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.
"Honestly I just saw it" Ryu says rubbing the back of his head. "I have never seen it before, but now I'm really excited. Let's explore it! We're both much more powerful than we were in the Academy Days" Ryu exclaims happily. "And I have plenty of Kidou to light up the darkness. Come one, it'll be fun!" Ryu smiles happily.
"How about this, just think of it as a different type of training. It's survival skills in the face of darkness, and exploration of regions unknown." Ryu explains. "What do ya think?"
Kaito smiled at Ryu, diving down beneath the water in front of the west wall he swam through a small school of fish reaching a reef of reeds disguising the entrance way to a small tunnel just big enough to swim in, Pushing them aside he made his way into the pitch black tunnel, remembering the route flawlessly; forward, up, left, up. As he rose through the waters his head broke the surface into into the large cavern. dimly lit by a beam of light filtering through a small hole in the ceiling the back of the cavern was pitch black. Kaito steps up onto the small island in the middle of the room, overgrown with moss, the rock island was actually quiet comfortable and directly in the sunlight, so Kaito plopped down sitting indian style waiting for Ryu.
Ryu follows in suit, swimming the same route Kaito had taken, only a few seconds behind him. As the Ryu surfaces he breathes a breath of the air. As he looks around the cave he smiles and begins to speak. "Don't you think this place could use some light?" Pointing a finger forward he says "Number 4: byakurai" As he finishes the command, electricity sparks from his fingers, but instead of blasting a bolt of lightning, is remains charging on his fingers, illuminating the area around them.
"I can keep this up for a while. Because my body naturally generates large amounts of electricity I can keep pushing more energy into the charging attack." Ryu states, the electrical charge getting a bit bigger, increasing from the size of a quarter to a 50 cent piece.
"Let's go, shall we" he says, looking at his surroundings.
(Since you've been in the cave before, you can describe what the light illuminates.)
The light of the byakurai floods the cavern, small crabs and spiders scuttling away from the light as a flock of bats swarm from the ceiling out into the light. The cave itself has an amphitheater like structure with the small island sitting in the far back and the hole they came through lay behind hit. On the far edge lay a steep cliff with a plateau jutting out about thirty feet up.
"We've gotta cross over to the plateau but we'll have to stay low the bats that live in the upper regions of the cavern aren't so friendly they'll attack anything they feel is a threat, so anything in the air. Believe me there's allot of them."
Kaito slowly treads into the water, here in the cave it is frigid and dark. Shivering a bit as he gets in Kaito turns around to Ryu, "A few things before we start, your going to need to shut the light off for a bit water and electricity don't mix to well (Kaito says with a grin), Stay close it's going to get really dark, there is only way up that cliff a single climbing path and if we don't find it it's gunna be a pain in the ass to get back"
Kaito then waits for Ryu to get in before slowly swimming off into the darkness towards the cliff face.
Looking at the size of the cave Ryu is in aw. This is pretty impressive, he has never been in a cave like this before. As Kaito mentions the bats aren't very nice Ryu grins. He kinda wants to provoke them, but he best not. Ryu looks toward the plateau and squints, trying to see the way up it. Not having much luck he notices as Kaito treads the water.
"Water and Electricity don't mix well" Kaito says chuckling. Ryu smiles and rubs the back of his head.
"This is true, I don't wanna accidental fry both of us" He says with a little chuckle. "Here, I have another kidou that can help, as long as we don't need to use both hands for swimming"
Dissipating the Byakurai, Ryu points his entire palm forward this time. "Number 31: Shakkaho" he announces. A red energy ball forms in his hand, dimly illuminating the cavern, not quiet as well as the byakurai, but it'll due.
"There we go, this should be fine" He says, clenching his fingers around the ball of energy and holding it. "Let's just hope I don't accidentally set it off" Ryu jokes to Kaito. Stepping into the water, a chill runs up his spin (think funny anime style) and he hops out quickly "Whoa! Thats colder than I thought. When you said frigid you were not kidding!" Ryu exclaims. He looks at the water, and breathes deeply, then steps in, sucking it up.
"Okay, ready, lead the way" Ryu says pointing the new light source forward.
The dull light of the Shakkaho spreads a four foot radius of light around the pair, however their eyes can no longer make out the shadows beyond it, it seems as if utter darkness surrounds them. As they continue to move through the water it becomes deeper and deeper and then Kaito stops the water just about neck level on him the water ripples as he moves beneath the dark surface.
"Careful it's about to get very deep you'll need to stick close in order to see me.... and be careful I think there are some bugs in the water, I think one bit me"
Kaito chuckles a little as he finishes his statement reaching down to scratch his leg a bit before he swims out into the water blinking to focus his eyes to the lack of light. He moves towards the back right corner wall stopping and placing his hand on the cold stone wall. The water here has a small current and seems to be colder than the rest of the lake.
