07:20 a.m. JST, 18 minutes after Winter War Declaration
Strenuous, strengthened we hold
In empty hands of singing sorrow
A song of ends untold
Different paths for a different tomorrow.
Realizing just how many opponents they were facing, Keigo Asano found himself sobering up very quickly. His eyes were bulging from his head, watching as friend and foe were starting to pair up, predatory dances and tense conversation filling the battlefield. He was nearly frozen in fear, unsure what to do. He hadn't anticipated feel so useless, his body freezing up. What do I do? His mind screamed. The battle is starting and I'm terrified! His hands began to shake, willing himself to form his augmented arm cannon.
"Yo, kid," Grimmjow growled, glancing at him. "Ya should take cover. This is gonna get real ugly."
"No way!" Keigo shouted back, his voice cracking a little. "I'm here to fight, man!"
"Kid, ya look ready to piss yer pants."
Keigo couldn't argue that, but his mind was made up. No matter how scared he was, he was going to fight. There was no way he was going to wait it out on the sidelines. He felt the cold metal of his cannon creep up his arm and solidify. "I said I'm good, man," Keigo said, clearing his throat a little. He barely made eye contact with Grimmjow as he lifted his arm. "This is my home I'm protecting, after all."
Grimmjow's lips parted for a moment, ready to argue. This kid was shaking like a leaf, no matter how determined his face looked. But the words were ripped away as a long, white tentacle wrapped around him, lifting him high into the air.
"GRIMMJOW!" Keigo screamed, running towards the ledge of the rooftop. He spotted the Espada attached to the tentacle, Luppi Antenor's smug expression meeting his eyes for a second. As quickly as he could, he raised his cannon, a silver ball of energy forming at the end of the barrel. "LET HIM GO!" Keigo shouted, preparing to fire.
Lavender eyes flashing in the morning light, Luppi pulled two of his tentacles forward, blocking Keigo's line of sight with two struggling Shinigami. The strained faces of Rukia and Rangiku hid Luppi, a cold pang shooting through Keigo's soul.
"If you care about your Shinigami friends here," Luppi called out, "you'll hold your fire." He giggled a little, watching the anger and helplessness fall over Keigo's face.
"WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?!" Grimmjow yelled, glaring down at Luppi with feral rage. "NEVER SEEN A POOR EXCUSE FOR AN ESPADA LIKE YA BEFORE!"
A terrible look crossed Luppi's face, a mixture of rage, joy, and madness. "Ah, so we meet at last, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez," he called up to the dangling Espada. "You're just as pathetic as Lord Aizen said you'd be! Pairing up with a human." He shook his head with disapproval, his toothy grin still plastered on his face. "I'm Luppi Antenor," he proclaimed loudly, "The Quinto Espada!"
Grimmjow was practically spitting in rage. "THE HELL YA ARE!" he screamed. "I'D RATHER ACCEPT THAT HUMAN GIRL AMELIA AS AN ESPADA BEFORE I'D ACCEPT YER SORRY, SQUIRMY ASS!"
As he screamed, his waist and torso began to burn with constriction, feeling as if his body were going to snap in half. His eyes closed as he grimaced in pain. Rangiku and Rukia cried out as Luppi's grip on them tightened as well, lifting them higher in the air. The look on Luppi's face was a little terrifying, as his toothy grin was still present, but his eyes began to twitch. "And you're just a washed up Privaron!" Luppi hissed through clenched teeth. "If I were you, I'd shut the hell up and die!"
"EAT SHIT!"
Luppi realized he'd made a mistake focusing on Grimmjow, feeling the impact of a silver blast against his chest. The blast lasted for what felt like forever, releasing a terrible roar into the cold, serene sky. The tentacles' grip on the three victims loosened, allowing them to fall free and catch their footing.
The blast ceased quickly, smoke wafting from the barrel as Keigo lowered his arm. He was panting slightly, feeling the intense build up of spirit energy leaving his body. It felt like a weight of his chest, and his head was starting to spin a little. Is my concussion still messing with me, he wondered, or am I more exhausted than I thought I was?
