Shinigami Savant Quest #71

You are Captain Kusajishi Riku, and there's been a new development in the running battle between the Seireitei's Captains and their invading reigai copies. Coming to the aid of the Head Captain, you and Yoruichi made a dramatic entrance in kicking the reigai of Captain Kyōraku and Captain Ukitake through a row of nearby buildings, giving you a brief moment to orient yourselves as the reigai of Captain Unohana heals them.

From your brief interactions with Yamamoto it seems the two have favored a hit-and-run strategy, using their shikai abilities to wear away at the older Captain and in turn relying on reigai-Unohana's abilities to recover from any injuries they receive. The latter has been hiding her reiatsu in order to avoid combat, allowing her compatriots to do the heavy lifting and ensuring that all of her efforts can be focused on maintaining her side's combat effectiveness. Eventually this led to Yamamoto's near-collapse, as the constant strain began to overwhelm him even in his shikai form.

Now you're faced with the task of facing down that combination of three of the oldest and most experienced Captains in the Seireitei.

“They will be back," Yamamoto warns you. "I have yet to be able to track down the copy of Retsu, who has been healing them with her own prodigious talents."

"Well then, old man, the answer's simple!" Bambietta insists, raising her left arm and readying a reishi bomb.

"Oh?" Yamamoto asks, raising one bushy eyebrow.

"We just kill them until they stay dead," you agree, drawing your swords while Yoruichi does the same next to you. "Then deal with Unohana's reigai once they're out of the picture."

"I can only hope the rest of our number are dealing with this situation with the same exuberance," Yamamoto grumbles. "I, on the other hand, have had just about enough for the day. You youngsters can take over from here while I rest my old bones."
>1/3

“Just leave it to us,” Yoruichi nods confidently as a pair of shunpō bring the reigai of Shunsui and Ukitake back into view. “You two took your sweet time. Don't you know it's rude to keep a lady waiting?”

“It's partly your own fault, Lady Yoruichi,” reigai-Ukitake observes in the same calm voice as you'd imagine the original would use. “Had you not broken so many of my ribs without so much as a 'hello' it wouldn't have taken so long.”

“Hello!” Yoruichi greets him sarcastically, flipping the pair of butterfly swords in her hands once before attacking him with a shunpō of her own. Their four swords cross in the space between them, as Yoruichi immediately binds the two blades of Sōgyo no Kotowari and shifts her weight to pivot around the meeting point.

“Goodbye!” she taunts as she delivers a sweeping, acrobatic kick to the side of reigai-Ukitake's head that sends him crashing through a nearby roof.

“Bushō-Goma!” Shunsui counters, whipping up a pair of scything wind-gusts that surround Yoruichi on all sides. But before he can follow through with an attack from above with Taka-oni, an explosion blasts him in the chest and he falters. The walls of wind dissipate and free Yoruichi, who immediately dashes off after Ukitake once more while you exploit the opening Bambietta gave you to engage reigai-Shunsui.

Tenkotsuki and Kobara no Tachi clash with Katen Kyōkotsu's blades, forcing the reigai to do what the real Captain abhors and use both his long and short sword at once. The edges slide against each other as you struggle for leverage, until reigai-Shunsui breaks it off with a series of swipes that you expertly deflect with the carefully-angled “flowing parries” of old school kenjutsu.

“Be careful with those blasts,” you warn Bambietta through your still-active Tenteikura. “Ukitake can...”
>2/3

Even as you speak you're forced to slam your left fist into a reishi bomb, which explodes on contact with your body. Thankfully by countering with as much physical force as you can muster you've managed to mitigate the effect, but you wouldn't have wanted to take that at full power.

“Hey!” you shout over your shoulder. “What did I just say!?”

“Sorry!” Bambietta shouts back, her tone striking you as oddly mortified. From here her cloak makes it hard to tell that she lobbed that shot without benefit of her right arm. “Contact fuse!”

