Thank you:
Marc;
AnimeXbooksXmanga; Yep. That's Glub-Glub
Wulf 4 life;
Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach!Bleach
"Alright. Now I'm going to open the path to Hueco Mundo." Urahara grinned jumping on to a wooden beam.
He knelt down and began saying one of those long spell, chant, things Shinigami are so fond of. The hand holding on to his cane began to glow blue and make a whirling noise.
The blue traveled down the cane down on to the wooden beam where it shot across to it's sister beam and ripping a hole similar to the one the Arrancars' disappear into.
"This…" Urahara waved his hand to the gapping hole
"Is Garganta! There aren't any paths inside only a constant, turbulent flow of Reishi. You guys are going to have to make your own pathways using these Reishi. Run towards the darkness and you'll find Hueco Mundo"
We all nodded. I'm sure the boys stored this information in a safe place. Me on the other hand, already forgot half of what he said.
"Take care of my family for me, will ya? Say something so the don't worry." Ichigo asked
"Will do. What about you friends?" Urahara asked his eyes flickering over to something
Three bodies moved behind the rocks. I smiled able to make out the bodies thanks to peripheral vision and Urahara.
Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo.
"I'll apologize to them once I get back." Ichigo leapt into the rip followed by Uryu and Chad.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of them" I grinned sending a wink over my shoulder at my schoolmates before following after the boys.
It's been close to thirty minutes since we entered the rift. Ichigo lead the way making a jagged and narrow pathway.
Uryu made himself some sort of surf board making his way leisurely beside me. I think he was showing of how much better he was at controlling Reishi than we are.
"So Hueco Mundo is up ah-" Ichigo yelped nearly falling through his own pathway.
Ichigo started grumbling about how much a pain in the ass creating a pathway was. While I watched my steps realizing how sketchy it was.
If the pathway barely withstood Ichigo's weight then what chance did I have following behind him and the not so light Chad?
I jinxed it.
Right after those thoughts passed through my mind the pathway crumbled letting both Chad and I fell.
Until Chad caught the side and I latched onto his leg.
Wrapping both my arms and legs around one of his. I shut my eyes tightly heart pounding a mile a minute.
I hate being afraid. I'm afraid of heights. Therefore I hate heights. I hate it so much I don't even want to look at a skyscraper.
Therefore, falling to my death is not the way I plan on dying.
"Are you guys alright?" Ichigo asked
I bristled wanting to glare at him but if I opened my eyes I knew I'd look down.
And probably have a heart attack.
"No problem" Chad rumbled easily pulling him and his new body pat, AKA me, back onto the path.
"Sorry about that…" Ichigo mumbled guiltily
"Jeez" Uryu laughed
I cracked open one eye but made no attempt to detach myself from Chad. He didn't seem to mind but it is Chad we're talking about here.
"How pathetic" he slid next to Ichigo on his fancy smancy surf board. "Can't you make a better path?"
Yep. He was showing off alright.
"Shut it! I just said I was bad at stuff like this!" Ichigo hissed losing focus on the pathway
The pathway beneath Chad's feet gave way a little bit but not completely.
I constricted tighter around Chad's, most likely numb, leg having a mini heart attack. I screwed my eyes shut blocking out the two bickering boys.
The path suddenly became solid.
"A Hollow?" Ichigo gasped
I heard Uryu start up his bow. This snapped the fear out of me. I pulled off Chad moving in front of Glub-Glub.
"Don't point that at him!" I hissed taking notice of Glub-Glub's gills pressed to the floor
"You should have done that earlier" Ichigo told him not bothering to question why I carried around a Hollow
"Seriously, Glub-Glub" I groaned rubbing my temple. "Why couldn't you have done this earlier?"
The little lizard just frilled his gills and darted off happily creating a stable, wide pathway in his wake.
"Ishida, I heard that you made some kind of deal with your father in order to regain your Quincy powers. The deal being you couldn't be involved with Shinigami or their comrades." Chad paused letting Uryu regain his composure "So, why are you here?"
"That's most I've ever heard him say at one time" I thought absent mindedly
I couldn't care less if I never saw Uryu again. I turned to check on Glub-Glub, who was racing around excitedly, but didn't wander to far from me.
"Is that true, Ishida?" Ichigo asked surprised by the news.
"Yes, it's true" he confirmed "Let's keep moving and I'll explain"
Uryu's story seemed to take forever. He could have just said it bluntly but no he had to add in insignificant details like facial expressions and how Urahara fanned himself.
