With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
Mizuki had gone to the store today, to pick up some stuff to fix her closet door, well, not only that, but she had gotten quite a bit of money from her dad, for her birthday. She had gone into one shop to look for some new jewelry. She was looking at one particular necklace with a quarter moon as the pendant part.
A screech and crash was heard from the outside of the store. Mizuki perked her head up and turned around quickly. All she could see from in the store was a burning car. Maybe she should go check it out? Yeah, why not! Mizuki went running out of the store. She got out onto the street. People were running about, it was complete chaos! A few minutes went by and the people were all gone, cleared from the streets.
"Where did everyone go?" Mizuki asked and looked around a bit more.
A hollow howl was heard, not far from where Mizuki was. She ran down the street and stopped halfway down the block. The hollow came crashing down in front of Mizuki. It screeched again, louder and more fierce!
"You! You caused all of this!" Mizuki pulled out her shillelagh and prepared herself. She then made a crescent moon and threw the moon at the hollow, who knocked it away with ease. The hollow then charged at Mizuki. She jumped up and smacked it's mask with her shillelagh. The attack didn't work either.
"Why do none of my attacks works?" Mizuki asked then she looked up at the sky and saw the sun out. "Well... That would expl-" before she could finish the hollow was charging at her again. Her eyes widened. How was she gonna fight this thing at half strength? She didn't know, but she would have to improvise, that's for sure! She drew a circle and shot a beam at the hollow.
It blew up in the hollow's face, cracking it's mask and sending it back a little. It howled in pain and looked back down at Mizuki. It opened it's mouth and howled as it charged a cero. Mizuki, stood there, stunned in fear. The cero fired and Mizuki thought she was done for, but her natural instinct took over. She held her arms out and spun in a circle right before the cero hit.
Smoke and dust started to clear up from the impact area. The hollow stayed there, watching for it's prey. Mizuki shot out from where she stood and came down, crushing her shillelagh against the cracked mask of the hollow. The hollow screamed further in pain, and as it stumbled back, Mizuki made another crescent moon, throwing it at the hollow, followed by a full circle, firing a beam at it as well. The crescent moon stuck into the into the hollow's head and the blast pushed it in further, killing the hollow.
Mizuki landed on the ground and put away her shillelagh. She wiped her forehead from the sweat. "I really hate fighting hollows during the day." She said with a somewhat angry tone.
Nearby there was a vizard patrolling the town. Why was the leader of a newly former organization patrolling around Karakura? Well... cause they were new, still needed to recruit people, and their numbers weren't quite high as off yet. So, even the big bad old boss had to patrol once in a while. This was fine with Tataki, he would much rather be out their picking his group than just hoping people brought someone back, besides, it was nice to stretch his legs once in a while and keep his edge. As he hopped from rooftop to rooftop he kept a close watch for any suspicious activity. The day had been rather bland really, a few small hollows here and there, nothing too threatening really. Hell he didn't even need to release his zanpakuto at all.
As he continued on he felt the presence of a hollow reiastu. Another target of course, this was soon followed by a howl which meant it was on the hunt. Not good, he thought to himself and he made a bee line for the hollow. Shunpoing all the way there. He was surprised to come across the scene of a human fighting the hollow. He had to admit that he hadn't seen that very often. He watched momentarily to see if she had the situation under control or, if she was gonna need his help. When she started to struggle he almost came to the rescue but... paused, figuring he would at least give her a chance. Perhaps it was curiosity to see what a above average human reaistu could do. Who could really tell except for Tataki himself?
He was glad to see that he was right in giving her that chance though, turning a bad situation into her favor in a brilliant set of events. The hollow was soon vanquished and taken care of. Hmm, perhaps she would like to join the haven? He got down from the building to the scene below. "I have to say that was a rather impressive use of a bad situation. Oh, before I go on further I should introduce myself, my name is Tataki Masu. Might I ask yours as well Miss?" He started, didn't need to be too hasty, don't want to make a job offer out of the blue and scare people.
"I have to say that was a rather impressive use of a bad situation. Oh, before I go on further I should introduce myself, my name is Tataki Masu. Might I ask yours as well Miss?"
Mizuki looked over to the man who had come down from the roof tops. It was an interesting view, seeing someone who looked like a human but felt like a hollow and shinigami... What was he? Was he really human? Or shinigami, or even hollow? Or maybe he was one of those vizard things that she had heard about. Weren't they suppose to have masks? Oh well, Mizuki thought it time to introduce herself.
