Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter. Thank you all for chiming in with your opinions about what option Ichigo should pick, and so without further ado, here's the result!


It probably said something about him that after a few minutes of gaping at the strange pop-up he'd clicked on the Telekinesis option without hesitation, Ichigo reflected. And then he'd started levitating small sticks three feet off the ground.

Of course considering the skill was only level one, small sticks were practically the only things he could move with it.

According to what it said about it on his skill list, the higher the level Telekinesis was the heavier the objects he could lift with it. Hence level one meant he could only levitate things one pound or less.

He had only been allowed to pick one, so he'd chosen the power that seemed to have the most practical applications, and okay, maybe he thought it would be cool to move things with his mind. And hey, he was having fun making the sticks move around in circles and loop-de-loops, snickering when he formed a crude stick-picture of Rukia's beloved Chappy the Bunny in mid-air.

This was awesome, he decided as a pop-up appeared to inform him that his brand new skill was now level three, and seconds later his transformation ended, the sticks he'd been playing with falling to the ground. He blinked, taking a moment to readjust to not having wings and a tail anymore, before he shrugged and started stretching. He'd held that one form for longer this time, so that was definitely an improvement.

Which reminded him that he'd forgotten the watch. Damn it.

Scowling, he reluctantly brushed it off since there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, sighing as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers. A thought occurred to him, and barely a second later he was jumping up and shifting into his Fallen Angel form, hovering in the air as he looked at the ground beneath him thoughtfully.

The thought that had inspired him was this: if he could create energy spears, who was to say that he couldn't control how much energy went into them? If nothing else it might cut down on the chances of his targets exploding...which was really all the motivation he needed to experiment with that particular power.

Conjuring a glowing spear, he looked at it thoughtfully, frowning as he attempted to sense how much energy was in it. He wasn't very successful, since apparently his ability to sense reiatsu* or other energy wasn't miraculously improved by his new powers. It was just another thing he had to work on, he thought grudgingly, throwing the spear in his hand towards a fallen log, blowing an impressive hole in it but otherwise leaving the wood intact.

Humming in thought, Ichigo concluded that the Light Spear skill had possibilities, and he promptly began trying to figure out a way to decrease the power in his attack. If it was anything like his Getsuga Tensho had been he figured he might be able to wing his way through it.

Ichigo had fun experimenting, and right before the time on his Fallen Angel form ran out he managed to charge his energy spear with enough power to blow the much-battered form of his log target into smithereens. He was rather proud of himself as he landed on the ground and felt his wings vanish and the rush of power ebb.

The orange-haired teen looked at the destruction caused by his training with a small amount of satisfaction - he hadn't managed to weaken his energy spear, but hey at least he managed something with it! He was feeling pretty damn good about his progress when another pop-up appeared, this one making his eyebrow twitch.

[Congratulations! Your Fallen Angel Form is now level 5! You can now choose your primary Sin!]

What the fuck?!

Moving his eyes over the screen, he paused when he saw a question mark next to the word sin, and he tapped it curiously. The text on the screen changed, and the information revealed was definitely useful.

[A Fallen Angel's Sin is the reason why they fell and affects the powers and abilities you can gain. The Sin you select as your primary will help determine the bulk of your abilities as a Fallen Angel. Example: a Fallen Angel that has the primary Sin of Wrath will be granted an increase to attack powers and battle related skills.]

Beneath that was a basic rundown of the sins he could choose from, and he scowled as he debated with himself. He didn't think he'd get a chance to change his choice once he made it, so he had to choose carefully.

In the end he decided to go with the example the text had used, as increased attack could definitely be useful if he wound up in more fights, and with a quick tap of the back button and another click of his choice his Fallen Angel form now had the Sin of Wrath.

