Chapter 15 - Battle at Karakura - Part II
Kisuke Urahara stood tersely atop a high rise, some distance away from the battles raging around him. He had picked this specific spot because it was the ideal position to reinforce both Hitsugaya's team and Ichigo, depending on who needed it.
To his left was his longtime friend and accomplice, Yoruichi Shihoin. 100 years ago, she had given up her prestigious positions as both Shihoin clan head, and captain of the Seireitei's stealth force to help save his life. To his right stood Shinji Hirako, former captain of the Gotei 13's squad 5 before he fell victim to his then lieutenant Aizen's hollowfication experiments.
The three of them were undoubtedly some of the strongest known beings that had existed in recent memory, and right now, all three of them wore serious looks of concern.
"Shinji-" Urahara began, but the vizard cut him off with a grunt, clenching his fists hard enough to crack his knuckles.
"I know. Ichigo wasn't able to finish the fight within his time limit. I'll go help him. You two keep watch here," Shinji said, taking off toward Ichigo.
That was moments before the latest garganta had opened. It had heralded the arrival of a monstrously oppressive reiatsu signature, as well as an enormous, flaming-blue winged construct; the latter of which could be seen clearly even from his current position.
Urahara's sense of alarm was quickly approaching panic. This spiritual pressure he could feel was undoubtedly that of another Arrancar, but it eclipsed Grimmjow's by an order of magnitude. Grimmjow said he was the 6th Espada...then who is this? The first, or second? Urahara's mind was racing. He needed to get the fighting away from Karakura town, before the residents were affected.
To his relief, as if it had read his mind, the newly arrived Arrancar's reiatsu signature lifted into the air and made its way out of Karakura. A stretch of relatively deserted grassy plains spanned out from the outskirts south of the town, and it appeared to be heading in that direction.
The blue winged titan was hot on its heels. There was no reiatsu emanating from the construct, but each mighty beat of its wings generated gusts powerful enough for Urahara to feel them kilometers away, and the tremors caused by its landing were only just beginning to subside. Kisuke knew that, whatever it was, they could not afford to underestimate it.
He frowned; he knew the reiatsu from somewhere. With a start, he recognized it as the signature of the pale, one horned Arrancar who had accompanied Yammy during the initial attack that injured Ichigo, Chad and Orihime. The same one whom he had briefly dueled before sending Ichigo off to meet Shinji and the vizards. Its spiritual pressure felt much more potent this time, however, having increased almost tenfold.
Is this his true power? Urahara thought, concerned. He wasn't worried for himself or Yoruichi, per se, but he desperately needed to enact measures to ensure the spiritual pressure from these battles didn't negatively impact the residents of Karakura town.
Urahara winced as his ears popped, a reflexive response to the shifting air pressure caused by the winged tengu's attacks. It cleaved its katanas toward the sky, where the bat-like Arrancar was weaving about. Each hefty blow was accompanied by a resulting sonic boom that parted the clouds in their wake. Whatever that thing was, it definitely looked like it had a bone to pick with the Arrancar.
"Yoruichi, do you think you can handle him?" He asked the dark skinned lady beside him.
"Which one? The bat, or the mountain sized magical monster?" Yoruichi asked dryly.
"The Arrancar. As far as I'm concerned, the enemy of my enemy is my friend… for now," Urahara drawled. "Although…" He narrowed his eyes, lowering his voice. "It'd better not start directing those slashes toward the ground. Even the air pressure generated by a single strike of that magnitude could spell catastrophic damage to Karakura Town."
"Alright, I'll go catch the bat for you. You think Shinji will be okay on his own over there?"
"Yeah, Shinji's fine. I'm more worried about Hitsugaya and his team… There are three very powerful Arrancar there with them. I'll go grab Tessai and activate the barrier protecting Karakura Town, and then we'll give them a hand."
Yoruichi nodded, and the two left with shunpos to their respective destinations.
