Chapter 10: Betrayal
Every second was an eternity wrapped in a package of high-adrenaline anxiety for those running across hard packed white sand that soon gave way to the artificial green of the grass surrounding the small forest. X hoped the trees would provide some cover to obscure the party’s movements. With the alarm gongs sounding across the canyon he could easily imagine the response. He’d seen the hundreds if not outright thousands of Hollows that had occupied the orchards, town, and training fields of this hidden enclave. On full alert, they’d begin to canvas the whole canyon, likely starting with the very prison he and his team had just fled from.
Their only real option at this juncture was to get to the entrance of the underground tunnels along the river and hope to get away before they were cut off or caught. In a chase such as this, every second counted. Not one of the individuals on his team, or the Arrancar that served Adagio were slow. Their legs ate up the ground beneath them with strides faster than any human could manage. Yet even with the forest trees blurring past them, X feared it wasn’t going to be fast enough. Already he could hear distant shouting, the howls of Hollows, and sensed the pursuit at their backs almost like a physical heat.
“Incoming,” Gigan warned, his scanners able to provide a more comprehensive notion of what was coming, “Three on us, coming from the prison. They’ll catch up in about twelve seconds at this rate.”
X couldn’t see anything yet, but he didn’t doubt Gigan’s words. The fact of the matter was that while X and his companions had the physical power and reaction times to match Arrancar in battle, they didn’t quite have anything to match the high-speed movements of a Sonido, at least in terms of how quickly it could allow one to move from point to point. The sandy ground outside the prison would have left tracks they hadn’t time to cover up, but once they’d gotten into the forest that would have ceased to be the case. Most likely the ones coming after them were tracking the group through some manner of spiritual sense.
“I see the river up ahead,” said Irys, who was up in the trees themselves, leaping from branch to branch as fast, if not a little faster, than the others could run.
The river did cut through the forest, but the tunnel entrance they were looking for was further upstream, closer to where they’d bathed, which was still around five hundred yards past the forest edge. They’d be caught in the open unless the three coming up behind them were dealt with or delayed somehow.
I’m the one best suited to hold the enemy’s attention, he thought, but before the thought had finished crossing his mind, Gigan interrupted.
“Leave the distraction to me and Megalon.”
At X’s look, not breaking stride, Gigan looked back with his crimson shades flashing with the passage of shadows from the trees, “Without those prison wards, I can teleport. Megalon can burrow. We both have ways to escape and catch up once the rest of you hit the tunnel.”
It was perfectly rational and logical, but X didn’t like it any more for the fact. His instincts as a leader said to not let members of his team stay behind, but he understood that without a distraction it’d be impossible to shake pursuit. Regardless, there wasn’t time to debate the problem for very long. The group burst out from the confines of the forest and were once again out in the open, the smooth running waters of the river on their left, and escape still half a kilometre ahead of them.
At that same instant there was a crackling sound of both fire and lightning as two elemental orbs, one of electricity and one of fire, shot past the group and flew up into the air. There, both orbs transformed into the forms of Yin and Yang, both already with their weapons drawn.
“What did you all do to Grubber!?” shouted Yang, flames leaping off her sword as she flung a blast of fire into the group’s path.
“We tried to trust you and you nearly kill him? What the hell?” Yin said, dropping to the ground in front of the flames, her whip snapping with electricity, but she seemed hesitant to strike, her face more confused than angry.
“We didn’t do anything to him!” Irys shouted, just ahead of the rest of the group, “It was one of your own that did it!”
“You expect us to believe that?” Yang’s angry voice rained down with another ball of fire, although it wasn’t aimed at Irys, but rather to the side, where it exploded in another wall of flame, cutting off another avenue of escape and leaving only one side open other than the forest.
At that open side, Patros appeared in a flicker of motion, still injured but seeming more confident as he exposed a smirk, “Of course it was them who did it! I told you that these prisoners couldn’t be trusted, and look what happened! They left Grubber bleeding on the floor and I barely escaped to warn you and everyone. Come, Yin, Yang, we must delay their escape until the rest of the army arrives!”
Yin cast a doubtful glance at him but didn’t lower her weapon, while Yang looked ready to attack again.
“We don’t have time for this,” Gigan said, giving X a meaningful look. He wasn’t trying to take command away from X, but it was clear the cyborg was looking for a decision. X didn’t let himself hesitate, or let his mind get bogged down with analysis.
“Megalon, clear a path. Gigan, keep the twins busy. Everyone else, keep moving!”
“Got it!” Megalon said, turning on a dime and bee-lining for Patros like a high speed bulldozer, while Gigan jumped into the air and in mid-flip extended both his arm blades as he went straight for Yang, just barely got her flaming blade up in time to block the cyborg’s weapons.
“We trusted you,” she accused.
“Still should, compared to the guy who’s consistently hated your superior and has every reason to screw her over,” Gigan replied, lashing out with a leg and connecting with a solid, meaty smack to Yang’s side, which knocked her back as he dropped back to the ground.
Megalon ran headlong at Patros, extending one of his drills around his right hand. Patros’ hand moved in a blur, quickly drawing his Zanpaktou and sending a curving arc of slashing energy towards the cyborg. Megalon struck the arc of spirit energy with a straight punch from his drill, a shockwave bursting from the impact. He managed to demolish the energy wave, but Patros didn’t stay in one spot, vanishing with Sonido and appearing above Megalon with his sword already sheathed and ready to draw again.
“Fool. That was only the first level of my sword technique. Let’s see you handle something stronger!”
“Huh? Levels? Like in an rpg?” Megalon asked, scratching his head and thinking about some of the games he’d seen before.
“What, no! It’s nothing like that!”
“It sounds a lot like that.”
“Well it isn’t! Gah, never mind, take my level five sword slash!”
“Yeah that sounds exactly like an rp-” Megalon said, but the rest of his words were lost amid the ripping snap of air as the sound barrier was broken by Patros’ next attack, an energy wave that shot out much faster and stronger than before. Megalon readily tanked the blast by crossing his arms above him, popping his second drill out as the crescent of yellow power smashed down on him. His feet sank into the ground, but didn’t buckle, and soon enough the energy wave broke apart, exploding on either side of him.
Patros made a sound like a snarling dog as he sheathed his Zanpaktou again, readying another strike, but by now X, Di Roy, Roka, Irys, and Gaw had all gotten past the opening that Megalon’s distraction had created.
“Catch up as soon as possible,” X said as he ran past.
“No problemo!” Megalon replied with a saluting gesture with two fingers.
“As if I’d let any of you leave that easily!” Patros shouted, hands turning into a flurry of motion as he rapidly drew his sword in fast succession, sending ever stronger energy waves out towards the running group.
“Got to get through me first, buddy!”
Megalon leaped into the barrage’s path, planted his legs almost akin to a sumo-wrestler stance, and proceeded to start punching the energy waves as they descended towards him, his drill arms spinning so fast they caused a high-pitched buzz in the air. The first few waves he punched aside easily, but Patros hadn’t been lying about having ever stronger levels of attack that he hadn’t utilized yet. Each wave after the next grew progressively larger and more potent, and soon enough even when Megalon’s punches broke a wave, parts of that energy wave would still strike his body and rip at it. For the majority of the barrage the damage was minimal, but with the last every wave-
“And my strongest attack at level twenty! Let’s see you block this!” Patros shouted, the final energy wave blasting from his swiftly drawn sword at easily three times the size and speed of the previous ones.
Megalon hit it full on with both drills at once, and for a second sparks flew from the drills as they pressed against the descending crescent of spiritual energy. The wave then exploded in place, sending up a geyser of sand and obscuring Megalon from view. Patros smirked, at least until the dust cleared, then his eyes began to twitch upon seeing the cyborg still standing and intact.
Megalon’s clothes were torn up and his hardened cyborg skin showed numerous abrasions and light lacerations, but he was still standing. Dusting himself off, Megalon cracked his neck and patted the side of his head, knocking some sand out of his ear. “Wow, that made my arms go numb.”
“Oh I am quite through with you,” Patros steamed, His Zanpaktou now bursting with an intense yellow glow, ”Defile: Girfalte!” (Gyrfalcon)
He veritably burst with an explosion of steam and a swirl of neon yellow light, kicking up a small whirlwind of sand beneath where he stood in the air. Yin and Yang both looked in that direction, faces registering surprise. Gigan took full advantage of that to rush Yin, getting behind her with slick speed and gripping her weapon arm in the same motion. He bent the arm behind her and tried to get his arm blade to her neck, but Yin converted her body into a ball of electricity, shocking the cyborg and slipping from his grasp. She reformed a few feet away, lashing out with her whip, but despite her electrical attack from a moment ago causing a bit of static in Gigan’s vision, his body was hardened against such electrical surges so he was still able to flip out of the way of the whip.
Yang landed behind him and slashed down with her flaming blade, Gigan catching it with his left arm blade while spinning around and redirecting Yang’s moment past himself, tripping her with his foot. As she stumbled, he jumped back to gain a bit more distance, eyes partially on Patros as the Arrancar finished transforming.
When the whipped up sand cleared from around Patros, he was on the ground now, and his body had morphed in shape. Now his entire face was covered in a smooth skull mask with yellow tinted eyes, with only a small portion on the right side of his head leaving room for his blue hair to spill out. His body was covered in a top-heavy, bulky encasing of white armoring that melded his arms to his sides into large triangular protrusions that looked more or less like smooth, armored wing shapes. It was all rather awkward and unwieldy looking, yet Patros seemed to have little trouble standing in this form as he focused upon Megalon.
