Sakaki continued to watch his own memories unfold before him. The scene changed and it was much later, at least a few years.

The younger image of himself was watching the two Shinigami in training spar. The young Byakuya was fighting fiercely as he attacked Hiro, who seemed more than confident to defend himself from the older boy. Sakaki wasn't their instructor. He was treated as an upperclassman, which makes them feel more comfortable.

Of course, Sakaki sat under a tree while the two spars and was drifting to sleep. He has spending too much time with Kyoraku and the elder captain's bad habits were rubbing off on Sakaki.

While the memories unfold before him, Sakaki stood over the image of his younger self and sighed, remember these were the good old days. Just then, the image of a younger Aizen startled him and Sakaki instantly tried to strangle the illusion. The moment he lost his cool, the dream began to take a turn to the worse. He saw images of death, destruction, screams of pain and anguish. His memories began to flow through him and caused him to lose it. A hundred years ago was not a good time in Sakaki's career.

Just as he was about to lose himself, the images slowed to a stop and he saw a single sakura blossom touch the images in front of him like one would touch water. The ripples smooth the dream and Sakaki was at ease again.

His concentration now broken, he opened his eyes. He felt dazed and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He closed his eyes and tried to return to the memory, but he suddenly felt someone's Reiatsu in the garden and looked up.

"Did I disturb you?" Byakuya asked in his usual mannerism. The cold and calm voice that he's been using for over a century was a big adjustment; then again Sakaki was there when Byakuya stopped smiling.

Chapter 9 – Old Wounds

The Kuchiki Captain's presence was a bit of surprise to Sakaki. He was so caught up in the dream that he's cut himself off from the world.

"How long was I out?"

"Four hours. WhenKurosaki failed to rouse you, he went for help and ran into me. I told him not to worry."

"How nice of him."

"Commander Yamamoto warned you on what would happen to your mind if you lose focus. It is dangerous to explore your memories like that."

"And you would know?"

"You seem to always know best. Did you find what you were looking for?"

The older captain got up with a quiet sigh as the memories of the past had bothered him a great deal.

"Do you remember Hiro?" This made Byakuya turn slight, but he didn't answer. That alone was the answer Sakaki was expecting. "He always acted like you were his rival, because you seem to be better at him at everything."

"That arrogance and overconfidence got him killed." Byakuya answered coldly.

"No…I got him killed. I shouldn't have let him try to take on 3 Hollows all by himself."

"It's been a hundred years since then. Get over it."

"You've lost people under your watch before. It's part of being a leader."

"You taught people that at the academy when they become a leader, causalities are expected. If you couldn't do anything about it, don't dwell on if you could have. Let it go. People die, you deal with it."

"Easy for you to say."

"It should be easier for you. You're a hundred years older than me. You're supposed to deal with it better."

The two warriors went quiet, one still standing and the other still sitting down. A moment of silence passed before Sakaki opened his mouth again.

"Hiro's been reincarnated."

"What else would he be?"

"And right now, he's a different person and has the powers of Shinigami and Quincy."

This intrigued the 6th Squad captain as he looked over at Sakaki.

"How?"

"Why don't we ask him?" Sakaki got up and placed his sword back in its place. "You're curious enough to not want to go?"

"Hiro is death. He is reincarnated in a new life. I know this saying is redundant, but I refuse to go chasing ghosts with you."

"You're just worried you'd have fun. When was the last time you've been out in the field?"

"If you want to go, just go. Don't bother me about such things." And with that Byakuya left, leaving Sakaki to sigh a bit.

"Alright, thanks for waking me up, Captain Kikuchi Byakuya. There, I've addressed you properly for the first time. You happy now?"

Byakuya just kept on walking.

"I'm never happy."

Sakaki looked at the other door and had sensed the orange haired kid waiting behind it.

"Let's go Ichigo. We've got some asses to kick."

Ichigo walked out from the room and jumped into the garden to follow Sakaki out.

"You want to explain to me what was that all about?" the young Shinigami asked

"No, I don't. Even if I want to, I don't know where to start with that guy. He's just impossible to get along with even under the right conditions. He can be a real brat sometimes."

