Bleach The Nobody Rebellion

[Knyght]

This is a fairly basic plot outline (I think) that fuses of the movies Memories of Nobody, Diamond Dust Rebellion and Fade to Black to create a single, cohesive idea. That’s the plan, anyway.

In the history of Soul Society, several Shinigami have been known to suffer from an unusual problem where regular close contact with a powerful Shinigami uncontrolled reiatsu has forcibly influenced their own power. This resulted in them developing zanpakuto that are identical to the stronger Shinigami rather than produce their true zanpakuto. When the first case resulted in a Shinigami driven mad and the death of many soldiers, a law was laid down that two of the same zanpakuto cannot be allowed to exist. The latest Shinigami to become a victim of this law was Kusaka Soujirou.

But as the nature of their execution was death by single combat between them and the true wielder of the zanpakuto, their souls didn’t move on to the next stage as expected. Instead they lingered within Soul Society’s atmosphere until they made contact with the King’s Seal; a near-sentient artefact of incredible power that is capable of manipulation space-time. For reasons unknown, the King’s Seal would transport these remnants out of Soul Society where they would end up where all lost souls go; the Valley of Screams.

The Valley of Screams contains souls that had fallen out of the cycle of transmigration and had forgotten who they were. They became faceless entities that do nothing more than exist and have a longing for any memories. When the murdered Shinigami were transported to the Valley, the Blanks converge upon them and used the memories within the broken remnants to recreate their bodies. It was through this method that the Shinigami were reborn, possessing knowledge of the Blanks as well as the King’s Seal.

Naturally, they desired revenge. In return for being killed by their own people, they decided that they were bring the worlds crashing together and steal the King’s Seal to create a new realm with themselves as rulers.

When they time came, Kusaka and others attacked the transport for the King’s Seal as it was being moved from its location and stole it. Hitsugaya, recognising his friend, abandoned his position to pursue. Not long after, the second stage of their plan commenced as the residents of the Valley used to Blanks to seal away the memories of Gotei 13; specifically all knowledge revolving around Kurosaki Ichigo. This would make the Gotei less vigilant despite Aizen’s betrayal and would make the humans appears as an unknown enemy during a dangerous times. Hitsugaya remains unaffected thanks to being outside of the SS.

And so, Ichigo, Hitsugaya and the rest of the gang need to track down the King’s Seal and stop the worlds from colliding whilst staying out of SS’ sights and dealing with the vengeful ex-Shinigami. Easier said than done.

Hm, that was like 80% backstory and 20% story. Oh well.

Thoughts, comments and ideas?

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Looks like you have a solid framework set up for the concept, though I'm not sure that the reasoning behind the memory wipe is solid enough yet. Though, depending on time frame, this could very easily be fixed. For example, lets say this happens after say the Full Bring arc, and it resets all of the shinigami's memories to before the war, ie: A time where the Vizards and Urahara were supposed to be hunted down and killed but are now strolling around soul society. Incite an internal war while potentially taking control of Central 46 so that their fighting power is heavily reduced for the real threat and their movements become much less hindered. Maybe also add that the Nobodies can sort of shift memories around as needed so that the blame for a lot of the damage against SS falls to Urahara and the Vizards.

Hell, maybe take it a step further and get Kusaka in on the revenge kick. Their memories were altered so that Hitsugaya's leaving became an act of betrayal and him causing massive damage in the process, and now it's him who has the whole of Soul Society against him. Or just have him mind wiped from everyone and it's him who was forgotten. Similar results really.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Oh wait, had a sudden thought for an even better idea. Kusaka pulls a Tsukishima, not only erasing Hitsugaya from everyone's memories, but instead replacing him entirely as captain of the 10th, allowing him to work from the inside to throw things off on the shinigami end even further. The rather horrifying implications of this should be obvious.

 

[Knyght]

I'm both for and against that Tsukishima idea. One the one hand, I dislike reusing the exact same concept used in Fullbring arc but on the other, this is completely different scenario, the impact would be pretty damn big and it fits perfectly with how I think of Kusaka. Stealing Hitsugaya's position, taking all his respect for himself and becoming who he likely dreamt of becoming before being killed. More pros than cons so I guess it's cool.

Timeframe I had in mind was basically the same as the movie; post-SS, Pre-Arrancar. Mainly from something that came up in Hogyoku ex Machina where it was mentioned that FoB's memory alteration had even made them forget they were at here. So here they would have lost three captains but wouldn't really remember why, would have returned to a peacetime state and any interaction with the Karakura group would likely end up hostile.

