Hey guys. I'm extremely sorry that this has been so long to write. There were several reasons for this:
1. I had a lot of issues with YouTube suspending my account. I now have a new one called DarkRukia1986 and everything is uploaded on there now.
2. I was off on a trip to Dominican Republic for my cousin's wedding the second to third week in March
3. I had HEAVY writer's block especially during the fight between Stark and Grimmjow and Stark, Grimmjow and Neliel.
4. I had other real life issues such as applying for Persons With Disabilities (I've got Asperger's – a form of Autism which makes it hard for me to be a part of society) and Employment Insurance.
5. I have started on Inherited Nightmares #1 (the video version of that), and it will still take a while yet since I have so many pictures of Ichigo to edit . and that takes a while...
I really hope you guys can forgive me. Here's the story for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
Chapter 12: Growl of the Lone Coyote
Grimmjow and Stark charged towards one another and collided in the centre, clashing their swords repeatedly against one another's in a never ending cycle. Reiatsu flowed between them heavily as they did their battle.
Neliel continued to glance over at Lilinette, who was shifting her weight impatiently. A part of her told her that she should go ahead and fight her, but she reminded herself that she was not that type of person who would attack someone who would not put up much of a fight. However, since she knew what the younger arrancar was truly capable of as well as Stark, it was a matter of time before she too would step in and back her boyfriend up.
Grimmjow growled every time he tried to slash through Stark's defences, while his opponent just stared at him coolly. He knew that the primera espada was holding back. Could it be his trademark laziness?
"Come on, you fucking bastard!" He shouted impatiently, preparing to fire a cyan cero with his other hand. "We're not going anywhere here!"
Stark raised an eyebrow and spun his body clockwise, parrying the cero the second it was shot. "Never knew you wanted to die so easily, Grimmjow," he stated with the same cool tone.
Grimmjow grinned as he pressed his fingertips against his zampakutou. "I'm just sick of the same old warm-up routines."
"Bring it on then. Give me everything you've got," Stark said.
"Gladly!" Grimmjow zipped his fingers along the edge of his blade so fast that a reddish glow formed along the surface. "Grind, Pantera!"
A cloud of smoke covered him as he changed into his panther-like form – sharp claws outward and vicious snarl on his lips. Blue energy surged across his surface. Stark covered his face as wind gushed past him, blowing his long dark hair in various directions for a moment before it settled back on his shoulders. Then with an extremely ear-shattering voice, Grimmjow let out a roar, emitting sonic energy waves so powerful that Neliel, Stark, and Lilinette had to cover their faces.
The winds cleared and Grimmjow got into a fighting stance. Stark just stared coldly at his smirking opponent. "Bring it on."
Grimmjow immediately charged towards his opponent, claws outstretched and ready for a slash attack. He immediately swept an arm across Stark's face, but the attack was blocked. Then Grimmjow kicked Stark's chest, but his opponent dodged the attack with sonido. The panther-like espada slid partially across the floor, allowing dust to fly in a cloud. His eyes and ears became alert as he tried to pinpoint his opponent's location.
All of a sudden, Stark charged towards him and brought his sword down onto his opponent's head, but Grimmjow thought quickly – he brought up his arms and shielded the sword from his face. However, the impact of Stark's attack caused Grimmjow to be pushed back into the wall of the hallway, grunting and struggling to counter. His arms trembled underneath the blade of the katana as it was attempted to slice through them.
Using sonido, Grimmjow teleported from view and re-appeared several feet away. Then he whipped his arms to the sides, firing several emerald green darts, which Stark parried away with ease. Grimmjow growled in disapproval. He brought his arms together and a turquoise ball of reiatsu formed in the palms. "Gran Rey Cero!" He screamed as an extremely great cero energy wave exploded out of his hands.
Stark narrowed his eyes and yellow reiatsu started to form at the tip of his chin until it too was let go as a giant wave of energy. Both ceros collided in the centre, shaking the room with a tremendous amount of power and emitting reiatsu in different directions with explosive tendency.
