Shadow Reapers

Hey all, I'm back, did you miss me? Or not even notice I was gone, tut tut XD

Kestrel

"No!" Kestrel screamed as her hand leaped out of its own free will, her fingers pointing at Audra's chest. Tears were running down her face but even through their liquid smear, she could see the look of pain, the look of fear on her friend's face.

"Destructive Art 33: Blue Fire!" Kestrel's voice screamed with another being's words and horrible blue flames licked at Audra's body but even through this ghastly apparition, still Audra's eyes shone with a fear and a hatred. 'How could you?' they seemed to demand.

Kestrel sobbed harder, burying her head deep in the pillow as the nightmare faded. She did not stir at first, trying to calm her beating hard and shaking body but then she rose and trudged about the room.

"Urahara's place," she said quietly, the salty tang of tears on her tongue.

Movement from downstairs caught Kes's eyes and she became aware of Stella leaving the building and at the same time, caught sight of Audra in another room. Her chest rose and fell lightly and her eyelids flickered. In a daze, Kestrel walked right up against the wall that she was looking through, pressing her body firmly against its solid side.

"Just a dream," Kestrel whispered. "I can't even do that fire thing..." but she knew it wasn't true. She hadn't had a chance to test them out yet but Urahara has mentioned other skills to her and the fire was one.

"I'll never use it, not ever," Kestrel decided vehemently an then began to dress.

"I'm afraid now is not the time to be wandering around outside," Urahara said.

"What do you mean?"

"It has only been half an hour since Tessai and I found you three passed out by your school. The Hollows are still everywhere."

A pang of fear shot through Stella's gut. "Kai is still out there, isn't he? And so is Ichidan."

Urahara nodded. "Don't worry about those two, they can handle themselves."

"So, why are all these Hollows showing up out of nowhere?"

"Has Kai or Ichidan told you about someone named Ishida?"

"Yeah, Kai mentioned him last night. Why?" Stella asked.

"It seems as though this is all Ishida's doing. He used a type of bait to lure a vast number of Hollows from Hueco Mundo and into this world."

Stella's eyes widened. "Why would he do that?"

"I'm not too sure, but whatever his reasons he is also out there fighting the Hollows."

"He's fighting, too?" Stella started to wonder how Ishida was able to fight Hollows, then she remembered Kai explaining how he was able to shoot spiritual energy like an arrow from a bow. "Kai mentioned how that guy was able to fight Hollows, just what exactly is he?" Urahara gave her the same explanation he had for Ichidan.

"How, that's harsh," Stella said. "I guess that makes this Ishida the last of his kind, or something." Urahara was scratching his chin and staring off into space. "What's up?"

He suddenly snapped his fingers. "Ah-ha! Now I know why you're energy felt so familiar."

Stella blinked. "What do you mean?"

Urahara explained, "When I first saw you I was able to sense your reiatsu. For some reason, it felt familiar. It was only until now that I was able to figure out where I had felt it the first time."

"And where did you feel it?" Stella asked.

"About 200 years ago, the last time I saw a Quincy."

"Wait a second," Stella said, her voice filled with shock, "are you saying that I'm a Quincy?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure. I suppose the only way you can find out is if you ask this Ishida person. If you are, then he can help you unlock your power."

Tessai came through the front door and said, "Manager, the crack in the sky has begun its contraction."

"Are we prepared?" Urahara asked.

"All set."

"Perfect timing." Urahara looked at Stella and said, "Would you be so kind as to wake your friends and bring them down here? There's something I need to show you all."

_________________________________

Elsewhere...

"I've finally found you, Ishida!" Kai said, his voice now angry. "I'm not going to let this go without knocking some sense into your thick head!"

Ishida narrowed his eyes. He then lifted her spiritual bow and aimed it at Kai. There was a loud thud behind Kai, but he didn't bother to turn around to see what it was. Ishida pulled back on his bow. Kai suddenly moved in the path of the shot. Ishida accidentally released the arrow and it went flying toward him. Kai lifted his large sword and slashed the arrow before it hit him, negating the attack. Then he turned around and chopped the Hollow in half.

Ishida was simply stunned, his surprise showed clearly in his face. Kai turned to him and said, "That's right. You do understand, right? This is a battle between you and me. So let's stop the whoever kills the most Hollows wins crap, and make it between just us!" Ishida just stood there, silent. "Say something, Ishida!"

"Hey, Kai!"

