Going on Patrol (Ezrachek)

Ezrachek stepped back, securing his safety from the large pit. He wanted to run and find Kuro, finding safety in the captain’s expertise. However, right now, that was not an option. He steadied himself mentally, and prepared to fight this man. He thought at first of running straight in, creating a diversion for Mika to go off of. Hmm… How are we to dispose of this man. Ezrachek thought to himself, looking down on the shinigami who was now in the middle of the pit. He looked over to Mika, looking for some sort of guidance, but found nothing but another look of confusion as they were both analyzing this person, his techniques, trying to find an opening to exploit. Ezrachek thought up multiple scenarios. A head on attack would end in death, Kido would end up in evasion, Bakudo will only be blocked, and waiting would be useless. Knowing Capt’n Kuro, He’s probably taking his sweet precious time Ezrachek thought to himself, letting a smirk appear on his face. He quickly wiped it away, coming back to the real situation at hand. How to kill this guy. Ezrachek looked all around, and could find nothing. ”Mika, If he attacks me, stop him.” Ezrachek said as he sat down on the ground, closely analyzing every single squared inch of their scenario. He meditated, thinking of everything. They had to get him out of the hole. That was it! Make the hole an acid pit!

Ezrachek stood up with a look of confidence on his face. ”Hey Mika… Follow my lead. I know it’s suicide, but it may be the only way to beat this guy. When you see the opening, well, you know what to do.” Ezrachek said as he breathed in deeply. He was fully aware that this move was risky, and could result in his death. Regardless, it had to be done. He walked over to the edge of the pit, looking down on the shinigami with a look that screamed out hate and contempt. Ezrachek let out a scream as he jumped high into the air, beginning to flip forward. ”Hado 4! White Lightning!” Ezrachek yelled out, shooting a bolt of arctic white lightning downward into the pit. The shinigami easily dodged it, and regained his posture. Ezrachek landed softly, trying hard to keep his posture in the pit. This was the hardest part… preoccupying the shinigami long enough for Mika to get in a hit. ”Hado 10! Rain of Pain!” Ezrachek yelled out, making sure to keep atleast a meter of distance away from the shinigami. The Acidic rain poured down from the sky, and slowly started to flood into the pit. The shinigami growled, jumping towards Ezrachek, Slashing down claw-like zanpakuto downward onto Ezrachek’s arm, which was raised in a block. The claw blades ripped into his arm as the shinigami yanked back on his arm. Ezrachek yelped out as his zanpakuto flew clear of the pit, stabbing into the wall of a nearby building. The shinigami advanced slowly towards Ezrachek. ”Hado 8! Blades of Flame!” Ezrachek said as flames burst from his hand, forming a decent sized sword. He readied his stance, preparing for the next moves. ”You Fool! No Sword of yours will EVER beat me! You can’t even attain Shikai!” The shinigami laughed out at Ezrachek, who did nothing but gained a wide smirk across his face. One thing he remembered from his earth life was chemistry. ”I don’t need Shikai when I have a comrade, and more importantly, science! Acid is highly flammable! Sucka!” Ezrachek said as he charged towards the shinigami, dragging his blade of flame across the acid soaked pit floor. The floor ignited instantaneously as Ezrachek placed a foot against the firm chest of the shinigami, kicking off of him. Ezrachek soared to solid ground. He noticed that he was quickly followed by the shinigami. ”NOW MIKA! HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT!!!” Ezrachek yelled at the top of his lungs as he sprinted so fast, the tendons in his legs tore. He reached his zanpakuto, jumping on the hilt, using it to spring him skyward. He knew the shinigami would follow him, so he turned in midair, reaching his hands towards the ground. ”Hado 4! White Lightning!” Ezrachek called out, feeling the last of his energy being put into this shot. It didn’t matter if he hit him or not, he knew that the shinigami was forced to stay on the ground, and being distracted. It was Mika’s fight now. Ezrachek felt his eyes being forced closed, as the darkness came in from the corner of his eyes. He blacked out at the peak of his jump, falling helplessly to the ground. Sounds of his bones cracking echoed from his body as he smacked hard into the street. He was out for the rest of the battle.

