I find it funny that I write faster when I listen to the Rocky training theme "Gonna Fly Now."

I just read the reviews from my earlier Shinigami Trilogy. I felt like a total retard. It truly represents just how foolish an author I was back when I was a pre-teen. I used to think that more reviews meant that I was a great author, but that wasn't the case. I realized that most of the reviews actually involved criticisms directed to my horrible grammar and lack of description. I'm still improving, though.

So, I've got a total of ten original characters sent by the authors, which means there are plenty more decisions. I've posted the OCs positions on my profile page so that you can see what seat is available and what isn't.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the final chapter of this sub-arc.

Ch. 4: Beginnings: Assault in the Cave

Opening: "Rocks" by Hound Dog

Eighth Division Captain Keruno Zaizen had a bored expression as he walked down the streets of the Rukongai. The peasants warily looked at him, afraid that he might do something to harm them. One little girl ran over to him with a slice of cake in her hands (his favorite food), but tripped on a pebble and threw the cake on the ground.

He took out a piece of parchment and read over it to make sure of something.

To 8th Company, Squad Captain, Keruno Zaizen,

You have been formally forced to take part in the mission led by 2nd Company Lieutenant Hebito Watakushi. Please walk through hundreds of Rukongai districts until you reach outside, where the escort will take you to them. My lieutenant continually annoys me with his worries towards this group, so you have no choice in this matter. Who care about them anyway; they're expenda- Just do something important.

There will be cake.

Signed, Commande-

Keruno lifted his eyebrow. 'The old man was too lazy to not even bother writing his entire title? The fat bastard. He knows that I'm doing it for the cake!'

Upon arriving outside of the Rukongai, he was surprised to find another captain waiting for their carriage to arrive. She had marble statue-like, alabaster-colored skin with long, black hair that went slightly past her shoulders and bangs between her emerald-green eyes. As a captain, she wore the signature haori on her shinigami uniform.

"Captain Saeko, eh?" Keruno muttered to himself. "What's she doing here? Is it for the same reason as I?"

She blinked upon sensing a presence coming closer, then smiled softly when she recognized the person. "Hello, Captain Zaizen. Have you also received a letter from the Captain-Commander?"

"Yeah."

Saeko handed him her latter as Keruno handed his.

To 13th Company, Squad Captain, Saeko ? (You need to get a last name),

Just go outside and look at the other letter.

Com.

Keruno's face twitched in disbelief. "Is he serious?"

Saeko kept her serene smile. "It's okay. So, we have to participate in a mission led by Lieutenant Watakushi? That's fine." She heard the sound of horses trotting, and without even turning around to look, she said, "Speaking of which, it sounds like our ride is here."

"Captain Zaizen! Captain Saeko!" Takawara exclaimed in surprise, saluting his superiors. "Why are you two here?"

"We've been assigned on Watakushi's mission by the Captain-Commander!" Keruno explained, not even bothering to look at his squad member and hopping into the carriage. "C'mon, Takawara! Hurry up and bring us there! Or else, the lieutenant won't do her "special favors" for you!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" Takawara replied, blushing madly.

"Oh, by the way. Those special favors aren't what you think. She's just gonna split your workload with her and that's it."

"What?! No way!" Takawara cried. "No!"

"What's wrong, Takawara-san?" Saeko asked. "It sounds like a fine reward to me."

"Naramichi-san," Ryo suddenly spoke up after the group had silently descended the cave for about ten minutes. "I don't doubt Lieutenant Watakushi's strength, but how skilled is Tsubaki-san? Is he good at Kido or Zanjutusu? Is his Shikai very powerful?"

"He's pretty proficient at everything, though he doesn't excel at anything," Yushi quickly responded.

"Yeah," Chotaro agreed, then he grinned. "In fact, he doesn't even know the name of his Zanpakuto."

"Are you serious?!" Saburo interrupted. "Why does he hold a position in your squad?!"

"Well..."

A few years ago...

Captain Keruno Zaizen sat at his desk, all his paperwork shoved to the side, with a huge, four-story chocolate ice cream cake in front of him. In the same room, Suda Tsubaki, an unranked soldier in the 8th Company was mopping the floor as punishment for unfulfilling his duties for the week.

'What a beautiful day!' Keruno thought to himself, picking up his fork. 'I've got a cake, all my work is done, the sun is bright... how much better could this day possibly get?!'

Suda inched closer under the guise of his mopping and caught a wiff of the chocolate cake and sighed mentally. 'It smells so good. I want some.'

He forgot that he was mopping the floor underneath him, so he suddenly slipped and grabbed the captain's desk for support. But he couldn't stop his head as it plummeted straight into the cake, sending chunks all around the room, through the window, and on Keruno's face!

Suda pushed himself up and wiped the cake away to see another chocolate cake in front of him. Or rather, Keruno's face was covered in thick, white icing. And he could barely see a faint red appearing on Keruno's face. He soon became aware of his boiling rage as he roared-

"SUDA TSU-"

"And so, the captain decided that he wanted Suda close by him, to make sure that he could torture him for the rest of his life," Chotaro said. "Although, his rage has subsided since then, and he really doesn't care what Suda does as long as it doesn't involve him and his cake."

