Disclaimer: Bleach and Ben 10 do not belong to me

Thanks once again to Pyromania101 and Vandenbz for proofreading my story. You guys are awesome!

Running the Gauntlet

"You know, Ben," Szayel said on the intercom as Ben continued his trek across the hall, "I don't really care for humans or Soul Reapers. I would gladly watch Lord Aizen wipe them all out of existence."

"Charming," Ben muttered, eyeing the room for any more unexpected surprises. "You always did kinda give me a bad vibe but I had no idea it was this bad."

"Oh, Ben. You and Lord Aizen are the sole exceptions: you, in particular, are far more than just a mere human. Those aliens you turn into are such fascinating research material, not to mention the Ultimatrix itself."

"Oh, so I'm just a test subject. I feel so flattered," Ben said dryly.

"I must give that Azmuth fellow his proper due. How I would love to meet him in person and learn his secrets."

"I'm surprised you never tried to go after the Ultimatrix."

"Oh believe me, Ben, I wanted to so badly. But Lord Aizen was against it, not wanting me to chance damaging the Ultimatrix due to how different the technology is to ours. I suppose I could have interrogated you but since you were the only one here who knew how the Ultimatrix worked, Lord Aizen requested I leave you alone."

"Somehow owing my safety to Aizen just makes me feel dirty now," Ben said with a shudder. "Something tells me that you already planned for it in advance but what do you expect to do if Harribel or Starrk come looking for me?"

"I am so glad you asked! This chamber actually conceals your spiritual pressure from outside sources. I actually sent one of my Fraccion to deliver a message for Starrk and Harribel, telling them that I placed you in a special bunker to keep you out of harm's way."

"...You cannot seriously expect them to believe that, can you?"

"Lord Aizen suspects those three intruders to be a vanguard of sorts. More Soul Reapers will surely come and since you finally made your debut, it would be logical to think they might try to capture you for study."

"And what do you think will happen once they figure out you were lying and are actually trying to kill me?" Ben asked, scowling.

"Those two and their little group owe everything to Lord Aizen," Szayel said darkly. "Their loyalty to him should be far greater than some worthless friendship to a human, no matter how interesting he is."

Ben's hand twitched. When he went up against Aizen, would he have to fight Starrk and Harribel? Would he be able to convince the two Espada that Aizen was just using them?

"By the time they find out, Lord Aizen should succeed in his goals. On the off chance they do decide to rebel against him despite all he's done for them, Lord Aizen will cut them down."

Not unless Ben beat Szayel's game and kicked Aizen's butt first, but the hero from another universe kept that particular thought to himself. "So when does this game of yours begin, Szayel?"

"Why… right now!"

Ben came to a halt. The hallway didn't seem out of the ordinary, at least anymore than the regular hallways of Las Noches. "What are the rules?" he asked tensely, hand already on the Ultimatrix.

"The rules are simple enough," Szayel said and Ben could feel the smirk that was no doubt on the Eighth Espada's face. "Proceed through the corridors in a straight line. Your objective is simple: Survive. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I have installed special sensors in these corridors that are locked onto your spiritual pressure. For while this chamber conceals it from the outside, the sensors can still pick it up. If for some reason you cave in and decide to simply escape, I will be paying dear Orihime a visit. In fact, why don't I make it easier and say that AmpFibian, Armodrillo, and Big Chill are forbidden for the duration of this game."

"I get it," Ben growled angrily before taking another step forward.

A sliding noise drew his attention as parts of the wall slid aside to reveal circular openings; spikes emerged with audible sharpness.

"You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?" Ben asked with a slouch, having a feeling that he was really going to hate this.

"Oh you have no idea!" Szayel said giddily. "Your training with Harribel's group and your battles with the other Espada were wonderful observations but I longed to witness your abilities through my own actions! At long last, the opportunity has come!"

"I swear, if you have some sort of speech written down for this…"

Szayel chuckled. "Yes, yes, quite right. Forgive me, I'm just so happy to have this chance that I just can't control myself. But alas, I think the time for conversation is over. It's time for the game to officially begin, Ben. Good luck!"

"Thanks, Szayel," Ben said as he activated the Ultimatrix. "That just means so much coming from you." He slammed the dial down. In a flash of green, XLR8 stood in his place. "Let's do this!"

