Firstly, I got a review! Thank you, Nightkill, I'm really glad you like it so much - I admit, when I got the review I squeed out loud for a bit.
Anyway, here's chapter six, and I hope everyone enjoys.
Chapter Six: Ruin.
"Fall, Tatsutahime."
Fire swirled around Ginrei's sword before separating outwards, forming nine more blades. They burnt in the air for a moment before the fire faded, revealing nine perfect copies hanging in the air.
"Tatsutahime is not so dissimilar from my grandson's Senbonzakura," Ginrei said, "but instead of splitting my sword into miniscule blades, I simply summon more swords and control them. It allows me greater brute force, and to retain close-range defence."
"Fascinating, my friend – ten swords at your command," Verrocchio said. "I don't think it'll be enough."
Ginrei peered at him. "We'll see. Let us attend to this, Tatsutahime." The nine copies swung in the air, flying at Verrocchio.
With a sniff, Verrocchio batted them out of the air, lifting a hand, purple light crackling around him. "Devorar."
"Danku."
A shield appeared between them, flickering for a second before crumpling. Verrocchio kept his hand pointed at Ginrei. "Devorar."
Ginrei vanished from sight with a rush if air, reappearing behind Verrocchio, blade flashing towards his neck. "That's a very potent ability," he said as Verrocchio caught his blade. "You create an invisible gravity well and crush your opponent in it. Without the ability to see it, it's difficult to evade."
"I'm glad you approve," Verrocchio said. "Devor - ..." Another blade slid into Ginrei's hand , sliding across Verrocchio's teeth, cutting the words off before they came out.
"You advertise your attack," Ginrei said. "It's potent, but easily avoided if you're on your guard for it. Way of Destruction Number Eleven: Bound Lightning." His swords crackled with electricity, humming into Verrocchio's body.
The Vasto Lorde snarled, porcelain moving like putty into an enraged face before snapping back to its standard, skull-like appearance. He leapt backwards, one hand out. "Devorar!"
Ginrei vanished again, waving his swords as he reappeared to one side of the Vasto Lorde. From all sides, eight swords closed in on Verrocchio. He batted them away again, the blades spinning back through the air before reasserting themselves and flying back at him.
"I told you, shinigami," Verrocchio nearly screamed as he fought them off. "Ten swords will never be enough!"
"You were so calm not long ago. Is that Devorar ability of yours that important to you?" Ginrei tilted his head. "You must have others, Master Hollow. Come, there's no need to sulk."
Verrocchio snarled, tightening his hand into a fist, long and skeletal nails digging into his palm. They came out bloody with red and purple. "Cero ..." he growled, raising his hand, a black ball, rimmed with violet, appearing within it. "Tortura."
A black beam shot from his outstretched hand, wide and smooth. Ginrei flash-stepped out of the way, reappearing just out of its path. A black wave pulsed out from the beam, sending him stumbling him backwards, burns appearing across his arms as he raised them protectively.
"Impressive," he said, "that is your Cero, then? Unique, Master Hollow."
"Hm," Verrocchio said, suddenly calm again.
Ginrei realised why when he heard no explosion. He looked around just in time to see the Cero curve around to come back towards him. "Most impressive, Master Hollow," he said, raising his swords in a cross shape. All eight others came towards him, joining them. "Danku."
The Cero crashed against the wall, straining for a moment before breaking through it. As it hit Ginrei's swords it parted, splitting onto either side of him.
"Foolish, my friend," Verrocchio said, as the two beams curved around and back towards Ginrei.
Ginrei flash-stepped away, then again as the two curved upwards towards him. As he reappeared on a building, Verrocchio flicked a hand, one beam changing course to swing around the other side. With a smile, Ginrei vanished, leaving his haori fluttering in the air. The beams kept moving towards it.
They exploded with a flash of black, ripples of dark energy tearing the tiles off the rooftop.
"Yamamoto won't be pleased," Ginrei remarked mildly as he appeared behind Verrocchio. "He has strong views about the haori."
Verrocchio twitched. "You are arrogant, Kuchiki Ginrei," he snarled, "you act as if you've already won this battle by escaping two of my techniques and batting uselessly at me with ten swords. You would need a hundred swords to even cut me."
"It's ironic that you should say that," Ginrei remarked, raising his sword. "I did think it was strange, Master Hollow, that you assumed I only had ten swords at my disposal. That would hardly be a fitting ability for a captain."
Verrocchio growled low in his throat, pacing back and forth.
"In actuality," Ginrei continued, "my Tatsutahime can summon up to ninety-nine copies for a total of, as you said, one hundred." He turned his swords in his hand, tossing them up into the air. With a flash of fire, each sword split into ten. A hundred swords turned in the air, faster and faster, the light flashing off them. "Let's see about cutting you, then. Fall, Tatsutahime, let's not keep the good Master Hollow waiting."
The swords stopped in the air, their tips all pointed down at Verrocchio from every side. With a rush, they shot inwards, cracking through porcelain and flesh to embed themselves in him, blood flying in jets. He slumped, blood pouring down his porcelain armour, before chuckling slowly.
