoffs. “It wasn't that bad, don't be such a drama queen!”

“You pushed me through a third-story!” Dordoni protests loudly from the ground, seemingly astonished that Lilynette considers any of what she just did reasonable. “What even was that building?”

“Watch tower, I think,” Starrk shrugs, coming to a stop behind Lilynette. “Now remember, best behavior around Captain Unohana.”

“Yeah, fine,” Lilynette sighs, pulling Dordoni roughly into the wheelchair.

“I mean it...”

In the lobby, Starrk's attitude seems to shift slightly as he spies a familiar face.

“Mirai!” he greets the soft-spoken commando, who offers a curt nod in response. “Mind if I ask?”

Mirai shakes her head slowly. “Lieutenant Kotetsu said there has been no change.”

Starrk sighs, seemingly in relief. “Well, at least it's stable?”

“That is true,” Mirai admits with a frown. “I had hoped after sixty years there would be some improvement.”

“Well, you did...” Starrk begins, before seemingly thinking better of it. “Nevermind. I'm sure Kotetsu did a thorough job.”

Mirai is quiet for a moment. “So... dinner?”

“I can be there after this,” he replies, gesturing towards Lilynette, who's taken to spinning Dordoni in slow circles in his wheelchair as he tells her repeatedly to stop in an exasperated voice. “Captain Unohana wanted him examined.”

“I see,” Mirai nods. “Then I won't keep you.”

Mirai turns to leave, and Starrk raises his hand to wave awkwardly before realizing she's not going to turn back.

“Is that woman always on a mission?” Dordoni asks, cocking a skeptical eyebrow.

“You want me to give you a couple spins?” Starrk shoots back. “Then keep talking.”

“And he says I need to work on my self-control,” Lilynette mutters, pushing Dordoni along after her partner.

“You do,” Dordoni insists.
>2/?

>>1540921
The trio of arrancars finally reach the room Starrk has been looking for and wheel Dordoni in, where Lieutenant Kotetsu has been waiting. She stands, towering over Lilynette and Dordoni and even standing slightly taller than Starrk. Dordoni seems a little taken aback at the sight of this woman, who for lack of a better way to summarize it looks a little like a larger-than-life statue of a woman.

“I'm Lieutenant Kotetsu,” she introduces herself, “second in command of the Seireitei's aid and relief Division. You would be Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio? Am I saying your name right?”

“Indeed,” Dordoni nods, still at somewhat of a loss for words. “You did.”

“Good,” Kotetsu nods, taking a knee next to the wheelchair. “I'm going to give you an examination now, see what I can tell about your condition. I'm told you reported no sensation below the injury to your spine, correct?”

“That's right,” Dordoni replies as Isane pushes between his shoulder blades to make him lean forward. “The effect was immediate, believe me on that señora.”

“And you've seen no changes since then?” she asks, palpating a spot on the arrancar's lower back through his white uniform. “I see.”

Then she strikes each of Dordoni's knees with the side of her palm, two times in quick succession. Observing a total lack of movement, she pinches his skin through the fabric to be sure of her conclusions.

“This wound will never heal,” she determines. “I'm sorry.”

“How can you know that so quickly?” Lilynette demands. “Maybe he just needs time to heal!”

Isane shakes her head and rises to her feet. “Half of the neural arch of his first lumbar and part of his spinal cord are simply absent, like the tissue was atomized. What's no longer there can't be healed by kaidō, and if it's not regenerating the way a hollow's wounds are usually expected do it means that he must have sacrificed his regenerative abilities for stronger hierro. Am I right?”

“Precisely, señora,” Dordoni sighs. “Most of us did so you see... there's no such thing as a crippled hollow in Las Noches. A blow that penetrates our hierro so thoroughly eventually proves lethal, even if you survive it. That is our way.”

“The fact of the matter is that your hierro doesn't even exist anymore below that destroyed vertebra, meaning that no reiatsu is flowing there either,” Isane concludes. “I'm sorry, but no conventional treatment exists for such a wound.”