Karakura Outskirts - Among the Clouds
Madara gave chase as Ulquiorra took off, away from the city they had exited the garganta into. He grunted in annoyance as he lined up another swing toward Ulquiorra, having missed every single one so far. The Cuatro Espada tucked his wings and banked, dodging yet another strike. Unfurling his leathery wings again with a barrel roll, he spiraled up and around Madara's now overextended sword arm. Madara performed a series of single-handed seals, before drawing a thick mist out of some surrounding clouds.
He was trying to obscure Ulquiorra's vision, hoping to tag him while he was blinded by the mist. Swatting down with his two spare hands, Madara felt something brush against his fingers. The Espada slipped through his grasp, however, and the gigantic hands clamped down harmlessly onto his own susanoo's forearm.
Breaking through the mist, Ulquiorra opened a light cut on his left palm with the tip of his spear, before pointing a finger toward him. He took aim at where Madara was encased on the susanoo's forehead, muttering: "Gran Rey Cero." As the blood on his palm mixed with his dark green reiatsu, a swirling vortex formed at the tip of his index finger.
Madara crossed his free arms over his face, bracing protectively as a massive, cylindrical blast of green-black energy collided with his susanoo's forearms. When the beam subsided, he observed the damage; though he was personally unharmed, the susanoo's arms were melted down to the bone. He scowled.
He was becoming increasingly frustrated at his inability to land a strike on Ulquiorra. In fact, he felt the situation was almost exactly the same as when he'd first fought Harribel in Hueco Mundo - except Ulquiorra's Gran Ray Cero had actually managed to damage his perfect susanoo.
He felt instinctively that Ulquiorra was nowhere near the level of threat Yamamoto was, but if he continued the fighting at such a speed disadvantage, he would eventually lose the battle of attrition. He didn't even know if reiatsu was a resource that depleted similarly to chakra, and was not particularly interested in putting it to the test during a battle to the death.
Madara leapt out of his susanoo, dispelling all but the ribcage around his body. For what must have been the hundredth time, he cursed the sekkiseki bindings. He really needed to his hands and feet. None of his dojutsu techniques were well suited to dealing with small, agile aerial combatants. As he racked his brain for ideas on how to defeat his current opponent, the moment of distraction allowed Ulquiorra to dive bomb him from above.
Madara instantly manifested a skeletal fist to strike at the Espada, but he swerved out of the way, throwing his spear directly down through the opening at the top of the rib cage. Madara jerked to the side, avoiding critical damage but still feeling a searing pain as the spear ran through his right shoulder and out the side of his back.
I should have kept with the armored susanoo at least, he thought, hissing in pain. As he landed, Ulquiorra also touched down at the top of a nearby hill.
Madara observed his shoulder. To his surprise, the bleeding had mostly stopped and the wound was already closing. It must be Hashirama's cells regenerating my body! He thought.
And with that thought, the solution to his predicament presented itself. He remembered the same orange-haired Shinigami he saw at Sokyoku Hill catching Orihime as she fell from the garganta. Scanning his surroundings with his Rinnegan, he located the pair; they were actually already on their way toward his location, along with another Arrancar.
Karakura Town
Ichigo laid his hands gently upon Orihime's shoulders, fixing a concerned look into her wild eyes as the girl's breathing slowly steadied. The panic in her features gradually mellowed, as her gaze focussed on Ichigo's face. "Ichigo…"
"Orihime, what's going on? Who are those people?" Ichigo asked, jerking his head toward Madara and Ulquiorra's retreating forms. "What were you doing with them in that garganta? Are you hurt?"
Orihime managed a stiff shake of her head, but she still did not trust herself to speak. She had felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure right as Madara threw her out of the garganta. For a brief instant, Ichigo's reiatsu had felt like a hollow's, wrapping around her; smothering her.
Then all of a sudden, it was just her plain old Ichigo again. But even now, if she really concentrated, she could sense corruption within Ichigo's reiatsu, and it was emitting an almost hollow-esque aura.
