บท 4: A Wandering Soul Spirit 1.3
The sun was shining on a beautiful clear day, as people started going about their business. I dropped back into what I decided to call 'Spirit Form' so I could explore the town without drawing attention to the obviously Western girl poking about with no real explanation as to why. It didn't help that it looked like I could be anywhere from 16 to 22, since people would want to question why I wasn't either in school or at work.
It was still risky, since I assumed I was invisible to everyone except others who could astralize when in the newly dubbed 'Spectre Form' but without getting a clear view of my surroundings, it was hard to pick out a temporary base.
One problem that was becoming more evident as time went on, was that I was running out of steam.
Literal hours of screaming, followed by all my experimenting meant that I was getting tired. I would need to find a place to rest for the night even if I didn't stay there for my base. Maybe sneak into a hotel and spend the night? Not a bad backup plan.
-o-
Lunch was a simple affair consisting of a turkey sandwich, fries, and a bottle of water I managed to snatch from one of the larger restaurants I had found in the area. Me being invisible made moving the ingredients I needed simple, as I just waited for no one to be looking and made off with them. Another potential profession for when I figure out where I want to go from here.
Alex Cross, literal phantom thief.
Has a nice ring if I say so myself.
Finishing the last of my fries, I dusted myself off and continued my wandering through town. Making my way northward, since I had actually run across the Kurosaki Clinic wandering the southern half of the town.
Being the calm rational individual I take pride in being, when I saw the sign for the clinic I promptly pulled an about face and ran the fuck away. I don't know how closely Urahara kept an eye on Ichigo growing up, but I didn't want to be in any area that would attract his attention.
So here I was, hours later, wandering the northwestern part of town. No conveniently abandoned buildings, no empty warehouses, and no place to crash for the night.
The sun was slowly making its way down to the horizon leaving me with maybe another few hours to find somewhere to pilfer dinner from and find a hotel. Cause clearly I wasn't going to find a base today.
Spotting signs for a hotel down the next alley, I turned off the main road and made my way down the street.
Just as the hotel sign came into view, I realized my pleasant day was not about to end on a high note. A tall dark shape, easily 15 feet tall, stepped out from behind one of the buildings. Its heavily muscled form was clearly not human with the disproportionate arms, stumpy legs, green-black skin, and bone white mask all identifying the creature in front of me as a Hollow.
That wasn't the worst part about this little encounter though.
No, the part that made ice go down my spine was the eyes. Uncompassionate glowing yellow eyes peered out from the mask. Right. At. Me.
Slowly backing up down the road, I tried breaking down my options.
I could run, even without any special mobility options available to me right now I was confident I could stay ahead of the Hollow until the Soul Reaper or one of Urahara's gang showed up to get rid of it. Problem with that was I would either have to deal with the Soul Reaper and try to avoid getting Konsō'd, or I'd draw the attention of Urahara who would probably instantly see me as different than a normal soul. Actually would Konsō even work on me? Either way running would have to be a backup plan.
Hiding was out. The Hollow would probably trash the area around me searching if I couldn't get far enough away. And for all the improvement my one day of training gave me in Astralizing, it still took too much time and concentration.
Which meant option C. Kill it. And do it fast otherwise the same drawbacks to the other options would apply here as well.
Steeling myself for a facedown with the murderghost, I quickly traced a bow into my left hand and an arrow to my right. I know that I'm at least pushing the physical human peak from the lack of physical tiredness from all the tests and wandering I did today. But the mental strain is going to make this a much more challenging fight.
Dammit, if only this Hollow showed up after I was rested!
My condition makes itself unwelcomely known when I manage to fire off the shot. The arrow streaks through the air and pierces the Hollow's thick neck. Not the center of his forehead as I wanted. 'Improper foot placement, improper drawing technique. Forced the aim low and to the right.' And the bow promptly splinters in my hand before bursting into light. 'Flaw in the structure, couldn't handle a full powered shot.'
Despite immediately knowing why I missed, I wasn't going to get another shot. The Hollow recoiled from the arrow, which hit with the power of a rifle shot, only to turn back to me and unleash an animalistic roar when it failed to bring him down.
Continuing to roar, the Hollow surged towards me, hands raised ready to crush me into the pavement.
