Disclaimer: I don't own the anime series Bleach, only the OC's belong me
Chapter 34
Fall
"Tyran, the Cero Espada, and you are-"
"Kuroda Ryou, Commander of the Black Ops division"
"Yes, yes, I've waited a long time to finally meet you, why don't we have some fun?"
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Mei and the other two female Arrancar appeared up in the sky above the town a good distance away from Kuroda and Tyran so as to not get in their way. The young shinigami took this time to take a good look and her opponents, across from her, the two were most likely doing the same thing.
It was two against one, Mei didn't like those odds, she hoped that one of the other Shinigami might come to her aid but for the moment she had to assume that she was on her own. Judging from their reiatsu, these two weren't exactly pushovers either.
A smirk found its way on to her lips.
'Good,' she thought, 'I can finally show off everything that I've been taught.'
"Hey!' called one of the Arrancar, bringing Mei out of her musings, "what are you so happy about over there? Don't you realize you're out matched?"
Mei's smirk widened a little, "is that so? I apologize, I didn't realize. I'm just happy that I finally get to show my father everything that I've learned."
"You're father? You mean that guy back there with Lord Tyran?" asked the blue one,
"Yeah, that's him,"
"You're a foolish little girl," mocked the red one, "Lord Tyran will tear him apart"
"I don't know, my Dad is pretty strong. But enough talking, I'd rather get this fight over with quickly. I have school tomorrow and need my rest," Mei slowly slid her zanpaktou, a wakizashi on her back, out of its sheath and brought it up in a reverse grip.
The Arrancar similarly brought out their own weapons, the blue one held what looked to be a whip that crackled with electricity, the red one held what looked to be a sword that almost immediately lit itself on fire.
"What's your name?"
"Shinigami?"
"Mei Ryou, 3rd seat of the 8th division"
"We are Yin" said the blue one
"and Yang" said the red one,
"loyal fraccion of the Cero Espada Lord Tyran!"
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"Now, how should I kill you?" the Arrancar asked sardonically,
Ichigo narrowed his eyes. He had arrived at Chad's apartment just in time to save his friend from being killed. Knowing that Chad was out of his league in this battle, Ichigo had sent his friend away so that he could deal with this Arrancar.
He knew that Chad's pride was most likely hurt and that in turn hurt Ichigo, but it was for the best in the end.
The Substitute Shinigami pulled off the bandage around his head and readied Zangetsu. He sensed a presence behind him.
"Rukia?"
She grunted in confirmation, "I met Chad on the way here, what did you say to him?"
"Nothing, I just told him to stay back and let me handle this," he replied, Rukia sighed.
"Are you two done talking?" asked the Arrancar, "if you are, I'd like to get around to the part where I kill both of you."
Ichigo glared daggers at the Arrancar, he reached out with his senses to see just how strong this Arrancar was. When he found out his eyes narrowed even more.
Without hesitation, he unexpectedly sunk Zangetsu into the pavement beneath his feet. Both the Arrancar and Rukia were caught off guard and looked at him questioningly.
"What are you doing?" asked the Arrancar, "even if you're nothing more than I fly to me, I still want you to fight before I kill you."
"I'm ready," replied Ichigo, "it's your move."
The Arrancar glared suspiciously at him,
"Ichigo, you idiot! What are you doing?!"
"Pipe down," he called back, "I know what I'm doing."
"You cocky little…" the Arrancar burst towards him with the same hand he'd used on Chad, ready to plunge into his chest.
Ichigo simply stood there. Then, when it looked as if the attack would end him, he moved his own hand with blazing speed and caught it mere inches away from his chest. The Arrancar was at first stunned, but that quickly changed to pain when Ichigo brought his knee up into the Arrancar's stomach, then followed up with a strong punch to the Arrancar's jaw.
The Substitute struck with such force, that his opponent went tumbling away through the street to the point where he almost couldn't see him anymore.
But the Arrancar, despite being badly beaten, somehow managed to pull himself out from the rubble.
"Why, you, little-"
"D-Roy!" yelled a new voice,
Ichigo and Rukia immediately felt the newcomer's presence, for whoever it was carried with them a massive amount of reiatsu. Stronger than the one Ichigo had just fought and much stronger than the one he had fought only a few days ago.
"Stand down," said the voice, "I want this one."
They spotted the new Arrancar floating above them in the air, looking down at them with a sadistic look in his eye. Rukia swallowed, hard, this Arrancar was clearly on the level of a Captain.
"Pleasure to meet you Shinigami," drawled the Blue haired Arrancar, "I'm the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow."
The Arrancar kept looking down at them and they kept looking back. Their stand off was interrupted, when D-roy suddenly reappeared, "Grimmjow! This is my fight! Back-"
The Espada's reiatsu came slamming down on them, both D-Roy and Rukia buckled under its pure weight. Ichigo on the other hand, stood strong and defiant against the torrent. Instead of kneeling, he grabbed Zangetsu out from the ground and leapt up to the Arrancar's level.
The Espada noticed this and discontinued his show of power, he stared at the Shinigami now floating in the air with him.
"D-Roy!" he yelled as he kept his eyes on his new opponent, "I'm taking this one, you have fun with the other, but if you ever talk back to me again. I'll tear your head off."
"Yes, Grimmjow," muttered D-Roy, defeated without so much as a fight.
"Good," smiled Grimmjow,
"If we're going to fight," said Ichigo, speaking for the first time, "then I'd prefer it to be away from here."
Grimmjow kept smiling, "Is that so? I don't know, if you're not strong enough to even scratch me then it shouldn't really matter since you'll just die right a-"
Ichigo was suddenly right in front of Grimmjow, Zangetsu raised for a high blow. The Espada's shock blue eyes widened and quickly threw up his arms to block. The over sized weapon slammed down heavily upon Grimmjow's defense, for a brief moment, the two were tangled in a struggle for dominance.
Underneath his arms, Grimmjow smiled widely. He liked this kid's spirit!
"Stop smiling," Ichigo whispered in a dangerous tone, "or you'll lose your arms."
Grimmjow's smile quickly faded as he realized that the blade of the weapon was gradually digging through his hierro and was now cutting through his skin. The Espada quickly broke the lock and used sonido to back away.
Grimmjow looked down upon his arms, which both bore a small cut.
"Well what do you know?" the Espada smiled again, "alright Shinigami, we'll take this some place else. Follow me."
Grimmjow disappeared in a buzz of sonido, Ichigo quickly followed in a flash of Shunpo.
"Wait Ichigo!" called Rukia, but he was already gone,
"Don't you ignore me!"
Rukia turned just in time to see D-Roy lashing out at her with his katana, she quickly jumped out of reach and swallowed her gikon. She popped out of her gigai and into her Shinigami form, quickly drawing her zanpaktou.
She would have to worry about Ichigo later, right now she had her own problems.
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After what the Arrancar had said, Kuroda took a moment to simply stare at him.
"Have fun?"
"Yeah, you know, fight," explained Tyran, "I'm real excited about this to be honest,"
Kuroda stared back emotionlessly though he was a bit confused, perhaps this Arrancar was simply like Kenpachi. Another one who just liked fighting.
The Arrancar suddenly slapped his own forehead, "Ah! Right, you don't know, that's why you're not excited too."
"Know what?" asked Kuroda, whose patience was starting to thin.
"You don't know, that you and I, are just like each other," answered Tyran,
Kuroda cocked an eyebrow.
