a/n - I'll just leave this here... XD
The energy being released from Emi's Bankai call forced Joel to drop her Enkaiookami as though it suddenly burned him, and cover his eyes from the inevitable dust onslaught
When he could no longer feel dust whipping at his arm, he removed it and gazed upon the sight of Emi with Enkaiookami… and a very large grey wolf standing behind her, easily the size of Hihio Zabimaru"
"…"
"Fuck me" Joel cursed, punching a nearby rubble wall for emphasis, "Dogs just don't like me"
Without warning, the Wolf pounced over Joel and onto Hihio Zabimaru, growling feroiciously, and Renji's attention was completely attracted
"Now we can have a bit of a fairer fight, One on One, Mr Rock" Emi said, attempting a seducing style tone
Joel wasn't buying it
"Its Joel, Joel Bluzer, 13th division fukutaicho… not Mr Rock"
"Emi Etsuko" she replied, thinking he was buying it
"Not interested, didn't ask" he said curtly, leaping forward and swinging Way to the Dawn in a wide arc
"Neither am or did I then" Emi retorted, sidestepping him
Joel landed and span around on his heels, deflecting Enkaiookami's whip ends with the Fist of the Mountain, and running back towards Emi, to close the range gap
She merely flashstepped out of his way, and appeared behind him
"She's got speed and range advantage" Joel realized, whipping around in time to duck, Enkaiookami shaving off a couple of hairs "I might have to take a few hits if I want to get one in… let alone a good combo"
Joel steadied his footing, and gripped his sword with both hands, Fist of the Mounting rubbing against his unprotected hand unpleasantly
"Maybe I should consider gloves" Joel thought humorlessly "Stupid rock hurts"
"Earth's Power: Formation!"
The tiles on the floor split as the raw earth beneath it rose up and attached itself to the end of Joel's Blade and he span the collected tail of dirt and minerals around, slamming it down where Emi was, causing her to flashstepped out of it
Several of Enkaiookami's whip ends snapped into Joel's exposed back, causing chills and a not insignificant amount of pain as the ripped open his skin
Joel grunted in pain falling to his knees, and several more whip ends snaked around and grabbed Way to the Dawn from his hand
"Well now" Emi said, adopting an arrogant tone "This was a whole ten minutes of mine that you've managed to waste… was it really worth your life?" She asked, twirling Way to the Dawn around her finger as Joel struggled to stand
"Well" Joel said, grinning "Im still here ain't i… and Renji's still fighting that stupid wolf"
Emi spat, and tossed Enkaiookami at him with all her strength,
The whips wrapped around him, and dug into the ground, restricting his movement completely
"What the shit?"
"Ready to die?" Emi taunted, running forwards with Way to the Dawn aiming for his heart
"Is it just me or do these people have an abnormal fascination with killing dudes with their own weapons"
With colossal effort Joel yanked the ends in the ground out and leaned to the side, causing Way to the Dawn to impale his right shoulder… but at the same time, the bindings around his Fist of the Mountain came loose
"Elevation" Joel muttered coldly "Kosciusko"
Joel punched Emi square in the gut, causing her to vomit blood in his face and sending her flying straight backwards into her wolf, which looked like it was about to eat an unconscious Renji, creating one hell of a crater in the 6th division wall
"Yeah" Joel growled, raising his rocky fist to the sky "This is what happens when people tangle with mountains… just because they are there"
Emi rolled out of the crater, and picked up Enkaiookami, the wolf had disappeared and this time she looked more hurt than pissed off… but considering just how pissed off she was, it was probably a miracle she was standing at all
"You fuckers!" She raged, "Now you're all fucking dead!"
Joel stared at her unmoving
"Well shit" Thought Joel "I'm completely drained… and its taking all my efforts to just stand up"
Emi struggled to Joel, sealing her zanpakuto
"Just…wasting…my…time"
Joel cocked a bloody eyebrow, and pink flowers appeared in the sky around them
"Holy shitballs" Joel croaked "I'm going delirious"
"Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi"
Emi disappeared in the cloud of pink doom, and Joel turned slightly to see Byakuya approaching
"Y'know" Joel thought, giving up the fight to stand and collapsing on his back "If I could still move… then I'd complain about a killsteal"
"Missstressss" Sendo Hebi's hilt whispered warningly "Emi hasss fallen"
"Not yet" Tsubaki muttered, fending off Hitsugaya's latest assault "I'm not ready yet!"
