Homecoming

The five foot tall boy dragged in several things from his little trip. Some of which he thought Elayne would enjoy. Such as a white lava lamp and lightning in a bottle. A couple of snow globes and other things for her too. Including some very nice dresses. Of course, Raiden also got a lot of stuff for himself.

Since she wasn't in, he decided to take a look in town, see if he'll meet her. The boy was dressed in a blue button up, short sleeved shirt with a bright yellow vest. A cyan colored jacket and green cargo pants with black flip flops rounded his outfit. His sword was hidden on his back.

The lad soon found an area of devastation. The heterochromatic vizard was a little shocked. He didn't know a fight happened while he was gone. Looked to be a good one, though there really weren't much devastation as he would expect. Which meant his sister was involved and probably used one of her abilities to take them in that different room thing.

The dirty blond boy decided to look around...see if anyone was talking about it. Worse comes to worse, he'll ask the Coalition what happened...

Briskly traversing the streets of Karakura Town, a place which up until recently had served as a home, a young-looking girl with black hair and bright yellow eyes was on alert. She didn't look like much of a threat to anybody, standing at just over 5-and-a-half feet tall and slight of build. But there was immense power inside her, which she kept well hidden. For the girl was Gráinne Xios, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. Gráinne had received reports of a disturbance in the area, and while she could have simply dispatched Diath or one of the others to the area, her good friend Elayne was reported to be here also. So the Captain-Commander had come herself, wishing only to ensure the safety of her friends. Elayne and Raiden had been instrumental in the retaking of the Soul Society, and Gráinne owed them that, at least. So the young Shinigami pressed on.

Gráinne soon came across a section of the town in ruins. The had clearly been a spiritual incursion of sorts here, judging by the residual spiritual particles in the area. She stopped and concentrated on localizing any concentrations of Reiatsu that corresponded with a being. She locked onto one such signature, and rushed there immediately. It was a young boy, about five foot tall, dressed in a rather garish ensemble. If that didn't give away his identity, his energy signature sure did. Gráinne approached him, assuming she had been detected by him already.

"Mister Arashi? It is good to see you." Gráinne flashed a shy smile. While she had gained some self-confidence during her time as Captain-Commander, she still was not a confident speaker without Diath there. "What brings you here? Do you know what happened? And where is Elayne?"

Izuna sighed softly as she waited for Hayato to return from scouting the area for someone who needed to know what happened. He eventually did so and she walked over to the two who had arrived and started talking about the situation just as she got to them.  "Hey there." She said somewhat cheerfully as she waved at the with her left hand.her demon butler wearing his usual black tuxedo and carrying her giant sword around for her as if it was weightless. "Are you here about the two that fought a while ago??"

She brushed her hair out of her face a bit before continuing, "Someone I believe is labelled a..Vizard? and some pathetic excuse of a human from hell fought. As you can see from the ruins around us." She was obviously venomous of the ex-human from hell because they were a mockery of the Demon blood coursing through her veins, "The vizard fought valiantly and managed to send the sinner back to hell but I couldn't tell you what happened to her after that. She seemed to vanish while I was busy watching Hell's will take care of the sinner."

She shuffled a bit and Hayato brought forth a chair for her, from seemingly nowhere one would suspect, to sit in and she did so. Waiting for what the others would say about what she had just told them.

She sensed the gathering of power near the site of the battle that had taken place a few days back, and tentatively got closer to check out what exactly was going on. Despite her massive reserve of spiritual energy, Ariel had it completely hidden, not a hint of it leaking out. She approached the scene, hiding behind some rubble to watch the people there. A vizard, A shinigami and a... thing. She'd no idea that the other woman was. The red head considered what the could be discussing but that, she supposed, was obvious.

