Hinamori's Apprentice
Chapter 24
Karin froze in shock. Momo was no longer at her side, and now she faced a strange and apparently hostile man. She was able to vaguely make out his features in the early morning light. He was a thin man with sharp features and a wide grin. He wore ragged white clothes and had an odd piece of bone-like material on his forehead. Karin noticed that there was a hole in his chest, and remembered being told by Rangiku of hollows that had removed their masks and gained the powers of Shinigami. She gulped, trying to remain calm, and spoke.
"Who- who are you?" she asked, failing to keep the fear out of her voice, "Where's Vice-Captain Hinamori? What have you done?"
"I am Aardo Verec!" he said loudly in a high pitched voice, "I am the mighty arrancar servant of the Fourth Rising!"
"What do you want with me?" Karin asked, not knowing what he was talking about, "Where is Vice-Captain Hinamori?"
"Your comrade is fighting my companion. As for you…" the arrancar drew his sword, "I'm going to kill you."
Karin's eyes widened in fear, and she immediately reached for her sword. Before it was even fully out of its sheath however, Aardo attacked. Karin leaned back just in time to miss the first slash, but before she could react any further, Aardo had thrust his sword forward, straight at Karin's throat. She couldn't dodge, and she couldn't block. She reflexively flinched, knowing that she would surely be killed.
When she opened her eyes however, she realized that his sword had stopped just as it touched her throat, nicking the skin but not killing her. Shaking, she reached up a hand and touched her throat in disbelief. There was a little blood, but she was not dead. She looked at the arrancar in shock and surprise. He merely grinned at her.
"I'm not going to throw away a fun little thing like you so quickly. I like to play around with my victims a while like a cat playing with a mouse. Meow!" he said with a harsh laugh, "Now raise your sword. This won't be any fun if you don't fight back! Even a weakling like you should be able to give me a bit of fun!"
Karin quickly raised her sword again. At the same moment, Aardo attacked, slashing at her repeatedly. Karin used the skills gained from training to keep up with him, but having never been in real combat before, was clearly outmatched. Only the fact that he was toying with her kept him from killing her immediately. Karin managed to block and dodge his blows, but she knew that she was no match for him. If Momo didn't come back soon, she would certainly be killed.
Karin ducked an incoming blow and tried to use the position to her advantage. She swiftly moved forward and lunged with her sword, trying to attack Aardo while his sword was still extended. It was no good however; Aardo was able to bring his sword back to block just before Karin's would have cut his chest.
"Ooh, clever girl," he chuckled, "You might give me a bit more fun than I expected. Tell me, can you do this?"
There was a sound like static, and the next thing Karin knew, Aardo was behind her. She quickly turned around, blocking a slash at her ankles.
"Not bad, you just saved yourself a foot! Though it seems you can't keep up with sonido…"
Karin lashed out at him, swinging her zanpakuto sideways in an attempt to slash Aardo across the chest. He dodged it, using his own blade to put Karin back on the defensive. Karin was now more grateful than ever for the harsh battle training Momo had given her. She was now just barely able to keep up with him as she slipped into a state of battle. Adrenaline flowed through her body and her senses became sharper. She was able to keep up better with Aardo's attacks as time passed and her training experiences took hold of her. She used everything Momo had taught her to keep up with her foe. Still, the battle seemed hopeless. She was up against a stronger, more experienced opponent. Her only hope was to hold out long enough for Momo to come save her.
"Karin, use my power," the voice of Denryu said in her head.
"What?" Karin said in her mind.
"Use my power to defeat this enemy," Denryu said
"I can't! I can barely use my Shikai! It's all but useless in combat! If I try that now, I'll be killed for sure!"
"If you wish to win, you will have to use it. Do you doubt your own power?" Denryu asked.
Karin held onto her zanpakuto tightly. Her Shikai form was less effective than her unreleased zanpakuto in combat. As much as she wanted to trust her zanpakuto, she just couldn't take the risk right now, not when a mistake meant death.
