Weeks passed by quickly during Toya's time in Hueco Mundo. He steadily became more and more accustomed to Harribel's teachings, and soon began to increase his spiritual pressure. Aizen had silently been watching the boy train, a devilish smile gracing his lips. The business with the Shinigami had been going rather smoothly, their truce was being upheld and there had been nothing but a few hostilities between them.
Yet, this was to be expected from the more hardened of their forces. So much was it expected, that Head Captain Yamamaoto and himself had come to an agreement to actually host any disputes in Soul Society's arena. A normal no holds barred fight, not to the death of course. It was mostly used to solve disputes between others.
Aizen was bought out of his musing by a trio of rather annoying voices that he distinctly remembered. He turned slowly to the noises and noticed three arrancar standing there, watching him eagerly. Oh what had he done to deserve this? The closest one to him was the first to speak. An Arrancar with a lion-like mane of bone-white hair surrounding his head smiled at Aizen.
"Lord Aizen, we would like an audience with you" He said softly, keep his eyes angled towards the ground. Aizen resisted the urge to grab the bridge of his nose as he stared at the other two Arrancar. A Blue haired Girl, whose hollow mask clung to the side of her jaw almost like Grimmjow's, but instead of a bone jaw, it was completely sealed.. 'Mental note.. Tease Grimmjow about this later' Aizen thought to himself. The Green haired Arrancar smiled up at Aizen, his eyes bulging nearly out of their sockets through his Hollow mask that acted as a sort of visor.
"Granted…. What is it that you want?" Aizen said unenthusiastically, wanting to end this as fast as possible. "Well you see your Grace… You have yet to send us on any type of mission since our creation… and we wished to prove ourselves to you" The blue haired one said softly. "Yes! Exactly what she said Master Aizen… we just want to prove ourselves to you" The Green-haired one proclaimed, inching a bit closer to Aizen. Aizen took a subtle step back from the boy, eyeing him wearily. "Errr…right…..So you three want a mission?" Aizen said softly, eyeing the three of them.
They all nodded at the same time and seemed to radiate with happiness at the thought. A small smile graced Aizen's lips, a very evil thought creeping into his mind. "Alright…. I have a mission just for you three…"He began, before he was cut off by the three Arrancar screaming happily and hugging each other. "Quiet! Now, the mission that I have for the three of you is very important" Aizen said softly, the three Arrancar smiling at him. "I need you three to go to the dungeons…. At the end of the corridor there is a sealed door…. I want you to open that door and feed my pet that is inside" Aizen said slowly, to which the three Arrancar blinked in confusion.
"err… you want us... to feed your pet?" The green-haired one said softly. Aizen nodded to the three of them and they bowed in response. The three of them were gone in a flash, already running at top speed into the dungeons and stopping in front of the sealed door. They looked at each other and quickly opened the door and strode inside.
"So….Makato... how does it feel to be useful for Master Aizen?" The green haired boy said softly, the lion-mane Arrancar turned around to smile at him. "It feels wonderful! Even though it's something as lowly as feeding his pet, it still gets us closer and closer to our goal!" Makato said happily, adding a small skip to his step. As they ventured further into the cavern behind the sealed door, Makato created a small orange Cero in his hand to use as a light.
"Hey Makato… now that I think about it… just how was our plan supposed to work?" The blue haired female said suddenly. Makato stopped walking and turned around to the both of them with an evil smile. "Well... We are going to get recognized by Aizen-sama… It may be slow but we shall creep up in strength... and soon Lord Aizen-sama will grant us even more power! And With that power we shall crush his weakling Espada, and take our rightful place among the top three!" Makato said triumphantly. The other two smiled and started to laugh evilly. The blue-haired girl nearly jumped on the spot and then had a thought.
"Wait… what about that delectable little pet that Harribel has?" She said softly, pulling out a small picture of Toya. "Well… I guess we could each share him… Cut him into three delicious pieces and feast on him" Makato smirked evilly, earning a squeal of happiness from the blue-haired girl. "You've been really quiet Quan…. What do you think of the plan?" Makato asked, turning to the green-haired boy. He lifted the light of his cero to the green-haired boy, and noticed that he did not even glance at him.
"Hello! Quan! Merrill to Quan!" The girl Arrancar said softly. The green-haired boy looked up at Merrill, mouth still firmly shut yet his eyes seemed to be bulging out more than normal. Merrill was about to poke him, when he opened his mouth and whispered "It….hurts". Merrill and Makato stared In shock at Quan as blood slowly dripped from the corner of his mouth. He looked downward, and Makato followed his gaze with their makeshift light.