"Keigo!" Grimmjow shouted, pushing through the smoke. "Ya good over there, kid?" He could just make out the human through the smoke cloud, but he could see he was still on his feet.
Rukia and Rangiku stood near Grimmjow now, coughing a little. "That was a close call," Rukia choked out. "I thought for sure Keigo's blast was going to hit us."
"It nearly did," Rangiku said, waving the smoke away. "I think he singed my robes a little." She pouted a little, frowning. "Captain Hitsugaya's not going to be happy that I let my new robe get ruined. This was my third one this month!"
Grimmjow grimaced, glaring at the two Shinigami. "Are ya seriously gripin' about yer clothes, Shinigami?!" he hissed. "That kid just saved yer ass!"
"I wasn't complaining about him saving us!" Rangiku argued, folding her arms. "What's your deal?"
Rukia met Grimmjow's eye for a moment. A weird mixture of anger and confusion filled her as their gaze held for those mere seconds. This was the Espada who had ripped a hole through her with ease and tossed her aside not that long ago. Technically, Grimmjow was her enemy, and a part of her wanted nothing more than to encase this bastard in ice and watch him splinter into a million pieces. But the rest of her realized that, despite how she felt, he was on their side now, more or less. They needed to work together.
"No fighting, you two," Rukia said at last, looking at Rangiku at last. "We need to regroup and finish off this Espada quickly."
"We?" Grimmjow asked, glaring at Rukia. "Whaddya mean we? This is my fight with this pathetic worm! I don't fight with Shinigami!" He bent at the waist glaring at Rukia. It was then he recognized her at last. "Oh, yer that girl," he said. "The one that Kurosaki was all up in arms about when we fought!" His grin grew dangerous, spreading behind his mask fragment. "Rukia Kuchiki, was it?"
Rukia went rigid, meeting his gaze full on. Her violet eyes were like steel, staring daggers into the Espada. "I am Rukia Kuchiki," she replied, her voice hard. "And, if I were you, I'd take any help I could get. I doubt Keigo would be the best partner to have against another Espada." She took a step forward, their faces less than a foot away from each other. "And I don't make a habit of fighting with Espada either," she said in a low voice, "but when it comes to the future of our world, I tend to become a little less picky."
"Guys!" Rangiku called out, trying to pull Haineko from her sheath. "Look o-!"
She was cut off as a tentacle hit her from the side, knocking her into Rukia and Grimmjow. Their bodies smashed into the building that Keigo stood on, shaking it violently. Brick and plaster tumbled down towards the empty street. Keigo lost his foot on the ledge, falling as well. He was too surprised to scream, his body plummeting towards the asphalt.
To Keigo's surprise, the ground never rose to meet him. Instead, when he opened his eyes, he saw a long white tentacle dangling him a few feet from the ground. "How interesting," Luppi called out to him, bringing him closer to his face. Lavender eyes met his as he dangled upside down. "You're absolutely petrified," Luppi said, "yet you still insist on prancing around and play war with the rest of us. How cute!" He giggled, grabbing a fistful of Keigo's hair and yanking him closer. Keigo flinched and bit the inside of his cheek but said nothing.
"It'd be interesting to see what would happen if I ate your soul," Luppi said. "You seem to possess an amazing amount of spiritual energy at the moment, though it's fluctuating and flowing out of you like crazy!"
"Well, you better hurry if you're gonna do that," Keigo said, his voice strained by the intense squeezing from Luppi's tentacle. "You're squeezing the life out of me and I might burst any moment." He flashed Luppi a goofy grin, laughing a little.
Luppi grimaced, his eye twitching a little. "You seem a little too eager to taunt someone more powerful than you," he hissed. "Are you hiding some sort of trick up your sleeve or are you just suicidal?" His eyes travelled to Keigo's arm cannon and realized it had long disappeared. He seems to have given up, Luppi thought. Pathetic! A small side smile formed on his face.
"Does it really matter?!" Keigo wheeze, struggling a little. "You seem ready to kill me either way!"
With a shrug, Luppi lifted Keigo higher. "I guess not," he said, preparing to toss Keigo. "Either way, when you die, there will be no where for your soul to go!"
