Again, I do not own Bleach nor do I make any claim to do so.

Ulquiorra stood paralyzed in shock and disbelief as Ichigo leaped out of the reiatsu that his Bankai released. The figure that he saw was humanoid and wore Shinigami robes, but had a wider chest, thicker arms, and a more pronounced musculature. The figure also had a Hollow mask on his face, shaped like a hyena, but painted white with black stripes on the left side. Finally, the figure's back, sides, and limbs were covered in a reddish fur, with black spots, but the lower half of the legs and arms were encased in white gauntlets, tipped with talons on the fingers and toes.

'What IS he?' Ulquiorra thought, which caused Ichigo to look down briefly at his new form and said mentally 'That's what I want to know.'. "This is your new Hollow form." Hichigo answered. "When you ate Hiena's reiatsu, the surplus from your augmentation and healing combined with my reiatsu and this is the result. Now, whenever you Hollowfy, you get this form along with the rest of the power package.". The only response Ichigo could think of was 'COOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL!' as he attacked Ulquiorra with a right punch.

Ulquiorra took a defensive stance to parry the attack, only to stand helplessly as Ichigo slipped past his guard and scored a direct hit to Ulquiorra's face, smashing the jaw and check bones, knocking out half his teeth, and twisting his neck three timesAROUND! To top it off Ulquiorra was sent flying through the wall, only to land after going through fifteen adjacent rooms. By then, he had a shattered skull, massive internal and external bleeding, and his neck snapped AGAIN.

Seeing the destruction he caused with just one punch, Ichigo sported a grin that would freeze even Kenpachi or Aizen in terror, and began to laugh... but not HIS laugh. The sound that came out of his mouth was more a barking laugh like a hyena's. The laugh echoed through the room and the corridors leading out, reaching Aizen and the other Espada.

Harribel, sitting on the roof of the dome with her Fraccion, felt her eyes widen, her body stiffen, and her heart quicken in fear. Her Fraccion was faring far worse, being forced to the ground and straining to breathe. "What the HELL was THAT?" Apache asked no one in particular. "How should I know?" Mila Rose replied. "Who said I was asking YOU?" Apache retorted, prompting Sun-Sun's response: "Could you two get along for two seconds? You ALWAYS have to act like children. It's really quite embarrassing.". "SHUT UP SUN-SUN!" Apache and Mila-Rose shouted back and tried to get up to pummel her, only to be pushed back by the sheer pressure.

"That," Harribel said. "That is the laugh of a superior being, but not the Beast.", she continued much to the surprise of her Fraccion. "This laugh is more masculine, and the reiatsu is not that of a Hollow, but more a cross between a Hollow and a Shinigami. Actually, I felt this reiatsu and the Beast's from inside the Menos Forest, locked in battle. When it was over, the BEAST'S reiatsu vanished." she finished, with shock and disbelief written on the collective face of her Fraccion.

"Im-im-IMPOSSIBLE!" they all said. "Aizen-sama sent a whole army of Arrancar to recruit or destroy her. You, and the other top Espada were there, as was HE! AND, only you, Aizen, and the other Espada survived, and you were all BARELY away from death!" they added. "And you're saying a single Shinigami beat the Beast, and is the source of this incredible reiatsu?" they asked, to which Harribel only nodded.

While her Fraccion trembled in fear of whatever the source of this reiatsu was, Harribel was deep in thought, remembering when Aizen first recruited her. "Work for me, and I will give you power. Together, we can destroy the Soul Society and end the Shinigami sport of killing Hollows." he said, to which Harribel willingly agreed, partly out of fear for her Fraccion and anger at the Shinigami. Very soon after, however, she discovered what Aizen really was: ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and saw everyone else as merely a pawn in his twisted game. Grimmjow, Starrk, and Barragan all made this realization, but they knew that Aizen was too strong for them, individually or collectively, to defeat. In fact, they were HOPING that he would die when he went after the Beast. When he survived, they simply decided to give up on trying to eliminate him.

Now, her hope was reborn, as she felt the presence and power of a being that was to Aizen what the Beast was to Hollows. Finally, she could she could be free of Aizen, once and for all. But she also realized that she was attracted to this new being... in a romantic sense. This being was not only powerful, much more so than Aizen, but it was something he never was: unrestrained. This being would shower her, heck, drown her in its power... and perhaps even more than that... a feeling that she could only think of as WONDERFUL.

Her Fraccion were having similar thoughts. They, like their Mistress, saw Aizen as the cold, ruthless bastard he was, and this being as a chance for freedom. They also saw a chance for something else: a chance for fun... a new opponent to fight... one that could actually DEFEAT them. Being the Fraccion of the First Espada, they were the strongest Arrancar, second only to the other top Espada, which meant that the other Arrancar were no fun to fight. To top it off, the other Espada stalwartly refused to fight them.