Contact fuse... so that confirms a standing suspicion that she has to set the 'fuse' length when she uses the technique, either for exploding on contact or for exploding in proximity as an airburst effect. She'll be switching to the latter, but you're still not entirely convinced Ukitake can't redirect her attacks: especially if he figures out that he can hide his reiatsu and delay the bomb blasts for long enough.

And then there's the issue of Unohana, who still hasn't revealed herself. You decide it's best to...

>Let Bambietta continue looking for openings to blast Ukitake and Shunsui.
>Get Bambietta to hold off until you or Yoruichi seriously wound your target, then blast them.
>Tell Bambietta to carpet-bomb the area to draw out Unohana. Shouldn't be a hard sell.
>Other?

>>Let Bambietta continue looking for openings to blast Ukitake and Shunsui.
Take extra care for Ukitake.

>Let Bambietta continue looking for openings to blast Ukitake and Shunsui.
>Use Binding Kido to lock the reigai down if they attempt to escape and force clone-Unohana to reveal herself when she goes to heal them so Bambi can blast the medic too.

Have Bambietta mostly hammer on Shunsui while you mostly hit Ukitake, and Yoruichi targets any openings the two leave

reminder that clone-Ukitake has a healthy pair of lungs unlike real-Ukitake who has mimihagi providing divine life-support.

Yes, but Bambi's attacks give Ukitake more ammo. While Shunsui doesn't have much that can counter them, aside from his shadow game.

>Let Bambietta continue looking for openings to blast Ukitake and Shunsui.

>Have Bambi Focus on Blasting Shunsui.

>>Let Bambietta continue looking for openings to blast Ukitake and Shunsui.

Going with
>Let Bambietta continue looking for openings to blast Ukitake and Shunsui
as the majority, but with an added focus on Shunsui as something of a combination of the two most popular ideas.

>dice+3d10, DC 7

This Ukitake's going to be much scarier than his normal self because of real lungs, but this Shunsui might not be quite as bad as the real deal. Not being able to hold back means he can't be as sneaky with his tricksy sword

Rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11 (3d10)

...

Rolled 10, 10, 1 = 21 (3d10)

but that means he won't hesitate in children's games. We can essentially lead him around by the nose and get to a spot where he falls for a move that'll kill him.

Rolled 10, 6, 6 = 22 (3d10)

arrgh, those 6s tease me so bad. 1 away from crits.

At least we got a success.

You know this brings up a question. They are clones that are made with the most up-to-date data. they can't replicate Hollow abilities, they can't replicate divine reiryoku, and they have no hesitation whatsoever, yet they didn't enter bankai immediately when engaging in combat. If the clones truly have no hesitation, why haven't they simply unleash bankai and just curbstomp everyone already?

Some, like Hitsugaya and Komamura, did so. But in the case of people like Ukitake and Shunsui the copied personalities are also painfully aware that their respective Bankais could take each other out along with a good deal of the invading army.

So if they thought there was ANY chance of using such measures successfully they would do so without hesitation. But the though "I could do this" would have to cross their minds first.

>still writing

You decide to allow Bambietta to continue what she's been doing, searching out openings to strike and trusting her to take extra caution with Ukitake now that she knows what his shikai can do with her own attacks. Yoruichi in the mean time tries to get creative with bakudō while you continue to clash with Shunsui, carefully trying to avoid playing his “games”... or at least the ones you're familiar with.

“Sajō Sabaku!” Yoruichi shouts, trying to fire off the coiling chain of light at close range while she's locked blades with her reigai opponent. To your shock Ukitake manages to absorb the chain of kidō through the tip of one of his blades and kicks away from your wife to aim the tip of his other sword not at her, but at Bambietta.

“Shit!” Yoruichi curses, realizing at the same time you do that Ukitake can absorb and redirect bakudō as well. “Bambi, move your ass!”

