What's up, folks! This is Arms of Loneliness, or AoL if you prefer (talk to me in the review about this: do you prefer Arms of Loneliness in A/N or AoL?), here.
Now, this is actually something I've been thinking about for a long time.
A rewrite.
Yes, a rewrite for one of my older stories.
The original will stay up there, with no change whatsoever, but this one will be updated in its stead.
:D
Let's get started.
Oh, and by the way, first few chapters won't have much changes to them, so gr (good reading).
Oh, and the second by the way, there is another story out there not written by me that copied some portion of this chapter without permission, word for word. So I say this: at least mention me? What's wrong with you, taking others work and just copy-pasting it?
Chapter 1: Urahara is...: Genius or Failure?
"Until further tests and adjustments are made, this portal will remain unstable," Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the current head of R & D department and the captain of the 12th Division of Gotei 13, said as he slid a pack of research papers across the wooden desk to Urahara Kisuke. The former president of the R & D department stared at the package suspiiously, as if it was laced with poison. "Yamamoto captain-general has asked that you try to stabilize this portal..."
Then with a 'ah,' Urahara picked the folder up and pulled out its contents.
"What exactly is this portal?"
"A crack in the dimension."
"Oh?"
It's been some time sine there had been a crack in the dimension, Urahara thought as he skimmed over the summaries, data charts, graphs, and the pie charts in the packet. Then after a minute, Urahara set the packet down. "Why are you asking me to do this?" Urahara asked.
"Because my research specialities lie within biology and realted mechanics, while yours lie within wormhole physics, related mechanics, and dimension physics," Kurotsuchi put it straight forward. Urahara smirked. "Besides, the captain-general has assigned me a different assignment. Do you remember the abandoned Project Spearhead?"
"The mod soul one?"
"Yes. As of late, the dimension frequency of the human world -as far as I can tell with my equipment- is approaching 3.2 dimension frequency. And you know that that's not good. After all, you are the one who presented the Aligning Dimension Theory."
Urahara had to concede to Kurotsuchi analysis of "not good." As Kurotsuchi said to him, Urahara was the one who presented the Aligning Dimension Theory. In his Aligning Dimension Theory, he explains that whenever a dimension approaches another dimension's frequency, they all co-align and become one, increasing their frequency as they continue to co-align with other dimensions.
The theory, however, had remained a theory until recently. Neither the DF (Dimension Frequency) of Hueco Mundo, Human World, nor the Soul Society has changed recently (a couple thousand years, give or take). However, it has started to change once more.
"Last time this happened, Hueco Mundo became accessible," Urahara muttered, remembering the ancient data bank that he found in Egypt.
Apparently, Hueco Mundo hadn't been an accessible dimension for the shinigamis, hollows, and humans until four thousand years ago. Ancient Egypt's now-extinct soul society had been able to record the occurrance of converging dimensions, which happened over their land.
Urahara frowned.
Hueco Mundo's appearance has led to an increase in higher tiers of hollows thriving -since shinigamis of any soul society did not venture into Hueco Mundo; that would be a suicide move. Hollows began to take refuge inside the Hueco Mundo.
If convergence of one dimension led to such disaster -known now as Vasto Lorde - class hollows- what would this convergence do? And where would it occur?
"Yes. Now tell me something that I don't know."
"... Anyway," he said as he flipped out his fan and dispelled his own thoughts, having the answer to the last question he asked himself. "If the Human World's DF reaches 3.2., then every single human being will be able to see and touch Hollows as well as shinigamis..."
"And that is the reason why Project Spearhead was revitalized: to provide a means of planet-wide protection for the humans," Kurotsuchi added to himself, mentally berating himself for not thinking like that. "But won't the other soul societies around the world have their own similar projects?"
"I'm sure they will, but it doesn't hurt to have an army to protect ourselves and order of Nipon and Nipon Soul Society."
"True that," the mad scientist replied as he turned to the next set of projects the two scientists had been charged (personally or by the governing body).
Urahara's eyes quirked when the one research paper he was reading talked about unknown portals opening up around the globe.
"Where did this guy pop up?" Urahara asked as he waved the papers he had been reading.
"Somewhere in the Pacific. But it's not the only one.
