Chapters The Dazzlings of Hueco Mundo
When Sunset Shimmer joined the Rainbooms in their singing, adding her power to the rest of them, the combined power of the seven humans released a small shockwave across the audience, freeing them from the Dazzling’s control. When the shockwave reached the three Sirens on stage, Adagio was now worried for the first time since they had put their new plan at Canterlot High into motion, and her facial expression showed it. In that moment, she could feel her power slipping, as her control over the humans was wrested from her by the Rainbooms, as evident by her eyes turning from red back to normal.
Adagio wouldn’t have this. She had spent over a thousand years trapped in this world with her two sisters, with barely enough magic to get by. And now, after all that time, there was finally a source of Equestrian magic in this world to fuel their powers. She wouldn’t allow herself be defeated now after having come all this way.
However, as she looked around the area, worriedly, there was nothing she could do. The Rainbooms magic was more powerful than theirs and there was nothing she could do about it.
Then, looking up into the sky, Adagio’s eyes widened even more in shock, as she saw the physical representation of the Rainbooms magic begin to take the form of a large alicorn stallion with a flowing rainbow mane. Seeing this sight in front of her now, immediately brought back memories of when that bearded unicorn wizard had first banished the three of them to this world, and she could somehow feel that this would be no different.
As it continued forming, rearing up on its hind legs, Adagio desperately started looking for a way out of here before it struck. However, the mighty alicorn God quickly stepped back down on four hooves, and fired an enormous rainbow beam of pure, harmonic energy directly down on the three sirens.
As the rainbow power encompassed the Dazzlings, everything around them turned so white that they couldn’t see anything beyond it. They also felt a pain more intense than anything they had felt before; however, at the same time, it felt familiar. It felt exactly the same as when that bearded unicorn wizard had first banished them to this world.
It was in that moment that Adagio’s fears were confirmed. She tried with all of her might to struggle out of the rainbow’s field of energy, using all and anything she could think of to escape from her fate, but it was hopeless. There was nothing she could do now; they had lost.
Relaxing her powers and closing her eyes, she begrudgingly accepted her fate. In her last moments, she wondered where they would be heading next, and suddenly an image of her sisters flashed in her mind.
As the light around them intensified, the pain that they felt got more intense.
Then the all-encompassing whiteness around them started to fade and get darker.
And then everything was black.
Adagio couldn’t see anything or hear anything or feel anything. She couldn’t even move. She was in an endless black void, with nothing but her thoughts to keep her occupied. She remembered being blasted by the rainbow beam of the Rainbooms magic, and then everything fading away.
That feeling had felt similar to when they had first been banished, but also felt slightly different. Had the Rainbooms power banished them to another world again? Or was it something else this time? Would they still be able to use their magic? Could they still control others and make them do whatever they wanted? Did they still have a chance at victory?
As Adagio continued to think about things, she suddenly got the feeling back in her body. However, she didn’t feel the same as she had a moment ago. She felt different, but at the same time familiar; she felt right.
She still had two arms out in front, but she didn’t have any fingers at the tips, like hooves. In the back, however, she only had one limb, which felt like a long tail.
This revelation brought a smile to the siren’s face. She was in her siren form right now, which meant that if they really had been banished to another world, than it was a world that had magic, which would be easier to take in this form.
She was also happy to be her real self again. Sure, she had briefly returned to this state in their battle against the Rainbooms, but that was just a projection of herself that she was controlling mentally. She was now one hundred percent her old self again. She was her again; and it made her smile.
The smile seeming to restore some more of her energy, she struggled to open her eyes. Opening them slowly, and gently lifting her head up to look around, she saw that she was currently lying in the middle of a large sand crater in the middle of a desert. Looking up, she could see the night sky, with a crescent moon shining down on her.
Looking back down and around the crater she was in, her eyes then widened some more when she saw both of her sisters, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, a few feet away from her, lying unconscious, but still breathing. Like her, they were also in their siren forms right now.
Lying in front of her right now, Aria and Sonata looked like a cross between a pony and a seapony, with purple and blue hides respectively. They were lying on their sides, with their underbellies exposed, showing a red jewel embedded into their chest. Right now, they looked exactly the same as they had a thousand years ago, with one difference; and it was that now they both had a large hole in the middle of their bodies, just under their jewels, where their hearts would be.
Without turning away from her sister’s sleeping forms, Adagio brought a hoof up to her own chest and felt that she also had a large hole in her chest. However, she didn’t dwell on this fact for long, simply brushing it off as a side effect of being blasted by the rainbow beam.
Seeing the two of them in front of her right now unknowingly brought a smile to her face. Aria and Sonata were her sisters, and while she sometimes acted like they annoyed the hell out of her, which they kinda did, she still cared for them deeply. They had all been through a lot together. Although she would never admit it, she loved having them around and couldn’t even imagine living without them. They were the only family she had.
Using her two front hooves, the leader of the Dazzlings pushed herself up, and reaching deep inside of her for the latent magic that she could now access in this form, she started hovering a few inches off the ground. The familiar feeling of flying felt good to the siren. Oh, how she missed flying through the skies as a disembodied spirit all those centuries ago. Once you had that, walking on two legs just wasn’t the same.
Hovering in the air without a problem, and now with a surprising amount of energy, Adagio made her way over to where her sisters lay. When she was right in front of them, she reached out a hoof and poked at Sonata to get her to wake up. “Hey girls, come on. Get up.”
At the sudden intrusion, the blue siren shifted her position slightly, and moaned in the manner of a small child. “I’m still tired. Five more minutes, Mommy.” She said without opening her eyes.
Adagio’s expression drooped upon hearing this, immediately returning her new happy state of mind to her usual demeanour; like she did every time she heard one of Sonata’s stupid little quips. She then let out a little sigh of annoyance like she always did. Sonata was the youngest of the three of them, but sometimes she acted like such a baby.
Adagio then turned her head to the right, towards Aria, when she heard her other younger sister begin to rustle. She then also let out an annoyed sigh, even louder than Adagio. “Shut. The hell up. Sonata.” She said, also without opening her eyes.
Adagio just rolled her eyes at her sister’s remarks. Now feeling like her usual self once again, Adagio hardened her expression into a tougher one. “Get up, you two. Seriously, you need to see this.” She said to them in a harsher tone.
The two of them then started to properly wake up and open their eyes. Sonata was being more understanding, while Aria was more annoyed with Adagio’s tone. However, no matter how different their current moods were, they both opened their eyes wide when they saw the other in front of them, in their siren form. To two of them then both instinctively jumped back, using their front hooves to push off the ground, and started floating in the air.
After taking a moment to inspect their new forms, Aria and Sonata then both turned to face Adagio. “What’s going on here, Adagio?” Aria asked. “Where are we? And why do we look like old selves?”
“I don’t know.” Adagio replied. “I just woke up too. I have no idea.”
“Ooh, ooh, maybe we’re back in Equestria,” Sonata chimed in, with her usual out-of-place upbeat attitude.
Aria let out another sigh. “Equestria doesn’t have deserts, Sonata; just Badlands.” She spoke in a tone like she was talking down to her. “And I doubt that deserts can form in a thousand years.”
“Well, and just hear me out on this,” Sonata continued. “Maybe Celestia got tired of moving the Sun one day and left it in one place for too long, and the area got so dried out that it made a desert really quickly.” She ended with a smile.
Aria just facehooved. She couldn’t even think of a response to that it was so stupid.
“If the two of you are done…” Adagio spoke up again, causing the other two to look at her. “We need to figure this out. First, we need to find out where we are.” She then gave a quick look between the three of them. “Firstly, judging by the fact that we look like this, that must mean that wherever we are, this world has magic, which means that we’ll be able to take it that much more easily.” She smiled to herself, happy about that part. She then turned towards Aria. “Also, like Aria said, we’re probably not in Equestria anymore, so we need to find out where we are exactly.”
The other two sirens simply nodded their heads in agreement. Adagio was the oldest of the three of them, not to mention the smartest, and she was always the most capable of being the leader.
Seeing that she and her sisters were in agreement, Adagio also nodded her head in agreement. “Alright then,” she said. “Firstly, we should…”
However, their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a low cackling of laughter that they heard nearby. Quickly turning around in the direction that they heard the laughter, there, at the top of the sand crater they were in, they spotted a strange creature that they had never seen before. It was bi-pedal, which looked kind of like a cross between a minotaur and their old human forms. It was about as tall as they were right now, or even a little bit taller, with two arms that looked elongated compared to the rest of its body, which ended in four long and sharp claws. Its skin looked like a combination of grey and very, very dark green, except for its head, which was completely white, with several small red markings on it, like a mask. It also had a devilish smile on its face as it regarded the three Dazzlings in front of it.
The three sirens simply stared back at this strange creature, in silence. After its creepy laughter had died down, it moved to speak. “Well, well, look at what we have here.” It said in a deep, masculine voice. Its devilish smile then suddenly grew even wider. “Easy prey.”
The three sirens all suddenly floated back a few inches upon hearing it say that, Adagio also spinning around to face it fully. Prey? Did this thing actually think that it could take them so easily? They had once roamed Equestria for centuries, and were only defeated by one of the most powerful sorcerers to ever exist. But this thing in front of them? Sure it looked strong, but from the looks of it, it was all brawn and no brain. The three of them should easily be able to take care of this thing.
Feeling confidant in their chances, Adagio floated closer to it again, with an arrogant look on her face. “Oh, you think that you can take us?” She asked in a sarcastic tone.
The strange creature leaned forward a bit on top of the sand crater. “Of course I can. The three of you are all weak females. You could never stand up to a Hollow like me. Like I said: you’re easy prey.”
Adagio simply sneered back at this ‘Hollow’ as it called itself, with a look of disdain, after hearing that it looked down them simply because it was male. Leaning forward herself, Adagio then smiled at this thing, as if challenging it to step forward. “Oh, really?” She asked, sarcasm evident in her tone. “Then bring it.” She spoke, while furrowing her brows, still confidant in their chances against this thing.
The Hollow then reared back and pounced into the crater. “You will soon live as a part of me!” It screamed at them, as it jumped through the air. When it landed inside the crater, it then got down on to all fours and charged towards them rapidly.
Seeing the Hollow approach them quickly, Adagio then shouted out, “Girls! Scatter!”
