[12th Division] Shinigami Research and Development Institute

[Apollymi]

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4210/35381629600_58cb693970_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/VUy6Ny)

The main function of the S.R.D.I. is to research and develop new technology and spiritual tools. They have invented countless items. Throughout the day and night, experiments are conducted at the Reinō Spiritual Ability Research Facility to develop new spiritual tools and instruments. The department brings together the Soul Society's top technicians, who were recruited by Ayatsuki Akiko. The second function of the S.R.D.I. is to measure spiritual waves and oversee communications. The Spiritual Wave Measurement Lab closely monitors the world of the living to ensure spiritual stability. The Communications Research Section oversees transmissions between the Human world and Soul Society, carrying out the other important function of the institute. If an incident occurs, things become pretty hectic, but otherwise, it is usually slow.

[Bloodedge]

After a departure from a training ground of the Onmitsukidou, the new Lieutenant of the 10th Division encroached upon the institute owned and operated primarily by the 12th Division. The question of why he was here stuck in his mind, but there was no point silently wondering when he could simply enter the building and find out. As such, he let himself into the building, assuming whoever called him here would be somewhere nearby to meet him.

[Apollymi]

Soon after his arrival, Raizen would indeed be greeted but not in any conventional way. An apparently young looking woman approached, with a small pair of spectacles over the bridge of her nose. She had on a pair of red capri pants with a black belt and a large bell on it. Her lab coat seemed to be a modified haori with large closed paw like sleeves each of which had large cuts in the side which her hands slipped out of and were attached to golden rings around both of her wrists. The strangest thing about the modified haori lab coat was that it had two large openings at the middle one in the front which exposed her navel and waist line and one in the back which allowed two pink cat tails tipped in white to move about freely. The young woman's pink hair seemed to be done up in cat ear like fashion, but upon close enough inspection would could actually see a legitimate pair of twitching cat ears nestled into to her hair. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she approached Raizen, but before anything else she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a small pink lollipop unwrapping it before unceremoniously aiming to shove it into the mouth of the Lieutenant. It would taste of strawberries and aid in the quick restoration of his beaten body, lest she have to deal with him, passing out before she finished her research session. "Ah, so you're this new Lieutenant everyone's been talking about. Had a busy day I see... wanna tell me about it?" the woman asked as she removed a silver colored lollipop for herself and had at it.

[Bloodedge]

"Ohayou gozaima-" Raizen's greeting to the woman who came to meet him was cut short, interestingly enough by the woman herself. A lollipop being shoved into his mouth cut short an introduction which would have otherwise accompanied a bow, but judging by the speech which followed, this Captain was interested in getting straight to business. "... Sou ka. You really do have surveillance all over the place. You want to know about the Menos in the world of the living, don't you?" he questioned while momentarily removing the lollipop from his mouth, finding it to be a shockingly refreshing thing for a simple confection. Of course, he also made the hasty assumption that there was nothing "simple" about it, or anything else in this building.

[Apollymi]

The boy's initial speech was cut short, as he seemed to enjoy the lollipop he'd been rather forcefully given. He seemed to think she was watching all over the place which was partially true, but also not nefarious. "Ensuring the spiritual stability of the Material World is part of the job of this organization. We are always monitoring things, though it isn't outright surveillance in most cases, Juri wouldn't like if we encrouched upon her territory that much. But when very large disturbances happen during our normal operations, causes a bit of a fuss around here," she said. Her morning and early afternoon had been quite busy finding out about everything related to the Hollow attacks in the Material World earlier in the day, beyond that there was also the matter of the group of academy students which had been involved. "Besides that new things are interesting, and unlike the old, I believe the reports that something new was seen. So... tell me." she said, seeming to want to know more about this situation than anything else. "Also make sure you finish that lollipop, it will help you recover from the busyness of your day and ensure you don't pass out mid-conversation," said the obvious Captain of the Twelfth Division.

[Bloodedge]

"Which is why Juri doesn't know about the observational equipment in this territory you speak of... right?" he asked, though mostly in rhetoric to follow-up on the Captain's initial clause. As he walked closer to the woman, he tossed the lollipop back into his mouth. The commentary about said lollipop was along the lines of what he expected after first tasting it. "I figured as much. I'll be fine regardless, but I can gladly accept a hundred percent over sixty," he said, casually stepping around the area within the lab. "What I saw... no... what I fought was a Menos. No ordinary Hollow could have shown so much power that it dwarfed the large Menos we know of. Speaking of the large Menos..." As he spoke, Raizen walked around the laboratory until he reached a large monitor that drew his attention more than most. A series of key presses pulled up the footage of his time in the human world, and Raizen manipulated the video feed until he could stop on the Gillian he'd first encountered. He seemed not to have a care in the world that he had tampered with the machinery in this lab without permission, or even a request. His attention now was solely on the information at hand. "Unless our books were outdated in the Shinou Academy, a Menos with a unique mask is unheard of. More importantly... look at its mannerisms. It has intelligence. It watched me kill it, obeyed the orders of the stronger Hollow, and probably would have done more if given a chance to live."

"Nii-san's right," said a youthful voice belonging to a boy, who suddenly stood between and behind Raizen and this division's Captain. He had golden eyes and tousled, white-blue hair kept out of his line of sight by a headband. "Menos are stupid because of how many souls they have in one body. This one's... less stupid," he said. During this speech, Raizen looked toward the boy through the corner of his eye. "Konbanwa... Tatsu."

[Apollymi]

There was no confirmation or denial of the surveillance equipment obviously being employed by the leader of the twelfth division. As they stood within her laboratory the young man she'd requested to come here seemed to have no problem manipulating the machinery around while he explained his stance on the situation which had occurred earlier in the day. To be honest this was quite refreshing for the Captain as she'd not found an intelligence like this that she'd not cultivated herself in quite a while. Soon enough a pale small boy appeared between herself and the young Vice-Captain. A smirk came to her face. "Tatsu-chan~, why didn't you tell me there were more clever people in the Academy with you? I would have recruited him too~" said the captain, she'd really wanted a first hand account to go along with her video footage and it seemed she'd gotten a bit more than that.

"I know the books aren't outdated. In fact they are updated every decade or so, so this unique mask thing is totally new," said the woman as she pushed the small spectacles up onto her nose a bit further with a single finger. "Beyond that there is quite a bit of suspicion around this particular Material World excursion, apparently it wasn't originally sanctioned, and no one knows how it got approved," said the woman as she began pacing, doing so allowed the tails on her person to sway gently as she moved about a light jingle being heard every few steps. "Hm, I should...devise a way to go there and have a direct look. I already got approval to look into it more directly, if Hollows are becoming organized, and displaying higher intelligence it will be worth looking into."

[Bloodedge]

"Hm?" the boy named Tatsuya questioned immediately. Upon doing so, he tilted his head and raised a single brow. "I thought they were someone else's project already," he said, much to the surprise of Raizen himself. The Vice-Captain immediately went about shifting the subject. "So, if that trip wasn't sanctioned, who was the cause of it? More importantly, what sort of Hollows are we dealing with that we didn't previously know about something superior to a Menos? I wouldn't mind going on this excursion with you, if you don't mind the extra company."

[Apollymi]

The Captain of the Twelfth Division heard out what her Lieutenant had to say about his lack of explanation of Raizen during his recruitment in the year previous. Of course, Raizen himself was soon changing the subject, and luckily enough the shortened attention span of the Captain would result in her temporarily dropping the subject, likely only to remember it at some time in the distant future. "They are looking into the people who opened the Senkaimon for the group originally, it is apparently a rather large deal to most that so many potentially good prospects were nearly lost. It is surprising, in fact that the only one killed was the teacher, the immature souls should have been much easier to capture and eat," she said of the situation surrounding the Academy. As for the matter of the Menos themselves, a bit of a sadistic grin came to the woman's face and her twin tails seemed to start moving even faster in this moment. "To be fair, the only thing I've thought so far is that they are advanced in intelligence enough to understand they are being hunted and are in fact actively avoiding us. You know, doing things like staying away purposefully from areas where Shinigami are who can possibly defeat them, or even setting up elaborate traps to capture us instead..." her eyes narrowed in this moment, she knew it sounded crazy, but aside from a few in this group of Academy Students who were better at fighting than most, the entire class and a capable Shinigami could have been slaughtered and eaten this morning. And in fact, if not for the interference of the young man presently in the room this was the most likely outcome, even with the duo of exceedingly good students in the group. "And I am presently under the impression that you are clever enough to know how I came to that conclusion~" she said only turning to say one name. "YONSOKEI!!!" aiming to call another being to her presence. "You can come if you want, I've seen your performances this day and an extra pair of inquisitive hands is always a good thing to have around. Just know that I personally take no responsibility for anything which happens to you, and in the case of your untimely demise I will use your remains for my own scientific endeavors."