It was weird for Ichigo hearing someone describe the ice cold hearted captain known as Byakuya like a brat, but what would he know? Ichigo only has a mild respect for the guy, wouldn't even properly address him when he demands it and they have what can remotely described as a comradeship forged in battle.

The two, went back to the Wolves' Lair, where everyone was hard at work to search for the problem and was focused on the Quincy situation. Ichigo again had to take a breath when he noticed what the place looked like.

"This place really is different than the rest of Soul Society. It's almost like a secret command center you'd see in those military movies."

"Well, this place isn't exactly a secret lair and we're not some secret society. We're like the Special Forces. Just think of the best of Gotei 13 in this building. We are at war, so we need to make all the preparations possible."

"So what is the plan for these guys now? We can't just let the Quincy go about their new business."

"Whatever that may be…We still don't know the cause behind the disappearing Shinigami we've been having for the past month. It's really bothering me. Urahara probably knows more than he's leading on, but hell if you can get it out of him."

"That seems to be everyone's problem when dealing with that man." Ichigo took a seat. "So what is the plan?"

"As I said before, maybe it's time to ask Ishida. He's your 'friend', maybe he'll tell you. He certainly isn't my friend."

"And what do you want me to ask him? Oh hi Ishida, how are things? Mind telling me about the paramilitary anti-hollow Quincy guys you've been hanging around with lately? They've been starting up on bad habits like declaring fucking war on Soul Society."

Sakaki got a snicker from the sarcasm as he walked to his office.

"Something along that line, Ichigo. Look, I don't care what you say to the guy, but get all any information you can on where they work and who is backing them."

"Maybe the government is behind them? This is Japan. You can't just be any ordinary guy that can get guns, especially ones that shoot glowing blue stuff out like Star Wars."

"As I said, you ask him. When you get back, ask Urahara to get over here. I'm going to ask him again about how he knows Batou. Tell him he doesn't have to worry about being arrested for past crimes that he didn't do. When you're here, Soul Society law doesn't apply anymore. And take the Kudo twins as backup. Keep in touch."

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he went to the gate. He didn't liked being ordered around, but Sakaki seemed to know what he's doing, so why doubt him? The gate turned on and Ichigo stepped through the light. He was glad that traveling through this gate doesn't end him high in the sky and falling down to the Earth like some last second prank. When he existed, he was staring at Urahara's shop again, where the former scientist of Soul Society waited for him.

"Um, Urahara-san, Sakaki told me he wants you to come to Soul Society to see him. Something about not worrying anything about the charges on your crimes. You going to tell me about that?"

Urahara walked passed Ichigo with a smile.

"Since when do I start telling you about myself?" The man said as he summoned the senkai gate on his own. "I wonder does my old uniform still fit. Ichigo, put my hat back inside."

Urahara tossed his signature hat along with his shades to the boy, who was insulted by the gesture.

"I'm not your valet!" Ichigo tossed the hat towards the shop, with the sunglasses attached to it and then it suddenly, as if magically, started to float and fluttered through the cracked in the door as if it had a life of its own. "The hell?"

"Don't steal my candy, Kurosaki! I don't tolerate thievery."

The gate sealed, leaving the lone Substitute Shinigami by himself as he walked into the shop and right in front of him was a barrel of candy that seemed to be tempting him to take a bite. The cardboard cut out of Urahara waving his cane and pointing to the barrel was another thing to notice as well.

"Like I'm that gullible." Ichigo walked around in search for the twins.

Urahara entered through the other side and had a completely different look once he stepped onto the grounds of the "Wolves' Lair". He had a somewhat look of impressed about him as he checked the place out. He was directed by Nemu to Sakaki's office. Urahara took a closer look at Nemu and smiled.

"You have Mayuri written all over you. You're some piece of work."

"My Captain has mentioned you in passing on a few occasions," Nemu responded in her usual monotone, "None of them favorable."

Nemu stepped into the office of Sakaki first and did a small bow to show some manners before she walked out without a word.