"Sorry Denryu, but I'm going to have to do this my own way," Karin said to herself.
---
"Snap, Tobiume!" Momo yelled, releasing an energy ball that exploded as it contacted the ground near her foe.
"Very nice," the arrancar she faced said, "With that power, you might actually pose a minor challenge."
"Where's Karin?" Momo said for the fourth time.
"Her location is irrelevant. She will die, as will you," he said. He thrust his forearms forward, releasing two spinning disks from plate-like objects on his forearms. Momo dodged one and deflected the other. The spinning disks returned to the arrancar like boomerangs.
"What is your name and why are you attacking us?" Momo asked.
"I am Hedra Nadd. As for my purpose here, I have no reason to reveal anything to you," he replied. The disks spun at high speeds on his forearms before he released them for another attack.
---
"Ichigo! Ichigo!" Rukia whispered. Ichigo grunted, awakening from his sleep.
"Rukia? What are you doing in my bedroom?" he asked sleepily.
"Something bad has happened," Rukia said urgently, "Karin's gone missing! So have Captain Hitsugaya and Vice-Captain Hinamori!"
"What?!" Ichigo said loudly, immediately sitting up, "When did this happen? What's going on?"
"I don't know," Rukia admitted, "I overheard my brother and Captain Ukitake talking. They say that Captain Hitsugaya has been missing since yesterday evening. A reiatsu detector sensed him leaving, but no one was monitoring it so an alert wasn't raised. About half an hour after he left, Vice-Captain Hinamori went into the area, but she quickly turned back, only to return several more times. Other sensors showed that she was roaming Seireitei for a while before returning to her quarters. After that, there were no more traces of her reiatsu, and when they checked, both she and Karin were gone."
"Damn it!" Ichigo growled, "Why did she take Karin with her? What was she thinking? What were all of them thinking?"
"It's suspected that Captain Hitsugaya wasn't entirely in his right mind, what with the injuries and the painkillers he was on. Vice-Captain Hinamori probably went to go find him, and for some reason brought Karin with her," Rukia said. As she spoke, Ichigo was quickly putting his Shinigami robes on.
"I can't sense her. Unless she's hiding in the absolute furthest part of it, she's not in Seireitei," Ichigo said.
"Are you sure? You're not really the best at sensing Reiatsu," Rukia said.
"I'm sure. She's my sister, we share a special bond. Whenever she was in Seireitei, I could almost always sense her when I wanted to. She only knows the most basic reiatsu concealment techniques, so I doubt that she would be able to hide it from me. Plus, if Toushiro isn't in Seireitei either, she wouldn't be assuming that your theory about her and Momo going after him is true."
"What will you do?" Rukia asked. Ichigo hesitated.
"Jidanbo. I'll ask Jidanbo if he saw anything strange. They might have snuck through the gates to Rukongai," Ichigo said. He ran to the door, grabbing his zanpakuto along the way.
"Wait, Ichigo!" Rukia yelled after him, but he already left.
Ichigo used shunpo to travel to the western gate, where the giant Jidanbo stood guard.
"Oh, Ichigo!" Jidanbo said in a booming voice, "It's a surprise to see you here! How are you?"
"Jidanbo, did anybody pass through this gate last night?" Ichigo said urgently, ignoring what Jidanbo said. Jidanbo hesitated, seemingly taken aback by the sudden question.
"Why no, of course not! Who would travel in the middle of the night!" he laughed nervously.
"Did you see anyone at all? Anyone passing by?" Ichigo asked insistantly.
"Nope, not a single person. You're the first person I've seen here since yesterday," Jidanbo said.
"Were there any strange occurences? Anything out of the ordinary?" Ichigo asked.
"Nope, everything was perfectly normal last night."
"Fine," Ichigo sighed, "Are you absolutely sure that nobody passed through the gate last night?"
"Of course not. I assure you that Captain Hitsugaya did not pass through the gate," Jidanbo said. Only moments after saying this, his face turned pale. Ichigo stared up at him, his eyes narrowed.
