Hey everyone. Hope you all had a great summer. Mine was a bit of a struggle. My family decided it was time to move, and when paired up with normal work, the past couple months have been even more busy. But, I managed to get some time to do some more writing and proofreading.
One quick and important note for everyone who has already read the previous chapter at this point. I had to remove a portion of the chapter (the meeting between the Head Captain and Captain Kurotsuchi) due to future issues. This was intended to be a sort of side plot that would fall into the main plot, but after re-reading through my notes, I saw that if this portion of the story continued, there would be a few contradictions and plot conflicts later in the story. After seeing there was no way to resolve these issues, I found that it was best to remove this side plot entirely. Thankfully, doing so won't change the overall end-game of the story. I want to apologize for this issue, and I hope you will continue to enjoy the story.
That's all I've got for now, so enjoy the next chapter of the story and see you at the end.
(I DO NOT OWN BLEACH; ITS CHARACTERS, NAMES, LOCATIONS, OR STORY! THAT HONOR BELONGS SOLELY TO TITE KUBO AND HIS TEAM! ONLY THE OC, AND RANDOM NAMES NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOKS OR ANIME ARE MY OWN!)
(Lost and Found: Part 2)
Quatro Espada's Palace, Upper Levels, With Rukia and Chad
Rukia sighed to herself as she and Chad walked through the empty corridors. Ever since meeting back up with Chad and discovering his unexpected 'baggage', she had been on edge and ready for a fight when the amazonian woman eventually woke up again. Though she wouldn't admit it, to Chad or anyone else, her fight with Apacci and Sung-Sun was really a close call. Had it not been for her newest ability, she would have likely lost the fight. Even then, she still considered the fight a close one. If it had lasted a few minutes longer, her own ability would have either killed her, or rendered her unable to fight.
Fighting Di Roy back in Karakura Town was a challenge with that infuriating sound ability of his, but even just one of those two women were far stronger than him. And she was fighting both of them at the same time. Speaking of which…
She spared a quick glance at the large teen and could only be filled with amazement. Chad was a human, and he took down a fracción on his own. Granted, he had some powerful abilities of his own, but he was still just a human, a being that didn't possess the same hardiness and reflexes as soul reapers and hollows. To take down a fracción on his own was simply astounding.
"Do you think they'll be okay?" the teen suddenly asked, drawing the small woman from her musings.
"Sorry?" she asked, so caught up in her thoughts she missed his question.
"Ichigo and Nel… do you think they'll be okay?" he asked again.
Rukia raised a curious brow. "Of course they will. Why wouldn't they be?" she challenged, even though she was secretly asking herself the same question.
"I can't detect spiritual pressure as well as you or the others, but I can still tell that whoever it is they're fighting is strong. Very strong." he fretted aloud.
The woman scoffed and smirked at him. "I told you before: Ichigo's way too stubborn to just let someone beat him. Don't forget that Nel's down there too, and she was an Espada. So, whoever it is down there, I think they're going to have a very bad day. So stop worrying." she said with a fake smile. The teen then came to a stop, and she nearly bumped into him from the unexpected halt. Blinking, she leaned around to look up at his stoic face with concern. "Chad?"
He was silent for a moment, then looked down to her. "I'm not so sure, Rukia. I can't explain it, but… I'm getting this odd feeling that something is wrong. I think…" He raised his gaze back up to the empty corridor and shook his head slowly. "I think Ichigo and Nel are in trouble."
It was as if the teen was reading her thoughts. The truth was, she was starting to think the same thing. With a heavy sigh, the woman lowered her gaze and nodded. "Yeah… I think so too." she mumbled.
The pair's gazes snapped back ahead when they both suddenly detected a pair of spiritual pressures close by, very close. Shifting on their feet, Rukia rested a hand on her zanpakutō, ready to draw, while Chad held the woman draped over his shoulder tighter and raised a fist. A second later, they began to hear footsteps and the faint sound of voices closing in from around a nearby corner.
"What do we do?" Chad asked in worry.
Rukia gave a quick glance at the woman on his shoulder and scoffed. "Can't do much with that Arrancar on your shoulder. If we leave her, we can make a run for it before we're spotted. But, you're not going to do that, are you?" she questioned in a hiss. A shake of the teen's head was her answer and she scoffed. "Then there's nothing we can do except get ready to fight. I can try to hold them off while you make a run for it."
He shook his head again. "I'm not going to leave you. If you can take them head-on, I'll watch your back." he proposed.
Rukia nodded and drew her zanpakutō as the footsteps and voices got louder. The pair watched as the seconds ticked by, and just before the unknown entities came into view, she began to strike. When her targets finally came around the corner, she was halted by the raising of hands and the hurried shouting for her to stop. Stopping her assault, both she and Chad blinked in surprise at who was standing before her.
"Renji?! Uryū?!" she asked in shock, still maintaining her aggressive stance.
'Rukia? Chad? What the hell are you two doing here?" the red-headed Lieutenant asked in similar surprise.
Rukia finally relaxed and sheathed her zanpakutō with a sigh of relief. "Kami, Renji, you scared us to death, you know." she hissed, crossing her arms in agitation and getting a nod of agreement from Chad.
"Scared you? If anyone should be frightened in this confrontation, it should be us? Didn't they teach you to identify your targets before you try to chop their heads off?" Uryū argued in return with a frown.
The woman rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Oh, shut up, Uryū. It's not like we were supposed to expect it to be you two and not more Arrancars."
Uryū scoffed through his nose and removed his glasses to clean them. "While that is a fair point, that still doesn't mean you should attack the first thing you see when allies are involved. But that is besides the point." he rebuked, returning his glasses to his face. "Have the two of you had any luck finding Orihime?" he asked.
Rukia sighed and shook her head. "Sadly, no. Our search was kinda put on hold when we ran into a trio of fracción, so we had to deal with them. And what about you two? We felt that you two ran into trouble yourselves, and since you're both standing here, it's obvious you won your fight."
The pair shook their own heads. "Nothing. We searched every nook and cranny on the lower floors, but found no sign of Orihime. Didn't even so much as detect a hint of her spiritual pressure."
"What about Ichigo and the others? Have you seen them?" Chad asked.
Uryū nodded and folded his arms. "Yes. At least, I can feel that Ichigo and the Arrancar woman are both downstairs on one of the lower floors, maybe even on the ground level. I felt them leave the palace, I'm guessing through a garganta, then Ichigo and the woman came back about a half hour later, but Tim wasn't with them. I think he may still be in another one of the palaces, alone."
"That's not good." Rukia mumbled to herself, holding a hand up to her chin. "Tim is strong, but there's no way he should be out there on his own. Do you think we should try and find him?"
Renji snorted and grinned at her. "The kid's an annoying little brat, but he can handle himself. Plus he's not stupid. He knows to run if he finds someone he can't handle."
"It's Ichigo and the Arrancar woman we're worried about." Uryū stepped in.
Rukia frowned at his statement and nodded. "I take it you felt it too? This weird spiritual pressure near them?"
The duo nodded. "Yes. Who, or whatever that spiritual pressure belongs to, it's not human. Even though it feels similar to Orihime's, we would be foolish to think that it's really her. There's something not right here. I'm starting to think that this was all just an elaborate trap, and we're walking right into it."
The woman sighed and nodded. "Yeah… I think you're right. So… what do we do?"
Uryū adjusted his glasses and peered down the empty hallway. "While Renji and I were making our way back down, we searched every room we could find, and while we were able to discover where they were keeping Orihime before, she had obviously been moved some time ago. It's safe to say that she is no longer in this palace, but that still leaves the other nine to go through. I hate to say it…" The teen sighed heavily and gave her a serious look. "But I don't think we can continue our search for much longer."
