Disclaimer: Ben 10 and Bleach do not belong to me.
Thanks goes to Pyromania101 and the Incredible Muffin.
Meeting the Locals
Within the fortress of Las Noches there are ten warriors know as the Espada, each with their own incredible powers and abilities. All of them had felt the mysterious spike of power and weren't surprised that Lord Aizen had called them all together to discuss this mysterious development.
"It would appear we have an intruder," said the Octava Espada, Szayelapporo Granz. He was a bespectacled man with short, pink hair. He wore a long white shirt that covered all of his upper body up to his neck. The shirt itself bore three stripes, each starting at the collar with two running to each side of Szayelapporo's chest and the third stripe running down the middle. His pants were the same white uniform that each of his comrades wore, though his was a length shorter. He also wore white gloves.
"Is Soul Society attacking us already?" asked the Decimo Epsada, Yammy Llargo. He was a large and extremely muscular man with tanned skin, a ridged lined cranium…though perhaps his most interesting features would be the jaw bone attached to his own jaw…and the giant hole in the center of his chest.
"Doubtful," replied Ulquiorra Cifer, the Cuarto Espada replied. His chin was chalk white, which clashed with his short, messy black hair. His eyes were green with slit-like pupils. and thin, dark lines ran down from his eyelids to his cheeks. His white jacket had longer coattails and a broader collar compared to the others. He also bore a bone-white horned helmet-like item on the left side of his head and a gaping hole on his sternum. "Soul Society is not yet organized enough to launch an attack on Hueco Mundo."
"If it's not Soul Society then who is it?" demanded Baraggan Louisenbairn, the Segunda Espada. He was an elderly, yet muscular man. He bore a scar across his right eye and on the left side of his chin. He wore a regal looking coat with black fur lining and fur stripes running along the bottom. The man also wore gold wristbands and his waist bore three gold belts that were connected together with an emblem of the sun. Completing the man's ensemble was a hole in his chest and a five pointed crown resting on his forehead. "Who else would be foolish enough to attack us?"
"Maybe it's a lone Soul Reaper who has decided to invade Hueco Mundo alone," Szayelapporo suggested. "Thinking they alone can stop Lord Aizen."
This earned him a roaring laughter from Nnoitra Gilga, the Quinto Epsada. He was a tall, thin, and lanky man who's jacket bore a large, spoon-shaped hood and an opening that showed a lot of his midsection. The ends of his pants closed inside of his long and curved boots. Adding to the man's look was a big eyepatch over his left eye. "Sounds like fun."
"Enough," groaned Coyote Starrk, the Primera Espada. He had wavy brown hair and a faded goatee. He wore a white jacket outlined in black, though altered with the collar upturned. A black sash was worn around his waist similar to a matador and he wore white gloves. A hole was located in his sternum, above the tip of a bottom jaw bone that he wore like a collar around his neck. "I'm tired as hell. Let's keep things quiet around here."
One by one the other Espada sat down at the meeting table, waiting for their master to arrive.
Soon enough, Aizen arrived along with his cohorts, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen.
"Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Espada," Aizen said warmly to his warriors, who had all turned their heads toward to their leader the moment he entered. "I'm sure you are all aware by now that someone or something has come to Hueco Mundo."
The Epsada said nothing, simply looking at their leader and waiting to see what he would do.
"Although brief, I was able to evaluate the power I'm certain all of you felt," Aizen went on. "And whatever caused that power…was not Soul Reaper or Hollow."
The Espada all tensed up at those words. Not a Soul Reaper or a Hollow?
"Intrigued by this," Aizen said. "I decided to activate the surveillance…and I found something very interesting." He looked over at one of his associates. "Tosen? Would you activate the projector?"
Tosen was a man with dark skin, braided hair, and visor-like goggles over his eyes. He wore a long white robe and at his side was a katana-like sword that was held in place by an orange rope that hung around Tosen's body and hung around his neck.
"Yes, Lord Aizen," Tosen replied. He went over to a switch in one of the room's walls and pulled it. The center of the Espada's table opened and the Espada were greeted to a shocking image. Wondering through the desert of Hueco Mundo was a young man, probably in his teens, wearing a green jacket with a big number 10 in white letters on the left side.