"That doesn't make sense. I'm still a Shinigami." Ichigo stated after the story finally finished
"No. you're a substitute Shinigami and the Seireitei abandoned you." Uryu corrected harshly because he's an angry kid.
Ichigo flinched at the sentence. He was still sore about the subject.
"Way to be blunt" I thought dryly feeling oddly tired.
That's when I noticed the threads attaching Glub-Glub to me. Tamashii no Kyōmei was activated.
"When the hell did that happen?"
I could only figure I left it on since my fight with Grimmjow or my sub conscience was being smart again and activated it during the fall.
Soon, we were at the wall that lead into Hueco Mundo. With matching kicks we all burst through the wall at the same time.
It was dimly lit by the moon out side. I looked around noticing, well nothing really. It reminded my of a hospital in a way.
The tiled floors, the white walls, and the fact it looked spotless.
"This is not what I expected" I stated turning to look down both ends of the massive hallway.
"I thought it would be more, uhh how do I put it?" I tapped my chin "Wild? Filled with crazy Hollows, kind like Doom or Resident Evil. Ya know?" I added
"Someone plays too many video games" Uryu muttered receiving a glare from me.
"I figured this place would be a pigsty" Ichigo nodded "It's actually pretty solid looking"
"Quit down. I'm sure they have some sort of invader-detection system and already know where here" Uryu hushed Ichigo
"Then why the fuck should we be quite?" I sneered at him
"Yeah. This would go a lot quicker if they came and found us anyway" Ichigo shrugged leading the way
"Karissa. You're extremely loud" Ichigo said taking me but surprise
"I didn't even say anything" I blinked
"Help me get their attention, will ya?" he added laughing at me
I brushed it off and agreed. Much to Uryu's dismay.
"Hey, if anyone's here show yourself!" Ichigo started yelling while he walked
"Oi Arrancar! Come out, you limp dick son o' bitches!" I grinned intending to start a yelling contest with him
I stopped and looked around feeling a little bit off. The feeling you get when something is about to go wrong, really wrong.
"Am I the only one who feels this is going to end up like the Temple of Doom?" I asked letting Glub-Glub crawl onto my shoulder.
"That's unlikely. It'll end up more like The Most Dangerous Game." Uryu played along leaving Ichigo in a state of confusion.
"Hasn't it always been kind of like that anyway?" I muttered watching Uryu sneak up to a corner and peak over it.
"It's safe" he confirmed while the rest of us walked past him.
Ichigo continued his yelling, Chad remained silent, and Uryu was not happy about our lack of subtly.
I think the point being subtle was pointless since we demolished a wall to get in.
"Can't we be a little more cautious!" Uryu yelled
"Ishida, calm down" Chad told him
"I am calm!"
With that he hit a wall which, ironically was a booby trap trigger.
"I am on a jinxing spree!" I almost laughed out loud watching the tiles start to drop
"Run!"
I'm not sure who yelled it but I fled like the Devil was on my heels. Like hell I was falling again.
I made it around the corner, which wasn't falling apart, first pulling Ichigo and Uryu to my side and reached for Chad.
Right as I had a grip on his wrist and he mine, the floor beneath him crumbled. Instantly, the other to rushed to help realizing I couldn't hold up Chad and almost fell in myself.
"This place sucks" I clutched my chest moving far away from the edge
"You just had to make a Temple of Doom reference, didn't you?" Uryu groaned catching his breath
"I'm not the one who pressed the trigger!" I barked at him
"This isn't the time or place to be arguing" Chad said stepping between the two of us, blocking our sight of each other.
"Yeah. Nobody got hurt. From now on no touching walls. Especially" Ichigo pointed at Uryu accusingly "You"
"It's your fault for pissing me off!" Uryu snapped back leading Chad to walk in between those two.
"Way to man up to your mistakes!"
Once again Uryu and I were clashing. Poor Chad didn't know what to do. If he stopped one fight another would break out.
Our clash ended quickly but the tension was there and we still kept glaring each other down as we walked.
"How long is this hallway!" Ichigo groaned bored with the lack of action
"Hey, I noticed how this hallway curves and is on a slant reminds me of the boulder scene"
I sweat dropped after I said this. The boys just grimaced hoping I was just being over imaginative.
