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You are Captain Kusajishi Riku, and your nephew will have to improve quite a bit to reach the point where he'll be strong enough to protect his home, his family, and his friends. Perhaps more than anyone else can you understand his position, which is why you've come to the First Division's headquarters to report directly to Head Captain Kyōraku.

“Well, this is rare,” Shunsui muses as you stand in his office, arms folded behind your back and eyes leveled. “You seem unusually tense, might I have an explanation as to why?”

“I have a request,” you begin, trying to avoid any turn of phrase that would betray the unusual nature of what you're about to ask before you can even convince the man to listen.

“Alright,” Shunsui nods, giving you a sense of relief. “I'll listen.”

“It's about Kurosaki Ichigo,” you inform him, earning an immediate sigh.

“... go ahead.”

“Thank you,” you nod. “I'm sure you know that the boy's raw ability is promising, but I should hardly need to remind you that he is still a human in spite of that.”

“I'm familiar with the species,” your superior sighs. “If you're trying to lead me up to something you're wasting both our time... I already told you I would listen.”

You take a deep, calming breath. “The boy's situation is unusual. I feel that if he's not properly trained there could be lasting repercussions for us as well as for the living world.”

“And why would a single human child be considered so pivotal?” Shunsui asks cautiously. “Plenty of humans die without any ill consequences, at least not at the level we as shinigami are prepared to deal with.”

“Are you sure that this hasn't become personal?”

You can't help but chuckle at the accusation. “Coming from you, a lecture on the importance of objectivity just sounds absurd.”

“Is it personal or not?” Shunsui repeats his question, the tone of his voice unusually grave.

“There's always a sense that it's personal where family is involved,” you admit with a sigh. “But the nature of the boy's powers has me concerned. If we don't take any steps to cultivate him as an asset he may become a problem... maybe not now, but at some point in the future.”

>And in such a scenario I can't promise I won't side against the Seireitei on principle (Vague Threat).
>I trust that scenario's one you wish to avoid as much as I do (Mutual Agreement).
>I have a sneaking suspicion that this is how things will have to be, Shunsui (Resignation).
>I need you to trust my judgment on this, the way the Old Man would have (Personal Appeal).
>>
>>1940221
>I trust that scenario's one you wish to avoid as much as I do (Mutual Agreement).
>>
>>1940221
>I trust that scenario's one you wish to avoid as much as I do (Mutual Agreement).
>>
>>1940221
>>I trust that scenario's one you wish to avoid as much as I do (Mutual Agreement).
>>
>slow day, I guess
>writing
>>
>>1940275
“And don't tell me for one second it's not personal,” you finally add. “You'd be the one who'd have to give the order to execute a living Shiba, and you know as well as I do what a mess that'd make you responsible for.”

“It would be the beginnings of a civil war, regardless of what you personally did about it,” Shunsui sighs, shutting his good eye in thought. “And it would be a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my days, whether I survived the ensuing chaos or not.”

“Then our stances on the issue are functionally identical,” you offer. “You don't want to see that scenario play out any more than I do.”

“You're right about that,” the Head Captain admits. “Damn, I hate it when you're right sometimes, you know that?”

“I've heard that a few times before,” you shrug. “Listen, for what it's worth... I do think you're doing a good job as Head Captain, Shunsui. The Old Man... well, maybe proud would be going too far. But I think he'd be satisfied.”

The old man sitting in front of you chuckles, his eye easing open as he smiles. “I could settle for that.”

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO:
>Then I'll be bringing the boy to train here, where there are no civilians in the way.
>I'll need to request an extended leave of absence for myself, Captain Shihōin, and Third Seat Madarame.

ALSO CHOOSE EXACTLY ONE:
>I need to get in touch with the Royal Guard.
>I'll be needing to use an Asauchi.
>Please put in a word to Kisuek for me.
>>
>>1940297
>>Then I'll be bringing the boy to train here, where there are no civilians in the way.

>>I'll be needing to use an Asauchi.
>>
>>1940297
>>I'll need to request an extended leave of absence for myself, Captain Shihōin, and Third Seat Madarame.
>>I'll be needing to use an Asauchi.
>>
>>1940297
>Then I'll be bringing the boy to train here, where there are no civilians in the way.
>I need to get in touch with the Royal Guard.
>>
>>1940297
>I'll be needing to use an Asauchi.
No feelings on the other.
>>
>3d10 diplomacy, DC is 18, best of three
>>
Rolled 8, 5, 7 = 20 (3d10)

>>1940357
>>
Rolled 10, 3, 9 = 22 (3d10)

>>1940357
>>
Rolled 10, 2, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>1940357
>>
Rolled 10, 9, 5 = 24 (3d10)

>>1940357
>>
>>1940380
I broke the streak of escalating rolls. From 20 to 22 to 24.

I must commit sudoku.
>>
>shunsui literally has no face for this
>>
>>1940392
I'll bet Nanao does.

Shunsui gives her a lot of practice.
>>
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>>1940392
“I'll also be needing an asauchi,” you tell Shunsui, whose response is every bit as immediate as it is unambiguous.

“No.”

“Shunsui...” you protest.

“Handing you an asauchi is like handing a teenager a bottle of whiskey and the car keys,” Shunsui grumbles. “You and I both know the odds of something happening I'll approve of in the morning are slim.”

“Kurosaki has never had proper training,” you explain, “but he's still somehow able to achieve materialization. Allowing him the use of a proper zanpakuto is part of the training I have planned for him, and for that to happen I need to have him imprint on an asauchi.”

The Head Captain sighs deeply, rubbing the back of his neck as he considers your explanation and finds neither a flaw in the logic nor any sign that you're not on the level with him.

“That was logical, polite, and entirely within reason,” Shunsui exclaims, not without a trace of surprise in his voice. “You have my authorization to give the Kurosaki brat an asauchi.”

“Thank you.”

“Sure,” Shunsui nods. “Now if you'll excuse me I need to figure out what just happened.”

You take a moment during your trip back to the Ninth Division to send Yoruichi a message, asking her to fetch your nephew while you meet with your other 'student'. Third Seat Madarame is pacing impatiently when you find him, and he scowls at you when he spots you.

“Weren't you the one going on and on about punctuality, Captain?”

“You're not the one who has to deal with the Head Captain on a regular basis, you little shit,” you grumble. “Mouth off again and I'll recommend you for a promotion.”

Madarame winces and drops the subject. “What was so important you had to get the Head Captain involved?”

A series of hushed murmurs and quiet comments alerts him to your explanation, as Yoruichi chooses that time to arrive with Ichigo.

“What's the greenhorn doing here?”
>1/2
>>
>>1940407
“He's the answer to your first question,” you insist sternly. “Captain Shihōin, thanks for the assistance. Now if you wouldn't mind following me, I could use your help with something else.”

“Of course, Captain Kusajishi” your wife bows graciously. “Always happy to do a favor for an old friend.”

Your wife, nephew, and the bald idiot follow you to your training area, where the two questions fire off simultaneously.

“Why's Ichigo here?”
“Why's Ikkaku here?”

“Whaddya mean why am I here?” Ikakku demands. “I'm the one that's supposed to be here, you bleach-headed punk!”

“I'm here to train with my Aunt, you bald-headed monkey!”

“I am not bald, you moron!” Ikakku shouts back, cracking foreheads with Ichigo and pushing against him like two stags fighting. “I'll have you know the ladies find a shaved head irresistible! Irresistible!

“Yeah, maybe old ladies who are into bald men,” Ichigo shoots back.

“Boys, calm down,” Yoruichi sighs, “you're both idiots.”

>Well, since you seem to want to fight... do it. Yoruichi and I are going to watch and eat breakfast.
>Well then, first one to land a hit on me is right... and the other is an ugly idiot who's lousy with women.
>Yoruichi, what say we put these two loudmouth morons in their place? Could be amusing.
>Other?
>>
>>1940432

>Well then, first one to land a hit on me is right... and the other is an ugly idiot who's lousy with women.

On the logic that if both fail, they're both idiots who are lousy with women, and watching them try and get rid of the title by proving otherwise would amuse me.

>“Mouth off again and I'll recommend you for a promotion.”

This is the best threat.

I don't know how Shunsui knows enough about the mortal world to make comments about whiskey and car keys, but I choose to believe it is due to a magical night in which he and Ukitaki snuck out in gigais, had a night on the town, and hid all the evidence before it could be reported to Yamamoto.

He knew anyway.

Though on the plus side, successfully hiding all evidence meant he couldn't give them an official punishment either.

On the minus side, Old Man Yama has a long memory, is very good at making his displeasure known, and it's inevitable Shunsui would do something to give Yamamoto an excuse. In the meantime, Shunsui just has to wait for the other shoe to drop.

Unless Yamamoto died before he got the chance.

And now I made myself sad.
>>
>>1940432
>>Well, since you seem to want to fight... do it. Yoruichi and I are going to watch and eat breakfast.
>>
>>1940432
>Well, since you seem to want to fight... do it. Yoruichi and I are going to watch and eat breakfast.
>>
>>1940432
>>Well, since you seem to want to fight... do it. Yoruichi and I are going to watch and eat breakfast.
>>
>>1940432
“Well, since you two seem eager to fight go ahead and do it,” you taunt them. “Winner was right all along, and the loser is an ugly idiot who's lousy with women.”

“And what're you two gonna do?” Ikkaku demands.

“Cook breakfast,” you reply.

“Out here?” Ichigo asks skeptically.

“Yoruichi? If you would be so kind,” you nod in your wife's direction. With a series of impossibly quick movements her hands slash through several nearby trees, her entire body a blur of motion as she piles them in the sand near your feet. Then, once there seems to be enough of them, you concentrate your reiatsu within the pile and cause several logs to burst into flames from the inside.

Within seconds there's a merry fire to warm the cool, seaside morning air around you. Yoruichi produces a pouch containing an old-fashioned camp percolator, coffee, bread, bacon, eggs, and the various tools required to grill each item over an open flame. You fill the percolator with water using kidō and set it aside to heat while Yoruichi prepares the food.

“I almost forgot that was a thing,” Ichigo mutters after silently watching the display.

“I've never seen kidō used so casually,” Ikkaku shakes his head. “And here I thought you were freaky... can we agree that Captains are bullshit?”

“I won't argue,” Ichigo sighs. “So, how do you want us to do this?”

You toss Ichigo the asauchi, which he spends a moment or two fumbling with as he desperately tries to keep from cutting himself.

“That's dangerous!” he shouts. “Who the hell chucks swords around like that!?”

“That thing hardly qualifies,” you insist, seating yourself on a fallen log near the fire and setting your zanpakuto aside. “I assume you know what it is?”

“An asauchi?” he realizes. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Fight with it,” you explain.

“You want him to imprint on a sword in a season?” Ikkaku asks in disbelief. “You've lost it, Captain.”

“I think you'll both be surprised,” you reply cryptically. “Go on.”

>Keep it simple for now. Warm up is important.
>Madarame, release Hozukimaru to Shikai. I want Ichigo to struggle.
>Madarame, use Shikai. I'll take a few potshots to keep it interesting.
>Other?
>>
>>1940512
>Madarame, release Hozukimaru to Shikai. I want Ichigo to struggle.
>>
>>1940512
>>Madarame, release Hozukimaru to Shikai. I want Ichigo to struggle.
>>
>>1940512
>Madarame, release Hozukimaru to Shikai. I want Ichigo to struggle.
>>
>>1940512
>Madarame, release Hozukimaru to Shikai. I want Ichigo to struggle.

Beat the Ichigo until he spits up the power-ups.

The more blood he loses, the lower his DC is.
>>
>3d10, Best of three, DC is 22, critical is 26
This is for Ichigo.
>>
Rolled 3, 9, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>1940583
rollin
>>
Rolled 1, 7, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>1940583
>>
Rolled 6, 6, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>1940583
rekt
>>
>Ichigo doesn't pull it off
>>
>>1940624
Jobbed hard
>>
>>1940624
You sit back and make a decision. “Release Hozukimaru.”

“You're insane!” Ikakku accuses you.

“If this has any chance of working Ichigo needs to face a legitimate threat,” you explain your plan. “You get to be that threat. Once you're done with this part of the exercise we can resume both your respective individual training plans.”

“Alright, you're the Captain here,” the Third Seat mutters. “Don't yell at me if I kill the greenhorn this time.”

“You kill him and you die,” you promise him with a firm stare. “You're a seated officer. Act like it.”

“Coffee?” Yoruichi offers you a cup.

“Thank you,” you reply, gratefully accepting the caffeiney deliciousness.

