Chapter 38: El Jabalí y el Puerco Espín
Tesla slashed down at Dondochakka's head, but the large fighter dodged out of the way. "SCARY!" He cried and took off.
"You will not get away from me," Tesla stated as he chased after him. He's surprisingly fast for someone his size.
Dondochakka ran for quite some distance, until he couldn't see Grimmjow or Nnoitra in the distance. He smirked under his mask.
"Whew... I finally..." He huffed and puffed, "built up... the... spirit... to fight you..."
"Do not lie to me, Dondochakka Birstanne. I know that you have grown exponentially in power in the last week. Which means that you shouldn't be this tired. Or even intimidated. Enough is enough, Birstanne. Your act grows old. Why must you even do it?"
Dondochakka straightened, and he gripped his Kanabo. "To keep Grimmjow from worrying about how my fight will go. He's the kind of guy that the phrase 'out of sight, out of mind' describes him to a T. I also didn't want you to get involved with the battle."
"Espada Sexta doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would worry about his comrades."
"Yes, you're right. He's not worried about me. He's only worried about wanting to fight Nnoitra one on one. If I get killed, then you'd help your master if he was on the brink of defeat. And Grimmjow doesn't want that to happen."
Tesla nodded. "Ah. I understand your motivations, now, Birstanne. But you will still have to die."
"No one has to die," Dondochakka said, "this isn't necessarily a battle to the death."
"If I lost one more battle that should be to the death yet survive, I'll never forgive yourself."
"Why? You're alive, aren't you?"
"IT MEANS I FAILED!" Tesla screamed, "my master gave me an order and I didn't fulfill it! I'd rather be a dead failure than an alive one!" He tightened his grip on his sword and readied. "No more talking."
Dondochakka nodded and held his Kanabo out toward him. Tesla thrust his sword toward the large Arrancar, who effortlessly blocked the attack and swung his large weapon at him. Tesla somersaulted over the attack and landed in a crouched position. From his crouch, he lunged toward Dondochakka with another attack.
Dondochakka calmly shot a Bala in his face, which knocked Tesla back a step. Dondochakka slammed his weapon into Tesla's legs, which buckled underneath of him. The taller Arrancar hit the ground, but flew out of the way of another attack.
Tesla rose back to his feet. He wasn't trying to break my bones there. He hit me just over my kneecap with a downward swing, so it would buckle my knees rather than break my leg. Perhaps he did that unconsciously. Still, his lack of killing intent will lead to my victory.
Grimmjow and Nnoitra were engaged in a sword lock. Both grinned at the other while Nnoitra pushed Grimmjow back a few steps.
Nnoitra flung his weapon at him, but Grimmjow effortlessly dodged the attack, then he Sonido'd out of the way of it coming back to the Quinto's hand. Grimmjow's smirk broadened and he looked down his nose at his opponent. "If that's all you've got, then this fight is as good as over. Why don't you use your Resurreccion? You can't beat me like this."
"As far as I remember, I'm the one who's pushing you back, asshole!" Nnoitra growled, his grin transforming into a scowl. "Screw you!" He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, revealing the number five on his tongue. Yellow energy began building up.
Grimmjow lazily stabbed his sword into the ground but didn't move.
"QUIT MOCKING ME!" Nnoitra howled as he launched a massive golden Cero at the Sexta.
Grimmjow quickly slid his fingers against his blade, causing blood to drip off of his hand. Energy energy shot all around his hand, and he gripped his forearm with his free hand to aim it. "GRAN REY CERO!"
Golden and azure energy slammed into each other, and seemed even for a moment. But then the blue energy expanded and completely over took the other energy so fast that Nnoitra had no time to dodge.
"Screw you, Grimmjow..." Nnoitra said weakly. Smoke cleared, revealing that Nnoitra's Espada uniform had been torn to pieces at his chest and arms, and his chest had been severely burnt from the blast.
The Sexta yanked his sword from the sand and sheathed it.
"How the hell can a lower ranking Espada cancel out my attack?" Nnoitra growled, "and you even managed to burn me! How the hell is that possible?"
