Out from the new day's mist I have come.

[shoottokill]

Of all the things Gin had thought the day would bring, that was not one of them.

Ulquiorra's appearance had been a shock, even to him. He had been covered in fur, skinnier than usual, and taller... though that may have just been the strange, almost birdlike structure of his legs and feet. He had known that his release was winged -- that was down on the few papers he had elected to cast his eyes over -- but the rest ... no, that hadn't matched up. Neither had the reiatsu.

The Arrancar were something else where Chakra was concerned. Partly hyur and partly Hollow, they had the capacity to be extremely powerful, especially since those working on the Arrancar project had made especially sure to harvest only the best Hollows they could get their filthy little hands on. If Gin recalled, they had even gone as far as seeking help from some of Khamja's more unusual Jyllandi associates to obtain them.

Ulquiorra's had been a problem. With the exception of Stark's and matching Nnoitra's, Murciélago had gone through more potential hosts than any other, killing those it refused to bond with. Everybody had been surprised when the thing had latched onto such a dour little candidate. Some had been angry. Nel had been angry.

And then he returned from an excursion in a form nobody had ever seen. Even Aizen had come out armed and unsure whether he was himself. It had, of course, been possible that it could have killed the Ryoka and used the boy's memories to return to the Palace and kill everybody that had wronged it, using Ulquiorra's form for the job, but ... no. That hadn't happened. Instead, Ulquiorra actually had power over the form. It wasn't a takeover, or a case of Oversoul.

In Gin's opinion, there was little chance that it had been the first time the subject had come up between the two of them and that could mean only one thing. Ulquiorra was keeping secrets. From his dear Aizen-sama. That was both a turn out for the books and a very interesting development. Could it be that Ienzo-san was having an effect on Ulquiorra and his supposedly unshakeable loyalties? Gods forbid.

Ulquiorra had been called into Aizen's office shortly after the Ryoka that sat top of Gin's list of those not to push very far had relieved him of Ienzo's broken little form. Whatever had transpired there, Aizen had gotten some extremely interesting intel on what had happened.

"Will you go with Ulquiorra to where Ienzo was attacked?" Aizen had asked him.

When asked why him, Aizen had confided that what they had faced was far beyond Ulquiorra's capabilities, with or without the additional help from his rather dark passenger, and that they were both lucky to be alive. It was, Aizen told him, a Weapon. Weapon with a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence. The type of creature that only really cropped up in books on mythology or the sort of hokey conspiracy pamphlets that seemed to suggest that some of Spira's oldest monuments had been built by aliens.

Who was he to refuse? How many times did one get to see a legend first hand? If that was what it was, anyway.

And that was how Gin had ended up in an ominously swirling Garganta with his customary smile temporarily on hold.

Well, even he had limits.

Comments

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra had returned to his quarters at Aizen-sama's instruction and removed his ruined uniform without looking at it. The storm roiled in his head, worse than it had been at the moment Ienzo-san had been injured, and he could sense the sharp grin of too many needle teeth at the back of his neck even though the Hollow only existed inside his head.

He ignored it, pushed the feeling down and down and away until the roar of wind and waves in his ears was nothing but empty silence as he washed Ienzo-san's blood from his hands.

He changed into fresh uniform, and went to meet Aizen-sama again, only to find that it would not be Aizen-sama attending to the Weapon. It was Gin.

Ulquiorra disliked Gin, as much as Ulquiorra disliked anyone in particular. Still, he wore a professional mask of his usual taciturn disinterest and left with Gin in tow to open a Garganta and then lead him inside.

He kept his hands in his pockets, sword by his side as he led the way through the Garganta. He'd flown this path before, as fast as he could manage. It had been the shortest path he could make.

[shoottokill]

Gin was not a fan of the Garganta.

Walking through one was abnormal for anybody ... well, living. Especially a member of the Gotei 13. It was like venturing off the beaten path in a museum and ending up somewhere you weren't meant to be. A room stuffed full of the sorts of things they no longer put on display, for whatever reason.