But doing it post-Fullbring does add a lot more to the table and gives the opportunity for a lot more creativity like what you posted. Kusaka helps make SS start tearing itself apart which leaves them unable to the respond to the true threat of the King's Seal. Though I'm not sure how to the handle the KS here since all he had to do in the movie was cut it in half whilst in SS so he doesn't actually need to do much else. But the plans might be stretched just to screw over SS and ensure that Hitsugaya's there at the time for whatever reason.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

On the same page with you there, reusing a concept repeatedly doesn't sit well with me. Hell that's part of the reason why I dislike using yet another Rescue plot for a potential hell arc and had to figure out a lot more complicated scenarios to get Ichigo's group invested in a more realistic way that would force them to actually go there if the situation demanded. But at the very least reusing the replacement idea it makes sense here on multiple different levels, and like I said the benefits and implications are rather amazing so it might very well be worth considering.

After all it helps both play rather amazingly into the actual concept behind Kusaka in a way that lets them both view Hitsugaya as an enemy and at the same time fill obvious gaps in their memories, but also lets him work against Soul Society from within against Ichigo and co while at the same time working towards their true goal. Admittedly what that 'goal' would be other than the complete destruction of SS and working to replace the Gotei 13 completely.

For this I'd actually suggest the altering of how the King's Seal actually works. Being able to just plain cut it in half to activate it's power seems rather easy and much like something Kusaka could have done in the movie at literally any point had he so desired. However, if there's a specific means to activating the seal that they need time to track down and learn, maybe using information only available to a captain, things start making considerably more sense. Maybe it requires a rather complex spell sequence to unlock, or maybe it needs to be used in conjunction with the Ouken itself (Though obviously this requires the Ouken to be an actual object rather than people, though that might still be canon since Yamamoto can track down where it is regardless to open the door), or something else entirely but regardless it will take time to figure it out so taking control of Central 46 and the position of 10th captain would be more ideal in this scenario.

Also something I didn't consider, it might make even more sense to have Kusaka not be the only one taking a captain position here. If you start it either during the period between the SS or after the Fullbring arc, you could also have the 3rd, 5th, and 9th positions replaced as well. Either taken over from the vizards which are now public enemies anyway, or just outright replacing the now dormant positions and filling in the gaps in their memories as to why they were gone (Or shifting the blame onto Ichigo's group/the vizards as to why these three replaced them). Another rather simple replacement that gives them a LOT more room to manuver and thus also avoiding the strange scenario where they seem to be bending over backwards for Kusaka's revenge.

 

[GenocideHeart]

Whenever I read this thread's title I think of Dynasty Warriors's Yellow Turban Rebellion and imagine Zhang Jiao rallying people with a super-hammy speech.

...I need to play less DW.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

I apparently need to play more, considering it looks goddamn amazing.

 

[Knyght]

Ah, Dynasty Warriors. Good times.

I’d wager that what we were originally told about was a case of misdirection. Have a general knowledge known throughout the Gotei so everyone assumes that it’s a physical object and exists in a specific location. Makes it far less likely that anyone would think the key is a person (or group of people) who spend their time in the King’s Dimension. Less risky in general too.

Personally, I’d go with the spell option or even have a sequence of spells which Kusaka needs to research, not unlike how Aizen had to go out of his way to discover how to make the King’s Key. As a captain he could go practically anywhere with little suspicion.

I suppose the other replacement would have to be other Dark Ones. Memories would be altered so that the Gotei accept them as their own, the Vizards are viewed as enemies (and probably even see themselves as enemies of the Gotei) as well as Hitsugaya. In Hitsugaya’s case, they could change events around Aizen’s betrayal so that it was actually Hitsugaya who had turned against Soul Society and was allied with the Ryoka that invaded. Though the Vizard angle might be too complicated or shift the story’s focus, not helped by the fact that half of them aren’t even in SS so there’d be confusion there from all sides.

 

[zeebee1]

I'd like to see a memory manipulation story taken to the logical level. So this guy replaces Hitsugaya as a captain. Then he finds that maintaining respect isn't so easy. Sure, they remember him being worthy, but now he can't meet their expectations. They might not realize that anything is up, but he'd be constantly reminded that he was the reject. He tried to replace Hitsugaya, and once again, was found wanting.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Oh man that would be an amazing mental breakdown sequence if executed correctly. Take everything from Hitsugaya, only to slowly lose it because he simply wasn't good enough to keep it. Slowly losing 'his' respect, 'his' subordinates, 'his' Vice Captain, and 'his' childhood friend since he's completely unable to retain their loyalty because down to the core he was simply inferior all along, and no shallow amount of memory alteration could change that.