Kai turned to Kon and said, "What is it?"

"Look, the sky..."

Kai turned and saw a giant crack in the sky. It was like the sky was a giant painting on a stone surface and someone had taken a sledge hammer to the center of it. There was also a vast swarm of Hollows gathering around it in the sky. their howls echoed throughout the entire city. "What is that?"

"Hollows are gathering," Ishida said. He suddenly bolted, running toward the crack.

"Hold on!" Kai yelled. "There are too many of them!"

Ishida stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Are you scared, Okami? Because if you are, then just stay there and watch. In this battle, I'm the winner!"

(So, how are you guys liking the story so far? I also bet you never thought something like this would ever happen to our characters when we were writing in Be You, eh, Ayumi? I bet this is the first time anyone has ever taken a teen highschool drama story and turned it into something like this!)

Kestrel

In the next room, Audra was starting to rise and Kes forced herself to watch her movements. Audra stepped over to the mirror and began to brush her hair. Tears had dried across Kestrel's face and now her skin was pinched into a sad frown.

"These are the people who will be hurt if you make a mistake, Kes," she reminded herself, clutching the bed-covers tightly. Another figure reached the top of the stairs and stepped into Kestrel's line of sight. Stella approached the door slowly and her knuckles shook towards it, reluctantly. Stella paused and bit her lip, looking as if she wanted nothing more than to turn and leave. Kes found the action and expression confusing and wondered what could have happened to cause a rift between herself and Stella but she also felt the uncomfortable blanket of guilt at spying on her friend.

Stella knocked.

"Come in," Kes called. Stella stepped into the room and it seemed to dawn on her that Kestrel had been watching her actions. Kestrel couldn't seem to interpret the expression on her face; she was too inexperienced. She presumed it to be anger and looked away sadly.

"Urahara needs to see us," Stella said awkwardly. Kestrel nodded, biting her lip, her eyes still looking down, catching sight of Urahara below them in the hall.

"Audra too," Stella added.

"Want... want me to get her?" Kestrel asked.

________________________________________

I like it so far, it's been fun. I think the conflict between characters is getting interesting and the plot is working well.

(This is going to be another long post, but necessary for the story. Please bare with me.)

"It's okay," Stella said, "I'll get her."

She started to leave, but Kestrel asked, "Is something the matter?"

Stella paused for a moment, shook her head and said, "Why would something be wrong?" She tried to make her voice as cheerful as she could.

"Oh, okay..." Kestrel got out from under the covers and followed Stella out of the room. They brought Audra downstairs with them. Urahara was waiting patiently for them at the front door.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked. They all nodded. "Good. Please, follow me." They followed him out of the shop. They walked for a few blocks until they came to a pedestrian overpass that stretched across a six lane two-way street. "This is the spot," he said.

"What exactly are we supposed to find here?" Audra asked.

"You will see soon enough," Urahara said. "Despite what you all think, you have yet to decide which path to walk on. Soon you will see the full magnitude of the enemies Kai will have to fight, at that point you must choose. Do you want to keep fighting by his side, or do you want to play it safe and stay on the sidelines. The choice is yours, and before the day is over you will know the path you must walk." He turned around and began to walk away. "There is something I must do. Please, stay here and watch. No matter what happens, you must not get involved with this fight."
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Elsewhere...

A spray of blue bolts of energy flew into the sky, striking and killing the Hollows they hit. Some of the other Hollows looked to see where the shots had come from.

"This way, Hollows!" Ishida shouted, his energy bow poised for another attack. "The last Quincy, Ishida Uryuu, will be your opponent!"

"The last Quincy?" Kai asked.

"The Quincy became extinct 200 years ago," Ichidan explained. He shook his head before correcting himself. "No... To be more precise, they were terminated at the hands of Death Gods."

Kai's eyes went wide with shock. "What?"

Ichidan remembered his talk with Urahara earlier that morning....

"It was an extremely hard decision for the Death Gods to make," Urahara had told him. "The Death Gods had to terminate the Quincy to prevent the destruction of this world."

Ichidan continued, "In the Soul Society, Death Gods are commonly called the Balancers: coordinators of the spirit world. The sum of all souls between the Soul Society and the human world is always kept constant. And we, the Death Gods, are the ones who control the balance of souls between the two worlds. However, the Quincy appeared. The Quincy destroy Hollows completely. It means that the souls who left for the human's world from the Soul Society would never return. If we leave it as it is, the balance between the two worlds would collapse, and the worlds will be destroyed. Although there had been many meetings between the Quincy and the death Gods, the Quincy were too stubborn to listen to our complaints. And then the annihilation of all who were Quincy was ordered."