Now, they had a chance to fight a new enemy, an enemy that was not only far stronger than them, but would fight at FULL power. The thought of such a prospect filled them with excitement and split their faces into maniacal grins. "I can't WAIT to face this thing!" Apache happily yelled out. "I can't BELIEVE the words are coming out of my mouth, but the same goes for me." Mila-Rose inputted, and Sun-Sun simply nodded in response.

Meanwhile, Satan, inflicting his eternal torment on the poor sinners that were stuck with him, suddenly found himself in want and need of a fur coat. He looked up and saw...SNOW...in HELL! "This CAN'T be happening!" he said as he began to shiver.

Of course, this did not last long as Apache soon asserted "I'll go first.", to which Mila-Rose retorted "OH NOOO you don't!", prompting Sun-Sun to simply shake her head in disappointment. With that, Hell defrosted and Satan sighed in relief.

On the other side of the palace, Barragan was being served his customary serving of drink and ego, when he found himself squashed flat against his chair, so flat his servants had to use a crowbar to get his back to normal. Once he was his proper shape again, albeit a little shorter, he asked everyone's question for them: "What the hell was THAT?". Everyone could only shake their heads in puzzlement as they tried to stand up straight. Then they heard the laugh, and Barragan thought that his blood had turned to liquid nitrogen.

"Your Highness," Ggio Vega, his second-in-command stuttered. "T-that's...the...the BEAST!". Soon, everyone ceased moving and started looking around for an exit or a hole to hide in. Only Barragan resisted the urge to run and hide as he said "No that is not the Beast.". At first, no one responded, as they tried to reconcile their faith in their former king and the reality of the situation. "It sounds like the Beast, and feels similar to the Beast, but the laugh is male, and the reiatsu is wrong, more like a Shinigami." he explained, which apparently soothed and frightened his subordinates at the same time.

"If it is not the Beast, then what is it Sire?" Ggio asked. Barragan only answered "A being of far greater power than any of us, even Aizen.". With that statement Barragan realized 'This is my chance to be rid of him for good! And for me to regain my throne!', and he grinned for the first time since he became King of Hueco Mundo, countless centuries ago. 'I'll let it kill Aizen, and all the other Espada, then, when it's weak and exhausted, I'll kill it, and my reign will be indisputable!' he thought and began to laugh, much to everyone's confusion.

In another part of the palace, a place where nobody went unless they HAD to, arose the distinct sound of snoring. Then the wave of reiatsu hit the room, waking its sole occupant, who stood up rather too quickly and soon fell back to the floor, holding his head. A few minutes later he tried to stand again, only to suffer two attacks: the barking laugh that originated somewhere in the palace and froze him in terror; and a child-sized Arrancar that leaped up and hugged him around the neck, shaking with fear, and strangling him at the same time.

"Starrk! Starrk! Help, it's the Beast!" the child Arrancar yelled out, unaware of what she was doing. "Lily-nette! Let...me...go!" Starrk managed to choke out, his face starting to change colors and his eyes glazing over. Lilynette, realizing what she was doing, quickly let go and found herself straining to keep her back straight. Surprisingly, Starrk did not go back to sleep as he usually did, but instead looked to the origin point of the laugh, wondering what was there.

"That is not the Beast." he said calmly and surprisingly without any indication that he was going back to sleep. "The laugh belongs to a male, and the reiatsu is apparently a Shinigami-Hollow hybrid." he explained to a very confused Lilynette. "Another Arrancar?" she asked. "No, the Shinigami reiatsu seems to be the "core" so to say, so it's not an Arrancar." he answered, just as baffled as Lilynette. "Could it be a Shinigami that acquired the powers of a Hollow? That would seem to be the answer, but how?" he continued, stroking his chin. Lilynette could only look up in amazement at the seriousness and energy he exhibiting. 'I have not seen him like this since...since...since after Aizen recruited him' she thought.

Two centuries ago, when Starrk first became a Hollow, he felt very lonely, the emotion possibly carried over from his human existence. When he was human, he was a Hikikomori, a person who spent all his time inside and away from people. The cause may have been a fear of being embarrassed in social situations, his uncommonly pale and easily burned skin, or both. Regardless of the cause, no matter what kind of treatment he received, he never got better, and after completing basic education and training, he only went outside once...when he died.

That day he was running an errand for a professor who provided Starrk all his entertainment, education, and business by mail. He was the first person to ever attend college by mail, with a major in Western literature and weapons, and a flare for American cowboys and frontiersmen. That day, he was making his way from his home in Kyoto to Tokyo when he and the caravan he was traveling with was attacked by bandits. His only weapon was a pistol his professor gave him from America, and although he never left his house, he was astonishingly good with that pistol and was able to kill up to 13 bandits with just six bullets, using ricochet to slit throats. Unfortunately, after killing the thirteenth bandit, one managed to sneak behind him and stab him in the back.

