Johan had been staring at the Google Maps image on his office computer for a good hour at this point. He'd finished grading his students' papers a while ago, and was now considering the implications of what was on the screen before him. A massive landmass was rising out of the center of the Pacific Ocean, and it was giving off immense amounts of Hollow-tainted energy. The entire surface of it was covered in desert valleys and large mountain ranges, and he'd detected multiple Hollows crawling on it's surface when he went to scout it out over the weekend prior.

"Mein Gott... But what does it mean?" Johan grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. What he really wanted right now was to take Das Boot down to the local student watering hole, fill it to the brim, and chug it down to start off a wild night. Unfortunately, it was a school night and his day job as a college professor did not tolerate drunkenness. Fortunately, neither did he. With a sigh Johan locked up his office for the day and walked out of the History Department at Tokyo University. Some students greeted him as he walked past and he returned the greeting before taking a left turn down a street on his way home with definitely no spooky supernatural happenings for him tonight.

Definitely no spooky supernatural happenings, Ika wasn't going to allow for that certainly, as he was a nice guy.

Johan and Ika had forged a friendship out of what could best be described as homoerotic tension and mutual respect for the others capabilities on a battlefield. It was hard not to love a man you had chemistry with on the battlefield, and in spite of the tensions between Shinigami and Quincy Johan and Ika had formed an unusual bond much to the chagrin of their respective factions. Ika was sitting in an alley roughly located between Tokyo University and Johan's home, knowing full well his Reiatsu would catch his attention.

Provided Johan had taken the obvious bait having recognized the signature, he would find Ika with a cigarette in his mouth and a playing card in his right hand. A small smile had worked itself across his face, and Ika's relaxed posture would make it pretty clear that he had no ill-will on this particular occasion. "Hello old friend, care to give me a light?"

Ika would bite down on the cigarette, holding it out so that Johan could do his measured best. "As you might imagine I'm not just here because I forgot how to light a cigarette."

Johan paused for half a step when he felt the familiar Reiatsu signature of his long-time Shinigami friend Ika before continuing to walk at a regular and measured pace. Moving at pace but purposefully through the crowds of people Johan shifted his trajectory towards the beacon that flared at his senses. Despite being on opposite sides, they had clashed often and formed a close friendship. Johan rolled his wrist, his preferred weapon materializing in a flash of silver light in his hand as he saw his old friend. The Shinigami's relaxed expression contrasted by Johan's stern and stoic German features.

Before his friend could even finish his sentence, Johan raised an arm and fired to the left of Ika while a mirror flashed in the trajectory of his Heilige Pfeil. The streak of light bounced off the mirror and streaked at the perfect distance from the tip of Ika's cigarette, leaving it lit and with a bit of tobacco smoke blowing in the wake of the arrow's path. "This wouldn't happen to be about the Pacific, would it?" Johan lowered his weapon his expression still stern as usual though a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "What a coincidence, I was just looking over the latest images in my office."

That Johan always had a flare for the spectacle.. The way he angled his arrows was perfect, mesmerizing even after you'd seen the trick dozens of times. Ika smiled, puffing happily on his freshly lit cigarette as his back began to sink into the creases in the brick wall at his back. He slumped against it softly, his hands having worked their way into his pockets as if he hadn't a care in the world. Unfortunately, given the nature of their soon to be conversation it would become increasingly clear this demeanor was.. put on at best. "Even after all these years it's a wonder when you read my mind old friend."

Ika plucked his cigarette from his lips, letting the smoke linger in the air in front of him as he began to speak. "I was curious what you might have heard about it, what you might know about it, any.. theories you might have on it. This.. thing growing out of the Pacific, I worry it has a name I'm not particularly interested in speaking. I'm worried what it might mean for those of us who're tasked with protecting the cycle of the living and the dead, or in your case.. just the living."

Ika would smirk, putting the cigarette back into his mouth for a puff as he waited to hear just what his old friend might have to say.

"Unfortunately, what I've learned isn't good my friend." Johan grimaced slightly as he spoke, his mind recalling what he'd been thinking about not minutes prior. "The satellite images don't do it justice. I took a bit of time off a while ago to fly over and scout the structure out. It's absolutely crawling with Hollows." Crossing his arms, Johan could only shake his head in disbelief. What really boggled his mind was how the structure had crossed the seam between worlds without crumbling, unless... "It's possible the barrier between worlds has gotten particularly close and thin in that location. Such a combination of factors could, theoretically lead to our current predicament..."

Johan then shot Ika a serious expression. "It's rising almost like an anthill. Cooperation and planning on this level is unheard of amongst the denizens of the desolate desert plane who's name we will not speak here and now. We'll need to observe closely if this is some epoch-defining occurrence, a sort of 'Black Swan' event. I'll be sure to keep in touch, of course. Damn Elders." Johan clicked his tongue and cursed viciously under his breath in German. "Problems like these are too big to solve on our own. I've been trying to advocate putting aside our differences, but you know how it is."

The news.. wasn't good. That much was obvious from the tone of Johan's voice, his eyes told the story long before his words could leave him, and the tone of this particular encounter had once again shifted. Johan took some time to explain what he'd done and what he'd seen and it was exactly what Ika had feared. "They decided to drag the buffet table to them eh?.."