[Bloodedge]

"I wouldn't quite say that. There was a strong survival instinct in a couple of those students. If not for the fact that they weren't individually given Jigokuchou for some reason, they would have dealt with the problem and cleared the area before the Menos arrived. I wasn't needed until the Menos, after all," Raizen said as he continued scanning the material world recording. Upon finally moving away from it, he looked with narrow eyes in the Captain's direction. "Those are some heavy implications. I'm not saying I disagree, but... this entire situation begs the question: What sort of Hollow feels the need to trap a Shinigami, unless it's seeking something other than the filling of the void inside it?" This query, much like a previous one, was nothing more than rhetoric meant to keep the mind working. While he continued to contemplate, the call of Akiko resulted in the appearance of a blonde male with machinery on his arms, leading up his shoulders and neck until reaching his face. His eyes, as well, were obviously not organic; they were yellow with black sclerae. "What would you have of me today, Ayatsuki-taichou?" he asked. The boy named Tatsuki exhaled deeply when this greeting occurred, turning his head away as if disgusted. "I'm going too."

[Apollymi]

"Strong survival instincts... in a couple of Academy students?" the woman questioned in a mostly rhetorical fashion. "Tatsu-chan, remind me to look into that later," she mentioned as she stuck her lollipop back in her mouth. The type of brainstorming being done here, was something she rarely got to experience. Most weren't interested in hypothesizing or figuring out things that didn't work already, so she was enjoying this moment conversing with Raizen. His most recent statement made her smirk wickedly. "Your questions are brilliant. These are the sorts of things I intend to find out today. Of course, I can make guesses but without any physical evidence it would purely be conjecture and I like to have hard evidence before I make those sorts of assertions," the woman said with a hand resting on her hip.

Soon enough, the call of a specific name was answered by a young man who appeared to be more machine than man. This was of course, the point as the woman walked over to the computer screen so recently manipulated by Raizen and pulled up a couple of schematics. "I need you to go to lab six and set up this schematic with the materials listed. I need it done fast and then we're going to test it, by going to Hueco Mundo~" she said, to the younger boy's obvious distaste the woman could only laugh holding out a green lollipop for him. "Don't make that face Tatsu-chan, of course you can come along as well~" she said to him in particular before returning her attention to Raizen. "I spent the first part of the morning studying how the Hollows travel and I think I've figured it out. There is a rather distinct possibility of it failing though, I thought I should warn you, it appears that without proper Reiatsu control to create the path, one might fall into the void space between worlds, and disappear from existence. Of course, I will try to keep this from happening as much as possible, but I thought I'd warn of you of the possibility."

[Bloodedge]

"Right away, ma'am," the man replied, wasting no further time in heading off to the aforementioned lab to do as he was commanded. Raizen's gaze followed this individual as he left. He found himself wondering what sort of modifications this "Yonsokei" had that would make him the equivalent of a Lieutenant, despite his obvious lack of Shinigami Reiatsu. He moved on rather quickly from this train of thought, though, and went on to address words spoken by Akiko. "Nothing has a 100% chance of success. With your ability to create a mechanical shell for a Mod Soul, and your ability to create Tatsuya." When this was said, the young lad that was mentioned looked up with curiosity, as if wondering how Raizen knew this information about him. Raizen took note of this, naturally. "Yes, I know about your Zanpakutou. There were two Shinigami in our class wielding Shikai. By the time you discovered my secret, I had already become able to sense yours."

Shortly after this exchange, while Tatsuya looked onward with widened eyes, Yonsokei tapped into the speaker system throughout the labs and spoke. "It has been done, Ayatsuki-taichou."

[Apollymi]

"Really clever," the woman said after Raizen spoke again. She was starting to feel like she'd sincerely missed out on a scientific mind now. One she would have been able to properly cultivate into a good lab assistance. "You wouldn't be interested in a transfer would you?" the woman asked right before the sound system would have interrupted. It seemed that whatever Yonsokei was capable of, it included being table to create within a matter of moments a device from a schematic designed by the Captain herself. "Follow me you two~" she said heading off to Laboratory Six. This one, appeared to be a large open space with sand and dirt inside within she'd find the device she'd asked to be set up, and a single computer to monitor that which happened within.

"Welcome to Laboratory Six. It is a good testing spot for this portal opening to Hueco Mundo. Also..." she paused at the computer and began typing instructions. This area was to be monitored for any kind of intense activities. As well as using her created android Yonsokei to take readings on the other side of this portal assuming it worked. After all, one wouldn't want anything to go awry without the proper precautions set in place. "Yonsokei, other side and do as I do, after this the portal itself should remain open and we'll have the ability to open it again from the other side if need be. This will be fun~" she said, assuming the other young man would do as she wanted she placed her hand against the far left pillar, forcing Reiatsu into it, and assuming something similar would happen from the android it would soon create the most god awful tearing sound as ripped a whole in space leaving a large ovular opening hanging in the middle of the sky. She'd glance over at the computer and find the readings to be stable. "Sugoi!~"

[Bloodedge]

"You're not the first person to ask me that today," Raizen replied before hearing the announcement of Yonsokei, and being instructed toward the laboratory he'd gone to. His eyes darted from end to end of the lab upon entering, and never really stopped shifting about thereafter. All the while, Tatsuya looked curiously at Raizen himself.

Yonsokei did as commanded, working toward activating the device from his side. Once it opened, he stepped away to also have a look at the readings, while Raizen stepped forward and offered his attention to the portal itself. "Yep. Feels right," he said, basing his analysis solely on the sensation he felt from it, instead of data and the like. On his face was a grin most pleased during this moment, and a quick turn of his head brought his attention to Akiko. "I hope you don't mind..." Without so much as waiting for a response, Raizen leaped into the opening ahead of the others.

[Apollymi]

"I'm going to guess then the answer is no. Oh well, let me know if you change your mind," the woman said seeming to give up rather easily. Of course, there was the matter of the portal actually opening and her own testing of the readings would have left her a bit distracted, if Raizen hadn't commented that the portal's opening simply felt right. "Uh-huh... that is how you end up on an examination table, just saying..." mentioned the Captain who was finding Raizen to be more and more curious the more time she spent with him. Of course, she didn't get to properly elaborate on this as Raizen soon enough stated he hoped she didn't mind and simply hopped in without any further testing.

"What an interesting individual, Tatsu-chan, Yonsokei, let's go!~" she chimed hopping in after the young man known as Kumori Raizen and assuming her lab assistants would be coming along as well.

[Bloodedge]

Several minutes after their departure, a strange form of Garganta would open within the sixth laboratory. One would note that the original Garganta was no longer open; this was simply due to a special occurrence within Hueco Mundo. The group returned with the same number of individuals who'd originally left, but there was a certain change in the roster. To be specific, the android known as Yonsokei was no longer with him, but in his place, was none other than the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. The boy Tatsuya darted out of the Garganta, performing a single twirl around the lab as he entered.

[Apollymi]

As a Garganta opened up in the lab a small white haired boy was the first to hop through. Soon after him a pink haired young woman with cat ears and dual cat tails also stepped out. "Eh, that's... really interesting," she said to the young man who'd opened it up. "Arigatou gozaimasu~" she mentioned apparently happy to be back in her own laboratory instead of potentially about to die in Hueco Mundo. Of course, she had plenty of information and just the right amount of information to start her new research. "And thank you to you as well Sotaichou, I'll have a batch of cinnamon lollipops made and sent to your office," she said as that person dressed ornately rather easily let themselves out towards the door. "I'll be waiting. Joushi, waro." and with that the Captain-Commander let themselves out of the office, with nothing more than a simple nod in the direction of the others present. But now there were several matters which needed to be tended to, including but not limited to, the recreation of Yonsokei, studying Raizen's physiology and recording the information all gather from Hueco Mundo.

