Xzayvion watched from afar as his 'friends' fought the shinigami. One of them swung his sickle at Yuki.

-Clash-

Yuki parried the attack, yet she felt herself being pushed back. Thinking quickly, she struck her knee into his stomach. As the human keeled over, Yuki then bashed him from behind his neck. The human stumbled forward but quickly went for another attack. Yuki leapt backwards to avoid it.

"Renji! Matsumoto!"

"Yeah, I know! They just don't want to go down!" Renji yelled as he kicked one of his attackers.

"It's like their not even human," Matsumoto added while parrying an attack.

"Oh, they're human alright. They just won't go down unless I say so," a voice spoke from behind Yuki. Yuki swung her zanpakuto quickly to hit Xzayvion but suddenly stopped. A human stood between her and Xzayvion and her zanpakuto was at the human's neck.

"Why do you hesitate?" Xzayvion asked.

-Rip-

"Argh!"

Xzayvion's hand tore through the human's chest and into Yuki's gut. Yuki stepped back as her blood poured forth, her eyes filled with anger.

"What? You're not going to say that was cheap are you? This is a battle to the death, there are no rules. Besides, my buddy here is just fine."

Despite having a gaping hole in his chest, the human still stood.

"If you guys are going to have this much trouble with my friends then I might as well sit this one out."

Xzayvion then walked over to a nearby bench and sprawled himself out. The wounded human then readied his bat and swung hard. Yuki stepped back, but slipped and fell to the ground while barely dodging the bat. As she looked up she saw something odd; blood dripped off of something invisible from behind the human's head. The human swung his bat down but Yuki rolled out of the way. She then swung her zanpakuto at the floating blood. Almost immediately, the human fell over.

"There are invisible strings attached to their heads!" Yuki called out. Once this was figured out, Yuki and the others easily dispatched the remaining humans.

-Clap clap clap-

"Not bad. I expected it to take longer for you all to figure it out. Well, before we get down to business, allow me to clean up the trash."

A large hole slowly began to form on the ground. The humans fell through into a white room as the shinigami backed away. Not too soon after they fell, large spikes erupted from the walls and floor, impaling the humans. Shortly thereafter, the hole closed.

"Oh wow! Jacint would have really liked that one!" Xzayvion laughed. Yuki and the others raised their zanpakuto.

"Y-you..!"

Everyone quickly turned towards Shinta. He was finally on his feet and was shaking violently.

"Are you...the Puppet Master?!" he demanded. Yuki's eyes grew wide upon hearing this.

"...Wow, I haven't heard that name in ages," Xzayvion said in amazement. He then bowed before them.

"My name is Xzayvion Sitruk, the Puppet Master. Nice to meet you all."

"Xzayvion...Sitruk...I'LL KILL YOU!!"

Shinta then rushed towards Xzayvion in rage and swung his zanpakuto. Xzayvion easily stopped the attack with his arm.

"There are a few things you did wrong here. One: you didn't release your zanpakuto. And two: you're so weak that you couldn't even scratch me even if you did. To me, you're just a worthless nobody. Now, stay out of the way, kid."

Xzayvion then kicked Shinta hard, sending him back towards the others. Yuki, Matsumoto and Renji ran up to him as he landed.

"Shinta! Are you all right?" Yuki asked.

"S-stay out of this! He's...mine!"

Shinta tried to get up, but fell over.

"I'm supposed to kill him! My whole life up to now is for this very moment! So get out of my-argh!"

With the combination of Xzayvion's reiatsu and the pain he was feeling, Shinta found himself unable to get back up. Yuki, Matsumoto and Renji then stepped in front of him.

"I'm sorry Shinta...We'll kill him for you," Yuki apologized.

"No! This is my battle! If you kill him, I'll never forgive you!"

"Shinta..."

"Please, get out of the way! Just give me a few seconds to-"

"Shinta!"

Shinta grimaced as Yuki yelled at him.

"Shinta, you're too weak to fight someone like him. So just...lie there and let us handle this."

"...Dammit!" Shinta cried. He was so close to his goal, yet so far away.

"...Does that kid have a grudge against me or something? Ah well, it's not like it makes that much of a difference. After all, you three are much more interesting. Wouldn't you agree, Captain Hitsugaya Yuki, Lieutenant Abarai Renji and Lieutenant Masumoto Rangiku?"

