Well here it is, hope you enjoy it.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Chapter Nine
Problems
Menos Forest, Hueco Mundo
As the Hollow in front of Holly disintegrated she was already looking for the next one. When no more appeared she turned to see Ishida had finished the ones coming from his direction. They automatically stood back to back whenever a large group of Hollows appeared. It had not taken Holly long to learn that Ishida could fire twelve hundred arrows simultaneously, it was a skill she had immediately wanted to learn, but the Menos Forest was no place for a lesson.
"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Holly asked as the reishi from their bows scattered.
"No, but we should keep moving," Ishida answered and started walking.
"Where are you trying to go?"
"Last time when we fell down here we got back to the surface through a cave that took us straight to Las Noches, Aizen's stronghold."
"A cave, of course," Holly muttered then said, "So you think they're at this Las Noches place."
"It is the only fortress in Hueco Mundo, so it seems like the logical place to start."
"Any idea where to look once we get in?"
"Not really. We never actually found out where they were keeping Inoue, she was in Aizen's throne room when we got to her and the place is enormous."
Holly looked up at the trees and sighed. She could see why they weren't just climbing up, the lowest branches were hundreds of feet high, but looking for a cave that was conveniently close to their destination did not make much more sense."I can't even tell one direction from anther down here. There aren't even any stars."
"There aren't any stars in Hueco Mundo, and even if there were you can't see the sky from here. The trees hold up the sand that is the ground on the surface," Ishida informed her, pushing his glasses up. Holly had never been so glad she had lived underground her whole life.
"If it's only sand isn't there some kind of Quincy trick that can get us there so can we dig through it or something?"
Ishida paused and looked up. "I don't know how thick it is, and the reishi required would probably catch the Hollows attention," He concluded.
Holly kicked a tree root in frustration. Artemis should be the one on the rescue team, he would have thought it through. "The longer we wait the more danger they're in! And we don't even know where we're going!"
"Once we get to the surface we should be able to see Las Noches, then getting there will be the easy part."
"We can control the reishi here same as in the Garganta, right?" when Ishida nodded she continued, "So we could stand on a platform of reishi and just ride it up like an elevator."
"A concentration of reishi like that will attract Hollows," Ishida reminded her.
Holly rolled her eyes, "That's why I control the platform while you use that twelve hundred arrows per shot trick to take care of any Hollows that come to bother us."
"You're forgetting about the tons of sand in the way," he pushed his glasses up again like they were proof that he was smarter.
"We'll blast through it. Whatever it takes. With a bunch of giant trees holding it up it's not all gonna come down if we put a hole in it."
"We might as well call Koboi and tell her we're coming!"
"Oh, she knows I'm coming. That's why she took Artemis, he comes up with the plans so in her mind he's the dangerous one."
"Do you think you can hold it together long enough?"
"I got here. I can at least get us to the branches. We can climb from there if we have to."
"Fine, it's worth a try."
Holly formed the platform and stepped onto it, "Try isn't good enough."
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Edge of the Valley, Hueco Mundo
Grimmjow was keeping watch. Despite his initial reaction to seeing her he was not stupid enough to try fighting Kasai on his own. He still didn't like that she was here at all, let alone anywhere near Orihime, but for the moment it was safer to keep their distance. The moment they tried to attack she would not hesitate to use Orihime as a hostage.
He was so distracted that he didn't immediately sense the Adjuchas trying to sneak up on him. Of the course the roar when it charged gave it away. "Oh, come on," he muttered, turning to face it as he spiked his spirit force so it would know what it was dealing with.
The lower level Hollow froze, realizing it was outmatched. It shifted into a submissive posture, exposing its mask. Grimmjow sighed, there was no point killing it, it was no threat and if it knew that it wouldn't put up enough of a fight to be any fun. He placed a hand on its mask, letting it know he wouldn't kill it, then moved back. It immediately turned and ran, glad to have escaped with its life.
"I never took you as one to just let them go," Nel commented from behind him.
"You know I only like to fight the ones stronger than me," he turned to face her and saw she was smiling. "What are you doing up anyway? This is my watch."
"What, you don't think I would notice a charging Adjuchas?"
"Didn't seem to bother Schiffer."
"That's because he assumes you can handle it, and if it turns out you can't that's your problem."
"Wait…so you're saying you didn't think I could take care of myself?"
"The possibility that you need help crossed my mind."
"What is it with you helping?"
Nel shrugged, "Call it a maternal instinct."
"Oh, alright then. Wait, what! I'm not some little kid!"
"Then maybe you should stop acting like one. Get some rest, I'll take over the watch."
Grimmjow grumbled, but settled down on the sand to let her take a shift.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Abandoned Caves, Hueco Mundo
"What was that?" Artemis asked once everyone had settled down.
