I do not own Bleach or any of the characters.


Heading Out

Ichigo groaned, opening his eyes and looked around. He was in a completely white room surrounded by the Shinigami captains, Orihime, Rukia, Nel and the rest of his friends who knew about his role as a substitute Shinigami.

"My head hurts," Ichigo groaned trying to sit up only for Nel to hold him down.

"Relax," Nel instructed. "You're in no condition to move around. Those hollows did a number on you."

"What happened?" Ichigo questioned noticing that he was wearing his Soul Reaper robes but not seeing his zanpakuto anywhere. "Where's my sword?"

"One at a time," Rukia smirked. "Your zanpakuto is with Zangetsu, your inner hollow and your sword's spirit. It answers to him before you. You are now unarmed. As for what happened, what do you remember?"

"I remember that I had to return to my body to keep the two hollows' Ceros from blasting me into ribbons," Ichigo sighed. "Then Zangetsu said something about me being dead and then pain and darkness."

"Alright," Rukia nodded. "In order, the Ceros were a trap to make you fully vulnerable. The pain was Zangetsu stabbing you through the heart. Because you survived him stabbing you before, even if in your inner world, he hit you at point blank with a Getsuga Tensho, thus the darkness."

"You mean..." Ichigo began but trailed off.

"What we found of your body fit in a matchbox," Kenpachi stated bluntly. "Sorry kid. You're a full Soul Reaper now."

"Where's Lisa?" Ichigo groaned. "And the other Vizards."

"They're recovering," Orihime stated. "I managed to heal them physically but it took a large toll on them. Apparently you were more immune than them."

"Immune?" Ichigo questioned. "Recovering from what?"

"It was after he got hit," Nel stated seeing Orihime's confused look. "About a minute after you died, the Captains and Vizard all arrived to fight the two hollows. It was...not pleasant. Within seconds, all of the Vizard were forced to hollowfy just to survive. At first, it seemed like we might all survive the fight. Unfortunately, Zangetsu got bored of the fight and decided the odds were to fair. He blasted the Captains away with a Cero then hit all of the Vizard in the mask with a single Getsuga Tensho. The masks then flew over to him and grew entire bodies matching their masks, Lisa's a knight, Hiyori's a Pagan god looking thing with four arms, and so on and so forth. It's not the king of thing that we enjoyed watching since there are now officially ten hollows we have to kill. Fortunately, the Vizard hollows aren't quite as strong as yours."

"I have a question," Ichigo sighed. "If Zangetsu has my sword, what the hell do I fight with?"

"You don't," Kenpachi stated.

"Not an option," Ichigo stated. "Zangetsu is my problem. I will be the only one to fight him. For that I need a sword. If I can't have one, I'll beat his skull in barehanded."

"As it happens, you don't have to," Hitsugaya spoke up. "There's a way for you to have your remaining powers turned into a one of a kind zanpakuto that can only be used by the person whose powers it is made of. Unfortunately, the downside is that it would only be capable of one form, Shikai. You would have to train a lot harder in order to be able to battle a Vasto Lorde with a Bankai."

"I see," Ichigo sighed. "I'll take it. If it's Shikai it can be repaired so Zangetsu won't be able to remove my ability to defend myself."

Hitsugaya nodded and glanced at Rukia.

"It's a very long trip through Hueco Mundo to reach the spot where your new sword can be forged," Rukia stated. "You can't defend yourself and there's no telling whether or not Zangetsu and his new group will try to stop us from getting there. You should choose someone to go with you."

"Right," Ichigo nodded. "In that case, Rukia, Nel, Lisa, if she wakes up before I'm able to move, Orihime...and any other Vizard that are up."

"That seems fitting since most of them have a hollow on the loose," Kenpachi nodded. "We'll hang out here then."

"Not done yet," Ichigo stated prompting everyone to turn back to him in surprise and raise an eyebrow. "There's at least two Vasto Lordes that all of you together couldn't beat. We probably won't be able to fight them the way we are. No, not probably. Definitely. We can't beat them. Not without a lot more power than we have now. I probably could have taken one when I still had access to the rest of my powers but now I have only Shinigami powers. The only chance we have is to seek help. We need the Quincy. And they need us. They're just as vulnerable to these things. We're fighting a small army of them with just the two Vasto Lordes. We can't expect to beat them alone."

