Dimensional Chronicles

Chapter 12: The End of the Beginning.

Rainbow Dash charged down to meet Hitsugaya in the air, slamming her two swords down on his one. He continued to push, shoving her back through the air.
“Whoa! How’d you manage that?” Rainbow grinned down at him. She flipped backwards, bringing a foot up to meet with his jaw; it sent Hitsugaya into a spin while Rainbow gained the high ground. “Hey Tōshi, catch me if you can!” She sped off, goading Hitsugaya on further. He seethed at Rainbow a moment before running to follow her.

“You will call me Captain Hitsugaya.” He jumped up at her, bringing his sword up to hack, Rainbow blocked easily and pushed herself faster.
“Too slow Captain Tōshi! And you will call me Rainbow Dash the amazing, lighten up kid.” She pushed herself even faster. “I don’t plan to call you anything else until I see those wings.” He lunged again and Rainbow flew circles around him, taunting him with every flap of her wings until.

“Enough!” Hitsugaya yelled, stressing his power enough to push Rainbow away. “You want to see my bankai, fine. Bankai, sōten ni zase; Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!” [Final release, reign over the frosted heavens; Grand Crimson Lotus Ice Ring] The air around him froze over, solidifying and chilling the area around it. Rainbow shivered from the sudden chill.
“Oh this will be fun.” A voice said in her mind.
“Burēdo, is that you?”
“You bet your ass.”
“I don’t even know a donkey.”
“I-I-I… Nevermind. Whatever, I just want you to go supersonic real quick.”
“What? Piece of cake.”

At that moment the ice around Hitsugaya shattered, revealing Hitsugaya with what looked to be a dragon made of ice coiled onto his body, its head was over his right arm, his other limbs had been replaced by the dragon’s, he had a tail and the wings stretched out impressively. There were what appeared to be four flowers over his head in a circle.
“That’s cool.” She pointed dumbly for a second. “Heh, heh, cool.”

“Now, what is my name?” He growled at her.
“Huh?”
“I’m not moving until you get my name right.”
“Oh,” Rainbow took off gathering speed, “catch me if you can Hitsugaya.”
“That’s Captain!” He flew after her.

Rainbow was loving the sound her new wings made as they tore through the air, she was used to the sort of ruffling noise feathers made but this was something else entirely, instead of an unsteady sound this was a constant wizzing, the kind of noise that you get when you swing a particularly sturdy stick really hard, the sound was also making the metal of the blades vibrate and give off an almost melodious ringing. She reveled in the sound as she approached the sound barrier, leaving Hitsugaya further and further behind her.

The familiar mach cone started forming around her.
“Wait for it.” It pulled in tighter and tighter across her body. “Wait for it.” The wall that was the sound barrier presented itself to her. “Now!”
“Ribōndearu!” The familiar shock wave of a sonic rainboom flowed over her body, but this time something was off, there was more than simple pressure there was heat and a the roar of flame. She turned back to look. “Wow… Burēdo, you get more awesome every second.”

Instead of her normal trail of rainbows the air roared with fire, blocking Hitsugaya’s path and setting the sky ablaze. She looked down at her swords, flames trailed off the blades and a fierce glow emanated from the blades that formed her wings. “Fire against ice huh. Oh this will be so cool.” She dove through the flame barrier, swords at the ready. Hitsugaya charged back, sheer cold trailing off his blade.

They collided in the air, Rainbow’s swords ringing against the steel of Hitsugaya’s blade, she flipped over him to keep her momentum, he chased after her, she blocked his sword with the metal of her wings, spinning to keep her speed, she swooped down low bringing the battle into the hallways where her practiced maneuverability would have the upper hand. “Come and get me ice boy.” She muttered. Instead of following her chunks of ice started to rain down. “Alright maybe not.” She swooped back up, maneuvering her way around the blasts of cold bearing down on her. “You cheater!” She swung her sword at an especially large chunk of ice, it burst into steam and she shot through, bringing the fires of her blades against the ice of his.

“We never established rules.” He pushed down on her and she pushed back, heat and cold pushing against each other in the air, Rainbow drew back her second blade and pushed his sword under hers, allowing her to surge forwards blades set to stab when suddenly he disappeared.
“What?” Rainbow hovered in the air, looking around for her opponent. “Now that’s just not fair.”
“How so?” Hitsugaya’s voice rang out behind her; she whirled around to face him. “You did the same thing to protect your friend.” He brought his sword down to strike. Rainbow deftly countered knocking his blade to the side and swinging at him, he disappeared again.
“Yeah right, I may be quick but I’m not that fast.” She grinned, looking around for him.

“You countered Suì-Fēng when she was using her Shunpo, I’d say you’re faster.”
[Shunpo = Flash Step]
Rainbow lashed out at the spot she heard his voice coming from, managing to open a small cut on his arm before he disappeared again.
“Enough with the vanishing act, you’re worse than Twilight.”
“I’m not as fast as Suì-Fēng, you should be able to follow me rather easily.” To her right. “Or maybe that was just dumb luck.” To her left? “Well?” Behind her?

“Would you, STOP THAT?!” The fire on her wings exploded out, bathing the area around her in flames, Hitsugaya appeared to her right, patting out a flame that had caught on his sleeve. The only problem was that she was too far away to make it by the time he was finished, but she was gonna try. She was suddenly next to him; she swung at him, opening a gash on his shoulder before she realized what had just happened. Hitsugaya tried to get away again but this time she could see him, she swooped in front of him, blocking his escape. “Well, well, looks like I am that fast.” He pushed away from her.

