* Renji PoV *
BOOOOM! CRASH!
"- Aizen, Gin, and Tosen are traitors!"
Flying through the air from the shockwaves, still clenching Rukia carefully against his chest, Renji had honestly no idea what was happening. He had been running away with Rukia when Captain Tosen suddenly appeared and attacked him. After a quick defeat, they were then transported to the execution platform only to come into contact with a man presumed to be dead.
How is Captain Aizen alive? Why is Captain Aizen so cold? What are Lei and Aizen fighting for? Who is a traitor? When did Lei get so strong?
A sharp exhale rang out as he hit the ground, the air punched from his lungs from the impact. He barely managed to upright himself before a new avalanche of Reiatsu buried him where he stood, pressing his body back into the ground with a merciless weight.
"What is this..." Gritting his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead from the effort, Renji struggled against the chains weighing upon his limbs. A quick glance showed that Rukia had already fainted.
"I didn't achieve Bankai just to be. This. Weak!" Shouting to himself, Renji successfully overcame his trembling knees to stand upright. Only to then be knocked flat on his back (again) from another, even more massive surge of spiritual pressure. The accompanying explosion and heavy winds blew him into the air (again), and confusion flashed across his face.
Who am I? What just happened? Didn't I achieve Bankai? Wasn't this supposed to be my moment of glory?
Already surprised and wounded from facing Tosen, Renji was immediately teleported to meet a Captain whom he thought was dead. Then the Captain he thought was kind turned out to be an ass. Then a traitor. He had also just gotten around to accepting that Lei was stronger than him but now he had to contend with the realization that Lei and Aizen were both MUCH stronger than he thought. Emotional whiplash and physical exhaustion would be understatements.
Still flying in the air, and blackness creeping in the edges of his vision, Renji saw the entire cliff begin to fall apart in the aftermath of the now distant impact. As the smoke cleared, he saw Captain Aizen crawling on the ground, bleeding profusely, and struggling to get up. He was missing one hand from the forearm up, and his other limb was heavily burnt and unusable, clearly casualties of taking the brunt of the explosion. Gin was fighting Tosen, seemingly blocking the 9th division Captain from assisting Aizen, and Lei, running towards his downed opponent, had murder in his eyes.
Weren't Gin and Tosen on the same side? Hah. I knew it. I must be hallucinating.
He passed out.
------
* Back to 3rd PoV *
Captain General Yamamoto, 8th Division Captain Shunsei, and 13th Division Captain Ukitake were sprinting towards the cliff where they detected Aizen's Reiatsu. Without warning, the air ruptured — two colossal surges of unfamiliar, dense spiritual pressure detonated into existence, slamming into their senses like a hammer to the chest. The ground seemed to groan in response. A low, resonant trombone thundered through the air as a massive explosion tore across the cliffside. Fire and debris erupted skyward, and in the next heartbeat, the cliff gave way, rocks shearing off in a roaring landslide, devouring the earth below in a chaotic cascade. Arriving at the debris, several other figures flashed to the surroundings at the same time.
Glancing at the outlier Yoruichi, Yamamoto was about to say something to his former captain when a blast from the debris attracted his attention.
"Hahaha - I did it. I DID IT! HAHAHAHA!" A dusty figure that Captain General Yamamoto recognized to be the 11th division Lieutenant Captain Lei Zhang burst out of the rocks and landed heavily on the ground. Another object separated from the Asian man's figure - the lifeless body of Aizen pierced through by a Zanpakuto.
Alarm ran through the faces of everyone around, and several of them flash stepped around the oblivious, still laughing Asian man, their eyes heavy with vigilance. The only fact keeping them from doing more was that Aizen had just been confirmed to be an enemy. Shunsei opened his mouth to question Lei, but before anyone could say anything again, another two bursts came out of the rock: Captain Gin and Captain Tosen closely followed one another and landed several meters away from one another.
"Captain Aizen!" Tosen's shocked face rang through the clearing. Anger quickly replaced shock however as he turned to his fellow traitor. "Gin Ichimaru! I will KILL you!!"
Just as he was beginning to make a move, he was quickly apprehended by several other Captains in the clearing. Gin was not left alone either as Lieutenant Captain Rangiku appeared behind him, blade to his neck.
Looking at the broken cliff in front, the manically laughing man with the strange smile on the ground, the familiar dead body of Aizen, and two former Captains restrained - one staring murder at the other (or that would be the case if not for his blindness), General Captain Yamamoto found a massive headache coming on.
I am absolutely filing this as one incident in the paperwork
------
* Several days later *
After finally handling almost all the crazy logistics associated with this Ryoka invasion, standing in front of the former and current Lieutenants and Captains of Gotei 13, Yoruichi, and the Ryoka group, General Yamamoto nearly broke his composure to breath a heavy sigh of relief. He composed himself however and went to handle the final tasks remaining for him: announcing the sentences for the two traitors and promoting new captains in their place.
"Former 3rd division Captain Gin Ichimaru! Former 9th division Captain Tosen Kaname! For plotting against the Soul Society and bringing harm to your colleagues, you two are hereby sentenced to the Central Great Underground Prison for 100 years!"
Clearly reluctant while proclaiming the sentence, the General Captain frowned a little. Unfortunately, under the urging of his student Komamura, he was convinced to spare Tosen. And under the principal of fairness, he had to then spare Gin as well. Looking around, he saw that besides two individuals, everyone appeared to not particularly care. A tick appeared on his forehead before evaporating from the stress of the past several days.
I'm getting too old for this
In over 1000 years of existence, one of the best lessons he learned was to care about the things you can change and not worry about the things you can't. Mentally exhaling a heavy sigh, he moved on.
"And now, for the second part of the meeting: to announce the new Captains to replace the criminals!" Continuing, he said, "We are in the fortunate and unfortunate position of having a plethora of available lieutenant captains and even past captains who all meet the criteria yet not enough seats to fill them all." Taking a moment to pause, he looked at the various candidates: Momo, Renji, Izuru, Yoruichi, the missing Kisuke, and Lei Zhang.
"The captain of the 3rd division will be Izuru Kira!" Glancing at his former captain in chains, stepping hesitatingly forward, the blond man had a conflicted face. He was wrestling with the honor of obtaining the highest position in the Gotei 13, yet also seeing someone he formerly admired removed from that exact position.
"The captain of the 5th division will be Momo Hinamori!" Momo had none of the hesitation. She gave a cheerful grin to Toshiro who in turn was sporting a giant smile, looking onward as if he was a proud parent. Turning to the other side, however, she gave a hate filled glare to Lei Zhang, the giver of a gift she never wanted to have. Clearly, despite the announcement of Aizen as a traitor, being stabbed by that very person, she never let go of the friendly, kind image in her heart.
Taking a brief pause to survey the remaining crowd, the General Captain saw a variety of emotions. He particularly focused on the two candidates he considered for the final captain position. There was a barely contained excitement on Renji's face — bright, eager, but also unmistakably unripe. Smiling despite himself at the youthful energy, he glanced at Lei — and faltered.
Lei's expression was terrifying in its clarity — unmasked, obsessive, like a drowning man spotting the surface. And the way he looked — almost trembling with want, his fists clenched tightly at his side and whole being bent slightly forward — reminded Yamamoto of a man eyeing his vice after years of restraint. The captain's seat was salvation. For a breath, the General Captain questioned his choice. For a breath, he almost wondered if it was really Aizen that was a traitor and not the man in front of him orchestrating a complex plan to gain Captain status. But he shook it off and continued. Unohana would not make such a mistake, and the man certainly had the strength.
"And the captain of the 9th division will be... Lei Zhang!"