“Now then, let us see you be so mocking after you feel the power of my Resurreccion!”
“Where’d your arms go?” Megalon asked.
“What?”
“Your arms. Where are they? Wait, are those weird looking things on your side supposed to be them?”
“...Just die now, please.”
“Okay even if you ask nicely it’s not like-”
In a flash it became apparent what the strange, vaguely wing-shaped protrusions on Patros’ body were when a part of them detached and flipped forward, revealing that the ‘wings’ were more akin to sheaths, holding smaller claw-like arms that flipped forward at hyper-sonic speed. The arms were tipped with blade-like ends, and much like when Patros swiftly drew his Zanpaktou prior to transforming, these ‘arms’ unleashed a blast of energy upon unsheathing from the wing sheaths.
A whole factor stronger and faster than before, Megalon wasn’t fully prepared for the now beam shaped blast that came his way. The beam was similar to a Cero, yet thinner and taller, like a thrusting blade rather than a wide beam. Megalon didn’t have time to dodge, so instead crossed his arms to try and take the blow head on again.
Just before the beam hit, he felt someone tackle him from the side and he was knocked clear just as the beam dug it’s way past him and continued onward to carve a deep rift in the ground for a few football field lengths distance.
Face down, Megalon spat out sand and glanced over his shoulder at who’d tackled him aside.
“Gaw?”
The short female Arrancar grunted in pain as she rolled off Megalon and got into a crouching stance. Her side was bleeding from a deep cut along her right flank. She had her curved, talon shaped Zanpaktou in her hand.
“Had bad gut feeling. Came back to fight with you,” she said, as terse with her words as ever but with a tint of almost childlike embarrassment in her eyes, as if even giving an explanation felt like admitting something she didn’t like.
“Uh, yeah, that’s cool and all, but it’s me and bro who’re supposed to be the distractions here so you and everyone else can get away.”
“Don’t like that plan. This threat too strong to fight alone,” Gaw said, jaw clenching, “So not do it alone?”
At her question Megalon briefly glanced at the amount of ground that Patros’ attack had carved out. He had to admit, while he had full confidence in his own durability, he’d only intended to block that attack because he hadn’t had time to dodge it. He recognized he wouldn’t have come out of that one unscathed, so Gaw’s save had probably just spared him some serious repair time. Besides, no point arguing over it now that she was here. So he grinned at her and hopped to his feet.
“I’m up for some co-op action. What do you say to a combo attack, Gaw?”
She tilted her head at him quizzically, but soon gave an enthusiastic nod.
Meanwhile the rest of the group had slowed down their run, at first because they’d all seen Patros’ transformation even from a distance, and Gaw had immediately turned around and sprinted back the other way.
“Shouldn’t we stop her?” Irys had asked.
“Lady, I’ve known Gaw for awhile,” Di Roy said, “Once she decides to do something she keeps going until she hits a wall, and even then she keeps bashing her head into that wall until either she’s dead, or the wall is. Better let her help your friends out and hope she catches up.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” X agreed, and truthfully was a little thankful Gaw had chosen to go back. He wasn’t certain how strong Patros was, and felt better about the idea of Megalon and Gigan having a little extra backup.
Things looked clear ahead of them, at least. Tempest had been good at her word about clearing the way of additional sentries, so no guards loomed ahead along the river banks or more distant canyon walls. However X was starting to hear a greater commotion from beyond the forest, in the direction of the town and where he’d seen the training fields earlier. A quick glance back confirmed his fears as he saw squadrons of flying Hollows already airborne and crossing the forest towards the commotion of battle. He counted at least a hundred of the fliers, and didn’t doubt many more land-bound Hollows were rushing through the forest at that very moment. No doubt they were homing in on the spiritual energies being released by the fight, not to mention all the noise.
Still, those Hollows were much slower than the Arrancar had been, so it’d take them longer to arrive. X didn’t know how many more Arrancar besides Patros, Yin, and Yang might be coming, but the fact that none had shown up yet was both cause for relief and a bit of concern. Perhaps Tempest Shadow had anticipated the possibility that the Arrancar among her soldiery would be able to make fast pursuit of the escape was discovered, so had stationed them further away? Only Patros had been right there when the break out had occurred, and X recalled Yin and Yang had been sent to the town. Maybe Patros had only been able to round those two up?
Regardless, it meant Gigan, Megalon, and Gaw had some time to deal with their opponents and catch up, while the rest of the group was free of pursuit. He still didn’t like splitting the group, but he’d trust his comrades to handle themselves. He knew Gigan and Megalon had the means to get away quickly, and well... Gaw wasn’t really his problem. Di Roy seemed confident enough in her, so X didn’t raise any issue and kept pressing on.
Back at the site of battle, Yin and Yang remained facing Gigan, but while Yang bristled like a torch ready to ignite under a splash of gasoline, Yin’s eyes narrowed at Patros before she gripped her sister’s shoulder and stepped in front of her.
“Yin?”
“Something doesn’t smell right here,” Yin said, “Why was Patros even at the prison? Grubber was assigned guard duty, not him.”
“For all we know the Storm King overrode the Captain’s orders and sent Patros to check on things,” Yang said, but there was less conviction in her voice as she glanced between Patros and Gigan. Patros was leaping from spot to spot, firing thick blasts of energy at both Megalon and Gaw, who were both running to circle the man. Hearing what the twins were saying in between blasts, Patros looked towards them and shouted.
“That’s exactly it! The Storm King didn’t trust these cretins so sent me to check upon the prison, where I found Grubber beaten nearly to death and the prisoners escaping! If you don’t help me, they’ll all get away!”
“It doesn’t really matter to me who you believe,” Gigan cut in, keeping his arm blades at the ready and not taking his eyes off the twins, “But let me ask you girls this; do I look like the kind of guy who’d have left an enemy alive? The mere fact that Grubber is still breathing should be proof enough it wasn’t us that attacked him.”
“I don’t... Yin, who do we trust here?” Yang said, and Yin’s expression grew increasingly contemplative.
“I think he’s got a point. If they were really our enemies, Grubber would be dead, instead of just injured.”
“What!?” Patros seethed, briefly turning towards the twins, “You can’t possibly believe that metallic moron over one of your own kind, can you!?”
“Why not? You’ve never liked the Captain, and she trusts these guys,” said Yin in a cool tone, coiling up her electric whip in one quick gesture, “I think me and Yang should just... watch how this plays out. We’re not on guard duty anyway.”
“Fine then, I don’t need you two to finish this!” Patros declared, firing one blast of energy at Gigan with a swift draw of one of his bladed wing-arms, while spinning and firing the other towards Megalon and Gaw... which turned out to just be Gaw as Megalon had oddly enough vanished from view. Gigan smoothly flipped out of the way of the scything energy wave that tore it’s way past him and paused, detecting his brother’s signal. Having an inclination of Megalon’s plan, Gigan hung back to let the other cyborg do his thing, since it seemed Megalon and Gaw were enacting a plan of their own.
Just as Megalon had told Gaw, his team trusted him, and by the same token Gaw had the trust of her own comrades; her tribe. She’d known Di Roy wouldn’t try to stop her from going back, not because of how strong she was or wasn’t, but because of trust. It left her feeling a bit silly for being so focused about her personal strength.
Against Patros, she probably couldn’t win alone any more than Megalon could. His energy blasts were exceptionally powerful, and the composition of each blast’s reiatsu was designed to sharply pierce through defenses. He could also fire them disgustingly fast, as Gaw was learning as she was forced to keep dodging a seemingly endless burst of them. She couldn’t keep it up forever, and inevitably one of the energy waves clipped her leg and caused her to stumble mid-Sonido, hitting the ground hard and skidding almost to Patros’ feet.
“One down,” Patros said with satisfaction, aiming his right wing-arm at her.
Yet Gaw wasn’t fearful, having placed her trust in her ally. Trust which paid off as Megalon, who’d burrowed underground when Patros wasn’t looking, now sprang from beneath Patros’ feet and drove his spinning drills straight into the wing-arm at its thinnest joint. The drills of advanced alien alloys, spinning at insane speeds, decimated the bone-like armor and shredded the joint, severing the limb entirely.
“Gaaaaaah!” Patros screamed, staggering backwards.
Megalon hopped out of the hole he’d made in the ground and stood next to Gaw, who’d gotten back to her feat.
“Nice timing!” Megalon said, holding out a drill, which Gaw looked at in confusion until Megalon made a ‘high-five’ gesture with his other hand, which Gaw hesitantly mimicked.
“Alright, now that he’s been ‘disarmed’, it’s time for our double-assault combo attack!” Megalon declared. “Gaw, just like we practiced!”
“We never practiced,” Gaw pointed out, “You made up fighting move and then struck poses for straight hour while I watched.”
“Which counts as practice. C’mon, you know you want to do this!”
“...Maybe.”
Patros, spitting on his lips, glared at the pair.
“Idiots! I still have one arm left, which is enough to finish you both! Take this!”
His other wing-arm began to gleam with yellow energy as his body was coated in similarly pale light. Gaw just looked at Megalon and they nodded at one another. Gaw crouched down like a predatory animal, her blade held out behind her and the snapping energy arcs of a charging Bala appearing in her other hand. Megalon then thrust both his drills forward and began spinning them up to the highest speed he could, so fast that small whirlwinds formed around them.
Megalon and Gaw then charged forward, while in the same instant Patros fired his largest energy wave yet.
