//------------------------------//
// Hueco Mundo: Arrival 
// Story: Bleach: Heart of a Hero 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Running through the void of a Garganta was interesting to Sombra, as the first memory he had, of his new life, was walking up in Hueco Mundo and accidentally using one of these to travel to the World of the Living, though at the time there had been some sort of walkway beneath his hooves that had formed all by itself. He guessed that since they were using the same form of transportation that the other Arrancar used, save for the fact that it was a Shinigami that opened the way for them, there would be some differences, meaning that if he had used his own Garganta they wouldn't have had to form their own walkways to get to their destination. Since the moment the group had entered the void between the World of the Living and Hueco Mundo they had formed three different walkways, as he was running along a perfectly straight walkway that reached out to their destination, Uryu was riding on an oval shaped walkway that resembled a surfboard, and Ichigo and Chad were running along a shoddy walkway that was of Ichigo's design, since his control over spirit particles was basically nonexistent, and it tended to crack every now and then.

Sombra was tempted to let Ichigo and Chad run behind him, so they didn't accidentally fall into the void and disappear forever, but at the same time they were focused on what they were going and didn't seem to mind the fact that their walkway was likely to come apart if Ichigo's concentration shattered in some manner.

"So, Hueco Mundo is ahead of us." Ichigo commented, as while he knew that they had been running for a great deal of time, or at least that was his assumption since running through the Dangai had warped their perception of time until they came out of the other end, and it seemed like they were drawing close to their destination, though he nearly tripped for a moment and caught himself as he continued running, "Damn it. Urahara made it seem easy like using spirit particles to form a walkway would be easy, but it's much harder than it looks. I suck at delicate operations like this."

Not even a few seconds later they all had to stop at the sound of part of Ichigo's walkway breaking, as Chad had stepped on part of it that was ready to break already and nearly fell into the void, but he managed to catch himself before that happened and pulled himself back onto the walkway.

"Sorry about that Chad." Ichigo said, though at the same time he wished that he had devoted some time to learning how to manipulate spirit particles, just so something like this didn't happen when they were heading between two locations, before he focused on his friend once more, "Are you alright?"

"No problem." Chad replied, though as he said that he glanced over at Sombra's walkway and found that it was nice and straight, looking like it would stay together no matter what happened to the person that created it, and silently wished that Ichigo's walkway was closer to what Sombra had created.

"How pathetic." Uryu commented, to which he remained on his own walkway and stared at Ichigo's shoddy work, once more reminding him of the fact that Ichigo didn't have the same set of skills that an actually Shinigami would have, as he suspected that someone like Byakuya would be able to make a walkway like Sombra's, "Can't you make a better path, so you and Chad don't fall into the void?"

"Stuff it! I just said that I was bad at things like this." Ichigo stated, though it always allowed him how Uryu thought that he was so much better than the Shinigami, especially someone that was only a Substitute and was only using his powers to protect his town, "Besides, what the hell is up with your walkway? It's hardly fair that both you and Sombra have your own walkways."

"I'm just using a variation of Hirenkyaku, Pure Flying Step, the Quincy version of Shunpo and Sonido." Uryu replied, though at the same time the second part of his explanation was for Sombra, as he was the one gathering all the names of the various techniques that the various creatures of the world used, be they Shinigami, Quincy, or Arrancar, "This is child's play for someone like me. And even if I created one for you, which I won't, you'd never be able to control it, not with your current skills at manipulating reiatsu. Besides, Urahara told us to forge our own walkways, but if I were you or Chad I'd jump over to Sombra's before the one your running on breaks and you fall into the void."

"Uryu, I only heard this from Urahara while we were waiting for Ichigo to arrive," Chad spoke up, though this time around Sombra's attention was drawn to them, as he was interested in what they could be talking about now, even though they were supposed to be focused on their mission, "but you made a deal with your father, right? In order to get your powers back, and to receive training to improve your skills, you were supposed to swear off any involvement with the Shinigami and their comrades. So why are you here?"

"Yes, I made that deal with my father, and I have no idea how Urahara found out about it," Uryu stated, to which he started moving again and the others followed after him, resuming their journey towards the other end of the void that they were in, "but while I said that I'm here to aid you, Kurosaki, the reality is that Sombra asked for Chad and I to come with him as he invaded Hueco Mundo. Technically Sombra is an entirely separate party that does what he wants whenever he desires, so if Soul Society says that they're leaving Orihime and Sora to their fate, and abandons them to whatever foul plans Aizen has for them, and if Sombra stated that he was going to save them, just like he did, then that means that he's at odds with what the Shinigami want and is no longer considered an ally until he bends to their wishes. Since he's the one that brought us all together, I can use the loophole I found in my father's requirements for gaining the training he gave me and come here to assist you... I'm actually very pleased that I managed to figure that out when Urahara came and explained the situation to me earlier."

Ichigo and Uryu then had a brief conversation about what how weak Uryu's logic was, as Ichigo didn't believe that his friend would even consider something like that, but Sombra was pleased to hear that their friend was able to find a way around what his father had asked of him, as it meant that they were even stronger than they would have been if it was just three of them. A few moments later, however, his attention was grabbed by the other side of the void approaching them, indicating that they were getting close to their target, and the others noticed it as well, because both Uryu and Ichigo stopped talking as they pushed forward and, as they reached the end and jumped forward, smashed through a wall that happened to be in front of them. What Sombra discovered was that the hallway that they were in was darker than what they had been going through, as if someone had turned out the lights and left them in almost total darkness, but he was able to see that everything was pretty solid looking, save for the one wall that they burst through to get here.

