The Coven of Conquest (mission, semi-open)

ooc: Ok, I apologize to anyone who was waiting for taking so long to set this up. This mission will be semi-open in a first come, first served basis. I'll allow three additional non-captain (sorry Kaiyo-san) shinigami to join. Since this takes place in the living world, hollows can have free reign and just join as they please. Be warned that if you get in the shinigamis' way, they are a team on a mission and will not tolerate excessive interferance.

Kuro looked out over Karakura park as the final glow of the departing sun faded from the horizon. He was perched up in a tree waiting for the team of shinigami that had accepted the mission he was in charge of. Instead of wasting time just waiting, he was surveying the area for any sign of unusual activity.

The air was still and no sounds could be heard aside from the distant sounds of vehicles on the roads of the city. Not even a cricket chirp disturbed the surrounding silence that hung over the city, as if even the birds and the insects were nervous about the recent happenings in Karakura Town. Disappearances had reached an alarming amount, catching the attention of both the living and the shinigami. The Gotei was determined to find out what was behind them. Kuro had been sent to lead the team that would do just that.

Ri had received the the request for volunteerss for a mission lead by the Squad two Captain and after relaying this requestion to the seated member of his squad Ri himself ended up volunteering for the mission, it had been a while since he was in the world of the living for an assignment.

Ri made this way through the gate the living world only stopping for a moment well the kido force that ran the gate opened it for him. Ri soon found himself in the familiar forest just outside the Karakura Town. Ri could just sense Kuro's pressure within the town.Shunpoing through the town Ri quickly made his way toward Kuro. Ri took a seat on a tree nearby Kuro and smiled as he yawned loudly to draw Kuro's attenion to him.

"Ri O'Nocht, Third Seat of Squad Thirteen, reporting Sir." Ri said speaking proudly of his new position, he'd worked his ass off to get where he was and he was going to be damn proud of himself for it

Kurama had been ordered by his superiors in the Investigation Squad to accompany the Second Squad Captain on a mission to Karakura. He was currently working on a promotion to the third seat so he saw this as an excellent opportunity to prepare himself for next week's test. The senkai gate let him out somewhere in the forest near Karakura Town, where the other members of the team were to meet.

"Ri O'Nocht, Third Seat of Squad Thirteen, reporting Sir."

Kurama looked up to see his former subordinate sitting on a tree branch above.

"Hello Ri, congratulations on your new family." His joke had a hint of implied-guilt lining it but in the end he was happy for his friend's success. "Guess this means I can't order ye around anymore can I?" The shinigami looked around and spotted the captain he was to report to. "Ah, Captain Akarui! Kurama Himura, Fourth Seat of Squad Ten, at your service sir!"

Arawn stood trembling. He was too nervous to speak. They had asked for volunteers for a mission in the living world. He had applied without fully reading, anything to avoid another day of clean up duties. Upon arriving through the gate he knew he was way out of his league. A captain!? This would be his first time meeting one, the other two members were seated officers no less. What had he gotten himself into? The other men had finished their introductions.
"I'm......I'm.......Dan'Shir, Arawn, Captain sir!" Arawn stammered, his voice cracking. "Unseated." He awkwardly bows. "I'll do my very best to stay out of the way." He could feel his ears turn pink. He tries to calm himself. With a captain the mission will probably be over without much trouble. At the same time the voice of reason speaks up in his head. With a captain here, it's must be a very serious situation. Arawn hoped it was the former and not the latter.

Seeing that all three team members were there, Kuro leapt out of the tree, landing lightly on the ground. He couldn't stop a small grin from appearing on his face from his amusement of Arawn's nervousness. It was so funny the way lower ranks acted meeting a captain for the first time. Kuro decided to keep introductions short and jumped right into the mission briefing.

"I am Kuro Akarui, the Captain of squad 2 and the assigned leader of this mission. I'm not strict about formalities however. Frankly I find them annoying. But enough about that. We're here to investigate the mass disappearances that have been happening here in Karakura town. We think it could be the work of hollows, but this magnitude of incidents is unusual. We may be dealing with an organized group of hollows or some other entities. It's our mission to clear up the uncertanties and put an end to this strange situation if possible."

