Forget The Rails: Arc 4: Chapter 4 Final Part

...

The oppressive red sky seemed to close in as Josh Groban walked alongside Urahara Kisuke and Ichimaru Gin, the distant Colosseum cast an enormous shadow on the cracked sand beneath their feet.

The memory of the Trial against the Visionary was still fresh along with the bitter end- he'd certainly not planned for a weapon against his own kind to come out of it.

In a matter of moments, they had entered the fray only to see the Visionary fall, defeated before the battle had truly begun. It hadn't been a fight, but rather a scripted demise, orchestrated by hands far more powerful than his.

Stolen. That was the word circling relentlessly in his thoughts. The reward had not merely been snatched from him. It had been obliterated- first by the Soul King, whose vendetta had ultimately set this entire charade in motion. The unfairness struck him more acutely than the heat radiating from Hell itself. His triumph had crumbled into a farce, once again reminding him of the curse his soul bore.

What remained, mere fragments of the Visionary's brain he sought, was further ripped from his hands by Aizen Sosuke. The asshole having reminded him of the truth of his returned existance, ready as he was to siphon off whatever remotely resembled victory from his hands. Just thinking about it ignited a swell of anger within him, each heartbeat echoing the frustration he felt.

As they neared the Colosseum, Josh's grip tightened on the phantom threads of his disappointment. He glanced at Gin, whose demeanor was as playful as ever, seemingly unbothered by everything, while Urahara walked with an air of unshakeable calm, but Josh could sense an underlying current of frustration there too. They were all aware of the larger game at play and yet took it in very different strides.

His was mostly in anger and disappointment unfortunately. 

Could anyone take pleasure in a victory that's never truly yours? he mused, the thought gnawing at him. There had been no glory in the Trial- a cruel joke performed at their expense. The Visionary’s fall had not been a testament to strength or strategy but rather a brutal reminder of how little control he wielded. Hell even Ulqiourra's failure to kill the stupid fools beside him was another testament to it, even if he'd used his curse to his own advantage.

Steeling himself against the weight of their situation, Josh felt a slow resolve build within. He needed to find a way to shift the narrative. Perhaps he could harness the upcoming trials into a force for change...

For some strange reason, at the thought of that idea, he heard an echo of mocking and amused laughter go through his mind.

'That certainly bodes well,' he couldn't help but think.

...

As he stepped closer to the entrance of the looming Colosseum, he felt the atmosphere shift around him, charged with something that seemed to seep from the very structure itself. It was as if the stones held a resonance of their own, a sinister song laced with echoes of despair- all of it swirling together in a chaotic storm. He glanced at Urahara Kisuke and Ichimaru Gin, both of whom appeared intrigued yet on guard.

Urahara adjusted his hat, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. “You feel that too, don’t you?” he remarked, his voice calm yet tinged with an edge of curiosity. “There’s something distinctly off about this place. It’s like a chaotic mixture of energies- Hollow and human, intertwined in ways I can hardly describe.”

Coming from the man that discovered the foundations of a Hogyoku, that said quite a bit. Despite not willing to admit, he was somewhat glad he had a mind as advanced as Grantz on his temporary side. Particularly because it wasn't attached to a mouth like that godforsaken Espada.

Josh nodded at the words, the sensation in the air thickening as they stood before the entrance. It wasn’t just the weight of Hell that pressed down on them, there was a deeper undercurrent that made his instincts shout caution.

Gin chuckled softly, the sound almost melodic against the backdrop of the looming Colosseum. “Makes you wonder what kind of mischief the Soul King has designed for us here,” he mused, a glint of mischief in his eyes. “Hollow energy oozing out with human remnants… the perfect recipe for a headache...” The man let out another, more... soulless chuckle at his own words. "How nostalgic."

Choosing to ignore that red flag of a statement from the squinty fuck, he focused back on the matter at hand- “It feels wrong,” Josh finally admitted, glancing towards the Colosseum's entrance. “This place... feels like it shouldn't exist.” He added on with a faraway gaze to his mind as he stared at the etchings on the walls. As he took in the archaic design that screamed ancient and yet... He blinked once as he ran his hand over it and wondered why it felt so... familiar. He could practically hear faint murmurs of energy swirling within each stone. It was as if the very air pulsed with lingering memories.

Memories of what?  He questioned in his own head before letting out a slight frown. Of who..?