Ishida had moved a few blocks away to fight in a nearby park. He was currently surrounded by Hollows. One of them started to move toward him, but he shot it in the head with his arrow. "Damn it," he said. "The number just won't go down."

"Ishida!"

The Quincy looked over his shoulder. Shock quickly registered in his expression when he saw Hollow after Hollow being through into the air and disintegrating. He didn't even have to see to know who was attacking them. What recklessness! he thought.

Kai landed on one of the injured Hollow's head. The creature growled as it tried to move, but Kai stomped its head hard with his foot to keep it still. He was panting for breath when he said, "I've heard... your reason for fighting! Whether the Quincy were right or the Death Gods were right, I simply don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." He pointed at Ishida and yelled, "But one thing I do know, iis that the way you do things are-"

"It's just an old story," Ishida interrupted.

"...What?"

Ishida adjusted his glasses before saying, "I have no interests in the annihilation from 200 years ago. I've only heard about it from my grandfather. Plus, I did think that the Death Gods were correct in their decision of annihilation..." His eyes went very serious when he said, "Until my grandfather passed away right in front of my eyes." Memories of his last days with his grandfather flowed through his mind.

"I think the ones in the wrong were actually the Quincy who didn't bother to listen to the Death Gods' concerns," his grandfather had told him.

The nine-year-old Ishida asked, "Why? The Quincy were the ones who got completely destroyed."

"That's right, many have died. Once thousands of lives were lost, there was no use in thinking... about who was right and who was wrong. What we must think of is what we should do to prevent the same thing from happening again. It's hard, seeing sadness on the faces of humans or Death Gods.

"He was a kind man, who never hated or disliked others," Ishida told Kai before firing another arrow at a Hollow, effectively killing it. "My grandfather, as the last Quincy, was always under heavy surveillance from the Death Gods. Even so, he kept suggesting to the Death Gods, combine our strength and fight together. Kai simply stood there, listening to his story. "But the reply was always the same: Do not interfere with our jobs."

Ishida shot another arrow before continuing, "And then one day, five huge Hollows showed up. It was clear that they weren't opponents he could take on without the help of the Death Gods. It wasn't until two hours after the start of the battle when the Death Gods finally came." He turned to face Kai, His expression had turned into one of anger. "They could've come earlier, if they had acknowledged his strength and ideas." He squeezed his fingers into a tight fist until blood started to trickle down his knuckle. "And my grandfather might have lived on!"

His voice was calm when he said the next part, "Do you understand, Kai Okami? I have to prove the strength of the Quincy in front of the Death Gods." Kai started to walk slowly toward him. "I know that we have totally opposite ways of thinking. If you think that my way is wrong, then just stay there and watch. I will, with my own strength..." Kai suddenly lashed out and punched him in the side of the face. The hit was strong enough to knock Ishida to the ground.

"I can't take it!" Kai yelled. "So to summarize, what your grandfather wanted you to do is to fight side-by-side with Death Gods, not to merely prove the strength of the Quincy, right!?" He reached down and grabbed Ishida by the collar of his shirt. He pulled him up until they were eye-to-eye. "Well, if you aren't going to do that now, when else can you?" He released Ishida's shirt so he could stand on his own two feet. At which point Kai turned his back on the Quincy to face the Hollows. "Opposite ideas? So be it! When it's a fight with this many opponents, it's better to fight back-to-back!"

One of the Hollows suddenly jumped forward. Kai bolted, jumping and slashing it down the center of its body. Another Hollow rushed up, aiming to strike Kai while his back was turned. Ishida raised his bow of spiritual energy and shot down the creature. Movement to the right caused him to turn and see another Hollow approaching. He shot it just before it got too close. Another on of the creatures came up from behind the Quincy. When he turned around to see it, Kai had already struck it down.

"That's right!" Kai said.

Ishida moved so his back was facing Kai's. "Don't take it the wrong way; I would've been killed if I hadn't shot."

"That's all right," Kai said. "Kill or be killed. But alone, it would be too tough. So there is no other way. Isn't that reason enough to fight side-by-side?" Kai raised his sword as more Hollows began to approach from all sides. "I just want to defeat the Hollows."