At this order, the three sirens then all quickly flew into the air, with Sonata going left, Aria going right, and Adagio going straight up. The Hollow tried striking at Adagio with its claw, but she managed to fly up to avoid it just in time.
Once Adagio was in the air, she smiled to herself, glad that they were able to react in time. It had been a long time since they had flown in this form, and if they hadn’t briefly transformed during their battle with the Rainbooms, they might have been out of practice long enough to struggle. However, it seemed like that was not the case. All three of them were still able to handle themselves just like they used to.
Adagio then started floating backwards a little bit, while keeping her gaze on the Hollow in front of her. The three of them then formed a triangle around the Hollow, equidistant between each other.
Looking up at Adagio, the Hollow just sneered at her. “So you can fly, huh? Impressive,” it said in a faux compliment. It then smiled smugly at them. “But it won’t be enough of an advantage against me.” Looking straight at Adagio, it then opened its mouth wide, and a ball of red energy began forming in its mouth.
Adagio regarded the creature strangely as it did this. However, about two seconds later, in a split second, she noticed it open its mouth slightly larger. Noticing this detail proved invaluable to her, as it then shot a large, red beam straight at her, and she had just enough time to angle her body so that she was able to avoid the attack. The attack passed by her by the width of a few hairs and kept going.
After the attack had faded away, Adagio quickly turned her full attention back to the Hollow. Not wasting any time, she quickly sped off in its direction. Seeing her come in closer to it, the Hollow moved to attack her; however, Adagio then quickly pulled herself out of the range of its claws, and then quickly spun around in the air, whacking it in the head with her tail.
With the Hollow temporarily knocked off balanced, Adagio used the opportunity to rush passed him and re-join with her sisters, placing herself in between the two of them.
Quickly looking between the two of them, with each of them also turning to face her, Adagio asked, “Girls, we need to take this guy out. Think we can take control of him with our siren powers?”
Aria, turning away from Adagio to look down at the Hollow, who was starting to get back to its feet, her face grimaced, looking sorrowful. “Sorry, Adagio, but I’m not sensing anything from this guy that we can use.”
Glancing briefly to her sister, Adagio then faced forward again to look at the Hollow, who had picked himself back up and turned back to face the three of them. Putting on a strong look of determination, her gaze drifted over towards Aria and Sonata. “Alright girls, let’s do this. Follow my lead.” She spoke in the confidant tone of a true leader.
With strong looks of determination as well, the two of them simply nodded their heads in affirmation. If Adagio had faith in them, then they would have faith in her. “Right.” They said in unison.
Rearing back slightly, getting ready to put on a sudden burst of speed, the three of them then dashed forward, towards the Hollow before them. As they were approaching the Hollow, Adagio then pulled back slightly, so that the other two were out in front of her. “Aria, Sonata, hit it from both sides,” she said to them, as she kept her gaze firmly locked on the Hollow in front of them, who was bearing down, getting ready for the attack.
The purple and blue sirens then suddenly flew out further to the side and swiped at the Hollow from both sides at once. The Hollow, not having time to decide which one of them to target, simply raised both of its hands to swipe at both of them. However, just before they came within striking distance, they both suddenly pulled up and flew away.
The Hollow was confused at their course of action, and looked over at Sonata as she flew away. However, he then realised too late what their plan of attack was. Quickly facing forward again, he saw Adagio coming at him fast, staying low to the ground. Quickly reaching to try and grab her, Adagio simply swept lower to avoid it. She then zoomed in underneath the Hollow’s legs, and once she was halfway through, she extended her tail out sideways, between the Hollow’s legs, causing him to trip and fall face first into the sand beneath him.
Spinning around quickly in the air, she then landed atop the Hollow, before it could get back up, pinning it down. After Adagio had pinned the Hollow down, however, she then suddenly felt something inside take hold of her, like an instinct she didn’t realise she had. Then, before she could think about what she was doing, she opened her mouth wide and brought it down on the Hollow’s shoulder. With her teeth locked firmly on to the Hollow’s skin, she then dug in with her teeth with all of her strength and bit off a large chunk of the Hollow’s body.
With a piece of her attacking enemy now in her mouth, and after chewing it a few times, Adagio was able to regain her senses of what she was doing, and backed off of the Hollow again, hovering just a few inches off the ground, a few feet behind it.
As soon as Adagio had gotten off it, the Hollow immediately pushed up off the ground, and clutched at his shoulder, where Adagio had bitten him, with his right arm. The previously callous and full-of-himself Hollow now looked worried, scared, and most of all, very very pissed off. “You devoured me.” He spoke in what was barely even a whisper, but was undoubtedly addressed at Adagio. Quickly getting back up and spinning around to face the orange siren, the Hollow started glaring daggers back at her. “Do you realise what you’ve just done?!”
As Adagio listened to the Hollow screaming at her, she finished chewing the Hollow in her mouth and swallowed. She then smirked devilishly back at him. She didn’t exactly know why she did that, or even why she had swallowed what she had bitten off him, but judging from how angry he was at her right now, she guessed that it was not something good for him, which made her feel good. She also felt good after devouring a piece of this Hollow, for some reason she couldn’t explain; like she trying to fill a piece of herself with it.
When she didn’t respond, and he only got a smirk in response, the Hollow gritted his teeth in annoyance. “I can now never become an Adjuchas.” It then sneered down at her again for a second before it screamed out, “I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”
Without missing a beat, the Hollow then angrily stepped forward, crushing down hard on the sand beneath him, and rushed towards Adagio again. When the Hollow came within striking range of her, it then stepped forward and swung its huge clawed arm out towards her. Seeing the attack coming, Adagio simply backed up at the moment, causing the Hollow’s arm to strike at the air, just a hair’s breadth away from the siren’s face. Adagio couldn’t help but smirk to herself in response.
However, this moment was short lived when she also saw the Hollow smirk to himself. He then quickly leaned forward with his other foot, extending his reach. He then brought out his other arm and slashed Adagio hard across the chest, sending her flying back into the side of the sand crater.
Seeing this, Sonata’s eyes immediately widened in worry. “Adagio!” She called out to her. Her face quickly changing from worry to anger, the blue siren put on a sudden burst of speed and charged forward. Nobody hurts her sisters.
Seeing her sister get so riled up and charge off, Aria also put on a strong expression and dashed forward, on the other side to the Hollow, flying parallel with Sonata.
As Sonata quickly approached the Hollow from the side of the crater, she then turned sharply, charging towards the Hollow, faster than she had ever moved before. “Get away from my sister!” She screamed towards the Hollow, with tears in her eyes.
The Hollow heard Sonata’s outrage, and turned to face her. She was approaching him quickly, so he got into position to strike her with his claws. However, as soon as she was within striking distance, she quickly ducked under him, spun around in the air, causing her tail to whip around and strike the Hollow hard in the chest, sending him flying away, towards Aria.
Aria hadn’t moved as fast as Sonata, and by the time she had reached the spot that her sister had reached on the opposite side of the sand crater, the Hollow was already coming towards her. Seeing the big ball of grey coming towards her, she simply smirked derisively to herself and reared back with her tail, getting ready swat him away. “And the pitch,” she called out in a mocking tone, as she brought her tail back around, striking the Hollow like it was a baseball, and throwing it back into the side of the sand crater, using more force in her strike than Sonata.
With the Hollow dealt with at the moment, Aria and Sonata both quickly made their way over to Adagio. They landed down beside her as she picked herself back up again, leaning on her two front hooves.
“Are you alright?” Aria asked her, in a calm tone.
As she steadied to get back to her feet, and then the air, Adagio turned to face her younger sister. Although she didn’t show it on her face, Aria was likely just as worried as Sonata. “Yeah,” she replied, in an equally calm tone.
“Thank goodness!” Sonata cried out, throwing her hooves around her oldest sister. Okay, maybe Aria wasn’t worried as much as Sonata, but she still worried.
Adagio didn’t like having her sister all over her like she was right now, and wanted to shove her away, but she also didn’t want to be too rough with her, knowing how fragile she was. Sighing softly to quiet her nerves, Adagio just lifted her hooves up and gently lifted her younger sister off of her.
When she did, she saw the saddest look that she had ever had on her face, and that there were tears in her eyes. Adagio’s heart choked up at the sight of this. She then decided to briefly put her stubborn pride aside and brought her baby sister in closer again in a deep hug. “I’m alright.” She spoke quietly to her in her ear, in a calm and reassuring tone. “I really am.” She stroked her sister’s mane with her hoof.
It worked, and Sonata was relieved to hear her say that. Even still, she buried herself deeper in her older sister’s chest, and quietly and happily sobbed, so glad that everyone was alright.
Aria was equally moved by the display of sisterly affection, though she quickly through her gaze away in the opposite direction, so that the other two wouldn’t see her like that. However, the direction that she had looked away in just happened to be the same direction in which the Hollow had been knocked earlier, and who was now getting back to his feet.
Aria then turned back to her sisters again and reminded them about the enemy that they were still currently facing. Sonata raised her head out of Adagio’s chest, and the both of them looked back up at Aria, who gestured over to the Hollow, who had turned around to face them again. “We’re not done here yet.” Aria said.
Adagio and Sonata quickly got back into the air, and lined up alongside each other, with clear and confidant looks on the faces, as they stared back at the Hollow.
Looking between her sisters on either side of her, Adagio faced the Hollow again. “Let’s do this.” She then added, “Together.”
Aria and Sonata both simply nodded and said, “Right.” Now sounding much stronger and much more confidant.
As they bore down and got into battle position, the Hollow roared back at them, threateningly, and then reared back and started charging towards them.
The three Dazzlings all got ready for their counterattack; however, before they got the chance to move, a snake suddenly shot out of the sand in front of them, straight at the Hollow. The Hollow was confused the snake’s sudden appearance as well, and it used this moment of surprise to coil itself around the Hollow’s body, restricting its movements.
“Hah, sneak attack!” The snake shouted out, in a feminine sounding voice.
Before the three sirens could think further on this sudden change of events, they then suddenly heard something land down on the patch of sand next to them. Turning around to see what it was, they saw another creature, which looked remarkably similar to the unicorns from back in Equestria; its body the same colour scheme as the snake.
