Gai Nagareboshi

Gai Nagareboshi is a being of unknown race and origin. The story of Gai Nagareboshi is told through "A Certain Unlucky Person". A person who is only occupied and concerned with looking after his most important people, Gai thinks nothing of his existence as a "Soul" (he assumes himself to be one) living in Rukongai. However, after encountering the Arrancar Nika and obtaining the Zanpakutō Kakusei, Gai begins to realize there's much more to himself than he originally thought.

Appearance
Gai, despite his feminine appearance, is a male and insists that. He has short brown hair with a small clump of hair down the middle and white hairclips on each side, a slender figure, and wide green eyes, which change into blue within magenta when he accesses his reiatsu. Gai wears a small black shirt, shaped like a diamond; the collar is a thin strand of cloth, wrapping around his own neck, and on the sides of the shirt, there are two thin strips that connect around his back, being tied in a small ribbon-like fashion with two red, intersecting belts over his chest. He wears white hakama, with painted golden phoenix wing designs, tied with a green sash. A large piece of black fabric hangs from the center of the sash; embellished with the images of three origami cranes. Gai also bears two strips of blue cloth that drape over either side of his hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around his waist, draped in the same manner. On Gai's arms are white bell-sleeves and two large, scarlet gauntlets, with a golden shell on the back of each hand. He also wears black sandals with black thigh-high socks.

Personality and Traits
Gai Nagareboshi is a complex person. While he merely wants to be left alone, he also shows signs of wanting to start an adventure. He is rather bitter, cynical, emotionless, and cold, though people who are close enough to him know that this is an act; as he is actually a kind and caring person, especially to Kōzuki Yoshi/Gekkō Utsukushi. Gai generally keeps his cool under most circumstances, and no matter what his enemies ever do to him, he always seems to have to be able to come up with a witty retort to it. He has a strong sense of justice; the reason his adventure started is because he stepped in to protect Hikari and Hitsugaya from being killed by Nika. Also he shows an inferiority complex that make him think he can't do anything right or complete. The main reason behind this is that he had been always branded as a worthless person as a Plus. Therefore for his lack of power and mockery of Shinigami, he entered in a gang. This complex can be seen in his usual internal monologue, as he always complains about the situation but he never say it.

Recent History
Main Article: A Certain Unlucky Person

Twin Bout: Ureshi vs Nagareboshi (100 years before A Certain Unlucky Person)

First Release- Beginnings

Second Release- Gai Nagareboshi vs. Nika

Third Release- Kakusei

Fourth Release- Memories

Fifth Release- Reunion

Sixth Release- Plan

Seventh Release- Unlikely Assistance

Eighth Release- Azure Thunder Knight

Ninth Release- Urahara Shop

Powers and Abilities
As a Soul, Gai held very little ability. Despite this, he was able to fight the Arrancar Nika on equal footing with strategy. However, after obtaining his Zanpakutō, his powers had increased expotentially to the point of fighting a Captain on equal footing, though Kakusei was manipulating and increasing his spiritual pressure drastically to the point he could deflect several Kido spells with his blade.

Beginning Swordsman: As he has just obtained his Zanpakutō, Gai is only a novice. Despite his incredible strength, Kakusei often slips out of his hands while swinging the blade, and he prefers slow, powerful strikes due to his clumsiness. However, as the story progresses, Gai becomes more skilled with his blade, though he prefers to use his hand-to-hand skill in battle.

Enhanced Strength: Gai's only saving grace is his phenomenal strength. He has enough power to break steel with his bare hands, and break through Nika's Hierro with some effort. He was able to defeat a Captain with his bare hands only after the Captain had exhausted all of his spiritual energy before he passed out, and was not knocked unconcious by General Yamamoto's spiritual pressure until after a few seconds of withstanding it.

