Wrath of the Archdemon: Cerberus

What Next? The Soul Society War Summit!
"Wonder what the ruckus is about?" Shunsui asked, wearing his slightly ripped and tarnished pink kimono over his Haori, scoring a few bandages over wounds recently earned from the battle. Retsu Unohana had treated each and every Captain that she could before this surprising War Summit was proposed by an anonymous ally. Naturally, Jushirō and Shunsui were the least banged up and made leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.

"Don't know...that fellow from the 11th Division's Reserve wasn't very forthcoming with details, though I don't think he was meaning us harm," Captain Ukitake surmised, shrugging his shoulders before wincing slightly from the wounds inflicted by Rana Zolinder.

"Well, the guy used a trick only Katen Kyōkotsu should possess, but I guess shadows are more the lad's liking," Captain Kyōraku said, bending his straw hat down to hide the amused if not sheepish expression of having someone actually sneak up on the likes of him.

"No need to get embarassed now," Jushirō said with a slight laugh, trying to keep both of their spirits up in light of their sensei's death. They'd have time to grieve their late master and surrogate father figure. For now, they had people to strategize with and plans for the Soul Society's continuation and preservation.

"Oi, don't talk about me as if i'm not here..."

With their combined shadows, Raiken's form slowly rose from the ground, from Jushiro's up to Shunsui's as if he were walking. By the time he had reached the edge of Shunsui's shadow, his entire form had emerged from the ground. His attire still bore the burns from the previous fight with Leviatan, but he acted as if there were nothing wrong with him at the time.

"Welp, now it seems we have to wait for them other lads." he commented, standing a few feet to the duo's right.

"I felt it that time," Shunsui chuckled, tipping his hat upwards to regard the injured man as he walked to his own place of posture, "so precisely who is the mysterious masked man who's playing errand boy for an even more mysterious source?"

"I think its fair we ought to know, if we're going to be working together," Jushirō said with a curious, yet serious tone of his own as he regarded Raiken's stature and aura...slightly menacing, yet restrained and controlled, as if a foreign power lingered over him, seperate from his own yet hanging over him like a dark cloud or overcasting shadow.

"Aye, my apologies for the bluntness of my previous introduction. Time was of the essence." he replied, holding his arms behind his back and standing straight up. "Raiken Uchiwa, 11th Reserve forces. This "errand boy" is under orders of the new Commander to gather all of the remaining Captains and replacements to this hall."

Shunsui's eyes widened a fraction in sync with his academy-old friend, both of them uttering a synonymous, "The what?!"

"Did Central 46 react this quickly for contingency plans? They couldn't have kept a proxy in the wings for so long without our knowing," Jushirō spoke aloud incredulously, hardly believing whoever this supposed new leader could already attain the rank and authority to do this.

"Unless this is not of the official Gotei 13 channels," Shunsui said with a narrowing of his eyes in suspicion, sideglancing at Jushirō, the latter friend of his reading his thoughts through the look in his irises, as the prior man turned his dark eyes to look back at Raiken, "is this new Commander from the Zero Division as a replacement?"

"Nope." Raiken replied to Jushiro and Shunsui's questions at the same time. "The lad wiped out nearly a third of the enemies army by uttering a single word and drawing his blade. His spiritual pressure is just as high, if not moreso than his precursor's. Hell, being in the same vicinity as him was enough to make me think the place was ciphened of oxygen."

His left eye narrowed at the both of them. "He's definitely the sort that's been hanging out of the public eye. I doubt that even the Central 46 knew about him for a while. Whoever he is, I bet ole' Yamamoto was the only one who knew of him."

"Well," Shunsui shrugged as he smiled, "I guess we can just wait and see for ourselves..."

"I don't see why that should be necessary, Captains," Seu-Feng spoke aloud as she appeared in step with a just arriving Shinji, the two worn and weary combatants walked into the room, with her eyes peeled around the Captains' Meeting room, feeling a lot more void without the Head Captain's constant, commanding presence, "considering that he sounds like a man wanting to give us a chance for payback against the bastardized race that tried to take us out for good!"

"I agree, but we should be careful to gauge just how reliable this new guy really is," Shinji commented as he walked to his own posture while Seu-Feng walked in step to be next to Raiken, wanting to keep an eye on the newcomer esteemed Soul Reaper for the time being, "for all we know, he might lead us to our deaths blindly or might want us to cower while he protects our flanks, its hard to know with newbs..."