Left, right, straight…inside the building was like a maze, all there were, were hallways that would lead to places unknown. To make matters worse, all rooms and hallways looked exactly the same so they wouldn't know if they were going in circles.
"Hey look a door! It's just like the last 13 we passed!" Mika exclaimed opening it. In it was nothing, another empty room.
"Why bother having empty rooms?" Tori asked in frustration, every room that they had come upon was empty. The next room however, had life in it. Tori opened the door and there they saw…
"Hey!! It's Ai-Ai, and Toto, and Ichi-chi!!" Mika exclaimed, pointing at each one.
"And a room full of emo's" Tori added on looking at the Espada who had blank expressions—not even a snicker or smirk at the nicknames just listed.
"Uh…I take it you guys are having a meeting?" Rina asked observing their positions. Aizen nodded.
"Why are you guys here anyway?" He asked breaking the silence.
"If only we knew" Mika answered.
"You don't know why you're here?" Gin asked.
"Well we did, but we forgot after we fought that sand monster guard thing." Tori answered.
"So mind introducing these…people to us?" Rina asked.
"Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Yammy, Nnoitra, Aaroniero, Szayel Aporro, Harribel, Zommari, Starrk, Barragan" Aizen listed them as he pointed to each.
"We're never gonna remember those" Mika muttered.
"Hmm…" Tori thought evilly then whispered to the other two. "Why don't we make up nicknames so we know who's who?"
"OK!"
"Congratulations you are now Flappy!!" Tori named Grimmjow, who steamed.
"You're Qui-Qui, you're Zaza, you're Armadillo…" Mika continued naming each one.
"Nnoitra right?" Rina asked the tall one. He nodded.
"Hmm…I don't know why, but when I heard your name I thought of Pinocchio so you're Pinocchio congrats!" Rina congratulated Pinocchio who just wanted to kill the 3 that had interrupted their meeting.
"Can you guys leave now?" Gin asked.
"Uh…how bout no!" Mika answered back. Tori saw their teacups in front of them.
"You guys drink tea? I thought you guys were evil!!"
Back at Seireitei, Yamamoto had called a meeting—captains with their lieutenants. Kira and Hisagi were alone since their captains had left. Nobody had come for 5th Division since both captain and lieutenant were unavailable. Ukitake of course didn't have a lieutenant so he had no one at his side. People were quite fidgety and didn't listen to the contents of the meeting. Yachiru was occupied with the next Shinigami Women's Association Meeting—the topic. Nanao was busy disciplining her captain from saying unnecessary things. Renji was staring at a timer he acquired for the whole week—he was really worried about the girls well being (guess what the countdown is for). Byakuya was trying to ignore his lieutenant's actions and was trying to listen to the meeting which failed as he was worried too. Hitsugaya would be scolding Matsumoto for something but he didn't as he couldn't think straight.
"Ahem!!" Yamamoto cleared his throat so everyone's attention which snap back to the meeting. Everybody but Renji (busy staring at the timer) looked at the Captain Commander. He led them back to the topic of the meeting. But that didn't really happen since everybody went back to their woes. "I know that sending those 3 was a bad idea, but they wanted it" Yamamoto sighed. People seemed to be interested in the current topic now.
"I know, they must be having the worst moment of their lives" Komamura commented.
"WOOHOO!! THIS IS THE BEST MOMENT OF OUR LIVES!!!" Mika shouted jumping off heads of the Espada, as if she were playing some variation of hopscotch.
"I KNOW!! WHO KNEW THERE'D BE A REALLY COMFY CHAIR HERE!!?" Tori added bouncing up and down of the soft chair.
"THIS IS TRULY THE BEST PLACE EVER!!" Rina said to her friends cheerfully.
"Of course, I've been wrong before…" Komamura added on quickly feeling that he was wrong.
"Abarai, can you focus for once?" Ukitake asked him.
"No way!!" He answered not looking up at all.
"They've only been there for 2 hours, there's nothing to worry about" He assured him.
"Correction, they've been in there for 2 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds…35…36…37…" he went on and on.
"I can't believe he's keeping track…" Hisagi mumbled.
Well the meeting had been called off since nobody could focus with 3 bouncing girls in the room yelling out at random.
"Hey Ai-Ai!! How can you see if you're not wearing glasses?" Tori asked curiously.
"I never needed them" He answered.
"Doesn't that mean your eyes are all messed up since you never needed the lenses?" Rina asked knowing that if people wore glasses without needing them, their eyesight would be damaged.