“Sung-Sun,” the unicorn called out, also in a feminine sounding voice, directed towards the snake. “It kind of defeats the purpose of a sneak attack to yell it out.”
At this, the snake’s tone suddenly shifted to an annoyed one. “Wh… Shut up, Apacci. I already had him ensnared before I yelled it out. Why do you always have to get on me about every little thing?”
The unicorn-creature, apparently named, Apacci, simply closed her eyes before responding. “Maybe if you just stopped doing stupid things, then I wouldn’t have to keep mentioning them.”
“Wh-What?!” Sung retorted. “How dare you?!” She shouted back, sounding offended.
While the two of them were arguing, the Hollow that she was coiling around started to try and break out of his containment. The struggling of the Hollow’s muscles pulled Sung back to the matter at hand. “Will you just hurry up and attack this thing while I have it contained?” She said to Apacci, as she tightened her grip on the Hollow.
Apacci opened her eyes again and simply let out a small sigh before responding. “Fine.” She then suddenly started charging up a ball of red energy from her horn, similar to what the Hollow did earlier.
Sung kept her focus on the Hollow as she continued to bind herself around it, to keep him contained. When she looked back at Apacci, her eyes suddenly widened in shock. “Wait, what? Don’t use your Cero now. Wait until I’m…”
However, the rest of what she was going to say was cut off when Apacci fired her Cero at both Sung and the Hollow, creating a huge explosion that kicked up a lot of sand, scattering it all over the crater.
The Dazzlings all started coughing as the dust cloud surrounded them. After a few seconds, Aria and Adagio started using their tales to blow away the dust cloud. After it cleared, they could see that the sand crater now only contained the three of them and the strange unicorn creature.
Keeping their eyes on her, Apacci then turned towards the three sirens and asked, “Are you three alright?” The three of them simply nodded back without saying anything, still trying to figure out what was going on.
All of a sudden, the silence was broken when something popped out from underneath the sand. The four of them all turned to see it, and they saw Sung leap out of the sand and get right into Apacci’s face. “What the hell, Apacci? You should have gotten in close and used a physical attack. Or at least wait until I’d moved before using your Cero.”
Apacci simple shoved her face into Sung’s, to counter her own momentum. “Or maybe if you had just moved when you saw me using my Cero, instead of just wasting time, asking questions.”
Sung then pushed her face into Apacci’s again. “Why you?”
While the argument between the unicorn and the snake was going on, the three sirens simply looked on at them, completely lost as to what exactly was going on.
“What exactly is going on?” Sonata was the one to break their silence.
Before one of her sisters could answer her, however, the three of them all heard the sound of another creature landing down near them. Turning in the direction of the slight sound, this time they saw a creature that looked like a lion, with a golden head. “You’ll have to excuse them.” The lion creature said, again in a feminine voice. “They’re idiots.”
Adagio actually cracked a smile at the familiar sounding words she just heard. “That’s my line.” She said in what was half way between a whisper and under her breath.
The lion looked at Adagio strangely when she heard this. “Uhh, what?”
“Nothing.” Adagio quickly brushed her off. Slowly glancing back at her again, she started to speak up again. “So what exactly is going on?” She asked.
“That’s my line.” Sonata suddenly spoke up, slightly louder than Adagio had said it, with a happy smile on her face. With the way things have been going lately, Adagio couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Well, anyway,” the lion continued. “I’m Mila Rose.” She then pointed to the still bickering snake and unicorn. “The two over there are Sung and Apacci.”
After another moment, Adagio looked back over to Mila Rose. “Okay, so why did you decide to help us?” Adagio could understand fighting to protect her sisters, but not complete strangers.
Mila responded with a small chuckle. “Simple; with all of these male Hollows preying on anyone they see as weaker then themselves, we girls need to stick together.”
Hearing this response, Adagio couldn’t help but smile. It was true that things were easier to do when there were more people around you to help, but she had always had her sisters with her for that. Would she really able to make friends as well? And if things in this world were always this hectic, would she need to?
Suddenly, the moment was interrupted yet again by a huge pile of sand being blown up in the air from below, as the Hollow appeared before them again, having finally dug his way out from the blast the Cero had buried him in.
Standing back up, with a furious look on his face, he regarded the six females in front of him. “You think that you’ve won?!” He screamed at them, angrily, not really expecting an answer. “Even the six of you together could never hope to defeat me. I am all powerful.”
Adagio made a move to step forward; however, Mila Rose just raised her claw in front of her to stop her. Seeing this, Adagio was confused and looked over at her, but Mila just kept her gaze forward, locked on the Hollow in front of her. All she said was, “Wait.”
Still confused, she looked back over at the Hollow, who was now standing up as tall as he could, to try and make himself look terrifying. He then threw his arms out wide. “Now prepare for sudden dea…”
However, before he could finish whatever he was saying, he was suddenly struck right down the middle, cutting him in two. His two halves then started falling down at either side before dissolving into nothingness.
Adagio had to rub her eyes in confusion from what she just saw it had happened so fast. When she looked again, she saw another creature, this one most closely resembling their old human forms. She was female from the look of her, and she was covered from head to toe in grey and white scales. She was currently kneeling down, looking like she had just dived out of the sky to strike down that Hollow in one strike, which she had, with the enormous blade on her right hand that looked like a shark’s fin.
After five seconds of just kneeling there, she stood back up again and turned around to face them. From the front, they could see that the scales covered every part of her body, except for her head, although that was mostly covered by a huge mask, exposing only her eyes and her blonde hair.
Her eyes, however, were all that was needed to read her expressions. She was completely calm, although her eyes also seemed to show a bit of worry.
As she walked over to them, Apacci, Sung, and Mila Rose all bowed their heads to her. When Mila poked her eyes open and saw that the Dazzlings weren’t bowing as well, she nudged Sonata, who was to her right, to get their attention. “That’s Master Halibel. Show some respect.” She whispered to them.
However, before they could process this, they turned back around and Halibel was already standing right in front of them. Aria and Sonata both looked a little worried, but Adagio was different. She couldn’t explain it, but it was as if she could tell that this ‘Halibel’ was insanely strong; almost like another instinct she didn’t know she had.
After another five seconds of silence between them, Halibel then took a knee in front of the Dazzlings, and placed her left hand on Adagio’s chest.
Still confused about what was going on, the three of them all simply looked at Adagio’s chest as well, and suddenly their eyes all widened in unison when they saw that her chest was completely clean. They knew for a fact, especially Adagio, that she had been badly scratched by that Hollow during their battle, and that it had left a nasty scar. However, looking at it now, the area was completely clean, as if she had never been attacked.
Somehow she had regenerated from her injury.
“Are you alright?” Halibel asked, snapping Adagio out of her trance. Quickly looking back up, to look her in the face, still looking a bit nervous, she simply said, “Y-yes.”
Hearing that, Halibel smiled a little underneath her mask and stood back up. “That’s good to hear. There are a lot of Hollow’s out here who see us as easy prey.” She then turned to the side and crossed her arms, which is not easy to do when you have a huge blade that takes up most of your arm. “The best way to survive is to stick together.” She continued. Her eyes then drifted back to the three sirens, watching them closely. “Do you want to come with us?” She asked them, focusing mostly on Adagio.
After hearing the question, Adagio looked between her sisters on either side of her. As prideful as she was, she had to admit that they had had a pretty rough time going up against just one of those ‘Hollow’ things, and yet Halibel had taken it out no problem.
Adagio wasn’t one to accept help from others, or especially work under anyone else, which is undoubtedly what she’d have to do if they went with them. However, just one look at her sister’s faces and she had her answer. This was the only way she could ensure that she and her sisters would be alright.
Looking back at Halibel, looking her square in the eye, she said, “Alright.”
After only a second’s wait, Halibel nodded her head. “Alright then. Let’s go.” She then turned around fully, so that her back was to theirs, and started walking away. She was then joined by Apacci, Sung, and Rose, after she had taken a few steps forward, the three of them remaining a respectable distance behind her.
After the three of them had taken several steps forward, the three Dazzlings then pushed up off the ground so that they were floating in the air again. They all looked between each other briefly, and with confidant and strong expressions on their faces, they moved forward to catch up with the others; their new teammates.
When they had all crawled out of the sand crater, Halibel looked over her shoulder, looking passed her Fracción, so that she was facing the Dazzlings. She then said, “Welcome to Hueco Mundo.”
To be continued…
Author's Note
Story inspired by this forum thread. I said I would have liked it if someone wrote a story about it, and it turned out to be me.
Sorry about the lame title. I’m really bad at coming up with titles for my anime crossovers. I usually just replace one of the words in the title with something pony related.
i.e.Pony Equestria Pony
Anyway, that's what I usually do for my anime crossovers, but I can't do that with Bleach. If any of you have a suggestion for a better title, let me know and maybe I’ll change it.
Bleach is one of my favourite anime series, but I just couldn’t think of a good crossover with MLP to make a good story. Until this anyway. I already have several ideas for this this story, and I hope I can get more of it out for you. But again, if you're familiar with me, don't hold me to that. I am literally the worst person for consistent updates.
Also, the alicorn God at the start of the story is a small shout out to the Super Saiyan God from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, which I saw recently. To activate it, six elements have to pour all of their power into one, meaning that you need seven. My headcanon is that Sunset Shimmer is another Element of Harmony, that added her power to the others, which is why, in Rainbow Rocks, instead of just shooting a rainbow at the Dazzlings, it summoned a mighty alicorn - who I have dubbed the God of Harmony - who may even be the source of the element's power, like maybe it's the spirit of the Tree of Harmony.
Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, it's not too much of a stretch that Sunset could be another Element of Harmony, since the official merchandise has mentioned that Love is the seventh Element, and it's wielded by Cadance and Shining Armor.
Well, that's it. See you at my next update... whenever that will be.
The Dazzlings of Hueco Mundo
Three months have passed since the Dazzlings had arrived in Hueco Mundo, and in that time, they had learned more about what exactly was going on with them. The first thing they learned, which was also the one that hit them the hardest, was that they died. Hueco Mundo was a world of the after-life, where Hollows dwelt. Apparently, when some people die, they can’t let go of the negativity in their souls, and they become Hollows; and the Dazzlings had a lot of negativity.