Ben shot down the hallway as fast as he could, certain of what those spikes were meant to do. Sure enough, sections of the wall shot forward the moment he passed them, slamming together.

"This the best you can do, Szayel?" Ben shouted as he zoomed past the traps. His enhanced reflexes kicked in when suddenly circular holes opened in the floor, releasing more spikes. Ben darted around them as sections of the walls continued closing in, zigzagging across the spikes emerging from the floor. Curious, Ben ran up the walls and onto the ceiling, never losing his stride.

"Oh-ho! You can run on ceilings too as long as you keep your momentum? I'm impressed; Soul Reapers and Arrancar usually don't think about moving upside down."

Ben ignored him and continued running. Underneath his visor, his eyes widened as holes in the ceiling opened up, flames spewing out. Ben dodged to the side, only to zoom out of the way once more as what looked like black spears shot at him. Maneuvering back to the floor, Ben took a moment to see what was happening. Spikes were rising out of the walls and floors, fire was spewing from the ceiling, and those spears were darting across the room.

"You've been very busy."

"What, this?" Szayel asked in mock modesty. "This is just an afternoon pastime."

Ben frowned as he looked the hallway over. Szayel couldn't be so arrogant as to think this little obstacle course could do him in compared to fighting the Espada. Could he? He had to assume that Szayel had some nasty surprise waiting at the end. Nothing more was said as he shot through the corridor, dodging spikes, flames and spears faster than the eye could blink. Being one of his first aliens, Ben knew XLR8's capabilities by heart but he wondered if Szayel had something else in mind. As an answer to his suspicion, Ben suddenly found himself off-balance as the floor had become inexplicably slippery.

"Whoa, whoa, whoooooa!" Ben fell flat on his back as he skidded across the floor. His eyes widened as he quickly rolled over to dodge a stream of fire and then rolled again with a spear landing on the ground inches away from him.

"Did you really think I wouldn't take XLR8's speed into account, Ben? Unlike Soul Reapers and Arrancar, who can simply propel themselves, your alien needs a suitable surface to run on. Think of that slime on the floor as liquid soap. Can your alien run on slippery surfaces?"

Ben decided not to even chance it and instead hit the dial again, becoming Jetray. As he was about to take off down the corridor, a great gust of wind blasted down the hall. Flat-footed by this sudden development, Ben was putting in all his effort to remain airborne. Hearing a hissing sound above him, the hero ceased his flight, allowing himself to be thrown back by the wind. He had managed to avoid a particularly large spike that shot down from the ceiling. Ben tried to fly further ahead but the wind had increased. If it picked up any faster he would be slammed to the other side of the wall.

"Uh oh, Ben. You're falling back. Come on, you've barely even started the game and you're already struggling. I'm guessing the reason you haven't gone into another mobile form like say, Cannonbolt, is because he too can't move on slippery surfaces. With Jetray incapacitated by my fans, how will you ever get further?"

"Like this!" Ben hit the dial again, transforming into Spidermonkey. Firing a web from his tail, Ben pulled at the web and clung onto the wall. Even with sticking to it, Ben could feel the force of the wind threatening to pull him off.

"Spidermonkey, hmm? A bit unexpected but will he be enough?"

Ben said nothing, focusing on trying to make it across the hall. It was bad enough making sure he remained stuck to the wall, let alone with the numerous traps. Too close.

"Okay, Spidermonkey's out. Time to try dialing in someone else."

Ben hit the dial again, transforming into Diamondhead and creating a board of solid crystal. Hitting the dial once more, he transformed into Water Hazard. Landing on the slippery floor, Ben threw his hands back and fired streams of water out of his hands, propelling him forward like a surfer.

"Now that's more like it!" Szayel beamed gleefully.

"Sometimes I really think you just like hearing yourself talk," Ben said to himself as he zoomed down the corridor. Water Hazard's reflexes allowed him to dodge the many spikes, flamethrowers, and spears further ahead, and the force of his water allowed him to power through the gale force of the fans.

""You're almost there, Ben!" Szayel cheered. "Keep it up!"

"Be quiet!" Ben yelled as he put as much force as he could into the water jets. He could finally see the end of the hallway up ahead, with a flight of stairs leading upwards. The walls on either side were open, revealing two large industrial-sized fans. Hitting the dial again, Ben transformed into Chromastone and fired two laser blasts at each one, completely decimating them. With the wind now stopped, Chromastone flew to the stairs.