Enhanced Speed: While he possesses no skill in Shunpo, Gai has shown to be deceptively fast for his size and build. Thanks to his tremendous raw power, Gai's leg strength allows him to more than make up for his lack of Shunpo, allowing him to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight. In battle he is able to punch with incredible speed in rapid succession, making it highly difficult for his opponents to find an opening and counterattack.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Gai's expertise in hand-to-hand combat is unparalleled in Rukongai, and he was able to defeat two lieutenants at the same time with his bare hands. His mastery of the art form is so great that he would use it exclusively as his form of combat of choice, except for Kakusei being vital to his plans. However, after achieving Kakusei's Bankai, Gai begins to use his hand-to-hand combat skills again. He has been shown to take down nearly 10 Lieutenants with only judo throws and powerful kicks after his training. He has been shown taking on the likes of Espada-level Arrancar as when he brutally defeated Maggiore and is even regarded by Yūrei as highly dangerous, and he admits that if he and Gai were to fight in hand-to-hand combat, Gai would win by a landslide. Gai is the most physically powerful character in "A Certain Unlucky Person". During Eleventh Release- Hakuda, Yoruichi Shihōin spends her time training Gai Nagareboshi in Hakuda.

Enhanced Durability:

Fluctuating Spiritual Power: Gai has been noted on several occasions to have vast levels of spiritual energy well beyond other Shinigami, though it fluctuates wildly, with it being unreadable at its lowest point and at its highest point being as high as Nika's. Retsu Unohana has said that Gai's reishi patterns are similar to that of the Hōgyoku. This works by materializing what Gai wants to happen, which is why the broken Hyōrinmaru transformed into Kakusei, and how he underwent Acceleration. His emotions also affect his spiritual energy: when angered, he is capable of defeating Nika before awakening his true power with only his bare hands, but unmotiviated to fight, he could be defeated by a weak Hollow. Even at less than half strength, his spiritual energy is still comparable to a Captain-level fighter. His spiritual energy is rather difficult for him to control as he has no formal training in controlling it. Due to this and that he has far more spiritual energy than his small and waifish body can consciously contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware beings. In his first battle against Nika, his spiritual energy manifested in the form of massive wings of white light. The wings of light combined with Gai's overwhelming power and presence creates a powerful psychological effect on those who see him. After activating Bankai, the wings of pure reishi were converted into black feathered wings. However, by covering the wings in black feathers, they compress Gai's true power. Only in life-or-death situations or times of extreme stress are the wings unleashed again. However, the wings' enormous reishi output is too inefficient and drains Gai of all of his reiatsu. The wings can also be used as a defense mechanism. In RPs, Gai cannot manifest his desires due to the story becoming unbalanced if he does so.

Zanpakutō
Kakusei (覚醒 lit. Awakening) is the name of Gai's Zanpakutō. However, it is referred to as Kakusei (廓清 lit. Purifcation) until it is shattered, and it is later revealed in Tenth Release- Memorization, its name is not Kakusei (廓清 lit. Purifcation) but Kakusei (覚醒 lit. Awakening). Kakusei In its sealed state, Kakusei looks like a normal katana with the exception of the guard, which is in the shape of a four-pointed bronze-colored star. Its hilt is light blue and sheath dark blue. The sheath completely dissolves when he draws his sword. The sword is somewhat longer than most Zanpakutō, at about 1.4 meters long. Gai obtained Kakusei in Third Release- Kakusei, creating it from the remains of Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Hyōrinmaru, which was destroyed by Nika, with the help of Anki. After Tōshirō gave the remnants of the shattered Zanpakutō to Gai, during his battle with a Menos Grande, Gai, subconciously using Anki, reforged the blade and infused it with his own reiatsu. However, at the beginning of Seventh Release- Unlikely Assistance, Hitsugaya regains Hyōrinmaru, thus leaving Kakusei without a medium for manifestation. But at the end of the chapter, Gai, exerting his Mototsu powers to their fullest with the aid of his reishi patterns, manifests Kakusei's true sealed state. Here, Kakusei takes the form of a unique broadsword, having a magenta blade, with golden trim around the blade. The hilt and cross-guard are a brilliant white, and the cross-guard has two purple crosses sticking out from the sides. There is a triangle sticking out from the cross-guard, making a sort of triangle as seen from the side, slightly covering the cross-guard. This 'triangle' has a green gem in the middle and golden sides with air vents, similar to a knight's helmet. The grip is red and the pommel has three purple spikes on it. Gai's left hand becomes covered by a crimson glove and the chain at the base of Kakusei's hilt extends out further than it previously did, spiraling up the length of his sleeveless right arm with the additional portion of the chain hanging down freely from his upper arm. Kakusei is one of the most mysterious Zanpakutō in the story, with its abilities being incomprehensible.