Mika kept a close watch on the enemy, knowing that he was feeling elated with the pleasure of toying with the two of them. As Ezrachek sat and thought of his plan, Mika bought him time by repeatedly shunpoing down into the pit and attacking the the shinigami. Her weapon never breached his quick defense, but her use of reishi to avoid slipping onto the sandy pit edges managed to keep her from falling into his trap and losing her defenses. It was a stalemate that continued until Ezrachek came up with his plan. Mika stood by and waited for an opening as he showed some impressive usage of kido. She herself didn't have much patience for such things, choosing instead to devote more of her training to her hakudo mastery. The pit burst into flames and the next thing Mika knew, both combatants were up and out of it. This gave them a narrow window of opportunity; they had to defeat the foe before he set up another pit with his zanpakuto or showed some other ability. Her eyes followed the two of them and she ran to support Ezrachek. As he leaped off his zanpakuto and left it behind, still keeping the attention of the enemy due to his anger of Ezrachek's clever move, Mika ran over to the blade and pulled it out of its current location.

Mika raised her own blade now and used its first ability to rotate three more blades out from the first, turning her short blade into a massive shuriken. Watching the progress of the two men, she saw the enemy dodge Ezrachek's lightning attack and prepare to strike him as he lost consciousness. She had other plans. "Over here you cocky bastard!" she shouted as she hurled her zanpakuto at his position in midair. Her shout worked and brought his attention to her, and more importantly te spinning shuriken whirling at him while glowing with an acid green spirit power. The shinigami dodged the weapon and darted at Mika, intending to take her out. She met the challenge and followed after him, following the same path her zanpakuto had flown in. The foe shinigami appeared to think he had the advantage, smirking in glee as they approached each other. But then he felt that something was wrong. His smile vanished as a large gust of wind suddenly roared straight at him, halting his advance and even beginning to push him backwards. Mika on the other hand, was accelerated by the stream of air pressure, streaking past the man and stabbing Ezrachek's zanpakuto clean through his heart as she passed. A shocked look drew itself across his face as he fell down to the ground, his life fading fast. Mika landed nearby, speaking coldly as she turned and went to check on Ezrachek.

"Sora no shinkū, the ability of my star to rip open the heavens and bring out the breath of the gods. Your overconfidence in your ability to fight in the ground brought about your death in the sky."

Mika left the man to die in the dirt of the wasteland as she checked on Ezrachek. Confirming that he was still alive, she strode over to where her zanpakuto had landed and resealed it. Looking towards the distance town and then towards the nearby forest, she sighed as she hoped that Kuro would find them soon. She half considered dragging Ezrachek back into the forest to meet the captain, but decided against it as she didn't know the extent of his wounds.


Kuro had been about to start looking for the two of them when a bright light burst out from behind the trees, barely visible in the depths of the forest except for an orange outline at the tops of the tallest of the trees. Following shortly after, Kuro felt a burst of a reiatsu that he recognized. Mika! Kuro raced through the trees, no longer taking things easy. For Mika to release enough of her power that he'd felt it by the edge of the bandits' base valley, her opponent had to be powerful. Tearing his way out of the forest edge, he saw the remains of the recent battlefield. A charred pit was stretched out a short distance from the trees and the dirt surrounding the area was streaked with blood. Kuro wondered what kind of fight he had missed, and hoped that there hadn't been any unfortunate fatal results for his squad. His mind was put at ease when he spotted Mika kneeling next to Ezrachek, trying her best to keep him comfortable until he woke up. Shunpoing over, he immediately inquired about the situation.

"Seems like you had a tough time. What happened?"

Mika smiled and stood up, throwing her arms around Kuro in relief. "We ran into the shinigami. We managed to defeat him, but Ezrachek received quite a few injuries in the process. What about you? Did you manage to find the children?"

Kuro sat down as he pondered their next move with the way things had turned out. "Yeah, I found them. But with Ezrachek this way, I might have to revise my plan of how to get them out of there. We'll have to wait until he wakes up so he can tell us just how bad he's hurt."

With nothing else to do, the two of them just sat by Ezrachek's side and waited to continue the mission.

What is this aweful taste in my mouth?! Ezrachek thought, awaking from his slumber. He sat up quickly grabbing his head. ”OWW! What Happ- Never mind” He said as he suddenly remembered the battle that had taken place. He had assumed since he wasn’t dead, and Mika wasn’t currently kicking the crap out of the shinigami, that they had won. He noticed his Zanpakuto was no longer in the wall and was curious if its thirst for blood was ever quenched. He looked around, still dizzy from the overuse of his abilities. He saw Kuro standing next to him. ”So nice of you to join us Capt’n! Too bad we already took all the glory of finishing that Bastardo off” Ezrachek said happily, speaking the word Bastardo in an Italian accent. He deserved to burn in hell, too bad He escaped the fire pit right behind Ezrachek.

