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Raine shunpoed deep within the dark recesses of the forest... He looked up. The moonlight could barely stream through the dark curtain of leaves spread by the trees. He sighed as he slowly made his way in, his footsteps crunching against dried leaves in the still silence of the forest. Everything seemed dead here. He could sense a slight reiatsu, however he could not determine wether it was a mere Plus, a Lesser Hollow, or the two Captains' reiatsus radiating from a distance... He rested his palm on Tama, causing her to radiate a bright luminous glow in response. The forest lit up, and Raine felt more comfortable knowing that he would have this light to guide him... always...

"Help..." a sudden whisper floated from behind him, as Raine nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around and falling to the ground... He blinked for a moment and realized it was a simple lost soul. It appeared to be an elderly lady spirit, who was wearing typical day clothing and a flowered sun-hat.

"Oh... sorry ma'am, you nearly had me scared there..." He said with a kind smile. "I am going to help you out, alright?" He asked her softly to assure her he meant no harm as he stood back up. The old lady spirit simply stared at him for a few moments before responding in a withered voice. "Thank you..."

Raine pulled his zanpakuto from his sheath, raising it as he kneeled. The old lady spirit stepped back in what appeared to be fear... "You're going to kill me?" she asked in surprise. Raine shook his head. "No, sorry if I scared you... I am sending you to a place where you can rest peacefully..." he explained as his grip on the zanpakuto softened, so she would beleive he would not strike her down...

She relaxed somewhat, and cautiously stepped forward as Raine rested the pommel of his zanpakuto in the center of her forehead... A bright light radiated from the tip as the elderly lady began to fade away, leaving behind a mere small glowing sphere. The sphere of light circled its way up to the sky, floating and drifting until it disappeared...

Raine nodded with satisfaction as he sheathed his zanpakuto. The forest was quiet once again. She'll be fine in Soul Society... Raine smiled as he continued to make his way into the dark and gloomy forest.

Raine continued through the forest, his zanpakuto acting more or less as a flashlight for him, showing him the way and illuminating the path he took as he continued to search through the forest... The air of the forest was dry, and a swift chill weaved through the forest as it rushed through Raine's brown-black hair... a shiver running down his spine. What is it about this place that makes it so... unsettling... He asked himself as he looked up, hoping to find an assortment of stars... None... The thick, black clouds rolled over and concealed them from his sight. He sighed. He continued to step forward, but his foot caught onto something, and he instantly fell over, stomach-down, right on top of something... Raine lifted himself up a little, shaking his head before looking to see what he had fallen on...

His heart stopped.

He had fallen on top of the twisted and mangled remnants of the bodies that were once members of Squad Nine. Raine grimaced, stepping backwards hurriedly as he tightly gripped the hilt of his zanpakuto with his right hand... He searched the area with his eyes at a fast speed, his heart racing as his veins ran warm with adrenaline. He quickly slipped the bag off of his shoulder and pulled out his soul pager... It was crushed... He remembered falling back awhile ago when the elder lady had scared him, and his belongings inside were mostly broken, a few intact. "$h*t..." he cursed aloud as he shoved it back into his bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder as he crouched over one of the bodies, his face twisted in horror as he attempted to recognize the person... He could not even tell... they were too mangled...

Raine's eyes widened as he heard the sudden roar of what sounded like a Hollow. He jumped backwards, ensuring a decent distance between him and wherever the source of the sound was coming from. He looked up, his jaw nearly dropping at the mere sight of the monster he had yet to face. A massive dragon-like Orochi emerged, its eight heads waving as they all smiled identical smiles of evil to Raine. He listened to their greeting, and growled a low purr of pure hatred. Several souls could be seeing fleeing away from the Orochi, avoiding Raine as they ran for thier lives...

