Hollowed Ch. 11 FUN CHAPTER

Chapter 11

Meanwhile, inside the now silent hallways of Las Noches, Starrk and Lilynette stood posted outside
of the prison cell behind them, the elder of the two leaning casually on the wall as he always did,
half in and half out of slumber. Lily, the more mischievous of the two by far, waited, tittering to
herself while she waited for her older half to fall asleep. The prospect of waking him up in an unusual
way, like she always did, appealed to her a little more than usual this time, because she had found
something very unusual in the kitchens of the grand palace-like building earlier that day. She
snickered as she held the round object in her hands, imagining all sorts of gruesome ways she could
use it to awaken her counterpart. But what was it?

A watermelon.

She cackled as insane ideas coursed through her mind, and she occupied herself with it just around
the corner from where Starrk was reclining, rolling the smooth green fruit back and forth along the
tiles for her own personal pleasure, amusing herself satisfactorily for a few more minutes until Starrk
fell asleep. She peered around the corner at him mischievously, but was slightly disappointed to find
him still blinking sleepily at the opposite wall, keeping his guard on the prisoners just like they had
for the past day and a half.

Ever since the rogue Ulquiorra and the Arrancar Plateado had disappeared from Las Noches that
period of time ago, she and the 1st Espada had been assigned – to pass the time – to
guard the prisoners Grimmjow Jaggerjack and Szayel Apporo Granz, and to make sure that they did
not escape or attempt to do just that. So far, the job was mind bogglingly boring to Lilynette, and
the only relief that she found from this was constantly pulling her pranks on Starrk, those of which
he tired easily. Then again, he tired of everything easily, it seemed.

Presently, as she watched him out the corner of her pink eye, waiting, watching to see when he
would drift off into sleep, she saw his head nod. Once, twice… he blinked sleepily, and then his
head nodded a final time before staying where it was with his chin on his chest. His breathing
deepened, and his aura became silent and peaceful – the perfect signs of unwakefulness.
Grinning evilly like she had a mastermind scheme below her belt, the tiny Espada disappeared
around the corner for a split second before returning with the huge citrus cradled in her arms and
braced against her own chest, before stalking up silently on her larger counterpart. Quietly, slowly,
she tiptoed up to him, trying to push aside all the giggles she felt bubbling up inside of her, and then
finally came to her spot a few feet directly in front of him. Lifting the watermelon high above her
head, her smile widened and her brow lowered in a gesture of evilness.

"HEY COYOTE!" she roared, snapping her partner out of sleep. "HEADS UP!"  Starrk looked up and
started to ask 'what', but suddenly, into his line of vision, came the watermelon, shooting directly for
his face.

"AAAAUGH!" he cried, trying desperately to dodge out of the way. However, it was all for naught.
The huge fruit smashed into his face at sixty miles per hour, splattering all of its juicy contents
everywhere across his features, Espada suit, and the wall behind him, consequently pummeling him
backwards and smashing him into the wall.

"WHAT THE HELL LILY!" he roared, coming up sputtering. "What was THAT?!"

"Hahaha!" his other half screeched with laughter. "Hee hee! You should have SEEN your face! THAT
WAS CLASSIC!"

Miffed, the 1st Espada wiped the sopping mess from his face, depositing it from his hand onto the
head of the small teenager. She didn't seem to notice it, only falling deeper into her pit of fits of
giggling and laughter. Eventually, Starrk did have to smile at her humor, coming to see that he had,
in fact, been plastered to the wall with a watermelon in the middle of Las Noches – and that it
was funny. Soon, he was cracking up too, but not quite as hard as the light green-haired
Arrancar… she couldn't seem to get over it.


Inside the prison behind them, two prisoners, one with shocking blue hair and the other with an
abnormal pink, were chained side by side to the wall, sitting in rather bored positions with their
backs against the wall as they listened to the light havoc outside. One was most noticeably
Grimmjow Jaggerjack, the 6th Espada, and the other, Szayel Apporo Granz happened to be the 8th.
Together, they made a pretty odd pair, the former with a half-jacket and psychotic, laughing look as
he heard the event outside take place, and the latter wearing a more serious expression as he
furiously tried to use the tiniest spark of spiritual pressure that he could concentrate to melt the lock
on his chains.

"Hoo hoo!" Grimmjow chuckled, slapping his knee as he heard Starrk's surprised exclamation beyond
the wall. "Did you hear that Szayel? That's good stuff."