"Wow," Ryo said. "That's tough."

"Not really," Yushi replied. "If he hadn't done that, he'd probably be a slob for the rest of his life."

"My fellow Hollow brethren!" The Arrancar in the center called out to the Gillians. His whole body was obscured by the cloak, but his voice was very low and masculine. "You have been gathered this day to this cave because you are the most beautiful of all creatures in the world! You are the greatest of the great! There is no other being that surpasses you!"

"What is he up to?" Suda asked.

"Shh!"

"As Hollows, we must feed on human souls! It is our nature!" The Arrancar continued. "However, sickening human beings known as 'Shinigami' have killed several of our race. Therefore, we must band together to obliterate them! We must work as one to invade the Soul Society, kill all Shinigami, and eat all souls residing there!"

The Gillians howled as he concluded his sentence. Whether it was because of rage or excitement, the two Shinigami did not know. Either way, they seemed to agree with the Arrancar's speech, which was strange as Menos Grande have beast-like intellect.

"The Arrancar are rallying Menos Grande to their cause?" Hebito murmured to himself. "They shouldn't be able to understand. Even if they did, it's suicide to target the Soul Society. A captain could easily take down several of these Gillians."

"We are but humble servants of a Fraccion," The Arrancar said. "A Fraccion of the Nuevo Espada!"

'What?!' Hebito gasped in his mind. 'Nuevo Espada? So, New Espada? What could this possibly mean? The Espada were fictional characters within the comic book, Bleach's universe. There's no way that they could be real!'

"Espada? Does he mean those bad guys from Bleach?" Suda said, chuckling. "They don't exist. That's why they are fictional."

"But before we can commence with this war, there are some rats scampering within our sacred ground," The Arrancar continued, a sinister tone in his voice. "It has been reported that some Shinigami have been spotted in this cave, destroying some of our brethren. In order for us to take down Soul Society, we must kill them first! Kill them! Kill the Shinigami!"

The Gillians roared in response, then they all turned around and started for a huge hole that sloped upwards.

"They're going after the other four," Hebito told Suda, licking the corner of his mouth. "They couldn't sense us, so they must be talking about them."

As the four continued to descend the cave, the tunnel began to darken even more. So much more that even with the torchlights on their shihakusho, they couldn't even stretch their hands in front of their eyes and see them. Chotaro accidentally bumped into Yushi and fell, even though they were right next to each other.

"Damn, it's dark," Saburo muttered. "Oi, Yamura. Do you know any light spells?"

"I do, actually," She responded. "Let me cast if for you- kyaa!"

Suddenly, she felt something sharp slash her arm. She staggered back and tried to find something to support her falling self. Ryo gripped the wall behind her and put her other hand on the hilt of her broadsword. "Something attacked me!"

"Oh crap!" Chotaro yelped as he felt something ram into his body and knock him back. "There's something here!"

Yushi didn't even have to get attacked. He immediately jumped back upon hearing their remarks and drew his Zanpakuto. "I can't see a thing!"

Saburo felt something brush cold and sharp brush against his face, causing him to jump back on instinct. Even though he couldn't see anything except for their dim torchlights, he could feel their attacks and dodge out of instinct. "Yamura! The light spell!"

"R-Right!" She said, putting her hand above her. Without even saying any incantation, some of her Reiryoku came to her hand and a ball of green light appeared, going straight to the ceiling and exploding in a dazzling light that lit the entire area! The Shinigami squinted their eyes after having been in the dark for so long, but their enemies were roaring in pain.

In front of them were two Hollows, Adjuchas-Class by their animal-like looks. One was a big, white feline, similar to a cheetah. It had white fur and black dots spotting his entire body. The other looked similar, but with a tiger's face, having the appearance of a leopard. Both had purple streaks going down their bodies, but the cheetah's streaks were wider than the leopard's.

"I recognize those Hollows," Ryo said in shock. "Those two are Leopard K and Cheotah M! They're wanted for having slayed over five Shinigami!"

"Hm hm hm... so, your kind knows about us, girlie," Leopard K said, chuckling. "Good. It means our reputation proceeds us."

"It's unfortunate that then, that you have to die. Bosses orders, y'know," Cheotah M continued. "Though, we probably would've killed you either way."

"Oh man..." Chotaro shuddered.

Ryo was about to draw her Zanpakuto, when Saburo suddenly put his hand on hers. "Wait. Let me deal with them."

"What? You're crazy!" Ryo said. "They're Adjuchas-Class Hollows! They're ranked higher than the Hollows we've face before and they've slayed five Shinigami! There's no way-"

"Shut up!" Saburo snapped. "I can handle them! Close-quarters, ground combat is my specialty!"

"It's fine with me," Yushi said, glad not to be in combat.

Ryo frowned, but Saburo's determination convinced her to take her hand off her broadsword. "Fine. It's your funeral."