"This building is pretty solid looking," Ichigo commented, taking a moment to rub the back of his head while the rest of the group looked around to see if they could find anything of use, which Sombra was going to say was unlikely when he considered whose base this was, "I always figured that Hueco Mundo would be a pigsty."

"Actually, think of Hueco Mundo as a desert with a moon that's in the same position and phase at all times," Sombra said, as he remembered what he had seen when he first woke up in the world that they were now in, and it even felt familiar to him now that they were here, before he returned to the matter at hand, "Come on, let's find a way out of this building, so we can see where we entered and where our destination is located."

"Kurosaki, could you keep your voice down while we're walking around?" Uryu asked, though he also spoke in a much quieter tone, as he had noticed that Sombra had been doing it and decided to follow suit, because he had been thinking the same thing, "It's likely that they have some sort of invader detection system in place and already know we're here, but it's best if we don't give away our exact position."

"Hey, if anyone's around here, come and get us!" Ichigo called out, causing shock to appear on Uryu's face, as he couldn't believe what Ichigo was doing, Sombra merely sighed and shook his head, and Chad didn't seem bothered by what his friend was doing, as he agreed with the plan that Ichigo was setting in motion, before Ichigo turned and looked back at them for a moment, "Look, I figure that if one of the Arrancar come to us, we'll just beat them down and force them to tell us the information that we need to know. Then we'll go on from there."

"Well, I can feel two Gillian level reiatsu in this building, so someone's definitely here with us." Sombra said, telling the others exactly what they should expect, though at the same time Ichigo started walking and the rest of them followed after him, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything and everything, "We'll just have to see what happens first."

What Sombra found was that it was a good thing that they had been separated when they went into the Seireitei to save Rukia, as Ichigo and Uryu were talking back and froth about how reckless Ichigo was, how Uryu needed to loosen up a little, and the fact that neither one of them could agree on what the word caution meant. Sure, they were keeping their voices low at the moment, but they were annoying each other more than Sombra wanted them to at the moment and he was already starting to wish that he had come here alone, just to get through this without anything happened. After a few minutes of walking they eventually had to stop so Ichigo could tell Uryu to calm down, causing Uryu to bring his right fist to the side of the wall that was to his right, activating a hidden switch in the process and made everyone pause for a moment to register that it had actually happened. That was swiftly followed by the path they were following starting to fall, which meant that they were walking on a collapsing walkway, and they fled in the opposite direction, though the only reason Sombra was going along with it was because they might actually find an exit by running from the trap that they had accidentally sprung. It actually didn't take them long to find another path to take, allowing them to turn and start down it immediately, but Chad's turn resulted in him falling and being grabbed by Ichigo, Uryu, and Sombra, who hauled him back onto the new path they were going to follow and took a few moments to catch their breath.

Once they were ready the group stood back up and followed the new path that was in front of them, with Ichigo and Uryu discussing what happened with the trap in the tones they had been using before, causing Sombra to mentally wonder why he had thought that this was a good idea, to bring the both of them at the same time, in the first place... and, not even a few minutes later, they had to stop again, only this time Ichigo's foot sunk into the floor as it revealed that he was springing a second trap. This time around it was a boulder that was designed to crush invaders, though Chad stepped forward and raised on hand towards it, using his own strength to stop the boulder in it's tracks as the others watched what he was doing, before smashing the boulder to pieces with his fist. Just as Ichigo took the fault for activating the second trap a large hand, attached to an equally sized arm, torso, and head, as if it was a giant staring at them, appeared from the darkness and the figure stared at them, though before Ichigo could do anything Uryu grabbed him as they retreated from the area, as it was too narrow to get into a fight without bringing the entire building down on their heads. Even Sombra, who was glad to see that his senses hadn't lied and that there was someone in the building that they had broken into, took some steps back as he followed the group, but it was mostly to prevent the collapse of the building and not because of an entirely different reason.

Uryu even explained that they had to be in an underground building and that fighting in the narrow hallway was a terrible idea, since Ichigo still didn't get his reasoning behind why he thought that they were underground, but eventually they came to a wider area that was bigger than what they had seen so far, which was when they stopped running and he stopped holding onto the edge of Ichigo's attire.

"Look, a wider area," Ichigo commented, though at the same time he put a hand on Zangetsu's handle, as he was ready to turn around and meet whoever was chasing them, because he wanted answers and it seemed like the best person to ask was right behind them, "This is a good spot to fight, right?"

"There's a staircase nearby. It might lead outside." Uryu stated, to which he started to walk towards it, revealing that they might not need to ask any questions, especially since he figured Sombra would have a better time finding Orihime once they were above ground and got away from the building that they were in, "I'll go che..."

