Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit fictional story, a FanFiction based on Ken Akamatsu's Negima. I do not own Negima, or most of the other characters included in this work, excepting where it is stated in the author's notes. It is not intended or presented for any commercial profit or personal gain; it is simply a story written for personal fulfillment and presented for public enjoyment, and as an honest homage to the fine story conceived and written by Ken Akamatsu, as well as all the other (innumerable) works that find place herein (and their authors).
Chapter One: Pillars of the Throne
Yumichika and Charlotte swung their swords at each other, clashing violently and with little actual displays of strategy or skill, screaming at each other. They broke off after a time and continued to hurl epithets at each other, each one railing against the other's aesthetics and concepts of beauty.
Finally they both broke off, panting. "Well," Charlotte said finally. "It seems we won't be able to talk things out. So let's simplify things. Whoever dies is the ugly one."
"I like it," Yumichika replied. "Now I'll prove I'm superior…in both strength and beauty."
"Heh. You just keep talking, don't you? I guess I'll have to get a little serious."
Charlotte raised his sword and held it up. Then, after giving a kiai, he leapt towards Yumichika, spinning over and over like a wheel as he descended on the Soul Reaper. "The Deadly-Yet-Beautiful Charlotte Chuhlhourne's Miraculous-Sweet-Ultra-Funky-Fantastic-Dramatic-Romantic-Sadistic-Erotic-Exotic-Athletic Guillotine Attack!"
Yumichika, mesmerized by the inanity of the strange attack and its name, didn't flee from it, but instead took the attack on his sword when Charlotte finally arrived. The force of it fully overwhelmed him, throwing him down and into a massive asteroid below.
"Oh dear," Charlotte murmured. "Is he dead? Was that attack simply too…much?"
As he spoke the last word, he curved his sword back behind his head to block Yumichika's attack as the man suddenly appeared behind him. He turned, throwing the Soul Reaper away.
Yumichika stood staring at Charlotte, panting. ('That damn gorilla-brute…that one attack broke my left arm in three places….')
"You seem fine!" Charlotte declared. "That's good. I'd expect no less from my rival!"
Yumichika smirked. "Rival? I suppose I should feel honored, but I feel no pleasure in being thought of as the equal of someone with such a terrible haircut."
Charlotte's eyes widened as he realized that his long, wavy locks had been shorn several inches short on his left side. Rage consumed him. "You ugly skunk!" he roared. "Glitter…Reina de Rosas [Queen of Roses]!"
After the glittering explosion of smoke had cleared, Charlotte appeared…in an outfit too horrifying to actually describe, save it be to say that, had this outfit been on a female, it would have been quite provocative indeed. Charlotte, naturally, was also posing dramatically, and Yumichika, staring, could do nothing but burst out into raucous laughter.
Charlotte began to attempt to describe the aesthetics and meanings of his dress, but couldn't communicate a word over Yumichika's outburst.
Ikkaku, still battling Poww, looked up in surprise. "That sounds…like Yumichika laughing…but in the middle of a fight? That can't be right…."
After Yumichika had finally ceased his guffaws, Charlotte considered him with pity. "It's all right. I understand. It's just impossible for ugly people to fathom my beauty. But that's okay. Insensitivity to beauty isn't a crime…it's just tragic. To live life with faulty sensibilities is truly pitiable. Therefore…as a being of ultimate beauty…it is my duty to end your suffering."
With yet another overlong, senseless, inane name, Charlotte powered up, cupped his hands in a heart shape at his chest, and fired a heart-shaped pink cero at Yumichika.
"That's just a normal cero!" screamed Yumichika. Although he was technically correct, it was a wide-area cero, and Yumichika was only barely able to dodge the blast.
And Charlotte came bursting through the smoke. "It's over!" he said sweetly, and began to pummel him.
Yumichika fended off the attacks as desperately as he could, but it was a losing battle. "Not yet!" he insisted. "Bloom, Fuji Kujaku [Wisteria Peacock]!"
