Xover: Jump Force (The Rewrite) - [CONTINUED]

Genryusai Shigikuni Yamamoto

(A/N: Above image uploaded from Reddit.com)

Chapter 14: Yamamoto

(Yamamoto's Office, Seireitei, Soul Society, a few minutes after the restaurant incident!)

Captain-Commander Genryusai Shigikuni Yamamoto (also answering to 'The Old Man' by the select few) leant back in his chair and sighed.

After several days of striving to establish contact with Kisuke Urahara in The World of the Living, he recently got word from former Kido Corps Commander Tessai Tsukabishi of events transpiring in that other plain of existence, Karakura Town, thanks to the current Vice-president of S.R.D.I. Akon. Using a 'telephone' line or whatever Urahara called it. How the old captain begrudged such dependence on modern technology which it seemed only the young truly understood.

His most recent correspondence with the imposing Shinigami was in a sense both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, finally being able to communicate with Urahara's team, and what he had heard confirming that the source of this mysterious interference (this 'Umbras Cube' as Tsukabishi put it) had been sufficiently dealt with, put one matter to rest. On the other hand, its emergence so close to that town in The Living World, around the same time as unexplained mass disappearances in both parallel worlds, the appearance of these dark creatures and these visitors of Urahara's that Tsukabishi spoke of, seemed to all but confirm a troubling theory. A theory upheld by Urahara, and ORIGINALLY proposed by Sosuke Aizen (back when his council was still held in high regard across Seireitei). A theory that did not sit well with Central 46, the High Council presiding over the Gotei 13. A theory that was still not public knowledge, even amongst the current Gotei 13 save Captain Kurotsuchi and himself. A theory concerning the 'true' nature of the universe, if indeed Soul Society, The Living World, Hueco Mundo, and the branch realms (The Precipice World, The Valley of Screams, Reverse London, etc.), could be considered parts of one universe.

The theory that the universe, or rather THEIR universe, was in fact one of many universes! A 'Multiverse' as Urahara had put it. And perhaps this 'Multiverse' itself was only one of countless others, perhaps many of which possessing their own Soul Society, and perhaps their own versions of his Soul Society's denizens. The possibilities could be truly endless.

And perhaps most worrying was the concept of beings capable of transversing the barriers between these universes as easily as one pushes a veil aside. Beings that can rip seemingly anyone from their own universe, whisking them off to... who knows where? Beings that with these Cubes can summon forth terrifying monsters (those creatures Tsukabishi called 'Venoms') and corrupt all they touch by the artifacts' dark aura.

Beings of power that might well rival (or even surpass) Yhwach, or perhaps even the Legendary Soul King! Yamamoto rubbed his temples. This must be what humans call a 'migraine' coming on.

Yet if there was a silver lining to this dark cloud, from what he had gleaned from Tsukabishi's account, perhaps not all of these 'Insurgents', as Captain Kurotsuchi dubbed them, were inherently hostile towards the denizens of this universe. According to this most recent correspondence, a particular group of outsiders were going as far as risking their very lives to protect Urahara and his group at that very moment, and may well have been the reason for the dissapation of said interference.

After learning some of the nature of this artifact from correspondence from Lady Yoruichi Shihoin and her intention to bring it (with the aid of the 'Vizards') to Urahara for further study, 2nd Division Captain Sui-Feng had expressed her intent to lead an escort to the Living World to Urahara's location. That being the last focal point of correspondence concerning the strange activity before communications broke down. Well aware of Sui-Feng's dedication to the 'Flash-Step-Goddess', the current whereabouts of whom had escaped the Gotei 13's knowledge during this time (and aware of her animosity towards the former 12th Division Captain), Yamamoto thought it prudent to send his own protégé Kyouraku Shunsei to accompany her, to (attempt to) keep her in check.