Shikai: In Shikai, Kakusei is a large broadsword. It has a gear-hilt that can slide off the blade and be used as a flailing weapon. It has an ornately etched base, but its most unique feature is that it has been specially customized with a motorcycle-like gear shift. Kakusei also gains a crescent-shaped blade attached to its hilt by a long metal chain, which can extend greatly if necessary by force of will. The chain itself can be used as an attack or to entangle a target. The chain can also be used to swing the weapon like a flail and toss it at opponents for mid-range combat. Kakusei's wide blade can be used as a shield from incoming attacks. It's release command is "Let's do it!" (やってヤルゼ, "Yatte yaruze!"). Though Kakusei's release command was originally "Take Flight" (敗走, "haisō"), Gai has since changed it to the above. To access his ice powers, Gai must utter "Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens" (霜天に坐せ, sōten ni zase), the same command as Hyōrinmaru's Shikai. However, after Gai's fight with Eienrai, Kakusei has lost access to Hyōrinmaru's powers. In both Shikai and Bankai, Gai displays the ability to shift Kakusei into multiple forms, including a whip, a jet-vehicle, a spinning-cog weapon, a cannon, a claw-like weapon, a greave, a pair of wings that allow flight, and a gigantic sword of pure reishi.

Shikai Special Ability: Kakusei's special ability is called Anki (暗記 lit. Memorization). As he initially cannot manifest his own Zanpakutō into his plane of existance, he must shatter and use his opponent's broken sword as a means to materialize Kakusei. As he performs Anki, his Zanpakutō in its sealed state will take on the form of the assimilated Zanpakutō's sealed state. When doing this, Kakusei obtains a majority of the abilities of the assimilated Zanpakutō. Gai has assimililated thousands of Zanpakutō, however, his techniques are mere fragments compared to the originals. In Tenth Release- Memorization, Kisuke Urahara teaches Gai another way to utilize Anki; by clashing swords with his opponent, and quickly pouring his reiatsu into Kakusei's blade, Gai can copy one of his opponents' attacks. Another way is to headbutt his opponent. After his deep sleep, Gai can only remember one ability, and nothing else. One hundred and fifty years ago, Gai used Anki on Hanegetsu, thus stealing the the ability to manipulate feathers for multiple reasons such as explosions or binding. The feathers have piercing effects, and one is as sharp as any Zanpakutō. These feathers are incredibly durable. The material he creates with these black feathers defies the Laws of Physics. As Kakusei was forged from the broken Hyōrinmaru, Kakusei also has some of its special abilities, most of which are story-only, and are not to be used in RPs. Unlike Hitsugaya, Gai cannot fully control his ice manipulation abilities. However, after Gai's fight with Eienrai, Kakusei has lost access to Hyōrinmaru's powers. But during Tenth Release- Memorization, Kisuke Urahara allows Gai to use Anki on Benihime in order to give him an advantage over the Gotei 13. None of these abilities are Kakusei's own, and its true ability remains a mystery.


