Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, and I reckon I never will
Chapter Nine: Putting the cat out
A few streets across from the Vasto Lorde, the other hunters and Ryoka pressed onwards towards the huge, towering hollow. Every one of them had their poker face on, to mask how scared they were. Kisuke Urahara had never faced a Vasto Lorde, even when he was Captain, Hanataro knew he wouldn't stand a chance, Sora and Kio, both fresh from the academy had heard all the tales about the Vasto Lorde, the ultimate hollow, and how nigh invincible they were, Tatsuki had no idea how her new powers could help her take on something as powerful as the Vasto Lorde, Uryu, despite having defeated a Menos before knew this one was a far stronger opponent and Orihime readied the Shun Shun Rikka, knowing she might have to destroy it to save her home. That thought made a flicker of doubt cross her face, which Tatsuki noticed
"Scared?" she asked, Orihime nodded
"Don't worry, anyone would be scared if they had to go up against that" she said, looking up at the Vasto Lorde, now swinging its fist down on a rooftop in the distance
"Relax sister, anything happens I'll be there to protect you" Sora reassured her
"Yeah, so will I" Kio piped up
"And me too" Hanataro added
"As in Soul Society, I will make sure you come to no harm" Uryu assured her
"And I've got your back too" Urahara told her
"Thanks guys, I just don't want to have to…to." She trailed off
"Hey, you don't want to fight, you don't fight, between me, hat and clogs, the Quincy, your big bro and Hanataro this Vasto Lorde doesn't stand a chance" Kio told Orihime, the others all nodded in agreement
"And don't forget your deal, you don't need to fight either Hanataro, just heal me when I need patching up and we're both set when I win the hunt" Kio added to Hanataro
"Sweet, and I finally get to do more than just sweeping the Seiretei" Hanataro said
"And I don't have to spend all my off-duty time covering for Captain Kurostuchi when he's spying on the Shinigami Women's Association meetings" Kio added, to wide eyes from all present
"Err, do me a favour and don't tell Captain Kurostuchi I told you that" he asked them, Sora rolled his eyes
"Well that explains where he used to sneak off to when he was my lieutenant" Urahara noted, wondering if Kyoraku's lecherous habits were contagious
Suddenly the pavement in front of them exploded in a massive boom and the group fell back behind Orihimes shield, which deflected the shrapnel and debris with ease. Out of the dust cloud three Arrancar stalked forwards, the one in the middle had his hollow mask piece adorning his left ear to resemble an earring, the one on the lefts hollow mask was under his chin and resembled a pointed punk spike and the girl on the rights hollow mask adorned her left cheek and resembled a lightning tattoo
"Greetings Soul Reapers, I'm Velocitez, he's Accel and this lovely little lady here is Mercury N, and together we are…" the one in the middle said as they struck a dramatic pose
"…THE HYPER-CARR" he finished
"And now prepare to be the first victims of the greatest Arrancar team ever made" Accel said, drawing his zanpaku-to
A bestial cry echoed around the street and Yoruichi dropped from the sky to land right behind them. Letting out a low snarl she grabbed all three Arrancar and dragged them back into the billowing dust cloud
"Ahhh, what're you doing?"
"No not my eyes, please, don't tear out my…"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" the screams of the three Arrancar echoed out from the dust cloud and then the trio fell silent.
Sora made to venture out from behind the shield when it was splattered by a spray of blood and Velocitez staggered out from the dust cloud, his hollow mask torn off and blood gushing from the stump on the end of his right elbow where his right forearm used to be and running into his eyes, moaning pitifully he moved towards the shield when a hand held out flat like a blade of flesh and bone erupted from his chest and he fell silent once again.