"What sort of a weapon even did such a thing?"

Dordoni shrugs. "One which is a threat to no one anymore."
>3/4

>>1541095
After placing Dordoni back in his cell, a rather taciturn Lilynette sees herself out without comment... for perhaps the first time in her life. Starrk however hangs back for a few moments before closing the cell door.

“What is it, amigo?” Dordoni sighs, doubtless expecting some sort of inspirational speech or quippy witticism. If that was the case then he was expecting it from the wrong person.

“Keep in mind, she said 'conventional' treatment,” Starrk observes calmly. Then he reaches into a pocket for the key and locks the door behind him. “Doctors here are rarely explicit without reason.”

“See you later, 'amigo',” he concludes, strolling back down the hall and out the door.

For a while, Dordoni remains silent. Then his fellow prisoners hear the thud of a body hitting the floor.

“You alright there, Dordoni?” Gantenbainne asks, a note of concern apparent in his voice. “Hey, talk to me!”

Then they hear a grunt of exertion. Then a second, and a third. “Fine, amigas. Just fine.”

“Are you... working out?” Cirucci asks, thoroughly bewildered.

“Chin-ups!” Dordoni replies, enunciating harshly with each movement. “If I have to wheel myself around the rest of my life, might as well look good doing it, eh?”

“Well at least that's progress,” Liltotto mutters, almost to herself. “Someone's gotta be making some around here.”

>>1540921
Stark and Mirai having themselves a little date

>>1541231
They would be quick to point out that eating dinner together isn't a "date".

>>1541299
Starrk and Mirai, sitting in a tree~

>>1541332
K I S S I N G

>>1540921
>Mirai is quiet for a moment. “So... dinner?”
>“I can be there after this,” he replies, gesturing towards Lilynette, who's taken to spinning Dordoni in slow circles in his wheelchair as he tells her repeatedly to stop in an exasperated voice.
Starrk you smooth coyote.
>>1541299
But that's what some dates usually are! Dinner Dates!
>>1541219
That's the spirit Dordoni!

>>1541299
Riku would, I hope, point out that while it is true that having dinner together does not necessarily constitute a date, feeding one another and holding hands is typically considered a couples-only sort of thing. Which she then evidences with an over-the-top spectacle of being fed by Yoruichi, raising the temperature in the room by several degrees.

>>1541219
So what was the realization that made Lilynette sober up with cold contemplation? Was it Dordoni's condition that it's possible for a hollow to be crippled?

>>1542465
She is probably Happy she and the moron are so strong together they never needed a stronger Hierro.

>>1541219
We really, really need to ask a favor from orihime.
She can heal them. I feel so bad, seeing them like this.

>>1544213
If Urahara dissected her for research purposes, I'd consider it a benevolent action, honestly. She's so frustratingly useless.

I really wish we'd get some free time to do whatever we want. There's so much to do. We could train Ichigo to really useful levels, considering his monstrous growth rate. We could start looking for Mimihagi. We could meditate for days at a time for segunda etapa purposes. We could go looking for suitable hollows for regenerative serum development, and choose who to use it on from among the Femritters. We could team up with the royal guard and go seek help from various divinities. And of course, we could invest in Orihime.

I know this is the kind of think that leads to powersperging, but we've been just reacting to events as they happen for so long. It's a little bit frustrating to have all this unused potential at our disposal.

>>1544680
So far as I'm concerned that sort of thinking is absolutely in character for Riku herself. Being Riku is frustration, because there are so many demands of her and rules constraining her actions.

You'll have a little time here and there, as now preparation is one of the few things left on the agenda.

>>1544719
Let's see, we're done with most of the anime-only shit. You said we're not doing Bount, so what's left is... Fade to Black, which I haven't seen, Fullbringers, which might never happen, and then all that's left are the Aizen and quincy arcs. I think. Correct me if I'm wrong?

>>1544749
From here the concept of the "canon" arcs pretty much loses all meaning, because the beef between Aizen and Riku involves both some crazy shit that wasn't in canon and an unholy 'union' between the Sternritter and Espada.

