Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls

by thatguyvex

Episode 40: The True Power of Zanpaktou

Episode 40: A Zanpaktou’s True Power

Instinctively Sunset thrust her shield in front of her and leaped forward to face the incoming crescent of slicing wind, both to meet the challenge of the attack and to protect her friends from the onrushing menace. Even bracing for the blow, Sunset was unprepared for the sheer force behind the cutting pressure wave of air that collided with Hokori’s shield.

None of Hurricane’s physical blows came close to the impact of that deadly wind, and though she dug her heels into the dirt and threw her shoulder into it, she was still pushed back and nearly knocked off her feet. The wind howled like a mad windigo, slicing around Sunset’s shield and blasting past her like twin jet streams. Rarity made a gesture with the dainty flick of her wrist to conjure a flood of blood from her still active whirlpool to form a protective crystal dome around herself, Fluttershy, and Applejack, who were the ones standing closest to her. Rainbow Dash took to the air to avoid the slicing winds, while Pinkamena grabbed onto the other girl with one arm morphed into a tendril, getting hauled up into the sky alongside Rainbow Dash.

If Sunset felt any relief at all that they’d weathered that first blow relatively unscathed, her relief was short lived. Before she could even blink, Hurricane had jumped forward with a leaping Flash Step that put him at equal height to Rainbow Dash and Pinkamena, the halberd form of Tetsukaze already swirling with a sheath of white wind force. Rainbow Dash barely had time to raise her arms in defense before the halberd slammed forward in an overhead arc that unleashed a torrent of crushing air pressure right atop of the girls.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkamena both were sent catapulting straight into the ground, followed by the blast of wind exploding in a spherical torrent that cracked Rarity’s crystal dome, and caused Sunset to get knocked around like a leaf in a storm. She bounced along the ground for a few painful, jarring impacts before she dug Horkori’s blade into the ground to halt her momentum. Looking up she tried to spot Hurricane, but he’d already moved, hitting the ground behind Rarity’s protective crystal barrier. With a self-satisfied smirk Hurricane swung Tetsukaze into the dome, shattering the crystal into dozens of smaller shards. Before those shards were even done hitting the ground, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack rushed out, all intent on retaliation.

With a smooth motion of her hand over the blade Rarity transformed her rapier into a curved scimitar and flipped into a high jump over Hurricane’s head, making a backhanded slash towards his neck. At the same instant Applejack went straight for Hurricane’s gut with an uppercut boosted with gold energy blasting from her elbow, while Fluttershy slipped around to Hurricane’s exposed side, one palm flashing out like a striking scorpion’s stinger. With three attacks coming at him all from different directions at the same time, hedging him in so dodging would’ve been near impossible, it didn’t seem like Hurricane could defend against them all. He managed to catch the girl’s by surprise when with a single twirl of the transformed Tetsukaze there was a metallic click and the halberd separated into three sections. Each length of the Zanpaktou was now connected by a chain that seemed to defy the laws of physics as both the part attached to the axe head and the part connected to the end of the spear extended and twisted around on streams of wind. The axe blade blocked Rarity’s crystal scimitar, while the butt end of the halberd knocked away Fluttershy’s palm strike, leaving Hurricane to use the center section to catch Applejack’s punch and halt it in it’s tracks.

While the three girls were still recovering their wits from that surprise, Hurricane spun the three-section halberd above his head, the weapon generating a twisting maelstrom of air that in mere seconds bloomed into a full blown tornado. A small tornado, true, but with enough wind force to fling Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack aside like a trio of toys kicked by an angry child. Sunset, not wasting a moment, flung herself forward with the speed of a Flash Step to catch Fluttershy before the girl ended up careening into a tree. She was relieved to see that Rainbow Dash managed to do the same for Rarity, while Pinkamena whipped one of her taffy-like stretching arms to catch Applejack and help her land without harm.

The three sections of Hurricane’s halberd snapped back together, but he continued to spin the halberd above his head with an almost casual and lazy air as he gave the girls a taunting look.

“Am I making this too difficult, Ryoka? Shall I perhaps tie an arm behind my back, or restrict myself to the use of one foot?”

Lightning cracked with fury around Rainbow Dash’s wings, making her normally magenta eyes flare with indigo light as she rose into the air. “Oh buddy are you just begging for royal-grade butt kicking!”

"Talkin’ my language there Dash!” Applejack agreed, a flare of gold energy engulfing her gauntlets and armored boots.

Sunset was in full agreement as well, but while she was burning with a eager need to put the smack down on Hurricane, her brain wasn’t so drenched in adrenaline that she couldn’t use it. It was clear that with the release of his Zanpaktou’s Shikai that Hurricane was going to be able to match them easily in terms of raw power. If they wanted to win, she and the girls needed to out think this blowhard.

“Dash, AJ, hold up, we need to figure out a-”

With twin warcries Applejack and Rainbow Dash both charged straight at Hurricane, leaving Sunset to stand there with an exasperated look on her face as she finished her sentence with a dry, deadpan “-plan.”

Rainbow Dash led her charge with blasts of lightning lancing from her hands, to which Hurricane responded with a sweep of his halberd to create a wall of wind that split apart the arcs of lightning as if they’d hit a solid barrier. Sunset was for a second confused by this, as mere air shouldn’t have been able to stop electricity from conducting through it, but a moment later she realized that all of the wind Hurricane was conjuring had to be laced with his spirit energy. That was what was disrupting Rainbow Dash’s lightning. But if that spirit energy could be weakened, then that wind would function exactly like natural air.

While Applejack hit the barrier of wind like a charging rhinoceros, and Rainbow Dash started flying around Hurricane and hurling spearing shafts of lightning down at him, Sunset turned to Fluttershy.

“If I get you close, can you use your power to weaken his reiatsu?”

Fluttershy looked pensive but managed a calm nod, “Yes, and you don’t have to get me close. I’ve already touched him once.” Her third eye pulsed with brilliant blue light, and Sunset could see a small, ethereally thin string of light connecting the eye to Hurricane himself. “I have a pathway to his soul. It's not strong enough to force him to surrender, but I can weaken him, a little. I haven't tried yet because, um, I didn’t want him to realize I had the connection until I could put it to good use.”

Made sense to Sunset. The moment Hurricane knew Fluttershy had established some sort of connection that’d let her affect him at a distance, she’d become his number one target. Best to hold onto that card until playing it would make a difference.

“Do it.” said Sunset, “Just wait until I hit him with Hokori first, then put your all into weakening his reiatsu.”

Fluttershy gave Sunset a trusting nod, “I can do that.”

“Great. Now, Rarity, Pinkie, I need you two to run interference.” Sunset said, pointing at Hurricane with her sword, “Just get his attention so I can tell AJ and Dash the plan while he’s distracted.”

“Leave it to us, darling!” Rarity said with a wink, while Pinkamena licked her lips, saliva dripping from her teeth.

“I’m gonna do more than just distract that meaty morsel.”

Rarity shivered slightly, “Do try to control yourself, will you? Now, once more into the breach, as it were.”

As Rarity and Pinkamena rushed into action Hurricane switched to the offensive as well, turning with a powerful arcing slash with his halberd that sent a cleaving blade of air up at Rainbow Dash, then finishing the turn with a strong downward slash slamming right for Applejack. In a cobalt blaze of speed Rainbow Dash evaded the cutting air, and Sunset saw the arc of sharp air pressure continue on to slice through a distant cloud, parting it cleanly. Applejack crossed her gauntlet clad arms and took Tetsukaze head on, the halberd blade smashing into the gauntlets with an unleashed blast of air that forced Applejack down to one knee.

He deftly twisted the halberd once more, this time just detaching the end section and flipped the iron shaft around to catch Applejack with a blow right under her chin, knocking her onto her back and skidding along the ground with a pained grunt. Rarity and Pinkamena ran past Applejack while Sunset appeared next to the farm girl, kneeling down briefly.

“AJ, me and Fluttershy are going to make an opening.” Sunset whispered, “Hang back until I use Hokori on him. That’ll be the signal.”

Applejack, who was rubbing her chin as she sat up, spat and said, “Long as ya don’t take ferever.”

By now Rarity and Pinkamena had split off to either side of Hurricane. With a gesture of her blade Rarity caused a torrent of what looked like crystalline vines to fly out of her whirlpool of blood, which now stayed flying close to her side like a cape. The vines wrapped around Hurricane’s right arm and leg swiftly, snatching his attention while Pinkamena came in at his other side.

“Batter up!” shouted Pinkie’s voice from the hammer while Pinkamena wrapped her arms around the Pinkie hammer and twisted them up like two rubber bands, until she let her arms spin out, twirling the hammer like a top to smash towards Hurricane. Since his right arm, which held Tetsukaze, was wrapped up for the moment, Hurricane swung his free hand around to block the hammerblow.

“What childishness is this!?” Hurricane growled as the second he blocked the hammer, it seemed to explode with a blast of gooey cake batter and frosting that coated him in sugary goodness. Pinkie’s voice giggled manically from the hammer.

“Get it!? Batter up? Because it's cake-”

“He gets it Pinkie!” shouted Pinkamena as Hurricane roared in less than amused rage and with raw strength alone tore his arms free of Rarity’s crystal vines and then swung his halberd around with such force that the air screamed. Pinkamena barely pulled the hammer back in time to block the blow, but there was so much force behind it that she was literally sent flying skyward. She was only spared a painful fall by morphing one of her arms into a long reaching tendril that wrapped around a tree to slow her down. She still hit the ground hard, but not bone crushingly so.

Hurricane turned towards Rarity, pointing the spear tip of the halberd at her, his face a stony mask of death. Wind force swirled around him, removing the cake batter that’d coated him as the wind coalesced around the tip of his halberd’s spear in the form of a concentrated sphere of air. Rarity, seeming to sense the extreme and immediate danger of the incoming attack, made a harsh downward gesture that caused a flood of blood from her whirlpool to drench the ground in front of her and sprout multiple meter thick barriers of red crystal between her and Hurricane.

