A/N: I poke you with another chapter. Enjoy.
I dun own teh aneemay of ossim Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann nor the other anime in this story which is still cool but still not quite as manly-win-GAR-epic as TTGL, Bleach.
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CHAPTER THREE: He Gives Me a Purpose!
"Captain Kuchiki?!" Hobikou looked back at his ally in apprehension, "but I thought we were told that the captains would be taken care of!"
Byakuya Kuchiki merely looked up at the two Arrancar before him with a still relatively stunned Kamina to his back. "What is your mission here?" Takara remained silent. Hobikou's body twitched in what appeared to be restrained fury. "I ask you again," the noble repeated sternly, "what is your mission here. Do not doubt that I cannot cut you down in an instant."
"Our mission…?" the gargantuan began softly. "Our mission…," suddenly his sword began glowing and the air around him grew denser. "Our mission…!" the ground around him broke to pieces and was scattered about as a piercing white light cut through the clearing. "Our mission is to follow the mandate of Aizen-sama!" he again glanced at his fallen ally ever so briefly, "No matter the cost!"
"Pase por el viento! Relámpago!" bolts of white light shot from the ground. The invoker's uniform became bound so tightly around him that it looked like a white speed suit of sorts with black lines jutting down from his neck across his body, towards the extremities, representative of lightning. His sword was no longer present. The small remnant of a mask grew across his face, leaving only his eyes, noes, and mouth exposed. It now resembled a white, skull-like helm with knife-like protrusions that extended from his cheeks down past his chin. He crouched and then jumped into the air with blinding speed.
"KURAAEEE!" he shouted as he changed course at a ninety degree angle and shot straight for Byakuya. Lightning appeared to shoot up from the ground and wrap around his body. The deadly light danced around his arms and shot past his extended right hand.
"Hado 4: Byakurai," the Kuchiki held out his finger and a bolt of blue lightning shot forth to counter the force of the Arrancar. The two forces met equally and nullified each other. Hobikou gasped seeing his attack dissipate before him before noticing the presence behind him. "I will not ask again. Why were you sent here?" Byakuya, despite his normal demeanor never leaving him was apprehensive as to what might come. He felt as if he was losing time.
"This guy…," Kamina was looking up, seeing the strange man almost toying with this giant.
"Hm?" Captain Kuchiki's attention turned behind him. The other Arrancar was now positioned to deliver a deadly strike with his sword.
"I'd advise against attacking my comrade further, Captain," Takara said coldly.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" suddenly, an arch of blue energy was seen hurdling towards the three floating in mid-air. Instantly, the bodies vanished before the wave could crash into any of them.
Byakuya reappeared next to Ichigo, "As reckless as ever," he said flatly.
"Sorry I'm late, Byakuya," the orange haired Soul Reaper apologized half-heartedly. "Got a little caught up with some Menos back there. So what's going on?"
"I called you back because I felt my Rikujokoro break," Ichigo looked over in surprise. "However, I'm not sure if I actually need your assistance anymore." The now somewhat angered substitute reaper was about to say something before the captain cut him off, "That man," he gestured to Kamina, still standing still with sword in hand, "who is he?"
"Eh, I don't even know," Ichigo answered. "I think he's a new soul. I found him making trouble around here not an hour ago."
"Take charge of him," Ichigo glanced at his superior questioningly, "Get him away from here, make sure nothing happens to him. I can imagine that Yamamoto-Genryusai will want to have a word with him after this." Ichigo paused for a second, but nodded and flash stepped away before Byakuya continued the conversation with himself, "Even I am a rather interested in this matter."
"I'll teach you to ignore me!" the fortieth Arrancar shouted as he charged once again with both hands glowing in power.
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An explosion was heard behind him, but Ichigo knew better than to worry about Byakuya's safety. Instead, he continued rushing towards his target. Kamina saw his former opponent approaching at extreme speeds and got back into a defensive stance, "Whoa, whoa, hold on there, buddy!" but his thoughts were cut off when Ichigo knocked away his blade with one hand, spun around, and grabbed him before launching back into the air with a flash step. "OI! LET GO OF ME! I'm not going to just let you manhandle the leader of the Grea—!"
"Gah, shut up, you're worse than Kon!"
"And just who the hell is that?!"
"I told you to shut up, you idio—!" Ichigo was barely able to dodge the sword attack aimed at his head.
"Where are you going?" the forgettable Arrancar asked the pair. Ichigo scowled and probably would have cared more that Kamina managed to free himself from his grasp if he was not being held up by an elite warrior of Aizen's army.
"I go where I am needed!" the shirtless wannabe Soul Reaper proclaimed. Ichigo merely looked annoyed while Takara's expression remained unchanged. "And here definitely doesn't fit that description." Kamina began to walk away on the air when Takara shot in front of him. The insurgent leader barely had time to duck as the person in front of him swung his Zanpakuto with malicious intent. "Oi! What did I do to you?"