 * Shining Onslaught (猛の輝く Takeshi no Kagayaku): Gai is capable of unleashing spinning, 'X'-shaped blasts of white feather-like spiritual energy. However, the attack is flawed. The blast's power is inconsistent, as its appearance varies from jagged and threatening, to frail and laughable. If fired in succession, the 'X' becomes more cracked, with the attack becoming more fragile with crack it gains. If the attack has anything less then seven cracks, it can be shattered with ease. Gai came to the conclusion that if he fires seven shots in row, he leaves himself wide open to attack.
 * Dark Pulse (闇脈 Yami Myaku): Gai puts his hands together in front of his chest and fires a beam of black and purple feathers of spiritual energy from in between them at the opponent, or Gai crosses his arms in front of his face and an orb of black and dark blue circles appears in front of them. Gai then separates his arms and the orb moves in front of Gai's chest. Gai then fires a beam of black and dark blue feathers of spiritual energy from the orb at the opponent.
 * Swallow Reversal (燕返し Tsubame Gaeshi): Gai flies at the opponent, flips in the air, then he becomes engulfed in streaks of white light and flies into the opponent, disappearing before hitting them. Gai can also perform this technique on the ground, where his body becomes surrounded by white streaks and he flies into the opponent multiple times.
 * Midnight Burst (はんやへき Hanya Heki): Gai's eyes glow light blue and his body becomes surrounded by a crimson aura. He then raises his arms above his head. When he does, the aura around his forearms gets thicker. He then slams his arms down into the ground. A pink and crimson growing forcefield of reiatsu appears from the aura around Gai's arms and grows larger, spreading all around him. The thicker the aura is around Gai's arms, the more powerful the attack becomes.
 * Raven Wings (鴉翼 Karasu Tsubasa): Gai can create black feather wings on his feet that grant him the ability of flight and speed.
 * Feather Dragon (羽竜 Haneryū): Gai's slashes create an immense amount of spiritual power which overflows from the tip of the blade, creating a flow of ice feathers shaped like a Chinese dragon. The dragon flies towards opponents and instantly freezes anything it touches. Kakusei can create multiple feather dragons to attack an opponent from various angles. This attack is unusable in RPs, unless the other collobarator wishes otherwise. After Gai's fight with Eienrai, he has lost this ability.
 * Destructive Shine (滅閃光 Messenkō): Gai punches the ground, sending out several black feather clusters in different directions.
 * Byakuya Senmetsuken (白夜殲滅剣 lit. White Night Annihilation Sword): Gai amasses white light on his blade, giving it the look of a gigantic white feather, thus giving Kakusei the ability to cut through anything. He often uses this as a series of seven consecutive blows, called "Kanki Tenshōku" (喚起天翔駆 lit. Evocation Soaring Drive) where Gai slashes his opponent several times from different angles at incomprehensible speeds, with each slash causing a fiery explosion, before blasting through them.
 * Shadow Sword (影剣 Kage Ken): Gai's most powerful technique in Shikai. Amassing black feathers around his blade, Gai runs up to the opponent and slashes his blade at them, causing the feathers to expand and extend and strike his opponent from a small distance away. Shadow Sword is also Gai's mother's ultimate technique in her own Shikai.

Bankai: Shinseina Kakusei (神聖な覚醒 lit. Divine Awakening) In Bankai, Kakusei takes the form of two pitch-black gauntlets. It has a crystal blue emblem in the middle, and an orange cross on top of this, and flame type designs also cover the base of the gauntlets. There is a pair of arm thrusters attached to the gauntlets. In Bankai, Gai manifests massive, black devilish wings that he can use as incredibly sharp blades. Despite constantly attempting to better himself in Zanjutsu, Gai eventually realized that he would fare better if his Bankai was attuned to what he excels at: hand-to-hand combat.

Bankai: Jigoku-ō Kakusei (地獄王覚醒 lit. Hell King Awakening): Due to his Mototsu heritage's "Insanity Trance" (狂気の恍惚 Kyōki no kōkotsu), Gai has access to a tainted version of his Bankai when under the trance's influence. In this form, his reiatsu turns black and red, before enveloping him. As the reiatsu merges with him, he takes the form of a dark-colored armored knight with blue within magenta eyes. In this form, Gai has a high tolerance to pain, and vastly increased speed and power, as shown by him walking through several bursts of spiritual energy with seemingly no harm inflicted upon himself. However, once Gai is snapped out of his trance, all the damage he has sustained will return instantly at once, often resulting in enough damage to knock him out cold.

