Trial of Fire

Chapter 16
Fire Guardian

Kinomi hadn’t been aware she had drifted off again until a buzzing woke her up. Moaning she dug into one of her pockets and produced the little phone pager thing Kisuke had giving her and looked at the text.

Confirmed

With a groan of frustration she sat up and looked around, noticing the others were just finishing packing up and getting ready to head out. She checked her wounds and found them healed enough not to be giving her any problems before crawling out of bed, standing up, stretching and started putting her own gear away.

She touched ‘tera’s reiatsu lightly to reaffirm the soul link leading them to Grimmjow. ’tera’s reiatsu pulsed lightly and wrapped itself around her as if to comfort her before showing her the small trail. Kinomi was relived that it didn’t seem to have weakened any more.

“Akukaze stay on the outer parameter all night?” Kinomi asked.

“Yes.” Taka answered. “Feeling better?”

“A lot. Good work as ever Azucena.” Kinomi complimented.

The young girl blushed and murmured a thank you before trying to hand her back the radar device. Kinomi told her to keep it as it would give the weakest member of their group something to do while the rest of them fought or watched for other threats.

They headed out after eating some of their rations, Kinomi leading the way and following that thin trial of blue reiatsu only she could see. It was about mid day, at least according to the phone, when Akukaze started to hover at the minimum accepted range.

Kinomi immediately called for a stop and they fell into a defensive circle. She glanced over at the radar, leaving Azucena to hold it for she had Kyattsuai and ‘tera in her hands, having drawn them before they had even been fully in formation.

They heard the roar before they saw the wall of fire shooting towards them with all the fury of Yamamoto’s shikai. Right behind that wall of fire was Akukaze, fanning the flames with his wind. They scattered, calling out their respective releases as they did so.

Reina went into her Resurrección before activating her shikai while the rest of them went right into form. Kinomi did not activate her Bankai just yet as she wanted to conserve her reiatsu for it had not fully recharged after the last fight.

The wall of flames died out, letting them see their new opponent. Akuho appeared to be wreathed in flames. And it was hard to make out the being that was at the core of the creature, but whoever it was appeared to be rather massive, bigger then even Kenpachi-taichou.

They could feel the heat radiating off of Akuho from here. What was worse was that Akukaze was using his wind to fan the flames.

“With that kind of heat only the strongest Heiro can even get close.” Kinomi snarled.

Kyattsuai agreed with her.

“Zan, Taka, Barbo, Akuho. Rest Akukaze. Go.” Kinomi ordered.

With a nod they split up a bit into their respective groups.

Barbo was the first to make a move, launching an issui towards Akuho, flooding the field with steam as the water met with the fire. Zan launched himself in the wake of the attack, as did Taka, using the steam as cover.

Kinomi lost sight of that battle after that, instead focusing on Akukaze and leaving Taka to command that group. Galgo, Leon and Reina stood ready by her side. She led the charge, Leon by her left side with Galgo by her right. Reina stayed back and observed, her blade drawn but not being used.

With a swing of Kyattsuai Kinomi launched her strike, pleased to notice Akukazu dodged instead of relying on his wind to block the three deadly blades of energy. He dodged right into Galgo’s own strike, and while Garou was unable to penetrate the wind barrier itself, the drops of red acid that the wind picked up from the blade clearly made it to the creature, for it suddenly howled in pain and blasted them back a bit with a burst of wind.

Leon had moved further to the side when he realized that Akukaze was dodging away from his direction. As soon as the wind died down he fired the Cero he had been charging, noting it blasted through the wind and the creature howled in pain again.

Kinomi followed Leon’s cero with another strike from Kyattsuai, causing the creature to howl in pain again as two of the three blades of energy tore into the creature. Her strike was followed quickly by Galgo rushing in again, small streams of red acid flying from his wolf fang shaped zanpakuto to get caught up in the swirling vortex of wind and burning the creature inside when it reached the centre.

There was a sudden deeper howl and the wind enveloping Akukazu briefly fell away to reveal the creature at its core. It appeared to be a rather effeminate man with wild pink hair that made Kinomi blink twice in disbelief.

There, where the arrancars belly button should have been was a red gem, a portion of it appearing melted, no doubt having been struck by Galgo’s acid. Kinomi wasted no time in rushing forwards, Kyattsuai leading the way with ‘tera ready to parry any counter the creature might have had.