"Don't you know? We've both killed many enemies,"
"I thought that was natural for hollow, didn't you devour others so that you could attain the power you now have?"
"Oh I did, but I didn't mean just enemies," said Tyran, "I also meant, about the others who we've killed."
Now Kuroda was intrigued, but not in a good way. He was fully aware that Aizen probably had access to most of his records and that he would probably share it with his allies in order for them to gain some sort of upper hand. But exactly what he'd told this Arrancar was a mystery to him, the Arrancar seemed to catch on to that.
"Still confused huh? Well let me tell you a little story to make you understand," decided Tyran,
"before I became an Arrancar, I was a vasto lorde. The highest level of Menos that any hollow could ever hope to achieve, but I did not use my power to find more to satiate my hunger, nor did I use it to rule over those that were weaker than me. No, I used my power to gather all those that were weak and I took them under my wing and protected them."
Kuroda furrowed his eyebrows,
"Strange, right? I was good at it too, I gathered hundreds of other hollows. With my power alone, I kept the peace among them. I was an all seeing pair of eyes that watched over them. I turned them into a community. But then, one of ours committed a crime against another, an unforgiveable crime. I had to punish him the only way a hollow can be truly punished, I killed him."
"At first, I was devastated. I had worked so hard to create this community, so hard to get my kin to work with one another. But then, I found something else. I found, excitement, I found myself thrilled! I found myself just wanting more! I felt better than I ever had, watching over those hollow like a shepherd does over his flock of sheep! I devoured all of them and haven't regretted it since."
By now, Kuroda was beginning to catch on to what this Arrancar, Tyran, was getting. They were both…
"We're the same, you and I. We both have proudly bestowed ourselves the name, kin-slayer!"
Kuroda wasn't there anymore, he wasn't in the sky, standing calmly across from Tyran. He wasn't there at all, in fact, all that was left there was one leather seal.
Tyran's eyes widened, his katana was up in an instant. A fraction of a second later, another blade, this one red and glowing with power, slammed into it. The amount of power in conflict was enough to shake the mountain and cause stones to tumble loose.
Kuroda glared into Tyran's eyes with every fiber of hate he had.
"Don't you dare call me that!" he growled,
Tyran smiled back, "Now that's what I'm talking about! Show me my brother! Show me the power that you have attained from slaughtering your own! Show me the power that only those like us could ever possibly possese!"
Suddenly, Tyran wasn't there either. Kuroda's hate faltered for a brief moment as he realized his target was no longer under his blade.
"Show me!"
Kuroda whipped around and there was Tyran, holding a dark purple cero right up to his face.
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The bright purple explosion, that was so far away, felt so very close to the three combatants. Mei felt a small pit of fear grow in her stomach as she witnessed the power that her father was contending with.
Yin and Yang however, smirked with confidence.
"Looks like it's started," said Yin, "by now your father is probably-"
The Arrancar's sentence was interrupted when a pair of sandaled feet slammed into the side of her face, sending her tumbling through the air.
"Yin!" cried out her sister,
Mei moved swiftly, lashing out with her zanpaktou. Yang quickly raised her own sword and deflected the attack, but as Mei's attack followed through after the strike, she flipped her weapon into a regular grip and came right back with a second attack.
Yang did not expect a second strike so quickly and as such her weapon, though it blocked the attack, was pushed aside. Mei took advantage of the opening, spun herself on her heel and lashed out with a kick that caught the Arrancar on the side of the head.
Her opponent tumbled across solid air and came to a stop a few meters away.
"little bitch," muttered Yang, wiping her mouth,
Mei began to move in to follow up, but was suddenly cut off by a stream of electricity. When the electricity cleared, Yang was already up and charging with her fiery blade. Mei raised her wakazashi to block but found it restrained, she traced the source to a whip, held by the other Arrancar.
"Die", electricity coursed up her whip towards Mei, the young shinigami realized what was happening and quickly released her weapon. By then, Yang was upon her.
Mei threw herself back as the Arrancar descended upon her, as she did she shot out her hand and grabbed Yang by the wrist. Together they fell, but Mei kicked her feet into Yang's stomach and tossed her away.
She then grabbed her Zanpaktou and yanked it free of Yin's whip. The Arrancar pulled her weapon back then cracked it at the shinigami. A bolt of lightning struck out at Mei, who promptly rolled to the side to avoid.
"Hado no.31: Shakkaho!"
A red ball of energy shot out from Mei's outstretched hand towards the Arrancar, but her opponent flicked her wrist and the whip sliced the ball in half.
However, Mei wasn't trying to harm the Ying. No, if she had been she would've put much more power into the attack. Ying no longer had sight of her, which is why when Mei burst out from the smoke, the Arrancar was in great surpise.
She might have died, if Mei wasn't abruptly interrupted by a solid kick to her own face.
Mei tumbled across the air but quickly righted herself. Before she could retaliate, a giant ball of fire rolled itself towards her, she quickly dropped herself down and avoided the attack, only to be struck by lightning.
Mei's teeth ground against each other as the energy coursed through her veins. When it ended, she felt like some of her life had been sucked right out of her.
"Done yet?" asked one of the twins,
Mei promptly stood up and replied, "not even close"
With a flash of Shunpo, she disappeared. The twins didn't expect her to be so fast, especially after being hit. She reappeared behind them, weapon already striking out with a wide swing.
The twin Arrancar quickly jumped away in opposite directions.
Mei tossed her zanpaktou into the air, then stretched out her palms at both opponents.
"Hado no.33: Sokatsui!"
From both palms, bright blue fire burst out towards the Arrancar. Yin lashed out with her whip and countered with a ball of lighting, Yang swung her fiery blade and countering with a ball of fire. The attacks collided and canceled each other out in twin explosions that enveloped both Yin and Yang in thick clouds of smoke.
"Is that the best you've got?" mocked Yang, no sooner had she finished when she saw a small glint of metal heading right towards her.
She quickly raised her weapon and blocked the incoming attack, she saw another glint coming and smacked it away. Strangely enough in neither of those attacks had she seen the shinigami. Her thoughts were interrupted by another glint, she swiped at it, smacking…something out of the air. Suddenly she saw another glint, this one was too fast, pain lanced up her thigh as something struck through her flesh.
She griminced then yanked out the offending object from her flesh. She held it up to her eyes to find some sort of small throwing dagger.
Yin was searching through the smoke to find the Shinigami, she saw a cloud of dust part as something moved through it.
"I've got you now," she cracked her whip at the target, her weapon struck something and she smiled. But the smile vanished when her whip began pulling back on her, the smoke parted and she saw that it was in fact her that was caught.
She had indeed seen the shinigami, but her whip was now caught in some sort of chain made of golden light.
"Bakudo no.63: Sajo Sabaku"
Mei wrapped the chain around her hand then quickly jerked it towards her, Yang was in turn pulled towards the Shinigami and her awaiting zanpaktou.
The young shinigami swung out to decapitate her opponent, but at the last moment Yang threw back her head, allowing the blade to miss her by centimeters. The Arrancar then spun herself and threw out her elbow. The strike connected with Mei's temple, staggering the young warrior.
But she fought through the pain and retaliated with a downward chop, Yang brought up her whip, stretching it out with both hands and blocked the attack.