She stepped out from hiding and walked over to them casually, as if she hadn't been spying, Her zanpakuto were across her back in a cross shape. They appeared as if they were blades fully released, but since she'd reconstructed her old Zan out of spiritual energy, they merely held the form of her shikai weapons. The Red head stopped ten feet from the others, fingering a throwing knife on one of her belts. "I couldn't help but overhear, but I assume your looking for a young white haired Vizard?" She asked.

Ariel glanced at the boy, noticing similarities in his spiritual pressure to the girl she'd seen fighting. He had a... unique way of dressing too.. The shinigami, she could have looked over, if it wasn't for the distinctive yellow eyes. She'd heard rumors of the new captain commander. Was it really this girl? Not that it seemed impossible, given that size could be very very deceiving. The other woman, she didn't know what to think of. She'd never seen, heard of, or met her before.

Rai was about to go ask people when a familiar voice sounded. Turning to it, he brightened. Waving enthusiastically, he greeted the woman he currently worshipped. "Heyo!" Seeing the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 here was a surprise. She probably needed to get out of that stuffy office of her's.

Then came her questions, and the boy promptly deflated. "I literally got back just a couple of hours ago and was out looking for Elayne since she wasn't home. I don't know what happened...clearly a fight...though the lack of devastation probably means Elayne was here. Either completely obliterating her opponent or using one of her abilities so there would be less collateral damage. Have you been here long?"

He hoped she would have more information than him. Then a couple of others joined them. He nodded at her question and listened. He found it amusing that the little girl disliked Sinners so much. She seemed weak...but something about her told him not as weak as he could see. The oddly dressed boy simply nodded again, feeling...down. "Sis is no slouch...she rivals me...I hope she's ok..."

Sighing heavily, he spoke to the girl again. "Thanks for the info. I'm Raiden Arashi, The Storm of Destruction. What's your name? And what are you?" He could see whe wasn't...human...not completely? Or something? He didn't know what to make of her...

Another stepped out and poke. A red head. Vizard. A very strong one too. His small bout of depression lifted. He again nodded. "That's correct. She's my sister, Elayne Arashi. Did you see what happened to her?"

Gráinne listened closely to Raiden's response to her inquiry. She did not have enough time to fully process the information when they were joined by two others, a red-haired Vizard and a small girl. The girl's energy signature was slightly off, as if there was something else there. She was accompanied by a man wearing a butler ensemble and who was obviously subservient to her. The Vizard seemed familiar, but Gráinne couldn't put a name to her. The fact that they all gathered around this spot didn't seem coincidental. One of them had to know something. Then, sure enough, it was established that a Vizard fitting Elayne's description had been seen defeating a Sinner, before vanishing herself.

"My name is Gráinne Xios. I am... a friend of the Vizard you saw." Gráinne stopped short of informing them of her rank. She did not know who she was dealing with besides Raiden, so she continued to suppress her energy as much as she could. "Elayne is very important to me. If there is anything else you can tell me about what happened here, I would greatly appreciate it." Gráinne gazed at the strangers, trying to gauge their intentions.

People were starting to show up quickly now it seemed despite the fact the fight had occurred days before and they should have arrived here sooner. Seems this world's defenses are worse off than she originally thought and that made her sad for a moment. Something she was very bad at hiding for the split second it crossed her face, "That's all the information I have.. I am Izuna.. Izuna Meinra." The ground trembled in the area around the group just a bit, like a minor earthquake nothing too dangerous and it didn't even seem to phase her as if she was used to it, as she said her full name, "I'm a half-breed demon. A kitsune as well. Just dont' associate me with those pathetic Sinners. I'm not human. Never was."

She sniffed the air and smiled a bit as a familiar voice asked from behind her if she required anything. To answer this she merely started to sit down only for a chair to appear under her. Her butler had arrived and she was now in a much better mood. The tall Caucasian male wore the usual black butler uniform. "Don't mind him he's my friendly faithful Butler Hayato." She said just to make mention of him, which he also did a small bow at the mention of himself, before listening to the rest of the others speak. "I'm sorry but it seems to me you all should have been ontop of this a couple of days ago..? Why did it take so long for this gathering to occur? I'm still new to this era so I wasn't even sure what to do about this incident other than wait for someone to come looking for one of the fighters. so you can't blame me."