"Why?" Ishida asked.

"...My girlfriend was attacked by a Hollow and almost killed." Ishida's eyes widened. "Is that the reason why you want to defeat Hollows, because they killed your grandfather? If you ask, then of course it is. I don't know how to put this, but I don't want other people to suffer like me. When my girlfriend was attacked, she ended up with a bad concussion. I stayed with her night and day, making sure her recovery went as smoothly as it could. Each and every minute I was afraid, because if I had been even one second late she would be dead right now."

Two Hollows pounced forward. Kai lifted his sword and slashed the first one down the center. He then turned to the next one and blocked its large claw with the flat of his Zanpakutou's blade. He used his strength to force the creature back before cutting it in half.

"I don't want to see that happen to anyone. More importantly, I don't want to see what would happen in the worst scenario, where someone would be killed. That's what I think!"

Hearing Kai's words, the words of Ishida's grandfather echoed in his mind, "It's hard, seeing sadness on the faces of humans or Death Gods..."

Kai continued, "I won't be able to say grand things like, 'I'll protect all the people in the world.' But, I'm not a shy person who wouldn't be able to say, 'I'll protect those who I can hold in my arms.' I want to protect mountains of people!" He looked over his shoulder at Ishida. "This battle idea that you brought up has involved those mountains of people. Don't screw with me!" He turned back to the Hollows in front of him. "But it's not time to say that. We can only fight together, right? What do you think?"

Ishida sighed. "My, my, your story was long, too." He raised his bow and readied another arrow. "But, I get it now. If we don't survive, there will be no one to fight against."

"Great!" Kai ran up to the nearest Hollow and went to cut it down the moment Ishida release his arrow. The fight went on for what seemed like ages, Kai cutting down Hollows with his Zanpakutou and Ishida shooting them down with his arrows of spiritual energy.

After a while, they paused to catch their breath. At which point Ishida called Kai's name. "Okami!" Kai looked over his shoulder to see the Quincy staring up at the sky. A horrified look was plastered across his face. "The sky is..."

Kai looked up, too. "The sky?" The crack he saw earlier was starting to split open. What lay on the other side looked to be some sort of dark place with white clouds flowing across it. Then he saw something move within it. "What is that?"

His heart skipped a beat as a giant white hand emerged from the hole in the center of the crack, then a second one. The hands grabbed the edges of the opening and began to stretch it open. The head of a colossal Hollow poked through the hole...

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Menos: http://www.freewebs.com/buudj/Gillians.jpg

Audra

I stood next to my friends, watching in horror as Hollow after Hollow appeared and then died. There were so many of them...and then the one coming through the sky...

But I can't back down. I can't walk away from Kai. I WON'T walk away from Kai.

My mind was made up.

Kestrel

"Why?" Kestrel asked, her voice trembling as she stared across the stretch of ground that separated them from Kai and Ishida. Her whole body shook with convulsions, with the urge to run that way and tears speckled her eyes. "Why can't I help?" This question was not addressed to Urahara but rather to the world in general, to the indefineable being that seemed to hold her where she stood, that seemed to infuse her with the strength to stay back.

"Why can't we help?" Audra demanded. Her eyes were wide with fear and her fists were clenched as if she intended to take on every hollow with her bare hands.

"You must not interfere," Urahara repeated, now almost out of human sight. Audra moved, her whole body jerking after him but automatically Kestrel caught her arm.

"No-" Kestrel whimpered. "You must not." Both Stella and Audra looked at her, their gazes feeling red hot with accusation to Kestrel. A sharp, acrid feeling in her gut told her she had to protect these two while she could and that she could do nothing for Kai or Ishida.

"We have to help Kai!" Audra insisted, trying to pull away from Kestrel but she held her still, clumsily pulling first Audra and then Stella closer, enclosing them in her arms. She sought to bury herself in their bodies but through their shimery auras still she saw Kai and the hollows fighting on.

"We must not interfere," Kestrel whispered with a chilling certainty and in her mind she thought 'I'll bind you if I must to keep you safe.'

(I wanted to wait for Stella to get her character's take on the situation, but it's already been about two days and we can't wait anymore.)

"Kes..." Audra just stood there, her friend's face buried in her and Stella's shoulder.

Stella looked at Audra and said, "Kes is right, we can't interfere. This is Kai's battle, this is something he has to do on his own."

"But, he could be seriously hurt!"