Kenpachi and Daisuke had large injuries all over their bodies, but neither looked like they really gave a damn
"I haven't had this much fun since my fight with Ichigo!" Kenpachi shouted excitedly "Shame Yachiru isn't here to watch this one!"
Daisuke blocked Kenpachi's side cut and used his free hand to punch Kenpachi in the chin, momentarily dazing him, and allowing Daisuke to bring his sword up and slice off Kenpachi's eyepatch
Daisuke then had a few seconds to stare in shock as his swordless arm suddenly disappeared
"What the fuck!" he screamed in agony, noticing his arm had become a bloody stump on the ground
Kenpachi sounded bored
"Now why'd you have to go and do a stupid thing like that… if you wanted to escalate the fight, the smarter way to do it would've been to use your Bankai"
Daisuke noticed that the reiatsu Kenpachi was emitting now bordered on the monstrous
"Got no choice now… not after whatever that last strike was made of"
"Bankai!, Antacchaburu Kaen Toreitai!"
Daisuke's blade sprouted large wings of orange fire, and he ran the edge of the blade on the blood leaking stump where his arm used to be, cauterizing the wound so he could fight better, without blood constantly leaking from his arm
"Heh, I dunno what kinda shit you used to take my arm off" Daisuke muttered "But it doesn't matter anymore!
Daisuke swang his sword so that both wings aimed for Kenpachi, who merely snorted and grabbed the blade with his bare hand
"Impossible… his skin… It should be melting!" Daisuke thought, trying to yank the sword from Kenpachi's immovable grasp
"I take my baths hotter than this"
With a fell stroke Kenpachi cleaved Daisuke from shoulder to waist, and watched as he crumpled to the floor
"Time to go find Ichigo" Kenpachi said, walking off,
"What…what a monster"
Komamura was having a rough time against Takeda's doll Sai
Having such a big body meant that the speed of his strikes was affected, and Sai was easily able to duck and weave around, spraying acid and forcing Komamura to go on the defensive
"It doesn't matter what you try to do little doggie" Takeda said lazily, from his sitting position on top of a nearby wall "Me and my Sai will never be harmed by a slow fighter such as yourself
Komamura growled his frustration, and evaded another acid spray
"How about me then?"
An orange blur short from nowhere and applied the beat down to Takeda's unprepared face, kicking him off the wall
Yoruichi grinned down at him
"You arrogant…" Takeda spat, wiping the trickle of blood from his mouth with his sleeve, and picking himself off the ground
"You shall pay for that"
Takeda however, had failed to notice that Komamura had managed to hit Sai with something, and Sai came crashing on top of him
Followed shortly after by the fist from Kokujo Tenken Myo'oh, crushing him
"Thank you, Shihoin Yoruichi" Komamura said formally, sounding thoroughly satisfied
"No worries" she replied, "Now, could you point me in the direction of Ichigo and Layne… there are some disobedient asses that need kicking
And now, Tsubaki was super pissed off
"Bankai! Kyojin Sendo Hebi!"
Hitsugaya had to leap to the side to avoid being swallowed by an immense brown snake which appeared from nowhere
"Too close" he thought calmly
The snake curled around and glared at Hitsugaya
He cocked an eyebrow at it and rolled to the side, and Tsubaki's sneak jump attack missed him
"You're faster that I assumed… brat captain"
Her voice was different to when Hitsugaya had heard it muttered before; this voice was high, cold, and self assured
A vein in Hitsugaya's forehead pulsed dangerously at being called a brat, but he kept his composure,
"It doesn't matter" Tsubaki added "Before Kyojin Sendo Hebi… all of your skills may as well be rats"
"It's a far call to call a dragon… a rat" Hitsugaya shot back
"I don't want to… but with the added advantage of that huge snake she has, I'm out of options"
"Bankai! Daiguren Hyorinmaru!"
