Paranormal Sector - Karakura Town

    Truth be told, this town looks as one might expect of a modern Japanese suburb. The streets are clean here, and the homes usually look neat and tidy. It has a sort of small town charm, with its small, locally-owned businesses - some of which operate out of houses. The local landmarks include a large open market on the end of town close to Tokyo, a large high school, and the family-owned Kurosaki Clinic.
    Indeed, if one cannot see ghosts, Karakura Town seems normal. However, those with supernatural senses may realize this place is out of the ordinary. Hollows, ghosts infused with evil energy, are sometimes on the prowl here, and they are combated by the Death Gods - invisible warriors fighting against these accursed ghosts.
    For those who know better, this place may idyllic, but it is still a battleground.

Karakura Town! Peaceful, quiet. Full of spiritual police who put the little guy, you know, Hollows, down. Right now, it's late afternoon, the midsummer day's heat dying to the pleasant warmth of a midsummer's night.

What a horrible night to have a curse. No. Wait. That's not right.

Ichigo Kurosaki, Raging jerk, and resident representitive of Soul Society is on his nightly patrol, alone for once. This is a bad thing, because with his spiritual senses, which are about as potent as spoiled mayonaise, he can't see something unless it's right in front of him. This is why the crack in the sky at his back goes unnoticed.
Others may be better off than he, however.

Ichigo? Patrol alone? Considering the spiritual saturation of Karakura, plus the fact that more and more people lately are becoming aware of current... prediciments, Ichigo is NEVER alone. Tonight, however, is oldschool, as Chad is also out walking around. He's not patroling though, he's just walking from an undetermined location (to be specified later, maybe) back to his apartment.

    Chad senses Ichigo's spiritual pressure much like someone senses a tornado when it hits their house. A small grin spreads on Chad's lips, as he continues walking. He doesn't sense any immediate danger, so there's no need to get in Ichigo's way. Or, at least, he was thinking there was no danger. The giant crack in the sky doesn't go unnoticed by Chad, though at first he can't quite tell where this menacing atmosphere is coming from. He stops in hist racks and looks around, not quite able to pinpoint the location. It's bad though.

Uryuu Ishida, now, he has spiritual senses as finely tuned as a grand piano. So the crack in the sky quickly reached his notice. Something definitely isn't right in the town of Karakura.

So, y'know, par for the course.

Clad in his Quincy uniform, bow in hand, Uryuu steps out onto the streets. He moves quickly, heading toward the center of the disturbance he feels, and barely avoids running into Ichigo as he rounds a corner. "Ah, Kurosaki," he says, pushing his glasses up. "Did you sense the disturbance as well?" After a moment, he rolls his eyes. Ichigo, sense something? Silly question.

    A figure in a black suit is walking down the street, not far from Ichigo's perch. He looks perfectly normal, and appears perfectly normal to supernatural senses, as well.

    For all of thirty seconds.

    The man's reiatsu flares to supernatural proportions, a tangled red morass of delusions, deception, and selfishness. It isn't human, and it isn't Hollow, either.

    Simon Parker then does a neat about-face, putting his hands in his pockets as he looks up at the sky. He can sense some sort of not-Disturbance coming from the crack, but blessed if he knows what it is. For now, the demon continues his tourist act, walking down the street in the general direction of the rift in the sky.

    Asmodeus has made his orders clear: find the Renegade. If this is a lead, he's not going to pass it up.

Superman is flying in the skies over Karakura! This might well be unnoticed, as Superman is pretty high up and good at traveling through and around clouds when he wants to be discreet. Why, you ask?

Because there's a gourmet ramen cart in this part of Japan that's still on Superman's list. Once he gets all six hundred, the Ramen Cart Preservation Society'll give him a plaque!

    From another gate and another universe, someone else is watching things tonight. Drawn by the sudden surge in Spiritual power coming from the universe next door and freed from the constraints of being 'the good guy' with Subaru and Hokuto, Seishirou has decided to come investigate in his other capacity, as the Sakurazukamori.

     Clad in a nicely tailor black suit with a flowing black trenchcoat, the Onmyoji assassin stands at the top of a burny out light pole somewhere nearby and staring into the sky with his impassive gaze. In one hand he holds the smoking tube of a cigarette while his other arm is raised slightly, a giant black bird perched upon his forearm. Suffice it to say, the gaping hole has not gone unnoticed.

     Of course, sometimes you just wanted to keep an eye on the weird places.

      Even though she didn't really expect trouble today, coincidence has brought Nanoha to Karakura once again - she swings by once every few days ro so, to see if she can find any IPA operatives around here who are in need of help. Beyond that, there isn't too much that she does, besides keep an eye out for the strange and unusual. Of course, for her strange and unusual doesn't really register - especially since the crack in the sky that has appeared is one that is more of a spiritual gate, and she is just in her normal high school outfit - not really taking notice of anything odd yet.

      At least, not until her pendant, with its spherical red crystal, chimes once, indicating that something is amiss.

Sesshomaru is here alone. He is quite capable of picking up on spiritual energy, and he knew that a place like this wouldn't be good for Rin or Jaken. And so the demon is alone, standing on the sidewalk and looking up at the sky curiously as he senses something...change. "How interesting...." he murmurs quietly, his eyes flashing red briefly before going back to normal. This should be quite interesting to watch, indeed.
 
 Ichigo is not entirely alone. Yoruichi is out on the prowl. Well more like taking a stroll. She sniffs a bit and something touches on her senses, a big something. Her ears twitch as the air suddenly becomes supercharged with a very familiar sensation. She looks up at the sky, normal for now but then sees the very beginnings of a crack. She blinks. The sky is breaking. This means one thing, bad juju. She ducks behind an alleyway, transforming back into a human and quickly dressing herself, no way she's leaving a Menos to a team of rookies.
 
 Popping out of her alley, she finds a large post to perch on and just crouches there watching the sky. Hueco Mundo will close back up again before anything can leave. Fat chance, but she can hope. But why is it opening now? She didn't sense any hollows nor any abnormal spiritual activity unless... unless Aizen has figured out how to use the orb.
 
 She sniffs again when a burst of spiritual energy flares up. Her eyes move to it's source and a small smirk forms on her lips, "He's moving as well hmm?" There are other more unfamiliar reiatsus floating around. All of them leave a powerful signature. She can't tell which are allies and which are not, only that whoever these people are, they have power.

And in some cases, coincidence is what brings people into this particular area at this particular (and potentially very dangerous) time... At least, that's why Masataka is here. For an alternate reality, this Japan is an awful lot like the one Takayanagi is familiar with, but that's probably just because he can't actually /see/ anything spiritual... Though there's a definite sense of 'something' building as the yellow-eyed teenager wanders along, his admittedly limited ability to feel ki like a tickle at the back of his mind.

Poor, unsuspecting Masataka. At least this time, Kagura isn't around to shoot him in the foot, or give him any weird nicknames.

Ichigo blinks as he nearly barrels into Ishida. He skids to a stop and starts to ask why the Quincy is in full battle dress when he gets asked about a disturbance? "Eh? What're you talking about, Ishida?" The orange haired teenager scratches his head and looks to his friend(?) in confusion. The hell is nerd boy talking about?
From the horizon to the apex of the sky, the very fabric of reality tears apart, two great white hands reaching through, pulling and prying an apeture open, wider and wider until it's large enough for something the size of a skyscraper to pass through. Only then does it stick its long nosed face through. With the sky suitably split, it sets a foot through. One of his brethren was defeated last time. This time, it will win.

The cracking of the sky is audible, and Ichigo turns, his face flashing from confusion to shock to anger. "Oh. That disturbance." He looks back to Ishida and nods. "Let's get to work." And like a shot, he's off, running at top speed, robes whipping in the wind.