"It's true that the Espada are based on spirit energy alone, and not combat. But the fact is I used a much more powerful technique than you." Grimmjow pointed at him, "your arrogance blinds you, Quinto. You used a regular Cero against an Espada-level opponent. If I was stupid enough to try to counter with standard Cero, I'd be the one who was burnt now."
Nnoitra clenched his jaw and lifted his weapon above his head. Yellow energy shockwaved around him. "DAMN YOU TO HELL!" He roared, "Pray! Santa Teresa!"
Grimmjow drew his sword majority of the way out, while scraping his fingers against the blunt side of the weapon. "Grind, Pantera!"
Tesla momentarily paused and turned in the direction of the battle with Grimmjow and Nnoitra. "It seems that my master has released his Zanpakuto. If it was time for him to use that technique, I will do the same."
Dondochakka took a preemptive leap away from him.
"Gore them, Verruga!" Spirit energy steamed through the area. In front of Dondochakka now stood a massive anthropomorphic warthog creature. His mask now covered his entire face, and he had a pair of tusks sticking out.
Tesla punched down at Dondochakka, who narrowly dodged. Tesla followed up with a punch from his other hand, but Dondochakka rolled out of the way. As his fist was still in the sand, Tesla shot a bala, which made sand go flying everywhere. Dondochakka flew up into the air to avoid being blinded. The unreleased Arrancar looked down at his massive opponent. I can't keep up with him in this state. Sooner or later he'll crush me with his insane strength.
Tesla suddenly shot off of the sandy ground and into the air, punching at Dondochakka. The smaller Arrancar opened his mouth and a massive snake-esque hollow flew right out of Dondochakka's mouth, and right at the released Arrancar. Tesla slammed his massive fist into Bawabawa's head, sending the beast flying through the air.
Still in the air, he punched at Dondochakka once again. This time, the smaller Arrancar blocked by slammed his Kanabo into his opponent's fist. While it was a large kanabo, it's size was dwarfed compared to Tesla's fist.
"Looks like I'll have to release my Resurreccion. Impale, Afilado!"
Ceros and Bala send sand and dust into the air. "DAMN IT!" Yammy howled. "Quit moving around!"
Still, Mosqueda and Ulquiorra effortlessly dodged the large Arrancar's assault. Yammy drew his sword and slashed down at Mosqueda, who Sonido'd into the air and gathered lightning energy around his Zanpakuto- a pair of two-pronged push daggers with stuck out on either side of his hands. The Privaron Espada's attack landed hard on the Diez Espada's shoulder.
Yammy groaned in pain and mindlessly swung his sword at him. Mosqueda dodged the attack just as easily as he did before.
The Cuarto casually walked toward him, with one hand in his pocket. The Diez shivered and leapt into the air to avoid him.
Mosqueda grunted as he leapt into the air, and kicked Yammy back down toward the ground.
Yammy slammed hard into the ground, right at Ulquiorra's feet. The superior Espada looked down at him and he slowly lifted his hand. Yammy rocketed back to his feet, before realizing that he now had a massive gash on his chest and shoulder. "DAMN YOU!" He roared as he stumbled away from him.
"I am willing to bet that you didn't even see that attack," Ulquiorra stated. "Stand down now, Yammy."
Yammy ground his teeth and punched down at him. The Cuarto dodged and thrust his hand into Yammy's stomach, causing blood to pour out of the wound.
"BASTARD!" Yammy howled and he drew his sword. "You'll regret the day you joined the Espada, you scum!" He knew Mosqueda was creeping toward him from behind, but he didn't turn around yet. Instead he swung a massive arcing attack with his sword. With a two handed swing like that, it could cut entire buildings in half. He missed Ulquiorra's head by around a foot, although that wasn't his intention.
He spun his entire body around with the swing, attempting to slash the Privaron. His eyes widened when Mosqueda was suddenly in the air, punching him hard in the nose with an electric punch.
