Greetings!

Here's Chapter 9, and the last of the Double Troubles. Special thanks to apathyninja, Slothman30, Mileryn, perfect beauty, shaggy-bear, Mungetsu, and stormcrowley for the encouragement and reviews so far.

In response to reviews – I'm not really sure how the 4th Division subplot will turn out, at least not to the extent that I'm sure of how Isane's mission will turn out. We'll just see what develops. :D

Before someone calls me a nut job, I'd like to add the disclaimer that Zarraga's released form's method of attack is not as far-fetched as it sounds – in fact, it's used by a sea creature called the pistol crab/shrimp in real life. Look it up, this is one cool crab!

I do not own Bleach, or any part of it.


DOCTOR'S ORDERS

Chapter 9 – Double Trouble, Part 4: Disorderly Conduct


Oh he might have went on livin',

But he made one fatal slip,

When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip.

Big iron on his hip…

-- Lyrics from "Big Iron," by Marty Robbins


Karakura Town, Downtown - 8:53 p.m.

Isane looked around the room. It was full of humans. If we have a pitched battle here, messy won't begin to describe it. Isane decided to stall while she thought of a way to clear the area. She leaned back and tried to mimic the coldly mocking expression she'd seen on Zarraga's face in the alley. "I still can't believe you came back. Do I have to show you my Bankai again?"

Renji's head whipped around, startled. "You have a Bankai?"

"NO!" Isane, Zarraga, and Bastida said in unison.

Renji blinked, confused. Isane sighed. "I'll tell you about it later."

Renji shrugged, then grinned nastily. "So you guys can't handle Bankai? Well, I've got some bad news for you…"

"Don't!" Isane interrupted. "I've seen that thing. We're in the middle of downtown – if you lose control of it here, even for a moment, you could kill hundreds of people!"

Renji grimaced. "You think we can take them without it?"

"I think we don't really have a choice."

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Zarraga snarled, "I wonder if you'll be feeling so charitable when you've been torn apart!" The two Arrancar lunged, their spiritual pressure blasting loose objects around the room and shaking the furniture. The humans in the room began to shriek and duck for cover.

Isane still hadn't come up with anything, but there was no more time. She and Renji dove in opposite directions, each popping their Soul Candy into their mouth as they dodged. As Isane's spirit body burst free of her Gigai again, she rolled to her feet and told the Candy, "Do whatever you can to get the humans clear, then run!"

The Candy looked around for a moment, confused and irritated. Then Isane heard her own voice bellowing for everyone to get out, with a note of command in it that Isane wished she could produce on her own. The humans began streaming for the exits.

On his side of the room, Renji had a hand up to his ear, requesting limit release. Bastida stood between the two Reapers, with Zarraga perched on the bar behind him, which now sported two large gashes. "Not bad. Bastida, you take the agent. I'll go for her friend here. Be sure to kill them before they get their limiters removed."

"Ok!" Bastida charged after Isane, swinging his weapon in a huge arc. Isane ducked it and rolled behind the bar, but the passing pressure from the swing put cracks in the huge window at the front of the building. The muscles aren't just for show – he's really strong!

Bastida laughed and hopped up, half sitting on the bar as he rolled over it, his sword leading. Isane got her feet under her and blocked, checking his motion. He swung his arm back for another strike, which Isane ended up ducking again. What's with this guy? He really likes big, sweeping attacks, but they're not effective for his offense. If he just reined it in a little he could overpower me. Isane decided not to question her good fortune and jumped up as he swung low, planting one foot on the wall behind her for support and kicking out at Bastida with the other. The kick connected solidly with his ribs.

If he was hurt, he didn't show it, but the force of the kick did slide him right off the polished bar top and through several tables before his inertia ran out. Isane came down from her jump behind the bar before hopping over it. Bastida emerged from a pile of broken furniture, still laughing. "Hahahaha! This is perfect! Keep it up, Reaper!"


Across the room, Zarraga launched himself at Renji, and they met with a flurry of attacks and blocks. Renji quickly found himself on the defensive. Next time, he thought bitterly, I'm just going to report that I'm in continuous combat so they'll keep the damn seal off.

"What's wrong?" Zarraga taunted. "You're not nearly as fast as your friend over there. You need a nap or something?" Zarraga began Sonido-stepping around Renji just to show off. "What's the mortal expression? 'Can't touch this?'"

Renji growled, but said nothing. Keep talking, bastard. Once Twelfth Division breaks my limiter, I'll wipe that smirk off your face.