The moment Chad connects the disturbance to a Menos, he turns around sharply and dashes in Ichigo's direction. Not so much that Ichigo needs help, but if there's going to be a rumble with Hollows, then whereever Ichigo is will be ground zero. He feels a bit relieved as he senses Ishida's signature near Ichigo's, hopefully the Quincy will keep him from doing anything stupid.

...

Chad picks up his pace. Not that he's worried. Oh no. That's not it at all. Ichigo and Ishida? Yeah, perfectly stable pair....

The Sakurazukamori from his perch on the lamp post narrows his already narrow eyes even further. This is definitely not good and if not dealt with quickly, might just force the attention of a certain Spiritualist and his Sister. Best to deal with this quickly then, before Subaru gets distracted from his distractions and comes to the aid of this foul spirit. He looks at his bird and nods, sweeping his arm into the air and sending the being of pure spiritual power skyward.

     The great black bird soars upwards towards the gash in the sky, seeming to swell as it does so. Suddenly, it explodes into a cloud of cawing, red-eyed crows that swarm upwards towards the crack in reality. The birds claw into the tear, hooking beaks and talons into the edges of the hole, before suddenly flashing red and vanishing, leaving in their wake dozens of black Ofuda with intricately drawn red sigils upon them, dark sutras of fell power.

     Seishirou brings his hands together, chanting as he puts his fingers through the intricate gestures of his art. His words are mostly meaningless, used to focus his power, focus his will through the ofuda stuck to the portal. The sigils begin to glow red as he tries to force the hole to close. Whether this helps the giant spirit escape or not is not his concern. One terrible thing leaving is bad enough, more then one would be unacceptable.

    After several minutes of walking, Simon reaches his car, which is parked by the curb--he extracts his keys from his pocket, unlocks the car, and removes something from underneath the dashboard. Something that has its own infernal reiatsu. Something that is quickly stuffed into a shoulder-holster as the Disturbance becomes that much louder. Simon's head jerks upwards as he hears the crack widen.

    /God bless,/ is his only coherent thought as he sees the hands emerge. The Balseraph seems to freeze, one hand on the lock, the other on the grip of the unholy pistol. And then he snaps out of it, locks the car, and starts running in the direction of the crack. He is not sure what is going on, but blessed if he's not going to try and find out. The demon turns a corner, spotting Ishida and Ichigo--he nearly skids to a halt at the sight of the freakout kid, but manages to keep going.

As Ichigo asks Uryuu what the heck he's on about, the Quincy pauses, distracted by the presence of quite a few beings with /high/ spiritual energy. He recognizes Yoruichi, Chad, and Superman right away. There's that demon they'd spoken to... Simon, that was his name. And some distance away, the young man he'd met just yesterday in Camelot. But the rest of the signatures are powerful and unrecognized. Hopefully they'll turn out to be friends rather than foes...

"Right," Ishida replies, taking off after Ichigo at /his/ top speed. Neither one seems to be outrunning the other. "Be careful, Kurosaki. We're both much stronger than we were the first time we faced a Menos, but we can't get cocky." Besides, he wouldn't be surprised if more Menoses followed the first one out.

     Glancing around for a moment, Nanoha holds out one hand, the other placed over her pendant until a pair of sunglasses appear in her hands. Of course, these are not quite ordinary sunglasses, but a pair of lenses that were tuned similarly to the visor she had created last time she was here. It should allow her to see whatever strange manifestations are located around here. And she looks around... and blinks.

      My, that was a very big crack. And a very big hand as well. Shuddering for a moment, the magical girl takes off, looking along the road for anyone else taking notice... oh! There was that strange, strawberry haired man from the IPA! Well, If he was responding to this, it seemed like that was probably the best direction to head in... and so she takes off, following what will probably be a growing crowd.
Somewhere on the MUSH, Toushirou Hitsugaya has connected.
 
 The second the hands show up, Yoruichi just sighs. But with all these powerful people around, she won't be needed right? Not for just one tiny ol' Menos. No, it's amongst the weakest of Aizen's army and so these people should be more than enough for it. She just sits watching the raven turn into crows and then into seals. Now that's an interesting way to try and close the gateway. But she doubts it's enough. Her senses follow the trail to the figure on the pole and frowns. He's -feels- human. Hmm.

Superman is humming, cheerfuly to himself. La la la la, I like pork and garlic, la la la la, finally get a lunch break, la la la, "What the-!" Superman stops, mid-air, his super hearing picking up the calamity from the local spirit hunting IPA agents. They sound...well, terrified. Frowning, the Man of Steel squints his eyes, closing in on the end of the visual spectrum where...whatever spiritual energy actualy is likes to hide.

"....great scott." is the only thing the Man of Steel can think to say, seeing the /thing/ working its way through reality. So much for his lunch break. Scanning the ground, he hones in on Ichigo, and with a crack of sound and wind, Superman hones in on Team Karakura, hoping to get his questions answered.
Well, he'll also use the radio, but you get the idea.

It's kind of like a cold chill running down Masataka's spine, though he hasn't the sight to see what's actually happening; frowning to himself, he has to consider... The smart thing to do would probably be to move very quickly in the opposite direction from whatever's generating that weird ki, wouldn't it? After all, every time he sticks his nose in something supernatural, nothing happens but bad badness.

However, naturally, doing 'the smart thing' isn't in Takayanagi's makeup; instead, the teenaged martial artist starts moving faster /towards/ the source of the unusual energy, his golden eyes narrowing faintly as he does so. Sure, he might just end up being in the way, but it's not like he knows any better!

Sesshomaru raises an eyebrow as he sees a hand come out of the crack in the sky. An ordinary man, probably an even ordinary yokai, would go for his sword about now. Sesshomaru, instead, continues to watch. Even as things start to get rather hectic, and it looks like the creature really /is/ going to attack. Sesshomaru, after all, doesn't really care if the city is razed to the ground.

Ichigo Kurosaki smirks at Ishida's warning. "They say a captain level Death God can take on a Menos alone and win." Ichigo hops over a fire hydrant, sailing effortlessly through the air before he lands and starts running again. "I'm stronger than most captains. I can probably deal with this myself." Cocky. So very cockly. His dark eyes look up at the crack, and he kind of wishes Rukia were here to tell him to stop being a damn fool.

He didn't just think that. Really.

The Menos frees itself from the crack, stretching to its full height. Its movements are slow and ponderous, like some sort of ox. There's another set of hands around the crack now. They fight the ofudas, dark reiatsu of the hollow fighting the dark power of the seals. It's pretty even for the moment.

Of course, while this hole is open, the little brothers of the Menos stream out. Hollows of all shapes and sizes stream out in waves of black flesh and white masks. Happy Friday, everybody.

It's a good thing Chad isn't within earshot of Ichigo. Hell, chances are Ichigo hasn't even sensed Chad yet, he's too fixated on the Hollow. He's not about to turn and leave, though, even if he DID hear Ichigo tell him to leave it to him. One Menos, he could probably handle at this stage. If MORE than one come out, though? That's trouble.

Big Trouble.

At this point Chad sheds any pretenses of keeping his spiritual pressure hidden. He immediately forms his spiritual armor on his right arm, his own pressure flaring up as a result. He's still making a bee-line for Ichigo's location.

Seishirou Sakurazuka stands there, concentrating and chanting every faster, ever louder, his fingers flying through bizarre contortions, focusing his powers. He is one of the two most skilled Onmyouji in his world, his family feared and counted on to defend Japan for countless ages. He will not allow some phantoms to defy his will.