Gaw’s headlong run turned into a prodigious leap that took her above Patros’ beam, while Megalon crashed into it with both his drills, which split Patros’ beam like a ship crashing through a wave. Gaw, flipping over Patros’ head, fired a rapid barrage of Bala bullets down on top of him which cracked his armor but didn’t break it. Landing behind him Gaw then opened her mouth and unleashed a Cero beam which struck Patros’ back. Patros’ own beam cut out as he tried to turn to face her, his armor holding up against Gaw’s Cero beam.
“Too weak!” he declared, but realized too late that now he was flanked, and as he turned to face Gaw he found himself being pushed back by her Cero beam and straight into Megalon’s drills, the cyborg kaiju having weathered Patros’ earlier attack. Megalon’s drills smashed into Patros’ armored form, their high speed spinning cracking his armor even more. And to make things worse, Gaw rushed forward, her Cero cutting off just in time for her to cleave down with her Zanpaktou.
Both she and Megalon passed each other, both blade and drills forming an ‘X’ pattern across Patros that shattered his armor, and left a deep, gushing wound across his body.
Both turned to face Patros, Megalon sticking his arms out and bending his legs in a dynamic pose. “Behold our combination move; Crimson Drill Breaker!”
After a second, Gaw awkwardly tried mimicking Megalon’s pose, face burning red with embarrassment.
“G-guh... that was so... stupid,” Patros said said, coughing up blood as he fell to one knee, the armor of his Ressureccion form fading from his body and leaving him back in his normal form, but with a rather sizable wound on his chest. His Zanpaktou reshaped back into a sword, but he didn’t have the strength to even lift it.
Meanwhile Megalon withdrew his drills and held out a fist towards Gaw, “What do we call that? Teamwork, that’s what we call it!”
“Tribe is stronger together,” Gaw acknowledged after a moment, hesitantly completing Megalon’s fist bump.
Gigan approached the pair a moment later, arm blades still drawn, “Good work, now let’s finish this and catch up to the others.”
He’d been making his way towards Patros, but suddenly Yin and Yang jumped in front of him, and he raised his eyebrow at them. “Seriously?”
“He may or may not have done that to Grubber, but until we know for sure, he’s still technically one of us,” Yin said, not sounding particularly happy about the fact, but also resolute, “We won’t stop you from joining the others, so you’d better get going.”
The howls of approaching Hollows was indeed getting rather loud, and Gigan could pick up the closest ones on his motion scanners. Much as he would have preferred to finish off a possibly problematic foe, a quick time crunch told him it probably was more rational for him, Megalon, and Gaw to make a break for it while the getting was good.
“Fine,” he said, and wasting no more words, simply giving Gaw and Megalon a meaningful glance before breaking out into a run. At least the fight hadn’t taken too long, he mused. He wouldn’t even need to rely on his teleport-
“Whoa there, ladies and germs, I don’t think the audience has been given permission to exit the stage.”
A blast of wind stronger than a hurricane’s gale, and laced with lancing arcs of red Hollow energy, smashed down from above and cut a swath in front of Gigan, Megalon, and Gaw. The wind force didn’t knock them off their feet, but it did cause them to have to halt. A moment later the wall of wind was itself blown aside by a concussive impact of force as the one who unleashed the miniature storm landed in front of them.
The Storm King rose from a crouch, his staff Zanpaktou buzzing with power and traces of wind as he cracked a most unpleasant grin at those in front of him, “In fact, I’m gonna have to insist you all sit your asses down. Nobody is leaving, savvy?”
“Yeah, no,” Gigan said, and immediately reached out to grab Megalon with one hand, and Gaw with the other. He didn’t think Megalon’s tunneling ability would be enough for the younger cyborg to escape someone like the Storm King, and while he didn’t particularly care for Gaw on any personal level, she was still part of the operations team and if nothing else, Megalon seemed to get along with her. So that was enough for Gigan to risk trying a teleport with all three of them, since he didn’t fancy their odds otherwise with the enemy ‘Boss’ having just catapulted onto the scene.
Of course each teleport did take a few seconds to build up the energies for it and calculate the proper formula, otherwise there’d be some seriously messy repercussions. The problem was that the Storm King wasn’t going to give Gigan even that minuscule amount of time needed, and the ancient Arrancar surpassed even Tempest in terms of power and speed. Not by such an order of magnitude that Gigan couldn’t follow what was coming and react to it, but all he was able to do was let go of his companions and cross his arms in time to brace for a blow directly from the crystalline tip of the Storm King’s staff.
The world flashed red with a crack of thunder and all of Gigan’s systems went haywire, reporting a cavalcade of damages both from raw force impact and enough electricity surging through him to fry a normal person a few hundred times over. Fortunately Gigan was far from any definition of ‘normal’, so when he was done sliding across the ground like an air hockey puck he was able to still move, albeit with his body still sparking with the juice the Storm King had shoved through him.
Megalon, not one to take things lying down, had reacted to his brother getting smacked away so swiftly and viciously with the most expected response of throwing a haymaker drill-punch at the Storm King’s still smugly grinning features. With grace that belied his aged appearance, the Storm King bent sideways from the blow, letting the spinning drill pass within a few scant inches. Gaw, acting in tandem with Megalon, made a cross cut with her Zanpaktou for the back of the Storm King’s neck, but her blade was swept aside by the older Arrancar’s staff with the ease an irate adult might bat aside a determined toddler.
“Man, did any of you punks think I called myself the ‘Storm King’ for shits and giggles?”
The Storm King’s words were followed immediately by an intense buzz of noise as his body gleamed incandescent red and a surge of crimson lightning burst out of him in a dome that lashed outward for a dozen or so yards. Yin and Yang both grabbed the wounded Patros and used Sonido to zip away from the burst radius, but Megalon and Gaw were caught by the point blank blast and both were hammered backwards by the torrents of electrical power and spiritual energy that hit with as much physical force as elemental.
Both were sent sprawling, thrown almost as far back as Gigan had been. Megalon ended up close enough to Gigan that he was able to glance up at his fellow cyborg while coughing up some smoke, poking at his now frizzed up hair which still sparked with remnant electrical charge.
“Ow.”
“You still functional?” Gigan asked, voice level but not without a note of concern.
“Lemme check,” Megalon said, kipping up and stretching his arms. After a second he reported, “Yup! Little crispy, but I’ve had worse.”
“Mmmrrr... everything hurt, but that starting to feel normal,” Gaw said, a bit further away as she picked herself up, body letting off wisps of smoke. She staggered a bit, but planted her feet a moment later with a glare of resolve towards the Storm King, who was glowering right back.
The arrival of the Storm King had not gone unnoticed by X and the others. Although the entrance to the underground tunnels was now in view, the group halted and turned to see the trouble their compatriots were in. X felt his teeth unconsciously grind. They’d been so close to making good on their escape, and now it looked as if Gigan, Megalon, and Gaw were cut off from any clean break to get away!
“Oh hell,” Di Roy said, “This just became a ‘no lube’ situation, didn’t it?”
“I have no idea what that means, but I feel like I should smack you for it,” Irys said, then looked to X, “What do we do? We can’t leave them.”
Of course they couldn’t. The plan had hinged on Gigan being able to teleport and Megalon and Gaw being able to use their own maneuvering skills to get away after the pursuit was dealt with. But the Storm King was clearly not an opponent any of those abilities would work against. He was too fast for even Gigan to calculate a proper teleport in time. Since there was absolutely no way X was going to leave any of his people behind, this meant there was only one course of action that could be taken.
“We go back,” he said, and turned a sharp glance towards Roka, “That method you planned for turning my team into our true forms, how fast can it be done?”
Roka eyed him evenly, her voice almost smooth enough to hide her nerves, “To do it properly would require at least a minute or two of prep time.”
“Don’t think our gang has a minute or two, Roka,” Di Roy said, noting that the Storm King was advancing on the trio and emitting a ludicrously potent aura of reiatsu that even the non-spiritually aware could feel like a heated wind billowing through the air. On top of that, the rest of the Hollow army that had been in pursuit was catching up fast, with the flying elements nearly across the forest.
There just wasn’t time to do anything fancy or for X to come up with any kind of detailed plan. He had to trust his instincts on this, and for a rare change he and the Kaizer personality within were in agreement with what needed to happen.
Power rose within him, flooding his body with pure gold energy that painted his skin and even darker shade of black and scrawled golden lines across his flesh. Di Roy, Roka, and Irys all had to take a step back from the crackling burst of graviton arcs that buzzed around Kaizer X’s body, and his voice spoke in a low, resonant growl.
“Grab the others and go! I’ll keep the enemy occupied!”
Without waiting for confirmation of his orders, he lined up a field of gravity rings aimed right at the Storm King, and used them to accelerate himself like a bullet from a rail gun straight towards his foe.
----------
Tempest couldn’t have dreamed in her worst imaginings that things would go this wrong this fast. One moment she’d been arguing with the Storm King, just about ready to deck him, and the next she’d sensed the distant but still all-too-near releases of spiritual pressure from outside that told her things had not quite gone according to plan. She’d recognize the spiritual pressures at first as belonging to Patros and Grubber, and had even heard the faint detonations outside the Storm King’s window that told her the pair were fighting.
The darkness in the Storm King’s eyes flared like thunder within the blackest of storm clouds, “The dry-freeze frack is this about, Tempest?”
Momentarily on the back foot, Tempest briefly floundered for an answer, because as much as she was royally pissed at the Storm King for planning things behind her back... she’d kind of done the same to him, first. Best to own up to it, since at this point it didn’t seem like there was any avoiding the oncoming train wreck.
