RISE OF THE FALLEN ANGEL: Awakening
"Can you hear...Ichigo?"
Kurosaki Ichigo opened his eyes to see himself not in the Pit of Despair where he was only moments before, but sitting on the side of a skyscraper in a strange new world.
"This...what is this place?" he asked, curious and slightly alarmed as to his surroundings.
"I'm over here." came a voice from behind.
Ichigo turned to see a strange figure standing on a pole that hung over the side of the skyscraper that he currently was sitting on. Said figure, upon further inspection, was rather odd. It wore the robes of a Shinigami, loose fitted at the bottom but tight like a tuxedo at the top and the figure had hair that greatly resembled Ichigo's but was orange with white, black, gray and red streaks running through it. The figure also wore a Hollows mask with two blood red horns jutting up from the top of its head on either side of a pure golden Halo. The most noticeable feature though, was that the figure had a demonic six point wing on one side of it's body, and a bleach white, angelic wing on the other side. All in all the figure looked like a Shinigami, Angel, Demon, Hollow hybrid.
"Who...are you?" Ichigo asked, unsure of whether to be admiring its uniqueness or to running like hell.
"Who am I? What are you talking about? It's me----" spoke the figure.
"........?"
'He can't hear.' thought the black clad entity.
"Is that so? You still can't hear me...That's sad. How many times must I repeat it so that you will hear me?" the figure shook it's head shamefully,"And I thought that no one on this world...knows me better than you."
The creature tilted off of the tip of the pole so that it was now standing on the side of it.
"What are you talking about? I'm sorry, but I don't know anyone so gloomy, like you..." Ichigo said. His brain the registered what the man...or woman...or it, had just done,"Oi...!? How did you do that..."
The figure looked down at him blankly before casually speaking.
"I'm so surprised. How can you sit in a place like that?"
"Wha-?"
Ichigo was unable to finish his sentence as he had started to fall backwards. He looked behind himself to see a street, a few trees and cars and he realized that he had been sitting on the side of a building. He started to scream at his little..or possibly big, revelation.
"Wow, I'm surprised that you can still scream. You know, Shinigami control death therefor controlling most of the souls..."
"I-I am not a Shinigami right now!"
"Oh yeah! A Shinigami can control souls, so if you can control souls, fix them under your feet so that you will stay afloat. Remember? You must have done so at least once in a fight, whether it be unknowingly or not. Think back."
Ichigo flashed back to a fight were he skidded to a stop in midair after being forced back by a Hollow. His eyes widened when the memory surfaced.
"Try to feel it! In order to defeat Kuchiki Byakuya's Zanpakutou, you must use the Reitsu that you have attained from Kuchiki Rukia!"
"-What? What do you mean?"
"He was careless. He thought that if he destroyed that power, that everything would be resolved so that is where he aimed. He was careless because...HE DIDN'T DISCOVER THAT YOU HAVE A REITSU OF YOUR OWN!"
"My own...Reitsu...?"
"That's right! Your power has been hidden away all these years and was finally awoken by Kuchiki Rukia's power when she transferred it to you! Come now, FIND THAT POWER!"
Suddenly, the buildings in the vast world that Ichigo and the strange entity were in, started to fall apart into tiny boxes. These boxes continued to fall all around them and the buildings continued to fall apart. Ichigo watched the phenomina in wonder, not understanding what exactly he had to do.
"In order to find your Reitsu, you must search these boxes. In one, and only one, you will find your Reitsu. This is your only chance to recover your powers. GO! FIND IT!" it explained, rather forcefully.
"WHAT!? Are you crazy? There are way too many! I will NEVER find the right one!"
"Quit complaining and quit the excuses. You dont have much time! As a matter of fact, if you dont find your powers before this world completly decays...You will become a Hollow." The creature became deadly serious with it's last words, letting the gravity of their situation set into Ichigo's mind.
Ichigo's eyes widened. He could not afford to become a Hollow. He still needed to save Rukia. Not to mention his father and his sisters, Yuzu and Karin, all of his friends, Chad, Orihime, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro...Uryu, they would be devastated if he were to die. Well...technically he was already dead seeing as Urahara had severed his Chain of Fate but if he survived this encounter he could at least enter a Gigai and see them. They would never know he was actually dead. No matter what, he needed to find his powers, he needed to become a Shinigami once more.
Ichigo fell into a large mass of the boxes and began floating in a new world that was completly black except for the white of boxes. That is all he saw, was the white glowing of the thousands of boxes that he would have to search in order to regain his abilities and hopefully save Rukia from execution.
