“Goooooood morning Naruki City! It’s a beautiful day here on flight 88, sun’sa shining and the skies are clear. Well…
...Except for Me.”
High above the skies of the Silver City flies a craft hitherto unseen by the likes of the souls below. An experimental jet-plane, whose unique shape and trail of blue flame causes it to appear like an arrow streaking across the sky. Designed by the Quincy-minds of Eto Heavy Industries, this jet, known as an S-88, is capable of reaching Mach 20, faster-than-light speed. Currently however, it soars through the air at the steady speed of sound, maneuvering like a sparrow through the sky.
Piloting this aircraft is an eager young man known as Justin Taimu, a twenty four year old former Captain of the Japanese Airforce. Known for shattering the World Speed Record on three separate occasions, Justin’s piloting ability is without equal. This skill is why he was sought after by E.H.I., who allows the pilot a certain level of leeway when it comes to his maneuvering. Justin’s job is to push the limits of this aircraft’s ability, putting every aspect of the vehicle's construction under rigorous testing through practical flight exercises. Much to the behest of the research team monitoring him.
“Zz-Let’s just try and take it easy this time, ok?-zZ”
Spiralling through the air in a series of rolls, Justin smiles as he pushes his controlstick forward, accelerating the Reishi-fueled engines of the craft and causing it to disappear from sight. The arrow in the skies appears to cut through the heavens, as a streak of blue fire propels the craft through one of the scarce clouds that lingers in the sky. As though coming to an immediate stop, the aircraft suddenly reappears in the sky, a small dot compared to what it once was. Reducing his speed, Justin steadies the craft, coming to a stable speed of flight as he looks down to the city below him.
From up here, Naruki looked so small. On the ground, the massive skyscrapers can block the sky, causing one to feel small as the city imposes upon them. It is easy to feel trapped within the concrete jungle, helpless even. As the aircraft soars on in a steady line, Justin looks upon the Silver City and loses himself in thought. Ten years ago Naruki was flooded by a tsunami. Reports say that a dam outside the city broke, and the release of water was so sudden that no one had time to evacuate. The damage apparently spread all the way to Karakura town, which received the tail end of the wave. Justin however never got to see such destruction, as he had been rendered unconscious by a gas leak explosion, the same explosion which took his mother’s life. Perhaps the two were related, maybe some earthquake caused the explosion and the dam to break. Regardless, the events of ten years ago were only memories compared to the city today. Completely rebuilt, it shines a glamorous silver and blue as it reflects the rays of the sun. The city was a monument to perseverance, and Justin has the best view in the house.
Snapping out of his reflective train of thought, Justin sees a small black cloud begin to form. Peculiar for the weather this day, he decides to arc his flightpath, and veer closer to the obstruction.
“What the…”
What he sees is the small cloud of black expand horizontally, before tearing open as though ripping the sky itself. Wide-eyed, Justin cannot believe what he is seeing. Shooting past the black obtrusion, Justin curves the flightpath of the S-88, pulling a 180 to once again fly by and observe this peculiarity. What he sees from the safety of his cockpit is enough to cause him to question the very nature of his existence.
“Uh, Control, I might have spoken too soon..”
A massive creature bursts forth from the black abyss. Obsidian skin stretches over leathery wings which unfurl and flap. Adorned in a mask of bone, its massive body dwarfs the S-88 in size, It closes the gap between itself and the aircraft with a single movement of its wings, growing larger as it flies towards Justin at supersonic speeds. Justin in turn braces himself for impact, but is shocked to see the creature fly past the aircraft, and instead focus on the city behind it.
“I think its a…creature of some sort? A bat maybe?”
“Zz-We’re not seeing anything on your instruments-zZ”
“I can see it with my own eyes! It’s flying towards the City! It’s head looks like a skull or something…”
A few moments pass without response from control. A suspiciously long silence, given their usually tight monitoring of Justin’s exercises. He kicks up the speed, trailing behind the creature from a safe distance above. He can hardly believe what he’s seeing. All he can pay attention to is how the beast seems to be focused directly on the city. It certainly didn’t look friendly, in fact, it looks like a predator on the trail of some prey.
“Zz-You are clear to engage-zZ”
This response nearly snaps Justin out of his shock. Until now he had only ever been granted permission to execute aerial maneuvers, any weapons testing within city limits would be absolutely unheard of.
“Are you crazy?! I just said its flying towards the city! I think it’s drawn to the heaviest population!”
