Valentina whipped her red cape as Yylfordt charged towards her.
"Venga, toro! Venga! (Come on, Bull! Come on!)", Valentina goaded in Spanish, before she swiftly and easily dodged Yylfordt's attempt to charge at her by side stepping his attack. It was during this that Valentina realized the Arrancar was moving much slower than he had been when he was still humanoid.
'So he traded speed and maneuverability for raw power and protection with that white bone-like exoskeleton of his. A risky trade-off in a fight, one I can use to my advantage.', Valentina thought. If Yylfordt was slower, all she had to do was outmaneuver him and get close enough for the kill. As for how she would kill him, a quick stab through the spinal cord was how her matador teacher had taught her how to finish a bull, and conveniently Yylfordt had a chink in his armour where his spinal chord should be.
Meanwhile, while Valentina was coming up with her battle strategy, Yylfordt was wondering what the hell he was doing. Grimmjow had been very clear in his orders; slaughter every person with a modicum of spiritual pressure in the area without delay. But here Yylfordt was, playing with his food so to speak… and for what reason? Valentina de la Rosa as she had called herself wasn't anything special. She was just a human with an unusual amount of spiritual pressure. Hell, she didn't even have powers like those humans Ulquiorra had shown him and the others present in the throne room earlier that week using his Solita Vista, nor did she have any knowledge about Hollows or Shinigami.
After defeating that weak lieutenant and that crazy girl, Yylfordt should have just bitten the bullet and finished them all off, including the girl he was currently fighting… but he didn't. Instead, he humored her and responded to her loud demands. Hell, he bantered with her. It was fun, and in the span of approximately fifteen minutes, Valentina de la Rosa had proven she was more interesting than Yylfordt had initially given her credit for. She was so in over her head, but she was so intensely determined to fight him and so sure that she would win, that it was honestly charming. So Yylfordt held off on killing her too quickly and let her put her little bullfighting plan into action. What could it hurt? After all, it wasn't like she would be able to pierce his armor, let alone his Hierro, with a weak human blade like the one she was using.
Yylfordt found himself enjoying his situation an embarrassing amount as he charged at Valentina again. He expected her to sidestep him again, but she did one better and lept backwards through the air and over his form, doing a double backflip and landing on her feet, all with her eyes closed and a confident grin on her face. Yylfordt grinned under the bull-like mask of his Resurrección form.
'This girl has some moves.', he thought with amusement. Were she an Arrancar, perhaps Grimmjow would have made her his Fraccione and they would be fighting together, not against one another. But that thought wasn't one that would do good to dwell on, so Yylfordt instead scraped his foot against the ground and started charging again. Valentina's grin widened, and she held her cape up in preparation for him.
Every attempt Yylfordt made to impale Valentina on his horns failed as she gracefully moved out of the way of his every assault, and she did so in such a way that he was forced to scrape his horns against the ground. Yylfordt didn't notice, but the way he was scraping his horns on the ground was spelling something out. It was only when Valentina managed to surprise him by knocking him back with a well-placed kick to the head that he realized what his horn-scraping had done. Valentina cleared away the dust in the air by sharply flicking her cape once, which revealed a name neatly written in the dirt; her own, with the 'i' dotted with a heart. Yylfordt blinked at the woman in bewilderment.
"How did you- ?", he started to ask, confused as to how she had been at all capable of manipulating his movements to spell out her own name of all things, but Valentina just smirked at him.
"Bad bitch magic, that's how.", she said, interrupting him. Yylfordt, despite his better judgment, smirked as well.
"Okay, I'll admit. That was an impressive trick. Doesn't change the fact that I'm gonna kill you, though.", Yylfordt commended, and Valentina rolled her eyes at him.
"No, you're not. You've been getting your ass handed to you since we started fighting, and I doubt that's gonna change any time soon.", Valentina retorted, and Yylfordt laughed mockingly.
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. See, you told you to stop fighting you with kid gloves, and in a way I have. I released my Resurrección, which gives me access to my full powers, and you've been holding your own really well, but there are two factors that are going to be your undoing.", Yylfordt said ominously. Valentina quirked an eyebrow.
"And what would those factors be?", she asked, the picture of calm. Under his mask, Yylfordt's smirk widened.
"The first one is the fact that I've neglected to use one of my most powerful abilities as an Arrancar; my Sonido, which lets me move as fast as its namesake. It's why I've been moving so slow, and it's why you've been able to outmaneuver me. The second one is that that sword of yours isn't powerful enough to cut me. My Hierro, like my Sonido, is an ability that lives up to it's namesake. It gives me iron skin, skin that your measly metal stick can't penetrate. In short, you've been doomed since you had the gaul to challenge me.", Yylfordt said with no small amount of arrogance. Valentina scowled.
