After the duel between Yammy and Ichigo, Ulquiorra and Yammy retreated to their base. Once there, eight other figures were waiting for them. As was Aizen as he sat at the top of a throne chair.

"Welcome back, Ulquiorra and Yammy. Was your mission a success?" Aizen said.

"Yes, we located the target." Ulquiorra said. "We've witnessed him duel. He was able to defeat Yammy and was able to pull off some counter attacks."

"You don't have to go into exact details." Yammy said as he was still feeling the sting of his defeat.

"You've got to be kidding me. You got beat by this guy?"

"Is there something you like to say, Grimmjow?" Aizen said. The one who spoke had blue hair with green patches under his eyes.

"Yeah, about these two. Aizen's orders were to locate the guy and take him down. You should have stayed to finish that guy off." Grimmjow said. "What was wrong Ulquiorra? Were you too scared to do some dueling yourself? If it was me, I would have mauled this guy."

"If you're trying to insult me, you're failing." Ulquiorra said.

"You actually think you could have done better, Grimmjow?" Aizen said.

"That's right. I'll prove it to you." Grimmjow said.

"Be patient. It won't be long until Ichigo comes to us." Aizen said. "All we have to do is wait him out and wait until the moment is right. Until then, Ulquiorra, please share with me what you witnessed."

"Of course." Ulquiorra said. Ulquiorra told what he saw, but Grimmjow wasn't listening. He would rather find out for himself how strong Ichigo is.

…

Ichigo

After the duel, Ichigo headed home. He looked over all of his cards as he thought over what happened today. That Ulquiorra and Yammy guy came out of nowhere and started to cause trouble, they worked for Aizen, and that Yammy guy was skilled.

'What the heck is going on?' Ichigo thought. 'What did those guys want? If they appeared, does that mean that Aizen is coming back? If that is the case, what is he up to?' He thought back to when he last saw Aizen. When he extracted something out of Rukia from when they saved him. He looked over and spotted his Zangetsu. It was the champion, Davis Motomiya, that gave him that card. "What am I worrying about? Davis wouldn't worry and neither would I."

"Ichigo, your phone!" Karin called out. Ichigo opened his door and took his cell phone.

"Hello?" Ichigo said.

"Hi, Ichigo. It's Orihime. I'm calling to make sure that you were okay after what happened today."

"Don't worry, I'm alright." Ichigo said. "Rukia said that she was going to talk to Byakuya and tell him what happened today."

"That's good. She and Byakuya have been on good terms since the last time you dueled him." Orihime said.

"I've noticed. It's getting late. You should get ready for bed." Ichigo said.

"Okay. Goodnight." Orihime said.

"Goodnight." Ichigo said and hanged up.

…..

Rukia

Rukia went to the Soul Society building and informed Byakuya of Ulquiorra and Yammy.

"Thank you for telling us this." Byakuya said.

"Of course, Byakuya. Aizen has some powerful duelists on his side and he won't be easy to beat." Rukia said. "Have you been able to figure out what he's been up to at all?"

"We're doing research to find anything he's left behind. So far, he has erased any trace of his plans." Byakuya said. "You should head home before it gets too late."

"Okay. I'll see you at home." Rukia said as she left. When she did, she failed to notice that someone was watching her and that was Grimmjow. He was looking for Ichigo and he had a menacing grin that was going to help track him.

…

Ichigo

Ichigo had his cards in order and was ready to go to bed when he heard his phone rang and saw it was Rukia.

"Hey, Rukia. Is there a problem?" Ichigo said.

"Are you really Ichigo Kurosaki" Ichigo was surprised because that wasn't Rukia's voice.

"Who are you?" Ichigo said.

"My name is Grimmjow. I work with those other two guys you met earlier. I have your friend, Rukia. If you want her back, come and get her. You also be ready for a duel." Ichigo knew this was trouble and had to get going.

…

Rukia

Rukia was tied up in the streets with tape over her mouth. Grimmjow stood in front as he was waiting for his prey to show up. He opened his eyes and saw Ichigo arrived.

"So you're Ichigo Kurosaki?" Grimmjow said.

"That's right. Let Rukia go." Ichigo said.

"I'm a reasonable guy. I'll let her go, if you win." Grimmjow said. "I want to see for myself what makes you so great. I'm warning you, I'm not much of pushover as Yammy."

"Let's just do this already." Ichigo demanded and both of them activated their duel disks.

"Duel!" Both of them said.