The hands on her shoulders that should have given her warmth and comfort now felt icy and dangerous. Looking back into Ichigo's worried eyes, she hated herself for feeling that way, but could not help it. She steadied her nerves, pushing Ichigo away. He did not resist.
"I-I don't know. The small Arrancar with the wings-" she began, before a bloodied, blue-haired Arrancar appeared before them with a sonido.
"That would be Ulquiorra," Grimmjow said. He was covered head to toe in bleeding cuts, but the confidence in his voice had returned as he saw how fatigued Ichigo appeared. Upon seeing Orihime, he smiled cruelly as recognition dawned; "Looks like he failed his part of the mission. Figures… I guess it's up to me to clean up his mess," the former Sexta Espada sneered, before reaching out and brusquely grabbing a fistful of Orihime's hair. With a sonido, he took off, away from the town and toward Ulquiorra.
"Leave her alone!" Ichigo roared, donning his hollow mask again and giving chase. His very soul screamed in agonized protest as the mask's power rushed through him for the second time within a minute.
He caught up easily to the former Sexta Espada, and slashed open a nasty gash across his back. Grimmjow hissed in pain, releasing Orihime to fire a cero at his pursuer. Ichigo batted the cero away with a casual wave of Tensa Zangetsu, but did not press his advantage.
Instead, he carefully positioned himself below Orihime and caught her again as she fell, setting her down gently upon the grassy plains he now found himself in. He looked behind him; Karakura was visible, but quite far in the distance. It was better this way, he thought; there would be less accidental damage done to the Town.
He returned his attention to Grimmjow, closing the distance with a mighty shunpo and directing a powerful uppercut toward Grimmjow's still extended arm.
The former Sexta Espada could not react in time, eyes wide as he saw Ichigo slicing toward his remaining arm.
Ichigo's mask cracked, and Grimmjow let out a bark of nervous laughter as Tensa Zangetsu bounced off his hierro with a clang of sparks. The impact and resultant reverberation numbed Ichigo's fingers, forcing him to drop his zanpakuto in reflex.
"Hahahahaha!" Grimmjow howled in laughter. "You almost had me worried there! Looks like you can't use your mask for that long, huh, Ichigo?" He kicked the substitute shinigami in the gut, sending him down onto the grass next to Orihime.
He himself alighted beside them. Seeing that Ichigo was down for the count, he opened a garganta, before grabbing Orihime by her hair again and dragging her toward the portal.
"Running away. Grimmjow?" Ichigo forced out, crawling to where Zangetsu had landed, and gingerly wrapping his hands around its hilt. He slowly forced himself to his feet, using his sword as a crutch. A blackness was beginning to spread into the corners of his eyes as his inner hollow clamored for release.
He understood then why Shinji had warned him not to use his hollow mask twice in a row at his current level, but he needed power. He had to try for a third time. "I thought you said you wanted to fight me and kill me," he croaked between rasping breaths, bringing his left hand to his face once more. The hollow mask did not appear. "Leave Orihime alone...I'm still here, you coward."
"Actually, she's the real reason we're all here," Grimmjow jeered, lifting Orihime's feet off the ground and holding her at eye level to take a closer look at her. "Somethin' special about her powers that Lord Aizen is interested in." He grumbled in distaste as Orihime futilely clawed at his arm.
"I said, take your filthy hands off of her!" Ichigo charged at him again, but only received a powerful backhand to the face for his efforts, sending him sprawling into the dirt. As he tumbled to a stop, he felt his Bankai dissipate and watched in helpless denial as Zangetsu reverted to its cleaver form.
"Careful, Ichigo, or you might slip and cut off her head yourself," Grimmjow taunted, dragging Orihime between them. He ignored her screams of pain.
"I don't know where you pulled that mask out from earlier, but it looks like you're done now. Without it, you're still just as useless as you were before. You're not even worth my effort to kill," Grimmjow spat, walking up to the downed shinigami and planting another kick in his gut. Tossing Orihime aside for now, he drew Pantera, twirled it into a reverse grip, and held it above Ichigo's prone form. "But if you want to die so badly, I suppose I can oblige. So long, you weak piece of trash."
