Seamus
Voodoo Gnomes
Cameron Wolf -- Nate
Yoshinaga Gorou -- Doc
2608 Words
Yoshinaga Gorou -- Doc
2608 Words
The claustrophobic purple ooze of that strange half world that served as the passageway between Soul Society and the Real World, seemed to press down upon Cameron’s soul from every direction as he ran along the narrow path toward the light of the Real World. The young man was neither thrilled or upset about his assignment, being sent to the Real World to deal with the perennial events of Hollow disturbances was something that a shinigami had to take in stride and so Cameron had resigned himself to a fairly banal day. His mission report had stated that the hollow wasn’t particularly powerful, it was just there and causing a mild ruckus.
It wasn’t long before he reached his destination, his thoughts helping to pass the time of the journey. With a sigh, the young man stepped from the Dangai and onto the lush green grass of a park. Blinking in the sudden brilliant light of early afternoon, Cam flipped open his cellphone and considered the screen and saw nothing. Annoyed, he clicked the button on the side, causing the map to zoom out and show a wider range. It was several clicks before the red dot appeared, northwest of his position by not an insignificant number of kilometres.
Cursing the ineptitude of the Ninth Division, Cameron turned on his heel and vanished into shunpo.
After Gorou’s first trip back to the living world, he had assumed that he wouldn’t have to go again for some time. Not only had Gorou been ordered to take care of yet another issue on Earth, but he’d been sent on a solo mission. Some kind of Hollow was waiting for him, and he had assumed that he’d be able to take care of it by himself, not that he relished diving into more combat. A few of the city’s sounds blared nearby, and though they bothered Gorou a great deal he took to his destination.
As underdeveloped as his ability to sense reiatsu was, Gorou could still faintly sense a presence to the northwest.
"GOROU! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!”
A grunt escaped Gorou’s throat at Gunshin’s prattling. The warlike spirit meant well, but Gorou was well aware that he wasn’t alone. Aside from the Hollow he planned to extinguish, Gorou assumed other shinigami were situated somewhere within the city, dealing with problems of their own. Walking at his own pace, Gorou kept a hand secured on Gunshin’s hilt just in case a surprise jumped out at him.
Bouncing across the Tokyo rooftops, Cameron ate the kilometres away in no time, his body a black blur in the sky. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before his cell phone was telling him that he was all but directly on top of the hollow. But he saw nothing, felt noth--
Wait, he could feel something. Coming up from the south, just as he had he felt the distinct presence of another shinigami. Grimacing inwardly, much as he had when he realized that the Ninth Division had miscalculated his drop point, Cam turned towards the approaching presence.
"Hey!” he bellowed, "Did we get double booked or something?! And where’s the hollow?”
On his leisurely way to the Hollow, Gorou heard the unmistakable sound of somebody calling out to him. As a matter of fact Gorou did sense the presence of another Shinigami, and he couldn’t deny that he could actually see the bellowing figure if he bothered to look.
Unless they’d been sent to the exact same spot to battle two different Hollows, the ronin had the distinct sense that the two of them had indeed been "double-booked”.
"It’s nearby.”
After a few more paces did Gorou speak, hardly raising his voice as the other death god had. In fairness the area was relatively silent, and Gorou’s deep monotone echoed through the street with ease.
That two had been sent to the same Hollow didn’t worry the old man a great deal, since they’d still been sent alone which likely still meant it was weak enough for one shinigami to dispatch.
It was unfortunate that the other shinigami had been some distance away when he gave his short response...and at exactly the same time that Cameron blinked. Unaware that the other man had said anything at all, he continued to look at Gorou, the expression on his face sliding from playfully amused to miffed. It seemed, to Cameron, that he was dealing with a resentment case. Clearly the other man had no intention of speaking, thinking himself either better or pissed that he had to be here...both of which annoyed the deaf shinigami slightly.
"Well...aren’t we proud,” he muttered, giving Gorou a half-glare.
The hollow still had not appeared; in fact, the only indication that there was something amiss at all was a tangible feeling of malice and blood hunger. Not the most pleasant feeling, but something one got used to feeling after living among the hot-heads and eternally pubescent males that seemed to infest Seireitei.
"Now what?”