"A human," Baraggan scoffed. "A human somehow came to Hueco Mundo?"
"This is indeed puzzling," Aizen said, though his tone showed he was more amused than puzzled. "This human does not look remarkable yet his presence shortly after that spike of power has to be connected."
"Do you know him, Lord Aizen?" Szayelapporo inquired.
"No," Aizen replied. "I am not aware of who he is or why he's here. At best, he is another poor human who somehow became involved with Soul Society and yet…there's something about the boy. Whoever he is, I can already tell he's interesting."
The Espada all gazed the boy on the projector. He certainly didn't look like much so why would Aizen find him interesting?
…
Ben trudged through the desert sand, hoping he was going the right way.
"If that guy was gonna send me somewhere sandy," Ben grumbled. "He could've at least sent me to a beach or something. Oh well. At least it's night out so it's cool." He looked up at the big bright moon. Then he noticed something odd. There were no clouds in the sky and yet…Ben just realized that there weren't any stars out. A bright moon, a cloudless sky, but no stars.
"What kind of world did I get sent to?" Ben asked himself. As he looked ahead, he thought he spotted something in the distance. It was still far away though, so it was hard to make out. But hey, if it was a building, Ben was all up for going there. He just hoped that, if it was a building and had inhabitants, that they were friendly.
"Walking's gonna take too long," Ben said as he activated the Ultimatrix. Scrolling through his aliens, he found just the one he was looking for and slammed the dial down. In a flash of green light, he transformed into what appeared to be a blue raptor with ball-like objects at the bottom of its feet and a black helmet over its head: XLR8.
"Time to speed things up," XLR8 said as his helmet's visor closed over his face. Quick as a flash he zoomed across the desert sand and straight towards what he hoped he was civilization.
…
Needless to say, Ben's unknown audience was caught by surprise. The Espada were all staring in wide-eyed shock while Aizen had a smirk on his face. He was right. This mysterious boy was interesting.
"What the hell?!" Nnoitra bellowed. "I thought he was a human! What the hell was that thing? And how could it move so fast?"
"So there is more to our guest than meets the eye," Aizen said, causing all the Espada to turn their heads towards him. "Did any of you notice that gauntlet the boy was fiddling with before he transformed?"
"It's obviously the source of his transformation," Szayelapporo said with barely contained glee. Already he was wishing to get his hands on this boy and start experimenting.
"Agreed," Aizen said with a nod as the projector was deactivated. "And when the boy was tampering with his gauntlet, there appeared to be images of different creatures before he selected the form he is currently in. This means the boy has other transformations at his disposal."
The Espada looked down at the table now, thinking of this completely unexpected development. Some believed this boy was a potential threat and needed to be eliminated, some wanted to know what it would be like if they fought this boy, while those like Szayelapporo were simply eager to take him apart and see what made him tick.
"He's making his way to Las Noches right now," Aizen went on. "If you happen to encounter him, you are more than welcome to engage him in battle but do not kill him. I wish to meet the boy in person. For now, return to your rooms and remain on standby."
One by one the Espada departed and went back to their chambers. Aizen was still smirking as he made his way to his own chambers.
"You're looking cheerful," replied Gin Ichimaru, a silver-haired man with slitted narrow eyes and a smile that made him look like a snake.
"Cheerful?" Aizen repeated. "Hmm. That's one way to put it."
"You don't know anything about this guy or what he can really do," Gin went on. "And yet you can't help but be a bit excited that you don't know. You like having an unknown element here."
"You may be right, Gin," Aizen contemplated. "Everything has been going according to plan so far and it's been awhile when something unexpected came along. Sometimes…not knowing is part of the fun."
…
XLR8 was getting closer to his destination which, from what he was able to make out, was a massive dome-like fortress surrounded by several large towers and some smaller square buildings. The place was colossal, even from this distance! And the less distance XLR8 put between himself and the fortress, the bigger it seemed to be.
Still, there was a lot of stuff he needed to consider. Was this place inhabited? And if so, were the inhabitants friendly or hostile?