“I told Grubber to warn the prisoners if it turned out you weren’t being truthful,” she told him, eyes hardening, “I’ve arranged for them to be able to escape in that event. I told you I wasn’t going to let you do this, sir.”
“Oh don’t ‘sir’ me!” the Storm King roared with a stomp of his foot that cracked a wide portion of the floor beneath, “You get all uppity about what I’m doing when you were already planning this crap!? Tempest, I’m this close to doing some things I doubt I’ll regret, and you definitely will. Now I’m going to go sort out your pal Grubber, assuming Patros hasn’t already, and put a stop to this nonsense!”
She was fast, but he was faster, so before she could even voice another objection, the Storm King blasted a hole straight through the wall next to his window and flew straight out. Cursing under her breath, Tempest followed in pursuit, chanting a Kido spell under her breath. She was not very skilled at Kido, but she was still a former Captain of the Gotei 13.
“Bakudo Number Sixty Sixty One: Rikujokoro!”
Upon completion of the Kido spell, her spirit energy manifested six beams of golden yellow light that moved with speed equaling the light they were seemingly made from, catching up with the Storm King before he’d reached the ground. The six points of light slammed into the Storm King at around waist level, forming a circle of glowing sheets of light that immediately halted his motion and caused him to smack into the ground rather ungracefully.
“Pfft,” the Storm King spat out some dirt and shot a glare at Tempest, “Really!? You’re going to be this stubborn about it?”
Landing nearby, Tempest put a hand on her Zanpaktou, but hesitated short of drawing it. “Sir, I’ve asked very little of you over the centuries we’ve worked together. Is it that beyond the pall that I ask you to just leave this be?”
While the Rikojokoro Kido was meant to entirely immobilize a target, the Storm King’s reiatsu was so overpowering that he was able to force himself to stand despite the Kido’s presence. He flexed wiry, hardened muscles and pushed out with a thick burst of raw spirit energy. The bands of light from the Kido began to crack like ice, then abruptly shattered.
“Yeah, it is. You’re being way too sentimental here, Tempest. What happened to the badass chick I took under my wing who once told me she’d do ‘anything’ if it meant taking Tirek down? I think you’re exact words back then were ‘no sacrifice is too great if it leads to his downfall’. When exactly did ‘no sacrifice too great’ change to ‘eh, but not if it’s a bunch of strangers I met a few days ago and kind of like’?”
It was hard to ignore his question. It was true that her hatred for Tirek had been a powerful motivator for the time not long after the Storm King had nursed her back to health. The idea of conquering the territories of various Privaron Espada and building an army of Hollows that utilized Soul Reaper tactics and was forged on bonds of trust rather than savagery had been Tempest’s idea because she’d wanted nothing more than a re-match against the Espada and to avenge the loss of so many of her comrades from the Eleventh Division. But time can change even the most stubborn people, and Tempest hadn’t realized how much had changed in the centuries she’d spent building this sanctuary and the army contained within.
Perhaps it had taken the experience of meeting an outsider like X, who’s values and loyalties to the well being of his own mirrored the ideals Tempest had once held so dear, to bring to light how little Tempest actually cared about getting revenge on Tirek any longer. Certainly she still thought the Espada were a tyrannical threat to any lasting peace one might hope to bring to Hueco Mundo, but she was no longer willing to make any sacrifice to bring about their end. Especially if it meant sacrificing people who had ultimately done her and hers no true wrong.
“I don’t expect you to understand this, sir, but my priorities have shifted. I might want Tirek and the Espada cast down, eventually, but not at any cost. Not after all we’ve built. Look around you, sir. Doesn’t this place mean more than just grabbing any advantage we can against the Espada?”
She’d hoped to see some sign she was getting through to him, but the Storm King just looked at her like she was speaking gibberish, letting out a gruff snort as he shrugged at her, “Well you’re right about the me not understanding part. All of this exists for the sole purpose of me, and subsequently you, killing Big Red and getting my ass back on the throne where it belongs. The hell you think I was gathering so many Hollows in one place for? Because it sure wasn’t for their social skills!”
His words left her feeling coldly empty inside, but also somehow lighter in the head, with a strange sense that she was only really seeing things clearly for the first time. There was an odd sinister aspect to his words that left her wondering just what he had been building this army for, but before she could question him on that point, the distinct blaring gong of the fortress alarms echoed across the canyon.
Not good. Patros or someone else must have raised the alarm! Did X and the others manage to get out of their cells in time? I’m not even sure they can get clear to the tunnels before being intercepted, even with the altered patrols.
Upon hearing the alarm gongs the Storm King’s lips curled into a snarling show of teeth, “And the pooch keeps getting more screwed today! This you’re doing too, Tempest!? Just how far you planning to go to betray me today?”
Her own temper flared up, “Don’t force me to find out! You intended to betray their trust first, so what room have you to talk? As long as no one interferes, then they’ll be gone from here soon enough and-”
Perhaps she’d grown too soft over the centuries. Aside from the battle with X’s team, and the transformed Irys, Tempest really hadn't had any real challenges since the disaster that befell the Eleventh Division and she’d been cut down by Tirek. There’d been skirmishes with plenty of Hollows, even a few potent ones among the Privaron Espada, but those had been few and far between. Not ideal for keeping one’s skills in top form, despite maintaining a strict training regimen. However upon reflection it was more an emotional weakness than anything else that left her open to the Storm King’s thunderous punch that hit straight to her gut. She simply never truly believed it’d come to blows between them, so her guard had a hole in it that he took advantage of in an instant.
All of the air was blasted out of her lungs and Tempest was thrown back like a fired cannonball, smashing into the wall of one of the fortress pyramids.
Stunned, if not all that badly injured, Tempest coughed and sputtered to get her lungs working again as she threw chunks of shattered stone off of herself and stood back up. Her abs would develop one hell of a bruise, but she didn’t estimate the Storm King had broken anything. With a tight clench of her teeth she drew her Zanpaktou and hopped out of the hole her flying body had caused in the side of the fortress, dust still rising from the impact.
However the Storm King was nowhere to be seen. In an instant she felt out his location with her spiritual senses, realizing that he was moving quickly across the forest. She also realized he was going in pursuit of X and the others, for with another moment of concentration she could sense them as well, along with a clash of energies that told her the group had already been caught and were fighting. She sensed Patros’ reiatsu, as well as... Yin and Yang's?
I had them guarding the town. Patros, he must have tricked them. But where’s Grubber?
She felt towards the prison, and sensed a faint reiatsu there. Grubbers.
“Damn it all, this couldn’t be going worse,” she said under her breath, knowing there was very little time for her to act. She could already see the army on the move, with hundreds of flying Hollows taking to the air to pursue across the forest, and hundreds more Hollow soldiers rushing on foot to reach the site of battle.
If she didn’t hurry and do something, X and the others would never get out of the canyon alive.
Before anything, however, she had to confirm Grubber’s condition. With no seconds to spare, Tempest moved as fast as her skill with Flash Step allowed. She reached the prison before even half a second passed, and was down amid the cells in even less time. There, she found Grubber lying slumped against the wall outside X’s cell, brutally battered and bloodied, but breathing.
“Grubber,” she said, kneeling next to him, and immediately applying a healing Kido, her hands lighting up with soft blue light.
“Ugggh... r-remind me next time you... wanna hand with pissing off the boss... to ask for a raise.”
She was relieved to see him regaining consciousness, one eye cracking open as he offered a weak smile up at her.
“Patros?” she asked, and Grubber nodded.
“Sorry I let the pale bastard get the... better of me,” he said, and she shook her head as she carefully picked him up with one arm, while using her other hand to maintain the healing Kido.
“Not your fault. Our escapees are in danger. The Storm King is coming for them, and Patros has likely fooled Yin and Yang into helping stall the escape. Most of the army is heading that way, too.”
“So a lovely crap sandwich with a side of we’re boned, eh?” Grubber laughed, “What’s the plan, Captain?”
His tone indicated that, whatever she intended, he’d back her all the way, and Tempest couldn’t help but feel a potent swell of pride and warmth towards this stout weirdo of an Arrancar. If ever there seemed proof to her that forging this army as a family had value, it was that she’d met the likes of Grubber, Yin, and Yang in the process. Now she just had to stop the Storm King from slaughtering people she’d sworn to protect. After all, she still owed them for being part of what got them into this mess in the first place.
“The plan, Grubber, is that we go put a stop to this.”
----------
Kaizer X’s graviton blades clashed with the Storm King’s staff-shaped Zanpaktou in a bursting wave of colliding golden and crimson red arcs of energy, the force of which dented the ground beneath them and sent shockwaves of air resounding across the field outside the forest.
“Daaaaam!” The Storm King chuckled darkly, “You’ve actually got some real power under the hood, Sparky! No wonder Tempest was getting weak in the nethers over you!”
Kaizer X didn’t deign to give the arrogant ‘king’ a response save to push off with his graviton blades and launch himself up into the air. Sweeping both blades down he cast out a net of high-powered gravity that slammed down around the Storm King in a thick, crackling dome of gold. Magnifying gravity beneath the dome across several magnitudes, Kaizer X pinned the Storm King down and then unleashed a full blast of gravity beams from his flashing eyes.
The beams impacted and surged across the Storm King’s body, who held his Zanpaktou crosswise in front of him to guard himself. Even so, sparking graviton energy coursed over the Storm King, sparking over his flesh. With a hint of satisfaction, Kaizer X heard a grunt of pain from the Storm King, but soon that grunt turned into an enraged howl as the Storm King poured out more of his spiritual energy.