Zarraga stopped in front of him. "Well, that's enough toying around. Orders are orders, and I have to get going. Goodbye, Reaper." He disappeared with a burst of static. Renji had a sudden flash of déjà vu. It took him a second to place it, before he realized that it wasn't any one event that he was remembering, but several. He's going for the back. I can feel it!

Other than some of the other lieutenants, Renji's most common sparring partner was his own captain, Byakuya Kuchiki. After both a serious fight and numerous sparring sessions, Renji had been forced to admit that his captain was faster than he was – a lot faster, especially in attacks coming out of flash-step. As a result, Renji had become better and better at anticipating where flash-step sneak attacks would come from, and had realized that attempting to turn 180 degrees and attack out of a flash step was harder than it looked, severely limiting the options of the attacker. I can't move as fast, but he has more distance to cover… and I already know what he's going to do! Renji whipped his sword over his shoulder and behind him, and was rewarded when he felt another blade slam into his. Gotcha.

Renji whipped around, swinging Zabimaru at a stunned Zarraga. Zarraga disappeared again, reappearing at the back of the room with a hand to his face. Renji grinned as he saw the small cut there. "Can't touch what, now? Your moves are transparent – and your hierro is pretty weak for an Arrancar with such a big mouth!"

"My, my… one lucky scratch and suddenly you're king of the world." Zarraga flew at him again, this time locking blades with Renji. Zarraga opened his mouth, and left it hanging open. Renji started to frown before his eyes widened, as purplish energy gathered in front of Zarraga's face. Even as he brought his blade around to block, Renji braced for the cero blast…


At the front of the room, Isane charged at Bastida and began swinging at him as hard as she could. He blocked most of her attacks with his own blade, but the occasional hit slipped through his defense - only to bounce off his arms, legs, torso, or head. This is insane!

Bastida, still grinning, recovered the initiative and locked blades with her before his free arm shot out, grabbing Isane by the shoulder. Isane batted his blade away and started wildly hacking at the offending limb, to no effect. He chuckled. "Still no good, huh, Reaper?" Before Isane could reply, he threw her across the room like a shot-put champion – she sailed over the wreckage of the tables and the mostly-intact bar to slam into the shelves behind it, shattering rows of bottles and sending alcohol and broken glass flying everywhere.

Despite the ringing in her head, Isane landed in a crouch. Even as she straightened, though, she heard a brief noise of static before Bastida was right on top of her. She noted, in a back corner of her mind, that he was moving much faster now even as he swatted her zanpakuto away with one arm and grabbed her around the neck with the other.

He bodily lifted Isane off the ground and slammed her into the shelving again. The hit jarred the radio at the end of the shelf, which switched stations to a peppy rock tune that began loudly wailing about how Isane needed to be the 'center of attraction.'

"Well, it's been a blast, Reaper, but it sounds like Zarraga is wrapping things up over there, and then he's gonna tell me that I'm being slow again." He drew back his other hand, ready to finish her, as the one holding her squeezed. "Anything you wanna say before I finish you?"

In desperation, Isane pointed straight at Bastida's eye. "Hado One:" she wheezed, "Sho."

The blast of Kido only had to travel a couple of centimeters – it struck exactly where Isane had pointed. Bastida's grip slackened a bit and he roared – the first angry noise Isane had heard him make. "Arrrrgh! Right in the damn eye!" Before Isane could twist free, though, Bastida blindly threw her straight through the plate glass window at the front of the room. Already weakened from the fight, the glass shattered readily as Isane went sailing into the street, slamming into the side of a large delivery truck and knocking it off balance as she tumbled over to the other side. The song informed Isane that this was what she was 'waiting for.' Isane groaned as Renji was blown out of the bar by Zarraga's cero, his body landing beside her on the sidewalk. This was going to be a long night…


Inside the bar, Bastida brushed himself off. "That was great! What do we do next?"

Zarraga walked outside with his partner in tow and carefully examined the scene of destruction – the truck had barreled straight into a telephone pole, wrecked two other cars, sent one car flying into and through the closed Mikito's Sunglasses Emporium, and damaged some of the other buildings nearby – and it was only going to get worse. "We're not done yet."

"We're not?"

"No! Even you know that Soul Reaper Lieutenants are obnoxiously durable, Bastida. Even worse, this is taking too long – their limiter seals will be released soon." Zarraga's mood changed, and he brightened up. "Let's go ahead and do it, Bastida, just like in the original plan. Then we'll have all the time we could want."

