Running To Stand Still
Chad and Ichigo ran on their rapidly forming paths of spirit particles through the void past the Garganta. Ishida rode on a free moving platform he formed to carry him. As they ran, Ichigo's less sturdy path intersected into Chad's own, nearly causing the large teen to nearly fall. He easily caught himself.
"Sorry Chad," Ichigo managed to say, briefly breaking from his single-minded focus on charging forward, "Are you alright?"
"I'm good," Chad replied as he recovered his footing. Uryu swooped in and wordlessly offered to carry Chad onward. They dropped their pace slightly to talk.
"Sado, have you thought any further on what we'll do when we reach Hueco Mundo?" inquired the dark-haired boy.
"Well, we know more than before we started. But that's still barely anything," Chad said. He hesitated slightly on the next question, never knowing how much his friend was willing to discuss of his own race's history, "Do, did the Quincies' records say anything about Hueco Mundo? You said they knew about this Earthmover thing Sirvino-san mentioned."
"He..." Ishida paused momentarily, "He's probably just a myth like Yadomaru-san said."
Chad couldn't help feeling the pause was Uryu trying to convince himself of that statement.
"There is supposed to be some kind of castle there," said Uryu, "Not a lot more is known. You didn't get any info from Urahara-san?"
"He seemed reluctant to say much in front of the Kido Captain sent to prepare for the war with Aizen," Chad replied.
"Who?" Uryu asked.
"A mysterious masked Shinigami who said he commanded the Kido Corps," Chad explained, "You didn't meet him with Urahara?"
"Urahara-san approached me alone with news about Inoue-san's betrayal. He told me to meet you at Sirvin-san's restaurant." said Uryu, "Hmmph, another Shinigami captain, huh?"
The four teens from Karakura had learned a little about each of the major figures of the Gotei Thirteen following the week they stayed in the Soul Society after Rukia's rescue and Aizen's escape. Chad always suspected that in some capacity, the raven-haired Quincy still never accepted them as allies. What was now being said by them about Orihime didn't endear them with Chad either. The dark skinned teen guessed now was not the time to press Uryu further on those issues.
While the young Quincy ruminated on this new Captain to contend with, Chad recalled his own encounter with the strange Shinigami.
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Chad awoke in underground training facility to find Renji gone and Urahara's heavily muscled and mustached assistant, Tsukabishi Tessai, waiting for him.
"Good morning, Sado-san," he said very formally, "Arabai-san was called back to the Soul Society. I will take over training you for the time being."
"Okay," replied Chad with some uncertainty regarding the odd man, "Um, Tsukabishi-sensei?"
"Ho ho ho, Tsukabishi-san, or if you're comfortable doing so simply, Tessai will be fine," he said rather jovially, "Come, stand and prepare your armament. Let's do some light sparring before breakfast."
Chad rose and summoned his arm armor and prepared himself with a combat stance.
"I will begin, if I may," Tessai proclaimed, and brought his palms together in a prayer pose. He then unleashed a palm strike accompanied by a massive shockwave that cracked the ground and walls around Chad. He blocked with his armored arm. It still had done damage. He could feel trickles of blood from each corner of his mouth. He also knew that was a minor, almost cosmetic injury. He wiped away the blood and kept focused on his newly appointed teacher.
"You have become impressively resilient, Sado-san," Tessai complimented him as he moved closer. He lightly placed his hand upon a nearby boulder, which crumbled to dust, "I barely held back at all. You also show fine instincts, not looking away from your opponent as you tended to your injuries."
Having Reached a closer range, Tessai struck with another palm strike at a lower angle, aimed towards Chad's ribs. The dark-skinned teen managed to deflect the blow by swatting it away. It caused a straight crack that ran along the ground in the direction it went astray.
"Nicely done again," Tessai said, but paused with a thoughtful stroke of his chin, "You're clearly a most direct and power-based fighter. Don't overestimate that. Do not always expect to survive or win on the first blow. You may not have the luxury of analyzing your enemy, but don't negect it either."
Tessai launched a further flurry of palm strikes, varying the speed and power of them to keep Chad alert and observant of each one. At one point, after having deflected a series of blows with his armored right, Chad instinctively stuck at the opening with a punch from his unarmored left fist. It landed and caused Tessai to stagger back. The mustached man regained his footing, spat out a small mouthful of saliva and blood, then smiled.
"Wonderful," he said with approval, "Never hesitate to use any means available to you in battle."
Tessai paused, removing and placing his glasses on a nearby rock. He then launched sweeping kick that Chad blocked. The teen moved in and the two continued deflecting each other's blows. As they sparred, Jinta, one of the child-looking assistants of Urahara, could be heard from the other side of the entrance, "Hey, you can-"
Suddenly Jinta's voice was gone. A masked figure in the robes a Shinigami descended into the training area. He was followed by Jinta, still talking, apparently unaware his voice could not be heard and Ururu, Urahara's other young assistant.