By now the golden chain had broken, leaving Mei's left hand free. Using the Arrancar's whip as a sort of balance beam, she flipped herself over her opponent's head, landing behind them. Before Yang could try anything, Mei snaked her free hand around the Arrancar's neck, bringing her into a chokehold.
Yang saw the glint of the girl's zanpaktou, ready to be plunged into her heart.
"Die knowing that Mei Ryou sent you down to hell"
Down came the wakazashi
Suddenly, Yang began to glow a bright blue. Mei halted her killing blow, immediately she released her opponent and leapt away. Unexpectedly, the Arrancar's form began to change, shrinking and dividing until she became two balls of lightning.
"What the-"
The two balls of lightning suddenly raced towards her, spinning around one another like a pair of bolos. Mei tried to leap away to avoid, but found that the Arrancar's new form was simply too fast. They struck her head on, sending her spinning away.
Before she could recover, Yin joined the fray, dropping down on her with both feet. The kick collided with Mei's back, sending her spiraling towards the ground.
Yin transformed back into her previous form and nodded to her twin. With a crack of her whip she sent a pair of electric bolos, similar to her previous from, racing towards the falling shinigami. Yang then swung her sword, letting loose a stream of fire that enveloped the electric bolos.
The two attacks morphed and fused into one massive electrically charged ball of flame, headed right towards Mei.
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Grimmjow leapt forward with his now drawn katana slashing out while his face held a blood thirsty grin. Ichigo brought up Zangetsu and blocked the attack, halting Grimmjow's offensive, then retaliating with a swipe of his own. Grimmjow easily avoided it, then came back with a downward chop.
Instead of blocking this time, Ichigo sidestepped the strike, spun himself a full 360 while bringing Zangetsu down and up. At the end of the maneuver, he was positioned to bring Zangetsu down on Grimmjow's neck, and that's just what he did.
But Grimmjow threw up his free arm, relying on his hierro to protect him for a few precious seconds before escaping with a thin yet moderately deep wound on his forearm.
He looked down at his newly acquired wound, the kid was gradually getting more focused, which meant that he couldn't keep relying on his hierro, otherwise he might end up losing a limb.
Turning his attention back to the fight, Grimmjow used sonido to dash forward then bring his zanpaktou down in a powerful chop. Ichigo blocked with the flat of Zangetsu, there Grimmjow saw his chance. He raised up his foot, placed it on the flat of the enormous blade, then kicked off with all his strength.
Ichigo was sent skidding backward,
"Ha!" chuckled Grimmjow, he dashed forward after his opponent but was suddenly forced to retreat when Ichigo's weapon came hurdling towards him like a spear. Grimmjow stopped himself just in time, the blade halted inches from his chest then was pulled back.
The Sexta Espada saw that the Substitute was using the wrapping cloth of the blade to pull it back. Well, if long range was the name of the game, then he could play too.
He stretched out his left palm and began to build up his reiatsu, almost immediately an orange sized ball of red energy formed in his hand. Grimmjow unleashed his cero and let it engulf his opponent.
Ichigo saw the red light coming at him and quickly used Shunpo to save his life from the undoubtedly fatal attack. But when he reappeared, there was Grimmjow.
The Espada's blade slipped into Ichigo's ribs, the substitute yelped in pain. But he ground his teeth and fought through it, he took this opportunity to slam Zangetsu down on Grimmjow's shoulder. The blade bit through the Arrancar's hierro and into his flesh but did not create a major wound, at least, not yet.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
Zangetsu's swing was suddenly magnified a hundred times over. Grimmjow's eyes widned and his mouth let loose a roar as pain rocketed through his shoulder and was blasted away by a reiatsu blade. Now he was pissed!
He used sonido to reposition himself back above Ichigo, ignoring his gaping wound, he began mercilessly slamming his zanpaktou against Ichigo's defense, endlessly unleashing his fury upon the boy until finally Ichigo was tossed into the ground where he smashed four feet into the concrete and created a sizeable crater.
Grimmjow didn't even give the substitute time to recover, he dove down feet first with the intent to drive his shoes through the boy's stomach.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
The Espada quickly halted his descent and brought his zanpaktou up just in time to defend from the blade of reiatsu that slammed into him. It was a powerful attack but Grimmjow knew he would have little trouble surviving.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
Another blade of reiatsu slammed in behind the first one, creating a dog pile effect, causing Grimmjow to find himself in an intense struggle.
The two attacks finally dissipated, only to be replaced by Ichigo charging up to swing Zangetsu in a wide arc. Grimmjow quickly threw himself back, allowing the swing to pass him by, then shuffled forward and delivered a powerful backhand to Ichigo's face.
The substitute was literally sent spinning from the Arrancar's superior strength until he was halted by crashing into a building.
For a long moment, Ichigo simply lay limply in the crater he'd created in the building wall.
"What's the matter?" mocked Grimmjow, "I was just starting to have fun, don't tell me you're going to give up already."
Hearing those words, Ichigo pushed himself up, "in your dreams."
The Sexta Espada smirked,
Ichigo's response was to raise Zangetsu and yell,
"Ban-kai!"
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The dark purple light of Tyran's cero eventually died down, when it did, it smelled as though Tyran had cleansed the air itself. But more importantly, Tyran could find no trace of the man that had been in front of him a few seconds ago.
"Did I kill him?" the Espada asked aloud,
"You're wide open,"
Tyran saw a flash of red, his own zanpaktou quickly shot up.
Kuroda's blade, AnShen, had been stopped just inches away from Tyran's neck. The Espada's eyes traced along the blood red blade and found its owner standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
"Heh" chuckled Tyran, he noticed the menacing glare in his opponent's eyes, "you wanna kill me?"
Without warning, Kuroda broke the lock between them, spun himself a full 360 degrees while simultaneously jumping into the air. He then raised AnShen up above his head and brought it down in an overhead smash.
Tyran's own blade was immediately there, blocking the attack with little effort.
The struggled against each other for a brief moment until Kuroda broke off and used Shunpo to put some distance between them. He raised up AnShen, building up power in its blade,
"Shibou Ryou!"
Kuroda let loose the missile with a single stroke, it raced towards the stationary Arrancar who made no move to try and avoid it. Instead, he took the attack head on, literally. He slammed his head right into the missile, grinning the whole time.
The missile detonated against the Espada's head, but didn't even leave a scratch.
"Ha! That all you-"
Kuroda came bursting out of the smoke and delivered a vicious kick to the Espada's jaw. Tyran's head whipped back and he staggered back. He gave a small shake of his head, then rubbed his jaw.
"Hmm," without warning he stretched out his hand and fired a cero,
Kuroda quickly jumped out of the way only to be confronted with another cero, when he dodged that, he was confronted with another. A fourth one was fired at him and he used Shunpo to get out of the way. When he reappeared, a fifth one was already upon him.
There was no way to dodge, he quickly threw up AnShen and let it collide into the blade. He dug his heels into the air and attempted to direct it away, but in the end the beam began to slowly push him back and it pressed in on him with such force that he couldn't have even moved his arms if he tried.
When he realized that it would soon overwhelm him, Kuroda quickly threw himself backwards and letting the attack fly over him. When he realigned himself back up, he was confronted with Tyran already in front of him.
"When I first met you, you managed to take on one of my ceros and push it away, something happen since then?"