As Kuro finished talking, a new sound could be heard coming over the grass of the park. Turning his head towards the town, Kuro listened harder. It sounded like a constant buzzing, like a swarm of bees. Since they had no other leads, Kuro decided to investigate this new sound that had suddenly made itself known.

"Follow me men, keep your eyes open and stay alert just in case this is a trap."

Kuro began to run towards the sound, holding back his normal speed so that the team could follow.

Arawn fell in line and ran along with the group. A mass of disappearances didn't sound good at all. He couldn't begin to fathom how many hollows it would take to cause such an occurance. All the hollow he had seen were rather primitive and wild.
"Captain, sir. I have a question." Although the captain did say he wasn't one for formalities, Arawn wasn't sure how else to get his attention. "If it is a mass of hollows isn't there a patrol in this area? Did they report anything we can use?" He nearly stumbled as he talked, but managed to recover himself. "And can hollows really be organized? I've heard of them fighting over the same prey and killing one another."

((OOC: AH! POSTING ORDER IS DEAD! WE ARE ALL DEAD!))

Kurama strode beside Kuro with relative ease, it was a little annoying to have to run slower for the others behind them but such things were unavoidable when you are in mixed company. Kurama sensed around him for any spiritual oddities in the area. If these disappearances were anything like the ones in the middle east, him and Ri would be able to detect it easier than most. He too heard the buzzing sound as they drew closer to the source...

((OOC: Without knowing what I sense or what the sound actually is, that pretty much sums up mah post ))

Ri followed Kuro staying out to the far left in a defensive position. He listened to Arawn question and wasn't surprised by it. Keep his pace Ri turned his head slightly to see Arawn.

"your every day hollows rarely thinks anything more then eating so their not organized but we know that strong Adjuchas can lead weaker Adjuchas and Gillians so it's possible it's an adjuchas behind all this or a strong hollow with controlling abilities or it could very easily be some other spiritual creatures. We won't know till we wipes it blood my Zanapakuto and test it" Ri said explaining how hollows can be organized, he intensively didn't say anything about vasto-lorde , there wasn't a point is worrying anyone with the thought of one. Ri wasn't overly worried the most likely outcome was a low hollow trying to grab power.

They were getting nearer to the source of the noise now, the buzzing was growing louder now. Ri increased his distance on the left flank, not know what they were walking into he didn't want to be caught by surprise.

The buzzing grew louder and louder as the team ran towards its source. As Kuro rounded the corner of one of the town's blocks, he saw two pluses a short distance down the street. They were a woman and a child, running down the sidewalk away from a large group of strange bugs. The bugs resembled giant mosquitos with grey heads and sucking tubes. Their abdomens accounted for much of their body mass, looking like big pale blue tubes. Seeing one of these grotesque creatures going into a dive towards the back of the woman plus, Kuro took immediate action.

Breaking from the group, Kuro flash stepped across the distance between the group and the pluses. He pushed both of them forward away from the attacking bug and put himself between them and the rest of the swarm. It would be hard to fight such a large number of little targets, but his crazy desire to protect innocents, especially children, had led him to this course of action. He reached inside his robes and swiftly drew his zanpakuto, cutting two of the bugs in one swoop. Keeping his eyes on the mass of them, he gave his order to his team.

"Don't let these things near anybody. They don't feel like hollows, but it's obvious that they're after spiritual energy. That may include living humans with spiritual potential. "

Kuro leapt into the mass of bugs, scattering them as he turned into a dangerous force, his blade dancing all around him slicing any bug that got too close.