Not even a few seconds later, as Uryu took a few steps towards the staircase, Sombra glanced towards the stairs as a figure flashed into the area between his friend and the location he had been running towards, though that allowed him to see that this Arrancar wasn't as Human looking as the rest, as he had no legs and the lowest part of his body seemed to be floating off the ground, while wrapped in his Arrancar attire. The Arrancar in question had an interesting mask, as it was in the shape of a beak and left the upper-left quarter of his face visible, allowing Sombra to see that he had three dark blue diamond shaped tattoos above his left yellow colored eye and that he had short silver colored hair. As he took the first Arrancar's appearance into account he glanced back and found that the second one was coming out of the hallway they had walked through, where he found that the Arrancar was definitely a giant to some degree, with the remains of his Hollow mask covering the area around his eyes and the upper part of his head. That also let him notice that the Arrancar had a deformed jaw, an oddly shaped tongue, and black colored hair that was locked in the dread-lock hairstyle, with some odd ornaments at the end of each one, but he didn't look like much of a threat to their group... though the only thing that he found interesting was that neither of them were carrying a Zanpakuto, making him wonder if they were in their Resurrection forms and never bothered to return to their human states.

"Where are you going, invaders?" the floating Arrancar asked, though at the same time he kept his arms hidden, which told Sombra and the others that he might have some tricks up his sleeves and that they should be on the ready in case one of them decided to attack them.

"We're heading outside." Sombra replied, to which he focused on the stairs and not the two Arrancar that were near them, as he was sure that he could take both of them out if it really came to it, but at the same time he also knew that both Uryu and Chad could do that as well, "You're free to try and stop us."

"You couldn't get past me even if y..." the floating Arrancar stated, though that was when Sombra flashed behind him and stopped at the bottom of the stairs, letting some of his reiatsu dance in the air as the Arrancar turned to stare at him, before he flashed back to where he had been standing moments ago and forced the foe in front of him to turn his attention back to him, "Wh... what in the world just happened?"

"You challenged me to get by you and I did so." Sombra answered, but that was merely a fraction of the speed that he truly possessed, as it was child's play for him to get around the Arrancar that was in front of him, before he gave both of their opponents his attention, "You have some decent power for a Gillian ranked Arrancar, so does your partner, but even now I can tell that neither of you are anywhere near the level of the power that the five Arrancar that Grimmjow brought with him possessed... meaning that you are either ordinary Hollows that were allowed to evolve, or former simple minded Gillian that Aizen tested the Hogyoku on to begin his experiments."

"Demoura aside, you suggesting that I, Aisslinger Wernarr, am of low intelligence?" the floating Arrancar, Aisslinger, asked, though at the same time his clothing shifted and four arms appeared from where two normal arms would normally be located, proving Sombra's point that they were already in their Resurreccion state.

"Hardly. I was just making a point." Sombra said, to which he didn't raise his arms and kept his hands off his weapons, as there was no reason for him to bother using either of them, not when his friends could show him what they were capable of thanks to their training, "You said that this guy's name was Demoura, correct?"

"It's Demoura Zodd!" the giant Arrancar loudly said, though there was an aggressive tone that told Sombra that the enemy behind him was going to attack him soon, which was fine with him since he was planning on having the battle start soon enough anyway.

"Right. Chad, you can have the big guy." Sombra stated, to which he flashed out of the way as Demoura swung his arm down at where he had been standing, though in the following seconds Chad, with his armored hand at the ready, caught the attack and let the floor around him shatter in the process, before Sombra appeared next to the edge of the room with a shocked Ichigo trying to figure out how he had been grabbed in the first place, "Uryu, you can take out Aisslinger."

"Go ahead, let me fight the smart looking one." Aisslinger said, though at the same time his senses were going off the charts, as the reiatsu that was coming from the other Arrancar, the one that Demoura had tried to attack, was so powerful that he knew that if he directed his power at him he'd be crushed into the floor with little to no resistance, before he focused on his target, "Besides, we abandoned our Human forms to gain even more power, making us even stronger in the process... so don't take us lightly, Humans."

"You know, it's funny how Sombra's mind works sometimes," Uryu commented, though as he spoke he undid some buttons on the right cuff of his sleeve, as there was something he needed to do before he started fighting, and talking would distract their foe for a moment, "in the few seconds where he saw your abilities, when you entered this chamber anyway, he was able to tell that your partner was one that focused on brute strength, while you, Aisslinger, are more of a speed style fighter. He then quickly determined who was best suited to take on you two and let us take to the battlefield, even though he could easily take you both down without even a second glance... and, despite how annoying Kurosaki can be, at least he understands that it's our time to shine at the moment and not his opportunity to showcase his skills."

Just to prove his point Chad pushed Demoura's attack back and then slammed his fist into the side of his opponent's face, shattering part of his Hollow mask in the process as he knocked the Arrancar backwards, but that meant that Uryu was able to do something without being attacked from behind.

"And what do you think you can do against my power?" Aisslinger asked, though at the same time he extended his odd shaped arms and readied the fingers that were on each one, as it was time for him to get the battle started and shoot his opponent full of holes.

"This." Uryu replied, to which he held his right hand out and the Quincy cross that he had been hiding in his sleeve was revealed, where his new bow snapped into existence in front of his hand and he grabbed onto it, even though it looked like a large cross with a miniature 'x' shape coming from where the handle was located, "This is my new spirit bow, Ginrei Kojaku, or Lone Sparrow on a Silver Cliff, a new and improved replacement for the bow I was using when we invaded Soul Society, a bow that was called Kojaku, the Lone Sparrow. Now then, let's get this battle started."