What the heal was this thing? It had come out for some strange black disk in the sky, and it didn’t look like anything Justin had ever seen before. Why was it invisible to his radar? Eto Heavy Industries had some of the top surveillance technology in the world. It has to be from another planet, some sort of Alien creature seeking to abduct or consume human beings. If that’s the case though, wouldn’t E.H.I. want to capture and study this thing?
“Zz-You are ordered to engage-zZ”
The cannons of the S88 automatically activate, locking onto the creature that flies before him. However, the line of fire also points these Quincy-weapons directly at a massive skyscraper. Not only would a blast from these weapons destroy the creature, but would likely carve through the building and even into the streets below. Was Control out of their minds?! The second the canons lock on, the screen within Justin’s cockpit turns green, signalling the activation of the energy weapon. However, the moment the begin to fire, Justin yanks back on his controls, jeering the jet backwards and pointing the laser skyward. It fires into the air like a bolt of concentrated lightning, pushing aside what little clouds remain in the sky from the force of its blast. However, it is directed harmlessly into space, saving the people of Kimura Tower.
Sharing the Sky
“Screw that!”
Flipping off his Communications, Justin focuses on the creature now above and in front of him. There is no doubt he could catch up to it, but without being able to fire his weapons there isn’t much he could do to save the people in the tower from the incoming monster. He was going to have to get creative. Kicking once again into overdrive, the S-88 fighter jet bursts with blue energy, streaking through the sky once again as it spews blue fire. It soars below the creature, following it as it arrives a mere twenty feet from the tower. Then, just before the two come crashing into the delicate glass of the tower’s side, Justin pulls his controlstick all the way back. The S-88 immediately enacts a 90 degree upwards turn, the g-force being displaced throughout the craft's body and out the back of its boosters.
“Die you Alien Bastard!”
The S-88 shoots upwards into the creature’s underbelly like an arrow, carrying it up and into the sky. As the great spear pierces the mighty dragon, the two fly upwards along the side of the building. The proximity to the Jet’s engines causes the glass to shatter, but nothing further, until the two are harmlessly in the sky above Naruki City.
Annoyed but otherwise unharmed, the massive creature flaps its wings once again, creating a gust of wind so powerful that it launches the S-88 into a stalling spiral. Free falling through the air, all controls are rendered dead, with Justin helpless inside. Unable to correct his descent, he watches through a spiralling window as the creature descends upon him. Like a bat snatching an insect out of the air, the creature’s massive talons grab hold onto the aircraft.
KRRRRCCCKT
The sound of bending steel thunders throughout the cockpit, as the monster’s grip tightens around the jet. The armor of the outer shell is incapable of resisting the strength of the monster, and collapses inward within itself. At this point, Justin is fighting for his life attempting to reach the ejection button on the right side of his seat. However, upon locating it, he sees that this too has been bent out of proportion, pinned beneath folded metal that crushes inward upon Justin’s chair. The glass of the cockpit begins to crack, before exploding into fragments, raining splinters down into the city below. The rushing of air deafens Justin from the screams of rage that the Hollow emits. Justin however does not release a scream of terror in response. He knows that his fate is either to be eaten by this creature, or to meet the ground in a most violent way.
Shining in the Sky
In his last moment of life, he thinks of his mother. As time seems to slow around him, he looks at the watch upon his wrist. Frozen in place upon the watchface is the exact time in which his mother died. He was just a child, exiting his favorite ice cream shop. His mother had driven him all the way to Karakura just to get this special icecream. When they exited the shop, Justin was so focused on his frozen treat, that he began to lag behind his mother. She turned to tell him to catch up, and in that moment she was gone. Justin’s mother was the victim of a gas leak explosion. If he had only been a little faster, he might have been able to save her, or maybe…he too would have been engulfed in flame.
This is Justin’s last thought, to save another life, and to die as his mother did.
His final thought before he closes his eyes and activates the aircraft’s self-destruction program.
A fireball explodes above the skies of Naruki City. The experimental aircraft, one of its kind, is completely obliterated, as is the creature that crushed it within its grasp. Though curious onlookers would see the spectacle above, they would go on only to hear that it was a failed test flight. The souls below would never know the sacrifice made to save their lives from such a vicious and inhuman creature. Well…
Except for
One.
Hero
“I’m Alive?! I can’t believe it!”
Standing in mid-air is a figure, a man, a hero, an icon, clad in a white bone-like armor. The crimson cloak that dons his daring shoulders billows in the breeze, his glaring globes glowing a gleaming and glittering gold.
“I am really ok…HA! Better than Ok! I am FANTASTIC! AMAZING! INCREDIBLE!”