Saburo silently thanked her, than turned to the grinning Hollows. The three Shinigami backed away as the Adjuchas Hollows began to circle him. Saburo could only keep one in sight as the other circled behind him.

"Well Shinigami, it looks like you've dug your own grave," Cheotah M said. "We've killed several Shinigami stronger than you. You are nothing to us."

"Us... we..." Saburo said, an arrogant grin plastered on his face. "Does that mean you're too scared to face me by yourself? Or are you too much of a chicken wuss to fight man-to-man! C'mon, kitty cat, let's go!"

Leopard K's face darkened. "You are dead, Shinigami!"

Leopard K leapt towards Saburo, but he ducked underneath his body. He delivered an uppercut when the Hollow was right above him, sending him flying to the ceiling, and when he came down, he kicked him away. Saburo didn't even look back as he elbowed Cheotah M who was trying to tackle him from behind, causing the Hollow to crash against the wall.

"Ha! That's all you got?!" Saburo mocked. "You guys aren't anything special!"

The three Arrancar watched the Gillian Hollows walk the other way to hunt for the Shinigami. They needed to make sure that they didn't follow them back to their base, or else, their plans wouldn't go as expected.

"Sir. I don't think the Gillians have the power to even scratch the Soul Society." The shortest Arrancar said. "You are aware that divisions of the Gotei 13 are assigned districts to protect the Rukongai."

"Of course I'm aware of that. But, that's not the case today. Not when the division responsible for that area is currently unavailable," The Arrancar in the center said. "The only reason we sent them there is simply to issue a warning to Soul Society. Besides, what's a couple hundred souls destroyed? Also, we can always get more Menos Grande to our side if we want to."

"Hmm... that's fine, sir," The tallest Arrancar agreed.

As they turned to leave, the shortest Arrancar felt something strong surge through the air. Because of the Arrancar's calmer sense of mind, he was able to sense Reiatsu that none of his partners were able to. And right now, he felt an overwhelmingly powerful Reiatsu suddenly flood the area before it disappeared in an instant. None of his partners noticed.

"What was that?" He murmured. "It felt like the Reiatsu of a Vasto Lorde... it must've been my imagination."

"Lieutenant, we have to get out of here!" Suda exclaimed. "If they reach Soul Society, who knows what kind of harm they could achieve? We need to go back and warn the division in charge-"

"That won't work. The districts at the entrance of Rukongai that they are heading towards are 'protected' by the 11th Company," Hebito responded. "And we'd have to run through several hundred districts to get to the Seireitei to warn the Gotei 13, and by that time, the Gillian Hollows could launch Ceros and destroy a majority of the district. Not to mention that we can't just leave the other four Squad members here. There is only one option: We have to take down the Gillians here."

"We have to defeat them?! That's crazy!" Suda said. "There are twenty Gillians! We don't stand a chance against them! Not with their power!"

"Maybe not in an open space, but I have an idea," Hebito said. "It seems like the tunnel that the Gillians are walking through is sloping upwards, and it doesn't look like there are any detours in the path. This means that they are navigating through a one-way tunnel. If we could just get to the other side of that tunnel and block their exit, then they will have a limited amount of space to strike. They won't be able to fire their Ceros either because, in a cramped space like that, they could endanger themselves as well."

"Yeah, but... it's twenty Gillians!"

"Didn't I tell you not to question my authority?" Hebito asked, a sly grin on his face. "Let's go."

Hebito jumped out of his hiding spot and started towards the tunnel the Gillians plodded through. Suda groaned, then followed him.

It took about five minutes for the two to reach the Gillians. As soon as they reached the small army, they jumped over all of them and landed in front of them. The Gillians' masks seemed indifferent, though they paused in surprise at the unexpected beings. Their towering appearances frightened Suda.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Suda muttered, drawing his double-blade katana.

"Trust me, I don't," Hebito replied, drawing his tanto. "I'm just following my instincts."

"So..." Keruno began, hoping to strike a favorable conversation with the captain sitting opposite to him. "Do you bake cakes?"

"Nope," Saeko replied, continuing to smile, serenely. "I'm sorry."

"Awww..."

One Gillian plodded towards Suda, leaning its head down to hit him. Suda jumped above and grabbed its mask, riding it like a horse to maintain his balance. The Gillian roared in annoyance, continually bashing its head against the walls. Suda attempted to stab its mask with his Zanpakuto, but the continual head bashing eventually sent him flying towards the wall.

"Agh!" He yelped in pain.

The other Gillians were preoccupied with Hebito. Because the lieutenant was very skillful in Shunpo, he managed to dodge the Gillians' tackles and make them hit each other by accident. The Gillians evidently were frustrated as one of them launched their tongue at him. However, he quickly jumped up and dodged the tongue's attack, instead hitting the one in front of it, breaking its mask and killing it.

"Beasts," Hebito muttered.

He took a quick glance at Suda, who continued to struggle against the Hollows. He wanted to help him, but it would end up distracting and compromising his quick battle strategy. So he decided it would be best if Suda dealt with it himself.