"Right now in both the human world and the Soul Society, such portals and opening up everywhere. Well, to be precise, there is only fourteen currently in both Earth and Soul Society, but if our DF continues to come together, I do not doubt that more will appear. As much as I am interested in this entire ... fusing dimension fiasco, I must really be going." Kurotsuchi rose up to leave but Urahara stopped him by snapping his fan shut loudly. "What?"
"Where's the fund?"
Kurotsuchi left the hat-and-clogs shop, cussing.
As Urahara looked over the research paper -this time perusing it- he found that the focus of this entire fiasco was not the portal itself nor the fusing dimension. Rather it was on what was on the other side of that portal. No doubt, humans would have already started to research their own portals, but the one in Pacific was sure to be safe... Especially if the readings and datas present on this paper were this low.
"Any human radar would miss it."
Urahara looked up and saw the younger Ishida.
"Oh, hello, Ishida-san!"
"That Kurotsuchi bastard leave you with that?"
"Yup."
"... I don't get how you're going to find it. I highly doubt that you can find it with any radar."
Urahara grinned as Ishida came round to sit down. "So how is Kurosaki-san's training going?"
Ishida cringed at the thought of it. "Don't... remind me about it."
Kurosaki Ichigo, the hero of the Winter War, has been training since he regained his shinigami power after the Fullbringer Incident. Kurosaki was still ... ecstatic about having it back, and he was constantly training with his father, and he often dragged Ishida into sparring with him. The power difference between the two, however, was too great, and Ishida ended up losing every single spar. By Ishida's estimation, the strawberry's reiatsu has incrased by tenfold (minimum) and his physical strength alone was enough to shatter a Everest sized asteroid at half strength. Those two aspects of power increase, however, led Kurosaki to forbid himself from using Bankai, lest the entire town disintegrate under his power. Not that his Bankai was needed when his shikai alone was enough to choke a captain-class being of any kind.
"That's ... unfortunate," Urahara said, covering his lower face with his fan. Of course, he was grinning! "But can you tell Kurosaki-san this?"
"Tell him what?" Ishida asked after a moment of silence.
"I have a job for him."
Next morning, Ichigo was out early. Yuzu noticed that because she was always up early to prepare everyone's breakfast. "Where's he going?" Karin asked groggily as she descended the stairs.
"Don't know," Yuzu said as she scooped up a bowl of steamed rice. "But he didn't eat breakfast!"
Karin shrugged as she sat down on the table. Isshin was still sleeping, Karin noticed. Most likely because Ichi-nii beat the crap out of him yesterday.
"I should wake him up..." Then she went up to the second floor with a hammer in her hand.
Ichigo stood in front of Urahara's shop with a bag slung over his shoulder. He had graduated only a month ago, and as such, he had time. Especially in this winter when no one was playing in the beach or hiking up a slippery mountain.
"Open up already!" he shouted angrily. But this was Ichigo. He always had something to do. "I need to visit those Yakuza to teach them a lesson!"
"Yara yara, Kurosaki-san. You're so loud..." Urahara said as he opened the door. "...And you're early too."
"Should I come later then?"
"No, no. It's perfectly fine. But we gotta travel to the middle of the ocean, you see... Early is just fine."
"Wait, what?"
"We got to go to the Pacific. Middle of the Pacific to be exact. It's only a few clicks west of Hawaii too."
"Wait, wait, wait! Who said anything about traveling!"
"I'll be your sparring partner."
There was a pregnant silence between the two. They stared at each other without words. Urahara knew that it was a good offer, for Ichigo had been asking for it, but Urahara had been refusing. There was not specific reason behind it, other than the fact that his teacher refused to let him spar with him. That had been frustrating for Ichigo, because he wanted to test his power gauge against his teacher. His father provided an excellent measuring stick, but at the same time, the said man was not a good teacher who can point things how to Ichigo.
"Let's go."
Few months later in the middle of Pacific Ocean..
Kurosaki Ichigo, the hero of Winter War, gulped as he watched the blue and black wormhole in front of him. It looked very ominous by itself, but the organic-like equipment that Urahara bought along made it look more like the gate to hell. "Come on, Kurosaki-san. The gate is ready!"
Ichigo turned around and glared at Urahara.