Ice formed all over Hitsugaya, forming blue wings, an ice claw over his free hand, locking his sword into position and over his feet, forming avian style feet, with great ice talons. Finally, Three Ice flowers appeared in the Air behind him, one beginning to melt slowly
Ignoring Tsubaki, Hitsugaya shot straight up, taking the fight to the sky, where in Bankai form, was currently his domain
Or so he thought
Tsubaki leapt up to join him and the snake literally crawled through the air on a path of solidified reishi to get to his level
No mean feat for a snake that look to be at least a couple of kilometers long
The snake lunged forwards, and Hitsugaya dodged to the side, using it's long body against it as he rushed towards Tsubaki, who merely smirked and jumped as the snake tail whipped from nowhere and caught Hitsugaya full on
"Tactics boy, tactics are what Kira-sama has ingrained into my head, and it is tactics that will allow me to overcome the Cold Blooded disadvantage I have in this engagement"
"It makes no sense for a reiatsu based snake to be cold blooded" Hitsugaya thought humourlessly
"But that's an advantage for me no matter which way you look at it"
Tsubaki flashstepped next to him and he was forced to cover himself with his ice wings to block the sword stroke, though the acid melted through the ice anyway
Bringing his own sword up, he parried another downstroke from Tsubaki, with another splash of acid catching him in the cheek
She flicked the blade around and scratched his other cheek, some acid dripping into the wound and burning painfully
Hitsugaya jumped back out of melee range
"Hyoryu Senbi!" he shouted, swinging his sword in an arc in front of him and sending a crescent of frozen ice at Tsubaki, who just barely dodged
"She's moving a lot slower than before"
The snake came from beneath and Hitsugaya barely dodged it as well
"It seems to be moving a lot faster though…that's it… I got it"
The snake came around for another pass, but instead of dodging, Hitsugaya met the thing head on, while avoiding being snapped up and Bankai food
"Ryusenka!"
Ice plunged outwards from where Hitsugaya stabbed into the Snakes head, and within seconds, there was one snake shaped block of ice floating in midair
"Is it really worth wasting your reiatsu to keep a block of ice in midair?" Hitsugaya said calmly
Tsubaki growled, now visibly sweating and Hitsugaya sighed
"Those that don't help themselves… and claim to be good at tactics, those are some of the worst" he said to himself, shattering the snake with a good sword thrust
Tsubaki's head lolled back and she fainted, plummeting to the ground
"When you use that much reiatsu to hold up a huge snake, of course you'll faint after you need to hold up a heavier, frozen snake"
Hitsugaya looked down, seeing the large plummet of dust where Tsubaki had impacted the ground
"That's it then"
"Well, I guess that's it then" Kira sighed "Useless bastards only bought me a couple of hours"
"My my, I guess you knew what you were talking about then, Jyuu… she turned out to be here after all"
"I did tell you"
Kira's upper lip instantly curled at the sound of the two voices she hated the most in the world
"Kill, Kira!" she snarled, holding the huge scythe in front of her threateningly, as she whipped around to see Kyoraku and Ukitake standing behind her outside the eighth division
"You always did have a nasty temper, Kira-chan" Kyoraku said lazily, tipping his hat up
"Don't look down on me Kyoraku!" Kira replied "I've gotten stronger since you two put me away the first time"
"We could try talking out of this" Kyoraku offered up
"Words are pointless"
"At this point" Ukitake cut in, "I agree"
Ukitake drew his katana, and Kyoraku followed suit with his two, shrugging off his hat and pink kimono in the process
"Thunder become my bla-" Ukitake began, cut off by a wall of water rushing towards the three of them
Kira , Ukitake and Kyoraku dodged it easily, jumping up to nearby rooftops
"Found you!" Layne called out, appearing close to Kira, Roxas in Shikai "Don't worry about her Ukitake-san, Kyoraku-san… I've got a score to even out here"
"You're persistent, you little shit… it should have taken you a bit longer to get here from the location where Takeda's reiatsu disappeared at"
"I didn't fight him, and Ichigo and I split up to find you faster" Layne took a ready stance "On my part, it seems to have worked… this is for all the people you killed in front of me!"
