Hello, and welcome to the first ever Splatterhouse and Bleach crossover! I recently bought the Splatterhouse game, and I have to say, I enjoyed every second of it. Then again, I'm just psycho that way.

Anyway, I just got this idea when I read a Ben 10 and Bleach crossover, and I thought, 'What if it were Rick Taylor instead of Ben Tennyson?' So after a few hours of thought and another few hours of writing, this bastard child was born.

Dialogue Key:

"What's this doing here?" - Spoken Speech
How am I gonna get home? - Thoughts
"I'm right here inside your head." - Terror Mask Speech
"This text isn't really important." - Text

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Splatterhouse. I do own a copy of Splatterhouse and an issue of the Bleach manga, but that doesn't count for shit.

Now, without further ado, Please enjoy the debut of Bleached Bone Mask.

Phase 0: Prologue

I jerked straight up from my cot, sweat drenched my face and neck. I reached up and wiped the sweat off my brow. My heart pounded so hard that it nearly burst out of my chest. After about a minute, I managed to calm down enough to lie back on my makeshift bed, my eyes slowly scanning the beige weaving of the tent.

The same dream again, I thought to myself, breathing in and out slowly. What the hell's going on?

I thought back to the dream that forced me out of my sleep. It was always the same, ever since I arrived at the dig site: I woke up standing in the middle of a destroyed city. I looked down at myself to see that, somehow, I was an overly muscular man. On my face was what felt like some kind of mask, but I wasn't able to tell what it looked like from my point of view. I surveyed the damage around me, and I noticed several men and a few women, most wearing some sort of black Japanese uniform, lying on the ground amongst the rubble. It took most of my willpower to keep myself from vomiting; most of their deaths were a little too graphic for me to describe without me feeling nauseous.

All of a sudden, there was some strange power radiating over me. To say that it was suffocating was an understatement; I could almost swear that I was being forced down onto the ground, as if a thick, heavy blanket covered me. Using what willpower I had, I lifted my head to see where the power was coming from, and all I would see was a man in white.

He didn't seem like much; just an ordinary man wearing some strange white robes. His brown hair was slicked to the back of his head, with only one bang in the middle of his forehead. He always had some calm and sincere look on his face, but the aura he gave out…it felt…evil.

After what felt like a minute, his brown eyes met my green ones hiding behind the mask, and the mystery man said in a deceptively caring and calm voice, "You were a powerful ally." Then, without warning, he disappeared from my point of view. I didn't have time to look around before I suddenly saw a katana blade jut out of my chest.

I couldn't actually feel the pain, but I could feel my life slipping away as the mystery man's same voice whisper in my ear, "I must thank you for helping me achieve my goal." That was the last thing I heard from him before his katana blade slid out of my body, and I fell face first to the bloody, cracked cement.

That was the last thing I saw before I woke up. For the first couple of days since I had the dream, I would always check myself for any injury. Thankfully and obviously, I wasn't, but that didn't ease my pounding heart.

I would spend the rest of the day thinking about the nightmare if hadn't heard a voice say, "Professor, are you alright?"

I lifted my head to see a young man, his head poking in through the flap of the tent. He looked as though he had just graduated from high school, probably 18 or 19. His blonde hair was cropped short, rising just enough to show most of his forehead. It was very dim in my tent, but I could still make out his brown eyes.

Laying my head back on my pillow, I told the kid, "I'm all right, Nathan. I'll be out in a minute."

I didn't hear anything from Nathan, but I assumed that he nodded his head and pulled away from my tent. About half a minute after he left, I pushed myself up from the cot and put on my outfit; a thick, short-sleeved, button-down shirt, long-legged khaki pants, and a pair of dusty heavy-duty hiking boots. Before I left the tent, I took a quick look at myself in the small table mirror sitting on my work desk.

I looked surprisingly young for a scientist, much less a renowned historian. I was around thirty-three, but my face made me look as though I were still in my mid-twenties. My dark-brown hair grew to a shoulder-length mess behind my head, save for a few bangs pointing over my forehead, and what looked like a five o'clock shadow was starting to come up around my jaw. My green eyes shone brightly, even in the dim light of the tent. I smirked at my reflection; I wasn't exactly a million bucks, but I was pretty damn close for an archaeologist.

