Chapter 4: Unexpected Troubles
Yachiru and Nel went back into the main corridor and continued on.
Nel looked at the rooms they were passing "we should try ano…"
"Shhh! Do you hear that?" whispered Yachiru. Nel strained her ears, trying to locate the sound. There it was, a low scraping noise and by the sound of it, it was coming closer.
"Quick lets try another door, I don't want to find out what's making that noise" said Yachiru nervously as Nel tried another door.
"This ones locked too" said Nel looking over to Yachiru. Then from behind Yachiru an enormous hollow rounded the corner, its overly large sword scraping on the ground.
"Greenie keep trying to find unlocked doors, we don't want whatever's making that noise to catch up with us."
"Nel thinks it's a bit too late for that" Nel stammered. As Yachiru slowly turned to look behind her the arrancar growled "the intruders. The intruders must die. Lord Aizen's orders. Intruders must die."
"Quick! Run!" yelled Yachiru, grabbing Nel's collar and dragging her down the corridor. As Nel and Yachiru ran round the next bend, Nel looked behind her. Due to its size the arrancar was having trouble moving in the corridor and for that reason she and Yachiru had already made considerable distance between them and it.
"Whoo! I think we're lucky that time" puffed Yachiru as they continued to run "it obviously isn't very smart which is probably why we were able to get away so easily – oh crap" Yachiru groaned as they came to yet another dead end.
Nel looked back towards the exit just as the arrancar came around the corner. "oh no looks like we'll have to fight it" she said as the scraping sound continued to get louder. "Wait, there's one last door here. Maybe it will let us in." said Yachiru jumping over to the small door at the end of the hall. It opened without a problem. "Quick Greenie" called Yachiru as the arrancar continued to get closer.
Nel looked inside. The room was bare except for a small mass in the middle that was gently rising and falling. "Nel's not going in there, there's another arrancar!"
"It's asleep, if we're quiet we will make it to the door at the end of the room and go on from there." Nel looked towards the arrancar quickly closing the gap between them and knew Yachiru was right. "Quickly!" Yachiru exclaimed as the arrancar caught up with them. They only just managed to get through the door, which was to small for the arrancar before it caught up with them. "Wait" it called as they struggled to shut the door. "Need kill intruders. Lord Aizen's orders. Me kill you."
"Whoo… that thing isn't very smart!" Nel said with a laugh. "As if Nel would go back out there"
"Yeah I know. Good thing the doors too small for it to get through." A low groan came from the middle of the room.
"Uhoh! Nel forgot there was another hollow in here" whispered Nel.
"Mmm, well we can't go back Greenie. Lets get to that other door. And quietly" Yachiru began to cross the floor. Yachiru was half way across when she stepped on something really slippery on the floor. She struggled to keep her feet on the ground and to her amazement she managed to keep standing. Yachiru turned to tell Nel to watch out but the young arrancar was already slipping and sliding and before Yachiru could utter a single word, Nel had slammed into her. They both came crashing loudly to the ground.
"Greenie watch where you're going" Yachiru wigned
"Yachiru look!" Nel said pointing to the small mass that was the hollow. The dark mass gave another groan and started to stir.
"Oh no, quick to the door" Nel followed Yachiru to the other side of the room "no! Its locked!" cried Yachiru. The figure slowly began to rise and gave one sharp bark.
"Bark?" Nel looked at Yachiru wondering if she had heard right. The figure finally came into the light and to Yachiru's surprise the sleeping hollow was a dog.
"Ohhh! It's a puppy" Yachiru squealed in delight heading over to pat it. As she neared the dog gave another excited bark. Yachiru gave the dog a pat, which it seemed to like and began bounding between the two girls.
"wow I really didn't think there would be a hollow puppy here" Yachiru said happily.
"are you sure it's a puppy? It's nearly as big as Nel"
"Yeah, you can tell its young. Hey what's that over there" Nel looked over in the direction Yachiru was pointing. There was a shiny object on the ground where the dog had been sleeping. Nel walked over and picked it up "a key" she said excitedly.
"Ohhh! I bet it will work in the door at the end of the room!"
The dog gave two loud barks, it seemed to share the girls excitement. Yachiru looked at the dog and sighed. "I really wish we could take it with us, but it would probably attract more arrancars"
"Yeah, I suppose your right. Its own er might even come after us." Nel agreed dully.
"I hate to leave it in this boring room though, it has nothing to do."
"Wait Nel remembers seeing something in with the sheets and pillows that it could use" said Nel excitedly rummaging through the basket she was still carrying.
"Ha-ha, are you still carrying that Greenie? I never even noticed… you did well carrying that while we ran away from that hollow back there."
Nel looked up from the basket "how could you not notice? You even carried it yourself for a bit."
"…Oh, well I had a lot of things on my mind at the time. I couldn't be thinking of minor things like what I had in my hands." Yachiru shrugged "well I'm glad we still have them. Means we can still make a cubby house somewhere."
"Yeah, Nel's looking forward to that too… here it is" Nel had pulled out a large plush hollow teddy bear. "I found this in Stark's bedroom, I wanted to keep it for myself, but I guess the dog should have it since we cant take him with us" Nel gave the toy to the dog, which happily took it to its sleep area and went over to Yachiru who was trying the key in the door. The door swung open without a sound. "Bye, bye doggie" said Yachiru happily. The dog however must have just realized the girls were leaving. It gave a savage growel, no longer looking like the puppy the girls had just been playing with. it gave to loud barks and began to run towards the door. "Quick Greenie! Help me shut this thing" the girls had almost shut the door when the dog hit the other side. The impact almost sent the girls flying. Oh wow, I can't believe how strong it is. We can't let it out Yachiru thought and began pushing against the wall with everything she had. The dog however had much more strength than Yachiru expected and no matter how had she and Nel pushed, the dog seemed to be pushing them further back, soon it would be out next to them and man, was it angry. Yachiru looked over at Nel pushing with all her might I wonder how Greenie would do in a fight, she looks so young. I would have to help her. Yachiru was feeling exhausted, the dog would soon get through. Suddenly the dark holes in Nel's mask lit up and she flung herself at the door with amazing speed. The door slammed shut leaving the dog inside to run around in circles barking.
"Wow Greenie. That was pretty impressive. How did you do that?" puffed Yachiru
"Nel doesn't know. Its just something Nel can do."
There were several more loud barks from the room
"We'd better move before another arrancar comes. This way!" Yachiru grabbed one end of the basket and began running down the hall. Nel grabbed the other end of the basket and followed after Yachiru, wondering whether or not her new friend had any idea where they were heading.