Chapter 24
Taking a few quick glances around him, Trunks tried to determined what the release of kyoka suigetsu could have done. 'The sword didn't change, so it should have an ability like the one's those two had.' he thought as he glanced behind him. Looking back at Aizen who hadn't moved from his position he decided to ask, "What do you intend to gain by taking my place?" he asked as he felt as though something was off with the man standing in front of him.
"What I have always intend to gain." Aizen answered and used Shunpo to cover the distance, his sword drawn back as he prepared to slash at Trunks. As Aizen moved Trunks' senses where telling many things, his eyes his nose and his ears told him the man was in front of him but his sixth sense told him he was also behind him. Jumping into the air, Trunks dodge the first attack, making sure he compensated for both a front and rear attack. Landing on one of the surrounding walls, Trunks jumped the side as he felt the same sensation as before and, just like before there was no one at his back.
'What's going on?' he asked himself as he ran backwards dodging swords attacks coming from both Aizen and the invisible air around him. 'Is he able to create and invisible clone?' he thought before jumping over the next slash and placing his hand on Aizen's head and pushing of to the side as another attack came. Landing back in the alley way facing Aizen, he kept himself alert as he saw the man stop and look down on him with a little more interest in his eyes.
"How are you doing this?" Aizen asked the purple haired young man curious about his method of determining his attacks even while under complete hypnosis.
"Sorry," Trunks apologized, in a clipped tone. "But I'm not into the habit of telling my opponents how kill me." Trunks answered as he prepared to move. 'So definitely clone!' Trunks thought as he lowered his stance. 'I'll have to take it out first if I want to win this fight.'
"Hmph!" Aizen responded as he looked down at Trunks. "Have it you're way then." he commented as around Trunks nine copies of Aizen appeared and spoke in unison. "Let's just see how well you do against this amount of opposition."
Using shunpo, the ten clones moved to attack simultaneously from all directions. Seeing no other option, Trunks flew straight at the original and tackled him through the wall. Using Aizen's body like a spring-board, Trunks launched himself forward into the middle of the field at the other side of the wall. Leaning forward, he dodge another slash before kicking out backwards catching one of the Aizen's under his chin and spun with the momentum of the kick to righted himself. Leaning to his left and turning his torso, he dodge a stab, grabbed the arm and through the attacker into another. Trunks continued with the same process of dodging and an reacting as they kept coming and even multiplied, doing his best to stay a couple of steps ahead.
Meanwhile the real Aizen watched from a top one of the walls as his twenty illusions where handled, 'His fighting ability is quite high, the usual tactics won't work on him; so fighting him head on is not a good idea.' he concluded as saw Trunks make a grab as he turned and smash an elbow into one of the illusions and throw it at another. 'Let's see how he handles kido.' he wondered to himself and used Shunpo to appear above the fight.
Pointing his hand down, he placed his sword in front of it, "Okasen!" he said aloud, as yellow energy gather at the tip of the blade and spread before shooting down towards Trunks. As the energy approached, Trunks crossed his arms in and through them up launching a quick full body kiai throwing the clones away. Clenching his fist and flexing his arms at his side, he faced the energy and let out a scream as it hit. Once the after effects disappeared, Aizen watched as the young man continued his battle with his illusions with, 'He dissipated the hado with nothing but a shout.' he analyzed as he shunpo to the ground keeping his distance used another, "Haien!" he called out and used shunpo to move around the field releasing seven more shots.
Using shunpo to appear above the field after the last attack, he casted another hado, as Trunks jumped into the air to dodge the haien, heading his way. "Kurohitsugi!" he said and watched as the black box covered his target.
As he got covered by a box of energy, Trunks could feel the change in the gravity in an instant. Looking up he saw the spears of energy as they started to descend on him, throwing himself on the bottom of the box he launched a quick blast of energy destroying the spears and putting a whole in through the box causing it to collapse. Returning to real time he felt that invisible Aizen as he moved to dodge his blast, and moved to follow, he threw himself back to dodge an attack by one of the visible clones. Using the technique he saw shinigami use, Trunks landed on the air and looked around himself to watch all the clones, 'So the real one is the one that made himself invisible.' he thought and rose a little higher in the sky. 'I've been fighting all his clones and haven't made any head way, if I don't come up with something soon I'm gonna be in real trouble.'
"Let go of me!" Nozomi shouted at Ichigo as she struggled to escape his grasp. Putting her feet to his chest she pushed off, throwing Ichigo of balance and falling on her back. Jumping to her feet she shunpo to her zanpakutou and picked it up, turning she saw as Ichigo stared back at her with his guard down.
"Nozomi," Ichigo called out to the girl as his eyes narrowed, "Why are you working for central 46? Why didn't you just come to us when you came back?" he questioned as he reached as he stood his ground not moving from his place.
"How do you know my name?" Nozomi questioned as she held her zanpakutou at the ready.