His statement surprised Rukia and Chad, and she snapped her gaze back to the teen. "What?! You can't seriously be saying we just up and leave her!"
He narrowed his eyes. "Think about it, Rukia. Just by looking at you, I can tell the fight you had earlier was tough, and that you used a considerable amount of your spirit energy to win it. And look at Chad; he's in no better shape than you are. Even Renji's in bad shape right now, and I'm not faring much better in terms of spirit energy. And none of those opponents were Espada level. And, need I remind you that there are ten of them? We've lost our element of surprise, if we even had it in the first place; it's plain that Orihime is not in this palace anymore, she may even be under guard by Aizen himself; and we've exhausted too much of our strength. We are simply in no position to continue this without needlessly giving up our lives. I have no problem giving my life to save Orihime's, but that doesn't mean we should just give them up for no reason."
Stepping forward, the teen rested a hand on the short woman's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. "Believe me, the last thing I want to do is leave Orihime in the hands of someone like Aizen, but the best option we have right now is to fall back, regroup, and come up with a new plan. I'm not saying we should leave Hueco Mundo, but we cannot stay here in Las Noches without a new plan. Continuing on from this point would only serve to work against us."
Renji took a deep breath and nodded. "He's right, Rukia. It'd be stupid to keep going without thinking it through. We should just step back and take a breather to figure out how to go on from here."
"But… we can't just leave Orihime with that bastard." she insisted.
"We're not. It's just going to take a bit longer to get this done than we originally thought. We pull back, rest up, come up with a new plan, then hit em again. Shouldn't take a couple days at the most. Aizen may be a bastard, but even you have to admit that he's not stupid. If he wanted Orihime dead, he would have just killed her instead of kidnapping her. He took her for a reason, and whatever that reason is, it's keeping him or the Arrancars from killing her. I think she'll be ok for now, so we should take this chance while we can."
"Rukia…" Chad spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I think… that they're right. We can't afford to be reckless. I think we should fall back for now."
Uryū then narrowed his dangerously at the teen. "Chad… who is that on your shoulder?" he questioned.
Rukia dropped her head and sighed in exasperation. "It's… a long story." she mumbled.
"Is that…" Renji started, then his eyes widened. "Is she… an Arrancar?!" he breathed out in shock, getting a nod from the teen.
"What the hell are you doing with her, Chad?" Uryū demanded.
"She was hurt from our fight. I couldn't leave her in her condition." the teen responded simply.
Uryū's eyes narrowed further in a growl. "So your bright idea was to bring her with you? Have you lost your mind, Chad? She is our enemy."
Rukia held up a hand and gave him a pleading look. "Don't bother, Uryū. I've already tried to convince him, but it didn't work. Eventually, I told him she can come with us, but if she tries anything when she wakes up, I'll kill her myself. For now, just… just let it be. I've already placed a Bakudō on her, so she's at least restrained. If anything, we can keep her prisoner and try to get some information out of her."
Renji sighed and turned to the Quincy. "Hate to say it, but she's got a point. At this point, any help would be great, regardless of where the help came from. Who knows, maybe we can convince her to help us out. I mean, we do have Nel working with us."
Uryū rolled his eyes to the Lieutenant. "Only after Aizen supposedly tried to kill her. I doubt that situation is present here."
"Uryū…" Rukia jumped in, holding up a hand. "She's coming with us, nothing any of us say can change it, so let's just drop it for now. Right now, I think we have more pressing matters; like finding Ichigo, Tim, and Nel, and finding a place to hide. I doubt we can use the tunnels now, and I'm not sure I want to with that mindless killer down there."
The Quincy turned back to the unconscious woman on Chad's shoulder with a growl, then sighed. "Fine. But if the woman so much as flinches the wrong way, I will kill her without a second thought. That, I promise you." With a huff he adjusted his glasses once more and crossed his arms. "As far as the tunnels, I have to agree. Staying down there while Hikaru is the mindless being he is would be a terrible idea. There is simply no telling what he, or 'it', would do. He might leave us alone, but he could also very well come after us. And there is no way to know if he still has access to those disgusting zanpakutō powers of his."
Both Renji and Rukia shivered at the horrible nightmares the former soul reaper's zanpakutō forced on them. "Yeah, screw that." the Lieutenant concurred. "But, we'd still have to go through it if we wanted to get out of Las Noches. If we tried to use Nel's garganta, Aizen and the Espada would only track us down. Other than walking out the front gate, I don't see any other way of getting out of here."
"Not to mention we still have to find Tim." Rukia added. "We know where Ichigo and Nel are, but I have no idea where Tim is now. What about you two?" she asked the Lieutenant and Quincy.
"No idea." Uryū responded with a sigh. "I know he left with Ichigo and the woman somewhere outside the palace, but when they came back, Tim wasn't with them. Do you think they ran into trouble while they were away?"
"Possible." Renji confirmed. "But I've seen Tim and Nel fight, and if you ask me, I think the only thing here that could give those three trouble would be an Espada. So that's just great. Not only do we have to find Orihime, now we have to look for Tim as well. This day just keeps getting better and better. So, what do we do now?"
Uryū cupped his chin and hummed. "As Rukia said, we know where Ichigo and the woman are, so our first task should be meeting back up with them and dealing with that odd spiritual pressure they're facing. After that, we can figure out where to go from there. At least we won't be constantly watched from now on."
Rukia raised a worried brow. "What do you mean?"
Renji scoffed and crossed his arms in anger. "Turns out our surprise infiltration wasn't really a 'surprise'. We ran into an Arrancar called Rudbornn. Guy was an absolute pain in the ass to fight. But anyway, turns out the guy was like the head of security or something, and he was watching us ever since we entered the tunnels outside Las Noches. So yeah, all that sneaking around was worthless. They knew we were here a long time ago. But since Uryū killed him, Aizen won't have him to keep constant tabs on us anymore."
Rukia's eyes went wide in horror. "We were being watched this whole time?!"
"Yeah. So much for stealth, huh?" Renji confirmed.
"And what makes you think we're not being watched now?" she pressed.
"I never said I didn't think that, it's likely we are being watched as we speak, but there's nothing we can do about it right now. And sitting here talking about it is only giving our enemies more time to come find us, so we should get moving."
"Agreed." Chad said with a nod.
Renji nodded and planted his hands on his hips. "Alright then. We go help out Ichigo and Nel, then see if we can find Tim. Let's get outta here."
They were about to turn and leave, when a low moan hit their ears. All eyes snapped to Mila Rose on Chad's shoulder, just now coming to. After a moment of silence, the woman slowly raised her head up and started looking around to get her bearings.
"What the… Where…?" she mumbled in her deep voice.
Chad turned his head to her in a side glance while the others got ready to draw their weapons. "Are you alright." he asked in a calm tone.
Flinching at at his unexpected voice, Mila Rose turned her head around in a snap. "What the?! What the hell are you doing here?" she snapped and began to shift on his shoulder to escape, only to notice that, for some reason, she couldn't. "What the hell?!" she hissed and struggled against her binds even harder. "What… What the hell do you do to me?! Why can't I move?!"
Keeping her hand on the hilt of her zanpakutō, Rukia stepped around Chad and into the Arrancar's view. "Simple. I bound you with a kidō. Against my advice, Chad here thought it would be a good idea to bring you along. Obviously, that kidō is for our protection. While I'm sure you can easily break free with little effort, it would still hold you long enough to us finish you off before you could. So I would advise you don't." she warned in a calm, yet serious manner.
Mila Rose stopped here struggling and turned to face the small woman with a frown. "Heh, if you're here, I guess it means Apacci and Sung-Sun were beaten by you. Let me guess, you decided to kill them?" she accused with a snarl.
