Chapter 36 – Demons (A Mexican Fiesta)
The halls of Los Noches were incredibly empty. As if they were never to be used in the first place. Almost as if this was a temporary sanctuary...
Sado looked at the bone white walls, not understanding their purpose, but knowing that he had to move forward. Not for his sake, but for Inoue-san...
He knew that someone was nearby. He knew that he would have to fight soon...That's what he came down here for. Not only to save Inoue-san but to confirm his strength.
"I don't understand the deal with this kid..." a man, in a long white cloak, hood over his head, "Why did Kurosaki bring his friends in the first place? Gonna be hard to judge him now. And plus, all he's doing is exposing them to more danger anyway. What a shit friend, if I say so myself."
"It's fine, Rob," another man, one not wearing a hood, revealing short blonde hair, with a fuzzy blonde beard to match on his face, said, with a smooth British accent, matching his aged face.
"It's not fine. Lord Stevens, I know that you like to go with the flow, but the flow is disturbed now, and we need to make a decision now." The British man sighed and crossed his arms.
"The Kurosaki boy can make quite the impression if he manages to rid everyone of that pitiful shard inside. It would be nice to work with the threat of Hueco Mundo falling into the Abyss, can't you agree?"
"I can, Lord Stevens," Rob said, "But this is a mess..."
"Yes, but a glorious mess."
Sado walked into an extremely well lit, seamlessly empty white room, and stand still, waiting for the obvious trap to be sprung.
"So, what do we have here," a masculine voice sounded out, echoing through the wide room, "A child, wandering into the unknown, to face the unknown." Sado's right arm instantly was covered. An Arrancar, with a large orange afro, walked out, staring down the teen. Sado did not flinch.
"It seems you aren't afraid. That's good. Fear would lead to a hasty death." Sado remained quiet.
"No response. Fine. My name is Gatenbainne Mosqueda. Yours?"
"Sado Yasutora," the stoic teen responded. Gatenbainne smirked.
"Finally, a reaction."
Sado charged, delivering a straight right, which the Arrancar deflected with the back of his wrist. Gatenbainne's smirk fell, as he punished with his own strike, knocking Sado back into a wall. The Hollow reared back, and with a strong step, cratered the teen with another punch.
"Please don't tell me that's the extent of your power," he said, before backhanding Sado across the wall. The armored teen rolled to his feet and prepared another attack.
He charged again, this time preparing a right hook, which, again, was made negligible by Gatenbainne's wrist. This time, annoyance appeared on the Hollow's face.
"Absolutely pathetic," he said, delivering an uppercut to the chin, blasting Sado away, "That isn't going to be enough to proceed here, friend. Why did you come here, if this is going to be the performance you show." Sado stumbled back to his feet, blood dripping from his lips.
"Nothing more to say? I would hate for your last words to be your own name." Sado merely wiped the blood away. Gatenbainne chuckled.
"Fine. Try to keep up."
Adonii looked over the corpses of Dordoni and Zommari and frowned. He knew that the one named Kurosaki was strong, but this was ridiculous. To effortlessly dispatch an Espada. Even the element of surprise could not aid him that much... The Arrancar sighed, carefully stepping out of the room, to not further desecrate their bodies, when an Arrancar, with a skull mask appeared. Adonii's frown deepened.
"Exequias? What you doing here?" he asked. The Hollow did not respond.
"That's fine," Adonii said, blasting a Bala through the temple, "I'll get my answers the old fashioned way."
"I keep telling you, Sado Yasutora. You need to fight me with your full strength, or you will die," Gatenbainne said. Sado coughed up blood but returned to his feet.
"Good to see that you still got a bit of fight left." The Arrancar charged again, delivering three swift body blows, before knocking him back, with a heavy left hook. Sado slammed into a wall, before falling to a knee. The Arrancar's attack was not over yet, and Gatenbainne charged once more.
"Uno," Gatenbainne said, delivering a strong body uppercut, curving Sado's body.
"Dos." Another body blow, this time, a straight.
"Cientos," was said as a controlled flurry of punches landed, before the Arrancar slammed the youth into the ground, with a Cero infused overhead strike. Gatenbainne shook his head, walking back.
"What a disappointment, Yasutora Sado," he said, "I figured you were strong, but I guess I was wrong. If you are holding back, you might want to stop." Sado struggled to rise.
