"Why are we running?!", Ichigo asked as he carried Orihime and Nel in his arms, the girl a bright red while Nel squealed as the group raced across the sandy arena.
"Because Shinji's Bankai doesn't discriminate between friend and foe! If we stayed there, we would have been caught in it and that would have been very bad!", Isshin answered, to which Ichigo narrowed his eyes before the bearded man looked to the Visored.
"Is it still the same?!"
"If it were, you think we would have high-tailed it out of there?!", Kensei responded, to which the man grimaced as he turned his head to see the pillar of pink spiritual energy rising up into the air.
"What does it actually do?", Ginjo asked as he and the other Fullbringers raced beside the Visored, who frowned as Love shook his head.
"All I can say is that it is definitely not something we can stick around to see."
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"Going with your Bankai from scratch?!", Nnoitra asked with an excited grin, holding his massive axe-like weapon tightly as Grimmjow unsheathed his sword while Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes.
Shinji just chuckled as the tip of his blade turned into a sharp ring that matched the larger one on the base of its hilt. The ground below him raised and turned into a large golden flower that formed around the man, the petals unleashing a wave of pink mist that soon enveloped the entire area.
"Be on guard," Ulquiorra responded, but his eyes widened when Grimmjow spun at him, immediately blocking the attack with his palm before hopping back as Nnoitra swung at his head.
The next moment, he held his sword above his head while Nnoitra held his to the side, Grimmjow having a manic grin on his face as he held his short blade low before raking his hand along the length of the blade.
"Enclose, Murcielago/ Pray, Santa Teresa!/ Grind, Pantera!", The three Espada chanted in unison, pillars of black-and-green, deep yellow and vibrant blue spiritual energy roaring to life as the three began to transform.
"Well, they're definitely Captain-level," He murmured with a frown, staring at the three Espada as they glared at each other.
Grimmjow was the first to be revealed, having taken the form of a humanoid cat-like being with black clawed hands and feet with a slender whip-like tail growing from his tailbone, his hair a mane of blue hair while his body was covered in form-fitting, segmented white armour.
The second was Nnoitra, the Espada now holding four large scythe-like weapons in his four arms while a pair of horns grew out the sides of his head, with the left one being longer than the right.
The last was Ulquiorra, the remains of his Hollow mask centered on the top of his head with two large horns growing outwards from it. His clothing had more become like a robe, his black hair longer and on his back were a pair of large black bat wings that flared out as he narrowed his eyes.
"You two are an enemy to him and enemies to Shinji are eliminated," Ulquiorra spoke as a green spiritual javelin formed in his hand, to which Grimmjow snorted as Nnoitra scoffed.
"Enemy? Ha! You say that, but you still work for Aizen, you bastard! I am the only one here who actually wants to be an ally to him!"
"Enough! Neither of you two are worthy of facing off against him. Now, lie down and let me tear you apart!", Grimmjow snarled as he crouched down, Nnoitra holding his weapons tightly as Ulquiorra adjusted his grip.
The next moment, Shinji began skipping away as the three Espada clashed, a happy smile on his face as he knew that the effects of his Bankai would last until they were knocked unconscious or killed.
'With that done, time to meet up with the others and take out the last of the group here.'
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"So…what now?", I asked with a raised eyebrow as I sat against the wall, holding up a hand to stop the kids from attacking as Aizen smiled amusedly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know that I'm always going to go against you and yet, you're not attacking. That either means you're contemplating on whether or not you wish to kill me."
"What if I've already made up my mind to see if you would plead for your life?"
"Eh, I'd more than likely ask for you to spare them since they're innocent in all of this. At least, somewhat innocent, I think."
"I suppose so. Very well, they can leave."
"Kids, go."
"You can handle him?", The main Picaro asked with a frown, surprised as I stood up while ruffling his hair.
"But of course. Now go and we'll play later."
"Got it. Picaro! Move out!"
"Yes sir!", I was amused as the kids began crawling across the ground, waiting until they left before I turned back to Aizen with a frown as he stood up.
"So, what's the next move?"
"That's dependant on your next move."
"Uh-huh, you've already made a plan for a few scenarios and now wants to figure out which plan to take by responding to what my next move is, yes?"
"Who knows?", Aizen answered as he walked closer, soon stopping just a few paces away as I felt his spiritual energy. Not surprised, I grimaced as it felt nearly double what it was yesterday, realizing that the guy had most likely already assimilated himself with the Hogyoku.