"Jinta, please stop," pleaded the timid, dark-haired girl, "He seems really scary!"
The red-haired boy began talking at Ururu. He stopped abruptly, having now realized his voice was gone. The masked Shinigami knelt down to the level of the children.
"I suppose this was excessive," he said and snapped his fingers.
"Eh, uh, uh…" Jinta stammered and stumbled backward with his voice returned.
"Ah, I deserve that. Let me make it up to you," the Shinigami said, "Tell you two what we will do. Go upstairs and find those things from Urahara's shop you always wanted, but could never afford or would never allow yourselves."
The two children looked to Urahara as he entered. The wily shopkeeper nodded, indicating his approval.
"It is settled then," the Captain said with a clap of his hands, "Go pick out your treasures and I will come as soon as I finish speaking with everyone down here."
Jinta and Ururu exited cautiously, both keeping an eye on the Shinigami until they had left the training room.
"I'm guessing there's no point asking to try to not frighten my employees or my customers," Urahara said to the the Captain. For a moment, he stared at the unknown Shinigami, then offered, sounding surprisingly sympathetic, "That must get incredibly tiring."
"I am quite accustomed to it," the Shinigami said sounding unbothered. He then turned to Tessai and Chad, who stopped their fight practice to observe them, "Tessai, it has been so long. You are looking well."
"Sir," Tessai replied with a nod, displaying both respect, but also reservation of this Captain.
"And you must be Sado Yasutora, one of Kurosaki Ichigo's allies, hmm?" he said, tilting his head quizzically, examining Chad.
"Sado-san, this is the Captain of the Kido Corps," Urahara said, introducing the unfamiliar Shinigami, "You would not have met him while you were saving Kuchiki-san last time."
Chad said nothing. Though he didn't see anything, but Chad got a sensation of something moving around him. He thought perhaps he heard some soft rustle in the air currents.
"You possess impressive strength, and yet..." The Kido Captain said to the tall teen. Though the Captain remained focused on Chad, he also indirectly addressed Urahara and Tessai, "You will not reach your full potential through the current means you are using here."
"We're aware of that sir," Tessai responded, sounding more deferential to this Kido Captain compared to the strong loyalty he showed to the shopkeeper, "Urahara-san has several theories on the nature of his powers and how we can advance them. He's researched it, but we lack the means to enact them."
Chad bristled slightly at the reveal he had not been included in these discussions, but made an attempt to not an express his discomfort with the two excluding him.
"Perhaps when you journey to Hueco Mundo, you will find the needed path," the new Shinigami postulated.
"Why would I be going to the Hollows' world?" Chad asked, confused at this sudden suggestion.
"You have not told him yet?" the Kido Captain said to Urahara.
"I was preparing to before you and Kurosaki-san arrived," the shopkeeper responded, "You have no issue with Sado-san going?"
"The Captain-Commander said the Substitute Shinigami was forbidden from going to Hueco Mundo," the Kido Captain said, "He said nothing about Sado or his Quincy ally, Ishida Uryu."
"Ichigo was here?" Chad asked increasingly concerned, "What's going on?"
"Inoue-san was kidnapped by Aizen," Urahara reported, "She disappeared between the world of the Living and the Soul Society. It seems she reappeared at Kurosaki-san's residence some time after she first vanished. With that consideration, the Soul Society has concluded she went willingly with the Arrancars and has joined their ranks."
"That's impossible," though Chad said this calmly, there was immediate spike in his reiastu, so much that the earth beneath him and nearby stones around him cracked in reaction to him.
"Quite the show of confidence in that girl," the Kido Captain commented.
"Urahara-san, how do I get to Hueco Mundo?" Chad demanded, still calmly, but it was obvious he was restraining himself.
"Is that where you are most needed now?" the Kido Captain asked before Urahara could answer, "Kurosaki Ichigo was here. Due to current circumstances, he is now headed to his human school. Are there not people who may share your concern over the disappearance of Inoue Orihime? How will he handle dealing with them?"
"Ichigo," Chad said, his thoughts turning to his other friend.
"Sado-san, Kurosaki-san is alone and still trying to deal with what's happened," said the mentor of the two boys. "It may be best if someone is there beside him."
"I'll, uh, I will go get ready for school," Chad said, having accepted their guidance, "I will watch over Ichigo."
"That may be best," Urahara said.
"And I must go keep a promise to your help," the Shinigami said heading upstairs.
As Chad bathed and changed in another earby section, he overheard Urahara and Tessai. He was unsure what prompted him to, but tall teen decided to listen covertly.
