Like I've said before, "Bleach" isn't actually mine. A shame.
Rukia continued her midnight patrols, leaving her gigai at the Kurosaki residence. Isshin had kindly let Rukia stay, and she had moved into Yuzu and Karin's room. Isshin had spent quite a bit of time talking to Yuzu and Karin about shinigami generally, though it seemed that Karin already knew about it to some degree. Rukia laughed, remembering, how Karin had briefly mentioned Toushiro, using the same peculiar grimace, smile, and smirk that Ichigo had often used when referring to Uryuu. Still, the rest of the explanation would have wait until Ichigo returned. Everyone was just biding their time, hoping and waiting.
After dinner, Rukia again went on her routine patrol, strolling along the streets and roofs of Karakura town. It constantly amazed her at how many spirits there were floating around the town, as well as at the number of people who had some level of spiritual awareness. Of course, most of them still couldn't see Rukia, per se, but around a fifth of the people living in the town had some degree of spiritual power, and could sense an odd presence not discernible by the normal human senses.
She had to stifle a laugh as Keigo's eyes widened at seeing her, in her Shinigami form and robes. He gaped at her for a bit, and noticed everyone else's reactions, or lack thereof, before rubbing his eyes and resolutely ignoring this apparent apparition. "Everything appears to be as normal at the moment. No unusual concentrations of spirit energy or hollows."
Of course, at that instant, the tech division contacted her. "Urgent alert! A large gathering of huge hollows have been detected, with at least thirty spiritual signatures. All shinigami in Karakura town, as well as available human allies head immediately to the west edge of the town and engage, contain, and then subdue this force. Vice-captains and captains are being notified and prepared for immediate dispatch as the situation might dictate. Out."
All over town, the defenders of Karakura town acknowledged the warning. Ishida finished one last stitch before putting down his sewing and donning his Quincy outfit. Chad summoned his armor as he began his thundering run towards the west side of town. Inoue hurried after them even as she released the fairies from her hair pins. Renji and Matsumoto, having again been assigned to watch over Karakura town for the time being, quickly swallowed some Soul Candy and popped out of their gigais and began flash-stepping out.
They all reached the outer edge of town at about the same instant, arriving by whatever techniques or skills, only to see a terrifying sight. Forty huge hollows rampaged about in pure fear, as ten or so menos grande class hollows, shrouds billowing around them, mindlessly and randomly ripped through them. And, at the same moment, black slits cut through the air as a Garganta gate formed and a handful of adjuchas swarmed out, seemingly fleeing from some other presence. Emerging from the gate, they began to savagely tear and strike out at anything in their paths, humans, shinigamis, or hollows, and the scene erupted into seething mass of chaos, confusion, and destruction.
Renji bit back an oath as the blast of a cero nearly struck him. "Howl, Zabimaru!" He cried out as his zanpakuto shifted into its longer, segmented form. "Take this!" Swiftly, Zabimaru neatly shot out to slice a huge hollow squarely in half, which dissolved as its soul was purified. The crowd of hollows alerted by this attack to the presence of some new threat now turned their attention to swarming around the gathered shinigami, the Quincy, and Chad.
"Alert! Soul Society is sending three captains immediately!" A cry suddenly rang out amongst the fighters defending Karakura town, locked in combat with a number of the hollows, their only advantage at the moment being that the hollows continued to fight amongst themselves as well. "We have detected the intrusion of a vasto lorde class hollow. Repeat, three captains are being sent. Try to contain the invasion without directly engaging the vasto lorde. Out."
All of the defenders shot each other a shocked and frightened look. "We've barely even heard of them before!" Renji bellowed as a sliced another hollow in half. "Rumors say that two captains fighting perfectly together might only just win against a vasto lorde!" Ishida's scowl tightened as he drew in more than the needed amount of energy and pierced through three hollows in one shot. But the fighting was getting tougher, as the surviving adjucha managed to whip the remaining seven menos grandes into some semblance of order.