"This...this is near impossible. I suck at sensing Reitsu and that is probably the only way to sense the right box without wasting unnesecary time." he thought back to when he met Uryu,"What did he say? Something about Raku or reiyaku and the color red, I think."
(Flashback)
"Did you know? That the color of a Shinigami's Reiraku is red? Reiraku is the visible spiritual power. You can use it to see the thousands of spiritual presences in an area and pinpoint certain ones."
(End Flashback)
"THAT'S IT!"
Ichigo, rejuvenated and excited at his findings, summoned the Reiraku. Out of every box around him came a ribbon. All he needed to do was search through untill he found the box that had the red ribbon protruding from it. He would have to thank Uryu later for that little bit of information. It was greatly apreciated and would greatly help him out in the long run, saving him both time and most likely garaunting his success. Or so he thought.
After searching only a short time he found a box with a red ribbon protruding from it. He quickly made his way over to it and grabbed the ribbon which was a brilliant red and pulled on it so that the box would open up and reveil its contents.
"Got it! Haha!" Ichigo cried in triumph. Unfortunatly, the box opened to reveil nothing inside,"What...? What is going on?"
Ichigo was confused. Very confused at that. His plan should have worked but it didnt. A box that should have been filled with his powers was empty except for the hilt of a sword...
"Wait, what? A sword hilt? What is it doing here?"
Ichigo then became aware of a prescence behind him. He turned to find the strange figure behind him. He was about to question the figure before him but was cut off when it spoke.
"Wow, I didn't think you would find it so fast. In fact, i'm surprissed that you found it at all. Heh, now I can let you know my name." the figure said.
"You...can you be..."
Suddenly, the buildings became visible again but the sight that greeted them was rather disturbing. The city had almost completly finished its decomposition. Ichigo locked up at the sight but was broken out of his thoughts when the figure spoke again.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOOL!? PULL ME OUT! NOW!"
(Real World)
Ichigo began screaming loudly as the hollow mask on his face neared its completion. The air was thick with an ever increasing Reitsu.
Above, Urahara and Jinta watched the spectacle. Urahara suddenly had a strange tingle run through his body and grabbed Jinta, running away from the pit.
"Wha-" started Jinta.
He was unable to finish his exclamation though as the Pit of Despair erupted into a mass of smoke, dirt and debris.
(With Ichigo)
"What happened! Hurry up and pull me out of that box!"
Ichigo took the advice and began pulling. He pulled and pulled but the sword simply would not budge from the box. The figure behind him was growing more and more impatient, yelling pull every so often as encouragment to keep trying.
"ICHIGO! PULL!"
"I CAN'T PULL IT OUT!"
(Real World)
Urahara, Jinta and Ururu looked down into the Pit of Despiar, the smoke having finaly cleared. Urahara could see Ichigo, Hollow mask nearly complete, struggling against the constraints placed upon him and he could see Tessai strugling to keep his Kido in place. As he strugglin, a burst of power sent a shockwave around Ichigo and the constraints broke. Tessai saw this and called up to Urahara.
"I beleive that it is over Owner. I am switching to elimination mode now."
The air thickened with Tessai's Reitsu. He was preparing for something big
"Bakudo No Tsukumo Dainiban! MANJIKIN!"
Reitsu erupted from Tessai as a miniature explosion occured.
"First Song, MANJIKIN!"
A thick paper like cloth began wrapping around Ichigo, restricting his movements as he tried to free himself.
"Second Song, MANJIKIN!
Knives appeared and began penetrating Ichigo, his screams echoing in the Pit. The knives only further restricted his movements.
"Oi, Tessai!" yelled Jinta from above,"Oi, if you use that then won't the kid die for sure?"
"That can not be avoided i'm afraid. He must be restrained and destroyed before he becomes a hollow." Tessai replied.
"TESSAI!"
"FINAL SONG, MANJIKINFUTOSHIFU!"
A huge pillar with Tribal markings running up the sides came crashing down upon Ichigo who was still struggling with his restraints. Just before it hit though, the spot where his Chain of Fate had been erupted. The cloth wrappings then began unraveling as they tore apart revealing a completed Hollow mask. Jinta had a look of shock plastered on his face.
"...What...?"
"It's over." Tessai stated.
When the pillar was mere inches from Ichigo's head, Urahara once again grabbed Jinta and Ururu to shielded them from harm as another explosion rocked the cave. Anothe dust cloud formed as dirt and debris flew alll over the vast expanse.
"It...It exploded..." Jinta stated, shocked.
Jinta then noticed something fly out of the dust cloud and flip in the air.
"Look, something came out! Is it that kid?" he asked pointing to the figure.
