Hey there everyone! Another long chapter! I am hoping to finish this fic soon, but we've still a ways to go yet! Thank you to fuzzibunniez, X-Burner 27 and IchigoKurosakiSotaicho for their last reviews, please, review again! Enjoy! ~ Tommo2304
The Death Trilogy Overture
Kisuke Urahara stands in the river, his sword down by his side. His face is drenched and his blonde hair is clinging to his cheeks. His eyes are beginning to blur and he runs a bloodied hand around his chin, feeling for a large wound just at the side of his mouth. Then, a sudden splash beside him causes him to look down to his left; Ryuken Ishida hits the riverbed, choking and spluttering on the rushing waves, his hair plastered to his forehead, his glasses slightly askew. Urahara's green eyes look to his right now, Shinji panting heavily, his head down, hands clasping his knees.
'There's three of us…we need to coordinate. It's our only hope.' Urahara says to himself, his eyes moving slowly across the landscape now until they fall on Aizen, the man walking slowly across the river, the water running around his feet. With a smooth and callous smirk on his lips, Aizen moves ever closer, his fingers gently running along the hilt of his sword.
'Thinking of a plan?' Aizen whispers, his cold voice barely audible on the wind. 'You should know it's useless. I've already analysed every possible angle, every possible outcome, every possible…' he finishes abruptly as Ryuken appears behind him, skidding across the water, kicking it up in front of his face before unleashing a fiery blue arrow towards his foe. '…distraction.' Aizen grins, slicing the arrow in two before lunging at Ryuken. However, from beneath the water's surface, a silky canvas explodes upwards, Sosuke raising an eyebrow as he falls into it, Ryuken leaping to the side.
'Except for the possibility that we've each gotten stronger with our own abilities!' Ryuken cries, Kisuke darting towards the bundle of cloth from one side, Hirako from the other, their swords poised to impale. Suddenly however, the canvas merely inflates before tearing apart in a blinding flash of purple light, Aizen stepping out of it, his black eyes burning in the moonlight, an evil smile creeping across his face. Urahara slams a foot into the muddy bed, the water kicking up around him and he pulls his sword in front of his face, Aizen slamming his weapon into it, sparks flying.
'You were able to use Gritz without a sound and without a Ginto? Impressive.' Aizen breaks away from Kisuke and kicks Shinji in the chest, the man spitting blood before crashing onto the ground. 'But it's simply not enough, and it'll never be enough until you're all dead.' In a flash, Urahara bounds into the sky, whipping his sword around in front of him. From the blade, the familiar red plasma swirls around it, gathering speed as it reaches the tip of the sword, Kisuke's eyes hidden beneath shadow.
'Shibari, Benihime!' he shouts, whipping his sword downwards, Aizen chuckling to himself.
'You think that's enough?' Sosuke gloats, swiping out at the netting that was being released from Kisuke's sword, the red, spider web like material spinning towards Kisuke's target. Aizen reaches upwards and slashes straight through it, only for the material to disappear entirely. Instead, it springs upwards from all sides, coiling around his legs and trapping his arms by his side. 'What!' Aizen snarls, his eyes looking up to catch sight of Shinji atop the bridge's rubble, the large, silver ring hanging around them all once again. 'Again?' Aizen snorts, attempting to break free of the webbing. Quickly he notices a fleeting shadow pounce overhead and looks up sharply, Urahara speeding down towards him.
'Hiasobi, Benihime!' he chants, the sides of the netting quickly expanding into rubber like balls of fire, lighting up, ready to detonate. Aizen curses, his brown hair falling over his face as it contorts, struggling against the binding.
'Damn…' he grunts, looking up at Kisuke, the man falling from the sky, aiming to connect his sword to the tethers surrounding Aizen. '…Bakudo 79, Kuyo Sh-!' he begins, only for Ryuken to appear in the river, water shooting up around Aizen as Ishida fires a torrent of arrows into the waves, churning up a vast pillar of water which begins to rain down from the sky. Through the misty veil, Aizen witnesses Kisuke slam into the river, his sword plunging into the plasma like net attached to the bed.
'Juzu Tsunagi!' Urahara screams over the raging, thrashing sounds of the battle, Aizen roaring as the pillar of water quickly becomes a pillar of fire, the flames coiling up around it and swallowing it up, engulfing it and suffocating it, collapsing in on Aizen before erupting violently upwards, lighting up the night sky with a brilliant dancing orange. Urahara removes his sword and watches the towering inferno with glazed eyes, Shinji springing from the bridge, Ryuken stepping up beside them both.