At that moment though, the hollows paused, and grateful for some reprieve, the defenders warily stepped back as well. From both sides, gates suddenly formed. From one, a vasto lorde, human-sized and mostly-human shaped but radiating of an overwhelming reiatsu and bloodlust yet with a tinge of fear, stepped out. And from the other side, two gates appeared. Byakuya, Hitsuyga and Kenpachi flash stepped out of one, while Ikkau, Yumichika, Hantarou, and a handful of other eleventh squad members poured out of the other.. Byakuya spoke, somehow calmly and serenely to the winded defenders. "We will engage the vasto lorde. In the meantime, form a perimeter with the reinforcements to deal with the rest of the enemy force."
Everyone tensed, however, when the vasto lorde advanced upon the group. But when Kenpachi whipped out his sword, to their great surprise, the hollow held his hand up, motioning him to wait. And then, it spoke. "Shinigami," it addressed them, voice laden with distaste and some perverse hunger. "Step aside and we will not rend you into delicious fragments of soul and devour you. If you do so, we will not harm you, nor this town." Its reiatsu flared up and blanketed the surrounding area, pressing heavily on the defenders. "Hurry and make your decision."
Kenpachi, in his usual bloodlust and battle-hunger, ignored the hollow's demand and its fearful implications. "And deprive myself of the fun for a challenging fight!" He laughed wildly, and struck at the vasto lorde with a direct, overhead blow.
Almost negligently, the vasto lorde reached out, as if in slow motion, and clasped the descending blade with a single blade, suspending the attack in mid-air. "Very well then, shinigami, I will enjoy immensely this meal you're about to provide. Die." Its other hand stretched and blurred into a scythe-like blade and it slashed Kenpachi a deep blow across his chest, sending him hurtling backward.
Kenpachi quickly regained his footing and grinned widely as he pulled off his eye-patch. And, blazing with reiatsu, he fiercely pressed the attack, bearing down on the somewhat surprised vasto lorde with his own tremendous pressure. The two began to exchange a flurry of shimmering blows that scattered gusts of energy throughout the area, blanketing the entire region with a palpable presence.
The other hollows shook off their stupor and resumed their fight with the mix of defenders. Rukia began bypassing kido incantations to rain a barrage of cover fire for the other fights. Ikkau and Yumichika began to engage in melee combat, both releasing their zanpaktou as did most of the reinforcements and Matsumoto. Renji and Chad, with their superior reiatsu limits turned to engage the towering menos grande in a direct clash of power and strength.
On the other hand, the other two captains took a moment to analyze the situation. "Hitsuyga-Taicho." Byakuya spoke calmly. "I believe that we should set up a kido barrier right away. The energies being released in this fight will no doubt increase even more, but at the moment it already exceeds the acceptable limit." Hitsuyga merely nodded in agreement as he drew on his spiritual energy in preparation for the high-level kido. "We will use a doubled version of binding kido number eighty-one."
Together, they focused and then channeled their combined spiritual energy. "Bakudo Eighty-One, Danku." An enormous golden wall coalesced for about a half-mile around the epicenter of the battlefield. Its use and need was proven almost immediately as a stray cero crashed against it before being dispelled in a burst of intense light and heat. Unfortunately drained and strained from casting a fairly powerful binding spell on such a large scale, both Byakuy and Hitsuyga were rather winded and unable to join the fight right away.
Kenpachi had continued with slugging it out with the vasto lorde. Both had fallen back to the crude but effective and daunting method of simply using more power. Each blow sent the other combatant sliding back a few feet, and formed craters from the energies dispelled. The vasto lorde was no longer laughing, but Kenpachi continued to display his wild, fearsome grin. Nonetheless, despite his enjoyment and stubborn fighting, to Byakuya's trained eye, he saw the obvious conclusion. Kenpachi was being pushed back. Although their raw spiritual strengths were comparable, he simply was too unrefined and polished in his attacks and defense.
The other defenders fared well, for the most part. The eleventh division members were overpowering the lesser hollows still fighting, while the vice-captains had managed to defeat or at least force draws with the remaining adjuchas and had subdued the towering menos grandes. However, even so, weakened and exhausted by the battle, all of the shinigami and other defenders could still be wiped out by the vasto lorde and the two remaining adjucha. These three hollows were on a high enough level to still prove a serious challenge.