Ariel was surprised by the captain commanders words... She hadn't expected a member of the gotei, let alone the strongest member in it to give a crap about what happened to a vizard. The new world kept surprising her, she just hoped if the girl figured out who Ariel was, she'd leave her alone. She looked at the little boy and answered his question.

"I see. I came to join the endless, and noticed the fight. When I arrived, she had just blocked a massive attack aimed at the city and then dragged the guy into a different dimension, before I could help her. When they came back he was dragged to hell, and she had gone full hollow. She looked badly injured. I though she was going to start attacking the city, and I was about to try and grab her and help her when she fell through A Gargantua. After that there wasn't much I could do but wait till someone came looking."

She looked at the low reiatsu lady, and spoke. "In my case, no one came looking so I didn't investigate. The endless place was deserted so I stuck around and waited for a vizard to show up or the white haired girl to come back." she looked back at raiden. "I know this might not be the right time, but I'd like to join the endless. I will help you find your sister though, how we get to hueco mundo though, I don't know."

Well, that was on mystery solved. It was good that Rai didn't need to poke and prod the unusual lady. The red-head saw quite a bit more, even stating why she was here in the first place. "I just got back a couple of hours ago. Can't help when I'm not here. Anyway, nice to see another vizard that's interested in joining us. It's been just me and sis for a long time. Why don't we head on back and have tea or something?"

The oddly dressed boy led the way to their base, talking while walking. "There's only so many ways to enter Hueco Mundo. Full hollow form is possible, but even I, someone who has harmonized with his inner hollow, can't completely control it. At best, it recognizes sis as family and won't attack her unless she attacks me. Otherwise, when or if the Gotei gets thier scientific division back up, they could get us there. Otherwise, we'd have to kidnap a poor hollow or arrancar to get there. I'm sure she's ok though...like I said, she rivals me."

Perhaps it was some arrogance for what he said. He loved to fight, and he was good at it. And his sis was every bit as strong as he was. Unfortunately or fortunately, she was softer than he was.

He decided to strike up a conversation with Izuna next. "You clearly don't like Sinners. I don't mean any offense, but what's the difference between you two? And what about you is so decieving?" He knew a thing or two about folklore. It doesn't take much to hold his interest to something. It's mostly staying with it that's the problem. Still, he was curious about her.

Gráinne stroked her chin at the question Izuna posed. "We were distracted. We are still rebuilding our home and so our intelligence network is not what it used to be. Though it is strange that there has been no Coalition presence in the area yet." The young Captain-Commander swished her hair thoughtfully. If Elayne was somehow trapped in Hueco Mundo, Gráinne needed a way to get there and save her. She pondered on this for a moment. There were always possibilities. Deep in thought, she almost didn't hear the invitation for tea from Raiden. "Hmm? Oh yes, thank you." Gráinne followed them to the base of the Kishimasuku, not hearing the conversation occurring between Raiden and the others.

Once there, Gráinne accepted the tea from Raiden. "Thank you." She was still pondering the problem of getting to Hueco Mundo. While she had seen firsthand the power Elayne possessed, she still worried about her being trapped in the realm of Hollow. A memory tickled the back of Gráinne's brain. "Captain Reinhart mentioned before that he had encountered an Arrancar that was different. She was the daughter of Arngrim Wolfcloak. He said that she did not hunt and consume the souls of the living, as Arrancar typically do. In fact she helps people. That is an option."

She listened to what people had to say and then turned to the young man who had asked what she was. Well..there wasn't any harm in telling she supposed considering the recent events with that coalition member Alistair, "I don't see any harm in answering that question, I'm a half-breed a demon with Kitsune blood. A sinner is a human who was so evil that Hell claimed them instead of them being allowed into Soul Society..and you've probably seen how "evil" they can get from a certain perspective."