Said figure then rocketed toards the ground causing more dirt and debris to fly into the air as Urahara continued to shield the two children. He then let go and Ururu and Jinta could finally get a good look at the figure that was hiding behind a veil of smoke.
"Wha-what's going on here?" asked Ururu, not having seen much of what happened.
Urahara meanwhile, turned calmly and looked to the smoke cloud, the beginnings of a grin on his face.
"Oi, kid! If that's you in there, then say something." Jinta waited, but got no response. "Hey, kid, answer me if your alive!" Yet again, no response. "Answer me already!"
In the smoke, two glowing, pupilless eyes appeared, dust still clouding the rest of the body from view. The figure slowly became more and more visible as the smoke dwindled away. Jinta, Ururu and Urahara watched as the figure appeared from the smoke. Jinta's eyes widened at the sight before them.
"...Ah..." was all he could manage to say.
Standing in front of them was Ichigo in Shinigami robes, with his sword on his back. He had for of the knives still protruding from his shoulder, holding a long piece of the cloth to him. The most noticable feature though:
He still wore his hollow mask.
Jinta and Ururu watched, terrified as smoke streamed from it's mouth creating a small cloud off to the side.
"Hollow mask...and Shinigami uniform. Is it a Hollow? Or a Shinigami?" Jinta was confused.
The group watched as the creature pulled a broken sword from its sheath and they began prearing for a fight.
"Looking down on me!? Come if you dare. Hurry up..." Jinta stopped in mid scentence though at the creatures actions.
The Hollow had taken it's sword and rammed the butt of the hilt into it's mask, shattering it. Ururu and Jinta watched surprised and shocked as it began peeling its mask of peice by piece revealing none other than Ichigo Kurosaki.
"So he didn't...turn into a hollow." Ururu said, still shocked by the turn in events.
Ichigo the began flexing his hands, making sure he still had movement in them. It was then that Urahara made an appearence.
"Congratulations!" he said in a sing song voice."You have transformed completly into a Shinigami and have completed phase two. Good jo-" Urahara was unable to finish his scentence as Ichigo decked him in the face with the butt of his sword.
"Shut up."
"My Eyes! They Burn!" Urahara exclaimed.
"Hehe, since I came back alive, that means that you will be dead." said Ichigo with a sadistic grin."I made a promise! As long as I come out of that hole alive...I WILL AND MUST KILL YOU!"
Urahara smirked inwardly when he heard that statement and uncovered his eyes. He looked at Ichigo who was grinning like a madman and a smirk formed upon his lips.
"Oh? Well with that attitude, we can continue straight to the third test." Urahara stated, standing back up from his crouching position."Speaking of which, there is no time limit for the third test! All you have to do is use that sword of yours to cut down my hat and you win..."
As soon as Urahara finished his sentence, Ichigo appeared before him, a deadly aura surrounding his body. Ichigo swung his broken Zanpakutou right in front of a mildly shocked Urahara, creating an eruption from the ground. Ichigo then jumped back while Urahara remained where he was, unscathed.
"Hehe, it's good to know that even a broken sword as small as this one can have so much power. Then again, when I get serious it will be much better than this!" Ichigo exclaimed haughtily."You don't need to tell me that there is no time limit, cause I promise you, I will only need five minutes to finish you off Mr. Hat-n-clogs!"
Urahara became deadly serious as he pulled out cane from seemingly nowhere. He grabbed both ends of the cane and pulled apart reveiling a thin blade. It seemed that the cane was a sword in disguise. The curved handle was the hilt and the rest of the cane, the sheath.
"Is that so Kurosaki-san? Well then, I will give you five minutes," A smirk graced his lips,"and you can try and finish me off.
(Unknown Location)
A man with red hair greatly resembling a pineapple and multiple tatoo's criss-crossing his body stood in a doorway, shock eveident upon his face.
"What? Captain Kuchiki? You can't be serious!?" he exclaimed."You're saying that..."
"It is exactly as you have heard, Renji," started a noble looking man, presumably Captain Kuchiki,"I do not wish to repeat it."
Renji looked into the room behind him, which turned out to be a cell, to see a mournful looking Rukia staring off into nowhere. He really couldn't blame her after hearing the news they just had.
"Level 1 criminal, Rukia Kuchiki," he started again, a nuetral expression upon his face as he delivered the decree once more,"is to be executed in 25 days at-----. That is the final decision of Soul Society."
END OF CHAPTER 1! Well? What do you thing? Any good? Please Read and Reviw so tht I may have a reson to continue writing. Also, just as a side note, this will very stricly follow the manga up untill the Rukia Rescue arc, then it will be all me.