Chapter 2
The Substitute is born
Previously on Bleach Reloaded…
"To save the both of us, you have to take my sword and run it through your chest."
Ichigo was taken aback, "Wait, what? Are you nuts that would kill me."
She looked at him seriously, "Do you want to save us, AND your sisters or not!?" she shouted.
Taking the blade of her sword he positioned it at the center of his chest as he smiled at her, "Then give me that blade. Sword wielder."
She smiled back, "My name is Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia."
"And my name is…"
As the creatures drew close he did what he had to do, no regrets, no going back… it's now or never.
"Ichigo Kurosaki!"
He drove the blade forward sending it straight through his chest. What followed was a huge explosion of spirit energy, and as the dust cleared, he stood, staring the enemy down ready to eliminate them.
The Substitute is born
Lucy coughed as the dust cleared, looking around with a confused look on her face she had no idea what really just happened to her. She had only meant to transfer a fraction of her spirit energy to Ichigo but, somehow, he had managed to take the majority of what was left in her. She looked slightly different as well, her black Shihakushō had been replaced with a white robe instead, and her Zanpakutō was also gone.
She looked down on herself, lifting her hands she stared at them in slight shock. "What the hell happened? I only wanted to give him some of my power, but he took almost all of it."
She looked up at the teen. There were differences, she noted, his normal clothes were gone and he now had on a black Shihakushō like hers. Another noticeable, very noticeable in fact, was the huge broad sword on the teen's back.
It had a long handle, wrapped in a red cloth that showed the inner part of it through diamond-like designs. The guard, rectangular with slightly curved edges, silver in color. The blade itself was long and slightly thin, almost the length of the teen himself. The edges of the sharp end had silver along it, running from the base of the guard to the tip of the blade. The dull end had black running from base to point.
Lucy couldn't believe her eyes, this kid had managed to take so much of her spirit energy, and the energy coming off of him in waves was way higher than she ever thought possible for a human. Even one with special abilities, it was just unreal. Then there was the sword, it was simply huge. She had never seen a Shinigami wield such a big Zanpakutō.
Ichigo stood and stared the creatures down, for some reason after standing back up again, they hadn't just charged at him like they would normally do. Instead they stood there and stared back at him, some of them tilting their head to the side, as if estimating him or something.
He wasn't going to give them the chance to strike first however, "Now listen up you fuckers. You made quite a mess here, and not only that you also put my little sisters, and this young lady here in a lot a danger."
His only response was a growl as one of them stepped forward. Looks like that one is itching for a fight, Ichigo thought.
"Well I say you've had your fun, time to take you all down!" he shouted and sprang into action. The monsters followed his move intercepting him. Dashing to the side he dodged a claw and drew his sword, slicing through the creatures head and causing it to fade away. One down.
The one on the far left leaped up and launched some projectiles at Ichigo from its hands, he used his sword to block against a few before moving quickly to the beasts' position. Jumping after it he swung once, there goes an arm, he swung twice, and a leg went. Finally falling to the ground the monster let out a howl of pain. Ichigo landed on its head, and with one swift move, ran his blade through the monsters head. Two down.
The third one took the slight distraction and raced towards the teen, it swung its claw and slammed it against where the teen was standing. Lifting it there was nothing there, looked around confused the creature tried to find its target.
"Hey."
It heard from directly behind its head, as it spun around, its face was greeted with Ichigo's blade. Slicing right through as Ichigo used the move he saw Lucy do earlier that day. Standing and turning around he locked eyes with the last one, the fourth, which had decided to stay out of the fight.
With a look of anger Ichigo muttered, "Your next."
Dashing forward at an incredible speed he sliced off an arm, landing right behind the beast he turned and got ready for his next strike. The creature howled in pain as it had just lost an arm, turning to scowl angrily at the teen, the monster made a move towards him. He was ready however, jumping out of the path of a claw, Ichigo used his momentum to leap higher.
Coming back down quickly, he raised his sword above his head, preparing the final strike.
"IT'S OVER!" he yelled as he swung his blade, slicing straight between the eyes of the creature and going right to the ground with it.
The beast howled for the last time as it faded away into nothing. Ichigo sheathed his large blade and walked towards the blond kneeling on the ground.
Lucy stared at him in awe, she knew he could pull it off from the beginning, despite being out numbered. But she couldn't believe he did it so flawlessly, he didn't even have a single scratch on him, beginners luck maybe? Or maybe he was just that good already? Who knows.
