Chapter Nineteen: Fighting Against Death
*Hueco Mundo above Las Noches*
"oooohhhhh…. We are completely fucked" deadpanned Yoshiro "also quick side note here not that it's a big deal or anything, but HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN!?"
"well after coming up here, with Kurosaki, the woman and the Quincy giving chase. I engaged Kurosaki further, after a while I chose to reveal my Segunda Etapa. The form you see me in before you. In an attempt to have Kurosaki feel true despair. Upon doing so I shot a cero clean through his chest and believed him to be dead. Then before I knew it, he suddenly transformed into the what you know see. Since then, as much as I loath to admit it, he has been completely dominating me. Then you arrived and here we now are." Explained Ulquiorra.
"be real with me Ulquiorra, how likely are we to survive this?"
"not very in all honesty even with your assistance. Though while I highly doubt, we can kill Kurosaki as he currently is. We may very well be able to subdue him to a more controlled sate."
"you think?"
"It's our only real option Quinta. Kurosaki is nothing short of a rampaging beast at the moment. If not stopped he will proceed to search and destroy anything he can find, should he manage to destroy us. Even the Quincy and the woman will not be spared from his wrath I imagine."
"well then I suppose it's time to nut up or shut up." Snarked Yoshiro
"Indeed" deadpanned Ulquiorra
At that moment a monstrous ear splitting roar as heard from the hollow Ichigo. As he then began to steadily make his way towards The Cuatra and Quinta. Yoshiro took a stance and readied his naginata, Ulquiorra summoned a lance of green energy and readied himself as well.
"hey Ulquiorra, since we might very well not make it out of this alive. For whatever it's worth to you. I always thought you were an alright guy, a bit distant and maybe a little too harsh at times but alright none the less." Chimed Yoshiro
Ulquiorra was silent for a moment then spoke up "I will admit in this moment here and now with death staring us down. I've held respect for your power and resolve when faced with the odds against you."
"ready Cuatra?"
"as ready as I can hope to be Quinta."
With that said both arrancar launched themselves at the hollow Ichigo. Yoshiro brought Zorro's down at his head he effortlessly stopped with his hand. Ulquiorra tried to pierce him with his lance but that was blocked with ease by Ichigo's sword. With a roar he swung his hand holding Zorro's and threw Yoshiro a great distance like he was nothing. Then he swung his blade to cut at Ulquiorra. The Cuatra managed to dodge by jumping back and tossed his lance directly at his target.
It connected and exploded in a gigantic tower of green and black reiatsu. Yoshiro had never felt an explosion of magnitude before. When the dust settled, hollow Ichigo stood there with minimal damage having been done to him by the blast. Yoshiro couldn't help but break out into a cold sweat at the sight.
"we really are gonna get slaughtered by this guy." He muttered gravely to himself.
That was all he managed to say as the seeming arbiter of his eventual demise appeared in front of him and kicked him so fiercely in the gut Yoshiro coughed up blood immediately. Then a fist came around and collided him square in his face, before he could even fly off anywhere. Hollow Ichigo grabbed him by one of his legs and slammed him into the ground. The force created a small crater in the ground.
"this…this for earlier isn't it?" Yoshiro choked out as he laid there praying to whatever higher powers exist to speed up his regeneration. Hollow Ichigo simply nodded his head as if to confirm and mock him all at once. Then as the monstrous Ichigo raised his sword as to finish him, he was suddenly slammed into by Ulquiorra throwing him back a bit.
Ulquiorra quickly grabbed the Quinta and pulled him back on his feet. Yoshiro readied himself for the next attack to come. They didn't have to wait long. With a roar Hollow Ichigo charged them head on. Yoshiro ducked down and back from a sword strike, as Ulquiorra engaged with another energy lance. Yoshiro took the opportunity to sonido behind hollow Ichigo and tried jam his blade into his back with as much force as he could muster. the blade only managed to pierce hollow Ichigo's hierro by an inch, but it was all Yoshiro needed.
"Choque De Temblor!" Yoshiro yelled out, like he did with Zaraki he was able to launch the attack from the inside of his target since he had some of the blade jammed into him. Hollow Ichigo's body puffed out a little and then shook violently from the attack. The monstrous Ichigo roared in pain as he thrown off his feet and crashed a good distance away.
