INTRUDERZ

The Keeper of the Gates II
CRASH! A loud breaking noise resounding in front of them, the first thing they saw was the ground being rent asunder, raising up and separating Ahatake from them all.

"Ahatake!" Kayla cried out, but the risen rock-formation obscured her from view. A shadow suddenly dwarfed them all, a gargantuan form of a person, a dark skinned man with milky eyes and wearing a very violent expression.

Mokin suddenly looked shocked, regretful even. "Now he's done it...this is Danzōmaru."

Gaikou couldn't believe her eyes. "What kinda titan is that...? No, who the hell is that?"

"He's a Gatekeeper..." Mokin's voice was grave. "Ahatake's done something very stupid indeed..."

The man looked down upon Ahatake, his eyes very cold indeed. "Greetings little man! You're the reason the Gates were thrust down from the Heavens, eh?" Danzōmaru seemed to be on the verge of laughter. "I was hoping I'd find someone who is more of a challenge, but I'm confronted with a ragtag bunch of misfits!"

"Oi oi oi!" Ahatake snapped up. "At least leave the insults towards Gaikou, not the rest of us!"

Gaikou hissed at Ahatake, "Shaddup! Overgrown monkey..." She glared up at the giant, just wondering, how stupid would the inhabitants of this world be in terms of design and personality.

Danzōmaru let out a bellowing laugh. "You lot are truly full of energy! I admire that! However, I, Danzōmaru of the Black Ridge Gate, shall not permit you to pass without first defeating me in battle!"

Ahatake groaned. "Oh God why..."

Gaikou just sighed. "Why does everything have to do with a battle? Like, for once can we just walk past without any problems?" She was tempted to sit down and just wait until it was over.

Kayla frowned. "And then there's this." She placed her hand to the raise up cement used to pave the road. "Ahatake, should I cut this down!?" She called over to him, her voice only slightly muffled by the raised wall. "We can come help, if you like!"

"No, I think I've pretty much got this!" Ahatake called back to her. "My sword is itching to cut something down anyway!"

Dohko rolled his eyes. "Everyone's sword is itching to kill. If we were going by that logic than all of our swords would be serial killers whose ferocity in measured in kilonazis."

Danzōmaru reached inside the chest of his hakama, pulling out a large weapon that resembled an elephant's tusk, though it was obviously a blade with an edge.

"...well, someone's overcompensating." Ahatake chuckled to himself, drawing his own blade, which, since learning the name of his Zanpakutō, had shrunk from it's claymore-like size to that of a nōdachi. At least he was in the right to make jokes.

Dohko just waited and watched. "...Whoa, nelly. That looks kinda...ya know, it wouldn't be suited for proper damage. A properly working blade would be straight edged; not bizarre like that. It looks like you wrestled an elephant and ripped one of it's tusks off, before gluing it to a hilt and called it a day."

"The sheer size of that weapon...." Kayla's eyes were wide. "If Ahatake gets hit by that, he might get crushed!"

"Pull back you fool!" Mokin shouted. "We'll find another way in, just pull back!"

Danzōmaru slowly raised the weapon above his head. "The little bird has a point, kid. If you merely step away from the gate, I won't have any reason to strike you down, Ryōka or otherwise, you are no threat so long as you don't take another step."

Ahatake grinned, his blade glinting in the moonlight. "Bite me."

"What's your name?" The giant asked, still not swinging. "It's only proper to get the name of the person I am going to kill."

"My name is Ahatake. Ahatake Kurosaki."

"Very well. This has been a pleasure, Ahatake. In your last moments, know you were crushed by Danzōmaru!" With those words, he swung down his strange weapon, directly on top of Ahatake.

CRASH!

At the moment Danzōmaru's weapon got near Ahatake, he reacted, swinging up Katenare, blade meeting ivory. Ahatake's strength, surprising Danzōmaru himself, overpowered the man and shattered his weapon, leaving Ahatake standing in a rain of what resembled bone.

"My mighty Tesszōga!" Danzōmaru's eyes widened as his weapon was shattered by the young man before him.

Mokin, who had been fluttering around in a panic for a moment, was shocked. "He....he shattered it. The Tesszōga, the weapon with which Danzōmaru is reputed to have slain 100 opponents in a single swing."

Gaikou adjusted her glasses in an impressed manner. "I-Impossible. Maybe Ahatake really is that strong...or it was beginner's luck. I really can't tell...but that was actually really cool."

"I think we're all on a similar level..." Kayla frowned. How had she not noticed? The training they underwent rose their abilities to great heights, but it wasn't just an increase in power; they've been given battle experience. Even if it was just a little, the talent they have was enough to give them a bit of an edge.

"I see....so you're stronger than you look." Danzōmaru raised his fist. "However, I can still fight!" He stepped forward, swinging his large fist towards Ahatake with great force.

"We all know where this is gonna go. Monstrocity equals weakness." Gaikou pointed out. "The bigger they are, the easier they fall."

Ahatake ducked, vanishing with his speed and slamming the hilt of Katenare into Danzōmaru's gut, winding him and sending the man bowling over, slamming straight into the gate he was supposed to be guarding, his weight causing to break apart and crash, opening the way into the Seireitei.