Clapping filled the air. "Nicely done, Ben. Proceed up the stairs to the next part of the game."

Snarling, Ben ran up the front of the stairs, trying to figure out what the Eighth Espada was up to now.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he found himself in another hallway. Eye darting around, Ben slowly advanced further into the room. A great thud boomed behind him, forcing Ben to turn around and see that the way to the stairs was closed off. Instead there was a complete wall, as if the stairs had never been there to begin with. Scowling, Ben advanced forward into the hallway. When he reached the middle, numerous sliding sounds drew his attention. The walls and ceiling were full of square openings. Quickly, Ben created a forcefield of energy as numerous harpoons fired from the openings. Chromastone grunted as the harpoons struck his barrier. With a yell, Chromastone converted the barrier into a wide surge of energy, blasting all the harpoons away. Quickly, the Crystalsapien ran to the end of the hall and into the next room.

Much like the others, the room looked completely harmless. At least, until he stepped into the room and a great boom of sound greeted him. Ben could feel himself being pinned down by ultrasonic waves. Weakly looking up, he now saw speakers in the walls. Ben hit the dial again and transformed into Echo Echo. Creating four different duplicates of himself, the four Echo Echos screamed, creating a forcefield of sound around them and canceling out the sound of the speakers. Holding hands, the four slowly made their way across the hall and into the next room.

"You're doing wonderfully, Ben!" Szayel said. "Oh, I so love seeing your aliens in action and all the ways you use them."

"At least one of us is enjoying all this," One Echo Echo clone grumbled.

"Proceed to the next area, Ben," Szayel said tauntingly. "As much as I enjoy seeing your abilities, I need to prepare myself in case some of our invaders come into my territory. Don't worry, should you make it to the final part of the game, I'll be there. Have fun, Ben! Oh and in case you're thinking you can escape just because I'm not there, my system will automatically alert me if you've escaped and my Fraccione that I stationed will retrieve Orihime for me. Wouldn't want you to get any ideas. Bye now!"

"When I get to you, Szayel…" Ben muttered as he entered the next room. What he saw made him and his clones slouch. It was a narrow walkway, on either side were pits full of spikes. Bladed pendulums hung from the ceiling, swinging back and forth.

"Okay that's just lazy. Where did he get that from, Super-Villain Death Traps For Dummies?" Ben slapped the Ultimatrix again and transformed into Lodestar. Raising his hands at the pendulums, Ben fired magnetic pulses that caused the pendulums to swing upward and embedded themselves in the ceiling. Once he was certain they were stuck in place, Lodestar ran to the next door.

Another seemingly normal hallway awaited him. Ben wasn't going to chance it and transformed into Cannonbolt. Curling into a ball and spinning rapidly in place, Ben shot forward, smashing into the other room. Uncurling himself, Ben looked behind and saw the walls in the previous room had begun moving and closing in, similar to the first room.

"Guess Szayel's starting to run out of ideas. Hope Orihime's alright, and that her friends have gotten to Las Noches okay." Knowing there was nothing he could do about that for now, Ben proceeded into the next room.

When the door closed, Ben found himself in a room of perpetual darkness. He transformed into Chromastone at once and emitted light, illuminating the room, only to find out that there was no need as multiple jets of flame shot from various angles in the room. Flamethrowers had been positioned in the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Ben frowned as he hit the Ultimatrix and transformed into NRG, casually strolling across the room as the flames warmed his armor.

NRG rested one elbow in the palm of his other hand as he stroked the bottom of his suit's opening, like when he would scratch his chin. "Something's not right. These past few rooms have been way too easy. Did he do it so I would let my guard down? Can't let up for a moment."

As Ben stepped into the next room, Szayel's voice came back on. Ben wondered where the speaker for the intercom was.

"Welcome, Ben. This is a pre-recorded message I installed in the event I wasn't present for you to reach this part of the game. Well done by the way."

"Oh get on with it, already," Ben said, if only so he could blow off some steam.

"No doubt you wish to get onto the next stage so I won't keep you waiting. For this part: something's a little different."

The sound of footsteps drew Ben's attention to three Arrancar he had never seen before entering the room from the other end. In the lead was a tall man with slicked-back, blue hair and a thin mustache; his mask remains covered the upper left half of his face and his Hollow hole was in his stomach, visible through the cut in his jacket. The second was a short, red-headed Arrancar with a sleeveless blouse; his mask remains positioned on the upper left side of his head. The third was a tall and bulky man with spiky hair; his mask remains, a skull-like bull mask, covered the upper left corner of his face.