"You expect me to go through that?" The portal itself looked fine, but inside, there were lightnings and fizzes that made one want to stay away from it, as if it was a time bomb.
"It's perfectly safe, as of the moment," Urahara said.
"As of the moment..." That was supposed to be a reassurance?
Not quite.
Ichigo turned back again, trying to figure out exactly how safe this thing was. Then suddenly as another ligthning struck the event horizon of the wormhole, he felt very unsure. Of course he had sparred with Urahra. It turned out exactly the way he expected, but still.
"I did my part of the deal. Your turn!" Urahra cheered from behind his gigantic equipment. "Besides, all you have to do is just go through, see what's on the other side, and come back."
"What if the portal isn't there?"
"I'm sure you'll find a way," Urahara said as he held up a boxing glove.
"What's that for?"
"Pushing you in, of course."
Ichigo glared at him. "You're not-"
BOING!
The boxing glove was actually a contraption, you see. It has a spring that goes forth about fourty meters.
And Ichigo got hit. He stumbled backward and the wormhole sucked him in.
"Curse you-!"
As if it was a vaccum, the wormhole sucked him in from his world, and pushed him into the next.
"Good luck!" But just as Urahara said so, the machinery around him died down with a high to low biyooooou.
He whirled around. "W-What-?"
Then the gate disappeared with a zap.
"...Crud."
-AoL-
When Ichigo woke up -though he didn't remember falling asleep- he found himself hovering in midair.
He shook himself awake and looked about. He was on a cliff, and not sure exactly how he was hanging.
Snap.
He turned around.
Ah.
His clothes. His red on black t-shirt to be exact.
On a branch.
How cliche-.
SNAP.
Ichigo cursed his own luck as the branch snapped and he felt himself falling down to the forest beneath.
Just before he hit the forest canopy, he summoned his Fullbringer ability, one that he took back from Ginjo. Black energy formed a silhouette around Ichigo's shoe and back along the spine.
Then just before he crashed into the canopy, he landed on the air by creating a reiatsu platform.
He stood up straight and wiped the single sweat that had formed on his forehead. That was close.
It was then that Ichigo felt the difference in his reiatsu.
The funny thing was, it no longer felt like a reiatsu but more like a water. Like warm water around him. Reiatsu felt more like a solid skin around him, but this change in his power felt much more light.
He shrugged it off, since the change affected neither his power level nor his ease in which he can bring forth his powers. But not sure of the entire deal, he decided to test it out and unsheathed his giant clever like zanpakuto. "BANKAI!"
A whirlwind immediately surrounded him as changes took place.
Then the winds dissipated as soon as it had begun, and Ichigo was left standing once more in midair. Surprisingly, his clothes had not changed.
He looked at Tensa Zangetsu and grinned. Yup, it was going to be perfectly fine-.
Then he remembered about the entire portal deal and looked around frantically.
No portal was in sight. There was nothing remotely similar to it.
He felt a vein pop up on his forehead. "Damn you, Kisuke!"
Then just as he said that, he was hit by something big and long.
Acnologia didn't expect to have a visitor any time soon. This level of strength was that of a dragon... No. A being higher than a dragon. Without much thought, the black dragon of apocalypse crawled out of its den and into the light.
But there was nothing in sight.
'The fuck?' it thought as it scanned the horizon. The power was here as was the being emitting the said power. So, where the hell was it?
Then he felt and saw a sudden spike in power. It turned its head towards that direction and its eyes diluted in fear. A black pillar of light that made life all around it scramble away in fear. Or die staying near it.
And it was power.
But within that power was an evil ... an emptiness that Acnologia only felt twice before.
Once from Zeref ...
And the other...
Acnologia growled as it turned its body towards it.
That evil...
If its black skin represented a warlord, this black was abyss, the colored of a demon lord.
Though Acnowlogia did not like humans, it loved the world it lived in. And this power was a threat to itself and the world.
"I'll get rid of you...!" Acnowlogia hissed in a deep roaring volume like a thunder as it launched itself towards the pillar.
Then as it got closer, it saw the source of the power: a human.
'It's always a human!' it thought as it got ready to launch the first strike. 'They. Always. Cause. Trouble!'
Slam.
