"OK, so to reiterate, you are a hero from another world that has aliens. You wield a device that allows you to shape-shift and gain the corresponding powers of a selected species. You mysteriously sent here to our world became Aizen's subordinate. Fought this guy who is an odd amalgamation of Hollow and Shinigami, found your way to an even stranger forest dimension. Were you reunited with your once mortal enemy turned best friend, and then you arrived here. Is that correct?" Uryu asked while he and Ben sat within the all white lab.
"A few parts are missing, but that's the jist of it." The alien hero had already made himself comfortable on the examination table turned chair.
Squinting his eyes, the Quincy archer was skeptical, and his eyes went to the body on the third table in the room. An old man with dark skin and a white crown was on his back.
Sighing the Quincy simply took the words of the brown haired man before him as fact, the proof being a body behind him.
"Get your paws away from me, ya bastard!"
Grimmjow evaded the pursuit of Mayuri and his assistant Nemu, while the duo were being tailed by Kevin.
Uryu was bewildered, he wondered how his life could be filled with such absurdity. The memories of him, Ichigo, Orihime and Chad invading the Soul Society resurfaced, he had a small smile on his face.
"Thinking of happier times?" Ben had a fox grin stretched upon his face; the slightly younger man turned beat red.
"Stop implying things! Ugh, it doesn't matter, so what is our plan going forward?"
Ben became serious, he sat up and held his head down.
"There really isn't this massive complex plan on my end. It's just a numbers game, literally. I worked for Aizen and was able to form relationships with a few of his top men Espadas number one and three. The one on the table behind you was the former king of Hueco Mundo before Aizen came around-"
Uryu interjected.
"Then why kill him? I would imagine he would have the biggest reason out of anyone to want to take down Aizen."
The curtain of brown made by Ben's hair lifted, as he stared into the young Ishida's blue eyes.
Terrifying that was the only way he could describe Ben's eyes, the dull emerald color became an unnatural green.
"The top three Espada are Aizen's ultimate weapons, each of them are tracked by Aizen in order to know their position at all times. The old man Barragan told me a bunch of stuff, he tried to escape Aizen's watchful eye as soon as he became an arrancar. Him being there should be enough to show you how that panned out. So, no. We can't just go in guns blazing, there are people in there who I want to protect and think can be of some help to us."
Uryu was slightly surprised by Ben's attitude, he had a calm smile on his face.
"You're really different." The image of Ichigo popped into Uryu's mind. The story Ben and Kevin was similar to him and Ichigo, enemies turned friends.
"Hmm? How?" Ben notched his head to the side.
"No, no. Continue just reminiscing. After all you were about to talk about a special someone you want to save right?" Suddenly the alien hero's face turned red, it felt as though he was tossed into a sauna that housed an enormous amount of steam.
"People! And don't try to make me look like some hormone filled teenager! I'm an adult for Pete's sake."
"Are you not nineteen? The age between the two of us is more or less four years."
"Not important! Ugh, whatever." The hero rolled his eyes, he felt like smacking the blue eyed young man over the head. Their relationship might have started only recently, despite all of that he and Harribel were committed to one another.
"But, yes there is someone like that there. There's also more, also for the old man over there he ain't dead."
Cracking sounds filled the room, Uryu nearly got whiplash due to the speed at which he turned his head. His reward for the task was nothing. The old man did not mysteriously rise from the dead, as the Quincy inspected the body he discovered something miraculous.
"He doesn't seem to have a shadow, or...any at all."
More cracking sounds came from the younger man as he stared on with the fire of curiosity burning in his eyes.
" Yeesh, alright just don't look at me like that." Returning to his usual expression Uryu looked like a diligent student once again.
"I have an alien named Shade, and he has shadow powers. And no I will not be taking any comments on the name." The blue eyed young man stopped himself from raising his hand and seemed to pout a tiny bit.
"So basically I can manipulate shadows using him, usually however I can't manipulate other living beings shadows since they contain part of their soul. However everyone here is made of spiritual particles, this distinction is vital, with permission I severed the old man from his shadow. And since we are all souls I basically cut his existence in half, so to basically anyone and everyone he should by all metrics dead."