[Bloodedge]

"At least it worked," Raizen said, being the last to exit just as he was the last to enter. "I only had that figured at about a sixty percent chance. That's disgustingly low for me," he concluded. It wasn't until the departure of the Captain-Commander that he spoke again, this time also to Akiko. "Soutaichou said Hollow. I'm interested to find out how my Zanpakutou offered me the powers of a Hollow."

[Apollymi]

"Sixty percent? That's not bad for a first try... I've tried things at less than ten percent, but I have a gambling problem~" the Captain of the Twelfth said after giving the proper bit of acknowledgement to the Captain-Commander as that person exited the building. Soon after Raizen was speaking, apparently not knowing he'd been using Hollow abilities and going so far as to say that it was his Zanpakuto who offered him this ability. "Did you say your Zanpakuto offered you that power? Like inside your head, like while you were performing Jinzen in a really dire situation? Really? That... doesn't sound right..." said Akiko. "Alright then, it's decided, first thing were doing is examining you and your Zanpakuto," she said seeming to turn and head towards a different laboratory. "Assuming of course you actually want my help, come along, I got a nice examination table waiting for you~"

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, Akiko was keen on taking incredibly risky chances, due to an alleged gambling problem. "No shown interest in gambling on that tea, though," he commented while taking steps toward the woman. She showed some small amount of shock or disbelief that his Zanpakutou had offered him these Hollow powers he apparently possessed, but honestly, he was having trouble believing it himself. "Hai. My Zanpakutou actually tried seducing me into using that power multiple times, only to look a little off-put when I finally accepted back there." Raizen's actions alone would admit to his interest in working with Akiko to discover the source and/or purpose of his Hollow Reiatsu, as he began trailing closely behind her the moment she started leading to another lab.

[Apollymi]

"Are you still on that, there are way more interesting things going on right now.... a date can definitely wait. Science! Way more important than date~" she said, seeming to find the understanding with this more so than anything else. Right after she finished speaking, it seemed that Raizen had something to say about the power he'd really been offered by his Zanpakuto. He went on to say it had been something of a seduction which was a strange term to use so she questioned it further while the reached the new laboratory. "Your zanpakuto... tried to seduce you into using that power..." she started only to come to a very shocking realization. "Is your Zanpakuto female?" she asked as they arrived in front of a laboratory marked 'Special Research'. Upon reaching the laboratory she'd walk inside and point to a nearby examination table. Against the far walls were several tubes which were growing several stages of body which looked exactly like the android which had originally accompanied them to Hueco Mundo.

[Bloodedge]

"Says you. I'm just as interested to not think about the idea that I may be cut open at some point in the next few minutes," Raizen replied. Upon entering the laboratory that was their destination, the Lieutenant was questioned on the gender of his Zanpakutou, based on an earlier statement of his own. "Hai. Is there something strange about that?" he asked in return. As he moved around the lab, a few glances here and there gave him a bit of foresight for how this testing would go. A sigh escaped him as he sat upon the table, unsheathing the gleaming blade of his Zanpakutou to sit it in his lap. "Jinzen, I assume?"

[Apollymi]

Akiko seemed to find something in Raizen's speech funny, she laughed. "Oh please, you said nothing invasive, I wasn't planning to vivisect you or anything. Might just take a few samples, but nothing horrible, and I promise I won't do it while you can't consent. I'm mostly a 'moral' scientist~" the Twelfth Division Captain mentioned. Moving right along, Raizen answered her question about the gender of his Zanpakuto spirit and went on to question if it was something strange. "Hm, a bit yes. Asauchi are special because they can become anything. They are said to become a direct reflection of the soul of their wielder, as such they tend to share major characteristics with their wielders, including major personality flaws and gender. All research indicates that there is a very narrow chance of one having a Zanpakuto spirit that doesn't share your gender. That isn't to say it doesn't happen from time to time, it's just exceedingly rare, like once or twice a generation, so far as we can tell. Of course, it could be higher than that, and the people just died before they could know, or before we could ask~" the Captain noted as she calibrated several nearby machines and too standard readings of reiatsu output and the like.

Raizen seemed to be smart enough to asertain the sort of suggestion that the Captain of the Twelfth intended to make about his present situation. "Hmm, yes. Jinzen. Since you are, at the very least, already familiar with your zanpakuto spirit, asking directly will be the easiest way to find out anything. While you do that, I'll be monitoring your Reiatsu and scanning your body to get a better idea of the composition of your soul," the woman explained of the sort of procedure she was going to use. "I'm mostly going to be trying to figure out if your soul will retain stability. According to all known research trying to combine a Hollow and Shinigami in any way, ends in Soul Suicide. If you happen to be both right now, it could be something of a breakthrough, and I'm interested in it."

[Bloodedge]

"Jinzen it is, then. I've been keen on finding out about her last words to me, anyway..." As he sat upon the table, Raizen took on a meditative stance to prepare for the ritual known as Jinzen. Before completely immersing himself into his inner world, though, he considered something greater. There was a much easier way to get this information while having Akiko gain knowledge of the situation as well, and the thought of this made him pause. As clever as he was, Raizen understood that even he could not fully rationalize this new discovery without the apparent knowledge and experience of the 12th's present Captain. As such, he sighed, choosing to reveal a great secret of his. "Before we begin... well... I trust discretion is something one such as yourself takes pride in. Mezamette, Mugen."

At his request, the Zanpakutou in his lap began to glow. He was not utilizing Jinzen, but instead materializing the spirit of his Zanpakutou. What was interesting about this, was the fact that this spirit was visible to anyone else looking, and even more... it was the 3rd Seat of the 10th Division, who joined alongside him: Tanaka Atsuko. "Ara ara~!" spoke the silver-haired spirit as she fully formed beside Raizen on the table. "I thought you didn't want our private life being revealed to everyone like this, Rai-chan~♥" These words were accompanied by "Atsuko" rubbing the cheek of the Lieutenant with a clawed hand. Raizen seemed apathetic to this somewhat promiscuous activity, instead choosing to address a matter of utmost importance. "Assumptions are interesting, aren't they? Until today, I've been under the assumption that my Zanpakutou wouldn't be able to give me Hollow powers."

[Apollymi]

The Twelfth Division Captain was face first in a computer, seemingly interested in her readings. Beyond this, she'd turned around and lean against the keyboard turning to look at Raizen while absently stroking keys. It would seem of course, that he was a bit worried about something and she could of course, sympathize, it wasn't every day one would find out something so life shattering. "Hai hai, science is like eighty percent secrets. Nothing leaves the labs, well unless you turn into something weird and I can't hide it," this was honesty from the Captain, which was likely what he'd been looking for.

Then to her utter surprise he didn't just begin the meditation which was Jinzen and instead named his Zanpakuto before her and made her materialize. The scientist's eyes widened and a glare could be seen on the lenses of her glasses as she tilted her head back and took in the sight before her. This was actually something she'd never properly seen before but it let her know many things about the present situation, more than most would be aware of. "Yep, definitely the most interesting thing, I'll get to know today. How weird you must be inside... This woman joined the 10th Division... she's the third seat... Tanaka Atsuko~" the woman said. she had knowledge of this because she had access to the rosters for all the division's seated officers. And they'd been updated today because of Raizen and a few other people. "Saori, picks some weird people~" coming from the Captain of a Division made up of people who were formerly or in the future going to be experiments of hers, was probably strange. But with her initial observations made the woman's eyes flickered to the screen checking the resonance between the pair and finding them to be something similar but just different enough that most likely wouldn't spot it.