The shout is enough to get Bambietta to dodge, and even if she hasn't turned her head quite fast enough to see the attack coming she can probably feel it. You also can't help but notice the spell moves faster after having passed through Ukitake's zanpakuto: clearly he can tweak details like power and speed to mess with his opponent's timing. Luckily that sort of subtle trick doesn't work on a Sternritter who's never seen what Yoruichi's kidō should be like in the first place.

The chain misses cleanly, though in the excitement you realize almost too late that reigai-Shunsui has managed to gain an elevation advantage by vaulting into the air.

He looks down at you with a glare. “Taka-oni.”

The shorter of his pair of wide, curved blades cleaves straight through your shoulder and emerges near your waist, only for your body to fade away as your Utsusemi positions you behind and above your attacker.

You smile: now you have the high ground.
>1/2

But Shunsui has other plans. Again you barely notice in time that the reigai Captain has stabbed his long sword into the ground at his feet as you close in for the killing blow.

“Kage-oni,” he mutters, as the tip of his blade emerges from the shadow you've cast on his own back.

With a grunt of exertion you manage to generate a cushion of reiatsu to kick off of, rolling to one side of the reigai copy of your fellow Captain and sheltering beside him. You see a confused look in his eyes as he glances over at you, before he's hit in the ribs by one of Bambietta's bombs. He throws an elbow as he tumbles to get clear of the ground and right himself, kicking lightly off his font foot as he clutches his smoldering side. With a second light step he jinks into an alley and out of view.

>Follow him, he's probably heading for Unohana.
>It's probably a trap, have Bambi flatten the area.
>Use the opportunity to land a decisive blow against Ukitake.
>Other?

>Use the opportunity to land a decisive blow against Ukitake
In a 3v3, the team that loses is the team that is the first to lose a teammate.

>Use the opportunity to land a decisive blow against Ukitake.

>Use the opportunity to land a decisive blow against Ukitake.

>Use the opportunity to land a decisive blow against Ukitake.
Also, are we still in bankai?

yes, our spell suppression field is 100% dedicated towards negating clone-Kaoru's Bankai spell-buff for the clone army. So while the playing field is evened out, ppl can still use some spells. Also, we're operating at tail level 4 because Rosa's working on getting repairing and maintaining our left arm.

>Use the opportunity to land a decisive blow against Ukitake.

Have Yoruichi pin his sword arms. so we can go for the lethal backstab/decapitation.

So Rosa is doing that silly quincy things with ghost threads on our arm, does that mean if we made contact with our arm with someone she could switch from keeping our arm at peak performance to making an impromptu snare around someone with those threads?

In theory, yes. But that arm would be immediately weakened, meaning they'd be snared directly to your greatest current liability.

Rosa wouldn't do it unless you specifically told her to.

Also, attacking Ukitake wins
>3d10, DC 7

Rolled 1, 4, 9 = 14 (3d10)

yes, but we would lose all progress in re-integrating muscle memory back into our new arm and end up having a floppy useless appendage.

Rolled 1, 1, 9 = 11 (3d10)

Rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14 (3d10)

these rolls. the mediocrity burns.

Ha ha oh wow

Maybe you should have rolled then if you think you could have done better.

Only the first three count as far as remember.

>we would lose all progress in re-integrating muscle memory

You wouldn't lose any progress. That's not how it works. We would lose efficiency, yes, but it's not like the arm would unlearn what it has learned in the brief span of time we have been using it.

Also, this handicap a shit.

>you are now picturing Bambi with a noodle-y floppy useless brain

that's just zombie bambi without corpsefucker.

This is gonna hurt

Regen serum to the brain means she has floppy useless brainparts, though. Like Riku's arm.

It isn't a crit fail.

Regular fails tend to be fairly bad when facing this strong of an opponent.

Doesn't mean it won't hurt

With two enemies temporarily out of the picture, you immediately move to attack Ukitake as he duels with Yoruichi. But before your hirenkyaku can bring you into range, Yoruichi glances over her opponent's shoulder and shouts in alarm.