"So could we if we got involved," Stella said. "Do you think Kai could live with himself if he let anything else happen to you after that Hollow gave you a concussion?"

Audra opened her mouth, then closed it. She already knew the answer to that. Kai was probably still beating himself up about it, if anything else happened it might break something inside of him. She shook her head. "No, I don't think he could."

Stella smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Audra. I'm sure Urahara won't let anything terrible happen to him. Besides, he's not alone down there. Ichidan and Kon are down there with him, and that Ishida person is fighting with him, too. And you already know how strong he is on his own anyway. He'll be fine, I know it."

Audra nodded stiffly. "...You're right, you're right."

And so they stood there, watching as the events began to unfold.
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"It's huge," Kai said, staring at the creature as it emerged from the crack in the sky. It was easily taller than all the buildings in Toronto, even the CN Tower.

"There shouldn't be such an effect from that piece of bait," Ishida said.

"Don't say that now." A group of Hollows rushed them from behind. Kai only had enough time to think, Dammit! before they were within arm's reach. Before they attacked, however, a spray of what looked like orange bullets of energy struck each and every one of them. The attack took out most of the Hollows, and the ones that were still alive were rendered incapacitated.

When the smoke cleared he saw Ururu from Urahara's shop holding a strange weapon on her shoulder. The end of it was still smoking as eight holes glowed from within. The weapon was obviously a Gatling gun of some kind. Bandages were wrapped around the weapon. Ururu set down the gun for a minute and said, "H-Hello..."

"Jinta Homerun!!" Four Hollows were suddenly thrown into the air. Jinta, the other kid from Urahara's shop, was also fighting. He was using a metal mace type weapon that was shaped like a baseball bat, with the bat portion being extremely exaggerated in size.

The next person they saw was Tessai, the large man that was usually serving them tea whenever they visited Urahara. He fought the Hollows hand-to-hand. He had his sights set on a particularly unlucky Hollow. He lifted his arm and struck the creature in the face with the palm of his hand. Using the momentum from the strike, he pushed the Hollow's head to the ground. When it reached the ground, Tessai's hand went straight through the creature's head. Black blood splattered all over the grass.

A familiarly cheerful voice called out to Kai. "Kai, we came to give you a hand!" They turned to see Urahara waving at them from a few yards away.

Both Kai and Ishida were surprised by this sudden turn of event. Neither of them had been expecting anyone to come to their aid. "Urahara!"

Jinat and Ururu went to work clearing out the park of Hollows, and they did it at a speed that could match Kai and Ishida's fighting skills put together. Urahara merely stood where he was, fanning himself with his paper fan. "We'll take care of the garbage," he told them, "so you, Kai Okami, can concentrate on fighting that guy." He pointed to the giant Hollow that was emerging from the crack in the sky. "My bad, there is no time to waste."


Elsewhere, Ichidan and Kon were staring up at the sky at the monstrously large Hollow. "Wh-What is that thing?" Kon asked, worried.

"Menos!' Ichidan replied.

"Menos?"

"It is said to be born from hundreds of Hollows folding and compressing. A grand-sized Hollow. But, I've only seen such a thing from the illustrations in text books." Other than Urahara, Ichidan was the only person who knew the most about Hollows. Which meant if he was scared, it was definitely something very bad. "Menos Grande... It is not possible for that thing to come out. He is in the Royal Service Agency's jurisdiction; there's no way a single Death God can take him on!"


With all the smaller Hollows out of the way, Kai and Ishida were left to face off against the giant sized creature. "What a ridiculous size," Ishida said. He looked at Kai and saw that he was smiling. "What are you smiling about?"

"There is no use in thinking that you don't want to fight a big guy like that," Kai said.

"What?"

"Think like this," Kai lifted his sword over his head before saying, "it's just cut, cut and cut, and defeat it with all my strength! There is no other way!" Kai rushed toward their enemy. "Let's go, Ishida!"

"Wait, Okami!" Ishida ran to catch up with Kai.

Ichidan and Kon arrived just in time to see Kai run off to fight the Menos. "Kai!" he called out, "Stop it! It's not something you can take on!" Urahara was suddenly in front of him, his back turned to Ichidan. "Urahara, are you planning to kill Kai!?"

