Force of Souls Chapter 16

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is bringing you another Force of Souls Chapter! Chad leads the Hollow chasing him to a vacant lot. Unfortunately, it’s not so vacant when he gets there. With a little help, some luck, and innate power, will the gentle giant pull through?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 16 – Right Arm of the Giant

We are drawn to each other
Like drops of water, like the planets
We repulse each other
Like magnets, like the colors of our skin

“Go!” A black-haired boy cried out. “Oof!” A split second later and a soccer ball slammed into his face and knocked him to the ground.

“Oops. My bad.” Karin apologized half-heartedly; her leg still raised from her kick.

“Kurosaki!” A different boy, with a full afro, cried out.

“What’s wrong with you? Your head in the clouds or something?” A boy with glasses questioned the only girl playing in the lot.

“Do you want to play or not?” A third boy demanded with a glare.

Karin glared at the three boys from the neighborhood and clenched her fist. All three quickly backed away in fright.

“Whaaah!”

“What? You wanna f-fight?!”

“Come get s-some then!”

“Sorry.” Karin reached up to the rim of her baseball cap. “I’m going home.” She sighed and turned to walk away.

“Huh?” All three boys still had their fists up and could only blink in confusion. If they annoyed Karin too much, she usually punched the one that did it. For her to just walk away was weird.

‘Today sucks.’ Karin huffed to herself as she headed for the stairs to leave the lot. ‘I can’t even concentrate on soccer because of that weird pulse earlier.’ She kicked at the dirt once as she walked. ‘I’m just gonna go home, take a bath, and then go to bed early.’ The ravenette sighed at how quickly her mood had been ruined by spiritual stuff. Her attention was caught just as she neared the stairs by someone coming up them. It only took her a second to recognize the huge guy in the pink-patterned button-up shirt and black jeans.

“Huh?” Chad blinked at seeing someone in the out of the way vacant lot.

“Hey…you’re Ichigo’s friend.” Karin mentioned, seeing the large teen panting like he’d just run across town or something. “The parakeet guy.”

“Ichigo’s little sister?” Chad’s eyes widened at inadvertently leading whatever was chasing him towards his best friend’s sister.

“What’s a guy your age doing in a vacant lot all alone?” Karin pointed at him confused only to flinch as Chad lunged forward. He picked up the girl easily and moved just as the ground seemingly exploded.

‘It caught up.’ Chad grimaced at whatever it was. He’d have to protect Ichigo’s little sister.

“What…” Karin nearly gaped at the monster she was seeing. “What is that?!” It was huge, even bigger than Ichigo’s friend. It was sort of shaped like a gorilla, but its head was a bone white mask with bulbous cheeks and a swirled pattern to the sides. It also had a large hole straight through its chest.

‘I don’t see anything moving.’ Chad kept his eyes on the heatwave-like movement he could see in the air. ‘Is it waiting for us? Damn…if only I could see it more clearly.’

“There…that thing.” Karin pointed directly at the Hollow. “What is that thing?” She questioned, never taking her eyes off the monster.

“You can see it?” Chad looked at Karin incredulously.

“Are you kidding? Can’t you?” Karin demanded as every single instinct she had was telling her to run. “It’s plain as day!”

“Raaargh!” The Hollow roared as its large hand swung at Chad’s back.

“Look out! Behind you!” Karin warned only to be scooped up and carried once again just as the spot they’d been in practically exploded.

Chad slid to a stop and looked toward the blur, but it was no longer there. ‘It disappeared! Where’d it go?!’

“Open your eyes!” Karin yelled out. “It’s to our right, run!” Chad complied and dodged the next strike, feeling the air blow past him from the force. He took off again to try and keep Ichigo’s little sister safe. “Hey, big guy…can’t you see it?” Karin asked him as she rode on his back.

“I see a shimmer…” Chad informed the girl as he ran.

“Well, it’s not just a shimmer.” Karin deadpanned at the large teen’s description. “Okay! Then you be our legs, and I’ll be our eyes! Okay?!”