[Bloodedge]

"Himotoya-taichou knows all about this," said Raizen, who went on to rise from the table and begin pacing around the laboratory. Mugen, or Atsuko, remained where she was on the table. "Why wouldn't I be able to give you Hollow powers? They, like me, are your power." Raizen scoffed upon hearing this. As far as he was concerned, and given the limited information he had on the matter, this was absurd. "Explain. I've never been a Hollow. I was born in Soul Society, and kept by nobles in the absence of my mother," he said. Mugen's initial response to this was a simple shrug. "You had that power long before I materialized. It became one with me before you could hear my voice. I only needed your permission to stop the separation between us."

Following his Zanpakutou's most recent statement, Raizen took pause. "Us?" he asked. No matter how much he thought about it, it made no sense for there to be any form of separation between himself and Mugen. What she meant would be known to all soon enough. "Between you... me... and the white version of you: The Hollow."

[Apollymi]

"I would say I am surprised she could tell, but... I am not, Saori is kind of... enigmatic. She's more like one of them..." she said vaguely. Moving right along, Akiko got to witness a conversation between this young man and his Zanpakuto, which she hadn't ever seen in not first person in her entire life. It was a completely new experience and as she continued to manipulate her readings and record necessary data for this meeting she took in the information being shared by the pair. "Hollow merges with and predates the Zanpakuto... I wonder..." the woman looking at the screen minimized the readings and began pouring through archives to find information on Zanpakuto and Hollows. Among the research she found something rather interesting. And read it fully to process potential ramifications of this information. Though it was becoming more and more clear.

"Oh it has a physical self... and its a white version of him?" she said pointing to Raizen. This was all new information but it was starting to come together for the woman. As she began drawing the necessary information together on screen, it seemed she had a bit of a theory and would wait until her opinion was requested, while she continued on eyes glued to the screen.

[Bloodedge]

"A white version of me..." he repeated. "Hai. My other half... your other half. We're all just three halves that make something a little more than a whole, aren't we, Rai-"

"Urusai," the man interrupted. What she implied by these statements led Raizen to believe that he, somehow, had two Zanpakutou spirits that were not entirely separate from one another. Upon looking at his still-unreleased sword, a few theories about this crossed his mind. In the end, he chose to gamble one the one which made the most sense to him. "So, I'm part Hollow... making you part Hollow... meaning..." Without further hesitation, Raizen picked up his sword and plunged it into the torso of Mugen. She didn't seem fazed by this at all, but there was a momentary emergence of white Reiryoku from the wound. "Sou ka... back you go then," Raizen said. He had come to his conclusion, and in doing so, absorbed Mugen back into her sword. His eyes closed afterwards, and the readings on Akiko's monitors would show something very strange. Raizen briefly displayed Hollow Reiatsu in place of that which once belonged to his Zanpakutou, and white Reishi began collecting on his face. "Kufufufu~"

[Apollymi]

Akiko's eyes shifted to the corner as Raizen quieted his Zanpakuto after the explanation of them being three halves of the same being. He then went on to perform one of three possible actions that the Captain of this Division had come up with as a potential way to test his young man's abilities. That being said, this one had the least likelihood of working and as such when her equipment began to go haywire she turned around. "Okay, so I was going to say that forcibly changing them was an option, I was also going to say that it had about a 30 percent chance of working..." said the young woman who couldn't believe how much this young man simply acted on instinct. "Oh, creeper laugh, that's riveting, nice to have a candid chuckle before going on a killing spree," she said of the hollow which had made a similar sound before destroying Yonsokei. "Also I am going to need you to tell me you are not going to become a rampaging hollow in here, this laboratory is constructed pretty densely and not connected to any of the other monitoring systems for my own protection. Even so, I have no problem using my Bankai against a relative young'un. I'm not like the Captain-Commander I can't bother with the extra." mentioned the young woman as she allowed herself to turn around and face the forming reishi which she was personally getting readings from scrolling through the lenses of her glasses.

[Bloodedge]

Even while the Captain spoke, the Reishi continued to collect around Raizen's face. A mask was formed from it, covering the top of his head and face. The completed mask had a single dot on his forehead, ripples stretching outward from said dot, and three tomoe positioned around the innermost ripple. The lower two of these tomoe formed eye-holes for Raizen to see through. "Huuu~" Raizen exhaled in a two-tone voice, half belonging to himself, and the other half belonging to the Hollow side of him. Compared to the previous instance of Hollowfication, he seemed surprisingly composed. His words toward the Captain would act as further proof of this. "Eighty-five percent. That was the chance of it working," he said, revealing that he still had some sense of self this time around. "This feels... incredible..."

[Apollymi]

"Fully formed unique hollow mask, and sentient thought... pretty good," the young woman said as she began walking around him seeming to think it was a bit strange. He went on to say that there had been an eighty-five percent chance of this working in the first place, which made her shrug. "I don't have that much faith in anything, and there was still the chance of Soul Suicide, though that seems to have been lessened quite a bit..." she said thinking about it more. "Likely because the Hollow was always a part of your soul. Readings say that you're pretty stable though the balance is a bit tenuous," she mentioned as the young man seemed to appreciate the change in form. "Hai hai, that sounds pretty good, but can you keep it properly under control is the question?"

[Bloodedge]

"Faith has nothing to do with it. For Mugen to say this power has always been mine, and for her to have already given it to me once without anything other than a mental takeover..." In the middle of Raizen's sentence, the mask upon his face shattered by no choice of his own. He was left in his normal state, with his normal Reiatsu, because of this turn of events. Nevertheless, he completed his sentence. "... meant I only had to subjugate the Hollow. It could only be as strong as I am, so the only thing reducing my chances of success was the potential mental battle. Eighty-five. As for control... It seems simple enough, but this power is temporary. As a scientist, I'm sure you understand that I have an interest in extending its effects, even against the wishes of Yoshitsune-Soutaichou."

[Apollymi]

"Time limit 58 seconds," the young woman said with a smirk as the young man's mask cracked without anything happening to him directly. As he went on to explain what he meant, she assumed it made sense that he had an eighty-five percent chance of it working out the way it had. "Alright, I'll give that to you... mental dominance over it, in contrast to the trusting bond between a Shinigami and a Zanpakuto." she surmised, but the balance maintained in his soul was something strange indeed. Instead of thinking about it too much she moved right along. "Soutaichou is a very interesting person, the ambiguity of their person not withstanding, you weren't executed on the spot or immediately turned over to the Central 46 so... doesn't seem like a flat no to me," the scientists interpretation of the Captain-Commander's actions was rather ambiguous, but... she figured it was perfectly reasonable. It was how she got away with most of the things she did after all. She checked the screen then looked back at the young man. "By my approximation it should be possible for you to lengthen the time period you can wear your mask by endurance training. My advice would be wear it until it breaks and remake it as often as possible... or wear it and try some sort of extreme activity... dunno. It's like something brand new."

[Bloodedge]

"Only 58?" he questioned reflexively. Raizen moved toward the table once more, leaning against it when he reached its location. In hindsight of his inquiry, he could think of many things one could accomplish in 58 seconds with enough power. However, he would not be satisfied for quite some time yet. Akiko's advice was sound, and seemed like something Raizen would certainly be aiming for to improve his use of this power. "So, it is against the law to acquire Hollow powers. How did this happen before, that it exists as a rule now?"

[Apollymi]

"Yes, 58. 479 to be exact, but who's counting?" she said about the time the man spent in his masked form. It seemed he accepted in general that the form would need a bit of training, but beyond that he wanted to question the legality of the attainment of Hollow powers and the law which established it. She frowned then, thinking about it, the whole thing was sort of complex and she didn't really know what to make of it. She also didn't have all the information. Akiko thought about it and sort of shrugged. "It's apparently really complicated, I was still in the academy at the time so I don't really know that much about it first hand," said the young woman. "Apparently there was a noble family who was into trying to use different types of souls to create weapons. Like the principles used to make Asauchi but with different soul types." she said as her eyes scanned words which were floating in front of her lenses as she looked to Raizen. "They were making these weapons out of a Hollow Soul and though the weapons were powerful they had a lot of negative effects on people outside of the family. And were known to be parasitic, Hollows and Shinigami souls can't properly mix, it causes Soul Suicide, as such they were told to stop creating these weapons and apparently they didn't," she explained all based on what she was reading.