'Is it done?' Ishida asks quietly, Shinji spitting at the water running around their ankles.
'The hell it is.' He mutters, narrowing his eyes at the plume of fire and steam. Shinji looks up slightly, his eyes moving over to Kisuke. The blonde haired man is staring into the pillar, flexing his fingers around his sword's hilt over and over, a clear sadness welling in his dry eyes. 'Kisuke…do you still have…ya know…the experiment?' Hirako asks, Urahara slowly reaching into his pocket to fondle the small vial.
'I do.' He whispers, the voice on his breath. 'But I promised both myself and Miss Yoruichi I wouldn't use it, unless I felt it was truly necessary.' Shinji watches him, Urahara sighing heavily, his chest heaving and falling as the fires begin to dwindle, the light subsiding slightly.
'Kis…' Hirako begins only to be hit by something which tears his arm off, blood staining the water a gruesome crimson, jets of water bursting up around him as he flips backwards and lands heavily in the water, the now tremulous waves rushing around his face. Urahara spins round, Ishida cursing.
'SHINJI!' Urahara screams, Aizen stepping out of the tower, the remnants of the flames whipping around him, pulling up into the air and exploding outwards in a display of embers and power. Sosuke looks down at Shinji's lifeless body, his gleaming eyes burning in the flashing light.
'A simple stroke…and I can fell any of you. None of you are special when facing my sword.' Aizen whispers, though, as he turns, his face is burnt and charred on one side, his clothes hanging in tatters around him. Aizen looks up at the shocked faces of his opponents, everyone's shadows alive with a childish individuality. 'Do not fear. I shall convey to you your loss through this very piercing sting.' Sosuke sneers evilly only for Shinji to reach out and grab his ankle with his remaining arm.
'Bakudo…99…part 1!' Shinji whispers hoarsely, blood and water streaming down his face, a cheeky smirk on his lips as he looks up, Aizen's face contorting with an arrogant surprise, fabric forming in the sky and whipping around the villain's arms. 'Kin!' From the air around them, metal slabs tear through the sky, slamming into Aizen's back and piercing the ground, holding him in place by the fabric.
'I…impossible! How do you know such a spell!' Aizen splutters, his face liminal in the water's surface.
'Guess…I've got…a friend…in a high…place…' Shinji laughs with his last breath. '…Bakudo 99 part 2…Bankin!' he chokes, his eyes dilating as he clenches Aizen's ankle with his final whisper, blood running from where he grips so tightly. Amidst Sosuke's futile cries, white bandages come spiralling in from the air around them, covering him, pulling themselves tightly around his body. From the river's edge, Kisuke watches in awe.
'I never thought the move I showed Shinji, and Shinji alone could even be mastered, especially not to this degree of control. It's incredible!' Kisuke says to himself as thin iron bolts pierce the bandaged warrior, latching them into place. Then, from the sky above, a colossal metal cube is built by invisible hands. 'But…to use it against someone like Aizen…and in such a weak state yourself…it's risky, Shinji, the move isn't stable enough!' From above, the cube comes crashing downwards upon Aizen's bandaged body. Shinji releases his ankle and falls limp in the raging waters.
Kisuke and Ryuken rush in, taking their chance when suddenly, from the centre of the metal, purple cracks begin to split outwards, fanning outwards in a delicate design, and brilliant light shimmering from them. The cube explodes in a shower of metal and purple reiatsu, a torrent of light blasting upwards into the sky, the bandages tearing off of Aizen as he stands slowly, his knees weak and buckling, but he stands anyway, the force of the explosion sending Kisuke and Ryuken flying backwards in a jet stream of water. Suddenly, as Sosuke raises his sword with a gleam of greedy evil, a white flash is seen shooting out in the sky far above and Ichigo leaps from the looming tower, whipping his sword above his head, a streak of white reiatsu flowing from the blade.
'Getsuga Tenshou!' Ichigo roars, unleashing the attack as he crashes into the river, the white light mixing with the water, Aizen pushing the attack away from him with a cold stare. Cursing, Ichigo's blue eyes look over Shinji's body. 'Urahara-san…is he?' he begins, but Urahara shakes his head sternly.
'Focus on your enemy Ichigo.' He says simply and Ichigo quickly understands. With that, Aizen takes a step forwards, raising a hand in front of him, a cruel grin on his lips.
'Perhaps we can call an impasse? I certainly do not want to inflict more pain on you than is necessary and the three of you could not hope to defeat me. So, perhaps here, we should end this foolish conflict.' Aizen suggests, but his sinister chuckle indicates he feels he should end it as his own victory. However, Ryuken pulls his bow up in front of him and fires a powerful, laser like arrow at Aizen, the man dodging swiftly. Ryuken pushes his glasses up and smirks.
