Hunters and Hollows

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Realm of Hollows
Chapter 2: Meeting the Locals
Chapter 3: Aggressive Negotiations
Chapter 4: Journey West
Chapter 5: Battle at Forlorn Ridge
Chapter 6: Tempest
Chapter 7: Prisoners of the Storm King
Chapter 8: Know Thy Enemy
Chapter 9: Escape Plans
Chapter 10: Betrayal
Chapter 11: Against the Storm
Epilogue: That One Time Kaiju Came to Hueco Mundo

Chapter 1: The Realm of Hollows

Episode 1: The Realm of Hollows

Chilling, empty darkness was the predominant fact of reality in the realm of Zenith. Light did not naturally touch the vast landscape of shapeless, dark rock that stretched for uncounted miles. Indeed the only way anything existed in this world was if it was willed by its present master, and he had little use for filling the realm with anything that was not of use to him.

This master had crafted one thing from the smooth, barren surface of Zenith. A temple. Unimaginably vast, the structure rose as an imposing edifice of pitch black stone. A mountain carved in the likeness of an ancient place of worship, its spires and off-shoots showing a harsh, angular construction that was pyramidal in nature. The interior of the monolithic temple was only somewhat better lit than the darkness outside, formless light that seemed to come from nowhere providing the hint of illumination to colossal corridors so tall and wide, one would think they were crafted for titans to walk through.

Not inaccurate, for Zenith’s master was not alone in dwelling in this realm, but had gathered servants to be of use to him. Servants of what many would consider to be of prodigious proportions. Kaiju, was the term used in some spans of the multiverse. Monsters, perhaps in others. Gods, certainly by some standards. Regardless of the words one used, the occupants of Zenith’s temple edifice were almost one and all a collection of such humongous and powerful creatures.

What use the master of Zenith had for them, one might ask? And why would beings of such immense size and power ever deign to serve another as their master? To answer the later, one must only have understood that the master of Zenith was named Bagan, and that he too was a being of immense power and proportions to which the word “kaiju” only barely touched upon his true nature. And among such beings, Bagan’s might was unparalleled, to the point where even those of similar stature could naught but listen and obey his will.

So went the first question; they served because Bagan willed it. Oh, he was not an unreasonable master, nor, strangely, an entirely unkind one. He rewarded good service. Provided boons to those who knelt and served him well, even if he had not explained his plans to any of those he called servants. Within the temples insanely vast structure, the servants who did good work were provided ideal chambers, each tailored to suit the needs and desires of its occupant. For Bagan, whose power was stepped in matters metaphysical and magical, reshaping Zenith was a simple enough task, even in his weakened state.

The restoration of his full power was his present goal, but not his ultimate aim. And while he had servants to enact his will beyond Zenith’s dark realm, he sought more still, and an ever growing search for more means of restoring his power. In that regard, Bagan spent much of his time in Zenith utilizing his magic to observe realities and realms beyond Zenith. The means of observing the vaster multi-verse was at his disposal, and even the means of opening portals between those realities. Ultimately he intended to visit them all, so that he might silence each and every single reality of sapient life in its turn. But that would be for later. For now, Bagan observed, and planned.

It was during these observations that Bagan noticed a... ripple, between realities. It was no small thing, this ripple. It was a gargantuan disturbance in the void between worlds, as if one had dropped a stick of lit dynamite into a lake. Bagan was seeing the aftereffects of a truly massive surge of energy, a surge that tore right through the barriers that kept different realities separate from one another. Yet it was not an uncontrolled surge of energy, like some explosion of power. No, this ripple was focused and directed, and with keen interest Bagan extended his senses towards its source.

To peer through the void between realities was no small task, even for the might of Bagan’s magical prowess, but it was within his ability. He looked across an infinite span of nothing, his senses passing by the shining bubbles of countless realities. Each incandescent sphere was a universe unto itself, many of them related and connected to each other by invisible strings of mirror-like sub reality. Some dimensions were copies of each other, an endless parade of “what ifs” with no true origin point. Each world was its own “origin”, its own “prime”, with all others it's “alternates”.

In this eternal span of realities, there were clusters more closely related to each other than others. The ripple originated from a reality, or rather a “pair” or realities that was tied to a set of dimensions that Bagan was starting to grow irritatingly familiar with.

The ponies. Why was it always coming back to the ponies? But no, at least this time it wasn’t the version of Equestria that had been causing him such grief of late. This was a different Equestria. Or rather, an Equestria and its human counterpart. Often Equestria had a direct connection to a world of humans, but not the world of humans Bagan knew and originated from. More colorful. More like the ponies, but still human.

Bagan examined the two worlds, this Equestria and its human counterpart. Something about them seemed different than the ones he was already familiar with. He focused, looking at the barriers, the prismatic bubbles of seemingly infinite light that encased both realities. The ripple originated from here, and Bagan saw it; a tube of energy that connected the two worlds. That was the portal that usually kept the two worlds bound together. There should have been another to a cousin mirror reality as well, and Bagan spotted that too.

But why were there so many other tubes? The number of portals connecting the two realities here were far greater than normal. Putting that aside, he found the point of the ripple. Within the human world, but somehow... not in the human world? There were layers upon the bubble, layers that Bagan didn’t recognize. Additional realities, layered atop the first? The energy stemming from them felt unfamiliar. Not magic, and not Terran mana from Bagan’s home dimension. Something else. Tasting it, in a sense, Bagan realized the energy was spiritual in nature. He was not ignorant of spiritual powers, but he’d rarely seen a reality so utterly steeped in that much spirit energy.

It was like Equestria’s deep connection to magic, only made of raw spirit matter.

As for the ripple itself, Bagan saw someone or something had punched a hole in the human reality and gone surfing across the void, right into the Equestrian reality. Both exit and entrance holes were already closing on their own, but he saw the trajectory and realized that whatever caused the transfer, it had utilized a truly immense amount of power.

Indeed he was sensing an incredible amount of power from these two realities, and the sharp tang of conflict upon them.

Whoever dwelled in this Equestria and especially its human counterpart, there were beings there of great power, and they were in conflict with one another. Bagan could tell that much just from basic observation. Yet he’d never been satisfied with minimal information. His ultimate plan meant the eradication of all sapient life. He could ill afford to ignore a reality in which this much power dwelled. Threats needed to be analyzed. If possible, information and power both needed to be obtained.

In such instances Bagan had a team of particular servants he preferred to call upon. Among all those under his command, these four were the strongest team and the most ideal scouts in his army. If ever he needed a task accomplished that he could not trust to lesser servants, it was these four kaiju who had thus far served him the most competently and faithfully.

And so Bagan pulled his consciousness back towards Zenith, to call upon his Dark Hunters for another task.

“I’m just sayin’, hear me out on this... giant, hundred meter long, plasma screen TV, mounted right here on the wall!”

Megalon spread out his drill arms, emphasizing the size of his speculative wall TV, providing an enthusiastic hop up and down as he added, “We get big enough couch we can all sit on, and have ourselves a movie night! What do you think?”

Staring at his brother Nebulan cyborg, Gigan considered how to put his thoughts delicately, and just shrugged his claws at his compatriot, “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think our employer is going to go for it. Besides, where are we going to get movies from? I don’t exactly see a lot of Walmarts around this place, although the atmosphere sure would fit a Walmart.”

“You mean a cold, loveless void where no living thing would dare tread?” asked Megalon.

“Yeah, Walmart. Now seriously, if you want after our next mission I’ll ask X if he’s up for bugging the master on this...uh...” Gigan raised his claws in air quotes, “ ‘Movie night’ idea of yours. If the master can magic up an infinite supply of giant steaks for Irys, I guess he could pull off a giant TV and couch. But point still stands on the movies.”

“That’s the easy part!” Megalon said, “Last time we went to the human world I found out they have these neat red boxes that are packed full of movies! And they’re just sitting at street corners and convenience stores. So next time we’re there, we just grab one of those and we’ll be set!”

Gigan had no idea what Megalon was talking about, and tried to mentally visualize them hauling some giant red box filled with movies through a portal, and the subsequent justifying to their enigmatic Boss that this was a valuable use of their time. His brain ceased attempting this after half a minute and he shook his head in wonderment at his comrades seemingly endless optimism. He and his fellow cyborg had a great deal in common in terms of their construction and abilities, but their ways of thinking were night and day. It tended to even out in the field, where Gigan trusted Megalon at his back absolutely, but during off hours it could be hard to keep up with Megalon’s unbridled energy. Still, Gigan wasn’t about to shoot down Megalon’s dream. Who knew? Maybe the master would go for it if they did well on their next mission?

Whether by coincidence or fate, the entryway to Megalon’s chamber in the temple of Zenith opened at that moment. The chamber itself was essentially a huge rock and dirt pit, with a huge amount of space for Megalon to play around in with his uncanny capacity for burrowing. The cyborg could, and did, spend hours just digging holes and building things from the piles of dirt. There were no less than four ‘dirt forts’ strewn around the chamber. The chamber’s entryway was little more than a humongous slab of stone that automatically slide aside for those seeking entry, in this case a gigantic bipedal individual whose body was comprised equally of jet black skin and bone white armored plating. With a faintly draconic face of similar bone coloration, and sharp red eyes, one could be forgiven for thinking Monster X was some manner of undead, humanoid dragon warrior, as opposed to the Xillian race’s strongest bio-weapon. Although that was a long time ago, and X had gone through a lot since those days. Now he was the de facto leader of the quartet of kaiju working directly for their mysterious benefactor.

As X entered the chamber, the last of their number soared in after him, gliding above X and banking gracefully to the side where she landed with surprising lightness upon the wall of one of Megalon’s dirt forts. Pale white as fresh fallen snow, Irys closed her wide, bat-like wings around herself and proceeded to munch on a large slab of unidentifiable meat that she’d brought in with her. Quite possibly the very last survivor of the Gyaos species, Irys’ distinctive, triangular head and albino skin would’ve marked her out as highly unusual, if not for the company she kept. Next to the draconic and menacing looking X, and the cybernetic odd balls that were Gigan and Megalon, Irys looked positively normal by comparison.

Megalon waved happily at both of them, “Hey guys! What’s up?”

Noticing the frank and faintly tense stance in X, Gigan surmised this wasn’t a social call rather quickly. He and X had worked together more than enough times for him to pick up on his friend’s mood, and X was in full ‘mission’ mod. “The master just gave us a job?”

X gave the barest of nods, “Correct. I just came from his chamber, and he’s assigned a new task for us.”

Eyeing Irys, Gigan made another guess, “He’s sending all four of us this time? That’s unusual.”

Most of their scouting missions to other worlds had been done in pairs. Usually that was all that was needing to get in, collect info, and get out. While their forms tended to change depending on the universe they were sent into, the kaiju still regularly retained a decent share of their unique powers and physical abilities. Nothing on par with their true forms that they now wore, but even paired down to a mostly naked human shape, Gigan would still retain his cybernetic nature and a fair bit of his built in weaponry. Irys usually at least retained her ability to fire sonic rays from her mouth and her sonar barrier, and X also kept use of his gravity beams and manipulation.

None of them were helpless, and by local standards of the worlds they went to, tended to be powerhouses.

So why send all four of them together? That seemed like overkill, unless this A) wasn’t a normal scouting op, or B) there was something about the world they were going to that made it potentially more dangerous than normal.

X confirmed Gigan’s suspicions as he said, “From the briefing I was given, the place he’s sending us to is giving off some unusual readings, even to our master’s senses. In order to ensure nothing goes wrong he wants us all to go in together; a recon in force. We’re being given a seven day operations window.”

“Whoa, that’s way longer than normal, isn’t it?” Megalon asked, scratching the side of his head with one drill, “Ain’t it usually, like, a day or two at most?”

“I’m going to be starving by the time we’re done, unless I haul along something to eat,” Irys said, finishing off her slab of meat and looking at her empty claws with a morose sigh, “Did our master even account for that?”

“We’ll bring supplies,” X said, not unkindly as his voice softened somewhat as he looked at Irys, “We’re not going to ignore basic needs, but we also know very little about where we’re going.”

“How about what we’re looking for there?” asked Gigan, “Did our employer give any specifics?”

“No. We’re not after an item or individual this time around. This is pure information gathering. He wants us to observe local conditions, including any and everything we can learn about what races are active there, what conflicts they may or may not be engaged in, what powers they possess, if any, and get as thorough an overview as possible of the state of the world.”

“Gee, so nothing big, just learn everything we can about an entire world in one week. Glad our employer doesn’t give us such unreasonable jobs to do,” Gigan quipped, snorting through his beak.

“What makes this world so special, anyway?” asked Irys.

“I don’t know, and I’m not entirely certain our master does either,” said X, sounding somewhat miffed, not at the question, but at the lack of information on the mission. Gigan could understand. Free of his old duties or not, X was a soldier at his core, and going on a mission with limited intel was never a good sign. “All he told me was that the world consisted of multiple, connected realms, and we were being sent to the realm where he detected the most spread out concentrations of ‘spirit energy’, which made him suspect it’d be the easiest to recon.”

That got all three of the other Dark Hunters looking varying degrees of confused, with Irys tilting her head almost like a curious cat, “Spirit energy? Is that different from normal energy? Or magic?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” X said, “Regardless, we’ve been given our mission. We leave in two hours. Make whatever preparations are needed, and meet in the portal room at the designated time.”

At that, there was little further discussion to be had on the matter. The Dark Hunters had a job to do.

Adagio Dazzle hadn’t expected her life (or afterlife, as the case may be) to get much easier after being raised to the ranks of the Espada, but she’d at least hoped for a brief period to catch her breath after the Quincy army had launched its attack on the Arrancar fortress of Las Noches. It had been during the confusion and chaos of that battle that Adagio had assassinated the Ninth Espada, Squirk, and subsequently opened up a position among those ranks that she’d been able to fill.

She’d only done so due to the hidden schemes of the Second Espada, Chrysalis, which had all but demanded that Adagio act for the sake of self-preservation, if nothing else. It had turned out for the best, not only leading to her final evolution into an Arrancar-class Hollow, but when she’d made a bid for an Espada seat, Lord Tirek, the First Espada and King of Hueco Mundo, had granted her the Sixth seat. After a rather harrowing test, first, but Adagio was trying hard not to think about that. Tirek’s power was beyond immense, and her ultimate goal still remained to dethrone him one day, but to physically feel the gap in their power had been... well, if not humbling, it had certainly been eye opening to how far Adagio still had to climb until she was in charge around here and could start putting Hueco Mundo in order.

The present issue was that in being raised to the seat of Sixth Espada, she’d displaced the seat’s previous owner, Lord Guto. Of course Tirek had every right to decide who belonged in which seat, but it was equally the right of Guto, or indeed any Espada, to challenge for the right to any given position, as long as they felt they had the power to defeat the current title’s owner.

And while Adagio may have been slightly stronger than Guto now, that didn’t mean Guto couldn’t kill her in a stand up, one-on-one duel. At the end of the day, regardless of power, Adagio was still limited her in combat experience. She’d been in many battles since she’d sacrificed herself to save her siblings and that stupid bacon-headed idiot and her friends from the Eight Espada, Grogar, by turning herself into a Hollow. Long story. Since then she’d survived torture and battles alike, becoming stronger with every experience.

But that didn’t change the fact that Guto had centuries of battles under his belt and had a very good chance of defeating Adagio if he were to challenge her for the Sixth seat. The only reason Adagio suspected he hadn’t was because to do so, so soon after Tirek appointed Adagio to her position, could be seen as an insult to Tirek’s choice. Guto was going to wait for an excuse, some pretext to challenge Adagio, and was likely going to wait patiently for the right moment to make his move.

Unfortunately that also meant that Guto’s rather sizable horde of Arrancar warriors would be harassing Adagio’s territory and people at any chance they could, looking to provoke Adagio into making a mistake. It was a sad fact that while most Espada had spent long decades or centuries gathering their own armies of loyal followers, Adagio had only been in Hueco Mundo a comparatively short time. In that time frame she’d certainly obtained followers, but nothing to be considered an army.

In fact her ‘horde’ consisted of five individuals total, her vassals. And while they might not have been the most impressive Arrancar Las Noches had to offer, she valued them, and wasn't eager to see them hurt by Guto’s thugs. To make matters worse, Guto’s protege, a particularly muscle headed and aggressive woman named Gilda, had also risen to the Espada’s ranks alongside Adagio. Granted, Gilda had only qualified for the lowest rank, the Tenth, but that still meant Gilda was an exceptionally powerful Arrancar and not a threat to be underestimated. Especially considering that while Espada were meant to be independent to a degree, they did form alliances with each other, and Gilda was still firmly in Guto’s pocket.

Thankfully Adagio had swiftly taken the lesson of making useful allies to heart and had alliances of her own that was helping keep her new position somewhat secure. Guto might have been gunning for her, but part of his hesitancy to make any overt moves yet likely had to do with Adagio’s own connections to the Fourth and Fifth Espada.

Which brought her to this particular moment. To maintain her alliance with the Fourth Espada, Lament, she’d agreed to spend time befriending his two eldest adoptive daughters. It had seemed an odd request at the time, but she suspected the usually dour and somewhat mentally unstable Lament simply wanted his family to have something closer to a normal life. Not easy, given Las Noches was essentially a barren fortress country where the majority of the population considered eating their fellow Hollows as a normal way to pass the time.

So to add some sense of normalcy, not to mention benefit herself in the short term, Adagio had struck upon the idea of doing some... creative remodeling around her territory. Said territory consisted of a large stretch of Las Noche’s southwestern exterior wall. The walls of Las Noches were large enough to contain entire buildings worth of rooms within them, and Adagio had claimed a series of chambers within the walls that had once belonged to an old, previous Espada. Outside the wall on the interior side, Adagio was standing alongside two of her trusted vassals.

Di Roy was a white haired, wiry male Arrancar. The fragment of his Hollow mask, which all Arrancar bore in one form or another, consisted of a helmet-like crest of bone covering his head in a shape reminiscent of a hammerhead shark. His teeth followed that shark-like motif, which flashed as he grinned. In front of the group was a hole roughly five meters deep, oval shaped and around thirty meters long. The hole was situated no more than half a dozen paces from the base of the wall that towered over it.

“Not bad for a day’s work. Can we dig, or can we dig?” Di Roy said, clearly impressed with himself.

The question was directed towards a bored looking young girl of indeterminate teenage years, perhaps fourteen or fifteen. Her hair was the color of freshly spilled blood, and hung down her back in an unkempt, wild mass. Her skin was darkly bronzed, in contrast to Di Roy’s paleness, and the fragments of her own Hollow mask consisted of a necklace of fang shaped teeth around her neck, seemingly fused to her skin. She was thin and long limbed, like someone not come into their full growth yet, but her muscles were lithe and lean.

Like Di Roy, she carried a large blade, an Arrancar Zanpaktou. While Di Roy’s was a regular sized, curved blade, serrated like a shark tooth, the girl’s was larger and curved oddly so that it’s cutting edge was on the inward curve, akin to a raptor talon.

The girl looked over at Di Roy and growled in a low tone, then proceeded to sit down and scratched at herself, yawning.

Adagio chuckled lightly, “I believe Gaw is unimpressed with your assessment. I don’t blame her. You left most of the actual work to her.”

“I supervised!” Di Roy complained, “It’s not my fault I can’t turn into a giant dinosaur gal who happens to be very good at digging. Besides, I did help, technically, when I used that Cero to kick things off.”

“True. Technically. No matter, I’d say that this should be more than sufficient. Now for phase two. Roka! Fenice! Are you ready up there?”

Adagio called up the wall, where around forty feet up the several hundred meter tall edifice of stone, a huge circular hole had been cut out. Standing there were two women, one another Arrancar, the other one of the only humans in Las Noches.

Of the pair, Roka was the Arrancar. Lament’s eldest adopted daughter, she was a humble figure in a simple dark robe. A plain if pleasant face was half covered by a skull mask, while the rest sported fine, black haircut just below the ears. While Roka seemed willowy and plain for the most part, this contrasted sharply with the human girl next to her.

Fenice still troubled Adagio. Mostly because Fenice bore the identical orange skin, deep red and orange striped hair, and burning green/blue eyes of another girl Adagio knew all too well. Fenice was the spitting image of Sunset Shimmer. Which made sense, given Fenice was Sunset Shimmer. Or rather, Sunset’s human counterpart, long thought dead by the pony Sunset Shimmer.

Turned out, not quite so dead as first thought, and currently, for reasons Adagio had yet to learn, living in Las Noches as another of Lament’s adopted children. Adagio was still trying to figure out exactly what she might do with this information. Or indeed if she needed to do anything with it at all. Aside from seriously blowing the pony Sunset Shimmer’s mind, Adagio couldn’t yet think of a way to turn knowledge of Fenice’s existence to her advantage.

Oh well, all in due time. For now, Roka and Fenice were helping her with this remodeling project. For friendship. What? Adagio considered it perfectly friendly to make use of her friends talents to benefit herself. And them. It was mutually beneficial, this project.

“We are prepared up here,” Roka said in her clear chime of a voice, nodding politely to her sister as she added, “Fenice?”

“I still think this is stupid, for the record,” Fenice grumbled as she reached into the neck of the robes she wore, an identical set to that of her adoptive sister’s, and pulled out a small bronze medallion.

Adagio wasn’t sure what the story behind that medallion was. The one time she’d thought to ask about it she’d been stonewalled, but it was clearly important to Fenice for one reason or another. Especially considering it was the focal point of Fenice’s own unique powers.

Soft motes of green light wafted from the medallion and into Fenice’s waiting hands. The light grew rapidly and took a solid shape, resolving into the form of a shockingly wide and tall sword that matched Fenice’s height before even the hilt and handle were taken into consideration. The weight of the blade seemed to give the girl no trouble as she hefted it and placed the point of the sword at the edge of the hole in the wall.

Unlike the Hollow’s around her, whose power stemmed from their state as ‘corrupt’ souls that fed upon other souls, Fenice’s power was rooted in an ability to draw out the latent potential in the ‘soul’ of an object. Adagio didn’t really grasp the concept, but those girls from Canterlot High that the pony Sunset Shimmer was friends with also had this power. Fullbring, it was called. While uncertain of the specific mechanics behind it, all Adagio knew was that in Fenice’s case, the sword she could ‘Fullbring’ from that medallion she always wore had a useful power she intended to take advantage of for this remodeling project.

The metal of the sword started to turn a smoldering orange as veins of heat grew across its surface. Then magma, in a steady stream of molten rock, flowed out of the sword and down the side of the wall. Fenice’s sword could summon a near limitless amount of this magma, as long as the girl’s spirit energy held out. She could control its direction and flow at will, and as Adagio had instructed, Fenice started to shape the magma flow into a growing ramp that in turn rolled into the large oval hole that Adagio’s vassals had dug in the ground.

Roka started to do her part next, raising one heavily robed arm. Small, glinting strands that could barely be seen in Las Noche’s artificial interior daylight came flying from her sleeve. The strands, so heavily reinforced by Roka’s spirit energy as to be sharper than razors and stronger than steel, started to flicker around the magma flow. Roka deftly started to shape it into steps, while Fenice concentrated on containing the magma’s heat and controlling its flow so that it helped with Roka’s shaping while also coating the dug hole with a thin layer.

The heat was intense, and Adagio gestured for Di Roy and Gaw to step back, since this next part could be dangerous. Normal humans wouldn’t be able to tolerate the heat very well, and Arrancar were many magnitudes tougher, but she preferred not to take chances. Even with Fenice containing the heat, Adagio could feel it. Her vassals obeyed her command, and Adagio faced the now magma coated hole and the roughly carved ‘steps’ leading from the hole in the wall down to the much larger one in the ground.

Adagio raised the trident she carried in her right hand. It was a large weapon, its shaft seemingly made of smooth, polished and stark white bone. Its sharp prongs were, in contrast, forged of solid, blood rest crystal, identical to the red pulsing siren gem that floated in the Hollow hole that existed between Adagio’s breasts. Both the gem and trident pulsed with a faint red light as Adagio tapped into her own unique Hollow powers.

Water formed at the tip of her trident, at first a small, swirling sphere, but soon this grew into an ever larger whirlpool that took shape suspended above Adagio’s head. Then, her eyes narrowed with concentration, she directed the water at the magma. Steam erupted, but it couldn’t scald her Heirro hardened skin, further fortified by her spiritual pressure, or ‘reitasu’. With careful precision, she formed the water into sheets and began to layer it over the magma. Fenice, at the same time, also used her own spiritual control over the magma to lower its temperature and keep the rapidly cooling rock from shattering or flaking off.

It took some time to all cool properly, and by the time it was done Roka still used her razor-sharp strings to carve things straight and smooth it all out, but when finished Adagio looked upon the work with satisfaction. The cooled magma was black like charcoal, but due to Fenice’s careful control and Adagio’s precise cooling, something they’d practiced together before committing to the larger project, the rock was solid.

Generating more water, she let it fill her new outdoor pool, complete with convenient stair access in the interior wall. There was still a fair amount of sediment and ash from the cooled magma she’d need to filter out, but the hard part was done.

Testing the stairs, Roka and Fenice walked down them, Fenice shouldering her sword and letting it return to her medallion in a wash of green light.

“I can’t believe you asked us to hang out with you just to use us to help you make a freakin’ pool,” Fenice said, frowning.

“Oh, come now,” Adagio said with a winning smile, “You can’t tell me the effort isn’t worth the benefits? When was the last time you had a chance to actually swim in Hueco Mundo?”

True, the realm of Hollows was almost entirely comprised of a vast, empty desert of dry white sand, rarely dotted by the occasional dead tree or random rock formation. Yet despite that appearance, it hid the potential for hidden depths. Adagio had discovered that much when her ascension to Vasto Lorde, not so long ago, had ended up creating an entire lake, several miles from Las Noches. Through this she’d also discovered Las Noches did have underground water reservoirs and tunnels running all beneath its vast surface. Not only could she create water herself, but she controlled any water she could sense nearby, so she’d been taking advantage of the fact to make conditions more comfortable around her territory. Arrancar, and Hollows in general, might not need conventional food or water to live, but that didn’t meant that a good bath, or swim, wasn’t a welcome luxury.

Adagio was all about making her life in Las Noches a bit more luxurious, especially now that she had the power to hold into those luxuries against those that might try to take them from her.

Fenice still looked determined to be grumpy, but Roka offered Adagio a kind smile, nodding her head in a short bow, “We were happy to help, Adagio. I’m sure you won’t mind if I bring some of the younger children to play, sometime? They do miss playing with Di Roy and Gaw.”

“Heck yeah bring the rascals by sometime!” Di Roy said, grinning, “I still need to refine their loogie techniques.”

Beside him Gaw gave him a withering look, one bare foot with suspiciously large and sharp claws in place of toenails giving him a rough kick.

“Ow! Don’t be like that, Gaw, you know you like playing living jungle gym to those mini-cyclones. Why’d you let them ride you so much then, hmm?”

Gaw made a noise somewhere between a snort and a growl, crossing arms over her flat chest and looking away with an expression that seemed to scream, ‘Shut up’ without her having to say a word. Even after evolving into an Arrancar and obtaining a human form that was fully capable of speech, Adagio noticed Gaw preferred to say as little as possible. Or rather, her body language seemed to say more than words ever did.

Di Roy was immune to his friend’s perpetual annoyance and said, “I know what’ll loosen you up! Why don’t you take the first test dip in our sweet new pool?”

Gaw’s eyes shot wide as Di Roy picked her up. Not hard for him, given he was quite a bit taller than her. Despite being physically more powerful than Di Roy, the mention of the pool seemed to set in a minor state of panic in which Gaw flailed about like a squirming cat while Di Roy whistled merrily and literally threw her towards the pool.

Adagio watched Gaw sail into the water with a loud, ungainly sploosh. She gave Di Roy a questioning look and he just shrugged.

“What? I’m just trying to help. She’s been uptight ever since we became Arrancar.”

“I suspect she isn’t fond of her new body, what with its human shape compared to her saurian one. I can relate to a degree” Adagio commented dryly, but then smirked as she admired her reflection in the pool’s water, “Although I’ve grown to appreciate the human form, at least when it looks as good as I do.”

She paused then, frowning at the pool as she noticed Gaw hadn’t surfaced yet. “Um... Di Roy? Can Gaw swim?”

Walking up to the edge of the pool, which so far only had a set of bubbles rising up from where Gaw had sunk into the water, Di Roy put his hands on his hips and said, “Of course she can! I mean, not that I’ve ever actually seen her swim, mind you, but c’mon, who doesn’t know how to swim? ...Right?”

The bubbles continued to rise, with no sign of Gaw surfacing. Adagio and Di Roy exchanged looks with one another, then Adagio hung her head with a heavy sigh. Raising her trident once more, she reached out with her senses and located Gaw, flailing rather ineffectually at the bottom of the pool. The water shuddered as Adagio used it to grab Gaw and lifted her up to the surface. Gaw’s face, framed by her tangle of red hair, burst from the water as she continued to flail her limbs about.

“Gaw, stop swinging your arms around and just kick with your feet,” Di Roy suggested, which elicited a murderous roar from Gaw as she fixed him with a death glare. Di Roy looked back at Adagio, “On second thought, maybe she ought to stay there until she cools off.”

Off handedly Fenice commented, “You know, it just occurred to me, but does anyone around here even own a bathing suit?”

“Lady, if that’s the worst of our problems, it’s a swell day in Hueco Mundo,” Di Roy replied over the sound of Gaw’s bloodthirsty yowls.

“Does anyone else ever wonder what would happen if one of these portals, I don’t know, breaks or something when we use them?” Irys asked as she and her three companions approached the gigantic, yawning portal of swirling and incandescent energies summoned up by their master.

“Chances are if that ever happened we wouldn’t have time to comprehend how screwed we’d be before our atoms got scattered across several universes,” Gigan replied without much hint of concern in his voice, “So no point worrying about it.”

“Just saying, we’ve gone through a lot so far already. Kind of getting used to having all of you around. Wondering if all these ‘missions’ are really necessary if our master is so powerful,” Irys said, trying at once to voice a sense of growing concern over the well being of her newly established family, while also trying not to sound like a worrywart.

It was just that it seemed every time they went out on a mission like this, something went wrong, and one or more of her friends ended up nearly dead, or possessed by weird alter egos. Granted the later was unlikely to repeat itself, but still, the point stood; Irys liked these three and was increasingly eager to avoid situations where they’d get hurt.

“Not like we’ve not gotten a lot of good out of being deployed,” X noted, brief flickers of a purple and teal haired dame causing his lips to momentarily tease a smile, “They are a deity, might be doing this to our benefit as well.”

“Yeah yeah,” Gigan grumbled, memories of a witch with long, prehensile hair being a nightmare, “Sentiments abound, I just like it lets us stretch our legs. Megalon more than me.”

The aforementioned younger cyborg sniggered, but Irys was still unsure. Thankfully she felt a hand tap at her shoulder and saw their de-facto leader shoot her a nod.There was a surprisingly comforting note to X’s voice as he stood next to her, “You needn’t be worried. Given all four of us are together this time, I’d be shocked if we ran into anything that we couldn’t handle.”

“Reaaaaaly looking to jinx us, aren’t you?” Gigan quipped, which elicited something that might have been a laugh from X. Rather hard to tell, with him.

“Merely stating fact. The portal is ready. Are we?”

At one end of the group, Megalon pumped a drill hand into the air, “Ready, steady, Betty!”

“Who’s Betty?” Irys asked.

“I have no idea,” Megalon replied in a completely straight tone.

“I think that’s a ‘yes’ there to your question,” Gigan said to X, and the Xillian Praetorian simply nodded and took the lead as he walked with purposeful steps towards the portals. One by one his companion Dark Hunters followed, Irys just a short, hesitant step behind the others as she walked through the portal... wondering once more why she had such a foreboding feeling lodged in her chest?

The trip through the portal itself was little different than the other times. Disorienting, filled with so much light and scintillating colors, combined with a feeling of being stretched through a noodle wringer. Not that Irys really knew what a noodle wringer was outside of that one time Sunset Shimmer had tried to show her a cooking program.

It didn’t take long for the portal to dispense the Dark Hunters from its gleaming depths and into the world they were assigned to recon.

Immediately Irys knew her body had changed. This wasn’t abnormal. It seemed very often when they were sent through a portal to another reality, their original bodies were altered by the nature of that realm to assume forms suited to it. Why this was, Irys wasn’t sure. The mechanics of interdimensional travel were as much a mystery to her as... as well most things were. She hadn’t exactly had a standard education growing up, unless one counted an endless need to feed and avoid being fed upon by her previous ‘flock’.

The body she now had was familiar to her, somewhat. She’d been to human world’s before, and while she wasn’t exactly fond of the ‘human’ form she now wore, she had certainly gotten used to it after several similar outings. The tall, willow-limbed girl with albino white skin might have been considered a looker for those into the pale look. Her hair ran down her back in a silken white sheet, only tipped purple around her long overhanging bangs that fell to one side of her face. Bright pink eyes examined her surroundings, and her companions.

Their human forms hadn’t changed either from what Irys remembered from the times they’d traveled to human world’s before. Gigan still had a matte blueish gray skin tone, with a rough cut, spiky white hair reminiscent of the spikes cresting his head in his kaiju form, and his usual single ruby eye was now transformed into a pair of similarly colored sunglasses that covered his cybernetic eyes. Megalon, shorter and stockier than Gigan, had a dirt brown coloration, with a mop of darker brown hair atop his curious head, a pair of huge yellow eyes looking about with interest at all around him. X’s face, what of it could be seen at any rate, was a soot black coloring, although a good portion of his face was covered by a mask of bone similar to the bone-carved visage of his kaiju form. His hair was similar to Gigan’s, white and shortcut, although less spiky and more subdued. Red eyes were already critically examining their surroundings for danger, taking in all the details.

Including the detail that while their human’s basic forms had remained the same, their clothing was quite a bit different. Normally when the portal shunted them out into a human world, it gave them clothes appropriate to the local fashions. But Irys saw none of them were wearing the usual outfits they had when they’d gone to Sunset Shimmer’s world in the past. Granted this wasn’t Sunset’s world, but the mission briefing had suggested it was still a realm related to a human world, so what was with these new get-ups?

First off, all of their clothes were a combination of white and black, with zero color variation beyond that. It was almost like wearing uniforms, if not for the unique cuts of each outfit.

Irys wore a white and black trimmed vest that left her arms and midriff bare, along with a long, flowing skirt that was slit along the sides to allow her legs free to move. The skirt was held up by a purple sash, and her feet were clad in knee-high, black cloth shoes lined with strips of white. Gigan was sporting an open white coat with a black interior lining that left his chest and customary dog-tags bare. Straight cut white pants reached down to feet bearing nearly identical cloth shoes to Irys’. Megalon’s outfit was rather baggy, with a thick, heavy overcoat of white, buttoned up with multiple black buttons, covering his upper torso and arms. Large black leather gloves covered his hands, and wide, puffy white pants completed the outfit along with black boots of a thicker and heavier make than the cloth shoes the others wore. The only piece of his earlier outfit was the pair of yellow goggles hanging around his neck. Finally, X had on a slimming white shirt tucked into a black sash and airy, wide white paints. Over the shirt he had a long coat, white save for a large, black collar at the top where it was buttoned across the lower half of X’s face.

“Okay, what’s with the bleached outfits?” Gigan asked, grimacing at his clothes in clear disapproval, “Not that I was all that into what we had on before, but now we look like a particularly depressing circus troupe.”

“I like it!” said Megalon, twisting himself around and wiggling his legs, “Feels roomy.”

Irys had no comment to make, given she honestly didn’t care about what she was wearing, although she was confused about why the change had occurred at all. She chalked it up to the bizarre metaphysical mechanics behind interdimensional travel and put no further thought into the matter, instead focusing on their surroundings.

“This place is... dead...” that was all she could think of to describe it, and suppressed a cold shudder that flowed through her body.

Beneath her feet, and stretching out before her to a black horizon, was nothing but dry, bone white sand. The sand rolled into gentle dunes for hundreds of miles ahead, with barely anything to break up the bleak scenery except one or two leafless, lifeless, desiccated trees. It wasn’t simply that this was a desert, or a place where life struggled to survive. No, this place felt devoid of the vital essence of life, and it twisted at something deep in Irys’ guts to just be standing here, under this black, starless sky, facing this empty, dead expanse of unnatural sand.

“Reminds me of Zenith,” Gigan noted, his head turning left and right in a slow, methodical scan, “I’m not picking up anything out there. Zero heat. Zero motion. No lifesigns or unusual energy readings. Irys is right, this place is dead.”

“Uh, guys?” Megalon said, although it was in a small whisper as he started peeking behind the edge of the portal, which was still shining and active behind them.

X, either having not heard Megalon or focused entirely on the mission, was checking his coat and finding that within its pockets were several packages, “Looks like the supplies we brought survived the trip through the portal. Should sustain us for the duration of the recon. Let’s move. We’ll use the trees as markers-”

“Um, guys!” Megalon said, louder now, and the others turned to him as he pointed around the edge of the portal, “I think I found something.”

The extent of Megalon’s understatement became apparent as the portal finally cut out, revealing what had been obscured from the group’s view while the portal had been there.

A fortress of unimaginable proportions rose from the deathly pale desert sands. It readily matched the scope and scale of the temple back in Zenith, with shear walls rising hundreds of meters upward, and even those walls were dwarfed by flanking, cylindrical towers that rose higher still. The fortress’ central building was a monolithic block of stone, at least ten or more kilometers wide, and an unknown length deep, given none of them could see where the other side of the fortress ended. Somewhere atop the fortress’ roof was a domed structure, and from this structure five smaller towers rose up in an evenly spaced pattern. At the foot of the fortress walls, inter-spaced at seemingly random, were tall blocks, each one likely at least fifty or more meters tall, bearing large, gaping rectangular openings.

“Do you guys think this is important?” Megalon asked, pointing at the fortress, “It looks kind of important.”

X’s eyes narrowed, not at Megalong but at the distant fortress, “Gigan, any readings from over there?”

The cybernetic mercenary focused his gaze upon the massive walls, taking his time analyzing the data streaming in from his internal scanners.

“Getting a lot of interference from that direction, but there’s definitely... something in there.”

“Something?” X asked, and Gigan merely shrugged.

“Can’t give you more than that. These aren’t like any readings I’ve gotten before. But that place is packed with a lot of weird energy fluctuations, so I’d lay a fair bet that says the place ain’t empty. That’s not all, look...” Gigan pointed towards the walls, and Irys noted that where he pointed there were clusters of what looked like pockmarks upon the thick stone walls. She then saw what hadn’t been immediately obvious, but around halfway between the center and right side of the fortress wall’s edge, there was a rather large hole. A ragged hole, unnatural and broken off. She also started to look at the desert area in front of the fortress and noticed that the sands weren’t even in a lot of places, bearing craters ranging from small to large.

“It looks damaged,” she said, and Gigan nodded.

“I’m looking at the craters with image enhancement, and the pattern is in line with missile detonations, or at least similar ordinance. The larger hole looks like it was made by some kind of high energy impact. I’m also getting some trace metal signals from around the base of the fortress, like fragments and vehicle wrecks. A battle took place here. Can’t tell how long ago.”

“Oh hey, check this out!” Megalon exclaimed as he climbed a nearby dune, pointing off to the group’s right, which Irys’ mentally considered ‘east’. The group followed Megalon to the top of the dune, and saw that maybe half a kilometer in that direction, give or take, was a huge, dark lake.

“Good to know there’s water here, in case we run out,” X said, his eyes filled with rapid thought and calculation as he turned to his team, “We don’t know what we’re up against or if the locals are friendly or hostile. We’ll move fast and quiet, check out this fortress. Stick together, and we play this by ear if we run into any inhabitants. Ideally we can gather information without having to engage, but if comes to a fight don’t take any risks. Understood?”

They all nodded, and X returned it, “Good, then let’s move out.”

Author's Note

Welcome, kind readers, to a story that's been bouncing around in my head for quite some time now. For those of you here from reading Friendship Souls, I'm happy and honored to be able to introduce you guys to some characters I've loved reading about and have thoroughly enjoyed being given the chance to write. For those of you here from reading The Bridge, I'm stoked to show a slice of my own little crossover world between Equestria Girls and Bleach.

It's my sincerest hope fans of either story can find something to enjoy here, and maybe intrigue you about both worlds these characters come from. The Bridge has been among my favorite crossovers on this site, and it's played a role in inspiring me to tackle such a huge crossover project of my own in Friendship Souls, so this story is a huge thank you to The Bridge's writer, Tarbtano, for that.

Now if any of my Friendship Souls readers are curious when this takes place, timeline wise, this story is set relatively soon after the Quincy attack on Las Noches, but still about two weeks prior to the events of the Camp Everfree arc. If anyone has any questions I'll do my best to clear them up, so don't hesitate to ask.

At any rate, I hope you all enjoy, and expect the rest of the story to be released chapter by chapter over the next month or so. I hope to update them alongside chapters for Friendship Souls itself.

Chapter 2: Meeting the Locals

Episode 2: Meeting the Locals

X would never let himself show it to his team, but he was nervous. The problem with reconnaissance missions was that it inherently meant dealing with unknown variables, and in his experience there were few things more dangerous to the success of a mission or the safety of the team than ‘unknown variables’. Take this fortress, for instance. Its sheer size suggested it was occupied by a substantial population, which if hostile could spell serious trouble for X and his small group of comrades.

It wasn’t that he doubted his own martial prowess or that of his companions. He knew they each possessed a high degree of competence and strength, even in these reduced, human forms. Yet numbers were numbers, and X didn’t relish the notion of having to fight through an army of foes if he and his team were discovered and it turned out the occupants of this realm were hostile. Made him wish the master had given them a means of assuming their true forms. But he was a soldier and he’d work with what he had to complete the mission within parameters. As long as it didn’t overly risk the team. He couldn’t afford to lose any of them, and the thought left a combination of cold fear and a heated, angry spark in the back of his mind.

He shoved both feelings away, letting calm, cold focus take over as he led the team towards the looming fortress. It’d been further away than a casual glance would have indicated, still requiring the group to spend nearly half an hour moving at a good clip over the sands to cross the distance to the walls. As they went, Gigan’s assertion that a battle had taken place here became only more confirmed as they passed obvious craters from explosions, and saw the wreckage of several vehicles. X saw what looked like broken fuselages and engines, perhaps from some kind of hover or aircraft. There were no bodies, but in a few places he saw dried patches of red drying the sands; old blood. Gigan’s scans indicated several days old, but no more.

That confirmed this realm had violent conflict, which didn’t necessarily bode well for having friendly interactions with the locals. X inwardly cursed the lack of cover available to conceal their approach. He didn’t see any lookouts, watchtowers, or even a window in the wall, but that didn’t mean the fortress might not have someone keeping watch somewhere. Fortunately their new clothing, all white and black, blended well with the desert, providing some camouflage.

“What’s this?”

Irys was the one who’d spoken, softly, as if worried of giving away their position. She’d paused to scoop something half buried in the sand as the others looked to her. What she was holding was a small, white military style cap with a short, black bill and some kind of silver emblem on the front. Upon a closer look the emblem looked like a five pointed cross.

“Must have belonged to a soldier from one of the two sides that fought here,” X deduced, his eyes narrowing slightly as he scanned the ground, “Although the lack of bodies is unusual, if the battle only took place a few days ago.”

“Honestly wouldn’t fully trust my scans around here,” Gigan noted, “There’s enough weird energy interference in the air I could be off about how old the blood is.”

“No, I don’t think you’re wrong,” Irys said, her nose wrinkling, “I can still smell traces of it. Blood, fear... bad things happened around here.”

“We’ll find out more soon enough. Keep moving.”

At X’s words, Irys nodded and dropped the cap, and the group moved on, past the remains of what appeared to be smashed fortifications. It was as if someone has raised stone blocks from the sand and rapidly carved them into short walls and a small, pyramid shaped central fortification. Most of it was smashed to chunks of rubble, but it was impossible to miss what appeared to be weapon emplacements, or what was left of them.

Beyond that was a field of craters, although most of them were being smoothed out by a very faint breeze that stirred the sands. More wreckage and a few more tattered remains of uniforms could be seen here, and more dried blood, but still no bodies. Nor any visible guards or patrols from the large fortess looming ever larger ahead.

By unspoken agreement they made their way to the massive hole in the fortress’ wall, where enough rock rubble was strewn on the ground that they would have little trouble scaling it to reach the opening itself. The group did so quietly, moving at X’s occasional hand signal as he continued to check for signs of anyone that might spot them. Gigan’s scans continued to turn up not immediate locals, but he also said his internal scanners were getting more and more interference by the moment.

Finally reaching the top of the rubble pile, the team could look inside the hole and see the fortress interior.

“Hey guys, I’m no expert, but isn’t there supposed to only be skies on the outside of buildings, not inside?” asked Megalon, “Because either I’m seeing things, or that’s a sky in there.”

“You’re not seeing things, I see it too,” Gigan said flaty, face drawn in a confused frown as he tried to push his scanners to make sense of what they were seeing.

Within the fortress was a massive, open space. More desert existed under what appeared to be a pure blue sky streaked with clouds, with no visible light source. Yet all was bathed in stark light as if under a mid-day sun. To their immediate right was a large bridge or interior wall that was a good twenty meters high that stretched from the exterior wall for what looked like kilometers towards the fortress center. In the distance, there, they could make out the shape of a multi-tiered interior keep, with multiple towers rising upwards into a central tower that speared upward until it seemed to vanish into thin air.

The rest of the interior space wasn’t empty, the desert dotted with other cylindrical towers and buildings of varied colors. Most were white, but a few were red or yellow, with one tower off to the left appearing to be onyx black. Some looked to be closer to small palaces or castles rather than towers, and somewhere to the distant right of where the team stood, a huge dark canyon cut through the desert like a wound.

This also wasn’t the only hole in the wall they could see. The battle must have struck the inside of the fortress as well, because it was hard to miss the giant melted pathway over a hundred meters wide and kilometers long that ran from left to right, smashed through the interior wall, and struck the exterior wall on the far right side of where they could see. Another massive hole was left there, denoting the power of whatever beam or similar attack had caused the destruction.

“Looks like somebody had a wild party in here,” Gigan said, tapping the side of his head in frustration as he scans kept coming back with fuzzy data. “Hard to be sure, but I think that’s actually a ceiling up there. I’m picking up solid mass high above our heads, but got no clue what’s causing the light, or making it look like a sky.”

“This place is so huge we could be walking around in our normal bodies and have head room!” Megalon exclaimed, grinning.

“Keep it down. We’re in stealth mode, remember?” said Gigan, and Megalon nodded, making a ‘zipping lips’ gesture.

It took even less time for them to scale down the rubble on the interior of the wall than it had for them to climb on the outside. When they all got to the ground, X held up his hand, tilting his head as he listened to the sound of faint voices. He turned to the others, whispering, “Sounds like we’ve found the natives. Keep down, quiet, and let’s have a look.”

As stealthily as a group of transformed kaiju could sneak the team crept forward along the bottom edge of the rubble pile, until they could slowly, one by one, peek around the corner at the source of the voices.

There was a group of half a dozen beings that for the most part appeared human, although it didn’t take long for X and his team to notice the not-so-subtle differences. While having the standard issue arms, legs, and head all neatly attached to a torso that was the general human/bipedal norm, these people, male and female alike, each bore a distinctive hole that went right through their entire body. It’s location varied for each person. One had their hole right in the center of his chest, while another bore hers in her stomach, while yet another, for whatever reason, had the hole placed over his right hand. Regardless of where the hole as, it was always perfectly round, and could be seen clear through, regardless of its size.

Which would logically mean some of these folks must be missing internal organs, yet they were standing around, chatting, and playing some sort of dice game using an upturned, polished human skull as a bowl.

Other distinctive features included odd ornaments of bone that ranged from odd helmets, to partial jawbones, to just random bone white fragments upon brows or laced into hair. However a moment of inspection showed these weren’t separate ornamentation that were being worn, but rather something fused to the individual’s body, like some kind of bio-organic armor, albiet so small and decorative it couldn’t fulfill that function.

Besides that, these people had the same random color and skin tones that were consistent with the humans who occupied the realm that the Dark Hunters were already familiar with to a degree, which was a much broader range than the usual humans from Terra.

The only other thing X noted was that each of these people were wearing clothes similar to what he and his team had come out of the portal with; all white and black, in various simple cuts and fashions. That, and each of them was armed with some manner of blade sheathed at their sides, or carried across the back. No guns or other advanced looking weapons, but that didn’t put X at ease. Without knowing for certain what these people were capable of, physically, he had to assume those swords were as much a threat as any other weapon might be.

His team was thankfully silent as they listened to the conversation, even Megalon knowing full well at this point to not make a peep.

“That’s two Gillians and an Adjuchas,” one of the people said, a black haired female with thin eyes and a thinner smirk as she pointed to the recent die role, “Doesn’t beat my Vasto Lorde.”

The man who’d just tossed the dice, a burly fellow with long, brown hair, scoffed and kicked the skull they’d been using for a bowl over, “This game is stupid anyway. We’re not even betting anything.”

“You got a better way to pass the time, dumbass?” the woman said with a sneer, standing up from her crouching stance, hand already going to her sword.

“Maybe I do! Guarding this hole is a waste of time, the Quincy ain’t coming back after the ass kicking we gave them, and honestly I’d rather kick your ass to kill the time than toss dice.”

“Uh, should we stop them?” asked another fellow of a nearby compatriot, who just shrugged and smiled.

“Nah, let them fight. This’ll be more fun to watch, and they’ve been needing to let off steam since their Espada got demoted.”

As one the bickering pair wheeled on the speaker, both with their swords instantly appearing in their hands, the woman shouting, “Watch your mouth! Your Espada got his ass beat by just two Quincy, while Lord Guto did what nobody else has ever done and captured a freakin’ Sternritter! What’d Torch accomplish, eh!?”

The other two, now both wearing dangerous looks, squared off with the pair and soon had their own weapons drawn. The instigator, a intellegual looking man with a narrow face and swept back blue hair smiled coldly, “Lord Torch fought one of the most powerful Quincy to a standstill, while your Guto barely defeated one of the weaker Sternritter, then as I recall, pulled his forces out of the fight. Meanwhile us real Arrancar were left to carry the day and send the Quincy running with the blood of their comrades still staining the dunes outside our walls. Then, just to add the perfect cherry on top, a newcomer surpasses Guto and becomes the new Sixth Espada, kicking your master down a notch. Am I missing anything?”

“You’re about to be missing several limbs,” promised the burly fellow, but just a it seemed that things were going to turn to blows, there was a fierce bellow from one of the others.

“Enough!”

The command was followed by what X could only liken to a pressure wave that billowed out from the individual who spoke. He couldn’t really see it, but there was a distinct wave of energy he could sense on some deep, fundamental level that washed over him. He saw the sands around the speaker stir outward as if from a gust of wind, and her body was briefly wreathed in a gleam of faint green light that clearly wasn’t natural.

She stood, and wasn’t a particular tall woman, but the other... Arrancar stepped back from her. Well muscled by petite, the woman had a head of short cut white hair, tinged around the tips a faint green. Yellow eyes regarded her companions with a sullen harshness as she spoke.

“Last time I checked, we’re here to guard, not waste time arguing. The first one of you that tries anything is going to regret the idiocy.”

“But Greta,” complained the black haired girl, “You heard what they’re saying about Lord Guto!”

“I hear it, and what of it? You think Lord Guto gives two craps what a pair of pissants from Torch’s horde think? Don’t let them bait you into a fight, Giselle. We can’t afford this right now. All of you settle down, and while you’re at it, get back to your designated guard posts.”

“Why?” sputtered the brown haired fellow, holding out his hands with a bored look, “There’s nothing out there and the Quincy ain’t coming bac-”

Before he finished his sentence, the woman named Greta simply vanished. Or rather, she moved with such speed that to normal eyes she’d have appeared to vanish. X saw it, he’d seen opponents who could move with such speed, but it was still a bit of a shock at how instantaneously the woman moved. No human could pull off such a maneuver.

She was on the man in less than an eyeblink, gripping his face with her hand. He was easily over a foot taller than her small frame, but she could still easily reach his head, and swiftly slammed his face against the rock of the nearby rubble pile with enough force to shatter the first chunk of stone and grind him into the next one.

“Question my orders again, and all that’s going to be left of you is a smoking crater,” Greta said in a voice like venting steam pipe, and her statement was punctuated by a glow of red energy that gathered in her other hand, forming a pulsing sphere of crimson light.

The man whose face was currently kissing rock looked at her with a sweat soaked, fearful gaze and was quick to say, “I get it! I get it! I won’t talk back again!”

Greta slowly released him and stood back, the red orb of energy fading from her other hand as she put both hands on her hips, nodding in satisfaction, “Good, because we lost enough people already, so it’d be a shame to have to axe you for being an idiot. Now all of you, get back to your damn posts.”

X took that as a clear enough signal for them to get out of sight, and turned to signal to his team to move back to where the rubble pile met with the towering interior wall. Keeping low, they quietly moved to the wall’s edge and started following it to the left, away from the giant hole and pile of rock rubble. There was still no real cover, but the interior desert had a few short sand dunes, and X led the others towards the nearest one. Hopefully they’d reach it before any of these ‘Arrancar’ on guard noticed them.

Fortunately it seemed their guard posts were set up to look outward for enemies in the desert beyond the wall, not inward for anything that might have already sneaked inside. The Dark Hunters got behind a sand dune that was situated up against the wall and once they were hidden behind it, they all took a moment to let out relieved breaths.

“Well, we’re in,” said Gigan, “Here’s hoping getting out is just as easy.”

“I don’t suppose your scanners picked up any detail on just what those guards are?” asked X, “Because I’m going to surmise that despite appearances, they definitely aren’t human.”

Gigan tapped his sunglasses, a small whir of mechanical noise barely audible behind them, “I was close enough to get some data without too much interference. Whatever is powering that light show the angry chick pulled off, it wasn’t Equestrian magic or the kind from Terra, nor based on any scientific principle I’m familiar with. It was outputting a lot of energy, however. Not on the level of your gravity beams at full strength, but enough that I wouldn’t recommend getting hit with whatever attack she was threatening to pull off with it.”

“She was fast,” Irys said, frowning, “I could still see her move, but that was still fast. Going to cast my vote that we avoid fighting, if we can help it.”

“That goes without saying,” X confirmed, “Our job here is recon, not starting a brawl. If it comes to a fight, prioritize retreat over combat, unless it seems we can neutralize them quickly.”

Although X was confident he and his team could handle a small group of opponents such as these ‘Arrancar’, a fight was still far from ideal. Even if they defeated one small group of guards, that would still likely alert more, and there was no telling how many enemies might be in a fortress this size. So far they’d already gathered some useful information from eavesdropping on one conversation. He’d be happy if they could figure out a general layout for the fortress and get out with perhaps one or two more instances of listening in on the residents. X wouldn’t risk more than that, however.

“We should keep moving, but let’s go over what we know so far,” he said as he got the group moving again. They followed the wall, making sure to keep close to any dunes they could while also watching for any sign of more of the locals.

“They said a bunch of weird words I didn’t get,” said Megalon, “What’s Arin’s Car all about?”

“Arrancar,” Gigan said simply, “Going to guess it’s the name of the species. Could be a tribal name, too.”

“They said something about Espada,” Irys said, and X noticed she was holding herself for some reason, as if she was cold, but he didn’t mention it yet. “I got the impression it was referencing some kind of leader. More than one.”

“Yes, ‘Lord’ Torch and Guto,” X remarked, thinking over the conversation they’d heard, “It sounded as if these ‘Espada’ are ranked, and a recent battle changed those rankings, with the one named Guto having lost status.”

“Didn’t look like these Espada’s are all pals, either. Those Arrancar were acting like they served different ones, and didn’t much like each other,” Gigan noted, face showing a hint of disdain, “Not very disciplined, either. If that Greta hadn’t stepped in, they’d probably had started trying to kill each other. Who runs an army like that?”

“Is it really that different than what our master is doing?” asked Irys, and when the others looked at her she quickly said, “It’s just, our master gathered us from all sorts of different places, and while we all work together we’re all not exactly a family.”

“Yeah, those Anteverse dudes are real stiffs,” Megalon said, “Not one of them ever laughs at any of my jokes.”

“And we all know Ghidorah’s a straight up prick,” Gigan said in agreement, “Yeah, I guess I see what you’re saying, Irys. Someone around here has to have a lot of power to get these Arrancar all working together without regularly slaughtering each other. Means these Espada must be pretty potent.”

“And whoever leads the Espada must be exceptionally potent,” X concluded, and paused as he saw Irys was now rubbing her arms, despite the fact that the air was fairly stale and room temperature, rather than cold. “Irys, is something wrong?”

“Huh?” Irys blinked at him, then floundered for a moment for a response, “I don’t know. I feel... weird.”

“Weird? Like, ‘Whoa that was a freaky dream last night with the pickles’ weird, or more ‘Why are they called flapjacks if nobody named Jack made them’ weird?”

Megalon’s words actually made Irys smile a bit, but it soon faded as she knelt down and gingerly touched the sand beneath her with one hand, “I’m not sure how to explain it. Since we got here I’ve just been feeling off, somehow. Like something isn’t right. Isn’t right with this place.”

Her eyes focused on the ground for a moment, then she closed them, “It’s like I can feel it in the sand... a... wrongness. I don’t like it.”

X and Gigan exchanged a look. X then went to Irys and knelt next to her, “We still need to finish our mission, but if anything gets worse concerning this feeling, say so immediately. Keep us informed of any change, no matter how slight, understood?”

“Yes, and thanks. It might be nothing,” she admitted, standing up and seeming to shake herself and regain her focus, “Could be just my nerves.”

“Well if its not, don’t try to be tough, and just tell us,” said Gigan, and Irys nodded at him gratefully.

A moment later the four kaiju turned (relatively) human continued their stealthy trek.

Las Noches didn’t have many amenities, and what few it did have such as clothes or the occasional piece of furniture were manufactured in the deep tunnels and chambers beneath the fortress, known collectively as the ‘Warrens’. Adagio had been down there a few times, and found the place distinctly unpleasant, and had little desire to acquire any of the ‘goods’ made down there.

She’d found a much simpler solution to the problem. Stealing what she wanted from the world of the living. Sure, the Soul Reapers and Quincy patrolled and guarded many cities, but not all of them, and more importantly, Adagio was very familiar with Canterlot City and could tell her vassals exactly which stores to hit. This allowed them to acquire just about anything she thought they needed, with usually minimal risk.

As an added bonus she delighted in the idea that Sunset Shimmer would keep wondering who was breaking into Canterlot City malls and stealing things. It was a petty, but Adagio didn’t care, and she smiled as she sipped chilled lemonade while relaxing on a comfortable fold-out chair set up by the wall side of the pool.

Di Roy and Roka were swimming, alongside two of Adagio’s other vassals, Hoops and Score. Her last vassal, Dumbbell, was still recovering from injuries suffered recently, but Roka had assured Adagio he was on the mend.

“Oh for the love of- It’s just water! You kick your legs and just kind of move through it. It’s not that hard!”

Fenice was trying to convince Gaw to give the pool another shot, although with minimal success.

Gaw, looking like a displeased, soaked cat, glared at the pool, especially at Di Roy who was racing Roka across the water. She shook her head like a dog, dislodging more water droplets, and grumbled, “I kicked. It just made me go deeper. Let dumb people like Di Roy play in death pool.”

“Look, you’re not going to drown with all of us here, and I can just show you how to swim by example. But you’re not going to learn if you don’t try.”

Gaw ignored her for a moment, sniffing the air and frowning before saying, “Why you care if I learn swim or not?”

Fenice just threw her hands up, shaking her head, “I don’t know. Father says to try to make friends with you people, so that’s what I’m trying to do. Adagio! Help me out here! Can’t you just order her to cooperate with me?”

Adagio sipped some more lemonade, set the glass aside on a small folding table next to her chair, and sat up, “I don’t have a reason to force Gaw to swim if she doesn’t want to. It’s for the best, I need at least one person keeping watch anyway. Gaw, why don’t you go on patrol? Make sure there’s none of Guto’s people skulking around our territory.”

Gaw actually smiled, although it was more like a showing of teeth, which did include a pair of rather prominent and fang-like canines as she enthusiastically hopped to her feet. If there was one thing Gaw loved doing it was hunt, and going on patrol was akin to that. Not quite the same, because most of the time there was nothing out there worth hunting, and Adagio had given her standing orders to only scare off or otherwise beat the crap out of intruders rather than kill them. A bit disappointing from Gaw’s perspective, but patrol was still much more her speed than getting near the water again.

Crazy Di Roy, splashing around and having fun. Gaw was already planning her revenge for being tossed in the pool. Probably involving that dumb game box thing he liked playing with so much. Heh, toss that in the pool and see how much he enjoyed swimming after it.

That plan set in her mind, Gaw swiftly left, following her alpha’s orders and beginning a careful yet swift hunting patterns across the swath of desert and wall that was her tribe’s territory. While more intelligent than even her companions might give her credit for, Gaw was a creature of instinct, through and through. She followed Adagio because Adagio had proven herself as a strong alpha for the tribe, even stronger than Gaw. Di Roy was the annoying but still acceptable beta male of the group, although more useful and tolerable than the three other omega males, whose names she barely remembered. Roka and Fenice were strange. Gaw considered them part of the tribe, even if they were kin to Lament, who despite being an even more powerful alpha than Adagio, didn’t really lead the way an alpha was supposed to.

For the most part those two, along with all the tiny young ones that Lament kept in his tower, Gaw just considered part of the extended tribe. Just like the one Adagio had once had at her side called ‘Ember’, who was sadly gone now. Taken by enemies. Gaw growled at that. Threats to the tribe must be eliminated. Yet she couldn’t destroy those that took Ember, because they’d taken her so far away that Adagio didn’t know where the enemy was.

As soon as they found out, they’d strike, tear apart and eat the flesh of their enemies, and recover their lost tribemate. Until then, Gaw’s job was to protect the tribe’s territory, which she’d have done even without Adagio’s orders, but Adagio was good at giving orders, so Gaw didn’t mind.

Gaw moved with great speed, her form flickering across the sands in swift bursts. She never thought in terms of Hollow techniques like ‘Sonido’, which was what she was using. To her, she was just moving ‘fast’. And much as it begrudged her to admit, this new, small body was very fast. Faster than her old one. But she liked how she was before Adagio had changed her and Di Roy. That body was large, powerful, with big claws and teeth. It had felt natural. This new body didn’t quite feel right. Smooth skin instead of hard scales, and hair. Why did it have to have hair? Hair got wet and felt strange.

Also, she hadn’t needed to wear clothes before changing, which didn’t make any sense to her. She’d been just fine being naked before, but now that she looked like a squishy little human suddenly it was a problem if she walked around naked? Dumb. But Adagio said to wear clothes, so Gaw did. Even if it was dumb.

Sadly she found no sign of enemies during the first half of her patrol, covering most of the territory north of the wall. She stopped short of Lament’s territory, clearly marked by his large, black tower. She was tempted to check it anyway, just to make sure the little ones were okay (not that she liked them!), but she didn’t like the idea of challenging Lament’s territory. He often smelled... dangerous.

Turning east and then south, Gaw covered the ground between the main gates of Las Noches, and the wall running west back towards Adagio’s territory. There were a bunch of idiots from other tribes milling around the big hole the enemy had made in the wall, but that was no matter to Gaw. If the enemy returned, she’d rip into their innards and bring some of the meat home. She was rather hungry. Maybe Adagio would go hunting with her later? Or Di Roy, if he could keep his mouth shut for five minutes. Such a poor hunter, that male, what ever was she going to do with him?

Gaw stopped in her tracks, sniffing the air. There it was again, that scent. She’d smelled it earlier at the pool, but it’d been so faint she’d thought she’d imagined it. But now there it was again, much stronger this time.

She was nearly back at Adagio’s territory, with the pool just out of sight beyond several hundred meters of short dunes. The smell in the air was definitely from something warm blooded, but it was strange. Not Hollow, but not quite human either, so it couldn’t be Quincy. Gaw crouched low, stalking forward while her nose tasted the air. Her hand slowly went to the curved blade across her back, and she felt the resonance of her Zanpaktou. Strange name, for a hand-claw, but that’s what Adagio said the weapon should be called. It even had an individual name, but Gaw didn’t really get why. It didn’t matter, she was hunting...

The smell grew stronger, and she realized it was coming from four distinct trails. Her eyes picked out faint prints in the sand now, as well, and sniffed them. Four intruders. None of them smelled normal. Almost human, but there were traces of something else. One had a charged and smoky scent akin to the weather before a storm, while another something of a clean, mint smell that reminded Gaw of a deep forest spring. Another smelled of oil and machinery, combined with a sharp tint of spicy aggression, while the fourth scent was of deep, wet earth mixed with something strangely like... coconut?

It was a bizarre mix of smells that told her next to nothing about the intruders other than they were an odd bunch.

Increasing her pace while ensuring not to lose the trail, Gaw continued on until, crossing one last dune, she spotted them. Four people of human size and proportions, creeping along the edge of the wall, clearly trying to stay out of sight.

Gaw had no idea who they were, but it didn’t matter. They were intruders, and there was only one instinctual response Gaw had to intruders in her tribe’s territory.

Attack.

Chapter 3: Aggressive Negotiations

Episode 3: Aggressive Negotiations

Gigan’s mood was less tense than what he was gauging from his companions. He understood on Irys’ part. He couldn’t sense what she was, even with all his various built-in scanning technology, but he didn’t doubt her when she said she sensed something ‘off’ about this world. He’d been on deserted, dead planets that felt more alive than this place did, and ever since Irys had awakened that unusual power during the fight with X’s inner Kaizer form she’d seemed more sensitive to her environment.

Megalon was Megalon, so Gigan didn’t have any worries there, but he did not like that X was more on edge than usual. He didn’t know if it was because of X having so recently dealt with that other personality inside of him, or if it was because of the current mission, but whatever the case it seemed clear X was agitated. Still, Gigan wasn’t too worried, yet. X could handle himself.

The only thing truly getting on Gigan's nerves was how much interference his sensors were getting. He could still get good readings out to about a hundred meters, but beyond that there were too much odd ambient energy interfering with things. This left Gigan feeling a bit more blind than he was used to. Fortunately this didn’t affect his focus, which was why he was able to detect the incoming energy surge and motion before any of his teammates.

“Guys, incoming!” he shouted, alerting his friends before instantly turning towards the source of the oncoming hostile, who was moving on par with the same speed he’d seen in that Greta woman. He lifted his right arm without needing to think about it, his cybernetics moving with such speed that it looked like he moved between eyeblinks. Other cybernetics kicked in, extending a gleaming, curved metal blade from his forearm.

This was just in time to intercept the larger, inward curved sword of Gaw, who appeared from seemingly thin air from a lightning fast Sonido as she hammered the blade down at Gigan. The forearm blade clashed with the sword in a burst of sparks and Gigan frowned at the physical strength of this short, rail thin teenage girl. No way her tiny frame should be capable of producing that much force. Still, while his arm strained, he was able to hold firm and wasn’t driven back, despite the ground beneath his feet impacting downward. Internal data sensors calculated relative strength outputs, and his Nebulan cybernetics combined with the inherent physical prowess of his original body were matching this girl’s strike. And strong as she was, mass was mass, and she didn’t weigh any more than her frame indicated. Gigan smirked as he pushed against her blade in a burst of his own strength, flinging the girl backwards towards the wall fast enough to make a small shockwave. She smashed into the wall back first, cracking the stone in all directions for several meters. Gaw grunted from the impact, dazed for a second, but landed on her feet. With a feral growl that barely sounded like it came from a human shaped throat, she catapulted herself right back at Gigan.

However by now the other Dark Hunters had reacted to the attack, and Gaw’s charge was met by the swift, dark form of X rushing in from one side, and Megalon’s bulk barreling in from the other. Streams of bright yellow gravitons, looking for all the world like forks of gold lightning, crackled around X’s fist. Megalon’s own fist was abruptly covered by two pieces of metal that folded out of his arm and snapped together to form a heavy drill.

Both drill and graviton boosted punches struck Gaw in the chest and hammered her to the ground in an explosion of sand. Without missing a beat, X and Megalon jumped back, giving clear lines of fire for Gigan and Irys, whose timing with their teammates was so spot on that they were already charging their own attacks even as their companions got clear of the line of fire.

Irys’ open mouth gained a pale glow as she unleashed a thin, violet beam of sonic energy with a sound like the air itself being torn. Gigan’s crimson shades flashed brightly with power as he unleashed a focused eye laser through them.

Gaw, coughing and clutching her chest with one hand, managed to get to one knee and interpose her curved sword between herself and the beams before they hit, bracing it with both hands. Miraculously the sword held up to the twin energy attacks, but the force of them still knocked Gaw flat on her back before the beams petered out. X, not one to let go of an opportunity, rushed in, leaping up into the air. Slight and swift manipulations of gravity around his body let him gain a good twenty feet into the air before dropping like a heavyweight bomb towards the prone Gaw.

Gaw saw the attacking coming, and not wanting to get hammered again, she showed a remarkable amount of limberness, agility, and speed, Gaw flipped her body vertical, pulling a handstand before her whole body flickered out of view with a high speed Sonido, just in time to avoid X’s strike. His body hit nothing but sand, but it created an explosion that left a crater several feet deep and dozens of feet wide.

His eyes flicked about, trying to track Gaw’s movements. Gigan was doing the same with his scanners. Gigan had no way of knowing the name of the movement technique Gaw was using, but he could guess it was one of those point-to-point ‘flash steps’ that cropped up in a lot of human animation media. His sensors tracked motion, and he could tell who Gaw was going for.

“Irys, duck!”

Irys didn’t even question Gigan, dropping into a combat ready crouch instantly, and just in time to avoid Gaw’s sword slicing past where her neck had just been. In the same instant, Irys unleashed a cloud of thick, dark mist with a sweep of her arms. The mist expanded in mere seconds to fill a space about ten meters in diameter, cloaking Irys, and blinding Gaw. Within the impenetrable black smoke, Gaw could not see or hear anything, and even her spiritual senses felt muddled. It was as if this black cloud was filled with an energy that disrupted her natural, Arrancar Pesquisa, the sense that let them feel the reiatsu of their foes. So in all ways Gaw was momentarily blind, deaf, and even cut off from her ability to feel spiritual pressure. Meanwhile Irys could still use her own echolocation to know precisely where Gaw was, and used the Arrancar’s instant of confusion to fire another sonic beam, this time striking Gaw dead center.

Gaw was blasted out of the smoke cloud, the beam sparking against her Hierro “iron skin” as it withstood the sonic beam, although blood did flow from a wound on her chest that left the dark skin raw and red. Growling as she used her sword to dig into the ground to slow her tumble, Gaw retaliated by flinging up her free hand towards Irys’ cloud. Red energy crackled in small arcs around her hand, then she fired a swift series of Bala spheres, essentially small bullets of Hollow spirit energy, into the cloud. The Bala were a rapid-fire technique, and Gaw let loose a ‘spray and pray’ fan of them, trying to hit Irys inside the cloud.

Fortunately for Irys she’d already rushed out of the cloud, figuring the enemy would try something like that, and she dove out of harm’s way just in time.

Behind Gaw she sensed a burst of energy. Not spiritual energy, but something different, and turned just in time to almost mirror Gigan’s defensive counter from the opening of the fight as the Nebulan cyborg teleported behind her in a flash of red light. He brought both his extended arm blades down on her, and even as Gaw parried them he spun left and lashed out with a cross slash that forced her back a step as she twisted her sword around to guard, then attempted to slash back with a powerful backswing. For a second or two the alien cyborg and recently evolved Hollow were little more than a blur of blade slashes and sparks, ironically both kaiju trapped in humanoid forms utilizing swordplay that would’ve made most actual human swordsman go pale.

The exchange ended a mere second later with both opponents managing shallow cuts on each other, Gaw scoring a hit on one of Gigan’s arms, while his own caught a blow on her leg, but then both slammed their blades into each other hard enough to send themselves flinging away from each other.

Breathing hard, but far from done, Gaw started to flicker in and out of view, using a series of quick Sonidos to try and confuse her opponents. Gaw had already figured out that these intruders were too strong for her to beat as a group, so that was no longer her goal. Her only objective was to keep them busy long enough for her rising spiritual pressure to alert the rest of her tribe to the danger. Her own safety was irrelevant, so she was intent on attacking all four intruders so that none of them had a chance gang up on her.

Picking at random, she ended her swift series of evasive moves and she went for the short, stocky one with the drill hand and began to slice away with her Zanpaktou.

Megalon wasn’t as fast as his companions were, but he was a bastion of raw toughness, and as Gaw attacked he brought out his second drill hand, crossing them in front of him. He didn’t even have to adjust his position much, he just let the strange little feral girl slice and dice at him while his Nebulan forged drills took the brunt of the assault. Advanced alien metals forged using techniques beyond modern human technology were a ready match for the cutting edge of Gaw’s Zanpaktou. Megalon’s clothes got ripped in a few places, and his skin, much harder and durable than mere steel, received a few shallow cuts, but he took the attacks like a steady steel bunker. From Gaw’s perspective it was like trying to hack through another Arrancar’s Heirro, only by her guess this man’s ‘Hierro’ was quite possibly stronger than her own.

While she was focused on Megalon, this gave the rest of the Dark Hunters plenty of time to catch up. Gigan was getting fed up with this girl, especially now that she was focusing her attacks on his cyborg brother. Putting away his single-edged metal blades, he replaced them with a twin pair of dual chain blades, both of which revved up with a viscous buzzsaw whine. This blades took up more energy to use, and were more unwieldy, but their armor penetration was second to none. He came in right behind Gaw, slicing both weapons in a cross pattern at her back.

Gaw whipped around to respond, blocking one set of chain blades, but missing the other. Gigan was already becoming familiar with how tough these Arrancar’s skin was, so he’d calibrated his chain blade’s to compensate, revving them up to a fever pitch. Gigan’s chain blades cut along Gaw’s stomach in a shower of sparks, but still penetrated, drawing a gushing wound that might not have been as deep as Gigan had expected, but still was nothing to sneeze at. .

Gaw let out a low growl at the pain, raising her sword to retaliate against Gigan, but in that same instant X and Irys had moved in, already prepared to time their attack with Gigan’s. X opted to see how much damage his graviton beams could inflict, while Irys jumped onto Megalon’s back and used him as a springboard to leap above Gaw and try to aim at her with another sonic beam from above.

X’s eyes glowed red as a storm of golden gravity beams coursed around his chest and flowed down his arms, discharging in a focused pair of coiling bolts thick as tree trunks. At the same time Irys’ sonic beam lanced down at Gaw, forcing her to choose which attack to block. Gaw raised her Zanpaktou with one hand, while extending the other towards the gravity beams, trying to take both at once.

The sonic beam struck the edge of Gaw’s sword, some of it reaching past the blade to cut Gaw’s shoulder, managing to draw more blood. At the same time the gravity beams smashed into Gaw, her outstretched hand hardened with her spirit energy to absorb some of the blow, but she was still hit like she’d been smacked by a wrecking ball.

Gaw went flying into a nearby dune, sand shooting like a geyser into the air from the impact.

“Did that get her?” Irys asked, landing with a graceful flip.

“Probably not,” Gigan said, keeping his chain blades up, “I’m still getting energy readings.”

“Does anybody else feel kind of bad beating up on a kid?” asked Megalon, and Gigan just looked at him, and at the small cuts on Megalon’s arms, and Megalon added, “Not that I’m against it, just saying this four on one stuff felt a lot more epic when we were fighting the Three Headed Jerkface.”

“That was three on one,” Irys reminded him.

“Oh, right, X was kinda out of it back then-” Megalon started to say, but then the sand dune Gaw had been knocked in to burst out with another eruption of sand as Gaw flew out, landing in an animalistic crouch. She was now bleeding from a cut on her forehead that coated part of her face, and the arm she’d used to take X’s gravity beams was bruised and bleeding as well. She was breathing heavily, her stance somewhat shaky, but her eyes hadn’t lost their feral focus. Her whole body was coated in a pulsing glow of red light, and in a similar manner to Irys, she opened her mouth and dark ruby energy started to gather there.

“Scatter,” X commanded, recognizing a potent attack when he saw one, and realizing it’d be too dangerous to try to directly counter it.

The Dark Hunters split, each leaping back a different direction as Gaw fired a wide, powerful beam of deadly crimson light. The Cero beam destroyed a swath of desert nearly twenty feet across as the Dark Hunters narrowly avoided it. X could feel the force of the beam on his skin, and Gigan’s sensors went haywire with the sudden energy spike.

Irys winced, not in pain, but at a twisting, cold echo inside her. For a brief second bright purple symbols appeared on her skin, then faded.

Gaw’s Cero continued on until it hit the exterior wall of Las Noches, where it exploded in a shockwave that tore out a sizable chunk of the wall while sending large hunks of rock flying every which way. As pieces of demolished stone, some the size of small cars, smashed around the desert, the Dark Hunters looked at each other and then back at Gaw.

The short Arrancar girl looked battered and bloodied, yet clearly had no intention of giving up the fight. X had been considering how to end this fight quickly, and had an idea on how to do so. Not that he wasn’t confident he and his team could win if given enough time, but this fight was stirring up a lot of noise and he was concerned about reinforcements arriving. They didn’t have all day to deal with this threat.

“Everyone, distract her for a moment. I need a second to focus,” he said, and took a deep breath, concentrating on the potent well of energy inside himself.

His team didn’t need to be told twice, each of them giving a nod as they charged at Gaw.

Megalon opened up by making a sound like hocking up a loogie, only the ‘spit’ was a flaming red grenade sphere that flew at Gaw and detonated in a concussive blast of flames. Gaw had used her sword to shield herself, but the blast still knocked her off balance as Irys spat a sonic beam at her from the left side. Gaw jumped up, leaping over the beam, but this left her open to Gigan, who jumped into the air as well, easily matching Gaw’s height as he went into a spinning slash like a flying, bladed top. Gaw got her sword in the way to block, but Gigan continued to use the momentum of his spin to wheel her around and fling her into the ground, continuing on to make a stylish landing several dozen feet away.

Gaw propped herself up on her sword, turning her head around and spitting a thinner Cero beam in a wide arc, roaring as she swept the sands with it. However it was a wild beam, not particularly well aimed and the Dark Hunters were nimbly able to avoid its path.

More importantly, X had gained the seconds he needed to charge up and focus his gravitons. Opening his eyes and focusing entirely upon Gaw, he reached out and sent a wide swath of gravity beam towards her. Only instead of striking the Arrancar dead on, the beams swept around her until they formed a sphere of anti-gravity. This lifted Gaw straight off the ground, suddenly floating in a simulated sphere of zero-G.

Against most normal opponents this would essentially leave them utterly unable to move. In that regard, X had surmised an ideal counter to Gaw, leaving her in a state where her only means of counter attack would be her energy attacks. But he’d seen she wasn’t very accurate with them, and as long as she couldn’t move, she’d be an easy target for his team’s own ranged attacks.

However what X didn’t know was that Gaw, like the majority of those who utilized spirit energy for their high speed movements, also essentially ‘walked’ on air by pressing spirit energy against either air particles or reishi particles already present in the air. Even floating, Gaw had the ability to ‘push’ off of the particles in the air as if it were solid ground. That said, Gaw still had to concentrate for a moment to try and orient herself, which gave X enough time to realize what she was doing and compensate for it. Instead of keeping his gravity field as a zero-G variety, he altered the gravitons to instead press inward. This took more concentration and power to do, but as Gaw tried to Sonido out of the gravity field, she was blocked by a crushing force of gravity that instead left her with her arms and legs bound tightly as if she were packed under dozens of tons of earth.

“Everyone, fall back to the exit,” X commanded past grit teeth, straining to concentrate and hold Gaw in place, “I’ll keep her stuck here long enough for the rest of you to get clear, then follow after”

“Screw that noise,” Gigan said, “She’s not moving. We can finish her off quick.”

“That’s not the point,” X said, “This fight has probably alerted others to our presence. The mission is scrubbed. We need to get out of here before reinforcements show up.”

“Hate to break it to you, buddy, but it’s too late for that,” said a new voice, and the Dark Hunters all blinked as a man zipped into view, landing in front of the entrapped Gaw.

He was clearly an Arrancar, but what was odd was that he was buck naked save for a pair of dark blue swimming trunks, his body and grayish white hair still dripping with water. He was bouncing a sword that looked like an elongated shark’s tooth over one shoulder as he pointed a dramatically cocked finger at the group.

“Now I see a group of weirdos giving my dino-gal a hard time, and I say to myself, ‘Di Roy, are you a bad enough dude to make a dramatic entrance and impress Gaw’, and I say ‘No, previous experience suggests not’ and then I’m like ‘Okay, now that’s just sad, don’t you have any confidence in yourself’, and the conversation kind of degrades from there. But that’s not important! What’s important is that I’m here now, the badass of the day, and I’m going to kick all of your-”

A very annoyed looking Gaw proceeded to interrupt him with a loud growl of, “I not ask for help!”.

He turned back to look at her, still suspended in X’s sphere of crushing gravity, and drawled “Oh, yeah, I can see you totally have this covered, what with you being unable to move and such. Was your plan to lure them into a false sense of security by getting your ass kicked first?”

“I not losing!” Gaw growled, although it did come off as a rather petulant growl as she tried and failed to break free of X’s gravity, “Just testing intruder power before getting serious.”

“Uh-huh,” Di Roy said, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping one of his feet as he leaned towards her, wearing a smug grin as he pointed a finger at her, “How about you just admit you needed my help for a change? I bet you were totally waiting for me to show up and-”

She shot a venomous look towards him and though she couldn’t move her whole body, she managed to wriggle through the gravity enough to get her mouth in biting distance and chomped down on Di Roy’s finger.

“Gyaaah! G-Gaw dammit, I’m trying to help you! Bloody hell, girl, are you still pissed off about me throwing you in the pool!?”

