A/N: OK, so instead of making one epically long chapter, I've decided to break this thing down into two chapters. However, since that would only drag the story on MORE... I decided to make a double release out of the whole production. Enjoy your two chapters at once! Peace.

I do not own Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann or Bleach

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CHAPTER FOUR: A Challenge For Our New Friendship.

Kamina's eyes shot up. It was like a bright red sun was bearing down on him. He knew at this point that moving out of the way was out of the option… not that that was ever really a problem before. He smirked, and gripping his blade, he thrust the piece of metal into the air, holding it over his head horizontally.

"Wha—whoa, what are you doing?!" the sword cried out as it saw the huge mass of energy leave the gargantuan robed creature's mouth at a terrifying speed.

"Don't worry!" the shirtless warrior assured, though if looking at a the situation from a distance, it would appear as if he was yelling to himself. "You've never let me down before!"

"Before?" the blade glimmered frighteningly in the red haze that had become the air around it, "b-but, I don't remember anything before only a few minutes ago!" There was no time to expand further on the subject. The red orb was only inches from the tip of the blade.

"Hah! I believe in you, Sword!" suddenly, it seemed like time had froze.

"Believes… in me?"

The cero crashed violently into the sword and the figure holding it, much to the dismay of the two Soul Reapers witnessing the spectacle. The Arrancar only found it to be the natural consequence—the death of a man who charged head-first into a rampaging Menos Grande. Just as Ichigo was about to call out the name of the, by now, vaporized man in regret, he noticed the cero parting in an unnatural way. At first, the blast had shot straight into the ground, but now it was shooting off to the side as if something was breaking it down the middle. Something was. There stood Kamina, blade in hand, parting the lethal cero from where he stood—still not a scratch on him.

"So what is your name?" the leader of the Gurren Brigade asked his weapon politely.

"M-my name? I-I hadn't thought about it."

Kamina frowned a bit at this, "Well, you've gotta have a name," he almost whined.

"Name… something about a… Ten…" suddenly the light gleamed over the blade without Kamina moving it, as if to say that the preverbal light bulb went off in the sword's head, "Tenshou!"

"Tenshou…," a wide grin parsed across the shirtless man's face in obvious pleasure, "How appropriate!" Even though its cero had been nullified, the Menos before the pair had not stopped encroaching. The ground was now rumbling violently about Kamina. He gazed up, still wearing the smirk from having learned his sword's name. "Alright, Tenshou," he said aloud, "Let's show this ugly-mug who he's dealing with!"

With that, the renegade jumped mightily into the center of the Menos, straight through the hole in its body, laughing at his feat as he turned around in mid-air. The amalgam of evil spirits was not too happy about this, and made an about face before charging another cero to fire at the object of its rage. Kamina simply skidded through the air before coming to a stop, suspended by his reiatsu.

"Ready to do it again?"

"Again? Do what?"

"Here it comes!" the cero was reaching its full size and Kamina charged for it.

"W-wait, let's not be hasty!" the sword pleaded as it again became the leading edge of its wielder's body. If a katana could cry, Kamina would probably have been drenched halfway to his target.

The Menos fired off its cero. The red orb met the blue blur and the metal wisp in the middle of the two sliced cleanly through the negative energy. The cero dissipated and a moment's pause revealed Kamina standing lazily about fifty feet behind the Menos' head. He lifted his blade onto his shoulder. Upon the metal resting on his skin, the Menos behind him split in half from the head down and evaporated into the sky.

"W-who is this guy?!" Ichigo thought aloud. Byakuya had neither a comment nor an answer, but even someone untrained in reading expressions could tell that the habitually stoic noble was astonished.

Takara had witnessed the whole thing after the breaking up of the first cero and only one word seemed to encompass all of the thoughts currently running through the quiet Arrancar's mind: "Shit." He knew that the guy was strong—stronger at least than some of the average Soul Reapers, but this… this was bordering on the obscene. However, more disturbing than anything else was the fact that his spiritual pressure seemed to have just magically spiked only moments ago after first beginning his fight with the Menos. "What could have happened?"