Kuroda didn't respond, instead opting to Shunpo forward and swing his sword at the Arrancar. Tyran quickly side stepped, Kuroda swung again but Tyran easily avoided it. Kuroda attempted a downward chop but Tyran simply leapt out of arms reach.
The Black Ops Commander ground his teeth and swung his sword in a wide arc,
"Shino Kabe!"
A wall of tortured souls was unleashed upon the Cero Espada, as its wailing power converged upon him, he simply stood there staring blankly as though in some other world. When he finally noticed the wave, he swung his zanpaktou, easily cutting through the attack.
When the dark wave dissipated, Kuroda was nowhere to be seen. Tyran quirked his head quizzically, for though he did not see the shinigami, he could not sense him, which should have been something relatively easy to do.
It was only at the last moment that Tyran did sense the Black Operative's signature, right behind. He quickly spun around, swinging his sword as he went. Then the strangest thing happened, his sword was caught! Not by a weapon, but by a hand. Kuroda's hand, or more specifically, Kuroda's hand wrapped in some sort of energy.
Without warning, Kuroda thrust AnShen forward into Tyran's chest and-
AnShen stopped, the blade had sliced through the Espada's shirt, but stopped when it hit flesh. It felt as though Kuroda had stabbed his weapon into a solid brick wall.
His eyes widened with realization, he couldn't cut his opponent.
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Mei tumbled through the air as she suffered yet another blow from the twin Arrancar. She quickly recovered, only to see a fiery blade descending upon her.
She raised her weapon and deflected the attack to the right and lashed out with her free hand, catching the red twin on the jaw. She was about to follow with a kick when she was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning.
The bolt sent her skidding and caused her body to involuntarily spasm. When she recovered, Yin was already cracking her whip. The Arrancar's weapon wrapped itself around Mei's wakazashi, the young shinigami knew what was coming and immediately released her grip.
Unfortunately, instead of sending a current of electricity down the whip like Mei expected the Arrancar to do, Yin jerked back on her whip, bringing Mei's weapon to her hand.
Weaponless, but not helpless, Mei dashed right for the Arrancar. She was cut off when Yang popped up in her path and sent a large fireball right for her.
The shinigami stretched out both her palms,
"Hado no.33 Sokatsui!"
Blue fire blasted out of her outstretched hands and collided with the red twin's fireball. The two attacks canceled each other out in a powerful explosion and a gust of stinging smoke.
Yang scattered the smoke with another fireball, Mei promptly spun out of the way and flew right up to the red twin. She lashed out with two punches, both of which the Arrancar dodged, then followed up with a move she'd learned from a video game, called the "thousand kicks".
A barrage of incredibly fast and powerful kicks slammed into Yang, while she managed to dodge the first few she was eventually hit and after that could not stop being hit. Mei followed with a round house kick, but was interrupted when she saw a glint of metal in the corner of her eye.
She abandoned her attack and turned her attention to the object flying toward her, the object turned out to be her zanpaktou. Mei caught it out of the air, preventing it from killing her, only to be put on the defense by Yin's whip.
The blue twin let loose a volley of lightning that Mei dodged with swift acrobatic skill. The Arrancar cracked her whip again, catching Mei by the wrist. She then used her weapon to pull the shinigami in and deliver a knee to the stomach, followed by a shove right into her sister's fist.
"Damn," muttered Mei as she wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth,
"What's the matter Shinigami?" asked Yang sardonically,
"Are we too much for you?" asked Yin in an equally sardonic tone,
Mei did a very unlady like thing and flipped them the bird.
"Little bitch, we'll see how you handle this!" Yang swung her sword and launched another fireball, followed by Ying who launched twin balls of lightning.
The two attacks fused into one and headed straight for Mei.
The young shinigami's eye's widened, no way she would be able to escape that. It was too big and coming in too quickly. But even as the attack closed in on her, Mei suddenly felt something zip through her senses. A fluctuation of reiatsu, familiar reiatsu.
"Dad?"
"Do you feel that shinigami?" called Yang from a top,
"Go to your grave, knowing that the one you call father is dead!" delivered Yin,
When no response came, they knew that their opponent was gone. But as they turned to return to their master, they felt a small glimmer of life.
"Spin: Amimono no naifu"
A moment later, the massive electrically charged fireball exploded into hundreds upon hundreds of tiny cinders, covering the air like the aftermath of a firework. In the middle of the fiery rain, stood Mei.
"She survived? How?" asked Yin,
"You felt the increase in her reiatsu didn't you? She must have released her zanpaktou," replied Yang, "but I don't see it."
"It doesn't matter, we'll still crush her!"
All of a sudden, a dozen dark portals opened themselves around the twin Arrancar. From out of these portals, the monstrous beasts known as hollows appeared, their mouths salivating for a meal.
"Get her!" the twins commanded,
With a terrifying roar the beasts charged, intent on devouring the young girl to satiate their unending hunter. But Mei's face remained as emotionless as it had the entire battle, she stood before the tide and did not flinch.
Instead, she simply raised her left hand and gave a small flick of her wrist.
Almost immediately, half of the hollows came to an abrupt halt, their hunger induced charge impeded by some invisible force. Mei raised her other hand and performed the same gesture, the second half of the hollows stopped.
"What? What's going on?" asked Yin,
"why did they stop?" asked her sister,
As if to answer, Mei crossed her out stretched arms over chest, the moment she did every single hollow burst into a dozen bloody bits of gore.
Mei then turned her attention to her two original opponents.
The twin Arrancar stared at the young shinigami girl with the smallest hint of fear in their eyes. It was only then that they noticed the long and incredibly thin glints running off each of the girl's fingers like strings.
Without warning, Mei's right hand shot out. The glimmering strings followed, shooting out towards the Arrancar duo. The two immediately dodged to opposite sides in order to escape the deadly cascade.
Mei was there in a heartbeat, with the twins separated she could pick one to go after. She opted to go after Yin, as she advanced, her compliant strings stayed as a barrier between the twins.
When she was within range the young shinigami spun herself in a twirling motion while stretching out her left hand, creating a tornado of razor sharp wire.
The deadly glimmers closed in on the blue Arrancar, knowing she wouldn't be able to escape from the trap, Yin quickly transformed into a pair of twin electric orbs. The two orbs zigged and zagged through the ever enclosing tide of wire.
"You are not getting away," Mei growled adamantly, she balled her left hand into a fist and watched as her deadly wires enclosed themselves upon the twin balls like a cone shaped net.
Yin began to spin her form rapidly until to onlookers it looked as though she were a ring of lightning, the ring suddenly expanded itself, pushing away the deadly wires and leaving her unharmed. The Arrancar then reverted back to her humanoid form and cracked her whip at Mei.
Expecting this, Mei shot out her left hand and spun it in a circular motion. The wires attached to her fingers spun themselves into dozens of tight loops, as the whip lashed out those loops found their way around the weapon. In an instant, the rope like weapon became rigid as Mei's wires constricted it and left it useless.
"Get over here!" growled Mei as she yanked back on her wires,
Yin was immediately jerked towards the shinigami, unable to stop herself the Arrancar was powerless to stop her opponent from delivering a brutal punch to her nose followed by a violent kick to the stomach.
Mei released her wire's hold on the whip and planned to wrap them around Yin, unfortunately, Yang chose this moment to burst through her barrier as a massive fireball.
Thinking quickly, Mei clapped her hands together then spread them apart. The fire ball came down upon her but was abruptly stopped by the wire barrier held between her outstretched hands.
