Preparation

[Akiyamasan]

Soul Society has always been a bustling place, and today is no exception within the seireitei. Since a meeting was called for captains and lieutenants, the soldiers mull about soul society performing their duties for the day in a hectic manner. This is especially true at the Squad three barracks.

It's okay everybody, I'll only be gone for a little while. If I get back soon enough, I'll help you all with your duties too. The lieutenant of squad three smiles at her subordinates within the barracks who seem to be plotting how best to avoid work. Her words seem to have encouraged her squad a little, as she notices that several of them bow and begin to get to their duties. One of the soldiers in the corner whispers something in his friends' ear after the lieutenant spoke and the two start laughing heartily. I heard you two, you know. I appreciate you calling me hot, though I can do without the "chick" part. Anyways, off to work with you two, when I get back I'll take care of everything. Can somebody find the captain for me and make sure he got the hell butterfly? Thanks! With that, the lieutenant begins to exit the barracks. At the door, she encounters one of the squad members, who bows politely and wishes her a happy day. H-have a good day lieutenant Akiyama... Hitomi looks at this young girl and smiles before bowing out and going to the meeting hall as she was called to arrive at.

Hitomi soon arrives at the Squad One barracks, and bows toward the door guard, who lets her inside. When she steps inside, she notices that hardly anybody has arrived yet, especially not her captain. She sighs a little and smiles gently as she takes her position in the meeting hall and awaits the arrival of other people so that they may begin their discussion. She then muses to herself about the situation (The reports spoke of an arrancar attack that was going to happen soon. I wonder how Commander Stelevein is going to deal with them. Especially if we come up against Espada, the last time there was an Espada attack it took the entirety of Soul Society to fend them off....) Her mind returns to focus after her musing, and she waits patiently for the rest of the captains and lieutenants to arrive so that the meeting may begin.

[Kiba Nakamura]

Kiba steps into his barracks after taking a walk, only to have his squad in position, saluting him. With a nod of approval, Kiba begins walking towards his squad members, when he hears a Hell Butterfly enter the room behind him. He turns to face the Hell Butterfly, extending his finger to let it land lightly on top of it, he listens to the meeting announcement. He turns to face his squad.

"I have a meeting to attend to." He says as the squad all salute him, "Yes sir!" They all say in unison as he steps out the door. While he was in there, he was also looking for his Leiutenant, Kenji. Having not seen him, he continues to make his way to the Squad 1 Barracks, trusting that Kenji would also receive the announcement and meet him there.

Kiba arrives at the Gate to the Barracks, surprised to not hear any conversations going on inside, he assumes he must be early. He turns to face a guard at the gate, as the guard quickly nods and opens the gate for him, he turns to face the gate once again, stepping inside he is suprised to see that Lieutenant Akiyama is the only one in the room. With a nod of respect to the Lieutenant of Squad 3, he walks over to his position in the room, standing quietly as he waits for the others to arrive.

[Rin Akisame]

The captain of squad six was not in a great mood. Not only had she found some of the squad members goofing off and creating loud noises already, the night owl was not happy to be awake during the day. After becoming agitated and yelling at the members that weren't doing their duties, Rin heard a hell butterfly behind her. Turning around and little the messenger to land on her open palm, she listened.

The girl sighed and shook her head. She was hoping to get whatever she needed to do done so she could retire to her room and sleep till the night came. But it looked like that wasn't going to happen... Rin only hoped that would be a quick one.

Leaving her squad's barracks, the captain, who grabbed a small bottle of sake, headed off to squad one's barracks. Her long black hair was up in her usual manner, and she wore her usual outfit, along with what ever else the captain needed to wear as well, captain.

Being let in by the guard, the girl slipped in to the gates as quickly possible. Looking around she saw the captain of squad two, as well as the lieutenant of squad three. Nodding to both of them, Rin stood in her position and waited like the rest, sighing and rubbing her eyes with the sake bottle still in her hands.

Rin was not going to go any where unprepared for battle...

[Hibiki Shimizu]

The Squad 8 barracks was particularly active this day, its various members hastily completing the numerous tasks that the Captain had set for them that day. As the many subordinates below hustled and ran about, a few stories above, the Captain of the 8th division meditated quietly.

Hibiki sat in a meditative state, in the highest room of his officer's quarters - about four stories tall - as the single window of the room illuminated a small space in front of the man. The Captain sat, his various zanpakutou placed before him in an orderly fashion, with the blades closest to him, a fifth sword resting across his crossed legs. A Hell butterfly gently glided into the room, through the open window, and flew over to the entranced Captain. The butterfly anxiously flapped its wings in front of the meditative man, relaying its message, to no avail, as it considered gliding down to perch on one of the many swords laid in the room. It unexpectedly decided against its own judgement and continued on its way back to its place of origin. As the butterfly exited through the window whence it came, Hibiki gradually opened his eyes, exhaling deeply.