And evil ghosts who wanted to eat your soul. Those too.

"Is it much further?" Gin asked, keeping his voice light in spite of his expression.

[tozasemurcielago]

"No," Ulquiorra answered. They'd used Sonido, and Shunpo in Gin's case, as much as was reasonable, but had been forced to slow when Ulquiorra had needed to get a more precise fix on their location. The Garganta he had opened, when he'd evacuated Ienzo-san, had been hundreds of feet in the air. He needed to lead them closer to ground level now. "We are near the Eremite plains. It will not be far."

Would it still be there? Ulquiorra wasn't apprehensive about seeing the thing again, but he was wary of the risk that it had left after they had. Had it tried to follow? Could it? Or had it gone back to dormancy when Ienzo-san had left the vicinity? What was the next course of action if it had?

[shoottokill]

"Ohhh," he said, nodding sagely behind Ulquiorra's back. "The Eremite Plains, of course."

Wherever they were. Gin had to admit to having not learned the ins and outs of the Bancouri Wildlands. He'd never had any real reason to. They only bordered the edge of his jurisdiction.

Gin's thoughts mirrored Ulquiorra's, unbeknownst to him. It had been some hours since Ulquiorra had fled with the Ryoka. According to what Aizen had said, the monster, the Weapon, had appeared suddenly, out of nowhere, with no warning or preamble. It could as easily disappear the same way, especially if Aizen's suspicions of it being attracted to the Ryoka specifically were true.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra turned his head just enough to look at Gin from the corner of his eye. He couldn't tell if the man was mocking him or not.

He didn't like Gin. He was Aizen-sama's ally, and that would have earned the man some level of respect from Ulquiorra, if it hadn't been for everything else about him. He wasn't trash, like so many of the Arrancar. He wasn't someone easily dismissed as weak and who, as a consequence, didn't matter.

Yet he reminded Ulquiorra all too strongly of the Hollow inside his head. It enjoyed playing games, twisting words, trying to make things appear to be other than they were through language alone. The Hollow could see through illusions, and had granted that gift to Ulquiorra some time ago, but Gin didn't deal in illusionary vision. He dealt in illusionary thoughts.

Ulquiorra preferred things to be straightforward. The intricacies of how people viewed things left him in the dark. He could follow it, but he could never understand it. People were always so easily swayed by stupid sentiment.

Love made no sense to him. It made people do stupid things, was so easily turned against them. He preferred loyalty. It was simple, straightforward, and didn't require that it was returned. He was loyal to Aizen-sama, a pawn in his arsenal, and Ulquiorra knew his place and it was simple.

He was, increasingly, loyal to Ienzo-san too. Those two facts did not have to conflict.

He turned his attention back to the direction he was travelling and pushed forward with sonido. Gin would have no trouble keeping up, he knew that. A little further and he should be able to open a Garganta a short distance from where he and Ienzo-san had faced the Weapon.

[shoottokill]

Gin, of course, followed suit.

The faster he could be out of the darkness of the strange limbo of the Garganta, the better. It gave him the creepin' shivers. Made sense that Ulquiorra probably felt at home there, though. He was a bit of a strange one himself.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra came to a halt and opened the Garganta in front of himself. He experienced some satisfaction at having judged the opening well; no more than a couple of feet off the ground so he only had to open the Garganta wider with a little force of will in order to allow himself, and Gin, to step out onto ground level.

The terrain ahead of the Garganta was different to Ulquiorra's memory. When he'd walked it with Ienzo-san it had been unremarkable dusty plains, with no real variation. Now broken, jagged boulders littered the ground, which rose and sank into a huge crater.

The battleground. The traces of the brief battle were still evident in the surroundings, and in the atmosphere of the place. The boulders bore the telltale marks of alchemy, and everywhere felt like the blast from Lanza del Relampago, and the presence of the Weapon itself. The place had been bathed in chakra for a few brief minutes, but it had been bathed in Ulquiorra's chakra, the Hollow's chakra.