The next thing he knew, he was looking at his dead and mangled body in the Japanese countryside. With nothing else to do, he decided to complete the errand he was assigned to when he died. Although he waited a very long time for someone to find the caravan and bring it to its intended destination, he waited nonetheless, like a dog. He may have been lazy, but he was not ungrateful, especially to the professor responsible for most of his livelihood.

He soon found that his waiting had been for naught, as his professor, the one that he had reliably completed his assigned task for, soon discounted him. He said "Oh well. Maybe that kid will be reincarnated as a bull or a goat or an ant. It would serve him right for being so lazy and nonsocial.". With that, Starrk's depression deepened and his soul began to empty, much more quickly than most Pluses, perhaps because he was so depressed to begin with. Within a month, he was a large lupine Hollow, capable of multiplying to produce a pack and turning his forelimbs into cowboy pistols and his tail into a lasso.

Driven by his grief and depression, Starrk hunted and devoured other Hollows with uncharacteristic ferocity and energy. Within three months, he was a Gillian, and in another four months, he was an Adjuchas. However, while he looked very much like when he was just a Hollow as an Adjuchas, he began losing his drive and ferocity, his lazy persona replacing it. Soon, he ceased hunting altogether and just slept all the time. Now, instead of hunting Hollows, he let them come to him. Surprisingly, his past as a wolf whose ferocity rivaled Grimmjow's did not discourage the thousands of Hollows that tried to eat him.

Within a year, he became a Vasto Lorde, changing from a wolf to a humanoid covered in wolf-like fur, donning a wolf-skull mask, and wearing an outfit like an American cowboy with matching pistols. He also met Lilynette, a fiery young Adjuchas who, like him, deceived Hollows into attacking her though with her small size and stature rather than Starrk's laziness and perpetual need for sleep. This time though, she decided to hunt for herself, and her first target was Starrk.

Big mistake as she was effortlessly blown away by a single Bala, but instead of eating her, Starrk simply lay down on the sand and fell asleep. After she recovered, she tried a sneak attack on Starrk while he was asleep, only to find herself bouncing along the ground and landing twenty meters away on her butt. Enraged she charged, hoping to get him as he tried to go back to sleep, but he just kicked her away, breaking a horn in the process. She prepared to launch another attack when Starrk said "Look, kid, I don't want to eat you, but if you keep attacking me, I will." and he went back to sleep.

Surprisingly, Lilynette did not try to attack or argue, she just stood there, not doing anything for five whole minutes. Then she just laid down next to Starrk and fell asleep as well. From that moment, they were stuck together, like glue. No one knows why, but maybe it was because they both felt a need for each other...as companions. However it started, the next two centuries were relatively good for them, just napping, eating, and one-way teasing. That all changed when Aizen arrived.

It was just a normal day when Starrk felt the reiatsu of an exceedingly powerful Shinigami and woke up. He looked to the source of the reiatsu, and saw Aizen who said "Work for me, and I will make you stronger.", and to his surprise Starrk refused. Starrk never really desired power, but simply companionship. Aizen tried again and again to get Starrk to agree, but failed each time. Eventually Aizen, hypnotizing Starrk with his Zanpakuto, tricked him and Lilynette into attacking each other, revealing the trick just as Lilynette was about to die, and only saving her when Starrk agreed to serve him. Ever since, Starrk hated Aizen, but knew that as long as he was hypnotized, he could not do a thing about it.

Now, he was uncharacteristically excited, so much that he could not get back to sleep. He found an opportunity to eliminate Aizen once and for all. 'At last, I can get back to my life.' he thought and smiled, leaving poor Lilynette baffled at his new found energy and enthusiasm.

Elsewhere, Grimmjow was pulling Orihime down a corridor when he felt the reiatsu and suddenly found himself unable to move, followed by the barking laugh. His first thought was 'The Beast?', but he quickly corrected himself. 'No, the laugh is of a man and the reiatsu is like a Shinigami. A very... familiar Shinigami. Ichigo!' and he cracked his signature psychotic grin. 'Holy Shit, now I REALLY can't wait for our rematch!' he thought as he picked up the pace, following the reiatsu.

Orihime, in contrast to Grimmjow's enthusiastic bloodlust, shivered in fear and dread at the reiatsu. 'It feels a lot like a Hollow, but more like Ichigo.' she thought. 'Was he EATEN?' she continued with terrifying apprehension, but discounted that thought when she realized that the "core" was Ichigo and not a Hollow. 'Ichigo, what happened? Did you become a Hollow? Please no!' she dreaded as Grimmjow pulled her along.