One skeletal hand snapped up to tighten around the sword.
"You are so arrogant," he hissed, tugging the sword out of his chest, "you make a single injury and you think you've won, shinigami scum. You must be so pleased with yourself, your zanpakuto must surely be the most powerful metal-type in all of Soul Society, but it will never be enough. My regenerative abilities are greater than any of the other Horsemen. I cannot die."
"Fire," Ginrei said.
"What?"
"Fire-type. You claimed my zanpakuto was a metal-type. It's a fire-type – the honourable Captain-Commander and I used each other for training when we were boys."
"But – you ..."
Ginrei nodded. "Tatsutahime's fire abilities are very one note, that is to say that every sword she creates can explode. There are ninety-nine embedded in you and one in your hand."
Lights flared in Verrocchio's sockets as he lifted the sword in his hand up, watching as it glowed bright orange.
"Burn, Tatsutahime," Ginrei said.
Distantly, at the edge of the Court of Pure Souls, the Gillians wailed as an explosion plumed.
Verrocchio landed burning amongst the sands of Hueco Mundo. His regenerative abilities had saved him from complete incineration, rebuilding him faster than he could be burnt away. Sprawled around the temple in various states of recovery were Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello.
The shinigami was sat on the steps, rolling a red core around in his palm. "Verrocchio."
"Master," Verrocchio said, bowing his head. "I was – defeated. Did our agent ... ?"
"Our agent," the shinigami murmured, eyes set on the core, "successfully used the distraction to acquire the information we need. We have the location of the Reaper's Core now. Unfortunately, your compatriots failed to retrieve the Kurosaki boy and the Citizen's Core."
Verrocchio folded his arms, looking over the other Horsemen. "... Should I?"
"No, let them live. I have other plans for them," the shinigami said, "come with me, Verrocchio. There's something I want you to see." He arose from the steps, bare feet kicking up sand as he walked. Verrocchio followed.
"Luzarches detected an interesting subject for another experiment earlier," the shinigami said, "he is – very weary. When you have a moment, see what you can do for him. The air of this place is bad for him, ironically."
"Yes, Master."
"You remember, don't you?" The shinigami asked. "When Luzarches and I found you, a newly fledged Adjuchas, scared and alone and just waiting to be devoured? Your evolution when the Core was given to you was faster than any of the others. I was so proud."
"Thank you, Master," Verrocchio said.
"But with luck, you'll no longer be my greatest creation," the shinigami said sharply. "The other Horsemen are fine examples of Gillians exposed to Cores, and you are a fine example of an Adjuchas exposed to one – but now it's time to go one step further."
They passed over a sand dune. Sitting nearby, staring at them intently, was a Vasto Lorde. A natural Vasto Lorde, her arms folded over her Hollow hole. To Verrocchio's eyes, she resembled a humanoid scorpion carved from bone and porcelain.
The shinigami extended a hand in greeting. "We spoke before."
The Vasto Lorde snarled. "We did. This had best not be a trick, shinigami. I came here in good faith."
Verrocchio knew what she was talking about – the shinigami would have offered her power, the ability to transcend the endless struggle to survive that defined Hueco Mundo. It was an offer Aizen had made various powerful Hollows, one that carried weight.
"We shinigami might be brutes," the shinigami said, "but we make terrible tricksters." With a flick of his hand, he sent the core flying into the Vasto Lorde's Hollow hole. It expanded to plug it, then started to glow a bright red.
Sand started to swirl around her – thin channels at first, then thickening into a tornado. In the gaps between the sand, Verrocchio could see her reach up to her mask and dig her fingers in. As the tornado thickened, anything more was hidden from view.
"Perfect," the shinigami said.
School was going to be Hell, Ichigo could just tell.
"Yo," Eiji said, sliding the door open. Renji, Rukia and Shuki were by him, all in school uniforms, all looking both innocent and apprehensive. "This our class?"
"Oh," the teacher said, "yes. Class, welcome our new ... new ... new transfer students – Kougami Eiji and Higa Shuki. Hopefully they'll be sticking around for longer than our other transfers have. And welcome back Rukia and Ichigo's cousin Renji! Hopefully you two won't be flitting off for any more mysterious absences this term."
"H-hopefully," Rukia said sheepishly, waving at the class.
"We, we," one girl blurted out, staring at Renji, "we thought you left because of the forbidden love between you and your cousin!"
Ichigo's head hit his desk. Nearby, Ishida adjusted his glasses awkwardly while Orihime tried to look somewhere else. Renji started to go bright red. All of a sudden, an arm was around his shoulder, and he was being dragged against Eiji's side.
"Don't be silly," Eiji said, grinning diabolically, "Renji's not going out with Ichigo. He's going out with me. Isn't that right, snookums?"
Renji stammered for a moment, freezing. Eiji's grin only grew wider and more oddly sharklike. "Um. Yes." A pause. Ichigo felt a pall of horror come over him – he knew that intake of breath and furrowing of brows. It meant that Renji was not to be outdone. "In fact," he continued with newfound confidence, "Eiji and I are going to get married."