He finally managed to dislodge her, but Gaw just snapped at him again, eyes glaring, “I make you pay for pool later! That was for being dumb, annoying male!”

In the meantime X, Gigan, Megalon, and Irys had all exchanged looks, nodded to each other, and slowly started edging away.

However their attempt at a quiet exit was interrupted by another arrival. X’s ears twitched with recognition as a new, sultry female voice that resonated with confidence and strength spoke.

“Di Roy, Gaw, stop playing around and pay attention to our guests.”

X wasn’t sure when she’d appeared, and Gigan’s scanners hadn’t even read her presence. But she was there, standing right behind them and only a few paces away.

X recognized Adagio almost immediately, although he was thrown off by the notable differences from the last time he’d seen the siren. Her hair, an almost ridiculously large and poofy arrangement of orange and yellow streaked curls was the same, as were the yellow skin and intense magenta eyes. However X would have needed to be both blind and a fool to think this was the Adagio Dazzle he was familiar with. His experiences in one of the many human realms dotting reality had indeed led him to encounter a trio of sirens, and even become quite close to one of them, but this was not that realm.

This Adagio was clearly one of these ‘Arrancar’, her brow sporting a crown-like ridge of bone with three up-swept, curved spikes. The middle of her chest, between her breasts, was a dark hole just like what the other Arrancar possessed. However, suspended in the middle of that hole was the familiar sight of a lustrous, blood red siren gem. X knew what the gem was, but wasn’t sure what it was doing floating in the center of the hole in Adagio’s chest, but he made a note of it. Besides that, Adagio was wearing similarly colored white and black trimmed clothing to everyone else in this place, consisting of a revealing halter-top chest pieces, a long cloth and sash around her waist that left most of her legs and midriff bare, and tall, nearly knee high boots. A white cape trailed down her back and covered her shoulders. Finally, there was a tall trident held loosely in her right hand, its shaft bone white, and its head and prongs seemingly carved from red crystal of the same luster as her siren gem.

If X needed any more proof this wasn’t the Adagio he knew, she looked at him and the rest of the Dark Hunters without a single spark of recognition as she placed her free hand on her hip, adopting a cocksure yet surprisingly balanced stance. The Adagio X knew wasn’t exactly trained in battle. This Adagio, while seeming at ease, had a ready tension that X associated with experienced warriors.

“Now, before any further violence, I’d like for you to set my subordinate down,” Adagio said, her eyes going to X and each of his companions individually with a calculating look, “Once that’s done, we can talk about just who you are and what you’re doing in Las Noches.”

“Confident, aren’t you?” said Gigan, “There’s four of us, still fresh and barely scratched, and we’ve got one of your people right where we want them. What kind of leverage do you think you have?”

Adagio turned a steady glance towards Gigan, voice cordial, yet frosty as a northern tundra, “A rational argument. My counter argument is thus...”

She made a gesture with her trident, a circular motion that was followed by a rumble beneath everyone’s feet. An instant later pillars of water shot up from the sands, swiftly forming together in a wide, enclosing dome that surrounded the area in a swirling vortex of high-pressure water. Gigan could scan the water currents to note the dome of water was moving at such high speed that it’d be able to slice metal. His and Megalon’s Nebulan alloy bodies would be able to break through, but not without effort. X could also probably use his gravitons to form an exit through the water dome, but it’d take even more energy to do that than what he was expending to hold Gaw in place. Irys was in a similar boat, with her sonic beams possibly being able to cut through the dome, but being able to do that and flee through it while still having enemies to fight would be problematic.

Adagio didn’t look as if creating the dome was taking any particular concentration on her part, and looked back at them, voice still smooth as glass, “Now, I appreciate that chances are my subordinate likely attacked you first, which is fairly normal for dealing with unwanted guests in Las Noches, so if you were merely defending yourselves I don’t hold it against you that you roughed Gaw up a bit. Still, I would appreciate it if you put her down. I would like to talk, but I will not do so while one of my own is still being threatened. On the other hand if you truly wish to fight, I can offer you all of the violence you could possibly stomach and then some. Please decide quickly, I am a patient woman, but that patience has limits.”

The rest of his team looked they were still prepared to fight it out if need be, but they call cast a questioning look towards X, looking for him to make the call.

X normally wasn’t one to hesitate, but Adagio gave him some pause to consider. It was obvious she was stronger than either Gaw or the one called Di Roy. It was clear she was the one in charge of the other two, as both had ceased their own squabble and had gone instantly silent the moment she’d arrived. Gaw wasn’t even struggling under his gravity sphere any more.

Of course Gigan had a point they still outnumbered their opponents, but he wasn’t certain how much that mattered at this point. They had been handling Gaw, but not without effort. One on one they might be an even match for her, but it was clear she was packing power on a similar level to their own. Di Roy didn’t look any tougher, but if he was on the same level, and this world’s Adagio was powerful enough to command both him and Gaw, then X was not as optimistic about winning an outright slugging match against her. She was already displaying more power just with this water show alone.

If they had the ability to assume their true forms, things would be a different matter, but that wasn’t the case, and wishing for it to be otherwise was meaningless.

The options really boiled down to; fight, retreat, or talk. He didn’t like the ‘fight’ option with things as they stood. ‘Retreat’ seemed the most rational course, but with that water dome in place it’d be a dicey affair to try to create an opening through it to escape, and chances were at least one of them would have to stay behind as a distraction to allow the others to get away.

Talking seemed like the better option, but how to answer Adagio’s question? It seemed unlikely she’d buy any lie he’d concoct, if she was half as sharp as the other her that X had met. The Adagio he was familiar with could smell BS with a keen perceptiveness, and he got the impression this one wasn’t that different. Besides, given that she spoke on behalf of her subordinate and had arrived the way she did wouldn't be likely she would be so ready to sacrifice and underling in a slugging match to win. Just as he wasn't going to sacrifice any of his team. If an all out match ensued The winning side will probably lose a member or two, something he got the sense neither of them really wanted.

He’d extend the first olive branch and use a little truth, then, and see where things go.

“I don’t see any benefit in continuing to hold your person hostage, as long as you agree to hear us out,” X said, and Adagio nodded.

X loosened the gravity sphere around Gaw, gently setting the Arrancar girl down. Gaw breathed a little easier, and Di Roy gained a relieved look that he swiftly hid behind a nonchalant glance away as Gaw looked at him.

Adagio gave X a grateful nod and with a gesture the dome of water ceased moving, then splashed down to soak the sands around them, “Good, I’m not a fan of wasteful violence. Now please, answer my questions; who are you and why are you here?”

“You can refer to me as ‘X’. The others are Gigan, Megalon, and Irys. We’re here because our... benefactor wished to know more about this realm,” X decided that while this Adagio might be good at picking up on lies, it might work to mix in a bit of downplayed reality with the straight up truth, “Our task was to explore and learn about this world. Our exploration was interrupted by your subordinate, who attacked us without provocation or warning.”

Adagio flicked her eyes towards Gaw, “Yes, she’s something of a ‘strike first, ask questions rarely’ sort, but she’s competent at her job of protecting my territory and she behaved as I’d instructed; driving off intruders. I’ve had something of an issue with rivals poking their noses in my business, and given you bunch are dressed like Arrancar, I can’t fault Gaw for assuming you were rivals snooping around where you don’t belong. Which may still turn out to be the case. You say you were sent here to explore our world? That makes it sound like you’re not from here, yet you’re wearing clothes in local Las Noches fashion. Can you explain that?”

“We do come from another world, and the portal that brought us here tends to alter our appearance to match the realm we arrive in. Believe me, these clothes were as much a surprise to us as anyone,” X replied, “It’s up to you whether you believe my words or not, but I’m speaking the truth. We have no hostile intentions, and were only defending ourselves from the girl’s attack. Leave us be, and there’s no quarrel to be had.”

“Hmm... well, I do believe you’re telling the truth about merely defending yourself from Gaw. Surprisingly effectively, I might add. Gaw is the strongest of my vassals, so handling her, even four on one, rather impresses me.”

Gaw let out a rather objecting bark of, “I could still win!”

Adagio smiled like a razor blade, “Don’t let your pride be stung, Gaw. There are four of them, and one of you. You’ve performed well, and your rigorous defense of our territory is appreciated. Just, next time perhaps take some extra time to observe intruders to confirm their identity, and if there’s too many of them, come inform me first. Or don’t hold back and use your full power from the get go. You didn’t even release your Zanpaktou.”

Gaw scratched her head, looking at her sword, “Forgot about sword release. Not used to it yet.”

Di Roy sighed, shaking his head, “Figures. You see, Gaw, this is why you need me around to look out for you so you-Gaaah! Enough with the biting already!”

“I’m confused,” said Megalon, raising a drill hand like a student in class, “Are we still fighting or what?”

X shot a questioning look at Adagio, and she looked back contemplatively, tapping a slim finger on her chin.

“How does this sound? We’ll shelve hostilities for now, and I’ll formally invite you to come be guests in my territory. Since no one else seems to have noticed you’re here, you shouldn’t need to worry about any other Arrancar attacking you. And if any do find out you’re here, I can claim you as my guests and under my protection, at least for the time being. Not so certain how well that will play out with my fellow Espada, but I’m intrigued enough by you four that I’ll take the gamble.”

“And what exactly must we do in exchange for this hospitality?” inquired X.

“Simply answer more questions, and possibly listen to a proposal I might have. As long as you give me your word not to attack any of my people, I’ll ensure you’re treated fairly...” Her eyes narrowed then, and she gestured out at the rest of the vast interior of this fortress, Las Noches.

“Just understand that if you refuse my offer, even if you did get past me and my vassals, there’s many, many more like us out there. Some of them quite a bit more powerful than I am, and significantly less reasonable towards intruders on their turf.”

All things considered, X decided it wasn’t such a bad offer.

Half an hour later X and his companions found themselves enjoying modest, yet surprisingly homey, accommodations in one of the many chambers filling the wide interior of the stone wall that encased Las Noches. It was hard to appreciate the wall’s scale until one was walking through its wide halls, some as wide as five to ten meters, with ceilings tall enough that even someone twice X’s height would have headroom to spare. The old, sterile stone walls, combined with the size, gave X a familiar sense of the temple in Zenith, although the room they were in now was much warmer and smaller scale than anything there.

It was essentially a combination of recreation room, lounge, and bar. It was packed with simple yet comfortable furniture that clashed with the rough stone walls, but still made the place feel shockingly welcoming. A pool table and dart board sat in one corner of the room, while another wall was occupied by a dark bar table and several shelves and cabinets of drinking classes and alcohol. Several coolers and a fridge filled up a nook on the right side of the room. Across from the numerous plush chairs and couches filled up the center area, the far wall had a stereo system and large screened TV set up, with an entertaining center lined with devices and a generous shelf of movies.

Not exactly what X had imagined from the meeting place of one of Las Noche’s warlords, or ‘Espada’ as he now understood them.

“So there’s ten of you,” he was confirming with Adagio, ignoring the drink she’d placed in front of him on the bar table. She seemed to enjoy playing host, pouring drinks herself while allowing the Dark Hunters to get comfortable. Di Roy, having taken a detour to put some clothes on, had dropped any aggression and was now showing off the movie collection to Megalon, who looked absolutely giddy.

Irys and Gigan were both occupying one of the couches, Irys watching Megalon, while Gigan kept an eye on the door. Gaw wasn’t present, Adagio having sent her to go see someone named ‘Roka’ to get her injuries looked at and apparently inform the rest of Adagio’s people as to the cause of the disturbance.

“Ten, yes,” Adagio said, leaning against the bar in a casual manner, “Ranked in terms of power, with the Tenth as the weakest, and the First as the strongest and unchallenged ruler of Hollow-kind.”

“And what rank are you, among these Espada?” X asked pointedly, but she just smirked.

“Ah ah ah, I answered one question, now it’s your turn. This is an exchange, after all, and a lady needs to have her due. You and your friends, you look mostly human, at yet I’m guessing you’re not. So what exactly are you?”

X had been expecting the question. After all, it was a fairly basic one, and if he’d been in Adagio’s position it would be among the first he’d want to know. Of course how to respond wasn’t quite as simple as just outright explaining it. X and each of the Dark Hunters had their own unique origins, and weren’t even in their natural forms currently. He also didn’t want to give too much away. Adagio may have been acting pleasant enough in hosting them, but X was well aware that this hospitality could be retracted in an instant and they’d go right back to their previous standoff.

He chose his words carefully, “You’re correct that we’re not human, although the portal that brought us here altered our forms.”

“Why is that?”

He frowned, partially because he didn’t fully understand the reasons himself, “It has something to do with the way the barriers between realities works. I don’t understand the particulars, only that our natural forms can’t be taken without a massive influx of energy once we pass through a foreign reality's barrier.”

“I suppose it’s not the first time I’ve seen portals force those entering them to assume new forms,” Adagio commented, likely form personal experience, X guessed. He wondered how much of this Adagio’s personal history mirrored that of the siren he knew. It was impossible for him to avoid wondering where Adagio’s kin were, Sonata and Aria.

He wasn’t about to ask, however, but Adagio didn’t give him time to contemplate much anyway.

“So what exactly are your natural forms?”

“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?” He riposted, arching an eyebrow. Adagio smiled coyly, seemingly pleased as she nodded at him.

“Of course.”

“What exactly are Arrancar? Like us, you look human, but clearly are not.”

“The simplest way I can answer that is that we’re an evolution of Hollows, which are for lack of a better description, what happens when a deceased soul becomes transformed by either negative emotion, or certain... unpleasant circumstances.”

“Wait did I just hear that right?” spoke up Gigan as he tilted his head towards them, turning over on the couch, “Deceased souls? As in, ghosts?”

Irys had perked up as well, looking equal parts intrigued and confused. Megalon was too busy picking over Di Roy’s movie collection to have heard anything, and the pair were discussing the comparative pros and cons between Schwarzenegger and Stallone films.

Adagio shrugged, as if the notion wasn’t that big of a deal, “Use whatever term suits you. Each Hollow is a soul that once lived, died, and became as we are through various means. Usually by dying under less than pleasant circumstances, but numerous ways exist. I myself became one because I... needed to. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?”

“Wait, so if Hollows are departed souls,” said X in a musing tone, “Then where are we? This world isn’t a physical one?”

“Asking more questions past your turn, but I’ll indulge you this once,” Adagio said with a light laugh, “Hueco Mundo is a spiritual realm. An afterlife, I suppose you could call it. One where Hollows naturally dwell. Now from what I understand, living beings can’t survive here for very long without some means of protecting themselves from being drained by this realm’s very essence. The fact that none of you seem to be experiencing any ill effects from Hueco Mundo is quite interesting, suggesting either incredible lifeforce, or some other manner of energy is protecting you.”

That was a lot to take in all at once, and X heard Irys give a sharp intake of breath. He recalled she said something felt wrong about this realm, and he immediately considered the possibility that this draining that Adagio mentioned might be affecting them. Yet he didn’t feel even remotely weakened. If a drain of some sort was happening to them, it must be so slow as to be imperceptible. That or Adagio’s theory was correct and their lifeforce was strong enough to endure in this realm.

A spiritual realm. It was hard for X to wrap his head around. Matters of the spiritual were as far from his day to day thinking as it got. He was solely focused on the here and now, and had given no thought at all to the idea of an afterlife. Was this Hueco Mundo unique to this world, or was it like this in every world?

Strangely, despite the existential abyss that lay before him, his thoughts rapidly turned to Sonata and especially Aria. Were they dead in this realm as well? He knew it was illogical but there was a tightening in X’s chest, all the same. He didn’t even know this world’s Aria. His Aria was safe and sound in her own reality. He held onto that thought and pushed away the rest of his darkening thoughts.

“Look,” Adagio said, her eyes focused on him rather intently for a moment before sweeping across the other three Dark Hunters, “As much as we could spend hours asking each other questions, I feel as if it dances around the real thing we should be discussing. Which is what am I to do with you four?”

“Do with us?” Irys said, “I thought you said we were guests here.”

“For now, yes,” Adagio replied coolly, coming around the side of the bar with sinuous, smooth steps, “But eventually one or more of my fellow Espada are going to discover you’re here, and I’ll have to answer to them concerning who you are and why I haven’t simply done away with you. Now I am a very reasonable woman, and don’t particularly desire for that impasse to arrive, so let me make a guess and you tell me how right I am. You wouldn’t have come here without a means of returning to where you came from, correct?”

The others looked to X, who answered the question with a carefully neutral monotone, “Correct. We were given seven days to complete our explorations of this world, upon which we’re to return to the location the portal opened the first time. Our... benefactor will open a portal then for our return trip.”

Adagio made a thoughtful ‘hmm’ noise, pursing her lips, “Seven days. That should be enough. How about we make a deal? You want information on this world? Fine, I can provide you with more than you’d ever learn by trying to skulk around Las Noches. It won’t be anything too compromising for me, and quite frankly I don’t much care what your ‘benefactor’ does with it. It might even end up helping me in the long run.”

“I said our intentions weren’t hostile,” X said, but Adagio waved him off.

“Yours might not be, but that says nothing about who you’re working for. As I said, I don’t really care. If your benefactor ends up causing trouble, it could still be useful to me down the road. You see, I have no intention of remaining contently as I am. I have my sights set upon shaking up Hueco Mundo’s status quo. To that end, outsider interference isn’t the worst possible result. More to the point, in exchange for the information I’d give you, I’d like you four to help me with a little job.”

Gigan grimaced at this, clearly not enthused with the idea, and he looked to X, “I’m not liking the sound of this. We were sent here to info gather, not get mixed up with local politics and power plays.”

“If we refused, what would you do?” inquired X, not ignoring his friend, but wary of immediately refusing. Adagio still held more cards than they did, simply due to this being her home turf. Plus, even if they managed to escape her and her servants, they were still woefully ignorant of this realm and its connected worlds. Adagio was offering to give them far more information than they’d be able to collect on their own.

“Oh,” said Adagio off handedly, examining her nails, “I don’t imagine I’d have to do much of anything. You’d be free to go your merry way. Of course, as I said, I doubt you’d be able to learn much more trying to sneak around Las Noches. Then there’s the consideration that if you were caught by another Espada, you’d be quite hard pressed to talk your way out of trouble. As I mentioned before, none of them are as reasonable as I am, and some of them are both more powerful than I, and command actual hordes of hundreds of warriors. If your caught, how do you intend to survive? Your only option, if you refuse my offer, is to sneak back out with what paltry information you have now, and hope your benefactor is satisfied with your performance. Do you think they will be?”

X had to hand it to her, she had excellent points, all around. Their master wouldn't likely be pleased that they gave up and ran because the danger seemed to great to risk further recon. Yet X’s first duty was to the safety of his team, and he’d seen enough of Arrancar to know that while they could take on a few of them, a whole horde, led by one stronger than Adagio seemed, was too tall an order without being able to assume their true kaiju forms.

He looked at Gigan, and saw the resignation on his friend’s face as Gigan worked through the same logic chain X just had. Irys still looked worried, but there was trust in her eyes as she nodded at X. She’d trust him to make the right call, whatever it turned out to be. Megalon finally noticed the tension in the room and had turned his attention to them.

“Huh? We doing something? What’d I miss?” Megalon asked, and X couldn’t help but smile a bit. Megalon’s obliviousness was, at times, a great comfort.

“What precisely did you have in mind for this job?” he asked Adagio.

Chapter 4: Journey West

Episode 4: Journey West

Slick Deal’s Used Cars was what one might consider a less reputable dealership in Canterlot City, but that didn’t stop it from having the largest stock of vehicles in town. The overstuffed lot was just outside the downtown area, in that vague belt of city that wasn’t quite suburbs and wasn’t quite downtown.

The lot was quiet and near deserted, business being slow on a Sunday. Even if it had been incredibly busy, its not as if anyone would have seen the opening of the Garganta portal. It formed the way a mouth might open, with tears in the air like the separation of teeth into a cavernous maw. Beyond the portal’s entrance was pure darkness, a void between realms. The only method of crossing the voice was to create a bridge out of spirit particles, solid enough for even normal people to stand on. In this case, it was Di Roy making the bridge, allowing his two accomplices to cross with him and exit the portal into the used card lot.

“Should be around here somewhere,” Di Roy was saying, swiftly giving the lot of tightly parked cars a once over. His eyes lit up as soon as he spied his target, “There! That’s the beauty we’re after.”

X gave the vehicle in question a dubious look, but turned to Gigan and said, “Assessment?”

Gigan, more tech savvy than X by an order of magnitude, let his scanners rove over the indicated conveyance and gave a quick rundown as data streamed across his vision, “According to the readings it’s called a ‘Toyota Land Cruiser’. Tech is primitive by my standards, but the thing looks rugged enough. Not going to choke out on sand. We pack enough gas, and we’ll be fine.”

X trusted Gigan’s word and gave a nod, “Then let’s get this back through the portal before we’re spotted.”

Di Roy looked positively giddy as he cavorted over to the Land Cruiser, “Awesome! I’ve been bugging Adagio about getting one of these, but she’s all like ‘it doesn’t have any practical use for us’, as if I need practicality to be involved in my driving this baby over a few sand dunes.”

As Di Roy grabbed one end of the big, four door cruiser, X and Gigan got the other end, and the three of them literally lifted and began hauling the Land Cruiser towards the still open Garganta portal. To onlookers it would seem like the action required no more effort of the trio to move the multi-ton Land Cruiser than it take a group of normal people to move a couch.

“Strictly speaking your Espada has a point that this vehicle is frivolous if your species can just make portals to wherever you want to go,” pointed out X.

“Well, Garganta have limits. You have to already know more or less where you’re going, and they can be a bit too draining for trying to use them for long distance travel. For our purposes, something like this is just what the doctor ordered. Assuming your buddies can get the gas without blowing up the gas station.”

“I think Irys and Megalon can handle the complex task of putting gas in a can,” Gigan said flatly, “I’m more concerned whether that violent nutjob you sent with them isn’t going to cause trouble.”

“Gaw? Naaaaah, she’s fine. She might have a bit of a hair trigger in the temper department, but now that you guys are cool with Adagio, then you’re cool with the rest of us. I’m sure they’re doing just fine.”

Half of the gas station was on fire, the other half being sprinkled with copious amounts of water from a broken fire hydrant. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the spectacle had certainly drawn a crowd, many of them armed with cell phones to take video or pictures of the chaos.

Despite the presence of both the fire department and police, no one was able to get a clear story from the witnesses as to what exactly had happened, or why an ice cream truck was totaled and flipped into one of the gas pumps. The convenience store clerk running the adjoining store attached to the gas station could only stammer about a ‘crazy albino lady’ and a ‘madman with drill hands’ and how they breezed into the store and hauled out enough junk food to kill an elephant, all of two minutes before a nearby parked ice cream truck (apparently the driver was using the convenience store restroom) floated up into the air on its own and proceeded to smash into the gas pump, leading to the fire.

Then, trying to put the fire out, the one with the ‘drill hands’ broke a fire hydrant and directed the water at the fire, and then quickly got hauled away by his companion until they vanished into thin air.

The police had no idea what to make of the incident, but it was generally agreed that this wasn’t the strangest thing to happen in Canterlot City of late.

Meanwhile, tired, wet, and disheveled, the trio of Irys, Megalon, an Gaw were crossing over the Garganta void back to Hueco Mundo. They carried a full haul of convenience store junk food and drinks, along with a full, plastic red can of gas apiece. Luckily they’d acquired the gas first before Irys had hit upon the idea of padding out their food supplies in the convenience store. It was only after she and Megalon had started grabbing what they could from inside the store that things had gone awry outside, with Gaw throwing the ice cream truck.

“You saw a lizard?” Irys confirmed, trying to grasp what the insane, short, red headed Arrancar was saying.

“Yes,” Gaw confirmed, as if it was a perfectly reasonable excuse for her reaction, “So I threw biggest thing I could at it.”

“...Why?”

Gaw just stared at Irys, “I don’t like lizards.”

“Makes sense to me,” said Megalon, digging into the bags of food he’d nabbed, “Oh, sweet, Funyuns!”

Irys just shook her head, “Does the phrase ‘impulse control’ mean anything to you, Gaw?”

“No.”

A resigned sigh escaped Irys, “I can tell this mission is just going to go so swimmingly.”

Gaw shuddered, “Don’t say ‘swim’. I don’t like water.”

“What do you like?” asked Irys, more out of exasperation than any real desire to know.

Gaw appeared to give the question serious consideration for a moment, using her fingers to count, one at a time, “Hunting... eating... sleeping... those things.”

“Oh hey, I like two of those!” Megalon piped in around a mouthful of Funyuns. Just how he was balancing eating those while still carrying everything else was a bit of a mystery, but where there was a will (or a Megalon), there was a way. He even offered the bag to Gaw with a sunny grin, “Want some?”

Gaw paused, sniffing at the bag experimentally. Her own experience with food consisting of devouring lesser Hollows, for the most part. Di Roy had an obsession with human food, but was generally too greedy to share. This strange brown one seemed quite oddly harmless to Gaw, despite her remembering quite clearly how hard he could hit, and how stoutly he could take a hit. They’d been enemies all of half a day ago, now he was offering food? Very odd.

As the human morsels didn’t smell bad, Gaw snatched a handful and munched on them, surprised at the flavor.

“Good, right?” Megalon said, still grinning.

Gaw gave a grunt of approval, then proceeded to resume leading the pair back across the bridge of spirit particles to the opposite side of the Garganta portal. Irys gave Megalon a sidelong look.

“Do you have any beef jerky in that bag?”

A short time later the group was gathered together in a wide tunnel that ran underneath Las Noches, connected to the chambers that consisted of Adagio’s territory. X had had several questions for his compatriots upon Irys and Megalon’s return from their own supply run, given their somewhat soaked state, but upon hearing what had happened chalked it up to ‘unforeseen circumstances’. As long as none of the team was injured, a little mishap or two was acceptable. He was less pleased that this Gaw was so impulsive, which normally he wouldn’t care about only Adagio insisted Gaw and Di Roy both accompany him and his team on this ‘job’ she wanted them to do.

The acquisition of the vehicle and extra food supplies were in preparation for the task, which they were just about to head out on. As Gigan and Di Roy worked together to gas up the Land Cruiser and load the supplies into the back of it, Adagio was standing with X at the mouth of the tunnel. The tunnel turned up sharply here, leading to a small surface entrance to the desert. If one didn’t know where to look for it the entrance would be all but invisible at surface level.

“To confirm precisely what it is you expect of us, you want us to find the location of at least one or two of these ‘Privaron’ Espada,” X was saying, making sure he understood exactly what Adagio was asking of them. He didn’t want to leave any details of the task unclear, as the success of his team’s mission to their master was riding on them satisfying Adagio’s conditions.

“Even discovering where one is keeping themselves hidden would be of use to me,” Adagio confirmed, leaning casually on her trident, “The Privaron Espada were all once members of the Ten Espada, but at one time or another lost their positions, or simply chose to leave Las Noches in defiance of Lord Tirek’s rule.”

Tirek, from what X understood, was the true master of Las Noches and all of the Arrancar. Adagio had briefly described the man as a crimson skinned giant who wielded immense spiritual power. Apparently he’d tested her when she’d made her claim to the rank of Espada, and the ‘test’ had essentially simply been Adagio having to remain standing in his presence as he exuded his power in a crushing aura. Even if X hadn’t been good at reading others, it was easy enough to see that Adagio was disturbed by the memory of the experience.

“Of course, because they could be seen as threats to Lord Tirek’s rule, they keep their own territory’s far from Las Noches. This realm is as large as an entire world, so I hardly expect you to find more than one or two in the span of just one week, but discovering even a few hints as to where some may be hiding would be invaluable information.”

“You’re intentions are to overthrow this Tirek, then?” X asked in faint curiosity.

Adagio let out a small, chiming laugh, “Time will tell. He’s not the worst ruler I’ve seen, but I am not thrilled with the way he’s handling affairs with our rival factions, and quite frankly this dreary place could do with a lady’s touch. Suffice to say, whatever move I eventually make, I want as many allies as I can muster, and the Privaron Espada would already have reason to desire seeing a regime change around here.”

“I believe I understand. If we’re to return in time for us to make our own trip back to our world we’ll need every moment of time we can manage. As soon as the vehicle is ready, we’ll depart.”

“I look forward to hearing of what you find out there. I’ve instructed Gaw and Di Roy to follow your lead in this task, and to treat your instructions as if they come from me.”

X nodded his gratitude, “A clear chain of command is preferable, yes.”

Abruptly a quiet yet strong feminine voice spoke, “I hope, then, there is room for one more under that chain of command?”

X turned to see two figures approaching from deeper in the tunnel, his eyes narrowing slightly. One he didn’t recognize, although she was the speaker. She was clearly an Arrancar from the smooth skull mask that covered the right side of her face, her left features that of a plain yet kind and almost matronly young woman with short black hair and dark eyes. She wore sooty dark robes that gave little of her figure away, although there was an impression of a thin, reedy frame.

What caught X’s eye, however, was the other girl approaching alongside the other one. She wore the same dark robes, but had a fire orange complexion and distinctive red and orange striped hair, complemented by intense teal blue eyes. X had little knowledge of Sunset Shimmer besides the fact that Irys had befriended the version of the human girl that lived in his Aria’s reality. This Sunset Shimmer appeared human as well. He saw no features suggestion this girl was an Arrancar, at least.

The others had noticed the approach of these two as well, Gigan raising a slight eyebrow but otherwise offering no hint he recognized Sunset Shimmer, while Megalon briefly looked confused, then resumed snacking on a bag of chocolate pretzels while loading up the rest of the snacks into the cruiser. Irys on the other hand made a slight strangled noise as he eyes went wide, but X caught her eye and briefly shook his head at her. This wasn’t the Sunset that Irys knew, best not to complicate matters by saying anything.

Irys gulped and swallowed whatever exclamation she was going to make, but made a poor job of hiding the way she stared sidelong at this Sunset Shimmer as she walked by with her Arrancar companion.

The Sunset look alike paused, noticing Irys’ stare.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Irys said, clearly trying to look anywhere other than at the girl.

“She’s just curious that you’re human,” X provided as a quick and simple explanation, “Everyone else we’ve met here so far has been an Arrancar.”

“I get that a lot,” the girl replied, shrugging, “I’m basically the only human resident around here. And you guys are what, visitors from Dimension X?”

X blinked, then shook his head, voice deadpan, “Our home dimension has no name I’m aware of, and it’s not relevant at the moment. Why are you two here? For that matter, who are you two?”

Adagio cleared her throat, stepping forward to extend a hand towards the two girls, “Quick introductions. This is Roka, and her sister Fenice. They’re both the adopted daughters of the Fourth Espada, Lament, and also good friends of mine.” She turned a questioning eye towards the two in question, “And I admit I’m surprised to see you both here. I thought you’d returned to your father’s tower.”

Roka gave a polite nod to both Adagio and X, “Once I tended to Gaw’s injuries we did briefly return home. However I also heard from Di Roy before we left that he and Gaw would be departing with these newcomers on some potentially dangerous mission. Considering how much you’ve come to rely on my healing skills in the past, I thought it might be a good show of friendship and solidarity between yourself and my father if I volunteered my services for this mission. I cannot speak for these visitors from another realm, but Di Roy and Gaw have an unfortunate habit of getting themselves injured. Given the children are so fond of both of them I’d hate to allow anything untoward to occur to them out in the wilds of Heuco Mundo. So I asked Father to grant me permission to accompany them.”

A look of incredulity passed over Adagio’s face, “And Lament said yes?”

“...After some convincing,” Roka said cryptically, smiling softly.

Adagio glanced at Fenice, who sighed, “I wanted to go, but Father insisted at least one of us stay behind to watch the rugrats. So I’m just here to see my sis off.” She crossed her arms and fixed X with a solid look, “Not to mention warn you all that you’d better keep her safe out there, otherwise we’re having words.”

Roka quickly cleared her throat, “My sister worries, but I assure you I am quite capable of looking after myself. I won’t slow the team down or get in the way, and I will follow Mister X’s instructions in the field.”

“Just X,” he said, giving Roka a measuring gaze, “You’re a medical specialist?”

“Indeed. I make no boast when I say I am quite experienced in treating severe injuries. I am also a competent enough fighter to pull my own weight in a conflict.”

“She took on a Sternritter by herself,” Fenice said, and Roka let out a small laugh.

“I doubt X and his companions are aware of what a Sternritter is, and I hardly consider that my finest feat, given despite my best efforts I was still soundly defeated without doing more than slow the Sternritter down. I merely mean to say that I won’t be a liability in battle.”

X considered for a moment. As Roka said, he had no idea what a ‘Sternritter’ was, although by context he could infer it was some manner of elite enemy. Regardless, if Roka was at least competent in battle and followed orders, he saw no reason to complain. “A field medic would be useful. As long as you agree to follow my commands, then I have no objection to you accompanying us. Adagio?”

“I’m fine with it,” Adagio said, “Although I wish you’d run this by me before springing it like this. Your father might be allowing you to go along, but if you’re hurt out there, he’s going to take it out of my hide.”

“Father and I have an understanding on this matter. If he wants us to broaden our horizons and for me and Fenice to get out more, there will be risks involved. I’ve told him in no uncertain terms not to take it out on you on the off chance something does unfortunate does occur to me,” Roka assured Adagio, who in turn gave a grateful nod.

“Good. Last thing I need is Lament coming after my head. I’ve got enough troubles with Guto, which is a big part of why I can’t go along on this little soiree. I need to maintain my presence here, in case Guto or Gilda decide to make a move,” Adagio said, but her otherwise composed expression softened for a moment, “But do be careful out there, Roka.”

The other Arrancar provided a small smile, “Of course.”

“Hey, not to interrupt the exposition, but the car’s loaded up,” said Gigan, “We can get this party started whenever you’re all ready to hop in.”

“Oh, can I drive!?” Megalon asked, raising a hand.

Irys’, eyes wide, was quick to say, “Do we really have to drive at all?”

Di Roy piped in, “Of course we do! Driving is awesome, and I want to be the one behind the wheel!”

Gigan’s eyes were inscrutable behind his ruby sunglasses as he looked at all of them, his voice firm, “I’m driving. And yes, we have to, because I’m not trying to recon a seemingly endless desert on foot. Not at this size.”

“What I wouldn’t give to be able to fly right now,” grumbled Irys.

“You and me both, now get in the car, and remember to buckle up. I’ve read the manual on this thing, but I make no promises of a smooth ride.”

“Okay, but I call shotgun!” said Megalon, hopping in the front passenger seat, only a moment later saying, “Heeeey, there’s no shotgun in here at all! What a rip off.”

“I know right!?” said Di Roy, “What’s with humans and their false advertising?”

X coughed politely, ignoring the antics as he turned to Adagio, “I believe that’s our cue to depart. We’ll be back in six days.”

“Have fun out there,” Adagio replied with a coy smile lighting her face, “Don’t storm any castles you don’t have to.”

“Ideally no one will even know we’re there,” X said, and went to join his team inside the Land Cruiser, Roka following behind after giving Fenice a quick farewell hug.

While a large vehicle by human standards, the Land Cruiser was still rather cramped with seven occupants and enough food and water to last a six day journey. X sat in the back with Irys and Roka, Irys taking firm hold of the vehicle's roof handle and scrunching up into her seat after triple checking her seat belt. Roka gave Irys a kind smile and said, “Not fond of cars?”

“More like I’m not fond of being in anything going fast when I’m this small and squishy. I’m used to being... bigger,” Irys said with a gulp.

“Well I’m certain Mister Gigan will prove to be a competent driver,” Roka said.

In the middle seats, Gaw and Di Roy sat together, Di Roy trying and failing to get Gaw to put on a seat belt.

“Fine, be that way, but don’t complain to me when you go flying through the front windshield,” Di Roy said, and Irys cringed.

“Can we not have the crash imagery, please? Gigan, are you sure you can drive this thing?”

To this Gigan simply looked at her in the rearview mirror with a slightly raised eyebrow, then proceeded to extend an arm blade, which he used to turn the ignition without the need for a key. The Land Cruiser’s engine roared lustily to life, and Gigan popped it into gear and with very little preamble proceeded to peel out and send the vehicle leaping out of the tunnel at high speed.

As the cruiser hit the sands and charged off into the distance, Adagio and Fenice were left watching, and on the wind they could both hear Irys’ distant scream.

They headed west, at Di Roy’s suggestion.

“Before I ran into Gaw in the Forest of Menos a while back, I wandered around a lot,” Di Roy was saying, leaning his arm against the open windowsill as the wind blew past them, the Land Cruiser eating up the desert miles with ease. “I remember that a few Hollow settlements are that way, and might even know a few guys from the old gang I used to run with that we can question.”

“They going to be cooperative?” asked Gigan, keeping one eye on the desert in front of them, avoiding any steep sand dunes, and the other eye on his internal compass. It wasn’t calibrated quite right for whatever magnetic polls Hueco Mundo was using, but Di Roy knew which way west was, which according to Gigan’s scanner was actually more a south easterly direction, but one stretch of desert looked much like another so he didn’t question the local on that front.

“They’re lesser Hollows,” Di Roy said, as if that explained everything, “Lowest fodder on the food chain around here. Some are just barely animal level smart, while plenty more are as smart as they were when alive. Either way, aside from a few exceptions, most are so weak they’d never dream of tangling with a trio of Arrancar, plus whatever you guys are. Only the dumbest or hungriest might try to pull something, and if we kick their asses, that’ll ensure the others are plenty cooperative. I mean, sure, there might be a few Gillian or Adjuchas-class Hollows out there too, including some the guys I know, but they shouldn’t be that much more trouble for badasses like us.”

“What reason do you have to think they would know anything about the Privaron Espada we’re looking for?” inquired X, absorbing any information he could on Hollows and their society to add to his report once the mission was finished.

“Direct info, I wouldn’t expect jack, but survival out here often doesn’t just go to the fastest or strongest, but the best informed,” said Di Roy, “Hollows eat each other by instinct, but also band together by similar instinct to stay safe via numbers. Hence you get tribes that form. Tribes compete, tribes trade, slaves or food mostly, and they make a point of knowing what territory to avoid. Privaron Espada are powerful enough that even if a local tribe doesn’t know for sure where one’s territory is, they’ll have a good sense of what areas to stay away from. We get info on that, we know which direction to search in.”

“Speaking of food,” Megalon said, his own head hanging out the passenger window, “We stopping for a break soon? We’ve been driving for hours.”

“Yes, stopping would be good,” Irys said, a huddled up white ball in her seat.

Gigan gave X a questioning look, to which he nodded, “A short break. Half an hour to stretch our limbs and eat.”

With that, Gigan took a turn towards one of the only visible terrain features besides more sand; a lone, dead tree standing silent sentinel near the base of a small, crescent shaped dune.

Irys nearly kissed the sand once she was out of the car, but restrained herself and just took a few moments to catch her breath and stretch. Roka, exiting behind her, looked at her with sympathy.

“Not used to human conveyances?”

“Not even a little. Prefer flight. I’ll take walking over being trapped in a metal box moving at high speed.”

“Your comrade at least appears to be a capable driver. I’m sure if you asked him he’d slow down a little.”

“Nah, I don’t want to hold up the mission. Just need to shake off the nerves,” Irys said, giving the ground a frowning look, “Feels like it wouldn’t be that bad, only there’s been something about this Hueco Mundo world that’s got me more on edge than normal.”

Megalon had opened up the back hatch of the cruiser and had pulled out some sodas and bags of chips, “Anybody want snacks? I’m passing ‘em out!”

Roka smiled at Irys, who’d perked up at the mention of food, “Well, I suggest you relax and get something to eat, and perhaps you could tell me more about what’s troubling you?”

Irys gave the Arrancar a slightly wary look, but Roka simply continued to return an open, non-pressuring expression. It had a pain, empathic quality that reminded Irys of Sunset Shimmer. She decided to extend a little trust, and returned the smile, “Okay.”

At Megalon’s call to snacks, Di Roy and Gaw were at him even faster than Irys was. For all her belligerent when she’d attacked them, Gaw seemed completely at ease now that the Dark Hunters were on the short list of allies to the ‘tribe’. She sniffed at the bags of chips in Megalon’s hands, and as he grinned and offered one, she snatched it up in her mouth and retreated several paces to crouch down and tear into it.

“Congrats on getting her to try human food,” Di Roy said, “I’ve been telling her for weeks now that it’s good stuff.”

“I felt like a new cyborg the day I discovered the beauty of junk food. I don’t know why they call it that, it’s always so good!”

Gigan walked by, turning a flat look towards the pair, “That’s because you don’t actually need it for sustenance. Humans eating that junk daily are basically doing the nutritional equivalent of huffing paint.”

“Thank the Soul Queen for cyborg and/or Arrancar superior metabolics then!” said Di Roy as he cracked a soda open and raised it in toast, Megalon doing the same as they bounced the cans off each other then proceeded to chug.

Gigan just stared at them a moment longer then said, “I’m going to go stand watch, just in case.”

“That’s probably for the best,” said X, “We’re still a bit too in the open for my liking.”

“This is Hueco Mundo, dude. Everywhere is in the open,” Di Roy said, sweeping a hand around at the surrounding landscape, “You’ve pretty much gotten the full grand-tour at this point. We’ve got an abundance of sand, anti-social Hollows, more sand, and if you’re super lucky we might find a stone mesas or two, just to break the monotony.”

“It’s so bleak...” Irys said, having taken a seat near the dead tree as she munched on her own chips, but her eyes looked around with a saddened cast to them. “Why do you choose to live here?”

Roka answered for Di Roy, her own voice solemn “We don’t choose it, Irys. This realm was made for us Hollows. Our souls are, in a sense, tied to it. We can leave, certainly, but Hueco Mundo always beckons, calling us home.”

“Kinda an over poetic way to put it,” Di Roy said, shrugging, “Fact is, even if we wanted to make the living world our permanent digs, the Quincy and Soul Reapers would have plenty to say about it. And by ‘say about it’, I mean ‘kill the crap out of us’.”

“Uhhh, ain’t you guys technically already dead?” asked Megalon, “How do you die twice?”

Di Roy smiled sardonically, “Tell me about it. Our afterlife is BS, man.”

“In essence, our ‘spirit bodies’ are no different than living ones,” explained Roka, “The only difference is in the particles making up their forms. Physical bodies are made up of atoms, and spirit bodies made up of reishi, or ‘spirit particles’. But in almost all other ways, the living and the dead are the same. That’s why we still bleed, can eat or drink, have children, all the things living people do.”

“That’s so weird,” Irys said, shaking her head as she tried to wrap her mind around it.

“Makes sense to me,” said Megalon, and Irys chuckled a bit at that.

Meanwhile X had a more contemplative look in his eyes, “You mentioned Quincy and Soul Reapers, and that they’re hostile towards Hollows. What are they, exactly, and why do they consider you enemies?”

The half of Roka’s face that wasn’t covered by an expressionless skull mask turned melancholy, lips drawn down in a sadly contemplative frown, “That has no short, or pleasant, answer to it, I’m afraid.”

“Really?” said Di Roy, “Because I can answer it real freakin’ quick! We Hollows eat souls, so the self-appointed guardians of the ‘balance’ or whatever, that’s the Soul Reapers by the way, get their jollies off hunting us. As for the Quincy, they’re a bunch of uppity humans who think because they figured out some weird spirit alchemy crap that they’ve got the stones to pull off a full-blown Hollow genocide. So far, after centuries of war, neither group has managed to wipe us out yet.”

Roka turned a heavy look towards Di Roy, “It’s hardly that simple. The Soul Reapers believe it is necessary to purify Hollows that run amok in the living world, but it's rare they attempt to strike us here in Hueco Mundo. I believe they still understand our existence is part of this world’s spiritual balance, and that’s part of why they fight the Quincy as much as we do. As for the Quincy, in a way I understand why they hate us. We can’t help our nature, and for the Quincy, it’s simply a matter of destroying what they consider to be monsters. Can you really say we’ve done much to alter that perception?”

Di Roy snorted, looking away with his arms crossed, having nothing to say to that.

Chewing on some beef jerky, Megalon said, “I have no clue what you guys are talking about, but the mood just went way south.”

Next to him, Gaw had grabbed her own stick of jerky and was making short work of it, grunting agreement between bites. “They just talk pointless stuff. No need to think about it.”

“Oh good,” said Megalon, “I was worried I was missing something important.”

“Just so we’re clear, you eat souls? As in, literally?” Irys asked, eyes showing a fair amount of stark disbelief and more than a little uneasiness. X couldn’t blame her. He found the concept disturbing as well, although he wasn’t inclined to say anything along those lines. He didn’t have to find everything about these Arrancar agreeable in order to work with them and get the mission accomplished.

Given Gigan, who was still easily able to hear the entire conversation even while standing watch up on the dune, hadn’t said a word or reacted at all, this suggested he had similar feelings to X. Weird soul-devouring ghost demons or not, these three were on the same job for now. Professionalism trumped any personal misgivings either of the two pragmatists might have felt.

Irys looked more bothered by what she was hearing, but Roka offered her a tired, sad smile, nodding slowly.

“I won’t deny the truth. Hollows are driven by an instinct to feed upon other souls, whether they be more Hollows like ourselves, or recently departed human souls. It’s the consumption of human souls that the Soul Reapers take umbrage with, but most newborn Hollows have no self control, and many roam the living world until strong enough to come to Hueco Mundo, or are slain by Soul Reapers or Quincy.”

“Unless I was missing it, I didn’t see any human souls being kept for food among your home in Las Noches,” X pointed out, “And you seem quite capable of consuming human food.”

“Arrancar are different,” Roka said, “We’ve evolved far enough that we no longer need to feed on souls. We can still hunger for it, and if we don’t eat, say, a lesser Hollow on occasion, that hunger can affect us. Weaken us. But not kill us. There’s usually enough lesser Hollows roaming Hueco Mundo that our desire to feed is easy to satiate, and since Arrancar retain their full wills and mental faculties, we aren’t driven by instinct as much as our lesser brethren. As for human food, our forms are now close enough to human that we can enjoy the things living humans can. The food just doesn’t act as nourishment, more that it’s just a luxury.”

“That still sounds... awful,” Irys said, a distinct note of shared pain and memory entering her voice, “To be driven to feed like that, even if you don’t necessarily want to. How do you cope with it?”

Di Roy flinched at her words, looking with a grumbling expression at the ground, “Not like we have a choice. Most of us just deal with it and get used to it.

Roka turned knowing eyes towards him before looking back at Irys, “It’s part of what we are. Some of us cope by embracing the inherent monstrousness of it. Others, like myself, choose to find things worth devoting ourselves to that make our bleak situation easier to bear. For me, it’s my family. For one such as Adagio, perhaps its her lofty ambitions. For Di Roy, his at times rude but ever enduring humor. For Gaw, loyalty to her tribe. These things help define us beyond our base instincts and hunger.”

“I think I get what you mean...” Irys said, looking off to someplace very distant in her mind’s eye, “Can’t say I’m that different, either.”

Di Roy made a rough, grunting noise, pacing about with clear agitation.

“Really wish I could hop aboard your optimism train, Roka, I really, honestly do. Just got a sinking suspicion that one day that train is going to meet a hard wall of reality, and I’m not looking forward to seeing the wreak,” he said, and she returned a troubled look, but Di Roy just shook his head and turned his attention to X.

“Anyway, enough of this morose angst. You’ve been asking a lot about us, but what about you four? C’mon, what’s your guys’ story? You spend all your time exploring other worlds for a mysterious benefactor, or is that just a hobby?”

X had been half expecting the conversation to turn in that direction, choosing an evasive answer, “I’m not at liberty to discuss details concerning me and my team’s work.”

“Okay, say that again, but this time really emphasis the bland ‘Agent Smith’ tone, because I think you’ve nearly nailed it,” Di Roy said, chuckling under his breath, “Seriously though, you can’t say anything? Favorite food? Preferred music? Astrological sign?”

“It can’t hurt to tell a little about ourselves, can it?” Irys asked, “We’re working together for now, so as long as we avoid anything sensitive about ‘work’ related stuff, there’s no harm in just talking.”

X considered the matter for a second, weighing the benefits of establishing a better teamwork relationship with their present Hollow companions as opposed to the risk of divulging any information their ‘master’ might consider confidential. Ultimately, as long as nothing concerning Zenith itself was discussed, or recent activities revolving around their missions, there likely wasn’t any harm in it. But X wasn’t exactly one for sharing personal information, either, so he simply said, “Whoever wishes to speak of themselves may do so, but I prefer to keep my silence. Do as you will, just don’t compromise anything.”

With that he leaned against the hook of the cruiser and remained quiet, signaling his intent to keep to himself for the rest of the conversation.

Di Roy laughed again, plopping himself down beside Megalon and Gaw, “He always so taciturn?”

“Oh, he’s way tactical,” Megalon said, “X knows a lot of stuff about fighting, and how to get a group to fight better. That’s why he’s the leader. Wish he’d call out for more combination moves, though. I got an idea for one where he uses his cool gravity stuff to pick up me and bro when we’re all super big like normal, then drop us on top of a bad guys with my drills all going ‘brrrrrrzzz!’ and bro’s chainsaws all like ‘wrrrrrzzzzz!’. I think I’d call it the Ultimate Friendship Bro Bomb, but I’m still workshoping it.”

There was a spark of admiration in Di Roy’s eyes as they lit up, “Combo attacks are how you know your teamwork is on the next level. Hey Gaw, we should develop a combo attack!”

“...No.”

“You see what I’m dealing with here, Megalong?”

“Megalon.”

“Huh, what did I just call you?”

“Megalong.”

“...Pfffthahahahah! You should totally save that for if you ever enter the porn industry!”

“What’s the porn industry?”

Gaw repeated Megalon’s question, tilting her head like a curious cat, “Yes, what is porn?”

Di Roy simply fell into more fits of laughter, while Roka and Irys looked on with equally bemused expressions, and X and Gigan both pointedly tried to ignore the silliness, with their own varying degrees of success.

“I’ll admit, like Di Roy, I’m curious about the four of you,” Roka said to Irys, “You each seem quite different from one another. It seems odd such a team would form from such varied individuals.”

“I guess so. It just sort of happened,” Irys said, sounding a shade wistful, “I’m really lucky it happened to me, at least. I... wasn’t in a good spot, not too long ago. I never thought I’d have people around me I could trust, or care about. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for these guys. Funny thing is, I still don’t really feel like I have control over my life, but as long as I’m with them, I’m not sure that bothers me.”

“But something is troubling you,” Roka said, and it wasn’t a question. Irys glanced at her with a guarded but curious look, and Roka added, “I’m sorry if I’m prying.”

“No, it’s fine. I haven’t really been trying to hide it,” Irys replied, and explained what she’d been feeling ever since she’d arrived in Hueco Mundo, ending with, “It’s like my whole body is having a low-key allergic reaction to this place. Not enough to hurt, but enough to leave me with a constant feeling of ‘I don’t belong here’.”

“Strange. I wonder why your companions aren’t having the same reaction,” Roka mused, and Irys hugged her knees tighter.

“Same here.”

“Has anything happened recently that would... make you different from them?”

Irys gave Roka a sidelong look, “How do you mean?”

Roka picked up some of the powdery white sand from the ground and let the pale grains slip through her fingers in a slow trickle, “Hueco Mundo is a spiritual realm. Everything, from the air to the sand, is made of spirit particles. The only way your body would be reacting to it is if something spiritual had occurred to you, changing your soul in some fundamental manner. Or at least bringing forth an energy that was always present. Unlike your companions, if you were somehow attuned to be sensitive to spiritual energy, then it would make sense you’d feel something while here. Especially if you were extra sensitive to the negative Hollow energy of this world.”

There was really one one possibility that Irys could think of that Roka might be talking about. Even she didn’t understand what had happened to her the day X had transformed into his ‘Kaiser’ personality, and the rest of the Dark Hunters had battled desperately and valiantly to save him from himself. Gigan had come within inches of death in that fight, and Irys, at a critical moment, had awakened to some manner of new power within herself. She didn’t know what it was. She wasn’t even sure she could tap into it again if needed. She just knew ever since that fight there was something different about her, something new that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe it had been, and it was only now awake and active, stimulated into turning on by the battle against Kaiser.

She explained as much to Roka, who looked thoughtfully at Irys with a medical eye, “I see. Whatever this energy is that’s woken up within you is likely reacting to Hueco Mundo’s ambient Hollow reishi. Every bit of sand is infused with at least a small faction of the many billions of Hollows that have dwelled here over the eons.”

“Okay, but is it... harmful? Is this feeling going to get worse?”

“Hmm, you fought Gaw without any noticeable ill-effect, correct?” At Irys’ confirming nod, Rokay continued, “Then it may be nothing to worry about. Gaw would have output quite a bit of Hollow spiritual pressure, or ‘reiatsu’, during your fight. If you felt no noticeable increase in your uneasy feelings during the battle, then its possible this is as intense as it will get.”

“I guess...” Irys said, thinking for a moment, “Although Gaw didn’t actually hit me with anything during the fight, and I was pretty hopped up on adrenaline the whole time. What happens if I do get hit by one of those energy beams you guys can fire off?”

“Cero? Well...” Roka coughed politely, smiling uneasily, “Let’s just try very hard not to find out, okay? I am a medical expert, true, but some wounds are easier to treat than others.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice. I’m all about dodging energy beams,” Irys said with a small half-smile, then frowned and muttered, “Stupid moth with her stupid rianbow-lasers.”

“Hm?”

“Oh, nothing.”

The group continued to enjoy a fairly amicable and peaceful break, but all too soon it was time to get moving again and the seven piled back into the Land Cruiser. The air between the all was noticeable less stiff, and even Irys seemed more at ease as Gigan started up the vehicle's engine and began to drive it across the vast sea of white sand and endlessly rolling dunes. Conversation was light as they traveled, but it was genuine and warm.

As the miles gradually rolled away behind them in a ever widening trail of dust, X mulled over what he’d gleaned from the brief break. After all, one of the reasons he’d readily authorized it was he’d hoped some conversation might reveal more about these new “allies”, and it certainly had.

For aforementioned reasons he discarded any concern over the Arrancar diet of souls. From what he understood, most had evolved to the point of no longer needing to feed in such a manner, a leftover from their earlier days as lesser Hollows. He was more interested in what he could glean about this world and its conflicts, and the personalities of the three Arrancar his team was working with.

He hadn’t missed a mention of some “Soul Queen”, and given how Di Roy had referred to her, if she was real, then she was an entity of likely vast power. No doubt his master would be interested in that. As for these Soul Reapers and Quincy, the information he had so far was limited, but if they were strong enough to rival the Hollow faction then they must have potent heavy hitters on par with the Arrancar Espada. Possibly problematic in the future, depending on how his master wished for them to interact with those factions, if at all, when the time came.

Finally, these three. Roka appeared calm minded and emphatic towards others. Made sense, given her medical focus. She and Irys appeared to be establishing trust rather quickly, which was good as far as X was concerned for the mission’s success. Di Roy was harder to judge. Somewhat practical, but with a sarcastic, cynical bent that could get tiresome. Still, for all his joking, X suspected Di Roy wasn’t as dumb as he might pretend to be, the way he steered the conversation back to the Dark Hunters. He was fishing for information, the same as X was. He was worth keeping an eye on. As for Gaw... she struck X as a simple sort, much like Megalon. None of the Dark Hunters would ever consider Megalon stupid, and only the truly foolish would underestimate him, but Megalon was a straightforward, simple soul. As far as X could tell, Gaw was much the same. More prone to violence and aggression, but equally simple in her thinking and actions. She was an enemy when she thought the Dark Hunters as nothing more than intruders, and now that Gaw’s leader had declared otherwise, there wasn’t a hint of aggression towards them from the short, feisty redhead. Just towards Di Roy. X still couldn’t figure what that was about, but as long as their bickering didn’t get in the way of the mission, he didn’t care.

Overall he gauged them as competent allies for the time being. Only time would tell if that assessment proved true.

Chapter 5: Battle at Forlorn Ridge

Episode 5: Battle of Forlorn Ridge

With no sun to mark the passage of time, they were reliant on the internal chronometers Gigan and Megalon possessed to know just how much time had passed since they’d begun driving west. As such, X knew it was sometime around early morning the day after they’d departed Las Noches, after covering easily around four hundred miles of the same, bleak and soul-draining featureless territory that they finally came across their first ‘settlement’.

X was not particularly impressed.

A ridge of black, barren rock rose from the sands in a slowly curving line about half a mile across and at most thirty feet high at its tallest point. A steady wind was sweeping sand off the ridge in a slow but ever present white mist. Within the rock ridge, small dwellings have been crudely carved, showing simple openings at ground level, and a smattering of ‘windows’ higher up. X estimated there were four or five dozen such ‘homes’ carved into the rock, large enough to constitute a small town of a few hundred souls.

“Don’t let it fool you,” Di Roy said, as if reading X’s thoughts as they observed the Hollow settlement from some distance off, “That’s just the surface. There’ll be more caves and tunnels below, enough for a good chunk of Hollows to live in. Last time I came by Forlorn Ridge, there was maybe a thousand poor buggers living here. Might be less now, after the big fight with the Quincy, but there’s still probably a lot there.”

“Why is it called Forlorn Ridge?” asked Irys.

“At a guess, because it’s a ridge, and nobody actually wants to be there,” Gigan said, and Di Roy pointed a finger at the cyborg.

“Captain Deadpan got it in one. Honestly nobody who lives there calls it that, it’s just what everybody else does. Anyway, I know the dude who was in charge there last time I was in the area. That said, that was a while ago, as in, not quite a century, but upwards in the double digit numbers. So the last ‘chief’ might’ve been eaten by now, or axed by a Quincy or Soul Reaper at some point. If he’s here, that might make talks easier, even if he doesn’t like me very much.”

“How do you suggest we approach?” asked X, preferring to defer to the one with native knowledge rather than make his own assumptions.

“Openly, bodly,” Di Roy said, “The lesser Hollows with dumber, weaker wills are going to smell us and want a bite, but as long as we give them a proper power display and make it clear we are not to be screwed with, they’ll be cowed and we can start asking questions.”

Gaw gave an eager grow, flexing her clawed hands, “Kill a few, make good display?”

“Hey, let’s ease up,” said Irys, “If there’s no reason to fight, let’s avoid it. Maybe just blast a few hunks of rock to make it obvious we’re not easy prey, eh?”

Gaw made a rough, barking grunt at that, but no further comment. She wasn’t the one in charge, X was, and hence the call was his to make. Megalon was surveying the ridge as well, shading his eyes despite the entire lack of sunlight in Hueco Mundo, and he cocked his head curiously.

“You know, I’m not seeing anyone around. Shouldn’t there be, like, villagers to go with this village?”

“To be fair, Megalon, it doesn’t really look like Hollows have ‘daily tasks’ or anything that’d keep them busy, so maybe they’re all indoors?” suggested Irys.

“She’s correct,” said Roka, “Although it is a bit odd there isn’t at least a lookout in view, most Hollows don’t do much other than rove around, or remain underground. There’d be hunting parties out, but we wouldn’t see them. Anyone remaining behind would likely just stay inside, as to keep the settlement as low a profile as possible. Visitors are rarely ever a good thing in Hollow society.”

“Hence our cheery welcoming party when Gaw found us,” Gigan commenty dryly, “Okay boss, what’s our move?”

X considered a moment longer, then said, “We approach openly. If things begin to take a hostile turn we give the locals a taste of what we can do. Hopefully that will make them more agreeable to conversation.”

“And if it doesn’t?” asked Irys.

“We give them more than a taste,” X said with a firm tone, although he did prefer it didn’t come to that.

To keep the Land Cruiser out of the line of fire in case hostilities did occur, the group left the vehicle behind a dune a fair distance away and approached the settlement on foot. Forlorn Ridge didn’t look any more impressive from up close than it had from a distance, it’s carved openings and windows in fact looking even cruder now that X could get a better look at them. It was clear Hollows, at least of a ‘lesser’ variety, were neither engineers nor artists. He did inwardly confess to some small curiosity, however. He’d seen Arrancar, which were apparently at the top of the Hollow evolutionary chain, but he’d yet to see what a ‘lesser’ Hollow looked like.

It didn’t take long for that to be rectified. Before the approaching party got within a football field’s length of the ridge, forms began to emerge from the darkened openings in the pale rock. As X and the others got closer, these indistinct forms became the outlines of dozens of creatures, amassing in a loose pack. X studied them carefully, eyes absorbing every detail.

The Hollows were far more varied than he’d imagined from looking at the Arrancar. While the Arrancar all bore a distinctly human appearance, the ‘lesser’ Hollows were chimeric creatures whose forms were significantly more varied in appearance. He saw some that were thick-limbed, humanoid brutes akin to some puffed up ape. Others had more reptilian shapes, with claws, tails, and reverse jointed legs, some with more than one pair. Others still took on insectile shapes, with many spindly, moving legs, or large, curving claws and grasping pincers. More still took to the air, a new tactical consideration that X mentally cataloged as at least eight or nine Hollows spread wings in the shape of birds, bats, or insects and rose into the dark sky above.

The only traits shared universally between each member of the Hollow species, regardless of form, were the gaping ‘Hollow holes’ somewhere on their body, usually the chest, and the stark white ‘masks’ that covered their faces. Those masks had a variety of shapes, much like the bodies of their bearers, with individual details varying wildly between each Hollow, but all were the same universally bleached white color, and showed little of the ‘face’ that might lurk beneath them save for holes for glowing yellow eyes and gaping mouths that seemed as versatile as actual mouths.

The vague resemblance X bore to these creatures in his natural form was not lost on him, although he didn’t think much of it other than to note it as an unusual coincidence.

By the time they drew within fifty or so feet from the ridge, a gathering of perhaps three or four scores of Hollows stood to meet them, arranged in a semi-circle. The Hollows let out howling cries, but they weren’t charging, or making any overt attacks yet, although the noise they made set X on edge. There was something haunting and endlessly hungry in those high-pitched, piercing howls, and he could almost taste the hostility in the air.

But there was also fear, little a bitter tang tainting the howls. For all their hostility, these Hollows were afraid, though whether they were afraid of the approaching group of strangers or something else, X didn’t know.

Di Roy, having moved a bit ahead, came to a stop. X and the others did as well, and he turned a glance towards Di Roy.

“What happens now?”

“Just wait a tic. The local ‘chief’ oughta be out in a sec. Was probably waiting to see if we’d just attack first, before showing himself.” Di Roy sucked in a breath and shouted, “Hey! You in there Ilforte, or have you croaked already!?”

A moment later there was a pounding noise as the crowd of Hollows parted and a bulky specimen emerged from the ride’s tallest entrance. This Hollow was a good ten feet or so taller than any of the others, and given the way the others parted for him, there was little doubt he was the local leader. His form was that of a bipedal bull, with incredibly broad shoulders and long hanging arms. His ‘mask’ was entire bull shaped, with swept down horns that ended in narrow points. Strangely, a mane of blonde hair extended from the back of the mask, the only non-Arrancar Hollow present with hair.

This Hollow took a few lumbering steps forward, until he was solidly in front of his ‘horde’ or ‘tribe’, X wasn’t sure what the proper term might be. The bull crossed his thick arms of corded muscle over his wide chest and looked down at Di Roy. For all of it being a rather imperious stance, X noted the nervous look in the Hollow’s almost human eyes.

“Haven’t seen you around these parts in a long time, Di Roy. When you decided to run with Grand Fisher’s gang, figured you’d never show your face around these parts again. And what, now you’ve managed to crawl your way into being an Arrancar? Must be swell, being the Espada’s bootlickers. Which one you serve?”

“Don’t sass me, Ilforte, you know damn well how things work around here,” Di Roy replied sharply, eyes narrowing, “Doesn’t matter which Espada I serve, just as long as you know I’m working for one, and that means you either play ball, or things get uncomfortably messy around here.”

Gaw was still flexing her claws, and licked her lips then as well, “I not mind messy, if that’s how things go.”

Ilforte glanced at the diminutive Arrancar, then slowly looked over the others as well, giving special attention to X and the other Dark Hunters, “What’s with these four? They’re not Hollows. They smell... almost human.”

“Never you mind them,” Di Roy said, “Whatever they ‘smell’ like, they’re not squishy, and if you or your people try anything you’ll find out real fast that they’re not to be screwed with. Now, we’re not here to bother you lot with anything more than a few questions, so what do you say we cut the posturing and you just cooperate, eh?”

For a few moments no one spoke. X’s companions were alert and ready for trouble, each one just tense enough to act without looking overtly prepared. Gigan could have been a statue, although X knew the cyborg was scanning the gathered Hollows, likely decided priority targets in case a fight broke out. Irys had her hands at her sides, looking none threatening, but X could see the slight twitch in her throat that said she was preparing the energies for a sonic ray. Megalon was looking more at the ridge’s architecture than the Hollows, seemingly at ease, but X didn’t doubt he was similarly ready to jump into action.

Fortunately it didn’t appear to be necessary, as the large Hollow, Ilforte, blew out a snort of air from his nostrils and said, “You’ve always been such a damn punk, Di Roy. Never did like you. But yeah, I ‘get it’, so what do you damn well want, exactly? We’ve gone out our way to keep off the Espada’s radar, and not cause any trouble. We don’t poach their hunting grounds, we don’t join up with any Privarons, and we sure as hell don’t cause trouble, so what does an Espada even want with us?”

“Nothing, other than like I said, we just want to ask a few questions. We’ve got a mission to complete, and need info, and given Forlorn Ridge is the first spot out west that actually does any trading with the settlements in the deep desert, I figured you’d hear the skinny on anything... unusual going on out that way. Specifically anything concerning the current territories of any Privaron Espada.”

Ilforte swore profusely for a few seconds, shaking his bull-head, “Goddamnit Di Roy, I just said we don’t want to deal with any Privaron! They stay out of Las Noche’s eye for a reason. They don’t come this close to the fortress anyway.”

“I know that, but people you trade with do have contact with them, and I and my lovely friends here want to know where those folk might come from,” Di Roy explained, “All you need to do is give us a direction, nice and simple.”

“I... can’t do that,” Ilforte said, and X noticed that the Hollow’s uneasiness increased tenfold, his thick hands grasping nervously. The feeling of fear in the air only increased. He also noticed a gesture from Gigan, a subtle tilt of his hands towards the upper window-like openings on the ridge. For a moment X saw movement there, and he returned to Gigan an equally small gesture to acknowledged he’d seen the movement.

Meanwhile Di Roy seemed taken a bit aback by how growingly uneasy Ilforte was acting and glanced at X. In response X gave Di Roy a small nod and stepped forward, meeting Ilforte’s unnerved gaze with his own steady, arresting look. “You’re afraid of something. Tell us what, and I give you my word we shall trouble you and yours no longer.”

“And who are you that I’m supposed to believe your word, just like that?”

As they spoke, Gigan had used another couple of small and barely noticeable hand signals to get Irys and Megalon’s attention, alerting them to the potential of other enemies in the area. It was a testament to how well they knew each other and worked together that the other pair of Dark Hunters easily picked up on the signals and carefully shifted their stances, preparing to move, even as X responded to Ilforte.

“My name would mean nothing to you, but right now I and my companions are the only chance you have, if there’s something, or someone who’s threatening you and your people. So ask yourself this; can you afford not to believe me?”

“It’s not that simple,” Ilforte said through clenched teeth, his voice lowering to a point that even X had to strain a little to hear him, “They’re already here. If you don't leave, now, they'll probably attack. They might do it anyway, since Di Roy crowed about you all working for the Espada."

"Waitasec," Di Roy cut in, "Who's they?"

X glanced at him briefly, but then scanned the ridge itself, looking towards the dark openings that acted as windows into the stone. Was that shadowy movement he saw, there?

Just a minute earlier...

Keeping all but a sliver of herself hidden, the young Arrancar with bright red hair edged her face just enough past the opening that gave her a view of the area in front of the settlement. Out there she could see Illforte and his Hollows speaking with the seven strangers. Her heart was hammering and she cast a look towards another young female Arrancar, all but identical to herself, save for the blue hair.

"Yin, we have to do something, now!" she whispered.

"But the Captain hasn't given any orders, Yang," the other replied, "And she and Grubber are still in the tunnels."

"You heard the shark looking guy," Yang hissed, her hand going to the hilt of a blade sheathed through a sharp, tooth shaped hair ornament of white bone, "They're Espada lackeys. They must be here looking for us! And Illforte's blabbing to them! If we don't act now, our cover will be blown, and we'd have let the Captain down!"

Yin's eyes narrowed, and she nodded with a grim set to her face, also drawing her weapon, "Good point. I'll signal the troops. If we hit them before they realize we're here, we can overwhelm them."

Her eyes then twitched and she leaned back away from the window, "Crap, I think one of them might've seen me."

"Then we do this now!"

It wasn’t much warning, but it was warning enough for one as used to warfare as X. He’d already expected the ambush, and his Dark Hunters were ready for it. There’d been no way to signal Di Roy, Gaw, or Roka about the danger without tipping their hand, but the Dark Hunters had accounted for that fact, so when the attack came, X grabbed Di Roy, Irys did the same for Roka, and Megalon deployed his drill arms and leaped in front of Gaw.

X had figured snipers in the windows, but he hadn’t quite known the form the attack would take. From one of the windows on the right of the ridge a streak of what appeared to be small balls of lightning flickered down towards Roka, Irsy tackling her out of the way just in time to avoid the stitching line of electrical attacks. From another window on the left a large bolt of fire descended towards Gaw, but Megalon was already there, swinging his drills arms with enough strength to disperse the projectle of flame, which did little more than slightly heat his drills.

A second later all hell broke loose as a new, larger horde of Hollows came roaring and charging out of the ground openings in the ridge, swarming forward through the mass of local Hollows with zero regard for the natives of Forlorn Ridge, tearing into them in their charge to get at X and the others.

While as varied in appearance as the other lesser Hollows X had seen, these particular Hollows had one thing that set them apart; uniforms. Regardless of body type, each Hollow wore armor consisting of black, interlocking plates of metal, usually covering their chests and shoulders, and sometimes forming greaves for arms and legs. On the chest piece of each set of armor was etched a bright blue symbol that consisted of two sharp edged lines, curving in at a harsh angle and then continuing down, forming a symbol that almost looked like horns or fangs.

Having been ready for the ambush, Irys and Gigan opened fire almost immediately. A thin purple sonic ray cut through three or four of the charging Hollows coming towards Irys, the beam slicing so thinly that the Hollows got two or three steps after being struck before falling in half in geysers of blood. Gigan aimed a carefully targeted eye laser that struck the window where the electrical shots had come from, exploding the window in a shower of rock chunks. Gigan had no way of knowing if he got the sniper until a second later when he saw a pair of electrical balls fly out of another window. Strangely, these balls orbited each other like binary stars, and were connected by an arcing line of electricity, and the pair of balls came flying right at him.

Gigan waited until they got close before diving aside, making an expert roll and coming to his feet an instant later, arm blades snapping out. The electric balls converged on each other then expanded to take the shape of a young Arrancar woman with electric blue hair, skin almost as pale white as Irys’, and wearing form fitting black armor similar to what the attacking Hollow’s wore, also bearing the same horn-like symbol. She carried a weapon in her right hand that looked like a black corded whip extending from a white sword-shaped handle, and tipped with a metal stud at the end, which crackled with sparks of electricity.

“Who’re you bozos supposed to be? Some sort of half-baked Hollow stormtroopers?” Gigan quipped, not expecting an answer but figuring there was nothing lost by baiting for some intel.

Apparently the girl was dumb enough to bite, because she sneered, pulling her whip back to strike as she declared with an clear note of pride, “We serve the Storm King, smartass. You Espada lapdogs about to become intimately familiar with the name, assuming you don’t croak here and now!”

Storm King? That’s both the least original and somehow most pompous name I think I’ve ever heard, Gigan thought as he watched the girl’s oncoming strike carefully. He was no stranger to whip-like weapons. Electricity crackled across the whip as it came at him, but while this girl was fast, Gaw had been faster, and Gigan had already calibrated his combat data to account for that level of speed. He pulled to the side and rushed forward, avoiding the whip as it struck where he’d been standing, making a small explosion of electricity and force, but not hitting the swift cyborg.

“What the-!?” the girl clearly hadn’t been expecting her target to get in her face quite that quickly and only barely blocked the first of Gigan’s arm blades, using her whip and handle to catch the edge of it. She had to spin away from his follow up attack, and even so she came away from it with a shorter haircut and a deep gash on her right cheek, which she was clearly enraged by.

“Bastard,” she spat, and vanished from view using Sonido, but again, Gigan had seen Gaw moving using that same high-speed technique, and was already calculating she’d go behind him just based on the trajectory projections her stance had indicated. So as she appeared above him in the air, sending her whip down, he had already jumped back from the spot and aimed his left arm up at the same time.

As her whip hit nothing but air, his twin hook lines, fired out from ports on his left forearm, flew straight and true and wrapped around the girl’s leg.

Gigan couldn’t help but smirk a bit, “Gotcha.”

He yanked down, pulling the Arrancar out of the air and smashing her to the ground with a heavy impact.

His satisfaction was only somewhat hampered by the fact that as he’d been doing that, about half a dozen lesser Hollows of this new enemy force were bearing down on him with fists, claws, and fangs. He had to pull his wire hooks back and ready his arm blades, moving with short, swift steps to avoid some blows, while parrying others that rained down at him.

Elsewhere Megalon and Gaw had ended up back to back as they were surrounded by a larger portion of enemy Hollows, at least two dozen, as even more boiled up out of Forlorn Ridge to join the fight. Megalong bounced on his feet with deft but energetic motions, ducking the hefty swing of a pincer from a horrible spider-crab Hollow. His right drill arm came up in a blow that took the Hollow’s pincer clean off, and a shorter, frog-like Hollow leaped at him from the side. A cutting flash came from Gaw’s sword, cutting the frog-Hollow’s skull in half, and the creature dissipated with a mournful howl.

Similarly, when a tigerish Hollow leaped to rake at Gaw’s exposed back, Megalon took a deep breath and spat a flaming red energy grenade right into the Hollow’s face, blasting off its entire top portion in a spray of rapidly dissipating bits. Gaw gave Megalon a brief, madcap grin, blood already coating half her face from hacking at another Hollow, and the two continued to fend off the growing horde.

However they were cut off from the rest of the group, and X was looking to get the team fully linked up. The last thing they needed was to be split up, and even as he charged into the fray with a lance of gravity beams flying from his hands and scattering several lesser Hollows, he was issuing orders.

“Di Roy, Roka, support Gigan! Irys, with me, we’re breaking through to Megalon and Gaw!”

There was no questioning his instructions. Di Roy threw a salute that was, probably by his standards, not mocking, and all but vanished with a Sonido, and Roka gave a quick nod before doing the same. Meanwhile X saw Irys rush to catch up with him, her mouth spitting forth another deadly line of sonic energy to cut a gore-strewn line through a number of Hollows that were charging around to the group’s left. X could see that with how many foes there were, they were trying to encircle the whole team. If he could get everyone together, however, they could spearhead through the horde and break free to head for the Land Cruiser.

Just as he and Irys were about to make it to the cluster of Hollows hounding Megalon and Gaw, however, a large, dancing ball of fire descended from the ridgeline. It hit the ground in front of them, and X could hear a woman laughing form within. Then the fire took the shape of another Arrancar girl. She looked like the exact twin image of the girl with blue hair, only this one had red hair, a somewhat brighter, starker shade of it than Gaw’s. In her hand was a weapon that for a moment looked like a simple bone white baton, but then flames extended from it, forming around the spur until it was a sword of solid fire.

This girl didn’t waste time on words, and just zipped in straight at X, blade of flame thrusting for his face.

Normally X tended to be cautious around new opponents, but he didn’t have time for that, and he was perhaps harbor a tad bit of irritation at being ambushed like this in the first place. So he surrounded his fist with gravitons, the bright yellow energy beams springing to life around his hands, and he moved in to the girl’s attack.

His left fist came up and battered her sword aside. The flames burned hotter than any normal fire had a right to, but X’s fist wasn’t exactly normal human flesh, and was further clad in a field of gravitons. His strength alone was enough to brush the blade to the side with only a slight, barely noticeable burn, and his counter attack was brutal. He slammed his right hand directly into the girl’s exposed stomach, eliciting a look of shock from her as the hit sent her reeling back like she’d just been hit by a speeding car. She staggered, gripping her gut with one hand as she clearly tried to shake off the hit. However a mere second later, Irys zipped in from the side, lashing out with a snap kick that clocked the Arrancar girl across the chin hard enough to send her spinning to the ground. The girl turned it into an awkward combat roll, barely, and dazedly rose, slashing with her fire blade as X rushed in from her opposite side. He knocked the sword aside again, but the girl had compensated for that and did a short backward dash to avoid his following uppercut, but only by a scant inch.

X and Irys both put the pressure on, coming at their foe from both sides, and the girl went on the defensive, inverting her grip on her flame blade and backing away from a pair. For a few seconds a dizzying array of dodges, punches, kicks, and flaming sword strikes passed between the trio, but nothing critical landed besides glancing blows. The Arrancar girl was stuck almost entirely on the defensive, and when X sent a swift series of jabs at her she was finally put off balance, giving Irys an opening to slip in behind the girl and get her in a headlock. Irys might have been the physically weakest of the four Dark Hunters, but she was still way beyond human strength. Granted, so was this Arrancar girl, but rather than try to out muscle Irys, the girl snorted out a dark laugh, and her whole body became fire.

Irys let out a brief yelp as she hoped back, singed a bit but otherwise unharmed as the girl turned fire flowed away in a flying ball of flame, only to reform into her normal shape a second later a dozen paces away. With a yell she swung her flame blade and sent a quarter of firebolts flying at Irys, but X stepped in the way and countered with a blazing array of graviton beams. The beams cut right through the firebolts and went on to strike the surprise redhead, blasting her with sparks and sending her reeling and slamming to the ground.

Doubtful he’d actually finished her, but not losing sight of his objective, X turned to Irys and with a shared nod they both went charging right back to help Megalon and Gaw.

Unbeknownst to them, the battle was being observed.

From the ridgeline atop the Hollow colony of Forlorn Ridge, two figures stood watching the battle unfold.

One was a squat male Arrancar with dusky gray skin and a portly body, almost pot rounded. Blue eyes watched from a pinched face, atop of which sat a mohawk of off white hair. He wore the same black body armor of the rest of the Storm King’s army, and scratched his nose as he looked at the fighting below.

“Soooo, who you want to bet started the fight? Yin, or Yang” he said.

Beside him, a tall, athletic woman of dark purple skin and a similarly styled mohawk of hair, this the color of a magenta, turned flint-like paler blue eyes towards the fight with a distinct hint of consternation, “It could have been either. Or maybe the strangers struck first, but knowing the girls, they probably jumped the gun.”

Like her short, stocky companion she wore black metal body armor that covered her well muscled form, albeit with fewer armored plates and more form fitting black cloth that hugged her body tightly. Over that she wore a tattered, yet immaculately clean white overcoat. Its edges and sleeves were torn and frayed, but the coat was clearly well cared for and patched in several places. On the back of it, painted in black, was the Japanese kanji for the number ‘Eleven’ inside a diamond shape. At her left hit rested a katana in a black sheath, with a white wrapped hilt and square crossguard.

Tempest Shadow, long ago Captain of the Gotei 13’s Eleventh Division, now something else entirely, carefully watched the fighting at the base of the ridge and took assessment of the enemy her forces were arrayed against. She and Grubber had been overseeing the construction of expanded tunnels beneath Forlorn Ridge for the sake of better converting the settlement into a long term observation outpost for the Storm King's forces. The sensation of Yin and Yang's reiatsu flaring up and the sensations of battle that had reached them both had alerted her and her Arrancar lieutenant to the battle, and it'd only taken them a minute to exit to the surface via an escape hatch and reach the ridge top. She had no idea precisely what had caused the fight, but that was immaterial at the moment. Her people were engaged in a fight, and she wanted to gauge both their performance, and the ability of these strangers.

There were only seven enemies in total, but Tempest knew well that numbers hardly mattered in battles between individuals of the spirit realms. Like all warfare, numbers could be useful, but a sufficient difference in strength rendered numeric advantage a moot point under the right or wrong circumstances.

Right now it seemed a coin toss whether her elite ‘shock troop’ Hollows were making much of a difference against these seven individuals. It did seem like the enemy was at least being pinned down by numbers. The two in the middle, the feral Arrancar female with blood red hair so similar to Yang’s and the somewhat bulky looking fellow with the orange goggles were holding their own against what was now close to thirty shock troops, but were stubbornly avoiding being overwhelmed.

Meanwhile Yin and Yang were clearly having ‘difficulty’ with the others. It was almost embarrassing how easily Yin was getting tossed around by the man with red sunglasses.

I’ve told her time and again to stop being so cocky, but she clearly needs a more severe lesson in not underestimating her opponent.

Yang wasn’t faring much better, although at least she hadn’t stopped to trade insults with the enemy. The twin girls were Tempest’s apprentices, for all intents and purposes, and acted as the equivalent of seated officers in her (or rather the Storm King’s) army, but they were young, inexperienced, and still clearly in need of more training. Talented, certainly, but they were clearly outmatched in this case. She was concerned for their safety, but she knew both were tough young ladies, and they'd never learn from their mistakes if Tempest coddled them too much.

“Yeash, Red and Blue really need to get their heads in the game. C’mon guys, what’re you doing down there!? Practicing to be punching bags!?” shouted the stocky man at her side, and Tempest gave Grubber a look.

“It's clear they're outmatched, but don’t judge them too harshly. Its obvious their opponents are far more experienced fighters, and I suspect they possess the edge in power as well,” she said with a calm, analytical tone that belied the concern underneath.

Grubber turned his gaze northward and pointed, "Looks like Illforte and his locals have made a run for it."

She glanced that way, noting that the residents of Forlorn Ridge and their bull-headed leader were making tracks well away from the battle. She shrugged at the sight, "I don't blame him. I'll worry about him later, once this is all sorted out."