     Thrusting forth both of his hands, he shouts "HA!" As loudly as he can. Ribbons of red energy slip from the Ofuda surrounding the hole, beginning to seek out the other Ofuda. Slowly but surely, they link up, forming an inverted, five-pointed star surrounded by a circle. It flashes bright red in the night sky like a beacon for those with the spiritual strength to see it. Gritting his teeth, the assassin tries to seal the breach, to create an equally strong force of dark energy over it, to keep it from letting other things out.

Oh, great, little Hollows. Superman smiles, a little-swooping by Chad, Ishida, and Ichigo, giving the trio a quick wave before twisting around midair and kicking off into the sky with the Kryptonian equivelent of a swimmer's wall kick. Superman seems to be rushing in the general direction of "UP", and is best tracted by the beams of bloody red heat that fire from his eyes, seeking to cut through the lesser Hollows's masks as the Man of Steel makes his ascent.

'Almost dark...' Clark thinks, balancing the will to fly with aiming the sharp blasts of heat vision juuuust right. Wouldn't want the souls to suffer too much, after all, 'I'm probably going to want to catch the last bits of sunset while I can...just in case.'

    Parker glances up as Superman flies overhead; he snaps off a quick salute in mid-stride, since it's just the right thing to do to your boss. Even if he is a jumped-up alien talking monkey.

    His attention, however, is still on the enormous Disturbance dead-ahead. The Balseraph quickly draws his Unholy Pistol, checking to make sure the clip's full of mundane rounds before he gets into an actual firefight--it wouldn't do to waste Unholy Bullets on small fry.

    Simon hasn't spent years playing video games to not learn the value of saving the big guns for the bosses.

    The Balseraph skids to a halt about twenty feet from Ichigo's position, and holds his weapon at the ready. One eyebrow rises in a "Well?" expression, though he's

now torn between watching the Menos and watching the chaos at the rift behind it.

    And then the Chief gives permission to engage, as it were. Simon quickly levels the pistol's sights on the mask of one of the closer Hollows, and fires two shots with inhuman precision.

"Honestly, Kurosaki..." Uryuu leaps up and runs along the top of the wall, nodding to Superman as he passes by. "You're certainly strong, yes, but you have no ability to plan. What are you going to do, cut it down a piece at a time the way you tried before?" No way will he let Ichigo run into this alone. There's got to be more to this invasion than a single Menos. If Aizen is planning some sort of trap, Ichigo will run straight into it before he begins to even consider thinking things out...

     It was obvious that this was going to be a bit more complicated than Ichigo had commented it would be over the radio. Which meant it was time to get serious about this - she had seen what these creatures could do during another invasion a short while ago, and Nanoha didn't want to see any normal people getting hurt by such a strange menace. Holding up her pendant above her head, Nanoha speaks the two words that will materialize her barrier jacket and staff, preparing her for battle.

      That done she takes to the air, swooping over where Ichigo and the others are standing, and calls down to them. "Hello down there! Raging Heart and I will work on making sure that none of the stragglers get away from the group, if you want to focus on the big one!"
 
 The tear is being held in check by the stranger on the post. Yoruichi nods but sees all the little Hollows escaping. Dang, this means she doesn't get to just hang back and let other people do the work. She leaps from her position onto rooftops and leaping up into the air. She spots Superman on her way up and nods briefly to him before disappearing from sight, only to reappear behind flying hollow. She snaps a kick powerful kick at the back of the hollow's neck before moving on to the next flying one.

Sesshomaru's expression remains impassive as a dark swarm of creatures descends from the sky and begins to go on a rampage. Now his hand goes for Tokijin, because he's sure they won't bother to avoid him like most yokai would. Oddly enough, however, he gets a faint impression in the back of his mind telling him to do something else. And so he reaches for Tenseiga instead, the normally-harmless sword glinting in the fading sunlight as he takes it in his right hand. The interesting thing about Tenseiga is that, unlike most yokai weapons, or Sesshomaru's own attacks, it's a holy weapon. And is particularly suited for fighting the undead.

This becomes obvious as the first Hollow comes within range of the swordsman, slashing with its claws at his left arm and hitting naught but cloth; there's nothing there anyway. Without even looking at the creature, Sesshomaru turns aside and runs it through with Tenseiga, which causes it to disappear entirely as the holy power obliterates the force animating it. "Ho...Tenseiga isn't quite so useless after all," the demon lord mutters as he keeps his gaze fixed on the source of the Hollow swarm. That's where all the interesting stuff is happening anyway.

From inside the tear in reality, there's a bellow as the second Menos struggles to keep its hold on the crack. It fights and strains and howls in rage, its bellows shakes the heavens as it's mighty strength is thwarted by the dark will of Seishirou. The chalky hands draw back inside, and the crack seals quickly, the flow of lesser monsters halted by the assassin's seals.

There's another reality shaking thud that seems to vibrate the sky as the Menos on the other side vents its fury before things go still.
Lesser Hollows, most appearing at the very least vaguely animalistic, fall under the power of the Man of Steel's heat vision and the unholy gunfire of the demon. Yoruichi's speedy style of combat proves effective against these monsters. The one kicked in the neck flies to the ground, where it lands facefirst on a parking meter, shattering its mask as it explodes into spirit matter.

While Masataka might not be able to see /everything/ that's going on, as he gets closer it's pretty easy to spot, oh say, Superman flying around and using his heat vision... Flying does sort of stand out. "Jeez, there must be something really big happening," he mutters to himself as he keeps dashing closer, running as fast as he can. This of course is going to put him in a bit of a sticky situation, since for all he can feel that disturbance of spirit, the ki-wielder can't actually /see/ the Hollows, which might make him at least appear pretty much defenseless here! Poor, relatively normal guy.

Ichigo grunts at Ishida's chiding. He knows what he's doing. Only now does he notice Chad. "Hey, Chad. Thanks for joining us." The trio draws ever close to the foot of the giant, and Ichigo skids to a stop, his sandals kicking up plumes of dust. "You guys keep the small ones off my back. I'm going to deal with the huge one." Only now does Ichigo draw Zangetsu, the strange linin falling away from the blade and seeming to just simply not be there any longer. The hefty blade is shouldered as Ichigo starts drawing on his reiatsu. "Good luck guys."

With that, Ichigo shoots forward, leaping a prodigious distance, bringing his soul cutter down in a heavy arc against a leg of the Menos. He hits solidly, but the best barely seems to notice, reacting only by kicking at Ichigo, sending the teenager sailing through the air. He manages to recover, landing on the pavement in a crouch.

     Nanoha looks down towards the ground, noting a few Hollows who seem to be avoiding the fight and instead trying to move off into the city - probably to feast on innocent people who didn't do anything to deserve getting munched on by a Hollow. Turning slightly, a pair of wings form next to each of Nanoha's feet as she propels herself higher up into the air. Three of them seemed to be trying to move away... well, that wasn't too hard. "Raging Heart! Cartridge Load!"

      ~~Load Cartridge~~ the magical girl's staff complies, and the pink collar ratchets back for a moment, a blast of steam coming from two exhaust ports nearby, and a single shell casing is ejected, its power infused into the weapon. Nanoha smiles, and swipes one hand across her face, bringing up her visor, complete with little angel wings over the ears, as she brings her Intelligent Device to bear. "Raging Heart! Now!"

      ~~Yes, my Master. Axel Shooter.~~ the device confirms - and there is a massive burst of energy as twelve pink shots roar outwards from Nanoha's weapon, four breaking off and bearing down on each Hollow - three of them aiming to knock it off its balance, and the fourth aimed right for the center of its mask.

Seishirou Sakurazuka cancels his spell as it has the desired effect, sealing the hole and keeping more of those giant monstrosities from escaping. Without even a nod or a grin at his own contribution, the Assassin sets to work. Spirits are no match for him, especially not the tortured spirits of the dead. He deal with them on a regular basis in fact. He has a special word for the tormented souls of the departed, fertilizer.

