Hinamori's Apprentice
Chapter 33
Karin was frozen in fear. An overwhelming sense of terror washed over her, as if all hope had abandoned her. The being in front of her was truly monstrous. It seemed like the skeletons of a human and a demon combined. Spines protruded from its back, and horns and tusks came from its head. The two specks of light from its eyeholes were settled upon her as cold sweat began to run down her body. What the hell was this thing?
She didn't know how long she had been frozen in place when the being slowly lifted one of its skeletal arms, the long, bony fingers opening. The next thing she knew, she was jerked backwards, and the being's outstretched hand was right in front of her face. Snapping out of her daze, she realized that Momo and Izuru had pulled her back just as the monstrosity had tried to grab her. They and Rangiku had already drawn their swords, though they looked just as fearful as Karin felt.
"What is this thing?" Izuru whispered.
"It's what attacked Captain Hitsugaya and I before," Rangiku said, instinctively running her fingers over the scars across her face.
"That… That's the thing that defeated Toushiro and Captain Soi Fon?" Momo said, fear creeping into her voice.
Rangiku nodded. "This thing is way beyond what we're capable of dealing with… Run!"
Grabbing Karin, they immediately began to turn towards the door, but before they could make it out, the creature leapt through the air, landing in front of the doorway.
"Hado 31, Shakkaho!" Momo yelled. The explosion threw up smoke as it hit the beast in the chest, giving them the opportunity to flee through the gap in the wall the creature had created.
Once outside, they immediately began running as fast as they could, Izuru carrying Karin as she was still barely able to move from smoke from Rangiku's wrecked home rose into the air behind them.
"What now?" Momo asked.
"Keep running," Rangiku said, "There's no way that thing is down. We've got to keep running."
Sure enough, within moments they caught sight of a white blur running behind them. It ran faster than any of them, almost like an animal, and it would only be moments before they would be overtaken by it. Karin could see Momo muttering words to a Kido spell under her breath as they ran, and within moments a web of energy ropes had been conjured behind them. It was no good however, as the creature ran straight through them, snapping the Kido ropes easily.
"Rangiku, take Karin!" Izuru said, handing Karin to Rangiku.
"Wait! Izuru, it's no good, we have to get out o here!" Rangiku said urgently, but Izuru paid her warning no mind.
"Momo, seal off its flanks," he said.
"Right!" Momo replied, "Bakudo 70, Ganpeki!"
Giant stones fell from the sky on either side of the creature, creating walls on either side of it.
Izuru raised his hand. "Hado 58, Tenran!"
A huge blast of wind erupted from his hand, spinning like a tornado. It went between the walls of rock Momo had conjured, focusing the force of the spell upon the creature attacking them. For a moment, it seemed to be working. The creature was trapped between the walls, and the focused blast of air had stopped it in its tracks. Then however, the creature began slowly moving forward, its talons digging into the stone beneath its feet as it walked against the immense wind of the Kido spell.
"Hado 31, Shakkaho!" Momo yelled upon realizing that Izuru's spell wasn't stopping it, "Hado 63, Raikoho! Hado 54, Haien! Hado 4, Byakurai!" She tried ever spell she could think of, but nothing seemed to faze the monstrosity in front of them.
"I told you! Nothing we can throw at that thing will stop it! We have to get out of here!" Rangiku yelled, fear evident in her voice.
The reality of the situation sinking in, Izuru stopped the spell and immediately turned to run away with the others, the creature right behind them.
---
"Hya! Take that!" Usagi yelled, launching missiles from his glider at Kenpachi. They impacted with the ground at Kenpachi's feet, creating such a large explosion that Usagi had to fly up to avoid being caught in it. He grinned down at the rising smoke. "So long, 'Ken-chan,'" he chuckled. The smile was soon wiped off his face when Kenpachi leapt out of the smoke, completely unharmed and with his sword poised to strike. Usagi quickly pulled his glider back, but was unable to prevent Kenpachi's sword from clipping the side of it.
Usagi growled as his glider began to smoke and lower to the ground. He pulled out his gun and began firing wildly at Kenpachi as he slowly fell to the ground. The glider stopped its descent just a few feet above the ground. Usagi tried to lift off again, but his machine quickly fell down again.
"You bastard! You damaged my lift stabilizer! Now I can only fly a few feet above the ground! Do you have any idea how long it will take to fix this?!" he said angrily.
