Trial of Fire

Chapter 18
Defeat

The six of them raced towards the castle, Galgo upon Garou in the lead with Barbo ridding double. Taka and Reina were flying above them, wings beating the air. Zan and Leon simply sprinted, their Sonido easily keeping pace with the running wolf and flying girls.

They came to the courtyard, noticing the devastation done to it but still being able to feel Kinomi Reiatsu fluctuating wildly as she fought somewhere else. As much as they desired to help her they had a mission to complete.

Garou led the way, his nose raised to the air. Taka held the tracking device close, watching for any sign of the creatures return. The descended down several flights of stairs carved from the stone until they came to an open room.

The room was lit by scones on the wall that smelt of fish oil, causing the shadows to dance along the walls as if alive. There was a single figure in the room, wearing a black robe with the hood down. His features were deathly pale and he was frowning in clear annoyance.

“My my are these children what has been giving my pets such a hard time. And after all the work of training them to.” The man tisked.

“Who are you?” Taka demanded.

This was the first time they had seen anything remotely human like, let alone alive, that was clearly coherent enough to speak.

“I am Gogyou Monban, and I am very displeased to be here.” The man introduced himself.

“Are you the one responsible for turning those former espada into the creatures they are now?” Zan demanded.

“No no not I. I merely trained them and taught them to obey.” The man paused and cocked his head as if listening to something only he could hear before turning his attention to them.

“Yes yes, quite right Master. Our guest are rather rude. I have introduced myself, but you have yet to do that same.” Monban pointed out.

“Kyuusoku Galgo.”

“Volatil Taka.”

“Reina Ruizenban”

“Kuchiki Barbo Halibel.”

“Leon Vega.”

“Colmillo Zangetsu Jeagerjaques.”

“Jagerjaques?” Monban looked at Zan in interest. “Ah yes, now I remember. The current project.”

Various looks of horror crossed the eyes and faces of the six of them.

“Rather resilient is that one. I really think it’s a waste of time, but my Master does wish to proceed.”
Monban tilted his head again as if listening to something.

“Yes yes, I understand Master.” Monban turned his attention back to them. “Ruizenban-san, my master is curious about you release. At first it seems to have the power to heal, but that is not right is it. No, you used it to redo damage before. Your Regresar gives you the power to turn back time as if it never happened doesn’t it? Yes that makes perfect sense seeing as how your Otousan had the ability to move time forward.” He nodded to himself, not even let her confirm or deny the accusation.

“The rest of you Akusesshou-sama has no interest in. In the spirit of how much you entertained him, Akusesshou-sama is willing to give you this chance to walk away.”

Barbo stepped in front of Reina and all of them readied their weapons.

“No? Well we did offer Master. Do you need any of them alive like the beast? Just her. Very well. I will do my best to please you Master.”

Monban smiled at them. In a sudden rush of power he sent them all flying backwards to smash into the far wall. Shaking their heads they looked up to see the man standing calmly, six different colored spheres surrounding him in a circle; red, blue, ivory, brown, black and white.

“Well then children, let us play.”


Kinomi enjoyed a good fight, she got that from her Otooji and Kenpachi-taichou. However her mind was on but one thing, Grimmjow and her friends. She had felt them finish their fight and move forward, but now their reiatsu had suddenly spiked highly before slowly starting to fade one by one.

Her friends were in trouble and she needed to get to them to help. But how could she help them when Akuyami was driving her to the brink of death. She had unleashed her Bankai and removed her limiter and still the creature swatter her aside like a fly.

The only reason she had a feeling she was still alive was because ‘tera was pulsing and had a small, protective, reiatsu shield up around her that slowed down her opponents blade just enough that the wounds were not fatal, just deep and very painful.

“Even now, while trying to rescue him, he is protecting me.” Kinomi thought to herself.

