Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jan looked behind him, seeing another shape in the distance. The Reiatsu did not feel hostile, and since he could feel his target's synapses, he would be able to perceive any new threat. "Hey, back there! If you're an ally, hurry up! If you stay too far back, the walls will shift and cut you off!"

Jan began using Shunpo to rush on ahead. He could already start feeling the shifting Reiatsu of a fight up ahead, and knowing the Arrancar, it wouldn't be much further until they could start splitting up to take them down.

(( Now's as good a time as any to have Ryan meet Jan and give him a short briefing! ))

Having lost Maxi, Ryan had decided to head back and see if those in the Menos Forest had gotten through. Though he rarely used it, he was using his squad's tracker at the moment (he usually kept it in his pocket), checking for unfamiliar reiatsu, or reiatsu belonging to someone he did recognize. Like those. A vizard...a powerful one, and not far behind him a strong zaigou. The zaigou...Yamoto's, from what I'm being given here, Ryan thought, as he had stopped to make a more detailed check. "Who's there?" he called, as the vizard's reiatsu was a bit too close for relative comfort.

((OoO Jan Lied... burning_eyes ))

Ryan was almost amazed to hear the name. Koumei Jan - leader of the Vizards, and someone that Ryan had wanted to meet for a good while now. Using shunpo to get closer so that they could talk yet remain within short distance of the battles, Ryan stood to attention when facing the former Captain. "I lost him too, so I came back to see if anyone else came. The fighting isn't far ahead, probably a right, a left, and a right, though in this labyrinth you never really know where you are..."

Ryan tapped his tracker. "Azamura came out to fight for a bit and made this thing go crazy, but he left, as did another one...Drift, I think it was. I believe that one of your charges is up ahead, but from what I can get out of this thing, he's not on our side anymore - looks like you also have a traitor on your hands, and he's taking on a few of our lower ranks, though there's a Vice-Captain level out there as well..." Ryan continued to tap the tracker, which seemed strange as it was mounted on the side of his head, making him look like he was scratching behind his ear or something. "And what seems to be an arrancar, more powerful than what I'd call garden variety - I'd say at least a Fraccion, if not a Privarion Espada. Actually, no..."

Ryan trailed off, looking back toward the battle. The other signature...

"...two Privarion Espada. One coming up as unidentified, but the other...coming up as Ishi Riki, though I don't know how this thing knows that, since I can't pull up any tactical data. I don't know how to work these damn things aside from making the display come up," Ryan grumbled. "Maxi needs to give out instructions for this crap...either way, though, we'd better go serve as some form of backup. I don't think I can take the vizard, but..." Another signature registered. "...well, if that's Lieutenant Yamoto coming up, then we should have a good shot at clearing the path and making an assault on the fortress itself. God damn-"

Ryan took off the tracker and pushed a few buttons - well, at least the thing had gone silent. He reached into his pocket to put it there and suddenly felt another weight. Cold metal, with a bit of wood...Ryan drew it out slowly, and realized that he was holding his Colt Single Action Army revolver. "...I never thought that I brought this. I know I brought it back from when I went home, but..." Ryan pushed the hammer down and opened the gun - not fully loaded, as he always left an empty chamber under the hammer for safety, but it still had five rounds chambered. He also felt a weight in his left pocket - the bullets he'd taken as spares. Looking back up at Jan, Ryan stuck the revolver in his belt. "I have no idea if this will be effective, and it's not really my firearm of choice, but I hope you don't mind modern weapons." Ryan turned back to look the way he'd come, his eyes narrowing and his voice losing its emotion. "It's how I learned to fight."

Yamoto appeared next to Ryan and Jan. His breathing was a little heavy, but that was to be expected as he never really used Shunpo more than three times in a row. He had used it a good six times to even keep up with Jan. Yamoto wiped the sweat away fro his forehead and caught his breath.

"Sorry I am a little late, that forrest was a b***h." Yamoto breathed in slowly and relased the air even slower. Yamoto reached into one of the inner pocket of his uniform and pulled out a bottle of sake. He drank a mouthful and then put it back into the pocket where it had come from. "So what are we dealing with here." Yamoto looked to Ryan and nooded as a gesture of compliance.