“Riku, behind!”

“Bakudō 81: Dankū!” you reply, turning to raise the barrier behind you in time to intercept a massive column of electricity launched at you from a figure standing atop a nearby roof.

When the barrier falls, you get a clearer look: it's Unohana.

“Unohana Retsu...” you greet her, amidst a temporary lull in the fighting. “It didn't take much to lure you out.”

“Three on two hardly seems fair,” the reigai responds with a polite bow. “So you'll have to forgive my intrusion in your fight.”

“Coming from someone perfectly willing to go three-on-one from the advantage,” you counter with a smirk, “that comes off as pretty disingenuous.”

“Fair,” reigai-Unohana admits. “Regardless of any sense of fair play, your Bankai is as elegant as people say. Too bad I cannot see its full power... a result of your using it to counter our Kaoru's Bankai. You do not have to speak to confirm or deny it, I know it to be true. Just as I know that your zanpakuto is using Tenteikura to coordinate your allies' response.”

“Then I've just got one question,” you reply. “What're YOU gonna do about it?”
>1/2

“Why, I plan to remove you from the stage,” she replies calmly even as Yoruichi and Ukitake exchange another series of probing blows. “Permanently.”

Reigai-Shunsui re-emerges from the alley he ducked into, a frown across his face. “I thought we shared a certain respect, Lady Riku, but you didn't even try and chase me down? I'm hurt that you think so little of my power that you'd let me escape.”

An explosion goes off in his face, forcing him to backpedal with shunpō to avoid losing his nose. “My, what a feisty one you've got there. Normally I like feisty, but this is a problem you know.”

“I'm just gonna ignore how creepy that sounded,” Bambietta sighs, shaking her head in disbelief. “Your call Captain. You know these three better than I do.”

>You take Shunsui down, I'll handle Unohana myself.
>Regroup with Yoruichi. Fight together while I deal with this.
>Help me with Unohana, Yoruichi can handle herself.
>Other?

>“Then I've just got one question,” you reply. “What're YOU gonna do about it?”

Goddammit, Riku. Don't say shit like that.

>“Then I've just got one question,” you reply. “What're YOU gonna do about it?”
Dammit Riku stop tempting fate!

>What're YOU gonna do about it?

>why would you ask that

>You take Shunsui down, I'll handle Unohana myself.

>Regroup with Yoruichi. Fight together while I deal with this.

>Regroup with Yoruichi. Fight together while I deal with this.

>>Regroup with Yoruichi. Fight together while I deal with this.

>Regroup with Yoruichi. Fight together while I deal with this.
>Other: Have Tenkotsuki warn our allies that we'll be putting down the communication relay for a while. They'll need to be able to operate while in the dark.
This is why we trained our 9th to be competent.

>writing, short update then another vote

“Bambi,” you order in a firm, authoritative tone, “go assist Yoruichi. That will draw Shunsui over with you. I'll take care of Unohana myself.”

Grumbling at your use of what must be a fairly common “pet name” for her, the Sternritter leaves to join Yoruichi. An airburst bomb or two forces Ukitake to divide his attention between two opponents, while Shunsui seems to focus on Yoruichi to take some of the strain off his companion. Yoruichi for her part seems to actually enjoy the fight, using her two swords in exactly the sort of style they were intended. Slapping parries and sweeping redirections frustrate her attackers' repeated attempts, and the powerful kicks of her Heihuquan kung fu ensure that she can punish any opening they leave regardless of whether she has a blade readied or not.

“She's good,” reigai-Unohana comments. “Better than I remember in fact, though I must admit I've wanted to fight you more for quite a long time.”

