Darkness
Chapter 37
Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Renji, Iba, and Ikkaku walked through the dimly lit sewers. It was quiet, with their footsteps echoing as they walked.
"We should be almost there," Matsumoto said.
"Just remember to stay on your guard, we don't know what we're going to encounter," Hitsugaya said.
"Do you think the others will be able to get past Aizen?" Ikkaku asked.
"We can only hope. After we've destroyed the cloning labs and genetic records, we should join up with them as soon as possible," Matsumoto said.
"Wait…do you hear something?" Renji asked.
"What?" Iba said.
"Listen? Can't you hear it?" Renji said. They listened carefully. A faint noise could be heard coming from beyond the sewer walls. It sounded like scratching and an occasional thump against the concrete. They stopped walking as they listened. The noise seemed to be getting louder.
"What the hell is that?" Iba asked.
"I don't know," Hitsugaya said.
They listened to the scratching and banging sounds. Suddenly, cracks began to form, and moments later, the wall burst open. An ear-splitting shriek pierced the air.
"It's them!" Matsumoto shouted, momentarily feeling dizzy from the sonic blast. Hitsugaya had his sword drawn almost immediately, and in a single swipe, lopped off the ugly head sticking through the hole in the wall.
Two more tried to squeeze through the hole, eager to get at their shinigami prey. Hitsugaya, Ikkaku, and Matsumoto stabbed at them, killing them as they struggled to get out. They waited until they were sure that no more were coming before bringing their swords down.
"What were they doing behind there?" Ikkaku asked.
"Maybe it's some sort of basement they got into or a storage area," Matsumoto suggested, "We should check it out."
"Okay, but be careful. We don't want to attract more of them," Hitsugaya said. Pushing the dead bodies aside, they crawled through the hole to the other side. Once they were through, they gasped in surprise.
They stood inside a massive structure made of grey stone and illuminated by strange crystals emitting greenish lights. They were on a rocky slope that went down about twenty more feet before becoming something of a regular floor. It was like the inside of a cave, with a high ceiling and numerous stone pillars, and large rocks, making the place like a giant maze of stone. It seemed very natural, not something one would find underneath a place like Seireitei.
"What is this place?" Renji said, awestruck by the sheer size of the place.
"Take a look at the floor," Hitsugaya said. They looked down, and to their horror, the remains of shinigami littered the floor.
"What…what on earth…"
"Training grounds," Hitsugaya said through grit teeth, "They've been putting Shinigami down here as training for the voornx." A look of pure disgust crossed everyone's faces as the implications of this set in.
"What now?" Renji said.
"If the voornx are here, then it means that this place has a direct connection to wherever they're produced. We'll have to go down and check it out," Hitsugaya said.
"There are probably more of them," Iba commented, "We'll have to be careful."
"Just remember everything we know. They have paralyzing bristles on their tails, their mouths are full of deadly bacteria, and their claws are covered in poison. If you get bit or scratched, you're as good as dead. Watch out for the sonic screech too. Their scales are troublesome, but the underbellies and the lower parts of the neck seem to be weakest. Still, you'll have to really focus your reiatsu onto your blade if you want to be able to successfully cut them. Now let's go."
They jumped off the edge of the slope and slid down. The place was slightly moist, and it was unusually quiet for a place full of vicious creatures. They walked through the place, their swords drawn and their eyes searching for more of the savage beasts. The massive stone pillars and rock formations connecting the floor and ceilings made the search difficult. Every once in a while they thought they saw movement behind a stalagmite or within a gap in a rock formation.
"I don't like this," Renji whispered, "It's too quiet…surely those three weren't the only ones."
"Shhh! If there are more then don't attract their attention idiot!" Matsumoto hissed. They continued to glance nervously around them. The stone pillars and rock formations essentially formed walls of a maze. They had no idea how big this place was and could not even remember which direction they came from. It was very tense, and every moment they half expected to hear the earsplitting shriek of a voornx pierce the air.
As they walked on, they noticed that the stone pillars and rock piles were becoming wider, and the areas between them becoming narrower, creating distinct pathways. They still didn't know exactly where it was that they were going, but knew that this was the best way to get to the origin of the voornx. Suddenly Hitsugaya froze.
"Wait…" he said slowly. Suddenly he turned around, slashing at a voornx that had leapt at him from behind, slashing the beast across the stomach. The creature got back to its feet, injured but still highly aggressive. Three more emerged from the shadows behind it, and a fourth emerged on top of a rock pile near them. Hitsugaya and the others tightly gripped their swords.
Hitsugaya clenched his teeth as he watched the five creatures stare at them menacingly. This area was too narrow to fight them in. Were these ordinary beasts, it would be to their advantage to fight in a place like this, but with monstrosities of which even a tiny bite or scratch was fatal, they couldn't afford to be in a position where they could not fully utilize their swords.