'Clearly you are just frightened that Kurosaki Ichigo has arrived on the scene as well.' Ishida gloats, Aizen raising an eyebrow.
'Kurosaki Ichigo hmm? Frightened, you say?' Aizen wonders, pushing some of his long, brown hair from his eyes. 'Perhaps you are right. I am heavily outnumbered.' Aizen sighs, shrugging his shoulders lamely. His eyes flash nastily as he looks up and suddenly, he reappears beside Ryuken, the man choking as blood explodes from his ruptured chest, the Quincy looking down and then around, not even seeing where Aizen's sword was. Before he knew it, it was back by the villain's side. 'Perhaps I should slim the numbers a little?' Sosuke asks darkly, Ryuken crashing into the water, his eyes blank and wide, blood trickling down his chin.
'Ryuken!' Kisuke cries, Ichigo taking a step forwards, his eyes wide in horror. He jolts, looking quickly up at Aizen, the man flicking the crimson blood from his sword.
'You look concerned, Kurosaki Ichigo. I have to wonder why. I just slew the very man that betrayed your mother to her death.' Aizen hisses slyly, watching Ichigo through perverse eyes, the boy standing, looking down at the lifeless body of Ryuken Ishida. Ichigo's blue eyes began to well up and for reasons he could not explain, he clenches his fists and rushes at Aizen, smashing blades with him, sparks flying and waves rippling around them.
'Whether he did or not, he was my friend's father. You killed him in cold blood. You are nothing more than a monster.' Ichigo says darkly, his eyes burning now with a furious passion. Smashing away from Aizen with a terrible blow, Ichigo and Kisuke dart inwards, side by side, crashing and locking blades with the villain, the three of them dancing on the surface of the water, their reflections sullied and murky from the blood of the victims. Meanwhile, above them, Uryu bounds from the towers, zipping from each one, barely landing on the first before leaping to the next. He has to be quick. Ichimaru Gin's aim is impeccable and his speed unearthly. The Quincy pounces into the sky, his silhouette a jet black on the moon. As he is flying towards the next tower, he notices quickly a gleam of silver in his eyes and he flips over, a raging wind scoring the air, tearing just beneath him and ripping a small section of his sleeve. It screams past so quickly it is like a shot of air, not a sword that is shooting through the night sky. The sword impales the top of the nearest tower in front of Uryu, causing it to explode, showering dust and debris outwards.
'Damn!' Uryu snaps, landing neatly on one of the chunks of stone and sprinting to the next, each piece hanging in the sky long enough for him to leap from them. Suddenly, as he lands on another one, Gin is in front of him, landing on another slab just in front of Uryu. The boy leaps onto it, the two clashing weapons as Uryu summons his Steele Schneider, the blue light of his blade buzzing as Gin pushes against him.
'Ya certainly got skill kid! Yer not so borin' after all!' Gin smiles, breaking away and twisting round on his foot, landing a rough kick into Uryu's chest. Uryu flips over in mid air and skids across the ruined top of the tower, panting heavily, wiping his chin. 'But you'll never be good enough to keep up with me.' Gin says definitively, Uryu twirling his weapon in his hands, creating a flowing blue circle of light.
'You'll find I have a few more surprises.' Ishida smirks, vanishing, Gin spinning round to meet him, only for the Quincy to be gone again. Gin's smile turns quickly to a frown and he pivots on his foot, aiming his sword upwards, Uryu rocketing downwards. However, just as Gin unleashes his weapon into the sky, Uryu spins around it, Gin's blue eyes opening in shock as Uryu transforms his weapon into a bow, aiming the arrows at Ichimaru. With a cry, he fires, unloading a torrent of blasts downwards, Gin disappearing in a plume of towering smoke and dust. Gin bursts out of the side of the ball of smoke, rippling through the air and landing hard on the ground far below, retracting his sword to his side, scoffing, suddenly serious.
'I don't have the time for this…' he thinks to himself, looking over at Ichigo and Urahara, the two of them clashing blades with Aizen, water flowing in the air around them in a mixture of red, white and purple reiatsu. 'He's already killed Shinji and Ryuken…this is escalating too far!' However, Gin doesn't have time to ponder as Uryu lands hard on the ground, the earth breaking up around him in a raining wave of blue. Ishida stands, his wings of reiatsu opening wide behind him, his glasses flashing. Gin smirks, turning his attention back to the boy, the two of them facing off on the ruined courtyard.
