The day had been...average. Nothing good or bad about it. It was nothing special. Nothing to help distract Orihime from her questions.
She breathed a sigh as she walked down the street from the school. She hadn't felt up to cheering for Tatsuki in the match that day. Orihime just wanted to...sleep? Something?
A flash of red ahead of her made her pause. She looked around; the streets were empty. Save for whatever that had been in the side alley.
Was it another Hollow? It wouldn't be a problem unless it sneak-attacked her. On the attack!
Orihime rested her hands on her hairpins and summoned Tsubaki. He materialized on her shoulder, looking in the same direction as her.
"There's definitely somethin' there," Tsubaki confirmed. "Now, the question is if your measly 'morals' will get in the way of stompin' it into the dirt?"
"I don't have morals for Hollows," Orihime said sternly, tensing and slowly inching forward towards the side alley.
"What about that Ulquiorra guy?"
She stopped short, then bit her lip. "I…"
Tsubaki had been looking at her, but his head snapped forward. "Look!"
Orihime looked up to see...the lizard?
It looked like the lizard she'd seen earlier. Red scales, a strange overbite, webbed claws, slitted eyes…
...Except this was big . The flash that she'd seen earlier had been maybe the size of a housecat. This lizard was the size of a trashcan! The scales were glinting strangely now, its throat bulging-
"Move it!" Tsubaki smacked her in the face, unbalancing her enough to nearly fall completely over. She took two awkward steps to the side to get her balance back.
Before she could protest, a flash of something big and hot flew by her face. Something behind her exploded. Turning, she realized that whatever the lizard had done had blown up a transformer. The neighborhood was cloaked in shadow now. It didn't distract her from the strange mist that seemed to flow from the blown transformer.
She looked back to where the lizard had been. Was still . It was huffing in the mist. Its scales were glowing, then stretching. In front of her eyes it ballooned with muscle and hardened scales. It sat on its haunches and roared, spouts of fire spitting from its nostrils. Something from its back spread out like a wondrous kite of some sort.
Wings . It was spreading wings!
"Is that a fuckin' dragon ?!" Tsubaki exclaimed.
"It looks like it!" Orihime said, excited. Wow! A dragon! A real-life dragon! Wait until Ichigo heard about this . This would definitely top anything Rukia would be able to brag about! Her expression shifted as she realized it was now bigger than a dumpster and looking right at her. "Uhm…"
"Now's a good time to go split that thing in two!" Tsubaki shouted. He started his attack, wings sharpening as he streaked through the air.
Orihime looked at the dragon and couldn't help but to think...was it trapped in the cycle too? Did it have a family? What if-
Tsubaki slowed, then aborted his attack as the dragon tried to rake claws against his side. He dodged hard into the side of the street wall.
"Oy! Could you maybe do somethin' besides standing there gawking? Like maybe run ?" Tsubaki growled, sparing a glance at Orihime.
Orihime stopped before shaking her head as the dragon landed back on all fours. "No! I'm not going to let it hurt anyone!"
"Well then, in that case why not- AGH !" Tsubaki bounced against the sidewalk as the dragon's swipe connected. It seemed to then ignore him in favor of Orihime. Its throat bulged again, and this time Orihime saw the fireball coming.
"Saten Kisshun!" she cried out, certain that she would need all the strength she had to hold off the dragon. Baigon, Hinagiku, and Lily all came out and formed the shield around her. The blast hit the shield and blew out around it. The heat was intense; she was certain some of her precious hair had been burned off! The scent of ozone washed over her as the heat finally dissipated.
Orihime breathed a sigh of relief. Then she screamed, falling backwards, as the dragon jumped on the shield. She found herself trapped by it as it slammed into the shield above her again and again. The shield began to crack at the pressure.
"Tsubaki!" she cried out. There was no escape. Her only hope was that Tsubaki could…
...Could what? She didn't want to kill this dragon even with how much it clearly wanted to eat her. He couldn't kill it. The same churning thoughts were beginning to race in her head again. It was nearly suffocating.
With a solid shriek, the dragon stomped once more. The shield finally shattered underneath it. The light scattered and Orihime found herself trapped underneath the dragon.
Saliva dripped down the dragon's maw onto the sidewalk next to Orihime. The pavement sizzled where it fell, leaving no question on how hot its mouth was. She kicked at its belly, trying to get it off of her as it raised its head, throat bulging-
"GrrrrrAAAAAAAAH!" It fell to the side as a blade of light slid into its side, slicing off a wing as it went. The fireball practically fell out of its mouth and exploded right in front of its face. Its head whipped backwards into the wall as it clearly felt the shockwave from it.
"Get up!" Tsubaki barked as he swung back around from his assault. "It isn't dead."
"Right!" Orihime hopped to her feet. "I'm glad you're not hurt."
"'Hurt' is relative," Tsubaki noted. "Like the dragon? He's hurt."
Orihime's heart tore a little at the fact that the dragon was suffering now. It was a living creature that hadn't done anything wrong. The only thing she'd seen it do was destroy the transformer, and for all she knew they could've had a blood vendetta!
"I don't…" Orihime rubbed her arm. "I don't want to hurt it."
"So you'll let it trample all over us?" Tsubaki asked.
"No! Not you! I just don't want…"
"Sometimes you gotta make a choice, Orihime." Tsubaki's voice was calmer. The concern was clear. "Sometimes it's you or them."
"It might just be hungry!" Orihime said desperately. "We just need to give it some pocky!"
"Will you just-"
Orihime didn't hear what he said. Her entire world was sent spinning as something slammed into her side. She hit the wall hard. Slowly slumping down the wall, she was dazed. It wasn't until a claw settled onto her chest that she realized she was in trouble.
The dragon's throat bulged as it looked at her, slitted eyes full of rage and hate-
Something exploded. It took a second for Orihime to realize that it wasn't her head that exploded. She looked up to see that now the dragon was headless. Something had blown its head clean off!
Instead of bleeding in a gorey pile, there was just a void where its head had been. Wispy smoke drifted out of the hole. Then, like a dream, the entire dragon poofed in a ball of mist. The acrid smell and the destruction around her were now the only indicators that anything had happened.
Orihime looked around, trying to figure out who had saved her.
Dramatically, cape waving in the wind, was what looked like a knight. Their armor didn't look the best besides the shiny golden - and smoking - footwear. Orihime was pretty sure it was called either a sabaton or a saibaman. They didn't have anything beyond a shield on them.
"Oy! Thanks!" Orihime waved her arms. "You saved me!"
"I'm sorry."
Orihime blinked, confused. That voice...it couldn't be…?
The knight took off their helmet and Orihime gasped.
"It looks like I have a lot to explain to you," Chizuru said, holding the helmet to her side.
Tsubaki stared. "Okay, what the fu-"