"nice move Quinta, that attack actually did some reasonable damage."
"Thanks Ulquiorra, but this is still far from over I think." Retorted Yoshiro
Then as if on cue, Hollow Ichigo rose back onto his feet. The attack certainly did some real damage the was some noticeable blood dripping out of his mouth. However what mainly concerned the Quinta the most was the vengeful glare of pure murderous hate he was receiving from his enemy.
'oh fuck me sideways' Yoshiro thought to himself
Hollow Ichigo moved faster than he could track and appeared in front of Yoshiro and Ulquiorra. He batted an arm into Ulquiorra launching him away. Then he swung his blade at Yoshiro. Yoshiro jumped back as fast as he could, sadly while he avoided a fatal strike the blade still managed to cut somewhat deep into and across his chest in a spray of blood. Before he could even scream out in pain, hollow Ichigo clamped a hand around his face and slammed him into the ground with vicious force.
Yoshiro was then lifted up unable to do anything at the moment as Hollow Ichigo then threw him like a rag doll. The Quinta crashed into the ground in a heap on his belly, he couldn't do much of anything as his regeneration worked to heal the damage done to him. Unfortunately he didn't receive much respite as his monstrous enemy appeared above him, raised a foot and slammed it down into his back. Yoshiro could only scream in agony as this process was repeated a few times. Feeling his ribs snap and break, organs being damaged by the force.
One the assault ended Yoshiro immediately vomited a sizeable amount of dark crimson blood. His breathing was ragged, and he could hardly move. His regeneration unable to keep up with the sheer amount of damage being dealt to him. Before the killing blow could dealt, a blast of pure black energy slammed into hollow Ichigo.
While attack had done some actual damage, it more importantly drew the enemies, attention away from Yoshiro and onto the Cuatra. Just as Ulquiorra hoped in order to save the Quinta and give him the respite that was needed so he could try to get back into the fight.
Yoshiro managed to very weakly push himself onto his hands and knees. Trying to regain his bearings.
"fucking hell, I've been beaten up before but this beyond anything I've ever felt before." He spoke internally to Zorro's
"Kit, you mustn't give up, you can still fight. You can still pull through this." Zorro's replied
"how? How the fuck, do you stop such a beast? Me and Ulquiorra are giving everything we can and we're barely surviving and that won't last for much longer."
"you have yet to tap deeper into your power kit. you must do so if you are to succeed in stopping Ichigo's rampage."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"focus on what you're fighting for kit. focus on the people and things you care about."
"the people and things I care about? Emilou, Luppi, Mom, Cyan, Mila, the twins, Grimmjow, hell even Orihime. My home here in las noches with all of them. Everything we've been through together, the high times, low times and everything in between."
"that's right kit, focus on those thoughts on feelings. If you fail here and all that will disappear. Not to mention it will only be a matter of time before Ichigo in his rampage will target and hurt them as well."
"He'll hurt them?"
"not just that kit he'll most likely kill them."
"kill them? No, no, no…..NO! I WON'T ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN! RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Ulquiorra was engaged with the hollow Kurosaki and barely surviving, he had already lost and had to regenerate multiple limbs. He kept using his Cero Oscuras as much as he can, it being the only thing he could use to keep his opponent off his back to a reasonable degree but that would last for only so long. Then hollow Ichigo managed to slice an arm off and before Ulquiorra could react hollow Ichigo grabbed him by the throat in a tight grip. Feeling this could very well be the end of him, Ulquiora was about to accept his fate.
"RAAAAHHHHH!" Yoshiro yelled out along with a massive rise in spiritual energy. This immediately drew the attention of hollow Ichigo, who preceded to throw Ulquiorra away from him. His attention now focused on the sudden burst of power coming from the Quinta as he began to stride his way towards him. Yoshiro rose to his feet Zorro's in hand, he still looked as did before but with one major or rather two major differences. Instead of three tails, he now had five.
"what just happened Zorro's?" he asked mentally
"Your determination to keep safe those you love, and care for gave you the keys needed to unlock a whole new level of power. While you haven't achieved a completely new form like Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa, just yet. Unlocking two more tails has put your power above Barragan but below starkk in their release states."
