In the dark confines of the laboratory beneath the Twelfth Division barracks, a roomful of large operating tables was a little more crowded than usual. Many bodies of all different shapes and sizes were arrayed on them with thin white blankets covering them; if someone were to take a closer look, they would notice that the majority of the bodies displayed mask pieces that clearly marked them as Arrancar.

Someone more knowledgeable of Arrancar would also note that they were not restrained by shackles, binding kido, or any other means… as if they were assumed dead and therefore no threat to the researchers, despite the fact that their bodies were still intact and had not yet dispersed into spirit particles as all of their kind did shortly after their moment of death.

While most of the unconscious and wounded Arrancar remained still, the largest of the bodies coughed once and shifted slightly. For a moment, a few of his massive fingers twitched. The wounds that had caused him to lose consciousness had begun to heal, and he was almost ready to awaken.

And, as Captain Kurotsuchi and other members of his squad were about to find out, not restraining this particular Arrancar was a big mistake…

Chapter 1

~ I Ain't Dead Yet, Bitch! ~

The large Arrancar groaned slightly as he came to, noticing that he was still sore from his last battle even though his slow regeneration had already sealed his wounds and he was no longer at risk of death. His eyes slowly opened up for the first time in what must have been days, staring up at the ceiling above him. It was too dark to see much of anything, but it was clear he wasn't in Hueco Mundo anymore.

"Huh," he thought, "Where the hell am I?"

A strange screechy noise from the next room caused him to pause for a moment in an attempt to figure out what it was. After a few seconds of listening (and waking up further) it became clear that the "noise" was in fact a voice. A high-pitched, creepy voice, to be specific.

"My, my," the voice said, "This little one's awake already? I'll have to prepare a stronger tranquilizer…"

More importantly than the human-like voice, however, was what sounded an awful lot like the whimper of a puppy. This was soon followed by a pained bark. The Arrancar's eyes widened; he was now fully awake, post-battle soreness be damned. He threw off his sheet and sat upright, then threw himself down from the table, his massive weight cracking the floor's tiles as he landed.

In the next room over, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi's attention was suddenly diverted away from his next test subject (who hopped off of the table and scurried away) by the thump from the room where all of the bodies from Hueco Mundo were being stored, followed shortly afterward by a series of heavy footsteps.

"One of them is awake?", he thought, noticing that the little dog Arrancar had escaped his clutches but not particularly caring about that development at the moment. "But how? Surely they were all…"

He thought about it for just a moment more, staring in the direction of the door… until, that is, the shape of a muscular Arrancar—too large to actually walk through the door like a normal person–came smashing through and sending shards of broken stone flying everywhere. Mayuri recognized this one immediately—not just any Arrancar, but the only Espada he had been able to collect from the battlefield.

"Ah… Yammy Rialgo," he said, reaching for his zanpakuto with one hand but not yet drawing it. "The Decima Espada… or was it Cero Espada? I suppose it doesn't matter that much now that you're here."

Yammy stared at the odd little man in front of him. Was this guy a Soul Reaper, or something else? He was dressed like one all right, but with that crazy mask, he looked more like some kind of Hollow at first glance. But he couldn't be an Arrancar, none of his mask was missing...

"Damn," Yammy thought, "Gettin' a headache already… all this thinkin' ain't any good."

He shook his head for a moment, then took a step forward and stared at the masked Captain, his face twisting into a snarl.

"Hey, you!", he yelled, pointing one meaty finger at the Soul Reaper, "You the bastard who's been messing with Kukkapuro?"

Mayuri blinked. What in the world was a "Kukkapuro?" For a moment, all of the data he had recorded on Yammy flashed through his mind; he recalled the moment he had found the giant Arrancar lying wounded and bleeding in the simulated sand of Las Noches' massive training room. That dog Arrancar that refused to leave his side…

"Kukkapuro," the Captain said, cocking his head to his side slightly. "Hmm… quite an unusual name. Is that perhaps that small canine Arrancar that I found with you?"

A vein in Yammy's forehead twitched. Now he knew that this freak was the one responsible. He lunged forward and took a swing at Mayuri, only narrowly missing as the Captain flash-stepped out of the way at the last moment. The nearest table was not so lucky; being unable to move aside, half of it was instantly crushed to dust by the force of the impact. The Soul Reaper reappeared a few yards away on the other side of the room, waving one finger at his opponent while keeping his other hand firmly on the hilt of his zanpakuto.

"Yes… exactly as the reports said," Mayuri mused to himself. "Nothing more than a raging brute, smashing away without so much as a thought to strategy."

He began to unsheathe his sword, flash-stepping away again in mid-draw to avoid another powerful punch that left a crater in the wall behind where he had been standing. When he reappeared behind Yammy, he was holding his sealed Zanpakuto, pointing it in the Arrancar's direction.

"And you're rather slow as well," he continued, mocking every aspect of Yammy's fighting style. "I wonder, will I even need to release my Shikai to get you under control?"

Yammy growled and charged in once again.

"Damn… the little bug just won't stand still!", he thought, swinging and missing once, then again, and then a third time. "Doesn't even try to counterattack, just keeps running away and running his mouth!"