Ikakku begins with a simple probing assault, a series of thrusts just on the edge of his own range that don't leave any clear openings. Ichigo struggles to get inside Ikkaku's fighting space, at first unsuccessfully, but then he gets the idea to turn the more experienced fighter's left side. Which works... until Ikkaku turns away and cracks Ichigo across the teeth with the haft of his halberd.

“Come on, Ichigo,” Madarame challenges his opponent as the boy crashes to the sand and rolls quickly to a stop. “Is that all you can do with an asauchi? Huh?”

The Third Seat stomps violently against Ichigo's raised sword, sending him rolling across the sand. “You were never this weak! How could I have ever lost to something like this?”

Meanwhile you simply pile some eggs and bacon onto your toast, and go about the business of watching from the sidelines as Ichigo struggles to even keep up with a Third Seat's shikai. Yoruichi too is watching intently, never missing a single step or strike as the two men duke it out across the beach in fountains of sand and waves of whipped foam and saltwater.

“He's not doing that badly,” she comments.

“He's barely holding his own,” you grumble. “Honestly, I don't know why I was expecting more... I've taken everything he's known as his own fighting power from him.”

“And yet...”

“It's not enough,” you muse.

“It seems not,” Yoruichi agrees. “Do you think he's not feeling enough pressure? That it really needs him to fear for his life?”

>I don't know... but I'm going to find out.
>Ikakku, release your Bankai now.
>Ichigo knows hollowfication, and I can make arrancars...
>Other?
>>
>>1940682
>>I don't know... but I'm going to find out.
>>
Wait, hold on, I thought Ichigo still had Zangetsu. I do not remember him breaking it during the last session, just us prepping him for that next step. So Ichigo still has all his abilities, he's just not using some of them right now.
>>
>>1940747
"Zangetsu", you mean? He can't use something he doesn't have with him unless he makes a sudden and drastic improvement in his quincy techniques.

I'll be leaving the vote open a little while longer since one vote is... well, it's kind of unusual and I'd rather hear from at least a couple of people before proceeding.
>>
>>1940682
>>I don't know... but I'm going to find out.
>>
>>1940682
>>I don't know... but I'm going to find out.
>>
>>1940682
>>I don't know... but I'm going to find out.
>>Ikakku, release your Bankai now.
>>
>>1940682
>I don't know... but I'm going to find out.
>>
>dice+3d10, DC 18, Crit 22, best of three
>>
Rolled 8, 10, 1 = 19 (3d10)

>>1940822
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>1940822
>>
Rolled 1, 6, 1 = 8 (3d10)

>>1940822
>>
>>1940822
“I have no idea, but I intend to find out,” you reply, rising to your feet and walking across the sand towards the fight.

“Captain?” Ikakku asks angrily as you approach. “Why are you interrupting?”

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drX5OW56QW4

Your response is to close with Ichigo and slug him in the stomach. Your nephew doubles over, taking a knee on the sand from the unexpected gutshot. As he catches his breath you swing a low kick at his ribs that he only manages to block, using the force to roll him back to his feet. A good response, but not enough.

With a hirenkyaku you strike him from behind with an open palm even as your afterimage fades from view. Ichigo swipes at you with the asauchi but cuts only air, your body having long since moved out of the way.

“Shakkahō,” you declare, sending what by your standards is a fairly underpowered ball of kidō streaking at Ichigo's face.

“Bala!” he responds, stretching out his arm and sending a ball of hardened reiatsu of his own to meet your attack in a rumbling blast. Before the dust clears you dash through it, building pressure with your right middle finger and thumb to release it with a powerful flick to Ichigo's face. The force of the blow sends him reeling, nose bloodied but not quite broken.

“The hell!?” Ichigo protests from his knee. “Are you trying to break my face?”

“No,” you respond, shortly before sending another Shakkahō straight for his face. “But I will if you let me.”

“You're crazy!” he protests as he dodges your attack only to find your ankle striking the back of his knee.

“Never claimed otherwise,” you reply. “I'm tailoring my total speed and striking power to match the kidō I've used on you twice now... which is numbered thirty-one.”

“It seems like a decent attack,” Ichigo admits.

“I hate it,” you frown. “So with your permission I'm going to use one of my own invention.”

“Kaizō Hadō: Danmaku Tenyō.”
>1/2
>>
>>1940888
“I didn't ask for this!” Ichigo shouts as the first handful of kidō bullets streak towards him. He manages to block two of them with his asauchi, but the other two fall intentionally short to raise dust and sand into the air. By the time your screen clears the beach is illuminated by hundreds of the bullets, all swirling and dancing like fairy-lights on an open moor, ready to lead an unwary traveler to his death.

Ichigo's eyes widen at the sight.

“Don't worry,” you assure him. “I don't intend to use all these bullets to attack you at once.”

Ichigo chuckles grimly.

“What's so funny?”

“You sounded a lot like Byakuya for a moment there,” he tells you quietly.

“Fair point,” you shake your head. “Though I'm not happy about it.”

Before Ichigo can smart off at you again you attack, pushing forward with a small cluster of blasts which pelt him from the side. As he raises his blade to parry them you slide in to his side, kicking him in the ribs and darting away before your nephew can shift to attack you in response. Then you strike him in the back with a kidō blast.

>Keep up the pressure like this, run Ichigo ragged.
>All Ichigo needs of that asauchi is the handle...
>Demand that Ichigo use hollowfication.
>Other?
>>
>>1940952
>>Keep up the pressure like this, run Ichigo ragged.
>>
>>1940952
>All Ichigo needs of that asauchi is the handle...
>>
>>1940952
>>Demand that Ichigo use hollowfication.
>>
>>1940952
>>All Ichigo needs of that asauchi is the handle...
>>
>>1940952
>>Keep up the pressure like this, run Ichigo ragged.
>All Ichigo needs of that asauchi is the handle...
>>
>3d10 intimidate
>dc 19, crit 23
>best of three
>>
Rolled 4, 8, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>1941042
>>
Rolled 9, 3, 10 = 22 (3d10)

>>1941042
>>
Rolled 10, 10, 10 = 30 (3d10)

>>1941042
>>
>>1941048
DEAR GOD. RIKU BE GOD OF DEATH.
>>
>>1941048
WELL THEN!
>>
>>1941048
>somewhere a kenpachi's loins stir
>here a strawberry shits himself
>>
>>1941048
AGAIN?!

Holy shit these rolls around Ichigo have been in-fucking-credible.
>>
>>1941070
As befits a shounen protag.
>>
>>1941048
>Ichigo experiences the power of the patented kusajishi pep talk

Also thread is dead today god damn
>>
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>>1941048
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>>1941048
>>
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>>1941048
>>
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>>1941048
You know... in theory, Ichigo only needs to have the handle of his asauchi in order to imprint on it. And there's absolutely nothing that would fuck you up like losing one of your swords.

So you reach out, and with a burst of shunkō you grasp Ichigo's asauchi in your hand. Then your right fist collides with the steel, and you hear the sharp ringing sound that all swordsmen dread as the asauchi snaps.

Ichigo's eyes widen, and he practically freezes in place as you toss half of his sword away.

“Uh oh,” you grin maliciously. “Hope you didn't need that.”

Your nephew snaps back into action as you aim a kick for his stomach, but he's so distracted that several more reishi bullets strike him from multiple angles as he frantically backpedals. He doesn't even dodge the blasts, he's just desperate to get the hell away from you. More projectiles rain down onto the sand to obscure your movements, letting you trace wide circles with your toe to all but liquefy the beach Ichigo's trying to escape across. He tumbles, and your fist blasts sand out from where you strike to form a wide crater.

Your hand grasps him by the shoulder, pulling him out of the air mid-shunpō to slam him into the ground. He rolls away, eyes wide, as your fist narrowly misses again only to find your right heel connecting with his chin and a veritable waterfall of kidō that pummels him as he rolls across the sand and into the water.

The blasts keep coming, pinning him under the roiling sea.

“Come on,” you mutter. “Just release your sword Ichigo. Just release it already...”

After a few more seconds you begin to consider relenting, since a part of you wants to fish him out of the water to make sure he doesn't drown.

But as it turns out, he takes the decision out of your hands.

The seething surface of the water breaks in a massive surge of power, and there's a sharp pain in your shoulder as a blade sinks at least an inch into the sweet spot above your left breast. You sensed his lightning-quick assault in just enough time to grasp the haft of the weapon with both hands, keeping the edge from shattering your ribs, but that doesn't spare you from being lifted off your feet and slammed through several tree trunks before you can regain control of the situation.
>1/2
>>
>>1941162
wow he's much faster now.
>>
>>1941162
Your breathing is heavy as rivulets of your own blood dribble down the length of Zangetsu's broad blade and onto its haft, having now taken on the form of a guan dao which has you pinned to a tree with your feet dangling a few inches from the ground. Each breath draws a wince and a hiss of pain... if you knocked the blade away carelessly it would only tear the wound open even further, which isn't something you're willing to do when doing so won't mean similar wounds for your opponent. And despite the violence of that strike... Ichigo's not an opponent you want to hurt with such cruel disregard.

“That wasn't half bad,” you admit as Ichigo pants as well, seemingly unaware of what he's just done. It takes a few moments for it to dawn on him that he's impaled you with his new zanpakuto.

“Fuck!” he curses, eyes widening in surprise as he withdraws the massive weapon from your shoulder. “Aunt Riku, are you...”

Your left arm catches Ichigo under the chin and knocks him flat on his ass the same instant your own feet touch the sand.

“Yup,” you groan. “Still works.”

“I was afraid you were gonna drown if you didn't release,” you continue, finally turning your attention to Ichigo as he massages his jaw. “That burst of speed though... that was respectable.”

“If I'd used Getsuga Tenshō like that...” Ichigo mutters.

“Then I'd really be hurting,” you tell him, stripping off your haori and pulling on the collar of your uniform to show where your flesh is already healing. “Don't worry about it, it's still attached.”

>So... that's your true shikai. How are you and Zangetsu getting along now?
>That's progress, but only on one front. Are you willing to deal with your quincy powers next?
>You caught me off-guard, Ichigo. Let's see how you fare against a Captain's shikai.
>Yoruichi... tag out.
>Other?
>>
>>1941048
ded
>>
>>1941198
>>That's progress, but only on one front. Are you willing to deal with your quincy powers next?
>>
>>1941198
>You caught me off-guard, Ichigo. Let's see how you fare against a Captain's shikai.
>>
>>1941198
>That's progress, but only on one front. Are you willing to deal with your quincy powers next?
>>
>>1941198
>>So... that's your true shikai. How are you and Zangetsu getting along now?
>>You caught me off-guard, Ichigo. Let's see how you fare against a Captain's shikai.

I'm thinking Ichigo and Zangetsu are just about united in their desire to take Riku down a peg.

So let's not cock-block Zangetsu...although he did get that one shot on us, let's see what else they can do.
>>
>>1941198
>>So... that's your true shikai. How are you and Zangetsu getting along now?
>You caught me off-guard, Ichigo. Let's see how you fare against a Captain's shikai.
>>
>>1941198
>>So... that's your true shikai. How are you and Zangetsu getting along now?
>>Yoruichi... tag out.
Let's see the speed, boyo.
>>
>writing
>>
>>1941275
“Well then,” you muse, walking back to where Yoruichi has been sitting patiently by the fire. “I'm gonna get the blood out of this before Shutara kills me. You dealing with Zangetsu better now?”

“No,” Ichigo admits as you quickly rinse the blood from your haori and leave it hanging from a tree limb to dry. “We just found something we both hate: losing.”

“Well, that'll do for the time being,” you shrug. “Now then, how will you fare against a Captain's shikai, I wonder?”

“I'll deal with Madarame in your place,” Yoruichi sighs. “And here I was hoping to get a shot at Ichigo.”

“Patience, my dear,” you shake your head. “I'll let you claw him to death when I'm finished.”

“You promise?” Yoruichi asks you with a sly grin.

“Promise,” you nod with an equally devious look. “After all, my little nephew is still lousy at hakuda. I might as well be fistfighting one of his sisters.”

“That's not fair,” Ichigo grumbles.

“You'd be surprised, boy,” you smile as you pick Tenkotsuki up off the sand. “Now then... how should I go about testing your ability?”

>All-out kenjutsu barrage, including hakuda strikes.
>Rely on the blade to keep him busy while you pummel him with kidō.
>Pin him in place with bakudō then sword the crap out of him.
>Other?
>>
>>1941297
>Rely on the blade to keep him busy while you pummel him with kidō.
>>
>>1941297
>>All-out kenjutsu barrage, including hakuda strikes.
>>
>>1941297
>Rely on the blade to keep him busy while you pummel him with kidō.
>>
>>1941297
>>Rely on the blade to keep him busy while you pummel him with kidō.
>>
>>1941297
>>All-out kenjutsu barrage, including hakuda strikes.
>>
>>1941297
>Rely on the blade to keep him busy while you pummel him with kidō.

