I do not own any of the Bleach characters or concepts, nor the Final Fantasy spells, they belong to their respective owners.
My vision returns to see Orihime's worried face overlooking me. The smell of burnt flesh looms in the air, and I am unable to feel the center of my body. I try to look down, but Orihime stops me, "Please, don't try to move, your wounds still haven't fully healed."
"Heh, well thank you for healing me, but I need to get going," I respond.
"I suggest you do what she says, that fire ball seems to have done more than just external damage," Uryu says to me. I see that Ichigo is staring down at me.
"Well… since it seems that I have to remain here for a bit, mind if I ask where that hollow went?" I inquire; it seems that my question has caused Ichigo dismay however.
"Ulquiorra… I mean the hollow… is dead," Ichigo solemnly tells me.
"I see…" I reply, "I sense a strong presence below us, might be that big guy from earlier."
Uryu face changes to a surprised expression and states, "That's impossible; I defeated him… unless the fall didn't kill him."
I return, "It seems so, you two should go help the others, I will be in a stable condition soon, I hope… actually I feel well enough to get up."
I begin to rise once again, making it to my knees before Orihime attempts to stop me. I groan as I stand,
"Don't worry I'll be alright," in an attempt to ease her.
I look down to see that my jacket has been completely burnt up in the center as well as my white undershirt, exposing my chest.
"Well you did a great job here, killing neither enemy Overlord and almost dying in the process… Congratulations!" the One's assistant blurts out into my head, causing me to change my facial expression into one of frustration and anger.
"Hush, I know," I retort exasperatedly.
"A-are you alright?" Orihime asks, shocked by my sudden facial expression change.
I sigh, "Y-yeah, just remembered that Dracul got away."
"He did? I don't sense his presence like I had before, and his body isn't anywhere," Uryu inquires.
"Yeah, he teleported away after hitting me with that fireball," I explain.
"If you are heading back to Karakura town, then you'd better hurry, I sense another overlord incoming," the assistant interjects.
"A third? Geez, they don't like this world apparently, why do I have to do all of this work; couldn't ya know, have some other overlord do this?" I reply.
"Yes, Anima and her daughter are on their way…
And NO, you do have to try, ya can't just relax all of the time!" the assistant yells.
"Fine, I will…" I grumble.
"I'm going to be heading back to Karakura town," I say aloud.
"Wait, tell me who you are," Ichigo demands.
"Why do you need to know that?" I inquire back.
"I don't trust you," he states.
"What's there not to trust?" I ask.
"Your soul pressure is… off, and that's no kido or shikai I've ever seen," he asserts.
"Don't worry about that," I answer, trying to calm him down.
He readies his sword.
"Don't make an enemy where there is none," I proclaim, trying to stop him from doing something stupid.
He glares at me, before lowering his sword.
"See you at Karakura, Ichigo," I utter.
He doesn't reply, as I place my hand on the ground and use my mana to teleport.
I hope for a stealthy return to the town, but using my mana to teleport forces me to unleash most of my energy momentarily. All of the fighting stops as they look in my general direction, creating a tense atmosphere. I quickly suppress my energy again, and the fighting resumes; except for Yamamoto, who confronts me.
"Kukanten'i… where did you learn how to use it?" Yamamoto asks.
"What? I have no idea what that word is, nor do I have any desire to learn what it is," I reply.
"Humph, no matter, you will still die for your list of indiscretions!" He shouts.
"Please, I don't want to fight you sir," I answer.
"Too late."
He points his finger at me, and it begins to glow a light yellow.
"What the?" I say aloud.
Thin beams of light begin to appear and close in on me, forcing me to flash away. Right as I move in to place, Yamamoto appears behind me, and uses his staff to attempt to poke into me. I grab onto it, stopping the weapon, much to the surprise of Yamamoto. He blinks back in front of me, mere inches from my face.
"I must admit you are strong youngster, but you have yet to see even a fraction of my power!" He barks as he sheathes his staff.
He peels back his robe, revealing his upper body, and gets into a fighting stance.
"Um, am I supposed to start undressing as well?" I question, scratching the back of my head.
He pulls back his arm, and I get ready for the punch. He throws a plain straight punch, allowing me to easily catch it. The force from the punch is almost overwhelming, realizing that he is going full out; I stop actively suppressing my mana. The catch creates a huge amount of distortion in the area.
He launches his leg up and hits me in the side of the head, sending me hurtling amidst the fighting of the hollows and soul reapers. Yamamoto charges at me, preparing another kick, before blinking behind me. He smashes down with his elbow, and I grab onto it as well, once again the contact creates massive amounts of distortion. Using his elbow, I latch onto his arm with my other hand, and launch him to the ground. He catches himself, and appears before me.
