Hollow King
Chapter twenty two
Murphy was an optimist
The voters have it and agreed with me! Yay! Isane will have that cat fight FWF suggested and kick some major ass in this chapter. Just a word of warning, she may seem a little OOC in this chapter.
Isane walked through the Seireitei streets on special leave by her Captain. It had been several weeks since Gondra's disappearance and Isane wanted answers. Over a short period of time, she had emulated Gondra to a surprising extent. How she looked and acted, she was not the shy healer any more. She even tried to smoke several times. Just so she could feel like Gondra was around. Isane knew she couldn't keep it up for vary long. The disappointment it would bring her captain would be murder on her. Isane tossed a half finished cigarette aside as she entered the Twelfth Division lab.
"Captain Kurotsuchi. I need to speak with you." Isane stated with slight desperation in her voice.
"Please make it quick my dear. I have much to do." Kurotsuchi replied without taking his eyes off a broken sword in his hands.
"Alone!" Isane shouted.
Mayuri turned his head to look at her before adressing his staff. "Leave us." he said.
After Isane and Mayuri were left alone in the room, the mad scientist turned around to speak with the lieutenant.
"What is it? Kotetsu. Cant you see I'm busy?" the man grumbled.
"Why didn't you help Gondra? Where the hell were you?" she asked.
"You think it would be wise if a man in my position went out to try and turn a hollow back into Shinigami? You should just forget about him. In a few days his hollow brain probably wont be able to remember you any more. You could even say he's dead like the official reports." kurotsuchi commented.
"Oh shut up! You had something to do with him changing! You did this! Didn't you?" Isane screamed.
Kurotsuchi blinked several times before speaking again, this time with a dark look on his face. "No, I did not. My dear, are you familiar with Murphy's Law?" he asked.
"Should I be?" Isane retorted.
"In a sense, it dictated that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. I'm afraid that our dear friend Gondra just happened to fall victim to it." Kurotsuchi explained.
"Do you even care that he's gone?"
Mayuri's expression turned to slight sadness before he answered the question. "Vary much so. Gondra wasn't just invaluable to my research, he... he was also a dear friend. My only friend even." Mayuri stated openly. "And thats why I have this." Mayuri added, raising the broken blade in his hand so Isane could see it.
It looked all too familiar to her. Something about the jagged edge, the eye, cross and pentagram markings on the square guard, and the cobalt blue hilt wrap.
"Is that-" Isane asked.
"Yes. It is what is left of Gondra's Zanpakuto, Sunaryu." Mayuri explained.
"What do you plan to do with it?" Isane asked.
"I was just about to finish its reconstruction and place it in a device to call it's spirit out." Kurotsuchi stated in his usual creepy tone as he placed the blade into a chamber along with the rest of its shattered peaces. With a few key stokes on a terminal, the blade seemed to reassemble itself on its own. Mayuri then placed it upright in a ominous looking device that resembled a turbine engine.
"Hopefully we can get some answers out of it."
Mayuri stated before activating the device. Isane watched as it began to spin wildly and send an electrical current through the blade. Isane gasped as a figure started to fade into the foreground like a mirage. A few seconds later a girl with raven hair, red eyes touched onto the floor of the lab. Isane looked the apparition over in amazement. She was barefoot with slightly tan skin. Her wrists and thighs were wrapped in red stained bandages, her outfit consisted of a blue and orange kimono that had the sleeves and most of the skirt ripped off. Along her arms were strange zigzag tattoos and most surprising of all were a pair of dragon wings on her back.
"Hey. Nice to finally meat you Isane." Sunaryu stated with a wide grin as she struck a pose and flashed a peace sign.
"This is Gondra's zanpakuto? She's so curvy. I was expecting a fossilized serpent or something." Isane thought.
"Don't just stand there! Gimmy' a hug!" Sunaryu shouted as she flew across the room and practically glomped Isane. After a few second she turned her head and shot Mayuri a look. "You want one too, Captain freak show?"
"Now I know what it would be like if Gondra had a sister." Isane laughed inwardly. This was the first time she felt even remotely happy in a while. But it didn't last.
"Alright, Ms. Zanpakuto we have some questions we would like to ask you." Mayuri stated after clearing his throat, completely disregarding the hug offer.
"Why are you so happy? Aren't you upset after what happened to Gondra?" Isane shouted, causing Sunaryu to let go of her and step back a little.