“Hyōryū Senbi!” [Ice Dragon Swirling Tail] He swung his sword causing a wall of ice to shoot out at Rainbow.
“Hey Rainbow, swing the swords and repeat after me.”
“Fenikkusutoreiru!” [Phoenix Trail] A wave of fire erupted from the swords in her hands, cancelling out the ice from Hitsugaya’s blade, the ice erupted into steam and Rainbow dove through brandishing her swords. Hitsugaya blocked, pushing her away, they dove at eachother, sparks flying as their blades met.
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“I have a little sister and a cat to go home to and he traumatizes me just to prove a point. Then he turns out to be completely useless.” Rarity waved her crossbow in the air. “I don’t even know what this thing is!” Turns out Rarity, is a lightweight.
“I think you’ve had enough.” Masumoto, despite the fact that she was supposed to be capturing the unicorn, was worried.
“I’ve only had one bowl.” Rarity pouted.
“Yes, but this is the good stuff, I snuck it from squad eight’s barracks.”
“The guy with the floral print robe?” Rarity raised an eyebrow.
“That’s the one.” Masumoto puffed out her chest, obviously proud that she had managed to sneak alcohol from the biggest addict in the place.

“Tell me, I’ve seen many a floral print in my life and it almost always stinks. So does he… make it work?” She winced slightly, praying that she wouldn’t have to face something that was as unappealing to look at as it was to fight.
“I’d say he does but his lieutenant doesn’t think so. And it’s a break from the dress code so I’m not sure how he gets away with it on duty.” Masumoto put a finger up to her chin in contemplation.
“Well that’s a relief, if there’s one thing I will not stand for it’s a lousy dresser. Do you smell something burning?” Rarity sniffed the air.

“Bacroof!” The sky seemed to explode into flame as Rainbow Dash broke the sound barrier.

“Sweet Celestia, what was that?!” Rarity covered her face and curled up.
“Either Hitsugaya is kicking your friend’s ass or the other way around.” Masumoto whistled, “Guess you could say she’s ‘on fire’.”
“Why would there be a donkey up there?” Rarity cocked her head.
“No, ass is another word for a person’s butt here.”
“That seems kind of racist.” Rarity huffed, above such vulgarity. Masumoto fell over laughing. “Laugh all you like, but racism is below the belt at all times and as such should not be included in civilized conversation.”
“I thought this was drunken conversation.” Masumoto stopped laughing.

Applejack came crashing through a wall to their left, planting herself face first in the ground. Both Masumoto and Rarity doubled over laughing. Applejack pulled herself out of the dirt as Marechiyo walked through the hole she had left, holding a large flail and grinning down at her. Applejack looked over at Rarity.
“Hey Rar’, Ah’m glad to see you’ve made a new friend but Ah could use some help over here.”

“Oh alright.” She sighed, lifting the crossbow. What she did next was both an ingenious stroke of luck and a perfect example of why one should never operate projectile weapons while drunk. Rarity picked up the crossbow sideways, the firing end was trained on Applejack while Rarity thought she was aiming for Marechiyo.

“Uhh Rar’ Ah think Ah’m good now.”
“Shh, I’m concentrating.” Rarity decided she had the shot lined up and squeezed the trigger with her magic. Applejack turned around to run and Suì-Fēng took it as an opportunity to take her out from behind, having been behind Marechiyo and having missed most of the conversation. A bolt of blue energy flew from the end of the bow, striking Suì-Fēng in the back, directly into her heart. She gasped and clutched at her chest for a second before crumpling to the ground.

Rarity and Masumoto again doubled over laughing.
“Did you see that?” Rarity howled.
“Just… kerplunk.” Masumoto guffawed.
“Captain!” Marechiyo yelled, sprinting over to her. He picked her up. She muttered something. “She’s alive?” Suì-Fēng started grinning stupidly in her sleep.

“Mmmmm, Yurochi-Sama.” She pursed out her lips and Marchiyo dropped her like a hot iron. At this point even Applejack, who felt like she had just been flattened, was laughing.
You-you…” Marechiyo was sputtering with rage. “What did you do to my captain?” He trudged towards Rarity.
“I have no idea.” Rarity started laughing even harder.
“You bitch, I’ll kill you!” He lifted the flail, meaning for it to come down on the hysterical mare.

“Ah don’ think so!” Applejack put a kick into his back, sending him flying into the air. She jumped up after him, spinning and performing a dropkick into his stomach, as the fires from Dash’s battle danced around her. “An’ that’s fer knockin’ me through a wall.” Marechiyo landed in front of Rarity forcing her and Masumoto to shield their eyes from the debris. Applejack came down on him with her knees, forcing him down even further into the dirt.

“Woo!” Rarity threw her hooves in the air and cheered. With both Suì-Fēng and Marechiyo down for the count, all that remained was for Rainbow to wrap up her fight with Hitsugaya. The air was blooming in red, orange, yellow and white as the two airborne combatants threw everything they had at each other. Rarity and Masumoto were regarding the fight as a sort of fireworks show.

They saw the pressure wave before they felt it, the fire lit sky suddenly became pale blue as the flames dissipated in wake of the shock wave. Once it hit there wasn’t a thing that wasn’t nailed down that stayed where it was, the shingles of the buildings on either side of them were blown to dust, it knocked the alcohol clean out of both Rarity and Masumoto and sent them flying, Suì-Fēng and Marechiyo were jolted awake and flung into the building to their right, Applejack only managed to stay put because of a useful feature in her boots, two plates of metal descended from the sides of her boots and bolted themselves into the ground preventing her from being blown away. Rainbow Dash and Hitsugaya both were knocked from the sky and sent careening back down to the ground, it seemed like a miracle that the buildings were still standing.
“What the buck?” Rainbow yelled just before she smashed into the dirt.

