Back with another new story! I swear, this is the last one for at least a few months; I want to focus on this and A Tale of Foxes and Dragons for a while.
I don't know if anyone's ever imagined this crossover, but... you know, I think this is the first (and so far only) Bleach/Nikke crossover on
Not too say right now. It was a crazy idea, and I hope anyone who reads this gets at least some entertainment out of the chapter. Rated M for violence, language, sexual innuendo, and Nnoitra being himself.
Artificially created winds whipped over the white dunes of Hueco Mundo. Nnoitra slammed his massive scythe into the ground at his feet, pinning the orange-haired soul reaper underneath it. Even if he hadn't just worked the human-turned soul reaper over, the massive blade threatening to rip him in half was enough threat to make the kid go still.
That damned spiritual pressure, it was unmistakable! Even with the massive cloud of pink smoke obscuring his vision, Nnoitra didn't need to be able to see to know that his most hated enemy had returned.
Even as the smoke cleared, and Nelliel's distinctive, impossible-to-miss figure slowly grew clearer, the frown never left his face.
Seeing Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck again brought about mixed feelings.
On one hand, Nnoitra had long told himself that if he never had to see the woman again ever in his ageless life as an Arrancar, he'd be happy.
On the other hand…
The frown on his face twisted into an ugly smirk.
At least now he was finally being given the opportunity to finish what he'd started so long ago.
The tall, curvaceous woman stepped forwards, face set in a neutral frown, as the winds finished clearing the smoke from her transformation away.
…He didn't know how the science behind it worked, but it seemed that Nelliel's transformation back to her old self had also given the woman her zanpakuto back. Tch, not his problem. That was a question Szayelaporro would want answered, not him. All that mattered to him was seeing if the woman who'd belittled him for so long would be able to stand up to him now! Things were different than they were when she'd been near the peak of Laz Noches' hierarchy! She might've been the third-ranked espada back in those days, but her number didn't mean shit now!
"N-Nel? Is that you?"
So, the soul reaper really had been clueless after all. Glancing down, Nnoitra saw confusion, mixed with a small amount of wonder and awe on the trapped soul reaper's face.
"…Yes. It's me." The green-haired woman stepped forwards, only for Nnoitra to kick the scythe he'd planted over top the soul reaper- Kurosaki, he'd said his name was. The massive weapon wobbled slightly but remained upright, poised to cut through the enemy he'd trapped beneath it.
Nelliel recognized the wordless threat immediately and stopped in her tracks, the neutral expression on her face slipping into a grimace.
Heh! He knew what was on her mind- just like she'd been so concerned with those pathetic weaklings who'd followed her around back when she'd been an espada, the woman was probably thinking that she was going to play at being one of the 'good guys' now, and come to the rescue of the human he'd been busy kicking the shit out of!
What was that she'd said to him all those years ago? One should only draw their weapon if they intended to use it?
Hah, just seeing Nelliel looking so concerned over the helpless human was enough to put a smile on his face! Nnoitra brought his foot down, stomping on the carrot-top's back a few times, earning a pained grunt with each blow.
"What's the matter, Nelliel? Don't tell me you're thinking of playing knight and rescuing this piece of shit! He's getting what he deserves! He came to Hueco Mundo thinking he was hot shit, but after all his efforts, he only barely managed to beat Grimmjow! Someone that weak, thinking they could change anything?! He's just learning the natural order of things! Someone's gotta show this punk what happens when you start punching above your weight!"
"Ichigo! Stop it!"
And there was the annoying mewling from the girl that had started all this.
…For all her vaunted power, a power that according to Aizen was enough to challenge to shake up the balance of power between Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society, she sure didn't seem all that capable to him. Tesra wasn't anywhere close to the top of Laz Noches' hierarchy, and she couldn't even break out of his hold!
"Nnoitra Gilga… Your fight is with me, isn't it? Let Ichigo go!"
"On a first name basis with our enemies, are we? Guess it shouldn't surprise me, knowing you! Heh, considering how prim and proper you were back when you were my superior, I never thought you would've stooped to getting yourself a human boytoy, but hey! To each their own!"
He was just fucking with her, but the absolutely livid expression that flashed across Nelliel's face had him cackling internally. He didn't give a shit whether the allegations were true or not, but anything that got under Nelliel's skin was acceptable in his mind.
"Superior? N-Nel… you were that strong?" Kurosaki murmured at his feet, earning the attention of everyone else. The human girl, Inoue or whatever, mouthed the word 'superior' with an astonished look on her face.
Whatever. He could humor the kid now; it would make it all the better when he hacked Nelliel to pieces in front of him.
"Yeah, that's right. Back in the day, she used to be the Tercera Espada. Got that? This soft-hearted bitch used to be the third most powerful arrancar in Hueco Mundo!"