Rukia, seeing that the Arrancar was no longer fighting her bonds, eased up a little in her stance. "Yes, I defeated them; and no, I didn't kill them. They're not going to be feeling very well for a while, but they're still alive. Like I told you before, we're not here to kill you, we just came to rescue our friend."
"... I see." Mila Rose mumbled, internally glad that her two closest 'friends' were still alive. Not because she cared… not really… but because it would greatly upset their mistress, Harribel… Ok, fine, she did care, at least a little, about those two annoying idiots. Afterall, who would she be able to argue with on a daily basis without them?
"So…" She pauses to try and look around, noticing that there were others besides her, the giant male, and the midget woman. Upon a quick glance, she saw there was another soul reaper, and she guessed was the Quincy, Aizen had told them about. "Why exactly did you kidnap me?" she questioned.
Rukia rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath. "Because Chad's way too much of a gentleman." Mila Rose turned back to her with a raised brow in question. "Nothing." the short woman said, waving the look off. "Look, we've got some questions for you, and once we've rescued our friend, we'll be leaving and you can go. Simple as that."
"Rukia…" Chad started with a disapproving glance.
"No, Chad. Look, I relented and let you bring her along to keep her safe and all, but I'm putting my foot down here. She's too dangerous to let go right now. As long as she doesn't try anything, we'll let her go when we leave." Rukia admonished.
The teen's head dropped a bit in displeasure. "But…"
"She's right, Chad." Renji jumped in. "We let her go, she'll just lead more right back to us. Like Uryū said, we're likely being watched even now, but there is still the chance we might not be at the moment. It surely doesn't mean we should give them more ways to find us. Rukia already said that she'll be let loose once we leave this place. Right?"
Reluctantly, the man nodded. "Alright." he relented.
Rukia nodded and returned to the Arrancar. "So, are we going to have any problems?" she questioned in a warning tone.
Mila Rose rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Tsk, it's not like I'm suicidal. Looks like I'm your prisoner now." she grumbled. "So, what's your brilliant plan now that I'm your captive, oh captors of mine?" she mocked.
Uryū narrowed his eyes dangerously at the woman. "For starters, it would be quite beneficial to your continued health to mind your tongue, Arrancar." he cautioned.
Mila Rose glared right back in a growl when Rukia stepped between them to face the Quincy. "Uryū, there's no need to rile her up. And you…" She paused to look back at Mila Rose. "We don't have time for your smart-ass remarks. And to answer your question, our plan is to find our missing comrades and hide for a while. Now that our element of surprise is gone, if we even had it in the first place, we need to regroup and come up with a new plan."
The Arrancar woman snorted with a roll of the eyes. "'Element of surprise'? Yeah right. Aizen knew you were here when you first stepped foot in Hueco Mundo. He's got eyes literally everywhere, thanks to that bastard Rudborrn. Nothing escapes his notice."
Uryū had a smirk on his face as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Fortunately, he will no longer be a problem." he said smugly.
Mila Rose raised a brow in surprise at the Quincy. "You mean Rudborrn's dead? You killed him?" she asked in disbelief, earning a nod from him and Renji. "Tsk, good riddance. Me and the other girls always hated that spying bastard. I honestly don't know if I should be thanking you, or hating you more for it. Anyway, can I at least walk on my own? It's a little demeaning being carried like this."
Rukia slowly shook her head. "We don't feel comfortable taking that chance. And I don't know any kidōs that can stop you from using sonído without hampering your legs. So… yeah. You're just gonna have to bear with it. Sorry."
The woman growled lowly, but dropped her head in defeat. "Perfect."
"Alright…" Renji spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "Since we know where Ichigo and Nel are, we'll make our way to them first and help them out with whoever it is they're fighting, then try to figure out where the hell Tim vanished to. After that, we find a way outta Las Noches and regroup. Sound good?"
After a round of nods, the group of two soul reapers, one Quincy, one human, and now one Arrancar, began making their way to the lower levels of the palace, all but one hoping that they would be able to make it to Ichigo and Nel in time.
Quatro Espada's Palace
The sounds of metal against metal rang out, echoing off the vast, bare walls of a large room where two individuals fought against a third, smaller opponent. With every clash of their blades, sparks flew for a brief instant before fading away in the air. The delay between each ring and spark was never more than a second as the two sides fought with intensity.
Ichigo grunted as his blade was once again parried and pushed back by the smaller woman before she turned and blocked another attack from her second opponent, Nelliel. The former Espada managed to hold against being forced back, trying to push the other woman back instead. But the pair had quickly discovered something within seconds of the fight starting.
Their opponent was exceedingly agile.
With a wide, evil smile, the Orihime look-alike kicked herself off the floor, and with a twist of her body, brought the length of it parallel with the floor. While her body was mid-twist, she rested a shin on either side of Nelliel's neck and squeezed them together. With a further twist of her waist, she added momentum to her body and lifted the former Espada off her feet, around, and sent her flying in a cartwheel into a nearby pillar.
She didn't have time to watch the woman's impact, as she was forced to block another attack from the orange-haired teen the second she landed back on her feet. She swung a leg under the teen's feet, knocking them out from under him. Further adding to her agility, she continued her spin around and quickly switching feet, brought the other up and into the teen's back. A pained rush of air was forced out of his lungs with wide eyes before he felt her foot again, this time coming down on his stomach and forcing him right back down onto the floor with a crash.
Ichigo coughed loudly as he fought to refill his lungs, while the unknown woman stood mightily, above him with a proud smirk on her face. "Do you plan to get serious sometime soon? Ten minutes, two against one, and neither of you have managed to come close to even touching me, let alone damage me." she taunted.
Immediately following her words, she twisted around and swung her blade down, deflecting Nelliel's attack and leaving her open. With yet another twist of her body, the woman delivered a roundhouse kick to Nelliel's shoulder, sending her flying again several feet before crashing onto the floor.
Recovering from her counter, the woman scoffed and shook her head slowly. "Honestly, all that talk about being powerful and getting trained by Urahara, and this is what I am faced with? I am not doubting Lord Aizen's words, but I am questioning my understanding of them. He said the two of you were skilled fighters, but I have yet to see anything that supports that claim."
Ichigo grunted as he rolled himself onto his side, coughing again before pushing himself back up to his feet and wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shihakusho. The woman rolled her eyes to him in a side-glance, her grin returning as he got back into his fighting stance.
"Damn you!" he cursed her, his temper at an alltime high, eyes filled with fury.
Her lips pulled back, revealing her fangs in a sneer. "What? Do you have something to prove otherwise, little soul reaper?" she mocked.
"Ichigo…" another voice called, drawing their attention to Nelliel, who was just recovering as well. "Calm down. Letting your anger get involved in your fighting will only let her predict you easier." she warned, dropping into her stance as well.
The teen growled and glared at the unknown woman. "How the hell can you expect me to be calm?! This bitch did something with Orihime! I just know it!" he raged.
"Ichigo!" Nelliel yelled back, trying to break through to him.
"Tsk." the other woman scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You must be hard of hearing, little soul reaper. I already told you; I did not 'do' anything with her. Your Orihime and I have never even interacted with each other in the flesh before. So, how about you stop accusing me of things and get serious in this fight. I am starting to get bored…"
The woman raised a finger towards the teen, where the tip began to glow with a bright, pure white glow. Nelliel gasped, eyes wide in shock, as she turned to her partner. "Ichigo! Look out!" she yelled.
"...And I hate being bored." the woman finished.
