I have reached the fourth chapter mark! There's hope for this story after all! *ahem*

Anyway, according to the poll, only four people voted on who they wanted to see John to fight. Of those four, three chose Szayel Aporro, and only one chose Cirucci. For whoever it was that voted for Cirucci, I'll see if I can make that in an alternate scene.

Funny thing: Yesterday, the internet went down, so I wrote half this chapter out of boredom. I thought that if you guys chose someone else, I'd have to start all over, but Szayel won, so I just went with it.

As usual, I don't own shit.

"Normal Speech"
Thought Speech
"Montezuma's Speech"
"Hollow Speech"
'Written Text'

Phase 3: The Mad Scientist

Considering what Montezuma and I went through throughout the day, the walk was, in a sense, easy. The hallway was dimly lit, but it was brighter than the corridor I crashed through to get into the palace. The only sound that could be heard was my footsteps echoing down the passageway. Even then, I kept my guard up; the desert was quiet, and we still had to take care of that sand giant, Runaganga. There was no telling what could've been in here.

Montezuma, being the patient man – err, mask – he was, asked in a childish tone, "Are we there yet? C'mon, this is getting boring." It wouldn't have bothered me if it weren't the umpteenth time he asked me the same thing.

"I told you, Montezuma," I told him, my voice seething with annoyance. "We'll get there when we get there. You should know that, because you're seeing the same things I am." Montezuma only shrugged, as if he were doing nothing wrong.

"Unless it's dark red and six times thicker than water," he stated, matter-of-factly. "I don't bother with it. Now hurry up and get us where we need to go." If he were an actual human being and not attached to my face, I would've socked him right in the lip.

"I don't care if you can only see things that have a XXX-rating," I scolded, pretty much on my last nerve. "Just shut up, let me go my own pace, and this trip will over before you–" Before I could finish my sentence, I felt the tiles underneath my feet vanish, and the scenery changed to what looked and felt like a black abyss.

I didn't fall for very long, just a couple of seconds, before I landed on what felt like a slick ramp. I slid down in the darkness until a light appeared in front of me. The paranoid side of my mind said that the locals who lived in this place didn't take too kindly to me breaking in, and decided to send me to my slow and painful death. The optimistic side, however, said that I'd probably be able to talk to whoever was in charge of this place. I hoped like hell it was the second option. The next thing I knew, I fell off the ramp and painfully tumbled across the ground.

I lifted myself from the floor and looked up to see where I was. Unlike the hallway I was just walking through before what just happened, this place was wider and more brightly lit, letting me see where exactly I was. The ground was dotted with giant yellow tiles, and the walls were a bright baby blue. The ceiling was incredibly high up from the ground, almost making it seem like a containment chamber for something huge. It seemed unlikely; if that were the case, there would've been dried blood on the floor and walls.

I stood up to my feet as I heard Montezuma say, "It's not really my style. I would've gone for something that looks like the inside of a human heart." I didn't bother commenting on that. Even though we've only been partners for about a few hours, I was used to it, amazingly.

Suddenly, the sound of light footsteps resounded from behind me. On instinct, I twisted around and got into a fighting stance, but I eased up when I saw what seemed to be a human being. Considering the fact that I had seen a frog and a sandman, this was a new, and seemingly strange, turnaround for me.

The first thing I noticed was that he had pink hair that went down to his shoulders, making me think he was a woman for a second. On his face was what seemed to be a pair of square glasses, making him look like a scientist. What really caught my attention was that he was wearing nothing but white; a long, white coat that went down to his ankles, white shoes, and white gloves. The only thing on him that wasn't white was the black stripes running down his coat and sleeves. Hanging on his waist was a katana sheathed in a gray scabbard.

"Watch your back, Johnny," Montezuma warned, his tone cautious. "Something about this guy doesn't feel right, even by my standards." I nodded in agreement. I could feel something sinister about this guy as well.

The man brushed a couple of bangs off his face and said in a condescending tone, "So you're the one who managed to defeat Runaganga and infiltrate Las Noches, hmm? You seem to be more of a brute than I expected." Another backhanded compliment, goody. "Now then," he began, his devious eyes staring straight at mine. "Do you have a name, or are you just another mindless savage with no grasp on civility?"

My eyes narrowed at the guy. I hadn't met him just five seconds ago, and already, that tone of his made me want to kill him. Nonetheless, I kept calm as I replied, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. I might as well be polite…for a savage."