”Chiyari-Suriyoku!” (Thousand Spears Thrust)

Upon Hurricane’s intoning word, the gathered sphere of wind instantly unleashed its concentrated force in a swirling white blast of wind with the pointed and thin shape of a spear. The blast tore through Rarity’s crystal barriers like a high caliber sniper round through concrete blocks. Rarity didn’t have time to dodge, so instead the blood from her whirlpool washed over her like a cocoon, solidifying into a thick layer of crystal at the last second to try and absorb the attack. The spear of wind hit her full force, shattering the cocoon of crystal, and sending Rarity staggering backwards and clutching at her stomach, where the main force of the blow had hit.

“T-that was distinctly unpleasant,” Rarity murmured, teetering, nearly falling over and only catching herself at the last second. With a cough a bit of blood splattered from her lips, which Rarity wiped away with a pained wince.

Hurricane raised an eyebrow, voice holding a tiny note of respect. “Impressive you still stand after that. I’ve felled over a dozen Gillian-class Hollows at once with that technique. If I wasn’t so pissed off I might actually commend you. As it stands I’m losing my patience with you Ryoka.”

“Yes, well, you don’t strike me as the kind of gentleman who has much patience to begin with.” Rarity replied with dry terseness, though her voice was thick with pain. She then smiled thinly, “That said, I think you’ve been quite cooperative with our efforts to distract you.”

Hurricane frowned, then snarled as he sensed build up of spirit energies elsewhere. While he’d been focused on Pinkamena and Rarity, Sunset had flagged down Rainbow Dash and explained the plan, sending the winged athlete back skyward to prepare. Then Sunset had turned her full attention to Hurricane, bringing Hokori to bear. Flames eagerly jumped off the broadsword as Sunset slashed the air, unleashing a blaze of flames that roared towards Hurricane. Rather than rush him directly, however, the flames encircled him. As Sunset suspected he would, Hurricane made another sweeping gesture with Tetsukaze, creating a barrier of wind that started to buffet away the flames...

Which was everyone else’s signal to act. Fluttershy, a safe distance away, concentrated on Hurricane and suddenly the glowing white string of energy connecting her third eye to the spot she’d struck him earlier in the battle flared bright. Hurricane blinked in surprise as he felt his spirit energy fluctuate and lessen for a second as Fluttershy’s connection to him imposed a restriction on his reiatsu. Not much, just enough to disrupt the energy he put into his wind barrier.

In that same moment Rainbow Dash, who’d flown directly above Hurricane, threw her arms out wide and lighting surrounded her like a nimbus. Rainbow Dash grinned like she was having the time of her life as she then cupped her hands before her, the lighting pooling there in a crackling mass.

“Block this, you jerk! Buccaneer Blaze!”

Sunset nearly choked on a laugh, hearing Rainbow Dash name her attack, but any humor was stilted by impressed awe as over a dozen different but equally powerful lightning bolts jumped from Rainbow Dash’s hands and curved down upon Hurricane in a converging mass of electrical might. In the same moment Applejack stood ready, golden energy flowing along her gauntlets and the eyes of the skulls on the back of her hands blooming brightly as she laced her fingers together into a combined fist, where the nozzles in the mouth of both skulls were pointed in the same direction; directly at Hurricane.

“Well, if we’re namin’ these moves, might as well join on in the fun.” Applejack muttered, then shouted in a much louder voice. “Roarin’ Apple Cannon!”

A twin blast of bright gold energy, so close together they might as well have been one beam, fired from Applejack’s gauntlets and tore a deep gouge in the ground as they barreled down upon Hurricane.

Hurricane’s wind barrier was weakened not just by Fluttershy’s power disrupting his spirit energy, but also by the fact that Sunset’s flames were consuming the oxygen within it. Even if the spirit realm of Soul Society was all made up of spirit particles, Sunset understood that those particles still largely obeyed many of the same basic laws as the living world’s particles did. Which meant that while this world’s “air” was technically not oxygen, it mimicked how oxygen worked, the same way her flames while not technically chemical fire but rather spirit fire, would still consume oxygen of both worlds the same way.

This also meant electricity, spirit particle based or otherwise, would also work the same way, and with Hurricane’s spirit energy weakened the lightning could lance right through the barrier to hit Hurricane head on at the exact same instant Applejack’s energy beams struck him straight in the chest.

The resulting explosion of energy slammed Hurricane backwards like someone being pushed around by a sumo wrestler, his body convulsing from the lighting while being drilled across the ground by the golden beam of power. Yet through it all he stayed upright, never losing his balance as he tanked the attacks, driven bodily backwards until he slammed into a tree, cracking it in half, but still remaining standing.

When all was said and done he was bearing multiple scorched burn marks, his body smoking slightly, and there was a large, bruised welt across his chest, but Hurricane remained conscious.

“Aww c’mon!” Rainbow Dash shouted, landing back on the ground beside the other girls as they all gathered together once again around Sunset, “What does it take to put this guy down for good!?”

“This boss fight is starting to feel way broken, that’s for sure.” said Pinkie Pie, her hammer form almost seeming to droop a bit. “Too many hit points, please nerf!”

While Sunset shared their sentiments, she was a bit more hopeful. She could feel Hurricane’s reiatsu, and while it remained potent, it was fluctuating and starting to wear down. They might not be able to take him out with one big move, but they could keep chipping away at him, bit by bit. For all his power, he was being wounded, and those wounds would gradually add up. They could do this! They could win, if they just kept the heat on and didn’t let up!

“Don’t get discouraged guys, keep at him!” Sunset said, raising Hokori and flickering across the battlefield with Flash Step to appearing in front of Hurricane, blade slashing down hard. Hurricane met her blade with Tetsukaze, the two Zanpaktou both expelling their respective elements in point blank blasts of air and fire that exploded around the combatants in a destructive wave, flattening trees and causing them to burst into flames at the same time.

Sunset could feel Hurricane’s strength surging through him, even as she kept her blade locked with his halberd. Refusing to back down, she pressed harder, matching his physical strength with her own, and for the moment holding firm. Yet Hurricane didn’t seem bothered. In fact he smiled with sickening confidence.

“I can tell you think you’re winning. That you can grind away my strength piece by piece like savages chipping at a phalanx of well disciplined soldiers. You poor, naive girls. These wounds are nothing.”

He Flash Stepped away from Sunset, reappearing back towards the center of the clearing. He held Tetsukaze horizontally in front of him, as if showing it off as he slowly turned the weapon for the girls to see.

“I can see now that you six are worthy opponents, at least. More powerful than most I’ve faced, to be sure. I understand why Platinum considered you all such potential threats. Left to grow, any one of you might become as powerful as a Captain. But you are not there yet, my young warriors. You still lack one essential quality...”

With a simple twist he detached the axe head portion of his Zanpaktou, extending the chain about three feet and began to spin the blade around on the chain, faster and faster until it was a solid metal blur, whistling through the air with a harsh cutting sound.

“Fear.” he said, “You girls still fight with the impetuous, youthful manner of children who believe themselves immune to death. Allow me to educate you otherwise.”

Sunset sensed the attack coming and braced for it, but even she was taken aback by the speed at which Hurricane flicked his halberd forward and the axe blade flew across the distance to her and the girls, the chain extending seemingly without limit. It slipped past her, changing trajectory in an eyeblink to fly in another direction, only to change direction again and again, the axe blade’s path becoming near impossible to follow. Sunset realized Hurricane was using the wind to change the blade’s movements, and also realized at the same moment he was trying to split her and the girls up and disorient them. Practically everyone had jumped back from the rapidly flying blade, each trying to get distance, each becoming more exposed.

Remembering her previous conclusion that Fluttershy would be Hurricane’s primary target once he knew the connection she’d established to him, Sunset immediately Flash Stepped towards the other girl... only she was a moment too late.

Amid the rapid changing movements of the flying axe head, the weapon suddenly appeared behind Fluttershy, so fast and harsh in its cutting arc that Fluttershy had barely turned her head and Sunset was inches from getting her shield in place, but neither were fast enough. The axe blade bit deeply into the back of Fluttershy’s shoulder blade, only the reflexive response of her Fullbring’s scarf saving her from being cut cleanly in half as the cloth got in the way of the blade, using its own supernaturally tough form to lessen the blow from one that would have been instantly fatal to one that instead just left a bloody gouge in Fluttershy’s back, crunched the shoulder blade underneath with a sickening sound, and sent the girl crashing into the ground with enough force to send her bouncing several times before she lay limply like a fallen crash test dummy.

Very quickly blood, in a bright crimson pool, began to seep from the wounded girl as she lay on the ground, unmoving.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying towards their fallen friend, but Hurricane took full advantage of the girls’ momentary shock. The chain connecting the axe blade to the rest of his halberd pulled back as he Flash Stepped in an instant to appear above Rainbow Dash, aiming the spear-tip of his Zanpaktou towards her exposed back. However Sunset, already looking for the attack, was able to throw herself into Hurricane shield first, slamming him aside while Rainbow Dash flew on to land next to Fluttershy. Rarity arrived there a second later, kneeling over the wound.

“Hold on dear, just hold on. I... I can stop the blood.” Rarity said in a nerve wracked but soothing tone as she gestured her hand over the wound, calling down her Fullbring’s blood to cover Fluttershy’s wound and solidify into crystal that acted as a makeshift bandage.

“Crapcrapcrap, not good!” Rainbow Dash growled, “She needs more than that, Rarity!”

“Well it's the best I can do!” Rarity shouted, then turned sharp eyes towards where Hurricane had twisted in the air to engage Sunset in a brief but fierce exchange of blows that left both of them landing on the ground a solid distance away.

“I’m going to rip him to pieces.” Rarity snarled, and Rainbow Dash nodded, standing and flaring with electrical power.

“Only if I leave anything of him for you.”

Hurricane chuckled without any hint of humor, “One of you is already down and you decide to charge in again? What if I attack your fallen friend again? Who might defend her?”

Rainbow Dash’s hair bristled and her eyes turned to liquid pools of pure rage. “You utter bastard!”

Rarity sneered, and with a gesture summoned up dozens of crystalline blades from her whirlpool, “You won’t get the chance!”