Yumicka's sword shortened slightly, curved the opposite direction like a druid's sickle, then fanned out in multiple blades like a fan. As he swung it towards Charlotte, the arrancar just smirked and grabbed the entire collection of blades. "Do you think more blades will help?" He then head-butted Yumichika in the face.
Charlotte held up his badly beaten foe by the collar as he alighted on one of the asteroids floating around. "I said it's over," Charlotte declared. "And when the princess says that it's over, it's over." Creeping black rose vines summoning forth solid darkness began to rise up around them, encapsulating the pair. A huge white rose bloomed in the midst of the darkness behind Charlotte
Yumichika glanced up blearily at the changing scene and the brilliant flower. "What…is this…?"
"Rosa Blanca [White Rose]," Charlotte explained kindly. "My most beautiful and cruel technique. Within this mass of black thorns, where no one can see you, you will die, surrounded by white petals."
"Where no one…can see me…?" Yumichika murmured.
"That's right. Your death will not be seen by a single soul. I cannot imagine any crueler fate for one who prides himself on his appearance, wouldn't you say?"
"I see…not seen by a single soul…thank you."
Yumichika's eyes flashed and with a sudden burst of energy. He broke from Charlotte's grip and alighted upon the ground a fair distance from his foe. He raised up his sword as the energy surged. "Tear with frenzy, Ruri-Iro Kujaku [Azure Peacock]!"
Yumichika's sword blades disappeared, becoming instead a mass of plantlike vines that shot out and began to wrap around Charlotte. The arrancar's surprise swiftly turned to anger and he began to release his spiritual power to rip his way free of the bindings. "Don't bother," Yumichika advised him. "Look." Charlotte looked at the vines, and saw flowers blooming from them with alarming speed. "Those flowers grow by feeding on your spiritual pressure; the more reiatsu you release, the faster they grow. Once they bloom…you're finished, Charlotte Chuhlhourne!"
Charlotte screamed in anguish as the leeching vines finished their work, and his power drained away, leaving his rose, his black dome of thorns, and even his released armor all shattering and falling away.
The fully-bloomed flowers scattered and blew away into the wind, disappearing after a few moments. Yumichika, his left arm still dangling uselessly at his side, caught one blossom carefully in his sword hand and then put one of the petals in his mouth. "I'll take just a little bit of your power," he declared softly, and sheathed his restored sword. "Thank you."
Charlotte, gasping out his last moments, suddenly exclaimed to his foe: "Y-you…no fair…you had…a secret weapon. That's…Bankai,isn't it? The sword's second release?"
"No," Yumichika denied. "That wasn't a Bankai. Ruri-Iro Kujaku is the real name of my zanpaku-tô."
"Real name!?"
"Ruri-Iro is an unusual sword. He has a favorite color. He prefers the color azure, and detests wisteria. So when I call him 'Fuji Kujaku', he hates it, and sulks, and only does a partial release."
"Then why would you call it that?" Charlotte demanded in disbelief.
Yumichika was silent a moment as he cast away his drained flower and watched it dissipate. "I'm part of 11th Company, the ultimate combat unit of the Gotei 13. It's a unit of nothing but fighting fools. So we have an unspoken rule that we only use our zanpaku-tô for direct attacks. Anyone in the 11th Company who uses a kidô-type zanpaku-tô is treated like a coward. Because of that, I can't allow anyone in my company to see this technique, especially not Ikkaku or the Captain. That's why you have my thanks for obscuring me with those thorns. If you hadn't hidden me with that technique, I never would have fully released my sword. No matter what happened."
"…Even if it…meant losing to me…?"
"Even if it meant dying," Yumichika confirmed.
Charlotte smiled slightly. "You're quite a guy," he murmured, and closed his eyes for the last time.
8-8-8
Renji blocked Findor's attacks almost with ennui. He suddenly pushed forward aggressively, repulsing Findor. The arrancar recoiled, desperately fending off the attacks, and finally managed a hasty withdrawal without suffering any injuries…but it was a very near thing.
