The Next part of the story! A faceoff! We shall see the winner!

Back in Soul Society…

I stepped outside of my room, looking around at the empty walkway.
"Hmph…" I grunted, "Hisagi and Ruka must be out on their rounds…" I scratched my head…
After freshening myself up and having a little something to eat before beginning the day, I ventured through the hallways of the 9th Division Editorial building. As I passed by, several of the shinigami stopped and bowed swiftly "Good Morning Vice-Captain Shiba!"
I acknowledged them with a quick nod, stopping to one of the shinigami to ask them something.
"Y…yes Vice Captain!" He stopped shortly in front of me.
"Might you know where Captain Kusabana or Vice-Captain Hisagi are?"
The shinigami nodded.
"Captain Kusabana went to a Captain's meeting, I don't know if you heard about it this morning, and Vice-Captain Hisagi was dispatched to take care of a few wandering hollow."
"Thank you." I said shortly, darting off, and leaving the confused shinigami behind.

I stepped out into the open pathways, like a maze, filled with white walls and tile that reflected the sunlight, seemed to lead to nowhere.
Thankfully for me, I knew my way around. I followed one particular pathway until I reached a cliff-side, overlooking vast green fields. A breeze rushed through the grass, the green blades flowing wildly in the wind, as if I was standing in an endless green ocean with furious waves. My blade glowed vibrantly. I smiled. Today was my kind of day…
Despite the beauty of the day, there was the slightest inkling within me that something bad was going to happen. I frowned, leaping from the tall height of the cliff, and landing safely on the grounds, in the direct center of the vast plains. I looked into the distance, the skies here seemed fresh and blue, but the sky farther in the distant… gradually became gray and dull…
"How odd…" I said out loud, stepping a little farther, hoping I might find out what was causing this gut-wretching feeling within me…

I could make out the silhouette of something in the distance… I was a little unsure… but I figured I should check it out… Maybe it was the hollows Ruka was after…
I had already gone much farther out from the gates of Sereitei, not realizing I was going much farther than I was supposed to…
The silhouette grew larger, the skies grew fairly duller, and I began to run towards it, despite my logic telling me to stay and report it to Captain-Commander Yamamoto…

