"No, Head Captain" Ichigo said to the old man. "I'm sorry but this is my fight" he said turning his head to Yamamoto.

"Very well Ichigo Kurosaki, have it your way, but the moment you falter, I will end this" the old captain said returning his sword to its cane form.

"Arrogant little brat!" Hikari yelled through his mask as he charged at Ichigo, slashing at him frantically like a mad man. His form in fighting wasn't like any standard form used, instead it seemed like he was just using pure killing instinct.

"All lieutenants are to move all the unconscious soul reapers out of range of this fight, we don't need any dead on our hands" the head captain said as each lieutenant and able seated officer picked up unconscious members of their squad and carried them away.

"Are you that concerned Head Captain?" Kurotsuchi asked crossing his arms.

"My methods may differ from yours Captain Kurotsuchi, but I care about the well being of my troops" he said leaning on his cane.

"I wasn't talking about that, I meant why did you show up? You only appear when the situation is dire and there is a chance of losing" he said rolling his eyes.

"Aizen needed the Oken to get to the soul king, but since he can no longer make it, he had a backup plan, to use Hikari Okami to open the path to the soul king's palace…" he said grimly. The other captains froze at what they heard and completely disregarded the fighting going on near them.

"That's impossible! Only the Oken can open the path from down here! It's impossible otherwise, no matter how strong someone is!" Captain Komamura yelled.

"It's not about strength Sajin, did you forget that he said he killed almost 3000 hollows earlier? In order for them to evolve into menos or Vasto Lorde, they need to eat one another, so in actuality, he had reaped enough souls to make a new one, and the fact that his zanpakuto can span across diferent dimensions would give him a better chance of accessing the soul king's dimension" Shunsui added.

"If Aizen knew this, why didn't he take control of Hikari first instead of what he did?" Ukitake asked.

"Hikari was a back up plan, he probably wanted to save him for when he needed him" Kurotsuchi suggested. "Or the kido he used to control him didn't fully manifest yet, so it would be a wasted effort" he shrugged.

"So he didn't use Hikari in case he failed?" Ukitake asked.

"Apparently so" Toshiro said as he watched as black spirit energy flew through the air.

"I'm not going to lose to you!" Hikari screamed as he charged a cero in the mouth of the skull on the back of his scythe. He fired it and it caused him to swing his scythe at a high speed at Ichigo, knocking him to the ground with a cut across his left arm.

"Damn it" he said as he jumped right back up and charged at Hikari who was beginning to pant from using so much of his energy. "You look tired" Ichigo said as he charged up his sword with black spirit energy. "Getsuga Tenshou" he said as he swung his sword with one hand, sending a large blast at Hikari, sending him flying into the gate he blew a hole in after it shattered two more of the chains leaving the one attached to his neck.

Meanwhile in Aizen's cell, he was shocked at how well Ichigo was fighting off Hikari. "He grew much more powerful since when we fought" Aizen said narrowing the one eye that was exposed from under the bandages. "I guess I better make him step it up a bit" he said sending out another pulse of spirit energy which causing Hikari to start to glow bright red.

"What the hell is going on now?" Soi-Fon said as she sat up from where Unohana was healing her.

"Even after all that his spiritual pressure still rises?" Byakuya said intrigued.

"Limit of the thousands hands, respectful hands, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hands unable to reflect the blue sky. The road that basks in light, the wind that ignited the embers, time that gathers when both are together, there is no need to be hesitant, obey my orders. Light bullets, eight bodies, nine items, book of heaven, diseased treasure, great wheel, grey fortress tower. Aim far away, scatter brightly and cleanly when fired..." he began as all of the captain's opened their eyes wide as they ordered everyone to get back.

"Everyone get back! Move quickly!" Captain Ukitake ordered in a tone they had never heard him use before as ten pink points of energy began to form around Hikari who was begining to breathe heavy as they formed. "Get down!" he ordered as everyone got behind some kind of cover, whether it was rubble or a kido barrier.

"Hado Number 91: Senjū Kōten Taihō!" he yelled as all ten energy points shot at Ichigo who managed to block some of the blast with his sword before the rest hit him in large explosion that shoot the area around them as Hikari began to breathe heavy as he watched as a cloud of what seemed like unending smoke remained where he had fired the kido.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, you idiot" Soi-Fon said as she stood to her feet only to be stopped by Unohana.

"Sit down Soi-Fon, you are not well enough to move yet" she said in a cold tone causing her to sit back down as Unohana started to heal Kenpachi.

"I'm not done yet" Ichigo said as he walked out of the smoke with part of his outfit blown off as he headed toward Hikari who was amazed he was still alive.

"Impossible!" Hikari coughed as Ichigo held his sword to Hikari's shoulder.

"It's over Hikari, you have no spiritual pressure left to fight me" Ichigo said as he channeled black spirit energy down his sword. "You lose" Ichigo said as his eyes turned blue and he swung his sword, severing the chain attached to the back of his neck.

"Thank…you" Hikari said as his scythe turned back into its sealed form and his robes returned to normal as well. He fell down on both knees and then down on his face as the other captains moved to secure him.

"Ichigo, are you badly injured?" Ukitake asked. The orange haired soul reaper just chuckled a bit and fell over on his face, causing a large panic. "Someone send for more squad four members!" he ordered as both of them were laid side by side.

Hours passed and both of them were brought to the hospital and were both placed on watch, although Hikari has several guards watching him and a barrier around his room. Ichigo finally came to and sat up and looked out his window. "So you finally woke up" a female voice said from behind him. He turned to see Soi-Fon and Rukia standing beside his bed. "Thank you Ichigo, for not killing Hikari when you had the chance" Soi-Fon said bowing to him.

"Did someone mention me?" a voice said from the door into the room. They all looked to see Hikari with bandages covering his body and him using his sword as a crutch.

"Hikari! How did you get out of that barrier?" Rukia said drawing her sword and holding it to his throat.

"Nice to see you to Lieutenant Kuchiki" he said sarcastically. "But it wasn't that hard to break and those guards really need to build endurance to high spiritual pressure, the moment I looked at them, they became paralyzed" he shrugged as he pushed the sword from his throat.

"Or maybe you are just that ugly" Soi-Fon teased him, causing a vein to push out against his forehead.

"Well you are still the height of a child!" he yelled at her before she chopped him of the head with her hand, knocking him to the floor.

"Come again?" she said.

"Never mind Captain" he said sweating as he stood to his feet. "The real reason I came in here is to thank Ichigo" he said weakly bowing to him. "If not for you, I would have hurt allot of people and possibly freed Aizen" he chuckled.

"It's not a problem really" Ichigo chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

"I am in your debt Ichigo Kurosaki, if you require anything of me, just ask" he said limping out of the room. "Now I better get back to my room before I get in trouble again" he groaned as he limped away on his sword.

"He seemed like a nice guy" Ichigo smiled.