"Hmm," the Squad 8 Captain silently pondered, "What business would call for such a meeting?" The Captain finished his meditation quickly and accurately, then continued to pick up his swords and place them in their respective scabbards on his waist. Slowly, the 8th Captain rose, exhaling deeply once more.

Within the next few minutes, Captain Shimizu arrived at the Squad 1 barracks, noting the giant insignia on the door. As the Captain entered the barracks, he greeted the door guard accordingly and continued into the meeting chamber, the door closing behind him. He noticed both the Squad 6 and Squad 2 captains had already arrived, as well as the Squad 3 lieutenant. He dramatically bowed in respect to his fellows, taking his position among the hall, beginning to silently meditate once more before the meeting would begin...

[Sieghart Rayvnl]

"Bah! Dammit come back here!" It was a busy day in the seireitei and the vice captain of squad 1, Sieghart Rayvnl, was chasing after a thief. This was no ordinary thief however and was quickly distancing himself from Sieghart. He was weaving through the busy street full of people as fast as he could but the little guy just kept gaining distance on him. "I swear if you don't stop right now, i'm... i'm gonna," but as Sieg was yelling he took a step off a curb and tripped face first into the dirt, only then to be trampled on by the busy people traversing the walkway. When the dust cleared Sieghart lifted himself up and spat out a mouthful of dirt, "Paah, really? Just my luck," he then got up and dusted himself off looking around for the thief.

As he was looking around he noticed a hell butterfly flying towards him. He reached out his hand to have the messenger land on his out stretched finger tip. "A meeting... really? A meeting at a time like this, gah i have the worst luck!" As the butterfly flew away Sieghart began hobbling towards his barracks, one shoe on and one shoe off. Upon coming up to the squad 1 barracks outer gate Sieghart noticed out of the corner of his eye the thief just sitting there all smug watching him. "You! Come here, give me back my shoe!" Sieghart completely forgot about the meeting taking place just inside the door and took off after the thief once more. Rounding a corner Sieghart noticed the thief had taken to the roof tops and decided to follow him. Jumping from roof to roof Sieghart began to gain on the thief. Just then Sieghart's luck changed the thief dived into an alley that came up to a dead end. Taking his chance Sieghart leapt forward diving for the alley, but just before he landed he noticed that the ground was unusually covered in a slick slime. "What the hell!? Oh damn this must be the run off drain!" But it was already too late for the vice captain, he landed and unfortunately slipped, sliding feet first into the dead end and crashing to an abrupt halt.

Laying there wondering how this day was going to get any worse the answer fell on his chest. Looking down an nice dropping of bird crap was settling in the middle of his chest while the thief ever so gracefully flew over him. "You stupid bird!! Give me back my shoe!" Popping up onto his feet Sieghart slipped and slid his way back down the alley covered in mud, slime, and a nice coat of bird droppings. "I'm going to freaking kill you!" Chasing after the little brown bird who had stolen his shoe had become one of his most challenging adventures ever, but it was time for it to end. "Watch out birdy, i'm coming!" Sieghart shunpo'ed catching the bird in his right hand and and grabbed his shoe from the little brown pest. "Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass you've been! Really look at me, look at me! I'm a mess. I ought to cook you up for a mid after-noon snack! Ouch! Stupid bird!" As Sieghart had been ranting on and on the little brown pest pecked his finger drawing blood causing Sieghart to release him and giving him the chance to fly away. Sieghart sighed after the little bird and started the long, agonizing walk back to the squad 1 barracks.

A few minutes later Sieghart loudly burst into the meeting room covered in filth and continued abruptly across the room to get to his private office leaving a nice trail of mud on the floor. Once entering his room he quickly stripped down and replaced his clothes with fresh ones and cleaned himself up a bit. After doing this Sieghart re-entered the meeting room nodding to the captains and vice captian Hitomi as he sat down next to his captains chair. Pouring himself a huge glass of sake he noticed that everyone was staring at him. "A bird stole my shoe," and as if that explained everything, he went back to his sake.