'Meaning it's already too late to try and steal it and then run away.'
"Where's the Hogyoku?"
"A safe location."
"You know, I've noticed something in the few hours that I've been here. No matter how much you call these Hollows your subordinates, you do not trust them at all nor do you trust Gin or Tosen. That means that there are very few places that you can hide it, but there is only one place that stands out to me."
"Which is?"
"On your person," I answered, Aizen raising an eyebrow and staying silent as a gesture for me to continue.
"What I mean is that you most likely either keep it hidden under a Kido barrier to hide it from view…or you've implanted it into your own body both as a way to hide it and as a way to gain more power. After all, were you not the one who said that you wished to break the boundaries between Shinigami and Hollow to see what you could truly accomplish?"
"When I said that, you were on the verge of death."
"You were explaining your end objective. What makes you think I would miss that?", I asked with a smirk, to which the man smiled before nodding with a soft chuckle.
"It appears that I've underestimated your intelligence."
"Yeah, that's because you were comparing me to guys like Urahara and Mayuri. I'm not even close to the level of you three, but what I do have is my ability to survive despite the geniuses around me."
"And yet, you were the one who killed Captain Mayuri. Is that not the work of a genius?"
'If only you knew,' I thought with a smirk, shrugging in response to his question as he hummed while looking at me.
"You wish to know what I think of you, Mayuri?"
"You'd just tell me?"
"Can you do anything with the information I give you?", He asked and I blinked before shrugging.
"True. So, what do you think of me?"
"I believe that you are not a man who fights simply for victory."
"Meaning?"
"You fight like a man who wants to erase. Every strike, every move is calculated to be an instant kill. Unlike the Shinigami, you do not accentuate your attacks nor do you over-explain your abilities."
"You make it sound like a bad thing.
"Oh, on the contrary. It's a rare trait to find a warrior that knows when to fight for entertainment and when to fight a battle to end all possibilities of retaliation. However, that makes you dangerous. Not because you are the strongest, but because you understand restraint and having restraint is the mark of someone who can choose when to become a monster."
"And that scares you?", I teased with a smirk, chuckling as he just began walking around with a shake of his head.
"Not at all. It intrigues me. It's rare that a being of your calibre rises from the bottom, but the line between interest and caution is very thin. I have not yet decided which side you fall.
"You'll have to make up your mind soon 'cause I'm not the type to sit still for long.
"Nor am I the type to rush a decision, but do not worry. It appears we have company," He spoke and I glanced as the door opened, sighing as a smirking Szayelporro walked in and stood beside me.
"Kanonji, Lord Aizen. I hope I am not interrupting anything important."
"Not really, Pinky, but I suppose you would not have listened regardless."
"Ah, well then, Lord Aizen. Am I to assume that we shall proceed with the test?"
"Indeed. Kanonji, while I would like to see the results, I will know when either you or Szayelporror come to find me."
"Hmm, good to hear," I answered as I deactivated Kyokko, the Reishukaku barrier becoming visible around my form along with the numerous fly-sized mosquitoes that were trying to suck it up.
"Not bad, Kanonji," Szayelporro spoke with a smile, though I caught the irritation in his eyes as Aizen vanished and my smile dropped.
"Hah, I assume this is also not your real body, then?"
"Not in the slightest. Would you like to meet it?"
"Sure, lead the way," I answered, knowing that he was just going to lead me away to another clone that will then stall me out until the real one comes out when I am tired.
'I was hoping to take him out earlier, but it looks like we're going to do this dance the long way,' I thought as I followed him, immediately stretching out my sensing and smirking as I felt the spiritual energies of the Guerilla unit growing closer.
If my plan works out, we'll stop all of the Espada here and that will leave Gin, Tosen and Aizen to the Gotei 13 waiting on the outside.
'Before that, though,' I thought with a frown as we exited the castle, the clone walking over to an army of Szayelporro clones were already waiting patiently.
First, I have to take care of some pest control.
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"Hey, Shinji!", Ichigo waved, the teenager watching as the Shinigami in question landed in front of them with a grunt and a smirk.
"Heyo~ You guys waited for me?"
"Not really. We were just waiting to see if we needed to come help.
"Uh-huh, and since we're conveniently right in front of the main base, we decided to not go back and help the one guy fighting against three Espada?"