This also meant that they weren’t sirens anymore – they were Hollows – evident by the holes in their chests, which they were told was where their hearts used to be. Not having a heart any more freaked Sonata out the most, but the other two managed to calm her down when they pointed out that she was still her usual peppy, fun-loving self even without it. After that, she accepted it and didn’t worry about it anymore, at least, not outwardly.
They also learned that Hollows devour souls, of humans and other Hollows, in order to become stronger and attempt to fill the emptiness left by the loss of their hearts. This wasn’t anything new to the former sirens, since they fed on mortal creatures before, although, the fact that they now had to devour their actual souls instead of just their negativity, did hit them hard at first, though it was something that they quickly grew to accept. Sonata was still a bit hesitant to devour other Hollows, though Aria was more willing, and Adagio didn’t even hesitate, if it meant becoming stronger. She simply couldn’t stand being weak, and her battle with that first Hollow showed her just how weak she really was in this world.
They were also told about the Soul Reapers, and about how they hunt down Hollows and destroy them in order to protect the humans. They saw this treatment as unfair, since Hollows have to devour souls in order to survive, and them killing humans was no different from humans killing animals in order to survive. After all, Hollows were superior to humans, just like humans were superior to animals, so there wasn’t anything morally wrong with devouring humans. What gave the Soul Reapers the right to decide that they were on the side of justice? What gave them the right to protect humans? To deny their own right to exist?
Fortunately, Soul Reapers almost never come to Hueco Mundo, so they would be safe as long as they didn’t leave, and most Hollows were capable of surviving just fine by devouring other Hollows. It was only the more feral ones that went to the World of the Living. The smart ones knew not to put themselves in unnecessary danger.
Strangely, even after becoming Hollows, they still had their old siren powers of manipulating other’s emotions through their singing. However, while they still had their old siren powers, they didn’t work on Hollows, since Hollows have no emotions left to manipulate, so it was essentially useless to them. Their powers would probably still work on humans, and maybe even Soul Reapers, but since they never left Hueco Mundo, that wasn’t an issue. Although, even if their old powers didn’t work anymore, it still made them happy knowing that they was still there, since it reminded them of what they used to be.
Since their old siren powers didn’t work on Hollows, it was harder for them to survive compared to how they used to. However, while their old powers may not have worked anymore, they had gained additional powers since becoming Hollows themselves.
A few weeks after arriving, and learning and training with Halibel and her team, Aria had learned how to use a Cero. Aria had always been the stronger and more aggressive of the three, allowing her to grasp combat abilities easier, and since then, she has become the team’s main fighter. Sonata on the other hand, while not so good at fighting, other than getting close to her enemies and swiping at them with her tail occasionally, instead focused on non-combat, support abilities, and has gotten a lot faster since they became Hollows, and even learned how to use Sonido several days before Aria had learned how to use her Cero.
Adagio’s abilities lay somewhere between the other two. She had learned both Cero and Sonido, and was able to use both techniques effectively in battle, though hers weren’t as strong as either of the other two, who focused primarily on one. She had also learned how to use her Pesquisa almost immediately upon arriving, being able to tell a Hollow’s power by sensing it, and she was able to do so from an impressive range. This allowed her to plan out her battles accordingly and not jump into a fight that she knew she couldn’t win on her own. This meant that they never had to get close to another Hollow unless they were certain they could take it out, which helped them to survive and only go after weaker Hollows, devouring them and becoming stronger.
In the new group that they had become a part of, Aria was the most social with Apacci, Sung, and Rose, getting along with them about as well as she did with her sisters. While they did talk and socialise and generally get along, this also meant that she was also arguing with the three Hollows just as much. Overall, not much had changed for Aria, or Apacci and the others in that regard.
Sonata mostly either kept to herself or with her sisters, over socialising with the other four. While she was still happy with the way things were now, and she did think of Apacci, Sung, and Mila Rose as her friends, Sonata still preferred to stay close to her sisters, especially Adagio. Despite her happy, outgoing attitude, she always was the most fragile of the group, always sticking close to her sisters, and while she did try to put on a strong face, it was clear that she was still scared of the new situation that they found themselves in.
Adagio, while adjusting to their situation well, gaining new abilities and becoming even stronger, there was one thing that she wasn’t very enthusiastic about, and that was where she ranked in this group of theirs. Adagio always liked being the most powerful in a group and being in control, but now she wasn’t. Adagio didn’t like the idea of serving underneath someone else; she wanted to be back on top. However, while Adagio was ambitious, she wasn’t stupid. She knew very well that even though she was still the strongest of the three Dazzlings, she still didn’t even compare to Halibel.
While Adagio admittedly didn’t like that she wasn’t the strongest in the group, which meant that she wasn’t the leader, she didn’t dislike the current situation all that much either. Despite Halibel being in charge, she treated them all fairly and with respect, and always came to their rescue if they were ever in trouble.
Adagio enjoyed the way that Halibel treated them. This treatment wasn’t exactly foreign to her, since it was about the same way that she interacted with her sisters before, which made sense to her, since they were, well, her sisters, but she never really understood why people acted that way towards anyone else.
This made Adagio think about the Rainbooms for the first time since they had come here - wanting to never think about them again if she could help it – and she wondered if this bond that she had with Halibel and her group was friendship. If it was, then maybe friendship wasn’t so bad.
The group of female hollows were simply relaxing in their cave hideout. Aria was talking with Apacci and Rose, Sonata and Sung were outside keeping watch, while Adagio was resting. Halibel had just recently gotten back from meeting with the King of Hueco Mundo. Apparently, she had been killing a lot of the hollows in his army lately - mostly because they had attacked her first, but to him, that wasn’t really an excuse. He had recognised her strength and offered her a spot in his army, but she turned it down. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to throw her life away pointlessly, since he had admitted that he was so bored, he was considering splitting his army in two and making them fight each other to the death for his amusement; or maybe, like Adagio, she didn’t want to serve under someone else.
As Adagio lay there, with her head in her hooves, her eyes suddenly perked up when she heard the sound of booming static over near the cave entrance. Lazily turning her head in that direction, she saw that Sonata had just appeared, although looking a bit worried. Lifting her up a bit more to see what exactly was going on, Halibel, Apacci, Rose, and Aria also turned to look at her as well.
“We have a problem.” Sonata spoke in a worried tone.
Before anyone could ask her more about this, however, there suddenly came a loud scream from the tunnel leading into the main chamber of their cave, which sounded like it was getting louder and closer with every second. In addition, the scream sounded familiar.
The next second, Sung suddenly flew past Sonata’s head, impacting hard with the ground in the centre of the room. The other five of them now all looked just as worried as Sonata had; however, before anyone could speak up again, there was another loud sound, this one a crash, followed by a large chunk of the rock in the opening to the main room of their cave hideout falling down. Without thinking about it and acting on instinct, Sonata quickly used her Sonido to avoid it, and flashed in between Adagio and Aria. Adagio was now completely upright.
As Sung got back up as well, all seven of them directed their attention to the entrance, as a large Hollow stormed his way in. This one looked a bit like the Hollow they had fought when they first arrived here, except this one had a much more humanoid appearance, looked specifically male, and his head looked like that of a hammerhead shark. They also noticed that his mask appeared to be cracked.
With fury in her eyes after seeing what just happened, Halibel didn’t hesitate and lunged towards the Hollow, looking to end this quickly. The other six of them had all calmed down a lot now, knowing that Halibel could take out this Hollow instantly. However, after their expressions softened and they looked away, not wanting to see what Halibel would do to someone who would attack one of her underlings, they all suddenly did a double take and widened their eyes to see that this Hollow had actually grabbed on to her massive blade hand, and held on to it, holding it just inches from his neck, where she had directed her attack, looking for a quick kill.
However, what seemed to confuse them most of all was just how easily this Hollow was holding back her attack; he didn’t even look like he was struggling at all. The three Dazzlings were just as confused that any Hollow could apparently be stronger than Halibel, after seeing how strong she was these past few months. Apacci, Sung, and Mila Rose, however, simply couldn’t accept that someone was stronger than their master, period.
Halibel was also as confused at how strong this guy was, with only slightly widened eyes to express it. Shrugging off her shock quickly, she then started putting more force into her attack. However, no matter how hard she tried, her blade simply wouldn’t budge. Seeing her struggle and how weak she was compared to him, the hammerhead Arrancar raised his other hand and slammed a punch right into her stomach, knocking her back.
Halibel was pushed back several feet, though she still managed to remain standing. Seeing her master and friend struggle, Apacci was the first one to take action and took a step towards her; however, the very second that she did so, Halibel immediately held her other arm out towards her, without turning to face her. “No, stay back!” She shouted.
Apacci and the others immediately stopped in their tracks. There was a look in Halibel’s eyes that they had never seen on her before, though Adagio recognised the look because she had seen it on Sonata’s face plenty of times: fear. This Arrancar was so strong that the strongest among them actually feared for their lives right now.
Halibel focused back on the hammerhead Arrancar, and moved to address her comrades. “I’ll deal with him. You six get out of her.”
“But Master Halibel…” Sung retorted.
“Go, now!” Halibel cut her off, not turning around to face her. She clenched her teeth hard underneath her mask.
Everyone else was still speechless at Halibel actions, which was very unlike her, as she was usually so confident that she would win that she hardly showed any reaction at all. Rose was the first one to react, and after a moment of hesitation, turned to leave, though with a pained look on her face. “Come on, let’s go.” She was then followed by Sung and Apacci. Adagio turned her head to look at them as they were leaving and with a quick glance back at Halibel as she resumed her fight with the hammerhead Arrancar, silently followed after the others, with Aria and Sonata following behind her.
The six of them left through a hidden entrance at the back of the cave and made their way out into the desert of Hueco Mundo. As they made their way along, Adagio couldn’t help but think about Halibel and her fight with the hammerhead Arrancar, how much she seemed to be struggling against him, and noticed that for the first time in her life, she was actually worried about someone other than herself or her sisters.
As they retreated, they could hear the battle going on behind them, and it sounded like Halibel was struggling. While Adagio tried her best not to worry about it, she suddenly stopped where she was when she noticed that she had floated past Apacci and her group. Turning back to face them, she saw a determined look on all of their faces. “We need to go back,” Mila Rose said.