"Nobody said anything about Toushiro. Tell me the truth Jidanbo."
Jidanbo quivered for a moment before suddenly bursting into tears and collapsing to his knees with a thud. He pounded his fists into the ground, making the earth shake as he wailed.
"I'm a bad guard and a bad friend!" he sobbed, "It's true, I let Toushiro Hitsugaya through. I knew him since he was a child, I couldn't just refuse! I failed in my job as a gatekeeper! And I couldn't even keep my big mouth shut to keep the secret my friend trusted me with! Why am I so horrible?!"
"C-Calm down Jidanbo!" Ichigo said quickly, trying to end the giant's childish crying, "I won't tell anyone about this if you tell me exactly what happened."
"O-Okay," Jidanbo sniffled, "Captain Hitsugaya came and asked to exit Seireitei. He said he had something to check out. I…I couldn't bring myself to turn him away, so I let him out. That's all I know, he didn't tell me anything else!"
"Did anything else strange happen?" Ichigo asked. Jidanbo thought to himself for a moment.
"Yes, there was something odd," he said, "Late last night, after Captain Hitsugaya went through, there was this weird flash and I suddenly felt drowsy. I fell asleep for just a moment or two, but when I woke up, I checked things out and could find no evidence of any intruders. It was probably just my imagination, so don't make anything of it." Ichigo looked up at Jidanbo.
"Jidanbo, open the gate for me," he said.
"Why?" Jidanbo asked.
"I have… somebody to retrieve," Ichigo said vaguely. Jidanbo nodded and began opening the gate. At just that moment, Rukia appeared next to Ichigo, breathing heavily and glaring at Ichigo.
"Ichigo, you idiot!" she said, "You know I'm not as proficient in shunpo as you! I can't keep up with you going full speed like that! Either slow down or-"
"Sorry Rukia," Ichigo said, immediately shunpoing away as Jidanbo opened the gate.
"Damn it Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, using shunpo to go after him.
---
"Ha! It's useless to resist my power!" Hedra boasted, launching his disks again. Momo narrowly avoided them, and had to dodge again when they came back around. As they returned to Hedra, Momo launched a fireball from Tobiume. It hit the spinning disk, but did not knock it away. It returned to Hedra as it always did.
"I told you, it's no use! So long as my blades are spinning, they are under my complete control, and nothing you can do will stop them from doing so!"
Momo tried to close the distance between them, but Hedra let his disks fly again, forcing her to take a defensive position. She dodged one and deflected the other with her zanpakuto, but the one she dodged returned more quickly than she had expected, and grazed her left shoulder as it returned to Hedra. Acting quickly, Momo fired another energy blast, hoping to force her opponent back, but unfortunately her aim was not good enough. The fireball impacted some distance away from Hedra, leaving him unharmed.
"Is that all your zanpakuto can do? Fire off puny blasts? I overestimated you. Since you're clearly not going to continue being a challenge, I'm afraid I'll have to finish you off now." He thrust his arm forward, releasing one of his disks. Momo stared straight ahead with determination, holding her zanpakuto in front of her.
"Tenra!" she said, swinging the blade forward. The tip of her sword impacted with the spinning disk. The disk seemed to stop in mid-air, before falling unceremoniously to the ground with a clunk.
"What?" Hedra said in shock, "What did you do?!"
"You can only control those disks if they're spinning. It was obvious that disrupting the spin was all that was needed to disable them," Momo said.
"That… that's impossible! Nobody can stop my blades! I was just careless! It was just luck on your part, you cannot repeat the same thing twice!" Hedra yelled, launching his other disk. Momo brought her sword up again.
"Tenra," she said as the tip of her shikai hit the spinning disk. It fell to the ground with a clatter.
"This cannot be!" Hedra said in disbelief, "What the hell did you do?"