Neliel nervously folded her hands in front of her with worry, praying that her boyfriend would win this battle. She knew that Stark was much more authoritative than the blue-haired espada and had a higher rank, and she also knew that Grimmjow was giving it the best he had. However, she could not shake this feeling that she may be forced to step in, and if that would be the case, Lilinette would be forced to step in too. Either way, Stark seemed to be barely trying for he was too calm in this battle and Grimmjow was struggling to fell the primera espada with everything he had.
Grimmjow snarled as he tried to push his cero past the collision point. He knew that Stark was barely trying, but that did not stop him from wanting to win this battle. With a powerful push, he managed to push his Gran Rey Cero slowly towards his opponent, who widened his eyes in shock at the tremendous amount of effort. Grimmjow screamed as he tried to gather more energy, and Stark growled as the turquoise wave gradually started to devour the yellow wave with such intense perseverance. Then, with a final push, Grimmjow managed to overpower his opponent with such explosive force.
Grimmjow used shunpo to teleport to Neliel's side to check on if she was okay. When she saw him, Neliel flung her arms around him tightly. "You okay, Neliel?" Grimmjow wanted to know.
"I'm well," his girlfriend replied, "are you?"
Grimmjow nodded and parted himself from her so that he could gaze into her eyes.
"Did you win?" Neliel whispered, hoping for a positive answer.
Grimmjow shook his head. "I don't think that attack alone could beat Stark. That just held him off. I might, however, need your help in a very little bit."
Neliel nodded in understanding. She had a strong feeling that that attack could not defeat the primera espada, and she also knew that her boyfriend used up a large amount of reiatsu just to overpower his opponent. "I'll do my best, Grimmjow."
Not too far away, Lilinette twitched at the couple in front of her; her face turned red with frustration. Not taking it anymore, she stomped towards them with her hand on her hilt. "You are pieces of work!" She shrieked, getting their attention. "You think that attack finished off Stark-sama? Huh? You must be fucking delusional!"
Before Grimmjow and Neliel could do anything, Stark appeared in front of Lilinette, not taking his eyes off of Grimmjow. He had minor burns on his body from the blast, but other than that, he was not affected. A hard, determined expression showed on Neliel's face as she summoned her sword to her hand.
"You've got guts, Grimmjow," Stark complimented coolly. "You managed to overpower me with such power. Too bad it did not affect me very much. Let's go again, shall we?"
Grimmjow smirked. "I knew that it wouldn't have that much effect on you, but yea, let's have another round." He turned to Neliel, who was holding onto the hilt of her katana. "I wouldn't usually ask this, but since you're my mate and we need to defeat these guys with everything we have, I need your help." Neliel nodded as she pulled out her katana from its sheath and threw the scabbard to the side.
A smirk spread across Lilinette's face as she stepped forward in front of Stark. "Even whatever power you possess wouldn't be much help."
"You wanna bet on that?" Neliel challenged as she prepared her katana for battle.
"If that's the case," Lilinette looked up to her companion, "use your resurreccion and let's beat them together."
Stark narrowed his eyes. "Very well. Kick about, Los Lobos."
Lilinette glowed and split into two identical balls of light, which formed into a pair of gray pistols on each of Stark's hands. Part of her mask appeared on his head, stretching from the back of his head around to the eyepiece on his left eye, with a flame pattern changing to emerge from the eyepiece and follow the mask fragment around to the back of his head while the mask itself was connected, by two chains, around his right eye. A fur vest appeared on Stark's chest in the stead of his trademark espada coat, and his pants changed to skin tight ones accompanied by high, gray fur leggings. On his arms was a pair of fur armbands appearing on his wrists. Ribbon-covered bandoleers emerged from his upper back and spread to his upper forearms.
Neliel's eyes narrowed at the sight for she knew that it was her turn to release her resurreccion. "Declare, Gamuza." The lower half of her body changed into that of a chamois as the katana in her hand transformed into a lance.
