This monster broke my Bankai like it was nothing… Matsumoto, Hinamori, Hisagi, Iba and Me, it plowed through us like we weren't even there…I haven't chalked up a win against these Arrancar yet…Shit, I'm about to die and this is what I'm concerned about?

What's that screaming I hear? Is that… Moll?

A bright flash appeared in Joel's blurry vision and he wearily brought around to see that Moll had fired a tremendous blast of lightning, probably her specialty, Raikoho and that had blasted Allon before it could complete the Cero that was to end Joel's existence, but it had clearly taken a toll on her, and it was all like slow motion for Joel, who could see that her arms were bloody, and the bones were clearly broken… but how, she hadn't taken a hit

She's going to die here… we're all going to die here…why did I let Renji, Layne and Ichigo go after Orihime… now we're all going to die…

Joel exhaled, giving up the fight and letting the incredible weight of his eyelids take over, sinking into the darkness

Can you hear it?

Joel frowned, he recognized the rocky slopes of his inner world as soon as he saw it, appropriately Joel's inner world resembled a flat out cropping on the side of a snowy mountain, and right now the wind was howling, blowing stones and snow around, forcing Joel to shield his face with his arms as he bellowed into the wind angrily

"Riku! I don't have time for this!"

Can you see it?

Joel whirled around; sensing that Riku's voice was coming from directly behind him, but what he saw wasn't the black coated and hooded form that normally characterized his zanpakuto spirit… what he saw was something else entirely

You should get it… or you'll regret it

Joel approached the object, the hurricane slowing down the closer he got to it until he was standing right in front of it, and the wind died completely

"What…is this?"

Never give up so easy

Moll screeched her frustration as Allon slowly trod over to her, she'd saved Joel from being incinerated, but at the cost of her arms and one of her legs, and she could only watch helplessly as the seemingly mindless beast abandoned Joel and went to deal with the new threat… who wasn't much of a threat anymore

Above, Apache, Mila Rose and Sun Sun watched the scene below with mirth in their faces

"You're the most pathetic one of the lot Shinigami?! One and done?! Really?!"

Moll ignored them and looked up at her death approaching and growled in defiance

"Do your goddamned worst you big. dumb. fucking. monster."

Before Allon could make good on that clear invitation, it was suddenly flung through the air, to the amazement of nearly all the spectators

"What the fuck?" Apache shouted, "What happened to Allon?"

Joel stepped out of the dust cloud that had been created by Allon's impact on the ground, flexing what looked like his bare arms, cracking his knuckles and wrists

"I was ashamed… I was going to die meaninglessly, incinerated by a damn chupacabra… and as I gave up, my Zanpakuto appeared to me, I remembered Renji, Ichigo and Layne… and the time the four of us spent attempting to achieve Bankai… Those guys don't seem to feel the shame of failure, there's no shame in being what they are, they just find ways to get stronger…and I thought…maybe I can find a way to raise the bar as well, and just like that… I had a tectonic shift"

Joel looked behind him to see that Allon had recovered and was aiming a punch down at him

"Sometimes rocks change form, incredible amounts of heat and pressure change their form, shale becomes slate, sandstone becomes quartz… it's been incredibly naïve of us to think that the Bankai we've only had access too for the last year or so would be anywhere near as strong as one that's been worked with for hundreds of years…it's funny… I thought Renji and I were the strongest Lieutenants, but I think that's wrong now…I only barely stopped your punch last time…but I guess you might have been holding back… let's find out… this is my brand new Fist of the Mountain!"

Joel's arm had changed, whereas before Fist of the Mountain was an armored shell, a carapace that encased and protected his arm, the skin on his left had changed colour and texture, becoming dark grey and rocky, like a mountain on the horizon

"Ascending: Kilimanjaro"

Joel's punch impacted Allon's clenched fist and not only stopped it like before, but destroyed it, the single impact passing through the arm and annihilating it completely, the shock far too much for the limb to handle

"Fuck… shouldn't have hit it as hard as I could" Joel said through gritted teeth, as blood began to leak from the joints of his arm, which was now hanging uselessly by his side "After all that talk about changing and becoming more powerful…shit…I guess I'm no better than that lazy shit after all… what do you think…monster?"

Joel turned to look at Allon, whose destroyed arm had regenerated while Joel had been distracted with his injury, and was now aiming yet another punch at him

"Oh… fuck off"

Before Allon could finally end Joel's existence a hole appeared in its chest… where a heart would have been in a normal individual

"Making the Head Captain come out… what a pitiful set of Lieutenants"

Joel gritted his teeth and bowed his head

"I apologize…Head Captain"

"That won't do at all… if you have the time to bow your head and apologize… shouldn't you be focusing on the enemy?"