Brutal
>>
>3d10, DC 18, Crit 21
>>
Rolled 1, 9, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>1941343
>>
>>1941343
>>
Rolled 9, 6, 8 = 23 (3d10)

>>1941343
>>
Rolled 3, 7, 10 = 20 (3d10)

>>1941343
>>
>>1941350
Nice
>>
So odd thought, but if Zangetsu is Ichigo's will to survive, and Old Man Zangetsu's one desire was to prtect Ichigo...

Does that sorta make Old Man Zangetsu Ichigo's sense of self-preservation?

Man, no wonder the Old Man was holding Ichigo back.

He's a shounen protagonist, unless he totally outclasses the enemy he can't do anything really important without losing at least a quart of blood
>>
>>1941350
You open by charging him down with Tenkotsuki drawn, testing to see how much he knows about how to handle the weapon he now holds in his hands. And as you suspected, he's more mimicking Ikakku's movements than using proper technique. He's not using the momentum of the head properly, stopping short after each attack and making it necessary to generate a fresh burst of power for each.

At this rate he'd simply tucker himself out and you'd beat the crap out of him once he started winding down, but that's not the point of the exercise.

So instead you parry one of his swings, binding his blade against your own and extending your arm towards his stomach.

“Byakurai.”

The kidō blasts into Ichigo's stomach, and you manage to lean back out of the way as he uses his newfound momentum to strike at your head with his pommel.

“Not bad,” you allow as you parry a low sweep of Zangetsu's head. “You're controlling Zangetsu's momentum a lot better.”

As Ichigo relaxes his arm and swings round one more time you dodge again, feet landing lightly on the broad head of your nephew's weapon.

“Did he teach you that just now?”

“Damn you're fast,” Ichigo muses, lifting his blade up into the air to throw you off and sweep around and up at you while you're in the air. You parry, landing in the sand a few meters away in a ready stance.

Ichigo turns, and thrusts towards you with Zangetsu's pommel. “Getsuga Tenshō!”

This time the attack is a straight beam, like your own specialty cero...

Your voice and Tenkotsuki's voice ring out in unison.

“Dankū!”
>1/2
>>
>>1941423
The first barrier shatters under the force the the blow... too hastily erected against too strong an attack, and the piercing ability of this Getsuga Tenshō is nothing short of incredible to boot. The second barrier shatters as well... but between them they've done their job. The powerful shot of reiatsu deflects to the left, thanks to the slight angles you and Tenkotsuki placed the barriers at, and cleanly misses you.

Ichigo, having expected you to dodge or block that shot in a way that left you committed, isn't prepared to find Tenkotsuki's edge swinging up to meet him as he rushes in after his initial attack. Your blade doesn't have to rotate all the way around his back, and so you effortlessly beat him to it.

He crashes to the sand with a deep cut in his side. Yoruichi stops what she's doing and glances in your direction, but isn't so concerned that she fails to knock one of Ikakku's teeth out as he tries to take advantage.

>Teaching moment: Ichigo, quincies are good at healing themselves. Do it.
>That's enough for now, patch the hole you cut in your nephew's side.
>Tell Ichigo to get up. That wound is too shallow to keep him down.
>Other?
>>
>>1941452
>>Teaching moment: Ichigo, quincies are good at healing themselves. Do it.

We could also try to teach him Blut, if he doesn't know. Either the defense to help him survive an attack, or offense to try and counter one of ours.
>>
>>1941452
>>Teaching moment: Ichigo, quincies are good at healing themselves. Do it.
>>
>>1941452
>>Teaching moment: Ichigo, quincies are good at healing themselves. Do it.
>>
>>1941452
>>Teaching moment: Ichigo, quincies are good at healing themselves. Do it.
>>
>>1941452
>>Teaching moment: Ichigo, quincies are good at healing themselves. Do it.
Well, if he's already bleeding, that's part of the conditions for Blut already happening. Just need him to take the next step.
>>
>3d10, DC 18, No Crit
This will be the last update for tonight, it's getting on towards 1am.
>>
Rolled 4, 1, 4 = 9 (3d10)

>>1941501
>>
Rolled 10, 10, 1 = 21 (3d10)

>>1941501
>>
Rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>1941501
>>
>>1941501
“Heal it,” you order.

“What?” Ichigo sputters.

“I said heal it,” you repeat. “Either hollow or quincy can do it, it's just a matter of drawing on one or the other.”

“I have no idea where to even start,” he groans, trying to sit up and look his own wound over.

Instead of letting him fumble his way through it, you kneel behind him and pull his shoulders down into your lap, pressing your left hand against his wound with a hiss of pain.

“Feel the disruption where your tissue is torn,” you tell him, shutting your eyes. “Close your eyes and feel for it, Ichigo.”

“It feels wet...” he mutters.

“Not that you moron,” you sigh. “Feel your reiatsu, right around the edges of the wound where it stops flowing. It should be obvious if you're doing it right.”

After a few moments of silence, Ichigo speaks. “I think... I'm actually getting this figured out.”

“Good,” you tell him quietly. “Now this is the hard part to explain, but I need you to concentrate reiatsu there within your own body. You have to will it to knit the flesh back together... it's hard to explain because I do it so instinctively now. So if there was a time to ask the Old Man about something now would be that time.”

Slowly but surely, the bleeding stops seemingly on its own.

“Well, it seems your reiatsu control has improved dramatically too,” you muse. “There may just be hope for you yet, boy.”

“Shut up,” Ichigo grumbles, half-asleep from the exertion.

“Get some rest, Ichigo. Second you're back on your feet we'll be back at it.”
>>
>>1941527
And that's it for now! hanks for showing up, hope you had fun, and hope to see you back again.

Tomorrow night I'll be posting an omake based on the premise that two things never happened: Kaoru and Kai both died during Riku's first mission, and Riku never met Rangiku and Gin when they were young.

One post a day will begin on Monday, similar to last week.
>>
>>1941527
Riku keeps treating him like that and the lad might get a complex.
>>
>>1941541
ya its called respect for your elders
>>
>>1941541
Meant to put it as
>"Not that, you idiot. That's just the blood."

I'm getting tired.
>>
>>1941527
>ichigo can now punch through armour like an anti-tank rifle and heal himself
Oh boy, what've we done.
>>
>>1941755

I'd say we've created something that will ultimately destroy us, but we already took Mirai under our wing. If her zanpakuto is what Oetsu used to kill Tenkotsuki, then she's already ahead of...pretty much everyone else in ability to kill Riku.

I mean Rangiku, Gin, and Yoruichi also probably have the ability to kill Riku and make it stick, but good fucking luck convincing them to ever do it without being killed on the spot.

Riku has a phenomenal track record in taking possible threats and making them stalwart allies.
>>
>>1940407
>“Handing you an asauchi is like handing a teenager a bottle of whiskey and the car keys,” Shunsui grumbles.
>>1940438
>>1941537
I wanna see an omake of Shunsui's secret trip with Ukitake in the mortal world where the two go on a drunken drive in 1970s Japan. They may have inspired a certain mortal to invent a driving technique based on the mortal's observations of either Shunsui's or Ukitake's drunk driving.
>>
>>1941755
Give him a chance.
>>
>>1942497
>spoiler
N-NANI!?
>>
>>1942775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcAaVMw3MUY
>>
>>1942765
Now let's get that bitch a cannon
Bitches love cannons
>>
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Shit didn't come together with the omake tonight so it'll go up some time before Monday's continuation.

Now back to sleep.
>>
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>>1945554
Two figures dart through a shadowy alleyway, driven away from the sound of voices and footsteps. Behind them, on the main road, a group of black-clad men carrying swords pass, with one of them stopping to hold out a paper lantern on a stick to peer into the darkness. He stands still as his comrades walk on, eyes narrowed.

“Hey, come on,” one of the walking men calls back to his companion, who still hasn't moved.

The man with the lantern finally turns away. “Yeah, coming.”

A young man in glasses breathes a sigh of relief. “That was even closer than the last time. You can breathe now, Inoue.”

Next to him a girl with brilliantly-colored hair finally gasps, as if she'd been waiting on her companion's word to start breathing again.

“You're a strange one, you know that right?” he chuckles to himself.

“You're one to talk,” a third voice interrupts before the girl gets a chance to speak.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnT8ootXIWE

The young man bristles, turning to look for the speaker. “Damn... how did I not notice her?”

A lone woman steps out of the shadows and into the moonlight, this one clad in a sleeveless white haori and wearing a faint smile. “If I couldn't sneak up on two brats like this, I'd be making a mockery of my title.”

“Why didn't you attack?” the boy demands, his tone bitter and accusing. “You had us dead to rights.”

“That would also make a mockery of my title,” the woman reiterates. “Besides, I'll admit I'm curious what a quincy and a spiritually-awakened human are doing in an alleyway in the heart of the Seireitei?”

“Damn...” the quincy curses again. “How did you...”

“I can tell by the smell,” the woman insists, suddenly leaning in over the young quincy's shoulder. As the boy frantically leaps forward to get away from her, the woman slashes across his back with one of the swords at her waist.

The orange-haired girl backs herself against the wall, staring in shock. “I never saw her move... not either time...”

“You're quicker than I gave you credit for,” the woman admits, her smile never fading. “But it would have been easier if you'd just gone down in one shot.”

“I'm afraid I can't be convenient for you,” the quincy pants. “Tell me, shinigami... who are you?”

“I'd have thought Kisuke would at least warn you about the thirteen fighters at the top,” the woman muses before unleashing a massive surge of reiatsu that drops Inoue to her knees in despair and causes Ishida to waver on his feet.

“Captain of the Ninth Division, Shiba Riku.”
>1/?
>>
>>1947975
“Hirenkyaku again?” Riku sighs, still smiling as she reappears behind Ishida a second time. “Don't you realize you're too slow?”

This time Ishida manages to turn and raise his manifested bow to parry the incoming slash, which bites deeply into the spiritual weapon. The young man slides across the top of a dividing wall, glaring as his opponent seems to wink out of existence only to reappear standing a few meters away in front of him.

“This is going poorly,” he grumbles, glancing down at his own bow at the notch the Captain's blade left where it struck.

“Your reishi only cycles at a rate of half a million times per minute or so,” Riku comments, raising her blade and sliding one foot a few inches forward. “Not nearly enough to damage my blade.”

Ishida leans to one side as Riku thrusts her blade at his head, then backpedals as she brings the blade back down towards his left wrist... her true target all along.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwQEXill2Aw

“You're using hirenkyaku... and you're not all that much faster than me,” Ishida realizes as he drops back down to the ground, carefully keeping Orihime behind him. “So how am I having such a hard time tracking them?”

He leaps back again to avoid a swing of Riku's blade, and realizes his mistake. “They're silent? Every move you make should disturb the air and make a sound, but you're moving in complete silence!”

“Very good,” Riku's grin widens as she extends her left hand into the wide gap Ishida's left as he fires a pair of light arrows. “Sōren Sōkatsui!”

The blast might have otherwise taken Ishida down right there, were it not for Orihime's intervention.

“Santen Kisshun!”

“I see,” Riku smiles as she effortlessly slices across Ishida's back a second time, having vaulted over the triangular shield even as her blast was dissipating against it. She continues her full-body flip and lands lightly behind the quincy.

“Your shield survived because it dissipates the reiatsu of my attack upon contact,” she realizes before noting several cracks in the glowing plane. “However, it's linked to your will and powered by your reiatsu, so it has its limits, doesn't it?”

A kick to Orihime's gut sends her slamming into a nearby wall, and the shield shatters entirely.

“Stay there, girl,” Riku insists, her smile fading slightly but not disappearing entirely. “You may have some interesting powers, but as you are now you can barely make use of them. You'll only get yourself and those around you hurt by joining battle so recklessly.”
>2/3
>>
>>1947989
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSUwtBaie9A
A powerful burst of reiatsu draws the Captain's attention away from the fallen human, and back to the quincy she had been protecting. A massive wing of blue light erupts from the shoulder opposite his bow, which has morphed into a mean-looking silver arc of metal.

“Step away from the girl,” Ishida orders.

The Captain is no longer smiling. “You idiot... you know that you've sacrificed your own powers to use that technique, so why...”

“To protect what must be protected,” Ishida explains cryptically. But to his obvious surprise, a sad smile returns to Riku's face as she steps away from Orihime... no, it's the same smile as before.

“The sentiment is a noble one, but your sense of timing is lousy,” Riku sighs, readying her sword even as Ishida begins stripping away chunks of the surrounding walls and paving tiles to add to his own power.

“Are you ready, Captain?”

Riku nods once. “Get it over with, boy.”