"I'll go first." Grimmjow said. "I'll summon my White Panther in attack mode." A panther that looked like it was covered head to toe in a bone like substance and had a hole through its stomach came up with 1600atk points. "I'm also going to activate my Mauling spell card. For every beast monster on my field, you lose 600 life points." The panther slashed at Ichigo and his points dropped 3400. "I'll place two cards face down and end my turn."

"My move. I summon my Swordsman of the Black Blade." Ichigo said. His swordsman came up and had 1900atk points. "I have a sneaky suspicion that you're going to use those face downs when I attack. I'll use the spell card, Mystical Outline." His swordsman's entire body was covered in a mystic energy. "That will make him immune to traps for this turn. Attack White Panther with Black Slice and Dice." His swordsman attacked and sliced down the panther and Grimmjow had 3700LP.

"Is that the best you can do?" Gimmjow said.

"I'm just getting started. It's your turn." Ichigo said.

"Here goes." Grimmjow said and liked what he drew. "I'm going to activate my face down, Nine Lives. This trap can bring back one beast monster. Come back, White Panther!" His panther rose back up. "I'm also going to use Wild Nature Release."

"That's not good." Ichigo said.

"For you. It takes the defense points of my monster and adds to his attack points." Grimmjow said and his panther now had 3000atk points. "Sick that swordsman with Hunting Claws." His panther jumped up and slashed down on the swordsman and Ichigo's points dropped 2300. "I'm not stopping there. I use my Beast Soul Swap. This trap will put my panther back in my hand and another monster can take his place since Wild Nature Release would have destroyed him. I summon my Jagged Jaguar." His monsters switch places and his new monster was a human jaguar with blades attached to its wrists with 1700atk points.

"Good kitty, down boy." Ichigo said.

"This kitty doesn't listen to losers. Attack him directly with Jaguar Smack Down." Grimmjow said. His jaguar jumped and slashed at Ichigo and pushed him down and was left with 600LP. "I think that's enough playing with my food…for now."

"I'll admit, you're good." Ichigo said.

"Compliments aren't going to get you anywhere. I can't believe Aizen was concerned about you." Grimmjow said. "I guess you beat Yammy while he was having a bad day."

"Don't sound so sure." Ichigo said and drew his card. "Let's see how you do against my Soul Siege." His black armored warrior rose up and had 1400atk points. "I'm also going to activate the spell, Two Inner Selves. This lets me treat my siege as two monsters. Now, I'll unite my two monsters to unite summon Zangetsu!" His siege became two separate energies that came together and Zangetsu came up with 2500atk points.

"So you've decided to bring out the big guns?" Grimmjow said. "That's fine with me. Bring it."

"Consider it brought. I use Zangetsu's ability." Ichigo said. "If I use one unite unit, half of the attack points of one my monsters that was used to bring him out go to him and your monster loses the other half." Zangetsu slashed one of the units and now had 3200atk points with Jagged Jaguar having 1000. "Zangetsu, attack with Piercing Heaven." Zangestu unleashed a slash of spirit energy and took down Grimmjow's jaguar with him having 1500LP.

"Okay, that was pretty good, but you still can't beat me." Grimmjow said.

"It's your move, cat boy." Ichigo said as Zangetsu's points returned to normal.

"Cat boy?! I'm going to enjoy making you eat those words." Grimmjow said as he was filled with a rage and a desire to beat Ichigo. "I'm activating Beast Offspring spell card. If I send a beast, wing beast, or beast warrior to the grave yard, I can summon two monsters whose attack points equal the monster I discarded. I think I'll toss my Panther Warrior who had a total of 2000. I summon Blade Panther and Night Puma." A panther covered in blades and a puma made from shadows came on the field with 1700 and 300atk points.

"Even that won't be enough to beat Zangetsu." Ichigo said.

"Maybe this will. I unite my dark attribute, level four and level two Blade Panther and Night Puma to summon…." Grimmjow didn't finish because he was stopped by Kaname Tosen grabbing his arm. "Tosen?"

"I remember him. He's one of those guys that escaped with Aizen." Ichigo said.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kaname said.

"I was about to finish him off." Grimmjow said.

"Lord Aizen gave no order. You ae to return at once." Kaname said. Grimmjow hated to, but it didn't seem like he was left with a choice. The black opening came and both of them went through.

"Don't think this is over. We'll settle this another time." Grimmjow said before it closed. Ichigo ran to Rukia and got her untied.

"Are you alright?" Ichigo said.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Rukia said.

"That's good." Ichigo said, but changed his attention about Grimmjow. He was a formidable foe and he knew that he would have to face him again.