An explosion from down below drew her eye. She saw Yin, having managed to get back on her feet after being face planted by the red glasses fellow, rush back into the fray and unleash a hefty ball of lightning from her whip at him. He flashed out of sight with an ability that almost looked like a Flesh Step to Tempet’s eyes, but she realized was teleportation. At the same time, twin red Cero beams flew at Yin from the side and she barely dodged in time to avoid the resulting explosion. It looked like two of the three enemy Arrancar had gone to help the man in red glasses.

At the same time, the other four enemies had joined each other, the pale white female and her similarly colored ally having broken through the circle of shock troops around the other pair. Now all four were cutting a bloody line through her forces to join their compatriots, while Yang was still trying to pick herself back up after taking the blast of yellow energy beams from the one whose face was partially covered.

That man Tempest had picked out as the enemy commander, and allowed herself a brief moment of admiration for her foe.

He and his team had turned a total ambush into a far more even fight than Tempest would have expected, and he’d done it very quickly. She admired that kind of quick thinking and command skill under pressure. A shame she’d have to step in and put an end to his hard work, but she could hardly afford to just watch her people get slaughtered. She'd only watched this long because she'd wanted to see how her people would fare against tougher foes than the usual riff-raff they'd fought thus far.

Forlorn Ridge was the forward operating base for the Storm King’s army, and the outpost from which they would spy upon Las Noches and plan the eventual destruction and downfall of the Espada, and the detestable ‘Lord’ Tirek. They couldn’t afford for anyone to get word back to Las Noches about their forces hidden here. Which was why she'd need to step in and deal with these strangers, one way or another. The Storm King had been hinting for weeks now that he was ‘very close’ to realizing their ambition to kill Tirek. Perhaps, at long last, after so many centuries waiting and planning, the end was finally drawing close? If that was the case, they really couldn't allow any of the Espada to discover them.

The here and now demanded her attention, and if she left things as they were, these seven strangers would likely overwhelm her garrison. She didn’t consider any of her troops to be expendable, but she also didn’t like having to bail them out, either. She couldn’t be everywhere at once, and if they were ever to become a real ‘army’ instead of just a pack of Hollows, they needed to learn to fight with more teamwork and discipline.

Like how the strangers fought.

A part of her hoped they'd surrender once she demonstrated the difference of power between them. Then again, who knew, maybe they'd surprise her and give her more of a fight than she thought? And if that happened, well, she enjoyed a good battle, and had a hard time stopping once she got started.

Irys wasn’t a fan of being this outnumbered, but at least these ‘lesser’ Hollows were essentially a pushover compared to the Arrancar they could potentially evolve into. Her sonic rays cut through their bodies, armor or not armor, like a searing hot poker through rice paper. The problem was that there were so damn many of the bastards that, quick as she was on her feet, it was impossible to avoid every single slash of claws or smashing first that came her way.

Fortunately she was pretty durable for possessing such a willow thin frame in human form, and X had been teaching her enough martial arts that she knew how to roll with the blows. So far she’d taken only a few minor scrapes, cuts, and bruises, and in return had wiped out at least two dozen Hollows, and that was before she’d stopped counting.

She and X had reached where Megalon and Gaw had been surrounded, cracking the enemy encirclement like an eggshell. Then Irys had generated a cloud of black fog with a wave of her hands, covering about two thirds of the Hollows surrounding them and throwing them into confusion. In that instant X led a charge through the other third of the enemy line, Megalon spitting grenades and laying about with his drills arms while Gaw, grinning like a blood splattered madwoman, stuck close to him and cleaved apart any Hollow that got close to striking the cyborg. X swept gravity beams across the left side of the charge, while Irys raked the right side with her sonic beams, and in seconds all four of them were in the clear, cleaving behind another dozen Hollow corpses.

Irys wasn’t sure why some Hollows seemed to disintegrate upon death (weren’t they already dead? What happens when you die twice?), while others left their bloody corpses behind. She also didn’t take the time to think about it.

Up ahead she saw where a smaller group of about twenty Hollows were battling Gigan, Di Roy, and Roka alongside one of those twin female Arrancar, this one with blue hair.

The girl apparently had wised up enough to keep back while sending her Hollows in at the trio, using the range of her whip to send strikes that cracked with lighting and struck like thunder. She seemed to have it in for Gigan, focusing all of her fury on him while ignoring Di Roy and Roka, who were free to tear into the Hollows in front of them. Di Roy charged in readily, using his shark-tooth shaped blade to cut away limbs like someone might hack at a overgrown forest trail with a machete. Roka kept back, making odd gestures with her hands. Irys’s keen eyes spotted the glint of tiny strings that appeared to be extending from within Roka’s thick robe sleeves. Several Hollows found themselves bound by the strings, then with a cold gesture from Roka, the strings constricted and cut through them like sharp wires.

“Stop dodging already!” shouted the blue haired Arrancar, whipping ever faster at Gigan, who was side stepping and leaping away from the majority of her attacks. So far he’d only gotten a tad scuffed form a few grazing hits. The electricity didn’t do as much to his hardened electronics than they might have otherwise, given the advanced technology of the aliens that had built them.

“Try aiming better,” he said flatly, “Or, you know, keep flailing randomly. You might get lucky.”

“Nrrrgh!” the girl let out a feral, throaty sound as a torrent of electricity coursed up her whip and she spun it around once before snapping it forward, unleashing a scintillating, beach-ball sized bolt of lightning at him.

“Seriously, you are way too easy to bait,” Gigan said, his form disappearing in a red flash of light as he teleported once more, this time appearing directly in front of the girl while her weapon was far too overextended for her to pull it back in time to defend.

His chainsaw blades popped out of his left arm, revving up as he slashed upwards in a hard arc. Sparks flew as they dug into the girl’s armor. She threw herself backwards, but blood still spurted from a grievous wound across her chest, causing her cry out in pain.

“Yin!”

Before Gigan could follow up on his attack, several bolts of fire rained down towards him from behind. The red haired girl, having finally regained her senses after X had hammered her with gravity beams, had rushed up from the right side of the battlefield, and upon seeing her twin injured, came at Gigan in a heated rage of flame bolts flying from her swinging blade.

Gigan dodged one, and batted aside another with his chain blades, but several others struck hard in small explosions.

By now Irys, X, Megalon, and Gaw reached the scene, and Irys didn’t hesitate to send a sonic beam screaming at the red haired Arrancar.

She saw it coming, just barely dodging with Sonido as the beam cut through the space she’d just occupied. X went for her at a dead run, then made an incredible leap into the air, assisted by gravity manipulation to cover the distance in one large arc. Golden energy built around his back and arms in a golden river, then discharged down in a storm of graviton beams that ravaged the area around the redhead. Even X was a bit surprised at just how much output his graviton beams had, as if the amount of his true form’s power he had access to was higher in comparison to the last time he’d been in human form.

The red haired Arrancar had jumped away from the center of the attack, but even catching the edge of the gravity beams this time caused an impact not unlike a Cero in power, blasting off parts of her armor and sending her skidding back-first across the sand in a smoking heap for several dozen yards. As X landed, he saw the girl was still moving, but was barely able to prop herself up using her sword, blood trickling from multiple open wounds.

The blue haired one wasn’t much better off, clutching at the deep gash Gigan had given her, sucking in pained breaths.

The flames that had hit Gigan dissipated and the cyborg emerged from them, scorched in a few places but looking more annoyed than genuinely injured.

“Hot, but I’ve taken hotter,” he commented dryly, glancing at X, then at the two heavily injured Arrancar, “Looks like we’ve got this about sorted out.”

With the group having properly linked up now, the enemy Hollows that had been fighting just Di Roy and Roka were now readily overwhelmed, and the few survivors retreated to the larger portion of the horde that was regrouping by the ridge. X estimated that, out of what had to have been at least two hundred Hollows, they’d cut the force down to nearly half. With the twin Arrancar who appeared to be in charge both injured and on the ropes, he’d have agreed with Gigan’s estimate that they had this battle well in hand...

...But instinct warned him of the approaching threat before he even saw her.

It was just like with Adagio. The woman simply was there one instant, just appearing as if by magic. She was on the other side of the group, walking up to the nearest of the two injured Arrancar, the redhead. X immediately noticed this woman’s vibe was utterly different than that of the Hollows. She was completely composed, her tall, muscular and darkly purple frame giving no hint of unease while being filled with ready, capable violence.

While her armor was much like the others, form fitting and black, he noticed the white, billowing coat and the odd symbol upon it.

“Yang, can you move?” the woman asked in a rich and strong voice.

“Y-yes Captain, barely...” the girl replied, in the embarrassed tone of a child who had disappointed their mother.

The woman nodded, “Good. Yin, how about you?”

The Arrancar with blue hair grimaced, “Yeah, hurts like hell, but I can move.”

"Good," the woman said, "Now, question; did you two start this fight?"

The twin girls gave each other uneasy looks, and Yin grit her teeth and said, "We did, Captain. They're Espada scouts, and Illforte was telling them who we were!"

"We wanted to take them out fast while we still had the element of surprise," Yang added, "L-like you taught us, Captain."

"True," said the woman, this apparent 'Captain', "I did teach you the value of surprise. At any rate, I want both of you to fall back. Take the survivors and retreat to a safe distance beyond the ridge.”

“N-no way!”

“We can still fight!”

A hurricane couldn’t have carried more foreboding menace than the woman’s eyes did as she said, “No, you can’t. Do not make me repeat my orders.”

From the reactions of Yin and Yang, they couldn’t have been more chastised if the woman had literally cuffed both of them physically. Looking more like saddened children being sent to their rooms than defeated adversaries, the pair limped to each other’s side, and supporting one another, vanished with the use of Sonido.

By now the group had gathered around X, giving the woman varied looks that ranged from apprehension from Irys, contemplation from X, confusion from Gaw and Megalon, and outright fear from Di Roy.

“Oh screw me sideways with Adagio’s trident, this is every level of not good,” Di Roy whispered under his breath, and X gave him a hard look.

“Explain. Who is this?”

Di Roy visibly gulped, “I don’t know who she is, but I know what she is. That white rag she’s got on. That symbol on the back means ‘Eleven’. As in, Eleventh Division, Gotei-fuckin’-13. Only Soul Reaper Captains wear those coats. If she’s a Captain, or even just a former Captain, especially of the Eleventh Division, we are... quite possibly hosed beyond belief.”

“She not look that tough,” Gaw said, and Di Roy shot her a glare that was halfway between terrified and exasperated.

“Okay, Gaw, I know you’re not exactly the lore-oriented type, and you’ve never fought Soul Reapers before, but I have, and I know what kind of bad news their Captains are. They’re on the same level as Espada, and unlike our Espada, they don’t conveniently rank themselves by power. For all we know this lady is stronger than Adagio! Good bet, given Eleventh Division is the Soul Reapers dedicated combat unit.”

“You know she can probably hear us, right?” Gigan noted, nodding towards the woman. She’d turned to face them, displaying clearly the katana sheathed at her waist, although she hadn’t drawn it or even put her hand on it’s hilt yet.

Now that attention had been drawn to her, she actually smiled in faint amusement, “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m kind of enjoying having a reputation precede me for once. Feels good to know the Eleventh is still feared by you Hollows of Las Noches. I’d hate to think they’ve slacked off in the centuries I’ve been gone.”

Since the woman, the Soul Reaper, seemed chatty, X figured he’d take advantage of the situation. His team needed to catch their breaths, and he might as well fish for intel while buying them a few minutes to do so.

“I admit I still don’t know much about this world and its waring factions, but from what I understand Soul Reapers and Hollows are mortal enemies,” he said, eyes narrowing, “So why exactly are you, a Soul Reaper, leading a force of Hollows?”

The woman looked at him directly in the eyes, and there was something akin to... acknowledgement, admiration, respect? X wasn’t sure, but the woman’s eyes, a sort of light, aqua blue, met his without a hint of derision as she said, “A fair point. Honestly I haven’t told my story to anyone in a long time, but I think this isn’t really the time for it. First, I'd like to confirm some things. Is it true you work for the Espada?"

"In a sense," X replied, "Myself and my team are doing one a favor in exchange for information we desire, while the three Arrancar are vassals of hers who are here assisting us. Can I put any hope towards the notion that this fight was a misunderstanding resulting from overzealous subordinates of yours and you'll allow us to depart without further issue?"

The Soul Reaper shook her head with a wane smile, "Sadly that won't be possible. Even if you're tangentially working for an Espada, it's entirely too risky to allow you to just walk away with information of myself, my people, and our presence here. I either need to eliminate you, capture you, or secure your cooperation. Personally I prefer the later option, but am willing to see through either of the former.”

“Sweet of you to offer, but we’ve already got an employer,” said Gigan, “And technically we’re also currently subcontracting with somebody else. We add to many more to the list, and this is going to get confusing as hell.”

“Besides you could always, you know, just let us go and pretend you never saw us,” mentioned Irys, although at the woman’s look she sighed heavily, hanging her head, “Well, it was worth a try.”

“Unfortunately I can’t risk Las Noches’ Espadas discovering my forces here,” the woman replied, “I can tell you four aren't Hollows, and I admit I'm pretty damn curious who or what you all are, but that's kind of besides the point. I can't let any of you return to Las Noches. Even if I was inclined to believe the four of you are just, as your sunglasses wearing friend put it, 'subcontracting', that doesn't change the fact that the three Arrancar with you are more direct servants to an Espada. I don't have a lot of reason to trust you, and less reason to trust them. That being said, I would still accept a surrender.”

“That would be a problem for us in more ways than one,” X said.

“Are your loyalties to the Espada that strong?”

“No, but we have another master to whom our loyalty does belong to, and we still have a mission for him to fulfill, which for the moment requires we cooperating with the specific Espada who has asked us to search for signs of Privaron Espada. Can I assume that you and your small army here represent such a sign?”

“It may,” the woman admitted, “Although the information won’t do you any good.”

“That remains to be seen. It may be a long shot, but if I told you that the reason this particular Espada wishes to locate Privaron Espada is due to her own ambition to have allies against the Espada known as Tirek, would that change anything?” X asked, figuring at this point there was little to lose by doing so.

The woman seemed to honestly consider this for a few moments, although ultimately she shook her head, “I doubt it. My own master doesn’t trust the Espada, and quite honestly neither do I. Our plan is to eventually eliminate all of them. Now, I’ve watched you all fight. I acknowledge your strength is impressive, as is your discipline. That strength is something our own army could use. I’ll ask one last time... will you consider cutting your current ties and join with us? I give you my word you will be treated with respect within our ranks.”

“Sorry, but we have to decline. Our allegiance belongs to another, and that will not change,” X replied firmly, and the woman nodded as if she’d expected the answer.

“So be it,” she said, and now her hand did go to the hilt of her katana, drawing it in a steady ring of steel, “Then there is just one last formality, if you’ll indulge me. It is Eleventh Division tradition to introduce ourselves to those we may be about to fight, as a courtesy.”

Suddenly a wave of invisible pressure flowed out of the woman like an unseen tidal wave. Her body became surrounded by a white aura of smokey energy, rising from her like steam. X felt the aura and the pressure of it like a massive weight, although he found he could bear it readily enough.

“I am Tempest Shadow, former Captain of the Eleventh Division of the Gotei 13, and currently Captain of the Storm King’s Liberation Army.”

Although she hadn’t asked, something within X felt compelled to answer as he took up a ready martial arts stance.

“X, former Pretorian of Xillia.”

A tiny, but genuine smile lit up Tempest’s face, “Well then, let’s begin.”

Just before she seemed about to attack, a gruff voice shouted from the distance, “Hey! Captain! Do you want me to come down and help!? Heeeey! Can you hear me? Am I shouting loud enough?”

All eyes turned to where a stubby, barrel chested man was waving at Tempest from the milling horde of Hollows, “Should we be helping, or what?”

Tempest’s expression was like an annoyed, deflated balloon as she ran a hand over her face and growled out, “No, Grubber, I don’t need help!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m very sure! Just take the troop, and Yin and Yang, and go away for a little while! I’m going to be cutting loose here, so make sure you get everyone at least a few kilometers away.”

“You got it, Captain! Just give a holler if you need an assist!”

As the horde of Hollows was marched away in something that resembled order under the direction of the odd little man, Tempest took a deep breath and looked back at X and the others.

“Damn near killed the mood. Now then, where were we?”

In response, X unleashed the graviton energy he’d been slowly gathering while Tempest Shadow had been distracted by her compatriot. It was the same basic trick he’d used on Gaw, negating the gravity in a wide, spherical zone around her by firing off streams of gold gravity beams that then bent around her into a sphere-shaped cage. She looked at it curiously as she floated off the ground in the zero gravity, and X shouted to his companions, “Run for the vehicle! I’ll hold her here!”

“What is it with you and heroic sacrifice BS lately?” quipped Gigan, but he didn’t actually argue. He was getting insane energy readings off of this woman, and didn’t make much of their chances in a stand up fight without accessing their true forms. Much as it irked him, Gigan knew X was making the right call to try and get everyone to retreat.

Irys looked horrible torn, only reluctantly following Gigan after he gave her and Megalon both a stern look. Megalon was also reluctant, but only hesitated a moment before beating feet after his companions.

Of the three Arrancar, a similar exchange occurred, only Gaw literally pushed Di Roy toward Roka, saying, “Run fast and take soft-quiet one with you. I stay with pale man and buy time.”

“The hell you say!?” Di Roy said past clenched teeth, “Neither of you idiots are a match for her!”

“Not point, dumb male!” Gaw snapped, “Tribe more important than one! I Let me defend tribe! Now go or I bite you!”

Di Roy looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but Roka grabbed him by the arm, shaking her head, “They’ll be right behind us.”

The soft spoken Arrancar woman gave both Gaw and X a deeply concerned look, “Won’t you?”

“As soon as you’re clear, we’ll follow,” X confirmed, although he didn’t mention the sheer tactical difficulty that might entail. But he did have an ace up his sleeve that might serve to even the odds. He didn’t argue with Gaw staying behind to fight, since it was clear she was entirely too stubborn to listen to reason.

Once the rest of their companions were making a run towards the distant Land Cruiser, X glanced at Gaw and said, “Your companions said something earlier about ‘releasing your Zanpaktou’. If you have a trump card like that, this would be the time to use it.”

The feral looking Arrancar girl nodded with a predatory grin that belied the severity of the situation, holding her long and deeply curved blade in front of her horizontally, resting her free hand along its outer edge.

“You too,” she said, “I sense you did not fight serious last time.”

“I’m always serious. Tactically, there was no advantage to revealing my hand at that time.”

He’d been keeping a close eye on Tempest Shadow, watching how she’d react to the zero gravity field. He didn’t expect it to hold her for long, but he hadn’t quite expected how she did respond. While the others had been running, and X briefly exchanging words with Gaw, Tempest Shadow had been prodding the air with her feet.

It wasn’t unlike how Gaw might have accidentally shot herself out of the zero gravity field like an out of control cannonball with a high-speed Sonido, only Tempest was very lightly touching the air particles with her reiatsu, performing minuscule air steps that sent her floating about the field. In the span of a dozen seconds, she’d gained a feel for the way the lack of gravity affected her movement, and she sent a razor thin smile at X.

“This is a real neat trick. Anybody who was a total numbskull would end up planting their ass in the ground by trying to break out of this. I think I’ve got the hang of it, though...”

Then, in an instant, she tapped her feet downward, precisely controlling the angle and release of spiritual pressure, now that she understood the effect of the zero gravity and could compensate for it. The result was that she launched herself straight upwards, but in a controlled manner. Furthermore, the moment she was actually out of the zero gravity field, Tempest was able to use her superior reflexes to swiftly utilize a normal Flash Step to correct her course and cross in incredible distance in a microsecond.

The group that had been running away suddenly found themselves with the tall, dark skinned Soul Reaper appearing right in front of them, sword raised above her head.

“And sorry to say it,” she said, “Nobody gets to run away from this fight.”

Chapter 6: Tempest

Chapter 6: Tempest

Tempest Shadow's blade slashed down, and it was like someone had unleashed a compressed typhoon, blasting the area in front of her with a pressure wave several dozen meters wide and which swept out in front of her in a powerful arc. Gigan, Megalon, Irys, Roka, and Di Roy were all caught in the pressure wave of air and raw spiritual force, knocked back in tumbling heaps. Megalon, the heaviest and most durable of the bunch, got a drill arm out and dug it into the ground, his other hand flashing out to grab Irys. Gigan fired off his grappling hooks, a set from each arm, one hitting the ground to root himself in place, and the other snapping around Roka to keep her from tumbling away.

Only Di Roy was left rolling around like a trash can lid caught up in a hurricane’s wind, landing some distance away in a dazed heap.

Gaw, seeing this, gained a blood red aura around her body and proceeded to growl out, ”Go for the throat; Cazadora!” (Huntress)

Energy with an almost liquid quality to it boiled and bubbled up from both her sword and body, gleaming and crimson. It swirled up around her in a bloody torrent until it encased her body in a growing surge of fountaining blood. X, standing next to her, felt a similar surge of pressure akin to what he’d felt from Tempest Shadow, but nowhere near as strong. Whatever this transformation was, it was obvious it wasn’t on the same level as their opponent... but it was better than nothing, and Gaw clearly was done holding back.

When the fountain of blood-like energy subsided, what stood in the lanky, washboard girl’s place was a thirty foot tall, humanoid dinosaur. It was as if someone had taken a savage, bulky and muscular version of some primal carnosaur, fused it with a feminine humanoid body with a waspish waist, thick reverse jointed legs, and long muscular arms, then proceeded to grow white bone-like armor segments across its ferocious, mostly bipedal body. Small spikes jutted from the brow and crest of her head, all the way down the ridges of her back, to the tip of a long, powerful tail that ended in a fan of blood red feathers. Her eyes still burned fierce and gold behind what now looked like a helmet made from a skull. Jagged blades of bone extended from her forearms, not dissimilar from Gigan’s metal blades but with a more uneven appearance, sporting numerous notches and jutting spikes.

Overall the transformation probably would have seemed more impressive had she done this during the fight with the Dark Hunters, as opposed to now, when it was clear Tempest Shadow still held a large power advantage, but X wasn’t about to complain.

In fact he used a gravity assisted leap to jump up the thirty feet onto Gaw’s right shoulder, balancing there with ease as he said, “I’ll pin her down, if you can blast her with everything you’ve got.”

In response Gaw gave an enthusiastic roar, a barking noise that suddenly made her name make much more sense to X, given the similarity. X held on as he felt Gaw start to move, expecting the force of the high-speed motion. Even braced for it, it was a little jarring, but nothing X couldn't handle. He’d experienced worse G-forces before. Gaw’s Sonido too her over to Tempest Shadow on the woman’s right side, and X, having prepared for it, sent out a curtain of gravity beams that vastly increased the gravity around her, crushing down on the Soul Reaper.

At the same time, Gaw opened her mouth, much as she had before, only this time the gathering motes of blood red energy took the shape of a large, three meter thick spike of compacted Cero energy that she then fired like a missile straight at Tempest Shadow.

Despite X’s efforts to keep Tempest pinned down with his gravity control, he still felt her moving within the gravity field as she swung her sword at Gaw’s unusual Cero spike. The Zanpaktou cut the spike cleanly in half, the two parts of the energy spike distorting then exploding on either side of Tempest Shadow in a pair of massive, blood red detonations.

An instant later X felt Gaw heave beneath him, and for a second he wasn’t sure what had happened, until he looked down to see that Tempest Shadow had launched herself straight out of his gravity field and flown up, delivering a straight kick to Gaw’s chest that struck with a thunderclap and forced Gaw out from under X, her entire thirty foot tall body driven back nearly fifty yards by the blow. Her clawed feet dug into the sand, along with her forearm blades as she forced herself to a halt. A rough, pained cough escaped her saurian jaws and blood poured out of them, splashing down to the dry, hungry sands.

X, having landed readily enough on his feet, looked and saw that the kick Tempst had given Gaw had cracked the armor on the Arrancar’s chest, denting it inward like bent cardboard. Gaw was still standing, at least. X didn’t waste time concerning himself beyond that, knowing now that he had no choice but to put on the pressure himself.

His team were back on their feet, and Roka had gone to help Di Roy, who was shaking sand out of his ears.

Seeing Gaw injured, Di Roy glared, but there was still shaky fear in his eyes, “Ah hell, for once can’t I take you somewhere without you getting bloodied up, Gaw?”

X had never seen a thirty foot tall humanoid/dinosaur flip someone off before, but now he had.

“You know I’d prefer it if all of you just came at me at once,” Tempest Shadow said, bouncing her sword over her shoulder, “I’m not unsporting, and seven on one might actually even the odds out. Not even going to say you can’t win, because I keep sensing at least the four of you who aren’t Arrancar are holding back reserves of power. I think that’s what I’m sensing, at any rate. Not sure what this energy is. Doesn’t feel like any reiatsu I’ve ever encountered, but it’s definitely there.”

She was probably sensing the untapped power of their true kaiju forms, which they couldn’t access without a ready boost of magical power from the outside to ‘trigger’ a transformation. Since no one here used magic, apparently, that left them with no means of assuming their true forms. At least as far as X knew.

However that wasn’t to say he didn’t have a means of empowering himself. He’d been experimenting with the idea ever since his fellow Dark Hunters had helped him suppress his other self, the ‘Kaizer’. That alternate personality was also attached to a whole pool of additional power within him, the same power sources that granted him his control over gravitons. Only with the ‘Kaizer’, he was significantly stronger in that department, and also gained a fair physical boost as well.

It just meant letting his other self take the proverbial wheel, while the ‘X’ personality essentially became a passenger. It was doable, and his alter ego, now that he’d been subdued, was cooperative for the most part. Which didn’t mean X necessarily liked switching places with him, but what was that old saying about desperate times and equally desperate measures?

It wasn’t hard to reach for that place within himself where Kaizer resided, almost as simple as opening up a door within his mind. And Kaizer was there, almost as if he’d been eagerly yet somehow smugly awaiting X’s arrival. The voice spoke in X’s mind almost before X had even sought for it.

Hmph, about time you stopped playing around and came to me. I could have crushed that half-pint earlier if you’d let me, but I think this woman will make for better fare. Now hurry up and let me out already!

X didn’t so much frown as just ever so slightly narrow his eyes, Remember, we do this together. Your aggression and power must be supplemented by my calm and tactical mind. Either of us alone will not be enough

The reply was a reluctant but accepting snort, Yes, I am aware. I won’t ignore you, just so long as you don’t hold me back too much.

There was no wait. The power just flooded up from within X in an instant, surrounding his body in a nimbus of intense gold light that was accompanied by crackling bolts of gravitons that writhed around his body like living snakes. His skin changed, parts of it turning to a gold hue in sharp angled swirls, while his white hair turned to onyx shot through with streaks of gold. His body grew in size. Not dramatically so, but there was a noticeable increase in height and muscle mass. The sclera of his eyes turned black as well, although his pupils retained their ruby red color. The changes took only a second, and X didn’t waste any time, or rather ‘Kaizer’ didn’t. X was now a mere passenger in his own body, able to feel everything Kaizer was doing, but not in direction control. He could feel Kaizer’s hot, eager desire to fight, and could sense his counterpart’s thoughts to see what Kaizer intended. X had his own refinements to add to the plan, essentially sending images and ideas right into Kaizer’s thoughts. There was no need for words between the two personalities, which made planning all but instantaneous.

Kaizer X took in the entirety of the battlefield. Tempest Shadow was essentially surrounded, with Irys, Gigan, and Megalon on one side, Di Roy and Roka a little separated by essentially on the same side, while the injured but still battle capable Gaw behind and a little to Kaizer X’s right. There wasn’t time to give commands, and Kaizer X wasn’t as concerned with that anyway. He just needed to prevent Tempest Shadow from being able to focus on any of his allies.

He knelt down in something akin to a stance like a sprinter preparing to take off at a dead run, placing his fists on the ground in front of him. His control of gravitons was boosted and refined incredibly in his present state, and Kaizer X took advantage of the fact as streams of gold, lightning-like gravitons flowed into the ground in front of him, arcing up in a long line that lead straight towards Tempest Shadow. Only this wasn’t a beam attack, but rather a zero gravity field along the length of the ‘tube’ leading to Tempest Shadow. So when Kaizer X launched himself forward, the lack of gravity let him essentially catapult himself forward at high speed. To increase his speed even further, he put a high gravity field directed at himself at the end of the tube, so essentially he wasn’t just throwing himself towards Tempest Shadow with his own strength, but was magnifying his movement by multiple forces of gravity.

This technique was too complex for X to have used without having Kaizer in charge, but for the time being this method could essentially replicate the same high-speed motions of an Arrancar Sonido or a Soul Reaper Flash Step.

The speed at which he traversed the space to Tempest Shadow clearly caught her by surprise, because Kaizer X was able to slam a gravity enhanced fist across her jaw and knocked her skidding back half a dozen yards, a small shockwave blasting out from the point of impact. He didn’t stop there, rushing in like a freight train with fists, slamming another hefty blow to her stomach and following it up with a haymaker... that she proceeded to catch with her free hand.

Blood trickled down her lip as Tempest Shadow cracked her neck and looked at Kaizer X with an appreciative look, up and down. “Better. Much better.”

Her sword swung in like a silver bolt of lightning, but Kaizer X could feel it coming. Their whole body projected enough gravitons that even the slightest movement or disturbance alerted them, and their physical reactions were faster now as well. He stepped back and slammed an elbow down, graviton energy bursting from it as he struck the flat of her sword and halted it’s blow. A shockwave burst forth from the pair as they clashed, strength to strength, and Tempest Shadow’s expression turned even more engaged, eyes gleaming.

Kaizer X sent a snap kick at her side, but this was just a feint, for when she moved to block with her hand again he unleashed his gravity beams, not from his hands, but form his eyes. The energy output of his gravity beams was easily twice what it had been before, and the powerful, crackling bolts of power flared from his eyes and slammed Tempest Shadow square in the chest. The blast continued on, driving Tempest Shadow back like being pushed along by a wave, and an entire furrow half a dozen meters wide was carved by the beams as they drilled onward.

Tempest Shadow took the blow with a mountain-like durability and steadfastness, although the energy sparked all over her body and singed it in places, even cracking a few pieces of her armor. Her raw spiritual energy pushed out of her body, helping her absorb the blow, but when the beams finally petered out she was smoking in several places, and took she took a deep breath.

“Felt that one,” she said, glancing at the others, who had yet to make a movie, “ The rest of you feel free to jump in anytime.”

“Screw it, wasn’t planning on living a long, healthy life anyway,” Gigan said, accessing all his own personal arsenal of built-in weapons. Small slots opened up in his forearm, firing out small, flying buzzsaws, while his eyes flashed with multiple shotgun-style laser blasts. Megalon spat multiple flaming grenades from his mouth, while taking his drill arms and immediately drilling into the ground once his barrage was one as he burrowed down. Irys sucked in a deep breath and disgorged the strongest sonic ray she could, and as she did so she felt an odd, cold echo inside her that seemed to resonate with the sand around her. Unbeknownst ot her, her sonic ray was tinged ever so slightly red around the edges.

Di Roy held out his Zanpaktou and focused a Cero beam at its tip, firing a wide, ruby beam to join the barrage of other attacks flying in at Tempest Shadow, while Roka drew her own small, dagger shaped Zanpaktou while lashing out with her sharp strings using her other hand. Meanwhile Gaw launched herself into the air and swung her forearm blades, small sanguine colored spikes of energy flying from them, her own altered version of Bala.

The maelstrom of attacks descended on Tempest Shadow in a furious hail, and the Soul Reaper reacted with equal, storm-like speed and ferocity. Her body flickered with motions so fast she seemed to split into multiple bodies, but even then the density of the attacks did allow some to strike home. While one of Gigan’s flying buzz saws was knocked aside, the other cut a bloody line on Tempest’s upper left forearm. Another swing of her Zanpaktou blasted aside Roka’s cutting strings with a wave of pressure, while she used her other, bare hand to grasp and turn aside the Cero beam Di Roy fired, sending it careening off into the distance. Moving faster still, she bent backwards like an expert limbo player to let Irys’ sonic ray pass over her, yet it was close enough that Tempest could feel the cutting ray leave a thin burn mark across her right brow, drawing blood. Megalon’s grenades detonated around her then, but Tempest pushed out with her reiatsu and took the brunt of them with the resilience of a hardened bunker. With a final back swing of her sword she sent Gaw’s spike shaped Bala scattering like arrows striking a steel wall.

Tempest Shadow didn’t wait even a split second to counterattack, wearing a deep smile of personal enjoyment as she flew out of the churned up sand and dust from the attacks that had landed around her, and Flash Stepped towards Gigan. The cyborg already had both chain blades snapped out from his forearms, and was swimming both of them at where his instruments were predicting Tempest would appear, but her Flash Step was on a different level than the Sonidos Gaw had used, which Gigan was using to calibrate his calculations. His swings hit little more than air, clipping a little of Tempet’s mohawk as she darted past him and then continued on towards Irys.

“Get back here you-” Gigan turned, preparing to fire an eye-laser, but suddenly found himself off balance as three seperate slashes just appeared across his chest and back. It actually took a second before his systems registered the damage from the blindingly fast cuts, and fortunately the incredibly dense and durable construction of the Nubulan technology in his body kept him standing. A normal human would’ve been outright killed, but Gigan’s injuries were comparatively light, and he grit his teeth as he fired his eye-beam, the ruby bolt spearing towards Tempest Shadow.

The beam didn’t reach Tempest, but it did make her Flash Step upward, vanishing and reappearing a few dozen feet up from where she’d been. She still descended towards Irys, but Gigan’s beam had bought her a precious moment to produce a thick, black cloud of fog around her to obscure herself. Tempest dove into it, and hit the ground with the force of a meteor, her sword cleaving a wide swath of sand. The shockwave alone forced Irys to come tumbling out of the fog, thankfully unharmed, but the fog was quickly dispersed by another swing of Tempest’s sword and she focused her eyes on Irys.

“I keep sensing more power inside you bunch, so where is it?” Tempest asked, taking a step forward, but then a pair of thick gloves burst out of the sand at her feet and grabbed her ankles.

Tempest actually looked taken aback as Megalon, having dug beneath her, yanked Tempest down into the sand up to her waist, and then burst out of the sand himself like a jumping dolphin.

“Double-Drill Divebomb!” Megalon shouted, wearing a surprisingly serious look as he deployed both of his hand drills and revved them up to a high-pitched whine, both weapons spinning in a solid blur as he dove right towards Tempest with the drills extended before him.

A pleased laugh escaped Tempest as she swung her Zanpaktou to meet the attack, and drills and spiritual blade met in a titanic clash of sparks.

“That’s more like it!” Tempest said, “Coordinated attacks, actual teamwork! I’m getting more and more convinced I should keep you lot around. You’re wasted working for an Espada.”

Glittering strings fell around Tempest, while Megalon was keeping her busy. Roka appeared nearby, hands extended as she constricted her strings around the Soul Reaper, while Di Roy appeared behind Tempest with a Sonido, his own weapon raised to strike at her back. Tempest, seeing this, smirked and took one hand off her Zanpaktou, still keeping Megalon’s drills at bay, and turned back to catch Di Roy’s sword. Roka gasped as her strings were bent and pulled apart as if they weren’t even there, and she shouted a warning to Di Roy a moment too late.

Tempest threw Di Roy’s sword aside like an angry adult tossing away a child’s toy and proceeded to shape her hand like a knife and then drove it into Di Roy’s stomach, nearly to the wrist. Di Roy blinked, then blood exploded from his mouth as Tempest Shadow tore her hand free and then all but ripped her feet clear of the sand, kicking Di Roy hard enough to send him skipping like a stone over a lake for a few dozen yards.

Roka sucked in a sharp breath and immediately rushed to help him, while Gaw roared and fell towards Tempest like an avalanche. Megalon actually jumped back, his face suddenly no longer grinning, as he drove in again, this time putting as much force as he could behind his right arm drill. At the same time Gaw was driving down from the other side with one of her forearm blades.

Tempest Shadow spun, Zanpaktou catching the edge of Gaw’s massive forearm blade and turning it down to get stuck in the ground, while her other hand shot out and caught Megalon’s wrist. She redirected the drill punch towards one of Gaw’s legs, but Megalon countered by planting his feet, deactivating the drill, and then swiftly snapping his head forward to headbutt Tempest Shadow in the chin.

With an almost metallic ring this made both of them stagger back, Tempest shaking her head just in time to hear Kaizer X’s deep tone shout, “Everybody move!”

He hadn’t been idle this whole time, having been building up a storm of gravitons around his body, compressing them into a sphere about five feet in diameter above his head. Gaw and Megalon saw this, and Gaw grabbed Megalon in one large claw and zipped out of the way with Sonido. The moment they were in the clear, Kaizer X narrowed his eyes and drew back his arms, then hurled them forward, sending the compressed ball of graviton energy flying at Tempest Shadow with speed sufficient to shatter the sound barrier.

When the sphere impacted with Tempest, it abruptly expanded into a crackling, pulsing explosion of energy beams that tore through the surrounding area with deep, burrowing beams that ripped up scores of meters of desert. The center of the explosion was a golden nimbus of crushing gravity forces, carving out a large crater and throwing up enough sand to obscure the area in a dense cloud. The ground itself shook for half a mile from the discharge of energy, and most of Kaizer X’s companions had to cover their faces from the shockwave.

As the energies faded and everything quieted down, Roka got to Di Roy and quickly started extending strings from within her robes, the tiny, glinting strands moving on their own to enter into his wound and start stitching up internals.

“O-one of these days I’m going to learn when to just stay out of fights that’re outta my league,” Di Roy muttered past bloodied lips while he lay there, letting Roka work. She just gave him an enduring, if small smile as she focused on her work.

“You always do try...” she said, a touch of fondness in her voice. Di Roy just made a noncommittal grunt and looked away, which only seemed to amuse Roka more, although her expression was heavily shadowed by the severity of their situation. While her strings worked on his wounds, probing further and delicately through Di Roy’s insides, Roka noted that while the wound looked bad from the outside, it was curiously placed.

Given the strength of the blow, that Soul Reaper could have taken out Di Roy’s spine, or targeted his heart. Instead she struck in such a way as to cause pain, but only minimal damage to anything vital. Roka shook her head at the thought. Perhaps this Tempest Shadow wasn’t outright trying to kill them? Even if that was the case, it didn’t change that they had no choice but to keep fighting until either they took her down, or the other way around.

The Dark Hunters were dusting themselves off, although Kaizer X was standing with his eyes locked on the center of where the explosion had been. Gigan helped Irys up, although she eyed his injuries worriedly.

“You okay?” she asked.

“These scratches? Nothing to worry about,” he said, ignoring the minimal seepage of blood from the cuts Tempest Shadow had given him. His internal diagnostics showed some damaged wiring, a few fluid leaks, and a slight reduction in the efficiency of his power systems and torso motion, but nothing he couldn’t fix with a spare hour and a halfway decent workshop. “I’ve taken worse from accidents during routine maintenance.”

Gaw walked up with large, stomping steps, and with surprisingly care set Megalon down next to Gigan and Irys while she sniffed the air with her large saurian snout, speaking in a voice that was deep and guttural, but still somehow distinctly feminine, “No relax yet. I still smell enemy.”

“You mean you smell what’s left of her, right?” asked Irys, eyeing the smoking crater, “There’s no way she’s still standing after that.”

“Of course there is,” Kaizer X said with a gruff laugh as he walked past them, heading right for the crater, “Haven't you been paying attention to our enemy? She’s been making sport of us. Warming up, without fighting seriously. That last attack was just my way of telling her to stop playing around.”

Gigan cracked a devil-may-care half-smirk, looking sidelong at Kaizer X, “Personally I would’ve been fine with her not taking us seriously. Makes it easier to catch her off guard.”

“She’s pretty tough,” Megalon admitted, “But so far this hasn’t been too bad. I haven’t been dropped kicked or anything!”

Gigan shuddered at memories he’d rather leave buried, “Don’t remind me. Still can’t believe that stupid grinning robot could fly.”

A deep, rumbling growl issued forth from Gaw’s throat as she tensed her large, thirty foot tall body and nodded at the crater, “She’s coming...”

A shadowed form emerged from the dissipating smoke. Tempest Shadow was far from unscatched by Kaizer X’s attack. Her armor was broken and crumbling off her, the body suit beneath it torn in more than a few places, revealing bleeding wounds beneath. Her white Captain’s coat was even more tattered now, its right sleeve torn off, the arm beneath dripping blood. Tempest grunted a bit, rolling her left shoulder, which looked awkwardly limp.

“Yup, that’s dislocated,” she commented dryly. Still holding her Zanpaktou, she raised her right hand to her dislocated shoulder, then proceeded to shove the joint right back into place with the hilt of the blade, eliciting a loud popping noise of moving cartilage. “There we go.”

She gave Kaizer X an appreciative look, “Good hit, and you’ve made your point. Guess it was rude of me to treat you lightly, but it’s been awhile since I’ve had a decent opponent. I would’ve liked to make this last awhile. But you’ve earned me putting my back into this...”

An unmistakable sense of pressure rose from her, like being abruptly dunked deep beneath the ocean. Tempest Shadow raised the katana blade of her Zanpaktou vertically before her, the weapon gaining a misty aura of white spirit energy around its edge.

”Hold the line; Hagane-hei.” (Steel Soldier)

A sound like a deep metal gong sounded across the air, followed by the sight of a dark gray substance with the consistency of sand billowing out from the hilt of Tempest Shadow’s Zanpaktou. The whirling gray mist encompassed the blade, covering it entirely, and then abruptly expanded with a burst of power that washed out around Tempest in a wave that shook the ground. Even without that physical display, every one of the Dark Hunters and the Arrancar could sense the heavy increase in spiritual pressure flowing off of the Soul Reaper, like the sensation of a stiff wind constantly pressing on one’s skin.

The Zanpaktou now had the shape of a large butcher’s cleaver, like a curved rectangle of thick, sharp metal. The blade itself was easily four feet long and two feet thick, with another extra two feet of overall length added for the naked metal handle that lacked any semblance of hilt or guard. The weapon was pitted and scarred with nicks from what must have been countless battles, yet this did nothing to take away from the aura of incredible, deadly menace that the Zanpaktou exuded, as if it was now fully awake and eager for its edge to taste blood.

“Well,” said Gigan with a tone heavily marinated in sarcasm, “This day just keeps getting better and better.”

“Be careful!” Roka shouted, still working on trying to save Di Roy’s life some distance away, her strings trying to sew up internal organs and stop the bleeding. Still, there was little mistaking her fear as she spoke warning to the Dark Hunters and Gaw, “She’s activated her Shikai! That sword will have new abilities-”

Suddenly she jerked, as if struck, once, twice, three times. For a second it was hard for any of the Dark Hunters to tell what had just happened, but Gigan and Megalon’s cybernetic perceptions picked it up first, followed a moment later by Kaizer X and Irys as their eyes adjusted. The dark Hueco Mundo horizon helped the chains blend in, given they were shade of gray dark enough to be nearly black. Three chains had shot out of the Zanpaktou, Hagane-hei, seemingly formed from the blade’s own metal, and shot out with speed beyond any bullet’s to strike Roka, once in each arm, and once around the neck.

The chains ended in spiked tips, the ones hitting Roka’s arms digging in through her robes, while the chain around her neck wrapped it like a grappling hook without piercing flesh.

“Nothing personal,” Tempest said with a simple shrug, “But I don’t need you healing people I’ve already knocked out of the fight.”

With shocking force and speed the chains yanked Roka back towards Tempest, so fast it actually created a small wake of sand at her passage. Then the second Roka was within arm's reach, Tempest Shadow whipped her Zanpaktou around, the chains releasing Roka mid-swing and catapulting her into the ground like a ballistic missile. She impacted and went spinning and skipping across the ground several times before coming to rest in an unconscious heap, one of her arms clearly bent at a horrifically broken angle.

Tempest looked back at the rest of them and said, “And then there were five.”

Kaizer X saw the slight shift in her feet that he was now familiar with enough to know meant a Flash Step was coming, and immediately moved to counter it, X providing a mental image of the route he predicted she’d use while conjuring a new use for the gravity beams that he’d previously contemplated but had never felt pushed enough to risk trying.

Kaizer fully approved of the plan, risk and all, and when Tempest Shadow vanished with a Flash Step, he sent himself flying forward with a graviton boosted leap and extended his arms to either side. Channeling the full force of the power of gravity at his command, Kaizer X shot out twin beams of gravitons... the looped them back in on themselves. With a supreme effort of will, and X in Kaiser's subconscious focusing purely on the matter of controlling the streams of energy, the pair worked together to create a stable, tightly compacted loop of gravitrons that extended from either hand.

The result was a set of twin energy blades that looked very much like crackling, twisting bolts of golden lightning given the loose shape of swords.

Intercepting Tempest Shadow, Kaizer X brought both graviton-blades to bear and slashed with them in a cross pattern. Tempest saw this just in time to swing Hagane-hei in a counter that brought her Zanpaktou into a direct clash with the twin graviton-blades. They collided in a combined, concussive blast that cratered the ground beneath them and, surprisingly to Tempest Shadow, stalemated the pair.

The force of potent, tearing gravity pouring off of the blades of energy was strong enough for Tempest Shadow to feel in her very bones, and she gave an appreciative look towards Kaizer X over the sparking clash of their weapons. She pushed off with Hagane-hei and launched herself upward with the force of it, bending in mid-air to flip vertically over him as she slashed downward. Kaizer X pushed himself back, manipulating gravity to leap up to meet her, one gravitron-blade catching Hagane-hei while he spun around to slash at her with the other. Tempest Shadow’s eyes followed the attack, and with a slight twist of her wrist she angled Hagane-hei towards the other blade. A metallic growth of jagged metal shot out of the blade, much like the chains had grown from it, and parried the second gravitron-blade.

In that same instant, the Zanpaktou grew additional blades from its front, as if the metal could just keep producing more metal from itself. These smaller, spike-like blades caught Kaizer X slightly off guard. He was able to twist away from them, but several cuts appeared on his arm and shoulder from what otherwise might have been more grievous wounds had he reacted more slowly.

Their clash ended with both landing on the ground about ten paces from each other, the entire affair having occurred in the span of mere seconds. Only then did the others catch up, all leaping into the attack.

Irys covered Tempest Shadow in a gust of black fog, while Gaw, with Megalon riding one shoulder, and Gigan on her other shoulder, jumped up above the impenetrable cloud of fog. Gigan’s eyes flared to near overheating as he unloaded a focused laser beam down on where his scanners told him Tempest Shadow was. The hot stream of light and plasma split into multiple spreading beams that webbed out in a series of bright, searing bursts. Megalon followed his brother cyborg’s lead with a rapid-fire set of spitting grenades that exploded amid the fog one after another. This was all capped off by Gaw opening her salivating, blood drenched jaws, a hellish glow of crimson bathing her throat before she disgorged a point-blank Cero into the ground. The combined attacks exploded outward, dissipating the fog cloud, but replacing it with a rising pillar of energy.

Yet an instant later, jagged metal blades shot upward from the cloud of dust the explosion had created, six in total that struck with blinding speed. Gaw’s arms and legs were pierced through, each by one of the blades, while the remaining two went for Gigan and Megalon. Gigan teleported out of the way of the one that went for him, although his energy reserves were starting to run low due to the large drain teleporting caused. Megalon was less capable of evasion, instead barely getting one of his drills up in time to block the blow, and even then the jagged metal blade struck hard enough to knock him from his perch on Gaw’s shoulder and sent him tumbling to the ground.

As for Gaw, she roared in pain as the blades tore free of her arms, but before she could fall, or even move to eade, the blades that struck her transformed their shape into chains that wrapped around the thirty foot tall Arrancar’s midsection and smashed her to the ground.

Finally the dust dissipated enough to show a towering shield of dark gray metal that seemed to grow out from the tip of her Zanpaktou. The shield itself was rough and rectangular, easily ten feet tall and half that wide. It’s thick surface was smoking and pitted from the impacts of lasers, grenades, and a point-blank Cero, but it was still intact. Tempest Shadow hadn’t entirely gotten out of the barrage unscathed, due to Gigan’s shotgun-style laser spread, the wider detonations of Megalon’s grenades, and Gaw’s Cero creating a large enough explosion to get around the shield partially, but the Captain-class Soul Reaper’s wounds still mostly appeared to be surface level. Or at least if the numerous burn marks and bleeding, torn parts of her skin were bothering Tempest, she was doing a good job of hiding it from her opponents.

In an instant, the shield was reabsorbed back into Hagane-hei, while retaining the chain that now extended from the blade’s end remained firmly attached to Gaw.

By now Kaizer X understood what Tempest Shadow’s Zanpaktou did. It appeared to transmute its metal form into other shapes, with a much greater volume than its normal form would suggest possible. It clearly had limits on how much additional metal it could produce, and thus far it hadn’t shown the ability to detach that metal or have it act independently. So far it had merely grown shapes like extra blades or chains, or that shield, to enhance Tempest’s combat versatility. However, given the speed and power at which she could utilize that versatility, it made her an even more exceedingly deadly foe than she already was. Furthermore, Kaizer X wasn’t sure just how limited the shapeshifting metal might be. For all he knew she was still holding back.

For ‘X’, his mind was rapidly going over tactical options, all swiftly flowing through his consciousness in the one or two seconds that passed when Gaw had been slammed into the ground. It was clear that it just wasn’t possible to overcome Tempest Shadow through sheer power. The injuries she had sustained, while relatively light, still proved she was vulnerable and could be wounded. She wasn’t invincible. The mere fact that she’d put effort into parrying his graviton-blades suggested she feared taking a direct hit from them. As long as he could maintain the Kaizer X form, the power within those blades of highly compressed and looping graviton beams should be enough to land a telling blow. The problem was that with her current level of speed, combined with a weapon that could grow new shapes in an eyeblink, X had no reliable way to get past her defenses.

You’re overthinking it, Kaizer’s voice told X, and X could feel Kaizer’s rising, seething anger, We just have to batter that ‘defense’ relentlessly until there’s nothing left. Shatter that blade of hers.

X couldn’t physically shake his head, but he conveyed the feeling with his thoughts, Brute force won’t work without a means to accurately apply it. We must create a weakness within her defensive measures that can be exploited before delivering a finishing blow.

YOU figure that out. I’M attacking!

X wanted to physically smack his alter ego, but Kaizer’s ire was up, like the pressure of an active volcano that had been forced to hold in its eruption for too long. A growing rage fueled every step as Kaizer X launched himself towards Tempest Shadow, leaving arcs of golden lightning in his wake.

Tempest clearly anticipated the direct attack, and had already been swinging her weapon around, the massive chain attached to Gaw whipping along with it. As if Gaw were the head of a gigantic flail, Tempest swung the thirty foot tall saurian Arrancar up and around, slamming her right towards Kaizer X in a sidelong arc. He saw this coming and deftly launched himself in an upward leap over the helplessly swinging Gaw, then adjusted gravity to send himself rocketing down at Tempest Shadow with sudden, meteoric speed, twin graviton-blades slicing down side by side.

A growth of curved blades sprouted from the side of Hagane-hei, forming a phalanx of sharp edges that intercepted the graviton-blades. Even so, Kaizer X struck with enough force to cause Tempest Shadow to grunt in effort and nearly sank to one knee as the sand was intended downward beneath her feet. Graviton energy coursed over both her and Kaizer X from the clash of blades, and one of the reasons X had been hesitant to use this experimental technique made itself apparent as one of the blades started to crackle and writhe wildly about. Trying to focus such energy in a compressed manner and make it hold its shape was difficult, to say the least. In these constant clashes, he was having moments of losing focus, which meant the graviton energy could easily run out of control, even backfire on him.

He got the blade back under control within the span of a heartbeat, but it’d still been enough to cause some minor damage to his hand. It also gave Tempest Shadow a split second to regain her own balance and the curved blades that had formed from her Zanpaktou now extended outward, shoving Kaizer X backwards across the sands. One even slipped past his graviton-blades and made another painful gash on his side, but he didn’t even flinch at the wound.

The blades retracted back to Hagane-hei’s main body, and Tempest swung the weapon up above her head and then spun it forward, the chain extending from its tip contracting and dragging a dazed Gaw along with it. Tempest now flipped the Arrancar over her head, bringing her crashing towards Kaizer X. He responded with a gesture from his left hand. He had to cease using the graviton-blade in that hand in order to free up energy and concentration to instead create a reduced gravity field that slowed Gaw’s descent.

Even with the gravity field, the force Tempest Shadow was using to swing Gaw still slammed her painfully into the ground, but nowhere near as bad as it otherwise would have been. Still, with the injuries that had already accumulated on her it was clear Gaw was in terrible condition, with her bone armor sporting numerous cracks, the Arrancar’s breath running ragged from her throat. Kaizer X jumped past her, and swung his remaining graviton-blade at the chain binding her midsection. The stream of golden energy bit into the thick chain, sending sparks flying, and with a grunt of effort Kaizer X found his weapon severing the chain, breaking Gaw free.

The end still attached to Hagane-hei retracted back and was reabsorbed into the Zanpaktou, while the severed portion lost its solidarity and turned into a fine metal dust. Gaw barked out a pained noise and rolled over onto her stomach, struggling to rise, or even raise a claw to fire a simple Bala at Tempest. Kaizer X was already rushing to close the distance to Tempest, who in response lowered her Zanpaktou towards the ground, where metal extended out of the blade and into the sands. A moment later a field of metal lances sprouted from the ground in a deadly field, forcing Kaizer X to twist and leap about to avoid being impaled. Unfortunately Gaw was far less able to dodge, and while she managed to throw herself to the side, several spikes pierced her side before she tore herself free. The Arrancar fired one Bala in a last ditch effort, but Tempest slapped it away with her hand like swatting a softball, already having retracted the spikes back to her Zanpaktou, while Gaw slumped to the ground, utterly spent.

Tempest Shadow raised her blade to launch another attack, perhaps to finish Gaw off, or to continue keeping Kaizer X at bay, but then she was forced to abruptly side-stepped as a red-tinged, purple beam sliced past where she’d been standing.

Irys didn’t cut off the beam, keeping it going as she turned her head and sent the sonic beam following after Tempest Shadow. The Soul Reaper held her Zanpaktou at an angle in front of her and caught the beam on its edge, redirecting it into, of all things, the distant Land Cruiser, which proceeded to be sliced cleanly into two pieces and then explode.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Irys shouted, “What does it take for you to just go down!?”

“If it makes you feel any better, you lot are doing better than literally any group of foes of mine has managed in several centuries,” Tempest Shadow offered, and Irys just grimaced.

“Yeah, it really doesn’t.”

“Hey, you could always still surrender and become my prisoners. Saves us all a lot of trouble.”

Kaizer X appeared behind her, having used gravity manipulation to cross the distance in an instant. He had his remaining graviton-blade raised, and brought it down hard, “I don’t do surrender!”

Tempest Shadow flickered out of view with a Flash Step, but as she reappeared, coming at Kaizer X’s side with a hefty swing of Hagane-hei, there was a clear gash over her right shoulder blade where the graviton-blade had managed a glancing blow. A more solid hit and she might even had lost the entire arm.

However by the same token, Kaizer X turned and met Tempest’s attack with a parrying swing that was just a shade off, and the massive cleaver-shaped Zanpaktou tore a nasty wound across his chest. Not deep enough to slow him down much, but enough to bleed profusely and make it clear that had he failed the parry entirely, he may well be sitting in two halves at that moment.

The pair went at each other like a colliding set of stormfronts, thunder and lightning exploding from each clash of their blades.

Irys was left standing there, frustrated, fearful, angry at herself for not being able to do more, and terrified that if this continued much longer then there wasn’t going to be any hope of her or her family escaping this battle with everyone healthy and intact. And the more her thoughts turned towards that dark, negative spectrum, the more that odd, cold echo in the pit of her chest grew and she felt as if something within the very sand around her was... calling to her. Or was something inside her calling to it.

She had no idea, but she knelt down, placing a pale hand on the white sands, her hand nearly blending into their surface. That echo felt almost like power, if she could just find a way to pull it towards herself...

Meanwhile Gigan and Megalon had split up, Gigan going to check on Roka, while Megalon went to Gaw.

Gigan found Roka was limp and out cold, but thankfully still alive. He didn’t have any particular fondness for any of these Arrancar, but Roka was the damn medic, and they’d need her to patch people up after this. Assuming any of the walked away at all. He was just practical and cynical enough to recognize their chances of victory were decreasing by the second, but ‘giving up’ was never a viable option in Gigan’s repertoire. With the Land Cruiser destroyed, there was no easy way out of here, but he had just enough energy for one or two more teleports. He could expand the field if he dumped his reserve power into it and get at leat the wounded, Irys, and Megalon clear. Gaw was too large to teleport, so she was shit out of luck, but Gigan would still come back and see the fight through to the end alongside X.

He picked up Roka with that general plan in mind when his scanners started picking up odd energy readings. The clash between Kaizer X and Tempest Shadow was overshadowing everything, the pair all but vanishing and reappearing in view with a series of high-speed clashes that sent sand blasting around them in a cloud with each meeting of their blades. Yet despite all that, Gigan noticed an erratic spike in energy levels from somewhere else.

...It was coming from Irys.

Megalon had reached Gaw, who was still shaking as she tried to force her wounded, bleeding body upright.

“Hey, hold up!” Megalon said, putting a hand on Gaw’s snout, “I think big bro’s got some kinda plan, and you’re pretty busted up. Just hang back and let us handle the rest.”

“N...no...” Gaw growled, blood dripping from her jaws as she suecked in panting breaths, only able to prop herself up in an awkward angle as her bone armor started to crack in multiple places, “Failed too many times... have to protect tribe... all I’m good for...”

“Whoa, okay is your body supposed to be getting all misty like that?” Megalon asked as Gaw’s body started to seemingly bleed a smokey gray aura.

Gaw groaned as her body shimmered, armor turning to mist, then seemingly the rest of her. Megalon blinked as the small, thin red-haired girl that had first attacked them in Las Noches fell out of the swirl of mist that Gaw’s ‘Resurreccion’ form had become. He caught her limp form, and the mist swirled into the shape of her Zanpaktou, sticking out of the ground. Gaw’s now tiny, almost fragile looking body still bore all the wounds she’d gained in her transformed state, with bleeding holes in her limbs and a thick bruise over her abdomen, and blood trailing out of her mouth. She was still breathing, but it was very shallow.

Megalon just held her, not really sure what to do, but that was also around the same moment his own scanners picked up what Gigan’s had, and he turned to look towards where Irys was.

The alabaster sands of Hueco Mundo were rising around Irys’ body, thousands of tiny grains that curled around her in a helix shaped swirl. Irys felt something akin to a frozen howl, echoing from the depths of the desert beneath her, rising in answer to her desperation, her fear, and a growing, bitter anger at the threat to her flock.

It was no stretch to say that X, Gigan, and Megalon were Irys’ world. After losing the flock of Gyaos she’d been alpha of, even if they’d never truly been a family to her in the sense others knew the word, she’d still be alone and desperate. Becoming part of the Dark Hunters had shown her a whole new definition of the word ‘family’, and the thought of losing what she had with them, of losing any of them, generated such a storm of churning, dark feelings within her that she felt they might claw themselves right out of her throat!

And Hueco Mundo itself responded to that.

For Hueco Mundo was a realm seeped for countless eons in the very essence of Hollows. Hollows, whose power and very being comprised of numerous shades of negative emotions within the soul. Not all negative emotions was inherently wrong, however. Power could be derived from tempering them, facing them, even embracing them under the right conditions. Hueco Mundo epitomized that nature, and every single grain of sand in the realm was infused with a mote of Hollow power.

Normally this might not have meant anything, only to the nature of the Dark Hunters, who were anything but human. Each was a unique entity, a kaiju cloaked now in the skin of a human only because the barriers between this world and the world they came from transformed their bodies into ones suited to the realm they entered. Yet they could assume their true forms if infused with enough energy to take that shape. In the past, only magic could have accomplished that feat. But while different, spiritual energy isn’t that far off from magic, and at the end of the day, energy is energy.

More important still, was Irys herself. Unlike the other Dark Hunters, her body was uniquely designed, yet also genetically aberrant. The Gyaos had been a ‘failed’ attempt at making Guardian Beasts, yet Irys’ mutation actually lead to a correction of that flaw. She didn’t even know it herself, yet, what she truly was, but she was Guardian Beast Eta, and while her body was normally meant only to gain power from absorbing certain elements... when she’d come to Hueco Mundo, the transference changed her body just enough that Hollow energy could act as a substitute.

And on instinct, and in desperation, Irys embraced that power that was reacting to her, and drew it in deep, like a parched person dunking their head into an oasis and drinking in as much as they could.

The reaction was as instant as it was dramatic. No longer merely floating around Irys in a slow, wafting stream, the pure white sand of Hueco Mundo exploded upwards around her in a storm. The grains flared with arcs of red energy as the sand was broken down to its base reishi spirit particles. Rivers of spirit energy then flowed right into Irys, entering through her eyes and mouth at first, then across her body as her skin flared up with a series of sharp angled, glowing symbols.

These symbols had appeared on her once before, when she’d been in her true Gyaos form, battling against X’s Kaizer form in what had been a similarly desperate battle to this one. The symbols represented her true nature as a Guardian Beast, and normally their color was a raw and brilliant violet, and for a moment they were the same color in this instance. However, as the Hollow reishi was absorbed into her body at an incredible rate, the symbols bled from violet to an equally bright and stark red.

Irys felt the power flooding through her, but along with that heated rush of power was also an overwhelming tidal wave of negative emotions that threatened to sweep her conscious mind away like a piece of driftwood. She struggled to maintain any semblance of self as pure rage, hunger, and deafening howls of madness scratched at her mind’s barriers. Even if she’d wanted to stop the process, however, she couldn’t. Her body soaked up the power, and her mind was left to fend for itself as her entire being underwent a swift and explosive change...

The Dark Hunters all knew what to expect, to a degree. They could sense the unleashing of one of their number’s true forms, and with an exchange of nods Gigan and Megalon wisely started to make a break for cover, carrying their unconscious cargos with them. Gigan even, if somewhat as an afterthought, accounted or Di Roy, firing a grappling hook onto the wounded Arrancar to drag him along as well.

Kaizer X was left standing alongside a somewhat confused looking Tempest Shadow as the spot Irys had been located exploded with a truly colossal vortex of crimson energy that surged up into the sky for hundreds of feet.

Tempest Shadow could feel the incredible rise in spiritual pressure coming from Irys, along with the full brunt of other energies she wasn’t familiar with. As experienced in battle as she was, having faced countless Hollows of numerous levels of power, she could easily tell that this upsurge in energy was on par with a top tier opponent; akin to a fellow Captain or an enemy Espada. It was too wild, too uncontrolled, to tell just how strong, specifically, but on the order of threat scale, this new one had eclipsed anything the others present could offer, even Kaizer X.

Not that she let that drop her guard. She remained in a battle ready stance, facing Kaizer X even as she cast one eye sidelong towards the red vortex. Kaizer X was doing the same, mostly because Kaizer was listening for a change to what X was telling him, which was to hold off and assess this new development. X wasn’t sure how Irys had managed to transform, but now that she was, he knew he and Kaizer might need to give her some space to handle Tempest Shadow.

However he wasn’t quite expecting what he saw emerging from the vortex.

The crimson energies of the vortex faded away, flowing like water off of Irys’ now titanic form. In many respects she looked much as she should in her true body; a massive albino bat-like creature with a triangular head and huge two hundred meter wingspan, and measuring easily ninety meters tall.

Yet she was different now, too. Her wings were more curved now, with their top portion covered in layers of bone-like white armor that was edged along the ends like blades. Segments of more bone armor formed a light plating across her chest, and other segments covered her legs and back. Like many Hollows that X had seen, Irys’ face was covered in a form fitting mask of bone, conforming to her head’s shape, but making for a longer, sharper, and more curved pair of points around the ends of the V shape. Perhaps the most striking change, while also being the smallest, was that her eyes had become pitch black around the iris’, which in turn glowed luminously golden. It was very similar to what happened to his own eyes when he used Kaizer energy, but it occurred to X that many Hollows also had yellow eyes.

Irys’ head turned to fixate upon Tempest Shadow, and she let out a piercing shriek of noise that reverberated through the air loud enough to be felt as much as heard.

Tempest Shadow winced slightly, but also sent a sardonic half-smirk towards Kaizer X, “So this is what you four have been hiding, huh? Why didn’t you start with these forms?”

“I think that should be the least of your concerns right now,” Kaizer X replied flatly as he leapt backwards a large distance, mostly because he could see Irys open her maw and the gathering of energies there.

An instant later, Irys fired her sonic beam. Only it wasn’t quite like it had been before. Thicker than normal, but still comparatively thin, cutting beam, it now held a largely blood red color as it sliced across the distance separating her and Tempest Shadow. Only a thin bar of purple still remained in the beam’s center. Tempest Shadow could feel the difference in power as the beam cut across the landscape towards her. It was still the same sonic beams that slip of a girl had been firing at her before, only now it was magnitudes more powerful, and enhanced by a huge dose of Hollow energy. It was practically a Cero, with extra sonic cutting ability layered on top of it.

It was also much faster than before, taking all of Tempest Shadow’s skill in Flash Step to avoid as the beam tore open a ten meter wide, twenty meter deep gash across the Hueco Mundo desert for a length of nearly five kilometers. Even then, the near miss left Tempest’s left side marked raw with a bleeding red burn mark. A direct hit might well have ended the fight then and there.

The realization lit up Tempest Shadow’s senses with an adrenaline rush she hadn’t felt in ages, and steeled her mind for the fight to come.

Before she’d been having fun, testing these newcomers out and seeing what they could do. Now? Now it was time to get serious.

As they’d been ordered, Grubber and the rest of Tempest Shadow’s company had retreated to a “safe” distance of a few kilometers west of Forlorn Ridge. They waited atop the tallest of the nearby sand dunes, waiting and watching the battle unfold. Well, watching was perhaps not accurate, given they couldn’t actually see much from that far away. However the ones with acute spiritual senses, namely Grubber, Yin, and Yang, could feel what was occurring and had followed the battle purely through sensing the conflicting energies of their Captain and those she did battle with.

Of course none of them could miss the eight meter tall bat-Hollow kaiju that had taken form in the distance, nor the massive five kilometer long energy beam Irys fired across the desert.

Yang’s eyes snapped open, having previously been closed as she’d focused on spiritually sensing the battle, and she breathed, “What in the Hell is that thing?”

“Were you expecting an answer or was that purely rhetorical?” asked Grubber, furrowing his bushy white eyebrows, “Because seriously, how would any of us know that? It’s big, looks like a bat got frisky with a pteranodon, and is sporting Hollow bits like a freakin’ Halloween costume! You tell me what it is!”

Yin opened her own eyes as well, looking pensively towards the battlefield as she said, “Whatever it is, it’s powerful. Should we... should we go help the Captain?”

“She told us, ordered us to stay out of it, Yin,” seethed Yang, clearly not liking it any more than her twin sister did, “We can’t disobey.”

“But look at what she’s up against!” Yin shouted, pointing with her Zanpaktou. Irys had taken to the air, and was gliding at high speed towards Tempest Shadow’s position, sand dunes being ripped to billowing clouds of sand in her wake.

Grubber crossed his stubby arms and said, “Exactly, kid. Look at it. You think we’d even be of any help to the Captain against something like that? No, we’d be in the way.”

“We can’t just stand here...” Yin said, teeth grinding in frustration. “What if the Captain gets hurt?”

“You kidding?” Grubber said, shaking his head. He supposed he couldn’t blame the twins for worrying. They might have known Tempest Shadow since they were children, but they were still young compared to Grubber, and he’d been serving at Tempest Shadow’s side practically since day one, when the Storm King found her on the brink of death on that distant battlefield all those centuries ago. He might have been little more than a ‘sidekick’ to the Captain, but he liked to think he knew her well. Which meant he knew Tempest Shadow was only more dangerous when backed into a corner.

“You just watch. This fight ain’t even close to over.”

Irys came on with the force of a living, super-sonic typhoon. Kaizer X had to make a full bore sprint for cover, just to get out of the path of the sonic blast that shredded the desert in the wake of the transformed Gyaos’ flight. Literally thousands of tons of sand were sent flying outward in a dry tidal wave on either side of Irys as she flew headlong at Tempest Shadow.

Megalon and Gigan had taken cover further away near Forlorn Ridge itself, having carefully set Roka and Gaw down, and yanked along Di Roy. Gigan detached his grapple from Di Roy while the wounded Arrancar spit up sand.

“Blech, gee, thanks for being so gentle, buddy!” Di Roy groused, “Can’t you see I’m injured here?”

“You’re alive enough to winge, so you’re alive enough to shut up,” Gigan shot back, “There wasn’t time to do anything else.”

At that, Di Roy blinked and peeked over the sand dune they hid behind, his eyes making a good impression of dinner plates when he saw Irys. “What the crap!? Since when could you guys transform into that!?”

Gigan didn’t bother answering the largely useless question and instead focused his attention upon the fight, his scanners working overtime. It irked him to no end, but at this point he knew there was very little he, Megalon, or X could do to help Irys. This fight had become hers, and hers alone. If any of them tried to step in now, they’d just be putting themselves in unnecessary danger, and possibly just distract Irys. He wondered how she’d managed to transform into her true form at all, but the energy readings he was getting were about as nonsensical as usual. It was impossible to miss the Hollow-like qualities her form had gained, and he just hoped she had enough control of her faculties to recognize friend from foe right now.

The fact that she’d homed right in on Tempest Shadow was a good sign, at least.

For Tempest Shadow, she was equal parts humbled and exhilarated. There was no denying the power of the entity that was coming towards her in an avalanche of fury. Dozens of questions ran through her mind, but she dammed up that river immediately. She didn’t want a single iota of focus dedicated anywhere other than dealing with this new threat.

Summoning up her reserves of spiritual energy, the pressure flowing out of her increased and she coiled her legs beneath her. In her hands, Hagane-hei produced a swath of steel dust that expanded out from the blade and formed around it while also extended outward. The result was a weapon effectively fifteen meters long and ending in a long, hooked point. The Zanpaktou’s shaft extended as well, allowing for a firmer two-handed grip. For all intents and purposes, the cleaver was now shaped more like the world’s largest harpoon married to that of an oversized greatsword.

She could have used her Shikai’s power to make the weapon larger, but extending Hagane-hei too far or into too many different components started to have rapidly diminishing returns on the weapon’s durability and cutting power. This was the largest she could make it without sacrificing the stability of the reiatsu she could pump through it or making it too brittle to survive use. The unwieldy shape and size was irrelevant. All Soul Reapers had an innate connection to their Zanpaktou that let them use them efficiently regardless of shape or size. Even this big, Hagane-hei felt light in Tempest Shadow’s hands, the living weapon exuding eagerness to test itself against such a powerful foe.

Then with speed that cratered the ground beneath her, Tempest Shadow shot up into the air straight towards the oncoming Irys, bringing her blade to bear in a swing clearly meant to meet Irys’ attack head-on. Irys let forth a piercing roar of challenge, her body practically distorting as it went even faster towards Tempest Shadow.

When the two met it was almost impossible to see clearly what happened, such was the combined speed the pair clashed with. At the very last instant Irys angled her attack to bring her left wing to bear, using the newly formed, edged bone armor along the wing’s upper portion to ram Tempest Shadow. In turn Tempest slammed her sword into the wing, as if intending to try severing the entire gigantic limb clean off.

A sonic boom of sound and force exploded from the pair, and something went flying with momentous force at a downward angle to slam into the ground. It was Tempest Shadow, her body and sword both sent flying by the combined weight and momentum Irys packed in her titanic form. The Soul Reaper hit the ground and the land erupted in a fissure of flying sand as Tempest’s body dug a furrow several hundred meters long before she finally skidded to a stop.

Meanwhile Irys angled upward, then made a sharp bank to the left, her eyes locked on the impact zone to observe her foe. Her left wing didn’t come out of the clash entirely undamaged, a deep cut raking it at the point of impact, but the wound didn’t impede Irys’ flight.

She saw Tempest Shadow stand up, battered but still very much alive, and Irys let out a furious bellow, turning and snapping her wings out with several rapid flaps that put her into a momentary hover. Once more her maw gleamed with both sanguine and deadly purple light as energy gathered there. Meanwhile Tempest Shadow was aching from head to toe from the impact of the hit she’d just taken. Her legs felt numb, and she was fairly certain a couple of ribs were cracked from that last blow. Shaking her head to clear the proverbial cotton from it, she sensed the built up of power from Irys and swiftly reacted, swinging Hagane-hei around.

In less than a second the giant sword/harpoon reformed into the shape of a thick, layered, circular shield, just a moment before Irys fired another “Sonic Cero”. The beam impacted with the shield with earth splitting force; quite literally, as the ground was ripped apart in two wide fissures that extended to either side of the shield as it split the beam.

While holding, the shield’s metal bubbled and distorted, parts of it flaking off in layers. Tempest Shadow had formed it into scale-like layers specifically to help it bleed off the energy of the beam, but even she was shocked at just how close the beam came to penetrating all the way through. By the time the Sonic Cero petered out, the shield was a partially melted, misshapen mass, smoking and glowing red from the heat. A pair of glass fissures several football fields long extended to either side of her, and Tempest Shadow shook her head in wonderment.

This ‘girl’ was displaying ability that would outdo more than a few Captains she’d known back in her day. Tempest pulled the real Hagane-hei out of the mass of distorted metal the shield had once been, the extra metal created by her Shikai returning to a dust form that billowed away in the wind from Irys’ wings. Tempest held up Hagane-hei’s cleaver shape in front of her, saying under her breath, “Well partner, it looks like I’m going to need all of your power for this one. Who’d have thought we’d run into someone this strong before we faced Tirek again?”

Irys was coming at her again, swooping down like the world’s largest bird of prey about to snatch a helpless rabbit.

Only this rabbit had one more card to play, and all it took was one word to play it.

“...Bankai.”

With the sound of a thousand claps of thunder, the ground beneath Tempest Shadow’s feet rumbled and heaved, then rose upward in a humongous surge of rock. It was as if the cliff face sheared from an enormous mountain just exploded upwards from Hueco Mundo’s sands, rising into the sky with Tempest Shadow riding atop it. Irys, surprised by the sudden emergence, took a sharp turn away, taking a moment to assess what she was seeing. Her mind was still in turmoil, her conscious self battling with a wave of unnatural anger and hate that didn’t feel at all like her own, but combined with her very real aggression towards Tempest Shadow and pushed her to abandon caution and just attack, kill, devour!

Yet she knew something was here now to be cautious of. Still, Tempest Shadow just stood atop this newly formed cliff of dark, iron rich stone and looked at Irys expectantly. It incensed Irys just enough to make her throw caution to the wind and descend once more onto the attack. She didn’t quite notice the oddity of the fact that Tempest was no longer holding her Zanpaktou in her hands.

The moment Irys was close enough that she could almost reach out with her jaws to snap up Tempest Shadow, the cliff-face exploded outward in a shower of massive rocks. A hand of near black metal armor shot out of the cliff, its fist striking Irys across the face. The hammer blow caught her almost completely off guard, and Irys spun around, struggling to control herself so that rather than crash, she made a haphazard landing on the sands, her bell rung, her jaw bleeding, but otherwise unharmed.

The other Dark Hunters were watching this unfold from the relative cover of the distant ridge. Gigan’s scanners were going so haywire with energy readings that’d he shut half of them down with a disgusted grunt. Magic and other weird powers like this that defied common science and physics really irked him to no end. X didn’t look any more pleased, having reverted to his normal state to conserve energy. He gave Di Roy a sharp glance, “What is that?”

Still clutching the hole in his stomach, Di Roy managed to say, “That’s why I was browning my pants earlier. Soul Reaper Captains, their fancy swords got two stages of release. We were just fighting the first stage before. Your friend there, she’s about to go toe-to-toe with the second stage. Bankai, they call it.”

“Stupid name,” Gigan said, then turned to X, “Boss, are we really going to just leave this to Irys?”

“If I thought there was anything we could do other than get in the way, I’d take us in without hesitation. This fight’s moved beyond our scale,” X said, although his tone, as pushed towards level calm as it was, still held an undercurrent of frustration that Gigan knew the man well enough to hear. Gigan knew exactly how X felt. Much as any of them might want to go help Irys, it would be just as foolish as if they decided to jump into a fight against the likes of a full sized Godzilla while they were still in human form.

More rock was torn out of the cliff, which began to crumble as something colossal emerged from it with thunderous steps. Dark iron boots stomped as pillars of sand blasted upwards with each step. Thick shoulders had trailing lines of rock dust clinging to them as they emerged under the Hueco Mundo sky. Altogether near a hundred meters tall, what now stood upon the desert was a gigantic suit of armor, missing only a helmet. Tempest Shadow hopped down from the now crumbling cliff to land upon the upper edge of the headless suit of armor’s gorget. As if welcoming her, metal rose in liquid rivers from a triangular platform extending slightly outward from the top of the gorget, as wide as a stage. This liquid metal flowed up over her body, while she in turn intoned the name of her Zanpaktou’s Bankai.

“Oniyama Hagane-hei.” (Steel Soldier of the Demon Mountain)

Tempest Shadow’s Bankai resembled nothing more than a towering suit of armor, its construction a stylistic mish-mash of traditional samurai armor and more western plate mail, with added flares of large, curved spikes upon the shoulders and elbows that gave it a distinct “oni” feel that was emphasized by the faint purple aura that surrounded it. The monolithic suit of armor bore a to-scale version of Hagane-hei’s cleaver shape, the now massive weapon held easily in the armor’s right fist.

As the liquid metal finished moving over Tempest Shadow, she now stood with identical armor on her own body, holding the normal sized cleaver in her hand... and as she raised it, the now kaiju-sized suit of armor that was Oniyama Hagane-hei followed suit.

Irys reacted immediately to the threat, letting out a loud howl of challenge as she hurled herself into the air once more. She just barely evaded the towering blade that sliced down where she’d just been, the impact of the sword cleaving a wide swath of sand and geysering rivers of it into the air. Irys climbed higher, looking to angle for another dive bomb, but felt the raw air pressure shift as the entirety of the huge metal armor suit jumped into the air as well. While not technically able to ‘fly’, Tempest Shadow could put more than enough physical power into her Bankai to make leaps of great height. She couldn’t walk it on air like she could with her own body. The spirit particles weren’t dense enough to carry the armor’s weight. Regardless, she was still able to get enough height to reach Irys, swinging her blade while her Bankai mimicked the motion.

Irys flipped into a sharp barrel roll. The cleaver still cut a shallow line across her back, but her raw kaiju toughness, combined with a little extra durability from the segments of bone armor covering her spine, made the hit little more than a flesh wound. Still, she let out a roar of equal parts pain and rage as she briefly rolled onto her back and aimed her head dock her chest and towards the giant suit of armor. A scathing Sonic Cero lanced out, and Tempest Shadow raised her left arm. Oniyama Hagane-hei raised its own left arm, and the metal of the armor’s bracer caught the beam. It still impacted with deadly cutting power and heat, splitting upon the bracer and leaving a smoking cut across it. The cut mimicked itself upon the armor Tempest Shadow wore, and even drew a spurt of blood.

Injuries her Bankai took were reflected, in reduced form, upon her own body, and she shot Irys an impressed look.

She can even inflict damage on my Bankai. What a beast. I hope I can take her alive.

The apex of her leap reached, the Bankai began to fall back to the ground, but not before Tempest Shadow pulled back her sword and slashed it forward, utilizing a new aspect of her power only usable with her Bankai.

Normally Hagane-hei could only extend metal out from itself in various shapes, but the shapes still had to be attached to the main blade itself. That was no longer a limitation with Oniyama Hagane-hei. With a swing of the behemoth cleaver, metallic shards were whipped from it in a flechette-like storm, each shard anywhere from four to five meters long and sent flying with prodigious might. The shards filled the air around Irys like a hail of kaiju-sized kunai, and while she was able to evade some with a swift climb, others dug into her hide at various spots. None sunk in deep, but each drew a little blood and stung fiercely.

Tempest Shadow and her Bankai hit the ground like a comet, needing to take a moment to absorb the impact of landing and regain their stance. Irys took advantage of the moment to dive down, then swiftly swoop overhead. Black smoke, thick and coiling, billowed out from her wings and within a split second Tempest was surrounded again by an impenetrable cloud of darkness.

“This trick again? It’s a good one, I’ll give you that,” Tempest said, not bothering to try and find Irys through the oily fog. Instead she cocked her head to listen, and stretched out with her spiritual senses. It was easier to sense Irys now due to how much power she exuded, some of it unmistakably Hollow energy, which Tempest Shadow was intimately familiar with.

She heard the rush of air to her left, and the spike of rising energy, and she turned her blade in that direction. Her Bankai followed suit, raising its cleaver and then thrusting it forward. Metal shot forward as the Zanpaktou extended several titanic spear shafts through the fog, but rather than strike flesh, they only moved through empty air. The force of the blow itself was still enough to clear part of the fog, and Tempest Shadow narrowed her eyes at seeing nothing there.

But I just sensed her there. Where-?

Irys burst out of the fog from the opposite side, barreling straight into the back of Tempest’s Bankai with all twenty seven thousand tons of weight behind her. Irys may have not been entirely in her right mind, with Hollow energy coursing through her, making her more aggressive, but she was still herself and still quite a crafty and intelligent fighter. She knew Tempest could sense her energy, so she’d intentionally raised her energy as if about to use a sonic beam, then immediately canceled it out and made a tight circle around her opponent. As she’d hoped, her blind foe had targeted the spot where the energy build up had been, and was momentarily taken off guard when it turned out Irys wasn’t there, but had already circled around to attack from behind.

