A.N: This shall be my Christmas gift to you all. A new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Unbeatable Enemies

"No one's going to save you this time, Ichigo." Grimmjow licked his lips in anticipation as he unsheathed his Zanpakutō. "There's no Nnoitra to try and kill me so he can have his shot, and there's no Benito to try and interrupt our fated rematch. It's just you and me! This time, I'm going to kill you!"

"Don't try and stop me, Grimmjow." Ichigo said angrily. "You and I both know that it's just going to be a repeat of last time. I'm stronger than you and you know it!"

Grimmjow glared at his hated rival. "Don't give me that crap you orange-headed bastard!" He shouted. "A warrior can only he say he's stronger than his opponent after he's killed him. You never did kill me. Hell, as far as I'm concerned, we never even finished that fight in Las Noches."

"You lost that fight!" Ichigo shouted. "You just can't admit it!"

"I will never admit that you're stronger than me!" Grimmjow shouted back. "You were too weak to be stronger than me back then, and you're too weak to be stronger than me now! I'm the strongest, I'm the king!"

"Quit deluding yourself, Grimmjow." Said Ichigo. "You and I both know that you're only doing this to get even, not to finish our fight, but to get even. You know, deep down, that you lost that last fight in Las Noches."

Grimmjow was nearly at his limit in terms of keeping his rage in check. "Those damn eyes of yours are still the same." Grimmjow growled. "You still, for some reason, think that you're better than me! I am sick of you looking down on me, Ichigo! You're dying right here, right now! Then, Benito will realize what he's dealing with! I'll show him by doing the one thing he couldn't: kill you!"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "So…this is about Benito now? Not about your grudge?"

Grimmjow was finally pushed over the edge. "Shut up!" He screamed. "Why I want to kill you doesn't matter! We were destined to fight each other! It doesn't matter why! All that matters is that you're dead and at my feet!"

With that, Grimmjow charged Ichigo, who blocked the strike with Tensa Zangetsu. Ichigo grunted as he was pushed back several feet. He's definitely stronger than he was two years ago. Ichigo thought. This is going to be a lot tougher than I had originally thought.

Vasco Xuan seemed to be in deep thought as he regenerated from another attack from Rangiku Matsumoto and Momo Hinamori. "Ah, what was the definition of insanity again?" Vasco thought out loud in a mocking tone.

Momo decapitate Vasco, only to see him regenerate once again. "Oh, yeah, that's right!" Vasco realized. "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Momo and Rangiku retreated several feet from Vasco so they could rethink their current strategy. "He's not kidding around," Rangiku said breathlessly. "Our attacks aren't working on him."

Momo shook her head. "We haven't tried Kidō yet!" She said hopefully.

Rangiku looked at Momo. "Listen, Rangiku, I need you to buy me some time." Said Momo. "With those tentacles of his, he can attack either of us at any time, meaning unless his attentions focused on something else, I can't get a clear shot."

"Why do I have to be the distraction?" Rangiku asked sourly.

"I'm more skilled in Kidō than you are." Momo replied.

Rangiku looked at Momo. "Okay, and what makes you so sure Kidō is gonna work on the water boy, here?"

"It's not really so much as Kidō, but science. Science is what's going to be taking this guy down." Momo said confidently.

"Science?"

"What's a well known conductor for electricity, Rangiku?" Momo asked.

Rangiku's eyes widened in realization. "Water…water conducts electricity." She gasped.

Momo nodded. "That's how we're going to beat this guy."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you're going to need some extra help against this guy. Especially if you intend to pull off such a strategy."

Love Aikawa appeared next to Rangiku and Momo. "Hey, you're…"

"Proper introductions can wait." Love cut Rangiku off. "Right now, we need to worry about taking this guy down."

"You know what we're doing?" Momo asked.

Love nodded. "Yep, and that's why you need my help."

Momo and Rangiku were confused. "You intend to distract your opponent, right?" Love inquired.

They nodded. "A distraction is more effective when there are more people doing the distracting." Said Love. "The more people there are to distract and opponent and keep him on his toes, the more likely he's going to be more concerned about the known threat instead of the hidden threat."

"Fine by me." Said Rangiku. "The more the merrier."

"Lets do it," Love grinned. "Now slam, Tengumaru!"

Vasco chuckled as Love's Shikai appeared. "Three against one now," he mused. "A normal opponent would be upset at this turn of events. Me, it really doesn't make a difference. I'm still going to kill you."

Vasco readied his tentacles. "Now then," he continued. "Now that you've finished making your futile strategies, are you prepared to come at me again?"

