The Dark Prince
This chapter is going to be slightly Ichigo-lite, and will give more screen time to Katsurou, Ishida and Sado (the latter two definitely need more screen time in this story). Ichigo will be more prominent in the first section of this chapter, and in the coming chapters.
I hope you guys catch the reference to Code Geass in this chapter!
Chapter 12: Into the Desert
It was with mixed feelings that Urahara Kisuke walked into his special storeroom to retrieve the Hogyoku. He had figured out that the Hogyoku in their possession was somehow connected to Aizen's Hogyoku, and that damaging one was going to cause damage to the other as well. And therefore, Ichigo and Katsurou, easily the strongest Shinigami in the town, had taken it upon themselves to get rid of the tiny, but powerful object once and for all.
Urahara was a practical man, and while he did have a strong attachment to the many items he had personally created, he knew when things had to go. Still that didn't mean he had to be happy at the prospect of seeing the Hogyoku destroyed. Steeling himself, he brought the Hogyoku to his underground training room, and found that Ichigo was wearing his black bankai coat and holding Tensa Zangetsu. Katsurou was stretching. Urahara placed the small sphere in the middle of the training ground.
"Will this do, Denka?"
Ichigo replied, "That's fine. I'd advise you to get out of the training hall, Kisuke. There'll be a lot of spiritual energy flying about."
Urahara snorted, "Get out, and miss out on all the action? I think not."
Ichigo smirked back, "Have it your way."
Katsurou commented, "I already asked Kisuke before about his efforts to destroy the Hogyoku during his exile, and I think maybe we should try what we just about perfected a century ago."
"I think so too."
Before continuing, Ichigo walked over to the Hogyoku and placed two fingers on it. Within seconds, he had established a mental link with the Hogyoku. He heard the elderly man's voice say neutrally, "I see you have come to destroy me."
"Indeed we have. We know now that you're connected to Aizen's Hogyoku. Destroying you will remove a major obstacle in our path."
"Go ahead and try, Prince! Let me see how far you are willing to go to win a war!"
Glaring darkly, Ichigo cut the connection and moved away from the Hogyoku. Katsurou stood a few metres away from him and placed a hand over his face. Black spiritual energy with a silver outline gathered at his face, and formed itself into his wolf's head mask. Once the mask fully formed on his face, he started forming a Cero again – although this one was different from the Cero he had fired at Grimmjow earlier. This Cero formed at the snout of his mask instead, and emitted a lot more spiritual energy, despite looking the same, with black and silver spiritual energy.
At the same time, Ichigo held up his blade in an offensive position, and poured spiritual energy into it, making the energy swirl and dance around the blade like black and red flames. He looked coldly at the Hogyoku in the centre of the room, and said, "Behold, Hogyoku, this is the technique Katsurou and I have been practising for a long time before my death more than a hundred years ago. If you are going to acknowledge Aizen as your master, we have no choice but to destroy you."
With that, he and Katsurou attacked.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
"Cero Negacion!"
When the individual attacks flew out at the Hogyoku, the two men yelled in unison, "Mayonaka Taiyo!"
Urahara winced at the reiatsu given off, but stayed put. The two attacks had collided, with spectacular effects. The black Hollow reiatsu from the Cero mixed in with Ichigo's Shinigami reiatsu, and produced a pitch black Getsuga Tensho that had two trailing 'tails' of spiritual energy. One was red, and the other was silver. This potent mix, expertly held together with Ichigo's total control over spiritual energy and spirit particles, moved through the training hall, and it eventually hit the Hogyoku. The two men kept pouring their energy into their attacks, and soon, the room was saturated with reiatsu. Urahara hastily put up a barrier to shield himself from the energy flying around.
As he poured his considerable energy into the attack, and exercised tremendous willpower over the spirit particles, Ichigo suddenly heard a voice within his head. Tensa Zangetsu spoke to him, saying, "This is not enough, Ichigo, and you know it."
"I can still do it, Tensa Zangetsu!"
The youthful spirit within his soul snapped, "But you can't! Don't you see it, Ichigo? Urahara Kisuke has been trying these methods of destroying the Hogyoku for over a century now. You have yet to fully recover your strength after your awakening. Even if you have Katsurou by your side, you cannot destroy the Hogyoku. I can now see that brute force will get you nowhere."
Ichigo continued the attack, not wanting to believe his Zanpakuto's words, but still not able to dismiss them completely. At the same time, within Katsurou's soul, there was a sense of unrest among the spirits. His Zanpakuto Haka, a bone-thin, gloomy spirit said in a low, gravelly voice, "This is not enough, Katsurou."