No matter how many years had passed she remembered the comforting feeling of ‘tera snuggled in her arms while she slept, the reiatsu from the blade surrounding her and protecting her from the reiatsu of Aizen when he was annoyed with something.

She knew the others had been protected by their fathers, or in Barbo’s case his mother. It was that lack of protection that had killed off several of the other children, most before they were born, until Aizen learned the right level so he wasn’t snuffing the life out of his project.

“How many where there I wonder.” Kinomi couldn’t help but to think. “How many other children were bred by him and how many are still alive. I know of at least two, but we never had any contact outside of our wing.”

Kinomi shook the thoughts away. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Now she needed to find a way to beat Akuyami and get to her friends and Otooji.

The fight had carried them away from the court yard and out over the lake. In fact they had moved so far away the island was seeming rather small and Kinomi could see the shore line crystal clear and hear the roar of the river flowing from the massive lake.

She was starting to run out of reiatsu, having no where near the pool Ichigo did. Her body was soaked in her own blood and so far she had barely been able to even get a touch on Akuyami.

She knew where his hole was, and as such the gem. But when she had stabbed him she had felt no resistance. There was nothing but air, which made sense giving how that should have been where his hole was.

That led her to one devastating conclusion. Akuyami was so powerful not just because she suspected this was Ulquiorra, but because this was not a copy like the others. And if this was not a copy then she was fighting the 4th in what appeared to be his released form.

If it hadn’t been for ‘tera’s protective reiatsu and her own well trained skills, she would have been dead already. But still she knew this was a fight she could not win. Ichigo hadn’t even been able to win, at least not on his own, and unlike her father she had no inner hollow to call out to fight for her.

Her vision was starting to go black as the blood ran down her body. She felt the impact but it was several moment later before the pain reached her. Looking down she stared at the appendage sticking out of her chest in curiosity, and then she was falling, her world went quickly black.


The screaming had finally stopped and Grimmjow was greatly pleased about it for he was sure the ringing in his ears would never go away. The other pets had been screaming again and despite the pain in the head he got from it, it also made him feel better knowing out there someone was kicking the shit out of Monban’s pets.

He had been hung from the ceiling, sprayed down with fidget ice water that had left his teeth chattering before being sprayed with a torrent of hot water that made his skin burn in agony.

Then because his legs had been broken the evening before, he had been dragged by the hair up the flight of stairs and back to his original cell where he had been forced the kneel with his left wrist strapped to his right ankle and vice verse.

The pain in his broken legs from being forced into the position earned quite a few howls of agony as the weight of his body was put upon them until Akusesshou had healed the broken bones just enough they would cause him a good amount of agony without incapacitating him.

Akusesshou was standing behind him now, one hand gripped firmly in his hair so he was forced to look at the wall before him as it came to life, showing the island he knew he was being held upon, but more importantly the eight children who had foolishly come after him.

He felt his heart tare in two different directions. The first was pride as he watched his own Son fight against Akuho with clear skill before handing the fight off to Barbo and dealing the death blow to Akuawai.

The second was fear when he watched Kinomi fight with Akuyami and the others fight with his tormentor. The six children stood no chance against the elemental master that was Monban, and he simply stood in place while the floating orbs launched various assaults at them, sometimes singularly, sometimes mixing the various elements to get new ones or even firing off more than one element at a time.

The only one he held back on was water as Barbo had just taken the element and turned it back upon him. But still Grimmjow could tell the kids were exhausted from their previous fights and they were still young, not yet grown into their full power.

They had no choice, and he felt relief when he watched the six of them flee, an annoyed Monban chasing after them when he realized his prey was getting away. There was no way they could escape the island so they did the next best thing.

They collapsed the tunnel and paused long enough for Leon to open a garganta and flee out of Hueco Mundo. Once they left the dimension the footage changed to show Kinomi.

“Pantera.” He thought desperately.

She was fighting another creature, one that appeared to be as strong as Monban. His eyes zeroed in on the fact she was duel wielding, one blade was clearly Kyattsuai, the other his own ‘tera.