“Darn straight!” Applejack bellowed, coming in at Hurricane from behind, fully flying through the air on powerful jets of energy as she aimed a spinning kick at his back. He turned to block, and found the force of the blow as Applejack’s boot connected with his halberd strained his muscles like he’d been hit by a meteor, and was driven back by sheer momentum. Sunset, feeling white hot anger burning inside her alongside fresh fear for Fluttershy’s safety, let the flames of Hokori surge brightly and then transmute to deep, melting blue indigo flames. The heat around her increased so much that the grass started to burn away to ash, igniting in blue puffs of flame.

As Applejack continued to push Hurricane back, much to a surprised look on his face, Sunset slashed with Hokori, and breathed in a sharp, spitting voice, ”Aoihi Senko!”

The shape of her attack was not a giant wave of flame this time, but instead controlled into a concentrated jet, like a dragon’s breath. Applejack waited until the last second before breaking off from Hurricane and leaving him to take the brunt of the blue flames full on, the fire blasting into him as he spun around to block it with his halberd. However Sunset had full control of the fire from her Aoihi Senko, treating the exuding fire like a continuous, flexible extension of Hokori’s power. As Hurricane tried to block the jet of flame, she gestured with Hokori and caused the fire to flow around Hurricane, then flow up and break apart into dozens of smaller bolts of fire that then rained down on him from all directions, engulfing him in an ever growing explosion of azure fire that burned so hotly the ground started to melt into glass. Rarity took advantage of the moment to also send her crystal blades flashing in as, stabbing into the explosion of blue fire, and presumably Hurricane.

Then Rainbow Dash joined in, sending a crackling bolt of lighting into the maelstrom of fire, the bolts of cobalt energy intermixing with Sunset’s fire until the whole thing exploded in a blast of flame and lightning so intense that it bathed the whole battlefield with blue light and caught numerous trees from across the clearing on fire. Even Sunset had to shield herself with Hokori, the heat of her proximity to the blast intense enough that she could feel it through her Zanpaktou’s shield.

“That enough ‘fear’ for you?” Sunset spat. Her blue flames were still burning in a rising column where Hurricane had been standing, but she couldn’t tell if he’d survived the blast or not. The intermixing reiatsu from the attack was making it hard to sense anything else, but if she was going to listen to her gut instincts then, no, she doubted Hurricane was down yet. But they may have just bought a moment to check on Fluttershy.

The girl in question let out a pained moan as her eyes flickered open, while the other girls gathered around her.

“Oh my... this... hurts.” Fluttershy said, blinking, moving a hand to touch the crystal bonding around her wound.

“Fluttershy, you’ve been wounded badly. Try not to move.” Sunset said.

Fluttershy’s face was ashen and starting to sweat, pain swimming over her features, but there was also an aura of calm about her as her third eye flickered with bright blue light. This light then suffused her body as Fluttershy took slow breaths, uneven and intermixed with small gasps of pain. “I... I can tell. I’m sorry. I need time to... aaaah... time to focus my power on healing. I won’t be able to do much for, mmph... for awhile.”

"Are you sure?" Sunset asked, voice laden with worry. She'd gotten a good look at the blow Fluttershy had taken, and it was the kind of thing that put people in hospitals for months, and even then often with life long, crippling injury. She knew Fluttershy's power could heal wounds with surprising efficiency, but this looked like a tall order, even for her.

Fluttershy smiled, but it was a strained look, her eyes showing the same kind of fears that Sunset had beneath the veil of calm. "N-not as sure as I want to be. But I'll be okay for now. J-just focus on the fight."

Pinkamena sniffed the air and twirled the Pinkie hammer around, pointing it at the burning blaze of flames, “Don’t look now, but the meatslab isn’t cooked through yet.”

“Seriously!? He’s not down after that!?” Rainbow Dash shouted, just as a burst of spirit pressure exploded outward from the center of the inferno, a tornado of air cascading up into the sky that washed away the flames and revealed Hurricane standing in the center of the burned black field.

He was clearly injured, however. Sunset’s fire had scorched away much of the top of his Captain’s uniform, and left his bare skin burned red in many places. He also had a few fragments leftover from Rarity’s crystal blades embedded in his arms and chest, leaving bleeding wounds. There was a jagged scorch mark running all the way down his exposed chest, no doubt from where Rainbow Dash’s lightning had solidly hit its mark. All of this combined to leave Hurricane breathing heavily and for a moment it almost looked like he’d fall to one knee, but he quickly planted Tetsukaze into the ground at his side, bracing himself on the halberd.

“Well,” he said with a note of respect in his tone, “That was bracing. Given a little motivation you girls can actually fight. I wonder if you’ll fight even better if I manage to take down another one of you? Perhaps the loudmouthed blue one? Or maybe I should cut down the little pink monster?”

Sunset raised her sword, snarling, “How about none of the above? I’m getting tired of your hypocritical voice, Hurricane! You tell us we’re not taking this fight seriously, but you’re the one who keeps acting like he’s already won this battle. So far we’ve matched you blow for blow, so quit being so damned cocky!”

Hurricane tilted his head slightly, then smiled coldly. “You know, I agree. I haven’t been practicing what I preach. I confess it's only because I haven’t had a good fight in so long, I didn’t want this to end too soon. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve taken this much injury. But you’re right, young lady. It’s time I ended this.”

Suddenly the air itself seemed to grow still as there was a subtle yet incredibly powerful shift in the tension filling the battlefield. There was no warning build up of reiatsu from inside Hurricane, only a strange stillness that reminded Sunset of entering the eye of a storm. She noticed that the Soul Reapers who’d been watching the battle from the sidelines all tensed up, and many, even from Hurricane’s own division, quickly began to back away.

Hurricane offered them a look that almost approached sympathy, if only the kind of dry, cold sympathy a butcher gives the cow lead to slaughter. He held Tetsukaze in front of him, the halberd seeming to gather in the air around it in a swirling sheath of wind.

“Let me show you the difference between us; the gap of power you have yet to cross.”

His next words were spoken not in a loud roar, but rather with the steady, steel weight of a falling executioner’s axe.

”Bankai.”

----------

Several minutes earlier...

At the far side of the clearing opposite the battlefield where Sunset and the girls did battle with Captain Hurricane, Clover found herself locked blade to blade with Lieutenant Posey. Wanting to end this conflict quickly as possible so she could return to help her friends, Clover was putting her all into her attacks, spinning Chishiki about in multiple twirling arcs to slash with the Zanpaktou’s ring blade. Posey, despite her demure attitude, was showing herself to be every bit as competent as the second in command of the Soul Society’s dedicated combat division ought to be. As much as Clover knew she’d gotten stronger from training alongside Sunset, she was still a researcher from the Twelfth Division, and when stacked up against the skill of a dedicated warrior like Posey the difference in swordsmanship was clear.

For every spinning slash from Chishiki, there was an immediate parry and swift counter slash from Posey’s blade, expertly timed to force Clover into ever more unwieldy slashes that gradually left her guard wide open. Still, Clover had gained more from her training than a increase to her reiatsu. She’d honed her techniques in both Flash Step and reading spirit energy. Even when one particularly strong parry from Posey left Clover’s side exposed, which Posey took immediate advantage off with a hard stab that would have impaled Clover from hip to hip, Clover’s Flash Step was swift enough to flicker away from the blow with little more than a shallow cut.

The two combatants briefly squared off after that, slowly circling each other with deliberately chosen steps. Unable to help herself, curiosity an ever present factor for Clover even in the midst of battle, she asked, “Do you really think what Central 46 is doing is right, Lieutenant? You have to see that something about all this isn’t normal. Captains Celestia and Luna would never betray us!”

Posey’s eyes gained a strangely innocent and confused light as she replied, “That’s not really something that matters here. It doesn’t matter if I think it's right, only if Captain Hurricane thinks it is. The chain of command exists for a reason, Third Seat Clover. It’s not our place as subordinates to question our superior’s orders. We serve and obey... failure to do that is, well, it’s unthinkable.”

Holding her sword low, Posey burst forward, aiming a thrust for Clover’s chest. Just as Clover moved to block the attack there was a whistling noise and something small yet moving at incredibly high speed slashed between her and Posey, forcing Posey to break off her charge and jump back. At a glance Clover saw the objects that had flown between them consisted of a half dozen... leaves? They looked like leaves from the nearby trees, only rigid as metal shards as they stuck out of the ground.

“I can’t imagine a sentiment I disagree more with, Lieutenant Posey.” said a light, casual male voice as the dark gray form of the Second Division’s Third Seat Nocturn appeared next to Clover. She could tell his Zanpaktou was released, in the form of a metal brace on the back of his right hand from which two curved claw blades extended. Strangely he was carrying a handful of leaves in his left hand.

“Third Seat Clover, good to see you.”

Clover glanced at him, “Uh... yes? Um, good to see you too?”

Nocturn sighed, expression flat as a board, “Guess I didn’t make much of an impression when we met at the Soul Reaper Academy. I was in your class.”

“Don’t really remember, but that was a big class. Not to mention a long time ago. Also not the time for reminiscing.” Clover said, not daring to take her eyes off of Posey, who was warily sizing Nocturn up.

“Good point.” Nocturn said, dropping into a relaxed but ready combat stance, “Normally I might quote honor as a reason not to team up against someone two on one, but given we’re dealing with a Lieutenant and we’re both Third Seats, I’d say it evens out.”

Posey looked between them, seeming to become more nervous as she licked her lips, “Oh my, this is no good. If I have to fight both of you at the same time then I might not be able to hold back. That’d be very bad. I don’t suppose you both consider surrendering?”

“I have neither the time nor inclination.” Clover said, holding Chishiki at the ready. She hadn’t tried to begin an analysis of Posey or her Zanpaktou simply because Chishiki could only analyze one target at a time, and if she switched her target from Hurricane to Posey she’d lose all the progress she’d made on analyzing Hurricane. That was fine. She still had her Kido, and the final technique she’d learned from Chishiki during the training alongside Sunset, although if she used that she’d still lose the data collected so far on Hurricane. She wanted to avoid that and only use it as a last resort.

Nocturn feigned a look of consideration before tossing the leaves in his left hand up into the air. As they slowly floated down he said, “Surrender is death. I shall not partake in it. That is my answer.”

