The Universal Villain

A series of traps began to glow before exploding, creating a mountain of Reiatsu that spiked into the sky. Flying out of the explosion, Shen could be seen covered in light scratches here and there. 'Those traps of his are getting weaker.' During their entire battle, Urahara had been keeping his distance from Shen, hoping to keep the requirement he needed for teleportation unfulfilled. Adding to that, he had been using long-range Kido as well as setting traps.

However, Shen had been forcing Urahara's hands using his agility and defense to either tank the traps or destroying them before they were primed correctly. In the end, this led to Urahara getting more and more exhausted as his attacks were only getting more and more sloppy. Backing away through the ruins of the town, Urahara thought to himself as he cast three different types of Kido.

'I'm reaching my limit. If I spend any more energy on Kido, I won't be able to make the barrier.' It was then that Urahara noticed Shen standing on the wall of a destroyed skyscr.a.p.er preparing to attack. Using the building as a launching platform, the entire tower crumbled the moment Shen's feet left its surface.

Facing Shen's speedy assault, Urahara quickly activated the Kido he planted in the air as dozens of small orbs revealed themselves from their docile states. However, Shen's speed was too fast, and Urahara's Kido was weakened, and Shen landed a solid blow. His fist flew into Urahara's stomach, causing his face to go into shock before he coughed a mouthful of blood.

Carrying Urahara's body with his punch, Shen slammed him into the ground, laying him flat as the ground beneath them cracked in every direction. With Urahara laying there on the ground, Shen felt as though an announcer was just screaming 'Finish Him!'. Of course, Shen knew he couldn't kill Urahara, but he could make sure he doesn't wake up for a while.

Raising both of his hands, Shen coated his arms in a dense layer of a Haki as he slammed his hands into the ground. Bending his fingers, Shen began to rip a large chunk of the ground Urahara was laying on as big as a building. Shen proceeded to toss the fragment of the earth into the air like a rocket. As the rock flew higher and higher into the sky, Shen slowly clenched his fist, compressing more and more Ki into his hand.

It was at this moment that the giant chunk of rock began to return back to the planet of which it came. Falling out of the sky, a whistling sound could be heard as it cut through the air bringing Urahara down with it. Fully charged the moment the building-sized rock was within arms reach of Shen as it fell on top of him, he couldn't help but say it in his head. 'Shoryuken!' An inclined beam of energy shot through the entire rock like a drill, the moment of impact soaring into the sky as the rock shattered to pieces.

Looking up Shen through the cloud of smoke created from his stunt, he could see Urahara's body falling to the ground. "I guess it was dumb to think I could do all that without him moving." The body floating in the air suddenly began to bloat as it grew bigger eventually popping like a balloon. Turning around Shen wasn't surprised to see Urahara standing there. 'So only that first hit actually connected, huh.' Even though Shen didn't hit every one of his attacks, he could tell Urahara was still hurting from his punch as he held his stomach with a grim smile.

'I've lasted as long as I could. I can't buy you two anymore time. Let's hope these things work like he said they would.' Secretly Urahara looked down at his wrist which had a singular button on it. Pressing it out of Shen's, nothing seemed to change as Urahara sighed to himself. 'This is it. It's the final countdown.' Inside the underground training area where Ichigo and Isshin were both Isshin and Ichigo had remained silent up to this point. But that changed when Isshin and Ichigo heard a ring as the watches on their wrist similar to Urahara's lit up.

It only then did Ichigo open his eyes as he stopped his meditation. "So, our time is up, huh." Speaking to seemingly no one Ichigo stood up along with his dad as his eyes had a look of confidence to them. "Urahara said we should arrive within ten minutes of him pushing that button, and we got to hurry." Speaking to Ichigo, the two of them disappeared, leaving only a small puff spoke where they stood.

Looking up from his wrist, Urahara brought his attention back to Shen. "So, did you enjoy my Portable Gigai?" Suppressing the pain he was feeling in his body, Urahara had to stall Shen for ten more minutes than he already had. Before, he could rely on Kido and traps, but now he was pressed for options and needed to reserve as much strength as possible.

It was in this weakened state that Urahara felt the same sensation from when Shen attacked Yoruichi. Being forced out of his thoughts, this sensation was a lot stronger than before, which was thanks to the two factors of the situation. The main one being it was easier to control a weak or weakened opponent, especially when they are cornered.

"Urahara, I have a question for you." As Urahara tried to push these negative thoughts that began to arise in his head away Shen began to speak to him. "Have you told them yet? Ichigo and the others I mean." Listening to Shen Urahara didn't understand what he meant and decided to reply. "Tell them what exactly?" Urahara found this to be a perfect chance to stall for time.

"Oh, so I'll take it you didn't tell them the reason." Shen was actually surprised Urahara decided to hide this fact from Ichigo and the others. "Heh, maybe if you had told them the urgency of the situation, they would have tried harder." Although Shen made it sound as if he was talking about the entire group, his eyes glanced towards Yoruichi's direction for a moment, which caused Urahara to tense up for a moment.

"So do you just like hearing yourself talk, or are you going to tell me what you mean." Listening to Urahara Shen sighed slightly as his voice carried a bit more weight. "Why I took Rukia, of course. I think we both know very well what she has inside her is more important than you let yourself believe." Urahara froze as his mind raced. 'So he did know after all. That also explains why he hasn't killed me.'

Just from the fact, Shen didn't already have it in his possession meant he honestly didn't have a way to extract it, so he needed him. Looking at Urahara go deep in thought Shen turned and looked back at Rukia, who was still waiting obediently. "You know, with you being so smart, I still can't believe you never figured out real use of the Ho-" Cutting his own sentence short, Shen looked behind him.

"Seems the hero has finally come to save his friends."