Disclaimer: If you haven't read the disclaimer in chapter one do so now XD

Author's Note: In the last chapter Drake has activated a device called the Trans-Dimensional Flash Bang. It erased his memory made him a one year old child and sent him to a random universe. For details of his experiences you'll have to read his half of the story.

I had been running using my flash step ability for over an hour and I still hadn't gotten close to the Seireitei. Drake's brothers Slifer and Rah had really chosen a far out part of the Rukon district for our fight, in fact I'm not even sure if its technically part of the Rukon district.

As I came to a wooded area I had to slow to a walk, to avoid crashing into a tree. I put down a burlap bag I'd been carrying which contained the charred, yet living body, of the Espada Nnoitra. Attached to the burlap bag, was a sword which contained the soul of an Arancar by the name of Gareth. I had come across him during the time I was pursued by Nnoitra in Las Noches. He had been injured by Nnoitra some weeks before that, and had been slowly dying ever since. I had used a transmutation circle of my own design to force his soul to posses the wooden sword with the promise that if I survived the fight with Nnoitra, I would give him a new body.

As I put down the bag a voice came from nowhere saying, "Are we almost there? It's not exactly fun being a sword."

"Calm down," I said in response to Gareth's complaint, "I know you want me to restore your body, but even if I do manage to get back to the Seireitei by tomorrow, I still have to report to Head Captain Yamamoto. If you like I can make you a temporary body now, but your powers would be next to useless…If you used a Cero blast it would come out as a weak ray of light."

"Fine," said the impatient Arancar, "I'll wait for a while longer…"

"Good, because I need to tell you something; I'm going to use my trans-dimensional Flash step to get us there faster. I've never tried doing it with passengers so I'm not sure about any side effects that might occur, so try not to move…on second thought, ignore what I just said."

"Don't move, he says, ha! I'd like to see him move if he were a sword…" Gareth grumbled cursing and swearing the whole time.

One day later.

"I'm read to make my report Head Captain, sir!" I said saluting old man Yamamoto as he walked in the door. He waved my salute away, insisting that this meeting was strictly informal, and had very little, if not nothing to do with my mission.

"If it has nothing to do with my mission then what is this meeting about sir?"

"It's about the letter from Drake and about its contents concerning you."

"Oh…okay…are you talking about my promotion to Lieutenant?"

"Among other things, yes that is one of them. Normally I wouldn't heed a request like this from Drake but due to your Zanpaktou's ability to give you knowledge, I have decided this is a wise decision on his part. Starting tomorrow you are officially Captain Urahara's Lieutenant."

"Thank you Head Captain." I said bowing my head.

Yamamoto looked at me strangely for a minute before saying, "Another thing Drake requested is technically a request only you can grant. After seeing your Bankai's power to transform, Drake has requested that you forge a Zanpaktou capable of imitating others. If you choose to accept the request, I will give you full access to the Zanpaktou forge beneath Central 46."

I stared at him in disbelief. Not at the request itself but at the way I would go about fulfilling it. Only three people were allowed into the secret forge of the Zanpaktou: Head Captain Yamamoto, the Spirit King, and the great blade smith himself, who has no name except the Forger of Souls.

"I accept!" I said with out hesitation, and old man Yamamoto smiled at my eagerness.

"Okay then, would you like to see it now?"

I could do nothing but nod and follow as old man Yamamoto led me to the Central 46 building and down a set of spiral stairs. After about 5 minutes of walking down what looked to be an endless staircase, we reached a large door with an almost as large 'Do not disturb' sign attached to it. Yamamoto opened the door and beckoned for me to enter ahead of him. I walked into the room and almost keeled over from the heat. I struggle to breathe and waited for my lungs to adapt to the lack of oxygen in the room due to the searing heat. When I had finally become able to breath I took a good look around and the first thing I saw was a huge furnace the size of the gates into the Seiretai. I looked at it in awe for a few minutes but my thoughts were interrupted by a man behind me saying, "Huge isn't it?"

I turned around to see a man twice the size of Gidanbo, the giant man who guarded the gate to the Seiretai. I had to step back a whole ten steps before I could look him in the face. When I finally got a look at his face I was s shocked that I jut stood their staring open mouthed at him. Right in the middle of his forehead between his eyes was a third eyes of sorts made out of a strange purple stone. Thinking it wise not to ask about it I instead said, "Are you the Forger of Souls?"

He let out a large booming laugh and said to me, "Aye, I am the Forger of Souls. Did you expect me to bear a resemblance to Yamamoto here?"

"No…I just didn't think you'd be so…tall…"

"Ah I see, don't you worry you'll get used to it, everyone who meets me does. I can't very well change my height just to please you can I?"

"No I suppose not…I suppose you'll be helping me then?"

"Yes but not in the way you're thinking."

"What do you mean? You're going to actually make the sword aren't you?"

"No," he said surprising me, "I am going to teach you how to work the forge and you will make it."

I just stood there staring at him slack jawed. I was going to learn how to make a zanpaktou. This could open up a whole new field of research.