But yeah fuck the Bount arc.

>>1544762
The music wasn't bad though.

>>1544719
Maybe we should just... ask for help?
We could send 9th and 11th out on joint missions to capture regenerative hollows

We could send Tenri and perhaps someone like Kukaku who is normally otherwise inactive out to find Mimihagi (or perhaps even ask a god we're friendly with for assistance)

We could leave Ichigo's training to the arrancar, let them beat down on his ass in the valley until D-Day, which would also help the arrancar get used to their released state and achieve segunda etapa

Then we can spend our own time learning Goryutenmetsu, and any extra time would probably go towards finishing the lieutenant's training.

>>1545902
Joint missions between 9th and 11th out to hueco mundo would probably help create close ties with the two divisions through combat, and given their combat prowess and 9th high operational capability, the hunts would probably go quite well and without significant casualties, especially if commandos were to go along with them.

Allowing ichigo to fight against powerful arrancar like starrk and halibel constantly would get him used to fighting arrancar, preparing him well for the fight against aizen's espada

Tenri being part divine as well as our servant along with kukaku who once bore an oken and has ties to the royal guard would give them some legitimacy, so someone like artemis or coyote might be willing to assist in bringing mimihagi back to revive ukitake, a significant war power. If not personally, then perhaps they'd be willing to donate the time of some of their own servants.

I'm just saying, we don't have to do literally everything ourselves
Maybe we should talk to shunsui about this, since we're meeting him anyways...

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“So why is it that I am being taken off of my training?” Rukia demands of the Squad leader who was sent for her.

“I wasn't told, ma'am,” the man explains with a bow. “This comes straight from Miss Mirai though... she may not always explain as thoroughly as Kai or Lieutenant Matsumoto, but she always has a good reason.”

Rukia sighs, rubbing the back of her neck, before glancing towards Tatsuki. “Apologies, Arisawa. But my duties as a Commando must take priority.”

“That's alright,” Tatsuki nods. “I'll just have to train hard enough for both of us!”

“Please,” Rukia shakes her head in disbelief. “I'll have a hard enough time making up the hours as it is...”

“Hey, I gotta do my homework,” the teenager shrugs dismissively, “you gotta do your job. That's how things go.”

“Somehow I feel like those aren't comparable...”

After excusing herself from the training grounds, Rukia dons her short white Commando haori and heads for the gate. Along the way she spots a familiar shock of red hair, as Renji raises his hand and calls out. She considers the situation for a moment before deviating towards him.

“Hey, Rukia!” he calls. “You got a moment?”

Rukia sighs. “Just a moment, I've been called over to Forth Division. What's up?”

“We've been working on our kidō,” he begins, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly before giving up his attempt to keep some face. “Well, I've been working on it more than the rest. But I'm still having a tough time.”

“And you're asking me for help?” Rukia asks blankly. “Um... why?”

“Because you were always a natural at it!” Renji protests, lowering his voice so that the other Lieutenants won't be able to hear. “I mean Momo's got to work on her zanjutsu, Kira's not confident enough to teach, and Miyako's... kind of difficult to approach.”

“Wait, since when is Miss Miyako 'hard to approach', and what does that even mean?” Rukia asks, lowering her voice as well. “Captain Kusajishi introduced us once, she seems nice.”

“She's hard for me to get a read on,” Renji finally admits, “like it's hard to even judge how strong she is, or what she's really thinking. She's too much of a noblewoman.”
>1/?

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>>1549168
“Have you forgotten that I'm a noblewoman?” Rukia asks, raising an eyebrow. “It's been fifty years since Byakuya adopted me, I think by this point it counts.”

“Yeah, but we were friends before that,” Renji explains. “Look, I'm just more comfortable asking you, okay? No need to dissect the reasons for it.”