Sombra watched, with a slightly annoyed Ichigo at his side, as Uryu pulled his arm back and started firing a good number of spirit arrows, which Uryu revealed were actually called Heilig Pfeil, where Sombra understood that the term was German for Holy Arrow and surprised the Quincy with his further language skills. To that point Sombra simply shrugged and reminded him that he was a fast learner and had spent some time with Urahara and Yoruichi before he even met Ichigo, and he recalled the languages that he had been taught, all of which was to prepare him for anything and everything he might see along the way during his adventures. As Demoura was getting the stuffing beaten out of him, as Chad was just knocking him around and tossing him across his part of the chamber, Aisslinger took the first volley head first and got cut on the shoulder in the process, before flashing away using Sonido, only for Uryu to catch up with him thanks to his Hirenkyaku technique. Uryu revealed that he was a Quincy and that this was still child's play for him, only for Aisslinger to state that he had no idea what a Quincy was and then got upset when Uryu called him out on being ignorant for not knowing what a Quincy was, especially since Aizen was fully aware of his existence.

In the end Aisslinger and Uryu stopped and had their standoff, as Aisslinger charged up all of his fingers and started firing his Una Tirotear, or Wing-Shaped Claw Bullet, at Uryu, who revealed that his Ginrei Kojaku could fire off one thousand and two hundred arrows at once, which was more than ten times what Aisslinger was able to fire, since he was only able to loose one hundred and eight bullets at once... and the onslaught quickly overpowered the Arrancar, tearing part of his mask off and putting him on the ground where he belonged, before Uryu stopped firing at him. As the end of that battle happened Demoura used his last ditch attack, using his tongue to try and smash Chad, and ultimately failed as Chad caught the tongue and caused it to form a mass in front of him, stunning his opponent in the process, before Chad punched him again, using his new El Directo, or One Strike of the Giant, attack and with a bright flash of energy he brought an end to their fight... with Demoura collapsing on the ground as Aisslinger struggled to move, proving to Ichigo that both of his friends were stronger than he had originally given them credit for.

Before anyone could say anything, and barely had time to stand near each other, the walls started to crack and buckle as sand and parts of rock started to fall from the ceiling, though that was when Aisslinger started to chuckle as he noticed the confusion on three of the faces of the invaders, even if Sombra didn't have the same look the others did.

"This is how this location was set up." Aisslinger stated, deciding that talking would make them stay here and listen to him, so he could use the base's defenses to crush the enemies that had invaded Hueco Mundo before they got too far into their Lord's domain, "We were guardians of this area. Anyone who tries to go through here to get to Las Noches must be eliminated. if we are defeated, then we'll all be crushed as the building collapses. Remember this, invaders, that's the type of person that you're up against."

"Yeah, but does Aizen have the power to stand against the strongest Vasto Lorde ranked Arrancar in all of existence?" Sombra asked, though it was in that instant that terror appeared in Aisslinger's eye for a moment, as he now understood why he had been so worried about him since he witnessed his power.

"Lord Aizen fears nothing." Aisslinger replied, deciding not to show fear in the last moments of his life, even though he knew he was failing in his attempts to do just that, but at the very least the Arrancar that was staring down at him wasn't looking at him like he was insignificant, "That's why we bow before him. For us, creatures born from fear, a man that is afraid of nothing shines like the moon before us."

"I see." Sombra said, as that really didn't answer his question, but at the same time he decided that now wasn't the time to bother trying to press Aisslinger for the real answer, because with the building collapsing he started moving and made sure that the others knew what he was doing.

Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu followed after Sombra the moment he started moving, using his fast speed to flash over to the staircase and ascend to the surface, while at the same time the three of them, for some odd reason, simply ran instead of using their speed techniques. It didn't take him long to reach the top of the staircase and put some distance between him and the exit, though as he stopped he stared out at the landscape around him as he took in the familiar sights of Hueco Mundo, finding that it was exactly as he had described it to the others earlier, but that was before a large amount of sand exploded outward of the exit and he was fortunate that he had been away from it when that happened. As his friends burst out of the sand, and started shaking out all the sand that had gotten into their clothing, Sombra also noticed the sinkhole that had formed in response to the building collapsing, and it took some time for them to get the rest of the sand out before they were able to stand straight and not shake from time to time. Once they were finished with getting rid of the sand in their clothing, and turned towards him, Sombra stepped forward and noticed that they were looking out at the area that they were in.

"Allow me to officially welcome you to Hueco Mundo." Sombra said, telling them that they had succeeded in reaching their destination, before glancing off into the distance at the massive fortress like structure that was impossible to miss, which caused the others to look at it as well, "And that has to be Las Noches, because I can feel ten powerful reiatsu that feel like mine, meaning that they're the Espada, and three strong reiatsu that belong to Aizen, Gin, and Tosen coming from the other side of it's walls."

"Well, figure out where Orihime is and direct us to her," Ichigo replied, as he was going to use Sombra's senses to the fullest, because if Sombra was able to figure out that they had two enemies in the underground building he was sure that Sombra would be able to figure out where Orihime was, "Besides, we had better start moving soon, otherwise we might get dragged into another fight and waste more time that we don't have."

