Introduction of a True Hero [Fantasia, Ibiki]

When Fantasia first devoted herself to the fight against the darkness—to honing what small power she possessed and training her body to outmaneuver and overwhelm her would-be enemies—she never imagined herself here, in the Soul Society, as one of the Shinigami. This had been a desire of hers she did not realize until now, and now the reality brought her great satisfaction. She wasn't just fighting evil because she wanted to, but because it was her responsibility now. Her occupation was that which she had always striven to do, as Substitute Shinigami. The girl brought her left hand up to her chest and looked down at the wooden artifact she was clutching just barely within her grasp. It was her badge, identifying her as an agent of the Soul Society despite her humanity, and allowing her to better perform her duties. What most intrigued her was the supposed capability of the device to sense nearby Hollowkind, something she had always struggled with.

Those were such thoughts running through the girl's mind as she strode through the Gotei's renovated barracks. Recently, the Seireitei's military structure had gone through some major revisions, though Fantasia did not quite understand the reasoning behind it herself. Still, the work being done had breathed fresh air into the organization and given it new life. She was happy to be a part of this new era herself; proud. She pocketed the pentagonal badge and then rested her hand on the hilt of her sheathed weapon, the Paragon. In response, the weapon gave an audible hum. Varius, another Shinigami, resided within the girl's weapon in a permanently disembodied state. He was effectively her Zanpakutō spirit, although he was not entirely pleased with the fact. Due to a rather tragic past, it was life like this or death, and he'd chosen life by sealing himself within his own Zanpakutō... many years later, Fantasia found this weapon, and it was through him that she became a Substitute Shinigami.

That was their relationship, a human girl with ancient talking sword, something that sounded much more ridiculous when spoken aloud. Fantasia didn't mind it though, happy to have someone along to guide her and help her become a better Shinigami.

But Fantasia wouldn't be taking lessons from him this day. Today, she would address a new individual as her mentor, and captain. She knew nothing more about this person besides her name, Ibiki Suika. It was not a long walk, or at least as she lost herself in her thoughts it did not feel like a long walk. She would soon reach the barracks in which she would be staying in, and then presumably meet the Captain of the division soon after. She looked around briefly to see the familiar white flowing robes of authority, but to no avail so far. Unsurprising; she probably was just busy, doing Captain stuff... yeah. She would get to Fantasia when she got to her.

''You know, I don't remember hearing about an Ibiki Kenpachi in my day, must be new. Though I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't quite live up to the expectations of the OLD Kenpachi's. Heh, those guys were brutal. Wouldn't want to get in their way for sure, or you'd end up in a rather bloody knot. Hard to stand up to that, really.'' Such were the ramblings of a decrepit old man, Varius, a viewpoint from a long time ago. It's been so long for him since he's returned to this place, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited to be here. Still, he was quite the wordy fellow... not that Fantasia minded.

''Kenpachi is the name of the strongest, Varius, so we're sure she's as strong as all the others. She's probably very tall and just as vicious, as it should be.'' Fantasia's voice was much softer and much slower-paced than her compatriot, easy enough to differentiate from the sarcastic wise-cracker attached to her hip. The two would converse about what the Kenpachi would possibly look like and be able to do as they traversed into the barracks and found their personal dormitory. The smell of fresh wood permeated the entire building, and the clodding of her leather boots echoed down the empty halls with nothing to impede the sound. She had only brought a few momentos and human necessities with her into the Soul Society, so it would not take long for her to unpack. No more than ten minutes.

After that, it was straight towards the Captain's office. She didn't know where Ibiki could be other than there, so that was where she would begin. Her silky blue cape flowed gently behind her while her weapon swayed back and forth on the side of her hip, secure in its sheath. Her every movement was graceful as if drilled into her muscle memory day after day. The rigorous training she'd gone through was clear as crystal by simple judge of character, though that skill remained unchallenged by any true test. Besides that, Fantasia truly appeared as an innocent young girl, with bright eyes and friendly face. It was hard to look at her as more than a youth. The knight's robes she was clad in seemed almost inappropriate. She was strange in a great many ways, this girl.

Work, work, work and more work.

That about describes the pace at which Ibiki has found herself in with the development of the Gotei Reformed. Despite being chipper and jovial about the whole ordeal, this new and radical change within the organization certainly has been one that has taxed her quite a bit. Many thousands of new shinigami found themselves placed and merged within her combat unit, so she needed to be on her utmost duty in order to ensure this family was well taken care and strong enough to fend off against the many threats which loomed over their horizon.