Without turning to look at him, Urahara pointed two fingers to Ichidan's forehead. There was a small flash of energy. "No way," he said calmly. "Please, do observe quietly. This battle is necessary"

Ichidan suddenly dropped to his knees. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his arms or legs. Whatever Urahara had done to him rendered him unable to move. A binding art, Ichidan thought. Now all he could do was watch as Kai rushed to his doom.

"For both you, and him..."

(I bet none of you were expecting our characters encountering a Hollow of this size. On a scale of one to ten, how surprised were you guys when the Menos Grande came out of the crack in the sky?)

Uh one being the not at all surprised, I'd say three/four. Lol. I haven't seen anything to do with bleach but I expected that we'd need to be fighting stronger hollows later so the idea of there being a large boss style hollow isn't too surprising. I'll admit I wasn't expecting it quite so soon though.

Kestrel

"Can't we at least move a little closer?" Audra squinted into the distance, trying to make out what was happening. She could just about see the huge creature that struck fear into her heart and a scattering of people but they weren't close enough for her to identify which was Kai.

Kestrel bit her lip worriedly, wondering if she should tell the others that it looked like Urahara was preventing Ichidan (and probably the other fighters too) from aiding Kai and Ishida against what she could only think of as 'a very large hollow.' But if she did, the binding spell would have to be used. There was no chance Audra would stand by and watch.

"No," Kestrel said firmly. "Urahara told us to stay here and if we're out of sight, we'll be out of mind as well: I think that's what Urahara wants. To prevent Kai from worrying about us."

Stella and Audra glumly nodded their agreement and all three, now holding tight to each other's hands stood back to watch.

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I presume you're wanting to write the battle scene Dynamo?

(You presume correctly. Also, I posted a link in one of my previous posts that shows a picture of what a Menos Grande looks like.)

Kai ran toward the Menos, his sword ready to strike. The creature was slow moving, and the look in its eyes held no individuality. It looked like a simple minded creature, and it didn't even seem to notice Kai or Ishida.

Kai leaped forward to attack the Menos' foot as it walked. He struck with all his might, yet his sword merely bounced off the foot's bone-like surface. The creature took a step forward, throwing Kai off its foot. He hit the ground hard before rolling to a stop.

"Okami!" Ishida erected his energy bow as Kai came to a halt at his feet. "This is not something to mess around with." He fired an arrow at the creature's face, but, just like Kai's sword, it merely bounced off the surface. The most the attack had done was make a small dent on the side of the Menos' mask. "Damn it. Okami, can you stand up?"

Kai slowly lifted himself off the ground. "Yeah, I think so." A few drops of blood fell from his face. When he looked at Ishida he could see the cut on Kai's forehead.

"You're bleeding," he told him.

Kai wiped his forehead to check, but didn't seem at all surprised by it. "I'll be fine."

"What were you thinking? How were you supposed to defeat that thing with such a move?"

"It's the only part of its body I can reach."

"Even so, you can't rush into battle like that and hope to do any damage." Ishida kneeled beside Kai to help him up. "Now stand up, and let's think about a new strategy..." Ishida's hand brushed against the side of Kai's Zanpakutou, and when it did his bow of spiritual energy suddenly tripled in size. The immense energy coming from his weapon was enough to lift dirt particles off the ground. Even the ground was vibrating with energy.

This is...? Ishida stared at his suddenly larger weapon with awe. He looked down to see Kai's sword glowing with a fiery orange power that flowed into Ishida's arm. It's flowing in. Is this caused by Okami's reiatsu?

Kai was still looking at the Menos when this happened. "Strategy, you say..."

"Okami!"

Kai turned to Ishida and nearly jumped out of his pants. "Woah! What is that? Why'd it get so big?"

"Just listen, will you? We might be able to defeat that thing."

"How?"

"If you keep releasing all your energy like this, I should be able to shoot a huge arrow. Otherwise, you're just wasting a high amount of reiatsu!"

"How am I wasting it?" Kai asked.

"There's no time for this! Control your spiritual energy and put it to its maximum output!"

Kai stared at him for a moment before saying, "...How?"

"What!? You can't do it?" Ishida asked, "Then, how were you able to fight Hollows up until now?"

"...Hunches?"

"H-Hunches? That's just ridiculous."

"I don't care about that!" Kai said. "If my spiritual energy is high, shouldn't it always be on maximum output?"

Ishida tried to think of the best way to explain this to Kai when everything suddenly got darker. When they looked up they saw the Menos was blocking out the sun with its sheer size. It stared at them with eyes that held no emotion as a ball of black energy began to form at its mouth. The energy had a red hue as it gradually got bigger.