"We'll be fine without them," Kenpachi stated.

"How?" Ichigo questioned.

"Simple," Kenpachi smiled. "We know where to find a few Vasto Lordes of our own."

"Great idea," Ichigo groaned. "Send Vasto Lordes to kill Vasto Lordes. What makes you think they won't join them?"

"Just trust me," Kenpachi grinned.

"I find that incredibly difficult," Ichigo sighed. "Fine. How long until I can leave?"

"Another day," Rukia stated. "For now, just rest."

Ichigo sighed but lay back down and after a few minutes was asleep again and everyone filed out.


Ichigo stepped out of the building and looked around. The entirety of the Vizard was assembled before him along with Nel, Orihime, Rukia, and Ishida.

"Hello Ishida," Ichigo greeted. "Do you know where we're going?"

"I do," Ishida nodded. "The Quincy won't help you. I will."

"Good," Ichigo nodded. "We could use you. Everyone ready? And armed?"

"We are," Nel nodded. "Here."

She held out a katana and Ichigo took it grimacing.

"It only needs to be good enough until we get where we're heading," Nel reminded him.

He nodded and Nel opened a path to Hueco Mundo. They all stepped through and Nel closed the path just as a hollow with a spider's skull mask crashed down in front of them, knocking them all down.

"Hello to you too," Ichigo grunted glancing at his new sword. "After you Rukia, Nel."

Rukia and Nel both activated their Shikai then charged forward. Both swung at the hollow but it blocked both swords, catching them then grinned as ice began to travel from Rukia's blade along its arm.

"Got you," Rukia grinned.

The Hollow opened its mouth, roaring as the ice began to glow red. Then, it exploded off and left the same Spirit Energy sword it had used before. It fended off Rukia for a moment before slamming Nel into her and turning to Ichigo, ignoring the Vizards that were slamming their blades against it harmlessly.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kensei demanded.

"Just keep going!" Lisa shouted aiming her sword for its eye.

It reacted instantly, blocking her blade then spun, slashing them all and hurling them away before turning back to Ichigo.

"Great," Ichigo sighed charging forward.

He slashed at it but it blocked the attack and Ichigo's sword snapped.

"You've got to be shitting me!" Ichigo groaned landing beside Rukia and Nel, who had a patch of ice on her side.

"Here," Nel offered reverting her zanpakuto to its sealed form and holding it out. "Don't worry about breaking it. It can be repaired."

Ichigo nodded and took it then charged forward again. This time, the sword didn't break when he attacked the hollow, but the hollow didn't seem to care as his sword simply passed around the blade before carving its way through Ichigo's left shoulder.

"Damn!" Ichigo shouted collapsing.

The hollow roared then raised its sword as spirit energy began rolling off of it.

"Fuck no!" Ichigo growled jumping up and slashing at the hollow.

The sword exploded on its chest, the hilt being the only thing intact but a single shard of the blade bounced off the creature's raised hand and into its eye. It howled in pain and staggered back then slammed its foot down kicking up a cloud of dust and was gone.

"That answers one question," Ichigo groaned standing and pulling a shard of blade out of his side. "Sorry about your sword."

"It's alright," Nel smiled taking the hilt beck from him. "I'll fix it on the way. But you're right. There's no question that they're here. We'll have to hurry."

"How far?" Ichigo questioned.

"Six days," Rukia stated. "Hitsugaya and I are the only two Soul Reapers that know about it. Nel may but for now, I'll lead."

"Good idea," Ichigo nodded. "You can freeze any weak hollows that try to delay us."

Rukia nodded and Ichigo picked up what was left of the katana then sighed and dropped it again. Rukia began to walk and they all followed, Rukia in the lead, followed by Nel, then Ichigo, then Orihime, then Lisa, the rest of the Vizard, and Ishida taking up the rear.


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