Rukia knelt down next to Layne
"That was from Joel, who also had to stay behind so we could come… and Moll says you'd better not lose to her again, or she's coming to get you"
Layne lifted his head and slowly sat up, brushing sand off his clothes and face
"Yeah, Not an option, I got it" He grinned and shook sand out of his hair as he stood up "I guess i'm not allowed to lose to anyone in this place then"
Rukia gave a tight smile at his statement before she turned to the rest of them as Layne picked himself up
"Let's go, Inoue won't rescue herself right?!"
After they had resumed travel, Ichigo had a sudden epiphany
"That reminds me…" He began turning to Renji and Rukia "What's up with the cloaks, did you guys pick them up on the way here"
"We were told to take these because the dust clouds and sandstorms in Hueco Mundo can be pretty bad…
"By who?" Layne cut in, also curious
"By my brother"
Collectively, Ishida, Ichigo's, Chad's and Layne's jaws dropped
"Then… then the one who sent you here was Byakuya?" Ichigo managed to stammer out
"Well the one who opened up the Garganta was Urahara-san, but we were able to get back to the human world thanks to the Captain"
"Nii-sama said, the only orders I received were to bring you all back, I did not receive any orders regarding what to do with you after that"
"Holy crap… that's… unlike him" Layne managed to say
"So the three of us, Renji, Joel and I immediately made plans to come back here, and we ran into Moll, who we were also going to bring… but they volunteered to stay behind to cover for us as long as possible...otherwise we would have been caught by Captain Soifon and the Onmitskido"
Far away in the palace of Las Noches, in a lonely white room, Orihime gazed out the solitary window with a view of the crescent moon of Hueco Mundo, deep in contemplation until it was broken by her visitor
"How unexpected… you're looking rather good" Ulquiorra stated, with his usual lack of inflection
Orihime had changed from the clothes she'd originally been wearing into an outfit that resembled the uniform all the Arrancar wore, a high collared all white ensemble with black trimming and a black cape attachment
"What… how long have you been there?!" Orihime half asked, half shouted in surprised, flustered at her concentration being broken
"Just now…
"I have an announcement to make; your allies have broken into Hueco Mundo"
Bawabawa ran right up to the wall and everyone dismounted from his back, and while Nel, Pesche and Dondachakka praised and cheered the giant worm, everyone else contemplated the gargantuan fortress wall that stood in their way
"So we're here huh…" Ishida started, before trailing off as he continued to contemplate the wall
"But what are we going to do about this wall… it doesn't appear to be made of Sekkiseki" Rukia said as she brushed her hand lightly against it, her experience in the Senzaikyuu suddenly being useful
"Is this wall some kind of metaphor or something?" Layne asked the group "It'll be really sad if we came all this way and this is the worst thing we have to face…Moll would kick all of our asses"
"Well if it's not made of Sekkiseki, then that means we can do this with force… Let's go Renji, Layne!" Ichigo said with a grin as he unsheathed Zangetsu and waited for Ishida and Rukia to move
"You're not running the show here, Moron" Renji muttered, but released Zabimaru anyway and stood next to Ichigo
Layne nodded and moved in line with Renji and Ichigo, releasing Roxas and standing ready
Ishida move to the wall and quickly drew a target
"What's the target for?" Ichigo asked
"Well I figured you three need a target to aim for might need a target so we all hit the same spot…otherwise we'll just end up with three different holes"
"Bastard…" Ichigo growled
Layne just raised an eyebrow
"Are you sure you want to stand so close, if our aim is as bad as you think you could be in for some serious trouble" he said lightly
Ishida took the hint and moved out of the way, further even then everyone else was standing
"Why you ask?" Ulquiorra replied to Orihime's unspoken question
"In order to rescue you, for them… they need no other reason than that"
"They came to rescue me…" Orihime repeated in disbelief
"Indeed" Ulquiorra replied "But that should no longer hold any meaning for you… because in both body and mind you are our comrade, that's what you wearing those clothes signifies
"Did we break through?" Ichigo asked, inspecting the large hole that he, Renji and Layne had made
It looked like someone had fired a colossal bullet point blank into Las Noches, with a giant circular tunnel extending so far that the edges of the wall melted into darkness
"I think so…" Layne replied as he walked closer "We hit it pretty hard… and on target as well Ishida, you prick"
"There's wind coming through" Renji confirmed, sealing up Zabimaru again "We should get going!"
"What the hell is you doing!" Nel shouted at them "If yous needed a gate there's one about three days walk from here!"
"This isn't exactly a friendly visit" Layne said, raising an eyebrow "These guys want to tear us apart"
"And we don't have time to walk for three days either" Renji backed him up
Ichigo knelt down to Nel's level and smiled sincerely
"Nel, thanks for bringing us this far, but you can't involve yourself with us anymore than you already have; you'll be considered traitors… so this is goodbye"
Ichigo turned away from her and looked up to the rest of his group, who all nodded and started running down the tunnel, with Ichigo on their heels as he called back to Nel
"Later!"