Clover blinked, realizing he’d just spouted a haiku as he slashed with his claw shaped Zanpaktou at the falling leaves. As the claw blades touched each leaf, instead of cleaving them in half there was a spark of spirit energy that filled the leaves and made them straighten out and become rigid. The leaves were flung by the impact of the blades, tossed like they were now made of metal themselves, and spun through the air at Posey.

Posey rapidly deflected the spinning leaves, which bounce away with metallic clinking sounds. Nocturn then vanished in a Flash Step, and Clover could track his movement to see he was looking to get behind Posey while she was distracted by his rather unconventional attack. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Clover also used Flash Step to rush Posey from the front. Clover swung the shaft of Chishiki to try and sweep Posey’s legs out from under her, while Nocturn’s claw blades slashed for the Lieutenant’s face. Posey responded by first slamming her blade down to intercept Clover’s strike in a burst of sparks, while she bent back fro Nocturn’s strike and caught his wrist with her free hand. Then without slowing Posey shifted on the balls of her feet, twisting her arm to flip Nocturn head over heels while throwing a snapping side kick at Clover’s chin.

Clover leaned back just far enough to keep her chin from getting clipped, and quickly pulled Chishiki back to spin the bottom end of the staff around to try and catch Posey with a strike on the back of the head, but Posey was already bringing her own Zanpaktou up to meet Chishiki, having predicting Clover’s movements precisely. Posey then pushed in close to Clover, pressing her Zanpaktou hard against Chishiki’s shaft, and then rammed her knee up into Clover’s stomach, the blow knocking the breath clean out of her.

As Clover took a unsteady step or two back, trying to catch her breath, Nocturn flipped back to his feet from where he’d been tossed to the ground, and slashed at Posey’s back. Posey saw the attack coming out of the corner of her eye and threw herself to the side, Nocturn’s claws only cutting the fabric of Posey’s sleeve.

However a moment later Posey blinked in surprise as the arm with the torn sleeve suddenly snapped downward as if under a heavy weight, her Zanpaktou lowering with it.

“Huh? What did you just do to my arm?” Posey slowly raised it back up, but was clearly under some strain to do so. Clover was unsure what had happened as well, but after looking at Posey’s arm she quickly noticed that the fabric of the Lieutenant's robe sleeve no longer shifted like normal cloth should, but instead was stiff and rigid. Just like the leaves Nocturn had struck.

“I didn’t do anything.” said Nocturn, holding up the claw blade of his Zanpaktou, “That’s the power of my Yakkai Koto.” (Burden)

He produced another leaf, touching it to the edge of his Zanpaktou claw blades. He then dropped the leaf, which fell like a rock and hit the ground with a weight like a metal shard. “Any object struck that isn’t an animal becomes as heavy and stiff as if made entirely of steel. Plants, pieces of paper, clothing, even water. Right now your sleeve is acting as if it's made out of solid steel. Must be quite heavy and hard to move.”

Posey frowned, her previous nervousness only growing to a jittery height as she let her arm drop again. “This is bad. Very bad. I didn’t want to hurt any of you too much. Now I don’t have a choice. I have to protect my Captain, and you’re both in the way. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

In the blink of an eye Lieutenant Posey’s expression transformed from one of nervous desperation and sadness to one of murderous excitement. “But you asked for this. Frenzy; Kyoki.” (Bloodthirst)

Hazy violet light surrounded her Zanpaktou, which grew longer and wider to take the shape of a vicious looking saw-tooth blade, both its edges heavily serrated. Then, with a whine like a high pitched engine, the saw teeth began to spin around the length of the blade like a chainsaw. A bubbling laugh of violent glee erupted from Posey, and Clover gulped with uneasy fear as she saw that the formerly subdued Lieutenant now had an expression that could only be described as exceedingly homicidal.

Clover and Nocturn exchanged glances.

“Do you have as bad a feeling about this as I do?” asked Nocturn.

Clover threw a palm out towards Posey, shouting, “Bind her, quickly, before-”

By the time she’d even said that much Posey had reached over with her free hand and tore the portion of her sleeve off that had been solidified to steel. The sleeve ripped away much like twisting metal, signifying that her freshly released Shikai had just given Posey monstrous physical strength. Thus freed she immediately launched herself forward, slashing with that dangerous saw-tooth blade at Clover, who barely got Chishiki up to block. Sparks flew from where the sawing blade cut at Chishiki’s shaft, and Clover felt her very bones shaking under the blow. Then Posey reached with her free hand and grabbed Clover by the head, spinning around and bodily tossing Clover up and over, smashing her into the ground a few dozen yards away.

Nocturn sped in, slashing at Posey’s back, cutting the cloth of her robes. As Clover stood up, shaking the dazed clouds from her head, she saw Posey’s robes freeze up as Nocturn’s Zanapaktou power took effect, but all it did was briefly slow Posey down as she twisted and tore at the solidified robes, ripping them off her body. However that brief delay was enough time for Clover to chant a swift Kido.

“Hado Number Forty Six; Gaki Rekko!” (Raging Light Fang)

A circular plane of green light formed at the palm of Clover’s hand, then from it a barrage of thin emerald beams of energy flew up and forward at sharp right angles, piercing in towards Posey. The raging Lieutenant responded with a blood crazed laugh, slashing with her Zanpaktou to deflect many of the beams. However the barrage kept up and was enough to keep Posey pinned down for a moment, long enough for Nocturn to Flash Step in and slash at Posey’s legs, once more cutting the cloth of her robes and solidifying them.

This managed to briefly halt Posey enough that the last of the energy beams from Clover’s Kido pierced her arms, drawing a small gout of blood. Clover had hoped that might get Posey to drop her sword, but Posey just kept laughing, eyes bloodshot, and then slashed with her saw-tooth blade to tear apart the solidified robes around her legs, freeing herself even as she cut her legs. Now Posey was mostly only clad in basic white wrappings that many Soul Reapers used for simple undergarments, not that modesty seemed to be an issue for her at the moment. Clover frowned deeply, realizing that whatever altered mental state Posey’s Zanpaktou had created, she simply wasn’t going to stop as long as she was conscious.

I have to use that new technique. There’s no other way. But it will still end my analysis of Hurricane... I won’t be able to go help the others. Blast it, but I don’t see another way.

Before she could enact the technique, however, Posey came at her again, faster than before, leaping into the air with a large overhand swing that Clover braced herself to block. Then at the last second Posey vanished, using a Flash Step faster than Clover could follow, feeling the pressure of air behind her as she realized Posey was now coming at her back. Clover felt an impact on her side, and had just enough time to realize Nocturn had tackled her out of the way before Posey’s Zanpaktou cut down in a flash of buzzing metal.

Nocturn grunted in pain, jumping away and landing beside Clover, only now Clover could see blood seeping down his left side from where his arm now ended in a bloody stump. Nocturn’s severed arm was in Posey’s grasp, who looked at it with mild interest before tossing the limb aside and turning to face Clover and Nocturn while licking her lips eagerly.

‘N-Nocturn!”

“Don’t get distracted.” he said past clenched teeth, keeping his claw-blade up in a ready stance, “It's just an arm. Better that than my head. Now,I don’t suppose you have a way to stop this mad witch? It seems my Zanpaktou’s power is ill suited for this fight.”

“I do, but I need a few moments to activate the technique.” Clover shook her head, “You’re in no shape to buy me that-”

Nocturn, without another word, charged at Posey, leaving Clover to blink.

“-time... Blast it!”

She immediately planted Chishiki’s pointed end into the ground, while focusing her spirit energy into the Zanpaktou’s ring blade. Motes of twinkling green light began to form within the ring. As she charged the technique, Nocturn went all out against Posey. Even with one arm, he maintained his balance and spun into a series of swift slashes at the berserk woman, who responded in kind with wild, powerful swings of her own that tore up the ground around her. Nocturn, for the most part, relied on speed and feints to keep out of reach of the buzzing saw-tooth blade that sought to rend him to pieces, though this meant he also couldn’t get in more than a few glancing blows at Poesy. However, it was enough to get Clover the five or six seconds she needed.

Chishiki now flared with sparkling light within its ring blade, which then formed lines of green energy... very much like a net.

”Reikon Shomi!” (Spirit Net)

The edges of her ring blade then broke apart into eight equal sized pieces. These pieces then flew out like boomerangs, trailing with them each a portion of the ever enlarging net of glowing jade spirit energy. This net surrounded the battling Nocturn and Posey, and since Nocturn knew that Clover had a technique coming, he Flash Stepped out of the way at the very last second before the net slammed down onto Posey. The green bands of energy contracted around the struggling Posey, but despite her struggles she couldn’t seem to break through the strands of thick spirit energy that now ensnared her. Within a minute the net of energy had contracted enough that it now had Posey thickly wrapped up like a woman trapped in a spider’s webbing, the eight pieces of the actual physical ring blade locked around her like manacles. Each piece of the ring blade produced a separate band of energy that connected the net back to the main body of Chishiki, which Clover removed from the ground and held over her shoulder.

Nocturn, ashen faced but looking relieved, approached her, still warily eyeing Posey, who was growling like a caged animal.

“Impressive, but how long will that hold her?”

“Indefinitely.” Clover replied, “This technique uses all of Chishiki’s power to create this net to capture targets. While captured a target’s reishi composition is analyzed to improve the strength of the net so it becomes even harder to break free from.”

Nocturn gave an appreciative whistle as he tore off part of his robe with his teeth and used it to start binding the stump where his arm was, making a quick tourniquet. “Any downsides?”

“I can’t use Chishiki for anything else. Even if I dispel the net, Chishiki will be drained of power for about half a day afterward.” Clover sighed, “I won’t be able to do much to help my friends except with Kido spells until then. There’s also the question of what to do with Posey...”

Abruptly there was a massive explosion of raw spiritual power from across the battlefield, and all Clover could see from that direction was a titanic, pitch black tornado that pierced the sky. Clover had felt such power before, and knew what it meant. The knowledge drained the blood from her face as she breathed, “Not good... this is definitely not good.”

------------------

The area within a few hundred yards of where Sweet Cider and Ditzy Doo clashed no longer resembled a normal forest, but what happens after a forest has been largely flattened by an erupting volcano. There was hardly a tree left standing, the majority of them cut or smashed in half as the two women exchanged blows that sent crushing shockwaves through the air.

