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 Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:46 am
This is a recap of all the events that happened in the first Story Arc of the 14th Squad Guild.
Prelude to Revolution:
Stranded on the sands of Hueco Mundo, the remains of the 14th Squad have come into contact with a natural Arrancar named Du'o. Realizing that Arrancar have the ability to leave Hueco Mundo at will, as well as the ability to reason and think independent of natural instinct, Ikkimaru decides to attempt to befriend Du'o. At first the Hollow was weary of befriending a shinigami, and told him that if he could defeat him in battle he would join Ikkimaru's squad. A long battle took place and ended with Ikkimaru being victorious over the brilliant Arrancar. Du'o agreed to help the 14th Squad escape Hueco Mundo, but Ikkimaru wanted to make sure that his squad was ready for their return. Years passed and the squad trained with one another and pretty soon Du'o had become a valued member of their team. His main strengths were as a scientist, and this would benefit the squad greatly. When they were finally ready Du'o freed the squad for the first time in 600 years, releasing them into the Living Realm under Ikkimaru's request.
From there they split up to perform different duties that would help aid them in their assault on Soul Society. Nagaharu, Doki, and Dreza infiltrated Seireitei prematurely and planted reiatsu absorbing bombs near the offices of four strategic locations, the First Division, the Fourth, the Tenth, and the Eleventh. These bombs would grow in destructive power depending on how much reiatsu they absorbed, and could be detonated remotely, a weapon designed by Du'o. Meanwhile, in the Living Realm, Ikkimaru worked on gaining allies, whether they be new or old friends. He succeeded in getting into contact with Kisuke Urahara, as well as his niece Yoruichi Shihouin, who informed Ikkimaru of everything that he'd missed during his exile. From there he moved on and gained the allegiance of Ryuken Ishida, as well as his apprentice, a young Quincy named Kazuma. Isshin Kurosaki was also recruited to their side, but mainly to keep an eye on Ichigo and to help out Ikkimaru, who was one of his friends from long ago.
Things in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo remained quiet for the time being, but things were not going to stay calm for long...
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:43 pm
The time had come, and the 14th Squad mobilized their assault on Seireitei. Battle, chaos, and death consumed Seireitei as the Reiatsu Bombs detonated signaling the start of war. The First, Fourth, Tenth, and Eleventh Divisions were all devastated structurally, causing substantial damage to the Administration, Recovery, and Attack ability of the Protection Squads. The First and Eleventh Squads have lost nearly three quarters of their seated officers leaving only the strongest members alive after the explosions. Tenth Squad lost nearly two thirds of its seated officers, losing half in the explosion and the rest killed by hand by Doki Tanoshimi. Fourth division lost only a few officers but the facilities have been damaged beyond use. None of 4th Squads members were killed as a result of battle as they mainly ran recovery and support under the command of Captain Unohana. Soen and his class stayed put so they would not get caught up in battle, but their concentration of energy and the fact that it was rather calm attracted Mokudo the Vizard to their area. He attacked Rico, but the fight was stopped by Soen and later Dreza. Rukia has been wandering about finding her friends and family and making sure they get the best medicle care. Kazuma and Leah fought briefly before being interrupted by Mugoi and Kuzuraiku.
Personal fights that took place: Mugoi fought Kuzuraiku throughout the entire attack. Neither one of them was clearly defeated, but Kuzuraiku had the most injuries. Doki killed several shinigami by making them think she was one of them then dispatching them afterwards. She fought briefly with Hitsugaya but proved to be too strong for him and the young genious was killed as a result of battle. Doki took his Haori and left his body to be recovered by Atsutane Ryouji of the Sixth Squad. Dreza fought with both Renji and Ikkaku, who fought at full strength, and defeated both of them with his trademark Bankai attack, Decimate, which also destroyed what was left of the Eleventh Squad HQ. Ikkaku displayed unique prowess in that his Bankai had been fully awakened but the strain knocked him unconscious. Renji nearly died but Unohana's ability saved his life. Nagaharu fought and defeated the Lieutenants of Squads 1, 2, and 4, all survived. Haru also fought with Atsutane briefly before he turned his attention to Byakuya. Their fight lasted a while but Haru ended up on top, leaving Byakuya temporarily paralyzed.