Of course the biggest question going through his mind was about his home. How would his friends and family react to finding him missing? And how would he even get back home in the first place?
XLR8 was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when the ground suddenly shifted under him, knocking him off balancing and sending him sprawling. Shaking himself off, XLR8 looked around. That was weird, there was nothing out there, just sand. So what tripped him?
"Strange creature of unknown origin," a voice seemingly out of nowhere said. "I shall defeat you!"
Suddenly the sand began shifting, then part of it began forming together to create a shape. XLR8's eyes widened as the sand formed into a giant, humanoid figure with a gaping hole in its chest and a face that looked similar to a sand castle.
"Ooookay," XLR8 mumbled. "Wasn't expecting that."
"I am Runuganga!" The sand creature bellowed. "Guardians of the White Sands!"
"Really?" XLR8 muttered dryly. "I never would've guessed."
"I had heard that an intruder was making their toward Las Noches," Runuganga said. "As Guardian of this fortress, I will not allow you to continue further!"
XLR8 raised his hands in surrender. "Look! I'm sorry for trespassing but I'm lost and need some help getting back home!"
"Foolish creature!" Rununganga yelled down at the Kinceleran. "Your plight means nothing to me. All that matters is that I prevent you from reaching Las Noches!"
"Yeesh," XLR8 mumbled. "This place must not get a lot of visitors with you as the doorman!"
Angrily, Runuganga raised a massive arm and brought it down towards XLR8 but the speedy alien dodged the attack with ease, moving right behind Runuganga.
"Missed me!" XLR8 boasted.
Rununganga shifted his body, glaring down at XLR8. "Yes, your speed is most impressive for a non-Hollow. But the sand is my body, there is nowhere you can truly run!"
The next thing XLR8 knew, the ground beneath him turned into a sinking pit. Not really in the mood to be buried alive, the Kineceleran kicked his feet furiously. If he could just build up enough speed, or at least gain some kind of footing, he could easily blast out of here. Runuganga noticed his struggling.
"It is useless to resist, little insect!" Runuganga raised a massive arm. "Be buried in the desert sand!"
"Oh boy!" XLR8 cried out as he hand went to the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest. There was a brief flash of green light just as Rununganga's fist slammed down.
Runuganga laughed triumphantly, confident he had buried the strange intruder. But then he felt something shift through the sand, shifting through him! Suddenly something burst out of his arm and landed onto the sandy ground. Gone was the blue lizard-like creature and in his place was about to be a yellow armored, bipedal armodillo with jackhammer-like parts on his elbows, hands, and wrists.
"Sorry, 'Guardian of the White Sands!'" The being taunted in a deep voice. "But nothing can bury Armodrillo!"
"What is this?!" Runuganga cried out in shock. "You have changed form?!"
"Yeah, I tend to do that," Armodrillo joked.
While Ben had plenty of aliens who could defeat this guy, this building was the only sign of life he had seen so far. If he hoped to get the inhabitants' help, he needed to make a good impression, and beating up their watch-dog wasn't a very good start. So for now he'd better just amscray.
"Hiding a secret ability in an attempt to deceive me," Runuganga growled. "You are truly beyond forgiveness."
"If you thought that was bad, wait till you see this next one!" Armodrillo shot back before diving into the ground.
"It's no use!" Runuganga yelled. "The sand is my body! Hiding within it is hiding within me! You have only brought your demise upon you faster!"
But no, Runuganga soon realized he was wrong. He could feel the so-called "Armodrillo" moving through the sand with ease, like he was swimming in it! He could feel the strange being making his way towards Las Noches…through the very sand that surrounded it!
"Noooo!" Runuganga roared. "You will not step foot upon the sacred ground of Las Noches!"
But it was too late, the creature had vanished within Las Noches! Runuganga, the great Guardian of the White Sands…had failed.
Runuganga wailed in despair over the fact that he had failed Lord Aizen, fearing what sort of retribution his master would inflict upon him.
…
Unknown to Runuganga, Aizen had been monitoring the whole thing through his surveillance system. Though he had not seen much, what he had witnessed only increased his curiosity.