Each of them wrenched themselves out of the wall or patch of earth that they found themselves smashed into, just as quickly as the power had come, it was gone, the overwhelming pressure that had sent half of them flying was suddenly gone, it was as if whatever had generated the energy had simply crashed through the area and departed this realm entirely.

“Captain Hitsugaya, was that?” Masumoto helped her captain pull himself out of the remains of his bankai.
“I believe so Masumoto. The intruders are of no concern any longer, Aizen is loose.”
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Yachiru stood with her blade in Pinkie’s shoulder, watching the lights behind her eyes go out. She chuckled to herself, yanking the sword out of her, sheathing it, and turning to walk out of the fading pink gator. She hopped out of the hole she had made and looked back at the corpse that had once been the only being in existence who could match her exuberance and it started laughing. Yachiru rubbed her eyes, sure she was seeing things, but it kept laughing as the gator once more solidified, the hole she had opened in its stomach disappearing.

“Oh Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie yelled in a singsong voice. “You had no idea how to use this thing properly, did you?” Pinkie rolled over onto her stomach, facing away from Yachiru and pushed herself up to her hooves. She turned around and Yachiru’s eyes went wide, unsure what to make of what she was seeing. Pinkie’s face couldn’t be seen, in its place there was a white mask shaped like a foxes head with a purple stripe down the middle, the eye holes were two different sizes and the mouth was a smile that curled up behind its eyes giving the mask a crazed look to it, Pinkie’s eyes had turned from blue to red and the whites of her eyes had turned black. “Then sit back Pinkie and let aunty Pinkamena show you how it’s done. Hachūrui, daun kamu!” [Reptilian, bite down]

The alligator shimmered for a second before shrinking down onto Pinkamena’s body, grafting ethereal claws onto its hooves and turning the gator’s head into a helmet with ghostly jaws ready to rend through their target. Pinkamena started laughing, the singsong tilt never leaving its voice even once it was practically screaming. “Now Yachi,” Its voice lost the singsong tilt to it and gained that strange quality that vizard’s voices have, like the person is talking through a fan. Yachiru blinked and the voice was right next to her. “That hurt a lot you know.” Yachiru turned and Pinkamena raked its claws across Yachiru’s face, blood oozed from the wounds and into her eyes.

Yachiru jumped back, reaching into her robe for a bottle of salve that she had stolen from Ikkaku, she poured its contents into her hand and rubbed it onto her forehead, stopping the blood flowing into her eyes. She wiped the already drying blood off of her face.
“I’ll admit, you’re faster than I expected.” She spat out some blood that had found its way into her mouth. “This’ll be fun.” She jumped at Pinkamena who dodged and clawed at her, Yachiru brought her sheathed sword up to block the claws, they cut through the sheath and bit into the blade before stopping.

“You have no idea.” Pinkamena chuckled. “I really should thank you.” Pinkamena yanked its claws out of the sword, jumping back. “If it weren’t for you, I would have never proved my point.” Yachiru unsheathed her sword, inspecting the four dents in the metal.
“And that would be?” Yachiru jumped forward, bringing her blade down towards Pinkamena. It blocked the sword with a sweep of its hoof, pinning the blade with its claws.
“That she’s alone, that I’m the only one she can really count on.” Pinkamena hacked down with the other hoof opening a series of shallow gashes along Yachiru’s side.

Yachiru pulled her sword out from underneath Pinkamena’s hoof and bringing it up, meaning to cut into Pinkamena’s belly but it moved and opened another set of cuts in Yachiru’s back, causing her to stumble forwards. “And now, I’m going to kill you the way you killed her.” Pinkamena lunged; opening a set of cuts on Yachiru’s left leg. “I’ll wear you down,” Across her chest, “make you weak,” Down her arms, “unable to move,” Across the back of her knees, forcing her down onto the ground. “I’m going to make you call for help and no one will be there to save you, just me.” It stood over Yachiru glaring down at her through those crooked eyeholes. “And you’ll beg for death.” Yachiru started giggling. “Why are you doing that?” It growled.

“I haven’t had an opponent this strong before.” She forced herself to her feet, stumbling from the pain. “I hope you stay this good.” Pinkamena growled at her and lunged, Yachiru dodged and struck from behind, just managing to clip its tail. Pinkamena whirled around opening all three sets of jaws and biting into Yachiru’s wrist, causing her to yelp in pain and drop her sword. Pinkamena kicked the blade away and let go of her wrist, allowing Yachiru to jump away, cradling her crushed arm.
“Now, where were we?” Pinkamena cackled, walking over to her. “Oh yes, I was making you crawl.” It brandished its talons in Yachiru’s face, drawing one up the middle of her face and slicing it down the middle. Yachiru twitched, signaling that beneath her expressionless face she was screaming.

Pinkamena leaned in close, drawing the talon down Yachiru’s face, neck and right shoulder. “Oh it’s alright pet; you can scream all you want.” It whispered. Instead of screaming, Yachiru punched its bottom jaw, sending it flying away.
“You’re no fun anymore!” Yachiru yelled, picking herself up again. “You’re just being mean.” She grabbed her sword and leaped after Pinkamena, who had pulled itself out of the dirt.
“Fine, let’s do this the hard way.” It spat.

The battle was frantic. Yachiru hacked down, blocked by Pinkamena’s claws; Pinkamena attacks with its other foreleg, blocked by her sword hilt, Yachiru lashed out with a kick, squaring Pinkamena in the jaw, it snarled and tried to bite the offending limb but Yachiru yanked her leg away and brought her crippled right arm around and into its stomach, wincing as she made contact. Pinkamena coughed as it tried to regain control of its diaphragm, still lashing out with any and every part of its body.

