Hollow King chapter eighteen
Blades under the blue sky
Tite Kubo Owns Bleach. I do not.
Gondra shoved his iPod into his shihakusho and made his way to the Squad Eleven court yard. He knew his Captain would be there, itching to fight him. And as he guessed there Kenpachi was, sitting on a bench on the far side of the training grounds, his nameless zanpakuto leaning against his shoulder. His trademark shark grin spread across his face.
Yachiru looked up from where she sat next to him. She jumped up and ran over to Gondra with a excited smile smile on her face.
"Hey Blacky! Kenny's been real excited about the fight." Yachiru cheered.
"I bet he has. Me, too." Gondra replied, patting Yachiru on the head.
"You ready, kid?" Kenpachi asked as he walked over.
"I'm still waiting for Isane to get here." Gondra replied.
"Your girlfriend, huh? Why's she comin' here?" Kenpachi asked, his one visible eye fixed on Gondra.
"Medical reasons." Gondra stated with a grin similar to his Captain's. Kenpachi let out a loud laugh and shook his head.
"If you say so, kid. Just don't get KO'd in the the first round this time." Kenpachi commented.
"Does that mean Creepy-Chan will be here too?" Yachiru asked in her happy little way.
"Why do you ask that?" Gondra asked her.
"Other than us and Isane-Chan, Creepy-Chan's the only one you hang out with, Blacky." Yachiru stated, looking up at Gondra.
"Yeah, I guess I need to get out more." Gondra commented with a sigh. "I don't think Captain Kurotsuchi will be here but you never know with him." Gondra added with a shrug. Without the three noticing, one of Mayuri's mecha hell butterflies landed on the court yard wall, it's camera lens fixed on Gondra.
"Hey Gondra, look who we found waiting around the entrance." Ikkaku called over. Gondra looked up to see Isane, accompanied by Ikkaku and Yumichika. Her look of uncertainty turned to a calm smile when she spotted Gondra. Isane walked over and gave Gondra a kiss and wished him luck before sitting on a bench at the side of the court yard.
"So, the gang's all here. Now let's get started." Kenpachi stated as he walked over to the center of the court yard and drew his blade. Ikkaku and Yumichika sat down on either side of Isane, making sure to give her enough space so that Gondra wouldn't get the wrong idea. Yachiru sat happily in Isane's lap, her arms wrapped around the small girl.
"We're all ready, Blacky! You two fight nice now." Yachiru called over.
"Yeah, give us one hell of a show, Fourth Seat!" Ikkaku added.
"Be careful, Gondra." Isane added last.
Gondra ran over to the center of the court yard and drew Sunaryu from behind his back, pointing it in Zaraki's direction.
"You'll find that I've gotten much stronger since our last sparing match. Captain" Gondra stated with determination in his voice. Kenpachi scoffed at Gondra's comment and make a dash for him. With a powerful one handed swing, he clashed blades with him. The metallic clang sound and the shower of sparks was incredible.
"Yet another opponent the recoil effect doesn't work on." Gondra thought to himself.
Kenpachi was pure power and he showed it. With another clash of his blade, he knocked Gondra off balance then sliced him across his left collarbone. Gondra used a sonido to dash a few meters back. Now that he was a safe distance away, he unbuckled his metal sword strap to unleash his pent up reiatsu. With a wave of spiritual pressure and the clanging sound of the strap hitting the tiles, he dashed at Kenpachi. He clashed blades with him at almost equal force. Kenpachi grinned his wolf-like grin and twisted his wrist, causing both blades to cut into each opponent. Gondra took a hit in the chest and Kenpachi received one in the arm. Gondra shrugged off the blow and leaped into the air, spinning around as he planted a palm on Kenpachi's shoulder. Using his strength along with the force of gravity, he cut Kenpachi from the shoulder to his waist, leaving a rather large gash. Not giving Gondra the time to think, Kenpachi quickly positioned his sword behind his back and slashed upwards, cutting Gondra from his jaw line to right under his right eye. Isane gasped and was about to get up when Yachiru stopped her.