"Give me a break," Renji growled. "Stop wasting my time. You said you'd come at me with the power of a lieutenant, but I'd say you're fighting with no more strength than a 5th seat. Either you're severely underinformed about our power and a weakling to boot, or you're just playing games with me…and I'm in no mood for them today."
Findor actually smiled back at his foe. "Exacto!" he declared, pointing at him. "I was fighting at a 5th seat level and you perceived it exactly! You pass, Lieutenant. I'd expect no less of an assistant captain. I had to test you to see if you could perceive the level of my fighting ability. Otherwise, even if I did fight you at the level of a lieutenant, you might not realize it."
"…So you're saying you can fight at the exact level of a lieutenant?"
"Exacto. Right now, I am at 5th seat level, Lieutenant. And now…." Findor raised his offhand…and suddenly smashed his wrist blade into the top of his mask, cracking it. "…I'm 4th seat!"
Findor dashed forward. Renji repelled the attack easily, but noted that it was evidently stronger than before. As Findor came back around, he slashed away the left side corner of his mask. "My power grows the more my mask is destroyed. Third seat!" he declared as he again matched blades with Renji. He again leapt away, and then smashed apart the whole left side of his mask, revealing an eye surrounded by colorful makeup. "And this is…lieutenant!"
He leapt at Renji with renewed fierceness. Renji found himself quite pressed this time. Finally Findor threw Renji back with one savage swing. "What's wrong, Lieutenant!? Surely such a display is pathetic, for one at the level of an assistant captain to push around another of the same level so easily…." He charged in again.
"Howl, Zabimaru!" Renji's snake-like sword met him en route. Findor blocked the attack with confidence, but was shocked when the force of it threw him away.
"Stop calling me 'Lieutenant'," Renji growled as the sword returned to him. "The name is Abarai Renji. Remember it. It's important to know the name of the man that kills you."
Findor smirked. "Oh…excuse me. You're right; it's proper protocol to know and use each other's name. I am Findor Calius, fracción of his Majesty, King Barragan Luisenbarn. And, if you've released…I should honor you by reciprocating. Carve upon the water…Pinzer Aguda [Sharp Pincer]!"
Findor's transformation did nothing to his newly-broken mask, but armored the right side of his torso and leg, as well as covering both arms in claws—his left in just a pincer-like glove, but his entire right arm became one massive crab pincer.
"So that's your 'resurreción'?" Renji demanded. "Well, let's see if it's any good."
Findor smirked again. "You're underestimating me? No es exacta. No good, Lieutenant. Ah, excuse me; Abarai Renji."
Findor disappeared. Renji leapt out of the way as he used the sonído to slip behind him, and Findor's massive claw sheared through the ground where he had just been standing.
"You dodged it! Exacta! Good reflexes!" crowed Findor, pursuing his prey.
"That 'exacta' business is getting damn annoying," growled Renji. He whirled on his foe and let his sword snake out. Findor dodged, but Renji pulled on the sword, and it came back around and hit Findor in the back. The blow didn't seem to inflict much damage, but it forced Findor away and Renji raced in pursuit.
"Are you sure this is 'the level of an assistant captain'?" Renji taunted. "You don't seem that hot to me! Howl, Zabimaru!"
Findor blocked the first attack directly with his large claw, twisted aside to avoid the second attack, and then was knocked off balance as the snakelike sword ravaged the cliff face above him, dropping it on top of the arrancar. Renji leapt onto him as the sword returned to him. "It's over, Findor Calius!"
"You think so!?" Findor shot back. His large claw opened and suddenly a stream of high-pressure water shot from it. Renji halted and turned just in time to avoid the attack, and then watched it shear through an asteroid hanging in the air above him, cutting it in half. As he stared at it in shock, Findor suddenly appeared above and behind him. "What are you looking at!?" he cried, and sent Renji flying with a kick.