Add to the fact that most of the other captains wished to see a more "serious" and "less-wacky" version of The Suika Child, and one could easily begin to tell how annoyed she was becoming with some of the inner workings of the Gotei. However, she wouldn't let that get to her! Nope. She was stronger than that and would keep moving forward in the direction in which she best believed that her company could benefit from.

Which is why she then found herself rolling, tumbling and jumping upwards at the feet of sight of the armored knight appearing at her doorstep. It was almost as if she appeared straight out of nowhere with how fast this crazed bundle of menacing strength came in! Perhaps all that Fantasia would see in this burst of movement and action is a bundle of ginger hair, oak skinned horns and the giggles of a rather peppy and lively Oni Captain.

After she was done cuddling the floor, the height difference between the two became apparent as The Devil Captain stood on her feet. The rookie was a good five foot six, while the lovely Suika Child was five foot one~! Granted, more than anything else, it just served to amuse her for some unknown reason or another.

After dusting off that drabby navy blue kimono of hers, The Suika Child then adjusted her shades and placed them over her forehead as inspected her new recruit. With those ember eyes moving all over the place, The Menacing Devil Girl folded her arms and gave an affirmed nod. As, with one look, she could tell one thing: the newbie was pretty frickin' strong! Strong enough to warrant being a Captain if most of the other slots hadn't been filled at this point.

So, as her pointed ears started twitching to life, The Oni Shinigami started pondering how she should handle this situation....

....for a good couple of seconds....

Following that brief spell of intensive thought, she got tired of over complicating things, shrugged her shoulders and handed the dark blue warrior a large cup of 100-proof liquor. Oh, right, we are missing the important part: all of this was done out of thin air. While Miss Ibiki didn't use magic much in combat, her kido was capable of producing tangible objects like tables, cups and booze with but a simple thought and bit of energy released from her body. So it was super, super convenient in social situations like these where she wanted to break the ice.

Tossing aside that puddle of troublesome thought, the Suika Child's brain started to feel like static as she tried to recall the name of this maiden of strength.

Think

Think

Ahhhhhh -- she had nothing!

So this was totally going to be more awkward!

Therefore, she would play it cool, snicker and ask this simple question to her new recruit:

"Welllllll~ who might you be? Will you be my knight and shining armor?"


Bah! Flopped! But who cares? Ibiki was having a blast with it since she got intense medieval vibes from this woman. She needed to poke, prod and test the waters to see just the kind of person she was dealing with. Therefore, she'd step things up and nudge her head towards the excessively large container of booze being offered in her right hand:

"Or are you gonna' turn into my next drinking buddy? If so, drinking buddies have a name: so tell me yours!"

Saved!

Hahaha!

She was too good at this. Or so she thought, anyway. Whatever her response would be to this, it was going to be amusing. As for now, The Suika Child would form another large cup of booze in her left hand, chug it and let out a content sigh before turning her fiery orange stare back at this luscious knight.

"But lookin' at how strong ya are, you look like the fightin' type. So are ya here to wrestle and train to?"

Tilting her head to the right side, Miss Suika was most curious to hear the reasons and story which brought this lass to her doorstep. So, she'd cease her endless actions and observe for now. The ball of social sport was now in The Hero Of Justice's hands!

''Well, here we go...''

Fantasia had a degree of uncertainty about her even if she tried to hide it. After all, she was the odd ball out in the Soul Society; a human who had acquired the abilities of a Shinigami. There were those who believed she did not belong, and those who accused her of stealing such power from their kind. Yet, here she was striding up towards the supposed 'strongest' Shinigami. It was a privelage, truly, worthy of the envy of others. Had she really earned something like this, with all the mistakes she's made in the past? Perhaps... not. But she continued nonetheless, for even if she did not deserve to be a pupil of the strongest, she would not step down given the opportunity. She had a goal in mind...

She would only need to approach the Kenpachi's office entrance before a blur of motion surged toward her across the ground, catching her slightly off guard. Varius, his voice pealing through the sword on her hip, began screeching like a little girl as it approached at blistering speed. 'A test?!' was Fantasia's first thought as she slid her foot back and dropped into a combative stance, bringing her fists up to bare and causing her robes and hair to flutter wildly through the air. She was prepared to defend against whatever attack came her way, and yet her usual keen instincts couldn't seem to pick up where the blow would come from. Tension coursed through her entire body as she crossed her arms in front of her to block, and Varius' squealing grew louder by the second.