Pride. Seeing the shocked look on the Quincy's face made him well up with it. Ben would argue that he is quite humble in all respects, despite that he could still enjoy the feeling.
"Wait then if you are in human form right then, what happened to his shadow?" Ben simply pointed to the odd watch on his left wrist.
"What is...oh, h...how?! What type of technology can store shadows like that?! We are talking about-!"
Ben covered the archer's mouth as he stared wearily at the room's door, after a few moments of silence.
He then spoke in a low hush while he held his index finger to his mouth.
"Yes, I am awesome. But I want to give nut jobs like chess face over any more reasons to strap me to a table and cut me open!"
The alien hero seemed to have been genuinely frightened.
"All right...but still that is amazing makes me wonder what else you can do."
"Don't bother, that list is way too long. A better question would be what can't I do!"
After his exclamation the emerald eyed young man quietly listed things off. He continued for a few seconds before he stared off as if he was a scarecrow in a cornfield.
Shaking his head Ben reorganized his thoughts.
"Okay, I'll get to that later. Off to more important stuff, how are you doing when you have a scuffle with Gin. And you were exhausted to boot!" Gazing down at his wrinkled shirt Uryu sighed, Nemu had given him some medicine to elevate his fatigue. Remembering the battle with the former Soul Reaper captain sparked a fire within the Quincy archer.
"He was strong perhaps that was due to my condition, either way he should not be taken lightly when-"
"Kurotsuchi!" A grizzled and authoritative voice boomed in the sealed lab.
"Huh?!" Ben gasped as the Omnitrix began to shine a brilliant emerald that drowned out the other colors in the room.
...
Moments before Byakuya Kuchiki reunited with Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends a man in white appeared in the air stopping him. The noble soul reaper narrowed his eyes and spoke with venom, "Gin Ichimaru."
Gin stood before the injured captain with his ever sly smile on his face. Raising his hand Gin waved at his former comrade.
"Oh, that's such an ugly face you're making Byakuya, is that how you greet an old friend?" Byakuya waved his uninjured arm at Gin as a pillar of sakura leaves rushed towards him. Gin placed his right hand on his and allowed the storm of blades to strike.
The sound of crashing metal resounded, but he never heard any flesh being shredded.
"Honestly, you're too predictable, old friend." Distorted. Gin's voice was different not simply due to how muffled and pitched it sounded, but when he spoke the captain of squad six swore he heard a rattle.
He used a flash step to make distance, Gin allowed him.
Byakuya at a safe distance turned to see Gin sporting an all white mask that covered his entire head with a horizontal slit over the section where his eyes would be.
Byakuya had seen something like this before.
"How? Tell me Ichimaru. How?! How could you willingly take on the power of a hollow!?" Anger like never before welled up within the nobleman.
"How? Simple. I. Need. Power. And don't bother asking, you won't live long enough to care." It stuck out from his chest the long peerless blade of Gin, it was too fast for him to perceive.
He attempted to raise his arms, however they were severed cleanly from his shoulders. The flow of spiritual energy in his body was upset and resulted in Byakuya falling to the earth, his last image before everything cut to black being that of Gin with his mask.
"This is a necessity as they say. So watch my back, Byakuya, I'll meet you there soon enough."
...
Rook was being healed underneath the protection of Orihime's shield; he had received a grievous wound to the stomach. His armor was torn and destroyed in several places as well odd blood spilled to the ground.
"I..I'm sorry if I was just quick enough!" The orange haired girl was stumbling over her words as she healed. A firm metal hand gripped her shoulder.
"No need to apologize Miss Inoue, if there is one thing I have learned in my time as a hero it is that we all have weaknesses. There are things we cannot change or overcome, however that is not something to be ashamed about. Friends and allies exist to cover those weaknesses, so now please do not take the blame."
Orihime balled her hands into fits, she wanted to fight, she wanted to stand by everyone's side.
"Then what am I meant to do when everyone's getting hurt in front of me?! Huh?! Am I just supposed to stand back and let them get hurt or worse?!" Powerlessness. Inferiority.
