7It's been so long since I last posted a chapter. I am sorry about that, but I have been very very busy. On with the story!
Rsin the Emprahh 23: the Ancient Magus Bride was on of the first anime that showed me that there was more to watch beside fighting shows. It led me to watch shows that I doubt I would have even considered before.
There have been so many people who have said to me, 'you can't do that,' but I've had an innate belief that they were wrong. Be unwavering and relentless in your approach.
Halle Berry
Chapter 15
Christa's POV
Days had gone by since Elijah and I had our chat. During those days, I improved with leaps and bounds. I was able to keep up with Elijah's Shunpo with relative ease. Not only that, but I also started to work on my own techniques.
One technique required me to use Hirenkyaku as fast as I could to make afterimages. According to Elijah, the technique wasn't uncommon, but my version added an extra step. While I created the afterimages, I would also place small amounts of reishi into the clone. This allowed for it to take life and fire a single arrow. In the few days I had been practicing, I had managed to create a single clone. It was good enough confuse Elijah for a second, but he saw through it fast enough. I was disappointed, but it didn't stop me from trying again.
At the end of the week, I was able to create the afterimages with ease, but I faced a new problem. I couldn't quite figure out how to place reishi inside the clones fast enough. It seemed simple enough, but apparently there was still some physics involved. It was a lot like trying to hit a target with a ball while going the speed of sound. If I didn't hit it just right, I would miss and the reishi I had gathered would dissipate.
Luckily for me, I had other ideas to practice while I tried to think up a solution. One of my other ideas was changing the appearance of my bow. My bow was great and all, but it had its limits. I wanted something that I could fire with one hand. That is when I decided on a crossbow. It could be fired with one hand, it was easier to aim, and it would be easier to run with.
I had managed to shrink the bow down, but the smaller it got, the more erratic it became. Em said that what I was attempting was extremely advanced. With that said, I was striving for that to be my goal.
At the end of the day, I was improving my Hirenkyaku and little else. As the old saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Part of me wanted to prove myself to Elijah and Em, the other part want to prove myself to me.
Doppel's POV
"Alright, Fujikawa, spill it; That was no ordinary Hollow! You knew that didn't you!" I yelled as soon as I slammed the door shut.
"I did." the man replied simply.
"And you really do know about those people, right?" I continued.
"I do."
"Well?"
"And it is none of your concern. Focus on your training, not on some fairy tale mages."
"Look, the Princess may fall for this crap, but I won't! Tell me what you know about those guys!" I finished. I glared at the man for several long seconds, before he finally relented.
"They are from the organization Break. They are an order that existed long before the Quincy, and like the Quincy they were nearly wiped out by the Soul Society. If they are making an appearance now, then it is because they believe they have the power to strike back at the Soul Society."
"And they use real magic? Not the rabbit out of hats stuff?"
"Yes."
"This day is getting weirder and weirder." I said with a sigh.
"We will have to up your training. Break is a very dangerous group when they have a goal. They cannot be taken lightly." Fujikawa stared at me for a few seconds before he continued. "You will also have to talk with Kurosaki. You were out of character."
"Little hard to be in character when you're fighting for your life." I retorted.
"Still, it would be simpler if he or any of the others knew about what has transpired."
"Don't worry about it. Makes your hair turn gray. I can already tell that she is learning. Soon, she'll be out again to challenge me. Unfortunately for her, I do not plan to allow her to have control again. Maybe it would be good to tell them about what happened so they can get used to the idea of me being in control."
"I doubt they would be ok with that. Especially with your attitude." Fujikawa said bluntly.
"Tsk, whatever." I huffed.
Later in the morning, it was time for me to go to school. I was hoping Kurosaki forgot what about how I was talking yesterday. That was the last thing I needed. Turns out, he wasn't there this morning. I sighed in relief and prepared to get my books out for class. As I looked around, I noticed that there were a few people missing. Rukia, as well as Chad, and Orihime was also gone. The only one here was Uryu.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"There was an attack last night. It ended badly. Rukia was injured. As for the others, I do not know what is happening. I believe Chad went to train with Urahara and Ichigo just disappeared. Orihime stayed home today."
"I see. So it is just us superior beings here today." I joked.
Uryu pushed up his glasses. He then studied me carefully. "Yes, I suppose it is."
"Something wrong?" I asked feigning concern. I hated all of this acting, but I had to keep up looks.
"No, it is nothing. We should take our seats. Class is about to begin."
"Yeah, good idea." I replied. Moments later, the teacher came in and instructed us to open our books.
The walk back to Fujikawa's was uneventful. I didn't feel any Hollows at all. Hell, there weren't even any punks to beat on. Their was this one kid on the opposite side of town that would have been really fun to beat up on. What was his name? Yusukia? Yusuke Something? I don't know, doesn't matter since he is on the other side of the city and I didn't know what he looked like. On top of not getting a good fight, I was also late. Which meant Fujikawa would be pissed off. Not that he was ever not pissed off.