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!"
A sudden blast of icy air pushed outwards, the buildings surrounding them shuddering. The blast was enough to stun Luppi, his grip on Keigo loosening a little. Keigo felt as his body began to slip, one of his arms dangling now. A small smirk appeared on his tired face, an idea forming.
"Was that your Shikai, Shinigami?" Luppi called to Rukia, who held her zanpakuto out menacingly. "What an interesting little toy!"
Rukia's eyes narrowed, the white ribbon of Sode no Shirayuki in a perfect circle around her. "Release the human," she called to him.
"That's my line, Kuchiki," Grimmjow grumbled, stumbling next to her, his zanpakuto drawn as well.
"Who cares who says it?!" Rukia said, glaring at him for a moment.
Luppi smirked again, wiggling the tentacle that held Keigo. "Aw, but I was just having some fun with this little human!" he called back. "But if you ins- YEOW!" He screamed, his head snapping towards Keigo.
A frenzy of silvery energy emitted from Keigo's hand, sending a small blast into the tentacle that held him. Small cracks formed under his palm, shattering small white fragments and causing smaller cracks to creep along the surface slowly. "You're really bad at paying attention to your opponents," Keigo said weakly, "especially for someone who seems to enjoy taking on multiple opponents at once."
In disgust, Luppi tossed Keigo away. "FOOL!" he shrieked. "YOU'RE PATHETIC IF YOU THINK YOU CAN RUIN MY RESURECCION WITH AN ATTACK LIKE THAT! YOU ANT!"
Keigo felt two hands holding him up, gentle but firm. He looked up to see Rangiku flashing him a small, flirtatious smile. "Hey kiddo," she chirped. "It's nice that you want to help us out, but maybe you should sit this one out, huh?" She knew he would try to fight back and say he was in good enough shape to fight. However, his energy was spiking like crazy. At the rate he was going, he could very well short circuit and go into a coma, or worse.
"I'm fine, Rangiku!" Keigo said, trying to brush her off and stand on his own. "This is just getting good." He held his sides with one arm, panting a little. He figured there would be a nasty bruise later, and he'd have to hide that from Mizuho for a while.
"Yeah," Rangiku said, lifting her zanpakuto, "but you don't look so -!"
A whirlwind of tentacles cut her off, knocking them both back a bit. With a crazed look in his eyes, Luppi laughed. "Enough chatter!" he cried. "Time to kill you all!"
Rukia and Grimmjow backed away in time. "This guy's a pest!" Grimmjow growled. "And he claims to be a rank above me, eh?! This is the best he can do? Hah!" He raised his sword, prepared to attack. He leapt forward, prepared to lodge his blade in the small Espada's head, clean through his crazed grin. However, he didn't get too far, as Luppi angled his tentacle whirlwind upward, knocking Grimmjow back with a loud smack.
"Don't get ahead of yourself!" Rukia shouted. "I have a plan!"
Landing with a thud on the rooftops again, Grimmjow groaned. "Oh?" he said. "And when were ya fancyin' on tellin' me about yer little plan, Kuchiki?"
Rukia glared at him. "I was about to before you decided to rush off!" she said indignantly. "Now pay attention, will you!"
Meanwhile, Rangiku coughed, getting to her feet again. "Boy, this guy's going to be a pain," she groaned. "That's going to leave a nasty bruise. Good thing it's no longer bathing suit season!" She turned to Keigo, worried. "Are you okay?"
"Never better," Keigo said, wiping his face. The weight of Rangiku's body had agitated his now-tender torso. She didn't even land on me boob-side, he lamented. "What's the plan?"
"Plan?" she said, glancing back up at Luppi. She noticed they were on the other side of his whirlwind, with Rukia and Grimmjow opposite them. Damn, we got separated, she thought. "I would use my Shikai," she mused, "but with this whirlwind, I doubt Haineko would reach him. Hell, it might just backfire into our faces." Her eyes were lost in thought, serious for the first time Keigo had known her.
"Don't you know anymore of those weird spells?" Keigo asked after a moment. "Ya know, like the kind that you used to knock out Renji with? Only, like, better?"