Suda jumped between two Gillians and used them as platforms to stay in the air. He eventually landed on one of the Gillian's mask and managed to stab through it and slice it in half. It roared in pain before dissolving to nothing. Suda grinned, but his victory was short-lived as he got tackled to the ceiling by another Gillian. He started to fall, but saw a Gillian's tongue coming towards him from the corner of his eye. "Hado #4, Byakurai!" He yelled, firing a concentrated bolt of lightning from his finger. It pierced right through its mask, killing it.

"I killed two!" Suda exclaimed.

"There's still more!" Hebito yelled. "Behind you!"

He was too late as Suda was struck in the back by a Gillian and sent flying. Hebito clenched his teeth, but couldn't help as he was blocking a Gillian's tackle with his tanto. Using his flash step, he instantly appeared above it and stabbed its mask several times before slicing right through it. Before it died, he threw the dying Hollow at the Gillian above him, sending them both crashing at the ceiling.

Hebito was about to continue fighting when he noticed that the two Hollows he sent flying had created a small fissure in the ceiling. His eyes widened. 'If we can split that fissure open, we can cause that part of the ceiling to collapse and perhaps crush those Hollows! But my tanto won't make a dent and my Kido is sub-par to even damage the crack...'

"Tsubaki!" Hebito called.

"W-What is it?!" Suda cried, grimacing as several Gillians attempted to strike down his guard as he blocked their continuous tackles with his Zanpakuto.

"I need you to come here and use your Kido to split open this fissure!" He said, also blocking a Gillian's strike, then kicking it away. "I'll distract the Gillians while you do!"

"Okay!" Suda immediately said, relieved that he wouldn't have to fight these Hollows anymore. "Are you sure that you can deal with them by yourself?!"

"I'm a lieutenant for a reason, right kid?" Hebito responded. "Just do it!"

"Yes sir!" Suda said, jumping towards the spot underneath the fissure. Not wanting to cause a huge explosion within the tunnel that would cause the entire ceiling to collapse on them, he was forced to use the weakest Hado spell he knew. "Hado #1, Sho!" He unleashed a small force made of his Reiryoku, weakening the fissure and causing it to widen.

"Hiss, Momamushi," Hebito muttered, waving his hand over his tanto. The tanto transformed into a long horseman's pick. The handle of the tanto transfigured into a pair of brass knuckles with a small spike at the end. Both weapons had a slightly green hue to it. "Alright, let's do this."

The Gillians weren't fazed in the least by his new weapon. One of them came straight towards him, but Hebito struck its mask hard with the pick, completely shattering the mask. The other Gillians, with their beast-like intellect, paid no heed to the danger of Hebito's Momamushi and came towards him. He ducked under one headbutt, then grabbed the Gillian's cloak, pulling it towards him and breaking it's mask by punching it!

"Feh. That's it?" Hebito muttered. "Hardly worth the effort."

But he knew that the Gillians would swarm him. He glanced over at Suda as he continued to cast his Hado at the fissure. It was slowly widening and was very close to coming down. His vision shifted to the right to see a Gillian coming towards him, causing Hebito to chuck his pick at the Gillian, breaking it's mask.

"C'mon..." Suda whispered, firing another Sho at the fissure. "Come down..."

Cheotah M's ability increased the length of his claws, but it didn't frighten Saburo in the least. All it did was increase Saburo's reaction time to dodge the Hollow's continuous strikes at faster times, then he kicked the Hollow away from him. This time, Cheotah M immediately got up and clawed the ground, sending dust into Saburo's eye.

"Ack!" Saburo winced. "You bastards!"

"I've got you now!" Leopard K roared, leaping towards him from an unknown direction.

The Hollow's mistake was to talk before it attacked. Saburo pinpointed his direction from his voice, leaning his body backwards to dodge Leopard K's attack, barely. Then he grabbed the Hollow's body with both arms and delivered a hard-hitting suplex, head-first straight into the ground. The sound of something shattering was heard, indicating that he broke the Hollow's mask.

"Leopard K!" Cheotah M cried. "Why you?!"

Cheotah M ran into the dust that covered his adversary and injured partner, but Saburo kicked Leopard K's corpse at it, flinging the two Hollows away. He was forced to watch as his partner dissolved into nothing.

"You damn Shinigami. Do you even realize what you have just done," Cheotah M growled, his voice shaking with rage. "You've killed my partner. We have slaughtered several Shinigami, eaten the best of human souls... we were supposed to dominate the world!"

"Hmph! You're just a piece of shit that can't do crap without his partner!" Saburo mocked in response. "C'mon, puppy! Let's go!"

But just as he concluded his sentence, Cheotah M disappeared in a blink of an eye. Saburo gasped as he felt its presence appear behind him and slash his back with its sharp claws. He yelped in pain, feeling the blood ooze from his back. He tried to elbow the Hollow away, but it jumped back and circled him with great speed. Saburo ducked, expecting a tackle, but the Hollow anticipated this and waited for him to act before tackling him to the ground and attempted to claw him. Saburo grabbed its claw-arms with both hands before he could do any damage.

