Battle of the Sixes
Stupidity was contagious.
One bad idea led to another and another, and while he usually managed to stand above and beyond the idiocy of his comrades, even Ulquiorra was capable of succumbing to the infectious nature of making stupid decisions.
It had all started with Grimmjow, of course; the blue-haired Espada had shown up at work that morning sporting a brand-new tattoo on his gigai's arm.
A six.
Even after all that had happened to them, even after Aizen's betrayal and lies, Grimmjow still clung to his status as sexta with pride. Understandable to an extent, Ulquiorra thought, as being ranked number six out of the top ten of well over a hundred arrancar was no minor feat.
And while it was imperative that they lay low so as to not attract any more unwanted attention than they already had, the number would not give them away; humans routinely adorned their bodies with tattoos, some for art, some as a sign of some significance, and a number was hardly anything unusual. Inadvertently, in his quest to re-live his glory days as an Espada, Grimmjow had instead become more human…
Not that Ulquiorra had any intention of actually telling him that, of course.
The problem had arose from what had transpired next and for that the cuarto supposed he could blame only himself…
-Earlier, at Burger World-
"I have read that humans will sometimes keep visible reminders of their past mistakes…" Ulquiorra began as he examined Grimmjow's new tattoo, "as a way to keep themselves from repeating them."
"Wait… Are you saying we should all get our numbers tattooed on our gigais?" Starrk asked.
"While I do not intend to ever forget what we have done, having a such an obvious 'mark of shame' should help deter us from making similar poor decisions in the future," Ulquiorra reasoned, and the kitchen went silent as the Burger World dayshift considered his words.
"I'll do it," said Starrk finally after a couple of minutes of mulling it over. "I don't think any of us intend to forget what we did or what Aizen did to us, but how can we say that we won't after a few years? We might not forget completely, but it won't be at the front of our mind anymore."
"But the tattoos would force the memories to stay fresh…" Tyn said, rubbing the back of his neck where his tattoo had been prior to his desertion, "since we'd see them every time we look in a mirror."
"It is agreed, then," Ulquiorra said, nodding with emotionless approval. "I will call Halibel at lunch and discuss the matter with her."
"One question, though…" asked Tyn, "who should really get the six? I mean, I had it first and Grimmjow only inherited it when I fled Los Noches."
And that innocent question had been when things truly went downhill…
"Me!" snapped Grimmjow, "I've already gotten the tattoo and you left the Espada, so you don't deserve jack shit!"
"Tyn has a valid point, Grimmjow; while it is true that he did leave our ranks, it is also true that he was the last to do so and his departure was not voluntary; had he stayed, he would have been executed. Had he held his tongue, he would have been in the same battles as us and would have likely died. Having his number back would help him nearly as much as it would us," was Ulquiorra's logic.
"Fuck that!" bellowed Grimmjow, "I'm number six, he can take number seven!"
"He can take number two for all I care," said Starrk, rolling his eyes at how ridiculously petty Grimmjow was being.
"No!" Grimmjow almost screamed. "He left, so he gets demoted!"
"He cannot have number two because that would imply that he is more powerful than Halibel and myself, and that is incorrect," said Ulquiorra, "However, the number five should be appropriate; it is the number he would have inherited from me once the rankings were re-done in the wake of Neliel's disappearance."
"Deserters don't get promoted!" raged Grimmjow. "Besides, by your own goddamned logic, calling him number five implies that he's stronger than I am and that's bullshit!"
"Well, before I left, I was number six and you were number nine…" Tyn said thoughtfully, "and we all had our numbers for a reason. The only reasons you moved up to six were Neliel's disappearance, Aizen executing number seven, Linn, and my departure. Like Ulquiorra said, I was going to be the new number five after Nel vanished if I hadn't left shortly, when Tia moved from four to three and Ulquiorra went from five to four; Nnoitra would have went from eight down to six, and you would have been number seven."
"Deserters do not get promoted!" Grimmjow screamed again, attracting stares from the handful of customers in the dining room enjoying their breakfast. "You get number seven, or nothing at all!"
A new customer came up to the counter, not paying any real attention to the fact the four employees were talking amongst themselves near the register rather than waiting to take his order.
"Yeah, I'd like a number six combo—"
"You do not get to be number six!" Grimmjow turned and screamed in the man's face, too caught up in his argument with Tyn to notice that he was scaring the hell out of customers.
"Okay… Number five, then?" asked the man meekly, taking a step backwards.
"No! You get nothing!" shouted Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra yanked him away from the register and took his place, glaring at Grimmjow momentarily to silence his crazed ranting.
"My apologies for that unpleasantness… May I take your order?"
