SHONEN ALLIANCE
CHAPTER 37
Power of the Earth
ICHIGO VS EARTHQUAKE JABESH
Naruto and Luffy stood back-to-back facing the two encroaching foes. Their foes, Kita the Flame and Siren the Tornado approached them maliciously, both hoping to reach the prize which stood between the two knights, the young Priestess, Shion. In a flash, Moka and Goku joined the battle, charging the two opponents. Goku grabbed Siren by the arm and flipped her over his back throwing her towards Moka and Kita. Moka round-house kicked Kita in the back of the head and continued through slamming Kita's face into the middle of Siren's back.
"Gum Gum Bazooka!" Luffy shouted pummeling Siren's stomach with his attack and sending them both flying into a nearby tree.
"Good work you guys!" Shion shouted not noticing a spike of rock that was headed for the back of her head.
"Getsuga Tensho!" a voice called out as a black blade of energy collided with the spike, knocking it away. Earthquake Jabesh landed behind the Priestess slashing for her torso but his attack was deflected as it connected with Ichigo's Zanpak-to.
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted slamming his spiraling ball of blue chakra into Jabesh's back which sent him spiraling into his two companions.
"Dark Magic Attack!" Yugi ordered as his Dark Magician blasted the area where the three had crashed. The blast kicked up a large amount of dust that hid the three foes from view. When it settled, the three warriors were burned and scarred slightly, but not seriously damaged.
"Darn it," Ichigo cursed under his breath.
"Guys!" Clare's voice called out to them.
"We have little time!" Teresa declared, "we must reach the sealing shrine as quickly as possible!"
"But we have enemies in front of us that we have to deal with," Flora said.
"These three are nothing special, I'll take them down," Renee said, "the rest of you keep moving."
"Forget it," Ichigo declared, "I'll be more then enough to handle these three by myself. The rest of you get moving. If this Morio guy is nearby, then you'll need as much power as you can get once you reach the shrine.
"Ichigo?" Renee replied questioningly, "are you sure you can handle them by yourself?"
"Bankai!" Ichigo shouted as a black aura covered him. When the aura faded, his Soul Reaper uniform had changed and his large claymore like Zangetsu had turned into the all black katana, Tensa-Zangetsu. "I'm sure, just leave this to me."
"We don't have time to argue," Teresa replied, "very well. I believe you can handle this Ichigo. We'll leave it to you."
"Got it. I'll finish this quickly and meet the rest of you at the sealing shrine," Ichigo replied. With that, the heroes separated, Goku and the others continuing their mission while Ichigo stayed behind to deal with their three pursuers.
….
"Pretty cocky, aren't ya," Kita mocked, "taking on all three of us by yourself. You must have a death wish."
"Pursue the girl," Jabesh suddenly ordered. His raspy voice made Siren and Kita jump. It was the first time either had heard their third member speak, "the girl must not be allowed to reach the sealing shrine. You will pursue her while I kill this one."
"You two aren't going anywhere!" Ichigo declared firing his Getsuga Tensho at the three enemies. His eyes widened with surprise as a giant mound of earth erupted from the ground and knocked the attack away. He was even more surprised to discover that the mound was actually Jabesh's arm.
"Alright, no choice but to let you kill him I guess," Siren declared, "let's go Kita!" she ordered as both sisters suddenly vanished.
"Hold it right there!" Ichigo ordered moving to pursue them. He was thwarted in his attempt, however, as a pile of rock hammered into him knocking him backwards.
"I will enjoy killing you. I'll tear your limbs off one by one and crush the life slowly out of you. It's been so long," Jabesh said sounding more and more deranged with each word, "SINCE I GOT TO TORTURE SOMEONE TO DEATH!"
"Let's get started then," Ichigo declared preparing for battle.
Jabesh made the first move, charging at Ichigo with his hands held to his side. Both fists suddenly turned to stone as Jabesh punched for Ichigo's head. Ichigo knocked one stone away with Zangetsu and leapt over the other one, slicing Jabesh's shoulder as he did. Jabesh clenched his teeth as a small amount of blood spurt from the wound.
"Good move kid," he said turning to face Ichigo. He had run at Ichigo so quickly that the hood covering his face had been blown away and for the first time, Ichigo got a good look at his opponent. The man's face was rough and cruel looking covered with scars over the nose and eyes, the left of which was missing entirely. The man's head was covered by long white hair and he wore a mask to cover his mouth and neck. Ichigo's face showed obvious disgust at the sight of the horribly disfigured man.
"You like my scars? All trophies gained from battle. Each one, the remnant of some poor sap whom I've tortured. A pretty boy face like yours that has experienced so few battles could never understand the beauty of my trade," Jabesh declared maliciously.
"And what's your 'trade'?" Ichigo asked.
"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Jabesh asked as large earthen spikes protruded from his arms, "I deal… in death." As he spoke the final word, the spikes suddenly shot from his arms aiming for Ichigo's legs. Ichigo leapt high in the air sailing over the projectiles.