Ezrachek attempted to stand up, feeling quite wobbly as his legs took a while to gain blood pressure. They finally came to, and his legs were able to support his legs. He stood there for five minutes, just standing, breathing, not saying a word or moving. He finally took a step forward. Another. Another. And another. He felt fine physically, except for the killer headache that he experienced from smacking his skull into the pavement of the street. He looked around, spotting his Zanpakuto where Mika had laid it down. He walked over and grabbed it, unsheathing the Katana. He took a few practice swings, making sure that he hadn’t lost any skill in the art. He felt fine in that as well. ”Shouldn’t I be experiencing some sort of loss of something due to me over working myself?” He asked Kuro. He found no answers in the man’s face in abandoned the question. He walked around faster, slowly gaining more and more speed, until finally he busted out into a sprint. He ran to the end of the street and back, sliding to a stop in front of the two.

”Now. I believe we have some children to rescue and some bad guys to beat up?” Ezrachek said with a cocky smile on his face. An unbelievably cheerful expression on his face, that of a small child who just got what they wished for on Christmas morning. He walked towards the forest that they came from before turning back to the others. ”Ya’ll coming? He said waiting for the response.

Kuro stood up and watched Ezrachek's antics with a curious look on his face. His behavior had made a complete flip from what it was before. And his body looked like he should be in a lot more pain than he was acting like. Kuro sighed and wrote it off as being that Ezrachek was in some sort of rush at the moment. That at least meant that he'd have the energy to finish their mission. Kuro strode past Ezrachek, wasting no time in case his body began to feel its injuries later, and led the way back through the forest. With all the drama they'd been through, time had passed and the sky was beginning to brighten as they reached the slopes of the valley containing the bandit village. Here, Kuro explained the final plan.

"I was able to infiltrate the main building and discover where they're holding the kids. With that knowledge, we can safely launch a large scale attack on the building without fearing the safety of them. I'll stay up here for now while the two of you attack the enemy. You'll have a degree of surprise on your side as I provide a slight...distraction for you. I'll be able to feel your reiatsus, but as an added assurance that I don't end up hurting you, stick to the most chaotic areas. You'll understand what I mean by that when the operation starts."

"Yes sir!" Mika exclaimed with excitement. Now that Kuro was going to fight, she was looking forward to the mess that the bandits would find themselves in. Drawing her zanpakuto, she leapt over the side of the slope and began to run down into the valley. Kuro chuckled at her enthusiasm and drew his own zanpakuto.

"Concentrate, Seishou-Seijin." His zanpakuto flashed yellow and transformed into his black and gold ninja gauntlet. Raising his hand to point the gauntleted hand's palm into the valley, he guided his spirit power into the weapon as he selected his first target. "Commence operation 'bomb the hell out of the bandit camp'..." he muttered before firing a beam of energy from his gauntlet down at the first building in Mika and Ezrachek's path. The beam struck the roof of the smaller building, resulting in a decent explosion that immediately threw the rest of the bandits into a state of confusion. As one lone survivor exited the burning remains of the building, he was deftly cut down by Mika's blade as she passed. Other bandits saw her making her advance and gathered ahead of her in an attempt to overwhelm her and stop her movement with numbers. Their screams pierced the dawning skies as another shot from Kuro sailed down from above and killed them instantly. Kuro took a moment to allow Mika and Ezrachek a chance to advance further at this time as he focused more power in his gauntlet in preparation for his next assault.