Ishida rapidly generates a single powerful arrow, the very act causing more reishi to rip loose from the tiles around his feet, while Riku says but a single word.

“Prohibit...”

The projectile disappears in a cloud of debris and dust, all of Ishida's power focused into one shot, which he intended to be the last of his career. But as his quincy powers fade and the dust settles, unusual shards of glowing kidō begin to fall... and a deep wound opens in the young man's side.

Riku stands behind him, blade already cleaned and sheathed.

“You... hadn't even released...” Ishida realizes aloud.

“Yeah,” Riku admits. “Sorry, boy... but I couldn't allow that attack to hit me.”

“Bad luck.”

Ishida's bow snaps cleanly below his hand and his blood gushes forth, spattering the tiles around him in a carmine arc before he collapses.

“Come out, Lieutenant,” Riku orders.

“You knew I was here?” Tetsuzaemon asks, taking a knee in front of his Captain.

“Why do you think I chose to deflect it to the left?”

“What should I do with them?” he inquires, hand finding its way to his zanpakuto's hilt.

“They won't cause any further trouble,” Riku sighs. “Lock them up. Their part in this fight is over.”
>3/3
>>
>>1948004
Damn, I thought Chad got BTFO, this was down right brutal.
>>
>>1948025
This iteration of Riku has little reason not to be, though I hope her private feelings on the matter also came across.

This is Riku without a strong sense of "family".
>>
>>1948032
What happens to objects inside yoruichi's body when she transforms into a cat?
Say she ate a ton of food until she was stuffed and then transformed down, surely her stomach doesn't explode, does it?

But what if there was a different foreign object inside her? For the sake of not going full lewd, let's just say that somehow she's got a brick in her chest cavity.
Does that shrink down too?

What happens if you remove the brick before she transforms back into a human?
Could you do the opposite and make small objects larger?
If she takes a shit as a cat, does the cat turd revert back to a big ol' human mud pie when she does, potentially allowing for some serious prankage?
What would happen to any fur that you shaved off while she's transformed?
You'd assume that if you cut off a limb as a cat it'd also be gone as a human, but what does that translate to when it's a part that she doesn't have as a human?
If you cut off her tail,will she be missing a big chunk of flesh from the base of her spine? What about her whiskers?
If you inserted piercings at various places around her body, could you map out where the flesh actually shifted to?

Inquiring minds want to know
>>
>>1948032
I can tell by the lack of open empathy. She may have empathized with them, but this iteration of Riku in the omake seems more aloof and concerned about the pride that she has to live and despite wishing to learn more about Ishida, her duties and titles come first. The Riku in the omake seems almost "lonely" in a sense. Whereas in canon SSQ Riku is more lax and willing to cast aside pride for pragmatism and the love of the "family" she has raised and cares about.
>>
>>1948118
it's ghost magic. You're asking questions like How does a Hollow still live despite having a gaping hole in their abdomens that by all means in the laws of physics should kill them.
>>
>>1948129
I'm not satisfied with ghost magic!
I want fleshed out details!

Have a yoruichi.
>>
>>1948118
Simple answer is >>1948129
Complicated answer is that such a transformation inherently involves stupid amounts of change in mass that violate the laws of conventional physics. So the only reasonable explanation is that there are two "information templates" involved, and switching between each requires a certain amount of reishi to be converted to reiryoku then back again. Anything so converted that's not part of her humanoid form's "template", which by necessity includes her two zanpakuto, would likely remain as a negligible temporary increase to her reiatsu. Which also accounts for the fact that switching back to her human form doesn't restore her clothing. Any injuries in feline form would similarly take a negligible temporary chunk out of her reiatsu.

Also you're pushing it, anon.

>>1948126
The key differences are notable in her choice of surname and when her "sad smile" changes. The former implies that she took up the mantle of Clan head and never married for political reasons, the latter implies that she never intended to kill either of them despite the appearance that she's not holding back.
>>
>>1948142
So in other words, if you could somehow create an insanely dense sphere with a shitton of mass, yoruichi could swallow it like a pill and use it to restore her reiatsu?
>>
>>1948148
How do you think she can eat so much so quickly? All of that gets converted rapidly into reiatsu.

And here you probably thought Liltotto was a freak.
>>
>>1948159
Yes but the idea here is that it doesn't have to be food specifically, it could be literally anything, so long as she transforms with it inside her. It's totally similar to letzt stil!
If kisuke can create a god rock, i'm sure he can find a way to compress a mountain of rocks and dirt down to the size of a marble. Maybe using the god rock.

Imagine the reiatsu boost if she consumed an equivalent mass to a literal mountain of food!
The only bottlenecks might be the speed at which she can convert the matter, and the weight of pill itself.
If it's too heavy it'd tear up her insides or just punch a hole right through, but she'd have more time to absorb it if she fell with it from a great height while doing so.
>>
>writing
>>
>>1948549
The next several days all seem to end with Ichigo lying on the ground, completely spent and covered in his own blood. His reiatsu control is still fairly behind the curve, making the intentional use of his quincy abilities all but impossible. His speed, while an improvement from before, still isn't nearly at the standards set by his false “Bankai” which could rival your own and Yoruichi's. Which isn't to say he hasn't made any progress at all, of course. His skills with a guan dao have improved under Yoruichi's instruction, and your repeated beatdowns have forced him to improve on his healing abilities. His body also seems to be much more capable of withstanding his own power.

“I remember the first time I used my old Bankai,” he confides in you one afternoon. “Back when I had to fight Byakuya. Every time I took a step it felt like I broke a bone or two.”

“That's probably because you were,” you tell him. “Honestly, you were gaining power too quickly for your own body to keep up. I'm hoping that this means doing things the proper way will make your own power much more... reliable.”

“Are you trying to say something?”

You chuckle quietly at his sudden defensive tone. “Only that a power which crushes your bones by using it isn't one you can rely on.”

“Fair point, I guess.”

“You've been making some progress,” you tell him. “Nobody ever said it would be easy though, so... you know.”

“Chin up?” he offers.

“Nah, that just gets you caught in the jaw,” you smirk. “I'd say 'keep at it' is better advice.”

>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
>You and Tatsuki should take a break, catch up on your homework... and no, I won't do that for you.
>Maybe we should shift focus. I'd like to see how you hold up under 'live fire', as it were.
>Other?
>>
>>1948674
>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
>>
>>1948674
>Maybe we should shift focus. I'd like to see how you hold up under 'live fire', as it were
>>
>>1948674
>>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
>>
>>1948674
>>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
>>
>>1948674
>>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
>>You and Tatsuki should take a break, catch up on your homework... and no, I won't do that for you.
I know you're a smart kid Ichigo, try to apply that to fights as well, instead of just rushing in and trying to overwhelm.
>>
>>1948674
>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
>>
>>1948674
>>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
Time to see how these two have improved.
I'm still confused on Rukia being treated on a similar skill level to Tatsuki despite training as a commando for years.
>>
>>1948721
Short answer: Tatsuki is a freak.

Long answer: everyone around Rukia is a freak and she's had to recover from basically losing her abilities during Aizen's rebellion.
>>
>>1948773
That makes a lot of sense, thank you.
>>
>>1948674
>>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.

Haha, time for another round of the Berrybowl! Time to motivate them all by making them squirm with subtle/unsubtle innuendo and teasing! Ichigo wouldn't want to look bad in front of two lovely ladies would he?

*insert maniacal laughter*
>>
>>1948674
>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
Matchmaker Riku teasing her nephew about his prospects with two beautiful but deadly girls.
>>
>>1948674
>>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing.
Time to accelerate the berrybowl. And possibly give player 3 a chance
>>
>>1948674
>I think Rukia and Tatsuki would be interested to know how you've been doing
>>
>>1948159
>And here you probably thought Liltotto was a freak.
Liltotto will probably eat almost anything. Yoruichi at least has some minimum cuisine standards going for her.
>>
>>1950650
To be fair, it also has to be edible for her body to process it. Her transformation ability is a niche case with limited practical application.
>>
>>1951126
A lot of things are edible if you don't worry about taste or nutrition value. Then again best cat probably does.
>>
>>1951422
"Edible" as in Liltotto could just eat rocks and be able to digest them. Yoruichi couldn't, because rocks are inedible.

That, and shinigami actually stop eating at a certain point, when they've basically topped up. Yoruichi and the other Executive-class members of the Onmitsu simply process their meals quicker and have vast reserves to fill. The other scary prospect with Liltotto is that she HAS no maximum, she never GETS full.
>>
>>1951589
Tempted to suggest an omake now. Reformed Liltotto vs. Orihime's cooking.
>>
>writing the update
>>
>>1951701
“I think your friends would be happy to see you,” you eventually suggest. “You've been sleeping on the same plane of existence as Rukia and Tatsuki, but I don't think you've even said hello.”

“They're busy with their own training,” Ichigo sighs wearily. “I'd just be getting in their way.”

“You're an idiot,” you counter rather forcefully. “If seeing you would put their minds at ease it would improve their focus. You'd be helping them in the long term.”

After considering your point for a moment, Ichigo agrees. “Aright, if you really think it's a good idea.”

Back in the Seireitei, you find Rukia and Tatsuki hard at work as usual. They're sparring out in the garden, this time in an unusual exercise: both have their reiatsu restrained to the greatest degree possible, and neither is making contact.

“So... what are you two up to?”

“Ichigo?” Tatsuki realizes, her lapse in concentration nearly earning her a blow to the jaw. “I thought I felt your reiryoku here the last few days. Have you been training?”

“Yeah, Aunt Riku's... it's a long story,” he decides, thinking better of launching into a long-winded explanation about Zangetsu. “But she's helping me with my swords, learning how to use them better.”

“I see,” Rukia nods, hands lowering to her sides. “I must apologize to you for that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I assume by that you mean to imply your spiritual powers did not develop as they otherwise might have,” Rukia explains carefully, “due to my family's... interference. Am I wrong, Captain?”

You shake your head. “You weren't the only party responsible, but yes. You and Byakuya made things a little harder in the long run.”

“That is why I offered an apology,” Rukia bows respectfully. “I am happy to hear that this has been corrected.”

“Well, it's no big deal,” Ichigo shrugs. “If you hadn't interfered I might've died the night we met... that really would have set me back.”

>Being hollow chow will do that to you.
>Who can say? You're an unusual case after all.
>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai.
>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
>Other?
>>
>>1951872
>>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai.
>>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
>>
>>1951872
>>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai.
>>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
>>
>>1951872
>>Who can say? You're an unusual case after all.
>>
>>1951872
>Being hollow chow will do that to you.
>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
>>
>>1951872
>>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
Because I'll be damned before I willingly let Tatsuki fade to the background.
>>
>>1951872
>>Being hollow chow will do that to you.
>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai.
>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
>>
>>1951872
>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai
>>
>>1951878
>>1951895
>>1952464
>>1952471
Oi, I think that might possibly be bad. Maybe not a very good idea. Them sparring with shikai that is.
I mean, maybe the spear thing will bring Rukia some bitter memories back?
I fear what little time training might be spent repairing past traumas.
But since this is Bleach it might count as training for her, in a way.
I feel conflicted.
>>1951872
>Being hollow chow will do that to you.
>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda.
I'll go for this.
>>
>>1952902
SSQ Rukia never actually knew Kaien particularly well, since she was never a member of 13th Division.

The person you might be a little concerned for is Miyako, if she sees it.
>>
>>1951872
>Being hollow chow will do that to you.
>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai.
>Tatsuki could probably teach you some hakuda
>>
>>1951872
>>Who can say? You're an unusual case after all.
>>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai
>>
>>1952919
Nah, is fine. She won't lose her goddamn mind if she sees Zangetsu manifested
>>
>>1951872
>How about you and Rukia spar, using Shikai
>>
>writing
>>
>>1954465
“I think you and Tatsuki should spar,” you suggest. “Your hakuda could use work, and you and her studied at the same dojo, right?”

“It'd be like old times,” Tatsuki smiles confidently, stretching out her shoulders. “Back when I still felt I had tricks to show you.”

“Wouldn't Yoru...”

You glare sharply at Ichigo and the words die in his throat. “Now, while my lovely wife is by far the greatest living practitioner of hakuda, probably the best in a thousand years, that doesn't make her the best teacher. Tatsuki learned how to fight as a human, so my guess is she'll make a better teacher for you. She can put things in terms you can understand far more easily.”

“You're saying you'd have to dumb things down for me?” Ichigo asks heatedly.

“You said it, not me,” you shrug. “But once you start to get a basic understanding to work with you'll improve more quickly from there.”

Tatsuki raises an eyebrow. “So my skills only qualify as basic?”

“See?” you muse, pointing at Tatsuki. “You even mouth off about it the same way! How are Yoruichi and I supposed to get a point across that well?”