The fireball returned back to Yang's humanoid form, revealing that her sword had been caught in the wires. The young shinigami quickly jumped over the red Arrancar with her wires still attached to the blade, when she landed she placed her foot on Yang's back and began to pull.
Much to Yang's distress, the wires began to pull her own fiery blade towards her neck. With Mei's masterful manipulation, it was only a matter of seconds before the edge of it was resting against the skin.
Unfortunately Mei was interrupted when she herself was suddenly trapped. Yin's whip came cracking around her neck and jerked her away from Yang, severing the connection.
"Die already you little bitch!" demanded the blue Arrancar,
Not willing to choke to death, Mei threw out her right hand, sending a stream of wires that wrapped themselves around Yin's leg. She quickly jerked her hand forward, catching the Arrancar off guard and throwing her into an already dazed Yang, causing the whip to release its grip on her.
Taking advantage of the situation, Mei made her move.
She stretched out both of her palms and called upon her strongest kido spell,
"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hado no.63: Raikoho!"
Yellow energy gathered into her palm and fired itself in a massive concentrated strike that blasted her two targets into the paved road bellow, a mushroom cloud of dust echoed out as her opponents became eternally silent.
By now, Mei was sore all over and her breaths came out in long heavy pants.
"Did I finally get them?" she asked herself,
The crater the two Arrancar lay in suddenly burst with reiatsu, Mei had to shield her eyes for fear that the intense light given off would blind her.
"What is this?" she asked aloud, "their reiatsu levels, they've jumped so high!"
( *(#%&#(&%) (#&%)( #&*%*()& #%)*&%() #&*%)&( #)%& )
Grimmjow quickly blocked as another barrage of slashes came at him, a geyser of sparks burst out from his zanpaktou as he was simultaneously pushed back.
Ever since Ichigo had released his bankai, it had been Grimmjow who'd been on the defensive. The bankai had enhanced all aspects of Ichigo's power, but most noticeably it had enhanced his speed the most.
While Grimmjow's reflexes had saved them up to this point, he could do nothing about hitting back. Every strike he threw out with his sword every cero he shot out was easily avoided. So busy was he with defending himself that he didn't notice that he was about to crash into a billboard until it had already happened.
"You're not half bad shinigami," smirked Grimmjow, "you might actually be worth my time!"
The Arrancar picked himself up and readied for the next attack. Ichigo went in head first, their blades smashed into one another, but it was Ichigo who was pushing Grimmjow through the air as the Arrancar attempted to hold his opponent back.
Grimmjow broke the lock and hacked at his opponent, Ichigo easily dodged, disappeared and reappeared to Grimmjow's side. The Espada quickly brought up his zanpaktou and blocked the heavy attack, then retaliated with his own which was dodged, followed up by a wide sweeping kick, also dodged.
Ichigo disappeared again, this time reappearing behind his opponent, but Grimmjow managed to spin away from his attack then retaliate with a barrage of his own.
"This isn't going to work," Ichigo whispered to himself, "time to change things up."
The Substitute shinigami began to run a tight circle around his opponent, speeding up his legs as he went, faster and faster, as fast as he could possibly go.
Grimmjow made no move to attack, for he didn't know where to attack. All around him, he saw only Ichigo, or rather he saw after images of the shinigami who was literally running circles around him. The kid was moving so fast that his mind couldn't keep up.
"What's the matter? Can't tell where I am?" mocked the Shinigami,
Grimmjow ground his teeth,
"Need me to slow down a little?"
"Fuck you!" growled the Arrancar, immediately he built up an orb of reiatsu into his left hand and stretched it out. He fired a brilliant red blast of energy and dragged it along the line of after images, causing them to vanish. If he couldn't catch the kid, he'd smoke him out.
He fired another cero, dragging its red beam across the line of after images.
Suddenly, Grimmjow realized his mistake. He'd fallen for attacking the after images, that he hadn't noticed his opponent moving into position. But by now it was too late, he turned his head just enough to see Ichigo drag his ebony katana across his chest.
Before Grimmjow could retaliate, Ichigo was already gone, leaving a large bloody horizontal slash on his chest.
"That's it you little brat! I'm gonna crush the life out of you!" Grimmjow brought his zanpaktou forward and placed his right hand on the blade. Gathering together his reiatsu, he yelled out, "Grind!"
Then clenched his fingers on his blade and dragged them back, "Pantera!"
A massive explosion of reiatsu flattened the building below them and spiraled upwards around where Grimmjow had stood. The column of smoke cleared, revealing Grimmjow's release.
Ichigo stared on wide eyed, he'd known that the Arrancar carried zanpaktou like he and the other shinigami and had suspected that they might be able to release their blades. But to actually witness it was another thing entirely.
The release hadn't just given Grimmjow a new weapon, it had given him an entirely new form. His shock blue hair was now considerably longer, he also now sprouted a cat like tail. His hands and feet were now armed with claws, his ears were now akin to a feline's, his teeth were sharpened, and what seemed to be a formfitting white suit was being worn.
The Espada let out a loud roar that sent gusts upon gusts of wind billowing towards Ichigo.
"What the hell? A shockwave?! He generates that much power just by screaming?"
Without warning, Grimmjow burst forward in at an incredibly speed that put him right in front of Ichigo within a fraction of a second. Ichigo only had enough time to slightly widen his eyes as Grimmjow performed a spinning kick that connected right with Ichigo's jaw and sent him flying across Karakura.
Before he could even try to recover, Grimmjow was there again, kicking him in the back and sending him up high.
"Damn it!" he growled,
That's when he saw Grimmjow a third time, this time the Espada hit him with a powerful drop kick that sent him spiraling down to the ground below.
( *%&) (#*&%)( *#%&)(#&*% *()#&%*) #&%) #&%) &#% )
Mei struggled to get up after she'd been mercilessly thrown to the ground.
A release form, the Arrancar had release forms.
"Had enough shinigami?"
Mei stood up and turned her head skyward to see the two Arrancar floating above her in their true forms.
The twin Arrancar's identicalness was followed even into their new forms. Both had a sort of edged helmet that covered the entire upper half of their heads, including their eyes, but had a hole in the back, letting out their different colored hair. Both also had white pauldrons of overlapping sheets of bone like material on their shoulders, as well as a form fitting smooth white sleeveless armor that covered the upper half of their torso like a suit. On their lower halves, they wore what looked like a short skirt made of numerous bones and white knee high boots.
Yin now held a whip made entirely of lightning while Yang held a sword made entirely of fire.
Both, Mei had learned, were extremely deadly.
"You're out of your league little girl," said Yang,
"It's time for you to say good night!" finished her sister,
Yin raised her free hand and began to gather together lightning, the energy eventually began to form into a pair of lightning balls, similar to her earlier transformation. She tossed the twin balls at Mei.
Mei quickly raised up both her hands, and spun both of them in a quick circular motion. The pair of lightning orbs stopped, Mei pulled back her hands then spun her body a full circle. The twin orbs followed her movements, when she returned back to facing her two foes, she released the twin orbs and sent them hurdling back to their owner.
Without waiting, Mei then thrust out her left hand.
As the two avoided the return attack, Yang suddenly felt the grip of the shinigami's wires on her legs. She snorted at the futility and attempted to fly into the air and pull her opponent with her. Strangely enough, the wires pulled back with impressive strength, so much that it actually stopped the Arrancar.