Vasco grinned evilly. "I should warn you," he said. "Now that I've given you a chance to truly understand how useless you are against me, I'm not going to hold back."

Akio gritted his teeth in annoyance as he fired bolt of lightning after bolt of lightning at Cortez, who effortlessly dodged each attack with a masterful use of Sonido. Akio could barely follow his movements. It was the fact that he could barely follow his movements that kept him from getting stabbed and slashed at extremely high speeds. "Is it too much to ask you to stand still?" Akio asked, half-jokingly, as he fired another bolt of lightning.

Cortez Sonido'd in front of Akio and attempted to strike him down with a blow to the chest. Akio's quick thinking managed to save him as he blocked the attack with Kaminari. "I'm not very fond of comedians, boy." He said with a cold and calculating stare.

Akio grinned. "You know, it's funny, you remind me so much of Captain Kuchiki. It's a shame he's not here. You two would get a long pretty damn well."

Cortez glared at his opponent. "And I don't like being compared to any of your kind either."

Cortez forced Akio off balance and attempted to strike him down again. But once again, Akio's quick thinking saved him. "Huh, it's no secret that our races don't get along, but to go for genocide? Geez, don't you think that's taking it too far?"

"It matters little what I think." Said Cortez. "It's true, I'm not too fond of your kind, but even if I was indifferent towards you, the king's beliefs are absolute, just like his orders. Not only that, but I believe in what he's doing and I believe that his hatred for your kind is justified."

"And the fact that we don't like you guys very much either is quite justified as well." Akio pointed out. "After all, you guys tend to make our job pretty damn tough. What with you eating the souls of humans all the time."

Akio frowned. "But that old feud can't possibly be the reason why your king is so adamant about destroying us. Does this have something to do with that sister of his that was mentioned during the brief chat he had with Ms. Neliel? Based on my first impression of the man, I'd say his hate goes deeper than any two-millennia old battle."

Cortez didn't reply for a moment. He then chuckled. "You may be an immature kid," he replied. "But your perceptive, I'll give you that."

"What choice do I have?" Akio grinned. "Being able to discern reality is part of my job as a captain. I have to be perceptive."

"Well you're right," Cortez admitted. "His Majesty's hatred for you goes a lot deeper than the endless battle between Soul Reapers and Hollows."

Cortez raised his rapier. "A long time ago, His Majesty had an older sister who raised him. He loved his older sister, but then she was taken from him."

"She was killed." Akio realized.

Cortez nodded. "Since then, His Majesty's hatred knew no bounds, not that it wasn't justified."

"And I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Soul Reapers killed her."

"If it hadn't been Soul Reapers that killed her," said Cortez. "Than whatever had would've been the subject of his justified hatred."

"There's no such thing as justified hatred, Orgulloso." Said Akio. "There may have been a time when I thought that hate could be justified, and that time was when I thought my best friend was killed."

"Do you know what I realized?" Akio inquired rhetorically. "I realized that wallowing around in hatred is nothing but depressing and a selfish act of immaturity. Especially when there are still other people in your life you can shower with love instead of hate."

"Preaching such things is easy when you don't understand how others feel." Cortez said angrily. "You discovered your best friend was alive, His Majesty knows for a fact that his sister is not coming back! How the hell could you possibly understand how he feels? He feels pain! How could you understand that? Don't you dare try to preach that!"

Akio sighed. "You're right, I don't. If his sister was really killed and taken before her time, then that's certainly a tragedy. I'd probably feel just as destroyed if Shaolin was taken from me like that."

Cortez charged Akio for the third time. This time, Akio knocked him backwards. "But it doesn't matter wether I understand or not." He continued. "The only thing I need to understand is the people I care about are in danger because of you people. That's all I need to understand."

Akio glared at Cortez. "You know what's another thing I noticed? It's that you use your speed as a defense of sorts. All of that speed and you don't use it for offense, you use it for defense."

Cortez chuckled. "Right again, boy. Yes, I believe in that old saying: 'The best offense, is a strong defense.'"

Akio's glare became a grin. "That may be true, but an enemy will still screw with you, even if you have a damn good defense." He retorted. "However, nobody in their right mind will screw with the guy with the super strong offense. And that, Orgulloso, is because nobody in their right mind wants to get blown to bits."

Akio readied Kaminari. "You may be fast," he continued. "But if I'm going to blow you to bits with my offense, I'm going to have to be faster."

"Haineko!" Rangiku called out, launching her ash at Vasco.