“How about Rukia?” Ichigo asks mischievously. “Why isn't she a great partner for me, if she's a good partner for Tatsuki?”

“Because that would mean sparring in shikai,” you tell him. “Don't do that here.”

Ichigo seems a little surprised. “Why not?”

>Just don't. And don't ask me again.
>Explain that it might upset some people.
>Remind him that he has family here.
>Just... tell him the full truth.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just don't. And don't ask me again.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just don't. And don't ask me again.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just... tell him the full truth.
Riku pulls no punches when it comes to her family. How can she expect them to listen to her if she tries to unilaterally decide things for them? Informed choices are the best choices.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just... tell him the full truth.

He'll have to learn eventually, best he hears it from us I think.
>>
>>1954569
I fully expect that if no one tells him Aizen or one of his underlings will reveal it at the most inopportune moment in a fight. Shit like that kills people.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just... tell him the full truth.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just... tell him the full truth.
>>
>>1954582
Swords kill people. People die when they are killed. If he is made of swords is he made of kill? Can you kill a body of pure kill? Can kill die when it is killed? Existential/Fate
>>
>>1954539
>Just... tell him the full truth.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just... tell him the full truth.
>>
>>1954539
>>Just... tell him the full truth.
>>
>>1954539
>Just... tell him the full truth.

"Because it tends to be quite lethal? Maybe in a fight of Bankai vs Bankai it can end with merely the opponent Bankai being destroyed and gone forever, but Shikai exist to kill. The only way you can 'spar' using Shikai is if one of the two is soo good it, that it can asure none of the two fighters end dead. Besides Ichigo, you are a Quincy, I don't want you accidentally pulling a 'kill myseft while I destroy my enemy powers away' bullshit."
>>
>>1955517
I'm pretty sure the full truth is that his power is derived from the hollowfied soul of a family member, and casually using the spear (which is the same weapon as said relative) in front of certain people (such as the dead man's wife) could be bad.
>>
>>1955590
I thought we told him that on several occasions. Like we mentioned it back when we were picking him up from the vizards
>>
No update tonight, but I can do an omake if anyone has a good idea.
>>
>>1958022
Self-inspection of our new captain-commander. How is he coping and How does his normal day go.
>>
>>1958022
A look into quincy social media site could be really funny.
>>
>>1957945
I know we told him about his inner hollow coming from his mother, but now that you say that, I'm not actually sure if we said who the hollow used to be.
>>
>>1958022
>I wanna see an omake of Shunsui's secret trip with Ukitake in the mortal world where the two go on a drunken drive in 1970s Japan. They inspire a mortal to invent drifting as a side effect.
>>
>>1958478
>ukitake starts nocturnal tofu delivery
>>
>>1958347
>fucking shinigami reeee
>spot the death god shill
>REEEEE
>yhwach did nothing wrong, discuss
>fucking fullbringaboos get out
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
>when I used my Blut for the first time I thought it was a disease and I cried all day
>>
>>1958770
this is now canon
>>
>>1958022
I'm interested in what would have happened if Riku hadn't ran to Yoruichi after getting infected and hollowfying. I'm partial to Riku beating the infection in front of witnesses that would still arrest her, but I suppose getting Vizarded might be interesting as well. Basically a look at an exiled version of Riku.
>>
Omake idea:Gin narrating the berrybowl like a sports announcer
>>
Omake idea: Apacci's thoughts on Ichigo
>>
>>1958926
>>1958942
Gonna work on these two and post them tomorrow, spent longer than I intended at the bar.
>>
>>1958473
>“His name was Shiba Kaien,” you inform Ichigo, prompting Rukia to stare at you in disbelief. “Or at least that's what your father and I have always suspected. The former head of our clan who went missing decades before your birth.”
>“How is that even possible!?” Ichigo demands loudly, grabbing you by the collar. “You're telling me my hollow was a person? Like... my uncle or something? Thant's insane!”
>“That's Aizen for you,” you observe, grasping Ichigo's wrists and pulling them off of you. “You have a problem with it, I suggest you take it up with him.”
>“You still didn't explain how it happened,” Ichigo repeats, calming down slightly. “I want to know, Riku. I want to know the truth.”
>“I suspect your mother has told you what she knows,” you reply. “She was infected by a hollow that was basically engineered by Aizen to do exactly that. Being a quincy, her body began to reject the hollow presence and nearly underwent soul suicide.”
>“That is what happens when two 'opposites' meet,” Rukia explains, pulling out a sketchbook to illustrate. “Hollow and quincy reiatsu are incompatible: one will always destroy the other for some unknown reason, or so I was instructed.”
>“We don't really know the reason,” you add. “It's just one of those things you accept and move on. Men a lot smarter than I am have gone insane pondering details like that too closely.”
>“In other words,” Rukia continues to draw, “when your mother began to hollowfy her soul would normally have been erased.”
>“I get that,” Ichigo insists dismissively. “What I don't get is why my mom and inner hollow are rabbits.”
>Rukia glares daggers at him. “Every time until you like it.”
>>
>>1959031
Alright, thanks for that. As well as reminding me of funniest Rukia scene.
>>
>>1959031
I... I'm going to be honest with you here, my life is so insane at the moment and I've been at this so long sometimes I forget what I have and haven't included.

In this case the "truth" is that Kaien still has living family, and that nobody here actually knows about Ichigo. The "truth" is that you can't predict what the reaction and long term consequences will be, or even whether Ichigo is fundamentally stable.
>>
>>1959078
Eh, its fine, you wrote that back in May 2016.
>>
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>>1959083
Literally my face right now.
>>
>>1959098
Hey, look on the bright side: someone likes your quest enough to remember stuff that happened a year and a half ago.
>>
>>1959906
Are archives still a thing? I haven't been keeping abreast of such matters since before the great quest exodus...
>>
>>1961268
They are. Same place.
>>
>>1961268
Yup. Sup/tg/ has a separate /qst/ archive you can get to from the sidebar, anything after the migration will be viewable there.
>>
>What if...
Riku's breath comes in ragged, desperate gasps, like those of a woman pulled from the water moments before drowning by an unknown hand. She clearly doesn't care whose hand it was, but relishes her new lease on life.

“Ah, that feels so much better,” she sighs contentedly, rolling onto her back and brushing away the porcelain fragments that stubbornly clung to her face. “I thought I was gonna die...”

“It may have been simpler if you had.”

Glancing in the direction she had heard the voice coming from, Riku sees something which makes her heart plummet: the Head Captain, his sword drawn and wreathed in flickering flame. Fragments of memories flash before her, of being cut and burned over and over. An undeniable, inexhaustible rage burning within her heart even more fiercely than Ryūjin Jakka's fires. And somehow, the sensation of ripping off a part of her own face?

No, one of those has got to just be some kinda fever dream.

“That was one hell of an infection I was shaking,” she apologizes, her voice heavy with exhaustion. “My apologies if I caused you any trouble, Head Captain.”

“Lieutenant Kusajishi, you do not remember?” he asks, the frown evident just in the way he asked the question despite the fact Riku wasn't looking at him.

“I suspect I was feverish,” she replies, “delusional even. Out of my own mind... can you believe I remember ripping off my own face? Ridiculous, right?”

“That actually happened.”

Riku stares straight up into the sky, just beginning to glow in the pre-dawn dim. “Bullshit.”

“It appeared to me that you had begun to hollowfy,” the Head Captain continues. “Your face was masked as a hollow's, and you attacked with a ferocity beyond any a shinigami is capable. As if you were possessed. Most Captains would struggle to emerge unscathed from such an assault.”

“Were you hurt at all, Head Captain?”

The old man shakes his wizened, battle-scarred head. “No. And I will admit I am even too confused and worried by this to be enraged.”

“I guess that works to my advantage...” Riku frowns. “What of the other officers? They were infected when I accidentally stumbled across them.”

“Only rumors,” the Head Captain admits. “When last anyone saw fit to report...”

Riku tilts her head back to see what caused the Head Captain to stop speaking, spotting another familiar face.

“Sorry, Old Man,” Shunsui bows, “But I've gotta be the bearer of bad news...”
>1/?
>>
>>1962072
All of my yes. I don't if I can contain the excitement.
>>
>>1962072
Bullshit!” Riku repeats, forcing herself to her hands and knees. “Come on... look at me, Captains. I may be many things, but a hollow isn't one of them!”

“There is no denying what I fought against,” Yamamoto declares. “Your mind and reiatsu were those of a hollow... so too was your body becoming that of a hollow. In this the Central 46 is not mistaken.”

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZDDKohMtOg

“Hey, Head Captain,” Shunsui interrupts quietly. “Should you be saying such things? You know what that means, what you have to do in such a situation...”

“Follow orders,” Yamamoto answers, shutting his eyes. “I am aware, Captain Kyōraku.”

“So that's it, huh?” Riku chuckles, somehow managing to stagger to her feet. “All these years, and it ends like this... what a joke.”

“Please accept your sentence with grace, Lieutenant Kusajishi,” Yamamoto bows slightly to his would-be victim. “I know I have no right to ask this, but please do not hold a grudge.”

“Head Captain!” Shunsui insists, raising his voice to his mentor for the first time in decades. “This is obviously wrong! We have to...”

“Our society is built on order, Shunsui,” the Head Captain interrupts, the use of such a familiar name shocking his subordinate. “We Captains are not above the laws of the Seireitei. To insist otherwise would be to render the very order we uphold meaningless.”

“Captain Kyōraku, please take a step back,” Riku declares, pulling her zanpakuto from its sheath and holding it low at her hip. “The Head Captain will do as he feels he must... but know this: I have too much to live for to give up my life so easily.”

“I won't die here today, not by either of your hands.”

“Foolish girl,” the Head Captain grumbles, raising his own sword for a strike. The words come simultaneously.

“Taimatsu.”

“Bankai!”

Even as the flames threaten to incinerate the Lieutenant out of existence, they gutter out mid-attack. No longer clad in the uniform of the Onmitsukidō, Riku herself has been instantly clad in an ornate, multi-layered kimono that seems to flow weightlessly out of the way of her limbs as she rushes in to take advantage of the Captains' surprise.

“Higeki no Ōjo.”

A cut on the Head Captain's side sprays blood into the air, drops spattering on the stone slabs around his feet.

“... what is this?”
>2/?
>>
>>1962184
>A cut on the Head Captain's side sprays blood into the air, drops spattering on the stone slabs around his feet.
>“... what is this?”
Of all the things I wanted and expected out of an exiled!Riku, this wasn't one of them. But I'm glad that it's still here.
>>
>>1962184
“Your Bankai did something,” the Head Captain ponders, glancing at his sword as if to confirm that it was still released.

“You are not incorrect,” Riku confirms, white reiatsu forming into swirling, waving shapes behind her. “But pondering such things is a waste of time. Am I to assume you will not simply allow me to leave?”

“You are correct,” Yamamoto nods, eyes never leaving his opponent even for the fraction of a second the gesture takes.

“Then we part as strangers,” Riku mutters, her voice somehow different, as if laden with the weight of a thousand years she has yet to live. “How disappointing.”

In a flash the battle is joined, Tenkotsuki clashing against Ryūjin Jakka with a fury not unlike that Yamamoto had experienced before. But this was also quite different in character. Where the hollowfied Lieutenant's attacks were wild, almost mindless, in this form her swordsmanship takes on a precision and control nearly the total opposite. Each slash is carefully timed, with no delays in windup or sloppy openings after the strike itself regardless of whether it connects with flesh or steel.

And more strikes than should be possible connect with flesh.

“That's not possible...” Shunsui mutters breathlessly, watching the fight unfold. “No Lieutenant could counter Ryūjin Jakka... no Lieutenant could keep up with the Head Captain... so what the hell is this?”

A thrust from the longer sword in the Head Captain's hand leaves a deep gash in Kusajishi's cheek as she barely manages to dodge, before the woman turns in place and nearly cuts the senior officer's sleeve off. Her blade leaves a deep slash on his wrist, but the following thrust is met with a knee strike that knocks the Lieutenant back through the air. She uses the momentum to flip herself, completing the backflip with a careful landing on her toes.

She practically bounces, immediately jinking to the side to avoid a sweep of Ryūjin Jakka's blade, her speed almost effortlessly matching the Head Captain's.

“You are far better than I gave you credit for, Lieutenant,” the Head Captain admits even as the two exchange a series of slashes. “In fact, I believe with your full power against my shikai you are winning.”

“Full power?” Riku repeats in disbelief. “No, this can hardly be called that. But if you are waiting for my full power to take me seriously, that can be arranged.”

“Shunkō!”