Quite frankly Silverstar figured he ought to be anywhere else rather than approaching such a battle, but he’d already ordered the other Tenth Division members to either fall back to the entrance area to the forest, or in one squad’s case, to go look for Troubleshoes and the squad that’d been sent with him. Silverstar would have gone with that search party, but he had other concerns. The Thirteenth Division was already using the distraction of those Ryoka to fall back to their own barracks, and Silverstar suspected they’d either try to escape through the sewer system or make a break for the east gate. He wasn’t too worried about Inkwell and her rebels getting away. He was more concerned with the mental state of his Captain.

Seeing that odd young lady with the stetson hat had clearly upset Captain Sweet Cider, even if the stubborn woman had hid the fact, and she was indulging in an all out brawl to further bury any confusion seeing that human girl had caused. Silverstar himself was also confused and more than a little worried. He wasn’t blind, after all. He could see the resemblance between that girl and Captain Sweet Cider, not just physically but on a certain emotional level as well.

Since Sweet Cider hadn’t given him any specific orders before the battle began he was free to follow his own prerogative, and as the Lieutenant of the Tenth Division he felt it was the best course to watch his Captain’s back, in case her emotional state got any more out of whack. Besides, this Ditzy Doo seemed a dangerous opponent.

Though she hadn’t released her Zanpaktou’s power, Sweet Cider was going all out in terms of physical strength and speed. It was hard to follow either combatant’s movements as they streaked across the area in blazing flickers of movement that usually only halted long enough for there to be an explosion of force from either a sword swing or striking fist. Disturbingly, Ditzy Doo’s face, when Silverstar was able to catch a glimpse of it, was covered in a bone white mask that was vaguely feline in shape and very much resembled that of a Hollow’s. Even her spiritual pressure had that distinctly cold echo of Hollow power that set Silverstar’s teeth to grinding.

What is she? I’ve never heard of a Soul Reaper who could mimic Hollow powers. She’s not an Arrancar either, the reiatsu doesn’t feel right for one of them.

He remained at the edge of the destroyed area of forest, observing the fight. He had his Zanpaktou drawn but not released yet. There was little reason to. He couldn’t contribute to a battle between two warriors of this level, not without having one hell of an opening, and even if one presented itself, Captain Sweet Cider would never forgive him for interfering with one of her battles. However he was prepared to deal with her ire if he saw no other choice but to jump in. Even if he could create a single moment of distraction that would be worth it, in his view.

Ditzy Doo appeared atop the smashed half of a tree trunk in front of Sweet Cider, crouching like a cat. She bore cuts all over her body, in a red, bloody patchwork. Sweet Cider also carried the wounds of the battle thus far, with bruises covering her face and arms, and a trickle of blood flowing from the corner of her lips. Yet neither one of them seemed fatigued yet, as if the wounds they’d given each other so far were just for warming up.

Streams of red energy rolled along Ditzy Doo’s body until the light pooled around her hands, the tips of her fingers shining with the gathering power. Then the energy extended into seemingly solid blades of cutting light, like claws covering Ditzy’s fingers.

”Garras De Gato.” (Cat’s Claws) Ditzy Doo said in that distorted voice from her mask, and coiled her legs and sprang at Sweet Cider. Her energy claws slashed in a swift series of blinding cuts that seemed to overlap with each other, so fast and dense were the number of strikes. Sweet Cider met the attacks head on with her blade, the Zanpaktou bluntly smashing into the energy claws to keep them at bay. Even so, Ditzy managed to get past Sweet Cider’s guard and planted both sets of claws into the taller woman’s shoulders, and then flipped over Sweet Cider’s head, using the claws as leverage to throw the Tenth Division Captain into a nearby set of fallen trees in a huge crash of splintering wood.

Silverstar nearly jumped in then and there, but a second later the trees Sweet Cider had been thrown into then rose upward as she grabbed one of the larger tree trunks in one hand.

“You tryin’ ta scratch me ta death?” Sweet Cider yelled, “Stop wastin’ my time!”

She hurled the gigantic tree trunk like a spear, sending it sailing straight for Ditzy. In response Ditzy vanished for an eyeblink, and red traces of light appeared all over the tree trunk as it flew by. She then appeared right where she’d been standing as the tree broke apart into dozens of sliced pieces behind her. Ditzy let out an easy laugh.

“Wasting your time is exactly what I’m trying to do. The longer I keep you here, the better the odds are for those girls to take down Hurricane.”

Sweet Cider grinned savagely, “If they can pull that off it might do that bastard some good, loosen up the ramrod up his rear end, but I ain’t holdin’ my breath fer it. ‘Course, it ain’t them girls ya gotta worry ‘bout, is it? ‘Bout time I smash that damn mask o’ yers right through yer face.”

Ditzy giggled and made a ‘come hither’ gesture with her glowing energy claws. “Give it your best shot.”

Silverstar had some trouble following what happened next. His Captain didn’t so much Flash Step towards Ditzy Doo as she catapulted herself like a ballistic missile from her position straight into Ditzy before the other woman had so much as a chance to blink. Sweet Cider’s sword would have cut Ditzy from shoulder to hip had she not barely managed to get her energy claws up to catch the Zanapktou. Even then the blade bit down harshly into Ditzy’s palms, drawing splatters of blood as the momentum of Sweet Cider’s slash launched Ditzy backwards and through a pile of fallen trees, scattering the thick trunks like matches.

Sweet Cider didn’t let up, bellowing in equal parts rage and laughter, a sound that set Silverstar’s spine to tingling coldly, as she jumped up and then came crashing down where Ditzy had fallen, driving her sword down. Ditzy agilely recovered at the last moment, spinning her legs about to kip up in a sideways flip that evaded the devastating sword blow while she lashed out with her claws, drawing blood across Sweet Cider’s thigh. At the same time Sweet Cider swung around, her Zanpaktou cutting the air in a heavy horizontal swing that Ditzy braced herself to catch with her claws. Even with putting her whole body into it, Ditzy was still forced back several yards before managing to halt Sweet Cider’s blade, although the strain of the act was clear in the shaking tension in both her arms and legs.

Ditzy only had a moment to savor that small triumph when Sweet Cider surprised her by letting go of her Zanpaktou for a second, instead grabbing Ditzy by the arms and pulling back with her head. Sweet Cider then snapped her head forward while yanking Ditzy upward, smashing her forehead straight into Ditzy’s face hard enough that the impact created a small shockwave. Sweet Cider followed this up by cocking by her right arm and then ramming her fist full force into Ditzy’s stomach, sending the woman once more bouncing into a pile of fallen trees.

While Ditzy clambered to her feet, Sweet Cider retrieved her Zanpaktou and cracked her neck, stretching. “Kinda prefer brawlin’ ta swordfightin. Tempted ta just toss the blade and take ya on bare fisticuffs.” She let out a deep snarl, “Feels better, ya see, usin’ my fists. More honest. Does wonders fer the foul mood you’ve put me in.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” said Ditzy, rubbing her chin as she stood, swaying slightly. Her mask bore a few small cracks running like small, dark veins from the brow to the top of the mask’s left eye. “Let me see what I do to even out that temper of yours.”

Ditzy raised her right hand, and a sphere of crimson energy began to grow between her blazing claws. She aimed the sphere at Sweet Cider, bits of swirling energy inside the sphere becoming so intense that they turned from deep red to glowing, searing white. As this happened Silverstar stared at the scene with deep unease. There couldn’t be any doubt about it, that was a Cero blast that Ditzy Doo was charging up. The feeling of Hollow reiatsu coming off of her was overwhelming.

Before Ditzy Doo could discharge her Cero there was a cascade of potent reiatsu that overshadowed everything else, and all eyes turned towards the direction of what looked like a colossal tornado of black wind towering into the sky. Silverstar quickly realized the tornado, and the massive reiatsu that accompanied it, was right back where those Ryoka girls had been fighting Captain Hurricane. That made it fairly obvious what it was he was seeing, although this was Silverstar’s first time actually witnessing it first hand. The reiatsu was unmistakably Captain Hurricane’s however, and so potent it could only mean one thing; the Captain had unleashed his Bankai.

Both Ditzy Doo and Sweet Cider seemed to realize this at the same time, and the two looked at each other, then at the tornado, then back at each other. In practically the same instant both women vanished, rushing full speed towards the location of the other battle. Silverstar groaned, following after them.

----------

Sunset had barely had a millisecond to let out a very non-Equestrian expletive before Hurricane’s Tetsukaze erupted with a rapidly expanding tower of churning dark wind which in the blink of an eye grew into a towering tornado that soared into the sky and quickly rushed towards her and the girls.

She only caught a flicker of movement from Rainbow Dash, who dived defensively towards the fallen Fluttershy, before the tornado was upon them and she had to raise her shield as she tried to leap back out of the way.

The windforce from the tornado’s edge alone was so strong that Sunset was knocked clear off her feet, sent flying head over heels until she managed to get her bearings just in time to stab her blade into a passing tree trunk to halt herself. She looked around for the other girls, but to her dismay she couldn’t spot all of them at first. She saw Pinkamena thrown up against a tree, hanging on literally by her teeth, the sharp fangs having sunk deeply into the bark while the rest of the girl flapped in the breeze, barely holding onto Pinkie Pie’s hammer form. Rarity fared better, having created a wall of crystal around herself.

Sunset looked around desperately trying to spot where Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were. Her spiritual senses were all but useless to locate them due to Hurricane’s overpowering reiatsu blanketing the area, making it hard to sense anything beyond him. She only gained a momentary relief when she looked up into the sky to see that Rainbow Dash was flying high, buffeted heavily by the tornado winds, but she was clearly holding on tight to the wounded Fluttershy. Then she spotted Applejack, who’d also taken to the air with jets of energy from her gauntlets and armored boots, but wasn’t nearly as stable as Rainbow Dash was, tumbling end over end and sent hurtling towards the ground like an out of control firework.

“Damn!” Sunset couldn’t move, but she shouted, “Rarity, Applejack’s in trouble!”

Rarity looked up to where Sunset was pointing, and while still keeping hunkered down behind her crystal wall, she directed her whirlpool of blood to fly up and create a tall crystal pole that Applejack was able to grab onto to halt her fall, the girl sliding the rest of the way to the ground on the pole while the tornado started to die down.