There was nothing he could do for her as he was, so he did the only thing he could think of. He put all of his will power into that small link between himself and his Zanpakuto and gave the other half of his power a single purpose.

“Protect her.”

And with that the link was severed. It almost felt like a piece of his soul had been torn off. The pain was made more so as the moment that link between his Zanpakuto and himself snapped, so to did Akuyami impale Kinomi with the blade on his tail.

Her eyes blackened and she fell. Akusesshou chuckled and he felt that voice in his head again, softly mumbling for him to submit himself to the creature, to become a willing slave and all the pain would disappear.

Akusesshou’s attention was on Grimmjow. Grimmjow’s was on the screen that was slowly fading away.

There, a soft blue light enveloped Kinomi as she sunk a few feet under the water, ‘tera pulsing briefly and a blue bubble of reiatsu surrounded Kinomi protectively. Grimmjow knew Kurosaki’s well and it would take more than that to kill one.

He told Akusesshou just where he could take his offer. He would never submit. Not even if they stripped the flesh from his bones and left him for the rats to eat. He felt a sting as Akusesshou slapped him, and left him laying there on the cold floor.

At least it was clean and didn’t reek of decaying flesh, so he was happy to lay there. It didn’t last long of course. Monban came to collect him. Not even bothering to untie the restraints, the seriously angry creature simply grabbed him by the hair again and dragged him to the stairs, which he was once again kicked down.

The torture chamber smelled just as bad as it had twenty minutes ago, and the pain it promised had not changed in the least. Monban was in a particular foul mood as the children had escaped from him, and he made sure Grimmjow knew about it.

Every rib was cracked one by one. His legs were re-broken in two separate locations on each bone. His shoulders were dislocated and he was strung from the ceiling by his wrist, his hands still not fully healed from the first torture on his first day.

Then with a sharp scalpel Monban carved into his back, letting the skin flop to the floor as he carved the Kanji for ‘beast’ into his back. Once the muscle was free from the skin he splashed more alcohol upon the fresh wounds before sealing them with a hot strip of mettle so the Kanji would remain.

He was left alone for a while to wallow in agony, whimpers escaping his throat despite his best efforts to remain silent. Monban returned shortly with several large bags of dirt. With a quick chant the elemental master had the dirt rise up and solidify into a tub beneath him.

He was lowered into the new earth container, his wrist were strapped to his ankles, the agony from his broken legs forcing him to lean against the wall in a vain effort to escape the pain.

And then the tub was filled with lots and lots of ice, followed quickly by the alcohol. He thrashed about in agony as it burned into his open wounds, the ice making the liquid frigid and his teeth would have been chattering incessantly if it wasn’t for the fact his mouth was wide open screaming in agony.

He was left like that all night, shivering and in blistering pain, but through it all he could only think of one thing. His son was safe. The children were safe. Pantera would live and be a thorn in Akusesshou’s side like any good little Kurosaki.



“So powerful. Can we eat it?” A small squeaky voice asked.

“No.” This one was deep and firm.

“But think of the power we could gain if we ate a soul with reiatsu like this.” Small squeak again.

“It’s master would be displeased.” Deep voice.

“Clearly it’s been discarded. Come on, how often do we get a Shinigami delivered to us like a buffet? I don’t see why we can’t eat it.”

“You know this one is a pet.” Deep voice pointed out.

“Humph. No one has heard from Las Nochas in over three years, not since that stupid Akusesshou began hunting us down.” Squeaky snarled.

“Indeed. Go fetch more water.”

“But…” Silence. “Fine. Stupid Shinigami meal just sitting there and we can’t even eat it.” Squeakies voice drifted away. “Think of the power boost we are giving up here.” Squeakies distance shout could be heard.

The same conversation played over and over, at least the basis was the same even if the words changed a bit each time.

