The Unusable Pilot
AN:
Hello. This is an idea that occurred to me many years ago, it's been sitting unfinished and untouched on my hard drive and I rediscovered it while writing up Resplendent Emerald. It's unlikely that I'll ever get back to it and I'd very much like to see it taken forward, but I lack the time and resources to devote to it. If you'd like to take it up, PM me and I'll put up a notice redirecting people to your version.
Fate was a curious creature. Fickle and mysterious, it may come as a surprise to many that there is reason to the chaos: all things must be in balance, all power must exist within its boundaries. There were occasions when these boundaries were crossed or re-written as was with the case with Vizards and, in the near future, Arrancars, but for the most part everything ends with resolution. Such is the way of fate.
So it was with a near-blinding migraine that fate sat at her desk and considered the case of Ichigo Kurosaki, her future bitch and mother-of-all problems. Why was there a problem, you ask? Why the problem existed because of the nature of his existence of course!
Being the son of a Soul Reaper/Human hybrid and a Quincy/Hollow hybrid, Ichigo was no easy puzzle to figure out. After all, if he was a Quincy, could he be a Soul Reaper? If he was Human, could he be a Hollow too?
"Bullshit!" cried her proverbial audience. Making Ichigo everything together was a bad idea. She could try making him something that was none of the above, but a Fullbringer was just another way of saying Soul Reaper-in-training, so that was out too. So what could she make him?
In a few years, he would meet the Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki for the first time and his journey would begin in earnest, but with what powers and under what constraints?
Distracted in her musings, Fate never noticed a shadowy figure place a document in front of her before departing leaving only the scent of sandalwood on the breeze.
Snapping back to reality she noticed the paper the figure had left and the suggestion contained within. Grinning madly, Fate let out an uncharacteristic squeal before throwing her hands in the air and running of to get a drink with her buds Destiny and Fortune to gloat about the solution she would take credit for.
Behind her, the piece of paper fluttered to the ground:
Try a Bount
-Snow
Years Later
Soon, Ichigo was born and lived a life of relative comfort and happiness with his parents. He enjoyed spending time with his mother, who he adored. In turn, his mother doted upon him and he grew to the age 9 as a well-adjusted child.
Alas, the fate of heroes is never pleasant and it was on a rainy day that marked his ninth birthday that he first encountered the other world. As first impressions go, this was probably one of the worst imaginable. Losing his beloved mother to what he perceived as his own stupidity was probably the harshest fate he would encounter in a long time.
He was not blind, nor had he selectively lost any memories. He had seen the strange monster clad in armor of bone covering its face and powerful limbs, which it used to rip his mother apart. The fact remained in his mind however, that he had been the one to open Pandora's box. The monster (for such was what he thought of Grand Fisher at the time) was powerful, and had he but ignored it, his mother would still be alive.
If there was any positive side to the catastrophe, it was unclear to Ichigo. He had been stupid and it had cost him. Looking around him and seeing the world through a new set of eyes, he decided on the spot that he would not lose anyone else. For far too long he had been a Strawberry, it was time to become a Protector.
On the fateful day
The day had been pretty normal by his standards; go to school, attend class, ignore the teacher, meet the guys, help out the occasional spirit and head home for the day. The night however was a different story altogether, this one to be precise.
Laying in bed staring at the ceiling, he was roused from his thoughts by an intruder breaking into his room through his window.
"Who are you?!"
The intruder apparently didn't care to reply. Great, a weirdo.
Hopping off the window sill, the girl (she had curves, just not many, of that he was certain) landed in the middle of his room. Her eye twitched and her hands started straying towards the sword at her hip.
"It's coming" she stated, apparently to herself.
"What's coming?"
No response was forthcoming. She really knew how to push his buttons didn't she?
Thoroughly pissed off, he kicked her posterior. Hard.
"Who are you and what'dya want?!"
Ignoring her shocked expression he contined.
"You're a lousy burglar if you talk to yourself like that all the time. You definitely picked the wrong house to steal from though!"