Adagio didn’t think that she would say that, though a part of her expected it. “What?” Aria was the one to respond. “Are you insane? You saw how powerful that Hollow was. Besides, Halibel told us to leave and let her handle it.”
“I don’t care!” Mila rose shouted back. “Master Halibel is in trouble and she needs our help. We’re not just going to run away and save ourselves. She’s always there for us, so now it’s our turn to be there for her.” With that, she and Sung and Apacci turned around and started running back the way they came.
With them gone, Aria and Sonata then turned towards to Adagio, to figure out what the three of them would do. Adagio already knew that Mila Rose and the other two had already decided to go back to help from the start, regardless of anything they said. Their loyalty to Halibel was undying, but what about her and her sisters? Like Mila Rose’s group to Halibel, Aria and Sonata would likely go with whatever she decided, so their fate was in her hooves. If they went back to fight that Arrancar now, they would most likely die… and be consumed. If they ran for it, however, they would survive. It sounded like a no-brainer: live or die. But then, why did she feel so torn?
If Halibel didn’t make it, then surviving out here would be more difficult, sure, but after everything that she had already thought them and made them all so much stronger, they would manage. If they left now, their survival wouldn’t be an issue, and if they did go back, then it almost certainly would. So then why was she even contemplating going back at all? Halibel never expected anything from them for rescuing them, so she didn’t owe her anything, and from her rescuing them in the past, she clearly wanted them to live; it’s what she expressly told them to do now. It’s true that they didn’t owe Halibel anything, but then why was this hard?
After several minutes of mentally weighing the pros and cons, she finally made her decision.
Mila Rose hit the ground hard after being casually tossed to the side by the hammerhead Arrancar. Sung then quickly flew over towards him and wrapped herself around his body to restrict his movements. “Gotcha now,” she said triumphantly.
The hammerhead Arrancar merely smirked in response. “Oh, really?” He then casually flexed his muscles, and the snake Hollow went flying off of him, landing next to Mila Rose on the desert sand, in a daze.
Halibel got back up on to one knee, panting hard from the battle. The three of them were throwing everything they had at him, while this guy didn’t look like he was even trying and yet he was still beating them. She was also worried about Adagio and her sisters, but as long as they were safe, that was good enough for her. She just wished the other three had done the same. While she had been touched by their devotion to her, she still would have preferred that they had lived. No world is without casualties, but that didn’t mean that she still wouldn’t sacrifice herself if it meant that her friends would live.
Standing back up again, waving about on her feet as she did so, she made another lunge at the hammerhead Arrancar, but the simply waved his arm and knocked her back down again. Slowly walking over to where Halibel lay, while casually swiping at Apacci as she tried to attack him, not even sparing to look at her as he did so, he looked down at the Vasto Lorde as he loomed over her.
As he sneered down at her smugly, he then reached out with his claw to grab her when he was suddenly struck head on by a purple Cero. The blast didn’t seem to damage him at all, as he wasn’t even forced back an inch, but it did cause him to look in the direction that it had come from, just in time for Aria to ram right into him with all the force she could muster. It also didn’t do any damage, but it did cause him to move back that inch.
After she had rammed him, Aria then immediately used her Sonido to pull back before he even noticed her. She was then joined by Adagio next to her. The former siren tried to keep a cool expression on her face, but she was still miffed that her Cero had apparently done no damage at all.
Cracking her eye open a bit, Halibel saw two of the Dazzlings hovering off to the side. “No…” she uttered in a pained breath. “Run,” was all she managed to get out, holding her hand out towards them.
Before Adagio – who had heard her thanks to her enhanced hearing – could respond to her, however, there was then a burst of booming static, as Sonata activated her Sonido, appearing behind the Arrancar before he even noticed she was there. She then whipped her tail back to strike at him, but before her attacked connected, the Arrancar quickly turned around and grabbed her by the tail. Sneering smugly at her, he then tightened his grip, reared back, and flung the former siren back the way she came.
As Sonata was thrown back, Aria ducked as she was thrown her way, and she was instead thrown into Adagio, knocking against her hard from the force of the attack, knocking them both to the ground in a daze.
Letting out a gasp at the site of the two of her sisters being defeated so easily, Aria looked back at the Arrancar, with fury in her eyes, and quickly started charging up another Cero. The ball of purple energy started forming in her mouth, and just two seconds later, she released the blast in the Arrancar’s direction.
As the attacked sailed through the air, despite how this had gone last time, Aria was still confident that her attack would work. However, when her Cero had almost connected, the Arrancar simply lifted his hand and swatted it away like it was nothing.
Aria was completely shocked that her attack had been deflected so easily, twice even, and bit down hard. In the short time that she’s been here, her Cero was more powerful than that of her sisters, and even surpassed that of the others in their group, barring Halibel of course. To see her greatest strength nullified like it was nothing was a bruise to her ego that she certainly didn’t need.
However, her shock also kept her from noticing that the Arrancar had been charging up his own Cero after he had so easily stopped hers, and she failed to notice it until she had been hit, knocking her to the ground, like her sisters had been earlier, leaving her with some nasty burns.
After Aria had been defeated as well, Halibel took the opportunity to attack the Arrancar while he was distracted. However, even with her fast paced speed, when she came in close, the Arrancar simply grabbed on to her again with one hand, and then punched her to the ground with the other.
As Adagio lay there on the ground, she focused intensely on the Arrancar, staring at him intensely, and also reaching out with her Pesquisa, to try and accurately gauge his power up close to try to discern a weakness. However, while she did this, her eyes suddenly widened in surprise when she noticed something odd.
Her old siren powers of reading another’s emotions and manipulating them hadn’t been used since she first arrived in Hueco Mundo and became a Hollow, since Hollows have no emotions with which to manipulate, and thus, was useless to her. However, somehow she could feel that this Hollow in front of her now had those emotions. It was very faint, but it was there. She didn’t know how this was possible, but if this could possibly give them an edge in this battle, then she would take it.
Adagio then started quickly formulating a plan to use this new piece of information she had discovered. If she was correct, then they just might be able to beat this guy.
Putting on a strong expression, the leader of the Dazzlings – still a leader to her sisters, despite now serving under Halibel – forced strength back into her tired muscles, reared back, and quickly shot into the sky, hovering above the Arrancar, looking down at him.
The Arrancar was slowly approaching Halibel, who was lying on her stomach several feet away from him, getting ready to end it. When he suddenly noticed Adagio get back to her feet, so to speak, he stopped and looked up at her. “And what’s up with you? Not get enough punishment, already?” He asked her in a sarcastic tone.
Not letting his attitude get to her, Adagio didn’t let her strong expression slip. Here goes nothing . She thought to herself. Directing the energy inside of her, from the reserves of strength for her old powers that she hadn’t used since she had become a Hollow instead of a siren, she opened her mouth, letting loose a sonic attack like she had used in their battle against the Rainbooms, when they had started fighting back against their magic. Remembering the Rainbooms after all this time caused Adagio’s anger to build up inside of her, which caused her to put even more power into her current attack. She just hoped that her theory was right, or else this was all for nothing.
As the sound waves crashed down against the Arrancar, he first felt a bit strange, having never fought against a power like this before. Briefly glancing around him, he wondered what was going on. “Hey,” he directed towards Adagio. “Just what are you…?” However, before he could even finish speaking, he suddenly felt an intense pain in his head, and clutched at his skull with his hand. “Aaaahhhh. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” He screamed out in pain.
Seeing that her theory was right and that she was weakening him down with her siren magic, caused Adagio’s mouth to form into a smile, even while she was still screaming towards the Arrancar. Since she now knew that it was working, she put more energy in to it.
Back down on the ground, Aria and Sonata both started picking themselves up and looked up at Adagio in the air. Unlike Halibel, Sung, and the others, the two of them could see the sound waves that she was sending towards the Arrancar with her voice, and they both knew exactly what she was doing. Confused at first that it was apparently working, but glad that it did still work nonetheless, the two sisters both put on strong expressions, like their oldest sister had just done before acting. They both knew what they had to do now.
Picking themselves back up, they both flew up into the air, alongside Adagio. Their leader briefly stopped in her verbal attack on the Arrancar when she saw her sister’s approach, and turned her head towards each of them as they approached her. Smiling at both of them, seeing that they were alright and ready to lend their power to hers, her smile then shifted to look more sinister, and just nodded her head at each of them, which they reciprocated in kind.
The three of them then turned back towards the Arrancar, who was just starting to snap out of Adagio’s last attack. Before he could recover, however, he was blasted by another attack, this time from all three of the former sirens together. The pain it felt was so intense that it took a knee and clutched at its head again, with both hands this time.
This is impossible , he thought. I’m an Arrancar now. I’m even stronger than the Vasto Lorde, and I will join the strongest ranks in all of Hueco Mundo. So how… how are these weaklings doing this to me?
They could already feel the Arrancar’s will getting weaker, with each passing moment. The three sisters kept up their relentless attacks, as they could feel his energy dropping, surrendering to their will. He would be weakened and defeated soon enough.
She had to admit, it felt good to be back on top again after being pushed around by this thing. Although, while they were attacking, Adagio was still wondering why their old siren powers worked on this guy, when they didn’t work on any other Hollows they found in the past months, who were all weaker than him. What was the reason for this? What was the why of things?
While the three of them kept him busy, Halibel slowly got back to her feet. When she looked over at the Arrancar flailing madly, she then followed her line of sight up to the Dazzlings, who were apparently using some form of attack to keep it distracted.
Turning back to the Arrancar again, regardless of what exactly was going on, she decided not to let this opportunity go to waste. Getting into a sprinting position, she then dashed forward, towards the Arrancar, at high speed. As she got in close, she swung her blade hand at him with all of her remaining strength, aiming for the creature’s neck, looking to end things quickly. When she got in close to the Arrancar, the Dazzling’s attack didn’t seem to have any effect on her. With all of the remaining force that she could muster, she cut into his neck, piercing through his Hierro. As her blade slowly sunk deeper into him, she put all of her remaining power into this attack, her blade sinking deeper into his neck with every passing second, and eventually cut his head clean off.
The Arrancar’s head shot up into the air from the force of the attack, with his body falling over immediately, disappearing into nothingness. His head disappeared as well before it even touched the ground.