For a moment, the Lieutenant even disappears from Shunsui's practiced sight. Then, the red tint of blood fills the air as a blade finds its mark.
>3/?
>>
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>>1962250
>For a moment, the Lieutenant even disappears from Shunsui's practiced sight. Then, the red tint of blood fills the air as a blade finds its mark.
The only reason I'm not dying from excitement is that I wouldn't be able to continue reading these snips.
>>
>>1962250
“It was your stubborn refusal to release Bankai that led to your defeat,” Riku insists quietly as she steps over the fallen form of the Head Captain, her own hand holding her side where blood drips slowly between her fingertips. “However, if your power in Bankai is five to ten times greater than that... I am certain the entire Seireitei should be grateful to you for holding back.”

“Curse you, brat...” Yamamoto groans, his left hand reaching out and grasping hold of his right arm where it lies severed from his shoulder.

“I am leaving,” Riku continues, staring Shunsui straight in the eyes. “See to it that the old man receives proper medical attention. It was not my intent to rob the Gotei 13 of such a valuable asset... even if you have now decided that I should die for being a victim of misfortune.”

The former Lieutenant drops her wooden badge near Yamamoto with a clatter, and steps away to claw at the dawn air. A gash opens in nothing in particular, widening into a stable passageway. “Ah, so that worked... fascinating.”

“Please convey my apologies to my Captain, and to the brats I adopted. I fear I will be unable to live up to my promises to them now.”

“Wait!” Shunsui yells as Riku is about to disappear for good. “What are you?”

“I choose to live as a shinigami,” Riku replies calmly, refusing to look the Captain in the eye. “That is the only relevant truth, Shunsui.”

“When you need me, I will return.”

The darkness and cold sands of Hueco Mundo greet her eyes. Then familiar presence, several of them.

“Something has happened,” a voice realizes aloud. “You are bleeding.”

“I have been exiled, Halibel,” Riku admits. “Exiled and nearly killed for something that was inflicted upon me, separated from my loved ones and denied the purpose I chose for my own existence.”

“And what do you intend to do?”

“Someone did this to us,” Riku realizes aloud, “to all of us who were so affected. They took everything I had to fight for, everything that gave me meaning. I am going to find them, and then I am going to see to it that they are never allowed to inflict this on anyone else.”

After a moment of quiet contemplation the Vasto Lorde kneels before the Captain, who it seems has failed to realize that she is still in her released form. She bows her head.

“My sword is yours.”

Behind her, three other Menos follow suit.

Riku closes her eyes quietly in thought, considering her words carefully. “Then I believe I have a way to make that sword, and the heart which wields it, stronger..."
>4/4
>>
>>1962351
>After a moment of quiet contemplation the Vasto Lorde kneels before the Captain, who it seems has failed to realize that she is still in her released form. She bows her head.
>“My sword is yours.”
>Behind her, three other Menos follow suit.
This is so much better than anything I imagined. Totally beats kicking around the living world with Yoruichi or the other Vizards. Yoruichi, Ranguki and Gin must be losing their goddamn minds. Oh man, Gin... his thirst for vengeance just got 10 times higher than it already was in SSQ canon, didn't it? What are the odds Gin would cut the crap and show his hand to Yoruichi and Rangiku so that they'd understand what the hell just happened?
>>
>>1962372
>What are the odds Gin would cut the crap and show his hand to Yoruichi and Rangiku so that they'd understand what the hell just happened?
Basically 100% in this alternate version. If it was just me playing things out in my head without any RNG or player input, Rosa slowly reintegrates into Riku's mind and soul, she appoints herself Queen of Hueco Mundo, and the battle against Aizen happens while Isshin is still a Captain.
>>
>>1962419
>and the battle against Aizen happens while Isshin is still a Captain.
That loser tried to muscle in on her territory, I'd totally believe she'd start that fight sooner than in canon in the situation you just detailed.
>>
>>1962351
Wow, that was cool, but I can thankfully say I prefer how it played out in our canon.
>>
>>1962762
I dunno, i want to finish out this run of SS for sure, but it'd be neat to actually start up an alternate timeline run where things happened majorly differently like this.
I'm sure king wants to put the quest to rest at this point, though.

He might even be done with questing entirely afterwards, just judging from how burned out he sounds when he talks about it.
I'd be sad to see that happen since he's by far my favourite QM and the only one i still regularly follow, but all good things must come to an end.
>>
>>1964179
I actually have one idea that's gone from a vague notion to a well fleshed-out plan in a matter of a few days. The setting would be Claymore, but on a different island than the one the canon cast was futzing around on.

And I may not make it to 100 days on BBS. This "meta" is just absolutely fucking disgusting.
>>
>>1964757
Claymore had a great deal of unexplored lore to it. Especially since they seemed like they were only making progress near the end.

I mean the whole males can't handle being claymores was patently false given that Isley pretty chose to awaken rather than do so.

Or how a mental state affects the awakening, Theresa basically being a pure incorruptible and undefeatable angel because Claire viewed her that way.
>>
>>1964791
To be fair, Theresa was unquestionably the single most powerful claymore in history. What with trivially defeating an abyssal one.
>>
>will probably kick this off again in three hours
>same thread, because screw starting a new one
>/qst/ so slow
>>
>>1964757
Oh shit, is that why you were posting claymore OSTs?
Mah nigga.
>>
>>1964857
“The reason is simple,” you sigh, “I've told you about what's going on with your... eccentricities. But it's not figuring out what's happened that's the hard part, it's figuring out what's going to happen next.”

“How can that possibly be hard?”

“Because... nobody's told the Central 46 what we know,” you admit. “The governing body of the Soul Society doesn't actually know what you are, and I can't imagine they'd like what they heard. They'd call it unnatural, and they'd be right... and they're not known for being tolerant of things they consider unnatural.”

“So you're saying the government of the afterlife would try and have me killed?” Ichigo asks incredulously.

You shake your head, honestly uncertain. “I don't know that for sure, but I can't rule it out either. And there's a more personal side to it as well...”

“Miyako,” Rukia guesses, her expression turning grim. “I see. I honestly had not considered her feelings.”

You nod. “Ichigo, you have... relatives here. You met one of them actually, though neither of you knew it at the time.”

“Kūkaku... would be my aunt or something?” Ichigo realizes aloud.

“A cousin once removed, if I'm reading it right,” you sigh. “The Shiba family tree is a bit of a mess in places, even more so than most noble families. Ganjū would be the same. But Miyako's not family by blood, if you catch my drift.”

It takes Ichigo a few seconds to catch your drift.

Then his eyes widen. “Oh shit...”

“Yeah,” you nod. “She's here, training with the other Lieutenants. I haven't told her anything...”

You notice the look on Ichigo's face and frown. “You think that was wrong?”

Ichigo glances away. “I don't know.”

“Neither do I,” you admit. “That's why I'd rather just avoid it, just a little longer if we can.”

“I don't get it at all,” Tatsuki admits, stretching her arms, “but I get that it's important. So let's get to it, Ichigo. We're wasting time.”
>1/2
>>
>>1965141
You watch the two young humans square off, raising their fists into readied stances. Rukia sits back and watches as well, seemingly taking a breather between her own bouts. You suspect she's also interested to see how Ichigo has progressed since the last time she's seen him fight.

>Continue beating on Madarame for a while, no rest for the weary.
>You're curious to know how Rukia has improved.
>You haven't seen Halibel and company recently...
>Other?
>>
>>1965086
Guilty.
>>
>>1965143
>Continue beating on Madarame for a while, no rest for the weary.
You will fucking bankai good, riku don't go back on her word
>>
>>1965143
>>You're curious to know how Rukia has improved.
Let's see your Kido, kiddo.
>>
>>1965143
>>You haven't seen Halibel and company recently...
I wonder how that segunda etapa is coming along
>>
>>1965143
>>Continue beating on Madarame for a while, no rest for the weary.
>>
>dice+3d10
>dc 17, crit 22
>>
Rolled 6, 1, 1 = 8 (3d10)

>>1965206
>>
>>1965143
>>Continue beating on Madarame for a while, no rest for the weary.
>>
Rolled 4, 4, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>1965206
>>
Rolled 4, 10, 9 = 23 (3d10)

>>1965206
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 3 = 13 (3d10)

>>1965206
Get good you bald fuck
>>
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>>1965220
Ohoho, can you feel you asshole pucker up when you clutch like that?
>>
>>1965206
You spend the next six hours or so with Madarame, forcing him to push his usage of Bankai right to his absolute limit, thrashing him in spite of it, then healing him so he can do it all over again. And while he does quickly figure out a few ways to keep himself safe while he builds up his power he's still slow even when fully released, and when you come at him determined to prevent him from releasing entirely he struggles to stop you from doing so.

It's not that he leaves particularly obvious openings so much as he simply can't defend against all the avenues of attack. Destroying his footing means he struggles to actually apply all the power he generates with his released form. Stepping in close means he can't bring those colossal, clumsy blades to bear on you. Restricting his movement ends the fight before it even begins. And even if he reaches his peak the edges of his blades are as fragile as glass, threatening to crack and shatter even if you simply catch it in your hand.

“Stop it,” you sigh, having knocked the Third Seat back to the sand after noticing a widening crack in the edge of one of his weapons. “At this rate I'm gonna break this Bankai of yours before you improve enough with it to matter.”

“The hell did you just...”

You interrupt him with a sharp glare. “It's painfully obvious that your body isn't ready for Bankai. That's why Hozukimaru has to build you up to your maximum power so slowly, it's why your edge is so fragile even once you reach your peak. Your skill is undeniable but you've applied it too early... just like Renji, your Bankai is incomplete.”

“And that unfortunately is something I can't remedy through instruction.”

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do?” Madarame demands. “What can I do?”

>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
>Be as encouraging as possible. The blunt truth might break his resolve.
>>
>>1965276
>>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
>>
>>1965276
This is a tough one.
>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
Resolve checks are terrifying.
>>
>>1965276
>>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
>>
>>1965276
>>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
>>
>>1965276
>>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
>>
>>1965276
“Nothing,” you reply calmly.

“Nothing?” he repeats blankly before growing agitated. “You expect me to believe that?”

“No,” you admit, “but whether you believe it or not it's the truth. There is nothing that I can do to accelerate your training. You have to grow into your own Bankai the same way everyone else who's gained one has been forced to.”

“That is all.”

You briefly confer with Tenkotsuki as Madarame struggles with the revelation... and you didn't tell him wrong. While you could certainly mess with the passage of time, Tenkotsuki has no reason to believe that such ill-gotten gains would be worth the extraordinary amount of your time and energy that would have to go into it. She's not even certain that several of the techniques you could theoretically use to that end would “stick”: the improvement might begin to wear off the second you brought him back into the 'normal' timeframe you've been living in.

Madarame seems almost dazed at the pronouncement, so you offer the only advice you can.

“Either grow a pair and learn some kidō already, or stick to someone who's more flexible than you,” you suggest bluntly. “Once your Bankai matures the raw power will be impressive, possibly even a match for Komamura. But until then, using that power will leave you vulnerable to anyone whose own abilities are more well-rounded.”

“Kidō...” Madarame mutters as his zanpakuto slowly reverts, steaming and hissing as it shrinks back down to the size of a standard katana.

“And before you ask there's any number of people better suited to teaching a greenhorn like you the basics of kidō,” you insist. “Tell them I sent you, because having me do it personally would be a misuse of my time.”

Madarame glances at his own sword, his grip on it not totally firm, then sheathes it. Then he does something unexpected: he bows stiffly at the waist.

Did he... just recognize this as a “lesson”?

Your expression softens slightly as you return the gesture.

>Please choose how you wish to spend the bulk of your time
>Select only one of the following

>Training yourself, refining your own techniques and skills in preparation for battle.
>Training the Lieutenants, getting them up to the point where they can contribute more.
>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>Training with the Humans, whose town seems likely to become a battleground.
>>
>>1965417
>>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>>
>>1965417
>Training yourself, refining your own techniques and skills in preparation for battle.
We need some "me" time
>>
>>1965417
>>Training yourself, refining your own techniques and skills in preparation for battle.
>>
>>1965417
>>Training yourself, refining your own techniques and skills in preparation for battle.
>>
>>1965417
>Training yourself, refining your own techniques and skills in preparation for battle.
>>
>and I realize that this is rather sudden, but I also did some soul searching
>my conclusion: I don't want to do any more training episodes, and there's not REALLY anything left to cover anyway
>so I'm just getting on with it like I should have done weeks ago
>>
>>1965475
well then.
>>
>>1965475
makes sense
>>
>>1965475
At least it did give some light into the developments of our side. So finally we can start dedicating time this session into forming a battle strategy.
>>
>>1965276
>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.