Irys dug her claws into the back of the humongous suit of armor, talons scraping and ripping at the metal in a rain of sparks. Oniyama Hagane-hei staggered forward out of the vanishing cloud of fog, almost losing its balance. Identical claw marks appeared on Tempest Shadow’s back, but not quite deep enough to draw much blood. Irys hit hard, but this Bankai was utilizing the full measure of Tempest Shadow’s spiritual pressure, and it was far stronger and tougher than anything made out of mere metal could possibly be. Much as if she’d tried tackling and clawing at the back of a certain King of the Monsters, Irys’ ambush was able to score some wounds, but hardly fell her foe.

And the second Tempest recovered, she went on the counterattack. Curved blades like spines erupted out of the back of the armored suit, and Irys had to leap back to avoid being skewered. Then the entire Bankai spun with incredible speed, breaking the sound barrier with its sword a Tempest Shadow swung back-handed at Irys.

Irys spread her wings and let out a sonic cry as she formed vibrating sound into a solid barrier between her wings that covered her entire front. The cleaver blade impacted with the sonic barrier with earth shattering force, but the barrier held. Irys still felt some impact tremble through her body as the sheer momentum of the blow sent her flying backwards. She managed to maintain some semblance of balance, using her wings to stabilize herself as her foot talons hit the ground and she skidded across the desert, slowly coming to a halt several city blocks distant from Tempest and her towering Bankai.

Tempest didn’t give Irys any moment to breath, the ground shaking for miles as Oniyama Hagane-hei came charging in with surprising speed for something so large. Iyrs tried to take to the air, but Tempest, despite still being out of melee range, made an upward strike with her blade. A spade-shaped hunk of metal came flying out, attached at the end by giant chains. Irys had to dive right back down to avoid the sudden emergence of the chain blade, then immediately erect another sonic barrier as Tempest spun the chain around and sent the heavy spade head crashing towards Irys.

Her barrier took that blow with relative ease, and not intending to just be stuck on the defensive, Irys lowered her head and tried something a little different with her sonic rays, sucking in the energy, but letting it out not in a continuous stream but in several quick-fire pulses. It was harder than she expected, but she maintained her aim and clustered the rapid succession of beam shots towards the chest of the hundred meter dullahan that was barreling towards her.

Tempest discarded the chain blade extension and instead shaped her sword into something akin to a huge warfan, spinning it in front of her. She managed to deflect several of the sonic pulse-rays in this fashion, but several still got through, burning holes in the chest and shoulders of the armor, or deflecting at angles that struck the armor’s legs. Tempest grunted at the pain from several of these wounds, mimicked in lighter form, appeared upon her own body, but she came on regardless, building more momentum as she shifted the warfan back into a cleaver and brought it up for a two-handed overhead chop.

Irys flung her wings out, her barrier coming up once more. The cleaver descended like a sharp-edged skyscraper, smashing into the barrier with so much force that a indent over a kilometer wide spread out from the point of impact where the two titans stood. Every bone in Irys’ body rattled under the blow, yet miraculously her sonic barrier held up. Still, she was dazed, and to her shock Tempest just had her Bankai raise its mountainous sword for another blow.

Knowing her barrier couldn’t stand up to a second hit, Irys made a desperate move, deactivating her barrier and plunging herself forward. Her mouth opened and in a flash chomped towards Tempest Shadow herself. Tempest reacted swiftly, twisting her body so the giant suit of armor turned it’s spiked shoulder towards Irys. Irys’ mouth bite hard onto the armor’s neck joint, but her left wing was impaled by the armor’s shoulder spike in return. Blood burst forth from both combatants as Tempest Shadow’s shoulder and neck gained a bite wound, while Irys’ torn wing leaked stark red blood.

Irys stubbornly kept her mouth clamped in place, ignoring the pain. Tempest grit her teeth, sweating and bleeding as she hammered the pommel of her sword down onto the back of Irys’ head. Like a pit-bull refusing the let go, Irys shook her head and tried to tear the gap in the armor wider, while scratching at the armor’s belly with her foot talons. She couldn’t quite get a good enough hold to leverage a deeper wound, and Tempest kept smacking her with her sword, and bringing her armors knees up to smash into Irys’ chest.

Irys started to charge another Sonic Cero, intending to firing it point blank into the gouge she’d opened in the armor. However at the same time, Tempest produced a truly staggering amount of gigantic chains from her sword which wrapped around Irys and brutally yanked the kaiju off of where she’d been stuck on the shoulder spike.

Irys was flipped backwards, her Sonic Cero firing into the sky harmlessly. She struggled as more and more chains, each one as thick as a school bus, flew out of Oniyama Hagane-hei’s sword and began pinning her limbs to her side. Other chains wrapped around her mouth, cinching it shut. In a few moments Irys was stuck laying on the sands, almost entirely wrapped in the chains, unable to move. Yet even then she utterly refused to give up, using all her strength to slowly force her jaws open, despite the chains, aiming her mouth towards Tempest Shadow now standing high above her as she tried to charge up one last beam.

Tempest Shadow herself was breathing hard, her right side covered in blood as she held her wounded shoulder closed with her left hand. She looked down at Irys with obvious respect firmly planted in her expression. Even injured as she was, she could still move her sword, and raised it to block the beam, only Irys didn’t fire immediately, for Tempest Shadow wasn’t her target. Instead she lowered her aim at the last moment and raked the beam across the chains where they were connected to the Zanpaktou itself, severing them like a blowtorch.

As the chains went slack, Irys rolled across the ground, a somewhat awkward motion, but it was enough to throw many of the heavy chains off of her body.

“Oh, clever girl,” Tempest complimented, looking at Irys as the kaiju rose to her feet, breathing as heavily as Tempest was, “You’ve given me far more fight than I could have hoped for, but you’re looking just about done over there. Then again, I’m not exactly in top condition either, am I? What do you say we end this with the next strike? I don’t think either of us want to prolong this any further...”

Irys could understand the words, even if she couldn’t verbally respond beyond giving a sharp roar, rearing up to her fully ninety meter height. It was as close to a ‘Fine by me!’ that she could give. Even through Irys was limited on what she could throw as a final attack. She could feel the power she’d absorbed to transform into her kaiju body was now running dangerously low, but she sensed she had enough for one more sonic beam. With her left wing as torn up as it was, she couldn’t get airborne to angle for a better shot, so she was essentially stuck matching whatever Tempest could throw in a head-on, one strike duel.

Not an ideal situation, but Irys did have one last idea, although whether it would work was a total coin toss. But she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to try every trick she could think of to beat this woman!

Tempest Shadow saw Irys’ body light up, multiple curved symbols appearing across Irys’ form in alternating flashes of red and purple. Motes of energy started to collect towards Irys’ maw as she dredged up every last scrap of internal power she could muster for what was to come. Tempest nodded her approval, and shifted her Bankai’s stance, the giant armor turning to its side and widening the stance of its feet. She then brought her sword towards her hip, where the cleaver blade started to shift form, the metal of it flaking off until the cleaver became more the shape of a normal katana. The metal that flaked off the blade floated to the armor’s hip to take the shape of a large metal sheath, which Tempest used to sheath the katana. She then used one hand to grip the sheath, while the other rested lightly atop the pommel of the katana. Though Irys might not have recognized it, this was a classic Japanese iajutsu stance. The smoke-like white aura of Tempest’s reiatsu began to pool into the sheath, wreathing the blade within. Similarly, Irys’ power reached a peak, the light within her mouth flaring brightly.

Both of them were ready, and were betting the outcome of the battle on the next few seconds.

For a moment a deathly silence hung over the two, then Tempest Shadow invoked the name of her final technique.

”Akiyama Mikazuki!” (Autumn Mountain Crescent Moon)

In a single, flashing motion, she drew her sword, and the mountain of armor followed the motion, tearing free it’s katna from its sheath in a sudden strike of raw spiritual energy and deadly cutting wind pressure. The blow was further enhanced by the fact that hundreds of tiny shards of metal flew out with the white crescent of energy, each shard solidifying and empowering the cutting power of the wave. It flew out in a left to right diagonal, flying straight for Irys.

At the same time, Irys had spread her wings, ignoring the pain in her ripped left wing. She threw her head forward, a circular shockwave blasting from around her mouth from the shear power and force of the final Sonic Cero she was firing, noticeably larger than her previous ones. Within the very same instant, she formed a sonic barrier in front of her, yet this time she tried something she’d rarely considered before. She modulated the barrier so that a hole was opened up in it, just wide enough for her beam to cross through. A simultaneous attack and defense.

The two attacks met an an angle halfway between the pair, the Sonic Cero rippling across the crescent energy wave of the Akiyama Mikazuki. The clash altered the trajectory of both attacks slightly. The Sonic Cero veered to the right, and pierced straight through Oniyama Hagane-hei’s left shoulder, melting through the armor and blasting out the other side to continue on for miles through the Hueco Mundo dester. Blood showered out of the wound that appeared on Tempest Shadow and she let out her first real yell of pain that wasn’t a mere controlled grunt. This time she actually did fall down to one knee, her Bankai following the motion to crash down to one of its knees.

Tempest looked up to see what had become of Irys, and saw the kaiju standing there, right where she’d been.

It took a second or two for the wound to actually appear across Irys’ chest, spurting a curtain of blood.

The crescent of energy from Tempest’s attack had been slowed by its contact with the Sonic Cero, and when it had struck the sonic barrier itself, it’s power had been further reduced. But it had still broken through the barrier, which was weakened by the simple fact that Irys had packed more punch into her beam. It was enough that, when the crescent had struck across her chest, it didn’t result in fatal damage. Yet it still cut a deep gash across the left third of Irys’ chest, from the middle of her stomach up to her left shoulder.

Under any other set of circumstances, Irys would be badly wounded, but still able to fight. But she’d thrown all of her remaining energy into that last attack, and even as she tried to take a staggering step forward to resume the fight, she felt her entire body lurch and start to go numb.

No! Damn it body, don’t quit on me like this! I need to win... I need to protect my flock...!

Valiant as her spirit was, her body was simply out of gas, and whatever boost she’d gained from absorbing energy from Hueco Mundo itself had also played out, as if her body’s ability to even absorb that energy had become overtaxed. She still got several more steps towards Tempest Shadow before the numbness overtook her mind as well as her body, and Irys lost consciousness, falling into deep, gray sleep.

Tempest saw the titanic kaju start to fall forward. Irys’ body glowed almost entirely red as the massive form of her true self began to revert back to the shape of a young, pale human girl, now falling from dozens of meters in the air. Yet before she could fall far, Tempest Shadow moved her Bankai forward, face twisting in pain from having to move so fast after taking so many grievous wounds. She held out her Bankai’s armored hand and caught Irys, then lifted that hand up towards the top of the armor.

Tempest Shadow leaped from the gorget and onto the hand. Her Bankai would move its swiftest and most accurate when controlled by her own motions, but she was capable of commanding it mentally as well. It was just much slower and less efficient to use it that way in battle. As she landed on the hand she winced again, sucking in deep breaths as she looked at herself. She could barely even move her arms, with her right shoulder torn by Irys’ earlier bite, and her left with a hole in it from that final beam. She was sporting numerous smaller wounds, dozens of claw marks and bruises that all bled. Between this, and the scuffle with the others of Irys’ group, Tempest Shadow was more wounded and taxed than she’d been since that fateful battle so many centuries ago.

She shook her head in wonderment, then knelt next to Irys. The girl looked like a mess, most of the wounds she’d taken in kaiju form now mirrored on her human body. Tempest quickly checked the girl’s pulse, and let out a small sigh of relief when she found one. While she’d been willing to take this fight to the death if that’s what it took, she honestly had no interest in killing any of these people. Having seen them fight, she was convinced she wanted them in her army. Whatever they might say to deny it now, she was willing to take the time to try and convince them. Besides, the Storm King had ordered her to keep an eye out for talented people to recruit. And failing that, he’d also told her to keep an eye out for any sources of power that might be useful for them. If nothing else, this girl had demonstrated power of a level equal to many Espada or Captain-class Soul Reapers. The Storm King would want to examine her, and likely her companions as well.

“Which won’t happen if you bleed out, so let’s get this bandaged,” Tempest said, removing the white coat of her Captain’s hiyori. She sighed looking at it. Tattered to all hell and back, and it was the only garment useful for binding these wounds. Oh well, she’d see if it could be cleaned and patched later. She knew how to make battlefield dressing, and did her best to bind her Captain coat around the worst of Irys’ injury, then carefully lifted the girl up. Tempest was a tad surprised at how little she weighed.

Heh, the great and mighty Tempest Shadow, once Captain of Soul Society’s strongest combat division, and one-time holder of the title ‘Kenpachi’, and I was nearly defeated by a girl who weighs as much as a pair of wet chopsticks...

Yet there was no rancor or grudge in her thoughts. The fight had been a fair one, and if she’d gotten pushed harder than she’d imagined she would, then that just meant her opponents had been worthy ones. She wasn’t even particularly angry about the loss of the Hollows under her command. She did make a point of fostering a sense of comradery among the Hollows she trained for the Storm King’s army, and cared deeply for the Arrancar girls she’d adopted, Yin and Yang. She even somewhat liked Grubber, though telling him as much was something she’d never do. But she couldn’t fault fair losses in a battle that her side technically started, although she felt entirely justified in her reasoning for stepping in when she had.

And beyond that, she still had a job to do, and duties to her liege to fulfill. This battle hadn’t been personal, although she’d personally enjoyed the unexpected challenge.

Now to have another chat with this girls’ comrades.

Chapter 7: Prisoners of the Storm King

Chapter 7: Prisoners of the Storm King

Tense didn’t begin to cover X’s mindset, seeing the approach of the hundred meter tall mountain of dark, headless armor. The fact that the armor bore the scars of its battle with Irys did little to ease the sensation within of a tightly bottled storm, raging at the seams to be set free. Only ironclad discipline kept him externally seeming calm, while inward emotions battered at the gates.

Was Irys dead? From their vantage point near the ridge, X and the others had seen most of the titanic duel between Irys and Tempest Shadow, although some details had been difficult to make out as the two massive combatants’ fight had drifted several kilometers away. Even so, they’d seen the end of it, with that last exchange of powerful blows, and witnessed Irys’ body revert to its human state. Whether she was still alive at that moment had been impossible to tell.

“X,” Gigan said, foregoing any of his usual pseudonyms like ‘boss’ or ‘chief’, “I have just enough juice left for a teleport. Once that bitch is in range, I can get you and me to the top of that monkey suit.”

X nodded. It might be their one shot at taking Tempest Shadow out, if Irys had done enough damage to weaken the Soul Reaper. The only alternatives were to either surrender, or flee. Flight seemed unlikely, and surrender had no benefit to it that X could see... assuming Irys was dead.

If she wasn’t... X frowned inwardly at himself. He’d been in more strange circumstances over the course of his life than he could count, but time and again his leadership of the Dark Hunters brought him to new crossroads that forced him to think in ways he never had before. They were his charges, his comrades, and the closest he had to family. He was responsible for them, while at the same time relying on them. He didn’t even want to consider what he might be without them, and the very thought of one of them dying was an abyss he wasn’t prepared to stare into just yet.

If Irys was alive, that meant Tempest Shadow had a hostage. A hostage that X couldn’t afford to place in further danger.

Mission objectives be damned, his people came first.

If Irys was alive.

The next minute it took for Tempest Shadow to walk her Bankai back over to cast it’s looming shade over Forlorn Ridge were among the longest sixty seconds of X’s life, waiting to see whether someone who’s life was dear to him was still among the living or not.

Gigan glanced at him, clearly waiting for a signal as to whether or not they should attack. Tempest Shadow was visible, now. Oddly, she wasn’t standing atop the neck of her giant, headless armored giant, but rather was riding in the palm of its right hand. She was kneeling over something, although X couldn't see what. A spark of hope rose inside him, but he didn’t let it take over just yet. He did, however, glance at Gigan and shook his head, whispering, “Not until we know for sure about Irys.”

Gigan gave the barest of nods. Meanwhile Megalon carefully set the unconscious Gaw down next to the equally still unconscious Roka and went to stand next to his comrades, expression stern as he too waited to see what would happen. Di Roy, holding his stomach wound, propped himself up with his Zanpaktou, muttering under his breath, “Swear to the Soul Queen, next time Adagio gets a scheme in her head, I’m putting in for my vacation time.”

The armored suit’s foot crashed down no less than ten meters from where they stood, and the suit’s right hand lowered. Not all the way to the ground, but close enough that Tempest Shadow could speak without having to shout. X was tempted to signal Gigan to attack right then and there. Tempest Shadow looked even more battered than he imagined she might. Irys had really given her a savage fight, and X felt a sense of pride for his friend in that fact.

Yet the sight of Irys halted any notion of resuming immediate hostilities.

She was alive, that much X could tell from the shallow breathing from the pale girl’s mouth. Her arms and legs were bound by chains, probably created by the armored suit itself. She looked in even worse condition than Tempest Shadow, to the point where it was surprising she even was still breathing, but the reason for that was apparent with just a glance. Not only was Irys’ most grievous wound, a deep gash that went from shoulder to hip, already bound by what appeared to be Tempest Shadow’s overcoat... but the Soul Reaper Captain had her left hand hovering over Irys’ chest. A soft blue glow of light flowed from the hand and into Irys. X didn’t need a great leap of logic to tell what was happening, but Tempest Shadow confirmed it a second later.

“In case any of you were wondering, your compatriot is alive, and is largely staying that way because of a healing Kido I’m casting on her. I wouldn’t recommend doing anything like attacking me, otherwise that’s going to complicate her recovery. This spell is probably all that’s keeping her alive right now.”

“If she dies, you’re going to be following right behind her,” Gigan said in a tone that was neither threat nor boast, just cold hard statement of fact. Tempest didn’t seemed bothered by this, and only nodded as if the words should’ve gone without saying.

X shocked even himself with how level his own voice was, given the storm of emotions inside him, “What do you want? If you wanted us dead, you’d have no reason to keep Irys alive, and would have attacked without exposing yourself to danger by getting this close.”

Tempest looked at him with a frank stare, “From a tactical standpoint, killing all of you would make the most sense. Your presence compromises my mission, given I can’t afford for word of us to leak back to Las Noches. If you were dead, well, problem solved.”

She turned her look down towards Irys, “But what a waste that would be, wouldn’t it? She fought so hard, and I can’t help but respect anyone who can show that amount of dedication to her comrades at arms. That being said, I really can’t just let you lot walk. Even if I was inclined to believe you wouldn’t tell the Espada you worked for about this incident, there’s always the chance another Espada might wring the information out of you, or those Arrancar with you. The risk is simply too high. As someone with the mentality of a fellow soldier, I imagine you’d come to the same conclusion were you in my shoes.”

X wasn’t going to gainsay that, one way or another. Were his and Tempest’s positions reversed, he supposed it was possible he would think along similar lines. Then again, were their positions reversed, Tempest Shadow would likely be dead. But that was neither here nor there.

“So here’s the deal,” Tempest went on, “Become my prisoners, and I guarantee the life of your friend, and yourselves. I will not further harm, nor allow further harm to come upon you as long as you don’t strike first.”

“And for how long will we be your prisoners and for what purpose?” X asked, wondering if he strung his conversation on long enough if Irys might recover enough to regain consciousness. She was bound by hands and feet, but her mouth wasn’t gagged.

“You’ll be prisoners until I have good reason to render you not prisoners. As for the purpose, call it... satisfying curiosity. I haven’t quite given up on the prospect of convincing you lot that there’s value in considering a career change.”

Gigan didn’t quite snort, but he did say under his breath, “This lady is a special kind of bananas.”

X didn’t disagree, but whatever Tempest Shadow’s motivations were, he was hardly going to argue them while they turned out to benefit him and his team. A team that for the moment also included Adagio’s people, so he glanced back at Di Roy, Gaw, and Roka.

“Does this deal include them?”

Di Roy grimaced past a grim smile, saying, “I sure as hell hope so, otherwise this is literally going to rank as my second worst day ever. Still can’t top the day I accidentally walked in on Grogar taking a bath. Mind. Scarred. For. Life.”

“For the record,” Megalon said, “I kinda like these guys, so if they’re not part of the deal, I’m also kinda thinking of taking our chances at still kicking your butt.”

“Fortunately for you, I was considering the three Arrancar as part of this arrangement,” Tempest Shadow said, “Whatever loyalty they may have towards their Espada, I’m willing to give them a chance to consider other opportunities.”

Di Roy pointedly turned a concerned look towards his unconscious fellows, both Roka and Gaw barely stirring. “You gonna heal them up the same way you’re doing for Irys?”

“I will, assuming we all have an accord?”

Tempest had answered Di Roy, but directed her words more at X, whom she recognized as the one calling the shots for the group. As for X, his mind worked through the options, playing over each potential scenario with the highest objective in mind being the survival of his team. Of course the Kaiser portion of his mind still seethed inside, aggressively desiring to push towards finishing the battle, but X didn’t have to fight to keep that part of him contained. There was balance, of a sort, between them, and Kaiser was allowing the practical X to do the thinking.

X considered the likelihood of an all out assault succeeding. Gigan’s warp ability would allow them to potentially take a weakened Tempest off guard. However, even if they could dispatch her fast enough to prevent her retaliating, that still left Irys critically wounded, with no hope of further medical attention. There was no telling when Roka might regain consciousness on her own, and X was not willing to risk Irys’ life on a bet that the Arrancar medic would awaken before Irys bled out.

Conversely, accepting Tempest’s offer put them in a potentially much worse situation. As prisoners he couldn’t imagine they’d be given much freedom to act, and while escape would be their immediate objective, there was no way of knowing what manner of defenses might exist where they’d be taken. He could be condemning his entire team by agreeing to become prisoners, whereas in attempting to fight it out here and now, he’d only be condemning one of them.

Yet that simple numbers game had no appeal at all to X. Either he would get his whole team out of this alive or... Well, there was no “or”. He would do all in his power to protect those who’d entrusted him with leadership, until all other options had turned to dust. So while it may have seemed, on paper, the worse of the two options, becoming prisoners remained the best chance for everyone making it back alive.

“...We have an accord,” he said in a flat tone, and he could feel the tension in the air as he said it.

He couldn’t be sure how Gigan felt. The cyborg was supremely skilled at hiding his thoughts. Yet X could see the almost imperceptible nod from Gigan, indicating that regardless of what he thought of the choice, as always he’d follow X’s lead. Megalon, far more prone to wearing his heart on his sleeve, just seemed to relax, dropping his battle stance once X gave the word. X knew Megalon would jump right back into the fight if needed, but once hostilities were done, generally so was the easy going Megalon.

Di Roy, breathing a far more audible sight of both relief and consternation, said, “Well, guess since we’re done trying to kill each other for the time being, can somebody help carry these two?” He nodded towards Gaw and Roka, “This hole in my stomach is leaking way more blood than I’m used to seeing on the outside.”

“Oh, suck it up,” Gigan said, coming over and picking up Roka, “I swear you people with your ‘internal organs’ and need for ‘blood circulation’. I’ve been decapitated... twice, and you don’t hear me complaining about it.”

“Hey at least I can eventually heal on my own, and don’t need a freakin’ Radio Shack every time I get damaged, Mr. I’m Too Cool to Bleed,” Di Roy said, Megalon strolling past him to shoulder Gaw’s unconscious form.

“I hope these two will be okay. Irys is being healed, but Miss Gaw here doesn’t look very good,” Megalon said.

“I’ll see to it they get treated as soon as possible,” Tempest Shadow assured, “It won’t take long for us to arrive at our stronghold. Speaking of which...”

Whether they’d been watching from nearby, or had only just arrived from observing from further away, the area suddenly started to fill with Hollows. Mostly it was the same troopers as before, lesser Hollows bearing the black uniforms and horn-like blue sigil. Among them, however, were three Arrancar. X recognized the red and blue haired twins from the fight, but the short fellow with the dark granite colored skin and white mohawk, sporting a stout pot-bellied build, was a new face.

“So, you done having your fun, Captain?” asked the rotund shortstack, placing one hand on a sheathed blade that looked more like an overly large bowie knife than a regular sword.

“Yes, Grubber, the fighting is done with,” Tempest replied, “X here has agreed to allow us to take him and his team as... well, I would say ‘guests’ but I don’t think he’d appreciate the pretense, so for now we’ll go with ‘prisoners’. Of a hopefully temporary variety.”

“What? But Captain, they’re clearly dangerous!” said the red haired Arrancar girl, “Look how much they hurt you! Shouldn’t we just... you know... make sure they’re not a threat anymore?”

“Yang, your concern is appreciated, but I’ve agreed to treat these prisoners with respect and due care. I expect you to honor my agreement and give them all the proper courtesies.”

“Y-yes, Captain! Of course, Captain!” Yang’s face was flushed to almost as red as her hair as she bowed. Next to her, the blue haired Arrancar girl crossed her arms and spoke in a calmer tone.

“If we’re taking them prisoner how can we ensure they won’t become aggressive again? Not questioning your orders, Captain, but given the powers they’ve displayed, keeping them prisoner isn’t as simple as just disarming them. Most of them have built in attack ability we can’t remove by simply putting them in chains.”

Tempest’s face creased in a sour frown as she looked at Irys, who’s breathing remained shallow. Tempest’s hand hadn’t ceased producing the soft glow of healing light for a single instant during the entire conversation, “As long as their friend’s health remains tied to their good behavior, that is a chain more solid than anything we could physically place on them.”

X didn’t really have a counterargument for that. Although it did occur to him that if Tempest had wanted to coerce their cooperation in the long term, she could have always taken Irys as a permanent hostage. Had Tempest thought of that, or was some manner of internal honor preventing her from realizing just how powerful a lever Irys was for her to use? Regardless of the reason, he was glad she hadn’t made mention of that, at least not yet.

“Right, I hear you, Captain,” said Grubber, eyeing Dark Hunters and the Arrancar with them with a shrewd pair of beady blue eyes, “If you’re going to be doing the whole recruitment spiel, I’ll take my usual bet with you.”

Tempest made a surprisingly, for lack of a better term, ‘human’ grunt of irritation, “You could show a little faith in me.”

“Hey, recruiting people is your fetish. I just like getting free smokes off you when it doesn’t work.”

“What are you calling a fetish!? It’s a perfectly normal method of expanding our forces!”

“You are literally the only lady I know who will try to kill someone one second, then invite them into the family the next. If that’s not a fetish, what else is it?”

As this exchange continued, Gigan looked flatly at X and said, “These people are crazier than we are. I don’t like being surrounded by people that are crazier than we are.”

X, much quieter, simply said, “For now, we roll with it. Until a chance to escape presents itself.”

It was low enough that likely only Gigan, with his enhanced cybernetic senses, would’ve heard it, and he just nodded again as the argument between Tempest and Grubber wound down with the blue haired girl stepping in.

“Now, now, Grubber, it’s the Captain’s prerogative to do what she likes with her prisoners. Don’t rile her up so much.”

“Yeash, Yin, I’m just having fun with her. I swear, it's a curse being the only one around here with a sense of humor.”

“Oh, just open a Garganta already,” Tempest said, blowing out a heated sigh.

“What about those Hollows that ran off earlier?” asked Yang, “Illforte and his people?”

“Leave a small contingent here to scout for them, and see if they return to Forlorn Ridge. Illforte hates Espada enough that he probably won’t go to them anytime soon, but I’d rather not take chances if I can help it,” Tempest replied, “If needed, I’ll... have a chat with him about what happened here. Grubber, that Garganta, if you please?”

“Yeah, yeah, you got it Captain. Home sweet home, coming right up...”

In short order Yang issued orders to a group of about a dozen of the remaining Hollow soldiers, who saluted and separated from the main group to march off in the direction the residents of Forlorn Ridge had fled. Meanwhile the rest of the soldiers took up flanking positions on either side of the group of “prisoners”. Yin moved behind them, while Tempest had her Bankai stand back up to its full height. The giant suit of armor then started to shrink in size, surrounded by a faint white aura as it compressed itself to a much smaller thirty meters, compared to its earlier hundred meter tall, behemoth stature.

There was still a general sense of hostility in the air, and X could tell he and his team were being very carefully watched. He imagined any move on their part would trigger an immediate response, and with Tempest not deactivating her Bankai, it was clear she wasn’t entirely trusting that one of them might not try to pull something.

At the head of the group, Grubber held out a palm and made a quick, almost cutting gesture.

X was used to seeing Garganta portals open now, seeing the air tear itself open like a toothy maw yawning wide into a void of black. This one was much taller than any other he’d previously seen, and it seemed to cause Grubber some strain to make it. Also, unlike other Garganta, it seemed the other side of this one was more immediately visible, as X could catch a glimpse of white stone, and shockingly enough, green trees just a few meters across the void.

Tempest gave the order to move, and soon enough X and his companions were marched through the portal alongside their captors, and into the fortress of the Storm King.

It wasn’t precisely what X had been expecting.

He’d seen many fortresses before. Massive, high-tech citadels of glass and steel. Concrete bunkers that went miles underground. The monolithic, dark corridors of the temple in Zenith.

Soft greenery and gently rushing waterfalls amid a picture of scenic beauty was not what he’d pictured at all.

The area the Garganta portal opened onto was a grass covered hill that was situated along the wall of a wide, circular canyon that must have been at least several miles long at its widest point. The canyon walls rose to what was likely around five or six hundred feet of rugged white and gray stone. The circular canyon had two clear entrances cut into its walls, where green grass gradually gave way to pale sand as the paths rose up to the canyon tops, where sand sometimes still billowed down in mist-like streamers. The black sky and stark while crescent moon above proved this was still Hueco Mundo, at least.

At least a dozen or so natural seeming holes in the canyon wall where what was producing the waterfalls, perhaps sourced from underground rivers or lakes. The water formed multiple pools that all filled channels carved into the ground, forming straight rivers that ran towards the center of the canyon floor. Trees, most of them dark pines, formed a forest encircling the heart of the canyon. There, amid the trees, stood clusters of buildings shaped from white stone, most of them only two or three stories high, but a few rising to twice that. All bore a straightforward, square architecture, save for the roofs, which all rose to twin points, mirroring the horn symbol worn on the uniforms of the Storm King’s warriors.

And while the sights of nature were very out of place, and not very much like a fortress, the ‘fortress’ part of the equation did appear at the very center of the canyon. It had the look of a twin pyramid, multiple square tiers of stone stacked atop the other for two large constructions that rose side by side until they dominated the area at easily half the height of the canyon walls. Unsurprisingly, each rose to a point that, when the tops of the twin pyramids were taken together, it resembled the horn sigil once more.

“Eh,” said Gigan, “I’ve seen better.”

Yang glared back at him with an angry flash in her eyes, “No one asked your opinion.”

“And yet I give it freely. Truly I am a generous soul,” came the utterly deadpan reply.

“Hey, we agreed to be prisoners,” said Di Roy at Yang’s increasingly reddening face, “We never said we wouldn’t be sassy about it.”

Yang growled under her breath, “Stupid jerks- *mumble mumble*-lucky the Captain is being so-*mumble mumble*- light nuts on fire and see how mouthy you are-*mumble mumble*.”

“Easssy Yang,” Grubber said, elbowing her, “Remember what I taught you. Good vibes in!” he put a hand on his chest with a deep breath, “Bad vibes out...!” he finished with a long exhale and moving his hand away from his chest as if tossing something away. Yang, grimacing, reluctantly mimicked his movements, although the sour look on her face suggested it only helped minimally.

“Move along, folks, we don’t got all day,” Tempest Shadow commanded, and with her Bankai still looming over the procession, albeit in its shorter stature, the column began to march down the hill and into the canyon proper.

The prisoners remained under close watch and guard, but X noted that the Hollow soldiers, while not precisely relaxing per se, gained a fresh air of energy about them as got deeper into the canyon. It triggered vague memories of soldiers from another world and time, returning home after a long campaign. He was Monster X now, but that had not always been the case, and in some corners of his mind, there was a familiarity with the lighter steps of the Hollows and the eager sense with which they moved towards home.

Even Di Roy seemed affected, despite his earlier comments, looking about at the surrounding area with confusion he was trying his best to hide. Tempest must have seen the look, because she chuckled dryly and said, “Sass us all you want, but you have to admit, this place looks much nicer than Las Noches does.”

“Greener, sure. Doesn’t exactly look well defended,” Di Roy drawled, gesturing at the canyon walls, “Not sure where you got the water from, either. Las Noches has its underground sources, but there isn’t supposed to be much of it anywhere else in Hueco Mundo.”

“That’s our own secret,” Tempest replied cryptically, “Suffice to say the Storm King has put a lot of effort into building this place and making it far more livable than the rest of this dead realm. If our ambitions succeed, far more of Hueco Mundo will resemble what you see before you. Think on that, as you contemplate whether our side is worth joining or not.”

Di Roy said nothing to that, clamming up as his eyes looked about intently underneath his helmet of bone. X wasn’t sure if the Arrancar was actually considering Tempest’s words, or just focused on taking in the details of their surroundings. That was what X was doing, building a mental map of the area and keeping a close watch for anything that might prove valuable in an escape.

The forest grew thicker around them, but there was a road of white cobblestones that led in a straight path towards the fortress itself. While the outer area of trees were tall pines, almost seemingly designed to act as a screen, once they went further in the treeline thinned out once more and were gradually replaced with what appeared to be neatly ordered orchards. These trees appeared to bear fruits of various kinds, and were tended to by uniformed Hollows who gathered the fruits into baskets and carried them towards cylindrical buildings like miniature silos.

While bearing a striking resemblance to various Earth fruits, X noted each one bore an odd, purple tinge to them. He caught Di Roy glancing at him meaningfully, and the Arrancar fell back a step or two so he was close to X, allowing them to speak in whispered tones.

“This is getting weird,” Di Roy said, “This Storm King asshole has to be a Privarron Espada, and I’ve heard gossip some of them have the power to alter their territories, but I’ve never heard of one that can make shit grow in Hueco Mundo. Not like this. Any plants growing here are usually half dead already, and the only Espada I’ve ever seen pull off making a bloody lake was Adagio, and even she had help from the underground water already there.”

“Should this matter?” asked X, “Whatever means they’ve used to create this place changes nothing about our situation.”

“Maybe not, but it gives me food for thought.”

“You’re considering changing allegiances?”

“Hell the fuck no. I owe Adagio way too much to think about playing for another team. But if this Storm King dude is a Privaron Espada, and he’s got a hard on for taking out Tirek, maybe we can finagle some reverse diplomacy here.”

“They don’t seem interested in allying with an Espada, even one who seeks to overthrow Tirek,” X commented, and cast a look towards the looming fortress that rose ahead of them, “And our sole task now is to escape this place.”

“No argument here,” replied Di Roy, “But in case you didn’t notice, Miss Purple Badass seems to be more interested in chatting us up than killing us, and also seems to look at you as some kind of peer. Just a suggestion, but consider using that. If you can’t finagle talking our way out of this, you might string her along to buy us time to figure a way to bust out of whatever slammer they’re going to toss us in.”

X gave the barest of nods, indicating he acknowledged the point, but didn’t reply, for their conversation had drawn the blue haired Arrancar, Yin, a bit closer to them.

They were now past the fruit orchards and now entered what seemed to be the stronghold proper. The road led to a wide, circular courtyard from which several more roads split off in different directions between clusters of the tall, square buildings X had seen from a distance. By now the procession had drawn a crowd of onlookers, dozens upon dozens of Hollows looking out of building windows or moving onto the street to watch them march into the courtyard. Strangely to X, a number of the Hollows waved greetings to their returning compatriots, and it was also clear that among those gathered there were other Arrancar.

In terms of estimating numbers, X guessed, based on the size and number of buildings, combined with how many he was seeing on the streets, there had to be around several thousand, perhaps more than five thousand, Hollows living in this canyon. The Arrancar were far more sparse, making their numbers difficult to judge.

One of them, a gaunt man with short blue hair and neatly trimmed mustache and goatee, wearing a thin straight katana at his hip and wearing identical black armor to the other Arrancar in the Storm King’s army, met the procession at the middle of the courtyard. He wore what seemed to be a perpetually dour expression, partially covered by the white portion of skull mask that covered his upper left face, including his eye.

“Captain, you’re back sooner than expected, and with prisoners in custody no less? What happened out there?”

“I’ll make my full report to the Storm King himself, Patros,” Tempest replied in a firm tone, “But before that, I need to secure our prisoners in proper accommodations. Send word ahead to have the warded cells prepped.”

Patros’ eyes narrowed slightly, “Did the Storm King not give standing orders to eliminate any threats to our presence here? Your mission at Forlorn Ridge was to ensure everything was in order for using it as a staging ground for an eventual attack on Las Noches. What, then, are these people doing here?”

“Nothing you need to be concerned with,” Tempest replied, “This is a matter between me, them, and the Storm King. As it stands, I’ve given them my word they won’t come to further harm. You’ll just have to trust me on that, Patros... or are you going to stand in my way?”

Tempest’s tone was perfectly cordial, but the way she looked at Patros spoke of the fact this wasn’t the first time there’d been friction between them or that she wasn’t in the mood for it, today.

Patros grimaced, and reluctantly offered salute, “No, Captain.”

As he departed, Tempest turned to the rest of the troops in the column, “Grubber, go let the Storm King know I’ll be reporting to him shortly.”

“You got it, Captain.”

At that point Tempest rather gently picked up the still comatose Irys and hopped down from her Bankai. X could see both Gigan and Megalon tense up, and even Di Roy shot him a questioning glance. X just gave a slight shake of his head. Still too risky to make a move at this point.

It took some time for them to be put into cells, if only because of how cautious they were being treated. Word quickly spread of what had happened, and any Hollow guards they countered besides the ones already still surrounding them were doubly tense as they were marched past. A stretcher was brought out to lay Irys, Roka, and Gaw upon, and X didn’t miss the fact that a pair of Arrancar were put in charge of carrying each stretcher, including Yin and Yang. Tempest had reduced her Bankai back to it’s sword state, the armor transmuting into flowing streams of energy that took the shape of her Zanpaktou once more... rather pointedly still released to its Shikai state.

The cells in question were in a curious spot. Between the two pyramids forming the main fortress a small, almost humble dirt path led behind them to what looked like a simple, square bunker very akin in style to the small entrance Adagio had used to take them outside of Las Noches. It even had a plain ramp heading down underground, which switched back upon itself several times through dusty corridors lit by some manner of artificial light that permeated the walls.

At the bottom of this place was a corridor that stretched to the left and right, seemingly terminating in dead ends about a hundred feet in either direction. Here, Tempest demonstrated an incantation upon the wall, which in turn flared up with an orange sheen of light across its surface. The stone itself seemed to meld into itself, forming an opening into a cube shaped chamber about thirty feet wide on either end, and half that tall.

“These were built in case we ever captured a strong Arrancar, a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow, or even a Privaron Espada that we wanted to keep around,” Tempest explained to them, raping a knuckle on the sheet of orange energy that remained in place over the opening. “These cells are warded by specialized Kido spells, reinforced regularly by myself. In short, these barriers contain a similar level of strength to my own, which means unless one of you goes giant again, breaking out would be... dangerous for you. I figure you’ll still try, just fair warning. Okay, Shark-Teeth and Shades, this first one’s yours. It isn’t first class accommodations, but hey, you’ll be warm and fed. Assuming you even eat, Shades?”

The question, and nickname, were directed at Gigan, who just stared back at Tempest silently. She stared back just as flatly, then glanced at X, who didn’t respond either. Tempest sighed.

“Oh yeah, this’ll be fun times, I can tell.”

The wards appeared to be designed so they could be entered freely one way, but couldn’t the other, as Gigan and Di Roy had little trouble moving through the barrier into the cell, but when Di Roy gave the barrier a kick from the other side, it accomplished little other than giving the Arrancar a sore foot.

Megalon and Gaw were placed in the next cell, just to the right of Gigan and Di Roy’s. Roka an Irys were put inside the cell on the left, and finally X was taken alone further to the left to the final cell in that direction. As he moved to enter, Tempest stopped him for a moment with a gesture, drawing his silent attention.

“Your friend is in stable condition. I’ll finish healing her, and your other comrades, as soon as I make my report to the Storm King. In the meantime I’ll ensure someone is sent with medical skills to keep them stable until I can do the rest. We’ll... talk once that’s all taken care of.”

His only reply was to give the smallest centimeter of a nod before quietly entering his cell, striding to its very center, and calmly sitting down in a meditative pose, eyes closed. The only other thing he heard was a slight sigh form Tempest, and the sound of stone grinding as his cell closed.

“This is stupid.”

Di Roy looked at Gigan as the odd cyborg paced their cell’s perimeter, testing the warded walls with one of the blades of his chain-saw blades. The blades screamed and ground upon glowing orange stone, the energy of the wards deflecting the Nebulan saw teeth with offensive ease.

For Di Roy’s part, he tried not to groan too much as he kept a hand on his stomach wound. This one wasn’t anywhere near as large as the one he got when those asshole Adjuchas had nabbed him some time ago, but the injury still hurt like hell. His Arrancar physiology would heal the wound faster than any human’s could, and he wasn’t in danger of dying or bleeding out, but that didn’t mean the long walk to the cell had been pleasant for him.

“Ugh, look, man, you might as well stop it with the caged raptor routine and just chill for a bit.”

Gigan didn’t even look in his direction, continuing to methodically test the walls while muttering, “I’ve gotten awfully tired of physics defying magic and other things that don’t behave like good, rational laws of reality say they should.”

“Says the dude who can pop out blades from his arm that are larger than his actual arm,” Di Roy laughed, then winced, tasting a bit of blood at the back of his throat. Maybe laughing was a bad idea. “I’ve seen you make physics your screaming step child multiple times during that fight, man. Don’t tell me everything you do is above board where science is concerned.”

Gigan paused, then shrugged, “ Nebulan science is extremely advanced compared to what you’re used to.” After a moment of testing another part of the wall with his chain blade, he glanced back at Di Roy, “Can’t you create one of those Garganta portals to get us out of here?”

“If I could, I’d have already done it,” Di Roy replied, making an off hand gesture at their cell, “These wards are suppressing my Hollow energy. Doubt I could pry a Garganta open, or Cero blast us out of here. Even without these wards, it’d be hard to pull off a Garganta, since I need to be familiar with both my present location, and the spot I’m making the portal to. If I tried without that knowledge, we could end up anywhere, including buried miles underground.”

“Joy,” Gigan said flatly.

“What about you? Can’t you do a teleporting trick of your own... with science?”

A sour look crossed Gigan’s otherwise neutral features, “I... can’t, right now.”

“Because?”

“...Science.”

“Specifics, please?”

Gigan let out a withering sigh and turned to face the Arrancar fully, arms crossing over his chest, “There’s too much electromagnetic interference that’s destabilizing my internal polarity compensators and quantum flux calculators, which leads to astronomically exponential fluctuations in time/space phase transition stability which would result in catastrophic demolecularization in over 99.99999999128% instances of an attempted dimensional transition.”

Di Roy blinked. Several times. “Okay, man to man question, how much of that did you just make up and how much of that is real science?”

“Look, bottom line is, I can’t risk a teleport, because these wards and their stupid spirit energy/magic bullcrap is screwing with my teleporter’s ability to calculate a jump so I don’t paste myself over several cubic miles with my base molecules. So no, can’t use that, at least not until we get out of this cell.”

With a grunt of pain, Di Roy managed to prop himself up so his back was resting against the wall, “Ugh, yeah, been picking my brain on how to pull that off myself. Doubt we can brute force our way out. Wards are funny things, though. Usually they’ve got passkeys to let things in or out.”

“That Tempest woman used a spell to open them,” Gigan noted.

“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s the only way to do it, otherwise none of the Hollows around here could open these cells, because that spell she used was a Soul Reaper-only Kido. Must be another method so the soldiers around here can get in and out.”

Gigan paused for a thoughtful moment, then said, “Then we wait until they open our cell, either to feed us, or treat your wounds. I’ll record everything, and try to pink down their method of opening the cell.”

“That’s a start,” Di Roy agreed, “Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long. Gaw and Irys were both in real bad shape.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” Gigan said, voice turning colder than ice, “If I get a clear shot at that woman...”

“Your friend, Irys, she means a lot to you guys, doesn’t she?” Di Roy said.

Gigan shot him a sharp look, but then slowly nodded. Di Roy shared the not, holding his wounded stomach and looking up at the ceiling, “I know the feeling. I... worry a lot about Gaw. You saw her out there, during the fight. Girl has no damn clue how to hold back, or be cautious. It’s just all or nothing with her, in a fight. Sometimes makes me wonder if she’s trying to get herself killed.”

“I doubt that,” Gigan replied, finally finishing his first circle of the room, having tested most of the walls. He put away his chain blades, which folded mysteriously back into his arm, and he went to sit against the wall opposite from Di Roy.

“What makes you say that? You’ve seen her fight. Heck, you guys fought her. Totally reckless, right?”

“Reckless? Sure. Also fiercely dedicated,” Gigan said, “I’ve analyzed her attack patterns, in case I ever need to fight her again. She’s not trying to get herself killed. If my analysis is accurate, she fights like someone trying to make sure the enemy never looks at anyone other than her. It’s a protective fighting style. Megalon is the same way. Get the enemy’s attention, keep it, and take the heat so others are freed up to fight.”

Di Roy heard the words, and thought back to other times he’d fought alongside the violent little firecracker of a Arrancar. Gaw had never once shied away from a foe’s attacks. She was always in the front, fiercely brawling and often getting the brunt of the enemy’s attention as a result. The only time she’d ever shown caution was when he’d been so badly wounded he could barely fight, and the foe so overwhelming that running was the only option.

He remembered the first time he’d seen her, surrounded by Gillians in the Forest of Menos, fiercely roaring defiance against the odds mounted against her. He also remembered freshly the recent fight, and seeing her so battered and bloodied, and so very small and fragile seeming.

“If that’s the case, then I need to seriously up my game. I can’t let her ‘protect’ me to the point she croaks. We’re a team, and I haven’t been pulling my own weight...”

“I can’t comment on that. If you think you’re weak, then yes, it’s your task to fix that. Especially if you have a team mate who’s compensating for that weakness. I...” Gigan hesitated, then went silent. Di Roy perked up.

“Whoa now dude, don’t pull this stoic silent-guy routine on me! I spilled my emotional guts, now you do the same.”

“...”

“Oh, c’mon! It’s just us guys here. I swear I won’t tell anyone any mushy, emotional details.”

The chain blade came back out and revved up, and Di Roy held up his hands in mock surrender, “Okay, fine, keep your stoic ‘bad boy’ persona. Geez, try to get a guy to open up a little and you get nothing but guff.”

“I know right? I keep trying to tell Patros he just needs to talk his feelings out, but all he ever does is glare at me!”

Both Gigan and Di Roy whipped their heads around to see Grubber standing in the now open stone archway into their cell. The ward barrier was still in place, a thick orange sheen of energy, but Grubber was fully visible on the other side. He carried a circular plastic tray in one hand, and a black leather bag in the other. Seeing the looks he was getting, Grubber coughed awkwardly.

“So yeah, brought food. Figured we’d feed you while the Captain’s busy.”

More silence followed, along with hard stares from both Gigan and Di Roy.

“Wow, tough crowd. Can’t say I blame you. Here...” he slid the tray through the one way ward. On it were a number of the fruits that they’d seen being harvested outside in the orchards. “This stuff isn't like your average fruits grown in the living world. It’s got some spiritual kick to it, if you catch my drift. Might help that hole heal up. Don’t know if you eat food, Shades, but if you’ve got a request, I’ll take down the order.”

“Sure... go walk through a buzzsaw.”

“Aaaand that’s about my quota for attempting to be a good Samaritan today, but you know what, man, again, I get it. The Captain hurt your friend. It sucks. She’s not happy about it. You’re not happy about it. We’re making due with the craptastic situation we find ourselves in. So I’ll toss you an extra olive branch whether you appreciate it or not...” Grubber reached into his uniform and pulled out a notepad and pen, “If you want to talk to your buddies, I’ll take down a message and pass it to the other cells. I know what it’s like to worry about your own.”

There was a moment of silence as Di Roy and Gigan exchanged looks. Grimacing, Di Roy was the first to speak.

“Uh, could you tell Gaw, the red headed one, when she wakes up that... I appreciate how hard she tried to protect us? Oh, and tell Roka, chick with the half-skull mask, super pretty on the other half, not to worry, that this isn’t any worse than when the Quincy hit her dad’s tower.”

“Got it,” Grubber said, writing the words down. He then gave Gigan a frank look. “Last chance. Anything you want me to pass along to your pals?”

It took a few moments, but Gigan finally said in a level tone, “Tell Megalon to sit still and remember what happened on Osiris IV. Tell X ‘Next time’. And Irys, tell her...” the cyborg actually sighed, “Tell her ‘You did good, so don’t blame yourself.’”

Grubber nodded, frowning slightly, but tucking the pen and notepad away, “I’ll deliver the messages with their food. Captain ought to be along soon enough to help treat their injuries until they’re conscious and on the proper mend. I’ll be having Yin and Yang checking in on you guys too, just in case...”

“In case we try to escape?” asked Di Roy.

“No, in case Patros tries to do something stupid we’ll all regret,” Grubber replied, then reached to his sleeve, removed a small wooden badge, and pressed it to the side of the cell archway, which caused the stone to shift closed once more.

Di Roy narrowed his eyes once the door was closed, “That badge. Must be a ward pass.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to take out the short, pudgy one out when he comes back and take it off him,” Gigan said, extending one of his non-saw based blades, and Di Roy stared at him flatly.

“Dude, you’re at an eleven, and I need you dial it back to a solid eight. Assuming we could take him out without tripping some kind of alarm and snag his ward pass, we don’t know for sure that it’ll open our pals’ cells, and we still wouldn’t have a plan for getting out of here. Chill, and let’s work on some info gathering.”

“...Fine,” Gigan replied, retracting his arm blade, “Once Megalon receives my message, we’ll at least be able to start coordinating efforts.”

“What, that weird Osiris thing you said? What was that about?” Di Roy asked, “Sounded like something you two did in the past.”

“No. It’s a code phrase. Megalon and I have several for communicating in emergency situations. Osiris IV is code for him to switch his internal coms to a specific frequency that’ll allow us to talk to each other and share sensory data. Kind of a pain in tactical situations due to how disorienting it can be, but for this, it’ll be useful and I can tell him about the ward pass and what to look for.”

“Okay, awesome. Now then all we’ve got to do is wait, keep our ears to the ground, and play it nice, smooth, can cool like-”

“Grrrraaaa!” Gaw hurled herself at the wall, bouncing off like a pinball only to stagger back up, blood coating her from freshly opened wounds as she clawed at the wall, “Let me out!”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be moving,” Megalon said, wincing as Gaw rammed her shoulder into the wall, and even in her rage couldn’t help but let out a pained grunt, “You’re kinda, well, in bad shape.”

“Urrrg, don’t care, want out!” Gaw took a few unsteady steps back, then shook her dazed head and looked ready to ram into the wall again, but this time Megalon stood in her way, holding his arms out.

“Look, you’re hurt. You got hurt so bad you were out for awhile, and I’m pretty sure smashing yourself into a wall as the first thing you do after waking up from suffering that kind of beating isn’t the brightest thing to do.”

Gaw let out a weak growl, clearly not possessing much energy after she’d just awoken from her comatose state. She looked absolutely awful, with much of her darkly tanned skin marked by welts and purple bruises, or freshly oozing wounds. She staggered towards Megalon, and looked ready to take a swing at him, but it mostly just became her falling right into him as her eyes rolled up into her skull. Megalon caught her, and gently set Gaw down against the wall as she murmured.

“Got to get out...”

“We will, but definitely not while you’ve got more blood on the outside than the inside. C’mon, you just rest up and eat some of this food the nice spiky haired guy brought us.”

Grubber had visited mere minutes before Gaw woke up, delivering a tray of food. Megalon didn’t need to eat nearly as much as most people did, but the fruit did look pretty good. Clearly, however, Gaw would need it more, so he picked up one of the fruits and brought it to the weakened Arrancar’s mouth, “Have a bite. Looks pretty good.”

Gaw sniffed at it, and grunted, “Plants. Like meat instead.”

“Hey, food’s food, and this might be the most we get for awhile. You want to get your strength back or not?”

Her starkly yellow eyes flicked towards him with clear irritation, but she relented, albeit in surly fashion as she took the fruit and gingerly scooted away from him, where she proceeded to stuff the food into her mouth and chew with the manner of one to whom tableware was a theory and not a fact. While she did that, Megalon settled in himself and accessed his internal systems. He’d taken some damage during the fight, but got off pretty light compared to Gaw. Diagnostics showed he was still in fighting form.

Since Grubber had passed along the messages from Di Roy and Gigan, Megalon knew Gigan wanted to link up internal coms, which made sense given the circumstances. There was some interference from the odd barriers encasing their cells, but not strong enough to actually stop either cyborg’s signals. While Megalon waited for the uplink to finish connecting, he turned to look at Gaw, who’d moved on to snatching the next fruit from the tray to devour.

Watching her, Megalon recalled the message that Grubber had given to be passed along to her, and he cleared his throat, “By the way, Gaw, your pal Di Roy had a message for you that the short guy passed along.”

She didn’t stop eating, but turned her intense gold eyes towards him, squinting.

“Di Roy said ‘thanks for trying so hard to protect everyone’.”

Gaw growled, her hands reflexively squishing the fruit in her hands. “Didn’t protect anything. Failed... again.”

Megalon gave a curious tilt of his head, “Failed how? I saw you fight. It was pretty amazing. You grew all tall and spiky, then helped us all out by taking the brunt of that Tempest lady’s hits, and didn’t go down until throwing everything you had at her. Doubt we’d have lasted long enough for Irys to transform, however she pulled that off, if you hadn’t been there.”

Her eyes bored into him, her entire body shaking in agitation, “Liar. The dark one who is alpha of your tribe fought more, better... all I did was lose.” Her eyes gained a distant look as she looked at her hands, which while stained with the juices from the crushed fruit had a look of being coated in blood. “I keep losing. Failing tribe. What use am I if I not strong enough to win?”

Megalon stared at her for a second, then scooted over next to her, and proceeded to bonk her on the head. Gaw let out a pained growl and glared at him. “What that for!?”

“I’m weaker than my brother,” Megalon said plainly, “That’s not me being down on myself, that’s just stating a fact. Gigan’s way better at fighting than I am. So’s Mr. X. Even Irys has a lot of natural talent and instinct in a fight I just don’t have. I was built to fight, but a lot of the time I feel like it’s not something I’m all that good at. I don’t have a lot of ‘wins’ under my belt.”

Gaw was looking at him with curiosity now, although her barred teeth suggested she still might bite him. Megalon just shrugged and said, “My point is that I sometimes feel like I’m holding the others back, or might be the weakest link in the team, but I don’t let that get me down because I know the others trust me. They don’t treat me like a liability. As long as I know they’ve put their confidence in me, then I can help out without worrying about pointless stuff like ‘losing’ or ‘failure’. You should too, because far as I can tell, Di Roy, Roka, and your own ‘alpha’ Adagio all trust you. They don’t see you as a failure, so maybe you should stop looking at yourself that way, too?”

Gradually Gaw’s agitated stance bleed out and she instead leaned her back against the wall and stretched her wounded body, wincing, but saying with a calmer tone, “You are a strange male. I rest now. Weak or strong, matters not if I too tired to fight.”

“Good idea. You get some rest. That Grubber dude said something about getting Roka healed enough to heal you, so guess we’ll get to see her soon. Until then, I'll keep an eye on things while you sleep.”

Gaw nodded, closing her eyes, not bothering to explain to Megalon that her willingness to close her eyes and sleep around him was among the greatest signs of trust she was capable of showing, since it was making herself vulnerable around him. The only other person she’d done that with was Di Roy. His words echoed in her head, and she tried to sort them out as she drifted back into sleep. The string of defeats she’d experienced of late, not just against Tempest, but against other foes threatening her tribe, including Megalon and his own group, had left Gaw feeling a deep unrest in her gut. But Megalon’s words helped, if only to give her something to puzzle over rather than just gnaw at herself.

While Gaw feel into fitful sleep, Megalon started to share info with Gigan over their internal communications link. Neither group had much information to go on, yet, but even so they started to plan how they’d escape.

Tempest knew where to find the Storm King without needing to ask anyone. He wasn’t a man of subtlety, despite a healthy dose of personal paranoia that had helped keep their operation secret from the Espada of Las Noches all these long years. His spiritual pressure was always easy to sense, and as expected he was in what he dubbed the ‘Strategic and Tactical Operations Room of Monitoring’. Because acronyms. She’d argued that ‘Command Center’ or just ‘strategy room’ would be simpler, but Storm King had a particular... style to how he did things.

This could be evidenced by the ever growing presence of motivational posters lining the winding stairs leading up to the chamber in question, which was situated about halfway up the left pyramid of the fortress. The Storm King didn’t like the similarly sized chamber in the right pyramid. Said the floor was slanted, despite countless assurances from Tempest that they had checked it and the floor wasn’t slanted.

Two Hollow guards stood at the large double doors of stone leading into the chamber, who both saluted Tempest as she approached and needed no bidding to open the doors for her. The room beyond was a prominent sized hexagon with each of its sides, save for the one the doorway was in, bearing a slab of stone that stretched out from it, forming a large and smooth table of sorts. Upon these tables different parts of Hueco Mundo were mapped, often with exacting detail, especially for a realm of such generally unchanging topography. Tempest knew the maps corresponded to vastly different regions the Storm King had visited over the centuries, acquiring allies or resources, marking dangers or potential rivals.

In between the tables, at the center of the room, was a single, cylindrical shelf, packed with file folders that contained information pertaining to the different mapped regions. The maps and those files represented many years of work and the cumulative efforts of both herself and the Storm King to prepare for the inevitable clash with Las Noches, once they’d gathered a sufficiently powerful enough army to do so. These records contained notebooks on other known Privaron Espada, of which there were quite a few more than Tempest suspected Tirek or his fellow Espada knew about. These records were copied and also placed in the fortress’ underground vaults, alongside emergency supplies that had been gradually stockpiled over the years.

The walls of the chamber bore several large, simple monitors, roughly hooked up to a power system of cables that snaked into the walls. The technology was a combination of things taken from the living world, and some of the devices salvaged from the small fort that Tempest had once overseen, long ago, before she’d lost her Division, her faith in Soul Society, and any right to consider herself a Captain of the Gotei 13.

Putting those dire thoughts aside, she circled the room and found the Storm King standing at the furthest stone map, the one that represented the region containing Las Noches.

She always found him to be something of a physical contradiction. He should be tall and imposing, as he stood an impressive seven and a half feet, and bore a broad shouldered if somewhat lanky overall frame. His skin was a dull blue that was so dark it touched upon being near black, and it was offset by a thick head of shaggy white hair that framed his head in a wild mass that hung down his back. Long, rounded features with a large sloped brow gave the impression of someone not quite of human decent, but more related to some of mankind’s other ape ancestors. The term ‘missing link’ almost came to mind.

His Arrancar nature was apparent from the fragments of white, bone like Hollow mask that formed a jutting chin guard around his jaw, complete with teeth akin to a large baboon. His Hollow hole was located in an unusual spot, not commonly visible; the center of his tongue.

He wore a slimmed down, yet somehow more ornate version of the black armor his troops wore, showing off sizable spiked shoulder pads, but not bothering with leg guards or anything heavy down below, instead opting for wide, white pants and pointed black boots. He, as always, carried his Zanpaktou in his right hand, which took the form of a large bladed staff with the “blade” splitting into two points at the tip, and forming around an odd, blue crystal down the center.

Tempest had always felt the spiritual energy of that Zanpaktou was a tad... odd, but had never felt the need to question it. The Storm King himself was odd, so it somehow seemed appropriate his weapon was a bit off kilter to match the man himself.

Although she knew he’d sensed her presence well before she’d even come through the door, she still respectfully paused behind him as he continued to examine the map in front of him and announced herself, “Storm King, I’ve returned from Forlorn Ridge, and am ready to report on the situation encountered there.”

“Situation, yeah, that’s one term for it. I might also use the phrase ‘holy crap a thirty story tall dinosaur bat tried to eat you’. Or ‘Yin and Yang screwed up again, a Netflix original series’.”

He turned to her and leaned back against the table, tapping one of his large feet as he looked at her with frosty blue eyes, “So c’mon Tempest, let’s hear it. Going to guess there’s a reason you think it’s a good idea to bring a whole cadre of Espada agents, especially one that can do a Power Rangers monster impression, into our goddamn home and why I shouldn’t be royally ticked off that we’ve also lost our forward observation post. Again, not pointing fingers here *cough*YinandYang*cough*, but I want to hear the details from you first since I know you don’t do things without thinking it all through. You’re not impulsive or anything.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a level look, “You’re grumpier than usual today.”

“Kind of happens when my perfectly normal day goes tits up due to my trusted right hand apparently losing her mind, but again, kinda used to it, so I’m not in full freak-out mode yet. Might be soon. It’s not even noon, after all, and the day can go oh so many ways. So less attitude, Tempest, and more explaining. Nowish.”

“That is why I’m here, so try to moderate your blood pressure and hear me out, Storm King,” Tempest replied without batting an eyelash at his commentary. Just as he was used to her and the way she did things, she was rather used to him and his sarcastic personality. This wasn’t the first time they’d had disagreements over how to run their joint army, and the back and forth was just part of the process, far as Tempest was concerned.

She went on to give a simple summary of how things had played out at Forlorn Ridge. How the establishment of the observation outpost, hidden in the Hollow, Illforte’s, settlement was proceeding as planned until out of nowhere an unknown group of what appeared at first to be Arrancar appeared and started questioning Illforte on the presence of Privaron Espada. Tempest and Grubber had been overseeing the construction of an escape tunnel at the time and hadn’t been present initially when Yin and Yang, who had been put in charge of monitoring Forlorn Hope’s Hollow population with a small contingent of troops, acted on the belief that the seven strangers were agents of Las Noche’s Espada and launched a preemptive attack to try and destroy the intruders.

By the time Tempest and Grubber had arrived on the scene the battle was already in full swing, and not being at all certain of the nature of the enemy, Tempest had at first observed, then chosen to step in personally when it became clear the unknowns were too much for Yin, Yang, and the regular troops to handle.

It was then she’d been able to learn a bit about who the strangers were. Indeed they were working for an Espada, a new one, apparently, but they had no idea Tempest or the Storm King’s forces were here or even who they were. Not sure whether to believe that entirely, and not wanting to risk information getting back to the Espada anyway, Tempest decided the most prudent course of action was to capture the lot, and hence a battle ensued.

“Riiiight,” said Storm King, looking at Tempest with an incredulous air, “So it’s true what I heard, one of them went giant dinosaur bat on you, forcing you to whip out the ol’ Bankai?”

“Honestly I’d say she was more of a giant bat bird-”

“Birds are dinosaurs, Tempest.”

“-...yes, true. Moving on from that point, it’s clear that four of the seven capture are not actually Hollows, and after speaking with them both during and after the battle, I’m convinced they’re not here specifically looking for us,” Tempest said, and the Storm King scoffed.

“They were sent by an Espada to look for Privaron Espada. Last time I checked I fit the bill. So pretty sure that means these weirdos are right up there on the threat scale with having an actual Espada show up on our doorstep. Where’d they even come from, if they’re not Hollows?”

“That is an excellent question, and one they weren’t immediately keen on answering, although I do intend to try to get more out of them,” Tempest replied, moving over to the table map and placing a hand on it, “All four are immensely powerful, but I sensed most of that power is locked away. Contained. I’m not sure why the white one was able to transform all of a sudden, but it felt like there was some sort of resonance with Hueco Mundo’s very essence, as if it was responding to her emotional state.”

“So, what? You saying they transform with the power of Emo?” Storm King asked, his thick brow curling upward.

“I couldn’t say, but my point is they can’t transform at will, so for the moment there’s limited danger in keeping them as our... guests for now. I don’t doubt they work for an Espada like they say, but from what I understand it was a temporary arrangement and their real allegiance lies elsewhere.”

“Soul Reapers? Quincy?”

“Neither. Whoever they work for is a new player on the board, and one I suspect may be from well outside the boundaries of our realm,” Tempest said, thinking back to her old days in the Gotei 13, and the occasional rumors she heard about the Twelfth Division’s experiments with travel between dimensions of reality beyond the realms currently known. As crazy as it sounded, even to her own mind, she had to consider that X and his companions represented an unpredictable element that came from reality outside her own.

“Okay, now I’m worried that fight smacked something in your head,” Storm King said, shaking with a quiet chuckle, “Like, what, they’re travelers from Dimension X? C’mon, Tempest, chances are they’re just more crackpot experiments from Grogar’s labs, just like Yin and Yang. Maybe Grogar saw a few giant monster movies from the human world and got on a bender. You’re getting taken for a ride if you believe they’re not here to find us and rat us out to some Espada loser who’s looking to score points with Tirek. So, again, why are they here, and not dead and buried?”

“Because I want to try to convince them to join our cause.”

“...Hold up a sec,” Storm King said, and went over to a small cabinet set up by one of the walls. Rummaging inside he pulled out a flask and a glass cup. Coming back to the table he calmly poured himself a drink of what looked to be fairly expensive alcohol from the flask, took a long sip from the glass... then proceed to spit-take it out all over the map, “WHAT!?”

“Does that statement really warrant that reaction?” she asked, “You know that we’re still nowhere near the level of strength we require to beat Tirek and the rest of the Espada. Like I said, these four are powerful, and quite frankly the three Arrancar with them were no slouches either. They’d make excellent additions to our army.”

“Yes, sure, if they weren’t the enemy, Tempest. Besides, didn’t you already try to kill them?”

“...Only a little bit,” Tempest murmured, glancing away with a hint of embarrassment, “I mean, why does everybody take a good, clean fight so personally these days?”

“Most people don’t grow up as career soldiers, Tempest. Pretty sure sword-choppies and sword-stabbies is universal language everywhere else for ‘I want you dead’, not ‘Let’s be pals’,” Storm King replied in a flat tone, but he then set his glass and flask aside and proceeded to rub his forehead, “Then again, this is very, very you... so guess I shouldn’t be surprised by any of this. So, let’s say on the hypothetical that I was willing to entertain your particular brand of crazy this time, how were you going to pitch recruitment to them?”

“I need to get to know them a bit better first, find out the nature of their allegiance to this mysterious ‘master’ of theirs. Then I was going to show them the benefits of what we’re doing here,” Tempest said, nodding to the map, “How we can change this realm into something better. Even the three Arrancar might consider shifting allegiances if they realize how much more we can give them over serving the Espada.”

The Storm King drummed his fingers on the map for a few moments, giving her a shrewd gaze. Eventually he let out another snort, “You know what? Fine. I’ll give you three days to pull a rabbit out of the hat with this one. Personally I think this is a waste of time and that we’re still just dealing with Espada spies, but you’ve been right before when it comes to calling potential allies, so I’ll give you a chance. Just a chance, Tempest. Three days come and go and they’re still not playing ball...” He made a throat slitting gesture.

Tempest stared at him, and Storm King coughed, “That means killing them.”

“I know what the gesture means, sir. It won’t come to that.”

“Says you. If this bunch is as powerful as you say, and they refuse to join us, then I can still add their power to mine by getting my buffet on with their souls,” Storm King said, “You’ve got three days to see it doesn’t come to that, but if not, then its Nom Nom time, get me?”

“Yes, sir, I get you.”

She gave him a respectful bow, then proceeded to exit the chamber. She had a lot of work ahead of her.

The click of a food tray on the floor was the only sound in the small chamber for a good half hour. When Tempest had arrived, Yin and Yang had been standing guard outside the prisoner cells, having kept watch while one of the few healers among the army had worked on Roka to get her conscious. That having been done, Roka was now busy with healing Irys, and soon would be escorted into Gaw and Megalon’s cell to work on them. In the meantime Tempest would begin this process by speaking with X, but she wanted to be alone for that so she’d asked Yin and Yang to wait up top at the prison’s entrance. The twins had little doubt their commander could handle the situation herself. After all, they’d seen that she’d single handedly overcome the titan that Irys had become, and their loyalty to Tempest was unshakable. So they’d departed and left Tempest to take the food tray into X’s cell, alone, which after setting it down she’d been left to watch him in silence.

A silence that was… eerie…

There was another reason Yin and Yang were eager enough to be elsewhere for a bit. While Gigan was straightforward and open about his hostility, and Di Roy was annoyingly joking about everything, and Gaw was just acting the expected level of aggressive, while Megalon was being oddly behaved... X was unnerving. The lack of response to any taunts. Resistance to eating. Even the visage seemed to warp and twist at times, like the world or the gravity holding it together might slither and shift instead of constantly pull down around him.

Even with his eyes closed, Tempest could still very much feel the levitating X was looking at her.

It had been a waiting game, them both aware the other was there, and she was at last prepared to cease it. After all, she was on a time limit here that X didn’t know about yet, so if he wanted to play the waiting game she couldn’t afford to indulge him.

“You should know, this was nothing personal. You and your people stepped into a complicated situation, and my people responded in the manner they thought best. The moment you linked yourself to the Espada, that put you at odds with us, and once the fight was begun my own hand was forced,” Tempest sighed before relenting some of the hard stone in her tone to soften it with a hint of regret, “Harm upon your lot was never a goal for us.”

Slowly, cinnabar eyes opened up and despite the distance, the clarity between them was perfect as either stayed on their respective sides of the barrier covering the cell’s entrance.

“We only were allied with Espada tangentially, non-aggression pact if you want to call it that,” X noted dryly, “We were merely passing through and decided fighting them wasn’t worth it and more was to be learned by peace.”

“I’m honestly surprised any of the Espada gave you a chance to talk,” Tempest poised, her expression turning to a thoughtful frown, “It’s not their usual MO to choose negotiation over killing. Either you ran into an unusual Espada, or you’re not giving me the whole story. Either way, at least you’re talking. Some of my troops are convinced trying to talk with you is a waste of time. I’d like to prove them wrong.”

X briefly recalled the Arrancar named Patros who was rather verbal about his objections to Tempest bringing them in as prisoners.

“Unfortunately for you and your troops, your actions have only unleashed another conflict on your ranks,” X growled with his arms crossed, slowly levitating closer.

“Your master you spoke of, you believe they might stage a rescue?” Tempest asked. She’d considered the possibility, but considered it a remote risk compared to the more immediate issues of ensuring information about the Storm King’s forces didn’t leak back to Las Noches.

“My master trusts us to free ourselves,” X hummed, “But that doesn’t mean more may not come. And they likely will hold far less regard for civility than me.”

‘Hmm, more like you?” she asked, a keen interest entering Tempest’s tone, “Mind telling me what you and your companions actually are? The one named Irys somehow used the latent spirit energy of Hueco Mundo to transform, but she certainly isn’t any Hollow. I know a few Hollows that can get that big, and a few Arrancar with transformations of that size...” she shuddered slightly, “Including Tirek, but again, obvious by now you’re not Hollows. So, what's your deal?”

“What reason do I have to explain it?” asked X, “Any information I give could be used against us later. Suffice to say we’re not weak, and that is all you need to know.”

“Heh, fair point. Just wondering if you’re all giant albino bats, or if you transform I’ll get something... different. Also curious why all of you didn’t transform, but I’m getting the impression your friend’s transformation was more happy accident than intent,” Tempest said, pursing her lips in consideration.

“I’m also curious how you think any further forces from your group would even locate you? You’re far from Las Noches, and we’re rather well hidden in this mostly endless desert. And even if they did find us here, they’d have a hell of a fight on their hands. You’ve seen my strength already, and the Storm King is stronger still.”

X nodded, “Your power is respectable. As are you.”

Tempest’s brow perked at the unexpected acknowledgement, but remained silent to listen to the extension she detected coming.

“Which is why I am warning you. Regardless of which victor there is in war, causalities always ensue. So ask yourself less how mighty your allies are and more how mighty is your will to risk losing them?” He nodded towards the walls of his cell, “That town outside the fortress, the forest and orchards beyond, imagine them choked by toxins or scorched until stone ran like liquid. Victory for you and your lot or not, you will still lose much in achieving it.”

“Still haven’t answered the how of it,” Tempest noted, “How would your master even find this place?”

“He found Las Noches, did he not?” X replied cryptically, “Can you afford to underestimate what he might be capable of?”

That gave Tempest some pause as she considered that she still didn’t really know what X and his companions were or where they actually came from, “Fair point. That said, it sounds more like you are concerned with how your master might react to your imprisonment than you are to take such action yourself.”

X tapped at his chest, “I only kill whom I am commanded to, and I find no qualms with doing so.”

“And how deep does that loyalty lay?” Tempest grunted as she uncrossed her arms, “You said yourself you hardly owe loyalty to Espada and you clearly care for your team. So why not join with a force that can safeguard your friends and give you a cause?” Tempest spoke in such a calm, quiet tone, like speaking to an old friend in a civility rarely seen, “Storm King believes you’re loyal Espada agents, but we both know that’s not the case. Help me convince him, and you could find a new home, here.”

The distance between the two was but a mere foot, separated by the transparent barrier and empty air.

“Is freedom really what awaits us if we bent the knee to him?” X asked, then added, “Furthermore, if we shifted our loyalties with such ease, what reason would you have to trust us not to do so again when it became convenient?”

Tempest smiled then, giving him an amused little chuckle, “Call it a... warrior’s intuition, but I suspect your loyalty to your team is higher than that to your current master. You won’t even name him, and haven’t so much as mentioned any cause he has you fight for. Doesn’t seem to me that you have much tying you to him, besides those you brought here with you. Furthermore, is freedom what you enjoy now? You just said your master commands you, but you only act if you have no qualms. What if you are given a command you do have qualms with? Can you trust your master would still have your best interests at heart? “Tempest whispered and was pleased to see a slight perking of his brow behind his mask. “Storm King is in charge here, yes, but I have plenty of autonomy and none of us are slaves, here. And once Tirek and the other Espada are beaten, Hueco Mundo itself will be made a free and safer realm. You and your companions could find a worthy home here, and I give you my word you wouldn’t be treated as tools, but as valued comrades.”

X was silent… but not unresponsive to imply he was giving it any deep thought. Tempest decided to press with what she thought was the crux of the issue.

“Is your loyalty to your master, or to your team?”

This, this was a linchpin moment and she knew it, in her bid to save the four and make them allies instead of foes. If his story about the Espada they worked for proved true, there were several possibilities that she could pursue from there, but the key was turning X, first. He would likely be able to convince the others, after, and then-

X’s voice was barely audible, almost… with tinges of regret, “You’re too late…”

Tempest stiffened.

“A year ago I was near my wits end. Locked inside a pitch black tomb for decades on end before being sent out as a weapon by commanders, I wished sometimes nothing more than to crush underfoot. My only two companions I might go years without seeing…. If you had asked me then, I’d have joined in a heartbeat,” X slowly shook his head, “But it didn’t turn out that way. Another recruitment came. At first, I thought it only another master to use me as their sword despite their promises…. But…”

“But?”

"For the first time in my life, those promises came true. And in ways I couldn’t imagine. If I hadn’t joined, my comrades and I would never had met Irys. If I hadn’t joined, I’d have no purpose. All because of my master,” X sighed, his voice growing in volume.

“Master... Master, are you being elusive or have your bent the knee to a lord you know nothing of?” Tempest shot back, a mix of frustration and concern flashing through her. Part of her understood the emotions clear in X’s voice, for she’d once lost everything that mattered to her, every comrade she’d held dear. Lost due to the callousness of masters who hadn’t been worth her loyalty. Then the Storm King had found her, and given her another chance, another family. It wasn’t too far off from what she was hearing from X.

In response to her question, X shook his head, “I do not know their name, if they even bear one. But I don’t care. I need not know all of them to know what they have given me.”

“But if you don’t know them, whatever they’ve given you, you have no reason to truly believe they aren’t using you,” Tempest said, deciding to do something she rarely did, and open up part of her own past.

“I had a life before this one,” she said slowly, a note of uncertainty entering her tone that caused X to twitch an eyebrow at her, not having seen much in the way of uneasiness from her before now. “I served the Soul Society and it’s governing body with loyalty for centuries. I never once imagined my loyalty wouldn’t be returned. When my Division and I were tasked with establishing a permanent base in Hueco Mundo, I had my misgivings, but I took to the task with a will, because I was loyal and believed in Soul Society. When the Espada inevitably found us, and came down on us like a storm, we fought, and fought hard, because we believed reinforcements would come, that Soul Society wouldn’t abandon us. Surely...”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, “No support came. We were abandoned. We were abandoned because those in charge saw us as tools and nothing more. We were serving their purpose, distracting the Espada while other Divisions gained ground against the Quincy. A disposable sacrifice, viewed as expendable because out of all the Divisions, the Eleventh was the most numerous. Central 46, Soul Society’s governing arm, likely just assumed our losses could be replaced. Numbers on a calculation sheet to be written off and replaced later.”

Taking a moment to steady herself with a calming breath, she shrugged and finished with, “I wouldn’t have survived without the Storm King’s intervention that day. I didn’t trust him at all at first. After Central 46’s betrayal, how could I? But he took the time to earn that trust, to tell me of his goals, to make me feel like a comrade, rather than a tool... heh, grating as his personality could be at times. So I ask again, just how well do you know your master, and has he really earned the trust and loyalty you give him, just because he gave you your first taste of real life?”

“You... don’t understand,” X whispered, solemnly, almost sadly in such dissonance to the energy before. He considered then, telling Tempest of Aria Blaze. More than any other reason, Aria was why this arrangement Tempest proposed could never work. X might not know much about his master, or what their goals were, but to X, that was immaterial. His master had sent him on the mission that had led to him meeting Aria, and everything that followed, the love that had been discovered, was in owing to that master. Besides, even if X felt no loyalty at all to his master, it didn’t change that without that master, X had no means of reaching the reality his Aria existed in.

Nothing Tempest could ever offer would compensate for that. However, he hesitated in explaining this, because while he was starting to see that Tempest and he had some things in common, and he did believe she genuinely didn’t wish to bring further harm to him or his team, he did not want to risk Aria’s safety in any way. On the off chance they did have a means of reaching his Aria’s reality, the risk was too great. Even if he trusted Tempest, which he still didn’t quite yet, he most certainly didn’t trust her ‘Storm King’.

Tempest was more than a tad disappointed by his response. This entire mess was one unfortunate scenario after another. X and his team, along with Di Roy, Roka, and Gaw, were essentially a neutral group that had stumbled into something they shouldn’t have, and Yin and Yang jumping the gun had forced things to spiral more out of control. Patros was making airs about wanting this prisoners dead, and Storm King was understandably paranoid about them working for an Espada. In an ideal scenario, Tempest could diffuse mistrust and get everyone on the same page as comrades, but this was far from an ideal situation. Through the threats, anger, frustration, and general disgruntlement she could tell this was a noble and rational soul in there, glaring back at her.

If things had been different, something he himself had acknowledged, they’d have maybe been friends. She got the sense she’d get along better with him than she did with Patros or others she tolerated and generally tried to still treat as comrades.

It felt like there was an ocean of roadblocks in the way of forging any lasting trust, but Tempest was nothing if not persistent and not inclined to give up just because things had gotten hard. Even if she couldn’t earn his trust here and now, she had three days to work with, and she sensed he was still holding something back. On top of that, while her primary focus was on X, she wasn’t discounting that she could still make progress with the others. Grubber was pretty good at talking to people, and Yin and Yang both needed to sharpen their social skills anyway.

She wasn’t about to throw in the towel just yet.

“I am… sorry,” she said, “For my part in hurting your friend. That fight shouldn’t have happened.”

“You seemed to enjoy it,” X pointed out, and Tempest couldn’t help but nod.

“True. Not for the pain being caused, but because I’m a warrior, and a good fight runs in my blood. You and your friends, Arrancar or otherwise, gave me one of the best I’ve had in ages. I’m sorry it happened the way it did, that’s why I’m apologizing. If things had been different, I’d have loved to fight you as a comrade testing my skills against a friend. Didn’t turn out that way, so I’m sorry for the messed up way the fight happened, but I won’t deny it was still... a little fun.”

“You have the oddest way of apologizing...” X said.

She closed her eyes and shrugged, letting her face hang slightly.

The voice that spoke back was as it had been at the start of their conversation, “But I shall accept it, and in the spirit the apology was given, I shall also tell you this.”

She felt a force nudge her face back up, as it gravity was working in reverse. The back of her mind registered this detail. That some fragment of X’s abilities was working through the barrier. But tellingly, he seemed to have no hesitancy at revealing this face. When she looked up again, cinnabar gazed back with no gold surrounding it.

“We will eventually get free. And we will eventually return to our home,” X sighed, “Do not get near the others when it happens. If you must fight anyone when the time comes, fight me.”

Her lips quirked in a small, oddly satisfied smile as she asked, “Interested in a rematch that much?”

X found her smile... odd, but shook his head, “Not particularly. This is just a warning. Irys will try to kill you out of want of revenge. Gigan will try to end your life to remove a threat. Megalon no doubt will cause either of those two to launch into a bloodlust if you harmed him. But in my case, I’ll make you this promise, Captain Tempest,” The frown behind his mask was so obvious she felt it. Evidently she wasn’t the only one who sensed a kindred spirit, “If I am the victor, you’d live and I would take my group away as fast as possible.”

She was silent for a moment, eyes contemplative. Eventually, she said, “I appreciate the warning. That being said, there’s more to it than that.”

He tilted his head slightly, and she met his gaze evenly. “I’d rather, if it really does come to it, that I be the only opponent you or any of your friends face. I’ll not risk losing more comrades, so if blood needs spilling, I’ll have it be my own instead of theirs. That said, I’m not convinced it’ll come to that, yet. Haven’t given up on convincing you, and even if I can’t, there might be other options.”

“Such as?” X asked, finding he had a rather difficult time reading this woman and understanding her intentions.

She raised a hand as if to forestall the question he’d just asked, “It’s too soon to say for sure, but we’ve got time to talk more later. For today, I think we’ve both said enough. Now please, stop being so damn stubborn and eat. You’re not doing yourself any good by ignoring food, and I don’t care what you are, everybody needs to eat. Even if you’re dead set on escaping, you won’t pull that off on an empty stomach.”