"My comrades and I were each assigned a job here," Ichigo and Kamina both listened to the monotone voice during the brief moment of peace, "Hobikou and Neme were instructed to incite mass destruction against the Soul Society…" the speaker shot a soft glare at both of his opponents, "I was to deal with enemy Soul Reapers. I allowed Neme to fight with you because I had underestimated you…" He paused as brows furrowed and he tightened his grip on his katana, "I will not make the same mistake again."
"Oh?" Kamina tilted his head, "did we get a rise out of the emotional husk?" Suddenly, he was forced to arch his back and twist his head in an effort to dodge. Blood shot from the fresh sword wound on his cheek. Kamina's eyes darted to his left to find the Arrancar looping around and heading straight for him again.
"Damn it," Ichigo muttered under his breath. He flash stepped forward, putting himself between to the two combatants and blocking the subsequent sweep of Takara's blade.
"Ah! C'mon, I'm not even a Soul Eater thing! Why are you attacking me?!"
"Reaper!" Ichigo corrected, still staving off Takara's earlier attack.
"It does not matter, your Zanpakuto tells me enough, I will eliminate you both."
"I'm not going to let that happen," the orange haired defender retorted. "Getsuga Tenshou!" With a mighty swing, Ichigo let loose another blue scythe of riatsu. As he was swinging, Takara had pushed himself away using Zangetsu as leverage. He landed safely out of range of Ichigo's attack but soon found the Soul Reaper next to him anyway. Ichigo swung again, but was dodged outright this time. Takara returned with a few slashes of his own. The two blades danced and clashed in the sky as Kamina looked on. Immediately he remembered his… what did they call them again?
"Zan… pakuto?" he looked down at the ground where that strawberry guy had grabbed him. There it was, glinting under some dust: the old chief's sword. He drifted at first, but eventually found himself rushing to grab it; to have it in his hands once again.
The forgettable Arrancar was not oblivious to this. "He's going for his Zanpakuto," he decided to take it up a notch. He unleashed a furious barrage of sword strikes that caught his opponent by surprise. Ichigo had barely finished fending off the viciously precise assault when he realized that his attacker was no longer in front of him.
"What the…?" suddenly he heard the wind shift unnaturally and glanced down, "Kamina!"
"I can't have this guy reach his sword. The orange haired one is difficult enough."
Kamina was unaware of the approaching danger as he bent down to pick up and dust off his sword. He felt as if he was looking at it for the first time. Sure, he had used it before, but to what end? There was the fight with Viral… but it was not as if the sword as anything more than a tool he was using to block and attack with. It was no extension of his consciousness or anything… just a sword—not even his sword. He had not thought of it before, but why had it stayed with him? You cannot take things from one life into the next, right? This… Zanpakuto… what did that even mean? He bent further to clutch it.
His head shot up; time seemed to freeze. Takara was inches from his head, sword aimed at the back of his throat. Ichigo was not far behind and preparing for the worst with a look of extreme worry on his face. What was going to happen? He felt the smallest prick of metal beginning to enter from the back of his head. It was cold. Suddenly, Kamina was violently jerked away, the katana lost from his hands once more. Takara had missed his intended target. He hit the ground, going into a crouch and then shot back up into the sky. Not a second later, a bolt of white lightning seared the ground where Kamina just was. He looked back… well, at least the sword was alright.
Now it was Byakuya's turn to hold Kamina while flying through the air. The shirtless renegade noticed that the noble's hair was no longer held neatly in place by those hair pieces. Kamina was set down in the air again and Byakuya turned his back to him before he could say anything. Instead, the noble turned his attention back to his attacker. By comparison, Hobikou had taken a much heavier beating than his adversary. He was bleeding from various points on his body and was panting heavily. Byakuya had simply had his hair mussed a little.
"You never answered my question," the captain said in a tone of subdued impatience.
"Teme…," white light once more shot from the ground and wrapped around the huge Arrancar's body. "I'll always obey Aizen-sama's commands. He knows what must be done. It is the Divine Mandate! I'll obey him no matter the cost!" Hobikou charged with reckless abandonment the glow in his hands shared in his eyes. "Banzai! Aizen-sama no tame ni!!!"
"Chire… Senbonzakura."
Byakuya's blade evaporated into thousands of shimmering lights. As Hobikou was about to reach him, Kamina could be heard shouting in surprise as the noble flash stepped away, taking his captive with him. The giant stopped in the air and witnessed around him a vibrant display of what appeared to be cherry blossoms floating about. Suddenly, they all stopped, frozen as if by a command, then darted for him with malicious intent. He was too dazzled to react in time. Each of the thousand fragments of Byakuya's blade passed through him effortlessly. Hobikou's lifeless body reverted to his unreleased form and sailed to the ground leaving a crimson trail in the sky.
"Damn you, this…," Takara gripped the hilt of his blade tightly, "this wasn't supposed to happen!" All three of the people there took note of the Arrancar's unusual outburst. "What's going on?"