"Ben, I would like you to meet Patros, Menis, and Aldegor. These three fools thought they could try to overthrow Lord Aizen and claim Hueco Mundo for themselves! Ridiculous I know but they were stupid enough to believe they could pull it off."

All three Arrancar snarled in anger at the recorded taunt, which continued.

"Lord Aizen had them easily captured and gave them to me for my use. These three shall be your opponents for this level. Do put up a good show."

"It's disgusting," the lead Arrancar said. "Szayel will pay for doing this to us. Once he's out of the way, then we'll deal with Aizen."

"But first," the red-headed Arrancar said as he sneered at Ben. "At least we've got someone else to play with."

The lead Arrancar narrowed his visible eye at Ben. "Ben Tennyson, the disgusting human that Aizen welcomed into our base and made into our ally. Being led by a Soul Reaper was bad enough but allowing a human to join our ranks was going too far."

"So there are other Arrancar that don't like Aizen either huh? You guys try teaming up with Baraggan or something?"

The lead one snorted. "If Baraggan had any interest in overthrowing Aizen he would have done so by now. No, Menis, Aldegor, and myself had intended on claiming the Hogyoku, learning how it works, and making ourselves the rulers of Hueco Mundo."

"Look where that got you," Ben said dryly.

"Be quiet, human!" the large one said. "Patros, let's kill him and get this over with."

"So soon?" the red-head asked. "I say we make this human suffer. After what Szayel's put us through, we deserve to have some fun."

Ben shifted his stance. "You're welcome to try."

"With a human right in front of us," Patros said, hand on his sword, spiritual pressure flooding the room as he did so. "It is natural for us to kill it."

Ben made the first move, firing a blast of energy through the opening in his suit. All three Arrancar used Sonido to dodge the attack. Patros then appeared in front of Ben, unsheathing his sword to create a slashing motion and then resheathing it again. The action launched a crescent-shaped energy blast that struck Ben's containment suit. Naturally it hadn't damaged him in the slightest but the force was strong enough to knock him off his feet and onto the ground.

"Impressive," Patros observed. "Even a Level One slash should have done some noticeable damage. What is that armor made of?"

"Don't know myself," Ben admitted before firing another energy blast, Patros using Sonido to dodge once again.

"Level Two," Patros said as he appeared beside Ben, who had enough time to throw his arms up when that crescent blast wave struck him again. It sent him flying across the room and slamming into the wall.

"That armor is strong but it lacks proper mobility," Patros said as Aldegor and Menis joined him, the latter two smirking at Ben. "My technique has precisely twenty levels, each one stronger than the last. Perhaps through them we can shatter that armor of yours."

"You wouldn't want that," Ben said, though he highly doubted that the Arrancar's attacks could pierce NRG's containment suit.

"I say we go ahead and get it over with, Patros," The red-headed Arrancar said, drawing his blade. "Stab, Erizo!"

Smoke gathered around the Arrancar as Ben picked himself off the wall, bracing himself against the spiritual pressure that the Arrancar set off in his released state. Once the smoke cleared, Ben could see how his opponent had gained white, bone-like armor on his chest, exposing his Hollow hole. His face was completely covered by his mask, his red hair now flowing from his head down to his waist. His arms were covered in long, tail-like appendages while an actual tail rose up behind him.

The larger Arrancar chuckled. "If Menis wants to go all-out, then so shall I!" He drew his sword. "Get them, Jabali!"

Aldegor was also engulfed in smoke as more pressure filled the room. When it cleared, Ben saw that his upper body was covered in bone-like armor; his mask remains had turned into a lower jaw on the armor right in front of his neck, leaving the guy's face completely exposed. Six appendages rose from his back like bony wings. It reminded Ben a little too much of Luppi despite the many differences.

"While I think it's foolish for us to waste our released state on a human like him, even one such as Ben Tennyson," Patros said, "Perhaps it would be best to end this quickly. That device which is the key to his transformations, the Ultimatrix; if we can control that and the Hogyoku, we could be unstoppable."

"Better guys than you have tried and I kicked all their butts."

