After a long time reading fanfics, I've finally decided to write some of my own. This story came up from an idea I've had for a while: being both a Bleach fan and a survival-horror gamemaniac, I realized how similar the concepts of Quincies and Rooders are, so I'm writing a Bleach side-story about how Ishida recovered his Quincy powers after the Soul Society arc. It takes place between episodes 110-131 of the series.

This is my first fanfic. Reviews would be highly appreciated, be it praises, suggestions, corrections or criticisms (constructive ones, of course).

I do not own Bleach nor Clock Tower. They belong to Tite Kubo and Capcom, respectively.

I will use the following typing standards:

"Normal speech"

'Inner thoughts'

"YELLING!"

Flashbacks, written passages, translations

Power releases, foreign words

CHAPTER 01 – CHANCE

"Want to know his pupil's name? His pupil's name is Uryuu, Ishida Uryuu. That man was Ishida Souken, my mentor and my grandfather." Said a young man clad in a torn and bloody black kimono, presumably stolen so he could sneak in Soul Society. His spiritual power overflowed around his body after learning the responsible for his grandfather's death.

"So?" said the young man's opponent nonchalantly, apparently not surprised by the overflowing energy. This opponent was a weird-looking man, wearing a strange hat, skeletal visage make-up and a Gotei 13 captain attire. He held a three-bladed sword in his hands, which exhaled a poisonous purple smoke.

"For the honor of the Quincies, I'll kill you!" the young man shouted. His name was Ishida Uryuu, a Quincy warrior. His opponent was Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the sadistic captain of the 12th Division of Gotei 13.

Their fight proceeded on. Uryuu drew his Quincy bow and shot multiple energy arrows at Kurotsuchi, but despite his skills, he wasn't able to land a single attack on the captain, whether by his previous wounds or their difference in power. Therefore he had to call for a desperate measure...

Reaching his left hand to a small appendage in his right arm glove, he pulled and took it off , dismantling the entire glove in consequence. A gigantic spiritual energy vortex appeared immediately then, surrounding Uryuu. The amount of power surprised even Kurotsuchi, who didn't expect that. When the vortex faded, Uryuu's attire had changed to a half-armor which covered his torso's right side and his left shoulder. But the most notable feature was a quiver on his back from which a constant energy flame erupted. To add to the captain's surprise, the nearby walls and structures started to dissolve into spiritual particles, being promptly absorbed by the quiver. He had called for the most powerful Quincy release: Letzt Stil (German: Last Style).

An energy arrow formed on his hand and he quickly fired it. Kurotsuchi dodged it, but, faster than the eye, the young man was already over him and fired another arrow, hitting the captain at point blank range and lifting a cloud of dust. When the cloud faded, Kurotsuchi was still alive, but badly wounded.

"DON'T GET COCKY, BRAT!" yelled the enraged captain. "No lowly Quincy screws with me." Outraged with Uryuu's boldness, he decided then to finish him with his greatest release.

"BANKAI!" he shouted, holding his sword in front of him. In the next few moments, the sword morphed into an enormous golden baby-headed creature, with a caterpillar body and exhaling a poisonous purple smoke as previously. "Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou (Golden Limb Paralyzer)".

Uryuu was astonished by the monster, learning afterwards that Zanpakutou (Soul Slayers) had two stages: Shikai, the first stage, and Bankai, the second and ultimate stage, so powerful that only captain-level Shinigami were capable of wielding it. However, he was still determined to fight it and avenge his grandfather.

"GO!" Kurotsuchi ordered, letting a sadistic laugh. Multiple blades erupted from the creature's chest and it charged at the young man.

The Quincy summoned another arrow, pulled his bow string and, when the creature was close enough, loosed it. Despite the Bankai size, the arrow passed straight through its body, lifting a cloud of dust on its path. As the cloud faded, a very weary Uryuu was revealed, clearly feeling the side-effects of his own release. But his opponents were in much worse conditions: Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou was literally split in half and Kurotsuchi had a basketball-sized hole in his belly. The arrow had hit him as well.

Breathing hard, the captain became even more enraged, but he knew he couldn't fight any further, so he had to escape. Resorting to a sneaky trick, he 'liquified' himself and crawled out of the battlefield, since he couldn't be hurt while in that form.

Cursing on the enemy's escape, the young man felt useless. His "Letzt Stil" came with a price: in exchange for a temporary above-captain power, his Quincy powers would be lost forever as a nasty side effect. He was willing to accept that fate, but since his opponent had escaped, he realized to have given up his Quincy pride for nothing. And to add injury to insult, he started coughing blood: the Bankai poison was taking effect. It could have been his end, if it wasn't for an unexpected help: Kurotsuchi's lieutenant and daughter, Kurotsuchi Nemu, offered him the antidote for the poison. Uryuu firstly got suspicious of her aid, but ended up accepting it, as a token of her gratefulness for him not killing her captain and father/creator. After drinking it, he thanked her and resumed his mission to rescue Kuchiki Rukia from the Gotei 13.

