Sometimes it's not up to you (Dray, a drunken thread by marly)

It wasn't abnormal for a select few students to be assigned to a training mission in the human realm. Hundreds had done this exact kind of thing before, except this time things had gone horribly wrong. The site that had been carefully selected to host this event had been compromised by beings far more powerful than the students could ever comprehend...

A pair of arrancar now stood on top of a tall building, overlooking the debris around them, one tall and the other portly. Ten students and a high ranking officer of squad six were now dead. Overall it'd been a good day for these two moraless beings, the sound of dozens of weaker hollows filled the air as they preyed on the souls of the recently departed.

"Well, are you done sightseeing now? I'd like to get out of here before one these pitiful creatures decides they'd like to take us on."

"Not just yet. I still sense some one hiding amongst the dead..."

"It's probably just a stubborn soul reaper clinging to their last seconds of life, the hollows will take care of them."

"Hmm..." The tall one was not convinced. He flash stepped towards the small accumulation of spiritual energy. As it turned out, a lone student had survived the attack. Little did he know that although he was still alive currently, he was far from out of danger...

It was like something out of a nightmare, a routine mission gone horribly wrong. Draylon had watched as his fellow students and even the instructor get butchered by these... whatever they were, He had no clue. He had hidden from them, and that was the only reason he was currently alive, trying to reduce his spiritual energy as much as possible.

He could hear them talking from a distance, he covered his mouth to hide his heavy breathing, but alas it was to no avail. In an instant one of them appeared before him, Draylon froze for a split second before yelling, "Senko!" a Blinding flash burst out from him, as he turned and fled from the being that had killed so many of his friends and comrades.

"Hehehe... I knew there was still one left. I can smell his fear, it's so empowering..." The being sprinted after him, not wanting to end the chase too quickly with his far superior speed. He kept on his tail, following the lad as he ran into an alley with no exit. "Looks like you've literally hit a dead end kid. Now why don't you come quietly, it'll be less painful for you that way." The tall figure reached for his sword, drawing it just as the second arrancar appeared beside him. "I guess you were right after all, I still don't think it was worth coming all the way down here just for this little squirt."

"Then how about you try lasting a few minutes against me?" A chill crept through the student's body as he noticed another figure appear in the alley. Thankfully however, this man appeared to be on his side. The man drew his blade and suddenly a blast of cold wind spread throughout the entire town. Snow began to fall as the man released his spiritual energy into the atmosphere.

The sounds of a dozen hollows howling into the night broke through the high-pitched howl of the wind this mysterious man now conjured. They had apparently sensed him and were so blinded by their lust for spiritual energy that it outweighed their survival instincts.

"Hey, you." The man pointed at the student at the end of the alley. "I'm gonna get these creeps to leave you alone but in exchange you never saw me, alright?"

Draylon scrambled desperately away from the creature, trying to flee as fast as he could, but no matter what he did it kept pace with him. I am going to die, I am so going to die here. Dray looked back at the tall creature following him, then glanced back to the front, only to realize he was at a dead end. He turned around to see the creature slowly approaching, telling him to come to it. Hell no, that thing killed all of them.. As he watched the other one appeared next to it, and started talking to it.

Draylon at the end of the line realized that it was over for him, and then a voice said, "Then how about you try lasting a few minutes against me?" Suddenly Draylon felt a chill pass through his body as if he had just been shoved into snow. There was a man standing in the alley and then he turned to Draylon. "Hey, you." The man pointed at Draylon. "I'm gonna get these creeps to leave you alone but in exchange you never saw me, alright?" Not trusting his voice he merely nodded his head vigorously. I hope this man can take them down, or at least buy enough time for me to escape.

"Right..." Kurama studied the two for a moment. He'd dealt with arrancar before and he knew what they were capable of. This in mind, he knew he had to get rid of them quickly before they could access their powers... But if he was to go all out on this pair of men then he couldn't afford to let the other hollows distract him. 'I hope that kid can hold his own...'

