Failed Experiment
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach
….
It was hopeless. The captains could not possibly hope to defeat the Quincy without their bankai. The majority of captains were out of commission, unable to fight for one reason or another. Hitsugaya lay face down on the cold pavement, slowly feeling his life ebb away. Cang-Du and Bazz-B stood above them, bickering over who get the kill.
The irony…to be killed by my own zanpakuto. Hyorinmaru… Hitsugaya called out to his sword once more, but it refused to answer. Hitsugaya's eyes slid over to Matsumoto who was staring blankly at the sky as she slowly bled to death. He would curse, but he no longer had the strength. He didn't even have the ability to call out her name. I wonder where Komamura and Byakuya are…surely they are on their way here? He probably wouldn't get to see the success of the other captains. Even if they decided to abandon him, he would succumb to his wounds before the Fourth Division could find him.
"Hellooo~. Captains of the Gotei Thirteen and hello, vice-captains!" Hitsugaya forced his ears to listen in to the announcement. The annoying voice of Kisuke might be his only chance at survival. "I'm Kisuke Urahara! I think some of you might not know much about me, but…I'll introduce myself later."
Hitsugaya twitched impatiently. Both he and Sui-Feng were about to get brutally murdered and he was stalling with such idiocy. A black pill appear near his hand in a beam of white light. "At the same time as this communication, we also sent a black pill to where you are now. This drug only works for those who have bankai." Could it be…a way to get his bankai back? "Please touch it with either your hands, feet, or your sword."
Toshiro extended two forefingers, which was all he could move at the moment, to touch the black pill. A tingle began to spread from his hand and up his arm. "It will be absorbed from there and penetrate the inner side of your soul." He could already feel its effect on his body. Strangely enough, he felt his wounds beginning to regenerate. It was sluggish, but it was enough for him to regain his strength.
"What is that?" Cang Du commented from the sidelines. It was not worry, but curiosity. The man seemed to believe that nothing could change the tide of battle. A second later, the right wing on his back crumbled away in a shower of blood. "Why? What's going on…what did you do?" He stared at the broken wing and blood pouring from his wound with confusion.
HItsugaya forced himself into a slouched stance, Hyorinmaru grasped tightly in a clawed right hand. His bankai felt different from usual. He sensed a greater amount of reiatsu and a darker feeling. His chest was feeling tighter, and a wild instinct bore at his will to destroy the man in front of him. His left wing formed and the ice slowly began to crawl forming a tail behind him.
"My medallion is normal. Why is your bankai starting to return to you?"
Hitsugaya gasped for breath. "Who knows? Maybe Hyorinmaru…just wants to come back." Toshiro sensed a dark reitasu erupting from Soifon. It seems she is starting to recover as well. Our reiatsu feels darker and more powerful though…like a hollow's. Seconds later, the explosion from Soifon's bomb rocked the sky in a brilliant flash from miles away. It seems she's taken care of her side.
"Don't underestimate us. Do you think we were not trained to control the bankai after we took a hold of it?" Cand Du retorted calmly and launched himself towards the young captain. A metal claw was poised to strike on his right wrist. Instead of using his own weapon, he feigned and shot a beam of ice towards the white-haired boy.
The ice stopped short, frozen in midair. "Don't overdo it. It can't attack itself." The laughter evident in his voice must've made Cang Du angry. He lashed out with a kick towards Hitsugaya's back connecting with the solid wings on his back. Damn…it's getting harder to focus. I feel as if my conscious is fading in and out. My face is starting to burn as well. Just what did Kisuke do?
"You did it before too. Stop talking as if bankai have a soul." The captain extended his soul wing sending Cang Du flying and launched himself into the air above the Quincy's head. "Pantheism is not for me." He shot off towards the fleeing figure of the young captain.
"Do you really believe bankai do not have a soul?"
Yes. So it seems. The icy voice whispered into his head. It was no longer his imagination. Hyorinmaru had taken on a darker personality. Hitsugaya flexed his limbs at the surge of power. The insolent Quincy in front of him would die along with the rest of them.
"It's been awhile since I've heard your voice…" He said warmly, "Welcome back." The spiritual image of the ice dragon materialized behind him. Hitsugaya expanded his full wing span and stared coolly down at the Quincy. "…Hyorinmaru." Cand Du seemed surprised, but Toshiro continued unaware. "I thought your face was in pain but I see he said the bankai would be hollowfied for a second.
Cang Du cursed and put his fists together. He would destroy whatever the insolent child threw his way. "Strange…I feel like going on a rampage. Oh well, I suppose I should eliminate you first."