At the same moment, Ichigo and Byakuya both realized that they were still surrounded by mindless and chaotic masses of hollows bent on the destruction of everything around them. The two Soul Reapers nodded to each other and leapt into action, quickly dispatching the numerous Menos Grande, one by one. Kamina, on the other hand, had taken to sitting cross-legged in the air while admiring his sword as if seeing it for the first time.

Takara knew that he had lost control of the situation… at least at this level. "Damn it!" he cursed inwardly. He cursed himself for letting his comrades die, for not being strong enough… but more so… he cursed his leader Sousuke Aizen for being so very wrong. "Damn you, Aizen!" Ichigo and Byakuya had just finished off the final Menos when they sensed a very dense spiritual pressure. They turned around just in time to see the only remaining Arrancar in the Soul Society release his Zanpakuto. "Haga el último ruido… Campana."

A wind whipped up around Takara as his sword turned to dust and flew into the gust. The sound of soft chiming could be heard as the release was completed. Takara's face was now entirely covered in a bony helmet leaving nothing exposed but his mouth. On his head rested a wide, conical hat of the same bone similar to those worn by workers in rice paddies. Along the brim were hung what appeared to be ten small wind chimes suspended by string and spaced evenly. A long, high collared coat now composed his uniform, the tails of which flowed quietly in the wind. His pants had become somewhat baggy and were tied at his ankles where they met the sandals. All remained the typical Arrancar white with some black inlays.

The captain and substitute Soul Reaper both went on the defensive after witnessing the spectacle, not wanting to do anything hasty before knowing exactly what this Arrancar was capable of. It was not long before Takara's released form went on the offensive. His hand moved slowly to his hat to remove it. It just seemed ordinary except for the cylindrical bells hanging on the brim. Suddenly, he launched it like a Frisbee at Ichigo and Byakuya; the chimes at the edges suspended outwards by centripetal force. Captain Kuchiki readied himself for a flashstep, but instead the hat stopped only a foot short of his face… most of the chimes shot forward in accordance with their inertia and rang sweetly. However, it seemed that some of the stringed chimes remained stiff, defying physics.

Then, the Arrancar dashed to meet his enemies using sonido… but… there was no trademark sound… no sound at all. Taken aback by this, Ichigo felt unable to dodge as quickly as his Soul Reaper counterpart. Rather, in a daze, eyes wide open the orange haired Shinigami did nothing but watch as Takara continued his focused dash… but then he made no move to attack Zangetsu's wielder. Instead, he merely grabbed his hat, still hanging in the air and rapidly slowed to a stop right behind Ichigo. It was silent… eerily silent… too silent. Ichigo felt afraid to breathe. But then he heard something. Takara had reached up slowly to the left of his hat and with his left hand, and lightly ran his finger across a few of his chimes ringing them softly.

Byakuya was already on the attack. Hoping to prevent anything from happening to his ally, he had already begun flash stepping towards the Arrancar. Realizing this, Takara shot away with sonido, and Byakuya landed right where he was before flash stepping again. Then he heard one of the most pained screams he had ever heard in his life. The noble stopped cold in his tracks. Looking back he saw Ichigo screaming, clutching his head in agony. Zangetsu had seemed forgotten as it dropped to the ground from the air Ichigo was floating in.

"AAAAAGHH!" Ichigo was yelling in extreme pain. "The flash step, the sonido, their movements! EVERYTHING!" he gripped his head tighter in thought, hands trembling furiously, "Why is it all so loud?!"

"Don't ask him what's wrong," came a voice that seemed right next to his own ear. Byakuya's vision shot back towards where he last remembered his enemy standing. There he was again… he had not moved, but… the words seemed so close. "He won't hear your voice," it stated coldly. Byakuya could see the Arrancar's lips moving but it seemed as if his voice box had been grafted to the Kuchiki's cheek in terms of the volume and clarity.

The captain narrowed his eyes. His only response was to hold his sword upside-down before himself. He spoke the words… did he not? His Zanpakuto remained in its base state, the blade still metallic. Chire, Senbonzakura. What was this? The command did not register. A voice caught the noble's attention once more. The Arrancar was addressing him, but this time, the close distance of his voice matched his actual distance from the Soul Reaper. When did he sneak up on him?