Then the figure stopped just in front of them, standing up straight. Had... had she been struck? Was she already downed, yet she just hadn't realized it? Fantasia just looked at the character before her with wide eyes, trying to realize where the attack had hit her, but she couldn't find anything. Everything seemed normal and functional throughout her body. Her cerulean hues trained down on the woman who had rushed in front of them, confusion shining across those eyes. There was no attack. Everything was okay. And it would take several moments to come to this realization. Even longer for Varius, whose effeminate cry for mercy slowly began to peter off into awkward silence. He would then clear his nonexistent throat as he too came to terms with the situation.

Ibiki Kenpachi, a short amber-haired lady with vibrant red eyes and two bull-like horns poking out of the top of her head. She was beaming rather cordially, her body relaxed and lacking any hostility at all. Meanwhile, Fantasia was knees-bent, arms-up, ready for bout that was never to happen in the first place. That was why she couldn't sense where her attack was coming from, because there was no attack! O-Oh god... she had just embarrassed herself. With her very first impression—probably the most important of them all—Fantasia had failed in such a spectacular fashion that it brought shame upon her, and it would show through the scarlet coloring that appeared all over her face.

She quickly straightened up, looking at the ceiling to avoid the Kenpachi's gaze now, since looking down would not quite do the trick for someone of her stature. She simply stood still and held her breath for as long as she could, trying not to make any further of mockery of herself. She had no choice but to wait for her to address her and hope that her mistake would be overlooked. That's when she suddenly felt an object thrust against her chest, which she wrapped her arms around to not drop it when Ibiki let go of it. She looked down at it to see the object take the form of a sizable goblet, and smelt the contents of the drink before she figured them out.

''We...''

She timidly tried to speak up as she awkwardly held the cup in her hands, but was spoken over by the woman's much livelier voice. She was being asked for her name, something she of course shouldn't expect someone of her caliber to need to remember. A natural question, for Fantasia did not even realize it could imply anything more than her innocent mind would allow. She would tell her her name, but first she had to point out one crucial fact to the woman so that nothing was misunderstood.

''We...''

She tried again, but was once more stifled by Ibiki's spirited voice. She sounded so happy and enthusiastic, tons of energy in every aspect of her being. Once again she asked for Fantasia's name again, reminding her that she still hadn't gotten to say, but still... There was something she had to say first! Come on, this time for sure...

''We—''

was all she could get out before Ibiki spoke again, causing Fantasia to shut her mouth and awkwardly tighten her lips. She was trying so hard not to make another stupid blunder, and she knew she was prone to such things. She could only imagine what would happen to her if she messed up twice in a row, doing something so silly as trying to talk over a Kenpachi. Naturally, when she was inquired about her reason for being here, she of course would respond that it was true she was here for instruction and to fight for good. But, there was a time for everything, and right now, immediately after Ibiki stopped speaking Fantasia managed to squeeze out what she needed to say:

''We are actually... only seventeen, seventeen years old.''

Fantasia felt so amateurish saying that out loud now, that she actually coughed afterwards. It was true, however, that she was underage and unable to legally drink alcohol, at least where she came from. Not only that, but she didn't currently have any desire to partake in the substance either, considering the ill aftereffects it could cause. Reluctant as she was to upset her peer, she would hold the cup back out towards Ibiki, to return it. Again, terrible premonitions of pain and suffering winked in and out of her mind as she tried to predict what punishments might befall her for refusing a drink from someone said to be so strong and menacing. For now, Fantasia was relying more on hearsay than what her own eyes and ears were telling her. Even if Ibiki didn't seem very horrible, she wouldn't let herself get too comfortable.

''Our name is Fantasia Nevermore, Substitute Shinigami and now an official member of the Gotei's Combat Division. We hope to become ever stronger and bring justice and righteousness to wherever we travel, and defeat all that is evil as we fight... N-Nice to meet you.''

The more our knight in shining armor began to speak, the more The Suika Child began to see through her facade and see her as quite the timid and nervous type. While she didn't speak anything outwardly about it, the tension was certainly brewing within the young lass as she was beginning to lose it slowly but surely. One of the first signs of this was the fact that her partner let out one frantic screech from what our lovely Oni Captain was able to sense. And, in response to that, her own Zanpakutō had a comment to give to Miss Ibiki about it!

'UGH! What a freaking baby! Whoever the hell this child is, you'll have your work cut out for you.'