Renji exploded into a pile of rocks, and Findor stood gloating above him in the air. "You're not bad, I'll give you that, Abarai Renji. You're worthy of a lieutenant's rank. But it's too bad that's not enough." He took his claw and smashed it into his mask, leaving nothing left but a strip of white material hanging under his eye. Spiritual pressure exploded off of him. "There! With 90% of my mask gone, my power is equal to that of one of your captains! Now it's over, Abarai Renji!"
Renji stood up, shoving a few giant rocks aside. He glared up at Findor, unmoved. "Equal to a captain, huh? Now you really don't know what you're talking about. But let's test it, anyway." He swung his sword up to point it practically over his shoulder. "Bankai!" An explosion of smoke engulfed him, and when it cleared, Renji was standing there with a light red (almost pink) mantle of fur on his shoulders with a snake skull shoulder guard. A huge snake skull, ringed by a similarly-colored mane, rose up behind him and roared. A row of giant bone vertebrae trailed from the head to wrap the area around him and ended up becoming a tail held like a handle in Renji's hand. "Hihi-Ô Zabimaru [Baboon King Snake-Tail]."
Findor considered him. "Bankai…that's right…you are one of the lieutenants who possesses Bankai. Well, let's see if it's enough!"
As Findor charged in, Renji slashed as if with a whip, and the snake head came roaring towards the arrancar. Findor shot his stream of water ahead, but it blasted off the snake without apparent harm. It swooped in, grabbing Findor in its mouth, and went streaking into in the air, holding him. Findor growled in anger. "Don't underestimate me!" He released a purple cero, and the explosion freed him, apparently blowing the snake to pieces. He turned an angry scowl down towards Renji. "This has really gone on long enough…."
Suddenly the separate, hollow rings of vertebrae shot tendrils of red energy between them, linking them again. It came alive in the midst of its fall and the skull-head slammed into Findor, throwing him high into the air. Renji cracked his 'whip' again. "Hikotsu Taihô [Baboon Bone Cannon]!" he cried. Energy pulsed through Hihi-Ô Zabimaru in a manner similar to Kagutsuchi's, each segment separating as the red energy pulsed up through the vertebrae and they spun under its influence. Finally the snake head opened its mouth and fired a massive blast of red energy that engulfed—and evaporated—Findor.
The great bone snake returned to circle around Renji as he stared up at the ash that marked his fallen foe. "You'll never be my equal. Equal to a captain? Don't make me laugh."
8-8-8
Rukia stared up at the hawk-like figure pumping its wings in the sky above her. Aviramma's release had transformed him into a veritable bird-man; his mask was now like a hawk's beak, his hands and feet like birds' talons, and two great red wings emerged from his back. With a cry, Aviramma snapped his wings out, and a hail of feathers came plummeting down on Rukia, who dodged backwards as the feathers blasted through the asteroid that had been her perch.
Aviramma laughed uproariously. "Is that all you've got? You're pathetic, Kuchiki Rukia! But I guess it's no surprise; you're up against the Aguila, after all. These aren't any ordinary wings. These are steel feathers! They're as heavy as boulders; they crush anything they hit."
Rukia stared up at him. "Steel feathers…those sound like intimidating wings, all right. But in the end…they're just wings, right?" She set her sword in the air and tapped it in her hand, causing it to revolve at high speeds in the air without changing position otherwise. Then she suddenly grabbed the hilt in both hands. "Hadô 58: Tenran [Tornado]!"
A cyclone blasted from the sword towards Aviramma. He withstood the storm easily. "If they were ordinary wings, they couldn't withstand a tornado…but these aren't ordinary wings!" He swung them out, banishing the storm. He glanced down triumphantly…but Rukia wasn't there. She'd used the spell as a distraction to escape. "Hmph. You sneaky rat!" He spotted her quickly, bouncing across the floating asteroids—there weren't many places to hide in this floating land. He snapped his wings out. "Devorar Pluma [Devouring Feather]!" A cascade of those steel feathers rained down upon Rukia.