"Don't talk about Nel like that- Gaah!" Nnoitra ended the Kurosaki kid's whining with another stomp, earning a pained shout.
"Ichigo/Ichigo!" The voices of the concerned women overlapped, while Nnoitra stuck a finger in his ear, blotting out some of the gratingly obnoxious whining.
Why this was a surprise to either of them, he couldn't understand. Ichigo Kurosaki had come to throw his weight around in Hueco Mundo, the home world of hollows, and had quickly learned that he was in over his head.
In other words, he'd fucked around and found out.
Right up there with women who thought they were better than him, there was almost nothing Nnoitra hated more than these sickening hero types who thought that they could coast by on love and friendship and empty promises. This was how the real world worked; how life in Hueco Mundo went. Friendship and kindness didn't matter jack shit- everything came down to whether or not you had power.
And right now, he had all the power in this situation. The human girl was staring down at her friend, boyfriend, whatever Kurosaki was to her, Nnoitra didn't give a shit. She was staring down at him in horror, as if finally comprehending the fact that the soul reaper was utterly screwed. Nelliel continued to glower at him, but that was all that she could do.
The former tres espada might've been fast, but not even she could do anything when his zanpakuto was pinning the soul reaper to the ground. For as fast as she was, she couldn't cross the distance between them, lift his weapon, and retrieve the soul reaper faster than he could simply press down his scythe and cleave the downed soul reaper in two!
Nelliel felt the ugly sting of shame and dread roiling in her gut as she stared at the young man who'd risked life and limb to protect someone who any other soul reaper probably would've killed on the spot.
Here she was, finally back to her true form, and yet… she was still as helpless as the day Nnoitra had cracked her mask (and skull) open.
If only she'd been a few seconds faster! If only she could've acted before Nnoitra had practically transfixed poor Ichigo to the ground!
Her mind was flooded with the phrase 'if only,' but retrospect served no help here. She hadn't seized the chance she'd been given, and Ichigo, her, and Orihime were paying the price for it.
If her loyal fracción were here, perhaps the tables could've been turned, and for all Nel wanted her beloved friends to stay out of harm's way, she couldn't see a way to turn this awful situation around without help! On her own, she was 100% confident that she could beat Nnoitra in a fight- even kill him, if that was what it came down to. She hated fighting, hated killing even more, but…
She'd repeatedly shown mercy to the towering, lanky man before her in the past, and he'd taken her mercy, spat on it, and trampled it into the dirt.
The knowledge that everything that befell her fracción and her was her own fault was an open injury that, just like her mask, would likely never heal.
She had hoped, once, that Nnoitra would be able to move past his fixation on mindless violence, but after only a minute or two of hearing him speak, Nelliel could already tell that the former Octava Espada had not changed a bit.
This time, she was ready to fight. She was determined to fight. Nnoitra had proven to her just how petty he was, tormenting and torturing those she cared about until she capitulated to his desire for destruction!
Which was why it was such a harsh wakeup call to find that the first and only time she was even entertaining the possibility of using her full strength to kill her former subordinate in the Espada…
She couldn't fight him.
She knew that he was enjoying watching her squirm while Ichigo was left at his feet, helpless. Injured from his battle with the sexta espada, and then injured further in his despairingly one-sided fight with Nnoitra, Ichigo was in no state to continue fighting. At her side, across the dunes and a short way away from them were Orihime and Tesra- Nelliel had to dig through her memory to recall the name of Nnoitra's fracción. Tesra wouldn't move until Nnoitra commanded it, and he was preoccupied with keeping Orihime hostage.
Orihime herself was healthy and uninjured, but from what little Nelliel had seen, the teen was no fighter.
Nelliel looked down at Ichigo once more, this time meeting him eye-to-eye rather than quickly glancing at him.
Even now, he smiled at her, gave her that warm, comforting smile she'd been gifted with when she'd been trapped in that infantile, near-powerless form.
As if to tell her that everything was going to be all right.
But everything was NOT going to be all right! Nnoitra had Ichigo at his mercy, and Nel knew full well that the only reason Ichigo was still alive was because the thin man was enjoying dragging this out, tormenting her and Orihime, for as long as possible! Any moment now, he might decide he'd had enough of using poor Ichigo as a hostage and decide to end him!
But… what could she do?
Nelliel hated feeling so trapped. Watching someone she cared about suffer while she was helpless to do anything was making those nightmarish moments where she'd seen Pesche and Dondochakka lying in pools of their own blood, maimed for the amusement of this horrible man!
Was… was she really so weak that she was about to watch another one of her precious few friends suffer while she stood by, helpless to stop it? Was standing by and waiting for Nnoitra to grow tired of his 'game,' and execute Ichigo really the only thing she could do?
No.
Absolutely not!