"I see, while I'm still playing on the defense here, but such a tremendous increase in power will certainly help."
Noticing hollow Ichigo making his approach to him. Yoshiro readied himself and used sonido as fast as he could muster. Hollow Ichigo not expecting his opponent to be so much faster than before was caught off guard. It was the opening Yoshiro needed as he quickly managed to slash a deep gash across his opponent's chest. He quickly twirled his naginata and created another deep gash across the chest, he then pointed one end of Zorro's at hollow Ichigo and used Choque De Temblor. He mustered all the force he could in the attack, the blast slammed into his target and caused hollow Ichigo to shake violently and was launched tumbling across the ground. Yoshiro never gave him a chance to recover before he charged a cero and launched it engulfing his target in it.
Yoshiro then turned to see Ulquiorra having landed right next to Ishida and Orihime. The Quinta quickly made his way over to them.
"How are you holding up Ulquiorra?" asked Yoshiro
"I'm still alive for the moment so I can't complain. Nice of you to gain such a power boost mid fight and save my skin like that." Ulquiorra retorted.
"what can say? I do my best work under pressure it seems." Replied the Quinta.
"I'd hate to break up your little talk, but our problem is getting back up and he does not seem very happy." Exclaimed Uryu
Everyone looked to see hollow Ichigo rise up, he looked rougher than before and even more pissed off. He roared in fury and rose up into the air, then a red orb of energy began to form around his mask.
"oh shit!" exclaimed Yoshiro who immediately brought his naginata and began focusing his energy into the blade farthest from him.
"Ulquiorra I'm gonna block this attack as much as I can. He won't be able to move while were in a power struggle, use that opportunity to hit him with whatever you can." Piped Yoshiro. Ulquiorra simply nodded his head began charging a cero oscuras as much as possible.
Then with a mighty roar hollow Ichigo launched his cero towards the four of them. Yoshiro brought his naginata around and launched his counterattack.
"Terrmoto De Barrido!" He yelled
A white like wall of energy launched to meet the red cero head on. Yoshiro knew he wouldn't be able to hold the wall very long, so Ulquiorra would have to act fast. Both attacks collided and halted each other. Yoshiro began pouring energy trying to maintain the wall as much as possible. Hollow Ichigo was forced to focus and do the same, this left him wide open for Ulquiorra.
The Cuatra used sonido as fast as he could and appeared right next to the hollow Ichigo and cut loose a very powerful cero oscuras at point blank range. Upon this happening hollow Ichigo's own cero stopped and at the same time Yoshiro's energy wall cracked and exploded with the cero in midair. Ulquiorra quickly used sonido to avoid the blast and appeared right next to Yoshiro.
Thankfully since the attacks met in the sky most the energy avoided colliding with the damaged roof of las noches. If not, it might have caused the whole roof to start collapsing. Granted it was still so thunderous that Yoshiro had to plant Zorro's firmly into the ground to avoid getting thrown off his feet as sand and debris was launched everywhere from the blow back of the attack. The Quinta quickly reached out with his tails and grabbed Ulquiorra and Orihime with them to help keep them rooted in place and summoned his dome shield. Sadly Uryu was out of reach and was swept up in the force of shockwave and thrown clean off his feet into the air before he could reach him. He collided harshly into a large boulder and was subsequently knocked unconscious.
As the dust began to settle everyone remained tense waiting to see what they would find. After a few moments the had their answer. Hollow Ichigo was still in the sky but looked rough, he had many cuts, burns and seemed dazed at the moment from what had happened. Yoshiro saw this and immediately took advantage of it. Yoshiro cut his thumb to draw out some blood and fed it into a cero. Ulquiorra noticing what he was doing and charged cero oscuras with all the energy he had left. Both Arrancar pointed out their hands and yelled at the same time.
"GRAND REY CERO/CERO OSCURAS!"
Grand rey cero of white and cero oscuras of black launched together mixing in the air as they flew creating a monstrous beam of grey. It collided into hollow Ichigo and created a blast even greater than the previous one directly in the sky. Yoshiro quickly put up a dome around him, Ulquiorra and Orihime as before and waited for the dust to settle.