To still be so present in the senses, The Weapon must still be here.

[shoottokill]

Gin stepped out after Ulquiorra and surveyed the scene with open eyes.

He'd never been to the Eremite Plains before, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it didn't always look like a blasted wasteland. Recently smashed rocks lay strewn around a crater that was positively crackling with residual chakra, Ulquiorra's residual chakra, though there was something else as well.

Maybe Aizen was right. Maybe it was one of those legendary Weapons. Sure didn't feel like anything else Gin had experience of.

Gin looked around, tapping an Alchemy-scarred shard of rock with the toe of his boot.

"Really did a number on this place, didn't ya?" He said.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra's eyes turned to fix on Gin at the comment. He hadn't lingered to see the damage the thrown lanza would do, but he'd known it hadn't been sufficient to destroy the thing. Looking at it now, the damage to the environment had been extensive.

Had it been sufficient to harm the Weapon? He could only know by finding it.

"It's still here," he said, his voice low, and dull. It had left the immediate vicinity, obviously opting not to linger at the battleground itself, but it had not returned to hiding its reiatsu.

If he could sense it, it could almost certainly sense him. Would it return to finish the job even though he was no longer with Ienzo-san? It hadn't been interested in him, but after he'd attacked it, perhaps, if Aizen-sama's book was correct, it would perceive him as a threat in need of elimination.

He let the Garganta close behind himself and Gin and looked around at the horizon. In the distance, some way from the devastation of the battleground, barely visible, something stuck up into the air from the ground, waving slowly in a breeze that didn't exist where Ulquiorra stood.

[shoottokill]

"Noticed that, huh?"

It was difficult for Gin to figure out exactly what the reiatsu he felt was. It was nothing like any of the licensed species, nor a monster, but it also wasn't anything like a Hollow. It felt off, and a little bit strange, but also not entirely wrong. It felt natural, just ... different.

He followed Ulquiorra's gaze across the sands.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing over at the wiggling red tendril that stuck out of the ground like a bizarre little flower.

[tozasemurcielago]

Suspicious was what it was, in Ulquiorra's view. There had been no such thing when he and Ienzo-san had run into the Weapon earlier, or at least, none that he had noticed, and Ulquiorra noticed things. The reiatsu of the Weapon permeated the environment, but it was, if he paid attention, coming from that direction.

The sensation was a little like trying to find the centre of a storm while standing in the midst of it.

The strange tendril was red, and waved, almost beckoning. Ulquiorra rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, leaving his other in his pocket. "An invitation," he said.

A taunt. A trap. How much sapience did the thing possess? In any case, it's reiatsu had not been discernible before its appearance last time. Now it's reiatsu blanketed the area, and something red, buried in the sands, waved for attention, calling them to investigate.

Unwary scientists and researchers might happen across it and be destroyed in an instant. After their battle, their escape, the Weapon couldn't be attempting to entice himself and Ienzo-san back to it; they would know better. Perhaps this was how it usually functioned. Perhaps Ienzo-san's chakra had alerted it to a threat, and woken it from centuries long slumber, and with their having fled it was reverting to its usual behaviour.

[shoottokill]

Gin watched it. It looked oddly plantlike, but it clearly wasn't. There was no wind for it to be wiggling in and yet wiggle it did. He rubbed his eyes and turned his attention to Ulquiorra.

"What d'you say you give it a poke?" He grinned, gesturing at the weird little filament with one hand.

Well, they could do with seeing the thing. Gin could, at any rate. It had almost killed the Ryoka and caused serious problems for Ulquiorra himself. Aizen had taken no pleasure in informing him that he didn't stand a coeurl in Hagsmire's chance of beating it. If it proved too much for even him, they could skidaddle, but Gin had a feeling he had enough tricks up his sleeve for even a Weapon.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra fixed his attention on the waving red tendril. It had to be aware of his presence, and if it had sufficient mind, would likely recognise him from earlier. If it lacked sufficient mind, it may still recognise him; the Hollow was distinctive.