"Oh ho… that's a fierce expression on your face, Nelliel. Never thought I'd see the day when you of all people would be out for blood!" Nnoitra remarked, smirking. He said her name as if it was an insult, a curse word to be uttered.
"Enough! Are you really so much of a coward that tormenting a helpless foe is your idea of fun?! After all this time, I had hoped that you would've at least learned something, anything while I was away from Laz Noches, but I can see that you haven't changed at all! You're still just a violent beast in search of prey to toy with!"
The smirk on Nnoitra's face died an ugly death, his face twisting into a frown, before a moment passed and Nnoitra's smirk turned into a neutral, almost placid expression. On a man who almost always wore a smirk or a frown on his face, it was an unusual look.
For a moment, Nelliel thought that Nnoitra had been provoked by her words and would come charging forwards, fighting in that same ungainly, bullish manner he always had… which would've benefitted her. In his single-minded rage he would focus on her, and his attention would leave Ichigo, giving her the time she needed to get him away from the brutish arrancar, but instead…
He reached into a pocket on his outfit, withdrawing a small, dark cube.
"I was wondering if I was going to hear you spouting that same bullshit you used to prattle on about. About how I fought without purpose! About how I wasn't a true warrior! About how I was a beast… You know, I thought hearing you talk like that again would just piss me off, but… heh, now all it does is make me laugh! What did all that uppity talk of yours earn you? A broken mask and two crippled fracción, that's what! Your flowery words amounted to nothing but empty promises in the end! Hey, you know what? I've got an idea. Killing you in front of this soul reaper is too quick, too easy. And this lowly little shit isn't even worth killing! So… "
Nnoitra brought the cube in his hand down, holding It over Ichigo's head.
"That's… a Caja Negación? But… those only work on hollows! Ichigo is a soul reaper, it won't have any effect on him!" Whatever Nnoitra was planning, Nelliel knew she had to stop it before it could take effect. But… even with Nnoitra stooping down, the hand not holding the little cube was still grasping his scythe, waiting to slice it down into Ichigo the second she moved.
"Not quite, Nelliel! I'm not going to go into the details of what this is; just know that it's something that Szayelaporro has been tinkering with for a while now! It might look like a Caja Negación, but… if anything, it's more of portable, one-use, one-way garganta!"
Nelliel did not like the sound of that. Already, darkness was emanating from the cube, surrounding Ichigo. Only now, finally did Nnoitra withdraw from Ichigo, yanking his massive scythe out of the ground with a cruel smirk on his face as he watched Ichigo struggling to get free of the dark whisps surrounding him. It was no good- Nelliel could see that whatever purpose the device served, it had locked onto Ichigo, and the wispy, black smoke around him was growing thicker by the second!
"See ya, Soul Reaper! In the end, you weren't even worth the time it would've taken to bring my blade down on you!" Nnoitra cackled as performed a sonído, blurring backwards away from the downed boy.
"ICHIGO!" Orihime's frightened cry spurred Nelliel into action- of Ichigo, there was almost nothing visible through the dark miasma. She could barely see his orange hair, and even that vanished into the darkness before her eyes!
The cube- a portable garganta, or whatever Nnoitra had called it- wasn't immediately sending Ichigo away. That gave Nelliel time to reach him. She could still feel his spiritual pressure loud and clear, which gave her hope that she might be able to rescue him from whatever trickery Nnoitra had planned for him. Dashing forwards into the black mist, Nelliel reflexively squinted, bringing her arms up to shield her head as a cold wind buffeted her. Ichigo was right in front of her- if she could just grab on and drag him back with her-
Her arms closed around Ichigo, but before Nelliel could perform a sonído and get both herself and Ichigo to safety- she was falling.
"I-Ichigo… Nel…" Orihime whispered, staring dumbfounded at the now jarringly empty patch of sand where her friends- one old and one new- had just been.
Nel was gone.
Ichigo was gone.
This… This couldn't be happening!
"Aw, what's the matter, girl? Gonna cry?"
Orihime ignored the taunting from the man who had sent her friends… somewhere. Right now, all she could feel was mind-numbing despair. Ichigo had come to save her… and because of her, he was gone now!
"I-Ichigo…" Orihime knew her voice was trembling, could feel her eyes watering. Why? Why had things ended so horribly wrong?
"Feh, got no time or desire to hear some woman's wailing. Tesra! Take her back to Laz Noches! I can sense more of that soul reaper punk's friends around. I'm not heading back to Laz Noches yet, not while there's still bugs to squash!"
"Yes, Master Nnoitra!"
Orihime felt the air blur and distort around her as Nnoitra's fracción dragged her away from the dunes where she'd just watched her savior vanish into the darkness.
They were still falling. Nelliel didn't know how long it had been by now, but at least the miasma around her and Ichigo had finally cleared. Not that there was much to see; the duo was plummeting through an empty void. Just like Nnoitra had said, it was like how a garganta carved through space and time to bring hollows from Hueco Mundo to the human world. But… something felt different about this.