'Okay, so I was wrong about his size making him slower, but I can still beat him. I just need to move faster than him, and somehow make this sword strong enough to cut him. Easy.', Valentina thought with no small measure of sarcasm, before smiling at Yylfordt. She had a plan. It was a flimsy one, but if she could somehow manage to make it work…
"And how exactly would I go about being able to get fast enough and strong enough to beat you if I were able to?", she asked with as much false-sweetness as she could muster. It was a long shot that her attempt at goading Yylfordt into giving her the information she needed would work, or that she would even be capable of following his instructions in the first place, but she had to try. To her glee, Yylfordt felt assured enough of his victory that he actually answered her.
"Well, to be fast enough you'd have to be able to use a variant of my Sonido technique, which is basically just using spiritual energy to enhance your movements and make it so you can get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps possible. Then to hurt me, you'd have to enhance your current weapon by channeling enough spiritual energy into it to make it capable of cutting through my Hierro. But you can't do any of those things, and while I'm confident enough to tell you why exactly you're not gonna win, I'm not stupid enough to give you the exact tools you need to beat me.", Yylfordt explained, and Valentina looked at him blankly.
"But you just did.", she pointed out. Yylfordt narrowed his eyes at her.
"No, I didn't. Because you're human, and humans can't do any of the things I just told you.', Yylfordt corrected, and Valentina shrugged.
"Well, it still wouldn't hurt to try, would it?", she rebuked, and Yylfordt just stared at her for a while.
" … You're insane.", he finally said. Valentina scoffed.
"Well yeah, I'm fighting you with nothing but a sword older than my Abuelo and a makeshift muleta. Now can you be a dear and not try to kill me for a few minutes while I try to figure out how to do that Sonido thing and how to actually hurt you?", Valentina requested casually. Yylfordt glared at her. The nerve of this woman! But she was giving him that charming look with her amber eyes, so it was almost impossible to say no.
"Fine. You've got ten minutes.", he relented without much protest, and immediately he started to wonder why the hell he was giving his opponent such a generous advantage, before realizing that no one could figure out both Sonido and reiatsu manipulation in the span of ten minutes, even if they were an Arrancar that had the potential to learn such things in the first place. He still had the upper hand. If anything, giving Valentina this chance just proved how much stronger than her he was. Yylfordt smirked.
'There's no need to worry at all. After all, even that expanding reiatsu of hers, it's still human reiatsu with no distinguishable powers connected to it. And besides, what human could possibly get powerful enough to defeat a Fraccione in the span of ten minutes?', Yylfordt asked himself rhetorically.
What Yylfordt didn't realize was that Valentina's steadily growing reiatsu wasn't as human as he had assumed it was. It was, like Captain Hitsugaya had said, off somehow. And there was a reason for that. Within Valentina lay two dormant powers, one resembling a Shinigami, and one resembling a Hollow, much like the 'inner Hollow' and zanpakuto spirit of one Ichigo Kurosaki. And thanks to the overflowing amount of reiatsu condensed in Karakura town, those two powers now had the trigger they needed to come to the surface and start developing, which was something they had been doing since Valentina's plane landed. And now, after a little less than half a day had passed, those two powers now had the ability to do what they had been wanting to do for over a decade; they could speak with their host.
Valentina started to think of how to manipulate this 'spiritual energy' stuff Yylfordt was referring to… or rather, she was trying to figure out what it was. What did it feel like? How would she know that she was using it? As she tried to make sense of all these thoughts, disembodied whispers started to fill her mind.
" … Use us… ", a feminine voice muttered. It sounded soft and imploring. Valentina jolted in surprise at the unexpected noise.
"What?", she whispered to herself, wondering what the voice meant and who it belonged to. Then another voice spoke up.
" … Harness us… it is your right… ", a second voice hissed. This voice was distinctly masculine and oily. It sounded like a snake oil salesman trying to persuade someone to buy his wares. Valentina became very confused.
"Use you? Harness you? Why? What do you mean? Stop speaking in riddles!", Valentina demanded loudly, a deep scowl on her face. Yylfordt stared at her, wide-eyed with shock and slight concern.
"Uh are you okay?", Yylfordt asked, uncertain if that was a question he should be asking his enemy. He got his answer when Valentina started looking around frantically, trying to find the source of the voices.
"Who are you? Where are you?", Valentina asked, seemingly talking to thin air.
"We are you, child.", the feminine voice answered.
"Well, a part of you, We are the personification of your two sets of powers. You're 'inner selves', so to speak. I believe the Shinigami call us 'zanpakuto's.", the masculine voice elaborated. Valentina was even more confused than before.
"My 'inner selves'? Zanpakuto's? What the hell does any of that mean?! And couldn't you have picked a better time to show up?! I'm kinda in the middle of something here!", Valentina yelled in frustration, and Yyfordt's concern grew.
