A/N: Thank you to The Great Pineapple MEKI, MegaTank, Thunder Claw03, nexuswarrior, war90, Turtle-chan in Blue, Guibin, thedarkscareslittlekids, DigiPal, Ryos, Nathan J Xaxson, Revolation, oOoHKoOo, and Casey for reviewing last chapter. Since many people asked for its definition, Momo's Bankai, Kogo Fushicho Tobiume, translates too "Empress Phoenix Tobiume" though a reviewer pointed out that in Japanese, it more accurately would mean Crying Phoenix Tobiume (Empress Phoenix Tobiume would begin with Kougou rather than Kogo). Either way is fine with me. Also, sorry that this chapter is so short; I intended to make it about twice its current length but I have some important work to do and didn't want to make you wait much longer for the story, so I decided to just post a shorter chapter than originally planned. Read and review!

Hinamori's Apprentice

Chapter 34

The brilliant scarlet-gold feathers seemed to glitter in the sunlight as Momo stood in her Bankai state for the first time. For a moment, all was still. Even the monstrosity pursuing them seemed too stunned to move. Then, a scarlet glow began emanating from the wings that now extended from Momo's back, and she clasped her hands together while turning to the enemy.

"Bakudo 63, Sajo Sabaku! Hado 78, Onitatsumaki Kanan! Bakudo 56, Kakusui Sekkan!" she said loudly. Glowing yellow chains appeared and and wrapped tightly around the creature. Before it had a chance to struggle, a massive fire whirl formed around it, the heat so intense that the others had to face away from it. Finally, rocky spires jutted out of the ground, forming the shape of a pyramid of sorts in which the fire still raged around the creature.

Momo panted, causing Izuru to go to help her, but she abruptly put her hand up, indicating that she wanted him to stay where he was.

"You still have your own enemy to face," she said, pointing at the group of warriors that still held their weapons menacingly.

"What about you?" Izuru asked. Momo looked over at the stone pyramid, the fire glowing from within.

"I don't think we've beaten this guy yet. Leave him to me and take those other things," she said.

Rangiku looked at her worriedly. "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry, I can take him," Momo said with a small smile, "Kido has always been my strongest skill. My only weakness was that I didn't have enough reiatsu to use spells at maximum power… but now I do. These wings, somehow they're generating reiatsu for me to use in my Kido spells. I'm not quite sure… just focus on your enemy for now and we'll worry about the details later. Oh, and Karin, could you come over here for a moment?"

Karin nudged Rangiku, reminding her that she didn't need to carry her anymore and could let her down. After getting down, she walked over to Momo. "What is it?"

"Bakudo 26, Hakogarasu," she said. Karin blinked in surprise as she was suddenly surrounded by a clear, glass-like barrier.

"Hey!" she said indignantly.

"Sorry Karin, but things are going to get intense now, and I can't let you get caught up in it," Momo said, looking ahead at the stone pyramid entrapping her enemy, "Rangiku, Izuru, you'd better engage those warriors before they have a chance to take you by surprise."

"Oh, right. Raise your head, Wabisuke!"

"Growl, Haineko!"

Rangiku and Izuru released their Shikai and ran forward to combat the strange warriors. As they did this, a crack formed in the side of the stone pyramid, and moments later the monstrous creature burst out, letting out an angry screech and brandishing its swords menacingly. It charged at Momo, who at that moment flapped her newly acquired wings to lift herself off the ground.

"Hado 31, Shakkaho! Bakudo 62, Hyapporankan!"

A large red ball of energy formed in Momo's hand. A split second later, it elongated into a glowing rod, which Momo threw like a spear at her enemy. It split into more rods as it flew through the air. When they hit the ground, they exploded in an impressive fasion. Momo took a deep breath. It was difficult managing so much more power than she was used to, but it undeniably enhanced her Kido. Her greatest strength was her ability to manipulate reiatsu, which compensated for her comparatively small amount of it. By using her reiatsu skillfully and efficiently, she was able to use her Vice-Captain level reiatsu to perform Captain-level Kido.

Now however it seemed she had gained the power that she had lacked before. These wings of her's were creating new reiatsu at levels far beyond what Momo was used to. She didn't undestand how, but she did know that this was ideal for her, as it meant that she was able to use her expert Kido manipulation on an even larger scale.

She watched as the creature emerged from the smoke and lunged at her. She stretched her wings and flew into the air, pointing her finger at it. "Hado 4, Byakurai!"

A huge blast of lightning emerged from her finger, far stronger than the spell normally was. Instead of the narrow concentrated blast of lightning, it sent large arcs of energy all over the place as it knocked the beast back. Momo quickly looked down worriedly, and was relieved to see that she had not accidentally hurt Karin or the others. She was using much more power than usual, making it difficult to control. She had to be careful, as she was nowhere near mastering control of her Bankai. She would need to use it carefully to ensure that she did not cause excessive damage.