After a few seconds, X slowly reached for the tray of food and levitated it to himself. He didn’t respond to her beyond doing that, quietly beginning to eat. With a soft sigh, Tempest nodded and with a gesture caused the stone of the cell entrance to close once more.

Chapter 8: Know Thy Enemy

Chapter 8: Know Thy Enemy

Remnant shadows of a barely recalled nightmare chased Irys up from the depths of fitful unconsciousness back to the waking world. The details of the nightmare mattered less than the lingering fear that started her awake, followed instantly by sharp pain that wove through her beleaguered body. Panic nearly set in, but an earnest and gentle voice spoke next to her.

“Easy, Irys. You’ll reopen the wounds I’ve already closed,” said Roka. The young Arrancar woman sat on her knees beside where Irys was laying in the center of a plain, stone room. Irys wanted to still bolt to her feet, but several things stopped her. One, she was aching all across her body, and regardless of mood, Irys wasn’t stupid. She could tell she was in no shape to leap to her feet. The other reason was that Roka was... healing her? Irys’ eyes blinked at the sight of numerous thin, barely perceptible threads working their way from within the depth’s of Roka’s robe sleeves. The threads moved on their own, with only minor gestures from Roka’s hands like an expert puppeteer working the strings. The threads moved over Irys, and with a slightly uncomfortable gulp she realized several were inside her body, sewing up injuries. She could already see the major laceration across her chest, the deepest wound from Tempest Shadows final attack, was already sewn shut, with the thread-work so close together it almost looked like the wound had closed on it’s own.

“You’re not... doing anything weird in there, are you?” Irys asked, trying very hard to keep herself still when her instincts were still shouting for action. Roka offered a calming, understanding smile.

“No, of course not. I’m closing your injuries and helping them heal as best I can. My reishi threads can stimulate some of the recovery process, although it works much better on spirit bodies than material ones. Still, I’ve closed up almost all internal and external injuries, and reinforced cracked and broken bones, stopped any continual bleeding. Your body is resilient on it’s own, so it’s already making this easier than it would be on a human. If you keep your movements to a minimum you should be able to recover in a day or so. Mostly.”

Irys absorbed that while examining their surroundings. The lifeless, featureless chamber gave her a terrible sense of claustrophobia, only enhanced by the realization that she didn’t see any openings, doors, or even simple vents. Did they not have airflow in her? Yet the air didn’t taste any more stale than normal. Where was it coming from? That question was soon bulldozed out of her mind by far more pertinent ones, however.

“Where are we? Where are the rest of my flock? What happened!?”

Despite herself she tried to rise, and Roka put a gentle but firm hand on Irys’ shoulder, keeping her from sitting up. Irys gave the Arrancar a glare, but Roka’s soft but resolved eyes caused Irys ease back down.

“We appear to be prisoners inside a holding cell within the fortress of one known as the Storm King,” Roka said, “Your family are all alive, but prisoners here as well, in different holding cells alongside my own friends.”

Roka quickly recounted recent events, which didn’t amount to much, and left Irys feeling worse than she already did. Her fists clenched into frustrated balls at her side as she stared at the ceiling, glowering. “I almost had her...” she said with a pained voice, “If my body had just held out a few more seconds...”

“There’s no telling what might have happened to you, Irys,” Roka said, “Without that Soul Reaper’s healing Kido keeping you alive, or my threads to stitch you back together, pushing harder than you did in that battle may well have killed you.”

“If that’s what it’d taken to save my flock-”

“Don’t be foolish,” Roka said, “None of them would have wanted you to die back there. All together, alive, we have a chance to escape together. If you’d been killed defeating Tempest Shadow, perhaps we might not be prisoners, but can you imagine a single one of your family being glad to have survived, with you dead and gone?”

Irys was silent to that for a minute, knowing full well the answer. X, Gigan, Megalon... not one of them would have been happy getting away free, if the cost had been one their own. It still felt like she’d failed, though. However she’d managed to assume her true form, it’d been her task then to defeat the enemy and save everyone, and she’d lost, plain and simple. It hurt, more than the wounds possibly could.

“No,” she finally said, “But I still hate this. And that woman, I think I hate her even more.”

“Understandable, although curiously I think she sorely wished to avoid killing you.”

“The feeling isn’t particularly mutual right now.”

“Be that as it may let us count our blessings that she was in a merciful mindset, otherwise she had little reason not to kill all of us while the opportunity was present,” Roka said, not losing focus on her work healing Irys, who in turn glanced at Roka and noted the Arrancar woman was far from unscathed herself.

“How’s your arm?” Irys asked, “I thought I saw it get broken.”

“I’ve managed to reset the bone and reinforce it, but the pain is still... unpleasant,” Roka said, her face twitching slightly to reveal that she herself was dealing with a fair bit of pain while working on healing Irys, “I’m well enough for the moment.”

“I’m...” Irys fumbled for a second for words, “I’m sorry you, Di Roy, and Gaw got dragged into this.”

“Oh there’s hardly a need for that, Irys. Lady Adagio is the one who schemed up the idea of using you and your friends for this scouting mission. We were glad enough to come along. I doubt anyone could have guessed how sour things would go, so quickly,” Roka replied, and for moment her expression clouded, “That’s often how it is. Not long ago I was in the same position you are now. Battered, beaten, and frustrated at not being able to protect my family.”

“What happened?” Irys asked, not sure if it was polite to do so, but not sure where else to turn the conversation, either.

“There’s little to tell. You must have seen remnants of a battle outside Las Noches’ walls when you and your friends arrived, yes?” Irys gave a nod at Roka’s question, and the Arrancar continued, “The enemy sent a small team of elite warriors into the fortress. You recall Di Roy talking about me facing a Sternritter before? It was... less a battle and more a desperate attempt on my part to stall a foe who may well have killed me and my brothers and sisters had my father not managed to arrive in time to intervene. As happy as I was that he made it in time, it doesn’t change the frustration of being so powerless in the face of an overwhelming enemy. It’s a terrible feeling.”

“Yeah, it is,” Irys agreed, and very much wanted to change the subject, “So, what is your family like? Do all Arrancar have them?”

Irys was rewarded with a warm smile from Roka that helped banish her own stormy feelings for the moment, Roka’s voice brightening with the new topic. “Not all Arrancar form family groups. In fact, it’s generally uncommon for us to band together outside of small bands, or the ‘hordes’ serving under a particular Espada. Children are... rare, very rare, among us. And most Arrancar have no interest in being parents, so children are often left to fend for themselves.”

A grimace crossed Irys’ face. “I know what that's like. My old flock, before my current one, was not exactly a caring group, if you get my meaning.”

“I believe I do. I myself spent my early years as a child wandering the Warrens, a network of tunnels beneath Las Noches. Survival was difficult. None cared for each other, and simply struggled to survive. I probably would have died had Father not found me.”

For a moment Roka looked very distant, her threads slowing before she shook her head and resumed work, “Father is the Fourth Espada. Some call him ‘Lament’, although that isn’t truly his name. He doesn’t know his name. He’s unlike most Arrancar. He has a sense of duty, and a need for family. He saved me, and so many other discarded children, and took us in as his own. Few of us are related by blood, but that doesn’t matter. We protect each other and care for one another. That makes us family.”

“It makes you a flock,” Irys confirmed, closing her eyes and sighing, “What a real flock should be.”

Roka smiled and nodded, and for a few minutes a comfortable silence passed between them. Then, Roka’s threads withdrew from Irys. She didn’t even feel the threads leave her body, but suddenly they weren’t there, pulling back into Roka’s sleeves.

“I believe that’s all I can do for now. You can move, but try to keep the motions smooth and minimal.”

“Thank you,” Irys said, slowly sitting up and testing her limbs. They still hurt, but the pain was down to a dull ache rather than any sudden, sharp pains. “That’s a pretty useful power you’ve got. Wish we could keep you back on Zenith, you’d be handy.”

“I do try,” Roka said, giving a light chuckle, then her tone and expression grew more serious, “On the subject of my ability, I wanted to discuss something with you, once you were awake. Do you recall how you managed to transform into that giant form?”

Irys hesitated, trying to think back to the moment she changed into her true shape. Or, at least something very similar to her true shape. Now that she was remembering it, she realized there’d been differences with her body. A bone-like mask, bladed portions to her wings, armored sections to her chest and back. And her mind had felt fuzzy as well, as if clouded by more than just normal battle rage, but something else.

“I don’t really know how I did it,” she confessed, frowning, “I was just so... desperate, and everything felt hopeless, and I was angry about it. Then I felt as if something inside this realm responded to me, like when I use echolocation. Like sound bouncing back, something inside this place, Hueco Mundo, just... came flooding into me and then I changed.”

Roka slowly stood up and placed one of her slim hands in a pondering gesture upon her chin, lightly pacing as she spoke her thoughts, “That lines up with what you told me before about how you felt as if something in Hueco Mundo was reacting to you. I suspected earlier that the vast aura of latent Hollow energy that permeates our realm was responding to something inside your soul, and I believe your desperation and anger during the battle triggered a portion of Hueco Mundo’s Hollow energy to flow into you. Has a transformation like that happened before?”

“Sort...of?” Irys said, trying to stand herself, and finding that while she probably could, it was going to be far more comfortable to stay sitting while her body recovered. She chose to lean her back against the wall and stretch her legs out, crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s how I normally am, minus those extra... Hollow bits, I guess? Me and the others take on human shapes in some realms our master sends us to. I don’t really know why. Something to do with the way portals and other worlds work. But if we take in a huge influx of energy, we can assume our natural forms for a bit. But I don’t get why it happened to me, but not one of the others. All of them must have been feeling just as pissed off and desperate as I was.”

“I can’t say for certain but... um,” Roka’s pale features tinged slightly rose as she glanced away, “While I was healing your body I did examine your soul a bit.”

At Irys’ raised eyebrow, Roka added, “I know I should have asked permission. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, just not used to the idea that someone can take a peek at my, er, soul,” Irys replied. She wasn’t exactly much of a spiritual person. Up until recently she’d been wholly focused on physical survival, never mind anything spiritual. Mostly she still was focused on staying alive, just with addition of a flock worth protecting, and apparently sacrificing herself for, if that’s what it came down to.

“Well, at any rate, I noticed that, structurally speaking, while your soul isn’t much different from most, it does have several components that are, shall we say ‘non-standard’. Specifically there are several conduits that seem designed, or at least naturally suited, to absorbing various forms of energy. Almost like a sponge. My theory is that while any of your companions could change with Hollow energy as well, you just happened to be equipped with a natural mechanism for absorbing the Hollow power that Hueco Mundo was offering up in response to the intense negative emotions you were feeling.”

“Uh... neat?” Irys said, not sure she was following what Roka was saying, “So, that means what, exactly? That I can do it again?”

“Most likely, although it’d take a similar level of intense emotion that I doubt you can replicate on command. That being said, I think I might know of a way the process can be ‘jump started’, so to speak, both for you and for-”

Roka’s words were interrupted by the sound of stone lightly grinding against stone as a portion of the wall to the girls’ right started to slide aside. Despite her injuries, Irys forced herself to stand up, using the wall to brace herself. Roka moved to the center of the room, just slightly in front of Irys, both in a protective stance, and possibly in a spot to keep Irys from doing anything immediately rash.

While the stone moved aside, there was a distinct, shimmering field or orange energy blocking the pathway out. On the other side of it stood the blue haired and red haired Arrancar twins, Yin and Yang. The pair looked into the cell warily, Yin holding a covered tray.

“Chow time, prisoners,” said Yang, tapping on the energy barrier, “The white one awake?”

“The white one-” Irys growled, “-is just fine. Why don’t you come here and find out how awake I am?”

“Scary,” Yang drawled, “Not here to banter, just deliver food and make sure you weren’t dead. Captain’s orders.”

“Where is your Captain?” asked Roka, and Yin waved a small wooden token across the energy barrier, opening up a small hole through which she held the food tray.

“Not your concern,” Yin said, “Either take the food, or don’t, but my sister and I don’t have to answer any of your questions.”

“True,” Roka said, accepting the tray in one hand while holding her other down at her side. Irys noticed Roka make a tiny gesture with that hand, but wasn’t sure what it meant. Either way, Roka continued to say,, “But obligated or not, there’s no harm in some conversation, is there?”

“We have duties to attend to,” Yin replied curtly, “That doesn’t include shooting the breeze with the enemy.”

“But you did say you were ordered to feed us, yes? At least stay and confirm we’ve eaten. Surely there’s no harm in following orders, is there?” Roka said, setting down the tray and gesturing for Irys to sit down. Irys was still glaring at the twins, but did sit, and spared a glance for the tray as Roka uncovered the food. It was an assortment of fruits, none of which looked particularly appealing to her carnivorous appetite.

“Don’t you guys have any meat?” she muttered, poking at something that might have been a pear.

“What do we look like, a super-market?” Yang said, “Jeez lady, you’re lucky to be getting fed at all after what you did to the Captain!”

“She started that fight. Or rather you two idiots did!” Irys snapped back, “We didn’t want to fight at all and would have left on our own if you’d let us!”

Yang looked ready to argue, but Yin placed a hand on her sister’s arm, “Let it go, Yang. Doesn’t matter who started it, it’s over now. It’s up to the Captain and the Storm King to decide what becomes of this lot.”

“Yeah, but...” Yang bit her lip and let out a hefty sigh.

“If you don’t mind my noting, the two of you are not like other Arrancar,” Roka said, delicately taking a bite of an apple shaped fruit. “Your powers were far more elementally focused than most can achieve, and your reiatsu felt slightly different.”

“Why do you care?” asked Yin, “If you’re thinking we’d tell you anything you could use against us-”

Roka held up a hand, interrupting, “I’m just curious about the two of you, that’s all. We haven’t even given our names. I’m Roka, this is Irys.”

“Yin, let’s go, she’s creeping me out...” said Yang, but Yin frowned slightly, eyeing both Roka and Irys, who was still alternating between glowering at the non-meat fare and the twins. Seemingly coming to a decision, Yin put a hand on one hip and leaned forward a bit.

“Alright, you want to chat? We’ve got a minute.”

“Yiiiiiin,” Yang cried, but her sister just gave her a look.

“What? I’m bored. That battle and these prisoners are the most exciting thing that’s happened in forever. You that eager to get to our shift on watch duty?”

“No, but... ugh, fine, whatever, do what you want,” Yang said, crossing her arms and giving Irys a glare that was a disturbingly mirrored expression on the kaiju-girl’s face, almost as if they shared a mind concerning their more chatty companions’ dispositions. And almost as if realizing how similarly they were acting, the pair immediately blinked in surprise and looked away, not realizing they were still essentially mimicking each other.

Meanwhile Yin was eyeing Roka, “So you want to know what makes me and Yang different? Ever hear of Grogar?”

“Is that a trick question? I live in Las Noches. I’m aware of who the Eight Espada is,” Roka replied, not in a challenging tone, just stating a fact, “His reputation is less than sterling, even among his fellow Espada.”

“Doesn’t shock me,” Yin said, mouth twitching in a slight grimace, “My sister and I were one of his experiments. Grew up in a remote lab he had out in the deserts, far away from Las Noches.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Roka said, as even Irys ceased glaring slightly and tilted her head slightly to listen, “I know someone who’s survived his experiments. I can only imagine.”

“Well, don’t. It was...” Yin paused, eyes gaining a briefly glassy look, and even Yang ceased her own glowering to share her sister’s brief moment of pained memory. “...not a good place. I don’t even know what he expected of us. Doesn’t matter. He abandoned us and left me and Yin to starve in our lab cells when he was done researching whatever he was researching us for. We were near ready to gnaw each other’s limbs off when the Captain found us.”

Yang blew out a breath and grabbed her sister’s arm, “Yin, that’s enough. They don’t need our life story.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to bring up bad memories,” Roka said, “Thank you for telling me that much.”

“Yeah, well, it was a long time ago,” Yin said, “And it’s not like knowing it will help you escape, or hurt any of my comrades again.”

“If you don’t mind, I would enjoy speaking again, when you had time,” Roka said, and then nodded towards Irys, “That being said, if I could be so bold, would it be impossible to acquire some meat for her?”

The twins looked at each other, and Yang blanched. “You’re gonna do it, aren’t you?”

Yin shrugged, “The Captain did say to make sure the prisoners were fed.”

“Can’t we make Grubber do it? I don’t like the way the white one-”

“Irys,” Irys aid, “Roka told you my name.”

“-Bitchy McCrabberpants’ attitude. We try to feed her meat, she’s gonna try and eat us, probably.”

“Oh, I’d do it,” Irys agreed, making a gulping noise, “If I were in my true form, one bite is all it’d take.”

Yang looked at her sister and made a ‘see’ gesture with both hands at Irys, but Yin just offered up another nonplussed shrug, “It’ll take all of five minutes to raid a grocery store in the human world. How do you think the Captain will feel if she finds out we denied one of the prisoners a meal because we we were feeling lazy?”

“Grr, stop that! Stop... making sense. Stupid, stupid sense,” Yang grunted, making a sharp gesture, which opened up a Garganta portal next to the twins. She shot a heated look at Irys, “We’ll get you your damn meat, and you better appreciate it you insufferable albino!”

Irys just stared at her, “Was that supposed to be an insult? You’re just as pale as I am, you hotheaded matchstick! Why don’t you drop that barrier and come find out how insufferable i can be!?”

“Why don’t you eat me?”

“I intend to!”

Yin coughed politely and proceeded to yank her sister through the portal, while Roka laid a calming hand on Irys’ shoulder, settling her down. “You don’t want to reopen your wounds, Irys.”

After the twins were gone, Irys, red faced and steaming, gave a wince of pain and set herself up back against the wall to rest. She gave Roka a questioning look, “Why are you trying to be so friendly with them, anyway? They’re the enemy.”

“For the moment that is true,” Roka replied, “I do intend for us to escape, and it’s possible we may have to fight those two again. However there is nothing wrong with knowing one’s enemy a little better, and if it’s possible to avoid unnecessary conflict, the first step is trying to communicate.”

“The only communication I want between me and them involves sonic vibrations at a frequency high enough to slice steel,” Irys muttered, but Roka just gave a light laugh.

“Oh, come now Irys, i thought you and Yang were starting to form a real connection there at the end.”

Irys boggled at her, until she noticed the smirk, and then Irys cracked a smirk of her own, “I didn’t know you did jokes, Roka.”

“I am a woman of a variety of talents. That said, you can’t be that upset that they’re going to get you the meat you desired.”

“I... guess not,” Irys admitted, her stomach starting to make it’s hunger known with a vengeance. Her mouth started to water of its own accord at the mere thought of an incoming feast of meat. She didn’t even care if it was cooked or not.

“And beyond that, there was one other benefit to our impromptu conversation,” Roka said, and raised her right hand, the one Irys had noticed Roka make an odd gesture with at the start of the talk with the twins. The energy barrier was still in place, and the small opening had closed before Yin and Yang had left, but Irys now noticed the almost imperceptible sight of one of Roka’s threads now leading up to the spot in the energy barrier where the hole had been.

“Wait, did you sneak that out of there while they weren’t looking?” Irys asked, and Roka smiled.

“My threads are nearly impossible to detect if you don’ t know what to look for, and they were too distracted by the conversation to notice one slipping out through the hole. The thread is strong enough to not be cut, even when they close the stone opening, and I can send a few more out when they return with the meat, if you make enough racket to distract them.”

Irys grinned, “Oh, I can manage that. So what can you do with those outside the cell?”

“For the moment, I can sense immediate surroundings around the threads,” Roka said, “I hope to explore this prison with them, and find our compatriots, who I imagine are nearby. We’ll see what we can manage from there.”

“Escape?” Irys asked hopefully.

“Perhaps not immediately, but let’s take this all one step at a time,” Roka replied, then quieted down as the Garganta portal opened up again and Yin and Yang came tumbling out. Both Arrancar girls had piles of packaged meats of various types, all clearly yanked from a grocery store’s cold shelves.

Yang was actually laughing, “Hahah! Oh man, that never gets old! You see how those humans freak out at seeing a few floating packages of beef? HA! I wish the Captain would let us do that more often.”

“See? Told you’d it’d be fun,” Yin said, halting outside the barrier and nodding in approval at seeing Roka and Irys hadn’t moved, “And glad to see you two haven’t tried anything stupid while we were gone.”

“Was thinking of sonic raying that shield you’ve got,” Irys said in a challenging tone, “But figured I’d let you feed me first.”

“Augh, you’ve got way too much attitude for such a twig,” Yang groused, “How can you be all about eating meat and be that skinny, anyway!?”

Irys managed to get back to her feet without the pain being too bad and went up to the barrier, “I’m not always this small. Next time I get big you want to ask me again about my attitude?”

Yin, ignoring the growing argument between her sister and Irys, went up to the barrier and gave the packages of meat in her arms a questioning look, “Don’t know if you want any of this cooked. We grabbed enough to last a few days, I think. We don’t exactly have much of a kitchen around here, but I could probably grill some of this in, like, a fire pit? Oh! Yang, why don’t you use your flames?”

“I am not cooking this mangy bat anything!”

“Mangy!?” Irys shrieked, “I groom regularly!”

Despite her anger, Irys’ nose was starting to twitch. Even through the energy barrier and the layers of packaging, her acute sense of smell was picking up the scent of fresh meat. It was impossible for her to stop a bit of drool from forming at the corner of her mouth as she stared at the bounty the twins carried. Yin, seeing the stare, withdrew that wooden token from before and used it to open a small hole in the barrier. In short order a package of hot dogs was slipped through, along with a several packages of lunch meats such as ham and turkey.

“That oughta hold you for now,” Yin said, “I’ll see about getting the rest cooked.”

Irys barely heard her, already falling upon the packages with the wrath only the truly hungry are capable of. Honestly whether the meat was cooked or not wasn’t highly relevant to her, but she did take a vengeful pleasure in the idea of Yang having to cook her food. At the moment, however, she was blissfully uncaring of Yang’s continued barbs whilst she proceeded to make short work of the hot dogs first.

By the time she got to the deli meats she noticed that the twins were starring at her, and she gave them a glaring “What?” around a mouthful of ham.

“You were that hungry?” Yang asked, her own anger down to a simmer as she gained a contemplative look. At Irys’ fuming silence Yang grunted and turned to her sister, ‘C’mon Yin, let’s go. I’ll help cook the meat for next time.”

After the two left, closing the cell’s stone wall behind them, Irys rapidly finished her meal, letting out a satisfied gasp as her stomach signaled it’s relief. Wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, she glanced at Roka and asked, “What was that about?”

Roka, with a quiet voice said, “If there’s one thing every Hollow can relate to, Irys, it’s the feeling of being starved.”

“...Oh,” Irys said, not really sure what to think about that. Settling back in her spot against the wall, she tried to get as comfortable as she could on the hard, stone floor.

“Did you get any more threads out while the barrier was open?” she finally asked, and Roka nodded.

“A few. Enough that I can confirm where the other’s cells are, at least.”

“And this ‘jump starting’ our transformations you mentioned, could you do that right now? In fact, could you open up one of those Gargawhatsit portals?”

“No,” Roka replied, “Well, no to the second. Something in the wards around our cell is suppressing my Hollow powers, at least the ones such as Garganta, or a Cero blast. I can still use lower-key abilities such as my threads, or Pesquisa, a sensory ability to detect spiritual pressures. As for jump starting your transformation, it would be too dangerous to try here and now. We’re in a confined space, so you’d end up either getting crushed, or crushing me and our companions.”

“Right, good point...” Irys said, “But, how would it work, exactly?”

“In theory, if I connect my threads to your soul, or that of your allies, I could inject Hollow energy directly into them, possibly triggering the change,” Roka explained, “Furthermore, if I connected my threads to Di Roy in Gaw in a similar manner, they could lend their energy as well, allowing us to trigger all of your transformations at once.”

“That sounds perfect,” Irys said, licking her lips at the thought, “Like to see that Tempest Shadow take on all four of us together.”

“Keep in mind it is just a theory,” Roka cautioned, “I don’t know if it will work, and it might even be dangerous. Ideally we should seek to escape in as stealthy a manner as possible, and rely on this as a backup plan.”

Irys nodded, and with her belly full and not much else to do except stare at the walls, she let herself relax as best she could and start to nod off.

Tempest Shadow actually spent little time in the central fortress itself. If she wasn’t working on drilling the army out on the training fields she was helping with harvesting the orchards or with doing the endless string of repair and maintenance tasks that kept this slice of civilization intact and functioning. When she did take some time for herself she had a few places she liked to be alone, but other times she didn’t mind company, and in particular when Grubber needed to talk to her they had their own cubby hole to do so where she could be fairly certain of no prying eyes or ears.

Situated near the waterfall of one of the river entrances to the cave system within the canyon wall, a small niche in the stone had a number of nicely formed sitting stones. Grubber had already been there by the time she showed up, tossing rocks across the pool where the waterfall’s mist gathered.

She sat next to him and the pair were companionably silent for a minute before Grubber said, hefting another stone, “Hell of a day.”

Tempest gave a bare nod, grunting a bit as she worked her wounded shoulder. “I would say it was one of my worst, but that’s largely untrue.”

“Big Bird gave you a serious run for your money, eh, Captain?” Grubber said, tossing the rock and watching it plop into the waters with nary a single skip. The squat Arrancar similarly plopped down next to Tempest and gave her a frank look, “Give it to me straight, do you really think this cockamamie plain of yours is gonna work?”

Tempest shot him a stern look, but it didn’t last long. Grubber had long since proven immune to her ire, which of course was one of the reasons he was her second-in-command. Letting her hardened expression drain away, she just chuckled dryly and shrugged, “Who knows? What do I have to lose by trying? You saw what they can do. You think they wouldn’t make for potent allies against the Espada?”

“So we’re past the whole ‘not trusting’ them phase, then? Cool, but just so you know, making friends rarely begins with violently trying to kill each other.”

“Why not? It worked for us,” Tempest said, half-jokingly, and it was Grubber’s turn to chuckle.

“That was less me trying to kill you, and more shitting my pants scared when you and the Storm King rolled up on Strife’s territory back in the day. I didn’t expect to live through that, and you convincing the Storm King to spare me and a bunch of the survivors went a long way to me thinking you were alright. But I’m a Hollow, so that kind of mercy is kind of a big deal. Not sure if that lot see it the same way.”

“They are different, I’ll give you that,” Tempest said musingly, “Although not all different. The one called X, he’s dedicated to his people, if rather stubbornly loyal to his master. He’s quite capable of being reasonable, if only I could find some way to get him to view joining us here as a better option than his present loyalties. His combat skills alone would make the effort worth it.”

“Yeah, not gonna lie, Captain, I don’t see it happening,” Grubber said, “But I’ll still back you. Just don’t figure for the big boss giving you a lot of time to work your charms on Mr. Tall, Dark, and Soulful Eyes.”

Tempest grimaced, “He’s not that tall. And I find the insinuation that you’re going for here quite rude.”

“Uh-huh,” replied Grubber with a smirk that Tempest found quite punchable, “But seriously, how long did the Big SK give you?”

A frustrated noise escaped her as she held up three fingers, “Three days, tops.”

“Generous, by his standards.”

“The Storm King has less reason to trust them than I did, and you know how he gets at the mention of Espada,” Tempest said, rolling her eyes, “And not without good reason. I hate Tirek as much as Storm King does, and it is hard to imagine working with agents of an Espada. But be that as it may, if there is an Espada out there who’s working towards Tirek’s downfall, then maybe there’s opportunities there, as well.”

“Assuming recruitment doesn’t work,” Grubber said.

“Yes, assuming that.”

“And if the bossman decides they all need the axe?” Grubber asked, all trace of humor gone from his voice as he gave her a serious look. In the many years Tempest had known Grubber he’d always been quick to joke, but when he got serious, he was always dead serious. It was actually a quality she appreciated about him. He knew when the time for levity was, and when it most decidedly wasn’t.

And as she’d always done, she was just as open and serious as well, “I gave X my word that no further harm would come to him or his team. I keep my promises, Grubber. If the Storm King pushes it, I’ll have to defy him.”

The short statured Arrancar was quite for a moment, then crossed his stubby arms over his barrel chest and nodded firmly, “Good to know. For the record, I’ve got your back on that, Captain.”

“I appreciate it. Hope the rest of the army will feel the same way, but prefer that it never comes to having to find out,” she said, “Everyone here feels like family to me.”

“Even Patros?” Grubber asked with a sarcastically raised eyebrow.

“Heh, even him, much as he gets on my nerves. From the Storm King himself all the way down to the weakest of our Hollow soldiers, we all share the same goal of one day defeating Tirek’s stranglehold on Hueco Mundo. That’s why it’s so important we try to either recruit or find a way to work with these newcomers. They’re our best chance in ages of securing a serious advantage,” Tempest said.

“Sucks we started out fighting them, then, but I’ve already chewed Yin and Yang out over starting that fiasco,” Grubber said with a shrug, one Tempest shared.

“Nothing we can do about that now. As long as I know I can count on your support, I think we’ve still got a chance to turn them around. We’ll play it by ear. Just, you know, try to be friendly-ish towards them in the meantime.”

“Friendly-ish?” Grubber queried with a quirked eyebrow.

Tempest’s face pinched in a look of uneasy self reflection, “I don’t know. Do whatever normal people do to make friendly. Back in the Eleventh Division that’d involve drinking. We don’t have any alcohol here, so... I don’t know, go with your gut. I was going to take X on a tour around the place tomorrow, just let him see what we’re all about.”

“You have fun with that,” Grubber said, rubbing his chin with a meaty hand, “Think I got an idea or two on what I can do, and I saw the girls arguing over how to best grill meat for that bat-gal. We’ll either win them over, or at least make it super awkward when they end up breaking out and we have to fight them again.”

“You really know how to look on the bright side of things, don’t you?”

“What can I say, Captain? I’m the soul of optimism.”

It was the next morning when Patros, having finished overseeing that morning’s field drills, went to do his rounds within the fortress. He specifically chose a route from the drill field that circumvented the town and passed by the prison bunker, his mind filled with suspicions concerning those interred within. He didn’t remotely trust that those Espada spies weren’t up to any tricks, and trusted less that “Captain” Tempest’s little clique of loyalists weren’t either being incompetently lax in their duties to keep the prisoners under control, or worse might be aiding and abetting an escape.

Granted he didn’t consider that extremely likely, but it was a possibility. Tempest could be potentially arranging a side-deal with the Espada to overthrow the Storm King. Could be. Not likely. But it was something Patros would do, so he had to consider that other people would do it too. Even one’s with stuffy senses of “honor” like Tempest.

Passing by the bunker, his mustached nose twitched and his eye narrowed at the sight of the red and blue twins heading for the bunker’s entrance. He never did like the brats much. They followed Tempest around all but clinging to the Soul Reaper’s robes like children, and were largely undisciplined fighters despite their talents. Also he could never figure out which one was the hothead and which one was the calm one. They seemed to alternate by the day.

This particular day the pair were lugging several tray’s covered by aluminum foil, and Patros’ nostrils flared a the distinct scent of roasted meat. Also, for reasons he couldn’t begin to comprehend, Yang was carrying what appeared to be a fishing rod.

“What are you two doing?” he inquired, changing his course slightly to pass by them.

“None of your beeswax, Patros,” said Yin with a glower. Ah, so she was the angry one, today. “We’ve got the Captain’s orders to fulfill and that’s got nada to do with you.”

“If you really want to know, we’re just taking food to the prisoners,” Yang said, “I roasted up a bunch of meat for Irys. Figure the others probably will eat meat, too, so didn’t bother gathering any fruit from the orchards today.”

Patros couldn’t prevent a stupefied look from his face, although he rapidly corrected it and adopted a more controlled and severe expression, “Roasted meat? Learning prisoner names? They’re prisoners, not hotel guests! This treatment is entirely too soft.”

“Yeah, well, maybe we don’t give a crap what you think?” Yin replied, “And maybe if the Captain wants us to treat the prisoners well, we’re going to dang well do it. Doesn’t cost us anything, and since the Captain wants them on our side anyway, what’s the harm?”

“Even if Irys is still pretty lippy,” Yang said, but then shrugged, “But I’m lippy too, so whatever. Long as she doesn’t try to bite my hand off, we’re cool.”

“That’s what the fishing rod is for, Yang,” Yin said.

“I know. Grubber comes up with some really good ideas sometimes.”

Patros just... blinked at the pair for several seconds, which they took to mean he was done talking to them and proceeded to brush by him and continue on towards the bunker. He watched them go and shook his head after another moment of dumbfounded contemplation.

“Madness,” he concluded, “Everyone here is mad, except for me. And possibly the Storm King. On second thought, no, he’s probably mad too. I really need to either take over, here, or find a different line of work.”

All that said, this did present a possible opportunity, he thought, as he resumed his pace back to the fortress. Tempest’s honorable attempts at giving the prisoners such good treatment would not go over well with the Storm King, and he might not even know about it. Good, since Patros was more than happy to pick up a wedge he could use to drive between the Storm King and his pet Soul Reaper. It was a rare opportunity to increase his own standing, while bringing the arrogant Tempest down a peg or two. Besides, those prisoners were a danger to everyone in this hidden enclave, regardless of whether or not they were actually Espada spies or not. They should have been kept starving, at best, or executed at worst, to ensure they didn’t cause any further trouble for the Storm King’s army.

And if the Storm King or Tempest couldn’t see that, perhaps Patros would have to take matters into his own hands in due time.

“What crawled up Patros’ butt anyway?” asked Yin, trying to contain her irritability.

Yang shrugged, “Pretty sure that whatever it is, it’s always been there. Doesn’t matter. Captain will deal with him, if he ever gets too uppity.”

“Yeah...” Yin said, not entirely too certain of that, herself. Patros was a shifty fellow, and the Captain far too trusting for her own good. Yin knew the Captain considered the whole army one big family, and that extended to Patros. She wouldn’t necessarily see a back-stab coming, if indeed one was in the works.

Thoughts of Patros were put on hold, however, as both twins saw, upon entering the cell block at the bottom of the bunker, that one of the cell entryways was already open. The ward barrier was still in place, but the stone had slide aside on the cell where Megalon and Gaw were kept. Yin and Yang exchanged worried looks, especially when they heard Grubber yell, “Ack! Ya got me!”

The pair rushed to the scene, only to stand starring at what they saw within the cell.

Shockingly, Grubber was not only inside the cell, but apparently was unharmed, and sitting cross legged across from Megalon, with a couple of feet of space set between the pair. In that space a series of colorful cards were set in neat rows and stacks. Megalon had just taken his hands off of a card he’d flipped over with a look of sly triumph on his face as he grinned at the aghast Grubber.

“You should have expected my trap card, foolish fool! What will you do now that you are down to your last life points!? You have no chance against my supreme strategies, honed from literally minutes of experience after downloading at least three or four online guide videos in a fit of boredom two weeks ago!”

Grubber, mock breathing hard and holding his chest as if struck, “I’ll admit you’re better than I thought Meg-ghi. But your childish belief in the ‘heart of the cards’ will only take you so far! Your online tutorials cannot defeat my several hours of reading the rule book before coming here this morning! Now is the time of my counter-attack! Behold; I summon Windup Kitten in attack mode!”

Megalon gasped, “No, not Windup Kitten! That bypasses my other, specifically non-cat related, trap cards!”

Squatting across from the open cell door, looking at the proceedings with haunted eyes of pure, undiluted confusion, was Gaw. She turned her eyes up towards Yin and Yang and said in a whisper often reserved for disaster survivors, “I have no idea what’s happening. The fat one came, and said it was ‘Time to duel’. So far there has been no dueling. Just cards.”

“Uhhh, Grubber, you okay in there?” Yang asked, “Is it even safe for you to be, you know, in striking range of the prisoners?”

“Shhhhhh,” Grubber said, holding a hand up, “Do not interrupt our most sacred of competitions, young ones. The duel is both battle and bonding experience, where two minds and souls clash in a melding of spirit!”

Megalon nodded along with Grubbers words, a sage look on his face as if he understood precisely what was being said, a fact that neither Yin, Yang, or Gaw for that matter could grasp.

Fortunately Gaw’s sanity was somewhat spared by the sudden scent of meat wafting to her nostrils and she immediately perked up like a predator on the hunt, mouth open and watering as she locked eyes upon the trays that Yin and Yang were carrying.

“Food...?” Gaw asked hopefully.

“Didn’t you feed these two, Grubber?” Yin asked, and Grubber gestured vaguely at a half eaten tray of fruits, but Gaw licked her lips, eyes still fixated on the trays in the twins hands.

“That one brought plants. I want food.”

Yin and Yang cast dubious looks at one another, Yang shrugging her shoulders, “Don’t know what’s with these scrawny girls wanting meat, but I guess we made enough for both this one and Irys.”

“We’re not gonna have any trouble out of you if we pass some of this fresh cooked meat to you, are we?” asked Yin, “You keep behaving, and don’t give either us or Grubber there a hard time, and you get one of these trays. Deal?”

Gaw glanced at Grubber, then at the meat trays, nostrils twitching fiercely, and some bits of drool spattering the floor as she nodded with vigor. “No trouble. They play with their cards, I get meat.”

“Well, then, you guys have fun,” Yang said, slipping a tray of the meat through an opening in the ward, and nearly had to snatch her hand away as Gaw fell on the tray with a ravenous fury. “Yeash, do you even know what chewing is?”

Gaw didn’t respond, and continued to savage the meat tray like a documentary on a nature channel. Megalon and Grubber were so absorbed in their card ‘duel’ that they didn’t even notice a few stray bits of flying meat getting on them. Yin and Yang quickly and gratefully left the scene behind to proceed to Irys and Roka’s cell. Upon opening it they found the pair sitting cross legged across from each other, Roka speaking in a quiet voice.

“Breath in... release... good. Oh, our captors return.”

Irys opened her eyes, turning a questioning gaze towards the pair, and not unlike Gaw the girl’s nose started to twitch at the scent of cooked meat.

“The heck are you two up to?” asked Yin, taking note of the odd pose the two prisoners had their hands in, held out before them in their laps with fingers linked in a circular fashion.

“Just some meditation,” Roka replied, “I was doing so to center myself, and Irys got curious.”

“Actually I told her to stop snoring,” Irys said, and Roka’s lips pursed into a lady-like pout.

“I do not snore. I also do not fall asleep while meditation.”

“So those sounds were, what, part of the meditation? Those snoring sounds?” Irys asked, smirking at Roka, but her eyes kept driving towards the trays of meat. Roka crossed her arms and hunched her shoulders.

“It isn’t easy to sleep on flat stone, even for an Arrancar. Besides, you’ve been nodding off more than I have.”

“Eh, can’t deny that,” Irys replied, then finally turned fully towards the twins, standing up, “So, uh... that smells good.”

“Your pal in the other cell said around the same thing,” Yin said, opening up a hole in the warding barrier, “And just in case you were feeling frisky, we have a special delivery system for today’s meal. Yang, you ready?”

“Yup!” Yang said, unshouldering the fishing rod and uncovering one of the meat trays, revealing a sizable steak that was perhaps a little heavily charred. She wasn’t exactly an expert on cooking, and had only her own spiritually powered fire to work with. Hooking the steak on the fishing hook, she let the line reel out while Yin used the tip of her sword to guide it through the hole.

Irys’ eyebrow shot up, “Really?”

“You shoot lasers out of your mouth, and still don’t like us,” Yang pointed out.

“Sonic beams,” Irys corrected.

“Lasers,” Yang argued back.

Irys’ eyes performed an Olympic-grade roll, “Come on, I probably won’t do that today. I had a decent night’s sleep, and you’re feeding me.”

“You threatened to eat me yesterday.”

“Yes, and that still stands, but I’m not going to do that right now, and besides it’s your boss I’m mad at more than you.”

“Look, either take the meat like this, or we don’t do this at all,” Yang said, “I ain’t sticking my arm in there.”

“Augh, fine,” Irys said, her stomach overriding her sense of dignity. Despite her words, there was a slight reduction in the rancor in her tone and the menace in her glare. She was still mad about everything that had happened up until now, but it was hard to maintain that level of anger for an extended period of time, or at the individuals providing her with delicious, life-sustaining meat. Within a few minutes Irys was about as content as she could be under otherwise unacceptable circumstances while munching away on morsel after morsel provided via fishing rod by two still rather cautious Arrancar twins.

“I don’t suppose that Mr. X, Mr. Gigan, Mr. Megalon, or my fellow Arrancar have been fed, have they?” asked Roka.

“That Megalon guy and your red-headed friend got fed,” Yin confirmed, “Grubber saw to that, mostly. Not sure about the others.”

“Well, you seem to have prepared a large quantity of meat for Irys, and I’m sure she won’t eat all of it-” Roka said, much to a growl of protest from Irys, who very much could eat all of it. Roka cleared her throat and gave Irys a look, “I’m sure she’ll be happy to share with her friends, yes?”

Irys paused, then nodded, noticing that Roka was making a small, similar gesture she recognized from yesterday. “Ummhmm,” she mumbled, “X probably could use some, and don’t know if Gigan eats, but Di Roy’s probably hungry.”

“We’ll check on them, then. You good for now?” Yang asked, and Irys finished scarfing down the last bit of food she’d acquired and let out a satisfied noise.

“I’ll live,” she said, then added after an extra second of hesitance, “And, uh... thanks.”

“Hey, Captain’s orders, you know? Doesn’t mean we have to like each other, but we won’t let you starve, either,” said Yang, and Yin nodded.

“We’ll see if your friends want any. Don’t know what the Captain has in mind for you bunch, but I think she plans to have another chat with your leader.”

“What about?’ Roka inquired, but Yin just shrugged.

“Haven’t a clue. Yang and I won’t be here for it. We’ve got training to do later today. Grubber will be on watch here for most of today, so if you want anything, you talk to him. He’ll be making rounds every hour or so... assuming he’s not busy playing cards with one of you, for some reason.”

Roka and Irys were just as confused as Yin and Yang looked, and after that the twins departed, sealing up the cell once more.

“So,” said Irys, wiping her mouth with a sleeve and leaning up against the wall with the sigh of a person with a full belly, “Did you get more threads out?”

Roka smiled thinly, “Yes. And as soon as they’re done checking the other cells I can move my threads into our companion’s cells. Then we see if our little plan will work.”

“It should,” Irys said, holding her hands in front of her and giving them a confident look, “I don’t know entirely why, but ever since a certain incident, I’ve gotten a lot better at controlling sound. I think I can pull off what we need, as long as you can get the threads to my friends.”

“We’ll see soon enough,” Roka replied with calm, her focus upon the microscopic threads she’d extended outside the cell while Yin and Yang had been feeding Irys.

It took a bit of time for Yin and Yang to visit the other cells. For Roka, her ability to sense through her threads was akin to a very limited ranged radar. She could get the vague layout of the threads’ surroundings, along with the people and objects within a few paces of the threads, but that was about it. She couldn’t actually “see” with them, or really do much else other than move the threads around. Communication wouldn’t normally be possible, but Irys’ own unique power over sound was a game changer that the two women hoped to use to their advantage.

Roka couldn’t hear the exchanges the took place between Yin, Yang, and the other prisoners, but from what she could feel through the threads it seemed like the others were willing to accept the additional food. Fortunate, as without the twins opening the ward barriers, Roka couldn’t have sneaked her threads inside. The plan had been a bit of a dice toss, but it looked like luck was on their side. Once Roka was certain Yin and Yang had departed, along with Grubber, she held her right hand up and pulled the string lines taut. She then lit them up with a faint glow of spiritual energy so they were visible to Irys.

“Time to find out of this works,” Roka said, and Irys gave a firm nod, approaching the strings. “I’m holding the strings rigid enough for sound vibrations to travel up and down them, but it’s up to you to actually get the sound to move back and forth in a manner that will allow our words to be understood.”

“Got it,” Irys said, taking a deep breath as she reached out and took hold of the threads in a careful touch. After a few moments of concentration, she began to subtly adjust the vibrations of sound around the threads and spoke directly to them, “Guys? Can you all hear me?”

She could all but see the vibrations of her voice travel into the strings, and directed those vibrations to move along those threads so the sound would come out the other end. At the same time she paid close attention to the threads so that any return vibrations she could catch and bring out into a understandable sound wave.

That didn’t take long, as she got a garbled set of responses that, when she tried to get it come out, sounded something like, “WaitIryshowareisthawhereisIrys?”

“Whoa, everyone hold up,” Irys said in a slow voice, “If all of you talk at once, I can’t parse out the sound waves. Look, just listen for a second. Roka sent her threads into your cells while our guards were distracted, and I’m using my sound powers to convey our voices. But I can only do one voice at a time. So we’ll have to take turns and speak one at a time. X, you first; reply if you understand.”

A second passed, then X’s voice, somewhat distorted with a faint buzzing sound due to the way his voice was being transmitted, said, “I understand.”

“Good. Gigan, Di Roy, you both hear me?”

“You’re coming through,” Gigan replied, “Good thinking, by the way. Megalon and I had head to head coms going, but we couldn’t plan much without the rest of you.”

Irys accepted the compliment with a small smile, “Thanks. Now Megalon and Gaw, you both receiving on your end?”

“Hi Irys! Yup, we’ve got you loud and clear.”

“Megalon was victorious in his card duel. I still do not understand. Did any of you have to play cards?”

Roka and Irys exchanged looks at Gaw’s question, and Irys said, “Uh, no, no cards for us. Look, there’s no telling how long we’ve got before anyone shows up to check on us, so we’d best make plans while we can.”

“Agreed,” said X, although it came right on top of Di Roy saying, “Cool beans.”

There was a slight pause, then Di Roy said, “Okay, yeah, we’ll need to take turns with this. How about X goes first and then we just down down the cell block from there?”

“That sounds like the simplest solution,” Roka said, “We share ideas one at a time. So, Mr. X, what are your thoughts on our present circumstances?”

“Not ideal,” X replied, “But far from hopeless. Our captors don’t seem immediately interested in causing us further harm, or at least the one we fought appears to be more willing to be reasonable, to an extent. If we’re to escape, we need a better lay of the land, and this Captain Tempest Shadow’s desire to recruit us can provide possible opportunities to observe our surroundings and seek a means of freeing ourselves.”

Irys bristled slightly at Tempest’s name, but kept herself from saying anything, not wanting to speak over anyone.

“We’ve already got a means of getting out of these stone caskets,” said Gigan, detailing what he and Di Roy had figured out about the wooden tokens that Grubber, Yin, and Yang carried as ward passes, “We snatch one of those passes, we can leave at any time.”

“All we need is an opening,” Di Roy said, “And considering all that food those chicks brought by, pretty sure they’ll need to give us a bathroom break sooner or later. Better yet, if scary Soul Reaper lady is trying to make nice, we can probably request a general hygiene break for both bathroom and bathing time.”

“I don’t really need either,” Gigan said, “But I can fake it enough to buy me a chance to snatch one of those ward passes. With my reflexes, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

“That sounds like a halfway decent Step One,” Irys said.

“We’ll need to know where to go once we get out of our cells,” Roka said, “I don’t suppose anyone remembers those cavern holes in the side of the canyon wall from when they brought us in? Those might provide a way out.”

“Why not make portal once outside cell?” asked Gaw.

“You’re still pretty new to this kind of thing, Gaw,” replied Roka, “Effective use of Garganta portals requires sufficient knowledge of our target location, and our present location. It’s easy to make portals between Las Noches and certain points in the human world due to our familiarity with them. But we don’t truly know where this fortress is located, since we arrived her via their Garganta portal. As a result, any Garganta we made would have no accuracy in it’s destination.”

“Isn’t anywhere better than here?” said Megalon.

“Not necessarily, when one considers that if we continuously use Garganta with random destinations, we’d end up hopelessly lost, possibly even stranded in the Precipice Realm,” said Roka in a dead serious tone, “As a last resort, we might try it, but I’d suggest avoiding that until we’ve exhausted all other options.”

“We’ll table it as a final option,” X agreed, “Preferably I’d like to escape without further conflict. That will require knowing a route that will take us away from the fortress. Those caverns are a good possible lead, but we can search for others. If our captors agree to these ‘bathroom and bathing’ breaks, we can ask a few questions, as long as we’re careful about it. Gigan, I trust you to acquire that ward pass. You still have that hidden compartment?”

“Heh, which one?”

One could hear the slight smirk in X’s voice, “Right. As long as you can hide it, then our captors won’t find it even if they realize the pass has gone missing. Hopefully they’ll assume they just lost it somewhere.”

“They sure as hell won’t find it by frisking me,” Gigan confirmed, “So, that sounds like we’ve got ourselves a plan, doesn’t it?”

“Not an extensive one, but one that’ll get us a step closer to escape,” X said, “In the meantime, cooperate with our captors and attempt to appear nonthreatening while gathering information. Ultimately further fighting doesn’t serve our purpose if we can avoid it.”

“Yeah, but when we escape, what if we can’t avoid a fight?” Megalon asked, and X’s reply held a force of heavy weight behind it.

“Then we do what we have to.”

It was many hours later that X was meditating in his cell, the conversation with his companions having long since ended. He remained still, legs crossed beneath him, meditative as he floated within a carefully controlled field of anti-gravity. It was a highly useful exercise for maintaining his focus and keeping his skills with his gravity control sharp. His thoughts were quiet, but not without purpose as he absorbed the situation he and his team were in, and the many pathways to possible freedom he could devise. They had a rough plan, certainly, but X continued to make mental refinements to the plan and consider new possibilities for maximum tactical flexibility.

Much was tied into the one most responsible for their capture, an image of Tempest Shadow crystal clear in his mind’s eye. The Soul Reaper... vexed him, somewhat. Her power was undeniable, but what caused his mind disquiet was the extent she’d been willing to go to try and spare her foes and treat them with respect both during and after their battle. She also was thus far true to her word. No further harm had come to them, and she’d seen to allowing the injuries inflicted on his team to be treated. Knowing Irys was okay and on the mend lifted a heavy weight from X's heart.

That didn’t change that the injuries were still Tempest's fault for inflicting them in the first place, nor that their captivity wasn't her doing, but X could admit to seeing a possibly decent soul trying to do what was right in a very wrong situation.

But it certainly made things all the more odd.

The sound of stone sliding aside heralded the opening of his cell, save for the warding barrier of energy that still blocked the archway that opened in the otherwise smooth stone wall. And he wasn’t surprised to see Tempest standing beyond, nor that she so boldly walked into his cell, passing the ward as if it were a screen of air.

She had a curious look on her face, and X suppressed an urge to raise a questioning eyebrow as she looked him over with eyes sparkling with a bit too much amusement for X’s comfort.

“You’ve been sitting like that for awhile,” Tempest said, “I thought you might like to stretch your legs.”

Okay, now the eyebrow raise was impossible to keep down, and X continued to look at her questioningly. Tempest stared back, almost like the staring contest was some kind of challenge. Her eyes were remarkably clear and bright, he noted, and held a frank intensity that he wasn’t used to being looked at with. At least, not with anyone besides Aria.

Neither of them having blinked, he simply said, “Why would you allow me out of my cell? That’s a security risk.”

“Do you always point out things that would otherwise benefit you?” she replied, and with a sigh held up a hand, “Don’t answer that. You’re wondering if I have an ulterior motive, right? Maybe I do. I want you to see a few things. Things you can’t see inside stone walls. Give me your word that you won’t cause trouble, and I’ll show you more of this place than you’d ever get a chance to find out otherwise. Who knows, might help you escape, if you’re that determined.”

“I still fail to see what you get out of that arrangement,” he said.

“Isn’t the company of someone I find I respect and enjoyed trading blows with reason enough?” she said, almost awkwardly fast, and actually ended their staring contest by breaking eye contact and glancing to the side. “Perhaps i just want conversation, and to show you my home and why it might be worth considering my earlier offer.”

Yes, she had brought up the offer to join her and her Storm King, although X had denied it rather bluntly. He’d almost revealed one of his most intimate reasons for never wishing to turn from his present master, and that was the newfound devotion and love he held for a very special siren. He didn’t want to risk that knowledge ever being used to hurt Aria, so he had kept that secret. Tempest seemed persistent, although he wasn’t really certain why. Was her army that hard up for allies? Or was it that the Espada, and the one called Tirek who led them, really so just that powerful?

Regardless, if she was desperate enough to keep trying to court alliance, far be it from X to deny a chance to gather further intel. He’d seen part of the base briefly upon arrival, but if she could show him more, it’d only prove useful in escaping later.

“So be it,” he said, “I give you my word I’ll cause no trouble and return to my cell once you’ve shown me whatever it is you want to show me.”

“Good,” she said, perhaps a little too quickly, and with an embarrassed cough she added, “That is to say, thank you. I’ll hold you to that word, as you would with mine. Let’s go.”

She offered him a hand, and he looked at her again. Tempest didn’t quite roll her eyes, but rather it was almost like it was hiding another off kilter glance.

“Contact with me will let you pass the ward barrier," she explained.

“I see," X replied.

“Are you going to take my hand or not?” she said, a hint of impatience in her voice.

He stretched his legs under him and stood from his floating position, and ignoring her hand instead placed a careful and very intentionally light touch on her shoulder, “Will this suffice instead, or is skin contact a necessity?”

Her eyes flicked to his hand on her shoulder, which he couldn’t help but note felt firm and well muscled beneath her Soul Reaper robes. After a moment she nodded, “That’s fine. Just don’t let go halfway through. I’ve never actually seen what happens to a body halfway through a ward if the ward suddenly kicks in, and I really don’t want to start with someone who I’ve gone through so much trouble to keep alive.”

He didn’t respond to that, but against his better judgment did hold her shoulder a tad tighter as she led him past the orange gleam of the energy barrier that was keeping him in his cell. There was a slight tingling sensation as he went through, but otherwise he came out unharmed. He looked left and right, down the long stretches of stone corridor where he knew his companions, both kaiju and Arrancar, were being held in other cells. As if reading his thoughts, Tempest said, “They’re all still in good health, and if you wish you can see them once our impromptu tour is done.”

“That would be... appreciated,” he said. Of course he already knew that his team was okay, having talked to them via Irys and Roka's ingenious use of their combined abilities, but Tempest wouldn't know that and X wasn't about to divulge it.

“You can take your hand off my shoulder now, you know?” she said, coughing lightly, and X blinked for a second before taking his hand away from her. Was that a ghost of a pleased smirk that touched her lips for a second, or had he imagined it?

“Come,” she said, and led him towards the spiral ramp that had taken them down into the prison.

Returning upwards didn’t take long, leading them out of the bunker-like entrance that was nestled behind to two soaring pyramids that made up the Storm King’s central fortress. It still loomed above, like a pair of twin fangs, but X was not that impressed by it. The temple in Zenith was significantly vaster and while these pyramids were easily over twice the size of himself in his true form, he didn’t doubt they could be readily destroyed if he or any of his companions could fight at full capacity.

What fascinated him more was the forests he’d seen on the way in, and the extensive, for lack of a better word “village” of Hollows and Arrancar that had sat beside those fields of orchards. Tempest, again seeming to read his thoughts, said, “This way. You can have a look at the town, then I wanted to take you to the training grounds.”

He replied with a silent nod, which she noted with a small laugh. As they walked she said, “You don’t talk much, do you?”

“I’ve rarely needed words when actions have sufficed.”

“Not a bad attitude to have,” she replied, and took that cue from him to go quiet as they walked beneath the open space between the two pyramids and headed towards the collection of several dozen buildings that constituted the town. Tempest kept close to him as they walked, although X assumed that was more to be in a position to react in case he actually did try something. Or at least he assumed there was no other reason. Her close proximity did get him thinking about Aria.

He wondered what she was doing right now? It was nearly impossible to tell time in this realm, but his internal clock said it was likely afternoon, in which case Aria would probably be doing her exercises. It was easy to imagine her going through the motions of several martial arts kata, some of which he’d taught her. The precise movements of her well toned muscles underneath her tight fitting training clothes, the familiar scent of her as she began to work up a sweat...

He nearly bumped right into Tempest when she stopped, and she took notice of his distraction, although she couldn’t possibly know the reason for it. Still, he couldn’t tell if it was just how much he realized he missed Aria, or if there really was a similarity between the two when he noticed their wry smiles were rather alike.

“Taciturn or not, feel free to ask any questions that are on your mind. I might as well play tour guide, right?”

If only to distract himself from the sudden ache he had in his heart for a special someone who was entire dimensions away, X turned his attention to the town. He hadn’t really gotten a close look at it before, and he did find he wondered about several things.

“What purpose does all this serve?” he asked, “I was inside Las Noches. It was barren compared to this, and I was under the impression that’s normal for Hollows.”

“In a way you just answered your own question,” Tempest replied, gesturing for him to follow as they passed by one of the larger buildings down the street. Unlike Las Noches, which held a distinct sense of emptiness that had only been countered once Adagio had shown him to her own piece of the fortress, that the Espada had clearly tried to make more luxurious and comfortable, this town did have a lived in feel to it. The interiors of the buildings he could see had furniture, working lights, shelving. Then the larger building Tempest brought him past had the interior of what looked for all the world like an actual tavern, complete with tables where Hollows gathered and appeared to be drinking, chatting, and engaging in games of cards or dice.

It was a bit like the dice game he’d seen the Arrancar guards playing outside Las Noches, but somehow more natural.

“A long time ago,” Tempest said, “I’d never have thought of Hollows as people. Just lost souls to slay with my blade and call it a day. When the Storm King first found me, beaten, bloody, on the brink of death, I didn’t trust him at all. But he showed me what he wanted to build, and once I saw what might be possible in this place, I started to share his vision.”

Glancing at him sidelong, she seemed to hesitate a second before saying, “Care for a drink?”

He’d already been provided food and water, but it looked to X as if, much like Adagio had with her small mini-bar, the Hollows here had managed to stock their tavern with a variety of drinks likely ransacked from the living world. The last thing he needed was to have any of his faculties inhibited, however. Not that it’d take a small amount of alcohol to affect him, but he saw no reason to take the risk.

“I’ll pass,” he said, and he thought he heard a slightly frustrated sigh escape her.

“Fair enough. Come on, this way then, Mr. Serious.”

He raised an eyebrow but kept his peace as he followed her down one of the town’s roads, heading what he estimated to be west. There were plenty of Hollows and the sparse few Arrancar about, most of which gave him a mixture of looks ranging from the curious to the hostile. He supposed the understood both. He and his team were a proven dangerous and unknown factor, and if this truly was their home, then many of them had to be worried about what their continued presence meant or why one of their leaders was escorting one of them around. Still, it was clear Tempest Shadow commanded a great deal of respect, for almost all of those they passed gave her acknowledging nods or salutes, which she returned in kind with equal respect.

Once outside the town they passed the circle of orchards where those strange fruits were being harvested. X couldn’t help but mentally note the food he’d been given in his cell had also consisted in part of these fruits, although he’d detected no toxins or the like within them when he’d tried them.

“They’re safe,” Tempest said, once again demonstrating a remarkable ability to guess what was going through his mind, “Although these couldn’t grow without the Storm King. When an Arrancar gets powerful enough, they can affect Hueco Mundo’s environment to a degree, depending on their own personality or properties. A lot of exiled Espada, those Privaron Espada you were sent to find, set up their own slice of Hueco Mundo to suit their needs. Just so happens in this case, Storm King is trying to make this realm more like the living world.”

“Is his intention to do this to the entire realm, after defeating the one called Tirek?” X asked, figuring this information could be useful for his eventual report back to his own master.

“If all goes well. If we get a large enough army with enough power to challenge him and win,” Tempest said, nodding at the orchards, and the surrounding forest around it, all fed by those artificial rivers that stemmed from the walls of the vast box canyon the entire area was situated in, “I don’t know if we’ll ever get every corner of Heuco Mundo like this, but even being able to do so with a decent fraction of it strikes me as a worthy goal. One worth fighting for.”

There was a bitter note in her voice at that last sentence, but she seemed to brush it off with a shake of her head and led him further down a trail leading through the forest. As she did so she went back to walking with that oddly close proximity, just an inch or so away, and looked at him with those rather intense eyes.

“I know you don’t have a reason to just forgive me, but I am sorry for the injuries dealt to your friends, especially the one called irys.”

X clenched his fists slightly, but didn’t otherwise show what he was feeling. Tempest sensed it regardless, and a very awkward note entered her tone, “She’s impressive. Loyal and tenacious. Beautiful, too...”

Beautiful? What did that have to do with anything? The remark actually caught X off guard enough that he forgot to be angry for a second and just blinked at Tempest. Whatever was going through her head, she again spoke in a somewhat slow, awkward tone as she asked, “Just out of curiosity, are you two... close?”

At his dumbfounded look Tempest returned a mirror of his confused blinking from a second ago, “Is that a no?”

He shook his head, “She’s a dear and loyal comrade and friend I will fight alongside until my last breath, but not, um... whatever you might have been thinking.”

“Ah, I see.”

Why did she seem to perk up at that news? Tempest was simply confusing him more and more. By this point he’d expected her to be probing him for information about his master, or further seeking to convince him of joining her cause, but so far nothing like that had come up.

“Out of curiosity, where did you learn your fighting style?” she asked, again making him feel unprepared. “Everything about you screams career soldier to me, but your fighting style, especially when you changed form somewhat, was far more improvisational than what you’d get from military training.”

He briefly considered how to answer that without revealing too much. “You could say I have skills form two different lives. One where I was indeed a soldier, and one where I learned to fight through hard earned experience. Both work within me to form how I fight.”

“And that interesting change of yours? Gold, black, and aggressive?” she asked, glancing away from him briefly as she added, “Not a bad color on you, gold.”

The eyebrow raise returned with a vengeance, “That isn’t anything you need to be concerned with.”

“Heh, fair enough,” she replied, smirking slightly but dropping the topic.

He felt a tad more complicated on the matter than it being a simple compliment, but he supposed he couldn’t entirely blame her. After all, he’d seen Aria in the same colors, once, and the particulars of those events aside... she had looked rather attractive, he had to admit while thinking back on it. He still preferred her natural colors more, however.

As they reached the edge of the forest, where the western plain between the forest and canyon wall was turned over into what appeared to be a large field. From the way a number of stone obelisks were set up at intervals along some portions of the field to act as obstacles while various Hollows fought in small groups in obvious mock combat, this had to be the training fields Tempest had mentioned.

“Ah, they’re here,” Tempest said, nodding at a spot down the field a ways and to the right, “I figured they would be.”

X looked to where she indicated, and spotted the swift moving forms of the two Arrancar girls,Yin and Yang. Their red and blue forms rushed each other in sparking, flaming streaks, whip and blade clashing in a fast, intense dance of maneuvers. X could tell the twins were very well matched against one another. While individually he estimated they were weaker than any of his companions, including Adagio’s Arrancar vassals, he had to admit that if Yin and Yang fought as a pair rather than as individuals, they’d be a more respectable threat.

“They seem a bit different than other Arrancar I’ve seen,” he noted idly after he and Tempest watched the sparring pair for a minute, “I haven’t seen others with elemental powers like that.”

A sad shadow crossed Tempest’s face, “That’s because they’ve been altered. Arrancar rarely have children, but it can happen. The young are rarely cared for, however. Those two, I found them when they were both still barely up to my knee. They’d been experiments in one of the Eighth Espada’s laboratories, one me and the Storm King happened across during our search for allies. He let me take them in, and train them, since the experiments on them were, near as we could tell, an attempt to alter an Arrancar’s Zanpaktou to function even more like a Soul Reaper’s.”

X didn’t quite shrug, but it was close, “I don’t understand many of these terms yet, but I take it their weapons work differently, and that’s the source of the electricity and fire?”

“Yes. Yin and Yang can’t transform like other Arrancar can. That ‘Resurreccion’ you saw your friend Gaw perform. Instead they have their elemental powers. I’ve tried to help them develop those powers, along with teach them the needed fighting skills to survive. Of course, as you saw when you fought them, they still have a lot to learn. But they’ve grown so much from those little girls I found...”

It was impossible to mistake the tone of her voice, and X nodded, “Family.”

Perhaps the most natural smile yet crossed Tempest’s face, and even X had to admit it was a pleasant sight, “Exactly right. You feel the same about your own comrades. Blood has nothing to do with it.”

“Yes,” he said, and for a moment his eyes hardened, “Which is why you’ll understand why I’m protective of them, and why it’s hard to see you and yours as anything other than threats to those I care for.”

“I want to change that, for the sake of both the family’s we care about. There’s one more thing I’d like to show you, if you’ll extend enough trust for it...” she said, and extended a hand. As he stared at it, she added, “This time I actually do need you to take my hand. And to stand very, very still.”

He eyed her hand, then met her gaze. He expected the earnestness there. Whatever else he might think of Tempest, he couldn’t deny she was almost brutally honest in all of her actions. If she wished harm on someone, she was the type to declare it very loudly and clearly, rather than hide motives or rely on deception. It was an admirable trait, in some ways. He took her hand. The skin was rough from a lifetime of hard fighting and combat training, but warm to the touch and her grip was surprisingly gentle.

She moved a bit closer to him, and when he flinched, she said, “Don’t worry, I’m not trying anything inappropriate. Just making our trip a little easier. Like I said, just stand very still... I haven’t pulled this technique in awhile.”

There was a warm tingle across his body, but before X could even question what was happening the entire world blurred in an instant. His internal sense of motion and gravity told him he’d just moved an incredible distance at rather breakneck speed, but he felt almost none of the inertia from it.

He found himself standing atop the canyon cliff face, now looking several hundred meters down into the box canyon where the entire base of operations was spread out below, from the Storm King’s twin pyramids to the vast forest, and grassy fields beyond. Tempest was right there, still holding his hand, which she coughed politely and let go off, taking a step back as she seemed to nervously fold her arms under her chest.

“Shunpo, or ‘Flash Step’ if you prefer. You saw me use it plenty during our fight. You even kept up with it using those gravity techniques of yours.”

“I see...” he said, frowning slightly, “I didn’t know you could use it on others.”

“It’s a lot harder to take a passenger with you,” Tempest admitted, “And I haven’t done it for a good long time. I have to extend my reiatsu field around the person I’m bringing, to shield them from the sudden inertia.”

“Useful,” he commented, then glanced around. He saw nothing of note. Beyond the canyon’s depression, Hueco Mundo’s deserts extended with seeming infinity. In many ways he could admire how well hidden this place was. Without an extensive aerial survey, few would find this place just by traversing the wastes. “Why did you bring me here?”

Tempest respond by sitting down on the edge of the cliff, dangling her legs off the edge and resting her arms back, looking up at him, “Because it’s my favorite spot. I come here when I need to relax and think.”

“...Okay?” he said, not sure what to think of that himself, but he decided to sit down next to her, one leg dangling over the edge while he braced the other knee up to rest his arm on. He decided, since she was being honest, he might as well be, too. “You confuse me.”

“Do I? How’s that?”

“You nearly killed several of my team in a battle that could have been avoided if you’d been willing to let us go. You imprison us against our will. Yet you also go to extreme lengths to heal those you injured and treat your captives with respect, while taking one of them on a tour of your base of operations, all the while chatting amiably about apparently nothing... it’s confusing. I would not be doing the same, were our positions reversed.”

Tempest’s face gained a bittersweet, contemplative cast to it, “Ever heard the phrase ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’? I couldn't afford to let you or your team walk, not without knowing for certain you wouldn’t inform on us to the Espada. I wish my people hadn’t started it, but once it was, I had to end it, one way or another. You’d already killed several of my Hollow soldiers, and while some of them are barley above sentient, they’re still part of the family. And if Yin or Yang had been...” she trailed off, “We both had things to lose, there. I just tried to make sure neither of us actually lost anything. I still am...”

Her pause at that moment, eyes focusing on the twin pyramids with their fang-like apexes. “I trust the Storm King, but he’s being stubborn about you guys. It’s taken all I have to convince him to let me have a few days to win you over. He’s convinced you're Espada spies.”

“Is he usually this paranoid?”

“Hey, paranoia has kept him one step ahead of Tirek for centuries. I can’t blame him. We’re still a long ways away from having enough strength to confront the Espada, so secrecy is pretty much our lifeblood. It was risky, setting up a surveillance outpost in Forlorn Ridge, but without a way to keep tabs on the other Espada, we’ll never know when the right time to strike is,” Tempest said, turning to look at him.

“X, tell me straight, if I let you and your people return to Las Noches, would you tell this Espada you’re working for about this place?”

He met her eyes. It was a simple enough question. That said, he had already agreed to bring Adagio information about Privaron Espada. This Storm King was a Privaron Espada, by all accounts. X wasn’t one to ignore the parameters of a mission, especially because the success of his original mission to his master hinged upon completing Adagio’s task.

And he found lying straight to Tempest's face wasn’t so easily done, with those earnest eyes boring into him. She looked away.

“Hence why I’d rather earn you to our side. You sure there’s nothing that’ll convince you and your people to switch teams? I’ve already shown you it’s not so bad, here. Good food. Nice scenery, comparatively speaking. And I hope I’m showing that the company you might find here isn’t too terrible, either.”

There was a hint of something more in her tone that was hard for X to discern, until he noticed that her hand hand strayed a few inches towards his. He wasn’t sure if she was conscious of it or not, because she wasn’t looking at him, but rather at the canyon below.

“Can you really expect us to just abandon our roots and put our lots, our fates, in the hands of a master we’ve never even met, and who is paranoid enough to want us dead unless we swear loyalty to him?” X replied.

Tempest frowned, “Is it that different with your current master? Aside from bringing you together with your current allies, seemingly just for his own convenience, what has he given you that you can’t find here? You and yours would be cared for here, that I promise. I wouldn't betray the trust, if you extended it to me. Not like..."

She trailed off with a darkened look on her face, and despite himself, X found a spark of curiosity rising inside him. "You said you and your unit were betrayed by your Soul Society. Is that why you feel convinced my own master will betray me?"

Tempest looked at him with a wane smile, "I can't say I don't see some parallels between you and I. It's the loyalty. I was loyal to both my Division and my duty, but I never imagined for a second that being loyal to one would end up seeing to the destruction of the other."

Her hands clenched at her side, old, angry bitterness entering her voice, "Of course much as I'd love to pin all the blame on Central 46, I'll never forget that it was Tirek who killed so many of my people, and that I couldn't stop him. I never want to be in that position again. It's inevitable the Storm King and I will face Tirek and his Espada, and when we do, I plan on ensuring we come out on top. I won't lose anyone else. If possible, having someone like you and your team on our side when that fight comes..."

As if realizing what she was saying she paused, almost as if surprised at her own words, turning towards him and leaning forward, not quite close enough to be uncomfortable, “X, I don't know how else to do this other than bluntly. I like what I see in you. Not just strength, but dedication and loyalty to your people and the cause you fight for. So why not fight for mine? Why not make my people, your people? I know trust will take time, and be hard earned in some cases... but between the two of us...”

Alright, she was leaning forward a little too closely now. And X couldn’t deny she had her attractive qualities. Dedicated, fearless, loving of her people, and he couldn’t say the dark purple skin over a clearly muscular yet feminine body didn’t immediately evoke certain images...

...the problem was that every one of those images was of Aria Blaze.

Every good quality he saw in Tempest Shadow had its far more vivid mirror in his memory of his siren love. They even had a few similar attitudes and mannerisms, although Aria was honestly the more aggressive of the pair. And the more beautiful, in X’s heart. And that was the rub of it all. Had this all happened sometime earlier in his life, had he and Tempest crossed paths prior to his mission to a certain human world where he had a fateful encounter with a sea witch, then X could almost see himself accepting Tempest’s offer.

He might even have found her inside his heart the same way Aria was.

But that path was closed, and all this was doing was reminding him all the more why he had to return to his true master, so that he could also once more hold his Aria in his arms and feel her warmth next to his.

He pulled away from Tempest, and at her look, which did contain a flash of hurt, he said, “I’m sorry, but what you’re asking is impossible.”

He could see the disappointment in her eyes, but she took it in stride as she pulled back from him and said, "Not to sound like a sore loser, but why? Just who is this master of yours anyway, and how did he earn your loyalty so thoroughly?"

Hesitance filled X. He hadn't discussed Aria because he didn't want to take the risk that doing so might put her in danger, but by now he'd come to understand Tempest a little better and believed that she ultimately wasn't the kind of person that would take advantage of that information. So he took a deep breath and said, "It's because, through serving him, I met someone. Someone who's life is dear to me beyond measure, and whom I could not continue to be with if not for my master's ability to send me to the world she resides in."

Understanding bloomed in Tempest's eyes, "Ah... she. That certainly explains why my recruitment pitch hasn't been working."

The Soul Reaper let out a hefty sight, hanging her head as she let out a tired laugh that hid the disappointment of a forlorn hope, “Well, crap... guess that’s me shot down hard, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so. If it’s any consolation, you have many fine qualities, near as I can tell-”

“X, stop, you’re terrible at letting a lady down easy. I’d rather let Irys shoot me with that crazy sonic breath of hers, if it’s all the same to you,” Tempest said, although her tone was largely joking as she laughed again. X shrugged.

“She probably will, if given half a chance. You’ve pissed her off greatly, and most of my team besides.”

“That’s fair. Maybe you can tell her that you've avenged her by sucker punching me, even if only metaphorically?”

“I imagine Irys would prefer to do the deed herself, and not metaphorically.”

“Yikes. I’ll remind myself never to get on her bad side again,” Tempest said, then slowly stood. As X followed suit Tempest’s joking expression returned to something more controlled and serious.

“I get now why you won't consider joining us, at least. That complicates matters. The Storm King wants you all either firmly on our side, or firmly in a grave. I’m not letting the later happen, and you’re not letting the former happen. That means it’s time to find a compromise.”

X gave her a level stare, “What would you propose?”

“The only way I see out of this for your team is if I convince Storm King to agree to allying with this Espada of yours. Adagio, was it? His hatred of the Espada is going to be a nasty hurdle, but I have a few days to get the idea planted in his head and make him see reason. That won't be easy.”

“I'd be willing to talk to him myself if that might help,” X said, “But admittedly I don't know much about Adagio myself, as I only met her a couple of days ago.”

“Hmm, it might help if you and he talked, if only so he can see you're not exactly a duplicitous spy,” Tempest said, "Assuming I can get him to agree to it without another paranoid rant."

X raised an eyebrow at her, "And you question my loyalty to my master?"

"Hey, Storm King is a reasonable enough man once you get to know him."

"I'll take your word on that for now," X replied dryly, then recalling the plan he and his team had concocted, and seeing an opening, he said, "On a different matter, it's already been a day since our capture. Both myself and my companions are going to be in need of some basic hygiene soon."

A flash of embarrassed understanding flicked across Tempest's face, "Right. Right, of course. I'll make arrangements and see to it you all get a chance out of your cells to bath and take care of other necessities. Just promise me your people will be on their best behavior."

"They shall," he said with a nod of thanks, "And I appreciate it, Captain Tempest Shadow."

"Just Tempest," she said, and offered him her hand once more. "At any rate, it's probably best to get you back to the cells for now." She appeared to hesitate for a moment before also adding, “And for what it's worth, I hope this lady of yours understands how insanely lucky she is to have you.”

“It’s the other way around. I’m the one who feels fortunate to have been chosen by her,” X said, taking Tempest’s hand. A moment later the cliff side was empty but for the footprints left behind by two crossing paths.

Chapter 9: Escape Plans

Chapter 9: Escape Plans

Not long after X was returned to his cell, Tempest went in search of the Storm King. If she was to shift the plan from recruitment to alliance, she needed to sell the idea to her liege as soon as possible. She was well aware it wouldn’t be easy. For all the time she’d known him, no one harbored a greater hatred of the Espada than the Storm King, nor quite the same level of fear of them, especially Tirek himself. For decades since their fateful meeting Tempest had patiently supported the formation of the Storm King’s army, aided in his conquests of far flung territories in Hueco Mundo that had been held by other Privaron Espada, those unfortunate enough to earn Tirek’s ire and be banished from Las Noches, or were independent enough to strike out on their own regardless of what the ruler of Las Noches thought.

While the desire to dethrone Tirek and bring him low burned brightly in Tempest Shadow’s heart as well, a part of her did understand the Storm King’s fears. The Espada did not hold their positions of power for no reason. They were exceedingly deadly foes. Even at her best, Tempest knew she was not an even match for Tirek, possibly not even the two Espada directly below him. That was why working with the Storm King and building up their army was so essential. It was partly why she’d been so keen on recruiting X and his unusual team. Their power could have made all the difference in a direct assault on Las Noches.

...But so, too, could an alliance with Di Roy, Gaw, and Roka’s mysterious Espada benefactor, Adagio Dazzle. If an Espada inside Tirek’s court sought to overthrow him, that could lead to numerous possibilities. She’d just have to convince Storm King of the value of the prospect over his fears and distaste of either location, the broad and cavernous throne room as empty as his far less extravagant but disturbingly messy and disorderly quarters. How a man who styled himself a ‘King’ was capable of living in a room that looked like a disaster area was an affront to Tempest’s otherwise strict sense of military neatness, but she allowed her liege his flaws.

Deciding to forgo more physical searching, she instead closed her eyes and took a moment to stretch her spiritual senses out across the fortress. It was easy to sense the couple of dozen Hollows and Arrancar who remained in the fortress premises either on guard duty, maintenance and cleaning, or organizing the archives. So too was it easy to feel the steady mass of reiatsu that was the bulk of the army, either relaxing in the town, drilling in the fields, or working the orchards. Narrowing her focus, she sought the Storm King’s own distinct reiatsu, the strongest one present in the canyon even with him actively suppressing it so that if the Espada did send agents to scout the region they couldn’t stumble upon this place easily.

She found his spiritual pressure down by the fortress’ entrance, and strangely, she sensed another with him. Patros.

Tempest breathed out a hissing sigh. What was that man up to, now? She had always figured that, given enough time, Patros might settle down and stop giving her such a hard time at every turn, but he sure had a consistent burr up his butt about taking orders from a Soul Reaper. Admittedly Patros was probably the second strongest Arrancar in the army, although still a long ways behind the Storm King and Tempest, but he still commanded some respect among some of the other troops and was probably used to being the top dog. Tempest understood Hollows well enough to know being knocked down the totem pole had bruised some egos. Not uncommon among a lot of her troops once they joined the ranks, often after their territory got conquered. Most learned fast what the new paradigm was, and often came to appreciate Tempest’s way of doing things.

A rare few like Patros weren’t as fast on the uptake.

Not wasting any time, Tempest headed for the nearest balcony overhang, hopping right off the fortress rather than bother with anything silly like stairs. One gust of Flash Step and the former Soul Reaper Captain found herself before the large archway that lead into the fortress proper. Storm King was standing with his hands clasped behind his back and a grumpy frown plastered on his face while Patros, whose back was turned to Tempest, was speaking in a pointed tone.

“-far too lenient with those prisoners, my king. I mean, cooked meat? Fresh from the human world? Preposterously lax security measures, I say! Far be it for me to question your choices, my king, but is this not giving the Soul Reaper too much leeway to endanger us by treating these prisoners like honored guests instead of like dangerous enemies?”

Tempest cleared her throat loudly and approached with bold strides, “Because it doesn’t gain us anything to antagonize them further, Patros. Especially because I brought them here in hopes of convincing them to join our cause.”

Patros turned halfway towards her, hand resting on the hilt of his Zanpaktou as he looked at her shrewdly with his one unmasked eye, which half-closed in distaste.

“Yes, you do have this habit of trying to take in every stray, Captain. It’s fair enough when those strays are fellow liberated Hollows, untainted by Las Noches or the Espada. These prisoners have already admitted to serving an Espada. What reason would we possibly have to trust them, hm?”

“Not playing favorites,” said the Storm King, pointing a beefy finger at Patros, “But Mustache here has a point, and it’s bending my ear not just a little, Tempest. Now I’m trying to be a nice guy and indulge your recruitment fetish, but any of the Espada would love to point us out to the Jolly Red Giant Asshole to earn brownie points. Still not sure why I should be letting these spies take up space in my fortress, eating my food, when I could be eating them instead.”

“Sir, as I explained, them being here is costing us nothing. X and his compatriots have been nothing if not cooperative, thus far,” she said, choosing her words carefully. She had to watch how she handled this, because the Storm King did have something of a temper and a tendency towards overreaction, “That being said, recruitment isn’t going to be possible, I’ve discovered.”

“HA!” Patros exclaimed, “See what I mean? You waste the Storm King’s time! No doubt these spies are just eager for a chance to escape so they can report back to-”

“Patros, shut up,” said the Storm King, his eyes locking onto Tempest with a piercing quality that reminded her that for all his joking nature, for as long as she may have known him, he wasn’t someone to trifle with or take lightly. “Tempest, explain yourself. Make it a good one, because just the other day you were telling me you could pull this off, now you’re telling me it’s a no-go. That does not make for a happy Storm King.”

“I understand, sir. It’s not complicated. Turns out the team’s leader, X, has more... intimate ties to his previous employer than I anticipated. Means that there’s nothing we can offer him that would convince him to break ties. That said, there’s a different opportunity here that I firmly believe we should take advantage of. Of the seven we captured, X and the three other non-Hollows serve a different master outside Hueco Mundo, but were stuck making a temp deal with an Espada named Adagio Dazzle. The three Arrancar we captured with X’s team work for her. According to X, she’s a recent addition to the Espada’s ranks, and isn’t specifically loyal to them, or to Tirek. In fact X explained the entire reason they were sent to look for Privaron Espada was to seek allies for an insurgency in Las Noches, and eventual overthrow of Tirek’s rule.”

“Hogwash,” Patros said, unable to help himself despite the Storm King’s warning look, “W-well, it is, my king! What Espada would be crazy enough to try and rebel against Tirek? O-other than you, of course. This is clearly a made up story to try and buy their own lives. I wouldn’t believe a word of it!”

“It makes more sense than if they came looking for us specifically,” Tempest said, “Our base at Forlorn Ridge was expertly hidden. If an Espada suspected us of being there, why send a small group? Why not just come and crush us with full force? Why use outsiders who aren’t even Hollows in the first place? As wild as their story is, it makes more sense than the alternative of them being spies loyal to Tirek.”