A light filled Rangiku's eyes, glancing at him. "That's not a bad idea," she said, "but I have to be careful about what kind of Kidō I use. With a whirlwind like this, it could backfire and hit Rukia and… what was the name of that Espada again?"
"Grimmjow," Keigo answered.
"Right, him," she said flippantly, returning her attention to Luppi. "Well, let's see what I can do…" Eyes closed, she extended her arms outwards. Her lips moved a little, but no words formed for a moment. Then, with decisive movement, she brought her hand towards her chest, brows furrowed. "Hadō #54," she proclaimed loudly, "Haien!" She pushed her arm outward quickly, followed by an oblong burst of purple energy. The burst hurdled towards the whirlwind, exploding on the tips of the tentacles.
With a terrible shriek, Luppi pulled his tentacles back to his torso, two of them burned halfway down. He glared at Rangiku with terrible rage. "YOU BITCH!" he screamed. "NOW I NEED TO REGROW TWO NEW ONES!"
"Good plan, Rangiku," Keigo said, hands on his hips. "Even if that was last minute thinking, it seemed to stop him for a moment."
With a small wave, Rangiku laughed. "You flatter me!"
Before Luppi could rush her, a quick kick knocked him downwards. His body hit the ground with a loud thud, dirt flying up into the air. "Ya complain too damn much!" Grimmjow called down to him, grinning from ear to ear. "Are ya sure yer here to fight, or just to flex yer ugly Resurrección?"
Spitting up a bit of dirt, Luppi laughed and brushed himself off. "That's funny, coming from someone who has yet to use their own Resurrección!" he shouted back. The two damaged tentacles fell off, the two holes on his back closing and twitching. "Why do you hold back!? You scared, Grimmjow?"
With a bitter laugh, Grimmjow pointed his zanpakuto down towards Luppi. "Now why would ya think I'd be scared to use my power, newbie?" he taunted. "Maybe, unlike you, I actually like to savor my fights. I think the only reason ya instantly used yers was because yer scared!" He bent at the waist, gloating. "Am I right?"
"HAH!" Luppi retorted. The two closed holes on his back were twitching quickly, grotesquely. "AS IF A QUINTO ESPADA WOULD BE AFRAID OF A SEXTA! YOU'RE DELUSIONAL!"
"Well, yer definitely a Quinto," Grimmjow retored. "Yer just as fucked in the head as Nnoitra ever was."
"And you're as useless as the other Sextas who came before – and after – you!" Luppi screamed back.
"Why don't ya come up here and say that to my face, ya bastard?!" Grimmjow roared. "I'll show ya how useless I am!"
Two tentacles burst out of Luppi's back, wet with bodily fluids, twitching for a moment before tensing up. "GLADLY!" he spat back, launching into the air. "PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Some no Mai, Tsukishiro!"
Rukia's voice echoed through the chaos, a sudden cold shift filling the air. Swiftly her zanpakuto danced, forming a perfect circle. From the circle emerged ice crystals that formed slowly at first, then shot up into the air, forming a column that seemed to reach the sky.
Luppi stopped short in his ascent, his body jerking to his left. Three of his tentacles were stuck, frozen in the ice column. A terrible pain filled the left half of his body as he fell backwards, dangling for a moment near the ice column. Behind the reflection of his wide lavender eyes, he could see his tentacles cracking, splintering as the column prepared to shatter. "Y-you missed me, Shinigami!" he called to Rukia through clenched teeth.
"Not exactly," Rukia replied, instantly appearing near Grimmjow. "I figured I wouldn't be able to get you fully into the column. You would have spotted me instantly as I tried to take position behind you." She glanced up at Grimmjow before she continued, "I made sure Grimmjow had you distracted so I could take out as many of your tentacles as I could." Sode no Shirayuki glimmered in the sunlight.
"So, no, Espada," she said. "I did not miss."
With a terrible crack and roar, the column shattered, ripping the three tentacles out of Luppi's back. Blood dripped down his white uniform, his eyes wide with pain. He fell to the ground again, in shock from the sudden pain and loss of limbs.