Joel took the rebuke on the chin, and it hurt more than he anticipated… the Head Captain was right, his right arm was useless, but he still had a left arm, two legs and most importantly his zanpakuto… he could still fight… he stood up, swaying unsteadily on his feet as his useless arm flapped uselessly at his side

"I apologize…"

Joel was cut off by Allon, who was holding its hand over the missing chunk of its chest, which was bleeding incredibly, unlike the previous wound that Joel had created, which had regenerated almost immediately

Allon began making strange noises of discontent, that started with a low rumbling, but increased in frequency and volume until the sound was deafening, and having a physical effect on the environment, breaking off chunks of building, tossing debris around and knocking Joel, his stance already unsteady, right to the ground.

"It would seem" Yamamoto said calmly "That the punishment I gave him was not enough"

"You're really beat up" Moll commented idly, looking down at Joel while she worked on his arm "It's going to take me forever to patch you up, why would you go and do this to yourself"

"You could say thank you" Joel replied "You would have been crushed if I hadn't gotten in the way"

"Why would I thank you? The Head Captain would have saved us, then you wouldn't have gotten so injured and I could help Kira with everyone else"

"Are you so sure?" Joel asked "He could have stepped in at any point… he didn't until I was about to die"

"That's my point Joel, he intervened at the very last second, when you were literally about to die, while there was still a chance he held back"

Joel was silent

"Relax, I'm going to get you patched up… and back in this fight, but if you die and leave me alone for real… I'm never going to forgive you"

Joel turned to look at her and smiled weakly

"Look, I know you can't live without me, so I'm going to survive this, no matter what"

"Good" Moll replied absentmindedly, her thoughts completely focused on mending Joel's arm, destroyed by the rebound from his own technique

"And listen Moll… thank you"

"For what? This is my job dickhead, plus if you died here Nemu would be out to get me... and i don't need that in my life, not again"

"Yeah, I guess not"

Moll shook her head and resumed patching Joel up, muttering darkly to herself about the stupid gung-ho attitude that appeared to be infecting everyone around her

Harribel's three Fraccion all charged Yamamoto in a rage, having watched powerlessly, as Yamamoto had effortlessly dispatched Allon

"To challenge me with only one arm, the spirit you all have is quite something" Yamamoto remarked calmly, not even sparing the three of them a glance as the very air around him ignited and combusted, the flames engulfing Apache, Mila Rose and Sun Sun, scorching their skin and sending them to the ground, completely unconscious

"Out of respect for that spirit, I shall let you off with only those burns"

"Goddammit!" Layne shouted out, his frustration echoing across the room

"Subject: Layne Trell appears to be easily thrown off balance, Aizen-sama's choice of myself as his opponent was clearly psychological in nature, revelation about our similarities in facial features has induced recklessness and confusion, disappointing overall, previous observations of subjects martial and mental prowess have not been replicated, possible conclusion is that subject was never worth the time spent observing it, previous manifestations of competence brought about by unexplained outside influences"

Visera spoke clinically, clearly into some strange device that was recording his observations and verbal notes for later use, which only served to enrage Layne even further… this thing, it seemed to be his exact clone, speaking in his voice calmly about his faults… and most frustrating of all, it was right, Layne was so blinded with rage and confusion that he almost couldn't see straight, he was just taking wild slashes at Visera that were dodged easily, shouting incoherently, essentially telegraphing his moves… Visera was right, in this state Layne might as well be an angry toddler to Visera's Jedi master

But it didn't matter, Layne had intercepted Visera before he could stop Ichigo, and Orihime was well on the way to being rescued, Mollow had been dealt with, no one else in Layne's party had died… if this was the end of the line… it wouldn't be the worst note to end on

"Subject appears to be tiring out, movements are slowing… perhaps all information that can be gleaned has been"

Visera suddenly appeared in front of him, fingers pointed directly at Layne's chest, with the familiar feel of a cero rising

"Shit"

Visera let the cero fly and it impacted Layne directly in the chest, shooting him flying backwards through two layers of hardened stone where he was buried in the rubble

"Though it irks me to admit this, assertions by Subject's fraternal relation that Subject "Ain't worth shit" appear to have been correct, I only mention this as a reminder to future scientists that despite personal dislike of an information source, the sources might in fact have accurate information"

Layne sat up in the rubble and shook his head as Ichigo's reiatsu washed over him and Visera

Yeah…I see where I've fucked up now… and what this bastard is doing

Layne picked himself up off the floor and staggered towards the room Visera's cero had unceremoniously ejected him from, clutching a piece of rubble he'd pulled himself out of in his left hand, both of his zanpakuto left behind

"Subject appears to have abandoned all reason, and weaponry, is the intent to beat me to death with a rock?"