Karakura Town, a few months later

It was a calm evening in the town and Uryuu was walking back home, returning from Kurosaki Ichigo's. He was called there so he could use his amazing sewing skills to fix Kon, Ichigo's plush toy and modified soul. The streets were empty and the only sounds nearby were the chirping crickets.

As he walked, he couldn't help but think about that fateful mission months ago. He, along with Ichigo, Yasutora 'Chad' Sado, Inoue Orihime and Shihouin Yoruichi had gone to Soul Society, more specifically to Seireitei (Court of Pure Souls), in order to rescue their friend, Kuchiki Rukia, from her unjustified execution. He didn't know about the others, but the happened events were still quite vivid in his mind. How could he ever forget them? He remembered protecting Inoue from the 7th Division 4th Seat, Jiroubou Ikkanzaka, stealing some Shinigami clothing so they could remain stealth, getting arrested by a certain blind captain, being rescued by a large spiked-haired captain and, finally, rescuing Rukia, after everything had been revealed to be a scheme plotted by the traitorous captain Aizen Sousuke.

But the memory that bothered him the most was his battle against the 12th Division captain, Kurotsuchi Mayuri. Uryuu hated him more than anything. After all, he was the man responsible for his grandfather's death. He was the one who deliberately delayed the Shinigami squad that could have saved Ishida Souken from a Hollow. He was the one who captured his soul soon afterwards and experimented on him like a guinea pig. Not only that, he was also the responsible for the loss of his Quincy powers and, with that, his pride. The thought that Kurotsuchi was still alive and unpunished by his deeds angered Uryuu to no end. 'He will get his in due time' the former Quincy thought.

Another thing that bothered him was his current helplessness. Stripped of his powers, Uryuu felt like a deadweight to the group. Despite keeping a few tricks up the sleeve, there wasn't much he could do to help his friends against the Hollows, and even less in the oncoming battle against Aizen. He simply didn't get used to the idea of being a commoner.

As these thoughts ran in his mind, unbeknown to him, the air behind him seemed to distort. Then a dark tear-like hole appeared out of mid-air, with a pair of giant gray hands reached out of it. Finally, a white-and-gray humanoid creature emerged. Besides its size, it bore a hole in its chest, a white mask-like face and a really long tongue which swung around like a snake. The young man immediately sensed the creature's hostile intentions and turned around in time to avoid a blast.

"A Hollow? Is it a Menos Grande?" he said, judging by the Hollow's size and power.

Although without his powers, he still could defend himself at least. He ran away, trying to keep distance of it. As the Hollow pursued him, he unzipped his shirt and fetched a few small silver-colored tubes from his inner pocket. Throwing them at the monster, he swiftly uttered a spell. As the tubes hit the target, a cube-shaped energy field emerged off them, severing the Hollow's arm. Those tubes were called Gintou (Silver Tubes) and they were containers for spiritual energy that allowed Quincies to use Kidou (Spells) just like Shinigami. These tubes were filled while he was in Soul Society. The Hollow, however, regenerated its lost arm as fast as it was severed and continued to attack.

'High speed regeneration?' Uryuu mused, seeing the battle wouldn't proceed as smoothly as planned. He then uncoiled a fine string from a device hidden in his arm and hooked its end on the nearest tree. He ran around the monster, in an attempt to wrap the string on its waist. Before he finished though, the Hollow's upper torso vanished.

'It disappeared?' Just as it reappeared behind him. 'It split in two?' the young man guessed. 'No, they were separate Hollows from the beginning.' He confirmed, as he saw the lower torso had a mask too.

The upper torso shot its tongue, the former Quincy dodging it. But the lower torso managed to tackle him, sending him to the ground. The monstrous tongue shot at him again, but this time he wouldn't have time to dodge. It could have been Uryuu's end... hadn't it been for an energy arrow that severed the Hollow's tongue before it connected the attack.

"My, my. So awkward of you... Uryuu." Said a stern man approaching the battlefield, the same one who fired the arrow. Said person was a middle-aged man, wearing a grayish-brown suit, glasses, with light-blue short hair and a Quincy bow in his hand.

"You are... Ryuuken!" Uryuu recognized, seeming surprised by the man.

"Still calling your father by his name. You never change, do you?" the older man coldly scolded.

The upper torso Hollow let a loud growl, angered for being wounded. Ryuuken just stared at it. "You're annoying." He stated, blasting the monster's head with a single arrow.

"What's going on?" the young man looked astonished by the sight. "Why do you have Quincy powers? I thought you had discarded them long ago, since you despised the Quincies."