Yoruichi withdrew her right hand and levelled her gaze at the group, letting out an inhuman scream she lunged at the shield and started to beat down upon it, the kido lightning crackling around her body also bore down upon Orihimes barrier, seeing the savage, blood stained features of the once happy, witty Special Forces Commander chilled the group to the bone, even more than the notion of facing a Vasto Lorde
Suddenly a hand clamped down on her shoulder and she was hurled backwards, flying through the drifting dust cloud and landing with a crash on the far side of the street, Kenpatchi Zaraki hefted his zanpaku-to on his shoulder and set off after her, disappearing into the dust cloud, Izuru Kira followed close behind him
"You guys O.K?" Toshiro asked them, keeping his zanpaku-to at the ready in case Yoruichi re-appeared
"We're fine Captain Hitsugaya, well as fine as we can be given the situation" Sora replied, stepping outside the safety of the shield, feeling safe now Toshiro and the other Captains were present
"Like I told you when you joined the 10th Division, it's just Toshio, and what's the deal with Yoruichi?" the 10th Division commander replied
"No clue, she just started acting berserk, slaughtered a bunch of Arrancar and then started attacking us," Sora told him as Izuru came out of the cloud, a grave expression on his face
"It's bad, Zarakis got her pressed back but with the intensity she's fighting with, he won't be able to hold her back for long, and she didn't just slaughtered those Arrancar, she massacred them, I've never seen anything so savage" he told the others, a haunted look on his face, he knew the Arrancar were their enemies but even they didn't deserve what Yoruichi had done to the Hyper-Carr
"Any of you got an idea why she's gone so crazy?" Toshiro asked them
"Maybe she just snapped" Tatsuki suggested
"No, she would never 'snap', stress is defiantly not the cause of this, there has to be an outside influence at work" Byakuya said sternly, shooting Tatsuki an angry look for her suggestion
"Well she did help the 5th Espada break into my store, maybe he's done something, brainwashed her somehow" Urahara thought out loud
"It's possible, from what Intel we've managed to get on the guy he seems pretty manipulative. The important thing now is, how do we undo it and get the old Yoruichi back?" Toshiro replied
"Despite how much I wish to help, I must remind you that the reason we are here is to defeat the Vasto Lorde" Byakuya told Toshiro, who sighed
"What if we split up, half of us stay here to help Yoruichi and the others go to fight the Menos?" Izuru suggested
"General Yamamoto's orders were quite clear, we are to stop the Vasto Lorde by any means necessary" Byakuya replied, his eyes steadfast, all present knew it would be pointless to try and argue. But then the tiniest flicker of a smile crossed his face
"However Yoruichi may have information about the Vasto Lorde so saving her could prove useful, I agree with Izuru's suggestion, myself, Zaraki, Urahara, 4th Divisions 7th seat and 12th Divisions 3rd seat should remain here, everyone else should press on to fight the Vasto Lorde, we will catch up as soon as we can" he added, not wanting to disagree the others immediately took off up the street, back on course for their showdown with the Vasto Lorde
"Do you know if my sister is still alive?" Byakuya asked Kio
"I'm not sure, I haven't seen here since the hunt began" Kio replied truthfully, noticing the grim look that spread across Byakuya's face
"But given how tough she is, I'd bet my zanpaku-to she's still alive and fighting with everything she's got" he added
"I do not doubt it" Byakuya said, reading Senbonzakura
The dust cloud faded and on the far side Yoruichi was holding Zaraki by the throat, with his body pressed up against a nearby building, with by now had dozens of gashes running across it, from Yoruichi's kido and Zarakis sword slashes
As soon as she saw the other Soul Reapers she dropped Zaraki to the ground and rushed towards them, Kio leapt forwards to meet her charge but she went right past him using flash steps and instead appeared behind Byakuya. A cat like screech escaped her lips as she lunged for his neck, only to have her one time pupil disappear and re-appear behind her, she turned around to stare at him dumbfounded
"Cicada, you ought to know it you taught it to me" he replied
"I do not wish to fight you Yoruichi, please stand down and let us help you, if there is anything of the old you still left in there then please listen to me" he said almost pleadingly, she growled again and took a step forwards. A long, deep cut appeared on her right leg
"That was a warning, I do not wish to fight you but do not think that that means I won't kill you to defend myself, or put you out of your misery if the old Yoruichi is beyond saving, she'd rather that than live the rest of her days as the savage animal in front of me" Byakuya told her. Her features seemed to soften and all present relaxed their fighting stance slightly, then she disappeared and a cry of fear filled the air. She'd re-appeared behind Hanataro and hoisted him up into the air by his neck
"Help" Hanataro croaked, barley able to speak due to the iron like grip Yoruichi had on his throat
"Yoruichi, please, don't do this, this isn't you" Urahara pleaded, trying to stall for time
"Can't you take her out?" Kio asked Byakuya