Yachiru finally managed to score a cut along its shoulder, hardly a consolation seeing as she was covered in gashes and bruises. “AAARRGAH! You little, I’ll tear you apart!” The wound healed itself, abandoning the pink fur for skeletally white armor. It jumped at her, intending to tear into her with all four sets of talons, Yachiru dodged and cut across its back. Pinkamena howled and whirled around, blindly thrashing at anything it could get its claws on.

Alright, She thought, the trick is to keep it angry. She blocked another headlong attack, bracing herself on her left leg as Pinkamena drove her back trough the dirt, Yachiru took her right arm and punched Pinkamena in the eye, driving it away. It roared in pain, clutching its face and rolling in the dirt. Yachiru regarded the creature before her with contempt.

“You’re pathetic.” Yachiru glared at Pinkamena, who stopped whimpering, jerking as if it had forgotten that there was still an opponent to deal with. But only for a second, it curled back up and started sniffling again. Yachiru walked up, meaning to stab the creature.
“Gotcha!” Pinkamena sprang up, digging all three sets of teeth into Yachiru’s shoulder, she screamed, Pinkamena twisted and yanked until Yachiru’s entire left shoulder gave way, ripping off of her body in a spray of blood and blinding pain.

Pinkamena swallowed the chunk of meat and bone that she had wrestled off, and started laughing, a wheezing sound that came strait from the pits of insanity, it almost sounded more like a cough than a laugh. Yachiru staggered back, trying to hold the left side of her body together with her already crippled right, her sword clattered to the ground, tears streamed down her face as she fought not to openly sob, blood ran through her fingers and down her robe to the dirt, she fell to her knees in pain. All the while that mocking, wheezing laugh never stopped.

“Who’s pathetic now, you bitch?” The mouth of the mask hung open, dripping blood, Pinkamena’s tongue lolled out between the dripping teeth as she spoke between chuckles. “Buck the slow death; I’m just going to eat you, right here right now!” The edges of Yachiru’s vision started to go dark as the hollow sauntered over, getting closer every time her vision went black. She struggled to even try to get up. “Still fighting are we?” It turned around. “Here, let me help you!” It lashed out with its back legs, crashing into her chest, smashing ribs and organs alike. She was thrown several meters back to land crumpled into a broken, twisted heap. Her vision went dark again; the last thing she saw before she was swallowed by blackness was Pinkamena, laughing at her.
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“Hey, Yachiru.” She knew that voice. “Get up.”
“Ken…ny?” She forced her eyes to focus. Kenpachi was standing above her, as impressive as ever, surrounded by white.
“What ‘er you doing on the ground? Get up.” He reached out to her.
“But… it hurts… Kenny.” She tried to reach back but she couldn’t move.
“You’ve seen me fight, you saw me fight Ichigo, I was in worse condition than you are.” His fingers were directly in front of her face. His hands looked sturdy, strong, not like hers.
“But… I’m not you.” She tried again to reach back out to him again but she still couldn’t move, it hurt too much to even try.

“No you’re not me, but you’re my lieutenant.” This made Yachiru stir. “Even though I want to keep a close eye on you, I wouldn’t put you in such a dangerous position if I didn’t think you could handle it, that would make me a pretty shitty parent wouldn’t it?” She managed to turn her head to look up his arm. Did he just call himself my dad? “I may not be the one who was there when you were born but I’ve looked after you since before you could talk, that makes me your dad. No father would let his little girl get herself killed like this.” She managed to move her arm to rest on his hand, so small compared to his, his hand stretched the length of her entire forearm.

“I’m not allowed to die, am I?” She smiled weakly; the pain disappeared, replaced by a pleasant numbness.
“No daughter of mine in going to die like a dog.” He smiled and wrapped his hand around her arm. “Now get up.”
“Yes sir.” She smiled wide, pain forgotten.
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Her eyes snapped open, Pinkamena was about to bring its claws down on her head. Yachiru rolled to the side and forced herself up as the talons crushed into the soil; she grabbed a handful of dirt and ground it into her shoulder, stopping the bleeding.
“What?” Pinkamena stepped back, visually terrified by the new light in her eyes. Yachiru took a deep breath and felt power flowing back into her body, her crushed ribs restricted her breathing but she powered around it.
“I am Yachiru Kusajishi, daughter of Zaraki Kenpachi, Lieutenant of the Eleventh Squad of the Gotei Thirteen. And I refuse to die on my butt, if I’m going to die, I’m going to stand and fight till I die of exhaustion. This is one meal. You. Won’t. Have!”

Yachiru surged forwards, grabbing her sword off the ground as she chased after Pinkamena who was in all but full retreat. She brought her sword down on the hollow, who batted it away and tried to counterstrike, but Yachiru kicked it in the mask, sending the creature reeling, she brought her sword around and hacked through the mask. Pinkamena screamed and lashed out, blinded by the blood seeping out of its own face. It howled and simply kept moving; lashing out at anything it heard including the rocks it shifted with its fits of movement.

Yachiru came up from behind lodging her sword in its spine, stopping its movement. It wasn’t dead, its terrified breathing could still be heard but it couldn’t move while the sword was lodged between its vertebrae. “I win.” She sneered in its ear, preparing to twist the blade down through its neck. The shock wave hit, blasting Yachiru away, bringing her sword with her, there was a flash of white as the hollow regenerated but the mask only withstood the blast for a second, blowing out into dust. Pinkamena’s terrified red and black eyes flashed for a moment.
“NNNOOOO!” It wailed as its eyes turned back to the soft blue of Pinkie’s.