Would ultimately depend on how shallow the mind alteration is sure, though given the circumstances its likely VERY shallow in order for the basic premise of the story to work. Very superficial replacements/key moments or figures altered on a very minimal level that would likely start making people suspicious if they're given a particular reason to doubt them. Hence why the baddies would be so restricted in their movements and would have to be especially careful not to draw too much attention to themselves.

Anything deeper results in the standard problem with mind alteration stories of why don't the villains just make themselves the head honcho's or make everyone of relevance brain dead and then do their shit that way (or other key easy tickets I can't think of at the current point in time). Making it limited and then exploiting it within the plot at least covers that front. The people are basically exactly the same and follow the same order structure and mundane day to day proceedings, but aren't aware of some people being cut out and replaced in otherwise familiar roles.

 

[Knyght]

I've got a more plot-oriented overview but I think the story needs more of something. Especially since it's like they're doing another version of the SS arc. Here:

All the murdered copycat Shinigami manifest in the Valley of Screams after being transported by the King’s Seal and reconstructed from the Blanks.

They possess fragmented, instinctual knowledge of the King’s Seal and connected to it which is why they decide to make it a part of their plans. They possess an understanding of the Blanks which they refine, learning to use them to heal themselves, construct weapons and produce effects using their memoryless-nature.

They infiltrate the Human World whilst the King’s Seal is being transported by Hitsugaya’s division. After stealing the seal, Kusaka reveals himself to Hitsugaya to cause him to pursue, then struck him down and left him in the Human World

The Screamers go to Soul Society and weave a spell over the entire Gotei 13 using the Blanks to manipulate their memories. Hitsugaya becomes the traitor who caused significant amounts of damage to SS by attempting to use the Sokyoku as a weapon, killing two captains before escaping. Followed by his successful attempt at stealing the King’s Seal.

The Screamers end up taking the vacant Captain roles in the Gotei 13 whilst Kusaka replaces Hitsugaya, taking everything that he had gained over the years. What everyone associated with Hitsugaya was then linked to Kusaka; his friends, family, history, achievements etc.

The Screamers plan to use the King’s Seal to force the Valley of Screams to collide with the Soul Society to merge their worlds which they rule over. But they require of sequences of spell to activate and control its power which is why they took roles in the Gotei; they would be able to seek all the information with little suspicion.

Hitsugaya ends up being hunted for a crime he didn’t commit and ends up heading to Karakura Town to avoid pursuers. He isn’t actively seeking their help rather looking for a place to rest but the humans end up getting involved anyway.

The Shinigami comes knocking on their door in search of Hitsugaya, the memory spell causing them to forget about the Ryoka. This makes them especially suspicious and they end up being seen as conspiring with Hitsugaya.

All the while the Screamers are putting together the spells for the King’s Seal whilst trying to manage their divisions during a crisis situation. Kusaka especially finds himself coming up short of what Hitsugaya could do and his fake life starts falling apart.

The group infiltrate Soul Society (again), this time taking a more stealthy approach and seek out the Screamers. They plan to out the Screamers and return the King’s Seal whilst avoiding or fighting the Shinigami.

Cue confrontation where everyone’s grown fairly suspicious of the Screamers. But they’ve reached a point where they can go through with their plan and activate the King’s Seal to create a dimension under their control whilst merging Soul Society and the Valley of Screams together.

Awesome battle scene and conclusion.

Edit: Maybe they don't even make it SS until after the King's Seal been used, so the protags have the make their way through some crazy-ass dimension of weirdness.

Edit 2: I'm not too sure on what the antagonists actually want either. Revenge, obviously, but I don't know how they're aiming to achieve it specifically. I just throw in the whole "merge dimensions" thing since I only vaguely remember what they were planning in each of the moves.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Thinking on it a bit, their current goals could have a lot to due with their current nonexistent nature. Maybe they can't survive long outside the valley of screams, so to continue their existence, they must forcibly tie the nonexistent realm into the 'true realms', which requires a highly destructive clash of dimensions via the use of the reality manipulating King's Seal. You could even say that they can't access their full powers (ie: The Zanpakuto takeover forms of Baishin and Kusaka in their respective filler episodes) outside of the valley of screams. Meaning the final battle and in turn the place where the spell must be activated must in fact happen in the Valley of Screams where they are at their strongest.

It's not just about revenge, that's just a bonus. This is required for them to be able to exist for any large amount of time outside of the empty realm.

 

[zeebee1]

It doesn't have to be shallow. Hitsugaya gained respect by handling a situation in one way. But suddenly losses start piling up and people start comparing your failures to the success they though were your own. They don't actually have to turn against him, but over time he'd realize that he was just an inferior imitation.