“You don’t know Tirek like I do,” the Storm King said, “Nothing that guy does would surprise me. He’s been after me for centuries, and the only thing keeping me safe is staying waaaaay out of sight, until I amass enough power to kick his smug skull in. We’re getting there, Tempest, but we’re not there yet. Now you’re asking me to put the whole shebang at risk, and for what, exactly? Some upstart Espada rebel who might not even be on the level?”

“Sir, this might actually be our best chance to even the playing field!” Tempest said back in a fierce tone, stepping closer, and all but ignoring Patros’ squawk of annoyance as she brushed past him to meet the Storm King’s gaze up close, “Like you said, we’re getting there in terms of the army’s size and power, but we’re not there yet. But what if we had someone on the inside of Las Noches? An Espada who isn’t loyal to Tirek. One who can help us get inside whenever we’re ready to make our attack. No matter how much power we gain, we’re going to need every advantage to take Tirek down, and you know it. It’s risky to trust this idea, I know, but I think it’s worth the risk. I’m just asking you to trust me on this one. If you still have doubts, talk to X yourself. You be the judge if he’s lying or not.”

Normally she was pretty good at getting a ready on the Storm King’s thoughts, but this time his gleaming blue eyes were as inscrutable as two sheets of ice. He didn’t respond for a long minute or so, one bony hand stroking his chin. Patros tried to speak, but was silenced by a simple gesture from the Storm King, who eventually blew out a grumbling sigh and looked at Tempest flatly.

“I’ll think about it. But hear me loud and clear, Tempest. If I decide this is done with, I don’t want to hear any more argument out of you. Comprende?”

Her jaw clenched, but she nodded, “Comprende, sir.”

But in her heart, she was already preparing herself for the worst, and what she might have to do if it came down to it.

Telling time in a place without a sun could certainly be problematic, but with cyborgs like Gigan and Megalon having their own accurate internal clocks, the group knew it wasn’t long past noon when the time came for their “gross biological stuff” break as Gigan coined it.

“You do know that your skin gets dirty too, right?” Di Roy pointed out, “Like, being 90% machine doesn’t keep you automatically clean.”

“91.8% machine, and while it doesn’t keep me clean, my body doesn’t produce the same odors you meat-body types do,” Gigan replied in a clipped tone, pausing only briefly before frowning behind his shades, “And why do spirit beings need baths anyway? You shouldn’t even have... you know what, never mind. I don’t need the headache of trying to figure that out.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault my body produces a natural musk,” Grubber said, watching as the pair of prisoners were let out of their cell by Yin and Yang, who both were tense as Gigan and Di Roy joined them in the hallway. Yin, in particular, eyed Gigan closely, keenly remembering getting trounced in their scuffle back at Forlorn Ridge, but the cyborg didn’t even give her a second glance.

X had given his orders for everyone to be on their best behavior, so far as Gigan was concerned, unless someone started something, there was no reason to even act like their captors were there unless he had to. Granted a part of him still thought that playing any amount of ball with these folk was a questionable tactical choice, but he trusted X’s judgment. If X said to take this slow and play nice, Gigan could play the role. Besides, this was as good a chance as any to gather intel on their surroundings and hence boost the chances that a later escape attempt would succeed. And... he did need to clean himself a bit. He might not sweat like biologicals did, but even his skin needed a good scrubbing every now and again, and the hair he had in this humanoid form had gotten pretty matted and dusty, too.

“Musk is one way to put it. Reek might be another term,” Irys muttered, she and Roka having been let out before Gigan and Di Roy had, and Grubber just crossed his arms and grinned at the girl.

“Maybe you just got a sensitive nose? Yin, Yang, I’m not that bad, am I?”

The twins exchanged clandestine looks before Yin carefully offered, “It might not be a bad idea if you take this chance to clean up a bit yourself, sir.”

“Augh, you delicate feminine types, I swear. Once a week is fine. You all need to stop having such high standards. The Captain never complains about my natural odor.”

“Not to your face...” Yang muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, sir.”

Megalon and Gaw had also been let out by this point, and Gaw tested the air with her own nose, and gave a bare little shrug, “Smells fine.”

“See, at least someone here isn’t so judgmen-”

“Smells like old, rotted kill, but still good for eating,” Gaw clarified, in such a manner that suggested she didn’t think the scent was all that bad. Grubber’s face blanched and he hung his head in defeat.

“Whatever. Let’s get Mr. Moody out of his cell so you all can get yourselves cleaned up, use the lieu, whatever else that needs doing.”

A Grubber went to the final cell area and removed his ward pass to deactivate the barrier, Gigan made special note of where on Grubber’s uniform the short statured Arrancar tucked the piece of wood. It was easy enough to do so with the scanners in his eyes, hidden behind his red shades. He even tried to get a scan on the energy signature the ward pass put out, although as was so far the consistent case with spirit energy, Gigan’s mechanical systems had difficulty making sense of the garbled signals they received.

X emerged with his usual air of calm and control, looking over each of his team and his three Arrancar compatriots in turn to visually confirm their condition. Everyone knew the plan. Play it cool, be cooperative, be alert for any chance to gather information, and let Gigan handle the process of swiping the ward pass. Combat was only to be initiated if, for whatever reason, they came under attack. Everyone, even Irys, who still had a tense look on her face, shared an understanding of what needed to happen here.

“Alright, so we’ve got shower facilities set up by the river,” Grubber told X, “One for the men, and one for the ladies. Ain’t going to be hot water, but none of you look like strangers to cold showers. If any of you got a need for a number one or two, we’re not exactly rigged for plumbing out here, but never met anyone too good for an old fashioned outhouse. Long as everyone’s nice and cordial about this, and stays more or less in sight, minus the bathing portion obviously, then everything will be cool and we might even have a halfway decent lunch ready by the end of it. We all clear on this?”

“We are,” X said, knowing he could trust his answer counted for the entire group, even the Arrancar. He’d only known Di Roy, Roka, and Gaw a short time, but their competency had been proven and blood had been shed together in common cause. That was about all X needed to feel a certain level of trust towards the trio Adagio had saddled his team with. Grubber gave them all a brief look, then nodded to himself.

“Well alright then! Let’s get this show on the road.”

Grubber took the lead, with Yin and Yang forming up behind so that the three had the prisoners sandwiched between them. Trust or not, it was a sensible and natural tactical precaution that X couldn’t fault them for. He and Tempest had established a rapport, and from what he’d heard, the rest of his team had gotten to know their captors to a degree, but their relationship was still that of prisoners and captors. No matter how cordial things were, that fact hung over proceedings like an overcast sky.

Once out of the underground prison, Grubber led them across the pathway between the two pyramid towers of the fortress, upon which X found himself raising an eyebrow as he spotted another Arrancar standing just out of their path, as if waiting for them. It was Patros, and he was standing rather rigidly, carrying what looked like a stack of white towels underneath a basket filled with... soap and hair products?

The mustached Arrancar’s face bore a livid look of barely constrained, indignant rage as he looked at Grubber. Grubber, for his part, openly grinned like a cat toying with a canary.

“Ah, Patros, ol’ buddy ol’ pal! Glad to see you brought what I asked.”

X tilted his head in a questioning look, but said nothing, although he did note that Yin and Yang both looked just as confused as he felt. Apparently the twins had no idea what this was about, either.

Patros, for his part, spoke through clenched teeth in a grating whisper, “I trust this humiliation sufficiently amuses you, Grubber? It was not easy acquiring these items, I’ll have you know. That town is lousy with Soul Reapers.”

“I know, I know, but I’m a man of such particular tastes, and I want nothing but the best for our guests!” Grubber said, coming up to Patros, who held out the towels and basket of assorted bath products. Grubber looked at them and held up a hand, “Oh, I think you can carry those. In fact, why don’t you come along and help keep an eye on our ‘dangerous prisoners’. That’s what you called them, right? Well, who better to help little ol’ helpless me keep an eye on them while they bath, eh? Why, they might try to escape, and they might hurt someone. Wouldn’t want that, would you?”

X was no medical expert, but he was fairly certain that many veins shouldn’t exist in a human forehead. Maybe it was an Arrancar thing. Either way, Patros’ face was beat red as he harshly said, “You are taking this joke of yours way too far.”

Grubber shrugged at him and then leaned closer to Patros, whispering something that X couldn’t hear, but it only caused a look on the other Arrancar’s face that suggested a strong mix of fear, outrage, and irritated acceptance.

“Fine,” Patros said, and proceeded to turn and start marching down a path leading off to the right, “Have it your way! But I swear there will be payback for this, ‘buddy’.”

Grubber, satisfaction rolling off his face in waves, sighed and motioned for the group to follow Patros, “Man I love getting under that guy’s skin.”

X ventured to ask, “Just what was that about?”

In a conspiratorial low tone, Grubber hid his mouth with one hand and said, “Nothing big. I just got a bit of dirt on Patros. Dude’s been sneaking out of the canyon on occasion to fraternize with Hollows in some other Privaron Espada territories. I don’t know what the dude’s up to, and don’t really care, but it’s against the Storm King’s rules. Now, doesn’t bother me none, personally, but it’s fun to hang over Patros’ head so I can make him do dumb yet highly amusing stuff like this.”

X couldn’t claim to understand Grubber’s motivations, but he supposed it ultimately didn’t matter, as long as it did not’ lead to unneeded conflict. However if the rough chuckle from Di Roy, who was close enough to overhear the conversation, and the fain motion of Gigan’s brows that suggested an eye roll, some of X’s companions had their own thoughts on the matter.

Their procession down the pathway did lead them past the town, and some of the local Hollows watched them go with obvious curiosity. With X’s earlier excursion out with Tempest Shadow, there had to be quite a number of rumors flying around about what the deal with these odd prisoners were. None accosted the group, however, the Hollows keeping a fair distance as the group continued on along a side path that ran along the edge of the forest and orchards and took them towards one of the rivers that flowed towards the center of the canyon. X had yet to see where these river’s emptied out, but the water seemed fast flowing.

“So seriously, I know your Captain said it was a secret, but where did you guys get so much water from, anyway?” asked Di Roy, showing his own interested in the uncharacteristic rivers that, to put it mildly, were apparently scarce in Hueco Mundo.

“Curious cat, aren’t you?” replied Grubber, “Not that I blame you. It’s pretty damn sweet, having regular access to fresh water, even if we don’t need it to survive. Captain likes to be coy sometimes, but it’s not actually that big a secret. Hueco Mundo does have natural water sources, just turns out they’re all deep underground. Whole reason we built our home here was because it sits on top of one of those reservoirs. Now, eventually that’d run out, but Storm King’s got a clever mind. Cagey as a cracked out raccoon, but clever. See, he set up Garganta portals to redirect the water up from the reservoir into those natural caves in the canyon walls. Then set up a couple more in the human word, right on top of some mountain rivers in the middle of nowhere. With his abilities, he made the portals permanent, so now we’ve got regular, fresh water that doesn’t run out.”

“Top that off with the Storm King using his power to enrich the land so we can grow food, and we don’t even have to hunt for human souls anymore,” Yang said, “Captain Tempest really did bring me and my sister to a good place, with a decent ruler. Way better than that bastard Tirek, who lets monsters like Grogar do whatever the hell he wants.”

“You know, the three of you who’re working for that Espada might convince her to switch to our side,” Yin said, “With enough strong Arrancar, we could form our own Espada! Turn this whole place into something bigger and better than Las Noches could ever be.”

“Nice enough pitch, you’d have to let us go so we could even bring that offer to our boss,” Di Roy said, and gave a brief look towards Roka, who shrugged at him. X did recall that Roka didn’t directly serve Adagio, but was instead the adopted daughter of a different Espada, but since she hadn’t volunteer that information to their captors he felt it wasn’t his place to say anything.

“Guess we’ll see what the Captain and the King work out,” Grubber said, then gestured with his hands in a wide, grand manner, “Aaaaand ta-da! Here we are, you’re bathing facilities. Patented by Grubco Construction Inc.”

Gigan looked at what was in front of them and deadpanned, “You’re really proud of what amounts to several large pieces of plywood held to together by what looks like a combination of duct tape and... is that gum?”

“I got hungry while I worked,” Grubber said, holding out a small, wrapped piece of gum to the cyborg, “Want some, it’s grape.”

“Pass,” Gigan said. X merely shrugged. He didn’t think the bathing area looked all that bad. Compared to a hole in an asteroid, it was downright pleasantly quaint.

It was made of plywood, yes, but Grubber did appear to use actual nails (in combination with duct tape and the occasional bit of gum) to hammer together what was essentially two wide, square shaped structures that were about twenty feet wide and deep apiece. They were situated right along the river bank, with about two thirds of their area actually overlapping the water. They didn’t have actual roofs, but they did have simple doorways leading inside on the beach end, and several holes in the other end to help the river water flow in and out. Essentially they were a pair of square barriers so people who went inside could bath in the river with some level of privacy. There were pegs on the interior for hanging clothes, and buckets gathered nearby which were likely meant for assisting in washing off.

Patros, having arrived a bit ahead of them, had already deposited towels and soap within both bathing areas and was now standing between the buildings, arms crossed, face stormy, as he glared at Grubber.

“For once I agree with our prisoners. Your construction skills are less than ideal for making more than a latrine pit.”

“What’s that Patros? You don’t like our latrines? Maybe you’d want to build us some better one’s then?”

“Ugh, let’s just get this over with.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” muttered Gigan, who began to remove his clothes with swift, mechanical precision.

“W-w-what are you doing!?” blurted Yin at the sight of the rapidly de-clothing cyborg.

“Y-you’re supposed to do that inside the walls!” Yang shouted, face blazing as she pointed at the bathing area on the left, which bore a sign done up in black sharpie marker that red ‘MEN’, “There! That one’s for the guys. G-get your pants back on!”

“What?” Gigan said, gathering up his clothes with little concern for the twin’s distress, “If you don’t want to see it, then don’t look.”

Megalon looked about halfway to removing his own clothes as well, but at a glance from X the other cyborg held off until he followed Gigan to the interior of the bathing shed. Grubber followed them in, while the still red faced Yin and Yang proceeded to lead Irys, Gaw, and Roka inside the other shed. Patros was left outside, palm all but glued to his face.

“Am I supposed to just stand out here, wasting my time?” Patros called, and Grubber shouted back.

“You’re our backup guard. Just stand there and look pretty, although I know that’s a challenge for you.”

Patros’ return growl could be heard clearly through the plywood of the shed, and Grubber chuckled in rumbling satisfaction as he leaned against the wall, only keeping half an eye on things while X, Di Roy, Megalon, and Gigan finished divesting themselves of clothes and waded into the shallow water. The water was cold, although not at freezing temperatures, and X had to admit that it actually was pleasant to actually be able to clean the grit and grime of the past few days off. Normally such hygiene wasn’t a concern in his true form, but human bodies had this whole ‘sweating’ thing that tended to accumulate stink at a remarkable rate. As he went about the slow, systematic process of cleaning, he kept Gigan in partial view. It was up to the Nebulan cyborg to acquire the ward pass from Grubber, but they hadn’t worked out exactly how he’d accomplish that. While a few ideas had been floated during their planning session earlier, Gigan had said to not worry about it and just let him handle things, and to act naturally with whatever Gigan did.

Meanwhile Di Roy and Megalon both appeared to be enjoying themselves, treating the situation more like a trip to the pool than a guarded bathing session.

“Hey Di Roy, if you try to float, will that hole in your chest cause you to sink?” Megalon asked, and Di Roy scratched his head.

“You know I’ve never even thought of that. Let’s find out!”

He proceeded to flop onto his back and attempted to float, only for the hole to start bubbling up with water. “Holy crap, I do sink! And here I was giving Gaw crap for not being able to swim.”

“She can’t swim? Oh, we should teach her then when we get back.”

“Nah, she threatened to do unspeakable things to my internal organs if I ever threw her in the water again,” Di Roy said, laughing fondly, then stroking his chin, “Wonder how she’s doing over there?”

Over at the other shed, Irys and Roka had already gotten into the water, but Gaw had her feet planted at the shoreline, squatted down and glaring at the river as if accusing it’s very existence of being guilty of being water. Yin and Yang were both looking at each other with shrugging expressions.

“It’s not skin off our backs if you don’t want to go in, but you’re not much better off than Grubber in the smell department,” Yang said bluntly, to which Gaw snorted.

“So? Nothing wrong with smell.”

Roka offered up a patient and encouraging smile, “The water isn’t deep. You won’t drown. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Gaw set her teeth in a barred snarl, “Not scared of water. Just... don’t like it.”

Irys was already immersed up to her head, but she could understand Gaw’s sentiments. She wasn’t all that fond of the water either, a long shared trait of the Gyaos species, but she liked being covered in her own sweat and blood even less, so she was going to get clean as fast as she could. Seeing Gaw’s distress, she raised her head a bit and said, “If she doesn’t want to, leave her be. I can give her a sonic scrubbing later.”

“Sonic scrubbing?” Gaw asked, tilting her head curiously.

“It’s how I keep clean back home,” Irys said, “Little sound vibrations. Knocks most grime right off.”

“You know, with those abilities, you’d make an incredible masseuse,” Roka said in a musing tone. “Still, I think it’d be healthy for Gaw to get more comfortable with the water. It’s shallow here, and we’re all here to ensure she doesn’t drown.”

“Not little hatchling,” Gaw muttered, experimentally dipping one of her clawed feet into the water, flinching at it, “Grr, it cold, too.”

“You all want me to heat it up?” Yang asked, tapping at the hilt of her Zanpaktou, which was in the sheath attached to the unusually shaped fragment of bone and skull attached to her head. At everyone’s curious look, Yang withdrew the blade and activated its flames, dipping them into the water, “Check it out. One hot tub, coming up.”

After a minute or two the near freezing water became soothingly warm, which seemed to help encourage Gaw to go a bit deeper, although no more than up to her knees, which she huddled down and and began splashing water onto herself in a haphazard attempt at cleaning. Roka moved to help her, grabbing some soap and shampoo, which Gaw sniffed at with distrust as Roka tried to show her how to use the cleaning products.

Irys, despite her best efforts to want to remain grumpy at the twins, couldn’t help but rather enjoy the relaxing warmth of the water now that Yang had heated it up, and she found herself looking at the pair of Arrancar with a curious stare. Yang stared back with an almost challenging look.

“What?”

One of Irys’s slim, pale hands rose from the water and pointed at the Arrancar’s shoulder. Both Yang and her sister had identical black markings in the shape of the Storm King’s symbol upon their right shoulders. Irys hadn’t quite realized it until then, but she’d seen that symbol on all of the Hollows in the fortress so far.

“Do all of you have to get those markings when you serve this Storm King person?” Irys asked.

Yang self-consciously touched the marking while Yin came over and knelt down by the water’s edge.

“It’s a brand,” Yin said, “And yes, everyone who swears service to the Storm King gets one. He places it on himself in a ceremony for those joining our ranks.”

Irys couldn’t explain why, but she got an unpleasant feeling in her gut when she looked at the markings, which was what had drawn her attention to them in the first place. They looked like innocuous, black tattoos, yet something about them set her on edge. Playing off her discomfort, she joked, “What, does he forget who serves him so easily that he needs the mark to remind him?”

“Hey,” Yang said, pulling her fire sword from the water and sheathing it in her hair clip once more, “Watch it. We’re trying to be nice here, but the Storm King has helped every Hollow here by providing us with safety and a purpose.”

“If I may be so bold as to note, your loyalty really seems to be more with Tempest Shadow,” Roka said, and both twins glanced at each other.

Yin, offering a half-hearted shrug, said, “So what? We owe the Captain a lot, and of course we’re loyal to her. And she’s loyal to the Storm King, so we’re loyal to him too. Not that complicated. Isn’t it the same with you?”

“What do you mean?” Irys asked.

“You’re loyal to that X guy, right? And because he’s loyal to someone else, you’re loyal to them, but only because X is,” Yin, “Far as I can tell, you’re not that different than us when it comes to loyalties. We both got masters we serve because someone we respect serves them, too.”

Gaw, who’d been silently pawing at the water for awhile, grumbled, “You all think too much. Serve one tribe, one alpha. If alpha has bigger alpha, doesn’t matter. Still serve just one alpha.”

“Yes, well, you’re a simple soul, Gaw,” Roka said, not unkindly, but in a rather frank manner.

Meanwhile in the other bathing shack, Di Roy and Megalon’s horseplay had slowed down a bit, but only because X insisted the pair actually do what they were there for and start cleaning themselves. Gigan, requiring less of such external scrubbing, had exited the water already and wrapped a towel around himself while leaning on the shack wall next to Grubber while waiting for the others to finish. Or rather that was what he was appearing to do to casual observation. He didn’t appear to actually look at Grubber, although he started to speak in a casual, if quiet tone.

“So just to be clear, we both know this isn’t going to end well.”

Grubber flicked his eyes towards Gigan briefly, but then just looked on past the shack at seemingly nothing, yawning slightly but otherwise not seeming to be bothered by the cyborg’s words.

“Eh, probably not. Captain’s way too much of an optimist, and if I ain’t mistaking your own ‘captain’, he’s isn’t too far off from the same. Damn shame. He’d have been good for her, too. She could use someone to loosen her up a bit, but also still respect and understand her vibes.”

Gigan wasn’t going to touch that one. Relationships were not his thing.

“Don’t know, don’t care. This situation is a blender waiting for someone, namely your Storm King, to hit the start button.”

“You got a point in this morbid little talk, Shades?”

“Could be that I’m just venting. I don’t do conversations, typically. X wants us playing nice for now, so consider this my attempt at small talk.”

Grubber almost cracked a smile, “I could always go for a round of bitching about our circumstances. Just ask the twins, I’m a champ at complaining.”

There was a slight tilt to Gigan’s head, not enough to confirm he was looking at Grubber past his shades, but enough to indicate a shift in the cyborg’s focus. “You don’t want us here anymore than we want to be stuck here.”

“Can’t deny that. I thought bringing you all here was a terrible idea, right up there with the Storm King’s attempt at having a ‘casual clothes Friday’ every week. Half of us don’t even own more than one set of duds.”

“Okay, I have to ask, is this Storm King guy some kind of idiot, and if so, why do any of you follow him?” Gigan asked flatly, and Grubber threw his arms up in a helpless shrug.

“Eh, Storm King’s a weird one, but long as he keeps the food coming and the water flowing, I can deal. Beats the alternatives of being a desert hobo, getting hunted down by Soul Reapers or Quincy, or falling in line with one of the Espada who don’t exactly have a track record of giving a crap about their subordinates.”

“Fair enough,” Gigan replied, not really in any position to criticize the stubby Arrancar’s logic. The master of Zenith provided Gigan with easy access to repair facilities for his true body, which wasn’t too different of an arrangement these Hollows had with their leader. If there was any hostility in Gigan towards their captors, it was based solely upon the practical fact that they were obstacles in the way of the team completing their mission, rather than anything personal. He could sit here and chat with Grubber easily enough. He could also just as easily cut the Arrancar down, if he thought it’d accomplish anything valuable for getting the team out of this mess. But X, as was increasingly common, had the right idea to handle things in a more delicate manner, for the moment at least.

Gigan hadn’t been talking to Grubber without purpose, even if the conversation appeared to meander. The entire time he’d been analyzing Grubber, using his scanners to calculate balance, volume, weight, and determine where the ward pass was precisely located. He’d very casually adjusted his stance several times to make it look as if he was just being bored and a tad antsy, when in reality he’d positioned his left hand down and to the left, not quite behind Grubber but close to Arrancar’s expansive waistline, where a pocket on his right side held the item Gigan was after.

He didn’t make his move just then, however. He wanted a distraction. Fortunately his mental communication’s link with Megalon was still active, so it wasn’t hard to ask his brother for a hand without verbally saying a word.

Splashing around with Di Roy, Megalon paused and flashed a mischievous wink before ducking under the water. Gigan had a second to wonder just what Megalon might consider a ‘distraction’, before Megalon came rocketing out of the water like a particularly hyperactive dolphin. It was often easy to forget that the younger Nebulan cyborg had... well not flight per se, but a rather impressive jumping capacity. He used that capacity now to clear about thirty feet of vertical height straight up. At the apex of his jump he gleefully tucked himself into a ball, and shouted, “Beachball!”

“I don’t think that’s the correct term Meg-” Di Roy began to say before Megalon impacted all of two feet in front of his face.

A miniature tidal wave splashed the interior of the shack, soaking all. Grubber in particular acted like most cats would when abruptly soaked.

“Nooo, water! Cleansing water! Get it off! My natural muuuuusk!”

Amid quite a bit of hopping around and attempts to dry off, Gigan made a slight, yet incredibly swift and precise sets of motions. As a man mostly made of metal components, even simple things like his fingernails were remarkably sharp, like miniature knives. A single cut with an index finger was more than enough to open a small hole in Grubber’s trousers while the Arrancar was fixated on the business of drying off, primarily by shaking like a dog. The shaking proved fortuitous for Gigan, who didn’t even need to try that hard to slip the wooden token that was the ward pass out of Grubber’s pocket.

Before Grubber was even done shaking himself halfway dry, Gigan had quietly tucked the ward pass away inside a compartment that slide open on his left leg, just one of several such hidden areas he could use to store items. Now, he was aware there was a chance that Grubber might discover the ward pass was missing if it was him who tried to open their cells upon returning from this little hygienic outing, but even if the team was strip searched, they wouldn’t find the missing item.

Luckily it turned out that scenario didn’t play out. Once everyone was finished cleaning up, the return trip to the cell bunker was surprisingly light hearted, save for Patros giving Grubber a parting, murderous glare while muttering something concerning payback, to which Grubber just laughed under his breath.

“You really like antagonizing that guy,” Gigan noted.

“Some people in life are just destined to rub each other the wrong way,” Grubber said, “So I figure, might as well learn to get some fun out of it.”

Once more, Gigan found he couldn’t entirely fault the Arrancar’s logic, such as it was.

There was something almost like idle chatter among prisoners and captors upon the walk back. Tension did still remain, but it was less the tension of people intending immediate harm upon one another and simply not having the means to do so, and more the tension or two groups that knew they were still at odds with each other but weren’t filled with true animosity any longer. Yin actually started using her own ward pass to open the cells before Grubber could, her expression vaguely melancholy as she did so.

“Don’t really know when the next time we’re going to be able to let you guys out is. Depends on what the Captain and Storm King decide,” she said, face brushed with a faint hint of perturbed thoughts.

“Don’t concern yourself with it,” X replied simply, “Follow your Captain, if she has truly earned your loyalty.”

“She has,” Yin confirmed, and Yang grabbed her sister by the shoulder.

“Come on sis, chat time’s over. Captain should be here soon and we got to put our work faces back on.”

Within a few minutes the group was split back into pairs, with the exception of X, and were resealed within the featureless yet somehow still dry and dusty cell blocks. Once that was done, X was able to confirm with Gigan via Roka’s threads and Irys’ sound control that the cyborg had acquired the ward pass. Between that and the information gained concerning the tunnels connected to the canyon’s river supply, it seemed like the group had the main component’s needed to enact an escape attempt. There were still issues to be worked out, such as what they’d do once they got into the tunnels. Megalon volunteered the possibility of using his drills to tunnel to the surface, which seemed plausible enough to X.

Once they were in the open desert, however, there was something of an issue of how to get back to Las Noches. Their vehicle was destroyed, and as Di Roy had pointed out, without knowledge of their exact position in the plane, using a Garganta portal was risky. There was also the question of how to evade pursuit, if there was any. X’s gut told him that Tempest Shadow wouldn't send pursuers after them. Not after their last conversation, at any rate.

When to escape was also in question. With no obvious night or day cycle, there might not be a point in time where the fortress was on ‘lights out’ and would have only minimal guards on watch. Still, it seemed prudent to wait until a time that was as close to ‘night’ as they could before making their move.

That was a far as they got with their planning when X sensed a familiar presence outside his cell. He wasn’t certain how he felt her, but he could tell that Tempest Shadow had arrived before she even opened the wall of his cell. Perhaps the nature of this spiritual plane was starting to affect him and his comrades more pointedly the longer they were here? Whatever the reason, he was already standing and looking in Tempest’s direction when the cell wall slid open. She seemed faintly surprised, but the look passed quickly as she entered the cell, showing no tension in being close to him now. It seemed her own gut instincts said she could trust X now, too.

“I heard things went well at the river,” she said in a conversational manner, and X nodded ever so slightly.

“They did. My thanks for allowing it.”

“I’ve spoken with the Storm King concerning this Adagio Dazzle person,” Tempest said, and X could already hear the frustration in her tone, but he asked anyway.

“And his response?”

“It... could have been worse,” she admitted, “He doesn’t trust any of you. Doesn’t help that I think Patros is feeding his paranoia. He didn’t order your immediate execution, so, you know, there’s that. He intends to think it over for a day, then tell me his decision tomorrow.”

“That’s not very encouraging,” X pointed out, and Tempest raised a hand to her forehead, rubbing it as she let out a rough sigh.

“I know. I wish I had better news to bring, especially considering you seem ready to get your escape going.”

X tensed, but kept the surprise from his face as he let out a noncommittal, “Oh?”

She smiled at him in a manner that was uncomfortably close to how Aria smirked on the occasions she landed a hit on him during their sparring matches. “You can tell your friend with the threads that she’s damn good at keeping them hidden, but she’s still got a ways to go before she can fool a Captain of the Gotei 13, former or otherwise. Don’t worry, nobody else has noticed them. I’m also not going to say anything, either. If this goes south, you guys escaping is preferable to the alternative.”

“I see,” X said, “Then there’s no reason for us wait, either.”

“Well, before you kick anything off, how about this?” Tempest said, “Wait just one more day. Storm King will give me his answer by then, and if he actually does agree to an alliance with Adagio Dazzle, then there’s no need for any escape plans at all, is there? But, if he doesn’t, and he ends up putting me in a position I can’t abide, by my honor I swear I’ll ensure you and your team can escape safely. I can arrange for the sentries to be redeployed at a precise time, giving you guys a window to slip out of here without causing a fight.”

“That... is beyond what I could have expected,” X said, a hint of concern briefly crossing his face, “It would also cause you trouble with your master, wouldn’t it? He’d know why the guard was changed at the precise time we escape, especially given how much you’ve voiced objections to our execution.”

“You let me worry about that,” Tempest said, “You just focus on your own people’s safety. I gave you my word that I wouldn’t let harm come to you or yours if you cooperated. You’ve held up your end of that bargain. I’ll hold up mine, whatever it takes.”

Even many hours later, X was still troubled by Tempest Shadow’s words. For one who had begun as an enemy, he found himself disquiet over the notion of what consequences she might face for aiding in the group’s escape. Ultimately there was nothing to be done for it. She was right about the need for him to focus on the safe removal of his team from this dangerous situation. Even the completion of their mission for Adagio Dazzle was a far off, secondary concern compared to the need to enact a safe escape. Adagio would just have to settle for the intel gathered on the Storm King himself, and his forces.

Having agreed to Tempest’s terms, all there was to do was wait until they heard whether the Storm King would accept the proposed alliance with Adagio, or if they had to effect their escape. If the Storm King ordered their deaths, Tempest had explained that she could delay the order long enough to move the sentries from the west cliff, river area, and orchards, providing a clear path through which the team could escape with minimal chance of encountering the Storm King’s troops. The tunnels had a bunker entrance not unlike the prison bunker itself about five hundred yards further downstream from where the group had bathed, and from there, the tunnels would take them into the underground tunnel network beyond the canyon itself.

As the hours ticked by, X focused on his own meditations. Whatever happened, he intended to be ready for it in both mind, body, and spirit.

When Tempest Shadow opened his cell once again, X immediately sensed a lighter air about the Soul Reaper, and by her eased expression something must have gone right. Or at least, right from her perspective. X would hold off on his own judgment until he knew more. He’d been floating in the center of a gravity bubble, meditating, but now stood to face Tempest as she crossed her arms and said, “Well, the good news is that the Storm King hasn’t decided to order your deaths.”

“If that’s the good news, I hesitate to inquire if there’s bad news,” X said, and Tempest quickly held up a placating hand.

“Relax, there isn’t any bad news. The Storm King informed me that he wants to talk to all of you himself and has requested I escort you to the throne room.”

“Did he say why he wanted to speak with us?” X asked, not at all certain himself what to make of this. Normally it’d seem to him to be a tactical error for an enemy leader to want to have potentially hostile prisoners, especially one’s who’s motives he was paranoid towards, brought into that leader’s presence.

“No,” Tempest replied, “But this is the best shot you’ve got to convince him to go for this alliance with Adagio Dazzle. He must be considering it, otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering to meet you in person. X, this is our best chance at resolving this peacefully. If it doesn’t work, the escape plan is still on, but if this works out, we both get what we want.”

“Hm,” X glanced away briefly, although there truly wasn’t that much to think about. Tempest was right in this instance. There was nothing to lose by speaking with this Storm King, and if he was being honest, X was rather curious about this individual who’d earned Tempest Shadow’s loyalty.

“Very well,” he said, “You said he wished to meet all of us?”

“Yes. You, your team, and the three Arrancar loyal to Adagio.”

“Then let us waste no time,” X said.

In very little time the other cells were opened and the situation explained to the others. Yin, Yang, and Grubber were waiting just outside the cell block to join the escort, they themselves seemingly more relaxed than before as well. The group was taken into the fortress proper, led up into the pyramid structure on the right side through a yawning entryway who’s vaulted room was over a dozen meters high. The interior of the fortress gave X further impressions of the temple from Zenith, although all was made of brighter shades of sandstone and marble compared to the dark construction of his master’s home.

The fortress lacked the grandeur of either Zenith’s temple, or even the incredibly vast and otherworldly nature of Las Noches. To X, it felt like someone’s attempt at imitating such grand design, without the same focus or purpose. Indeed while they passed many open rooms while following various hallways and staircases leading up the pyramid, X wasn’t certain what much of any of it was for.

Tempest seemed to notice his gaze and said quietly, “Most the important stuff is either on the top floors, or the basement sub-levels. Everything in between is basically holding places for when we expand our forces and need the space.”

X didn’t comment on that, just accepted it with a nod.

Towards what he estimated to be near the top of the pyramid, a vast white staircase that they’d been climbing tapered out into a wide hall that ended in a pair of wide double doors of carved stone. Black banners hung from the walls on either side of the door, bearing the Storm King’s distinct sigil. A pair of burly looking Hollows with vaguely ape-like appearances, bodies bristling with white fur and yellow eyes peering beyond simian skull masks stood guard at the doors. The Hollows thumped their meaty fists to their armor clad chests in salute to Tempest as she approached, and without prompting proceeded to open the doors, which squeaked upon large iron hinges.

“Time to meet the big cheese,” Gigan muttered, glancing at X, “Plan?”

“Play it out calmly,” X replied, “See how it goes.”

Beyond the doors was a grand chamber, rectangular in shape, with the longer ends spread to the left and right and ending in sloped walls that were clearly the ends of the pyramid. The way the roof also peaked upwards suggested to X that they were in the center of the pyramid’s apex. The walls to either side had alcoves in which braziers burned, making this chamber warmer than many of the others X had seen. The floor was bare stone, much like the rest of the fortress, but unlike the bare, smooth surfaces elsewhere, this floor was tiled with interlocking sections of black and white stone.

Directly opposite the doors on the far wall a set of steps led up to a raised section where a stone obelisk reached towards the ceiling. Broken swords were nailed to the obelisk, several dozen at least, by X’s count. The blades and hilts, both shattered sections, were hammered in with what looked like iron spikes. At the base of the obelisk was the throne, a large stone chair carved with a high back that ended in the shape of the twin horn sigil of the Storm King.

Lounging in said chair was the man X assumed to be the Storm King himself. Although the man had a slouching position, with one leg slung over the left arm of the throne, X could still tell he was a tall and fit individual, probably topping even Tempest’s height. His attire was similar to those of his soldiers, if slightly more ornate. His face was what drew X’s attention the most. It had a large browed, wide chinned, simian cast to it that didn’t look entirely human, but mostly it was the eyes that caught X’s attention. The Storm King was wearing a wide grin at their approach, but his eyes were smooth and blue as ice; unreadable save for the cold.

It set X on immediate guard, even as the Storm King gave them an almost comically casual wave with one hand. His other hand held what X figured was his Zanpaktou, a large staff with two fork-like blades at the end, surrounding an unusual blue crystal.

“Patros...” X heard Tempest say under her breath, and noted that in fact Patros was here, having been standing off to the side of the entry doors in an at-attention stance.

“Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and anyone in between,” the Storm King said in a voice that somehow reminded X of a stand up comedian mixed with a bored despot. “I’d say take a seat, but there’s only one in the house. Hope you don’t mind standing.”

“Standing is fine,” X said, halting a respectful distance away from the throne as Tempest also stopped. His companions lined up on either side of X. His team were wary, but he sensed their readiness. Adagio’s people were a more mixed bag, with Di Roy looking like he was trying to case the room for the best egress point, Gaw scratching herself while hiding her muscles tensing for possible violence, and Roka standing as placidly still as a mirror.

“Man of few words and complaints. I like that,” the Storm King said, turning his gaze to Tempest, “Alright, so now that you’ve got them here, I’ll make this short, Tempest. I’m willing to hear these guys out, just like you wanted.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m glad you’re willing to give them a chance, despite...” she flicked her eyes toward Patros, “...other opinions.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Storm King said, slowly bouncing the butt end of his Zanpaktou off the other arm of his throne, “It’s up to them to convince me, but I’ll get the truth straight from the horse’s mouth. Or is it pony’s? Hell, Patros, how’s that saying go again?”

“Don’t ask me, sir, I am not familiar with such turns of phrase.”

“Well whatever, let’s get to this,” the Storm King said, giving a wave of his hand as if to officially commence proceedings as he turned his full attention towards those in front of him, fixating in particular upon X. In turn, X met the stare with an unflinching gaze of his own.

“Tempest tells me you guys claim to work for an Espada who’s got the idea to look for allies to help her bump off Tirek. I think I got plenty of reason to be skeptical about that, but I’ll hear the details from you and see if I like the cut of your jib. So let’s hear it, the whole story, no redactions.”

There was a fine line regarding what information X was willing to share, especially in regards to his and his team’s origins, but he had little reason to hold back the details concerning the way the mission to Hueco Mundo initially went. In regards to Adagio Dazzle and the details of the task she’d roped them into, X explained things in a straightforward manner, leaving out only details he imagined weren’t pertinent to the topic. Ultimately if an alliance could be secured between the Storm King and Adagio, that would be the most beneficial outcome for all involved. While Adagio had not specifically tasked them as diplomats, merely as scouts, this still technically fulfilled their end of the bargain.

X was keenly aware that they only had so much time to return to Las Noches anyway, although he didn’t think his master would abandon him and his team if they missed the deadline for the portal. More realistically their missing that portal would cause the master to send another scouting group to find them, which would lead to complications, especially if the master sent a scouting party in force directly to Las Noches’ doorstep.

Returning as fast as possible was paramount, either by stealthy escape, or successful negotiations. While not trained or skilled in such matters as diplomacy, X leaned on his personal experiences to be so unerringly blunt and straightforward that only a fool would think he was trying to be duplicitous.

The Storm King listened intently, leaning his chin upon the knuckles of one hand that in turn rested upon the arm of his throne. Upon X concluding the summation of events and intentions, the Storm King’s icy eyes slipped towards the trio of Di Roy, Gaw, and Roka.

“Alright, so let’s say I buy what I’m being told by this guy. What makes this Adagio Dazzle think she’s got a shot against Tirek, even with help? Hasn’t she noticed the jolly red jackass is just a teeny bit on the holy balls overpowered end of the spectrum?”

“Ain’t really my place to question the boss lady’s long term plans,” Di Roy replied flatly, “But she does plan for the long game. She’s not going to challenge Tirek without being damn sure she’s got all she needs to cinch a win, and one of the steps on that is getting allies like you in her corner. Beyond that, you’d have to ask her, but let me tell you something buddy, Adagio Dazzle is someone I’d follow straight into Hell. Not because of loyalty, although that’s there too, but because I know she wouldn’t walk into Hell unless she had a plan and a purpose. You hate Tirek? You want to take him down? Then you can’t ask for a better ally than my boss.”

Silence hung in the throne room as the Storm King appeared to deliberate with himself, slowly stroking his chin.

“So the four of you aren’t sticking around once your job is done?” he said, turning calculating eyes towards the Dark Hunters. X wasn’t certain but there appeared for just a moment to be a gleam in those dark blue eyes that very much like hunger.

“Once our task for Adagio is complete, we will be returning to where we originated from,” X told him with no attempt at deception, “Our sole purpose in coming to Hueco Mundo in the first place was reconnaissance.”

“With no intentions to come back for more ‘reconnaissance’?”

“I can’t claim to know what my master will or will not intend for the future,” X replied, “But what I can tell you is that it would be much more beneficial to you for my master to view you favorably than otherwise. Also, if you truly seek to dethrone the one known as Tirek, then Adagio Dazzle would make a far better ally than enemy. Our release buys you the former with minimal cost to yourself.”

“Whereas if I decided to ice you all right here and now, as potential spies, I might lose out big time, that it?” the Storm King said, his expression darkening, “But maybe that’s what I ought to do, since the risk is the same, either way.”

The room’s temperature dropped and an aura like that of a thick, black cloud emanated from the Storm King’s body, causing the chamber itself to darken. The ground vibrated with an unnatural tremor as the Storm King rose from his throne. X tensed, ready to move, and sensed his team all doing the same. Even without sharp spiritual senses, X could feel a near physical push of the Storm King’s aura, not unlike what he’d felt during the fight with Tempest. It was an oppressive, cold aura, like touching a tornado laced with ice and oil. If it was to be a fight, he’d throw everything he had at the enemy to buy his team time to escape.

“Sir-” Tempest began, steeping forward, but in that same moment the Storm King’s aura vanished like the flicking of a light switch. The man burst out laughing, causing confused glances from most present, and Tempest herself to cock her head, “Uh...sir?”

“Bwhwaha! Relax, Tempest! Man, the looks on all of your faces. Too easy, I swear. Tempest, seriously, if I’d intended to kill these guys I wouldn’t have let them into the throne room. Come on, I’d already decided to take them up on this whole ‘alliance’ business before the doors even opened. I just wanted to draw things out a bit and have some fun with them first! Hey, don’t give me that look.”

“What look, sir?” Tempest asked, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. “The look that says you have bad taste in humor? That the look you’re talking about?”

“Yeeash, nevermind. I get it, it was a bad joke, lay off the laser eyes,” the Storm King chortled, hopping off his throne and striding right down to X and just slightly invading the other man’s personal space. X stiffened slightly, but otherwise kept an even look on his face. He was still charged and ready for a fight, and much like Tempest, didn’t much appreciate the Storm King’s sense of ‘humor’. He took a slow breath to try and relax, but he still met the Storm King’s gaze with a hard stare.

“So here’s the deal. I let you bunch go on back to this Adagio lady, and you all arrange a meeting,” the Storm King said.

“The details should be worked out between yourself and her vassals,” X replied, nodding towards Di Roy, “Since my team and I will be departing soon after returning to Las Noches. Assuming you are serious? You’ll allow us to go?”

“What you need a big pat on the back for reassurance?” the Storm King asked, chuckling still, “Look buddy, it’ll take a bit of time to arrange, but give it until morning and I can have a Garganta cracked open that’ll get you close to Las Noches, save you the walk back. I just want your personal word that you’ll arrange things with Adagio yourself to meet with me. At Forlorn Ridge.”

“Why there?” Gigan asked, speaking up for the first time.

The Storm King gave the cyborg a look, then shrugged, “It’s as close to a nice, neutral bit of ground for talks as we’ve got. I don’t think she’ll want to come all the way here, and I’m not sure I’m up to giving her my fortress’ location quite yet. It’s just the first date, you savvy? Fortress reveals are kind of a third date thing.”

Gigan said nothing to that, but X noted his companion didn’t cease giving the Storm King a suspicious, side-long look.

X, considering, said, “If you can guarantee our return to Las Noches tomorrow morning, without any delays, then I’ll deliver your message to Adagio Dazzle. What she does with it form there will be up to her.”

All things considered, a portal directly back to Las Noches in the morning would still provide several days of leeway before their master opened the portal back to Zenith. Strictly speaking this was the ideal conclusion to this situation that X had hoped for, but he remained tense. Even without Gigan’s suspicions, something in X would have felt uneasy anyway. A gut instinct that told him something was amiss.

“Sir, thank you for listening to them and seeing reason,” Tempest said, striding up and bowing slightly to the Storm King, her own relief all but a palpable aura stemming from her in a cool wave, “I assure you that you won’t regret this. With more allies we’ll be that much closer to realizing our goals.”

“Oh I know, that’s why I decided to give this a shot. The only thing better than increasing my own power base is taking away from Tirek’s,” the Storm King said with a tooth filled half-grin, “If this Adagio Dazzle shows, that’ll be one less Espada on Tirek’s side.”

“Indeed, and if she really does pull through as an ally, we’ll have a way to infiltrate our forces directly into Las Noches,” Tempest said, “This could be the game changer we’ve been needing, sir.”

“It’ll change things alright, but I think we’ve yammered on enough. Why don’t you take these folks back to their cells for now?” the Storm King said, glancing sideways sat X, “We don’t really got anyplace else to put you for now, but I can have anything you need brought to make the stay a bit more comfy.”

“That won’t be necessary,” X replied, hiding his rising suspicions behind a polite and monotone mask. The initial gut instinct he had that something was off was only getting stronger, but there was no reason to confront the Storm King openly here in the throne room. “Will the cells still be locked?”

“Nothing personal,” the Storm King confirmed, “But until we’ve got you back to Las Noches, I’d prefer not to take any chances. Smart looking guy like you gets what I mean, right?”

“...Yes, I think I do,” X replied, not stating his further thought that this entire situation was starting to smell quite prominently of a trap.

“Great! Well, I got to make arrangements. Tempest, why don’t you take our guests back to their ce...er, rooms and then, I don’t know, take the rest of the day off or something.”

Tempest Shadow raised an eyebrow but inclined her head in another, small bow, “As you wish, sir. Yin, Yang, Grubber, let’s go. X, everyone, if you’ll follow us?”

Leaving the way they came, X couldn’t help but notice that not only had Patros been quiet for most of the conversation with the Storm King, but for a guy who appeared to be getting his own ideas concerning the prisoners shot down, he didn’t look nearly as angry or upset as he had before when dealing with the prisoners. If anything the man looked as if he was forcing himself to be stoic and neutral. One might interpret that to be him suppressing his disappointment at the turn of events, but X wasn’t so sure.

Once outside of the throne room Di Roy let out a huge sigh, “Holy jumping ulcers, I thought for a second that harry bastard was going to try and waste us right then and there.”

“Ahem!” Tempest said, “Harry bastard?”

“Well, I mean, he’s kinda got some fuzz going on, doesn’t he?” Di Roy said, then at Tempest’s look he just held up his hands, “You know, I’m just gonna shut up now.”

“He was weird,” Irys said, a deep frown on her porcelain features, “Didn’t act like any leader I’ve ever known.”

“How many have you known?” asked Yang, and Irys shrugged.

“X, and the master. Both good leaders. The master is incredibly powerful, but fair. X is smart and diligent. That man just seemed erratic and loud,” Irys said.

“You guys are awfully complainy for a bunch that are getting what they want,” Yin pointed out.

“A fair point,” Roka said, “All things considered, and poor jokes aside, that could have gone much worse.”

“So, we’re all going home now, right?” asked Megalon, “It’s over, and we’re not prisoners anymore?”

“I do believe this officially ends your prisoner status,” Tempest said, “Although the Storm King does seem to want you to stay in the cells, at least for this final night. I suppose, even if he’s agreeing to letting you go, he’s still a tad wary and paranoid of a trick.”

“Hmph,” Gigan made a small scoffing noise, but didn’t say anything, although X could tell his friend did have something to say. Gigan was a man of few words, but when he did have words to say, he didn’t hold onto them for long. This was proven by the fact that, when they finally did return to the prison bunker, Gigan rounded upon Tempest with surprising speed.

Even if she was technically faster, Tempest didn’t expect it and didn’t react to the cyborgs sudden blurring motion as he turned and grabbed her by the collar of her Soul Reaper robes. Yin and Yang both shouted and reached for their weapons, but Tempest Shadow held up a hand to stall them. She looked at Gigan’s glaring shades.

“Is there something you wish to say?” she asked, not trying to remove his hand from her collar.

“Yeah, I do. Are you blind?” Gigan asked, “Do you actually think your ‘king’ is playing straight with you?”

“What are you talking about?” came Tempest’s genuinely puzzled question, “He’s letting all of you go. Why the suspicion now?”

Gigan used his other hand to remove his red shades. Beneath them his eyes were mechanical, with shutter-like structures around shining red iris’. “You might not have enhanced machined vision like I got, but even you can’t be this blind. This is a setup, plain as day.”

“A setup? For what?” said Yang, but found her arm grabbed by Grubber, who shook his head at the young Arrancar.

“Let him talk, and let the Captain hear...” Grubber said quietly, “I’ve got a bad feeling about all this, myself.”

Tempest was frowning at Gigan, while X and the others watched. She still didn’t make any motion to remove the cyborg’s hand from her, and kept her expression cool and her back straight as she faced him, even leaning into his grip a bit as if daring him to tighten it. X was again reminded of Aria, both some of the fierce pride, and the stubbornness.

“Let me get this straight,” she said, “You believe the Storm King is plotting some sort of double-cross?”

“I’d bet my parts on it,” Gigan said, dead serious, “Let me tell you a few things. I might be mostly metal, but I know meat. Voice patterns. Body language. Eye motions. Flesh and blood beings have a thousand-thousand ways of communicating things without any words, and half the time, especially with people, they don’t even know what they’re projecting. Self-awareness is a rare talent, and that Storm King doesn’t have it. The entire time we were in there I was scanning that asshole you call a leader, and everything I saw and heard told me he was spouting BS from start to finish.”

X didn’t have the advanced scientific sensors that his friend did, and was hardly an expert on behavioral psychology (and he wasn’t entirely sure Gigan was either, but he wasn’t about to bring that point up), but he did feel the same way Gigan did on the matter. It was simply that X had gotten the same impression as a result of a deep rooted instinct built up over many years of experience that told him when someone meant him lethal harm. The Storm King’s ‘joke’ in the throne room about annihilating all of them had not been entirely in jest.

“He speaks truly,” X said, “I don’t know the full extent of what your liege intends, but I sensed it doesn’t involve what he says.”

There was a clear resistance on Tempest’s face as she tried to digest what they were saying and was obviously finding the notion hard to chew. Perhaps X understood why that was. Having seen the two interact, he’d sensed the long forged dynamic between the pair. He couldn’t speak to the Storm King’s thoughts towards Tempest, but it was plain enough Tempest trusted him even as she found elements of his personality exasperating. It wouldn’t be easy for her to see her liege as one who’d betray her trust, and that was reflected in the stubborn light in her eyes.

“There’s many things about the Storm King that can aggravate me, but he’s never betrayed his word to me,” she said, “He’s never flat out lied to my face. If he says he wants to form an alliance with Adagio Dazzle, I have to believe he’s telling the truth.”

“Then you’re fooling yourself,” Gigan said in a flat tone, taking his hand off Tempest’s collar, slipping his shades back on as he fixed her with one last stare, “Just remember, loyalty might be a virtue, but blind loyalty is a fast ticket to a knife in the back.”

A strange, almost startled look came over Tempest’s face at that moment as Gigan strode away from her and headed down into the bunker without another word. Megalon followed close behind, while Irys lingered, watching to see what X would do. For his part, X took a step towards Tempest, his own voice a bit less harsh than Gigan’s had been, “I don’t know for certain if your Storm King intends betrayal, but I did feel he was plotting something. Are you absolutely certain that he might not try something? Perhaps he intends to use this as an opportunity to lure Adagio, one of the Espada you yourself had told me he hates, to a place he can take her by surprise?”

“That...” Tempest shook her head as if trying to clear a fog, “He wouldn’t do something like that without telling me.”

“Then why do I see so much doubt on your face?” X asked plainly, and Tempest flinched.

“It’s just that your friend there said something that was very similar to what my former Lieutenant told me, back when I was still a Captain,” Tempest replied, “Just before the disastrous mission to Hueco Mundo, in fact. He didn’t use your friend’s precise words, but the meaning was similar; ‘We must be true to our duty, but that is meaningless if we are not first true to ourselves’.”

X found himself giving her a curious look at that, to which Tempest returned her own troubled, yet thoughtful gaze, adding, “I think Lieutenant Hurricane was trying to tell me that blind loyalty to duty isn’t much use if I lose sight of who I am in the process. I think your friend just said the same thing, just more bluntly.”

“He’s good at that,” X confirmed. “So my question to you now is what do you intend to do?”

Tempest paused, then turned her attention to her subordinates. “Yin, Yang, I want you both to take the down-time watch shift in the village.”

“What!? Why!?” blurted Yang, and Yin didn’t look any more pleased.

“Captain, what are you planning? Whatever it is, you can count on us to help!”

Tempest’s expression hardened even as her eyes softened, her tone a firm one of command, “I know I can count on both of you, which is precisely why I’d like you both to stay in the village tonight. Keep watch on things there. Grubber will handle guard duty on the prison. Do you understand?”

Clenched fists and tense expressions suggested the twins didn’t fully understand, but they trusted Tempest, and both gave stiff salutes, saying simultaneously, “Yes, Captain.”

“Good, then you’d better get going,” Tempest said, and while both twins looked hesitant, they finally nodded and departed, leaving Tempest to look towards Grubber. He had his arms crossed over his barrel chest, his mouth curved in a heavy, tense smile.

“What’s our play, Captain?”

“I don’t believe the Storm King is planning anything behind my back, but... just in case, once our guests are tucked away safely, we’re going to make a few changes to the patrol and watch schedules. Just enough so that, say, there’s a gap of about ten minutes in the shift change at the north canal,” Tempest said, glancing back at X, “I trust you’ve already figured out how to get out of your cells?”

X didn’t say anything, but gave a slight nod, and Tempest smiled at him, “Good. Then here’s the deal. I’ll observe the Storm King for anything unusual tonight. If I can find anything that suggests he’s planning betrayal, I’ll send Grubber to warn you, and you can affect your escape. If I find nothing to indicate he’s going to go back on his word, then I ask that you stay here until tomorrow when we can portal you back to Las Noches. You can inform Adagio Dazzle of your concerns, and then it’s up to her if she wants to trust the Storm King or not. Sound fair?”

For a moment X considered the situation. While he didn’t trust the Storm King at all, he couldn’t deny that it was possible the man might be truthfully interested in an alliance. It was possible that his instincts and Gigan’s observations were off simply because the Storm King was an ancient Arrancar with an eccentric personality, who might be giving off false signals. Tempest had worked with the Storm King for quite some time, so perhaps her trust in him was the result of experience rather than ‘blind’ loyalty as Gigan suggested. A part of X hoped that was the case. Not only because it’d make things easier on him and his team and mean they could go home no further trouble, but he didn’t like the idea of Tempest’s faith being betrayed.

By this point she’d ceased being an enemy in his mind, and if she wasn’t strictly speaking an ‘ally’ she was certainly someone he’d come to respect as a fellow soldier and leader.

“Your plan is acceptable,” he said, and after a moment extended his hand, “And for what it’s worth, I truly hope you’re right.”

She smiled, and gripped his hand, “So do I.”

With Grubber on “guard duty” the prison was left essentially without a watcher, but Tempest wasn’t concerned. She felt she could trust X to keep his word and wait until he heard from her, one way or another. She sincerely hoped that his and Gigan’s assessment of the situation was wrong, but she couldn’t shake the twinging prick of uncertainty that their words had lodged in her heart. Could the Storm King really be intending to betray them, despite everything?

She couldn’t deny her opinion on the matter might be biased.

Even centuries after the fact she could still freshly remember her despair that day. The scar on her chest burned with the memory of being left beaten, bleeding out, and all but dead amid a field of her own slain comrades. She still, to this day, didn’t know if Tirek intentionally left her for dead or simply hadn’t realized the Soul Reaper Captain he’d bested had survived his final strike.

It still rankled her how thoroughly she’d lost to the Primera Espada, even if she’d expected the result, to a degree. By the time she and him came to physical blows it was all a desperate last ditch effort anyway, an attempt to keep him busy while Lieutenant Hurricane organized the retreat for the surviving members of her Division. And once they were safely away through the Senkaimon Gate, Tempest had remained to guard them up until the last possible second.

She hadn’t expected to survive, but her body and spirit were stubborn things, unwilling to pass on into the cycle of reincarnation quite that easily.

But she would have likely perished from her wounds anyway if the Storm King had not found her and tended to her.

Why would he not trust her, after all these years? Paranoia aside, he had to believe in her counsel to some degree. To plan something behind her back...

Well, wait until there’s proof before you get too worked up over it, she told herself. She and Grubber had alternated between keeping watch on the Storm King and on Patros, being careful to ensure that in doing so they didn’t arouse suspicion. That wasn’t too hard as they both had duties that could keep them around the fortress interior, and neither Patros or the Storm King were going out of their way to be out of sight.

For many hours, the day seemed to progress normally, with nothing out of the ordinary occurring. Tempest was starting to think that perhaps she was letting a bit of the Storm King’s own paranoia infect her. Yet the burr of doubt remained, and she stayed diligent until the ‘night’ hours settled in. The fortress enclave simulated a twenty four hour day, even with no sun to mark the passage of night or day. Clocks from the human world helped keep the time, and the Hollows drilled, guarded, worked the orchards, or relaxed and rested on three eight hour shifts.

Tempest had taken the time while Grubber was left to keep an eye on things in the fortress to go make arrangements for the change in the guard schedule to give X and his team their opening. It was easy to explain away the changes as an experiment in adjusting the guard rotations, and her orders weren’t questioned.

Hmph, she scoffed to herself, here I am doubting the Storm King, when I’m the one doing things behind his back. X is a smoother talker than I think even he realizes.

Not that that was a poor quality in a man. She smirked to herself, thinking it’d be interesting to meet whoever the woman was that had nabbed one like X. There must have been quite a story behind that match up. Humoring herself with imagining how that must have gone, Tempest returned to the fortress to look for Grubber. Not finding him where she’d last seen him in one of the upper floor records rooms, she had to probe around with her spiritual senses to get a bead on his reiatsu.

Frowning, she realized he wasn’t far from the Storm King’s personal chambers. What was more, she sensed both the Storm King and Patros there, too.

Keeping her expectations in check, she quickly made her way in that direction, even flickering with a few Flash Steps to speed the journey through the pyramid’s many stairs and corridors. On a gut hunch, she did what she could to suppress her own spiritual pressure. Stealth was not her strong suit, but one didn’t become a Captain in the Gotei 13 without knowing the fundamentals of almost every skill a Soul Reaper used. With her speed it took no time at all to reach the second to last of the top floors of the pyramid, just beneath the throne room itself. Here, the narrower corridor was more luxuriously furnished with carpet and warm electrical lighting. The doors to the Storm King’s chambers were still metal, but much smaller compared to the vast doors to the throne room.

Normally there would be guards here, but Tempest didn’t see any as she arrived, and instead saw Grubber hunched up against the side of one of the doors. The door was just slightly opened a crack, and the short Arrancar was peeking through.

Tempest approached quietly upon the intent Grubber, and not wanting to startle him, she slowly moved into his peripheral vision so he’d notice her without her having to make any noise.

Upon seeing her, Grubber grimaced and motioned her closer. She did so, kneeling down on one knee next to him.

“Where are the guards?” she asked in a whisper.

“Sent them on lunch,” Grubber whispered back, cracking a grin, “Hungry Hollows don’t question things, especially to the Captain’s right hand man.”

“When did you give yourself that title?” she quipped.

Grubber snorted, “C’mon, you know you’re helpless without my sage assistance. Now listen, Patros is in there, chatting up SK. I, uh, don’t think you’re gonna like the topic of conversation.”

Tempest felt a wave of apprehension fly through her, but she wasn’t about to back down from the truth, whether it was a truth she liked or not. Leaning towards the minuscule crack in the open doors, she tilted her ear to listen. There was no way to see anything beyond the crack, but it was more than enough to hear the faint but clear voices of Patros and the Storm King talking.

“-ing to hear the end of it from her.”

“My lord, she’ll get over it, and if she doesn’t, then replace her.”

“Oh, yeah, like I’m just going to find another Soul Reaper Captain growing on a freakin’ tree. She’s worth ten times more to me than you are, Patros, so don’t go growing a big head over me siding with you on this scheme of yours. Now, the real question is, how to keep her busy and out of the way while we take out this Adagio chick?”

“If I may, my lord, I suggest the simple solution of telling her that the enclave must remain guarded while you handle the ‘negotiations’ at Forlorn Ridge. It’s a basic enough explanation that there won’t be much to question in it.”

“Oooooh, I like it. That way I can make up any story I want when I get back, too. Say that this Adagio Dazzle sprung the ambush on me rather than the other way around. Perfect! We’ll go with that. Man, how do I come up with these plans?”

“My lord, I was the one who-”

“I’m a genius, that’s what it is. This is going to be great. I get to kill an Espada, piss of Tirek, and if those four weirdos show up at the negotiations, I can go ahead and eat them while I’m at it.”

At this point Tempest’s blood was well and truly boiling. With every word she listened to she heard Gigan’s words echo in her ears once again, combined with the sickening feeling that all the years of trust she’d built up with the Storm King were being tossed out a window and left to hang. There was no hiding her spiritual pressure now as it rose up form inside her like an angry gale, and Grubber gulped as Tempest stood, her body wreathed in a flowing aura of white spirit energy.

“Oh boy, here we go...” Grubber said under his breath as Tempest kicked the doors wide open into the Storm King’s chambers with enough force to knock the large metal structures off their hinges, catapulting one into the opposite wall with enough force to embed the door into the solid stone.

“What the crapbaskets!?” the Storm King shouted, wheeling towards the entryway, only to blink in understanding as he saw Tempest Shadow. “Oh. ...You could have just knocked.”

“Why?” Tempest said in a growl that practically vibrated through the air.

“So I don’t have to go through the trouble of fixing my freakin’ doors-”

“No,” said Tempest, stomping towards him, and unconsciously mimicking Gigan’s earlier gesture by grabbing the Storm King by the collar with her left hand, “I mean why? Why betray my trust this way?”

He looked at her hand on the collar of his armor for a moment, then actually rolled his eyes at her, which only infuriated her more.

“Because you wouldn’t do what needed doing, Tempest. Simple as that. Thought it’d be easier on your conscience if we did it this way instead.”

“By lying to me? By tarnishing my honor? By going behind my back!?”

The Storm King’s own hand came up, deceptively fast, and gripped her wrist. He didn’t squeeze tightly, but he squeezed enough to remind her that in terms of power, his did eclipse her own. A shimmer in the air around the two started to form from the clash of rising reiatsu between them.

“By sparring you the need to get your own hands dirty,” he said flatly, “It’s obvious you stopped thinking straight when it comes to these people. I let you have your fun, play it your way for a bit, see if you could get them to join our side. You failed. So, rather than upset your precious sense of honor, I figured I’d clean house and kill a damned Espada while, yes, keeping you out of the loop for your own good.”

“I can’t believe you’d go this far, just to kill an Espada.”

“Urrdurr, Tempest, I hate the Espada. I thought that was at least one point you and I actually agreed on! Since when did you get all lovey dovey about them!?”

“I’m not,” she said, her anger broiling her voice to a heated hiss, “But I’m not so blinded by my feelings towards the Espada that I can’t see the opportunity in allying with one, or let that color my judgment in regards to X and the others. If nothing else, they’re only guilty of being dragged into our conflict by bad luck and circumstance.”

“Assuming even one word of what they’ve said is the truth, which I don’t really buy, and ultimately don’t actually care!” the Storm King said, letting Tempest’s wrist go, but remaining looming in front of her. She met his glare back with her own, but at the same time she glanced back at Grubber.

“Grubber, go. I’ll deal with this.”

What she was really telling him to do was to go warn the prisoners, to which Grubber nodded swiftly.

“No need to tell me twice,” he said, turning and hurrying away.

Patros, having silently been watching the exchanged, narrowed his eyes at the departing Grubber, having sensed there being something off. Looking to the Storm King, he said, “If you have no further need of me, my lord, I’ll leave you and ‘Captain’ Tempest to your... discussion.”

“Yeah, you do that,” the Storm King replied, not even looking in Patros’ direction.

With the subordinates out of the way, Tempest and the Storm King silently stared at one another for a few moments. Eventually Tempest said, “I can’t let you go through with it, sir. Not this.”

“Oh?” he said, inclining his head to glare down his nose at her, “You’ve never defied my like this before, Tempest. You being pissed I get, and even expected, but what in the whole of this screwed up universe makes you care about that bunch so damned much?”

In many ways that was a good question. She’d known X and the others for only a matter of days, and had first met them as enemies, even coming close to killing Irys in their battle. Yet even that hadn’t been done in rancor or hate, merely the unfortunate result of the sudden circumstances both parties had found themselves in. From the moment she’d chosen to take that group prisoner and bring them here, she’d known that it would cause friction with the Storm King. She’d just believed it could be resolved, one way or another, without the need for another tragic battle.

But why go through all this in the first place? She could try to rationalize it a dozen different ways, but when it came down to it her reasons weren’t complicated.

“Because I like them, and they deserve to be treated fairly,” she said, “It’s as simple as that. So I’m asking you, one last time, to reconsider your intentions.”

He just kept starring at her, then his expression darkened like the gathering of clouds on the horizon.

Grubber tried not to look like he was in too much of a rush getting down to the bottom level of the fortress, but he didn’t try that hard. He had a bad feeling in his gut, like a night after an heavy burrito binge-fest, that things were about to go south in a big way.

His suspicions were confirmed when upon reaching the large archway out of the fortress, Patros suddenly appeared in the way with a flash of Sonido. The tall, gaunt Arrancar’s hand was already on the hilt of his straight edged Zanpaktou.

“Going somewhere?” Patros asked.

“Yeah, to the corner of None of Your Business Street and Piss Off Avenue,” Grubber shot back, gripping his own shorter, but wider bladed Zanpaktou, “How about you get out of my way, Patty, before you break a fingernail?”

“Charming retorts. We both know I’m stronger than you. How about you just... stay here, while the Storm King and your precious ‘Captain’ finish their talk?” Patros said, stepping forward menacingly, “Whatever you’re intending to do, I’m sure it can wait.”

“Yeah, it really can’t,” Grubber said, slightly adjusting his stance, one foot forward, the other tensing as it prepared to propel him forward. He felt the violent static in the air that stemmed from Patros’ aggressive spiritual pressure. There was no doubt in Grubber’s mind that Patros knew what Grubber was up to, and couldn’t be talked down. He also was well aware, as Patros said, that their was a power gap between them. Not a huge one, but enough that Grubber knew he had to play this smart.

Patros’ eyes flashed with narrow understanding of Grubber’s intent, sensing the slight tension in the other Arrancar’s stance a moment before Grubber acted. Patros’ Zanpaktou was whipped out in a blurring motion, but Grubber was also moving in the same instant, his own blade snapping free of its sheath.

Grubber dashed forward, Patros ready to receive his attack, but Grubber aimed his palm at the ground between them and crackles of red energy burst around his palm. With a whoop of static noise, Grubber fired a Bala at the ground. The bullet of hardened Hollow spirit energy exploded into the stone floor and shot up a shower of dust and rock shards at Patros.

Patros instinctively shielded his eyes with his left forearm, sharp chunks of rock ricocheting off his hardened Arrancar skin. He saw a flitting motion to his left, Grubber running on the wall and zipping towards the fortress exit. Patros spun with the same motion he’d used to draw his Zanpaktou, a wreath of yellow spirit energy around his blade that he’d intended to fling at Grubber head on, but now turned and fired blind towards the other Arrancar’s blurring form.

A small wave of yellow light fired from Patros’ blade, cutting into the fortress wall, but missing Grubber by a hair. Patros cursed as he sheathed his sword and rushed after Grubber.

Outside the fortress, Grubber moved in a series of swift blinks of motion using Sonido. He knew Patros would be right behind him, so he moved in a zig-zagging pattern to try to throw up Patros’ next attack. He was familiar with the properties of Patros’ sword and specific Hollow ability. Gathering Hollow reishi around his sheathed sword, Patros would unleash increasingly strong and fast energy waves. Probably one of the worst scenarios for dealing with a skilled ranged fighter like Patros was having to cross a wide, open space while running from him, but Grubber didn’t have a lot of options.

He swung his Zanpaktou at the ground as he dodged about, still trying to move towards the prison bunker. Each swing kicked up a shower of rock and dirt, and he hoped that might obscure him enough to get to the prison in time.

Above him, Patros had leaped up into the air in a high arc, his eyes carefully scanning the ground to hone in on Grubber. With a satisfied smirk, Patros took an extra second to aim, and then started rapidly unsheathing and resheathing his sword. Each time, a progressively larger crescent of yellow energy was unleashed at the ground, each one also getting closer to striking Grubber until, right at the entrance to the prison bunker one of the blasts caught Grubber’s side.

The wave of energy didn’t hit him dead on, but it still tore a wound in his side and sprayed blood upon the wall of the prison bunker’s entrance as Grubber stumbled into it, smacking into the wall hard and leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the stone.

“Grugh! Oh that smarts!” Grubber grunted, throwing himself down the incline heading down into the bunker. However Patros was right behind him, bursting onto the ramp with Sonido.

“I never liked you, Grubber,” Patros spat, “But even I expected a bit more fight out of you than this.”

There was no room to dodge in the narrow passage, so Grubber had no choice but to turn around and try to block Patros’ next attack with his Zanpaktou. He barely got it up in time to receive the next crest of intense energy that Patros fired from his unsheathing blade. The blast hit hard enough to send Grubber flying, unbalanced, down the ramp and smash into the ground, skidding the last twenty or so feet to the bottom.

Gritting his teeth against the pain in his wounded side he forced himself up to one knee and fired a few Bala bullets up the ramp towards Patros, but the other Arrancar was much better at bending and twisting around the shots as he flashed down the ramp. Patros kicked out and struck Grubber straight in his wounded side, pinning the shorter Arrancar against the wall next to X’s cell. Grubber let out a strangled cry as pain blasted through him as Patros’ heel dug into his open side, but he still had enough fortitude to raise his Zanpaktou and thrust it at Patros’ chest.

Patros caught the blade with his hand, sparks flying from his Hierro hardened skin. His face registered a grimace as Grubber’s sword cut into his palm, causing a trickle of blood down the length of the steel, but he still ignored the pain and used the leverage of his leg still pinning Grubber to tear the Zanpaktou out of Grubber’s weakened grip and throw the weapon behind him.

“This is your own fault for choosing loyalty to a Soul Reaper over your own kind,” Patros scoffed, pulling back a fist and smashing it into Grubber’s face with a blow powerful enough to smack Grubber’s head back into the wall and crack the stone. In quick succession Patros unleashed a rain of blows, Grubber trying to get his arms up to block, but Patros just dug his foot harder into the profusely bleeding side wound. Soon enough Grubber couldn’t even properly defend himself and Patros let the man slump to the ground.

“Hmph, I’d say it’s a shame it came to this, but honestly this is a little cathartic,” Patros said, preparing to draw his own sword again to finish off Grubber with a point blank energy wave.

Only just before he could draw his sword, a flash of red light filled the hallway and a laser beam struck Patros, knocking him off of Grubber and smashing him into the opposite wall.

Down the hallway, his cell door wide open and the ward pass he’d stolen in his hand, Gigan’s eyes were still flashing red behind his shades as he said, “You’re right. That was cathartic.”

His body smoking, Patros groaned and started to stand, but Gigan didn’t give him a moment to recover. With speed born of alien technology never seen in Hueco Mundo, Gigan was across the hallway in a breath. His arm blades snapped out, flashing down at Patros. The Arrancar was just fast enough to roll onto his back and cross his arms to take the blows, although the advanced alien alloys were sharp enough to still cut even Hierro hardened flesh. Not deep enough to get bone, but deep enough to hurt.

Patros cried out, then kicked with his legs at Gigan’s knee. Gigan quick stepped back to avoid the kick and slashed down with one of his arm blades, cutting Patros’ leg.

“Gah! Dirty, filthy mortal!” Patros shouted, pushing off the wall and managing a blazing quick fast draw, even at close range. Gigan’s scanners read the energy build up in the sheathed sword and he wisely ducked aside as the yellow crescent of energy tore down the hall.

“Whoa!” Di Roy, who’d come out of the cell as well, had to throw himself back to avoid getting hit, then came rushing out, his own sword drawn.

Patros, now realizing his was outnumbered, immediately changed his plans and ducked up the ramp in a flicker of Sonido. Gigan tracked his motion and fired another laser burst from his eyes, but only scored a glancing blow on Patros’ shoulder as the Arrancar continued to rush up the ramp.

“Shit!” Gigan swore, and gave chase, Di Roy behind him, but pausing to check on Grubber.

Gigan relied more on his scanners than his vision to track Patros up the ramp and burst out of the prison bunker, trying one last time to tag the fleeing Arrancar with a laser beam. Patros spun and unsheathed his sword, sending an arc of energy to slam into the laser and causing an explosion as the two energies collided. By the time the dust cleared, Patros was gone, having pushed up the speed on his Sonido to the point that even Gigan lost track of him amid the various other conflicting signals and interference from the fortress enclave.

Swearing again under his breath Gigan ran back down the ramp and paused by Di Roy, who was looking over Grubber.

“How is he?” asked the cyborg.

“Unconscious and battered to all hell and back, but I think he’ll live,” Di Roy replied, “The heck was that about? Why are our captors trying to kill each other?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Captain Blinders probably figured out the truth, sent this guy to warn us, and the mustachioed asshole tried to stop him. Which means it's time for us to vacate, now.”

He didn’t waste a second, moving even as he spoke to use the ward pass to open up the remaining cells. In very short order everyone was gathered in the hallway, standing near Grubber’s unconscious form. Roka gave the fallen Arrancar a brief look, kneeling next to him. Her threads reached out to start sticking up his wound, but Gigan placed hand on her shoulder.

“We don’t have time for that.”

“There’s always time for this,” Roka replied firmly.

“What happened?” Irys asked, already in a tense, fighting stance and eyeing the prison’s entrance as if expecting a horde of enemies to come swarming down.

“It’s the signal Tempest Shadow agreed to send us,” X said, surmising the situation at a glance, “Gigan, did you take care of whoever did this?”

Gigan gave a frustrated shake of his head as he pulled back from Roka, “He got away, which means we don’t have a lot of time before the alarm goes up. Which is why we need to go.”

“I just need a minute to close his wound-” Roka began to argue, but Di Roy touched her arm gently.

“He’s a tough guy, and the wound isn't that deep. He'll live, Roka. We won’t if we get swarmed by a fortress that still thinks we’re enemies.”

“Di Roy right,” Gaw said, sniffing Grubber, “This one not dying. If enemies coming, we must go.”

Roka hesitated, then with a reluctance withdrew her threads and stood, nodding solemnly, “Y-yes, you’re right. Let us go then, quickly.”

As the group quickly ran up the ramp to reach the surface once more, they turned towards the north, following the route that would take them past the hopefully altered guard shifts and reach the river. Less than a minute into their rush, Irys asked, “So how long do you think before the alarm is-”

A loud, brass sounding gong echoed in the distance, followed by several more, until the valley was filled with the ringing noise. Irys blanched, “...sounded?”

At the head of the group, X poured on the speed. There was nothing for it now. The escape was on.

Chapter 10: Betrayal

Chapter 10: Betrayal

Every second was an eternity wrapped in a package of high-adrenaline anxiety for those running across hard packed white sand that soon gave way to the artificial green of the grass surrounding the small forest. X hoped the trees would provide some cover to obscure the party’s movements. With the alarm gongs sounding across the canyon he could easily imagine the response. He’d seen the hundreds if not outright thousands of Hollows that had occupied the orchards, town, and training fields of this hidden enclave. On full alert, they’d begin to canvas the whole canyon, likely starting with the very prison he and his team had just fled from.

Their only real option at this juncture was to get to the entrance of the underground tunnels along the river and hope to get away before they were cut off or caught. In a chase such as this, every second counted. Not one of the individuals on his team, or the Arrancar that served Adagio were slow. Their legs ate up the ground beneath them with strides faster than any human could manage. Yet even with the forest trees blurring past them, X feared it wasn’t going to be fast enough. Already he could hear distant shouting, the howls of Hollows, and sensed the pursuit at their backs almost like a physical heat.

“Incoming,” Gigan warned, his scanners able to provide a more comprehensive notion of what was coming, “Three on us, coming from the prison. They’ll catch up in about twelve seconds at this rate.”

X couldn’t see anything yet, but he didn’t doubt Gigan’s words. The fact of the matter was that while X and his companions had the physical power and reaction times to match Arrancar in battle, they didn’t quite have anything to match the high-speed movements of a Sonido, at least in terms of how quickly it could allow one to move from point to point. The sandy ground outside the prison would have left tracks they hadn’t time to cover up, but once they’d gotten into the forest that would have ceased to be the case. Most likely the ones coming after them were tracking the group through some manner of spiritual sense.

“I see the river up ahead,” said Irys, who was up in the trees themselves, leaping from branch to branch as fast, if not a little faster, than the others could run.

The river did cut through the forest, but the tunnel entrance they were looking for was further upstream, closer to where they’d bathed, which was still around five hundred yards past the forest edge. They’d be caught in the open unless the three coming up behind them were dealt with or delayed somehow.

I’m the one best suited to hold the enemy’s attention, he thought, but before the thought had finished crossing his mind, Gigan interrupted.

“Leave the distraction to me and Megalon.”

At X’s look, not breaking stride, Gigan looked back with his crimson shades flashing with the passage of shadows from the trees, “Without those prison wards, I can teleport. Megalon can burrow. We both have ways to escape and catch up once the rest of you hit the tunnel.”

It was perfectly rational and logical, but X didn’t like it any more for the fact. His instincts as a leader said to not let members of his team stay behind, but he understood that without a distraction it’d be impossible to shake pursuit. Regardless, there wasn’t time to debate the problem for very long. The group burst out from the confines of the forest and were once again out in the open, the smooth running waters of the river on their left, and escape still half a kilometre ahead of them.

At that same instant there was a crackling sound of both fire and lightning as two elemental orbs, one of electricity and one of fire, shot past the group and flew up into the air. There, both orbs transformed into the forms of Yin and Yang, both already with their weapons drawn.

“What did you all do to Grubber!?” shouted Yang, flames leaping off her sword as she flung a blast of fire into the group’s path.

“We tried to trust you and you nearly kill him? What the hell?” Yin said, dropping to the ground in front of the flames, her whip snapping with electricity, but she seemed hesitant to strike, her face more confused than angry.

“We didn’t do anything to him!” Irys shouted, just ahead of the rest of the group, “It was one of your own that did it!”

“You expect us to believe that?” Yang’s angry voice rained down with another ball of fire, although it wasn’t aimed at Irys, but rather to the side, where it exploded in another wall of flame, cutting off another avenue of escape and leaving only one side open other than the forest.

At that open side, Patros appeared in a flicker of motion, still injured but seeming more confident as he exposed a smirk, “Of course it was them who did it! I told you that these prisoners couldn’t be trusted, and look what happened! They left Grubber bleeding on the floor and I barely escaped to warn you and everyone. Come, Yin, Yang, we must delay their escape until the rest of the army arrives!”

Yin cast a doubtful glance at him but didn’t lower her weapon, while Yang looked ready to attack again.

“We don’t have time for this,” Gigan said, giving X a meaningful look. He wasn’t trying to take command away from X, but it was clear the cyborg was looking for a decision. X didn’t let himself hesitate, or let his mind get bogged down with analysis.

“Megalon, clear a path. Gigan, keep the twins busy. Everyone else, keep moving!”

“Got it!” Megalon said, turning on a dime and bee-lining for Patros like a high speed bulldozer, while Gigan jumped into the air and in mid-flip extended both his arm blades as he went straight for Yang, just barely got her flaming blade up in time to block the cyborg’s weapons.

“We trusted you,” she accused.

“Still should, compared to the guy who’s consistently hated your superior and has every reason to screw her over,” Gigan replied, lashing out with a leg and connecting with a solid, meaty smack to Yang’s side, which knocked her back as he dropped back to the ground.

Megalon ran headlong at Patros, extending one of his drills around his right hand. Patros’ hand moved in a blur, quickly drawing his Zanpaktou and sending a curving arc of slashing energy towards the cyborg. Megalon struck the arc of spirit energy with a straight punch from his drill, a shockwave bursting from the impact. He managed to demolish the energy wave, but Patros didn’t stay in one spot, vanishing with Sonido and appearing above Megalon with his sword already sheathed and ready to draw again.

“Fool. That was only the first level of my sword technique. Let’s see you handle something stronger!”

“Huh? Levels? Like in an rpg?” Megalon asked, scratching his head and thinking about some of the games he’d seen before.

“What, no! It’s nothing like that!”

“It sounds a lot like that.”

“Well it isn’t! Gah, never mind, take my level five sword slash!”

“Yeah that sounds exactly like an rp-” Megalon said, but the rest of his words were lost amid the ripping snap of air as the sound barrier was broken by Patros’ next attack, an energy wave that shot out much faster and stronger than before. Megalon readily tanked the blast by crossing his arms above him, popping his second drill out as the crescent of yellow power smashed down on him. His feet sank into the ground, but didn’t buckle, and soon enough the energy wave broke apart, exploding on either side of him.

Patros made a sound like a snarling dog as he sheathed his Zanpaktou again, readying another strike, but by now X, Di Roy, Roka, Irys, and Gaw had all gotten past the opening that Megalon’s distraction had created.