She saw that the creature was getting up again, and this time decided to use a less potent spell. She raised her hand to do a Hado 1 spell, but to her surprise it went off without her even saying a word, throwing the beast back. She had been able to do low-level spells without speaking before, but it always took concentration and never this easily. As she thought about this, she suddenly felt a sharp pain all over her body, and in surprise she let go of her concentration, making her fall from the sky.

Momo just managed to land on her feet, taking a deep breath to steady herself. This power was new to her; it strained her greatly to wield such power. She would have to finish this quickly.

As she was thinking this, she had failed to notice that the beast had come to attack again, only realizing this when she saw it mere meters away with its sword drawn. Cursing herself for losing focus, she instinctively raised her hands defensively, knowing it was too late to do anything.

There was a sudden hot, burning feeling on her hands, followed by a large explosion in front of her that blew the monstrosity away, knocking Momo back a few feet as well. Momo looked down at her hands in shock, realizing that the gems on the palms of her hands were glowing a bright orange. A smile crossed her face as she realized what she could now do.

As the creature got to its feet, Momo raised her hands with palms facing outwards before it could attack. Trying to do the same thing she did with her Shikai, she focused her reiatsu into the gems on her hands.

There was a burning sensation, and then intense yellow beams of light shot from her hands. The creature managed to avoid a direct hit, but when the beam hit the building behind it, there was a massive explosion. Momo winced at the huge blast, looking back to make sure the others were alright, and was again relieved to see that Izuru and Rangiku and nearly finished defeating the warriors and that Karin was still safely behind her barrier. Momo looked down at her hands, seeing that the palms were burned from her own attack. This power was terrifying. She had to be extremely careful. As the creature began to move again, she unleashed another blast of energy. This time however, the creature knew what was coming and quickly ran out of the way, resulting in the attack impacting with another building. The intense heat melted the stone walls and ignited everything flammable within the structure as it collapsed. Momo fired another blast, but again missed, hitting only the ground. The creature was still alive and strong, not at all fazed by the massive explosions. It made a dash for Karin, forcing Momo to release another blast from her hands at the ground in front of the creature.

The blast shook the earth, and large fissures appeared in the stone street. The creature retreated as large chunks of street began falling out from beneath it. Momo was confused for a moment, but then noticed flowing water in the gap beneath the street and remembered the spacious underground sewers beneath Seireitei. Thinking quickly, she unleashed yet another pair of energy blasts on both sides of the street around the creature. The street caved in, taking the beast with it. As it fell, Momo shot one final pair of energy blasts.

Momo didn't see whether the beams hit or not, as the explosion caused the water in the sewers to instantaneously turn to steam, sending clouds of vapor up and obscuring her view. Momo watched tensely, looking for any sign of movement. It seemed for a moment that it had worked, but just as she began to let her guard down there a blurred movement caught her eye, and the next thing she knew the creature was in the air beside her, its swords drawn and prepared to strike. It was too late to release an energy blast, and Momo instinctively used the first technique that came to mind.

"Tenra!" she yelled.

The instant she said this, there was a strange pulse that made time seem to slow down. Then, Momo let out a scream, staring in horror as a tiny ball of distorted space flashed and fizzled out in the place where her left arm had been moments before. She instinctively grabbed at the ragged stump with her other arm, trying to stop the bleeding, only realizing too late that she was still under attack from the beast. With a slash of its scimitar, the creature cut the left wing of Momo's Bankai in two, half of it falling to the ground.

The pain was just as bad as when she had lost her arm, and she was unable to remain airborne. Momo fell to the ground, the creature landing on its feet in the same instance. Before it could make a move however, Rangiku and Izuru appeared in front of her, swords drawn.

"Hang on, Momo," Izuru said.

"Rangiku… Izuru… Run," Momo said weakly, "Take Karin and run."

"We're not leaving you here," Rangiku said.

"You-you can't fight this thing! You'll just get killed too! Please, I'm begging you, run!" Momo gasped, tears streaming down her face both from pain and fear. Neither Rangiku nor Izuru moved, remaining where they were as they faced the beast.

Before they or the creature could make a move however, two new voices broke the silence.

"Bankai! Hihio Zabimaru!"

"Bankai, Fukisarashi Kazeshini!"

Renji Abarai and Shuuhei Hisagi appeared on either side of the creature, their Bankai activated, Renji's in the form of a massive skeletal snake, and Hisagi's in the form of a large scythe with a jagged upper blade and a sharpened bottom end.

"You two get Momo and Karin out of here," Hisagi said.

"We'll take it from here," Renji added, glaring at the monstrous thing.