Disclaimer: The story written here is based on characters created by Tite Kubo and Norihiro Yagi. All Bleach characters and related material are owned by creator, Tite Kubo. Likewise, Claymore characters and all related material (except for original "Claymore" characters that I created specifically for this fanfic) are owned by creator, Norihiro Yagi. Please remember, this story is only fanfiction and not part of the canonical storyline of both manga.
Author's Notes: This is my first fanfiction, so please comment and give any advice or criticism. If everyone likes this story, I'll continue writing the next chapters. As the story progresses, I will welcome any good ideas to improve it (storywise, characters, etc.) and give proper credit to those individuals that take their time to help. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy it.
Bleach/Claymore: The Yoma Hollowfications
Chapter 1: The Abyss
"When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you." - Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil
Karakura Town.
Laying in bed, Ichigo Kurosaki can't sleep, no matter how hard he tries. He stares constantly at the ceiling of his bedroom, pondering about what's bothering him. The calm, quiet atmosphere seems to only perplex his nerves. He's extremely disturbed about the events that transpired several weeks ago. During the time in Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime, he unintentionally transformed into an extremely powerful Hollow after nearly dying at the hands of the 4th Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer. Even though Ulquiorra was in his second release, Resurrección Segunda Etapa, he was still overpowered by the transformed "Hollow Ichigo". This form as described by Orihime and Uryu, was relentless, uncontrollable, almost mindless and terrifying. He nearly killed Uryu Ishida while the latter tried unsuccessfully to stop him.
"WHY?" he asked himself, "How did this happen? I don't remember...anything. Well, I do in a way. I remember being underwater, fighting someone. Why the hell can't I remember! Small visions of Aizen and...I don't even really know what's bothering me exactly, but I feel that there's something seriously wrong here. I feel it in the pit of soul...that I'm not all there, somehow."
What he does remember is the last confrontation he had with his inner Hollow, the last words he spoke after being beaten, before he disappeared.
"Oh, and here's a warning. If you really want to control my power, do your best not to die until the next time I appear."
"What the hell did he mean by that?" Ichigo wondered, "I need answers. I have to speak with both of 'em."
His latest visit to his inner world did nothing but provide more unanswered questions and confusion. Upon arriving, Ichigo knew there was something amiss. Thick fog and a deafening silence is what greeted him. The atmosphere in this world was unusually dark and unnerving.
"What the hell is going on here, what's this...fog?"
As he traveled from building to building, he called out to both individuals that normally resides there. In Ichigo's mind, these two would be the only ones who could answer most, if not all, the questions running through his head. Although, he's truly not even sure what those questions are.
"Old Man!"
"OLD MAN !" he yelled, "Where the hell are you!"
"DAMMIT! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!"
Silence...nothing but silence.
"Zangetsu!" "OLD MAN ZANGETSU!"
Again, nothing. Not even the sound of wind flew past his ears.
Traveling a little further, he comes upon an unsettling sight. He sees his Hollow's zanpakuto, the white Zangetsu with the black blade, planted into the side of a building. Only about half the blade is exposed. The long, black, cloth wrapping at the end of the tang, swayed gently in the light wind.
"What the hell is going on?"
He looked around, searching for any signs...but there was nothing, just the same fog and silence that was present when he arrived. In a fit of rage, he unleashes a Getsuga Tensho. The buildings directly in the path of his attack are struck head on, without mercy. An explosion ensues, causing smoke and debris to fly in all directions from the point of impact. Eerily however, after the onslaught, the deafening silence returned.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?" he screams out, frantically.
Back in Ichigo's room, his need for answers begin to driving him insane. He looks at the clock...11:55 pm. Suddenly, the appearance of an enormous reiatsu breaks his chain of thought and he quickly sits up in bed.
"What the hell?" he said to himself, "a nearby Hollow?"
Utilizing his substitute shinigami badge, he changes to his shinigami persona as his human body quietly falls limp on the bed. He momentarily stares at the empty shell of himself, thinking for some unknown reason that he won't ever see it again. Quickly dismissing that particular thought, he swiftly makes his way out the window. His mind is still quite chaotic and he wonders if he'll be able to handle the coming situation without being distracted by such things.
"Of course I will," he thinks to himself,."I'll do whatever I have to."
After traveling several kilometers, he comes to the area where he sensed the tremendous spiritual pressure, but finds nothing. He looks around, but everything's quiet. No signs of any kind of disturbance.
"What the Hell!" he said, "Am I going crazy?"
He then senses two strong, familiar reiatsu coming from behind his six o'clock.