"You asked earlier if firing energy balls was the only power of my zanpakuto. I'll answer you now," Momo said calmly, "My zanpakuto's power is not to produce fireballs, it's to focus and conduct my reiatsu and kido. Forming my reiatsu into explosive blasts is just one of my abilities; there are several others. For example, Tenra, which I used just now. It focuses my reiatsu at the tip of my zanpakuto, creating a super-dense mass of reiatsu that disrupts things that come in contact with if. Think of it as a sort of miniature black hole of reiatsu. By focusing large amounts of energy at a tiny point, it creates a distorting effect that caused you to lose control of your disks."
"Damn you!" Hedra growled. Momo raised her sword.
"I'm going to ask you to surrender now. If you do so, your life will be spared," she said. Hedra's look of rage suddenly turned to amusement.
"You think you've won?" he laughed, "You have no idea who you're dealing with." He suddenly released a bala blast, forcing Momo to leap back. He followed with a cero, which Momo dodged by ducking in mid-air, landing on her feet below. She was unhurt, but the short distraction was enough for Hedra to retrieve his two blade-disks. He slammed them together, and began collecting spirit energy around him.
"Be my fortress, Armadura!" he yelled. The wind whipped up around him, and there was a bright flash that forced Momo to look away for just a moment. When she looked back, Hedra had changed into what Momo knew to be his resureccion form.
He looked like a giant, ridged clay pot. He had no discernable arms or lets, and he floated just above the ground. Four skull masks protruded from holes in it, one from each side. Small creases and markings were all over the strange form.
"So what do you think, Shinigami?" Hedra's voice echoed, coming from within his released form despite its lack of a mouth, "Are you as brave now as you were before?"
"Of course I am," Momo said with a small smile, "You've just lost your only possible advantage against me: mobility. You're now a very easy target for me." She raised her shikai above her head, collecting energy. With a yell, she swung it forward, releasing a truly massive energy ball, far larger than her previous ones. It impacted with Hedra, creating a huge explosion that nearly knocked her back.
When the smoke cleared however, Hedra was completely unharmed. Armored plates had extended over the holes from which the skull masks protruded, completely shielding him. An echoing chuckle came from him.
"Silly little girl…" The armor plating receded from over the masks, and from the mouth of the nearest one came a barrage of white objects. Thinking quickly, Momo erected a kido shield. Moments later, the objects exploded, throwing up dust and debris. Momo launched an energy ball, but once again Hedra closed the armor plates, blocking it.
Upon reopening it, a large number of spikes shot forth from the skull's mouth. They would have impaled Momo had she not leapt into the air just in time. She looked down at him, trying to think of what to do. He clearly had plenty in store for her if she kept attacking from the sides, but those masks didn't seem capable of launching projectiles at her while she was higher than it. She would have to defeat it from above.
"Bakudo 62, Hyapporankan!" she said. A silvery blue rod of energy formed in her hands, which she held firmly as she spoke her next words. "Hado 31, Shakkaho!" Using her expert Kido skills she spread the power of Shakkaho over the Hyapporankan spell. The energy rod now glowed red as Momo took aim at Hedra. She threw it downwards, the rod disintegrating into dozens of shorter rods as it flew down towards the top of Hedra's resureccion. The rods exploded upon impact as they collided one after the other against Hedra. When the smoke cleared however, Hedra was still unharmed.
Growling to herself, Momo launched two more fireballs at him, but they were no more successful than her previous attacks. The plates on the side opened, and from each of the four masks came a flaming rocket-like projection. They curved up towards Momo, trapping her between them so she couldn't dodge.
"Bakudo 55, Rippling Sphere!" she said quickly. A pink sphere of energy surrounded her just as the rockets were about to hit her. The shield shuddered and distorted, but it held up. Momo looked back down at Hedra. His defense was perfect. Nothing she did seemed capable of piercing his hard shell. She did have one trick up her sleeve though. It was dangerous and risky, but it was her best chance at victory.
