X-Men

Rukongai, the poor district surrounding Seireitei.
Zeno had been staying here for a week now, observing Rukongai and Seireitei's impact on the district. Shinigami came and went to get rid of some Hollows, but he never interfered.
He also kept a low profile and tried to keep his reiatsu as hidden as possible. He didn't want to draw any attention, because technically he wasn't supposed to be here.
Zeno had gained Hollow powers after he had supposedly died and never returned because he was going to be exiled anyway. Now in Seireitei they all think he's dead.

He was now walking around Rukongai trying to find anything of interest when he bumped into a man he knew all too well.
They had both been a Captain more than hundred years ago.
Before Zeno knew it, they made eye-contact.

What the hell is he doing here?!

Iori, an everyday citisin of Rukongai to a bare eye, was walking down the street. He never wanted to draw attention because he was a wanted Shinigami. Yet he couldn't get out either because if he opened a Senkaimon, he would be spotted and followed. He had no choise but to remain in Soul Society untill he had a chance to escape to another dimention, regardless of whether its the Rel World or Hueco Mundo.

But this time, someone bumped into him by excident. He turned to tell that person off, but then paused. It was long, uncomfortable pause, an awekward silence. "Well I'll be damned...Captain Zeno, what a surprise. Rumors had it that you were dead and there was no evidence to proove otherwise. Untill now, that is." Iori's slight grin turned into a frown. "And here I thought I could just take a stroll without anyone noticing who I really am."

This wasn't good. Seireitei couldn't find out that he was here, let alone that he was still alive!
But Zeno noticed that Iori wasn't wearing any Shinigami robes either.

"Iori... You..." Zeno began but then he figured it out.
The mysterious experiments Iori was conducted so many years ago got him exiled.
Why else would he be here? Why else wasn't he wearing his Shinigami robes.
"Are an outcast aren't you?" Zeno smiled calmly.
He turned around. He didn't want to continue this conversation here. They would most certainly draw attention.
"Let's take this to the woods shall we? You know, the waterfall." Zeno said and walked away.
Zeno was referring to the waterfall where they had fought each other for the first time before they were Captains. Zeno was sure Iori would follow him there.

"Waterfall you say?" Iori looked down, onto the ground. He had a sad expression on his face and it looked like he was lost in thoughts and memories. "Yeah...that brings back memoroes. Before the Gotei 13 and all that crap." Iori kept on looking to the ground for quite some time without saying a word. He then looked at Zeno. A determined, but also a cold-blooded look on his face. "Sure...why not? But I think that this time, that waterfall won't be there after we finish."

Zeno smiled as he kept walking. "Those were the good times eh?" He said, more to himself than to Iori but still loud enough so Iori could hear it.

As he arrived at the waterfall, he bent over and placed his hands in the water.
The water of the river still as clear as it was so many years ago. Zeno washed his face
and his hands, he then immediately unsheathed his Zanpakutõ and faced Iori.
"Let's not waste any time talking. Let us relive those memories as if we were back in those days." He said, calmly and gently as ever but with a serious expression on his face.

Except for the sound of the waterfall, the forest was silent.

Iori was just following Zeno, lost in his own memories. Unnoticeable for himself he replied. "Yeah, they really were the good times." They both arrived at the waterfall.

As Zeno has drawn his weapon, Iori just stood there for a while. He then walked over to the stream, just a bit further aheade from the waterfall. He got water into both of his hands and drank it. He then got up once again and faced Zeno. "It's sad isn't it..." Iori drew his blade, but it was slow, almost as if he didn't want to. "Remember what we were and look at what we've become." He raised his reiatsu to half of his full power, just below an average captain. They stood there for a moment, not saying a word. "And I'm afraid that it is not going to be like it was back then." With this, he dissappeared with a flashstep, appearing in front of Zeno, swinging his blade at his adversary's head. A clash of steel sounded like a canon blast. The battle started.

Zeno watched his old friend drink from the water.
He heard the sadness in Iori's voice when he said how much they have changed.
As if he regretted what he had become but couldn't turn back, which was true for his part too.
Though I do not regret having become a Vizard... I miss my friends and the people from back then. Zeno thought when there was a momentary silence.

As Iori raised his reiatsu, he raised his too to match it and even slightly overcame it.
"It can never be the same again." Zeno replied sadly when Iori disappeared.
He closed his eyes and felt Iori's blade coming for his head.
Zeno quickly opened his eyes and slammed his blade against Iori's. He pushed his enemy's blade downward, quickly jumped up and pulled his knees up high until his feet were even above Iori's shoulders. He then stomped downward aiming for Iori's clavicles.

His blade was forced down, and an attack was about to land on his collar bone. He stood out of the attack line, waiting for the attack to pass. He then grabbed his opponents leg and threw him in the direction where the kick was going. Immidiately, he dashed towards Zeno, holding out his palm at him "Hado 33: Sokatsui." A blue ball of energy was launched at Zeno. Iori then dashed to his left and attacked Fuerza from another direction.