Mayuri glanced to the side for a moment as he dodged yet another clumsy punch. He was having no difficulty avoiding the Arrancar's attacks, but if this kept up for much longer, his lab would end up being smashed to pieces. Yammy yelled and swung at the Captain from across the room, this time launching a Bala in his direction rather than a simple punch; this time, he managed to catch his opponent off guard, and Mayuri was sent flying backward, landing flat on his back ontop of one of his own laboratory tables.

"Ha ha!", Yammy laughed, flexing his arm as the red energy of the Bala still crackled around it. "Gotcha that time, ya Hollow-lookin' freak!"

He paused for just a moment and then opened his mouth wide, beginning to charge up a powerful Cero blast. Mayuri noticed the reddish glow that had begun to fill the room and flash-stepped away just in time to avoid it as it tore through the table and blew a hole through the wall behind it, shaking the entire Twelfth Division barracks and causing the lower-ranking Soul Reapers above to wonder if the Seireitei had just been hit by a small earthquake. As he came to a stop behind Yammy, he readied his sword and took a deep breath; the Espada was proving to be a more difficult opponent than he had expected, especially in such a confined space.

"Hmph… it appears I've underestimated your luck," he said, raising his sword in Yammy's direction and causing him to turn once again. "Speaking of which, that ends now. Claw out… Ashisogi Jizō."

Mayuri's sword began to glow with a strange light, the shape of its blade shifting from an ordinary katana to a distorted three-pronged weapon adorned with what appeared to be the image of a monstrous baby's face. Its mouth opened slightly, releasing a puff of some sort of noxious-looking gas; Yammy's nose wrinkled at the sight of it, though he didn't notice any actual smell from where he was standing.

"What? Your sword just got smaller," he blurted out, scratching his head for a moment before shifting back into a battle stance. "What're you gonna do with that little thing, make it burp on me or somethin'?"

Mayuri rolled his eyes.

"You'll see," he said, raising the transformed zanpakuto and lunging forward for a strike.

Yammy stepped back just in time to avoid this first attack, but when the next one came he wasn't so lucky; Ashisogi Jizō's central point pierced his left arm just below the shoulder as Mayuri thrust it upward, managing to pierce the Arrancar's hierro but not causing any serious damage.

"Huh… that was it?", Yammy said, glancing down at the little pinprick of an injury and wiping away the small amount of blood that had leaked out. "Damn… you were better off with that sword you had before, ya dumbass! At least that thing might've—gah!"

Mayuri grinned. Finally, his Shikai's ability had taken hold of the big Arrancar; Yammy's legs buckled and he crashed to the ground, becoming unable to stand as he lost control of his limbs. His fall cracked several more of the floor tiles, but compared to the destruction he had already caused, this was no big deal; all of the damage could easily be fixed later, after all.

"Guh… what the… what the hell's goin' on!?", Yammy yelled. Though his arms and legs had gone limp when he had fallen, his big mouth was working just as well as ever. "Damn it… I can't move! What'd you do to me, you bastard!?"

"What you are experiencing now is the ability of my zanpakuto, Ashisogi Jizō," he explained, "The nerve operations connecting your brain to your limbs have been cut off… so you find yourself unable to move. Quite a useful ability when it comes to collecting specimens, I must say."

Yammy gritted his teeth and growled.

"Can't move my arms… legs either… damn it! I'm… I'm stuck!"

The Arrancar stared up at the Captain as he slowly approached him, reverting his zanpakuto to its sealed form once again. He raised it up and then brought it down, leaving a shallow gash across Yammy's exposed back.

"However, as you have surely realized … only those nervous signals responsible for moving your limbs have been sealed away."

He swung once again, crossing over the previous wound with another long scrape that was far from life-threatening (thanks to Yammy's hierro) but still hurt like heck.

"Those responsible for pain, on the other hand, are quite functional."

Yammy winced as Mayuri raked his back with his zanpakuto several more times, leaving a crisscrossing network of cuts behind. Even when he had his arm lopped off in one shot by that Ichigo kid, even when he found himself tumbling down five floors of Las Noches when that Quincy had caught him in a trap, he had never felt so helpless. He had never before felt so… stupid.

And this made him angry. Very angry.

"Hmm?", Mayuri mumbled to himself, noticing something different about the air in the room. Yammy's spiritual power was overflowing; at first it was only felt, but soon it became visible as well, surrounding the big Arrancar's entire body with a flame-like aura of red and orange. "What's this? Do you have some trick left up your sleeve that wasn't mentioned in my data?"

Yammy just growled in response. His power continued to surge, so much so that he regained function of one of his own arms through sheer will; Mayuri's Shikai simply did not have enough power behind it to contain him any longer. Regaining control over his legs, he raised himself into a kneeling pose and then from there struggled a bit to pull himself completely to his feet. It was at this point that Mayuri realized that Yammy's hand was on the hilt of his zanpakuto, and that what was happening was in his data after all…

"Enrage!", he shouted, standing up to his full height as his surging power finally became so great that it completely broke the hold that Mayuri's zanpakuto had over his limbs. "Ira!"

Mayuri's eyes widened as he remembered just how large Yammy was about to become… and just small the room they were in was.

"Oh dear," he said, staring ahead like a deer in the headlights as Yammy began to rapidly increase in size right in front of him. "This… is going to hurt."