Grimmjow thought he should already get used to Szayel's Aporro's madness and Aizen's unpredictability. Taking into consideration that the former had much to do with the latter, Grimmjow grew to fear Aizen's "tea parties" since it was exactly during these meetings (when no-one drank tea apart from Aizen himself anyway - and, of course, toady Ulquiorra) that the current boss of Hueco Mundo used to inform "his dear Espada" about his another idea how to diversify an Arrancar existence in Las Noches. Had it been up to him, Grimmjow wouldn't attend these meetings at all - unfortunately, Espada had been obliged to participate in them in one of very few direct and definite orders Aizen had ever given.
Grimmjow was sitting - safely - far away from water, letting the sun warm up his back. It was an illusion, of course, since the fake sun of Las Noches didn't give any warmth. Yet, somewhere deep in his brain was an encoded information that he liked to bask in the sun, so he decided to follow that primary instinct. Since it wasn't cold in the palace, he could easily imagine the sun beat down nicely. Aizen ordered everyone to "enjoy themselves"... so Grimmjow closed his eyes and tried, for once, to fulfil his boss' command, internally visualizing a nice idyll and making himself believe he got pleasure out of this blissful moment...
But how the hell was he expected to relax in that continuous hum?
Grimmjow sat up and cast a hateful glance at the sapphire surface.
Aizen - who knew what was in his head? - had probably decided to change Hueco Mundo into the world both prosperous and self-sufficient, although - in Grimmjow's opinion - it had been exactly like this since the very beginning. In Aizen's vision it had to mean the development of sandy land and making it similar to Soul Society or the Real World, what was scandalous itself. For what other reason he would create the rivers and streams on the barren desert? Hueco Mundo had been distinguished between other worlds by its total lack of water. Who would have thought that one stupid habit - Aizen's passion for the tea - would cause such a disaster? Aizen had brought the water with him and then ordered Szayel Aporro to replicate it with no limit. Szayel had got down to it eagerly... and so one day Grimmjow had waken up, looked outside the window and asked himself, "Did we have a lake in Las Noches before?"
The reservoir of water, spreading on the sand of the palace, had quickly become an object of general curiosity. Barragan's industrious Fracción had set to utilization of the shore right away, and soon the real amusement park had grown there - or, at least, the kiosk with beer and ice-cream, and the rental of mattress and lifebelt, not to mention roofed wicker chairs. The Espada and the rest of inhabitants of Las Noches had never suffered from the overwork, and thus the beach - such a novelty! - had aroused an understandable interest. In the sunny days - which meant non-stop - the sand became covered with the sunshades, and the coastal waters sparkled with the blaze of colourful swimsuits...
Grimmjow looked that way, squinting his eyes. Of course, Harribel's Fracción were the most pleased with the lake. Grimmjow snorted. He didn't know why girls liked the beach so much, but he had to admit it was worth looking. Well, except for the flat-chested Apache, but Mila-Rose... Grimmjow whistled, staring at Liona's curves. In addition, even Sun Sun turned out to be a hot stuff when she had taken her veil off and changed to something less formal and more exposing. The chicks were playing beach cero now, and Apache was apparently losing. After a while, a small storm broke out at the water, Poww and Charlotte of Barragan's Fracción falling the victim to it. Poww didn't react since he usually needed more time than others to do so, while Charlotte jumped to his feet and started to wring water out of his hair, cursing the manners of girls of today. A medium tsunami tinged with Apache's red cero washed him away and past the next dune. Poww sat unmoved, staring at the glittering surface and the ship on it.
Grimmjow gaze went in that direction too. Ggio had turned out to be gifted not only as an architect, but as a mechanic as well. Not even two days had passed since the lake appeared, when Ggio had been already well into building a ship for Barragan in Szayel's laboratory. No-one knew where that idea had come from, but the whole Fracción was of the opinion that Barragan'd had to have a ship and rule over his realm from her deck. That apart, regardless of his age - or, perhaps, exactly because of it - Barragan was the one who welcomed Aizen's all innovations with the greatest enthusiasm, even if he didn't show it. Well, he was one of the oldest residents of Hueco Mundo, and the boredom had to be tenfold as cruel as for example for Grimmjow, who didn't belong to the most busiest people here either.