The dust cleared and hollow Ichigo was still hovering in the sky, but his mask broken off in places and the hollow like eyes had disappeared to normal human looking ones. Then his mask and the rest of his hollow form began to crack all over, everything then shattered and fell away showing and human looking Ichigo with the hole Ulquiorra put his chest earlier no longer there. He hovered in the air for a few moments and then fell from the sky unconscious into the ground in cloud of sand from impact.
"finally it's over." Deadpanned Ulquiorra as he immediately reverted to his sealed state and fell to ground unconscious himself from tiredness due to the power used regenerating so many limbs and using so many powerful attacks. Yoshiro was only able to stay on his feet and keep going thanks to the power increase unlocking his two new tails granted him and having not depleted it all in the last stages of the fight. Orihime immediately tried run over to Kurosaki but Yoshiro stopped her.
"Orihime wait, it may not be that safe yet. Let me check first just to be sure." Spoke Yoshiro.
Orihime simply nodded her head knowing she couldn't argue. Yoshiro used sonido and appeared right next to Ichigo unconscious form. Presides being out cold and some cuts and burns still present, Ichigo didn't seem to be in so bad of shape surprisingly enough. Yoshiro decided to reach out with pesquisa to try and gauge to see if he could pick up anything strange coming from Kurosaki considering what had happened. Ichigo felt like had before now he noticed, he also picked up the presence of the two soul reaper healers from before headed to the current location. He decided it was time to split out fast. Not to mention feeling the unconscious Uryu some distance away.
He quickly went back to where Orihime and the unconscious Ulquiorra were.
"how's Ichigo doing?" Orihime asked in worry.
"fine, he's just unconscious is all and back to his original self. Two soul reaper healers are coming this way. So we need to split." Chimed Yoshiro
He quickly picked up the sleeping Ulquiorra with his tails and before Orihime could protest he picked her up bridal style and sped away back to las noches with sonido. Orihime gave the Quinta an angry pout face, the entire time.
"hey, don't look at me like that. you know I couldn't leave you behind up there. You would've healed Ichigo and he mostly would have stood right up and tried to fight more. Considering what had just happened, I think he needs the cooldown. Plus, your still technically my responsibility to look after as far as I am concerned." He retorted
Orihime face softened at that and simply looked away. Not too much longer they arrived at his section of las noches. Walking in he noticed Luppi was there but not the twins.
"Yoshiro, Orihime and Ulquiorra?" Luppi said with some wonder.
Yoshiro set Orihime down and took Ulquiorra to his, Emilou and Luppi's room and laid him in the bed there. He walked back to see Luppi looking at him curiously but before he asked anything he walked up to Yoshiro and pulled him into a deep kiss.
"I felt a massive surge of your energy and thought something terrible happened." Luppi said worriedly after he broke the kiss.
"well technically something did but it's been put under control." Replied Yoshiro
Luppi made a look over of Yoshiro and noticed at last the new tails. "you have five tails now!?" he exclaimed
"oh yeah, I kind of got pushed to my limits and unlocked some more of my power mid fight, it was a real life saver. By the way where are the twins?" retorted Yoshiro.
"there currently at Grimmjows section of las noches keeping an eye on him as he rests." Spoke Luppi.
"good to hear." Said Yoshiro, he sighed feeling how tired he was at the moment but knew he couldn't rest with so much fighting sure to be left still. "Orihime could you heal me up please?"
Orihime hesitated for a few moments but her kind nature won out as she preceded to use her powers on Yoshiro. After a few minutes Yoshiro was back to full health. "thank you Orihime"
"no problem Yoshiro." She replied
"so what's our next move?" asked Luppi
"well I say w-" started Yoshiro but was cut off, when a massive surge of energy on the other side of las noches. Yoshiro knew who it was too.
"god dammit Yammy is going bonkers. Great, I get finished stopping one rampaging beast just for another to appear. Luppi stay here and watch everyone." He then walked over and picked up Orihime. "as much as I hate bringing you towards danger like this, I have a gut feeling your powers are going to be needed." And off they went.
Yoshiro sped as fast as he could with sonido while carrying Orihime. He felt out with pesquisa to gauge things. He felt Yammy steadily get more and more out of control. He could also feel Rukia of all people near the fighting. 'it's just keeps getting better it seems.' He mused to himself. Then an idea suddenly struck him, and he headed off to Rukia's location. After a moment he arrived at the scene to see a much larger Yammy starting to rampage everywhere on everything. He noticed Yammy's fist coming around to hit an unprepared Rukia. He quickly used sonido to her location, grab and sonido a safe distance away with her. He set her down along with Orihime, needless to say she was rather surprised.