Yammy collapsed to the ground, and looked up at the night sky in a daze. The taste of dust and iron filled his mouth. Iron? He rubbed his upper lip, and sure enough, blood was rushing out of his nose. "My blood being drawn from a Privaron Espada's punch? WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS?" His energy boomed around him. "ENRAGE! IRA!"
Rafael didn't look happy. He glared at Menoly and Loly from under his eyebrows, with his nose wrinkled in disgust. For what seemed like an eternity he stood there staring at them. Hatred burned deep in his soul.
"What the hell is your problem?" Loly asked. "You're an Arrancar, you should relish in a fight. But you look really pissed off. What's wrong with you?"
"Arrancar relish in the ability to fight strong opponents, dumbass."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Loly asked, drawing her knife from her thigh.
"It means you're weak!" He roared, sending spiritual energy all around the area. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a black glove, with rather long blades coming from the tips of the fingers. "Never once have I meet a female opponent who is worthy of fighting!"
"Someone never meet Harribel! Or Nelliel!" Loly shouted back.
"Those names mean absolutely nothing to me," he growled as he began to step toward the duo.
"Loly," Menoly called.
"Yeah?" Her comrade asked.
"Arguing with people like this is impossible. The only way to get through to him is to prove him wrong."
"How the hell're you gonna prove me wrong?" He asked, laughing. "You're fighting two on one! That's how weak you guys are. You wouldn't stand a chance one-on-one, so you fight with two."
"Don't listen to him," Menoly said, "he's trying to break our formation. And if he does that, he's one step closer to defeating us."
"Good, good..." Rafael sneered. "At least one of you is smart. Just so you know, before I kill you..." a sinister smirk crossed his face. "I'm going to toy with you a little. I'm going to make you bleed before I pierce your throats."
Loly opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly he was behind her, and blood dripped from her cheek. Before she could even turn, he was gone.
"Is that even Sonido...?" She asked, rubbing her cheek. "He's so fast..."
"It's not just Sonido." Menoly said, rubbing some blood off of her arm. She got cut too. "He's neutralizing his spirit energy, so it's even harder to track him."
"You coward!" Loly called. "Stand still and fight like a man!"
A distant laugh was his only response.
Sung-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apacchi had surrounded Renzo, who appeared to be alone. But in a matter of seconds two other Arrancar arrived at their flanks. Sung-Sun remained facing Renzo. Mila Rose readied to battle Paula. Apacchi prepared for Priscilla.
We have never been surrounded before, Sung-Sun thought, so that means when they surrounded us, we're going to have to come up with a completely different strategy from scratch. We have no problem fighting multiple opponents, but we haven't been outmaneuvered this easily before.
"We'll have to fight them one-on-one," Apacchi stated, almost as if she was reading her mind.
But before either of the Tres Bestias could respond Renzo growled loudly, catching everyone's attention- including his two teammates. "ONE-ON-ONE?" He howled. "IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID?"
He suddenly fired a Bala from his mouth, which slammed into Sung-Sun's chest at almost point blank rank. He suddenly blitzed passed her and punched Apacchi hard in the side of the head, sending her flying through the air. Mila Rose spun to attack him but he wrenched his hand around her throat and flung in the opposite direction.
"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU MYSELF!" He roared.
Sung-Sun drew her sword and attempted to stab him in the back, but Paula blocked with her rapier.
"STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" Renzo called as he rushed toward the two. He rammed Paula to the side with his shoulder, effectively removing her her blade clash with Sung-Sun. Sung-Sun attempted to stab him, but he grabbed the weapon before it hit him with one hand, and with the other he grabbed he forearm and flung her over his shoulder and into the sand.
He followed up with a stomp, but Sung-Sun blocked the with the blunt side of her trident.
"I said I could handle it, didn't I?" He asked his two companions without taking his eyes off of Sung-Sun- or even removing his foot from her weapon. "Stay the hell out of my way, or I'm going to kill you."
"She would have cut through you like Swiss Cheese, you dumbass!" Paula clenched her fists. "FINE! If you want to die, then go ahead!"
Now that he lost the element of surprise, he'll surely die. Priscila thought. But if that's what he wants, that's what he wants. I'm not going to stop him.