"I'm not holding back..." he said, "No, it's more accurate to say that I'm not releasing my full power." Gatenbainne rose an eyebrow.
"That sounds like holding back to me," he said, as his gauntlets surged with electricity. He charged forward and launching a fierce right...
And found himself walled.
"Ever since I came here, I felt as if there was something different. As if I could further grasp my powers here. As if this place was unlocking the potential deep inside me. I didn't think that I could control it before...
"Thank you for helping me master my power. Brazo Derecha de Gigante is the true form of my right arm." Gatenbainne smirked.
"Good! Now let's see what you can do now!" he shouted, charging forward, preparing an attack that never met its target. Sado beat him to the punch, literally, and knocked him back into a wall. Sado then, with no hesitation, prepared a follow-up, delivering a viscous body uppercut, before another uppercut, knocking the Arrancar into the ceiling. Gatenbainne fell and landed in an undignified clump.
"How impressive..." he said, rising slowly, "But it's still not enough to beat me!" The Arrancar attempted a spinning kick, but it was effortlessly deflected by Sado.
"Have you gotten slower," he asked, before delivering a spinning backhand, that knocked Gatenbainne through the wall, and into a whole new room.
"Damn it!" he shouted, as Sado followed him through the hole, arm surging. Gatenbainne raised his arms, know that he had no shot in defending himself.
A massive dust explosion, clouding the vision of the two was generated by the attack, and Sado landed calmly, trying to sense where his opponent was. A large spike of energy occurred so quickly that it almost gave him a headache.
"True form, huh," Gatenbainne said, smoothly, "You're not the only one with a true form, amigo." The now released Arrancar walked out of the cloud, with an almost impracticably large armor covering protecting his arms and his shoulders. Sado tightened his fists.
"Rugir del Dragón!" Gatenbainne shouted, as a massive yellow Cero, resembling a dragon's head erupted. Sado braced himself for impact.
"I got you hurt, Abuelo...I don't understand why you would defend me..." Sado said, as his adopted father laid back. Oscar Joaquín de la Rosa smiled and shook his head.
"I made a promise to defend you. Even when I know you probably deserve the punishment, you are a reflection of me. I have failed you, and thus, I knew that I need to be punished as well.
"You are a young man, similar to how I was when I was a young man. And I know you can change for the better, just as I changed for the better..."
Gatenbainne refused to believe that Sado was still standing. It was impossible. That was his strongest technique.
And yet, Sado still stood, dust swirling around him.
"While this is the true form of my right arm – the form my Abuelo took to forever protect me, I still have two arms..." Sado said, calmly, "And my left arm holds my offensive powers."
"You can't be serious," Gatenbainne said as if he knew what was coming next.
"Brazo Izquierda del Diablo is the true form of my left arm." Gatenbainne smirked.
Diablo, huh? Quite the arrogance, amigo!" he shouted, charging another Cero.
"No," Sado said, simply, catching the Cero in his right arm, "La Muerte." An insanely strong burst of power formed in his left hand, and was unleashed with an absolutely devastating straight to the midsection, which effortlessly shattered the armor of the Arrancar, and formed a terrifying skull behind him, before straight up destroying the wall, leading them outside.
"Where did she go?" Neliel said, sulking on top of her giant worm, when two figures, in distance, one normal sized, but the other having some of the most bizarre proportions that she had ever seen stood as if they were waiting for something. She jumped off the worm and told it to hide.
"What are they up to?"
"Gatenbainne, because of you, I was able to grasp my full power. So, to repay my debt, I shall leave you alive, and pray for your good fortune." The Arrancar did not respond. Sado looked up into the sky and narrowed his eyes.
"Wasn't this place supposed to be a dome? And wasn't it night before? How did it suddenly become day?" Gatenbainne's eyes shot open.
"Run!" he screeched. Sado turned back to him, to see two Arrancars standing over him.
"Yo. Are you the first one in?" the taller, much lankier, wielding a bizarre twin blade, resembling a scythe, one said. Without a moment's hesitation, Sado covered both of his arms. The Arrancar chuckled.
With a quick first step, Sado plunged his white fist into the chest of the taller Arrancar, who, in response, grinned savagely.
"That's it! Pitiful!" he said, as he swung his blade.
"Demons (A Mexican Fiesta)" by The Offspring