Rukia was back with them, that was amazing, but thanks to their mission a gap had been created between her and the others. Her ability to help in a fight was limited.
Rook sat up, "Ugh, I was like you a while ago. I felt my role on the battlefield was to simply be supported after all before joining the PLUMBERS and Alien Force. I was a simple farm boy. Despite that I made sure to work on what I was good at so that when my opportunity came I would be ready. So that those who I care about would be able to lean on me!" Rook stood up, his wound being somewhat healed, he looked up at the darkness that battered the shield.
"Miss Inoue, please watch my back. I will be going at full power from here on out and I require someone to drag me back to my senses."
The young woman bit her lip, the feelings of being useless did not disappear. Instead she buried them, those could be resolved when lives were not on the line.
"Ok, I promise I'll do better this time!" Rook nodded, he stared at the mass that attempted to crush them, he took a deep breath in and breathed out.
"Reduce the world to ice and snow, Borriel." With a quiet incantation the advanced armor of the alien became layered by ice crystals which began to grow more prominent around his knees and shoulders His helmet shattered and a great knight helm took its place, his whole appearance had been overhauled, from a futuristic martial artist to frozen knight.
"Wow." Orihime had to admit he was really cool.
"Miss Inoue take the shield down, I am finally ready to face him." The young woman nodded, tendrils of onyx were upon them. A spear made of a pristine ice spike was in the frost knight's hand; a quick wide sweeping slash stopped their movement.
"Aahh!" The voices of the people he and Inoue knew screamed out.
"Why!? Big brother, please tell me why?" Rook Ben's voice alongside all of his loved ones rang through his ears.
Orihime looked worse for wear as the voice of Sora rang through her head, it felt as though nails were scratching endlessly against her mind. It made the young woman feel sick and helpless, her hand was on the verge of pulling out her hair until...
"You hear that Miss Inoue? I do not know exactly whose voice you hear, but I am sure it belongs to someone you cherish. This is a trial. Let us now end this nightmare."
Whipping away the sheet of sweat that had been building up on her forehead, Orihime stood next to Rook, all six of her fairies swirling around her.
"You're right, let's finish this, I won't cower in the face of monsters!"
"HAHAHAAHA!" Maniacal laughter came from all around them the darkness retracted and formed into a wispy figure. The duo looked around in shock.
"The forest!"
"He devoured it."
The sound of bark slamming together resonated outward from the black wispy figure, each second the more sloshy the action sounded the rain still bellowed. The atmosphere bathed in despair as the world seemed to have gone mad. Color drained from the forest leaving the trees in a petrified state, the ground beneath them, once filled with abundant life, looked drained as if a sudden heat wave caused all the moisture to disappear.
"Of course I did! I am Aaroniero Arruruerie the Espada of Greed! All things in this world exist for me to devour, now die and fall into the aether!"
The Espada erupted, a dark purple wave moved forth, the energy he absorbed began to disintegrate everything that stood in its path.
"Santen Kesshun." Orihime's triangular shield manifested, the purple wave met with the shield.
A violent shockwave rippled out at the impact point, this was not just the effect of two different powers meeting, it was a battle of concepts. Orihime's shield could reject events that have just occurred, the ninth Espada wielded the concept of greed as his weapon whatever he touched would be devoured.
As the two powers met the resulting standoff made multiple shockwaves come into existence, each one was larger than the last space tore as the powers met.
Rook helped brace Orihime against the wind. She felt her consciousness begin to fade little by little.
"How?! How?! How?!" Flailing his limbs, the Espada wanted to strike from the openings where the shield could not reach.
Pillars of ice rose to protect the duo from their blind spots, Aaroniero tried to devour the ice, but his body rejected it.
"Aah!" Screaming from the terrible pain his body experienced, the Espada of greed fell to the ground. His body twisted from vaguely human to octopus, arachnid and then even elephant his body could not process the energy properly.
"What happened?" The orange haired girl asked the ice armor clad warrior behind her.