Ezrachek laughed happily and psychotically as he jumped from the over watch that they had previously been in. He sprinted up to catch up with Mika. Feeling the ground start to shake at the chaos that was about to happen, Ezrachek looked over at the woman. "Let's finish this up quickly so we can get back to the barracks!" He said with a cocky attitude, running up to the first thugs that had turned around and opened his mouth the let out a yell for help. Ezrachek quickly jumped up, shoving his foot in the man's foot, silencing him. He shoved the man backwards and shoved a fist hard into his temple, knocking him unconscious before he hit the ground. "Ya know, Mika, with this strength that I'm feeling, and how weak these guys are compared to that shinigami, I bet we won't even have to use our zanpakutos" He said with a wicked smile, smashing a spinning kick into the next opponents face, spilling blood from his mouth and nose as he fell to the ground hard. He advanced towards the school that the children had been placed in. Ezrachek kicked in the door, sending it hurling towards the back wall as the thugs drew swords and sprinted at Ezrachek all at once. It was just then that the first few explosions from Kuro erupted across the village. This scared the confidence from the thugs, and enstilled it into the shinigami. "Cmon, two on one? Hardly seems fair." he called out as his hand slid towards the hilt of his sword. "Do me a favor, call three more of your lackeys and make it a fair 5 on 1, then we can fight." His words angered the two thugs as they both swung violently towards Ezrachek. He easily dodged, bringing his blade back, and then ducking below their attacks. He swung at their legs, cutting the tendons in their thighs as they collapsed to the ground. He then walked up to them, piercing their hearts with his blade, ending their pain. He looked at the children and looked back at Mika. "Ok! Mika! Children are secured! What next?" He asked, sheathing his sword as he waited for her response.

"Alright. Next-"

"You die." Mika's response was interrupted by a deep voice that was followed by a powerful fist. Mika only managed to dodge the blow because of the warning given by the voice. Flipping out of the way, she landed next to Ezrachek and the kids. Outside and even down other hallways in the building they were standing in, the sounds of further blasts fired by Kuro boomed out, accompanied by the screams of pain and confusion as the rest of the bandits tried to figure out what to do. Meanwhile, Mika and Ezrachek were facing a man dressed incredibly casual, but he was exuding a reiatsu that was far stronger than the shinigami they had encountered earlier. He had uneven flaming red hair and amber eyes that were brightly lit with his spirit power. As if the reiatsu hadn't been enough, the katana he was drawing from the sheath on his waist confirmed it beyond the shadow of a doubt: this man was another shinigami. The problem with it was that his reiatsu was much higher than Mika or Ezrachek's. It was about the strong as a captain's, or just underneath it. The feeling was almost crushing. Mika brandished her blade in his direction, though she knew that there was no way for the two of them to beat this man like the one before.

Spoiler:

"Where do you think you're going." the man spoke in a slow, menacing drawl. Immediately following the words, he brought his sword up to his side to parry a blow from Mika as she shunpoed behind him and swung her blade at his arm. "Too slow I'm afraid. You won't hit me with such obvious attacks." He continued by spinning around violently and pushing Mika's blade with his own. She was thrown back by his strength and crashed roughly into the wall. She fell to the ground in pain, but refused to let go of her zanpakuto. Pulling herself to her feet, she got into stance again and prepared to fight again.

"Such a fool. You should have considered yourself lucky when you managed to beat my comrade earlier. Oh yes, I felt your reiatsus back then. It wasn't easy to beat him was it? And I'm sure you can feel it; I'm much stronger than he was. And with this, your already microscopic chances will be eliminated. Disperse, Bōrei."

Spoiler:

Its release command uttered, the opponent's zanpakuto glowed with an eerie pale blue light. Its blade shrank and bent, leaving the weapon in the man's hand when the light faded as a short knife with crescent shaped blade on the end of the handle. The man did nothing further at this point. Mika stood looking confused, but decided to take the initiative. Shunpoing at him again, she slashed horizontally in an effort to cut his midsection. This time he offered no resistance, letting her blade approach him. She was confused again by this, but thought no more of it and continued. Shock spread across her face as her sword passed right though his body with no resistance. She turned back to find him not wounded at all, not even having lost a single drop of blood. Her turn was too slow however and her back was fully exposed. His curved blade flashed quickly as he struck. Mika let out a cry as a line of her blood splashed onto the floor of the building. She sank slowly to the ground again, blood dripping down her back as she winced in pain. Looking past the man's feet towards Ezrachek and the children, she tried to warn them away.

"He's too strong. Get out of here while you can!"