'That's definitely a no.', he thought, wondering what was wrong with his opponent. Meanwhile, Valentina's inner strife continued.
"That's why we're reaching out to you, child. We know how you can defeat this man.", the feminine voice explained. Valentina immediately perked up.
"You mean you can teach me Sonido and how to manipulate reiatsu?!", she asked eagerly. The masculine voice snorted.
"Oh, we can teach you far more than that. But that's for another time. Right now, we'll start things off by giving you the strength you need to take down this opponent. But I assure you, the strength I intend to give you now is nothing compared to the power I will bestow upon you later. Your full power will shame even the Soul King, my darling wielder.", the masculine voice said with a dark purr. Confusion overtook Valentina's excitement.
"'Soul King'? Who the hell is that?", Valentina whispered to herself. The feminine voice in her head spoke up with a growl.
"Don't go putting those arrogant ideas into her head! Thinking like that is exactly how you and I got into this situation in the first place! And if anything, she is taking this guy down using my power!", the feminine voice exclaimed irritably. The masculine voice groaned in annoyance.
"And why would she do that? I'm obviously the best choice! You know what they say, 'fight fire with fire'!", the masculine voice refuted. The feminine voice scoffed.
"Like hell you are. Your power is too unpredictable, and who knows how our wielder's allies will react to it? It's better to be safe than sorry and let her use my power.", the feminine voice argued. The masculine voice laughed humorlessly.
"I think not. Nearly twenty years of being stuck in the head of a human girl, and the first chance I get to have any fun, you have to swoop in and try to steal it from me! Well think again my dear, because it's not happening!", the masculine voice said in response. The feminine voice growled with rage.
"You're think you're in any position to be making accusations like that?", the feminine voice asked.
"Well… ", the masculine voice trailed off. The growling intensified.
'Oh that's it, you selfish piece of- !"
On the sidelines, Urahara watched Valentina's struggle with barely contained glee as he finished tending to Ururu.
"It's happening… I can feel it. Her reiatsu… it's growing to enormous levels!", the shopkeeper exclaimed as he fanned himself excitedly. Even though the fact she was talking to herself was concerning, unless her doing that caused her to lash out at her allies or go berserk, Urahara didn't see any reason to be concerned… yet. Though he did note that Valentina had an almost alarming amount of Hollow reiatsu, Urahara just shrugged this off. Chad's reiatsu was Hollow-like, and he was fine, so Valentine would likely be too.
While the shopkeeper was contemplating all of this, Valentina started to clutch her skull. The voices had gone from whispers to screams. They had devolved into bickering about who was going to help her win the fight, and it was all becoming too much for her.
"I'm telling you, I'm the best choice out of the two of us to help her take this guy down!"
"And I'M telling you, no! She won't be able to handle the dark impulses that come with your powers and she'll go on a rampage! Let me handle this. She'll be able to control my powers more easily."
"Yeah, because you'll give her the bare minimum she needs to succeed and make her struggle more than necessary all in the name of 'not overwhelming her'!"
"No, because my powers aren't inherently dark like yours are and she won't be inclined to go on a killing spree the second- !"
"WOULD THE BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!? JUST SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I CAN'T THINK WITH BOTH OF YOU CONSTANTLY BICKERING! BE QUIET SO I CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT I NEED TO DO, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!", Valentina screeched, finally reaching the end of her rope as she gripped her aching skull. She needed to learn how to do the things Yylfordt had said she needed to do to beat him, and the two voices in her head constantly fighting were not helping!
"I think she's lost it… ", Jinta trailed off, uncertain of how to react in this strange situation, but Urahara stared a Valentina with intrigue.
"No, she hasn't lost it. If the spike in her reiatsu is any indication, then this is just a side effect of her awakening her powers. Perhaps her reaction is because they've taken the form of a sentient being, similar to a zanpakuto spirit? Or maybe it's more like an inner Hollow? That would certainly explain her intensely adverse reaction.", Urahara muttered to himself, pondering the question of what was going on in Valentina's head. Jinta shook his head at him and went back to what he was doing, not knowing or caring what he was talking about. Valentina meanwhile, was taking deep breathes to stave off her possible breakdown.
"... We're sorry that we upset you with our arguing, child. My partner, who I have currently suppressed into a deeper part of your subconscious for the moment so you can't hear his gripings, is also sorry. Even if he'll never admit it outloud. We'll try to keep our bickering from getting that out of control again.", the feminine voice said sincerely. Valentina continued her heavy breathing, but she stopped clutching her skull as hard as she was earlier.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. It's… fine. Just don't do it again.", Valentina said breathlessly. Yylfordt was staring at her, still unsure about what to do. The woman's allotted ten minutes were almost up, and while it would definitely be to his advantage tactically, it felt wrong for him to attack Valentina while she was recovering from some sort of internal problem.