"I don't know about this..." Ryo murmured, worriedly. "Should we help?"

"Nahhh..." Chotaro replied.

"Feeble Shinigami. You have just committed an abominable sin," Cheotah M said. "For that, I shall punish you with death."

"We'll see about that," Saburo replied, pushing the Hollow off of him.

Cheotah M jumped at him with blinding speed, but Saburo grabbed both his arms before he could claw him and slammed his head against his. He let it go, leaving the Hollow very dizzy.

"Raioken!" Saburo announced, unleashing a barrage of furious punches as the Hollow could do nothing. Cheotah M eventually jumped back, attempting to recover from Saburo's attack.

Saburo tried to rush towards Cheotah M before he could attack, but he recovered enough to dodge the attack. Using its amazing speed, it began jumping across the walls in order to confuse Saburo. As soon as Cheotah M appeared in front of him, he tried to punch it, but it disappeared again. It had jumped back to dodge the punch, then came forward and slashed his chest with his claws!

"Arghhh!" Saburo roared in frustration. "Just stop moving!"

Cheotah M grinned, then started wall-hopping again to confuse Saburo. Saburo shifted his eyes back and forth, trying to sense where the Hollow would strike next.

"Isn't there a way he can catch up with its speed?" Ryo wondered aloud.

"I can think of one way," Yushi responded. "I think he's figured it out, though."

Saburo had a grin on his face, drawing his Zanpakuto and saying, "Release the storm, Kaze no Ken!" His Zanpakuto transformed into two steel gloves with the kanji for 'Wind' on them.

"So, your sword has transformed into a pair of gloves. That was a stupid move, Shinigami," Cheotah M taunted as it continued to jump off the wall. "You may be better at hand-to-hand combat, but it comes at the cost of limited range. You need that range in order to reach me. You've sealed your own fate!"

"That's what you think. But-" Saburo stopped in mid-sentence, shooting bursts of air from his gloves. The burst was so powerful that it sent Saburo flying towards the Hollow as fast speed, just as fast as the Hollow itself! Cheotah M gasped as Saburo appeared next to him and attempted to run away from the Shinigami. However, Saburo simply repeated the same ability, appearing next to the Hollow again. Before Cheotah M knew it, Saburo was keeping up with his speed, even jumping off walls with him!

"My Kaze no Ken's ability lets it control air and wind to an extent," Saburo calmly explained to the Hollow as he kept up with him. "One of its abilities allow me to go at certain speeds depending on how much wind I exert from the gloves. With the air I'm currently exerting, I'm able to keep up with you."

"Why you-" Cheotah M roared, then he attempted to jump away from him.

"It's over," Saburo said.

He released some wind from his right glove to quickly reach out and grab Cheotah M's tail. The Hollow's eyes widened and it let out a shriek as Saburo pulled him back and unleashed an extremely powerful wind-tested punch that not only shattered the Hollow's mask, but broke through it and went through his body as well. He threw the Hollow off his glove to the ground and it dissolved into nothing.

"He did it!" Chotaro cheered.

"Good job, Kazuya-san!" Ryo said.

Saburo heavily panted, but gave them a thumbs-up. But his victory was short-lived as he felt a tremor occur near them... and the vibrations began to increase, as if something was big was coming towards them...!

Suddenly, the wall to the right of Saburo exploded and a giant ball with spikes came rolling in the room. The four Shinigami managed to dodge it's attack as it bounced off the wall and unraveled itself. It was a huge Hollow that resembled a hedgehog with several spikes on its body and dark-green streaks going down it's stomach.

"That Adjuchas Hollow seems familiar. Oh, I remember!" Yushi exclaimed, drawing his Zanpakuto once more. "That Hollow's named Giganthog because of it's huge size and power. He apparently killed over twenty Shinigami, including a lieutenant!"

"Are you serious?!" Saburo cried in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"We gotta help!" Ryo announced. "If-"

As if on cue, several beams of red energy came through the left wall and struck the ceiling, opening a fissure. Six Gillians came through the wall, their masked faces ready to kill them. They opened their mouths in preparation for another Cero!

"Oh, this is bull-"

The Gillians launched all their Ceros straight at Saburo. It managed to dodge and all the beams struck Giganthog instead. However, it reverted back to its spherical form before it could get hit, nullifying any damage. It didn't seem angry, but it had a look of animosity towards the Shinigami. It let out a huge roar, then rolled into a ball again and charged straight towards Saburo. He jumped over it's attack and got on top of it, although it easily threw him off.

"You guys fight the Gillians!" Saburo ordered. "I'll take this Hollow down!"

"That Hollow's in a greater-class that those two you've fought! Plus, you're tired!" Ryo shouted back. "We need to-"

"JUST DO IT!" He roared, clearly exhausted and annoyed.

"He can deal with it," Yushi said. "It means less for us to deal with. If he needs help, we'll help him."