"Mmmmm," replied his cell mate, not looking up from what he was doing. The best feature lending to
his concentration was probably the fact that his tongue was sticking out in his effort, and also the
furrowing of his eyebrows as they knit closer together also let anyone watching know that he was
very close to his goal. Beside him, Grimmjow kept on snickering.

"What a sucker," he said through his wheezing, amused breaths. "I bet he wishes he doesn't sleep
so much, eh?"

"Ow!" Szayel whispered harshly when a stray spark of his reiatsu jumped to his fingers and burned
them. He snapped his hands back quickly and sat back hard on the wall again, smashing his fist into
the floor as he did with frustration. He gave the lock on the chain a look. "Damn."

"Well what did you expect?" asked his partner casually, giving him a sideways glance as he picked at
his nails. "That's the fifth time you've tried that, genius, and you're not getting anywhere."

"Yes I am. I was even closer this time," replied the pink-haired scientist, pushing his bone glasses
back up the bridge of his nose. "This last time should do it."

"Unless you burn yourself again and then say it'll be the next time," replied the sexta Espada slyly.
He turned his head and put his ear to the wall, listening once again to the hoots of laughter outside
and started to chuckle immediately. Szayel shook his head dismissively and turned back to his
bonds, holding his hands as close to it as he dared, and then carefully warming up the smallest bit of
reiatsu as was possible. It glowed in his hand, this small flare of pressure, and then he held the
flame-like substance close to the chain, letting it simmer the links through carefully and slowly.

An eternity passed, it seemed to Szayel, while Grimmjow chuckled and he waited for the chain to  
heat up. Eventually, the metal started to glow a dull orange, and then even slower than before,
changed to a bright red as it heated up and started to melt. Quietly, slowly, a tiny stream of molten
metal started to run away from the links and trickle away towards the foot of an unsuspecting
Grimmjow. While they made so much noise outside in relation to the watermelon incident, the
distraction allowed Szayel to successfully snap the links in half and free himself. However, the
snapping motion from it caused his wrist to snap back harshly and smack the sixth Espada right in
the face.

"Psh-OW!!!" Grimmjow shouted, caught off guard as a fist whacked into his face forcefully and
whammed his head off of the stone walls. "What was that for you half-minded jerk-faced-?!"

"Shut up!" Szayel hissed, clamping his now freed hand over Grimmjow's mouth. Glaring into the
Espada's blue eyes, the pink-haired 8th brought his freed wrist up to eye level with him and cocked
his eyebrow, making his point quite clear without words. The 6th's eyes widened with surprise and
he made a nodding motion, signaling the 8th to take his hand away. Szayel did so, and then started
speaking with his voice low.

"Wait a moment," he whispered, leaning down and starting to unshackle his ankle bonds with a
simpler method, having used his freed hand and reached up and taken his ever-present hair clip out
and picking the lock that way. Grimmjow gave him a strange look.

"You actually managed to do that?" he asked in a low voice. He gave a surprised snort.

"Yes, in case you were wondering," replied the scientist indignantly. "It sometimes pays off to use
your head and persist, you know."

"Ah, of course," said the pantera while rolling his eyes sarcastically and looking into the distance.
Presently, Szayel stood up, cramped, and began stretching a little to loosen his joints.

"Never did anyone good to sit cross-legged for too many hours in a row," he whispered to himself,
cracking his knuckles enthusiastically as he twisted around and stretched his back muscles.

"Well you could let me out too, y'know," Grimmjow put in, watching the scientist loosen himself with
the glorious art of stretching.

"Oh, right," Szayel reminded himself, turning and picking the lock on the 6th's bonds as well. "Just
hooooooollllddd itttt…. Riiiiighhtt theeerree aaaaaanddd… gotcha!" The chains that had
held the sexta Espada down suddenly clicked, and Grimmjow quietly pulled his wrists and ankles out
of the shackles gratefully. Standing, he started stretching and pulling his muscles to put himself back
into fighting shape again.

"Ahh…" he said to himself, as if in ecstasy. "That feels good."

"Of course it does," pointed out the crazy scientist, as he slowly moved to the door and put his ear
to it, listening closely to make sure that their captors were still making enough noise to cover up
their movements. Watching him, Grimmjow saw a smile nearly as psychotic as his own creep over
the pink-haired Espada's face, and knew instantly that he had a plan of some sort.

