The Arena of Sand

Tatsuki and Uryu retract their hands from the middle and run into their respective hallway. They continue to run, but find nothing suspicious or threatening. They hear someone screaming and stop in the middle of the hallway. They turn around and see Pesshe running towards them. Tatsuki punches him in the stomach to stop him from moving.

"What the hell was that for?" asked Pesshe.

"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be taking care of Nel?" asked Tatsuki.

"I am, but I can't find her. She ran after those two guys and we don't know where they are," said Pesshe.

"Why don't you just go back to the corridor?" asked Uryu.

"I don't know where it's at," said Pesshe.

"It's back that way. How can you not know where it's at?" said Tatsuki annoyingly.

"Just help me find Nel. She's probably terrified without me being there," said Pesshe.

"Fine. Just don't get in our way. There could be Espada near," said Uryu.

"Ok. I'm the best person at not getting in the way," said Pesshe.

"For some reason, I don't trust that," said Tatsuki.

Tatsuki, Pesshe, and Uryu start to run through the hallway. They continue to run until they reach a room full of large, thick red pillars.

"Why would a room need this many pillars?" asked Tatsuki.

"I don't know, but this just looks suspicious," said Uryu.

"What are you weaklings doing here!" exclaimed the Arrancar.

The three "teammates" look and see an Arrancar standing on top of one of the red poles.

"What did you just say?" asked Tatsuki.

"Are you weaklings deaf or something! This isn't a place for bums!" exclaimed the Arrancar.

"You're a cocky one, aren't you? When my fist meets your face, I'll show you who the weakling is," said Tatsuki.

"The name's Cirucci Sanderwicci. Remember that because it's the name of the person who will kill you," said Cirucci.

"Ladies. Ladies. Ladies. There's no need to fight. We can just talk this out," said Pesshe.

"Shut and follow my lead. Estranged Olympian," said Tatsuki.

Tatsuki activates her special ability and immediately launches herself towards the Arrancar. The Arrancar pulls out a whip and smacks her away with it. Tatsuki flies into a pillar.

"Her weapon is a whip. Interesting," said Uryu.

Uryu sticks out his hand and his reishi bow appears in his hand. He shoots a few arrows at the Arrancar and she casually smacks them away with her whip. Tatsuki tries to launch herself at the Arrancar once again, but Cirucci just casually smacks her away. Tatsuki lands next to Uryu.

"Her whip is pretty strong," said Tatsuki.

"If we just use some strategy, we can easily defeat her," said Uryu.

"Defeat me? You useless bums don't stand a chance!" said Circucci.

"Quick question. Are you an Espada?" said Pesshe.

"That's not important," said Circucci.

"So, you're not an Espada?" asked Pesshe.

"I am," said Circucci.

"What's your number?" asked Tatsuki.

"It's none of your business!" exclaimed Circucci.

"I guess that we'll just leave. If you're not an Espada, there's no reason to try and fight you," said Tatsuki.

"What are you doing?" asked Uryu.

"Using her cockiness to our advantage," said Tatsuki.

"Ooooh. Smart plan," said Pesshe.

Pesshe, Tatsuki, and Uryu start to walk away. Circucci becomes visibly irritated and starts to try to whip her three opponents, but it doesn't reach.

"It's number 105," said Cirucci.

"Huh?" asked Tatsuki.

"I'm number 105 ok!" exclaimed Cirucci.

"You're way too cocky to be number 105. You probably aren't even an Espada," said Tatsuki.

"I'm a Privaron Espada," said Cirucci.

"What's that?" asked Uryu.

"I was kicked out after Lord Aizen got the Hogyoku and created a stronger version of the Espada," said Cirucci.

Pesshe, Tatsuki, and Uryu burst out laughing.

"Stop laughing at me! It isn't funny!" exclaimed Cirucci.

"It's pretty funny to us!" exclaimed Tatsuki.

As the squad continues to laugh, Cirucci is sick of it and tries to whip them. All three of them easily dodge the attack and hide behind the pillars.

"I'll show you that I'm not weak! I'll destroy all three of you!" exclaimed Cirucci.

"What do we do now?" asked Pesshe.