"All that proves is that you have become arrogant in your victories."

Ben groaned, putting a hand on his faceplate. "Spare me the dramatic bad guy speech. After everything I've been through right now I am not in the mood."

"Oh Ben~"

Ben slumped with a louder groan. "Here it comes…"

"If this recording was activated, that means your opponents have entered their Released States. You may have handled your own against Baraggan's Fraccione but let's see how well you do against three released-state Arrancar at the same time. I'm confident you'll put it off. All the same, good luck!"

Patros' frown deepened. "Szayel is that confident in you, I see. Since he believes you can hold your own against three Released Arrancar, we shall put that to the test. Pollute, Gerifalte!"

Lightning seemed to gather around Patros' body before smoke erupted from him just like his cohorts. When it cleared, Ben saw that Patros' upper body was covered in white armor like Aldegor, the main difference was that Patros' was bulkier and his arms had gained bizarre, pincer-like features. His mask completely covered his entire face except for a spot on the top right of his head, showing his now messy black hair.

"This is my maximum level!" Patros boasted.

"And this is me being entirely done with this!" Ben countered, firing another beam at the Arrancar, who all scattered. Aldegor had his appendages close in on him, revealing they were hinged. It gave him a ball-like appearance. Suddenly he spun in place and launched himself at Ben.

"Oh come on! You totally ripped that off from Cannonbolt!" was all Ben could say when Aldegor struck him, knocking him off his feet. Suddenly Menis' arms wrapped around him, spinning him in the air.

"Let's see how tough that armor really is!" With a heave, Menis slammed Ben into the floor.

Patros aimed his right arm at Ben. "Burst Forth!" The upper part of his arm swung open, launching a blast of energy at the downed hero. Debris flew everywhere from the force of the explosion.

Aldegor chuckled. "This is the great Ben Tennyson? The one who defeated Nnoitra and Luppi?"

Menis laughed. "He ain't so tough."

"This proves why Aizen needs to be overthrown. Only a fool would welcome someone so weak in our midst."

"Ben~. If you're hearing this it means your opponents must still be standing. Come on, Ben, regardless of what I said earlier I know these three small fry couldn't possibly be a challenge for you. I figured you would have taken them out in five seconds flat."

"Damn that Szayel!" Menis hissed. "Keeps looking down on us."

"Don't waste your time," Patros said. "Just another one of his recordings. It'll be satisfying to see the look on his face when he sees we defeated that pathetic human he had so much faith in."

"Come on, Ben. I know you can do better than this. I mean, it's almost like you're not trying to save that poor Orihime girl. Can you live with yourself if anything happened to her? I'll let you in on a little secret: you know those two attendants Loly and Menoly right? Well, I heard that they aren't too thrilled with the attention Lord Aizen's been giving her. They might want to do something about it. While I intend to make a research specimen out of her, I don't suppose what condition she's in matters as long as she's not permanently damaged."

"What is he talking about?" Aldegor asked.

"Apparently Aizen brought another human here," Patros answered. "What could this human girl possibly have that he would be interested in?"

"Perhaps I'll let those two use her as their little plaything between my experiments," Szayel had even recorded himself chuckling. "I wonder what her thoughts will be during all of this. Will they be 'why did this happen to me?' 'Why didn't Ben save me?' 'Ben, why weren't you there for me?' 'I thought you were my friend!' 'Someone, please… please save me!'"

The three Arrancar turned as one when they saw a flash of green light out of the corner of their eyes and the rubble suddenly erupted, revealing an extremely angry Swampfire.

"So he is still alive," Menis said. "Don't know why he switched forms but that giant plant guy isn't going to save him."

Ben's entire body trembled, his fists tightened so hard his fingers were digging into his hands, his teeth clenched so hard it looked like they could shatter.

"I've… had… enough!"

Ben hit the Ultimatrix again and spikes popped out of it. Green light filled the room. Once it did, all three Arrancar took a step back in shock. Swampire now looked like a humanoid tree, his head and back seemed to be composed of a gooey, blue substance. Three spheres of said substance were aligned either side of his arms.

"Ultimate Swampfire!" The new alien yelled.

"W-what is this?!" Menis cried. "I didn't know he could do that!"

"It doesn't matter," Aldegor said. "A second transformation or not, he's not a match for us."

"Agreed," Patros said. "We'll still kill him and make Szayel pay."

