Chapter 39 – Are you a Joke?

'Matthew? How can this be? I killed you with my own two hands, I saw you fall off the cliff as well not even you should be able to survive that,' said Hikari, shocked to see that he was still alive.

'You looked but you didn't see,' said Matthew calmly. 'I did fall off, but I was rescued by a unknown person and now I'm back and fighting once again, this time I brought a 'friend' with me.' He looked over at Haodong, Craig, Colin and Lewis who all had astonished expressions on their faces. 'I'm sure you four knows who he is, isn't that right Sanders?'

'Yep,' said the other arrancar who took his mask off to reveal his real face. He had the hollow mask covering the left side of his face, but even so everyone recognized him as Daniel Sanders. 'It's been a while. Daniel Sanders arrancar ninety five, how wonderful it is to see all you again.'

'You know Sanders even if try and become evil you're still a girl to us,' laughed Lewis. 'We were all happy that you died Sanders, don't ruin it now. How did you come back anyway?'

'Cut long story short. Turned into arrancar after death and got dragged here by Richo,' he sighed.

'Ha ha, even when you've died you still get pushed around like a wuss,' said Craig mockingly.

Haodong's and Matthew's eyes met, 'so, we meet again,' said Haodong calmly with his hand on his sword.

'Yes… again,' replied Matthew putting his hand on his sword.

'Woah woah, what's with the hostility? We're all friends right? Relax, and let's all have a drink,' suggested Lewis stepping between them.

'You're starting to sound like my cousin,' said Crystal.

'Let's just say he influenced me a lot.'

'Er… can we cut the chit-chat to a minimum we need to get going,' said Ketu eyeing the arrancars suspiciously.

'Sure go ahead, I'm only here for those two,' said Matthew pointing at Haodong and Hikari.

'Hey wait, didn't Usaitar tell us to hinder all of them?' asked Daniel.

'Nobody cares about you Sanders so cut the crap and do as I say,' ordered Matthew.

'I can see get along very well,' said Craig sarcastically.

'Oh, yeah. As in life as in death,' confirmed Matthew.

'I'm bored, screw you all I'm going,' said Raven and he flash stepped forwards past Matthew and Sanders.

'Wait for us,' shouted Naomi and Crystal as they followed him.

'They're getting away, get 'em now,' shouted Daniel trying to run after them but Matthew grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up.

'Shut up you duck, I'm in control here,' said Matthew throwing him into the ground.

Ketu, Ratiasu and Haruka watched in amusement. 'Come on, I think we should better be going as well. Don't bother with this Kari, let's just get going,' said Ketu.

''Sorry, but I need to finish the work I began, i.e. skewer Matthew up properly and make sure he doesn't get back up,' said Hikari.

Ketu shrugged, 'whatever, you do what you need, just catch up later.' Hikari nodded. Ratiasu, Haruka and Ketu followed Raven's lot and also flash stepped away.

'Now that it's just us old friends staying behind we can get started.'

'Yeah, you are gon-' started Daniel before Matthew kicked him in the side and he went flying off.

'Nobody asked you to talk you panda,' shouted Matthew. 'I do apologise, for the idiotic behavior of our 'friend' here. It seems even after he died he kept his stupidity.'

Lewis was rolling on the floor in laughter, Bentley was pointing and laughing. Haodong was still glaring at Matthew with a smile on his face.

'So? Shall we get started?' asked Matthew drawing his sword.

'Yay, we're finally going to get sta-' once again Daniel's speech was stopped by a kick in the side from Matthew.

'I didn't tell you to get up, now get up and let's go,' commanded Matthew.

'Woot woot, let's get ready to party.'

'Come on now, are you trying to piss me off?' asked Matthew rhetorically as he put his foot in Daniel's face. 'Move it, I've got a score to settle and I'm not having you get in the way.'

Daniel jumped up and drew his sword, 'time to release is it?'

Matthew stared at Daniel with a blank face, 'how the hell did you recover so fast duckman.'

'I recover cos I do. Also, watch this, then you won't call me a duck,' assured Daniel as he put his sword out in front of him. 'Extinguido, pájaro.' His spiritual energy surrounded him in a white light and a second later his release form came out. Everyone stared at him with shocked and confused expressions on their faces. 'How d'ya like me now.'