As he got to her, Ichigo started feeling… somewhat heavy and weak. His head began to pound as a massive headache begun. Stumbling forward and gripping his head, Lucy wasn't shocked or surprised.
She gained a look on her face that showed a bit of pity for the boy, "It's only natural. Up until now he was a mere human, now that he's accumulated all this power at one time, he's gonna be feeling the effects as soon as he settles down and the adrenalin drains from his system."
Ichigo tried to hold strong but it was too much to handle, falling forward as he lost consciousness, Lucy did her best to catch him. Getting up and running weakly she made it just in time and caught the teen before he hit the ground. Smiling down at him as he laid in her arms fast asleep she smiled at him.
"It's okay. You did well, rest for now." She spoke softly in his ear, if she had looked at his face closely, she would have noticed the small smile on his face.
The next morning Ichigo woke up to his, strangely, quiet room. That's weird, why is it so quiet and calm in here? Normally his father would already be in his room waking him up the most abnormal was possible.
Looking around suspiciously and cautiously, he scanned the entire room. Nothing still, "Well at least I get some peace and quiet for once…" he trailed.
That's when it all came back to him, the events of the previous night came crashing back. Realizing that it wasn't all a dream, Ichigo bolted out his room. Running down the hall he skidded to a stop in front of Yuzu's room.
Opening the door quickly, he checked around, his sister not present. He went to Karin's room. But it was empty like the other. Fearing the worst, he ran down stairs, coming across the huge holes in the wall of the house, he felt his heart rate pick up. Where are his sisters? Are they alright?
Hearing a voice outside, he went towards it. Breathing a sigh of relief as he saw his two sisters, looking perfectly fine, not even a single scratch on anyone of them.
"Oh so your finally up. Thought you were gonna sleep for the whole morning." Karin acknowledged him, first.
Yuzu smiled at him, "Oh Ichigo, glad you're alright. Can you believe this?"
Pretending he didn't know anything he asked the first question that came to mind, "What the hell happened?"
Karin shrugged, "I have no idea. When I woke up, I found all this."
Yuzu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can't even believe we slept through all this. I wonder what caused it."
At that moment, Isshin showed up. "Hey guys what's goin….." he trailed off as he, pretending to, took notice of the condition of the house. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"
"That's what I asked." Ichigo added.
"Well anyway, come on guys. Ichigo you should go get ready for school. And dad, clean up this mess." Karin said the last part neutrally, making Isshin groan in response.
"Aww come on. Why me?"
"Because you're the adult, now stop whining and go…" her voice slowly got lower as they walked inside the house.
Ichigo stood outside for a moment, the girl from last night came to mind. The blond that saved his live, and his sisters lives also. What was her name? Lucy? Yeah, that was it. Lucy Heartfilia, he wondered where she was, maybe she went back to where ever she resides. Well maybe its better that way, he didn't really like the idea of being involved with her. She had this kind of mysterious aura about her, or something like that. Who knew what, or who she was involved with. Whatever it may be, he thought it be better to stay out of it.
Though some answers to what all this is and means would be nice…
After getting ready Ichigo left the house and went on his way to school, as he walked past am alley, he got the unsettling feeling. A feeling he didn't like one bit. Stopping to look around, he thought that maybe going through all that stuff last night, he was just on edge.
"Hmmmm…" putting the thought in the back of his mind, he continued walking away.
Arriving at school Ichigo was met with the most annoying voice he came to know. Yes, it is the voice of one Keigo Asano. Running towards the teen while shouting like a damn nut job.
"ICHIGOOO." He drew out the letters annoyingly as he came closer to said teen.
Raising his hand and putting it to the side, Keigo collided with his bicep and fell to the ground with a small thud.
"Morning Keigo." Ichigo said as he continued walking with a bored look, unamused as this had become a regular thing almost every morning.
Mizuiro, another one of Ichigo's friends, stood to the side shaking his head at the fallen form of Keigo.
"Man. You really are an idiot aren't you?"
Keigo sprung up, "No I'm not!" he pointed at Ichigo dramatically. "He's just a big buzz kill!"
Sighing Mizuiro walked back to the class as Ichigo entered. Taking his seat, the orange haired teen starred out the window.
"By the way Ichigo, how come you're so late?" Mizuiro asked curiously.
"Ah its nothing. Which class do we have next?"
"That would be chemistry." He smiled deviously as he knew Ichigo despised the subject.