She gritted her teeth past the creatures howling noise that wanted to scramble her brain. With a solid thrust Kyattsuai shattered the gem in Akukaze’s stomach. A scream that left her ears ringing followed quickly afterwards, and shortly after the creature fell to the ground lifeless.

Her fight over she turned back to the cloud of steam that was the fight between Akuho and her friends.

“This seemed too easy.” Kinomi noted, wondering how they had problems with the creature during the last fight.

“Experience and knowledge.” Came Kyattsuai’s respond in her mind. “And plain blind luck Galgo’s acid damaged the gem.” Kyattsuai added.

Kinomi nodded in understanding. They did have a better grasp on what Akukaze was capable of.


Akuho was a deadly force to be reckoned with and even with Zan’s strong Heirro the heat was starting to get to him. If it wasn’t the fact that Barbo was a proficient user of water they probably all would have been scorched to death by now.
Because steam was water Barbo could control it. He was using the steam to keep Zan somewhat cool as he spared against the creature seemingly made from fire. Akuho was strong, sickly strong. Every time Zan took a hit he was sent reeling and if it wasn’t for his strong hierro he would probably have been pummeled and burnt to death already.

Taka was always quick to fly in when Zan was shoved aside, however her martial arts were no where near Zan’s level and her katana was no use here as the blade was searing hot and the last strike had actually bent if from the intense heat. She was quick to get out of the way once Zan had recovered from the latest bash that had sent him careening into the ground.

Akuho seemed not the least bit threatened by Barbo and his strikes of water. Zan couldn’t help but to think of it being like trying to put a bonfire out with a single cup of water at a time.

Hueco Mundo wasn’t many thing, but one thing it was was a desert. As such there was almost no water for Barbo to utilize short of what Namazu could create, and Namazu was most definitely not the strongest water type zanpakuto out there. It would be like comparing the amount of ice Rukia could make verses how much Toshiro could. Barbo would be rukia.

At least in this stage. Zan and Taka were doing a good job keeping Akuho busy, but that was all they were doing, occupying the flaming behemoth and not inflicting much damage.

Zan’s katars where able to pierce the real flesh of the creature, but as quickly as the wounds were made they were healed. In the red inferno Zan was unable to tell where the gem was and as such was slashing any piece of skin he could get his katars on, which left him wide open, which meant he would take a hit and get knocked away, which left Taka to pick up the creatures attention before it could target Barbo, the one true advantage they had against the creature.

Round and round the fight went like that and Zan was starting to get exhausted, not just from the amount of reiatsu that he was using, but because the blazing inferno burned up the oxygen around Akuho, leaving very little for him to breath. Zan’s lungs were positively burning both from the hot air and for what little oxygen he could glean so close to the creature.

There was a loud screech that left them all reeling and with a final burst of fire, Akuho disappeared. Zan blinked, looking around for the creature as the steam cleared out at Barbo’s command. Akuho was no where to be found and Akukaze, or at least who Zan believed to be Akukaze, was laying still on the ground.

Reina flew over to him and Taka, white winds beating softly against the air.

“Regresar.” Reina declared.

Zan took a deep breath of fresh oxygen in relief as every wound he had taken in the last five minutes suddenly healed as if they had never happened, the same going on for Taka. Most of his burns and bruises disappeared, the ones he had taken earlier in the fight remained but Azucena would be able to help deal with those once Taka dropped her Resurrección.

They gathered around the corpse of Akukaze, Zan pausing to wipe some of Akuho’s blood onto the scanner to add it to their database. Kinomi already had Kisuke’s phone out and was dialing the number.

There was no answer however. Frowning, she fiddled with the buttons and took pictures of the creature instead before mailing the picture and a brief description of the fight.

Azucena confirmed the creature was as much a doll as Akutsuchi had been. The phone rang and Kinomi flipped it open, reading the text that had been sent. She sighed and flipped it closed in annoyance.

“What’s the word?” Taka asked.

“Szayal Apollo-Grantz, 8th Espada.” Kinomi answered with a frown.

“For former Espada they seem rather weak.” Zan frowned.

“Well, technically it’s not them but rather some sort of dolls. They probably have about half or less of the real Espada’s strength.” Kinomi pointed out.

“If these creatures are dolls would it be prudent to presume the real bodies must be somewhere controlling these creatures?” Reina asked.

“Possibly.” Kinomi frowned, looking at the pink haired corpse at their feet. “We should move quickly before Akuho comes back.”

