A few days after the hunt.
"Keep your eyes on my blade, hands and feet, do not let my movements dictate yours."
Kaname Tosen executed a variety of slashes and thrusts with minimal speed for his student, Ben, to counter as they were spared. They both wielded fake katanas; this exercise was meant to instill the basics of zanjutsu, the shinigami's basic fighting, into him.
Ben was a true combat prodigy rivalled by few in Kaname's honest opinion. However, to say that the younger man's training went smoothly would be lying. Kaname saw an opening and thrust his sword into the brown haired young man's stomach; he soon fell down as he curled into a ball to nurse the pain.
"D-don't you think you're being a little too rough there to teach?" Ben struggled to speak even the few words he spoke were a pain. He looked up towards his instructor, Kaname Tosen, who had dark skin and brown braids. He wore a band like visor over his white pupilless eyes, as well a white sleeveless coat over his black hakama, long black gloves and a orange rope like scarf around his neck.
Kaname extended his hand to lift up Ben who wore a black and white martial artist attire. Both of the two men were inside what appeared to be a traditional Japanese dojo, needed a portal to enter this area and apparently this place was another small pocket dimension meant only for the improvement of the arrancars sword skills.
The two took a seat on the floor in order to rest, before any silence could settle in between the two Tosen perked up.
"Tennyson, if you do not mind, can I pose a question to you?" Kaname looked at Ben directly and seemed serious, so he simply shrugged and responded nonchalantly.
"Sure." He honestly liked Tosen he gave of that feeling of confidence that experienced warriors had. Ben wondered for a few moments if he gave off that feeling to people he met, after all he's technically an old warrior. Heck he's been in the hero business for nearly a decade after all.
"As a person who has such overwhelming power you must ask yourself, the right you have in wielding it. What is the role of the strong in matters of enforcing justice and its meaning?" Kaname had this feeling of searching for something thanks to his questions, to the young brown haired man it felt like he was being interrogated.
He breathed out a breath of turbid air and looked Kaname dead in the eyes. Ben knew the man before him was blind but he also knew that he had a different way of observing the world so he bet that Tosen could still understand the gesture.
"I don't know." Ben said simply which caused the ex-soul reaper to have a comically bewildered face.
"What-?" Kaname stopped before asking his question with the younger man's raised hand similar to that of a shy child trying to get the teacher's attention.
"If there's something you have to know about me, Kaname-sensei, it's the fact that I have always dreamed of becoming a hero. Starting out I saw it rush the idea of being a hero was for fame, for entertainment really. I would have probably still thought about it like till this day, but I had people looking out for me, who taught me things that were important. Not everything that I know was from them either. I strive to ensure no one goes through what I did. What I want in this life is to create a world, where people with different views and beliefs can walk into a bar, have an argument and then laugh like nothing happened." Ben just sat there while he waited for Tosen's response. He believed in what he said whole heartedly, the omnitrix was made to be an arc for sentient life to ensure they could never die out forever.
Ben's ultimate wish was to make a world where he wasn't needed anymore.
"A world like that cannot exist, as long as there exists differences among people then that world is doomed to fail." Tosen spoke with a tad bit of sorrow in his voice as if he forced those words out of his own mouth in an attempt to convince himself.
"I know, but it's just too beautiful of a dream for me to let go of, at least to me." Ben scratched the back of his and his embarrassment was on full display. He felt corny when he had to talk about dreams and such, after all he was not an anime protagonist.
Tosen only gave a 'hmm' in acknowledgement then stood up.
"Gather your things, training is over for today." The tall older man said as he dusted himself off.
"Wait what! Hold on, I don't feel like I'm ready yet! We have a war on the horizon. Shouldn't we be as prepared as possible!?" Ben flailed his arms in the air comedically to emphasize his point he could barely keep up with Tosen in his human form, so he felt like if he could hit his new sensei as a human then a soul reaper would be light work for him.
Said teacher tilted his head and lifted his brow as if to say, 'really?' After which he straightened up and then snapped his fingers, then the sliding doors of the dojo opened and revealed four clones of Ben in the exact same attire, split into two groups who sparred with wooden swords. Who seemed to be in the refinement stage of their sword techniques.
"You said after cloning using that black and white alien of yours, Ditto, you could gain the memories and experiences of the clones. With you and I training one on like this and then I have no doubts that you will be ready when the time is right. Honestly it's sort of cheating." Tosen sighed as he shook his head in his mind. How is a normal person like him supposed to keep up with a demon of combat like his student?
"Like your one to talk sensei! Mister over a thousand years!" Ben countered with his dejection then he fused back together with his clones and understood the breakthroughs they underwent while they trained and combined it with his own.