"Well, I wish that killed him," Grimmjow murmured, "but I guess this means I get to crush his skull between my hands!" He grinned at Rukia. "I guess yer not as useless as I thought ya were, Kuchiki."
Rukia said nothing, turning towards Rangiku. "Are you two alright?" she called to them.
"We seem to be fine," Rangiku said, standing next to Rukia. "What's our next step now?"
"I'll tell ya what we're gonna do next!" Grimmjow replied, laughing. "We're gonna crush this guy while he's down!"
Before they could stop him, Grimmjow hurled himself downward, aiming for Luppi's head with his curled hand. He was eager to tear Luppi's head from his shoulders. The panther was ready to play.
Reaching back, Luppi coated his hand in blood and smeared it over his right eye. "Die!" he screamed, a blast of lavender energy shooting upwards. It widened as it reached Grimmjow, whose face fell as he realized he was too late to avoid the blast of Luppi's Gran Rey Cero. "THE HELL?!" he screamed, feeling the blast hit his chest and knock him back.
"GRIMMJOW!" Rukia screamed. "WHAT THE HELL?!" She ducked away from the blast, the energy from it nearly enough to knock them all back. The heat was so intense she wondered if her skin was blistering.
As the blast disintegrated, the world seemed to lighten up once more. From the ground, Luppi coughed, trying to stand once more. "You damn bastard," he hissed, his pupils small and twitchy. He looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. When Aizen had created him, telling him that his rank would provide him with power over his enemies, he'd believed this battle would be a walk in the park. Yet, somehow, his opponents possessed more strength than he was informed of. Even the human possessed power! He snarled, loosening the destroyed tentacles on his back. This is severely draining my energy, he thought. If I continue to let the Shinigami to destroy my tentacles, I'll be dead in the water! He roared as the three tentacles dropped out and fell to the ground.
"You think you can just defeat me with brute strength, Grimmjow?!" Luppi screamed, his voice starting to go hoarse. "You absolute idiot! I AM ABOVE YOU IN RANK! RELEASE YOUR RESSURECION OR DIE!" He flinched as his back began to twitch furiously.
Keigo glanced between the two Shinigami, his hair blowing into his face. "I think he's losing his mind," he said. "It's like he thought this would go a lot easier for him or something."
Rukia nodded, tilting her head to the side. "It appears he either greatly underestimated us," she said, "or they didn't have as great intel on us as I thought they would."
"So, they're just as blind as we are," Rangiku said, glancing over at Rukia.
"That would seem to be the case, yes."
With a groan, Grimmjow stumbled back towards them, grimacing in mild pain. Patches of skin were red and blistered, but overall, he seemed unharmed. "For a newborn," Grimmjow growled, "this guy seems to be well trained. He can already use a damn Gran Rey Cero!"
"A-a newborn?!" Keigo exclaimed, glancing back down at Luppi, who convulsed in pain as his tentacles began to shoot out of his back. "Like, he's still a baby?!"
"Pretty much," Grimmjow said. "Nnoitra was killed not too long ago, so if this kid really is the new Quinto, he's practically less than an hour old."
"How?" Rukia exclaimed, clearly surprised.
Grimmjow glared down at Luppi, eyes narrowing a bit. "The Hogyoku seems to be gettin' stronger by the minute," he said. "Not sure how, but Aizen can clearly create fully functionin' Espadas in less than an hour." He cracked his knuckles and lifted his zanpakuto again. "I gotta kill this kid quickly if we're gonna stop Aizen."
"What's you're plan?" Rangiku asked.
With a terrible smirk, Grimmjow lifted his sword above his head. "Ya might want to stand back," he said. "This's gonna get interestin'."
With his tentacles fully restored, Luppi snapped his attentions back to his opponents. With a scream he leapt into the air, spikes forming on the ends of his tentacles. This time, the blood on his back would be from his enemies.
"GRIND, PANTERA!"
A/N: A start to the fighting! I'm so excited! This is a start at least, so here's to the beginning of the end! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope to have another chapter up next week :) See you soon.