"Nah" Layne replied, sounding noticeably calmer than he had before "This is for me"

Layne smashed the rubble against his forehead which left him bleeding where the rock had impacted his head, and he continued to speak as the mixture of crumbled stone, dust and blood slipped through his fingers and away from his forehead

"I know exactly what happens when I get angry, I've been there, I've done that, and every time I try not to go back something happens to drag me right back down, I think I can just give up and fade away and everything will turn out fine… not this time, we all walked into this hell hole and we're all walking out"

"Subject is now rambling incoherently after assaulting himself with a rock" Visera continued to note impassively, watching what appeared to be Layne's clear descent into madness with nothing more than the equivalent to a note on a clipboard

Layne looked down at the huge hole that Visera had burned through his shirt, it was like a perfect circle, and underneath looked like he'd hit by a bean bag round from a shotgun, an incredible bruise beginning to form, changing the colour of Layne's skin from a pale white into shades of purple and yellow

"Aww man, you ruined my shirt, I have to buy these things dammit… ah well"

Layne laughed and summoned Oblivion and Oathkeeper to his hands and narrowed his eyes at Visera

"I don't care about why you have my face, or why you're taking this about as seriously as a high school titration experiment…. But what I would like to know"

Layne paused briefly to hurl Oblivion at Visera, who sidestepped it easily

"One… where's your zanpakuto" Layne asked, summoning Oblivion back, where it appeared in his right hand after a slight delay

"And two… why is time moving slower for me than it is for you" Layne asked quizzically

"Log, retract previous statements regarding Subjects competence, Subject has matched expectations after all"

"I'd say that it's about damn time that you decided to respect me, but my name isn't Subject… My name is Layne"

Layne steadied his breathing and prepared to flashstep in another effort to get behind Visera, but was interrupted by the roof collapsing downwards, causing both of them to leap backwards to avoid getting caught in the collapsing rubble and the gigantic Arrancar it brought with it

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

Yammy's shouts only barely scratched the surface of the rage encompassing him

"THAT FUCKING FOUR EYED BASTARD! I'M NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE HIM!"

Layne recognized the voice and the reiatsu, but when he'd saved Ichigo from this one and then gotten the shit kicked out of him for his troubles, he'd only been standing about a head taller than Layne himself… now the Yammy's gigantic bulk looked down on him, screaming incoherently about Ishida,

"Visera!, I'm taking this one!" he screeched, barreling his head down and charging at Layne

Layne steadied his stance and prepared to take Yammy head on

"Yammy, this one is mine" Visera said simply appearing next to Layne, and giving Layne a look that he would realize later as a similar one that had exasperated Joel and Moll for years

"Are we really doing this?" Layne growled

"This brute is interrupted my research, and I can't possibly imagine that you wish to fight us both one after the other" Visera replied as the two of them readied themselves for Yammy, who was just about to collide with them

"Now Yammy… Vanish" Visera told him

"Fuck off" Layne added

The two of them combined their attacks, Layne's Rain and an invisible force from Visera and they slammed into Yammy's side, blasting him through one of the walls of the room, taking the vast majority of it with him as he exited violently, and fell down the side of the tower, bellowing threats and insults at the two of them in his rage as he fell towards the ground of Hueco Mundo

"We appear to work quite well together… Layne Trell" Visera commented idly, as they wanted Yammy fall

"Don't even try it" Layne replied irritably "That was a temporary alliance of convenience, I'm going to defeat you…wait you just called me Layne, have I finally earned your respect?"

"Not in the slightest" Visera replied "You are simply no longer only a research subject… now you might possibly pose a threat, and are worth eliminating before you can pose that threat"

"That's good enough for me" Layne replied, as the two of them sprang apart

"Did you know, Layne Trell, that Aizen-sama has taken quite the interest in you and your compatriot, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Layne remained silent, noting that the question was very obviously rhetorical

"His interest has progressed to the point that he created an entirely new subdivision of Espada, and ranked us alongside the current ones"

Visera removed the white glove on his left hand to reveal the number 4 tattooed to the back of it

"Strangely however, the only two members of the Auxilar Espada have been related to you in some way, and those are the only two of the Espada that Aizen-sama intended you to fight, I would like to know why you are so important Aizen-sama… however, I do not believe you know, and as such believe that I am going to have to dissect you and your soul to find out"

Visera withdrew a zanpakuto from nowhere and held it in front of him, pointing directly at Layne, who was waiting for the other shoe to drop, both of his earlier questions regarding Visera's abilities having been answered by the appearance of his Zanpakuto, and with it, the subtle removal of the time dilation effect that Layne had been under.

"There are rules against Espada of Cuatro Rank and above releasing their Zanpakuto beneath the dome of Las Noches… however, I am a member of the Auxilar Espada, and therefore have no such restrictions placed upon me

"Improve, Eterno"