Soul Survivors
Well readers of fanfiction, here I am with my first attempt at a Bleach story. This story is going to take place a long time after the final fight between Aizen and Ichigo, so there will be spoilers for those of you who have yet to see that epic showdown, though I will be making small changes, which I will mention but should be pretty obvious. I AM WARNING YOU OF THIS NOW! Also, I plan on including the Fullbring Arc in my story as well. This is not in the anime and, since Tite Kubo has yet to finish this arc, I will be adding some of my own ideas to what happens in it. One final thing, I will also be adding an Arc after the Fullbring one to make the transition to this story easier. So, with that out of the way, here is the story.
Prologue
No matter what side of war you are on, you are never truly the victor. Blood is shed, bones are broken, flesh is stripped, and lives are lost. Casualties are the most most defining thing within a war. Those who wish to avoid fighting are dragged into the carnage, while those who live to fight and kill suffer an insatiable thirst to continue fighting even when the conflict is over. Death is the only real victor.
Soul Reapers know this better than anyone, for their job is an everlasting war against Hollows and any threat against humanity or the Soul Society. Yet still they plunge forward with their task into the jaws of death itself. The worst time in the history of the Soul Society had all started with a Soul Reaper by the name of Sosuke Aizen.
Through many years of plotting, experimenting, and betrayal, Aizen had finally obtained the item he had searched far and wide for. It was the one item that could make his most incredible wishes come to life, the Hogyoku, created by the only man who could ever challenge his intellect and come out on top, Kisuke Urahara. He then went to Hueco Mundo, the land of the Hollows, and created many powerful Arrancar while setting up his base of operations. To completely awaken the Hogyoku, he captured Orihime Inoue to force her to restore it to its full potential. While Ichigo Kurosaki and his companions traveled to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime, Aizen launched an attack on Karakura Town with his top three Arrancar in order to obtain the Oken, the key to get to the Soul King. However, he was confronted by Head Captain Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto and his small army in a Fake Karakura Town created by Kisuke. The battles were long and arduous. Although they received assistance from the Vizards and all of Aizen's forces, except him and Gin Ichimaru, were defeated, the army from the Soul Society was defeated by Aizen and their leader, Yamamoto, was killed as he sacrificed himself to try and kill Aizen (Yamamoto doesn't die in the anime or manga, but in here, he will have died from casting the Hado spell #96, Itto Kaso. It's nothing personal against Yamamoto, but it helps with this story's plot). As Aizen began to "evolve" from the Hogyoku's powers, he was confronted by Kisuke Urahara, Yoroichi Shihoin, and Isshin Kurosaki while Ichigo battled Gin. Aizen's new evolved form proved to be too strong and allowed him to easily beat back his opponents as the transformation finished. He and Gin then proceeded to the Real Karakura Town. There, Aizen transformed yet again and Gin revealed that he was still in opposition to Aizen and had merely been acting as Aizen's loyal ally. Sadly, his plan to kill Aizen failed and was cut down by Aizen. Then Ichigo, after training in the Dangai (an area where time flows differently), appears and challenges Aizen with his newly obtained strength. Ichigo easily overpowers Aizen until the Hogyoku gives him one last transformation. Ichigo is forced to use his last resort, the Final Getsuga Tenshou, which will cause Ichigo to lose all his Soul Reaper powers after the battle. With one attack, Aizen is felled and forced into his original form, but Ichigo loses his Soul Reaper powers before he can deliver the finishing blow. Luckily, Kisuke had planted a trap in Aizen which causes Aizen and the Hogyoku to be sealed away. Afterwards, Ichigo goes back as a normal human and can't even see spirits anymore while the Soul Society recovers and Jushiro Ukitake becomes the new Head Captain (Again, this is me adding something since Yamamoto didn't die in the anime/manga). Orihime also heals the arrancars Tia Harribel, Coyote Starrk, and Grimmjow Jaegarjaquez, as they were the only arrancars to have survived the battle. All returned to Hueco Mundo with Tia helping Starrk out after losing Lilynette Gingerbuck and Grimmjow going off on his own (In the anime/manga, Tia and her entire fraccion are healed by Orihime, Starrk is dead, and Grimmjow's status remained unknown. Once again, this is me changing things around. My reasons: I hate Tia's fraccion, these three will be important later on, and these are my three favorite arrancar).