I figured Baldy had resolve in spades given his fightboner.
>>
>>1965417
You decide to spend much of the rest of your time honing your own skills, to the point where most of them come as naturally as breathing to you. Sword techniques refined from those used by the Shinsengumi and their contemporaries, hakuda taught to you by Shihōin Yoruichi, and the kidō techniques that are the expertise of your zanpakuto. Hours go into simply practicing jinzen, days go into kata and sparring matches against Yoruichi.

At one point you and your wife even fight a 24-hour demonstration match before your respective Divisions, in shunkō the whole time, just to see how long you can maintain the form.

But you do have some time for a second project, which you use almost like a form of recreation between training sessions and planning meetings with your fellow Captains...

>Training the Lieutenants, getting them up to the point where they can contribute more.
>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>Training with the Humans, whose town seems likely to become a battleground.
>>
>>1965558
>>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>>
>>1965558
>>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>>
>>1965558
>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.

Polish your sword, not your dagger.
>>
>>1965558
>>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>>
>>1965594
I actually like that turn of phrase, anon.
>>
>>1965558
>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
I wonder if Neliel finally pulled a prank on Gin and got away with it.
>>
>>1965558
>>Training with the Arrancars and Quincies, getting them to where they could be.
>>
>dice+3d10, DC 17, Crit 23
>>
>>1965276
>Be honest about the situation. Misguiding him here does him no services.
>>
Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>1965640
>>
Rolled 10, 8, 3 = 21 (3d10)

>>1965642
Shit, i was gone longer than i thought. Whoops.

>>1965640
>>
Rolled 7, 5, 10 = 22 (3d10)

>>1965640
>>
Rolled 2, 1, 6 = 9 (3d10)

>>1965640
>>
Rolled 4, 1, 9 = 14 (3d10)

>>1965640
>>
>>1965659
>>1965664
god damn the crit is teasing us.
>>1965668
you let us down son.
>>
>>1965664
fucks
>>1965659
sake

so close
>>
>>1965640
You ultimately end up trusting the Lieutenant-class fighters to continue training themselves, now that you've set them in motion. The progress they make is commendable, but when it comes right down to it if you have to rely on that improvement to survive you'll be in some pretty serious shit.

So instead you spend what spare time you have with the Arrancars and quincies you've taken on as a responsibility over the decades. Bambietta makes strides with her old friends, or at least those who chose to follow her example, and while you can't say for sure whether you'd trust your back to Liltotto or Candice Bambi sure seems to believe in them. If you leave them as a trio, they should be fine. The same can largely be said for Neliel and Menoly, the former returns to your barracks one evening in particularly high spirits. You never get around to asking Gin what happened, but you suspect her training in “underhanded means” has gone well. So whatever did happen may well be a sore point for the boy.

Then, there are Halibel and Apacci. Their experiment in using their released forms doesn't bear fruit for weeks, and it doesn't seem to get any 'easier' or even any 'more natural' to them for all their time spent familiarizing themselves with their own locked-away powers. After a while you begin to consider the possibility that this has all been for nothing, but one morning Halibel surprises you...

“I would like to challenge you to a match,” she tells you, eyes fixed firmly on yours as you set down your fork and knife.

A bit of egg falls of Rangiku's own fork as she pauses halfway through lifting it to her mouth.

“Is that so?” you ask her, considering the point.

>You realize that neither of us will be able to hold back. This will be more like a deathmatch.
>We need to set some ground rules, then. No water manipulation for you, no Resurreccion for me.
>Well then, tell me what this is all about and how you want to do it and I'll consider it.
>No.
>>
>>1965762
>Well then, tell me what this is all about and how you want to do it and I'll consider it.
>>
>>1965762
>You realize that neither of us will be able to hold back. This will be more like a deathmatch.

Pretty sure she already knows that, though.
>>
>>1965762
>>Well then, tell me what this is all about and how you want to do it and I'll consider it.
>>
>>1965762
>>Well then, tell me what this is all about and how you want to do it and I'll consider it.
>>
>>1965762
>>You realize that neither of us will be able to hold back. This will be more like a deathmatch.
>>
>>1965762
>>Well then, tell me what this is all about and how you want to do it and I'll consider it.
>>
>>1965762
>Well then, tell me what this is all about and how you want to do it and I'll consider it.
>>
>>1965762
>>You realize that neither of us will be able to hold back. This will be more like a deathmatch.
It's go time.
>>
>>1965762
“First, tell me why,” you insist quietly as Rangiku glances nervously at you.

“You have a power that humbles even fighters more powerful than yourself,” Halibel explains in a low, but even tone. “Though I have grown more accustomed to my resurrected form, I have a theory... that in becoming arrancar, we have gained a rather... negative human characteristic.”

“And that would be?”

“A sense of complacence,” Halibel tells you... and it suddenly makes sense.

“I see... when you put the struggle to survive behind you those instincts grow dull,” you follow her reasoning aloud. “Not only does your full power seem alien, so too does the instinctive drive to grow stronger, to progress, to evolve.”

“By fighting an opponent who can pressure me even in my release form,” Halibel explains, “combined with my increasing familiarity with this... this true self which I had turned my back on...”

“You would be stepping away from your humanity,” you observe carefully. “Are you really comfortable with that?”

“We are no longer humans,” Halibel reminds you. “If we ever began to think we could be again it was foolish. But if we could learn to harness our nature for something greater than ourselves... I believe this would be a step in the right direction.”

“Your hole has been sealing itself,” you counter. “Doesn't that imply you're still coming back towards humanity?”

Halibel shakes her head gently. “Not necessarily. It may simply be the result of... having a sense of purpose again. A glass is never half empty, lady Riku, it is merely full of two different things. One that perhaps you want, and one that is perhaps less desirable.”

“Likewise, every Hollow has found something to occupy itself with. The more meaning we find in our lives, the less the sense of emptiness. Meeting an arbitrary definition of 'human' is not the only way to find that meaning.”

You slide your tray away. “You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?”

“Every day,” Halibel admits. “For years.”
>1/2
>>
>>1965918
Honoring her request, you meet Halibel in the Division's training ground. Your own subordinates mostly scramble to get to what they think is a safe distance... though were it not for your distinctive Bankai technique nowhere in the Seireitei would qualify as “safe” from a fight like this. Your Commandos and the various Lieutenants are the only ones even remotely close by, along with Apacci and the other two Bestias. The three of them look unusually nervous.

For her part, you can easily see Halibel's resolve in her eyes.

“When you are ready,” she nods quietly.

You first release Higeki no Ōjo, its familiar tingle snuffing out any sources of reiatsu that aren't actual people across a wide swathe of the Seireitei.

>Release Kobara no Tachi as well. Halibel wants pressure, you'll give her that.
>Kobara no Tachi is unsuited for this. Rely on Shunkō to add to the pressure.
>Begin like this. You can be a real prick without either of those other techniques.
>Other?
>>
>>1965960
>>Begin like this. You can be a real prick without either of those other techniques.
>>
>>1965960
>>Kobara no Tachi is unsuited for this. Rely on Shunkō to add to the pressure.
We're gonna beat the power levels out of Halibel with our bare firsts
>>
>>1965960
>Add a steady stream of Danmaku Tenyo. Add some punching weight to the bullets.
>>
>>1965960
>>Kobara no Tachi is unsuited for this. Rely on Shunkō to add to the pressure.
>>
>>1965960
>>Kobara no Tachi is unsuited for this. Rely on Shunkō to add to the pressure.
>>
>>1965981
>>1965960
>Begin like this. You can be a real prick without either of those other techniques.
>>
>3d10, DC 18, critical 22
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>1966083
>>
Rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11 (3d10)

>>1966083
>>
Rolled 6, 8, 1 = 15 (3d10)

>>1966083
>>
>>1966088
Good save there anon.
>>
>sorry, bit of an internet hiccup
>writing
>>
>>1966126
“Shunkō!” you shout, feeling power surging through your body even above and beyond that of your Bankai. “Show me what you are capable of, Halibel!”

“You do not intend to use your own resurrected form?” she questions you.

You shake your head to confirm it. “I have no intention of holding back with you, however I also cannot bring myself to hate you. That makes release of Kobara no Tachi... inappropriate.”

“I understand,” Halibel nods, raising her arm blade. To your surprise, it begins to glow in a golden tone.

“Cero.”

A wide, flat cero lances towards you, essentially taking on the form of her sword's point. You release a massive amount of energy to counter it in a powerful blast that rocks the whole area, standing your ground against the unexpected power... could this be the result of Halibel's small amount of shinreiryoku?

She closes in swiftly behind the powerful cero, sweeping her heavy arm blade up towards you even as the energy from her previous attack dissipates. But if she thinks this would be enough to catch you off guard she's mistaken. Tenkotsuki's edge meets Tiburòn's, and you manage to push off of it without suffering too much for the impact.

You lightly bounce off your toes as Halibel follows through, slashing at you with the trailing tails on her back and finishing with a straight kick which meets your own raised shin. Then you bring your heel down on her hip before moving to avoid her retaliation.

“I have yet to truly feel pressed,” Halibel tells you, using Tiburòn's bulk to stop Tenkotsuki as if it were a shield then kicking you in the stomach. “Please, if you are holding back at all... fight that instinct.”

With a deep sigh, you raise your sword in your right hand and free your sheath with your left. “I find it difficult to attack you with the ferocity I know is required... I apologize, but it violates my instincts.”

“Nonsense,” Halibel replies in her characteristic calm voice even as she unleashes a flurry of heavy-handed swipes with her blade that you allow to slide past along the edge of your kodachi. “I should be the one apologizing for asking something like this of you. Your instincts in this situation are something I admire, but they are not what I need right now.”

“I know,” you sigh.

>You hate doing it, and you're angry at yourself... maybe that will be enough for Rosa?
>There must be some more power you can add to this to offset your instinctive refusal to harm Halibel.
>Some basic binding kidō should go a long way to adding to the pressure without FEELING too aggressive.
>Other?
>>
>>1966216
>>You hate doing it, and you're angry at yourself... maybe that will be enough for Rosa?
Fuck it fine, maybe let Rosa bleed through a little more than usual?
>>
>>1966216
>>You hate doing it, and you're angry at yourself... maybe that will be enough for Rosa?
>>
>>1966216
>>You hate doing it, and you're angry at yourself... maybe that will be enough for Rosa?
>>
>>1966216
>There must be some more power you can add to this to offset your instinctive refusal to harm Halibel.
>>
>>1966216
>>Some basic binding kidō should go a long way to adding to the pressure without FEELING too aggressive.
try ramping it up a bit? we may end up having to release rosa anyway...
>>
>>1966216
>>There must be some more power you can add to this to offset your instinctive refusal to harm Halibel.
>>
>>1966216
>other: use Kido. All the Kido.
>>
>3d10, best of 4
>hope for higher
>>
>>1966216
>There must be some more power you can add to this to offset your instinctive refusal to harm Halibel.
What about akirashi shunko?
>>
Rolled 7, 3, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>1966291
>>
Rolled 8, 9, 1 = 18 (3d10)

>>1966291
>>
Rolled 1, 2, 10 = 13 (3d10)

>>1966291
AAAAAAAAAAAA
>>
Rolled 1, 10, 7 = 18 (3d10)

>>1966291
>>
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Rolled 9, 9, 8 = 26 (3d10)

>>1966291
>>
Rolled 4, 7, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>1966291
>>
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>>1966297
>>1966299
>>1966303
I have no words for this. What are the odds.
>>
>>1966314
I don't know what it means either.
>>
>>1966314
first result is a statistical negative, so it's the odds of getting 18 on a 3d10 squared. CBF doing the maths on said odds.
>>
>>1966329
7.3% chance of getting an 18. Squaring it comes out with .5% so only 1/200 chance. Unlikely, but not hugely so.
>>
>>1966306
FUCK
>>
You turn your focus inwards, building on your own anger at the various facets of this situation. You're mad at yourself for not being able to help someone you care about, you're upset that it's come to the point where such extremes are necessary... and if you're honest, you're a little bit angry that Halibel asked you to do this in the first place. She must have known you'd have to come at her like you were trying to kill her in order for this to work.

“Raze...” you begin, aiming a slash at Halibel's gut. Her eyes widen as the edge sinks into her skin, but the cut is shallow and only seems to singe her flesh a little around where the strike falls. Still, she backpedals immediately at the mere mention of Kobara no Tachi's release phrase.

Even this much anger isn't enough to do it, to allow you to turn this blade of rage incarnate against a loved one. It's as reassuring as it is frustrating. But still, the shock and uncertainty... maybe even though you've plainly failed to muster the rage required this isn't a total waste of effort. If it's fear she needs to feel, if she needs to be convinced that she's staring death in the face, you have ways to do that. And now would be the time to strike.

“Hadō 63: Sajō Sabaku!”

