YAY! This is finally up! I'm so sorry I took so long. My iPad was being stupid, but I fixed it and my grandpa was in town so I had to spend time with him. I was also really tired because I had a bunch of tests to study for. I hope to never be this long again, but this was a long chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
CHAPTER 10: No Recovery Time
"Szayel!" I screamed, running thirty feet in front of Grimmjow. My ribbon wavered behind me as I looked through each of the doors in his lab until I found the one that he was in.
"What is it, girl?" he asked in an annoyed tone. "Oh my God! What happened?"
"I'm very sorry to interrupt your work, I truly am, but I'm all better now!"
"She couldn't wait to tell you," Grimmjow said, standing behind me.
Szayel stood up out of his chair and walked over to us, leaving his latest experiment behind. There was a strange purple liquid in a test tube, foaming over a Bunsen burner. Well, I'm not exactly sure that it was a Bunsen burner because Las Noches didn't seem to be tuned in to the human world.
"How did this happen?" asked Szayel incredulously. "I didn't think that you humans healed faster than an Arrancar."
"It was my ribbon," I answered. "I wrapped it around my arm, it glowed, and then it was fixed."
"How did you figure this out?" Szayel questioned.
"Well," I began, "I had this really bad itch, so I willed my ribbon to stiffen, study it in my cast, and scratched."
Szayel looked just like Grimmjow had; dumbfounded. His amber eyes wandered curiously over to my ribbon. "Maybe I should have ran more tests..." Szayel trailed off.
If I had blinked, I would have missed what Szayel did next. Grimmjow started to bleed profusely because Szayel had used his Zanpakuto to cut Grimmjow vertically across the chest.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Grimmjow screamed as he lunged for Szayel. I had to act fast before things got uglier than they already were. I snapped my ribbon to wind around the wrist on the hand that was reaching for his Zanpakuto. Grimmjow stared at me in surprise.
"Hold on," I urged. I began to wrap my ribbon around Grimmjow's torso to heal him. "Did you want to see if my ribbon worked on others besides myself?" I asked, tuning my attention to Szayel.
"Yes," he answered. Grimmjow's blood dripped down the blood channel of his sword and onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of gold. Apparently, my healing abilities worked on Arrancars/Espada. When I took the ribbon away, there was no blood on it, nor was there any on Grimmjow.
"You will pay for this, Granz!" Grimmjow snapped, coming out of his shock. He was about to lunge again before I stepped out in front of him.
"Let's all take a deep breath here," I said as a mediator. "Let's go, Grimmjow," I turned to Szayel and winked. The right corner of his mouth twitched into a small half-smile. I led Grimmjow out of the room without saying another word.
"Temper, temper," I scolded. "You really must have a better grip on your temper."
He gave me an icy glare. "Did you see what he did to me?"
"Yes, I saw. I have eyes. 3, 2, 1," I counted as a mild boom echoed in the distance. "Did you hear that? That was the sound of one or Szayel's experiments exploding. We distracted him from what he was doing and it exploded. That is karma. Your getting cut was how karma decided to punish you for kidnapping me. If you had never of done that, I would not be here, you wouldn't have gone into Szayel's lab, and he wouldn't have cut you. Karma."
"Shut up," he growled. "You're annoying me."
"You're only saying that because you know I'm right and don't want to admit your error." I smirked. This only proceeded in pissing Grimmjow off even more.
"I told you to shut up!" he nearly yelled.
You can't silence the truth!" I remarked.
Grimmjow was nearing his boiling point. He grabbed the back of my tank top and quickened his pace, causing me to be dragged. Keeping up with him was difficult, but not impossible. I somewhat memorized the route to my room and realized that we weren't going in it's direction.
"Where are we going?" I asked. Grimmjow slowed his angry pace and looked at me.
"Training. It seems you're well enough so we might as well kill some time and make you less weak," he answered, seeming somewhat pleased with the last part about me bang weak. My blood simmered a little, but I wasn't about to lose my composure. At least I was going to get stronger with more training. Maybe I would eventually be strong enough to take on Grimmjow or Ulquiorra or better yet, escape. He, he, that would be the day, hopefully soon. These people were starting to push me over the point of insanity.
The bleak corridors were staring to drive me over the edge when we ran into Ulquiorra. He looked surprised, well, as surprised as an Emospada could look.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked urgently.
I smirked at him. "I fixed myself."
"That is obvious," he said bluntly. "How did this happen?"
"Apparently my ribbon has the ability to heal."
Where are you headed to now?" he asked, confusing me about who he was talking to you. "Her room was several hallways back." Okay, so he was talking to Grimmjow. That was my subtle cue to stop talking.
"Training," answered Grimmjow shortly. "She needs to master her powers as soon as possible. We lost time while she was out of commission."
Ulquiorra looked between the two of us. "I will accompany you then. Your teaching style leaves me somewhat apprehensive, Grimmjow."
An arrogant Dogrib so read over Grimmjow's face. "Tch, it's not like I'd break her too much. And besides, she could always heal herself if I did."
I glared at him and started to follow Ulquiorra as he led the way. We walked in silence to the training hall. I'm not exactly sure that that was what is was called, but it's all that I knew to do in there. Just as I had suspected, we entered the same room as before.
"What's on the agenda today?" I asked the both of them.
"Well, uh," Grimmjow tried to start.
"Defense," finished Ulquiorra. "We will test the durability of your ribbon."
"Sounds good." I clapped and rubbed my hands together. My hands tightly gripped my ribbon, anxiously awaiting what type of attack they would throw at me. For a moment, neither of them moved. But Ulquiorra started to form something green on the end of his index finger. It looked like a cero, so I wrapped my ribbon fiercely around my arms and formed an X shape. No sooner than that, the cero fired and hit me dead on. I was pushed backwards several feet, but managed to stay upright and strong. The excess energy was deflected to the sides and none of the attack broke through my defense.
As the attack burned off, I saw a brief flash of surprise flash across Grimmjow's face. "Surprised that I wasn't blown to bits?"
Grimmjow shook his head while Ulquiorra remained quite impassive. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting this result."
"Let us move on to Zanpakutos now that ceros are covered." Ulquiorra instructed. "Grimmjow, start with yours."
Grimmjow's flashed with anger as Ulquiorra reminded him that he was weaker. Grimmjow unsheathed his Zanpakuto and raised it to strike. I raised my arms back into an X shape to brace for the attack. There was a grinding sound as his sword scrapped against my ribbon. It held up, even through the rest of Grimmjow's attempts to cut me.
Ulquiorra approached me, causing Grimmjow to sheath his Zanpakuto. Without saying anything, Ulquiorra drew Murcielago and slashed at my protected arms. To my delight, I was unscathed. Ulquiorra, like Grimmjow, recoiled for more attacks. None of them reached me, which I was extremely grateful for.
"Well, this is a lot tougher than I thought," I said. Grimmjow scowled and Ulquiorra stepped back. "What am I going to learn next?"
Ulquiorra paused before answering, "Wielding, you need to grow more accustomed to using it and working with it's rather unique properties."
Grimmjow nodded as if to acknowledge that he approved on what Ulquiorra was teaching. I wrapped my ribbon once around each hand with three feet in between. I figured that I could will my ribbon to harden and flex depending on the attack. If either of them decided to fire a cero, I would probably be screwed because I wouldn't be able to wrap my arms fast enough. Maybe I would be able to dodge, probably not, though.
"I am going to attack and you are going to block. Understand, girl?" Ulquiorra asked.
"I understand. That doesn't mean that I might not get cut, though."
In one swift motion, Ulquiorra slashed my left side. Unbelievably, I hardened my ribbon and was able to effectively block the attack. He came at me again, this time from my right side. I barely avoided getting cut. His strength was greater from his last attack. Moments later, he cut straight down, aiming form the center of my head. I raised my ribbon over my head and fell to one knee due to the tremendous attack.
Ulquiorra vanished,only to reappear behind my back. He tried to stab me, but I sidestepped to my left. I quickly began to wrap my ribbon around his sword, firmly trapping it in place. His eyes widened in surprise as he unsuccessfully tried retracting his sword. I thought about punching him, but I would probably end up breaking my wrist. The idea to create my ring of fire crossed my mind. A ten foot radius circle of flames engulfed us. The fire wasn't hot, but it made Ulquiorra cringe ever so slightly. He raised his finger up to fire a cero. Without releasing his sword from my control, I wrapped up my hand using the slack into a mitten-like shape. I continued with the slack down my right arm. The cero launched at me with enough power to knock me down if I hadn't been clinging to Ulquiorra's Zanpakuto. It burned off to the sides.
Instinctively, I checked my ribbon for damage. To my relief, there was none. My ribbon uncoiled itself from my arm and whipped Ulquiorra over his right eye. The skin was split open and blood dripped out. It was now that I decided to give Murcielago back to him. He sheathed his Zanpakuto and touched his eyebrow.
"Let me fix that for you," I said. I didn't apologize because I wasn't sorry. In my opinion, it was a lucky shot. A very lucky shot.
Grimmjow looked stunned. "I can't believe that see was able to get you like that, Ulquiorra."
"You're so noisy, Grimmjow. Do you ever say anything worth hearing?" Ulquiorra asked coldly.
"Hey!" Grimmjow exploded. "I'm not the one who got scratched by a girl. A human girl."
"Excuse me," I detested. "I resent that. If I could do this to him, imagine what I could do to you."
I stepped forward and raised my hand to wipe the cut with my ribbon. Ulquiorra moved away from me. "Hold still," I commanded. I swiped my magic ribbon from God knows where over his eye. The blood disappeared along with the cut as it glowed for a brief moment.
"Don't get cocky, girl," Grimmjow said. "A real fight will be much more serious than this. You wouldn't last at all."
"I know, which is why I want to train so badly and get better so I can last."
Grimmjow was at a loss for words. I didn't completely catch him off-guard, but he didn't have a witty comeback. Ulquiorra looked between the two of us. He clearly sensed that something was going on.
Ulquiorra cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Let us work on you defensive capabilities with your illusion powers. Grimmjow, this will be two on one."
Grimmjow grinned a wicked smile. The two of them started to circle me, directly opposite of each other. Before either of them could make their first move, I conjured up my purple mist/fog/dust. It quickly engulfed me, moving on to Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. I lost sight of them as the dust filled up the entire room at a break-neck pace.
"Where are you, girl?" Grimmjow purred menacingly.
I didn't have to see him to know where he was. Ulquiorra was also approaching me. I sprinted silently away from the both of them. My plan was to circle behind them and attack, even though I was supposed to be working on defense. Oh well, you can't win by solely relying on defense.
Ulquiorra and Grimmjow started wandering off in opposite directions. Good, divide and conquer. I would ambush Grimmjow first, then attack Ulquiorra, again. As long as I don't lose my cover, this plan has maybe about a 60% chance of success.
Grimmjow was now headed in the direction of the door we entered through. I followed behind him quickly, but slow enough to not make sound. He seemed to be very confused.
"Damn fog," he muttered to himself. "Why can't I sense her spiritual pressure, or Ulquiorra's?"
I was ten feet behind him. I whipped my ribbon around his left shoulder and through him with unbelievable strength at a blinding speed. He flew off in Ulquiorra's direction, just off to my left. Ulquiorra gasped. Yes! I hit him spot on.
I ran over to where Ulquiorra was laying on the ground. It was weird how I knew that he wagon the ground, considering the fact that I couldn't see him. It was also weird how I knew exactly where he was standing.
"Ulquiorra, is that you?" Grimmjow asked hazily.
"Get off of me, trash."
"With pleasure," Grimmjow said, grunting slightly as he got up. Ulquiorra nimbly picked himself up and dusted off his hakama.
"Where is she?" Grimmjow wondered.
Ulquiorra didn't respond. He walled up and stopped a foot directly in front of me. He stared at me intently, trying to sense whether or not I was really there. After a few moments, he turned to my right. Grimmjow walked in the same direction, bumping into him.
"Watch it," Grimmjow snarled.
"Don't touch me, trash."
"What did you call me?"
"Are you a deaf piece of trash? You know very well what I said."
"That's it, Schiffer. You're gonna get it this time." Grimmjow fired a cero, barely missing Ulquiorra's helmet by a couple of inches. Ulquiorra seemed unfazed. My dust overloaded their ability to sense spiritual pressure, leaving Ulquiorra unable to sense the cero.
"How much longer are we going to do this?" I asked, smirking as they turned their heads rapidly as the tried to locate to source of my voice.
"I'm over here," I called as I laughed to myself about how vague I was being.
"I think that this exercise should be over now," Ulquiorra answered calmly.
"Alright then." The fog swirled as it began to vanish. Grimmjow looked confused and irritated at the same time. Ulquiorra wore his expressionless mask that he called his face. Grimmjow rolled his left shoulder when he found my face.
"How did you do that?" Grimmjow asked, trying to disguise the curiosity in his voice.
I smiled at him. "Since the dust is my spiritual pressure and is everywhere, I overloaded your senses."
"That explanation is only logical," Ulquiorra added. He remained unimpressed with my ability to take myself off of his radar. I was a little sad when he refused to display any sort of reaction. It made me feel like I wasn't good enough, which now that I thought about it, I probably wasn't.
"What are we going to do next?" I asked.
Grimmjow looked at Ulquiorra for instruction.
"That is it for today," Ulquiorra announced. "Come with me, girl. I will take you back to your room."
Grimmjow nodded in acknowledgement and sonidoed away. Ulquiorra, too, began leaving the room. I followed immediately behind him, then gradually making my way to his side.
"What do you guys actually do in Las Noches?" I asked.
"That is none of your concern," he replied coldly.
"If you keep using that tone with me, I might not want to be your friend anymore," I quipped. Ulquiorra stared at me questioningly. I only said that to annoy him. He probably didn't have any friends for precisely that reason. "What I mean is what do you actually do here? Las Noches seems a little boring to me."
"We go on missions, execute orders from Lord Aizen, and attend meetings. That is all."
"Pretty bleak. What do you want to do?"
He furrowed his brow slightly. "I do not want. That is a thing only humans do. I exist only to serve Lord Aizen."
"There is more to life than servitude, Ulquiorra," I pointed out. "Live a little, enjoy life, take a vacation."
"We Hollows are already dead and are constantly suffering. We also do not need a 'vacation'."
"Fine, be a stick in the mud. I would say that you can do what you want with your life, but based on what you just told me, there are flaws in that logic," I huffed.
"I am not a stick. And, as I said before, none of this concerns you."
The conversation was officially over. Stupid Ulquiorra and his stick-in-the-mud-iness. If only I could see inside that Emo mind of his. He really needs to loosen up and stop being so uptight.
My ranting was interrupted when he opened the door to my room. He closed the door behind me without saying anything, leaving me alone in my room of silence.
Did you like my fight scene? Next chapter is going to be a long and funny one so I might take a little bit more time, but I assure you that it will be worth it. Please review, it keeps me going. I am still taking suggestions for what should happen next. It's okay to give me bad reviews if you don't like my story. I love constructive criticism. Thank you!