Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, no really, I don't. However I do own all the OCs in this fic so it's not all bad news
And thanks everyone who's reviewed so far, your reviews mean a lot
Chapter 3: The return of Acidwire
"Hey Orihime, long time no see" Sora said to his younger sister. Orihime couldn't think of anything to say as her six fairies appeared around her
"Hey who's this guy?" Baigon asked Tsubaki, who whacked his fellow fairy upside the head.
"Don't'cha know anything? It's her brother ya moron, the one who gave her the hairpins that created us" he replied, watching intently as Orihime looked at her long lost brother, completely at a loss for words
"You haven't looked this surprised since you found those fireworks stashed in my room when you were eight" Sora replied, the basketball dropped from Orihimes hands and struck the floor, rolling away, Tatsuki bent down to pick it up, finally realising who Sora was.
"So you're Sora, I'm Tatsuki, Orihimes friend, it's nice to meet you, your sister talks about you a lot" she said, holding out a hand, Sora shook it, looking slightly surprised
"You can see me?" he asked her
"Yea, I see a lot of ghosts these days" she replied, sounding as if she was talking to someone in the street, not someone who'd been dead for years
"You…you joined the Soul Reapers?" Orihime asked, finally breaking her shocked silence. She'd known her brother had gotten to Soul Society after Ichigo had freed him from being a hollow but she'd never suspected he'd follow in Rukias footsteps and join the Soul Reaper Academy
"Yea, Rukongai's not exactly a nice place to live out your afterlife, after I got there Toshiro Hitsugaya tracked me down and filled me in on what you and your pals had been getting up to, I figured the least I could do was join up to protect my little sister after all the trouble I caused as a hollow. I just completed the Academy and got into 10th division a little while ago before joining in this hunt" he told her
"Hunt?" she replied
"Oh right you don't know, each Division's sent someone to take part, whoever kills the most hollow in three hours gets to become captain of 5th division" he said
"Oh, do me a favour and don't tell your friend Ichigo, it'd kinda wreck the hunt if he went around killing all the hollows before anyone else hot a chance" Sora added, leaning on the hilt of his zanpaku-to
"But what if you don't get them all? What if a Menos shows up like last time" Orihime asked, horrified that her brother would let innocent people be put at risk just to get a promotion
"Relax sis, six captains are standing by, if it gets out of control then they'll step in, no-one'll get hurt" he said, trying to set her at ease
"I very much doubt that" a sarcastic voice said from behind them, Tenalava was standing in the shadows of a nearby slide, observing the group. He tapped on the metal slide five times and a small hollow appeared.
"You wanna join the Arrancar Razorwhirl? Prove you're good enough, take out that Soul Reaper. You give me his zanpaku-to and I'll put in a good word, make sure you're doing more with your afterlife than scavenging stray pluses from the Menos" he said
"Sure boss, whirl whirl whirl, you get the sword, I get human form" the little hollow said, which looked like a little tornado with a hollow mask spinning inside it. It launched itself forwards, at the same time the light breeze blowing through the park seemed to increase, and the hollow started to get bigger. By the time it was bearing down on the group it had tripled in size, easily larger than the tallest Soul Reaper and it now sported an array of deadly looking blades within itself. When they finally realised they were under attack Orihime sprang into action, calling upon three of her fairies to create the Santen Kesshun, sheltering herself and Tatsuki behind it. Sora also leapt into action, drawing his zanpaku-to and calling out its name
"Katorzari (Acidwire), corrode" he yelled, the sword immediately transformed into its shikai. The sword was now very different, it kept its hilt and crossguard, albeit with the image of the mask Sora had worn when he was Acidwire plastered across it, and instead of a blade it had a long bladed whip running from the hilt with a diamond shaped point at the tip. He swung the bladed whip around his head, building up its force before lashing out, burying it within the tornado, it let out a unearthly scream as the blades within it dropped to the ground, melted through as if they'd been doused with acid. Sora drew Katorzari back out and brought it down into the tornado like hollow again, this time the bladed tip buried itself in the centre of the hollow mask, Sora pulled on it and the mask flew out of the tornado and landed in his outstretched hand, a massive hole melted through it centre. The tornado let out a final scream before vanishing from sight, the mask in Soras hand shattered into a thousand pieces before it too faded from sight.
"Damm it, I need to find better henchmen" Tenalava muttered under his breath, still loitering around the edge of the battleground, he noticed another hollow, one that looked like a giant dragonfly flying over the park, and a thin figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop after it.
