A/N: Well, sorry for yet ANOTHER story, but this is one that will not leave my head. I have been on vacation, away from a computer a lot, as well reading a lot of Accel World light novel volumes recently and an idea lodged itself into my mind: What if Haruyuki was replaced with Ichigo? And the avatar no longer could fly, but do something much more unique, along with a unique model as well? So, after finding a computer to use, this shall be that idea. Totally AU, with the whole events that occurred up to Aizen's defeat taking place before the second year of his middle school life. Also, he never lost his powers due to the Final Getsuga, so there is that whole struggle as well. Lastly, I will be replacing some characters where it seems fit, as well as changing the story to fit those changes. Yes, I know, confusing when put in words, but bear with me, alright?
Anyways, on with the story!
Thoughts
Inner Spirit
Direct Link talk
NL - Neural Linker
The drone of a teacher rambling on his subject filled the air as he pointed to an empty board. As he did as he profession taught him to, the students were all fingering the air right in front of them, using the holographic screens only they could see to jot down notes. Only one person broke this norm, opting to stare at the bright sky outside instead. This boy, an orange headed kid named Ichigo and the Hero of an afterlife war, lazily looked back at his own projection when he heard the standard notifying ping that came with a message. Pulling his arm out, he selected the flashing icon that was his message box, only for it to explode in a celebratory fashion.
The message filled his whole view with many dancing strawberries jumping about, arms flailing, legs crouching and standing, with pictures of his scowling face as if to mock his name, a merry and loud jingle filling his ears. With an irritated sigh, he just as quickly closed the message, barely allowing any time for the message's annoying voice to speak, already aware of what was transcribed upon it. Barely turning, he scowled back at the obvious culprits who were not even trying to hide their mirth. These idiots, time and time again, have been picking a fight with him because of his purely natural hair color.
Shifting again, he glanced at the clock on his dashboard before standing up at the sound of the end-of-class bell, picking a lazy pace to go to the designated area that, again, he had to fight at time and time again. Upon entry, he was met with the sneering faces of the two kids from class, both of them wielding knives. Asm the taller one, who was obviously the leader, began to speak, Ichigo interrupted him with a quick meeting of his foot the the kid's face, blasting him back to the edge of the roof, quickly followed by a reunion of the lackey's face and his own fist, knocking him out cold in a single hit.
With a bored sigh, Ichigo sauntered back to the cafeteria, barely a minute having passed, and grabbed the slop the lady gave him. Saying the standard thanks, he wolfed down the food before saying a phrase that turned into a habit: "Full Dive!"
Instantly, his consciousness was robbed from his mind into an avatar that stood in the middle of an open field. His avatar was a custom made one that he designed, with him standing at a solid 5'11" and taking the appearance of him in his bankai without a sword. With his haori flapping in the non-existent wind, Ichigo strode forth, past crowds of other avatars, all chattering excitedly. As he walked to his favorite area, a commotion caught his attention. Hearing people more excited then usual, Ichigo took to climbing the stairs up a hill in the direction he heard it, only to be a bit disappointed. All he saw was a gaggle of people crowding the only other custom made avatar on the system, the avatar of Kuroyukihime. Hers was a female avatar with red and black swallowtail butterfly wings, paired with a similarly colored gothic dress, long black hair, and a snowy white complexion. For a moment, their eyes caught and held to one another, causing her to gasp, before he broke away and strode forth to to gaming area.
He enjoyed it there, especially in the solo play area. Almost no one ever went there, so it was always quiet. This allowed him time to just relax, calm down, and removed mental stress through a vigorous game of Squash.
Slowly, he began to pick up his pace, before picking up to a full sprint. Enjoying the freeing feel of virtual wind hitting his face, he ran the rest of the way to the Squash court. Passing the flying colors of the environment, other players and students, as well as other courts, he jumped down the last flight of stairs before standing in front of his domain, the Squash arena. Standing the the starting area, he selected the button to begin his match. As the timer began at ten, he psyched himself up, preparing for the game ahead.
A siren went off as the countdown reached zero and the ball flew at him, albeit slowly. Striking hard, Ichigo smashed the ball against the wall, and smashed again as it rebounded back. On and on he repeated this process, not paying attention to the levels that he flew by before hearing the cheering sound of his friends. Sparing a quick glance at his audience, he noted that an orange haired rabbit and a black haired wolf was watching him. Deciding to end it early, he purposefully ended the match by missing the ball and walked over to the two animals. With the rabbit cheering, the wolf decided to speak up.
"Nice match, Ichigo. Yet again, you shattered your old record without even a sweat."
Confused, Ichigo turned around only to see that she was indeed right, for the level he achieved was 219, farther then his previous 187. Shrugging, he turned back around. "Didn't even notice. It is almost as if they didn't even add difficulty to the game, Tatsuki." She harrumphed, glaring in another direction in annoyance at his cocky response, which was totally ignored by the rabbit. "Wow! You are amazing Ichigo!"