Much to Mizuiro's amusement, Ichigo groaned and dramatically flung his head down, forehead first, onto his desk, "I really hate that damn subject."
Getting all gloomy as a dark atmosphere surrounded him, the others sweat dropped at his ways and chuckled.
There was the sound of joyful humming as one of the most beautiful, and busty girl in the whole school, came walking inside the class. Her auburn hair swaying as she walked along with a radiant smile on her face.
Orihime Inoue
She's considered the flower of Karakura High, as she hardly gets upset and draws a lot of attention. From both boys and girls, especially some of the junior girls, that idolize and respect her.
Spotting Ichigo, she smiled and skipped over, "Hey Ichi-" She stopped herself as she noticed his current state. "Umm, what's wrong with him?" she asked the two others there.
Mizuiro answered, "Oh he's just all gloomy cause we have Chemistry next." He snickered.
Ichigo's head popped up, "Hey it ain't funny. That subject isn't easy." Taking notice of Orihime standing there, oddly enough, staring at him curiously. He put on a small smile. "Hey Orihime, you okay?"
She didn't answer for a moment, as if lost in some kind of trance, after a few seconds she snapped out of it and shock her head rapidly a bit. "Oh I'm fine!" she smiled back at him.
They started chatting away as a certain blond walked up. "Hi, you must be Ichigo." She greeted.
And as Ichigo saw her face, he instantly recognized who it was. Shocked out of his mind he couldn't believe who it really was. No way… what the hell is she, of all people, doing here? And why?
"W-What the hell!" he exclaimed as he sprung up from his seat, pointing a shaking finger at her. "It's you!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" the blond asked innocently.
Orihime eyed the blond suspiciously, for some reason she could feel some kind of weird vibe coming from the girl. Raising an eye brow she cut in, "You two know each other?"
"Of course not, right Mr. Kurosaki?" she asked again casually.
Ichigo just stood there dumb struck. The two guys looked amused by all this.
Keigo piped up, "Yeah of course he doesn't know her. This here is Lucy Heartfilia, new transfer student. Isn't she a cutie?"
Lucy laughed awkwardly as Keigo starred at her with heart eyes, she also took a step back. "Yeah. Anyway." She took a step towards Ichigo, who had now calmed and was staring at her like she was gonna hit him. Reaching out towards him with her right hand, she offered a hand shake.
"Lucy Heartfilia, as Keigo said. But just call me Lucy, Nice to meet you." She smiled kindly.
Looking at her hand, and back at her rapidly. Ichigo decided not to be rude, taking her hand in his he shook it. "Ichigo Kurosaki, just Ichigo will do. Nice to meet you as well."
Releasing hands, Lucy gave him a curt smile and turned around to walk back to her seat.
As the others did the same, Ichigo frowned. Just what the hell is your game? He thought.
Two agonizing periods of chemistry class later, Ichigo came out of the lab looking really annoyed. Keigo and Mizuiro chuckling as they walked out after him, to them it was just fun watching him get all grumpy over things that ticked him off.
He stopped walking and turned to the two, "You guys go on without me, I got something to do." Or rather someone to interrogate. He thought to himself.
Mizuiro shrugged, already thinking of the most likely reason. "Okay no problem, come on Keigo let's go." He had to grab the boy and drag him away as Keigo opted to stay behind. Turning and going around the corner they were now out of sight, good.
Lucy walked out of the lab a minute later, noticing Ichigo standing outside and staring expectantly at her, as if waiting for her. She knew what he wanted. Answers.
She walked up to him and looked up at his face, smiling sheepishly she spoke. "I have a lot of questions to answer don't I?"
He answered almost instantly, "Yup, so come along. I know a place where we can talk in peace."
He walked off and she followed in toe, admiring how cool he looked when walking in front of her. She was interested in this boy, for some strange reason, and she wasn't sure why. Yeah he has potential, that much she's sure of, and with the proper training and experience she knows he'll be a fine Shinigami.
Ichigo led her to a more isolated area of the school's roof, it was another platform of the roof that rose a little higher and had a set of stairs to get up to it. The school's observatory, that's what's inside the medium sized room on the platform. Going around the side where no one could see them well, with a nice view of the town and the horizon, they sat down on the ground and placed their bags to the side.
Ichigo looked around for a moment, checking to see if they were no unwanted eaves droppers. Seeing that they were alone he took a breath and began.