Just like that the power was gone, completely vanished. Pinkie looked around, panicked for a moment.
“W-w-what’s going on?” She sputtered.
“Thanks for a good fight.” Yachiru breathed, then succumbed to her wounds and passed out.
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“I can’t move… Why can’t I move…” Blackness, everything was blackness and heavy. “I can’t breathe… Why can’t I breathe… It hurts… Everything hurts…”
“You are truly pathetic; I’m going to have to save you already aren’t I.”
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“You bastard!” Lyra pounded on Kenpachi’s sword over and over, not giving him a second to move his blade from its defensive position. “You fucking bastard!” Kenpachi jumped back, eager to avoid Lyra’s wrath.
“How in the hell was I supposed to know the supports were there?”
“You fucking live here!” She jumped into the air in an attempt to cut him down when a bolt of electricity hit her square in the face. Lyra was blown back into a wall, both her and Kenpachi turned to stare at Twilight’s zanpakto. It was going nuts, blasting off lightning every which way, the chain suddenly pulled tight sending it shooting towards the pile of rubble where Twilight had been standing. “Huh?” Lyra stood, watching the chains as they snaked their way into the rock.

“CRRRAKKK!!!” The rubble exploded out with a shockwave of energy, throwing both Lyra and Kenpachi away, the surge lasted for about a second before disappearing completely. Only once the dust cleared did Lyra feel it safe to get up, the figure standing in place of the rubble could only be described as one thing. A black hole; it looked like Twilight, granted it was wearing a black mask that looked like someone had slapped horns on the bottom jaw of a snake. The eyeholes were massive, running from the front of the snout to the back of the jaw line, there were three slits in the forehead, the snout ran from the forehead to below the two tusk like extensions that began at the back of the mask and ran around in front of the snout. Instead of being able to see her eyes there was ice blue light emanating from the eyeholes.

Lyra couldn’t feel its power, it wasn’t like she was dead and the power was gone, It felt like there was nothing there, it felt like what she was seeing wasn’t really there.
“Hey bookworm.” Kenpachi pulled himself out of the wall he had been embedded in. “I didn’t know you were a vizard too.” Twilight’s head snapped over to look at him. “Ooh, real scary. Heartstrings why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she isn’t.” Lyra was frozen in place, despite the fact that it didn’t seem to be there, the power was still oppressive. Can’t he feel this? It’s like she’s just sucking all the energy out of the area.

“We’ll see about that.” Kenpachi charged Twilight, who didn’t move an inch. Kenpachi brought his sword down on her.
“Twilight!” Lyra yelled when the sword made contact. It stopped, clattering uselessly against her shoulder.
“What?” Kenpachi was visually shocked; he looked up into the eyes of the mask. Twilight looked over to her shoulder looking first to the blade then down its length to Kenpachi’s face. She reached over and took the blade off of her shoulder.

“This is what you were so terrified of that you could hardly bring yourself to stand your ground?” She spoke in a growling male voice, clenching her hand tight around the blade; she brought her other arm up and slugged him, sending Kenpachi flying through the walls behind him. “Disgraceful.” She grabbed the hilt of Kenpachi’s sword, which she had wrenched away from him when she had sent him flying. She released the blade and brought the palm of her hand to the tip. In a single sweeping movement she crushed the blade onto a fine metallic powder. “Pitiful.” She tossed away the hilt and grabbed the end of her sword’s chains. “Ritorakuto.” [Retract] The chains seemed to be sucked back into the handle until there was only a foot of chain left on the end of the hilt.

She pulled the chain tight. “Anata jishin o kyasuto; Shadō!” [Cast yourself; Shadow.] The chains shot through her outstretched hand forming themselves into the exact shape of the sword in her other before they solidified into a single blade, tinting itself black, darkness billowing off the blade, the chains trailing off of the blade concentrated into a handle, leaving a length of chain connecting the two blades. Twilight pulled on it, extending the chain, she threw the first blade around her shoulders, wrapping herself in the chains and leaving the purple blade hanging over her shoulder.

Twilight bounced the new blade in her hand a few times and switched to the other hand. “This will do nicely.” Kenpachi came running back through the hole.
“What have you done?” He stared in horror at the bladeless hilt that had once been his sword.
“You again?” She sneered bringing her foot up into his chest and sending him flying away with an audible snap as his ribs broke. He landed in the wall, blood seeping from between his clenched teeth. Twilight flourished her free hand and chains of shadow sprouted from the cinderblocks around him, binding Kenpachi into place.

She strolled her way over. “Tsk, tsk, tsk; I am very disappointed in you Sparkle.” She started spinning the black blade on its chain. “You let this!” She lashed the blade across his chest. “Defeat you, being regarded as a great warrior myself, I am appalled that this brute!” She lashed him again. “Got the better of you.” Lyra finally found the will to move.

“Twilight,” Twilight jerked her head to look at Lyra. “That’s enough.” She put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Send it away.”
“Send it away?” Twilight brushed off Lyra’s hand, turning to face her. “Send it away? I am shadow itself, I cannot simply be sent away, I leave when I feel that this weakling can properly handle herself. You cannot simply be rid of me.” He took a step forward, brandishing his blade.

“Hey, I’m the opponent here, not her.” Kenpachi strained against his bonds, they buckled and groaned against his strength.
“Impressive.” The Shadow snapped his fingers; the bonds disappeared entirely, allowing Kenpachi to fall to the ground. “So you do have some power in you. I take it you were holding back.” The light in the eyeholes blazed for a moment, a tide of shadows brought Kenpachi’s sword hilt into The Shadow’s hand. “I should have guessed, this was a warrior’s blade.” His eyes flashed again and the dust that had been the blade was picked up by darkness, flowing back onto the hilt. The shadow waved a hand over the collection of shards; the pressure could be felt as the pieces were compressed back into their original shape.

