Bleach Hereafter RPG

Lost in the Shadows

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Aug 27, 2022 7:58:38 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Germany
Status: Alive



(Previous thread)

Asura briefly reappeared in the World of the Living, then vanished with a portal, leaving Hibano in relative safety from the time being. Slowly, he started to release the Reishi grip over his Cleave wounds - each one were burning with an unbearable pain and began to bleed as soon as he started to relax, but at least they were agonizing him now, rather than a few minutes ago.

A trickle of blood followed the Fullbringer as he made his way out of the back yard and into the nearest street, and his hand clutched onto his chest, trying to stem the blood loss. Definitely... if he comes across that Hollow again... he'll need to prepare in advance. Or bring teammates...

Wonder if Niji would say yes to fighting something like that... It's clearly evil, so perhaps she'd say yes..?

For now, however, his first priority should be either to find a place to rest, and heal these nigh-lethal wounds somehow... or find someone who could help him. He wasn't sure on the first one, they were in the middle of night and this was, seemingly, a completely normal neighbourhood. As for the latter... how could he possibly come across someone willing to help him out of sheer luck? That'd be ridiculous.

Damn... This was worse than he thought...

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Aug 28, 2022 5:50:19 GMT -5

An alarm clock on a bedside table went off. After fumbling precisely twice, Leonina di Angelo smashed it with a metallic fist, promptly got up from bed, and swept the clock's pieces into the trash. She opened a drawer filled with neatly aligned, identical alarm clocks, grabbed the next one in the row, and placed it on the exact spot its predecessor had been.



That was this morning, before Leonina had been tasked to go on patrol. It was a welcome change of pace, since she'd spent the past few days in her workshop. Not only that, she'd managed to complete her Reiatsu-scanning night vision goggles at least, which apparently a higher ranking officer took note of and had her produce enough copies for the entire ten-person squad she was sent on.

And the goggles sure came in handy, especially since they successfully detected and evaded the large Reiatsu burst half an hour prior. Now the squad was scanning for both damage and casualties in the vicinity of the flare. Aside from the usual damaged buildings, there didn't seem to be any except for a bloody trail, which the group of Quincy followed until they came upon what seemed to be a teen with severe slash wounds across his chest and what appeared to be a Shinigami's Zanpakuto by his side.

"Is he... a Shinigami?" one of the younger members tentatively asked.

"No, he's human. And he's heavily wounded," the commanding officer replied. "Medic!"

"Yes sir!" A tall girl in a bob cut split off from the group. "Di Angelo, help me out too."

The medic would then start applying first aid to the injured boy, with Leonina assisting. Meanwhile, the commander and his lieutenant were deciding what to do with him, eventually reaching a course of action.

"Schwan, di Angelo! We're taking him back to headquarters!"

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Aug 28, 2022 9:03:50 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Germany
Status: Alive



After stumbling across the street for several dozen meters, Hibano finally slumped onto the sidewalk, taking deep breaths. His exhaustion and blood loss were finally getting the better of him.

However, he quickly realized that he was no longer alone. A faint Reiatsu signature suddenly popped at the back of his head - someone had just arrived to the neighbourhood. It was not the Hollow that had nearly killed him, hunting for his prey, thankfully, nor was it any other Hollows who may have been attracted by the battle and arrived like vultures. Rather, it was a small group, neither Shinigami nor Hollow, who touched down upon the battle site and then approached him.

As soon as they reached his resting place, one of the arrivals questioned whether he was a Shinigami - which got Hibano to faintly clutch onto his sheathed sword, just in case one of them tried to snatch it. Of course, knowing how weak he was at this point, it was just a display of intent. Thankfully, the group followed it up by giving him some first aid - the open, bleeding wounds got quickly disinfected, sown and wrapped, while the group's commander helped him up and announced that he will be taken "to headquarters".

"Who... who are you..?" Hibano spoke up. It was easier to breathe, but he still felt weak, at least until he could recover his stamina. This group appeared human, but they weren't Fullbringers - and the Reiatsu he could feel was entirely unfamiliar. He appreciated the help, but he still wasn't sure who exactly he was dealing with. "Where did you come from..?"

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Aug 30, 2022 5:45:55 GMT -5

The Quincy commander saw Hibano weakly clutch onto his sword, and so placed his arm on the teen's for reassurance. "Don't worry. we're not here to hurt you, kid. You won't need to fight for the meantime."