"Well, Jonathan," I muttered at my reflection, tying my hair back into a low ponytail. "Let's get to work."

Facing the tent's flap, I popped my neck, let out a deep breath, and went out into the open, almost blinded by the bright sunlight beating down on me. Once my eyes had adjusted, I looked over to the left, where I was hearing pickaxes hammering away at the rock, and I saw a deep, square pit with almost a dozen men picking at the walls and floor with their tools. At the back wall in the pit was a large doorway and looming over from behind the dig site was a large Aztec pyramid.

Almost as soon as I stepped out, I heard Nathan walk up behind me. I turned around, and he greeted, "Are you feeling alright, Professor? Is there anything you need?" I couldn't help but crack a smile. He was young, and yet he was almost always on his hands and knees to help me out.

"Nathan," I began. "Remember, you don't have to bend over backwards for me, and no, there isn't. Also, just call me John." Nathan nodded, smiling, and said, "You got it, Professor." I couldn't help but laugh.

I then turned my attention to the doorway in the pit. It didn't look in the slightest bit familiar, so I could only assume that the night crew recently dug it up while the rest of us slept.

"Any idea what's in there?" I asked Nathan. Nathan shook his head and said, "That place was just dug out. It probably leads to some catacombs under the temple." I nodded and asked, "Anyone go in there, yet?" Nathan shook his head again and said, "They were waiting for you, sir." I turned to Nathan, flashing him a grin, and said, "Let's go see it, then."

Nathan and I made our way down into the pit, passing by a few crewmen. Dust and debris filled the air as the workers chipped away at the rock walls with their pickaxes. A small pebble smacked my cheek, but I brushed it off – figuratively and literally – as I made my way to the giant tunnel entrance.

Standing at the side of the entrance was a man just a little bit older than I was. He leaned against the wall his arms crossed against his chest. He was wearing the same thing Nathan and I wore, but the only difference was that he was wearing a cowboy hat. Unlike mine, his facial hair consisted of a full goatee with some stubble for added effect.

I could tell that he saw us, because he waved at us and called out with a thick Southern accent to match his hat, "It's about time! Do y'all know how long I've been waitin'?" I chuckled and said, "Relax, Ryan. It's not like I was asleep all day." "Pretty damn close, John," Ryan shot back. I tried my hardest not to laugh; Ryan always did have the patience of a starving rat.

"So what's the verdict?" I asked Ryan as we stood in front of the dark corridor. Ryan shrugged and said, "We shined some flashlights in there, but the hall seems to go on forever, probably to the base of the pyramid." I nodded, then asked, "Any booby-traps?" Ryan turned to me and said, "Not that we know of. Why? Do you wanna play the role of Indiana Jones?" I smirked as I turned to Ryan and said, "I will, only if you play Short-Round."

Ryan laughed for a second, then turned to Nathan and told him to grab a few flashlights. Nathan complied as he left for the tool storage tent and came back a few minutes later with three torchlight flashlights. Ryan and I took ours and shined them into the darkness. I let out an anxious sigh. There could've been anything in there, anything that could kill us, but I turned to the two and motioned for them to follow me as we stepped into the dark abyss.

Five minutes into the corridor, and so far, nothing jumped out from the walls and tried to kill us. Still, the Aztecs could've done anything drastic to protect what could have been at the end of this passageway. I crept forward slowly, watching and listening for anything to happen.

I glanced quickly at my colleagues to see how they were holding up. Nathan seemed a bit more nervous than I was as his eyes shifted every which way they could. Ryan had a calm look on his face, but whether he was actually scared or not was beyond me. I looked forward, letting out a breath, and kept walking.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and we were still walking…and breathing, thankfully. The air seemed to be getting thicker as we moved closer to the end of the tunnel. My guess was that we were just stepping under the pyramid.

"Jesus," Ryan whispered. "How far does this place go?" "Maybe we've passed into the U.S.," Nathan joked, trying to lighten the mood. Ryan and I smirked, or at least I think Ryan did.

Up ahead, I could just see the walls end in a doorway, and a thick darkness beyond the threshold.

"Just hang tight, you two," I reassured. "We're just about there."