As I neared it, my eyes widened… What the heck? An attack? Today? I stepped back in slight fear… I better report this to the Captain Commander… I was stopped in mid-sentence…
A giant bullet whizzed by my head, barely missing my by inches, slightly burning the a lock of my messy hair…
I pulled out my zanpakuto, the blade beaming with the sunlight, humming in my hand as it recognized the enemy…
A whole squadron of black clad people neared me, separated by only a few feet…
They all wore the same clothing, except the three of the leaders. They wore long black trench coats that extended as far as the heels of their shiny black boots to the black hoods pulled over their heads. They wore smooth black masks that covered their faces, leaving only one eyehole… They too, carried zanpakuto, but they were sheathed horizontally on the lower midsection of their backs, shorter blades than the usual zanpakuto, in a black sheath embroidered with silver ornate designs of dragons burning down skeletons…
The three people in the front, smiling menacingly at me, stood in front of the fifty soldiers… The one on the left was a man, who wore the same leather trench coat and boots, but his coat was sleeveless, revealing his pale skin… he wore no hood or mask, and his devious smirk and glinting icy blue eyes seemed dangerous. His spiked blonde hair extended to about shoulder length, and his zanpakuto was slung across his back, a bright red sash holding the sheath in place. He wore a silver breastplate, and he was overall a skinny, yet tall figure…
The one to the right was a female, with well… erhm… well-endowed breasts and a very striking figure… She wore high -heel shiny black boots with the same trench coat, which was unzipped at the top, and covered with a black silk scarf, which tumbled around her to the ground… It seemed to flow unnaturally as if underwater… Her long black hair cascaded around the frame of her face, which was pale, delicate, and fairly rosy… She had the appearance of a porcelain doll, except in fighting gear… Her zanpakuto was sheathed at her right, which was odd for most people, but I figured she was left-handed…
The third one in the middle, stood with his arms crossed. He had a serious look upon his face, with no edge of happiness whatsoever…
He was tall, wore a black loose shirt and hakama, with a black leather jacket, the hood pulled over his head, with no mask. He had black hair, wavier than mines, and more neat, but the same length as my hair. His eyes were sad and darkened, as if he were tired. His red and blue eyes pierced into me. He had three scars on his right eye, and his skin was somewhat pale… he held his sheathed zanpakuto in his left hand, a strap wrapped around his wrist, securing the zanpakuto… he was shorter than the blonde guy, but taller than the woman, and fairly thin, which was hard to tell due to his baggy clothing…
"So… I have finally come face to face with a shinigami… and you seem to be a little stronger than the others…" His soft voice chilled my spine. This dude was really creepy.
"What others?" I asked, fearing what his response would be.
With a quick snap of his fingers, one of the black robed figures from behind handed the leader a big worn-out sack…
Daiki turned the sack over, and out rolled the heads of a few shinigami, whose expressions of fear, terror, or sadness were frozen in place…
"You bastard…" I muttered under my breath, staring at the decapitated heads in horror…
"Unfortunately, you may just be next…" The man said…
"Who are you?" I asked, utterly confused… "And why do you want to attack the Thirteen Protection Squads?"
He smiled and chuckled softly to himself… "Usually I do not give away my name so easily, but seeing as your fate is death, there is no point in keeping it from you… I am Daiki Sasaki, Vice-Commander of the Organization… And we are here to eliminate any other shinigami who still wield zanpakuto… As you can see, our job may take some time, but I can assure you it will get done." He pointed to the woman and the man next to him… "And these are Rose and Akuma…
I took one step back. "You're going to have to get through me first in order to get any farther…" I held out my zanpakuto, the blade beaming brightly in the now dull skies…
He laughed, which really annoyed me. I didn't like it when people laughed at me when I was being serious… "You are obviously outnumbered! We can cut you in minutes!" Daiki stepped forward… "Now, you will tell me your name, so that I will know who it is I am cutting down…"
I grunted… This guy really did not think I could take him down… "Raine Shiba…" I said, "Vice-Captain of the Ninth Division…"
He looked back, and frowned when he saw the sky becoming darker and darker…
"Well, it seems I have no time to spare, enough with the formalities, so stand still so I can just finish you of and proceed with the attack…"
He unsheathed his zanpakuto, a dull gray blade, but it seemed to make a buzzing noise of some sort… His subordinates behind him drew their zanpakutos…
Daiki charged towards me, I held up my sword, blocking his attack…
"This is pointless…" He swung his blade to the side, I turned the hilt, easily blocking his attack… He slammed his blade against mines, my blade glowing furiously with every blow… He jumped back, I darted towards him, striking for his side… the blade piercing the tip of his clothes, drawing a drop of blood from his hip…
"You underestimate me…" I said, landing behind him… His eyes widened…
"Akuma! Rose!" He shouted to them… They nodded and came to his side, drawing their holding out their zanpakutos…
"Really? You are going as far as calling assistance?" I chuckled… "Do you even have a shikai?" I smiled…
"I do… I do not wish to waste such a power on you… I haven't got the time!" All three of them charged at me, I blocked Daiki's attack, then shifting over and blocking a blow from Akuma, dodging an oncoming swing from Rose… She swiftly and gracefully danced with her blade, landing a blow on my ribs, slicing some of my skin, and drawing blood…
I jumped backwards, darting behind Akuma, directing my blade towards him, as he blocked it, glaring angrily at me, Daiki coming from behind me and slicing at my arm, I barely dodged it by inches…. Rose jabbed her blade at me, I dodged again, using shunpo to gain some distance between me and my three opponents, panting heavily as I faced them, only a few feet away…
I held out my hand… muttering the incantation, hoping kidou would help me… I recited… "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!" My hand glowed a bright yellow, electricity charging between my fingers, stuttering and shaking, very unstable and hard to maintain, but still controllable…
I screamed… "Thunder Roar Canon!" My the yellow electric sphere burst, going insane and spreading out into several directions before finally targeting Daiki, Akuma, and Rose…
The yellow lightning charged towards them… Rose remained emotionless, but shrieked as the shot slammed against her, shoving her backwards and shocking her… Akuma barely missed it, receiving some of the blow, but only enough to be pushed backwards… Daiki used shunpo to appear in midair, directly above the shot of electricity, and landing once more as the blast passed by…
"Interesting… It seems that shot was a little off…" Daiki criticized. "Perhaps you need a little more practice with your kidou…"
I was annoyed… Rose stood back up, zanpakuto drawn; Akuma turned to me, holding his zanpakuto outwards… Daiki stood in the center, one hand in pocket, and the other with the pommel of his zanpakuto dangling in his fingers, as if he were bored…
"Finish him…" Daiki said… closing his eyes and leaning against the trunk of a tree…
Rose came at me from the left, Akuma from the right, her black hair and his blonde hair only mere flashes as they zoomed towards me… I attempted to hold up my zanpakuto in defense, but I knew it would not work, regardless of were I moved… I did not have time to release my zanpakuto… I would be injured severely one way or the other…
I heard a loud clash of blades coming from both sides… Akuma and Rose had stopped…
I looked to my left… Kira Izuru was standing there, holding up his blade and blocking Akuma's zanpakuto from striking me…
I looked to my right… Rangiku Matsumoto stood there, her blade outstretched, and blocking Rose's blade from striking me…
Daiki straightened up, walking closer towards us… and stopped… an amused expression across his face…
"So… you brought friends…" He held his zanpakuto up again, this time pointed at me…
"Who are you and why are you here?" Izuru turned to Daiki, as Akuma disappeared and re-appeared next to Daiki's side, Rose joining the both of them, Rangiku standing next to me…
Daiki sighed. "Why do I have to explain myself over and over again? I'm Daiki Sasaki… here to destroy the shinigami, so on and so forth… I'm sure that explains enough doesn't it? I was about to finish your friend off here, but you two decided to interfere…"
"You are attacking a member of the Protection Squads, it is our duty to 'interfere' in this case…" Rangiku responded, serious, and sheathing her zanpakuto…