"I am Mizuki O'Brien. Were you watching that whole time?" Mizuki asked as she took a few steps toward Tataki.
Why had he descended upon Mizuki? Why had he not just kill the hollow and leave? There were so many questions that had come up with this man's appearance. Mizuki wanted to know more, so she asked another question.
"So what do you want, I mean, you were saying that I was impressive at the end of that fight..." Mizuki looked back where the hollow once was. She remembered it like it was only yesterday... Wait, it was like 5 minutes ago... Oh yeah.
Mizuki turned back to the man and waited for his response.
Tataki gave a look of surprise when she asked how long he had been there. It was possible she could turn this on him for not having helped even if she clearly was capable of helping herself. He actually felt bad about doing that now in hindsight. But, that was the past and this was the now, he would have been fine if left in the same position as her. He would never let anyone go through something he, himself would not. "Just half way through your battle, I was pretty sure you could handle yourself, I'm glad I was right." He said with some sympathy in his voice. In all honesty he shouldn't have assumed like that. She could have been hurt or worse, even with him supervising it was a risky gamble.
"I'm sorry if I over stepped my bounds, this was not what I was intending to do. In fact, I had come here to dispatch the hollow only to find you here." He said explaining his actions further. She then asked the question. Ah, straight to business... he liked that. Over all, Tataki was a serious person. no need to delay any further now that she had asked.
"Well it just so happens that I'm am the head of a newly forming group that is meant to bring down hollows and to also do research on others powers. In simple terms, we try to understand what we are and also use our powers to protect Karakura Town in hopes of making it a safer place. Though... we are just starting out and have yet to take off yet and are still recruiting really. With your battle with the hollow I thought I would ask you if you would like to join. The choice is yours I won't force it upon you and you can even think about it if you would like." He finished his speech. He had not intended to make one but, it was just one of those things. He would be true to his word. If she didn't join it was fine.
"Just half way through your battle, I was pretty sure you could handle yourself, I'm glad I was right."
Mizuki gave a half ass smile to this. What an ungentlemanly thing to do, let her fight off a hollow on her own when she was only half strength. Oh, right, he didn't know that, nor did he need to know that. Mizuki would have to speak up on this.
"Well, I'm glad you thought that I could take care of myself, even though I've been doing it for a few years now..." Mizuki put her hand up to her chin and starred off into space.
"I'm sorry if I over stepped my bounds, this was not what I was intending to do. In fact, I had come here to dispatch the hollow only to find you here."
So he was going to take care of the hollow, well excuse Mizuki for stopping that! Well, it wasn't like she did it on purpose, she had to defend the people who were around... Like herself...
"Well, it was more so self defense than anything. That deranged beast charged me, wanted to eat me for a snacky snack. I had to do something." Mizuki joked a bit. Boy did she love her jokes.
Tataki then went on a speech. It was rather long and drug out, but finally he got to the point. He wanted to recruit Mizuki into this "organization". What could she really get out of this? New friends? People like her? Both of these options sounded tempting, but she would have to ask what she would really be getting.
"So, uh, what exactly do I get for joining this organization? Is it just if I want to have people to talk to or somethin' like that? 'Cuz I got people I can talk to. What are you offering to have me join?" Mizuki was acting like a salesman, trying to haggle with the man. More than likely, there wasn't much more than what she had thought there would be.
Tataki wasn't really an appreciater of jokes. To be totally honest he preferred people to remain serious and to keep their mind on the task at hand. But, he had to remember, it took all kinds of people to make an organization work. If you put too much of the same thing in, you end up weak in the areas it doesn't cover. "Well of course I suppose it does make senses that you would need to defend yourself. Sadly, hollows unlike their arrancar counterparts, are usually not self aware it would seem. We are actually hoping we can come up with something to combat that but, that's another matter entirely," He said, finding himself getting distracted and deciding to get back on track.
She went on to ask basically, what was in it for her if she joined. Ah yes, he figured he would run into those kinds of people. Not so much intent on helping people as much as getting something out of it for themselves. Oh well, it was just one of those mindsets that people could not so easily shake off. "Well I suppose you would have the organizations resources at your disposal, along with help whenever you may need it. Plus, we plan on making Karakura safer so less attacks like the one that just happened or even better, not at all." He said, hopefully answering her question.