Kurama grinned as he saw the swarm of insects. It was something different from having to fight yet another hollow, something that he could have a bit of fun with. He flash stepped in between the swarm of insects and a few humans that were standing along the side of the road, waiting at a bus stop. "Bow before the Frozen Sage! Kurounin Aisu!" Kurama drew his zanpakuto and released it in the same movement. The blade shimmered as it transformed from its basic katana state, into its icy blue nodachi state. The blade was obviously ancient, as in from back in the feudal era; beautifully crafted and in remarkably good condition. The blade was engraved in Japanese and and obvious chill emanated from it for it could be felt by the entire team even though they were several feet or even yards away.

"Aisu Shaddo!" The nodachi shattered into about three dozen long, thin shards of ice, leaving the hilt behind for Kurama to use as a tool to direct the shards. He sacrificed a little bit of his, now overflowing amount of, spiritual energy to reform the blade while his shards began to circle around him. The attention of several insects seemed to be attracted to the newly-released spiritual pressure. They came at him with frightening speed though were not quick enough to dodge the shards that instantly moved to protect their master. The shards pierced each of the insects, one, two, five, seven of them screeched in pain as their bodies were run through by the freezing cold shards. They fell to the ground, unable to move after experiencing that kind of pain. Their bodies froze as they lay motionless on the ground, more beginning to replace them as the other insects noticed the loss of their allies.

Kurama replenished his arsenal of shards with a small amount of his spiritual energy are his eyes scanned the area. Ri came into view as a section of the insects began making a bee-line in his direction. (Yeah I know, and the pun WAS intended...) "Ri, did the weather man say anything about there being any strong winds today?" Kurama joked as his wind-based friend readied to attack. These things would be no match once the man decided to bring out the big guns...

Arawn drew his blade as the approached the swarming insects. He swings as they dart around him. He cleaves one in half, but before he can celebrate another three take it's place. He glanced down at the slashed creature. "What the hell are these!?" He cut down another insect, but due to their number it hardly made a dent. The bugs started to fly out of reach of his sword. He watched as Kurama's blade became icicles and made short work of the bugs. Arawn's blade didn't have such a feature. Using his reiatsu he chanted a spell “Thunder shake the heavens, roar and shatter the silence, blaze and split the darkness. Hado #4 Byakurai!” The bolt of light flashed through many of their number, and reduced them to ashes. It seemed the spell had only wasted energy, since there were still many bugs left. Rather than try another spell he went back to slashing with his blade.

Ri smiled as he took a deep breaths and prepared himself. Ri's eyes turned from their peaceful green colour to a hazy white colour as he released his pent up pressure and on cue after Kuramas comments the winds started to pick up and intense.

"Ruler of the winds arise! Gáircas” Ri said as he drew his zanpakuto and immediately itchanged into the bright sky blue blade that was Gáircas's released state. Ri didn't waste time with appearing to move his feet Ri shunpo'd into the air beside the bitto's and swung his blade rapidly well speaking "Buile an Cas"

Eight blast of concentrated Reiatsu shot out and cut through the bitto with ease but as one was destroyed another two emerged, Ri smiled all it mean was there was more to kill. He couldn't use any high powered kido with so many humans around with endangering them.

"Their multiplying Kurama, I'll guard the humans freeze the bugs" Ri said as he shunpo'd between the nearest fleeing human and the increasing swarm of bitto's. Ri kept his eyes on the bitto ready to strike if they attack.

The ferocity of the four shinigamis' attack seemed to trouble the bitto. Flying up high above the four, they hovered for a second as though contemplating their next move. Almost immediately, they turned the other way and began to fly away. Kuro noted that they were flying not further into the city, but out of it instead. He tucked his weapon back inside his robes and began to chase after the fleeing bugs.

"I think they're heading back to their base. Don't lose sight of them."

As Kuro ran after the bugs, he realized that hollows weren't the enemy they were now facing. Bitto could only mean one thing. These disappearences were the work of a bount.

"Multiplying?!" Kurama looked to Ri as the Bitto indeed began to regenerate and make more copies from their own fallen corpses. As the swarm began to fly away from the squad of powerful shinigami, Kuro ordered for them to pursue. The insects were hauling ass towards what must have been their base of operations; beginning to lose their pursuers...

