In My Dream [Kizuna, Komugi, Ranma]

Now wasn't this fuckin' rich? Kizuna didn't mind traveling by any stretch of the imagination, of course, but she didn't like being dragged places, either. Thankfully, this was the sort of thing she lived for. She could feel the electricity in her veins, the rush of progress, evolution itself taking hold in the world-

It ecstasy like no other. She moved through the garganta so graciously offered by Kurosaki, and practically threw herself down at the earth below, only stopping when she was perhaps 20 meters above the ground. Sure, she could have stayed higher up. Had a better vantage point up there. But she couldn't see what she was doing, couldn't see the destruction that would breed new growth.

As she extended a single index finger, a blood-red cero forming at her fingertip, Kizuna's grin seemed to grow into something manic, inhuman, nearly malicious in just how earnest it appeared. The joy that showed in her eyes as the beam fired forward, cutting through countless buildings and taking plenty of lives, seemed outright alien.

The sounds of explosion tore the felid Shinigami from her peaceful slumber, mere minutes before her alarm went off.

"This is Yadou, Fifth Seat of First Division! We are under attack!"

A hastily thrown on Shihakusho, the slamming open of her section's room door, the fervent knocking and instructing of every unit in reach to both mobilize and get others to safety. Her chest burned as her bare feet carried her across room to room with urgency and determination.

"Remain calm! Locate threats! If you are able to defend then do so, if not then focus on getting yourselves and others to shelter!"

Her hell butterfly, any communication device, person - anything she could use to spread the message quickly and clearly, they were utilized. Not even the occasional shake of the ground got her to stumble. She had to get everyone on the same page immediately-!

Her head slowly turned as a glint of growing red caught her eye, the sight of a Cero plowing through buildings provoking her hand to grasp the handle of her Zanpakuto. A hallway of people were to be obliterated if she didn't move.

Breathe. Focus. An icy chill hit her blood as her sword split into two.

A loud crash hit the side of the hallway as the wall facing the incoming blast was torn apart - not by the Cero's blast, but the interception of those life-sapping flames. Wicks of blue dotted the newly destroyed construct before her, a bloodied maw carved through a multitude of structures to reveal the one responsible. Her eyes were wide, pupils so large they almost eclipsed her irises.

Her head whipped to the shocked crowd, "Don't just freaking stand there, get outta here! Run that way!" She'd shout, waving her blades to point them to keep going, "Move! Move! Move!"

A sizable jump with basic Hoho sent her skipping across destroyed roofs, toward the assailant, her uniform loosely swaying over her night clothes as she was prepared to spill blood.

Ah, 13th Seat… safe to say, Ranma had made it big in the city. A Seated member of the Gotei United – what a fucking honor bestowed upon him! Of course, after letting the rest of the Division know of his promotion, the first thing on his schedule was to warm up for tonight’s toaster with Ko-

… Scratch that. The sky’s buttcrack opened itself way above, and all hell broke loose – the amount of foreign Spiritual Pressures that saturated the atmosphere was high enough to make a poor Shinigami like him nauseous. What and who? Why? What was going on?! Was this an attack on the Seireitei?! And why now?! Couldn’t they have chosen a later time?! Seriously?!

…

…

…

Ranma’s tipsy alcohol level completely disappeared once a beam had drilled through several constructs, a train-sized and unyielding ray of red light that was all too darn familiar. He’d recently had the displeasure of bullying a floating eye that loved spamming that shit… a Cero. That meant that the Spiritual Pressure he felt in the opposite direction was either a Hollow, or…

“EVERY-FUCKIN’-BODY, MOVE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!” he alerted his Division, skipping around with his pink, flower-painted gourd was tied to his waist by his sash, “Ranma, 13th Seat of Eighth Division! Shit’s going down – everybody, either find shelter or track down the… in… invad-“

People were already being on the move. Members had been on the move. “…” He wasn’t the only Seated member present, after all, so this was to be expected, but now he felt awkward-

Oh wait, the Cero! He had experience dealing with those – that was where his expertise was needed. Following the holes it made through the walls, Ranma gagged at the sight – this was seriously the worst thing yet. A sudden ambush, and they had already taken this many lives… way to initiate his first active duty as a Seated Shinigami.

…

“Bakudō #4: Hainawa,” Ranma chanted with bloodshot eyes, clapping his hands together and generating a yellow ray that traveled out like a snare the moment the assailant came into view – not a Hollow, but some godless Arrancar who probably had a death wish. He was in no mood for small talk with this bitch – he just watched the yellow ray travel towards her, his eyes and heart filled with intent to swing her around like a yoyo. Though he wasn’t close, he’d at least catch her attention… or something.

"Yeah?"