"There weren't any lenses in them" He answered boredly.
"Ohh…so you mean we could poke you in the eyes even if you had the glasses on?" Mika asked using her middle and index finger to poke Aizen's eyes so he would understand.
"Yes, and keep away from me!" Aizen answered and dodged Mika's pokes.
"Ok, whatever, we're gonna explore" Rina said walking out, Mika and Tori trailed after her.
"Um…which way?" Tori asked.
"Let's split up!!" Mika decided then ran off, Tori ran off in a different direction same with Rina.
"Hey it's Zaza!!" Tori caught sight of the pink-haired researcher walking on his own in the hallway. "Hiya Pinky!!" She called out as she landed on his shoulder.
"What the--?!"
"I've never seen a guy with pink hair ya know…" She said poking is head.
"Back at home there was a pink-haired girl but never a guy…" She went on.
"Would you stop that?" He asked irritated.
"Stop what?" She asked unaware of the poking.
"The poking" He answered.
"Ohh…well I dunno, if the Pokey-Poke got me then I can't without Unohana-taichou" She said continuing to poke.
"Pokey-Poke?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yeah it's when you start poking and can't stop; only Unohana can stop it!" She explained.
"Right…" He said shoving her hand away from his head.
"Hey I guess the curse didn't get me!!" She exclaimed.
"Who's that?" She asked looking at a blond-haired male arrancar ahead of them.
"That's my older brother" He answered simply.
"Really? Doesn't look you! After all he doesn't have pink hair, and doesn't look like a geek" She answered dodging Szayel Aporro's fist.
"Hi I'm Tori; your geeky brother wants to kill me! What's your name?" She asked innocently; pointing at Szayel Aporro, flushed red from anger.
"I'm Ilforte Grantz" He answered.
"Ilforte? Ok then Fort-E!" She saluted.
"I'm not forty!!" He protested.
"I never said forty, I said Fort-E" She explained. He wasn't very impressed with his nickname but after he heard his younger brother's nicknames, he couldn't help but laugh at him.
"I'm going to do more research!!" Szayel Aporro said stomping off angrily.
"Oh well, guess Zaza doesn't want to hang out with me, he's a geek isn't he?" Ilforte nodded in agreement.
"Hi Qui-Qui!!" Mika waved at Ulquiorra who ignored her presence. "Hey I said hi!! It's common courtesy to say hi back!!" She told him.
"Hi, go away" He said continuing to walk.
"That's more like it!!" She cheered. "By the way what's with the make-up?" She asked pointing at the green lines descending from his eyes.
"It's not make-up, they're naturally there" He said shoving her hand away from his face.
"Where ya going?" She asked out of curiosity.
"None of your business" He answered.
"You sure live an EXCITING life…" she mumbled. "Hey is Yam your partner in crime?" She asked suddenly.
"You could put it that way" He answered.
"He doesn't look that strong" She said back. "And you look quite scrawny and weak" She said to Ulquiorra, he stopped in his tracks and gave her a look. "What? It's true!!" She said not noticing his silent fury.
"Shouldn't you be with your friends?" He asked her.
"Yeah…I'm lost though, so I'm sticking with ya until I find them—whether you like it or not!!" She declared and became his shadow just like she had done with Renji and Gin before. "What's that?" She asked pointing at a room. "What's that, and that, and that, and that, and that…" She continued asking and pointing at various objects. Poor Ulquiorra had no choice but to answer. "Hey look it's Pinocchio!!" Mika exclaimed pointing at Nnoitra who was innocently passing by.
"Hey are there any female arrancar here?" Rina asked Grimmjow who had her foot into the hollow hole in his abdomen and had her hands perched on his head - a very strange sight.
"Can you remove your foot? It's really irritating" He asked her, having added weight to his upper half of his body wasn't very comfortable.
"Deal with it!! You're a man aren't ya?!" She snapped at him in a somewhat friendly way.
"I'll answer your question, there is a female arrancar!" He snapped back at her.
"Take me to her then!! It's really overwhelming to be stuck in a realm of just men" She ordered.
"I'm ignoring that last part!" He said walking in a different direction. They soon came upon a really small arrancar with light green hair. "This is Nel" He introduced. Nel looked up at the two; Rina was immediately overjoyed at the little toddler.
"She is so cute!!!" She exclaimed. She bent over to pick her up while still on Grimmjow.
"Hi! Me Nel!!" She introduced cheerfully.
"You're so adorable!!!" Rina cried out from her cuteness.