Layne burst forwards, kicking off the ground with incredible speed
"Come on Kira"
Kira deflected Oblivion with the hilt of her scythe and kicked Layne in the crotch, causing him to drop to the ground in agony
"You're slow, and you couldn't even compete with my sealed form…. What makes you think you can stop me when I'm a hundred percent"
Layne rose, feeling distinctly sick to his stomach from that kick "I don't think I can stop you, I know I can… and I'll die proving it to you if I have to"
"Don't go dying on me just yet" Ichigo added, appearing on the scene "Getsuga Tensho!"
Kira easily dodged the blue crescent and smirked at Ichigo
"I don't want to fight you weak shits, I came to fight you two!" she growled, directing her last comments at Ukitake, who was still ready to fight, and Kyoraku who had strangely sheathed both his katana and redonned his pink kimono
"Oi!" Kira growled "What do you think you're playing at"
Kyoraku smirked, and watched Layne getting up
"I don't think you can beat those two, Kira Reiton, and I don't have any business stopping them from proving me right"
Ukitake shot Kyoraku a look that said WTF, but sheathed his own sword anyway, Kyoraku's instincts were usually right
"You may be stronger than you were long ago… but so are we, and those two may surprise you, they certainly surprised us when they appeared here for the first time"
Kyoraku began walking away "Come on Ukitake, there's some paperwork to be done"
Privately Ukitake felt that Kyoraku was tripping acid or something, but went along with it anyway, fully intending to stay around hidden in case Layne and Ichigo started losing
Kira watched, enraged as Ukitake and Kyoraku simply walked away
"Fine then, I'll just kill you from behind" she cried "Mi Gai Da-"
"Surge!" Layne cried out, as he tackled her off the roof, in Surge mode
They landed on rough dirt, and looking up, Layne saw that they were directly under the Sokyoku hill, near Yoruichi's training cave/Hot Spring
"You little shit" she growled "Stop joking around"
"Joking?" Layne said incredulously "Who's joking, im always serious!"
"Bankai!" Ichigo cried "Tensa Zangetsu!"
His clothes changed from the Shinigami uniform into a Black overcoat with ragged edges, and his sword shrank from the oversized meat cleaver, into a standard long sword with a broken chain dangling off its pitch black hilt
"Riptide Sword Style: River!" Layne called
Layne clapped his hands together, causing his keyblades to fuse together to form one two handed keyblade, both white and black
"It doesn't matter what you two use" Kira snarled "I'll kill you both quickly… so consider yourselves lucky that you're the ones taking me on first"
"You talk" Layne began, running forwards alongside Ichigo and crashing River into her Scythe "Too damned much"
Ichigo appeared behind her, so Kira shifted her grip and rammed the hilt of her Scythe into his chin, dazing him
However, Layne took advantage of her change in attention and tried out something completely different
"Riptide Strike: Tempest!"
River gained a sheath of water, and Layne swung the edge down, Kira only managing to deflect it partly by elbowing the side of the blade, therefore receive and nice cut to the leg, and losing part of an elbow
"It's like a chainsaw" Layne said "But it still isn't as powerful as-"
Kira kicked him in the face, and swang her Scythe down, decapitating Layne if Ichigo hadn't blocked with Tensa Zangetsu
"You done now, Layne?" Ichigo asked "I thought you had a score to settle"
"Yeah" Layne agreed "I'm done"
"Oh, so you mean theres another level to your weakness then?" Kira taunted
Layne glanced at her
"Weakness is relative, we're certainly strong enough to kick your sorry ass...like beasts!"
a/n - Slowly getting there, slowly D=
Im thinking finish next chapter + wrap up and start next arc hopefully, This arc lasted ~14 chapters including next one, and thats about as long as the first arc xD
Cheers for the reviews last chapter, and please, drop a line, im always open to feedback
someone tell wulf to stop being a baddie and come back and write too, serially