"I don't really care, but hopefully it will convince you to start battling me like a man instead of running around and playing tricks," Kenpachi said.
"Oh, I'll show you tricks," Usagi said, pulling a silver orb from within his robes. He threw it at Kenpachi, who easily dodged it but was caught unprepared when holes opened up on the side and it sprayed a grey gooey substance all over him.
"Ha! Not so tough now, are ya?! That's my goop grenade! That stuff you're covered in hardens upon contact with air, turning into what rubber could only dream of being! You'll be stuck there for a while!" Usagi gloated.
Indeed, the substance had quickly become tough and rubbery, practically glueing Kenpachi to the ground he stood on. Usagi grinned, and the next instant he was floating behind Kenpachi, his black rod pointed at his throat.
"This is the end of the road for you," he snickered. Kenpachi grinned back at him.
"That technique you just used… it wouldn't happen to be the same one that you guys have been using to escape whenever one of you is about to get caught, would it?" he asked casually.
"Ha! It most certainly is not the same technique! The idiots I work with could never operate the complex teleportation device that I have developed, so I had to create pre-programmed devices to transport them between predetermined locations! Only I can do so at will!"
"That's interesting," Kenpachi grinned. Before Usagi could respond however, Kenpachi jerked himself forward, breaking himself free of the substance Usagi had trapped him with. He swung his sword, slashing Usagi across the chest, causing him to fall of his glider and onto the ground. Kenpachi stepped over to him, grinning down.
"That was a quick move you pulled, managing to avoid a fatal strike. It looks like you won't be up to fighting anymore though."
Usagi panted as he lay on the ground, glaring up at Kenpachi from behind his dark glasses. "Fu-fuck this, I'm out of here!" he growled, grabbing onto his glider and disappearing.
---
Momo, Izuru, and Rangiku ran, carrying Karin with them. The monstrous thing behind them was in hot pursuit, wielding its long scimitars as it chased them. They had been fleeing for a long time, unable to get away from it. They tried to get to the front lines of the battle in hopes of finding a Captain for assistance, but every time they began running in that direction the beast would cut them off or force them to run in a different direction. It was only trough luck and skill that they had survived this long. They knew perfectly well that none of them were any match for this creature. Every Kido spell they used was easily brushed off. Their situation was getting increasingly desperate.
"Head for the old Central 46 compound!" Momo yelled, "If we can engage the defense mechanisms, we should be able to hold it off until help comes!"
"We'll never get there in time!" Rangiku responded, carrying Karin as she ran.
"Isn't there any way we can fight it?!" Karin asked.
"We're no match for that thing. I've seen what it's capable of. We're talking about something that defeated two Captains in a matter of minutes," Rangiku said, "If we try to engage in combat with it, we're as good as dead."
Before Karin could press Rangiku further, they stopped in their tracks. Straight ahead of them were four of the brown robed warriors that were attacking. Moving quickly, they turned to run down a nearby street, only to find that it too had several of the warriors blocking passage. They had been completely boxed in.
Their stopping allowed the creature pursuing them to catch up. It raised its swords as it lunged at them. Before it could attack however, Momo had swung her zanpakuto's shikai, launching a fireball at it. The ball of fiery energy did no damage to it, but forced it to cease its attack for a moment.
"Momo… you didn't say your Shikai's release command," Izuru said in astonishment, "Does that mean…?"
Momo nodded. "Yes, I didn't want to use it so soon after acquiring it, but it looks like we have no choide."
"Use what?" Karin asked as Momo held her sword out in front of her.
"Please stand back," was Momo's only response before uttering the next word, "Bankai."
A massive burst of flames engulfed Momo, forcing her allies to back away from the intense heat and energy. The flames burned for several seconds before erupting in a massive flash, throwing up smoke. Rangiku, Kira, and Karin could only just make out Momo's figure as the smoke cleared. When she was finally visible, their eyes widened.
A pair of elegant, scarlet-gold wings protruded from her back. Energy surrounded them, and on the palms of Momo's outstretched hands were two smooth, glowing gems. Momo calmly opened her eyes.
"Kogo-Fushicho Tobiume," she quietly said.
Thank you for reading! Thank you to war90, pewternatural, Thunder Claw03, Taeniaea, nexuswarrior, Jumper Prime, Turtle-chan in blue, MegaTank, thedarkscareslittlekids, The Great Pineapple MEKI, oOoHKoOo, Digipal, and Psyco101 for reviewing! Please review!