"Looks like someone hooked you up with some new toys." Urahara said out loud.

"And I thought I'd never see you in that getup again." Sakaki said as he turned his chair around, looking at Urahara's changed look. Instead of his simple outfit in the living world, he was wearing his old Shinigami uniform, complete with the white Captain's haori with Division 12's number on his back.

"I thought I'd blend in better in this outfit. Tell me if this thing makes me look fat."

"Always trying to avoid the subject before it's even brought up. Kisuke, I need you to be honest with me. How did you know Batou? He talked to you like a familiar and you responded just the same."

"Perhaps I bumped into him when I was shopping in Akihabara. You never know the kind of characters you meet there." The former 12th captain took out his fan and started to move it about.

"Cut the crap, this is serious."

"Alright, I'll be frank." Urahara closed the fan and looked at Sakaki, "About a century ago, before I had to leave here, I was experimenting with many things. One was the hollow process and what makes the Hollow tick? Another experiment I was tasked with is to entertain the idea on if it is possible to give a soul its memories of the previous life."

"Who would ask of you and why?"

"Another Shinigami of course. I don't remember which squad he was from, but he was dead set on discovering a way to remember past lives so that when he is reincarnated, he has an advantage over other souls that are pretty much wiped clean once reborn. He even called it a western term, Tabula Rasa."

"Sounds Latin."

"I think it literally means Blank Slate."

"So did you come across a breakthrough?"

Urahara narrowed his eyes when pressed again.

"Yes I did, but there is a problem. It is hard to be selective in what memories you remember. You'd need to be coached on a particular set of memories; otherwise all your previous lives would overwhelm you, pretty much turning you mad."

"And you've done tests?"

"No I haven't, but I researched a method. I was going to shelf it when I realized it was stolen."

"And you didn't report this at all? Someone stole your data on how to regain past life memories. The implications can be devastating. It could potentially alter people's perspective on death and rebirth. We weren't meant to remember our past once we've returned to the river of souls to be reborn. Our forms might be similar during rebirth and our personalities might be similar, but we needed the experience. Our souls matures through the cycle and if we keep remembering everything from before, our souls can't mature and can't become stronger. Death would be meaningless if you can remember your former life."

"I never tested my data, so I don't even know if it worked."

"Until you met Batou. You know who he is, don't you? Who is behind him?"

Urahara sighed as he rubbed his eyes a bit.

"He calls himself Shogo now. He found me about 25 years ago. He had my stolen data and asked me to help him. Personally I didn't see the harm in such an experiment, so I gave him a hand."

"You were successful."

"Oh yes I was. We turned someone who was probably in his teens back into something else. The downside is that I found out what Shogo was trying to do. He didn't just restore his memories, but he selected a very specific set. When this soul was a Quincy. Of course those memories were several lifetimes ago when the Quincy were in numbers, that's why Shogo bypassed several lifetimes until he found the one that is Quincy and restore only those. His goal, he told me was to rediscover many more souls within Japan, who had the lifetime of Quincy and to restore their original state. Not only that he wanted to experiment in the powers of Shinigami and if it was possible to retain the powers of the Shinigami as well. I was intrigued and since I was no longer employed under Soul Society, I felt no real harm in looking at it."

"Then you discovered the bridge to gap the powers of Quincy with Shinigami. And you were ok with the idea of creating a new generation of people with these powers?"

"It wasn't until the pass few days where I see it was a mistake."

"You seem to do that a lot."

"I'm a scientist. That's what I do."

"What about the weapons they use?"

'That is what really worries me. I sense a great deal of spiritual energy coming from them. It's hard to believe these things are powered by the user's own spirit energy. Only selected few can attain enough power to be harnessed into a weapon."

"So what are their plans really? Just waging war with us like old times? Think they are still bitter now that their old memories are brought back?"

"You're asking me if the Quincy are still bitter against the Shinigami after all these years?"

As if on cue, they felt a large explosion that shook even their underground complex.

"The hell was that?" Sakaki got up as alarms blared throughout the base.

Another Shinigami rushed into Sakaki's office, panting from out of breath.