Sombra nodded and started running towards Las Noches, knowing that it was up to him to figure out where Orihime was when they invaded Aizen's fortress, but for right now he and his friends would begin their invasion of Hueco Mundo by reaching the fortress of their enemy, and then they would see what they needed to do next.





Grimmjow sighed as he got the call to gather in the special meeting room that the Espada, as in all ten of them, met with their Lord in, as well as both Commander Tosen and Commander Gin, but all this told him was that their true enemy had come, especially since he could already feel the vibrations in the air. The Espada, as well as all of the other Arrancar, didn't need to be told what was going on, as what he had felt indicated that Sombra was here, in Hueco Mundo, and that he was making his way to Las Noches, no doubt with Ichigo following after him with the intent to rescue Orihime and Sora from their cells. He knew this was bad, especially with all the pain he had been put through when Sombra fought him in the World of the Living, and none of the other Espada seemed to care, thinking that their powers would be able to stand against their enemy, but he had the feeling that it wouldn't matter in the end. Even as these thoughts ran through his mind he removed himself from his chambers, as each member of the Espada had their own private quarters and, when one of them was replaced by someone else, the room was either destroyed and rebuilt, or kept the way it was as a memorial to the Arrancar that they replaced... and he was happy to see that Luppi did nothing to his old place, otherwise he would have asked Orihime to try and bring Luppi back so he could obliterate the effeminate Arrancar completely.

He was the first of the Espada to reach the door to the meeting room, though he closed his eyes as he felt the others slowly arrive near him, even though he was actually trying to sense where Sombra was going, before the sound of the door opening caused him to open his eyes as he followed the others into the room and they took their seats.

At the very end of the table, exactly the opposite side of where Lord Aizen sat during these meetings, sat Yammy, who took the right seat like every other time these meetings happened, and yet he looked incredibly bored as usual, though that was because this call must have interrupted his nap. To Yammy's immediate left sat the Segunda Espada, Baraggan Louisenbairn, the former 'God-King' of Hueco Mundo, though he was an elderly man that was quite stocky and had some muscles, along with a white mustache and short white hair, which rested behind his five pointed Hollow mask that resembled a crown. As Grimmjow moved further down the line he spotted the Octava Espada, Szayelaporro Granz, who was as tall and thin as his brother, who Grimmjow missed more than he originally thought he would, who had shoulder-length pink hair and the remains of his mask formed a pair of glasses in front of his eyes, though he was the scientist among their group and loved to study things. After that was the Septima Espada, the one right below him, and that was Zommari Rureaux, a tall, muscular Arrancar that possessed dark skin, the remains of his mask were the spikes on his head that formed a row going back towards the back of his head, like a mohawk, and he wore a bone necklace, no doubt created from other Hollows that he had struck down... and the chair that was closest to where Lord Aizen sat was the same one that Grimmjow sat in, where he mentally sighed as he took his seat as well.

On the left side of the table it started with Aaroniero, who sat next to Yammy, followed by Harribel, who always looked incredibly serious, then Nnoitra, who hand his hands behind his head with a smile on his face, followed by Starrk, who, as always, seemed tired despite the amount of sleep that he got, and ended with Ulquiorra sitting to their Lord's left... though as Grimmjow finished his mental reminder of where all the Espada sat, the door opened and they watched as Lord Aizen and their Commanders walked into the meeting room.

"Good morning, my dear Espada." Aizen said, noticing that all of their heads were drawn to him the moment he spoke up, as that was common when he entered a room that they were all in and said something, but he pushed that though away as he focused on what he wanted to tell them, "We're under attack. But let us have some tea first."

As Aizen took his seat he considered how he did things, as the preparation of the tea allowed some of the Espada to talk about what was going on and allowed him to observe them, as some of them paid attention to what was going on and some didn't care to find out until a meeting happened. He was pleased to find out that, even though only a few of them knew the point of entry, they all already knew that the invaders had broken into the twenty-second Underground Passageway, where Aisslinger and Demoura were stationed, and actually destroyed the building, not that he expected anything different from his opponent. Some of them were excited about the prospect of an invading force, some wished it was more exciting if the invaders broke into the Hogyoku's chamber, as that came from Szayelaporro and was actually seconded by Nnoitra, but out of all of them he noticed that Grimmjow didn't seem to care, he was just trying to figure something out on his own before he spoke up. Aizen appreciated the lesson that Sombra had taught the Sexta Espada, as it made him more obedient, for now anyway, and Grimmjow glanced at the tea that was eventually placed in front of him before taking a few sips as he waited for the meeting to get started, another change that Aizen wasn't expecting... but, in the interest of time, he decided to shelf that thought for now and focused on the topic at hand.

Despite the fact that he was the first one served, and the Espada were generally served in the order of their ranking because most of them had different tastes than he did, they were able to distribute the eleven cups without too much delay, and while some were happy to have them some were indifferent.

"Everyone has some now, yes?" Aizen inquired, as he wanted to make sure that they were content with what had been brought to them, but even he could see that they were all eager to hear what was happening outside Las Noches, "Now, please listen carefully while you have a drink. Tosen, turn on the projector."

As Tosen did as he was commanded the direct center of the table had a circle open up and glow green for a moment, as the lights dimmed a little more and an image was projected for them all to see as the Espada glanced at it, where they all found three powerful invaders following a fourth, even stronger, invader... one that Grimmjow stared at as he rubbed his left arm again, imagining what had happened to it during the last fight he had with Sombra.

