Chapter 4: So the Battles Begin!
Wind blew gently and slightly shifted few grains of white sand on the surface of Hueco Mundo. Other than that, and the occasional small hollow crawling about, Hueco Mundo was pretty much... still...
The palace of Las Noches now lays in ruins, it's former upholders now buried in their graves beneath it. Orochi looked upon this aftermath of war as an opportunity. An opportunity to give himself the upper edge of this war without dragging himself into it.
He out stretched his arms, shoulder width at his sides. Translucent violet light flowed from his hands into the white sand below, the sand drinking every drop of it as if it was water soaked up by soil. It wasn't long after that when the Arrancar came up from their graves and climbed onto the surface, all saying in a chanting murmur: "Fall to the Orochi!"
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"They don't stop coming..." Hitsugaya was jumping backwards, dodging the odd creatures' blows as they continuously lunged at him. "Matsumoto, how are you holding back there?"
"I'm not too sure myself, captain. They are much stronger than they look, and definitely faster!" She had barely dodged a blow to the face, in which she returned with a strike of her sword.
"Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" Hitsugaya's blade extended, with a chain at its hilt and a crescent blade at the end of the chain. With a swing of his sword, a dragon of ice released from it, crashing upon many of the creatures and encasing them completely in frozen prison of ice.
"Growl, Haineko!" Rangiku's sword seemingly vanished into ash, but the ash spread around, shifting through the creatures as they melted into a heap of goo.
More of the creatures started to form from the endless black rain. They sprouted from the ground. But not long afterwords did they scurry away.
"Hmm?" Hitsugaya was puzzled and looked upon the scene with wonder, "Where are they going?"
Suddenly a figure fell from the sky and landed in front of them, the ground beneath the figure cracking under his feet. His bald head, his bladed staff zanpakuto, and his cocky smile... it was none other than Ikkaku Madarame. But something was different about him. A weird reiatsu was leaking from him. And... his eyes... glowed purple with a black flame at its center.
"Ikkaku... what's going on." Hitsugaya had his sword in front of him. He was ready for the worst, yet he was not expecting what was about to happen.
Ikkaku had vanished, and appeared behind Rangiku. "Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya roared, but it was too late. Ikkaku had pierced his hand through her stomach, and a black substance began to swarm over her. Ikkaku took out the hand and the wound had sealed. Rangiku's eyes became like his, and she uttered: "Fall to the Orochi!"
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"So Urahara, have any idea what's going on?" Ichigo had gone to speak with Urahara after the odd encounter, and had explained the entire thing to him.
"I'm afraid not, Ichigo. I've heard of nothing like this."
"Damn it, I was afraid of that... Well, we need to find out something!"
"Hmm... Yoruichi! Can you go to Soul Society and see if they found any information on this... inconvenience?"
"Sure thing, Urahara." She went down to the basement where the Senkai Gate Urahara had built was kept.
"So now, I guess all we can do is wait."
"Yeah, I don't think so," Ichigo said, with a bored expression on his face, "I'm going home."
"Mmk Ichigo! Come back soon!"
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Ichigo was walking across the street when he noticed that the black rain seemed to not be reaching this area. So he thought it would be a great time to relax for a bit. Unfortunately he couldn't relax for long, because more of the creatures had been dashing across the canal towards him. He popped the Mod-Soul into his mouth and ran out of his body. "Take good care Kon!"
"What! You're just gonna leave me here? What if they come after me? You need to think ahead more often! Are you listening to me?! HEY! ICHIGO!!!! …................................. he's gone..."
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"So, you all ready?" One of the creatures lunged at him, in which he sidestepped and slashed through it. More started to come after him. Slash after slash he had brought them down. More and more had they come from across the canal. It wasn't long before he was outrageously outnumbered, with his sword blocking the blow of three and about another twenty-seven surrounded him. One was just about to stab him from behind when it seemed like he heard a miracle in his ears:
"Roar, Zabimaru!" Renji's zanpakuto was in it's released form, and it had sliced through the creatures as it twisted and turned around Ichigo so that it can wipe them out. "Well well, Ichigo. Of all people of course I'm the one who gets stuck saving your ass."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It's quite simple. You always get yourself into trouble and I'm always the one who has to save yo―"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, most likely because of the simple fact that there was a black blade shoved through his gut. The culprit had slid the blade out and gave a short cackle before being sliced in half from Ichigo. Renji's stomach had sealed up and his eyes turned to a flaming bright violet.
