Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, if I did, Momo and Tosahiro'd be getting hitched, Halbiel'd beat the stuffing out of Nnoitra and Momo would finally realise what a jerk Aizen was

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Chapter eight: The rise of El Agateau

As the three shinigami advanced on the rooftop, the birthplace of the newest hollow, they picked up on the sound of ragged breathing and glanced back to see Grimmjow leaning on a streetlight for support, clutching his side

"Get going, or I'll cut you down" Renji snapped at the Espada

"I nearly died a few minutes ago, so cut me some slack shades" Grimmjow retorted. Renji flicked his arm and the streetlight fell to the ground, everything above where Grimmjows hand had been had been sliced clean off

"Wanna test my patience anymore?" Renji asked, sheathing Zabimaru

"Now now boys, if you kill each other whose going to protect me from the hollows?" Rukia asked them, a shadow of a smirk on her face

"Yeah shades, listen to your girlfriend" Grimmjow said snidely

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFREIND!" Renji yelled, forgetting who was there to hear it

"Heh, whatever you say shades, whatever you say" Grimmjow replied, casting a glance at Rukia who didn't seem phased by Renji's denial at all. He nodded slightly and they kept advancing onwards

Up on the roof Tenalava and his allies looked down at the advancing quartet. Szayel looked nervous, Yoruichi looked confused, Nitruz didn't really have a look since it wasn't intelligent enough to have one, Tenalava was smiling wickedly and the 5th Espadas newest recruit was flexing its claws in anticipation of the upcoming fight

"You excited?" Tenalava asked the hollow, which nodded

"Can't wait, I've been looking forward to this fight since, well, as long as I can remember" it replied

"Yes, speaking of fights we need to get you…presentable for yours" Tenalava said, placing a clawed hand on the hollows face, then yanking it away and taking most of it's mask along with it.

El Agateau dropped to his knees, clawed hands clutching at its face. His hollow form began to break down, dissolving into pure blue light. The light flexed and winded before settling on a new shape. El Agateau rose to his feet as his new form was revealed. His hollow skin had disappeared, now he was clad in the attire of an Arrancar, he was still a red head but now his hair was a dark red, the colour of spilt blood, instead of Ichigo's orange. The last remnants of his hollow mask were on his right cheek and took the form of a patch of scaled skin. Like Ichigo he also had a zanpaku-to and like his it was strapped on his back and looked like the one Ichigo had used when he'd first become a Soul Reaper

"Wow, talk about a last minute makeover" Szayel muttered

"I assume it's to your liking El Agateau?" Tenalava asked the new Arrancar, who nodded

"Hell yeah and don't call me El Agateau, call me Hilea Agateau" he replied as the three shinigami and one Espada finally reached the rooftop

"Ichigo!" Rukia cried out as soon as she landed on the roof, starting to go to his aid when Tenalava stepped in her way

"That's as far as you go" he commanded

"Get out of my way or I'll cut you down" Rukia snarled, drawing Sode no Shriayuki

"I'd normally jump at the chance to teach Byakuya's little sister some manners but I've already promised my friend here the first shot at you so I'll have to wait my turn" the 5th Espada responded

"You know my brother? How did you…" Rukia started, but stopped as soon as she saw who stepped out from behind Tenalava

"Yo Rukia-sama, nice day isn't it?" it said mockingly

"What the Hueco Mundo are you?" Renji snapped at Hilea, who smiled coldly

"Name's Hilea Agateau, friends call me Hilea, so please call me Agateau, now, die" he replied, reaching for its zanpaku-to, which had a blood red hilt