“What about Omaeda?” Rukia asks, and Renji doesn't immediately reply. Instead he simply stares at his old friend skeptically for several seconds, which seems to get the point across just as well as a scathing tirade would have without having to badmouth one of his cohort.

“I guess I could spare some time,” Rukia shrugs, not betraying any opposition to the idea. “I think it would serve as good practice for me as well.”

“Great!” Renji replies with a grin. “Tomorrow then, assuming your Captain doesn't kill me first?”

“That's a big assumption,” Rukia smirks, “but sure. I think I can find the time.”

With that settled Rukia continues to make her way across the Seireitei unhindered, save for a few polite greetings here and there from officers of other Divisions who recognize that her attire means she should be afforded some special measure of respect. She slows briefly each time to return the gesture, but continues on without stopping until she reaches the Fourth Division later that evening as the summer sun has begun to set.

“Let's see, where are they...” she muses in the strangely empty atrium for a moment before sensing not only her Captain but Lieutenant Matsumoto, Kai, and Mirai all gathered in a nearby room on the first floor.

When she enters, she finds a four-stringed kokyū and the accompanying triangular bow thrust into her hands. “Come on, Kuchiki. We've been waiting for you!”
>2/3

>>1549394
“Kai?” she asks in confusion, noticing a large crowd of shinigami have gathered in the space with cups and glasses. It seems she's found something of a mess hall or cafeteria, which appears to be open and serving fried foods on sticks along with a variety of alcohol.

“What... is this?”

“The Captain is being discharged,” Mirai informs her from her respective seat, a violin laid across her lap and a harmonica dangling from a chain around her neck. She sets aside a small glass tumbler that looks like it contains whiskey.

“That... doesn't explain all this,” Rukia counters, holding up her instrument to illustrate the point.

“We're doing something nice for the Fourth Division tonight, for all their hard work,” Captain Kusajishi explains as Captain Shihōin hands her what seems like her third or fourth pint of ale. A cello rests upright in her lap, and on the side opposite Yoruichi two different guitars sit in stands.

“That and it's relaxing,” Rangiku adds, passing a shakuhachi to Kai before taking a reed from her mouth to place into a clarinet. A viola lies across her lap as well, and the Lieutenant soon turns her attention to tuning it.

“So grab a drink,” Yoruichi suggests, “have a seat, get tuned up, and let's get on with it!”

“It's important to take a break every once in a while,” Captain Unohana adds, passing a glass of straw-colored beer to the stunned Commando from behind the serving counter which now doubles as a makeshift bar. “So I advise you use this time to enjoy yourself. I hear you are a fine string player?”

When Rukia finally sits down Riku spares a glance to each of her subordinates, then begins to pluck out a playful tune. Each joins in their own time, playing off the theme, until with a shrug and a sigh Rukia adds her own instrument's voice to the chorus...
>3/3

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>>1549414
I love you queen, but in 100% seriousness the fact that hardly anyone voted for Gin to go full MurderRage and kill them all a few threads ago blew my mind. That would have such an amazing scene.

And a perfect setup for a really good reveal of gin's actual abilities so far in story.
Enemies he'd personally want to suffer / make Pay. Who were also both ignorant enough of him and weak enough for him to completely curbstomp are a Rare commodity narratively speaking.

Would it be remiss of me to want to see a full on Blood for the "Blood God!"Gin at some point?

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>>1551271
Not that I'm complaining! Love this quest and reading it / voting when I can.

Raging Actually Emotional Gin was something you wrote so well I wanted to see more of it, that's all.

Pic is me wondering if this motherfucker is involved in the Deity plot sections of the story off-camera. Or other mythological diefic antagonists. We've already met coyote, and he's not exactly the least harmless of the dietis we've met / know are mucking about in this setting.

Things get Really interesting at the final Arc of this quest potentially

>>1551271
>>1551328
I was honestly just as surprised at first, though it doesn't seem uncommon for quest players to lose some of their aggressive edge this far into things. "Making progress" loses a lot of shares to "don't fuck up" when you're a hundred threads into establishing a character and progressing them through the plot.