An explosion of red aura and snapping crimson lighting arced out from the Storm King and the crystalline tip of his Zanpaktou, pushing against and then ripping apart the dome of gravitons trying to hold him down.
“Not even close, Golden Boy!” the Storm King bellowed, and thrust his staff-Zanpaktou forward, which grew painfully bright with ruby light.
“Unless you plan on getting big like your albino gal-pal did, you don’t stand a freakin’ chance!”
Kaiser X had barely a fraction of a second to respond as the Storm King unleashed a titanic Cereo beam, one with such density it seemed to warp the space around it while it’s wide beam buzzed with arcs of blood red lightning. With swift gravity control Kaizer X launched himself sideways towards the ground, launching himself faster than a bullet to avoid the massive consuming beam of destruction. He hit the ground hard and rolled with the impact, using more gravity control to lighten the landing and get himself to his feet quicker.
Behind him he saw the beam that had missed him continue on in a slight upward arc that saw it slam into the distant wall of the canyon. The resulting detonation shook the entire canyon and ripped a gigantic hole clean through the canyon wall and up through the desert floor beyond. For a brief millisecond Kaizer X had to begrudgingly admit to being a bit impressed.
A blast like that would have damaged even his true form. A liar and a sleazy bastard he may be, but one couldn’t deny the Storm King did have power to back up his posturing. All that meant, however, was that Kaizer X was even more resolved to keep this foe occupied until his team could escape. Upon that both the “X” and “Kaizer” personalities were in complete alignment, causing a state of mind where there was almost zero friction or divergence in thought and deed between the two.
However the Storm King seemed to work out what Kaizer X was trying to do, his eyes shrewdly narrowing as he looked past Kaizer X’s shoulder towards where the rest of the group were trying to make a break for the tunnel’s entrance bunker. Realizing that the Storm King’s target had changed, Kaizer X charged in, propelling himself a set of gravity rings to get right up in the Storm King’s face. He compressed the power of the graviton blades into concentrated spheres of power around his fists and launched a devastating pair of fast punches that exploded with energy with each impact.
The first caught the Storm King on the jaw, actually popping the powerful Arrancar’s head back and causing him to backstep. He got his defenses up swiftly and the next several punches were caught by the Storm King’s Zanpaktou. Once more flaring golden energy clashed with an aura intermixed with reds and purples as the power of a mutated space dragon clashed with an ancient spirit being, both immensely strong by their respective universe’s standards. For a few breathless seconds the pair appeared to be in a deadlock. Then, almost like the surging of a dark tide, the Storm King began to reverse his defense and go on the assault. Instead of blocking graviton empowered punches, the staff-shaped Zanpaktou began to whirl about in an offensive storm of strikes, each one containing a blast of crimson power that exploded out upon impact.
Kaizer X was an exceptionally experienced fighter, and he had an advantage in that his true form wasn’t that different from the human body he occupied. Few kaiju could claim to be as agile or capable of the same deft maneuvers Monster X could pull off, so he was vastly better adapted to fighting in a human form than, say, his compatriot Irys who was still on most instinctual levels used to her kaiju form.
He also had the greatest amount of latent power among his comrades, although he wasn’t a boastful soul by any means. By all measures he knew he was the best one suited to stall the Storm King. He also knew that he was still at a disadvantage without his true form, and wasn’t necessarily surprised or taken off guard by the fact that he was now on the defensive, having to throw all of his might and concentration into turning aside the Storm King’s powerful blows. With carefully timed and precise motions Kaizer X was able to block and maneuver the Storm King’s Zanpaktou away, but each impact still rattled his entire body and strained his muscles and bones to the max. Meanwhile the landscape around them was getting devastated by the deflected impacts, craters being blasted out of the ground with each near hit.
And the most grating part was that Kaizer X knew the Storm King was still warming up. He’d seen that Arrancar had a second stage of power when they released their Zanpaktou. He imagined the only reason the Storm King hadn’t done that yet was a combination of pride and arrogance. Kaizer X was happy to take advantage of the fact for as long as he could.
But if only Roka had had time to try that trick with her threads. Kaizer X all but burned with the desire to assume his true form and power. That could turn this entire situation around, but only if they had a spare couple of minutes to pull it off!
“Man, all of that power is going to taste real good once I take a bite out of your soul,” the Storm King said, his joking tone hiding his growing frustration rather poorly, “Do you think your pals will taste just as good? I’m laying bets on the albino having a refreshing mint flavor, like a Mentos.”
He then proceeded to start humming a diddy that Kaizer X wasn’t familiar with, but others might have recognized as being from the commercials for a certain popular breath mint. This came with an increase in the tempo of his attacks, the Storm King’s form blurring out of sight as he used Sonido to start attacking Kaizer X from seemingly multiple directions at once. If he hadn’t already done battle with Tempest Shadow, such a high speed series of attacks might have been disorienting, but Kaizer X was capable of compensating for the speed difference by focusing his attention purely on the disturbances in the gravity he could sense around himself as a result of the Storm King’s movements.
The graviton blades manifested once more from his hands, sparking to life as he spun with swift, smooth motions. a half dozen times in blindingly quick succession the Storm King’s staff was turned aside by the golden stream of gravitons forming Kaizer X’s blades, a thunderous wave of sound echoing with each parry. Unfortunately the Storm King was only getting faster as he poured more and more of his spiritual energy into the fight, growing more incensed by the second at Kaizer X’s continued resistance and resilience.
A blow got through, Kaizer X’s crossed graviton blades just a fraction of an instant too slow to stop a sidelong swing to his ribs that struck like a speeding bullet train. The blow drove the air from Kaizer X’s lungs and sent him skidding back like a stone tossed across a pond, only his expert gravity control and pure toughness keeping him on his feet. He registered the pain from the hit, imagining at least a cracked rib, but the pain was a dull and distant thing under the adrenaline and raw mental focus sharpening his instincts.
His eyes turned into corona’s of raw gold light as he charged a potent gravity blast, firing the twin beams in a destructive stream that cut a furrow through the ground as it raced towards the Storm King. It was likely a testament to Kaizer X’s own ability that rather than try and tank the beams head on, the Storm King elected to evade by throwing himself up into the air with a prodigious leap that took him over the beams’ path. The beams still continued on, forcing Yin and Yang to yank the still mostly unconscious Patros out of the way as the beams sliced through a good portion of forest behind them.
Not cutting off the stream of his gravity beams, Kaizer X looked up into the sky, following the Storm King’s trail. The golden beams sliced through the sky, curling and twisting together as they swept towards the Storm King’s still airborne form. With a grunt of effort the Storm King turned his Zanpaktou to the side and caught the beams upon it, a red aura exploding from his staff as he pushed back against the tide of gravitons with his reiatsu. For a moment he was stalled in the air, held up by the force of the beams he was pushing against.
At the same time, he raised his open right hand towards where X’s team and Adagio’s vassals had nearly reached the tunnel bunker. By now the rest of the Hollow army was arriving on the scene, with scores and scores of winged Hollows that had flown ahead to start landing in a circle around Kaizer X, while more hulking, land bound Hollows emerged in droves from the forest.
In the Storm King’s right palm, the bright, pulsating sphere of a charging Cero beam took shape. Kaizer X knew if such a beam was fired at his companions, there’d be little they could do to escape it. He had no intention of dying that day. He had a team to lead, a master he still believed was worth serving, and far more important than anything else, someone he fully planned to return to and hold in his arms.
He cut off his gravity beams and turned towards his distant team, ignoring the Hollows surrounding him. He started forming gravity rings in front of him, ready to launch himself into the air so he could intercept the Cero beam. He’d use every scrap of power left in his body, if that’s what it took, to block the beam with a shield of gravitons.
However, just as he was about to launch himself, just as the Storm King discharged a second, colossal Cero beam, Kaizer X saw a flicker of purple motion fly past him and then cross the distance to almost precisely where he himself had intended to go to intercept the beam.
”Hold the line, Hagane-hei!”
Tempest Shadow appeared in front of the group, her Zanpaktou transforming into its Shikai state as she then launched herself into the air, straight into the oncoming Cero beam’s path. Spiritual pressures smashed into each other like onrushing tidal waves as she cleaved into the beam with her sword, which reshaped itself and grew in size to form a broader blade that ensured the beam split far enough apart so as to not hit any of the escapees.
Even so, the severed beam cut two diagonal paths to either side of the group, one detonating in the river and blasting a cloud of steam and wet sand across the area, while the other still cut uncomfortably close to the tunnel’s bunker entrance, now less than twenty yards away.
“Daiei I’m getting tired of not being my real size,” Gigan said, his scanners going haywire over the spiritual energies screwing with his senses.
“I’m getting tired of it too, and I haven’t even seen you go big yet,” Di Roy said.
“Did she really just save us?” said Irys, eyeing Tempest Shadow as the woman hit the ground in a controlled stance.
“I did promise your leader that I’d ensure no more harm came to you,” Tempest said, glancing back at Irys and the others, “That doesn’t change because it’s the Storm King trying to do the harming.”
Before another word could be exchanged, she flickered out of sight with another Flash Step, appearing now next to Kaiser X while the Storm King was still dropping out of the sky. She looked Kaizer X over, tense for battle, but he sensed none of her hostility was towards him, so he turned so he could face towards where the Storm King would land, letting his guard be exposed to her as a simple sign of trust.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
“Unlike my liege, apparently, I keep my word,” Tempest replied.
“It sounds as if you need a new liege,” Kaizer X mentioned, and Tempest let out a humorless laugh.
