Matchups for this particular chapter: Nickel vs. Toshiro Start, Cielo vs. Shunsui Cont., Zeph vs. Ikkaku, Yumichika vs. Tsubaki, Shouta vs. Rangiku, Yuki vs. Rukia, Vladimir vs. Izuru/Renji/Hisagi, Samanosuke Scene, more stuff.

Then cut! Hope this chapter will be long enough for ya.

+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X++X

Toshiro rushed to where his lieutenant was fighting. As he rounded a corner, a blade nearly cut his head off. The silver haired boy jumped away, drawing his sword. "You?"

"Long time no see, eh Toshiro? Last time was a joint operation what? Twenty years ago? Thirty? Either way, I certainly hope you mastered your icy zanpakutou better than last time." Nickel already had shikai active, and had a red ice demon arm holding onto the half snowflake blade.

"Since Aizen's defeat, I've been training. I think I can match you evenly now, Nickel Shard! Reign over the frosted heavens: Hyourinmaru!" A blue ice dragon came flying out of the sword.

"Ryuumon Kousetsu!" Nickel's own variation hit it dead on. The attacks created a massive, spiked ice ball between them. Nickel shunpoed behind Captain Hitsugaya and started jabbing with both blades. The boy sidestepped and moved back to avoid the attacks and used his blade to protect himself. A chain with a crescent moon on the end encircled and snagged the half snowflake blade and ice arm. Without missing a beat, a sharpened, red ice pillar went up and curved down from behind the blue haired boy into the silver haired one.

Toshiro jumped back to avoid it and fired a wave of ice. Nickel just jumped over it and stabbed forward. Hitsugaya parried the blow, only to get back handed by the ice arm. He recovered quickly enough and fired another ice dragon. After Nickel countered it with own, Toshiro attacked the kid's left side. Only to be caught by the ice hand.

"Don't think just because my left arm is still broken, doesn't mean I'm weak there!" Shard tossed Hitsugaya away. "As long as my shikai is active, I still have an arm there! Hado 73: Touketsu Rein!" Out of the ice hand, red rain was fired at the Hell equivalent. Toshiro stopped moving back, and fired a kido spell of his own.

"Hado 73: Soren Sokatsui!" Twin blasts of blue energy met the red rain. The rain froze the double blast. Nickel used shunpo to appear in front of him and swung down. Toshiro blocked it and pushed the other boy back. Nickel jumped over a wall, retreating. Captain Hitsugaya followed.

From below, as Nickel was over the other wall, red ice spikes erupted upward. The silver haired boy dodged them easily enough and pursued the other boy, the two still fighting for the title Ice King.

+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+X+

This fight had lasted almost an hour now.

Cielo dodged another sword blow while swinging the blade in his right hand, his shikai now being a pair short swords he called Corvus. Shunsui was now in shikai. The Squad 8 captain stepped back to avoid the sword and swung with his right sword, only to hit thin air. Shunsui ducked to avoid decapitation, leaned back and moved to his right to avoid getting stabbed in the forehead, and then ducked again and moved back to avoid decapitation again by the same sword.

The other man did his own barrage of attacks, even using Cielo's own shadow to attack him with. The attack on the shadow actually connected, leaving a gash on his right leg. But Cielo still held his speed advantage, thanks to Corvus. In exchange, the Squad 7 captain got in two cuts on the other man, one on his left elbow and the other on his shoulder. Even after that, the two fought on even ground, stopping only when the felt two massive spiritual pressures above them.

The two looked up to find a black and orange energy balls colliding with the barrier around the Seireitei. They broke through, heading in opposite directions, their right and left…

The duo continued to fight on…

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+

After Byakuya and Natsume left, Yachiru disappeared to watch Kenpachi and Akuma duke it out, left Ikkaku, Zeph, Yumichika, and Tsubaki standing there. The quad split up, Ikkaku fighting Zeph and Yumichika fighting Tsubaki, the latter of which left to fight elsewhere.

Zephaniah blocked Ikkaku's blade, who then slammed down with his scabbard. Zeph simply caught the thing and tossed the bald man through a wall. Ikkaku emerged from the rubble, barely scratched and continued his assault with another barrage, alternating attacks between his sword and his scabbard. In terms of strength and speed, Zeph had the upper hand.

The second class citizen just side stepped to avoid every blow before kicking him lazily away. Ikkaku landed on his feet and leapt once more to attack. Their swords clashed and Zeph blocked the scabbard, but got a kick in the face from the bald man. While the Squad 3 lieutenant staggered back, Ikkaku struck, finally shedding blood with a horizontal strike at the man's stomach. The guy barely blocked and withstood the downward sword strike.

Ikkaku finally buckled under Zeph's enormous strength, but jumped back before the sword did any major damage. He still had a small cut on his left shoulder. "Extend: Houzukimaru!" The bald man shoved his spear forward. Zeph side stepped and scraped his sword against the spear. "Split apart!" The three sections split, the blade now heading for Zeph's head. The taller man's speed increased suddenly, the blade only shaving off a few hairs. The man's fist connected with Ikkaku's face, sending him flying far away.

