Bleach: Ultimate Alien

Chapter Six: Nuclear Winter in Karakura Town

Ben's mouth was hanging open and his legs felt like they had been filled with lead. Did Aizen just ask him to become part of the Espada?

"Hold on," he said suddenly. "What are you going to do about Nnoitra? He tried to kill my friends."

"I will deal with him in due time, Ben." Aizen answered. "Although I am very certain the punishment he received from you was more than enough."

Didn't feel that way to Ben. He would've preferred that psycho to be locked up for a while. In fact, he was all up for sending Nnoitra to the Null Void.

"What is the meaning of this, Aizen?" Baraggan's voice boomed, startling Ben out of his thoughts about Nnoitra.

Out of the shadows stepped seven of the Espada. The three absent were Grimmjow and Nnoitra. Grimmjow for being demoted and Nnoitra because of the pounding Ben had given him as Way Big. But why Yammy was missing, Ben had no idea. Baraggan was glaring at Aizen furiously.

"It was bad enough you let this little insect into our midst, then you let him become a Fraccion, and now you want to make him an Espada? You go too far, Aizen! I will not allow..."

"Oh but you will," Aizen said coolly. "I have decided that Ben has the potential to be an Espada." Baraggan looked like he wanted to say more, but merely kept his mouth shut.

"Good," Aizen said to him before addressing all the remaining Espada. "Would anyone else like to tell me any reason why Ben should not be an Espada?"

Aside from the obvious fact that Ben was a human, no one could think of any reason why Ben shouldn't be one. Although she was less emotional than others (except for Ulquiorra), Harribel couldn't help but feel a small amount of pride within her at the thought that one of her Fraccion was Espada worthy. However, she did think that Ben rather deserved Nnoitra's rank since the fifth Espada was the one who Ben defeated. But Nnoitra had not been the demoted one, Grimmjow was. It was a pity that Nnoitra had not been the one demoted. She could tolerate Grimmjow far more than Nnoitra.

"Aizen-sama!" an obnoxious voice yelled. "You can't be serious!"

Everyone turned to see Luppi barge into the room. Ben groaned. Not this guy again.

"Greetings, Luppi," Aizen said. "So you have arrived."

"If I knew what you were going to do," Luppi replied. "I would've been here already. How could you offer the position of any Espada, let alone the 6th one, to a human?"

Aizen just smiled. "I believe that Ben far exceeds that of a human with his powers. As you are no doubt aware of, Ben defeated Nnoitra just recently. That clearly shows that Ben is more than deserving of a high rank among the Espada, regardless of the fact that he is a human."

"But I'm next in line for the 6th!" Luppi yelled. "And I'm not going to allow a stupid human to take it from me!"

Ben blinked at this. Luppi couldn't even handle Spidermonkey. And he thought Vilgax and the Highbreed were arrogant. But if Luppi wanted the rank, that was okay with Ben. No need to make such a big deal about it.

"Indeed, you were next in line," Aizen corrected. "But it has come to my attention that you had engaged Ben in combat recently and then come out the worst of it."

"He ran away!" Luppi shouted. "He just tied me up in some webbing and ran off. He's just a coward!"

Aizen raised an eyebrow amused. "Really? That is not what Gin told me when he saw your battle on the monitors."

Luppi's eyes went wide while Ben turned to look at Aizen. They had monitors? Where? He had never seen cameras or anything.

"He told me that you had attacked Ben, forcing him to transform," Aizen continued. "Despite your attempts, Ben was able to make a complete fool of you. When you attempted to harm his teammates, he become of his "Ultimate forms" that I have been told about. He incapacitated you and simply chose to end the fight there. It appears to me, however, that if Ben wanted to defeat you, he would have."