[Bloodedge]

The story Akiko told regarding a noble clan who caused the Hollowfication law was somewhat suspicious. To be precise, her speech triggered the memory of him being told he should have been executed. He knew of the noble houses, and knew that one of him was his own. The Kumori house was no more, but Raizen never knew exactly why. Now, he had an idea. "Sou ka. How convenient of you to leave out the name of this noble family. I never considered execution as a reason for the fall of Kumori. That's... interesting news."

[Apollymi]

"I am really not used to talking to people as clever as I am," said the woman as she removed from her pocket a silver lollipop and went about inserting it into her mouth. "Look, I don't like to deliver bad news, I pass out candy... I would have figured you would have known about it by now," mentioned Akiko. "Sorry about that, being direct isn't really a strong suit of mine." she said, truly that was a lot to deal with and given the status of this individual she couldn't imagine he'd had the easiest of times. As such she felt a tad bad about it, and she was exceedingly sympathetic.

[Bloodedge]

"Why do you think I wanted that tea?" Raizen could certainly relate to the earliest sentiment of the Captain. What he couldn't agree with, was the idea that she had just delivered some sort of bad news. "I don't care. The only person I ever knew from my family was my mother. The others mean nothing to me," he said, going with the assumption that his mother was the last member of his family, bar himself. As far as he knew, the others were executed long before he was even conceived. He couldn't possibly know that the family's execution occurred during the time in which he was in the womb. "Is there anything else you seek to accomplish here?"

[Apollymi]

"Fair enough," said the woman. It appeared the young man at least understood the execution of those involved with some very serious problems within the Soul Society. He went on to say that he only really cared about his mother and as such the execution of the rest of his family wasn't anything he was worried about. Akiko nodded her understanding of this, not that she really understood playing favorites and let it go as the young man seemed to be well enough adjusted. As for anything else she sought to do, Akiko shook her head from left to right. "No, I'm fine, I have more than enough data to keep me busy. I have to make a delivery and report to Soutaichou. I also need to create another from "Project 4" since you know, you aced him~" she said. Thinking about it more. "Though, you're still clever enough to be intriguing. If you want to stop by some other time, that's fine. I plan to keep up the hollow related research as they are a clear and present threat, and I'm interested in your development..." she offered with a smile. "Next time we can have tea~" the Twelfth Division's Captain was an odd individual but friendly enough.

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya, Vice-Captain of the 12th Division, and experiment of said Division's present Captain, traversed the halls of the SRDI during the afternoon. He'd been sent on an errand of sorts, which led him to Lab 3: the personal laboratory of one Niwatoko Benihime. Though one would expect a knock of some sort, he made use of his own access codes to enter the facility, where he assumed he would find, and speak with, the 5th Seat. "Oi," he said blandly. "There are noise complaints. What's going on in here?"

[Apollymi]

Upon entering Laboratory 3, one would find its female crimson haired owner. The young woman was exceedingly excited as she processed several screens of data and paused her celebrations only briefly as she looked towards the door after it opened to find her Vice-Captain standing. He spoke of an apparent noise complaint but the young woman only rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. Her hair was wild not up in its usual ponytail but as she sat down her samples she removed a ribbon from the pocket of her lab coat and began putting her hair up. "Gomenasai, Tatsu-fukutaichou, I'm really excited though. Not like they'll be able to complain about the noise in a few moments anyways. I had a breakthrough~" the girl chimed seemingly excited about her work. Her ponytail now in place she picked up the sample from her desk and showed it to the Vice-Captain of her Division almost unable to contain herself. "I just got back from the Material World. I killed a Salamander Hollow there, added it to my collection," she mentioned, speaking of the database she was currently compiling on the vastly evolving Hollow population. It was up on the first screen she was looking at. "I think you'll appreciate this. This one in had a very abnormal progression to a skill Hollows have. I spent a lot of time studying it and its Reiryoku and I think it can be properly applied to Shinigami~" she finished, wondering if the information would bait her Vice-Captain into looking over her newest discovery. She knew the lad to be very clever and the sort of thing she was looking into was right up his alley. And perhaps, she could use her present finding to get his help.

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya wondered what could have caused these noise complaints, and within moments of entering the lab, he received his answer. Given Benihime's position within the SRDI, and her general MO, he assumed it to be something Hollow-related. What he didn't expect, though, was it being something along the lines of Hollow abilities being applicable to Shinigami. "Didn't you just help Ayatsuki-taichou free someone from jail, for having Hollow powers?" he asked with a sigh. Over his time in the 12th, Tatsuya had gotten very used to the random idiocies of its members within the labs. Prior to Benihime's upcoming, he recalled the individual being in charge of this laboratory, and he did not have fond memories of that person's attempted experiments and research.

Nevertheless, Tatsuya was inclined to go about his duties as Vice-Captain here, which meant he had to at least see what this one was up to before coming to any conclusions or decisions one way or another. When he looked over the research materials and discoveries, his eyes narrowed. This may have been something easy to misinterpret as disapproval, but his following words would be quite to the contrary. "Hoh? Shinigami High-Speed Regeneration? That's a big leap. Almost illegal, but... only almost illegal is just the kind of stuff we like here. Have you hypothesized potential applications yet?"

[Apollymi]

Benihime expected the first of the lad's replies and met it with a smile. "I did, but that wasn't really his fault. And the Hollows are still an evolving and growing menace, the Central 46 will likely regret that particular law someday," she said about the laws surrounding Hollows and their powers being applied to Shinigami. But in fairness to herself she was proposing nothing of the sort, instead she was simply trying to level the playing field so to speak, and keep more Shinigami on active duty. And perhaps even, return a few really good ones to the status they deserved.

Regardless of his initial thoughts, it seemed the Vice-Captain of the Division intended to at least look over the information the girl provided. And initially she couldn't interpret the look on his face. The narrowing of his eyes made her do a quick double take, making her assume this research would to be added to her list of secrets. 'Damn... I thought I had...' she paused the thought though because the words coming out of the Vice-Captain's mouth rang of approval. A grin spread across the young woman's face, as she was asked about potential applications of this particular thing she was thinking of. "A few, the first and most obvious of which is the quick healing of superficial wounds, regrowth of limbs and other body parts which are lost to Shinigami in battle or doing field work." she said as she pulled up a few possible listings for another screen. "But given what I had to work with as far as my observations were concerned there would be a few limitations on the creation of this thing given what it would actually do," she said as she pulled up another screen which contained her blue prints for the serum she had in mind. "It'd work something like a shot, meant to kindle a super fire of the cells within a Shinigami based on where its placed. It'd use their Reiryoku as a catalyst burning through a bit of it, in order to stabilize the tissues and reform whatever was lost," she explained. The medical and field usage of such a thing was sort of staggering but only in very specific situations. "Of course, given that bit, the base amount of Reiryoku required for the shot to even work would be higher than average," she stated. The other potential downsides of this treatment were also obvious, if a person didn't have enough Reiryoku it simply wouldn't work, or they'd burn up everything they had trying to make it work if one tried to fix too many things at once. "I'm sure you can see the other potential drawbacks here..."

[Bloodedge]

"Hmm." Whilst being told the drawbacks and limitations of this regeneration serum Benihime intended to develop, Tatsuya continued to make his own mind work. There were no foreseeable ways to avoid the issues, it seemed, but these restrictions were not too great of an issue in the boy's mind. "A weaker soul could burn into its own life if this sort of thing were used on them," he said with utmost nonchalance. Still, the existence of this could be seen as something of a boon. "But... many high-ranking officers have been weakened, or even discharged due to irreparable wounds. There is an issue, though," he continued. Tatsuya took over screen access for the first monitor, showcasing various incidents in which Hollows were rendered incapable of regenerating. It seemed Benihime had already done a fair bit of research on this topic as well. "Oh. I guess you've already discovered that. Being able to prevent strong soldiers from maiming is one thing, but the Central 46 would be more easily swayed toward funding this for Seireitei-wide use... if you were actually able to use it after the wound has already healed itself. Even High-Speed Regeneration couldn't repair Baiken's arm."

