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Ch1Bleach Dark Dawn Ch1 - Beginnings

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------Intro------
It has been several weeks since Aizen and his followers, Gin Ichimaru and Kannamae Tousen, betrayed the Gotei 13. After an elaborate plot to obtain the Hogyoku, followed by a retreat to the hollow realm Hueco Mundo. The Gotei has been left with nothing to do but prepare for the inevitable showdown with Aizen’s armada once the hogyoku awakens. However, despite all of their preparations, nothing can prepare them for the storm which is to come.


----- Soul Society, Squad 13------



A young man was meditating in the woods near squad 13's barracks, he appeared in age to be about 17 or 18. He wore the standard pants of a shinigami, long baggy black pants with a white rope belt. Instead of the usual matching shirt however, the man wore a chainmail shirt, their metallic grey standing out from, but not clashing with, the uniform bottom. The shirt was short sleeved, to reduce its weight and unwieldiness, and the man didn’t seem to notice them being any different than a regular shirt, indicating that such attire was not unusual for him.

The man was taller than average, standing at about 5’10” and appeared to be in great shape. His muscles were well toned and clearly visible, however the man’s build was skinnier than one might expect from such an athletic person. He had long, straight, tree bark brown hair down to his shoulders and very tanned skin, as if he spent almost all of his time outdoors and had done so for a very long time.

The most astonishing feature however, was the huge, single edged blade on the man’s lap as he meditated. The blade was a full 6 feet in length, and about a foot wide to boot. It had two holes near the base where the hilt attached, presumably to balance the blade and attempt to reduce its overall weight, even so, the massive blade seemed far too heavy to be used in combat, let alone to rest on one’s lap during meditation. Despite this, the man paid no mind as he breathed in…. and out… in… and….

"Thwack!"

The sound of a wooden sword cracking down on the man’s head echoed through the woods.

"GAH! What the hell!?" The man yelled as he rubbed his head, his voice was deep, but unmistakably still young. The man turned to face his assailant, opening his sky-blue eyes as he did so.

"Dropping your guard Torin, not a good practice for a shinigami." a good looking man said as he rested his wooden sword on his shoulder "if I were an enemy you'd be dead."

This man wore a full uniform, with the same baggy black pants as Torin, but complete with the shikakusho top as well, a black article of clothing with long sleeves and an opening at the chest, revealing the man’s chest. He was also in excellent shape, with an average build, but his muscles weren’t as visible as Torin’s appearing to be more dense and designed for endurance, rather than raw strength. He was also tall, standing at 5’9”, and had short, spiky, jet black hair that looked like it hadn’t been combed, but still managed to look good. His eyes were a regular brown, but were bright and full of energy, and a hint of a mischievous glint, like he already had his next prank set up and was waiting for it to go off.

Torin's eye twitched "so you're saying you're NOT my enemy Rida? Because my aching head seems to disagree! And we're right next to our own barracks dammit! Why should I be worried about an enemy attacking?"

Rida laughed "oh come on, I didn't hit you THAT hard, and you never know, the Soul Society has been invaded before. Haven’t you ever heard the story about how 3000 years ago an arrancar and an army of his followers nearly conquered the Soul Society?"

"Oh come on... That's just a story people tell little kids to make them behave, that never actually happened.” Torin groaned “and anyway, if it's not safe HERE of all places, then where the heck am I going to try and ask my zanpakto its name? Admit it, you just wanted an excuse to whack me on the head for kicking your ass in our last sparring match"

Rida put on an innocent face "I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about, I only wanted to teach you to always be ready for an attack, I was worried about your well-being." he said with a straight of a face as he could muster

"well-being my ass!" Torin growled as he picked up a wooden sword of his own from the ground beside him and set his buster sword down "I hope you don't mind if I teach YOU a lesson now Rida!" he said as he stood up

Rida smirked, he had succeeded in provoking Torin once again, of course now he was going to get his ass kicked, but hey, it's the price you pay for personal entertainment. "You're welcome to try if you have what it takes." he taunted as he held his sword in front of him and took a side stance. Turning his body away from Torin to make himself a smaller target, and holding his blade horizontally in the hand closest to his opponent in preparing to block.