"We've been walking forever. I can't sense anyone around here. Are we lost?" Ichigo whined some more
"We should reach something soon enough" Chad sighed
"Don't let you guard down, Kurosaki" Uryu warned
"I know! I am being careful!" he snapped back
Our hearts dropped seeing his foot go down farther than it should.
Click.
I slapped my forehead cursing our luck, or lack of it.
"This is… just like the last time" Ichigo pointed out over a loud rumbling noise.
"Karissa, do you know what that sound is?" Uryu sneered sarcastically
"A boulder. Probably a really big one"
"Yep" we both nodded seeing it turn the corner
"Talk about a classic trap" Uryu sighed pushing up his glass
"Don't admire it!" Ichigo snapped planning to run but he'd only end up at a dead end, literally
Chad pushed passed us like he has some kind of death with or something
"Oi!" I reached out to stop him from walking any closer to it
"Let this to me"
He didn't activate his power. Instead he stopped it with his bare hand. Sure he slid back a little but still it was impressive.
Even more impressive, he broke it with one bare handed punch.
"Holy catfish, Chad! That was badass!" I cheered giving him a high five which hurt my hand, a lot.
"I told you not to let your guard down!" Uryu hissed pointing accusingly at Ichigo.
"Oi, before we start another bullshit fight. Lets just point out that anyone could have stepped on it or punched it" I interjected so Chad could have a break from being the peacemaker.
"Yes but" Uryu slid his glasses up his nose "Only one person keeps talking about the Temple of Doom right before it happens"
"Oi! Quit blaming me! I've just been pointing out the facts" I retorted crossing my arms haughtily
"What facts?" Ichigo asked slapping a hand over Uryu's mouth
"The fact that whoever designed this place must have been an Indiana Jones fan and modeled it after it!"
Uryu snorted and said something but thankfully Ichigo's hand was still covering his pie hole.
"No more Temple of Doom stuff please"
Ichigo almost begged to which I agreed to because apparently I had some kind of magic doom bringing power.
A loud slapping noise echoed from behind us. Across the ceiling slid a large hand, by large I mean Jidanbou large.
"Who're you guys?" the shadowed figure attached to the giant arm growled
"Finally someone shows up!" Ichigo grinned reaching for his Zanpakutou but Uryu dragged him down the hallway followed by Chad and I
"Wh-why are we running?" Ichigo pouted "We finally ran into an enemy! It was the perfect time to ask him some questions!"
"This is exactly like the hospital fight! You're sword just going to get caught in the wall again!" I pointed out
"Exactly, we can't fight in a small area like this! What if it collapsed?" Uryu agreed
"That's it? There's on one way this place wi-"
"Idiot! Look around! Do you see any windows?" Uryu prompted "No, that means we're in the basement."
"Who cares if we're in the basement?"
Uryu let out a long sigh of annoyance while Ichigo continued to try and wriggle out of his grasp.
"I see the light~" I yelled out dramatically
The room was large and simple. It was brightly lit but was just like the basement, spick, span, and empty.
"You guys aren't going to complain if I fight here right?" Ichigo smirked grabbing the hilt of his Zanpakutou
"Said the man who whined the whole way here" I smirked right back at him
"I was not whining!" he grumbled indignantly
"A staircase! I'll go check it out!"
Uryu ran towards the staircase but was stopped mid way by a weird looking Arrancar popping up in his face.
The Arrancar had a beak like mask that covered majority of his face. It didn't look like he had legs either.
"Where are you going, invader?" he asked slowly
Stomping footsteps made me whirl around and stare at the hideous Arrancar blocking our exit.
Said Arrancar looked like his body was deformed and disproportionate. His arms were longer than they should be and his chin was almost nonexistent.
His mask covered the upper part of his face dripping from underneath the mask were two parallel purple streaks. Sprouting from the top of his head were thick dreadlock style brown locks.
"We've been caught in a pincer-attack." Uryu commented while I pulled out my guns
I turned around grouping with Uryu. Ichigo and Chad could handle the big guy, We'll handle the other one.
"Are they Arrancar too? The seem more like Hollows compared to most of the Arrancar I've seen. Ichigo chirped beginning to chat way. "Well I guess it doesn't matter. Stand back fo-"
Blam.
I looked at Chad incredulously. Sure Ichigo was being chatty but he didn't deserve an elbow to the face.
Ichigo tumbled to the other side of the room and sat up in a daze.
"The hell is your problem, Chad?" he wailed
I tensed feeling Uryu shift beside me like he was going to attack. I took one gun off the smaller Arrancar and aimed it at him.