"Are you sure you're okay? You don't look too hot. I can like… leave and come back in an hour if you need me to.", Yylfordt offered. Valentina gave him a strange look.
"Aren't you trying to kill me?", she asked. Yylfordt shrugged.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to be a jerk about it.", Yylfordt responded, and Valentina mentally decided right then and there that Yylfordt Granz, independent of his violent actions against Renji and Ururu, was a good person. He had to be if he was so insistent on waiting to fight her until she recovered from what probably looked like a panic attack to him. Valentina waved off his concern.
"Nah, I'm fine. Thanks for the offer, though. Now where were we?"
"I believe you were about to harness my power to defeat this oddly nice opponent of yours.", the still unnamed feminine voice chimed in. Valentina groaned.
"Oh dios, not you again.", she complained, once again appearing to outsiders like she was speaking to nothing. Yylfordt started to look concerned again.
"I'll ask again; are you absolutely sure you're alright? Because you keep talking to things that aren't there and, since I'm pretty sure that's not normal for humans I'm starting to wonder if you're hallucinating.", Yylfordt asked. Valentina waved him off yet again.
"Yeah, totally. The voices in my head just won't shut the hell up. They're kind of a new feature of my existence, so the constant noise and arguing is taking some getting used to.", Valentina responded, pointing to her head, and Yylfordt snorted, recalling his days as a Gillian.
"Oh yeah, I can relate to that. How many do you have to deal with?"
"Two, and they fight like an old married couple.", Valentina answered, and Yylfordt winced in sympathy.
"That's rough, buddy. At least it isn't hundreds upon hundreds of voices like I used to have, though. That was certainly an experience."
"You had that many? Damn. Does living with them ever get any easier?"
"Kinda. You just have to get better at tuning them out. Or you can do what I did and make them shut up permanently by asserting your control over the host body and banishing them to the recesses of your consciousness."
"Yeah, considering I'm already in control of my body, I somehow don't think that's gonna work for me… "
"Why do they keep casually conversing in the middle of battle?", Tessai asked his boss as he watched Valentina chat with her very dangerous Arrancar opponent. Urahara shrugged.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Tessai."
"Apologies for interrupting… whatever this is, but if you want to win this fight using my power, then we should get back to the actual fighting now.", the unnamed feminine voice recommended. Valentina nodded and gave Yylfordt a remorseful look.
"Hey Yylfordt, one of the voices in my head says we have to get back to fighting.", Valentina said. Yylfordt blinked at her before he nodded.
"Okay. Do you like, need a minute to get your head in the game or… ?", he trailed off, uncertain about what he was supposed to be doing in this situation. Because really, this had to be the weirdest fight he had ever been in. Valentina nodded.
"Yeah, just gimme like, two minutes.", she told him, before closing her eyes and concentrating on the feminine voice in her head.
'Alright unnamed feminine-sounding voice in my head, how exactly are we supposed to go about this 'you giving me your power' thing?', Valentina asked internally. She was getting tired of talking to the voices in her head out loud and getting weird looks because of it (especially from Urahara). The feminine voice, much to Valentina's relief, heard her inquiry and responded.
"Firstly I'm going to tell you my name, which is not 'unnamed feminine-sounding voice in my head' by the way. Knowing my name will allow you to access a portion of my power-or rather your power, that is locked deep inside you. To summon that power, you need to call out my name, as a command word that will come to you naturally. Once you've done that, this opponent of yours will be easy to take down.", the feminine voice explained. Valentina smirked and braced herself.
'Sounds good. Alright then, voice in my head. Tell me your name.', Valentina commanded. She could almost sense the voice smirking at the return of her usual confident attitude.
"As you wish. Listen Valentina de la Rosa, and listen well. I have gone by many names and titles over the millenia, but my given name holds precedence over them all. My name is… ", the feminine voice said. Once Valentina heard the voice's name, her smirk widened. She looked at Yylfordt with mischievous eyes.
"Well Yylfordt, I have to say, this has been the most entertaining fight I've had in my entire life. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as they say. So let's wrap this up, eh?", Valentina asked in a self-assured voice. Yylfordt smiled and nodded.
"Sure. And Valentina? For what it's worth, I had fun too. And even when I win, and won't be killing you, even if it'll piss my boss off. I think we've bonded a little too much for me to off you.", Yylfordt said with sincerity in his voice. He knew Grimmjow would get pissed off at him for letting one of the targets live, but he would just have to understand that he wasn't going to kill an opponent he felt such a deep connection with. Valentina grinned at him.
"Thank you for your consideration, but like I've said before, it won't be you beating me.", Valentina corrected, and Yylfordt choked on air as suddenly, Valentina's reiatsu became oppressively strong. It took quite a bit of effort to keep himself standing after that, and seeing his struggle, Valentina's eyes lit up with a feral sort of glee. This really was the best fight she had ever had. None of those brawls in the streets of Mexico could compare to what she was experiencing now. This… this was true battle.