Another voice cackled, "Let me take over! Maybe I could win this for you!"
Katsurou mentally told the second voice, that of his inner Hollow, to stay silent, and addressed Haka, "How is this not enough? This is our strongest attack. If we continue, we can at least crack it!"
"No, Katsurou. It is impossible. But there is a way in which you could possibly destroy the Hogyoku."
"What is it?", Katsurou eagerly asked.
"You have known Prince Ichigo for a long time, and in the same way, I have known Zangetsu for a long time too. We Zanpakuto normally do not tell our masters the secrets of other Zanpakuto, but I believe Zangetsu will let me tell you this: Kurosaki Ichigo has a final ace up his sleeve, but it is risky. At best, he will end up losing all his powers. At worst, his soul will disintegrate into many fragments."
Katsurou's enthusiasmdied down instantly, and he gasped when Ichigo suddenly stopped pouring his energy into the attack, and ordered him to do so as well.
The Prince announced, "Everyone please stand back. Something just occurred to me, and I'm going to try it."
Katsurou realised that this was what Haka had been talking about, and said sharply, "Your Highness, I think I know what this is about, and I have to ask you to reconsider!"
"No, Katsurou. I have to do this. If I use my Final Getsuga Tensho, I could destroy the Hogyoku, and remove a major obstacle. You can finish this all without my help. Katsurou, you can call the other Zero Squad members if you need assistance. All of you combined should be able to defeat Aizen easily, since he doesn't have the Hogyoku with him."
Katsurou replied strongly, "With all due respect, your Highness, that is utterly wrong! We need you to help us! Besides, how can you just do something that will end up in your powers or your life being taken away? We don't need to do this, why can't we just leave the Hogyoku? Aizen won't actually grow in strength that much because of this!"
Ichigo smiled ruefully and replied, "We can't be sure of that. Besides, there is no victory without sacrifice. Don't worry. I'm not going to die. Even if I lose my powers, it is not permanent. I can regain them after a while. That is the cycle followed by Zanpakuto like mine. It'll definitely take a while, perhaps more than 20 years, but it'll happen eventually."
Unable to come up with a reply, Katsurou hesitantly stepped backwards, realising that he would have to trust the Prince's abilities here. He went over to Urahara and helped strengthen the barrier. Ichigo held out his sword and focussed. A gentle breeze began blowing through the area, and the short chain at the end of Tensa Zangetsu lengthened considerably. The chain wrapped itself around Ichigo's arm, and the Prince's reiatsu completely disappeared. At that point, the chain, constricted tightly around Ichigo's arm, and then disintegrated into black spiritual particles. The blade itself disappeared, and Ichigo's hair became pitch black and lengthened considerably. His bankai coat disappeared, and his torso was covered in bluish-black bandages. Resolutely facing the Hogyoku, Ichigo said in a deadly voice, "Mugetsu."
The very air turned black all around, and one single concentrated attack was focussed on the single black ball
Elsewhere in town
Sado Yasutora was sitting by himself in a café, sipping a cup of coffee. At that point, he heard someone say his name, and he looked behind him to find Ishida Uryu walking up to him.
"Hey, Ishida. You seem happy."
"I am! I just regained my Quincy powers recently, after losing them in my fight against that madman back in Soul Society."
"That's good for you, Ishida. I also finished my training with Renji, and I've unlocked more power from my armoured arm."
"It looks like we've both made good progress then, huh?"
"Indeed we have."
After a few minutes of companionable silence, Ishida said, "Sado...honestly, what do you think of Kurosaki now?"
"Ichigo...has gotten more distant. One cannot deny that. But still, I understand his situation well. In just one night, almost 3000 years of personal history suddenly opened up to him. One can expect that the sixteen years he has lived as a human being on earth suddenly become insignificant."
Ishida nodded, "You're right. Even I'm beginning to rethink my views now. I used to hate Shinigami, but it seems that the Quincy still exist today because of them, specifically because of his efforts. Even if all Shinigami were bad, he's an exception, it seems. But even so, I don't approve of him distancing himself from the rest of us. We've hardly seen each other as a group since Soul Society. Besides, I don't know what to make of his other friend, Murayama Katsurou."
"Neither do I. I haven't talked to him much, and I can't tell what kind of guy he is. But Ichigo trusts him implicitly, so that gives me reason to trust him too. We made a pact a long time ago, that we would fight for each other's sakes, and I would still fight for him. He was the one who indirectly led to my gaining my powers too, and I am grateful to him for that."
