The Swooping Descent of the Dark Emissary! The Propagation of Malice

'''The Swooping Descent of the Dark Emissary! The Propagation of Malice''' is the one-hundred-twenty-ninth episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: June 13, 2007
 * English Airdate: June 27, 2009
 * Opening Song: Alones
 * Ending Song: Tsumasaki
 * Manga Chapters: None.
 * Kanji: 舞い降りた闇の使者！増殖する悪意
 * Romaji: "Maiorita yami no shisha! Zōshoku suru akui"
 * Arc: The Arrancar arc

Summary
Rangiku allows Shouta to come with her to track down the flute noise, and the two arrive in time to see a businessman’s soul get eaten by the Arrancar. It seems to grow in power after eating the soul, and when Shouta starts throwing rocks at it, it fires a blast at him. Shouta fortunately is caught by Hitsugaya, and the captain helps Matsumoto attempt to capture their enemy. However, the Arrancar starts laughing evilly, and soon, more of it appear in front of them. In fact, there is a small army of them that all look the same, each with the power to divide into two. With Ikkaku and Yumichika also fighting more of these Arrancar across town, Hitsugaya orders all of them destroyed and tells Rangiku to head to an open area. Rangiku thus takes Shouta to the park and get surrounded, allowing Hitsugaya to then jump in to destroy all the Arrancar in one large ice attack. Afterwards, Shouta notices a girl sitting on a nearby park bench and recognizes her as his younger sister Yui.

Once they bring Yui back to their apartment, Shouta finally explains that she had been with him - blowing a flute - when his family was headed to the amusement park one day. They had gotten into an accident, and Shouta woke up with the chain attached to his chest and his parents gone. Yui had been the one he was searching for, and he’s very happy when she wakes up and recognizes him. Hitsugaya finds it strange that Yui would just appear suddenly in the park and questions Shouta, but before he can answer, their conversation gets interrupted by a transmission from Ukitake and Akon from the Technological Development Bureau. Akon explains that the spiritual pressure of all those Arrancar matched, meaning that each of those Arrancar are part of one and share the same consciousness. The multiple bodies allow the Arrancar to absorb more souls while its main body can remain hidden and issue orders. Before cutting off the transmission, Akon promises to look more into the flute sound that they’re hearing before the attacks.

While the others go out to keep watch over the town, Rangiku stays behind to keep an eye on Shouta and Yui. Later that night, she finds Shouta looking depressed despite being reunited with his sister and suspects that he’s still hiding something. Shouta thinks that it’s none of her business, and the two suddenly hear a noise from the other room. They find that Yui has disappeared, and all around town, the flute noise and Arrancar have appeared again. In chasing one of the Arrancar, Hitsugaya comes across a soul that seems too scared to talk to him, but that soul smiles evilly after the captain leaves. With Matsumoto following close behind, Shouta heads directly to the park to look for his sister. She is indeed there, sitting almost lifelessly on a swing set, and when Shouta questions her, she tells him that she just wanted to come to the park. Yui seems happy that Shouta came and says that she’s not scared since he’s here. However, this gets Shouta frustrated because he knows that he originally ran away and abandoned her here at the park.