Asking for Trouble

A Garganta opened in the middle of the desert, and from
it, a Visored walked out, wielding a Zanpakuto that seemed to gleam and icy
blue in the moonlight. Ryouta was here at Stein’s discretion – they had agreed
that Stein should get some outings, and Hueco Mundo seemed the best bet. Here
in the desert, they were sure to attract the attention of some powerful
combatants, perhaps from Las Noches itself. Ryouta grinned beneath his mask,
and then flash stepped toward the city. It wasn’t long before he attracted
attention.

Four objects came falling from the sky, and slammed into
the ground around him, surrounding him. The “objects” rose, revealing
themselves as Arrancar of indeterminate rank. “Can I help you?” Ryouta asked in
his Hollowfied voice.

Curiously, all four Arrancar looked eerily similar – they
were quadruplets, apparently. Each appeared to be a man in his mid-30s, with
identical facial characteristics except Hollow mask fragment. One had a mask
fragment that covered his entire jaw that was boxy, like an oversized mouth
guard. Another had the exact opposite; a mask fragment that covered his upper
face, save his eyes. The other two had mask fragments covering the left and
right sides of their faces respectively. The one with his upper face covered
spoke, “We are the Honor Guard of Las Noches – at first, we thought that you
were a new power emerging from the Forest, a new contender for the title of
Espada. Now we find that you are not, and are, in fact, an intruder.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Each of the four Arrancar drew their swords. “I know it
sounds melodramatic,” said the one with the left facial fragment. “But you can
die!” said his right-faced counterpart.

“Intervene,” “Prevent,” “Defenestrate,” “Block out,” said
each of the Arrancar. Ryouta braced himself even as he drew his Zanpakuto. “Vigilar!”
Apparently, all of their Zanpakutos had the same name, just different commands.
An explosion of reiatsu washed over Ryouta, though he continued to watch
impassively.

The sand that had blown up finally cleared, revealing the
true forms of his opponents. Upper-face Arrancar had gained two massive
shovel-like hands on equally large arms. He resembled an ape in appearance now,
in that his arms were larger than his legs. Ryouta could sense a curious
distortion of reiatsu about his arms, though couldn’t identify exactly what it
was that was strange about them. The jaw covered one had gained a shell-like
armor all over his body, as well as some additional limbs, each ending in a
viciously sharp looking claw. The left and right faced Arrancars were mirror
images of each other; each had gained a shield and a sword – though in opposite
hands.

“I can’t say I’m impressed,” said Ryouta. “Come at me all
at once – and you might have a chance.” The left-faced Arrancar attacked first,
coming in to slash at Ryouta’s right side. Ryouta flicked his sword up,
directing the point of his opponent’s blade away from him, while simultaneously
reaching out and grabbing the face of his opponent with his mechanical arm. “Hado#33:
Sokatsui!” The resulting explosion from his super-charged kido ripped through
the Arrancar’s face at point-blank range, incinerating his entire head. The
corpse collapsed to the ground as Ryouta watched the dumbstruck look on the
other Arrancars’ faces. These looks quickly faded back to determined glares.

Next, the shovel-handed one and the crustacean-esque one
attacked simultaneously, coming at him from directly in front and behind.
Ryouta turned so that a hand was facing each of his opponents – “Weep, Reifujin
Arashi – Hado#61: Raikoho!” His blade dissolved into water droplets, which
quickly reformed into a wave of water and smashed the shovel-handed one away;
at the same time, the crustacean Arrancar seemed to have taken the spell at
full blast, using his enormous hands as shields. Ryouta could see that they
were singed, but didn’t seem particularly damaged.

“Gonna have to do better than that, Shinigami!” said the
shovel-handed one. He slammed his hands together to form a powerful shockwave
that tore through the sand at Ryouta, who Sonido’d away to avoid it, appearing
behind the sword-bearing one. Unfortunately his retaliatory blow with his
mechanical arm met the Arrancar’s shield. Undeterred, Ryouta swung the hilt of
his Zanpakuto at the Arrancar, despite there being no blade. Out of nowhere, a
torrent of water erupted from the ground and smashed into the Arrancar’s gut,
sending him flying into the air.