(( You said Fuerza there. :p ))

Zeno saw Iori step out of the way.
When his leg was grabbed and he was thrown away, he performed a well timed ukemi and then jumped up high to avoid the Sokatsui. Which passed right underneath him and crashed into the ground. Iori then attacked him from the left. Zeno parried the strike, pulled back the sword a little bit and returned with a powerful upward strike onto Iori's blade so it would fly upward and create an opening. He would follow the attack up with a Grappling Monkey combination, using the opening to grab the opponent's clothes with his left hand, pull the opponent towards him as he punches the enemy on the forehead with the back end of the handle of his Zanpakuto to send Iori flying into the water.

With a grunt, Iori was sent flying into the water and dissappeared in a splash. He was not seen until the point that the water was steady again. From where he enetered the water, another blue energy ball flew at him. A few moments later, Iori sprang out several meters behind zeno. Hado #31: Shakahou" A red ball of energy was sent flying at Zeno, at the same proximity and speed as the Blue one. To add to that, Iori moved above his adversary and was ready to dive at him.

The moment Zeno knocked Iori into the water, he knew it was far from over. Very far.
Before he knew it, two energy balls were flying straight towards him and Iori himself was also ready to take his chance. Dodging the energy balls was no problem, he jumped up high to make a frontflip over the blue energy ball and as he landed he immediately rolled out of the way to dodge the red one. But now he had to get his defense up for an Iori coming from above.
As fast and as powerful as he could he raised his blade to try and block any incoming attacks.

When Zeno dodge both Kido attacks that were coming for him, Iori grinned slightly. Yeah, just like the good old days. Iori thought to himself, remember how the two of them used to fight in this exact place. As soon as Zeno landed on his feet, Iori made a dash for him. He had his blade in the position that he was aiming to strike at Zeno's skull. Zeno had his blade up, just when Iori was right in front of him. And this is when Iori vanished with a shunpou. He appeared behind Zeno, aiming to slash at his back.

Too focused on blocking a head-on attack, the backstabbing surprised him. Zeno tried to turn around and block the attack but he was slightly to slow and got cut in the arm.
He backed away a bit and smiled. He was enjoying it just as much as he was back then.
The gash in his arm was pretty deep but Zeno looked like he hadn't even felt it.
"Nice one." Zeno said and started laughing a little bit as he saw Iori's face. He could still see where he had hit him on the face with his handle. The shape of the back end of Zeno's handle seemed to had been tattooed onto Iori's forehead.

"Let's take this up to the next level shall we?" Zeno smirked and held his Zanpakuto in front of his face.

"Erupt, Akuma." He said calmly and the handle of the Zanpakuto shattered. He was only holding a long blade. Then the blade broke four times until it formed a pentagon. Then, blue energy was unleashed from the top side of the pentagon and formed a blade of reishi. Zeno didn't waste any time and fired the blade at Iori's face. He then unleashed another one and dashed towards his friend, as he did so he kept firing energy bolts until Iori was within close-combat range. He unleashed another reishi blade, but didn't fire it this time, and swung it horizontally across Iori's chest.

Zeno called upon the power of his zanpakutou. Iori observed this transformation closely. "Heh, looks like the warm up's over." He raised his reiatsu. "Come to think of it I have never seen your zanpakutou. And the same can be said the other way around, eh?" Zeno then attackd Iori with a number of energy based attacks. Ooh, interesting. Iori moved towards Zeno. He dodged the first two shots, the third one was very close and made a hole in his cloak. The last one grazed Ioris xhoulder, making a thin, shallow cut on it. Iori saw the next attack coming and was prepared that it would also be ranged. However, it was a slash. Aw crap Iori took the hit. There was a deep gash across his chest. He backed away. There was blood on the grass and a little also spiled into the stream. "That's very interesting. Energy based attacks, but not neccisseraly ranged. I've never come across anything like this before."

With these words Iori started whispering :Hado # 73:..." With this he disappeared and appeared above Zeno "Raikohou". A yellow flash of energy appeared briefly before a large explosion where Zeno stood.

"Oh but this is only the beginning." Zeno smiled as he saw Iori fall into his trap with a surprised look on his face. As Iori backed away Zeno took on a defensive pose.
He saw Iori's lips move a little but before it occured to him that Iori was calling for a Hado spell, his friend was already above him and a flash of yellow energy was everywhere around him.
Shit..

To be able to endure a lot of the attack Zeno raised his reiatsu massively and kneeled. As he did so he held the energy blade above his head to protect him from the energy that came from above. He was lucky the full chant of the spell wasn't used, otherwise the technique would've been way more powerful. His arms and shoulder were burned by the technique, but he was able to protect himself from most of the damage. Still, it hurt like a bitch especially when he moved his arms around. With smoke ascending from his arms and shoulders Zeno pretended to be seriously injured, hoping it would fool Iori for even one moment. Then, he disappeared and reappeared just five meters away from Iori, aimed the third tip of his pentagon at Iori and shouted. "Sasu No Akuma!"
A huge blunt blast of blue energy was unleashed from Zeno's Zanpakutõ from close range.
A blast like that was practically impossible to dodge from close range and blocking it would send the opponent flying, not to mention the large amount damage it would do even. Though that depended on how good the opponent's defense was.