     Leaping from his perch and letting his coat flap behind him almost like a pair of wings, the Onmyouji lands on the ground in a crouch, hands beneath his coat before whipping them out and sending eight black ofuda soaring forth, each of them turning into a midnight-hued carrion bird and seeking out a lesser Hollow.

Uryuu eyes Ichigo as he skids to a stop. "You haven't learned anything, have you, Kurosaki?" he asks flatly. He nods to Chad politely and fires at a Hollow that's approaching -- at its legs, specifically, so that it tumbles to the ground and hopefully smashes its mask apart. What a time to have an attack of conscience, the Quincy thinks dryly. But he's not the same young man who could destroy once-human souls without a second thought. It's astonishing, really, how much he's changed since then. For the better.

For now Uryuu fires arrows at any Hollow that approaches, attempting to incapacitate them long enough for Chad to deal finishing blows. (Whatever Chad's power actually /is/, he can tell it doesn't destroy the Hollows completely like his arrows do.)

As Chad finally approaches Ichigo and Ishida he quickly nods to both of them. It doesn't take long for him to notice that they're both fighting, as usual. He doesn't comment on it, though. "I came as soon as I felt the disturbance." He replies. Good thing he was already out around.

Without breaking his pace he quickly fires a few blasts of his own at the Hollows Ishida sets up for him. They go down quick. They're even destroyed without impacting anything else behind them, it seems Chad's learned how to use the proper restraint in his own power. "Do we know how many Menos we'll be dealing with?" Hopefully just one.

"YAAAAH!" Superman bellows, ripping a perticularly clingy Hollow's mask in half. Its hard to talk this high in the air, so the Man of Steel ends up yelling a lot more. Ah, there we are...Superman twists in the wind, moving into position.

And...hovers there, drinking up the sunset. 'If I have to fight something like this at night...' Superman internaly monologues, because that's what heroes do, 'I'll need to have as much reserve power as I can. They can last a few seconds. Becides...gives me a shot at the big guy."

    Headshot.

    Simon smiles, even as a tiny note of Disturbance ripples outwards from the site of the Hollow's demise. He nods, silently, in response to his radio--unfortunately for him, he can't speak up without blowing his Role wide open. The demon then takes point, racing ahead of Chad and Ishida. Yes, he's putting out the metaphorical dinner bell for every Hollow within range, but it's not like he doesn't have backup.

    A Hollow lunges at him from behind, and Simon whips around the moment he hears its shriek. The Balseraph takes a hand off the gun, stiffening his fingers into a knife-hand and stabbing at the Hollow's throat. It connects; the creature has a moment to let out a strangled, gurgling scream before Simon's other hand smashes the butt of the Unholy Pistol into its mask. It shatters like china as the creature slumps to the ground. "Anybody else?!" the demon says, as he continues to charge off after Ichigo.

    If Pat were here, he'd be shaking his host's head and muttering something about someone thinking he's the hot-stuff-up-and-coming-Baal.

    He would also be right.

Luckily for that trio of Hollows, they'll never have to live down being annihilated by pink energy. Buffeted by the trifecta of blasts, the fourth annihlates each mask as Nanoha's aim is dead on. Raging Heart's power blasts the masks to shards, and the hollows vanish in showers of midnight epherma.

The Assassin proves to be a capable spirit combatant, as his dark ofuda do their part, shredding the shadow bodies of the Hollows before wrenching their masks to nothing, sispersing them in a burst of light.

Ishida's aim is dead on as the arrows sink into black flesh, cripping some of the monsters, even as they lunge for the Quincy. He's /tasty/. Even maimed, they howl and slaver in anticipation of tasting his spirit. Ishida's accuracy coupled with Chad's power is enough to crush little Hollows. Little compared to the Menos, anyway. Those two have come a long way in terms of power and skill.

Superman is, well, Superman. Some silly angry ghosts are no match for the Man of Steel. Except maybe the big one.

The skyscraper sized Menos moves, taking a plodding step forward, squashing an unfortunate building. It's reiatsu is building for something, probably something very bad.

After dispatching a few of the lesser Hollows, Seishirou rises, his long trenchcoat slipping up around him like a living shadow. He flicks open his lighter and lights a cigarette before placing it between his thin lips and taking a long drag. Staring up at the Menos Grande walking through the city in a fairly decent approximation of Godzilla, the Assasin lets smoke curl from his lips and into the night. This might be a challege. He can feel the spiritual energy rising from the thing as it stomps through town. He will have to be cunning and on the defensive for now.

By now, Masataka has pretty much arrived where the battle against the Hollows is raging, for better or for worse; his own ki flaring in reaction to all the energy being flung around, and more noticably the energy building up in the Menos; the rather out of place boy grits his teeth faintly, feeling the pressure of it if nothing else, fists clenching... And now, of course, there are actual people he can see, though the Shinigami are still quite invisible to him; he hasn't recognised Ishida yet, having only met the Quincy once, but when he does... He'll probably have some questions about the cape, because seriously.

"Feels like... Something bad is going to happen," Takayanagi says, talking to himself... But he's probably not crazy. He hopes he's not crazy. That would cause him all sorts of trouble.
 
 Yoruichi senses the spike in reiatsu and her lips curl into a faint snarl. It seems like everyone else seems to have a pretty good handle on the renegade hollows. She dispatches a few more hollow with a quick kick or chop as she steadily flashsteps her way towards the Menos. She's not too happy with the number of hollows being -destroyed- compared to being purified but she can't be too picky right now not while the Menos is about to unleash something nasty. She doesn't go to Ichigo's side, instead she flashsteps to the other side of the Menos and kicks it quickly a couple times before flashstepping to another location. Yes, she's kicking it.

    Right about now, Simon's commgear chimes. The Balseraph cocks his head to the side, firing off several rounds at Hollows that stray just a bit too close. A too-familiar voice crackles into his right ear just as he fires at one of those tempting white masks; fortunately, it's not enough to snap him out of his cocky attitude.

    "Dread Captain," Simon says, into his collar. "Reporting." The Gamester's eyes widen as a Hollow swings at him, but he sidesteps the punch, and it smashes into the concrete instead. Said Hollow may then be the lucky recipient of one point-blank shot in the face. "Yes, Captain, Karakura. Multiple Hollows have been sighted, but for now, the situation appears to be--"

    Then the ground shakes, nearly knocking the Balseraph off his feet. He glances up just in time to see dust rising from the remains of a building. "The situation appears to be an engagement between IPA and Hollows. I'll keep you updated, ma'am."

    He senses the sudden buildup of energy, though, and it unsettles him. God bless, what is it with Japan and giant monsters?

Sesshomaru doesn't move from his current position, instead swinging his sword in calm, measured arcs that send multiple Hollows to their doom at once. Not a one of them is a trained swordsman, so they're not even worth being acknowledged by the demon lord. It's like dealing with a swarm of ants as far as he's concerned. No, his primary interest still lies with the giant, and the people fighting it. Now /that/ promises to be a show.

Superman would very much like to punch that Grande Latte's big evil nose off. This had been his plan, it was a good plan, and a plan that had served the Man of Steel well in the past. While the Science-Kings of Krypton were not much for spiritual development, though, Superman's super vision can, for some strange reason, detect that sort of energy.

His eyes widen, feeling it build up. Whincing in anticipation, The Man of Steel kicks on the speed-blurring as he tries to go fast enough to face from being visible by the naked eye, and steeling himself to do what must be done. Because Tankers never quit, son.
Yoruichi kicks the Menos, and it looks for the insect that dares touch it, but the cat-lady is really fast, so it just seems to...forget she's there.