"This is it, Yylfordt! This is where it ends! You were good, but unfortunately, I'm better! Now, let's finish this… Reap, La Muerte!", Valentina cried passionately as she held out her hand, and it was like the very air itself started to crackle. A cyclone of air and spiritual energy surrounded Valentina, shrouding her from view, and every spiritually aware person in Karakura sensed this occurring.
"What the hell is this… ?", Yylfordt trailed off in awe. Valentina's last sentence sounded like a Shikai command, but that was impossible! She wasn't a Shinigami… was she? If she was, she would have revealed her strength by now. She didn't seem like the type to hold back just to mess with him, so what the hell was going on? Closer to the shop, Urahara was watching the spectacle with wide eyes.
'This reiatsu feels like a Shinigami's. Chad's powers feel Hollow-like, but Valentina's reiatsu feels Shinigami-like, and yet… When I focus, I can sense Hollow-like reiatsu underneath all that Shinigami reiatsu. It makes it resemble Ichigo's own reiatsu then Chad's. So does that mean Valentina has the same powers as Ichigo? That's impossible. Even with Ichigo's heritage, it took Rukia giving him her powers to unlock his Shinigami abilities. For Valentina to unlock hers after only a day of close contact with powerful spirit beings and a single battle with a mid-level Arrancar, that would mean her innate potential… surpasses even that of Ichigo's… ', Urahara thought, dropping his fan in shock as he came to his harrowing conclusion.
For the first time since Aizen had framed him for Hollowfiying the Visoreds, Kisuke Urahara felt like he was in way over his head. He had manipulated the situation expecting Valentina to awaken powers at the same level as Chad's, not Ichigo's. And he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Tessai, who had just gotten done using a healing Kido on Renji, stared at his shocked boss with worry, and his expression became just as shocked as his when he realized something; Valentina's spiritual pressure was so great, it had shattered his Kido that hid her from Yumichika and the other Shinigami's senses. Tessai gulped. He knew the sheer amount of spiritual pressure needed to shatter that Kido was at least Captain level, and for Valentina to be able to do it unintentionally… Renji meanwhile, had finally woken up due to Valentina's spiritual pressure and sat bolt upright, looking around frantically.
"What happened?! Is the Arrancar gone?! Did we beat him?! What's going on?!", he asked, but he got no answers. His eyes locked onto the whirling cyclone. What was that? Was it a threat? He was about to ask Urahara those questions, when he noticed something; the intense spiritual pressure that had woken him up… it felt like Valentina's. Renji's eyes widened as he stared at the tornado in confused awe.
"Valentina… ?", he whispered under his breath, unable to fully grasp what was happening. Running through the heads of everyone present to witness what Valentina was doing, was a single, universal thought.
'What on earth am I bearing witness to?'
—-
Elsewhere, where other fights were occurring, spirit beings halted what they were doing the second they felt Valentina's intense spiritual pressure.
"What the hell is that?", Captain Hitsugaya asked as he looked over his shoulder towards Urahara's shop, his eyes wide as he felt the strong, Shinigami-like reiatsu that he couldn't recognize as belonging to any of his comrades. Upon further inspection, he realized that he did recognize it… as belonging to Valentina. Histugaya's pupils dilated in shock.
'There's no way. Rangiku said her spiritual pressure was felt abnormal for a human, but reiatsu this strong and this Shinigami-like… couldn't be produced by a human. Just what the hell is that girl?!', Hitsugaya asked himself. He was torn away from his thoughts however, when his opponent, Shawlong Koufang, took his distracted state as a chance to land a hit on him. Histugaya cried out in pain as the blade of Shawlong's Resurrección, Tijereta, sliced him on the shoulder.
"It doesn't do well to ignore your opponents when in the midst of battle, Toshiro Hitsugaya. If I were you, I'd save aweing over spiritual pressure for after I'd won the battle… If you even get that far, that is.", Shawlong said tauntingly. Histugaya sneered at him in response.
"And you should be more cautious of a powerful new player appearing on the battlefield. Aren't you worried about how your Arrancar friend is gonna fare against an opponent that strong?", Hitsugaya asked, referring to the Arrancar he could sense close to Valentina's spiritual pressure, who he assumed was her opponent. Shawlong snorted.
"Yylfordt is not my immediate concern. If I have time after I'm done with you, I'll go to aid him. But before I can do that… you need to be dealt with.", Shawlong retorted, before going in for another attack. Hitsugaya was able to dodge this one, and their battle recommenced.