"Can you two go?!" Grimmjow asked tired of the excess weight he was carrying around. Unfortunately Rina didn't hear him. Nel did and tears started to form.
"You jerk!! Look what you did!!" Rina scolded Grimmjow and whacked him up-side the head. She jumped off and landed a perfect uppercut on him. "That's what you get!!"
"Oh, Nel not sad, Nel is a masochist!!" She announced happily.
"…Masochist? What the hell are you teaching her?!" Rina asked Grimmjow threateningly.
"I didn't teach her anything!! She knows these words!!" He said quickly wanting to avoid any more pain.
"I can't believe she was a hollow" Rina said looking at the toddler in front of her that was an arrancar.
"Nel is arrancar, see broken mask!! You not have mask, you is wearing a black kimono like shi—you shinigami?" She asked fearfully.
"Yeah…" She answered cautiously.
"AAAAH!!" She screamed out loud.
"What?" Rina asked scared.
"Shinigami are bad!!! Aizen say it!!" Nel screamed.
"Good luck!" Grimmjow said attempting to escape but failed.
"You're not gonna leave until you shut her up and tell her that SOME shinigami are nice; obviously she's not gonna listen to a shinigami" Grimmjow didn't want to do it, but after a couple death threats he understood. Nel calmed down somewhat and considered some shinigami nice.
"There happy?" He asked.
"Uh…can you help me find my friends?" She asked nicely.
"No" He answered.
"Bawabawa and Nel's brothers will help!" Nel volunteered.
"…Bawa...bawa?" Grimmjow started but stopped and ran off before any other commands could be shouted out.
"Nel and her brothers will help!! Bawabawa is this guy!!" She pointed to a large worm-like creature behind her. Two other arrancar were at her side and looked quite…interesting. "Pesshe" She pointed to a skinny one with an ant-like mask. "Dondochakka!" She pointed to the other rather tubby one.
"Ok…um where should we start?" Rina asked after the interesting introduction.
"This way!!" All 3 siblings said at once pointing in various directions. "NO, this way!!" They argued.
"This is gonna take awhile…" Rina muttered to herself. Meanwhile with Tori…
"Where are we goin?" Tori asked Ilforte.
"Wha--? You're still following me?" He turned around to his amazement. She nodded innocently.
"Uh…why don't you go find your friends?" He said.
"I don't know where they are" She answered.
"Ohh…well good luck!" He said not showing any sign of helping her.
"Maybe Pinocchio can help…" Tori thought as she caught sight of him again.
"Hey Pinocchio!!" Nnoitra spun around and immediately ran off.
"HEY!!" Tori shouted out and chased after him.
"Ulqui no offense, but you're really boo-oooring…" Mika said to him. They had been walking in silence for 13 minutes and it was irritating.
"Hey get back here!!" A nostalgic voice yelled out. Mika looked to the back and saw Nnoitra run really fast. Ulquiorra sensed him and turned to see him.
"Ulquiorra!! You've gotta help me!!" He gasped. (so much for being the self-proclaimed strongest Espada)
"HEY YOU!!—Oh…Thanks Pinocchio!!" Tori thanked seeing Mika ahead of her.
"Huh?" He didn't know why he was being thanked.
"You helped me find Mika!! Can you help me find Rina now?" She asked with that innocent look of hers.
"No" He said then left, Ulquiorra had no intention of helping them whatsoever so he left as well.
"How bout we go this way?" Rina asked pointing to her left.
"OK!" They all agreed.
"Um…you guys don't look related—no offense!" She stated.
"Oh…we not blood related! Nel brothers are adoptive!" Nel explained.
"Oh ok"
---
"Hey look a worm!" Tori exclaimed pointing at the seemingly small worm from so far away. As they went closer, the worm grew.
"Maybe we should head back?" Mika thought out loud once they saw the worm was towering them.
"Hey finally found you guys!" Rina called out.
"3 days, 4 hours and 24 minutes, 15 seconds…16..." Renji had not given up hope and stuck with his new friend the timer.
"How long has he been sitting there for?" Ukitake asked Byakuya.
"Like he said: 3 days, 4 hours, 25 minutes 22 seconds" Byakuya answered.
"Um…Abarai-kun, could you take your mind off the girls for a second?" Ukitake asked.
"No" He answered.
"Why not?"
"Because if I lose focus something could happen!!" He explained.
"You haven't slept or eaten in days!! You need a break!!"
"Not until they return!!" Renji was committed to staring at that little device until the girls returned—since you can't tell time in Hueco Mundo, they had no idea how long they had stayed for.