"why did you just do that?" Rukia spoke
"few reasons" replied Yoshiro "first and foremost I'm still feel guilty for what I did to you back in Karakura. Secondly, Yammy is rampaging and if he's not put back under control or killed, he will literally kill and destroy everyone and everything on this side of las noches period. As strong as I am, I'll probably need some help in that regard, but I'll need everyone in top shape for that so, Orihime please use your powers on Rukia."
Orihime was taken aback by the sudden request but then her eyes went a bit wide when she realized what he wanted her to do, she immediately went to work. Rukia was taken by surprise by everything happening so fast to form a proper reaction, before she knew it Orihime was using her healing powers on her.
Rukia wasn't sure what Orihime was trying to do at first but then her breath caught in her throat as the felt her once destroyed eye start to have feeling again. After a few more moments, Orihime stopped her powers. Rukia reached up and felt her face and gasped when she didn't feel a scar anymore. Then she removed her eyepatch and to her joy could see perfectly fine once more. She almost couldn't believe what had just happened. She looked to Yoshiro and simply said.
"why?"
"like I said I feel guilty about what happened in Karakura. I know that seems weird with us technically being on opposite sides in all this, but sometimes certain things go beyond faction loyalty, you know?" he spoke
Rukia remained quite for a moment and simply replied. "I can see what you mean by that." before anyone could say anything else, Yammy gave out another roar of fury with his size and power increasing as that happened.
"oh hell, we got to do deal with this moron. To think I almost forgot about him. You two stay here while I go and see if I can't talk some sense into this dumbass before this gets anymore violent." Chimed Yoshiro and he took off to the Decimo.
"Hey Yammy! Chill out would you!?" yelled Yoshiro. Yammy turned to face the one called him out.
"Quinta!" he gruffly growled out. "what the hell happened earlier I felt you and Ulquiorra's power spike all over the place?"
"Don't worry about it, that situation was handled, now would kindly get yourself in check Decimo. You're going to wreck this whole place at this rate. No one needs that."
"screw you Quinta! I don't give a damn anymore, all everyone ever does is look down and belittle me. Bitch at me and order me around like I'm just a grunt. And you know what? That really pisses me off! So you and everyone else in this god damn place can just die beneath my feet like the pathetic pieces of trash you all are!" Yammy finished with a roar of fury growing to an even more gargantuan size as he did.
"you know I kind of figured it was going to come to this. As much as I didn't want it too. Oh well beggars can't be choosers I suppose." Piped Yoshiro as he pulled out Zorro's in readied himself. Yammy gave out a howl of fury and swung a fist at Yoshiro.
Yoshiro easily dodged the fist and brought Zorro's down and across causing a huge gash in a mass spray of blood. Yammy screamed in panful rage but he didn't have a chance to retaliate as Yoshiro quickly jammed his naginata into the open wound and activated his Choque De Temblor attack. The blast built a huge bubble beneath underneath the skin on Yammy's hand and exploded in blood and gore.
"you son of a bitch I'll make you pay for that!" the decimo yelled in fury. As he made another swing with his other fist, the Quinta dodged this and then charged a cero and blasted it into Yammy's left eye. "gaahhh dammit my eye! Why did it have to be my god damn eye!?" howled Yammy "you son of a bitch stand still so I can crush you!"
"no can do Yammy, you see I rather enjoy living." Retorted the Quinta.
"go to hell you bastard!" yelled the Decimo as he charged a large cero and blasted it off. Yoshiro used sonido to avoid the attack and appear above Yammy. He brought his naginata back and then swung it forward launching his Terrmoto De Barrido attack. The energy wall flew down and slammed the Decimo in his head before exploding with such force it threw Yammy down headfirst into the ground causing the whole ground to shake. Hoping to maybe end this quickly Yoshiro drew blood from his hand and held it out charging a cero.
"Grand rey cero" he simply said as he unleashed the attack on the downed Yammy. The was a massive burst of white energy and huge shockwave sent through the area with sand and debris flying everywhere. Once it settled, Yammy was still somehow alive but quite rough none the less.