Before he could finish Ichigo off, the ground burst open beneath him, erupting in a mass of tangling roots. One root wrapped around the arm holding Pantera, and another rolled around Ichigo, pushing him away to safety. The remaining roots deftly formed a cradle around Orihime, before depositing her gently at the feet of the new arrival.
Tearing his arm free, Grimmjow leapt up into the air, safely out of reach of the roots. "What the hell?" He muttered, seeing a humanoid hollow standing over Orihime. "Who the hell is that?" He shook his head, banishing the questions from his mind and flexing his arm.
All that mattered to him was the fact that there was now one more enemy to kill, and this one was a Hollow. A Vasto Lorde, by his appearance. Grimmjow cracked a savage smile; perhaps this one would be worth consuming after he had paid it back for daring to get between him and his prey.
"Grimmjow; listen closely and wipe that smirk off your face." Ulquiorra broke him out of his reverie, suddenly appearing beside him with a sonido. The Cuatro Espada was still in his resurreccion. "Here is what we're going to do."
"Ichigo," Madara said, touching down beside the orange-haired shinigami. "If you want to live, and want to protect this girl, cut off my arms at the elbow."
Ichigo had managed to fight his way up to a seated position; "What…? Who…?" He managed to gasp out. His inner hollow was pounding at his consciousness and it was taking almost all of his concentration to keep it at bay.
Even as he spoke, he saw the sekkiseki cuffs around the hollows wrists and ankles, and vaguely remembered Captain Hitsugaya mentioning a prisoner that had gone missing during the chaos of Aizen's betrayal. "You're that hollow that the Seireitei lost track of," he said, realization dawning.
"Yes," Madara replied. "We can talk later, but for now, cut off my arms so I can regenerate them without these cuffs. We don't have time to waste, and you don't look like you have any more fight left in you, boy."
"Ichigo…" Orihime's soft voice broke through his tumultuous thoughts as he weighed his options. "Madara here saved my life. In the Dangai as well as just now. I trust him."
Ichigo frowned for an instant, and looked toward Grimmjow. Sensing the other, bat Arrancar's more potent reiatsu energy closing in as well, he steeled his gaze, nodding. "It doesn't look like I have much of a choice. Can you really beat them?"
Madara nodded, eyes full of confidence, and held his arms out. Ichigo raised Zangetsu.
The blade fell, severing Madara's arms at the elbow, and he smiled even despite the pain, as he felt his regeneration begin. "Good, now the feet!" He ordered.
"Stop, Ichigo!" He heard Yoruichi's voice as she appeared beside him with her shunpo, panic in her eyes. "What are you doing?! This hollow is extremely dangerous-"
"Yoruichi; how kind of you to join us… but in case you can't tell, there are more immediate enemies right now," Ichigo protested sarcastically, cutting her off; his voice was beginning to take on a second tone, and his left pupil was now almost completely black, the iris having taken on a sickly, yellow hue.
As if proving his point, Ulquiorra swooped toward them, a reiatsu lance in hand, only to be intercepted by an already hollow-masked Shinji. The Cuatro Espada's eyes widened in surprise, before he was forced onto the defensive by the former squad 5 captain.
"Yes, Ichigo, but don't worry," Yoruichi replied, forgiving his abrupt rudeness as she saw his advanced state of hollowfication. "You've done well. We can take it from here." However, even as she finished speaking her assurances, they felt Grimmjow's spiritual pressure increase tenfold.
"Grind, Pantera!" Was the last thing Ichigo heard before a shadow appeared before him and his torso exploded in agony. His consciousness slipped away.
Yoruichi had tried to move to his defense, but the Espada was suddenly much faster than she had expected, and she was unable to match him without her Shunko.
