SA and Saria: (angrily fuming)

Zas: Well, it took three days of sitting on the roof, but we were eventually rescued!

SA: And they stuck us in a storm shelter…

Saria: With about 30 people in every room…

Tori: And the showers here are just awful!

SA and Saria: (both glare at Tori)

Zas: Look on the bright side, we'll be able to return to the apartment in about 2 weeks, once all the carpet has been ripped out and replaced, the dry wall torn out, doors replaced, an electrician has cleared the electrical outlets and a plumber has checked the pipes… We'll need to replace the furniture… And the food in the fridge…

All: (stare glumly at the crowded shelter room) Sigh…

----------

The next day went smooth enough for everyone in Las Noches, or about as smooth as things could get with a 3 year old Ichigo present.

Aizen decided that due to Ichigo awakening his zanpakuto, he should immediately start learning kidou. So it was not surprising when at breakfast that morning that Halibel was told that she would need to bring Ichigo to the training grounds with her. Ichigo had cheered from his high seat and accidentally splashed the side of Gin's head with miso soup.

Luckily, Gin knew better than to start a food fight that morning though, so he let it slide.

----------

Ichigo laughed as he ran out onto the main training grounds with his mommy and saw that "unky Toesan" was already there and had had several targets set up, "unky Gin" was helping him set up the last of the targets and along the sidelines of the area that they had taken control of, a number of fraccion and several of the espada were arranging themselves to watch the lesson.

Halibel was pleased to see that her fraccion were already there and had gotten prime seats, right next to Barragan and… she winced when she saw that she would be next to Szayel. Ulquiorra and Yammi had shown up, the latter of them holding several large bags of popcorn.

Aaroniero was nowhere in sight, not that Halibel blamed him or cared, especially after the beating she had given him the night before.

As she walked over to the area that her fraccion had reserved, Halibel wondered for a second which field of kidou Tousen would start Ichigo with; hadou or bakudou. Some part of her hoped it would be hadou, because she was willing to admit that as scary as you would think it could be to see Ichigo running around firing fireballs and lightning, Halibel did believe it would be a lot worse if Ichigo were capable of binding people. At least most of the arrancar would stand a decent chance at survival if they just had to dodge fireballs and lightning.

Turning her attention back onto the practice field, Halibel watched as Tousen approached Ichigo, giving him a basic introduction to kidou and the uses of it as well as helping him take on the proper stance for firing kidou. Then, Tousen pointed at one of the targets, stepping back as Ichigo turned his attention toward the target and raised his hands to point them at the target… And stood there.

"Hey, Tousen," Gin said as he noted the child's confusion. "You did remember to tell him what the incantation for the spell was, didn't you?"

Tousen practically tripped over himself as he rushed back out to Ichigo.

----------

"Ok, everyone ready to try this for the second time?" Urahara called out to Renji, Chad, Ishida, and Rukia.

"Just open the garganta already!" Renji called back as he adjusted his stance.

"Remember, I'm going to try to get you guys as close to Kurosaki-kun's position as I can. When you get there, try to determine if he is fact a small child or not. Either way though, you need to bring him back!" Urahara smiled as the garganta finally opened and the assorted shinigami and humans jumped into the opening.

----------

"Bind thy hands and walk the path of peace!" Ichigo yelled as he pointed his hands at the target. All of the gathered shinigami and arrancar felt a sharp spike in the boy's reiatsu. "Bakudou number 1: Sai!"

For a moment it seemed as though nothing happened, then the target he was aiming at exploded into a shower of splinters and sparks. Quite different from Tousen's example that just had a series of imprints that looked as though ropes had been pulled too tightly around the target.

Tousen moved quickly to where the target had previously stood and began yet another long winded lecture, this one on how Ichigo was overloading the technique and how he should try holding back on some of his reiatsu, not just let it go.

"Try it again!" he called to the boy after the explanation was done.

Ichigo nodded as he prepared to fire again.

"Ano, Tousen-san," Gin called out from the sidelines.

"Not right now, Ichimaru," Tousen answered, not wanting to be bothered at the moment.

"But, don't you think you sh…" Gin was cut off by Grimmjow's hand covering his mouth.

"Bind thy hands and walk the path of peace! Bakudou number 1: Sai!" Ichigo called out as he aimed at one of the targets.

