Flames of Fate [Tsubine/Hono]

Tsubine was an odd yakuza boss. This was epitomized today by him joining some of his men on a patrol. They were mostly patrolling and surveying undeveloped land away from the main population center of District 66. The weather was slightly overcast, but it didn't look to threaten rain. Tsubine was speaking to his men about the reconstruction and how life has been since the Incursion. Everything was turning out good...

The hair on Tsubine's neck stood up moments before the telltale wail of a Hollow echoed across the landscape. Tsubine never understood why they call out like that. It was telling normal souls to run. It was also telling people like him where the target was. Thankfully, this one was close—a two-armed and four-legged silhouette rose from the trees to Tsubine's left. As the shape coalesced, it was clear it had been recently attacked. Was that wail one of pain? No matter. The members of the patrol drew swords and iron-tipped clubs and circled their boss. "Chairman, stand back."

Tsubine frowned. He felt the Hollow's reiatsu—and he could tell that it wouldn't be much for him to deal with this. The men around him, however, might have problems. Tsubine placed a hand on the patrol leader's shoulder and began walking past his allies and towards the Hollow. "Nah, you stand back. I'll be able to handle this." He was feeling a little adventurous today. His coattails billowed as his Reiatsu flared. Placing a hand to the scabbard at his waist and one on the sword's handle, he sighed with satisfaction. "I've been bored as of late. This might alleviate that." Tsubine crouched and the flaring stopped. He went still. A small, distinct click signaled the start—a deafening roar followed. Tsubine rocketed through the air, propelled seemingly by the sheathed sword at his hip.

Tsubine soared through sky and attempted to smash the Hollow's face in with the endcap of his Zanpakutō. However, the Hollow was not as dumb as he thought it to be. With an oddly-agile dodge, the Hollow slid out the way of the flying Shinigami. He let out a small curse as he landed. The sound of metal grinding against stone caught Tsubine's attention. The callout of a Zanpakutō release had him adjust his grip in anticipation of a potential third-party attack. It didn't come.

The patrolmen were all falling back, seeing this thing was out of their league. Tsubine glanced over at the magenta Shinigami. The first thing he eyed was the Zanpakutō. It was different from what he expected from modern Shinigami. He thought the era of the physical Zanpakutō was coming to an end. "Cool-looking Zanpakutō." Tsubine undid a small clasp at the mouth of the scabbard with a flick of his thumb. "You go high; I'll go low." He didn't wait for her to reply or even comprehend the order before starting the fight again.

Tsubine repeated his Reiatsu pulse from before. However, he did not go flying this time. Instead, he began running towards the Hollow—a smile wide across his face. He dodged an incoming stomping-stab from the Hollow's pointy feet. He never left the ground as he charged in—his sword still sheathed at his hip. As he neared the two right legs of the beast, Tsubine stopped. "Ichizu."


Tsubine swung the sword with the force of his Reiatsu propelling the blade out of the sheath. The first leg was easily severed. The second was hit with a wave of reiatsu that likely tore it out-of-socket. Most importantly, it knocked the Hollow off-balance. "All yours, pinky!" Tsubine called out—not quite thinking of how insulting that might be.

The Hollow did not appreciate its prey being so apt at destruction. One leg gone. One leg useless. A large gash left by that Zanpakutō. It was obvious the plan wasn't working. The Hollow let out another wail. It was echoed by a second, muffled wail. Tsubine tried to see where it was coming from. It dawned on him as the Hollow propped its torso up with only its arms. "...Oh that's just not fair." Tsubine stepped backwards as the Hollow's legs moved in the opposite direction. It was, in fact, two Hollows.

Tsubine did not re-sheathe his sword. He didn't have time to do another Ichizu. The leg-Hollow re-oriented itself from doing a crab walk to standing on the two good legs. The third leg re-socketed with another disgusting sound. It began jabbing at him with its pointed foot. Tsubine deflected and blocked, but this only enraged the Hollow. It dug one leg into the ground and began using two of the sharp feet to stab at him. The onslaught of kicks kept him pushed back. I need range.

Tsubine was still curious about one thing. This pink Shinigami wasn't the one that caused the existing wounds on this Hollow from what he could tell. So who—or what—did? He'd need to send someone in that direction to see if there were any clues. Not now. He needed to focus on the fight at hand. Tsubine stood out of range of the Hollow and noticed something. The missing leg-arm was re-growing. He had to end this quick. "Praise." Tsubine held his sword out to the side. The blade's solid form warped and shifted until it was a liquid. Different shapes of mercurial globules traveled the length of the former blade. With a shift in thought, they reconvened and formed a simple flail with a few yards' worth of chain. "Kōgin Reimei." After a few spins above his head, Tsubine sent the flail towards the leg-Hollow's center.

The torso-Hollow was aggressive in a different way. Its bisected waist slid off and landed with a squelch. It charged on its arms towards Hono, trying to trample her. It let out another wail as it neared. And if it was able to go past... it just continued. This one, at least, was trying to preserve itself...

This was a strange tag-team battle.

On her side of the battlefield, Hono would find that the Hollow wasn't the most agile. Although it had built up some speed, the Hollow was unable to react to Hono jumping up. It tried to skid to a stop, but the momentum was too much. It was severely wounded by the fireball of Kidō. As it tried to turn around and pivot, the Hollow would see only one thing—a ball of pink and her cleaver. Hono's Zanpakutō struck true and the Hollow fell, defeated. It tried to make one last yell as it faded away...

Tsubine was ill-suited to fighting the spike-armed Hollow. He didn't have too many ranged options in his arsenal, and he was going through what might work better. The torso-Hollow's mad dash towards Hono had toppled a tree as it collided—and a lightbulb almost appeared over his head. He had a plan. With another wind-up and swing, Tsubine sent the flail out once more. It hit square-on, wobbling the Hollow. The spikes remained impaled in the Hollow's flesh this time. Tsubine smirked. It was going to work. With a twist of the hilt and a small hop, Tsubine was dragged towards the flail as the chain retracted.

This flail-like Zanpakutō once belonged to a seated officer who had died in a similar fight. Kōgin Reimei had connected with it as the two bifurcated a Hollow from opposite directions. During the fight, Tsubine saw the original wielder use this technique to move around the battlefield, but not like this... This was a gamble only he would make. Tsubine was drawn in at an alarming rate of speed. The Hollow's arm finished re-growing. The three arms were extended, braced for impact on a charging foe.

"You thought."

The flail melted away. The liquid metal returned to the hilt of Tsubine's Zanpakutō before reforming into an oversized, jousting lance with a sharpened point. The Hollow's arms bounced off the curved cup-like hilt guard. His jacket was torn, but that was an easy fix. What was not... was the gaping hole through the leg-Hollow's face. It began breaking down soon after going still. Taking a moment to breathe, he soon called out to Hono. "You okay over there, miss Shinigami?"

Tsubine liked her spunk. More than that, he was glad to see that his escorts and the few civilians around were fine. The silvery-liquid of his Zanpakutō returned to a solid form. With a flourish as if casting off blood, he sheathed it once more. He walked over to Hono without much rush. Extending a hand, he introduced himself in a way that mimicked her own. "Tsubine. Community Outreach."

"You did pretty well back there." He thumbed in the (wrong) direction she fought in. "Though I can't say I'm surprised. All these new Shinigami the Gotei has sure seem to be somethin' else." He chuckled and shook his head before changing the subject. "Were you the one fighting it earlier? When it came out of the trees there, it already looked like it had been in a fight." Tsubine hoped she was. Otherwise, there was likely either something else back in those trees or there were wounded (or worse) Shinigami... The last thing he needed was ill-gotten attention.