“Catch up as soon as possible,” X said as he ran past.

“No problemo!” Megalon replied with a saluting gesture with two fingers.

“As if I’d let any of you leave that easily!” Patros shouted, hands turning into a flurry of motion as he rapidly drew his sword in fast succession, sending ever stronger energy waves out towards the running group.

“Got to get through me first, buddy!”

Megalon leaped into the barrage’s path, planted his legs almost akin to a sumo-wrestler stance, and proceeded to start punching the energy waves as they descended towards him, his drill arms spinning so fast they caused a high-pitched buzz in the air. The first few waves he punched aside easily, but Patros hadn’t been lying about having ever stronger levels of attack that he hadn’t utilized yet. Each wave after the next grew progressively larger and more potent, and soon enough even when Megalon’s punches broke a wave, parts of that energy wave would still strike his body and rip at it. For the majority of the barrage the damage was minimal, but with the last every wave-

“And my strongest attack at level twenty! Let’s see you block this!” Patros shouted, the final energy wave blasting from his swiftly drawn sword at easily three times the size and speed of the previous ones.

Megalon hit it full on with both drills at once, and for a second sparks flew from the drills as they pressed against the descending crescent of spiritual energy. The wave then exploded in place, sending up a geyser of sand and obscuring Megalon from view. Patros smirked, at least until the dust cleared, then his eyes began to twitch upon seeing the cyborg still standing and intact.

Megalon’s clothes were torn up and his hardened cyborg skin showed numerous abrasions and light lacerations, but he was still standing. Dusting himself off, Megalon cracked his neck and patted the side of his head, knocking some sand out of his ear. “Wow, that made my arms go numb.”

“Oh I am quite through with you,” Patros steamed, His Zanpaktou now bursting with an intense yellow glow, ”Defile: Girfalte!” (Gyrfalcon)

He veritably burst with an explosion of steam and a swirl of neon yellow light, kicking up a small whirlwind of sand beneath where he stood in the air. Yin and Yang both looked in that direction, faces registering surprise. Gigan took full advantage of that to rush Yin, getting behind her with slick speed and gripping her weapon arm in the same motion. He bent the arm behind her and tried to get his arm blade to her neck, but Yin converted her body into a ball of electricity, shocking the cyborg and slipping from his grasp. She reformed a few feet away, lashing out with her whip, but despite her electrical attack from a moment ago causing a bit of static in Gigan’s vision, his body was hardened against such electrical surges so he was still able to flip out of the way of the whip.

Yang landed behind him and slashed down with her flaming blade, Gigan catching it with his left arm blade while spinning around and redirecting Yang’s moment past himself, tripping her with his foot. As she stumbled, he jumped back to gain a bit more distance, eyes partially on Patros as the Arrancar finished transforming.

When the whipped up sand cleared from around Patros, he was on the ground now, and his body had morphed in shape. Now his entire face was covered in a smooth skull mask with yellow tinted eyes, with only a small portion on the right side of his head leaving room for his blue hair to spill out. His body was covered in a top-heavy, bulky encasing of white armoring that melded his arms to his sides into large triangular protrusions that looked more or less like smooth, armored wing shapes. It was all rather awkward and unwieldy looking, yet Patros seemed to have little trouble standing in this form as he focused upon Megalon.

“Now then, let us see you be so mocking after you feel the power of my Resurreccion!”

“Where’d your arms go?” Megalon asked.

“What?”

“Your arms. Where are they? Wait, are those weird looking things on your side supposed to be them?”

“...Just die now, please.”

“Okay even if you ask nicely it’s not like-”

In a flash it became apparent what the strange, vaguely wing-shaped protrusions on Patros’ body were when a part of them detached and flipped forward, revealing that the ‘wings’ were more akin to sheaths, holding smaller claw-like arms that flipped forward at hyper-sonic speed. The arms were tipped with blade-like ends, and much like when Patros swiftly drew his Zanpaktou prior to transforming, these ‘arms’ unleashed a blast of energy upon unsheathing from the wing sheaths.

A whole factor stronger and faster than before, Megalon wasn’t fully prepared for the now beam shaped blast that came his way. The beam was similar to a Cero, yet thinner and taller, like a thrusting blade rather than a wide beam. Megalon didn’t have time to dodge, so instead crossed his arms to try and take the blow head on again.

Just before the beam hit, he felt someone tackle him from the side and he was knocked clear just as the beam dug it’s way past him and continued onward to carve a deep rift in the ground for a few football field lengths distance.

Face down, Megalon spat out sand and glanced over his shoulder at who’d tackled him aside.

“Gaw?”

The short female Arrancar grunted in pain as she rolled off Megalon and got into a crouching stance. Her side was bleeding from a deep cut along her right flank. She had her curved, talon shaped Zanpaktou in her hand.

“Had bad gut feeling. Came back to fight with you,” she said, as terse with her words as ever but with a tint of almost childlike embarrassment in her eyes, as if even giving an explanation felt like admitting something she didn’t like.

“Uh, yeah, that’s cool and all, but it’s me and bro who’re supposed to be the distractions here so you and everyone else can get away.”

“Don’t like that plan. This threat too strong to fight alone,” Gaw said, jaw clenching, “So not do it alone?”

At her question Megalon briefly glanced at the amount of ground that Patros’ attack had carved out. He had to admit, while he had full confidence in his own durability, he’d only intended to block that attack because he hadn’t had time to dodge it. He recognized he wouldn’t have come out of that one unscathed, so Gaw’s save had probably just spared him some serious repair time. Besides, no point arguing over it now that she was here. So he grinned at her and hopped to his feet.

“I’m up for some co-op action. What do you say to a combo attack, Gaw?”

She tilted her head at him quizzically, but soon gave an enthusiastic nod.

Meanwhile the rest of the group had slowed down their run, at first because they’d all seen Patros’ transformation even from a distance, and Gaw had immediately turned around and sprinted back the other way.

“Shouldn’t we stop her?” Irys had asked.

“Lady, I’ve known Gaw for awhile,” Di Roy said, “Once she decides to do something she keeps going until she hits a wall, and even then she keeps bashing her head into that wall until either she’s dead, or the wall is. Better let her help your friends out and hope she catches up.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” X agreed, and truthfully was a little thankful Gaw had chosen to go back. He wasn’t certain how strong Patros was, and felt better about the idea of Megalon and Gigan having a little extra backup.

Things looked clear ahead of them, at least. Tempest had been good at her word about clearing the way of additional sentries, so no guards loomed ahead along the river banks or more distant canyon walls. However X was starting to hear a greater commotion from beyond the forest, in the direction of the town and where he’d seen the training fields earlier. A quick glance back confirmed his fears as he saw squadrons of flying Hollows already airborne and crossing the forest towards the commotion of battle. He counted at least a hundred of the fliers, and didn’t doubt many more land-bound Hollows were rushing through the forest at that very moment. No doubt they were homing in on the spiritual energies being released by the fight, not to mention all the noise.

Still, those Hollows were much slower than the Arrancar had been, so it’d take them longer to arrive. X didn’t know how many more Arrancar besides Patros, Yin, and Yang might be coming, but the fact that none had shown up yet was both cause for relief and a bit of concern. Perhaps Tempest Shadow had anticipated the possibility that the Arrancar among her soldiery would be able to make fast pursuit of the escape was discovered, so had stationed them further away? Only Patros had been right there when the break out had occurred, and X recalled Yin and Yang had been sent to the town. Maybe Patros had only been able to round those two up?

Regardless, it meant Gigan, Megalon, and Gaw had some time to deal with their opponents and catch up, while the rest of the group was free of pursuit. He still didn’t like splitting the group, but he’d trust his comrades to handle themselves. He knew Gigan and Megalon had the means to get away quickly, and well... Gaw wasn’t really his problem. Di Roy seemed confident enough in her, so X didn’t raise any issue and kept pressing on.

Back at the site of battle, Yin and Yang remained facing Gigan, but while Yang bristled like a torch ready to ignite under a splash of gasoline, Yin’s eyes narrowed at Patros before she gripped her sister’s shoulder and stepped in front of her.

“Yin?”

“Something doesn’t smell right here,” Yin said, “Why was Patros even at the prison? Grubber was assigned guard duty, not him.”

“For all we know the Storm King overrode the Captain’s orders and sent Patros to check on things,” Yang said, but there was less conviction in her voice as she glanced between Patros and Gigan. Patros was leaping from spot to spot, firing thick blasts of energy at both Megalon and Gaw, who were both running to circle the man. Hearing what the twins were saying in between blasts, Patros looked towards them and shouted.

“That’s exactly it! The Storm King didn’t trust these cretins so sent me to check upon the prison, where I found Grubber beaten nearly to death and the prisoners escaping! If you don’t help me, they’ll all get away!”

“It doesn’t really matter to me who you believe,” Gigan cut in, keeping his arm blades at the ready and not taking his eyes off the twins, “But let me ask you girls this; do I look like the kind of guy who’d have left an enemy alive? The mere fact that Grubber is still breathing should be proof enough it wasn’t us that attacked him.”

“I don’t... Yin, who do we trust here?” Yang said, and Yin’s expression grew increasingly contemplative.

“I think he’s got a point. If they were really our enemies, Grubber would be dead, instead of just injured.”

“What!?” Patros seethed, briefly turning towards the twins, “You can’t possibly believe that metallic moron over one of your own kind, can you!?”

“Why not? You’ve never liked the Captain, and she trusts these guys,” said Yin in a cool tone, coiling up her electric whip in one quick gesture, “I think me and Yang should just... watch how this plays out. We’re not on guard duty anyway.”

“Fine then, I don’t need you two to finish this!” Patros declared, firing one blast of energy at Gigan with a swift draw of one of his bladed wing-arms, while spinning and firing the other towards Megalon and Gaw... which turned out to just be Gaw as Megalon had oddly enough vanished from view. Gigan smoothly flipped out of the way of the scything energy wave that tore it’s way past him and paused, detecting his brother’s signal. Having an inclination of Megalon’s plan, Gigan hung back to let the other cyborg do his thing, since it seemed Megalon and Gaw were enacting a plan of their own.

Just as Megalon had told Gaw, his team trusted him, and by the same token Gaw had the trust of her own comrades; her tribe. She’d known Di Roy wouldn’t try to stop her from going back, not because of how strong she was or wasn’t, but because of trust. It left her feeling a bit silly for being so focused about her personal strength.

Against Patros, she probably couldn’t win alone any more than Megalon could. His energy blasts were exceptionally powerful, and the composition of each blast’s reiatsu was designed to sharply pierce through defenses. He could also fire them disgustingly fast, as Gaw was learning as she was forced to keep dodging a seemingly endless burst of them. She couldn’t keep it up forever, and inevitably one of the energy waves clipped her leg and caused her to stumble mid-Sonido, hitting the ground hard and skidding almost to Patros’ feet.

“One down,” Patros said with satisfaction, aiming his right wing-arm at her.

Yet Gaw wasn’t fearful, having placed her trust in her ally. Trust which paid off as Megalon, who’d burrowed underground when Patros wasn’t looking, now sprang from beneath Patros’ feet and drove his spinning drills straight into the wing-arm at its thinnest joint. The drills of advanced alien alloys, spinning at insane speeds, decimated the bone-like armor and shredded the joint, severing the limb entirely.

“Gaaaaaah!” Patros screamed, staggering backwards.

Megalon hopped out of the hole he’d made in the ground and stood next to Gaw, who’d gotten back to her feat.

“Nice timing!” Megalon said, holding out a drill, which Gaw looked at in confusion until Megalon made a ‘high-five’ gesture with his other hand, which Gaw hesitantly mimicked.

“Alright, now that he’s been ‘disarmed’, it’s time for our double-assault combo attack!” Megalon declared. “Gaw, just like we practiced!”

“We never practiced,” Gaw pointed out, “You made up fighting move and then struck poses for straight hour while I watched.”

“Which counts as practice. C’mon, you know you want to do this!”

“...Maybe.”

Patros, spitting on his lips, glared at the pair.

“Idiots! I still have one arm left, which is enough to finish you both! Take this!”

His other wing-arm began to gleam with yellow energy as his body was coated in similarly pale light. Gaw just looked at Megalon and they nodded at one another. Gaw crouched down like a predatory animal, her blade held out behind her and the snapping energy arcs of a charging Bala appearing in her other hand. Megalon then thrust both his drills forward and began spinning them up to the highest speed he could, so fast that small whirlwinds formed around them.

Megalon and Gaw then charged forward, while in the same instant Patros fired his largest energy wave yet.

Gaw’s headlong run turned into a prodigious leap that took her above Patros’ beam, while Megalon crashed into it with both his drills, which split Patros’ beam like a ship crashing through a wave. Gaw, flipping over Patros’ head, fired a rapid barrage of Bala bullets down on top of him which cracked his armor but didn’t break it. Landing behind him Gaw then opened her mouth and unleashed a Cero beam which struck Patros’ back. Patros’ own beam cut out as he tried to turn to face her, his armor holding up against Gaw’s Cero beam.

“Too weak!” he declared, but realized too late that now he was flanked, and as he turned to face Gaw he found himself being pushed back by her Cero beam and straight into Megalon’s drills, the cyborg kaiju having weathered Patros’ earlier attack. Megalon’s drills smashed into Patros’ armored form, their high speed spinning cracking his armor even more. And to make things worse, Gaw rushed forward, her Cero cutting off just in time for her to cleave down with her Zanpaktou.

Both she and Megalon passed each other, both blade and drills forming an ‘X’ pattern across Patros that shattered his armor, and left a deep, gushing wound across his body.

Both turned to face Patros, Megalon sticking his arms out and bending his legs in a dynamic pose. “Behold our combination move; Crimson Drill Breaker!”

After a second, Gaw awkwardly tried mimicking Megalon’s pose, face burning red with embarrassment.

“G-guh... that was so... stupid,” Patros said said, coughing up blood as he fell to one knee, the armor of his Ressureccion form fading from his body and leaving him back in his normal form, but with a rather sizable wound on his chest. His Zanpaktou reshaped back into a sword, but he didn’t have the strength to even lift it.

Meanwhile Megalon withdrew his drills and held out a fist towards Gaw, “What do we call that? Teamwork, that’s what we call it!”

“Tribe is stronger together,” Gaw acknowledged after a moment, hesitantly completing Megalon’s fist bump.

Gigan approached the pair a moment later, arm blades still drawn, “Good work, now let’s finish this and catch up to the others.”

He’d been making his way towards Patros, but suddenly Yin and Yang jumped in front of him, and he raised his eyebrow at them. “Seriously?”

“He may or may not have done that to Grubber, but until we know for sure, he’s still technically one of us,” Yin said, not sounding particularly happy about the fact, but also resolute, “We won’t stop you from joining the others, so you’d better get going.”

The howls of approaching Hollows was indeed getting rather loud, and Gigan could pick up the closest ones on his motion scanners. Much as he would have preferred to finish off a possibly problematic foe, a quick time crunch told him it probably was more rational for him, Megalon, and Gaw to make a break for it while the getting was good.

“Fine,” he said, and wasting no more words, simply giving Gaw and Megalon a meaningful glance before breaking out into a run. At least the fight hadn’t taken too long, he mused. He wouldn’t even need to rely on his teleport-

“Whoa there, ladies and germs, I don’t think the audience has been given permission to exit the stage.”

A blast of wind stronger than a hurricane’s gale, and laced with lancing arcs of red Hollow energy, smashed down from above and cut a swath in front of Gigan, Megalon, and Gaw. The wind force didn’t knock them off their feet, but it did cause them to have to halt. A moment later the wall of wind was itself blown aside by a concussive impact of force as the one who unleashed the miniature storm landed in front of them.

The Storm King rose from a crouch, his staff Zanpaktou buzzing with power and traces of wind as he cracked a most unpleasant grin at those in front of him, “In fact, I’m gonna have to insist you all sit your asses down. Nobody is leaving, savvy?”

“Yeah, no,” Gigan said, and immediately reached out to grab Megalon with one hand, and Gaw with the other. He didn’t think Megalon’s tunneling ability would be enough for the younger cyborg to escape someone like the Storm King, and while he didn’t particularly care for Gaw on any personal level, she was still part of the operations team and if nothing else, Megalon seemed to get along with her. So that was enough for Gigan to risk trying a teleport with all three of them, since he didn’t fancy their odds otherwise with the enemy ‘Boss’ having just catapulted onto the scene.

Of course each teleport did take a few seconds to build up the energies for it and calculate the proper formula, otherwise there’d be some seriously messy repercussions. The problem was that the Storm King wasn’t going to give Gigan even that minuscule amount of time needed, and the ancient Arrancar surpassed even Tempest in terms of power and speed. Not by such an order of magnitude that Gigan couldn’t follow what was coming and react to it, but all he was able to do was let go of his companions and cross his arms in time to brace for a blow directly from the crystalline tip of the Storm King’s staff.

The world flashed red with a crack of thunder and all of Gigan’s systems went haywire, reporting a cavalcade of damages both from raw force impact and enough electricity surging through him to fry a normal person a few hundred times over. Fortunately Gigan was far from any definition of ‘normal’, so when he was done sliding across the ground like an air hockey puck he was able to still move, albeit with his body still sparking with the juice the Storm King had shoved through him.

Megalon, not one to take things lying down, had reacted to his brother getting smacked away so swiftly and viciously with the most expected response of throwing a haymaker drill-punch at the Storm King’s still smugly grinning features. With grace that belied his aged appearance, the Storm King bent sideways from the blow, letting the spinning drill pass within a few scant inches. Gaw, acting in tandem with Megalon, made a cross cut with her Zanpaktou for the back of the Storm King’s neck, but her blade was swept aside by the older Arrancar’s staff with the ease an irate adult might bat aside a determined toddler.

“Man, did any of you punks think I called myself the ‘Storm King’ for shits and giggles?”

The Storm King’s words were followed immediately by an intense buzz of noise as his body gleamed incandescent red and a surge of crimson lightning burst out of him in a dome that lashed outward for a dozen or so yards. Yin and Yang both grabbed the wounded Patros and used Sonido to zip away from the burst radius, but Megalon and Gaw were caught by the point blank blast and both were hammered backwards by the torrents of electrical power and spiritual energy that hit with as much physical force as elemental.

Both were sent sprawling, thrown almost as far back as Gigan had been. Megalon ended up close enough to Gigan that he was able to glance up at his fellow cyborg while coughing up some smoke, poking at his now frizzed up hair which still sparked with remnant electrical charge.

“Ow.”

“You still functional?” Gigan asked, voice level but not without a note of concern.

“Lemme check,” Megalon said, kipping up and stretching his arms. After a second he reported, “Yup! Little crispy, but I’ve had worse.”

“Mmmrrr... everything hurt, but that starting to feel normal,” Gaw said, a bit further away as she picked herself up, body letting off wisps of smoke. She staggered a bit, but planted her feet a moment later with a glare of resolve towards the Storm King, who was glowering right back.

The arrival of the Storm King had not gone unnoticed by X and the others. Although the entrance to the underground tunnels was now in view, the group halted and turned to see the trouble their compatriots were in. X felt his teeth unconsciously grind. They’d been so close to making good on their escape, and now it looked as if Gigan, Megalon, and Gaw were cut off from any clean break to get away!

“Oh hell,” Di Roy said, “This just became a ‘no lube’ situation, didn’t it?”

“I have no idea what that means, but I feel like I should smack you for it,” Irys said, then looked to X, “What do we do? We can’t leave them.”

Of course they couldn’t. The plan had hinged on Gigan being able to teleport and Megalon and Gaw being able to use their own maneuvering skills to get away after the pursuit was dealt with. But the Storm King was clearly not an opponent any of those abilities would work against. He was too fast for even Gigan to calculate a proper teleport in time. Since there was absolutely no way X was going to leave any of his people behind, this meant there was only one course of action that could be taken.

“We go back,” he said, and turned a sharp glance towards Roka, “That method you planned for turning my team into our true forms, how fast can it be done?”

Roka eyed him evenly, her voice almost smooth enough to hide her nerves, “To do it properly would require at least a minute or two of prep time.”

“Don’t think our gang has a minute or two, Roka,” Di Roy said, noting that the Storm King was advancing on the trio and emitting a ludicrously potent aura of reiatsu that even the non-spiritually aware could feel like a heated wind billowing through the air. On top of that, the rest of the Hollow army that had been in pursuit was catching up fast, with the flying elements nearly across the forest.

There just wasn’t time to do anything fancy or for X to come up with any kind of detailed plan. He had to trust his instincts on this, and for a rare change he and the Kaizer personality within were in agreement with what needed to happen.

Power rose within him, flooding his body with pure gold energy that painted his skin and even darker shade of black and scrawled golden lines across his flesh. Di Roy, Roka, and Irys all had to take a step back from the crackling burst of graviton arcs that buzzed around Kaizer X’s body, and his voice spoke in a low, resonant growl.

“Grab the others and go! I’ll keep the enemy occupied!”

Without waiting for confirmation of his orders, he lined up a field of gravity rings aimed right at the Storm King, and used them to accelerate himself like a bullet from a rail gun straight towards his foe.

Tempest couldn’t have dreamed in her worst imaginings that things would go this wrong this fast. One moment she’d been arguing with the Storm King, just about ready to deck him, and the next she’d sensed the distant but still all-too-near releases of spiritual pressure from outside that told her things had not quite gone according to plan. She’d recognize the spiritual pressures at first as belonging to Patros and Grubber, and had even heard the faint detonations outside the Storm King’s window that told her the pair were fighting.

The darkness in the Storm King’s eyes flared like thunder within the blackest of storm clouds, “The dry-freeze frack is this about, Tempest?”

Momentarily on the back foot, Tempest briefly floundered for an answer, because as much as she was royally pissed at the Storm King for planning things behind her back... she’d kind of done the same to him, first. Best to own up to it, since at this point it didn’t seem like there was any avoiding the oncoming train wreck.

“I told Grubber to warn the prisoners if it turned out you weren’t being truthful,” she told him, eyes hardening, “I’ve arranged for them to be able to escape in that event. I told you I wasn’t going to let you do this, sir.”

“Oh don’t ‘sir’ me!” the Storm King roared with a stomp of his foot that cracked a wide portion of the floor beneath, “You get all uppity about what I’m doing when you were already planning this crap!? Tempest, I’m this close to doing some things I doubt I’ll regret, and you definitely will. Now I’m going to go sort out your pal Grubber, assuming Patros hasn’t already, and put a stop to this nonsense!”

She was fast, but he was faster, so before she could even voice another objection, the Storm King blasted a hole straight through the wall next to his window and flew straight out. Cursing under her breath, Tempest followed in pursuit, chanting a Kido spell under her breath. She was not very skilled at Kido, but she was still a former Captain of the Gotei 13.

“Bakudo Number Sixty Sixty One: Rikujokoro!”

Upon completion of the Kido spell, her spirit energy manifested six beams of golden yellow light that moved with speed equaling the light they were seemingly made from, catching up with the Storm King before he’d reached the ground. The six points of light slammed into the Storm King at around waist level, forming a circle of glowing sheets of light that immediately halted his motion and caused him to smack into the ground rather ungracefully.

“Pfft,” the Storm King spat out some dirt and shot a glare at Tempest, “Really!? You’re going to be this stubborn about it?”

Landing nearby, Tempest put a hand on her Zanpaktou, but hesitated short of drawing it. “Sir, I’ve asked very little of you over the centuries we’ve worked together. Is it that beyond the pall that I ask you to just leave this be?”

While the Rikojokoro Kido was meant to entirely immobilize a target, the Storm King’s reiatsu was so overpowering that he was able to force himself to stand despite the Kido’s presence. He flexed wiry, hardened muscles and pushed out with a thick burst of raw spirit energy. The bands of light from the Kido began to crack like ice, then abruptly shattered.

“Yeah, it is. You’re being way too sentimental here, Tempest. What happened to the badass chick I took under my wing who once told me she’d do ‘anything’ if it meant taking Tirek down? I think you’re exact words back then were ‘no sacrifice is too great if it leads to his downfall’. When exactly did ‘no sacrifice too great’ change to ‘eh, but not if it’s a bunch of strangers I met a few days ago and kind of like’?”

It was hard to ignore his question. It was true that her hatred for Tirek had been a powerful motivator for the time not long after the Storm King had nursed her back to health. The idea of conquering the territories of various Privaron Espada and building an army of Hollows that utilized Soul Reaper tactics and was forged on bonds of trust rather than savagery had been Tempest’s idea because she’d wanted nothing more than a re-match against the Espada and to avenge the loss of so many of her comrades from the Eleventh Division. But time can change even the most stubborn people, and Tempest hadn’t realized how much had changed in the centuries she’d spent building this sanctuary and the army contained within.

Perhaps it had taken the experience of meeting an outsider like X, who’s values and loyalties to the well being of his own mirrored the ideals Tempest had once held so dear, to bring to light how little Tempest actually cared about getting revenge on Tirek any longer. Certainly she still thought the Espada were a tyrannical threat to any lasting peace one might hope to bring to Hueco Mundo, but she was no longer willing to make any sacrifice to bring about their end. Especially if it meant sacrificing people who had ultimately done her and hers no true wrong.

“I don’t expect you to understand this, sir, but my priorities have shifted. I might want Tirek and the Espada cast down, eventually, but not at any cost. Not after all we’ve built. Look around you, sir. Doesn’t this place mean more than just grabbing any advantage we can against the Espada?”

She’d hoped to see some sign she was getting through to him, but the Storm King just looked at her like she was speaking gibberish, letting out a gruff snort as he shrugged at her, “Well you’re right about the me not understanding part. All of this exists for the sole purpose of me, and subsequently you, killing Big Red and getting my ass back on the throne where it belongs. The hell you think I was gathering so many Hollows in one place for? Because it sure wasn’t for their social skills!”

His words left her feeling coldly empty inside, but also somehow lighter in the head, with a strange sense that she was only really seeing things clearly for the first time. There was an odd sinister aspect to his words that left her wondering just what he had been building this army for, but before she could question him on that point, the distinct blaring gong of the fortress alarms echoed across the canyon.

Not good. Patros or someone else must have raised the alarm! Did X and the others manage to get out of their cells in time? I’m not even sure they can get clear to the tunnels before being intercepted, even with the altered patrols.

Upon hearing the alarm gongs the Storm King’s lips curled into a snarling show of teeth, “And the pooch keeps getting more screwed today! This you’re doing too, Tempest!? Just how far you planning to go to betray me today?”

Her own temper flared up, “Don’t force me to find out! You intended to betray their trust first, so what room have you to talk? As long as no one interferes, then they’ll be gone from here soon enough and-”

Perhaps she’d grown too soft over the centuries. Aside from the battle with X’s team, and the transformed Irys, Tempest really hadn't had any real challenges since the disaster that befell the Eleventh Division and she’d been cut down by Tirek. There’d been skirmishes with plenty of Hollows, even a few potent ones among the Privaron Espada, but those had been few and far between. Not ideal for keeping one’s skills in top form, despite maintaining a strict training regimen. However upon reflection it was more an emotional weakness than anything else that left her open to the Storm King’s thunderous punch that hit straight to her gut. She simply never truly believed it’d come to blows between them, so her guard had a hole in it that he took advantage of in an instant.

All of the air was blasted out of her lungs and Tempest was thrown back like a fired cannonball, smashing into the wall of one of the fortress pyramids.

Stunned, if not all that badly injured, Tempest coughed and sputtered to get her lungs working again as she threw chunks of shattered stone off of herself and stood back up. Her abs would develop one hell of a bruise, but she didn’t estimate the Storm King had broken anything. With a tight clench of her teeth she drew her Zanpaktou and hopped out of the hole her flying body had caused in the side of the fortress, dust still rising from the impact.

However the Storm King was nowhere to be seen. In an instant she felt out his location with her spiritual senses, realizing that he was moving quickly across the forest. She also realized he was going in pursuit of X and the others, for with another moment of concentration she could sense them as well, along with a clash of energies that told her the group had already been caught and were fighting. She sensed Patros’ reiatsu, as well as... Yin and Yang's?

I had them guarding the town. Patros, he must have tricked them. But where’s Grubber?

She felt towards the prison, and sensed a faint reiatsu there. Grubbers.

“Damn it all, this couldn’t be going worse,” she said under her breath, knowing there was very little time for her to act. She could already see the army on the move, with hundreds of flying Hollows taking to the air to pursue across the forest, and hundreds more Hollow soldiers rushing on foot to reach the site of battle.

If she didn’t hurry and do something, X and the others would never get out of the canyon alive.

Before anything, however, she had to confirm Grubber’s condition. With no seconds to spare, Tempest moved as fast as her skill with Flash Step allowed. She reached the prison before even half a second passed, and was down amid the cells in even less time. There, she found Grubber lying slumped against the wall outside X’s cell, brutally battered and bloodied, but breathing.

“Grubber,” she said, kneeling next to him, and immediately applying a healing Kido, her hands lighting up with soft blue light.

“Ugggh... r-remind me next time you... wanna hand with pissing off the boss... to ask for a raise.”

She was relieved to see him regaining consciousness, one eye cracking open as he offered a weak smile up at her.

“Patros?” she asked, and Grubber nodded.

“Sorry I let the pale bastard get the... better of me,” he said, and she shook her head as she carefully picked him up with one arm, while using her other hand to maintain the healing Kido.

“Not your fault. Our escapees are in danger. The Storm King is coming for them, and Patros has likely fooled Yin and Yang into helping stall the escape. Most of the army is heading that way, too.”

“So a lovely crap sandwich with a side of we’re boned, eh?” Grubber laughed, “What’s the plan, Captain?”

His tone indicated that, whatever she intended, he’d back her all the way, and Tempest couldn’t help but feel a potent swell of pride and warmth towards this stout weirdo of an Arrancar. If ever there seemed proof to her that forging this army as a family had value, it was that she’d met the likes of Grubber, Yin, and Yang in the process. Now she just had to stop the Storm King from slaughtering people she’d sworn to protect. After all, she still owed them for being part of what got them into this mess in the first place.

“The plan, Grubber, is that we go put a stop to this.”

Kaizer X’s graviton blades clashed with the Storm King’s staff-shaped Zanpaktou in a bursting wave of colliding golden and crimson red arcs of energy, the force of which dented the ground beneath them and sent shockwaves of air resounding across the field outside the forest.

“Daaaaam!” The Storm King chuckled darkly, “You’ve actually got some real power under the hood, Sparky! No wonder Tempest was getting weak in the nethers over you!”

Kaizer X didn’t deign to give the arrogant ‘king’ a response save to push off with his graviton blades and launch himself up into the air. Sweeping both blades down he cast out a net of high-powered gravity that slammed down around the Storm King in a thick, crackling dome of gold. Magnifying gravity beneath the dome across several magnitudes, Kaizer X pinned the Storm King down and then unleashed a full blast of gravity beams from his flashing eyes.

The beams impacted and surged across the Storm King’s body, who held his Zanpaktou crosswise in front of him to guard himself. Even so, sparking graviton energy coursed over the Storm King, sparking over his flesh. With a hint of satisfaction, Kaizer X heard a grunt of pain from the Storm King, but soon that grunt turned into an enraged howl as the Storm King poured out more of his spiritual energy.

An explosion of red aura and snapping crimson lighting arced out from the Storm King and the crystalline tip of his Zanpaktou, pushing against and then ripping apart the dome of gravitons trying to hold him down.

“Not even close, Golden Boy!” the Storm King bellowed, and thrust his staff-Zanpaktou forward, which grew painfully bright with ruby light.

“Unless you plan on getting big like your albino gal-pal did, you don’t stand a freakin’ chance!”

Kaiser X had barely a fraction of a second to respond as the Storm King unleashed a titanic Cereo beam, one with such density it seemed to warp the space around it while it’s wide beam buzzed with arcs of blood red lightning. With swift gravity control Kaizer X launched himself sideways towards the ground, launching himself faster than a bullet to avoid the massive consuming beam of destruction. He hit the ground hard and rolled with the impact, using more gravity control to lighten the landing and get himself to his feet quicker.

Behind him he saw the beam that had missed him continue on in a slight upward arc that saw it slam into the distant wall of the canyon. The resulting detonation shook the entire canyon and ripped a gigantic hole clean through the canyon wall and up through the desert floor beyond. For a brief millisecond Kaizer X had to begrudgingly admit to being a bit impressed.

A blast like that would have damaged even his true form. A liar and a sleazy bastard he may be, but one couldn’t deny the Storm King did have power to back up his posturing. All that meant, however, was that Kaizer X was even more resolved to keep this foe occupied until his team could escape. Upon that both the “X” and “Kaizer” personalities were in complete alignment, causing a state of mind where there was almost zero friction or divergence in thought and deed between the two.

However the Storm King seemed to work out what Kaizer X was trying to do, his eyes shrewdly narrowing as he looked past Kaizer X’s shoulder towards where the rest of the group were trying to make a break for the tunnel’s entrance bunker. Realizing that the Storm King’s target had changed, Kaizer X charged in, propelling himself a set of gravity rings to get right up in the Storm King’s face. He compressed the power of the graviton blades into concentrated spheres of power around his fists and launched a devastating pair of fast punches that exploded with energy with each impact.

The first caught the Storm King on the jaw, actually popping the powerful Arrancar’s head back and causing him to backstep. He got his defenses up swiftly and the next several punches were caught by the Storm King’s Zanpaktou. Once more flaring golden energy clashed with an aura intermixed with reds and purples as the power of a mutated space dragon clashed with an ancient spirit being, both immensely strong by their respective universe’s standards. For a few breathless seconds the pair appeared to be in a deadlock. Then, almost like the surging of a dark tide, the Storm King began to reverse his defense and go on the assault. Instead of blocking graviton empowered punches, the staff-shaped Zanpaktou began to whirl about in an offensive storm of strikes, each one containing a blast of crimson power that exploded out upon impact.

Kaizer X was an exceptionally experienced fighter, and he had an advantage in that his true form wasn’t that different from the human body he occupied. Few kaiju could claim to be as agile or capable of the same deft maneuvers Monster X could pull off, so he was vastly better adapted to fighting in a human form than, say, his compatriot Irys who was still on most instinctual levels used to her kaiju form.

He also had the greatest amount of latent power among his comrades, although he wasn’t a boastful soul by any means. By all measures he knew he was the best one suited to stall the Storm King. He also knew that he was still at a disadvantage without his true form, and wasn’t necessarily surprised or taken off guard by the fact that he was now on the defensive, having to throw all of his might and concentration into turning aside the Storm King’s powerful blows. With carefully timed and precise motions Kaizer X was able to block and maneuver the Storm King’s Zanpaktou away, but each impact still rattled his entire body and strained his muscles and bones to the max. Meanwhile the landscape around them was getting devastated by the deflected impacts, craters being blasted out of the ground with each near hit.

And the most grating part was that Kaizer X knew the Storm King was still warming up. He’d seen that Arrancar had a second stage of power when they released their Zanpaktou. He imagined the only reason the Storm King hadn’t done that yet was a combination of pride and arrogance. Kaizer X was happy to take advantage of the fact for as long as he could.

But if only Roka had had time to try that trick with her threads. Kaizer X all but burned with the desire to assume his true form and power. That could turn this entire situation around, but only if they had a spare couple of minutes to pull it off!

“Man, all of that power is going to taste real good once I take a bite out of your soul,” the Storm King said, his joking tone hiding his growing frustration rather poorly, “Do you think your pals will taste just as good? I’m laying bets on the albino having a refreshing mint flavor, like a Mentos.”

He then proceeded to start humming a diddy that Kaizer X wasn’t familiar with, but others might have recognized as being from the commercials for a certain popular breath mint. This came with an increase in the tempo of his attacks, the Storm King’s form blurring out of sight as he used Sonido to start attacking Kaizer X from seemingly multiple directions at once. If he hadn’t already done battle with Tempest Shadow, such a high speed series of attacks might have been disorienting, but Kaizer X was capable of compensating for the speed difference by focusing his attention purely on the disturbances in the gravity he could sense around himself as a result of the Storm King’s movements.

The graviton blades manifested once more from his hands, sparking to life as he spun with swift, smooth motions. a half dozen times in blindingly quick succession the Storm King’s staff was turned aside by the golden stream of gravitons forming Kaizer X’s blades, a thunderous wave of sound echoing with each parry. Unfortunately the Storm King was only getting faster as he poured more and more of his spiritual energy into the fight, growing more incensed by the second at Kaizer X’s continued resistance and resilience.

A blow got through, Kaizer X’s crossed graviton blades just a fraction of an instant too slow to stop a sidelong swing to his ribs that struck like a speeding bullet train. The blow drove the air from Kaizer X’s lungs and sent him skidding back like a stone tossed across a pond, only his expert gravity control and pure toughness keeping him on his feet. He registered the pain from the hit, imagining at least a cracked rib, but the pain was a dull and distant thing under the adrenaline and raw mental focus sharpening his instincts.

His eyes turned into corona’s of raw gold light as he charged a potent gravity blast, firing the twin beams in a destructive stream that cut a furrow through the ground as it raced towards the Storm King. It was likely a testament to Kaizer X’s own ability that rather than try and tank the beams head on, the Storm King elected to evade by throwing himself up into the air with a prodigious leap that took him over the beams’ path. The beams still continued on, forcing Yin and Yang to yank the still mostly unconscious Patros out of the way as the beams sliced through a good portion of forest behind them.

Not cutting off the stream of his gravity beams, Kaizer X looked up into the sky, following the Storm King’s trail. The golden beams sliced through the sky, curling and twisting together as they swept towards the Storm King’s still airborne form. With a grunt of effort the Storm King turned his Zanpaktou to the side and caught the beams upon it, a red aura exploding from his staff as he pushed back against the tide of gravitons with his reiatsu. For a moment he was stalled in the air, held up by the force of the beams he was pushing against.

At the same time, he raised his open right hand towards where X’s team and Adagio’s vassals had nearly reached the tunnel bunker. By now the rest of the Hollow army was arriving on the scene, with scores and scores of winged Hollows that had flown ahead to start landing in a circle around Kaizer X, while more hulking, land bound Hollows emerged in droves from the forest.

In the Storm King’s right palm, the bright, pulsating sphere of a charging Cero beam took shape. Kaizer X knew if such a beam was fired at his companions, there’d be little they could do to escape it. He had no intention of dying that day. He had a team to lead, a master he still believed was worth serving, and far more important than anything else, someone he fully planned to return to and hold in his arms.

He cut off his gravity beams and turned towards his distant team, ignoring the Hollows surrounding him. He started forming gravity rings in front of him, ready to launch himself into the air so he could intercept the Cero beam. He’d use every scrap of power left in his body, if that’s what it took, to block the beam with a shield of gravitons.

However, just as he was about to launch himself, just as the Storm King discharged a second, colossal Cero beam, Kaizer X saw a flicker of purple motion fly past him and then cross the distance to almost precisely where he himself had intended to go to intercept the beam.

”Hold the line, Hagane-hei!”

Tempest Shadow appeared in front of the group, her Zanpaktou transforming into its Shikai state as she then launched herself into the air, straight into the oncoming Cero beam’s path. Spiritual pressures smashed into each other like onrushing tidal waves as she cleaved into the beam with her sword, which reshaped itself and grew in size to form a broader blade that ensured the beam split far enough apart so as to not hit any of the escapees.

Even so, the severed beam cut two diagonal paths to either side of the group, one detonating in the river and blasting a cloud of steam and wet sand across the area, while the other still cut uncomfortably close to the tunnel’s bunker entrance, now less than twenty yards away.

“Daiei I’m getting tired of not being my real size,” Gigan said, his scanners going haywire over the spiritual energies screwing with his senses.

“I’m getting tired of it too, and I haven’t even seen you go big yet,” Di Roy said.

“Did she really just save us?” said Irys, eyeing Tempest Shadow as the woman hit the ground in a controlled stance.

“I did promise your leader that I’d ensure no more harm came to you,” Tempest said, glancing back at Irys and the others, “That doesn’t change because it’s the Storm King trying to do the harming.”

Before another word could be exchanged, she flickered out of sight with another Flash Step, appearing now next to Kaiser X while the Storm King was still dropping out of the sky. She looked Kaizer X over, tense for battle, but he sensed none of her hostility was towards him, so he turned so he could face towards where the Storm King would land, letting his guard be exposed to her as a simple sign of trust.

“Thank you,” he said simply.

“Unlike my liege, apparently, I keep my word,” Tempest replied.

“It sounds as if you need a new liege,” Kaizer X mentioned, and Tempest let out a humorless laugh.

“I suppose we’ll see. I’m still hoping he’ll listen to reason and cease this idiocy.”

Kaizer X grunted, “He has not impressed me with his ‘reason’ thus far, but I’ll let you lead.”

She turned a momentary look between concern and gratitude towards him, but then the Storm King’s boisterous voice interrupted whatever she was going to say.

“Well isn’t this a pretty picture? A real freakin’ Kodak moment. My supposed ‘loyal’ right hand having a friendly chat and giving bedroom eyes to the prisoners she helped break out of our own damn dungeon. Tempest, I am seriously up to my last straw with you and this sudden rebellious streak. What even is your deal here?”

By this point even more of the Storm King and Tempest’s army had arrived on the scene, with units of Hollows flanking out on either side of the confrontation, and others moving to cut off the rest of the escapee’s route to the tunnel bunker. Kaizer X could recognize that the tactical situation was grim. Even if the Storm King was kept occupied now, it’d be a fight through dozens if not hundreds of Hollows to break clear and get into the tunnels, and even then they’d have to fight a running battle against pursuit through the tunnels.

At this juncture, it was actually a better shot to let Tempest try and convince the Storm King to let them go, since the prospects of winning an outright battle were slimming by the second.

“Captain!” Yin shouted as she and Yang approached on the right, still carrying Patros, “What’s going on? Is Grubber alright?”

“Grubber is alive, with no thanks to Patros for the fact,” Tempest replied, and both the twins turned sharp looks towards Patros.

“Shit, he really did lie to us then?” Yang said, looking annoyed with herself.

“Not exactly the shocker of the century, right?” said Grubber as he pushed his way through the crowd of Hollow soldiers surrounding the area. Tempest’s healing had closed some of the worst of his wounds, but he still looked like a bruised and battered slab of meat on legs.

“Grubber!”

Dropping Patros, the twins went to their wounded comrade and both gave him shoulders to support him. Patros, gradually regaining consciousness, hit the ground with a dull, “...Ow...”

“Sorry,” Yin said to Grubber, “I had a feeling something was wrong, but we didn’t have a lot of time to think everything through.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Truth is out, and now it’s just down to what our Captain decides to do,” Grubber said, “You two girls ready for whatever goes down?”

The twins looked to each other, then at Tempest, and then gave Grubber firm nods. He grinned, “Well okay then. Hey! Captain, whatever you do here, we’ve got your back!”

“What do you mean whatever she decides!?” The Storm King blustered, “Hello!? Storm King, right over here!?” He pointed at his brow with the dark iron circlet, “You think I’m wearing this because I need to keep my hair out of my face!? Well, I mean, I do, but that’s not the only reason! I’m in charge around here. Tempest is the right-hand. As in, she does what I say, and you all do what she says, but only because I’m the one giving her the marching orders!”

“Yeaaaaaah, gonna be honest here with you chief,” said Grubber, “I’m pretty much in this for her. Don’t mind serving you as long as Captain Tempest is, but if she decides there’s some management changes about to happen, I’m on Team Tempest.”

Patros coughed in pain, and forced himself up on shaking hands, “S-see!? This is why I’m loyal to our real king, and have always said this Soul Reaper in our midst was a mistake! All of you can see this now, can you not?”

Although he was shouting to the crowd of Hollow soldiers, there was a distinct and noticeable hesitance among all of them. Whether regular Hollows, Adjuchas-class, or even the few other Arrancar present, most didn’t look to be immediately jumping in on either side just yet. Even their hostility towards the escapee’s was mitigated, and none were approaching close or trying to attack them yet.

A shrewdness sharpened the Storm King’s eyes as he looked upon what he saw as “his” army and then turned a clouded, dark look towards Tempest, his voice taking on a low edge and deathly seriousness that was unknown even to her. “Is this how it’s going to be, Tempest? Usurping the man who saved your life? Gave you purpose?”

She didn’t flinch from him, taking a step forward with her Zanpaktou lowered, but her grip no less firm upon it, “I’ve never once sought to usurp you, not even now. What I want is for you to let these people go. I won’t even demand you give their patron Espada a chance to prove a worthy ally against Tirek, if you’re so dead set on ignoring that opportunity. But we made the mistake of attacking this group first, and I swore to them if they cooperated with us that they would come to no more harm. I will see that promise kept. So I’m asking you, one last time, stand down sir, please. I don’t want to have to fight you.”

“Humph...” the Storm King looked around at the multitudes of Hollows that now surrounded the area, and there was a detached calculation in his eyes, as if he was tallying up something in his head like a farmer tallies a harvest, “And what about all of you?”

He projected his voice loudly to all gathered, sweeping the hand not gripping his Zanpaktou staff towards Tempest, “I brought all of you together in this place. I’ve provided food, water, shelter. You each wear my brand upon your flesh. You all owe your loyalty to me. None of this would exist without me. So when I give the order to detain Tempest Shadow and kill these Espada-loyal scum, am I crazy to expect obedience?”

His words were followed by uneasy tension and hesitance among the Hollows, many giving disquiet rumbles and howls, while those more capable of speech whispered among themselves. It was clear none were jumping in to obey, many looking back and forth between Tempest and the Storm King with torn eyes. Tempest Shadow understood why, even if the Storm King looked increasingly angered.

She too spoke so her voice would carry, “I’ve fought at the forefront of every battle we’ve faced together as an army, united for the purpose of ending the Espada’s cruel rule of Hueco Mundo. We’ve trained together, lived together, fought and survived together. You all understand that our existence is a harsh one, but you’ve also seen it doesn’t have to always be that way, either. Trust, honor, camaraderie, they all forge you into more than a mindless horde. That’s why I’m asking you all as your Captain to stand down. These people are no threat to us. All they want to do is go home. I say we let them...”

She sighed, looking at Kaizer X, “Like I should have done before any of it got to this point.”

The admission garnered a respectful nod from him, and Kaizer X bled off a stream of gold energy and shrunk back in size to resume his form as Monster X. Partly because it was draining to maintain the Kaizer X form, but also because he hoped the gesture might help fence sitters see their Captain’s words as correct; that he and his team were not here to be a threat and really did just want to leave. It was a calculated risk, but one he was comfortable taking.

After a moment, Grubber hobbled forward, his injuries still quite evident but not stopping the man from coming over to stand beside Tempest Shadow. Yin and Yang were right behind him, planting themselves on either side of Grubber protectively while still casting glares towards Patros, who glared back silently.

Slowly at first, then with greater speed, like a wave of rattling metal, scores of Hollows shifted away a few steps to give the escapees more space, while simultaneously clapping limbs to their chests to salute Tempest. Within a few moments more than half the gathered army had stood down and taken on a non-hostile stance. Those who remained tense and ready to fight still looked hesitant to take action, even with the Storm King’s orders, as if they still weren’t willing to go against Tempest even if they weren’t able to bring themselves to stand down, either.

Grubber turned to Tempest with a wink, “Looks like you’re the more popular of the two bosses, boss.”

“So, uh, what happens now?” asked Yin, and Yang just shrugged at her.

“I think the prisoners aren’t prisoners anymore and they leave.”

“I was more asking about the Storm King,” said Yin, “Is the Captain the new King now? Or Queen?”

“Girls,” Tempest said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

She turned her attention back to the Storm King, who’s expression was explosive, to say the least. “Sir, I suggest you return to the fortress. Once I confirm X and his companions are safely away, I’ll return and we can discuss things with cooler heads.”

“Cooler heads?” he said, voice low and gravely at first, then rising to a deafening pitch, “Cooler heads!? Oh... oh Tempest, Tempest, Tempest, my stupid, stupid friend. You don’t understand what you’ve done, do you? I thought we’d have a lot more time to build things up here, you know? This honey trap was really working well. We’ve got, what, several thousand Hollows, most of them decently strong, near half of them Adjuchas-class and a fair number of Arrancar to boot? Damn big pool of spirit energy here, and I was going to make it even bigger with your help. I mean, you’re dynamite Tempest when it comes to PR. It’s the whole reason I saved you. I saw how your precious Eleventh Division fought like mad bastards against overwhelming odds for you, damn near died to the last Soul Reaper, all for love of their Captain. That was power, Tempest, that kind of leadership. I could never inspire like that, even with thousands of years under my belt at this whole Storm King business.”

There was something manic and deadly in his tone that set Tempest and X both on edge. In response, X tensed, ready to make a move, while Tempest frowned deeply and said, “Sir, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you’re damned fit of conscience and sentimentality here is forcing me to accelerate my timetable, Tempest. I didn’t want it to go down this way, but you’re forcing my hand, because like it or not, planned or not, you’ve just knocked me off the throne. Tirek did it, and now you have too. Just goes to show...” he raised his Zanpaktou staff above his head with a dark glower that held just a small shade of regret in it, “...you can’t ever trust anyone.”

A black, smoke-like aura of spirit energy billowed out of the staff, forked through by fingers of crimson light.

”Cannibalize; Traicion.” (Betrayal)

This was the first time for all present hearing those words, for even Tempest Shadow had never actually seen the Storm King release his Zanpaktou. It had never once occurred to her that there might have been a reason for that beyond him simply having avoided getting involved in many of the battles for territory that she and the army had fought up until that point. The energy pouring out of the Storm King was intense, but it also had a different feel, less like a crushing wave as was often the case with reiatsu when an Arrancar released their blades to transform, and more like an extremely powerful suction. And every single Hollow present, be they lower class, Adjuchas, or Arrancar, all screamed at once as the Storm King’s brands on their bodies ignited in crimson light.

“What!?” Tempest was so taken aback that for a second she couldn’t even react. Right next to her Grubber, Yin, and Yang had all stumbled, the latter two dropping to their knees as they clutched at the brands on their arms, crying out in pain. All of the Hollow soldiers were either thrashing about or crumpling on the ground in similar states of pain. Other Arrancar were no better off, including Patros, who was the closest to the Storm King physically as he writhed on the ground.

“M-my lord! What is this!?” Patros shouted, and was at first answered only by the Storm King’s unpleasant chuckle.

“What’s what? Oh, that feeling like your entire being is getting sucked out through a straw? That’s the true power of my brand, and my Zanpaktou. Any Hollow I’ve branded, upon releasing my Traicion, has their essence absorbed into mine. Pretty neato, isn’t it?”

By now the aura around the Storm King had grown in size, along with his body as, with pulses akin to a heartbeat, he started to gain height and bulk. Wet popping noises and meaty crunches could be heard as his body broke out of the armor he’d been wearing and a waxen white substance exploded from his back and chest, forming around his body in an organic wave as he continued to grow in size. Tendrils burst out of the expanding mass and shot out in spearing motions, striking nearby Hollows, who howled as they were seemingly paralyzed and yanked into the growing mass. Patros let out a shuddering cry as he was overwhelmed by a mass of tendrils that wrapped around him and pulled him in whole.

All of this had only taken a few seconds, if that, and even taken aback by events as he was, X responded before anyone else. He fired a concentrated blast of gravitons from his hands, smashing the golden bolts into the Storm King’s expanding mass, which at this point was starting to gain new definition in shape. The bolts of gravitons struck true, but splashed upon the pulsating surface with little visible effect. From the expanding mass a massive, clawed hand, like that of some gigantic beast’s, took shape and raised itself high before smashing down at X, and consequently Tempest, Grubber, Yin and Yang who were all nearby.

Tempest was able to grab the twins, while X grabbed Grubber and both threw themselves back out of the clawed hand’s path. The giant hand was large enough to smash a ten meter wide crater in the ground, and the Storm King’s body was still growing as more and more white tendrils struck like cobras upon the paralyzed Hollow army and started absorbing them in droves. Even the handful of Hollows and Arrancar with enough power and will to move, despite the agonizing pain of the brands, still couldn't do much other than try to crawl away.

With horrified eyes Tempest looked at all this, and at the pained expressions from her closest companions next to her, and fear and rage gripped her face with equal measure as she set the twins down and took up her sword again, “Stop this! Stop it now!”

She moved in a burst of Flash Step, rushing the Storm King’s main body, which was slowly sinking into the mass of white substance that kept flowing from him to take on a new, gargantuan shape. Her Zanpaktou produces a deadly storm of spiky barbs that shot out at the Storm King, but a wave of his dark aura flowed out of him and the attack was halted in mid air. The Storm King’s voice could be heard echoing louder as his body grew, and more Hollows were pulled into his pulsating mass.

“Stop it? Too late for that, Tempest. You shouldn’t be so mad. Even if I hadn’t planned to do this from the start, your army was screwed. You really think even if we’d gathered tens of thousands of these scrubs it would’ve made a difference in an attack on Las Noches. On Tirek? Don’t be naive. You know he’d destroy them all. Grubber? Dead. Patros? Dead. Your precious twins? Deader than dead. Tirek would have slaughtered them all. At least this way, adding their power to my own, they won’t be so worthless.”

“No, I won’t let you do this!” Tempest flickered in out and out view as she started attacking the tendrils themselves, her sword extending and reshaping itself dozens of times over to try and sever the tendrils as they absorbed the Hollows trying to escape. Yet for every one she severed, another grew in its place.

X could see she was fighting a losing battle, and his own ability to help in his current form was limited. His gravity beams could destroy the tentacles just as readily as her Zanpaktou could, but more sprouted forth, their numbers increasing far faster than they could be destroyed.

“X, hate to break it to you, but I think it’s time to go!”

This was shouted by Gigan just as the cyborg fired off a shotgun blast of lasers from his eyes, clearing a cluster of tendrils that had been coming at X’s blind spot. A moment later a sonic ray cut through another mass of writhing tentacles, Irys joining in to try and clear a path as she ran up, Megalon beside her.

Di Roy, Roka, and Gaw then appeared in blinking motions of Sonido, each striking out with their blades to cut at tentacles that were creeping in on Grubber, Yin, and Yang, all three of whom remained prone from the pain of the brands.

“Gotta say, this is easily the third worst tentacle related situation I’ve ever been in,” said Di Roy, “Are we planning to hang out here all day or what?”

Gaw was snarling as she slashed about with both her claw-shaped sword and her literal claws, barely keeping the tentacles at bay as more and more grew from the Storm King’s growing body, “Fight or flee. Cannot do both.”

“This might sound dumb, but I kinda don’t want to leave these guys to get eaten by their jerkface boss,” said Megalon, chucking incendiary grenades that sprung into his hands from hatches in his wrists, and were the scaled down version of the bombs he could spit in kaiju form. The grenades exploded with surprising force amid the pulsating tentacle masses.

“Ugh, don’t mind us,” Grubber managed to say, forcing himself to his feet despite the agony he was obviously in, “This is our mess to clean up.”

“H-he’s right,” grunted Yang, both her and Yin supporting each other as they pair rose as well, both drawing and igniting their respective elemental weapons.

“He was our King, and if he gets his way, he’s gonna kill our Captain,” Yin said, “But the Captain wants you guys to live. You stay here, you’re going to die.”

“And we’re not about to disappoint our Captain by letting that go down,” said Grubber, and X looked at him.

“Then don’t disappoint her by throwing your lives away either.”

“Love to, but it’s a bit too late for that,” Grubber replied, nodding at the brand on his arm. X could see that, even though the tentacles had been kept at bay from absorbing these three, the brands themselves were the true source of the absorbing. The tentacles just accelerated the process. From each brand a waxen color was spreading, and pieces of all three of the branded Arrancar were starting to break off like flecks of ash and being pulled into the Storm King.

“We’ve got nowhere to run to,” said Grubber, raising his Zanpaktou with a determined look, “But maybe we can spit in the asshole’s face and buy you lot an opening to get away in the process.”

“It’s about all we can do for you at this point,” said Yin, while Yang smirked at Irys.

“Looks like you don’t get to eat me after all.”

Irys didn’t even know what to say back to that, and before anyone could say anything, the trio of Tempest’s loyal Arrancar all nodded to each other and despite the brands wracking their bodies with pain, they leaped into the air. Grubber’s Zanpaktou flashed blue as he shouted it’s release phrase.

”Dig in; Erizo!” (Hedgehog)

In a burst of blue light Grubber’s body grew a thick mane of ivory spikes from his head and fell down his back like a cloak, while smaller, thicker spikes grew from his arms and chest.

Side by side, Yin and Yang whipped back their weapons and struck forward, unleashing simultaneous blasts of fire and lighting that combined together to form a giant projectile of flame that coursed with arcs of electricity. Grubber joined in by whipping his massive mane of bone white spikes around, and firing off a barrage of them like literal missiles that were rocketed out on trails of blue energy.

The electrified fireball and barrage of spiked missiles struck dead center amid the Storm King’s mass, generating a powerful series of explosions that momentarily obscured the Storm King’s upper body. Tempest, who had been busy trying, and unfortunately failing, to stop the remainders of the Hollow army from being absorbed, now turned to see her closest friends and what they were doing and her eyes widened.

“You fools! Run!”

“Oh Tempest, even if they did, there’s nowhere left to run to.”

The Storm King’s voice had been deeper and distorted, like the rumble of tar coated rocks rolling down a mountainside. A massive shadow hurled upwards from the dust cloud that Grubber, Yin, and Yang’s attack had caused. Pale as dead flesh, covered in waxen fur the color of dirty snow, a gigantic beastly head rose forth. It was vaguely akin to a wolf’s head, albeit on a colossal scale. Fierce blue on black eyes burned with hunger and amusement as massive jaws opened into a dark maw. A pitch black Hollow hole sat in the center of the wolf’s forehead.

It’s body took hideous shape around it, forming not four but six long, unnaturally thin and bent legs ending in overly long claws. Instead of a conventional tail, the back of the wolf sprouted a mass of over a dozen writing white tentacles, each thicker than a small office building, and ending in slavering wolf-like jaws. More such tendrils, slightly smaller than the tails, grew from the back and shoulders of the beast. The mass of tail tendrils flailed around, extending far further than was natural, and smashed through the Hollow town that had once been filled with Tempest’s army. By now, however, everything was empty, all the Hollows absorbed save for the three that had boldly attacked the Storm King in a final act of defiance for love and loyalty to their Captain.

And the Storm King’s ravenous eyes locked upon them.

Tempest saw what was about to happen and rushed to stop it, but nearly fully transformed now the Storm King’s speed was greater than hers, even at his monstrous new size. His open mouth descended upon the helpless trio, even as X and the others below opened up with everything they had, hammering the Storm King with gravity beams, sonic rays, lasers, grenades, and Ceros alike. All splashed off the Storm King’s mighty new body all but harmlessly, and the jaws closed around its prey.

Tempest saw the twins she’d found as children and raised to be soldiers, and the friend she trusted with her life, vanish into her former King’s maw. At the very last moment she saw Grubber mouth something to her, the words momentarily lost to her under the horror of the instant.

Then all three were gone.

“Mmmm, got to love the taste of traitor. Has a kind of barbecue flavor,” the Storm King’s booming voice echoed from his new form. He shook himself like a titanic dog just fresh from a bath, slamming his legs on the ground as if to test their strength. The impacts sent tremors quaking through the whole canyon.

“Now,” the Storm King said, turning his beastly features upon X and the others at his feet, “That made for a good appetizer, but I’ve yet to get to the main course. Don’t think I’d forgotten about you guys. Plenty of room in here for everyone. I’m thinking by the time I’m done devouring all of you, I ought to have all the strength I need to smash Las Noches and tear that arrogant prick Tirek off of my throne.”

X cast a frustrated look at his companions and back towards the tunnel bunker that was their only possible exit. No matter how he looked at it, escaping that way was impossible with the Storm King looming over them. He hadn’t been blind to how little an effect their attacks had had on this monster in his present form, and while stuck at their current size. They needed a few minutes to enact Roka’s plan to have any chance, but the Storm King wasn’t about to give them the time.

Despite the seemingly impossible circumstances, those at his side were neither backing down nor succumbing any any despair.

“I know you probably can’t see this, but I’m flipping you off, you overblown egomaniac!” Di Roy shouted, throwing up a middle finger at the towering Storm King.

“Just one?” Gigan said with a small, resolved half-smile, “Let me at least triple that.”

And just like that two cyborg middle fingers joined in, causing Irys to actually let out a little snorting chuckling at Gigan and Di Roy both waving their defiance at the creature standing over them. For Irys’ part she just turned a withering glare upon the Storm King, hands clenched and a sonic vibration emanating from her body in her anger.

“I didn’t like anyone here, but they still deserved better than you,” she declared.

“Why don’t you bring that ugly mug of yours down here so we can give it a proper rearranging!?” Megalon shouted, grabbing Gaw by the shoulder, “I’ve got an angry dinosaur friend who I bet I could throw really hard to turn into an awesome death projectile!”

“...I have not agreed to this,” Gaw said, then shrugged and gave a feral grin, “But I am not saying no, either.”

“If it is fear you’re looking for, I don’t believe you’ll find it here,” Roka said, extending her reishi threads from her sleeves as she stared up at the Storm King, “Even if the seven of us only met recently, we are bonded by common cause and trust, things you clearly have discarded for temporary power.”

The Storm King, even with his changed, canine features, managed a skeptical and belligerent look as he threw his head back and laughed, “Bwhahaha! Oh wow, did you guys really just do the ‘line up in front of the bad guy and deliver a defiant speech’ routine? I mean, it was okay. I give it a seven out of ten, but it’s no ‘Avengers assemble’. What about you, Golden Boy? You want to take a crack at it?”

X looked up at the Storm King, a strange look of calm coming over his features as he said, “I don’t think I need to waste words on you. It seems like someone else has something they want to say.”

“Huh?”

The Storm King turned his massive head to the side as a Tempest Shadow’s spiritual pressure skyrocketed and washed over the area. The woman’s eyes were wet with held back tears, but her face was a steel mask of furious determination as she raised her Zanpaktou.

“Bankai.”

“Oh for the love of-” the Storm King hurled himself around to face Tempest as the ground shook, and the gigantic cliff-face containing Tempest’s hundred-meter tall, headless armor shot upwards like an instant mountain. Oniyama Hagane-hei crashed out of the summoned cliff-face like the world’s largest linebacker, shoulder already dipped to ram into the Storm King in a thunderous crash. Tempest leaped upon her armor’s gorget, her sword swinging upwards, and the blade in the giant armor’s hand responded with a similar upswing that smashed the Storm King backwards. He crashed upon the ground, but the writhing tentacles from his tail all let out monstrous howls and turned towards Tempest and her Bankai. Crimson Cero spheres gathered in the howling mouths of half a dozen wolf-jaws and fired together.

Tempest raised her Bankai’s sword and it grew into a circular shield, catching the Cero beams. However their destructive power was such that even her Bankai’s monolithic form was forced back, and the metal surface of her blade-turned-shield started to bubble under the onslaught. Even as the Ceros dissipated, Tempest’s shield was smoking, and the woman herself had burns appearing on her arms from the intensity of the blasts transferring damage from armor to body.

“X, get your people out of here!” Tempest shouted.

X looked from her, to the Storm King, who was rising from where he’d fallen. The wound Tempest’s sword had caused on his chest was already closing up quickly, regenerating so fast that by the time the Storm King was back on his six, clawed feet, the wound was nearly gone.

“Can you beat him?” X asked, and even at a distance he could see Tempest’s face clearly enough to see her look back at him silently, then look away.

“I’ll buy you as much time as I can,” was all she said before altering her Bankai’s shield back to a sword shape, and charged the Storm King.

The two titans met headlong, the Storm King ducking low to smash his head and body into Tempest’s Bankai at hip level, driving her back across the forest in a shower of broken trees. Now that the element of surprise was gone, it was obvious that Tempest was on the backfoot, and while she might hold the Storm King at bay for a time, any damage she inflicted would be regenerated, while she would gradually weaken.

X knew there was a strong chance she could keep the Storm King busy long enough for he and his team to escape, but...

He felt Gigan next to him, the cyborg giving X a level look over the top of his red shades.

“If we’re going, we need to go now.”

X was silent for a few painfully long seconds. He had no more time to weigh options. He had a duty to ensure his team’s survival. Survival that Tempest Shadow had put in jeopardy a few days ago when she captured them. Yet ever since then she’d been doing all she could to rectify that mistake and now put her life on the line without reservation for that cause.

Strangely, his thoughts turned to Aria Blaze. The way the siren made him feel was a wonderful warmth, and at times a terrifying fear of what it might be like if something happened to her, or if something happened to him and he couldn’t return to her. Many things had started to feel more important to him since he’d met her, including the people by his side whom he called comrades and friends. He’d long since ceased to be a mere weapon of the Xillians, or one who single mindedly sought to fulfill mission objectives.

He’d become a leader, and one who valued his bonds more than anything else.

And he’d seen himself reflected in Tempest Shadow, a warrior who’s desire for bonds had led her to forge an army out of Hollow souls, treat them as friends, and in some cases family. He and her may have met as enemies, but that had quickly grown into a form of mutual respect and recognition of each other’s values. In another life, another set of choices or circumstances, he might even have found her a different but worthy partner to awaken feelings in him like Aria had. Which also meant he didn’t believe he was the kind of man anymore who could turn away from the situation in front of him; not, and still be the man who held his Aria with such love.

The man X was now, he knew what needed to be done.

“Roka, your threads,” he said, “I want you to use them on me.”

She turned to him, giving a solemn nod, “Of course.”

“You sure about this?” Gigan asked, then almost immediately held up a hand before X could answer, “You know what? Never mind, stupid question. Just tell me you’re not doing this because you think you owe her.”

“No,” X said, not offering an actual answer as to why he did want to help Tempest. He knew he and Gigan were as close as comrades in arms could be, but there were differences between them, too. Nothing that their bond couldn’t handle with, of course, and Gigan shook his head with a helpless smirk.

“Fine, fine, we’ll help the idiot out. But I’m going to tell her ‘I told you so’ after we’re done.”

“I haven’t forgiven her for anything yet,” Irys said, “But I think I hate her master way more, so I’m all in.”

“Oh, do we finally get to go all out?” Megalon said, practically buzzing with excitement, “I wonder if we’ll get cool redesigns like Irys did?”

“Hoo boy, we’re really doing this aren’t we?” Di Roy scratched his head and then turned to Gaw and Roka, “Alright then, how’s this going to work.”

“You and Gaw stand to either side of me,” Roka said, then to X and his team, “You four get a bit of distance and stand around the three of us. I’ll tie my threads to our collective souls and sync up each of them. Then, myself, Di Roy, and Gaw all release our Zanpaktou.”

The ground shook violently as, in the distance, the fight between Tempest and the Storm King saw the later spinning around and lashing out with his bunched tail tentacles, the air cracking with sonic force as the tails smashed into Tempest’s Bankai and sent it hurtling through one of the two pyramids of the fortress. The pyramid exploded from the impact, huge hunks of stone sent flying. Tempest controlled her Bankai’s fall and had the armored giant roll to its feet, slashing out with its sword which in turn flung a shower of metal blades into the Storm King. The blades stuck in deep, but the Storm King didn’t even appear to feel the wounds as the blades were pushed out by his regenerative powers and he retaliated with the smaller tentacles across his back and shoulder, which shot forward like spears. Tempest’s Bankai was stabbed in several places, the armor holding out, but the wounds still reflecting upon Tempest’s body as she was staggered back a step.

With no time to waste, the Dark Hunters did as Roka bade and took up positions around her, maintaining enough distance so that when they transformed, they wouldn’t end up crushing their Arrancar allies. Di Roy and Gaw stood next to Roka, both staying still as Roka extended her reishi threads towards them. The barely visible glints of thread wrapped around their Hollow holes, in Di Roy’s chest and Gaw’s stomach. That done, Roka’s threads split off and move out to the Dark Hunters, slowly wrapping around their chests and then carefully penetrating their bodies. Each set of threads sought out the centers of each kaiju in human form’s essence, connecting to the innate energy locked away inside them.

Roka had said it’d take a minute or two, and she wasn’t lying. She had to be careful to feel out the right spot inside each of the Dark Hunters, and slowly align that energy with the Hollow energy inside herself, Di Roy, Gaw, and the latent energy within the very sands of Hueco Mundo itself.

Tempest Shadow just needed to survive and keep the Storm King off of them long enough for that to happen.

Chapter 11: Against the Storm

Chapter 11: Against the Storm

The sands of Hueco Mundo trembled from the impacts of monumental forces clashing. For many miles around the hidden canyon that contained the Storm King’s fortress, sand dunes rumbled from tremors and had their sands blown away by concussive wind force stemming from the canyon’s walls. Whatever stray, animalistic Hollows might have been wandering near the region would have raised their heads in fear, then swiftly scurried away, running headlong from the harrowing sensation of conflicting spiritual pressure filling the air.

Tempest Shadow took her massive Bankai in fast and low, the titanic suit of headless armor obeying her will and mimicking her motions as she charged in at the Storm King’s right side and made a potent two-handed slash in an upward curving arc. The Bankai’s tremendous blade howled through the air, it’s shape morphing to extend it’s length hundreds of yards in a flash. An attack meant to impale the Storm King was intercepted by a writhing forest of white tendrils that grew from his back, each one tipped with a wolf-like fang. The tendrils snapped around the extending blade of Tempest’s Bankai and twisted upward, sending the attack harmlessly overhead. Tempest quickly compensated, adjusting the blade’s shape to grow a series of serrated barbs that then cut through the tendrils as she retracted the blade itself, but even as the tendrils were severed, more grew in their place, and the Storm King laughed.

“Got to say, Tempest, today has not been your day for smart decision making.”

Despite his mountainous bulk, the Storm King moved with a swift, shuffling gait that sent his wolfish main body forward to rear up, managing to appear even taller than Tempest’s already hundred meter tall Bankai. His front paws extended savagely curved claws that raked down hard on the armored chest of the Bankai, tearing gouges in the thick metal plates. Tempest bit back a grunt of pain as similar, if shallower, wounds were duplicated across her actual body, but she didn’t lose her focus even for an instant. In her mind, every second bought was a second for X and his allies to get away safely. She could already tell that her chances of beating the Storm King were negligible; his regenerative powers were simply too much for her to deal enough damage unless she got a clear shot at a weak point like his Hollow hole. However, she could drag this out for a while yet. Enough time that those whose lives she’d endangered could escape.

Not that she’d entirely given up on victory. She wanted to take her former liege down, if she could. She owed those who had followed her under his leadership, all those he’d betrayed so callously, that much. The wound of that betrayal was so very raw it nearly drowned out any physical pain she might have felt. It still seemed insane to her that the Storm King would do this. How could he have thrown away everything they’d worked together towards!? What had her loyalty even meant to him? Nothing? Less than nothing?

It was all incomprehensible to her, who had built her whole life around the ideal of loyalty, especially that held among comrades. It was why she’d become so focused upon X and his team. It was impossible for her not to admire the bond they had, because it was the very ideal she’d tried so hard to live by as well and instill in the Hollows she’d chosen to lead. And it was a loyalty that apparently the Storm King had never once genuinely reciprocated, and yet she’d never realized the truth until it was too late to do more than offer this final stand of resistance.

With a furious shout on her lips she didn’t retreat from the blow he’d given her and instead stepped in, smashing the left shoulder of her Bankai into the Storm King, while growing a set of sharp spikes upon that portion of the Bankai’s armor for good measure. The spikes ripped into him, gouging flesh, while blow’s momentum shoved him back a step., She hefted her sword around for a sideways blow, converting the blade into a heavy cleaver shape for maximum damage potential.

The Storm King halted her blow by literally biting her sword with his massive maw, a shock wave of force blasting outward from the collision of forces. His mouth then ignited with a deep red glow and Tempest had to yank her sword free in time to keep it from getting blasted point-blank by a humongous Cero beam that shot forth from the Storm King’s mouth. The beam burrowed through the center of the remaining pyramid of his fortress, the other one having already been smashed to pieces earlier. The stone melted like wax and the fortress’ top half crumbled away as the red beam continued onward and smashed into the canyon wall many hundreds of meters behind it. The resulting detonation sent a cloud of smashed rock and sand mushrooming skyward and buffeted the entire canyon with gale-force winds.

“Grr! You owe me a new fortress, dammit!” the Storm King accused, and behind him the mass of half a dozen thick tendril-like tails with the eyeless skulls of wolves mounted upon them all rose and howled as one before coming at Tempest in a wild pack of gnashing teeth.

She managed to bat away several with a swing of her sword, and backhand another with her Bankai’s gauntleted first, but the others all got past her guard, moving at such speed that the wolf-head tendrils all but became dark blurs of motion. They buried fangs into her Bankai’s arms and legs, ripping into the armor while Tempest staggered from the wounds appearing on her own limbs. The Storm King used the leverage of the tendrils biting into her Bankai to yank her forward, his jaws opening to go for the gorget where Tempest stood. She managed to haul her left arm in the way, jamming his jaw with it. His teeth still bore into her Bankai’s armor, ripping similar wounds upon her flesh as she held him off. His voice echoed like a peal of thunder.

“You brought this on yourself, Tempest. You could have played ball with me, and I’d have let you come along to kill Tirek and the rest. Even if I don’t need you to do that, it would’ve been fun to raze Las Noches to the ground with you. But noooo, you had to get all sentimental on me. Ruin a perfectly good thing we had going!”

“No,” she spat past clenched teeth, “You brought this on yourself the moment you betrayed our trust.”

She’d kept her sword held back as the Storm King’s tendrils and teeth had ravaged her Bankai’s armor, and now she used her Zanpaktou’s power to convert it’s metal shape so that the blade’s length shot forward through the hilt, re-emerging and extending upon the other side so that the sword effectively switched which side of the hilt it was extending from. This move sent it skewering into the Storm King’s shoulder, biting deep and drawing a shower of blood. Tempest tried to tear the sword upward, but as she did so she found the Storm King gurgling a laugh as his wound actively closed around the sword, all but locking it in place. Then the tendrils with the skull heads all pulled back and gained the tell-tale red glow within their gullets, giving Tempest only a second to try and side step before a cascade of Cero beams hammered her Bankai and drove it backwards like a person being blasted back by a set of fire hoses.

To her credit she kept her grip on her sword, hauling it out of the Storm King’s body as her Bankai was sent skidding backwards until it slammed into the opposite canyon wall. She nearly dropped, but stubbornly forced herself and her Bankai to remain standing, albeit nearly fallen to one knee from the damage sustained from that attack. As for the Storm King, her impaling of his body left an open wound, but she could see it closing up already. Within seconds it was if she’d never wounded him, while her own condition was battered and bloody, if not quite down for the count. She was about as bad off as Irys had gotten her, right before the exchange of final blows, in fact, and it made Tempest smirk a bit at the memory. She really had enjoyed that fight. No malice, she just liked a good brawl, and Irys had been a hell of a good fighter.

There was no enjoyment in this battle. It was just necessary. And it was clear she only had one card left to play. She forced herself to straighten up, her Bankai echoing her move as she placed her Zanpaktou at her side. It converted shape once again, half of its mass becoming a large sheath belted to her Bankai’s side, while the rest became a slender katana she set within said sheath as she took up an iaijutsu stance.

Across from her the Storm King flicked his many, writhing tails, the wolf-skull heads upon them howling to Hueco Mundo’s pale moon above.

“Really? Going for your finishing move? You realize I could blitz you right now before you got the shot off, right? You know what though, just for old times’ sake, I’ll play along. I’ll let you die with a final hurrah, Tempest. Maybe that will satisfy your idiotic sentimentality."

He lowered his tails to the ground behind him and planted his feet wide, while the smaller tendrils across his back gathered forward forming a circle around his head. Crackling arcs of red energy sprang between the tendrils, forming a encircling pulsation of energy just ahead of his open maw, which in turn was also gathering motes of crimson power to form the beginnings of a heightened Cero, one that Tempest recognized as the same kind of empowered Cero beam the Espada of Las Noches were well-known for; Gran Rey Cero. With the Storm King’s level of reiatsu, even his regular Ceros had been striking with shocking force. A Gran Rey Cero might well erase everything in front of it for who could guess how many miles?

Yet Tempest was not about to flee or abort from her challenge. If she could fire off her attack, and aimed it properly, she may well still be able to strike him across the forehead, right in the center where his Hollow hole was located. All of her focus centered upon this target, her mind recalling the words Grubber had mouthed to her just before he and the twins had been absorbed into the Storm King.

”Remember Captain, you’re a Soul Reaper.”

Yes, she was a Soul Reaper, but Grubber wasn’t merely saying that as some fond farewell. No, for all his silly faults, he was often smarter than he let on, and it struck Tempest that as a Soul Reaper, she was the only one who could possibly save the souls of her dear comrades, the family she had forged. If she slew the Storm King herself, her Zanpaktou would perform one of its most basic functions and purify his soul. While she might not have cared much about that directly, it was reasonable to believe that, by proxy, she’d purify all the souls of every Hollow he’d absorbed. It was even possible, if only a faint hope in her heart, that doing this might free those absorbed by the Storm King, undoing whatever terrible bond had allowed him to consume so many. And if not... at least their souls would be sent on to Soul Society, devoid of the memories of their lives as Hollows, but continuing through the cycle of reincarnation.

A cycle that it was her duty as a Soul Reaper to protect and fulfill. If she could just land a fatal blow upon the Storm King with this last attack.

Her reiatsu poured into the sheath and coated her Bankai’s blade. Her own sword gleamed with the power as well as she stood upon the towering armor’s gorget and held her iaijutsu stance, hand upon the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it forth the moment her power reached its peak. The earth shook with the gathering might stemming from both herself and the Storm King, his own mouth a blazing inferno of crimson energy that reached a feverish pitch at the same moment Tempest’s sword hummed with it’s own peaking energy.

She started to draw the blade, blinding white reiatsu starting to flash out.

“Akiyama Mika-”

Pain exploded through her back, arms, and legs. Blood shot from her mouth as she coughed and staggered. Her hand upon her sword fell away from the hilt, the nerves in her wrist cut from a wound that had appeared there, along with numerous others that sprang across her legs, and through her back. None struck her heart, but the blows were sufficient to leave her blind with pain as she nearly toppled forward... but couldn’t because her Bankai was held fast by six massive barbs of bone that had impaled the Bankai from behind.

Glancing back, Tempest saw that the wall of the canyon she’d been forced up against earlier had six burrowed holes in it now, with the tendrils’ of the Storm King’s tails emerging from them. The wolf skull heads had grown pointed barbs upon their eyeless faces and had stabbed her in the back and limbs, and were now keeping her pinned to the wall. She saw, now, that when the Storm King had lowered his tails before, he’d used the bulk of his body to hide what they were doing. Burrowing beneath the ground. The rumble of charging energies from his Gran Rey Cero and her own attack had masked any tremors the tendrils would have made, burrowing beneath her and getting behind her to strike.

“Cowardly...bastard...” she managed to say, and the Storm King shrugged with an unapologetic grin.

“Like I said, sentimentality is stupid. Gets people killed. Gets them betrayed. You betrayed me. I betrayed you. It’s just what we do. All that ‘bonds’ and ‘camaraderie’ bullcrap you believed in? It got your friends killed, too, both Soul Reaper and Hollow alike. Wasn’t worth anything, in the end. Not against power, treachery, and whoever’s just flat out willing to be the nastier sonuvabitch. Speaking of which, guess it’s time I fire this Cero off, eh? Be smarter in your next life, Tempest.”

The tail barbs in her back were holding her Bankai still, but that didn’t mean they were actually holding Tempest herself still. As a last ditch effort, just before the Storm King unleashed his Gran Rey Cero, she propelled her injured body off the top of her Bankai with the fastest Flash Step she could muster. At the same time, she deactivated her Bankai, causing the gigantic suit of armor to start to vanish into a wash of pure white mist-like energy and flow back into the katana in her hands.

This all happened in the eyeblink it took for the Storm King to fire. The ground around him indented from the force of the shot as a devastatingly huge Cero beam, one wide enough to encompass a near fourth of the canyon’s width, shot out and utterly consumed the portion of the canyon wall that Tempest and her Bankai had occupied. Countless tens of thousands of tons of sand, rock, and general desert landscape were obliterated as the leviathan sized beam of red drilled it’s way across Hueco Mundo’s topography. It was impossible to gauge at a casual glance, but no doubt that at least several dozen kilometers of land had just been turned into a molten, glassed ravine that was itself nearly half a kilometer wide.

The Storm King’s huge jaws were left open, panting in effort after that as he wiped his drooling chin with a white paw.

“Whew... now that’s what I’m talking about. Should’ve eaten the army sooner. This power boost is tasty. Going to sooooo enjoy the look on Tirek’s face when I come strolling up to Las Noches gates like ‘What up bitch? Remember me?’ Eh, I’ll workshop that. Need to get the words just right and... wait a second...”

His nose twitched as he still sensed Tempest’s reiatsu nearby. With incredulousness filling his wolven features, he turned and stomped a distance towards the smashed fortress, and to his shock found Tempest Shadow there. She’d evaded his Cero, although the shear force of the blast had knocked her into the top portion of the now rubble pile that had once been his fortress. She was struggling to stand, bleeding from head to toe, Zanpaktou still in her hands and in it’s cleaver shaped Shikai state.

“Okay this is getting sad. Like, Old Yeller levels,” the Storm King grumbled, “Here I am, trying to give you a nice, quick, still sorta painful death, but you just keep refusing to drop. Tempest, bae, it’s over. One hundred percent done. You. Can’t. Kill. Me.”

“Perhaps not... but... still going to keep trying,” she said, trembling top to bottom from pain and blood loss, but still managing to take on a fighting stance, despite facing down a titanic foe who didn’t have a lasting wound on him, and whose power hardly seemed to have flagged.

“Let me know how that works out for you,” he said dryly, raising a paw in preparation to smash it down on her... only to pause as his nose twitched again. He sensed something else now. Another set of reiatsu nearby.

“Huh?”