"There are four invaders; Uryu Ishida, Sado Yasutora, or Chad as he prefers to be called, Ichigo Kurosaki, and last, but certainly not least, Sombra." Aizen said, though even as he said that he drank from his cup and stared at the image of the four running figures, despite the fact that his interest was on Sombra and no one else, and he even noticed Grimmjow's reaction as well, before setting his cup down.

"They're... the enemies?" Aaroniero asked, his tone revealing that he couldn't believe what they were seeing, as if he decided that none of them were worthy opponents at all, and that was ignoring the feeling that he got from staring at the figure at the head of the pack.

"What's this?" Baraggan inquired, his tone the same as Aaroniero's, indicating that he believed that they were wasting time with a meeting like this, but his eyes lingered on the one figure that everyone seemed to be staring at, "When you said that we were under attack, I was curious as to who our enemies were. They're a bunch of children!"

"You shouldn't underestimate them." Aizen stated, knowing that some of them were going to do so anyway, but at the very least a few of the Espada seemed to understand that true danger had come to their home, "They were once the Ryoka that invaded Soul Society and fought on par with the Captains of the Gotei 13, though there were six of them during that time. The missing members are Orihime and Sora Inoue, who are currently locked up inside Las Noches."

"So, they came to rescue their friends." Zommari commented, as he was following along with what their Lord was saying and knew that these four should be the focus of their minds until they were defeated, though even he was staring at the Arrancar that was at the head of the pack, "The Arrancar that is with them, is that...?"

"Yeah, it's Sombra... the Dios Hueco." Grimmjow spoke up, causing the rest of the Espada to glance at him once more, even though his eyes were focused on Sombra and no one else at the moment, as he knew exactly what he was going to do when he crossed paths with him again, "Yes, he's come to retrieve his friends that we kidnapped, but there's another reason he's come here, and that's to claim the entirety of Hueco Mundo for himself."

"Only a fool would make that sort of claim." Baraggan stated, to which he glared at Grimmjow, as he didn't much appreciate the tone that the Sexta Espada was using at the moment, though what really surprised him was that a smile actually appeared on Grimmjow's face.

"You're right, Baraggan, I am a fool for handing him his Arrancar Zanpakuto," Grimmjow said, admitting that the reason they were going to be facing a creature that none of them could defeat was because he had given the hidden blade to him, when they could have tackled him together and stopped this before it got to this point, but in the end he was purely at fault for all of this, "but I'm not a fool for knowing what's coming our way. If you had seen the cold look in his eyes, had felt the sinister feeling of his reiatsu, and had witnessed how he treated everything around him during our fight, even promising me a short torment before my death, then you would know just what sort of terror is coming our way, and he hasn't even awakened his full power yet. Surely you all can feel the slight vibrations in the air, Hueco Mundo's way of letting us and other Hollows know that the Dios Hueco is here... and when he awakens his full power... well, you all heard what Ulquiorra said when he determined what Sombra was."

"Please, you make it sound like he's unbeatable." Nnoirta commented, though at the same time he glanced at the figure that was getting Grimmjow so worked up and imagined slicing him in half with his massive weapon, as the weapon that his true power was locked away in was different from the Zanpakuto that the others carried, "He's got a weakness, just like everyone else, and once we figure out what it is we'll bring him down... or just cut him to pieces. Whichever comes first when we fight him."

"Besides, the Dios Hueco is supposed to be a beacon for Hollows and Arrancar," Szayelaporro added, though his thoughts on the subject were that once a Hollow reached the final evolution the others would be drawn to them to be his or her servants until it's eventual death or the creation of a new, even stronger, Dios Hueco a thousand years later, "Right now Sombra isn't showing signs of that happening. Aren't you just exaggerating his abilities?"

"No, I know what I'm talking about." Grimmjow said, as he stared at Sombra, like he was going to jump out of the image that was being projected and appear before them in a matter of seconds, before continuing, "His power is beyond anything you can comprehend, because he was able to beat me, in my Resurreccion, without undoing the seal on his own powers and using his own Resurreccion, and I'm pretty sure that if we all fought him he'd end up killing us."

"Now you make it sound like the only way to survive is to join him." Yammy spoke up, though he was just making a general comment, because he hated Sombra for the beating he was given in the World of the Living and wanted to beat the daylights out of him in return.

"If he awakens his true power, he'll be able to do that with little effort." Ulquiorra said, but even as he said that he noticed that Grimmjow was nodding his head, as he understood what would happen if Sombra progressed that far, and the vibrations were just the first sign of the awakening of a Dios Hueco.

"Do not worry, my Espada, for as long as you are with me, no one shall beat us." Aizen spoke up, causing them to turn towards him once more, but as that happened he also noticed that Grimmjow didn't seem to have the same excitement as the other Espada did, granted that Ulquiorra didn't show emotion, and he knew that something was up, "For now, go back to your rooms and prepare yourselves for the next stage of my plan."