"Bombard her with attacks. She doesn't seem smart or strong," said Uryu.

"Ok. Let's do this," said Tatsuki.

Tatsuki and Uryu move away from their respective pillars and start to attack the Privaron Espada. Uryu starts to launch a barrage of arrows at the Privaron Espada. She whips some of the arrows away and dodges a few, but they keep on coming. She is forced to jump off the pillar that she was currently standing on. Before she can touch the ground, she looks down and sees Tatsuki standing under her. Tatsuki jumps up and kicks her through multiple pillars. Cirucci lands hard on the ground and tries to get up, but Uryu and Tatsuki stand over her.

"Now I understand why Aizen kicked you out of the Espada. You're way too weak," said Tatsuki.

"Slice them up, Golondrina!" exclaimed Cirucci.

Cirucci's spiritual pressure explodes and shocks Uryu and Tatsuki. As the smoke clears, it is revealed that Cirucci has transformed into a bird-like monster.

"I shall crush you all, but who will I slice up first! Maybe I'll start with the smug little bitch!" exclaimed Cirucci.

Cirucci tries to slice Tatsuki with her giant wing, but Tatsuki and Uryu dodge the attack. The attack destroys many pillars.

"You guys are pretty fast!" exclaimed Cirucci.

They don't respond and Uryu tries to hit the Arrancar with an arrow, but Cirucci easily blocks it with her wing.

"Your pathetic little arrows won't hurt me anymore, nerd, so just stop and die!" exclaimed Cirucci.

Cirucci darts towards the two squadmates. Tatsuki tries to kick her away, but Cirucci smacks her away with her giant wing and she flies into the wall. Cirucci tries to grab Uryu, but he uses Hirenkyaku to move out of the way.

"I should've known that you could use Shunpo. It's so annoying," said Cirucci.

"It's not called Shunpo. It's called Hirenkyaku," said Uryu.

"Same thing," said Cirucci.

"No, it's not. It's an advanced Quincy technique that took me years to master," said Uryu.

"Does it look like I care," said Cirucci.

"You better care about this!" exclaimed Tatsuki.

Cirucci turns her head and sees Tatsuki's fist next to her face. Tatsuki's face connects with Cirucci's face and Cirucci flies through a few pillars and into a wall.

"I don't go down easy. You should have already figured it out," said Tatsuki.

Cirucci responds by launching parts of her right wing at Tatsuki. Tatsuki can dodge the parts but gets cut a few times.

"This fight will last forever if we don't find a way to take her down," said Tatsuki.

"I know how we can beat her," said Uryu.

"How?" asked Tatsuki.

Uryu pulls out a sword-like object from his suit.

"This is called Seele Schneider. It is the only Quincy weapon with a blade's edge," said Uryu.

"Is it strong enough to put her down?" asked Tatsuki.

"Just watch," said Uryu.

Uryu puts his Seele Schneider into his reishi bow. He aims it at the Privaron Espada and launches it at her heart. The sword-like arrow hits the Arrancar and it falls to the ground, seemingly dead.

"Is she dead?" asked Tatsuki.

"No. I just destroyed her spirit chain. Even if she gets back up, she won't have any power to come after us. She may believe that we left her here as an insult, but I have no intention of doing it her way. Let's go," said Uryu.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing," said Tatsuki.

Back on the other side of Las Noches, Kuroi is not having an easy time getting to Orihime. The albino Espada stands above him.

"You look like you don't want to see me," said Ulquiorra.

"Where's Orihime?" asked Kuroi.

"I have no clue," said Ulquiorra.

"I knew that would be your answer. I don't even know why I asked. Let's go, Nel," said Kuroi.

Kuroi grabs Nelliel's hand and starts to walk away from the Espada.

"Where are you going?" asked Ulquiorra.

"I'm going to find Orihime," said Kuroi.

"I am your enemy. Why do you not want to fight me?" said Ulquiorra.

"You haven't hurt my friends. You may have brought Orihime here, but at least you didn't beat her up or anything," said Kuroi.

"What if I told you that she had a bra size of 36 H?" asked Ulquiorra.

Kuroi stops walking.