[Apollymi]

Benihime seemed to be having good enough amount of conversation with Tatsuya to know given his own expertise that her idea was at least on the right track. "Yeah, it would definitely kill someone really weak. There isn't any denying that, but if they were that weak to start with..." she gave a slight pause as she began pacing the room, her mind having already reached the next portion of the conversation. "They were probably going to die anyway," Benihime added to the commentary with a bit of callousness likely unseen from her by many. The next part of the conversation was indeed what she'd been waiting for, while this particular invention would be a boon to those capable of using it now, it would do nothing as it stood for those already fallen, as it stood only fresh wounds could be healed and only those with enough Reiryoku to facilitate the healing could do so. "Yes, I know... High-Speed Regeneration won't fix wounds which are already healed. Nor ones which are carterized. I tried that one out myself just to be sure I wasn't wrong about that..." she said a slightly devious look in her eyes. "I've thought this through, and there is a way to technically make it work but... we'd have to find someone willing to let us try it," she said, and finding a willing participant would be likely something considered difficult. "By my own approximations and calculations, it should be perfectly possible for someone to heal a major injury, like an already healed arm or leg. If we were to... say cut off the rest of her arm above where the original one healed," she stated plainly leaving that very likely disgusting sentence to hang in the air. Basically surmising that if they were to inflict new wounds they'd heal fully back to their original forms not back to the wounded form, but that would be borderline cruel and unusual to do to someone who's already experienced the loss of a limb.

[Bloodedge]

"Agreed. They'd probably be better off dying anyway," Tatsuya chimed. When Benihime mentioned trying this serum on herself and discovering that scars could not be healed, his attention was drawn to the scar this lass had somewhat recently received over her eye. Of course, she also had an idea for how this could be bypassed, and it was frankly not the friendliest of things to suggest to anyone. "Baiken won't do it. There's no way you could convince her. For you to bring that up, I'm sure you have someone else in mind. Not me. It probably wouldn't work the same on me."

[Apollymi]

She nodded, it seemed that smart people seemed to share a sort of callousness which could be counted as friendship among them. As they progressed in this conversation by virtue of what the girl had to say about trying out the serum on herself as a start, she knew he would understand immediately the problem. "Baiken-san, is truly a member of the 11th Division. I tossed around the idea of being able to restore her arm in theory a week ago. She won't accept it even if I can do it. Something about battle scars and character. She won't take her arm back even if I could give it to her without hardship," she said knowing this to be true only to further add emphasis. Of course, given the boy's cleverness he'd already figured out that she had someone in mind for this particular experiment. "I also figured it wouldn't work the same on you, though given you can fix yourself up a bit anyways, you'd be the best option otherwise since you'd be less likely to suffer if it didn't work." she said, she had almost complete and utter faith in herself. Even so, asking someone to trust her theory enough to undertake an additional injury after already being used to not having a limb went on to a level bordering masochistic.

"There is a woman in the 3rd District of the Rukongai. She runs a dojo, in which she usually houses 3 students whom she teaches random things. She was formerly the Vice-Captain of the 10th Division and became incapable of completing her duties when she lost her left leg about 60 years ago," she said calmly. "By all accounts she fits all criteria for the best possible candidate to be the first to receive this treatment," she said looking at him. "And I can probably get her to agree to it, even with the extra injury," she said looking at the young man. "If I was to do it though, I'd need another set of hands. And someone... with enough authority to clear it for the testing and whose word will carry. I mean, I invented the Capsules and that's cool, but they aren't going to trust I haven't gone completely 'Mad Scientist'... a witness is necessary to say whether it worked or not," she looked to Tatsuya her invitation open and obvious.

[Bloodedge]

"Kisaragi-fukutaichou?" he said with an upward inflection, as if to imply a question, though he only meant to confirm. "She was a legendary Vice-Captain. If your experiment works on her, the Central 46 would be much more likely to approve of this research." As the young male spoke, he scanned the material Benihime had to offer once more. This was certainly a healthy amount of research done for this project, and he could surely support it. "You can test it. If you can't manage a willing subject, I may be able to scrounge up someone we can 'turn into' a willing one. Let's find this subject of yours," he said, having full intention to travel to Rukongai immediately.

[Apollymi]

A smile crossed the young woman's face, as it seemed her own Vice-Captain was familiar with the woman she wanted to use as the subject. Beyond her status as a Legendary Vice-Captain, the young redhead had a personal reason for wanting to use this woman as part of her experiment. "To be honest they should approve of it regardless of who I use as a test subject, but this one... is a good one to start with," she said seemingly amused. Beyond this it seemed that Tatsuya approved of this particular research topic and gave the lass permission to continue her research to the proper testing phase. A grin crossed her face, "Arigatou gozaimasu, Tatsu-fukutaichou~" she chimed as she picked up a couple of her capsules one of which contained the test serum which she assumed would be used immediately and her Zanpakuto which she affixed to her person, doing so with the hilt lined up to the left side of her body. She had a few ideas of how this situation worked out and given this she knew she'd need her weapon. With this she began heading for the Rukongai, knowing that Tatsuya would follow as he'd already agreed to it.

[Kiyomi]

Hyousuke arrived at the gates of the 12th. He was dressed in the usual Shihakusho that were worn, with his purple handled Zanpakutō tucked into his sash with the pure black sheath protruding from the other end along his black pants. The young man had crimson glowing eyes with red ink tattoos similar to scales of a reptile under each of his eyes. The right side of his face was mostly covered with his jet black bangs, making it so only parts of his right eye and the tattoo underneath barely visible. He raised his hand to knock before stopping within only a centimeter of the door. Hesitation was written on his face and in his heart as he began to second guess his choice. "What's the hold up, knock already." Sanyōsuru spoke to his master with irritation. "Oi, don't rush me...but I have to ask are you sure you're okay with this?" He spoke with concern.

Since being able to hear Sanyōsuru voice, Hyousuke has seen him more as a friend than a weapon. "Tsk. Come on you know as well as I do this is the only way. Not only are you in the 11th but there is also the new Captain to take into account." Sanyōsuru paused before speaking once more, "It's either this or leave the 11th, and you know which choice you want. I'll always stand by you, so stop over thinking." With those words, Hyousuke calmed down. The young Shinigami could tell that Sanyōsuru would likely have that stupidly infectious smile on his face. He gave a small grin before taking a deep breath and exhaling. "Knock on wood right?" they both laughed as this terrible pun before he knocked on the wooden gates once he regained his composure.

With his now straight face Hyousuke, would knock three times on these giant wooden doors belonging to the 12th Division, and would await for someone to answer.

[Bloodedge]

Hyousuke's knock would receive no immediate answer. In fact, no one would approach the door from the other side at all. What would happen, though, would be the silent arrival of another individual at Hyousuke's rear. A young boy with white hair and piercing, golden eyes of serpentine likeness appeared behind the raven-haired male. This child was none other than the 12th Division's recently-appointed Vice-Captain, Tatsuya. He made no noise whatsoever, until the precise moment of him speaking to the man as if he'd approached the gates with him. "Looks like no one's home. We may as well leave now."

[Kiyomi]

Hyousuke jumped closer to the gates as he turned around. He reflexively was about to pull his Zanpakutō stopping mid ways upon seeing the young lad. He took in a deep breath taking his hand away from his partner, "Ah gomen, I didn't know you were there." He was both surprised and concerned about the fact that the white haired boy was able to approach him without being sensed or even making a sound. While shifting through his thoughts, he didn't notice that he was intensely staring at the young vice-captain. "Focus will you?" Sanyōsuru whispered. The young man came back to reality and began to explain, "Ah, I am Takenaka Hyousuke, 5th Seat of the 11th Division. I came because...I need some help from one of the scientists. I was wondering if I could request some assistance with a small matter since I am not capable of resolving it myself." He paused for a moment with a slight grit of his teeth before continuing, "I'm afraid I can not return to the 11th without aid." He bowed in front of the young lad not knowing his rank or position, "Please." His manner of speech was quite formal due to the fact that he was not in his own division, yet it would most likely be noticed that it was rather forced politeness. With this in mind he kept his upper body horizontal to the ground, staring at his own feet, until he would be addressed with a response.