"The hole is about eight to ten feet straight down the wall and is about a meter in diameter so it's easy to miss once your in it's just up and left for about three minutes to the way up."
Kaito then takes a deep breath diving down running his hand along the wall, until he hits the hole. Pulling himself in he swims down through a short icy corridor, turning left he swims diagonally up a long and very narrow corridor, keeping hands along the passage to keep himself from hitting his head. After about a six minutes a faint glow can be seen from the end of the corridor. As Kaito nears the end of the passage his lungs begin to burn, squatting his legs he pushes off towards the surface. Bursting out of the water gasping for air, Kaito grasps the wall of the tight shaft overgrown with Ivy, Completely smooth and circular the rock face went up for about a mile before bursting up to the surface. The only blemish on the shaft is a small hole in the wall about a quarter way up.
Ryu treads water until he cannot anymore, then listens as Kaito speaks. He watches as Kaito dives and makes his way to the bottom, near the holes. Ryu places the Shakkaho into the water, said water evaporating as it touches the kidou. He then points his hand to his head and says "Number 8: Seki" As he speaks, a clear black energy shield forms around his head, trapping air inside. As Ryu dives under the water, the water is repelled from the shield. Using the Shakkaho to guide him, Ryu begins to follow the patter that Kaito had instructed. After a few minutes, the air in the shield begins to run out.
"Guess I better use what I have left" Ryu says, taking a deep breath and dissipating the shield. Turning around he points the Shakkaho forward, then, fires it, causing him to speed forward. Then, he turns and swims, toward the light at the end of the tunnel.
Surfacing, Ryu takes a deep breath of air and gives a thumbs up to Kaito, breathing heavily. "I'm good.... no worries..." He climbs out and flops on his back, then looks back at Kaito. "Now what torture does this little adventure of ours have in store for us" Ryu asks, joking.
Kaito smiles as he pulls himself onto the small ring of land around the water, pointing up the wall covered in ivy, the tendrils winding together into a rope wall like structure, which he follows with his fingers up to the small hole in the ceiling. "I didn't say it would be easy but it's pretty cool once you get there, and were not to far all we gotta do is climb up this wall of ivy and time it right... The shaft goes all the way near the summit the wind gets funneled into it occasionally, it's not a fun fall"
As Kaito finishes speaking a massive gust of wind fly's down the shaft, carrying dirt and small stones it swirls down with incredible speed hitting like a waterfall drowning out any sound with a massive and violently loud rush. As the wind subsides Kaito calls out, "we have to move now if not we'll get caught by the next gust"
Kaito half runs, half climbs up the wall hoping that Demiryu had heard him after the gust reaching the small hole he rolls in his ears still ringing from the wind.
Looking up the vine covered wall Ryu begins to walk forward, following Kaito. Suddenly, the gust bursts through, sending rocks falling toward the ground. A smaller stone speeds toward Ryu, then, clocks him on the head. Stumbling backwards a moment, Ryu holds his hand to his now reddened forehead.
"OOOOOW.... Damn it!. I think this place really wants to kill us!" Ryu yells, half joking, half completely serious. He pouts and rubs the sore part of his head. Looking up, Ryu's eyes nearly bulge out of his head as he notices Kaito already half way.
"Hold on a second, I'm coming! I'm coming!" Ryu says running toward the vines.
"What did I get myself into?" Ryu asks himself.
"A very deep, dark hole" Kaminari smirks in his head.
"Oh shut up, you were egging me on the entire time" Ryu thinks to himself.
"Not my fault you went along with it" his Zanpakuto's spirit states, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, acting like he's innocent.
"What do you mean!? This is entirely your fault!" Ryu exclaims, this time outloud.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I simply suggested it" Kaminari replies.
"Oh stop acting so innocent!" Ryu says, still aloud. "Whatever, we'll argue about this later" He says, noticing how high Kaito has climbed. "Uh oh, I'm falling behind. Better get on the ball" Ryu says. He slowly lifts off the ground, levitating by pushing his reiatsu against the reishi in the air. Hovering a little lower than Kaito he begins to speak.
"Why didn't you just do this, it's much easier than climbing" Ryu asks.
Kaito smiles from the hole half wishing that Ryu had heard his warning about the gusts, the other finding it slightly funny. It would be easy to just hand on if your holding on to the vines but floating could get a little uncomfortable after all it was a hell of a drop if you didn't catch the vines. Springing forward he tries to grab Ryu by the collar. The next gust of wind swirls down the passage this one stronger than the last.
Ryu holds on to the rock wall one arm hanging down clutching what he hopes is Ryu's shirt he says "Thats why."
When Ryu makes it to the edge Kaito moves through the hole making his way down the passage to a sudden left onto the platform in the cavern. As he steps out onto the platform he says, "Not to far now, all we gotta do is find the door cross the bridge and we're there"