She woke up slowly, her entire body stiff and sore. She was dimly aware she was wrapped up almost like a mummy. She tried to move only to find out that she couldn’t. She felt panic rise in her chest.

Where was she? What happened? Where was Kyattsaui and ‘tera? Was she even still alive?

The third question was the first answered as she felt ‘tera’s comforting reiatsu surround her in that familiar protective bubble she remembered as a kid and Kyattsuai’s voice mumbled briefly in her head as if the white panther was sleeping deeply.

She still could not move and had no reiatsu left to speak off. She still reached for ‘tera though with her mind, and then froze at what she had found.

It was gone. Tears streamed down her face as she realized the link, the one thing she had to key in and follow to Grimmjow was gone.

“Oh please no. Tell me we didn’t fail.” She begged silent in her mind, anguish filling her. “No no no, he has to be alive. ‘tera is still here so he has to be. We are just too weak or maybe too far away to focus on the link. That has to be it.”

That still left the question as to where she was. She recalled fighting Akuyami. She remembered a deep pain in her chest and falling. And then there was nothing but the repeating conversations.

She couldn’t feel any of her friends reiatsu and that worried her until she realized she had no reiatsu herself and she fought down another bought of rising panic. Something was moving beside her and she felt a small amount of weight lift from her head to be replaced with something cool and damp.

“A cloth.” She realized.

A moan escaped her and she felt more then heard the person beside her shift.

“Awake?” It was a question from deep voice.

She tried to say yes, but her body still would not respond. Hell she couldn’t even manage the energy to open her eyes to see who was taking care of her. A sudden thought hit her, what if it was the enemy? What if she had been captured? They were in Hueco Mundo for gods sake, who the hell would help her here other then her friends and Nel?

“Here is the water you wanted.” Squeeky was back.

Silence for a moment other then the sound of pattering feet and the sloshing of water. She felt her head being raised and a cup was held to dry lips. A small trickle touched her mouth and drained down her throat. She tried to swallow only to fail. It was like her whole body was paralyzed and whoever was taking care of her seemed to know it as he only let a small amount trickle down her throat at a time.

“You are suffering from reiatsu backlash. You used up every last reserve you have, it will take some time for it to come back.”

That would explain why Kyattsuai was passed out in her inner world. She was completely drained. Hell, how was she still alive?

“It would seem you master has quite the interest in your life, Shinigami, to trust you with his Zanpakuto and have its reiatsu envelope you so protectively.”

Now that was a strange statement.

“Are you sure we can’t just eat her?” That was squeaky in a whinny, pleading voice that Kinomi found herself more amused than threatened.

Wait, eat her? So her caretaker was a hollow? That made no sense. Using what little bit of power she had left she reached out to trace her caretakers reiatsu. It was too much and she descended into blackness again.

“Foolish child. The only reason you are still alive is because your reiatsu kept your heart pumping while the blade of your master protected your body from the harm of being tossed down a raging river” Deep voice sighed. “If that puncture wound had been but a millimeter higher it would have pierced your heart. You are either very lucky, or someone wanted you alive.”

Kinomi drifted in and out over the next several days until she finally had enough energy to open her eyes and see the small cave, or maybe it was a hut carved from stone. She was wrapped in bandages and her body felt very stiff and sore. Her throat was raw as hell and she was starving.

She glanced around the room, noticing her stuff was displayed neatly near by and she would do anything for one of her power bars right now as she was so hungry it was almost driving her mad.

She was able to twitch her body a bit, but otherwise she was still more or less paralyzed. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a large rat crawled up onto her stomach to look down at her with beady pink eyes.

“Shoo.” She croaked, her voice parched and her mouth very dry.

The rat just stared at her. As her eyes came into focus more she noticed it was different from the ones she remembered inhabiting Las Noches or eating the corpses on the island. There was intelligence there and a fair amount of loathing if she read the creature right.

“Rata, leave her alone.” It was deep voice.