When she looked down, she saw that Mei had slapped her hand to the road. When she raised her hand back up, she revealed that the wires were now stuck firmly into the ground.
"Yin help!" called the red one, Yin immediately began to try.
Mei pulled back with her right hand, the twin orbs that the twins believed they'd dodged came flying back. Yin noticed too late, her own attack slammed into her, sending volts of electricity through her system and causing her to spiral to the ground.
Yang ground her teeth and summoned her fiery blade in an attempt to cut the wires herself. But when she raised her arm, she found she couldn't bring it back down. She looked up to see more wires wrapped around her wrist, Mei flew up and slapped her hand onto a nearby building, sticking the wires to its surface.
"Why you little-" Yang stretched up her only free arm and began to create a large ball of fire to blast at Mei. The young shinigami saw this coming and quickly began to move, Yang fired her attack but missed, she fired again but also missed.
Mei's hand shot out, stretching out her seemingly limitless amount of wire, with a quick twirl of her hand she wrapped it around Yang's last free limb, then attached her wire to another building, leaving the Arrancar completely helpless.
Mei clapped her hands together then brought them apart, string attached to both hands came out, forming a sort of garrote. But before she could use it upon her victim, something struck her in the back causing a stinging extreme amount of pain to shoot up her body.
She turned around to see Yin, recovered from being hit by her own attack.
Mei decided to change targets, she charged head first towards Yin. The Arrancar cracked her whip at the incoming shinigami, Mei rolled out of the way and kept going. Yin cracked her whip a second time but again missed.
By then Mei was upon her, the garrote spread to slice.
Yin quickly beat a retreat, not wanting to test her hierro against the wire. Mei missed her by the slimmest of margins as Yin flew up at the last moment.
However, as the Arrancar flew away, she suddenly felt a small tugging sensation on her ankle. She looked down and found that the shinigami had in fact managed to hook her by the foot.
Mei used all the strength in her lithe body and pulled down on the Arrancar, Yin was violently jerked back down and slammed into a building.
A small smirk creased onto the shinigami's lips, but that was quickly interrupted by a jolt of lightning traveling down the wire and into her body. Her limbs uncontrollably shook and her teeth ground against each other harshly.
As she was stunned by the current of electricity coursing through her body, she was struck by a pair of lightning orbs. They detonated against her body and sent her tumbling across the pavement.
Suddenly a wave of heat washed over her, she looked up and saw that Yang was burning through the wire trapping her with copious amounts of fire. It wasn't long before the wire melted away, leaving Yang free to move.
Mei attempted to rise, but was abruptly jerked up. Something had wrapped itself around her wrist, most likely Yin's whip and was now pulling her into the air.
By now her body had taken a large beating, as such when she attempted to move her body it protested with pain.
Yang gathered a great ball of fire between her hands and looked towards Mei.
"Any last words"
Mei had none, her only regret was losing to these two and letting down her father.
"Good bye, Shinigami"
Yang drew back her hand and…went flying!
It had happened so fast, that Mei hadn't blind and still missed it! All she did see were the after effects, and that was Yang being ploughed into the ground, creating a massive gouge through the road.
"Yang!" called out her sister,
The Blue one was suddenly sent fling high into the air by a blur of purple, then sent right back down by the same blur, creating a large crater in the road and landing right next to her sister.
Mei was subsequently released, though her battered body began slowly drifting down to the ground without her consent. She was quickly caught by her rescuer,
"Easy kid, easy, you've had a rough night," said a familiar voice,
Mei looked up into the warming golden gaze of Yoruichi.
The moment was suddenly shattered, as both twins suddenly appeared behind them, their weapons held high and ready to destroy their opponents.
"Fools"
In a single moment, both Yin and Yang were taken apart by a hundred blows.
Yoruichi stood up with Mei in her arms as though she'd never even moved from the spot.
"You'll both need a thousand years before you can play with me,"
( *(%&()#* &% ()#&*%)(*& #)%*&( #&%)(&)#(&% )(&*%) #)
The fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow had taken a turn, now it was Ichigo who was constantly on the defensive. Grimmjow's release form was simply proving to be too much for him to be able to handle.
While he definitely was holding his own, Grimmjow was still picking him apart at the Arrancar's leisure.
Grimmjow brought a clawed hand down on Ichigo who blocked it with Tensa Zangetsu, only to be kicked in the ribs and sent spinning down into the ground.
Ichigo's body hit the road with enough power to create a huge crater, the Espada pounced down on the shinigami like a great cat and raised his clawed hands to make the kill.
The Shinigami quickly rolled out of the way and let Grimmjow's hand slice into the asphalt. But as he tried to get away, Grimmjow grabbed him by the back of his clothing and tossed him over the shoulder and onto the ground again.
The Substitute shinigami tumbled across the road, tearing up the pavement and knocking over cars as a large cloud of dust followed him. When he stopped, he shakily rose to his feet in an attempt to stand.
"Is that all?" asked Grimmjow from above, standing arrogantly, "I take it back, you're not worth my time at all. You're a total disappointment."
Ichigo looked back defiantly; he drew back his black katana and poured his power into the blade.
"Getsuga"
Black reiatsu with a tint of red surrounded Tensa Zangetsu,
"Tensho!"
A swirl of dark power slammed into the Espada as Ichigo let it loose by swinging his blade. For a brief moment, the night sky was bathed in black light. Then, as quickly as it had come, it disappeared.
Ichigo panted heavily from the exhertion, he'd never tried using a Getsuga Tensho while in bankai, but he'd seen his hollow do it before. He'd simply recalled how the hollow had performed and applied it here, it just happened to work out.
As the smoke cleared, it revealed that Grimmjow was still standing, the Espada had apparently thrown up his arms in an attempt to block. It had not gone well, both of his forearms were now horribly burned.
"Argh, maggot," growled the Espada, "where'd that come from?"
"Am I still disappointing you?" Ichigo asked smugly, "maybe you need to feel it again to make up your mind."
Grimmjow smirked, with a buzz of sonido he was suddenly in front of Ichigo and quickly delivered back hand that sent Ichigo tumbling away into a cross section.
"I've gotta admit, that attack hurt pretty bad, if it hadn't blocked I would've gotten hurt badly," said Grimmjow as he walked towards his opponent, "but it doesn't matter anymore, I'll kill you here and now."
Ichigo attempted to shakily stand back up,
"Still trying?" asked Grimmjow, a bit surprised, "haven't you got it through that head of ours, you can't win."
But Ichigo's resolve would not be shaken, no, he glared back defiant. Ready to fight till all the life had fled from his broken body, only then would he stop.
Grimmjow clearly didn't like the look Ichigo was giving him, raising his clawed hands, he prepared to finish it.
"Ichigo!"
A sudden blast of cold followed by an avalanche of ice and snow came down from the adjacent street, when it cleared, the entire street had been flash frozen, along with Grimmjow who was now trapped in a massive hunk of ice.
"Ichigo!" called the voice again,
Ichigo turned to see Rukia coming down the street, her zanpaktou in hand.
"Rukia? How, did you win your fight?"
"You idiot, of course I did, why do you think I'm here?"
"Well it's just that…"
"Never mind that now," she said, placing a hand on his cheek, "look at you, all banged up. What would you do if I weren't around to-"
The sound of cracking ice suddenly interrupted their reunion. Both shinigami turned to see the prison holding Grimmjow, slowly breaking part.