With a loud 'buzz', the white energy flashed before shooting towards the teen in a concentrated beam. Only his honed reflexes and a swift 'step' of shunpo saved substitute soul reaper from a quick death as his body vanished, reappearing a few yards away to the side and allowing the woman's cero to pass by, colliding with a faraway pillar in a large explosion.
"Ichigo!" a voice called to him, forcing him to turn and see Nelliel 'buzz' into place through a sonído. "Are you okay?" she asked.
The teen scoffed and turned back to the other woman, who was now smiling wickedly at them. "Yeah. I didn't expect her to be able to use a cero, even though I should've." he admitted.
Nelliel nodded firmly in affirmation. "That actually helps us." she stated.
He turned his head to her without breaking eye contact with their opponent. "How's that?" he questioned.
The former Espada offered him a small smile. "Her firing that cero just proves that she is not Orihime."
His eyes went wide in realization of that fact. Even though they both knew that the woman before them was not the real Orihime, they both still had that little bit of doubt that that wasn't the case. But after seeing the woman fire a cero, an attack that only a hollow can use and not a human like Orihime, that doubt was instantly erased.
The teen's lips slowly pulled back into a smirk as he scoffed again. "Guess I was holding back for nothing then." he said, gripping his weapon tighter.
Their opponent tilted her head a bit, disbelief on her face now. "Really? Are you telling me that all I had to do to get you to fight seriously was to fire a single cero at you? To be honest with you, I am not sure who I should be more mad at right now; you two, or myself. But either way, it doesn't really matter. Are you two ready to fight for real now?" she questioned.
"Shut up, you!" the teen retorted. "All you've managed to do so far is confirm that you're really not Orihime. You still have to tell us where she really is. And I'm gonna beat you to a pulp until you do." he asserted while shaking a fist at her.
The woman's smile returned and she spread her arms out wide. "Well then, bring it on. Come make me tell you where she is. If you can." she taunted.
"There's no 'if' to it. You wanted me to get serious? Well then, fine. I'll show you how serious I can get!" he yelled. Bringing his large zanpakutō in front of him, he held the point out towards the woman as the long, ribbon-like tassel started wrapping around his arm. Placing his free hand on his upper arm, the blade and his eyes began to glow a bright blue as it was infused with his spirit energy. "Bankai!"
The immediate area around the teen exploded in a whirlpool of massive spiritual pressure, concealing him outside view. Sparing a quick glance at where her teammate was, Nelliel mentally concluded that she needed to get more serious as well.
Standing straight, she held her own zanpakutō sideways in front of herself, the blade parallel with the floor, while placing her free hand against the backside of the blade three-quarters of the way down.
"Praise…" she began, drawing upon her spirit energy to begin the release of her resurrección.
But, much to her surprise, her spiritual pressure remained static, not increasing as it should have in order to perform the release. Her eyes widened in shock in epic confusion, before a voice spoke up inside her mind.
"Did you forget what I told you before you left to come here? I told you that I would not allow you to call upon my power until I have deemed otherwise." the voice of her zanpakutō spirit, Gamuza, spoke out.
Nelliel nearly gasped at remembering that the spirit had, indeed, told her such a thing. Anger and despair began to fill her at the thought that she would be unable to help Ichigo further than she has already.
Gritting her teeth, she shook her head and tried to call upon her spiritual pressure once more. But once again, it wouldn't come forth. "Please, Gamuza, I need your power!" she pleaded.
"No. I will grant you the use of my power should I feel that we are about to be destroyed, but that is not the case right now. And I will not allow you to use it for any other purpose until I decide to allow it. For now, rely on your own power and skill." the spirit answered, and swiftly vanished from the forefront of the woman's mind.
Clenching her teeth in anger at the spirit, Nelliel relaxed her pose and instead lowered herself into a combat stance. Though Gamuza forbade her the use of her resurrección, it didn't mean she couldn't support Ichigo wherever she could. Even if all she could do was perform straight-up attacks against her opponent with her sealed zanpakutō and ceros, maybe it could be enough to give Ichigo the edge he needed. As years of combat experience had taught her, even just a fraction of a second of distraction could prove fatal in a fight. If she could give the teen even just that much, perhaps they could still win the fight, even without her resurrección.
The whirlpool of spiritual pressure nearby suddenly exploded outwards, and the two women turned to see Ichigo standing there, now clad in his Bankai form and long, slender, black blade. The teen swiped his blade through the air once, clearing out the remaining dusk caused by his release.
"Tensa Zangetsu." the teen said, calling the name of his Bankai with a wide smirk.
The unknown woman grinned right back. "Lord Aizen has shown me some recordings of your Bankai recently. He said that, while you have only recently acquired it, it is still quite powerful. And, judging by the force of your spiritual pressure just now, I have to admit that he was right." she commented.
"Tsk. What? You trying to flatter me or something?" he retorted.
The woman snickered loudly and darkly. "Not at all. I said that Lord Aizen was right, that your Bankai does, indeed, feel powerful; I never said that I was impressed. If I am being honest, the amount of power I felt was just as I expected it to be. Nothing more."
The teen's smirk fell into a snarl. "You shut up. I'll show you just how powerful my Bankai is!" he yelled, then vanished.
She let out a breath of amusement before turning and effortlessly blocking an attack from the side. The substitute was there for no more than a fraction of a second before he vanished again, this time attacking from the opposite side. But once again, his attack was blocked with hardly any effort at all.
Spotting a chance, Nelliel used sonído to close the gap and catch the woman off guard just as Ichigo made his third attack. Holding her blade up and over her right shoulder, Nelliel was about to bring it down on the woman while Ichigo had her in a blade lock. However, her eyes widened a bit when she saw the woman smirking at her, with a white, glowing finger pointed right at her under the woman's sword arm.
"Cero." she said calmly, launching the attack.
Nelliel had only a split second to abandon the attack and 'buzz' away, just as the attack was about to reach her. Now spotting his own chance, Ichigo took that moment to try and force more pressure onto the woman in an effort to make her lose focus. With a rapid series of more than ten back-to-back attacks, it annoyed Ichigo when he saw that she was still keeping up with him.
"Oh? Now this is much better than before. But please tell me that this is not all you can do." she mocked with a smirk, blocking another attack.
Their blades locked, Ichigo scoffed with a matching smirk. "Not by a long shot." he returned as his blade took on a bluish glow. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he called while applying more force into his blade, breaking the lock and firing his signature attack at the woman at point-blank range.
The area immediately in front of him erupted in an explosion of raw spirit energy, with the unknown woman at the center of it. Expecting a possible counterattack, Ichigo leaped back a few yards while keeping his guard, Nelliel buzzing into place next to him a second later.
"Do you think you got her? I hope you didn't miss." she half teased with a smirk.
The teen snorted and bumped her playfully with his elbow. "Shut up. The only one who could miss at that range is Tim." he shot back.
"Yeah… I doubt that." she said in a mumble.
"Woo hoo!" a voice cheered, making the pair nearly gasp and snap back to the dust-filled area.
"Tsk…" Ichigo scoffed, gritting his teeth. "Shoulda figured that wouldn't do much." he hissed lowly.
They watched as the dust began to clear a bit, and Nelliel growled when they saw the woman standing in the same spot as before. To their shock, besides a single burn line on her right sleeve and a few spots of soot, the woman was completely unharmed. She took a moment to look herself over, letting out a low whistle when she spotted the burn on her sleeve and gave them a light chuckle.
"Hey, not bad. Not bad at all. I'll be honest with you, I had not expected you to hit me with a point-blank attack like that. Of all the recordings I have seen, not one ever showed you doing that before. And Lord Aizen did not mention it either. So I guess that means that was your first time doing that, right? Kinda risky, if you ask me." she commented.