"Wait, you can see me?"
Her innocent question did nothing to improve his mood. Nor did the fact that she was waving her hand in front of him like one would to ascertain blindness. She was really pushing his buttons now.
"Considering that kick was aimed solidly at your royal posterior, I would say so, yes."
"Wha-"
Not willing to relinquish control of the conversation to sate her curiosity he cut her off
"Back to the point, who are you?"
"I'm a Soul Reaper"
One lengthy, unnecessary explanation later
Her explanation was one he didn't buy. Really, Soul Reapers? Burglars were getting more and more creative each day. Younger too by the looks of it. Might as well give her a piece of his mind.
"Sure, I believe you" he said, using the honeyed tone that implied extreme sarcasm "I also suddenly believe in the tooth fairy, aliens, JFK-conspiracy theories, holy grail legends and every other Shounen manga currently in production. Yeah right, pull the other one, brat!"
Rukia paused, annoyed at the dig at her height.
"Brat, am I?" she hissed "Path of Binding#1: Restrain, who's the brat now, carrot-top?"
Arms trapped at an odd angle by her spell, he struggled against invisible bonds against her spell.
"Now sit still while I tell you why I'm here, boy"
Another, slightly longer explanation later (Quite a few of these aren't there?)
"-normally, I'm able to detect Hollows near by, but now some thing's jamming my senses."
"What are you, blind? There something huge coming this way now!"
"Wha-"
An unearthly howl and a human scream cut her off.
"That's Yuzu!"
I'm getting tired transcribing cannon here, so I'm just gonna skip to the interesting bit, capiche?
Ichigo froze at the familiar bone masked face. It was a monster. Not the one he had encountered all those years ago, but closer than anything else he'd seen. Powerful rage bubbled through this body, this thing dared threaten his family? He wouldn't lose them, not again. This time he was prepared.
So caught up was he in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice as the Soul Reaper from before went up against the monster (a Hollow, was it?), only to receive the smack down of a lifetime. He sighed, perhaps these Soul Reapers were useless after all. Oh well, no loss.
Ignoring the now bleeding Soul Reaper as she started to say something, he silenced her with a glare. This would take concentration.
Reaching into his pocket he pulled out an old pocket watch, a memento from his mother's family, not unlike her strange cross, which he now wore around his neck. Truly objects of importance to him.
Clicking the dilapidated pocket watch open, he incanted-
"Zeige Dich, Zangetsu!"
Spiraling out of the opened pocket watch the hunk of metal unfolded in a flurry of clockwork. Each piece unfolding from its optimum packing in systematic fashion as the small piece of metal began to unfold into a 7 foot tall metal monster.
Horrifying, was one adjective that occurred to the injured Rukia, terrifying, was a close second. The golem that the boy used was composed on the exterior of armor, exotic and dense, clearly meant to defend from powerful physical blows. The interior was pale green pulsating Eldritch flame.
At first glance the figure looked unarmed, but a large powerful drill mounted on its right arm caught her attention. This was a monstrosity, a demon of the worst order. How had the mere boy harnessed this thing?
Ichigo's attention was elsewhere. Controlling Zangetsu was no easy task considering the doll seemed more intent on killing him than his opponents. His orders needed to be crisp, clear and concise.
"Protect my family. Destroy that monster. That is all."
The doll regarded its master with an expressionless look (easy considering its face was made of flame). And gave a short nod.
"As you command"
Faster than should be possible considering its size, Zangetsu leapt at the Hollow drill switched on and working with maximum prejudice. The battle was over before it began.
The last sight Rukia saw before succumbing to unconsciousness was that of the metal behemoth turning to regard Ichigo. And then, all was blank.
AN: And that's all I wrote.
To be honest though, I did have more, but I was more interested in seeing what the adopted would come up with.
I'd like to pawn this off on someone else, since I'm not really into the fandom at the moment. As I said earlier PM me if you'd like to take it off my hands. I'm pretty sure this is the only Bount!Ichigo fic on the site, so its got that going for it.