"What did you just say?" asked Kuroi.

"Her breasts felt so good in my hands," said Ulquiorra.

Kuroi places Nel on the ground and instantly turns around and flash steps towards Ulquiorra. Kuroi tries to slash Ulquiorra, but Ulquiorra blocks his blade with his hand.

"So, have you found a reason to fight me?" asked Ulquiorra.

"How dare you touch her!" exclaimed Kuroi.

"It's not like you can stop me from getting what I want," said Ulquiorra.

"Nel, stand back. I'll deal with this bastard," said Kuroi.

"Kuroi," said Nelliel worriedly.

Kuroi jumps into the air. He puts his hand over his face and his Hollow mask appears on it. He raises his blade and black flame circles his blade.

"Jigoku Piasa!" exclaimed Kuroi.

Kuroi brings his blade down and launches a Hollowfied Jigoku Piasa at the albino Espada. The attack makes contact and creates a huge explosion. Kuroi drops to the ground and his mask starts to crumble. Kuroi turns around to check on Nelliel, but she jumps on him.

"Nel thought that you were going to die, Kuroi! Uthing all of the power haphathardly with that beat-up body of youth. Thith ith crazineth! You can't keep doing thith! Nel wath thoooo worried! You can't do that anymore!" exclaimed Nelliel.

"I'm sorry, Nel, but we don't have time to stay here. We have to keep moving," said Kuroi.

Kuroi quickly gets up. Kuroi and Nel start to walk away until they hear someone coughing behind them. They both turn their heads and see Ulquiorra still standing.

"How are you still standing?" asked Kuroi.

"That attack was stronger than I thought. I couldn't stop it with two hands. Was that your full power? Either way, it was kind of disappointing. Now, it's my turn," said Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra starts to point at Kuroi. A beam of light starts to form on his pointer finger.

"Cero? He could kill us both. I have to get us both out of here," thought Kuroi.

Kuroi grabs Nelliel and flash steps away.

"Don't run away. Take a parting gift with you," said Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra releases the cero. Kuroi wraps himself around Nelliel and takes majority of the blow of the cero. Kuroi and Nelliel are sent flying out of the building and land in the desert. Kuroi slowly gets up and starts to flash step away. He doesn't get far before Ulquiorra appears next to him. Ulquiorra casually kicks him and he flies through a large red pillar. A few seconds pass before Ulquiorra walks up to the downed Kuroi.

"You took the majority of the damage from my cero to protect that girl. You are a hero," said Ulquiorra.

"Stop being so smug, I'm not done fighting you," said Kuroi.

Kuroi places his hand over his face and another Hollow mask appears on his face. Instead of wasting time, Ulquiorra just kicks it and breaks it.

"Surrender, soul reaper," said Ulquiorra.

"Why would I? You're probably number one, so if I beat you here, we win the battle," said Kuroi.

"That's too bad for you," said Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra rips open his burned shirt. The number four is tattooed on his chest.

"You're only number four?" asked Kuroi.

"I am Ulquiorra Cifer, Espada number four," said Ulquiorra.

"What is your partner's number?" asked Kuroi.

"10," said Ulquiorra.

"That's why he was so weak. He's the weakest Espada," said Kuroi.

"You may think that for now, but he's stronger than he looks," said Ulquiorra.

"Are we going to continue talking or are we going to fight?" asked Kuroi.

"There's no way that we're fighting. You're not strong enough to beat me," said Ulquiorra.

"Are you just going to kill me?" asked Kuroi.

"I'm not going to do that either. Orihime doesn't want me to kill you, so see this as a warning. If we do fight again, I will have to kill you. Just quit," said Ulquiorra.

"Why are you listening to her? I thought that you were only loyal to Aizen," said Kuroi.

"I have grown kind of a liking for that girl. One more thing, I never touched her. I was just lying, so you could hear my warning," said Ulquiorra.

"You should know that I will never give up," said Kuroi.

"I know. That's why I'm about to do this," said Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra stabs Kuroi's chest with his hand. He takes it out of his chest and Kuroi falls to the ground.

"Adhere my warning, Kuroi Hono," said Ulquiorra.