—-
In another part of Karakura, another Shinigami and Arrancar pair paused their battle when they felt Valentina's spiritual pressure
"What the… ?", Ikkaku trailed off, freezing in his Bankai's first attack in its tracks as his wide grin faltered. The spiritual pressure he was feeling was powerful, but unfamiliar. Just who the hell did it belong to? Ikkaku's opponent, Edrad, tilted his head at him. He sensed the spiritual pressure as well, but since it didn't seem like the owner of it was going to interfere in his fight, he didn't care enough about to give it any of his attention. The Arrancar smirked at his opponent.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts, Ikkaku Madarame.", the Fraccione asked mockingly. Ikkaku shook his head at him, his battle-crazed grin quickly returning as he adopted a mindset similar to Edrad's in regards to the mysterious reiatsu; if it wasn't going to interfere with his fight, then he didn't care about it. Ikkaku chuckled lightly.
"Not at all. I'm just wondering who that crazy reiatsu could belong to.", Ikkaku corrected. Edrad blinked at him in surprise.
"You mean it's not one of yours?", Edrad asked, referring to the Shinigami's his fellow Fraccione were fighting against. Ikkaku shook his head.
"No, but it doesn't matter. They aren't your opponent, I am! Now, let's finish this!", Ikkaku yelled, and he got ready to deal the first strike with his Ryumon Hozukimaru.
—-
In another part of Karakura, just a few blocks away from Urahara's shop, Yumichika came to a stop on top of a tall building after jumping onto it from another building.
After receiving a call from Tessai telling him that an Arrancar was attacking and that he needed to get to the shop and take Valentina away for her safety, Yumichika had left Ikkaku's side and quickly started to make his way to the shop… only to realize that no matter where he went, he wasn't getting any closer to the location. He had quickly realized it was because someone had used a Kido that repelled people from finding a certain place and hid spiritual pressure, but Yumichika didn't know who cast it or why. Arrancars couldn't cast Kido as far as he was aware, and Tessai wouldn't hide his charge from him after calling him to come get her… would he?
Yumichika nearly jumped out of his skin when he sensed that whatever Kido was scrambling his sense of direction had broken, and out of nowhere a large amount of spiritual pressure appeared where Urahara's shop would be. Yumichika's eyes widened as he felt the intense reiatsu.
'What power! This spiritual pressure… it isn't like anything I've ever felt before! But for some reason, it's almost… familiar.', Yumichika thought. Then he gasped when realized the spiritual pressure was familiar, because he had felt it before, albeit on a much smaller scale.
'There's no way… Valentina?'
—-
Across town, Chad was still running after fleeing the battle between Ichigo, Rukia and the Arrancar named Di-Roy Rinker. He hadn't needed much encouragement to flee. After Di-Roy took him by surprise while he was taking a walk and nearly impaled him with nothing but his arm, and Ichigo had managed to intervene and stop him, Chad had realized that if the Arrancars were attacking, his cousin was likely in danger. Currently, he was trying to find the Urahara shop so he could get to Valentina and protect her, but for some reason he wasn't able to. Then he sensed it. An immense spiritual pressure was coming from Urahara's shop, and it felt familiar, both because of how Shinigami-like it was and because of who he knew it belonged to. Chad gasped and froze in place.
'Valentina… Mi prima (my cousin), what's happening to you?'
—-
Several blocks away from where Chad was, Ichigo and the sixth Espada Grimmjow paused their fighting when they sensed a new and intense spiritual pressure appear-or rather, Grimmjow was courteous enough to stop wailing on Ichigo when he sensed the new spiritual pressure. Grimmjow froze his fist in the air mid-punch, sparing Ichigo's face another blow as he stared off into the distance towards Urahara's shop, his electric blue eyes wide with shock and worry.
'That spiritual pressure… it's intense enough that whoever it belongs to might be near my level! It's definitely more intense than this weakling Kurosaki's reiatsu! And the other spiritual pressure near it belongs to… !', Grimmjow thought, before his face paled with horror. Normally he would have been ecstatic to be close to a powerful potential opponent, but this was one of the rare exceptions.
"Shit, Yylfordt!", the Espada cursed aloud.
Normally, Grimmjow didn't express this much open concern for his 'subjects'. They were Arrancars of Las Noches, and Aizen didn't tolerate weaknesses like caring for others among his soldiers, not to mention that Grimmjow wasn't very touchy-feely to begin with. But given that all of his Fraccione were currently either dead or in the process of being killed by the Shinigami they had come to Karakura to fight, he had reason to express worry for his only Fraccion that he knew was still okay. Especially when it was looking like that Fraccion wouldn't be that way for much longer. Grimmjow was tempted to leave his 'fight' (read: one-sided beating) with Kurosaki to go give Yylfordt some back up, but he knew that if he did, his Fraccion would never forgive him for interrupting his fight. The two of them were alike that way. They loved fighting, and they hated it when someone interrupted them or kept them from fighting, especially in regards to strong opponents like the person the mysterious reiatsu belonged to. That was why he knew Yylfordt wouldn't want his help, even if it ended up killing him.
