Yamamoto frowned, before slamming his cane down with a resounding crack, drawing the attention of the assembled Gotei 13
"Get Ready!" He declared "Put all of your spirit on the line and defeat the enemy, We draw the line here, even if your flesh is torn asunder be as a steel wall down to your last shards of bone! You must not let them take even a single step into Soul Society!"
"Kill them" Barragan declared calmly, having resumed his seat upon his throne of bone "Do not leave a single ant alive, if you lose there will be no place for you to return to… do not disappoint me…do not make me walk a road that is not stained with the blood of our enemies… Tell me, who you bastards serve!"
"Yes sir! We are the fraccion of the Majesty, the Great Emperor Barragan Luisenbarn, we will annihilate every enemy and humbly present you with a battlefield that is thoroughly stained with their blood"
Barragan's two remaining fraccion withdrew their weapons as they spoke their oath in unison, directing their attentions at Soi Fon and Omaeda, who drew their weapons in response and stood ready
"Captain, I'll take care of these three, you get the Espada in the back" Matsumoto said calmly, sizing up the three Arrancar that surrounded them
"Not alone you won't" Joel butted in, clearly ruining what was going to be another display of the trust that Matsumoto and Hitsugaya had in each other and receiving the most venomous look he had ever received in his entire life from Matsumoto
"…or I'll just go fuck myself…" Joel said quietly, taking a step back, suitably chastened by her glare as Hitsugaya flashstepped off to confront the Espada in the background
"As if I'm just going to let…!" One of the female Arrancar, one with the mask fragment on top of her head, that resembled a horn, with jet black hair that went down to her jaw, turned around to give chase to find Joel standing in her way, his arms crossed and his glare cool
"You sure you want to do that?" he asked, but his tone seemed more questioning, than outright hostile, like he'd noticed something that she hadn't "…can't you hear the war cry?"
She growled and went to push past him, as his zanpakuto was still sheathed and his arms were folded, but he tilted his head to point out what she had missed
The Espada she had been following, the blond one had reached her arm up slowly and withdrawn her zanpakuto, clearly acknowledging Hitsugaya as her opponent, and like Joel had noticed, as if this last matchup was a signal all the Arrancar excluding the three women menacing Matsumoto and Joel leapt forth, and their Shinigami counterparts responded in kind, the battle had officially been joined.
"That bastard!" The Arrancar in front of Joel shouted, seeming to completely ignore him "How dare he swing his sword at Harribel-sama!"
She seemed as if she was actually about to attack Joel now and he uncrossed his arms and gripped his zanpakuto slightly
"Wait Apache!"
Apache halted, and turned around in anger at the voice that had stopped her
The Arrancar that had spoken also had her arms folded, and her Arrancar uniform had been heavily modified, with sections cut out in a fashion that made Joel think she looked something like an Amazon, with long curly black hair and a three sectioned crown where her mask used to be
"What was that Mila Rose! Are you saying that it's alright for that little shit to hurt Harribel-sama?!"
"Do it later you fool, she's drawn her sword, that child has no chance…What I'm saying is that if you want to back her up you should mop these two up quickly and then go"
Apache seemed mollified by that logic "Yeah… now that you mention it, she said something earlier about how she was going to 'handle the three of us' didn't she… and that lumbering oaf…"
She paused, turning to look at Joel who had recrossed his arms, his face having developed a slight frown at his description, he was definately lumbering, but far from an oaf in his own estimation
"Butted in and she told him to get lost"
"You have better ears than I thought" Matsumoto commented, sounding impressed "I was just wondering if your ears, face and style were all awful"
"What the hell did you say!" Apache shouted, taking the obvious bait, and attempting to leap at Matsumoto, but being held back by Mila Rose
"It's a taunt, stop taking the bait all the time, it's becoming a pain in the ass"
"Yeah, the man gorilla is right" Matsumoto replied, pressing her luck
"What the hell did you say?!" Unexpectedly, Mila Rose rounded on Matsumoto in a fit of anger "Who's a gorilla you goddamned dairy cow?!"
