Character Name: Ishida Uryuu ("Ametatsu" or simply "Ame" for this AU)
Fandom: Bleach
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Sexuality (if applicable): Asexual maybe (she's just a big walking "???" with a blinking tag)
Original or Anomaly?: Anomaly
Appearance:
1,
2 - Uryuu's canon appearance.
There are differences, of course, as Ametatsu has breasts, fuller lips, and slightly more pronounced hips. Her legs are also noticeably longer, her shoulders less prominent, her face and body softer, her hands more delicate, her eyes a more vivid blue, and her hair hangs well past her chin. She's also a good inch shorter than her male counterpart, who stands at 5'7".
Personality:
The word "smart-ass" is usually associated with her name, as she is very intelligent analytical, and takes pleasure rubbing it in other's faces, most especially her "rival" Kurosaki Ichigo. She doesn't really care is others are put off with his attitude. For her, she has earned the right to brag. And bragging for her means a bit of name-calling, a bit of harmless banter and usually a lot of loud arguing. Sometimes though, she can lash out with a kick to the shins or a slap to the face, none of which are exactly harmful, and just creates a temporary sting, and then follows this up with a speech as dramatic as only she can make it. Because of this, she has once been described as having "permanent PMS", which is associated with being moody all the time.
Underneath all this though, she is actually shy and quiet, and hides this by acting cool and occasionally bitchy around others (hence the permanent PMS remark). She also follows the moral code of her heritage, the Pride of the Quincy, coming off as polite to her peers, having a strong sense of justice, and the urge to defend what she has, whether her friends or her lineage. She refuses to kill though, and simply prefers to incapacitate an opponent, no matter how badly the said enemy has offended her.
There are other things that set her off, such as buttons (which is regarded as unusual, seeing as her favorite hobby is sewing), and her mother, Ryuuko, who had once said that there was no future in being a Quincy and protecting those who are already dead. She had taken offense to this, and lost some respect for the woman, going so far as calling her "Ryuuko", which is considered extremely rude in Japanese conduct. Ishida Ryuuko is still her mother though, and she still does save some feelings of affection for her.
Ametatsu has a unique sense of style whether she wears customized Quincy garb, or just casual clothing. Some of her shirts that previously had buttons were self-modified to bear zippers, and, all of her garments in fact, hidden Quincy crosses. Her blue and white Quincy clothing is slightly different from the traditional garb, as she had once commented as a child that it was "lame". But that doesn't mean she limits herself to just the customary Quincy colors, as she also prefers to wear warm-colored clothing, and sometimes even black.
History:
Despite her mother's vehement disapproval, Ametatsu trains under her grandmother in the ways of the Quincy. She shows a knack for it, and has the talent to push forward. However, one day, her grandmother is killed by a group of Hollows, and that implants something in her young, impressionable mind; true fear. The experience teaches her that nothing in the world is as well as she had thought, and since then has harbored a genuine hate for the shinigami, and is determined to show them the true power of the Quincy, in any way possible.
As a teenager, Ametatsu meets and confronts Kurosaki Ichigo, a subsitute shinigami given powers by a shinigami named Kuchiki Riku, and challenges her to a game wherein one must kill more Hollows than the other within a day's time limit in order to win. She uses a special bait to call in Hollows, but her 'game' does not go according to plan when she also attracts a Menos Grande, or a giant Hollow composed of several minor Hollows. Thus, she and Kurosaki try to work together to defeat it, but Kurosaki is the only who actually had done something useful. She hates herself for being that weak, and vows to become stronger, and not be left behind.
Little time goes by when she and Kurosaki, along with Inoue Hikoboushi and Sado "Chad" Yasutora, have to work together again, this time to save Riku from execution, as he had been taken away by his sister Kuchiki Byakuya, captain of the sixth shinigami division, and her childhood friend and Byakuya's lieutenant, Abarai Ren, for breaking the shinigami's laws and transferring his powers over to Kurosaki. They are separated when they enter Seireitei, leaving Ametatsu and Inoue working as a pair to find Kuchiki's whereabouts while hiding from the shinigami squads. Shortly after, they come across a shinigami, but easily defeat her. Their more dangerous encounter though is with the captain of the twelfth division and chief of the science department, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, and her lieutenant and artificial son, Nemaru.
Ametatsu orders Inoue to run, as Inoue's gifts are more for defense and healing and are therefore not much use in this battle, and proceeds to fight Kurotsuchi herself. She becomes badly wounded and is unable to move, thanks to the special ability of Kurotsuchi's zanpakuto. As an insult to injury, the shinigami narrates to her what she had done over the years to the Quincy souls he had managed to collect over the years. The final straw was the showing of the photgraph of Ametatsu's grandmother, broken, bloody, and almost unrecognizable. Ametatsu begins to have irrational anger she has never experienced before, and that is what motivates her to get up and fight again. She utilizes all the techniques she knew at that point, even going so far as removing the Sanrei glove, the item she had worn to help her reishi-gathering ability. With this, she gains the power she needs to be able to defeat Kurotsuchi. She loses her Quincy powers in the process, but is convinced she had managed to avenge all the souls the shinigami had tortured. Almost immediately after this, she is captured by another shinigami captain, Tousen Kaname, and is placed in prison with Sado and Shiba Ganko, a woman who had insisted to follow them into the shinigami territory, to wait for the others to be captured as well.