Now, Segunda Espada stood on the bridge, arms folded, and gave the captain's orders to Findor, who apparently played the part of the first officer or some other admiral. Ggio held the helm and guided the ship smoothly through the surf, complaining at the perfect weather that didn't give him a chance to prove himself. Avirama occupied the crow's nest and observed the scenery with his eagle eye, from time to time shouting back at Ggio about the lack of any interesting objects in sight. Nirgge was the fifth member of the crew and apparently took care of everything else - at the moment he was washing the deck, singing the laudatum of King Barragan at the top of his voice. It annoyed Apache, who kept firing her cero at him, but she managed to hit him only once, which affected only the quality of Niggre's yell and made the situation much worse.
In the meantime, the girls finished their fighting - probably after one of the waves had went dangerously close to Harribel's head. Grimmjow cast a glance at Tres Espada lying on the sand and purred. Not that Harribel's swimsuit revealed more of her attractions than her normal outfit - it was impossible. He had to admit her dark skin looked very alluring on the gold sand. For a moment, Grimmjow considered the possibility of making the closer acquaintance with Harribel - here, in this idyllic scenery, it seemed almost possible - but then Harribel rolled over, and Grimmjow spotted the number on her breast. He gulped. Harribel wasn't the type to let people get away with touching her, even if it was something as innocent as scratching behind the ears... Grimmjow feared that if, by any case, she assumed anything involving her and him at the same time, Grimmjow would merely play the role of a tame kitty. That option didn't sit well with him since he considered himself a dominant male. Well, it seemed the only option left for him was to find himself someone submissive...
He turned his head. Not so far away sat Ulquiorra accompanied by his woman and tried to look everywhere but her. Aizen had been so kind to let the chick "go out, play and have a breath of air". Grimmjow wondered if Aizen knew what he had exposed Bat to... He had accidentally overheard their conversation. "On the beach?" she had asked. "But I can't go like this," she had added, probably pointing at the ample outfit covering her from head to foot. Now she hardly had anything on her, and Ulquiorra didn't know what to do with his eyes. He himself only behindhand realized he had to look like an idiot with his uniform zipped up to the neck... and he loosened his collar. Grimmjow rolled his eyes, while the girl smiled approvingly. "Perhaps in next two days Bat will show the chick his chest," Grimmjow ironically commented the pace of Cuatro Espada. Well, he had always been slow with things, after all... Grimmjow cast an evaluative glance at the girl and snorted. Earth girls weren't his type. Okay, she had nice hair, red and all, but the rest wasn't worth the bother.
He turned his head the opposite direction, where Nnoitra was lying under the parasol. Inseparable Tesla was occupied with rubbing the sun-tail oil into the white skin of his back, which he did in absolute concentration and an expression clearly indicating that he was the happiest person in this world - and two others as well. No-one was looking, so Grimmjow aimed the cero in the closest dune... Nnoitra, all of the sudden showered with sand, jumped to his feet and started to yell the curses. For a moment, Grimmjow wondered whether the sight of Quinto Espada stuck with sand, prancing and swinging his limbs around was funny or repulsive. It wasn't the end of show, though, for Nnoitra had no choice but to wash the sand off, and Tesla was pulling him already towards the water. The golden cero flew by Fracción's ear, so he let go of Nnoitra, but the next moment Nnoitra staggered to him anyway after another cero had hit the ground under his feet. Both of them, the tangle of arms and legs, rolled to the lake - at least Nnoitra shouted the threats at Grimmjow, but Tesla made sounds of totally different meaning. Grimmjow, after a while, decided that helping those two in their mutual advances filled him with disgust and he changed the object of his interest.
Tōsen and Wonderweiss were making the sand miniature of Las Noches, and Grimmjow had to admit they really succeeded in it. Of course, "Aizen-sama" made of shells on the roof of the palace could puzzle people - for all Grimmjow's knowledge, the original didn't contain anything like this. Only after a while he realized Wonderweiss must have overheard Zommari, who was sitting near and repeating Aizen's name as a mantra, meditating in the lotus position. Only after another while Grimmjow realized Wonderweiss apparently was literate - which was a shock far greater than where the shells on the desert of Hueco Mundo came from.
