Cloning Arrancar

The Cloning Arrancar is an imperfect Arrancar that attacked Karakura Town and a villain from Bleach.

Raids for Souls
While she was posted in Karakura Town as part of Hitsugaya’s advanced team, Rangiku Matsumoto followed strange ocarina music to a park where she found a Hollow like creature (one of the Arrancar’s clones) attacking a soul named Shota. She engaged the creature to protect the soul and eventually the clone caught Rangiku’s Zanpakuto between his teeth. He emitted some of his spiritual energy and the Shinigami noted it was more like an Arrancar than a Hollow, prompting her to ask what he was. The clone opened his mouth to reveal a pair of glowing eyes and told her to get lost. However Ikkaku Madarame arrived, succeeding in killing the creature, and Hitsugaya’s team decided to dismiss it as an undeveloped Arrancar. But later that night, another Arrancar clone appeared, exactly the same as the first one, as the ocarina music started again. The clone went after a soul and as the music went on, the soul lost control of his body movements, being forced to walk towards the creature. Rangiku interrupted, arriving with Shota in tow, and when the Plus tried to run away, the clone ate him before he could escape. The Shinigami attacked, asking how he could be there if Ikkaku killed and if there were more. The clone just mockingly said he didn’t know as his power started to rise when Shota started throwing rocks at him. The clone responded by firing a Cero at him, but captain Hitsugaya arrived, saving the soul. Rangiku began fighting the creature, eventually knocking him off a roof after releasing her Zanpakuto. Hitsugaya wanted to take him alive but then more clones arrived, a few of which going after Shota. However Rangiku slew them, only for one of the clones to state she couldn’t win no matter how many she killed and demonstrated his cloning power. At that moment, Yumichika Ayasegawa radioed in that he and Ikkaku were under attack by the same creatures. Realizing he can’t capture just one, Hitsugaya lured the clones to a park where he managed to freeze and destroy them all by releasing his Zanpakuto. Shota suddenly spotted the soul of his sister, Yui, on a park bench and they brought her back to the house they were using as a base. Upon arriving, they were contacted by Captain Jushiro Ukitake about the Arrancar and Akon gave them his report. He told them the creatures were not multiple Arrancar, but parts of a whole that were being efficiently controlled by the original creature from somewhere else. At that moment, the clones began attacking and feeding on souls again, prompting Hitsugaya’s team to mobilize. However Yui ran off and after Rangiku and Shota found her, Shota revealed he and Yui had encountered the Arrancar before. But he’d run away in fear, leaving his sister at the mercy of the creature and though Rangiku told him it was okay, she realized the Arrancar must have gotten Yui. Elsewhere, Hitsugaya was watching over another soul that had an encounter with one of the clones. However he was actually a clone and attempted to attack the captain unawares, but Hitsugaya fended him off and the clone made his escape. The captain reported this new development and Rangiku realized that the Arrancar had indeed devoured Yui and that the Yui with them was another clone. After a test was run on her, Akon reported she had been eaten by the Arrancar and, due to her high spiritual power, doing so had given him his cloning ability. He also confirmed she was a clone and Hitsugaya figured out the Arrancar was now after Shota, who had high spiritual power as well. Rangiku went after Yui and Shota, who’d run off, but when she reached their location, numerous clones appeared. Yui began using the ocarina music to force Shota to come towards her, but he managed to briefly break her free of the Arrancar’s control.

Joining the Battle
Yui told Shota to run away as the real Arrancar appeared, somewhat surprised that he’d lost control of her. However he said that would soon change and turned her into another clone, then absorbed all the clones. The Arrancar went after Shota, but Rangiku intervened and the two fought with the Shinigami gaining the advantage. To keep her busy, he created more clones and went after Shota again, but Hitsugaya arrived, freezing the clones and the Arrancar. The monster broke free and worried the captain would get him killed, reminded them if he was slain, Yui would die as well. Hitsugaya said he could deal with that, but Shota interfered, not wanting Yui to die and in the confusion, the Arrancar escaped into his pocket dimension. He proceeded to generate dozens of clones and after taunting them, he sent them out across Karakura Town to feed on more souls, this time living humans. However in the Soul Society, Rin figured out the music the Arrancar used to lure in souls came from the Arrancar himself, while his clones acted as transmitters. They used this to track the original and Hitsugaya released his Bankai, trying to break into the Arrancar’s pocket dimension. This failed, but the sound of Yui’s ocarina gave away his location and allowing the captain to break into his pocket dimension. The Arrancar released his Zanpakuto and Hitsugaya tried to end the fight quickly due to running out of spiritual energy. However his attacks seemingly did nothing with the Arrancar saying his Hierro was even stronger than that of an Espada. But Hitsuagaya said his hit had actually worked and sent him falling into the river below them, before freezing it. Shota and Rangiku both took hold of her Zanpakuto and drove it into the Arrancar, finally bringing an end to him.

Powers
The Cloning Arrancar possesses a high level of spiritual power, despite being an imperfect Arrancar, and is able to quickly and efficiently gather souls to increase his power. This is due to the Arrancar’s ability to generate clones of his former Hollow self, which are able to turn into any copy of a soul they have devoured. Thanks to the influence of the ocarina Yui used to play, the Arrancar can emit a music that can control souls, making them easy prey for his clones. He can also hide himself in a small pocket dimension that hides his spiritual power, from which he can control his clones safely. The Arrancar can use Hierro, a technique that makes his skin highly durable to attack, and Cero, a powerful energy blast. He has also demonstrated skill in swordsmanship, able to take on a Shinigami lieutenant. Like all Arrancar, the Cloning Arrancar can enter Resurrección form by releasing his Zanpakuto, Dientes, with the release command. “Crunch” (“Crunch them to bits” in the English dub). When he does so, the Arrancar becomes more powerful with spiked, club-like arms and a large snake-like being that hovers around him, which he can attack with.

Trivia

 * The name of the Cloning Arrancar’s Zanpakuto is Spanish for “Teeth”.