"Sir, we're under attack. Someone's breached the South Gate! We have unknown intruders in the Court!"

"Say what?" Sakaki got up, grabbing his sword as he stepped out.

Urahara walked behind Sakaki with his fan out again.

"Did I hear the man right? Someone breached a Gate?"

"You'd be surprise..." The two walked out to the command center

"Give me a video feed of the gate, Nemu and out it on the main screen."

"Yes, Captain."

The quiet Lieutenant punched up an image on the screen that did not inspire confidence in Soul Society's security system. One of the Infamous gates protecting the north side has a rather large hole in it caused by an unknown method as all one would see is smoke coming from the blast radius. What they can see are soldiers pouring into the Court of Pure Sols. Sakaki and the other quickly identified them as Quincy. Slumped next to the gate was one of the Guardians, who looked dead.

"How the hell did they get in here?" Sakaki but it was obvious what the answer is.

"So the Quincy-Shinigami Hybrids knows how to get in here and they know how to punch a big hole."

"That's an understatement. No one can just enter Soul Society like you or I. Let's go people! Deploy teams 1 to 5. All other teams are on standby for backup."

"Shouldn't we let the Shinigami regulars take care of this?" Urahara asked.

"Did you see what they did to the Gate? They turned it into a glorified screen door and the Gate Guardian is down!"

Not wanting to hear of it, Sakaki made sure his sword was fixed to him and went out, calling Ikkaku, Koto, and also Renji, who were on base. They made sure their uniforms were worn well so others know who they are and set off to the Gate.

At the North gate entrance, the Quincy moved in, and they were not the kind seen in the world of the living with any visible firearms or weapons on them. They did however wear unusual looking gauntlets with the Quincy cross stamped on them. As Shinigami's first responders charged forward to defend the city, the Quincy greeted them by raising their arms forward.

"Let's take'em out!" One zealous Shinigami shouted as he ran forward, causing his mob to attempt a swarm against the seemingly outnumbered Quincy.

The Quincy lined up and weren't scared of the numbers as the signature energy bows of the Quincy appeared on their arms. Unlike the classic full size bow that we've seen Ishida and others of his type use, these bows were smaller, like one would imagine a mini crossbow attached to an arm. Once the shooting began, what came next from the couple dozen Quincy soldiers were a machine gun fire's worth of bolts that took down the charging Shinigami. The group didn't take a moment's pause before moving forward.

Ichigo had been back in the living world for five minutes and already he felt overwhelmed. He needed to find Ishida and talk to him about his Quincy friends. Before that, he had enlisted the help of the Kudo twins, who also knew Ishida.

"Do you two know where he is? He isn't at home." Ichigo said as he walked with the two.

The brother of the two, Fujimaru, thought a bit. He then looked up and smiled.

"Well he told me once that he was going downtown for a new job a couple weeks back. I didn't think anything of it at the time, so maybe if we search enough, we can find their headquarters there. I mean, I read that guns aren't allowed in Japan. You have to be the military or police, so maybe these Quincy are backed by the government."

Ichigo nodded to the thought.

"It would make sense. These guys are walking around in broad daylight with what looks like machine guns and not even the police stop on by to ask questions, but come on. It isn't like they got a huge building for their entire operation."

Little did Ichigo knew, he was almost on the spot with that comment. The Quincy's main headquarters is one of the largest buildings in downtown Karakura. It was finished rather recently and it had the large symbol of the Quincy on it, as if to brag to the world that they have returned.

Ishida wasn't pleased with the results of his comrades. He still doesn't know about the ongoing incursion into Soul Society. Again, he met with Shogo, the man who recruited him and who he's been having ongoing debates with about the purpose of the revived Quincy.

"You're starting to turn this personal and against the Shinigami. We can't be fighting them and the Hollows at the same time." Ishida at heart didn't care for the Shinigami, but he knew by now that after the short war between their two sides, the Shinigami had stopped all interests with the Quincy as they have become nothing more than extremely small groups of people that are no longer capable of being a threat to the balance of power. Ishida would keep referring to himself as "The last Quincy", but it is mostly because there are only so few of them and within his immediate family, that it might as well be true.