If he approached it may attempt an ambush attack, and then Ulquiorra, positioned between Gin and the Weapon, would be in the way. He did not trust Gin. Poking the tendril was out of the question.

There was more than one way to poke at it, however.

Ulquiorra stood still, regarding the tendril for a moment, and then with drew his hand from his pocket. With a quick movement of his hand, and a sound like a gunshot, he fired a bala at the thing.

[spira_npc]

The Weapon screamed.

It had made its hiding place in the earth, secure among the bedrock, feeling for those that approached.

A familiar reiatsu had returned. The two that were one and had become almost one were back, two once more, and now with different company.

The company was not a threat, but this one had travelled in the company of a threat.

A shot hit its exposed extremity, flooding it with information about the one that had been earlier. It hit with a clang, and the Weapon screamed before rising from the ground again.

It wished to continue the fight.

[shoottokill]

Gin watched Ulquiorra, half disappointed that he didn't simply trot over and boot the thing, but that wouldn't be Ulquiorra, would it? No, he had to go and use one of the two projectile weapons the Arrancar get. Tch.

The thought, and the disappointment, were both pushed from his head at the moment that Ruby Weapon screamed. The sound was awful. It almost reminded him of that gods awful alarm Kuja had in place at the palace to warn of an incursion.

When it emerged, he stepped back and looked up. And up. And up... and... well. That was a little bigger than he'd been expecting. He wasn't entirely sure of the scale he had expected, but this went off the charts.

"It's bigger than I thought it would be," he said, a grin on his face as the ground beneath his feet shook and the monster's reiatsu flooded out.

It didn't make him bend, or bow. It was just something he knew was there. Uncomfortable as one may expect an eldritch beast to be, but nothing he couldn't handle. He pulled his sword free of its scabbard. Nobody would be saying that was bigger than they thought any time soon, that was for damn sure.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra kept his hand on his sword. His instruction had been to guide. Aizen-sama did not believe Ulquiorra had the strength to take this enemy down, and as much as Ulquiorra despised it, he was inclined to agree.

There was a mark where lanza del relampago had hit. A patch where the surface was darker then the rest. Nothing more.

Perhaps it had merely healed. Perhaps it was invulnerable to Hollow attacks. Ulquiorra didn't know, and he lacked the scientific curiosity required to try and find out.

His instruction had been to guide Gin here, and that was what he had done. The rest was up to Gin. If Ulquiorra had to retreat once more, he was ready to do so. If he was required to leave Gin behind in order to do so, he was prepared for that, too.

He watched as Gin drew his sword, though 'sword' was an overestimation of its size. The Weapon loomed, dominating the surroundings with its presence. It would have looked like a disturbingly mismatched fight, but Ulquiorra was at least aware that the size of Gin's weapon was not indicative of its power or ability. The shikai states of Gotei Captain's weaponry was generally a matter of record. Some Captains, however, were more discreet than others when it came to their respective bankai.

Gin's sword excelled at bringing down Hollows of size. Still, it did not seem like it would be enough to take on something like this.

[spira_npc]

The Weapon took the measure of its quarry. Then it thrust its fingers into the ground and drove its tentacles through the earth until they erupted behind them again.

It would not waste time in destroying them this time.

[shoottokill]

Gin weighed his options.

He'd heard what it had done to Ienzo. Aizen told him what to expect and what to watch out for. If it put its hands into the ground, it would attack from behind. Well, there it went, putting its hands into the ground...

"Shoot to kill," he said, turning on the spot. "Shinsō."

Shinsō's blade extended and he swung it in an arc, severing the tentacle-like fingers of Ruby Weapon's hand all at once. They fell heavily to the sand, writhing alone for a moment before they fell still.

"Now then," he said, turning back to it. "I think it's about time we got down t'business. Bankai."

[tozasemurcielago]

Gin was quick.