He cast a glance at Urahara Kisuke and Ichimaru Gin, both of whom stood momentarily awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the ancient structure before them. 

“I get the whole arena thing- what with this been a trial and all but...?” Urahara mused, furrowing his brow as he examined the intricate carvings and the weathered stones. “...This feels like it's straight outta a history book to me."

"The spooky colosseum quiz," Gin remarked idly with a straight face. "Yeah, I remember that. Page three hundred and ninety-six, outta the book of never freakin' happened." A beat passed as Gin slowly turned to stare at him for some reason. "Then again, you're a thing these days so, who the fuck knows? Maybe it was in a history book." Another passed in silence at those words. "No offence."

"None taken." He muttered back, dryly.

"It feels strangely alive,” Urahara's continued musing told him he wasn't paying them any attention. Turning towards him, he found the man squarely looking at some of the etchings on the stones themselves- etchings so small even he could barely see it. “'Memories... of..." Urahara squinted his eyes as his own mind processed the fact the fact he too seemed able to translate the ancient language, "nobody?" The man leaned back at that, his arms crossed. "Huh," Josh watched as Urahara paced a few steps forward, deep in thought. “What defines a nobody?” he whispered, his voice growing more animated with each conjecture. “The dead? The forgotten?”

"Those that exist in non-existance," Josh Idly added on, earning a pointed look from Kisuke.

"Lao Tzu?" The man questioned surprised. "I didn't take you for a scholar Groban," A beat passed as he tried not take the words as an insult. "Who knew Hollows could appreciate the finer things in life. Like thinking."

Now that he definitely took as an insult.

"Tread lightly, Kisuke."

The man chuckled at him in response. "My bad, my bad!" He raised his hands in a mocking gesture and pretended to zip his mouth, though the expression quickly changed as he focused back on the etchings themselves. "...Hm, existing without existing... memories of a nobody... The Soul King?" Urahra tilted his head slightly. "I mean we saw a memory of his- Maybe it's talking about the Monk? He's technically a nobody?"

"...You're pulling straws there," Ichimaru's voice reminded him he was stuck with said idiot. "What if it just means the moment you enter, you get forgotten or some other nonsense?"

Urahara nodded at that. "Sound theory." A beat passed. "You wanna test it out first?" At the dry look that took over the other shinigami, Urahara promptly turned his gaze towards him and raised an eyebrow at him.

"...It wouldn't be much of a trial if that was the case, now would it?"

"I dunno, it'd certainly be a little chaotic between the three of us if we forgot each other- Why it'd be downright disastrous if we thought we were each other's enemies!"

"...You two are absolutely my enemies, Urahara Kisuke." He deadpanned to that.

"Ugh, stab us in the heart why don't ya!" The man mocked.

"Believe me, I would if I thought it'd stick."

"Talk about a shitty sword." The other fuckwit snorted at that. "And that's coming from the guy with the smallest one." He added on with an amused expression.

"Now now, everyone knows size doesn't matter-"

"Are you two done?" He cut the other one off with a long sigh. "'Cos as much as time doesn't matter for much in this realm, I would still rather get this over with."

At his words, surprisingly enough, a realisation seemed to flash cross Urahara's eyes as he immediately turned back towards the nearby wall and placed a hand on the stone. "...Hey Gin, you getting any weird vibe right now?"

"...Everythin' about this entire adventure is a weird vibe," He didn't pay the man's change of position any mind as Josh kept his somewhat bemused focus on the blonde one. "And that's Captain Gin to you,"

He watched as Urahara calmly placed his right ear against the stone wall directly. "Yes, well, can the captain touch the wall and tell me what it feels like?" The straw-haired migraine briefly turned to stare at the other shinigami. "That'd be swell."

Josh listened intently, curious where this was going- The colosseum as a whole wasn't exactly something he'd expected. It was obviously the next stage for a trial, it's just... Well. A strange one for it.

At the sudden movement, he panned his gaze over to the other shinigami and frowned as he watched Gin’s expression shift from annoyance at listening to the other towards... fear? He certainly seemed to be lost in thought at the least, his usual smile replaced by a contemplative frown. “It’s familiar,” The man finally broke the sudden silence, his voice soft, almost reflective. “It’s very familiar.”

“In what way?”

Gin scratched at the back of his head. "Like... it's scratching at the back of my head. Like I've definitely experienced it before but...." The man crossed his arms, having removed it from the wall. "It's makin' me real angry for some reason."