"Rukia run!" screamed Ichigo,
"Fool, I can't-"
The ice shattered, freeing its occupant. With a subtle buzz, Grimmjow disappeared.
"Rukia run!"
Too late, Grimmjow already had the female Shinigami by the neck.
"Rukia no!" Ichigo raised himself up, ignoring any pain he felt and prepared to charge. But before he could, his body suddenly froze. Some sort of unexplainable paralysis fell upon him, but he soon realized what was happening.
From the corner of his eye, he slowly felt it happening. His hollow was attempting to take control, the vision in his left eye was slowly blotting out.
"Come on, you want to save her don't you? Let me out, I'll kill him!"
"Go away, I don't need you," he replied mentally as he tried to break out of its hold,
Before the hollow could reply, Grimmjow sunk his clawed hand through Rukia's body, then tossed her aside.
"Now that that interruption is dealt with, where were we?" asked Grimmjow, "oh, right"
Once again he raised his claws for the killing blow, had it come Ichigo would have been torn to shreds. But it didn't, as Grimmjow pounced he was suddenly blasted back by a powerful bolt of lightning.
"Son of a…who did that?"
A familiar pair of men landed by Ichigo, he immediately recognized them as Kuroda's subordinates: Rajin and Kaito.
"What's with all these guys coming out and interrupting, you can die next, but let me-"
A figure suddenly appeared behind the Sexta Espada and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Stay your hand Grimmjow,"
"Tosen!"
"It's him," whispered Rajin,
"well it's not Bob Marley," quipped Kaito,
"What the hell are you doing here?" growled Grimmjow, though he followed the order,
"What am I doing here? I believe that is a question for you, interrupting Tyran's mission, invading without orders, bringing your fraccion and getting them killed. Lord Aizen is furious Grimmjow, I am here to see that you return immediately," Tosen tapped the air, it unfolded to his will and created a black portal, "come, we must leave. Your punishment shall be decided in Hueco Mundo"
"Tch, fine," muttered the Arrancar, releasing his form and sheathing his sword, then following the traitor shinigami.
"Wait!" called Ichigo,
"Quiet down idiot," growled Kaito, "you're in no shape to continue fighting."
"You've got to be kidding me! We can't just-"
Ichigo was interrupted as he was suddenly knocked unconscious from a sharp strike Rajin delivered to his neck. Kaito quickly caught him up, having already picked up Rukia on his shoulder, "I'll take them to get attention."
"Alright,"
"What about you?"
"I'll make a sweep of the town make sure there aren't any more,"
"Shouldn't we check on the Commander?"
"I'm sure he's fine"
( *&%()#*&% )(#&*%) (*#&%)( #&%)( #&%)&*( #%)*& #)&%)
Kuroda slammed AnShen into Tyran's chest and dragged the red blade across the Arrancar's chest. Spark's burst out from the contact as though AnShen were being dragged against another piece of metal but no blood came out to feed its hunger.
Tyran's face no longer held a smirk, instead it held a clear look of annoyance.
Kuroda ground his teeth
No! This was not happening, he could cut through if he just tried! Taking a deep breath, he charged forward and thrust out AnShen, the tip of the blade met with the center of Tyran's chest, but went no further.
Kuroda pressed with all his might but it felt as though he were struggling against a mountain.
Worse, Tyran simply stood there and took it as though nothing were happening.
Fearing retaliation, Kuroda quickly jumped back and swung his weapon,
"Shino Kabe!"
A deadly wall of wailing dead crashed down on Tyran, a moment later, it simply burst apart, leaving the target completely unharmed.
Kuroda's grip around AnShen tightened with frustration, he hadn't felt this powerless against an enemy since…since Yamamoto. He'd gone as far as his sanity allowed with his power, already he'd released the first of his bands, releasing the second would definitely provide him a chance, but he would not give into that mad man that bore his face.
"Hey!" yelled Tyran, pulling him from his thoughts, "Stop screwing around! Try to actually kill me already! I'm not weak you know! I can take it, whatever you've got, I can take it!"
Kuroda bit his lower lip,
"And stop ruining my clothes!"
That tore it!
Kuroda raised AnShen and bellowed, "Ban-Kai!"
A swirl of red power and wailing souls engulfed Kuroda, spiraling around him and ascending to the heavens. When it finally dissipated, it revealed him in his Bankai form.
Though Kuroda was not a prideful man, he would by lying if he said that he didn't feel some amount of embarrassment from releasing his Bankai when his opponent hadn't even made some sort of release of their own. But that mattered little in the end when this Arrancar would be gagging on his own blood with AnShen skewering his body.
"Releasing Bankai already, don't you want to warm up? Maybe go at it a few rounds without-"
Kuroda was suddenly in front of Tyran, the Arrancar hadn't expected such a jump in speed. But for some reason, perhaps due to reflex, or perhaps because he sensed Kuroda's new power, he threw himself back to avoid the blade cleaving through the air towards him.
The blade passed and Kuroda went with it.
Tyran turned to face his opponent, wide eyed and startled. Then, something brought him out of shock, a small wet stinging sensation on his cheek. He reached up and touched something liquid like, he brought his fingers to his eyes and saw red. Blood.
His face was now decorated with a thin cut across his left cheek. Now, he could smile.
"Well, there we go!" he bellowed, "that's much better!"
But Tyran still felt a small amount of disappointment, he could tell that Kuroda's power was still not even close to what it had been when they'd first met. But for now, this would do, perhaps as they fought the shinigami would reveal more.
Tyran was the first to charge, Kuroda dug in his heels and held his ground. The two slammed each other with Kuroda skidding back through the air as Tyran pushed him back. The shinigami masterfully pushed their blades to side then lashed out with a left handed back hand.
Tyran accepted the blow and returned it with a powerful punch to Kuroda's gut. The wind was knocked out from the shinigami along with a large glob blood, but he fought through the pain. Calling upon the power of his bankai, twin snakes sprouted from his back and bared their razor sharp teeth.
"What the-"
Kuroda mentally commanded them to lash out, they did exactly that, one latched onto Tyran's shoulder while the other sunk into his collar bone. Tyran grimaced but then reached up and tore both of them out of Kuroda's shoulder, big mistake.
With another mental command, the snakes melted into the acid like material of the dead. Tyran quickly shook the stuff of before it could burn into him too far.
He turned to Kuroda and smirked, "what else you got?"
Kuroda's answer:
"Shino Kabe"
He swung AnShen and let loose a wave of undead cavalry that charged towards their target upon their skeletal steeds, with the wails of a thousand dying men as the horn to signal their attack. Tyran's eyes widened ever so slightly, even with his massive power, he had to feel a small shiver go down his spine at the ghastly appearance of the attack. But even so, he met the charge head on, slamming his weapon down on it.
The Arrancar struggled with the cavalry for a brief second, but it was enough to distract him from the small bulge forming out of the wave. The small bulge soon began to take the form of a man, the form of a man began to create for itself arms.
Kuroda burst out from the attack with AnShen raised, he'd been fully aware that the attack might not have been enough, so he instilled a bit of insurance.
Tyran noticed too late, AnShen was already in full swing. The moment the cavalry failed with their charge and exploded, the red blade cut across Tyran's chest.
The Cero Espada burst out from the cover of smoke, his body now adorning a new wound.