"Getsuga Tensho!" he shouted firing his attack at Jabesh who once again blocked it by forming a large mound of rock around his arm.
"I look forward to adding another trophy to my collection!" he shouted firing more projectiles at Ichigo who knocked them all away with his sword.
"Keep dreaming psycho! I'm going to put you down right here right now!" Ichigo shouted landing and charging at his foe at blinding speed. Pushing his Bankai to its limits, Ichigo vanished from sight. Jabesh looked on in surprise as it suddenly appeared as though hundreds of Ichigo's were darting around the battlefield. Disoriented, Jabesh began flinging spikes in all directions hoping to strike the real Ichigo. Though he failed, he managed to interrupt Ichigo's path, forcing him to jump back several yards.
"You're fast," Jabesh declared turning to face the substitute Soul Reaper, "you'll provide a good challenge."
"I have to end this," Ichigo declared, "and catch up with the others. There's no more time to play around!" As he spoke, he moved his hand up to cover his face and an aura of black energy formed around it. The aura solidified forming a ghostly mask that was white on one side and black on the other. Ichigo had donned his Hollow Mask.
"Amusing, but what will a mask do for you?" Jabesh said mockingly.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo shouted firing his attack.
"Fool, that won't work against me!" Jabesh shouted raising his shield again. This time, the attack shattered through the rock slamming into Jabesh's torso.
"Gahhhhhhhhhhh!" Jabesh screamed as the attack propelled him backwards into a tree.
"Finished," Ichigo declared prematurely. His eyes showed obvious surprise as he heard laughing from the dust cloud created by the attack. Jabesh lay on the ground laughing. He was badly damaged but alive.
"You're strong to," Jabesh said sounding completely different from before, "ahhh what fun!" As he spoke, several deep cracks began to appear in his body, "we're going to have so much fun together!" he screamed, as his body seemed to explode. Ichigo had to hold up his arm to shield his face from the explosion. When the smoke cleared, Ichigo's eyes widened with surprise and fear as he saw the creature that now stood before him. The creature was like a statue, made completely of stone with the exception of the still white hair that had extended back across his back. It reminded Ichigo of the time he had seen Goku's Super Saiyan 3. Aside from the hair, the figure had almost no human aspects left at all. Six stone arms extended from his body. Four of them ended with sharp stone claws while the remaining two ended in a solid spear of earth. His legs two had morphed. He had four of them now, each with three earthen spikes protruding from the front of the foot and a fourth in the back, much like the feet of a reptile. The face had become a stone mask with a single slit across where the eyes should be. Finally, a long stone tail protruded from the back with four long stone spikes fixed to the end of the tail. The monstrosity was huge easily standing twice Ichigo's height despite being drastically slumped over, and for Ichigo, the sensation of facing this foe was not unlike that of facing a powerful Hallow.
"Frightened yet?" Jabesh asked in an unearthly voice that made Ichigo shiver, "don't worry, it won't last long! It will soon be forgotten as unbearable pain engulfs your entire body!" Jabesh charged at Ichigo holding the four arms with claws up to skewer his victim. Ichigo used a burst of speed and sped behind his foe slashing him in the back. Zangetsu harmlessly grazed off the thick earth that now covered his foes body.
"What the…!" Ichigo shouted as he was blindsided by the tail and sent sprawling.
"What's wrong, kid? Can't cut me anymore?" Jabesh mocked, "to bad, it looks like I've overestimated your strength. Maybe this won't be as much fun as I thought."
"This is far from over," Ichigo declared rising to his feet, "I'll beat you. Just you wait!" he shouted charging at his foe yet again. Jabesh stabbed at Ichigo with his spear arm but Ichigo sidestepped it plunging Zangetsu's point into the hard stone. There was a loud grinding noise as Ichigo charged past Jabesh dragging Zangetsu across the length of his arm leaving a small scratch in his opponents armor. Before Jabesh could recover, Ichigo quickly turned and fired his Getsuga Tensho which hit his foe at the base of his tail creating a large fracture. It's to hard even Getsuga can't damage him. What can I do? His entire body is covered in this stone, what can I do? Ichigo thought. His eyes suddenly widened as realization set in, he does have an opening. His eyes! They aren't covered! It's a long shot, but I've got to try! Going full speed, Ichigo began to speed around his foe.
"That technique won't work on me!" Jabesh shouted holding his arms out to his sides and firing out a barrage of spikes. "DIE!" As he shouted, Ichigo suddenly appeared right in front of him. "What!" Jabesh shouted as Ichigo slammed the point of Zangetsu deep into the eye slit.
"GETSUGA TENSHO!" he shouted as Ichigo fired his attack into the visor. The armor began to crack and black light shone from the inside. Ichigo leapt back as Earthquake Jabesh blew into pebbles.