Entrar, Arrancar

The summer's air was hot and humid, and it wrapped around the girl uncomfortably. Not that she would have noticed it much, as she was bleeding along the left half of her body, the warm blood oozing and enveloping her in its own horrific cocoon. A slim, older lady cradled her gently, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Yo… Yoruichi-san?"

"Yes, it's me. Don't fret. Can you swallow?"

"Y…yes… B… but… Kurosaki-kun?"

"He's all right, Inoue. I need you to eat this medicine now."

A loud cry rose up from behind them, as a monstrously huge Arrancar redoubled his attack efforts, bellowing his intent to kill Yoruichi and her companions. He gathered his energy in his mouth and fired a Cero at point blank, striking the exact spot where Yoruichi and Inoue were just a moment ago.

However, they were unharmed. The hulking brute stared at them through the settling dust, mouth agape. "How…"

Urahara Kisuke stood protectively over the two women, his zanpakuto, Benihime, raised in the air. The Arrancar looked at the little man whose black jacket was billowing in the air, the green and white striped hat perched over pale blond hair. He looked ridiculous. Who is this puny little man? And how did he stop my point-blank Cero?

The ridiculous little man started speaking. "Ah, as you can imagine, an explosion at this close proximity would be quite dangerous indeed. Thus, I used a countermeasure of a similar nature to nullify your own attack.

"What?!?" Yammy Rialgo, Espada No. 10, had no idea what Urahara was going on about.

"Perhaps a demonstration… Sing, Benihime." A red arc exploded out from the sword and hurtled towards Yammy. The force of the attack was dissipated by the smaller Arrancar who appeared in front of Yammy.

Enraged that someone had interrupted his fight, the giant Arrancar began to bellow. The smaller Arrancar dispatched him with a blow to his stomach. "Fool! You are too reckless, Yammy. These two are Urahara Kisuke and Shihoin Yoruichi. At your level, you will never be able to defeat them, no matter how you try. We are retreating now." He turned to look at Ichigo, his eyes bleeding dispassionate green streams. "We shall tell Aizen-sama that that substitute Shinigami he was so interested in is of no value whatsoever."

A garganta opened behind them, a pathway into darkness. The Arrancar stepped through, their mission accomplished. Ichigo bent over, defeated.

Urahara Kisuke looked back grimly. "We have to tend to those injuries, all of you."