Seventeen months later, Ichigo meets and helps out a seemingly random person named Kugo Ginjo. Kugo later reveals himself to be the leader of a group called Xcution, a group of humans with Fullbring powers. Those with Fullbring powers are revealed to have had mothers who were attacked by a hollow before the person was born and retains part of the Hollow's powers. They are able to manipulate the soul of an object around them, including the land, water, or even air. Kugo also reveals that Chad is a Fullbring human as well as Ichigo. Ichigo then agrees to let the Xcution members train him in the use of his Fullbring powers. At first, all he can manifest is black reiatsu in the form a tsuba, the pattern that appears as the guard for Ichigo's sword in Bankai form. After training some more, he obtains a second form where the black reiatsu covers his entire body as a cloak and can be wielded in a sword form as well. Finally, after training even more, Ichigo gains his Fullbring's true form: he now wears a black bodysuit covered by white armor. A white bandage-like stripe runs across his face and he now wields a short sword which hangs across his back. During Ichigo's training, he is alerted to a new villain by the name of Tsukishima, who is also a Fullbring human and the former leader of Xcution. By using his Fullbring's ability, Tsukishima tricks all of Ichigo's human friends. Because of their confusion, Chad and Orihime help Tsukishima when he fights Ichigo while Kugo is forced to fight his old comrades. After he gets hit by Tsukishima's ability, Kugo reveals that he was already affected by Tsukishima's ability and that being hit by it a second time negated the effect of it on him. Then Kugo and the rest of the Xcution group turn traitor on Ichigo and steal his Fullbring powers, using his to increase their own. Before anything else can happen, Kisuke and Ichigo's dad arrive on the scene and Ichigo is impaled by a blade from behind. When Ichigo looks behind him, he surprisingly sees that Rukia, now as a lieutenant, was the one who stabbed him. As Ichigo emerges from the resulting explosion as a Soul Reaper with an altered Zangetsu, Rukia explains that the sword she stabbed him with was an invention of Kisuke's and it allowed her to bring back Ichigo's powers. Kugo interrupts and states that Rukia's reiatsu alone would not be enough to bring back Ichigo's powers. However, Renji Abarai, Byakuya Kuchiki, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Ikkaku Madarame, and Kenpachi Zaraki arrived through a Senkaimon and explain that, under the orders of the Head Captain, all captains and lieutenants were to put some of their reitsu into the blade to get Ichigo's powers back in order to repay him for all he had done for the Soul Society. Then Yukio, one of Kugo's accomplices, locks all of them in game rooms with his Fullbring ability to start the final fight. Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, Kenpachi, and Toshiro all have relatively easy fights against their opponents. Byakuya, facing Tsukishima, has a much harder time but manages to win. Ichigo uses his newly regained powers along with some assisstance from Uryu to defeat Kugo Ginjo, end the Fullbring menace, and regain his own Fullbring powers (While it is true that Ichigo fights Kugo alongside Uryu, I have no idea how exactly the Fullbring arc ends as Tite Kubo has not finished it yet).
(This is where I will end all anime/manga relations for this story. Anything below and beyond this line is all my creation).