This was shown definitively when the vasto lorde scored a deep blow that pierced through the right of Kenpachi's chest in a shower of blood. Even for him, it was a serious blow. "I guess I'll have to use two hands." He choked out, as he adjusted his grip. The blows he began to rain down slowed the advancing vasto lorde, but was unable to stop it.
With a massive tremor, it raised its spiritual pressure again, forcing many of the lower ranked shinigami and the human defenders to their knees. "I told you I would enjoy this meal. There is an abundance of energy here." Finally, confident, the vasto lorde savagely grinned. It stalked forward towards the weakened captain, intent on dealing the final blows. With a single strike, it battered through Kenpachi's guard. With the next, it sent his zanpaktou flying away. "Now, die."
With a long, arcing swing, the vasto lorde sliced down, in a devastating blow aimed to kill with a deep cut from the top of the left shoulder to the right of the waist. Byakuya flashed stepped to the side to strike at the vasto lorde while it was exposed. But, it simply continued its swing with one hand while the other hand released a powerful cero-like attack that blew Byakuya away. Kenpachi staggered back several paces, while Byakuya crumpled to the ground, bloodied and cut from the fragments of his shattered zanpaktou and the devastating impact of the blast. "Nii-sama!" Rukia cried out, appalled at the sight of her brother, so powerful and steady, abruptly laid low.
"Rukia, watch out!" Renji shouted in alarm. As she had turned away, one of the adjuchas had taken the chance to launch a powerful attack of condensed spirit energy, similar to a cero, directly at her. In the space of moments, it seemed that everything had taken a turn for the worse.
Two of the three captains were in no condition to fight. The third captain still had not recovered from the draining kido barrier. The rest of the fighters were tiring from their own exhausting struggles and still had to deal with two adjucha-class hollows. And, at this moment, with the sudden shift in the battle, one of the adjucha launched a devastating attack at Rukia, who was in a poor position and unable to turn.
Suddenly, in a flash, the cero seemingly shattered, sending coruscating fragments of light and energy scattering through the air. In almost the same instant, a gentle brush of wind seemed to pass over the scene. The vasto lorde somehow managed to pale, becoming a whiter and more deathly shade of white than before. "He's here." It uttered quietly, but heard throughout the whole, utterly silent battlefield.
No one understood how or why the two adjucha hollows abruptly dissolved into scarps of spirit particles, or why the vasto lorde, on the verge of complete victory, suddenly turned and began dashing away at full speeds. That was until they heard the voice speaking. The vasto lorde had but taken a handful of steps, when it froze. It was lifted up, held by where a human's throat would equivalently be. "Where do you think you're trying to run to?"
"Let me go, please. I'll do anything." The powerful hollow stammered out, reduced to a pathetic and pitiful babbling state. "Forgive your humble slave!" It stopped talking. The hand had tightened, noticeably clutching the hollow's throat.
"I don't believe you. May your soul be redeemed in another death." The entire defending force of Karakura town stared in absolute shock at the speaker. Like the vasto lorde, it or he looked mostly human-sized. But, to some of those standing there, the long white tail, powerful hands with sharp claws retracted and the orange mane of hair cascading down from behind the mask, seemed far too familiar and terrifying.
"Kurosaki Ichigo." Was the general consensus that somehow seemed to be collectively breathed out. And, in that same instance, Ichigo's hollow released a tremendous pressure, exceeding even that of the vasto lorde. The spiritual pressure blew back everyone around it, slamming the defenders hard into the barrier. Many of them lost consciousness. The captains, retaining by a thread their awareness, watched in horror. The vasto lorde, which had proved of some difficulty for the captains to defeat, was shredded by being exposed to the presence of this new hollow and was shattered into glittering spirit fragments by a simple tightening of its fist.
And as the three captains struggled to stand upright and buy some time so that someone might be able to inform Soul Society about the new situation, the hollow turned and stalked towards them. All the while, it bore a terrible, frightening grin of malice. Toshiro, the least injured of the captains released his bankai. His draconic ice wings spread out like a shield, he strode to block the hollow's advance. "Halt! Ichigo Kurosaki, return to your shinigami form now!"
To everyone's growing horror, the hollow tilted its head to the side in seeming confusion, its orange mane swinging loosely aside. "Ichigo Kurosaki? Is that my name?"