Hueco Mundo; Above the sands
Harribel set herself down atop a large outcrop that was tall enough not to be swallowed up by her Cascada. She had reverted to base, but had still put a significant amount of power into the attack. She had never been one to strike first, but this hollow had been wreaking havoc in this region of Hueco Mundo over the last few days and it had the audacity to indiscriminately attack her fraccion with some sort of fire technique.
As powerful as the hollow was, and as useful as it may become to Lord Aizen's plans, she did not particularly fancy the idea of another Nnoitra or Grimmjow joining their ranks.
She watched the sand hungrily drink up her Cascada, until all that was left before her was wet sand and fog from where her water met the hollow's flames. She turned to leave, but was stopped by a sudden outpouring of reiatsu strong enough to make her breath hitch. She berated herself for not picking up on the odd reiatsu signature earlier - she had thought her foe vanquished, but its spiritual energy was different to that of most hollows, and almost blended in with the feel of Hueco Mundo's natural energies. The waves of killing intent pouring from the sands could not be mistaken, though. The hollow was alive. More than that, he was angry and wanted blood.
An enormous, blue skeletal fist burst through the wet sand of Hueco Mundo, before slamming back down with an open palm. The sand gave slightly under the weight, but mostly held as a skeletal figure cloaked in blue reiatsu clawed its way out of the sand.
Harribel drew her sword back. "Ola Azul." Her golden spiritual energy enveloped her blade. She held it there, scanning the skeletal monstrosity for any weak points. And then she saw it - as its torso rose up from the sand, the hollow from before appeared, protectively encased within what appeared to be the skeleton's rib cage.
Harribel fired. A golden beam of energy shot out at the hollow. He made no effort to dodge or block, instead leaning forward to take the attack head-on. It was a mistake, when the ribcage cracked and the remaining energy from Harribel's blast knocked the hollow out of his skeletal avatar. To his credit, he righted himself mid-air and touched down on his two feet, kicking up a cloud of sand as he used it to absorb the momentum from the attack.
"To shatter the absolute defense of my susanoo is no mean feat, woman," the hollow declared arrogantly. His eyes flashed and the skeletal figure, still half-buried in wet sand, dissipated. "I am Madara Uchica. State your name and business now, or you will know quickly just how outmatched you really are." If he was injured by Harribel's Ola Azul, he did not show it.
He took this opportunity to get his bearings on his opponent. The upper half of her face was unmistakably human, although her features from nose to sternum were obscured by a white crop-top jacket.
Harribel raised her voice to project across the distance. "Tier Harribel, Espada No. 3. I've been keeping an eye on you since your spiritual pressure appeared in Hueco Mundo. I would have been content to let you be, had you not attacked my fraccion unprovoked." Despite the increase in volume, her voice was steady, and held no trace of ire or strain. Almost apathetically, she pointed her sword at him. Madara lowered himself to a battle stance in response as he noticed Harribel's blade glowing golden again.
However, when she did not immediately fire, Madara responded: "I do not know who you are talking about but I have not struck first at anybody." No sooner had the words left his mouth did he remember the tidal wave stemming his Great Fire Annihilation jutsu in the distance.
Recognition dawned on his face as Madara looked to the direction he remembered seeing the wave. His Sharingan could pick out a group of figures there. Suddenly feeling sheepish, Madara was lost for words. He could not apologize; no, he could not even remember the last time he had genuinely apologized to anybody. His pride would not allow him. However he also was not so black-hearted he would randomly attack innocent strangers; as innocent as hollows could be, anyway.
"I was testing my jutsu. I did not intend for anyone to be caught up in it," he finally settled on saying. "They are still alive, are they not? They don't seem terribly hurt." He wasn't about to tell the woman he couldn't sense reiatsu. Harribel had presented herself to him as a foe, after all.
He gathered his chakra into his eyes and activated his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. He did not want to be caught unprepared if Harribel decided to press her attack. She could break through his imperfect susanoo, and if the scope of her water jutsu was any indication of her true strength, then she was powerful enough for him to keep his guard up.
Harribel scowled at him, raising her blade above her head. "You talk as if to disarm me, while you gather reiatsu and prepare to attack. Do you take me for a fool?!"
Madara smirked. "It would appear all you hollows know how to do is bluster and pick fights with strangers. You wish to do battle completely unprotected in your flimsy clothes? Be my guest - you will not find me easy prey," he challenged.
With a titanic sonido that blew away all remnants of steam on the battlefield, Harribel appeared before Madara, and slashed downward. His Mangekyou saw the strike coming, though, and he raised his sword to defend. The two blades made contact for the barest of moments before Madara's snapped in two. Hashirama! Even in the afterlife you continue to vex me. He ducked, planted his left hand in the sand and spun around it, simultaneously avoiding Harribel's slash while driving a shard of broken sword into her exposed side with the front of his right foot.
The shard struck true, but bounced off the Espada's skin with a sound like clanging steel, and the other end punctured through Madara's armored foot. Eyes wide, Madara reached inside his armor with his spare hand, but cursed as he remembered exhausting his entire arsenal against Hashirama.