[kaithehawk]

"Mmmn.. macroscopic.. quantum realm.. the super.. conductivity of the....mmmn, harmonic oscillator... sub dimensional rift.. mmmn cake." Kai rolled over in his sleep stretching out on his burrow like bed. His bed, a padded hollow high up in the wall of his office/room, was designed for maximum seclusion and ultimate comfort, not to mention it was a pain in the ass for anyone to climb up to him and wake him up. "Theory of... Relative motion... strawberry.. white chocolate strawberry... mmmn cake... y= In(x to the second minus 1) to the negative second power all over pie relative to 4." As he continued to mumble in his sleep Kai rolled over slipping from his hollow and falling several feet to land on the floor. "AH! What the hell! Oh... well damn I fell... I guess its time to get up anyways." Standing up and dusting off his lounging clothes Kai walked to his desk to work on his latest copy of the Communication Magazine. Sitting down in his over stuffed arm chair Kai noticed that his vice captain had already placed the newest news on his desk. "What a wonderful subordinate always on top of whats going on. Speaking of which I wonder where they went?"

Just as he finished asking the question a hell butterfly fluttered into his office and landed on his hand. "A meeting, I wonder what for." Standing from his desk Kai walked over to wear his normal soul reaper attire was folded neatly next to his hanging captain's robe. Kai started to reach for his clothes but decided it wasn't worth having to change clothes so instead he just through his captain's cloak over his sleeping clothes and picked up his zanpakutou from its holder on his desk. "Kai you are unbelievably lazy. Why do you insist on embarrassing me." Taka spoke in Kai's mind criticizing him for not bothering to change into the standard attire. "Cause there is no point Taka, i'm just going to end up falling asleep once i get there." Kai strapped on his zanpakutou and began to stroll out his office walking down the halls and waving to his subordinates as he passed. "We thinks we should nots even bother goings to this silly meeting." Hidora spoke up in Kai's mind putting in its two cents. "Will you guys shut it, right now i honestly don't care about what ya'll think so please go back to trying to kill each other."

Walking out of his barracks Kai noticed that he had also left his shoes in his room, but he shrugged it off liking to walk barefoot better anyways. He then shunpo'ed across the city until he reached squad 1's barracks. Nodding to the gate guard he walked into the meeting room and stood in front of the captains who were now staring at him in his sleeping clothes, captain's cloak and no shoes. "What? I just woke up." He said addressing the room and walked over to sit by the captain of squad 8. Before he got there however he stepped in a trail of mud and guck. With out saying a word Kai lifted his foot awkwardly and stared at vice captain Sieghart. With a look of exasperation Kai wiped his foot on a rug and went to sit at his place around the meeting chamber. With in minutes he had passed out and was leaning and drooling on the meditating captain of squad 8. "Time... relevant... quantum mechanics..... mmmmn strawberry cake."

[Kimyona Fugawarina]

Nathan was half passed out as he lied on one of his research desks ignoring the hell butterfly that kept trying to land on his hand to inform him of the captains meeting, but could not.

Moments later a squad member of his walked into his lab. The young woman walked over to her captain and nudged him gently on the shoulder to wake him and spoke. "S-sir I've over herd some of the people from the other squads and it seems theres a meeting you need to attend." The captain doesn't move for awhile and woman moves to nudge him again, but before she can the captain slams his hands on the desk and spins on his cchair to face the woman and speaks energetically "YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!! I GUESS I"LL HEAD OUT NOW!" He jumped out of the chair making the woman step back a few feet.

The captain bolts out of lab leaving behind a small box, he then leaves another in the southern part of his barracks,where most of the squad members linger. He continues dashing to the squad one barracks when he pulls a small messaging device from his pocket. He begins to speak nonchalantly into it and he is herd from the two boxes he left in his barracks. "Attention my squad. I require eight, and no less, squad members to watch over the lab. Those eight most make sure nothing in the lab gets loose, and to stay out of my specimen room please and thank you. I also require all squad members to do there usual work no brakes, I have let you guys take it easy for the last three weeks since I had been so busy, but today I require you to work. That is all "

He puts away the device noting that he has arrived at the squad one barracks. Nathan waves to the guardsmen and enters. He sees that the captains from squads two, six, eight, and nine and the lieutenant of squads 3 and 1 had arrived, though it took him a few moments to remember who they were. For three weeks he had kept out of contact from everyone except those within his squad.

He walked over next to the captain of squad nine and watched him he then walked over to a window and lied down letting the suns rays beam down on him waiting for others to arrive.

[Captain Stelevein]

As all the captains arrive, Stelevein enters the room through the door in the back, which leads from his quarters. He looks around the room to see that the guests who would arrive have all arrived in good time. He clears his throat and begins to speak.