"Nozomi it's me, Ichigo. Don't you remember me?" he asked getting a blank stare in return. "What about our friends back in real world? Orihime? Chad? Rukia?" Ishisa?" he questioned further getting a small shake of her head in response. "What about Kon?"
"I don't know any of those people!" she answered as her reiatsu build around her holding her zanpakuto in front her she called out its name. "Devour, Arazome Shigeru!" she called out and her zanpakutou transformed. "The only thing I know is that I have to kill you." she said and ran at him with a yell. Jumping into the air she brought her sword down over head at Ichigo, who jumped back dodge. Grabbing his zangetsu, Ichigo brought it in front of him and blocked Nozomi's next attack; pushing forward he through her back and ran at her.
As he was about to press his attack, his back was lit by a red light, feeling and increase in heat he used shunpo to move out of the way. The massive fireball that was on his back continued until it hit Nozomi head, "Nozomi!" he called out and ran towards the girl.
Suddenly the fire-ball disappeared all together and Nozomi stood her zanpakutou over her head. "Aaahhhh!" she screamed as she swung her blade, unleashing a wave of energy at him. Using shunpo Ichigo dodge into the air, spinning around he brought zangetsu up in time to block an attack by his third attacker. As they locked blades and pushed back on each other, his opponents blade started to emit flames from its hilt as the blade heated up.
"Ugh!" Ichigo let out a grunt as the heat from the blade transferred to zangetsu, breaking off and jumping back pointed the blade towards the man and extended the energy out. Jumping back, the second man spun around the attack, his sword creating more flames before smacking away the attack at end of his spin. As the zangetsu was thrown aside, Nozomi appeared in its path bring arazome shigeru up to block and absorbing all the energy.
"Nice Nozomi!" the man spoke for the first time and lifted his sword in the air creating a giant fireball above his hook like sword. "I'll drive back, you gather all the energy you're gonna need to finish him off." the stated and slashed down sending the fireball at Ichigo. Putting his left foot behind his right Ichigo crouched and gather energy before swing his sword at the fireball dissipating it one shot. Turning to his right, he blocked Nozomi's attack and pushed her back, lifting his sword above his head he blocked man's over head slash and mule kicked him in the stomach.
Using shunpo, Ichigo appeared behind the man as he slid backwards in the air slashing at him with all his might. Spinning around, the mans zanpakutou increased the amount of flames it produced and he met Ichigo's attack head on. When the two zanpakutous clashed, a huge explosion got created that through them both back a hundred meters.
Watching through his squinted eyes, Ichigo saw as the explosion dissipated quicker than normal as it was absorbed by Nozomi's zanpakutou. Causing the blade to start glowing pink as it's crossed shape head enlarged and changed to include a circle. Getting his feet under him, Ichigo slid to a stop as Nozomi brought her sword up and slashed down launching a massive energy wave towards him.
Stabbing zangetsu forward, Ichigo brought his left hand to his forearm, "Bankai," he called out as the energy wave engulfed him. Around Ichigo's form, a massive storm of black and red reiatsu swirled, mixing in with the pink of arazome shigeru before they were both dissipated. "Tensa Zangetsu!" Ichigo finished as he stood in the air completely unharmed, wearing his new bankai cloak and gloves, Zangetzu's form becoming slim small. "Nozomi," Ichigo began as she glared at him. "You may not be the same person who spent all that time becoming our friend, or that got acknowledged as a shinigami by the old man Yamamoto. But I know that you're still a good person, so I'm going to take you back with me so that you can meet with our friends." Ichigo said and saw as her eyes widen as his declaration.
Shaking her head, Nozomi began to deny anything he was saying. "I'm not a-" she stopped as he suddenly appeared before her the hilt of his sword pointed at her stomach.
"Sorry about this!" he said as he drove the hilt into her stomach knocking her out. As she lost consciousness and began to fall, Ichigo removed the hilt from her stomach and caught her in his left arm; swinging his sword backwards he dissipated the fire-ball that had been launched at him from behind. "Amagai-san," he said as he glanced over his shoulder at the man and watched his rear back as though struck. "Give up already, you haven't gotten any stronger from our last fight so you're not going to win this."
"Uhg!" Amagai Shusuke grunted as he reached for his mask and took it off. "How long have you know it was me?" he asked as he glared at the younger man.
"Since you released you're zanpakutou."
"That obvious."
"Ah!"
"Don't expect me to give up so easily, I won't stop until I have my revenge on Yamamoto for what he did to my father." Shusuke stated and held his zanpakutou in front of him. "Bankai, Raika Goen Kaku!" he called out as his whole body was hidden by a massive explosion of flames. When the flames disappeared, in his hands he held a massive, hook shape zanpakutou as big as he was tall, with a red and white design. "I don't care what happens to me as long as I can have my revenge!" he stated as he brought the pauldron of the zanpakutou to face Ichigo and released a flame torrent. "Now die!"
