III. The Test

Renji's eyes widened in shock as he watched the red sword morph into a red segmented blade with pick-like protrusions per segment. "Now, I guess you're interested after all."

He scoffed once more. "Copying my zanpakuto doesn't make you any better with it. The original's always better than the copycat." He waved his zanpakuto towards the opponent, the blade extending into a whip-like weapon. The clown avoided the attack by jumping, and while in mid-air, he waved his own red version of Zabimaru at Renji, extending into a whip just like the original did. The blade ripped the target's right shoulder like a chainsaw before returning to its compressed form. The impact caused the tattooed shinigami to be thrown away before landing on his back. He looked at the gaping wound bleeding profusely. He winced lightly before trying to stand with the help of his trusted zanpakuto. His enemy floated slowly before landing on the ground. He let his zanpakuto rest on his shoulder, and his other hand rubbed his chin, as if he was musing about something.

"I guess it's time to end this little game of ours, shinigami…"

"Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

He looked up and saw a large wave of cherry blossoms rushing at him. He did a cartwheel to move away as the wave still followed him. After a short while of dodging, the attack stopped. He looked curtly at Byakuya, who was now surrounded in a large twirl of marauding petals.

"Awww…that's cute, feisty shinigami captain-san… though quite gay, but still cute."

He held his red zanpakuto in an inverted fashion, the blade pointing at the ground. He tilted his head slightly sideward, and released the blade from his grip. Byakuya looked at his enemy closely. The red blade seemed to disintegrate into pieces as it came in contact with the ground.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

A wave of red petals rushed at Byakuya, who stood still where he stood. He raised his hand forward, and his own wave of petals blocked the incoming wave of his enemy. His wave pushed forward, trying to make its way toward the opponent. After moments of fighting as such, the waves died down. The clown laughed.

"I guess I'll have to take things a little more serious this time…"

The red petals surrounded the warriors in a large dome. Byakuya stood on his guard.

"Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

The red petals condensed into swords around them in a large dome. He summoned one of the blades to come to him as his weapon. He started walking slowly towards Byakuya. The petals once more swirled around the captain.

"Copying another's technique is such a lowly kind of attack, peon."

"Copying? I'm not really copying that much, well, maybe I just threw in a little of my total skill, so it looks like copying, but hey, how about I show you a little bit of creativity?"

Byakuya was taken aback by a large amount of reiatsu that was quite near to bringing him to his knees. The clown laughed as the reiatsu grew to an even more frightening level. Renji fell down on his knees as he could no longer take the amount of reiatsu being released.

"Now, for a bit of creativity… Howl, Zabimaru."

The blades floating around them pointed to Byakuya, and changed their forms into floating red versions of Zabimaru. After morphing, all of them extended and rushed towards him. Senbonzakura's petals swirled around him, preventing the blades from coming to him any further. He pushed the blades back, returning them to their compressed forms. He heard the clown clapping his hands, and stared at him.

"Bravo! Bravo!" He said while clapping frantically, and afterwards he clutched his sides while he laughed. Once more the petals rushed at him, this time ripping him to shreds. However, after doing so his body turned into a large bunch of confetti. Byakuya looked around trying to find where his opponent was. He turned around and found the clown looking straight at him in the eyes with his own red-yellow orbs, his whole body floating inverted.

"Tsk tsk… feisty as ever, shinigami captain-san…"

He disappeared from sight. Before Byakuya knew, the floating blades extended once more and came rushing at him. He was able to fend off most of the incoming blades but a few were able to break through and wound him. He fell on one knee after being cut up good on his right shoulder and left leg.

"So, the feisty captain ain't that good after all, eh?"

He looked up to a smiling Juego looking at him, juggling a released red Zabimaru in his hands.

"Time to end this…"

"Ban kai... Daiguren Hyourinmaru!"

He looked up to see a certain white-haired captain draped in wings of ice, rushing at him with a sword in hand. He raised his zanpakuto to block the opponent's attack. After blocking the attack, Hitsugaya moved away from the enemy to prepare for his next move. Juego looked at his arm that held his zanpakuto and found it covered in ice. He clenched his fist and broke off the ice that covered it.

"Now there's another player in the game. Don't worry, I don't mind, in fact, the more, the merrier. Mind telling me your name, shinigami kid?"