She darted and weaved around the attacks, observing him carefully. ('There doesn't seem to be a limit to his ability to fly, or to the number of feathers he has—they seem to just grow right back as he releases them. Fighting him up in his territory is no good. Really, I need to find a way to lure him into a trap….')
A staggered double volley of feathers threatened her, the first forcing her into the air and the second moving in to intercept her. Her sword flashed white and a long, pure white ribbon flowed out from the hilt as she released her zanpaku-tô. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki [Sleeve of White Snow]!" After a swift gesture, she held her blade up by her face, point towards the incoming attack. "Tsugi no Mai – Hakuren [Next Dance – White Lotus]!" A blast of ice and snow intercepted the feathers, neutralizing them.
"Oh…an ice sword. Nice. Too bad ice isn't that effective against me up here."
"You really think so?" Rukia countered with a small smile. "Just stay up there, and you'll still see how effective my sword is."
Aviramma stared down at her. "Heh…cocky, aren't you? I guess I'll have to show you—air or ground, you can't match me." He dug his thumbs into the swirl-shaped tattoos in his naked chest and traced the shape. Energy built along the path. Finally he withdrew his thumbs, and, as he threw back his head and arms, blood seemed to gush from his chest, but building power accompanied his action.
('W-what is he doing!?') Rukia thought in shock.
Suddenly Aviramma's wings sprouted into four, and he charged at Rukia at the speed of a comet. He hit her, and they blasted through the asteroid below her and through several more before impacting one of the towers of the Obsidian Palace far below.
Aviramma slowly rose, looking around at the rubble. "Heh…was that too much? Guess she's squashed…."
"Some no Mai – Tsukishiro [First Dance – White Moon]!" Ice suddenly began to build on the ground all around Aviramma, caking his feet and legs as Rukia emerged from the rubble with a sword slash.
Cursing, Aviramma shot back up into the sky, breaking the ice around him. "Hiding, you little rat!? I told you…that ice won't do anything to me up here!"
Rukia smiled again. "And I told you…you'll see how effective my sword is." And suddenly the circle of ice on the ground shot a pillar into the sky, engulfing Aviramma. She snapped her sword out as the pillar collapsed, dropping him back into the ground behind her. "My sword freezes everything within that circle, air and ground."
She glanced over her shoulder at Aviramma as he struggled to pick himself up. "You're pretty tough, I'll give you that. But you're done. Those ice-caked wings, steel or feather, won't fly anymore."
Aviramma still struggled, caked in ice, but he glared up at her. "T-that's…a dirty trick…."
"Really? Such a pathetic line for a warrior. Especially one who was riding the skies above a ground-bound foe so arrogantly. A war is a tragic place of death and sorrow…it's not a place for silly epithets and childish games." She began to stalk towards him, icy mist rising from her sword.
Aviramma's angry glare turned into a look of pure fear as she set the sword by his flanks and ice began to creep over him. "N-no! W-wait…!"
Rukia glared down coldly towards him. "A warrior does not plead for his life."
He froze over. Rukia snapped her sword back to its original form and she sheathed it. "Farewell, warrior of the sky. I hope you don't forgive me."
Then, as if in vengeful answer to her plea, the ground below her shattered, and she fell screaming into the void below.
8-8-8
Poww looked down at the broken figure on the ground, still holding his broken weapon. "Huh. I thought that baldy here was holding something back…but I guess I'll never know, now that he's dead."
He began to turn away to look for another prey, but the corpse suddenly stirred. "Who's dead!?" Ikkaku breathed. "Don't get ahead of yourself."
Poww shot a foot down immediately, and Ikkaku, showing some kind of second wind, suddenly back flipped out of the way to safety. "Good," Poww rumbled. "If you're not dead, then prove it. Show me the power you've been hiding. Do it…or die."
"Hiding? Don't make me laugh," Ikkaku seethed. "Even if I was holding something back, I wouldn't show it to a loser like you."
"Fine. Then die." Poww moved to smash Ikkaku with a great punch.