Scowling in frustration and knowing his hands were tied, Grimmjow glared down at the barely conscious Ichigo lying in a crater he had made on the ground, and picked him up by the collar of the long black trench coat he had changed into when he used his Bankai. When he saw the slightly fearful look in his dazed brown eyes, however, the Arrancar grinned.
"Well Kurosaki, your little friends may have taken down most of my Fraccion, but I can at least take pleasure in beating down on you as payback! THIS IS FOR DI-ROY! FOR NAKEEM! FOR EDRAD! FOR SHAWLONG!", Grimmjow shouted as he punched Ichigo in the face again and again, putting his rage and grief into every punch.
Grimmjow may have been a Hollow, but contrary to what the Shingami believed, he wasn't heartless. His Fraccion had been with him since he was still an Adjuhas. Even when he and them were still little more than beasts (not that they were much better than beasts now), they had knelt before him and swore to serve him. They had declared him their king, and what had he gone and done? He had gotten them all killed except for one.
Grimmjow could argue that their deaths were just the consequences of war. That they had known what they were getting themselves into when they followed him into the human world, that it was part of what they'd sworn to do when the agreed to serve him. But Grimmjow knew that this situation was entirely his fault. The attack was carried out on his orders, not Aizens. Any casualties that occurred were because of him, and him alone. He was a king without his subjects, and he only had himself to blame.
So he continued punching Kurosaki long after he lost consciousness, using his fists as an outlet for his grief and the injuries he inflicted onto the boy as a twisted sort of memorial for his fallen servants. Who, while he would never admit it even to himself, had been the closest things he had ever had to friends in his entire existence. As he continued venting, Grimmjow paid close attention to Yylfordt's reiatsu for any sign of defeat or death.
'You better make it out of this alive, Yylfordt. If not for your own sake, then for your brother's… and mine. I don't even wanna think about what Szayel is gonna try and do to me if I come back to Las Noches carrying your corpse.'
—-
Back at Urahara's shop, the tornado surrounding Valentina finally dissipated and the dust settled, revealing the person that lied within. Clothing-wise, Valentina hadn't changed at all. However, two things were different about her appearance; her eyes, which glowed a slightly brighter (almost yellow) shade of amber, and the fact that the old Spanish rapier in her hand had been morphed into a completely different sword.
The rapier style of the blade was gone, and it now looked like a broadsword about two and a half feet in length. The blade itself was a gleaming silver, with intricate gold and orange designs around the fuller of the blade. The guard had small but noticeable jeweled carvings of marigold flowers on it, with the handle being wrapped in a simple rich red cloth, and the pommel was shaped in a fleur de lis-like design and made of gold. It was a beautiful blade, though a bit unusual for a Shika release. Yylfordt stared at the sword, which radiated power, in awe. This wasn't like anything he had seen before. Valentina smirked at him.
"Like what you see? Good! You'll be seeing a lot of La Muerte, since she's what I'm gonna use to defeat you!", Valentina said, and Yylfordt didn't even have a chance to respond before she was leaping into action-literally. She leapt into the air and disappeared with the speed of an expert-level Sonido.
'She's fast!',Yylfordt thought in shock. How was this the same girl that had been asking him what the hell a Sonido was moments ago? Was it the same girl? Valentina then reappeared directly in front of him with an excited grin on her face, and before he had the chance to dodge, she striked.
"You know, back in Mexico, when I started going to college, I decided to get back in touch with my roots on my mother's side of the family by taking bullfighting classes!", Valentina yelled as she struck Yylfordt with her Zanpakuto, putting a gash in his Resurrección's armor, before disappearing again via Sonido (or was it Shunpo since she was using Shinigami powers?).
"I'd take them every other Saturday! My instructor loved me! He said that I was a natural, that I could have been the most famous matador in all of Mexico and live up to my lineage as a Sanchez if I applied myself fully to the craft!", Valentina continued with her speech. She also continued with her attacks; she would disappear, then reappear, slash Yylfordt, and repeat. Her attacks were predicable, but she moved so fast that even though Yylfordt knew what she was going to do next, he couldn't dodge. He went backwards as he feebly attempted to dodge Valentina's attacks to no avail, gritting his teeth as gnashes deep enough to hurt but shallow enough not to permanently damage him littered his body.
'At least Valentina has enough courtesy to not injure me grievously.', Yylfordt thought slightly sarcastically. He caught sight of Valentina coming at him for another attack, smiling happily as she did so. She wasn't battle crazed like Grimmjow was during a good fight, nor was she solemn and judgemental or arrogant and teasing like Ichimaru or Tousen. She was just having a good time and not taking things too seriously. Yylfordt didn't know whether to be pissed off that she wasn't taking him seriously or amused that she was so casual about all of this. Then Valentina spoke again.
