So that's it. Hitsugaya realized. He hadn't busted free of my ice prison. He melted it. But…how? The temperatures needed to melt my ice would be extremely high. Too hot for any life to withstand. What are we up against?
Hitsugaya tried to freeze NRG again, but NRG merely melted the ice. Frustrated, Hitsugaya unleashed a gigantic boulder of ice at his opponent. But just as the ice boulder came near him, NRG fired a blast of energy from the vent opening in his head piece. The energy stuck the ice boulder. Instead of exploding like everyone expected, the ice boulder melted. Hitsugaya grunted in frustration.
"I can't believe it," Matsumoto said. "My Taichou's powers. This guy's shaking them off like nothing."
Yumichika found himself sweating and it was not because of any heat. "This guy can fight toe to toe with a Captain. And he's not even an Arrancar."
Ikkaku, who overheard them, narrowed his eyes at NRG. "Then what exactly is he?"
The battle continued on. While Hitsugaya was the faster of the two, it did him little good here. No matter what he tried, his ice powers had no effect on NRG. They always got melted. Even some of his stronger moves could not contain that walking tin can for very long.
I think I've seen enough to figure out what this guy is. Hitsugaya thought as he did another futile ice attack. Whoever this guy is, he's some kind of shape-shifter the likes of which no one has ever seen. Each form he uses has different names and powers. The first one, Rath, seemed a pure combat form, relying on animal instinct and brute force. The second, ChromaStone, had some kind of energy or light based powers. And no doubt its rock body makes it extremely durable.
This form here, I believe it was called NRG, seems to have powers based around heat. He's making his armor so hot that he can melt my ice, as well as shooting beams of intense heat. As much as I'd hate to say it, I'm no use here. My powers are helpless against him in this form.
Hitsugaya then decided to use a sword attack. The blow was enough to send NRG flying. But when Hitsugaya got to where his foe had landed, he saw that NRG didn't even has a much as a dent on his body. Now that was impressive. What kind of armor could withstand the power of a Captain's Zanpakuto?
"We'll help you, Taichou!" Matsumoto yelled. She and Yumichika shot forward at NRG. Matsumoto tried to use her ash attack while Yumichika tried to cut NRG's armor with his blades. The ashes scattered harmlessly and Yumichika's blades all shattered upon contact. The two fighters looked at NRG in horror. He was taking anything they could throw at him. They only had one option left. Kido.
Matsumoto raised her hands to perform the spell, but NRG saw it coming. He fired a mild energy blast. It was low enough so it wouldn't be lethal, but it would sure pack a punch. Matsumoto quickly dodged out of the way and prepared to do the binding spell again.
But at that moment, an opening in the sky came. It was a Garaganta. Before NRG could say anything he was caught in a golden beam of light that formed some kind of cube around him. He noticed that Yammy, and Wonderweiss were there as well.
"A Negacion!" Hitsugaya cried.
Ben remembered Tosen telling him about Negacion, which meant they were being called back to Hueco Mundo. But why? Were they done fighting? Did Aizen need them for something?
But NRG's thoughts were interrupted by Yammy yelling at Hitsugaya, vowing that the two of them would fight again and that he would make him suffer for it. So instead, NRG merely looked down at the four Shinigami next to him. They were looking up at him in wonder and confusion. NRG waited until they were back in the Garaganta before changing back to normal. In the excitement, he had failed to notice that Grimmjow was not among them.
Soon, they were back in Aizen's throne room. Aizen smiled at the four of them.
"Welcome back," He said to them. "How as your trip?"
Yammy shouted, "That Captain couldn't even lay a scratch on Ben."
The other Esapda, who were present, began to talk amongst themselves. Ben had not only battled a Captain but came out unscathed?
"Is this true, Ben?" Aizen said, very interested. "You battled Captain Hitsugaya without a single wound."
"He did knock me for a loop once," Ben admitted. "But he had ice powers, so I simply used NRG on him."
Nnoitra hissed when he heard that name. NRG was the form that burned his back. He hated that form almost as much as Way Big.
"And you want to know what else?" Yammy asked everyone present. "He tried reasoning with the Shinigami."
Ben was aware that all the eyes in the room were definitely on him.
"Really?" Aizen asked as if amused.
"We don't need to kill them," Ben said. "That's not gonna help anyone. Countless people are just going to die unless we do something."
"Ben," Tosen said to him. "I understand you, but the Shinigami are far too corrupted and evil to reason with. It would be best if they were wiped out from existence."
"No!" Ben yelled. "No species deserves to be destroyed no matter how bad they seem."
"You would allow a world where evil existed, Ben?" Tosen asked. "Where innocent people will lose all they have while the wicked take anything they want."
"I don't care about evil or angels, I only care about myself, and from today's fight, I don't believe them to be completely evil.
"What about us then, Ben Tennyson?" Zommari cried out. "The Shinigami persecute us for no reason! What right do they have?"
"They don't have a right, either!" Ben said sternly. "But if you just go around killing them, you'll be no different than they are."
A comment with a sting. Most of the Espada were outraged by Ben's comment. Finally, Baraggan snapped. He appeared in front of Ben and backhanded him, sending Ben crashing down the stairs of the throne room.