Ten years later, many things have changed. One thing that has changed majorly is Ichigo. Though he still has the same Ichigo personality, he has taken up his responsibility as a Soul Reaper and decided to move into the Seireitei and become a Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. He took Ukitake's position as Captain of Squad Thirteen with Rukia still as lieutenant and relearned how to use Bankai, doing it the traditional way this time. Due to Karin's growing spiritual powers, Ichigo felt confident enough in entrusting her with protecting the family (Even with Isshin's returned powers, Ichigo would still never trust his dad with guarding the family). With help from Rukia and Kisuke, Karin even released her powers and is now the Substitute Soul Reaper in charge of Karakura Town since Zennosuke Kurumadani is still all but useless. Yuzu is just starting to be able to sense spirits as well. Both Kisuke and Yoruichi were offered the chance of going back to the Soul Society and gain two of the remaining captain seats, but both turned the offer down. Kisuke still runs his little "candy store," but now lives there with Yoruichi as his wife (much to Soifon's disbelief). Ichigo also finally mustered up the courage to ask Rukia out and the two finally started dating. Realizing that Ichigo loved Rukia instead of her, Orihime finally moves on and started dating Uryu. Chad continues being Chad. Two years after the Fullbring arc, the Soul Reapers received a surprise visit in the human world from four high-level arrancars and two mid-class arrancars. Ichigo, Rukia, Byakuya, and Renji were sent to handle the matter. On arrival, Ichigo was nearly hugged to death by Neliel tu Oderschvank in her adult form. The other three arrancar turn out to be Tia, Starrk, and Grimmjow while the mid-class arrancars were Neliel's fraccion, Pesche and Dondochakka. Nel explains that Tia and Starrk found her and helped restore her powers and adult form. Assuming the position of group leader, Tia then continues to explain how none of them really felt at home in Hueco Mundo anymore and that she and Starrk, without their subordinates to watch over and protect, were not sure what to do with their lives and Neliel really wanted to see "Itsygo" again. They also wanted to make amends to Soul Society for the part they played in Aizen's scheme. Grimmjow, on the other hand, was there simply because he begrudgingly admitted that he owed Ichigo his life and also wanted to fight Ichigo once again. So, to simplify things, they all wanted to live in Soul Society. Rukia contacts Ukitake on the subject and Ukitake agrees to at least see them. All go to the Soul Society. After meeting with the arrancar and conversing with all the captains, Head Captain Ukitake decided that Tia Harribel would become Captain of Squad Three after learning from Toshiro, Coyote Starrk would become Captain of Squad Nine after learning from Shunsui Kyoraku, Neliel Tu Oderschvank would become Captain of Squad Five after learning from Sajin Komamura, and Grimmjow would become the Third Seat Officer under Ichigo Kurosaki. Over the next few years, the arrangement worked out surprisingly well. Tia, Starrk, and Neliel were quite good at their jobs and they all got along relatively well with each of their lieutenants. The only time some incidents occured were when Grimmjow challenged Ichigo or Kenpachi challenged Grimmjow.
Sadly, the peace didn't last long. Zangetsu had given Ichigo an ominous warning after the Fullbring incident. Zangetsu had told him that, due to the aftereffects of the Final Getsuga Tenshou, Ichigo's inner hollow had been able to manifest itself as an independent being and escape unnoticed by Ichigo from the confines of his inner world. For ten years, Ichigo had neither seen nor heard anything about his hollow. He could only assume that Hichigo (this is the name I will use to refer to Ichigo's inner hollow from now on) was biding his time and growing stronger as time passed. That simple assumption worried him more than any other problem and was on his mind nearly every single day. Due to Hichigo's well-known erratic nature, no one could have predicted how exactly the Ichigo look-alike would have planned. Now Hichigo's silence has come to an end and he has revealed himself in the most terrifying way possible, by destroying Karakura Town in his vasto lorde form. With a single super-powered crimson red cero, Karakura Town was wiped off the map with his mad laugh. Tens of thousands of people died, including Ichigo's entire remaining family, most of his human friends, the two children Kisuke had working at his shop (Jinta and