"Rukia, Renji" he said.
"Ichigo, what was that reiatsu earlier?" asked Rukia.
"Yeah, it woke me up!" said Renji, "I was trying to get some rest. Any idea what it was?" .
"I don't know...it seems to have disappeared as soon as I got here." exclaimed Ichigo
"Well, whatever it is...it's gone now." said a voice.
The three look down to see that Ishida is standing below them near the street.
"Uryu, you're here too?" asked Ichigo, somewhat surprised.
"Of course...why wouldn't I come?" said Ishida, "I sensed that strong reiatsu as well...I wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing."
"Uh...sorry, forget I asked." Ichigo said in a low voice.
"Seems to be a waste of time!" said Renji angrily, "There's nothing here."
Just then, a rip in the fabric of the surrounding space near their location appears. Slowly, the hands and head of a large Hollow is shown coming through the tear until its entire body fully emerges.
"It's a Menos Grande...a Gillian!" yelled Rukia, "What's it doing here?"
"Don't know, but I'll take care of this." Ichigo responds, hastily rushing head long towards the enormous Hollow.
"WAIT!...Something isn't right. There's something...wrong here...ICHIGO!" Rukia screamed.
Her words fall on deaf ears as the substitute shinigami races toward the Hollow with reckless abandon. In mere seconds, he closes the distance between them and attacks with a wide sweep of his zanpakuto, aiming for the creature's mask. The Hollow surprisingly blocks the attack which visibly surprises Ichigo. He attacks it several more times, but the results are the same as the first. He then drives his sword into the Hollows body causing it to shriek in pain. He momentarily stares at the way his zanpakuto is deeply imbedded in the side of the Hollow, with only a partial amount of the blade exposed and the cloth wrapping swaying around wildly in the wind. His thoughts change to the sight of his inner Hollow's zanpakuto alone in the foggy, silent inner world. Confounded, Ichigo pauses for several seconds, giving the Gillian enough time to grab him with both hands. The Hollow begins to squeeze Ichigo, causing him to scream out in pain. The Hollow then opens its mouth and begins charging a Cero. The familiar red light begins to form in front of the Hollow's mouth. However, before it's able to fire it at the young soul reaper, Ichigo finally comes to his senses and breaks free from the Hollow's grasp.
"Look!" Ishida says while pointing up, "above the Hollow!"
Rukia and Renji look up to see the clouds directly above both the Gillian and Ichigo, form into a swirling vortex. In a matter of seconds, it grows larger and takes the form of an upside-down tornado, unbeknownst to a distracted Ichigo.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!...GETSUGA TEN..."
Before he is able to initiate his attack, the Gillian is suddenly pulled up towards the vortex. In a futile attempt, it fires a cero into the eye of the uncanny storm causing it to intensify and change to a brilliant, crimson red. The Hollow starts to twist and stretch as it desperately tries to break free from the enormous suction emanating from the inverted twister. The Hollow grabs onto a couple of buildings, but both break and crumble as its body begins to stretch to the point of almost snapping in half like a giant, black rubberband. Its head quickly disappears into the growing vortex and just as quickly, its entire body gets completely sucked in.
"What in the world is that? It just completely sucked up that Gillian!" Rukia said with anxiety.
"I don't know but it's getting stronger!" Ishida says, "If we don't stop it now, it could suck up the whole city!...wait, what's Ichigo doing?"
The other two look up and see the vortex grow in size, power and intensity while Ichigo hovers in front of it. He seems to be oblivious to the fact that his life is in immediate danger. His thoughts continue to revert back to the events that happened in his inner world. He sees a glimpse of a shadowy figure and hears a menacing, unfamiliar voice, "Once you glance into the abyss, it's hard to turn away. Likewise, the abyss will always stare into your soul. Be careful not to turn into the evil that you've been fighting all this time because once you're there, I'm gonna take over. Hehehe" His thoughts are broken by the voice of the one who has always cared about him...
"ICHIGO, WHAT'RE YOU DOING STUPID? WAKE UP WILL YA!" screamed Rukia angrily.
Ichigo snaps out of his delusion. "What?" he said, looking around.
"BEHIND YOU DUMMY," Rukia screamed again, "MOVE!".
Ichigo turns his head and watches as the vortex move closer toward his direction.
"ICHIGO, GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE!" yelled Renji.
"I CAN'T...I'M BEING PULLED IN!" Ichigo raged back.
"Dammit!" Renji growled, "HOWL...ZABIMARU!"