Stark's eyes shifted from Neliel to Grimmjow multiple times for a moment and then got into a fighting stance. "This is going to be interesting."
With a single nod to each other, Neliel and Grimmjow separated with sonido. Stark became alert as he watched closely for when they would turn up. As soon as he saw Neliel charging towards him, he aimed towards her and fired a single, large cero. Neliel opened her mouth and sucked the cero inside. Then she re-fired the cero back towards Stark – a cero that was more powerful than the cero that was fired at her.
He silently cursed for he had forgotten Neliel's ability and used cero to try to dodge, but that left an opening for Grimmjow to attack with a roundhouse kick from behind. Stark barely had time to block the kick with one arm and he used the other arm to fire another cero towards the panther-like espada. Using one of his arms, Grimmjow swatted the attack away and fired three more darts towards his opponent, dodging the blast just in time.
Stark had his arm up to shield his face for a moment until the smoke cleared. When he turned around, he noticed Neliel continuing to charge towards her. Knowing that he did not want a repeat of her technique, he fired multiple cero her way but she parried them away with her lance.
Before Stark could do anything, a Gran Rey Cero was shot in his direction. He tried to shoot another group of ceros towards Grimmjow but Neliel stabbed her lance into the primera espada's back, stunning him from the blow.
"You've gotta be careful, Stark!" Lilinette shouted from the pistols and Stark gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" he hissed with frustration.
"You keep leaving yourself open to their attacks!" Lilinette replied harshly. "Do you want to win this battle or what?"
Stark knew that his companion had a point. He knew that since these two would be lower rank than him, they should not be defeating him like this. He turned to face the couple that stood in a fighting stance.
"What are you going to do now, Stark?" Neliel challenged in an expressionless tone.
Her mate grinned maliciously. "Do whatever you can to defeat us, but it won't be enough!"
Stark growled. He knew that it was early, but he had no choice. "Lilinette, let's do our ultimate technique."
"WHAT?" The younger arrancar screamed from the pistols. "You have any fucking idea what you are doing? It's too early to use that attack!"
"I know that," Stark spat, never letting his eyes leave his opponents. "But there are two of them and I don't think there's much of a choice in this situation. This technique is best used for more than one opponent. I am also wary of her technique." He motioned towards Neliel.
Lilinette sighed. "Fine. Let's do this then."
The pistols glowed brightly and spread to either side of Stark, taking the form of numerous wolves.
Neliel's eyes widened slightly but Grimmjow kept his cool. "Don't worry," he assured her without looking at her, "just keep your distance from them as much as possible. I will deal with them. What you need to worry about is him." He motioned towards Stark, who had pulled out a pair of glowing swords from his bandoleers.
The female espada understood what her boyfriend was asking of her. She was the closest in rank to Stark, so she should be the one to finish him off and Grimmjow had the ability to destroy things from a distance. She nodded in response. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do it."
Grimmjow smiled as Neliel disappeared out of sight with sonido. Then he spread his arms on either side of him. "DESGARRON!" Long, cyan tendrils made up of pure energy formed in his fingertips. "Let's dance, you filthy mutts! This time the cat will be victorious!"
Under Stark's command, the wolves pounced towards the sexta espada, who whipped his tendrils through them thus triggering multiple explosions. Stark created more wolves, but they met the same fate. He growled in frustration as he created more wolves. "Die, Grimmjow!" The wolves pounced once more – this time surrounding Grimmjow in a circle.
Grimmjow spun rapidly, whipping the tendrils through the wolves and triggering more explosions. Once the smoke cleared, Stark created more wolves and charged along with them towards his opponent – his swords raised on either side of him. Grimmjow whipped one arm outward, wrapping the tendrils around one of the swords. Stark tried to cut through them, but noticing this, Grimmjow yanked him forwards, making him lose his balance.
"You'll never win, Stark!" Grimmjow shouted with a laugh.
