Cloning Arrancar

An unnamed Cloning Arrancar that attacks Karakura Town during the time that Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya was sent to protect it.

Appearance
In his Hollow form, the Cloning Arrancar bears a resemblance to an armadillo. He has a brown fur covering his back while his legs are a light purple with a ring of brown near the feet. His Hollow mask has a large mouth with no other features present on it. The mask extends over his spine with spike protruding from it every few inches.

After becoming an Arrancar, he grows in size. His fore legs become larger arms with long claws. His mask opens up revealing a face with dark eyes. The mask changes shape slightly with long protrusions coming out the side and three orange tufts arising from the top. His Hollow hole is in the center of his chest, it looks like two holes that are fused together.

Arrancar arc
After following the sound of an ocarina, Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto arrives at a playground to find a Plus thrown out of a cloud of dust. A Hollow then emerges from that cloud. He is able to put up a fight while Rangiku tries to protect the Plus. After swinging her Zanpakutō at it, the Hollow catches it with his teeth and emits a large amount of Reiatsu, causing Rangiku to notice that his Reiatsu is more similar to an Arrancar’s than a Hollow’s. After asking what he is, he opens his mouth revealing a pair of glowing eyes and tells her to beat it. Ikkaku Madarame arrives and is able to rather effortlessly dispatch the Arrancar. Later that night, the sound of the ocarina is heard once more as an Arrancar exactly the same as the previous one appears on the roof of a building.

The Arrancar chases down a Plus when the sound of the ocarina is suddenly heard. The plus loses control over his movements and begins walking towards the Arrancar’s mouth. The Plus is saved just in time as Rangiku arrives with the Plus from earlier that day whose name is revealed to be Shōta Toyokawa. The now mobile Plus tries to escape, but is quickly caught and devoured by the Arrancar. Rangiku goes to attack him and questions how he can be here when Ikkaku killed him and asks if there are more. The Arrancar replies, saying, “I dunno” as he begins to grow in power, standing on his hind legs. Shōta begins throwing rocks at him to which the Arrancar responds with a Cero. This knocks Shōta back, but he is saved by the arrival of Tōshirō. The fight resumes between Rangiku and the Arrancar as she releases Haineko and knocks him off the roof. Tōshirō then goes to the Arrancar and says he will take him alive. However, this plan is interrupted by the arrival of many more exact copies of this Arrancar. A few chase after Shōta, but are quickly dispatched by Rangiku. The Arrancar, however, taunts that they cannot defeat him no matter how many copies they kill. He then demonstrates his cloning process as one splits himself into two.

Yumichika Ayasegawa radios that they have encountered a group of clones to which Tōshirō replies to kill them all. The two groups begin destroying as many clones as they can when Tōshirō realizes that he cannot capture one where they currently are and leads the clones to the park from earlier that day. Rangiku and Shōta follow but are quickly surrounded by clones when Tōshirō reappears atop a building and releases his Zanpakutō, freezing all the clones in the vicinity. Afterwards, Shōta sees his sister Yui Toyokawa's soul on a bench in the park. They take her and travel back. Once back at home, Captain Jūshirō Ukitake contacts the team in the Human World about the Arrancar. Akon then gives them the report on the Arrancar saying that they are not multiple Arrancar as they had believed, but are pieces of a whole sent out to work more efficiently while the real one controls them from somewhere else. Once more the Arrancar appear and begin devouring souls. The team is alerted and moves out to find them. As they mobilize, however, the real Arrancar appears from his alternate dimension.

After Yui runs away, Shōta and Rangiku are able to find her in the park, where he reveals that he had encountered the Arrancar before. He ran away, leaving Yui to fend for herself. Rangiku tells him it is alright, but realizes that the Arrancar must have gotten to Yui. Meanwhile, Tōshirō watches over a Plus but as he checks in with Rangiku, the Plus transforms into another clone. He cuts off the clone’s front right leg, but it quickly changes back into the form of a soul and runs off. After reporting his findings back to the rest of the team, Rangiku realizes that there is chance that Yui did not survive the attack by the Arrancar and is merely another clone. After running a test, Akon reports that the Arrancar did absorb Yui’s soul which is likely what gave him the ability to create clones due to her high spiritual power. Akon confirms that Yui is a clone. Tōshirō then figures out that the Arrancar is after Shōta. Rangiku chases after the escaped Yui and Shōta, but as she reaches them, Yui releases a large burst of Reiatsu, summoning dozens of clones. Yui takes possession of Shōta and begins having him walk towards her, but Shōta’s cries break the Arrancar’s control over her, causing her to regain control of herself.