Daiki thought about it for a moment… "Hmmm…" he smiled and stepped forward…
"Right then, I guess we're forced to resort to Shikai. Rose, Akuma, it is time…" He nodded to either one of them…
Rose stepped in front of Rangiku, holding out her zanpakuto… She held it horizontally, and the blade slowly began to fade away…
"Dance with the Shadows… Chiran (Blood Orchid)…" Her zanpakuto shifted and snapped a black mist slowly clouding around the blade, covering it in a coat of shimmering black… the blade emitting a black mist into the air… the pommel turning a shimmering gold with a purple tassel hanging off form the edge… The black mist spewed into the air, tiny gears that ran along the blade chugged and churned as the black mist continued to spew into the air…
Rangiku stepped back… holding out her zanpakuto and running her hand across the smooth blade… "Growl… Haineko (Ash Cat)!" Her blade glowed and blew away like sand, a gray fog encircling around her, leaving only the pommel in her hand… The ash circled around her, ready to attack…

Akuma neared Izuru Kira, holding his zanpakuto diagonally and backhanded… He smiled… "Punish for Eternity… Sunadokei (Hourglass)..." His zanpakuto did not change much, other than the fact that the tip of the blade split into a three-pronged fork… He seemed sure of himself, and determined that he would defeat Izuru Kira…
Izuru remained emotionless… simply holding out his zanpakuto and calling "Raise your Head… Wabisuke (The Wretched One)…" The blade straitened out, the tip of it bending until it became a square-like hook, both being at a 90-degree angle… They both held out their zanpakutos, ready for either one to strike first…

Daiki Sasaki stepped in front of me, properly holding his zanpakuto firmly in his hand… He smiled; sure that this would be my end… "Murder…" he called… "Asenaru (Arsenal)!" His blade faded away, blood suddenly seeping from Daiki's hands until two guns formed in either of his hands, both of them a gray dull revolver, with blades underneath… A golden dragon was etching into each barrel of either gun, and glowed with yellow spirit energy… He wielded two gunblades, and I was doomed to find out what his gunblades were capable of shooting…
I held my zanpakuto vertically… "Blind the Enemy… Raito… Hisui…. Emerarudo! (Jade-Emerald Light)!" My blade hummed and grew brighter, nearly to a glowing state, as green light particles began to form around me, my blade grew a bright white-green… Green light particles circled around my blade and a small wave of light spewed from the blade… I was ready to fight…

It was a face-off between us all; we needed to win this battle, for the sake and protection of the Gotei 13, and Sereitei… We could not call for assistance; we were far too out of bounds to make contact with anyone… We could not lose this battle. We had to win. For the sake of Soul Society…