Grimmjow waited as the other Espada followed Aizen's commands and followed him, and the Commanders, out of the room once the projector was turned off, as he was thinking about what he had seen and what they all felt, because it was odd being the only one that knew exactly what was coming there way. He wasn't all that surprised to find that the majority of the other Espada didn't believe him when he tried to warn them about what was coming their way, as he was one of the least liked members of their entire group and the others tended to ignore him, though he guessed that he was fortunate to say as much as he did before the conversation died. He then sighed as he finished off the tea that had been put in front of him, as it calmed him down a little, and pulled himself from his seat, before heading out of the room and headed back to his quarters, where he could figure out what he was going to do first... though despite all this he knew that the moment Sombra awakened his true power all of Hueco Mundo would turn against Aizen, Tosen, and Gin, and he suspected that there was no one in this world that would be able to stand against that power.

He sighed once more as he walked down the hallway, as Aizen had doomed the Espada that he had worked hard to acquire and didn't seem to care all that much, despite his words that he offered them, so he needed a plan before Sombra arrived for Orihime and Sora... otherwise he was sure that they were all going to die, something that he hoped to avoid to the best of his ability.





As Sombra and the others ran across the desert between where the exit of the underground base was located and where Las Noches rested, and he ignored Ichigo and Uryu's banter about what happened in the underground area they had been in, he noticed that Las Noches was massive since it didn't get any larger as they ran towards it. Along the way both he and Uryu noticed that the shriveled up trees, or what could have passed for trees in Hueco Mundo, seemed to be made up of some sort of quartz material, something that Ichigo didn't seem to care about as he focused on their mission and started running towards their destination. One thing that happened to get in their way was a tornado that came out of nowhere, catching three of them in the process while Sombra, once more using his advanced speed, moved out of the way and sighed as he watched his friends as they remained in the center of the tornado. Fortunately it appeared that Uryu had a trick up his sleeve, as Sombra noticed that his friend had one of Kukaku's spirit orbs that allowed him to form one of the spirit shells that they used to invade Soul Society, but that was where things turned out bad for them since Ichigo bickered with Uryu and cracked the shell in the process... before Chad used his power to shatter the shell and used the explosion to destroy the tornado, though as they hit the ground they were buried in sand and caused Sombra to sigh in annoyance for a moment.

Sombra watched as the trio repeated the process of getting the sand out of their clothing, along with Ichigo and Uryu bickering about the definition of a mirage as Chad stared at the ground, like he was testing something, before he noticed a little lizard Hollow resting near his hooves, staring up at him, and, instead of running away, the little critter actually let him pick it up and rub the back of it's neck for a few seconds.

"You know, I thought that this would be a world with nothing but death when we first got here," Ichigo commented, staring at the small brown skinned lizard that Sombra was holding in his hand, which had a hole halfway down it's back and a mask that actually covered it's entire head, but he guessed that this was just another odd thing that he could associate with Sombra, "but I'm surprised that there are little animals around here as well. Say, Hollows are supposed to eat souls, right? What do you suppose the little guy eats?"

"There's a high concentration of spirit particles in Hueco Mundo," Sombra replied, to which Uryu nodded his head, as he had noticed that when he was fighting Aisslinger earlier and had said nothing since they were stressed for time before the building collapsed, before he noticed what appeared to be a slight look of happiness appear in the lizard's eyes, "small Hollow, like this guy here, likely get enough substance simply by breathing."

"How could you two even know that?" Ichigo asked, as he wasn't sure what was worse, Uryu saying things that made him sound smart, Sombra doing the same thing, or the two of them agreeing with each other and making him look like a fool for not knowing what they were talking about.

"I, just like all the Quincy that came before me, fight by utilizing the spirit particles in the air," Uryu said, though at the same time he actually smiled for a moment as he pushed his glasses back into place, surprising Ichigo for a moment, while at the same time making Sombra smile as well, "I always feel better when there's a lot of spirit particles around me, and I even confirmed that in our battle earlier, by studying Demoura's attacks and fighting Aisslinger. Just knowing that particular bit of information will make me even stronger here, more so than in the World of the Living and Soul Society, but it will also strengthen any ordinary Hollows that we might come across, and there no telling how much of an advantage it might give Aizen's Arrancar as well."

Sombra knew that there was more that Uryu wanted to say, especially since Ichigo was getting ready to leave the area they had been resting in, though before they could do that the sand some distance behind them rumbled as a decent sized snake-like Hollow burst out of the sand, followed by two oddly shaped Hollows that were near a Human's size... and in front of all three of them ran what could easily pass as a little kid, but since Sombra knew that such a thing was impossible he felt the reiatsu in the air and detected that the little girl's reiatsu matched an Arrancar's reiatsu. Before he could actually say anything Ichigo pulled Zangetsu off his back, keeping the blade wrapped up for now, and ran towards the Hollows that were coming near them, where he slammed the edge of his weapon into the face of the chubby Hollow that was to the girl's right. In the following moments Uryu and Chad ambushed the skinny Hollow that had been running alongside the chubby one, only for the three of them to end up in a form where Ichigo was holding the base of Zangetsu near the chubby Hollow's head, Chad was keeping the worm's head off the ground, and Uryu was threatening the skinny Hollow with an arrow to the face... to which Sombra sighed as he stood up, and the lizard decided to ride on his left shoulder for a moment, before he approached them.

At the same time he did a double check on the two oddly shaped Hollows and found that their reiatsu seemed to match what he had felt from Aisslinger and Demoura, meaning that there were three Arrancar in front of them, but that didn't change his mind as he stopped near the group.