He turned away from Tempest and looked over his shoulder behind him. He sensed the reiatsu of three Arrancar; the same three prisoners that Tempest had captured along with those interdimensional freakshows. While he wasn’t surprised to sense them, he had expected them to be fleeing the area. What he wasn’t expecting was to sense them still in the canyon.

“What in the cinnamon-toast hell is this?” he said, just as both he and Tempest saw that not only had Di Roy, Roka, and Gaw not fled, but X and his team were also there.

The four Dark Hunters stood in rough diamond formation around the three Arrancar, with a good thirty to forty meters of space between them. Roka was standing between Di Roy and Gaw, and strands of her reishi were wrapped around herself, her two Arrancar companions, and the Dark Hunters. Pulses of faint blue reishi were flowing between the strands, and all three Arrancar were slowly raising their reiatsu, pushing up their spiritual pressure as they held out their Zanpaktou.

The Storm King had no idea what was going on. Tempest, having seen with her own eyes Irys’ transformation during her battle with the Dark Hunters, had an inclination of what was coming, and her bloodied lips quirked up in a smile.

“Roka, I don’t mean to alarm you, but the gigantic asshole who just glassed a national park’s worth of desert appears to have noticed we’re up to something,” Di Roy said with clear alarm of his own as the Storm King started to turn towards them.

Roka’s eyes were closed, the half of her face not covered by her skull mask still as marble with focus. The pulsations of reishi flowing through her threads, connecting her, Di Roy, and Gaw to the four Dark Hunters had reached a steady pitch that matched all of their heartbeats. Suddenly her eyes snapped open, “It’s done. Our souls are synchronized to theirs. Di Roy, Gaw, your Zanpaktou!”

“Showtime,” Di Roy said, casting a sidelong look at Gaw, “You ready for this?”

“Dumb question,” she growled, raising her Zanpaktou, bloody light emenating from her body, “I always ready. You make sure you not get hurt like last time!”

“Tch, says the nutjob who keeps shoving her head into the grinder before anyone else,” he smirked, his eyes flicking towards the Dark Hunters around them, “But something tells me we might actually pull this off.”

X, Gigan, Megalon, and Irys all stood at the ready. Roka’s threads had worked their way into the four, harmlessly wrapping around parts of each kaiju’s spiritual makeup that contained the vast portion of their untapped power and true forms while contained within the more limiting human bodies they occupied. In essence, this was no different than attaching jumper cables to a car battery, if the jumper cables were spiritual threads, and the car batteries were in fact the true powers and forms of four kaiju from another dimension.

For the past few minutes X had forced himself, both physically and mentally to stillness. He’d watched, unblinking, as Tempest Shadow had done battle against the Storm King, placing herself in harm’s way all the while thinking that she was doing it so he and his allies could escape. She hadn’t considered the possibility of being saved, nor had she needed to be asked to put herself in mortal peril for their sake. In X’s mind, all previous transgressions were officially buried between them. Now he only saw an ally to rescue, and in the Storm King’s case, an enemy to be removed.

While no true judge of spiritual powers yet, he had enough experience to recognize that if Tempest Shadow, who’d been an even match for a fully transformed Irys, was reduced to such a wounded state while leaving no lasting injury on her foe... than he and his crew had one hell of a fight on their hands. He was undaunted by the fact. This still wasn’t power on the level he’d witnessed from his master. He and his team would see this through to the end, and then go home.

Aria, I’ll be with you soon. Just have a job to finish up, he thought, holding an image of his siren love in his mind.

The Storm King looked more confused than alarmed by the sight of the group standing at the other side of the ruined, circular canyon. High on his own power, he didn’t feel threatened. A mistake he was seconds from learning the magnitude of as Roka, Di Roy, and Gaw all let their spiritual energy pour out of them and spoke the release phrases for their Zanpaktou.

”Dance in ecstasy; Telerana!” (Cobweb)

”Laugh at death; Picaro!” (Rogue)

”Go for the throat; Cazadora!” (Huntress)

As each phrase was shouted, further spiritual power erupted from the three Arrancar as they assumed their Resurreccion forms. A column of pale yellow light rose from Roka, her body covered by the light for several moments before revealing her with four white, cloth draped spider legs growing from her back. Her body was now covered in a new, white silk gown, and her skull mask upon the right side of her face was replaced with a similar cloth veil. Di Roy’s body glowed with a burst of blue energy, his hammer-head shark shaped helmet of bone splitting in half and growing in size as it slid down in two pieces to stand upon his back like a pair of large fins. His upper body became bare chested, ribs of bone growing over his chest like a light armoring. His shark-tooth sword grew in size in his right hand, nearly doubling in length, while upon his left hand a large mound of bone took the shape of a shielded gauntlet, ending with the mouth of a shark. A torrent of near liquid blood red energy rose over Gaw, her size growing as she assumed the shape of a bipedal theropod dinosaur covered in plates of spiked bone armor and bearing two curved blades extending from her forearms, while a long tails as spiked as her armor grew behind her.

While these changes took place, they were hardly what drew the Storm King’s attention, for a trio of Arrancar, even if they were all above average in power, remained no threat to him in his mind.

What did draw his notice, and his sudden concern, was that as the three transformed, the spirit threads that Roka had attacked to X and his team all blazed with sudden, prismatic light! Pulses of power flowed down the threads like livewires, hitting the Dark Hunters and lighting up their bodies with individual auras that shone brightly like tiny stars; X’s a burnished gold, Irys’ a vibrant violet, Gigan’s a deep cobalt blue, and Megalon’s an energetic orange. Then the very land itself shook, and the sands of Hueco Mundo rose up like a squall around the group. Sand transmuted into raw, red Hollow energy as the reishi of Hueco Mundo poured into the awakening vessels that beckoned to it. Vessels that absorbed spiritual power as readily and greedily as they would have drunk in magic if this had been a different world, and with very similar results.

Before the Storm King’s eyes, four deluges of unfettered energy expelled skyward in a quartet of multi-colored light, each cyclonic pillar of power spearing the air for kilometers. The roaring pillars of golden, violet, blue, and orange energies were teaming with Hollow spiritual pressure, but there were other powers at work, finally and properly unleashed, as four titanic forms emerged from within the pillars. As the energies burst outward in a final explosion of power, the dust settled, and Hueco Mundo’s sky was split by four distinctly different but no less air rending war cries from titanic throats.

The Storm King’s hulking form took an involuntary step back, confidence in his own power shaken by the sight before him.

Irys was as she’d been before, when she’d transformed and done battle with Tempest Shadow. Her already naturally pale, ablino hide seemed to carry an even brighter white sheen as she spread her massive wings, edged with bladed bone. From the Gyaos’ triangular, flat topped head filled with sharpened teeth down to her clawed feet her bone white body was covered with sharply angled, glowing red markings. Eyes with black sclera and burning yellow pupils narrowed in hungry fury at the target that was in front of her.

To Irys’ left, Gigan raised his bladed arms and examined himself. His internal computer systems were providing detailed diagnostics of his full-kaiju form, and the changes temporarily wrought by Hueco Mundo’s spirit energies. For reasons he decided it was best not to think too hard about, his systems seemed momentarily calibrated to the local energies, the usual interference much cleared up. Sure, some of the symbols on his systems readouts looked annoyingly...arcane now, but he was detecting no malfunctions or glitches with his new “equipment”. Specifically while he still had his large arm blades, underneath those blades now were mounted what appeared to be revolver styled cannons whose barrels and chambers looked to be forged out of stark white bone, with red tubing connecting the cylindrical chambers to the sides of his chest. Both his chest and limbs appeared to have additional armoring, making his appearance of a bipedal, cybernetic death parrot even more imposing. His head, now largely white instead of its usual dark blue, still bore a large ruby eye and it’s usual sharpened beak. His back frills remained in place, although the spurs were all white now, while leaving the membranes red. Checking his systems there were some internal modifications as well, including additional thrusters in his legs.

Opposite Irys from Gigan, Megalon was less focused on checking his own internal systems and more with stretching himself out to his own full and impressive height while giving himself more of a visual once over. His kaiju form was in many respects similar to his brother cyborg’s, in that he was upright and bipedal, but rather than avian he had a distinctly insectile appearance not unlike a stag beetle's. Well, if a stag beetle had giant drill arms. Not unchanged from his typical look as well, Megalon sported additional drill-like protrusions rising from his shoulders, and white bone armoring across his head and chest area, the armoring around his mandibles especially having an intimidating look with what appeared to be additional sharpened teeth. His drill arms had gained a set of more pronounced spikes upon them as well, mirror by similar spikes upon his legs and feet.

Of the Dark Hunters, X may have appeared the least physically changed, but that was largely because his natural form had already shared traits with Hollow-kind. A dark, humanoid draconic being with charcoal black hide encased in thick, irregularly shaped plates of bone white armor, one could have been easily forgiven for mistaking X for a Vasto Lorde class Hollow of titanic size. His face was covered in a bone-like mask in the visage of a demonic dragon, and he had a pair of long, bone plated tails ending in barbed blades. Upon his shoulders were pauldrons of pale white that bore the resemblance of two halves to a single dragon’s skull, although those familiar with the secrets of X’s origins would know those additional heads were no mere decoration of symbolism. However there were changes from his usual form. His eyes, usually the red of spilled blood, were now golden yellow, and this before he had yet to draw upon any of his Kaizer energies. From his back now sprouted twin wings of skeletal bone, lacking membranes but seeming no less formidable for it. And, perhaps most noteworthy of the changes, in his humanoid hands he now held twin blades, each one a long, curved, semi-jagged scimitar forged of the same bleached bone as his armoring. The weapons may have been unfamiliar to X’s grip, but his combat knowledge did extend to armed melee, so he flexed his arms and gave each weapon a brief flourish to test their balance. He may never have held a weapon in his natural form before, but the blades felt absolutely right in his hands, as if he’d been wielding them his whole life.

The Storm King, slowly regaining his sense of superiority, his ego demanding that he not show the growing cold of fear in his gut, stomped forward and drew himself up to his full height as his back tendrils writhed and his six tails rose behind him, each crackling with red lines of energy charging Cero’s at their bladed tips.

“So the four of you got a little big? So what!? Power is what matters, not size! I’m still stronger than any of you!”

X simply looked at him. Kaiju such as himself and his compatriots generally didn’t speak in their natural forms, at least not in a manner readily understood by non-kaiju, but he communicated well enough by raising one of his blades and pointing it at the Storm King. He roared, a powerful cacophony of noise that said what was on his mind clearly enough; ‘Stronger than any of us? Maybe. But not stronger than all of us!’

And then, the battle was on.

One kaiju charging on the warpath was enough to shake the earth. Four of them propelling themselves headlong at the same foe was like a living, breathing apocalypse.

Irys took to the air, first thing, soaring upwards with powerful flaps of her wings as her throat glowed deep colors of red and purple with a charge of sonic and mixed Hollow energies. Below her, X, Gigan, and Megalon stampeded forward, Gigan going right while Megalon broke left, and X went straight up the middle. X didn’t have to issue any commands to his team. They all knew what to do. How to read each other’s movements. This fight they would function practically as a single entity, adapting tactics on the fly as needed, and already were working to flank and surround their opponent.

Irys’ sonic beam fired in a cutting arc across the Storm King’s back, the Cero-like qualities added to the beam causing a wider destructive range than her usual, thin beams. The hit scorched the Storm King’s hide, drawing blood, although his regenerative properties kicked in instantly, as did his retaliation as he roared in challenge and fired the already charged Cero beams from his tails.

With four equally threatening targets to choose between the Storm King split his firepower, perhaps not the wisest of tactical decisions but he didn’t have time to think things through, and was still overconfident that even these transformed titans couldn’t possibly be that powerful. Crimson beams raked the Dark Hunters, although Irys was swift enough on the wing to bank aside the beam that shot past her. Megalon tanked the twin blasts that struck him, his thickly armored body readily surviving the blows, although some plated scales did still get blown off by the hefty explosions. Gigan used his left arm blade to block the beam that came his way, the Cero beam heating up the metal but not destroying it as a fair chunk of the beam was deflected to the ground to detonate harmlessly behind Gigan. X crossed his swords in front of him, similarly blocking the two beams that came his way as he kept charging forward, although some of the beams did splash upon his body, inflicting some damage but hardly anything to slow the massive dragonoid down.

Now thoroughly surrounding their target, the four kaiju unloaded their own firepower upon the Storm King.

Erratic golden gravity beams exploded from X’s eyes and the eyes of the dragon skulls upon his shoulders, the gold beams of lightning-like energy now tinged with the red of Hollow spirit power. Megalon powered up his own destructive beam of energy, one that normally fired from the stag beetle shaped horn protrusion from his head. Now, however, that horn shot beams to the drills on his shoulders, which then acted like lightning towers and glowed bright yellow and red and fired amplified streams of energy out in wide torrents.

Meanwhile Gigan, while tempted to stick with his reliable standby in his eye laser, figured he might as well see what these cannons now mounted under his arm blades could do. Normally his professional mind would balk at using untested weapons in live combat, but he figured if these things were going to malfunction it was better to find out right off the bat rather than wait for a critical moment. He took aim with both barrels and cut loose. The revolver cannons gave off volcanic retorts as they belched forth crimson muzzle flashes. With Gigan’s enhanced scanners and senses he could see the bullets being fired, each as large as a double-decker bus. The rounds were as bleached white as the other Hollow additions to his body, and were shaped with pointed tips and barbed sides. Upon impact with the Storm King’s flesh the rounds tore in deep, and then flashed red before exploding in gouts of crimson energy. Even as he shot, Gigan’s systems informed him new rounds were being regenerated into the cylinders, ensuring he’d have a fresh reload in moments.

The giant cyborg couldn’t really move his beak in a smile, but inwardly he grinned a bit. Oh... I like.

Irys had flown behind the Storm King and now dove low, flying over him while strafing with another sonic Cero, this time cutting through one of the Storm King’s tails and severing it clean off. The Storm King didn’t fare well under X’s and Megalon’s energy assault either, the combined streams sparking explosions all over the Storm King’s body and causing him to stumble back.

“Arrrgh! Freakin’ dogpiling assholes!”

X rushed towards the Storm King’s front, mindful of the fact that Tempest was still on the ruined fortress behind the Storm King. He moved with dexterity well beyond what one might expect for a being his size, leaping into a spinning dual cut with his blades, aiming for the Storm King’s head. Despite the injuries that had just been inflicted on him, the Storm King was still quite mobile and to X’s surprise jumped into X’s strike. This caused X’s swords to strike lower than intended, cutting into the Storm King’s chest, but not stopping the Storm King from bodily colliding with X in mid-air.

The impact was explosive, causing a wind burst for hundreds of meters as the two colossal forms smashed into one another and crashed to the ground in a pile of limbs. X was a highly experienced soldier and knew to guard his vitals, which allowed him to avoid it when the Storm King’s wolven maw snapped towards his throat. Instead the Storm King’s jaws bite deep into X’s shoulder, causing golden blood to spurt forth and pain to lance his senses. X didn’t lose focus, however, and quickly raised one knee to block the Storm King’s raking back claws and then rapidly adjusted his weight to roll and throw the Storm King sideways, using a generous amount of gravity manipulation to make the Storm King’s bulk lighter and easier to toss.

The Storm King went flying, but righted himself in the air and landed on his paws, sliding across the ground while the tendrils on his back all rose and became rigidly focused. Red power rushed across his back in a crackling array, and in a split second the scores of tendrils began to fire massive but swift firing Bala bullets in their hundreds. Because there were so many reishi bullets being fired at once, the Storm King barely had to aim, and just flung the energy balls in the rough direction of the Dark Hunters in an onslaught.

For the kaiju, this was not an unfamiliar feeling, being bombarded by a massive storm of small but unrelenting attacks. Unlike the usual combination of tank shells and missiles that the kaiju were used to being able to shrug off with little to no harm, the Storm King’s Bala bullets were a different matter. His Ceros were more powerful, true, but the Bala still contained enough power to sting, to dent, to blow off small bits of hide in a way conventional military firepower couldn't. And the Storm King was expelling hundreds if not thousands of these bullets in a bloody, ruby tempest.

For a few seconds the landbound Dark Hunters could only endure the storm, and even Irys, who had some capacity to evade while airborne, found herself being painfully pelted by the crimson reishi bullets that filled the sky.

The spread of Bala was so wide that plenty were also detonating across the vast canyon, a few exploding no more than a few meters from where Adagio’s vassals still stood. Roka, Di Roy, and Gaw remained in their Resurreccion forms, the energy they’d used to jump start the Dark Hunters’ transformations having not actually taken much from the three Arrancar themselves, as they’d only needed to start the process, while the rest of the power for the formation of the kaiju’s true bodies had come from within the Dark Hunters themselves and the ambient Hollow spirit energy of Hueco Mundo.

This meant that the three were at full power and more than battle ready, although just what they could do in this situation was something Di Roy in particular decided to voice as they watched the fight unfold.

“Right, so I get that we’re jumping in, but we all basically know we’re majorly outgunned here, right?”

At Di Roy’s words Roka just twitched her lips into a quirked half-smile, “A trend I feel will remain common for us. It hasn’t stopped us yet.”

“Yeah, not gonna lie, I’m worried about the ‘yet’ part, but we’re in do or die territory now, so how do we want to tackle this asshole?” Di Roy said, ducking his head as another set of stray Balas flew overhead and destroyed a chunk of terrain behind them, “Because not seeing a lot of openings.”

Gaw’s eyes remained narrowly fixed upon the battle, her tail lashing the air behind her as she let out a predatory, hunter’s growl, “All prey have weaknesses. Throat. Eyes. Belly. When tribe hunts in pack, even small wounds help bring down big prey.”

“Go for the weak spots... got it,” Di Roy said, hefting his sword, “Those tendrils aren’t too thick. We cut those down to size, we free up our big badass buddies to go for the kill.”

“Yes,” said Roka, flexing her arms and the spider legs on her back, threads weaving through the air from all six limbs, “And I shall see to mitigating damage to our friends.”

Their own tactics set, the three flew into motion, vanishing with the super speed movement of Sonido. With the Storm King so single mindedly focused upon the Dark Hunters, this meant he was less likely to take notice of the three far weaker powers on the move. His flood of Balas hadn’t let up, but the Dark Hunters weren’t just taking the punishment. X flexed his arms and wings outward, golden currents snapping between both blades and wings as he warped gravity and caused a funnel in front of him that sent the Bala bullets spinning off to either side, which in turn created an opening for him to fire a direct stream of gravitons from his eyes at the Storm King.

Gigan had broken into a faster gait, circling around to the Storm King’s rear while using his arm blades to slash side as many of the crimson spheres splashing towards him as possible. He saw Megalon doing the same on the Storm King’s other side, and the two cyborgs both barreled in from opposite sides, Megalon revving up his drills, while Gigan checked to see if his chain-saws were still functional in this altered form. As it turned out, they were, but in a way he didn’t expect as the revolver cannons adjusted their shape and flipped down and backwards, connecting to Gigan’s elbows while the red tubes that connected them to Gigan’s arms started to pump some mysterious liquid into his blades. The blades shifted into chainsaws, although single blades rather than his usual doubles, but then ignited with a wash of thick ruby flames as the saw teeth spun up with a high pitched whine and flaming roar.

Flaming chainsaws? Little over the top, but I’ll roll with it, Gigan thought as he and Megalon struck simultaneously as X’s graviton beam lashed the Storm King from the front.

The Storm King moved exceptionally fast, turning in place and rearing up to rake with his claws to try and bat aside Gigan’s attacks, while his rear tails coiled together into a singular mass that whipped at Megalon. Gigan twisted his left chainsaw blade into a downward swipe that crunched into one of the Storm King’s claws, the flaming blade chewing through flesh and knocking the limb aside while Gigan swiped across the Storm King’s chest with the other chainsaw. The strike drew blood, but the Storm King’s other claw that was still free smashed across Gigan’s face, drawing sparks as leaving gouges in the armor. Meanwhile Megalon took the blow from the Storm King’s tail without ceasing his own attack, the blow crunching into his side with a burst of sparks and fragments of armor, but his drills went to work on the Storm King’s right flank, the spinning weapons ripping huge chunks from the Storm King’s side.

Then an albino anvil slammed down from above as Irys, seeing an opening with their enemy distracted by her companions, dove straight down and then reversed her body’s orientation so she slammed feet first onto the Storm King’s back. She took a number of shots from the Storm King’s Balas that were still firing from his tendrils, but she readily accepted that pain and damage to get in her dive bomb slam.

The Storm King was knocked prone by the hefty avian’s attack, and the other Dark Hunters prepared to start hammering him while he was down, but unfortunately there would be no swift and easy victory to be found. A dark red aura, rimmed with a tinge of shadowy black, rose from the Storm King and his still coiled tails rose up. The bladed tips of the tails were all aligned together, like a singular pointed spear, and a typhoon of blinding red energy flowed around those tips for a moment with a roar of wind force. Then it discharged a wide Cero beam, not as strong as the Gran Rey Cero but still carrying more force than the individual beams the tails could make alone. The Storm King swung his tail while still firing this powerful beam continuously, sweeping it around and above his prone body in a fast arc that caught the Dark Hunters off guard.

Each was splashed by the Cero beam, the stream of energy striking with enough force to send them reeling in different directions. Irys was knocked flat, almost skidding to a stop at X’s feet, who had moved forward to guard her from the beam as it swept around again, crossing his arms and blades to blunt the beam as much as possible, but even then feeling chunks of his bone-like armor being blasted off. Gigan was knocked back into the canyon wall, although he still kept his feet under him, while Megalon teetered sideways from where the beam swept over his side and chest, blackening his armor and leaving him off balance.

Striking at what he saw as the most vulnerable target, the Storm King wheeled about and directed a concentrated barrage of Balas from his tendrils right at the teetering Megalon, but just as he started to fire upon the cyborg he noticed stinging pain on his back.

“The hell?” he looked over his shoulder to see that his back tendrils were being severed, one by one, by two flickering forms that danced across his back like high-speed gnats.

Di Roy and Gaw moved as a team, as used to each other in combat as the Dark Hunters were to each other, and they moved in a blurring zig-zag line. Di Roy’s sword had split in half, with it’s tip connected to it’s hilt by a set of chains that let him wing it around in a wide, whipping arc to cut down multiple tendrils at once. Meanwhile Gaw used every part of her body, arm blades, clawed feet, and even her now sharp saurian teeth to savage tendrils half a dozen at a time as she rushed by them.

This didn’t stop the full barrage from striking Megalon, but it reduced the amount of Balas being fired considerably and distracted the Storm King’s aim as he had to mentally redirect tendrils to take aim at the irritating flies buzzing around him.

Meanwhile Roka had appeared on Megalon’s head, landing there and looking down at one of his big, orange eyes. “I’ll try to repair what I can. Don’t stop fighting. HIs regeneration can’t keep up forever.”

She started to send hundreds of threads out from her limbs, wrapping Megalon’s wounds in coatings like spider silk, pulling together damaged components while layering up places where armor had been blasted away. Megalon let out a cherry, confirming screech and saluted with one drill before pushing himself back up and warded off the slackening Bala barrage with his other drill as he opened his mandibles and expelled a series of explosive grenades at the Storm King.

Gigan also cut loose with his eye laser, his cyclopean eye flaring with a wreath of red spirit energy as his eye laser fired with an extra burst of Hollow power behind it.

Both his and Megalon’s attacks struck home, the grenades exploding in blossoms of fire across the Storm King’s head and front, while Gigan’s beam lashed his side. And all the while Di Roy and Gaw made their way down his back towards his tails, leaving a trail of trimmed tendrils in their wake.

Roka’s words about his regeneration, however, were not quite coming to pass, as it seemed whatever damage was racked up on the Storm King didn’t remain for more than a matter of seconds. Whether it be from the physical beating of flaming chainsaws and powerful drills, or from the barrages of energy attacks slamming into him, it seemed like the Storm King’s wounds kept vanishing almost as fast as they could be inflicted. Even the scores of tendrils that Di Roy and Gaw had cut off were already starting to regrow.

X felt this Kaizer in his mind desiring to be let out, and he was tempted to do just that, but was concerned that a lack of tactical thinking might be too detrimental even for having such a raw boost of power. He helped Irys up, who gave a squawk of thanks before she flew up into the air again, and X prepared to charge in at the Storm King, wondering if this beast could survive something as simple and usually final as decapitation, but then he felt a presence on his right shoulder. His eyes flicked to the side, and he saw Tempest Shadow standing there on his shoulder, still bleeding from her wounds but managing to stay steady on her tenuous perch while keeping a grip on her Zanpaktou.

“X!” she shouted, “Listen to me! He has a weak point. All Holllows do! The hole, that empty spot they all have, if I can hit it with my blade, it will finish things.”

X, unable to speak in this form, could only give a brief tilt of his head to question her with. Could a single sword blow to a vulnerable point really do that much? Tempest’s expression was more than just earnest, it was desperate. She had neither reason to lie nor reason to exaggerate.

“It might not work if he’s still at full strength, but if you and your team can wear him down enough, then get me close, a Zanpaktou is designed to purify Hollows by slaying them. Please, trust me. I have to do this!”

She didn’t have time to explain the full reason she wanted to do this, besides just seeing to the Storm King’s defeat and ensuring they all had a chance to survive this. As the battle had been going on she’d thought to what she’d seen Grubber mouth at her before he and the twins had been swallowed. ‘Remember you’re a Soul Reaper’.

It hadn’t just been some final message of good luck or random words. He’d been trying to tell her something important. That her Zanpaktou might be the key to saving the souls of her comrades. A Zanpaktou was a tool for slaying Hollows, but the striking of a final blow from a Zanapktou did more than just ‘kill’ the Hollow, it purified it’s spirit and sent that spirit on to the Soul Society. If the Storm King had absorbed her entire army, then if she was able to strike the final blow on him with her Zanpaktou, there was a chance it’d purify all of the souls bound to him. For all she knew it might free them entirely, or undo the absorption. It was a long shot, but it was the only one she had. Besides, it really was the best option for finishing the Storm King off.

It was possible the Dark Hunters, if they were able to hammer on the Storm King long enough, might wear out his regeneration. It did take spirit energy to fuel that regeneration, so it couldn’t keep going forever, but whether it’d give out first or the Dark Hunters would was an altogether other matter. Both Tempest and X recalled that Irys reverted to a human form after taking too many wounds and using up too much power. The Dark Hunters’ transformations weren’t permanent. They could run out at any time. This battle was one of attrition, and it was entirely possible the Storm King had the advantage in that regard unless a means to take him out in one shot was found.

X understood this within a moment’s thought, too. Another reason to not use Kaizer form would be the way that would burn up more energy and possibly end his transformation sooner. From his standpoint there were two possible routes to victory.

One; get his team to fire their strongest attacks all at once, together, and hope to annihilate the Storm King’s body completely with the combined attack. The drawback here was that if this failed, they’d have likely used up far too much power to hold their transformations for long afterward, so it would really be a final gamble that they’d take him out.

Or, two; weaken the Storm King enough that they could create an opening for Tempest to get at the Hollow hole on his head for a hopefully fatal blow.

X didn’t take more than a second to consider the two before looking at Tempest and giving a nod and a low growl of approval that he hoped communicated his words; ‘Hold tight and be ready, we’ll get you your opening’.

She gave back a grateful nod and knelt down, gripping his shoulder with one hand to keep herself steady there for the tough fight ahead, while her other, bloodied hand clenched tight on her Zanpaktou. X didn’t hear her whispered, “Thank you.” before he charged at the Storm King.

The Storm King easily saw X coming, and given Gigan and Megalon were still flanking him, with Irys getting back into the sky with a sandstorm of wind billowing out from her wing flaps, the Storm King decided remaining in his present precarious position was not ideal. As X closed in, the Storm King crouched low, then with immense strength sprang up and backwards in a manner few kaiju sized creatures could pull off. Soaring in an arc that would take him out of the crater, the Storm King cupped his forward claws around spheres of blood red power, and fired dual beams down at X’s position.

X, quite incredibly agile for his size as well, leaped above the beams, using his gravity control to allow his massive bulk to jump right after the Storm King. The beams detonated below him, creating a towering pillar of destructive red fire that scorched at X’s back, but he ignored it and focused ahead, his eyes flaring with gravitons, unleashing crackling gold beams at the Storm King while both of them were still in the air.

The beams lashed the Storm King, who upon the apex of his leap retaliated with a swift Cero from his mouth that blasted X’s chest. Both landed outside the canyon just a few hundred meters from the edge, the vast Hueco Mundo desert stretching out behind the pair. Both bled from their injuries, but the Storm King’s were sealing up quickly. X didn’t wait or slow down, springing into a dead run the moment he’d landed, and crossed the distance to the Storm King in seconds.

His curved blades flashed down, golden graviton energy snaking along their edges. Sparks and blood flew as the Storm King was struck, and he roared and struck back with fierce claws that ripped along X’s side as he sidestepped.

A powerful screech filled the air as Irys came flying in now, moving well past the speed of sound yet controlling the very essence of sound as she used her sonic vibrations to create something akin to her sonic barrier. However this “barrier” was concentrated around the bladed edge of her right wing as she turned sideways, and turned up the vibrations so the barrier became more like a blade sheathed around her wing, a blade of sound that she used to slide across the Storm King’s back as she flew by with enough speed to kick up a mountain of sand in her wake.

The Storm King roared in pain, blood spurting from a massive gash on his back. His tails moved like snakes, three pointing at X, and three aiming at Irys, before discharging triple Ceros that lance into both kaiju. X was driven back several steps, his blades catching some of the beams, but his body having to soak the rest of the damage.

Irys had deftly avoided two of the beams, but her wing was hit dead center by the third. As luck had it, it was the right wing, still sheathed in sonic energies, so the Cero’s power was mitigated somewhat and she didn’t outright lose the wing, but instead was just left with a nasty char mark on the wing’s surface. She still lagged in the air as she started to circle around for another pass.

The Storm King had rushed forward after X, rearing up and slashing with his claws in a surprisingly fast flurry of blows. X didn’t relent from them, adjusting his stance to duck and juke from each strike, softening the damage and waiting for an opening. He thought he saw one and went for it, stabbing up from a low stance with his left handed blade and sinking it into the Storm King’s shoulder. Only a fraction of a second later did he realize he’d essentially made the same kind of error that Tempest had when the Storm King’s healing factor regrew tissue around the blade, momentarily trapping it and leaving X slightly off balance.

With a flash of jaws the Storm King clamped his teeth around X’s arm, gigantic teeth cracking through boney armor and dark skin. X pulled back with his right leg and kicked forward, slamming the Storm King’s side to try and jostle him loose, but those wolven jaws held tight and X felt his whole arm wrench as the Storm King hauled him around and bodily threw him through the air.

X, not losing his concentration for a second, rolled with the toss and with a burst of gravity control managed to land relatively easily, slamming into the sands and skidding backwards for a distance as his titanic form rent new ravines into the desert.

With fresh red energy pooling into his mouth, the Storm King looked ready to follow up with another, charged up Cero, but then the ground beneath him shook and the sands exploded upwards.

Megalon burst from the ground, having tunneled right through the canyon wall and the sands beneath the Storm King. One spinning drill upper cut the Storm King in the jaw with enough force to snap the Arrancar’s wolf shaped head back, the Cero discharging randomly into the ground and leaving glassed sand in its wake.

Then there was a flash of light and Gigan popped into view above the Storm King, having teleported there with his revolver cannons now flipped forward again and readily aimed. Gigan’s red eye flashed and he let out a satisfied screech as both his eye laser and revolver cannons opened fire with a downpour of energy and explosive rounds into the Storm King.

More was poured onto the beleaguered Storm King as Di Roy and Gaw, who’d jumped off his back prior to him leaping out of the canyon, now appeared on Megalon’s head alongside Roka, who’d finished covering Megalon’s wounds. All three Arrancar stood together, Di Roy taking aim with his shark tooth sword, Roka with her spider legs, and Gaw with her saurian jaws, and all three opened fire with their own Ceros; beams of blue, gold, and red respectively.

Although those Cero beams did comparatively little damage, they just added to the torrent of blasts converging on the Storm King as Megalon opened up with both his mouth spat grenades and electrical energy discharges from his beetle-like horn. Irys strafed with another sonic ray, while Gigan landed on the ground next to X and after sharing a brief nod to each other, the pair opened fire with eye lasers and gravity beams.

Whole chunks were being blown off of the Storm King’s body now, two of his tails sailing away in bloody, severed bits, and one of his back legs crumpling as half a foot paw was torn clean away. Blood was raining onto the sands beneath his body in rivers, even a heavily hardened spiritual body like his just not able to withstand the full force of four powerful kaiju unloading everything that had at him.

And yet he didn’t fall. The regenerative prowess of his unnaturally acquired new body surged, and his spiritual pressure hammered out in a dome shaped wave as he howled, “Enough of this bullet hell BS! You want to see spammed energy attacks? I’ll show you some goddam energy spam!”

Even though his high speed regeneration wasn’t done regrowing the tissue around his limbs, as fast as it was indeed healing his wounds, the Storm King reared up so his bloodied chest and head actually stood taller than any of the Dark Hunters in front of him. He spread his claws out to either side, and then sucked in a deep breath as a seething darkness radiated out of his body. There was a bone cracking noise and wet squelching as his chest cavity bulged and what appeared to be the ends of his rib cage extended out of his chest, each pointed bone now glowing with a growing crimson sphere. His tails joined in, spreading out around his sides and generating swirling spheres of blood red energy at their tips.

Rapid fire Cero beams started discharging from both the tails and the rib bones, scores of them per second. The shots weren’t as fast as the thousands of Balas he’d used before, but were magnitudes more powerful and still rapid enough that they blanketed the desert in front of the Storm King in a cone shaped maelstrom of ruby detonations each large enough to flatten multiple city blocks. The unrelenting stream of destructive beams and explosions washed over the Dark Hunters in a red tide, smoke and fire obscuring their forms. As if in response to this massive unleashing of spiritual energy and the rise of his reiatsu, the sky above the battle grew clouded. The normally blank, endless dark of Hueco Mundo’s sky became filled with billowing storm clouds that thundered with red lightning. Even the air grew strangely distorted, space itself wavering from the conflicting energies of the battle.

The Storm King kept up his withering volley of Ceros until he realized doing so was taking up so much of his spiritual energy that it was slowing down his regeneration. With a hacking cough that sputtered up blood from his jaws he reluctantly slacked off firing the Ceros until they petered out, allowing his body to start regenerating it’s now innumerable wounds while feeling confident he must have put down these tenacious creatures. He couldn’t confirm that visible due to the massive sheet of dust that had been kicked up by the dozens of massive explosions his barrage had created, and his spiritual senses were diluted by the distortions of energy the battle had caused.

He was sorely mistaken in his confidence as a lance of graviton energy blasted out of the massive dust cloud and smashed into the bone sword that X had left buried in the Storm King’s shoulder. The blade conducted the gravitons straight into the Storm King’s body and blasted off large chunks. Then through gravity control X yanked the sword straight back out of the Storm King and caused it to fly back to his waiting hand as the dust cleared, revealing not only X still standing, but his three companions as well. Not one of them was unscathed by the barrage they had endured. Gigan’s visor-covered eye was cracked and the cyborg was sporting trailing sparks from several holes in his chest. Megalon’s right arm hung limply and fluid leaked from half a dozen cracks in his armored carapace. Irys breathed heavily as burn marks turned patches of her white chest black. X’s bone armor was missing in numerous places, blown clean off by the potent Cero blasts, and one of his bone wings had been bent nearly in half to hang at his side. Yet all four still stood, and they were not alone.

Roka, Di Roy, Gaw, and Tempest Shadow had all managed to weather the storm, albeit largely thanks to the bulk of their kaiju allies taking the brunt of the destructive energies. They now stood upon the shoulders or heads of those allies, battered as well, but still ready to fight, with Tempest still riding on X, while Di Roy stood with Gigan, Gaw with Megalon, and Roka shifting over to Irys.

“Come the frack ON!” the Storm King roared, “What does it take to kill you people!?”

He coughed again, his jaws hacking up a small torrent of blood as he fell down from his reared up stance. His body quivered, still regenerating it’s wounds, but it was clear now that the rate his flesh was growing back together was slowed from before. Still, if left alone, he’d recover within minutes. If there was ever a moment to finish things, this was it, because X and his team could all feel that their own energies were running low and that their transformations wouldn’t last much longer, especially with the beating they’d already taken. This had to end now, with one last push...

X gave a call, his team all returning cries of their own in understanding. This was it; all in. He felt Tempest tense on his shoulder, the Soul Reaper clutching her Zanpaktou so tightly that blood seeped between her fingers.

“We get through this, I’m going to be having a word with Adago about hazard pay,” Di Roy muttered with a mad cap grin, while Gigan would have rolled his eyes at the Arrancar perched on his head. Not that Gigan disagreed with the notion. Not that he’d ever admit that to Di Roy.

Gaw gave an encouraging growl to Megalon, her tail slightly wagging as she tapped the side of his head with a claw and nodded at the enemy in front of him with salivating jaws. She didn’t really need words to communicate to Megalon that she was eager to see the end of this, and wanted to tear into their mutual foe together. Megalon assented to the notion with a merry chirp, forcing his injured arm up and setting his drills to spinning.

“Are you ready Irys?” Roka asked, using the top of Irys’ flat head as a platform. One of Irys’ eyes glanced up at her and Roka nodded, “This time, we protect both our families.”

Irys gave a screech of agreement at that, wings spreading in preparation to take flight.

The Storm King looked at those arrayed in front of him and coughed up a bloodied laugh, “Oh this is rich! You hurt me a little bit and think that’s something to get all excited about!? I’ll heal all of these wounds before your bodies even have time to cool off! If there’s even a scrap of bodies left, that is.”

He leaped again, straight up into the air. It was a more sluggish move than before, his mangled, still healing body not as spry, but he still gained hundreds of meters of height. He raised both clawed hands above his head and the storm in the sky appeared to respond to the gesture. A billowing black tornado descended from the storm clouds, boiling and flashing with arcs of red energy. The energy storm cloud gathered between the Storm King’s claws like a pulsating bomb.

Sensing the spirit energy building up there, X barked a command to his team and then generated multiple rings of lightened gravity above him to boost his own leap into the sky. He soared up, swung his bone blades above his head, crossing them together as he charged up twin streams of gravitons.

Kaizer, now.

The Kaizer personality readily responded to X’s call, rising up from within like a leviathan breaching the surface from the depths. X didn’t know how long he could afford to use this power,, but he’d need every shred of it he could. One way or another, this was going to be over soon.

Golden rivers of power flowed over X’s kaiju form. White bone turned dark while black skin burned gold. Muscles bulged out and new gold and black striped horns grew from his head. The bone wings upon his back flared brightly, the broken one repairing itself, while both wings gained flares of pure gold energy between the spurs of bone, filling out the wings fully. The bone swords he carried also became metallic gold, and the energy pouring from them flared to thicker bands of raw power that gathered up at the blade’s tips into a pulsating gleam of golden might.

The Storm King saw this golden, draconic god-beast flying at him, and decided that this served as the ideal target for the chaotic swirl of black and red storm energy and Hollow power he’d gathered between his claws. Most Espada had not merely Ceros, or even the vaunted Gran Rey Cero at their disposal, but unique signature Ceros that was theirs and theirs alone. It was this that the Storm King now released as he threw his clawed hands forward.

”Cero Devestador!” (Cero Ravager)

What came flying down from the Storm King’s claws was a spinning cyclone of matter rending energies as wide as several combined tornados, creating multiple shockwaves as it descended in a dark mass of swirling destruction interlaced with forking arcs of red light. The energies tore in a circular motion, turning the Cero into the equivalent of a gigantic blender meant to tear apart anything it touched, be it city, mountain, people, or even kaiju.

With the Kaizer energy flowing through him and the raw aggression of that aspect of his mind inflaming his mind, Kaizer X gladly roared into the depths of the storm and slammed forward his twin golden blades. From the blades shot forth a twisting stream of gold gravitons, a cyclone to match a cyclone. Kaizer X twisted gravity in the opposite direction to the swirling energies of the Storm King’s Cero Devestador, so that when the tornado of golden gravity beams smashed into the descending hurricane of destruction, gold and darkness twisted together in an apocalyptic clash. Rivers of gold broke upon a surging wave of black, the air screaming as distortions in space tore across the sky. Kaizer X had done everything he could to ensure the twisting cyclone of gravitons he’d fired would break up the Cero Devestator, spinning gravity around to such an extent and in so many differing directions that the energies couldn’t remain effectively concentrated.

The plan worked, as the Cero Devestador wasn’t so much stalemated or stopped as it was pulled apart like a tapestry being unwoven by the threads. Streams of black energy broke off from the storm’s main body and curved off to slam into and carve up the desert for dozens of miles around. Scores of smaller rivers of dark destruction were bled away from the central body of the beam, sent raining down all across the landscape. Each strike destroyed kilometers of white, sandy desert. Thick beams ate up miles in wild, dancing funnels. But the center of the Cero couldn’t fully descend, it’s power divided into too many different directions by the gravity cyclone that Kaizer X had thrown into its path.

The Cero Devestador might have had over half of its force dissipated by gravity, but this in turn bled off power from the gravity cyclone until it couldn’t hold the main body of the Cero back any longer, and the remaining weakened, but still quite potent storm of black and surging red energies broke through and smashed into Kaizer X. He was able to cross his swords in front of him at the last second to absorb the remaining blow, however, and his whole body was covered in rivers of golden power as he rode the Cero Devestador’s remaining destructive energies back to the ground. Kaizer X slammed into the sands feet first and held firm, keeping his blades crossed before him for a moment before slashing out in a final burst of power that caused the last eddies of the Cero Devestador to explode around him. The shockwaves battered his body, but compared to the apocalyptic destruction that had rained down upon Hueco Mundo’s desert just seconds ago, this last explosion was fairly minimal.

Growling away the pain of his wounds, Kaizer X steadied his stance and glanced to check on Tempest on his shoulder. The Soul Reaper had formed her Zanpaktou into a shield to guard herself, but her body was burned and bloodied, with the metal of her sword pitted and scarred even as it morphed back into a sword.

The Storm King landed in a unsteady heap, barely standing as he’d used up a huge portion of power to throw that attack, and he stared dumbfounded not only at Kaizer X still standing, but the fact that the other three Dark Hunters hadn’t even been touched by his most devastating technique.

“...Oh...” he said, glancing at his mangled body still struggling to regenerate now that he’d burned through so much spiritual energy. His ultimate Cero should of struck hard enough to glass a large city and just about anything standing in such a radius, but Kaizer X’s gravity cyclone had diffused enough of the energy that much of that destruction had coated the area around the Dark Hunters, rather than struck them directly. As a result he was drained, with four wounded but still very much alive and pissed of kaiju staring him down. The Storm King gulped, “Uh... time out?”

There would be no time out.

With resolve to finish this, the Dark Hunters charged as one. Irys sped up into the sky, while Megalon and Gigan moved in front of X to charge ahead, providing their leader cover.

Battered and drained but refusing to just drop dead, the Storm King dredged up any and all scraps of his remaining spiritual pressure and opened both his mouth, took aim with his tails, and every little back tendrils. Although weakened, Ceros fired from his mouth and tails, and barrages of Balas fired from his tendrils in a last ditch salvo of Hollow power to try and stop the charging kaiju. It was a scene not unlike many a time kaiju of their type weathered a hail of fire while relentlessly moving forward. The Storm King was weakened enough that his Ceros and Balas weren’t hitting as hard, so Megalon and Gigan could march through them painfully, but not with fear of being stopped.

Di Roy and Gaw both rode along with their respective kaiju allies, Di Roy using his whip-like sword to bat aside Bala bullets that got close to Gigan’s damaged eye, while Gaw jumped around Megalon’s body, firing Ceros of her own to counter beams that would have struck Megalon’s injured areas. Both cyborgs opened up with all of their weapons as they charged, pelting the Storm King in a hail of exploding grenades, explosive revolver shells, eye lasers, and electrical lances.

As they got close, both also switched to melee mode. Gigan busted out his chainsaws, which revved up with crimson fire. He also set his chest mounted buzzsaw to full speed, which filled the air with a demonic whine. Megalon not only spun up his arm drills, but the drills on his shoulders now moved, lowering to point forward as they too started to spin.

The cyborg brothers hit the Storm King in a brutal fury, tearing along either side of the Storm King’s body in twin motions of rending destruction. Gigan’s hacking chainsaws and chest buzzsaw ripped through limbs and tentacles alike, while Megalon’s four drills carved a bloody canyon in the Storm King’s other side, spraying blood upon both cyborgs until their carapaces were coated red.

The Storm King didn’t roar so much as scream, and was thrown back by the double assault like a ragdoll, and sent sailing over the lip of the canyon where his fortress once lay, now in utter ruins. His body slammed into the broken remains of one of the pyramids, and laying on his back he groaned and looked up as he heard a terrifying screech descending from above.

Irys dive bombed at the Storm King, and Roka remained perched upon the Gyaos’ head, holding tight to the bridge of Irys’ snout. Irys’ mouth opened and red and purple light gathered there. Then Roka’s four spider limbs extended out a flurry of threads that formed a conical shape in front of Irys’ mouth. Irys then fired a powerful sonic Cero at the same moment Roka filled her threads with her own golden spirit energy. The threads wrapped around the sonic beam, fusing with the point of the beam like the tip of an arrow. Roka had become familiar enough with Irys’ spirit energy that she’d been able to fuse her own reishi with Irys’ to allow her to combine her threads into a sort of pointed conduit.

This meant that when the sonic Cero beam sliced into the Storm King’s chest, it not only bored right through him, but Roka was able to solidify the reishi particles so that when the beam dissipated, Roka’s threads remained, spreading out and burrowing through the Storm King’s flesh to seize up his muscles. This meant that while he could still thrash around and move, he was slowed down momentarily. More than enough time for Kaizer X to rush the edge of the canyon, ironically at the same location that he and Tempest had shared a conversation not so long ago, and leap off the edge to soar over the center of the canyon and descend right towards the Storm King’s prone body.

With a last moment of desperation the Storm King extended his rib cage again and tried to fire a Cero barrage from them at the descending gold and black dragonoid. The Ceros were fewer and weaker, but still hammered Kaizer X’s body, not that he allowed that to stop him as he brought his swords up. He landed knee first onto the Storm King’s gut and slashed down with both blades in curving, golden arcs. The blades sliced cleanly and thoroughly through the Storm King’s neck, and his head popped off in a soaring arc.

Still sensing that this wouldn’t be a final, killing blow, Kaizer X was tempted to just let loose a final storm of gravitons to smash the Storm King’s remains to pieces, but even amid his aggression, X remained in control, and remembered Tempest’s words.

He looked at her, and nodded. A small ring of gravitons formed above her, aimed at the Storm King. X growled once. ‘Go. End it.’

Gratitude in her eyes, she rose and moved in one motion, Flash Stepping through the gravity ring which propelled her skyward after the Storm King’s head.

The Storm King saw her coming and even as a decapitated head he still somehow managed to move in the air, his distorted voice growling, “You damned idiot! You could have had the revenge you wanted!”

His jaws flashed at her, but Tempest flipped in the air, narrowly avoiding the teeth as she landed on the bridge of the Storm King’s snout. She then raised her Zanpaktou and lunged forward, ramming the blade into the center of the Hollow hole in the center of the Storm King’s forehead. She then transmuted the blade's shape into a blossom of six carving blades that spread through the Storm King’s entire head.

“Revenge? Yes, I wanted that,” she admitted as they started to fall back towards the ground, her voice so quiet it could barely be heard over the wind, “But far more important than that, I wanted to have the meaning restored to my life that only comes from bonds shared with comrades who are as family. I would have followed you anywhere, for such a bond, if you hadn’t thrown it away. Now, neither of us have anything. So I guess that means we’re both idiots.”

“Tch...” the Storm King’s head started to flow away in a billow of gray ash and small specs of white light, “So...damned... sentimental...”

With that, the Storm King was no more. His head, and the body on the ground, faded into a billowing cloud of ash that joined the sands of Hueco Mundo, while a cascade of white motes of light floated in the air like shining dust. Tempest was so exhausted she didn’t even have the energy to try and correct her fall, but found herself caught in a giant golden hand as Kaizer X held it out for her. He let go of the Kaiser energy, letting his body shrink and return to its monochrome white and black coloring. Even then, X felt his body starting to change back to a human shape, having expended quite a bit of the energy that had transformed him in the first place.

Within moments X had returned to his human form amid a flurry of countless golden flakes of energy that shed from his body. He was left, wounded but standing in front of an equally wounded Tempest Shadow. The pair shared a brief look at one another, and X saw her lips quirk in a smile of gratitude. Words weren’t needed between the two battered warriors, so instead they looked up at the still fading motes of energy as the Storm King’s body faded, even his bones turning to dust-like bits of floating energy.

There were several earth shaking crashes as X’s kaiju companions all landed within the canyon, still in their true forms for a few moments longer than their leader due to having not quite expended as much energy as X had when he’d gone Kaizer form. Di Roy was all but dancing on top of Gigan’s head.

“Holy shit! We actually won! For a minute there I was thinking we were buttered toast with a side of freakin’ deadsville jam, but damn, we smoked that asshole!”

Atop Irys, Roka coughed politely and said, “Not quite the terms I’d choose, but yes, we all appear to have survived.”

Gaw let out a loud, energetic bark from where she perched on Megalon’s shoulder, and Megalon responded with his own kaiju-cry of victory that echoed across the canyon walls, soon followed by Gigan and Irys’. The three Arrancar all hopped off their respective allies and joined X and Tempest Shadow on the ground, Di Roy in particular looking around at the fading motes of light, which still consisted of thousands of bits that were slowly vanishing into the sky.

“What’s with the lightshow anyway? The sonuvabitch is dead, ain’t he?”

At Di Roy’s question, X glanced at Tempest Shadow, who slowly returned her battered Zanpaktou to it’s sealed, katana form and sheathed it. Her eyes looked upon the floating points of light with eyes reflecting those points of light like teardrops on the ocean.

“This isn’t just the Storm King’s energy. It’s the energy of all the souls he stole from my comrades. All those thousands... Grubber... Yin... Yang... even Patros. When I used my Zanpaktou to deliver the killing blow, it’s purifying effect spread to all of them. Every single soul is now free. I’d hoped...”

Tempest’s voice trailed off, and Roka nodded with a somber look, her voice soft and kind, “You’d hoped some of them might be freed entirely, still intact.”

Tempest nodded quietly, and Roka surprised her, causing Tempest to give a slight start at the Arrancar’s next words.

“It may not have worked for most of your comrades, but I would not give up hope just yet. Don’t you feel it?”

Uncertainty on her face, Tempest felt about with her spiritual senses. It wasn’t easy, with all of the residual spirit energy in the air. The reiatsu of thousands of souls still filled the air, fading away one by one, but amid that mass, Tempest felt something. A coalescence of two distinct, very familiar spiritual pressures. Eyes wide, Tempest turned left and right, searching until she found the spot, and in an awkward, wounded gait, ran towards a place near the base of the broken fortress ruins.

After a second, X followed her, along with the Arrancar. At this point Gigan, Megalon, and Irys’ transformations were also coming to an end, their bodies shrinking down to their human forms as they shed billowing clouds of the energy they’d absorbed to assume their kaiju bodies.

Tempest reached the fortress ruin, and there, in front of the shattered stone wall, a swirl of light motes ceased to rise, and instead descended, and swirled together. The pieces of spirit energy clumped up until they formed bodily shapes, then the white and blue light faded, revealing two pale female figures laying together, side by side, their stark blue and red hair standing out against the white sands.

“Ugg...”

“Umm...”

Yin and Yang were quite naked, although they didn’t seem to notice this much as they both fluttered icy blue eyes awake and sat up in mixed confusion. They had all of a second to breath before both of them had strong, violet arms wrapped around them tightly.

“Urk! C-Captain!?”

“Captain Tempest? What’s going on?”

Tempest, head nestled between the pair as she held the twins close, her eyes shut against tears, managed to say, “Yin. Yang. I’m so sorry. I should have looked after everyone, should have realized...”

The twins' confusion slowly cleared up as the pair looked at the injured, weeping Soul Reaper holding them, then at X, the other gathered Arrancar, and the approaching forms of Gigan, Irys, and Megalon. Understanding started to form on their faces, Yin holding Tempest back, while Yang blushed a fiery red to match her hair and awkwardly let herself be hugged.

“Thought I saw those two get chomped,” noted Gigan nonchalantly, not seeming to pay the naked twins much mind as he started checking his own body for damage and running internal diagnostics. “Man, this is going to take at least a week to fix once I’m back in my repair bay.”

“You have a repair bay?” asked Di Roy, shooting up an eyebrow, “You see, Roka, this is why we keep getting outpaced by the Quincy and Soul Reapers. We don’t got funding like these dudes get. But Metal Death Chicken has a point, didn’t those two get eaten?”

“I believe it’s a factor of their origins,” Roka said, “Those two were experiments of Grogar’s, if you recall? There is a strong chance that, due to the alterations to their souls from said experiments, the Storm King’s ability couldn’t fully absorb them.”

“It wasn’t just that,” said Yin as she and her sister were able to finally stand, if a bit wobbly, as neither seemed to have much strength left in them after their ordeal. Tempest Shadow took what remained of her Captain’s coat, tearing it in half to give to the wins to wear over themselves, to at least partially provide some modesty.

“What do you mean?” Tempest asked, her voice still rough with emotion.

“It was Grubber,” Yang said, looking away with downcast eyes, “Me and Yin... we were in there. Inside the Storm K... inside that bastard, and we could feel our souls getting drawn into him with everyone else.”

“We could hear everyone inside him, struggling against him,” Yin said, voice haunted, “Everyone fought to try to break free, to do anything to weaken him while he fought you all. And when you killed him, we all felt it, like a hook in our souls got yanked free. Everyone else started fading away, but Grubber, he... he stubbornly held on, and he grabbed onto us.”

Yang’s voice broke a bit, “H-he used his own spirit energy to help pull ours together. We weren’t as far gone, I guess, and he, that hard headed guy, used what he had left of his own energy to get us the rest of the way out. I heard him. He... he said, ‘Tell that idiot Captain of ours to take better care of herself, because I won’t be there to watch her back anymore.’”

Tempest closed her eyes, then slowly nodded, “Yes... that’s Grubber.”

Silence descended for a moment, only to be broken a second later by Megalon scratching his head and saying, “Sooooo, mission accomplished?”

“If the mission was ‘Don’t die’, then yes, mission very much accomplished,” said Gigan, who’s voice remained deadpan as he turned towards X, “Of course I think we were sub-contracted for some kind of scouting mission by this reality’s Adagio, which seems to be pretty tits up, all things considered. We don’t even have a ride back to that Las Noches place, because someone blew up our car.”

Tempest looked at him and actually offered an apologetic bow, “My own fault entirely.”

“Yeah, I know,” stated Gigan flatly, and Irys was right beside him with her own heated look, her arms crossed over her chest.

“You started all of this,” Irys said, “You hurt my flock, captured and imprisoned us, then had to rely on us to clean up your mess because your stupid psycho boss turned on you.”

“Irys-” X began, but Irys held up a hand at him, one of the few times she’d ever openly cut him off, as she walked right up to Tempest and stared the Soul Reaper hard in the eyes. Tempest met Irys’ look, and didn’t flinch or so much as raise her hand in defense as Irys drew a hand back and belted a fist across Tempest’s face.

“H-hey!” Yang said, but Tempest held up her own hand to forestall the twin.

“No Yang. She earned the right to do that. All of this has been my own fault. I...” she looked to Irys, then at X, her voice heavy, “I trusted the wrong master, and it has cost us all. Reparations are owed. More than that, these people have risked their lives to defeat the one who betrayed us, and gave me the opportunity to save the souls of our comrades, and return the two of you to me. Irys, Gigan, Megalon, Di Roy, Gaw, Roka... and X, please... I can’t ask forgiveness, but I do ask you let me do whatever I can to pay back the debt I owe you all.”

Irys kept up a firm expression of ire, but blew out a quick sigh and turned around quickly, waving her hand, “Whatever. I did what I needed to. Anything else is between you and X, far as I’m concerned.”

Gigan shrugged, “All I want is a way to get back to our mission start point. We’ve got a portal to catch, and I’m quite done with this particular reality, myself.”

Megalon just rested his hands behind his head and said, “Eh, it’s all cool to me, long as my buddies and I all are all okay. And it was a pretty cool set of fight scenes. I’m feeling jazzed, all things considered.”

Regarding Tempest with a steady gaze, having listened to his companions' words and already himself having come to his own conclusions about the Soul Reaper, he said, “The lives of my team are now safe. Little else matters to me. If you feel a debt remains owed, I’m not even certain how you’d repay it, given your current state.”

She let out a laugh laced with a world's worth of exhaustion, both physical and emotional, but Tempest still managed a smile, “I may have little left to give, but there’s still a surprise or two left in me, X. Firstly, you need a way back to Las Noches. Yin and Yang can create a Garganta portal that will take you there.”

“Wait? Seriously!?” Di Roy exclaimed, “The heck you guys doing knowing how to make a portal that close to Las Noches from here?”

Yin held up her chin a bit, “We were planning to eventually attack the place, remember? Me and Yang did several recon runs near the fortress. We can’t get you right on top of it, but we can get you within a few miles.”

“Beats walking,” Gigan said, and Irys nodded a faint agreement.

“Guess I won’t eat you two, if you give us a ride,” she said.

“Before that, however,” said Tempest, “You originally came out this far into the desert because you were looking for information on Privaron Espada, right?”

“Correct,” X said, tilting his head slightly, “Adagio Dazzle wanted us to gain insight on the whereabouts of such individuals. As it turns out, the Storm King was the only one we ran into, and he’s officially out of play. I don’t know if that will satisfy Adagio, especially given her desire to forge alliances, but it is all we have to give her it seems.”

“Ah, not quite,” Tempest replied, glancing at the twins, “Do you both recall where the underground records rooms are?”

Yang blinked, and Yin tapped her chin, “Yes, I think so. But the fortress...”

They looked at the smashed ruins of the two former pyramids, now little more than broken collections of stone rubble more suited to a child’s pile of broken Legos. Tempest didn’t appear daunted by this, turning towards the rubble with a determined look, “Those rooms should still be intact. My strength may be spent, but with a bit of time to rest, I can, with your help, excavate those chambers. X, if you don’t mind postponing you and your team’s return to Las Noches for a bit, I will obtain for you every record that I and the Storm King had gathered on the Privaron Espada. They were our primary rivals for power and troops out here in the deep deserts, and while some of them we conquered, there are more still that were too powerful for us to risk attacking yet. If Adagio Dazzle is serious about seeking allies among them, our records should prove to be exactly what she’s looking for.”

X’s eyes didn’t change much, but there was a slight softening around them as he said, “That would be... appreciated. There are still several days yet before we are due to return home to our master, so there’s time.”

With that, the wounded, tired warriors, Arrancar and kaiju alike, rested as best they could. It took several hours, but when Tempest recovered enough spiritual power to make use of her Bankai once more, it was almost trivial to remove large portions of the ruined fortress until a pathway could be found into the still intact lower chambers. By the time Roka had finished sewing up injuries with her threads for everyone, Tempest had returned with Yin and Yang carrying bags filled with scrolls and books of files. The twins had managed to appropriate some fresh clothes, although notably not replacements of the Storm King’s armor. Now they wore what looked like pale white school uniforms, apparently clothing taken during one of their rare excursions to the human world and left in storage. Tempest had also gotten rid of her old armor, now wearing the plain black robes of a Soul Reaper along with a simple, gray colored cloak.

Handing over the scrolls and files, with Gaw and Megalon carrying the bags between them, the two groups stood off from one another.

“Yin, Yang, open the Garganta,” Tempest said, and the twins both nodded at her.

They went to stand about ten paces apart from each other, and between them formed the dark, open maw of a Garganta, the portal almost instantly crossing the space of darkness which was the Precipice Realm and into another part of Hueco Mundo. White dunes, and the distant, but unmistakable form of Las Noches could be seen through the portal, miles away.

“Well, can’t say this has been fun, but... yeah, no, I’m never coming back here if I can help it,” Gigan declared, putting himself through the portal first, making an easy hop across the small gap to the other side.

Di Roy chuckled, “Dude really needs to unwind. I’m thinking party when we get back.”

“He doesn’t strike me as the ‘party’ type, but perhaps we’ll find something to help everyone recover upon returning home,” Roka said, joining Di Roy in striding across.

“Well, I kinda had fun,” Megalon said, waving at Tempest and the twins with zero rancor in his cheerful face, “Have a nice life peps. Don’t join up with any nutjobs again. C’mon Gaw, I’m hungry, and sooner we get back, sooner we can do another food run, maybe watch some movies on that sweet entertainment system your boss has set up. I keep thinking we should ask our boss for something like that..”

“Mmm, food would be good,” Gaw said, yawning as she helped Megalon carry the heavily laden bags through the portal, “But I don’t know movies.”

Irys was next through, pausing hesitantly for a second as she cast a glance at Tempest and the twins as if she wanted to say something, but then she just shook her head and jumped through. That only left X remaining. He approached the Garganta, and turned his gaze to Tempest, meeting her eyes.

“What will you do now?” he asked.

“Honestly?” Tempest said, and her gaze slipped away from his for a second, looking at the destruction of what had once been her home, “I don’t know yet. Continuing to seek Tirek’s downfall seems... almost petty, now. I think I’ll need to take time to really consider what matters.”

Her eyes turned towards the twins, her voice filling with a heady combination of regret, but also loving resolve, “Them, above all, matter to me, so their safety will always come first. Beyond that, I just don’t know.”

“It's possible Adagio Dazzle will seek you out,” X said, not in any suggestive manner, simply stating what he considered the most likely possibility. Tempest nodded.

“If she does, I’ll hear her out, but can’t make promises. Feel free to tell her as much.”

“I will,” X said, then after a moment’s hesitation, added, “Take care of yourself.”

Before he could step through the Garganta, Tempest stepped towards him, placing a very gentle hand on his arm to halt him. He looked at her, and her eyes were filled with an odd, serious light.

“X, one last thing. I know your loyalty to your current master is firm. I’m not asking you to do anything other than just one thing. Be careful. I sincerely hope your faith in him is justified, but... I don’t want you to have to go through what I just did.”

He was silent for a few seconds, expression unreadable. With slow deliberation he raised his own hand to place on hers, not with any force, nor necessarily with affection. It was more like an acknowledgment, the kind of motion that was more in line with the body language of kaiju than the words of people. A simple touch of acknowledgment that said; “I will.”

Then he turned and strode through the Garganta. After it closed there was a long minute of silence as Yin and Yang gathered around Tempest Shadow, and the three observed the remains of the place they’d called home for so long.

“So, Captain, what do we do now?” asked Yin.

Tempest took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like cleansing herself, and said, “First, we honor our dead. We can’t dig the graves, but we can carve a remembrance for them in the walls of this place. Then... we find our way.”

And so it was that, a day later, a lone Soul Reaper and two twin Arrancar left the ruined, empty canyon behind. In the largest portion of the remaining fortress wall a monument had been carved, consisting of hundreds of names from each fallen Hollow that had taken a name.

At the top of those names stood one carved just a bit larger and bolder than the rest.

Grubber.

Epilogue: That One Time Kaiju Came to Hueco Mundo

Epilogue: That One Time Kaiju Came to Hueco Mundo

A couple of days had remained before the Dark Hunters vastly powerful, interdimensional master would re-open the portal that had brought them to Hueco Mundo in the first place. Upon their return to Las Noches, X and his team had used the same hidden tunnel they had exited from to enter the enormous Hollow bastion once more and make contact with Adagio Dazzle. From there, she’d insisted on them retiring to her territory’s lounge area for them to recount the tale of their exploits over much needed and appreciated food and drink, Irys and Gaw both particularly ravenous.

X had done most of the talking, with only occasionally one of the others adding their own details where his own personal experience didn’t account. Through it all Adagio listened raptly, only rarely asking questions and allowing them to give her the story in full, with little embellishment. X couldn’t help but notice that the woman kept a very strong poker face throughout, giving away no initial hints as to what she thought of the whole affair. At least until the end, when the stack of informative documents procured from Tempest Shadow had been provided.

Then Adagio’s eyes lit up like fireworks and a pleased smile had brightened her features considerably.

The next day or so had then gained a distinctly celebratory air. It wasn’t often X and his companions were given any time to... unwind. Adagio all but insisted on providing them with comfortable amenities for their remaining time with her and her own, and there had been more than one “shopping run” to the human world to procure whatever they desired in terms of refreshment or entertainment.

Admittedly only half the Dark Hunters really participated much. Gigan was focused mostly on doing what self repairs he could with some tools snatched from one of the supply runs, although Di Roy spent quite a bit of time hanging around the cyborg and trying to trade quips. X didn’t refuse any food or drink, but merely hovered around the festivities, most of his time spent at the bar talking with Adagio, who seemed to insist on being the one to mix and pour drinks while they conversed.

It was here that X learned quite a bit more about this reality and it’s present situation than he would have imagined. Adagio had provided documents of her own, written up herself, that summarized everything, but she was quite open to chatting with X on the matter, although he did gauge she was keeping certain details back here and there.

“So you died protecting the Aria and Sonata of this world,” he said, looking into a half finished glass of whiskey while Adagio favored a glass of wine, herself. She had a small half smile on her features, not quite sad, not quite proud, but more contemplative than anything else.

“Looking back on it, it was one of my more impulsive decisions,” she said, taking a sip of the wine and leaning on the bar, gazing towards him contemplatively, “I fully expected Grogar to destroy me utterly, and was only trying to buy that idiot Sunset Shimmer time to get everyone to safety. I hadn’t accounted for the possibility the old bastard goat might take me prisoner.”

“Grogar...” X muttered the name. He’d heard it before already. Apparently the same Espada that had experimented upon Yin and Yang. He looked at Adagio quizzically, “Yet here you are, an Espada as well, on the same side as the one that tortured you.”

“Ah ah ah, not the same side, per se,” Adagio said, “Espada are often in competition with each other. We all ostensibly serve Tirek, but in fighting is not only allowable, but expected. Don’t fret...” Adagio’s eyes turned sharper than any sword and colder than space’s depths, and X would know. Her voice was an ironclad promise to herself, “One day, Grogar will get what’s coming to him, and I’ll be there for it, to see it done. Count on that.”

X believed her. Finishing his own drink, he asked something that had been on his mind for the past day or so, “Tempest Shadow, do you intend to try and seek her out?”

Adagio drummed her fingers on the bar, the shadow of Grogar vanishing from her expression as she took on a more contemplative mein, “She would be a useful ally, no doubt. However, considering she just got over one bad break up with an unfaithful master, I don’t know if I can expect her to be eager to throw in with another Arrancar so quickly. Quite frankly the information you’ve brought me has opened up plenty of other possibilities at the moment, so I’m in no great rush. I have more immediate concerns to deal with before then, anyway.”

“Understandable,” X said, recalling that their conversation the other day had turned towards the state of Las Noches after a great battle with the opposing faction of humans, the Quincy. Apparently Adagio had a friend who’d been taken prisoner during that battle, and there was a need for a rescue operation. “I wish you the best of luck.”

The laugh that came from Adagio was distinctly musical, and one he’d heard before, from the Adagio he knew from the same world his own Aria was from.

“Ohoho! I don’t need luck, X. I make plans, and I execute those plans. And if those plans fail, I have backups. Luck just doesn’t come into the picture.” Her eyes softened, “And you’ve helped me with those plans considerably. I almost regret I can’t offer more in exchange besides information.”

“The information you’ve provided is sufficient,” X replied, tapping the sizable stack of documents on the bar next to him, “I believe my master will be satisfied.”

“I should hope so,” Adagio said, her expression briefly shifting to a guarded one, “Should your master ever turn his attention to this world, he’ll certainly have an idea of who’s who.”

It was unspoken, but there was an edge to her voice that said she understood fully that their alliance in this temporary circumstance didn’t mean that at some future point they might not still be enemies. X knew this. His master had sent him and his team here for reconnaissance purposes. You don’t recon someplace if you’re not doing a threat evaluation, possibly preceding an attack. It was entirely possible that, one day, he would face this Adagio Dazzle, Sixth Espada of Las Noches, as a foe, depending on what his master decided to do in the future.

But that was for another day. For now, they could enjoy a moment’s peace and respite.

The evening was a lively one, with Megalon taking full advantage of the television set up in the lounge and the extensive collection of films Di Roy had snagged from unsuspecting stores in the living world. The outgoing cyborg had convinced Gaw to sit still for a time on the lounge’s largest couch to do a movie marathon, with the animate Megalon providing no shortage of run on commentary while Gaw largely sat crouched on her legs upon the couch with a curious look on her face for most of the films, looking utterly perplexed by them.

“Oh, theses’ older black and white movies did some really cool stuff with claymation,” Megalon was saying as the present film, concerning a certain tropical island with an oversized primate as it’s king, reached a climatic scene, “This fight scene with the T-Rex is classic!”

Gaw scratched her head, “Monkey is good fighter. Be fun to fight him. Feels weird, like I see this before.”

“You probably saw it when I was watching movies before,” said Di Roy, who was sitting at one of the chairs behind the couch, with Gigan sitting opposite in another chair. Di Roy had several different sets of sunglasses on the small coffee table between the chairs, and was trying on different ones, selecting a polished set of chrome shades that he then turned to Gigan and said, “What do you think? Going for the full 80s cyberpunk look.”

“The extent to which I do not care cannot be expressed with a numeric value,” Gigan drawled, his attention focused entirely on making a few final adjustments to the machinery in his left arm, the last bit of self-maintenance he had time and tools to do.

“Aw, don’t be like that. I’m looking for the expert opinion of a shades enthusiast.”

“I don’t wear these by choice,” Gigan stated, “This is just how the incomprehensible methods of interdimensional portals decide to make me look. I’d rather just look like my natural form, properly sized or not.”

“But you look so cool! In both forms!”

Gigan tried very hard to keep his face neutral, despite an unconscious tick that might have been a smile, that he would firmly deny to anyone who asked. After a reluctant moment he glanced up from his repair work at the sunglasses on the table and nodded at a pair with a dark blue tint to them, “Try those. Chrome is too reflective. Gives away your position. Those will blend in better.”

As Di Roy tried on the other pair of shades, practically beaming, the door to the lounge opened and a delectable set of smells wafted into the room. Carrying trays, Roka and Irys entered, the latter looking a tad embarrassed as she and Roka set the trays down on the bar. Loaded upon the trays were freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a batch of raspberry muffins, slightly burned but not extensively so.

Megalon and Gaw both swiveled their heads like guided lasers at the smell of fresh food, the movie forgotten.

“Tell me those are all for us,” Megalon said, mouth watering.

Roka smiled and nodded, “Of course. I asked Irys if she was interested in helping me prepare them, and they turned out quite well.”

“You cook?” X asked Irys, and the pale girl’s skin flushed to a burning red.

“I was just curious to try!” Irys said defensively, “It’s not like I plan on making a habit of it. I don’t even have thumbs in my normal form, so it’s not like I can just do this whenever. Just... just eat them or whatever. They’re burned, so don’t expect them to be good.”

“Nonsense,” Roka said, patting Irys on the shoulder, “You did very well for your first time. Even if you can’t do this in your natural form, I could still lend you a book or two of mine if you’d like to study cooking techniques. I cook for my siblings all the time, so I’ve made plenty of notations myself.”

“You’d do that-? I mean, uh, I guess if you feel like lending them to me, but I probably won’t ever get the chance to bring them back,” Irys said, while Megalon and Gaw pounced upon the trays. Despite trying to feign disinterest, Irys watched intently as the pair wolfed down the first few of the muffins, and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when both seemed to enjoy them, despite the burns.

X wasn’t often one for expression himself, but a small smile did touch his face as he watched his people and Adagio’s continue to mingle as the evening continued. Soon enough the time for such things would pass, but there was no harm in enjoying the present moment while it lasted. Adagio clearly thought the same, for she made a point of ensuring everyone had something to drink and kept the mood light through the night. Eventually Megalon and Gaw both passed out on the couch amid piles of chip backs and the crumbs of baked goods. Gigan finished his maintenance and wandered off, presumably to one of the rooms Adagio had set up for them to use for the night. Roka departed to return to her family’s tower, but promised to come back in the morning to see them off. Irys sneaked a handful of the remaining cookies for herself and happily munched them as she went off to her own room.

Adagio and X remained, although as he got up to head off to his own room, Adagio gave him a pointed look as she came around the bar.

“Before you call it for the night, mind confirming something for me?” she asked.

He didn’t quite raise an eyebrow, but he was indeed curious as he said, “If you must. What is it?”

“Now, I enjoy a good guessing game, and I’ve been thinking this one over hard since you first got here,” the siren turned Arrancar said as she folded her arms under her chest and looked at him with an amused, but somehow oddly serious, light in her eyes, “So let’s see if I’m right... you’re with... Aria?”

He blinked, “How did you-?”

Adagio’s smile gleamed, “So I was right. I figured it had to be. You reacted as if you knew me, but not nearly well enough to be in my bed. If the versions of us you know are anything like me and my sisters are, well, you’re just not Sonata’s type. She really needs someone on her same wavelength, to keep up. But Aria? Oh, I think you’d be just the right fit for her. Again, if there’s any similarity at all between the one you know and the one I know. She wouldn’t put up with any of your dark and mysterious crap, and you wouldn’t be the type to back down from her more intense personality traits. A good match, I think. Hmm, well that’s all I wanted to know. She might not be my Aria, but I still like to think of the well being of family. Do take care of her, would you?”

“You needn’t even ask,” X said, and couldn’t help but chuckle, “And believe me, the other you has more than made a point of vetting me. I’d have been in quite a bit of trouble if I didn’t measure up.”

“Good. Any version of me should know how to look after her own,” Adagio said, and then she strode past X, moving past the door and into the hallway, “At any rate, sleep well. As long as you’re under my roof, you’re safe.”

With that she all but glided away, leaving X alone to find his own way to his room.

It was early the next morning that the four Dark Hunters from another reality found themselves standing at the very point where they first entered the realm of Hollows. Adagio Dazzle had allowed to use the hidden tunnel to take them out beyond Las Noches’ walls, and had accompanied the four along with Di Roy, Gaw, and Roka to give the Dark Hunters their send off. X had been concerned over any watchers or scouts from the other Espada spotting them, but Adagio had assured him that she’d personally seen to ensure there were no prying eyes looking their way. He didn’t inquire into exactly how she did that, knowing that at least in this instance he could take her at her word.

The two groups now stood in wait for the arrival of the portal that would be created by the Dark Hunters’ master, which arrived precisely on schedule, according to Gigan’s internal mission clock.

Unlike the dark maws of Garganta, this portal was a vertical flare of swirling white, like a tunnel entrance carved into the air by an enormous hand.

“Spiffy,” Di Roy said, adjusting his new, blue shades as he looked at the portal, “So that leads to a whole other reality, huh? This boss of yours must be something else to pull that off on raw power alone.”

“He’s good on keeping us compensated for our work,” Gigan replied, “Beyond that; don’t know, don’t care.”

“Welp, looks like this is ciao for now,” Megalon said, cracking a final smile, then quirking his eyebrow up as he spotted Gaw shuffling forward. The short statured Arrancar was holding a bag of nacho cheese chips as if it was one of the most precious things in the world, and held it towards Megalon with a look of utter seriousness.

“Last bag. Take it, for being friend of tribe.”

“Whoa, thanks!” Megalon happily accepted the bag, “Gonna need a snack when I get home!”

“You’re going to be too big to eat it when we get back,” Irys pointed out, and Megalon blinked, then shrugged.

“We’ll be this size again sometime. Boss always has more jobs for us. Anyway, thanks again, Gaw.”

Scooting back awkwardly, Gaw looked away and mumbled something under her breath which was far too low key to actually hear, although Di Roy leaned over next to her with a teasing smirk.

“Holy crap, are you blushing?”

This was responded to less with words and more with a sharp growl and even sharper bite to Di Roy’s leg. As Di Roy ran around yelping with a feral Gaw still attached to his leg, Roka and Adagio both pointedly ignored that and stepped forward. Roka held a tidy, rectangular bundle wrapped in simple cloth and held it out for Irys.

“The books I mentioned. I know you won’t get a chance to use them soon, but still, keep them for as long as you need.”

Irys took the bundle with a bit of hesitancy, then held them close to her chest as she gave Roka a look that was trying hard to be neutral but failing to hide some shades of melancholy, “You know I probably won’t ever be back to return these, right?”

Roka simply smiled with a serene, accepting gaze, “Then keep them as a memento. But if fate is kind enough for our paths to meet again on some future day, I’ll look forward to trying your cooking again.”

Adagio looked at both groups, then to X with a satisfied twitch of her lips, one hand on her hip, the other leaning on her trident, “It seems your people and mine made an excellent team, X. If your master is ever so inclined, I wouldn’t be opposed to another collaboration, assuming our goals remain aligned.”

To this, X could only nod, knowing it was best he and his team got moving. It was rarely a good idea to keep their master waiting.

“I’ve had far worse missions than this one,” he admitted, then turned to the portal and addressed his team, “It’s time to go home.”

There were no objections, and no further words to say. One by one the Dark Hunters entered the portal, X being last.

Just before he stepped through into the tunnel of light, he thought he saw, just out of the corner of his eye, a distant figure standing atop a sand dune on the horizon. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought it might have been a noble warrior, giving him one last salute, but the light of the portal surrounded him before he saw more than that final glimpse.

But he smiled, all the same.

“And that is the whole of it?”

The voice filled the unfathomably vast chamber like a remembrance of a volcano’s eruption, powerful and arresting of the attention of any who heard it.

In his natural form once more, Monster X bowed his head to the depths of shadows within which his master dwelled, showing his due deference and respect.

“Yes.” It was not the word so much as the affirmative growl of his kaiju vocals, but his master transcended all conventions of language, so no translation was necessary.

“...Very well,” his master replied, “You performed your task more than adequately. You may inform the one known as Megalon that his... request shall be seen to.”

Honestly Monster X hadn’t expected his master to actually agree to Megalon’s desire for a kaiju sized television in his quarters, with corresponding entertainment system and movies. He didn’t even question how their mysterious master would accomplish such a feat. What the master willed, generally was. One just didn’t question a deity, after all. If that, indeed, was what the master truly was.

X paused, thinking, If that is what he is? Where did that thought come from?

He shook it off, trying not to think too hard about the matter. He did recall Tempest Shadows words, but even if he were to entertain them, which he wasn’t at all certain he should, it wouldn’t do to let that doubt into him in front of the master.

If the master noticed anything amiss, he didn’t show it, and simply said, “You may go. Rest, for soon I may have need of you again.”

“As you wish, master.”

Monster X strode from the chamber with long, powerful strides, and for some time after he departed, the entity known to some as Bagan contemplated matters in the multi-faceted manner that only the truly ancient could.

Bagan was impressed with Monster X and his companions’ performance. As always, the four had proven a very capable set of tools at his disposal. He had of course senses a moment of wavering in X, but that was to be expected. Bagan was no fool. He was aware that at times it was only natural for mortal beings, no matter how large and powerful, to question the nature of the divine. It mattered not. The plan would advance, one way or another.

As for the world that the Dark Hunters had explored, and the information gained from the unexpected alliance with one of that world’s denizens... it was largely as Bagan had anticipated. That world, while highly unusual in the density of spirit energy it contained, was embroiled in its own conflicts. The simple facts of sapient life played out in endless conflict, regardless of the reality in question.

There was a remote possibility that world of Hollows, Soul Reapers, and various empowered humans could prove problematic to his future plans at some point, but that seemed just as unlikely as the possibility that his plans would be halted by the rag-tag assortment of kaiju that had been bumbling about in a wholly different set of worlds that had garnered his attention of late.

Ultimately, the entity known as Bagan didn't believe anything could halt the inevitability of extinction.

Perhaps it was ironic that a supposed divine entity's belief in it's own path could have been likened to a sort of blind faith, the kind that prevented him from seeing what had truly happened in Hueco Mundo. Not a scouting mission gone successfully, discovering nothing more than another world embroiled in war and treachery, no...

The cold winds of Hueco Mundo blew soft strands of sand from the tops of dunes and buffeted the three figures crossing it's vastness, where if one stumbled, the others were there instantly to help them get back on their feet. Temepst Shadow, followed by Yin and Yang, kept her gaze focused ahead, looking for a new future that she had not given up on for either herself or those who counted on her...

Adagio lounged upon a beach chair next to the artificial pool she and her vassals... and friends, had built. Shockingly, Di Roy and Roka had finally gotten Gaw to try learning to swim, although the results thus far involved far more splashing antics than actual learning. But the sounds of them, her companions and loyal followers enjoying themselves relaxed Adagio as she continued to reach over the scrolls X had provided. The woman couldn't help but smile as plans for the future blazed bright in her mind...

If one peeked through one of the incredibly massive archways into a certain chamber within the dark temple on the plane of Zenith, then one might be greeted by the impossible sight of four full sized kaiju sitting on an equally impossible couch that could hold all their weights, watching movies upon a tv screen the size of an aircraft carrier. Whatever machinations the master of these four kaiju might have had, the bond between them remained strong, and grew stronger still with each passing day. For his part, while X only half paid attention to the movies, mostly chosen by Megalon, played, the once very alone and emotionally suppressed kaiju known as Monster X now rested in contentment with his comrades. Whatever future may come, he knew one thing above all else... he would protect his own, no matter what.

Author's Note

The first thing I want to do is just thank Tarbtano for allowing me to write this crossover story, and for all the advice provided over the course of writing it that helped the story be the most it could be. It was a lot of fun bringing our two worlds together, and in the process introducing fans of both to new characters and stories they might not have otherwise discovered. One of my biggest hope for this crossover was to see introduce these worlds to fans of either story, and I'm happy to know I succeeded on that.

Other that, the only other thing I want to do here is thank all of you who read along to the end. Means the world to me, and I just hope you all enjoyed things all the way to the finish.