"Aw, this was getting good. Oh well." Lieutenant Niter started in the direction of the retreat.

+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+

Yumichika blocked another sword strike, once again acid spraying on his clothes. He jumped back to avoid the snake bite. Tsubaki didn't let up. She swung the oddly patterned blade several times, spraying acid at her opponent. Yumichika blocked or dodged the swings, but the acid was becoming an annoyance. "Hado 31: Shakkaho!" The man fired the red blast at his opponent.

The girl split the kido spell in half with ease. "You want a kido match? I'll give you a kido match. Hado 45: Seishou Yari!" Tsubaki threw the orange spear and followed it up with another sword swing.

Yumichika dodged the spear and blocked the sword, once more the acid spraying on what's left of his top. The snake though, had wrapped itself around the man's body and right arm, and bit him. The girl jumped away. "You better head to Squad 4 for that bite. Sendo Hebi has very potent neurotoxin that she ejects with those fangs. In fact you can probably feel the effects of it now."

Sure enough, Yumichika couldn't move his right arm very well. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get going." Tsubaki put her left hand in front of her face similar to a ninja about to do a jutsu, pointed at him with said hand, and turned that hand like a key. The fifth seat of Squad 11 saw the area distorting and mist covered his opponent. In an instant, everything was back to normal, and she was gone.

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X

Shouta pushed the big boobed woman back and gave her another barrage of swings. Rangiku skillfully blocked and dodged each one before unleashing her shikai. "Growl: Haineko!" A blast of ash came at him.

Shouta jumped on top of a wall, the ash sandblasting the top of his left hand, drawing blood. "Rise like the phoenix: Hitori!" His sword grew a chain with a spear tip on it and was thrown at the woman. As Rangiku dodged it, she got a kick to the face. The ash quickly tried to surround him. The boy moved in time to avoid the predicament.

Rangiku sent more ash to the blue haired boy. Only to have it run into a shroud of flames block it, and continue to consume her. The woman retreated, and turned a corner, the flames running into a wall. However, more flames were on their way. No matter where the woman hid, the guy always seemed to know where she was and hence send the flames.

Shouta grinned as he read her frantic thoughts…

+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+X+X

Rukia parried another sword strike, and attacked with her own blade. Neither one was in shikai. The shorter girl blocked the attack and pushed back, making Rukia stumble back a little, but she fired a kido spell. "Hado 31: Shakkoho!"

"Hado 31: Mari Kouen!" Yuki fired her own kido spell. After the two kido spells collided and exploded, Rukia rushed through the smoke and attempted to cut off Yuki's head. The smaller girl jumped over the other, quickly turned around and tried to split Rukia in half. The black haired girl had turned around and blocked the attack.

The two separated for a brief moment, and then went at it again in a predictable pattern. Dodge or block, counter attack, repeat. The process being interrupted when they decide to throw in kido spells, though the two was even in that field as well…

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X++X+X+X++X+X+X

Vladimir swung the giant sword once more, knocking back both Izuru and Hisagi. He continued to spin so his shield kido would block the snake like shikai Renji had. After spinning, the giant swung once again at Izuru to knock him into Renji. The attack worked, though the giant had stab his sword into the ground as it was getting too heavy for him to use. Vladimir had hit Izuru's shikai five times now. Even with his immense strength, with the sword's weight compounding, it was becoming unwieldy.

Hisagi went in for the attack, swinging to decapitate him. The giant was faster than anyone thought, and punched the man in the jaw. Hisagi went flying, eventually landing on the ground and sliding/rolling for a while, and out cold. Vladimir went back to his sword and grabbed the hilt, though not picking it up. "Raise the dead to life: Ko-Ru Nai." The sword grew a human skull at the bottom of the hilt, and the guard transformed into a skull of some monster.

"Like I'd let you! Bankai: Hiho Zabimaru!" A giant bone snake head like thing with a red mane came at him. Vladimir smirked. This was going to be fun. The snake seemingly consumed both him and the sword. Something broke out from the top of the skull and shattered two segments upon landing.

A minotaur standing eight feet tall, extremely well muscled, and clad with small pieces of armor, namely to cover up certain areas. His horns were easily three to four feet in length. Out of the snake skull came its master. Vladimir didn't have his helmet, revealing his bald head. He also held on to his sword. "Be honored. I don't summon this guy unless I'm having fun or ordered to. Please make the effort worth it, mister bankai user." On cue, the minotaur attacked.

Quickly, Renji brought back all the segments not broken and sent the damaged skull to crush the beast. The creature side stepped and snagged the red mane, halting the weapon's advance. It tossed it aside and jumped. When it landed, it obliterated the skull.

"What the hell?" Renji looked on in horror and surprise at the creature's strength and speed. The thing then dashed at the smaller man.

"Hado 58: Tenran!" A widening tornado exited Izuru's hands. The blast slowed down the beast dramatically, even blowing it away. "This is a losing fight, Renji. Let's grab Hisagi and get out of here!"