"Who... who are you..?"

"What, never seen Quincy before? How strange," Schwan, the medic, replied while finishing up the first aid treatment. Being a couple inches taller than the boy, she hoisted him up by placing her arms under his, with Leonina taking his feet. "You shouldn't speak now in your current state."

Meanwhile, the lieutenant took charge of Hibano's Asauchi, examining it closely and mumbling to himself. "A Zanpakuto, huh. Wonder where he got it. Probably stole it in the heat of combat. But it would be rude if we just threw it away..."

"Where did you come from..?"

"We're from the Wandenreich," Leonina answered. "The Quincy Empire. And we're taking you there for the meantime."

"All right, prepare for extraction, team. Schwan, di Angelo, take the boy to the medbay when we get there." The commander gave a hand signal, and everyone prepared their crosses in order to warp back to Schatten Bereich. Soon after, the shadows around the Quincy squad and Hibano warped and shifted, forming into a portal that led to the hidden realm of the Quincy.

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Aug 30, 2022 14:54:04 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Germany
Status: Alive



The white-dressed men and women introduced themselves as Quincies, and they were taking Hibano to their home, the Wandenreich - Hibano was not familiar with either name, but he was hardly surprised by his ignorance. Maybe he will acquire more answers once they actually travel there.

The soldiers activated some sort of spell with their crosses, engulfing the Fullbringer and themselves in shadows, and passing through a portal which spewed the squad out in the hidden, silver-gleaming dimension.



In spite of the orders of the medics to avoid speaking, or even moving, in his current state, Hibano briefly lifted his head to stare at the horizon, immediately wincing from the surprising change in the color pallet. Everything was so... white. The island, the buildings piercing the endless void surrounding it, the uniforms of the men and women traversing the dimension... At first glance, it was like a kingdom of ice, or brilliant silver, cropped straight out of fantasy.

"This... is the Wandenreich..?" he muttered, briefly repeating the name that one of the Quincy women gave him, and assuming this is what she was referring to. "Where... is this place? I've never seen anything like this..." It didn't even seem like it belonged in the same dimension as Earth.

Meanwhile, the Quincy squad was approached by a nearby Soldat officer, who, after hailing Leonina and the others with a salute, asked:

"Who have you brought here? What happened?"

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Sept 5, 2022 2:09:05 GMT -5

"This... is the Wandenreich..? Where... is this place? I've never seen anything like this..."

"Shush, you, or I'll be forced to sedate you," said Schwan, still holding on to the boy. "Not that you're allowed to know where we are, or that you're even supposed to be here."

The squad then ran into a Soldat, who promptly hailed them and was hailed in return. This officer then asked what happened, as well as who they had brought into Schatten Bereich.

"We found him gravely wounded after we barely avoided a massive Reiatsu flare, and so cut our patrol short," the squad commander explained. "Hence, we're taking him in for questioning after he is sufficiently recovered from his wounds."

The commander then approached the Soldat who had hailed them, whispering in their ear as for the injured teen to not hear what was about to be said.

"Do not take your eyes off him for even an instant. I strongly feel that there is something not right with this whole situation. I trust my engineer's handiwork, and both her sensors and our natural senses confirmed that the Reiatsu we detected earlier was highly anomalous. We're taking him to the medbay and running as many tests on him as possible. He also possesses a Shinigami's Zanpakuto, but doesn't seem to be affiliated with them. My lieutenant will have it secured immediately."

Turning back to Leonina's group, the commander spoke once more.

"Squad, you know what to do."

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Sept 6, 2022 13:04:07 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Wandenreich
Status: Alive



Schwan's sudden orders to stay silent and ask no questions or face sedation quickly shut Hibano down - although, now this was raising further questions in the Fullbringer's mind. If this was a secret dimension, one which he was not allowed to even witness, then why was he brought here, anyway? What were the intentions of these white robed soldiers, anyway? They were helpful and even healed him, but... they could have just as easily brought him here for torturous experiments or even execution.

If so, was he in danger? In theory, he could try to break out now, but...

Well, it's not like he knows where to go, or even how to get out, or could fight off what he presumed to be an entire dimension of soldiers. So, he acquitted to being transferred to the medical bay, though remaining attentive on the procedures - if it became certain that this was going to be threatening to his life, then he planned to get out.