Shogo looked to Ishida and rolled his eyes. His own patience was wearing thin on discussing morality and their cause with Ishida.

"As I said before, our conflict with the Shinigami is more than personal. They are a threat to us. They see us as nothing but meat bags taking their jobs, but where were they when the Hollows run rampant in our cities? They only send a small handful at a time to take care of small fry. What have they done for us really? They take all the effort in hiding their intentions and yet they believe they deserve our respect as if they are gods."

"What do you really want out of this? You can't just destroy the Shinigami, they've always been apart of us."

"Not for long. Soon, it'll be us that decide things and take the first step into a world where we control death itself. Dying will cease to be a tragic thing when you can be revived again, new body and everything."

Batou led the charge with his men forward. Another Quincy/Shinigami hybrid took up point. He had the same powers and abilities as Batou, releasing his weapon and firing powerful shots. He also kept the stronger Shinigami guards at bay while their main troops moved towards their target, the large Kido Cannon.

"I got your back, Saito."

"I'm going to secure the cannon, Batou." Saito said as he moved forward, "Cover me."

The shorter man dashed forward, mowing pass several of the guards in his way.

Not too far away, Sakaki and his team were catching up to the battle. They encountered some soldiers that stayed behind to cover the rear.

"These new Quincy guys really are a pain." Ikkaku shouted as he attacked.

"Alright then, let's tell them to get the hell off our lawn." Renji shouted as he joined in the fray, whipping his released sword at the Quincy soldiers who proved to be no matched for the more powerful Shinigami.

"We don't have lawns here, Renji." Ikkaku shouted back, flipped his spear on his back, holding it there with one hand.

Sakaki was already part of the fight, but the speed of his shunpo was so fast, that it looked like he walked passed the soldiers as they were cut to ribbons. He turned to the two arguing back and forth.

"Enough, guys. Let's move on. It looks like they're going towards this way."

Sakaki led the charge with the others falling behind him in a hurry. They don't know what the enemy has planned, and were surprised because it's only been a month since Aizen's betrayal. Security was increased and with the Rogue's creation, more and more Shinigami had been pulled from normal ranks to prepare for war.

As Sakaki moved forward to attack, he was stopped by Batou, who just smiled as he took his sword out to fight.

Ichigo looked up at the large skyscraper in front of him. It was under Shogo's name, but the logo was the Quincy cross. Ichigo sigh a bit at the obviously gloating that was intended.

"There's just nothing subtle about these guys." Ichigo said as the Kudo twins flanked him.

"If Ishida is in there, we'll find him." Fujimaru said as they took a step pass the entrance and then suddenly their souls left their bodies.

Surprised, Ichigo turned to see his body aside the two gigai the twins were using, lying lifelessly on the floor.

"The hell?" Ichigo was about to say more but the doors slammed shut with metal shutters and glowed blue. Matsuri tapped the door to see that they cannot get through.

"It's protected against any spirit energy. We cannot just phase through the wall."

"Looks like they even thought of countermeasures against if Shinigami tries to enter this building in a gigai! Wow, the wonders of modern technology!" Matsuri was admiring the Quincy a bit too much.

The three heard noises of many soldiers rushing towards them.

"We'll talk about how awesome they are later. Let's find a place to hide!" Ichigo shouted as they ran deeper into the building as the loud alarms continued to sound.

Several floors above, Ishida turned when the alarm was set off. Before he could ask, Shogo got up already.

"It wasn't hard for them to find us if they actually looked. The Shinigami are a bit slow."

"You were expecting them here?" Ishida walked back to Shogo.

"It is obvious that they would come attack us here. Take a team and take care of them, Ishida."

"What?"

"I mean kill them. Now, please." Shogo was very firm on that order. "Well capture them if you can."

Ishida can tell the man was hiding something from him, but he wanted to see where this goes as he checked his pistol and went to arm up. Shogo turned around in his chair and looked on his large screen as Ichigo and the twins run around.