“I suppose we’ll see. I’m still hoping he’ll listen to reason and cease this idiocy.”
Kaizer X grunted, “He has not impressed me with his ‘reason’ thus far, but I’ll let you lead.”
She turned a momentary look between concern and gratitude towards him, but then the Storm King’s boisterous voice interrupted whatever she was going to say.
“Well isn’t this a pretty picture? A real freakin’ Kodak moment. My supposed ‘loyal’ right hand having a friendly chat and giving bedroom eyes to the prisoners she helped break out of our own damn dungeon. Tempest, I am seriously up to my last straw with you and this sudden rebellious streak. What even is your deal here?”
By this point even more of the Storm King and Tempest’s army had arrived on the scene, with units of Hollows flanking out on either side of the confrontation, and others moving to cut off the rest of the escapee’s route to the tunnel bunker. Kaizer X could recognize that the tactical situation was grim. Even if the Storm King was kept occupied now, it’d be a fight through dozens if not hundreds of Hollows to break clear and get into the tunnels, and even then they’d have to fight a running battle against pursuit through the tunnels.
At this juncture, it was actually a better shot to let Tempest try and convince the Storm King to let them go, since the prospects of winning an outright battle were slimming by the second.
“Captain!” Yin shouted as she and Yang approached on the right, still carrying Patros, “What’s going on? Is Grubber alright?”
“Grubber is alive, with no thanks to Patros for the fact,” Tempest replied, and both the twins turned sharp looks towards Patros.
“Shit, he really did lie to us then?” Yang said, looking annoyed with herself.
“Not exactly the shocker of the century, right?” said Grubber as he pushed his way through the crowd of Hollow soldiers surrounding the area. Tempest’s healing had closed some of the worst of his wounds, but he still looked like a bruised and battered slab of meat on legs.
“Grubber!”
Dropping Patros, the twins went to their wounded comrade and both gave him shoulders to support him. Patros, gradually regaining consciousness, hit the ground with a dull, “...Ow...”
“Sorry,” Yin said to Grubber, “I had a feeling something was wrong, but we didn’t have a lot of time to think everything through.”
“Eh, don’t worry about it. Truth is out, and now it’s just down to what our Captain decides to do,” Grubber said, “You two girls ready for whatever goes down?”
The twins looked to each other, then at Tempest, and then gave Grubber firm nods. He grinned, “Well okay then. Hey! Captain, whatever you do here, we’ve got your back!”
“What do you mean whatever she decides!?” The Storm King blustered, “Hello!? Storm King, right over here!?” He pointed at his brow with the dark iron circlet, “You think I’m wearing this because I need to keep my hair out of my face!? Well, I mean, I do, but that’s not the only reason! I’m in charge around here. Tempest is the right-hand. As in, she does what I say, and you all do what she says, but only because I’m the one giving her the marching orders!”
“Yeaaaaaah, gonna be honest here with you chief,” said Grubber, “I’m pretty much in this for her. Don’t mind serving you as long as Captain Tempest is, but if she decides there’s some management changes about to happen, I’m on Team Tempest.”
Patros coughed in pain, and forced himself up on shaking hands, “S-see!? This is why I’m loyal to our real king, and have always said this Soul Reaper in our midst was a mistake! All of you can see this now, can you not?”
Although he was shouting to the crowd of Hollow soldiers, there was a distinct and noticeable hesitance among all of them. Whether regular Hollows, Adjuchas-class, or even the few other Arrancar present, most didn’t look to be immediately jumping in on either side just yet. Even their hostility towards the escapee’s was mitigated, and none were approaching close or trying to attack them yet.
A shrewdness sharpened the Storm King’s eyes as he looked upon what he saw as “his” army and then turned a clouded, dark look towards Tempest, his voice taking on a low edge and deathly seriousness that was unknown even to her. “Is this how it’s going to be, Tempest? Usurping the man who saved your life? Gave you purpose?”
She didn’t flinch from him, taking a step forward with her Zanpaktou lowered, but her grip no less firm upon it, “I’ve never once sought to usurp you, not even now. What I want is for you to let these people go. I won’t even demand you give their patron Espada a chance to prove a worthy ally against Tirek, if you’re so dead set on ignoring that opportunity. But we made the mistake of attacking this group first, and I swore to them if they cooperated with us that they would come to no more harm. I will see that promise kept. So I’m asking you, one last time, stand down sir, please. I don’t want to have to fight you.”
“Humph...” the Storm King looked around at the multitudes of Hollows that now surrounded the area, and there was a detached calculation in his eyes, as if he was tallying up something in his head like a farmer tallies a harvest, “And what about all of you?”
He projected his voice loudly to all gathered, sweeping the hand not gripping his Zanpaktou staff towards Tempest, “I brought all of you together in this place. I’ve provided food, water, shelter. You each wear my brand upon your flesh. You all owe your loyalty to me. None of this would exist without me. So when I give the order to detain Tempest Shadow and kill these Espada-loyal scum, am I crazy to expect obedience?”
His words were followed by uneasy tension and hesitance among the Hollows, many giving disquiet rumbles and howls, while those more capable of speech whispered among themselves. It was clear none were jumping in to obey, many looking back and forth between Tempest and the Storm King with torn eyes. Tempest Shadow understood why, even if the Storm King looked increasingly angered.
She too spoke so her voice would carry, “I’ve fought at the forefront of every battle we’ve faced together as an army, united for the purpose of ending the Espada’s cruel rule of Hueco Mundo. We’ve trained together, lived together, fought and survived together. You all understand that our existence is a harsh one, but you’ve also seen it doesn’t have to always be that way, either. Trust, honor, camaraderie, they all forge you into more than a mindless horde. That’s why I’m asking you all as your Captain to stand down. These people are no threat to us. All they want to do is go home. I say we let them...”
She sighed, looking at Kaizer X, “Like I should have done before any of it got to this point.”
The admission garnered a respectful nod from him, and Kaizer X bled off a stream of gold energy and shrunk back in size to resume his form as Monster X. Partly because it was draining to maintain the Kaizer X form, but also because he hoped the gesture might help fence sitters see their Captain’s words as correct; that he and his team were not here to be a threat and really did just want to leave. It was a calculated risk, but one he was comfortable taking.
After a moment, Grubber hobbled forward, his injuries still quite evident but not stopping the man from coming over to stand beside Tempest Shadow. Yin and Yang were right behind him, planting themselves on either side of Grubber protectively while still casting glares towards Patros, who glared back silently.
Slowly at first, then with greater speed, like a wave of rattling metal, scores of Hollows shifted away a few steps to give the escapees more space, while simultaneously clapping limbs to their chests to salute Tempest. Within a few moments more than half the gathered army had stood down and taken on a non-hostile stance. Those who remained tense and ready to fight still looked hesitant to take action, even with the Storm King’s orders, as if they still weren’t willing to go against Tempest even if they weren’t able to bring themselves to stand down, either.
Grubber turned to Tempest with a wink, “Looks like you’re the more popular of the two bosses, boss.”
“So, uh, what happens now?” asked Yin, and Yang just shrugged at her.
“I think the prisoners aren’t prisoners anymore and they leave.”
“I was more asking about the Storm King,” said Yin, “Is the Captain the new King now? Or Queen?”
“Girls,” Tempest said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
She turned her attention back to the Storm King, who’s expression was explosive, to say the least. “Sir, I suggest you return to the fortress. Once I confirm X and his companions are safely away, I’ll return and we can discuss things with cooler heads.”
“Cooler heads?” he said, voice low and gravely at first, then rising to a deafening pitch, “Cooler heads!? Oh... oh Tempest, Tempest, Tempest, my stupid, stupid friend. You don’t understand what you’ve done, do you? I thought we’d have a lot more time to build things up here, you know? This honey trap was really working well. We’ve got, what, several thousand Hollows, most of them decently strong, near half of them Adjuchas-class and a fair number of Arrancar to boot? Damn big pool of spirit energy here, and I was going to make it even bigger with your help. I mean, you’re dynamite Tempest when it comes to PR. It’s the whole reason I saved you. I saw how your precious Eleventh Division fought like mad bastards against overwhelming odds for you, damn near died to the last Soul Reaper, all for love of their Captain. That was power, Tempest, that kind of leadership. I could never inspire like that, even with thousands of years under my belt at this whole Storm King business.”
There was something manic and deadly in his tone that set Tempest and X both on edge. In response, X tensed, ready to make a move, while Tempest frowned deeply and said, “Sir, what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how you’re damned fit of conscience and sentimentality here is forcing me to accelerate my timetable, Tempest. I didn’t want it to go down this way, but you’re forcing my hand, because like it or not, planned or not, you’ve just knocked me off the throne. Tirek did it, and now you have too. Just goes to show...” he raised his Zanpaktou staff above his head with a dark glower that held just a small shade of regret in it, “...you can’t ever trust anyone.”
”Cannibalize; Traicion.” (Betrayal)
This was the first time for all present hearing those words, for even Tempest Shadow had never actually seen the Storm King release his Zanpaktou. It had never once occurred to her that there might have been a reason for that beyond him simply having avoided getting involved in many of the battles for territory that she and the army had fought up until that point. The energy pouring out of the Storm King was intense, but it also had a different feel, less like a crushing wave as was often the case with reiatsu when an Arrancar released their blades to transform, and more like an extremely powerful suction. And every single Hollow present, be they lower class, Adjuchas, or Arrancar, all screamed at once as the Storm King’s brands on their bodies ignited in crimson light.