Thorough testing on Hibano would reveal that he was indeed anomalous - though he was clearly human, his body was visibly constructed in such a way as to allow the easiest possible flow and control of Reishi as possible, in what was either extremely lucky birth or a sign of artificial tampering. A foreign Reiatsu was located very deep within the teen's body, though any instrument would fail to move it or alter it.

Meanwhile, the Soldat who had arrived to check on the new arrivals was already setting out to leave, before being suddenly approached by the commander directly - and the information handed over to him concerned him significantly. Where did the team even manage to find this anomaly?

"Understood," the Soldat answered. "I'll return to you in a moment, with reinforcements. If this Fullbringer is indeed an extreme anomaly you describe, then we will ensure he does not cause any harm."

Said soldier hurried across the Schatten Bereich, entering the Silbern Fortress and making his way through its chambers - until finally reporting to his superior - Colonel of the Vorhut Division, Reinhard LVI von Vorbeck und Pyrmont, one of Wandenreich's most finest soldiers. The news of an anomalous Fullbringer with a Shinigami's Asauchi was... quite interesting to hear, to say the least.



"Interesting," he muttered under his breath. "I wonder... does this man know of the woman in Remelle's report, somehow...?"

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Sept 12, 2022 2:35:42 GMT -5

It seemed that Schwan's threat of sedation succeeded in shutting up the injured Fullbringer for the time being, so he was wheeled off to surgery where he was anesthetized anyway. Fortunately, Hibano's wounds fell well within the standard range of battlefield injuries, so the Quincy surgical team had no real difficulty with patching him up. However, the teen had lost a significant amount of blood, so a sample was taken to ascertain his blood type for transfusion, where the first of many anomalies would be discovered.

"What? He's of Quincy descent? And from an extinct house at that? I swear, I knew there was something up with this kid..." Schwan reacted as several bags of blood were carted into the operating theatre.

The rest of the procedure went off without a hitch, and Hibano would awaken with his wounds stitched and bandaged, while inside a Quincy version of an MRI machine. Leonina was operating the controls. 

"Good morning, your treatment went smoothly," she announced through the microphone. "While your injuries and blood loss were disappointingly normal, your scan results were... not. Let me give you a run-through."

"First, your body is perfectly optimized for the flow and use of Reishi, even more so than usual for a spiritually-aware being. Second, your cells exhibit an abnormal growth and development pattern. Third, your brain scan indicates a surprising lack of neural connections, which may indicate some kind of mental trauma or amnesia. And last, you have a foreign Reiatsu signature embedded deep within you. It appears to be another person's soul."

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Sept 12, 2022 13:39:18 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Wandenreich
Status: Alive



After being sedated, Hibano, thankfully, did not wake up in a dungeon or in the back of a kidnapper's truck. His body no longer ached and bled, and was back at full capacity. The chassis of a MRI machine was staring at his face while he was slowly being dragged through it and listened to Leonina explain everything they had found about him.

His body appeared to be unnaturally built for manipulating Reishi, the neural connections in his brain indicated that he had amnesia of some form, and there was a foreign soul located deep inside of his body, with a foreign Reiatsu signature. The second and third were not particularly surprising, although it was nice to at least see his mother's plight be confirmed by scientific experimentation. The first was new to hear, although Hibano wasn't sure what to make of it.

Once Hibano returned from the MRI scan, he rose up and sat down, briefly clenching and unclenching his fist to see whether his strength was still as sharp as before.

"I see... Yeah, I'm aware - that soul you registered locked away inside of my body is my mother. She was sealed away during a battle, and I have been travelling across the whole world to find a way to un-seal her and allow her to pass into Soul Society. That's probably when I lost my memory, too..."

Turning his eyes to Leonina, he flashed a warm smile. After all, she and her team had probably just saved his life.

"Thank you for the rescue. I'm... not sure how I could repay you."

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Sept 12, 2022 15:07:09 GMT -5

"I see... Yeah, I'm aware - that soul you registered locked away inside of my body is my mother. She was sealed away during a battle, and I have been travelling across the whole world to find a way to un-seal her and allow her to pass into Soul Society. That's probably when I lost my memory, too..."

"Your mother, huh..." Leonina wondered aloud. "Only a truly powerful technique could possibly seal a soul inside of another, and we're sure it wasn't us. The Arrancar would have rather devoured such a powerful soul, and as far as we know Fullbringers are just random humans who gained powers. No offense. That leaves the Shinigami, which makes sense given what we discovered about your heritage from the blood sample we took."