"It's okay. Look, they're both having lots of fun." Yachiru commented, looking back up at Isane as she pointed to the the two berserkers going at it. Isane looked to her left and then to her right noticing the captivated looks on Ikkaku and Yumichika's faces. Then she glanced at Gondra, crouching on the tiles of the court yard. A look of excitement and determination shone brightly in his eyes as he spat out some blood. Apparently the cut went through his cheek.
Kenpachi spun around, his sword slicing into Gondra's right arm just below his shoulder. The only thing that kept the jagged blade from cutting straight through his arm was Sunaryu. Gondra leaned to the left, allowing Kenpachi's blade to pass over his head. Gondra used the opening to his advantage and sliced Kenpachi across the side of his back, cutting into his haori and flesh. Gondra then leaped away just in time to nearly miss another sword slash, this one tearing into his left shin.
Gondra violently sliced his sword through the air, shooting off blades of reiatsu. The clear blades sliced at Kenpachi leaving minor cuts. He was completely unfazed by the attack.
"That all you got? Just hit and move? Come on, man! Show me something original, like that cannon of yours." Kenpachi yelled at Gondra as he tried to put his weight on his left leg.
"IT'S NOT A FUCKING CANNON!" Sunaryu screamed, partly to herself.
"You want it. You got it, captain." Gondra roared with gusto.
"Target locked, Sunaryu!" Gondra cried out as he held his blade in the air, morphing it into the rocket cleaver form. He aimed the barrel at Kenpachi and started firing. Five rounds shot out, two aimed at the captain's mid section, two aimed at his chest and one aimed square in the face. Four explosions went off and after the smoke cleared, it revealed that Kenpachi had caught one of the shells in his teeth. Grinning like a madman, he crunched down on the shell causing it to explode in his face. Kenpachi exhaled in the form of a growl, letting the black smoke out of his lungs.
Gondra charged at his Captain head on, delivering a rocket powered swing right at him. Their blades clashed as Gondra delivered a powerful spin kick to Kenpachi's chest. Kenpachi didn't waver. He planted his left fist into Gondra's side, sending him flying back to the ground a few meters away, but not before Gondra sliced him down the arm with his rocket cleaver.
"Looks like I'll have to take it up a notch." Kenpachi growled as he reached for his eye patch. As he tore it off, a titanic level of spiritual pressure was released. Golden reiatsu flared all around him, shooting up into the sky in the form of a spiral.
"This is fucking great! I can fight you with no restraints at all!" Kenpachi roared with joy.
Yachiru practically back flipped off Isane's lap in excitement, jumping around as she cheered,
"Yay! This is the first time Kenny's been able to take his eye patch all the way off since fighting Ichi-kun!"
Isane bit her lip, visibly worried about Gondra's safety. But then she remembered his hollow powers. There had to be some way he could use them without anyone taking notice. They paid no mind to him using sonido after all.
"Gondra! Use it a little!" Isane shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth. Ikkaku and Yumichika looked at her questioningly but Gondra got the hint right away and nodded at her.
"You up for a little action, Tyler?" Gondra asked inwardly as he staggered to his feet.
"Always am, Jack." His inner hollow responded.
Gondra let the black reiatsu seep though his being, turning his eyes amber and black with dragon-like slitted pupils. Gondra used another sonido to appear a few meters over Kenpachi, facing down at him. With one hand he fired several more rounds at his opponent then finished the combo off with a spinning rocket powered downward slash. The explosions didn't even faze Kenpachi as he blocked the cleaver with his blade. Gondra then sonidoed back, firing even more shells at Kenpachi. All the rounds were cut in half by the blades of reiatsu fired off by several powerful swings of Kenpachi's sword.
"That pop gun all ya got?" Kenpachi scoffed, pointing his blade at Gondra's cleaver. Gondra pointed his left hand at Zaraki, charging up a cero as he thought to himself how he had to make it look like a kidou attack.