At those words the blonde nodded, "so it's not just me then," before he turned his full attention towards him. "This place is giving off a lot of deja vu for some reason." He frowned at the words. The blonde tilted his head at him. "Memories of a nobody deja vu, familiarity and anger in a box that feels recent..." He narrowed his eye at the blonde as he came to the conclusion he was painting. "I think, the trial that we were supposed to do here..."

"Is already over." He felt a pit form in his stomach. "...We just can't remember what happened in it."

Urahara nodded slowly. “Hence the etchings,” he said, his hand idly tapping against the ancient stone before them. The markings seemed to shimmer momentarily, as though echoing the past they could no longer access. “We’re the nobodies in this,"

For a brief moment, silence threatened to envelop them, the enormity of their predicament hanging in the air. And then, in typical Gin fashion, he raised a hand as if to signal a breakthrough. “Well, I didn't vandalise the wall, I can barely read!” he said cheerfully, cutting through the tension with an unexpected joke.

“You have the nerve to joke at a time like this?” Josh shot back.

“What?” Gin shrugged, his expression completely unfazed. “If the trial’s done and we’re still alive, it means we won! So why the long faces?” His casual demeanour scratched against the chaos that'd fallen on them without a hint or warning.

But just as he made to correct the fool on the danger at hand, the Colosseum before them began to tremble. The ground shook violently, causing stones to crack and debris to rain down from the ancient structure overhead. Dust swirled in the air, and the once stalwart walls of the arena started to crumble, pieces breaking loose with alarming speed.

"...Well, one, I don't think that's enough evidence to say we won-" Urahara calmly stated, his gaze focused on the falling structure before them having taken a few steps back as the damage rapidly spread from one side of the circular wall to the other. "I am not saying it's not evidence at all, just that it ain't enough- If the Soul King wanted to kill us, he wouldn't need to do it through a trial." The man took in a breath, his expression turning more worried. “Two... why hide what happened here?”

In that moment, Josh Groban came to a startling realization of what it meant to be facing an Almighty Being who was very much displeased with recent events.

“Because then anything could've happened,” he remarked sullenly, watching as the last of the walls broke down. His words earned a surprised look from Urahara. “It’s not about winning... It’s about bypassing the need to change the future- the Soul King’s taken the gloves off.” Dread began to pile in his stomach, tightening like a vice. “This was a warning...” A chill crawled down his spine as he felt his heartbeat quicken with panic. “...He wrote out an entire trial just to send a warning?”

“...He’s now directly influencing the present... he doesn’t need to change the future if the present isn’t set in stone...” Urahara added on to his point, his eyes growing distant as comprehension dawned. “...Damn. Talk about getting blindsided.”

Despite the fact the Colosseum was now nothing more than a heap of rocks and dust, Josh Groban felt it was more oppressive than it had been before.

“But we won, right?” Ichimaru Gin questioned after a beat, his voice still retaining its casual tone despite the chaos.

"Well, presumably- We just don't know how-"

“Does it matter?” Gin interjected, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, actually, it really, really does, Gin,” Urahara shot back, casting him a pointed look as debris fell around them. “It means we can’t guarantee our own actions at this point.” A hint of genuine fear seeped into his voice as he took a step back, moving further away as if that might make a difference.

“...We’ve lost control of the present.”

...

This was a very, very difficult chapter to get out- Originally, I had a whole trial ready and prepared for the ending to the chapter in of itself. The chapter was written out and just needed uploading- Until I read it over a few times and found myself in a bit of a pickle.

The Soul King would've absolutely seen it coming. Josh Groban's curse, unfortunately, wouldn't have prevented the Soul King from seeing this particular scenario from playing out. The Soul King then would've absolutely did everything he could to prevent it and in doing so, it effectively meant that letting it play out that way, is basically just me writing myself into a hole. Whether that's a plot hole, or a hole I can't really justify down the line, it didn't matter- It was bad regardless.

So I had to redo it, over and over again until I realised I had no real choice but to speed up the timeline somewhat in regards to the story. Hence the shift in power- Instead of introducing the idea of the Soul King levelling the playing field later on, which would've happened during the next trial, I thought it'd make more sense thematically for him to bring it up here instead.

Now I will of course reveal what really happened during this trial down the line but for the time being it's a mystery. On the plus side I am very likely going to release the original edit I'd made for this as an omake of sorts soon-ish.

Should hopefully be released on 28/01/2025