"Hado 33, Sokatsui!" she yelled. A wide blue energy blast shot from her hand towards Hedra, who closed the plates over his masks once more, protecting himself from the attack. Before he could open them back up however, Momo cast another Kido spell. "Bakudo 63, Sajo Sabaku!" Chains of yellow energy encircled his resureccion form, preventing Hedra from opening the plates to the masks that he used for attacking. "Walls of ironsand, a priestly pagoda glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end. Bakudo 75, Quintet of One-Kan Iron Pillars!" Five tall, thick pillars slammed down on top of Hedra, pinning his bulky form to the ground. His for shuddered and strained against the kido spells, and Momo knew that she could not hold him for long. Aware that her time was limited, she quickly moved onto the next part of her plan. She went back to the ground, moving close to the struggling Hedra. She held her shikai horizontally in front of her, placing her left hand just above the flat side of the blade.
"Demons of the netherworld amass. Tear fissures in the earth and let the fires of hell consume all. May the screams echo to the world's core. Hado 95, Flames of Damnation!"
Black flames sprung forth from Momo's left hand, completely surrounding her zanpakuto in a shroud of intensely hot flames. They swirled around it for a moment before seeming to bond with the blade, making it look as if her sword itself was made of the dark fire. At that exact moment, Hedra broke free of the golden chains, and the tall pillars trapping him to the ground crumbled to pieces as he let out a blast of reiatsu from his body.
Before he could rise more than a few feet off the ground however, Momo brought forth her blade, slashing across one of the masks that had just exposed itself. Her blade cut through both it and the surrounding part of the shell as easily as if it were butter, leaving a trail of molten material where her sword had passed through. She rushed over to the next mask, dragging her sword across the side as she did so, leaving a glowing slash mark as she went. The next mask tried to release a blast of spikes, but Momo ducked and stabbed it from below.
Realizing that they could not risk exposing themselves to this new power, the remaining two masks began to withdraw into the protective shell. Before the first one could however, Momo appeared and slashed it in two. The final remaining mask successfully withdrew, but it would soon find that this did no good, as Momo stabbed her flaming blade straight through the plate-like armor covering it, piercing the mask behind it.
All four masks now destroyed, Momo leapt on top of Hedra's resureccion. She lifted her blade up before thrusting it into the top. She held it there as the massive being shuddered. Several moments passed, Momo keeping her zanpakuto in place. Finally, Hedra shook and returned to his normal form in a battered state. Momo landed on her feet and extinguised the black flames from her blade.
"How? How did you…" Hedra gasped.
"I told you, my zanpakuto is a conductor for kido. I was able to use it with a high level kido spell to pierce your armor. Now, onto what I was asking before. I'd like you to tell me where your partner took Karin Kurosaki," Momo said.
"I…I don't know," Hedra panted, trying in vain to get up, "He just took her to some random place to fight her. She's probably already dead by now." Momo clenched her fist, trying to keep her voice calm as she spoke.
"Tell me what is going on and why you attacked us," she said to him.
"I'm not telling you shit, Shinigami," Hedra chuckled darkly. Momo growled.
"Fine, I don't have time to waste with you. I'm going to go find Karin and defeat your partner just as I defeated you."
"Didn't I already tell you? She's certainly dead by now! I could tell right away that she was no match for Aardo. If you find her, it will be as a corpse," Hedra said.
"You're wrong. Karin is strong, she'll be able to hold out until I get there," Momo said, "Now I'm afraid I can't waste any more time with you. Crawl back to wherever you came from and never come near here again."
"Yeah right," Hedra growled, "As soon as my wounds heal, I'm coming back, and I'm gonna kill you and all of your Shinigami companions!"
"I see," Momo said, putting away her zanpakuto, "I guess it can't be helped then. I wanted to be merciful, but I do have duties as a Vice-Captain to uphold." She walked over to Hedra and put a foot on his back to hold him down while placing a finger at the base of his skull.
"H-Hey! What are you-"
"Hado 4, Byakurai."
Thanks for reading. Thank you to nexuswarrior, war90, Taeniaea, Nightraze, DigiPal, The Great Pineapple MEKI, Psyco101, Snowy Peach Tsubasa, and The Catch for reviewing! Sorry for this being a bit later than usual. Next chapter will feature Karin's fight. Please review!