Ikkimaru fought with Soifon and Kira and had both on the ropes and even cut Kira's left arm off. Atsutane came to help fight the Captain and the three of them fought together, but Ikkimaru whittled them down one by one, killing Kira using his own Zanpakuto's effect against him, then released his Bankai to cut things short. He continued the battle with Atsutane and Soifon, but ended up severing Soifon's head after she too had released her Bankai. Atsutane fought bravely but couldn't continue as his Bankai ran out of time. Ikkimaru spared him because he reminded him of a deceased member of his 14th Division. Ichigo arrived on the scene rather late in the attack, and was about to go fight with Ikkimaru, but was stopped by none other than Isshin, his father. After a lot of talking and disagreements Ichigo decided that this was not his fight and stood down, much to his father's delight. Feeling the deaths of Soifon and Kira, Yamamoto arrived at the scene to finish what they started 600 years ago. The two Captains fought, but were distracted by Shunsui, who briefly fought with Nagaharu before being caught in Hadou number 96. Yamamoto freed Kyouraku from the massive block of ice with his Zanpakuto and continued the fight with Ikkimaru. Shunsui, however, was not about to let the fight go on. With Nanao's help he stopped the fight by revealing that Aizen betrayed Ikkimaru's squad all those years ago. It would seem that he conducted the whole downfall of the 14th Squad knowing that they would be too much of a threat to him and his future plans. Even back then Aizen was a clever and devious man.
Ikkimaru and his squad decided to postpone the rest of the attack on Seireitei in order to completely wipe out Aizen and his army. Aizen would pay for betraying them...
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Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:24 pm
Soul Society began recovery once the 14th Squad left them. Since the attack the entire force remaining in Seireitei scrambled to start the rebuilding process. Meanwhile those who were injured in battle line up for healing at the Fourth Division. Shunsui and Nanao returned to their office where Shunsui reflected on his mistakes made in the past regarding the 14th Squad while Nanao healed his injuries. Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo, the 14th Squad along with Ichigo, have made a full frontal assault on Las Noches to decimate Aizen and his forces. Immediately upon entering Yammy confronted the group of elite shinigami and met his end at Ikkimaru's hand (literally) before he could even think about powering up to reach the status of "Zero Espada". Immediately after that the group split up to cause mass chaos and confusion among the fortress.
Personal Battles: While everyone went forth Ikkimaru stayed standing above the corpse of Yammy, "watching" as the battles took place by feel of reiatsu. If anyone needed his help he would go and provide support, but at first he did nothing. Doki immediately went out and fought with two of Barragan's fraccion. The first was Avirama Redder, the Bird Arrancar. He met his end rather quickly after having his wing severed completely from his body. Her second battle consisted of Charlotte Coolhorn's resurrecion and Doki's Bankai. With the release of her Bankai Doki was able to attack Charlotte from anywhere within his trap of rose thorns and she quickly dealt with him as such.
Du'o made his way into Las Noches and found himself caught in Aaronierro's trap of darkness. After an exchange of blows and uncertainties Du'o found himself the victor after his swarm of insects devoured Arroniero whole. Immediately afterwards, however, he had to face Szayel Apporo Gantz. This fight was a bit more difficult and dragged on for some time, but Du'o introduced a new creation named FIDO. This "Fraccion" is now known to be nearly as fast as Nagaharu Kuchiki, and quite ferocious. FIDO defeated all of Szayel's fraccion and helped Du'o clench victory after severing Szayel's arm and sword off before he could release it. Du'o then shot a kidou orb at him to finish him off then took his body as a sample for his lab.
Mugoi fought with several low leveled hollows until one that was much stronger decided to show up. The chosen opponent was Nnoitra Jiruga, and the battle was quite fierce. The two fought and had the time of their lives, exchanging words to describe who was stronger before ultimately Mugoi released his Bankai (after Nnoitra released his own sword first) and obliterated the Fifth Espada in one mighty blast. Pou, Barragan's largest fraccion, released "Caulderon" and grew to massive proportions, but was no match for Mugoi's great and fiery power.
Nagaharu moved deep into Las Noches only to run into Zomari Leroux, the Seventh Espada. Zomari, claiming to be the fastest hollow, was put in his place rather quickly by the even faster Nagaharu. Though Zomari had many eyes to attack Haru with, Haru was simply too fast and finished Zomari off by slicing off his head. Next, Haru made his way further in and was confronted with Halibel, the Third Espada, and her fraccion. Haru immediately dispatched one of the fraccion with little effort, showing Halibel that it wasn't time to mess around. The two exchanged blows left and right both with their swords, with hand to hand combat, and with kidou and cero respectively, only to find that Halibel might actually be a little tiny bit faster than Nagaharu. However, he proved to be enough of a challenge to her to make her release her sword. Unfortunately for her, that particular action would mean the loss of the battle. Her released form was slower and it was the only thing she had on Haru, thus he defeated her and gave her the choice of either dying or joining him. Halibel joined him as a result.