However, a sharp pain was felt on his leg. He looked down only to see the jaws of one of Stark's wolves clamped onto it. Grimmjow cursed as he tried to shake the beast off his leg, but it would not let go. It glowed brighter and then exploded violently. Grimmjow screamed and shielded his face with his arms as the explosion engulfed him.
"STARK, WATCH OUT!" Lilinette screeched from his conscious.
Before he could do anything, Neliel's lance went through his chest. Gaping with the shock, he slowly turned around to see his attacker with a murderous glare on her face. "You...bitch," he choked out, blood dripping down his chin.
Neliel ripped her lance out of her opponent's chest. "You're pathetic," she said darkly. "Let me put you out of your misery, then you won't have to be alone." She raised her front hooves and stomped on Stark's head with bloody force.
"Well done, Neliel," A voice sounded from in front of her.
Neliel reverted her form back to her original one and sheathed her katana. Then she ran towards Grimmjow who was walking out of the passing smoke, body covered in bruises and tattered clothing. "Grimmjow!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck.
"Hey babe," Grimmjow said, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend's torso. "We did it."
Neliel kissed her mate on the cheek. "Yes we did." Then she noticed Grimmjow with a disturbed look on his face. "What's wrong?" She questioned, her smile changing into a concerned frown.
"Something doesn't seem right," Grimmjow replied. Neliel looked at him with confusion. "Ichigo's reiatsu seems...evil," he explained.
Neliel gasped. "So you think that Aizen could have..."
Grimmjow nodded. "We need to hurry."
Then they took off using sonido. We might have to kill you, Kurosaki, Grimmjow thought to himself. You would have wanted that anyway because you would do anything to protect your loved ones.
Elsewhere, Ruby and Jade were walking through the fortress's hallway when they too felt the ominous reiatsu.
"Ryuichi! Kurosaki-Taichou!" Ruby exclaimed in shock. "Something tells me that they're about to fight soon."
Jade rolled his eyes. He hated it when his sister worried about Ryuichi, whom they both thought was an insignificant person that would always get in their way, but he sighed and focused on the mission at hand. "I guess we have to go see what's up, not that I really care or anything."
Ruby raised an eyebrow at her brother. "You know you can be quite the jerk sometimes."
Jade looked at his sister. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
They disappeared from the area using shunpo.
Not too far away from their location, Aizen smiled maliciously as he watched them leave. "Soon, your power will fall into my hands, Jade. I've been waiting for this moment ever since I first heard of you."
He felt like he was floating – floating through a world of unconsciousness and confusion. A demon was in front of him, leering with piercing yellow eyes behind a horrific mask. He was about to fight this monster – he knew it.
The commanding voice of his greatest enemy echoed through his mind. Kill him. Kill them all. They're enemies...all of them.
He was compelled to obey, but somewhere in his empty soul seemed to scream out otherwise. NO! He's my son! She's my wife! They're all my subordinates! I can't...I have to...
KILL THEM!
Ichigo's eyes glowed at the command and charged towards Ryuichi, who continued to smile underneath his fully-formed mask.
"RYUICHI!" Rukia and Hinamori screamed in unison.
Ryuichi dodged his father's attack with an arm and sent a counter kick towards his chest. Ichigo blocked that and countered with another punch, forcing his son backwards.
"You're such a mindless beast!" Ryuichi taunted with a shrill laugh. "If that fool Ryuichi hadn't let himself get captured, then I would have his zampakutou by now! Although, I do have to thank them for waking me up...and have to thank them for waking me up...and YOU as well for ensuring my existence!" He used shunpo to distance himself from his father, who followed with a swift leap that would only blur his image.
Ryuichi's smile grew wider as he pointed his finger towards his father. "Eat this!" A crimson cero shot through his fingers. Ichigo immediately flicked it away as though it were nothing and countered with another cero from his horns.
Ryuichi barely had time to dodge the attack, and the impact from the explosion threw him to the ground with tremendous force.
Seeing this, Rukia panicked. She was about to get up off the floor to help her son, but Hinamori held her back. "Let me go, Hinamori!" Rukia screamed, tears filling her eyes for her son.