Chotaro, Ryo, and Yushi all had their Zanpakuto out. The Gillians started to plod towards them, so they released their Zanpakuto.

"Reform, Kashou!" Ryo's broadsword transformed into a four-bladed chakram.

"Take revenge upon those disrespecting nature, Koorimaru!" Chotaro's katana transfigured into a hexagonal ice shield with six icicles coming out of the sides.

"Overwhelm them with your might, Ikazuchiryu!" Yushi's katana transfigured into a monstrous naginata with several blades on the rear and one giant blade in the front.

"This is the last one!" Suda declared. "Lieutenant Watakushi! Come here so you don't get hit!"

"Alright..." Hebito muttered, pulling back his pick and jumping towards Suda. "Fire away."

"Hado #1, Sho!" Suda yelled, firing one last burst of pressure from his hand. The blast widened the fissure enough to cause the ceiling to collapse. The Gillians looked up and hissed as the ceiling fell on top of them, crushing their masks and bodies. Suda and Hebito watched as the Hollows dissolved into nothing.

"W-We did it!" Suda exclaimed happily. "It's over!"

Hebito nodded with a small smile. "That's right. Now, we should go and-"

Suddenly, several beams of red energy blasted straight through the rubble. The beams dissolved to not damage them, but it had released the rubble from the wall at a fast speed. Suda wasn't injured hard enough from being pelted with small rocks, but a large rock immediately slammed into Hebito's head, knocking him unconscious. His Zanpakuto reverted back to its tanto form and both he and his weapon were sent flying down the tunnel.

"Lieutenant Watakushi!" Suda screamed. He ran towards him and shook his body, but he was stiff. Breathing, but knocked out. "Lieutenant, wake up!"

He turned to see the source of the beams, and gasped in shock to see ten Gillians creeping towards them. 'How could Lieutenant Watakushi and I not sense them? Could it be that the rubble, combined with the pressure of this cave, created a disruption from what Reiatsu we could sense?'

Suda immediately drew his Zanpakuto, but without a Shikai, knew that he would barely do any damage to them. Nevertheless, he had to protect the lieutenant, so he leapt towards the Hollows. One of the Gillians opened its mouth and flicked its tongue at him, sending him flying towards a wall and crashing!

"Rghh..." Suda groaned in pain. He got back up and yelled, "Hado #4, Byakurai!" launching a bolt of lightning at one of them. However, the targeted Gillian simply fired a Cero against it, completely nullifying his attack and barely scraping his body before blasting through the wall next to him. Rocks flew from the wall and struck his head, causing him to stagger backwards in his attempts to remain conscious.

'I can't fall unconscious now!' Suda thought as his eyes began to close. 'If I do, I'll die! I don't wanna die! Not now!'

'I can't die...'

'Musn't die...'

'They need to die...'

'...'

'THEY DIE.'

Suda's eyes shot open, revealing yellow eyes on a black background, as he began to levitate in the air. His entire skin and hair changed from black to bleached white, and the Reiatsu he began to erupt caused black flames to burst from his shihakusho. He let out a tremor-inducing roar, causing a large wave of Reiatsu to tear through the air, frightening all the Gillians. Suda slowly landed on the ground, sending the Gillians straight into the air as a result of the Reiatsu.

Takawara neared the entrance to the cave, when suddenly, a large burst of dark Reiatsu shot upwards from a distance of a mile away! The horses bucked backwards in fright as a tremor occured, causing them to go berserk. The Shinigami had a hard time controlling them. Keruno and Saeko also gaped at the intense, focused, black Reiatsu continually surging from the hole a mile away, resembling a volcano unleashing lava straight into the air like a geyser.

"What kind of Reiatsu is that?" Saeko murmured. "It resembles that of a Hollow's."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Keruno said, then barked, "Hey, Takawara! Bring us over there!"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Take this!" Ryo yelled, activating Zasetsu to hone her chakram towards a Hollow. Just before it struck the Gillian, she deactivated Zasetsu to negate it's healing ability, but managing to lodge itself in the Hollow's mask, killing it.

As it dissolved into nothing, she felt like something was choking her lungs and realized it was because she was reaching for air. The other three were semi-trained for this, but Ryo hadn't trained her breathing ever. "Ack... the lack of oxygen has finally caught up... I'm so sorry, you two..." She slumped to the floor and began gasping for breath.

"It's okay!" Chotaro yelled, striking down a Gillian using the ice blades of his shield. "We can deal with this! Right, Yushi?"

"Mmph!" Yushi grunted, dodging another Gillian's attack. He struck the ground with his naginata, unleashing several glaives of rock from the ground and stabbing through two of the Hollows binded from his Bakudo #4, Hainawa. "Yeah. We're almost done with them."

"Two more Gillians..." Chotaro observed, whipping up his shield. "Take this!"

He gathered more moisture from the air and created several spears of ice, of which he launched at the Gillians. They were smart enough to sway and dodge the attacks, but they became confused as Chotaro grinned at them. They looked back and realized that the ice spears had actually stabbed their cloaks, rendering them unable to move! They couldn't even blink as Yushi sliced both of them using both ends of his spear.