For whatever reason the other Shinigami’s mood had suddenly turned sour. Not that Gorou minded the stranger’s mannerisms, especially given that they might have had to soon work together.
No Hollow had shown up, and yet the signature had only become more apparent. Something was odd, and Gorou didn’t know enough about Hollows or reiatsu to figure out exactly what.
"We find the Hollow.”
Ever impassive, Gorou acted like his words could be executed as easily as they’d been said. If there had been some training session involving invisible Hollows, the old man had missed it. The other Shinigami didn’t appear to be having much more luck, but two heads were always better than one when it came to missing Hollows.
Tone and inflection were lost on Cameron. Unable to catch onto what the other man’s tone was saying, Cameron rolled his eyes and cursed his horrible luck. Why did he always have to work with the insufferable cases?
"Well duh,” he said flatly. "Guess we’ll just have to give it a reason to come at us then, since we can’t find it.”
As he spoke, the air seemed to grow heavier and darken slightly; silver power began to spark and bloom, eventually settling into a steady, bright glow around Cameron’s compact frame as he released enough reiatsu to be the hollow equivalent of a Siren’s Song. It wasn’t long before they were rewarded, either. Sure enough, not thirty seconds after he began to raise his reiatsu, did the air directly before them bulge strangely as that unmistakable ultrasonic, basso roar filled the air.
"Found it,” he signed, forgetting that his partner probably couldn’t understand.
Much like the so-called "ninja” Gorou’s former clan employed, the odd shinigami began making confusing motions with his hands. Whatever his counterpart had done, it had brought the Hollow out of hiding and for that the samurai was thankful. Finally, it was time to take care of business.
"Looks like we’ve found the Hollow.”
Not a moment passed after Gorou spoke did he feel the aberration’s reiatsu. While its power-level was daunting, it wasn’t anything the samurai felt he couldn’t handle. However, the sudden pressure took the old ronin off guard. Refocusing on the task at hand, Gorou managed to unsheathe his zanpakutou. If Gunshin’s power wouldn’t prove to be enough, he certainly hoped that the other Shinigami would cover the rest.
Cameron had felt worse...a brief meeting with Captain Tsubaki sprang to mind, but that was about it. The very air hummed with energy so powerfully that the shinigami felt it almost viscerally in his core. The only saving grace was that the thing was still tearing itself out of wherever it had hidden it’s body. That meant they had a few moments to prepare.
A whispering of shunpo took Cameron around the far side of the creature, away from his companion. Attacking from two fronts would be best and it would reduce the likely-hood that Gorou would be mobbed by cats.
By cats.
What Cam was about to do, never, ever, ceased to amuse him...no matter how dire the situation.
‘"The skies break open and thunder pours down.” his lips twisted in a grin, "Tremble and see the sparks lunge. Bakudou #48, Gorogoro.”
No sooner had his voice faded from the air then did the sky turn dark and lightning pour from the sky. This was not your garden variety lightning, however, far from it. From the sky rained balls of lightning, each with four feet, a tail, two pointed ears and hungry looking eyes. The mob, for that’s what it was, the mob of cats milled around their summoner, purring thunder.
"Breaking Palm,” finished his preparations, and the fine trace work of wires and silicone implanted beneath the skin of his hands began to burn a brilliant silver, filling his palms with power.
When thunderous cats began raining down upon the battlefield, Gorou noted that he’d not ever used Gorogoro for a good reason. Whosoever had first created the forty-eighth bakudou had possessed a dangerous feline fixation, and its creations were disturbingly lifelike. At the casting of the second spell, Gorou could note that he’d be fighting alongside a Hakuda user. Abandoning the zanpakutou in favor of one’s hands was odd, but the old man would take what he could get.
"Don’t make any sudden movements.”
Though the instruction was meant in part for the ronin’s comrade, he referred also to the sparking cats. If Gorou could manage to strike the beast but once, he’d have it locked down long enough to be defeated.
"Bakudou number sixty-one, Rikujokourou.”
Speaking the entire incantation would have been a waste of time, the redheaded ronin had decided. If the Hollow could break out of the bakudou, it’d easily warrant triggering Gorogoro’s retaliation. At the very least Gorou had done his research on binding spells, and he was hoping either one would do its job long enough for a quick and easy battle.