Tousen, to his credit, knew he was not stupid. But he did have a tendency to miss some rather obvious things in hindsight. Things such as like when he became a known traitor of Soul Society, of course Komamura was going to turn on him. And probably would have killed him if he had not first tried to take on Aizen. This fact was being proven again as he realized, right as Ichigo finished the incantation, that he was easily standing in either the path of the spell, or the immediate blast radius. Once again though, as luck would have it, he was saved, due to an alarm going off right as spell was released and Ichigo's reiatsu flow was stemmed due to the diversion of the child's attention.

The result: Ichigo accidentally fired a perfect Bakudou number 1. And it was aimed straight at Tousen; who went crashing down to his knees and face planted into the sand.

Despite the alarms, Tousen's muffled yells of surprise easily got the attention of every being that had been watching the training session; at least thirty Arrancar plus Gin. There was lots of muffled laughter, some pointing, Grimmjow laughing with abandon, and a number of wagers being paid out.

"Espada numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 are to prepare for battle immediately. Shinigami and humans have come to Hueco Mundo," A voice called out over the intercom system. "Aizen-sama wishes for those numbers and their fraccion to report to the meeting room for review of the plans."

Halibel jumped up at her number being called and was further surprised to hear that they wished for her to bring her fraccion with her as well. There wasn't going to be anyone to watch Ichigo!

Barragan, in an odd moment of kindness, noticed her distress and chose to lend a hand.

"Go on, I'll watch the brat Halibel," he told her, noting that she jumped slightly in surprise at his offer.

Narrowing her eyes as she realized that at the moment this was the best she could hope for, Halibel answered, "Thank you Barragan," before turning and making her way off the training grounds, Apache, Mira Rose, and Sun-Sun falling in step behind her.

Taking note of the fact that Tousen was probably out for the count, mainly because he was struggling and rolling around in the sand, Barragan rose from his seat and marched out onto the strip that Ichigo was situated on.

"Tousen looks as though he won't be of much use right now, so I'll be taking over this lesson," Barragan announced as he signaled to his fraccion. Poe and Findor jumped up and rushed to Tousen, lifting him and removing the still entangled Shinigami from the target area.

"Seeing as how I'm unable to perform kidou though, but also realizing that you have hollow abilities, I'm going to teach you techniques that are primary for an Arrancar. They are the cero, bala, and how to open a garganta."

Another signal brought Ggio and Coolhorn out onto the firing range.

"Ggio, demonstrate a bala," Barragan ordered.

"Yes sir!" Ggio answered as he turned to the targets and fired a simple low-powered bala at one of them, just denting the wooden target.

"Coolhorn, demonstrate a cero."

"Of course!" Coolhorn declared as he swung around to face the targets, adapting a ridiculous pose as he did involving tucking one leg up like a flamingo and throwing his arms up like a ballerina's. "Beautiful Charlotte Coolhorn's Holy Final Wonderful Pretty…"

Barragan face palmed as various other arrancer groaned, hid their faces, puked, or any combination of the aforementioned. Ichigo was the luckiest in that he was able to duck behind Barragan while covering his ears.

"Super Magnum Sexy Sexy Glam-"

"Enough!" Barragan boomed, cutting Coolhorn off and saving the vision and hearing of the amassed arrancar plus Gin and Tousen. "Just a cero Coolhorn, no displays!"

"Cero," Coolhorn deadpanned as he shot one at a target, incinerating the thing and then began to walk in a dejected fashion back toward the seating area.

"Finally, we have Garganta's, which look like this," Barragan said in a calm tone as he opened one of the black mouths. "Using these, travel between this world and the world of humans is possible. A being who is advanced in the usage of these is capable of using them to get anywhere that they could possibly want to go, even into the Soul Society."

Ichigo moved out from behind Barragan to get a better look at the garganta, then smiled and declared "Cool!" in a loud voice, and all were a little surprised to hear an echo.

"So, which do you want to learn first Ichi-chan?" Gin asked as he approached the Espada and child.

"Echo!" Ichigo called into the void and laughed when word came back to him.

It was then that Tousen finally was able to break the binding kidou, as with a loud groan he pushed all of his remaining reiatsu against the technique. A blinding flash and shock wave threw everyone off balance for a second, and then it was over.