She paused a moment and took a breather. "To further the answer though.. I was born of Hell's Will. Sinner's are captured by it. Hell sees me as part of itself not a prisoner and despite the common human belief concerning hell it isn't good nor evil..it merely is. Just like demons are good nor evil. Though they can be either. They generally do whatever suits their needs at the time."

She giggled softly and twirled a bit of her hair with one finger while remaining in the chair Hayato had brought her, "As for myself. I am considered good though I won't do something that is against what I want either... so I guess I'm like a neutral good person. I'm more likely to play nice than not."

She looked at the others as they spoke of the Coalition not appearing as they were expected to, "Well I don't know how to contact the Coalition yet as I'm not officially a member.. paper work and all hasn't finished and what not. So I couldn't call them to tell them this all happened when it happened instead of waiting for someone to show up investigating."

Grainne had something to say about why she wasn't Available to check out the fight. Ariel chose not to respond, she'd been there when the gotei took back their home, and hadn't stuck around to see them win. Regardless it was no surprise they were still recovering from it. Ariel shrugged when raiden spoke. "Thats fine, I didn't have anywhere else to be so Sticking around and waiting for someone to come back wasn't a problem. It took me long enough to decide to Join you, leaving now would be pointless." She said. then she nodded when Raiden talked about getting into hueco Mundo.

"Thats understandable, I'm closer to my inner hollow than most vizard care to admit, and I can't control the state either. That option is inadvisable. Kidnapping a hollow is possible but they're just as likely to attack us as help us. An arrancar would be better." She said. She followed the others back at the offer of tea, though she still wasn't sure if she was fond of the stuff. Accepted it and listened to them talk, showing great interest in the fox demon's words about sinners. She had only seen the one, and she didn't like them already. Not that she was much better.

"Why are there so few vizards?" She asked Raiden. She knew the gotei didn't execute them or even hunt them any more, she was surprised there wasn't more here. She listened when Grainne spoke about Captain Reinhart, a man Ariel had met a while back when she saved one of his underlings from a Vasto Lorde, though she didn't mention this. "That's as good an idea as any, but how do we find this arrancar? it would be faster to catch one, no?"

Rai looked shocked about the news Grainne brought. He didn't even consider the Coalition either. It was nice to know the difference between the two. He had led them all into the place and into the general den, fixing up tea quick and handed them all a cup. "Sorry if my tea isn't very good, I'm not usually the one making it..." He pondered what was said.

"The Coalition has a hotline for tips and sites of battles. Major ones like this one it wouldn't surprise me if they already dispatched someone...but it must be fairly high up if they're not here yet. Anyways, my vote would be the arrancar one, though the issue would be finding her."

Turning to Miss Ginger, he answered her question about other vizard. "Some either never joined, prefering to go at it by themselves, or joined, but disappeared. I tried looking for a few of them, but with no luck. I've been here a long time, literally the senior member slash impromptu leader right now. Until someone stronger shows up and takes the spot. Hell, I wouldn't even fight for it...I'm not much of a leader...just a fighter. If you need something destroyed, you call me in. Hence my little title of Storm of Destruction..."

He sipped his tea. It was better than he thought it was, but still can't hold up against Elayne's. If there was no real answer to how to find the arrancar lady, Rai knew what he wanted to do. Test the new chick.

Gráinne looked around at the others with a mixture of emotions. She was unsure what to think of the Kitsune. She seemed to be a reasonable sort, and she was apparently joining the Coalition, so at least there seemed to be no danger there yet. The red-haired Vizard was a mystery. She had not given her name, whether intentional or not remained to be seen. But there was a familiarity about her, as if Gráinne had seen her in files or something. With Raiden though, she felt incredulity at his lack of concern for his sister's safety. He seemed to just dismiss Hueco Mundo as simply an unfortunate detour, rather than the death-trap it really was. She decided she had to do something. She finished her tea, took a deep breath, and stood up.