"Or henchwomen" he said, smiling wickedly, setting off in pursuit
As Sora sheathed Katorzari he heard the sound of clapping behind him and looked around to see Kisuke Urahara standing there
"Very impressive, couldn't have done better myself" he said cheerily
"Well you could've given me a hand" Sora grumbled
"Didn't want to cramp your style and you looked like you had it under control" Urahara replied
"What brings you here?" Orihime asked, he shrugged
"Business is slow at the shop and you all seem to be having so much fun fighting these hollows, so I thought I'd come along and offer some moral support" he said
"Like you'd offer anything else" Sora muttered, having heard all about the former 12th company Captain from his own Captain
"Look, more hunters" he added as Kio and Hanataro rushed into the park
"Hey Sora" Kio said
"Yo Kio, haven't seen you since we graduated from the Academy" Sora said
"Yea, I figured you'd be one of the ones who'd survive this long" Kio replied
"What do you mean?" Sora asked and Kio and Hanataro filled him in on what had happened to Alita and the other hunters
"Seems like some else is doing some hunting" Urahara said
"Yea, like we hadn't figured out as much" Kio said, frowning. Urahara smiled as he saw the 12th company insignia on Kios uniform
"Ah, you must be one of Mayuri's new lab rats" he said
"Captain Kurostuchi saved my life, I owe him a lot" Kio snapped
"Of course you do, I guess my poor research institute's really gone downhill if it's churning out things like you" he said
"You should be careful what you say, mister Urahara, someone might take offence at it" Kio said, slowly drawing his zanpaku-to, in response Urahara slowly moved his hand to rest on the hilt of Benihime, in case he needed to teach Mayuri's lab rat some manners
"Hey tough guys, maybe you can cool it a sec, we need to figure out what we should do about the dead hunters" Sora said, stepping in between Urahara and Kio
"It's your problem not mine, now if you'll excuse I need tog et back to my shop" Urahara said coldly, turning around and walking away with his sandals clicking against the concrete path
"Great, we could've really used his help" Sora said to Kio
"He started it" Kio protested
"Hey, hollow face, I don't care who started it, I'm gonna finish it if you don't give it a rest" Tatsuki said, cracking her knuckles threateningly
"So what should we do?" Sora asked the others
"Beats me, we should probably stick together, focus on the hunt, we can tell the captains afterwards, they'll get to the bottom of this" Kio replied
'If we last that long' he thought, trying to hide the look of uncertainty on his face
Meanwhile the dragonfly hollow dodged and dived, trying desperately to shake off its pursuer. As it reached the far side of the park it ground to a halt as its pursuer landed right in front of it
"Now what's a hollow like you doing in a place like this?" Yoruichi said, smiling like a Cheshire cat. The hollow turned around, trying to flee but Yoruichi was too quick for it, in a heartbeat she was behind the hollow, placed her hand on its forehead, and fired a kido blast at it. As the hollow dropped, a massive hole in the middle of its head, she heard clapping from behind her
"Bravo, bravo, I'm impressed" a voice said, she turned around to see Tenalava
"And who might you be?" she asked cautiously
"I'm Tenalava Conquistes, the 5th Espada and the Arrancars representative though the human world, Soul Society and Hueco Mundo" he said, taking a bow
"You know, telling me that wasn't a very bright thing to do" she said, using her flash step to disappear and re-appear behind him. As she swung her fist at him he grabbed it and swung her over his shoulder, she landed roughly and skidded to a halt just near the edge of the roof
"How…how did you do that?"
"Hey, you don't tangle with Vasto Lordes and survive Grimmjow on a bad day without learning a thing or two" he replied, smiling smugly
"And your takedown of my friend, Buzzwing H, was impressive, you're hired as my new henchman, or henchwoman in your case" he added
"Yea, like I'm really gonna do that" she said, reaching for her Zanpaku-to
"You will, or at least you won't know otherwise" he said, drawing his own. The sword immediately transformed, resembling a large castonet the same colours as a hollow mask. Tenalavas Arrancar uniform changed as well, turning blood red and black in colour and looking more like it belonged on someone in a mariachi band, albeit slightly ragged and frayed. He clicked the castonet and suddenly Yoruichi felt a chunk of her memory just disappear, she couldn't remember anything that had happened up until she'd met Tenalava.
"What did you do?" she asked, unable to mask the fear in her voice, she'd tangled with Arrancar before but none of them had bee able to do what Tenalava had done.
"It's my Zanpaku-to Miss Yoruichi, Cascavela Ingestias (consuming rattle), with every click it eats away a little bit more of your memory, soon you'll lose it all and become an unwitting puppet, the Arrancars latest weapon against the Soul Reapers" he replied, holding up Cascavela Ingestias
"Like hell I will" she snarled, leaping at him. He pivoted out of her way with ease, her attack lacking her usual skill, being born out of desperation and fear. He clicked the castonet rapidly and Yoruichi stopped her attack, standing still. As he kept clicking it her eyes seemed to cloud over and she remained perfectly still, as if she wasn't sure what she was doing there or what she was going to do.
"What…what am I doing here? Who are you?" she asked cluelessly, Tenalava smiled, it had worked perfectly
"You're my sister, I need your help" he said
"To do what?" she asked, Tenalava looked down at the Soul Reapers and humans in the park below
"To destroy them, then there will be no-one who can stop us" he said, the sun gleaming off the bright rooftop, reflecting the Espadas empty eyes, and their cruel, ruthless stare
In chapter 4 – With Yoruichi on his side, Tenalava sets out to crush the hunters and anyone else who gets in his way, hollows aren't the only thing being hunted in this hunt
To be continued, like always, reviews and feedback on the fic are encouraged and happily accepted