Raine tugged his zanpakuto from its scabbard, revealing its glowing, heavenly blade... He faced the Orochi, fear now unknown to him as it was replaced by anger for his fallen Squad members... "I do not give a damn what you are, or what your purpose is... But you messed with my family, and now you'll die by my blade and roast in the damned flames of hell..." His mouth, which was known for its habit of smiling, was now straight, serious, his face determined. His squad was his family, and no one messed with a Shiba's family...

Considering there are technically eight of them... and only one of I... why don't we even out the odds a little... I know this goes against my fighting standards... I have no other choice. Raine strategized as he reached into the folds of hiss robes, activating a small machine that with a quick flash, generated four more Raines...

Each Raine, except the real one, held on to a black sphere... the famous bombs that he commonly used that would spew large explosions of fireworks and flame... Within a few seconds, he sent a Raine up towards the Orochi's heads, the real Raine following closely behind... One Raine aimed a bomb to thrust it into the face of one of the heads as the Real Raine lashed out with his zanpakuto to slice the neck of another head...

The other three Raines underneath proceeded to run towards the main body of the Orochi itself, ready to smash the bombs into it's chest....

Raine grumbled as he watched the Orochi swallow the gigais... "Great..." he thought as it spewed flames towards him. Quickly thinking, Raine solidified the reiatsu underneath him, jumping up and flipping over the beam of roaring flame they spat back out at him... He could see a light, not too sure of where the light was coming from but it began to turn into a bright red. His head whipped around to face the Orochi, his eyes widened as he realized they were charging ceros...

He began to time it... Alright that head is aiming it towards me, so I have to time it.... 3.... 2... the explosion warped in and Raine allowed himself to fall from the solidified air he was standing on... 1.... the wide red beam of light barely skimmed him as Raine continued to fall, landing on one of the bodies of his fallen comrades... That was close... He thought as he watched his other gigai roast from the impact of the cero from the second head of the Orochi...

Damn... Raine got back up on his feet... There's not much light around here so it's going to be hard to fight with my zanpakuto... Raine quickly ducked behind the trunk of a tree as the Orochi attempted to lash out at him... He began to recite the incantation... "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!"

He whirled from behind the tree, facing the Orochi once more... With the trace of his finger, Raine drew several red symbols within midair tracing the delicate designs carefully with the dance of his fingers... He then held both hands outward, completing the last symbol as he called out... "Bakudo number 9.... GEKI!"

Raine began to permeate a red energy, coating his body which then covered that of the Orochi's, the red energy transferred from Raine's body, surrounding the Orochi... Lets see if this paralysis spell holds off long enough...

He then recited the following incantation... "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" He generated as much reiatsu as possible into the large red orb that formed within the palm of his outstretched hand... 'This is a reckless move but it'll have to work!'

"Hadō number 31.... Shakkahō!" Raine yelled as a pillar of red energy burst from his hands, aiming directly for the Oroci...

Raine watched as the smoke erupted, covering the Orochi... Did I get them? He asked himself as he kept his defensive stance... a moment of silence slipped past... and a loud screeching sound reverberated throughout the clearing. Raine in response clapped his hands over his ears, his eyes squinting in pain as the noise stopped and he could now only hear the laughter of evil itself. There was rumbling and Raine began to gather more reiatsu from the area, attempting to gather as much strength as possible.

He saw it... the faint red light that had yet to release itself as the rumbling grew more violent... Raine quickly held up his zanpakuto...

"Blind them... Tama Tsukiakari...."

His zanpakuto burst into a beautiful array of green light-plasma, which encircled him as a form of protection, the three blade-discs forming at the top and either side of his blade... We can do this... Raine assured his zanpakuto spirit.

Eight red beams of light erupted from the smoke, combining to create a massive cero that burst towards Raine... Raine's eyes widened, his pupils dilating as he held up his zanpakuto in defense, causing a large wave of his green plasma for form up in front of him... The two forces met, and Raine could feel a sudden heave of pressure on himself as he held up the green-plasma shield in defense, a tidal wave of green energy holding back the beam of light.... The two forces battle for dominance, one pushing the other as the other retaliated and pushed back, spraying green plasma and red reiatsu everywhere.... Raine could feel blood begin to drip from his nose as the never-ending Cero continued to push against the wave of plasma he had summoned.