"We need to get out of here!" Ichigo shouted as they tried to burst through a window, but it had the same effect.

"There doesn't seem to be an obvious way out." Fujimaru said, "We need to find the power source for this shield and turn it off."

"You really think they have a door that said Shield Generators?" Matsuri asked as she took her weapon out.

"Worth a try."

Ishida had armed himself with a rifle and arrived in the lower levels. Several teams poured out of the elevator he got off on.

"Spread out. They could be anywhere." He said. Worried, Ishida wanted to get Ichigo out. He powered up his rifle as he walked through the hallways alone.

Luckily for Ichigo, he had not encountered any elites and none of the Shinigami/Quincy hybrids that Sakaki had mentioned to him. The regulars he and the twins came up against were no match for their speed and power. Since they were still living people, Ichigo had no intention of killing any of them. He fought Hollows and other demons, not people. The Kudo twins however, had a different mindset. They wanted to survive and even if they tried not to kill any of the Quincy, their weapons were sharp and they were precise hitters.

Bodies fell before the three as they ran through the halls, with gun fire closely following them from behind. The Quincy were getting restless and excited. Most of them have never actually encountered Shinigami and were eager to try their toys on them. Despite the building they were in to be very large, the Shinigami trio had little to go and no where to escape to.

The battle in Soul Society has not been decided as of yet. The dozens of Quincy soldiers that had poured into the realm of the spirits, were holding their own for now.

Sakaki and Batou clashed their blades multiple times during the battle as sparks flew off from them. The two seemed evenly matched in skills and power. In truth, Sakaki wanted to just talk, but conversation obviously isn't on Batou's mind.

"I'm giving you a chance to stop this madness and save your men!" Sakaki shouted as he held down Batou's blade.

"What's wrong, Shinigami? Scared? The Quincy have become a powerful force now. We can enter this realm of the dead as we chose."

Sakaki backed off a bit after he pushed Batou back. He was unsure of himself now that he knows that this man was Hiro. He had trained this man when a hundred years ago. His death was the first of many that haunts him now.

"Think this through, Batou. I'm giving you and your men a chance to leave with your souls. You die here; it isn't like you go to heaven."

"Concern for the enemy? How nice of you, but we don't think like weaklings!" Batou managed to knock Sakaki back and released his sword. The shooting began as Sakaki dodged arrow after arrow from Batou's bow as he continued to reason with the man. He might be a different person now, but his soul is no different.

"What are you doing here? Why invade Soul Society?"

"You have something that threatens the safety of the living world. We're here to take it down for good."

Sakaki took cover behind a wall as the spray of arrows became too much for the Shinigami captain. He let out a heavy sigh as he tapped his sword blade against the stone wall. Thinking on the situation, he wondered what Batou meant by a threat from Soul Society. He couldn't just mean the Shinigami itself. They were the guardians of Souls. Despite their name meaning both god of Death and Soul Reaper, their jobs is to maintain the balance. What threat could Batou mean?

Then it dawned on him. Sakaki turned and he could see in the distance, the Kido Cannon. It was designed as a last resort weapon since what it hit would be completely and utterly devastated, destroying structures and as well as massively removing souls in the area.

"You're going for the Cannon!" Sakaki shouted "You have no idea what will happen if you destroy it!"

"Oh I do! Its very destruction will leave a very big hole in the ground here. How you like fireworks!"

Sakaki broke from cover and charged Batou at full speed. This was a bad idea as Batou was hoping he would jump out and fired a new arrow that only created a blinding flash. Sakaki stopped to shield his eyes from being blind as Batou tackled the Captain and knocked him onto the floor.

As Sakaki got up, he can saw too late that Batou had already pulled his straight back and was about to fire. Slightly disoriented, Sakaki was slow to get out of the way.

"Damn," Sakaki swore to himself and decided to brace for the attack with his sword. "This is gonna hurt isn't it?"

Batou released the arrow and smiled a bit.

"Damn it, Hiro!" Sakaki shouted as he defended himself, causing Batou to see several flashes in his mind, many familiar, but it was confusing at the same time.