The teen snarled dangerously at the woman, then leaned a bit closer to Nelliel. "It looks like we're gonna have to go all-out with her. I was hoping to save my energy in case we ran into one of the Espada."
She nodded firmly. "I agree. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much help I can be right now." she warned.
Ichigo risked breaking eye contact to spare her a quick glance. "What's wrong? Don't you have a resurrección?" he asked.
She took a deep breath and shook her head. "I do, but… I can't use it right now. Gamuza is not exactly… cooperating… at the moment. She and I still have some issues to work out, but then all this happened and we haven't had a chance to discuss things. I can still use all my basic hollow abilities, but my resurrección is out of the question." she admitted sadly, resting a hand on the collar around her neck.
That was another limiting factor, the collar that Kisuke had made for her to control her decaying hollow spiritual pressure. While the collar halted the decaying effect for the most part, it also severely limited the maximum spiritual pressure she could exert, hampering her combat abilities. If she removed it, she would have full access to her natural power, but at the cost of damaging her spiritual pressure even further, and faster.
Tempted to remove it, if only just to give them a better chance at fighting the woman before them, she instead clenched her teeth and dropped her hand, deciding that the current fight was not worth the cost. They still had the Espada to contend with, and she would need all she could spare if they were to run into one of them.
The teen scoffed lightly, but nodded at her answer. "Got it. Alright, I'll try to keep her occupied, while you hit her where you can to try and throw her off."
Nelliel nodded back in understanding. "That was my plan. But, Ichigo… be careful. We still don't know what abilities she may have. It's possible she may have a resurrección herself." she warned.
He grunted in acknowledgment before they both vanished, reappearing before the other woman with Ichigo striking high and Nelliel attacking low. Scoffing, the woman swung down, blocking Nelliel's attack, and leaned back while lifting her right foot, catching Ichigo's blade with the heel of her boot.
Turning her eyes towards Nelliel, she grinned and raised a finger from her grip on her weapon and pointed a finger with her other hand at Ichigo. The pair's eyes widened as a cero was charged at the tip of each finger, one pointing at each of them.
"Cero." the woman said, launching both of the energy attacks at the same time.
With a swift kick, Nelliel forced Ichigo out of the way and used her free hand to grab the woman's other hand, pulling it down to where both of the attacks were now facing her. It was risky, as she had never attempted to use this ability so close to her opponent in the past. But, nevertheless, just as the two attacks were fired from the woman's fingertips, Nelliel opened her mouth.
Recovering from Nelliel's sudden kick, Ichigo turned his gaze back to the two women and his eyes went wide when he saw the scene before him. "Nel!" he yelled in horror. But, that horror turned to shock when, instead of exploding like a cero should've upon impact, they seemed to be… drawn in into Nelleil's mouth.
Back with the women, Nelliel was pleased when she saw the slight look of surprise and worry in the woman's eyes as she absorbed the two attacks down her throat. After what had to be the longest few seconds of Ichigo's life, the last bit of white energy was pulled into the former Espada's mouth. When she was finished, Nelliel took in a deep breath before, to the teen's amazement and shock, she released a much, much more powerful cero of her own in the woman's face.
The resulting explosion from his partner's attack forced Ichigo to use his arm to shield his eyes from flying debris and the intense light. He also had to hunch down a bit as the resulting shockwave actually threatened to push his body back. A buzz and quick glance to his left told him that Nelleil was now standing beside him again, lightly panting.
The teen blinked twice at her in amazement before speaking. "Wha… What the hell was that, Nel?!"
She didn't answer at first, keeping a close eye on the cloud of dust for any signs of attacks while fuming at herself internally. 'Damnit! Those ceros were powerful, but they weren't on the level of an Espada; yet, I still had to fight to contain them both. And my return cero wasn't that impressive either. If I was at my full power, I would have had no problem containing them, even for an extended period of time. This stupid collar is making things so much worse for me right now.' she seethed.
"That was one of my unique abilities, Cero Doble." she answered after a few seconds. He blinked again in confusion, waiting for further explanation. "To put it simple, I can use my mouth to absorb, or 'swallow', in incoming cero or similar attack. I can then create my own cero and combine that absorbed power with it to make an even stronger cero." she explained.
"Damn." he spoke softly. "That's… actually kinda cool." he admitted, turning back to the dust cloud.
She chuckled under her breath with a smirk. "Thanks. And I hate to tell you this, but I don't think that one got her either. At best, it might have hurt her a little."
They then heard a low, feminine laugh coming from the dust cloud and Ichigo scoffed when the woman appeared again. To both their horror and expectation, the former Espada's attack, just like Ichigo's previous one, did little more than mar the woman's clothes. Also like before, she gave herself a quick look-over and dusted the soot from her pants.
"Well, that was a good one, too. Not bad. Cero Doble, was it not? Absorbing your opponent's cero and combining it with your own before re-releasing it back at your opponent, right? A pretty handy ability. I would not mind having it myself." she commented as she finished dusting herself. "But again, I have to admit that I was not expecting you to use it at close range, like your little soul reaper partner there with his… Getsuga Tenshō, was it?"
She stood up straight and pushed a lock of hair back behind her with a sneer. "Well now, now that I have seen an ability from each of you, why don't I show you one of mine?" she said, and slowly raised a foot up and above her head.
Nelliel's survival instincts suddenly kicked in and her eyes went wide before she snapped her head towards Ichigo. "Mo…!"
She didn't have a chance to finish before the woman dropped her foot back down. A low, deep thumping sound filled the area as a large burst of air pressure was launched from the bottom of her foot and sent towards the pair at a very high speed.
Neither had the chance to flinch before the pressure wave hit them and sent them flying back and into a nearby wall. The impact of their bodies caused the surrounding surface to crack in a spiderweb pattern around them a few feet. Their bodies remained stuck to the wall for a few seconds before Ichigo's, then Nelliel's forms fell loose and dropped to the floor with two dull thuds.
The woman set her foot back down on the floor and chuckled as she started walking slowly towards the downed pair. "Well? What do you think of my Explosión de Presión?" she asked snidely as she kept walking. "I can gather a dense pocket of air in the palms of my hands, or, as you just saw, the bottoms of my feet. Then, by rapidly expanding it as I either punch or kick my feet, it creates a powerful, concentrated wall of air pressure that travels at a high speed. And as you just experienced, it is nearly impossible to avoid."
She came to a stop a few yards away from the now recovering duo and placed a hand on her hip, while leisurely swiping her blade through the empty air before her. "Granted, the pressure does not do hardly any damage itself, but as you can see, if used in the right places, it can be very effective." she concluded with a sneer. "So… are you two ready to continue? Or do you require a few more minutes? Unlike my 'comrades', I do not like to 'kick the puppy while it's down'. It takes away from the future entertainment." she mocked.
Ichigo grunted as he slowly pushed himself up to a knee, raising his head to glare into the woman's eyes. "Damn you!" he hissed lowly, pushing himself further to get back to his feet, followed closely by Nelliel.
The woman only shrugged. "When you think about it, little soul reaper, am I not already 'damned'? So, sorry, but you are a little late in that regard." she teased.
The teen flinched in mild pain and growled. "Shut up. I'm sick of your games. Tell us where Orihime is!" he yelled loudly.
She only shook her head. "Sorry, but like I said, you have to figure that one out all by yourself. I can give you hints though. One of which I have already given you."
Nelliel narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What do you mean by that? What hint?" she questioned.
Again, the woman shook her head. "Not going to happen. Afterall, it is not my fault that you missed it. Not once, but twice."
Nelliel had to stop and really think back on their encounter with the woman. Everything she did, everything she said, trying to remember anything that might have hinted at a location for where Orihime was. All the while, she kept a close eye on the woman, watching for any possible attacks or openings.