Once the battle was over, Halibel was panting hard, and she slumped down on to her knees. Around her, Apacci, Sung, and Mila Rose all started to get up as well. Up above, the Dazzlings ceased with their screeching.
“We did it!” Sonata shouted out triumphantly.
Adagio turned to look at her youngest sister when she said that, and couldn’t help but smile a little. Then turning her head the other way to look at her other sister, Aria had a more stern look on her face. “Adagio,” she started. “While I’m definitely not complaining about it, how the Hell did that plan even work?”
Adagio wondered that as well, however, before she could even open her mouth to respond, she was suddenly cut off by the sounding of soft clapping. Looking in the direction that it was coming from, followed by her sister, and Halibel and the others, their eyes widened at the sight of the one who was making those sounds. He resembled a human from the world they were banished to when they were alive. He had smooth brown hair swept back, with a single strand hanging down the middle of his face, and had a calm and reserved expression on his face. He wore a white coat, with a black uniform underneath, and a green handle sword strapped to his side. He held one hand in place, while his other slowly clapped against it, creating the applause.
There were also two other similarly dressed people on either side of him. One had dark skin and black, braided hair, with a visor covering his eyes and an orange scarf around his neck, while the other had short silver hair, with his eyes narrowed to slits and a creepy smile on his face.
“Very impressive,” the middle one spoke, in a soft, emotionless tone of voice. He then placed his hands into his pockets before he continued speaking. “I watched the battle from here, and I must say, I’m impressed.” His gaze then shifted to the spot where the hammerhead Arrancar had disappeared. “I was the one who gave that Hollow Arrancar powers, but it appears I didn’t give him a brain to control them.” He then returned his gaze to the seven of them, his eyes narrowed a little. “You, however, while not at the same level of power as him, had the brains necessary to outsmart him, and the strength necessary to put him down. I must say, I’m impressed.”
Adagio simply stared back at this guy as he was talking, narrowing her eyes at him. This guy was the one who gave that Hollow its power? There was something about this guy that she didn’t like. Reaching out with her siren powers, she scanned the emotions of the three men in front of her, already knowing that they weren’t Hollows themselves. The dark skinned one’s emotions were like a raging storm, carefully hidden just beneath the surface, while the one with the creepy looking smile hid his emotions so far beneath the surface that even she could barely sense them at all, though they were still there. The middle one, however; she couldn’t sense anything from him at all, like with a Hollow; like he’s completely cut himself off from his emotions. She was still sure that he wasn’t a Hollow, though.
She then activated her Pesquisa and was almost immediately overwhelmed by the amount of power that he was exuding. It felt even more than Halibel had at her peak, and yet it still felt like he was holding back. This man then suddenly turned his gaze on her, and suddenly the immense pressure intensified, which almost made her feel like she was drowning. If that Hollow from earlier made her feel like a drop compared to a lake, then this guy was a whole ocean.
Just who was this guy?
Halibel got back to her feet and addressed him directly. “Who are you?”
Focusing back on Halibel, without his expression changing in the slightest, the middle one continued speaking. “My apologies, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sōsuke Aizen, former Captain of Squad Five in the Soul Society.”
Soul Society? Former Captain? These guys were Soul Reapers? Adagio thought to herself. The other two Dazzlings must have had the same thought, because Aria grit her teeth a bit, while Sonata hid behind Adagio, with a scared expression on her face, likely worried that they were here to kill them. With a quick glance to her youngest sister, Adagio focused back on Aizen again, watching him carefully for any moves he might make, though somehow, she didn’t think that was why they were here.
“Soul Reaper, huh?” Mila Rose spoke up. “And just are you doing here, huh?”
“Mila Rose.” Halibel quickly silenced her, though she then quickly looked back to Aizen, showing that she was just as curious as to why he was here as well. “But she has a point.” She said, stepping out ahead of the other six, standing closest to him. “Why are you here?”
Aizen simply stared back at her, with a piercing gaze, which made it look more like he was staring through her than at her. “If you’re desperate to avoid casualties, then gain power,” he continued, ignoring what she just said.
“What?” Halibel asked, taken aback by his forwardness.
“That control is the answer to your dilemma, and if power is what you want, I’m the person who can provide it for you.” Aizen continued. He still spoke in that calm tone of voice, as if he were explaining the simplest thing in the world.
“How do you know that’s what I desire?” Halibel responded calmly, echoing Adagio’s own thoughts on the matter.
Aizen simply stared back at her for a moment, with that unflinching, piercing gaze that felt like it could cut threw anything. “You want to be able to protect your comrades, don’t you? You can only accomplish that by becoming stronger than your enemies, and the more powerful you are, the less casualties you’re likely to produce. Doesn’t that sound ideal to you?” Seeing her relax, his eyes narrowed. “Care to see what it looks like?” He spoke in an eerily calm tone of voice.
While his words were directed at Halibel, they also struck a chord with Adagio as well. Gaining more power to be on top, and keeping her sisters safe was what she was all about. While he was speaking to Halibel, if she was observant, she could notice him making split second glances towards her, making her think that he really was speaking to her just as much as Halibel, right now.
Aizen smirked. “I would really like you to come with me – all of you. I know where you want to go and I shall take you there. Rest assured, I’ll make sure you will never have to sacrifice anyone ever again.”
While Halibel remained speechless for the moment, behind her, Adagio tensed up. While everything that this guy said sounded good, knowing exactly what to say to a person, and he spoke with such charisma that he could sell ice to an Eskimo, there was still something about him that she didn’t like.
“And why do you need our help, exactly?” Adagio blurted out, reflexively voicing her own thoughts, almost without her control.
Aizen turned his gaze towards the leader of the Dazzlings, focusing intently on her for a moment, before he cracked a confident smile. “Well, in the simplest of terms, I’m planning a change in management, and I will need all the help that I can get in order to do it. I’m building an army and I believe that you all would be a powerful addition to it, and in exchange, I can grant you all power the likes of which you would never be able to reach on your own, and you will never have to worry about sustaining casualties ever again.” He explained to her, while still remaining vague. “So, do you accept my offer?”
“And just how are going to give us this power?” Adagio again blurted out a bit too quickly. She had to admit, this guy did intimidate her a bit with his casual, stoic-like look he always wore, while still keeping those vast reserves of power just underneath, though she did her best to hide it.
Aizen simply smirked again. “I’ll take as a yes then, and to answer your question, with this,” he said, reaching into his coat and pulling out a tiny, orb, whose surfaced looked like it swirled with a blue flame and raw power. The sight of it had Adagio transfixed for some reason she couldn’t quite explain.
“It’s called Hōgyoku,” Aizen explained, “and it’s the key to your evolution.” There was then a bright flash of light from the orb, which caused everyone, except for the Soul Reapers, to shield their eyes from the bright light; Adagio especially, as she was focusing so intently on it. Adagio could feel the light washing over her, filling her up inside... changing her, not unlike the light from the rainbow blast that sent them here.
A moment later, when the light finally faded, she suddenly dropped to the ground; however, how she dropped felt strange. Instead of falling on to her underbelly, she instead felt herself drop to her… knees? Opening her eyes again slowly to properly inspect this new, yet familiar feeling, she raised her front hoof up to eye level and was surprised to see not her hoof, but something that she thought that she would never see again, and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about: a hand – her hand. Quickly looking down to inspect the rest of her body, her suspicions were confirmed when she noticed that she now looked like a human again, from her arms and legs, to her poufy orange hair. However, while she definitely looked human now, she still felt like a Hollow, with her old siren powers still tucked away at the back.
Just what was going on?
Looking around, she noticed that Aria and Sonata had also been returned to their human forms. The only thing different about how they looked before and how they looked now was that before where their red gems hung around their necks as necklaces, now they were imbedded into their necks, in what looked like hard bone, which, when she looked, was the same for herself.
Halibel had changed as well; she had already looked humanoid before, and now she looked mostly the same, except that the bone plates covering her body had crumbled away, revealing her dark skin underneath, everywhere except for her face, which still covered up her mouth. Apacci, Sung, and Mila Rose had also changed, but they all looked unrecognisable from before now that they looked like humans.
Tightening her fingers reflexively, she suddenly noticed that she was holding a sword in her grasp. The sword was a small wakizashi, with an orange hilt, inside a small sheathe, with a string tied around it for support. Quickly looking over at the others again, with this new bit of information in mind, she noticed that they all had similar swords as well.
“W-what?” was all Adagio was able to stutter out, after everything that was happening.
“This is the next step of your evolution,” Aizen answered her, putting the small orb away into his coat again. His sudden speaking caused her to look back at him again. “Through the power of the Hōgyoku, I have removed your Hollow masks and transformed you into Arrancars, granting you more power by breaking down the barrier between Hollow and Soul Reaper, giving one the power of the other. You still wield your former Hollow powers, bolstered even further by this transformation, in addition to gaining the Zanpakuto of a Soul Reaper.”
Breaking down the barrier between Hollow and Soul Reaper? Was that even possible, what with Hollows and Soul Reapers being practically opposite existences? And what did it mean?
Although, that part about becoming stronger had peaked her interest. Activating her Pesquisa, she quickly scanned the seven of them, and she noticed that the change had made them all more powerful than they were before, which did make her smile a little to herself.
With a smile of his own on his face, Aizen suddenly turned his head to the two Soul Reapers at either side of him. “Gin,” he said to the silver haired Soul Reaper. “Kaname,” he said to the dark skinned Soul Reaper.
“Right,” Gin nodded back at him in affirmation. He then walked over towards Adagio. “Here, you’ll need these,” the silver haired Soul Reaper said, kneeling down beside her, presenting her with a white jacket, similar to the ones that they wore, for her to take. Through the shock of what was happening, it was only now that she realised that she was naked. With the shame that she had picked up while in the World of the Living, Adagio quickly grabbed the cloak and put it on, with her face still red from embarrassment. The creepy looking guy, still with his eyes closed, simply smirked at her.
Kaname handed out matching cloaks to the rest of them. When the seven girls were covered up, Aizen, still with that same expression on his face, simply turned around and started walking away. “Come,” he said. “It’s time to meet with the rest of the army.” With that, the two other Soul Reapers followed after him.
The seven females all looked between themselves silently, about whether or not to follow them. Sure, he had given them more power, but technically, they hadn’t actually agreed to join him.