"Don't even think about it" I warned squeezing the trigger to drive the point home
Uryu held up his hands defensively and Chad turned to look at me. Chad simply pointed from me to Ichigo.
"It's time for you two to stand back." He said lightly pushing me towards Ichigo
"Yeah. We'll take the lead this time" Uryu nodded
I hesitated but complied in the end. I was curious to see what Chad ability could do. Besides the Arrancar we're getting tired of waiting.
"Wait! What the hell are you guys talking about?" Ichigo shouted
"Reserve you strength until we find Inoue. Besides, I've learned about the Arrancar through Urahara. Apparently the group accompanying Grimmjow were a mixture of Gillian and Adjuchas class Arrancar. When a Menos Grande breaks off it's mask and becomes an Arrancar they take on a humanlike body"
Thus began Uryu's overdrawn explanation of things. I was surprised the two Arrancar in the room let him continue on with his speech.
"But only the most powerful class, the Vasto Lorde, has a one hundred percent chance of taking on a true human shape. A large number of the other to classes aren't able to fully take on a human form after becoming Arrancar."
Uryu walked closer to the bird like Arrancar with a smirk.
"And the lower the intelligence is, the more they resemble an ordinary Hollow"
That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The large one sent a downwards punch towards Uryu and by association Chad. They both got out of the way in time. The floor however, was tragically destroyed.
The smaller one sent little blasts of energy at Chad via weird long and bony hands.
"That was unforgivable" he scolded "Putting Demoura aside, you mean to say that I, Iceringer, am of low intelligence? That is absolutely unforgivable"
"Ice, don't make it sound like I'm the only stupid one around here" Demoura bellowed
Before anymore words could be exchanged, Uryu attempted to launch an attack but Demoura noticed and sent his large hand after him.
Chad made an attempt to hit Iceringer with one of his blast but the Arrancar quickly evaded it.
The fight was a stalemate for a while. They would attack but the Arrancar's would dodge or counter attack.
"Now!"
When Iceringer went to attack Chad, he and Uryu traded places and opponents. Then the tables turned.
Chad was able to land bone crunching blows on the large Arrancar and within moments he broke his mask and even threw the Arrancar around a little bit.
The outcome was similar for Uryu and his bow and arrow except he barely skimmed Iceringer.
"If the fight against one opponent is too tough, we can switch opponents for a better match." Uryu stated unbuttoning his cuff letting a pendant slid out from the cloth
"Thanks for explaining. I didn't catch that" I muttered sarcastically
"No problem. I wasn't sure how simple minded you are" he smirked turning the pendant into a large decorative shield looking bow.
"Is that a bow?" Ichigo asked making me slap my forehead
"Isn't it obvious?" Uryu sneered "do you think that I would use anything other than a bow?"
He pointed the bow at Iceringer and unleashed a storm of arrows with just one yank of the string.
Chad pummeled the drooling giant some more while Uryu chased around Iceringer until they stopped and started rapid firing at one another.
Uryu's arrows out numbered Iceringer's and that was it for the Arrancar.
Chad's battle was over almost immediately after. Chad ended the battle with an amazingly powerful shot to the Arrancar's stomach.
Our luck still didn't turn around because the walls began to crumble and shake.
"It's going to collapse" Chad said looking at the ceiling
"Because you guys tore the place up!" Ichigo hissed "And who was it that said we were in a basement?"
"You're wrong." Iceringer stated "That's how it was set up. Anyone who tries to go through here to get to Las Noches must be eliminated. If we are defeated, then we're all to be crushed as the area colla-"
"Time to go!" I cut in pushing the boys towards the staircase
As we ran up it an avalanche of sand swept us away but at least we made it out of the basement.
I jumped out of the sand shaking it out of my hair while the boys spit it out. Who opens their mouth when encased in sand?
"I can't believe we made it out!" Ichigo grinned shaking sand out of his robes
I looked around the desert like landscape. It was plain too. White sand. White moon. White stick trees.
"We'll this place is depressing" I commented not spotting any signs of life. "It's so empty and lonely"
"There's some plants…" Chad commented
"No" Uryu broke of a piece of branch "There made of some quartz like crystals."
"Look"
We all turned at the sound of Chad voice. Simultaneously spotting the large white building.
"That must be Las Noches" Uryu deducted
"Yep. Now lets go get Inoue!" Ichigo stomped forward having trouble walking through the sand so he started to run