Ichigo took advantage of his opponent's conflictions. Charging with Zangetsu, he planned to cleave the guy in two and end it there. He sharpened his spiritual pressure, heightened his senses, drew closer and closer until—ching. "… When did he… how?" Takara stared daggers at the Soul Reaper who had just attacked him. Ichigo did not even seen him raise his sword from his side to block… and so sturdily at that. Ichigo's rush had not succeeded in pushing the Arrancar an inch.
"I guess every plan can have complications," he muttered, almost to himself, "even those of Aizen-sama." He looked around slowly, then up at the sun. "However, it seems almost time. These things no longer matter. You will all die here."
"What?" Ichigo questioned, still pressing his blade against Takara's.
"Time's up."
The ground shot apart chaotically in various places surrounding the four combatants. Huge beings bearing white masks with bodies resembling a black cloak slowly emerged from the shattered earth. Ichigo retreated from Takara and fell back next to Byakuya and Kamina… a Kamina that was exhibiting some very strange behavior. Was he… shaking?
"What is this?" wide-eyed, the leader of the Gurren Brigade asked himself, "… is… it f-fear? It feels so unnatural. I haven't felt this in a long time." He took a long look at his trembling hand. "Simon… was it," he clenched his hand into a fist. It did not stop shaking. "Was it all just a show? Those things… those things! What are they? What's going on at all? What do I do with no one to… no one to—?"
The giant figures began charging and firing off massive balls of red energy that destroyed anything in their path. The two people next to him appeared to be actively formulating a plan and readying themselves to put it into immediate action. But he himself… Kamina… stood still, frozen, unable to participate in any of their thoughts. He wanted to run… run! He of all people wanted to run away! "Is it… the only reason I was brave…," his pupils shrank in apprehension and bewilderment, "… was it only a show?!"
"Help!" a somewhat distant voice jarred him back into his senses.
"What?"
"What's going on? I'm gonna die!" who was that, it sounded so clear.
"So familiar…"
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
"Hey, are you there?!" a hand began waving in front of his face.
"Ichigo, take him away from here, he's gone into shock," the now familiar voice of Byakuya registered in Kamina's mind. "I'll handle things here."
"Right," for the third time today, the human rebel felt himself being grabbed in preparation for an impromptu trip through the air. However, before this trip could begin, Kamina ripped himself from Ichigo's grasp without saying a word. "What are you doing, we've gotta get you outta here!"
"That voice," Kamina was searching intensely, "where is that voice coming from?"
"AAAAHH!!!"
Kamina spotted a glint in the ground right in front of one of those lumbering giants with the creepy facemasks. The fear disappeared from within him. "A new purpose!" He rushed forward without any care for himself; his brilliantly reckless courage renewed.
"Bakayarou!" Ichigo called out to the shirtless man, "get back here!"
"I must protect him!" even if he wanted to hear, he was out of earshot of the Soul Reaper's plea. "He needs me!" Even Takara was surprised to see a blue blur shoot past him heading straight for one of the Menos Grande so recklessly. Kamina landed next to his target. It was the sword that was calling out for help, but why did the others not hear it? He knew that he did not have any time to question this or his sanity at the moment. Instead, he picked up the blade and cleared the debris from it with a single clean sweep in the air. Kamina seemed oblivious to the Menos in front of him was closing the gap between the two. Suddenly it stopped and a red orb of malicious energy began growing at its mouth.
"W-who—what happened?" Kamina looked fondly at the blade. It felt more like a part of him now, yet separate. He felt some responsibility to the thing, as if there was… wait, it was calling him, right? Does that not mean that there is something in there?
"W-who are you?" the voice asked timidly. Kamina chuckled with a grin. The thing reminded him of Simon.
"My name's Kamina!" the man declared proudly, "who're you?"
"LOOK OUT!"
"Egh, that's not a very heroic name—," before the sword's holder could finish his thought, the air around him lit up in a glowing red.
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A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed that, I'm going to do my best to keep working on it and hopefully I'LL FINALLY RESOLVE THIS FIGHT WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER. I really want to get moving on this storyline and I feel like it's stalling a little. I'll try to keep up my posting pace but no promises… I'm doing my best to keep college at bay and it hasn't even really gotten busy yet. Anyway, at least after this part, it'll get more interesting… interesting like Kamina's Shikai interesting. :D Until next time!
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Words and Phrases that were not in English
Pase por el Viento… Relámpago!: Step on the Wind… Lightning!
Kurae: Take this!
Hado: Way of Destruction
Byakurai: Pale Lightning
Getsuga Tenshou: Moon-fang Heaven-piercer
Riatsu: the name for the spiritual energy of Soul Reapers and Hollows alike
Teme: Bastard (literally, a very rude way of saying "you")
Banzai! Aizen-sama no tami ni!: Hurrah! For the sake of Aizen-sama!
Chire… Senbonzakura: Scatter… Thousand Cherry Blossoms
Bakayaro: You giant idiot!