"Guys, stop acting like children." Sombra said, because now that he had his memories back, and knew that he was over a thousand years old, he could say something like that and it would be considered true, before he noticed that the little Arrancar girl was standing to his right with her hood still covering her face, "They weren't going to attack her and eat her... isn't that right?"

"Yeah! What did Nel's buddies ever do to you?" the little girl, Nel, proclaimed, though she sounded upset as she pulled the hood back, revealing a cartoon-like sized skull Hollow mask, which seemed damaged to Sombra, her wide hazel colored eyes, her short green hair, an unusual crimson line below her eyes, and a scar between her eyes that seemed to be related to the damaged mask, since the mask was missing a few teeth and had a crack in it, "Stop bullyin' dem! Besides, we were playing 'Eternal Tag', though Nel never thought that people would think the wrong thing if they saw us."

"It's okay. We're the ones that should say we're sorry." Uryu said, though at the same time he glared at Ichigo for a moment, as this was his fault since he knew that there was no way that another Human could have come here, and even if there was one Sombra would have warned them ahead of time, "Besides, Kurosaki here is an idiot most of the time."

Ichigo glared at Uryu for a few seconds, as now wasn't the time or place for him to be accusing him of being an idiot in front of complete strangers, but at the same time things seemed to be going quite well, as Nel continued by explaining that their endless game of tag was because there was nothing fun to do in Hueco Mundo. She also explained that she was a 'sewious maso-kiss' and that crying made sense to her when she was playing tag, only for Ichigo to punch the chubby Arrancar for teaching her terrible words that she clearly didn't know the meaning to, as it sounded like she got upset when one of the others tagged her. Nel then revealed that she was an Arrancar, something that Sombra determined before even seeing the mask, and that her name, what she could remember, was Nel Tu, before introducing the skinny Arrancar as her brother, Pesche, the chubby Arrancar as her other brother, Dondochakka, and the snake-like Hollow as Bawabawa. Of course Ichigo was the one to ruin the moment they were having when he declared that, since Dondochakka explained that both he and Pesche found Nel by chance and became her brothers from that point forward, the three of them weren't actually a family and caused utter despair and terror to appear on the faces of the trio in front of them... and a few seconds later he changed his mind and let them go back to what they had called themselves before hand, as it wasn't worth the headache to correct their error.

What happened next was Nel explaining something that not many of them had known about, as the Arrancar that had come with Grimmjow during his attack on the World of the Living had been Numeros, or Hollows stronger than a Menos Grande before their transformation into Arrancar. Sombra guessed that what she meant was that the Numeros were the ordinary Hollows and Gillians that had been tested on by Aizen to perfect the transformation procedure, as it seemed that the Espada had some Adjuchas in their ranks and a few Vasto Lorde as well. Nel also revealed that these Arrancar, the Numeros, were given a two digit number and that they worked for an Espada, which told Sombra that Grimmjow's Fraccion had been Numeros that he hand picked to serve him, especially since Di Roy called himself Arrancar Sixteen when he tried to kill Chad. Interestingly enough Nel and her brothers seemed to be smart enough to tell that Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad weren't Arrancar, and that actually terrified them for a moment when they thought that they were there to kill them, or something even more outlandish than that, but when they got to Sombra, since they were having the group introduce themselves and caused this whole panic to begin with, their terror seemed to vanish.

"My name is Sombra, and I'm a Vasto Lorde ranked Arrancar." Sombra finished, though he was a little surprised when the trio calmed down as they stared at him, because that told him that there was something wrong and he was going to have to figure out what that something was before they could even consider moving forward, "Look, if you think we're the bad guys or something, you're mistaken. We're here to break into Las Noches, take our kidnapped friends back, and disrupt the army that Aizen has built."

"No, it's not that," Pesche said, deciding to reveal what was going on at the moment, as none of them had felt the level of power that Sombra was using for quite some time, only there was something different about it, "your aura... even now it feels like something that a commander would possess and expect those weaker than it to follow them. Can you give me a sense of your true power?"

Sombra raised an eyebrow for a moment, though since he was sure that Aizen knew that they were here already and was likely preparing his defenses, he guessed that a few seconds of full power wouldn't hurt in the long run, to which he focused his mind and the air around him shuddered in response, causing Uryu and Chad to stare at him in shock, as this was the first time since his inner world battle that he had revealed how much stronger he had gotten... though as he stopped doing that, and his energy returned to it's suppressed state, he noticed how shocked Nel and her brothers were and worried that he might have broken them.

"That commanding aura, and the power to back it... it's just as I thought." Pesche stated, though what surprised Sombra was what came next, as he nodded to both Nel and Dondochakka and all three of them, including Bawabawa for some reason, knelt before him, "The legend that all Hollow and Arrancars know has come true once more, that a new Dios Hueco will grace Hueco Mundo and seize what is rightfully theirs... oh great and powerful Hollow God, we would be fools to try and stand in your way, and hereby offer your our services in your mission to reclaim Hueco Mundo from the Usurper that currently rules this realm."

Sombra stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going on, before eventually sighing as he came to the conclusion that this 'Dios Hueco' was something that he needed to learn about before they went any further or even attempted to reach Las Noches... because he had the feeling that it was going to change their approach to how they entered their enemy's lair and everything going forward from that point.