He paused, his brow furrowing before he tried activating his Fallen Angel form again, not sure if he had to wait to change again or not, but when the now-familiar flash of blue filled his vision he was reassured. He flexed his hands and wings, not feeling any different than he normally did in that form, and man was that a relief. For a minute he'd thought that his Wrath sin would affect how he felt or acted in that form, but he was really, really glad that that didn't seem to be the case, as he wasn't feeling particularly wrathful.

Sighing in profound relief, he deactivated the skill and started stretching again. That was probably enough training for one day if he wanted to get back home before it was completely dark out.

Lowering his arms from where they had been raised above his head and feeling the kind of exhaustion that only came from a good long work-out, he set off back towards the city.


As usual, the minute he entered his apartment he was ambushed by Akagyoushi, who was apparently rather put-out with him for not being home to feed the lizard in a timely manner.

Ichigo just focused on not getting bitten and trying to minimize the damage done to the walls.

He was not successful. At either one of his goals.

He knocked out the basilisk just on principle. His Akagyoushi bond went up.

When he woke up the next day after a good night's sleep, it was to the sight of Akagyoushi's head hovering three inches away from his face and six glowing red eyes staring into his own.

Ichigo will forever deny that the sound that emerged from his throat was a squeak.

Ten minutes later, once he got his heart rate under control, Ichigo pushed himself up from where he'd instinctively lodged himself in a corner of his bedroom. "What the hell was that for, you damn lizard?" He demanded, wiping some sweat off his brow with the back of one hand.

Akagyoushi blinked innocently, which didn't really look that innocent considering he (Ichigo was assuming the basilisk was male until proven otherwise) was a giant reptile the size of a Clydesdale horse. Ichigo sent him a thoroughly unimpressed look before shuffling into the bathroom to take care of his morning business. He washing his hands when something occurred to him, and he shot a look at the reptilian head peering at him through the doorway, asking Akagyoushi wryly, "I take it you aren't here for a fight?"

He wished he could say he was surprised when the basilisk shook his head.

When his pet/party member started making low hissing noises and motioning through head gestures for Ichigo to follow him, the former Substitute Soul Reaper mentally waved a goodbye to whatever normality he'd managed to obtain. Not that he'd had a lot of it, but still!

For lack of anything else he had to do, he followed the basilisk. He had to wonder where Akagyoushi was planning on going, seeing as the basilisk was too big to fit through the door of his apartment...

His question was answered when Akagyoushi somehow managed to squeeze through the door to the guestroom and made his way over to the closet, Ichigo following a few steps behind to avoid the basilisk's tail (when did it grow spikes? He was sure those hadn't been there the first time he'd seen Akagyoushi). Akagyoushi stuck his head through the open door of the closet - wait, since when was it open? He was sure he'd closed it during his walkthrough of the apartment - and breathed out some kind of red mist.

The inside of the closet started glowing a bright red.

Ichigo was reasonably sure it wasn't supposed to do that. And why was Akagyoushi looking at him like the basilisk wanted him to step into the glowing closet?

He didn't like where this was going - that sinking feeling was back, and his Sense Danger skill sent him three pop-ups. That was pretty much confirmation that he wasn't going to like what was about to happen, he thought in resignation. He was proven right when Akagyoushi got tired of waiting for him to get moving, moved around until he was behind the orange-haired human, and then shoved Ichigo into the glowing red doorway that had formed in the guestroom closet.

Damn it.


Falling through a portal to who-knows-where was definitely an experience, and not one that Ichigo cared to repeat any time soon.

There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, and then a tugging feeling on his stomach and he was hurtling forward accompanied by the sensation of falling headlong towards the ground from the top of a very, very high cliff. Not to mention the bright red glow that blocked his vision. Not fun, at least in his opinion, and scarcely a minute later (but it felt like longer) his feet touched the ground and he promptly fell flat on his face.

Yeah, that was graceful, Ichigo mentally grumbled. Thankfully there was grass wherever he was to cushion the impact.