Ryouta turned just in time, sensing the return of the
crustacean Hollow, who was charging a Cero in his direction. The Cero shot
right at him, but Ryouta simply gestured and spoke, “Danku.” The Bakudo spell
took the Cero full-force, but held. “Please, fight me seriously,” Ryouta said
as he swung his Zanpakuto’s hilt again. Water erupted from another place in the
ground, sending a heavy downpour all around them.

The shovel-handed one clapped his hands together again,
sending a blast of Ryouta’s own water back at him. A second Sonido brought
Ryouta behind him – an icy blade formed along the hilt of his Zanpakuto. With
inhuman speed, Ryouta split the skull of the shovel-handed one, leaving an
ice-encrusted wound that didn’t bleed because the blood had frozen. Such was the
power of his Hollowfication, even without the fully combined strength of his
Zanpakuto.

All of a sudden, the two remaining Arrancar were beside
him on opposite sides, swinging at incredible speed and strength. Ryouta thrust
both his sword and his mechanical arm out, catching and holding both blows. “Stronger
than you were before,” he noted. “So you get stronger as more of you die, huh?
Well, then, I’ll just kill one more of you, maybe actually have some fun!”
Ryouta’s mechanical hand was gripping the claw of the crustacean Arrancar; “Hado#90:
Black Coffin.” Black reiatsu formed all around the crustacean Arrancar, before
spears of the same reiatsu penetrated the coffin from all angles. It then
dissipated to reveal the obviously dead body of the penultimate Arrancar.

The last remaining Arrancar jumped back, his reiatsu
level now much higher than before – he was glowing with it, and it actually
rivaled Ryouta’s own. “YES!” The Arrancar screamed. “I WON! The power of the
Honor Guard is MINE ALONE!” He thrust both his weapons into the sky, and there
was a blinding explosion of light and reiatsu. Ryouta threw up another
Bakudo#81 to avoid any potential negative effects of the reiatsu, and then
watched as the smoke cleared.

The remaining Arrancar’s form had taken on the positive
aspects of each of his dead comrades. He stood a good eight feet tall, and was
covered from head to toe in that crustacean-esque armor, though it looked much
more durable now, and what’s more, it was covered with interlocking spikes at
the joints. Twin shovel-like wings sprouted from the Arrancar’s back, and he
now had four arms, each wielding either a sword or a shield.

“An actual challenge…” said Ryouta. “Well then, I guess I
should introduce myself, in case I die. 12^th Division Captain, Ayame
Ryouta.”

The Arrancar’s face was entirely covered by a box-like
mask, except the eyes. He laughed, as if Ryouta’s words held no significance. “I’m
not going to tell you my name, Shinigami – you’ll have nothing in Hell, not
even my name to curse!” With a roar, the Arrancar Sonido’s toward Ryouta, both
of his blades came slashing in from opposite sides. A flick of his Zanpakuto sent
twin ice stalagmites coming up from the ground to counter the blow; they
cracked under the force of the Arrancar’s blow, but held. Taking that as an
opportunity, Ryouta jumped toward the Arrancar’s face. “Hado#71: Sunburst.” A
blast of light exploded form Ryouta’s arm, burning and blistering at the
Arrancar fleetingly before he was able to Sonido away.

The Arrancar appeared a ways away, his torso armor burned
away to reveal a fleshy inside that was disgustingly white, and crisscrossed with
blue veins. “You’ll pay for that,” said the Arrancar. “I’m not holding back any
more.” He Sonido’d toward Ryouta again, this time, all of his limbs hacking and
slashing at Ryouta at incredible speed – so fast that Ryouta was unable to
react fast enough – he took many hits within the course of 5 seconds, and was
briefly reminded of his time in 2^nd Division. A final blow from one
of the Arrancar’s shields sent Ryouta spinning away, and crashing into a dune
that sent plumes of sand up into the air.

He stood shakily from his position, bleeding from many
places. His robes were torn in many places, and his mechanical arm was now
fully visible. Again, the Arrancar came flying in at full speed. “Gran Bola
Cero.” Ryouta pointed his arm right out just as the Arrancar appeared in front
of him. Time stood still for a moment as a point of energy grew impossibly,
exponentially fast in front of Ryouta’s palm. Then, the Cero of epic
proportions wiped the unnamed Arrancar from the face of Hueco Mundo forever.

Ryouta chuckled silently to himself. This had been a very
fruitful trip.