"Good, enough of you are here for me to start the meeting! Now, I'm sure you're all aware of the increasing number of Hollow attacks that have been occuring in the Human World lately. The way they haven't been using their abilities to cause any significant harm in the human world has been quite curious for quite some time now. On top of that, whenever Shinigami or Vizard appear in the area, the hollow seem to run away." Stelevein then turns around so that his back is facing the assembled Captains.

"I have never seen and arrancar or hollow run from a shinigami which just arouses my suspicion. I have a feeling that they are planning something big, though it is yet unclear what that plan is. As for why I have called you all here, it is quite simple, I need one of you to lead his squad to hueco mundo and find out what their plan is, and also attempt to slow it down. They have yet to recieve word of, but I fear it won't be long until they find out we're heading to hueco mundo. I'll be leaving all the other squads here to defend the Soul Society, or quickly act to protect the human world in the meantime. All I need is a volunteer to go into Hueco Mundo and spy on the Arrancar."

Stelevein then turns around, waiting for someone to volunteer for the task.

[Akiyamasan]

Hitomi listens intently to the captain commander for a period of time, and then raises her hand and begins to speak. Commander, sir. I would be glad to volunteer myself to go along with whichever captain decides to partake in this mission. I cannot say that I will be all of that much assistance, but I know some powerful healing Kido, and I feel that I would be better used in the advance party as opposed to defense. She sighs, and places her hand back down, cupping it with her other hand. She looks around the room at the other captains, hoping what she said wasn't offensive in any manner.

I-I uh, I don't mean to be an upstart or anything, and I understand that this mission is a little important for a lieutenant, but... I want to help out however I can, I owe it to the Seireitei for all the wonderful things it's done for me. She smiles meekly, before stepping backward and placing her hands behind her back and falling silent, hoping a captain would soon volunteer.

[Shintaro Takayama]

Shintaro shuffled through various papers on his desk, where it looked like a storm had just gone through and whipped up everything in his office. Most of it was reports on various events that have happened to occur with the Soul Society, while others were just reminders on what he had to do today. "So lets see, Evaluation reports.......Human world reports......Captain's meeting.......Missions.....Wait." Shintaro shuffled back through the paper that made him jump. "Oh crap, Was that today?" Shintaro got up quickly, topping over his chair and trash can and slammed his door, passing his subordinates. "Sorry can't talk, Captain meeting right now."

He arrived in front of the barracks of squad One, trying to catch his breath, forgetting the fact that he could have used Shunpo. He straighten his jacket before entering the room. It seemed that the Captain Commander has said something just before he had entered, as the room was silent. He sat in a nearby chair as he quietly whispered sorry to the whole room.

[Kiba Nakamura]

Kiba thought quietly about the proposal in the room. After some time, he had decided he may be the one to best suit the job, after having thought through each and every captain. With the Lieutenant of Squad 3 volunteered as assistance, Kiba was slightly relieved to know, if he got the position of recon, he would have assistance.

Kiba was about to step forward when a late captain entered the room, mumbling apologies as he went to his position. With a light sigh, Kiba steps forward.

"I volunteer myself, as well as Lieutenant Akiyama, to go to Hueco Mundo for the position." Kiba says, loudly and clearly as to break the silence in the room. Having said this, he politely waits to see if anybody else would try and volunteer, or what the Head-Captain would decide.

[Rin Akisame]

Rin bit her thumb nail as she listened to all this. She sighed and shook her head. She was thinking now. If there was something going on, and they where planning something just as the captain commander said. If this was true then.... wouldn't it be unwise to send a captain and a few other people to go check? If they would be alerted, wouldn't they come attack SS then? They would be one captain down, and several people as well that would be best. She didn't doubt anybodies power, but if the arrancars had some kind of big weapon they plan to use, Rin didn't want to take chances....

But Rin couldn't lie if she was asked to go that she wanted to. She wanted to find out what was happening, and take out many of the foes as possible. But protecting SS and the human world was the best thing they could do, if not the only..

Standing up, Rin looked over at Akiyama and Kiba, then looked over at the captain commander, then at ever one else. "Don't get me wrong when i say this..." she looked back at the commander. "But wouldn't it be best if we keep every one here... I'm not underestimating every one's abilities here, nor meaning to overestimate our foe, but if they do have something, a weapon, that they can use against us, shouldn't we have every one here? If they are alerted we entered their territory, they might head their way directly here, and the people there might not arrive on time to help the rest of us..."

Rin shook her head, her eyes closing. Taking a deep breath she opened them to look at the commander again. "Couldn't we ask some of the Vizards to go look? Or at least ask them to come here and help us while some of our people are away? I would go my self, but...I'm put in a difficult position. I want to go... to go look, but... I rather stay here and make sure that protection is secured here."