Ichidan was still bound by Urahara's spell. He could only watch in horror as the Menos began to charge its attack. "Cero... Is it planning to release it here?" He called out to Kai, "Run! Quickly! If you get hit, there won't be a single piece of you left!" But no matter how loud he yelled, Kai couldn't hear him.

Both Kai and Ishda stared at the creature. "There is no other way, as I thought," Ishida said. "Okami, please-" Kai didn't listen, instead he rushed forward to attack the creature, yelling at the top of his lungs as he did. "Okami! What are you doing!?"

The ball of energy, known as Cero, suddenly disappeared. The Menos opened its mouth to release all the energy it had stored up at once. Kai had just enough time to lift his sword over his head to shield himself from the massive energy attack.

The concrete under his feet cracked and buckled as the beam of energy continued to pound into him. He held his Zanpakutou against the attack with both hands, one on the handle and the other against the flat edge of the blade. His feet began to sink into the ground from the sheer pressure of all that energy.

But still he stood his ground.

Ishida couldn't believe what he was seeing. The energy coming from the Menos through the beam was great, but he could also sense an immense pressure of reiatsu coming from Kai. It slowly built after each second. As he did his best to shield his eyes from the debris and searing light from the attack, he thought, What...What is this extraordinary spiritual pressure...? Okami's energy is increasing. He thought back to what Kai had said, that his spiritual energy should always be on its maximum output. Realization suddenly struck in. That's right! There can't be such a thing! Ishida pictured a tap of running water in his head. No matter how strong the spiritual energy is, if you leave it at its maximum all the time, it'll run out in a flash. The fact that he can't control his spiritual energy means that he always had some extra reiatsu. If a large amount of water flows out after turning on a faucet, most people will be surprised, and turn off the faucet. If he is like that...If his ordinary spiritual energy was always as its turned off state...And if that gets turned on due to some incident...

The vibrations in the ground suddenly began stronger as Kai slowly rose against the Menos' current of energy. Urahara watch the events unfold with a look of knowing anticipation. "It'll be soon, I see..."

Kai was suddenly upright. He pushed with all his might to slash against the current with his sword. He cried out at the top of his lungs as he cut through the Cero blast. His sword suddenly exploded with light as a massive flux of blue energy shot out. The new energy ran up the side of the Menos' body in a straight line, all the way up to its mask. Half a second later the wind suddenly picked up. Since Ishida was so close it threw him off his feet. The trees in the park started to bend as trash cans and other small objects flew through the air.

Black smoke began to seep through the Menos' teeth as it backed away, toward the crack in the sky. It reached out and took a handful of the sky, pulling it over its body like a cloak.

Everyone couldn't believe what they were seeing. Ishida muttered, "It's going back..."

Kai just stood there, panting heavily as he watched the Menos retreat. A huge smile was plastered onto his face. When the creature was finally gone, he threw his fist up and cried, "VICTORY!!!"

(I know it doesn't seem possible, but even with the whole light show nobody else in Toronto ever saw what just happened. I'm going to make it so when our characters see the news tomorrow it'll say something about how there was a sudden gale that threw a part of the city into chaos.)

Audra

I could hear Kai's shout from the park, and I beamed. He had won. They were fine.

I pulled out of Kestrel's grip and ran toward my lover, a smile plastered to my face. Internally, I was afraid that he had been injured, but it didn't stop me from being jubilant.

I leapt into his arms as soon as I was close enough, kissing him for a moment before sobering up. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Please, tell me you're okay."

*Dynamo, I did say there's no point in waiting for me, because I can't get near a computer for six days in the week. You'll have to move on without me and I'll catch up whenever I can, generally on a Sunday...

In personal news, I got my JC results! And I'm going to the theatre tomorrow!*

Stella-

Audra broke free and ran forwards. I sat down cross legged on the ground for a minute collecting my thoughts.

"Kestrel, what on earth just happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. You'd be best to ask Kai."

I stood up and wiped my hands and my jeans, flattening my hair. "I'd rather not. I mean, Kai's great and all, but shouting Victory? A bit clichéed for my tastes. Plus, would you want to interrupt that?" I indicated Kai and Audra locked in a tight embrace. I wasn't sure if Kestrel could see them or not, but she understood anyway and grinned at me.