The look on her avatar's face was almost comical. The system allowed over-exaggerated facial expressions, of which this person used constantly. This time, her eyes were entirely replaced with stars, her fists pumping up and down in excitement. This elicited laughter from both Tatsuki and Ichigo. "You really are an odd one at times, Orihime, you really are." Tatsuki said with a sigh, patting the top of her head with a paw. "Anyways, Ichigo, it is time to go t class. Come on now." With the message sent, her avatar, soon followed by the rabbit's, vanished with a small burst of light. Closing his eyes, Ichigo recited the release command and returned back to reality and rushed back to class. Even this far into the future, there is still the panic of reaching class on time.
The rest of the class day went by in a monotonous pattern: get to class, listen to teacher drone on and on, leave, get to next class, and so on. After school ended, Ichigo took the time to slowly get out of his seat, walk calmly to the door, then sprint chaotically away from the school, past his friends, in a desperate hurrying back home before his father got the chance to arrive first. Running through busy streets, jumping across cars, almost getting hit twice even, he poured all of his being into arriving first. When he arrived at his house, he didn't even pause to open the gate, opting to jump it instead, and rushed into the doorway, only to be met with both of his father's feet directly in his face. The force of the impact knocked him back through the air and out the door he rushed through. "Nice try, son, but not this time!"
Isshin Kurosaki, his father, was the man who attacked the young boy. In his hands also happened to be where the last chocolate pudding cup of the house was, paired with a spoon in his other hand. "You put up a valien-" The man could not finish his sentence, however, because where his face used to occupy was replaced with the fist of an angry child. The strike was spot on target too, for the old man was then flying through the air, leaving behind the pudding. Leaning over to scoop it up, he heard the voice of his younger sister Yuzu cry up for them to stop fighting as their father's head slammed into the wall, sticking into it.
"Nice shot!" was the muffle reply from Isshin, who was giving a thumbs-up. Being completely ignored, Ichigo went into the kitchen and rummaged around, grabbing a spoon. Slowly, carefully, he ate the chocolate pudding, savoring each taste. Scraping it clean, and having been completely satisfied, Ichigo tossed the cup into the trash and the spoon in the sink, yelling to his sister that they were now out of the pudding. With heavy slamming, Yuzu came charging in, her right cheek puffed out in annoyance. "Ichigo! I was going to eat that! You big meany!" With an annoyed yell, she ran up and began to playfully beat upon him with her weak arms. Laughing, he shied back and began apologizing. "Sorry, sorry! I will buy more later, alright?" This cause her to pause for a minute, before looking up at him with big eyes. "Really? Promise me that, big brother!"
"Alright, alright, I promise, just don't look at me with those doe eyes!" Ichigo said as he laughed, receiving a hug from her which was accompanied with a happy squeal. As she ran off giving her thanks, Ichigo took the time to get changed into a casual pair of jeans and his '15' shirt. Looking into the mirror of his room, the strawberry took the time to look at himself. Standing at about 5'6" in height, he was taller then the usual kid his age. He also had an unusual hair color, a bright orange, that never seemed to be tamed, always spiking. Even when looking in the mirror, he still held a scowl, his chocolate brown eyes glinting in the light as he did so. With a sigh, he knew that he recognized that he wasn't unattractive once more and began walking downstairs. Approaching the front door, he yelled back to his father that he was heading out, receiving a muffle yell in reply. Shoving his hands into his pocket, the young boy set his Neural Linker on auto-pilot to the nearest convenience store, opting to delve into his own thoughts.
It's been a while since that war, hasn't it? I haven't heard much from Soul Society since then. After having used Final Getsuga and killing Aizen, I and my spirits were positive that I would lose all of my spirit energy for good. Hell, we didn't even think Aizen could die because of that Hogyokou. Even when Gin tried, the man just came back to life. Yet, I did what they could not. I killed the man, kept my powers, destroyed the Hogyokou, of which stumps us all, and am managing to not vaporize anything that I touch from sheer spiritual energy. All that I am worried about now is the fact that the so called 'indestructible' Hogyokou was so easily broken. Something just is not right with that.
A ping brought him out of his musings, indicating that he had arrived at his destination. Going back to attention, Ichigo bought a six-pack of the pudding cups using electronic money through his device before setting back off to home, this time deciding to do it without help.
As he walked home, he noticed that a girl walking by suddenly went from impassively walking to a mix of surprise and scared in a matter of a second. There was nothing odd happening around them, people just walking as usual, but she seemed absolutely terrified of something. Shrugging it off, he just walked home, not realizing till much later that the girl was his school's Vice President, Kuroyukihime.
Upon opening and entering his house, Ichigo had to snap to attention because his little sister Yuzu came charging at him, eyes wide and excited, and jumped right at him. Out of instinct, he caught her in a hug, holding and spinning her in place with a wide grin. When he came to a stop, she placed her hands on his chest and looked at him expectantly, her eyes almost begging for the food he brought her. He paused for a moment, feigning regret, allowing his face to fall into sadness. "Look, Yuzu, about the pudding..."
Yuzu paused, noticing how he had withdrawn emotionally a little, and felt her emotions drop as well, only for her to beat him over the head with her hand. "Don't trick me like that! I saw what was in the bag!"