'Ya know…considering the amount of time you spent training for that, so far it looks to be nothin' more than a pretty set of wings.' Gin smiles nastily.
'I have achieved far more than I could ever have when I was under your institution, Ichimaru. I'll see to it that that falsification of a university is shut down upon your defeat.' Uryu says darkly, raising his bow. Gin holds his arms out at his side in a mocking fashion.
'But…surely you realise that I never really cared. You think that what I taught you is the best I have? Ya think you learned everythin' that I had to teach?' Gin wonders, Uryu cursing. Cocking his head, Gin lunges forwards, tearing across the courtyard before stopping fast and whipping his sword upwards, aiming for Uryu's eye. The boy narrowly dodges, skidding backwards only to be met with Ichimaru's trademark attack, a barrage of well placed shots, each one faster and more agile than the last, the man's skeletal arm reaching out and jabbing away at his foe with a multitude of stabs, his demonic grin visible through the flashes of silver.
'I didn't get a chance to swap to my Steele Schneider!' Uryu despairs, Gin slicing the boy's arm, Uryu crying out as blood splatters across the courtyard, the bespectacled boy vanishing at last, reappearing atop a nearby shattered wall, clutching his wounded arm. The cut was deep, it was more a laceration. Gin, head bowed, began chuckling to himself. Then, he turned daintily on the spot to look over to where Aizen was battling. He points over there, feigning some sort of concern.
'Looks like ya dad took a tumble.' Gin points out, Uryu looking up and over him. However, as he saw his father lying in the water with an ominous pool of blood seeping out around him, Uryu whimpers slightly, but looks away with a forced scorn, his blue hair falling over his eyes. 'That's a bit cold. Ya have less emotion than me.' Gin sneers, Uryu swinging his weapon out in front of him, like a blue laser it lights up the air in front of him. 'Don't you want to see if he is alright?' Uryu however leaps upon Gin, smashing downwards and flipping away again, the two of them locking blades with furious swings and swipes, their movements like dancing.
'Shouldn't you be the one doing that? After all, he was on your side!' Uryu spits, smashing Gin away but the man back flips up onto a small spire shrugging.
'I really couldn't care.' Gin says bluntly, but Uryu cocks his head this time.
'Is that so? Then why is it you're always looking over there? Perhaps you fear for Aizen's life?' Uryu says defiantly, Gin's smile slowly disappearing from his face.
'Aizen's…life?' Gin whispers, looking down at his reflection in his bloodied blade.
Gin, young and naïve, stood in front of two people who were looming over him, one of them rustling his hair.
'Listen son. You've been recommended to us and, well; frankly, we need to know if you're up to the task at hand.' The man said with a gruff, but hearty and warm voice, his hand tender on Gin's silky hair. Gin hadn't had a family of his own, merely his best friend, Rangiku Matsumoto. A stable girl, she had found him clinging to a cliff face for dear life and managed to save him, pulling him up from death's edge at great risk to herself. He had never forgotten it. The woman, dressed in such a regal gown, made of materials Gin had never even lain eyes on, knelt down beside him and took his thin, bony hand in her own, clasping her fingers around his.
'You are the best friend of our daughter's best friend. Rangiku, that's her name, correct?' the lady asked with such delicacy, such a fragrance that Gin had never before experienced. He was in awe of these people. In a stunted awe, Gin nodded slowly, the woman chuckling. She showed Gin a picture of something, hidden away in a small, golden locket around the woman's neck. 'Our daughter is to inherit this, along with everything else, should anything happen to us.' The woman explained, Gin instinctively taking hold of the locket, opening his crystal blue eyes.
'You will look over her won't you?' the man wondered, his booming voice returning to shake the foundations of the air. 'She is everything to us. She cannot lose this to the wrong hands. If we give you a place in the university, can you look over her? Rangiku said you were a good choice, but, we wanted to ask you as well, just to be certain.' The man reiterated, Gin nodding slowly again, his eyes fixed upon the picture in the locket. The two people stood up again and Gin noticed more feverishly this time how their capes billowed in the wind and, he noticed, for the first time, how, if he looked past them, he could see the entire landscape blooming beneath them, for they were atop a pearly balcony.
'Thank you, Gin.' The woman smiled and warmth swallowed Gin up and, for the first time since Rangiku saved his life, he smiled back.
'What do you mean they trust you?' Rangiku asked, the two of them perched on a small, grassy hill, with a sole, bushy tree overhanging above their heads.
'It's just like I said, they trust me.' Gin repeated himself.