"Chi is different from the energy you use, it primarily affects the body. His body was gaseous without a physical form to properly use it, it became a toxin." Rook remade his ice spear. "Stay back, I will incapacitate him." Ignoring any complaint the young woman could have had the alien moved with such immense speed that he became a white and blue blur.
With a steadfast resolve, he swung the spear in a wide overhead arc, the tip landing just in front of the area the alien hero assumed was his head. A tall pillar of ice grew and encased the dark amorphous figure.
Sighing, Rook decided to sit down and calm his beating heart, dispelling his armor as well as returning to his disheveled state. Pride welled up within him, the young woman Orihime had taken the first steps in overcoming her insecurities.
In the next moment his body felt at least ten times heavier.
"Rook, look behind you!" Behind the alien through the distorted ice stood a man in white.
"Who-?!" Shock crossed the minds of both Orihime and Rook as a sword extended through the ice, as well as the suspended Espada. No screams of pain, anger, or frustration, not even a whimper.
Black mist escaped the gaps in the ice, sadly there was no mind to guide any longer.
Gin sighed and stepped out from behind the ice pillar, he saw the duo being afraid of him. Of course he still had his hollow mask on and just killed one subordinate.
"Alright kids, it's time to go nighty-night." Snoring sounds filled the area the next moment as the alien and human girl lost consciousness, they fell into the world of dreams.
Watching over them, the snake who sent them there did not even bat an eye at the duo or the now empty ice prison.
"Just a little more, then we can all remove our masks." Gin used Sonido and disappeared.
...
Flesh severed, reunited and remolded by Aizen's careful and precise hands. Standing in a dark operating room, his only source of light came from the light in the ceiling. The mastermind wore medical garbs reminiscent of those worn by humans in the World of the Living. His gown was a standard blue he did not bother with an apron, hands were adorned with white gloves and lastly his boots were black.
The tools he worked with were placed onto a floating slap that followed his every movement, pulling down his mask Aizen looked behind him his eye twitched at the sight. One of his crystals connected to the state of their designated Espada shattered.
Blood was on his mind, he was not thinking of the smell caused by the act of surgery. No, he wanted blood as a way for those who wronged to pay.
"Aaroniero. That means three of my Espada have died in combat, and Barragon seemed to have died due to something in Szaeyl's lab. Ugh, the balance between my forces and the Goetei's is too great now. Should I try to cultivate even more power with the Hogyoku?"
Aizen did not like the idea of his plans going array.
"And more importantly Tennyson and Grimmjow seemed to have also gone to his lab. They are outside my field of view so I have in fact lost six pieces." The brown haired man rattled his mind, until he saw a white flame appear before him.
"Hmm, not as good looking as my master, but still pretty handsome. Ahh, it doesn't matter, Sosuke Aizen, you seem to be in a predicament! Well worry not NFF Services is here to help!" The ball of flames had a feminine voice but also the disposition of a sales person, which reminded the ex-soul reaper captain of a sales man. The current ruler of Hueco Mundo chuckled beneath his breath.
"Ah, so I am assuming you are purple light's subordinate? Should I also assume that you two have the capability to observe me despite my several protective measures? I was obviously led astray by purple light, he sought the Hogyoko , but did not outright go and attack me for it. That could only mean he intends to take it from my corpse when the soul reapers defeat me, no?"
The ball of flames seemed to be shocked thanks to her apparent silence.
"Hmm, you really are smart, but please my master isn't so shrewd. He would have done it from the start if that was all he desired, no he wants you to win Aizen you obviously the only one smart and strong enough to know what this world needs. And that is where I come in~ I can offer you something that can help tip the scales in your favour, the only question being do you want to take the chance?"
Aizen laughed, he held his head, pushed back his hair and looked at the ball of fire.
"Oh, what flattering words I can see through your ploys, despite that I will take you up on your deal. Then I will kill you and your master." Those last words of his were marinated in killing intent, however the white flames seemed undisturbed.
"Ah, you are welcome to try your luck, but I doubt anything will come of it. Here's what you need." Expanding a little the ball of fire manifested a brilliant golden chalice.