Kenpachi left and immediately confronted Stark, the strongest force he could find. Stark came out not wanting to fight, but Kenpachi wouldn't have anything to do with that. He immediately provoked Stark into a fighting mood by killing Lillinette with a single powerful kick. The two began their titanic battle but Stark eventually proved that he was the better fighter by dealing several serious wounds to Kenpachi with his sword. Kenpachi would not stay down, though, and he decided that he would have to try his ace-in-the-hole, the two handed kendo strike. Stark managed to avoid the attack in full, but realized that he wouldn't be able to keep up avoiding them for long, so instead of dodging and blocking he decided to take away that ability by shattering Kenpachi's arm. He tossed Kenpachi to the ground after doing so and told him to go home, Kenpachi wouldn't have anything to do with that. He told Stark that he'd fight him until one of them was dead no matter what. Stark, not wanting to kill Kenpachi, nearly severed Kenpachi's other arm and damaged both legs so badly that Kenpachi couldn't even stand nor could he hold his sword. However, Kenpachi was true to his word and began slamming his head against Stark's leg in an attempt to break it, but to no avail, and suddenly lost consciousness. When all seemed lost Kenpachi suddenly heard a loud, high pitched screaming. He looked down to his sword and realized that it was the voice of his Zanpakuto! He could finally hear her! Knowing that he was on the brink of death, the sword told him her name and he was finally able to learn his Shikai, an exoskeleton that allowed him to fight no matter how broken his body was. He would have to die before he could stop fighting. Seeing this, Stark attacked quickly and ended the fight by opening a Gargantua Gate to Soul Society behind Kenpachi, and threw him into it so that he wouldn't have to deal with the man anymore.
Meanwhile, Ikkimaru continued to watch the fights occur, making note on all of his team members and their Reiatsu's. During this, however, Kaname Tousen managed to sneak up behind him. In a fair fight Ikkimaru was better than Tousen hands down, but when Tousen released his Bankai Ikkimaru had no vision or hearing to guide him. That didn't matter, though, as he could still sense Tousen's killing intent, and described the technique as something of a "Warrior's Sense," a sense of knowing when someone is going to attack despite not knowing where they are based on sound, sight, or smell. He defeated Tousen, killing him in the end, and left to try and help Kenpachi before Kenpachi released his Shikai. He arrived on time to witness the release, and Kenpachi's defeat as Stark threw him out of the realm. Ikkimaru challenged Stark to a duel and the fight was about to get under way, but Aizen arrived on the scene to stop him.
Meanwhile, Du'o was on his way to Ikkimaru's side when suddenly he was stopped by Ichimaru Gin. The two fought toe to toe for a while before finally Gin was forced to release his Bankai. It was an impressive event and nearly killed Du'o with ease, but Du'o managed to escape death by sacrificing a good portion of his body in order to defeat Gin. Gin died and Du'o was left wounded and almost unable to fight, and left to be at Ikkimaru's side.
The fight with Aizen commenced as all of the key players arrived on the scene in support of their Captains. Haru and Halibel showed up and began to watch with Stark, unable to intervene out of respect for their Captains. However the tables had turned when Aizen released his Bankai by touching Ikkimaru in the forehead. Ikkimaru was sucked into an alternate reality completely controlled by Aizen in which Nagaharu "Killed" Aizen and then turned his blade on Ikkimaru. Meanwhile, all hell broke loose and fights began to break out left and right with Barragan and Uluquiorra arriving on the scene to help cover Aizen in his vulnerable state. Haru didn't get the chance to react as Barragan appeared behind him and threw him into a Gargantua that would carry him all the way to the other end of Las Noches, then followed after him to keep him busy. Uluquiorra fought with Zane to stop him from disrupting Aizen so that Ikkimaru and Haru could kill each other in Aizen's Bankai. The two fought in Aizen's Bankai for some time until finally Doki arrived on the scene and kicked Aizen away from Ikkimaru, releasing his hold and making his Bankai less effective.
Stark and Du'o left the scene to pretend to fight since neither of them really actually wanted to fight after the day's already intense battles. Instead they played rock, paper, scissors. The fights raged on and Doki fought her hardest to keep Aizen away from Ikkimaru, but couldn't quite handle him on her own. He knocked her away and moved in for the kill, aiming to stab Ikkimaru in the heart, but just in the nick of time Haru jumped in front of the blade after ripping across Las Noches at his top speed, but he miscalculated and instead of taking the stab in his shoulder or lung it went straight into his heart. He broke the blade, ultimately releasing Ikkimaru from Aizen's Bankai, and fell to the ground. Ikkimaru woke up and realized that he had been in a dream of sorts only to find Haru bleeding out of his chest at his feet. He dropped down and helped Haru up, but Aizen still proved a threat and finally showed his true power as a purified Vaizard. The God-Like Aizen fought with Ikkimaru, showing that he was just too powerful to kill, but Ikkimaru had one more trick up his sleeve. Doki provided a distraction while Haru and Ikkimaru prepared and chanted the incantion for the most powerful Hadou spell, number 99, and unleashed it on Aizen. The blue ethereal dragon descended upon him and utterly decimated him, leaving him broken and barely alive. Haru moved in to finish the job by pulling the piece of Aizen's sword from his chest and stabbing Aizen in the heart with it. Aizen died there instantly and Haru had only a few moments left.