To his surprise, Ikkaku caught the punch with his arm and shoulder. "Jeez," he gasped. "I say that…I really wanted to defeat you without using it…but I guess I've got no choice." He threw Poww back suddenly, surprising the larger man. "You wanted to see what I was holding back? Take a good look! Bankai!" Ikkaku put the pieces of his broken Hôzukimaru, one shard of wood in each hand, back against each other, and the explosion of power engulfed him. Ikkaku emerged, surrounded by huge blades—in one hand he held a massive guandao blade on a short handle made for a giant, and his other held an equivalent Monk's Spade. Floating in the air behind him was a massive crescent blade with a long Chinese dragon crest, connected by massive chains to the handles of both his weapons. "Ryûmon Hôzukimaru [Dragon Crest Demon Light]," Ikkaku introduced it.
Poww stared at it passively. "Oh…so that's your Bankai, huh? So that's what you were hiding. But it doesn't seem all that special."
"Ha!" Ikkaku spat, grinning viciously. "That's fine. Keep thinking that. It doesn't have to do anything special. It just has to cut you to pieces!"
He charged in. Poww met him with his fists. Ikkaku's blades cut into Poww, slashing his arms and anything he could reach, but Poww's calm reprisals damaged Ikkaku's weapon, sending small pieces of the blades flying as he fought with the separate weapons and sometimes even grabbed the center crescent to attack with it, laughing, not even caring from the savage blows he took in the midst of the battle.
Finally Poww sent Ikkaku flying with one massive punch. "I see," he rumbled. "You're just like your sword. You're wild and uncontrolled, not caring about even winning or losing; and your sword is nothing but pure, unrefined power. It's nice power. But I'll show you…the best power." He reached into one sleeve and removed a katana that looked almost like a toothpick in his massive hands. "Breathe," he commanded, "Calderón [Great Whale]." Unlike most of the arrancar, Poww did not become enveloped by smoke or light, but rather simply began to inflate and distort horribly, his face growing first and his body following afterwards. Eventually he was a massive aiju, looking rather, indeed, like a whale, with his head actually just a tiny portion of his massive frame, unseen legs or neck, with two skyscraper-sized arms and two tubes of unknown purpose ringing his back.
"Ah…" the massive creature boomed slowly and lethargically. "It's too troublesome to crush ants like you…but it's the King's orders…."
Ikkaku kicked his way from the rubble, still grinning maniacally. "Ha! Then let's finish this, then. He's finally ready." He took up the center crescent blade and began to spin it in his hands, causing his other weapons to fly in a brilliant circle around him. A glowing red light began to creep up the dragon symbol on the weapon.
Poww stared at the weapon. "What's that?" he rumbled.
"Unlike me, Hôzukimaru's a lazy bastard," Ikkaku explained. "He doesn't fully wake up right away, not until after he's cut and been cut a few times. So it takes him a while to power up." The light finished illuminating the crest, and Ikkaku whirled it to slam it into the ground next to him. "Once this symbol fills, Hôzukimaru's at full power and ready to go. Let's finish this."
Poww narrowed his eyes, then ponderously raised a giant fist. It came down as Ikkaku, pulsing with power, charged into him. An explosion engulfed them.
The explosion cleared, with Poww slowly vaporizing. After it had cleared, two figures alighted down in the ruins. Yumichika and Renji quickly found what they sought—lying broken on the ground, fragments of his Bankai strewn about him, was Ikkaku. He stirred and painfully glanced up as the pair approached. "I knew it," Yumichika said with a small smile. "I knew you'd be alive."
"Of course," Ikkaku said, returning the grin. "I'm the luckiest guy in the Gotei 13."
8-8-8
Ggio Vega stopped his combat to glance around as he felt the fading powers. "All four of them…lost!? His Majesty will…."
He stopped and dodged aside desperately as Natsuki came flying in with a sidekick. "Losing your attention during battle? Foolish," Natsuki scolded him.