They moved away from the corpse, Kinomi deep in thought. So far two of the creatures had been former espada, supposedly dead former espada. Frowning in thought she sent another text out with one possible theory and asking for a data base on the known espada to be sent back.

It was half an hour later when Kisuke called them, worry evident in his voice while he informed them Ichigo had been by looking for them. Kinomi had to admit she was surprised her father suspected something when they had pulled the wool over everyone else’s eyes.

“What did you tell him?” Kinomi asked, the others gather around her.

“Simply that you were out on a mission and that you had indeed checked in with me and that I would let him know if I heard from you again.”

“You didn’t tell him where we were?” She asked sharply.

“My dear Kinomi-chan, how can I tell him where you are when I have no idea.” He answered with a wide smile and a wave of his fan.

Kinomi sighed in exasperation.

“Well, tell him we are fine and the mission is proceeding.”

“You do not think it wise to include your Otousan, especially after these new creatures have appeared?” He asked.

Kinomi frowned. For all her father was, a lap dog of soul society he was not. If it was anyone they could trust with what they were doing it was him. Kinomi closed her eyes and touched ‘tera’s reiatsu with her own.

The zanpakuto pulsed warmly in greeting before showing her the path, a path that was such a thin thread. So far they had been able to hold their own and she did not want to get her father mixed up in anything just yet.

“Kisuke-san.”

“Hmm?”

“If we don’t report in by this time the next day, go ahead and tell Otousan what we have been doing and what info we have. For now I think we can handle things here on our own.”

He nodded in agreement, and then the line went dead. The phone buzzed two minutes later, a text with the info she had requested earlier came through and she read it aloud for the others benefit.

Espada by rank
Stark, alive, SS
Barragan, dead, Soi Fon
Halibel, Unknown
Uliquoirra, dead, Ichigo
Nnoitra, dead, Kenpachi
Grimmjow, alive, HM
Zommari, dead, Kuchiki
Szayel, dead, Kurotsuchi
Aaroniero, dead, Rukia
Yami, dead, Yachiru

Out of the ten espada two were still alive and one was unknown. If it turned out Akuho was another one then it stood to reason that someone somehow got a hold of the corpses and was doing something with them.

“Wait a tick, Yachiru-chan has one under her belt? She never told us about that.” Taka pouted.

“Well, Yachiru-chan and Kenpachi-taichou really aren’t the bragging sort.” Kinomi pointed out.

“True.” Taka agreed, then laughed. “Now I know why Renji-tachou is so uptight whenever Yachiru-chan is mentioned.”

Kinomi couldn’t help but to join the others as they also got a good chuckle out of the information that had been brought to bare. It was a much needed laugh after the tension they had been working under.

Kinomi turned her attention back to the phone and noticed there was a small download icon included with the text file. She clicked it and watched as the program began to download.

Flipping the device closed they continued on, following that faint trail of reiatsu to wherever Grimmjow was being held, and possibly Nel as well. It was closer to evening when the Radar in Azucena’s hands started to blip, a little red dot showing on their outer perimeter.

They took turns resting and tried to keep moving, Akuho circling them like the previous other two have.

“You know, giving the pattern we have seen so far, why do I get the feeling the next creature to show up is going to be Akumizu?” Taka asked in a sigh.

“A reasonable prediction.” Reina agreed.

Kinomi checked the time and noticed the download had completed. She checked the new program and blinked in surprise and what popped up. The three creatures they had fought were in some sort of database, as well as a list of their known abilities and what arrancar composed their core.

What more it looked like there was data streaming both ways as there was an update icon glowing indicating the program was looking for new data. Now this was definitely interesting and useful.

“My dear friend, you are truly the master of information.” Kinomi thought.

The alarm she had set went off and she looked over to Azucena, who was looking up at her, mouth open to speak, but Kinomi waved her off.

“Like clock work.” She commented. “Get ready.” She commanded.

With nods they fell into position, everyone releasing as they waited. Akuho came charging straight at them like a flaming behemoth.

“Barbo, Reina, Taka, Zan, go.” She commanded.

The four of them moved to fight, Zan rushing in the trail of one of Barbo’s issui with Taka taking the other side. Akuho blocked their attacks with his massive fist and that was all Kinomi got to watch of that fight as a ray of blinding white light shot at the remaining three warriors.