"So that's the infamous Kido Captain," said Urahara, followed a short silence, "I'm guessing his presence means I will have to re-work the strategies of several of my contingency plans."
"Kisuke, don't underestimate him," said Tessai with a resounding seriousness, "He can definitely be a hindrance if made one, but he can also he a valuable ally."
"Oh," Urahara replied, his interest stirred.
"When I joined the Kido Corps, it was a club for children of the rich and the noble houses too good to lift a Zanpaktō and pretentious, mumbling mystics plotting with Central Forty-Six members about how they could cling to their power and status. Because of the secrecy the Corps operated under, no one knew where he came from. He moved up into command very easily, " Tessai further explained, "Perhaps he had the more powerful friends, or simply played the game of politics better than them. The heads of Corps proved toothless in their objections to his takeover."
There was no answer from Urahara.
"Course, it wasn't just bureaucratic maneuvering. He is, too good at Kido," the assistant went on, "I've heard Aizen is capable a Hado Ninety without the incantation. I've seen this Captain perform ones even higher. Ones I require all my focus to use. He would perform while very deliberately chanting the wrong incantations."
There was still no response from Urahara.
"Both you and Aizen are probably the two most brilliant people I have ever met in the Soul Society," said Tessai, "but if there's someone that may see a bigger picture than either of you, it is that man."
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"Inoue did not betray us," Ichigo said suddenly, snapping Chad out of his memories.
"I did not mean to imply she had, Kurosaki, " Uryu responded, "But if that's what the Soul Society has decided, it is something we need to contend if we rescue her."
"What do you mean by if, Ishida?" Ichigo said back, "I don't care about some stupid castle, or this Earth, whatever. We're going to crush them all and take back Inoue and end all of this."
"Kurosaki, you're being too reckless," Uryu protested. The Substitute Shinigami offered no answer, not even looking back to the Quincy as they continued moving forward, "Kurosaki-"
"Ichigo, when I was eight years old, I use to go horse-riding at the ranch where my Abuelo worked" Chad said. Although they kept moving, Ichigo and Uryu both listened closely, in part out of surprise at Chad so suddenly sharing a part of his past, "I never bothered with a helmet. One day, I fell and smashed my head on some rocks."
"Sado-san?" Uryu replied, caught unprepared by Chad's story.
"Chad,' Ichigo also said with similar surprise. He even finally lookd back toward the others.
"I was out for nearly a week. I woke up though and was fine. I didn't let what happened stop me from going out riding again," Chad said, "But my Abuelo insisted I always ride with a helmet from then on. I was young, dumb. It was just annoying to me and I asked him why. He told me, miracles don't happen twice."
There was only silence now from Ichigo and Uryu.
"I'm not trying to say what you did when you saved Rukia wasn't something incredible, or that it wasn't something you acheived through your own determination," Chad offered, "And I know the only person I'm sure who wants to save Inoue more than Ishida and I is you, Ichigo."
Ichigo slowed his restless charge forward somewhat. Chad, focused on ichigo, missed a slightly sad smile from Uryu.
"Before though, in the Soul Society, we got lucky. And we had a lot of help, Yoruichi-san, Ganju and Kūkaku, Hanataro, and Inoue herself," Chad said, "We can't expect things to work out like they did before."
"Chad, I…" Ichigo began to respond, the heaviness in voice showed he had been affected by what his friend shared. Before he could finish though, the three reached the end of the pasageway. They leapt though and found themselves in vast desert of white sand and a starless night sky. In the western direction, there was a crescent moon.
After several moments taking in the landscape, Chad spoke, "Where do we go?"
"I can't detect any reiastu," Ishida commented.
"Should-," Ichigo was cut off by the sudden appearance of five huge spider-like Hollows with multiple legs and blank masks. They surrounded the teens in a half circle. On their backs were groups of Arrancars in skull-like masks, except upon the beast in the center. It carried only two, different from the others. One had blond hair and a mask that left his lower face uncovered. The other was shirtless and tattoed, with a bird beak shaped mask piece atop his head.
"Humans," announced the blond Arrancar, "You have no place in Hueco Mundo. You are unwelcome here. Return back through the the Garganta or faces the consequences."
"Not happening," Ichigo answered.
"You have chosen poorly," the masked one replied.
The skull-masked Arrancars on the outer sides of the half-circle jumped to the ground and began advancing towards the teens. Uryu and Chad flanked each side of Ichigo, facing the approaching groups. Chad noted Uryu now wielded an impressive looking larger bow shaped liked a crest symbol atop a Quincy cross. This alleviated concerns of Chad over Uryu's Quincy powers, something the taller teen had been unsure how to ask his friend.
"Nice bow Ishida," Chad felt necessary to add despite their current predicament.