Ezrachek watched the pain of Mika as she was slashed in the back by the man's blade. He was torn from decisions of helping Mika, and saving the children. As the battle raged on, he gathered the children around and gave them the directions on how to get out. He turned around to see the battle, but only saw a flash before him as the man was in front of him, then shunpoed behind him. Ezrachek ducked down, hitting the floor hard as the shinigami's blade passed just barely over the top of his skull. Ezrachek shoved a hard foot backwards, landing a hit on the man's chest, shoving him backwards. He quickly jumped over to Mika, helping her to her feet. "Sorry, Mika. Looks like I'm stuck here with you." He said as he raised her to her feet and unsheathed his zanpakuto, turning his attention to the shinigami. "Ya know, I'm not the type to run away from a challenging battle. Besides, Your buddy there, He was easy to defeat, just another victim of the White Lotus, Just like you!" Ezrachek held his blade out with one hand waiting for the man to attack. He shunpoed towards Ezrachek, as Ezrachek did a bold thing, and slid towards the incoming man, knowing that they would overshoot each other. Ezrachek, knowing that it would happen, was able to twist his back, and raise to his feet faster as he swung the blade diagonally from the top right, down to the bottom left. The man had also risen to his feet and swung his released Zanpakuto. Blood splattered on the ground as both men stared through each other. They were examining their opponent for a solid hit. Ezrachek noticed that that blood trickled down the man's face as a line of blood appeared in a cut just below the man's right eye.

Pain struck Ezrachek hard as he felt the burning sensation in his chest as he reached his freehand to his chest, feeling the warm blood from the long slash running through his chest. Blood spilled freely from the wound as Ezrachek fell to the floor. He looked up, seeing Mika still wounded, and the shinigami stood between the two. He had distracted the man long enough for the children to escape, and now it was time for Mika to escape. It was Ezrachek's duty to lay down his life for the mission, and furthermore, another friendly shinigami. He raised to his feet, struggling against fatigue and the numerous injuries he had sustained from his battles. He knew he was bluffing, and it was certain that the opposing shinigami knew he was bluffing as well. The man laughed as Ezrachek stood up. He shunpoed towards Ezrachek and swug his blade at his midsection. Ezrachek easily deflected the hit, feeling slight pain in his arm, as he dodged a follow up attack. Ezrachek kicked the man in the chest, shoving him backwards again. "Without using Shunpo, You are slow. Slow enough for me to keep in pace with you. I wonder if you're fast enough for Kidou! Bakudo 4! Hainawa!" Ezrachek yelled out as the energy ropes shot from the palm of Ezrachek's hand, wrapping around firmly the man. He knew that he could only hold the man so long before fatigue reached him again and his Bakudo collapsed. He looked over at Mika one last time before yelling his command. "GO! RUN MIKA! GO GET KURO!" He said as he released the Bakudo, sprinting towards the man, tackling him as the two of them crashed through the wall, tumbling out of the building and into the streets where the chaotic explosions were happening. He watched to see if Mika was listening to him, but was cut off as the shinigami, slashed at Ezrachek once more, cutting a line across his back. Ezrachek yelled out in pain, as he jumped back, gaining distance from the man. He steadied his stance and his blade, ready for battle.

"You annoying little insect." the other shinigami sounded annoyed as he stared down Ezrachek. "I let my guard down because of how weak your reiatsu was, but I'm not letting you get any more hits on me." He held his curved blade high, getting into a stance for an attack, then charged forward without shunpo. Even still, his natural speed was rather impressive. He closed the distance between Ezrachek and himself in mere seconds and slashed wildly at his front. But his attack did nothing as the blade and then the man himself passed right through Ezrachek like he was a ghost. He laughed hysterically as he turned and repeated this untouchable attack several times.

"My zanpakuto allows me to render my body intangible so that enemy attacks don't hurt me. It also makes for an entertaining battle where the enemy doesn't know which attack of mine will be the one that strikes them!"

Mika had pulled herself to her feet inside the building and painfully made her way out. She found the children outside, huddled together near the front afraid of the craziness unfolding around them. Mika went over to them as fast as she could and tried to comfort them, throwing her arms around their mass and telling them that everything would be alright. Though truthfully, she didn't know if that was right. With her current injury, further battle would be difficult while protecting these kids and getting them up the valley walls. If only Kuro was there. As this thought passed through her mind, Ezrachek and the enemy shinigami crashed through the wall of the building out into the street. She was shocked as she overheard the shinigami explain his zanpakuto's ability. How could they beat an enemy like that!? She could only watch from her position with the children as the enemy sadistically struck with untouchable blows again and again, trying to goad Ezrachek into a state of hopelessness and fear.

The enemy was launching another attack with a gleeful look on his face. "This is the end of you." He laughed as he lunged forward. The pressure of the situation finally got to Mika, causing her to scream out. "Help us Captain!"