“That so?” you ask, sheathing Kobara no Tachi with a single fluid move of your left arm. You're still not entirely sure what the best method is to fight Unohana... she's fast, and extremely proficient in kenjutsu. In fact she may even be better than you are if the rumors are true, which will make using kidō and kenjutsu in tandem rather difficult. You could also choose to engage in your own style of kenjutsu and hakuda, testing her fabled kenjutsu prowess, or else keep your distance and exchange kidō. In the latter case her experience and skill are largely countered by your raw power, meaning that it would be a more or less even match.

>Kenjutsu and hakuda all the way, don't give her any openings.
>Kidō. Even without free incantation-abandonment you're still excellent at it.
>Take a mixed approach, trade the risk of counterattack for flexibility and power.
>Other?

>Take a mixed approach, trade the risk of counterattack for flexibility and power.

>Kidō. Even without free incantation-abandonment you're still excellent at it.

>Kenjutsu and hakuda all the way, don't give her any openings.

>>Take a mixed approach, trade the risk of counterattack for flexibility and power.

>Kidō. Even without free incantation-abandonment you're still excellent at it.
>Use plenty of Binding spells to limit her movements

>Kenjutsu and hakuda all the way, don't give her any openings.
Bambi? D'awww.

Can we cast an electrical spell through the blade whenever we clash? Should give us an opening

Tsuzuri Raiden.

Even they've already met during that one scouting raid by Aizen, I can't wait to see the shenanigans that'll happen when Bambi and Apacci get to know each other.

>Kidō. Even without free incantation-abandonment you're still excellent at it.

I'll support that.

>Kenjutsu and hakuda all the way, don't give her any openings.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

Okay, so what I got from this is
>kenjutsu and hakuda, but use kidō that can be cast through Tenkotsuki's blade whenever possible

>dice+3d10, DC 7

Rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10 (3d10)

crit time

Rolled 5, 10, 8 = 23 (3d10)

Rolled 1, 9, 8 = 18 (3d10)

Wrong direction, user. Try again.

Don't worry anons, a failure here can be so much worse than someone getting injured

Rolled 5, 7, 6 = 18 (3d10)

Fighting Unohana, what's the worst that can happen?

Pls no

Hirenkyaku carries you instantly forward, right up into Unohana's face. Unfortunately she sees you coming and draws her own blade in a lightning-fast movement, slashing above you as you drop low and sweep your own blade towards her exposed hip. She steps back, avoiding the point of Tenkotsuki's blade and bringing the hilt down towards you from above: the zanjutsu technique known as “Onibi”.

You're familiar with it, of course, as well as its counters. A strike with your left elbow as you follow through with your swing disrupts her attack, allowing you to keep rotating. The roundhouse kick from your right foot nearly sweeps her legs out from under her as she's forced to backpedal again.

“You're fast,” she commends you as her support hand produces a long blade from her sash. She hurls it at you point-first like a lethal dart, forcing you to draw and through one of the anken Yoruichi always leaves in your possession.

Your smaller knife lacks the mass to reverse the flight of reigai-Retsu's weapon, but the blow does alter its trajectory just enough for it to miss you entirely. But she's followed through brilliantly, using shunpō to close the gap and attack with a lethal upward swing from her right hip. The long, curved edge of Minazuki's blade would probably have gutted you from crotch to shoulder if you hadn't rolled out to the side so quickly.

“And your reactions are finely-honed,” she continues to praise you. “Lady Yoruichi trained you well.”

“That was Kukishin-ryū kenpō,” you observe carefully, piecing together her use of upward swings and thrown blades. “You've been rumored to have mastered every style... that's not right, is it? Instead you've mastered a few of the oldest styles, and simply kept up with them as they evolved over the centuries.”

“Am I wrong?”
>1/?

get hype

The reigai smiles eerily at you, returning Minazuki's blade to a ready guard. “That is correct, of course. In terms of your technique, I am sorry I did not meet you before Zaraki. With some encouragement you'd have made a fine Kenpachi.”

“Not my style,” you shrug.