The third female Arrancar, slender with long olive hair and lavender eyes, her mask fragments the smallest of all, resembling little more than a hair ornament over her left eye, sneered as her compatriots shouted at Matsumoto
"Would you two stop it, it's so disgraceful… getting upset is exactly what the enemy wants"
She continued speaking, but quieter, so that Joel had to really focus to hear her
"The fact that you're both imbeciles really can't be helped, but could you please refrain from causing problems for me as well?
"BITCH! Who's side are you on Sunsun!"
The rounded on her and soon all three of them were packed close together in each other's faces
"So it's okay if we start with you then?" Apache and Mila Rose exclaimed in unison
"That is funny, I was just thinking that you two would be more of a burden to me than a help anyway"
Joel watched the whole situation, amused and amazed… they were on the edge of fighting each other, and all it had taken was a couple of pointed comments from Matsumoto
They seemed to finish their argument and turned to look at Matsumoto, seeming to ignore him completely
"It's too late to look at me like that now" Matsumoto said, acknowledging their gaze "When you outnumber the enemy the standard tactic is to surround the enemy, you lost the three on one advantage as soon as you all bunched up together"
The blade of Matsumoto's sword seemed to dissipate into a cloud of ash as she released it
"Growl, Haineko"
The ash from Matsumoto's blade flew at the three Arrancar, surrounding them so all they could see was the swirling particles of the ash cloud they were enveloped in
"What the fuck is this shit?" Apache shouted, attempting to slap away some of the ash that was encroaching on her arm
"You're making fun of us, what the hell are you going to do with this sand shit!?"
As she batted uselessly away at the cloud, she was too busy to notice Sunsun kicking her foot out from under her, tripping her up and sending her sprawling to the floor
Apache whirled on Sunsun, rage apparent in her eyes
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Don't touch something when you don't know what it is, that is intolerably careless"
Sunsun's reply was curt, and Apache was silent for a second, but before she could speak, Matsumoto swung the bladeless hilt in her hand downwards, almost lazily, and cuts appeared all up Apache's left arm
"Ach"
Apache cried out, blood emerging from the slices on her arm in rivulets
"That is Haineko's power" Matsumoto began to explain, as if she were talking to naughty children who had done something wrong "The blade turns to ash, I then chop the place where the ash has fallen with one swing of my hilt… You should think of all the ash surrounding you as my sword, so you have nowhere to run"
As she explained, the ash cloud which had been floating around the three Arrancar almost lazily whipped up into a storm, surrounding them completely, with only small amounts of light glinting through the minor gaps
"Be careful, I'll start the mincing with the first one to touch the storm of ash"
Joel whistled softly, Matsumoto was out for blood.
"Aren't you being a little naïve?" One of the Arrancar inside the ash cloud said smartly, as the cloud began to light up in a spectrum of energy
"Oh shit"
Joel tackled Matsumoto out of the way of a tremendous cero explosion that blasted past them, singeing Joel's foot slightly as they dived for cover, Haineko's ash cloud being completely dispersed in the resulting energy
They sprang to their feet to see the three Arrancar smirking
"Did you really think that you had us beat with something like that?!" Mila Rose taunted them
Joel sighed and reached for his zanpakuto, looks like he was going to have to jump in
"Don't you even think about it" Matsumoto snapped at him "Haineko!"
"Answer me!" Layne cried out, his tone belying his shock and confusion to anyone who could hear him "WHY DO YOU HAVE MY FACE!"