Ulquiorra watched the Weapon thrust its fingers into the ground again, felt the ripple in the rock beneath his feet as it passed through, and then erupted behind them both. It had done the same thing to himself and Ienzo, but he hadn't been prepared for it, then.

Gin was already prepared, and Ulquiorra's eyes widened as he cut the protruding tentacles in one sweep. Ulquiorra had struck them, and damaged one, but not severed it.

He had not anticipated that Gin was this far above his own ability level.

He continued to watch in silence as Gin unleashed his bankai. He expected power. He didn't expect a power so high that even with his mask out, Ulquiorra felt his knees tremble and his breath catch uncomfortably.

[shoottokill]

Gin got the feeling that, when the tentacles were buried in the sand, Ruby Weapon's main body was unable to move, or act. With the arms disabled, it undoubtedly had other weapons in its arsenal. He'd be very surprised if it didn't have some sort of Cero-like attack it could employ to catch enemies out of tentacle-range, so he decided not to take any chances.

That, and he wasn't into being showy where Aizen's favourite little minion was concerned, not that he had anything to worry about from him. He didn't miss his eyes going wide.

Finishing an eldritch menace quickly was in everybody's best interest.

"Kill it," he said, holding his sword close to his chest, "Lance of Deicide."

Gin's blade extended ahead of him, faster than he wagered even Ulquiorra could see. It stretched out, finding no resistance as it pierced the monster's red carapace at what would be roughly groin height on any normal bipedal creature. With a flick of the wrist he wrenched the sword up, bisecting it bilaterally.

[spira_npc]

It shrieked as its tentacles were severed, and moved to charge its ray.

The centre of its chest had barely begun to glow when the next blow came and the Weapon was pierced, and split.

It froze, stilled in every sense until a noise that was something like a faint scream and something like escaping gas emitted from it, and it collapsed and disintegrated.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra didn't see the movement of Gin's sword. He saw it, short in Gin's hand, held pommel to his chest, then it was extended, faster than Ulquiorra could detect, and had pierced the Weapon.

Gin cleaved it neatly in half in a single movement and Ulquiorra watched as the Weapon broke down.

Its reiatsu faded steadily away into nothingness, as if the thing had never been.

He removed his hand from the hilt of his sword and slipped it into his pocket once more.

[shoottokill]

Gin watched it disintegrate. No Pyreflies erupted from it like they would have from something living, or a Hollow. It simply broke down, hissing like something deflating, or melting in the sun.

"Bye bye," he said, cheerfully.

It was a strange thing. It wasn't like anything else he'd seen. He doubted it was like anything anybody had seen, come to think of it. There were stories of gods, and the creation of creatures, and all sorts of other nonsense, but he hadn't considered it anything more than superstitious mythology until that had shot out of the ground before his eyes. Maybe there was something more to the stories, maybe there wasn't.

"Well then," he said, sheathing his Zanpakuto, effectively putting his Bankai, and the associated reiatsu, away. "Time to go."

[tozasemurcielago]

The lift of Gin's Bankai took an almost physical weight off Ulquiorra. The Hollow considered Aizen-sama its adversary, and wove machinations Ulquiorra had no interest in following with that as it ends goal. It wished, one day, to claim Ulquiorra, but it had always been clear that Aizen-sama was its enemy, that it intended to one day face him.

This was Gin's power. Ulquiorra had never witnessed the full scope of Aizen-sama's power, but for him to hold Gin as an ally, not an equal but powerful enough to be of use, and this was but a glimpse of that?

Murciélago had a reassuringly long way to go before it was in a position to challenge Aizen-sama himself.

Ulquiorra only murmured when Gin spoke. From anyone that wasn't Rozarrian born, such a response, or lack of one, would be considered rude. He pulled the Garganta back open without bothering to wave his hand to do so. The terrain was still rich with the lingering chakra of the fight, both Ulquiorra's, and now, though much less dramatic, Gin's. With the Weapon gone, Hollows and beasts were likely to investigate to see if there were remains to be scavenged, and new prey to be had.