A/N: Be sure to keep in mind the changes I made, they'll come up quite a bit in this chapter. This chapter is also mostly devoted to fight scenes, if you bore easily of them...you've been warned.

Also, since "masked" Ichigo is much more powerful than an unreleased Espada, and a Bankai'd Captain fully released was barely able to beat a lower ranked released Arrancar, I figured that my version of a masked Ichigo is close to the power of two Captains. I only did this so I could show all of his power in front of his audience though, going all out on one Captain would be a bit of an ass-hole move eh? Anyways, on with the chapter

Summer of Changes

Chapter 2

Soi Fon walked forward, towards Ichigo, as she took her Zanpakutou out. She didn't even bother to remove her Captain's garb, as she thought that this boy had just gotten lucky to beat two of the current Captains. She wasted no time in starting the battle as she sped towards Ichigo and began to attack.

Ichigo waited for her to make it to him, having already gotten Zangetsu into a ready stance, waiting to block an attack. The first one came from the front, the clashing of metal sounded on the hill as Ichigo blocked Soi Fon's attack. She wasted no time in attacking again though.

From Ichigo's training with Yoruichi, however, she literally beat it into his mind that he had to analyze each opponent throughly before attacking. So that's what he did, watching and waiting for her strikes to come, blocking when they did. He quickly noticed a pattern in her attacks though, the first would be aimed at his front, the second at his back in an attempt to catch him off guard, and finally, a third from the top, which tried to take advantage of the opponent if they were confused by the first two strikes. A simple pattern, easily analyzed...he saw what he could take advantage of, the glint in his eye showed it.


Yoruichi smirked upon seeing her Ichigo's realization...wait, her Ichigo?...she shook off the thought and continued watching the fight.

Yoruichi, though, wasn't the only one who noticed Ichigo's discovery. Yamamoto, Byakuya, and Hitsugaya all saw it too. Having mixed thoughts, most of them being impressed a little at Ichigo's combat skill.


Ichigo soon made another discovery, she would alter the direction of the attacks slightly each time, to make it look like they were random, Ichigo wasn't fooled. Soi Fon wasn't taking him seriously, she'd pay for it too.

He blocked the first attack, starting to subtly gather spirit energy in Zangetsu for one powerful Getsuga Tenshou. The second attack came from behind, he blocked again...noticed she was starting to move faster...apparently getting impatient. Before the third attack came, Ichigo swung his cleaver-like blade up in a high arc, letting off the stored spirit energy in Zangetsu while yelling "Getsuga Tenshou!".

Soi Fon hadn't expected that attack, she thought he was just blocking her attacks with luck, not knowing where'd they'd come from next. So, when a massive blue arc of spirit energy came flying at her, she had to push herself to avoid getting hurt. She stopped mid-air and strained her spirit energy to get her out of the way as fast as possible, ending up with quite a deep wound in her side.

Ichigo looked towards where she had landed on the ground, down on one knee, panting slightly. He decided to use another tactic that Yoruichi so kindly "taught" him, his opponent's anger.

"Your attacks are much to easy to analyze, too easily predicted, so don't under-estimate me again, or you'll have a harder time standing up next time."

She glared harshly at him while getting to her feet. She yelled "Sting All Your Enemies to Death: Suzumebachi!", as her Zanpakutou transformed into the small, glove-like "stinger".


"Ichigo has proved himself to be slightly better than I thought originally" Yamamoto stated from the sidelines.

"He certainly knows how to fight, analyzing Soi Fon and getting her worked up, wonder who taught him..." said Hitsugaya, more to himself than anyone. Nonetheless though, Yoruichi smirked at the last part of his comment. Ichigo was surely proving much more than Soi Fon bargained for.


Ichigo had to admit, Soi Fon was stronger than her gave her credit for. Her speed had increased greatly, and her attacks no longer came in a simple pattern, she seemed to be trying now. Ichigo was finding it increasingly hard to keep up with her speed and attacks without using Bankai, he didn't want to reveal it yet, but it looked as though he had no choice.

So, when Soi Fon tried for a stab at his chest, where a butterfly symbol already resided, he grabbed her wrist and threw her away from him as he focused spirit energy into Zangetsu.

Soi Fon saw this, interpreting it for another Getsuga Tenshou, and said "That cute little energy wave caught me off guard the first time, but there's no way you'll even stand a chance against me without a Bankai. You might as well give it up" as she finished with a smirk.

Ichigo threw a smirk back at her, feeling his energy reach the right level for the next level. He yelled "Bankai!"

Soi Fon's eyes widened as she heard him say that word, she had thought he was a weakling, someone who just got lucky when he beat Zaraki and Kuchiki, how could he have a Bankai? There were less than twenty people in all of Soul Society who had achieved that level, yet this former-ryoka still managed to obtain it?

As the dust cleared though, her fears were confirmed, Ichigo stood in almost all black, holding the sealed Zanpakutou sized sword. This one though, she had a bad feeling about, it was completely black, it even gave off an aura-like feeling of power. She narrowed her eyes, waiting to see how much stronger he had become...