Nel stared at their retreating backs for a few seconds before a sense of disappointment welled up inside her, causing her to shout after them
"Wa.. Wait!"
Nel started running after them as she continued to yell after them
"Nel and her brothers was already traitors when theys was spotted by Lunuganga-sama… no maybe since before that… Aizen-sama might have foreseen it! And Aizen-sama is the type of person who would never forgive that… and even if Aizen-sama did.. the Spada wouldn't… if yous doesn't take us we's just gonna get killed here!... If yous doesn't take us… I'll cry!"
And she did just that, ceasing her advancing and devolving into a cacophony of blubbering, wailing and carrying on
Ichigo's eye twitched slightly in annoyance, but though he slowed down, he didn't stop, so Nel started shouting after him
"Ichigo is a dumbass! Baldy! Shithead!"
Ichigo whirled around and shouted back at her, causing everyone else to stop as well and watch the exchange
"I get it, so stop crying!"
"Limpdick!"
"I am not a limpdick!"
"What are you shouting?" Rukia asked him quietly as Layne cracked a smirk
"Virgin!"
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT IT!"
As they sped down the tunnel, Ichigo having finally placated Nel, the ambient lighting had proceeded to get darker and darker until they were running forward and praying there was no obstacle in their way
"Man, I can't see shit" Layne complained
"This is one thick wall, I don't even know how long we've been running for" Ichigo added in
"No choice then… leave it to me" Renji said with a grin that only he knew about
After Renji's disastrous attempt at Kido nearly blew them all up, they emerged into a large circular room, still dark, with Ichigo and Rukia still cursing Renji's existence
"It seems… that we've made it through" Ishida said, squinting as he attempted to observe the layout of the room
"And of course this place is dark too" Chad said calmly
As if by magic, or in response to his words, five torches lit up simultaneously, illuminating the room completely, with the only shadows being cast those of the current occupants
The torches all sat in brackets above five doorways, seemingly leading into further tunnels that led deeper into Las Noches
"A crossroads" Ishida muttered
"What a pain in the ass spot to end up in"
Rukia, Chad and Layne said nothing, just continued to look around the room
Layne blinked as he felt the reiatsu up ahead crash against his senses, stirring feelings of anxiety and nervousness, which he buried back down as far as they would go, and defiance, which he brought to the forefront
Welp, I guess the kid gloves really are off now
He glanced at Ichigo who's expression indicated that he'd felt the same thing
"Nel" Ichigo began "It seems like this is going to be goodbye for real… The reiatsu up ahead, seems to be of a weight that you won't be able to carry"
"So what's the plan… there are five paths" Chad asked
"Six" Layne corrected
Everyone looked at him as if he'd lost his mind
"What are you talking about Layne?" Rukia asked
Layne pointed above the middle door, where another exit in the wall sat, forty feet in the air
Layne had noticed its silent appearance after the lights went up, but he dismissed it as a trick of the light; there was no way the walls in this place could move
"Six paths" Layne repeated "Though that last one is a little more difficult to get to"
"Regardless" Ishida said "Are we going to have to try them one by one starting from the end?"
"No" Rukia declared "We'll each take one path, at the same time"
Layne raised an eyebrow at that, though he agreed with the logic of it
"What're you saying!" Ichigo said quickly back at her "Our opponents are the Espada, it's obviously better for us to all go together, they won't necessarily come at us one at a time… if we get spread out"
Layne reached to put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder but Renji was faster
"Knock it off" he said quietly, as the stepped between Ichigo and Rukia "Showing concern for a warrior's life on the battlefield is nothing but an insult to that warrior
They were all silent for a few seconds as they absorbed the impact of that statement
Rukia sighed
"All go together? It sounds like you're saying that because you're worried about me… but that's not like you at all Ichigo… I told you, do not worry about me, I didn't come here so that I could be protected by you!"
Privately Layne felt like Ichigo was getting off lightly… If anyone tried that shit with Moll they'd be getting a physical smackdown, not just a verbal one
Ichigo took a deep breath and exhaled as he gave in
"Understood… we'll each take a different path"
You could've cut the tension remaining in the room with a knife, so Renji decided to do something about it
"Alright… now let's do a little chant before we go!"
"A chant?" Ichigo repeated
"Yeah, you're supposed to do them before a decisive battle… it's almost like a tradition in the Gotei 13… but lately it's gone out of style and almost no one does it… but it seems like the perfect situation for it
Renji walked up and held his arm out before him, with Rukia moving up to join him
Everyone else blinked at the two of them
"Put your hands in" Renji muttered "Don't look at me like that, I think it's lame too"
Ishida, Chad and eventually Ichigo followed suit
Layne put his hand in last, feeling out of place in even the most informal of ceremonies, but after spending the last few hours we Renji, he was beginning to understand why Joel and Ichigo trusted him so much
After Layne's hand was on the stack Renji began the chant
"We at this moment, head into the decisive battle… Have faith that our blades will no shatter… Have faith that our hearts will not waiver and even if our paths should diverge we all share a heart of iron and we swear that even if the ground beneath us should be torn asunder… WE WILL LIVE AND RETURN TO THIS PLACE AGAIN!"