So he was right about the boy had multiple transformations, and he was capable of switching from one form to the next without reverting to his human form. So many questions flooded Aizen's mind: How many transformations did the boy have? How did the boy acquire such a device? And furthermore, how was it that Aizen had never heard of him before?
There was other things that Aizen had noticed during the confrontation between Runuganga and the intruder. Not once did the strange individual actually try to fight Runuganga. He simply dodged and ran away, never attacked. Was the boy not here to invade Los Noches? And if so, what was he here for?
So many questions and no answers…yet, anyway. So the boy was now within Las Noches and there was still plenty of opportunities to see what he was capable of, especially if he ran into any of the Numeros along the way. Maybe he would even run into one of the Espada, or at least the Privaron Espada.
For now, Aizen decided he would sit back and enjoy the show.
…
After Armodrillo escaped from Runuganga, he navigated through the sand towards the giant dome, Las Noches as the sand guy called it, and emerged to find himself in a dark cavern, probably just beyond the dome's walls. Once Armodrillo climbed out of the ground, he touched the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest, reverting back to normal.
"Okay," Ben said to himself. "Got inside. Now I just need to figure out where to go." Seeing as how going backwards, left, or right wasn't an option, forward was the only way.
As Ben made his way down the dark cavern, he couldn't help thinking about what kind of beings might live here. If this Las Noches was guarded by a sand monster, who's to say the inhabitants didn't have their own dangerous powers or weapons.
Ben groaned. If that was the case, he'd better prepare himself…and hope that there were at least some people here willing to just listen instead of instigating a fight.
Ben noticed a light up ahead and picked up his pace. Soon he found himself in a torch lit room that split off into six different corridors. Ben slouched in exasperation.
"It's like this place wants to see how hard it can make things for me," Ben grumbled in frustration. Taking a big sigh, he eyed the different corridors, wondering which one he should take. Since it didn't really matter in the end, Ben just ran off in a random direction.
…
Gin Ichimaru was sitting at the console to one of Las Noches' various control rooms, pressing numerous controls. Like Aizen, he had witnessed the boy's confrontation with Runuganga and his own interest was definitely peaked. So he decided he was going to have a little fun.
Sensing someone behind him, he turned around and smiled when he realized it was Tosen. "Ah, hello, Tosen. What brings you here?"
"I was wondering where you had disappeared to, Gin," Tosen replied. He entered the room and stood beside his comrade. "Are you perhaps tampering with the passageways?"
Gin just smiled at him, not that Tosen could see it. "Now why would you assume that? I'm just monitoring the boy's progress is all."
Tosen, who obviously didn't buy it, did not dignify that with a response.
Gin looked back at the controls. "Oh my. Looks like he's heading straight for Tres Cifras."
Tosen sighed. "Tres Cifras. Don't you think you're being too cruel, sending him that way?"
"What do you mean?" Gin asked slyly. " I had nothing to do with it. The poor fella just picked the wrong path."
Tosen strongly doubted but he didn't bother saying so aloud.
…
Ben continued onward, starting to feel annoyed that all he was encountering was hallways. Not a single sign of life so far. And he found himself in darkness again. The lit torches back in that hallway clearly showed somebody lived here. What? Were they too lazy to light up all the hallways? Or better yet, go for electricity?
His mood picked up when he saw some light up ahead and he kicked it into high gear. Shielding his eyes from the bright light for a moment, Ben took a look around once they adjusted. He was inside a massive room filled with long stone pillars all over.
"Who decorated this place?" Ben muttered. "Is this supposed to be some kind of training room or something?"
At that moment, a whooshing noise reached Ben's airs and his warning senses kicked in. He ducked out of the way as something zoomed past him and slammed into the spot where he had been standing. He turned his head and got a good look at what almost hit him. It looks like a large, golden disk with a rope attached to it, giving it the resemblance of a giant yo-yo. And the crater it made in the ground clearly showed it was more than just a toy.
"Pretty impressive reflexes," A feminine voice taunted. "For a human anyway."