"No, Rukia!" Hinamori shook her head. "You have to relax! Besides, your son isn't himself just like Kurosaki-Taichou isn't himself! Being involved with any of them right now will only ensure your death! Stay here for a while longer!"
"He'll kill him, Hinamori!" Rukia argued. "He'll kill him! Ryuichi can't stave off someone as powerful as Ichigo! His hollow powers had just awakened!"
"I know," Hinamori soothed, trying to calm her friend down. "But there's nothing we can do. I would like to help Ryuichi as much as you do, but prying two super-powered hollows apart is suicide. Let things take their course for now."
When Rukia saw her son stand up, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued to watch the battle in front of her.
Ryuichi wiped his bloody chin with a smirk as he stared at his father. "I must say you nearly got me there, but that just fires me right up!" He charged once again and attacked his father with all he had.
With every attack, Ichigo dodged and moved backwards as his son continued to move forwards. After a while, his eyes narrowed and he grabbed his son's fist. Ryuichi tried to kick but Ichigo grabbed his leg with the other hand.
Enough toying with him! Finish him!
Ichigo's eyes glowed once again at the command. He flung his struggling son against the nearest wall, cracking it upon impact. Ryuichi groaned from where he lay, but froze when he heard his father's footsteps inching towards him. A part of his mask cracked and fell apart from his forehead, causing him to curse.
Rip him to pieces! FINISH HIM!
However, another voice – that same voice that echoed faintly in his conscience before – spoke up slightly louder than it did earlier. RYUICHI! He's my son; I can't!
You're under my command, Kurosaki! Fighting it is futile! Finish him!
A bolt of reiatsu formed between Ichigo's horns. Ryuichi looked up at his father's demonic face one more time. He could almost swear that he could see sadness through his eyes, as if there were a real battle going on inside his soul. "Blast it, Ryuichi! You're so weak!" The hollow cursed at him as he waited for the final blow to come to him.
Shut up!
His hands flew up to his mask as his reiatsu fluctuated. "What the... What the hell are you doing?"
My father is fighting against Aizen in his mind. Only by seeing me will he win! If he doesn't, then at least I will die without being possessed by the likes of YOU! BE GONE!
The hollow inside Ryuichi screamed shrilly as the young shinigami tore off his mask, shattering it into pieces in the process.
Elsewhere in the room, Ruby ran to Rukia and Hinamori while Jade walked behind. "Are you guys all right?" She asked with concern. Then she noticed Rukia's injured arm.
"It's just a scratch," Rukia assured her. "I've had worse."
"And speaking of worse things, Ryuichi is losing to Ichigo," Hinamori added.
Rukia closed her eyes tightly as she let the tears fall down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Ryuichi. I'm so sorry."
Ruby watched the horrific scene in front of her, and her body trembled as she thought of a memory from her past – almost as horrible as the memory of her mother.
It was supposed to be a run for errands, but 11-year-old Ruby had to run for her life. A hollow was spotted in District 73 of Western Rukongai, and Ruby ran out of luck when she encountered it. It was a terrible sight, and she tried with every ounce of strength in her legs to outrun the enormous monster.
It took forever to run home where her brother was waiting for her, but when Jade saw the hollow, he ran with his sister, dragging her by the arm.
"Gomen nasai, onii-chan!" Ruby screamed. "I wanted to get supplies for us, but that hollow had to arrive and chase me!"
"It doesn't matter!" Jade snapped between breaths. "Just shut up and run!"
They continued to run for a while longer until they stopped at the edge of a cliff.
"SHIT!" Jade cursed. He turned around sharply to see the hollow catching up to them.
Ruby grabbed onto her brother's arm for dear life – her eyes wide open with fear as her blood froze in her veins. Tears streamed down her face for she realized it was the end for both of them.