"You...know our names?"

"Yeah, Txaran is pretty good at surveillance. I paid close attention to you three since you were all heading towards the human world. I don't know why you brought that kid over there with you, but it seems like he won't be a threat at all."

Xzayvion then pulled out and lit up a new cigarette.

"Well, I'm ready when you all are."

Yuki lifted her sword high into the air.

"Shimo Nami!"

Xzayvion leapt into the air to dodge the icy wave, only to meet Renji's blade. He then grabbed Zabimaru and pulled Renji towards him. With his other hand, Xzayvion smacked Renji in the back of the head, sending him to the ground. Once Xzayvion hit the ground, both Yuki and Matsumoto attacked.

-Clash-

Xzayvion held back both blades with each arm. While he was busy, Renji ran towards them.

"What are you going to do now?" Yuki asked.

"Ha ha...what indeed?"

Renji swung his blade towards Matsumoto. Matsumoto managed to dodge out of the way before the attack connected.

"Renji! What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"I-I don't know! I can't control my body!"

"That's right; lieutenant Abarai is my new friend. He's going to do whatever I want him to do. I guess that just leaves you and me, Miss Captain."

Xzayvion used his now free arm to strike Yuki. Yuki leapt backwards but keeled over in pain.

"Having stomach problems?" Xzayvion mocked.

"Shut up!"

Yuki swung her blade hard, yet Xzayvion didn't bother to stop it.

"Out of all the arrancar serving Aedric, my hierro is the toughest. If you want to hurt me, you're going to have to use your bankai. Don't worry, I won't stop you."

"And why would you not stop me?"

"Heh, life is no fun if there isn't a little bit of risk involved."

"...Fine then. Ban...k-argh!!"

A sharp pain suddenly assaulted Yuki. A mask slowly began to form as her hair turned black at the roots.

"No! Not now!" Yuki yelled as her transformation slowly came over her.

"Huh...That was faster than expected," Xzayvion commented, "So tell me, why do you help these shinigami? Our powers aren't that different, so why don't we join forces. Aedric would-"

"Bankai!"

Xzayvion quickly backed off before Yuki could strike him.

"What the hell?! Are you siding with the shinigami?!"

"No, I'm on my own side. I could care less about what your Aedric wants. In fact, you should all bow down and serve me, how about that?"

"Tch! I see that this is going nowhere. Aedric told me that I could kill you if you refused us."

"Ha! You? Kill me?"

"You seem to have forgotten about you power limiter. As a captain, you are considerably weaker here and since Soul Society is under attack, you won't be getting much stronger anytime soon. I'm much stronger than Jacint was and I know what to expect."

Yuki then held out her finger like a makeshift gun.

"You talk too much...bala!"

Xzayvion held out his hand and took the bala head on. The force from the attack tore up his suit.

"Aw man! These things are hard to come by, you know!"

"Shimo Nami!"

Xzayvion once again leapt into the air in order to dodge the icy wave. Yuki then pointed her zanpakuto into the air.

"Cero!"

As the attack closed in Xzayvion pulled out his gun.

"Cero!"

-BOOOOOOOOOOM-

The two attacks clashed with one another. The shockwave that resulted in the impact sent Renji and Matsumoto to the ground. Shinta struggled to not be blown away. In the aftermath, Xzayvion stood before Yuki.

"This is for ruining my suit!"

Xzayvion then struck Yuki with his fist and then kicked her in the gut. He then lifted her off the ground and threw her. Yuki then bounced off the ground twice and slowly began to stand up again.

"Tch! You annoy me! I'm gonna k-"

Yuki suddenly fell to the ground.

"D-dammit! What're you doing?!" she demanded to herself.

"Ha! Having problems with your other self? You know, if you join us, we'll help you keep your other self down."

"I don't need your help, so piss off!"

"...Such language. Oh well, can't say I didn't try," Xzayvion muttered as he pulled out his gun again, "Since you won't cooperate, I guess I'll just kill you. Just to make sure, I'm going to use our strongest type of cero. Well, it was nice knowing you."

Xzayvion's reiatsu rose sharply as the area around him began to distort.

"Dammit Yuki! Let me move! You're going to kill us both!"