As the cuarto rang up the man's order, he could hear the other three in the back, still debating the subject of tattoos.
"Isn't there any way you two can come to an agreement?" asked Starrk.
"If he takes his six back, then I get to be number five!" barked the angry sexta.
"But you were never number five and were never going to be number five, either. Besides, we all know that I'm stronger; it's why I was the original six and you were number nine," said Tyn smugly.
"Maybe we should all take new numbers since so many of the other Espada are dead…" Starrk suggested. "If we keep the rankings by strength, I stay the primera, Tia becomes two, Ulquiorra three, Tyn four, and you move up to five, Grimmjow."
"How many goddamned times do I have to say it? Deserters do not get promoted! I'll be the new number four, and he can have his six back!"
"Altering our numeration defeats the purpose of the tattoos…" said Ulquiorra over his shoulder as he handed the man his change. "If we are to remember and bear the marks of our past sins, then the marks must be accurate; Halibel remains the tercera, and I stay number four. Tyn becomes number five since that was going to be his rank after Nel left us, and you keep your six, Grimmjow."
"He left! He shouldn't get anything!" seethed the sexta, "Besides, I'm stronger than Tyn now, anyway!"
That declaration certainly caught the raptor's attention in a bad way.
"If you think for one instant that I got weaker by spending every day running from extermination squads and fighting for my life while you got to sit around the palace in luxury, then you're dumber than I thought!" he growled threateningly, a dangerous gleam in his green eyes as he glared at Grimmjow hatefully.
"Let's find out, then!" challenged Grimmjow. "Urahara's, after work! We'll go downstairs and settle this once and for all! Winner gets the six!"
-Present, Urahara's Underground Chamber-
"I'm not sure which I find more amazing; the sheer stupidity of this entire mess or the fact that I was somehow talked into being a part of it," growled Halibel as she watched Kisuke Urahara tattoo the number three onto her currently-uninhabited gigai's left bicep.
The arrancars, minus Lilynette who was supposed to be at the Kurosaki household doing her homework with Karin right about now, stood in Urahara's underground training facility in their true forms, all watching the ex-shinigami ink their former numbers on their gigais, saving Tyn's for last pending the outcome of the fight with Grimmjow.
Naturally, Grimmjow was impatient to get started and only Ulquiorra's warnings kept him from attacking his rival prematurely.
"At least it's on your arm this time, Tia… Speaking of, why the hell did you ruin a perfectly good boob by putting a tattoo on it, anyway?" asked Tyn, and for a long moment Halibel glared at her roommate angrily for having the audacity to say such a thing to her, and it was clear to everyone that she was seriously considering assaulting him for his crass question.
"It wasn't my choice," she finally said, her voice dripping with disgust. "That pervert Gin suggested it would 'look good' there and Aizen took his suggestion and made it an order."
"Gin gave me the creeps…" agreed Tyn. "Guess I should be thankful he didn't give any input on my tattoo."
"I'm ripping that number off your broken corpse when I get through with you…" seethed Grimmjow from behind, glaring daggers at the six still displayed on the back of Tyn's neck and the raptor moved his right hand over to the hilt of his zanpaktou to draw it in a moment's notice if the panther tried anything as he turned to face him.
"Rule number one," announced Kisuke without looking up from his work as he put the finishing touches on Tia's three, "no killing. I'll let you two settle your dispute down here, but I don't want you to turn this into a murder scene. You fight until someone is unable to continue, and whoever is left standing gets the six."
"Five," Tyn corrected. "If I win, I take the five. If he wins, I get nothing."
"Fair enough…" agreed the shopkeeper as he stood up, finished with all the gigais except for Tyn's. "I'll alter your actual Espada tattoo after the fight as well, just to keep you two from disputing that again in the future. Rule number two: no Gran Rey ceros—"
"What the hell do you mean 'no Gran Rey' ceros?" demanded Grimmjow. "Who are you to tell us how we fight each other? I'll do—"
"If you'll kindly shut up, I'll explain my reasoning," said Urahara, glaring at the Espada from underneath his hat. "See, I've become quite fond of my little shop upstairs and a Gran Rey stands a good chance of destroying it and I really don't want that. You don't want that either, do you, Grimmjow?"
Not even Grimmjow missed the veiled threat in the ex-captain's tone.
"Okay, then… Rule number three: no releasing your zanpaktou. The barrier around this chamber is powerful and it does a wonderful job of concealing the spiritual pressure of those inside from the outside world, but having five Espada in here at one time is already taxing its limitations; if one of you used your resurrección form, the excess energy would, at the very least, begin to bleed through and be detectable by the Soul Society. If both of you released your zanpaktou, the barrier would shatter and then we would have every captain in the Gotei 13 come down on us before we even knew what was happening."