Bastida cracked his knuckles. "Alright!"


Renji coughed where he was lying. He looked over at Isane, "These guys are tough."

Isane got up slowly. "Tough? They're mopping the floor with us!"

"Yeah, but we haven't released yet, and they're not invincible. The little guy was pretty easy to cut, for an Arrancar."

Isane thought back. "The big one was hurt by a level one Hado. I think I spent too long trying to stab him to death"

Renji chuckled. "Looks like you and I are facing the right opponents, then. As soon as my seal is removed, we'll release to Shikai and take these guys out."

Isane nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

From across the street, they heard Zarraga calling. "Reapers! Hey, Reapers! Where are you?"

Isane and Renji emerged from the general mayhem, squaring off with the two Arrancar. Zarraga laughed loudly and obnoxiously before holding his sword behind him in a curious stance. "You're in for a treat, Reapers! We're not your average Arrancar – and you're going to see a pair of truly special Resurreccions. Screech through the void, Emision de Griterio!"

Beside him, Bastida held his weapon with both hands – one on each end of the sword. "Move the Earth, Levantador Ponderoso!"

The two lieutenants each raised an arm to block the sudden burst of wind and light, and when the transformation was done, they looked upon the true forms of their opponents.

Zarraga had stooped over a bit, and now a colossal bulge was centered on his back, with a pair of tall spines jutting straight up out of it. His mask fragments had filled in a bit more, covering his eyes with a clear panel and his mouth completely, and another spine stuck up from above his right ear, resembling an antenna. Most dramatically, his forearms had become encased in what looked like the same material that made up his mask, with a pair of flat, perfectly symmetrical claws at the end of his arms, looking almost mechanical. For his part, Bastida's helmet-looking mask was much larger and more ornate. His arms had become huge, white, segmented pillars – each as long as his body – and his hands had grown to match.

Zarraga raised his eyebrows. "Your turn," he said lightly.

Isane and Renji looked at each other.

"Howl, Zabimaru!"

"Run, Itegumo!"

Nothing happened. From inside the bar, the song let Isane know that she should feel like 'Number One.'

Zarraga laughed at them. "And that's why our abilities are special. Most Arrancar have a release that gives them new powers, but *our* powers are external, altering the battlefield around us! Among our little group, my favorite power is my own, but then I might be a bit biased. It cuts off a Soul Reaper's ability to focus spiritual power outside their own body, jamming their abilities."

Renji snarled, "That's a pretty cheap trick! Are you afraid to fight us fairly?"

Zarraga wagged his claw. "Ah, ah, ah… it's designed to eliminate cheap tricks. No flash-steps, no dancing on thin air, no Kido, no limit removal, and no spooky Zanpakuto abilities. And with that, we begin round two." He struck a nearby street light, producing a resounding *DING*. He and Bastida lunged for their targets.


12th Division, Operations Center

The Squad Twelve technicians finished processing Lieutenant Renji Abarai's limiter-removal request. "Approval granted," one of them shouted across the room, "get it to him quick."

The member who had received Renji's request leaned toward the communicator pickup. "Limit release approved, Lieutenant Abarai… good hunting!"

Static answered him.

He turned toward the other technicians. "Something's wrong. I've lost signal. I can't transmit to his communicator or his limiter!" He frantically started sorting through menus and data. "I've lost contact with everything in a half-mile radius of Abarai's position!"

One of the others shook his head. "There's nothing wrong on this end! One of the Arrancar must be doing this, somehow."

The first one swore. "Get the captain up here!"


Karakura Town, Downtown

Renji leaped forward to meet Zarraga in mid-charge while Isane jumped back to dodge Bastida's new assault. It was clear that the battle was going downhill rapidly. Isane spent most of her concentration and time avoiding Bastida's new-and-improved reach and devastating firepower. What do I do now? I figured out a weakness just in time to lose access to Kido. Unless… unless Zarraga is bluffing and some of that still works! It seems like the kind of thing he'd do. Isane bolted away from Bastida along the sidewalk and half turned, yelling, "Hado Thirty-One: Shakkaho!" A tiny red flash appeared in her hand before the spell fizzled. Nevermind.