"último cero!"

The cero tore through the streets at an amazing speed. Debris was thrown everywhere as it quickly drew closer to the fallen Yuki.

"B-blossom...Kurohana!"

Suddenly, a circular shield made up of twenty curved blades appeared in front of Yuki. The shield took the último cero head on, completely negating the attack. Xzayvion took a step back in shock.

"W-what the hell?!"

All twenty blades suddenly detached and floated into the air. Shinta then stood up and held his hand outwards.

"Now go!"

The blades then fired off like missiles towards Xzayvion.

"...Oh please. Those things can't even scratch me. You're just wasting your-"

-Slit-

One of the blades managed to knick Xzayvion's right shoulder. Blood slowly began to pour from the cut.

"Tch! Those things are more dangerous than I thought..."

Xzayvion then entered into a crazy dance of dodging in an attempt to avoid the blades. As he dodged he saw Shinta running towards him with a blade of his own in his hands. Shinta swung upwards, yet Xzayvion fell back, avoiding the blade by mere inches. Half of Xzayvion's cigarette flew through the air. Immediately after Shinta's attack, Xzayvion grabbed him by the neck. He then squeezed hard, forcing Shinta to drop his blade.

"Nice try. You managed to catch me off guard; I'll give you props for that. But you ruined a perfectly good cigarette. Just for that, I'm going to crush your neck. Got any last words?"

"...I-it doesn't...matter. R-right n-now my...blades are c-coming back..." Shinta squeezed out. Xzayvion turned back to see that the other 19 blades were nearly upon them. There was no escape.

"S-seems like...we're g-going to die...together..."

However just before the blades hit them, they were all blown away by some great force.

"Wow, that was a close one Xzayvion-kun!" Jaku said in surprise.

"J-Jaku?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Kiauna-chan got captured and Ansel-kun...died...So Aedric-kun said we have to retreat for now."

"Ansel...Well, that doesn't matter now. I still have work to do."

"But Aedric-kun-"

"Who the hell cares what Aedric says? I'm having fun here so you can go back and tell him to piss off."

"...You're not thinking about defying his orders, are you?"

"Tch, like I care. Now, go away and let-"

Xzayvion suddenly stopped as Jaku held an axe to his throat.

"J-Jaku...What are you-"

"You know the rules Xzayvion-kun. Aedric-kun's word is the law. We exist for no other reason than to serve him."
"...You don't honestly buy that bullshit, do you?"

"You want to try me?" Jaku asked while slowly pressing his axe into Xzayvion's throat, "Now, drop the kid."

Xzayvion reluctantly loosened his grip and dropped Shinta to the ground.

"Fine then, I'll leave," Xzayvion muttered.

"Okay! It's not much fun in Hueco Mundo without you Xzayvion-kun!"
"Yeah yeah, whatever..."

Jaku then opened up a portal.

"W-wait! We're...not finished yet!" Shinta called out.

"Thank your lucky stars kid. If it weren't for that bastard Aedric, you would be dead right now. But I'll let you in on a little secret. We'll be back in nine days, when the moon is full."

And with that, Xzayvion walked through the portal.

"...Aedric-kun is going to be mad, you know," Jaku warned as he stepped through as well.

"Wait!" Shinta yelled. However the portal was already closed.

"G-get off me!!" Yuki demanded as both Renji and Matsumoto began to tear off her mask. As they finally tore it off, Shinta stumbled over to them. He looked down at Yuki, of who was now unconscious.

"...What happened to her?" Shinta asked.

"It's...complicated..." Matsumoto said.

Shinta then looked up into the sky. The sun had finally set and the night began to take over.

"Nine days...on the full moon," he repeated to himself. He then gazed at the many blades behind him.

"...I won't lose next time!" he promised to himself.


That's it for this chapter. It's come to my attention that I kinda forgot to provide the translations to the arrancar's releases. Sorry about that. Well, here are the ones that have been provided so far:

Tusnelda: Pavo Real means Peacock.

Kiauna: Veneno means Venom

Ansel: Fuego means Fire

Dainora: Arana means Spider

For this chapter, último is Spanish for final/last.

And as an extra bonus, Jacint's zanpakuto's name was Lagarto, which meant Lizard.