"So it seems that you are much stronger than I had anticipated youngster," Yamamoto begins, "Soul reapers! Do not interfere with our fight; I do not want you to get caught in our crossfire."
"Yamamoto, we do not have to fight, I mean no harm to you or the world," I try to explain.
"Silence, you know that you have broken the rules of the Soul Society, and now you must be punished!" He shouts in reply.
"The Soul Society?" I question.
I finish my sentence just as Yamamoto charges into me, "Ikkotsu!" He jerks back his arm, and tenses it up. He finishes winding up and thrusts him fist towards my midsection.
"Steel skin!" I shout out just before he makes contact.
My skin hardens, allowing me to take the brunt of the blow, but it still forces me back. In a lightning quick motion, he winds up a kick and heads straight toward me. I reflect the kick, and punch him right in the stomach; my fist stops abruptly as I hit him. He takes a step to recoil, but it seems to have not fazed him.
Yamamoto announces, "enough games, let's begin the real fighting."
He stamps his foot, focusing his energy, and he begins to blink around the battlefield. I am unable to keep up at first, but after a few blinks I begin to learn how to catch him. Each blink we trade blows, resulting in quick bursts of combat. After several quick skirmishes, I smash him into the ground and through a few buildings. I drop my guard, thinking he would be down for a while, but he appears in front of me and punches me straight in the face. This sends me directly through several buildings and into the ground, creating a huge crater.
"Ouch, maybe I should start working on my hand-to-hand fighting," I say aloud.
Yamamoto appears before me as I get to my feet, "So youngster, are you ready to end the punishment and surrender?"
"Sir, I think we need to stop fighting and allow me to sit here and wait for my next target," I reply earnestly.
"Fine then... reduce all creation to ash, Ryujin Jakka!" he shouts out.
"Shikai eh? Well then... Learn all there is to know, Manabu!" I yell in reply.
Our respective weapons transform, and as his initiates, torrents of flames rush out from the blade. This obliges me to flee the area. I transform my book into a longer-than-normal katana, so that I may at least defend myself with a weapon. Yamamoto appears in front of me, but does not attack. The area around us has become distorted due to the power of our releases.
(Around the battlefield)
"Well, it seems that Yamamoto is finally found a worthwhile opponent, I wouldn't think it would be a kid as young as that, however," Shunsui starts, before pointing his sword at Coyote, "it seems we get a break for a while, I'm sure neither of us wants to get in the middle of that mess."
Coyote starts to reply, but Lilynette cuts him off, "Come on Stark! Who cares what that old geezer and boy do, they aren't going to damage us!"
"Lilynette, do you not feel the soul pressure being exuded by both of them? And this is only their Shikai releases," Coyote answers.
"You should listen to him, I'm not sure about the boy, but Yamamoto's abilities impact a large area," Shunsui interrupts.
They go back to observing the two men staring each other down.
"We're all going to die! Captain! We need to get out of here before they both kill us! First it's the arrancar, then Aizen, and now thi-" Omaeda begins to ramble before getting cut off.
"Silence you fool, we need to wait to see if Aizen makes a move while head captain is busy dealing with that disgrace," Sui-Feng explains.
"But captain!" Omaeda whines.
"Shut up! Head captain said to standby, are you going to disobey orders?" Sui-Feng responds.
"N-no captain…" Omaeda concedes.
"Wh-whats going on out there captain Komamura?" Izuru asks from within his Bakudo.
"It seems that head captain has begun fighting a very powerful, mysterious invader; I fear that he may be in danger," Komamura answers, "It's probably a good thing you are inside that barrier, their combined soul pressures are almost overwhelming me."
"Do you think you should go help him?" Izuru persists.
"Are you crazy? Captain Kyoraku and Ukitake can barely handle the head captain's shikai; I don't think I would stand a chance against it, as much as I want to help, I'd probably get in the way," Komamura replies.
"If their fight continues on; I fear that we may end up having to rely on only our weapons," Toshiro states to his opponent.
"Why is that?" Tier wonders.
"Oh, you'll see, it's just a matter of how long that boy can hold out against Yamamoto's flames; I say we postpone this battle momentarily, so that we don't get incinerated," Toshiro suggests.
"Fine, but don't think this is over," Tier responds.
"Well Aizen, it seems that we received an unexpected ally," Gin asserts.
"Why yes it does, this development is quite unexpected; I had anticipated Wonderweiss to be used against the old man," Aizen replies.
"Why don't you just kill both of them while they are fighting each other an' be done with it?" Gin questions.
"I think this will settle itself out, if the old man wins, then he has used up his energy fighting that kid, if he loses, well, we can find out what he wants," Aizen responds.