Through the palace, everyone that felt the reiatsu were overwhelmed by its power and pressure, and reacted with fear, in the case of the Shinigami and the lower level Arrancar, or excitement, in the case of the Espada and the traitors. In one man's case, though, he felt little more than fascination at the raw power exhibited by this being. 'I must study this more closely.' Aizen thought as he eyed the Hogyoku and started scheming on how to use this new being.

Meanwhile, Ichigo finally stopped laughing, looked over at Ulquiorra, and saw that he was untwisting his neck and getting up. 'He's STILL alive? GOOODD!' Ichigo thought as he prepared for another round, but he was caught off guard by Ulquiorra yelling out "Tozase, Murcielago!" (Enclose, Bat) and a huge burst of green reiatsu...well, to the layman that is. When the reiatsu cleared up he saw Ulquiorra standing up, bare-chested with two pairs of wings sprouting from his back, a tufted tail, fur covering his arms and lower body, and talons for hands and feet, all black. He also had two white horns coming out of his head and his tear marks were bigger and black as well.

"Congratulations, Ichigo. You forced me to use my SECOND release state, something not even Aizen knows of." Ulquiorra said. "It is fortunate that we are here for this room was specially designed to withstand reiatsu of our magnitude. Farewell" he finished as he charged a green Cero, only to watch Ichigo disappear, and feel a clawed palm enter his rib cage as easily as a hot knife would cut butter. Ichigo grabbed a handful and pulled back, splattering blood over them both, Ulquiorra keeling over...only for Ichigo to watch him stand up again and the newly made hole close up again.

"Let me guess: your regenerative abilities." Ichigo said to Ulquiorra's surprise. "Usually, Arrancar sacrifice those for strength, but you can regenerate everything except your brain and internal organs." he finished as Ulquiorra could only nod in response, thinking 'If he knows, then why did he...?'. "I just wanted to see it in action." Ichigo answered as he launched a barrage of kicks and punches, shattering bones with ease, only to stop just before killing him, Flash step away, and give Ulquiorra a minute to heal.

'Why doesn't he finish me off?' Ulquiorra thought, wondering at Ichigo's behavior. "I'm having too much fun." Ichigo answered, waiting for Ulquiorra to heal. "Hey, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll let you attack me." he yelled out, and only got Ulquiorra's shimmering disappearance as an answer. Ulquiorra appeared behind him and charged a Cero, but shaped it as a lance. 'This is my one chance. Lanza del Relampago' he thought as he lunged at Ichigo, only to have it intercepted by Ichigo's finger. 'Impossible!' Ulquiorra thought as Ichigo grabbed Lanza del Relampago, Flash stepped away, and threw it at Ulquiorra, only to disappear and reappear behind Ulquiorra and stab him in the back just ahead of the impact of the lance-shaped weapon.

Ulquiorra collapsed, his abdomen ribbed open, his right lung punctured, and bleeding massively. Ichigo just landed behind him and was about to start another round of laughing when he felt his mask begin to crack and shatter. He also felt his strength fading, like it was being drained, and he too collapsed. 'What the..?' he began wondering when he heard Hichigo answer. "It's a good thing you finished that fight when you did King. You were having so much fun you overtaxed yourself and drained your spiritual pressure too quickly.", the last statement making Ichigo feel like an idiot. "Don't sweat it King." Hichigo continued. "You weren't used to that kind of power, but your body will recover, adapt, and soon you'll be able to go on for MUCH longer. In the meantime, TRY to be more efficient". Ichigo responded 'You know, ever since I ate Hiena, you were awfully friendly. And just when I start acting like you, I get criticized.'. Hichigo shrugged "Maybe, but I never put us in danger for the sake of fun!". 'Looks like things are back to normal.' Ichigo started to grin when he saw Ulquiorra pull himself up, with pure rage written on his face.

"Ichigo, I may die here," he started as he pulled himself to his hands and knees, "but you will too!". Ulquiorra shot a still clawed hand at Ichigo who, taken by surprise and distracted by his mental conversation with Hichigo, could only watch as the hand entered his chest and formed a hole...just like Ulquiorra's. With that, both collapsed, exhausted but still trying to heal themselves. It was then that Grimmjow and Orihime entered and saw the damage.

"Well, well." Grimmjow said. "Looks like I did the right thing bringing her along. Get 'working girl." he ordered as he pointed to Ichigo. Orihime could only nod as she said "Soten Kisshun." (Twin Sacred Return Shield) as an oval golden shield formed over Ichigo and his wounds started to heal.

Here's Chapter Seven. Please Review.