"What the hell are you talking about? You didn't say shit about where Orihime was." Ichigo snarled.
The woman rolled her eyes with a scoff. "You are a big boy, right? Figure it out on your own. Now, I think you have gotten plenty of rest, so let us get back to business. And stop holding back. The fight is starting to get tedious now, and I already told you I hate…"
A buzz caught Ichigo's attention, a sudden movement drew his eyes over the woman's shoulder to see Nelliel was now behind the woman a few feet in the air, about to bring her blade down on the woman's head. Reacting instantly, the teen flashed forward in a side swing. Both attacks were just about to hit, when she swiftly ducked under his attack and slid across the floor to avoid Nelliel's, now crouched to Ichigo's left flank.
"Crap!" he hissed, twisting and following up with a second attack.
An evil smirk was the only warning he got before he was sent flying again by another wall of air pressure when the woman thrusted an open palm at him. Head over heel, he flew through the air towards a distant pillar, but with a quick recovery, he stopped his spinning to land on his feet against the side of the stone structure. Using his enhanced strength, he pushed himself off the pillar at high speed and back into the fight to see Nelliel attacking the woman with a flurry of quick swipes.
Seeing him coming back, the woman interrupted Nelliel's assault and forced her back a bit to turn and block his own. The teen was a little happy that the speed and force of his dash attack was enough to push the woman back a few feet, her feet dragging across the ground. But that was short-lived as the woman held the block, twisted around, and drove her elbow into the back of the teen's skull.
Ichigo staggered forward a couple steps, but was able to maintain his balance, turning back around in time to block an attack from the woman. Seeing that Nelliel was coming up right behind her, he quickly flashed away, making the woman stumble just a bit from the loss of contact and giving his partner the opening she needed. With a battle cry, Nelliel swung down with all her strength until her blade struck the stone floor. Stone fragments were sent into the air as her blade dug into the floor, the force of her attack causing a small explosion from the pressure.
A short distance away, Ichigo kept his eyes open, waiting for the woman to appear again, knowing that the former Espada's likely did very little damage, if it even hit at all. Spotting movement to his front left, he dashed forward at max speed and started a series of rapid attacks against the recovering woman. But even after just barely avoiding Nelliel's attack, only to find herself immediately under attack again, she was still expertly fending the teen's attacks with ease.
Nearby, Nelliel was in the process of recovering from her previous attack and preparing her next, when a familiar pain suddenly thundered in her chest. With a pained gasp, she clutched her chest with her free hand and used her zanpakutō to keep her from falling to her knees. Her head dropped down, eyes wide in pain and surprise. Unlike the two previous 'attacks' she had before, this one was much worse, now starting to radiate from her chest outwards to her limbs.
Noticing his partner's dilemma, Ichigo broke off his attack briefly to call out to her. "Nel!" he yelled in worry.
He was about to make a move to go to her to see what was wrong, but his opponent was quick to capitalize on his lapse of attention. "Oh? Is your friend having some trouble over there?" she mocked, starting her own round of rapid attacks.
Now forced on the defensive again, Ichigo fought to keep the woman at bay while trying to check over his friend. "Nel! What's wrong?!" he yelled again.
As the woman started pushing him back, not stopping in her assault, Nelliel was struggling to keep herself upright as she fought against the pain that filled her chest. Her breaths were coming in short pants as sweat started building up on her brow. Another pulse of pain hit her then, and with a whimper, she dropped to her knees. Losing her grip on her zanpakutō, it clattered to the ground next to her as she used her sword arm to brace herself from falling fully to the floor.
'Damnit! Not… Not now!' she fretted in her mind. Fighting the pain, she raised her head enough to look at the fighting pair, seeing that the woman was constantly pushing the substitute back. Even with his Bankai, the strange woman was having little trouble fighting against him. 'Ichi… Ichigo… he… he needs my help. Damn it, Kisuke! This… This collar of yours… isn't doing anything… but making things worse!'
Another burst of pain made her drop her head again, and she was now struggling just to keep conscious. Her vision was starting to blur, and she knew, deep down, that if she lost consciousness, the fight was lost, and they were both dead. She couldn't let that happen, so, fighting the pain, she took a ragged, deep breath and held it for a second before letting it out slowly. To her relief, the pain did subside, if only just a bit. But it was enough for her to start recovering. Taking another deep breath and releasing it, she kept repeating the exercise, dulling the pain bit by bit, until it was finally at a manageable level.
Keeping her balance, she reached over and grabbed her zanpakutō, digging the tip into the floor and using it to help push her back to her feet. She stumbled and nearly fell back down as she struggled to stand up straight again. The pain was still there, but was at least starting to fade again, now just a heavy throb in her chest. Using her free arm, she wiped the sweat from her face and glared at the woman who was still pushing her friend back through a combination of swipes and those pressure attacks.
'Ichigo's still trying to hold back, trying to save his energy. He can't afford to go all out against her. If he does, he won't have enough left to fight if we run into an Espada, or even a fracción later on. And I can't use my resurrección thanks to Gamuza. If I could, this would have been over in an instant.' She clenched her teeth tightly in growing anger and despair. 'If this collar wasn't limiting my power so much, we would stand a much better chance against her. Even without my resurrección, between Ichigo's Bankai and my full power, she would stand little chance against us. But…'
She raised a hand to her collar, tucking two fingers between it and the skin of her neck, and held it tightly. 'If I remove it, I can use my full power, but I run the risk of whatever is happening to me getting that much worse. But, if I don't…'
She flinched and watched as Ichigo was sent flying back into a nearby pillar by another of the woman's pressure attacks. He had little time to recover before the woman was once again upon him. Nelliel noticed that the woman was seemingly ignoring her, focusing solely on Ichigo, but she knew that the woman was still keeping an eye on her for any potential attacks.
She gritted her teeth tighter as sweat began to build up again on her brow. 'If I don't… that woman will easily defeat us. Even if Ichigo stopped holding back, chances are that we could still lose.'
Her grip on the collar grew tighter as she began to pull on it. 'Don't. Don't you remember what that fake scientist said? This collar is the only thing keeping your spiritual pressure stable right now. And after what just happened, there's no telling what could happen. It's possible that your spiritual pressure could destabilize entirely." Gamuza warned in a dark tone.
Nelliel flinched and gripped her zanpakutō tighter. "I know, Gamuza. But… what other options do I have? You won't let me use your power, and I'm essentially useless as I am now. Ichigo can't hold out against her for much longer, even if he does stop holding back. If I don't do something, then she'll defeat us, and we're all dead anyway." she countered.
Silence filled her head when the spirit didn't respond at first, and Nelliel figured that Gamuza was likely running her words through her head. After a moment, she heard an angry sigh from the spirit, followed by a growl.
"Fine then. I will allow you to use my power." it relented and Nelliel breathed a sigh of relief. "However, I will only allow it this once, and under one condition." she quickly added, making Nelliel tense.
"And that is?" she asked hesitantly.
She heard the spirit growl again and she could feel its eyes narrowing at her. "You will cease your… 'feelings'... for that soul reaper brat." she said darkly
Nelliel's eyes widened in shock with an airy gasp. "What?!"
"You heard me. If you wish to use my power to defeat this woman and save the girl, then you must give up your feelings for him." it repeated.
She clenched her teeth in growing anger, almost letting a growl of her own. "You… That's… That's not fair, Gamuza! I know you hate Tim, and I honestly can't understand why, but that is cold, even for you!" she raged internally.
But the spirit only scoffed at her. "Say or think what you wish, Nelliel, but those are my terms. You want to use my power? Then you have to give the brat up. It's either that, or you can try to fight the woman on your own."