"Uh, thanks, Sado. Kurosaki, Sado, the enemies appear similar, but there are several types," Uryu advised the other two, "The ones still on the Hollows, with bird and snake skulls, are likely preparing projectile attacks. I'll take care of those. Sado, those larger troops with ape and horned skulls seem to have heavier, blunt weapons. Can you handle them?"
"I'm on it, " the dark-skinned teen answered confidently.
"Kurosaki, the others have light-" Uryu said as turned to the Shinigami Substitute positioned between him and Chad, "Kurosaki?"
Ichigo had started running between the enclosing enemies to the center Hollow with the two Arrancars that commanded the others.
"That colossal, thoughtless, burple zabba…." Uryu went into frustrated gibberish over Ichigo's actions.
Chad could only offer a half-sigh, half-laugh, "I suppose we could only expect so much out of our little pep talk to him on the way here. I'll give you some cover Ishida and you launch a barrage at the enemy."
"Huh, yeah, got it, Sado,"Uryu quickly recovered.
"EL DIRECTO!" Chad shouted, and unleashed his armored fist into the desert floor directly in front of him. His attack created a huge amount of dust and sand. Uryu leapt just ahead of the rising cloud. At the peak of his jump, Uryu released an enormous multitude of arrows, more than Chad could keep track. The Quincy Archer returned to the ground beside the tall teen.
"I was able to hit about two-thirds of the enemy forces, " Uryu reported, "Charge them and I'll cover you."
"Right!" Chad responded and made his own dash through the disappearing cloud cover to attack.
Ichigo charged at the center Hollow. He leapt to attack, drawing his Zanpaktō, Zangetsu from his back. As he neared, the two Arrancars simultaneously sent Ceroes at the orange-haired teen.
"Getsu-" Ichigo said as he began to counter the Ceroes. There was an explosion as the attacks met that staggered the giant Hollows and knocked over both the two Arrancars and the ones on the surrounding beasts. Ichigo was sent flying away, landing on his back behind where Uryu and Chad were making their stand.
"Ow, damn it!" Ichigo declared, more embarrassed than injured. He then noticed a rumbling coming from the ground beneath him, and rapidly growing closer, "Huh?"
He looked to the direction above him, his vision inverted from that position. He quickly rose and held Zangetsu at the ready. More Hollows like the ones they fought now were approaching. A much larger group neared, possibly three times as many than the first, if not more. Several of these newcomers formed a similar half-circle enclosing the teens and the skull-masked soldiers. Others took up random points behind the front line. The beasts also carried Arrancars on their backs, but more varied in appearance than the skull troopers. One of Hollows, from the same lead position as the original group, crossed the battlefield. On its back was a young-looking blond Arrancar with a covered eye and a large black-haired one seated beside him, steering the beast. It stopped in front of the lead Hollow of the first group.
"Findor, we will collect these newcomers," the blond Arrancar with the eye patch said, "You may stand down."
"These are humans, Lindocruz," the masked Arrancar named Findor answered, "it is too dangerous for them to be in Huuco Mundo. You can stand down."
"I have orders from Nnoitra-sama and Szayel-sama to retreive them" the blond Arrancar replied, "You should stand down."
"The science division and Gilga's games don't overrule the law of Hueco Mundo," Findor said, growing angier "You will stand down."
"You will stand down!" The blond Arrancar repeated back, growing equally irritated at Findor's last comment.
"Tesla-chan, don't get so worked up," the dark-haired Arrancar now said, rising to support his companion, "Surely you and Findor-chan can compromise."
"You stay outta this Charlotte-" the shirtless Arrancar with Findor began saying.
"Huh? Who's talking?" the taller Charlotte said sing-songly, "I'm not capable of hearing unattractive people!"
"You dirty, fruity…" The shirtless Arrancar grumbled, then started shouting, "I'm gonna kick yor ass! I'll kill you! I'LLL KEEELLL YOOUUU!"
Charlotte only snorted with laughter. Findor and Tesla both looked mortified, with the masked Arrancar trying in vain to calm the now furious Arrancar, "Stop it Redder!"
While the lead Arrancars argued, a bolt of lightning struck near Ichigo and his friends. There were no clouds to serve as its source, it simply descended out of the sky. With the flash, another being appeared. He wore a dark blue tunic with a v-shaped opening beneath the neck, tied with strings. He also wore matching blue pants tucked into simple black boots. He seemed to have no Hollow mask pieces or visible hole, but instead a pair of short antlers poking through a coiled mass of green-blue dreadlocks and red burning eyes with animalistic slits instead of round pupils. He was rather short, not even as tall as Ichigo or Uryu. The Arrancars present froze, and the ones with visible faces, including the leaders, shrunk back in terror of this new arrival.
"Gentlemen," the unknown one said in a high, cold voice, "You must do better than this."