Chapter 1:
It was a rare day for Ichigo to be using his powers and be in a good mood, but when Chad had invited him over to Urahara's shop for a small spar he lost himself in the feeling of being a spirit. He would never tell the others to keep them from worrying about him but he often preferred the freedom from the physical world his combat pass gave him. Ichigo almost paid for his distraction when Chad surprised him with one of his blasts. He dodged it by diving to the ground to the right and quickly rolled and stood up preparing to return fire with a Getsuga Tensho. As he began to gather energy for his attack, his spirit froze and began to flicker. "Not now," Ichigo thought. He had been experiencing this the last couple weeks and it could only mean one thing; his was losing his power, his freedom.
Chad noticed this as well and shared a look with Orihime who was watching the scene with Tatski on a nearby hill with Mr. Urarhara underneath his shop. "Hey Ichigo, I'm out of energy and need rest, you win." Chad released his powers, causing his right arm to return to normal, and went to join the others.
"When will that idiot just admit to us that he's losing his powers?" Tatski asked as they watch Ichigo slowly return to his body and make his way over to the group. She jumped when Ishida suddenly appeared behind her and said, "You answered your own question, he's an idiot."
"Aw Ishida, nice of you to join us, now we can get to the business with everybody here," Urahara said. Ichigo had just gotten to the group then, "And what business is that Hats and Clogs?" Ignoring his nickname from the substitute shimigami, Urahara said, "Well it seems one of my old projects has produced some fruit of success and I need some volunteers for… let's call it a field trip. One of my old test subjects was supposed to make his 20 year report but there was a problem."
"What kind of project has a 20 year report?" Tatski asked. "Ah well he was exploring another dimension." Urahara answered while sipping the tea that Tessai had just brought down for them. At that, the whole group went bug eyed except for Ichigo who merely said "Ok."
Tatski was the first to turn around and hit the orange haired teen. "You idiot! Didn't he just say there was a problem? And you just want to go off on another potentially dangerous adventure when you're…" she shut up knowing what she had almost yelled at her friend. "I'm what" Ichigo asked as he stood up and stared at her. "Weak" Ishida finished. "Your powers are becoming unstable and if this place is hostile then you will simply be in the way."
"I'll show you who's weak" Ichigo declared as the two glared at each other until Urahara stepped in between them. "Now now, even though he died, he did make sure to have a backup plan. Alas, good test subjects are hard to find. He simply sent a native in his place, meet Hatake Kakashi "he said as he pointed to a tree next to him. 'Oh boy it finally happened; he's finally lost his mind and is talking to trees.' The young ones thought until they heard a "Yo" and a man reading a small orange book jumped down from the tree.