Menos are strong, not smart. At least the big ones.

Ichigo, for his part, has been slowl letting his reiatsu flare, that is until Yoruichi distracts the giant with a kick. With the distraction, Ichigo releases a great torrent of power, his own spiritual energy now rivaling that of the Menos. The Death God surrogate leaps across a street and onto another building, Zangetsu shouldered. "I almost beat you last time," he says half to himself, "This time, you're /mine/! GETSUGA TENSHOU!" With a cry of effort, Ichigo slings Zangetsu downwards, the blade biting deep into the building's roof after it slings a whirling crescent of blue energy at the Menos. The giant hollow takes it, the raw force of the blow driving it back a step. Superman's ramming assault drives it back another, and it's dark power howls. The pointy nosed monster looks down at Ichigo and opens its mouth.

Something's coming.
Chad's senses are certainly keen enough to pick up on what the Menos is doing. He may not know EXACTLY what the Menos is trying to do, he can only vaguely remember his first experience with a Menos. But something sure seems familiar.

Well whatever it is, he can't let it happen! Ichigo may have wanted to take this thing on alone, but Chad's not going to wait that long. Pulling his arm back, he thrusts it forward sending another, larger, blast up towards the Menos's mask. Will it make a dent? Well he HOPES so. To follow up he fires a few more smaller blasts across the body of the Menos just to pack a little extra punch.

"Ishida..." Chad glances back to the Quincy. "This Menos, it wasn't brought about the same way as the last one, was it?" He's not accusing him of anything, he just wants to make sure whether or not this one appeared on its own.

     Given what they had said over the radio, this 'Cero' or whatever the called it was probably the Hollow's big attack. And that meant that it was going to use it on its opponents, especially after seeing all of its allies get taken down in rather short order. Nanoha doesn't doubt that there is going to be too much delay before it breaks out the big guns, and that means its time to see if she can do something to divert it as well. After all, if it shoots off harmlessly into the air, that's not a bad thing, is it?

      Raging Heart shifts, the staff reconfiguring from its normal circular shape until a lopsided U, with one tine shorter than the other, and both pinched in slightly towards the end. Already a good distance away, Nanoha takes hold near the base of her staff with one hand, and on the bananna clip protruding from the side with her other, and brings it to bear on the Menos Grande. "Raging Heart! Lets hit it from here, and see if we can knock it over!" she cries out. The staff chimes, and replies, ~~I understand my Master.~~ And with that, a circle appears around Nanoha's feet, rotating around within itself, magical symbols scrawled across its many bands.

      The collar on the staff ratches back and forth, ejecting a cartridge casing. And then another. And then a third. And Raging Heart continues. ~~Stand By. Ready. appears in flowing cursive script across the red crystal in its center. And then... ~~Divine Buster.~~

      What happens next? Very large, powder pink death ray, aimed right at the Menos' face.

Uryuu sputters slightly, then scowls at Chad. As if he'd be foolish enough to use that bait /again/, after the absurd reaction the Hollows had the /first/ time. "It decided to come spontaneously, Sado-kun," he says aloud, rushing to the building Ichigo just jumped off of and scaling it in a few short jumps.

Spiritual energy is saturating the air, with all the newcomers and old friends fighting in unison. Uryuu opens his pathways slightly, pulling in more of it, and the blue aura around his bow surges and grows. A far larger arrow than his normal ones forms, and he fires it at the Menos Grande's mask. He's aiming for one of its eyes, but from this distance, he'll be lucky if he actually /gets/ an eye.

     The Sakurazukamori hangs back a little, watching those of a more heroic bent send thei attacks against their monstrous foe. For the moment, he's more interested in gaguing the spiritual strength of the local forces then helping them. The orange haired man in the dark clothes with the overcompensation length sword practically screams with unbound spiritual power, the archer and the large brawler seem perhaps a few steps down but still formindable in their own right. Superman, well, even in his world Superman is known, his powers legendary, his deeds the stuff of multi-issue epics spanning entire seasons. The others are less known and their powers less easy to guage. The pink energy bursts certainly get his attention.

     The moment of reflection complete, The Assassin decides to get involved. This may not be his Japan, but it is -A- Japan and thus falls somewhere within his mandate. Leaping to a nearby rooftop and standing just on the edge, one foot atop a small rise, making his knee bend while the other leg is thrust out behind him, the dark-clad man pulls the still burning cigarette from his mouth and flicks it at the Menos Grande. As he does so, the burning stick of tobacco, tar and other carcinogens explodes into embers, each of the embers falling towards the gigantic Hollow slowly, turning from tiny sparks into soft, pink petals. Yes, he's dropping Sakura Blossoms onto the Menos. Why he's doing this may be a mystery to everyone, everyone but him.

    Simon has gone back to being torn--the strange read seals closed the crack, so unless the Menos decides to retreat, there's no way he can break into Hueco Mundo. No way to follow Arioch. As the more rational part of his brain wrestles control away from his ego, Simon skids to a halt and swears under his breath in Helltongue. On one hand, he should probably report in, but on the other, he doesn't want to let the Menos get away with--

    Wait, wait. What if it's one of the white-haired guy's flunkies? What if Arioch somehow talked them into sending it here? Simon does not know for sure, but the possibility is enough to set him in motion.

    The Balseraph looks up just in time to see multiple beams of energy fire at the Hollow's mask. He holsters his pistol, clears his throat, and makes several quick motions with his hands, like he's waving an invisible conductor's baton. As the gestures become more intricate, he starts to Sing--his voice is singing a haunting, wordless choral tune, and reality seems to be echoing it on a fundamental level.

    Simon makes one final gesture, bringing both hands to his sides as the Song rises to a crescendo. Moments later, a beam of piercing, white-hot light lances out at the Menos' mask.

The Menos takes blow after blow, shot after shot. From powder pink death rays to dark energy blasts to raw physical damage. It's not doing so good. It's great mask is cracked with chips the size of volkswagens falling off and crushing pavement. Ishida's arrow nails it in the eye, it's not long for this world. Yet, it still stands. It's dark power still burns. With its mouth open, a red sphere takes form, burning with a sickening, flickering light. Raw destructive energy builds in the mouth of the Gillian Menos. It almost seems to laugh as it angles its head downwards, aiming right for Ichigo. Could this be the same Menos that he fought before? Does it remember? Or is it just because Ichigo is the tastiest morsel here that he gets to die first?

With the sound of air ripping apart at the molecular level, the Cero is loosed downwards, gasses being displaces from the force send a spiralling wind away from the beam.

 As it descends, Ichigo brings Zangetsu up, the flat in front of him to block the beam. It worked last time, but he was really pissed off then. He tenses and waits for the heat of concentrated oblivion to take him.
Only, oblivion doesn't come.

"Rrgh...argh..." A voice grunts, as if it was the little Dutch boy of yore, holding back a flood with an eye for whiping out Amsterdam. "Ichi...go...open...your...eyes!" The voice of a Superman. The Man of Steel is hovering less than a foot away from Ichigo, holding back the Cero with everything he has. The spiritual attack is hurting Superman, at least on some level, and the IPA can see his cape and costume begin to rip and tear as he seems to be physicaly holding on to the blast of Nothing.

Desperate, the Man of Steel pulls one arm back, and is pushed back an inch for the trouble...before sending a rocketing punch at the Cero itself! Those nearby might hear the POP of a sonic boom as the fist connects, forcing the Cero back a few precious feet! It advances just as rapidly, and Superman surges forward to hold it back again!

"Get...on...my...back!" Clark manages, holding back a scream with each hissed word, "I'll..get...you...up...there!"