"What you got?" he whispered, slinking over to where he was standing, also listening closely to the
noise outside. The hilarious fits of giggles had obviously still been affecting Lilynette, and by now
Starrk was telling her off about it, humorously, while complaining that now he was going to smell like
watermelon for the rest of the week. Instantly, Grimmjow started up chuckling, and Szayel shot him
an indignant look.

"We don't have time to be amused," he said in a quiet voice as he turned away from the wall. "I
have a plan, and I need you to help me with it. First of all, I need you to go out there and try and
beat up Starrk, ok?"

There was a pause.

"Eh?" the sixth asked appropriately.

"I said," Szayel repeated. "I need you to go out there and beat Starrk and Lilynette up, alright? It
won't take much, I promise."

"Y-you want… you want me to… you want…" stuttered the sexta Espada, staring
wide-eyed and confused at his cell mate.

"Yes," confirmed the 8th.

"But that's suicide!" hissed Grimmjow, taking his hands out of his pockets and advancing on Szayel
threateningly. "You want me to go out there and kill myself?!"

"No, no!" Szayel reassured him, backing away from him nevertheless. "It's all part of my plan,
believe me, it will work!"

"Oh, just like your last plan, eh?" countered the 6th slyly. "How did THAT one turn out, hm?"

"Look, I don't know why that one didn't work, ok?" the scientist muttered in his own
defense. "Something happened and Arturo didn't get his chance, alright? It's not like that was my
fault!"

"Yeah?" Grimmjow asked, backing off a little. "Then why did he and Ulquiorra head outta this place
as fast as they could after they were done, huh?"

"I don't know," sighed the scientist, his shoulders sagging. "It just doesn't… it doesn't make a
lick of sense."

"Of course it doesn't!" Grimmjow said louder than he probably should have. "I don't care if that
Arturo guy made it out of here alive or not, but why would that idiot try and follow him as well?!"

"I told you Grimmjow, I don't know… I just don't know," replied the scientist a bit wearily. He
looked at the 6th in a tired manner. "I'm sure that neither of them would leave us here for dead,
though. You heard that turquoise-haired Arrancar say that he appreciated this."

"And?" asked the pantera king, eyeing his cell mate up and down. "Do you really think he'd give a
hoot as to what becomes of us?" There was a slight pause, in which Szayel shrugged.

"I don't know," he said. "But whatever became of them doesn't matter. We need to get ourselves
out of this before we're shown before Aizen again. Maybe we can meet up with them wherever they
are."

"Yeah, and beat the crap out of them," Grimmjow put in, an angry look crossing his face. "Feels like
something I'd like to do right now."

"Well good, because that's what we're going to do when we get out," said the sly scientist, cracking
his knuckles yet again, and taking on the same grin that Grimmjow had on earlier. "Now, as afore
mentioned, I need you to go out and beat up Starrk and his other half, alright?"

"Oh… right… forgot about that part," replied the blue-haired Espada, running his hand
over his face in an unwilling manner. "Do we really have to do it this way?"

"Yes!" replied the pink-haired scientist enthusiastically. "It will go so much smoother if you just do
this, alright? And don't forget to unleash all your spiritual pressure when you get there, ok?"

"Fine… fine…" Grimmjow finally muttered. He turned and lightly stepped towards the
door, putting his ear to it, and was glad to find that they were still laughing, although it had been
toned down to chuckles and snorts. Rolling his blue eyes, he put his hand on the knob, quietly, and
began slowly – very slowly – to turn it. Finally, the door slipped open a crack, and he
paused, taking a glance around the hallway to get his bearings. Watching, Szayel saw him lift his
right eyebrow dramatically, and guessed that whatever Starrk had been plastered with was either
still on him, highly exotic, or both. Turns out, he was right with the last option.

"What the-?" Grimmjow started to ask, but didn't get to finish his sentence. Striding up behind him,
Szayel swiftly booted him in the backside and sent him stumbling out into the hallway, his arms
waving wildly as he collided with the opposite wall. Behind him, the door clicked shut.

"Oof!" Grimmjow shouted as he tumbled into the hard wall. He stood and started rubbing his head
after he pummeled into the obstruction. "Oww…." He stopped in mid-rub, and with his eyes
wide, slowly turned his head towards the two guards.