Nnoitra had described the device as a garganta, but that was likely because he hadn't known enough about what it was to give it a more accurate definition. If anything, the only thing that made it like a garganta was that it was meant to transport someone from one place to another.
Nelliel tightened her hold on Ichigo, determined to hold on tight to him. Losing him in this void… she didn't know what would happen if such a thing were to pass, only that it was to be avoided at all costs.
The darkness finally seemed to be nearing its end- she and Ichigo were approaching a light at the bottom of this pit of darkness. As the light drew closer and grew brighter, now nearly blinding in radiance, Nelliel shut her eyes, squeezing Ichigo close.
The unmistakable feeling of cold air brushing against her, setting her lengthy locks fluttering, told her that she and Ichigo that she had emerged from the void. Then, just as she was opening her eyes, her back slammed into hard, unforgiving ground, and Nelliel grunted as Ichigo's equally firm body squashed down on top of her.
Ichigo groaned into the soft, pillowy mass his head was squashed between. Whatever the enormous, soft surface he'd fallen headfirst into was, it made for a far more forgiving landing than the unyielding ground.
Then someone's hand- Nel's, it had to be- grasped the back of his head, pulling him from the mysterious cushion he'd landed on, and Ichigo's face burned as he realized just what it was that had broken his fall.
Nel- or rather, Nelliel; that was what Nnoitra had called her- Nelliel sat up, keeping ahold of him so that he didn't topple over onto his back. Nelliel's expression was full of relief; and though she couldn't possibly have missed Ichigo landing headfirst on her chest, she must have chosen not to comment on it.
"Ichigo! You're okay!"
"Y-yeah, I am, Nel. Thanks for… catching me?" Ichigo chose his words slowly, and Nelliel nodded happily.
"When I saw that darkness pulling you into it, I… I didn't know what was going to happen, just that it was nothing good. What Nnoitra said… I've never heard of anything like that strange device he used to do this, but I know who was responsible," Nelliel stated, frowning.
"That Nnoitra guy… he took Grimmjow out, someone who should've been on his side, like it was nothing! And… from what he was saying about you, it sounded like that was nothing new for him," Ichigo remarked. Forget Byakuya and Grimmjow; both of them had given him hellishly difficult fights, but in the end both of them had at least been content to fight him and only him. Byakuya followed Soul Society's laws rigidly, and Grimmjow had his own code of honor, feral as it was.
But Nnoitra? He was different. He was, despite his simplistic fighting style, one of the strongest fighters Ichigo had gone up against in recent times. Unlike many of the other powerful foes Ichigo had fought both in Soul Society and in Hueco Mundo, Nnoitra clearly didn't give two shits whether or not there were bystanders caught in the crossfire. No, not just that- Nnoitra had toyed with him by the end of their fight. If 'getting his ass kicked' by the spoon-hooded man even counted as a fight.
He'd seen street toughs like that back in the days when it had been just him and Chad fighting against other school-aged delinquents. The kind of loud, cocky guys who got off on bullying the weak, making everyone around them suffer for a few moments pleasure.
The thought of Orihime being left with someone like that filled him with dread. Forget waiting till he was fully healed; he just needed to catch his breath and then he'd get back to Orihime and kick that spoon-head's ass!
"Nnoitra…"
"What is it, Nel? You knew that guy, didn't you? Wait… he was saying earlier that he's the one that was responsible for you turning into a little kid!"
"That's correct," Nelliel sighed, picking herself up off the ground and dusting the dirt off the rags clinging to her body.
Despite the serious situation they were in, Ichigo couldn't help but blush at the sight. Nelliel was an extremely curvaceous woman, and those rags left pretty much nothing to the imagination.
He hadn't thought that he'd ever meet someone even bigger than Rangiku Matsumoto, but here was proof in the flesh that someone on such a level existed!
Then as he tried to stand, his right leg gave out from under him, and Ichigo snapped back to reality as a fresh wave of pain assaulted him.
"Gaah!"
"Ichigo!" Nelliel's gorgeous face, full of wide-eyed, worried concern, filled his vision, and Ichigo found himself once again subjected to the indignity of being carried in the tall woman's arms, pressed up against her torso in a way that he found most distracting.
"N-Nel! You can put me down, I don't need you to carry me!"
Nelliel did not, in fact, put him down. The worried frown on her face grew more pronounced as she gazed down at him.
"I'm sorry… Even though Nnoitra revealed that I used to be one of Aizen's soldiers, you protected me. You suffered so much just for trying to protect me… You don't need to hide it; I know that you're in pain. I-I wasn't fast enough, I couldn't do anything to help…!"