And the insect human flew and struck the cliff wall. A large dust cloud spewed out from the point of impact.
"...That was weak," Acnowlogia muttered as it kept itself flying before the cliff, waiting for the human he knew who wasn't dead to come out already.
Ichigo really hadn't expected something as big and long as what hit him to hit him. It was a total surprise.
But it didn't hurt and he was back up within seconds. "...Ow..." he muttered in mock hurt, more hurt that someone would just strike him like that than actually being hurt. 'Does my scowl really look that bad?' he thought to himself as he remembered few of the occurrances that happened during his middle school years, where he got into fight just because of the ferocity of his scowl.
Ichigo pushed himself out of the crater and kept himself hovering. There were dust clouds of all shades of gray and brown floating about, keeping Ichigo hidden from his attacker. His big attacker. Ichigo glared at the hostile attacker as the dust clouds began to fade away... and he was slightly amazed that it was a very unique looking black dragon.
'I thought dragons have leather wings ... not feather-like wings,' he thought to himself before hefting Tensa Zangetsu over his right shoulder. "Why did you attack me?"
The dragon just growled instead. At the moment, it didn't feel like talking to a insect.
"Oi, I've seen more powerful guys than you, so speak up," Ichigo continued. "I heard you talk."
The dragon growled in return, but it made to aggressive movement against Ichigo. It would be pointless. This man was quite strong. He could easily overpower it even if he didn't use half of his power.
For the first time in a long time, Acnologia felt its body give an almost imperceptible tremor of fear.
"Be that way," Ichigo said as he began to walk away to his right. As he left the cliffs, the mountains, and the dragon, he couldn't help but both fume over and be gleeful about the situation he was in. He couldn't see nor feel the portal, and thus, there was no way for him to get back. He wouldn't get back so easily but he would surely beat the crap out of hat-and-clogs afterwards.
"If only -"
Slam.
This time, though, Ichigo blocked the giant tail.
"..." he turned around with his scowl. "One." He began. The dragon was confused, though. One? What was that supposed to mean? "If you mess with strangers, be prepared to pay."
Ichigo grabbed the tail by wrapping his arms tightly around it. And with a heave, he pulled the dragon and threw it against the cliff that it had thrown him into before. The dragon roared as pain spiked throughout its body.
'How strong is this bastard?' it thought as it tried to recover from the blow.
"Two." Crap. "Ethics: Do treat strangers with kindness. Or else, it's bad karma." With that he tightened the already tight hold on the dragon and slammed it once more into the cliff. The dragon roared this time from both pain and bent ego. Ichigo released his grip on the tail and shunpo'ed right up to its face. The awe-inspiring speed in which Ichigo moved at shocked the dazed dragon. It attempted to attack with Breath, but Ichigo grabbed the lower jaw and sent it hurling up. The jaw crashed with the upper jaw, and the breath attack that Acnologia tried to blast Ichigo with exploded within its own mouth.
"Three." Shit. "Aren't you going to say sorry?" Ichigo brought up his leg and did a hammer kick upon his head.
The sheer force of the blow was equivalent to a concentrated nuclear weapon, forced into a small invisible funnel. Neither knew about it, but there was onl one fact about it: it hurt like hell.
The dragon was sent pummeling down, and with a bone-cracking thud, crashed into the ground. A huge dust cloud was thrown up where it was, and Ichigo looked at the spot, satisfied by what he did. This dragon was just like any other bully he "taught." Violence against violence. It worked the best like that.
'T-This is humiliating...' Acnologia thought as it tried to stand up, only to realize that its right foreleg was broken. It roared in pain.
It felt ... helpless. Helpless against this new power. 'Fuck...'
Then suddenly, it felt its body shrinking. 'Shit, magic is leaving me!' But it knew why it was happening. When a dragon becomes too tired to continue in its large, bulky form, it sheds its larger form to take the shape of a human. 'No, I don't want to be a human!' At the same time, Acnologia knew that the human form was only a temporary measure until it had healed. 'F-Fuck!'
When Ichigo didn't see a huge black form as the dust clouds began to settle down, he become worried. Had he used too much power in his last kick? He didn't kill it, did he?
So, he made his way down to the ground with few midair steps. But when he got there, there was nothing there.