Harribel hesitated for the briefest moments before bringing her sword across again toward Madara. Nothing that had just happened had been within her expectations. She didn't truly expect that she was too fast for Madara in her base state, so was only mildly surprised when he raised his zanpakutou with plenty of time to block. But her surprise turned into utter shock when the sword that came to meet Tiburon shattered with absolutely no resistance.
Then her shock had morphed into fear for the briefest moments when Madara had not only reacted fast enough to dodge her slash through his guard, but also had the dexterity to catch a shard of his broken blade with the flat of his foot, and drive it into her side. The fear then evaporated into confusion as she barely even felt the pressure of the blade against her hierro when a sickening crush accompanied by a grunt of pain saw the other end pierce through Madara's foot.
"Susanoo!" Madara roared. There was no time and he didn't have the balance to evade Harribel's second strike. Tiburon was stopped mere inches from separating Madara's legs from his torso. The same blue glow of the skeleton from earlier took form around Madara, but this time, fibers of pure energy resembling flesh and sinew snapped into place, pushing her sword back.
"Ola Azul!" She fired, the blast punching through some flesh that was quickly regenerating.
Harribel retreated a short distance with a sonido, watching as the blue, flame-clad skeletal figure was now resembling a flayed human body. The energy fibers were still growing and snapping into place around the muscles of its arms. Not wanting to see where this could lead, Harribel charged up a Cero within her sword, and slashed toward the monstrosity in a huge vertical arc of golden energy. Madara himself had gotten up one knee, and was pulling his sword shard out of his foot. Harribel's Cero crashed into where Madara was suspended near the creature's neck.
Madara's susanoo staggered back from the blast, but Harribel wasn't done. She knew it was still standing. She slashed again and again, two more wide Cero blasts crashing into the susanoo in an X pattern and forcing it onto its back. A huge cloud of dust was kicked up as it fell.
Harribel gritted her teeth. "Cascada!" She poured more of her reiatsu into the ability this time, and it was as if the heavens themselves opened their floodgates onto the deserts of Hueco Mundo as a torrent of water pelted down onto the downed susanoo. As the dust and water settled, Harribel stood in the air, sword raised and panting heavily. She did not have to go into Resurreccion, but this Madara was certainly an incredibly fast and skilled hollow. It was a pity that his hierro was positively frail.
"First you try to give orders to my fraccion, and now you almost kill them and your pathetic girls in the same breath you claim to protect them?" A scornful, gravelly voice boomed. Barragan floated up to Harribel on his throne, flanked by his fraccion Ggio and Findorr. He surveyed the huge lake that Harribel's Cascada had formed, and scoffed. "Was all this really necessary for a mere nameless hollow?"
Harribel did not deign to reply to the jab, instead asking, "Are Apache, Mila Rose and Sun-sun safe?"
Barragan waved a hand in dismissal. "Charlotte, Choe Neng and Nirrge have them. They are on their way back to Las Noches for treatment for the burns."
Before Harribel could say her thanks, a ripple formed on the surface of the lake, and four dragon heads formed of water rocketed toward the group. Harribel made to counter, but Barragan put his hand out first. The air before them flickered and the water dragons evaporated before they could touch them. "Hm." He scoffed again. "You're losing your touch, Harribel."
As they looked on, from the lake rose a colossal head, atop which Madara stood with his arms crossed. "I must admit I underestimated you. I appear to be learning something new every day here in Hueco Mundo. Forgive me for holding back. However…" His eyes were a haunting reflection of his perfect susanoo's - blazing crimson orbs bearing down at Harribel and the hollows from its full, mountainous height.
The tengu-like avatar had four enormous arms, and two katana half its body length sheathed at its hip. The lake was evaporating rapidly upon contact with its reiatsu. Madara unsheathed one of his susanoo's chakra blades and strode toward them. Each thunderous step reverberated through the ground as if it were a temperamental earthquake. "Playtime is over."
Despite his words, however, Madara was furious. From the sounds of things the old man on the throne was Harribel's superior, and he had no idea what his abilities were. Harribel was proving to be a much tougher opponent than he had anticipated - he had to end things quickly before they got out of hand. Normally Madara enjoyed coaxing the best techniques out of his foes before crushing them, as only Hashirama had ever been able to even remotely challenge him. Since becoming a hollow, however, Madara was slowly starting to think that his shinobi powers, while still powerful, were definitely not without peer.
He still had a few more tricks up his sleeve, though.
"Hunt, Tiburon!" Harribel cried. Her body was enveloped in golden light, and another tidal wave crashed into Madara's perfect susanoo. Madara didn't even falter in his forward march as he swung his susanoo's sword at Harribel. The old man seemed content to watch, although he had now sent his two aides away.