Bastida laughed – again. It was getting on her nerves. "Weren't you paying attention? That won't work. And neither will running!" He placed one of his enormous hands on the ground, and a glow shot along the sidewalk and under Isane. She instinctively tried to flash-step aside, but once again found that she couldn't focus enough to do it. It looks like he wasn't kidding. We really are reduced to brawling! The sidewalk tore itself skyward under her. She twisted to avoid the worst of it, but ended up flying through the air and hitting the ground hard, about half the distance back to the Arrancar. Lying on her back, half-stunned, she stared at the upside-down juggernaut and wondered if there was any way to survive at all…


Renji was fighting as offensively as possible, trying to kill Zarraga quickly so that Isane could go to town with her Kido. It wasn't going well. Zarraga's hierro was much stronger now, and he seemed to be able to use either claw to block Renji's attacks. Finally, Zarraga seemed to grow bored with the status quo, and lashed out at Renji, driving the Reaper back and away from him. Then he stopped suddenly, allowing Renji to back up out of melee range. Renji paused. "What's the matter?"

Zarraga pointed a claw at him and grinned in anticipation. "Nothing at all." The claw opened with an ominous clicking noise, before snapping shut. In that moment, there was a tiny flash at the end of the claw, and an enormous *BOOM* echoed through the street. Renji felt an invisible force hammer into him, lifting him up off the ground and leaving a ringing in his ears before he hit a street light pole, bending it. "The hell…?" He croaked out.

Zarraga sneered. "Surprised? I won't go into the math behind it – it might overload your feeble brain, Reaper. Suffice to say, each of my claws can push a pocket of gas through the pincers so fast that the pocket implodes, creating a rather powerful sonic attack. It's great for mid-to-long range combat – I'll crush you before you can even get close!" Zarraga leveled both claws at Renji. "Buh-bye, Lieutenant."


Isane rolled to her feet as Bastida grabbed the front bumper of the delivery truck she'd hit earlier. She frowned. There's no way he could pick it up like that… Her musings were interrupted, though, as Bastida proceeded to do exactly that, lifting up the entire truck into an attack position like a huge club – and even the front part of the truck, attached to the back end only by a thin coupling, maintained its position relative to the back. Isane stared. "What?"

Bastida didn't even look like lifting it was that much of an effort for him. "Ya like it, Reaper? This is *my* power – it's called textile antithesis!"

Isane's eyes widened. She hadn't been expecting that. "We have to fight naked?"

From across the street, Zarraga shouted, "That's tactile telekinesis, moron!"

"Yeah, what he said." Bastida easily hefted the truck a few times. "Something about manipulating the position and state of matter that I touch, but to make it simple, physics takes a holiday while I beat the crap outta you!" He brought the truck down as Isane frantically dove out of the way. The truck made a screeching, crunching noise and buckled the sidewalk and road around it. Bastida looked on one side of the truck, and then the other, spotting Isane on the side closer to the buildings. He hoisted the truck again, holding it horizontally, and swung sideways.

With nowhere to go, Isane was violently swatted into the ruins of the sunglasses shop, where she bounced to a halt at the back of the store. She climbed painfully to her feet – she was bleeding from several places, although she was having a hard time pinning down where and how bad. At the gaping hole where the storefront used to be, Bastida held a streetlight like a javelin. "It gets better, Reaper! My spiritual power is passed into whatever it is I'm holding – everything I use as a weapon hurts just as much as a zanpakuto. Think fast!" He took careful aim and threw the giant pole straight at Isane.

Isane dodged aside and charged straight at Bastida. There's no point in holding the range open. Maybe I can stab him in the eye or something. She lunged at Bastida, only to be almost contemptuously swatted away. Isane arced up into the air and down onto a parked car that had so far miraculously avoided damage, crumpling the roof in. She'd lost track of her zanpakuto midflight, but heard it lodge into the broken roof somewhere above her head. Distantly, she could hear the radio in the bar inform her that she was 'living out her fantasy' before the car alarm kicked in and she couldn't hear anything else.

As Bastida lifted the delivery truck again, Isane realized that the fight was pretty much over. At least I got the humans out. Maybe whoever they send in to replace me will know what's going on.

Strangely, the thought wasn't as much comfort as she'd thought it would be.


12th Division, Operations Center

Captain Kurotsuchi stormed into the operations center, Nemu quickly following. "What's going on? You should be able to bypass a simple jamming ability! Are you all idiots? You're making me look bad!"

"Captain!" One of them shouted. "It's not that simple – this ability is like nothing we've seen a Hollow use before."

Mayuri roughly shoved the man out of his chair. "Let me see." The painted captain typed quickly, reviewing the data collected so far. "Bah! I'm surrounded by fools! This isn't unique at all – it's just that much stronger than previous attempts to block our communications."

