Chapter 4: the mystery reveals itself
Lahara did what she had to. She suddenly disappeared for a while. No one knew where she was, not even her parents, or the girls. I was actually worried. What was she gonna be doing that she needed to disappear. Nevertheless, she told me to do things like we normally did, so I did.
Our squads met up at our usual training spot. We designed new speed, strength and Kidou routines. Full power, hardcore routines that we hoped would help us increase our abilities by as much as possible. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted, even we were. The funny thing is that Milton and Charlie did the routines with our squad, and were exhausted as well.
"Captain… no offense but… why are we doing these new routines? Their exhausting." Hiroki came up and asked me.
"I guess you should know. Listen up guys… the end draws near… I think… the thing is… through all of our recent battles, we've encountered a class of Hollow known as Adjuchas. These Hollow have been making mention of some sort of 'master'. we were sent a message to give up our power, we refused; so we are expecting him to be angry. If he is… he should be giving his final strike any time soon, so we need to be ready." I explained
"I see… don't worry Captain, we can make it. Right guys!" Hiroki said creating an outbreak of cheering and whistling. He Didn't notice, but his reiatsu gave a quick jolt.
I honestly felt like we were ready for anything. Hiroki made a good job of cheering the guys up. The next day we sensed a strange current of reiatsu coming from somewhere. All squads moved out.
We started following the strange signature, when I noticed something that should, but didn't surprise me. We were headed in the same direction as our battle with Milton and Charlie, our other battle with Milton, and our battle with the Vasto Lorde. I wanted to know what was up with that place, but the only thing that came to mind was that the place was filled with traces of spirit energy.
We continued onward, finally reaching the spot. We landed softly in middle of the soft dust that was kicked up by the breeze. Right in the center of the field there was a tall man, his back facing towards us. He slowly turned around to face us.
He was completely bald, as if his head was shaved. His expensive looking jacket was open, revealing his chest; and on his chest was an ever so familiar sword carving. It was a large tic-tac-toe board, with one letter in each cube: I-A-M-H-O-L-L-O-W.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The signal was coming from the bald guy, that bald guy; the same bald guy that almost got us killed several times. He was the source of the signal. As he faced us a large aura of reiatsu formed around him, he was lifted off the ground by the energy.
On his right hand, a strange white substance appeared and formed into what seemed to be a mask. It was an oval shape with two large eye holes, two rows of sharp intertwined fangs, and four horns. Two of them curved downward, surrounding the actual mask, while two more curved outwards with a slight curve up.
He placed it on his face, and instantly, along with a massive tremor, hundreds and hundreds of Hollows rose up from the ground. It broke the record for the most hideous thing I have ever seen. The man spoke.
"On most stories, the main character lives to discover the mystery… but on my stories the mystery reveals itself to the main character, and kills him. Well guess what, I am the mystery, and you four are the main characters… prepare to die." he said as the ground began to shake creating some sort of dimensional hole on the ground right beneath us.
Milton, Charlie, Mike and I were pulled inside by its force. As I turned I saw Mia trying to reach for us, but we were too far away…
B-side
We were pulled into the portal, but instead of falling like you usually would in bottomless pits, we stopped and began to float in midair inside the tunnel like space.
"Dude… where are we?" Mike asked
"Milton, you don't think…" Charlie said waiting for Milton
"Yeah, it looks like it." Milton said
"Dude, what it this?" Mike said
"It's a Garganta" Milton said
"No way… cool" I whispered (so this is what its like to be inside a Garganta)
"The question is, where does it lead?" Charlie said
A voice echoed from the other side of the tunnel.
"If you wanna find out, you'll have to fight your way out." the bald man said as he snapped his fingers
Four large grey tentacle like energy streams escaped from different parts of his body. They formed themselves in front of us each taking a different shape. In front of Mike, the grey energy turned into a sort of large, armored knight, with a large hole in its chest. In front of Charlie, the energy formed into dragon, with a large hole in the base of its long neck. In front of Milton, the energy formed into a large, four winged bat, with a small hole in its abdomen.
In front of me, the energy took shape into… me. It seemed strange for a second, but it was me, a grey colored copy of me, with two large black wings, similar to my Bankai form. Instead of long white hair, it was jet black hair, completely upwards. There was a small hole in the center of its chest. I was… confused and scared. Was I battling myself, of Tennotsukai, or something else entirely. I completely froze.
The guys began battle, but I was frozen; stuck in the same spot. The shadow moved in, it was about to strike when…
"MOVE"
My arm raised and blocked the sword, out of my control. It was Tennotsukai; he moved my arm and protected me from the attack.
"What are you doing? Wake up!"
"I… how can I fight? It's you!" I said
"Don't be an idiot! How can I be in front of you when your holding me in your hand! Now snap out of it and fight! Fight like you did your inner Hollow."
"You were there?" I said still holding my shadow in place
"No shit Sherlock. I was everything. If you could beat your inner hollow without the need of Bankai, then you can kick the crap out of this guy no problem. You used your heart in that battle; now use it again!"
He was right. I had forgotten how to fight with my heart. I was relying on just power. The mask, my Bankai… if I didn't use them I felt like I couldn't battle, but I was wrong. All I needed was heart, and victory was mine.
I kicked the shadow backwards and clenched by blade tight. A large aura of reiatsu formed around me and started spinning, creating more energy. The same pale blue energy surrounded my Zanpaktou like a wrapping snake. I pointed it towards the shadow.
"White Fang"
The energy shot forward in a zigzagged shape, striking the shadow right where its Hollow hole was. It exploded in a star shape, causing damage and paralyzing it. I moved in quickly and sliced it multiple times. It screeched loudly just before exploding into dust.
I turned towards the guys, they seemed to have been done some time before me… while I was still learning my lesson. What really amazed me was how easily we defeated those shadows. Did he really think that was going to stop us? The Garganta opened up on one side. The force from the tunnel pushed us outward.
We were back at the battle field. Our squads fierce in battle. I was still dizzy from the force, and was pushed aside by a large force. The massive Adjuchas Hollow jumped to where I was. I was about to be crushed by an incoming claw, when, in a flash, the claw was stopped by a blue blade.
"I gotcha Captain!"
It was Hiroki. He had stopped the claw… awesome. The guy was stronger than he looked. He pushed back until the Hollow withdrew its claw, then he gave a quick slash. The Hollow vanished.
"You okay Cap?" he said
"Yeah, that was awesome!" I said
A tremor began shaking the ground we stood on. A powerful scream echoed through the field. Everyone looked up to see the bald man wearing his mask. His scream intensified creating a sonic wave. His form intensified as well. He grew several spikes on his back, his hands turned into long, sharp claws, a hole opened up in his chest.
"That was just a warm up! Now you'll face me… my true power! I will get my revenge!" he said, his voice echoing like a Hollows through the entire field. "Attack!"
"Not if I can help it!" a soft voice said from afar, while a tornado came in and swiped multiple Hollows aside.
Lahara descended right in front of me enveloped in a tornado. She was back… from whatever it was she was doing.
"You're back!" I said
"And just in time apparently." she said smiling "Wanna know what I was doing?" she asked me
"Totally"
"Get ready" she said, her expression changing into a serious one
BANKAI