“What!?” Tempest was so taken aback that for a second she couldn’t even react. Right next to her Grubber, Yin, and Yang had all stumbled, the latter two dropping to their knees as they clutched at the brands on their arms, crying out in pain. All of the Hollow soldiers were either thrashing about or crumpling on the ground in similar states of pain. Other Arrancar were no better off, including Patros, who was the closest to the Storm King physically as he writhed on the ground.
“M-my lord! What is this!?” Patros shouted, and was at first answered only by the Storm King’s unpleasant chuckle.
“What’s what? Oh, that feeling like your entire being is getting sucked out through a straw? That’s the true power of my brand, and my Zanpaktou. Any Hollow I’ve branded, upon releasing my Traicion, has their essence absorbed into mine. Pretty neato, isn’t it?”
By now the aura around the Storm King had grown in size, along with his body as, with pulses akin to a heartbeat, he started to gain height and bulk. Wet popping noises and meaty crunches could be heard as his body broke out of the armor he’d been wearing and a waxen white substance exploded from his back and chest, forming around his body in an organic wave as he continued to grow in size. Tendrils burst out of the expanding mass and shot out in spearing motions, striking nearby Hollows, who howled as they were seemingly paralyzed and yanked into the growing mass. Patros let out a shuddering cry as he was overwhelmed by a mass of tendrils that wrapped around him and pulled him in whole.
All of this had only taken a few seconds, if that, and even taken aback by events as he was, X responded before anyone else. He fired a concentrated blast of gravitons from his hands, smashing the golden bolts into the Storm King’s expanding mass, which at this point was starting to gain new definition in shape. The bolts of gravitons struck true, but splashed upon the pulsating surface with little visible effect. From the expanding mass a massive, clawed hand, like that of some gigantic beast’s, took shape and raised itself high before smashing down at X, and consequently Tempest, Grubber, Yin and Yang who were all nearby.
Tempest was able to grab the twins, while X grabbed Grubber and both threw themselves back out of the clawed hand’s path. The giant hand was large enough to smash a ten meter wide crater in the ground, and the Storm King’s body was still growing as more and more white tendrils struck like cobras upon the paralyzed Hollow army and started absorbing them in droves. Even the handful of Hollows and Arrancar with enough power and will to move, despite the agonizing pain of the brands, still couldn't do much other than try to crawl away.
With horrified eyes Tempest looked at all this, and at the pained expressions from her closest companions next to her, and fear and rage gripped her face with equal measure as she set the twins down and took up her sword again, “Stop this! Stop it now!”
She moved in a burst of Flash Step, rushing the Storm King’s main body, which was slowly sinking into the mass of white substance that kept flowing from him to take on a new, gargantuan shape. Her Zanpaktou produces a deadly storm of spiky barbs that shot out at the Storm King, but a wave of his dark aura flowed out of him and the attack was halted in mid air. The Storm King’s voice could be heard echoing louder as his body grew, and more Hollows were pulled into his pulsating mass.
“Stop it? Too late for that, Tempest. You shouldn’t be so mad. Even if I hadn’t planned to do this from the start, your army was screwed. You really think even if we’d gathered tens of thousands of these scrubs it would’ve made a difference in an attack on Las Noches. On Tirek? Don’t be naive. You know he’d destroy them all. Grubber? Dead. Patros? Dead. Your precious twins? Deader than dead. Tirek would have slaughtered them all. At least this way, adding their power to my own, they won’t be so worthless.”
“No, I won’t let you do this!” Tempest flickered in out and out view as she started attacking the tendrils themselves, her sword extending and reshaping itself dozens of times over to try and sever the tendrils as they absorbed the Hollows trying to escape. Yet for every one she severed, another grew in its place.
X could see she was fighting a losing battle, and his own ability to help in his current form was limited. His gravity beams could destroy the tentacles just as readily as her Zanpaktou could, but more sprouted forth, their numbers increasing far faster than they could be destroyed.
“X, hate to break it to you, but I think it’s time to go!”
This was shouted by Gigan just as the cyborg fired off a shotgun blast of lasers from his eyes, clearing a cluster of tendrils that had been coming at X’s blind spot. A moment later a sonic ray cut through another mass of writhing tentacles, Irys joining in to try and clear a path as she ran up, Megalon beside her.
Di Roy, Roka, and Gaw then appeared in blinking motions of Sonido, each striking out with their blades to cut at tentacles that were creeping in on Grubber, Yin, and Yang, all three of whom remained prone from the pain of the brands.
“Gotta say, this is easily the third worst tentacle related situation I’ve ever been in,” said Di Roy, “Are we planning to hang out here all day or what?”
Gaw was snarling as she slashed about with both her claw-shaped sword and her literal claws, barely keeping the tentacles at bay as more and more grew from the Storm King’s growing body, “Fight or flee. Cannot do both.”
“This might sound dumb, but I kinda don’t want to leave these guys to get eaten by their jerkface boss,” said Megalon, chucking incendiary grenades that sprung into his hands from hatches in his wrists, and were the scaled down version of the bombs he could spit in kaiju form. The grenades exploded with surprising force amid the pulsating tentacle masses.
“Ugh, don’t mind us,” Grubber managed to say, forcing himself to his feet despite the agony he was obviously in, “This is our mess to clean up.”
“H-he’s right,” grunted Yang, both her and Yin supporting each other as they pair rose as well, both drawing and igniting their respective elemental weapons.
“He was our King, and if he gets his way, he’s gonna kill our Captain,” Yin said, “But the Captain wants you guys to live. You stay here, you’re going to die.”
“And we’re not about to disappoint our Captain by letting that go down,” said Grubber, and X looked at him.
“Then don’t disappoint her by throwing your lives away either.”
“Love to, but it’s a bit too late for that,” Grubber replied, nodding at the brand on his arm. X could see that, even though the tentacles had been kept at bay from absorbing these three, the brands themselves were the true source of the absorbing. The tentacles just accelerated the process. From each brand a waxen color was spreading, and pieces of all three of the branded Arrancar were starting to break off like flecks of ash and being pulled into the Storm King.
“We’ve got nowhere to run to,” said Grubber, raising his Zanpaktou with a determined look, “But maybe we can spit in the asshole’s face and buy you lot an opening to get away in the process.”
“It’s about all we can do for you at this point,” said Yin, while Yang smirked at Irys.
“Looks like you don’t get to eat me after all.”
Irys didn’t even know what to say back to that, and before anyone could say anything, the trio of Tempest’s loyal Arrancar all nodded to each other and despite the brands wracking their bodies with pain, they leaped into the air. Grubber’s Zanpaktou flashed blue as he shouted it’s release phrase.
”Dig in; Erizo!” (Hedgehog)
In a burst of blue light Grubber’s body grew a thick mane of ivory spikes from his head and fell down his back like a cloak, while smaller, thicker spikes grew from his arms and chest.
Side by side, Yin and Yang whipped back their weapons and struck forward, unleashing simultaneous blasts of fire and lighting that combined together to form a giant projectile of flame that coursed with arcs of electricity. Grubber joined in by whipping his massive mane of bone white spikes around, and firing off a barrage of them like literal missiles that were rocketed out on trails of blue energy.
The electrified fireball and barrage of spiked missiles struck dead center amid the Storm King’s mass, generating a powerful series of explosions that momentarily obscured the Storm King’s upper body. Tempest, who had been busy trying, and unfortunately failing, to stop the remainders of the Hollow army from being absorbed, now turned to see her closest friends and what they were doing and her eyes widened.
“You fools! Run!”
“Oh Tempest, even if they did, there’s nowhere left to run to.”
The Storm King’s voice had been deeper and distorted, like the rumble of tar coated rocks rolling down a mountainside. A massive shadow hurled upwards from the dust cloud that Grubber, Yin, and Yang’s attack had caused. Pale as dead flesh, covered in waxen fur the color of dirty snow, a gigantic beastly head rose forth. It was vaguely akin to a wolf’s head, albeit on a colossal scale. Fierce blue on black eyes burned with hunger and amusement as massive jaws opened into a dark maw. A pitch black Hollow hole sat in the center of the wolf’s forehead.
It’s body took hideous shape around it, forming not four but six long, unnaturally thin and bent legs ending in overly long claws. Instead of a conventional tail, the back of the wolf sprouted a mass of over a dozen writing white tentacles, each thicker than a small office building, and ending in slavering wolf-like jaws. More such tendrils, slightly smaller than the tails, grew from the back and shoulders of the beast. The mass of tail tendrils flailed around, extending far further than was natural, and smashed through the Hollow town that had once been filled with Tempest’s army. By now, however, everything was empty, all the Hollows absorbed save for the three that had boldly attacked the Storm King in a final act of defiance for love and loyalty to their Captain.
And the Storm King’s ravenous eyes locked upon them.
Tempest saw what was about to happen and rushed to stop it, but nearly fully transformed now the Storm King’s speed was greater than hers, even at his monstrous new size. His open mouth descended upon the helpless trio, even as X and the others below opened up with everything they had, hammering the Storm King with gravity beams, sonic rays, lasers, grenades, and Ceros alike. All splashed off the Storm King’s mighty new body all but harmlessly, and the jaws closed around its prey.
Tempest saw the twins she’d found as children and raised to be soldiers, and the friend she trusted with her life, vanish into her former King’s maw. At the very last moment she saw Grubber mouth something to her, the words momentarily lost to her under the horror of the instant.
Then all three were gone.