'Listen, I told them about you, I think I deserve to know what they told you to do!' Rangiku squeaked, her billowing blonde hair falling down her face, though it cupped her face. She was the most beautiful thing Gin had ever laid his eyes on, but of course he would never let her know. Gin stood up, his grossly oversized tunic nearly drowning his tiny body as he shook his head.
'No, no, no. It's too late Rangiku, I've sworn to secrecy!' he declared, his childish voice ringing out across the hills but Rangiku pounced, grabbing him around the waist, the two of them rolling down the hillside, the girl laughing as they fell, landing roughly at the bottom of the grassy tuft. As she stood up, she backed up into someone and fell over, tears running down her rosy cheeks as she sobbed, Gin rushing up to her and pulling her close, the two of them looking up at the people they fell into. They were both very tall, one had curly brown hair and a pair of glasses perched on his nose in a scholarly fashion, whilst the other had dark skin and a bandage wrapped around his eyes, his purple hair pulled back into a wild ponytail. They appeared to be students of the university.
'Watch it.' Gin muttered, opening a sole blue eye at them. The man with brown hair sneered, and then changed his expression instantly, scaring the two of them as he appeared happy and care free. He cupped Gin's chin and chuckled, but it was a dark, ominous chuckle that was laced with something unmistakable.
'Aren't you the spirited one? Someone like you should join the university you know.' The man suggested, Gin stepping up.
'I am doing, I've been given a place.' He said, though it was more a slip of the tongue. Rangiku looked up at him in shock and she wiped her tears, Gin realising he had just blown his cover. The two men looked at one another before the bespectacled man smiled again, turning away from them to walk off, and books under his arm.
'Perhaps, we shall see you there then…' he said simply, the wind howling around them, '…spirited one.' Rangiku stood up as they left and turned to Gin, the boy staring down at the floor, his silver hair hanging over his face.
'The university?' she whispered. 'That's what they gave you? You accepted it? This means you have to leave doesn't it…?' Rangiku said, but her voice was weak on the wind. Gin looked up at her and held out his hand, but she didn't take it. Instead she turned away and began to run off, but Gin called out to her.
'I want to be friends. We can be friends, can't we?' he asked, his blue eyes alive. Rangiku turned, and mouthed something but he failed to hear it over the wind and, when he finally shouted loud enough, she was gone over the hill. With a heavy feeling on his heart, he sank to the floor and simply sighed.
'Buto.' Gin says at last, Uryu's eyes widening as Gin pulls his sword in front of him and unleashes a single shot, the sword punching forwards like a bullet from a gun, Uryu ducking to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike. 'Good dodge! If anythin', the training has increased your reflexes!' Gin chuckles.
'Don't mock my hard work!' Uryu cries, firing an arrow at Gin, but Gin cuts it down with another strike, the arrow dissipating in a small cluster of blue lights.
'Ya make it sound like ya think you have a purpose?' Gin hisses, leaping to the side as Uryu swings at him again. Uryu stops as Gin says this, the man standing, both feet poised together atop the tiniest spire, his billowing coat whipping out around him. 'Ya make it sound like you think you can help fight Aizen?' Gin chuckles, Uryu roaring and firing at him again but the man merely flips over the arrow, landing right in front of Ishida, their faces almost touching, Uryu suddenly terrified of the man's snake like grin.
'No matter how much hard work you've done, you'll never have Ichigo's level of growth. It's exponential. Yours is stunted. You, like Chad, Inoue, Rukia…you're all eventually going to reach your peak. Ichigo can continue, forever, until his power gets so great it swallows him whole.' Gin explains, Uryu lashing out, Gin vanishing in time to avoid.
'You'd like that I suppose?' Ishida scowls, Gin remaining silent. 'It doesn't matter, if we're not as strong as Ichigo. We'll all play our part, you'll see.' Uryu says, straightening himself up.
'Well now. It appears alongside your trainin', ya grew up. I'm impressed. You've learned to talk, to be mature. But in the face of Aizen, it's nothing. Ya really think you can help Ichigo?' Gin leans forwards, pulling his sword up in front of him. 'Then let's see ya dodge this. Buto Renjin.' Uryu tries to prepare himself, but suddenly, an onslaught of sword jabs engulfs him and he feels his body being torn apart. Blood obscures his vision and he cries out, Gin's sword firing like a Gatling gun into his chest, pounding away his ribs. He feels them crack. Blood drips from his lips. His glasses shatter. Finally, he is blown downwards and slams into the wall of a tower, Gin hovering down in front of him, retracting his sword.