"This coming from the person who has lost the past 136 sparring matches against me without a win" Torin retorted as he took a wider stance, his feet shoulder-width apart as he held his sword in front of him with both hands.

"Hey match 100 was definitely a tie!" Rida said with indignation.

"Don't kid yourself, we both know I went easy on you cause it was your birthday" Torin laughed "It was your birthday present."

"Your gift to me was beating me black and blue instead of breaking my bones? Thanks... such a great gift..." Rida joked.

With their verbal sparring over, the two began the real battle. Torin moved first, stepping in with a powerful slash from above. Rida responded by stepping in closer himself, raising his blade and planting his feet, then bracing his blade with his other hand as Torin’s strike landed on his guard. Rida grunted from the impact, then deflected Torin’s blade to the side, spinning as he stepped to Torin’s other side and slashing horizontally.

Torin recovered quickly and switched from a two handed grip to just his right hand, slashing diagonally and turning to parry Rida’s strike and knock it high, then he quickly shifted his momentum and brought his blade back down for a diagonal slash.
Rida brought his blade back down too and blocked, locking blades with Torin to cut off the momentum of the strike.

Torin smiled as he put both hands on his sword again and pushed Rida off balance, easily overpowering him and pressing the attack. Switching to one hand again Torin slashed once, twice, three times, each slash expertly placed and quick.

Rida stumbled backward, off balance as he was it was all he could do to block each strike and not fall over, going on the attack was impossible. Each strike drove him back and further off balance, and the third he could barely muster the strength to deflect.

Torin, sensing that Rida was at his limit, switched back to two hands and launched a ferocious slash, cutting upward from hip to shoulder.

Rida blocked, then let the force knock him back by throwing his weight backwards into a backflip, using Torin’s brute force to replace his lost footing. He landed on solid footing again, while Torin in contrast had been unbalanced by the lack of resistance in his blow. Now it was Rida’s turn to press the attack, he charged in with a flurry of quick thrusts, not giving Torin time to block all of them and driving him back.

Torin retreated until his back hit a tree, which gave him something to balance himself on. While regaining his balance was a good thing, Rida lunged for the opening it provided.
Torin deflected the blow by pushing the flat of the blade away with his hand, and then countered by slamming his sword into Rida's gut, winding him and ending the battle.

"That was... a cheap shot..." Rida complained as he caught his breath

"Look who's talking you jerk!" Torin laughed as he helped Rida to his feet "That makes 137 wins for me and 0 for you, when are you going to just admit that I'm better at zanjitsu than you?"

"As soon as you admit that the infinitely smarter, cooler, funnier, and better looking guy among us is me" Rida replied

"You forgot immodest, egotistical, arrogant, and obnoxious" Torin sighed as he rolled his eyes


"Are you tormenting Torin again Rida?" a woman asked as she walked into the clearing they stood in "why can't you annoy someone else?"

The woman was a regal looking person who appeared to be used to people doing what she told them to. She had long black hair and black eyes, and wore a standard uniform, with a badge indicative of her rank as a seated officer. All in all she was quite attractive, though in a cold way.

Rida held up his hands and shook his head "5th seat Shizukesa! I'm not tormenting him, if anything he's tormenting me! Honest!"

"A likely story" Shizukesa said curtly "I'm just passing by, try not to beat the living daylights out of each other ok? I need you both intact and ready for duty"

Torin and Rida watched her walk off, Rida stared after her for a bit longer than Torin, who began to smirk when he saw the look on his face. "Oh I see what's going on now… You like her don't you?" he said

Rida blushed furiously "w-what? NO! No way! I just respect her a lot that's all! Nothing more! I mean, she keeps everyone in line and keeps the squad functioning. With the captain ill and no Lieutenant to fill in, she has a lot of responsibility and I think she does a good job." he said "If there's anyone with a crush around here it's you!"