"I know! I'll just make something up. Wing it." Gondra thought to himself, wondering what would sound believable.
"Oh, great Zen of anger, see that man burning in the corner, see him scratch through the walls of corruption. destruction, despair, madness, greed and nihilism rains down upon him, dousing the flames but replacing them with the one and only truth. Rage shot! Fire away!" Gondra roared as he shot one of his most powerful ceros at the captain. Kenpachi tried to block the blast with his sword but was engulfed in the beam of energy. He used his immense spiritual pressure to defuse the full blast, but still sustained some damage.
"Now, thats more like it! But its going to take more than kidou to beat me." he roared as he regained his balance.
"That's weird. Never heard of that spell before." Ikkaku commented.
"That's because almost no one in Squad Eleven uses kidou right?." Isane noted, causing Ikkaku to look over at her.
"Well..that's what I've heard, at least." Isane added. "God. I hope I just helped Gondra out." she thought wildly.
"Looks like I'll have to pull out the final stop. I am Jack's last resort." Gondra commented to himself as he raised Sunaryu in the air again.
"Upgrade." he shouted, causing the blade to morph yet again. The barrel transformed into a Gatling cannon. The rockets took on a more powerful look. Then a long jet black chain with the diamond shaped dragon eye to extended from the hilt.
"What the hell is that? His bankai?" Ikkaku questioned in surprise.
"I don't think so. It's more like when you call out split and turn Hozukimaru from a spear into a three sectioned staff." Yumichika answered. Then thought that it was also like himself calling his zanpakuto Fujikojaku, instead of it's real name to hold off on its true power.
Gondra pointed the new weapon at Zaraki and pulled the trigger, showering him in a hail of gunfire. A lot of the bullets bounced off him due to his massive reiatsu or were deflected by his blade. A few hit their mark though, tearing through his arms and upper chest. As Kenpachi lunged forward, a bullet passed through his neck barely noticed. Kenpachi swung his blade down, attempting to cleave Gondra in half. Gondra leaped off to the side and engaged the rockets, using the cleaver to tear into the side of Kenpachi's chest. Kenpachi ripped the cleaver out with one hand while stabbing Gondra through the side then tearing the blade out through the same side. Gondra engaged the thrusters again causing Zaraki's left arm to be badly burned and his Captains jacket, along with his shihakusho, to be set on fire by the searing flames. Kenpachi finally let go. Gondra and the cleaver spun around and hacked into the side of Zaraki's right thigh. Another attack that did a lot of damage but didn't seem to affect the Captain at all as he swung his blade down, cutting into Gondra's left shoulder. Gondra looked up to see that the crazy bastard was still on fire and didn't seem to give a shit. Gondra used another sonido to gain more distance from the Captain and to catch his breath. With all his might, he channeled his blue and black reiatsu into his weapon. Gondra roared and fired again, causing the chain gun to spin wildly and blast countless bullets packed with spiritual pressure at the Captain. Every round punched a quarter sized hole through Kenpachi's chest and abdomen. The bullets tore through him then smashed into one of the courtyard walls, turning it into rubble. The mecha hell butterfly was nearly caught in the destruction as it flew to another wall. Kenpachi staggered back then grinned, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Now, this is a fight! But if I don't end this soon, I don't think I'll be able to keep going." Kenpachi stated as he flared his reiatsu, causing an image of a golden skull to appear behind him.
"Come on, give me all ya got!" he roared as he clutched his jagged blade in his right hand, readying for the ultimate attack.
"Sounds like a plan, Captain." Gondra laughed as he did the same. An image of the dragon of avarice appeared behind him.