"Bow before the Frozen Sage, Kurounin Aisu!" shouted Kurama as he drew his zanpakuto. The blade shimmered and began to transform into its nodachi form. "Touketsu Reiki!" His voice was joined by the thunderous roar of thunder. No one had noticed the black clouds form overhead, it was as if they had just appeared out of no where. Snow began to fall faster and faster as the young man's spiritual pressure continued to grow and overflow into the atmosphere. It felt as if it were the dead of winter, the temperature having dropped several degrees below zero.

The pair, knowing that the shit had just hit the fan, drew their own blades. The worst was about to happen and they felt prepared for it, releasing energy of their own to counter the crushing weight of this unknown foe's spiritual pressure.

Kurama wasted no more time, he opened up with a senka, moving at blinding speeds behind his targets and lashing out with his now-two-handed weapon. It caught the portly one by surprise, blood spraying from his back and covering the captain's once-white haori. The tall one whirled around with his sword, trying to hit the silvery-blue haired man with a horizontal slash.

"Hyousetsu Katachi!" Suddenly, the man was gone. Only flurries of snow remaining where he once stood. The men sensed around, still feeling the captain's presence surrounding them.

"...He's turned into snow. Let's get out of this alley, it's too exposed. Quickly that building should prove more advantageous." These men were more intelligent than Kurama gave them credit for, it'd be much more difficult to catch them both with his final attack outside of the alley.

As the two arrancar disappeared from view, three hollow masks protruded from the blizzard's white wall of snow. Their black bodies seemingly much larger since they were the only contrast to the flurries that now stung the academy student's face. It was now time for him to get into this fight...

The man released his blade and suddenly it got colder, a lot colder, Draylon shivered in the cold and watched as the mysterious man attacked and wounded one of the things that had killed his friends. He could tell they were talking but couldn't hear them. Then just as quickly as they had appeared all 3 vanished off into the distance.

Draylon started to walk out of the alleyway breathing in the cold air with heavy breaths, when out of the white falling snow he saw 3 hollow masks appear. Damn, this is NOT what I need right now. Okay, think think think! Extreme cold reacts to extreme heat by fracturing the object in which they meet, I think... I sure hope this works. Draylon drew his blade, wielding it 2 handed and chanted, "Burn of the blades that have been lost. Hado 8! Blade of Flames." Fire creeped along his zanpakuto, shrouding it in fire. The blade slowly warming the area around Draylon to a more comfortable temperature, but not my much. Draylon pointed the tip of his blade towards the hollows and put the index finger of his top hand parallel to the blade and mumbled under his breath, "Hado 4. White Lightning." A bolt of lightening shot out of his finger towards the middle hollow. Hopefully the heat and cold thing applies to that as well...

OOC"First hollow in spoiler


The blast of white light cut through the blizzard. In combination with the burning blade illuminated the opponents. The light from the pale shot died out as it hit had of the massive hollow in the center. The palm of his hand smoked with the impact. Although it didn't have legs it stood a towering 27ft tall. It flapping wings sent a flurry of snow towards the waiting shinigami. The behemoth opened it's mouth and out shot a rain of black metal rods directly at Draylon. A clicking sound could be heard beside the large creature as a faint blue glow sprung to life. The second beast came into view. It was shorter than the first, but anything looked shorter by comparison. A smooth white mask like a skull with only a single eye socket. The blue glow was emanating from this hole as it opened it's mouth and screeched. It had short stubby arms like a T-Rex at the human like torso the creature had scythe blades for legs. The wicked weapons made the creature look larger, but in truth it was probably barely 8ft tall. The light shifted from blue to read and a burst of red light shot forth. The snow started to hiss as the hot light burned it away. The hollow swung the red light about wildly melting the snow that surrounded it.


The last beast was bigger than the second both in height and girth. The last of the hollows was round and reptilian. It's whiskers on it's face crackled with electricity as he looked blankly at the fight unfolding before it. It yawned like all of this didn't concern it in anyway.