Vasco allowed the attack to hit him, and then he countered, launching several of his tentacles at Rangiku, who barely dodged the attack. Love then appeared above him, wielding Tengumaru. Grunting loudly, Love slammed Tengumaru onto Vasco, who simply reformed from the attack. "I'm starting to find this…annoying." Said Vasco.

Vasco launched his tentacles at Love, who simply dodged via Flash Step. Love appeared next to Rangiku. "We may need a more effective strategy, I don't think he's buying it." Said Rangiku.

"This is an effective strategy." Love insisted. "We just need to step it up a notch."

Love twirled Tengumaru. "Bankai, Hauchiwa Tengumaru!"

Rangiku watched in awe as Love's spiked club changed into… "A fan!" Rangiku shouted in disbelief. "That's your plan to step it up a notch?"

Love grinned. Hauchiwa Tengumaru was a giant fan made of steel feathers. "I'll admit, appearance-wise, it's not very threatening. And my Shikai is more suited for my fighting style. But my Bankai is the most effective at taking out large groups of enemies amongst the Vizards."

"But we're only facing off against one guy." Rangiku reminded Love.

Love nodded. "So he's going to feel the wrath of a power meant for a hundred warriors."

Love readied his fan. "Tengubi!" He shouted, waving his fan forward.

Hauchiwa Tengumaru launched a wave of fire at Vasco. "Che, did you forget that I'm made of water?" He said, letting the flames hit him.

Vasco's eyes then widened in surprise as his body was destroyed by the flames. He quickly reformed. "Scratch that, your flames are actually strong enough to bypass the natural immunity water has to flames." Vasco complimented.

Vasco readied his tentacles. "You clearly cannot be left alive, you're simply too much of a threat. I know you understand."

"Get ready, Lt. Matsumoto." Said Love.

"But first…" Vasco looked behind to see Momo preparing Kidō.

Crap, he knows! Rangiku thought.

"Hadō #63, Raikōhō!" Momo shouted.

Vasco simply smiled. "Licuar."

Vasco's body suddenly broke down into water, leaving Rangiku and Love to dodge Momo's attacks. "Will you watch it Momo!" Rangiku shouted.

"I'm sorry!" Momo said, waving her hands frantically. "How was I supposed to know he would do that?"

"It's my turn now." Came Vasco's voice.

Tentacles suddenly shot out of the large puddle that was Vasco. The three Soul Reapers had little time to react as they were suddenly impaled by several tentacles. Vasco laughed as his body once again started to reconstruct. "You really shouldn't underestimate the intellect of your enemy. It is certainly true that a distraction is effective, especially when there are more people to distract you. But riddle me this: What happens when the one your distracting is aware of his weaknesses and takes care of said weaknesses."

Rangiku, Love, and Momo started to collapse from their injuries. "I knew you would at some point attempt an electric-based attack, and I'll admit that if it had landed, I'd be in serious trouble. That's why I had to use some misdirection of my own. By catching you off guard by liquifying my own body, I was able to catch you off guard with my own attack."

Vasco looked at them and smirked pompously. "After all, who would suspect a puddle?"

Tōshirō looked at the result of the battle in shock. "Rangiku, Momo!" He shouted in fear.

Hiyori did the same. "Love, no!"

However, before either could react and attack their opponent, someone sped past them. "Rumble, Jishin." Came a masculine voice.

Tetsuzaemon Iba leapt at Vasco, who simply chuckled. "Another lamb for slaughter? Didn't you see what happened to your friends?"

Tetsuzaemon grinned. "Yep, and that's why it's gotta be me who takes you down."

Tetsuzaemon raised his released Zanpakutō, Jishin. Jishin then started to shine, strangely. Vasco raised an eyebrow. Tetsuzaemon then swung it straight at Vasco's chest. However, when it impacted, it didn't go through his body. The impact seemed to cause a vibration that coursed through Vasco's body. Vasco screamed in pain as he was launched backwards. Vasco got up, coughing blood up. "How's that possible? You shouldn't be able to injure me in this form!" He shouted angrily.

Tetsuzaemon chuckled. "Sit down then, why don't I give you a lesson in science?" He said mockingly.

Tetsuzaemon raised Jishin. "Sound waves travel across water, and that's where Jishin, here, comes in. My Zanpakutō's ability is one of your most glaring weaknesses."

A.N: And…cliffhanger! Figured you all might appreciate this little Christmas gift from me to you.

Also, quick reason as to why Love's Bankai is what it is. His Shikai is called Tengumaru, in Japanese mythology, the Tengu is often depicted with a ha-uchiwa, or feather fan. Hence the creation of Hauchiwa Tengumaru.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Merry Christmas everyone! ND2014, signing off.