"Mister Arashi, I am not trying to be intentionally rude, but I'm afraid I must go. While you seem confident enough in your sister's safety, I do not share your misplaced optimism. In case you have forgotten, there are bigger threats in Hueco Mundo than simple Menos. I am going to New York to meet with Kai Allard-Liao. They will be our best bet to find a "good" Arrancar. I will keep you updated on my findings. Thank you for the tea." She turned to the others. "I am sorry I didn't get to make a better acquaintance with you all, but time is of the essence. I am sure I will see you all again. Farewell."

The young Captain-Commander then Shunpo'd out through the wall, heading for New York.

Izuna graciously accepted some tea and drank it having been carried, in her chair no less, to the base and room where Raiden and Co. were now at, She was about to speak to Grainne about having patience and thinking things through a bit more but before she could get the words out the Shinigami had already left the building, "Well she's certainly fired up to find one little vizard.. no offense intended but shouldn't she be far busier with more important things right now?" She listened intently to raiden and the vizard talk to came to an understanding about vizards being rare. She didn't know that. Now she did.. then suddenly something unexpected happened.

Kerthunk.

Someone had apparently ran into the door outside the room, "tatata..ow.. I was running too fast again.." Someone then proceeded to kick the door in and jump huggle Raiden out of the blue like they owned the place, and him apparently, "RAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII" Rena shouted happily as she hugged her old friend to a comedic strangling point, even though she lacked the power to actually do such a thing, before putting him down.

"How ya been buddy? It's been a long time! I came to check for you and the others here a few times but it's always so empty! Then I spotted you earlier today after freaking out about some weird earthquake and tracing it's origin!" She patted his back happily multiple times and laughed heartily, "So where is everyone? How's your sis? How are you? Whats with the weird fox chick and the ginger?"

She calmed down a bit at this point and grinned as she looked over the room and waited for a reply.

What she would get would probably not be what she was expecting either. Last thing most people knew she was dead. She had forgotten about that.

She listened to Rai, nodding. Ariel watched Grainne explain her intentions, then without a second though, she went through the wall and vanished. Ariel was mildly perplexed. How did a Shinigami of such authority care so much about a Vizard? It was.. Different, and nice. Ariel turned to the fox lady and shrugged. "Maybe the girl means something to her. I guess its not that strange anymore." There was a bang, as something hit the door. Ariel reached for a sword as a woman burst into the room and tackled Raiden.

It took her a second to realise they were play fighting, and her hand dropped from her sword. The woman spoke excitedly, then questioned who they were. "I am not a ginger." She snapped in reply. "My hair is a rich red, not orange." Arial instinctively dropped her spiritual energy, a good deal while she spoke, in case it had an ill effect on the human who'd arrived.

Rai was...confused. Did the captain commander not think highly of them? Elayne wasn't stupid, she'd never cross fists with the Arrancar King. "It's like Elayne would ever cross swords with the Arrancar King...she's not stupid...I think she's worrying too much, maybe the stress of rebuilding getting to her..." Rai was also worried too, but clearly not to the extent Grainne was.

Then there was some noise. He looked just in time to be tackled by a rather excited Rena. Which promptly scared the every loving shit out of him. He was frozen in shock. After she was done fussing, the boy just looked at her. When he found his voice, he practically croaked things out. "RENA! I thought you were dead! What HAPPENED TO YOU!? YOU WERE SO STRONG AND POWERFUL AND AWESOME AND NOW YOUR POWER IS GONE AND YOUR WEAK...BUT YOU'RE STILL AWESOME!?"

Yeah...he was absolutely shocked...he didn't know what to make of her sudden race and power change. It was...odd...strange...and he was SAD!

"Well let's see you piss off the Soul King and walk away from it." She muttered a bit hotly as he reminded her of her old power, "I wasn't really dead though. For a while I was two separate people but I fixed that and then this happened.. Guess loop holes aren't allowed when you are becoming a threat to reality. Which was weird but eh whatever."