"Enough Yammy this has gone on long enough! stop this foolishness at once!" the Quinta ordered.
"Fuck you Quinta." Yammy spat out as began getting back onto his feet. "you can't order me around you bastard. I'm going to destroy you!" he declared as he drew his blade out. "let me tell you a secret that very few people know, something that not even the other espada are aware of. The true ranking of the espada isn't ten to one. Its nine to zero! Be Enraged, Ira!" Yammy roared out.
Yammy's body began to swell and grow to kaiju sized proportions and the ten on his shoulder turned into a zero. Accompanied by an absolutely monstrous surge in power. Yoshiro could only think of one thing to say as this was happening.
"time to go." He quietly squeaked to himself. Before Yammy's resurreccion could be complete. he already took off with sonido as fast as he could back to Rukia and Orihime grabbed them and kept running.
"your running away?" chided Rukia.
"damn right I am, I can't fight that by myself and you two aren't strong enough to be of any real help. I already did something that was tantamount to suicide earlier today and I was lucky to survive it. I am not doing that twice in one day. Not a chance in hell." Deadpanned the Quinta.
Yoshiro reached out with pesquisa to gauge Yammy's still rising power level. It only affirming he made the right call getting the hell out of dodge while he could. Then he picked up some signatures he wasn't expecting to feel. Namely that of Byakuya, Zaraki, Ichigo, Sado and a soul reaper signature he didn't recognize converging on Yammy. 'damn those healers from soul society are really something amazing I have to admit.' He thought to himself as he stopped in place a good distance from the raging monster that was Yammy.
"what's going on Yoshiro?" asked Orihime
"well" started Yoshiro "there are quite a few high level individuals headed towards Yammy to deal with him it seems. Good, that's one problem I don't have to concern myself with anymore it seems." He spoke while setting down Rukia but still holding onto Orihime.
"this is where we part ways Rukia, I suggest keeping back here while the others are fighting Yammy, for your own safety. I have other business I need to attend to alongside Orihime. So catch you later." He spoke and then left with Orihime in a burst of sonido before Rukia could react at all.
Rukia simply stood there dumbstruck for a few seconds before simply growling out. "Baka"
After getting out of sight of Rukia Yoshiro stopped and proceeded to open a garganta.
"where does that lead Yoshiro?" questioned Orihime.
"that Orihime, leads to Karakura where my mother, my girlfriend and just about everyone else I care for currently is fighting it out with the soul reapers. It's high time I head there to back them all up and make sure they're safe. I need you to come with me incase any of them need any kind of emergency healing." Declared Yoshiro.
Orihime wasn't quite sure about heading to the heart of the war and healing arrancar but the more she thought about it she eventually relented. While she couldn't say she liked all the arrancar she met, but she couldn't deny she ultimately came to like Yoshiro and all of his arrancar family and friends. That she had spent time with during her stay in las noches and her kind nature wouldn't allow her to turn away from helping them how she could if they needed it.
"ok. I'll go" she said
"thank you Orihime, this means a lot to me." Relied Yoshiro with a bit of a smile. He picked Orihime up and began traveling the garganta with sonido. After a few minutes of travel they arrived at the other side of the garganta.
Yoshiro looked around the place that looked just like Karakura but was also noticeably not the real karakura as well. He suddenly tossed out of these thoughts when he noticed out of the corner of his eye starkk falling from the sky in a bloody heap.
"Oh shit" Yoshiro muttered.
*Earlier at fake Karakura Town*
Emilou stepped out of the garganta alongside her mistress and the rest of tres bestias. Soon the rest of the arrancar forces appeared and gathered. Emilou had momentary thoughts of Yoshiro and the dangers he was probably facing back in las noches. She quickly pushed these thoughts away, knowing she had to focus on the coming fight on hand. Plus she had to have faith that he would pull through no matter what danger he faced.
She looked out across to the other side of town and saw the gathered soul reaper forces. both sides just stared each other down, then Emilou, shared glances and a silent exchange of words with Mila, Sung-sun and lady Halibel. This was it, the moment they all knew was eventually coming.
The biggest battle of the Winter War was about to begin.