"We can't fight them here," Hitsugaya muttered, "Run!" They immediately took off in the opposite direction, with the voornx bounding behind them in pursuit. Hitsugaya stayed at the back as they ran, ready to fight the beasts off to let his subordinates escape if necessary.
As they ran, they saw one more creature in the path in front of them. If they stopped to fight it, the five pursuing them would easily catch up and overpower them. Thinking quickly, Hitsugaya directed them to a slightly narrower passageway to their left. They were now in an area so narrow that they had to run in a single file line. It was far too narrow to even swing their swords, meaning that if the pursuing voornx caught up, they were as good as dead.
As they ran through the dark passage, they noticed a light near the end.
"Hurry! This might be it!" Hitsugaya said, hoping that it would be a place where they could exit this underground area or at least a place where they could adequately fight. They ran as fast as they could until they finally reached the end of the passageway, finding themselves in a much larger circular area with no pillars and only a few rock formations. Surrounding it were huge walls of stone, of which there were eight pathways out of including the one they emerged from. The luminous green lights were stronger here than earlier.
As they stood at the center of the room, waiting for the voornx pursuing them, they noticed something else. Not only were there voornx coming from the passage that they had come from, the terrible beasts were emerging en masse from the other seven passageways.
"Captain…" Matsumoto said in shock.
"Yes, we fell right into their trap," Hitsugaya said through clenched teeth.
"To think they could outwit and corner us like this," Iba said, "Clever beasts…"
"What now?" Ikkaku asked.
"What other choice do we have?" Hitsugaya said, holding up his sword, "We fight!"
"That's just the answer I wanted to hear," Renji said with a determined smile, releasing his zanpakuto. Iba and Ikkaku did likewise. They formed a circle so that the creatures could not sneak up behind them.
The beasts watched carefully, blocking the pathways out but not making any move to attack. They simply watched the shinigami, snapping their jaws and swinging their long tails back and forth.
"What's going on?" Matsumoto whispered, "Why haven't they attacked?"
"Because I haven't ordered them to!" a voice loudly said. They looked up to see a flash of light. When it subsided, Momo Hinamori and Shuuhei Hisagi stood atop a ledge on the stone walls.
"You…" you Hitsugaya said, staring up at her in shock. This was the first time he had seen his old friend since she walked past him in his prison cell. She looked even worse than before, looking thin, gaunt, and pale. Her dry, grey-streaked hair hung loose, and her eyes were wide and angry looking. It was horrible to see his old friend in such an evil state.
"You really have become skilled, for you to have been able to hide your presence completely from us," Renji commented.
"That is nothing compared to what I am capable of," Hinamori said with a harsh laugh, "I transported this entire place from the outskirts of Rukongai using the forbidden Kukanteni. My powers have surpassed your wildest imaginations."
"We'll see about that," Matsumoto said defiantly, "What about you, Shuuhei? Why are you of all people going along with this?"
"My reasons are my own," Hisagi said, "Now die. Reap, Kazeshini." His zanpakuto transformed into his shikai, taking the form of two scythe-like weapons with double blades on opposite sides connected by a chain. He launched one of them at the group of shinigami below, only for Renji to lengthen his own shikai to block it.
"I don't know why you're doing this, but I'll have to stop you, Senpai," he said.
"Then so be it!" Hisagi said, running forward to attack.
"Growl, Haineko!" Matsumoto said, turning her zanpakuto to ash. She directed it towards three voorx guarding the largest of the pathways out of the area. The ash hit them in the face, and with a flick of Matsumoto's wrist, inflicted irritating wounds. The beasts let out a roar of pain, losing their cold, predatory cunning and charging straight at Matsumoto in anger.
Hitsugaya intercepted them, lopping the heads off of two of them and cutting the front legs off of a third, finishing it off with a stab to the side.
"Iba! Madarame! Go!" he commanded, taking advantage of the unblocked passage. Iba and Ikkaku immediately ran towards the now open path. Hinamori gave a hand signal, and most of the remaining voorx began to pursue.
Hitsugaya ran to intercept the beasts. As a captain-level fighter, he was able to pierce the tough scales that the others had difficulties with. Before he was able to take out any of the creatures though, Hinamori appeared in front of him, blocking a slash aimed for one of the creatures.
"I can't have you interrupting their little hunt," she said quietly, "Besides, I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Today will be the day that you die."
Thanks for reading! Thank you to Jaybird4909, AznVKai, Assault Godzilla, shortliketoshiro, PrincessOfHeartsNYP, Merciless Ruby, argella1300, snoopypet, and DW64 for reviewing! Please review!