Kurama began to pick up the pace, shunpoing ahead of the group in order to keep the insects in view. He noticed only Kuro-taicho was able to match, and even surpass, his speed. The other two were falling behind...

Kurama pushed himself even faster, using his excess spiritual energy to fuel his constant flash-stepping. He sent his shards forward, taking out another four of the insects as they slowed to fly over a tall stone wall. Their bodies froze, like their brethren, never allowing for them to multiply. Only about thirty or so of the insects remained, still fleeing as fast as they could manage back to their base.

Kurama stopped, perched atop a large statue as the bitto began to file into a large building through an open window. He began to breathe heavily as he attempted to regain his composure. His zanpakuto reverted to its sealed state after being given a dismissive gesture by its owner. Kurama could sense Kuro arriving a few seconds after him, still completely full of energy. The Fourth Seat Officer shook his head as he wondered how the man could keep up with him so easily without being even slightly winded. 'I guess that's why he's the Second Squad Captain...' he thought to himself.

"They went in there sir." Kurama took another exhausted gasp of air, "I sense that the other two are only a minute or so behind us..."

Although he had seen it many times, Arawn was still amazed at the shunpo technique. He ran and jumped at full speed and was barely able to make out the shapes of the other officers in the distance. Or perhaps those were only shadows he saw? Either way he kept moving in the direction he had seen the bugs fly, and the captain's pursuit. He jumped from building to building, tree to tree as they chased the creatures into the night. A part of him hoped they would lose them. He barely had a grasp on fighting hollows, now he had to face even weirder creatures. He sighed and nearly missed his landing on a jump. He struggled and righted himself. He thought he saw a flutter in the distance. Either he was catching up or they had slowed down. He drew his blade as he continued to move forward, ready for anything.

Ri remained behind for a moment ensuring that the retreating bitto weren't just a distracted intended to lead them away. After a few moments Ri shunpo'd towards Kuro's and Kuramas pressures , he'd already figured the two were mile away both being speed orientated. Well moving Ri could feel himself approaching Arawn's pressure and remember the young shinigami wasn't proficient in the art of shunpo

Stopping beside Arawn, Ri smiled widely as he grabbed Arawn and shunpo'd again, slow now due to carrying Arawn with him but regardless Ri and Arawn arrived beside Kuro and Kurama after a few steps.

“Whats the plan” Ri asked the warming smile still on his face as he let his hold on Arawn go and relaxed himself for a moment well he had the chance. Ri' relaxed his body but his mind was focused on sensing any unwanted or nearby pressures

Kuro was scanning his vision over the layout of the building while he and Kurama waited for the others to catch up. It was a large complex with four visible floors, somewhat run down and old, but garrisoned like it was a military facility. The building was surrounded by smaller buildings and all the buildings had a perimeter of a tall fence topped with barbed wire wrapped around it. The main building had balconies and walkways all around its upper levels that were all outfitted with high power guns and artilleries. These weapons were all manned by guards dressed in white ceremonial looking robes. But rather than the robes, what caught Kuro's attention about these guards was their personal traits.

The guards looked like living people, but their spiritual prescence was very intimidating. Their physical bodies looked strangely built too, ripped with massive muscles with tensed, pulsating veins. It looked to Kuro like they all were on massive doses of steroids. Their spiritual signatures made Kuro wonder if their weapons held the potential to injure hollows and shinigami. Not something that he'd like to find out the hard way.

Additional guards like the ones manning the guns were constantly patrolling the grounds inside the fence. And all of them wore those strange robes. Kuro predicted that they had stumbled across a human cult. But the question was what would a bount want with a cult of humans? Other than the convenience of easy prey of course. As Ri and Arawn caught up, Kuro began to converse. He was a lenient leader, not much for a strict control over teammates or formalities. He ran the show with a diplomatic air.