Ichigo wouldn't lie, he did feel pretty shitty right now; Nnoitra had just about pulled his arm out of its socket before Nel had finally transformed back to what was apparently her old self. But telling her that now wouldn't help; as long as he got back to Orihime soon, she'd be able to patch him up in no time. And besides; he'd been hurt worse than this before, he might've taken a hell of a beating from Nnoitra just now, but overall this didn't even make his top… five list of 'worst injuries taken during a fight.'
That, and he knew how it felt to stand by on the sidelines when someone you cared about was in danger, or getting hurt in front of your eyes. The fact that Nel apparently valued him so much even though they'd only known each other for less than a day was heartwarming. And that hadn't even been the real Nel! Or well, not that the little kid Nel had been a falsity, just that it wasn't an accurate representation of who Nelliel really was.
"What you used to be doesn't matter. You could never be my enemy, Nel."
Nel made a small, imperceptible noise and looked away from him, either unwilling or unable to respond to that. The tall woman's breath caught in her throat at the sight she saw.
"Nel? Nel, what is it?"
Nel said nothing, standing frozen in her shock, leaving Ichigo to take the time to make his own observations about their whereabouts.
They were in the human world, that much was clear. The only buildings Ichigo was aware of in Hueco Mundo were those making up Laz Noches, Aizen's base of operations in his war against the Soul Society, and the buildings around him and Nel were clearly of human construction.
But as for where in the human world they were, Ichigo couldn't say.
The fact that the buildings around them were clearly in ruins filled him with a dread he was unfamiliar with; anxiety mixed with uncertainty and trepidation.
'Please… please don't let this be Karakura town!' That was the first thought that crossed his mind. It took only a few seconds to confirm that wherever they were, it probably wasn't in Japan (which was an entirely different problem, but one that could be dealt with later.)
As he'd said, the buildings, hell, the entire landscape was in ruins; old buildings mostly worn down and crumbling, with few still standing in what had at one point clearly been a small town. Not only that, but…
Ruined buildings were one thing; it could've meant a fight between Aizen's forces and the Soul Society's spilling over into the human world, but…
This was different.
It wasn't just the fact that the buildings around him and Nel were in ruins.
Everything was overgrown and deprecated to a degree that Ichigo had never seen. Cars on the street that were more rust than anything else; the closest being no more than ten feet from him and Nel. Hell, the brittle vehicle looked so old and worn that Ichigo probably could've put his fist through the car door even if he'd been in his human form.
The streets were a ruined, tangled mess; tree roots bursting through the pavement everywhere, while a thick carpet of moss and vines had grown over the surface of many of the ruined buildings around them.
In a single phrase, Ichigo felt like he'd stepped out of Hueco Mundo, right into some crazy post-apocalyptic version of Earth.
"I-Ichigo? This isn't how the human world is supposed to look, is it?"
Accompanying her question, Nelliel set Ichigo down, allowing the orange-haired soul reaper to clamber to his feet. Now that he wasn't in the middle of a fight, his adrenaline was dying down, making Ichigo acutely aware of just how much everything ached.
"No, Nel. It's not. I… I don't know where we are. That Garganta thing is how hollows get from Hueco Mundo to the human world, right? If that's what that guy did... I don't think that this is Karakura town. Hell, I don't think we're even in Japan right now!"
The fact that this didn't look like Karakura town did little to set his mind at ease. Karakura town might not have been the biggest town in Japan, but that didn't mean that Ichigo knew the entire town's layout either.
Still…
Through the thick coat of moss and rust covering the buildings and vehicles, Ichigo could see the worn, faded lettering remaining on some of the storefronts and businesses.
The letters were in English, and Karakura town was small enough that outside of a few important buildings (the hospitals, the local train station, and so on,) there were no places anywhere in town that had bothered to list instructions and guidelines in any language other than Japanese.
That still didn't help Ichigo narrow down where he was. English was commonly used in many major countries, even when he didn't count the obvious ones like the United States or Great Britain.
Was it common for the hollow's method of traveling from Hueco Mundo to the human world to take people… well, anywhere in the world? Come to think of it, were there even hollows in other parts of the world?
That was a line of thought that could be questioned later. Right now, Ichigo needed to focus on the task at hand. Namely, getting back to Hueco Mundo where Orihime and all his other friends were.
That was easier said than done. It had taken that special portal Hat-n-Clogs had created to take Ichigo and his comrades to Hueco Mundo in the first place, given that they lacked a friendly hollow on their side to just open a door for them.
"Um… Ichigo?"
Ichigo turned to look at Nel, whom he'd had his back to. The tall, buxom woman had a confused frown on her face, her hands outstretched like she'd been trying to grab onto the air.
"Nel?"
"I… I can't open a garganta back to Hueco Mundo."
"What do you mean?" Garganta wasn't a personal technique of hers; it was a common racial ability that all hollows had. What did Nelliel mean when she said that she couldn't open a garganta?
