Unexpected Savior

My first proper encounter in this universe was with not with someone I'd expected to ever meet. I'd imagined myself finding another Vasto Lorde or a group of Adjuchas, not a Soul-Reaper.

'If I'm remembering properly… This guy is called Ashido Kanō, right?'

"Cero," I said, casting the blast of reiatsu while utilizing sonido to close the distance between me and the Gillian-class menos, now floating right in front of them.

The ray shot from the hole near my heart, encompassing the line of menos completely, their upper halves utterly destroyed from the attack.

Glancing back, the Soul-Reaper had collapsed to the floor. He was tending to one of the many injuries lathered across his body—a chunk of his flesh missing from his right arm.

Isn't this guy supposed to be pretty strong… How's he getting wounds like that from weak hollow like those?

I began walking in his direction, only to be stopped in my tracks by him, "stay where you are, Vasto Lorde!"

His tone was serious, though he didn't seem afraid. From what I could remember, this guy had chosen to stay behind in Hueco Mundo as a means of avenging his dead friends. He wanted to kill hollows for the sake of the human realm and the Soul-Society.

"I don't plan on hurting you," I said to him, still keeping my distance. Pressuring the man and frightening him was definitely not something I needed to be doing.

While I did want to test my powers, doing so on a wounded Soul-Reaper was not where. Attacking the good guys wasn't on my list of things to do as of yet.

"You saved me… A… Soul-Reaper… Why?"

He was stuttering, his voice hoarse and weak. His wound was slowly healing, though only time would tell if his state worsened.

Ashido then stuck his hand into the wound, a horrible sound emanated from it as if preparing freshly-cut meat to eat.

A moment passed, then spiritual pressure began to exert from his hand, green-reiatsu coalescing into a jelly-like form, swirling around his wound.

'That must be kidō… Looks so different seeing it in person.'

"Answer me, hollow!" He shouted, now stood back on his feet, sword in hand.

"You were in trouble, so I helped you."

He grimaced, "But I'm a Soul-Reaper…."

'I need to find out what time period this is all happening… Really don't want to run in with a big bad… Second chances shouldn't be wasted. '

"Why were you running from a couple Gillian-class Menos? Why didn't you kill them?"

While I wasn't completely familiar with this character, I was at least acquainted with his story to some extent, knowing a fair bit about his time in Hueco Mundo in the Forest of Menos. That said, it didn't make any sense of this current situation. Even him, who was at least a lieutenant-class Soul-Reaper, was somehow injured from 4 Gillian-class menos. For having lived here for so long, things like that should have been second nature to him.

"They did not inflict these injuries… The Gillian only appeared after…."

'Was he attacked by an Arrancar?'

"Who attacked you, then?" I asked.

Before Ashido could respond, a flash appeared in the distance, its crashing thunder-like roar reverberating towards us.

"Harribel… She won't last a minute against that man…"

Ignoring me, he began marching off in a different direction, now heading straight towards the lightning storm that'd kicked up in the distance.

'He said that man… Don't tell me…'

"Soul-Reaper… Those injuries, was it the same man creating that storm that gave them to you?"

Using sonido, I took two steps forward, now standing 20 or so meters in front of Ashido. He had an odd expression on his face, as if I'd asked a foolish question.

"How could you not know… No, that doesn't matter… You shouldn't go near him."

He's being so vague… There's a couple people he could be speaking about!

"Go near who?" "

Rather than answer me, Ashido appeared to my left, his Zanpakutō in hand. He slashed down at my arm, colliding with one of the spikes along it, splitting it in two.

The spike soon reappeared, growing back almost instantly.

'That was faster than I expected… Vasto Lorde really are something.'

"What're you doing that for?" I asked, using Sonido to make some space between us.

He didn't budge, though, reappearing behind me with shunpo. Thrusting his Zanpakutō forward, he aimed right for my chest. Fortunately, I had something I wanted to ask.

Lowering myself, I positioned the hollow hole to be in line with his katana, dashing forwards at him as his sword slid through the gap in my body.

"What?!"

We were as close as possible now, likely only centimeters between us, with my hand held firmly around his robes, lifting him up into the air.

"Chill out, could you? I just want to talk." I said, tossing him to the ground with minimal force.

I held onto his katana for the time being, unsure as to his motives. While I wasn't sure, since he hadn't displayed such techniques in the series, there was a chance this guy had access to his Shikai and potentially Bankai, both things I didn't want to mess around with.

I'd been in this world for a matter of hours. I wasn't nearly as comfortable in this new body as I wanted to, nor was I well enough acquainted with my reiatsu to actually fight properly.

Glancing back at the Soul-Reaper, he'd dashed away, now stood some 40 meters away, preparing his hands for something.

"Hadō 32: Ōkasen!"

A short, yet bright, golden-flash appeared centered in his hand, straightening out into a short-arc. He soon released it, the blade-like kidō launching towards me, whirring through the air like a boomerang.

"Cero," I sighed.

A lilac flash began forming from my hollow-hole, now darting out towards the golden-arc.

Naturally, it blasted straight through it, engulfing it entirely, still hurtling towards the Soul-Reaper.

"Huh?!" Ashido said in shock as I dashed across the wasteland, utilizing as little steps as possible with sonido.

For having only been capable of such for a couple hours, I was relatively pleased with myself. It still felt like something was lacking, but utilizing these powers felt second nature to me, oddly.

Dropping Ashido to the floor once more, I threw his Zanpakutō back to him, landing neatly on his lap.

"Stop with the attacks, please. I seriously just want to know what's going on here."