The blackness left the sword, revealing the gleaming blade beneath. “It doesn’t like you very much does it?” The Shadow threw the sword at Kenpachi’s feet.
“How about you give me your name so I know what I’m addressing. And so I can tell it to mind its own business.” Kenpachi bent down, picking up his sword and inspecting it for a moment before he decided that he wasn’t being tricked.

“Me? I am Makuta Teridax, but I believe that my counterpart in this realm is Sosuke Aizen.” Teridax chuckled, spinning the handle of his sword in his fingers.
“Heartstrings,” Kenpachi was surprisingly calm, usually when he had an opponent this strong he would be grinning like a madman. “You may want to get a few meters back.” Lyra took the hint and turned to run. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen something like you before; I never got to fight Aizen. I hope you won’t disappoint.” He smiled, cutting completely loose. Teridax cocked his head, studying Kenpachi’s power as the ground under Kenpachi’s feet cracked.

“I won’t.” He said smugly. Kenpachi charged, Teridax didn’t even seem to brace himself, standing loosely. Kenpachi brought his blade down. Moving too fast to be seen, Teridax blocked the blow and smashed his fist into the side of Kenpachi’s face. Who managed to stay on his feet but was still sent reeling by the blow. Teridax hadn’t moved an inch.
“What gives?” Kenpachi shook his head to clear it.
“I said I wouldn’t disappoint, you on the other hand,” He was suddenly behind Kenpachi, “are a different matter.”

Kenpachi tried to turn around in time but Teridax took off both his arms at the elbows. Kenpachi, who had laughed in the face of death more times than he could count, was left defenseless. Teridax then slashed his heels, severing the tendons. Kenpachi’s legs gave way and he was forced down onto his stomach. Teridax picked up Kenpachi’s right arm and took the sword from its grip. “Must I always repeat myself? Pathetic.” Teridax lifted Kenpachi’s blade, moving to bring it down on his neck.

“Ryūjin Jakka!” [Flowing Blade-like Flame] An immense release of power shook across the area, flattening buildings and seeming to compress the air around them. A tongue of flame swatted Kanpachi’s zanpakto out of Teridax’s hand causing him to stagger slightly. He turned to face the new opponent, one could almost feel him glaring at the robed figure that had intervened. “I don’t know who you are brat but I know this, you are through here.” The robed figure holding the hilt to the pillar of flame that had diverted Teridax’s attack was bald with a massive beard and had a pair of scars that passed across his forehead in an x.

“Head Captain Yamamoto?” Lyra spoke, surprised that Yamamoto had decided to take up the search himself. Granted Teridax appeared immensely powerful but Yamamoto would only bring himself in on the front line if he was familiar with the threat.
“Hello Heartstrings, here to beg forgiveness for deserting?” Yamamoto turned his head slightly to look at her.
“No sir.” She reflexively saluted.
“Then you’re here as an aid to this creature?” He growled slightly, Teridax seemed to be studying him, staring up at him with what could have been mistaken for curiosity. Lyra gulped, knowing good and full well what happened when you aided the enemy.

“Not exactly.” She cringed, finding herself unable to lie to a being that could fry her in a heartbeat.
“Captains Mugamara, Ukitake book her.” Two men with white hair in captain’s robes appeared on either side of her.
“Hey Ukitake-San, Long time no see huh?” Ukitake she was familiar with, she had no idea who the other was.
“Hello Heartstrings, I see you’ve reached bankai, impressive. Mugamara-San, confiscate it.” Before she could so much as tighten her grip, the axe was ripped from her fingers. Lyra eyed the new captain, chuckling nervously.

“Geezer.” Kenpachi spoke up from his pace in the dirt. “Let him do it.”
“Excuse me.”
“He took my arms, I can’t fight like this.” Kenpachi seemed on the edge of tears.
“Fool!” Yamamoto barked. “Unlike my arm, which was burned to the point of uselessness, we can put yours back. Don’t be such a baby. What would your lieutenant think?”

“Are you done talking now?” Teridax growled, tightening his grip on his sword.
“Kyōraku, Hirako, with me.” Two others appeared, one in a floral print robe with brown curly hair and holding two strangely curved blades, the other in a traditional captain’s robe with blond hair cut to the bottom of his jawline.
“It feels like Aizen, but what’s with that shape?” The blond one stared down at Teridax, frowning slightly.
“It matters not Hirako, all that matters is that it is an intruder, a dangerous one at that.” Yamamoto looked down on Teridax with contempt.

“I don’t like that look.” Teridax growled. “You’re not allowed to look down on me.” Teridax was suddenly up there with them, behind Yamamoto. He spun around, blocking the Teridax’s dark blade with the concentrated flame of his.
“And why would that be youngster?” Teridax stepped back, breaking contact with Yamamoto’s sword.
“I am older than you can imagine, I am most likely older than your entire pathetic race.” Teridax was bristling with rage. “You have neither the power nor the authority to belittle me.” He charged again, smashing into the pillar of fire with every once of strength he could muster, he came crashing through it, he reached out with the hand that wasn’t on the blade and grabbed Yamamoto’s face.

Teridax drove his opponent down into the ground, dust and debris flew from the impact. “I have killed and overthrown gods, you are meaningless.” He lifted Yamamoto by his neck, growling as he squeezed. Suddenly there was a sharp pain and a gash along his stomach, he dropped Yamamoto and clutched his midriff. “What?” He whirled around to be greeted by Kyōraku, who had raked one of his strange blades along Teridax’s shadow.