Ika frowned a bit, taking a puff off his cigarette to distract his mind for the slightest fraction of a second, before continuing to ponder the implications of this move. "Well you understand the Gotei, it has a tendency to sit on it's hand until things become dire. I'd argue it already has, but they'll be sitting on their hands until Hueco Mundo swallows the planet I fear.. My father did a good job, appointing a bunch of lazy do-nothings to run the worlds stablizing force. A pity that'll be his legacy, that or the genocide."

Ika would turn his head towards the street beyond the alley, watching citizens and cars pass them by like there wasn't a care in the world. "It's almost reassuring to see them this way, they don't know how fucked they might be until it's staring them directly in the face. Humans are either the dumbest people, or the most obtusely optimistic and I'm not sure what would be funnier.. Anyways. If this issue begins to take form more.. effectively from here, I'll be sure to make my appearance and help out. My name still carries weight in the Gotei, they won't stop me."

After his long-time friend's rather disconcerting remark, Johan grimaced as his body shuddered slightly. Just the thought of having so many Hollows crawling around on the surface of Earth, even with him being in a far-off island nation, sent shivers of disgust down his spine. Hollows were poison to a Quincy such as himself, which of course meant he had no trouble culling them regularly in the surrounding areas. The increase in public safety amongst the mundane and mythical denizens of Tokyo was a nice plus too. "Well isn't that a cheering thought... Tch."

Johan clicked his tongue and let out a string of expletives in guttural German after Ika finished expressing his bemusement over the legacy his father had left behind: one of over-caution and idleness. While he couldn't help but let out an amused snort at the mention of the genocide, the Quincy didn't dwell on it any further. Clashing with Ika over the years had caused them to form a bond of mutual respect. Not all Shinigami were bad, allowing a tragedy orchestrated by the few in power to blind him to the goodness found in the many was folly. And yes, as a German he could appreciate the humor in that statement better than most. "Not to mention, what forces we have here on the ground are too scattered to be of any use right now. This is a problem I think is best dealt with as swiftly as possible. After all," Johan gestured with his hand towards the crowd of people walking, shopping, eating, and living right in front of them before he continued, "The whole point of mystical secret shadow wars is so that the public can remain blissfully unaware and live peaceful, average lives. Whatever you want to do, count me in."

"If I were a harbringer of cheerful thoughts we wouldn't speak. The worlds a bit dreary given the current state of play, and this is just one of many shit interludes it seems determined to throw at us."

Ika allowed the Quincy a moments reprieve to curse and be irritated in peace. Johan had so few opportunities to curse his foes properly in his mother tongue, it would be almost rude to interrupt a moment such as this without a genuinely valid reason. Once he had regained his composure and spoke his piece, Ika would do his best to collect his own thoughts to retort with. "The humans are hardly bystanders at this stage, they've known about us for years now with the accords and such, it's just a shame their ability to defend themselves is so.. stunted."

Ika would sigh a bit, fiddling with his fingers in his pocket for a moment before situating them comfortably. "I can't tell you what to do, but until I can find a way to become more.. frequent around here, it might benefit you to try and find a way to gather those who can fight together. The Hollows are clearly feeling bold, no telling when they might choose to attack and exercise their current advantageous positon."

"True, the accords exist... I can't believe I forgot about that. But well, as for the stunted nature of humanity as a whole I've actually been working on a bit of a theory in my spare time." Johan grumbled quietly to himself while ruffling through his briefcase full of papers and notes before pulling out a small clipped stack and rapidly flipping through the pages. Once he found the place he had been looking for, Johan adjusted his glasses on his face before speaking as he donned the no-nonsense air of a lecturer.

"This is a hardline look at the facts, but as you may be aware knowledge of spiritual energy was much more widespread in the past. Mysticism was just as much a part of everyday life as the sun, the moon, and the stars." Johan then flipped to another page before he continued to speak. "However, there has been a... Drought of ambient spiritual power on Earth for some time now. Perhaps centuries. As far as I can tell, it appears to have been caused by a multitude of factors so it's hard to pin down how, where, and when the dominoes began to fall as it were. Even so, this gives potential hope. The readings from the new continent are off the charts, this much ambient spiritual energy ebbing and flowing could begin to trigger an uptick in the frequency of spiritually awakened beings on Earth. So I'll be spoiled for choice after a while... But I doubt we have that much time do we?" Putting his papers back with an exasperated sigh, Johan ran a hand through his hair with a tired look in his eyes. "I'll see what I can scrounge up. Erik shouldn't be too hard to find, at the very least."

Ika listened to Johan whimsically, his theories were well-founded as one would expect from an intellectual of his caliber and Ika himself had to admit he was a bit taken aback by them. "Fullbringers and spiritually active humans tend to be born out of high-levels of spiritual activity so perhaps you're right that this little incursion by the Hollows could be awakening something of a sleeping giant here in the Human World.. Fascinating, but what of the Quincy? The original protectors of this realm have their numbers begun to rebound? Any promising prospects in your ranks that might be able to help fight this particular scourge long enough for these powers to manifest?.."

Ika asked this question curtly before continuing on. "I suppose that's both of us asking the same question. Yes, I think we'll be able to hold out as long as needed, and if we can't we won't live to worry about it so.. not much to worry about, wouldn't you say?"

Ika would smirk, a small glimmer of sarcasm etched on his face as he awaited some form of cheeky response.