The Quincy was picking himself up a few metres away. He was holding his arm at an odd angle. I went over to him. Sure, he had been rude to me, but he had helped Kai save us and all that, so I supposed I could help.

"Is your arm okay?" I said. He looked up in surprise at my voice.

"I... think so," he said, twisting it awkwardly.

"No, it's not," I said taking his wrist. "You've sprained it, you idiot. You're not left handed are you?"

He didn't take to being called an idiot well. "It's fine."

I dropped his hand. "Fine, fine. Just trying to help a fellow... human," I said slyly and began to walk away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked suspiciously.

Can he see auras? I wondererd. Can he see what Urahara saw?

(Sorry about that, I forgot. Congratulations on your JC results, though.)

Kai smiled and said, "I'm fine, Audra." He leaned down to kiss her then. The kiss was full and passionate.

When they pulled away, Audra said, "Don't you ever scare me like that! Do you know how worried I've been!?"

"Sorry about that." He said, before pulling out of Audra's embrace and facing Ishida. "Hey, at least thank me. I just defeated that thing for you. Would it be too much just to say a thank you?" Kai's body suddenly became weak as he fell to the ground.

Audra was already there by his side. "Kai! What's wrong?"

"I can't...gather strength..." Kai's Zanpakutou started glowing bright orange as the ground around him began to shake. There was a sudden burst of energy from his sword that threw Audra a few meters away.

"Kai!" Audra tried to get up and go back to his side, but his Zanpakutou started glowing even brighter, until it was almost blinding to look at.

"Wh-What is this!?" Kai yelled as he looked at his sword. The blade turned into an amorphous thing, stretching and bending all over the place like a snake.

As Ishida watched, he thought, The Zanpakutou's shape is collapsing.

Over where Urahara and the others were watching, Ichidan said, "This is bad. He released all his energy at once. His body shouldn't have been able to take it at that rate!"

I've got to do something... Ishida thought. That's right! He constructed his bow of spiritual energy and ran toward Kai, ignoring the blinding energy. He placed his foot on the shifting sword, and the moment he did his bow jumped four sizes larger. He pointed his weapon skyward and fired an arrow. It'll be fine if I do this, if I release the spiritual energy which Okami can no longer control.

Kestrel

The clash of auras was blindingly painful for Kestrel to watch as Ishida transferred energy from Kai's weapon into his own and sent it up higher and higher in one concentrated beam of pure energy. At last, Kes had to close her eyes against the blaze but when she opened them experimentally a moment later, everything had returned to normal.

Kai still lay on the ground, possibly stunned or perhaps unconscious and Ishida stood over him breathing heavily. Gradually Kai eased himself into a sitting position and Audra hurried to his side.

"Not going to say thank you?" Ishida mocked as he sat down heavily. Kestrel moved closer now, working her way over to where Urahara stood. She glanced briefly at Ichidan who still hadn't moved and wondered if he was in a state of shock or still prevented from doing so.

"Did you know for certain that would happen or did you endanger the lives of Kai and everyone else here?" Kestrel asked, her voice no more than a whisper that couldn't possibly carry beyond Urahara, Ichidan and herself.

"There was no danger," Urahara replied. Kestrel stayed silent, hoping for an explanation but not expecting one. She had spent more time with Urahara, studying down in his cellar than any of the others and she wanted so badly to trust him.

(Ishida's attack involves arrows, not beams. Just pointing that out.)

Audra had her arms around Kai's waist, holding onto him as tight as she could. She was trembling under his touch. She had obviously been afraid for his life. As Kai stroked her back with his hand, he looked at Ishida. His arm was dripping with blood, probably from firing such powerful arrows one after another. "You could have killed yourself trying to save me."

"Didn't I say it?" Ishida asked. "If we don't survive, there will be no one to fight against. Survive and let me beat you up, and then beat me up as well, Kai Okami."

Ishida looked up into the sky. As he sat there, staring at the clouds, thoughts of his grandfather filled his head. I'm sorry, Grandfather. I wanted to look away by hating Death Gods. I wanted to look away from myself, who couldn't save you. Today, I have helped a Death God. Will you forgive me? I'm just a weak disciple who can't even throw away his life for you. Will you forgive me...Grandfather...?

Kai made a "tch" noise and said, "How can I beat someone with that kind of face...?"

(I know. I was just thinking in terms of what Kes can see and presumed it would look like a beam to her because she sees the spiritual energy/ aura rather than the object.)