“Mmmm, got to love the taste of traitor. Has a kind of barbecue flavor,” the Storm King’s booming voice echoed from his new form. He shook himself like a titanic dog just fresh from a bath, slamming his legs on the ground as if to test their strength. The impacts sent tremors quaking through the whole canyon.
“Now,” the Storm King said, turning his beastly features upon X and the others at his feet, “That made for a good appetizer, but I’ve yet to get to the main course. Don’t think I’d forgotten about you guys. Plenty of room in here for everyone. I’m thinking by the time I’m done devouring all of you, I ought to have all the strength I need to smash Las Noches and tear that arrogant prick Tirek off of my throne.”
X cast a frustrated look at his companions and back towards the tunnel bunker that was their only possible exit. No matter how he looked at it, escaping that way was impossible with the Storm King looming over them. He hadn’t been blind to how little an effect their attacks had had on this monster in his present form, and while stuck at their current size. They needed a few minutes to enact Roka’s plan to have any chance, but the Storm King wasn’t about to give them the time.
Despite the seemingly impossible circumstances, those at his side were neither backing down nor succumbing any any despair.
“I know you probably can’t see this, but I’m flipping you off, you overblown egomaniac!” Di Roy shouted, throwing up a middle finger at the towering Storm King.
“Just one?” Gigan said with a small, resolved half-smile, “Let me at least triple that.”
And just like that two cyborg middle fingers joined in, causing Irys to actually let out a little snorting chuckling at Gigan and Di Roy both waving their defiance at the creature standing over them. For Irys’ part she just turned a withering glare upon the Storm King, hands clenched and a sonic vibration emanating from her body in her anger.
“I didn’t like anyone here, but they still deserved better than you,” she declared.
“Why don’t you bring that ugly mug of yours down here so we can give it a proper rearranging!?” Megalon shouted, grabbing Gaw by the shoulder, “I’ve got an angry dinosaur friend who I bet I could throw really hard to turn into an awesome death projectile!”
“...I have not agreed to this,” Gaw said, then shrugged and gave a feral grin, “But I am not saying no, either.”
“If it is fear you’re looking for, I don’t believe you’ll find it here,” Roka said, extending her reishi threads from her sleeves as she stared up at the Storm King, “Even if the seven of us only met recently, we are bonded by common cause and trust, things you clearly have discarded for temporary power.”
The Storm King, even with his changed, canine features, managed a skeptical and belligerent look as he threw his head back and laughed, “Bwhahaha! Oh wow, did you guys really just do the ‘line up in front of the bad guy and deliver a defiant speech’ routine? I mean, it was okay. I give it a seven out of ten, but it’s no ‘Avengers assemble’. What about you, Golden Boy? You want to take a crack at it?”
X looked up at the Storm King, a strange look of calm coming over his features as he said, “I don’t think I need to waste words on you. It seems like someone else has something they want to say.”
“Huh?”
The Storm King turned his massive head to the side as a Tempest Shadow’s spiritual pressure skyrocketed and washed over the area. The woman’s eyes were wet with held back tears, but her face was a steel mask of furious determination as she raised her Zanpaktou.
“Bankai.”
“Oh for the love of-” the Storm King hurled himself around to face Tempest as the ground shook, and the gigantic cliff-face containing Tempest’s hundred-meter tall, headless armor shot upwards like an instant mountain. Oniyama Hagane-hei crashed out of the summoned cliff-face like the world’s largest linebacker, shoulder already dipped to ram into the Storm King in a thunderous crash. Tempest leaped upon her armor’s gorget, her sword swinging upwards, and the blade in the giant armor’s hand responded with a similar upswing that smashed the Storm King backwards. He crashed upon the ground, but the writhing tentacles from his tail all let out monstrous howls and turned towards Tempest and her Bankai. Crimson Cero spheres gathered in the howling mouths of half a dozen wolf-jaws and fired together.
Tempest raised her Bankai’s sword and it grew into a circular shield, catching the Cero beams. However their destructive power was such that even her Bankai’s monolithic form was forced back, and the metal surface of her blade-turned-shield started to bubble under the onslaught. Even as the Ceros dissipated, Tempest’s shield was smoking, and the woman herself had burns appearing on her arms from the intensity of the blasts transferring damage from armor to body.
“X, get your people out of here!” Tempest shouted.
X looked from her, to the Storm King, who was rising from where he’d fallen. The wound Tempest’s sword had caused on his chest was already closing up quickly, regenerating so fast that by the time the Storm King was back on his six, clawed feet, the wound was nearly gone.
“Can you beat him?” X asked, and even at a distance he could see Tempest’s face clearly enough to see her look back at him silently, then look away.
“I’ll buy you as much time as I can,” was all she said before altering her Bankai’s shield back to a sword shape, and charged the Storm King.
The two titans met headlong, the Storm King ducking low to smash his head and body into Tempest’s Bankai at hip level, driving her back across the forest in a shower of broken trees. Now that the element of surprise was gone, it was obvious that Tempest was on the backfoot, and while she might hold the Storm King at bay for a time, any damage she inflicted would be regenerated, while she would gradually weaken.
X knew there was a strong chance she could keep the Storm King busy long enough for he and his team to escape, but...
He felt Gigan next to him, the cyborg giving X a level look over the top of his red shades.
“If we’re going, we need to go now.”
X was silent for a few painfully long seconds. He had no more time to weigh options. He had a duty to ensure his team’s survival. Survival that Tempest Shadow had put in jeopardy a few days ago when she captured them. Yet ever since then she’d been doing all she could to rectify that mistake and now put her life on the line without reservation for that cause.
Strangely, his thoughts turned to Aria Blaze. The way the siren made him feel was a wonderful warmth, and at times a terrifying fear of what it might be like if something happened to her, or if something happened to him and he couldn’t return to her. Many things had started to feel more important to him since he’d met her, including the people by his side whom he called comrades and friends. He’d long since ceased to be a mere weapon of the Xillians, or one who single mindedly sought to fulfill mission objectives.
He’d become a leader, and one who valued his bonds more than anything else.
And he’d seen himself reflected in Tempest Shadow, a warrior who’s desire for bonds had led her to forge an army out of Hollow souls, treat them as friends, and in some cases family. He and her may have met as enemies, but that had quickly grown into a form of mutual respect and recognition of each other’s values. In another life, another set of choices or circumstances, he might even have found her a different but worthy partner to awaken feelings in him like Aria had. Which also meant he didn’t believe he was the kind of man anymore who could turn away from the situation in front of him; not, and still be the man who held his Aria with such love.
The man X was now, he knew what needed to be done.
“Roka, your threads,” he said, “I want you to use them on me.”
She turned to him, giving a solemn nod, “Of course.”
“You sure about this?” Gigan asked, then almost immediately held up a hand before X could answer, “You know what? Never mind, stupid question. Just tell me you’re not doing this because you think you owe her.”
“No,” X said, not offering an actual answer as to why he did want to help Tempest. He knew he and Gigan were as close as comrades in arms could be, but there were differences between them, too. Nothing that their bond couldn’t handle with, of course, and Gigan shook his head with a helpless smirk.
“Fine, fine, we’ll help the idiot out. But I’m going to tell her ‘I told you so’ after we’re done.”
“I haven’t forgiven her for anything yet,” Irys said, “But I think I hate her master way more, so I’m all in.”
“Oh, do we finally get to go all out?” Megalon said, practically buzzing with excitement, “I wonder if we’ll get cool redesigns like Irys did?”
“Hoo boy, we’re really doing this aren’t we?” Di Roy scratched his head and then turned to Gaw and Roka, “Alright then, how’s this going to work.”
“You and Gaw stand to either side of me,” Roka said, then to X and his team, “You four get a bit of distance and stand around the three of us. I’ll tie my threads to our collective souls and sync up each of them. Then, myself, Di Roy, and Gaw all release our Zanpaktou.”
The ground shook violently as, in the distance, the fight between Tempest and the Storm King saw the later spinning around and lashing out with his bunched tail tentacles, the air cracking with sonic force as the tails smashed into Tempest’s Bankai and sent it hurtling through one of the two pyramids of the fortress. The pyramid exploded from the impact, huge hunks of stone sent flying. Tempest controlled her Bankai’s fall and had the armored giant roll to its feet, slashing out with its sword which in turn flung a shower of metal blades into the Storm King. The blades stuck in deep, but the Storm King didn’t even appear to feel the wounds as the blades were pushed out by his regenerative powers and he retaliated with the smaller tentacles across his back and shoulder, which shot forward like spears. Tempest’s Bankai was stabbed in several places, the armor holding out, but the wounds still reflecting upon Tempest’s body as she was staggered back a step.
With no time to waste, the Dark Hunters did as Roka bade and took up positions around her, maintaining enough distance so that when they transformed, they wouldn’t end up crushing their Arrancar allies. Di Roy and Gaw stood next to Roka, both staying still as Roka extended her reishi threads towards them. The barely visible glints of thread wrapped around their Hollow holes, in Di Roy’s chest and Gaw’s stomach. That done, Roka’s threads split off and move out to the Dark Hunters, slowly wrapping around their chests and then carefully penetrating their bodies. Each set of threads sought out the centers of each kaiju in human form’s essence, connecting to the innate energy locked away inside them.
Roka had said it’d take a minute or two, and she wasn’t lying. She had to be careful to feel out the right spot inside each of the Dark Hunters, and slowly align that energy with the Hollow energy inside herself, Di Roy, Gaw, and the latent energy within the very sands of Hueco Mundo itself.
Tempest Shadow just needed to survive and keep the Storm King off of them long enough for that to happen.