"I wasn't given the full report, but evidently you're partially descended from Quincy, possibly as recently as one of your parents, and of course at least one parent was a Fullbringer. Since you have amnesia, I probably need to remind you that us Quincy have been at war with the Shinigami ever since they tried to exterminate us 600 years ago. I'm too young to hold a grudge, especially since one of my favorite professors has become a Shinigami himself, but most Shinigami are centuries old and just might have sealed away your mother after they started perceiving her as a threat. Even if you do free her, Soul Society might not welcome her with open arms."

"Thank you for the rescue. I'm... not sure how I could repay you."

Leonina smiled back, and was about to reply, but the lieutenant entered the room holding Hibano's Asauchi. "You could start by answering our questions. The circumstances under which we rescued you were especially strange, so we would like some information in return."

"Immediately prior to your appearance, we detected a massive Reiatsu spike in your area, a mixture of Shinigami, Hollow, and Fullbringer. You were later found with this," he raised the sword and pointed to it. "Analysis shows that this Shinigami Zanpakuto is in fact your Fullbring, and thus belongs to you rather than simply being stolen on the battlefield. We'll be holding onto it for the time being, until you are confirmed to pose no threat to the Empire. I myself am personally hoping that you and your family were active in fighting the Shinigami prior to your incident. Moving on..."

"Can you describe the being or beings that you fought before we found you?"

"In addition, do you remember your name and any pertinent information about yourself or your family?"

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Sept 13, 2022 12:11:50 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Wandenreich
Status: Alive



A Quincy... At least, Leonina was certain that Hibano was partially descended from them. That was news to him, and he wasn't sure how to take this - though, granted, there was nothing he knew about the Quincy other than the conflict between them and Shinigami she mentioned, and, presumably, that they live in this alternate dimension. Before he could ask about the Quincy, or what this could possibly mean about his mother's fate, both him and Leonina were shut down by the arrival of the lieutenant - and the briefing, as well as questions, that followed.

The man held Hibano's Asauchi in his hand, and was interested in the battle that they registered happening right before their arrival. Seeing his primary weapon be in someone else's custody was a bit anxiety inducing - after all, what will he have to do if the Quincies simply decide to not give it back? - but he decided to tolerate it for now.

"Right," he muttered and looked down to the floor, recalling the events prior. "Before your team had arrived, I was battling a weird being that calls himself Asura. The Reiatsu I felt while fighting him was very clearly that of a Hollow - however, he did not have a mask, he could talk, and he had a Bankai, much like a Shinigami. He was there to eat me, so, I defended myself until I managed to drove him off - however, he is still somewhere out there. As for me... My name is Hibano, however, my memories of my past are spotty, at best. There's still some deja vu I feel here and there, when I meet someone I might have met before, but I can't recall anything about them prior..."

After the long winded explanation, Hibano rose to his feet, and continued:

"You... told me that I am partially descended from the Quincy. Who... are they? And why were the Shinigami in conflict with you?"

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Sept 16, 2022 20:34:12 GMT -5

"A maskless humanoid Hollow with Bankai..." Leonina mused, taking note of the teen's explanation. "That sounds very similar to what one would call an Arrancar. They usually keep to themselves in Hueco Mundo, the Hollow realm, since they've grown so powerful that they no longer need to consume human souls and instead cannibalize other Hollows. Arrancar are typically fully sapient, especially if the one you fought had enough of a sense of wit to call its release a Bankai instead of a Resurreccion."

The lieutenant continued over from Leonina. "Excellent explanation, Di Angelo. In addition to what she said, lower-ranking soldiers are advised to avoid engaging Arrancar in combat except in outstanding circumstances. They're too strong for an ordinary Quincy to handle alone, and unless they start causing trouble, not worth the risk. Though we'll have to take note of this Asura person calling his release a Bankai."

The Fullbringer at least remembered his name: Hibano, which was a good start.

"You... told me that I am partially descended from the Quincy. Who... are they? And why were the Shinigami in conflict with you?"

"Di Angelo, would you mind?"

Leonina would willingly start the explanation. "Quincy are a race of spiritually aware humans with the ability to absorb and manipulate ambient Reishi, which we form into a Spirit Weapon using a Quincy Cross. We used to live on Earth, but the Shinigami declared war on us 600 years ago. We lost the war, and so the Emperor took us into Schatten Bereich, where we live to this day."