Madara grit his teeth in frustration as Grimmjow released his resurreccion, mauling Ichigo with his claws before the boy even knew what had hit him. The substitute shinigami fell wordlessly, five deep furrows carved across his torso from shoulder to hip. The Arrancar's wounds, on the other hand, were completely healed, with the exception of his missing left arm.
Orihime screamed as she saw Ichigo fall. "S-s-soten Kisshun! I reject!" She cried as her hair clips formed an orange barrier around Ichigo's bleeding form.
Grimmjow turned toward her with a scowl on his face. "Oh no, you don't!" He raised his arm again, extending his claws.
Before he could strike, Yoruichi was upon him, raining down blows faster than he could block, even in his released state. The back of her shirt had been blown off by a stream of white reiatsu, and for the third time that day, Grimmjow was caught off guard by an enemy's sudden increase in power.
"Bansho Ten'in," Madara said calmly, turning a newly reformed palm toward Zangetsu. The cleaver flew toward his legs, severing his ankles in one smooth motion before flying into his grasp. He stayed upright by elevating himself within an armored susanoo. Despite all notable combatants being occupied for the time being, Madara was not taking any chances in his compromised state.
The former Sexta Espada and former captain of the Seireitei stealth force traded blows for a few seconds before Grimmjow was sent flying backwards. As he tumbled to a stop in a heap of dirt, Yoruichi took her position back between him and the fallen Ichigo.
Grimmjow flipped up to his feet with a growl, dusting himself off. The woman had snuck in a parting kick as he tried to put some distance between them, causing him to lose his footing mid-sonido and crash. Their quick exchange had hammered home to him that his close quarters combat prowess was nowhere near where it should have been. He was missing an arm, and Yoruichi was getting away with attacks that would have left her open to retaliation otherwise.
He felt a trickle down the side of his chin, and wiped it with the back of his hand. Seeing the telltale red smear on the back of his hand, Grimmjow's face contorted in rage. He would not forgive the audacity of this nameless woman. She who had dared to get the better of him, the Sexta Espada, in hand to hand combat. She, who dared to beat him down in his own area of expertise.
Channeling his reiatsu, he mixed it with the blood on his hand, and thrust his claws toward Yoruichi. His reiatsu grew denser as a blue, electric maelstrom took form, swirling out from the center of his palm; "You're fast, I'll give you that, and I've got to admit that you're making me feel your strikes even through my hierro," Grimmjow bellowed. "But you're still nowhere near my match! Let's see how you handle this; the ultimate cero that only the Espada can use! Gran Ray Cero!"
A crackling cone of azure energy erupted from his palm. This cero was stronger than the one Ulquiorra had used against Madara, as Grimmjow had placed his full power behind the blast. He chose the angle and spread of the attack with calculated perfection. Even if Yoruichi took the blast head on, the beam was thick enough that it would still wash over Ichigo, Orihime, and a swath of Karakura that was still blissfully unaware of the battles raging close by.
As far as Grimmjow could tell, Yoriuchi didn't even have a zanpakuto, and he doubted she could do anything to intercept or redirect his strongest Gran Rey Cero.
Yoruichi's eyes widened in shock that the Espada would unleash such an attack so recklessly. She knew from her bearings that Ichigo, Orihime and Karakura were directly behind her, but she had no ability within her arsenal that could stop or deflect a cero of this magnitude. She had no choice but to choose self-preservation in this situation, and vacated its path of destruction with a shunpo.
Madara saw it, too. He knew at a glance what the stakes were, especially when Yoruichi dodged out of the way. I can't let her die here, he thought as he looked toward Orihime. She was still kneeling beside Ichigo, tending to him with her strange orange barrier. Fully absorbed in her task, Orihime was completely unaware of the rapidly approaching cero.
Situating himself between the girl and the beam, Madara manifested a shield for his armored susanoo, reinforcing it with as much chakra as he could. "Earth Release: Earth Style Rampart!" He roared, forming a tiger seal before slamming his palms onto the ground.
