Aizen sat on his throne, thinking about the recent events that had occurred yesterday. Even he had not predicted the sudden arrival of Ben Tennyson and that was saying something. It was almost enough to make Aizen believe in providence. A boy with shape-shifting powers and no apparent knowledge of Hueco Mundo, Hollows, Arrancar, Shinigami, or Soul Society. How perfect was this?
While Aizen was curious as to how Ben came to Hueco Mundo in the first place, he already saw potential in Ben the moment he saw him turn into Humungousaur. His interest only increased with each new form he saw Ben turn into.
"Hello, Aizen," Gin said as he walked into the throne room.
"Good evening, Gin," Aizen said. "What brings you here?"
"Just thought I'd tell you that little Ben is making everybody antsy."
Aizen smiled. "I believe Ben's been doing that ever since he first came here."
"True," Gin said with his own grin. "But now that everybody knows what he can do, he's the talk of the town. Why, even Luppi is in the mood to fight him. He told me so."
Aizen gave a light chuckle. "And he's far from the only one, isn't he?"
"As if you didn't know," Gin laughed. "But the two we really need to worry about are Szayel and Aaroniero. Szayel would love nothing more than to experiment on Ben and I'm pretty sure Aaroniero's been wishing Ben was a Hollow so he could eat him. I wouldn't be surprised if he asked Szayel to fuse Ben with a Hollow so he could."
Aizen gave out a dramatic sigh. "It would seem that Ben is just too tempting for them to control themselves. I'll have to make a point that Ben belongs to Harribel now and is off limits."
Harribel watched from a balcony as Ben and her Fraccion were sparring with each other. She knew that it would be best for the four of them to train. It wasn't going to be easy, since Apache, Mila-Rose, and Sun-Sun were all used to it. Just being the three of them Having a fourth member, as well as a guy, was completely unexpected. But Harribel knew that if she was to ever have male Fraccion, it would be Ben.
Harribel and her Fraccion told Ben that Hueco Mundo was an afterlife place. They told him Ben about soul chains and that certain people are winding up having their soul chains withering away to nothing. The unfortunate souls to have such a thing happen to them become things called Hollows.
Hollows were mostly mindless creatures. They then explained to Ben what Arrancar were. Arrancar were Hollows who succeeded in regaining human forms and rationality. And it was thanks to Aizen that so many Hollows were able to become Arrancar. Curious, Ben asked if Aizen planned on turning all the Hollows. Harribel managed to go on without answering Ben's question.
But at that moment something else caught her attention.
"Come out of hiding, Szayel," she ordered.
Stepping out of the shadows was none other than Szayel Aporro Granz himself. He had that irritating superior smile on his face.
"I should have known I'd never be able to sneak past you, Harribel. Nothing less from the third Espada."
"Why are you here, Szayel?" Harribel asked without looking at him.
Szayel's smile turned mischievous. "Isn't it obvious, Harribel? I came here to see Ben against your Fraccion. Though I am a little sad. I was hoping that Ben would use a new form, but he's only using forms that he used before. Pity."
"It does not matter what you have," Harribel told him. "It's how you use it."
"I know that old human speech, thank you," Szayel said with a roll of his eyes. "But think of it. A boy with the power to take the form of monsters that are not even Hollows. He's like a scientist's dream."
Harribel's eyes narrowed. "Ben is now part of my Fraccion, Szayel. I will not allow you to lay a finger on him."
"Well, well," said another voice. "Having a party, are we?'
This Harribel did turn around as she and Szayel both looked at the one talking. It was none other than Nnoitra, with his big scythe in his hand and a sneer on his face.
"Nnoitra," Harribel said in her bass tone. "What are you doing here?"
Nnoitra laughed. "Come on; don't play stupid with me, Harribel. Little Ben down there has made himself quite the talk of Las Noches. Able to hold his own against three Privaron Espada, two Fraccion, and Yammy. Not to mention the fact that he stood up to Baraggan."
"If you are here to challenge Ben, Nnoitra," Harribel said. "I suggest you consider your options."
"Ooh, scary," Nnoitra laughed. "Gonna fight me, Harribel? Or are you just putting up a show?"
Harribel merely ignored him and turned around to watch her Fraccion.
Ben on the other hand, was too busy sparring with his new teammates. Wanting to experience Ben's skills first hand, the three requested a three on one battle.
Since Ben wants to make the three fall on him, how can he leave the chance to make their relationship closer.
Then they each took turns battling him by themselves. Currently Apache was fighting Rath.
"Come on, Ben," Apache called as she threw her chakrams at Rath. "I know you can do better than this!"
Rath ducked out of the way before the chakrams nicked him.
"Let me tell you something, Apache!" he yelled. "Nobody talks down Rath and gets away with it!"
Mila-Rose laughed as she watched the fight. After plenty of three on one battles, Apache felt in the mood to take Ben on by herself. It was nice to see Apache smart mouth somebody else besides her.
Not that the training was bad. The girls found that they actually enjoyed sparring with Ben. He was a lot better to hang out with than any of the other guys. In return for battling Ben's forms, they decided to give Ben some info about their powers. They had made sure to tell Ben about the many abilities of Arrancar.
First, they had to teach him about spirit energy. It confused Ben at first, but Harribel was patient with Ben and walked him through it. Apache had been annoyed though that Ben wasn't able to figure it out on his own. Afterwards, they told him about Bala, which was the name for the energy attack that Yammy hit him with. They also told him about Cero, a spirit energy blast attack that was stronger but slower than Bala. Ben was already familiar with Sonido. Something the girls made sure to pound in Ben's head during their sparring matches. They also told Ben about Pesquisa, a unique ability that allowed Arrancar to sense people. And Hierro, a technique that allowed an Arrancar to strengthen their bodies with their spiritual pressure.
The last thing they told Ben about was Resurreccion, the ability of an Arrancar to use their Hollow powers. In order for them to use their Hollow powers, Arrancar needed their swords (or Zanpakuto) as Harribel called them. That was what the Privaron Espada and Avirama Redder had used against Ben. They had used their Resurreccion against him.
"Come on, Ben," Apache said. "That better not be all you got!"
Deep down, Ben kind of liked it too. For a while, Ben merely relied on the power of his forms alone. Training would help him think of new ways to use his powers. As his claw missed Apache by an inch, he remembered what Tosen told him about Soul Society. He could understand them wanting to go to war and all, it felt right to him. For him chaos was his favourite thing.
Rath leaped into the air to try and body-slam Apache. But Apache moved out of the way, causing Rath to hit face first in the ground.
"Hey, hold still!" Rath yelled after spitting sand out of his mouth.
"Like I'd just stand there and let you hit me!" Apache yelled back.
Rath activated the Ultimatrix to turn into a different form.
"Cannonbolt!" he yelled.