They dodged out of the way, covering their eyes from the blast of light. Kinomi growled as she felt the energy spark against her skin. She shook her eyes clear, quickly checking on her other three companions.

To her surprise Leon was fully engaged with the new opponent, eyes closed as they traded blows. Kinomi was unable to make out the core of this new being, hell she couldn’t even look at him directly as he was nothing but a blinding light.

“This is going to be fun.” She smiled with a hint of irony.

“This is going to be annoying.” Galgo corrected with a grumble.

“Just follow your nose.” She laughed.

He shot her a glare that suggested she had lost what little sanity he had credited her with. She couldn’t help but to laugh some more, thinking that maybe he was right. Both blades drawn, she focused on looking at Leon, who was still sparing with the creature with his eyes closed.

Closing her own eyes she forced herself into the meditation Tatsuki-sensei had taught her so long ago. Her mind cleared she reached out to sense the reiatsu of the others until she could see it in her minds eye.

“Some times I really envy Zan and Leon for being able to do this without the bloody rituals.” She grumbled to herself.

Her friends reiatsu flashed before her and she noticed Galgo had joined the fight with Leon, no doubt able to use his own senses to get past the blinding light the creature seemed to be made from.

Leon and Galgo were knocked away, the new threat rising higher into the sky to get more space between him and the two attackers. Kinomi rushed in, Kyattsuai leading the way.

The creature was expecting her attack and blocked with its own blade, only to have ‘tera swing around and draw a gash across its stomach.

The creature screamed, making her ears ring and she vowed they would find something to plug their ears after this fight because damn did these things scream. The sound of the screech so close to her ears left her bones vibrating and her mind numb as she reeled under the vocal assault.

Off balance the creature got a swing on her and she took a gash along the arm holding Kyattsuai. She didn’t back off though, striking with ‘tera and getting a strong sense of satisfaction when she felt the blade bite into the creature.

The creature screamed again, this time because Galgo had rammed Garou through the things chest. The two of them jumped away from the creature so they could cover their ears as it let lose a scream so loud there was actual threat of brain damage.

The scream was suddenly cut off as Kinomi felt the heated energy of a cero fire past her. Just like that the light winked out. Kinomi opened her eyes to stare in disbelief at the corpse falling to the ground.

“Well, that was almost too easy.” Kinomi noted to herself, cradling her wounded arm now that it was some what safe to do so.

Kyattsuai agreed with her. The three of them turned to the raging inferno that was Akuho, the flames causing the steam to flash in rather pretty colors the belied how deadly it was.

There was no sigh of Taka or Zan in the swirling vortex of heat and color but Barbo could be easily spotted, a steady stream of water rushing from Namazu to help the two fighters keep cool enough to fight the raging ball of fire.

A flash of white drew Kinomi’s attention to where Reina was in her Resurrección form, angle like wings keeping her air born as they flapped. Tenkou sheathed at her hip as the woman glowed, no doubt healing the two combatants from the numerous burns they had to be suffering from.

There was a screech from Akuho and Kinomi could only hope someone had gotten the hit in, but with a streak of red Akuho fled, trailing steam behind him. Zan and Taka emerged from the steam cloud, wounds slowly disappearing under Reina’s power as they gather together.

Reina turned to look at Kinomi and Kinomi felt relief as the large gash healed as if it had never come to be. It was moments like this she really loved Reina’s power. As strong as it was though it was no where near as strong as Orihime’s power for while Orihime could reject anything at any time, Reina’s could only turn back what had happened in the last five minutes and required her to be in her release form.

Adding the blood from the new creature to their scanner Kinomi realigned herself with the trail ‘tera was laying out for them and they continued on their path.

“Three days gone, only four left before we are due to check in. Grimm-ji, I hope you are close by and alright.” Kinomi thought desperately.


Warning: more torture

It was so cold it felt like it was burning the skin on his face. His lungs cried for air as he struggled weakly against the being holding his head in the bucket of what was almost more ice than water.

His wrist had been strapped painfully behind his back, his hands no where near having been healed from the burns, bruises, and broken bones they had suffered the night before. The only relief he had was that he was on his knees on the grime covered floor instead of putting any weight on his abused feet.

His head was jerked out of the bucket harshly and he had a scant second to gulp in a breath of air before his head was plunged into a different bucket of near boiling water. Now his skin felt like it was on fire as his ice cold flesh meet scolding hot water.