Ishida nodded in understanding. Just then, the two young men heard the tell-tale swishing sound of flash-steps, and looked in the direction of the noise to find the Goddess of Flash herself. Yoruichi said grimly, "I'm glad I found the two of you together here. I have some urgent news to tell you both."
When she had said what she had wanted to say to the two of them, Ishida and Sado appeared shocked.
"Inoue has been kidnapped?"
"Tatsuki too? Was it Aizen?"
Yoruichi nodded seriously, and asked, "So what will you do now?"
Ishida replied resolutely, "Does it need saying? We'll go to Hueco Mundo and take the two of them back!", and Sado gave a grunt of approval.
Yoruichi smiled, "I doubt Soul Society will approve, but if Denka talks to the Captain Commander, we should be able to go through with Soul Society's approval. Come to the Urahara Shop in an hours' time. Kisuke will get the portal to Hueco Mundo open."
She then left, and Ishida looked at Sado doubtfully.
"I wonder if Kurosaki will actually agree to this. He'll think differently because of his true age, and he might not even consider rescuing Inoue and Tatsuki."
Sado replied, "Let's have patience, Ishida. I'm sure Ichigo will step in.", although his voice had the slightest bit of doubt in it.
At that moment
In a certain inner world, there was black lightning falling from the sky. Many of the buildings in the great city had now been reduced to rubble, and from a nearby cliff, a lone figure in red robes watched on in shock and awe.
The Hogyoku surveyed the destruction happening to his inner world and muttered to himself, "So this is the extent of your power, Kurosaki Ichigo...No, this is not just spiritual energy, it is his resolve too. I see now – you face losing your power, perhaps your life itself. And yet, you give your all towards defeating me! I have never seen such drive, not even in Aizen, the man with an impossible goal!"
With the rest of his strength, he mentally reached out to Ichigo's mind.
In the training Hall
Katsurou watched on nervously as the darkness surrounded Ichigo and the Hogyoku. Then suddenly, the dense black cloud of reiatsu started dispersing, and soon, Ichigo could be seen. His hair had turned orange once again, and he appeared to be unconscious.
Katsurou and Urahara took down their barrier and hurried towards the prince. Urahara did a quick check, and said, "His reiatsu is dangerously low, but it's starting to rise! There is something, quite possibly an external agent that is stabilising his reiatsu. It appears to be coming from his chest."
Katsurou looked up to Ichigo's chest, and when he and Urahara saw what was on his chest, they gasped in surprise.
Urahara started, "Well...this changes things greatly."
"This is indeed different from the intended outcome. What do you think though, Kisuke? Is this good or bad?"
"That depends. We might see the consequences of this in the near future, Mr Murayama. I will take care of him for the time being, and with the rate of his energy being replenished, I think the Prince will be fine, but he might not be able to fight for a while now."
Katsurou thought for a while, then said, "I think that is fine. With this, we might just be able to win the war. But before that, we have something important to do."
Urahara smiled, "Indeed, you do. Shall I open the Garganta for you then?"
Hueco Mundo
A large bird-like Hollow swooped down on a snake Hollow that was slithering hastily in the white sand. The snake looked behind and tried to spit poison at the bird, but missed. The bird screeched out victoriously, and reached out with its sharp talons to kill the snake, but before it could do so, it was swept aside by a powerful wind caused by reiatsu. Within seconds, the two Hollows were completely destroyed by the crushing reiatsu. All around the area, hollows were dying, crushed by the dense reiatsu that surrounded the area.
Some of the stronger Hollows came closer to see the source of reiatsu. It was a lone man, dressed in a Shinigami's robe. He had long black hair and blazing blue eyes. As he went, he spoke in a powerful voice that carried through the desert.
"I am Murayama Katsurou, former Captain of the Third Division of the Gotei-13, and a proud servant of the Royal Family! I come in the name of my Prince Kurosaki Ichigo, and I will not stop until his will is carried out! So come, Hollows! Come, Arrancar! I can hear your tormented souls crying out, and I will grant you your salvation in death!"
After a while, the number of Hollows in the desert became very little, and Katsurou let down his reiatsu as he walked towards the massive structure of Las Noches.