[Captain Stelevein]

Stelevein is pleased when a lieutenant and the Squad 2 captain volunteer for his task, as well as the Squad 10 captain making his late appearance. With the leader of the stealth squad manning the investigation, chances of being detected during a scouting mission are low. Stelevein nods to himself, as he likes how things have shaped up. When Captain Akisame speaks, Stelevein listens to her worries intently, and strides over to her and places his hand on her shoulder. He gives her a reassuring smile, as he thought of this ahead of time.

"Well, your concerns are quite valid, but one captain and two lieutenants being gone aren't going to reduce our defenses so easily. Besides, this mission does not entail a large-scale battle against Hueco Mundo. We need to know if they have some kind of superweapon, and we most certainly need to know what they're planning. Which is why Captain Nakamura, the leader of the Stealth Forces is the best choice for this mission." Stelevein releases his hand from her shoulder and strolls back to his previous position.

"I just ask that you have faith. If the chances are that we get detected and they mount and offensive, we must simply respond, yes? We were all trained for this sort of contingency, if you doubt your abilities we've already lost." Stelevein turns his back to the assembled captains as he says that, and continues to speak, giving his last orders. "So as it stands, Captain Nakamura, grab your lieutenant and prepare to travel into Hueco Mundo. Captain Cantu will open a gate for you, and Lieutenant Akiyama will accompany you to lend her assistance. The operation starts tomorrow. The rest of us? We will prepare our fortifications, and possibly a march into the human world. We will stop any invasion before it ever occurs, to protect the people. I will entrust Captain Inazuma with the burden of performing the role of the strategist in this case."

Stelevein then faces the captains once more and asks one final question. "Any questions?"

[Sieghart Rayvnl]

As Sieghart sat drinking his sake his captain entered and began the meeting. As he had expected his captain already had an entire plan mapped out about the upcoming cause they had been discussing the previous night. They had discussed the likely probability of an espada force moving soon and that the best way to deal with the issue was to send the squad 2 captain to investigate. However, much to Stele's character he had waited for a volunteer before issuing out orders knowing full well that he could trust in his captains. This made Sieghart smile, he was proud to be a part of such a noble team of warriors.

The one thing that worried him however was Hitomi's involvement with this scout mission. He didn't like the idea of his closest friend going behind enemy lines, despite whether she had a captain's protection or not. He would like to be there to ensure her safety. He stood up abruptly and reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes as to gain a better look at the room around him. "Captain, I know it would be unwise to send anymore people along for the scouting mission, but I can not just sit idly by and wait for results. I'm just not that patient of a man, I need to be doing something, so I request to travel to the World of the Living to inform the vizards of our plans and coordinate battle strategies with them." Sieghart said addressing the meeting and looking around for reactions. He then looked to his captain awaiting his answer.

[kaithehawk]

As the captain commander entered the room Kai woke up and wiped the drool from his chin. Sitting up straight he drew his cloak around him sinking down in the warm layers. He then closed his eyes as he listened to the meeting going on around him. Such bright voices full of life, powerful comrades rushing to their duties, and a wise leader looking over them all. It was a great time to be a soul reaper, the past few years had been relatively quite and peaceful, but he had a feeling everything would be changing soon.

Kai's attention was suddenly drawn back to the meeting at hand when the captain commander issued him the duty of strategist for the upcoming confrontation. With his eyes still closed he muttered under his breath, "Oh joy," and then began to mull over all the work that he would have to do in the coming days. There was so much to be done and with his vice captain no where to be found, surely running about taking care of things around the Serietei, it meant he had to take full responsibility of their defensive plans. "Looks like break time is over Kai, war is about to begin." Taka whispered inside his head. "Yesss, it will soon be time for me to feed once agains." Hidora also whispered in succession. "Hmmmn, I suppose you are both right, since i've become a captain there really hasn't been anything to test my skills on. Disappointing however that it's only an arrancar invasion and not something more challenging." Kai mulled over to himself in thought.

Opening his eyes in response to the order he exclaimed in a bright friendly voice, "Right away commander, I assure you there will be nothing to worry about. When the meeting is finished I invite all those who are free and wish to be part of the strategy to join me at my barracks." He then looked over to Kiba taking in his face, "I suppose I should not concern myself with our prediction as I'm sure your competence is exceedingly capable, but I should wish that you remain concealed to the apical," Kai started talking to Kiba and then caught himself, "the best of your ability. It'll make all of our jobs here way easier." He then looked around the room and nodded to the captain commander indicating that he was finished.