His body was begging for oxygen, the quick gulp he had gotten hardly enough to sustained his abused lungs. Suddenly there was a quick kick to his abused feet and he cried out in pain, his lungs instantly filling with scolding water.

His head was jerked up again and he collapsed to his side, coughing and spewing up water and gulping hungrily for air, ignoring the fact he was laying on a blood coated floor.

“Are we ready to submit yet beast?” Monban asked.

“Fuck you.” Grimjow spat at him.

“My my, such a crude little beast you are. Well then, what should we play with next hmm?” Monban asked.

Grimmjow ignored him, working on getting air into his body and clearing his lunges of excess water.

“Ah yes, blood is something we haven’t seen much of from you yet.” Monban declared.

Monban grabbed him by the hair and dragged him to the centre of the room away from the tubs set against the wall. He was dropped as soon as they were in the centre of the room.

Monbad clipped something onto the chains connecting his ankles together, and then walked off. The sound of chains grinding was the only warning he had before the restraints on his ankles started to pull and he cried out in pain as his broken, burnt and bruised feet were dragged across the floor very briefly before being wrenched into the air.

If his hands hadn’t been broken he would have scrambled to grab onto anything as he was jerked into the air by his ankles until he was hanging upside down with his abused hands resting on the floor.

He felt the blood go rushing to his head and instantly felt dizzy and his vision blurred. He felt like he wanted to throw up but there was nothing in his stomach to throw up short of the little bit of water left.

He gritted his teeth when he felt the first lash hit his back. However the leather didn’t fall away right away and after a brief pause the whip was pulled away, taking a portion of his skin with it stuck to the barbs at the whips tip.

He gritted his teeth and refuse to scream. The barbed whip came down upon him for an unknown amount of time. He could feel the rivers of blood running down his back and legs and was able to watch as it dripped to the floor, adding to the layer already there.

Eventually the assault ended and he sneered at the creature, even if Monban couldn’t see it. Did he honestly think a whipping would break him? Then he was suddenly soaked as liquid was splashed over him and he screamed in outright agony as every cut leaped alive in blistering agony as whatever the liquid was burned.

He blacked out after that, the pain sending his brain into overdrive and forcing it to shut down.

“Hmm, maybe 80% alcohol was too high to start with.” Monban commented to himself as he looked at the blood soaked, unconscious arrancar and the now small, clean patch of rock floor as the river of alcohol streamed its way to the drain, picking up blood from the floor on its way and making it more a river of blood then anything else.

Grimmjow didn’t remain unconscious for long, twitching madly as he came back, hissing in the agony of his burning cuts.

Monban smiled and grabbed a different bucket, this one slightly more diluted at 65%. As soon as the arrancar was fully aware and awake he tossed that one onto his back. Grimmjow cursed and swore as the pain hit him, refusing to scream.

“Ready now beast?”

“Fuck you.” He growled out.

Monban just laughed and left, leaving him hanging from the roof. His feet were killing him an he was getting really dizzy hanging from the ceiling like that. Several minutes after the door closed the rats started to move in on him.

Snarling he batted the closest one away from him with his arms, yelping in pain whoever his abused hands connected with anything, be it rat or floor. He even managed to snag one by the tail with his mouth and he clamped down hard, severing the tail and sending the rat screaming away.

It was the first thing resembling food he had gotten a hold of in months and he swallowed the small piece of meat. He had eaten far worse during his time as an adjucas. In his abused state he didn’t even taste the meat.

He managed to snag another, pinning it between his arms and going for its throat with his teeth. That caused the others to scatter and screech at him angrily, the hunters suddenly becoming the pray.

“Damn rats should recognize a cat when they see one.” He thought dimly to himself as he began to tare the flesh from the rat he had caught.

He tried not to think too hard on what he was eating, or how damn hard it was to eat while hanging upside down. That little bit of meat and reiatsu was enough so that he felt a small tingling in his hands and feet, indicating his body was healing, but it was hardly enough to mend two small bones and tone the burns down a bit. Still, any small amount of relief was a relief, and the rats would think twice about trying to eat him again.


Stay Tuned for Chapter 17: Akumizu

Where we meet all of the Aku's at last.

Well, no one killed me for torturing Grimmjow, so that is some good news at least. Poor kitty, we hurt the ones we love.

For the guesses of the 6 elemental Aku's the following got it right.

7dragons7
MOF&F

So tell me what ya want to see, I think I got a good idea for dragon but it will have to be near the end of the story.