"Is that legal?" Someone asked.
Renji stammered again. After a second: "You shouldn't think of how things are but how they should be!" Next to him, Eiji nodded solemnly.
"My boyfriend, guys," he grinned, pointing at Renji. "Isn't he awesome?"
"No," Renji said. Beat. "I mean. Yeah, I am. Snookums."
The teacher somewhat hastily ushered everyone to their seats. Shuki and Rukia took up positions either side of Ichigo (he was sure people had been sitting there already, but they seemed to be on the other side of the room with bowls of sake), while Eiji lounged behind him and Renji settled in front.
"Hey," Shuki whispered to him, "rooftop. Lunchtime. Be there."
"Why?" Ichigo whispered back.
"Ichigo," Rukia hissed disapprovingly. "If we were going to tell you here we would have."
"But," Ichigo protested, "why don't you just tell me?"
"Because," Rukia said primly, "we are trying to learn calculus."
The rest of the class passed in a fit of blissful normalcy that only served to hammer into Ichigo's skull that come lunchtime, nothing was going to be normal. Everything would suddenly become ridiculous or violent or both, and he'd be left with a thumping headache and potentially a lot of bandages.
Lunchtime rolled by too quickly. Ichigo trudged to the roof behind the shinigami, with Orihime on one side and Chad on the other. Ishida loitered near the back, so as to avoid giving people the erroneous impression that he was friends with these people, or even really knew them. It was just that the rooftop happened to be on the way to another engagement and/or he had carelessly left something there.
The meeting didn't start for a while. First, Eiji hurriedly downed some sake, looking almost panicked about it. Shuki patted him on the shoulder, telling him that the sobriety was more afraid of him than he was of it; then Rukia unpacked her lunch and sipped some of her drink.
"We've lost contact with Soul Society," Rukia said, "shortly after we arrived. It's likely that either somebody is running interference or they've cut off all kind of interdimensional transmission to try and stem the threat of any kind of invasion."
"Is everyone okay?" Ichigo asked.
"No idea," Rukia said. "When we left there was an invasion force of Gillians and at least one powerful Vasto Lorde. That's – serious, Ichigo. One way or another there'd be high casualties. It means, amongst other things, that Soul Society would be in no position to help us even if we could contact them."
"But that's fine," Eiji said, "it just means that Master Ginrei isn't going to make things boring for us. Ow!" He winced as Shuki elbowed him in the side.
"It means that if we face an attack of a similar scale," Shuki said sharply, "we're stuck with what we have. Apart from everyone here, who can help?"
"Well," Orihime said thoughtfully, "Mister Urahara is a shinigami, isn't he? And Yoruichi, and Tessai. There's Hachi's friends, but they don't – get involved, usually. Apart from that, it's just us."
"That won't be enough," Rukia said, shaking her head, "these cores ... did you notice them?"
Chad nodded gravely. Ishida adjusted his glasses. "Spiritual energy gathering devices," he said, "we use similar items to imitate a Quincy's abilities for Quincy who have trouble forming bows properly, but this was – much more advanced. It collected spiritual energy faster than anything I'd ever seen, and then immediately used it to empower the body it was set into."
"You're sharp," Shuki said approvingly. "For a Quincy."
Ishida snorted. "You're skilled. For a shinigami."
Shuki grinned at him, ruffling his hair. Eiji raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Nothin'. Sake is making me go weird, man," Eiji said.
On one side of the roof, Ichigo felt the explosion from Renji before he heard it. The lieutenant had been waiting there, arms folded, growing more and more irate with every word that was said.
"Did you have to pretend you were my boyfriend?" Renji said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Yes," Eiji said briskly.
"Why?"
"Because I'm a captain, and as such it is my prerogative to torment you," Eiji said cheerfully. "Don't worry, man. I asked Captain Kuchiki – er, Byakuya- if it was okay."
"I hate that that's plausible," Renji grumbled.
Rukia cleared her throat loudly, picking up a rice ball with what looked like killing intent. "Getting back on topic – Orihime, would you like some of my rice ball?"
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome," Rukia smiled warmly. "Getting back on topic – we barely survived this attack. Captains Kougami and Higa, Renji and I had the element of surprise, but things might have gone very differently if we hadn't."
"Ultimately this wasn't a full-scale attack either," Shuki said, "we might not be so lucky next time. We need to know each other's abilities. We need to be ready. We need - ..."
"A training montage," Eiji said, interrupting her.
"To train. We have to be ready – and there are some here who could very quickly reach a whole new level of power."
"Ichigo's done that before," Orihime said enthusiastically. "He's an expert now."
Eiji chuckled into his sake.
"Actually," Rukia said, "Captain Higa wasn't talking about Ichigo."
"Inoue Orihime, Yasutora Sado, Ishida Uryu, Kuchiki Rukia," Shuki said, grinning. "You are summoned to the training chamber beneath the Urahara Shop this evening, and every evening, until you have some suitably awesome things to reveal to any potential enemies."
There was a long silence.
"Bring sake. It'll appease me," Eiji added.
Next chapter up next week, thanks for reading.