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya wore no expression which hinted at any emotional response to this male, but that didn't much matter. Regardless of how he felt about things, people, or situations, his answers usually remained the same at this basic level of interaction. "Obviously. You said that with all the twitching," was his retort to the man admitting to not noticing him. More shared words between the two informed Tatsuya of this one's name, Division, and rank, as was typically custom. "Juunibantai Fukutaichou, Tatsuya," he replied to share his own identity. When Hyousuke spoke of needing assistance from the 12th Division, Tatsuya tilted his head 40 degrees left. Something about the way this man spoke was rubbing him the wrong way. "And why... would we bother helping you?" he asked.

[Kiyomi]

As the young white haired boy spoke upon his final words, Hyousuke flinched. He stayed quite for a few moments. "Just be honest with him, he's not apart of the 11th, so I don't think you have to worry. Plus its not like we have much to lose in this case of being outed or just being denied...It won't change the out come. So get on with it." Sanyōsuru who was normally playful, took on a rather serious and concerned tone. "I get it, so stop sounding like that. It's weird when you sound like me." He tuned back in to the small boy in front of him, "I need to hide part of my Shikai. The 11th frowns upon anything that isn't melee, and I only just acquired mine but... one of the forms is a ranged and melee. Both me and my partner want to stay in the 11th, but I don't want to permanently limit him or call him outside of his name. I heard the 12th could help. I know I'm asking something difficult but I ask for the 12th Divisions assistance." Hyousuke had yet to raise his head out of manners for asking such a favor from a division he was not apart of.

He titled his head up to get a glance at the young boy, who had no trace of facial expressions on his face. Hyousuke had no room to say anything given his own face was lacking in emotions; however his left brow did raise at the pale skinned young lad who stood before him, before looking back at his own feet.

[Bloodedge]

Tatsuya's eyes narrowed ever so slightly while this 5th Seat conversed with the spirit of his Zanpakutou. Hyousuke eventually got to the point of this meeting, and it was something Tatsuya had an immediate distaste for. However, it did seem to be the case that Hyousuke's Zanpakutou wished for this alteration as well. "Yare yare. You want us to alter your Shikai? That's the most annoying request I've gotten so far. And... pick your head up. I don't like when weak people act weaker; it makes me want to vivisect you." With that said, Tatsuya heaved a sigh and shut his eyes, deciding that he really had nothing better to do at the moment than take such a random request. "... Fine. Show me your dumb Shikai."

[Kiyomi]

The raven-haired young man raised his head as he and Sanyōsuru gave a sigh of relief, however one thing didn't sit well with either of them but Hyousuke spoke up in defense, "You can call me weak I'm fine with that, but I would ask you to call my partner Sanyōsuru, not dumb." Though he spoke with respect he didn't like it when people thought less of his Zanpakutō. For him, Sanyōsuru was more like a best friend than a weapon, thus wanted others to respect him, at least in when addressing him.

Sanyōsuru laughed, "Idiot, you don't say that to someone who agreed to help us. You may not be weak from my point of view, but all of your lights are dim huh?" The monkey boy made another bad pun with his infectious smile of stupidity. This caused a grin to come across the young man's face. A snicker escaped his lips before swiftly drawing his sword, "Asobou, Sanyōsuru." with this his Zanpakutō would transform into a six foot long staff, which was red trimmed in gold lining. Hyousuke would then toss his Zanpakutō into the air as it broke apart into what looked a regular pair of nun-chucks of the same color scheme. Upon catching the golden chains that connected each set in each hand, it was clear to see that connected to the ends were guns instead of normal nun-chucks. He then held Sanyōsuru out towards Tatsuya for him to be examined.

[Bloodedge]

The response Hyousuke had for Tatsuya made the boy raise a brow, then flatten his expression further. When he spoke next, he did so in a tone that reeked of annoyance. "'Let me inside, fix my Zanpakutou for me, don't call my Zanpakutou dumb, even though its name implies its stupidity.' You want a lot of things to not be offering me anything other than more demands from you. You 11th Division guys are annoying," he said with distaste. Of course, Hyousuke released his Zanpakutou, which boasted multiple forms. It did seem to be a melee oriented weapon, but with chambers which quite obviously functioned for projectile attacks of a Kidou-like nature. The 11th Division would indeed take issue with such a thing, but this was a much simpler request than Tatsuya initially thought. "Sanyousuru is right; the lights aren't all on upstairs. If you'd mentioned how simple this was in the first place, it could have been done already. Give it to me," he said while holding out his hands, intending to claim the Shikai before heading into his personal, all-purpose laboratory to begin work on the Shikai.

[Kiyomi]

Hyousuke raised a brow staring at the young man, not replying until the bit where he agreed with his Zanpakutō. Handing Sanyōsuru to Tatsuya he questioned it, "And how do you know what he thinks?" The raven-haired boy didn't comment on the other statements made due to the fact that they more they talked the more it made him angry inside, despite the lack of expression on his face. Sanyōsuru sensed his anger and became rather uncomfortable in more way than one. The Zanpakutō went silent also wondering how a conversation held by the two of them was heard from an outsider.

[Bloodedge]

"That doesn't concern you," Tatsuya replied while leading the way into his lab. "You should be focused on keeping that attitude in check before you do something that'll make this exchange fun for me, and hell for you," he concluded. Upon reaching the center of the laboratory, he placed the two halves of the Zanpakutou upon a scanning table which exposed the weapon to a tractor beam which levitated it. From here, it was a simple matter of Tatsuya interfacing with a console to one side of the room, activating devices upon the table which could, and would, begin drilling holes into the ends of the nun-chucks. "Sumimasen. This is going to hurt," he said, speaking this time to the spirit within the Zanpakutou as the drilling process began. Once this was over, the inner workings of the table would have completed the production of four golden caps to place on either end of each weapon. Two of these were specially made to leave the Zanpakutou's ability to reconnect into its original staff form. Further work was done to force the triggers and hammers of the "gun-chucks" inside the weapons, as to conceal them as well. "There. Simple. The gun function still works; all you need to do is apply your Reiryoku to load the chamber, and the new attachments will open to allow use of the Shikai's original purpose. You could have just transferred Divisions."

[Apollymi]

Benihime was soon entering the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, she wasn't tarrying at all as she approached. Joyful light skipping taking her straight to her own laboratory which was marked with the number three. Soon enough she was entering the pass code which opened the door and once it was opened several lights came on as well as screens which seemed to appear over keyboards which monitored several different spiritual areas of research. She's soon enough be changing several screens as she walked by, shifting the research from various mundane topics, back to the Hollows with spider marks, the archives about the 'Ghost Incident' which she now knew about, as well as her own personal findings about various Hollow powers and abilities. The redhead's eyes were lit up as she stared around the room before returning her attention to the person she figured was with her. "You said you were doing research with Aya-tai before, I assume you have your own access codes," she said as she began thinking about the best way to attack her newest project. She knew her happy entrance would likely bring the Captain of this Division to her quicker than even sending for her could accomplish, besides that her newest specimen was likely to have caught a bit of attention.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course I don't," said Raizen, who followed behind the redhead. Behind him was a barrier which contained a Hollow with the likeness of a tapeworm. Upon entering this lab, Raizen began walking around the room with the Hollow still trailing closely behind. His gaze traveled across the various monitors as he moved. Eventually, he settled over a particular console to view the gathered information about the spider mark on Hollows. "I never need such things. All I need now, is to figure out the nature of this Hollow soul."

[Apollymi]

"So...you just got room for all of that in your head..." she said seeming to think it outlandish, her own memory and skills were very high above the norm but she used the laboratory's archives to cross reference things she didn't keep in the forefront of her own memory. "Okay." she finished as she scanned the images of the Spider Mark Hollows while allowing her gaze to shift back to the one which the man had in a barrier, as she decided the kind of creature it likely was. Parasites were studied from time to time, and with the Ghost Incident having already happened, there was quite a bit of research into parasites within the databases, as she stood before a monitor analyzing all of the information there before she smiled having figured something out. She walked over to the barrier and created another orange rope of energy within her hand. "Horin..." she used this one to make a sharper instrument which she'd then use to separate a small piece of the parasite on the end, once she had it she took it and began pulling it apart to analyze it directly with a happy grin on her face. "Okay, I have what I need... you can do whatever you want," she said happily as she went over to a monitor and began typing up her analysis with her right hand, while she used her left to pick apart the bit of energy and figure out how it allowed the beast to hide in plain sight.

