Chapter 3

My mask appeared as quickly as it always did, but this time the mask felt different. Is it because I have two now? So I can only use my stronger mask? I thought to myself. I gathered my wits and continued to gather my spiritual pressure.

"Gin! You are going to wish you had died by that kido because I am going to rip your body to shreds!" I yelled in my hollowed voice.

"Bring it on!" He shouted back in his hollowed voice.

I flash stepped, and because I had my mask on I was twice as fast as I normally was. I appeared right in front of his face and with my zanpakutô I swung down as hard as I could. Then I heard the piercing of flesh I looked up to see my zanpakutô hadn't reached his head yet. I looked down his shikai and gone straight through my abdomen. With my left hand I grabbed his shikai and with my right hand I continued my downward swing.

"Let go!" He yelled at me.

"No." I said back.

All of a sudden I felt this pain ripping through my abdomen and as I looked down I saw that he was pulling his zanpakutô back through my body. I screamed in pain and then finally the last of his zanpakutô came through my body. Gin grabbed my throat, and because I was in so much pain I couldn't really do anything to stop him. He kicked me and I went flying and crashed through several buildings before I landed in a pile of rubble that used to be a building.

I got up slowly trying to think how I could beat him then I remembered that I had only been using my shikai and that I still had my last secret weapon up my sleeve.

"Very well then Gin, I will show you my zanpakutô's true form."

I jumped up to the top of the tallest building that I could see and raised my zanpakutô above my head.

"Here I go Ayaka. BANKAI!" As I said this, a large column of green fire encircled me and shot straight up to the sky.

"What is that spiritual pressure?" Rangiku asked.

"That is Captain Uzuki's spiritual pressure; it is stronger than it normally is." I replied

"What do you mean stronger than it normally is?" She asked

"I mean I have felt her spiritual pressure when she has had her first mask on with her shikai and bankai, and her second mask with her shikai but I have never felt this one."

"Which means what exactly?" She asked hesitantly

"It means she is going all out and using her second mask and her bankai and by the build up I am going to assume that she is going to summon Suzaku."

"Suzaku you mean the Vermillion Phoenix one of the four legendary beasts," Rangiku asked with surprise.

"That is just a cover to protect the real identity; Suzaku is really the spirit of Captain Uzuki's zanpakutô."

"How do you know that?" Izuru asked.
"I know because I have seen him before. Great red wings, with a wing span over 20 feet, black eyes with I suppose you could say they have a red flame in the middle, huge talons and nine extended feathers coming from the tail of the phoenix. It was an amazing sight."

"And now she is going to summon him?" Rangiku asked.

"Yes and use her ultimate kido again but with an edge this time."

"I thought she already had the edge when she used it the first time," Izuru said.

"No. The first time was a trial run so she new what her kido could do, but now she is going to confine the blast that way it will do more damage to the person in side the so called shield."

"How will she make a shield and perform her kido at the same time?"

"That is what Suzaku is for. He has a certain ability that allows him to create a pyramid around an area as large as this entire city. So he will create one around Gin and as it slowly closes up the Captain will through her kido inside." I said quietly.

"That's smart and with no where to go Gin will surely die."

"That's the idea but you must understand that this has never been done before so there is a possibility that it won't work."

"Which bit won't work?" Izuru asked.

"Having enough energy to summon Suzaku then creating the pyramid and then using her kido and throwing it inside of the pyramid."

"Is the Captain expending energy to create the pyramid or is Suzaku?" Rangiku asked.

"The Captain is. Even though Suzaku is creating it the pyramid, the Captain is expending energy because that was their agreement." I replied.

"Their agreement?" Izuru asked.

"Suzaku would materialize when the Captain needed his assistance and in exchange for that the Captain would use up some of her energy if Suzaku was required to perform any of his special skills."

"I see. So this is going to be very draining on your Captain then."

"Yes and seen as I have not seen her with her second mask and bankai as well as summoning Suzaku then getting him to use his Fire Pyramid and then performing the Wind Cyclone I do not know what to do in terms of recovery afterwards." I said.

"I see. Well you will just have to be ready in case something does go wrong and you are needed." Izuru said.

The green fire column finally came down and my zanpakutô had transformed into its Bankai form the four sided Scythe of Fire. My spiritual pressure was at its peak with my second mask on. "Now is the time to summon Suzaku." I thought to myself.

"Now from the great stars above I Minako Uzuki call the Great Legendary Beast Suzaku the Vermillion Phoenix to aid me. Lend me your strength and spirit SUZAKU!"