Ben looked in the direction of the voice and spotted a figured standing on one of the center pillars. The assailant was a woman wearing a white, poofy dress with attachments that looked like butterfly wings, complete with white, finger-less gloves that covered the upper half of her arms and knee-high black boots with legwarmers. Despite the fact that she just attacked him, Ben had to admit she was pretty cute with purple-hair, purple eyes, and purple tear drop-like markings (a bit too much purple in Ben's opinion) just beneath them. Finishing her look was a spiky looking hairpin on the left side of her head. In her hand was a katana hilt and the wire that was attached to the disk. She yanked back on the wire and the disk flew towards her, where it landed on the handle, which she then shouldered.
"All of Las Noches has been buzzing about how a human with a transforming gauntlet made his way here," the woman said, giving Ben a sadistic smirk as she snapped her weapon's wire between her hands. "I was actually hoping you'd run into me so I could see it for myself."
Well this definitely confirmed that people lived here and they were apparently human. Yet, when she called Ben a human it was if she considered herself something else.
Ben quickly held his hands up in surrender. "Look, I'm sorry for trespassing but I'm don't want any trouble."
The woman raised a brow at him. "What are you talking about?"
Ben sighed. "Look, me being here is all one big misunderstanding. So uh, is there somebody in charge here that I can talk to and get this whole mess straightened out?"
The woman just stared at him for a moment before going into full-blown laughter.
"You…you really expect me to believe that you ended up here by mistake?! And then you ask me to take you to Lord Aizen?! What kind of idiot do you take me for?"
Ben cringed. Just once he would like to run into someone who was actually willing to just listen first. "I'm not lying, I swear! Like I said, I'm not looking for trouble."
"Well too bad because you found it!" The woman yelled, pulling back her weapon before swinging it, sending the golden disk flying right at Ben, who had just enough time to move before the disk made another hole in the ground. Ben quickly took shelter behind one of the pillars. He really, really wished that he'd meet someone who would be willing to listen for once.
"You can run!" the woman taunted. "But you can't hide!"
He could hear the disk coming at him and quickly moved away from the pillar, which was a wise choice because as soon as the disk struck the pillar, it crumbled to pieces. Ben stared at the damage done.
"If I get hit with that, I'm a goner," Ben said. He ducked behind another pillar and activated the Ultimatrix. He had no choice but to incapacitate her and hope she'd listen then. He found just the right aliens and slammed the dial down.
His assailant spotted the green flash of light and smirked. The reports had mentioned that the boy's transformations were preceded by a green light. Looked like she finally got a fight on her hands.
"Try to keep this interesting!" she yelled as she flung the disk at the pillar the green light came from. She smiled smugly as the pillar was shattered. There was no sign of a body, which meant he wasn't dead. "Come on out, creature boy. I don't want this to be boring."
"Alright," a deep voice said. "Since you asked so nicely."
The woman perked up at the voice as a figure stepped into view. A mummy-like being with glowing eyes. He wore a black and gold Egyptian headdress, with black bracers and greaves: Snare-oh. This earned a mildly surprised look from the woman.
"Well," She said. "I was told you could turn into strange creatures but I honestly wasn't expecting a mummy." She smirked. "What, can you turn into Frankenstein and the Wolf-Man too?"
"Actually, yes," Snare-oh said smugly. This took the woman aback.
"Uh…well," she narrowed her eyes at him. "You're gonna need all those bandages by the time I'm through with you!" She launched the golden disk at Snare-oh who simply stood there, not even bothering to shield himself as the weapon struck him. The woman laughed as the spinning disk slashed his shoulder, bandages flying everywhere. "You didn't even run away!" she taunted as she saw a massive gap between Snare-oh and the left half of his body. "What, do your forms make your stupid or are you just naturally like that?" But her laughter died when she saw Snare-oh's bandages suddenly mending and reconnecting together. Snare-oh looked good as new, even flexing his left "fingers" just to show he was fine. The woman stared at him in shock.
"Sorry," Snare-oh taunted back. "You're gonna have to try harder than that." Taking advantage of her stunned state, Snare-oh grabbed the wire connecting the disk and the woman's hilt. Before the woman had time to register what Snare-oh was doing, he gave the wire a massive tug. Unprepared for such a move, the woman was flung towards Snare-oh, who raised his hands towards her and unleashed his bandages, wrapping up all of her body but her head. Once he was certain she was completely immobilized, he put her down on the ground gently. She looked up at him in surprise.