Turning to her, he looked a little serious. "First I wanna know why you're here."
Lucy could see that he wasn't exactly asking, rather ordering her to spill it. Sighing, she decided what the hell. He was already involved due to what went on last night so why hide info?
She folded her legs and began, "Well last night when I transferred my power to you, I only meant to give you a small fraction, but somehow you took almost all I had. So due to that, my spirit energy is so low I don't have enough to get back to the Seireitei."
He looked confused, "Seirei- what?"
Sighing she shook her head, forgetting he won't know anything about that. "It's Seireitei. And it's the place where souls that have 'past on' go to. Also known as the Soul Society."
He looked as if he got it, or might have. "So then, you mean to tell me there really is a place like that where souls go to?"
"Yes, it's also where the Shinigami resides. There is an entire stronghold there that's more like a small city or town; the headquarters of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads." Seeing his clueless face she reluctantly went on. "The Thirteen Court Guard Squads or Gotei 13, is the base of operations, and where we Shinigami primarily reside."
"So, it's like a giant base or something like that right?"
She nodded, "Yes. There are thirteen squads in total, as the name says. And each squad has its own captain, as well as a lieutenant. But that's all I'll be saying on that matter. Now as for you, well your very much involved now whether you like it or not."
Frowning he narrowed his eyes at her, "What do you mean I'm very much involved?"
She starred at him for a moment, she kept up a good poker face, but it was failing as she felt nothing but regret for bringing him into all this. Which, eventually, will be extremely bad for him in the long run.
Sighing again, she let her sadness show, "Well Ichigo, giving you my spirit energy made you a Shinigami. But you're not a true Shinigami, you're a Substitute."
"So then, what does this all mean?" he asked seriously.
"It means, we both might have a slight problem sooner or later." Seeing that he was going to ask about what she just said, she cut him off before he could say a word. "I won't say because you'll only worry about it. And I don't want that."
Looking her in the eyes Ichigo saw that she truly won't be saying. Sighing, he brought a hand to his face. "Jeez… what the hell did I get myself into?" he asked himself aloud.
"Your gonna find yourself asking that question a lot." She mumbled under her breath. "Well in any case, you have a bit of a new role to take care of. You are not the Substitute Shinigami, thus, it's now your job to exterminate the hollows that appear here and keep this town protected."
She finished with a small smile, Ichigo wasn't gonna have any of it. "No way in hell. I never signed up for anything like that, so you can just forget it."
Growling at him, Lucy smacked him on his head. "Whether you like it or not, Ichigo, you're in this completely now that you're a substitute Shinigami. Do you understand? You can't just say you're not getting involved just because you don't want to, you basically chose this path when you took my blade last night and ran it through your chest. Even though I didn't tell you about all this specifics, but regardless, what's done is done. Take responsibility for your actions."
She said all this with the most serious look on her face that he's ever seen since they met, excluding the one she gave him last night. But instead of seeing things her way, the teen looked away from her. Not willing to listen.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"This is not a request Ichigo. This is your responsibility now, you have no other choice but to do as I said to keep things in order."
Scoffing he got up and took a few steps away from her, turning back to face her, he didn't look pleased. "Just who do you think you are? Just because I unknowingly chose that path by doing what I did last night, who the hell says I gotta do shit? You don't have any damn right to tell me what I can or can't do."
"How can you be so resentful here? Don't you understand?"
He scoffed again, "Shut the hell up will ya. I said I ain't doing a damn thing."
Lucy looked a little furious this time, standing up, her eyes couldn't narrow any further with the way they already were. "Ichigo." She growled his name as her hair started flowing up behind her wildly a bit. And the wind started picking up a little.
Ichigo started to feel a little heavy, not the same as how he felt last night after he got done taking those hollows down. This felt as if there was some force, almost like gravity, pushing down on him. What the hell is this? He wondered, then he noticed her hair, and also the way her clothes seem to flow along similarly to her blond hair.
And that's when he remembered the one thing to never do when dealing with a girl. Never make her mad.
Whatever this was, it was coming from the girl in front of him. Taking a step back, he looked more wary than pissed off. "Now calm down. I was only a little upset is all." He tried to ease her, but it wasn't working.
She gritted her teeth, her spirit energy still flowing out a little. "Listen to me, and listen good."
He knew this was not a request either, so he kept quiet and listened carefully.