Dohko was busy looking at the bushes rustling to actually pay attention to what was happening; truly, he had the attention span of a goldfish. "That was quick. Now, let's go!"

Mokin was left in shock as Ahatake cut down the wall that separated them all before sheathing his sword. "This boy....does he have such raw talent?" She composed herself, flying to the head of the group. "I didn't count on such a fortuitous outcome, but I suppose I've underestimated you all. Alright, as Dohko suggested, let us press forward!"

Gaikou and Dohko stood up, dusting their clothes off. "...Amusing little scene that was, really." By now, Gaikou was used to Ahatake doing the impossible. It was like it happened every day. "Let's just try and save Harumi really fast. I get the feeling at any moment this will get much, much worse for us."

They crossed the threshold of the gate, into the village of the Seireitei. As it appeared, no one had yet been alerted to their defeat of Danzōmaru, however, it was still a young night, word most likely traveled slow.

"Well, it appears we actually managed to get over that without a hitch at all." Ahatake grinned, feeling a bit relieved. However, no sooner had he said this than the ground beneath them began to glow.

Gaikou glanced straight down at the ground. "The hell is this!? Some sort of ghost samurai magic!?"

"Damn!" Mokin raged for a moment. "This is a Kidō spell, the Yomonisō!"

The Gate of Four Points
"That what now?" Kayla was getting a bit disturbed as a furious aura of energy surrounded them, raising them into the air.

"It's a security spell, placed at the entrance of each gate at the offchance a gate keeper has been defeated and there is no immediate security to deal with the situation." Mokin explained, growing increasingly agitated.

Gaikou sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Trust the damn Shinigami to be more paranoid than a World War II veteran. Now, let's see. How the heck do we deal with this one? Spiritual aura output increase? Blast away at it? Nuke it from orbit?"

They were beginning to rise into the air, and, even though they did not want it, were getting quite the bird's eye view of the Seireitei. Ahatake himself was captivated by the sight. "You know...for what it's worth, this is a beautiful looking place."

Kayla frowned. "No, it's not. I've been here before. The Seireitei is a beautiful place, yes, but the Rukongai, and the many districts that it contains are a terrible place, far from beautiful." She seemed a bit saddened now, her eyes were blank. "Look at the section we landed in."

"What do you mean?" Ahatake was confused. He hadn't noticed anything. "I didn't notice a thing, I was a bit preocuppied with the attacking giant."

"Notice how it looks very run down?" She jerked her head down towards the village they were now hovering over. "Like images of the Edo era I've seen in schoolbooks and online. The first few districts of the Rukongai have some semblance of society....but it simply gets worse as you go down. And you're randomly assigned, it's all luck of the draw. You think your afterlife will be pleasant when you die?" She let out a mirthless chuckle, it was obvious she hated this place. "You either live in partial or complete poverty, and these Shinigami do nothing to fix it. If you happen to get stuck in one of the higher digit districts....may God help you. Oh wait, He won't."

Dohko gave her a thumbs up before actually being considerate for once. "There ya go. Ya don't need to rely in the hippie in the clouds, but, don't act like that. Sure, you can't rely on religion, but I'll tell you hwat. Even if you hate everything, look around you. Look at us. You can rely on us, and we'll help you. That's what friends are for."

Kayla smiled a bit, and even Ahatake felt warmed to Dohko from this. He was a good guy after all.

"I really hate to interrupt such a touching moment, but we have a more pressing problem!" Mokin spread her wings, gesturing to the violent energy surrounding them. "Have you all forgotten we are encased in this Kidō?!"

"Actually, no. It helps to lift the spirits, y'know? She seemed sad so I thought I'd cheer her up. It's called common courtesy." Dohko hissed through his teeth; before straightening up. "Now, I'll ask again. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get past the barrier?"

"There's nothing to do." Mokin sighed. "We were caught the moment this Kidō activated. So let me tell you what it does, because we have about a minute. This Kidō is designed to activate on groups, and split them up, casting them all over the Seireitei. Our mission is about to become much more difficult than I anticipated."

Dohko crossed his arms. "Alright, listen up to me. Once we all split up, we'll try and find at least one other member of the group. We'll form teams of two and then we'll each meet up at the Shinigami's headquarters."

"Sounds like a plan." Ahatake agreed reluctantly. He didn't like Dohko giving orders, it rubbed him the wrong way.

Mokin began to glow a bright white, and suddenly split into four copies, each landing on the shoulder of one of the Ryoka. "Split like I am, I will be able to communicate with each of you more effectively, and serve as your guide. I, the original, will be here with the dimwit." She landed on Ahatake's head.

Gaikou held back a laugh. "Aha, that's so accurate it hurts." Naturally, she only wore glasses to make herself seem smarter- and to be fair, they were all an idiot in various fortes. So it was a team of idiots.

"Brace yourse-!" Before Mokin could even finish her sentence, there was a large ripping noise as the cage of light they were entrapped in sent them flying all throughout Soul Society, visible in the air as streaks of light.

And at this moment, a large alarm blared throughout Soul Society, loud enough to be heard by Ahatake as he fell towards the ground.

"Shit! They know we're here!!"

END