She ran a hand through her hair and chuckled a bit, "I'm all natural human now though. No powers. Nothing. I still have all my martial arts abilities but that's more mental and bodily training than spiritual..so.. I figured he just couldn't remove that from me too."

She looked as Ariel corrected her with a hint of anger and she chuckled, "Sorry didn't mean to offend." She then turned back to Raiden and finished speaking, "At least it means I don't have to worry about being killed by an average human."

~~~~~~~~~~

"That certainly seems like lots of trouble was thrown your way" Izuna said as she had listened to the entire conversation, "That must be rough. Luckily I don't answer to the Soul King so I won't have to worry about that. Demon blood and all."

That got her a look from Rena having mentioned demon blood but it was quickly dismissed as she figured Izuna couldn't be evil and be in Raiden's presence at the same time or things would not be this jovial, "Apologies I didn't mean to upset you. By the way.. I'm Izuna Meinra." The ground shook a bit as her name was said, "But it's best to just call me Izuna." The ground did nothing that time, "See what I mean?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rena fell on her rump as the ground shook and she glared at Izuna before nodding, "I do see what you mean. Anyways Raiden where is everyone?" she asked while standing up and brushing off her cloths a bit for good measure, "Like I said the Kishi's been empty the other time's I've visited looking for someone to talk to."

Ariel shrugged. "Ah.. No offense taken. I'm just a bit defensive when it comes to my hair." She was infact defensive about most things. She didn't have much of a social life, sealed away in her own mind for 400 odd years. "Your sister might be smart enough to stay away from the hollow king. I don't know much about this Arrancar, but I've heard he's not fond of our kind. I did my research, just in case our paths ever crossed. My point is, if your sister is detected, he might go looking for her. Or send some of his... Swords?... After her."

Ariel listened to Izuna and rena chat and looked at the fox, raising an eyebrow slightly when the ground shook. Again. She looked at Rena then. "So, you weren't always human? what were you before, might I ask?" She asked.

Rai blinked a couple times at Rena's explaination. "Wow..." He really wasn't expecting that. It was good that she can still defend herself from an average human. "What about a hollow? Could you still defend yourself from one if it decided to try to take a bite out of you?" It was then the ginger spoke up, getting Rai's attention.

"Possibly...but the strongest of his Espada would be around our level, so the fight would be a tough one for both people. She has pretty good spiritual control too, so it's not like she can't hide. Even in the sand." Why can't anyone see that she can take care of herself? He was getting annoyed. Luckily, Rena spoke up again, as did the ginger.

"To expand on that, everyone else disappeared. Like, without a trace. I tried to find them, but I got nothing...it's gonna be lonely unless miss rich red joins us. Which you still haven't given a name yet..." He'll let Rena answer what she was before now. But it was curious that the other vizard haven't even introduced themselves...

"well this was certainly a lovely chat but I must be going. I need to check in with the Coalition and see if I am a member yet." Izuna said as she sat up and handed her tea cup to Hayato who seemingly cleaned it on the spot with a rag and handed it back to Raiden who had produced the cup originally, "I'll have to keep you vizards in mind if I run into trouble. You may be few in number but you are a powerful bunch."

With that she turned and left the building. The proper way.

~Izuna exit~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I used to be a vizard. Like you." (OOC- But then I took an arrow to the knee! xDDDD Couldn't help it. Continuing on) She said to answer the red head who was curious about Rena's current predicament, "I was extremely powerful as vizards go as well." She sighed softly at Raiden's next question, "I doubt it. If it's your every day weak garden variety hollow I can probably manage.. But anything stronger than that and I'm most likely going to die. Right now I'm so weak that if you went to full power Raiden I'd have issues breathing. Let alone staying standing. and thats just from you powering up no less!"