"As far as I can see, the bitto retreated through the cracked window on the third floor. The best move I see for us to take would be to try and infiltrate the complex and investigate for more information. My time with squad 2 and the onmitsukido has molded me to be mostly sneaky and cautious though, and maybe there are other possibilities. Anyone else have an idea?"

Kurama shrugged, "I can use the light bending kido to keep me invisible. And I've got another that will mask us in a fog that hides spiritual pressure." Kurama thought of all the kido that could help in this situation and interestingly enough, he'd been trained in some interesting arts. As an undercover agent for the investigation squad, he relied on these kido to keep him from blowing his cover. A memory of Sal Norongachi and himself, as Kevin Bates, the Psychic Detective, entered his mind. He chuckled to himself as he remembered completely blowing his cover that night...

"Stealth might not be the best option." Arawn says as looks upon the compound. "With that many men discovery would be inevitable." He wonders if he might face some punishment for undermining a higher officer, but figures he should give his input. "We could try using a decoy; someone make alot of noise at the front while we sneak into the back. The decoy leading the forces away making infiltration easier." A dangerous maneuver since they decoy would be all alone. Perhaps if two people acted as decoys for safety. "We could let ourselves be captured, a variation of the decoy method. While they take the prisoner the rest make way through the compound." Knowing if they would take prisoners was a gamble in itself. But since they were so far out in the middle of nowhere it could mean they didn't want prying eyes, thus if they could keep things quiet they would. A base if operations, but not a home base. It was a place they could defend, but one they could abandon.

"I'll distract the guard, it won't be a hard. You's be ready to enter the building when no's looking.Conceal yourselves best you can, I'll let lose my pressure should help cover yours" Ri said speaking with a cocky little grin, he's already planned what he was about to do or rather attempt

"My body is yours to split upon thy will Bakudo forty four Illusory Clones" Ri chanted in a whisper as his being began to divide himself self into five perfect clones. Each stood beside each other, all wearing the very same smile. The real Ri took a few steps forward to take a look at the guard then turned back to look at his group

"Right me and these striking fellows here will decoy pretending to be a large force, get ready you's might not have long" Ri said as he prepared himself to charge. Releasing his restrained pressure all the Ri;s leaped from their position and charged the guard, all moving in perfect sync.

The first guard fell quickly after being surrounded by all of the Ri, the rest of the guard however took notice of the attack and four of them entered in the Ri's

Good plans everyone. Kuro thought to himself. He placed his hand on Arawn's shoulder and focused his spirit power.

"Alright, our path is in front of us guys. Let's make use of Ri's distraction. Bakudo 26: Curving Light."

Kuro's spell slowly caused him and Arawn to fade from visible sight. He prepared to shunpo through the chaos that Ri and his clones were causing, stopping to wait for Kurama to set up things for their infiltration.

As the strange sensation creeps over his body Arawn looks as his hand vanishes in front of him. He starts to panic, but can only guess it's somehow the captain's doing.
"Captain Akarui, I think we should aim for the very top floor of the complex. Chances are they'll be guards on the bottom floors. As the same time the top most floors would be less heavily guarded." At the same time it could be the opposite. Most time the head officials or bosses reside on the top floor. "If any reinforcements were to arrive they would come from the bottom levels. Clearing the roof also gives us an avenue of escape." The assault was barely starting and he was already thinking of a way to out. While his thoughts could be interpreted as cowardice, it was actually best to be cautious. Those guns would need to be disabled, but the guns from other buildings would be troublesome as well. The other guards might notice the missing patrols. Perhaps the first floor was a better approach.

Kurama nodded as Arawn spoke. Though he wasn't the target of the statement, Kurama felt that he was now in charge of taking point so the comment was most of most importance to him than to Captain Akarui. Taking half a second to muster as must energy as possible, Kurama proceeded to fire off a series of kido.

"Bakudo Number 26! Curving Light!" Like Captain Akarui, Kurama was now completely invisible to the naked eye. Unfortunately these people were most likely going to have some skill in sensing spiritual pressure, so the Fourth Seat Officer's list of Kido continued. "Bakudo Number 19! Energy Fade!" Kurama's spiritual energy became so suppressed that even Captain Akarui barely could detect anything beside him. Arawn and Ri, not a chance, to them, he'd simply disappeared...