The cero faltered, but did not stop as it crashed against the thick wall of stone that had risen from the earth to intercept it. Breaking through the barrier, the crackling blue beam enveloped Madara's armored susanoo, before exploding in an enormous cloud of dust. Remnants of the cero that hadn't directly impacted anything were deflected up toward the sky, sailing harmlessly over even Karakura's tallest buildings.
"Grimmjow, are you trying to kill our mission objective?" Ulquiorra said listlessly as he pulled up next to the breathless former Espada. He had been managing to keep Shinji at bay, but they mutually disengaged when Grimmjow fired his Gran Rey Cero toward Karakura, both deciding that that was the matter of more immediate importance.
"Damn, I forgot about her," Grimmjow replied between heaving breaths. "Ah well. She's more troublesome to capture than she's worth, in my opinion."
Ulquiorra stared at him blankly; "That is not your call to make." He turned and pointed toward the town in the distance. "Did you also forget that Lord Aizen requires the residents of Karakura town to be alive to complete the Oken?"
Grimmjow had the decency to look sheepish, this time. "Uhh..." He started, rubbing his head. He tried to conjure an excuse but came up empty; "Look, the town's still standing, and nobody's dead yet. So back off, Ulquiorra," he retorted. He was frustrated at himself for genuinely forgetting about his mission, but also because he could still sense the reiatsu of every person he had been aiming to kill.
As the dust cleared, Madara's armored susanoo stood tall. The shield had been completely vaporized by Grimmjow's Gran Rey Cero, and parts of its torso were still crackling with residual energy from the blast. Despite the damage to his susanoo, however, neither Madara nor anything behind him had been harmed.
He inwardly sighed as he heard Orihime cry out in alarm behind him. The shrill sound of her screams was starting to wear on his nerves. "What now-" he began.
Before he knew it, however, a blur of motion shot by him and Zangetsu was wrenched from his grasp. He turned sharply, drawing in a quick breath of surprise as he came face to face with Ichigo. He had a hollow mask, and his eyes were black with yellow irises.
"Thanks for protecting my body, but I'll be taking this back," Ichigo said as he brandished his cleaver. His voice had also taken on the distinctive two-toned quality of a hollow, and his demeanor was completely different. "It's good to finally be out and able to let loose."
Seeing Ichigo fully-healed, and with the accursed mask over his face again, Grimmjow's frustration reached a boiling point. "I'll be damned if I let you leave with your life after all that's happened." He growled, flaring his reiatsu. "Desgarron." As he spoke, the reishi at the tips of his claws extended backwards, forming five long blades of pure spiritual power.
"Stop," Ulquiorra ordered as he gripped Grimmjow's forearm tightly, preventing him from releasing the Desgarron. "Our mission is over. Open your pesquisa, Grimmjow. Luppi is dead, Wonderweiss has been defeated and Kisuke Urahara is beating down Yammy as we speak. We have failed."
"Well I'm still breathing, and I'm not finished yet!" Grimmjow roared, tearing his arm away.
"Yes; you are." Ulquiorra countered, reverting to his base form as two beams of Negacion light enveloped them. "I would save my breath, if I were you, Grimmjow. You are going to need every bit of it to explain your actions to Lord Aizen upon our return."
Grimmjow howled in frustration, but allowed his Desgarron to dissipate before also reverting out of his resurreccion. Ulquiorra spoke again, as they were pulled into the garganta of waiting Menos. "Prepare your words well, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. You should count yourself lucky if you just lose a limb this time."
AN: 2 more chapters will conclude this second arc; will respond to a few reviews then.
I skipped over Luppi vs Hitsugaya etc, as well as Yammy/Wonderweiss vs Urahara because they are not that relevant to the plot of this fic. Let me know in reviews if you guys want the story more fleshed out with the more peripheral fights, or just main ones that advance the plot :P
Also let me know any of the espada that you really want to see, and I'll see if I can fit them in in the 3rd arc