"The Shinigami tried to purge us all just because we were trying to defend ourselves," Schwan spat out. "Hollows are especially poisonous to us, and so we banded together and fought them with our survival on the line. But the Gotei 13 said we were disrupting the balance of souls or some bull, and before we knew it the war had started."

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Sept 17, 2022 10:04:11 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Wandenreich
Status: Alive



Medieval humans who have the ability to manipulate Reishi and turn it into weapons to defend themselves against Hollows with. For one reason or another, the Shinigami deemed them a threat and so chose to eliminate them - the handful who survived the Shinigami were rescued by their Emperor and have lived in this dimension for six hundred years. Between this, the one Shinigami he had met, and what Niji had been telling him about what the Shinigami did to Val, Hibano was getting a rather poor impression of the Shinigami thus far.

Perhaps he will really need to look into them. And if they are as nefarious as they seem, bust some heads.

"Well, Asura was certainly powerful... though, I imagine I could have killed him had it not been for his regeneration. It really gave me no option but to escape..." the teen explained to Leonina's explanation about the Arrancar, and their dangers. Hopefully, the others are not as dangerous - Hibano wasn't sure if it was even possible for Asura to be killed, and if there were other powerful Hollows that are stronger than him, then... he wasn't sure who could kill them.

As for the history of the Quincies, and their nature...

"I... see. I don't seem to have any particular allergy for the Hollows, aside from them generally trying to eat me, so I must have not inherited it..." Hibano explained. Granted, "poison" could have also just been an allegory about their war against the Hollows. "So... if I have Quincy blood, too, do you mean I could wield powers like that as well? I mean... the whole, creating Spirit Weapons thing..."

PLAYER

I have nothing to say.

Anastasia Dammerung Avatar

Anastasia Dammerung

Post by Anastasia Dammerung on Sept 18, 2022 23:06:17 GMT -5

The assembled Quincy listened to Hibano recounting his struggles with Asura's regenerative abilities - they were all too familiar with that particular Hollow power. Then, the teen asked if his Quincy heritage made him eligible to use Quincy powers.

"This isn't Clorox and you're not Tamago," Schwan scoffed. "A Fullbringer with a Shinigami weapon, and now you're trying to collect powers from the other races too? I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

"As much as I'd like to see if you can in fact use a Cross, your Reiatsu is predominantly that of a Fullbringer, Hibano." added Leonina. "I'm not sure if you really could form a Spirit Weapon, even if your body is perfectly attuned to Reishi."

"And ultimately none of the people in this room are qualified to hand out a Cross to an outsider, Quincy blood or no," finished the lieutenant. "I'm not even to return your sword until backup arrives. My apologies."

The truth of the matter was that all three Quincy had a spare Cross in their pockets, and very much wanted to hand one to Hibano and see if he really could use Quincy powers. The only thing stopping them was the fear of getting in trouble, either by their superiors or by Hibano accidentally or intentionally unleashing an attack at them.

GAME MASTER

Wandenreich - Soldat

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...

Hibano Avatar

Hibano

Post by Hibano on Sept 20, 2022 4:34:17 GMT -5


Hibano
Location: Wandenreich
Status: Alive



"I'm a... what?" Hibano answered in confusion. He had no clue what was this "Tamago" that the lieutenant invoked to him, and in what way was that person relevant. Quickly, however, Schwan and Leonina followed with accusations of trying to gather the powers of even more races even though they both were certain that this shouldn't be possible. Defensively, Hibano displayed his hands. "Alright, alright, I get the idea. I was just curious, that's all."

He kept his mind open to the idea in the future. Perhaps, if he can get a hold of one of these "Quincy Crosses", he can see if it resonates with him at all, or ask Leonina to teach him how to activate it...

The backup awaited by the Quincy lieutenant, meanwhile, was finally approaching - several Soldats and their commander approached the med bay, then, without waiting for any invitation to enter from the Forschung corpsmen. Colonel Reinhard was among them - and, as soon as he reached the lieutenant, he began speaking:

"I have been informed that you brought an anomaly that needs to be watched over. Since we registered a powerful Reiatsu signature here from the distance, I decided to attend to this matter personally." The Colonel was speaking with his arms folded behind his back and chin held up, with a faint, confident smile. "I'll have a few questions for this person, myself, as well. What information have you gathered about him thus far?"