Ggio sneered back at her as he composed himself. "Well said. Still, do you have any right to lecture? You're one of the Pillars of Garderobe Academy, a real Crown HiME, right? But you're taking me on without weapons or any tricks…." His look turned into a vicious glare. "It seems you're severely underestimating me."
Natsuki returned his look coolly. "If I was underestimating you, I'd fight you without my Robe. But if it bothers you that much…." She materialized a pistol and pointed it at him. "I'll fight you 'seriously' then."
Ggio grinned. He pulled his short, square blade, and, holding it in a reverse grip, he charged in.
Natsuki did not fire as he approached, but instead waited until the first swing came in and ducked under it. As Ggio went flying past, she turned on him and fired. A leg came out to connect with her wrist just as she fired, knocking the shot wide, but Natsuki, undaunted, suddenly whipped her other hand around and fired from a second gun she was suddenly holding.
Ggio managed to twist aside in time to avoid the shot, but Natsuki immediately moved in and hit him with a side kick, sending him flying.
The arrancar righted himself and carefully observed Natsuki…but the HiME did not pursue him. Ggio returned her stare. "Well…even though you're a gunman, you're a pretty good fighter. But why don't you finish me off? Are you too timid…or just empty-headed? If you have a range advantage, you should use it, not just point those things. I would, anyway."
"You're talkative," Natsuki replied. "This is called gathering information. I'm assuming you're at least moderately challenging…if I thought you were a weakling, I'd put you out of my misery immediately and move on."
Ggio sneered again. "Really? Well, I suppose I should give you a worthy fight, then." He took his short sword in both hands, blade down, and growled, "Bite off, Tigre Estoque [Tiger Rapier]!"
Meanwhile, the larger Nirgge Parduoc looked over Mary-Katherin. He was a massive creature, with seemingly an equal amount of fat and muscle on his frame. His mask was a kind of helmet looking like it was for a sport of some kind, with two great tusks coming from the sides as if they were guards. "Lots of pretty girls here," he muttered. He glanced over to where Haruka, Shizuru, and Rangiku were battling Harribel's fracción. "I think really I'd like to fight that blonde hinigami…or maybe the purple brunette there." He looked back at his foe. "But you're not bad. You'll do."
MK narrowed her eyes at Nirgge. "You arrancar seem to be based on animals," she commented. "What are you, then? A pig? That would suit your build and your personality."
Nirgge narrowed his eyes back. "Shut up," he replied. And, this having apparently exhausted his supply of banter, he drew his sword, a normal-sized katana that was like a thin-bladed shortsword in his hand. He raised it. "Stomp down, Mamut [Mammoth]." As he emerged from his explosion, he was even larger, with his helmet still intact—in fact, a long elephant's trunk covered where his nose should have been, apparently extending from the helmet, and the tusks were now much larger. With surprising speed he leapt at Mary-Katherin.
The HiME retreated, taking to the air from the asteroid that had been their battleground and hopped up onto one high above. "Wow, an elephant, huh? You're big, all right. But agility…."
Even as she spake, Nirgge hunkered down…and took a massive jump that brought him level with MK, ready to fall on her. "But everyone knows elephants can't jump!" she protested futilely.
Nirgge brought his trunk down, but MK leapt back, avoiding the attack. Nirgge pursued her, still striking with the trunk, but this time the HiME grabbed the weapon and quickly used it to perform a 'judô throw', tossing the massive elephant-man away like a bag of trash.
Nirgge impacted the ground hard. He made it quickly to his feet, however, and glared down at MK. "…You're pretty strong for such a little girl. But I guess that's what HiME are made of. Now I'll get serious—"
And a large rock suddenly came in from the side and collided with his temple, dropping him to the ground…lifeless, his eyes open and staring, the flesh under the shattered side of his helmet utterly bloodied. MK stared at him in wide-eyed shock, then looked up at the source of the lethal attack.