"Like I said," Snare-oh told her. "I'm not looking for a fight. I just want to talk to your leader, who I'm guessing is that Lord Aizen guy you mentioned. If you could at least point me in the right direction, I'll let you go, I promise."
The woman just stared at him in shock. Then her eyes narrowed. "Rip off…Golondrina!"
Snare-oh's eyes widened as the bandages around the mysterious woman exploded thanks to a burst of power, knocking the alien off his feet and sprawling onto the floor. As his bandages started regenerating he slowly sat up, wondering what just happened. His eyes widened yet again when he realized that the woman had undergone a drastic transformation.
The first thing that stood out was the fact that she had wings. Large ones with ten cresent-shaped black feathers on each. She was wearing some kind of beak-like headdress with a long white mane that extended past the length of her body. Golden disks similar to her weapon, which had mysteriously disappeared, covered her shoulders and sticking out of them were long, slender, clawed arms in place of hers. Unless by some chance those were her actual arms.
"You think you can just come in here," the woman growled. "And make a fool out of me!" She flapped her wings, ascending into the air and hovering over Snare-oh. "Prepare yourself, you movie monster reject! I, Arrancar No. 105 Cirucci Sanderwicci, will destroy you!" To demonstrate, she began striking at the surrounding pillars with her wings. Much to Snare-oh's shock, she actually managed to cut through the pillars, causing them all to topple down.
"Uh oh," was all Snare-oh could say.
Cirucci grinned sadistically. "Let's see you regenerate when I cut you to shreds!" Suddenly her feathers flew off her wings, revealing that they weren't feathers at all, but crescent shaped blades. And they were coming right at Snare-oh! The Thep Khufan dodged out of the way as the blades shot past him and struck the ground. Snare-oh shot his bandages at them in hopes of robbing Cirucci of her main weapons but his bandages were being torn apart just by touching them.
"No good," Snare-oh grumbled as his 'fingers' regenerated. "Those blades aren't just sharp, they're vibrating, and really fast too. It's like trying to grab revved up buzzsaws."
Suddenly the blades flew off the ground and back towards Cirucci, settling back onto her wings.
"Oh great," Snare-oh groaned when he saw this. "Guess it's time to dial in somebody else." He touched the Ultimatrix dial on his chest.
Cirucci turned toward the green light and grinned. "Transforming again, huh? Why don't you come out and show me what you've turned into now?"
Into view stepped a hulking broad-shouldered creature with a mostly white body save for a dark patch on to the top of its head with a black line running down between its green eyes. It had yellow plating on its back, shoulders, sides, and the back of its arms.
Cirucci was rather unimpressed by this new form. "What is that supposed to be?"
"Cirucci Sanderwicci," The alien grinned. "Say hi to Cannonbolt!"
"Hmph," Cirucci grinned. "You think a fancy name can save you?" She fired her 'feathers' again.
Cannonbolt quickly curled up into a ball and began spinning rapidly in place.
Cirucci laughed as her blades flew towards Cannonbolt. "Curling into a ball? Is that all this guy can do? How can such a stupid ability possibly…" The rest of her taunt died on her lips as her blades began bouncing off of Cannonbolt's shell, which didn't even look scratched. Her eyes grew wide. "What?!"
Cannonbolt stopped spinning and uncurled himself. "Sorry, lady. But Cannonbolt's pretty durable." He curled up into a ball again and fired himself at Cirucci. The stunned woman was unable to dodge or block, making her take Cannonbolt's full force head on. Cannonbolt slammed into her with force true to his name, sending her flying into a pillar right and destroying it in the process. Dazed and hurt, Cirucci weakly looked up as Cannonbolt uncurled himself again.
"Look," Cannonbolt said gently. "I really don't want to fight you. Can we please call it quits and start over?"
Cirucci's face contorted in rage. "I will not allow some freak-show like you to get the better of me! I'll…"
"You will do nothing, Cirucci."