"Uhhh…" they were both saying, with their own eyes wide, staring at him. Unsure of what else
to do, Grimmjow, confused, looked back and forth through the hallway, and then put on the most
innocent, happy face he could before waving.

"Hi," he said.

There was a pause.

"Get 'im!" Lily suddenly screeched, lunging out and running full speed at him, her elbow cocked and
positioned right at his crotch.

"YIPE!" he roared, diving neatly out of the way before he lost some pretty important things. Starrk,
yawning, could clearly see that Grimmjow had absolutely no plan for what happened after he broke
out of his cell and with his hands in his pockets, strode over to where the 'fight' was taking place.
Scared half to death by this point, the sexta Espada was leaping and diving around the hallway with
all the agility he could muster, trying as hard as was possible to stay away from the dangerous
elbow of the small girl. At the last moment, he remembered Szayel's last order, and unleashed a
huge wave of his spiritual energy, catching both of the 1st Espadas by surprise, and actually gaining
him an advantage.


Meanwhile, inside, Szayel pulled his ear away from the door and stood, chuckling slightly.

"There," he said to himself. "With them all worked up over THAT, they won't even notice this!"
Turning away and striding to the center of the room quietly and swiftly, taking a cautious glance
around just in case he was being watched. Glad to find that he was not, the 8th Espada slowly,
carefully, and gracefully pulled his zanpakuto out of its sheath, admiring its beauty just like he did
every time he unleashed it to the world. Pulling it out and positioning it above his throat, he
summoned it.

"Sip, Fornicarás," he said quietly, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of wakefulness and life coursing
through the hilt of his katana and, ultimately, his palm. Opening his mouth to accommodate his
new 'meal', Szayel carefully drank in the sword as if it were a liquid, relishing its taste as he did so.
His mouth started to glow strangely.

"And…" he said. "Here we go…"


Outside, in the hallway, nobody even sensed Szayel's rise in spiritual pressure, as they were too
preoccupied with the little battle they were all having. Grimmjow was tearing up and down the walls
of the hallway, diving, dodging, scrambling to get away from the teenaged Arrancar, his attempts
successful only because they were driven by a deep terror. Starrk, chuckling, walked after them and
followed their progress, ready to strike in case the pantera got too far away. He didn't become
aware of anything unusual coming up behind him, or that it suddenly touched him on the back, and
swiftly pulled away as soon as it had. A thick, purple liquid dripped off of said unusual object, and
into the awaiting hand of Szayel.

If one were to see him full view, they would see him enclothed in a tight grey upper body outfit, and
a white-sleeved, white-bottomed robe on top of that. His fingernails had transformed into long,
purple-colored claws, and long, wing-like bones protruded from his back, appearing to drip with a
liquid-like substance. Scary, to say the least.

Also managing to tap Lilynette on the shoulder unseen, Szayel reached out and grabbed the drip
from the tip of his 'wing', watching it satisfactorily turn into a small doll – exactly in the likeness
of the pink-eyed Espada. In his other hand, he held one that resembled Starrk, and chuckled at the
absurdity of its appearance. Turning and glancing at the opposite wall, Szayel walked over to it
carefully and, raising the dolls to shoulder height, smashed their heads against the wall by whacking
them into it forcefully.

"OW!"

"YOUCH!" the two of the represented Espada yelled, losing their footing and clutching at their heads
before crumpling to the ground with cries of pain in varying degrees of intensity. Surprised, relieved,
and confused, Grimmjow let himself come down off the side of the wall and raised his eyebrow
curiously.

"Wow," he said to himself. "What was…?"

"That was me," Szayel said grandly, striding out in front of Grimmjow's face rather swiftly.

"GAH!" the 6th roared, leaping backwards out of range, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head as
he tore away from the hideous beast before him. Had he had a tail, Szayel swore it would poof up
bigger around than Renji's Bankai. Before another word could be uttered, Grimmjow had
disappeared and was tearing off down the hallways at unimaginable speeds, running to save his
dear life and limb.

"G… Grimmjow?" Szayel asked, raising his eyebrow after the terrified Esapada. He hadn't really
expected to scare the 6th at all, but after that scuffle with the 1sts, he supposed that he'd been all
worked up, and his cat instincts told him to run from the giant man-eating beast that suddenly
popped up in his face.

"Heh," said the pink-haired scientist, shrugging his shoulders and walking after the pantera king,
slowly shifting back to his normal form and sheathing his zanpakuto again. "I guess I'd better go get
him…."