"Of course," said the Forger interrupting my thoughts, "you could ask your zanpaktou to simply give you the information." He finished with a sly smile on his face.

I smiled back uneasily. Although Sumasshuyochi had the ability to give me knowledge, I knew from experience that he could only give me knowledge that was common, here as well as in other worlds. I had the feeling that this wasn't exactly common knowledge.

Seeing the apprehension in my face the Forger let out his booming laugh again and said, "Don't worry lad! I was just kidding; I made that sword I know it almost as well as you do."

I was about to respond when Head Captain Yamamoto interrupted saying, "You'll start your lessons tomorrow but for now you have the day off to do as you please…now go I need to speak with the Forger of Souls for a while longer."

I left the two of them to their discussion and started walking up the spiral staircase. As I reached the top of the stairs, a wall came sliding out of another hiding the stairs from view. I walked out of the door and back into the labyrinth-like streets of the Seiretai. I headed towards the squad 12 barracks and started whistling tunelessly to myself. As I rounded a corner I bumped into a tall blond haired man with a strange looking hat and a pair of wooden sandals.

"Ouch…oh, good morning Captain Urahara, sir!" I said to Kisuke Urahara. Although he was reinstated as Captain of Squad 12 Urahara insisted on wearing the clothes he had worn in the world of the living: Green coat similar to a, Captain's Haori, his plain wooden sandals and his green and white striped bucket hat. Just as well his zanpaktou, Benihime stayed in the state of a blade hidden within a cane just as he had it in the world of the living.

"Oh hello," he said looking around confused, then looking down at me, "Hmm…it's you is it? Congratulations on your promotion, I look forward to working with you. What did you say your name was again?"

"Azerik Zaraki sir," I replied. Yes you heard right. As soon as I had been admitted into the Soul Reaper Academy, Captain Kenpachi Zaraki had adopted me into his, at the time, one man family. As a result while I was at the academy I had at home training with Kenpachi everyday. You could say it was more like survival training then battle training seeing as all he wanted to do was fight me not teach me how to fight. In a way I became his second favorite punching bag (you can guess who his favorite was =P). Aside from being slashed at every time I got home, I spent a lot of time with Kenpachi's Lieutenant, Yachiru. Although like most people I though her just as insane as Kenpachi, I ended up becoming friends with her as would any person who spends enough time in her company.

"Right…," Urahara said interrupting my thoughts, "…anyway, did Yamamoto tell you about Drake's request yet?"

"Yeah…I just came back from the forge. The Forger is…large for one but he seems familiar for some reason…"

"I know what you mean…my theory on that is that since he made our zanpaktou the residual memories from them make it seem like we know him."

"Maybe…," I said while looking off into the sky lazily.

"Oh by the way," Urahara said interrupting my thoughts again, "the sword you keep in your quarters was yelling for you! Anything I should know about that?"

"Hmmm…WHAT! THAT IDIOT!" I said in shock dodging around Urahara and running towards my room in the 12th Squad barracks, "sorry Captain, I'll explain later!"

I ran like Kenpachi was behind me, and he had finally learned the name of his zanpaktou (thank the Spirit King he hasn't), and yanked open the door to my room. I entered and quickly slammed the door shut. I turned to the sword lying on my bed as yelled at it saying, "YOU IDIOT! URAHARA HEARD YOU! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO EXPLAIN WHY A SWORD IS TALKING! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO BURN YOU AND FORGET ABOUT REPLACING YOUR BODY..." I went on like this for around an hour which for some reason put me in the mood to make his new body then and there. I pushed a button underneath a table sitting opposite my bed, and a section of the floor caved in upon itself in parts creating a staircase leading towards my research lab. I grabbed the sword housing Gareth and brought it down the set of stairs which lifted up and recovered the floor as I went lower. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I placed Gareth on a huge table with multiple pieces of paper with the progress of every experiment I've ever done. I walked over to a large tank about the height of a large door that contained what looked to be a human corpse. Of course it wasn't really a corpse, it was a specialized Gigai developed for use in the Soul Society. The previous night when I had returned to the Seireitei, I had made a few adjustments to it in order to accommodate a Hollow's soul. Another change I had made was to add a small little device based off of the Hogyoku developed by Urahara and stolen by Aizen. Instead of making Hollows into Arancar it increased the Spiritual Energy and Spiritual pressure of whoever occupied the Gigai.

As I made some last minute adjustments to the Arrancar Gigai I adjusted the amount of power Gareth would receive. As I fiddled I decided that I should give him the better qualities of each Espada. I gave him Stark's power, Nnoitra's Steel-Skin toughness, Halibel's speed, and Ulquiorra's attack style. Seeing as we don't know much about all the Espada I couldn't do anything more specific than that.