He had barely walked five minutes when he felt a small bit of reiatsu coming from a nearby spot. He looked around, and was surprised to find a strange group crouched down on the sand. Three of them appeared to be humanoid, while the fourth was clearly a hollow – a large worm-like Hollow, to be specific. One of the three humanoids was very small, the size of a human child, the second was of average size, and the third was big, and quite taller-than-average.
Katsurou approached them cautiously, yet curiously, and was about to ask them a question when the big humanoid one muttered, "That was a huge blast of reiatsu, don'tcha know?"
"Nel was so scared!"
This second voice had a clear lisp to it, and Katsurou listened on, bemused.
The last one said, "At least it's passed for now. It should be safe to go out soon."
At this point, Katsurou blurted out, "Excuse me, but just who are you?"
The strange trio comically howled out in shock and fright and jumped back, the biggest one falling over. Katsurou was now able to get a good look at them. The small one was dressed in a simple grey robe, and appeared to be a child with green hair. The average sized one was dressed in a purple vest and a loincloth, and had purple skin as well. His face looked like a beetle's. The last one had a very big head with a comical mask. He appeared to be wearing some sort of yellow-with-black-polka-dots jumpsuit, and had very large hands and feet.
The small one pointed a accusing, but very shaky finger at Katsurou and demanded, "W-w-who are you?"
"I am Murayama Katsurou, little one. Who are you, and what are you doing in Hueco Mundo? This is no place for a child!"
The child answered, "Nel's not a child! Nel's an arrancar! See my awesome mask fragment!", and lowered her hood to show her head, on which there was indeed a mask fragment.
Katsurou winced. He had clearly run into a group of Hollows, and clearly not the usual type. The child was clearly defenceless, but for some reason, the other three Hollows had not killed her. In fact, now he remembered that the purple Hollow had actually stood between her and him when he revealed his presence, as if protecting the child from the stranger. He asked, "Who are you guys, and what are you doing here?"
There was a round of introductions, and Katsurou learned that the child was called Nel Tu, the purple Hollow was called Pesche Guatiche, and the yellow one was called Dondochakka. They had even named the large worm hollow Bawa-Bawa, and they called it their pet. They were apparently hiding.
"Hiding from what, exactly? Do you by any chance happen to be working for Aizen?"
Nel said in an almost dismissive manner, "Oh, none of us work for Lord Aizen. He only takes the really powerful hollows, and makes them into arrancar. The ten strongest arrancar are called the Espada, and the rest are called Numeros. Comparing Nel and her buddies with the Numeros is like comparing dirt with stars! Anyway, who are you? You look like a Shinigami, with those clothes..."
She suddenly broke off, and with a lot of seat pouring down her face, the very nervous-looking child asked, "What is your occupation?"
"I'm a Shinigami."
The reaction was instantaneous. The three Hollows ran around crying out that he was a Shinigami.
"He's...He's a bad guy!"
Katsurou frowned. Perhaps telling a highly-strung group of Hollows that he was a Shinigami was a bad idea after all. Clearly, this was a dysfunctional group, but it didn't present any immediate threat. However, as his senses told him, there was something else that did present an imminent threat. He looked up and found that a large lion-like Hollow was coming. It seemed to be of a low-level, but it frightened the wits out of Nel's small group. The three strange Hollows screamed out in fright and started running around in circles, crying out that they were going to die. Katsurou looked back and said sharply, "Calm down!"
He drew his sword and executed a fast flash-step. The next second, the lion screeched out and disintegrated in a shower of blood. Katsurou sheathed his sword and moved off, starting to go towards the giant white castle in the distance. He had barely walked a few metres when a voice called out, "You're just going to leave?"
He looked behind and saw that it was Nel. His gaze softened, and he said, "Yeah. I'm here on a mission. There are people I must rescue, and there are some others I mist defeat. The walls of Las Noches will soon bear witness to a bloodbath, and I would rather a child be kept out of it, even if that child is an arrancar."
Nel struggled to come up with a reply, and after a long pause, cried, "Let us come with you! We could get you to Hueco Mundo quickly!"
Before the Knight could protest, he was carried up and placed on Bawa-Bawa. The massive worm started moving off quickly, and Katsurou, while unhappy that the Hollows had practically forced him into this, had to admit that he was moving much faster now, without expending any energy either. He turned to the three Hollows and asked, "Tell me about Las Noches."
The three pulled thoughtful expressions and scratched their chin/head, and came up with answers.
"It's big!"
"It's far away!"
"It's white!"
Katsurou face-palmed, then said, "More specific things! Like the layout of the building, where the Espada stay, or even better, where Aizen stays!"