"You're a Visored," Kasai answered.
"A what?"
"You have a Hollow inside you. It will try to devour you from the inside out, take over your body and destroy everyone and everything that crosses it's path," Daichi explained. He was a short, stocky man with earth brown hair and eyes.
"What is a Hollow and what can I do about it?" Artemis asked. The four newcomers looked at each other in surprise.
Hibiki, who was the tallest of the three men, thin with storm-gray hair and nearly black eyes voiced their question. "You don't know what a Hollow is?" Artemis and Orihime both nodded.
Akio, between the other two in height and build with pale blond hair and sky blue eyes took it upon himself to tell them, "Hollows are literally heartless monsters. They all have white bone masks instead of faces and a hole, usually in their chest."
"Like that creature that attacked us before you came!" Orihime exclaimed.
Kasai nodded, "They devour souls, living or dead, even each other. By doing so they get stronger. The weakest are seen in the World of the Living and the Menos Forest. Then there are the three levels of Menos. Menos Grande or Gillians are the largest, but weakest of the Menos class. They are all exactly the same. Adjuchas, like the one you just saw are smaller but more powerful. The strongest are the Vasto Lordes, which are about the same size as humans."
"How can I have a Hollow inside me?"
"It's uncommon, but not unheard of for Shinigami to develop a Hollow, like a second personality. We're not really sure what causes it," Daichi provided.
Artemis was getting frustrated with having to ask so many questions, usually he was the one with the answers, "What are Shinigami?"
"You must be a substitute," Hibiki muttered before answering. "Shinigami are beings from the Soul Society who have two main jobs, helping souls who have died move on and exorcising Hollows with their Zanpakuto."
Artemis held back a groan and asked, "What are Zanpakuto?"
"A Zanpakuto is a part of a Shinigami's soul that works as a weapon. The Shinigami can talk to it in his or her inner world—in their mind. Outwardly when it's sealed it appears to be a weapon, most commonly a sword, but other forms are not unheard of. The Shinigami can release its spirit energy into Shikai,, which is when its individual abilities emerge, and Bankai, which manifests a version of its true form. You have to learn its name to use either release and Shikai is the lower level. Bankai can be up to ten times stronger and it is not uncommon for a Shinigami to train for over a decade to achieve it." Akio answered.
"How does this help me stop the Hollow inside me?"
"You have to fight it in your inner world and force it to submit to you, then you can draw on its power in battle. This will be easier if you know your Zanpakuto's name," Kasai informed him.
"How do I learn its name?"
"Meditate and talk to it in your inner world," Akio explained. Artemis smiled, that would be easy, he meditated regularly. It was surprising he had not talked to his Zanpakuto already.
Hibiki spoke up, "You can't do that here. Hueco Mundo is the Hollow's world, your inner Hollow is stronger here. We'll have to take you to World of the Living to train."
"Why not the Soul Society?" Orihime asked.
Daichi frowned and said, "What we are isn't our fault, but the Shinigami think of us as abominations so we are forced to live in exile."
"You're all Visoreds?" Orihime questioned, looking at the dragon-shaped mask on Kasai's left cheek.
Kasai smiled at her, "Yes, not all of us are fortunate enough to be able to put the mask away when we aren't using a Hollows power. You don't have to come right away, Artemis' Hollow is under control for now. I think you two need some time to talk."
Artemis and Orihime looked at each other. They certainly did have a lot to talk about.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Las Noches, Hueco Mundo
Koboi was getting bored. With all her best Arrancars off on one mission or another the only others around were the "garbage bugs" who were only good for menial tasks. She usually just let the other Arrancars make sure they were doing their jobs, but with nothing else to do she set off on a patrol of her castle.
Two of the weakest Arrancars, Pesche and Dondochakka, were goofing off at the front gate. "What do you two think you are doing?" Koboi demanded.
"We were just having a little fun, dontcha know," Dondochakka protested.
"Guard duty gets boring when there's nothing to guard," Pesche added.
"I don't care how boring it is, there is no excuse for slacking!"
"Yes, Koboi-sama! Sorry, Koboi-sama!" they exclaimed in unison, bowing.
"Were you two on duty when the prisoners escaped?"
"No, Koboi-sama!" Pesche insisted, waving his thin arms in the air. He didn't point out that there had not been a guard duty before the escape.
"Of course not, Koboi-sama!" Dondochakka added bouncing from foot to foot.
"Do something about those spots! They are hurting my eyes!" Koboi commanded, looking down her nose at Dondochakka.
"They're polka dots!" he protested.
"I don't care what you call them, get rid of them!" she turned on her heel and walked away with a smile. Nothing like abusing the help to cheer her up.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
That's all for now. Let me know what you think.
Thanks and prayer,
RAHbooks.