—7 Days Later—
"OH MY GOD THEY'RE LATE!! THEY BETTER BE ALIVE!!!" Renji yelled out to the world.
"Take a chill pill; they're always late for things" Hisagi told him.
"Nuh uh!! There's no way I'm letting them return late!!" He yelled then ran off to 1st Division.
"Good for you, you're losing your sanity—not like you had any to begin with…" Hisagi muttered walking back to his division.
---
"YAMAMOTO-SOUTAICHOU, PLEASE ALLOW ME TO GO TO HUECO MUNDO TO RETRIEVE THE 3 GIRLS YOU SENT THERE BECAUSE THEY THREATENED YOU AND SINCE YOU WERE SO CHEAP YOU LET THEM!!!!" Renji yelled/pleaded.
"I'm old, don't make me deafer than I already am!" he said.
"Sorry, but I would like to go to Hueco Mundo to retrieve them"
"Denied"
"What? Why?"
"I'm not sending anyone else down there, they will come back—nothing can kill them believe me" He assured him.
"Aww…"
"Hey when are we supposed to return?" Rina asked the other two who were lounging around on the couches that Aizen had.
"I dunno"
"I'm supposed to know?"
"OH WELL!!" They all said and continued to lie around.
Byakuya decided to call Rina on her phone since Renji was going crazy and the fact that they had stayed longer than they were supposed to.
"…Hello?" Her voice asked.
"Rina, it's Byakuya"
"Oh hiya Byakushi!"
"You and your two friends were supposed to return 3 days and 13 hours ago, and Renji's going crazy"
"Ohh…I had a feeling we were late…"
"Yeah…Renji's been timing your absence and he hasn't slept or eaten in days"
"That's not good, well we'll be back, don't worry!! Miss ya, love ya bye!" –BEEP–
The phone went dead as she hung up.
"Hey guys, we were supposed to leave 3 days ago!!"
"OK!"
"Bye, Ai-Ai, Ichi-chi, Toto, Flappy, Qui-Qui, Pinocchio, Armadillo, Yam, Guy with the Weird Hat, Fort-E, Nel, Bawabawa, Dondochakka, Pesshe, Zaza and Loopy!!" The three waved goodbye and left Hueco Mundo.
"FINALLY!!" They sighed in relief. Let's just say during the 10 days they had spent with them, it was full of fun and games—very, very scary to the arrancar.
"YOU'RE NOT DEAD!!!" Renji cried out in relief as he saw the 3 return to Seireitei.
"Uh…" They weren't sure as to how to respond, being happy that someone wasn't dead wasn't quite common.
"I CAN SLEEP NOW!!" Renji cheered in relief and fell back immediately in a deep sleep.
"Ok…"
"Hey, Yamamoto-soutaichou wants to see ya guys and what the hell happened to him?" Kiyone told them.
"Renji's sleeping, I guess he'll skip out on the meeting huh?" Well it was another meeting full of importance that nobody cared about.
"Ok, you 3 have returned, would you mind telling us how it was in Hueco Mundo?" Yamamoto asked.
"IT WAS AWESOME!!" They cheered.
"WHAT?!!" Everybody asked.
"It was!!"
"During their meetings, the arrancar had tea and got to sit at a long table that makes it look like their on 'The Apprentice' or something." Mika said.
"And Ai-Ai had furniture from IKEA and the chairs were really soft and bouncy!!" Tori exclaimed getting all excited.
"AND…the arrancar would listen to us and play with us—especially in the never-ending game of tag—and they wouldn't care!!" Rina finished.
"Wow…"
"Yup!! That's Hueco Land for ya!"
"I wanna go!! Ken-chan!!" Yachiru whined.
"…And this is Nel, Bawabawa, Dondochakka, and Pesshe!!" A picture of the 4 was shown up at the screen in the room. The girls were showing their vacation pictures.
"…This is Qui-Qui and Flappy, they don't like each other much…"
"…Fort-E and his younger brother the geek: Zaza" More pictures flashed of the arrancar.
"Why is that little girl crying?" Unohana asked when she saw Nel with tears in her eyes in the game of tag
"Oh, she's a masochist and she's says tag isn't fun unless she cries" Tori explained.
"A masochist?" Ukitake asked carefully.
"Yup, that's what she calls herself!" Rina said.
"Who taught her that word?" Kyouraku asked.
"I dunno hollows?" Mika thought.
After 10 more minutes of pictures the girls were dismissed allowing the Gotei 13 Captains and Lieutenants to absorb the information from Hueco Land.