“Your turn, catch me if you can.” Kyōraku jumped away, hoping to distract him for a moment; Teridax started laughing.
“Shadow tag? Bad move.” He lifted his empty palm and closed it into a fist, Kyōraku Crumpled like a rag doll, his limbs sticking out at odd angles. “You are dealing with the master of shadows; that may have been the biggest and last mistake of your life.”
“Hyōryū Senbi!”
“Fenikkusutoreiru!” Ice cascaded down on him, followed by a blaze of fire, freezing and burning warred for attention in his mind, He staggered, trying to drown out the two conflicting signals.

Rainbow Dash and Hitsugaya both swooped down next to the fallen captains. Hisugaya took Kyōraku and Rainbow took Yamamoto, both falling back to where Ukitake and Mugamara were standing. Yamamoto shook his way out of Rainbow’s grip.
“Keep your hands off me intruder.” He growled, glaring at her. “You came through with that thing, don’t play innocent with me.”
“Whoa man, I don’t even know what it is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something put off such a bad vibe, except maybe that face.” She shrank under his gaze.

“Dash, that’s Twilight.” Lyra blurted.
“Twilight?” Rainbow looked back at the creature, battling its half frozen body. “No way. That thing’s way too brutal to be Twilight.” Rainbow almost pleaded with her. Applejack swooped in, carrying Rarity.
“What’d Ah miss?” She looked, over at Teridax, who was finally regaining control of his body. “Well Ah guess that covers it, never seen a meaner feeling thing in mah life.” She jumped towards Teridax, a kick connecting with the side of his head, he was sent sprawling.

“Applejack.” Rainbow yelled. “That’s Twilight.”
“What, our Twi’? No way.” Applejack rolled her eyes.
“Enough!” Teridax yelled, picking himself up. “You pathetic, weak, underlings! You forced me to this.” He spun the black blade above his head, shadows started peeling off the ground, spreading until they covered the entire area in a cloak of grey.
“No way in hell.”
“Kage kōshin!” [shadows march] He slammed the blade into the ground, the greyness concentrated, forming itself into replica’s of his opponents. “Get them.” He growled. The shadow things charged, each one meeting with its real counterpart.

Applejack stood, trading blows with her doppelganger, completely unable to gain the upper hand, this thing might as well have been the shadow behind her, it knew every move moments before she even made it.

Rainbow was having an identical problem. Her doppelganger was just as fast as her, and if anything it was stronger, every blow she moved to make was shoved down by her counterpart, before it would attempt a blow with more force than she had put into hers.

Rarity stood with her doppelganger, staring it down, both sides had their bows at the ready, just waiting for the other to make the first move.

Chunks of ice and shadow flew through the air in Hitsugaya’s battle as they squared off with the dragon each commanded. The dragons bit and clawed at each other as the wielders clashed blades, each trying to force the other to buckle beneath their power.

Ukitake had unleashed his swords Sōgyo no Kotowari and was rebounding blasts of shadow sent from the doppelganger’s blades.

Hirako stood, contemplating his opponent, it was far more aggressive than he was, wildly charging without much coordination, making it easy to simply move out of the way and study it for some kind of weakness; as he continued to avoid the shadow’s strikes he looked around at the others, they all demonstrated control just as good if not better than their real counterparts. What made this one different? He looked at Rarity, as she stared down her opponent; her doppelganger was in the exact same position, mirroring it perfectly. Hirako took a swing at his Doppelganger and the change was immediate. For that strike it became a perfect opponent, forcing his blade back and demonstrating control far greater than what it had been doing before. He jumped back from it.
“Interesting,”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fluttershy didn’t want to go towards the spot that the shock wave had come from, even less so once the area had caught fire. But something told her that was where she needed to be, so she flew towards it hesitantly. The area went dark and she nearly turned to fly away, but if she wanted to find her friends, no doubt she would have to go to the spot with the most going on; they had a knack for ending up in those spots.

“Fluttershy help!” A familiar voice called out from below her. She looked down and saw Pinkie Pie cradling the broken body of Yachiru in her fore hooves.
“Oh my.” Fluttershy swooped down landing next to the decidedly deflated Pinkie Pie. “What happened?”

“I-I didn’t mean to, I was scared and alone, she was attacking me and I panicked, I didn’t mean to.” Pinkie started sobbing, cradling Yachiru’s head next to her own. Fluttershy looked from her sobbing friend to the body in her forelegs. Yachiru was still breathing if very shallowly.
“Pinkie, this was a barracks right?” Fluttershy looked at a piece of wood with strange writing on it, yet somehow she could read it. She’d have to ask Lyra about that later.
“I-I guess.” Pinkie looked up, bleary eyed.

“Then they should have had some medical supplies, I’ll see what I can do for Yachiru, you look around for me okay?” Pinkie got a bit of that twinkle in her eye back and set out with grim fervor as she sifted through the debris for anything she could find.

Fluttershy looked back at her patient, taking stock of her numerous injuries.
“It looks like she was mauled by a pack of timberwolves.” Half her ribs had been shattered entirely, the other half were snapped, a large chunk of her left shoulder looked like it had been bitten off by something with carnivorous teeth and she was covered in clawmarks. How could Pinkie have done this? She looked back at her still distraught friend; whatever she had done she had terrified even herself by doing it. “There’s going to be some scarring across the face, arms and legs.” She analyzed, talking to herself a bit. “I may need some surgical equipment for the ribs, that wrist is going to need a splint. At least all the bleeding stopped.”

Yachiru stirred a bit, her eyelids fluttering for a second, she started trying to sit up before Fluttershy stopped her.
“Mmm I dead yet?” She slurred.
“Shh you’re hurt, don’t try to move.” Fluttershy pushed on her right shoulder, gently laying her back down. “I’d say it’s a miracle you’re even still alive. Don’t try to talk either.”
“That’s a lost cause.” Yachiru chuckled weakly. “I haven’t shut up when someone told me to-” She started coughing violently, blood leaking out of her mouth. “On second thought… maybe I should.”

