Hey everybody! I told you that I was working on chapters that advance the plot and here it is! :D

Let's see, this is the part where I talk to my loyal readers about things. An odd point of my week was when I watched the movie of the game Animal Crossing. If you know of the game, you'll be just as confused as I was to hear that there is a movie of it. Oddly enough, Fumiko Orikasa (Rukia's voice actor) was in it. Overall it wasnt a particularly brilliant movie.

On to the topic of the recent Bleach episode (episode 254), I thought it was getting a bit stupid because even though most of the shinigami and zanpakutou came to help, most of them didnt do a lot. The ones who didn't do a lot were: Izuru, Wabisuke, Yumichika, Matsumoto, Hinamori, Oomaeda, Gegetsuburi, Suzumebachi, Haineko, Tobiume (who only did some arguing and killed about one menos each) and even Rukia didnt do anything ;_;. Also, I know he's the main character but having Ichigo do everything is starting to get a little tiresome. His battle strategy is getting boring too. Has anyone noticed that it consists of: Bankai followed by GetsugaTenshou!GetsugaTenshou!GetsugaTenshou!GetsugaTenshou! and if that doesnt work: Hollow mask then repeating the same strategy. Not to sound like a whining Rukia fan here but, why does she never do anything in filler arcs? She fights once and then they decide to kill her off for the rest of the arc.

I think I've ranted enough so now you can get on with the chapter.

Chapter 25

The first chapter that I've done for a while that isn't filler and actualy advances the plot

As they set off into Las Noches again, they were all glad to have Rukia back on their side again but they still knew that they would have to be more careful than ever. Aizen would most likely go all out against them now. There were only a few espada left but two of them held the highest ranks. The captains had stayed behind to help Kurotsuchi who was researching how the garganta worked so they could get back whenever they wanted. No one knew what Aizen was planning now. He had taken Rukia so she could become an arrancar but he didn't seem at all worried after she was able to recover. He had even stabbed her in an attempt to kill her so whatever plan he had made that included Rukia didn't seem to make any difference.

Meanwhile...

Aizen had called all of his remaining espada into a meeting to check on their numbers and review his plan depending on how many were left.

'So this is all that is left of my espada. Six have been killed and the other has left us' Aizen commented as he looked around the room. There were only three of them. 'No matter, we will just have to make do with what is left.'

'What're ya thinking of doin' now?' Ichimaru asked.

'Patience Gin' he responded. 'A powerful plan is one that has been thought out thoroughly. This plan isn't meant to succeed. It is just to keep them occupied. Grimmjow, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to need you to do something for me.' Grimmjow was still alive as Ichigo had let him live. Nnoitra's attack didn't quite finish him off either. He still didn't like taking orders though. 'Baraggan, I would like you to go with him to make sure this operates smoothly.' As the two espada left, Aizen continued to go over his plan, making sure it would work exactly how he planned it.

Back with Ichigo and everyone else...

There weren't any arrancar around in the corridors. Maybe they were just disposed of as they were too weak. They weren't even close to matching the strength of Ichigo and the others. Rukia kept getting a feeling that she had done something as an arrancar that benefitted Aizen greatly. She had had this feeling for some time now but she just couldn't remember it. As she was no longer an arrancar she felt she would never know. They all stopped as they sensed something up ahead. Grimmjow stood before them, alone.

'Grimmjow, I'm not going to fight you again' Ichigo told him. He was sure that Grimmjow just wanted to settle the score with him. 'You can't defeat me.'

'Na, this time I ain't here to fight any of you' he said. 'I just came to collect her.' He pointed at Rukia.

'Why the hell do you need Rukia again?!' Ichigo demanded to know.

'Aizen's orders' Grimmjow shrugged. 'Can't really argue with 'em, can I?'

'Aizen wants to see me?' Rukia asked. 'Just go back and tell him that I'm not co-operating with him anymore. Anyway, do I even look like an arrancar to you or do you need Aizen to verify it for you?' Grimmjow scowled. He knew she was mocking him.