Renji swings his zanpakuto in a wide sweeping arc, extending Zabimaru to its full length, which catapults its way toward Ichigo. On cue, the zanpakuto quickly wraps itself around the substitute soul reaper which in turn, causes Renji to be pulled violently forward due to the tremendous pressure caused by the localized unnatural windstorm.
"RENJI!" Rukia yelled, "HOLD ON!"
"IT'S TOO DAMN STRONG...WE'RE BOTH BEING PULLED IN!" Renji yelled back.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki"..."Some no Mai...Tsukishiro"
A large, circular pillar of ice forms from the ground up into the sky in front of Renji.
"Renji, grab the ice!" Rukia pleaded.
"I got it" Renji tells her.
The plan seems to be working for the moment. Rukia looks down and sees Ishida powering up an unusually large spirit arrow. His plan is to shoot the tail end of the vortex and cause an explosion large enough to disrupt the airflow. He's hoping this will cause it to collapse in on itself. Rukia's "ice pillar" begins to crack. The fracture starts from Renji's location and travels horizontally across the pillar.
"Uryu!" she yells at Ishida, "Whatever it is you're planning, do it fast...Renji can't hold on for much longer!"
"I know! But if I shoot this arrow too early without absorbing enough reishi, it will be totally ineffective." Ishida explains to her.
Several seconds pass. It seems more like hours. The spirit arrow is finally ready and Ishida aims carefully, aiming at the very tip of the funnel's tail. He looks at Renji struggling to grasp the chunk of ice while at the same time, holding onto Zabimaru with sheer willpower. He sees Ichigo swaying around violently in the turbulence as Renji's Zanpakuto is wrapped around him...almost like a kite in the middle of a hurricane.
"It's an easy shot," he thinks to himself, "concentrate...almost...NOW!
He releases the arrow and in an instant, it quickly passes Rukia and Renji. Just then, Ichigo's body begins to stretch and twist. He screams as his body stretches apart like the Hollow's did mere minutes ago. Ichigo is pulled loose from Zabimaru's grip and dragged towards the mouth of the vortex. The arrow streaks past him but it's too late.
Rukia screams, "ICHIGOOOOO!"
As well as Ishida and Renji, "KUROSAKI!"..."ICHIGO!"
A fraction of a second before the arrow hits its intended target, Ichigo disappears into the swirling, chaotic mass of energy. The massive explosion caused by Ishida's spirit arrow is deafening and so bright that Rukia, Renji and Ishida have to look away. The violent winds and aftershock of the explosion threaten to sweep them all away.
Imagine being tossed into a giant blender...full of acid...at the highest speed setting...while inside the sun's corona. Ichigo doesn't need to imagine, he's living proof that a person could experience such an event. Lucky for him, it doesn't last long...then darkness engulfs him. He thinks things can't get any worse, but he is wrong. Suddenly, he collides into something large. The shock of the impact is so great that he is unable to remain conscious and completely blacks out.
How long he's been unconscious or how much time has passed, he isn't really certain. Pain, lots of it, is something he feels over his entire body. In a way, it's a good thing. Now he knows that he isn't dead. He hears voices, faint at first then somewhat distinguishable. Female voices...who?...what are they saying?
"Who is he?" one voice asked, "What the hell's he doing here?"
"I don't know?" another one said, "He might be a survivor of this massacre."
"He just suddenly appeared and fell from the sky," said another voice, "I can't believe a human could survived such a fall!"
"This isn't the time or place...we're in the middle of a battle!" yelled the first voice, "Just grab him and go, NOW!"
"I'll get him out of here!" another voice yells, "The rest of you keep fighting."
"ALRIGHT!" all the other voices say.
Ichigo tries to open his eyes, but everything's hazy, a giant blur. Then slowly his vision starts to sharpen. He hears screams, some are women, the others sound like...HOLLOWS? He looks left and sees several women wearing medieval armor and brandishing huge claymore swords, fighting against two Gillians.
"Where the hell am I?" he thinks to himself.
He tries to move, but his body won't respond.
"MOVE DAMMIT!" he says, "MOVE...MOVE...MOVE...MOVE!"
"Don't worry, I've got you." he hears a woman's voice say.
Ichigo turns his head toward the sound of the voice and looks at the woman talking to him. He notices that she too dons the same type of armor and brandishes the same enormous sword, just like the others. He glances at her face for several moments and is awestruck, just like a deer staring at a pair of oncoming headlights. His eyes widen and his heart thumps loudly...
"It...can't be...it just can't! How?" he says with a shocked look on his face, "Mom, is that...you?"
End of Chapter 1