To say the reactions on the Captains' and Vice-Captains' faces when they felt Ichigo's power surge from the Bankai transformation were humorous would be a massive understatement. Most Vice-Captains had their mouths hanging open, muttering things like "amazing" or just plain "wow". Sure, they had felt powerful auras before, being around Captains all the time. This one though, this aura had something different about it, it seemed to fill everyone who felt it with power, it gave the Vice-Captains a feeling of security, to describe it best.

The Captains though, had more subdued reactions to their surprise, most of which included eyes slightly widening then narrowing again, however, one Captain Zaraki's reaction was very different. The madman's eyes were wide and a grin was spread across his face from ear to ear, while his lieutenant could be heard remarking on how "Ichi" and Ken-chan were going to have a lot of fun fighting later on.

Yoruichi, however, had a cross between a proud smile and a cat-like grin spread across her face. To see Ichigo do this well, it gave her a sense of accomplishment, she'd have to "congratulate" him later, she did love his blush...


Ichigo waited a few seconds before moving, knowing that Soi Fon was waiting to see what his increase in power had done to his abilities to fight. So, he went directly at her, slashing out horizontally around her stomach.

Soi Fon barely had time to dodge before Ichigo was behind her, she had a second to wonder how he had mastered shunpo so well before she had to jump forward at full speed to get away. Yet, as soon as she landed facing Ichigo, he was no longer about 30 feet away, he was now fight in front of her, using another horizontal slash that got her unwounded side.

She began to stall, knowing she'd need a bit of time to build up the spirit energy for Flashcry. "So you've got a Bankai, I can't say I'm impressed, but you won't even be able to keep track of me after this..."

Having finished gathering the energy, the clothing that was on her back and arms got ripped off. Her speed increased by enormous amounts.

She flew at him, full speed, Ichigo managed to block her attack before she appeared behind him. He used shunpo to come at her from the side before she reached him, she blocked his attack and came at him from above moments later, he propelled himself backwards, and landed about 20 feet away.

'Guess it's time to step it up a notch' He thought, before the two disappeared again, only to reappear moments later then disappear right as they became visible.


The Vice-Captains could barely keep up with the speed at which they were moving, all it looked like to them was flashes of black and the sounds of clashing metal as pieces of the ground crumbled when one of the two duelers landed on it.

The Captains kept up with the battle a bit easier, watching the two go at it. They could see that Ichigo was slowly gaining the upper hand, but they couldn't help but think he was holding back, judging by the smirk on his face. So when the two reappeared for a few seconds, Yamamoto yelled out.

"Captain Zaraki, join the battle on Captain Soi Fon's side!" Zaraki looked like Christmas had come early. Yoruichi couldn't help but feel a little worried about Ichigo though...


Ichigo moved into position so that he could see both of his opponents now, Zaraki wasted no time in tearing off his eye patch and blindly charging at Ichigo, which he dodged to the side, delivering a kick to Zaraki's midsection as he did. While Zaraki was forced back a few feet, Soi Fon came at Ichigo from the side, scoring a butterfly-like mark before Ichigo could dodge. He caught her hand before she withdrew and pulled her stomach into contact with his foot, sending her back around 10 feet. As soon as she was down though, Ichigo narrowly missed Zaraki's blade as it tried removing his head from his neck.

He could see they were ahead now, he had one thing left and 11 seconds to use it. So, he moved his hand across his face as his two opponents looked on, one with an eager look, the other with an analyzing look. He pulled his hand across his face, paying no attention to the gasps he heard from almost everyone but Zaraki and Yoruichi. In no time, Zaraki had three deep cuts on his chest and Soi Fon had two on her shoulders, the former's grin grew to an impossible size while the latter's eyes widened at the unseen attack.

Before either of them had a chance to realize what was going on though, they saw Ichigo flash into existence in front of them, yelling "Tensa Zangetsu". The two saw a massive wave of black spirit energy coming at them at an impossible speed. Soi Fon managed to come out of it with a deep gash running sideways across both her lower thighs, while Zaraki got a full blast of it to the chest. Needless to say, they were both down and out of the count. Soi Fon couldn't stand, and Zaraki could only laugh like a maniac while he yelled about how fun it was or how he wanted to go again.


Everyone but Yoruichi and Byakuya was stunned to see the hollow mask adorn itself on Ichigo's face, but they were more than amazed at the fact that he could down two captains in about 7 seconds. No one could track his movements, except Yoruichi, and all she saw was random flashes. So when the two Captains fell seconds later, the audience was a little to stunned to do much.

Yoruichi though, upon seeing Ichigo's victory, ran to him and gave him a hug...making sure to rub her chest against him as she saw his usual blush light up his face. Her smirk quickly turned into a look of confusion though, when he hugged her back, usually he would run from her advances...if you could call a hug that. The two locked eyes again, and only broke their gaze when they heard Yamamoto's voice.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, first off, I congratulate you on your victory. Secondly, of the two Captain's who have yet to vote, have you decided?"

Both Captains in question nodded, Soi Fon being tended to by Captain Unohana because Zaraki was still busy laughing like a mad man, and Kurotshuchi, who was looking at Ichigo with a somewhat puzzled expression.

Yamamoto then said "We will return to the officer's meeting in one hour to figure out our final decision, this gives Captains Soi Fon and Zaraki some time to recover.

A/N: Well, there's chapter two, I'm trying for about 2,000 words each chapter, so bare with me if some parts seem to drag on.