"You're such a fool. I have no interest in the Quincies, but unfortunately my powers cannot be lost so easily as yours." The father adjusted his glasses and continued.

"However, despite my personal interests, Ishida Souken bequeathed all his powers and techniques to me, the man who holds the title of 'Last Quincy'." Ryuuken announced as he fetched a pentacle cross-shaped object out of his suit.

Uryuu immediately recognized the object as the Quincy cross previously worn by his grandfather. He was so surprised by the revelation, that he didn't notice the lower torso Hollow approaching him from behind. The monster, however, was quickly blasted by another of Ryuuken's projectiles. With the nuisance gone, the older man resumed.

"Uryuu, you went to Soul Society still unskilled, lost your powers and, driven by your small sense of pride, were unable to fulfill your objectives." Ryuuken scolded. The young man just lowered his head, feeling the harsh truth in his father's words.

"However... there's a way to restore your powers."

That immediately caught Uryuu's attention, his eyes widening as his mind processed what was just said.

"It's impossible!" he skeptically said.

"Hard to believe? But I assure you, it's the truth."

The young man pondered for a moment. His father probably wasn't lying, as he would have no reason to. Given his despise for the Quincies, what was expected for him to say was that there was not a way to restore his powers, not the opposite. Thus he decided to go for it.

"What... must I do?"

Ryuuken stayed silent for a few moments before answering.

"I've told you your grandfather bequeathed to me the title of 'Last Quincy'." He paused and walked a few steps towards his son until he stood a few feet away from him. "But, in a certain way, that title is not exactly true."

Uryuu was shocked by that statement. What did he mean by that? He's actually not the last Quincy? So that meant...

"You're saying... there are still surviving Quincies?" he asked, surprised.

"Somehow yes," he nodded. Taking a breath, Ryuuken resumed the explanation. "Long ago, when Quincies and Shinigami still coexisted, a separate branch of the Quincies decided to take a different approach to Hollows. Instead of simply obliterating them, as the Quincy philosophy demanded, they'd rather pass judgement on them, allowing the souls to go Soul Society or sending them to the Hell if their sins were too heavy. That way, they didn't affect the balance of souls and were spared when the Shinigami hunted down the Quincies."

The son processed all that information. About one minute had passed as he spoke in an indignant tone.

"So this branch had escaped the slaughter by relinquishing the Quincy way and embracing the Shinigami's? How can they still call themselves Quincies?"

"They don't. That's why I've told you my title is not true, in a certain way. That branch is now called the Rooders."

"So what? You're suggesting me to train with them? With people who abandoned the Quincy cause? They might even had helped the Shinigami to hunt down the Quincies..."

"Uryuu!" the father cut in a harsh but calm tone "Just like us, the Rooders would never hurt living people, neither they would help anyone to do so. This principle never changed," he continued. "And you should learn to be more flexible in your beliefs. It was this kind of blind pride that led you to lose your powers in first place."

Once again, the young man felt the harsh truth reaching his ears. Why had he gone to Soul Society? To rescue Rukia, of course. But another part of the reason was that he wanted to prove the Quincy superiority to the Shinigami. He wanted to prove the Quincies' beliefs were more righteous than theirs. In the end, it had just turned out he wasn't as strong as presumed.

And what about his hatred for Shinigami? His belief that all of them were unreliable scum? There were Aizen and Kurotsuchi, of course. But how many times did Ichigo, Rukia, Yoruichi-san and even the large spiked-haired captain who took him out of prison proved him wrong? Wouldn't they deserve at least the benefit of doubt?

Finally calming down, Uryuu took a deep breath and asked. "So, can the Rooders indeed restore my Quincy powers?"

"They have some knowledge that might restore it. You may ask them for training to see it for yourself. But it's all up to you."

Then a thought came to Uryuu. "I don't see why you can't train me yourself." He inquired. If his father was also a Quincy, wouldn't it be easier if he did it himself?

"Because bringing Quincy powers back is something only known to them. And even if I knew it, still I'd rather you not to follow the Quincy path. But you're old enough to make your own decisions, so I just thought you should know of it."

The young man sighed in distress. Just as he hadn't changed at all, still calling his father by the name, Ryuuken hadn't either, still against him being a Quincy. It was an old wound, therefore he decided not to insist on that.

"All right. So, where can I find any of the Rooders?"

"Like the Quincies, there are currently very few of them, almost none," the older man said, gazing up to the sky. Then he looked back at his son. "You should go to London. An experienced Rooder lives there. Her name is Nancy Hamilton."

For those who don't remember Clock Tower 3 characters, Nancy Hamilton is Alyssa's mother.

That's it for the first chapter. Please review and tell me what you thought of the plot.