"Damn man, you tricky," he remarked,
The smoke cleared, showing Kuroda, not in the least bit amused, though he did find satisfaction from drawing blood. The wound however, was not especially deep, he noted that it was more like an extremely large scratch than an actual wound.
"Guess I better start taking you a bit more seriously," decided the Espada,
Kuroda's response was to coat AnShen with the acidic material of the dead, swing his blade and fling the stuff at Tyran like a massive face of acid.
Tyran returned the attack with a quick cero, the two attack canceled each other out, resulting in a huge plume of smoke.
Kuroda used shunpo, Tyran used sonido, the two met in the cloud of smoke and slammed their blades together. The resulting force brushed the smoke away like a might gust of wind.
Kuroda broke the lock and called upon a shot of acidic souls to blast at Tyran's face. The Espada immediately dodged, but at the same time Kuroda leapt above his opponent, landing behind Tyran and striking out.
But the Arrancar quickly whipped around and parried, then riposted with diagonal downward slash that nearly caught Kuroda on the shoulder. The shinigami sidestepped, spun and swung his blade in a low strike aimed for Tyran's gut. The Espada amazingly blocked, locking AnShen with his zanpaktou's tsuba. With a roll of his shoulders, he moved AnShen up high, broke the lock the jabbed down with the butt of his handle, catching Kuroda in the stomach.
The Black operative coughed up another glob of blood as he stumble away. Before he could recover, Tyran was upon him, a cero held up to the shinigami's face. With lightning speed, Kuroda grabbed the outstretched hand by the wrist and pushed it to the side.
His face flushed with heat as the cero fired, bathing both of them in a dark purple light. Kuroda began to thrust AnShen forward, planning to skewer Tyran through the rips while he had a lock on the Arrancar's wrist, but was interrupted Tyran brought up his left foot and delivered a powerful kick to Kuroda's back, forcing him to let go of the Espada's wrist.
Tyran followed up with a quick slash, Kuroda threw himself back but was still caught regardless. A thin red line cut down his cheek to his jaw.
"Come on now! Show me more!" demanded Tyran as he burst towards Kuroda like a rocket,
Kuroda's eyes widened, in an almost panicked voice, he yelled out,
"daiichi no dankai: shipan!"
The dead smothered around him again, giving him a pair of red wings. Almost immediately he wrapped them around himself like a shield, just in time for Tyran to ram into him and send him barreling out of the sky.
Like a bird, Kuroda stretched out his wings, causing him to realign. But almost immediately he could saw Tyran dropping down after him with the intent to shred him to pieces.
Gathering up his power, Kuroda called out,
"Shinen no iki mono!"
A massive glob of dead began to circle together next to him, soon the glob began to take on the familiar shape of one of his serpents except much, much, larger. The creature of the Abyss with its horrible glowing eyes and massive sharp teeth snaked its way up towards Tyran, opening its massive maw to engulf the much smaller Arrancar.
Tyran flew right into the creature's throat, a moment later, the creature exploded in a bright purple explosion that literally tore it to pieces. From out of the carnage, Tyran came flying out, aiming right for Kuroda.
Kuroda quickly raised up his sword and swung it down,
"Shibou Ryuu Dikei!"
A massive missile with four eyes, a face shaped like the bow of ship and overlapping rows of razor sharp teeth was fired at Tyran. The Espada sneered, believing that he could simply crash into it with no ill consequences.
However, it was not so. The moment he crashed into it, it smothered him with burning liquid that bit through his hierro and ate into his flesh.
With a quick burst of reiatsu, the liquid was easily scattered.
In came Kuroda, swinging AnShen for Tyran's neck. The Espada deflected the attack down that caused Kuroda to lean down. Tyran brought up his foot with a high kick to Kuroda's exposed head, causing the shinigami to stagger. Tyran then turned himself 180 degrees and performed a back kick that sent Kuroda tumbling through the air uncontrollably.
He spread his wings, recovering from the blow. His vision was starting become hazy, most likely from blood loss and the pure amount of pain he was feeling.
"Need a break?"
Kuroda looked up to see Tyran standing calmly in front of him. Without warning he lashed out with his weapon, Tyran easily dodged.
Kuroda slashed at the Arrancar wildly, all technique abandoned for a wild berserk frenzy. Tyran was taken a back at first as he blocked the flurry of attacks.
The shinigami managed to score a hit when he suddenly disappeared with shunpo, reappeared behind Tyran and sliced the Arrancar across the back.
Tyran retaliated another back kick. Kuroda side stepped and grabbed the Arrancar by the ankle, he then attempted to get in another hit but Tyran used him to his advantage. Balancing himself with Kuroda's lock, he lifted himself up and kicked Kuroda in the side of the head.
Staggard, Kuroda could do nothing as Tyran broke out of the lock and slipped his blade between Kuroda's ribs.
Never before had he felt so…weak, so powerless. Something wrapped around his neck, a hand. He was hoisted up, unable to do anything about it.
"what's the matter with you?" asked Tyran, "no way you were this weak when we first met, I felt your power, I know you're better than this."
Kuroda didn't respond, or rather he couldn't.
Tyran took a long moment to stare into the shinigami's eyes. In that instance, a sort of story was told between the two individuals, who were so similar yet so different.
"I see now," said Tyran, voice dripping with disgust, "I see what's wrong now."
"I was wrong, you and I aren't all that alike at all. We're both kin slayers, both murders, warriors bathed in blood and tempered in the heat of battle. We've both looked into that abyss, but you flinched, you turned away from it. You felt disgusted didn't you, you rejected the power it offered."
Kuroda was silent,
"Why?!" demanded the Arrancar, "We took the necessary steps! We did what anyone who wanted to be top dog should have done. We showed the world what we were willing to do and it offered us the strength to rule over everyone who didn't. We proved ourselves! Why did you resist?! Why do you still resist?! Survival of the fittest, those who are powerful rule, does that mean anything to you?"
This time, Kuroda did respond,
"What?"
He spoke louder, "we don't, deserve, to rule"
A look of pure disgust crossed Tyran's face.
Twin buzzes interrupted whatever he was about to say.
"Lord Tyran," said a battered Yin,
"What the hell happened to you two?"
"I'm sorry my lord," apologized Yang, "but they were too much for us."
"Doesn't matter, we're leaving," said Tyran, he then turned to the man in his hands, "we'll fight again, when you embrace what you are."
With that said, Tyran released his grip and let Kuroda fall.
Kuroda however, didn't realize he was falling. His mind was too far into a daze, but he had heard everything Tyran had said and it troubled his mind. Was he weak, because he turned away? Was this why he was the one falling now?
The wings of his bankai began to break away as though he were a fallen god.
His body struck the road, shattering the asphalt and leaving a sizeable crater. He lay there limply, unable to move, or perhaps unwilling.
The world began to go dark, were his eyes closing or was he dying?
The last thing he heard before he lost conscious, was his name.
"Kuroda!"
End
A/N
Hey guys, wow, sorry for such a long wait I realize it has been a month since the last update but I've been working on my other story and guess what? I finished it!
So school is starting back up and updates will most likely slow to a crawl, sorry.
But I do hope you enjoyed the chapter, the whole thing was pretty much one big fight.
I'd really appreciate it if you went to my profile and participated in a poll that I've put up.
Anyway, please review, favorite, subscribe, and share with your friends!
OC submissions are still open for Arrancar!
Bye bye!