And so, Haru died, leaving Ikkimaru with one last ace-in-the-hole for his future fight with Yamamoto. Now, Ikkimaru has moved on to meet with Orihime and got her to not only heal himself, but to regenerate Hitsugaya back to life after presenting her with a clump of his hair and his severed ear. He gave Hitsugaya a choice of either joining them or leaving him to die in Hueco Mundo. Hitsugaya has yet to respond. Now, the 14th Squad is preparing for their final assault on Soul Society.
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Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:47 am
With the defeat of Aizen, only one thing was left to do as Ikkimaru, Mugoi, Zane, and Doki left for Seireitei one last time. Du'o, however, elected to stay behind in order to collect samples from the defeated Espada. Upon arrival to Seireitei, Yamamoto arrived to face Ikkimaru in one final climactic clash. Shinigami, both of the current Gotei 13 and of the former 14th Squad alike, showed up to watch the battle that would change the world forever. Titans of incredible strength exchanged blows and the impressive Bankai of Ryuujin Jakka was revealed. Just as defeat seemed to be the only option for Ikkimaru under the mighty strength of Ryuujin Jakka, he turned the tables entirely by using one last gift from Nagaharu, the Nexxus ability from Haru's Bankai, gifted through Soul Resonance as Haru's life slipped away. The absorbtion of Yamamoto's Bankai not only robbed the Soutaichou of his ultimate ability, but it also gave Ikkimaru an impressive power boost that was used to deal the final blow.
In the subsequent days after Yamamoto's death and Ikkimaru's rise to power as the new Soutaichou, Yamamoto's body was given an honorable ceremony and a biography was written about the man by all who knew him. Of course, several Captains who were loyal to Yamamoto did not take lightly to Ikkimaru's userpation, but none of them were strong enough to try to challenge him for either the title or for revenge. Ikkimaru's old friends, Kyouraku and Ukitake, were forlorn at the loss of their teacher, but knew that someday they would be without him. Guilt from betraying their friend and his squad all those years ago caught up with them and they became strong lobbiests in favor of Ikkimaru as Soutaichou. Kyouraku was quoted as saying, "There is no changing the past. Ikkimaru is Soutaichou now, and he means the best for all of Soul Society and deserves all our support." This act was a key movement in swaying the other Captains to favor Ikkimaru, even Byakuya was brought to like Ikkimaru after several months of deliberating where he stood on the matter. Kenpachi was promised a world of fighting, and Ikkimaru held up his end of the bargain. With Du'o's and Hallibel's help he was able to open gates to Hueco Mundo whenever he wanted to, and Kenpachi took advantage of this whenever he could to go up and try to find the strongest hollow possible to fight. Of course, this made him quite loyal to Ikkimaru, and this was the beginning of the Hueco Mundo Sortie Force, a force that avid Shinigami could sign up for if they felt strong enough.
This group of shinigami would regularly enter Hueco Mundo to exterminate Hollows on sight. If there were intelligent Hollows, such as Arrancar, they were offered a choice to either join sides with the Shinigami or die. Most chose to die, but every now and then some would join them and help destroy other hollows. This regular contact with strong enemies would, over the years, produce war-hardened officers without there ever being a true war. Much like Ikkimaru dreamed, the entire overall force of Shinigami in the Gotei 13 became much stronger and the glory of the original 13 squad from after the Great Hollow Wars was slowly being restored. There was a long way to go before that would happen, however. After things in Seireitei settled down and political unrest was silenced things started to return to normal, or at least what would become normal under Ikkimaru's rule. With the Central 46 killed by Aizen Ikkimaru was the sole holder of power to rule Soul Society, and so began the reforms of Rukongai, the entire reason for his rebellion in the first place. He stripped the Noble Houses of most of their power and made it a requirement that all souls have fair access to water and shelter in all districts. The far districts were cleaned up and the overall quality of life improved drastically for all Pulses who had little to nothing. Regular patrols in the districts were scheduled to cut down on crime and the hoarding of resources. Ikkimaru's goals were finally realized.
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