“I still think we should eat her.” Rata sniffed, but obediently crawled off of her and over to the other person.

Kinomi followed his path and her eyes stopped when she looked at her savior. Her mouth dropped open as she took in his features. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she managed to speak for the first time.

“Hurón-san?” She gasped. “You… You are…”

“No longer an Adjucas.” He confirmed, moving over to kneel next to her.

Kinomi just stared at Hurón in shock. She hadn’t seen the Adjucas since their duel so long ago and now. Now he was standing on two feet, although his ferret like features remained. He looked like some sort of man crossed with a ferret and Kinomi could only find one other word to describe him.

Vasto Lorde. The adjucas she had fought had evolved into a vasto lorde in the time since she had last seen him.
Hurón helped her to sit up and get some more water down her throat before getting her one of her energy bars from her pocket. She was already starting to feel better and the fog in her mind was starting to clear.

“I take it you have met Akusesshou’s troops?” Hurón asked.

“Is that the leader of those strange creatures?” Kinomi asked.

“Yes.” Hurón answered. “He showed up about five years ago and began to slaughter everything around that island and started moving outwards. Most Hollows could not fight against those creatures of his, not even most of the adjucas. You can’t sense them so there is no warning.”

Kinomi nodded, replaying the conversation she had shared with Nel and Grimmjow the last time she had seen them about missing hollows with no trace of reiatsu.

“They are as strong as an arrancar.” Rata hissed.

“They are former espada.” She confirmed, causing them both to look at her in shock.

She filled them in on what she knew, after all they did save her life, and then asked if they had heard from Nel or any other former inhabitant of Las Noches. They answered in the negative.

Nor had they seen her friends and she felt a sudden wrenching in her heart that they could have died there. No, she had felt Leon open a Garganta, they had to be safe having escaped.

Another thought occurred to her and she asked for her phone, describing the device and accepting it once they found it.

Eight missed messages. She ran through them quickly, sighing in relief when one of them confirmed the others were still alive and apparently hiding out at Shinji’s warehouse. Of course it was all in code so no one other then the HMKs would have understood half the message.

“Smart thinking Leon. That place would not have triggered any alarms.” Kinomi thought proudly.

The last message had a definite hint of panic and she realized she had been out of it for a whole week. She quickly sent the text out to let them know she was alive and safe and recovering.

She didn’t even have a chance to put the phone down before it rang. Smiling, she flipped it open to see the text message that simply said; thank god. She sent one more message, letting them know she needed to rest badly and she would keep in touch.

“Why where you trying to get to that island anyway, clearly you are not stupid enough to challenge Akusesshou?” Rata demanded.

“They have my master.” She answered, remembering how the two of them seemed to think she was Grimmjow’s pet.

Hurón nodded in understanding.

“Then it was a rescue mission?”

“Yes.”

Hurón looked to Rata.

“No.” Rata said simply, shaking his head.

Hurón just looked at the rat like hollow. Rata stared back, and then climbed grumbling down from Hurón’s shoulder and left the room shouting back he was being suicidal.

“What is it?” Kinomi asked.

“The fortress is ancient, and as such was equipped with escape tunnels that go under the lake.” Hurón explained. “Rata knows the path.”

Kinomi looked at him with hope dawning in her eyes. They could sneak in and out without alerting Akusesshou to them being there. The combative part of her wanted another round with Akuyami, this time from the start instead of after slicing and dicing up a horde of zombies and a few rounds with Akutsuchi.

The practical part of her that came from her mother’s side was more concerned about getting Grimmjow out first. Besides, she would need to be at full power to take on Akuyami and judging by her reiatsu drained condition, that was going to take a while.


It took three days before Kinomi was more or less back to normal. She got their location from Hurón and then waited some more while Leon opened the gate to bring the rest of her friends through.

It was an almost tearful reunion and Zan had her in a near death grip the moment his eyes fell upon her, Taka was not so far behind him.