"What the hell?!" Ichigo gasped, but it was short handed, for Renji had aimed Zabimaru straight towards him.
"What's your problem Renji? Do I owe you money or something?" Renji's reply was just a bit off topic: "Fall to the Orochi!" The black creatures all scurried away.
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So, looks like the Corruptors are doing their job just fine. This is getting too easy. Orochi was looking upon the earth, glancing back and forth between the two battles: one Ichigo vs Renji, and the other Hitsugaya vs Matsumoto and Madarame. It shouldn't be long before this all ends...
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"Um... Chad, do you think Ichigo will be alright?" Chad turned over to see the ever-worrying face of Orihime's.
"Of course, Orihime. No doubt about it. Ichigo isn't the type to let us down."
"I hope so..."
Not even a second after she had said that had the walls of school hallway crumble, and the black creatures had broke through them.
"Damn, not now... Hime, run! Run and find safety!"
"I can't Chad! I will fight!"
"Orihime, these aren't normal creatures. They don't even seem to be reiatsu based! Hurry and get out of here!"
"Ch-Chad..."
Chad didn't reply, but instead went to the battle. "El Directo!" He yelled out as he launched a reiatsu blast from his odd hollow-like arm. Yet the blast was useless, for the creatures had simply jumped out of the way and surrounded him. Then they all had stabbed him at once.
"Chad!"
As soon as they came was as soon as they had disappeared. But then Chad turned slowly, and Orihime had seen his eyes. "N-no..."
Chad launched himself towards Orihime, preparing an attack. "No... Chad..." She had turned and ran. "CHAD!!!!!!" She screamed, tears flowing down her cheek.
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"Damn it Ikkaku, Matsumoto, what is wrong with you two!" Hitsugaya had deflected Hozukimaru and used Shunpo to dodge Haineko. "Damn it, I'll have to arrest you two for assaulting a captain!" They ignored him, and instead, black gooey tentacles had merged from their arms, chasing after Hitsugaya.
Damn it. It's that same goo from those creatures... something strange is going on. Hitsugaya dodged the tentacles and used Shunpo again into the air. "Reign upon the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" A large ice dragon formed from his zanpakuto and charged at them. The only thing left to do is encase them in ice till I figure out what's going on... But in a blink of an eye, the two had Shunpo away. "Damn it..."
"Well, I guess it's time to give Soul Society another rep―"
At that instant, Hitsugaya felt an evil reiatsu fill the presence.
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"Damn it, Renji! Stop messing around!" Renji had no reply, he had just kept swinging Zabimaru around. "That's it, it's time to end this! BAN-KAI!" Ichigo yelled. "Tensa Zangetsu!" There was the black cloak, the shining black blade, and the small chain at it's hilt. There was Ichigo's Bankai. Sadly, there was no time to use it, for Renji had left in a flash.
"Heh, is he chicken or some―" Then Ichigo felt an evil reiatsu surrounding him.
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Orihime was huffing and coughing as she ran, and ran hard. It wasn't until she was one-hundred percent sure that she was safe that she stopped. Then she broke into tears.
"Chad... what's happening to Chad? And those creatures... they were the same creatures in the class from earlier..." Orihime started to think... "Could they possibly be the reason for all this chaos?"
Just then Orihime felt a familiar crushing evil reiatsu.
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Not long after our heroes felt this reiatsu had they looked to the sky and see it ripping apart, as hundreds of Garganta opened up in the air. Their eyes had widened when they saw a sight they hoped to never see. In these Garganta almost every arrancar they had ever defeated stood there, glancing down on them, their eyes burning with violet hate. Then they all roared into the open: "Fall to the Orochi!" as they jumped from the sky into the city.
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"About time..." Orochi had uttered to himself