Kizuna wasn't necessarily responding to any actual words spoken as she said that. It was only an incredulous, mocking exclamation as she saw the kido travel toward her. She didn't even point her finger toward the spell to counter it; one of her pylons simply pointed toward it, another cero bursting forward and overwhelming the Hainawa with sheer firepower.

"Listen up, chumps. You better not die here, eh? It'd be a real fuckin' disappointment if I came up here just to find out you shinigami can't show me some potential."

Pointing her finger upward, Kizuna's pylons all shot toward the sky, only stopping when they hovered far, far above the battlefield. Each of them began to charge a cero, but didn't fire just yet, their owner instead still watching her opponents as she raised a hand and brought up an impressive barrier of her A-Type Hierro.

"Well? Let's get to it. Show me you guys got it in you."

Ranma… wasn’t too sure what those pylon-looking things were from this range, but the veiny look in his eyes when it fired another Cero at his spell, completely overpowering it… so yeah, this Arrancar couldn’t just fire Cero from her hands. Cero, Cero, Cero, Cero, Cero, Cero, Cero, Cero-

“Stupid… shit… Cero… shit… filth… Cero… bullshit…” Ranma cursed under his breath as he got closer, only now taking in the detailed look of the ambusher – just in time to watch her pylons shoot up towards the sky, preparing what both looked and felt like an imminent rain of his absolute favorite Hollow attack ever! His gaze switched frantically between the threat from above and the immense Spiritual Pressure in front of him-

And anger only built up even more. Worse is, she even began patronizing them. “…” Ranma was just lost for words – he didn’t even have it in him to cuss out. However, he did know that he had to watch out for whatever she was charging above – probably a bunch of Ceros, if his gut feeling meant anything.

“This is… the fuckin’ worst… slow down, Hōkamaru!”

Unsheathing his Asauchi and holding it over his shoulder, its blade bent and manifested as a lavender khopesh, spiking Ranma’s Spiritual Pressure and finally letting him lock back in. She thinks her Ceros are soooooooo cool, huh? Try and shoot this down, then!

Grabbing his hilt with both hands, Hōkamaru’s blade lights up with flares of Reiatsu, causing the inscription on the side of the blade to glow as well.

Yone!

Ranma commits to a heavy slash in the air, releasing a crescent wave of Reiatsu towards the Arrancar. You could almost name it after a moon or something…

米, Yone (88-Year Old Rice):

She wished she was just a bit faster! Ugh, of course her ability in speed techniques had to suck, she could only manage the occasional blur forward to skip closer. The waning glow of sunset made her steps a little less sure and her mind foggier, but she pressed on anyway - no weakness to sunlight was stopping her from taking on this villain! The tap of tiles against her feet were the only noise she made as she approached through rubble and blood, hands tightly gripping her swords, blinking at the appearance of a thwarted Kido - good! Someone was engaging the Arrancar... She had backup!

Oh no, wait, she had to be careful with her abilities then... Ugh, she'll make it work!

From another angle she darted toward her target, blades ready to deliver a fiery blow to the almost... Beckoning? Enemy before her. Her controlled breath drew in slowly as she kicked off a platform and directly for the Arrancar, her blades pressed together in a folded grasp, her golden eyes wide and focused with a sure look on her face, as a yowling call could suddenly erupt from her,


"B'YANKAIIII!"

Her shrill war cry would rip through the coming of twilight, her body engulfing in brilliant blue flames cold as the rising moon. Her swords merged into one large Odachi that looked too large for her, too difficult to manage. Yet she would swing that blade over her head with incredible expertise as she rushed toward the Arrancar, aiming to lay a giant burst of frigid flames to burst through the Arrancar's defenses in a frenzied rush.

"Wow, right to the release! Good on ya, let's not fuck around!"

Crossing her arms, Kizuna raised her head and looked toward the two shinigami, her hat flying off her head as her spiritual pressure exploded outward.

"Change! Emperador Primera!"

She needed not even raise her hands to meet the attacks flying toward her. She could respect the two of them trying that approach, and maybe if she'd been a little weaker, or a little slower, it would have worked just fine. But Kizuna was anything but weak, and she pointed her finger forward as she bit her own lip, not only out of earnest enjoyment, but so as to draw blood, her eyes growing manic in their excitement for what was about to come.

"Ray Arc!"

A Gran Rey Cero burst from Kizuna's fingertip, the violent and unrefined form of the beam cascading toward Komugi first, and by extension, into much of the surrounding terrain. However, the Ray Arc wasn't such a simple attack, and the Arrancar swiped her hand upward toward Ranma, the beam swinging toward him like a whip and leaving a trail of carnage in its wake. Few Arrancar had the ability, the mastery, to utilize a single cero so effectively.

