Chapter 35: More Assassins?
Later, Ricky, Saber, Ben, Allen, Lenalee, Will, Wall-E, Rukia, Ichigo and Toph then walked out of the council building with Talim.
Lenalee then asked Ichigo, "Ichigo, is this mission going to be dangerous?"
"Well, our mission is just keep Talim safe and take her safely back to her village, so I guess there won't be any dangerous battles along the way at all." Ichigo smirked.
"Great, I'm been getting tired of getting into fights lately." Will sighed as she puts her hands on the back of her head.
"Me too. Ever since the world knew that a Templar is out to take out the Faction, people have been trying to kill us during our journey." Allen said.
"You're a Templar?" Talim asked Ricky.
"Long story." Ricky said.
"Great. Finally, we can just relax." Saber smiled.
"Yes, like I said, I need to return to my village for something important, so you have to keep me safe at all times." Talim said.
"Don't worry Talim, there are 10 of us with you, what could possibly go wrong?" Ricky smiled as he turned to Talim.
However, as Talim followed Ricky and his group and Ichigo, a man named Nnoitra Juriga on a branch at a nearby tree, watching everything. Nnoitra pulled a radio out and spoke into it.
"Sir, the target is heavily guarded by ten people." Nnoitra explained.
"Then I shall send you more men to help you take out the girl." A voice said from the other side of the radio. "Remember Nnoitra, that girl is the only obstacle in Aizen's path in helping the Factiontake over Japan. And he wants her dead."
"Sir." Nnoitra nodded and he turned off the radio and vanished from sight.
Ricky, Saber, Ben, Allen, Lenalee, Will, Wall-E, Rukia, Ichigo, Toph and Talim continue walking through a forest.
Suddenly, Toph gasps and widens her eyes. "Someone is following us!"
"What?!" Rukia said alarmed.
Nnoitra and fifteen more men dressed in white masks and white robes landed around Ichigo and shoot metal chains around Ichigo's body.
"What?!" Ichigo yelped as Nnoitra and his men then chained Ichigo's body and tighten their grip around ichigo's body. Ichigo yells in pain as Ermac and his men continue tightening their grip until Ichigo turned into blood and pieces of flesh.
Talim, Ricky and his group gasp and widen their eyes in horror.
"ICHIGO!!!" Rukia cried.
Rukia widnes her eyes when Nnoitra lands behind her. "Yes, and now, you will all join him!" He shot his metal chain at Rukia's back but before the chain reaches Rukia, Ricky draws out his Carsomyr.
"THUNDERBOLT!" He yelled and he shot a bolt of thunder at Nnoitra's chain. The electricity then rushes through the chain and Nnoitra yells in pain as he gets electrocuted.
Saber draws out her ExCalibur and defeats three of the masked men with just one swing.
Toph and Ben stomp their foot on the ground and brought a pillar of rock beneath two of masked men's feet and sends them flying.
Allen turns his left arm into his Anti-Akuma arm and swings it at three masked men and tosses them to a nearby tree.
Will draws out two of her rapiers and swings them, shooting blasts of pink energy at four of the masked men.
Lenalee draws out her ExCalibur as well and yells as she swings her sword at the last two masked men.
Nnoitra and three other masked men get up and charge over to Talim. Talim gasps while Rukia quickly stood in front of her. "You're finished!" Nnoitra laughed.
"Stand behind me!" Rukia said as she draws out her zanpakuto and yells, "Tsugi No Mai-"
However, before she couldn't what she has to say, a familiar figure stood in front of Nnoitra and punches Nnoitra hard in the gut. Rukia widens her eyes. It was Ichigo, alive and well!
"Ichigo!" Rukia said. The others turned to Ichigo with shocked expressions.
"He's still alive?" Ricky said amazed.
Nnoitra groans as he slumps onto the ground. Ichigo then rushes over to the other three masked men and punched them all in their faces. Ichigo then draws out his Zangetsu sword and aims it at the twelve other masked men who all got up from the ground.