Quan's cloths were stained with his own blood. A hand was sticking out of his stomach, and they quickly faced each other again. Before they knew it, Quan was quickly pulled away from them and into the shadows. A thick mist of blood sprayed from the darkness, coating both Makato and Merrill in blood. A sickening thud sounded from its direction, and something slowly rolled from the dark to their feet. Merrill and Makato both looked down, and stared horrified at the sight of Quan's decapitated head that looked as though it was gasping for breath.
Merrill was the first to react, shrieking like a banshee before quickly shooting off cero after cero in the direction that Quan's head rolled from. Makato quickly followed suit, blasting off his own orange cero after her blue one. Explosion after explosion rocked the small cavern that they were in, black dust smoked from the direction of their target.
They stopped firing and stared back into the darkness. Gasping for breath, from the magnitude of their cero usage, they looked at each other. "Okay…. Whatever it was… there is no way it could survive that many" Makato said softly, smiling at Merrill who returned the smile. Merrill knelt down and picked up Quan's head, and gently closed its eyes. "Poor Quan….Never saw it coming….But... That means more space at the top for us" Makato said evilly, taking Quan's head and kicking it into the darkness.
Merrill growled at him and delivered a quick slap across the face. "You are such an inconsiderate asshole!" She yelled at Makato, who smirked and slapped her back, causing her to fall backwards. "Oh what will I tell Lord Aizen…? Two of his precious Arrancar ripped each other apart and I was the only one to survive" Makato said evilly, slowly approaching Merrill and raising his hand.
"What the hell Makato! You damn traitor!" Merrill spat at him, which earned her a sinister chuckle from him. "Oh come now... you know that you are weaker than I am… did you really think I would allow weaklings like you two to actually follow me to power?" Makato laughed, stomping down on Merrill's leg to prevent her from moving away, as he grabbed her head and forced her to look into his palm.
"Now… Why don't you be a good girl... and welcome oblivion weakling!" Makato yelled, preparing to fire his Cero into her face. But when he moved to do it, he noticed her staring past him. He snarled and gripped her neck harder, "What? So afraid that you won't even look me in the face!" Makato spat, moving his arm even closer. Merrill looked up at Makato, just as he smirked even wider down at her.
The next thing she knew, blood sprayed from Makato's open mouth as a clawed hand shot out of it and gripped her shirt. Makato's eyes were rolling into the back of his head as the hand pulled Merrill closer to Makato, and held her chest against his bleeding head. She could just make out a pair of purple eyes shining out of the darkness. Merrill started to raise her hand towards them, but another hand grabbed her's and quickly slammed it back to the ground.
The hand that was protruding out of Makato's mouth quickly retracted itself, pulling Makato's head clean off his body, and tossing it to the side. His head was quickly followed by his body as the hand pulled it away and threw it aside. Merrill dared not move, as she heard the sound of sniffing and a low growl. The purple eyes seemed to turn into slits and move closer to her.
"P-p-p-please…don't kill me" Merrill pleaded, which gave the creature pause as it stared at her and contemplated what she said. "P-p-p-pleeeaaase….do….don't…k….kiiiil...ll...M….mmmmeehh" A small voice squeaked out. Merrill stared on as the purple eyes moved closer. It grabbed at her hand, and raised it slightly. "l…l…light?" It said questioningly, looking from her hand then back to Merrill's face.
Merrill locked from her hand to the purple eyes, and then used a small cero to light her hand up. What she saw surprised her more then she thought it would. She expect a giant hollow-like creature to be staring down at her, teeth bared and ready to rip her apart. But instead, she was looking into the purple eyes of a feminine looking Arrancar.
Merrill could not find where her hollow bone was at all; in fact this Arrancar looked strangely more human than anything. Missing even a visible hollow hole like a regular Arrancar would have. A small smile crept across the strange hollow's face as it looked at the light in Merrill's hand. It reached out to touch it, and quickly pulled back her hand as it singed her slightly. She growled at the light and bared her very sharp teeth at it.
Merrill saw this and panicked, quickly relinquishing the small light so that it went dark again. "S-s-s-sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to hurt you" Merrill said quickly, raising her hands in front of her face to protect herself. But instead of being ripped to shred as she had thought she would, a purplish light had filled the darkness around them, and the smiling face of the Arrancar was staring at her.