Her blade and hand were both shaking in her growing rage. "Or! I could just take this stupid collar off and try to fight her without your power, Gamuza!" she threatened.
The spirit chuckled darkly at her in mirth. "You could 'try', but I would snatch control from you long before your muscles moved to take action." it shot back.
Nelliel flinched a bit at the threat. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Is that so? Then by all means, Nelliel, do try and take it off. The way I see it, you have three choices. You can try to fight the woman as you are now, and very likely be defeated; you could try to remove the collar, in which case I will take over, maybe kill that bitch, then go wherever I please; or, you accept my terms, defeat the woman, and save your little friend."
She was now shaking in pure rage. Her hollow spirit had her in a corner, and she knew it. No matter which choice she made, she would still lose in the end. So, it basically came down to a lesser of two, or in this case three, evils. Lose everything, lose her freedom, or lose the one she cared for the most.
'You better make your choice quickly, Nelliel; I don't think the kid is going to last much longer." the spirit warned.
Nelliel gasped and snapped her gaze back to Ichigo. Nothing had changed in the past few minutes during her conversation with Gamuza, except that the teen was now visibly struggling against the woman he was fighting. There were now a few nicks and scrapes across his body and clothes, while the woman only had the couple of marks on her clothes from before from the pair's two close-range attacks.
The spirit was right, Ichigo was slowly succumbing to the woman's assaults, and if she didn't make a choice soon, then he was going to be defeated. Seeing no other option, tears came to Nelliel's eyes as she shook her head and made her decision.
It was simple; Orihime was her friend, was someone who didn't deserve to be stuck here with someone like Aizen. Even if Nelliel couldn't have Timothy as her own, she could still have him as a friend at the very least.
'Tim… I'm sorry.'
"Fine!" she hissed darkly, her fury boiling over at the spirit. "As cold and heartless as your condition is, I… I… I accept it. Just give me your power!" she yelled in her head.
The spirit huffed, but nodded. "Fine. My power is yours to use again, for now. Now, quit your sniveling and kill that bitch. You're not the only one she pissed off, afterall."
Feeling the restraint her spirit placed on her spiritual pressure vanish, Nelliel brought her blade up before her, placing her palm against the back of it. "Now Praise… Gamuza!"
She felt her spiritual pressure rapidly build before exploding outwards as she drew upon Gamuza's power. The wave of pressure surrounded her and concealed her from the two that were fighting as she felt her body begin to change into her released form.
Several yards away, the unknown woman was giving Ichigo the fight of his life as she used her speed and agility to deliver strike after strike against the teen. To his credit, the substitute was able to block or dodge most of the attacks, only the occasional swipe getting past his defenses and striking him. But the number of successful hits was steadily climbing and slowly getting more frequent. While he was doing good at the moment, eventually he would get to the point where he wouldn't be able to fight any longer.
An explosion of raw spiritual pressure drew the fight to a sudden halt and the two quickly turned their gazes to where a swirling vortex of pink spiritual pressure was sitting nearby, picking up and carrying any dust and debris nearby.
The woman relaxed her stance and stood straight as she gazed at the scene with a wide grin. "Ah, it is about time she released it, her resurrección." she commented snidely.
Ichigo hissed through his teeth in anger at her. He wanted to start an attack of his own, but thought it best to take this brief reprieve to catch his breath and fully recover from the endless onslaught. This woman, this Orihime look-alike, regardless of her small appearance, was strong, and a powerful fighter. Granted, the teen was still holding back a bit to conserve energy, but even with roughly half of his total power, she was still winning against him.
He was starting to think that the woman might just be one of the Espada. But then again, Nelliel hadn't said anything about her being one, and seeing that she used to be an Espada, she would know if the woman he was fighting was one and would have said something. Could she be one of those fracción, like Lilynette was? Her power level definitely suggested it was possible.
Now somewhat recovered, Ichigo was about to dash forward and press the attack, until a burst of familiar spiritual pressure drew his attention to the vortex nearby. The mass of energy was starting to dissipate, and the dust started to settle again. When it was clear enough, the teen's eyes widened a bit when he spotted Nelliel in her resurrección form.
Her upper body looked just like it did before, except for the white bits of armor over her shoulders, elbows, and hands, while her lower body was replaced with that of some horse-like creature. The first familiar thing that popped into his mind was that her form resembled that of a centaur's. Something else he noticed was her weapon. Instead of a standard-sized zanpakutō like before, she now bore a long, double-sided lance that was held at her side. At a quick glance, he also saw that her hollow mask had been altered slightly, the teeth and ram's horns a bit longer than before.
Nelliel had mentioned once in passing that an Arrancar's resurrección form typically resembled not only the basis of their former appearance, but their personality as well. From what he knew of the former Espada with what little time he spent with her, he had to admit that her form fit her perfectly; that of a knight, someone with honor and loyalty, just like her. But then again, at least according to her, she was the aspect of 'Loyalty' itself, afterall.
She stood calm, proud, and firm in stature, but when he looked into her eyes, he could see a seething fury deep with her. It didn't take a scientist to tell that the woman was mad. No, not mad; furious. It looked like she was fighting a rage that was quickly building inside her. What she was so furious at, the teen had no idea; but whatever it was, it was obvious she was directing that rage right at the woman he was fighting.
"Ichigo." she suddenly called out, her tone filled with a cold fury. The teen swallowed hard, giving her his full attention. "Move." she hissed through her teeth.
Knowing it was very unwise to argue, the teen quickly flashed away, getting some distance from the other woman. The second he was clear, Nelliel lifted her forelegs from the floor, rearing back on her hind legs and pulling her lance back as if to stab, keeping the tip pointed right at the woman.
A deep, dark chuckle drew Ichigo's attention to the smaller woman, who had a maniacal smile on her face, laughing. "Oh, yes! Bring it, Nelliel! Let me see your power!" she taunted gleefully.
Ichigo snapped his gaze back to Nelliel and he shivered a little when her stare grew even darker in intensity. "Justa Subsónica." she hissed through her teeth.
Ichigo wasn't quite sure what happened. At first, he thought that he must have blinked, because one second the former Espada was there, then not even a hundredth of a second later, she was gone. At the same time, a massive burst of air pressure filled the room as her form broke the sound barrier in an instant. He had to brace himself when the pressure hit him, but was able to remain in place.
The clash of steel and a feminine grunt of struggle hit his ears, literally the exact second Nelliel had vanished. Turning towards the sounds, his eyes went wide when he saw the woman, who was giving him such a hard time, now being pushed back at an incredible speed. Had it not been for his enhanced perception due to his Bankai, he would have missed the look of both shock and exertion the unknown woman had on her face.
He nearly gasped at the sight. The woman was actually having trouble holding off against Nelliel's attack. But what shocked him more was that, while the woman was being pushed back, she was still able to block against Nelliel's lance, even at the absurd speed she had moved. Nelliel continued to push the woman back further and further, until she collided with the wall with a loud grunt.
Nelliel, now stopped, narrowed her eyes in a low growl as she peered at the woman before her. Even with her speed, the woman was able to block her lance. That didn't really surprise her though, but what did was that the woman was able to hold the block, keeping her lance from breaking through and piercing her. Even when she was forced against the wall, her defenses still held.
"You are stronger than I anticipated. Only three people have ever managed to hold back my Justa Subsónica. But even so, it looks like you are struggling to do so." she commented.
And it was true. The woman's snide, demeaning smirk had fallen away, replaced by a look of determination and struggle. She had her zanpakutō held out only inches from her chest, braced by the palm of her free hand. The tip of Nelliel's lance sparked as it pressed hard into the side of the woman's blade as the two pushed against each other.
"I… have to admit… that was much… stronger… than I… expected… as well." the woman breathed out.