Adagio also wasn’t sure about serving under this guy, which is certainly how it would be if they went with them. Serving under Halibel was one thing, but this guy was different. For one thing, he was a Soul Reaper, so this could all just be a trap to lure them in and kill them or experiment on them, though honestly, that theory didn’t really line up with everything that he said and did beforehand. He also sounded so calmly and resolutely when he spoke, that it was difficult to tell exactly what he wanted from them. He also acted so cool as he was leaving, like he wasn’t even worried about whether or not they would follow him.
His power also worried her, as she felt as if he could have killed them all easily if he really wanted to, though she wasn’t sure how their powers compared now that she was stronger. She was also interested in this army that Aizen had mentioned he was putting together. She had to admit, it peaked her interest. After all this time, she still had her aspirations, and with this sudden power boost, those aspirations were coming back into the forefront of her mind. She still had her reservations about all of this, but for now, she would play this by ear and she how it played out.
With a devilish smirk on her face, she decided to follow after them, and the others followed after her.
After they had all agreed to follow Aizen, he lead them back to his fortress of Las Noches. When they got there, they were all lead to a room full of other Arrancar, and quickly scanning the room with her siren powers, Adagio could tell that they were all Hollows, and they all had emotions, just like the hammerhead Arrancar earlier. For most of them, it was faint, and for one or two, it was almost non-existent, but it was there.
Looking around the room again quickly at all of the assembled Arrancar, Adagio then lowered her siren senses and activated her Pesquisa, and she couldn’t help but smirk to herself. Here, in this very room, was a collection of the most powerful Hollows in all of Hueco Mundo, who all had their powers increased even more, beyond their normal limits, and they were now susceptible to her powers. Ironic that in becoming stronger by gaining more power, they had also made themselves vulnerable to her power, by regaining something they had discarded: their emotions; something that all Hollows viewed as a hindrance.
Adagio had to fight back the urge to laugh maniacally. She couldn’t afford to slip up and reveal her ulterior motives for joining this army now. With enough time and some careful planning, this mighty army would be all hers, and she had Aizen to thank for not only bringing them all together, but for giving her the very power that she needed to make it work.
While she was smirking to herself, Aria and Sonata, who weren’t caught up on her plans yet, both looked at their older sister, wondering what she was thinking about. They would find out later, but before they could say anything to her, all of the gathered Arrancar looked ahead as Aizen made his way forward to address them.
When all eyes in the room were on him, with the Arrancar right in front of him, and Gin and Kaname on both sides, the former Soul Reaper Captain stayed completely still for about ten seconds, silently surveying the room to make sure that he had everyone’s undivided attention. When he was sure that he had, he placed his hand on his Zanpakuto and withdrew it from its scabbard, slightly, but enough for them all to see it, however, he didn’t make any other move or do anything else for several seconds.
The Dazzlings were confused as to why exactly he did this more than anyone else.
“Why do you think he gathered us all here?” Sonata whispered to Aria, beside her.
“Now I’m sure you’re all wondering why I gathered you all here.” Aizen said, addressing everyone in the room.
“Ooooooohhh, he’s good.” Sonata cooed. Aria simply facepalmed at her stupidity.
No one else paid any attention to her, keeping their focus on Aizen at the moment. The former Soul Reaper Captain then sheathed his Zanpakuto again and then reached inside his cloak and took out the Hōgyoku once more, holding it out, towards the assembled Arrancars.
“It is now time for the next stage in your evolution.” Aizen stated. Then before anyone could say anything in response, the Hōgyoku emitted a bright flash that encompassed the entire room. Everyone had to raise their hands up to shield their eyes it was so bright, though a few of them didn’t react to it in any way at all.
After about five seconds, the bright light began to dissipate, and the gathered Arrancar started looking between themselves and each other, to see if anything was different about them, given what Aizen had just said beforehand.
After another five seconds, Lilynette was the first one to speak up. “Hey, Starrk. Check it out,” she said, pointing at his left hand.
Arching an eyebrow at her in confusion, Starrk then turned to look at the back of his left hand, where he saw the number 1 printed on it. “What the Hell?” He said casually, in his usual laid back attitude.
After Lilynette had pointed out the mark on Starrk’s hand, the other Arrancar started checking their own bodies for any markings as well. Ulquiorra casually glanced at the left side of his chest, where he saw the number 4.
Harribel looked at her breast and saw the number 5.
Neliel was looking all over her body very quickly, trying to spot any number. After inspecting every inch of the front side of her body, she then turned her head back towards her friends, Pesche and Dondochakka. “Hey guys. Do I have anything on my back?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see.” Pesche responded before grabbing Neliel’s coat, which was the only thing that she was wearing, and lifting it up. After taking his sweet time and spending much longer than necessary to spot the huge number 3 on her back, he finally confirmed that she was number three.
“Thanks.” Neliel responded with a big smile. She then suddenly spun around really fast and smacked Pesche on the head. “You certainly took your sweet time!” She screamed at him, angrily. “Can you stop being such a pervert?”
Pesche, who had been knocked to the ground, simply raised his hand up a bit, extending just his index finger, and humorously retorted, “Would you ask the Sun not to rise?”
Neliel, however, just continued glaring at him. Dondochakka then chuckled slightly at him. “Come on, man. Can’t you be serious for once?” He said in a deep voice.
The commotion with Neliel and her friends had drawn the attention of several of the Arrancars, including Adagio. The former siren then felt a tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around, she saw Sonata. Once she had gotten her attention, the youngest Dazzling then simply said, “Uhh, Adagio,” while pointing at her shoulder.
Wondering why she was pointing at her shoulder, Adagio’s eyes wandered there herself, and they widened slightly when she saw the number 9 stamped there like a tattoo.
“Nine…” Adagio whispered to herself.
After all of the Arrancar had checked themselves for tattoos, they turned back to face Aizen, who was getting ready to speak again. “Now then, some of you may have noticed that you now have a number marked somewhere on your bodies. The numbers range from zero to nine, in ascending order of strength. Those ten are the Espadas, and are the strongest of the Arrancar gathered here. The Espada will form the main offensive strength of this army. In addition, all Espadas get to choose whoever they want to serve as their Fracción.” He then reached into his cloak again and pulled out another small, spherical shaped object. “They will also receive a Caja Negación, to punish their subordinates should they step out line. Each Espada shall receive one of these later.” He then put the object back into his pocket.
“However, while the Espada possess many benefits above the lower ranked Arrancar, there are also several rules that they must abide by. In particular, there are two things that are forbidden within the confines of Las Noches. The first is the use of a Gran Rey Cero. The second is the sword release of any Espada ranked four or higher. Both of these are so powerful, that if left uncontrolled, could threaten to destroy Las Noches.
“That’s all for the moment. For now, you may return to your chambers.” He then shifted his gaze over to Adagio and her sisters. “If you wish to choose your Fracción now, you may do so.” Adagio simply gave him a light glare in response, making sure not to attract attention to herself, while also letting Aizen know how she felt. If she planned to take this army for herself someday, then the two of them would be enemies. But until that time came, she had to make sure not to act too rashly. Then she’d make Aizen regret giving her this power.
“You’re dismissed.”
And with that, everyone left the room.
To be continued…
The Dazzlings of Hueco Mundo
When they’re back at their room, Adagio tells the other girls about their plan. She explains that Arrancar are now susceptible to their powers, and they’re going to use it to take control of the army. She notes that it won’t be easy, since so many of them are so much stronger than them, and Aizen is even stronger and he’s somehow immune to their power. She says that they’ll have to take their time and work slowly. She notes that Arrancar like Grimmjow and Nelliel will be easier, since they’re more emotionally driven than the others, and that Barragan and Ulquiorra they should stay away from, since they can barely sense anything from them. Adagio then says that she knows where they’ll start.
They meet Granz, who’s Espada Number Eight, and the first after Adagio, at his lab and they use their singing to take control of him. They then have him begin research for them.
The scene then shifts to Nnoitora, who is angrily walking towards Granz’s lab, after his moment with Nelliel. He wants his help, but Adagio tells him that he’s currently busy helping them. He then huffs out, so Nelliel remains an Espada in this story.
At a later point in the story, Aaroniero approaches the three Dazzlings, angry, believing that Adagio stole his rightful place. He starts attacking the three of them, using Kaien’s abilities and his Resurrectión. The battle between goes rough for a while, for both sides, but once he releases his Resurrectión, he takes the advantage. When he defeats the three of them and knocks them down, he then starts absorbing Aria and Sonata. Seeing this, Adagio gets back up and tells Aaroniero that she’ll show him the true power of an Espada. She then releases her Resurrectión; her Zanpakutō’s name is Kazumi, and its release command is Sing. Her released state resembles her anthro form, with the long hair, pony ears, and translucent wings. Her Hollow mask also disappears, and her gem is now completely embedded in her chest. Once she’s transformed, she quickly moves over to Aaroniero, and places both of her hands against him, knocking him back easily. She then grabs her sisters, rips them out of him, and moves back to the other side of the room, before Aaroniero hits the wall. She then uses a Gran Ray Cero and completely obliterates him. Several of the Espada see the blast, each making their own remarks.
After Aizen has officially left the Soul Society, and after Ulquiorra and Yammy’s reconnaissance, Aizen calls a meeting of the Espada. After telling them about Ichigo and his friends, he tells them that he wants more information on their progress. He then appoints Grimmjow and Adagio to take several Arrancar to the World of the Living. When they arrive, the two Espada send the Arrancar off to engage the Soul Reaper’s stationed there. Later, she and Grimmjow meet Ichigo and Rukia. After Ichigo and Grimmjow begin their battle, Adagio faces off against Rukia. In her weakened state after Grimmjow’s attack, Rukia doesn’t hold out long, and Adagio uses this opportunity to try out her siren powers on a soul reaper. Kaname then arrives to bring them back.
When Ichigo and his friends head to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime, Rukia eventually ends up near the Dazzlings room, like she does in the series. She hears a sound behind her, but when she turns around, there’s no one there. Aria then appears in front of her, calling her slow. She then invites her inside to fight. Aria and Sonata both fight together against Rukia, but their strategy works by having Sonata quickly move behind Rukia, getting her attention, and then moving away again before she’s spotted. Then while she’s distracted, Aria moves in from behind to strike at her. This strategy uses both of their strengths, tricking their opponent into thinking that they’re only fighting Aria, and that she’s faster than she appears. Rukia eventually figures this out and they start working together openly against her. Rukia eventually pins them down with Kidō, and begins charging up a fully incantated Hado Number 73 Sōren Sōkatsui. However, just before she finishes, Adagio appears, grabs her, and hits her with a Cero at point blank range.