"So what do we do?"

"We should be able to get through it by integrating a body of spiritual energy into the relay!" Mayuri nodded, satisfied. "Nemu, get up there."

Nemu bowed. "Yes, captain."

The other technicians looked at Mayuri in horror. "Sir! You… you can't hook her up to that thing!"

The captain half-turned. "Hrm…? Oh, I see your concern. Don't worry – Nemu is an extremely effective conductor, both for electricity and spiritual power!"

"But she'll die!"

The captain scowled. "Now you're just being insulting. I made that body myself. It will take more than that to kill her – although not too much more, I'll grant you – and she has a very high tolerance for pain. Now hand me that headset!"


Karakura Town, Downtown

Renji rolled and dove as Zarraga began firing – for lack of a better word – with both claws. He couldn't escape the blasts completely, but his erratic motion kept him from catching the worst of it. He ended up taking cover behind one of the wrecked vehicles. Zarraga didn't pursue. Damn, he's too smart to follow me around a corner.

A short, sudden rain of black glass fell right in front of his eyes. He reached up and pulled his sunglasses off, and sure enough, they'd been ruined by the blasts. Not again!

"You bastard!" He ranted. "You broke my sunglasses! It took me a month to save up enough money for these. You'll pay for this!" He looked over at the shattered, burning crater that was all that remained of Mikito's Sunglasses Emporium. "Figuratively."

Then a voice buzzed in his ear, and he almost dropped his weapon in shock. "…epeat, Lieutenant Abarai, answer me! I know you can hear me."

He held a hand up to his ear. "Captain Kurotsuchi, is that you?"

"Of course it's me. Who were you expecting, the Women's Association? Listen up, your request is authorized; you can release at any time. Now hurry and kill those Arrancar so I can get back to something important! Better yet, capture them and bring them to my lab. Ooooh, yes, this could be interes-" Renji cut the feed to his earpiece, rolling his eyes. He grinned as he reached for his limiter tattoo, releasing his power but keeping it down around twenty percent to avoid tipping off the Arrancar. Now I just need to figure out how to release Zabimaru. If I can do that, I can end this!

Before he could get started on that problem, though, the car he was using for cover exploded, pitching Renji back into the open. Zarraga leveled both claws at him, vapor from the cero blast still smoking near his mouth. "Ahhh… versatility." Zarraga sighed contently, and began firing again.


Unknown Location, Variable

Isane woke up to a cold wind and a loud, blaring screech that seemed to go on and on. Storms whipped across the mountainside that she was lying on. More accurately, she was hanging at an awkward angle in an evergreen tree, as a snowstorm whipped around her and howling winds added to the noise generated by the screech.

This was her inner world, but not like she'd seen it before. It was usually peaceful, quiet, and calm, if very cold. She began looking for Itegumo, and managed to spot him directly beneath her. Her zanpakuto's spirit appeared more or less as it always had – a very young man, more like a teenager, with pure-white skin, silver hair, and a plain, pale blue kimono. He was shouting something at her, but she couldn't hear him at all. She tried to pantomime this to him, and he reached up for her. With an extreme effort, she reached back and managed to grasp his hand. Finally, she could hear him. "Isane! What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing?" She shouted back. "I'm trying to figure out a way to kill this Arrancar! He's built like a brick outhouse!"

"That's not what you're doing," Itegumo yelled, "You're giving up! You've been giving up since the fight started."

"What?"

"You ran through your repertoire of tricks once, decided that none of them would work, and then went back to trying to kill him the hard way – except that you're not even doing that right! You've taken a few swats at him, but you haven't tried to summon me again!"

"What good would it do?" Isane shrieked. "He's too strong, and even if I summoned you, I wouldn't be able to use your abilities! I never wanted to be here in the first place, I don't know what I'm doing, and now I'm going to get killed in the mortal world by someone who can't even spell the name of his own power! I'd hoped for a bit more dignity, but I'd settle for not being lectured to by my own zanpakuto in my final moments. So unless you're here to tell me that we've suddenly achieved Bankai and can use it without focusing spiritual energy, please… let me go in peace."