'Sanders, try looking in a mirror,' said Craig laughing his head off along with anyone else who was there except Colin who stood there looking bored with a scary face.

Matthew remained staring at Daniel with his mouth open and his face with a shocked expression. 'You're a dodo…' she said slowly as if confirming it himself.

'Well yeah, what did you expect?' said Daniel, his resureccion made him resemble a dodo because that's what he was. He had a mask with a big dodo style beak on his face feathers on his hands which resembled a wing and a small fluffy tail.

'Seriously, are you having a laugh? This has got to be a joke, you're an extinct bird that can't even fly.'

'To be fair Sanders I was expecting a duck,' joked Haodong.

'You're not a very nice person,' said Daniel.

'When was the last time I was nice to you, even when you were a soul reaper I still made fun of you. So that's not exactly to change now that you're an enemy, I should be more horrible if anything,' said Haodong.

'Why dodo? Of all the animals there is in the world you're a dodo?' said Matthew still not believing what he's seeing. 'Couldn't you have been something that was dangerous and or not extinct?'

'Well…' murmured Daniel as he was thinking of something to reply to that.

'That's it, I've lost interest, forget this, I can't fight with a weak extinct bird. I'm leaving, you can take care of him for me, I'm just going to quietly tiptoe away,' said Matthew as he quietly tiptoed away from Daniel.

'Hey wait you're not just going to leave me here are you?' asked Daniel with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

'Well duh, I can't be seen with things like you, it doesn't fit with my image. Come Haodong, Hikari, we've got a score to settle. H and if you three don't kill Daniel I'm going to have to do it,' said Matthew and he vanished away with sonido.

'Let's go,' said Haodong to Hikari chasing after him.

'Well now Sanders, I believe it's time for you to die. Again,' said Colin looking homicidal as always.

Sanders put his hands in front of him waving, 'woah woah, hold on a second, can we rethink this?'

'Sorry, but you're getting to be a bore, and I don't have time for such nonsense.' Colin drew his sword, 'Smother, Kurosoeki.' The blade vanished into a black gas cloud and engulfed Daniel.

'Nice shot attack Colin, looks like it's the end of him, again rejoice,' said Lewis joylessly but Colin shot him a glare and he quietened down.

Daniel smirked and said in a serious tone, 'Colin, I'm sure that you know, that one of your weaknesses is, underestimating people.' Daniel vanished and appeared behind Colin a second later. Colin's eyes widened with shock. 'Cero,' he whispered into Colin's ear and a red beam of energy bashed into Colin and sent him flying into the sky. Daniel jumped up, 'Dodo's can't fly, but I make up for that with my jumping ability.' He pointed his palm at Colin who didn't have anytime to react. 'Cero.' And Colin was bashed into the ground by a point blanc ranged cero shot in his stomach. Colin lay motionless on the ground soaked in blood.

'Daniel you bastard, I knew from the moment that I saw you, that you're not someone to be trusted. We never should've known you. We were all happy when you died, and it's going to stay that way. Destroy, Kuroshingari,' shouted Lewis with an angry face he rarely puts on. He swung his anchors up in the air and aims one at Daniel. Daniel moves out of the way and attacks with incredible speed.

His sword clashes with Lewis's anchor, 'Dodo's may not be able to fly, but their speed wasn't that bad.'

'Shut up about Dodo's I couldn't give a damn,' shouted Lewis pushing Daniel off and chucking one of the anchors at him again. Daniel raised his sword to block but was pushed back by the momentum of the anchor. Lewis wheeled his anchor back ready for another throw, but he was a tad late, Daniel was already in front of him. Daniel raised his sword and slash down, Lewis had not time to react. Craig jumped in the way to block instead.

'Thx Craig,' said Lewis as he threw his anchor again.

'Hey, I gotta do something to help.'

Daniel suddenly appeared behind Craig, 'Wha? Die?' he said as he plunged his sword into Craig.

'Shit,' he cursed and lay on the ground with blood pouring out from his wound.

'Never knew killing Craig could be this easy,' laughed Daniel.

'You piece of shit. Die,' screamed Lewis as he aimed another anchor at him.

'Your aiming is very poor when you're angry,' said Daniel calmly as he leaned to the left slightly to avoid the anchor.

'Shut up bastard.' Lewis threw it again.