"Ta-da! The holy grail! This right here is what can you turn the tide of war, with a price of course! It might need a life or two to function." Aizen grasped the cup his spiritual senses locked onto it all he felt was every negative emotion one could imagine fused and amplified. If true uncaring and unrelenting evil existed it was in that cup.
"That is acceptable, I just so happen to know where I can get two lives, while also making sure I wipe away a mistake caused by my subordinates." Golden light covered half of the face of the man, drowning the other in impenetrable darkness. Joy welled up within his body riding himself of useless pawns while gaining more in process, he would have been a fool not to.
Far away, underneath the artificial sun within the canopy of Las Noches stood the palace of the third Espada.
The palace bore the motifs of its owner, the first Espada's palace was Spanish in terms of its architecture, but that was where the similarities ended.
Instead of wolves and coyotes being the symbol that adorned the palace it was sharks of different varieties. Decorations that revolved around marine life in general could be found outside the palace, the color of the castle was blue with white highlights around any wooden support or gap. The gargoyles were instead sharks, Hammer heads, Tiger and many more a mote surrounded the structure which was the reason a draw bridge had to be installed.
The newest inhabitant to the palace loved every bit of it, perhaps too much.
Lancelot was in the kitchen apron and casual wear clad, preparing the meals of his Lady and her subordinates using a pan made from transmuting water into steel. Sizzling sounds filled, the smell of hollow meat was an acquired one, despite that he adapted quickly after all he was raised by the Lady of the Lake.
He stopped in his tracks, the pan fell and dissipated. With human speed he left he ran and became a blur, he checked every room and finally found them in the courtyard.
Apacci, covered in sweat and dirt obviously from a sparing match between her and the other girls noticed the heroic spirit first and attempted to greet him.
"Oh, Lancey-uh?!"He did not give her or the others any opportunity to talk, his heart raced as something primal and inescapable clawed at his mind.
Fear.
He grabbed the girls, manifested his armor in a brilliant shower of sparks and ran into the direction of the only other safe place he knew, Starrk's palace. The group did not make it far as the girls wrestled him away, Harribel, his master, in particular seemed more angry and confused than any one else.
"Lancelot explains now." The man felt a dangerous aura emanating from his master, which made jump in shock for a moment. He took a deep breath then spoke with caution and assurance. He quickly kneeled before her
"Lady Harribel, I believe I just sensed the arrival of the holy grail." The knight of the lake expected more shock from the four women, instead they all looked confused.
"Apologies Lancelot, what is a holy grail?" Sung-sun asked him while covering her mouth as usual.
"O..oh, ah, yes, my apologies for explaining things in the most simple way. The grail is a wish granting device of legend. Many rulers have sought its power in the past, even the king I once served as well."
The woman looked at each other they all seemed to follow so far, Mila Rose was the one to ask the next question.
"Okay what exactly is the problem that it would require basically kidnapping us?"
The knight seemed even more downcast as he answered, "The grail, its evil incarnate, that where its power comes from the sins of humanity it attracts those with wishes towards itself. It takes their wishes and perverts them, then with nothing more to do it unleashes all of the evil stored within. That is what I sensed just and that is why we must go and seek Lord Starrk!"
The girls were all shocked by the news. They each looked at each other and asked internally, who could make such a thing?!
Harribel felt concern within her heart; she felt Ben's spiritual energy leave her perception not too long ago. Instead of frowning she smiled and looked up at the artificial sun, she looked at her subordinates and her servant Lancelot.
"Alright, get ready everyone, we're going to do something...a little crazy." Harribel said which sent a chill down the spines of everyone else.
...
Within the Soul Society's northern forest region massive blue glyphs floated in the sky they warped the path of the rain and lightning that pervaded the area.
Chad charged against the twisted tree he did not fear any retaliation as Kelly the odd shark like creature was there to stop each counter made by the abomination. His body felt odd, his blood bumped with a never before seen speed, each ferocious punch caused a section of his armor to shatter.
This did not go unnoticed by his ally.
"Heya Chad you might need to fall back. I think Gweny should be done with her uber spell soon." The shark saw his friend nearly fall but helped propel him into the sky.
"No." He was still a man of few words, but his tone changed and he became more aggressive like his fighting style.