Ururu), Zennosuke, most of the vizards, and Chad. Orihime, Uryu, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Tessai, Shinji, Kensei, and Hachigen were the only people that Ichigo knew that had somehow managed to survive. Horrified at the tragic event, Ichigo and Rukia immediately went to the human world, only to discover that Hichigo was already gone. They could only look on in disbelief and despair at the shattered and burnt remains of what used to be Ichigo's home. Suffice to say, Ichigo was feeling a mixture of despair, horror, uselessness, and pure rage. He demanded to know where Hichigo had gone and he wanted to make the bastard pay. Though no one knew where he was at the moment, it soon became evident. Ukitake contacted Rukia a half hour later while the she and Ichigo were searching for his hollow look-alike. The news literally could not have been worse. Soul Society was literally falling apart. A huge spiritual earthquake had rent the entire Soul Society and the surrounding areas asunder. Except for the captains, lieutenants, and a few of the stronger lower-seated officers, nearly everybody in the Soul Society had been killed. Not only that, but the entire Spiritual had begun to deteriorate. They also received reports that the same thing happened in Hueco Mundo and that it was deteriorating as well. Even worse, the boundary between the Human world and the Spiritual Realm was beginning to crumble as well. Regular humans were now able to see wandering souls, Hollows, and Soul Reapers. When asked how this phenomenon was possible, Ukitake sadly told them that it could only mean one thing: the Royal Guard had been decimated and the Spirit King had been murdered.
Before the shock could even completely hit them, Hichigo reappeared in front of them, laughing maniacally. Alongside him were seven impossibly powerful arrancars. Behind the eight of them was an army of thousands of Hollows and weaker arrancars, all of which were at least at the level of adjuchas. The total number of enemies would have been too vast to even count. Hichigo laughed as he explained all that he had done. First, he had gathered enough power over the years to be able to completely decimate Karakura Town in order to create the Oken. By using the Oken, he unlocked the portal to the Spirit King, easily destroyed the Royal Guard, and killed the Soul King. He ad two reason for doing this. The first was to watch Ichigo suffer as most of the people he cared about were killed in the initial destruction and the second was to release the seven super-powerful arrancar that were with him. He explained that they were the very first vasto lorde arrancars ever born and that they had been sealed away long ago by Head Captain Yamamoto. His death had merely weakened the powerful seal. Only a truly cataclysmic event could free them, such as the death of the Soul King. The seven original arrancars furthered explained that, while Aizen's former Espada represented aspects of death, they represented the very existence of the seven deadly sins. Two female arrancar represented Lust and Envy, while five male arrancar represented Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, and Pride. As explainations were under way, the surviving members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads arrived, ready for battle. Ukitake told Ichigo and Rukia that since the Spirit King fell, the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo no longer existed. It was now unkown where good souls went after life, while it was assumed that bad souls still went to Hell.
Now the final battle began. Ichigo, quickly releasing his bankai (in this story Ichigo's bankai will look like it did when he faced Aizen for the final time after training in the Dangai), obviously faced of against his hollow self. Ukitake, Soifon, Byakuya, Kyoraku, Toshiro, Kenpachi, and Starrk battled it out with the seven original arrancar. Some of Lilynette's powers had been transferred to Starrk's blade so he was able to still use his resurrection form. Meanwhile the other Captains and all the lieutenants attempted to stem the tide of the massive Hollow/arrancar army. Unohana and the few remaining Squad Four members had their hands full trying to heal any wounded fighters. Soon after the battles started, Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, Shinji, Kensei, and Hachigen showed up to help as well. Unfortunately, the battles were still going very badly for the good side. The seven original arrancars were still just toying around with the Captains while they used bankai, Hichigo had powered up to unimaginable heights, and the army seemed endless in