There was just one problem.

"ICHI-CHAN FELL INTO THE GARGANTA!" Gin screamed, and jumped into the tear. He was followed by Barragan, Poe, Avirama, Nirgge, Ggio, and Szayel Aporro plus two of his fraccion. The rip closed before any of the others on the training grounds could follow, and every one of them shared the same thought, which was: 'We are so dead if Aizen and Halibel find out about this.'

----------

"So, do you feel him? Where is he?" Renji demanded as he stared at Ishida, who was attempting to scan the area to locate Kurosaki Ichigo.

"He's… not… here. Not anywhere," the quincy replied as he tried to scan again.

"Then they must have him restrained or something," Rukia said as she scrutinized Las Noches. "Do you think we should have brought Orihime along rather than have her wait on the other side, you know, just in case?"

"No, it's better this way. After all, Aizen did seem interested in her powers," Ishida replied. "Still no sign of Kurosaki…"

"We better start searching then," Chad said as he took one toward one of the nearby building.

----------

Falling through a black abyss was not something that Ichigo would call fun by any means of the imagination, even if it did make funny noises. So when he dropped out of the black space and into a rather modest looking park, the tiny child began to sob out of pure relief.

----------

The arrancar plus Gin landed in what seemed like a warehouse district and none of them could feel the brat's reiatsu. Apparently, after Grimmjow's first attack the Soul Society had set up some sort of block to prevent the arrancar from using their pesquisa to locate those with heightened reiatsu. That meant that they were going to have to split up and look for the kid themselves. The agreed upon signal was a single bala to be fired into the air if they found him followed by an immediate retreat back to Las Noches.

----------

"Why are you crying?" a voice asked Ichigo as he slowly pulled himself together.

"Not crying!" the orange haired child denied. "Big boys don't cry!"

"You were too crying!" declared the young girl who was apparently the one who had initially asked him why he had been crying. Her hair was short and brown, and Ichigo had a sudden sense of déjà vu, as though he knew this girl.

"Was not!" he yelled back at the girl.

"Were too!"

----------

Gin scanned the street he was currently on, checking for reiatsu, orange hair, or white clothing. All three were in short supply, especially on small children.

But Gin did see one thing that he recognized. Urahara Kisuke, and next to him was Shihouin Yoruichi!

Gin stifled a giggle when he saw that they were holding hands.

----------

Ggio and Nirgge plowed through the crowd of children that they had found coming out of the tall white building. Both would grab one, pick that kid up, usually determine that it couldn't be Ichigo, and set them down again.

There were several problems with this though: the first was that they were standing outside of a school that had just let out. The next was that the kids thought that they were playing rocket ship and started forming lines. The last was that parents and teachers were starting to get interested.

"Ggio, I think I've seen this one before!" Nirgge shouted as he set the kid down.

"I know!" Ggio said as he stared at the child he had just lifted. "How many of these things are there in this world?"

----------

"I'm going to kill 'em, I'm going to smash 'em, I'm going to…"

"Avirama, there is no need to start making war cries just because one person was rude to you," Poe said as he pushed Avirama away from the confused owner of the newsstand.

"Did you hear what he said to me?!" Avirama screamed as he turned and shot an evil eye at the man.

"He said no, that he hadn't seen an orange haired brat and with your attitude he would sooner call the police than tell you if he did," Poe replied smoothly as he turned to a woman who they were about pass on the side walk. "Have you seen a young boy, about 3 to 4 years old with orange hair?"

"Can't say that I have, why do you ask?" the woman replied.

"Because we are obviously looking for one, he's our master's son!" Avirama yelled, silently cursing the idiocy of some people.

The woman was obviously taken back a bit by Avirama's tone, but then pointed toward a particular building. "I think I'm going to go alert the police about you two…"

----------

"Szay-el Apo-rro-sama!"

"Sz-ay-el Ap-orro-sa-ma!"

Szayel turned to look as his two fraccion, Lumina and Verona, bounced up to him.

"Found him, found him!" Lumina chanted as he held up a small child, and Szayel groaned.

"That is not him!" Szayel snapped as he took the child from Lumina and set it down. "First and foremost, this is a girl! Not a boy! Also, her hair is black, not orange. Now, I want the two of you to…"

"Excuse me," a rather angry looking woman huffed as she rushed up to the small group. The little girl happily ran up to the woman. "Your… men here just took my daughter! What have you to say about this?"