It was like looking into a strange mirror, Visera's features almost perfectly matched Layne's own, with only one clear difference, both of Visera's eyes were brown, the way Layne's had used to be before they'd been destroyed and then returned by Orihime, and his skin was unmarked, completely unscarred and unmarked by battle damage like Layne's was
"Does it matter?" Visera asked, inclining his head slightly to the side, a mannerism that Layne recognized as one of his own as well, it was incredibly disconcerting
"You bastard" Layne growled, shifting his grip and his stance slightly, preparing for a fight
"Don't go off balance Layne Trell, I can see that you're about to attack me, but you'll be no good for my research if you die too easily"
"Siddown!" Layne snarled, disappearing from Visera's sight and reappearing behind him, attempting to skewer him with Oblivion
Visera smirked and disappeared before Layne could hit him, reappearing on the other side of the room away from Layne, his arms still folded
"Really? All the attacks in the world and you copy Byakuya Kuchiki, and say 'Siddown'? That's rather disappointing; perhaps I won't be able to learn anything from you"
Layne frowned, what on earth was this guy on about?
"Hey since they released, can I join this party now?" Joel asked Matsumoto and Hinamori, who'd joined in the fight with a literal bang, saving Matsumoto from certain death before Joel could interfere
"Knock yourself out" Matsumoto breathed heavily
"Make your Choice, Riku!"
The batwing blade appeared in Joel's hand as their opponents all ripped off their left arms and tossed them together
"Quimera Parca"
"Whoa, what the hell is going on over there?" Joel exclaimed as the three arms coalesced into tremendously large being.
It had a white deer skull at the center of its head. A long, dark brown mane, which extended all the way down to its lower back, with a light brown fur covering its arms and legs. Completing the menagerie ensemble was a long, greenish-white snake tail extends from below the mane and instead of feet, two black hooves
"This is our pet, made from our three left arms" Apache explained "His name is Allon"
Joel glanced at Matsumoto and Hinamori quickly, but they were transfixed with the beasts appearance, so Joel directed his attention there, but he sure as hell didn't want to
Ugly fucker… it's like staring into the abyss, gives me the the goddamn creeps
As if aware of the scrutiny it was receiving, Allon tilted its empty eye sockets towards Joel, whose courage came very close to failing him.
Indeed, if an outside individual observing Joel had described his next actions as being motivated by fear and he would nod and agree with them.
"Ban-"
Joel attempted to activate his Bankai and at the same time pushed Hinamori and Matsumoto away from him, but before he could complete any of the three actions Allon appeared in front of the three of them, it's fist replacing the direct space where Joel just…disappeared, along with a chunk of Matsumoto's torso, as she hadn't been moved out of the way fast enough
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Allon is dreadfully strong, so be careful" Apache taunted, as Matsumoto fell from the sky, Allon staring at the chunk of her torso that it had removed, almost quizzically, as if it was even capable of emotion
"Rangiku-san!, Joel-san!" Hinamori shouted, racing after Matsumoto's falling form
I need to catch her or she'll die when she hits the ground!
"Bakudo 37, Tsuriboshi!"
From her fingers emerged a bright light, which shot forward under the falling forms of Matsumoto and Hinamori herself, shooting out several beams of light into some of the surrounding buildings, before solidifying and catching the two of them like a safety net
"Hang on Rangiku-san!" Hinamori cried out "I'll heal you right away!"
Rangiku had passed out in the fall and seemed to be struggling to breathe
The area from below her ribs down to her intestines has been ripped away… she can't breathe like this, Joel-san must have been disintegrated on impact…It's too late for him but if I hurry I can save her!
A sudden wave of dread overtook her and she slowly looked up from her work to see Allon towering over her, its fist clenched and already moving towards her
Hinamori futilely reached for her zanpakuto as she was hit by Allon's gigantic fist, sent flying backwards, blood leaking from her mouth as the majority of her internal organs were crushed from the pressure of the hit
Joel-san…Rangiku-san…and me all in one hit, we can't beat something like this… this is so messed up
As she was flying backwards Allon had leapt forwards to finish her off, reaching out to grasp her, before black solid chains wrapped around his fist
"Bakudo 37, Tsuriboshi!"