'That damn attitude of yours pisses me off, you little bitch' he said. 'Remember how easily I was able to smack you around before? I could tell you were shit scared of me even though you pretended act all calm.' Rukia smirked.

'Rukia' Ichigo looked at her in concern. 'What did he do to you?'

'Don't worry about it' she told him. 'It's just as he said. We couldn't get along very well when I was first brought here.' She turned back to Grimmjow. 'If I remember correctly, I was a higher rank than you' she recalled. 'If a hollow was using my feelings, I'm pretty sure that it would have 'smacked you around' a little.' Grimmjow gritted his teeth. As an arrancar, she taunted him and punched him in the stomach just to show off her new strength. He rushed forward to attack her with his sword already drawn. There was no way he would let her say that she was stronger than him. Rukia had already anticipated this though so she was able to block it.

'Rukia!' Ichigo said. He wasn't sure if she would be able to handle him right now.

'I'm fine' she forced the words out just as she pushed Grimmjow back. Not willing to give in, Grimmjow attacked again. Since Rukia realised that Grimmjow's strength was with a sword and her own strength wasn't, she would have to think of something. Rukia lowered herself so she went under his attack and slashed straight up at him. He grabbed her sword with his remaining hand before she cut him.

'You couldn't do anything to me even when I only had one arm' he taunted. 'Do you even think you can beat me? Only he can do that by pure luck.' He gestured to Ichigo.

'I panicked at that time' Rukia admitted. She wasn't sure what to do back then as she had only just woken up to find herself in the enemy stronghold. 'I didn't have my sword either. But this time... it will work.' She mirrored what she did back then and put her palm parallel to his chest. 'Hadou no san-jyuu-san! Soukatsui!' He was too close to move back. He couldn't stop her like he did last time as one hand was holding his sword and his other hand was holding her sword. He could either let go of her sword to escape or take the hit. But if he let go of her sword she would cut him and then hit him as he would still be close to her. Even though he didn't want to, he would have to take the single hit from the kidou instead of a double hit from her sword and the kidou combined. It was a rather large mistake though. He didn't know that her kidou was much better than her skills with a sword.

The kidou slammed into him at point blank range. It must have done some considerable damage. When all the smoke cleared, Grimmjow was breathing heavily and was wounded slightly.

'Damn you, you little bitch' he snarled. 'You would be dead if you didn't use that damn spell. It pisses me off.' He charged a cero to use his equivalent of her kidou.

'My kidou isn't limited to one spell' Rukia told him. 'Bakudou no kyuu...' She drew a symbol in front of her before saying the name of the spell. 'Geki!' The symbol glowed red and then engulfed Grimmjow in red light. He was completely paralyzed. He couldn't concentrate any more energy on the cero so it shrank and then faded.

'Damn it!' he growled. He couldn't get out. 'How can she be this much stronger?!' he thought.

'My strength is with kidou, not with a sword' she said. 'You may be stronger than me physically but I have a greater understanding of strategy. I can tell how you fight.' She held her hands out in front of her. 'You said that Soukatsui 'pissed you off' didn't you?' she said calmly. 'Then, what about this variation? Hadou no roku-jyuu-san...' A great amount of energy focused at her hands. 'I feel that I can do this without the incantation' she thought. 'Is this because I got stronger when I became an arrancar?' Everyone watched as she looked like she was about to finish him off. 'Souren Soukatsui!' She released the energy straight towards him. There was no mistaking the fact that it hit him. The only question that remained was: was he alive? Rukia was fairly sure that he was. If she had used the incantation, it would most likely have killed him. Its power was weakened because she didn't use it. Although she managed to use it without the incantation, she was noticeably tired out by it. She wouldn't be able to continue like this.

It turned out that he was still alive but now he was heavily wounded. He placed his hand over his sword in rage. He was going to use his Resurreccion. He was interrupted by the arrival of someone else.

'What's taking so long, Grimmjow?' a gruff voice said. Baraggan stepped in from behind them. 'It seemed like such a simple request so I thought I wouldn't have to get involved. You were told to bring her back and here I find you fighting a losing battle.'

'Who's this old guy?' Renji asked. 'Another espada? Are you here to help him?'