Bankai Special Ability: While in Bankai, Gai's manipulation of feathers is greatly enhanced. However, Gai also has a secondary ability.
 * Bankai Regeneration: During his battle with Ling Huang, Gai's Bankai was damaged. However, it regenerated, and Gai stated that as long as there is water in the air his Bankai can be revived indefinitely. This attack is unusable in RPs. This ability is a remnant of Hyōrinmaru's form.
 * Shield of Black Wings: Gai is capable of wrapping his wings around himself like a sphere protecting him from any attacks. This attack is unusable in RPs, unless the other collobarator wishes otherwise.
 * Hyper-Speed Combat: Gai takes all the power of his Bankai and compresses it into a small, condensed form. Then, he uses the power of the Bankai to perform high-speed combat in the form of exceedingly fast bursts of speed that happen at random times which Gai cannot predict. Nika compared Gai's Shinseina Kakusei's second ability to Ichigo Kurosaki's Tensa Zangetsu, but unlike Tensa Zangetsu, Shinseina Kakusei does not enhance his Bankai duration, but rather shorten it drastically in return for short periods of high speed. During his last fight with Haru Kiseki, Gai has obtained the ability to time these bursts of speed, and shows great maneuverability, being able to effortlessly dodge all of Haru's Kōkan Bakufū attacks.
 * Enhanced Shining Onslaught: Shinseina Kakusei retains the use of Shining Onslaught, but in an enhanced form. However, due to the absense of a blade, Gai makes a hand motion releasing the blasts from his hands. When used in Bankai, these potent blasts are blue with a magenta outline and their path can be controlled, with explosively augmented power and speed. Gai can also keep Shining Onslaught within Shinseina Kakusei to augment his punches.
 * Shadow Sword Revised (影剣修正 Kage Ken Shūsei): In Bankai, Shadow Sword has a different presentation. While Gai runs past his opponent, a long blade of black feathers extends from his gauntlets, slicing his opponent. As he passes them, the blade instantly retracts, making it appear as if Gai never slashed his foe at all. A few seconds later, the opponent falls.
 * Aurora Shining Onslaught (極光猛の輝く Kyokkō Takeshi no Kagayaku): An extremely powerful attack, the result of the combination of Kakusei's ice manipulation and Shining Onslaught. Gai fires a snow-white and icy blue Shining Onslaught at his opponent. As it flies, it lets off a polar chill. It moves at the speed of sound and has enough power to destroy a section of Seireitei.
 * One Sworded Double Severing: Phantasm Victory Song (一刀両断・幻夢ガイ Ittō Ryōdan: Genmugai): Gai launches two giant crescent waves from Kakusei repeatedly, which cover the entire area in front of him and can kill his opponents instantly. This technique was only used by Gai in a flashback, and he was invulnerable during this attack. Ittō Ryōdan is the art of splitting someone in half in one stroke, thus proving the prowess of this one hit-killing attack. This attack is unusable in RPs.
 * Phantasm Victory Song Revision (幻夢ガイ・改 Genmugai Kai): A weaker version of the above, where Gai releases one giant crescent wave from his fist.
 * True Destructive Light (真・滅閃光 Shin Messenkō): Gai punches the ground, and a series of black feather clusters shoot from the ground to the sky at the speed of sound. This attack was only used in a flashback, and is unusable in RPs.
 * Falling Phoenix Crush (落鳳破 Rakuhōha): A revision of the above, Gai slams his fist to the ground, causing nine black feather bolts of destructive reishi to erupt in a fanned out manner.
 * Devil Prison Flame Wave (魔王獄炎波, Maō Gokuenha): Only usable in second Bankai, Gai holds his sword pointed towards the ground with both hands clasped around its hilt while he closes his eyes to focus his thoughts, with several black feathers falling around him. When he opens his eyes, he creates a field of dark reishi around himself, granting himself large burst of strength. He begins a mad dash to the opponent, rising into the air and slamming the ground with his sword, causing pillars of fire to rise from the ground and incinerate his opponent.
 * Shining Sword Breaker (炯然剣遮断器 Keizen Ken Shadan-ki): Gai's ultimate attack. For it, Shinseina Kakusei transforms back into a sword form. Gai holds Shinseina Kakusei in a regular grip, instead of a reverse one, and he spins around several times on one foot, to build speed. After several spins, Gai throws Shinseina Kakusei, which spins around at an incredible speed, breaking the sound barrier. As the blade spins, hovering slightly above the ground, it is bathed in a blue aura and golden feathers trail behind it. Then, Gai throws his right fist into the air, and then throws his left in front of himself, screaming the attack's name. A golden phoenix materializes out of his fist, and it quickly soars to the heavens, parting the clouds. Out of the parted sky, a shining rainbow-coloured blade falls. The blade slams into the opponent, sticking itself into the ground, and the opponent is sent flying into the air. Gai slides towards the blade, Shinseina Kakusei flies into his left hand, Gai flips and grabs the blade, and the image of a glowing golden phoenix appears over him. Gai flies high into the sky, and the phoenix roars. Gai flies after the opponent, the wings of the phoenix leaving behind a trail of golden sparkles. The phoenix roars again, and it disappears along with the phoenix's sword, leaving Gai, who is holding Shinseina Kakusei, as Gai forms golden wings on his back. Gai flies into the opponent, spinning. When Gai connects, the area is engulfed in a bright light, killing, if not, heavily wounding the opponent and heavily injuring those engulfed in the bright light, though it only harms the ones Gai deems enemies. While usually a one-hit-kill, Shining Sword Breaker caused Shinseina Kakusei to shatter after three uses. After it was restored, Gai never used Shining Sword Breaker again. This attack is unusable in RPs.