It was then that Sunset understood the tornado wasn’t the form of Hurricane’s Bankai, but just the result of the unleashed spirit energy. A mere byproduct that was now calming down.

Rainbow Dash landed beside the rest of the girls as they were able to start moving once again, no longer being tossed around by the wind. Rainbow kept a close hold on Fluttershy, looking as uneasy as the rest of them as they all looked upon where Hurricane’s form was revealed once the last of the black winds dissipated.

He was still bare chested, with even the tatters of his Captains coat and robes torn away. Dark iron chains wrapped around his chest and arms, leading down to his hands which clutched between them four chain ends apiece that then extended out to attach to eight massive floating blades. These blades were each twice again as large as the halberd Tetsukaze had formed in its Shikai state, and resembled double-bladed versions of the bearded axe head, each one still having a curved naginata spear point sticking up from the top. Sunset also noticed that while the dark tornado had vanished, there were still swirls of black fog-like wind clinking to the edges of each of the eight blades, and she suspected that Hurricane could summon more tornadoes in an instant if he wanted. Frowning, she saw glints of metal amid those flecks of dark wind, as if there were shards of metal floating in the air.

Hurricane cracked his neck and looked at the girls with a razor thin glare.

”Tetsukaze Yattsu no Guntai.” (Eight Armies of Iron Wind)

As if speaking the Bankai’s name served to awaken it further Sunset and all the girls felt the oppressive reiatsu washing off of it increase, making her take an involuntary step backwards that she quickly corrected with a frustrated growl. Discord had warned her how powerful Bankai’s were, and that even with their training they had little chance against once, but she wasn’t sure they had any other alternatives. Could they even manage to escape, if she and the girls tried to run? With Fluttershy wounded it didn’t seem likely. Not unless one of them acted as a distraction to keep Hurricane busy long enough for the others to get away.

We’re not strong enough to beat this. We were wearing him down, bit by bit, while he was just using Shikai... but now?

But what other option was there but to try?

“There,” Hurricane said, “That’s the look of fear I was talking about. All of you girls see it now, that you can’t win this battle. You’re understanding your own mortality. Your foolishness in coming to the Seireitei thinking you could rescue the traitors. Even if by some small miracle you defeated me, there are ten other Captains you would have to face, each possessing the true power of Zanpaktou, the final release; Bankai. You may as well-”

A gold beam of energy blasted in at him, and he made a slashing gesture with his right hand to pull the chains it held down, bringing one of the eight giant axe blades to fly down as well and block the intense gold beam. The energy cracked into the axe, blocked entirely, but the attack had snapped Sunset out of her momentary funk as Applejack, who’d fired the blast from a side kick, only now lowering her still smoking foot, shouted, “Enough yappin’ outta yer stinkhole! Are we supposed ta sit down an’ give up just ‘cause ya busted out more power? Get over yerself ya damn egotistical windbag!”

Sunset couldn’t help but laugh, glad she had Applejack around to remind her that no matter how bad things got, she had some rather amazing friends who just didn’t back down when things went from bad to worse. Hokori burned brightly in her hand as she pointed the blade at Hurricane, “AJ’s right. This isn’t over until you’ve got us beat, and that hasn’t happened yet! Right now, all that Bankai is doing is making Hokori’s flames burn hotter, wanting to take you down Hurricane!”

“Hear, hear,” said Rarity, reshaping her earlier wall into a set of floating crystal spears, each as large as the one she’d thrown at Hurricane nearer the start of the fight. Rarity’s eyes flashed with dangerous menace, “Fluttershy is a dear friend. Causing her harm was the worst mistake you’ve made yet, as now I’m going to tear you apart.”

“Oooh, I’m liking the bloodlust there, marshmallow.” Pinkamena chimed in, holding the Pinkie hammer over her shoulder while morphing her left arm into one giant, salivating mouth. “All that spirit energy coming off this ball of meat is just making me hungrier.”

“I’m all for kicking this guy’s face in, but what about Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash, keeping a tight hold on the girl in question, “She’s in a bad way, and not getting better.”

Sunset couldn’t deny that was a good point. Not only were they down Fluttershy, but someone would have to protect her during the fight, and it was clear Rainbow Dash had volunteered herself for the job. However Sunset knew a tactically better choice for the role.

“Dash, let Rarity take over guarding Fluttershy.” Sunset saw Rainbow Dash bristle and open her mouth to argue, but Sunset cut her off, meeting Rainbow Dash’s gaze with a hard one of her own. “Rarity can attack and defend at range Dash! We’re going to need you for offense.”

Rainbow Dash looked ready to dig in on the matter, but Rarity quickly came over, putting a gentle hand on both her and Fluttershy, “It’s okay, darling. I’ll make sure she’s safe.” She smiled in a particularly devilish manner, “Now do me a favor and rip that uncouth bastard a new one, hmm?”

Rainbow Dash hissed out a reluctant sigh, and handed Fluttershy over to Rarity, who immediately set Fluttershy down gently on the ground, and with a gesture created a crystal barrier around the wounded girl while her already summoned spears surrounded her. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash joined Sunset, Applejack, and Pinkamena in a line that started to slowly walked towards Hurricane, who appeared to be patient in waiting for them to come to him.

The closer she got, the more sharply Sunset could feel Hurricane’s suffocating level of reiatsu. While she was committed to the fight now, the practical part of her still realized that she and her friends were sorely underpowered for taking on a Bankai wielding Captain head on. Not only was his power magnified, but this form of his Zanpaktou might have entirely different abilities than his Shikai that they couldn’t predict.

“I’ll go in first,” she whispered to the others, “and then you guys use that to see if he’s got any openings to exploit.”

“Hmph, sure, hog the fun part.” Pinkamena scoffed, and Pinkie Pie said, “Umm, you sure that’s a good idea Sunset? He’s got a lot of blades now. Like, too many.”

“Its just eight, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said with a roll of her eyes.

“And that’s eight too many. With too many chains. He’s like a big, grumpy Kratos.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, although Sunset was even more confused as she had no idea what that reference was about, even when Rainbow Dash and, “So, just Kratos.”

“Okay, I don’t know what you guys are talking about, so I’m just going to charge him now.” Sunset said, and put word to action immediately by shooting forward with as swift a Flash Step as she could manage, intending to come in at Hurricane’s left side.

She wasn’t even twenty paces from him when he responded with incredible speed, raising his right hand in a sweeping gesture that sent all four of the huge axe blades attached to that hand’s chains to launch down at her at once. Sunset’s eyes popped wide as she brought her shield up to block, but even as she did so, all four blades burst with their own individual tornadoes of black wind. Each tornado was smaller than the one from before, but was concentrated around each axe blade like a literal drill of wind, and when all four of these drills hit Sunset’s shield she felt the metal of the shield crack, and understood immediately to painfully gross extent that she and her friends had underestimated the power of a Bankai.

Hokori’s shield broke into a dozen different metal shards and Sunset was engulfed by the painful maelstrom of cutting winds. She was caught in a disorienting, painful tumble as she was ripped off her feet and sent hurtling like a leaf. Some strangely detached and analytical portion of her mind noted that the cutting portion of the tornadoes actually stemmed from hundreds of tiny metal shards flickering about within the winds. Then she couldn’t think of much of anything besides the pain. Then, darkness...

For a moment the blackness surrounding her felt all enveloping and cold, leaving Sunset feeling tired and worn. Yet there was a small pulse of heat from somewhere nearby, and Sunset stretched for that heat, reaching for it through the dark like she was swimming through tar.

Sunset blinked, realizing she’d blacked out for a second. Her whole body ached with sharp agony, but she forced herself to raise her head and take in her surroundings. She saw she’d been thrown easily a hundred yards from the battlefield, crashing into the forest in a deep furrow. Trees were torn apart in a broken path back from where she’d come, and she now lay in a heap at the base of a tree that much have finally halted her. That’d explain the horrible back pain, at least. The rest of it could be attributed to the dozens of cuts covering her body, soaking her Soul Reaper robes.

Bits of Hokori’s shield strap were still attached to her arm, and she saw the broadsword laying on the ground. She felt the heat from the blade, which flared with bright orange fire, nearly white. That had been what she’d felt in the darkness of unconsciousness, Hokori pulling at her. She reached out and grabbed the Zanpaktou’s hilt, feeling its warmth speared through her body, pushing back the pain.

“Right... note to self; Bankai equals ouch.”

As she stood she let out a sharp cry, feeling the fractures in her left arm. Biting back the pain she rushed back down the trail of destruction that marked her earlier passage, and arrived back at the edge of the clearing to witness her friends locked in deadly battle still. She couldn’t have been out for more than a few seconds, but things didn’t look good.

Sunset’s friends were all on the defensive, dodging about to avoid devastatingly powerful blows from the tornado clad axe blades that assaulted them. Hurricane gestured with his arms like a puppeteer, sending the axe blades into countless arcing strikes that destroyed entire chunks of the clearing while her friends struggled to keep out of the way.

“I’d say a tactical retreat is in order, wouldn’t you?” said a voice beside Sunset, and she whirled to see Clover standing there, with another Soul Reaper by her side that Sunset didn’t recognize but figured wasn’t an enemy given the way he stood with Clover almost casually despite missing his left arm at the elbow. Clover held Chishiki over her shoulder, but the Zanpaktou was now just a shaft with a strange set of glowing energy strands coming from where the ring blade had been, leading to an energy net that had a wrapped up and very irate looking Lieutenant Posey in it.

“Glad you’re okay.” said Sunset, frowning, “I don’t know if we can run without a way to distract Hurricane.” She looked at Hokori, eyeing the intense flames burning along its edge, “I might keep him busy for a minute if I go all out-”

“Actually I think our distraction just arrived.” said the dusky gray skinned Soul Reaper with the missing arm, nodding towards the other side of the clearing.

Two figures hurled out of the treeline from over there, one Ditzy Doo, the other Sweet Cider. Ditzy had her Hollow mask on, and Sunset saw she already had a large crimson energy sphere charged up in a hand that also had glowing claws of power radiating from the tips of Ditzy’s fingers. Without a second’s hesitation Ditzy thrust her arm forward and discharged a wide and bright beam of destructive Hollow energy straight at Hurricane. He spun to face it, swinging his arms forward and bringing his eight axe blades down to slam into the wave of red energy, like cinder blocks blocking a flooding stream.