Seishirou Sakurazuka is knocked back just but the sheer force of the spiritual energy released. It's not an experience her enjoys, but he only grunts for a moment before crawling the edge of the building to watch how this contest of wills ends. His part in this drama is done, he know it and only curiosity keeps him from leaving now before questions are asked, questions he does not want to be around to answer.
 
 Yoruichi is quick to move out of the way of the cero. She frowns and watches Superman not only take the cero blast but knock it back. She hehs again and remains crouching. Let us see how Ichigo handles this new development.
"Ichigo!" Chad calls out, as he witnesses him nearly engulfed by the Cero.

He can't move fast enough.

Superman may reach Ichigo first, but that doesn't stop Chad. Despite all logic, the giant runs into the path of the Cero as well, alongside Superman, and punches the Cero with everything he has. "Haaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Hopefully, combined with Superman's might, it'll make a difference.

"What the? Jeez!" yelps Ichigo as Superman plants himself in the path of the blast of Nothing. "What the hell are you doing?! Get outta here! I got it!" Dark eyes widen as the man of steel punches the blast backwards. The death god grunts in both irritation at this intrusion, and amazement at the raw power of the only Superman. Someonew's getting yelled at about this later.

Then Chad hits the blast too, knocking it back again. It's now that Ichigo leaps, hakama rustling as he sails, and lands on the back of the last son of Krypton. "Chad! Get out of here! I'll...we'll finish this!"

Wow... Uryuu watches with undisguised amazement as Superman actually /blocks/ the Cero. With his /body/, no less. And Chad strikes it too, buying Ichigo even more time. Well, the Quincy will do what he can as well! Uryuu leaps across to the other building, skids quickly to a halt, and sends a massive arrow at the Cero, right over Superman's shoulder. "Sado-kun, are you alright?"

    Parker is not the most selfless of creatures, but he doesn't like to see monkeys getting killed for no good reason. He quickly toggles his comm gear to a local frequency. <<Kid!>> is all Simon manages to get out, before Ichigo's form is washed-out by brilliant red light. The Gamester averts his eyes, and instincts kick in from there. He tucks and rolls to the side, ducking behind a dumpster as the Cero's energy boils past. The Balseraph lets out a weak, choking gasp, and slumps to the ground. Conveniently out of sight.

    Simon's radio then cuts out entirely. There is a sudden, loud Disturbance. It is immediately followed by the flapping of phantasmal wings, and an incoporeal figure rises out of the alley, flying straight through a nearby building as if it wasn't there. Ichigo, Superman, and Chad will see said figure flying towards them, stopping just out of range of the Cero.

    "Stubborn much, kid?" says Simeon. The demon then Sings once more, targeting the Menos with an aria of Willpower-stifling Charm. Simeon can't do much to affect the Cero itself, but he can make sure that it crushes its originator like a bug if it hits.

That... Is a lot of energy. Masataka can't see where it's coming from, or really much of what's happening in the battle with the Menos, but he can feel that frightening amount of power, and it's kind of a lot to deal with. He might not be near enough to be directly endangered - not unless something goes really, really wrong - but the golden-eyed teenager stands almost frozen to the spot, for the moment unable to do much else.

     Nanoha is less amazed that most here, but mainly because she maintains a fairly practical approach to things. After all, she wouldn't expect someone to actually jump in the way of an attack like that unless they were able to actually take the hit. She trusts her allies at the IPA to know what they should be doing, and from what she's heard... Superman is very tough. He can apparently take this sort of punishment, as she's seen with her own eyes.

      And as for the Menos... well. They might be massing for one final attack, and she may well be too late to finish it off, but if there was anything left afterwards, she would be able to deal with it. "Raging Heart! Lets give it everything we've got!"

      ~~Understood. Stand By.~~ the intelligent weapon replies, before the collar goes into overdrive, ejecting the last six cartridges out of the clip as Nanoha raises the staff right up over her head. ~~Commencing Countdown. 10.~~

      ~~9~~

      ~~8~~

      And the staff continues on, rattling off numbers - all the while an every growing ball of brilliant pink energy growing in front of Nanoha, more and more power increasing its size by the second.

Sesshomaru continues to watch the larger battle with undisguised interest, now that the Hollows have mostly been dealt with. He still makes no effort to help them since, again, he doesn't care...but hey, at least he helped out in his own way.

Seishirou Sakurazuka stands up from his perch, watching the heroes pile on their efforts to defeat the Menos. With a slight shrug, he turns, his coat swirling around him and walks off. These people can deal with the overgrown phantom. The crisis is averted. He has work in the morning. He must be elsewhere. And thus, the dreaded Sakurazukamori vanishes into the night, back to his own decadent, doomed Tokyo.

The Menos would look surprised if it could. Instead as these people force the blast of raw oblivion backwards, it redoubles its efforts, pouring what it can into the blast. At this point, it's not a lot. It's taken a lot of damage. The cracks in its mask are growing larger as time goes by, shards fall out, and it is aware, somewhere in that small mind, that it is going to perish. It's not going down without a fight, though. With a roar, more power surges from its mouth, a last hurrah of sorts.
Superman supresses the urge to roll his eyes. Oi, the kid's like if Bruce was a Ghostbuster or something. He is momentarily relieved from holding Enthropy itself back, by a kid in a hawaiian shirt and a funky arm. A kindred spirit. There is only one response to this that is proper and manly.

Superman gives Chad a thumbs up. "Not...bad, young man. Give me a yell, sometime, we'll beat up some giant robots and have root beers."

That job done, Superman looks back at the big wall of nothing, and the big jerk where his cape used to be. Well, Clark, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it. "HAH!" Superman shouts, rocketing another punch into the wall of sheer oblivion. "This." PUNCH. "Is." PUNCH. "Almost." PUNCH. "As." PUNCH. "Cool." PUNCH. "As." PUNCH. "Hitting." PUNCH. "Lasers." PUNCH.

Yes, he really /can/ hit anything.

Chad doesn't get to respond to Superman, not right away anyway, he's far too occupied with not succumbing to the Cero's might. He can't resist it quite as well as Supes can, though he doesn't exactly fall to pieces either. Though he manages a nod when Superman speaks to him. Seems like a nice guy. Chad wonders who he is.

Yes it's true. He's yet to get involved with the IPA, and he's not a reader of DC comics. He may have seen the man of steel in passing in propoganda, but he's not overly familiar with him.

The Menos fires again, and Chad grunts. His left arm clutches the wrist of his right, as his right arm is the only thing that can safely come in contact with the Cero. Though the pressure is starting to get to him.

Ishida hitting the Cero with his arrow seems to decrease its strength enough so that Chad can redouble his efforts in holding it of. "Alright..." He grunts in response to Ichigo. "I'll get out of the way.. once you're clear..." And he's not moving a moment sooner either.

However, once Ichigo and Supes ARE out of harm's way, Chad quickly leaps to the left, narrowly avoiding the Cero blast. He rolls a bit when he hits the ground, but manages to come to a stop and slowly climbs to his feet. However he falls back to his knees, and clutches his right arm suddenly. Pain? Perhaps, it's hard to see his face, but he spends a few long moments holding his arm before he finally stands again. Some steam (or is it smoke?) emanting from his blasted arm.

    Simeon tries to keep pace with the Cero, cheerfully disregarding the law of gravity--he doesn't even seem to be using those wings of his. "Ah, right," the Balseraph says, noting Superman's plan. There is a blur of incorporeal motion as Simeon flies upwards, so he's more-or-less at eye level with the Menos... and well out of range in case anyone else decides to follow his lead and hit it while it's distracted.

    The demon gives the monster a smile and a flippant salute before he once again launches into the Celestial Song of Light. Another laser beam streaks out at the Menos' mask, and with that, Simeon seems to call it quits. The Gamester floats backwards, 'touching down' atop a nearby building to watch the action from a safe distance.