The twelve masked men yelled as they all charge over to Ichigo, ready to attack him. Ichigo yells, "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" A huge blast of black and red energy erupted from Ichigo's sword and shot down all twelve men. All the masked men groan as they all fell to the ground defeated.
Ichigo then puts away his Zangetsu sword. However, Nnoitra runs over to him from behind and jumps in the air, ready to attack him. But Ichigo turned around just in time, punches his face and sends him crashing to a nearby tree trunk.
"Wow." Ben said amazed.
"Rukia's friend is really powerful." Toph added. Rukia lowers her head sadly.
'Toph is right. Ichigo is still better than me, even after I left Japan.' She thought.
Ichigo then turned to Talim, Ricky and his group and smiled. "Well then, let's move on."
"Wait a minute, I thought we all clearly saw these guys kill you!" Will said. She then turned her head to the spot where she saw Ichigo got 'killed' earlier and she widens her eyes. Those aren't flesh on the ground, they are wooden blocks!
"Replacement technique. All elite Shinigamis know that technique. They use it when they are about to get killed." Ichigo answered. "Now then, let's move on."
"Right." Ricky nods his head as he and the others put away their weapons.
"Oh, and by the way, Talim." Ichigo narrows his eyes.
"Yeah?" Talim asked.
"We need to talk."
Later, Ricky, Saber, Ben, Allen, Lenalee, Will, Wall-E, Rukia, Ichigo, Toph and Talim continue walking through the forest. Ichigo was talking to Talim.
"Those masked men were assassins. And we all know that assassins are people who are paid to kill a certain target. So while I disappeared during the replacement technique, I need to know." Ichigo said sternly.
"What?" Talim asked.
"I had to know who their target was."
"What?" Ricky, Saber, Ben, Allen, Lenalee, Will, Rukia, and Toph all said in unison as they, Wall-E, Ichigo and Talim stop walking.
"Wall-E?" Wall-E said confused.
"And what they were after." Ichigo added.
"What are you talking about?" Talim asked, narrowing her eyes.
"I wanted to know if they were attacking us, or attacking you." Ichigo said. "When you came to the Shinigami council, you requested us to protect you from robbers and pirates. You didn't say that there are assassins coming after you. I know you wanted protection, but lying to us is not acceptable!"
Talim hung her head. "You're right. There are people trying to kill me."
"But why?" Rukia asked.
"They wanted to stop me from building my village's bridge."
"Why do they want to stop you from just building a bridge?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Talim sighed. "I'll explain to you guys later. But please, I beg you. The bridge that I'm going to build is important to my village…and our country."
"What?" Ichigo widens his eyes.
Later, at a wooden hut somewhere deep in the forest. A man with brown hair, brown eyes and wears a white coat, white robes, purple sash and white hakama is talking to another man, sitting on his couch. The man was Sosuke Aizen.
The man sitting on the couch has spiky light blue hair, light blue eyes, a jaw piece on his left cheek and wears a white and black jacket, black sash and white hakama. His name was Grimmjow Jaegerjaques. Standing behind Grimmjow and his couch were five more masked men in white masks and white robes.
"You fail? YOU FAIL?! I trusted you Grimmjow!" Aizen bellowed. "I thought you are all suppose to be hotshot assassins!"
"Stop whining." Grimmjow said emotionlessly as he draws out his black sword and stabs it on the floor. "This time, I'll go to them personally. And my sword will be the last thing they ever see."
"You sure about that?" Aizen narrows his eyes. "That girl has Ichigo Kurosaki guarding her. Your first attempt failed, so they will be expecting you back. They will be waiting and it will take someone with advanced fighting skills to take down Ichigo."
"Who do you think you're dealing with?" Grimmjow smirked evilly. "Don't worry, I'm Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, the white demon. I'll be the first to defeat Ichigo. And that's for sure."
END OF CHAPTER
Ryo: Looks like the group's mission will be dangerous after all.
Will: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When will we ever get any rest?!
Ricky: (Sigh) Stay tune and read and review!