Kurama began sprinting as fast as he could towards the building. In this state, he was unable to shunpo or even use his ability to condense reisi under his feet in order to climb. Luckily, the boy was athletic...

He used a small tree to jump a little higher than half way up the wall, then used his zanpakuto to jab into the smooth stone. Luckily, it appeared to be simple concrete, anything more defensible against the spiritual variety could have shattered his blade. Kurama used this new handhold to heave himself up the rest of the way up the wall. Then, being careful of the barbed wire, hopped over and landed below with a thud. Though graceful, the sound was still audible. Luckily the sound of gunfire was now drowning out most of the sound he was making.

From this point, Kurama was able to climb onto a low building and take a better look at the fortifications. He could see a small door that lead through the wall into another fenced in portion. Kurama hoped down and ran through the open door...

All of this had taken the swift-footed boy several minutes. Unsure if Captain Akarui and the lower-seated lad had waited for his signal, Kurama fired off a third kido. "Bakudo Number 36! Obscuring Mist!" The spell broke his energy fade kido but replaced it with a wider range of suppressed spiritual pressure. A fine white mist began to pour out of thin air and surround Kurama. It would take just under thirty seconds for it to cover its maximum area but already he was free to release as much power as he wanted without consequence. The spell would only last about two minutes but that would be enough time for the other two to regroup with him and begin their assault on the main fortress...

Kurama prepared himself for the second stage of the storming of the compound. Should he need to cast the kido again, he would like to have the energy to do so without draining himself of the energy necessary to release his shikai...

((OOC: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I am so sorry for peacing out on you guys and I hope you all will continue this thread. As a note, the mist is easily visible at this point in time, though it may attract a handful of guards our way, we should be able to dispatch them and slip out without anyone detecting our powers... Now then, Kuro will easily be able to hop over the wall before anyone could think to sense him... Arawn however... Might not be so lucky... Though... if they see you... I bet they'll fire at you, maybe blast a hole in their wall and let you slip in... That may attract more guards however... your choice if you do that... might be a bad move however... Ri could always use help too Let's see... What else? Oh, I'm draining Kurama of a crap load of energy, don't expect him to be able to take on too many of these guys without a pit stop or using Touketsu Reiki... He has a rather low Spiritual Power stat...))

Kuro looked over the compound, spotting the mist from Kurama's spell. With this final piece in play, they could get inside. He grabbed Arawn's arm quickly and shunpoed them both from their vantage point, over the fences and landed near Kurama on the ground covered in the mist. He glanced back towards the central part of the compound, listening to the sounds of Ri's fight. He didn't like the choice he was being forced to make here. Ri-kun....just keep yourself alive for now. We'll find a way to help you out. Kuro turned back to the task at hand, keeping his voice low as he muttered instructions to the two team members that he couldn't see beside him.

"We're going in the main building. Go quick and silent. We can drop the curving light kido when we're inside. The bitto flew in through a third story window, so that's our target for now. We'll try and find the master they serve."

Kuro remembered that the mist spell wouldn't last much longer. He saved any additional thoughts for when they were safely inside. Under the cover of his curving light spell, he sprinted out of the mist cover, making sure to keep his power in check so he wouldn't give himself away. He sped across the grounds of the complex, occasionally dodging a guard on its way to engage Ri in the distraction fight. Within moments, he had reached a small side door to the main building. Pushing it opening slowly, he crept inside the hallway behind the door, checking that the coast was clear. He waited for Kurama and Arawn to get inside before he dropped his kido spell, since it was his spell keeping Arawn hidden too. Once he was sure he heard the others with him, he muttered a quick order.

"Kurama, you take point for now. Just scout the hallway ahead of us while we search for the stairs to the higher floors. Watch out for more guards, and don't engage them if you can help it. We'll do something about them later."