"Crimsona Constraintas (Chain Of Red Rust), let the blood flow" he cried. The sword disappeared and Hilea assumed his true hollow form. He resembled the first hollow form he'd taken when first freed from Zangetsu but was a foot taller and instead of being white, his hollow skin was blood red. As Renji looked closer he saw links of blood red, rusty spiked chains wrapped around his arms and torso, digging into the skin of the Arrancar and in his right hand he gripped a sword hilt with a length of chain protruding form it. The final link ended in a blade like spike and the chain was stiff, like a sword blade. The most prominent thing about his new form was the blood, it seemed to coat his skin like slime coated a frog and was constantly flowing from the thin cuts that criss-crossed his skin, dripping off his clawed hands, the chains and his chain like sword

Without warning Hilea lunged forwards at Renji, bringing his sword down on the Shinigami's head. Renji's arms reacted almost on impulse and Zabimaru whipped upwards to block the strike, sending blood flying everywhere, splattering the face of his insane looking opponent

"What's the matter? Its only blood" the hollow chuckled manically, grasping the end of Zabimaru with his free hand and swinging his sword at Renji again.

Zabimaru flexed inwards but Hileas sword whipped around it and dug itself into the bone, skin and tendons of Renji's left shoulder. Renji let out a cry and sank to his knees, still desperately trying to keep Hilea at bay with Zabimaru, now clutched feebly in his right hand

"Renji!" Rukia cried, surging forwards with Ikkaku only to have Tenalava, Nitruz and Yoruichi jump in front of them

"Now now, let the boys play" the 5th Espada chided mockingly

"You're a lieutenant captain and this is all you've got? I'm insulted" Hilea sneered, pulling on the hilt of Constraintas so the tip was yanked out of Renji's shoulder in a spray of blood

"Normally I wouldn't bother killing garbage like you, but since you're a friend of Ichigo's, I'll make an exception" he said, putting as much loathing into each word as he could. He raised his sword hilt high above his head then brought it back down, the blade descending like the blade of the Sokyoku towards the defenceless Soul Reaper

"NO! RENJI!" Rukia screamed, pushing forward only to have Tenalava hold her back, laughing his head off at her pain and torment. At that moment Yoruichi looked more disgusted than Ikkaku had ever seen her

Renji closed his eyes, feeling the cool night air on his blood soaked skin and hearing the birds chirping in the distant trees. He could hear the air whistle as the blade descended then a metallic clang as it suddenly stopped. Wondering why he wasn't dead he opened his eyes to see a cat like claw gripping Hileas blood soaked zanpaku-to, looking more clearly he saw the arm and the rest of the body attached to the hand that had saved his life. It was Grimmjow

"Sorry but it wouldn't be much good to repay Rukia by letting her boyfriend die" he told Hilea

"She's not my…girlfriend" Renji muttered under his breath, whispering a healing kido spell to stop the bleeding, the blood flow slowed, but barely

"Traitor" Hilea spat at Grimmjow

"You're not an Espada, or part of Aizens army, and I was never on your side to begin with, so I'm not betraying anyone" Grimmjow replied, calmly extending his energy claws and pushing Hileas zanpaku-to further upwards, away from Renji

"This is extraordinary, Agateau is less than an hour old but by my calculations, he has reached Espada level power already" Szayel said with glee, scribbling down notes on a piece of paper pulled from his uniform

"Sister, stop him" Tenalava cried, Yoruichi crossed her arms and remained still

"No" she replied simply

"What did you say?" Tenalava asked threateningly

"I said no, I'm not helping you anymore" she said, enjoying the enraged look that spread across her 'brothers' face

"Fine, have it your way then. I'll just wipe all your memories clean, you'll be nothing more than a blank slate, a mindless doll" he snarled, shoving Rukia back to land next to Renji and holding up Cascavela. Ikkaku took advantage of Yoruichi's refusal to fight and pushed past her, only for Nitruz to careen into his chest and knock him backwards.