This new voice stopped Cirucci cold and her eyes widened in shock and fear. Cannonbolt shifted himself to where the new voice came from. In front of them was a man with chalk white skin, a strange and what appeared to be a broken helmet on his head, a katana-like sword at his side…and a gaping hole in his sternum.
"U…Ulquiorra!" Cirucci began trembling, something that didn't go unnoticed by Cannonbolt.
"The Espada and Privaron Espada were allowed to engage the boy in battle should they encounter him," Ulquiorra said in a monotonous voice that even gave Cannonbolt chills. "But Lord Aizen stated that the boy was not to be killed as he wished to meet with him. You allowed your pride and anger to get the better of you and disobeyed orders."
Cirucci gulped.
"And from what our surveillance picked up," Ulquiorra went on, "The boy was willing to see Lord Aizen without conflict yet you attacked him regardless."
Cirucci's shaking increased but Ulquiorra directed his attention towards Cannonbolt now. For a minute he simply took in the creature's form. Cannonbolt chuckled and scratched his head sheepishly.
"Hey, sorry for intruding," Cannonbolt said. "And attacking your friend here."
Ulquiorra ignored the comment about Cirucci being his friend. "You were willing to surrender yourself for safe passage through Las Noches yet she attacked you. I believe you were justified in defending yourself."
"Um…" Cannonbolt looked over at the trembling Cirucci. "Is she gonna be in trouble?"
Cirucci gasped as Ulquiorra turned his head back towards her. "That will be for Lord Aizen to decide. I am Ulquiorra Cifer, the Fourth Espada, and I have been sent to bring you before to him."
Cannonbolt touched the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest and reverted back to his human form in a flash of light. "Ben Tennyson." He offered his hand out. Ulquiorra simply gazed at it before turning around.
"Follow me," he said curtly before already walking head.
Ben's hand dropped to his side. "Friendly guy," he muttered as he quickly followed after Ulquiorra. But…he couldn't resist giving Cirucci a passing glance. The woman was still sitting where she had been knocked down, staring at the departing duo. This Ulquiorra guy must really be something to leave her in such a state. And then this Lord Aizen guy. What was he like? That reminded him, Cirucci called herself an Arrancar while Ulquiorra called himself the fourth Espada. Were those all ranks or something?
"Ben Tennyson," Ulquiorra said as they walked down the hallway. "Do you know where you are?"
Ben shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. I only know that this place is called Las Noches and that's because I heard it from that Runuganga guy."
"So you don't know the name of this land?" Ulquiorra inquired.
"Nope," Ben replied.
"You are in Hueco Mundo," Ulquiorra informed him.
"Hueco Mundo," Ben repeated the word. "That sounds Spanish."
Ulquiorra looked back at him, as if trying to see if he was joking. "Have you ever heard of Hollows?"
Ben frowned. "Hollows? No, can't say that I have. I mean, my cousin sometimes said my head was hollow but I doubt that's what you're talking about."
"What about Soul Society? Soul Reapers?"
Ben's frowned deepened. "I've never heard of any of those." Judging from how this guy was asking about them, Hollows, Soul Reapers, and this Soul Society must've been major factors in this universe. He wondered what it all meant.
Ulquiorra faced forward again. "Lord Aizen has questions he would like to ask you. And it seems you may have questions as well. He will explain everything to you."
Ben wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
The rest of the trip was in silence. Ben would've struck up a conversation but Ulquiorra didn't look like the conversationalist and since the guy already said this Aizen would answer all his questions, there was no point in asking him for any information.
After what seemed like hours, Ulquiorra led Ben to a doorway. "Please wait in here," Ulquiorra said as he opened the door. "I shall go and see Lord Aizen and he will decide what shall happen."
Anxiously, Ben looked inside and found an empty room inside. All it had was a window, giving a view of the bright moon.
"It's not much," Ulquiorra stated the obvious. "But it is only temporary. I shall return when Lord Aizen has decided your fate."