They are then released by Inoue, assisted by the captain Zaraki Kenpachi, and four of her underlings. Together they eventually arrive at Riku's execution located at Sokyoku Hill, where Ichigo is currently engaging Riku's sister, Kuchiki Byakuya, in a battle. Before the fight escalates to dangerous levels, plans are revealed by some of the captains who had found this whole business of execution over Riku's simple misconduct, and had carried out their own investigations. Aizen Sousuko steps forward, and carries out her plans, assisted by fellow conspirators Tousen Kaname and Ichimaru Ginko. She takes the Hogyoku or Orb of Illusion from Riku's body (the mysterious shopkeeper Urahara having hidden it in him at an unknown time), and escapes with the help of ten Gillian. They take her and the other two to Hueco Mundo, the world of Hollows, and there she begins to create her army of Arrancar, or Hollows that have broken their mask in favor of gaining more power, in preparation to take Seireitei over.
With this turn of events, Riku is cleared of the false charges, and the humans are sent back home- without him, as he had stated that he needed to stay and regain the power the Hogyoku had taken from his body. Life goes on though, with or without him. Ame is then to fend for herself, powerless, as she refuses to reveal her new state to the others, making her an easy target for two incomplete Arrancar who come into the human world. She manages to hold them off, but only until her supply of Quincy equipment runs out, leaving her to be saved be her mother. Ryuuko offers to restore her powers, which she's not so quick to bite, as there's a condition, and that is to never associate with the shinigami ever again. After long consideration, she agrees, and trains underneath Ryuuko's hospital. When she is ready to drop, dead tired, she is shot near the heart, giving her a scar on the chest reminiscent of the Quincy cross, and, of course, her powers back. The rest of her training is then dedicated to re-mastering these, as they have grown more powerful than before.
While training though, there had been two more invasions, both times by some of the Espada, Aizen's elite ten. Shortly after the third, Inoue disappears, and is suspected to be behind enemy lines. Urahara takes it upon herself to call Ametatsu and relate to her what has happened, and reveal that Kurosaki and Sado are planning to enter Hueco Mundo to save him. Here she cuts her training short, and runs away with several Quincy equipment Ryuuko had locked away. This decision is questioned a little later on by Sado, as she had heard of her agreement with her mother, but her reasoning is that there is a loophole, Kurosaki not being a full-fledged shinigami, and she was doing this for Inoue only.
Once inside Hueco Mundo, they come across a trio of goofy Hollows, the smallest (and possibly youngest) seemingly connected to the Arrancar with his face revealed, and his mask upon his head, unlike the other two. His name is Ner, and is reluctant at first to associate with them, but eventually agrees to lead them to Las Noches, the large structure where Aizen and her Arrancar reside. Almost immediately after this meeting, they are joined by Riku, and Abarai Ren, who claim they had been sent on by Byakuya herself. Together they invade Las Noches, but are forced to split almost immediately.
Ame comes across an Arrancar, Cir Thunderwitch, and engages him in battle. She is later assisted by Pesche, one of Ner's two "sisters", who is actually quite useful with her technique "Infinite Slick" when not running her mouth. Here Ame reveals one of the weapons she had taken from Ryuuko, the Seele Schneider, the only Quincy weapon to take the form of a blade. She successfully defeats Cir by shooting him in his Saketsu, one of the areas of the body where reiatsu, or spiritual pressure, originates. She doesn't seem quite happy with this win though, and leaves almost immediately.
Later, she finds Abarai in trouble against an Espada, the Eighth, Szayel Aporra Grantz. They team up, and use their best techniques to fight, but even together, they're no match for the Espada and her ability to create voodoo dolls and destroy their internal organs. They are lucky (or unlucky), as Kurotsuchi Mayuri arrives and defeats the Arrancar flashily yet effortlessly. Kurotsuchi, assisted by Nemaru, grudgingly heal them, stating that Seireitei had sent four captains after them to provide assistance, herself included, while the others prepare in Karakura town for Aizen's last invasion. She reveals that they have switched the town with a fake, the real Karakura in Soul Society, bound in place by four pillars.
Strengths:
Like any Quincy, Ametatsu is able to manifest her bow by collecting energy in the air and forcing them to take on a shape. She has great control over her powers, and has even learned techniques that most Quincy have not even been able to use, making her a genius in her own right.
- Reishi (spiritual particles) Manipulation and Absorption: She can collect the particles in the air and use them as fuel for her bows and various other weapons.