In that moment, the energy within the horned shinigami could be felt as becoming extremely irritated and volatile; despite Ibiki looking as calm and chipper as can be. If The Hero of Justice's own spiritual ally could pick up on this, they would undoubtedly sense that Oni-Kyosei, The Suika Child's Zanpakutō spirit, was less than impressed with their fearful display. However, the loose and placid aura of the drunkward would overpower that as her influence kept this savage beast of a Zanpakutō in check!

'C'monnnnnnnnn~ Give her a chance! You can't write off someone without first meeting them. You'd be surprise to if someone caught ya from behind, silly. Hehehehehe....'

'.......tch. I don't expect much, but I'm telling you....THAT ZAN IS A HALF-WEIGHT!'

With one final roar, Oni-Kyosei would simply sit back and watch for now. If nothing else, she had faith in her master and hoped she would beat this runt into something less shaky and apprehensive. That annoyed the hell out of her and Ibiki was doing her best to keep that savagery in check! Therefore, with another chugging of booze, this alcoholic elixir of the gods would soothe her aggression for now and allow for The Suika Child's energy to gradually go back to it's easy flowing state.

Bahahahaha! It was almost as if she was drinking for two at this point!

Though, it looked like Fanatisa over there had a few drinks too many to! This nutcase was beginning to look upwards at the ceiling instead of at The Suika Child's eyes. The anxiety must've been brewing like crazy within her mind and it caused The Menacing Devil Girl to tilt her head to the right out of disbelief. Could someone be this socially terrified? Well, our valiant knight was beginning to prove that much.

And, it would only go further down hill as this champion of justice sized up and smelled the the contents of The Suika Child's enchanting booze. This caused Fantasia to begin speaking "we" over and over and over and over again as her entire body seemed to become as stiff as a body in rigor mortis. Ibiki was honestly concerned at this point as it looked as if she was going to explode or something. Hopefully she didn't "trigger" her or anything as it looked as if her new trainee was going to snap or something.

'Christ, what did I tell you? No constitution. Should have listened to me.'

The grumblings of Oni-Kyosei lingered ever so constantly in the head of The Suika Child as their Knight in Shining Armor attempted to process the ability to speak in that nutty mind of hers. If Ibiki's Zanpakutō spirit wasn't impressed before, one could almost feel her approval ratings plummeting lower than the likelihood of common sense prevailing in this world of theirs.

'Hush, hush! I've got this still!'

After giving a quick and giddy protest to her spiritual partner, The Menacing Devil Girl still believed she could work wonders with Fanatasia. As, if nothing else, she finally managed to say something other than "we".

But -- Ibiki found what she spoke of to be of little relevance.

Who cared about age in a time such as theirs? Children were ageless monsters, adults were children and everyone else in between hid behind many mask. So The Suika Child couldn't find much of a care to worry about something as trivial as her being a minor.

Thus, The Suika Child would throw Fanatasia back into their reality as she gave her a simple flick to the nose to attune her senses back to normal.

"I don't care about that, silly. If you don't want to drink, just say that~!"

There was a slight snicker given by The Oni Shinigami before she promptly took back her drink and drunk it in one gulp. With a satisfied sigh given, she'd rub her tummy, smash the cup against the wall and have it dissolve into a cloud of smoke while listening to Ms.Nevermore explain who she was. Right, right, She already understood all that prior to her coming here. So, as she began stretching each of her arms upwards, The Suika Child would pop her neck and give a quick stare back at her trainee before wriggling her nose:

"If you are right for this division, let's see what you are made of! Let's have a sparring session!"

Really, to get Oni-Kyosei to shut up, Ibiki was interested in just testing her out and seeing where her strengths lays in combat in order to prove to her Zanpakutō spirit this was a good idea. Since, while her words were blocked out, she could outright feel the agitation brewing within and The Devil Shinigami wanted to resolve this was quickly as possible to appease her partner! Therefore, The Suika Child motioned for our champion of justice to follow her to a large and vast area of stone outside of her office as she left through an open door. This was going to be their sparring area and is the place where Ibiki has tested many a former division eleven candidates.

With or without Fanatasia, The Horned Captain would then stand in the center of the ring and fold her arms before announcing the conditions and terms of their scarp:

"Okay, okay~! Before we get started, I just have to say: don't do anything that'll destroy the place. I've already gotten an ear full from that new commander of ours and I wanna make sure I don't get nagged at anymore! Besides that, feel free to go nuts!"

Quick and to the point, The Suika Child gave a confident chuckle before motioning with her hand once more for Fanataisa to follow suit with whatever attack she felt would work against her. Hopefully, Fantasia wouldn't be one to disappoint!