"Yeah, that's right," Menis said. He launched his arms at Ben, who proceeded to grab them with ease. Menis didn't have time to react before Ben swung him through the air before launching him at his own teammates. Aldegor and Patros both dove out of the way as Menis slammed into the wall. As the Arrancar tried to pick himself up, Ben raised his arm and fired a glob of the blue substance from his hand. It exploded in a burst of fire and smoke the moment it struck Menis.

Aldegor's eyes widened. "Was that napalm?" Turning his head, he gasped before covering himself with his appendages as a stream of blue flame struck him. His eyes widened as the blast blew apart his makeshift shield, engulfing his body in flames.

"How can a human gain such a drastic increase in power?!" he cried as the power of the blast slammed him into the wall near his comrade, slumping weakly to the ground.

Ben rounded on Patros. Since the guy's entire face was covered, Ben couldn't tell if he was intimidated by the defeat of his allies. Then as if in response, Patros scoffed.

"The two of them actually lost to a human? Pathetic."

"You won't do any better, pal," Ben said as he strode towards the Arrancar.

"I respect your confidence but I'm in a higher class than those two." Both arms opened up this time, firing a sweeping blast at the evolved Methanosian. Ben held his arms out in front of him as the beam struck. Patros gasped when he saw that his attack did little, if any, damage to the hero. "Impossible."

"Yeah, I'm kinda good at doing that," Ben held both arms out and fired a massive blast of blue flames at the Arrancar. Like Aldegor, the blast slammed Patros into the wall, forming a large hole when he impacted. Ben waited tensely as Patros peeled off the wall and fell to the ground. When his opponent didn't immediately get to his feet, Ben threw several seeds in front of the three, which immediately grew into large vines that began wrapping around them. Once he was certain they were completely immobilized, Ben ran into the next room.

"Alright, Szayel?" Ben shouted. "What do you have for me? More traps? More Arrancar?"

Giggling was the response. Creepy giggling that would've run chills down his spine if Swampfire physically had one. The giggling got louder and was soon joined by a cacophony of different laughter. The room was filled with multiple Arrancar of various shapes and sizes, some even literally looking like giant beach balls with heads and limbs. The main thing they had in common was that their uniforms were full-bodied, white suits with black lines running down the middle. Ben remembered what Lilynette had told him when they first met.

"Shot in the dark but I'm guessing you guys are Szayel's Fraccione?"

"Correct," One Arrancar, a muscular man whose mask remains had formed a helmet that covered his left eye. "We are the Fraccione of Master Szayel. The corridor behind us will lead you directly to him. He's busy with some other guests, however."

Ben gasped. He had to get there now!

"If you want to get to Master Szayel," giggled the rotund Arrancar, "You'll have to go through us!"

"Of course I have to. Well that, if that's the case… bring it on!"

The Fraccione all charged but Ben was not deterred. One particularly large one went to grab him, but Ben simply grabbed him, tossed him over his shoulder, and slammed him into the ground. Two muscular Arrancar that made Ben think of footballs both threw a punch; Ben easily caught their blows and shoved them back with enough force to send them sprawling. He then threw his seeds and wrapped the two up in his vines. The others hoped to rush him but instead screamed and scattered as Ben began tossing some fire bombs. Taking advantage of their panicked state, Ben simply ran past them. He could hear their cries of shock and outrage so he turned around and blasted the ceiling. The Fraccione scattered as the attack blasted a hole in it, sending debris falling down on them. Ben continued up the stairs.

The next room he found himself in was already showing signs of damage and destruction. A fight had taken place here?

"What the hell is that thing?!"

Ben turned to see two more people had entered the room from another flight of stairs. One was wearing the Soul Reaper uniform, sporting dark red hair that tied back in a bun, though it stuck out in spiky angles that made Ben think of a pineapple. He also wore a white bandanna around his forehead. His companion had shoulder length black hair and glasses, wearing a white uniform with a short cape around his shoulders.

"That's not an Arrancar," the guy in the white uniform said.

"Wait," the red-haired Soul Reaper said. "That symbol on his chest… that's that Ben Tennyson guy!"

The other man's eyes widened. "The one who can turn into aliens? Ichigo told me about him but to see him in person…"

"If I were Findorr, I would be saying 'Exacta!' right now."