As this happened her laboratory was soon entered from the outside, by a pink haired woman with cat ears and twin tails. "Seriously, you were gone for a like an hour, and you come back with a Hollow and a Captain in tow, I thought you were just up to your usual play in the 11th? I expected to have to pick you up from the 4th Division if you caught the attention of Inuzuri-taichou..." she commented of the young woman as she looked over her shoulder at her work with narrowing eyes. "I didn't know you were looking into this too, since when?" she questioned seemingly unamused. Benihime grinned as she continued her work. "Since before I graduated from the Academy. Also, I didn't do anything, things were attacking me. Mainly the fourth seat of the 11th Division under control of that thing right there," she said pointing to the barrier. "Aya-tai, the older stuff, is my own personal research which I have been keeping separate from everything else in the labs. You do the same thing... so it isn't really a problem is it?" she asked of the woman as she continued to work. "No... but I probably should have looked into it a bit, I thought I needed plausible deniability but... you were actually doing good work," she said her eyes narrowing slightly. There was a problem with this girl that her Captain hadn't mentioned before and it was that she had no idea what kind of intelligence the young woman possessed at any given time. "So, another incident like that has happened, annoying..." said Akiko as she looked towards the Captain of the 10th Division. "I take it the pair of you have some sort of plan then... what is it, these answers I'll take from you, Kumori-taichou..." she said her eyes still narrowed at Benihime as the girl worked at a screen, seemingly immersed.

[Bloodedge]

"As a matter of fact, I do. I find it very important to remember everything, so I seal everything I observe into a... mind palace, so to speak." With this said, Raizen scanned a few of the other screens in the lab, committing their information to memory as well. During this time, Benihime took what she needed from their shared subject, clearing Raizen to hold his hand over the Hollow with a strange, golden glow occurring around it as he did. His focus seemed entirely devoted to the Hollow, but his ears were open even to the discussion occurring between Benihime and her Captain, Akiko. As such, when the Division's resident Captain addressed him, he was more than prepared to answer her inquiry. "There isn't much of a plan left. We know the obvious signs of these Hollows' influence on others, and we know how deeply they can root themselves into a Shinigami. The time frame in which that happens is up for debate, depending on the strength of the host, but... that hardly matters. What we need to be worried about, is these things gaining control of other Captains... something we would already be too late to stop if they were trying to, because of how long we can assume they would take to reach the brain. Ayatsuki-taichou, you may want to bring attention to this matter; this sort of obvious attack from today means whatever plan these Hollows have is coming to light very soon. I know where we must look for information next, and Niwatoko-chan here can help me well enough. We'll take care of this part, if you don't mind."

[Apollymi]

"Uh-huh... That sounds interesting, in theory," Benihime said as he prodded the small piece of the creature she was toying with with a bit of crimson energy from the tip of her finger. As she did this she tossed around the theory of compressed mental storage trying to decide what sort of metaphor would work for her if she decided to try such a theory for herself. While she did this her work continued causing a small piece of it to extend outward turning into a small sharpened little tentacle that aimed to latch onto her, this was immediately dispatched with an electrical pulse from the tip of the girl's same finger by way of the use of Tsuzuri Raiden, but that wouldn't be mentioned as she continued figure to keep track of these changes. "Sugei..." she muttered as she began to understand the way this creature worked by virtue of her minor vivisection.

Akiko watched as this pair worked and raised a brow to what Raizen had to say. "Oh wow... I've been downgraded to messenger," she commented though she had every intention of doing just that. "I'm not used to that... what exactly do I tell them, hm? Parasitic Hollows are moving around the Seireitei and they should look out for strange behavior and spider markings? Also you pulled this one off, what became of the person you yanked it out of?" she directed at Benihime who was still rather carefully studying what she was. "That's exactly what you should say, and yes, I used the spell combination I saw Kumori-taichou use yesterday and a quick surgical cut to take that one off of the 4th Seat of the 11th Division. Actually I kinda just opened him up and pulled it out of him, but I am pretty sure that guy is dead now. If not then, his brain is fried and he should probably be put out of his misery," she said rather calmly. "You agree don't you, Kumori-taichou?"

[Bloodedge]

"Gomen, gomen. I just can't have you bringing tracing devices to where we need to go," he said to the pink-haired woman while, coincidentally, pulling a small tracker from the back of his haori collar. The device was crushed betwixt his fingers, and the remaining dust was sprinkled onto the floor thereafter. "And yes, he is certainly dead now," he continued. There was nothing else to note here, but he had to disagree with something Benihime said. "You shouldn't tell them anything of the sort. These Hollows are organized. Saying such a thing could potentially halt or slow their efforts, and we'll likely be much better off if they continue as intended for now. Tell them members of the Gotei are going rogue, and must be dealt with according to the individual situations. That should keep things progressing while we work."

[Apollymi]

Akiko managed to look at Raizen with a general scoff as she watched the man get rid of a tracing device she'd dropped on his person. Benihime prodded the little piece of Hollow in her hand for a bit longer and after she was done she smirked, knowing her Captain had an interesting habit of trying to know everything and thus spied on everyone. "Oh great, she killed a man today. And I've been cut out of the fun," the woman said with much sarcasm. She also noted the sarcasm of Benihime's response to her question which when Raizen actually clarified made her chuckle just a bit. "Uh-huh, rogue members of the Gotei... fine. I'm sure everyone will enjoy the idea of having to watch their backs around their friends. While I get to know that you're using all of us as bait until you figure out what it is. That's a bit shrewd, and I worry about how much you agree with it," she said with the last bit directed to Benihime. Benihime felt the need to clarify something which she realized through her present bit of research and also given the way the other Hollows behaved during her excursions to the human world.

"Aya-tai, I didn't kill him. Given the progression shown it is almost guaranteed that he, and anyone else who shows that kind of take over are already too far gone to be saved. And you can't really argue the tactical advantage of being able to continue working while your enemy doesn't know you're aware they are here. Shrewd as it might be, making such a decision is rather easy. You've already come to the same conclusion..." Benihime finished speaking and used a capsule to capture the rest of this sample tucking it away for later usage. She now had a pretty good idea of how the Hollow managed to hide itself given its anatomy and given that she could use it a bit herself later. Now there was the matter of the rest of the research to be done. Akiko looked at this red haired girl with narrowed eyes, "That's all correct, obviously. I'm just cranky, I didn't notice earlier... And now I'm going to talk to the Captain-Commander. Do what you will, and... work fast yeah?" said the pink haired woman as she walked back towards the exit.

[Bloodedge]

Raizen once again fell silent after his most recent words with the other Captain in the room. His attention had returned to the Hollow specimen, but Akiko's departure opened him up to speak once more. "Right. We should get going. The information we're looking for can only be found in one place, thanks only to the Seireitei's inability to access it. Who'd have thought their incompetence would lead to the answer that would one day save them?" he asked in rhetoric while moving toward the exit, dragging the Hollow along with him. "Time to go back home and see what my ancestors left us to look at."

[Apollymi]

With the exit of the Captain of the 12th Division, Benihime began shifting around in her chair removing several of the tracing devices from her person as she did so. By the time she was done there were five of these little devices being added to a desk drawer which was also full of them. They'd become her collection of sorts and she found them amusing to look at when considering how many times she'd thwarted her Captain's desire to spy on her. "Yare yare, I'm going to have to speed up my other project." she said having the thought that her Captain was likely to try and force her to transfer to another Division... again. Moving right along though the return of Raizen's voice prompted the girl to rise from her chair swinging her ponytail from left to right and causing one more device to fall from it, which she promptly stepped on. "Obviously everyone, it is why they let said incompetence fester," she said rolling her eyes playfully as she followed along. Apparently they were on their way home, and she simply accepted this as fact with no fuss, "Hai, Kumori-taichou~" she said as she rather easily caught up to his stride on his right hand side content to follow him out her laboratory locking itself up as they exited the door.