“N-No way.” Chad didn’t want to put her in any more danger than he already had.

“Yes way!” Karin retorted instantly. “It’s our only hope! I’ve seen monsters before, okay?” She ground her teeth in frustration as she watched the Hollow follow them. “Something’s been bugging me…for a while now.” She admitted as Chad continued to run. “I want to know…what Ichigo…has to do with them!”

“Ichigo?” Chad looked at her over his shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“Here it comes!” Karin warned as the Hollow caught up to them and tried to grab them. “Dodge right!”

Chad juked to the right, feeling the wind from the monster’s attack. His eyes saw the wavering air, and what looked like a large arm. With a grunt, he drove his right fist into what he could see as hard as he could.

“Whoa…” Karin blinked when she heard a cracking sound from the blow.

“Raaaarrrhhh!” The Hollow howled at the pain. Its left hand was a blur as it lashed out against the one that had hurt it.

“Go right!” Karin tried to warn Chad, but there was no time. The large teen spun and cradled Karin against his chest as the blur hit him full force.

“Gnnnnh!” Chad coughed as the pain wracked his body. He felt blood running down his face as he collapsed to the ground.

“Hey…” Karin called out to Chad. “Hey, are you okay?!”

“Kurosaki?!” One of the boys that she’d been playing soccer with called out. All four of them were running towards her. They’d heard the loud sounds coming from the direction she’d headed off in and came to see if she was okay.

“What happened to you?” The black-haired kid she’d hit with the soccer ball questioned, seeing her disheveled appearance.

“Who’s the big dude bleeding on the ground?” The rude boy demanded while pointing at the downed Chad.

“Did you beat him up?!” The glasses-wearing boy questioned in shock.

“Stop!” Karin yelled at the four approaching boys. “Go away! Get outta here!”

“Hey!” The four boys came to a stop. “We were worried about you!”

“Why are you always so mean?!” The boy with the afro questioned her.

‘Why do you always have to be so mean?’ The words resounded in Chad’s half-conscious mind.

“Move!” Karin leapt at the boys when she saw the Hollow behind them, reaching for the four boys. Her desperate face must have terrified them, because they all looked like she was about to beat them up.

In his semi-conscious state, Chad finally saw the Hollow clearly for the first time. It really was a monster. His mind drifted back to his time growing up with his grandfather in Mexico. ‘Why do you always have to be so mean?’

The memories flooded Chad’s mind. The many times he’d beaten up people that said things about him. Those that had tried to beat him up, only to get beaten in return. The seemingly endless fights he’d been in as a kid.

“What did it accomplish?” His grandfather, Oscar Joaquín de la Rosa, asked him after another fight. “You hurt those that hurt you…then what?” Oscar gently placed his hand atop his grandson’s head. “You’re very strong, Chad…” The old man knelt down before the young Chad. “You’re tall…you’re handsome…” He chuckled at his grandson. “You were born with all of the things that people wish for.”

Chad slowly forced himself to sit up, even as blood ran down his face. Karin had tackled two of the boys as the Hollow’s large hands closed in on them.

‘People who are different always get picked on.’ Oscar’s voice continued to resound in Chad’s head. ‘I don’t know what it’s like in other places, but in this world, that’s the truth.” Chad clenched his fist, time seemed to be moving slower. “But, Chad…learn to be kind.” His grandfather’s words from so long ago were as clear as if he was speaking to him right now. “You’ve got big strong fists…you need to learn to use them for good.”

“I know, Abuelo…” Chad forced himself to his feet and cocked back his right fist. ‘My fists aren’t for hurting others. They’re for protecting my body…I know that now. I’ve learned my lesson.’ He lunged forward just as the Hollow was about to grab Karin. ‘So please…give me the power to use them!’

BOOM

Karin watched wide-eyed as the hand that had been reaching for her was engulfed in a bright light. The Hollow was knocked back as it howled in pain. The light cleared to reveal the monster was missing its left arm entirely. Karin’s eyes looked over to the source of the light and saw Ichigo’s friend in the clearing dust. But something had changed immensely about the teen. More specifically, his right arm was changed entirely!

Chad’s right arm was now black, with a dark magenta strip running down the middle of the arm, tapering down towards a point that stopped at the wrist. The dark magenta strip was outlined by a thin white line. The pattern was on the top as well as the underside of his arm. The shoulder of this new form fanned out a bit into an upward extension, parallel to his height. It had an indentation at the top in the middle of the extension, stopping just where his shoulder began, separating the upward extension into two parts. There were two wing-like protrusions on either side of his wrist as well, seeming to mimic the extension on his shoulder.

The Hollow slammed onto its back dozens of meters away. The blasts going off had scared the four boys away, all of them sprinting in the opposite direction across the vacant lot in terror. Karin could only stare at what had become of the large teen’s arm.

“Uh…hey, big guy…” Karin slowly pointed at his transformed arm. “What’s with…your arm?”

Chad looked at his arm and flexed his fingers. Noting the strangeness of the situation and the odd power he felt, he couldn’t explain what was going on. It was only when the severely injured Hollow started flailing and thrashing around did the two refocus on the monster.

“RAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!” The Hollow roared as it slammed its remaining hand on the ground in rage. It charged towards the two with a snarl, saliva spilling from its maw as it opened its jaws wide.

“It can still move?!” Karin exclaimed seeing the charging Hollow. She saw Chad dash straight at it. “Hey! MISTER!!!”

Chad didn’t even hear Karin’s call. The extension atop his shoulder flared with a blue energy as Chad rushed the monster. He could see it clearly now, like it was any regular person. The Hollow came at him jaws-first, and Chad responded with a powerful punch straight to the center of its masked face. The bone-like material gave way under Chad’s strength. The real damage came when his fist blasted out a torrent of the blue energy and vaporized the monster’s head entirely. The force of the blow threw the Hollow’s body backwards so far that collapsed on the stairs just outside of the vacant lot.

“He…hit it…” Karin blinked at the sudden end to the danger. “But…I didn’t tell him where it was. How can he hit it right in the head?” She rose to her feet slowly. “Can he see it?” That was perplexing considering he hadn’t been able to just minutes ago. “Hey, big guy…” She trailed off as Chad turned to look at her.

“Heh…” Chad gave her a smile, as best he could anyway, and a thumbs up.

‘No! Not that played-out thumbs up sign! That’s so lame!’ Karin deadpanned as she saw it. Then Chad fell to the ground with a thud. “Big guy!” Karin ran towards Chad in concern. “Are you alright?”

‘I don’t know…’ Chad thought to himself as he stared up at the sky. ‘The armor appeared out of nowhere.’ He clenched his transformed fist gently. ‘It emitted some powerful force…’ He took a haggard breath. ‘Then suddenly…I could see the monster clearly.’ The tall teen could only lay on the ground even as questions ran through his mind. ‘Where did the armor come from? Where did the monster come from? How did I defeat it? And…why am I lying here exhausted? I don’t know…anything.’ He glanced over to Karin as she stopped beside him, looking down on his beaten form. “Are you hurt…Ichigo’s little sister?” Chad asked the girl.

“You dummy…” Karin felt relief wash over her that her brother’s friend was still alive. “You’re the one that’s hurt.”

“Oh…that’s good.” Chad sighed, not seeing the twitch of Karin’s eye at his statement. He certainly felt her kick him in the head though!

“NO!!! It’s not good!” Karin yelled at him. Chad just looked up at her in confusion. “It’s not good, it’s a tragedy! The word ‘Good’ does not apply here! I guess that’s men’s logic?!” She pointed at Chad with an angry glare. “You’re just like Ichigo! AHH! I can’t stand it!” She turned and started jogging off. “You stay there! I’ll go get goat chin and have him fix you up! Don’t move!” He rushed off to get her dad.

“Huh…Ichigo’s little sister…” Chad exhaled as she disappeared out of the vacant lot. “She kicks just like her brother.”

Unseen by anyone, the remains of the dead Hollow disintegrated slowly, freeing a few small blue souls. All of them rose upwards for a bit before disappearing. With nothing tying them to the Living World, they moved on naturally. But without the cleansing of a Zanpakutō, there was no way to know if those souls would go to Soul Society or not. Chad’s new power was a total mystery when it came to killing Hollows.

Chad was already unconscious when Tessai appeared. The muscular man with the mustache and glasses easily lifted Chad’s large form, threw the young man’s left arm over his shoulders, and started carrying the teen towards the Urahara Shoten. Things were moving once more, and this young man would undoubtedly get caught up in it now.

-Ichigo-

“So, damn many!” Ichigo cursed as he slashed through another Hollow’s mask. He’d long ago lost count of how many he’d slain, but it never seemed to be enough. Ichigo couldn’t say if they were making any progress at all as he blurred into a Shunpo to get withing range of the next Hollow he could see. “Gentle breeze, winding river, connecting distance. Hadō #2: Tō Nigi!” He cast and a haze of energy leapt from his hand to grab the head of the Hollow.

“Raaah!” A second Hollow leapt at Ichigo with its jaws wide.

“Shut up!” Ichigo used his ‘grip’ on the first Hollow’s head to swing it around and slam it into the second Hollow. Two quick slashes split their masks as the Hollows were tangled up with each other. Ichigo didn’t even wait for them to fully disintegrate before he was moving to the next group of Hollows in the distance.

“Rah?” The first Hollow to notice Ichigo blur into their midst gave off a confused sound.

“Hadō #18: Kaze Kiru!” Ichigo’s blade was surrounded by the vortex of wind as he swung it in a wide arc. The Kidō completed and an arc of slicing air passed through all five of the Hollows. They fell apart, some bisected while others had their head cleaved in two, but they all fell and began to disintegrate. “That’s most of them in this area.” He inhaled deeply. “Karin should be home by now.” He would be happy enough with that, for now.

“Rrrraaaahhhh!” Another Hollow howled, much bigger and with a mask like some bizarre cross of a human skull, a bull, and a shark.

“Damn it…” Ichigo growled at the seeming endless numbers.

-Tatsuki-

“Bring it!” Tatsuki challenged while crushing one Hollow’s mask with an elbow strike. The next she pivoted around and kicked its side, sending it crashing into another Hollow. Her wakizashi flashed and she cut through the second Hollow’s mask before roundhouse kicking the third’s mask into pieces, splattering blood everywhere.

“Raaaah!”

“Grrraaagggh!

“Nnnrrraahh!”

“How many more of you are there?” Tatsuki panted slightly even as the Hollows she’d killed disintegrated around her, more continued to show up. “I swear, the next time I see Uryū, I’m punching his damn teeth in!” She blurred to dodge the Hollow dogpile and the beasts cracked the ground where she’d just been.

“Grah?” The Hollows seemed confused by her disappearance.

“Yah!” Tatsuki dropped her heel on top of the head of one Hollow, shattering it entirely in a spray of blood. A barrage of punches pulverized the mask and head of a second and third Hollow. Her knee rocketed upward to shatter another mask and the head beneath it. Her wakizashi stabbed into the next Hollow’s mask and she yanked it sideways to split it nearly in half.

“Raaaahh!”

“Brrooohhh!”

“Mmnnnrraaagghh!”

Kick, slash, punch, elbow, slash, stab, knee, kick, stab, kick, punch, back fist, axe kick. On and on the fight went with no end in sight. Tatsuki couldn’t believe how many Hollows she’d already defeated; much less how many more were still showing up.

“Damn…I’m starting to need more than one solid hit to the mask to take them out.” Tatsuki panted as she blurred from a Shunpo, stabbed the attacking Hollow in the back of the head with her Zanpakutō, and killed it as she blurred into another Shunpo to escape. The Martial Artist turned Shinigami tried to even out her breathing as the Hollows that had been attracted by her fighting the others looked around in confusion. It was a good thing most of them were mindless and easily confused. None of them seemed capable of sensing her specifically either.

“Nnnnrrraaaahhh!” One of the larger Hollows howled out after it was clear that Tatsuki was no longer down there with them. The other Hollows all growled and looked around, trying to sense the prey that had escaped.

“Just need a second…to catch my breath…” Tatsuki still kept her eyes on the Hollows she’d been fighting. If they tried to leave the area or attack anyone, she’d jump right back into the fray without hesitation.

-Orihime-

“Bakudō #9: Hōrin!” Orihime cast again, snaring two smaller Hollows this time and winding the Bakudō around the others she’d already cast. She had a large net of stuck together Hōrin spells and almost twenty Hollows captured in it, unable to break free. “Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!” Once again, the powerful blue fire washed over the trapped Hollows and destroyed them. Orihime let the Hōrin spells fade as her breath came in gasps.

“Shhhaaaah!”

“Waaarrrgghh!”

More Hollows appeared to take the place of the twenty that had just been purified. Orihime Shunpo-ed away as the first Hollow leapt at her. She stopped down the street and had to quickly blur away again as a different Hollow lunged at her from around the nearby corner. This time she’d chosen to leapt upwards and land atop a nearby building. With some distance made, and the Hollows looking around for her, Orihime took a second to catch her breath.

‘I can’t keep using large spells.’ Orihime slowly got her breathing under control as she watched the Hollows look for her in confusion. ‘I can use Byakurai without an incantation…but the power won’t be strong enough to take them out unless I hit the mask directly.’ She considered her options to keep fighting as she caught her breath and checked her Reiryoku like Rukia had taught her. ‘If I stick to Byakurai, then I’ll be able to keep going for a while longer. I’ll use Shunpo to position, and try to hit them from a distance for now.’ Orihime had taken her lessons from Rukia to heart. She was able to devise a simple strategy that should work, at least for a while.

“Brrrraaaaggghhh!” A Hollow bellowed out as it spotted Orihime on the rooftop.

“Byakurai!” Orihime pointed her right index and middle fingers forward. A bright white-blue glow shone from them for a second. In the next instant a condensed beam of lightning passed straight through the Hollow’s mask. The Hollow collapsed and began to disintegrate even as more of the Hollows noticed her and charged at her position. “Byakurai!” Orihime cast again and the fastest Hollow, one that was already leaping up from the ground to her position, found a beam of lightning passing through its head too. “Byakurai! Byakurai!” Orihime cast twice more, felling two more Hollows, before she blurred away in Shunpo. She reappeared on the next roof over and cast again. “Byakurai!” Another Hollow dropped with a hole through its masked head. “Byakurai!” The orangette frowned when the Hollow she aimed at raised one of its large arms to shield its mask. The Hadō pierced its arm, but only singed its mask.

“Raaaaaaggggghhh!” The Hollow howled in pain and rage at the injury.

“I can still keep going.” Orihime declared, more to herself than the Hollows. She drew her kodachi as her awareness picked up on something behind her. The blade sliced through what looked like an incredibly long set of fingers, each tipped with a knife-like claw.

“Grrraaaahhhh!” The spindly Hollow shrieked as blood spewed from its severed digits.

Orihime didn’t like fighting and hurting others, but she rushed the thin Hollow and bisected it with her sword in a single swing. The top half of the stick-like Hollow fell to the rooftop and blood spewed from its mouth before it went still and disintegrated. “Byakurai!” She pointed with her left hand this time and a lizard-like Hollow fell with a hole through its head.

Orihime refused to stop fighting right now. She was helping protect the entire town! The beautiful girl would set aside her gentle nature to protect others from the hordes of Hollows descending upon Karakura.

-Rukia-

“This is insane.” Rukia grimaced as another Hollow shattered to pieces from a her Zanpakutō. “This bait was small enough to fit in the palm of the hand, according to the others. There shouldn’t be enough material, no matter how potent, to attract so many Hollows.” She blurred forward and three Hollows cried out as cuts opened up on their torsos. The wounds quickly frozen over, the chill spreading through the fallen souls until they were frozen solid. A moment later they shattered into pieces and disintegrated entirely.

“Raaaahhh!” A group of Hollows howled as they charged towards Rukia.

“Grrrraaaahhh!” Another group rushed towards the petite Shinigami from a different area.

“The ship sails west and the herd gallops north. Bend the sea, o’ god of waves and wash away the mountain. Hadō #14: Mōretsu Kyūryū!” Rukia chanted the Hadō and pointed her left palm towards the two large groups of Hollows. A torrent of water blasted from just in front of her palm and closed the distance quickly. The Hollows were staggered, but not truly injured. There were simply far too many of them, and the spell was too spread out to have much impact.

“RAAAAAHHHH!!!” The largest Hollow bellowed in rage as it charged forward, looking like a mix of an ape and a bird.

“Sode no Shirayuki…” Rukia called to her Zanpakutō as she touched the ever-white blade to the soaked ground.

It was nearly instantaneous. A frosty gale past through the area as an intense chill spread throughout the water. Every single soaked Hollow nearly flash froze from the sudden shift. Many of them stopped in mid-motion, including the largest one. Steam wafted off the horde of frozen Hollows before, with a loud crack, all of them shattered and disintegrated.

“Why didn’t I learn this Hadō earlier?” Rukia questioned herself as she saw how many Hollows she’d killed in two moves. It was like using Hakuren, but with a much greater area of effect and slightly lower Reiryoku consumption. Sode no Shirayuki was incredibly compatible with Mōretsu Kyūryū, the water spreading the chill and frost of her Zanpakutō with great efficiency.

“Brrraaaggghhh!!!” The loud howling of more Hollows drew her attention to another area.

“How much longer can this go on?!” Rukia nearly cursed as she took off in a Shunpo. At this rate, the sheer increase in Reiatsu within Karakura might attract a Huge Hollow. They needed to wipe out the horde before one of them showed up, because if one showed up, others could follow.

-Urahara Shoten-

“The boy is resting in the backroom, sir.” Tessai informed Urahara with a nod.

“The Kūmon are converging…that only happens in one instance.” Urahara looked at the sky, seeing the point where multiple of the cracks in the sky were meeting. It literally looked as if the sky was being broken through by something.

“Hollow Bait doesn’t have the ability to attract a Menos Grande.” Tessai looked up at the sky as well. He was old enough to remember when the Quincies had used the stuff to wipe out mass amounts of average Hollows. It had given the Soul Society no end of trouble when they did so.

“You know its him.” The black cat spoke up from next to Urahara’s feet.

“Of course…” Urahara’s bucket hat shaded his eyes. “Is everything ready?”

“Yes, sir.” Tessai confirmed as Ururu and Jinta held large wrapped objects in their hands.

“All right.” Urahara slipped his geta on. “Let’s go.”

“Right!” Jinta, Ururu, and Tessai called back as they followed after the blonde man.

“I guess I’ll help out a bit.” The black cat hummed while closing its eyes to seek out familiar Reiatsu. “Hmm, the Martial Artist is close enough.” The cat vanished without a sound, off to assist Tatsuki in her battle against the seemingly endless horde.

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Chad has awakened his power!

Now, how will the changes that have taken place affect his growth and development?

The hordes are seemingly endless. There was no way that single piece of bait was enough to draw in this many Hollows. Tatsuki and Orihime are starting to wear down, Ichigo is even breathing hard despite is immense Reiryoku reserves. Rukia, thanks to her experience and Shikai, is able to pace herself better while still eliminating dozens and dozens of Hollows.

Now the sky looks like it’s about to shatter. We all know what’s coming.

How will Ichigo and the others handle a Menos Grande?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!