Rising Shadows

This article, , is the eighth chapter of The Rising arc, which is part of Bleach: Cataclysm. Garrett and friends remain the main characters.

"To your left!"

A light-blue arrow loosed from a pulsating blue longbow-shaped impacted the dummy that swung suddenly into Jenna's eye-line. It wasn't often Garrett took on a teaching role but for his sister he was willing to make an exception. Besides, if he didn't help her, then she'd continue trying to fight on her own. He remembered how that went all too well...

''A giant, snake-like Hollow with the torso of a man, and large muscled arms pulled itself up the street. Its large size caused it to rub against a number of cars on either side of the street and alarms blared loudly in the cold night. Garrett had pin-pointed its location a while ago but an aerial threat had prevented him closing the gap and attacking. The second Hollow was prehistoric in nature, looking like a massive pterodactyl, and every time it swooped past the force from the beat of its mighty wings was enough to send Garrett scooting along the ground. He was about to summon his Battle Aura when suddenly the aerial Hollow was skewered by a blue arrow! He was expecting to see Lloyd but the sight of his sister, whose face was barely obscured by her hoodie, running towards a van.''

"Why do I need all this training!?" Jenna demanded.

"You don't remember why?" He asked her, incredulous. "And you kept me going about getting my ass kicked?"

''Jenna stood on the roof of a van and overlooked the entire street, including the massive Hollow that was now pulling itself closer and closer to her. Hollow rarely worked in tandem but these two seemed to break that particular rule; either these two Hollow where only hunting the same area coincidentally, or they where intelligent enough to realise that working together increased their chances of a meal significantly. And Garrett was positive his sister didn't realise that this was the latter and not the former. Before she could even loose another arrow the second Hollow was upon her and its fist was raised for the decisive strike!''

"... Fine, I'm sorry." Jenna whispered.

"Hey, look. I'm not doing this to be an ass." Garrett said as he squeezed her shoulder. "I'm doing it because you nearly died and I love you. If I had been even a second later, you'd have been crushed by that Hollow last night."

She smiled at that.

"Still, I honestly think you aren't the best person to be doing this." She said. "You aren't a Quincy."

"You're right. But thankfully I know someone who is."

"... No. Anyone but him!"

The room where Dastan Shiba found himself in was almost as dark as pitch. All around him where the sounds of pained screeching, and he found himself having to occasionally kick a flailing hand away from his ankle.

"How long before this batch is ready?" He asked.

"About two days."

The man who answered Dastan was Arata, one of the members of Dastan's team in the Imawashī. Arata was a former researcher for the 12th Division and before that a medic attached to the 4th Division. After abandoning the Gotei 13 for suppressing his research Arata found himself employed in Kōhai Tochi. Following The Collapse he had been given the task by Dastan to resurrect the Soulless.

"What about our other project? Did you gain anything of note?" Dastan asked.

"You mean #.3? Yes, the data was surprising. More-so regarding Garrett actually. I believe #.4 will be something special."

"See to it that it is, Arata. My grandson is proving to be a thorn in our sides."

With his piece said Dastan strode from the room.

Now that his sister was safely in the hands of Lloyd, Garrett found himself picking through the rubble of Kusaka's old garage. He hadn't been to the sight where Kori Autos once stood since his uncle Paul's funeral several weeks ago and the place still hadn't been cleared of debris. Grat itself had suffered a great degree of damage due to The Collapse -- which had been discounted as a freak earthquake by the media -- and signs of that damage was still in evidence. But Garrett wasn't interested in the building itself. He was interested in what it was built upon.

He worked himself through the building's skeleton and eventually came down into an expansive underground wasteland area. How Kenji and Kei had built this place without affecting Grat's subway or sewer system was beyond Garrett, but he found exactly what he was looking for when he entered. Kusaka Kori was busying himself with various exercises belonging to the Wan'nesu, for Garrett had been taught the same steps by Kenji.

"How did you know I was here?" Kusaka asked loudly. "The contents of this building can't be sensed from the outside."

"I just had a hunch. But that's why you mentioned the garage when you visited, right? There was no other reason to." Garrett replied. "... I came because I need your help."

"Oh? This'll be good."

Kusaka regarded Garrett coolly. There was a weight of expectation behind that stare that unnerved Garrett somewhat but he nevertheless returned Kusaka's gaze with one just as weighty. When Kusaka slowly began to raise his reiatsu Garrett raised his own in reply, and the two gradually began to increase their output. Kusaka furrowed his forehead, asking what Garrett was afraid of, and the response that it was Kusaka himself made him chuckle.

"I'm amazed you've come as far as you have." Kusaka acknowledged. "But you're rapidly approaching your limits."

"... I noticed it when I trained with Kenji. Tiffany was trained exactly the same way I was, yet she does it with far greater ease than I do. Why is that? I think I'm limited in what I can do by my body. My Battle Aura? My Shinuchi? Anika's techniques? It doesn't matter. And no amount of conditioning will improve my stamina when using them."

"Of course not. All those techniques where made for Shinigami." Kusaka answered.

He moved past Garrett swiftly and drew Garrett's Bakkōtō from it sheath.

"Hey!"

"Shut up a minute."

Kusaka looked the blade over in his hands and made a few grunts before going silent again and resuming his examination. He tested its weight and balance and ran through several forms of the Wan'nesu before casually tossing the blade to Garrett, who managed to catch it out of the air deftly.

"Anko's all over that blade." He sounded amused. "And she's far more devious than I gave her credit for. Did she tell you anything about her modifications?"

"Something about it working in tandem with me, like a Zanpakutō would? She was vague."

"Like a Zanpakutō? There's no 'like' about it. She turned that Bakkōtō into a Zanpakutō. What you've been carrying around with you is an Asauchi, and one that is slowly pulling out your latent Shinigami power."

"What latent Shinigami power!?"

Kusaka only looked at Garrett as if he had grew a second head.

"Of course no one told you." He mused aloud. "Eh, might as well get back at him for that time. You're old man used to be a Shinigami Captain."

The fuck!?

End.