"Tenalava this isn't a good idea, remember what happened last time you…" Szayel started to protest

"Be quiet. When I want your opinion I'll give it to you. I'm not letting this little alley cat insult me and get away with it" he replied, clicking his zanpaku-to rapidly, the rebellious look in Yoruichi's eyes faded and they clouded over again, this time her eyes became a blurred dark yellow colour and she went limp, swaying on her feet slightly, as if she could barely stand up

"That's better, now let's try that again, go and…" the 5th Espada didn't get a chance to finish. Yoruichi let out an inhuman scream of fury and lunged at him, her kido energy crackling around her body. The two fell in a heap on the rooftop and rolled further towards the edge

"GET OFF!" Tenalava roared, kicking out with both legs, lifting Yoruichi upwards and she sailed over the edge of the building

Forgetting whom they were facing, Rukia and Grimmjow ran to the edge of the roof, leaving Ikkaku to step in and fight Hilea

Down below Yoruichi leapt to her feet. White kido energy crackled and buzzed in the air around her body and her eyes became darker and darker with every second. Her skin started to get darker, whiskers sprouted from her face, her fingers and hands lengthened into cat like claws and a long black tail sprouted from the end of her spine. She screeched like a cat and took off, using flash steps she vanished from sight within a heartbeat

"Oh this isn't good" Grimmjow told the Soul Reaper, hands gripping the railing that ran along the edge of the rooftop

"Why not?" Rukia asked

"Like Szayel said, Tenalava tried this once before and it wasn't good, the Arrancar he tried it on went berserk and levelled a fifth of Las Noches before we managed to destroy it" Grimmjow told her, now looking more scared than Rukia had ever seen the Arrancar look

"And that was just a Fraccion, who knows what someone as powerful as Yoruichi will do" he added, thankful he wasn't going to have to find her, or get in her way while she was on her rampage

Behind them Ikkaku was kicked backwards and slammed against a air vent, crumpling it like a paper bag. He let out a low groan of pain and put a hand to his head, with now had a long red gash running down its left side. Hilea de-activated his zanpaku-to and stood with Szayel to flank Tenalava, now standing atop another air vent

"I have to admit it was unfortunate to lose Yoruichi, but it doesn't matter, she was just the trailer, now for the main event" he called out, raising his arms and face to the heavens as the sky behind him shimmered and warped into a dark portal.

The portal started to shake and tremble, like something immense was coming towards it. A pair of huge clawed hands appeared and grasped the sides of the portal, pushing it outwards, making it much, much wider. A huge figure stepped out of the portal, almost twice as tall as the building in front of it. It was humanoid in shape, clad in a black uniform with a hole in its upper torso big enough to park a truck inside with plenty of room to spare. Its face was a shining white mask with two huge horns adorning the front, teeth like medieval jousting lances and two couch sized eyes, they were what made the being so terrifying, bright orange they glistened like enormous gemstones in its face but were filled with a terrible emptiness that flooded the souls of all who dared gaze into them.

Renji struggled to his feet, all hope and fighting spirit vanishing from him like a lit candle left out in a cyclone. He knew what the Arrancar had unleashed, he'd seen them many nights in his nightmares, it was a…

"VASTO LORDE!" Grimmjow, Ikkaku and Rukia cried in unison. The massive Menos tilted its head to gaze down at the Soul Reapers, to it no bigger than ants and its eyes seemed to brighten. Its mouth opened slightly and it let out a low growl that chilled the Shinigami and Arrancar to the very cores of their souls

Across town another portal opened. Toshiro Hitsugaya, Kenpatchi Zaraki, Byakuya Kuchiki Izuru Kira and Momo Hinamori stepped through it one after the other and looked at the massive shape of the Vasto Lorde, visible even a mile away

"Well this ought to be interesting" Toshiro said sarcastically

"It's my fault, all my fault" Momo said softly, unable to look the Captains in the eye. She knew that before the day was done Karakura Town and even Soul Society could be lying in ruins. And it would all be her fault

In Chapter Nine – Can Momo step up and become the Soul Reaper she was meant to be? Or will the Vasto Lorde and the berserk Yoruichi doom her and Karakura town?

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