She then charges up a Cero to finish her off, but it’s blocked at the last moment by Byakuya’s Sōkatsui. He then starts a battle with Adagio, with the other three still out. As the fight continues, Byakuya uses his shikai. When Adagio begins struggling, she uses her siren power to take control of Rukia and has her attack him, but Byakuya just nullifies her with Rikujókóró. She also tries this with Byakuya, but he just starts attacking her before she can take full control. Adagio is then forced to use her Resurrectión, and Byakuya uses his bankai. As the fight continues, both sides fight hard, though Byakuya has the advantage. Adagio is then forced to use a Gran Ray Cero to escape begin completely cut up by his bankai. When Byakuya is impressed by her tenacity, Adagio then gives Byakuya the same speech that Zommari gives him in the series, except when Byakuya gives his answer, about fighting for Rukia, Adagio responds that he’s not the only one fighting for his sister. Byakuya realises that Adagio is also fighting for her sisters, and that she’s just as concerned about her sisters as he is. He responds by recalling his bankai. Adagio is confused by this, and Byakuya responds that there is no point in continuing their battle, as both of them should tend to their sisters. He then calls Hanatarō, telling him to fetch Captain Unohana, and that Rukia and the two Arrancar need help.
Adagio asks Unohana why she’s helping them while she’s healing them, and she responds by telling them that if they were enemies, she would be attacking them. Adagio is initially confused by this, but seeing her sisters lying there, she opts not to attack and let her heal them. While they’re recovering, they hear Aizen’s speech that he’s leaving Hueco Mundo with his army and sealing the Garganta. Adagio is both confused and angry at this, that Aizen left them behind, and took the army with him. After the three of them are healed, Adagio repeats what happened to her sisters, and says that they’re going to see Ulquiorra, since he should know what’s going on, since Aizen put him in charge.
When they reach the tower that he’s in, Adagio asks what’s going, and Ulquiorra responds that this is Lord Aizen’s will. Dis-satisfied with his answer, they start attacking him. Ichigo arrives soon, and the four of them all work together to fight Ulquiorra. Adagio is still in her Resurrectión form. As the fight continues, Ulquiorra holds out against all of them, and later Aria and Sonata drop out, leaving it to Ichigo and Adagio. At the end of the fight, Ichigo fires a hollowfied Getsuga Tenshō, and Adagio fires her Gran Ray Cero, at Ulquiorra from both sides, and he’s caught in the blast. After being hit by the combined attack, Ulquiorra is worried and realises that he needs to release his Resurrectión, and needs to get out of Los Noches. However, before he can react, Adagio quickly gets in front of him. Catching on to what she has planned, he grabs her hand and stops her. He then deduces that her plan is to seal him away with her Caga Nagión, but tells her that Grimmjow already tried that and he won’t fall for the same stunt twice. However, Adagio grins back at him and opens her palm, revealing nothing, telling him that he’s only half right. Sonata then appears behind him and throws the Caga Negación into his hollow hole, trapping him again.
After Ichigo and the others successfully seal Ulquiorra away again, Adagio speaks with her sisters about going after Aizen. However, when they can't open the Garganta, they turn to Ichigo, who has a way to get to the World of the Living. Adagio tries taking control of him with her sirens powers; however, she notices something very strange about his energy. When she tries to figure out more, both she and Ichigo get transported to his inner world. When they're there, they meet Hollow Ichigo. Adagio figures that because Ichigo is a soul reaper, but also has an inner hollow, she had trouble controlling him; she couldn’t control hollows, but could after they gained soul reaper powers, and while she could control soul reapers, Ichigo’s hollow powers are stopping her from taking complete control. Adagio eventually starts fighting with Hollow Ichigo, reasoning that if she can defeat him, then Ichigo will be all hers. They start fighting and Adagio starts to take the advantage, but before she can finish him, Ichigo interrupts their fight. The two of them get annoyed, throwing a Getsuga and Cero at him, telling him to stay out of it. They then resume their fight, but Hollow Ichigo uses his familiarity with her moves to trap her, impale her with his Zanpakutō, and release a Getsuga while it’s inside her. Before he can finish her off, however, Ichigo interrupts again. He tells Adagio that right now, they have a common enemy and that they should be working together to defeat Aizen and that if she still wants to fight him afterwards, he will, but for now, they have bigger problems. Adagio eventually agrees and they decide to work together.
When Adagio first starts trying to control Ichigo, Orihime rushes to his side, but Aria quickly gets a hold of her and keeps her back. Uryu then appears to attack her, but Sonata blocks him. Aria says to Sonata that they should switch places, but Sonata has had enough of being the weak one and says that this is something that she needs to do. During their battle, Sonata is much more focused than usual and Uryu struggles a bit. However, she is so focused on defeating him that she doesn’t notice him setting up his Sprenger. After getting caught in the blast, she struggles out of it, asking herself how she could have been so stupid. She then screams that this isn’t over, but Uryu then flashes in front of her and tells her that it is. He then fires an arrow at her chest, which destroys her chain of faith, and she loses all of her hollow, soul reaper and siren powers.
When Adagio and Ichigo are back in the real world, the fight between Uryu and Sonata is over. When Adagio finds out that Sonata lost her hollow and soul reaper powers because of Uryu, she immediately tries to pull a moral myopia , that even though they were the ones who attacked them, and Uryu was only defending himself and Orihime, she's still mad that they would harm her sister. Ichigo rightly calls her out on it. Once that's cleared up, and Sonata is told to stay behind, Sonata still tries for them to take her with them, but Adagio just reluctantly punches her out so that she'll stop, in order to keep her safe. Adagio, Aria, Ichigo, and Captain Unohana then head off to the World of The Living.
When they get to the fake Karakura Town, they meet Aizen again. Aizen is a bit surprised to see that they’re still alive, but just notes that he has no use for the Espada anymore. Adagio then looks around the city, seeing all of the other Espada dead, although, she notes that Nelliel and her Fracción are still alive. After briefly talking with him, Adagio starts fighting him and surprisingly does quite well, however, after she supposedly gets a fatal blow against him, it turns out that it was an illusion, and that she was actually fighting Aria. Aizen then reappears and slashes Adagio. He’s then about to deliver the final blow, but Aria quickly pushes her out of the way and takes the attack instead. She then falls down to the town below. Adagio watches in horror as she falls, and then looks back up at Aizen. He’s about to advance on her again, but then Yamamoto springs his trap against him.
Adagio goes down to her sister, who is in bad shape and can’t move. Aria tells her not to fight Aizen, as he’s too strong, and to take care of Sonata. She then passes out. Adagio starts mourning her apparent loss, but then she suddenly hears an enormous explosion. When she looks over, she sees Aizen leap out of the blast radius and then get attacked by Ichigo. Adagio’s anger returns after seeing Aizen, and despite what Aria said, she still wants to finish him, but she’s still too weak.
She continues watching the fight play out. After Ichigo and Isshin open the Senkaimon, she quickly Sonido’s into it at the last moment. Ichigo and his dad are first a bit worried to see Adagio there, but after seeing how weak she is and how much she wants to kill Aizen, she starts training with them. As Ichigo’s training continues and Isshin holds off the restrictive current, Adagio is able to watch Aizen’s movements. When he kills Gin and approaches Ichigo’s friends, both she and Isshin realises that even with time moving slower, they won’t make it in time to save them. Realising how much Ichigo wants to protect his friends, and seeing how much it’s like her and her sisters, she continues on to the Soul Society on her own. As she’s approaching Aizen, she reaches out her hand, reaches for her heart, (gem) pulls it out, and crushes it in her hand.
As Aizen is about to strike Tatsuki, Adagio suddenly appears in between them and blocks his sword with her hand. When Aizen is confused how she did this, she explains that she used a siren’s last chance technique, where she crushes her heart. In exchange for a huge power boost, she’ll eventually die. She says that she never understood the technique, since it’s used to defeat an enemy that’s in your way that you can’t defeat any other way, and that if you could defeat them, then dying would be pointless, since there would then be no one left who could stop you. However, she then realises that without her sisters, her plans of conquest mean nothing and that she’ll use all her remaining power to take out Aizen. Adagio then introduces herself as Adagio Dazzle, the last of the sirens, and that she will kill Aizen. The two then start fighting, with Adagio fighting on even grounds with him, and even surpassing him. However, just as she has the upper hand, her power starts to drop. She begins pleading to last a little longer, however, Aizen eventually pins her down. He notes that he’s impressed with her power, saying that her willing to risk everything for revenge was very much like a soul reaper, and for one brief instant, she transcended the boundaries between hollow and soul reaper, and became a transcendent being, but now that power is lost to her forever, and that she’s not even worth studying to understand better. He’s about to finish her off, but Tatsuki and the others stand between them, holding him off for a little longer. Ichigo then finally shows up. Seeing how strong he’s become, she leaves finishing Aizen off to him, and passes out.
After Aizen’s defeated, it then shows Aria waking up, being healed by Orihime. Sonata is also there with her. Once she’s finished, and Aria and Sonata have caught up, Kisuke appears to take them and Orihime to the others. Adagio is there as well, and she tells them how she used her last chance technique. Worried about her dying, they ask Orihime to heal her, but she’s unable to. As she dies, Adagio tells Aria to take care of Sonata, and tells Sonata to keep smiling. When it looks like she’s about to die, Aria gives up her powers in order to save her. Because of this, they are now all just spirits. They ask Kisuke what will happen to them now, and he responds by telling them that they were ordered to defeat the Arrancar, but now they’re just spirits, and because of the changes in the Soul Society now, they live in the Rukongai. They then meet up with Starrk and Lilynette, who are also just spirits after being killed, happy to see more of their comrades and not being alone anymore. The story ends with Adagio saying that they now get to live peaceful lives together, realising that they now know what’s really important, and when the time finally comes for them to be reintroduced into the cycle of rebirth, that they’ll always go together.