"How dare you speak such blasphemy?" Baraggan yelled. "You will be…"
But at that moment, Baraggan yelled in pain. He was clutching his now bleeding side. Harribel stood in front of the stairs. Her sword was unsheathed and pointed right at Baraggan. Baraggan's blood was dripping from her sword. Although her face was covered, all could see the raw fury in her eyes.
"I warned all of you to never harm any of my Fraccion," she said in a quiet voice that made you think of the calm before the storm. "That includes Ben."
"You would defend him?" Baraggan roared in outrage. "You would defend a worthless human?"
"He is not worthless, Baraggan," Harribel said coldly. "In fact, the only worthless one I see in this room is you."
Baraggan was past his breaking point. He was about to attack Harribel when suddenly he was blasted by a crushing power. Aizen was using his reiatsu.
"Baraggan," he said in a quiet voice similar to Harribel's own. "Harribel is not the only one who warned you not to harm Ben. I too made it clear that anyone who harmed him would be punished."
"He is a worthless human!" Baraggan roared, seemingly overcome with madness. "He doesn't deserve to exist!"
Aizen looked at Baraggan coldly. "Harribel. You may tend to Ben. I will deal with Baraggan."
Harribel bowed. "Thank you, Aizen-sama."
Harribel walked rapidly down the stairs, where Ben had gotten up and rubbed his head. His forehead was bleeding. And his body was slightly bruised and sore from falling down the stairs. While Ben had fallen down worse, both as his normal self or his aliens, it still hurt plenty.
"It's okay, Ben," Harribel said in a gentle voice, making Ben do a double take. "We're leaving."
-------
Not saying anything, Ben followed Harribel out of the room. She led him down the hall and in almost an instant, they were at her chambers. They went inside where Harribel's Fraccion and Nel. At first, they were all excited to see Ben, but freaked out when they saw the blood.
"What happened?" Apache nearly shrieked.
"Who did it, Ben?" Mila-Rose asked, rubbing her hand gently on Ben's head. This action caused Apache, Sun-Sun, and Nel to glare at her.
"Baraggan," Harribel said coldly.
"That jerk!" Apache yelled. "He's just jealous cause Ben's better than he is."
"The old wuss never liked Ben from day one," Mila-Rose agreed.
"He didn't want to accept the fact that Ben is more valuable than he will ever be," Sun-Sun said.
Nel on the other hand, jumped up and grabbed Ben by the collar.
"Don't die, Ben!" she cried, while shaking Ben's head back and forward. "Please don't die!"
Ben groaned, the shaking giving him a headache. "I'm not gonna die, Nel," he reassured her. "Just a little sore that's all."
Nel looked up at Ben with what seemed to be a blush on her cheeks. "Tell Nel where it hurts." She said firmly.
Raising an eyebrow, Ben pointed to his bleeding forehead. Without warning, Nel jumped up and planted a big wet kiss on his forehead. Everyone, except Harribel, stared at Nel in shock.
"Kisses make everything better," Nel replied cutely.
Ben could only smile sheepishly as he patted Nel's head. If he had been paying attention, he would've know his Ultimatrix had always been giving a faint glow every time he was near or came in contact with Nel. But Ben wasn't paying attention, and so he didn't give it any mind.
"Um, Ben," Apache said. What surprised Ben was the fact that she actually sounded nervous.
"Er, yes?" he asked.
"Is there anywhere else that it hurts?"
Eyes wide, Ben slowly and nervously pointed to the one of his bruises. Apache bent forward and kissed the bruise gently.
Suddenly, Mila-Rose leaped up, shoved Apache aside, and kissed another of Ben's bruises rather roughly. And then Sun-Sun got up, slithered past Mila-Rose and grabbed Ben's head gently. She then brought her face slowly to Ben in an attempt to kiss his lips.
"Get away from him!" Nel yelled, head-butting Sun-Sun before she could kiss Ben. "You can't have Ben!"
"Oh, like you could?" Apache shot back.
"Girls," Harribel said sternly. "I do not appreciate you using Ben's injuries to take advantage of him. Such an act is shameful."
"It's okay," Ben said to them, he didn't care about this, he was just angry about Baraggan.
Meanwhile, all four girls looked at the ground in shame.
"Sowy, Ben," Nel sniffed.
"That was wrong of us," Apache muttered.
"Completely inappropriate," Mila-Rose mumbled.
"Forgive us for our actions," Sun-Sun practically whispered. "We would never do anything to hurt you."
"Girls," Harribel said. "Ben needs rest and recovery. I believe it will be best if all of you leave."
Hanging their heads in shame, the four girls gave one last apology to Ben before they left the room quietly. After they had gone, Harribel set Ben down on one of the beds gently.
"I am sorry for my Fraccion's behavior," she told him softly. She could see that he was still rather embarrassed by the whole thing.
"It's okay," Ben managed to mumble. After a while, he felt able to relax. Harribel left and returned shortly with medical supplies. She began tending to Ben's wounds. Then came when she needed to remove his shirt.
But Ben and Harribel were aware that they were being watched. They looked at the door to see Nel peaking. She was glaring at Harribel for touching Ben like that.
Ben sighed. There was no way out of this. "Okay, Nel," he said. "You can come in."
No sooner had he said that did Nel dashed into the room, leap onto the bed, and put her arms around Ben as best she could. She was still glaring at Harribel.
"Ben's Nel's," she said firmly to Harribel. "You can't have him."
Ben groaned and rolled his eyes. He knew little sisters could get jealous at times, but this was taking it a little too far