So I'll probably do an omake featuring Gin going full Gin.

>>1551529
What'll you do when SSQ is over?
Do you have any plans for a different quest, or maybe a reboot, start over from the beginning?

>>1551532
Diminish and go into the West, I guess.

Honestly I haven't thought that far ahead.

>>1551777
Given the thought and care you put into topics and quests you like, I can safely say all of us would love you to continue on.

>>1551777
so yer a tolkien elf then? Noldor or Sindaran?

>>1552058
Let's be honest, we'd all be Avari at best.

>>1552180
I see what you did there.

>>1551328
Coyote did nothing wrong.

>>1552453
Coyote did a lot of things wrong, but he was rarely held responsible. Because who's gonna do that, you? Ha.

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>>1551328
>>1551529
What the hell was that? You've never stopped to consider that someone could possibly evade Riyan's barrage abilities, let alone counter them without so much as moving from their spot and not take so much as a scratch in the process. What is this man?

Even Bau stops his fight against that big-titted Shiba woman and takes notice.

“Honestly, I don't even know why I wear sleeves anymore,” the newcomer muses, tearing off his own tattered black sleeve and sliding it off over his arm. “What a shambles.”

“Who are you?' Riyan demands, “And why are you interfering?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” the Captain replies calmly. “After all you're the ones who came into my home an' started causing trouble. But then I came to a very important realization.”

“And that was?” Riyan asks, and you can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of foreboding.

“That I don't particularly care.”

“Riyan!” you shout. “Get away from him!”

“Too late,” the Captain grins, placing his fingertips against Riyan's chest. You didn't even see him move, and you doubt from his reaction that Riyan did either. “Kill him, Kamishini no Yari...”

Your comrade's chest opens up in a fist-sized hole, the life fades from his wide eyes. Bau shouts in thoughtless rage, charging the Captain despite your repeated warnings. There's a blur of silver, and Bau's legs fall away behind him while his torso topples over into the dirt. A second blur and his head blossoms in a burst of blood, a blade easily penetrating his skull without a single movement from the Captain.

“How...” you shake, with a rage made all the worse to bear when you know how impotent it really is.

“Question!” the Captain announces, raising his left hand as the zanpakuto in his right falls to his side. “When you attacked a Captain, what'd you think was gonna happen to you? When you attacked my mother what'd you think I was gonna do?”

That smile doesn't fade in the slightest, if anything it widens. Even his Shiba companion seems a little disturbed at the tone. You can't even find the words to respond.

“Well, lemme tell you,” the Captain continues, as if your response was never even important to him in the slightest. “The penalty for attackin' a Captain isn't that you get captured, the penalty for attackin' a Captain... the penalty for attackin' my family...”

Those eyes of his open ever so slightly, just enough to reveal a cold anger in them... the eyes of the devil.

“... is death.”

>>1552797
Reminder, never piss of Gin.

>>1552797
It's always kind of frightening to me how powerful such a "simple" Zanpakuto is...

Shoot'em and Kill'em indeed

>>1552797
such a good boy

>>1552797
Gin did nothing wrong.

So I had to reset my phone and I think I lost all my Brave Souls data. So that's a thing I'm done with.

>>1555232
That's actually a good thing.

>>1555276
Quite possibly. I enjoyed playing it as strict FTP for a while, and even if my interest was waning losing my data to bullshit stings.

>>1555306

Isn't the account backed up on your google play or klab?

>>1556476
It only does that once. So if you had to reinstall and decided just to start fresh on a new phone, there's no backing up your new account.

>>1556496
That's stupid. They steal all your data already, why not backup your game progress?

>>1556816
Because account rerollers apparently.

New thread later.

>>1558510
oh shit, it's saturday already?
fuck yeah, SSQ time.

Better than saturday morning cartoons ever were.
Then again, i didn't have cable growing up.

>>1558775
With all due respect to King, both Gargoyles and Batman TAS were better.

>>1558775

What about Saturday night shows (ex. Toonami)?