"And I take it that our job is to ensure they adhere to the rules?" asked Halibel, scowling.
"That's right; if they go overboard, the Seireitei will know there are still arrancar left and will hunt you all down…and of course they'll probably execute me for having helped you, as well as everyone upstairs, including dear Orihime. That makes this little fight concern all of us."
"Understood," acknowledged Ulquiorra, "If either of them attempt a Gran Rey or a release, we will stop them."
"Wonderful. Well then, are we ready to get underway with the 'Battle of the Sixes?'" asked Kisuke, turning to the competitors.
"Yeah… Let's get this over—" started Tyn, but he was cut off abruptly as an impatient Grimmjow slammed a monstrous sidekick into his gut that sent him hurtling across the chamber, tumbling across the rocky terrain and into one of the large stone outcroppings some thirteen meters down range.
The ex-sexta barely had time to peel himself off the rock face before the blue-haired sociopath was on him again, punishing him with a barrage of punches while mocking him relentlessly.
"You've lost your touch, lizard!" roared Grimmjow, sending Tyn airborne with a fierce uppercut to his jaw, striking him just below the remains of his mask.
Tyn struggled to gain control of himself as he went him for a split second before finally stabilizing and hanging in midair, but Grimmjow had already used his sonido to appear above and behind the raptor, driving him back down into the ground with a double-fisted blow to the back, immediately charging a cero before the hapless redhead had even impacted the earth.
"You are nothing!" bellowed Grimmjow above the roar of the crimson cero as it slammed into Tyn and drove him deep into the ground.
The red glow of the cero faded, revealing a mammoth crater in the ground and no sign of the former Espada, and Grimmjow began to laugh loudly once more.
"That was too easy! How pathetic! You make me sick, Tyn!" he called out.
Down below in the crater, the loose soil and rock began to shift as Tyn pushed himself to his feet, popping his neck as he stood up, a line of blood trickling down his face from an open wound in his forehead and another from a split in his lower lip. He looked skyward at Grimmjow, amber eyes burning with fury.
He didn't say anything, didn't respond to Grimmjow's taunts; he simply stood there glaring at him for a second…and then vanished.
"Where'd-what the—?" began Grimmjow, but Tyn had already used his sonido to get eye-to-eye with his enemy, grabbing Grimmjow by the face as he began to fly back down towards the ground at breakneck speed, forcibly slamming the back of Grimmjow's head into a large boulder, shattering the giant stone into thousands of tiny pieces.
Tyn released his grip on his successor, standing above the momentarily-downed and dazed Grimmjow.
"Get up…" growled Tyn, "We're not finished yet."
Now it was Grimmjow who appeared to be having trouble standing and an impatient Tyn reached down and jerked the other man to his feet.
"I said get up!" he snarled, and Grimmjow responded with a head butt that shattered Tyn's nose, sending a splash of crimson across both individuals.
The Raptor Prince staggered backwards, stunned for a brief second as Grimmjow roared and came in with a punch intended to tear Tyn's head from his shoulders, but he wasn't quite fast enough; Tyn ducked underneath the shot, seizing Grimmjow's wrist with his left hand as it sailed overhead while driving his right fist deep into the current sexta's midsection.
Jaegerjaquez coughed up blood from the brutal impact but rather than releasing him, Tyn carried through with the punch, powering upwards and lifting his foe from his feet, and then using his grip on Grimmjow's arm to pull him overhead before slamming him down into the ground roughly.
Tyn kicked his fallen opponent harshly, the power behind the blow sending the battered Grimmjow tumbling across the harsh landscape for some dozen-plus meters before slamming into a large boulder, just as he had done to Tyn. Grimmjow slid down to his knees as Tyn wiped the blood away from his nose with the back of his hand, narrowing his eyes further as he did so.
"Oh, it's not over just yet…" he seethed, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he began to stalk over towards Grimmjow. "We're just getting started here."
Off to the side, the other three Espada and Urahara stood watching the spectacle, giving it their undivided attention.
"Starting to wish I'd made some popcorn for this!" said Kisuke jokingly, but the three arrancar didn't seem to share his humor.
"I never realized Tyn could be so sadistic…" observed Starrk.
"I do not think he is under normal circumstances; I believe he is using Grimmjow as a scapegoat for anger directed elsewhere."
"What could he be so angry at?" asked Kisuke.
For a moment, there was complete silence and then three pairs of eyes turned to look at Halibel, who only narrowed her own green eyes angrily.
"Not one word…" she hissed threateningly as she crossed her arms.