But Kizuna, in her own opinion, had so much more to show.

Huge, fucking wave in the distance. Ranma could tell that all hell had broken loose over there, too - he could feel his heartbeats up in his ears, too. Ain't no way he could aid over there - not when he had his hands full with this Cero-slut.

Wait- hold up-

Byankai? Wait, that was Squad 1’s feline mascot! And she went straight into Bankai! Shit, finally! Ranma wasn’t hectically fighting a losing bat-

*BRRRRRRRRRRZ*

That change in pressure caused his skin to shrivel and his hair to rise. She even called forth her own power, forming a ring of rope behind her back along with a burst of lightning over her arm – was that an Arrancar’s Zanpakutō? So what she basically did was…

“KOMU!!!”

The large spiritual pressure alone put Ranma on ‘flight’ mode, witnessing the large, blinding blast of Reishi shoot out from the Arrancar’s finger! Even though it aimed for dear Komugi first, the shockwave from its charge alone pushed back the air, slapping Ranma in the face too. There was no time to worry about that sudden push, however – the beam was quickly swung up towards him like a whip, something he’d never seen before! It wasn’t that she just redirected the beam-

She bent that shit like pasta! How the fuck-

“Bakudō #39: Enkōsen!” Ranma shouted in a frenzy, manifesting a yellow beam of light about a few meters long that begun to spin and manifest as a disc of Reishi. He aimed the disc downwards to use as a shield, but the bent mega-Cero pushed him back as if he was a leaf getting blown off by a leaf-blower! It likely would’ve shattered to pieces if the Cero was aimed directly at him, but even like this, cracks began to form on the disc he now rode on like a surfboard.

Did Hōkamaru even slow her down at all?! How fast are those Ceros?! The floating eyeball got nothing on this cunt! I can’t survive one of those straight to the face!

Also, why was he using Bakudō #39?! Why was he still such a pussy, not using the higher-numbered Bakudō spells?! GET A FUCKING GRIP, ALREADY!!!

What was that tone?! Was this just a game to this lady? It made her all the angrier and more determined to strike this woman down, the audacity to attack without any form of declaration... That kind of dirty move got under her damn skin, to act all confident when they had to catch them unawares?

Oh crap.

That Cero came barrelling toward her attack, smashing against her flaming sword as her haori fluttered against the force, the strain on muscle and bone rapidly becoming too much, she had to get out of the way..! Shit, shit if she wasn't careful she'd be screwed..! This lady wasn't a joke...

As the force of the attack pounded on her, she had to push herself away, springboarding herself backwards as the terrain around her was blown away from the force of the attack, minor burns present on her furred body as she witnessed the attack arc away from her and to... Wait, wasn't that one of the thirteenth seats of eighth? Oh shit he was going to get hit-

Scrambling to her feet, she'd burst over to him in a massive hurry, head spinning as she'd rest the flaming sword on the sheath over her shoulder to permit both of her arms to be free, even if they were licking with brilliant cold flames. Arms stretched out, her small body would crash into his torso, pushing him thoroughly out of the way of the Cero's incoming contact point. The two of them would only cease once they were beneath cover, at least for the moment.

"Ah shit, shit, you alright? You aren't on fi- Woops." She quickly patted out a tiny flame that had started eating at his shoulder, "Okay we don't got time for this, we need ta figure something out fast... Kay she seems to be pretty strong, and Cero-happy... Uh, you got anything against that? What was that attack you were doin'?"

"Tsk tsk. What are you two doing, hiding? That's not what we're here for!"

Internally, Kizuna was keeping stock of everything that had come her way. She could sense that whatever the boy had done to her wall of hierro wasn't something she wanted to be hit with directly; she'd have to stay on the defensive, then. But, for now, she'd just have to keep the two opponents on their toes. After all, if she gave them too much time to think, it'd be going easy on them.

Snapping her fingers, the welling energy in her pylons in the sky seemed to burst, discernable across the battlefield as a welling red sphere formed at the end of each of them.

"Volitant..."

Each of the pylons unleashed a Gran Rey Cero downward, the beams twisting through the air like lightning. Splaying her fingers outward as she shot her arms forward, Kizuna's grin grew all the wider, the ring which floated behind her rotating to her front and resting in front of her hands.

"BUSTER!

The six Gran Rey Cero split suddenly, each one into dozens of smaller beams that moved with the same violent speed. No less dangerous, however, were the eight more Cero which shot from Kizuna's fingertips, made all the more catastrophically deadly as they passed through her resurreccion's ring, empowering them all the more. Hundreds upon hundreds of beams suddenly cut across the battlefield, or rained down on it like weapons of mass destruction.

She had no interest in the survival of the weak. She would snuff out every life that had no value.