'Ya finished.' Gin says coldly, the wind blowing his hair, a sorry look on his usually devilish face. Raising his blade, Gin pulls it in front of his chest again, preparing to fire once more. Slowly, Uryu falls forwards, panting heavily, blood running down his tattered chest. 'Buto…' Gin begins but Uryu lifts his bow and the blue strings burst back into life, showering the floor with sparkles. His wings of reiatsu crackle and flash, barely clinging onto the last remnants of his power. '…Renjin!' Gin says simply and he steps back as his sword unleashes the many stabs once more, like a blinding flash of white light. However, Uryu begins to spin his bow and he looks up, the oncoming attack blurring his vision. Pulling his bow behind him he flings it to the front and screams.
'LICHT REGEN!' Uryu roars, his wings exploding on his back into light, a torrent of arrows smashing into Gin's swords. Gin begins to cut through them, sweat running down his forehead as he struggles, Uryu grimacing, the two forcing against one another. Then, Uryu's arrows begin to block the swords and they no longer cut through them, instead, they stalemate, the sheer number of arrows forming a defensive shield as the two push against each other.
'I can still break through…!' Gin grits his teeth, opening his blue eyes as Uryu roars, the wings on the boy's back transforming into thousands more arrows. Gin looks up at them as they come swooping in like birds of prey, adding onto the already powerful blue light. Gin feels his sword rupturing and he curses, watching it struggle, some of the arrows already pushing through and stabbing him in the shoulders. Finally, Gin throws his sword to the side and Uryu, shocked, watches as the white light disappears. Quickly though he takes his chance and bellows, the blue lights engulfing Gin and piercing him with each and every blade.
'IT'S OVER!' Uryu roars, the attacks slamming into Gin, the man disappearing in a cloud of misty blue. Finally, Uryu's weapon dissipates into the air around him and he staggers, unable to even make a sound before falling far and crashing into the ground below, his armour shattering around him with wispy blue smoke. As the dust and smoke clears, Gin is standing in the air still, wavering slightly. His hair is obscuring his eyes and he coughs lightly, a trickle of blood falling down his chin.
'…so it is.' Gin whispers and plummets from the sky, blood spurting from a mass of wounds all revealing themselves, his coat tearing into pieces as he smashes onto the nearest tower, lying still in a twirling cocoon of smoke.
Starrk skids to a stop, one of his arms missing; blood splattered down the side of his jacket, his hair presses messily to his sweaty forehead. He twists sharply, looking to the side, into the mass of towers, some collapsing, others managing to remain tall. An explosion devours another tower and he watches as Uryu and Gin fall out of the sky. Narrowing his eyes, he begins to open his mouth when Shunsui appears some way behind him.
'Neither of them is dead.' Kyoraku whispers, barely any voice left in him. Starrk simply nods, turning slowly to face his foe. Shunsui is in just as bad a condition, missing one of his hands and therefore, one of his swords, a deep burn on his chest and shoulder, his face scarred from battle.
'Yeah…' Starrk says simply, his dull eyes drifting downwards. With a great amount of effort, he summons a striking blue wolf which leaps for Shunsui, but the man slashes it in half, the beast gathering itself for a second strike, but Kyoraku leaps upwards, sending a wall of luscious green towards the beast, destroying it in an instant. Starrk curses, coughing up blood, his eyes wide. '…damn…I'm nearing my end.' He says bluntly, spitting blood down to the floor miles below. Shunsui nods, panting heavily, his chest heaving. The top half of their clothes are barely hanging off of them and they are scorched and bloodied at the edges.
'Maybe…we have…no choice…' Kyoraku says softly, an image of Ukitake fluttering into his head as he closes his eyes for a deep breath. '…your wolves are getting weaker as you do, but I am getting weaker also. We are going to forever stalemate…should…we keep this battle…alive…' Kyoraku deduces, Starrk coughing violently, casting his pistol to the ground, Shunsui watching it fall. '…just swords then?'
Starrk responds by summoning a bright blue sword from the air and clasping it with his fingers, twirling it in front of him, every movement sapping him of strength.
'Just swords…' the man says, his eyes closing with every passing second. With that, they leapt upon each other, smashing away at each other's blades with a growing ferocity, sparks flying from one another. Starrk ducks beneath Shunsui's wide swing and kicks outwards, Kyoraku dodging and whipping his sword downwards. It clips Starrk's leg and the man howls, skidding backwards. They lock blades once more, the two fighting furiously in the sky, just waiting for the other to faint, or to run out of energy to even swing.
'…enough of this!' Coyote thinks to himself, grimacing as Shunsui pounces on him, the shadow of Kyoraku's mighty scimitar looming overhead. 'Cero!' Starrk cries, Shunsui's eyes widening as a massive bolt of blue power tears forth, whipping past Kyoraku and smashing him on the shoulder, blood spraying everywhere. The man whines like a dog, clasping his wound.