Justin Taimu had died within that explosion, but like a phoenix, he arose again, now as an entity called the
Watchman. What Justin did not know was that the Alien he believed he faced was in truth a being known as a Hollow. Not only this, but this experience was not his first encounter with such a creature. Ten Years prior, unbeknownst to a young Justin Taimu, Shinigami fought above him and his mother to procure a Hollow not unlike this one. In this situation however, it was the Hollow who was caught within a superior predator’s grasp, and it was the Hollow who, in an act of desperation, chose to self-destruct. What Justin just experienced was the inverse of his first ever hollow encounter. Exposed to such a potent source of Hollow Energy once again, and brought once again so closely to the brink of death, Justin had unlocked the power known as
Fullbring.
“GAHAHAHAHA! FEAR NOT CITIZENS OF NARUKI CITY! I WILL PROTECT YOU!”
Watchman shouts to an empty sky, his promise anything but. As a byproduct of his Clad-type fullbring, Justin’s adrenaline, excitement, passion, and bravery, among a list of other stereotypically positive traits, are all enhanced exponentially. This causes Justin’s personality to shift dramatically, the once cool Ace-Pilot becoming an almost boisterously brave pillar of positivity. The full effects of this fullbring, and even the nature of these abilities, are in this moment a mystery to Watchman, whose current guesstimation is that his defeat of the alien creature had granted him its unearthly and inhuman powers. Further, the clad type Fullbring that encases Justin is not even the limit of his newfound superpowers. Before Watchman floats an obsidian spear, its design reminiscent of a clock hand. Curious, he reaches out to grasp the manifested weapon, and the moment his hand touches the cool black metal…
“What’s-
He Disappears.
-this?”
Watchman, spear in hand, is in the sky one moment, and deep within Naruki city the next. He finds himself ten feet off the ground, the tip of his spear pointed downwards, one inch from the cranium of another monster. This creature appears similar to the one Justin just encountered. Though it appears more humanoid, its skull is encased within a similar white-bone like mask, revealing the creature as the Alien that it is.
A massive hulking monstrosity, Justin would normally panic upon seeing it. However, in this instance, though he is utterly surprised by his change in location, he feels no fear in the face of such a terrifying monster. In fact, he is so calm that time begins to slow down, not unlike what he had experienced within his jet. Taking advantage of this, the off guard Watchman takes in his surroundings. Before the mighty hollow he sees a screaming woman, looking up at the monster with helpless horror.
Seeing the woman in such a state, Justin is reminded of his mother. Reminded of how he was too slow then to save her. Now, it would seem, he had been granted a chance to do something different.
To do
good.
Without hesitation, Watchman plunges the obsidian spear straight into the Hollow’s skull, penetrating its mask like a knife through butter. The large blade of the black spear buries itself into the beast’s brain. Drool drips from its mouth, unable to process what had just happened, before it drops dead. Watchman, in turn, goes to check on the woman, yet the moment he goes to move, he once again…
“Are you alright-
Disappears.
“-Ma’am?”
Watchman now finds himself within a darkened alleyway. Once again he is taken off guard. He had not moved, or at least it didn’t feel like he had done anything. Instead, the sensation was as though the world changed around him. One moment he is somewhere, and the next his surroundings are entirely different. There appears to be no inbetween, the transitions from one location to the next happening instantaneously. His perception disoriented, it once again takes Watchman a moment to take in his new location. Luckily, it would seem that time has once again slowed, his senses having improved to a new level of distortion. Though he cannot move, this freezing of time allows Watchman to once again assess the context of the situation he finds himself in.
Behind him is a terrified group of children, huddled together with their backs pressed against the wall. Watchman stands as the only thing between them and yet another horrific creature. Not as large as the last one in terms of bulk, it did appear to match the thing’s imposing height. Where the last one was a powerhouse of muscle, this one is far more lanky. Its head is once again confined within a bone mask, and its hands are covered in razor sharp blades.
It is more than obvious this moral-less monster means to mince these meager minors. Just as before, Justin is reminded of his incident as a child. Whereas before he had pictured saving his mother, these children now reminded him of himself. Stabbing the spear into the softened sternum of the scourge standing before him serves as a sense of satisfaction. It is as if by saving these children from the horror of the hollow, Justin was saving his own helpless childhood self.