Closer and closer, the Man of Steel takes the death god. Ichigo grits his teeth and stands, shouldering Zangetsu. "Alright, this is close enough!" With a deep breath, Ichigo leaps, his robes rippling in the wind. Ichigo grips Zangetsu in both hands as he sails through the air. Passing the demon snake, Ichigo does a double take, especially when it blasts the Menos in the face again and runs off. As he closes on the Menos, he starts to swing his heavy blade down, carving it through the great mask.

He rides it all the way down, the drag on his weapon slowing his descent enough that he doesn't splatter when he hits the ground. Behind the blade and all the way up the Menos's body, a glow eminates from the wound, prismatic and scintilating. If a mask could look panicked, it would.

 Yoruichi merely watches the battle with the eye of a seasoned trainer from a safe vantage point away. These kids might be okay after all.

      ~~4~~

      ~~3~~

      ~~2~~

      ~~1~~

      The numbers scroll across Raging Heart's core crystal in succession as the countdown continues, the massive ball of energy gathered in front of Nanoha now larger than the girl herself, and obviously very visible to everyone in sight. Still holding the staff above her head, the magical girl pulls it back even more slightly, as if to get a little bit more momentum for her upcoming attack, and shouts at the Menos Grand, "Go away! And leave these people here alone! They've done nothing to deserve what you've done, and you should go back where you came from!" she cries out at the top of her voice, and brings her staff down from over her head, slamming into massive ball of energy.

      And the truly colossal energy blast that roars down at the Menos is described rather blandly as Raging Heart dutifully names the attack.

      ~~Starlight Breaker.~~

"The evil snake is on our side!" Superman explains, helpfuly, "...sort of!"

As Superman and Ichigo rise up toward the Menos Grande, Uryuu drops to his knee momentarily. Only this much and he's already tired? The Quincy scowls. Clearly his training isn't remotely sufficient yet. He lets his breath out and fires one last gigantic arrow before dismissing his bow. Now it's up to Ichigo to finish the job...

The horrific pink power of the Starlight Breaker, plus Ishida's arrow and the splitting of the mask are enough. The Menos succumbs.

The Menos falls. It's slow, like gravity affects it less, but it still falls, casting a huge shadow over the town as it does intil it starts breaking apart, gradually shattering into shadowy motes of spirit epherma, the Hollow cleansed and sent on to its great reward(?) in Soul Society.

Ichigo darts at a ninety degree angle away from the falling behemoth, panting. This was a hard fight, but it's finally over. /Now/ he can yell at people for coming into his town.

Sesshomaru notices the fighting starting to get higher in altitude, so he leaps up onto a nearby rooftop to get a better vantage point. Just as he's doing so, the creature up and dies. "Interesting." That said, the demon lord sheathes his katana, secretly pleased at how many of the undead it had obliterated today. He had always felt the sword was useless, but this was definitely a welcome change.

Once Ichigo and Supes ARE out of harm's way, Chad quickly leaps to the left, narrowly avoiding the Cero blast. He rolls a bit when he hits the ground, but manages to come to a stop and slowly climbs to his feet. However he falls back to his knees, and clutches his right arm suddenly. Pain? Perhaps, it's hard to see his face, but he spends a few long moments holding his arm before he finally stands again. Some steam (or is it smoke?) emanting from his blasted arm.

As the Menos finally falls, Chad allows himself a brief sigh of relief. He can't help but feel a bit worried, it almsot felt like his arm was about to be overloaded, he'd hate to think what would happen if he tried to block a more powerful Cero with it. Dismissing the armor on his right arm, he begins walking back in Ichigo's direction.

    As the Menos disintegrates, Simeon slithers off the rooftop, once again blithely disregarding gravity as he floats to the ground. The Balseraph stops within ten feet of Superman and friends, and he salutes with a wing before disappearing. Reality ripples, and Simon Parker is standing in the demon's place. He wobbles unsteadily before catching his balance, and he outright smiles at something on the radio.

    "Sir," he says, before turning to Ichigo. This is the guy he forgot to mention Arioch to? He remains silent, though it is flamingly obvious that his reiatsu and the demon-snake's reiatsu are one and the same.

     Nanoha pauses after finishing her attack, panting for a moment as she tries to recover her breath. Even with a large chunk of energy coming from her cartridges, that was still a spell that took a lot out of her. She pauses for a moment, fishing into the small fanny pack she carries and pulling out a new clip, before ejecting the old one and sliding the replacement into place. And she sighs as she hears the babble over the radio.

      The wings on her feet flaring for a moment, she descends through the air and lands on the ground nearby to where Ichigo (or Ichighost as the case may be, as she can only see him via her visor), and the rest are standing. And she smiles as politely as she can, and extends one hand. "Hello, Ichigo-san," she comment, showing her own Japanese background. "I understand that you may be a bit upset, but as a representative of the Time Space Administration Bureau, I do want to apologize for my involvement here. This was a local problem, and it is your jurisdiction. But I hope that you can overlook my oversight of protocol given the unusual circumstances."

Superman is still hovering from where Ichigo lept off him. He /did/ have the warm and fuzzies of a job well done, until he was foolish enough to listen to the radio. Again, the Soul Society agents loudly and violently spurn the aid if the rest of the IPA. Slowly, deliberately, the Man of Steel turns down on the motely crowd of spirt-fighters, not looking directly at anyone.

That's probably because his eyes are glowing red, and the patches of grass Superman /is/ directly looking at are beginning to smoke. Kal-El begins to levitate down to the ground, arms crossed, mouth set in an inhuman-looking scowl, as he begins to speak, "Loudly insulting the efforts of the rest of the IPA, claiming that the assistance of their brothers and sisters in arms was nothing more than a distraction, often /while/ their lives were being saved at the risk of those officers, threatening other members of the IPA, refusing the basic courtesy of speaking when spoken to, all of which lend a hell of a lot of credit to the rumors I've heard about how, exactly, this Soul Society really works."

Superman is pissed. "I've had enough. Kurosaki," Superman lands, "Explain the chip on the collective shoulder of you and your organization. Now."

Sesshomaru, in the background, leaps back down and begins to walk off as if nothing happened. And as far as he's concerned, nothing really did.

Ohhhhhh boy. Uryuu Ishida isn't particularly familiar with the Superman comics, but just from what he's picked up about the man he knows you don't want to make him angry. Have all of the Death Gods been this unhelpful, or is it just Ichigo that's been a pain in Superman's neck? Either way, Uryuu isn't about to get involved in this. He's not affiliated with Soul Society, after all, and /he's/ tried to cooperate with Superman and the IPA. So he bows to Superman, then steps back to allow Ichigo to dig himself deeper. The strawberry would make /such/ a lousy diplomat.
Ichigo merely grunts at Nanoha. Whether this was apology accepted or just general surlyness is hard to tell. Zangetsu's heavy plade is brought up and over his shoulder, bandages wrapping the soul cutter drom tip to hilt before it's affixed to his back on the spinal looking chain.

As Superman lands, the orange haired teen is balsy enough to look at him while he's spewing his jerkitude. "I wouldn't know what's going on with Soul Society. I barely get along with 'em. If you got issues, go there yourself and talk to the old man, Yamamoto." The death god rep folds his arms across his chest in a stubborn posture before he continues.

"This is my freaking town. I'm getting tired of other people's crap ending up here. Those demon guys spring to mind. Other people show up in my turf, their crap follows. If other people stay outr, I only have to deal with /my/ crap." Simple logic that's going to end with a punch to the face.

Chad sort of can't believe what he's hearing. "Ichigo!" The giant runs up, and comes between his friend, and the man of steel. He is considerably more level headed than Ichigo is, and he tries to diffuse this situation before it gets out of hand. He always promised Ichigo he's watch his back, and now he has to save him from his ego.