The males all looked away from the Shark Queen and Kisuke began to whistle innocently.
Back out on the battleground, the other two arrancar continued to exchange blows as Grimmjow had finally gotten back to his feet and proceeded to throw all of his fury and rage into his attacks. A powerful shot to the jaw forced Tyn to stagger backwards momentarily and in that instant Grimmjow abandoned hand-to-hand and drew his zanpaktou, Pantera, slashing at Tyn's throat.
The partially-dazed raptor shot his left hand out and seized the deadly sword by its dullest area, the very base of the blade directly above the guard while his right hand still massaged his jaw. A very fine trickle of blood could be seen dripping from his left hand as Tyn casually cocked his head and looked at the sexta, as if he were silently asking "is this all you are?"
An enraged Grimmjow tugged on his zanpaktou, trying to slide it free of Tyn's iron grip and slice his hand open deeper, possibly even take a few fingers off, but the blade stubbornly refused to move. In desperation, Grimmjow removed his left hand from the hilt and fired a bala point-blank into his enemy's face.
The blast of energy hardly damaged Tyn and only forced him to take a half-step back, though the blast loosened his grip on the sword just enough to allow Grimmjow to yank Pantera free in a small spray of crimson.
"I've had enough of you!" roared Grimmjow as he came in again, both hands on the hilt of Pantera as he poured all of his rage into one strike, "You think you're stronger than me? That you're better? YOU ARE NOTHING!"
*CLANG!*
Garras Rapaces was free of its scabbard now and it took the fury behind Pantera unflinchingly, which served only to stoke the fires of Grimmjow's hatred further.
"Why won't you die?" he screamed, lashing out with a frenzy of wild slashes that Tyn began to dodge rather than block, allowing Grimmjow to force him backwards.
"I'm the best, you hear me? I'm the sexta and you are nothing but a mistake! We should of killed you when we had the chance!" roared Grimmjow coming down with an overhead blow.
Tyn quickly raised Garras Rapaces and deflected the strike, tearing the zanpaktou from Grimmjow's hands and sending it spiraling through the air end over end. Never stopping the motion, Tyn quickly brought the blade back down diagonally, taking a step backwards at the last minute to honor Kisuke's first rule.
The very tip of the blade bit into Grimmjow's left shoulder and sliced its way down to his right hip, a relatively shallow and decidedly non-fatal wound thanks only to the step backwards, but the raptor had one more present for his foe; he removed his left hand from the hilt and placed his palm a few inches from Grimmjow's bleeding chest.
"I win," he said simply as he released a cero straight into Grimmjow's torso, letting the powerful burst of energy send the battered sexta flying backwards for well over twenty meters before skidding to a halt roughly.
There was a long pause as Grimmjow valiantly struggled to get up to his knees one last time before collapsing face-down into the dirt, uttering one last "God damn it" as he fell.
Tyn flicked the blood from his blade and returned Garras Rapaces to its scabbard on his hip as he turned and walked over to rejoin the others, all of whom were just now re-entering their gigais.
"I shall go upstairs and fetch Orihime," said Ulquiorra flatly as he looked across the chamber at the beaten sexta who had yet to get back to his feet. "It would seem as though her services will be required after all."
"Glad it's finally over with; maybe that will keep Grimmjow quiet for a few days…" mumbled Starrk as he turned to head up the ladder and exit the chamber to go home. Urahara, meanwhile, was already at work stenciling the Gothic-styled number five on to the left arm of Tyn's gigai.
No one congratulated him, no one said that they'd had any faith in him…as usual, his 'pack' offered him absolutely no support.
What a surprise, he thought ruefully.
Tyn turned to look at Tia, who simply turned her back to him and began to walk away without saying a single word, not even the usual insult.
Never had a victory felt so…hollow.
Scowling, he turned to go sit down and wait for his gigai to be finished and for Kisuke to start work on changing his spirit's tattoo from a six to a five.
"If you had embarrassed me by losing, I wouldn't let you come home tonight," said Halibel softly, looking back over her shoulder at him. Tyn paused, cocking his head to the side to look at her curiously, but she was already in motion again, going up the ladder to head home.
"If I'd embarrassed her?" he muttered to himself, confused. Was that some strange way of saying that she'd actually believed in him? He had no way of knowing if that had been her meaning or not, but he chose to take it as such and suddenly his victory felt much more like a win.
Support from his pack, even if it only existed in his imagination, was important to him.
Then, another thought occurred to him.
"Wait, what do you mean you wouldn't have let me come home tonight? Tia? Tia!"
But Halibel had already left, and the only response to his cry was the sound of Kisuke Urahara chuckling.