Bleach: Heal The Soul

Chapter 5: The First Encounter

I never caught Yoruichi. Never came close no matter how much I improved. By the end of it, I did learn how to properly Flash Step, so it wasn't a complete failure. When we returned, the others had already eaten, Ichigo learned how to use his spirit energy, and he managed to blow up and get hit by Kukaku before passing out. I decided to eat and get some rest myself as the others were before it was time to leave. We would be departing early in the morning before the sun even rose. Ganju would be the last to arrive when we were called to the launch platform and revealed a heavy topic, that his older brother was a Soul Reaper before being killed by one of his comrades.

The reason he would help us, despite two of us being Soul Reapers, was so he could understand what being a Soul Reaper meant to his brother. With that out of the way, Yoruichi was asked if he could use the Spirit Core, and with little effort, he did. We then got ready for the launch. Now the idea of shoving six people and a cat into a cannon sounded crazy, all of us putting our spiritual energy into the core at even amounts after barely any training was crazier. After forming the cannonball and shooting out of the cannon, the ball made a hard turn for the Seireitei.

An issue arose from the previously mentioned lack of training, as Ichigo couldn't keep his energy low enough, while I couldn't keep it high enough. Then when Ganju, who needed to focus on a chant to guide the cannonball, started fighting with Ichigo things became more dangerous. Stopping only when Chad pointed out the Seireitei was in view. As the cannonball got closer to it, Yoruichi told us to pour in all of our energy. The impact sent electricity scattering across the protective field while holding us in place until finally, it pushed through.

For a brief second, it appeared as if the cannonball survived, but one second after entering it popped, not exploding as it should have. All of us were surprised to find ourselves floating now, slightly apart from each other, in the air.

"Don't get separated!" Yoruichi yelled, "The cannonball was destroyed by the shield, but its residual energy will still hold us up until it dissolves."

"That doesn't sound good," I said, "We're going to fall then?"

"No, the energy will form into a whirlpool, explode, and then vanish," Yoruichi explained.

"So there's the exploding part," I murmured to myself.

"We must stay together," He continued to explain, "Anyone that gets separated will get blown away-" The energy started to form into that whirlpool, so I grabbed the closest person to me, Yoruichi.

"No, not a chance!" Ganju yelled, swimming in the air over to Ichigo. "I'm not about to get blown away!" The two started to fight again.

"Now's not the time you two!" Yoruichi scolded them. "You must grab the person closest to you and don't let go!"

I tried to reach for Chad, who had managed to get Orihime and was now attempting to get Uryu. However, he was about to be thrown out of the whirlpool on his own. Chad threw her back as he went for Uryu, only to throw him at Orihime as I was about to get a hold of her. So instead of the four of us being together, Uryu was caught by Orihime, the force of which knocked her into me and Yoruichi. Sending us back from them as I attempted to and failed to grab her as the vortex pulled me further away. And so, the three groups of two that remained tried to reach each other before the explosion. It was too late.

The vortex exploded, sending us in different directions across the Seireitei, "Close your eyes and Flash Step the moment we land, don't stop." Yoruichi told me what to do while I still held him.

"Got it!" I did just that. 

As we were falling, before I closed my eyes, I saw a group of Soul Reapers heading for us. Then once my eyes were shut, I could tell there was a bright light that flashed before the landing. When my foot touched the ground, I made sure we were away from them with great speed. Doing my best to avoid any spiritual pressure coming from other Soul Reapers. Listening to Yoruichi's guidance, we ended up hiding in a nearby warehouse.