"I mean that it's not opening! It- It just isn't! I don't know why, my form might not be stable right now, but that shouldn't inhibit any of my natural abilities as an arrancar!"
Okay… that was bad. Ichigo hadn't said anything out loud, but he'd been kind of banking on Nel getting the two of them back to Hueco Mundo the quick and easy way. This strange, ruined town probably wasn't in Japan, which meant that using the portal in Hat-N-Clog's basement wasn't a viable option either.
"Oh. That's… bad." Ichigo finished lamely.
"Nnoitra. That thing that he used on me; that you got pulled into… Maybe it's interfering with your spiritual pressure, or something? If he was trying to send me here, he probably didn't intend for me to be able to get back to Hueco Mundo easily."
"That's true… but I don't feel any interference in my own spiritual pressure. Whatever that device he used was… its only effect was to take us away from Hueco Mundo. I don't think its purpose was to take us here specifically,' Nel said, gesturing at the ruins around them before continuing.
"Just that it was meant to take us far from Hueco Mundo. I thought it was a Caja Negación at first; a tool the Espada are given to punish their subordinates with. I never once considered using mine, but… Nnoitra… I wouldn't put it past him to use such a thing."
"So… what now?"
It was an unsettling feeling; being right in the middle of a blood-pumping fight, battling for your life against someone who wouldn't hesitate to put you in the dirt, and then, all of a sudden…
Peace. Quiet. Tranquility. None of Aizen's lackeys to fight here. In fact, other than Nel, Ichigo wasn't sure if there were even any people around in this ruined town. That was also something bugging Ichigo.
If this was a town in the human world, why did it look like a setting from some post-apocalyptic movie? Ichigo was pretty sure that there were abandoned towns scattered across the globe, but… something felt off about this place. It wasn't just the dark, overgrown buildings, or the rust-covered cars which still filled the streets.
He could almost hear something… whispering in his ears. It was too faint to tell, and honestly Ichigo wasn't sure if it was anything more than just a trick of the wind.
Frowning, Ichigo wrapped his hand around Zangetsu's hilt, the daitō reverting back to it's shikai state as a massive, oversized cleaver.
'I hate this… Orihime… please, be safe! Chad, Uryu, Renji, Rukia… you guys better not lose!' Ichigo grimaced as he leaned heavily on his shikai.
Ichigo hated feeling useless. Hated feeling stuck. His friends were back in Hueco Mundo, fighting for their lives, and here he was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no clue where he was or how to get back to his friends!
"Pesche… Dondochakka…" Ichigo heard the whisper before he turned, seeing Nelliel looking around with an unhappy frown.
Right. He wasn't the only one stuck here hoping he wasn't stranded far away from his comrades.
Nel's brothers would no doubt worry over their sister's disappearance and he knew that the kind arrancar's inability to reassure her brothers of her safety would eat away at her.
"They'll be fine, Nel. Your brothers have my friends with them. Everyone's going to be fine. We'll leave wherever this is and get back to our friends." Immediately, Ichigo felt bad for ignoring Nel. She hadn't given up trying to open a garganta, a small flaring of her spiritual pressure accompanying each failure.
He didn't know how long Nel had been stuck in that child form for, but… Pesche and Dondochakka, those goofball arrancar (and that was a phrase he never thought he would've said) had apparently taken it upon themselves to protect her, even after she'd been rendered powerless.
That was a kind of camaraderie that Ichigo hadn't thought possible amongst hollows. And despite the bond she had with her two 'brothers,' Nel had acted without hesitation, coming after him.
He owed her. That much was clear.
…The sooner he and Nel figured out a way out of… wherever this was, the better. He didn't want to think about how Chad, Rukia, Renji, and Uryu were feeling right now. Placing himself in their shoes, all they would've felt was his spiritual pressure disappearing from Hueco Mundo entirely.
And he knew damn well what they would think that meant.
"Come on, Nel. We should leave this place." And do what? The second part of his sentence went unsaid. He was in a world of uncertainties now; and what little he did know- the only thing he knew for real- was that remaining in this crumbling ruin of a town helped neither him nor Nel.
"What… what are we going to do now, Ichigo? If I can't open a garganta back to Hueco Mundo… how will we get back in time? Our friends need us!"
They would be fine without him around. They had to be. Ichigo couldn't- didn't want to imagine any other scenario.
Damn it! Whatever that spoon-hooded jackass had done, it had left him stranded, effectively marooned an entire dimension apart from his friends while they were all fighting for their lives! And he was no scientist- any one of his friends (and most of his enemies) wouldn't hesitate to remind him that he was more of a brute force over precision kind of guy… But he didn't need to have a mind like Urahara's or Captain Kurotsuchi's to understand that whatever Nnoitra had done to send him and Nel to this strange, abandoned town in the human world, it was likely related to why Nel couldn't just open a garganta immediately and get them back into the fight.