"Be angry at your team. They're the ones who said that you got it under control," Uryu answered, to which Shinji slowly turned to the Visored who shrugged.
"…Well, if they had that much faith in me as their leader, who am I to scold them for it?"
"And he spun it. Why am I not surpris-?", Isshin stopped talking as he looked to the side, narrowing his eyes when he felt a presence rushing towards them.
He was not the only one as the others grew silent as well, all of them instantly focusing on the presence that crashed into the ground in front of them.
"One, two, three, four, five…Yeah, I'm not counting everyone here," The pink-haired man spoke with a grin as he dispersed the dust cloud around him, a look of excitement dancing in his eyes as the unit narrowed their yes.
"He an Espada?"
"No, I am Arrancar No. 100 Cien, Cien Granz," The man introduced himself with a smile, making Mashiro groan as she flopped back down onto the ground while the others frowned.
"If that's the case, then why the hell would they send just you to come and fight us?"
"Oh, because of this. Sip, Fornicaras," He whispered as he unsheathed his blade before swallowing it with a moan, disgusted looks appearing on everyone's faces as they watched his eyes roll back in ecstasy.
The next moment, their eyes widened and Kensei picked up the lazy Mashiro before they all hopped back right as the ground exploded, watching as the Arrancar rose into the air with his arms spread to the side.
As he did, two large wings of flesh formed on his back, four eyes inside each of them while his legs turned into a mass made out of dozens of large tentacles.
"You all…will die~", He groaned as a massive amount of black liquid squirted from his back, Kensei and Isshin taking out their Zanpakuto in unison before unleashing a storm of wind and fire in above them.
Despite their defensive attack, Isshin grimaced as the black liquid still touched them, but his eyes widened when figures shot out of the liquid splashed onto their bodies and took the forms of carbon copies of them.
The only difference was their blank eyes that were surrounded by four black markings, the group spreading out as Cien grinned and tilted his head.
"And with this, let the performance…begin!"
"Attack your clone! Make sure you take it out as quickly as possible!", Isshin shouted as he rushed at his, the others nodding as they all quickly took on their clone.
The air crackled as fire met fire, Isshin parrying its slash before swinging upwards and unleashing a wave of fire that nearly cleaved it in two.
"Looks like they're pretty good, eh Kensei?", Mashiro spoke with a grin as she flipped backwards, dodging the attack from her clone right as Kensei rushed in and delivered a swift punch to its chest.
Spinning Tachikaze into a reverse grip, he ducked under his own clone's slash as Mashiro and Lisa flew overhead, the latter's naginata stabbing into its skull while Mashiro brought her heel down and onto its skull.
Behind them, Kensei swung his Zanpakuto, unleashing a barrage of air blades that sliced Lisa's clones to ribbons right before the group nodded and moved on to help the others.
Shinji smiled as he rapidly attacked his clone, using his own Sakanade to block the reversal effects of his clones before he lunged in and swung down.
Yet, that was a feint as his clone dodged to the side, smiling while holding his fingers to the side of its head.
"Hado #4: Byakurai," The lightning tore through its skull and out the other side, forcing Isshin's clone to turn and block it. That, however, was its downfall as Isshin stabbed his blade through its chest, swinging up and unleashing a flaming slash that cleaved it in half.
Spinning around while holding his blade above his head, Chad grunted as he caught the punch of his clone, spinning and throwing it up into the air right as Isshin grinned and swung down.
"Getsuga…TENSHO!", A large slash made out of scorching flames cleaved through the clone, its halves falling to the floor right as they all felt Ichigo's Reiatsu surge.
"Get down!", Orihime shouted as she dove, the others doing the same right as Ichigo's voice bellowed.
"Getsuga TENSHO!", A monstrous wave of blue spiritual energy flew over the heads of everyone, slicing the clones to ribbons before Ichigo frowned as Cien grinned while his tentacles glowed with pink spiritual energy.
"Cero," To his surprise, his tentacle unleashed a barrage of Cero that cancelled out his attack, the group narrowing their eyes as more and more clones crawled out of the black liquid.
"Well, this might be a lot more tiresome than we expected."
A/N: And we end it off here~! The Don talked to Aizen, is now facing off against Szayel and the group is facing off against a tiresome enemy.
What will happen? Find out next time.
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