Nelliel's eyes narrowed even further. "This is just the beginning." she returned.
With a tilt of her wrist, her lance forced the woman's blade up and away, breaking her guard. Twisting her large body around effortlessly, she held herself up on her forelegs and delivered two swift, powerful kicks to the woman's exposed chest with her hind legs. The woman now momentarily stunned, Nelliel buzzed forward several yards, now facing the woman again, and held her lance back and high next to her head.
"You wanted more power, and I am going to give it to you. Lanzador Verde."
With that, the former Espada threw her lance at the woman, the weapon creating a small sonic boom as it left her hand. Unlike before, where she simply moved too fast for him to perceive, Ichigo was able to follow the path of the lance as it flew towards the woman still stuck in the wall crater her body made.
"Ichigo!" Nelliel's voice calling his name drew his attention back to her. "Don't hold back. Give her your best shot." she instructed.
He didn't reply to her words, only vanishing and reappearing before the woman just in time to watch as the lance struck her. The woman, still recovering from Nelliel double-kick, was unable to get her defenses up before the lance hit her directly. She let out a loud grunt of pain as the twisting lance acted as a drill, pushing her deeper into the wall. The lance's twist began to slow down as it lost its power and, when it stopped, broke apart into numerous spirit particles that began to fly back to Nelliel's open and awaiting hand.
Knowing it was his turn, he decided to use even more of his power and quickly charged his blade. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he yelled, swinging down and sending a blade of raw energy into the crater.
The pair watched as his attack impacted the woman directly, pleased to hear another painful yell. The crater, almost a foot deep now, acted as an insulator for the attack as a good portion of the explosion that would have been sent outwards in an open area, was redirected back into the hole, adding to the power.
Not willing to chance anything, Ichigo charged and fired another Getsuga Tenshō into the crater, while Nelliel fired a cero to join it. Both attacks hit the spot at the same time, causing a massive explosion that they had to shield their eyes from.
A familiar pulse of pain filled Nelliel's chest again, and had she not been using her free hand to protect her face, she would have held her chest again. Another pulse hit her, and she let out a pained hiss as she stumbled slightly. Through the rushing air, she heard the soft crack at her neck, and she knew that the collar was now more damaged than it was before.
"Nel, you alright?" Ichigo called after noticing her stumble.
A third, but less severe pulse hit her, but she fought through it and nodded. "I'm… I'm fine." she lied. "Let's just hope that this was enough to finish her."
The teen scoffed and glared back at the large dust cloud where the crater holding the woman was. "If it wasn't, we're screwed." he mumbled to himself.
The pair watched the scene before them, waiting with bated breaths for the dust to clear. After several, long seconds, the dust finally began to settle and dissipate, allowing them to see the carnage of their joint attacks.
Several square feet of the marble surface was simply demolished, yet the wall was still standing, just proving its amazing durability and the effectiveness of its spirit energy-nullifying properties. However, ground zero for their joint attacks was by far in a much worse shape. That crater was now a large hole nearly four feet in diameter, showing a portion of the wide hallway beyond the wall.
But where their focus was really concentrated on was the figure that was sprawled out against the rubble. The woman's body was almost half-buried under the falling fragments from the edges above her, and her upper body was hanging out the other side of the hole in the hallway. Upon closer inspection, from what they could see, that is, her clothes were in tatters, and they could both make out several cuts and bruises on some of the exposed skin.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and got into a stance, followed by Nelliel. "Ya think we got her?" he asked quietly.
Nelliel opened her mouth to answer, but she was cut off when, to their horror, the sound of a maniacal chuckle filled the air. Their eyes widened when the woman's body began to move, the bits of debris falling off her as it did. The chuckling grew into a laugh as she slowly raised her upper body up into a sitting position and began rubbing the back of her head. The woman's face, like the rest of her body, now sported a few cuts and bruises, and blood ran down her chin from a busted lip.
Ichigo took in a deep breath of shock as his jaw dropped. "N… No way…"
Gripping the back of her head, the woman yanked it to the side a bit, the pair hearing an audible 'pop' from her neck. More pops followed as she started rotating her other arm around in circles. With a jerk back, her neck popped once more and she let out a relieved sigh.
"Ah, much better." she breathed out.
With a grunt, she raised herself and gathered her feet beneath her before grabbing her zanpakutō and standing back up. Nelliel clenched her teeth, both from the pain in her chest and the fact that the woman was still in fairly good shape, after what she just went through. A few more pops hit her ears as the woman started walking out of the crater while rotating her other arm.
"Now that, was power. I have to admit that I am impressed now." she commented, coming to a stop and raising her gaze back to the pair. Done moving her arm, she used her sleeve to wipe away the blood from her lip and chin, grinning widely. "Not bad, at all. Now I can see why Lord Aizen is so interested in you all. But…" Her grin then fell into a frown, one that made them shiver a bit. "You still, even with all that, held back." Her eyes turned to Nelliel, who narrowed hers. "You call yourself a former Espada? Tsk… I would not even put you on the level of a fracción, let alone that of an Espada." she mocked, making Nelliel growl in growing anger.
"And you…" she continued, turning to Ichigo. "If I recall correctly, you stated that you were going to stop holding back. Yet you didn't."
The teen growled as well. "Shut up…" he seethed.
The woman scoffed at his retort. "Apparently, the two of you seem to take light of me, thinking that you could defeat me with the power you are using now. The only reason you attacked me with the level of power you did just now was because you thought you could finish this fight quickly."
"Just shut up!" Ichigo roared. "I told you, I'm sick of your games! Tell us where Orihime is!"
She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "Do you really want to know where she is? I doubt you would find your answer very… comforting." she warned.
"I. Said. Shut up!" he yelled, throwing an arm out to the side to emphasize. "Where is she?!"
The two glared into each other's eyes, one with annoyance, then other with fury. After a moment, Nelliel took a single step forward. "Tell us where Orihime is, and we won't have to fight you anymore."
The woman turned her eyes to her and grinned widely. "You say that like I do not want this fight."
A yell of rage was all that warned her of the incoming attack. With a swipe of his blade, Ichigo swiftly charged and fired a Getsuga Tenshō at the woman . Nelliel watched as the energy blade flew at an impressive speed and collided with the woman, exploding upon impact. She knew that, after the onslaught they just conducted, that his attack would prove ineffective, and she was right.
The dust cleared away in seconds to show the woman glaring at the teen in a side-glance, heavy annoyance in her eyes. Looking down, she saw that the woman's finger was outstretched and pointing at the point where his attack collided, the digit smoking at the tip. She had obviously used a cero to intercept the attack with precision.
"You were able to launch your attack without calling its name. Impressive." she sneered with a smirk, then the smirk fell again. "But nowhere near enough to defeat me."
Ichigo growled deeply in his throat while gripping his weapon tighter, his knuckles turning white. "Quit screwing around with us and tell us where Orihime is! Now, damnit!"
Lowering her hand, the woman took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You really want to know where she is? Alright then, I'll tell you. After that last attack earlier, I believe the two of you have earned the right to learn my name as well." She spread her arms out wide and held them at shoulder height. "The answer to both of your questions is somewhat the same, afterall."
Nelliel narrowed eyes into slits in suspicion. "What do you mean?" she questioned.
"It is so simple." she said, pulling her lips back fully into a large, fanged smile. "I am Orihime."
Well, there's a cliff hanger for you all. Haha! So it looks like this will be a three-part chapter type of thing, basically covering the fight between Nel/Ichigo and the Orihime look-alike.
On a side note, I would love to hear your opinions on what you think about my twist on the Hueco Mundo Arc of the story so far. Until next time, hope you all enjoyed.