"No, I can kill her easily but she'd know the instant my blades cut into her skin, Hanataro would be dead before she hit the ground" he replied grimly
"Than I guess I'll just have to give her another target to worry about" Kio muttered, charging forwards as Yoruichi tightened her grip on Hanataros neck, eyes gleaming with savage glee, suddenly Kio appeared alongside her and slashed at her with his left elbow blade, opening up a shallow wound on her left forearm. She immediately dropped Hanataro and focused on Kio, grabbing the Soul Reaper by his uniform, she directed a massive jolt of kido energy at him, bright lights flashed in front of his eyes and he felt the air rush past him as he connected with the building at the far side of the street and slid down to rest next to Zaraki, who by this time had recovered and was standing up
"That was reckless and crazy, with no regard for your own well being or safety. If you lose the hunt there'll be a seat in the 11th Division with your name on it" he told Kio, who lapsed into unconsciousness
Urahara took advantage of Yoruichi's distraction to get within arms reach of the berserk Soul Reaper and something no one had expected. He put his arms around her and hugged her
"I'm sorry Yoruichi," he whispered in her ear, and then he drove Benihime into her stomach
Pain filled Yoruichi's senses and through it all the memories Tenalava thought his zanpaku-to had consumed came flooding back
"Well what do you think?" Urahara asked as a young looking Yoruichi gazed around at the massive training arena
"It's certainly…roomy" she replied
"Well thanks, I spend five months digging this cave out and that's all I get" Urahara huffed, then Yoruichi hugged him
"It's great Kisuke, you've excelled yourself this time" she told him, before breaking away and taking off using flash steps, Urahara laughed and set off after her
"This is impossible" Byakuya muttered under his breath, Yoruichi glared at the young Shinigami and slapped him across the face
"You can quit the 'I can't do it' talk right now, how're you gonna become a Captain if you give up whenever the going gets tough?" she asked him
"I know but this is impossible" he answered
"I'll tell you what, beat at flash-tag and I'll teach you the ultimate flash step technique" she said, Byakuya's eyes immediately lit up
"Really?" he asked
"Really, I swear on my stash of Chappy the Rabbit Soul Candy" she replied before vanishing and re-appearing behind him
"Come on Little Byakuya, d'you want to learn the ultimate flash-step technique or not?" she asked him, disappearing from sight again and re-appearing at the far end of the training area, Byakuya gave her a small smile and took off in pursuit
"You've learnt all I can teach you in the time that we have, I just hope it's enough, so good luck, I think you're going to need it" Yoruichi told Orihime and Chad
"We won't need luck, we've got your training" Orihime replied before they left to meet up with Ichigo and if cats could smile, Yoruichi would have done as she set off after them
"Kisuke…" she said softly
"Yes?" he asked
"I'm sorry too" she told him before going limp and dropping down to the ground, sliding off the end of Benihime's blade she lay on the sidewalk in a pool of dark red blood
"Hold on, I can take care of this" Hanataro said, rising back up to his feet and tracing Hisogamaru over the deep wound in her stomach, within a few second it had sealed and she changed back into a cat, which was curled up asleep
"So she's not crazy anymore?" Zaraki asked, walking over to them carrying Kio over his shoulder
"No, I think she's back to her old self" Urahara replied
"How come she's a cat?" Zaraki asked
"Whenever she was hurt in the past she used to revert to that form, it helps her heal and recover faster" Byakuya answered, kneeling down and removing his scarf, taking great care he wrapped it around Yoruichi and held her in the crook of his arm
"Is it such a good idea to take her with us?" Hanataro asked, healing the dark purple bruise and burn marks on Kios head
"It would be no safer to leave her here, if Arrancar are crossing over form Hueco Mundo nowhere in Karakura is safe" Byakuya replied
"Well come on then let's get going, I don't wanna miss the fight" Zaraki said and at that the five Soul Reapers set off to catch up with the others
Further across town the others had advanced to within sight of the rooftop and they were horrified by what lay before them. The block looked like a war zone with every other building smashed into rubble by the Vasto Lorde, which stood silently on the far side of the rooftop, there were huge craters dotting the street like a bomb had gone off and rubble lay strewn about everywhere. On the rooftop the motionless forms of Ichigo, Rukia, Grimmjow, Renji and Ikkaku were tied to tall metal poles that had been sunk into the concrete, all of them were bloodied, bruised and battered
But that wasn't the worst part, which was the ones standing freely on the rooftop. Hilea, Szayel, the tiny hollow Nitruz, Kaname Tosen with the small Arrancar Wonderwice hiding behind him stood as silent and composed as sentries behind the ring master of the circus of evil, Tenalava Conquistes, the 5th Espada. His gaze turned towards the group and he smiled coldly
"Hello, we've been expecting you"
In Chapter Ten – Can Momo step up and become the Soul Reaper she was meant to be? Or will the Vasto Lorde, the Fifth Espada and his allies doom her and Karakura town?
To be continued, all reviews are appreciated and encouraged