Fujikawa launched into another combo of slashes as he placed me on the defensive. The man was a master swordsman if nothing else. He was able to deflect, dodge, or cancel out any attack I threw at him. Because of that, he was able to easily get within my defenses.
His sword narrowly missed my cheek. I could almost feel the cold steel of the thin blade as it passed by. When Fujikawa first summoned the rapier, I was shocked and relieved. I thought that there was no way for him to get close to me. Now, I was thankfully if I could just get away from him.
"Your Hirenkyaku is getting faster." Fujikawa commented.
"Yeah, I've noticed. I guess the Princess is actually learning something." I replied coldly.
"You should be happy."
"Why? Yours is still faster by a factor of ten. You could hit me anytime you want."
"True, but you should still be happy about your success. Christa is only learning the moves. You are the one making her faster, stronger, and more resilient."
"Don't remind me." I growled.
"I think we will end training for the day. You may have the rest of the day to do with as you please."
Unlike the Princess, I wasn't repulsed by doing research. As soon as I could, I grabbed the scooter and began going off to the library. It was a longshot, but it was worth wasting a little time.
It turns out that Japanese history was filled with magic, from demons, sea monsters, and goblins, to mythical swords, caves, and kings. The problem was that the woman from Break looked either Western European or American. That in and of itself wasn't a problem; the true problem was that the library I went to had very little in terms of American and European history books. They had books that gave brief overviews of those places, but no in depth studies of those lands or their legends and mythos. When I asked the librarian, finding one that spoke English was a chore in its own right, she told me that only the universities would have in-depth research studies of the subject.
Aggravated, I headed for the main entrance. There are only a few feelings worse than knowing that you wasted your time on a wild goose chase.
"I did not expect to see you here Miss Parks."
"Uryu? What are you doing here?" I asked, quickly assuming my goody-goody voice.
"I requested a book on the latest sewing techniques and it came in today." Uryu explained as he pulled the book out of a small plastic bag. "May I ask what brought you to the library today?"
"I was looking for books over history of magic. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be very many books over the topic." I replied.
"Odd, Japanese culture has a plethora of stories and legends concerning magic."
"Let me rephrase that. I am looking for books that study the history of magic in Europe. Like I said, there doesn't seem to be a lot of books here.
"I see," Uryu said as he pushed up his glasses. "I believe, that I may be of some service. While I am not an expert on the subject, I believe I know a place that would have the materials you are looking for."
"Really? That's great! That means that I didn't waste my time coming up here!" I said with actual excitement.
"Come with me."
Uryu, led me through the streets of Karakura until we came upon a small game store. Not like a video game store, but a game store that sold games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer.
"I hate to tell you this, but I want to learn the history of magic. I don't want to learn how to yell fake spells." I said as we headed inside the store.
"Trust me. The owner will be very helpful." Uryu said.
"I didn't take you for a role-playing type." I said with a smirk.
"I have dabbled in it."
Christa's POV
Elijah watched over me like a hawk over a mouse. My right foot slipped behind me out of anticipation. This was a battle of whits and I prayed that I could out wit the twelve year old version of my brother.
I sprung forward with newfound speed catching Elijah off guard. Unlike most Quincy I decided to devote at least part of my training to close quarters combat. While listening to Em and Elijah, I heard far too often about the Quincy being defeated because of having little hand-to-hand fighting experience. I didn't want that to be my weakness as well.
As soon as I was in range, I twisted on my front leg, and delivered a swift kick with my front leg. The kick was blocked with the flat side of Elijah's Bowie knife. I continued with kicks and punches trying to knock him off balance.
Elijah, deflect the attacks with relative ease, before retaliating with a his own kick. He pushed enough force into it to launch me halfway across our hundred yard practice yard.
While in the air, I managed to flip myself around and fire back at him with my bow. The shocked look on his face made me ecstatic. I had actually caught him off guard. The arrows hit him, blinded him from my view. I knew that he was still willing and raring for a fight.
My last maneuver also proved to be a bad choice. I landed roughly on the ground; the impact knocked the air right out of my lungs. I quickly scrambled to my feet, but it was already too late. As I stood, my eyes met with a steel blade.
"Nice trick, but its not worth it if you can't recover and capitalize on it." Elijah said with a cheery smile.
"I didn't expect you to recover so fast." I panted as I finally stood up.
"Believe me, the real me wouldn't even have flinched. With that said, you did pretty well. If you had timed the landing just right, you would have been able to at least defend against me."
I shook my head out of frustration. Every time we trained, Elijah said the same thing. The bad part was that he was right. Every attack, every maneuver, every step had to be timed just right, or I would be dead.
"Don't worry about it too much. You have made remarkable progress. You are the best student I have ever had!" Elijah said happily.
"I am the only student you have ever had." I pouted.
"That's not the point. When you first showed up, you could barely hold a bow straight. Now, you're making in air maneuvers!"
"Thanks," I smiled softly. "I needed that."
"No prob! Now lets keep going!" Elijah shouted enthusiastically.