Ben and the two others turned their heads at that familiar voice. Walking down the hall towards them was none other than Szayelaporro Granz himself, though Ben noticed he was wearing a cape of his own.

"Ben!" He beamed. "What timing! You made it through all the challenges, just as I thought you would. And what's this form? Hmm. A plant one, eh? I would almost think it was a third form compared to Swampfire and Wildvine but I'm going to assume this is actually Ultimate Swampfire?"

"Ultimate?" muttered the guy in the white uniform.

"You guessed right, Szayel," Ben growled, charging at the Eighth Espada. "And here's your prize!"

Just as Ben raised his fist, he was engulfed in light and found himself back as a human. "...Uh-oh."

"What?!" exclaimed the Soul Reaper. "Why did he turn back into a human?"

Szayel grinned. "The moment I was waiting for!" He produced a purple orb from behind his back and tossed it at Ben, the hero too stunned to dodge or defend himself.

The moment the orb made contact with his body, he found himself encased in a purple, constricting substance up to his neck. Ben struggled but quickly saw it was no use. It was like being tied up in a cocoon made of Spidermonkey's webbing. Szayel laughed maniacally as Ben fell over, wincing as his head struck the floor.

"Oh, Ben," Szayel said as he walked over to the downed hero. "I'll admit, it was fun playing the role of a typical supervillain. Quite the show we put on, didn't we? Perhaps I can share my recordings with the other Espada. Something for them to enjoy, eh?"

"What is going on here?" The Soul Reaper asked.

"Ah, where are my manners? I don't believe you've all been formally introduced. Lieutenant Renji Abarari, Uryu Ishida. I would like for you to meet Ben Tennyson. Ben, I would like you to meet Lieutenant Renji Abarai and Uryu Ishida; the latter is a Quincy."

Despite the throbbing pain in the back of his head, Ben leaned back to get a look at Uryu. A Quincy was helping the Soul Reapers?

Szayel held up a finger. "Ah, in the midst of all the excitement from Ben's timely arrival, you no doubt forgot about how you could've wound up here despite running through all those corridors and up all those stairs. I really shouldn't have to explain but I don't want to keep our dear friend Ben here in the dark."

"Oh, I couldn't impose," the sarcasm practically oozed out of him but Szayel only smirked.

"Lieutenant Abarai ended up in my territory and Uryu Ishida here later arrived to assist him. They did quite an impressive maneuver against me but I managed to reduce the damage. When I went to change out of my tattered clothes, I told them to think of a plan to defeat me in the meantime."

Uryu and Renji glared at Szayel, who adjusted his glasses as he went on.

"Naturally I suspected they would try to run away rather than try to fight me, let alone wait for me to return. What they didn't know, however, is that I treat my palace much like my own body. Not only do I have cameras installed in all the walls, I can control the corridors at will. I simply rearranged the rooms so that you would wind up right back here."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised? They were playing into your hands the entire time."

Szayel chuckled before looking down at Ben. "Just as you have."

Ben froze. "Oh no…"

Szayel's grin grew. "So you finally figured it out."

"The entire time..."

"Never once did I say I would kill you, Ben. Defeat you, yes, but not kill you. You're far more valuable to me alive."

"So the whole point of your little 'game'..."

"Was to make you drain the Ultimatrix!" Szayel threw back his head and his laughter filled the corridor. "And you performed marvelously!"

Ben resisted the urge to slam his head back into the floor. "I can't believe I fell for it!"

"Oh, it helps that I kept going on about Orihime Inoue's wellbeing," Szayel pointed out, a hand on his cheek.

"What was that about Orihime?" Uryu demanded.

Szayel leered at him. "I threatened Ben here with that human girl's safety if he didn't play by my rules. I kept goading him so that his anger would prevent him from possibly figuring out my true goals."

"Bastard," Renji hissed through clenched teeth.

"Now then," Szayel grabbed his zanpakuto and began to draw it out. "I believe it's time for the Second Act."

Ben struggled with all his might. "Oh wait till I get out of this, Szayel. You are going to be in so much trouble."

Szayel simply chuckled. "You think so, Ben? What makes you think I shall give you the chance?"

"We're still here aren't we?" Renji shouted. "We'll help him out of there and take you down together!"

"...No," Szayel said coolly. "I don't think so. Allow me to show you why." He raised his sword up and aimed it at his mouth.

"Sip, Fornicaras!"

To Be Continued