The body was missing.
"The hell?"
Acnologia hadn't used its human legs for a while. It's been about four decades since it did. And as such, it felt very, very weak.
"Kyaah!"
Acnologia screamed as it tripped over a tree root. It fell down on its side and bounced off.
And then it was right next to the cliff.
But it couldn't stop itself in its current fragile form and then it was right on the edge.
And rolled off.
"Kyaah!"
That was pretty loud.
But there was no one about as far as Ichigo knew. Which only left... the black dragon.
"Please don't tell me it transformed like some manga."
He quickly shunpo'ed over to the source of the sound.
He was at a cliff.
"Did I hear it wrong?" Ichigo thought as he surveyed behind him, where the forest was. He couldn't feel anything coming from there. In fact, it felt pretty lifeless if Ichigo filtered out the life energy -he didn't know how, but he was sensing things in this world- coming from the trees, there was nothing there.
So he turned around... and there.
Right .. beneath him?
He looked down, and he saw a black haired girl dressed in black scale-like one piece hanging unto her dear life by the tree branch that had stuck out of the earth.
"...You don't look so strong now," he grinned. "Dragon."
"S-Shut up!" she growled at him, but her body language was speaking "HELP ME!"
"Fine..." With two quick succession of shunpo's, Acnowlogia found herself in Ichigo's strong arms, holding her up in bridal-style.
Acnologia was confused for few seconds by the whirl of her surroundings. She actually felt sick, for the sudden movement annoyed her already empty stomach. But then she calmed down and looked about. She was in his arms, bridal-style too, and found that it was comfortable.
Then she had the cuteness to blush after realizing all that. However,when she blushed, she moved her arms, and moving her broken arm got pain to make her yelp.
Ichigo took a detailed note of her facial features a few moments after having rescued her from her demise.
Her face was round with soft-looking lips and cheeks. Her eyes and hair were all black like the skin she wore when she was a dragon.
Then he realized something ... embarrassing about her clothes.
It was really tight on her, especially near the top. His wandering eyes slowlu traveled down from her face to her neck (pale like her face and slim), and then her -.
'GAAAH! What the HELL am I doing?' Ichigo quickly tore his eyes away from her and looked up.
"Ah!"
The yelp was quick and abruptly cut off, but he heard it.
He looked down and he grimaced when he saw her broken arm, swollen and bleeding. But the worst part of it was that there was a bone sticking out of it.
Yeah, he used a bit too much power.
"We're going to need to fix that arm of yours."
She refused to reply. She looked away instead.
"Look, I'm new to this world."
She turned around and looked at him from the corner of her eyes, a bit confused with what he just said.
"I need to learn. So in exchange for forgetting about our meeting and healing that arm of yours instantly without pain, teach me about this world," he said. "Or I can drop you down the cliff."
"I'm not scared, 'kid.'"
Indeed, despite her mature looks, she, at the same time, looked like a teenager nearing 20's. 'And you know that that's partially true,' Acnologia thought as she remembered her brief memory of her very old parents. Parents who were 500 years older than their daughter. She was less than 100 years old...
Sure, her name was Acnologia, but it was like a family name ... with no first name for anyone in said family. They were all simply called Acnologia.
"Look, do we have a deal or not? I'm kind of desperate..."
"...Fine."
"You spoke!" But Ichigo felt happy that he managed to make her speak. He had come to communicate with her, and that was important.
But he still had one thing to worry about: was he stuck here in this new world -as fascinating it was- or will he be able to go back home?
He wanted to know, but there were other things in this world that was currently occupying his mind right now. Like what kind of things she can teach him. Starting with her name.
"What's your name?"
"Acnologia."
"Kurosaki Ichigo. Kurosaki is surname and Ichigo is my given name."
"... "
"..."
"..."
"So, what do you like?"
"Killing idiotic humans."
Great, something to fix.
Acnologia is actually male in both manga and the anime, but who cares. I made it a girl to suit my needs.
If you want a visual for her human form, imagine the edolas Wendy(manga image of her please, i hate anime because they ruin the art) with ... less size. Just slightly.
Fixed Post. 4-17-2012
Rewrite Post. 7-16-2013(From South Korea)