Anki Shiki
Because of Gai's reishi patterns, which are similar to the Hōgyoku, Kakusei has the ability to adapt the techniques of powerful fighters that he has defeated into attacks he can use, a materialization of Gai's desires, called Anki Shiki (暗記式 lit. Memorization Formulas). These techniques let Gai mimic certain attacks used by the defeated opponent and are usually assigned to certain elements. The learned techniques vary from attacks to movement styles. Of course, convention of rock-paper-scissors applies, and each opponent is weak to a different opponent's copied attack. The Anki Shiki are story-only, and are not to be used in RPs.

List of Anki Shiki

 * Dragon Flame Blade (龍炎刃 Ryūenjin): Gai performs a leaping upward slash with Kakusei engulfed in flames. In Bankai, Gai performs a rising, spiralling uppercut.
 * Ice Fury Slash (氷烈斬 Hyōretsuzan): Gai performs a downward thrust that with the blade of Kakusei as a giant blue icicle. In Bankai, Gai performs a downward falling kick.
 * Hurricane Fang (疾風牙 Shippūga): Running at his opponent, Gai performs a large, twirling slash, that is capable of striking three times in a row. Gai can also halt during this attack and send out a barrage of afterimages.
 * Crescent Moon Slash (三日月斬 Mikazukizan): In the air, Gai performs a rolling slash followed by a crescent aura.
 * Chained Leaf Severing (連葉断 Renyōdan): Gai performs several rapid, leaf-element piercing thrusts with Kakusei which tint it green.
 * Lightning Ray Flash (雷光閃 Raikōsen): Gai runs at his opponent, dissapearing for a brief instant before reappearing behind them, having slashed them with Kakusei imbued with electricity. In Bankai, Gai performs an uppercut.
 * Whirlwind Leg (旋風脚 Senpūkyaku): Gai performs an airborne, pirouetting kick that stirs up winds that surround him as he spins.
 * Twin Phantasms (双幻夢 Sōgenmu): Gai creates several dupilcates of himself.
 * Wave Severing Attack (波断撃 Hadangeki): Gai performs a heavy overhead slash that sends out a wave of reishi.
 * Nova Strike (新星衝撃 Shinsei Shōgeki): Surrounding himself with immense reishi, Gai then performs an flying tackle that plows through (and destroys) enemies almost effortlessly.

Trivia

 * Gai's Shikai ability was given to PersonaSuperiorDeus by Shiratori Cullen. As such, he/she has permission to use it.
 * Since Kakusei was forged from the remains of Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Hyōnimaru, Gai has access to some of its techniques due to a small remainder of Hitsugaya's reiatsu being attached to the blade. However, they are of the feather element, and mostly are story-exclusive.
 * Tōshirō Hitsugaya obtains a new Hyōnimaru in later chapters of "A Certain Unlucky Person".