"Ah, we'd love to tell you, but we can't just say such things to a bad guy!"
The Knight sighed. Clearly he was not getting any answers out of this group. Then at that moment, he felt the reiatsu of many Hollows around. The sources of reiatsu were all in the sky. Looking up, Katsurou and the Hollows were shocked to find many Hollows that resembled various birds of prey. One of them swooped low, and Katsurou struck out with his blade, but the Hollow flew off before the blade connected. This same thing happened for a few more seconds. Katsurou then sheathed his sword, muttering, "Looks like I'll have to use kido here..."
But before he could do it, one of the birds fell out of the sky with a screech. Looking closely, he noticed that it had been struck down by a blue bolt of light. Within seconds, dozens more bolts of blue spiritual energy flew out towards the sky and struck the Hollows. At the same time, a more powerful, but slower beam of blue light flew into the sky and hit several birds. Soon, all the bird-hollows were completely gone. Katsurou looked warily behind him, and was surprised to see two humans – one clad in white clothes and wearing a pentacle on a bracelet around his wrist, and the other was wearing a black shirt with a large Rose stitched on it, and white trousers.
"You're...Ishida Uryu and Sado Yasutora!"
Ishida pushed up his glasses and nodded in Katsurou's direction.
"Mr Murayama."
Katsurou smiled, "Good to see you both! Please call me Katsurou."
"Well, we can't possibly leave our friends behind here now, can we?"
Katsurou agreed, "Certainly not. I'm sorry, I should have waited for you."
"Don't worry. At least we managed to meet up here."
Ishida looked questioningly at the four strange Hollows behind Katsurou, and the Knight quickly introduced them. Soon, they were all on Bawa-Bawa's back, moving off towards Las Noches.
Ishida asked, "What happened to Kurosaki? I thought he had already gone on ahead with you,shocked deeply by the end of his explanation but he was still recuperating at the Urahara Shop when we left. Mr Urahara asked us to go on ahead."
"Yes. We had tried to destroy the Hogyoku, but something unexpected happened..."
Katsurou recounted what had happened to Ichigo, and the two humans were awestruck at the end of his narration.
The trip continued, with the three discussing plans for after they broke into Las Noches. Soon, the massive domed castle seemed closer than a kilometre away. Just as Ishida pointed this out, happy that they were closer to rescuing Inoue and Tatsuki,a loud roar was heard.
"Who Dares To Trespass On Lord Aizen's Territory?"
As the group looked around, on high alert, the sands began to move, and a massive amount of sand lifted itself off the ground, and formed a truly massive humanoid shape. It was a great Hollow made of sand, with a white mask on its head and a Hollow Hole in its chest.
"I Am Lunuganga – The Guardian Of Las Noches! You Shall Not Pass, Interlopers!"
Without blinking, Katsurou fired a kido spell at it. At the same time, Ishida fired several arrows at it, and Sado fired a blast of energy at it. The effect was spectacular. Lunuganga's head was quickly destroyed by the blasts. However, as the three warriors prepared to continue their journey to Las Noches, the voice sounded again, "Fools! Your Attacks Have No Effect On Me! I Am Invincible!"
Ishida remarked, "Funny how everyone who says that gets beaten up soon afterwards.", and fired more arrows. But, soon, he was no longer laughing, as Lunuganga's control over the sand in the area was proving very troublesome. Soon, they were almost buried in sand. But, just at that moment...
"The Second Dance: Hakuren!"
Instantly, ice was all over Lunuganga. The great Hollow let out a grunt of surprise before its mouth too was frozen. Follow-up attacks were not late in coming.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
"Howl, Zabimaru!"
Katsurou, Ishida and Sado looked on in shock as a blue crescent of spiritual energy and a segmented, extendible blade struck the ice hard, shattering it.
A familiar voice drawled, "Miss me?"
To be continued
Cero Negacion – 'Negating Zero' in Spanish. This is Katsurou's strongest Cero
Mayonaka Taiyo – Midnight sun. This is the name of Ichigo and Katsurou's technique that they were practising for a while before Ichigo's death. It is a fusion of Cero Negacion and Ichigo's black Getsuga Tensho. Ghost Writer Orange-kun devised this, along with the rest of Katsurou's techniques.
Mugetsu – 'Moonless Sky'
The Code Geass reference in this chapter: When Katsurou entered Hueco Mundo, his entry was supposed to mirror Lelouch vi Britannia's entry into Kaminejima where he confronted his father for the second time, in Code Geass r2.