Doppel's POV
Uryu was right, the manger knew his stuff. He had an entire library of the subject and was more than willing to allow us to study them as long as we were careful not to read any of the spell that may be inside some of the books. I didn't take that too seriously. Spells being cast by someone that was using their own powers was one thing, but a spell that falls out of an old book was totally different.
Uryu and I sat at a large table in the back of the store. We poured over a dozen different books over the history of European magic. Uryu and I found the books interesting, but for different reasons. Uryu found the subject in general interesting. I found it interesting because of the parallels I had seen. The books talked about Golems from Jewish history and several witches that could control the hearts of men. It was vague and none of the books went very deep into the subjects but it was a start.
"If I may ask, why the sudden interest in magic? You have never expressed interest in fantasy before today."
"I fought someone the other day that was able to summon Golems out of the ground, and another that could summon people to fight for her."
"I see, and you believe that they were some sort of wizards?" Uryu asked.
"They had to be. What they were able to do was impossible." I replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure. The Shinigami have several members that can summon other beings to their aid."
"They weren't Shinigami. That much was obvious. They didn't have Zanpakuto and their clothes were all wrong."
"That does not mean that they were not Shinigami." Uryu pointed out.
"Yeah, well they didn't have any spiritual pressure either. It was like they didn't even exist. Ichigo and I didn't even know that they were there until after they had captured our target.
"Kurosaki is hardly a good witness. He can't even sense his way out of a wet paper bag." Uryu scoffed.
"Even when they attacked, I couldn't feel a thing from them. Like I said, it was like they didn't exist." I answered as my patience wore thin.
Third Person POV
The meeting hall was silent as the ten most powerful individuals in Soul Society awaited the arrival of a long lost comrade. The air was thick with uncertainty. The one being summoned was a former scientist, and one of great power.
The doors flew open as guards walked in with the woman. She was Japanese to be sure, but she was strangely tall. Her black hair fell to her shoulders. She wore a pure white kimono that fell to her ankles.
"Head Captain Yamamoto, it has been a while." the woman spoke with a grim smile.
"Hikari Parks. You are here by reinstated as a member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. You are to report to Squad twelve for your assignment as well as the release of your powers as a Shinigami." the head captain said.
Anger flashed in Hikari's eyes. Her gaze fixated on the Head Captain. "After all of these years of being an exile, you dare call me back into active service? What right do you have to do this?" Hikari said while trying to reign in her voice.
"A lot has happened since you left the Soul Society. You were one of the last to work on Project Mythos. As such, your knowledge is needed for the coming battle with the group known as Break."
"Break?" Hikari asked out of confusion.
"Break is the remaining wizards that came to us from another world. They are looking to destroy the Soul Society because of the research you performed two hundred years ago." Jushiro Ukitake explained.
"I see," Hikari said bowing her head. "So you want me to stop the very people I helped to escape."
"It is your duty to eradicate all enemies of the Soul Society. You will complete this task. We do not have the resources to nor the information to combat such a foe efficiently."
"You sure it doesn't have anything to do with the rogue captain Sosuke Aizen?" Hikari asked.
Yamamoto's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Sosuke Aizen presents a bigger threat than a group of magic wielders."
"Apparently Break is a bigger threat than you are letting on since you kidnapped an exile to deal with them." Hikari replied.
"You have your orders, and I will not be back talked by a young pup like you. You are dismissed!" Yamamoto said as he turned and left the room.
Eight of the captains filed out of the room leaving Hikari, Jushiro and the ever flamboyant Shunsui standing alone. Hikari looked at the two captains with contempt. The thought of even being here angered her.
"Are you two going to make sure that I make it to the twelfth squad?" Hikari asked.
"It would be rude of us to let you bumble around the Seireitei by yourself." Shunsui said with a warm smile.
"I'm married remember? You can't charm me like some tenth seat. You had your chance two centuries ago." Hikari said with a glare.
Shunsui seemed put off by this pouting like a three year-old that didn't get his way. "Thanks for reminding me."
"Well, this certainly feels like old times." Jushiro laughed. "We should head to Squad Twelve. I am sure that Captain Kurosutchi will enjoy picking your brain."
"They made that maniac a Captain?" Hikari asked. The two captains only answered with a nod. "I'm sure that is all he wants to do. I cannot believe old man Yamamoto would even consider letting him out of the Maggots Nest. His ethics is sub par at best." Hikari glared at Jushiro who had just realized what he had said.
"Yes, well, Kisuke Urahara had something to do with that. When he became Captain, he made Kurosutchi is Lieutenant." Jushiro explained sheepishly.
"Come now, Hikari, I am sure you will get along just fine with Captain Kurosutchi." Shunsui said definitely not wanting to be in her shoes.
"Shut it Shunsui. You don't want to piss me off right now." Hikari said with another soul crushing glare causing the man to shrink back. "Let's just get this over with."
I hope y'all liked the chapter! If you have anything you would like to say be sure to comment or send me a PM! If you like what you are reading, be sure to smash that favorite/follow button. This is Shieldliger001 signing off!