As Kurama returned to his normal form, he whipped the snow around him into a whirlwind around the rooftop. Through the wall of white appeared the two arrancar, both holding their blades horizontally in front of them. "Mil agujas!" Shouted the fat one, his blade shattering into hundreds of thin shards of metal, to too different from the ice shards that sprouted from Kurounin Aisu... The needles flew from him and spread out around them all, but instead of circling menacingly around Kurama, threatening to pierce his flesh, they simply hovered in place, roughly an inch separating each needle. "Chispa!" Cried out the tall one. Suddenly the hairs on the back of Kurama's neck began to lift as static electricity filled the air between them all. Kurama had realized too late what was about to happen. The snow began to sizzle as electricity was being pumped into the atmosphere, the Captain watched in terror as purple sparks appeared, connecting all the needles together. Using both the moisture and the metal as conductors, the tall arrancar pumped as much electricity into the young shinigami as he could.

Kurama was sent flying off the roof, the snow slowly falling around him, calmer, as if they'd lost consciousness as well and were tumbling to their demise with him. Kurama wasn't sure of what was happening, he couldn't see what was taking place, he couldn't hear the wind whipping passed his ears as he sailed towards the ground. He was blissfully unaware of the thousand needles being fired straight at him to finish the job once he'd made contact with the ground...

All he knew was that it was cold... so cold...


"Kurounin... Aisu... Where are you?"

The zanpakuto that was still grasped in the lad's hand began to glow brightly. Frost formed on its blade and spread to its hilt until the weapon was entirely encase in ice, and then it shattered... and time stopped.

"Wake up." Kurama's eyes slowly fluttered open and he found himself peering into the face of Kurounin Aisu himself. "What- what happened? Am I dead?" He looked about and saw that he was held in place just two feet from the ground, the needles only inches from his body. Kurama slid out of the way and stood up, staring in amazement as everything around him stood absolutely still.

"What is this?" he asked, turning to his master. "You are nearing the end of your journey and yet you still ask so many questions. This is a comforting knowledge, it tells me that despite your experience you don't assume to know everything. The day you stop asking such questions is the day you truly die... What you are witnessing is the final gift I have to offer you. It is the most powerful of all that I've taught you before, and it is also the most dangerous. For with it, you could become unstoppable."

Kurama said nothing, he knew by now that there would be a time for him to speak. For now he nodded, showing that he understood the importance of his master's words.

"This ability is known as Reido. It means absolute zero, the unachievable temperature in which all matter ceases to move. It gives the illusion that time has stopped, but this is only true of the area around you. Time continues to tick all around us, yet you... the beings above on the rooftop, the young student in the alleyway, they cease to move, to age even. If you were able to remain in this state forever, you would be immortal as I am. However, this will never be, not until you have passed into nothingness shall you have the ability I possess."

"What do you mean by that master?" Kurounin Aisu smiled faintly. "When your existence as a soul reaper ends, instead of passing on in the cycle of rebirth, you will become one with me. As I have with my master, and he with his master before him. I am but a collection of the master's past lives, and as I have trained you, you shall train another... as the next Kurounin Aisu." Kurama stared, bewildered at his master. He wouldn't enter the cycle of rebirth? Was this the curse that came with such incredible ability? He wasn't sure how to feel about this, but it was not like he had a choice. It was his fate and he would not waste his master's time dwelling on it any further. "I understand. So if I am not yet ready for this ability, why do you show it to me?"

"Though you will not be given access to its full potential, I am still granting you a portion of its power. This power will let you freeze every molecule around you, even flames, for a brief amount of time. Once you have expended your energy, you will not be able to recover your powers for one full day of rest. It will drain you of even the weakest of your kido abilities, your shunpo techniques, and my own power. You will not be able to commune with me either. It has many drawbacks but for roughly thirty seconds, you will be unstoppable."

Kurama closed his eyes and focused his energy into his hand. A light shimmered and his zanpakuto appeared once again in his grasp. "I assume you were not planning on imparting me with this ability without first besting you, correct?"

"That is the way these things usually work, yes. Are you sure you are ready for your final challenge?"

"The longer we spend conversing, the longer we are altering that poor lad's lifespan. I am ready master."