'It's a shame you never learnt any kido, maybe then you might've put some variety into your pitiful attacks.' Daniel parried an attack and Lewis was wide open, he used sonido and got up close. 'Good bye, old friend. Cero.' Another point blank ranged cero, it smashed into Lewis's chest. The cero engulfed everything around him and vanished. Lewis stood there with a terrified look on his face, a second later cuts burst open everywhere on his body, he collapsed onto the floor onto a pool of blood.

'He who laughs last, laughs hardest,' said Daniel laughing to himself.

Someone suddenly appeared behind him, 'he who kills last is the only survivor.' Daniel quickly turned round, but before he could see who it was he was already too late. 'Scatter, senbonzakura,' said Byakuya, the blades gathered around Daniel and enveloped him. Daniel screamed like a bird screeching and disintegrated. 'Hanataro, get these three back to squad four, I'll head off to find the other one. He may not have sent a distress signal but I need to make sure anyway.' He looked back at the three bodies, 'Tch, to call for help just after they've got in, pathetic.' Byakuya flash stepped away whilst Hanatarou's relief squad gathered up the three near dead people.

Before Daniel's fight.

'Well now, I think this gives us quite a bit battlefield to have a rematch,' said Matthew as he looks around him and see nothing but barren wasteland.

'I agree.' Haodong turned round to Hikari. 'Kari, I have a request. This is going to be a death match between me and him, don't interfere please, unless I get killed.'

Hikari nodded to say that she understood. Although in her mind she's thinking of interfering if anything dangerous happens.

'My bankai's been improved more than you can imagine Richo, so get ready to be crushed,' taunted Haodong.

'You're nothing but talk, show me what you've got then Dingus McDong,' said Matthew insultingly.

'You and your idiotic names, this'll be the last time I hear of it.'

'Indeed it will be the last time, because I'm about to put an end to your life.'

'Dream on bastard. Bankai,' shouted Haodong raising his sword. The fiery bird appeared for a second and it enveloped Haodong to act as armor.

'I don't need to dream what's going to happen in reality. Slither, Negro Serpiente.' His arrancar overcoat completely changed colour, into a black and grey snake scaled pattern. A crossbow manifested on his left arm. 'Shall I make your death quick and painless then?' taunted Matthew.

'I should be saying that to you,' replied Haodong as he vanishes and slashes at Matthew head on a second later. Matthew raised his blade sideways to block.

'Always rushing off into battle, you never change Haodong,' stated Matthew.

'Always waiting for a chance to strike and never taking the initiative, you never learn Richo,' commented Haodong. They both smile at each other like good friends. Both vanished and reappeared facing each other with a great distance in between.

Haodong raised his free hand i.e. left, and shot fireballs at Matthew. He raised his crossbow hand and shot bolts of lightning into the fireballs. The attacks hit with neither getting through.

'Looks like our ranged attacks still equal in power,' said Haodong.

'Indeed, but a fight can never be determined using ranged attacks,' said Matthew as he charged constantly firing bolts.

'Too true.' Haodong jumped up and dived down pointing his sword at Matthew. Matthew parried and sliced upwards, Haodong span in mid-air to avoid the attack and used the force of the spin to attack again. Matthew jumped up and blocked. He shot out another few bolts at close range. Haodong flash stepped back and avoided them.

A fraction of a second later they both moved towards each other and attacked with ferocity and speed. No attacks injured either of them, but both kept up with the slashes and slices. The moved exceptionally fast for low ranked soul reaper and arrancar. Randomly appearing from place to place only to hack at each other repeatedly.

A minute or two later after many mini explosions from both spiritual pressures both of them stopped and jumped apart.

'This is getting rather tiresome, let's kick this fight up a notch shall we?' said Matthew with a devilish grin on his face and his snake eyes bared into Haodong.

'You know, I was just thinking the same thing.' Haodong stabbed his sword down into the ground and thrusted his arms outwards. The fiery armor he had on scatters into pieces around him, and then they all gather together into Haodong. He returns back to his normal appearance and it seems that nothing changed. Matthew grabs his crossbow and crushes it in his hand, it scatters into pieces around him and also gathers into his body. His appearance went back to what they were before he released his sword and also it seemed he didn't change at all.

'I'm surprised that you can still use that technique even when you're an arrancar Richo, I'm actually glad,' said Haodong as he wrenched his sword out from the ground.