Hitsugaya awaited Erzu's answer, but Erzu was taking longer then he expected to answer. He felt two forms of reiatsu sent in his direction. The first wave, was a vizards blade. It instantly destroyed all of his ice clones. Consequently, he lost sight of all views from the outside. The dome of ice was still up. Withholding its structure. He signed in relief and relaxed a bit. Only to have his relaxation shot as a darker form of energy was sent at the dome. He turned his whole body quickly. Cutting the excess ice that was flying towards them all. It was Kevin. Toshiro felt a slight chill as he felt both the manifestations of Hollow and Vizard energy. Who the hell was this guy?

He muttered something about Kurai going back to her cell. Toshiro flexed his arms and tightened his grip on his zanpaktou. Toshiro would give up his life for this girl. He did not care who he had to face. How much pain he would go through. How much he would suffer... Kurai, was his whole life. He raised his zanpaktou to his face. Resuming a defensive position, Toshiro was suddenly stopped as he heard the small voice as she rushed in front of him. She held a blade to Kevin. Yelling at him, to do Toshiro no harm. He smiled, she still is the same stubborn girl that he met so long ago. He placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her around. His watered gaze met hers. If this was the last time he was going to see her... she had to know. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I love you Kurai". While he said that, he placed the necklace he gave her long ago into her hands. The one that her alter-ego ripped off and threw to the ground. He turned his head and pressed his lips against hers for a second before releasing and pushed her back into Yomiko's arms. Giving Yomiko a nod. Toshiro made a wall between him and the group. It separated him from the group. Turning back to Kevin, " I don't think she wants to... I don't either..." He said as his Reiatsu levels spiked. "You have to get through me first..."

[TORSIN! You have the worst timing EVER! scream If you want a fight... you get to fight a Ice clone mrgreen . I'll be controlling him directly so don't think you can just destroy him and move on.]

Even under the intense field of reiatsu, Toshiro's willpower and courage was amplified ten times over. The adrenaline rush that was flowing through his body raised his awareness level of all things in the room. "Zane..." He muttered under his breath while he was still facing Kevin. Toshiro cursed they man's timing. He could easily feel the high velocity bullets headed toward him and their origin. As the weapon exploded, it released an echo that could be felt throughout the room. Regular bullets would do nothing to a soul but reiatsu infused rounds would do some damage. Toshiro shunpo'd to the left a few feet to avoid the rounds. "Aisu Kage bunshin." He said. An ice clone formed to the side of Zane. It was heavily infused with Toshiro's reiatsu. Making the ice extremely dense. Quite possibly as sharp as his own blade. Zane would have one hell of a time fighting him. Toshiro's power has grown so much since then. Looking back at Kevin, he smirked. "Bankai..." He muttered.

If Toshiro was going to fight such a high level vizard and survive, he would need to use his Bankai. His bankai was still in its premature stages. He knew it... but it would be enough to hold off Kevin. Perhaps it will evolve after this battle. His whole body was encased in a large quantity of ice. The area that everyone was in began to frost over. Pillars of ice began to shoot out from the ground and edged closer to Kevin. His casing radiated with reiatsu. It was as it the ice was alive. It pulsed. Loudly. As His own heart synced in rhythm with the pulsing. Then suddenly it exploded. Toshiro was wearing a suit of armor. One that matched the color of his ice. The chest plate had a unique symbol on it. A bird, no... a phoenix. Itsuru... was the armor. His zanpaktou took its physical form and transformed into something that would protect not only his master, but everyone he could. The slit in his helmet provided sight. His katana... was no longer existent. Rather... it took shape of the legendary Excalibur. A story that Toshiro favored as a child. European stories were always interesting. On his back, were wings. Wings as white as can be. Expanded six feet outward. They looked as though they were real. Feathers that fell of melted on sight. He charged forward and slashed horizontally at Kevin. Sending a large blade of ice at him.

Kevin let out a sigh at what Kurai had said. But before he had a chance to say anything Toshiro decided it would be best to use his Bankai. Something was amiss, why was the other defect Ezru here, and not attacking anyone, one logical answer came to mind, he was defying Aizen, he defected to save some of them, but he could be wrong he could ahve been plotting to fake it all, but back to the conversation at hand. "You don't get it girl, there your safer than you have ever been." He said keeping his eerily civil tone. "But since you and frosty there seem to like doing things the hard way fine." He thought he woulden't have to use this next technique at all, bhut now he was loyal to Aizen so he would have to if he wanted to take care of Toshiro, and take the prisoner back. Kevin used a Gemelos Sonido creating a clone of himself, the real Kevin attacked Toshiro while the other one went behind Kurai wraping his left arm around her neck. "If you do not with harm to come upon you, you will be a good little girl." The clone said to Kurai.