Fluttershy put a hoof over Yachiru’s mouth.
“Yeah, you should. Now this may hurt a little, I’m going to check if I can re-set any of your ribs.” Fluttershy put her hooves gently on Yachiru’s chest, carefully working the still intact ribs back into alignment. Yachiru gasped through her teeth, pain flashing through her. “Sorry, I just need a few more seconds.” She worked the last rib back. “Done, all five sets.” Fluttershy smiled down at her, Yachiru almost chuckled. More than half her ribs were utterly pulverized and Fluttershy was just happy to have managed the ones that were still there.

“Fluttershy, I found some.” Pinkie came running back through the rubble, a simple first aid kit locked in her teeth. Fluttershy took the small box and opened it.
“Lets see what we have. Oh my, there’s not much here, but it’ll do to make sure her chest doesn’t collapse again.” The box had the essentials, nothing more, simple bandages, a needle, thread and gauze, but it would have to do. Fluttershy set right to work, careful not to disturb the ribs she had already set as she wrapped them tight in the gauze, she added supports, made from bits of the beams that used to hold up the squad eleven barracks, where pressure would be needed in keeping them from healing crooked. She put her crushed wrist into a splint with a bit of wood, and set to sowing up the gashes that covered her body.

“I can breath.” Yachiru moved her left hand up to touch the bandages on her chest, only to have her hand swatted away by Fluttershy.
“Don’t touch those, you’ll want to avoid touching there for at least a week, unfortunately that means no showers or baths, changing the bandages when you’re in this delicate condition can be problematic.” Fluttershy spoke through her teeth as she worked the needle through the gashes on Yachiru’s arms, she finished, biting off the thread as she knotted it in place. “I’m going to roll you over now. Pinkie, help keep her steady so we don’t aggravate anything.” Pinkie looked regretfully at Yachiru for a second before nodding her head.

They carefully turned her over, Fluttershy pushed up on one side while Pinkie braced the other, making sure the turn happened slowly. Yachiru gasped as the weight shifted, causing sharp pains to run through her chest. “Are you alright?” Yachiru nodded in response. Fluttershy set back to work, sowing up the gashes along her back, and the backs of her knees. “I’m sorry Yachiru but I don’t think I can do anything for that shoulder with this equpment, how did you even get that to stop bleeding?”
“I rubbed dirt in it.” Yachiru spoke carefully, hoping to avoid another coughing fit. Fluttershy giggled a bit. If all else fails go for the old school I guess.

“Uhh Fluttershy…” Pinkie started tugging on one of her wings, forcing her to abandon her place sewing up Yachiru’s knee. Standing in front of her was a woman in a captain’s robe, her black hair was pulled back in a bun from what she could see, the robe was slightly too long on the arms and she was looking down at Fluttershy with an indiscernible expression, she was flanked by a nervous looking tall woman with steel blue hair, who had her hand on the hilt of her sword. Fluttershy gulped.

“Captain’s robe, too big to be considered small, black hair,” Fluttershy tried to place which captain she was looking at. “Looks about middle aged. Are you captain Retsu Unohana?” The blank expression melted to one of bemusement.
“Yes.” Her voice was gentle, she was definitely a healer.
“Then could you help us please? Yachiru needs serious medical attention and I just don’t have the equipment needed for these sorts of injuries.” Fluttershy sat up strait, hoping not to come off as uncertain as she felt. Unohana gestured for her lieutenant to take her hand off her sword.
“Isane I need you to perform a Sentan Hakuja back to the barracks so we can help this creature with her patient.” The steel blue haired woman, namely Isane jumped slightly.
“Yes captain.” Isane took a step back and started a strange incantation that was part of the spell. Unohana chuckled softly, turning to look at Fluttershy.

“You know, from afar you feel like Kurotsuchi, but close up you feel more like her.” She gestured towards Isane, who had closed her eyes in concentration. “So nervous and unsure of yourself.” Fluttershy blushed.
“I tried not to come off like that.”
“It was written in your voice. What’s your name?”
“I’m Fluttershy and this is Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy turned to look at her friend, she looked completely guilt ridden, staring down at Yachiru, her eyes glistening with tears.
“I take it she’s the one who did this.” Unohana pointed at Pinkie, Fluttershy nodded. “She has the same reiatsu as Yachiru. When she does fight, Yachiru has a tendency to get lost in it, doing anything she can to defeat her opponent. I’d be willing to bet that Pinkie has the same tendency. She shouldn’t feel bad if she was fighting, it’s just in her nature.” Fluttershy scratched her head.

“I heard something like that from Kurotsuchi when he captured me. What is reiatsu?”
“Reiatsu is spirit energy, it’s what makes it possible to tell one soul from another, without directly speaking to them, it can be used to measure power or personality. In other words if someone has the same reiatsu as another it means that they have the same soul, which makes it odd that you and Kurotsuchi are so different but rather predictable that Pinkie and Yachiru would have similar traits, such as the behavior that led to this.”
“Captain, it’s ready.” Isane finished the chant, a single ribbon was whirling around them.
“Alright Isane. Fluttershy you should go, I believe your friends need you.” Fluttershy nodded and stepped out of the ribbon’s range. “You should go too Pinkie.” Pinkie shook her head and didn’t move from her spot next to Yachiru.
“Hey I got her like this, it’s only right that I stay with her until I’m sure she’ll be alright.” Pinkie smiled weakly. Unohana nodded.
“Isane.”
“Yes captain.” The ribbon pulled tight around them, there was a bright flash of light and they were gone. Leaving Fluttershy to continue alone on her way.