Itegumo blinked at her for a moment, stunned. Then he grinned. "See, this is what happens when you go into combat without backup." Isane raised an eyebrow at him wearily. "A zanpakuto is more than a better blade, Isane, you know that! He's too strong, you say? You are not a weak woman, Isane, and I am not a weak spirit!" A look of intense concentration came to Itegumo's face, and the storms and snow began to swirl around them – it seemed to block out the screeching noise rather than add to it, at least partially. Isane heard Itegumo more clearly now, and she began to feel better despite her outburst just a few moments ago. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but you're still not fighting at full power. Call me to your side, Isane. We can beat this Arrancar, and his friend's silly screaming technique! We'll bury him under a torrent of power, and show him what it means to fight a Soul Reaper Lieutenant!" Isane felt a rush as her connection to Itegumo came back. "But first, you have to command me to…"

"…Run, Itegumo!" Isane found that her hand – the one that had been grasping Itegumo's in her inner world, was already wrapped around the hilt of her zanpakuto. She whipped Itegumo around as she saw it transform into the familiar triple-bladed form. Even better, it managed to stop the descending truck cold, even as Isane was pressed slightly into the car underneath her. Bastida frowned as he saw the truck stop early – and as he saw that something was glowing underneath it. Then he staggered back as the truck was pushed up and away by a series of impacts, each one releasing a burst of snow and icy fog around the car. "Huh? Zarraga! What's going on?"

Across the street, Zarraga stared at the Isane as she climbed to her feet. That's impossible…

Renji looked over and laughed. "So that's how it is, huh? Never would have guessed that the brute force approach would work."

Zarraga snarled at him, "So what? You're not nearly as strong as –" He was interrupted by the blast of spiritual pressure that ripped out from where Renji stood. "Guess again!" Renji shouted. "I don't know if this is an off day for you or what, but I just got some wonderful news. My limiter was removed a few seconds ago!"

Drawing up the concentration to call Zabimaru was easy. All he had to do was picture his captain. A thousand years too soon my ass! He swept his hand over the blade of his sword. "Howl, Zabimaru!" This time, the blade glowed and sluggishly transformed into the multi-segmented machete that Renji had spent so much time mastering.

"How did you do that? You can't do that! That's cheating!" Zarraga shrieked.

Renji gave Zarraga what he privately called his 'Squad Eleven Smile' and smacked Zabimaru against the bent street light, producing another *DING*. "Round three!" The two Soul Reapers, both shimmering with their released power, attacked.


12th Division, Operations Center

"There, that should take care of that." Captain Kurotsuchi stood up and stretched. "Well done, Nemu!"

Nemu's charred body fell off the relay and hit the floor with a loud thump. She didn't move. A pair of the technicians ran over to her, and one of them began gently shaking her. "Lieutenant?"

"Oh wow, 'well done' doesn't begin to describe her," the other one whispered.

"Show a little respect, man!" The first one hissed. "She just died to save Abarai!"

Nemu suddenly sat up, startling both of the techs. "I require medical attention," she said, her face and voice expressionless.

"Fine, you can go see to your burns, but be back in the lab in half an hour." Mayuri groused. "The rest of you get back to work, and this time, don't disturb me unless something important comes up!"


Karakura Town, Downtown

Renji had Zarraga on the defensive again – he lashed out with Zabimaru, the heavy metal head of the ribbon-like blade whipping toward Zarraga with incredible speed. The Arrancar grunted and jumped aside, then ducked and dodged as Renji continued twisting the hilt to bring the blades back around toward Zarraga. As the blade retracted, Zarraga scowled. He's five or six times faster than he was a moment ago. It looks like he really did release. I can't win if I keep letting him fight me from over there – time to start fighting smart.

Zarraga waited until Renji lashed out again, then took careful aim at the head of the blade, letting loose one of his sonic bursts at it and knocking it off course. Weaving around and through the coils, Zarraga kept firing until Zabimaru was wrapped around and through several obstacles in a ring around him – the head itself was lodged deeply in a nearby building, and other parts of the blade were hung up on things like cars, the street light, another building, a flag pole, etc. Zabimaru did not retract, paralyzed as it was, and Renji frowned. "That's a nice trick, but not good enough!" Renji leaped at Zarraga, a high kick preceding.

Zarraga leveled both claws at Renji and laughed. "Bad move, Reaper. It's over!"

Time dilated for Renji. He saw two options – he could let go of Zabimaru's hilt, dodge the blast – taking a hit in the process – and try to retrieve his weapon while Zarraga shot at him. Or…

I can end this now, but it's gonna hurt. Renji took in the state of Zabimaru at a glance. It was, unfortunately, not shattered. The blade was wrapped around various objects, making two or three loops around Zarraga at a distance of several meters. Renji knew what his first captain, Kenpachi Zaraki, would do in this situation, and had a feeling that his current captain would do the same. It's as true now as when I was promoted – no pain, no gain.