How pleasant. Ben wondered if he would need to bolt and take his chances somewhere else in this Hueco Mundo. But, since he had no other option right now, he stepped into the room and Ulquiorra closed the door behind him. There wasn't any locking sound but Ben figured that Ulquiorra was confident that Ben wouldn't bother escaping. And for the moment, he was right. Ben decided he would wait and see what would happen before he made any moves first. He just hoped this Aizen guy was at least somewhat reasonable.
…
Aizen's attention was drawn when Ulquiorra entered his throne room. "Welcome back, Ulquiorra."
Ulquiorra bowed. "Lord Aizen," He said. "I have brought the human. He is currently placed in one of our spare rooms."
Aizen smiled. "Well done, Ulquiorra. Have you been able to learn anything about him?"
"His name is Ben Tennyson," Ulquiorra replied. "Apparently he knows nothing of Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, Soul Reapers, or even Hollows. Normally I would be skeptical about such a claim and yet I detect no attempts at deceiving me. The boy truly does not know."
Aizen tilted his head. "Interesting. Did he tell you how he came to be here?"
"Forgive me, Lord Aizen, but I did not ask," Ulquiorra said. "I believed you would want to hear that firsthand."
"I see," Aizen said softly. "That is very considerate of you." He got up off his throne. "I shall gather the rest of the Espada. Bring the boy to me, Ulquiorra. It's time this Ben Tennyson and I met face to face."
"At once, Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra stood up and proceeded to leave the room.
Aizen stared up at the ceiling of his chambers, contemplating his new guest. "Ben Tennyson, hmm?"
…
Ben, who had decided to just sit against the wall, wait, and fiddle with his Ultimatrix, slightly jumped when the door opened. He relaxed a bit when he realized it was Ulquiorra at the door but not by much.
"Lord Aizen wishes to speak with you," Ulquiorra said. "Come." Then without waiting for Ben to get up, he headed off, forcing Ben to quickly pick himself up off the wall, which he noticed had caused his back to stiffen up, and struggle to get feeling in his back while trying to keep up with Ulquiorra. After walking for a bit, Ulquiorra approached a large pair of doors, which he proceeded to push open.
When Ben looked inside, he could see right away that they had an audience. Multiple people were in the room, all directing their attention towards Ulquiorra and Ben once the doors were opened. Although their outfits were of various designs, they were all colored white, just like Cirucci's and Ulquiorra's. Must be some kind of trend.
"Hello, Ben Tennyson," A voice greeted him warmly.
Ben noticed a high platform at the far end of the room. On the platform, sitting on a throne, was a man with slicked back brown hair smiling down at him.
"Allow me to introduce myself," The man said. "My name is Sosuke Aizen. Allow me to properly welcome you to Las Noches. I apologize for any inconvenience my guards have given you, which I can imagine was quite a lot."
Ben grinned awkwardly. "Well, I am an intruder and they were just doing their jobs so…"
Aizen chuckled. "How considerate. I understand that you wished to talk to me and at the same time, I am very curious about you. Why don't you tell me more about yourself and I'll see if I can help you in anyway I can."
End of Chapter
I was originally going to have Dordonii be Ben's opponent like in the original, but some of my friends said that since this is a remake, why not mix things up. Why did I use Cirucci? Well, she and Dordonii got a lot more screen-time than Gantenbaine did so I thought she'd be a better option.
After taking an interest in Castlevania, I'm in a monster mood. So Ben's movie monster aliens are going to get more spotlight in this fic. Sadly, since this takes place in Ultimate Alien, Ben doesn't have Whampire. Although I could always make it that Azmuth was able to get a Vladat's DNA before they went extinct. I haven't decided yet.
By the way, the Ultimatrix's translator is on, which is why, aside from the names of buildings and Zanpakuto, everyone is using English terms like "Lord Aizen" instead of "Aizen-sama". I was thinking about making the translator only partially translate the words so that the characters would be speaking English but using Japanese terms...but that was pointless so I scraped the idea.
By the way, the reason why Szayel's name is now Szayelaporro is because the wiki has shown that those Szayelaporro is his full first name instead of Szayel being his first name and Aporro being his middle name.
Meanwhile, like in the original version, Harribel's name is Tia Harribel instead of Tier Harribel or Tia Halibel.
That's all I have to say for now. See ya later!