Laughing, he put her down on the ground and tossed her a cup before heading to the kitchen. He grabbed a marker on his way, flipping the pudding package in the air before snatching it right-side up. He scribbled onto it 'For Yuzu's consumption ONLY' on it and shoved it into the fridge. He then slammed it shut, stretched, and sat down on the living room couch. Lifting a hand up, he began working on his school work. With relative ease, he flew through each question assigned to him, using his NL to look up anything he had trouble on. Time flew by, and soon enough Yuzu was calling everyone over for dinner.
Tonight happened to be curry night, which meant only one thing to the Kurosaki males: Another contest to see who could handle the spice. Yuzu used spices of increasing heat for Isshin and Ichigo, mostly because it was what they demanded. Tonight she used Red Savina peppers in theirs, so both were psyched up. Both guys taking one side of the table, Yuzu and Karin took the other, one with an excited look, the other just bored. "Alright, on my mark!" Yuzu yelled.
"3."
"2."
"1."
"Go!" And with a downward wave of her hand, Yuzu started off their contest. The results were immediate. Both Ichigo and Isshin took one, two, three bites of their dish before flames began to erupt. With waterfalls of tear running down their faces and literal flames emanating from their mouths, they both began to shovel faster and faster. The heat increased in their mouths, causing genuine burns throughout their esophagus and food holes, before Ichigo slammed his plate down. Not a single grain of rice remained on it, and he opened his mouth to prove that nothing was hidden inside. Yuzu let out a wild cheer, declaring his win. When they looked at their dad, Ichigo laughed at the sight for the man was foaming at the mouth and had lain prostrate upon the ground, silently miming for water. Yuzu ran to the sink, filling a giant bucket of water and dragged it over. Isshin greedily downed the whole thing in one go, gasping for air at the end.
By then, their dinner had finished. As the loser, Isshin was quietly sobbing has he washed the dishes, allowing Yuzu and Ichigo time to get ready for bed. Ichigo quickly took his shower, not even taking 5 minutes, before going to bed. He laid on his back, mind drifting, when he finally came to a realization. Huh, he thought, That terrified person seemed awfully like...Kuroyukihime...
The next day, Ichigo woke up early, but he couldn't tell whether it was because of the alarm he set or if it was because of his insane dad who tried to get revenge for last night's challenge. Eh, probably the alarm. Ichigo thought, shrugging it off. Even after dressing and eating breakfast, it was still early, so he decided to get to school to beat his record again.
Deciding upon a leisurely pace, Ichigo took in the peaceful morning; the brilliant sunrise, the pleasantly chilled wind, and the occasional cloud that adorned the sky. So lost in thought, he never noticed how far he traveled, only for the NL on his neck to indicate his arrival. Again leaving his reverie, he glanced up at the school's sign. It still said Umesato Junior High School, and he was still just a first year. Sighing, he went straight to the cafeteria, sitting down in a secluded area before saying once more, "Full Dive!"
Again, he appeared in an open field, but this time it was more of a meadow. Picking his way down the path, he made a beeline for the Squash arena, this time with no distractions because of how few people there were. Again, as was habit, he ran through the open door of the gaming area, over to the ledge by the Squash arena, then jumped, landing right on the starting area for his game. Impatiently, he slapped the starting button, cuing the game's start.
He never understood why people had trouble with this game. I mean, all you have to do is predict the path the gravity defying ball will take after bouncing off a wall. He began just bouncing it about some, off the walls, ground, and ceiling, slowly building up the levels. With each one, it barely sped up some, occasionally defying any common rule of physics by pulling a 180 turn with no speed loss. Still, he put no effort into swatting at it away from his field. glancing up, he noticed that he was reaching the 200th level mark. Here is when things got a little tricky. Now, there was no form of predictability. The ball did what it wanted, giving not one fuck about the rules that should apply. It would even change its speed randomly, making it either suddenly go at beginners speed up to nearly invisible speeds. Even still, out of pure instinct, he hit the ball with unerring accuracy.
He had reached level 249, almost the last level, when he finally missed. However, it was due to no fault of his own. He was suddenly surprised by a high-pitched yell and the sound of someone falling down a flight of stairs, missing the ball as it flew right on by him. The words GAME OVER fell down in cartoonishly large letters, a fanfair of confetti accompanying it. Looking over in irritation, he saw the fallen form of the school's student Vice President. He rushed over to her fallen form, leaning over to grab her by the shoulder, lifting her back to her feet.
"Are you alright?" Ichigo asked, giving her a once-over. "Yes, I am fine. I am in my avatar, after all. Thank you though." She said, brushing herself off. "I was surprised by your score though. You are really skilled, you know that?" Scratching the side of his head, Ichigo remained impassive. "Really? It doesn't seem that hard to me." Eyes wide in shock, the girl in black took a moment to compose herself again before offering her hand out to him. "Well, in any case, I would like to talk to you during lunch today. Would that be alright with you?"
So, as how I see it, this is not my best nor my worst work. Please, tell me any way I can improve this. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed. I have also decided on the order of importance of stories to me, as well as what shall remain on the back burner: