Humble Beginnings
The male sat back, taking the metal mask off his face and running his fingers through his hair, staring at the completed works of sheer technological mastery. Golde had finally allowed him the ability to make the technology he wanted to. It was a highly technological suit of armor, meant to make shinigami powerful while substituting the Zanpakutou properties with the Zanpakutou reiatsu as a secondary power reserve.
There were only three small items laid out before him. On the right were shoulder pads of some sort, on the left was something that looked a lot like a large metal and glass rubik’s cube, and in the center was a sleek bracer. He still wasn’t entirely through the approval process. He sighed before putting the bracer on his right arm, the shoulder pads beneath his haori, and the Rubik’s Cube-like item into his pocket. He smirked, he felt like a mixture of, perhaps, the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and Professor Oak. Any second now, he swore someone was going to run in and choose one of them, and someone else would pop up and take the one that had the clearest advantage.
He chuckled before rolling his sleeves down his arms and smiling into the mirror, making sure he was presentable. He adjusted his glasses and fixed his haori, ignoring the bags under his eyes. He took one more glance at himself in the mirror, and off he went. He had an important engagement to get to.
“Time to get some new technology approved.”
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“Hello.” Captain Magnus said, eerily calmly, “Captain Ryuu tells me that you hold the most potential and adaptive ability among lesser known shinigami”
“So, what are we here for?” Kai said, impatiently. On his left, Min was struggling to maintain a serious composure, and his right Gira was simply standing resolutely and waiting patiently.
“I wish to test your combat ability. Simple as that.” Magnus replied, choosing his words carefully as to not let anything slip that they didn’t need to hear yet. “Of course, if you don’t fight at your best, I cannot guarantee you’ll be leaving in one piece.”
The three tensed at this, but realized that he was implying they had no choice. They bowed, to which Magnus smirked and turned around, clapping his hands as three figures shunpo’d into the area. In front of Kai was an incredibly generic and boring-looking man, with a neatly trimmed beard and a thin moustache. Before Min appeared a woman whose shinigami uniform was cut and resewed such that it perfectly complimented her figure-the tailoring turning her outfit into an elegant dress that looked impossible to fight in. In front of Gira was a serious looking man with a clean-shaven face and his sword already gripped in his hand.
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“Computer, check the specs, just to make sure.” He said calmly, looking at the items laid out on the table one more time before going back to admiring himself in the mirror.
“They’re perfectly to your specifications.” A sensuous female voice replied.
“Good.” He smirked at himself, before sighing and, regretfully, departing the mirror. He went to the table and looked at his three technological marvels. Well…a soldier might marvel at them.
On the right was a strange wrist-mounted gun with a blade sticking out of the contraption. On the left was a massive rifle, at least five feet long. Other than the size of it, it was notably different in other rifles in design as well, being one long gun, with the handle and such built into the actual body-giving it length, aerodynamics, and a longer barrel in exchange for a more traditional weapon. Other than numerous other visible differences, it wasn’t exactly easy to tell what could possibly make such a large rifle convenient. Lastly, was a series of gadgets, including wristlets and anklets, that attached to numerous parts of his body where they could be hidden.
He turned around before his mirror again, and walked off.
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“Meet Squad Zero Seventh Seat, Ibis Douglas” Captain Kida Ookami said calmly, introducing her guest to the three shinigami that stood before her, wondering why they had been called.
“Hello.” The three shinigami said, looking Ibis over. Squad Zero was rarely mentioned at all, so the fact that they had been brought to meet a member of the squad was interesting. Physically, Ibis was about seventeen, with shoulder length orange hair and a normal shinigami’s outfit (Cause I still have no idea what it’s called.)
Ibis smiled politely back at the three shinigami, “Kida brought me here because she wanted to test you three.” Ibis said, choosing her words carefully as she reviewed the three.
“Why?” Cell asked, cautiously. Training with a member of Squad Zero was no joke, he didn’t want to ruin the chance by being overly inquisitive.
Kida sighed, “Because Ibis was free, any more questions?”
The shinigami could tell there was more, but they didn’t look into it much. They were very interested to see what kind of Zanpakutou she had. It was a rare occasion, and they weren’t just going to pass it up.
“Now, Ibis and I are both wearing limiters for this training, so don’t worry that we’ll go overboard.” Kida explained. “The battle will take place over this entire field, and I expect you to work as a team, got it?”
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Golde finally finished putting everything of value in the Captain’s Hall into the hidden safe room. He pushed his desk up so that it was touching the wall and he sat down on the hard wooden surface calmly, calmly chewing on a large amount of warm caramel, his hand absentmindedly stirring the caramel pot as he waited.
The doors burst open, Ex-Captain Narcisse Dauc entered the room as dramatically as ever, strutting down the room, and finally, he stood in front of Golde, bowing theatrically.
“You’re early. This is a first” Golde chuckled to Dauc, who scoffed at the remark. “Now wait a moment, I’m expecting someone else.”
“Someone else?” Dauc, said, clearly confused, “To see MY fantastic invention!?”
“No.” Golde said calmly, while speaking surprisingly well for a person with a mouthful of caramel. “Someone else, to compete against your ‘Fantastic invention.’”
Dauc stopped, giving Golde The Look as his mind barely registered the sound of the door opening and closing. He span around. “YOU!” he hissed.
Ryuu blinked, doing a quick 360, before realizing the situation. “I believe I could do more with the Extra-Over Technology than you, Narcisse. Now excuse me, I have some…toys to present.” He said with an overly bored tone, walking calmly up to Golde.
Dauc turned away from Ryuu, staring at Golde-who was currently filling his mouth with more Caramel. Upon seeing both of them present, he calmly put down the caramel pot and spoon, and began talking normally while his mouth was full of caramel. “You both asked me if you could do your projects in the same day. I figured that the person who could develop a better series of weapons would be able to prove it. In battle. Saves me the trouble of having to judge them individually, or to choose one of you.”
They both stared at him. He stared back before finally saying, “Oh. You two should fight now. Go.”
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“Tsk tsk tsk. They still haven’t told the public about Jin and Luppi’s disappearances. Or about the EOT.” A masculine voice sighed. “Maybe it is about time we made our move.”
“Yes, it seems this would be the greatest time. Especially since project TD is no where near completion.” Another male voice replied. “Nothing is standing in our way, and we have oh so much in our favor.”
“Yes, we’ve gotten a good deal of people to pledge themselves to our cause already. Perhaps it is time to make our announcement.”
“I agree. Do we have all of the Hell Butterflies we need?”
“Yes, I do believe we have enough.”
“Then to the Divine Crusaders.”
“To the Divine Crusaders!”