Ichigo really, really hated to admit it, but it was sounding more and more like the only option for getting back to Hueco Mundo was using Urahara's portal.
Ichigo trudged through the rubble for a few minutes, wandering aimlessly, before coming to a stop in front of a dilapidated, half-collapsed bus station.
Stopping in his tracks, Ichigo simply stood there, motionless, for a few moments, before sighing and sitting down on the only bench still intact. A few seconds later, Nelliel joined him, wordlessly plopping down next to him. If nothing else, it felt good to get off of his feet for a moment. His arm still throbbed from how Nnoitra had nearly dislocated it, as did the multitude of scrapes, cuts, and bruises he'd incurred from fighting Grimmow and Nnoitra back to back. Just being able to catch his breath in a moment of peace- as unwanted as it was- was already helping him feel better.
But that didn't do anything for the turmoil in his mind.
Ichigo had tried to sound confident earlier, but…
If he wasn't in Japan, and he really was in an English-speaking country like the US… it would take days to get back to Japan. Maybe it really was better to just stay here and hope that his and Nel's friends could find a way to get them back to Hueco Mundo in time?
Nelliel shivered next to him, and Ichigo turned his head, feeling his cheeks flush despite the situation.
Damn it, this wasn't the time to be thinking of how he'd landed face-first on Nel's (enormous) chest earlier. Nor was it the time to be thinking about how he was sitting barely a foot away from a drop-dead gorgeous woman who was wearing next to nothing.
…Fuck. Ichigo hadn't thought he'd ever have longed to be fighting for his life, but if nothing else, he'd been too focused on keeping Nnoitra from bisecting him to pay attention to Nel's lack of clothes.
"Ichigo…" Ichigo turned his head back to the green-haired woman, making sure to keep his eyes focused on hers and not dipping past her chin.
"Nel?"
"This place… it's… wrong. Have you felt it too?"
"What do you mean?"
"The air… there's so much spiritual pressure in it. It feels almost like being back in Hueco Mundo, but this is definitely the human world." Now that Nel mentioned it, the air did feel kind of weird to him. Not in an uncomfortable way, just… different. In a way he couldn't really put into words.
"It does feel strange here, now that you mention it. I didn't know the US had any places with spiritual pressure like this." Assuming this was the US in the first place.
"And… that's not all." Nel's lips twisted into a worried frown before she continued.
"Ichigo… where… where are all the people?"
That was the ten-million-yen question. Where were the people indeed? Ghost towns like this weren't common, except for disaster zones, and Ichigo couldn't recall any big, town-destroying disasters in the US's recent history. Knowing the loud nation; a natural disaster or disease capable of destroying an entire town would've been a prominent enough story in the news that even he would've seen it over in Japan.
An inkling of something unpleasant trickled through the back of his mind, but the thought was gone before it could fully form.
"I… I don't know, Nel. I guess… I guess we should try to find someone. We're both in spirit form right now so no normal humans will be able to see us, but… this town has me on edge. Everything's so overgrown and destroyed… Wait… do you think there are any plusses around here?"
Nel's eyes widened, and the buxom woman nodded several times.
"Of course, if there are any souls lingering here, we should be able to talk to them!" That sounded like a solid plan to Ichigo. Even though it wasn't in any way related to Aizen's machinations, it was only natural to be curious about what circumstances had lead a town in the modern human world to look like the world's highest-budgeted recreation of a zombie apocalypse set. He and Nel left the ruined bus station, following the main road deeper into the ruins.
"Maybe now I can find some real clothes…" Ichigo heard Nel grumble under her breath as the tall woman tugged at the hem of her impromptu skirt.
Looked like she hadn't been as oblivious over her ragged clothing as he'd first thought.
It felt good to have a goal, even if it wasn't related to getting back to Hueco Mundo and his friends. At a time like this, knowing that his friends were fighting for their lives, nothing felt worse than sitting around and doing nothing.
'Could be we find something here that helps us get back to Hueco Mundo…' Ichigo thought to himself. It was a fool's hope, a one in a million fluke that he didn't believe would come true, but some small part of him couldn't help but cling to the desperate belief that he wasn't trapped a world apart from his friends when they needed him by their sides.
Nel was getting ahead of him, though every few moments the green-haired arrancar would look back, making sure he was still following. He could see gaze moving up and down his form, taking in his disheveled state.
"Ichigo… I don't mind carrying you, if it hurts too much to walk."
"N-no, that's okay Nel, I'll be fine on my own!" It just felt embarrassing to him, the idea of being carried in the woman's arms like a helpless child. No, despite the beatings he'd taken earlier without Orihime having a chance to heal him, he wasn't so injured that he couldn't walk on his own.