"Me?" Torin asked

"Yeah you! And that Aurora girl! Don't try and tell me there's nothing between you two!" Rida said, clearly eager to turn the tables on Torin

Now it was Torin's turn to blush "I-I have no clue what you're talking about! I don't have a crush on her! We were in the same class, that's all, I barely know her at all!" he said

"But she knows you doesn't she? She seems to know alllll about you, you seem to be doing some research on her too, you little lovebird." Rida teased, knowing he had the upper hand now

"S-shut up!" Torin said, his face was now a brilliant shade of crimson

"Look there's Aurora over there!" Rida said

"Where!?" Torin said as he looked around frantically

"HA! Gotcha, you totally have a crush on her, admit it." Rida roared with laughter

Torin scowled "why I oughta!" he growled as he cracked his knuckles

Rida stopped laughing "Oh hi Aurora" he said, looking over Torin's shoulder

"No way, I'm not falling for that again! Get some new tricks Rida!" Torin said

"H-hi Torin, h-how are you?" a girl stammered. She was about the same age as Torin and Rida. She had long light-brown hair halfway down her back, blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. She was shorter than the two boys, only being 5’7” and had a very slight build. She wore a snow-white version of the standard uniform, though her top was sewed shut and showed no cleavage. The girl was clearly well endowed, but she seemed to be trying to hide it, as if she were shy, but this effort gave her an air of innocence and kindness that likely attracted more suitors than her body ever could.

"I'm great thanks for asking Aurora... GAH!" Torin exclaimed as he spun around, pushed his hair out of his face and covered up all the dirty spots on his arms from sparring in one fluid motion. "Uh… hi, how's it going with you?" he asked, face burning with humiliation. Behind him Rida was doubled over trying to suppress his laughter.

"I-I'm fine, thanks for asking, it means a lot, really." Aurora said as she blushed a bit. They were both silent for a bit, each too embarrassed to speak.

After several minutes of this awkward silence Rida sighed. "Oh come on you two, what are you? First year academy students?" Rida groaned as he walked over and put an arm around Torin’s shoulder "hey Aurora, Torin here wants to take you out on a date this Saturday, how bout it?"

"WHAT!" Toin exclaimed as his face turned a bright shade of pink "I-I-I never said that!" he stammered

"So you don't?" Aurora said, tears brimming in her eyes

"I never said that either!" Torin gulped, he was trapped now, either not ask Aurora out and lose the chance forever or get the guts to ask now… he was going to KILL Rida later. "Uh, yeah, this Saturday? You wanna go out to eat… or something?

Aurora's face looked like someone had thrown a can of red paint over it "You, and me? On a d-date? this Saturday? I'd love to... LOOK OUT!"

"Wha...?" Torin said dumbly as Aurora tackled him to the ground and a beam of red energy passed over their heads. Torin hit the ground hard and looked up at the fading beam “A cero!?”

They got up hastily and drew their zanpakto, Torin scrambling over to his buster blade to pick it up as he stood. Rida followed suit soon after.

At the edge of the clearing was an arrancar male, his mask covered most of his face, leaving an opening at the mouth where a mouth of yellow fangs grinned. The man was more beast than human, being twice as wide as a normal person and standing at 7 feet tall, with bulging muscles and a large claymore in his hand. He was bald, his mask covering his head completely and growing back into a pair of horns. He was dressed in a uniform, with a red shirt with a line of black down the middle and black pants.

"An arrancar? Here? But Aizen isn't expected to be ready for battle for months!" Torin exclaimed

"I TOLD you that you should always be on your guard!" Rida said, obviously just as shocked as Torin

"Don't give me that crap! You were off guard too!" Torin retorted

The arrancar vanished in a blur of movement, creating a sound that vaguely resembled a mix between thunder and static, and reappeared in front of Torin. The man threw a punch with a quickly charged ball of spirit energy that sent Torin flying. Aurora and Rida tried to attack in unison, slashing from either side of the man, but both their blades bounced off the arrancar's skin harmlessly, the ensuing counter-attack sent them both flying just like Torin.