"That we weren't after your little brat and that you need to seriously consider a diet. Now take your worthless daughter and leave, we're busy!" Szayel snapped. A second later he received a face full of the woman's purse.

----------

"Were too!"

"Was not!"

Barragan turned his head at the sound of a young boy's voice, and was glad to see an orange head. Jumping the hedge into the park, the elderly espada easily made his way over to the two squabbling children. Before he could get to them though, a weird guy with a beard suddenly jumped in.

"Children! No fighting!" the man declared as he waved his arms wildly. "I know how to make you two laugh!" Pulling several clothes pins out of his pants, the man proceeded to clip them to his beard, then struck a pose and yelled out "Bearded drama!" in a dramatic fashion.

Barragan was aghast. This guy made Coolhorn seem normal!

"You've done this before and it was no funnier then than it is now!" the girl yelled as she grabbed the clothes pins and yanked, hard.

"Karin, my sweet daughter, why do you hurt daddy like this?!" The grown man cried as he began to cry.

Barragan had seen enough. Reaching over, he easily lifted Ichigo up and whispered, "Lets get you out of here before you pick up any unsavory habits." Pointing his hand to the sky, the espada fired a quick bala and turned to leave, but the man's next comment stopped him in his tracks.

"Arrancar!" the goofy man suddenly hissed. "What do you think you're doing with that child?"

"Nothing that should concern you, human," Barragan replied as he ripped the space behind him, opening the garganta, and stepped through.

----------

"Aizen-sama! You'll never guess what I saw in the human world!" Gin announced as he giddily rushed into the throne room, right as Halibel, Ulquiorra, Nnoitora, and Grimmjow marched past him, on their way to deal with the intruders. They were followed by their respective fraccion.

"What would that be, Gin?" Aizen asked, ready for some news.

----------

Ichigo, Barragan, Ggio, Nirgge, Poe, Avirama, and Szayel minus two fraccion were back on the training grounds, the garganta just beginning to close when Halibel and the other espada arrived, as well the intruders.

Halibel's eyebrows raised when she saw the garganta, and the mostly empty training grounds, but before she could ask any questions, the entire group of intruders rushed toward Ichigo.

Charlotte Coolhorn believed that this could finally be his/her chance to prove that he/she was both strong and beautiful. And he/she could do it with his/her ultimate attack!

"BEHOLD!" it yelled as it jumped before the intruders. "Beautiful Charlotte Coolhorn's Holy Final Wonderful Pretty Glamorous Super Magnum…"

Everyone on the training grounds froze in horror at Coolhorn's stances and ultra long-windedness. And poor Ichigo was the closest of everyone and received the full blast of the sheer horrific sight. Yet somewhere in his young mind, something clicked, and he raised his hand, preparing to fire.

"Sexy Sexy AUGHHH!!!" Charlotte Coolhorn screamed as it lurched forward. "MY BUM IS BURNING!!!" And sure enough, the seat of Coolhorn's pants were ablaze, caused by the cero that Ichigo had just fired.

With the horror spell caused by Coolhorn finally over, Renji and Chad were the first to recover and before the nightmarish being could recover, quickly gathered Rukia and Ishida and jumped through the garganta right before it closed.

Halibel recovered next and ran to Ichigo and scooped the boy up, proudly declaring that his cero was brilliant.

Barragan recovered a second later and proceeded to drag Coolhorn off so that he could yell at him in peace about why his techniques were so lethal and why Coolhorn wasn't supposed to use them unless he was VERY far away.

"Szayel Aporro-san, what happened to your fraccion?" Poe asked as they turned to head inside.

"An angry human woman started hitting me after they took her daughter," Szayel replied angrily. "I ate them out of frustration afterwards."

----------

Saria: Alright, so that just leaves Aaroniero and Zommari! And I will be extending this fic, for a few chapters anyway. Then the sequel will start!

Zas: (looks around the room) This is SO much better than the shelter!

Tori: Yep!

SA: This is Saria's PARENT'S house!

Zas: So? We're in TAMPA now! Right in time for METROCON!!

All: WE'RE GOING TO METROCON!!!