The boy is starting to form a hollow mask..! Cang Du thought with dread watching the draconian ears form from the white bone material of a hollow mask. Strangely enough it was mixed with ice giving it a blue tint. Hitsugaya's contrasting red and yellow eyes created an eerie sight even for a Quincy like him. "She Jin Zhao…!" The reishi beast surged forth towards the captain who was still staring coldly at him.
"The cross-shaped flower is Hyorinmaru's crest…" Cang Du froze in place as the ice erupted beneath his feet. He let out a scream, the ice creeping up his entire body silencing it before it could leave his mouth. Toshiro shivered in excitement at the screams coming from the man. He wanted to hear more screams. "Sorry for not making it into a pentagram." Now I have to save Matsumoto…Ghh! "Argghh!" Hitsugaya grasped his face in agony. "What…?" Is Kisuke's pill backfiring?! No!
…
Kisuke hummed to himself in disapproval. The pills had been working but he was getting a strange reading from the monitor. He motioned to a nearby lab assistant.
"What do you need, Kisuke sir?"
"Bring me up a monitor on the locations of all captains within the Seireitei who have had their bankai stolen. I'm getting strange fluctuations in their reiatsu."
"Right away sir!" There was a flurry of tapping and the four monitors popped up with visuals. "…!"
"This…! I should've foreseen this would happen. See if you can get them on our side long enough to destroy the enemy before detaining them!"
"It seems that your little experiment has failed, Kisuke." Mayuri spat from the sidelines.
"I failed to calculate a proper stabilization for those who had already lost their bankai. The data suggested that the power levels would be equalized just like those who still have their bankai."
"Your 'little failure' is going to cost them." Mayuri replied snidely. Mayuri would never let Kisuke live this down. After all the years of being outdone by Kisuke, he finally had something to gloat about. Up on the screen, the visual of a hollowfying Hitsugaya stood on the ledge of a roof. Half of his body had already been encased in a white ice taking on the form of a dragon. A wild look could be seen in his sole teal eye.
The other three were suffering similar fates. Byakuya was already heading back and was no longer under the palace's jurisdiction. His form would eventually be a mix between a falcon and a hawk. Soifon was wailing in agony, her transformation progressing faster than any other, as Omeada could only watch with pain etched on his face. Soifon would be a bumble bee based on the stripes lining her body. Lastly, Komamura had resisted the best. There was no reason to even contemplate what he would be—a wolf.
All the others bankai wielders were fine. Kisuke grit his teeth. He had sentenced everyone to death in the process of trying to save their lives. "If we can't get them to come over to our side after the hollowfication stops, we'll have no choice." All eyes on the room turned to Urahara. A deathly silence descended on the room.
Kisuke pulled his green-striped bucket hat over his eyes. In a solemn voice he continued, "…we'll have no choice but to eliminate them."
...
Hitsugaya redirected his attention to Bazz-B with a grin of insanity. He intoned in a low voice, "You wouldn't happen to be able to seal wounds now would you?" Bazz-B shivered in an unknown fear. The power radiating of the shinigami was no longer pure. It was tainted and menacing with a primordial fear. On top of that, the captain's reiatsu seemed to have tripled in the blink of an eye.
"What are you?"
Hitsugaya flexed his clawed hands. "Who knows." His voice echoed. "Huh. That's strange. My voice sounds different." The grinning dragon mask turned back to Bazz-B. "On second thought…I just want to rip you to shreds."
…
"I'll have you know I'm not a doggie."Komamura growled as he brought down a giant fist.
….
"Captain Soifon! Why are you doing this?"
"Your annoying. I'll deal with you later." Soifon hissed. Glowing yellow eyes observed the surrounding area. "But first I feel like killing some Quincies ."
…
"No one steals my bankai." Byakuya growled. "I do believe some carnage is in order."
…
"Captain Kurotsuchi! This is bad! They are all converging on one point!" Kisuke nodded and drew Benehime.
"I'll do my best to stall them. Everyone work together to herd the enemy!" I am going to have to take matters into my own hand.
It was his failed experiment after all.
…
A/N : I'll leave it you guys to decide what happens next. I may continue this next if people really really want to see it, but right now it's just a sloppy one shot based on one of the recent chapters. For those of you reading Afterlife, I'm almost done with my revisions; however, I probably won't get around to actually updating until the summer. I won't make any excuses. Be mad with me all you want.
Challenge: I would like to see someone else do a spin on this. It could take place during any time frame, not necessarily during the Blood War. How? You decide on that. The main character(s) cannot be Ichigo. I think there are too many fics with Ichigo not to mention it would be cliché. However, if you like you can make him a supporting character.