"Every minute, of everyday, a hollow appears in this town. We haven't been able to figure out why they like this place so much, but regardless of that we have to do everything we can to make sure they don't get their way. Wanna know why? Because these creatures thrive on eating the souls of the living and also already dead, body-less souls, that wander around."
Pausing to make sure he's listening, and seeing that he was, she lowered the slight release of her energy and continued.
"As they eat more and more souls, they become stronger and stronger. Eventually becoming so strong that only a captain level Shinigami is capable of dealing with them. This causes problems for us because once this actually happened, and a number of lieutenants were sent along with a few lower level Shinigami to deal with the threat… they all died as they were outnumbered for one, and out matched in terms of power levels.'
"This was a horrible mistake as our Head Captain hadn't estimated the situation the best way because we didn't know exactly just how powerful they were." Stopping the release of her energy completely as she fully calmed down, she sealed it back in again and went on. "The point is, Ichigo, you have to be the one to protect this town. Your town. Because I can't do it now and we don't know if they'll send any back up or anything. And if you let them run free and have their way, eventually this entire town would turn into a wasteland, void of life and forgotten like dust in the wind. Do you understand Ichigo?"
He didn't answer right away, instead looking like he was deep in thought. He took a look out at the town below, for a few minutes he remained quiet. Then he gained a determined look on his face as he looked up, turning to Lucy she blushed slightly at the serious look on his face and in his eyes.
"Yeah. I think I do… alright, I'll take my responsibility and my role, and do my best as the Substitute Shinigami."
Lucy smiled warmly at him. "I'm glad you were able understand Ichigo, thank you for taking this responsibility. And I'm really sorry."
He looked at her confused, raising an eye brow, "Sorry for what? I mean your only trying to help this town and me right?"
She looked away from him, "Yeah. But I'm just sorry for getting you in this mess…" she trailed.
He walked up to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention. "Hey. Don't you even worry about it alright? Everything will be fine."
His voice and words were so comforting to her, but the truth is he has no idea what kind of things are out there. And that the path he chose is filled with danger and even death.
Putting on a forced smile, she looked up at him. "Yeah, your right. Thanks."
At this point, something started buzzing in Lucy's bag. Going to it and fishing around she found it and slid a finger across the screen to access the home screen. Tapping on an icon, a map came up on the screen with some words in a balloon that was pointing to a location on the map popped up.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked as he stepped up.
"Well we have orders. A hollow just showed up on the other side of town, our orders are to eliminate the target as soon as possible. Ichigo."
"Yeah I know. But how the hell do I change to that other 'me' with the sword?" he asked as he looked around himself.
Lucy snickered, "Oh don't worry, just stand still." She said while going in her bag again and withdrawing a glove with a skull and some blue flames and the color of the glove was red.
"Huh? Why?"
Before Ichigo could do anything. Lucy quickly stepped to him and nailed him in the forehead with her opened palm. As she did this, the Ichigo who had emerged and eliminated the hollows last night could be seen separating from the regular Ichigo, a few light blue strings stretching between the two bodies and then faded afterwards.
The regular Ichigo fell to the ground as the Shinigami side stood looking dumb struck. "What the hell!? What did you do?"
Lucy smirked at his reaction, "I simply pulled out your Shinigami side. That, Ichigo, is your spiritless body." She said as she pointed at his unconscious form laying on the ground.
This started him even more, "So. Am I, you know, dead?"
"No. not exactly dead. But in a way you can say, your body is in a kind of dead-like state. Don't worry, you can return to your body at any time."
He sighed in relief, this totally freaked him out. Being outside his body like this wasn't exactly a good feeling. Especially considering the fact that anything can happen to his real body and it might cause him problems.
He put his hand on his chin and stroked it, "Well I guess I can be cool with that. But what about my body, while I head to where that monster is to eliminate it, something could happen to my body here. And I think carrying it along would just slow me down."
Lucy was surprised at this, "Wow, you're really thinking this over. I'm a little proud."
"Yeah Yeah. So what do we do?"
Lucy hummed in thought, "Okay, this might not be a good idea. But let's hide your body in there." She pointed to the door at the side that leads into the room on the platform.
"Well I guess we don't have much of a choice, and we need to get going right?" receiving a nod from the blond, he grabbed his body and Lucy did some trick with her fingers to open the door.
Finding a corner good enough to hide his body in, he laid himself down with his back leaning on the wall. After making sure he was hidden best, he and Lucy left, the blond closing the door and then she got onto Ichigo's back and he leaped off the roof, heading towards the location of that hollow.