"No kidding! Let's go!" Renji's bankai went back to a damaged shikai.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vladimir took a bone leg resembling a dog or wolf's leg and touched it with his sword. The leg lit up in light, went up into the sky and landed in front of the retreating duo. A pair of claws came at the two. While they easily dodged it, their escape route was cut off. A werewolf stood in their way in front, and a minotaur was behind them. Things were not looking good…

+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+

"Hey, do you wanna go trick or treating? You show me some tricks and I'll give you some treats." Samanosuke startled Nanao, who instinctively smacked him with her large book she always kept. The six foot tall man slammed into a wall face first and landed on his back.

The woman was clutching her chest. Then she noticed the uniform. "Y-you're from Hell?"

Samanosuke got up. "Yes I am. But don't let that deter you, my dear, I'm a pretty nice guy when you get to know me. Did I mention I dig chicks with glasses?" He got a kick to the head by Shouta. A semi roughed up Rangiku soon followed.

"Nanao! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I've been trying to find my captain but…"

"He's fighting my most hated rival!" Nickel landed in front of them, on his back. He rolled over and jumped to avoid an ice wave. As the attack connected to the ground, it turned red and several ice spears went up to impale Toshiro. The boy dodged them and clashed blades a little bit before the two disappeared.

"I'm terribly sorry miss. Did our third seat touch you inappropriately or anything?" Shouta stood in front of Nanao and bowed.

"No…"

"Good! Hikumo!" Shouta fired out a shroud of fire at the two girls. "Get back to the line you flirt!" The short man ordered Samanosuke, who reluctantly did as he was told.

+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X++X+X+X++X+X+X++XX

Byakuya was having a hard time. Natsume was so small and fast that the Squad 6 captain had yet to put a scratch on the kid. But he was still fast enough to avoid some of the kid's attacks, only having minor injuries and his clothes being torn a little.

Captain Kuchiki swung again with a horizontal strike. The boy did a back-flip in midair, and still got close to the elder captain to try to chop off his legs. Byakuya did a front flip to cut the boy's head in half and avoid losing his legs. Natsume used shunpo to avoid it, appearing away from the man. He used shunpo again, doing a front flip to strike from above. Upon landing behind Byakuya, he jumped again to slice off the man's head, upside down.

Captain Kuchiki blocked the front flip attack and ducked to avoid decapitation. The man then held up his sword in front of him. "Scatter: Senbonzakura." The sword glowed pink, but before it could separate, red ice enclosed it. Toshiro slammed on the ground, held there by an ice hand. Nickel appeared next Natsume, and retracted the arm. Byakuya shattered the red ice.

"Nickel-nii-chan!" Natsume hugged the older boy.

"Yes, yes, nice to see you're alright too, Natsume. Use your shikai and let's show these punks what we can do."

"Okay! Star bright, star shine, and twinkle: Shuensha!" As Natsume's sword transformed, a pair of monstrous spiritual pressures stopped them. All four looked up to find an orange ball and a black ball of energy colliding with the barrier.

Both of them broke through, the orange one heading straight toward them. The four of them backed off as the mass hit the ground between them, sending out a faint orange aura and smoke in all directions. A spiky haired blonde man with a single scar from one cheek, across his nose, onto the other cheek showed up. He was wearing a one-piece green jumpsuit, the kind maintenance workers stereotypically wore. He also looked like to have a gorilla's mask on the back of his head and brown eyes. His hands were in his pockets.

"Well, well, who do I have to play with? A trio of brats and a single full grown man? All four of you don't look all that strong, but then again, neither did Rui. Show me whatcha got." The man showed his hands and grinned. On his hands were metallic gloves with an orange jewel in the center, lined with silver. On the end of each finger was a small claw.

+X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X++X+X+XX+

The pose off was still going on when the massive spiritual pressures arrived. The black one landed in between the two ladies doing the posing. A pair of massive shuriken exited the smoke. The four captains used shunpo to disappear while the shuriken split anyone and everyone in half.

The four appeared opposite each other in a different section. A woman with a respectable figure had used sonido to appear between them. She had black hair tied in a pony tail, half her face covered by a stereotypical ninja mask, while she wore a stereotypical ninja girl outfit. In each hand was a massive shuriken the size of a decent computer desk with a handle in the center of the hole. She had crystal clear eyes and was just as tall as Yoruichi.

"Three women and a single man. This is great. Let's enjoy ourselves, shall we?" The woman spoke playfully and smiled.

+X+X++X+X+X+X++X+X+X+X+X+X+X++X+X+X

Plan for next two chapters: finishing up on this arc and then a break from fights where meaningful conversations happen and other stuff, namely Cielo's talk with Rui and Nickel's conversation with his old man again. If I get to those chapters. I have a big report, not a very hard one or long compared to others I've done, due the first day of next month. It'll still bog me down some though because I'm a procrastinator.

Cielo's fight would have been redundant if I went any farther, it was also timed much later than the others, but hopefully it gave you an approximate timetable. As would some of the others be. I thought this arc was going to be longer, but apparently not.