*CLANG* *KLING*
Sharp, crisp sounds rang out in the early morning as Zanpakuto clashed against Zanpakuto.
Renji had gotten up fresh from the mission with a new lease on life and a fascination with getting stronger. The scenes of Aizen and Gin effortlessly dispatching giant hollows remained imprinted on his mind.
That was crazy. I can't wait to tell Rukia about this. It isn't always that one faces a group of bloodthirsty beasts (even if he wasn't really the one who "faced" them). The eagerness to share his experience had carried him through the hallways of the Academy.
Only to meet with a despondent Rukia, and a man he would come to learn was named Byakuya Kuchiki. Or perhaps by his better known moniker: Captain of the 6th division of the Gotei 13. A man who gave off a pressure on a similar level to Gin. A man, who, with as much emotion as a rock, took away Renji's childhood best friend.
They had left without looking back.
In his frustration, he went to the practice grounds where he met Izuru. Clearly, the incidents of last night had inspired him as well; when he requested a spar, Izuru had been more than willing to participate.
Turning back to the present moment, the two clashed once more before taking a break. Backs slick with sweat, a silence fell as they rested against the wall, each brooding in their own thoughts.
"Renji, do you think that we'll ever be able to be that strong?"
Renjj, shocked for a second at the sudden question, hesitated. At his current level, Aizen or Gin were like towering trees in the distance.
But then he thought about Byakuya. Then of Momo and Hitsugaya unleashing their Zanpakuto. He had always thought that they were peers, but it turns out they had already left him far behind. Like Rukia.
He gave a firm look back. "Yeah! We can do it!"
—-
Toshiro walked in the academy garden. Birds sang in the air, leaves danced in the laughing wind, and the soft touch of sunshine glowed along the nearby slanted rooftops. Yes, it is true that somehow Toshiro is always blessed with good nature. Yes, it is ALSO true that he is never able to enjoy it.
A storm brewed in his heart.
There were too many! I couldn't do anything! … I couldn't do anything…
Each time he thought about that scene, Momo's face drooping slightly as the certainty of death came, the way she looked at him as if sorry for dragging him into this, a righteous fury erupts from inside.
The first in his class to awaken his Zanpakuto, he had thought of himself as strong. As talented. As finally being able to protect and repay Momo. The burly man who came with them, Lei, was supposed to be the most talented of this generation, and yet even he couldn't possibly hurt her now.
And yet.
The slight smile, resigned in defeat. The teary eyes, silently apologizing.
The grip around his Zanpakuto tightened.
—-
Momo lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Although she always presented a cheerful self, it wasn't because she was "naive" or "dumb" or "oblivious" or anything that other people said. It wasn't that she didn't feel sad, didn't feel angry, didn't feel any negative emotion in the broad brush of life.
No. She was the way she was, because it was the courage of an older sister making sure that her younger brother saw a positive role model in the face of a difficult world.
And that display couldn't hold in the face of life and death. She sighed as she thought back to how close they were to death.
My fantasy adventure almost killed him. I should apologize for dragging him into this and then ask him to go back. It's Rukongai, but at least it's safer.
A small, bittersweet chuckle sounded in the room. Momo knew Toshiro well. She just knew that if she tried to convince him, it was going to explode in her face. Also, in her self-awareness, she knew she was being hypocritical too: she wanted Hitsugaya to go back for safety, but there was no way she could do so herself after seeing the world outside Rukongai.
In that case, there's only one thing to do…
She glanced at the Zanpakuto hanging on the wall. As if responding to her resolution, a flash of pink ran across the blade.
—-
"Here goes experiment #92. Shinigami 80%. Hollow 20%"
Lei hunched over a lab tube, carefully extracting the hollow reiryoku from the container and combining it with shinigami reiryoku. Upon contact, the two types explosively reacted, each one trying to fight for dominance. After a short while, the hollow side couldn't hold on in front of the overwhelming number of shinigami particles and were consumed.
"Tsk. Another failure." Leaning back, Lei threw the vial onto the table in frustration.
Combining shinigami reiryoku with hollow reiryoku proved to be as challenging as Lei had feared. The two types of energy were fundamentally opposed, reacting to each other with volatile force. Every attempt resulted in the energies consuming one another, leaving behind nothing but dissipated residue.
"It's like baking powder and vinegar," Lei muttered, scribbling notes. "No matter how carefully I mix them, the reaction is always violent."
Honestly, if I didn't know that Urahara and Aizen already managed to do this, I'd think it was outright impossible.
Lei didn't think his current research capabilities were less than theirs. In fact, he was fairly confident that his Beginner Gains buff gave him unparalleled abilities.
So how in the world did they do it?
His gaze wandered onto the table again. Shattered vials from frustrated past attempts lay strewn at the far end like remnants of a battlefield. Lines of hollow reiryoku and shinigami reiryoku bled from the broken corpses and ran side by side off the edge. Vial #92 joined his brothers and sisters.
"I'm surprised that the table is still as neat as it is. And it's only when I'm not trying, do the reiryoku's not mix". Lei scoffed. Then paused.
The reiryoku's don't mix.
Lei's eyes widened as the realization struck him.
"It's not about mixing," he said aloud. "It's about flow."
I've been thinking about this all wrong. Instead of trying to combine the energies, I should be aiming to make them harmonize with each other instead.
If I can speed up the flow significantly, the two reiryoku streams will stay in their respective "lanes", their sheer momentum stabilizing the reaction.
It's not a traditional mixture, and it might not be how Aizen and Urahara did it. But I have a feeling this is going to work just as well.
Thoughts racing and heart pumping at the epiphany, his hands went to work.
And finally…
A mixture of energy constantly spiraled within a small vial, glowing in deep purple, otherworldly hues. Lei looked on in fascination. The hollowfication potion - that's what he called it - provided a monumental increase in physical and spiritual power at the cost of some controllable bloodlust.
"I did it. Time to upgrade the curse rune."