'You may lose somethings when you die and become an arrancar, but one thing you don't lose is memories,' rectified Matthew. 'That technique, why I remember it like it was yesterday. Good times it was, when we were both still training we wanted a way to become stronger by using personal weapons, and to think it actually worked. By crushing up one of our weapons we absorb twice its spiritual energy and exceed our limit of strength.'

'Yes, only problem was, it lasted only one minute, let's make this time count,' said Haodong.

Before Hikari was able to see what had happened both of them were already slashing at each other with a speed faster than hers. The sound of both swords clashing rung out through the desert about fifty times per second. Half a minute past and both of them jumped back for a second before charging again back at each other. Hikari, from that one second, saw that both of them had cuts and bruises on them and they were panting quite heavily.

Haodong stabbed forwards Matthew jumped on the sword and flipped backwards kicking Haodong in the face. Haodong fell backwards as Matthew jumped above him and stabbed downwards. A minute is up. Matthew's blade pierces Haodong's chest as they both slam into the ground. Haodong coughed up blood as he hit the ground.

'Well, well, this was easier than I thought,' said Matthew breathing heavily. He tried to pull his sword out from Haodong's chest to stab again but Haodong grabbed the sword tightly and didn't let go even though blood was streaming down his right arm from his hand. 'Hey let go, what are you trying to do this time?'

'Do you remember Richo, there was a kido spell that I always struggled to learn,' asked Haodong.

'Yeah, wasn't it sixty six? But I always thought you were good at kido, I could never figure out the reason why you couldn't do that one,' said Matthew thoughtfully.

'The reason,' started Haodong as he raised his hand, 'because sixty six is two pale fire crashes, and I could never get in the correct amount of spiritual energy and I always used way too much.' As he was speaking a round orb of blue light grew bigger and bigger in his hand, 'I always seem to injure myself quite a bit when I try it. I wonder if it'll injure you as well?' Matthew tried to move away but he had already lefted too late and Haodong's point blank self-destruct Hado Sixty-six exploded and heavily injured him.

Matthew stumbled around, 'You bastard,' he cursed bleeding everywhere and he fell onto the floor.

Haodong looked to be in bad shape as well, but he had enough strength to remove Matthew's blade from his chest. He stood up next to Matthew.

'My time in squad four taught me many things, and one of them was to always save some reserve spiritual to recover yourself in desperate times.' As he said that the large wound in his chest slowly closed.

'Damn you, I'll get you next time, just you wait,' shouted Matthew with an angry face.

Haodong smiled sadly to himself, 'I never thought it'd end like this but, sorry my friend, there isn't a next time.' He raised his hand in front of Matthew, 'Good-bye. Hado number fity four, abolishing flames.' A burst of purple spiritual pressure engulfed Matthew. He screamed in pain and disintegrated. Haodong walked away but immediately clutched his chest, 'curse you Richo, it seems you hit a vital artery that I wasn't able to heal completely, well at least we'll die together,' he said thinking out loud. He dropped to his knees but was caught by Hikari just before he fell onto the ground.

'Well done Haodong. Don't worry, I won't let you die,' she said comfortingly as Haodong closed his eyes. 'Since you're here Byakuya, mind giving me a hand and get him to the relief squad?'

'You realized I was here? Not bad,' said Byakuya coolly walking from behind a rock. 'I didn't know that you had been with this kid, if I'd've known that I wouldn't've wasted my time coming here.'

'Just get him to safety please,' pleaded Hikari handing Haodong over to him.

'I don't really know what you see in this weakling, is he this precious to you?' asked Byakuya hoisting Haodong onto his shoulders. 'Why do you like him anyway.'

Hikari blushed, 'wha… what are you talking about. I.. I just didn't want him to die that's all,' muttered Hikari though you could tell she was hiding something. Byakuya just frowned at her. 'He has a kind heart, one that you don't get very often,' whispered Hikari.

'Sorry? I didn't quite catch that,' said Byakuya.

Hikari frantically waved her hands, 'nothing, nothing, never mind ha ha ha,' she said quickly. 'Ah well, thanks Byakuya, I'm off now.' Before Byakuya had anytime to respond she had already flash stepped far away.

Byakuya looked at Haodong again, 'he's still worthless in my eyes,' he said and flash stepped back to where Hanatarou's relief squad was.

Sorry it's a bit late, i've just been very busy for the past few days