Great winds were made and destroyed by the tree and the empowered human, dozens of twisters that could rend cities were destroyed by explosions of force that matched them. Each attack caused the stone armor to crumble away, however Kelly never felt the mana dissipate.
"Wait, is he-?" The shark never finished his pondering as he saw his ally freeze in the air and scream out in pain.
Rushing through the air and space itself Kelly snatched the human in his mouth and retreated higher into the air above the dark dark clouds that loomed over them. There he saw Gwen in a meditation pose he moved to meet and told her everything.
"It's alright Kelly it's ready, we'll patch him up in a jiff."
"Sooo, what does this do?"
"Oh, nothing, just going hit her really hard."
"Huh?"
In the next moment beneath them a blinding white light over took the area, the tree attempted to guard against whatever the light could be, but failed. The monstrous tree felt a force pressing upon her greater than that of the core of the planet, with the heat as well. The tree folded and compressed eventually returning to her humanoid form.
The dark clouds alongside the rain dissipated, the sun shone over the battlefield as if to call forth the end of a trial.
The forest was specked with craters, strangely even after that awe inspiring attack a majority of it stood unharmed. The shark looked every which way confused, which resulted in his blue colored summoner to giggle.
"Ha, sorry about that, I hit her with a meteorite I created using the surrounding matter and energy, that was the easy part. The tricky part was to ensure the attack did not instantly destroy the surroundings so I had to also construct a separate space to minimize the damage. It was a rush job but it worked." Kelly looked at Gwen with stars in his eyes which amused the Anodite hybrid.
"Okay then, let's check up on her, we could probably get some information out of her." The duo descended, Kelly removed Chad from the inside of his mouth, he was forced to lay on a blue mana platform.
"Sorry I-"
"Stop you, you simply hit your limit that happens, now that you did it has to have risen so take pride in that!" Gwen flexed her strange bicep which brought a smile to the stoic and quiet young man's face.
"Ah, thank you for keeping her alive, hmm, what an interesting power you wield." A voice came from above the trio, a tall man with brown hair, hazel eyes, a fair complexion stood above them. He was clad in white overcoat, a red slash adorned his waist, and he wore a black hakama pants as well. Another barely breathing body with blond hair floated behind him
"Who-?"
"S-Sosuke Aizen!" Chad struggled to speak due to the spiritual pressure that he experienced weighing him down.
"Ah, it can defend against spiritual pressure as well, that is all good to know. Gin." With that command Gwen felt a gust of wind pass her then she saw a man in a white mask carrying the body of the downed arrancar.
"What?!" Gwen looked down, and as clear as day there was nobody.
"Captain Aizen, should we make our escape?" Gin looked to his leader as held the Fracción of the ninth Espada.
"Oh, there is no need for that, they won't be making it back." With that cryptic answer, the great traitor extended his hand forward and resulted in a golden chalice spawning seemingly out of thin air.
This action made everyone including Gin take a step back.
"W-what is that?" Chad asked as Gwen and Kelly visibly shook, the shark turned away from it all together and seemed as if it was trying to bury itself away.
"That thing is pure evil, ha, we're leaving nothing good is going to come from staying here!" Gwen swept up both the shark and the human carrying them both away with the use of blue platforms they flew to the western side of the forest. Leaving only the two former soul reapers as they stared on while they left.
"Captain Aizen, what is that thing?! Whatever it is, don't use it!" His warnings fell on deaf ears as Aizen used telekinesis and stole the body of the arrancar Ichimaru held. The empty chalice as soon as it felt its owner obtained its fuel began to release a black sludge, the sludge wrapped itself around both arrancar and devoured them.
The mud like liquid retracted back into the cup with the bodies then seemed to empty itself.
Gin, felt relieved until a torrent of sludge exploded outward into the sky piercing the fabric of dimensions, it landed in Hueco Mundo and devoured the castle of Las Noches alongside the surrounding environment. The mud even absorbed Aizen and his subordinate, every single evil conceivable by mankind invaded their minds as they became one with the mud.
The duo soon disappeared with the grail.