Then a piercing screech filled the air that could be heard from 1000 km away. The sky started to turn pink then red and then a circle with a diameter of about 50km opened in the middle of the red sky. A talon floated down through the opening, then another one, then the body and then the wings and finally the head of the Phoenix.

"This is Suzaku the Vermillion Phoenix." I shouted in my hollow voice towards Gin.

"I am Suzaku who calls me to aid them?" he said, "oh Minako I see, then today is the day that we put this plan into action I suppose."

"Yes Suzaku today we use that combo on Gin Ichimaru."

"Very impressive Minako I commend you on your efforts to summon the true form of your zanpakutô." Gin said.

"Are you ready Suzaku?"

"Always."

"Very well then. Suzaku use the Fire Pyramid."

Suzaku flew with great speed towards Gin and as he did so he lifted his head and a large sphere was moving up his throat and into his mouth. He flung his head forward suddenly and opened his mouth at the same time. A huge fireball flew out and sped towards Gin. When it reached a certain point in its ark, the fireball separated into smaller ones and took up positions around Gin in a pyramid shape. Instantly the gap between each of the small fireballs started to close in.

"Now is my chance." I said to myself.

I summoned what was left of my spiritual pressure and once again shut my eyes to summon my ultimate kido. I opened them once again and there was my Wind Cyclone bobbing up and down in the palm of my hand. I flash stepped and came up in front of Gin and threw my Wind Cyclone inside of the pyramid just as it was closing.

"Arrrrgggggghhhhhhh!" I screamed.

Gin had used his shikai for the last time and when I looked down it had passed straight through my chest. As I looked up to see his face he was being engulfed in my kido then just like before his zanpakutô grew back to its original size and I screamed in pain again.

The last thing I remember was seeing Gin's face disappearing into the Wind Cyclone.

"She is calling her bankai." I said to the others.

"What is her bankai?" Izuru asked.
"It is the Four Sided Scythe of Fire." I replied.

The green column of fire disappeared and Captain Uzuki was standing on top of the building with her hand in the air holding her zanpakutô. She lowered her bankai slowly and as she did so she looked at Gin.

She shouted, "Now from the great stars above I Minako Uzuki call the Great Legendary Beast Suzaku the Vermillion Phoenix to aid me. Lend me your strength and spirit SUZAKU!"

The sky turned a shade of pink and then to a blood red. In the middle of the sky above the Captain a circle with a diameter of about 50 km dissipated and Suzaku started to come through. Then it looked like they were waiting for something to happen so it took a while before they started to fight again. The Vermillion Phoenix started to fly at a really fast speed and was headed straight for Gin. While he was flying he lifted his head and a large sphere moved up hit throat and then he flung his head forward and fire ball came flying out and flew towards Gin. Just before it hit Gin, it separated into smaller fire balls and they positioned themselves around Gin a pyramid formation. And from here it looked like a wall started to close in between the small fire balls.

Then I suddenly felt Captain Uzuki's spiritual pressure increase and it was a lot stronger than before. 'She is going to use her ultimate kido again' I said to myself. Then she was gone and appeared in front of the pyramid and threw her Wind Cyclone inside. I could see it even from here the zanpakutô glistening with blood and pierced her body again and then retracted once more.

"Captain!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

The gap finished closing in the pyramid and the white light of the Wind Cyclone became red looking from the pyramid. Captain Uzuki started to fall but Suzaku caught her in his claw and lowered her down onto a building behind him. I flash stepped and appeared beside her and looked down at her wounds. She had three major wounds all from Gin's zanpakutô and they were bleeding very fast. I quickly activated a special healing technique that I had developed for this purpose: to stop the internal bleeding until she can be taken to a proper healer.

Suzaku then opened the door back to his realm and flew into it with great speed as his job was done. While I was working I quickly glanced over to the pyramid which had disappeared as Suzaku had left and I saw Gin's body start to fall from the sky. His body looked burnt and there was blood everywhere. If a person could bleed from every pore in their body than that is what happened to Gin. He fell and hit the ground, when I heard him land I relaxed a bit and continued to heal the Captain.

'With Gin defeated finally it might be easier to defeat Aizen,' I thought to myself.

"Thank . . . you." I heard a voice say.

"Captain was that you?" I asked quietly.

"Ayaka . . . thank . . . you." She said again.

"No problem just hang in there you will be walking in no time," I said with a bit of hope in my voice.

'I hope that young substitute soul reaper gets here soon. I don't think I will be able to defeat Aizen.' I thought again.

Just then a loud bang occurred which almost sounded like a clap of thunder and as I turned to see what had happened I was surprised to see that my wish had come true.