"Scatter…" In the chaos of battle, Sakaki could hear the almost quiet whisper release command that had been so familiar to him for nearly a hundred years.

By the time Sakaki had turned his head around to see Byakuya, the bright colored sakura leaves of his sword release had stopped the arrow from hitting Sakaki and surrounded him like a shield until he could stand up again. Once the Sakura faded from view and returned to the sword form in the 6th Squad Captain's hand, he walked forward next to Sakaki, who was relieved to see him.

Sakaki was about to say something, but Byakuya shut him up.

"Don't say a word," The younger captain said as he stepped forward one more step and his sword ready to fight. "You are right…He does look like Hiro. He doesn't recognize us?"

"Ask him yourself. I think I surprised him when I shouted his name by accident."

Byakuya raised his sword to attack, but Sakaki held his arm down.

"Wait, hold on."

"He is the enemy. Regardless of who he WAS, no exception will be made to hostile invaders…no quarter."

Batou regain his composure and readied his weapon to continue the battle. He fired a burst of arrows at the two. Byakuya didn't even need to say the name of his sword as a wall of Sakura popped up as a shield in front of him and Sakaki. The leaves then counter attacked as it became a wave of deadly leaves and charged towards Batou with great speed and ferocity. Batou continued to fire his arrows to beat back the barrage.

It felt exciting as he dueled the new fighter. The way their swords clashed was in perfect unison of offense and then quick reactions to defense. They knew how each other fought. It was annoying to Byakuya that he is taking this long to beat Batou in a straight on fight. Deep down, he remembers Hiro as well, but it was so long ago and the 6th Captain has moved on since then. The person he knew died and was young back then. This man he is facing no matter how much of the spirit of Hiro resides in him, he is not the Hiro he once knew.

Sakaki wanted to intervene but he was stuck in a semi hallucination as he started to see the two spar like they always have over a hundred years ago. They were classmates and they were like students to him. He never really treated them like that, but he was their upper classman, the guy who stuck around the Academy and decided to tutor the new guys.

Ichigo and the twins hid in one of the rooms they came across and took a breather. They think they are near the power source to the shielding. Then again, the big signs pointing the way are a big clue.

"Ok, the sign over there said we should be getting close." Fujimaru said

"So how are we going to turn it off?" Matsui asked

Ichigo readied his sword, itching to pull it out.

"Simple. We just go up to it and give it a big whack and there it goes."

The twins turned to Ichigo when he announced his "plan".

"That's it?" The brother asked

"Yeah…what's wrong?"

"I mean, it isn't a bad plan, but…you make it sound simple. I was going to say maybe we try to push the off button."

"You really think there's a big button that has OFF written on it?"

"We won't know until we find out. Let's keep avoiding these guys. We're lucky we haven't bumped into them so far."

As the three moved out quietly, they walked down another flight of stairs and ventured towards the large metal doors at the end of the hallway. There were guards protecting it as well as a man in a lab coat coming out of the door holding a large container in his hands. Before they knew what hit them, Ichigo and the twins attacked knocking the guards out as well as the scientist. They then turned to open the door, but right before they can get there, there was the hum of the familiar energy weapons used by the Quincy.

Ichigo froze as he felt the guy pointing the weapon at him and the twins. He was about to reach for his sword, when Ishida spoke.

"What are you doing here, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo relaxed a bit.

"Oh it's you, Ishida." Ichigo turned around and was about to walk closer but Ishida aims his rifle for Ichigo's head.

"Do you know what you being here have done?"

"Calm down, Ishida."

"Calm down? There are dozens of men hunting for you guys. They are coming to kill you? Why did you come here?"

"We've come to talk some sense into you." Matsuri said, "This group is dangerous. They've openly declared hostilities against the Shinigami. They are reckless and their weapons don't purify souls, it destroys them. You know what this could do to the balance."

"At least they are making an effort to combat the Hollow. You guys never send enough help to the mortal world. You are safe in the comforts of Soul Society, where no Hollows would ever threaten your lives and you dare call yourselves guardians."