A blur moved in front of the two battling shinigami as Mika called out. The enemy's blade was stopped as it reached Ezrachek. Standing between both of them was Kuro with a golden blade of energy extended from his gauntlet. He grinned in spite of the seriousness of the occasion. "Someone call for me?" His face then went serious to match the atmosphere of the fight. "Rayone-kun, Mika. Good job you two. Now just stay with the children. There are still some remnant groups of bandits in the valley. Stay near the building and wait until I've finished this guy. Then we'll all leave this place alive together."

Ezrachek buffeted from each deep attack that the shinigami had hit him with. He was cut up to pieces, but he stood regardless, refusing to die in this battle, refusing to back down, refusing to lose. He looked up in a horrifying gaze as the man struck with his final blow, bracing himself for the blow, when he saw a slight blur in front of his face. Captain Kuro had actually came to save him. Ezrachek lost power of his body and fell flaccidly to the ground, smacking his skull on the ground.

He rose reluctantly to his feet after a few seconds, still dizzy from the impact, as he listened to Kuro's orders. Ezrachek rose to his feet and swayed slowly until he gained his equilibrium. He walked slowly over to the children and where Mika was standing. The pain was burning inside him and he couldn't stand much more. He looked up at Mika, panting from the pain. "I do-don't suppose you can m-m-make it to the classroom again? I left my bag with supplies in there, and I need medical bandages." He struggled with the words as he spoke them softly. He waited for Mika to get back with the bag as she tossed it down towards him. He caught the bag and grabbed the bandages from his back, placing them softly on the wounds. He then took the wrap that he had and wrapped his entire torso.

Reluctant to stay away from a good fight, Ezrachek made his way back to the battle scene, where he saw Kuro and the other Shinigami. He stood there as he unsheathed his Zanpakuto, waiting to see if there was a possibility of him getting back into this battle.

Kuro and the enemy silently stared each other down for a long period after Ezrachek made his way away from the fight. The other man seemed to be trying to make sense of the situation. His confusions were made apparent when he finally broke the silence.

"She said Captain...but your reiatsu is even lower than the guy I was enjoying myself with before you got here. They willing to just make anyone a leader these days? Guess all the stories about the strong Gotei are just a bunch of -" his sentence was cut off as Kuro disappeared from sight and reappeared behind him with shunpo. "What the hell!?" he screamed as Kuro swung his formed blade at his midsection. But even with Kuro's superior speed, he didn't manage to connect his hit before the enemy activated his zanpakuto's ability again, causing Kuro's attack to sweep through his body without leaving a scratch. Kuro's ability had however startled the man.

"How the hell do you move so fast with such a near nonexistant reiatsu!? What trickery are you pulling?"

"Someone with a zanpakuto like yours shouldn't accuse others of trickery so quickly. There's no trick here, just a side effect of my zanpakuto. It compresses the spirit power in my hand and body. As a result, less power flares up to escape my body and be felt by others when my zanpakuto is released."" Kuro just finished talking when the man shunpoed in an attempt to make a surprise attack. Kuro read the movement and held up his blade to parry the strike which came completely tangible, proof that the man was longing to rid himself of such a high level opponent as quickly as possible. Kuro calmly threw the man off of himself and glanced in the direction of his squad members and the children. "What are you planning to do once you are finished with us?"

"Isn't it obvious? This bandit camp is ruined. I have no use for it or the weak bastards you've killed. I'll kill everyone here and go and start a new following somewhere else. Bandits are always eager to follow someone strong who can give them power and influence."

"By everyone, do you mean those children as well?"

"Of course. Those brats had it comin'. Always whining all night and day. I'll make sure to give them something to really cry about before I leave this place."

"Oh boy...he's done it now." Mika said matter-of-factly as she, the children, and Ezrachek watched the fight. "By threatening innocent children in front of the Captain, he's just forfeited any chance of making it through this battle alive that he previously had."

Mika's statement was mostly speculation on her part, based on what she knew of Kuro's kind and just personality. But she was also absolutely correct. A barely noticable look of dedication flashed across Kuro's face for a moment before he spoke with a voice that was somehow calm, but also dripped with malice. "Is that so? Then I have only one response........Bankai."

Kuro's power spiked as a yellow pillar of energy shot up into the sky around his body. It cleared in an instant to reveal Kuro clad in a black and gold shinobi attire with his shikai duplicated in the form of an additional guantlet and two power compressing boots. He extended blades of energy from both of his hands and shunpoed forward to strike at his foe, who immediately made himself intangible to avoid injury.