On the way there, Ichigo started to notice the feeling of the blonde's breasts pressing against his back, it was a pretty good feeling. Damn good. But thinking on it he started to get a little hot and bothered, he didn't notice this that much the previous night. That Kimono hides her chest pretty well. Shaking his head to clear the thoughts he sprung off a roof top and increased his speed.
As they came closer they could see the hollow prowling around, obviously searching for prey, landing a few feet away the creature took notice of their presence. It seemed to step back a little as if debating whether or not to take the orange haired teen on.
Ichigo started to put Lucy down, slowly so he won't trigger something off in the creature. "Alright Lucy. I want you to get some distance, you're vulnerable now so I'd hate myself if you got hurt here. So stay far okay."
As she got off and stood on her feet, she looked up at the back of his head, getting a safe and secure feeling for some reason. It's been quite a while since someone was like this with her, not even her own father… shaking her head she stopped those thoughts before they started to fill her mind. No, I can't think about that now. She placed them far away from the forefront of her mind and looked for a safe place to go.
Seeing a spot on a roof top a few block away, she turned back to Ichigo. "Okay, I'll be right over there. Be careful Ichigo. And here's a tip, when dealing with hollows, always strike the head with your blade and try to slice right through. That's the best way to take them out."
Receiving a nod from Ichigo as he drew his sword, Lucy ran off towards the safe spot she had picket.
Sword drawn Ichigo prepared to engage his target, "Alright then…" the monster seemed to accept his unofficial challenge and got into battle ready position. "Let's dance."
That said Ichigo dashed forward, the hollow following his move and coming at him fast with a claw drawn back. Dodging a swing of the creature's claw, Ichigo used the chance to swing his blade cutting off said clawed hand. It's hand falling to the ground, the hollow didn't howl in pain like the other ones from last night did. Instead drawing it back and looking at it angrily, this was odd, that's what Ichigo thought until it the arm he had cut off started to grow back. What the fuck?! Ichigo thought.
Over on top of the roof Lucy had chosen, she stared on in shock. "No… instant regeneration? That shouldn't be possible for a hollow of that level."
Looking back at the fight, Ichigo was at a loss. "You have gotta be kidding me… these damn things were already hard to deal with enough, but now this one can grow back limbs? So does that mean if I chop off its head will it grow back too?"
Stretching the arm, the hollow looked satisfied and charged at Ichigo again.
"Well. Only one way to find out."
Leaping in the air to jump over the beast, Ichigo bounced back after hitting the ground and charged at the beast from behind. As he jumped again preparing to slice the hollow's head in too, the monster turned at the last moment and slapped Ichigo away like a toy. The teen landing on the ground a few feet away.
Ichigo groaned in annoyance, "Okay. So that happened." Standing back up and picking up his sword, he looked deadly serious at the creature. "That's it. Time to end this."
Charging at the hollow he dodged a claw strike and slid under the hollow's legs. Using his momentum he sprung up and latched on to its back. The monster tried with all it had to pry him off but couldn't reach the teen. Running up to the shoulders, Ichigo jumped to the top of its head and then in one swift move he stabbed his blade in the hollow's head. As the creature tried best to take him off, Ichigo flipped himself up on the handle of his sword and maintained his balance upside down for a moment.
"This is where you die."
Twirling on his hands, he turned around and then used his wait to pull his blade straight down, slicing right through until his feet hit the ground. The hollow howled in agony as it faded away into nothing, as did the others who came face to face with the orange haired Shinigami.
As Ichigo flexed his neck, enjoying the slight popping sound that emitted, he thought that all was well and the job was done. That's when he heard a scream, fearing the worst, he turned towards the direction of the sound. Seeing Lucy on her the ground, trying to push further away from another hollow that had appeared.
Ichigo felt his blood run cold, "Shit!" he exclaimed as he dashed towards the blond in danger. Running as fast as he could.
Lucy was helpless, she was vulnerable at this time. Due to having most of her energy drained. Hitting her back against a wall, she couldn't go any further. As the fear welled up in her, she thought it was over.
Ichigo was close now, all he needed was a little more time to get there. The hollow, however, was closer. It brought up a claw, preparing to strike the blond. Swinging down, only mere seconds until Lucy was no more.
Ichigo exclaimed in fear, "NO…. LUCY!"
TO BE CONTINUED…