25 Shut it, wolfie.

Please read the comment pinned to this paragraph before reading the chapter!

Chapter Twenty Five. (Edited by CDoggo: Heyyo! There's a good chance I'm going to be drumming or practicing guitar when this chap comes out so no comment from me for today :p Enjoy!)

''We need to hurry…'' Yoruichi's words got caught in her throat, both of them feeling the very same thing, a familiar spiritual pressure assaulting their senses.

Out of nowhere, a massive blast of spiritual energy sprayed out into a pillar that reached the sky. Two people that were previously at the area of origin snapped their heads towards the beam.

''That is…'' Ichigo muttered, though he kept running away despite the incredible amounts of pressure he felt pushing down on his shoulders. ''... Now I feel a little better about leaving him alone.''

This was not the first time Ichigo had felt his friend going all out, but even when compared to the last time he had fought a captain, it somehow felt different. The huge amounts of spiritual pressure that he was releasing had an overall different feeling to them.

''It's only natural.'' Yoruichi replied while looking back towards the scene, the two of them still moving at incredible speeds while holding their conversation. ''The size of his spiritual pressure didn't change that much, however, the feeling of a shinigami's reiatsu is different from one of a human.''

''Is that so?'' Ichigo spoke with a curious tone, quickening his pace as he talked to the woman. ''Then it's up to us to save Rukia, let's hurry.''

. . .

''... That just means I won't be able to contain myself.'' His words echoed in their soon to be battlefield, waves of energy dancing around him, moving the debris that blocked his path towards the captain.

[Hidden quest obtained:

Meet Sajin Komamura.

Reward: 250 I.P]

[Hidden quest obtained:

Meet Tetsuzaemon Iba.

Reward: 150 I.P]

'Huh.' Kuromiya thought in mild surprise, he had almost considered that the system just didn't feel like giving him a quest for his current predicament. 'What's up with you? It has been a while since i have heard something from you.'

[It's not because I don't want to, mind you.] His system replied with an annoyed tone inside his mind. [That stupid zanpakuto spirit of yours is preventing me from talking to you!]

'... Come again?' He raised his eyebrows at that, unsure on what to make of that statement. 'That's impossible, no matter how excentric he's, he wouldn't do that without a reason.'

[Don't ask me, ask him!] The system replied, and went completely quiet after those last words.

[Side quest obtained:

Defeat the furry.

Reward for forcing him to use bankai: 2000 I.P

Reward for defeating him: 3000 I.P]

Shaking his head, he decided it was best for him to keep his head in the matter at hand, it wasn't the time to be thinking about some childish squabble between his zanpakuto and his system.

Manipulating the souls in the ground with his fullbringer powers, he prepared himself to cast a single step of Bringer Light, meant to cover the more than a hundred meters that separated him from his opponents. Green light surrounded his feet, and a blink later he was gone from the spot.

His figure reappeared next to his enemies, the lieutenant being completely unable to follow his movements until he was right next to them.

''That was a nice strike, captain-san.'' Kuromiya complimented, the force behind it had been far more than what he had expected. ''So, care to try again?''

He had yet to determine if the captain had deactivated his shikai, after all although he wasn't able to see the giant sword anymore, that didn't mean his zanpakuto release was deactivated.

''Iba.'' Komamura started, the amount of spiritual pressure that his opponent released was enough to make him understand that his lieutenant was outmatched. ''I know this might be difficult, but you need to let me handle things here.''

''Captain…'' Tetsuzaemon Iba knew well what his captain meant, but it still hurt to hear it nonetheless. Truth be told he had been unable to track the movements from the kid in front of them, so he would only prove to be a nuisance if he fought alongside his superior.

''He's not leaving though.'' Kuromiya was close enough to be able to hear their conversation, and he wasn't about to allow either of them to chase his friends. Making sure to make his point clear, he pointed with his zanpakuto at them and covered it with his reiatsu. ''I don't care much about honor, so I don't have a problem with attacking a man with his back turned.''

''... That's unfortunate.'' The wolf-man frowned at their opponent, mimicking his enemy's moves and rising his sword to the same level. ''It seems I was wrong in expecting some kind of etiquette from an intruder.''