Not wanting to be anywhere near the charging Hollow, I projected a spear and rushed to the right hoping the damage to its neck would cause issues tracking me. The Hollow brought its fists down in a hammerstrike, missing me as I ran by. Crushing the pavement behind me and kicking up a cloud of dust. Halting my rush to the right, I spun in place and drove the spear as hard as I could into the creature's side.
The head of the spear went deep into the torso of the Hollow, but I made the mistake of acting like I was fighting a human. The strike was far too low to hit anything immediately vital. Meaning I dealt a vicious wound, but the Hollow was still in the fight.
Something it was happy to prove by trying to take my head off with a sweeping backhand.
I scrambled to duck under the fast moving limb, feeling the wind it kicked up pulling at my hair. I drew back the spear for another thrust into its now unprotected chest, only to see the Hollow continue its rotation and the unnoticed tail slam into my left side.
I felt the bones in my left arm break as the thick appendage threw me down the road and into a parked car. Probably lost a rib or two judging from the ache forming. To make matters worse, I couldn't effectively use a spear with one arm so I was going to have to get up close and personal with something twice my height and waaay outside my weight class.
Today was going so well too.
Pulling myself off the now dented car, I quickly looked back towards the Hollow. The arrow had vanished at some point allowing for blood to pour out of the hole. I would think that would be a killing blow to any living creature, but spiritual beings seemed to have a bullshit ability to survive things that really should kill them not solely based on biology. In addition to that, the spear wound to its side was also bleeding heavily. As a bonus, it looked like the Hollow was slowing down since it was marching towards me rather than rushing again.
Warily watching the approaching beast, I decided to do something a bit reckless.
Throughout the day, I had practiced body reinforcement in addition to projection. But I had taken it slow. A long process to safely increase my physical abilities since I did not want to explode my body.
I was going to throw safety out the window.
Taking a moment to push the pain racking me out of my mind, I focused on projecting the strongest weapon I could right now. Light formed in the palm of my right hand before consolidating into the shape of a familiar white sword.
Reinforcing my body to the biggest extent I dared, I dropped into a crouch. The Hollow, seeming to recognize my movement as a challenge gave another roar and raised its right hand. Ready to try the hammerblow again but still guarding its injured side.
I rushed forward in a blur, crossing the distance between the two of us in a heartbeat. Sliding to a stop below the Hollow I reinforced my legs even more, wincing slightly at the feeling of muscles tearing from the rushed application of power, I launched myself at its head ready to stab through the mask and end this fight.
My blade easily stabbed through the bone-like material and deep into the Hollow's head. Internally I rejoiced at winning, just as movement caught my attention coming from the left.
The Hollow had reacted to me getting up in its face like anyone else would. Meaning it abandoned the hammerblow and flailed to keep me away.
Mere moments after my sword killed it, the flailing hand crashed into my already damaged left side and sent me flying for the second time today.
This time my flight is broken by one of the buildings lining the road. I crash through the wall and feel a few more ribs break under the abuse and my left arm screams in pain.
Dragging myself out of the rubble, I look back at the dissolving Hollow. Good thing I managed to kill it with that blow. I'm definitely not in fighting shape after that last hit.
I limp back out the hole I put in the wall and take a few seconds to just breathe and wipe the blood dripping into my eye from a cut on my forehead.
Now, just need to make my way to literally anywhere else before someone sho- "Well I would say that was quite the show miss!"
Oh fuck me.
Turning to one side, in the same getup I remember from the show is Kisuke Urahara. Same easygoing smile, stupid hat, and clog shoes. But for all the cheerful tone addressing me, his eyes are cold and calculating.
Oh Urahara, I really didn't want to run into you.
"Oh? Now why wouldn't you want to run into me? I would think I had a fairly good reputation as a business owner, but you seem to know me and I don't think you have ever graced my store. So why don't we have a nice chat, shall we?" The words are pleasant, but his posture shifts slightly to cut off any movement I might make.
Fuck, I said that out loud didn't I?
I take it back, today sucks. I'm just going to take a nap now and let future-me deal with this mess. So I stop suppressing the tiredness from staying awake nearly 24 hours, the pain from the broken bones, and the lightheadedness which is either a concussion or blood loss and pass out.
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