"Damn... he's strong" Rida grunted as he got back to his knees "none of us are at his level! And why the hell didn’t our blades cut him?"

"And he moved so fast, is that their sonido?" Aurora asked as she recovered as well “I heard about it but I’ve never seen it

Torin had already recovered and watched as his friends attacks had bounced off “it’s called hierro Rida, all arrancar have extremely tough skin, kind of like a suit of armor, it’s strength varies from individual to individual, but this one seems to be particularly durable. You’d know that if you ever bothered to read the urgent information packets we receive.”

“You’re getting on my ass about that NOW? Seriously? Well what are we going to do?” Rida complained

“Dodge!” Torin called as the man fired another cero at them. All three of them vanished in a blur of movement using a technique called shunpo, in a similar manner to how the man had moved before, each appeared surrounding the man as the ground where they had been exploded.

The man looked at the three, then sonidod towards Aurora, slashing his oversized blade at her. Aurora blocked, but the large man’s strike knocked her into the air like she weighed nothing at all “Ah!” she cried out as she crashed into a tree and fell to the ground

Rida charged in and slashed at the man’s throat, but was blocked with ease and knocked away. The man sensed a disturbance behind him and turned to see Torin slashing with his large sword as if it weighed almost nothing, he sonidod away rather than trying to stop the attack, but his chest got nicked by the tip of the blade, sending a bit of blood into the air.

The man appeared a short distance away and fired a volley of quick energy blasts, which Torin now identified as bala, spreading them out to attack all three of the trio. Rida dodged instinctively, then realized that Aurora was still dazed from her crashing into the tree. “Shit! Aurora look out!” he called

Aurora looked up dizzily and saw the explosive spheres shooting towards her, but her legs wouldn’t respond. Then Torin jumped in the way and slashed, using the flat side of his blade like a baseball bat and knocking several spheres back into the others.

The man was already following up with a cero, but Torin turned and grabbed Aurora, then shunpod out of the way to regroup with Rida.

“Alright, I’ve got a plan, I know my blade can cut him now, but I need you two to make an opening” Torin said “Aurora, can you use kido at all? Both me and Rida are hopeless at it”
"That's my best skill, why?" Aurora replied

"Ok Rida, I need you to be a diversion, Aurora, I need you to use a spell to immobilize the arrancar, even if only for a few seconds, I'll go in for the kill." Torin said

"Got it" Aurora and Rida said in unison.

Rida charged the arrancar and leaped into the air, he descended with a spinning slash that the arrancar blocked with contemptuous ease. It knocked Rida away and started to charge a cero to finish him off when Aurora struck

"Bakudo 9 Geki!" Aurora said, drawing a Kanji symbol with her hand. Instantly the Arrancar was surrounded by a red aura and found itself temporarily paralyzed, the aura was fading quickly, but it was enough.

"EAT THIS!" Torin yelled as he jumped up and cut the arrancar in two with a gravity powered overhead slash, as it's corpse faded away the three friends gathered and checked their injuries.

"None of us are hurt? Good. We need to go report this right away" Torin said as he started to walk towards the squad 13 headquarters. "Before we go though" Torin asked, pausing for a moment "how bout that date?"

"Yeah, I'd love to, see you at 6:00 Saturday night?" Aurora said

"I'll be there, count on it!" Torin said, then they all walked off to report the incident
CH1! yeeeeeah *pops cork on champagne bottle*

thoughts? comments? advice? please I'm all ears, and eyes, and... *goes on listing body parts*

All joking aside I really do appreciate constructive criticism, no flames though. even if you hate it. Hopefully none of you will hate my writing that much though ;)

Prolouge- [link]
Ch1-
Ch2-[link]
CH3-[link]


Bleach is not owned by me, it is owned by the awesome people who make bleach for me to write about ;)
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mattanimaniac's avatar
You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.