I didn't have to be close to the pink-head to know that he was smirking at me. He then pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and replied, "Maybe your appearance doesn't exactly make you completely dim-witted. Still, listen well, because you may not be able to remember this the first time." Something told me that this guy loved to put others down. He then bowed in an exaggerated manner and introduced, "My name is Szayel Aporro Granz, the Octava Espada."

I bowed my head and said only, "Jonathan Hunt." I didn't want to get into too much detail with who I was, at least, not yet. Szayel didn't seem to mind, apparently, because he kept the smirk that screamed trouble.

"Charmed, I'm sure," he responded, his tone the same as ever. "Now tell me. How was a human like you able to arrive here in Hueco Mundo, much less sneak into our headquarters?"

So that's what this realm is called, I deducted, keeping a straight face, which was easy considering Montezuma completely covered my face. But what'd he mean by 'a human like me?' Isn't he human as well? If he's not, then what is he? I then cleared my throat and said, "I really don't think that's anyone's business."

Szayel only closed his eyes, shook his head and chuckled, the grin still plastered on his face. I was confused until he said, "That's too bad. I was actually hoping to get to know who you really were." For some reason, I was about to apologize. Before I could, however, his eyes opened and flashed with a murderous, psychopathic atmosphere as he finished, "At least before you die here, of course."

Hearing those dark words, I immediately leaped back and held my fists up boxer style. "Oh, don't worry," Szayel reassured, his tone slightly more malicious. "I'm not going to be the one to kill you. I'm not particularly fond of getting my hands dirty." He then held a hand up and snapped his fingers.

The next thing I knew, a section of wall exploded between me and the Espada. I shielded my eyes from the kick-up of dust. When the dust cleared, standing between me and Szayel Aporro was something of a giant. Granted, he wasn't as big as Runaganga, but his head almost touched the ceiling, so that had to count for something. He had two spikes of hair sticking out from the sides of his head, almost like a clown. What really grabbed my attention was the piece of mask on his face.

It almost reminded me of the frog I had fought when I first arrived in Hueco Mundo. The strange thing was that, instead of covering the entirety of his face, it only covered just the left eye, the nose, and the upper lip. Every other part of his face was visible to the world.

"My dear Jonathan," Szayel announced. "Allow me to introduce you to Medazeppi, one of my most powerful Fracción. He should be more than enough for you." He then turned to the giant and commanded, "Medazeppi…eliminate him." The giant in question let out a deep roar as he charged straight at me. He then threw a giant palm down at me, but I rolled out of the way before the strike made its mark.

Any ideas, Montezuma? I asked the mask mentally. The mask made no sound, but I guessed that it was trying to come up with an idea. Unfortunately, he wasn't thinking quick enough as Medazeppi threw a large fist at me. I dove to the left, the giant's fist breaking open a hole in the wall I was standing in front of.

Medazeppi turned and glared at me with his visible yellow eye before roaring again and throwing another punch. Montezuma chose that moment to say, "Grab his hand and throw him around." I didn't have time to question him as I reached out and felt the force of the fist crash into me.

I slid back a few feet, but I still managed to keep a firm grip on Medazeppi's fist. The giant Fraccion let out a noise of confusion as he tried to make sense of what just happened. I didn't give him the chance as I lifted the fist and threw the giant over my shoulder with all my strength. Medazeppi's feet crashed through the ceiling, sending debris falling down around me as I flung the Fracción in an arc.

When the giant landed hard on his back, I stepped up to the giant's hand and wrapped my hands around the top of one of his fingers. "Let's see how you like this," I hissed as I twisted the finger around, keeping one foot on Medazeppi's palm. Before the giant could even react, the sickening sound of the finger bone popping off the knuckle echoed throughout the room as I held a bloody, makeshift club in my hands.

Medazeppi, to put it simply, wasn't amused. In fact, he grabbed his hand and began thrashing around, screaming in pain. "I forgot to mention," I heard Szayel call out over the giant's screams. "Medazeppi absolutely abhors pain, so when he gets like this, there's no stopping him." As if on cue, the Fracción crawled up onto his hands and knees and threw a fist down at me like a hammer.

"Focus, Johnny," Montezuma coached as I held my hands up to push against the fist. Pain erupted in my hands and arms as I withstood Medazeppi's blow. He apparently grew stronger with rage, though, because I was nearly pushed down to the ground. Still, I held my own and, eventually, pushed the giant Fracción to the side, knocking him on the ground.