After a minute, we crossed the doorway into a large, cavernous chamber. It was pitch black, and a stale odor hung in the cool, dry air. We waved our flashlights around slowly to take in our surroundings. "That seemed a little too easy," Ryan commented. I nodded, there had to be some kind of catch. My light beam soon landed on a torch, suspended on the wall. I went over and pulled the torch out of its holster. It was light, like wood, and the smell of some kind of oil was strong on its wick.

"Does anyone have a lighter or a match or something?" I asked to anyone in particular. Nathan shined his flashlight my way and walked over, pulling out a tiny box of matches and handing it to me.

"I was following the cliché that there would be at least one torch we could use." I smirked and waved the unlit torch in my hand, saying, "Well, it didn't fail us now, at least."

I then handed my flashlight and torch to Nathan so I could light a match. Once the match was lit, I took the torch back and ignited the wick. The torch lit ablaze, lighting a giant chunk of the room. I took a look around and noticed another torch in its hanger. I went over and dipped the flame onto its wick, and a flame erupted, lighting the rest of the room.

When the room was completely lit, the three of us looked around the chamber to see what we were actually standing in, and it was nothing like we were expecting. On one side of the chamber was what looked like a nondescript stone podium, and on the other was a pair of thin pillars rising up to about eye level. On each pillar was a small amethyst gem, each roughly the size of a Double-A battery, glinting in the firelight.

Ryan too saw the gems, and walked over to them. "These could be worth a pretty penny, and then some," he mentioned greedily as he pinched the nearest gem between his finger and thumb. He lifted his hand quickly, but the gem wouldn't budge. He pulled again with a little more strength, only to get the same result. Now I could see Ryan getting agitated as he tried using both hands to get the gem free from its stand, only for his grip to slip and have him fall to the floor with a solid thud.

I winced as he collapsed onto the ground. Smirking, I crouched down to get closer and said smugly, "I don't think they're supposed to move from their places." I stifled a laugh as Ryan glared at me. "Fuck you, John," he retorted, a smirk appearing on his lips. He then stood up and swept the dust off his khaki shirt when we both heard Nathan call, "Hey, guys. Come check this out."

Ryan and I turned to Nathan to see that he was standing behind the podium, staring at the stone surface with a look of confusion. We both walked over to see what he was staring at. What we saw was some strange writing etched onto the surface.

"I've been trying to decipher it," Nathan said. "But…I think this is something else." Ryan turned to Nathan and said, "You probably didn't learn enough Aztecan. Let me try." He then pushed Nathan out of the way and took a close look. He was quiet for a second as his eyes scanned the writing, then he shrugged and said bluntly, "I can't read it."

"I thought you said you were good with Aztecan," Nathan deadpanned. Ryan turned to Nathan and snapped, "Well, I'm sorry, but this doesn't look in the slightest like Aztec writing." "Well, what else would it be?"

Nathan asked, equally confused and irritated. "We're nowhere near the Mayan or Incan ruins, and I doubt the conquistadors would be willing to make a place like this." Ryan gritted his teeth and sighed in exasperation, apparently not winning this argument.

I sighed as the two argued over what language was written on the podium, so I decided to take a closer look. Wiping whatever dust was left on the stone tablet, I suddenly felt a…familiar sensation in my mind. It was like I knew this language from somewhere, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Without knowing it, I read the message aloud.

"Whosoever shall read this text is worthy to wear the Mask of the Underworld. The one chosen shall gain pilgrimage to the realm of beings without hearts. Be warned, for the Mask can only be awakened with an offering of blood."

I blinked twice as I reread the text over and over again. That was when I noticed that Nathan and Ryan were quiet. I looked up and saw that they were both staring at me. "Um…" I started, trying to find an explanation.

I was cut off from thinking of an excuse when I heard Nathan say, "I didn't know you were a translator as well." I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head and admitted, "Well, the only language I know other than English is Spanish…but this isn't Spanish, or anything close to it."

Ryan raised an eyebrow up to his cowboy hat as he asked, "Well, then what language is it? Because you could read it like it was the Sunday comics." I shook my head and muttered, "I…I don't know."

Nathan then asked, "Well, you said something about a blood offering, but…what're we going to use?"