Natsuki had been thrown back and had crashed into the side of a massive rock, creating an impressive Natsuki-shaped crater. The transformed Ggio loomed above her in the air. His uniform was now heavily marked by black stripes across his torso and legs and a black center strip running vertically through the center of his body. He carried two long, straight, wide, round-tipped wrist blades as weapons, and a massive hair extension that was a long braid with a white cloth of some kind woven through it, giving it its own striped look. Another blade, identical to his wrist blades, emerged from a ring tied onto the end of that hair.
"Is this really all you can manage?" Ggio said scathingly. "One of the so-called Pillars of Garderobe? I guess, in the end, you're only human. We are pillars, too…the pillars that support the throne of our king, Barragan Luisenbarn the Great. You cannot even touch these supports."
Natsuki hauled herself out of the crater. "Well, you're certainly stronger. But you talk a lot…probably too much. Listening to men who are full of themselves…is one of the things I hate the most."
Ggio sneered. "Then shut me up…if you can."
"Then I will." Natsuki stepped into the air above him, swinging on him with the bottom of her gun-grasping fist.
Ggio whirled and blocked the attack. They exchanged a few blows, Natsuki kicking and punching and occasionally firing a shot, all while dodging and deflecting Ggio's blows. "Despite those sissy guns you're using, our fighting styles are actually kind of similar," Ggio taunted. "Still, you're just not enough…."
"Really?" Natsuki suddenly redoubled her speed, and Ggio gaped as he desperately fought to keep up. Two of the ribbons coming off the bottom of her uniform extended and slashed across Ggio's shoulders. Then the other two extended while he was still trying to avoid the first two and grabbed his ankles, then threw him downwards.
He righted himself in the air, but Natsuki was already behind him. She alternated hand strikes with shots from the pistols in those hands, then sent him flying away again with a savage kick.
Natsuki hung back this time as he again righted himself. "Seems your cockiness was misplaced. I was just feeling you out earlier. Your resurreción is quite a power-up, but if this is the extent of your power, I should just finish you off and move on."
Ggio began to growl in building rage. "Finish me off!? You think you've seen 'the extent'!? Watch this, then!" He began to swell, bulking up massively into a figure of gross proportions, his head the same size, but his chest, thighs and arms unnaturally swelled. "This is Tigre Estoque's battle formation: Tigre Estoque – El Sable [The Saber]!"
Suddenly Natsuki was behind him, her pistol on his head. "You got distracted." She pulled the trigger, and the lifeless arrancar fell down and away out of sight, disintegrating. "Trust a man to think that size is everything."
Mary-Katherin appeared next to her. Natsuki glanced over. "You're done, too?"
"Well, an accident took care of him," MK replied. "I really didn't get to do anything."
"But you're still charging your power, right?" MK nodded, and Natsuki smiled. "Then that's fine." She turned to the man on the throne, and MK followed her gaze. "We'll probably need everything we've got to deal with this one."
The old man stared back. e He fjjjf
He felt the spiritual pressures around him disappearing. "Charlotte…Findor… Aviramma…Poww…Ggio…Nirgge…you idiots." His grip smashed the skulls on the arms of his throne, and he stood up. "You're lucky you're dead, because my punishment would be far greater suffering. But I suppose you two are a different matter…you aren't so lucky. Before you die, you will know pain, fear, and despair…and then you will vanish away like the worms you are."
F I N
Author's Note: More Bleach Battles
Pulling in the arrancar to be bad guys for this stage means copying a lot out of Bleach. Of course, most of the story is, by its very reason of existence, similarly stolen from Negima anyway, so whatever. It's interesting to think how one minor character that had to be here (Momo) brought in so much from that show….
I'm adjusting the battles, mainly with some character swaps, but still, largely they follow suit; in particular, Yumichika and Ikkaku face their actual opponents. Ikkaku actually lost his without using Bankai, but I decided to let him shine because I didn't have the characters around to save him, and anyway, the opponent he did beat with Bankai, Edrad Leones, was taken by Akari.
I decided finally to finish up outside before going in to see how the kids are doing. So let's go….