''I won't be lectured in etiquette by a dude who is too scared to show his face to his opponent.'' Kuromiya argued back, he knew fully well that Komamura had a sore spot regarding his appearance, so it would serve to annoy the man and hopefully push him to make a mistake.

This seemed to be enough to push the captain into attacking, since the man raised his sword in the air and slashed downwards, though the distance between them was too long for the strike to actually land on him.

'And that means…' The teenager looked upwards, noticing the massive shadow of the immense giant's sword threatening to crush him. 'His Tenken is still active, then.'

He wasn't concerned in the slightest though, using Bringer Light to dodge the sword rather than attempting to match the strike like he had done before.

Blinking out of existence, the pale boy appeared behind the captain, who was still in the middle of performing that one giant slash at nothing but thin air. Kuromiya's blade thrusted at the captain's back, with the full intention of impaling the man with this one hit alone.

''Not happening!'' Much to his surprise, his slash was blocked by the lieutenant, who he had considered a nonfactor in their battle.

Unfortunately for Tetsuzaemon, the strength behind the blow proved to be too much for him to handle, cracks appearing in his blade as he was launched straight into a wall.

''Tch.'' Kuromiya clicked his tongue in annoyance, jumping out of the way just in time to dodge yet another slash coming from the captain, who had finally managed to launch a counter attack thanks to the help of his lieutenant.

The ground shattered when the colossal zanpakuto reached it, breaking it into a huge crater-like hole that extended for more than twenty meters in every direction.

'Well, I'm not getting a chance like that again.' Kuromiya thought, frowning as the captain managed to escape from what would have been a fatal blow, which slightly pissed him off. 'Still, this was enough to get some information.'

The previous attack had shown him that Komamura was unable to cancel his 'Tenken' immediately, which meant that after he launched an attack he would be forced to carry on with the hit for at least a fraction of a second.

With the momentum of his backwards jump still pushing him away from the captain, Kuromiya shifted his gaze towards the form of the still fallen lieutenant, who seemed to be struggling to stand on his feet after tanking his sword slash.

He was fighting two against one, so it was fair game to attack the weaker one and use him as a distraction. With that in mind, he pointed with his index and middle finger towards the fallen man and prepared himself to launch his favorite Hadō technique.

''Hadō #4. Byakurai.'' Before the sound of his words could even reach their ears, the bolt of lighting was released from the tip of his fingers, closing the distance between the unaware Iba before he could react.

However, there was a certain someone who managed to react to it, that person being Komamura himself who had recognized the technique that the kid was about to perform, and the wolf-man understood perfectly well that his second in command wouldn't be able to dodge the hit.

Even before the attack had been launched, Komamura had already flash stepped in front of Tetsuzaemon, raising his left arm to block the attack.

It all happened in an instant, the bolt of lightning clashing against the man's metal glove and piercing into it, the white energy managing to pierce the glove and starting to make it's way through his arm, though it eventually stopped due to a lack of force.

There was now a new massive gaping hole in the captain's palm, the metal on his glove heating up to extremely high temperatures, not to the point of melting however.

Small amounts of blood seeped out of the wound, though most of it boiled and evaporated, the remaining blood painted his black charred flesh crimson.

Despite drawing the first blood, Kuromiya wasn't about to stop there and with that in mind he vanished in mid-air yet again, using Bringer Light to reappear above the injured captain and slashing at his head.

Komamura growled, an animalistic sound leaving his mouth as the man met the strike with his own sword, blocking it just when the slash reached his giant helmet.

The wolf-man wasn't a captain for nothing, and despite him being unable to feel his left palm at all, he moved his injured arm and summoned his 'Tenken', a giant armored hand appearing out of thin air. The gigantic arm slapped at Kuromiya before he could make an attempt to dodge, shooting him across the whole battlefield, smashing him deep into the ground.

''That kid...'' Komamura frowned, watching pieces of his helmet falling down to the ground. The sword of his enemy had managed to graze his helmet, and that alone was enough to make it break it down to pieces, revealing his animal facial features to the world.