'You…didn't…honour the code…for long…' Shunsui almost musters a laugh. With that, he jumps at Starrk, his sword raised in the air. '…Iro Oni.' Starrk's eyes widen as Shunsui's sword connects with his, the two smashing against each other, forcing each other back across the night sky, duelling over the ruined and smoky forest. Finally, Shunsui snaps an opening as Starrk breaks away too fast, his arm out wide. 'Black!' He cries, slamming his sword down upon Starrk's arm, blood pouring out of it as the man curses, dodging just in time to prevent his remaining arm from being torn off.
'…Not a bad trick…' Starrk wheezes, looking down at the blood seeping through his fingers and running down the reiatsu blade of his sword. '…call a colour and I take damage equal to the prevalence of that colour on myself…' he mutters, eyeing Shunsui. '…or is it yourself as well?' Coyote smirks a little.
'Impressive. No one ever gets it that quickly.' Kyoraku confesses. Suddenly, Starrk appears beside Kyoraku and whips his weapon sideways, the man ducking to dodge, sending his own blade outwards in a wide arc. Finally, as they clash, they kick away from one another and slide across the sky, a degree of elegance in their steps. 'I…don't think I'm going to make it through this battle…' Kyoraku admits a smile on his bloodied lips.
'Speak…for yourself…' Starrk pants. As they stare, they swing, their blades crossing again and again in the sky, like two gargantuan, they smash against their opponents. Starrk's eyes ablaze now, he rushes at Kyoraku, smashing against the man, darting past him in a blur, Kyoraku's eyes wide. '…White!' Starrk roars, a torrent of blood escaping Shunsui's chest, the man spluttering, his eyes dilating. However, he twists round and throws his sword into Starrk's back, the villain choking as the blade sticks through him, daunting and gruesome.
'…white…!' Kyoraku whispers also, at the end of his rope now. 'The game is risky…the attack…can deflect back onto you as well…' Shunsui explains, his sword breaking down and reappearing in his hand, Starrk keeling over, blood spews from his mouth now as he clasps the gaping hole in his chest. '…shall we end this, at last?' Kyoraku declares and runs at Starrk, the villain spinning round and, holding his arm out, his eyes ablaze, he converts all of his wolves into one final attack.
'CERO!' he cries out, the wolves howling in the night air as they become a colossal blast, the ball of light collapsing in on itself before screaming outwards like a deadly fan, illuminating not just the moon, but the horizon as well in a flash of blue. Shunsui closes his eyes and smiles, raising his sword above his head.
'Ukitake…' he thinks to himself, diving straight into the middle of the cero, Starrk's eyes widening in shock as the man takes the hit, pushing through the middle of the blue blast. It keeps tearing away him, Shunsui's eyes shut, a smile on his dying face as his hair whips around him, the blue lights shooting out, blood mixing on the wind. '…I think…' Shunsui pushes through, nothing stopping him, Starrk attempting to increase the power of his blast, but Kyoraku strives onwards, his sword gleaming in the moonlight. '…I've got him.'
'Blue.' Shunsui barely breathes and brings down his sword like an executioner's axe, the steel landing with a crash on the ball of light before slicing through it and down into Starrk's shoulder.
'All of my cero's power…being converted into his Iro Oni…amazing…' Coyote thinks to himself, barely feeling the blade rip his remaining arm from him, Kyoraku pulling downwards, splitting Starrk in half almost, a wave of blood shooting out. '…congratulations…Kyoraku Shunsui…!' Starrk gargles on death, opening his eyes, Kyoraku simply a blur as he falls from the sky, a stream of blood left hanging behind in the air.
'What is it that you want?' Aizen asked, pacing up and down in front of Starrk, the man kneeling before his master. He looked up, his dull eyes staring at the brown haired man, Aizen's metal mask concealing his true nature.
'I…I merely want someone to work for, to work with…' Starrk responded quickly, bowing again almost immediately. Aizen however stood in front of the man, his cold eyes staring down at Starrk.
'You must understand…you would be the strongest of my men. Can you take that burden? Can you shoulder it, Coyote Starrk?' Aizen whispered callously, seductively. Without looking up, Starrk nodded, standing up at Aizen's request and taking his place beside Harribel, the woman glancing quickly at him, something Starrk decided was a gesture of acceptance. Aizen held his hand out, and, although they could not see it for his mask, he had a cruel grin plastered on his scarred face.