Before the giant could retaliate, I rushed to its downed face with my finger club in my hand and rammed it into his eye. Blood gushed out as Medazeppi screamed out in pain. He kicked his legs about as he tried to pull the finger out of his eye socket, but he couldn't; it was wedged tightly in there, and he couldn't see a thing.

He stood up and tried to attack, but he couldn't see where he was swinging his giant arms around. I took the chance to run behind the rampaging giant and push against the back of his leg, toppling him face first onto the ground. As soon as he landed, the finger in his face rammed further into his skull, and he didn't move anymore.

I stepped around the giant corpse, stepping into the blood that began pooling around the giant's head. As the blood ran up my shoes and legs, saturating into my flesh, I glared at Szayel Aporro and growled out, "You're next." I then rushed at the man with incredible speed, reeled back a fist, and threw it at his face.

The only problem was that, instead of the blow connecting, it was blocked by Szayel's palm. My eyes widened as I looked between my blocked fist and Szayel's cocky grin. My arm was easily twice as big around as his hand, so this shouldn't have been possible.

"It seems you still have a lot to learn about the Arrancar," he explained, not sounding like he was straining at all. Before I could react, I suddenly lost the feeling in my outstretched arm. I looked to find Szayel holding my arm in one hand, and the katana unsheathed and stained with blood in his other hand. I then glanced over and saw the bleeding stump that used to be my arm.

"AUGH! FUCK!" I screamed out, clutching my arm socket with my other hand. My pained screams were cut off when I felt Szayel's foot ram itself into my stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs. The next thing I knew, I was sent nearly twenty feet across the corridor.

I groaned as I pushed myself up from the ground, my severed arm bleeding profusely. I looked up and saw Szayel standing over me, my detached arm still in his clutch. The cocky smile was still plastered on his face as he said, "You may be incredibly powerful for a human, but you're still not on par with us Arrancar." He then threw my arm in my lap and pointed his blade at my throat. If I didn't know any better, I could've sworn his amber eyes were glowing red with insanity.

His smile growing into a pure psychopathic grin, he prodded the tip of his katana into my Adam's Apple and said, "I prefer the idea of a slow and painful death, but I think I'll make an exception for you." I shut my eyes and waited for my death. Strangely though, it never came.

I opened one eye to see Szayel with…an annoyed scowl. He sheathed his katana, sighed in exasperation, and told me, "I'll kill you in a minute. Just let me take this." He then turned away from me and put a hand up to his ear. Was he…taking a phone call?

I didn't think on it as I felt my stump twitch, and a dull ache erupted. I looked to see something that rendered me speechless: my arm was growing back. The bones appeared first, then the veins and arteries, along with the muscles, and finally the skin. I stared at me newly reformed arm in disbelief, opening and closing my hand just to make sure it wasn't an illusion, when I heard Montezuma say, "You're welcome. Now take your dead hand and get the jump on this faggot."

I didn't argue with him. I stood up quietly, grabbing my severed arm, and snuck up behind Szayel Aporro quietly. I chose the right moment, because the man in question turned around and started, "You're in luck, Jonathan. It seems that I'm supposed to–" He didn't get the chance to finish as I slapped up upside the head with my separated arm. Either his head was incredibly thick, or I hit him a little harder than I thought, because the arm split into two pieces, the forearm and the upper arm, as soon as it hit his skull.

I'll admit I felt pretty proud of myself. Szayel, on the other hand, wasn't amused. He held a hand up to his bruised temple as he glared at me with a murderous look. "You son of a–" was all he said before he vanished. I got into a defensive stance and looked all around until I felt something strike me in the back of the neck, knocking me onto the ground, motionless.

Before my vision went black, I heard the same condescending voice say, "I'd kill you right now, but Aizen-sama has plans for you."

Bingo! Phase 3 is done...yeah, I don't know what else to say here...oh yeah! I have a couple ideas for a sequel for this already, one involving John's "Hueco Mundo Log" and another sort of like this, but Kingdom Hearts-esque, and involving other anime and video games.

Fun Facts:

The original idea for this story involved Soul Eater instead of Bleach, and it wasn't going to have anything to do with Splatterhouse.

The original character design for John Hunt was originally going to be a teenage intern who joins his relative, who's an archaeologist, on an expedition.

Next Chapter - Phase 4: The Tyrant's Hospitality.