Blinking the spots from his sight, he spent perhaps an inordinate amount of time staring at the green grass beneath his body. He really, really didn't want to look up and see where that portal had taken him, but he knew he had to, so it was with a heavy sigh that he cautiously pushed himself up onto his knees. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his gaze from the ground and looked around.

The first he noticed was that the sky was purple, purple, and he died a little inside at the sight because that meant that he definitely wasn't in the Human World any longer. At least it was a nice shade of the color, he thought distantly, groaning as his head lowered in acceptance. There came a time when everything went so strange that all you could do was smile and accept it, and he was pretty sure this was one of those times. He wouldn't be smiling, but he knew how to go with the flow with the best of them. He kind of had to, considering the situations he tended to get into...

His eyes closed in resignation, it took him a few minutes to gather up the courage to open them again and take a better look around, resolutely ignoring the purple sky. He would deal that later. Much, much later.

A swift glance around revealed that he was standing in front of what looked like a castle. A ruined castle. The building looked like it had been bombed - once proud towers lay in pieces around the courtyard beyond the demolished gate, there were holes in the walls and roof and craters in the ground. It was a miracle the place was still standing, to be honest. There had obviously been a large wall around the estate once upon a time, but not any longer. Chunks of stone were everywhere, and with all those holes in the walls it was a wonder they were able to keep supporting the roof - not that there was a lot left of it, but still.

It had clearly been the site of some kind of conflict, or maybe just the unfortunate victim of an attack, and judging by the plants growing over the rubble and state of disrepair the few intact portions of the castle were in the battle/attack had happened a long, long time ago.

Slowly rising to his feet, Ichigo gazed at the crawling vines and vegetation wrapping around the crumbling gates and he couldn't help lowering his head for a moment in respect.

Raising his head back up, he looked around some more, but other than the ruins in front of him the only things around him were trees, trees, and more trees. He was in the middle of a forest in front of some ancient ruins.

Akagyoushi was a dead lizard walking.

Since he had no clue where he was or what dimension he was in, for lack of a better idea he cautiously entered the ruins he'd been dropped in front of.

Crossing the courtyard was an adventure in and of itself, since the grass was up to his knees and easily concealed chunks of stone that might have once been part of a wall and/or tower, just waiting to trip passer-bys. Ichigo sadly qualified, even if it was against his will.

The orange-haired teen got to the front door, which was actually still in one piece as far as he could see, and had to lean against it for a moment to catch his breath. He had been lucky to make it through the grass without twisting his ankle or taking an embarrassing fall, and it had been even more dangerous than it usually would have been since he wasn't wearing any freaking shoes.

Yet another reason to be pissed at that overgrown reptile.

Scowling fiercely, he turned to face the door, raising one eyebrow in curiosity when he noticed the strange symbol engraved in the metal. He couldn't quite make out what it was, covered with rust and grass as it was, but it sure as hell wasn't Japanese.

And speaking of Hell, now that he took a moment to really breathe in the air and try to get a feel for the energy of the place, he realized that it was very, very similar. Not as thick, but the feeling was definitely there. It wasn't exactly the same, of course, more like a really diluted version of the atmosphere in Hell, but that just caused him to become even more confused about where the heck he was. He was floundering and he knew it.

Groaning lowly and raising one hand to massage the bridge of his nose, Ichigo finally sighed and decided to just roll with it. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, and he had no clue which way to go to find someone to help him get back to the Human World, let alone if there was even anyone else in that particular dimension with him. He encouraged himself to think positive, after all he was at the door of an ancient, partially destroyed castle, so he would do what it only made sense to: go exploring.

He pushed open the door, having to strain to get the aged hinges to cooperate, but after some pushing and shoving he managed to get the obstruction to open enough for him to slip inside.

Sure he could have just gone in through one of the holes in the walls, but that seemed rather unnecessary when he was already at the door.


*Spiritual energy

Author's Note: And there you go, the beginning of Ichigo's first dungeon adventure! Depending on how it turns out, Akagyoushi might be in trouble, LOL. Please review and tell me what you think!