"You hear what I want you to hear," the words exited his mouth free of emotion. The air was silent; devoid of life. "Everything does. In noise there is chaos and chance. Silence brings calm and order." He disappeared from view using sonido. "All things do as they are told when only one voice is able to give commands." Takara strafed in front of Byakuya for a split second, connecting his shrouded eyes with those of the noble before darting off again, "You're alone, captain."

Ichigo had retrieved Zangetsu from the ground. Even the simple action of gripping the blade's hilt cut into his ears with almost unbearable force. "Damn it!" he cursed silently seeing that Byakuya had now engaged the Arrancar, "I can't even flash step because of the wind in my ears!" Even the sound of the two Zanpakuto colliding one hundred feet above Ichigo echoed loudly, causing the orange-haired Soul Reaper to cringe in discomfort. "How am I supposed to fight? Wait!" He held back Zangetsu, ready to swing and let forth a powerful burst of riatsu. "I'll just have to bear with it!" He shut his eyes and yelled, "Getsuga Tenshou!" The sword sweeped horizontally, causing Ichigo extreme discomfort from the amplified sound, but the most disturbing thing for him was that nothing had happened. His shikai's ability had failed and Ichigo was left to ponder what had happened in dismay.

Ponder silently… that is until a now familiarly obnoxious voice caused him to nearly shatter his own teeth at how hard he cringed in pain, "Hiiiiyaaaaah!" Kamina was not even closer than fifty feet from Ichigo, but his shouting was simply loud enough to catch the attention of even Takara who was still dealing with one opponent. The shirtless renegade shot forward through the air to aid the Soul Reaper captain.

"Damn... him again," Takara thought, "And the orange-haired boy heard him too. That means he wasn't affected. He must've been out of earshot the first time I unleashed Campana. I need to incapacitate one of these two quickly. I can't take on both of them." Kamina continued on his course for the Arrancar, sword brandished proudly. No longer with a sword of his own, Takara's released form was simultaneously powerful and vulnerable in various ways. Aizen's soldier sped away from the shirtless brawler's sword, putting as much distance between himself and the two Zanpakuto wielders. He then proceeded to repeat the process that had put him at an advantage against the two official Soul Reapers. His hat shot forward and stopped in front of Kamina, many of the chimes shooting forward and some remaining still, all producing a beautiful melody that echoed through the air.

And again, Takara shot forward to retrieve his rice paddy hat, but this time Byakuya was ready for his enemy. He flash stepped forth and intercepted the speedy Arrancar before his hand could reach for the musical hat.

"Shit!" Unable to grab his article of clothing without losing a limb in the process, Takara shot off to the side, regretfully and angrily watching the hat of bone drop through the air and land on the ground. Unable to further activate any of his powers, the Arrancar went on the defensive as he rapidly descended to retrieve his precious music maker. Not willing to allow this, Byakuya had already dived after him when Kamina noticed something peculiar: there was no longer any sound. Worried, he turned to his talking sword, opening his mouth, he found that he himself no longer made any sound as well.

"But we've got a special connection, right?" he smirked, thinking silently towards the blade. No response. Kamina's eyes shot open. What was going on? "Tenshou?!" Nothing.

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The Kuchiki had caught up to Takara and had forced the Arrancar to yet again abandon his quest to take back his only real weapon. Byakuya landed softly, imposing himself between a scowling Takara and his prize. Suddenly, something else scared him more. A voice from above came crashing through the air.

"You bastard!" Kamina roared, silent to everyone but Takara who shuddered at the rage conveyed in the man's cry. "What did you do to Tenshou?!"

The leader of the Gurren Brigade crashed into the ground violently, sending chunks of earth shooting in all directions. However, the scariest thing was that out of worry for his blade, Kamina had securely slipped into between his belt and his pants and resorted to using his fists. Takara shot backwards to avoid the blow and ran right into range of Captain Kuchiki's katana who had sped behind the Arrancar using the commotion created by Kamina as cover. Caught by surprise, Takara did his best to avoid the noble, but was still caught in the chin by Senbonzakura before completely getting away. Wincing in pain, the elite hollow took to the air and remained floating; blood dripping slowly down his ankle and off of his foot.