The spear plunges through the creature’s chest and out the otherside, showering Watchman in a rain of blood. Yet the mighty blow that he delivers does not do its duty, and fails in killing the creature right away. Within its death throes, the monster claws at Watchman, its blades bouncing harmlessly off of his white armor, causing sparks to fly in the air. Kicking into the creature with one of his legs, Justin pushes the monster off of his spear. The barbs of the Spearhead carve through the Hollow on their way out, tripling the damage dealt within its chest cavity, and causing it to drop dead. In turn, Watchman releases his spear with a thrust of his arm, launching it into the corpse like a shovel into dirt.
Watchman turns to the Children, as the blood on his armor begins to fade from existence, disappearing as though it were never splattered in the first place. Appearing brand new once again, he would seem much friendlier to the terrified children.
“A-are you a superhero sir?”
One of them manages to meagerly ask. To this, Watchman lets out a hardy laugh, before grasping the kid on the shoulder.
“That’s right Kiddo! You have nothing to fear! I am watching over you!”
Reassuring them in this way, Watchman walks over to the deceased alien, placing one foot upon its corpse like a conquering champion.
“Now, move along to someplace safe, don’t go playing in dark alleys!”
He says before he once again grasps his spear…
“Yes Sir!”
and Disappears.
So it continued for another two hours. Watchman teleporting around the city, arriving in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, just when he is needed. Saving countless lives this day, the sensors of the Gotei Thirteen, as well as the senses of the Godking known as Maximiliano, would quickly realize that the traces of Hollows within Naruki were disappearing one by one at rapid speeds, incapable of keeping up with their rate of disappearance. The end result within two hours would be utterly unfathomable. For the first time in recent memory, Naruki City would be completely free of any Hollow activity. An unknown variable, a randomly created fullbringer had single handedly reversed the rise in Hollowification within this Human District, restoring the balance for the first time since the Togabito incident. The rising threat in Hollows that loomed above the souls of Naruki was no more. Well…
…Except for one.
Imposter Syndrome
“So, mind showing me around town, Señorita Stephania?”
Maximiliano Zacarías, the Godking himself, taking human form, would finish his introduction to the Fullbringer Mistress, Stephania Shingetsu, when he would hear a sudden:
“W-
Before him, for only a fraction of a moment, Max would see a blur. To him, the instance might seem like a hallucination, a trick of the light. However, for that split second, he would see a white-figure, while Stephania would see only black.
Within that single instant, Watchman had appeared between the two, His obsidian spear pointed one inch from Stephania’s left eye. Yet, the second either of them with their incredibly enhanced senses, were able to perceive Watchman, he disappeared. The moment Max was able to process Watchman, the Hero’s position in this timeline was no longer at his most favorable odds. As such, what Max perceives to occur a few feet in front of him, is now replaced with a flash of black.
-o-
Watchman had been transported the moment he was perceived, the moment Stephania might have defended herself, or Max might have registered a threat. Instead, it was no more favorable a position for Watchman to take advantage of the disorientation his sudden appearance may have caused. His spear now points one inch from Max’s eye, rather than Stephania’s. Yet, just as this too becomes registered by Max, the mysterious figure once again disappears.
-a-
This time the brief sound comes from behind Max. The obsidian spear manifests one inch from the God King’s third vertebrae. Normally, with such astute senses that a God King might possess, Max would be able to sense the threat from behind and perhaps exert Reiatsu or otherwise turn to apprehend the assailant. This time however, the moment Max might notice the threat to deflect or destroy, it will instead disappear.
-h!”
This time, Watchman is in the passenger seat of Stephania’s car. Her head, still turned to face the Godking out her window, is utterly exposed to the tip of the blackened Armament Spear. The weapon resides one inch from the back of her cranium, exactly within a regular human’s blindspot. It is not until the sound echoes throughout the car that Stephania might have been able to register the stranger’s new location, and yet by this time, he would already be gone.
Missed Opportunities
Having lost the element of surprise, the odds of Watchman defeating either of the Race Leader’s was cataclysmically low in this exact moment in time. As such, the greatest position the spear could take, would be to disengage. However, simply removing Watchman from the threat would not serve well enough in Justin’s long term timeline. It is important for Watchman, if not to slay these creatures, as he has chosen not to in this timeline, to at least instead observe both of their faces. Therefore, the hero now manifests a safe twenty feet from the pair of peerless powerhouses within his proximity, primed for peril, as perplexed as they possibly perhaps were.
“Forgive me citizens! I hope I did not startle you. Please, have a nice day!”
He would say, once again disappearing before either of them could respond. A peculiar encounter, which raised far more questions than answers. Besides its brevity, this fateful and fearsome encounter would encase the trio on a trail of destiny’s true direction. Frighteningly, these fearsome foes were fated to fight in a final face off within their foretold futures.