"Even with your bankai, you still can't touch me Mr. Captain. I'll just stay untouchable until your power runs out. Then it won't matter how strong you are."

"No...you are going to die. And all you can do is watch and wait for that moment to come." When he finished his statment, Kuro folded his hands in a meditational looking stance. Slowly, the seven rings on the sash that decorated the front of his bankai began to fill up with golden color starting from the bottom one and working their way up. The enemy was unnerved, thinking Kuro's move to be a bluff.

"It doesn't matter how much you power up your bankai, you still can't touch me!"

Kuro didn't respond, instead choosing to continue to focus. Slowly, over the course of many minutes, the rings on his sash began to glow. Ring five, ring six, and finally...ring seven. Upon the filling in of the final ring, power burst from Kuro, like a stem errupting from the ground. The power slowly unfolded from itself, forming the beautiful appearance of a shining gold lotus flower comprised of spirit power. This image only stuck around for an instant before it massed itself together again and surged back into Kuro's body. He looked at his enemy with a face of absolute confidence. "My experience with my zanpakuto has made me very good at controlling and detecting spirit power. I was able to tell after striking your intangible body multiple times...your zanpakuto is indeed strong, but has a dire weakness. Its ability works by loosening the bonds of the spirit particles that form your soul. This allows physical objects to pass through you...but also leaves you vulnerable to my bankai's ultimate ability."

To demonstrate, Kuro held out a hand and concentrated. The foe let out a scream of understandable agony as specks of glowing spirit power detached themselves from his body and began to make their way towards Kuro. He cried out for a few seconds until the specks ceased in their desertion of him. Kuro at this moment shunpoed with an extra burst of speed, fueled by the power he'd guided from his body into his boots. He drove an energy blade on his guantlet through the man's stomach, causing him to cough up blood. "To escape the pain of having your soul ripped apart by my ability, your only choice was to make yourself vulnerable physically again. As soon as my bankai was fully activated, there was no way for you to win." Kuro withdrew his hand and blade, leaving the man to crash to the valley floor dead. Kuro turned back to the others as he resealed his zanpakuto. Walking over with a bright smile now that the most dangerous foe had been dealt with, he clapped a hand down on the shoulders of both Mika and Ezrachek. "We're almost done. Let's get these kids home now."

Ezrachek watched the entire battle unfold infront of his eyes. It was an amazing sight. Ezrachek fell to the floor quickly when he felt the extreme power being released from Kuro's bankai. He watched closely, examining the scientific capabilities of Kuros bankai, which almost seemed like a weapon of a Quincy in the way that it absorbs the particles. As the battle neared the end, Ezrachek watched with relief as he saw the shinigami fall down cold and dead. He stood up holding a strong stance as Kuro neared his two partners. Ezrachek felt a heavy hand from Kuro being placed innocently onto his shoulder, right where he had received a deep cut from his battle with the man. Pain surged through his body as he fell to his knees, panting and breathing very quickly. Ezrachek regained his composure and walked with Kuro and Mika to the children. He smiled at the children's faces, not letting them see how painful his wounds were. They moved the children back to a safe place and gathered around to talk. "So, Cap'n. What next? We go home now?" Ezrachek asked curiously as he looked at his captain, eagerly waiting for this whole day to be over and for him to go get healed by squad 4.

They had made good timing so far, having scaled the sides of the valley to end up back in the forest surrounding it. Kuro allowed a momentary rest before continuing. It was short lived as he encouraged everyone to keep going.

"We'll get these kids back to their village, then we'll start back towards the Seireitei. I know it's been a tough few days, but we're almost done."

At Kuro's encouragement, the group passed through the forest without much time. The children were eager to get back to their parents anyway. When the forest cleared and they reached the barren wasteland, Kuro led the way back to the village they had reported to. The sun rising high in the sky by the time they arrived, but the streets were still barren, as the townspeople had no way of knowing the bandit problem had been dealt with. Kuro and his group paraded into the town and immediately bee lined for the inn where the group of villagers had informed them of the situation the night before. Kuro knocked on the door a few times before it slowly opened up, revealing the keeper and the many other villagers inside. Kuro grinned and proudly directed their attention to the kids standing on the street. "We're back." What happened next could be described as chaotic.