Hitsugaya's brows furrowed. "I'm not a kid. Tenth division captain Hitsugaya Toushiro."

He turned his gaze at the two behind him. "Looks like you were beaten up pretty bad, Abarai, Kuchiki-taichou."

The jester clapped his hands twice, as if calling on to start something. "Now, now, I'm sorry, but even though you just joined in, I'll have to end this little playtime of ours now…" He pointed his zanpakuto at Hitsugaya and started brimming with energy. His reiatsu spiked at insane levels that Hitsugaya found quite disturbing. He noted the nature of the reiatsu to be fouler than that of any other hollow or arrancar they have faced before, and at such a level beyond their imagination. He assumed his stance and started releasing his reiatsu to try and match his opponent.

"Bankai… Hihio Zabimaru…"

Hitsugaya sighed. "Even though your reiatsu is very high, copying Abarai's skills will do you no good."

"Copying? Who said I was just copying?" Juego smiled even wider. "Ban kai… Daiguren Hyourinmaru."

Ice formed on his back and arms as wings and claws. The large form of Zabimaru's ban kai transformed into a large snake tail made of ice, as if it was a large ice sculpture of the original. He started the ice ban kai moving, going after Hitsugaya with its large snake head. Hitsugaya dodged using shunpo, moving a safer location. It didn't stop from chasing him, for it charged at him wherever he went. At the final moment of this small cycle, the charging snake finally reached Hitsugaya, who in turn blocked it using his blade. He was literally being carried by the large weapon in its mouth, and the only thing that prevented it from tearing him apart is his zanpakuto. He shunpoed quickly, reappearing before the enemy. With a quick move, he pushed against the ground and stabbed his enemy cleanly through the chest, and ice encased the victim quickly after coming in contact with the blade. He pulled the blade back, leaving an ice sculpture of an enemy behind. He was startled when the ice broke along not with the body but confetti, and all of a sudden lunatic laughter resonated through the air. He looked behind him to see a laughing jester clutching his sides from laughing so hard.

"Well, I gotta go now. It ain't fun staying with you any longer." He waved his hand frantically at them. "Byebye, shinigami!" He was reduced to bits of confetti, and traces of his reiatsu were gone, not even a speck left.

"What could you say about him, Juego?"

"He is really interesting, Aizen. Just like what you said about him, he is strong, and he still has a lot more room to grow… don't worry about any trouble, since he's worth every little bit of it." He looked up to the man seated at the throne in the middle of the hall.

A very light noise made him look sideways to an indifferent Ulquiorra Schiffer walking out of the shadows of the spacious hall.

"Once again, you forget your place, Juego. You are no different from us Espada, and we must all show our respect to Aizen-sama."

"Respect?" the aforementioned laughed mockingly. His violet lips were still traced into a smile. "Very well then, I'm sorry for that one, Aizen-sama…" he placed an emphasis on the last word, saying it mockingly, before laughing once more.

"You really have no manners, Juego…" he reached for his zanpakuto and was just about to draw it when he felt a very large reiatsu, which was not Aizen's, that made him drop to his knees.

"Now you should cool down there a bit, Ulquiorra…" Juego said in a mocking tone. "I wouldn't want to kill Aizen's precious Espada, you know..."

Aizen cut in. "I'm sure he didn't mean that, Juego." The large reiatsu died down after Aizen's statement. "Now that I know he met your standards, I'm sure you would support me in my upcoming plans with him."

Juego scoffed and started walking away. "I don't care watcha wanna do wid'em, Aizen. Do what'cha wanna do. Beats me." With that last statement, he disappeared into the darkness.

Ulquiorra has just stood up. "Excuse me, Aizen-sama, but was that – "

"Yes, that was his reiatsu that brought you down. Quite frightening, isn't it?"

He nodded in agreement. "Forgive me if I offend you with this, but why do you still keep him? He's too dangerous to keep around."

"I know, but to tell you the truth, none of us here can ever kill him, Ulquiorra. Besides, he's my finest experiment."

"But such a breeding of hollow and shinigami fusion, as well as pieces of Hell's gate has brought about this much danger. Fusing his reiatsu with those of Seiretei's shinigami made him too powerful to handle."

"We'll just have to deal with him, Ulquiorra." Aizen stood from his throne, bringing his zanpakuto with him. "Time for the next phase of the plan."