I shrugged and looked down to the ground, where I noticed something leaning against the podium. I bent down, picked the object up, and took a close look at it. It looked almost like a sickle, though its appearance was incredibly macabre. It felt as though it was made of stone, and the edges of the blade were jagged. It seemed to be a rusty orange color, but compared to the beige stone surrounding us, it seemed unlikely that this blade was created in this area.

I pressed my thumb on where the sharp edge of the blade would be, and I immediately recoiled in pain. I looked down at my thumb to see a fine cut. "Something tells me that this is what we'll need to unlock this thing," I mentioned. Ryan looked between the sickle and me before getting a look on his face like he knew what was going to happen.

"No way, John," he denied, trying to take the sickle out of my hand. "We aren't letting you kill yourself over something that may not even work." I resisted the urge to slap my face as I retorted, "I'm not going to kill myself, and I just know this will work." Ryan was about to talk me out of it when I put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Trust me. This is going to work."

I then faced the podium and let out a breath. Rereading the last line in the text, I held the sickle up and pressed the tip into my palm. I hissed as I felt the tip draw a small dot, but sucked it up and slid it along my palm. Blood flowed out of the gash and landed on the stone podium surface.

Gritting my teeth, I clenched my fist and held it vertically, dark red blood oozing out of the bottom corner of my fist. The blood, much to both my and my colleagues' surprise, collected into one spot and formed a round, red circle before disappearing through an unseen crack.

Suddenly, the screeching sound of stone on stone echoed throughout the room as the flat surface of the podium split in half and spread out through the opposite ends of the podium. As the gap in the center of the podium widened, a small platform began to rise and took its place in the gap. On the platform was what appeared to be a white bone mask, streaks of my own blood coloring its surface.

Soon, the stone-on-stone screeching quieted down, leaving the stand in the center of the podium. Nathan, who had his hands pressed up to his ears and his eyes closed tightly, cracked one eye open and saw the bloodstained mask sitting on the podium.

"Is that…the Mask of the Underworld?" he asked, unsure. I could only nod, curiosity and confusion rendering me speechless.

I would've answered until I heard someone yawn. It sounded a little too deep to be Nathan, so I turned to Ryan and asked, "Jesus, after what just happened, you suddenly feel tired?" Ryan turned to me with an eyebrow raised and asked, "What're you talking about?" The smirk on my face disappeared as I asked, "Well, didn't you just yawn?" Nathan turned to me and told me, "Professor, no one yawned."

I just turned to Nathan and blinked before saying, "Well then who-" I was cut off when I heard someone say, "Jesus H. Christ. That was the best fucking nap I ever took."

I blinked again and looked around, asking, "Who just said that?" Ryan turned to me and asked, "John…you okay?" I turned to my partner and asked, "Didn't you hear that?" Ryan just looked at me and said, "No one's saying anything."

Now I was really confused. I'm going crazy, I thought to myself. As if on cue, the same voice from earlier told me, "Nah, you're not crazy. You're just the only one out of the three who can hear me. After all…you did wake me up, didn't you, Johnny Boy?"

My eyes widened. Did that mean…the mask…it couldn't…I had to check and make sure. I looked down at the mask and leaned down to get a closer look at it. "So you finally figure it out? For a scientist, you're kinda stupid. So tell me, what's today's date?"

I opened my mouth and was about to say something when the mask interrupted, "Ah, ah, ah. No sense in making your friends think you're crazier than you already are. Don't wanna go to the funny farm, do you? Anyway, just say the date, in your head. Trust me on that."

I couldn't help but let out a breath before looking at the mask and reciting the date in my head. Suddenly, "Damn, it's been that long already? Fuck, I've been napping for a while, haven't I?" I, um, I thought to the mask. I guess so.

The mask let out a sigh, then told me, "Ah well, better get on with business. I could just give you the 'All Hail the Chosen One' speech, tell you how you're destined for greatness, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, you'd be asleep by the end of my monologue, and the end."

That's the short-and-sweet version? I asked in my head. The mask made a sound like he was shrugging his nonexistent shoulders and answered, "Yep, that's pretty much it. On the other hand, though, I could just show you. Just pick me up, take a deep breath, and put me on your face. It's as simple as that."