"But there was one thing that kept me from doing that! One thing that prevented me from continuing my maternal family's tradition! Do you wanna know what that thing was, Yylfordt?! Do you?!", Valentina asked incessantly. Yylfordt struggled to answer through her constant barrage of attacks.
"What?!", he said in a loud, gasping voice as he struggled to catch his breath. Because of this, it took him a moment to notice the slight pinpricks of pain on his back between his shoulder blades as a result of Valentina's sword piercing the armor there, or that he and Valentina had stopped moving because she had managed to back him against a wall. When Yylfordt noticed these things, his eyes widened in shock and horror as he stared up at a now stoney-faced Valentina. He knew that if she wanted, she could kill him right then and there by severing his spinal cord if she just plunged her blade a little bit further. Fear consumed Yylfordt to the point where he forgot the promise he and Valentina had made to each other about not killing one another, because decades of fighting for survival in Hueco Mundo and against Shinigami that sought to slaughter his kind had taught him that fights always ended with someone dying. He shouldn't expect this fight to be any different because of a human's empty promise.
In short, mercy wasn't something Hollows did or experienced, and it showed in Yylfordt's reaction to his circumstances. His red eyes met Valentina's glowing amber as he braced for the worst.
'This is it. This is how I die.', he thought. Szayel was going to kill him. But, much to Yylfordt's surprise, Valentina broke the tense silence and spoke to him in a voice softer than any other.
"The thing that prevented me from becoming a matador was that at the end of every bullfight, the matador is supposed to kill the bull by severing its spinal cord. They're supposed to plunge their sword between the bull's shoulder blades, just like what I could do to you right now… And I could never bring myself to do that. Not to the bull, and not to another sentient being.", Valentina said in a calm voice, before pulling her sword away from Yylfordt's back and sheathing it in the scabbard decorated with orange and red marigold carvings that the Arrancar had just noticed was hanging from her side.
Yylfordt could only stare up at the woman, red eyes wide with shock, both because of her decision to spare his life and because she called him a 'sentient being'. No one called Hollows (Arrancar or otherwise) sentient beings, not even other Hollows. Or Aizen, for all his claims of 'elevating them to an existence above that of their base urges'.
"Why did you… ?", Yylfordt started to ask, but Valentina then gave him a solemn look that cut him off.
"I don't know why you attacked the shop, or what forces are at play here that I'm not aware of, but I do know that I'm not in the habit of killing my opponents once I'm done with them. But I guess that promise I made to you was proof enough of that, wasn't it?", Valentina said with a slight quirk of her lips, before frowning again.
"Well, what are you still sitting there for? Go on, get out of here! If you stay, whoever you're actually supposed to be fighting could come after you!", Valentina yelled, sounding a mix of urgent and concerned for her defeated opponent. Yylfordt didn't have to be told twice. He sealed his Resurrección away in a flash of yellow light and stood up, clutching an injury on his arm, and gave Valentina one last look. His red eyes shone with awe and gratefulness.
"Thank you. I don't know how, but I'll pay you back for this. Someday.", Yylfordt said sincerely. Valentina smiled at him.
"Well then, I look forward to 'someday'.", Valentina told him, and Yylfordt gave her one last (slightly weak) smile.
"Again, thank you.", he said, and in an instant he was gone, having Sonido'ed away. Valentina's smile widened, and her eyes darkened as she heard footsteps approaching from behind her. Whipping her head around. Valentina shot the person she knew to be her cousin a sharp glare and a fake, saccharine smile. When he saw these things on her face, Chad froze and gulped nervously, feeling very sick all of a sudden.
"Yasutora Sado, mi primo… Tell me, what the hell just happened and why do I get the feeling you know something about it?", Valentina asked, and Chad felt fear creep into his heart.
'This isn't going to end well.', he thought anxiously, and unfortunately, he was right.
This is a long-ass chapter, I know. I almost made the Yylfordt vs. Valentina fight a three parter, but thought better of it. I took some of the inspritation for Valentina's fight from Manolo's first bullfight in the Book of Life, and Valentina's relation to a family of bullfighters named Sanchez was also inspired by that movie. I know I made Grimmjow and Yylfordt a little OOC by making them care more about each other than they did in canon, but I did that to hammer home the whole 'Arrancars have feelings and don't deserve to be slaughtered indiscriminately and/or dehumanized' thing I'm trying to do with this fic. So in this story, Grimmjow saw his Fraccion as friends, or the closest thing to friends Aizen will let any of the Arrancar in Hueco Mundo have because he hates happiness. Next time, Valentina learns about spirits, and we see what happened to Yylfordt and Grimmjow!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.