He regards Superman. "Thank you for your help, Sir. It may not seem like it, but it's appreciated." Chad doesn't turn his head away from Superman, but he speaks now regarding Ichigo. He heeds to calm him down, and get him thinking clearly. "Ichigo, do you remember the day we met? You accepted my help, even though you were stubborn to admit you needed it. But you didn't try to throw me out of the way. Whether or not I might have brought extra trouble to you didn't make a difference back then, so why should it now? All of these people gave us a hand. I may not know much about the Gates, and the other worlds, but I never would have thought you'd just dismiss the efforts of other people so carelessly." Chad doesn't speak at length like this very often. In this particular case he almost sounds disappointed.

    Simon twitches, visibly, at the mention of Arioch; his face twists into a scowl, and it almost looks like he's actually biting his tongue. Nanoha finally clinches it for him--he clenches his fists, sucks in a breath, and commences with the Rant.

    "Kid," Parker snarls. He doesn't bother to wait for a response. "I have to say, Truth be told, that this is the biggest display of /whining/ I have seen in months. You think you're this place's guardian angel, or something? Trust me, kid, I've /dealt with/ guardian angels, and even they realize when they're in over their heads."

    Simon edges closer--this may not be the wisest thing to do at this point, but he is trying to be dramatic. "Those demons? I'll bet they're just the start of it. Like it or not, you can't hope to close those Gates, and I don't think even you could hope to fight every single blessed /thing/ that comes through them." The Balseraph can only hope that Beryl never, ever hears of this--she'd never let him live it down.

    "And you're blessed lucky you're just an IPA'er, and not a demon, because I guarantee you that that little stunt would've gotten you force-stripped, at absolute minimum."

    As if remembering this, Simon backs away. Out of instinct, mostly. He turns to look at Superman, and then glances back at Ichigo--there, he told the kid. Sort of. Oh bless, please tell him he didn't just make things worse.

Superman knows these guys are doing there best to help.

But Superman speaks Hero, and he's fairly sure where this is going. The Man of Steel crosses his arms, frowning at Ichigo's selfish, Bruce-esque statement...and clandestinly switching off a tape recorder, for the next time The Batman gets on a "My town! My town! Wah wah wah!' kick.

His stance is quietly saying, 'We don't have to, but if you want to, son...bring it.'

Ichigo may be stubborn and fearless. He may even be denser than lead. He is, however not dumb enough to throw a punch at freaking Superman.

It doesn't matter that he's acting like Batman who would, in fact, slug Kal-El with a kryptonite ring. Chad's words sting a bit, but Ichigo knows he's right, which is the failing of all protagonists. "There's a difference between our agreement and these people, Chad. Fighting thugs with you is only going to get me hurt. People coming in from the outside? That could get /everybody/ hurt, and I can't have it. I won't have it."

"Can you close the Gate, then?" Chad asks. The words of Simon Parker seem to touch on the same subject. "I agree with you, I don't like being connected to these other worlds. I'm sure many of these people feel the same way, or did at one point. But it is not their fault that things are the way they are. It may not be the same agreement, but it's similar in spirit."

Chad finally turns to face Ichigo, hoping to further douse his fury. "Ichigo, we just have to accept that until the day comes where it's possible to close these Gates, we'll have to live with them. We had to adjust to the existance of Soul Society, and now this is just a larger step. Like it or not it's something we have to do. The problems of all these other worlds aren't going to stay away just because we don't like them, and the Hollows and other problems of our world aren't going to be well behaved either." Chad's voice lost most of its disappointment by this point, he even plases his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "So for now, we watch their back, and they watch ours. We don't have to like it, but it's better than fighting over it."

    This is why Simon /hates/ dealing with Cherubim. Djinn, at least, do not get obsessed with things they genuinely care about. The demon folds his arms across his chest, and lets Chad pick up the slack--Ichigo seems to know this guy, so he'll see if he can't knock some sense into him. Hopefully without punching him.

     Nanoha sighs, and turns around seeing the rather large... well, she's not sure what its going to turn into, but it'll probably not be something that she cares too much to be involved in. After all, she doesn't really have a lot of interest in who is the most macho, or best protecting things around here... she's just glad no one was hurt.

      Let the rest of them work out the pecking order - hopefully that would mean there wouldn't be any hard feelings next time.

Chad seems to be doing a good job of talking Ichigo down -- at least, as good a job as anyone can with such a stubborn young man. Uryuu looks around and sees Nanoha, taking a second to memorize the pattern of her spiritual energy, then gives the glaring contest a wide berth to approach her. "Ah, since Kurosaki refuses to," he says a bit sheepishly, "please allow me to thank you for your assistance, miss. Ishida Uryuu, Quincy, and Karakura native." A slight bow. Hopefully he can rescue Karakura's reputation a bit. (And it will be nice to meet another new person. A fellow ranged fighter, no less!)

Superman streches a little, smiling at Ichigo's friend. "Chad, right? We should talk about a spot in the IPA for you, you're a heck of a diplomat. If you're interested, that is. As for Ichigo...he's already agreed to work in this organization." The Man of Steel's face softens a little-a lot, actualy, he closes his eyes and gives a happy little Superman smile. "I know how you feel, kid. On my plane, heroes still divide things up by cities. We work together, but we get plenty territorial. Heck, one of my best friends has given me that exact same speech before. And do you know what I said to him?"

Blur. FIST. "I said that, and then I said, "Stop fronting, jerk!" and then he hit me with a giant robot." Superman continues to have the cocky grin on, nodding to Ichigo's friends. "This sort of thing happens all the time. He's a good kid, we'll be buddies after I knock the jackass out of him."

The Man of Steel then cracks his knuckles, waiting for Ichigo's response. And yes, Ichi, you can just /tell/ that Superman is holding back. "Oh, and you guys are welcome! Any time. When we're done, can someone give me directions to the Lil'Yamato Ramen Stand?"

     A pause as Ishida speaks, and Nanoha turns around, smiling as she sees Ishida bowing to her. "There's no need to apologize. I understand that some people can be very protective of their homes, and I don't often get involved in this sort of thing - but I was passing by and saw the trouble, and I figured that I should do my best to help out here," she replies, waving one hand in front of her in a bit of an embarrassed manner. There's no need to be that polite and overly form with her, at least in her estimation!

      And then the exchange between Superman and Ichigo starts, and Nanoha just *sighs* rather hugely, if such a thing can be said to be done. "There's almost as bad as Chrono and Yuuno when they start getting up about something," she mutters to herself. And then, remembering her manners, she turns and offers a polite bow to Ishida. "Takamachi Nanoha, acting IPA agent and officer in the Time Space Administration Bureau, at your service!"

Punch. Oh god not the face. Ichigo carreens backwards, sandals skidding across the pavement as he's summarily jacked by Supes.

He was even starting to see reason, thanks to Chad, too.

Careening to a stop, Ichigo checks his face, making sure nothing is horribly out of alignment before sputtering, "W-WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

Somewhere, Aizen looks amused.

"Jeez, I was actually freaking /listening/ for once and you punch me in the face?! What the /hell/?" Hey look. Another free shot.

"Uh..." Chad doesn't get to respond to Superman's offer, before the man of steel punches his best friend full in the face.

"Uh..." He tries to speak again, but is interupted by Superman's speech.

"Uh..." He tries once more, but Ichigo's indignation interupts him as well.

"..." Chad just... stares. He can tell Superman didn't mean Ichigo /harm/ (outside of a broken nose) but it was still surprising. This effectively shuts Chad up. Just as well. He's nearly used up his word quota for the year.

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