She flicked a hand through her hair, "I just spend my days training newbies and teaching spiritually aware people things that may save their lives. I have no idea when I'll die anymore so I have to be careful if I want to live." she thought for a moment, "If I could somehow forcefully keep my memories intact I'd almost think about becoming a hollow just to regain power.. but thats too risky and I could go darkside if I lost my memories.. So I try to avoid that situation."

"I don't doubt you or your little sister's power Raiden, I'm just trying to help you see why her friend might be so worried." She said. She smirked when he called her Rich Red. It was better than Ginger any day. And then the topic she'd been avoiding the longest came up. She'd been hoping to learn more about his allegiance to the gotei before introducing herself properly, since she didn't know how well he would react to an escaped maggot attempting to join the endless. There was also the possibility that he wouldn't have a clue who she was, or that he would even care. Hopefully the latter was the case, because she didn't want to go searching for another place to call home.

With a sigh, she spoke. She could have lied but that could potentially back fire just as badly so she told most of the truth. "My name is Ariel Venesha." She said, and then quickly tried to change the subject by responding to Rena. "Oh, you were a Vizard? I see. How did you manage to be come human? Usually reversing death is quite impossible." She said.

The fox lady left to check if she's been accepted yet. The boy snickered at the beginning of Rena's monologue. Even mumbling the age old meme. "Until you took an arrow to the knee..." If he got any looks from that, he'll explain. "Character from an old video game...it's something of a famous meme that's still in use..." Really, it was kinda funny how long these things stay. Still, it was sad that she had lost her powers. As loyal as he is to the Gotei and the Soul King, he was still sad to see his friend in such a state.

He shrugged noncommittedly at the "rich red". As she finally introduced herself. Luckily for the other vizard, Rai had no idea who she was. He was curious about that question as well. Though he would understand if it was a bit of a touchy subject. "Of course, if that's a touchy subject, you don't have to tell us. I would help you get some powers and ability back...but with my philosophy on sparring matches and the huge difference, that would not be a good idea..."

"It's not a touchy subject. It's a pretty much a short story anyways.." Rena sighed a bit and rubbed the back of her head, "Apparently I had become so strong that I was starting to effect space around me just for being me. This was causing damaging ripple effects across the realms and forced the Soul King to zap me." She grinned a bit and just chuckled, "I didn't like that idea since at the time I didn't know why I was being targeted. So through force of will I managed to stay alive but got split into two people in the process. It took some time but I managed to find my other half and return to normal. Which obviously angered the Soul King further because he had intended for me to remain weakened."

She laughed a bit, "So he zapped me again. This time reducing me to a state where I could not gain powers or raise my own strength past the normal human limit. Killing me wouldn't exactly be fair to me since I didn't do anything purposely harmful so he let me live as this human girl you see before you."

She looked up a bit in thought and continued, "I plan to ask the Coalition for help in at least keeping me in the fight against Evil.. but I don't expect them to be able to do much more than give me a weapon that doesn't need me to be super powerful to use."

She then looked at Raiden, "So it looks like I won't be able to give you that rematch after all RaiRai. Sorry." now looking at Ariel, "Does that answer you? It isn't so much that I reverted myself. It is that I was forced into this state by the almighty ruler of Souls."

A couple of buildings away, a man suddenly appeared on top of a building. He was wearing an extremely customized, samurai-like outfit. He had a black coat on over his shoulders, with his arms not in the sleeves. His long hair was tied into a ponytail, but he left the bangs as they usually were, hanging to the sides of his face. He de-activated his Eye, turning them back to their usual blue color.

Parius sighed. He hadn't been up to visit any of his old Vizard friends in a while. The last time they were together, him, Elayne, and Raiden were helping the Gotei out. But, ever since he dissolved the Vanguard, he hadn't even talked to the two. Parius looked at the Endless HQ, and shrugged. He flared his power out, very quickly. Anyone who knew him would pick it up right away. He jumped down to street level, and began his walk over, itching his eyes.