Madara didn't even see Harribel dodge before he felt an impact hit the head of his susanoo. He looked to the side just in time to see Harribel disappear again before bolts of water once more splashed against his perfect defense. I can't catch her like this, but she can't damage me. Madara stopped, stabbed his susanoo's sword into the mud and crossed its arms. Time to try a few new jutsu.
"Wood release: Great forest Jutsu!" Thick, snaking roots erupted from the mud, reaching toward both remaining hollows on the battlefield. They wrapped around the old hollow's throne without difficulty, but they were too slow to catch Harribel, darting around in the sky.
"Barragan!" Harribel cried, fighting off the roots as she made her way toward his wooden prison.
"Save your breath," Barragan sneered, his voice muffled but commanding nonetheless. "This level of pathetic attack is not even worth dodging." Even as he spoke, the roots were blackening, before withering away into dust. Freed, Barragan himself finally rose, smashing his throne and drawing the axe that was hidden within it. "Although you look like you've got your hands full here, Tier."
Madara could not believe his eyes. Were the greatest shinobi jutsu truly so weak here? Not only did his taijutsu backfire spectacularly against Harribel, but ninjutsu on the scale of Hashirama's wood release was so mundane that this Barragan could will it away with a mere thought? He roared as he drew his susanoo's second blade up and brought them both down at Barragan.
The old hollow raised his axe to intercept them.
Instead of slicing the old hollow in two or at least forcing him into the ground, Madara's susanoo blades were stopped, and they suddenly dimmed, threatening to dissipate. Furious, he fed more chakra into it, but for some reason he was hemorrhaging chakra just trying to push against Barragan. No matter how much energy he fed it, though, it continued to dim.
He lurched forward as the blades dissipated and his susanoo overbalanced. Quickly catching himself, Madara leaped back to create distance. There was no way for him to win like this. He was completely out of his league, here.
Barragan was impressed. The Espada rankings were certainly going to change after Madara was brought into the fold. "Madara Uchiha," he said. "There is no need for this. Harribel is just too overprotective of her subordinates, you see." Harribel narrowed her eyes at that, but did not interrupt. "Let us put down our weapons and have a civil conversation. You are clearly unaccustomed to your powers. Swear fealty to me and I shall guide you in your evolution as a hollow."
Harribel scoffed. "Just because Lord Aizen is not here doesn't mean you get to make offers like that."
"Silence. You would be dead if not for me. With Aizen and his lackeys in the Soul Society twiddling their thumbs, and our great primera only ever asleep, it falls upon me to rule… just like it always has." Barragan flared his reiatsu. Unlike Harribel's golden energy, his held a deep, purple hue. Madara felt old and smothered just looking at it.
However Madara was not going to bow to anybody. He had had enough of this. Since consuming Hashirama's flesh, he had awakened one more power that he had yet to use. Closing his eyes, he gathered his remaining chakra. He would have to plan carefully to ensure that he alone would be leaving this battlefield alive.
In a flash, he reignited his susanoo's sword, delivering an overhead swing at Harribel. As predicted, she dodged downward - right into the grasp of his great forest jutsu. Just like before, Barragan did not bother dodging. Before the roots could wither away this time, however, Madara lunged forward, dropping his swords and grabbing them with two hands each.
When Madara's eyes opened again, his Mangekyou Sharingan had morphed into a series of rings reminiscent of his hollow mask. This was the first time he would be trying any Rinnegan jutsu, but…
"Barragan… Above us," Harribel breathed, as a shadow fell upon them. A meteor the size of Las Noches broke through the clouds, hurtling down toward them.
Madara felt his susanoo threatening to fade, but he funneled as much chakra into it as he could, feeling his reserves nearing empty. He just had to hold on until the meteor fell, and then he would escape back into the Elemental Nations with a garganta. His susanoo and wood release should keep the two restrained long enough to ensure their death.
He was wary of what he had just heard, though. Who was Aizen… Aizen and lackeys, plus somebody else called the primera are all supposed to be above Barragan? He needed to hide and master his new form and the Rinnegan. He had to become even stronger to stand a chance in this world.
"Rot, Arrogante." An explosion of purple energy shot out from Barragan, melting through Madara's wood style and his susanoo's hands. Harribel leaned away, trying to shield her face on instinct as it passed dangerously close to her on route to intercept the meteor.
What began as a concentrated stream spread into a blanket of thick miasma as it made contact with the meteor. At first it seemed as if it had stopped the meteor, causing Madara to curse under his breath, but as the miasma spread, Madara audibly sputtered as he realized that the meteor was still falling.
It was just falling and disappearing into the miasma.
His susanoo failed at that moment and he crashed into the mud. Scrambling an arm free, he tore open a garganta and crawled in. As he spared a glance back at where Harribel and Barragan were, he swore he had locked eyes with the grim reaper himself.
AN: Please review if you enjoyed the fic!
Responding to reviews: MaxTrueOmnipotent1 - thanks. and Madara's influence in the Elemental Nations is certainly not over. Stay tuned for the next few chapters!
awwal - thanks for the input. I do tend to write walls of text, and will try to space them out better for an easier read.