“We’ve got to go, now!” said Clover.

“What about Ditzy?” Sunset asked.

“She can take care of herself, but if we stick around, we’re just risking more Captains showing up. A Bankai being unleashed won’t go ignored!” said Clover, and Sunset couldn’t refute the logic of that, but there was still the issue of where they could go. As if reading her mind, Clover put a hand on her shoulder and said, “If we head west, we can make for the Twelfth Division headquarters. I know some places we can hide there.”

Sunset nodded reluctantly, “Okay, okay...” she said. She wanted to keep fighting, to try and finish things with Hurricane, but what Clover said made too much sense, and prideful or not, Sunset wasn’t about to ignore common sense. Retreating and finding a good hiding spot to regroup, recover, and plan their next move was smarter than trying to win this fight, especially if by now enemy reinforcements were likely on their way.

Taking a deep breath she shouted, “Guys! Time to go!”

Still, she wasn’t about to leave without a parting shot, so as her friends all looked her way and started to rush to join her, Sunset raised her blazing sword high above her head. By now Ditzy’s energy beam had exploded upon Hurricane’s axe blades, while Sweet Cider, who’d been chasing after Ditzy, tried to slash at the woman from behind. Ditzy Flash Stepped out of the way, leaping above Hurricane and firing yet another Cero directly down towards him.

Meanwhile Sunset took a calming breath and concentrated upon the stored up spirit energy in her sword. When Hurricane’s Bankai had broken the shield that act had transferred a massive amount of power into the broadsword, so when Sunset turned the flames blue they shone bright enough to make the sword look like a miniature star.

”Aoihi Senko!” she shouted, and slammed her blade down hard. A gigantic wave of azure flame melted the ground as it rushed from her sword and crashed towards Hurricane at the same time Ditzy’s Cero fired down from above.

It was either a testament to how strong the attack was, or how much Hurricane tended towards overcompensation that his response was to spin around in a circle, spinning all eight axe blades as well, and in so doing created a thick tornado as gargantuan as the one that had been created by summoning his Bankai. This ludicrously large tornado expanded quickly, consuming Ditzy’s Cero and swallowing up the woman herself in a mere second. Sunset’s azure flame wave fared better, slamming into the tornado like a tsunami crashing into the side of a mountain. For a few seconds the power of the flames pushed against the strength of the tornado, jolting Sunset as she struggled to pour more energy into the flames. She could feel the strength of Hokori pressing against that of Tetsukaze’s Bankai state, and while she intrinsically understood that her Shikai fundamentally couldn’t match the power of a Bankai, that only made both her and Hokori burn all the more intensely to fight.

The wall of searing indigo fire rose higher and higher, pressing against the crushing black tornado, making the air dry and hot, lightning entire swaths of the forest on fire even as the trees were uprooted and sent flying. Sunset’s face broke out in rivers of sweat as she gripped Hokori’s hilt in both hands, shoving the broadsword forward as she poured out every inch of spirit energy she could against Hurricane’s mounting power.

And as much as she hated to admit it, she and Hokori were losing ground. She could feel the tornado start to break through her flagging flames, held back for the moment, but at any second she knew the unimaginably powerful winds would break through. She turned her head to look at her friend's, teeth grinding as she struggled to hold on, even for just a fraction of a second longer.

“Guys, run. Not sure I can hold this for long.” she said, but even as she spoke the power of the tornado managed to break through her flames like a flood through a shattered dam. Then the tornado was upon them, dragging Sunset and her allies into the air like so many blades of grass.

----------

“...Ugh...”

Sunset groaned as she awoke. Waking up from unconsciousness twice in a single day after getting smashed in the face by a tornado. If Princess Celestia could see her now she felt certain her mentor would have some vaguely cryptic life advice to give, even under such unusual circumstances.

Snapping to full wakefulness Sunset sat up quickly, only to groan in pain and lay back down, her head swimming.

“Easy there. You’re not up to standing just yet.” said a male voice next to her head, and Sunset turned, blinking to see Ditzy Doo in her cat form, sitting beside her, tail flicking about. They were inside what looked like a small, darkly lit warehouse, with various wooden crates stacked up against white stone walls. Moonlight filtered in through shuttered windows, indicating it was either still the night of their infiltration, or more alarming, that an entire day had passed.

“Sunset, oh my you’re awake, thank goodness!” said Rarity’s voice from around the corner of the some crates, the the girl appeared, looking battered and bandaged in several places, but standing. Her Fullbring was unsummoned, leaving Rarity just in her regular outfit now, and she came over to kneel down next to Sunset, who realized she was laying on a pallet up against one of the walls.

“How are you feeling?” Rarity asked.

“Like I just got hit in the face with a tornado.” Sunset replied dryly, rubbing her head, “What happened? Where are the others!?”

Ditzy raised a paw, and with surprising strength forced Sunset to lay back down. “Calm, kid, calm. Breathe in, breathe out. Everyone is alive, at least last I saw of them. When Hurricane hit you all with that final attack, it literally tossed all of you into the sky like a bunch of scattered twigs. I saw Rainbow Dash catch Fluttershy and Applejack caught Clover and Nocturn-”

“Who?” Sunset asked.

“Dark guy, missing an arm.”

“Oh, him. On our side, I assume?”

“Second Division, so yes. Anyway, that bunch flew off somewhere north.” Ditzy said, “They didn’t have much choice. That tornado remained active, chasing them, and they only escaped by flying as fast as they could to get out of there. My guess is they’re hiding out around the noble house residences in that area.”

“We... we have to go find them!” Sunset said, trying to get up, but Ditzy, despite being a five pound cat, held her down like an adult holding down a toddler.

“We’re not going anywhere yet. I managed to grab you and Rarity, but I lost track of Pinkie Pie, or rather her crazy double.” said Ditzy with a frustrated sigh, “I don’t know if she’s been captured or not. Right now you’re still too injured to jump up and run, and Hokori needs to recover after the beating she took in that fight.”

“Hokori...” Sunset looked to her right, finding her Zanpaktou tucked against her side. The blade was back in its sealed state, sheathed. Sunset touched the Zanpaktou, closing her eyes and focusing her senses upon it. She felt Hokori’s spirit, like a flickering bonfire. Intact, but drained. Hokori had given her all in that fight, and needed a bit of time to recover. Sunset took a deep, deep breath and tried to center her thoughts.

“Okay... okay. So, we’re separated from the others. Pinkie Pie is missing. We’re stuck deep in enemy territory, wounded, and the deadline for Celestia and Luna’s execution is getting closer by the second. To top it all off, we couldn’t defeat even one Captain, using everything we had. So, not a good day for us.”

“Don’t sell yourselves too short.” said Ditzy, “You fought Hurricane to a standstill, forcing one of Soul Society’s most powerful Captains to use his Bankai to be able to deal with you. A few weeks ago you girls couldn’t have scratched him even without his Shikai, and you managed to actually wound him. That’s a far cry from your run in with Platinum.”

Sunset frowned, the pains from every cut, bruise, and bone fracture in her body making her dizzy as she lay down. “Doesn’t feel much different. That power... Bankai... I didn’t realize just how much of a difference it would make.”

“It was rather overbearing, wasn’t it?” said Rarity, looking no more happy about the situation than Sunset. “It feels like we’ve taken a step forward, only to have, if you pardon the inelegant phrasing, a baseball bat smack us upside the head.”

Ditzy chuckled, albeit without much humor, “Discy and I both tried to warn you. Bankai is not to be trifled with. It is the ultimate form of the Zanpaktou, usually only achievable by the most talented of Soul Reapers. Every single Soul Reaper who has achieved it has inevitably had their names etched into the history of the Soul Society. There is no greater power a Soul Reaper can aspire to. To even survive having faced a Captain using that power is an achievement and goes to show how hard you girls trained before coming here.”

“But what good does that do us now!?” shouted Sunset, wincing in pain as she tried to sit up again. “We’re still... not strong enough.”

“That’s only half-true.” said Ditzy, and at Sunset and Rarity both giving her questioning looks, the cat smiled. “Currently, yes, none of you could face a Bankai and win. But in the case of Rarity and your other human friends, Sunset, they each have the potential to become that strong, and possible very soon.”

“What do you mean?” asked Rarity, “Are you suggesting more training like before?”

“No. At this point you’ve taken your Fullbrings as far as you can via training. In order to complete your Fullbrings, each of you girls will need, hmm, how to put it? The right emotional pressure. You’ll only fully evolve your Fullbring once you reach a certain mental and emotional epiphany about yourselves.”

Rarity raised and eyebrow skeptically, “Meaning?”

Ditzy shrugged her little cat shoulders, “Meaning exactly that. Your Fullbring isn’t complete because there’s something within yourself, on an emotional level, that’s holding back its completion. Only you can discover what that is, and overcome that emotional barrier. The downside is that there’s no way of knowing what that will be or how you’ll come to discover it. The upside is that it means it's entirely possible that, under the right conditions, any of you girls might evolve at any time, including during this whole fiasco.”

“I... see.” Rarity said, putting a finger to rub at her chin and looking contemplative. Meanwhile Sunset glanced at Hokori.

“Well, that’s good news for my friends, but I’m not a Fullbringer, and it's just been made painfully clear that I can’t beat a Bankai with my Shikai, no matter how hard I try. I hit Hurricane with everything me and Hokori had, and it just wasn’t enough.”

“That’s only natural.” said Ditzy, neither harsh nor comforting, but just stating a fact. “A Shikai can almost never match a Bankai, unless the power of the Shikai is very specifically suited to overcoming the Bankai’s abilities, or if the Soul Reaper in question has such overwhelming reiatsu that their Shikai may as well be a Bankai. But the only Soul Reapers even close to that level are the Captain Commander himself, and Sweet Cider.” Ditzy winced, and it was then that Sunset noticed that the cat had several bandages on herself, and looked rather wounded.

“So...” Sunset thought about that for a moment, and could only come to one conclusion. “My only choice, if I want to save Celestia and Luna, is to learn Bankai.”