"If you say so… I-I… I couldn't protect you earlier, and you got hurt because of me! And now, we're both in this strange place because I was too slow to save you!"
"No, Nel! None of this was your fault. Whatever happened… we're here together. We'll watch each other's backs- and above all else, we'll get back to our friends together!"
Ichigo's words seemed to perk Nel up a bit, and though the distraught look on the tall woman's face didn't entirely fade, she didn't look as downhearted as she had seconds earlier.
There was nothing more to be said for now. Ichigo caught up to Nelliel, who slowed her pace to match his, and the two made their way towards the center of the ruined ghost town.
(Hueco Mundo, a few minutes after Nel and Ichigo disappeared)
The dunes quaked as heavy footfalls left deep tracks in the sand. Bells jingled as Kenpachi Zaraki looked down at the person lying bloodied in the sands.
"Eh? The hell's this?"
"Kenny! Kenny! The kitty man looks like he's in bad shape!"
"Who the hell… are you calling kitty?" The muscular blue-haired man ground out, glaring up at Kenpachi (and Yachiru, riding on his shoulder.)
"Oi, arrancar. You see Kurosaki anywhere? I'm no good at sensing people's spiritual pressure, but I thought I could sense him right around this area till just a couple of minutes ago."
"Feh… you just… missed him. Fuckin' Kurosaki… Fuckin Nnoitra… bastard got both of us."
"What's that? Don't tell me someone other than me did Kurosaki in!" That wouldn't do at all. Ichigo Kurosaki was young, but he was already one of Kenpachi's favorite prospects for sparring.
The fact that even he could tell that Ichigo was no longer in Hueco Mundo, combined with what the injured arrancar was saying added up to an answer he didn't like.
"Shit, did he really kick the bucket before we could get here? …The old man's gonna be pissed," Kenpachi grumbled. Yachiru patted one of his shoulders in consolation.
"Aw… don't be sad, Kenny! I don't think Icchi would die that easily! We just hafta find him! Maybe the kitty man can tell us where he went!"
"I told you… to stop calling me that!"
"Ah, give it a rest. You seem strong, especially if you haven't bled out from that injury, but you definitely don't have any fight left in you. Tell you what, you tell me where Ichigo's gone- assuming he ain't dead, and I'll see to it that Unohana doesn't let you bleed out. I know the old man would prefer if I just finished you off here, but killin' a beaten foe ain't my idea of a good time."
There was a moment's pause, where the only sound heard was the wind blowing over the dunes. Grimmjow continued glaring up at his… saviors? Rescuers? Killers?
A king like him should need no savior!
The fact that Ichigo Kurosaki of all people was the reason he was still breathing…
Grimmjow hated that. And while he was a man of very few morals…
A debt owed would not go unpaid.
But still… Was it worth it? Was forsaking his pride and accepting the help of a soul reaper worth it?
…
Rrrgh!
Fuck it, he wasn't going to go out because that fucker Nnoitra had stabbed him in the back. He had to live, if for no reason than to rip the lanky bastards tongue out of his mouth before he killed him!
"Fine. I'll tell you what I know! But on one condition- there's another arrancar you have to leave for me. Nnoitra Gilga- I'm the one who kills him, nobody else! Got it?!" The savage grin on Kenpachi's face was enough of an answer for him.
"Ichigo Kurosaki… we were just finishing up our fight, and then that bastard butted in and did this to me," Grimmjow groaned, indicating the massive gash across his torso.
"Whatever Nnoitra did to him… and that other spiritual pressure I felt- they're both still alive. I don't know what it was he did, but I know that much."
"Heh, good enough for me. So this guy Nnoitra's at the center of where Kurosaki's disappeared to? Unohana and her lieutenant are on there way, I think the lieutenant was fixin' up one of Kurosaki's other friends already. Yachiru! I'm leaving you here; tell Unohana that we ain't killing this arrancar. Now… time to go find the nearest espada!" Kenpachi's feral grin grew as he darted away through the sands.
Yachiru watched her captain depart, along with Grimmjow, who was reconsidering his lot in life.
"Hey, brat. Should we tell him that Laz Noches is in the opposite direction?"
"Nah, Kenny will be fine. He'll figure it out soon enough."
Grimmjow sighed and turned his head away from the diminutive girl, who was roughly the same size as that weird arrancar kid he'd seen with Ichigo. Since when were there kid arrancars anyway?
He could already make out the strong, strangely soothing spiritual pressure of someone new drawing closer- a soul reaper- and likely the person that the bell-haired guy had been referring to.
Fuck, things would've been so much simpler if Kurosaki had just finished him off…
That's it for the prologue.
Yeah, I'm very much aware that there's no actual Nikke content yet; so far it's just Ichigo and Nel getting stranded in the world of Nikke. I guarantee that they will run into Nikke characters in the next chapter.