As Kenpachi charged in, Gondra whipped the black chain at him. It wrapped around his neck. Gondra channeled some spiritual pressure into his arms and yanked the chain with his left hand, causing him to fly through the air at Zaraki. With the thrusters engaged, Gondra slashed the blade downward at Kenpachi. As he sliced his sword in an upward motion, the two clashed in a massive explosion of spiritual pressure, the two faces of death also clashed as gold met cobalt blue, creating a momentary flash of jade green reiatsu. Kenpachi's sword sliced Gondra open from shoulder to hip as Gondra's own blade dug deep into Kenpachi's chest.
After the spiritual pressures subsided, and the gold skull and bone mask disappeared, the two men glared each other in the eyes before falling over. Sunaryu turned back into it's sealed state in Gondra's hands as he collapsed to the ground. Kenpachi wavered but didn't fall over as he sheathed his blade and looked over at Isane.
"Hey girl, you should go get Unohana." he ordered before collapsing face first with a giant thud. Isane sat up abruptly causing Yachiru to jump out in front of her and run over to Kenpachi. With both her little arms, she heaved him over her shoulder effortlessly.
"I'll take Kenny to see Braidy-chan. You go heal Blacky." Yachiru called over to Isane, before shunpoing away. Isane nodded then ran over to assess the damage dealt to her boyfriend. As she approached, Gondra was able to turn himself over and look up at her.
"Did I get him?" he asked, half conscious. Isane bent down with her hands on her knees looking into Gondra's now normal eyes.
"Yeah, you got him." Isane whispered as she shook her head. Gondra looked down at his chest as he felt something sharp in his kimono. He reached in and pulled out his iPod to find it nearly cut in half by Kenpachi's final strike.
"Aww fuck! It's totaled." Gondra cursed as Isane giggled.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"That's probably what saved you in the end." she laughed. "Now hold still. I think he got one of your kidneys." Isane stated as she started to charge up a healing kidou.
XXXXX
That night Gondra sat at the back porch of the Squad Eleven barracks with Kenpachi and Captain Kyoraku, drinking sake. Gondra could only drink with one side of his mouth, as to not mess up the stitches Isane used to sew his cheek shut from one of the many sword wounds Kenpachi had dealt to him. Gondra was a little pissed, partly because his iPod was destroyed, but mostly because he was too badly injured to fool around with Isane. He couldn't even make out with her due to the stitches in his cheek. So there he sat with the two captains, and a few members of Squad Eight and Eleven, drinking sake and staring at the moonlight. Shunsui downed another cup of sake then let out a content sigh. The bearded man looked over at Gondra and Kenpachi and gave a slight laugh at there appearance.
Gondra had a bandage on his right cheek over the series of stitches. His right arm, chest, left shin and side also had a series of bandages wrapped around them. Kenpachi's left arm was completely wrapped in bandages all the way down to his finger tips from the burns, and he had a series of gauze strips around his chest thigh and waist. All their other wounds were superficial and healed with just one kidou treatment.
"It looks like you two had one hell of a fight." Kyoraku commented with a laugh. "I caught a little of it as I was passing by. That's one interesting shikai you have there, Gondra"
"Thanks, man." Gondra replied as he lit up a cigarette and exhaled through his nose as to not irritate his stitches. "So you two Captains have this get together from time to time?"
"Yeah, we try to at least once a month. Kenpachi is a great drinking buddy after all." Kyoraku explained.
Gondra looked up at the full moon and wondered what would be next in his afterlife. There he sat, with his friends and comrades. He and his Captain gulped down another cup of sake and let Kyoraku refill their cups. Gondra had no idea of the twisted future that was in store for him, but he couldn't help but feel that something was on the horizon.
"You're not getting all nostalgic on us are you, Gondra?" Kenpachi asked, shooting him a dark look.
"Nope, just thinking of the future." Gondra explained before taking another puff of his cigarette. He looked down at his severely damaged iPod thinking; "Maybe I can get Kurotsuchi to fix it."
That's it for this chapter, boys and girls. Hope you all liked it. It took me a while to figure out the fight scene. Hope it kept you all on the edge of your seats. I'd like to thank everyone who's been reviewing. It means a lot to me, so keep 'em coming.
Sandragon out.