Moments before the Cero finished, Raine's wave subsided reluctantly, allowing the remaining bit of the Cero to strike Raine full on... It made impact, and Raine flew backwards as the energy began to scar his skin... Raine finally hit the ground a couple feet away, crashing into the floor as he slid backwards another five feet before coming to a stop, causing a large cloud of dust to rise... He was silent for a moment, laying there with his eyes clothed as he did not even take a single breath... Most would have though him dead, until his turquoise eyes shot open and he coughed, allowing himself to breath once more...

Damnnn... it... He thought to himself as he pulled his tired body from the ground, looking back up to the Orochi and wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand... He lightly traced his finger along all three of the discs that floated above his zanpakuto, allowing them to spin, whirring, at a rather fast speed.

"Damnit..." he said aloud this time, fury boiling up inside of him as he raised his zanpakuto above his head... "YOU WILL PAY FOR THE LIVES YOU HAVE ENDED!!!!!" He bellowed as he slammed his zanapkuto against the ground... The three discs that had floated above the blade made impact with the ground, and within seconds, shot towards three of the Orochi's heads at the speed of light, leaving a trail of light behind them, causing three sudden beams to shine brightly in the night sky. The discs whirred at the speed of light, each disc now in front of three of the Orochi's heads.

If they made impact, it would be enough power to slice all three heads completely in half.... If they didn't, Raine would have to resolve an alternative tactic...

Raine smiled as he watched the discs cut the heads cleanly off of the Orochi. Serves them right... He thought to himself as he held up his blade once more in defense, causing his plasma to mimic his same movements, casting a rather large green shield in front of him. There are less of them, so there should not be much difficulty blocking this Cero... Raine analyzed as the Cero made impact with his shield, forcing its entire weight on it, Raine once again forced to deal with the severe pressure of the Cero. He fed more and more plasma to the collection of plasma that was blocking the Cero, slowly but surely winning the battle. Then suddenly...

What!? Raine's eyes widened as the Cero broke through his defense...

We can't keep doing this Raine... I-I'm sorry... Emerarudo apologized as if she had failed Raine.

No worries... Raine said as he shunpoed out of the way, the Cero successfully roasting the tips of his hakama. He landed on the ground, jumping backwards to avoid a lash from the Orochi... They snapped with their teeth, Raine slashing with his blade to knock their terribly sharp teeth away as they lashed out with their tail. Raine was shoved backwards as he hit the trunk of a tree... sliding down after a long pause... He opened his eyes, coughing up a glob of blood as he stood back up... His black wavy hair was now tangled in front of his face, concealing his shadowed eyes... He plugged his blade into the moist dirt, using it as something to lean on as he regained himself...

Heh... heh... heh.. he panted as he held his blade forward...

He smiled... "Just gettin' started!" Raine jumped up and sliced his blade down, causing his plasma to mimic his attack in the form of a large green tidal wave that rushed towards the Orochi... It was caustic, and sure to cause some damage to them as Raine brightened his blade to the point where it was near blinding... He then shunpoed directly behind the wave, following it... If that failed he would lash out at another one of the heads... If the wave succeeded he would flip over the had and land on their back, in an attempt to stab them from there... If he succeeded in planting his blade into their skin, he would proceed to his next plan of action.

"Burn... Suzaku!" A wave of flame rushed out to greet the faces of the snapping Orochi. They howled and recoiled in pain at the attack as something shot by them. Raine would feel a sudden tug on the collar of his robes as someone forcefully yanked him to the side.

Ruka landed lightly with Raine in tow before she released him and turned to look at him. Both her flaming katanas were held in one hand as she put the other on her hip with a grin "I can't leave you alone for five minutes can I? You always get into trouble." The smile seemed forced, most likely because of the dead bodies strewn across the floor. In her eyes there was the mad gleam of anger.