Chapter 16: Mechanical Madness

"Eh? A Robot?" said a Female Arrancar who found herself lost within the 12th Squad Barracks and had wandered into the main computer room. She had long brown hair and green eyes, her mask fragment was on her forehead, and looked somewhat like a pair of horns. The robot she was referring to was Elizabeth-San Model 12, the robotic Lieutenant of the 12th Squad

"That's cool and all, but it'll be a nuisance" sighed the Arrancar "Hey, tin can! I dunno if you can understand this, but the name's Antler! Don't you forget it!" she cried as she rushed at Elizabeth, drawing her sword as she got closer.

"Boot Up! Shiekisanki!" said Elizabeth. A port on her left shoulder opened and a Sword hilt appeared. She grabbed it and pulled it out, creating a blue laser blade as she did. The sword hilt also looked futuristic, with lines of blue neon lining it. Elizabeth calmly parried each of Antler's strikes and remained on the defence as Antler grew more and more frustrated. Eventually, Elizabeth seized an opportunity to gain some distance.

"Hah, trying to get some distance, are you?" asked Antler "As long as I stay close, then you won't be able to counter!" she said, but as she spoke, Elizabeth was already in the process of attacking

"Activating Weapons System" said Elizabeth in her robotic voice as her left hand span around, before detaching itself and swinging to the right. Some of the metal on her hand retreated into her hand to reveal a targeting circle. Suddenly, a Gatling gun extended from her now open arm and began firing at Antler

"What the hell! Hidden Weapons!" cried Antler as she tried to find cover "What a dirty trick…but I suppose that's war…"

Antler returned to her feet and made a dash for Elizabeth, dodging the bullets. She managed to infiltrate Elizabeth's safe range, where she couldn't fire at Antler

"Now you're mine!" she cried as she tried to slash Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth's chest opened up to reveal two rockets, primed and ready to be fired at Antler

"What! You even have weapons there!" she asked angrily. The rockets were fired at point blank range at Antler, who was caught in the blast along with Elizabeth. Antler was left battered at the other end of the room, missing an arm and laying in a pool of blood. Elizabeth was not much better. She had blown a hole in her chest and lost several limbs.

"Recovery Mode Activated" said Elizabeth as small wires within her body began to frantically work to patch together her broken body

"…You…Metallic bitch…" croaked Antler, whose lung had burst "…I'll…kill you…" she muttered as she grabbed her sword

"Gallop! Ojika!" she shouted as she was encased in a white light. When she emerged, she had transformed into a quadrupedal beast. Her entire body apart from her head was covered in brown fur. Her head remained the same, apart from her Mask Fragment. It had extended and increased in size by several times, gaining several branches as it did, resembling a stag's antlers. On top of this, all of her injuries were gone and she was at full power once more.

"Now you'll die!" she roared as she galloped towards Elizabeth at a surprising speed. She impaled the recovering robot on her antlers and laughed manically

"Beast one! Machine zero!" she said triumphantly as she tossed Elizabeth aside and trotted over to her body, which continued to frantically repair itself

"Repair this!" she said as she held her hoof over her head and brought it down hard.

Meanwhile, a much stranger battle was taking place n the 13th Squad Barracks. Jessie Inakomono leapt around the halls of the building, jumping off the walls and ceiling as he avoided a Purple haired Arrancar's attacks.

"Hey, hey, is that it, that's all you've got, man this is boring" said Jessie, who refused to keep quiet for even a moment. Jessie wore an outfit which resembled that of a jester. He refused to wear a Shinigami's uniform, complaining that it restricted his ovement. Instead, he chose to wear a red Jester's outfit. The only thing official about his costume was the Lieutenant's badge he wore around his leg for no reason other than humour.

"Ugh! Shut up! You're giving me a headache you bastard!" said the Arrancar, whose long purple hair covered his eye. The Arrancar's Mask Fragment covered all of his lower face, including his nose and mouth.

"Hey, What's your name, I'm Jessie, who're you?" asked Jessie as he continued to leap around

"I'm Hebi! Now hold still and let me kill you!" he roared as he continued his ineffective slashes against Jessie. The Jester Lieutenant continuously jumped around, avoiding the attacks with ease, despite their calculated thrusts.

"What is wrong with you!" said Hebi angrily "Why can't I hit you! All of my strikes are calculated perfectly, you should be dead by now!"

"If you wanna ask a question, you're gonna get one back. Gimme an answer for an answer" laughed the Jester "Hey, have you ever been to that Material World city called 'Paris'?" he asked, keeping his word by answering Hebi's question with his own ridiculous one.

"Shut up! Like that matters!" said Hebi angrily as he continued his ineffective slashing

"The answer's easy anyway" said Jessie "It's cus I'm…Unpredictable!" he laughed, getting up close to Hebi's face as he gave him the answer "Your calculations mean nothing to me!" he laughed.

"Now, here's my counterattack!" said Jessie as he finally drew his sword "Knock Knock? Doukeyakusha!" he said as his Zanpakutou transformed into a bunch of small balls which Jessie began to juggle

"What kind of Zanpakutou is that?" asked Hebi "It's pathetic!"

"Easy, it's the kind that does this!" laughed Jessie as the apparently plastic balls suddenly became balls of green fire, which were tossed at Hebi. Each time a ball was tossed, another would replase it, allowing for a seemingly infinite amount of amount of attacks.

Hebui was hit by the barrage of fireballs and was forced to jump back

"Very well then, if that's how you want it to be…" he muttered as he held his sword up "Creep up! Uwabami! He called as he underwent a transformation. When he emerged, his body was extremely similar to that of a snake. His long body was made of the same substance as the Arrancar's mask, and all but his mouth and hair was covered in it. The Arrancar's mouth was made up of several rows of long pointed teeth, as well as a forked tongue.

"Now, I will enjoy ssslowly devouring your body" he hissed "I've never tasssted clown before!" he said before he dashed towards Jessie, rebounding off the walls for an unpredictable attack himself. He caught the clown in his mouth and attempted to bite down on him. However, Jessie managed to escape by burning the inside of his mouth with his Zanpakutou. However, the Lieutenant was caught by the Arrancar's tail and he was beginning to be crushed, similarly to how a Boa strangles it's prey.

"Now, let'sss lisssten to the sssound of your bonesss crusssh, ssshall we?" hissed Hebi as he tightened his grip on the Jester, making him yelp out of pain.

To Be Continued…

Zanpakutou Translations:

Shiekisanki - Computer

Ojika - Stag

Doukeyakusha - Clown

Uwabami - Python