So Renji did nothing to dodge the double-blast from Zarraga. In fact, all he did was widen his Squad Eleven grin and twist Zabimaru's hilt, grinding the weapon against where it was stuck and forcing the blade to point inward.

The concussive blast hit Renji squarely, launching him back at incredible speed. Renji pushed aside the pain and focused everything he had on keeping his grip on Zabimaru. The sword made a shrieking noise, and bit most of the way through each of the points where it was stuck. Zarraga looked around nervously, as though just now noticing that he was surrounded by blades under extreme stress.

Renji landed on his feet, albeit using Zabimaru to support himself, hanging on the taut blade. "I'll admit that I'm not much of a math guy, but I know what happens when too much tension is put on something springy – something has to give, and I'm willing to bet that Zabimaru is more durable than mortal materials – and tougher than you." Renji heaved on the end of Zabimaru, and with the exception of the heavy end, the blade broke through each of the objects holding it, snapping back to its usual shape along the path of least resistance.

The path of least resistance happened to pass through Zarraga – several times, in fact.

Zabimaru did indeed howl as it sheared through concrete, metal, wood, glass, ceramics, and one very unfortunate Arrancar caught in the center of it all. For once, Zarraga had absolutely nothing to say, and what was left of him disintegrated before Zabimaru finished retracting.

Renji laughed weakly and turned to go help Isane, before collapsing on one knee, leaning on Zabimaru for support. I may… have overdone it there… He saw that Isane's fight with the big one had moved down the street, and knew that there was no way he could catch up.


Isane launched herself at Bastida, ducking under the truck as he tried to use it as a weapon again. She wasn't sure what had changed, but she felt confident about this fight like she never had before. She heard Itegumo chuckle in the back of her mind. It's two-on-one now, that's what's different. Isane noted with some irritation that while Itegumo could produce the usual cloud, she couldn't direct it like she wanted to. As a result, the street behind her was filled with fog and extremely thick snow, but she and Bastida were constantly fighting outside it.

But for once, she had Bastida on the defensive. He seemed totally baffled by her Shikai fighting style, and for good reason – Isane was fighting incredibly offensively, with the blade as far away from her body as possible – a necessity that few people realized until they were holding a sword with two blades pointed at forty-five degree angles from the hilt. She attacked Bastida again and again, and each time he was forced to block with his arms while scooting back – and each time, a new burst of snow and fog joined the cloud.

At long last, Isane managed to slip a hit through his arms to strike at his chest, and for a wonder, it left a large cut behind. Finally!

Itegumo joined in. See? Now take him out!

Bastida roared and lashed out at her, both with an arm and by flinging a chunk of cement. She backed off, letting the attack fall short, and was surprised to see that they had reached the end of the street – a T-shaped intersection barred further progress, putting Bastida's back more or less to the wall.

Bastida looked down at the cut in his chest, and then yelled out. "Hey, Zarraga! She's better than I thought! Could you finish your guy and come help out?"

He was answered by a brief, grating, metallic howl, followed by the quiet laughter from the Soul Reaper Zarraga had been facing. "Zarraga?"

Isane suddenly felt the annoying buzz in her head cease – one she hadn't even noticed until it had stopped. She held up Itegumo in front of her as though looking at it for the first time.

Bastida looked back to Isane and snarled, ripping another streetlight out of the ground. "You bastards killed Zarraga! I'll –" He was cut off when Isane pointed her weapon at him. Suddenly the snowy fog behind her rushed forward and engulfed them. Bastida blinked at the sudden cold, feeling the resistance drag at his movements. What the hell?

He searched for the Soul Reaper, and finally spotted a dim silhouette with faintly glowing eyes, backlit by the fires and flicking alarm lights through the fog. She raised a hand, and the miasma that he was embroiled in picked up into a howling vortex, pinning him to the building behind him. He dimly heard her shouting over the wind, but what she was saying made no sense to him - it was something about the name of man and two lotuses. He strained against the vortex, trying to overpower it, but there was nothing to use his power on. Finally, he heard words that he did recognize. "Hado Sixty-Three: Soren Sokatsui!" Bright blue flared in front of Bastida, and a pair of massive fireballs crashed into him, sending him through the wall he was pinned against. He fell on the other side of the wall, badly burned, but grinning. About time, he thought, picking up a huge desk from the room he'd landed in. "Come and get it, Rea-"

His eyes widened as Isane flash-stepped right in front of him – and rammed Itegumo straight through his chest. "Too slow." She gasped between heavy breaths as she yanked Itegumo back out. "Not in motion, but in thought. You could have grabbed the wall behind you to make your escape, or used your cero, or just remembered that your partner's death meant that I could flash-step again."

Bastida grinned at her even as he fell to one knee and one elbow. "That… was a good fight, Reaper. But… you're not done yet. The boss is… gonna be pissed when she finds out… what you've done."

Isane sighed. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Goodbye, Arrancar. Maybe you'll be reborn as someone pleasant this time."


Isane sheathed the resealed Itegumo as Bastida disintegrated. She staggered back out into the street and made her way to Renji, who was lying unconscious when she found him. She knelt by him and began checking him over. That last blast was too much for him, I feel a number of broken bones – he needs help now. She could start to heal him, but not here in the middle of the road. She tried to think of where she could take him – the only place that came to mind was Urahara's shop. Let's hope he can help.

She looked up to find her Gigai emerge from one of the less-damaged storefronts, with Renji's Gigai in tow. Isane nodded. "Thanks for getting the humans clear."

The Gigai stared balefully at her. "You were reckless."

Isane gritted her teeth and continued to examine Renji. "Are you talking about before or during the fight?"

"Does it matter? You left yourself open to attack, and now your partner is injured."

"I did everything I could. Heck, we even won."

The Gigai crossed its arms. "Barely. I suppose you want this body back now?"

Isane gave the Soul Candy a look that she normally reserved for backed-up plumbing. "If you don't mind." She said sarcastically.

"No."

Isane blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"No. I'm not giving it back. I don't know everything you've been up to, but every time I've seen you in action you're either running away, getting ambushed, or wandering around without a clue. I'm taking over the mission, and I need this body to do it."

Isane got up, angry this time. "You're taking over the mission? You and what army? You're a Soul Candy, you don't have enough spiritual pressure to-"

The Gigai blurred for a moment and Isane felt a series of heavy impacts. The next thing she knew she was on the ground in the fetal position, and ten meters from where she'd started to boot. Her stomach, back, and face were throbbing, as well as most of her joints.

"A Soul Candy?" The Gigai said lightly. "Is that what they told you? I'm a bit more than that, Lieutenant Kotetsu."

"What…?" Isane wheezed.

"I'll let you figure that out." Isane watched herself produce a cold smile that she didn't know she could make. "You can't possibly do any worse with that mission than you could with this one. I suppose I should thank you for eliminating half of the targets, though –even if you did it in the noisiest, clumsiest way imaginable – so I'll give you a hint. Ask your merchant friend about Mod-Souls." Isane sucked in a breath, and the Gigai laughed. "So you have heard the term."

Isane managed to pull herself back to her feet and draw Itegumo. "Look, I need that thing. Give it back or I'll have to use force."

Mod-Isane laughed in her face. "Force? I'm happy at the progress you've made on your own, but if you get in my way I'll take you out. If I find another reason to have you around, I'll call you."

Isane charged, and stopped when she realized that the Mod-Soul had already flash-stepped behind her and grabbed her sword wrist. Sweet spirits! How fast was that?

"I hope you're not going to be this much trouble every time I use you," Mod-Isane said, before hurling Isane to land awkwardly next to Renji. "You can try to pursue, but you'd have to sacrifice Abarai there to do it, and frankly, I don't think you have it in you." Mod-Isane flipped the sunglasses on her forehead down, wearing them properly. "I've got a lot to do, so I'll be going now. Good luck with Abarai." Mod-Isane examined her hands and looked around. "You really are too tall," she said, before disappearing.

Isane stared at the spot she'd vacated for several seconds. Human emergency vehicles began to stream into the area. She examined the battleground – Renji was unconscious, the humans couldn't hear her, and everyone else was dead or gone, giving her relatively complete privacy. She took a deep breath.

"SHIT!"


Chapter End.

Whew. Writing big fights is hard! That's the end of the chapter, not to mention the end of Zarraga and Bastida. This one is nearly twice as long as some of the preceding chapters, but I think it turned out ok, and I wanted to keep the fight all to one chapter.

This installment was essentially a 7,000 word fight scene, but the next one will return you to your regularly scheduled plot.

As always, comments, criticisms, questions, and the like are welcome and highly desirable. Please review!