Using Shunpo at the last second, Ichigo appeared to Shusuke's left and swung his sword, "Getsuga Tenshou!" he yelled as he released his attack and disappeared again as Shusuke turned the pauldren towards it. Now at his back, Ichigo released another getsuga and repeated the process until he attacked Shusuke from all sides before appearing above him and release another and one more from below.
"AAHHHHH!" Shusuke yelled as all six getsuga's overwhelmed him, and the resulting explosion of energy created a massive sphere of black and red flames. Once the explosion cleared, Amagai Shusuke stood in the air smoke rising from his body and most of his clothes shredded. His zanpakutou held in front of him as though he was trying to protect himself, had gotten cracked all over and, he was bleeding from his chest and arms and legs. Shaking as he breath shallowly, he gritted his teeth and glared at Ichigo, "D-damn it." he whispered as he lost consciousness and fell from the sky.
Trunks was becoming frustrated with the situation he found himself in, as he weaved and dodge around the attacks of the seemingly indestructible clones and the real Aizen. Taking to the air had proven as his best idea, he was better able to maneuver then while flying than Aizen was. Flying at another clone, he left a bushin as it slashed at him before he came from behind driving his knee on the back of his head. Sending the clone smashing into another, bobbing down he dodge another and flip forward driving his foot into the clones face before launching two kiai attacks from his hands pushing another two back. Spinning around he grabbed the arms of two more while still upside down and spun them around using them as battering rams to smash another group away and through them back.
Righting himself while in the air he expected another attack, but non came as the clones all stood around him in a circle their numbers having grown again. "Truly impressive," they all commented together. "You've been fighting none stop dodging and weaving as best you could and so far I've only come close to cutting you down 5 times." they intoned as a smile grew on their faces. "Tell me boy, how much longer can you keep this up? At the rate that you're going I wouldn't be surprise if you're heart gave out you, after all you're only human."
"No need to worry about me," Trunks replied as he looked for the original using his ki sensing ability. "I can keep this up all night if I have too."
"Hmph!" they replied, "I suppose you could. However, the fighting at central 46's headquarters starting to die down, I can no longer afford to waste time testing you're abilities." as they said this all the clones started to disappeared one after another until only one of them remained. Concentrating on the man, Trunks noted the incredible rise in his Ki as his sword hand got covered in gauntlet that seemed fused with the sword. "I will end this quickly." after saying the words, Aizen moved, covering the distance between them at ten times the speed as before and slashed Trunks across the chest.
Taking in the young mans shocked expression, Aizen smiled and moved in for the kill. When suddenly the image blurted and disappeared, 'What?' he thought with some shock and jumped back to dodge as Trunks attacked from his side. "How did you dodge that?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes, anger coming into his voice. "I've increased my power to its maximum, and my speed is unmatched by anyone except Kurosaki Ichigo. So how did you manage to dodge my attack?" he finished with a yell and watched as Trunks blinked back at him, not bothering to take the opportunity to attack.
"You're certainly the fastest and strongest guy I've fought since coming to this universe!" Trunks stated, "But you're not all that much faster or stronger than the gotei 13 captains. If I can take three of them together there's no reason I couldn't take you either." he commented and did some stretches to get the kinks out of his body. "Actually, I should thank you. Since you decided to fight me on your own I should have an easier time beating you, with out you're clones to interfere." he said and got into a ready stance, his left hand and leg forward and his right hand at held above his head and used his left to wave Aizen forward.
Glaring at the man who stood before him. Aizen, contemplated what he just told him, 'In the last seventeen months the gotei 13 has gotten that powerful while I have done nothing but sit in cell.' he thought, 'Brute force isn't going to get me anywhere with this guy, If I want to beat him I need to use my bankai.' holding his sword in front of him Aizen, diffused himself from kyoka suigetsu.
"What's wrong?" Trunks asked in confusion as he felt the mans, ki drop back to normal. "Are you giving up?"
"Giving up?" Aizen asked in amusement. "No, nothing like that. I just decided to give you the honor of being beaten by my bankai." he stated and brought his sword to his side. "Bankai!" he called out, feeling the rush of unleashing a power he hasn't used in years.
If Aizen seems weak, I would like to apologize! The reason I did this is because as I mentioned he has been sitting in a cell for seventeen months without doing any training whats so ever. While the captains of the Gotei 13 have been training like crazy to be able to fight some one on his level of power and win. However the Idea that I came up with for his Bankai should even out this fight, as for the reason while I used the word clones when speaking of the illusions Aizen had been using, is because Trunks doesn't know their Illusions, to him they look and feel real so he thinks Aizen's ability is to create indestructible clones that could be used to tire out his opponents. I forgot to add, the reason why Nozomi and Amagai don't remember certain things is because I had central 46 selectively choose what memories to give them.