"Light! Light! Light! Light!" It screamed, staring at the overly large ball of energy in its hand. It amazed Merrill how much reitsu was emitting from the Arrancar's makeshift light. Usually if that much energy was expended, then it would have gone off on its own. But here it was, standing with a cero that was as large as her head, and just smiling and staring at it. Merrill stood to her feet and dusted herself off, never taking her eyes off the happy Arrancar.
But it sensed movement, and quickly turned around to face her, eyes taking on slits like that of a cat eyeing down its prey. That look struck fear into Merrill, and she dared not even blink at it. The cero ball in its hand quickly dissipated, and it crouched low as though it was ready to pounce. "E-E-e-easy…I'm not going to attack you….I…I…I…was just standing up…." Merrill said quickly, once again raising her hands.
The Arrancar eyed her through the darkness, and then past her to the light outside. In a flash, it bowled Merrill over and disappeared into the light. Merrill blinked a couple of times and turned around to stare out into the opened doorway. To which she then raced out of to search and find her lord Aizen to tell him of what transpired. On the other side of their base,
Toya was finally enjoying a well-deserved rest in his eyes. Too bad, that Harribel thought he was always lacking in something. Whether it was his small amount of reitsu, or it was his posture when using his weapon. From his point of view, she was never happy with what he could do. 'A beginner Arrancar could do it better' is one of her favorite sayings to him. Luckily for him, Lillynette had taken a keen liking to him and always complimented him behind Harribel's back.
That made it bearable for Toya, even if it was just a bit. But she had allowed for him to take a ten minute break before they continued, something that he was rarely allowed under her guidance. Ever since their first training session, Harribel had been getting worse and worse. Her Methods of training were even getting more extreme then he thought possible.
Their latest training session involved sensing where your opponent would strike from next; Toya had his sword, while Harribel used just her hands. He was now sporting a few new bruises and sore spots while she had walked away completely unscathed, which was to be expected even if he had hit her. He had managed to block her once, and that was the only reason she had allowed this time to rest.
He perked up quickly as he heard a faint growling sound. His first instinct was to rub his stomach, to see if he was hungry again. When he heard the growl again, but no movement from his stomach, he knew that it wasn't him. He gripped the hilt of his blade cautiously, looking around the colossal sized gym, trying to find even a hint of someone else being there.
When he found nobody, he lowered his weapon until the tip touched the ground, his hand still gripping the hilt tightly. He heard the growl again, this time a lot closer than the last. Small footsteps could be heard, as though someone was just tapping the ground and nothing else. The tapping got louder and louder, until it sounded as though whoever it was, they were within feet of Toya.
Yet, he was still standing there alone, waiting on Harribel to come back quickly. Then he heard the soft clicking of the door, and averted his gaze towards it. Sword now raised to defend himself as best he could; he steadily and slowly approached the door. When he reached it, he grabbed the door handle cautiously, and eased the door open. He poked his head out slowly, and took a quick look around. When he saw that the hall was empty, he breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door. He smiled to himself, knowing that now there was nothing to be afraid of.
He turned around only to come face to face with a pair of purple eyes. He didn't know whether it was seconds, minutes, or even hours that they stared at each other. She seemed to be analyzing him, just as he was doing the same to her. In truth, he thought she was a human from the way she looked. Maybe a prisoner of war if one could tell from just her clothing, which were tattered and loosely clinging to her womanly curves. Her breast threatened to spill out from under her tattered and holey shirt, but she seemed completely oblivious.
More focused on Toya himself, then she was on how she looked. "Umm…. Hi?" Toya said softly, earning him a stare of contemplation. She opened her mouth slowly, breathing in and out for a few seconds before managing to slightly squeeze out a small and stuttered hi. Toya didn't want to continue to stare at her, so he turned away with a slightly visible blush on his cheeks.
"Well…. I'm Toya!" he said softly, looking around the room for something to focus on other than the strange woman behind him. Seconds turned into minutes with a response from this strange female, causing Toya to chance a glance at her. She was still staring at him, a look that seemed as if she was studying him. This made Toya feel quite small, even causing him to inch away from her a bit. He was about to repeat his statement, when the girl smiled and raised her hand. With a little effort, she erected a cero-ball the size of Toya's head, looking from it to him. "Light!" She chirped, smiling at the ball and then at Toya.
The reitsu emitting off of that 'ball' was causing Toya to feel slightly dizzy, as he was not completely used to that much being pushed out this close to him. Hell, Harribel's spiritual pressure alone nearly overwhelmed him every single day they practiced, only reason he could stand was sheer force of will. The girl took a step towards Toya, leaning the light closer and closer to his face, to which Toya responded by taking a step away from it.