'Today marks the day of a new era. Today, we shall walk forth on these lands and take back what is truly ours!' Sosuke announced, Starrk not knowing whether to smile or not. Instead, he stared at the man in front of him, at the glowing purple ball in the man's hand. As the ceremony ended, he placed a hand fast on Harribel's shoulder, the woman stopping upright.
'What is it, Newcomer?' she purred, Starrk looking into her eyes.
'You…you have honest eyes.' He said simply. 'What is it we are doing here?' he whispered. The woman must have taken pity on him for some reason, for she took his hand from her shoulder and lowered it, before patting him on the shoulder.
'We are all following Lord Aizen for our own reasons. Perhaps one day, yours will come to you too.'
Starrk falls from the sky, Kyoraku staring down at him. Finally, he drops his scimitar and watches it blow away on the wind, turning to dust in front of him. He chuckles under his breath and drops from the sky. Instead of dropping however, he merely lies back and lets the wind carry him, his body disappearing into the air.
'See…I told ya…Ukitake…' he smiles, turning to dust on the very wind that his friend did, the two of them reunited at last.
Ichigo rushes at Aizen, the two clinging close to one another. Ichigo ducks under another slice, Aizen raising an eyebrow as the boy launches upwards, dragging behind him a powerful wave of white reiatsu.
'Getsuga…' Ichigo growls, his blue eyes gleaming. '…Tenshou!' he cries out, unleashing the attack into the sky, Sosuke dodging it, the attack exploding upon a tower looming overhead. Aizen raises his weapon; a sadistic smile on his face when suddenly from above the tower erupts, bursting into thousands of large, falling boulders of stone. Aizen spins round; slicing the nearest one in two as Ichigo vanishes, returning to Urahara's side. A chunk of rock smashes onto the riverbed, bounding towards the two.
'Scream, Benihime!' Urahara orders, whipping a scythe of red light towards the rock, severing it in two. From his side, he notices Ichigo bounding upwards, leaping from rock to rock to catch up to Aizen, the man hovering in the sky now. 'Ichigo, don't rush off too fast!' Urahara cries, smashing aside another rock.
'I will kill him!' Ichigo thinks to himself, Aizen standing there, so vulnerable yet so defensive, so open yet so poised to kill in an instant. Kurosaki bounds over him, watching beneath as the man goes below. 'Getsuga Tenshou!' Ichigo roars, Aizen merely moving out of the way to allow the attack to strike another tower, the pieces of stone and brick crashing down towards Kisuke again.
'Is that all you can do?' Aizen asks, looking up lazily, the wind blowing his brown hair. Ichigo sends another attack Aizen's way, but the man grabs it in his bare hand and launches it, not at Ichigo, but at another tower, the white light colliding with the building and shattering it into a thousand pieces, each one raining down upon the courtyard. Ichigo zips into the air, gathering his bearings, panting heavily, his snowy hair ruffled.
'Why isn't he fighting me? Why is he just letting me attack with Getsuga Tenshou?' Ichigo wonders, thinking to himself. Brushing it off, Ichigo attacks again and again, swinging wildly at his nemesis, Urahara watching from the floor below, narrowing his eyes at the scene above. He notices, after each wave of rocks and stone, Aizen seems to be edging ever closer to Ichigo. Kisuke rams his sword into the next boulder and blows it into pieces with a red light, watching Ichigo.
'What are you waiting for…Aizen…?' Kisuke thinks to himself. Suddenly, Ichigo raises his sword above his head to attack again and Kisuke realises, bounding quickly into the sky, his eyes alive with fear. 'ICHIGO! WAIT! HE'S TRYING TO SHUT ME OUT!' Urahara screams but not before it is too late. Kurosaki swings, unleashing his blast at Aizen but the villain catches it and, with a vicious cackle, launches it into the remaining tower, the blast reaching a new magnitude of destruction as the boulders come crashing towards Urahara, the man struggling to see past them. 'ICHI-!' Kisuke gasps, Ichigo turning to look down.
'Kisuke…?' he begins when, out of the sky, Aizen plunges his sword through Ichigo's heart, the boy staggering backwards, his body on the end of Sosuke's sword. Urahara's eyes widen and he pushes through the barrage of boulders, smashing through each one with a newfound rage, bursting out of the final one to see Ichigo's eyes dilate.
'ICHIGO!' Urahara screams, Uryu looking up from the ground, his eyes watching Ichigo's body fall to the ground, blood spurting out of his heart. Then, as Ichigo falls, he drops his sword and it dissipates into the sky before he vanishes over the edge of the mountain and everything goes dark.