Meanwhile, Saburo was struggling with the Giganthog Hollow. The problem was that it's thick skin was so tough that he couldn't make a dent with any punch. Even when it was fueled with wind, he could barely make a mark. Plus, he had to be careful that he didn't punch the spikes on his body. He didn't know if they were harder than the steel gloves, but he didn't want to risk anything happening to his fist.

'How the hell do I even scrape it?' Saburo furiously thought. 'If only it's fat body would open up, I could get to it...!'

He dodged another 'rollout' from Giganthog and hopped on top of the spherical Hollow. It began to roll at a high speed, causing Saburo the jump off before he could run straight into it's spikes. He got into a battle stance, but was forced to dodge to keep away from it's unstoppable attacks.

"Alright, we've defeated them!" Chotaro said, then he turned to Saburo. "Now, we're gonna help you!"

"Forget it! I don't need your guys' help!" Saburo snapped, dodging another rollout. "Stay out of my way!"

"Nope. We're helping you," Yushi said, flatly. "Yamura's having a hard time breathing, so we need to get out of here fast. Put aside your pride for now."

Saburo groaned, then kicked away from Giganthog's body. "Fine."

"I'm still absorbing moisture for Koorimaru's strongest attack, so you guys have to distract it!" Chotaro said, holding up his shield. Tiny, visible, light-blue particles were coming to his shield, getting absorbed and shining the shield blue.

"Alright," Saburo said, licking his lips. "Time to go to work."

Yushi attempted to cast Bakudo #4, Hainawa on the Hollow, but it moved so fast that he couldn't even touch it. He stabbed the ground, causing spears of rock to burst from the ground, but Giganthog either dodged or ran over the glaives. He clicked his tongue in frustration, then blocked a rollout with his naginata. However, the force of the rollout was too great that he flew back and hit the wall. Giganthog continued to roll towards him.

"I won't let you!" Saburo roared, kicking Giganthog from the side and sending it flying. It bounced off the wall and headed straight towards him.

Yushi stabbed the ground again and caused a spear of rock to erupt from the ground, hoping to stab through Giganthog as it flew through the air. However, its rough skin broke the spear and it continued to come towards him. He dodged to the side, swearing as he did.

"A few more minutes!" Chotaro called.

"Hurry up!" Saburo snapped. "If the bastard won't open up of its own will, I will force him to open up!"

Saburo lunged at Giganthog and punched it against the wall. When it bounced off, he grabbed it by its spike to keep it from moving. It violently shook itself to get away, but Saburo held on for his life.

"Yanagi, keep this guy in place!" Saburo ordered.

"You got it," he replied, creating more glaives of rock from the ground to surround it.

Saburo jumped on top of Giganthog and grabbed the fur of it's neck and attempted to pull its head out of its spherical form. Giganthog tried not to let him, but he unleashed a powerful stream of air from his gloves, eventually getting Giganthog's head out and revealing its inner body. Saburo grinned, jumping into its body before Giganthog could roll back up. He unleashed a barrage of punches against the Hollow, but to his shock, it didn't hurt him at all.

"What is this guy made of?!" Saburo exclaimed. "Titanium?!"

"Get outta there!" Chotaro ordered. "It's ready!"

"Rrghhh..." Saburo wanted to finish it off through his own hands, but swallowed his pride when he saw Ryo's deteriorating health and jumped out of the Hollow's body.

"Take this and die!" Chotaro yelled. "Kitsuifuyu!"

The shield emitted a giant, blue ball of frozen, cold energy and unleashed it in the form of a great beam of icy Reiatsu. The blast completely overwhelmed Giganthog, freezing the entire area in front of them and encasing it in a coffin of ice. Saburo spat at the ground in front of Giganthog before punching the ice, shattering it into a million pieces.

"And stay dead!" He snapped.

The ice shattering also caused a wide hole to appear above them. The hole stretched so far that they could see the light. Ryo's breathing became more stable.

Yushi was the first to react. "I think that's our way out."

"Finally..." Chotaro sighed in relief.

Saburo offered a hand to Ryo. "Need some help?"

"No..." She huffed, her breathing going back to normal. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Saburo replied, grabbing Ryo and hoisting her on his back. "I'll get you outta here."

As fast as Suda activated that mysterious transformation, it quickly deactivated, reverting Suda into a recognizable human. His eyes widened in shock, but shortly fell unconscious, vulnerable to the Hollows in front of him.

The Gillians were shocked by the spectacle in front of them, but their beast-like intellect rendered them unable to ponder what had happened. They just opened their mouths and prepared to devour the two Shinigami...

"NO, YOU DON'T!"

Keruno's roar vibrated across the tunnel as he appeared from the bright light at the end of the tunnel and kicked the nearest Gillian away. A bolt of lightning blasted through the air and destroyed the Hollow right after Keruno jumped off it. Saeko gave it a graceful smile as she landed next to the unconscious Suda.

"Let's finish them," Saeko said.