''Captain! I'm sorry!'' His lieutenant bowed at him, an ashamed look on his face for forcing his captain to take such an attack. ''If I wasn't here…''

''If it wasn't for you he would have pierced me with his first attack.'' Komamura reminded Iba, it had been his subordinate who had saved him from that attack after all. ''Besides it's my fault, I should have expected him to use kido.''

More than forty meters away from them, Kuromiya was buried deep into the ground with his own left arm trembling from receiving the blow.

''Damn it, I didn't expect him to use his injured arm.'' He hissed in pain as he felt a pool of blood falling from his ruined left arm. He had attempted to block the attack with it, but of course the amount of strength behind the blow was more than what he could handle. ''... Whatever, I'll just wrap this up before another captain gets here.''

His tattoo around his neck started shining, green light illuminating the darkness that surrounded him as he got out of the hole in the ground. A few seconds later his necklace manifested out of the tattoo, uttering a single word.

''Bookmark.''

. . .

''I can't tell who's winning.'' Ichigo broke the silence that had lasted ever since they had left Kuromiya behind, voicing his concerns. His frown deepened, accelerating even further as they reached the main stars. ''How much longer until we get there, Yoruichi?''

''There should be some buildings after these stairs.'' She replied back, her gaze landing on the stairs as both of them flash stepped, covering a huge portion of the stairs in one single movement. ''Once we get past them, we will reach the senzaikyu.''

The ground shook under their feet, more than likely the result of one of Komamura's strikes that could be felt even from that distance.

''Let's hurry up, then.'' Ichigo told her, both of them nodding at each other with the full intention of rescuing Rukia and helping Kuromiya with his battle.

It took them several more flash steps to reach the end of the stairs, but eventually both of them managed to reach the end of it, and the very instant they did, an overwhelming spiritual pressure fell upon their shoulders.

''This feeling…'' Yoruichi recognized the spiritual pressure in an instant, cursing under her breath in frustration. ''It's Kenpachi Zaraki.''

''But I thought Kuromiya beat his ass! He shouldn't be here!'' Ichigo told the woman next to him, feeling his body almost succumbing to the reiatsu that surrounded them.

''He was waiting for us.'' Yoruichi replied, realizing that the man had likely disregarded his own health and waited for them to arrive. ''Listen Ichigo, we need to run and…''

Shooting down from the top of a ten-story building a shadow-like figure approached them, breaking the ground in front of them upon making contact with it.

''Huh? He isn't here?'' Zaraki noted, walking out of the crater he had created from his fall. His lone eye scanned the two intruders, smiling as he realized what was going on. ''He must be the one fighting Komamura.''

''Oh well.'' Kenpachi smirked, there was no doubt in his mind that someone like Komamura would be unable to beat him. ''... I guess you two will have to entertain me until he beats him, then!''

. . .

Both Komamura and Kuromiya faced each other, Bookmark now activated as both of them prepared themselves for yet another sword clash.

Just when the teenager was about to make his twelfth attack, Zaraki's spiritual pressure reached them, making both of them turn their gaze towards the senzaikyu.

''You look calm considering just who that person is.'' Komamura noted, his two yellow eyes now landing on his unfazed opponent. ''Is it perhaps that you don't care about them? Or do you really think your friends can beat that man?''

''Shut it, wolfie.'' Kuromiya interrupted, not caring one bit for whatever the man had to say about him. Pointing with his zanpakuto at the wolf-man, a smug smirk adorned his face while uttering his next words. ''That man is Kenpachi Zaraki, isn't he? If so, then he's still injured from our last fight, my friends can deal with him.''

It might have seemed like he was wasting his thirty seconds, but for the plan he had in mind, the boy needed to time his attack right before Bookmark was over, so wasting time with the conversation benefited him.

''... I see.'' Komamura's tone lowered as he heard that, a dangerous red aura covering him while his spiritual pressure skyrocketed. ''I'm afraid i can't hold back if that's the case.''

Raising his sword in the air, the beast-like man growled as he gathered his reiatsu on his zanpakuto, with one last word leaving his mouth.

''Bankai.''

End of chapter twenty five.