Three chains of kidō entrap Halibel, who raises her sword to bat away the chains with a broad stroke. This is about as much kidō as you can get away with given the limitations of your own Bankai, but in reality it's just a diversion.

“Shitotsu Sansen!”

The three fangs streak towards Halibel, whose arm is still raised high. Too high to parry the lowest of the three projectiles which slams into her gut despite her efforts, while the chains wind around her.

In your mind you hear Tenkotsuki chanting the incantation to strengthen Sajō Sabaku, while your own voice rises over hers.

>3d10 for salesmanship
>>
Rolled 4, 8, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>1966473
>>
Rolled 8, 1, 7 = 16 (3d10)

>>1966473
come on... be SCARED
>>
Rolled 6, 6, 1 = 13 (3d10)

>>1966473
HACHAAAAA
>>
Rolled 1, 5, 1 = 7 (3d10)

>>1966473
Spook?
>>
Rolled 3, 8, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>1966473
>>
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>>1966489
>>1966492
>>1966493
man we are losing our touch.
>>
>>1966493
>>1966492
>>1966489
goddamn we suck at this
>>
Fuck. That. Horseshit.

3d10, best of four. I will be ignoring the previous round of rolls and taking the results of this one, better or worse.
>>
Rolled 8, 5, 7 = 20 (3d10)

>>1966530
second time's the charm?
>>
Rolled 3, 8, 8 = 19 (3d10)

>>1966530
mediocrity burns badly. even moreso.
>>
Rolled 7, 2, 4 = 13 (3d10)

>>1966530
>>
Rolled 7, 1, 3 = 11 (3d10)

>>1966530
>>
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Rolled 10, 1, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>
>>1966538
Better.
>>1966539
Partly because what I was writing required two rolls... a 16 followed by a 20 works just fine.

But partly yes, multiple rounds of mediocre rolls with repeat results just feels too horseshit to hinge a story progression on.
>>
>>1966555
the trips have spoken
>>
>>1966555
3d10 does admittedly promote averages far more than 1d30 does. Drags everything towards 16.5
>>
>>1966565
but that also causes huge variances in numbers
>>
>>1966572
Of course, I wasn't complaining or suggesting a change, just an observation given that we've been seeing mediocre rolls.
>>
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>>1966555
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoMrkPLBuCs

If you need to sell it, you do have one rather... extreme... technique you can still draw on.

You focus on the shinreiryoku, the power your own Bankai is releasing, and force it to cycle back through your body in a raging circular current.

Akirashi Shunkō!

The pulse ripples outwards as you complete the transition, from what you suppose could be considered your Bankai's “defensive form” to something entirely more destructive, and for a moment it feels as if the entire world shivers... either in anticipation or in fear. You feel Tenkotsuki's concern as something wet trickles from your eyes, and you know instinctively that it isn't tears.

If Halibel wasn't still bound tightly she'd have taken a step away from you. “What... what is this pressure... this primal fear...”

Her eyes widen as they meet yours. “No... stop that...”

You raise your hand above your head and begin to chant.

SEEPING CREST OF TURBIDITY, ARROGANT VESSEL OF LUNACY! BOIL FORTH AND DENY, GROW NUMB AND FLICKER, DISTURBING SLEEP!”

The raw, overwhelming power coalesces, walling Halibel in with deep, almost jet-black barriers that seemingly assemble from cruel shards of what looks like obsidian. You feel a twinge of guilt at the look in her eyes... but you carry on regardless.

“CRAWLING QUEEN OF IRON, ETERNALLY SELF-DESTRUCTING DOLL OF MUD! UNITE! REPULSE! FILL WITH DIRT AND KNOW YOUR OWN IMPOTENCE!”

You can hear various shouts, hearing your name, your title, and even a lone shout of “mom”... but you continue forming the massive black funeral monument before you. Then, just for a few moments, you wait. To the untrained eye, or to someone too lost in shock to understand it, it might have looked like hesitation or uncertainty. But just before you were about to allow the spell to begin breaking down, something happens.

“There...” you realize aloud as you feel your bakudō snapped in an instant. “Took you long enough, Tia.”

The moment the Kurohitsugi shatters from within is the greatest sense of relief you've felt in a long time.
>1/2
>>
>>1966581
>“There...” you realize aloud as you feel your bakudō snapped in an instant. “Took you long enough, Tia.”

>The moment the Kurohitsugi shatters from within is the greatest sense of relief you've felt in a long time.
AYYY
shark girl POWAH UP.
>>
>>1966581
>You feel Tenkotsuki's concern as something wet trickles from your eyes, and you know instinctively that it isn't tears.

oof, gonna feel that one in the morning.
worth it, though.
>>
>>1966581
Man, Kurohitsugi chant is metal as fuck
>>
>>1966606
you should've seen the chant used for Hado #99. Homebrewed by Queen himself since there was no official canon incantation.


>“Imperishable flame, blade of ice, seal of blood, curse of the earth, promise of Heaven. Arise from the cold black tide, descend with a crash that shakes the world asunder!”
>>
>>1966606
>>1966613

Nah, I still have to give it to Kurohitsugi, that chant is the best.

And Stand Up Be Strong for Halibel's moment to overcome her limits against the Black Coffin is the perfect accompaniment.
>>
>>1966613
That's also metal as fuck, clear and concise as well with a nice hint of deeper meaning.
>>
>>1966638
You know, come to think of it, what better place for halibel's rebirth than within the black coffin?
Perhaps this too was a keikaku.
>>
>>1966652

After what looks to everyone like a very earnest attempt to kill Halibel, it'd be pretty sweet if the two of them share a sisterly embrace just to reaffirm and demonstrate that there's no hard feelings being held.

Also while they're in their released states. The unstoppable power that feels like the pressure at the bottom of the ocean is just them engaging in maximum hug.

Not their fault almost no one else can stand to that much hug...
>>
>>1966664
>not a hug, but a brofist that can shatter mountains
>>
>>1966581
What greets you looks a little like the Halibel you last saw as she disappeared mere moments ago, but on closer inspection there are many differences as well. In fact, she reminds you more of the way she looked when you first met her, when she was a Vasto Lorde. Her legs haven't changed much, if at all, and her torso is now covered in what appears to be some sort of grey substance, the sort of tones you might see on the skin of a shark. This covers her roughly in the same pattern as a competition swimsuit, with white plates still resting over her breasts and hanging over her hips like bony tassets. Her sword has decreased in size, shorter and slender like her original arm blade, and from her left shoulder fin hangs what looks like a loose-fitting grey sleeve that reaches down to her fingers... when she makes a fist her hand disappears into the sleeve altogether.

But the most obvious difference is her mask fragment, which extends up from her jaw to cover her face as it once did. You still can't see her hole, as it's covered by her “skirt”, but you notice her hand reaching to feel where it is.

Then she looks at you.

The blade bites deep, even with the protection of your Shunkō.

“Tia!” you shout, grabbing her around the right bicep. “I never intended to hurt you, so please calm down!”

The look in her eyes changes in an instant, from pure determination to survive to shock, then to remorse.

“I... lost myself... for a moment.”

“Hey, that is okay,” you insist, reaching forward to embrace her. She takes an immediate step back.

“You should not touch me in this form,” she replies. “Please. It is difficult to explain, but it is important that you...”

“It's fine,” you reply, grasping your side where the blood now runs freely. You feel it now that your Bankai is ending and your blut has to take over the task of keeping you from bleeding out. “I understand, now that I'm getting a good look at it... it's remarkable. That would've taken the flesh right off me if I wasn't careful.”

“I... must rest,” Halibel replies. The sharkskin material flakes away rapidly as she seals her zanpakuto, then collapses into your arms. “That took quite a bit out of me.”

“That's fine,” you tell her quietly. “You rest. I'm gonna get this bleeding stopped.. then I think I'm gonna follow your example and fall over.”
>>
>>1966682
We're going to obliterate aizen's asshole
>>
>>1966682
And that's it for now! Thanks for coming back, and hope you didn't mind the rather abrupt timeskip to the next "big thing". This coming week I'll probably come back and do Apacci's segunda, but aside from that it's gonna have to wait for next week when the plot should lurch forward again.

Archive's right where it was, and I'll hang around for questions and clarifications.
>>
>>1966675
>and their forearms too.
>both of them will feel that in the morning as well.
>but the pain pales in comparison to the feeling both of them share described in one phrase.
>"Yatta."
>>1966682
D'aww
>“That's fine,” you tell her quietly. “You rest. I'm gonna get this bleeding stopped.. then I think I'm gonna follow your example and fall over.”
Both of them really act like they're soul sisters half the time.

>You still can't see her hole, as it's covered by her “skirt”, but you notice her hand reaching to feel where it is.
No more Hollow hole? Pls tell me there's no more Hollow hole.
>>
>>1966703
How bad was the overall panic of Seireitei when Riku and Harribel went and did their no-holds barred brawl in attempt to get Tia's Segunda?
Was it worse than Hado #99 panic?

>“You should not touch me in this form,” she replies. “Please. It is difficult to explain, but it is important that you...”
From what I can gather, Tia's passive aspect in Segunda is having "Shark-skin" is that correct?

>major pastebin updates?
>>
>>1966703
>To Gin: She got you that bad? I'll leave the question at that. Are you proud of having a pupil "graduate" in the"Art of the "Prank"?
>>
>>1966740
Correct. The gray patches basically shred anything they touch, or that strikes them. They cover her core and her left arm, letting her use it for defense or as a second natural weapon.

And that's only their secondary purpose.
>>
>>1966760
Come on you tease, you know you want to. Give us a full rundown, what can she do like that.
>>
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>>1966760
>This covers her roughly in the same pattern as a competition swimsuit
How much coverage? Is it like modern full-body olympic swimsuits (right side of pic related)? or is it the typical one-piece you'd see on the beach (middle image of pic related)?
>>
>>1966798
Sorta between right and center. It extends down to the "skirt" backing her bony tassets, but not past her knees.
>>
>>1966990
I see, it's just Tia in standard Resurrecion but add the mouth covering shark mask, a sharkfin-half-cape on her left arm, a more slender bone sword, and giving her a swimsuit to cover the bare skin not covered by the hollowbone and then call it a Segunda.
>>
>>1967158
Well, the "sharkskin" is a part of her body, but yeah, basically. Instead of going skimpy like most fanart segundas for her tend to I went back to her Vasto Lorde form and incorporated aspects of that.
>>
>>1967203
do you have a good idea for Apacci's Segunda?

Also, how does Gin feel about Neliel becoming a master in "Art of the Prank"? Proud? Is Neliel gonna have a hobby of pulling pranks on others too?
>>
>>1967275
I have an idea, it's a matter of opinion whether it's good.

And I wouldn't say "mastery", more a general competence and a little luck.
>>
>>1967294
How many attempts did Neliel take before finally nailing it with a clean getaway?
>>
>>1967365
About three times a day for several weeks.
>>
>>1962351
I just want to see that even hours after I first read this, there is a profound amount of gravitas in the Vasto Lorde kneeling to Riku.

Her power is part of the reason, but if Riku had been unworthy Halibel would have fought to the death before she bowed her head. Instead it's Riku's declared ideals that finally tip the scales and make Halibel swear her fealty.

The dialogue and fight with Yamamoto was also excellent, even if Shunsui was just sorta there, conflicted though her may be. But to be honest, the fallout on both sides of that scene are probably more interesting than the fight itself.

Yamamoto is defeated and disarmed low by a mere Lieutenant, and Seireitei reacts to that.

Riku is all but declaring war, and in the process has already started to build an army.

And the Royal Guard is left in a profoundly awkward position.
>>
>>1967454
>Then your right fist collides with the steel, and you hear the sharp ringing sound that all swordsmen dread as the asauchi snaps.

What's the cringe meter (from 1 to DEAR GOD NO) for the sound of a Zanpakuto snapping in two for the general public in Seireitei? Has that ever happened before in Seireitei?
Does the sound of a Zanpakuto snapping in twain illicit chills in Oetsu?
>>
>>1970451
With the shit Oetsu does on a regular basis I'm sure one of his silly potential for everything swords breaking in a way that it could easily be fixed isn't that high on his radar of bad juju.

Breaking a bankai on the other hand is a crippling thing that can't be easily fixed. That'd probably get his attention.
>>
>>1970451
It's nauseating, on a deep, primal level.

Oetsu literally doesn't care if an asauchi breaks. They're supposed to be hard-use tools. When a shikai breaks it's unfortunate, but neither unusual nor unrecoverable: he does however have certain favorites that have earned more of a notice over the years. For example he's actually rather fond of Zabimaru.

A Bankai breaking is a rarity, and that usually gets to him unless its owner was a special kind of prick.




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