Day 13: Luckless

This article, , is the fourth chapter of the Investigating Grat arc, which is part of Bleach: Cataclysm. It follows Garrett Sheppard as the primary point-of-view character, with Tiffany Henderson serving as a secondary point-of-view character.

Garrett ran from the confines of an alleyway to give himself a little more room.

"So, to cut a long story short, you can't make the movies tonight?" She sounded more disappointed than annoyed.

"Pretty much!" He replied.

Garrett was speaking to Tiffany through his blue-tooth ear-piece. As he done this he leapt to the side, his feet emitting a flickering green light, as a muscular fish-like slammed its fin down onto the middle of the street! It had definitely been a good idea to get out of that alleyway.

"What was that sound?" Tiffany asked. She sounded a little bit concerned he noted.

"Oh, nothing real- Oh, shit!"

He was so focused on his conversation that he stopped paying attention to his surroundings. His back pressing against the cold, hard stone of a nearby building reminded him of his lack of awareness, and he just about ducked in-time to avoid having his head crushed. He swore down the phone when a second and third Hollow, both identical to the one he was already fighting, walked out from alleyways on either side of the street a little further up the road.

"Garrett!? It's another Hollow isn't it! Where are you?"

"Northern factory district!"

He hung up and turned to face three hungry-looking Hollow. The adrenaline was starting to kick in: that moment where you either decide to stand and fight or turn and run. Maybe he was was too foolhardy, like May always said? Or maybe his head was just wired wrong. Regardless of the reason Garrett squared his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.

"If you're gonna eat me, you ugly bastard, I swear to God I'm gonna give you a wicked case of the runs in return. Failing that... I hope you choke on me."

He ran right at them!

Tiffany heard the line go dead and cursed out loud! Inside she was a flurry of panic and worry, but thankfully none of it was reflected in her hands. She quickly brought up the contact saved on her phone as Randy "cracked plate" Jones, and called him. The next couple of seconds seemed to drag by.

She darted out the front door. "Answer the phone already!"

"Hello?"

"Randy? Thank God! It's Tiffany."

"How did you-"

"Never mind how I got your number!" She snapped. "Garrett's in trouble! Northern factory district. It sounded bad."

"... I'm on my way."

"Flamin' hell!"

Garrett was ready to put his head between his legs and kiss his ass goodbye. Remember when he saw three identical Hollow? Scratch that. It was actually a single Hollow with the power to duplicate itself. Right now he was looking at five Hollow, each as ugly and oily as the one beside it. He nearly cried.

He had already killed a dozen off those Hollow and yet they just kept coming! The one on the far-right of the street lunged towards him.

"Shūchūtama!"

The Hollow went down with a hole in its mask as a thin beam of concentrated spiritual energy shot from Garrett's right index-finger! His feet emitted a flickering green light and suddenly, with a leap, he was dangling from an exterior fire-escape halfway up the building closest to him. He felled another of the Hollow with the same technique from his left index-finger this time.

"... I'm not denting them." He realized.

"Then hit them harder!!"

All of a sudden Randy -- all six-foot four-inches of him -- was slamming his fist into the middle of the street, more-or-less right on-top of the Hollow! He released his spiritual pressure in that instant and damn was the effect immediate. A shock-wave emanated out from the impact zone and the three remaining Hollow roared as they died.

"See? I'm always tellin' you to pack a bit more muscle behind your swing!"

Garrett dropped lightly to the ground.

"That's cheap coming from you. You've got more muscle in your two arms than I have on my whole body!"

Up the street the pair heard the tell-tale roar of a Hollow being dispatched. As they looked Tiffany, garbed in the attire of a Shinigami and with a katana in-hand sporting a circular guard and white hilt-wrapping, flash-stepped into the street right in-front of them.

"You two should really learn to follow through." She claimed.

"Yeah, thanks." Randy answered. "Anyways, I'm off. I've got a shift in an hour."

With that Garrett and Tiffany where left in the middle of a rubble-strewn street. It was a lucky thing that the factory district was mostly run-down buildings and abandoned businesses, though it soon became apparent that someone had heard all the commotion. Police sirens where sounding in the distance and they where getting closer by the moment.

"You should get out of here." Tiffany suggested.

"... Yeah. Tiff, wait! It isn't normal for this many Hollow to be around. Something's up."

"I've noticed."

"Maybe we can discuss it over a night-cap?"

This was either going to go really badly or really great. The look of shock on her face made him think more of the former than the latter, but what she said next left him the one who was surprised.

"... Why not?" She replied. "Meet at mine though. Your brother and sister might ask questions."