"Well... I was but ever since Gondra left for Hueco Mundo, Ive had the entire soul scape to myself so I decided to raid Tyler's stash." the dragon girl chimed with a grin.
"Who is Tyler?" Isane and Mayuri asked in unison.
"Gondra's inner hollow." she replied.
"So her eyes aren't just red from crying. Like shinigami like zanpakuto I guess." Isane thought.
"You said that your connections with Gondra and his hollow were severed when he left the soul society. Can you remember anything leading up to that?" Mayuri asked.
"Yes, what are his intentions in Hueco Mundo?" Isane followed up.
"As you probably could tell from the broken blade you found, I wasn't in the best shape so I could barely hear there conversation. Who found me anyway?" Sunaryu asked.
"That would be me." Mayuri answered. I had that idiot girl Suika lead me to the battlegrounds. She makes a much better lab assistant than a fighter. I only had her go on that mission to study Gondra."
"I think Gondra's going to try and save Orihime." Sunaryu continued.
"I see. That does sound like him." Mayuri speculated.
"How does he plan to do that?" Isane asked.
"I don't know." Sunaryu shrugged.
"Who is in control now? Is it Gondra or this Tyler fellow?" Mayuri asked.
"Both I think. Its like duel controls. Tyler may be powerful but Gondra wont give up without a fight." Sunaryu explained.
"Why didn't he just force his mask off in order to return to human form?" I've heard that has worked for Kurosaki." Mayuri asked.
"He tried to. Several times but he couldn't." Sunaryu stated as she lit up a cigarette.
"Will he ever come back?" Isane asked.
"If he can get his humanoid body back, he will. He loves you too much to let you see him in his dragon form again." Sunaryu said as she placed a hand on Isane's shoulder.
"I should get going. Captain Kurotsuchi, I'll leave Sunaryu in your care for now, but when Gondra gets back I trust that you will turn her over." Isane said in a firm tone.
"Of course my dear. After I make a few modifications of course." Mayuri replied with a twisted grin.
"Yay! Upgrades!" Sunaryu cheered.
"One more thing, before you leave. I repaired this for Gondra. I'm sure he would be most pleased to get it back when the time comes." Kurotsuchi stated as he handed Isane an odd looking MP3 player. On the back of it were the words Soul Pod.
"Thank you Captain. Your not such a bad guy after all." Isane said after placing the S pod in her pocket and left.
"Come visit some time." Sunaryu called to her as she left.
XXXXX
Isane walked down the busy Seireitei streets, listening to a playlist that Gondra had created tittled, love and war. The songs were a mix of emo and metal. Most of them having to do with true love and fighting.
"That's just like him." she thought. Isane was torn from her moment of peace by the sound of someone calling her name.
"Hey Kotetsu!" a petit girl with long blue hair and a lightning bolt tattoo shouted.
Isane looked up and recognized the girl almost immediately.
"Your that fangirl. Shina, right?" Isane scoffed.
"I don't give a shit about your freak of a boyfriend anymore! Not after he turned into a stinking hollow!" the girl mocked.
Isane put the MP3 player away and got right up in front of Shina. "And what would you know about him?" Isane asked. Her words laced with venom.
"I know that he's a coward that hides behind a bone mask. Oh, and by the way, if he didn't turn out to be such a freak he'd be all over me right now and leave you behind.
Isane clenched her fists and started grinding her teeth. "If you say another word about him I'll-"
"You'll what? Go running home to cry into your pillow and dream about that freak touching your downstairs with his hollowifide hand?" Shina mocked.
That was the last straw. With a scream of anger, Isane smacked the back of her hand into Shina's cheek in a hard slap. Shina looked shocked for a moment but then a look of anger filled her face.
"You'll pay for that, bitch!" Shina screamed as she took a fighting stance and delivered a sharp kick to Isane's side.
Isane flinched in pain for a second before grabbing Shina's foot and delivering a strong right hook to the girl's jaw. "I've watched Gondra fight long enough to pick up a few things." Isane commented as Shina fell backwards.
Shina drew her zanpakuto but Isane kicked it out of her hands before she could use it. Isane then placed Itegumo against the wall next to her.
"You think you can take me on in hand to hand combat, bitch? Your just a healer! I'm a part of the covert ops!" Shina screamed as she wiped some blood from her mouth and lunged forward, tackling Isane.