Kurama used senka to appear behind his master, lashing out with the katana. His master, only uttering but a word under his breath, disappeared from view. 'What? Where did he go?'

"You see, if you cannot move, you cannot react. Not only that but your perception of your surroundings is altered as time for you ceases to pass. In the time it took me to say one word you had only time to make that single action. I however, managed to arrange all those needles into that sculpture behind you and haul myself up into this tree." Kurama glared towards the voice of his master, seeing the faint figure of Kurounin Aisu perched on the branch of a nearby cherry tree. A statue of Kurama, lashing out with his katana stood only two feet away from him. He assumed it to be an exact replica of his stance only seconds ago. Or was it only seconds ago? He had no way of judging the passage of time.

"Alright then, I guess I'm just going to have to rely on this new power to win this fight then. Reido!" Kurama looked around, nothing seemed to have changed. The snow still remained motionless, his master still remained in the tree over yonder. Was time stopped? He strode over to the tree and peered up the trunk, his Kurounin Aisu sat motionless. "Aisu Shaddo!" His zanpakuto burst into the thin shards of ice in which he'd wielded since the day he met his master. He used the energy that accumulated from the Touketsu Reiki ability that technically was still fueling his abilities to create an even larger amout of shards. With these, Kurama made a sculpture of his master, sitting on the branch.

It wasn't exactly the masterpiece his master had constructed but for all he knew that could have taken him a thousand years to perfect. Kurama's sculpture was created out of ice, which he was able to manipulate to his liking... He kind of cheated, but then again, if what his master said was true, he only had thirty seconds to work with. A moment later, his master turned to his side to see the image of himself, chuckling at the expression he had apparently been wearing.

"In the time it took you to do that, I could have been skewered thrice over. I consider this a loss on my part, you have earned this ability. Use it well and don't stray from your path. Remember our agreement, I will not permit you to misuse the knowledge that I have bestowed."
"Thank you master. I will take these words to heart."

Kurounin Aisu nodded, and vanished. The snow slowly began to fall around Kurama and he could hear the sounds of combat in the distance. It was time to get back to the battle...

Draylon looked at the 3 hollows, all radically different, a giant one, an exotic one, and a cute one. The large one shot metal rods at Draylon an the exotic one started spewing a red laser in all directions, seemingly random. I wonder why the little one isn't attacking, oh well it is better off for me, although it worries me. He ran towards the hollows and dodged around the metal rods the large hollow shot towards the middle one, firing the laser randomly, as he approached the laser started to come at him, in an effort to avoid it, he dodged to the side, ending up in front of the large one.

Taking the opportunity, he slashed at it's tail quickly as he dove under it trying to stay under it and use it for cover, while making sure he didn't get squished in the process. All the while slashing at the tail with his flaming sword.

The winged beast continued to fire it's black metal rods until the shinigami dashed out of it's range into the blind spot below it. It felt the bite of the soul reaper's weapon pulled it's tail up as it backed up to resume firing. The cyclops monster's eye changed from red back to blue. A narrow ray of sapphire light shot out at Draylon. The shot missed by a hair and hit the ground behind him. Rather than an explosion there was now an energy javelin sticking from the ground. The one eyed monster hissed and fired another volley. The medium hollow just looked on. The flying hollow had moved back enough and joined in on the fun. This time it fired wildly at Draylon, a hail of large thick steel pillars from above and a barrage of blue energy from the left flank.

The portly arrancar gasped as he sensed his control over his metal spikes being stripped from him in an instant. A second later they noticed a large collection of snow materialize before them into the young shinigami once more. He looked, for the most part, uninjured. "I've had enough of you two, now it's my turn. Arainami Aisu!" Suddenly, a huge wave of spirit energy transformed into a torrent of water and ice, growing in size by the second as if encircled the rooftop. The two arrancar attempted to charge up another attack but after just putting all their power into the last attack and not having the time to recover yet, they stood no chance. The torrent converged on their position, sending them sprawling in opposite directions and encasing them in a eight foot thick layer of ice.

(I'll leave it at this for now, I'll make one more post to finish them off once you're done down there...)