Not willing to give his enemy a break, Kamina launched back on the offensive. "Bring my sword back!" Takara blocked the first punch and the tattooed berserker let loose another one. The Arrancar tilted his head to avoid this one. The fist that had originally missed its target now opened up and the palm shot back and clasped onto the back of Takara's neck. Takara's eyes went wide as he saw opponent draw himself closer and delivered a fierce knee into the hollow's abdomen. Takara's head shot forward and released a violent cough.

As if that was not enough, he heard Byakuya flash step to his side, no doubt with his sword ready to skewer him. In a desperate straight, Takara tilted away from the captain exposing Kamina's back to the noble whose arm was cocked back ready to spear his enemy. Byakuya resisted the urge to end the battle at the cost of this man's life giving the Arrancar the opportunity to kick Kamina off of him and into the Soul Reaper behind him. Takara, using his kick as leverage, blasted backwards away from his two enemies.

"Damn it all!" he was panting, "At this rate, I won't be able to maintain my release. Then there's no stopping the other guy from joining the fight too." As the Soul Reaper and renegade unleashed a barrage of attacks, Takara went into a desperate dance of dodges and near escapes; each maneuver draining from his already slim supply of energy. Finally, unable to keep up the pace, Kamina caught the Arrancar off guard and slammed an elbow into Takara's back sending him flying into the ground. The hollow rose to his feet slowly realizing that he was still being attacked.

It all seemed so unreal to him. Why had all of this happened. How could it be? It even seemed as if the other Menos on the other side of the Soul Society had been dispatched as well. How was he so wrong…? He and his team had basically been thrown to the dogs. "Did… were we be… betrayed?" With this idea finally penetrating his head and bouncing around in his thoughts, an immense feeling of resignation shot through him. Why should he hope? What was there to do now but die? Still he wondered—even in this state of supreme hopelessness—he wondered… why.

Just as Byakuya rushed to deliver the final blow through the back of the Arrancar's neck, another figure imposed himself between Takara and the captain at the last second, harmlessly redirecting Senbonzakura to the side.

"Damn, Takara," the Arrancar being addressed slowly turned around and displayed a look of mild shock. A soldier like himself stood blocking the attack that should have killed him. He wore the same clothing as Takara, but his shoulder-length wild white mane set him completely apart from the forgettable-looking Kidai. "You always were a weakling, but this is too much," the man's words were almost grim. Byakuya did not bother asking for the newcomer's name as he had still not regained any of his hearing, he merely narrowed his eyes and focused on the number fifteen branded on the man's forehead. "Letting your entire team die and then getting beaten to a pulp by a lone captain and… and, who the hell is that? That guy doesn't even look like a Soul Reaper! Man, if it wasn't for Aizen-sama's orders, I'd've completely left you for dead by now. I don't know what he sees in you to ask me to save you like this."

"Kouhetsu," Takara's words were a strange mix of thanks, spite, and unknowing in terms of what to say next.

"Shut your face, worm," the rank fifteen Arrancar spat coldly, not even turning his head to acknowledge his addresser. Rather, Kouhetsu responded with a firm kick to Takara's chest, knocking him back to the ground in pain. "Just keep maintaining your release. I'll finish this in a second." He paused for a second and a sickly grin parsed across his face, "But make sure they can hear me. I want to have them know the true error of their ways before they die." Kouhetsu finally broke swords with Byakuya. The Soul Reaper put a little distance between himself and the new Arrancar… while Kamina—still on a rampage—decided it better to simply rush in for the kill. This would prove to be a bad idea.

"Hagase mi cuerpo… Entrañas," suddenly, the Arrancar's katana rapidly shot up into his arm. The words had just exited the man's mouth when Kamina's fist landed on him. A short pause followed before the leader of the Gurren Brigade yelled in pain and his fist was painfully withdrawn from its target. Kamina noticed that he was bleeding profusely from his knuckles. He looked up and saw the man grin sadistically, yet it seemed like nothing had changed in his appearance.

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A/N: The next chapter has Kamina's shikai so keep reading! :P It also has the ending of this freaking battle! I know, incredible, right? o.O

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Foreign Words...

Tenshou: Heaven Piercer

Haga el último ruido… Campana: Make the final noise... Bell

Shikai: Part Release

Hagase mi cuerpo… Entrañas: Become my body... Entrails