“I know,” she replies, before coming at you again. This time, you carefully lure her in close to cross blades once more. As your swords stop and you push carefully against each other, you take her by surprise.

“Tsuzuri Raiden!” you roar, electricity surging through your blade and arcing across Unohana's body. Though she responds with little more than a grunt of pain you're left with an opening to pound away at her with your left fist. Two punches she blocs with her elbow but one gets through to her ribs, and she rolls out and to the side to try and take your back. But Minazuki's blade is stopped by Tenkotsuki's.

You try your best to angle the edge towards her. “Ōkasen!”

The spell tears into her arm, forcing her to use shunpō to escape. When you turn to face her you can see a sinister look on her face as she glances down at her wound, which is already starting to heal. Even the two other reigai seem unnerved by the new development, confirming your worst fears. A new challenger has appeared.

“Unohana Yachiru,” you mutter as the most infamous, diabolical murderer in the history of the Seireitei meets your eyes. “I was wondering when you would show up.”

“I fear this sort of brutality has become necessary,” she admits. “Even in your current state, your level of ability demands that I take you seriously as the First Kenpachi.”

“Which reminds me,” you wonder aloud, curiosity momentarily overcoming your concern, “does that mean Zaraki's not really the Kenpachi, since the real Unohana was never killed? Or did you pass it on by choice?”

“It hardly matters,” Yachiru tells you, that eerie grin still clinging to her lips.

"Bankai: Minazuki."
>2/3

>"Bankai: Minazuki."
WHELP. SHE GON MURDER-HEAL US TO DEATH.

"Bankai: Minazuki."

>"Bankai: Minazuki."

Reigai-Yachiru's blade begins to ooze with a sticky red fluid that you quickly realize is blood, dripping in ever-stronger rivers of flowing carmine. The blade itself seems to dissolve into the stuff, and her reiatsu grows much stronger. Your raw power advantage has largely disappeared as bloody stains smear the ground around your reigai opponent.

“Now then,” Yachiru greets you with a murderous glare the likes of which you haven't seen since the Bakumatsu, “show me a good time, Lady Riku. Let me fight to my heart's content for the first time in centuries!”

Raising her blade of flowing blood, she attacks with a roaring laugh.

>Remain evasive until you figure out what this Bankai can do, only attack from a distance.
>Try to use kidō to contain her abilities as best you can while observing her.
>Try and get up close and overpower her with shunkō.
>Something else?

You may wanna really discuss your tactics here, because you've awakened something nasty.

>>Try to use kidō to contain her abilities as best you can while observing her.

>Lure her to the Kennys

Welp. Her speed and power is overwhelming regardless, so we should probably keep our distance until we can get a feel for that.

>Remain evasive until you figure out what this Bankai can do, only attack from a distance.

...That might actually be the best idea... ...Both of the Kenny's will want to fight her... ...though there is a good chance that both of the Kenny's will die.

>Remain evasive until you figure out what this Bankai can do, only attack from a distance.

>>Remain evasive until you figure out what this Bankai can do, only attack from a distance.

>Implying she wouldn't attack Yoruichi or the Old Man just to punish Riku for wasting her time

I'm guessing much of her bankai abilities has to do with all that blood. The more blood that spills from either bodies or from her blade, the more powerful she grows.
But another thing that needs to be considered is the collateral. Are we willing to cross the distance and bring her to both kennys with all the wound we could possibly accumulate?

>>Something else?
Fuck it. Go for Resurrecíon.

>>Remain evasive until you figure out what this Bankai can do, only attack from a distance.
What is this a reply to?

Also probably a good idea.
>Remain evasive until you figure out what this Bankai can do, only attack from a distance.

OMG could probably go shikai and evaporate her now blood sword.

Anything revolving around liquid of any kind pretty much jobs to him. Unless its gas.

>try to avoid any blood splattering on you or your clothes. You know Tenkotsuki will give you an earful if you do.