'Don't group me with the likes him' Baraggan said angrily. 'I don't have the time for any of you ants. I'm just here to make sure that everything goes according to plan.' Rukia saw that Ichigo was going to try to fight him.

'Ichigo, don't fight him' Rukia warned him. 'I can tell that he's very powerful. I think he is a higher rank than I was before.'

Ichigo seemed to ignore her. 'I'll show you, old man!' he yelled as he was about to reach for his sword. Something surprised him as he was moving very slowly. 'What the-? I can barely move.' Everyone but Rukia also felt the same. They thought they would be moving quickly but everything seemed to be slowing down.

'That is my power. The time space around you has been dilated so you can do nothing' Baraggan explained. 'Unless you want to see them rot and turn to dust before you, I advise you to comply' he said to Rukia. He drew a large battle axe with a blade that was the size of his body and held it in front of Ichigo and the others. Grimmjow also stood there with his sword drawn. Rukia didn't know what she should do. If she did nothing, they would be killed and then she would be taken to Aizen anyway but if she went with them Aizen would be able to carry on with his plans. Both choices would end up with similar outcomes. She couldn't fight them either. She wasnt nearly strong enough and she would be at a disadvantage as there were two of them and they had all of her friends as hostages that could be killed at any time.

'I... I don't want to let you die' Rukia said. 'If you die because of me, I won't be able to forgive myself. I wouldn't be able to live with what I had done.'

'Rukia! Don't listen to him!' Ichigo yelled to her. 'You know what Aizen wants to do to you again!'

'Keep silent, ant, or you will be the first to die' Baraggan said to him.

'Damn you!' Ichigo kept trying to get out of the slowed down time area.

'Ichigo, stop!' Rukia pleaded. 'Leave them alone. They don't have anything to do with what you want.'

'Rukia, don't go back there' Ichigo said to her. Grimmjow moved his blade closer to Ichigo's head.

'Yeah, don't go back so you can watch as I finally kill him' he sneered. 'Then I can kill you as well.'

'You bastard' Ichigo scowled.

'I-I'll go with you' Rukia finally gave in. She wouldn't be able to bear the guilt if her choice got her friends killed. 'I'm sorry. I don't want you to get hurt because of one of my choices again. If it stops you all from being killed, I'll do what they want for now. I don't want to go but I don't have any other choice.' She walked over to where both espada were standing. 'I'm sorry' she said again before she was taken away by the two espada.

'Damn it!' Ichigo shouted. They could all move at normal speed now. 'What the hell does he want with her now?'

'Calm down' Uryu said. 'We might be able to find Aizen quickly. Inoue said that he was usually always at that place.'

'He probably won't be there now though' Renji thought. 'He knows that we know he was there. He could be anywhere in this place.' They all hurried off to the place where he was before. It was highly unlikely that he would be there but it couldn't hurt to look. If he needed Rukia again, his plan involving her must still be in motion.

Sometime later...

They were met with the familiar tall staircase from before that led up to where they were heading.

'Shit, where the hell is he?' Ichigo looked around. Aizen was nowhere to be seen. They had managed to reach the place where Aizen was before with relative ease but it took quite a while to get there. The place was exactly the same as how it was before. There was just an indent in the ground where Rukia was when she used her Resurreccion.

'I told you he wouldn't still be here' Renji said to Uryu.

'Well we wouldn't have known until we looked here would we' he replied.

'Damn you Aizen' Ichigo thought. 'Why do you need Rukia? It's me you're after.' He clenched his fists. 'I swear I'll kill you the next time I see you for what you've done.' They needed to find where he was keeping Rukia quickly. Rukia only became an arrancar last time because it appeared as if they took too long to get there. Aizen would most likely try to continue his plans as quickly as possible.

They had to go back the way they came. They had no idea where Aizen could be but surely he would have to be somewhere around this area. This place seemed like his base of operations so he was probably close by. Just as they headed back though, a single arrancar stood before them. They hadn't seen this one before but something seemed familiar about this particular arrancar.

I don't really think I need to say anything here, so do whatever you want.

'til next time!