Also Lilynette was occupied with sand formation; however, she was interested in an anthropomorphic sculpture. Starrk was sleeping like a log under the ton of sand that Lilynette made into his image like a relief on the tomb. She didn't skip any detail, and Grimmjow wondered how the brat was so knowledgeable about the anatomy of male Arrancar. Anyway, Starrk's sculpture was done already, and now Lilynette, her sight of a hungry child with the considerable imagination, looked at Yammy, sprawled out on the sand, snoring and grinning widely, after ingesting a proper amount of alcohol.
The culprit of this carnival, Szayel Aporro, hadn't appeared at all - the only thing he enjoyed was his laboratory. Who could have thought that Szayel was so stiff in his madness? The absence of Aaroniero was obvious since the sunlight was toxic for him - no-one missed him anyway. Aizen didn't want to make his "dear Espada" uneasy, so he hadn't come, sending Gin as a substitution. Gin didn't stand out, laying on the sand and reading a magazine, although he looked strangely lone, accompanied only by Loly and Menoly, who ignored him completely. They kept talking in the low voices and glaring at Ulquiorra's woman hatefully. Grimmjow had never known Bat was so popular with the women of Las Noches...
Grimmjow cast another glance at the girl, who looked around with her eyes of a helpless lamb. Who would think that it was due to this chick that the world was to shake? Grimmjow knew that the rescue team had got into Hueco Mundo already and was heading for Las Noches. Aizen, however, had forbidden the Espada any action, and although waiting had never been in Grimmjow's nature, this time he had decided to obey the boss' order, motivating himself with an old saying of Hollows: the longer you chase the soul, the tastier it becomes. He could patiently wait in Las Noches instead of running around Hueco Mundo, and if his opponent couldn't reach him, it meant he was too weak. Grimmjow prohibited himself from thinking of what he would do when he finally laid his hands on Shinigami, but the vision was undoubtedly delightful...
For now, he could as well bask in the fake sun that didn't give any warmth...
A momentary end of the world came the next second.
A rumble was heard. The sun went out. In the middle of the lake a fountain spurted out up to the invisible vault of Las Noches, while the lake itself burst its bank.
When the world came to normal, the scenery was a pitiful sight.
Grimmjow was snorting and shaking off the water. Nnoitra was drifting the desk from Barragan's ship, Tesla clutching by his leg and screaming he couldn't swim and didn't want to die yet. The ship itself had prematurely evolved into the wreck, and his crew was sloshing around in the coastal water, not very bothered with this sudden "hit and sunken". Avirama was swearing at Ggio, who supposedly had wanted to prove himself, while Findor blamed Avirama for not spotting the upcoming danger in time. Soon, Ggio started to draw up project of a new ship, and that was it for the argument. Poww survived the great water intact, still sitting where he had sat before - it was possible that he hadn't perceived anything at all. Charlotte, resembling the little mermaid, cried due to the seaweeds entangled in his hair - but Grimmjow, even if he tried, couldn't see any deterioration of his looks.
Harribel and her Fracción had evacuated immediately with sonido, and Barragan and Ulquiorra had done the same. The latter had been forced to more concrete action towards his woman - before they had disappeared, Grimmjow had spotted Cuarto Espada take off the top of his outfit and cover the girl, while she had looked at him with sunbeamy eyes. At least he could be happy with the cataclysm, Grimmjow thought, removing the water from his ears.
Starrk hadn't notice anything and continued sleeping, even though the great wave had washed the sand away along with Lilynette. No trace of Wonderweiss' and Tousen's Las Noches was left either. Wonderweiss, with inexhaustible energy typical for children, get down to building the new one, but Tōsen needed more time to recover. Zommari and Yammy weren't so lucky, sharing Lilynette's fate. Zommari's voice "Aizen-sama Banzai Banzai Banzai!" rang for a moment in the distance.
Gin looked like a drowned rat, although it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. He looked at his empty hands and sighed to himself. "Seireitei Communication... It came only today mornin'. It's good I managed to read the poetry corner." He looked in the sky, blue and sunny again. "Szayel Aporro told tha' the environmental system is linked wit' the security. Someone must've broken the latter, and the balance was disrupted." He stood up. "We have to go and change. Surely we'll hear from Captain Aizen about the intruders in a moment. Speakin' of what, I didn' expect it would take them so short time..."
Grimmjow didn't hear him. He teleported to his quarters with a feeling of growing excitement. "Visitors? We have to receive them properly," he thought, grinning wildly and reaching for his Zanpakutō.
Welcome to Las Noches, Kurosaki.