Just when the hollow was seconds away from devouring the children, a flash zipped through it as it was cut in half. The last thing Ruby saw was a man dressed in black with a white haori and a large symbol for the number 10 embroidered on the back of it. Before she could get the chance to say "thank you", she fainted from the fear that took over her.
Ruby found out she was saved by Hitsugaya and thanked him prior to joining the academy. She had also found out she fainted out of hunger and this was what drove them to join the academy to become shinigami two years later.
She grabbed the hilt of her zampakutou as her eyes glowed deadly silver. "I'VE HAD IT WITH ALL OF YOU!" She drew her zampakutou and slashed it in front of her, shouting, "Hien Messhoujin!" A crimson wave of fiery energy blasted towards Ichigo, knocking him off guard and off balance. Ryuichi shielded his face to avoid the wave of reiatsu emanating from the blast.
"Ichigo?" Rukia whispered almost inaudibly.
Since she was standing next to her, Ruby could hear what her superior was saying. "He's still alive. I just had to knock him away from Ryuichi."
Rukia breathed a sigh of relief. Even though her husband was on the side of evil, she knew that somewhere he was fighting the darkness, like he always had. She had to hope for the best for him and hope that he would prevail.
At that moment, Jade felt something as though a needle had pierced him and then an uncomfortable feeling of dizziness following shortly after. "What the," he breathed as he tried to steady himself.
Ruby turned to her brother. "What's wrong, Jade?"
Jade shook his head to get rid of the dizziness. "I felt that something had pierced me for some reason, but that only lasted a second. The dizziness is gone though, but this feeling...I can't describe it or even explain it."
Then a familiar reiatsu weighed down on the spectators, even Ryuichi. Ichigo stood up to face the one that had brainwashed him – Aizen Sosuke.
Aizen looked around the room and hummed disappointedly. "Ichigo, you have not fulfilled a simple task that I had given you." No response; Ichigo continued to stare. Aizen raised an eyebrow in question. "Well? What are you waiting for? Finish them off already!" Still, Ichigo did not respond. Aizen growled. "FINISH THEM! WHAT PART OF THAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?"
Ichigo's eyes glowed as bloodlust filled them. Aizen grinned triumphantly as he thought he may have gotten through to his "weapon", but that was when the unexpected happened. Reiatsu formed in between Ichigo's horns and unleashed in another extremely powerful cero.
Aizen's eyes widened in shock as he dodged the blast before it connected with him. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're under my command! You're supposed to be attacking them!"
Ichigo charged towards the dark lord, claws bared and eyes continuing to show the lust to kill. Before Aizen could do anything, Ichigo disappeared using sonido and reappeared behind, preparing to complete his revenge.
However, Aizen had other plans. With a smirk, he grabbed the hollow's arm before it could slash through him. "I hate to say this, Kurosaki, but it seems that you are too good to be used as a weapon. I miscalculated. So long."
Before anyone could blink, he slashed his sword straight through the hollow's chest, making a wound so deep that the hollow exterior shattered and blood splashed outward.
Rukia could only watch in horror as a gasp escaped her husband's lips, and it seemed that time had slowed down. All sound seemed to be muted as well as Ryuichi screamed, "NO!"
When Ichigo's body hit the floor, time resumed itself but panic filled the air as Rukia screamed her husband's name. Aizen chuckled darkly as blood dripped from his sword and insanity shone through his eyes.
As an addition to the apologies for the delay, I must apologize for what I did with Ichigo there hehe... (dodges many objects thrown at her) I wanted to make it as dramatic as possible as this story is still angsty, with its twists and turns. Don't worry though, Ichigo is alive and he's on the side of good again. That's all I can say at this point. You will have to find out how things are resolved in the next several chapters.
As far as the video versions go, they will take longer to update than the ones from Incomplete Sorrows so you will have to wait a little bit longer for the first one to come out. I've got to make sure that the edits are close to perfect as I can get them so I'm really taking my time with this.
With all that said, I hope you guys continue to have a wonderful Easter weekend and I will see you later with the next update! Until then, please review and let me know what you think!
Take care