The familiar Bakudo of the Tsuriboshi caught Hinamori yet again, but this time the caster had been Moll, who directed the Tsuriboshi to lower Hinamori down as she, Hisagi and Kira arrayed themselves between Hinamori & Matsumoto's fallen forms
"You did well Hinamori… now take five" Hisagi declared, eyeing off the tremendous beast he had caught in the chains of his zanpakuto
"We'll take care of this thing"
"Huh?!" Apache remarked questioningly "Who the hell are they?"
"They're their comrades; I watched them come over from the pillars"
Sun Sun's bored remark seemed to be exactly what Apache didn't want to hear
"If you were watching them, why didn't you stop them? Dumbass…tch… They just keep coming to help, one after the other, they can't seem to stop themselves from getting involved in other people's fights"
Apache turned slightly and began shouting at Allon
"Don't give them any more time to interfere Allon, kill them all at once! Allon!"
Allon gave absolutely zero indication that he had even heard Apache's words
"Bastards fucking ignoring me"
Allon tossed Hisagi's limp form away, while Moll and Kira worked feverishly within the barrier as Allon approached implacably and raised one hand above what passed for its head, and then brought it down, seeming like it intended to crush both the barrier and those occupying it
Moll glanced up, her expression full of despair as Allon's first came crashing down, but her training overtook her and she looked back down instantly, determined to heal no matter what happened to her.
The barrier shook with a sudden impact and Moll winced, bracing herself for the sudden impact, but the barrier didn't break as she'd expected it to
"Elevation: Kilimanjaro"
Stealing another quick glance she caught sight of something that steeled her resolve, and made her focus all of her attention back down at the terrible wound afflicting Matsumoto,
Standing atop the barrier, Joel had released his Bankai and activated his signature technique, Fist of the Mountain, and punched Allon's fist with as much force as he could muster, just barely cancelling out the incredible force Allon's blow, taking the vast majority of the impact with his Fist of the Mountain, and the barrier beneath his feet maintained its structural integrity
"You made… a huge… mistake, you stupid… abomination" Joel growled out, in between grunting with the effort of his exertions, appearing to have strained greatly "You didn't… just kill me… I got back up"
He was bleeding from a cut above his left eye and his right cheek was already beginning to bruise, cracks were beginning to form on the rocky shell that encased his arm, but he was far from done
"Elevation: Everest"
Joel punched directly upwards, blasting Allon's fist up and away from the barrier, causing the beast to stagger as its bulk was driven directly backwards from the force of the blow, while the cracks in Joel's armor increased
Fist of the Mountain…is breaking? Not yet… just a little more, I'm not done yet!
Capitalizing on his opening, Joel leapt down to the ground and picked up a large chunk of rubble, and tossed it at Allon, scoring a direct hit that seemed to stagger the beast further, a second boulder sized chunk of rubble knocked it on its ass, and a third seemed to flatten it entirely, but Joel knew better, he wasn't about to call out the mindless beast for not finishing off an enemy and then not finish off an enemy, that would be hypocritical.
Running as fast as he could, ignoring the stitch forming in his side and beginning to wheeze from the strain of being tossed through a building, then getting up, intercepting the approximate force of a bullet train, and then hurling several room sized chunks of rubble catching up to him, but he pushed his pain and fatigue to the side, and focused on the final blow
"Elevation: Marianas"
He leapt up, intending to pulverize the beast's ugly skull mask and brought his fist down
Before he could blink he found himself in the beasts grip, it had moved impossibly fast and slammed him into the ground, where he coughed a little blood from the impact, while the rocky covering on his arm shatted and fell off of his arm
Shit…it played dead… did I even bother it in the slightest?
The beast charged a cero, looking like it was preparing to incinerate Joel at point blank range
"JOEL!" Moll screeched, having not seen the sudden reversal until it was almost too late "NO!"