As if the last syllable of Renji's speech was the bang of a starter's gun, the six friends immediately withdrew their hand and sprang into action, Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Chad and Ishida each running towards a different door and Layne taking to the skies, headed for the sixth and final exit
"They're gone, yo" Dondachakka said flatly as he stared at the five entranceways that Ichigo's group had taken
"So what do we do now?" Pesche asked
"Hmm… even if we go back now, it won't change the fact that we're obviously in danger, yo"
Ignoring the two of them Nel rushed forwards, heading towards the door that Ichigo had taken
"Nel, where are you going?!" Pesche shouted after her, shocked by her actions
"I is going to follow Ichigo! Nel had lots of fun so far, tons and tonsa fun… Nel still wants to be with Ichigo!" She shouted back at them as she ran, disappearing into the middlemost exit
"Alright… we're going to come along too, yo!" Dondachakka shouted after her
"But… which door did Nel go into?" Pesche asked worriedly
Ulquiorra exited from Orihime's room, and closed the door behind him, still replaying the earlier situation in his head
She only showed signs of despair for a second… and then didn't even flinch at my questions… she's a girl of strong spirit.
Behind Ulquiorra, another Espada turned around the corner
"Yo… so how's she looking, our little pet princess"
The Espada was incredibly tall and lanky, his face pulled into a large grin which exposed a row of white teeth, and his straight black hair hung on the front side of his body past his shoulders, and over a white piece of cloth with black trimming that he was using as an eyepatch for his left eye.
He was wearing the standard Arrancar clothing with the exception of a large spoonish hood-like attachment standing up straight behind his head
"Nnoitra" Ulquiorra said simply as an acknowledgement of his presence, stopping and turning sideways towards him
"I know all about it… Aizen-sama's entrusted that girl's fare to you, hmm? Delicious"
Ulquiorra ignored him and resumed his walking
"So, how far have you gotten in taming her?"
"You're filth" Visera called out from behind Nnoitra "She is our prisoner… not a plaything for your debased desires"
Visera had changed his attire, and was now wearing the standard Arrancar outfit, and had two piercings in his right ear, silver studs with green gems, additionally his hair had grown longer and now slightly hung over his visor, finally, he was wearing a white glove over his skin colour hand
"Who asked you…pretender" Nnoitra growled, unsheathing his sword and holding it to Visera's throat, who didn't even flinch, though it was impossible to tell where he was looking with his eyes covered by the visor
"Put the sword away Nnoitra" Ulquiorra ordered, turning around and approaching the pair "You know that fighting between Espada is prohibited"
"This wouldn't be a fight between Espada… this would be a fight between an Espada and a Numeros" Nnoitra countered, not willing to remove the sword from Visera's throat for being called filth
"No… it would be a fight between Espada… show him Visera"
Visera removed the glove and displayed the back of his hand to Nnoitra, where a black number four was tattooed across the back of it
"No way" Nnoitra said in disbelief "Four..."
"Not only would it be a fight between Espada…It would be a fight you would likely lose… Now. Sheathe. Your. Blade." Ulquiorra repeated forcefully "Aizen-sama said it would be disappointing if the Intruders broke into Las Noches and weren't all crushed by members for the Espada… and to that end he appointed two more into our ranks… and ranked them alongside the current members according to their prowess"
Nnoitra sheathed his sword, but was still glaring at Visera "So who's the other one"
Visera grinned "You're going to hate this"
Mollow sneezed and then wiped her nose with the back of her hand, the sneeze had woken her up from her nap, and she was currently lying in bed, wearing a white tank top
"Shit, someone must be talking about me" She growled, standing up and walking past a mirror, before stepping back and admiring the reflection of the number Six newly tattooed on her shoulder.
Chad ran out into a blue room and stared forward at the Arrancar blocking his path, in a room that had a striking floor, with a planned pattern of several gaps that light emanated from, dimly illuminating the entire room so that Chad could make out the blue hue of the walls
Ishida had come out in a large domed area, with countless white cylindrical pillars standing straight up from the ground towards the sky and stared up at a shadowy figure who stood atop thet pillar nearest to him
Layne emerged from the darkness into blinding sunlight, and cursed as he shielded his eyes with his arm
"What the fuck… wasn't it night outside" he muttered, waiting for his eyes to adjust "But this looks like the human world… what is going on here?"
Layne ducked suddenly as he sensed killing intent, and a katana passed harmless over his head
"Hmph, you did well to avoid my initial attack…intruder"
Layne turned to face his assailant, still shading his eyes
"If you really wanted to kill me with that attack… you would have put more effort into it" he replied "You're obviously an Arrancar, whats your number"
The Arrancar smiled, though Layne couldn't see it as his vision was still adjusting
"One hundred and one"