their numbers. Even worse, Kensei, Grimmjow, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, and about half of the lieutenants had already died. However, hope seemed to shine as Ichigo managed to gain the upper hand in his battle against Hichigo. Enraged at the possibility of actually being beaten, Hichigo transformed into a monstrous new winged form (use your imaginations here people). His power exploded to new heights and he easily began to kick Ichigo's ass. Just as Hichigo was about to deliver the killing blow with a massive cero, Rukia pushed Ichigo out of the way and took the hit for him. She was instantly atomized. Wild with fury from the death of the person he loved, Ichigo was forced to use drastic measures. So, for the second and final time, Ichigo unleashed his ultimate and most desperate attack, the Final Getsuga Tenshou. Taking the form of the Getsuga again, Ichigo used Mugetsu to finish Hichigo. Sadly, like Aizen, the move was not quite fatal and Hichigo began to regenerate. Unwilling to let the bastard walk away from the battle alive, Ichigo gambled his life on the battle... literally. In order to maintain the Final Getsuga Tenshou for an even longer period of time, Ichigo was forced to pour his life force into the form. His gamble paid off. As Hichigo fired his ultimate cero, Ichigo used the new attack he gained from adding in his life force to the Final Getsuga Tenshou, the Mangetsu Kuchikikan (translated as Full Moon Destroyer). Launching an enormous black tidal wave of pure spiritual energy from his body, Ichigo was able to push back Hichigo's cero and completely wipe the hollow copy-cat from the face of the earth, along with a small chunk of the opposing army. That attack, unfortunately caused Ichigo's life to run out before his body even hit the ground. Realizing that they did not stand a chance of killing the original seven arrancar, Ukitake made a hard decision. With Kisuke's, Shinji's and Tessai's help, the Soul Reaper captains combined their energy together to recreate another seal for the seven deadly arrancar. Sacrificing their lives to forge the seal, the captains, Shinji, and Tessai succeeded in locking away the terrifying original arrancar away. With their bosses defeated, the remainder of the hollow/arrancar fled and were scattered across the world.
Though they had been victorious, the Soul Reapers and their allies had suffered greatly. Soul Society was gone, their captains and almost every other Soul Reaper had been killed, they and the hollows were now visible to humans, and the Spirit King was now dead. The only surving members were Shuhei Hisagi, Izuru Kira, Momo Hinamori, and Hachigen Ushoda along with a couple hundred no-name Soul Reapers. Tia Harribel's, Coyote Starrk's, and Yoruichi Shihoin's bodies were never found. Kisuke Urahara was injured spiritually and physically beyond repair. He and everyone else knew that he would eventually die within the next couple of years. The battle was over and had affected the entire human world. Almost everyone had seen the battle somehow and it was estimated that technology would be set back at least fifteen to twenty years.
One hundred years later, humans and soul reapers live side-by-side. Hollows and a few arrancars still roam the planet, devouring souls and any living people unfortunate enough to meet them. Technology has yet to progress due to Hollow interferance and normal weapons do not even affect the Hollows in the slightest. Soul Reapers have taken up their duty once again to protect the humans of the earth. However, darkness looms on the horizon and the fate of the world will be left up to the newest generation of Soul Reapers from an ancient legend, the Soul Survivors.
Well, there is the set up for this story. Tragedy has upturned everything you once new and changed the entire game. Find out who exactly the Soul Survivors are in the upcoming chapters. Stay tuned.
IMPORTANT NOTE! I HAVE MOST OF THE CHARACTERS READY BUT I AM LOOKING FOR OCs! THAT'S RIGHT, THIS STORY IS TAKING ALL THOSE CHARACTERS YOU THE READER HAVE MADE UP. PLEASE TELL ME THE NAME OF YOUR OC, THEIR RACE, A DESCRIPTION OF THEM, THEIR ZANPAKUTO (OR OTHER WEAPONS), A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THEM (THIS INCLUDES HISTORY, PERSONALITY, GOOD/BAD GUY, ETC.), FAMILY (IF APPLICABLE), AND ANY OTHER DETAILS YOU CAN THINK OF (SUCH AS KIDO PROFFICIENCY AND AGE). THE CREATORS OF ANY USED OCs WILL BE GIVEN CREDIT AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF EACH CHAPTER. THANKS!
Also, anyone who wishes to use this prologue as a set up for one of their stories is free to do so. Just please ask first :)