Before long, the girl was practically chasing Toya around the room, screaming "Light" at the top of her lungs, as Toya tried to avoid touching the cero that would incinerate him. In a matter of minutes, she had cornered Toya as he had tried to escape through the doors to the hall, but didn't get them opened in time. She veered closer and closer, Toya scrunched up as much as he could away from it and looked as if he was trying to meld into the door.
"Light!" She yelled again, and was about to touch the cowering Toya with her light, when a cold voice sounded out. "Okay Human…. Break is over, now let's see if you can…..Who the hell are you?" Harribel asked impatiently, eyeing Toya and the girl. Her hand already on the hilt of her Zanpaktou, ready to unsheathe it in a moment's notice. Purple eyes met Cobalt blue, one looking on with confusion and the other with annoyance.
"You have three seconds to get away from him….. I am NOT in the mood" Harribel said coldly, taking a menacing step towards the pair. The only response she received was the girl tilting her head to the side in contemplation. Toya didn't know what to do in this situation, except to take this moment to slowly and carefully inch away from the glowing light of death that was situated in his face.
As soon as he made a move, the girl's eyes darted to his, a pure predatorily fire in her eyes. This caused Toya to freeze in place, all thoughts of running disappearing in a flash. "Hey! Just who the hell are you anyway?" Harribel shouted again, taking another step closer to them. The girl lifted her gaze from Toya to stare at Harribel, a look of annoyance crossing her features.
"Hey! Just who the hell are you anyway?" She shouted back, her voice sounding a lot like Harribel's, as though she was mirroring her. Harribel stopped her advance, to stare at the woman. The woman stared back at Harribel, tilting her head to the side just as Harribel did the same. Before either of the women could analyze the other much further, Toya was grabbed by the shoulder and forced into the force that he had come to know as Sonido.
When it was over, he was standing next to confused Harribel, and a fox eyed Gin. "Well… that went about as well as I thought" Gin said slyly, giving a wide smirk to both Harribel and Toya. "Master Gin…. Just who is this woman?" Harribel asked softly, eyeing the woman cautiously. The girl was staring at her hand and then at Toya, contemplating how he had gotten out of her hand, and then to the mysterious man that had just appeared.
"We have yet to give her a name" Came a soft, calm voice, followed by the sound of clicking footsteps. Toya turned to see both Aizen and Tousen calmly walking towards them. "So she is a new Arrancar? But she looks completely human" Harribel said softly, bowing slightly to Aizen. "Yes… that is one of her abilities to be precise….. She is a rather… unique Arrancar" Aizen said softly, quickly closing the gap between the purple-eyed woman and him with a quick sonido. She seemed taken aback at the speed he had shown, and then looked down to her own feet in mild concentration.
"Another of her abilities…. Is that she is a Copycat…" He said softly, staring into the purple eyes of the woman. She was nearly a full foot shorter than him, so he had to look down into her eyes. "A Copycat lord Aizen?" Harribel asked, finally removing her hand from her sword. "Yes… but she has yet to master it….. She hasn't even been able to grasp how to speak as of yet… but she is a quick learner mind you" Aizen replied, running his index finger along her neck and to her chin, causing her to quickly jump away from him. He laughed softly and sonidoed again to her, which to his amazement she managed to dodge his hand.
"So, what you are saying is that she can copy anything that she sees?" Toya asked, watching the exchange between Aizen and the girl. Aizen smiled and nodded, using Sonido once again to get back to the four of them. His smile widened when he heard the small distinct sound of someone using Sonido. Toya looked on to notice that the girl had vanished, only to feel a hand slowly find its way up his neck and to his chin. "She should only need to see the ability used once to copy… but as I said, she has only just begun to use it… So it takes her a bit longer than I would like…" Aizen said softly, a small look of disappointment etched onto his face.
"Aizen…. It's my turn to name this one you know" Gin piped up, earning him a glare from Tousen, or as much as he could glare with that metal thing covering his face. "Very Well Gin… what shall we name her?" Aizen asked, even though they could tell he was completely uninterested in the naming, more focused on thinking of ways to advance her abilities.
"I say we name her Anora" Gin stated, earning him a few nods of approval from Tousen and Aizen. "Anora… And why did you pick that name?" Tousen asked smoothly, looking towards Gin's direction. "Two words Tousen…Dragon….Age" Gin replied softly, smiling at his confused friends.