Yui tells Shōta to run as the real Arrancar appears. He is surprised that Yui was able to resist him, but says he will change that as he turns her into another clone of his Hollow form. He then absorbs all the clones and goes for Shōta, but is stopped by Rangiku. The two battle with Rangiku gaining the upper hand. However, the Arrancar produces clones to defend himself and chase after Shōta, distracting Rangiku and allowing for a reversal of positions. Tōshirō arrives and freezes the clones and the Arrancar, but the Arrancar is quick to break free. Fearing death from the recently arrived captain, the Arrancar threatens the team by saying that if he dies, Yui dies as well. Tōshirō says he figured that would happen, but is prepared to face that when Shōta stands in his way, not wanting Yui to die. The Arrancar uses this moment of confusion to leap away into his pocket dimension. He then creates hundreds of clones to attack the team. After taunting the team for a minute, he sends out his clones to eat Humans.

Over at the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, Rin figures out that the sound they hear from the Arrancar is a transmitter and they might be able to track it through the clones. Yumichika and Ikkaku continue battling the clones with Lieutenant Renji Abarai showing up to help. Tōshirō goes into Bankai and tries to break through the pocket dimension in order to bring the Arrancar out, but with little success. Suddenly, the sound of Yui’s ocarina can be heard, revealing exactly where the Arrancar is, allowing Tōshirō to break through, revealing the Arrancar. The Arrancar immediately releases his Zanpakutō, Dientes. Tōshirō, running out of Reiatsu, tries to finish things quickly, but to what appears to be no avail. The Arrancar reveals that his Hierro is tougher than that of an Espada. Tōshirō says that the he just does not understand and reveals that his hit worked, knocking the Arrancar out of the air and freezing him in the river below. Shōta and Rangiku grab hold of her sword and charge at the Arrancar, killing him and all his clones and releasing all the souls he absorbed.

Powers & Abilities
Despite being an imperfect Arrancar, he was considered a huge threat to the living world from how quickly and effectively he could gather souls and increase his power. In addition to his new form being more powerful, the Arrancar gained several additional abilities:

Cloning: Of the Arrancar’s most noticeable abilities was his power to create seemingly limitless copies of his Hollow form to do his bidding, collecting souls remotely and transferring the power back to himself. He claims his cloning speed increases sixteen times everyday.


 * Shapeshifting: In addition to his clones making it easier and safer for him to gather souls or outnumber his enemies in battle, the clones also have the power to transform into perfect copies of any souls they devoured. While transformed, the clones can perfectly imitate the said soul by playing on its memories and emotions. This also allows the clones to move undetected by Shinigami by masking their Hollow presence. However, a strong enough soul can temporarily resist the clone’s control.

Musical Possession: Drawing influence from Yui's ocarina, the Arrancar is also able to manipulate souls through a musical tune to force Pluses to walk themselves into the jaws of his clones.

Dimensional Barrier: The Arrancar himself can hide within a small pocket dimension to mask his spiritual power while maintaining the clones, making it nearly impossible to kill him.

High Spiritual Power: Since becoming an Arrancar and after absorbing almost all the souls in Karakura Town, he possesses a rather large amount of spiritual energy. His Reiatsu is red.

Hierro: Despite being imperfectly transformed, the Arrancar boasts rather sturdy iron skin. After releasing its Zanpakutō, he is able to withstand a strike from Hitsugaya (albeit Hitsugaya was only at 20 percent of his power). By his own claim, the Arrancar's iron skin is stronger than that of an Espada.

Swordsmanship Practitioner: While still adjusting to his new form, the Arrancar shows capable swordsmanship against Rangiku, an expert of swordsmanship herself. Through sheer power and relentless assaults, the Arrancar was able to fight back his opponent for a time.

Zanpakutō

 * his Zanpakutō has a very standard appearance (in comparison to his size). It has a square guard with curved lines going to each corner, a black sheath, and a dark green hilt.


 * Resurrección: The release command for his Zanpakutō is . After releasing his Zanpakutō, his form changes drastically; his arms and hands turn to large club-like extensions, each with several spikes. A large, snake-like entity also forms above him, which can attack remotely.