Shina crashed her knee into Isane's stomach as she hit the wall behind her. Isane grabbed the girl by her long blue hair and delivered a devastating head-but. Shina slightly recovered and started to scratch and punch at Isane's face as Isane held her away at arms length. In a completely improvised move, Isane grabbed Shina around the neck and smashed her head against the wall several times before she let the smaller girl crash to the ground. Isane caught her breath and grabbed her Zanpakuto pushing through the shocked crowd with tears in her eyes.
XXXXX
the sun was starting to set over the division eleven barracks. Kenpachi took another big gulp of his sake as he watched the sunset.
"Man it sure is quiet without Gondra around." Ikkaku commented.
"I know. I'm even starting to miss that dreadful music he always played." Yumichika added.
"I miss Blacky." Yachiru pouted.
"He'll come back. I'm sure of it." Kenpachi said to his squad.
"Hey, Captain, isn't that Isane?" Ikkaku asked as he pointed to a figure approaching them.
"Oh dear god! What happened to you?" Yumichika shouted as he stood up and ran over to her.
As the feathered man lead Isane closer to the back deck, Kenpachi got a look at what Yumichika was talking about. She had several scratch marks on her face and neck, a few of her braids had become unraveled, her left eye was black and one of her red earrings had been torn out.
"Looks like you got into a cat fight." Kenpachi commented. "I'd hate to see the other girl. You kick her ass?" he asked.
Isane nodded.
"Who did you beat up?" Yachiru asked.
"That fangirl from squad two." Isane answered as she made another attempt to smoke a cigarette. "That's part of the reason why I'm hear." Isane stated before coughing out a cloud of smoke.
Kenpachi thought for a moment. He knew that Gondra would want him to take care of Isane. "What can Squad Eleven do for ya, Isane?" he asked.
"Captain Zaraki, I want you to train me how to fight." Isane said with determination as she bowed.
XXXXX
Gondra felt right at home in Hueco Mundo. Each day he was getting closer to that dome shaped castle in the distance. He was determined to get there, killing and eating any hollow that stood in his way. He stopped to rest for a moment and look up at the moon. It was different than the one in the Soul Society. There was no way that Isane would be looking up at the same moon as him. He let out a low growl as he thought of everyone he had left behind.
"So you're that hollow that's been killing off all the other Arrancar candidates." a sassy and intellectual sounding voice called over.
Gondra reared his massive head over to look at the approaching man. He was wearing a tight fitting white outfit with black trim. His hair was a soft pink color and his mask fragment consisted of a pair of bone glasses around his eyes.
"Who the hell are you?" Gondra asked as he turned around.
"My name is Szayel Aporro Grantz, the Eighth espada in Sosuke Aizen Sama's army." the man chimed.
"Are you here to kill me, Mr Grantz?" Gondra growled.
"Oh heavens no. I'm not much of a fighter. I've actually come here to extend an olive branch." Szayel chimed as he reached into his pocket.
"What makes you think I want to join Aizen's ar-" Gondra started but was cut off as the pink haired man threw a metallic disk at Gondra's head that clung to it and sent an electrical charge throughout his large body. Gondra fell to the sandy ground with a large crash. Right before Gondra lost consciousness, he heard the man say:
"It's not like you have a choice in the matter."
when Gondra came too, he was covered from head to toe in bandages inside a glass box. He looked around the dimly lit room, noticing several figures. One of them approached him and took something out of his pocket. Gondra could hear the distinct sound of something clinking against the glass, like a marble. All of a sudden he felt a surge of powerful spiritual pressure pierce his being. The entire room filled with light and a high pitched noise. Gondra could feel his body mutating, his form becoming more human and his mask breaking off. The glass box shattered and the bandages vaporized. The light faded soon afterwards, leaving Gondra kneeling on the cold floor, completely naked.
"Now then." a deep and malevolent voice stated, causing Gondra to direct his gaze from the mask fragments on the floor to the man before him. "Why don't you tell me your name?"
"Gon... Gondra Durden."
Sorry for the wait. How's that for a shocker? Gondra's a fucking arrancar now! Some of you probably saw this coming so my hats off to you. My thanks for everyone who has reviewed. I'm going to attend the Anime USA convention on the 20th to the 22nd. I'll be cosplaying as Aizen so if anyone spots a fat guy in a captains uniform outside of the Cristal city Hyatt, smoking camel lights and listening to an ipod feel free to say hi. I'd love to meet some of my fans that live in VA. I have a tribal dragon tattoo on my right shoulder. I'll show it to you to prove it's me.
Sandragon out-