Soon, I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I twisted around and saw Ryan giving me a concerned look. "You all right?" he asked me. I only nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm fine." Ryan took a close look at the mask, then smirked at me and asked, "You're thinking about how much we'll get for this, aren't you?"

Not giving me a chance to answer, Ryan stood up and said, "I'm not really sure what's so special about this thing. For all we know, it could be just a mask." "Yeah, that's what you think, asswipe," the mask fired at him, even though he couldn't hear.

I sighed, then gently gripped the sides of the mask and lifted it slowly off the pedestal. "Yeah, that's it. Nice and steady," the mask coached. I held the mask in my hands and twisted it around so that I was looking at its back end.

"Professor," I heard Nathan ask. "What're you doing?" I paid him no attention as I moved the mask closer to my face. I could almost feel its emanating power flow through me as the mask inched closer.

Just before the mask touched my face, a bright purple light shone through the eyeholes of the mask. I moved the mask down to get a better look at what it was. Before my eyes was what seemed to be a bright purple circle of light. Creature-like tendrils seemed to whip out from the circle's edges. I looked closely to see the two gem pillars both shooting out a tiny beam of light in the center of the circle, apparently fueling it. To make matters worse, a heavy wind began to kick up, flying towards the light.

"What the hell is that?" I heard Ryan cry out over the wind. "I don't know!" I shouted back. Shielding my eyes from the bright light, I heard the mask speak to me loud and clear, "It's a portal."

I looked down to the mask and raised an eyebrow as the mask explained, "Remember what the message said on the stone slab, something about 'the realm of beings without hearts?' Well, this is our one-way ticket, and ours alone."

Without warning, I felt the mask being tugged from my grip. I fought to keep the mask in my hands, but the ever-strengthening breeze pulled it away, sucking it into the portal.

It was then that I felt gravity lose its grip on me.

I didn't have to ask a single question to know what was going on. I flailed around, trying to grip onto something to anchor myself. The good news was that I managed to grab onto the edge of the stone podium. The bad news: I caught it with the hand with the deep gash along the palm.

I yelled out in pain, but tried my hardest to keep my grip. I felt myself slipping, though, and there wasn't anything else to grab. Soon, the pull of the portal was too strong, and my hand slipped from the stone. I only flew a couple of inches before two pairs of hands grabbed onto my arm. I looked to find Nathan and Ryan straining to keep me in place. Unfortunately, the portal must've really wanted me, because I could feel the pull getting stronger, and I could feel my arm sliding out of my colleagues' grips.

I looked back at the portal, sweat dripping from my brow before turning back to Nathan and Ryan to say, "Whatever happens, just get out of here!" It was at that moment that I slid out of their grip and flew backwards into the purple light.

The next thing I saw was what looked like the inside of an amethyst whirlwind. Lightning flashed all around me as I spun around, either falling or flying. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck All I could do was look around and panic until I heard a familiar voice say, "Put me on if you want to live!" I twisted my gaze all around until I saw the familiar white mask, twirling around almost like a piece of paper in a tornado. Frankly, dying wasn't on my to-do list at the time, so I pushed myself with all my strength to get closer to the mask.

Soon, the mask was in my reach and, eventually, my grip. I asked no questions as I slapped the mask on my face. Immediately after, I let out a blood-curdling scream, not in fear for my life, but in pain. My skin felt like it was being stretched to its maximum, and every bone in my body snapped in half and reattached over and over again. My shirt and pants felt as though they were tightening against my skin until I eventually heard the telltale tear of my clothes.

Eventually, the pain passed, and I relaxed only to remember that I was falling to what could be called either my death, or my hospitalization. Soon enough, the purple whirlwind dissipated and a blanket of gray sand zoomed towards me. That was the last thing I saw before I hit the ground and everything went black.

And there we are; the prologue of Bleached Bone Mask. I really enjoyed writing this, much more than my other stories. Don't forget to review and, if you're generous, add this to your favorites.

Fun Fact:

Jonathan Hunt was originally going to be named Roy McCormick, after another OC in a different fic. Jonathan was also based on my History teacher, whose real name I will not release to the public.