“Oh god, poor Zan. He probably was so worried about loosing not only his otousan but his neesan as well.” Kinomi realized as she held Zan close.

They broke apart and it was then she realized the others, while they hadn’t drawn their blades, were watching Hurón, Rata in his usual place on Hurón’s shoulder, rather closely and suspiciously.

“Wait. It can’t be. No way.” Taka looked closely at Hurón, as did Zan now that they got a second to breath.

“You know this person?” Galgo asked in slight surprise.

“Hurón-san?” Zan hazard.

“Indeed.”

“Wow. You evolved into a Vasto Lorde.” Taka gaped.

“I have.” Hurón agreed.

“This is the Adjucas Kinomi spared against all that time ago?” Leon asked.

Kinomi nodded her head.

“Interesting.” Hurón commented, looking closely at Leon. “You do not have the reiatsu of an Espada, and yet you can open a Gargata. And some of you smell like arrancar.”

“We didn’t get a lot of time to talk the first time we met, but do you remember Aizen?” Kinomi asked.

“Yes.” Rata spat in distaste.

“Well, he thought it would be a great idea to breed his Arancar with the Shinigami to produce a new species able to use both sets of reiatsu. Zan, my brother, is Grimm-ji’s son.” Kinomi explained.

“Wait. You aren’t just Grimmjow-sama’s pet?” Rata looked at her.

“Hardly.” She smiled. “He raised me in Las Noches before Aizen was killed and my okaasan was rescued. Other than myself everyone else here is mixed blood.”

“Why are you not?” Hurón asked curiously.

“Grimm-ji didn’t want to rape Okaasan just because Aizen told him to, so he brought her to my father so he could knock her up without Aizen knowing any better. Grimm-ji didn’t like Aizen very much.” She smiled as some of her earlier memories came to her, like how they use to call Aizen Henshu-sama behind his back.

Hurón let his gaze wonder over the others as he took in this news.

“If it is not too much to ask, might I learn your names and the names of the Espada who parented you?”

“Taka. Stark is my father. Galgo and I are twins.” Taka indicated her brother. “We also have a younger sister not here, Rina-chan.”

“Kuchiki Barbo Halibel. My mother was Tia Halibel.” Barbo answered formally.

“Azucena. My mother is Lilinette, Stark-san’s Fracción.” Azucena answered shyly.

“Reina Ruizenban. My esteemed father was Barragan Ruizenban-sama.” Reina answered just as formally as Barbo did.

“Zan. We told you who my father is already.” Zan shrugged.

“Leon Vega. Ggio Vega is my father. He’s not an Espada, but was Barragan’s Fracción.” Leon also shrugged.

By this point Rata’s mouth was hanging open and even Hurón seemed slightly surprised.

“Now that introductions are out of the way, forgive me Hurón-san, but you did mention a few days ago that there were underground caves that led to the island Grimm-ji is being held on?” Kinomi called the attention back to herself.

Shaking his head once as if to clear it of his thoughts, Hurón turned his attention back to her.

“Yes. Rata knows of a path through the caves that leads under the lake and into the fortress carved in the cliff.” Hurón answered.

“We are fully restocked, and here, I brought you some extra uniforms. We sent Leon back to Soul Society to grab some new cloths and food.” Taka handed her a fresh outfit.

“Thank you.” Kinomi smiled in relief as she went to change.

She had been wearing the torn, blood soaked cloths for over a week now and she was more then pleased to take a quick wash up in the near by river and change into fresh cloths that didn’t smell like stale sweat and blood or stick to her body.

Stay Tuned for Chapter 19: Underground

Where Grimmjow is finally rescued and Kinomi confronts her father about their mission.

I loved this chapter. If it's one thing that drives me bonkers it's the good guys winning every fight. If it's one thing I love it's torturing the main characters. I felt this defeat was needed, that things shouldn't be too easy considering who and what they were fighting.

As usual /love reviews.