Ditzy grinned from one cat ear to the other, tail swishing happily. “Bingo. And hey, lucky you, it just so happens that in the event we needed to, Discy and I have a way to teach you Bankai. It won’t be easy, and it’ll take at a bare minimum three days to pull off, assuming it doesn’t outright kill you. But it can be done.”

Rarity gulped, “It's going to be as dangerous as the training you put us through, Miss Doo?”

“As bad or worse, but we’re out of alternatives.” Ditzy said, “And we couldn’t do this back in the living world because the equipment we need to pull it off wasn’t at Discy’s shop. Its instead still hidden inside a secret training facility that me and him built underneath the Twelfth Division headquarters.”

Sunset blinked, “Would the Twelfth Division Captain know about this place?”

“Not unless Starswirl is a lot better at finding things than Discord is at hiding them, which personally I’m not laying bets on.” said Ditzy, “Of course we still need to get to the Twelfth Division’s headquarters and sneak inside without getting caught, but hey, no risk, no reward, right?”

“What about the others? Fluttershy was hurt, and Pinkie Pie’s missing, and-” Sunset was cut off as Ditzy put a paw to her mouth.

“Your choices are to either get bogged down worrying about what you can’t change, or to focus on getting stronger so that you can, when the time comes, do something to help them. Which will it be?” Ditzy said in as serious a tone as Sunset had ever heard from her.

It wasn’t a particular hard choice. She was afraid for her friends, so much so that she had to force herself to breathe calmly at just thinking about them being scattered out there around the Seireitei, no doubt being hunted by the Soul Reapers at that very moment. For all Sunset knew any of her friends might be locked in a deadly battle, and there was nothing she could do to help them. The very notion caused an angry burn deep in her chest, both at her present helplessness and the fact that failing to defeat Hurricane put them in this mess in the first place. Yet there was only one path forward to start putting things right.

Sunset reached over, grabbed up Hokori, and forced herself to sit up, despite the pain.

“Then whatever it takes, I'm going to learn Bankai.”

Author's Note:

Bit longer of a chapter than I originally thought it would be, but there was a lot to pack in here if I wanted to get things to where I needed them to be to set up the next segment of the Soul Society Arc. The chapter ran a little longer than I planned, but this was also this story's first reveal of what a Bankai looks like and just how potent that form of a Zanpaktou is, so a little extra wordage to get the point across felt right to me. And while I do enjoy writing the lager group battles, having the girls separated out for a bit will allow for some more character focused one-on-one fights coming up.

As always hope you guys are enjoying the story and thanks for reading. I'm grateful for any and all comments, questions, or critiques you might want to throw my way.

And before I close this out, I feel the need to direct folks attention to something quite well done. Its the Bleach Abridged series, by BlazingAzureCrow. Now the first episode isn't currently on his channel due to copyright BS, but here's a bordered version to check out:

Why am I sharing this? Because the serious is freakin' hilarious, that's why. That and any Bleach fans in the crowd ought to appreciate it if they haven't found it already, and anyone in the audience who isn't a Bleach fan might still find it funny and sort of a an interesting primer on the kind of universe I've dipped our favorite Equestria Girls into. You know, if you didn't feel like watching like several hundred episodes of anime, that is.

Anyway folks, 'till next time!

Comments

[stephen51991]

Soooo much chocolate~

[Thought Prism]

Hurricane's Bankai is ridiculously over-the-top and I love it.

[Time Code]

Nice Banki for hurricane. I'm kind of hoping we see Ditzy use something like resurrection at some point though. Loving the story so far mate. Keep it up.

[Monster Tamer AJ]

With the girls separated, I hope some of them with meet with Moondancer and her group.

[Misdirection01]

Awesome chapter! Hope to see more soon!

[hydra30]

So awesome, I dont think even the real anime has this epic of battles and the zanpaktou are definitely cooler. They need to terminate Hurricanes rank, when the plot explodes he'll most likely turn traitor.

[p61blkwidow]

so much action, so much heart pounding excitement ! what a fantastic chapter,this is really getting too fast and furious,let the adventure continue with no let up! awesome story!

[Kairee]

And thus the downside of new chapters. The joy you feel at seeing it posted, the excitement of the characters as you read it, and the crushing despair that all that can be done is to wait in anticipation for the next one... I love this story.

[_CheckMate_]

8050840 That's the downside (and upside) to this version, none of the characters are a direct correlation with their Bleach counterparts (though they may have qualities from one or more characters). So we can't really tell who the traitors really are (yet) even though we might have some ideas. To be honest, this story got me watching the anime (currently in the Zanpakto Arc) and I'm glad.

[hydra30]

8051111 He dosnt necessarily have to be the primary traitor, Discord said that his two assistance's had their Zanpaktou’s sealed, Hurricane is prideful and cocky. When a guy like him is threatened with having his power taken from him they have loyalty only too their power, to hell with anything else.

[_CheckMate_]

8051132 I don't know, I think he's too dedicated to the rules to be a traitor; kind of like a Lawful Stupid Paladin with the power to back him up. I see him as similar to Byakuya in his motivations, even if his personality is much more bombastic.

[the other sans]

catch Applejack’s punch and halt it in it’s tracks
so I’m just going ot charge him now
Calm, kid, calm. Breath in, breath out
had to force herself to breath calmly

1. Its.
2. At.
3. Berathe x2.
4. Breathe.

First off: That abridged version. Holy crap was it hilarious when he was like: "Getsu- Oh wait, I don't know how to do that yet, Giant Slash!" Nice shout out to those later episodes.

Alright, now on to the actual chapter... Goddamn Bankai, I knew something like this was coming and even said that if he went Bankai things would go south real quick. And to think, this happened in the space of one real world equivalent minute. I'm also thinking of Hurricane's Bankai as a sort of philosophical sort of reflection of his character. All those chains? He's 'chained' himself to the Soul Society's 'law'. I say 'law' only because well, he's really being a zealot about it and his Lieutenant... Same way. But hey, at least Clover manage to net a big one.

Back to Sunset, now she's going to have her own Bankai training and it's going to be grueling. Let's hope there's the hot spring of full heal there to help Sunset out otherwise she's gonna have a real hard time even starting the training. But I think they do if only because it fits to make sure there's more action alter on.

Pinkamena being separated from the rest... Now that's a scary thought. Let's hope she lands in the break area of the Soul Reapers so that she can have an all-you-can-eat buffet. Of food. Actual food. Not the Soul Reapers. Clover's gamble of holding back seemed to have cost Nocturn an arm but least not a leg. Within reason of course because Captains of Hurricane's rank/thinking... gonna need all the advantages they can get.

[shy sad jaded shard]

Mmm cake

[Rusted Bronze]

Really great chapter. I can't wait until Rarity finally tears someone apart.

[Dark Feather]

Posey frowned, her previous nervousness only growing to a jittery height as she let her arm drop again. “This is bad. Very bad. I didn’t want to hurt any of you too much. Now I don’t have a choice. I have to protect my Captain, and you’re both in the way. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

The Wiseman fear tre things,
The sea at storm,
The moonless night,
And the rage of a gental mare.

In the blink of an eye Lieutenant Posey’s expression transformed from one of nervous desperation and sadness to one of murderous excitement. “But you asked for this. Frenzy; Kyoki.” (Bloodthirst)

Hazy violet light surrounded her Zanpaktou, which grew longer and wider to take the shape of a vicious looking saw-tooth blade, both its edges heavily serrated. Then, with a whine like a high pitched engine, the saw teeth began to spin around the length of the blade like a chainsaw. A bubbling laugh of violent glee erupted from Posey, and Clover gulped with uneasy fear as she saw that the formerly subdued Lieutenant now had an expression that could only be described as exceedingly homicidal.

And...

WHY CAN'T I UP VOTE MORE THEN ONE TIME?!

[ElCazadorDeHistorias]

The first thing that I thought when reading about Hurricane's bankai was: "Holy, he' s transformed in Kratos with more weapons!" And then, this:

“And that’s eight too many. With too many chains. He’s like a big, grumpy Kratos.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, although Sunset was even more confused as she had no idea what that reference was about, even when Rainbow Dash and, “So, just Kratos.”

So much fun!

[Riku006]

Well, Posey clearly worships two individuals; the first is Hurricane, and the second is Khorne.
sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-blood-for-the-blood-god-37.png

[_CheckMate_]

I'm wondering what the powers of Sunset's Bankai will be (other than having to do with fire). I do have suspicion for the appearance though; with claws, tail, and wings (and maybe horns) like Toshiro's except swapping the ice dragon for a flame demon appearance. Then again, there is her "Phoenix Alicorn" form from Friendship games; could this be her answer to Ichigo's Hollow mask as a protagonist-specific special power?

[RanmaChaos]

AWESOME!!

[Stonehooves]

Still loving the, uh, everything outta this.

Is it just me, or is Hurricane basically Bald Guy, only as a Captain? Pretty cool.

Also, Posey? WAAAAAGH!!!

[Fire Seeker12]

Okay Posey can be scary when need be. Live the chapter. Now to learn the power of Bankai.

[MrAskAPirate]

I love that Nocturne's zanpakuto is like Wabisuke's little brother,

[The Villain in Glasses]

Sunset: Come on guys! We can still beat him!

Hurricane: releases Bankai LOL nope~

Sunset: ... Stereotypical war cry as she charges

[NetherWalker]

8051911
I for one, appreciate this comment to its fullest.

Well done sir.

[DJMEGAMOUTH]

I love how since you switched up all the characters we don’t know who the traitors actually are.

[Yutah123]

”Bankai.”

Shit. I feared this.

Or rather, I was wondering when it would come.

[Kadigan]

Every single Soul Reaper who has achieved it has inevitably had their names etched into the history of the Soul Society.

... that's, like, word-for-word from the series, isn't it? :D

[MightyAlpaca]

8052414
Why can’t it be both? Or a mix of the two, like a more aggressive version of her Daydream form

[Aemon Targaryen]

So, is there a image for Posey unleashing her Shikai with her blood-thirsty smile ? Because the idea is really cool.

It's this kind of things which make me sad of the lack of fanarts of the story.