Ben and Tosen each returned to their respective dwelling's inside the castle. Ben was unaware that a certain snake man had plans to disrupt his time of relaxation.
...
Hours later as Ben and Lilynete were preparing food for themselves and Starrk they heard the door bell go off and the young man left to see who it was and it was none other than Gin himself the snake man had his ever present smile, and closed eyes.
"Ben, always nice to see you. I hope your day has been pleasant, I heard from Tosen that training went well again today." Gin seemed like a friendly neighbor who was just checking in to Ben, but he knew that as Aizen's personal attendant or subordinate he rarely just comes to say hello.
"Not bad, I can't wait for the next one honestly. And was I just about to finish up lunch so-" The green eyed young man was cut off by the taller man.
"That's great! I caught you just before you were done. Sadly I have a mission for you which requires your immediate attention." Gin spoke as if he felt sorry to drop the mission on the young man's lap. Ben could pick up the fact that he did not feel sorry for him and in fact was excited.
"Ugh, Lily make sure there's something left for me when I come back I'm heading out!" Ben called out to the little arrancar only to hear a shout.
"No promises!"
Ben held his head in defeat as he left with Gin. The two arrived at Gin's personal office which possessed various images of the exterior of Las Noches. Ben felt a shiver move up his spine; he had issues being watched ever since his hero identity was made public back home.
"So what's the problem?" Ben asked Gin as he seemed to move about the room like snake gathering papers here and there.
"Hmm, would you believe it if I told you I just wanted to hang out with you? I believe that's how you say it." Gin said after he collected a stack of papers and placed them by the chair at the end of the room.
"No, not in the slightest." Ben gave him the most blunt answer he could muster; perhaps it was harsh; however he did just get dragged away from his lunch for whatever the snake man had in mind. And it doesn't help that Ben seemed to have a bigger appetite lately which Starrk said could be a result of the fact that he could not use the extra resishi in the environment properly combined with his quarter Anodite genes plus the more stamina reliant power system of the omnitrix.
All in all he was just really hungry.
"Oh, that hurts, but, you are correct, Aizen has a mission for you. You and Harribel have to head to the south of the castle to retrieve a precious resource that helps keep the lights on here." Gin put extra emphasis on his partner's name, Harribel was the third Espada and one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
The snake man was obviously teasing him but he could not keep the blush away from his face so Ben simply looked away from him.
"Fine if it's to keep everything going smoothly I'll head out, I'll absorb some energy to get over my lack of a lunch." Ben said as he prepared to leave, but was stopped by Gin who remembered a bit of convenient information.
"Oh, I forgot to mention her subordinates will be coming along, and I might have accidentally told them you have a crush on her. Words of warning they are very protective over her so I hope that it doesn't become a problem for you." Gin spoke with a whimsical voice however he was only met with the deadpan eyes of the brown haired young man.
If anyone passed the room afterwards all they would have heard was the scream of Gin and the sound of diamonds shifting and hitting one another.
Ben donned his uniform before leaving and ventured outside the castle south of the palace he felt their gazes before he actually saw them. A tomboyish looking girl, a tall and strong looking girl and lastly a soft and elegant looking girl were all staring daggers into him. These were Harribel's Fracción in order there was Appachi, Mila Rose and Sung-Sun they all looked ready to pounce and rip Ben to pieces.
However, a portal opened up behind the group and out stepped the third Espada Harribel who seemed to draw the three's attention like a magnet.
It was hard for Ben to try and find a reason to not be attracted to her, she was tall, curvaceous and well-endowed. She had olive skin and aqua green eyes a plus in Ben's book her golden hair was kept in messy locks with three braids visible behind her. She wore a modified version of the arrancar jacket with a high collar that covered the lower half of her face, the jacket obscured a decent junk of her chest however her lower half was exposed.
Her jacket's sleeve covered the length of her arms; the sleeves ended in extensions that appeared to be cat claws. Ben could see the remains of her hollow mask visible on her face.
"So you made it. Sorry for making you wait. I had to confirm a few things with Lord Gin. but he was in a cage made of diamonds so I had to cut him out before heading here. Do you know anything about that?" Harribel asked Ben who had approached her and her subordinates who seemed like they were ready to stab him and leave him for dead.
"Not a clue! Perhaps Szyael was trying out a few new experiments you never know. Haha." Ben gave an awkward try to try and bring some levity to the group, but Harribel seemed indifferent and her subordinates seemed more keen on just getting rid of Ben entirely.
"Then let's get going, we have quite a way to go." Harribel was ready to turn and fly away before having her attention grabbed by Ben.
"Mind if I take care of the transport might cut down on our flying time." The third Espada gave a shrug and soon she and her subordinates were riding atop of Cosby's back as they made their way south.