Keruno grinned, jumping towards the next Gillian near him and punched it straight in the face. The power of his punch was so great that the mask produced several cracks instantly, but he wasn't done yet. With a cry of "Gatling Jidanda!" he unleashed a barrage of powerful kicks straight at the mask, shattering it completely. Before it dissolved, he grabbed it and sent it flying towards under Gillian.

He landed on the ground on both hands and spun his legs around, yelling, "Underwear Tornado!" He spun like a hurricane against two Gillians, delivering his version of Panchira Tornado, continually bashing their heads until they were dizzy. Then he grabbed and bashed their heads together repeatedly until their masks shattered and dissolved.

A Gillian towered behind him, but he grinned and said, "Oni Dekopin." A single flick of the finger against it's mask and he sent the Hollow crashing backwards several feet, bringing its Gillian partners with it. While the attack was formidable, the Hollows still managed to get back up and started plodding towards them.

"I've shown off way too much," Keruno said. "Your turn."

"I can only hope to look as amazing as you, Captain," Saeko said, her smile still ever-pleasant. She pointed her hand, palm-first, towards the Gillians and murmured, "I shouldn't say the entire incantation because it probably would destroy the cave. So... Hado #33, Sokatsui!"

Immediately, a gigantic burst of Reiatsu blasted out of her hand and completely overwhelmed the rest of the Gillians, causing the whole cave to tremble in its power. Contrary to what Saeko had said, the power of the spell was so great that the ceiling started to collapse!

"Saeko, you idiot! The cave is collapsing!" Keruno exclaimed. "We need to get outta here!"

Keruno grabbed the unconscious Hebito and Suda and threw them over his shoulder, then bolted towards the exit. Saeko followed after him as the ceiling began to collapse. Keruno looked back and groaned as he saw the avalanche of rocks catching up to them. While both captains' Shunpo weren't exceptional, they still managed to jump out of the tunnel in time. One last quake and they looked back to see the tunnel was covered with rocks. Takawara was gaping at them, having been shaken from the tremors that continued for another few minutes.

When the tremors died down, Saeko wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Phew... that was close."

"I'll say..." Keruno agreed. "Hey, look over there."

From a distance, they could see four Shinigami coming towards them. Chotaro and Yushi were in front, the former waving his hands like a madman. Saburo was lifting Ryo on his back, both with a small smile.

As Takawara drove back to the Seireitei, the rest of the Shinigami sat quietly in the carriage. Hebito was still unconscious, having been very damaged from being barraged by several big rocks. Ryo was also in pain, but her array of medicines managed to keep her conscious and better than the lieutenant.

"So... that was crazy," Suda spoke up, having awoken from his slumber. "I don't even remember what happened after the lieutenant got knocked out."

"Did you see that eruption of Reiatsu occur?" Saeko inquired. "It happened in the hole that you and Lieutenant Watakushi were in."

"I don't remember that," Suda replied. "Maybe you mistook it for a Hollow's Cero?"

"But aren't Hollows' Ceros red, not black?" She said. "I wonder about that."

"Enough wondering. We deserve a medal for all the crap we went through," Saburo said. "Do we get any kind of award?"

"Yeah. You get the pride of surviving such a stupid mission," Keruno sarcastically said. "You'll probably get a day of rest before getting sent somewhere else. 'Cept for the lieutenant. When he's conscious, he'll have to report everything the Arrancars have said to the Gotei 13. With what Suda said, this may be a serious affair with this 'Nuevo Espada.'"

"I don't even want to think about that," Chotaro said, sighing. "I'm done with missions."

"Same here," Yushi agreed.

"Mmm... but I think we've all learned something from this experience," Ryo quietly said. "And I believe the bonds between us have strengthened as a result of these hardships."

Saburo kept silent, but a small smile formed on his face.

It was quiet for a bit... until Keruno realized-

"I BETTER GET CAKE."

Ending: "Homework ga Owaranai" by Matsuko Mawatari

Man, that was an action-packed chapter! With this, there will be more relaxing chapters since I'll probably be receiving and introducing more original characters. Then I'll probably enter another mini-arc before entering the first true arc of this story. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Though, I hope you guys forgive my amateur writing style at writing action scenes. I'm reading a lot of action fics to get better at it.

Anyways, one OC was introduced here:

Saeko - d dot writer 1231 (sorry, it won't let me write your full pen name)

Also, I know that Hebito's Shikai was introduced here, but I'm not revealing that information yet. One reason is because its true capabilities weren't shown here (similar to how Ukitake and Kyoraku released their Shikai vs Yamamoto but didn't use the abilities); it'll be shown later. Sorry to TheTurneyvore for not showing its ability.

To ZxZ Fic Hunter: I thought an Arrancar was a Hollow that took off its mask. If that's the case, Aizen isn't needed. He simply created his own pseudo-Arrancar, I believe.

Another thing: You can find the scheduling of this story on my profile. I'll let you know if I'm still planning the chapter, or writing the rough or final draft, or on hiatus, or something like that.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. Next chapters will be more relaxing!