- Hirenkyaku: A technique which allows her to travel short distances in extremely high speeds by concentrating reiatsu under her feet.
- Ginrei Kojaku ("Lone Sparrow on a Silver Cliff"): Her most recent bow, with which she claims she can fire 1,200 arrows consecutively.
- Ransotengai: An ancient Quincy ability that allows her to move any paralyzed or otherwise immobile part of her body like a puppet, making her able to fight until her body is literally dust.
- Seele Schneider: The blade weapon that can also double as an arrow.
- Haizen: One of the four techniques that utilizes silver rubes filled with reiatsu, she can create a beam of energy that can slice through an enemy.
- Gritz: The second of the silver tubes techniques, she is able to create a pentagram that surrounds her target like a light prison.
- Wolke: The third of the silver tube techniques, she can use one of the tubes to make an explosion, or even cushion a fall.
- Sprenger: The last and most complicated of the silver tube techniques, she can create a pentagram seal with Seele Schneiders as its points, and make it explode by pouring the liquid inside a tube over one of the blades.
Aside from all these, she is resourceful, and can think up of several ways how to win a battle. She is also multilingual, which will work in her favor in foreign places, having a decent knowledge of Spanish and German.
Sewing can also be called a strength of hers, as she is the captain of the handicrafts club in her school.
Weaknesses:
She has hypotension, or in layman's terms, low blood pressure, meaning she is extremely grumpy in the mornings and may snap at anyone close to her upon waking, and is prone to failing spells if she pushes herself too far, whether physically, mentally or even emotionally. This irritates her to no end, especially if these symptoms come at inopportune times (which has not yet happened in battles, thankfully), but this doesn't stop her from "spazzing out" at very rare, very unexpected moments, such as seeing Inoue undress in front of her.
Also, she is not as strong physically as she would like to be, having placed most of her training into wielding her Quincy bow, and making her weak against strong physical attacks. She may be an excellent example of a Quincy, but as most of her power is concentrated in her arms, she is not too athletic, and has to rely on her Quincy techniques, further using up what reiatsu she has. Yes, she can collect more from the atmosphere, but even this method has its limitations, and can only be used when she is concentrating, or is fully aware of what she is doing, and the surroundings can only give so much.
First Person Sample:
What.... This is not Hueco Mundo, and I'm sure I didn't leave. [She looks around, confused, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose a few times.]
A spaceship? A cabin? Strange devices? Oh dear sweet lord, this seems like a movie only Inoue-san would watch.
[Then she notices the sphere bobbing before her, and reaches to tap it delicately.] Is this on? Is anyone there? I seem to be- [She stops, giving a small, sarcastic laugh.] I'm being silly, of course. This is but a dream, something in that injection Kurotsuchi had given me. She will pay once I wake up. I did not ask for drugs in my system! I did not ask for any form of healing at all! She could have given those to Abarai instead.
[She falls silent here, fuming internally.]
Third Person Sample: [copy+pasted and revised from an old app]
The Quincy race has been stripped of one more member. One who has been a good woman, a good warrior, a good teacher, a good grandmother. She was one of the best of them.
And she was gone.
Just like that. Just like a candle's flame that has been blown out.
Right in front of her own two eyes.
She had seen firsthand the viciousness of the Hollows. How they stalked their prey. How they taunted it. How they killed it. Sensei had done her best to fend them off, but that had not been enough. She was too old, too slow, even too weak.
From behind his tree she had seen the arrows fly, the Hollows bellow, the blood spill. She had wanted to scream, to cry, to run away, and beg her mother to take the nightmares away. But no, she had stayed there, perfectly still, watching and becoming the last person ever to see her grandfather alive. She stayed there, even as the shinigami had finally arrived and finished what her grandmother had died trying to accomplish. She stayed there, even as they had taken her soul with them to Soul Society. And until now she stays there, frozen, rooted to the spot, an almost perfect statue.
It's her first time to see death. And her first time to see blood. So much blood. Just so much blood. She just stared at it blankly, her mind seemingly unable to process, possibly in shock.
She finally moved, taking one shaky step towards her grandmother. Or rather the dead husk of what had been her grandmother. He kept walking as if in a trance, slowly, carefully. And sat beside the corpse, arms around her legs, chin on her knees, her young eyes never leaving the form beside her. Silently, she told herself she was not afraid. She was not afraid. Grandmother was still here. She had not gone anywhere.
And yet she couldn't stop her eyes from stinging.
She awoke. Once again, that dream. It had always plagued her at inopportune moments, coming back to haunt her and show her how weak she was. It was painful to see it over and over, when all she wanted was it to be gone, done, over with. She raised her hand and flexed it, remembering how the glove had fitted on her hand, how she removed it, how strong she had felt, before all of it drained away....
Tomorrow she would go to Ryuuko, and have her powers restored.