There was a moment of stillness after Gorou cast his kidou during which the hollow looked at the sparking, lightning cats and the sparkling lightning cats looked at it. Then, with a deep, profound vibrating the hollow cried out and shattered the kidou.
That, however, was all the provocation the cats needed. With an angry hissing of thunder they fell upon the offending hollow in a billowing ball of heat and noise. Using the cover of the explosion, Cameron made his way over to Gorou.
"Can’t do anything until the smoke clears. I didn’t realize it would be quite so...fluffy.”
In spite of the practice matches against hollows and the lectures to match, Gorou hadn’t been prepared for a "fluffy” battle. On the other hand the hollow had managed to fall into the trap that the samurai had hastily plotted. Given that the duo had regrouped, there was a good chance in the spellblade’s mind that they could then strike out against the beast and end the battle instantly.
"I doubt it will recover very quickly.”
Expecting for the smoke to clear and reveal a hollow stunned into immobility, the bearded old-timer lazily clutched his blade with both hands.
A resounding rorar cut off any response that Cameron had been hoping to deliver. The rolling, billowing cloud of smoke that had hung in the air since the cats had taken offense to the hollow seemed to fall into itself then burst outward as the creature within shrieked and roared. Clearly visible now, Cameron could see the damage his cats had done. Half the creature’s mask was gone and the leg and claw on its left side just wasn’t there. Blood seeped from the stump steadily as the creature stared murder at them.
Despite it all though, the hollow seemed to be gathering strength from the pain, the fel light in its eyes growing brighter. Without warning, the hollow’s long front arm (complete with six razor sharp talons) whipped out and around, seeking to slice the life from the two men.
"Move!” Cried Cameron, grabbing his peer’s arm and through a step of shunpo, took them just above the creature’s shoulder. Hoping Gorou was on his toes, Cameron flung the other man into the air behind him using the opposing force to shoot himself towards the hollow’s shoulder blade. He felt his fist hit home and continue travelling as it ploughed into the hollow’s flesh.
Without giving the hollow a chance to retaliate, he released the kidou energy he had been building up in his palms since the start of the battle before leaning into his punch to send himself cartwheeling over the creature’s shoulder. As his legs came down, the deaf man twisted, his foot lashing out to catch the creature square in the small of its back and sending it speeding toward Gorou at no slight speed.
As unconventional as his associate’s tactics were, Gorou couldn’t argue with the results. Such mastery over kidou was impressive. Just as gravity had started doing its job the persistent hollow had practically been handed to the airborne samurai, giving him the perfect chance to purify and defeat it once and for all.
"Sayonara.”
A red-orange glow surrounded the spellblade’s zanpakutou as the energies of the sixtieth hadou infused the blade. As much as Gorou had initially disliked the way of destruction, he had found a good use for it through the eighth division’s teachings. Flying toward one another - the hollow soaring upward and the ronin falling down - the opposing forces soon collided. Falling feet-first and aiming Gunshin downward as the samurai did, its blade met with and pierced the hollow’s flesh. On contact, Kikenbutsu was immediately released. A kanji symbol flashed briefly and immediately detonated from within the wound, sending waves of a fiery conflagration throughout the hollow’s body.
Whether or not the hollow was defeated mattered not in the continuation of the samurai’s descent. Being so close to the explosion meant a bit of harm was inevitable. Finally landing on solid ground was a welcome change, and whatever the situation the spellblade dared not look.
"Is it over?”
"Yes,” said Cameron slowly, for he could feel nothing, see nothing that indicated that the hollow had survived their vicious dual onslaught. "Yes, I think it is.” Then it occurred to him, they hadn’t really introduced themselves...the situation had been too abrupt and fast for them to have had a chance.
"By the way,” he said, his mouth twisting in a smile, "I am Cameron Wolf, from the Tenth Division.” With that, he plunged his sword into the air in front of him, gave it a sharp twist and vanished into the gate he summoned.
"Yoshinaga Gorou, eighth division.”
Introductions were important, but in a combat scenario they were better-suited as an afterthought. There was a name to match the face, oddly-behaved as its owner was, although the samurai didn’t intend to tell many stories of that day. Back in Seireitei all that awaited Gorou was lots of rest and plenty of smoking. In the worst-case-scenario, the samurai would have to make a brief visit to the fourth. In the life of a death-god such things were all in a day’s work.