Villagers screamed with excitement and poured out of the inn. It seemed that many of the ones that had been staying in the inn were the parents of the kidnapped children. Kuro figured it must have been their way of supporting each other through the stressful time. The noise created by the reunion caught the attention of the inhabitants of the other buildings, who also came running out into the streets, glad to be free of the fear of the bandit oppression. The streets were suddenly alive with the sounds of cheering, laughing, and crying. Kuro took a position on the side of the road, leaning against one of the buildings and watching the scene unfold. Mika joined him against the building, letting her head droop to the side and rest against his arm. They were proud of the work they had done to free this village. Their mission was a complete success. Kuro stood up suddenly and stretched a little.

"Oh well. We've done what we came to do. Time for us to go back to our home. Let's go guys." He made a move to leave, but as he moved away from the mass of people, he felt a tug on the back of his robes. He turned his head in confusion, wondering if he'd caught the robe on something. To his surprise, one of the children they'd just brought back, a little girl, was standing behind him with a handful of the bottom of his haori in her grasp. He gently tugged back at it, but the girl was tenacious and refused to let go of him. He turned around and squatted down to eye level with her. "You're back home now. We have to go to ours now." The girl shook her head and still wouldn't let go of his haori. She opened her mouth and spoke only one word.

"Flo-wer."

"Flower?" Kuro repeated, confused as to what she meant. "You want a flower?" his question received another head shake from the little girl, who then proceeded to lift her other hand and point at Kuro.

"Flower." she recited again, jabbing her finger forward to emphasize what she meant. Kuro was still confused by all of this and tried to make sense of it. He thought back over the chain of events that had taken place with the kids. Then it became clear; this girl was remembering his bankai ability's activation. He smiled and replied, "Yes, that was a flower you saw earlier. But my name's Kuro. What's yours?"

"She doesn't remember her name." the voice behind the girl caused Kuro to look up and notice the inn keeper standing there with his wife and daughter. "She was only a new arrival the day the bandits took the children away. She doesn't remember her name from when she was alive and hasn't found a family here yet."

"That's too bad." Kuro remarked with a sympathetic look on his face. "I hope everything works out for you little one." He made to get up and leave again, but the same tug on his robes stopped him again. The girl just wouldn't let him go. He got down on the ground again and locked his gaze with hers. The standoff continued for several seconds, during which Kuro thought of the girl's situation. It reminded him so much of his early days. In the end, he couldn't resist her. "How would you like to come back to the Seireitei with us? We can get you a new life started there. Would you like that?"

The answer was obviously yes as the girl broke out into a beaming smile and threw herself against Kuro's chest in as tight of a hug she could manage. Kuro laughed at the position he'd gotten himself into and slung her up onto his shoulders as he finally got to make his way towards the town entrance. Mika walked next to him, teasing him about his new charge. "You just can't say no to a pretty girl can you? She's gonna have you wrapped around her little finger."

"Give it a rest." Kuro said back flatly. "I couldn't just leave a little girl alone out in this wilderness. We both know what that's like." He decided to change the subject before they got lost in painful memories. "So what am I going to call you?" he asked the girl. "It has to be something memorable...and cute." He thought hard for a moment. "I know. Your name should be Hana. It's perfect considering how we first met. What do you think?" His response was a cry of happy laughter and two small arms wrapping around his head as they walked out of the town and back towards the Seireitei, laughing as they walked.

Ezrachek laughed at the whole events, feeling remorseful, knowing that he never really had this feeling that they were experiencing. His human life was a struggle of life or death and constant war. His life in Seireitei started immediately with the academy, where he constantly struggled with his training, making sure he secured his spot as the top of the class. He then immediately went on this mission after being accepted into the 2nd division. He shrugged off the remorse and decided that it would be best that he just focus on the good feelings in the environment now that they had saved the district. Ezrachek walked back to the Seireitei with Kuro and Mika, rubbing his pained shoulders after carrying a few kids along the width of his shoulders into the town.

He wanted nothing more than to go home and cleanse himself of this blood that laden his whole battle from the two battles that he had heavily involved himself in. He walked happily along side the three of the people, and was confused at Kuro's comment. "Wait... Hana? What relevance does that have to this mission or how ya'll met?" Ezrachek asked, knowing that what came next was inevitable. Everyone broke out into laughter, all four of them laughing together as they finally met the gates of the seireitei. Home. Finally this nightmare was over and they could all go back to their normal lives.

[OOC: Thread is over now right?]

ooc: yes it's over. good work.

[OOC: Thanx]