When the adjustments were finished I walked over to where I had placed the wooden sword and placed it next to the tank containing the Gigai. I walked over to my research table and picked up a Substitute Soul Reaper Combat Pass I had borrowed from Old man Yamamoto a couple months ago for the restart of Mod Soul development. So far I hadn't successfully created a Mod Soul that didn't have any annoying quirks such as blood lust or insanity, so I had tossed it aside when I had received my mission. I didn't know it would come in handy when I left on the mission.

I walked back over to Gareth and touched the sword he was in with the Combat Pass and instantaneously a green sphere came out of the tip of the sword. Normally this only happened with Mod Souls and temporary souls but when I had transmuted his soul into the wooden sword I had changed his soul's structure into something similar to a Mod Soul but retained his normal qualities and would permanently occupy any Gigai it entered. I picked the sphere off the ground and pressed a button on a panel next to the tank and the water drained from it leaving the body hanging from a mass of wires that would monitor its condition. I opened the mouth of the Gigai and forced it to swallow the sphere. As his soul began to break free from the sphere, I closed off the tank and refilled it with water and had a breathing mask placed on Gareth's new body. When his soul was completely in control of the Gigai its features began to take the shape of his previous body. He looked pretty much like the standard Arrancar with a slight similarity to Grimmjow, but with black and silver hair, and a slouched posture similar to Ulquiorra's. As he began to realize he was in a body he looked around then looked at me and said, "Let me out of the tank then."

"Sorry got to run some test first I've never done this before. I'm going to ask you to do some stuff okay…first thing I want you to do is fire a Cero blast."

He fired the blast without questioning me and the water suddenly increased in heat which he seemed not to notice.

"Okay thank you, now I'd like you to try and Sonido around the tank."

He did so again without questioning me and his speed reached the same as Halibel's which I was satisfied with. After a few more tests-none of which need to be talked about-I decided that his new body was stable and I let him out of the tank. When his feet hit the ground he stretched his arms and legs getting a feel for his new body. After a few minutes he seemed satisfied with his body and turned to face me. He looked around for a few seconds then said in a barely audible tone, "Thank you, I'm in your debt…"

"It was nothing we both benefited from the situation. I gained a weapon for a fight you gained another chance at life; I gained valuable research information and you gained a new more powerful body."

"Even so I will serve you as the other Arrancar serve Sosuke Aizen, with never wavering obedience, and loyalty."

"There's no need for that…however I would be glad to have you as a comrade. Now I just have to explain to the whole Soul Society why you're here…"

"There will be no need for that," came a voice from behind me. I turned to see Old man Yamamoto standing by my lab's entrance the wall closing behind him. He walked over to me and continued speaking, "when you first returned yesterday afternoon I entered your room when I had been looking for you and I found Gareth there talking to himself. He explained to me what had happened in Hueco Mundo and about your pact with each other. I then notified all the Captains who were given orders to give the information to all their squad members."

I fell backwards into a chair next to my research table and heaved a sigh of relief. This meant Captain Urahara already knew about Gareth, which also mean t I didn't have to explain anything to him.

"Thank you Head Captain, sir," I said, then quietly so only he could hear me, "about my lessons with the Forger of Souls…can they start tonight? I want to use my free time to get started."

"I'm afraid not Azerik. The Forger needs tonight to prepare the lessons, which is why I gave you the day off…oh and Captain Zaraki said Lieutenant Yachiru was looking for you. I suggest you spend tonight at your family home instead of in the barracks."

"Thank you sir, I will."

He looked at me in amusement and then left. I then turned to Gareth and said, "If you wan t you can use my room upstairs tonight."

"Why can't I just come with you?"

"I don't think it's the greatest idea for you to meet Onii-san (Kenpachi) today, maybe tomorrow."

Accepting what I said when I left my room in the barracks, Gareth stayed and slept on my bed while I walked home.

As I was walking the labyrinth of the Seireitei, I heard a loud high pitched voice yelling, "RIKKY!"

I turned to see Yachiru running at me full speed, my eyes went wide as she jumped at me and clung to my neck nearly knocking me over.

"Yachiru," I said gasping for air, "I can't breathe…loosen up Yachiru-chan I can't breathe."

She loosened her grip just enough to allow air into my lungs but continued to hang from my neck. She then swung herself around and hung from my shoulders.

"I missed you Rikky," she said using her pet name for me, "Kenny's been gone all week doing stuff for Old man Yama and he never has any free time."

"Well," I said smiling, "I've got the whole day off so what would you like to do?"

"Hmm…" she said looking like she was thinking hard, "I know! Let's go find Ichi!"

Agreeing with her seeing as I had only met Ichigo once-and only for a short time-I decided that because this was his last day in the Soul Society before he left for the world of the living (for some reason he kept visiting the Soul Society on a regular basis).

As we walked…or rather I walked and Yachiru hung from my back, I began thinking about my upcoming lessons with the Forger of Souls. What would I learn? How long would it take? I wanted to know so many things that I didn't even know enough words to ask all the questions.

Don't forget to read Drake's half of the story and now the added parallel of Albel the Bloody. Please review and no flaming. Thanks for reading the next chapter will be here soon.