"I work my ass off everyday fighting the Hollows. You're preaching to the choir. Since when did you get so uptight?"

"When I started questioning whether or not my new boss is right about the Shinigami. The extremes this group has done aside, we are at least making a difference to the living people. That's far more than what the Shinigami have done for us."

"You went from tolerating the Shinigami to flat out hating them in a month. So you're on their side? Cause if you are, you better shoot me, Uryu."

Ishida did contemplate to just shooting Ichigo, but he was still a friend, Shinigami or not. Sure because of his jaunt into Soul Society, he lost his powers, but that was his own choice wasn't it?

After a moment of silence, Ichigo glanced at the large door next to them.

"So what's behind door number 2?"

"It's a storage room obviously." Ishida gestures to the sign that said storage room B.

"A couple guys in lab coats walking out with nothing in their hands except data pads, and guard heavily. Must be some really expensive stuff in there."

"I'm giving you a chance to walk out of here."

"Maybe I'll just take a peak."

"Ichigo, we don't have time to mess around."

"Yeah, I'm going to see what's inside the obviously secret lab."

"Wait, Ichigo!" Ishida lowered his weapon and chased after the orange hair shinigami as he opened the door.

The group barged into the "storage room" and Ichigo wasn't surprised that it wasn't a storage room. What he was surprised is that it is some kind of lab and the sight shocked him.

"What the hell is this?" He stepped forward slowly as he observed the horrors of the lab.

In uniform rows were large tubes. Each had a bright glowing ball floating inside. Of course to normal people, they look like glowing balls of energy, but to Ichigo, the twins and Ishida, they were people, in particular the tubes were filled with Shinigami.

Ichigo turned to Ishida, confused.

"What is this, Ishida?"

"I don't know. This is the first time I've been here." He noticed the opened crates in the corner, the same type that he helped transport a few times. He never asked what were in those crates and assumed they were supplies. He was partly right. "I've seen those boxes before. I had to escort transports carrying them. They told me they held…weapon supplies?"

They walked to the end of the line where each tube was being moved along and a machine picks one up at a time. Several more strange devices waited as each tube one at a time was placed on it. Electrical energy came bursting from the tube and the glow of the trapped Shinigami disappeared. Out at the end was an assembly line of small boxes that looked like high end batteries rolled out.

Ishida then suddenly came to a very grim realization when he looked down at his rifle and removed the battery, exposing the core. He can see through the glass covering, the same glowing energy that was coming from the tubes. To his horror, he held it up to Ichigo.

"Weapon supplies."

"Holy shit…they are turning Shinigami souls…into power packs for their guns!"

Just then, a new alarm sounded as one of the large TV screens turned on. A device that was the shape of a perfectly smooth sphere was in the center and it was connected to a large cable that extended into the ceiling.

"Ishida…what's that?"

"I don't know…obviously it isn't good."

They turned to see the screen showed a live feed of the roof top. Storm clouds gathered and at the center of the spiraling clouds was a bright light. Out from that light was a burst of energy heading straight for them.

Not taking a pause, Batou and Byakuya continued fighting each other. The Quincy was obviously buying time as Sakaki finally ignored the two battling and charged forward. Batou wasn't going to let Sakaki pass as he fired a large bolt in his path.

Sakaki deflected the bolt and turned to Batou.

"You're not going to stop us."

Just then, there was a bright light coming from the Cannon. Sakaki looked ahead and could see it rising from the ground.

Batou could see what was going on as well as the others. Someone was turning the weapon on. He tapped his earpiece.

"Saito, do you read me? The Cannon is being positioned to fire! Give me a sit-rep!"

There was no answer from his communications device as he continued to hold off both Byakuya and Sakaki. He tapped again to call.

"Saito, what is taking so long? The cannon is about to fire! I say again, it looks ready to fire!"

"…Good." Saito responded finally and ended the call.

Batou disengaged from battle as he realized what Saito was about to do.

"No, wait Saito what are you? Don't do it!"

What they all hear next is a loud roar coming from the mystical device as it fires a burst of powerful energy into the air.

To be continued…