Chapter 13
The group all entered the underground training facility, belonging to Urahara. As they began to work on a training plan to optimally strengthen all of the individuals, people began to break off into their groups. As they broke away, Tatsuki went with Yoruichi, Rukia and Sado, all of them going to either train their speed or their bare hand fighting techniques. After they left, Ichigo and Uryu both went their separate ways for training. Senna watched as the rest of the shinigami and people left to train, feeling her ever-weakening power. She held her knees to her chest as her pony tail tousled quietly in the displaced air from all of the spiritual energy releases. As she sensed everyone's powers, she felt a wave of sadness wash through her, causing her to look down with a tear in her eye. She felt so useless and sat at the base of the ladder, tears silently rolling down her cheeks.
"Hey," Urahara said plainly, walking up to her, his usual hat on low over his eyes and his clogs noisily clunking on the ground. "You look like you're not doing too well. What's up?"
"I want to be able to help Ichigo!" she shouted at him, suddenly standing and her eyebrows furrowed in rage. "I am so useless to him without my shinigami powers!" With that, she collapsed to the ground again, crying.
"No," a soft feminine voice said from above her on the ladder. "That's not true. You aren't useless to him. You are giving him the strength and will to fight. That will help him more than any ally and any power you could lend him ever could."
Senna cast her bloodshot, tear-filled eyes upwards to find Orihime there, preparing to leap down onto the ground beside her.
"I know exactly how you feel," Orihime said as she landed beside Senna. "I felt the exact same way when he came to my rescue just before I was taken to Hueco Mundo with the Arrancars and Espada. I saw him lying on his bed, the night that they took me away. He was hurt badly, and it was all my fault. If they hadn't been after me, if I hadn't constantly relied on him to save me, if I only could've had the offensive strength to save myself, he wouldn't have been hurt trying to save me."
Orihime cast her eyes in the direction that she knew Ichigo was training, battling Zangetsu yet again to prove his worthiness to wield the bankai and battling the inner hollow he'd become at the bottom of Shattered Shaft. She knew that this battle would be incredibly taxing for him and he would need healing afterwards.
"The point is, I learned something after I met the former Tres Espada, Neliel, and she told me that, what he needed, more than anything, was for me not to fear his hollow side, but to cheer for him and give him a reason to fight, no matter what. So long as he has something and someone that he truly cares for to fight for, he will always win, no matter what."
Senna stared at the beautiful redhead before her as her words sank in. She smiled at Orihime and wiped the final tears away.
"Thank you so much, Orihime," she said, standing and embracing the girl.
Orihime looked at her, her eyes wide in surprise as the other girl embraced her, holding her close. After the initial surprise, Orihime smiled softly and held onto Senna, holding her in her arms reassuringly.
"Well, Ichigo seems to be almost finished with that portion of his training," Urahara stated blandly, turning to look in the direction of Ichigo's training grounds as he opened his fan and hid the lower half of his face. "Time for him to really get training."
*******BLEACH********
Ichigo panted heavily as the training with Zangetsu and Tensa Zangetsu wore him down. He had battled his Hollow form all the way into the Vasto Lorde form he'd taken when battling Ulquiorra. Now, he had only to fight Tensa Zangetsu merged with his inner hollow. His inner hollow had joined with him and was painfully ripped from him yet again by Tensa Zangetsu.
"Ichigo, this Mugetsu will strip you of your powers yet again," Tensa Zangetsu stated simply as he and Ichigo sparred, Ichigo already knowing that he simply needed to accept the blade but also knowing that he should get as much training from the battle as possible. "We aren't prepared to lose the king of this world yet. We have only had you back for three days now. And your world is still drowning and sideways in your sorrow!"
They battled on and on, Ichigo overwhelmed by the amount of sorrow he felt pouring from Tensa Zangetsu yet again, as they both felt the sadness in preparing for another Final Getsuga Tenshou.
"Tensa Zangetsu, I know how you feel and I'm truly regretful that this is what it has to come to yet again," Ichigo stated as he battled with his zanpakutou. "I don't want to lose you yet again. But Aizen's effect on the Soul Society and the world of the living has to be stopped no matter what. I can't allow him to kill anyone else. It's my duty to protect those around me and all of my friends!"
With that declaration, Ichigo charged into a ferocious onslaught, attacking with every ounce of strength and speed he had in him while Tensa Zangetsu parried, still determined, this time, not to allow his master to use the Final Getsuga Tenshou.
"Ichigo, I cannot protect you if this happens again!" Tensa Zangetsu shouted as he responded in turn. "All I've ever wanted was to protect the one person who matters to me. To protect the soul person who allows for my existence. To protect the creator and king of this shattering, drowning world!"
As Ichigo successfully landed a strike on Tensa Zangetsu, he paused his attack.
"Don't you understand?" he said in soft fury. "If we don't do this, then I, along with the rest of this world will die! I can't let that happen!"
Ichigo withdrew his blade and resumed his attack as Tensa Zangetsu continued to parry and dodge, sorrow emanating from the zanpakutou.
**********BLEACH*********
As the fighting between Ichigo and Zangetsu for bankai training had suddenly ceased, Senna, Orihime and Urahara had hastily made their way to his training area to see what was wrong. The sudden cessation of training had also alerted the others of something being wrong and everyone else had begun to make their way to Ichigo as well.
Upon first sight, Orihime and Senna quickly ran towards him, trying to see if there was something wrong that they could help save him or something. As they approached, Kisuke flash-stepped in front of them, cutting them off on their way to him.
"I'm gonna have to stop you two ladies right there," he said, holding his fan up to his face as he examined Ichigo's unconscious body from his stance over him. "If we interfere now, we could severely inhibit his training."
As they watched, Ichigo's bankai outfit suddenly exploded from his right arm and the chain at the end of his black katana had begun to lengthen and attach to his arm. Below the midway point of his forearm there appeared to be a gauntlet in pieces that were gradually growing and covering his hand and lower forearm. As Orihime noticed this, she watched in awe at the transformation before her, remembering how strong Ichigo had been the day he'd taken Aizen on with the form he was now adopting.
"If he's taking this form, the problem now becomes where could they possibly do battle!" Tatsuki said as she and the other three arrived from their area on the training grounds. "It nearly wiped out everything for hundreds of miles outside the seretei last time he fought in this form!"
"Yes I know," Kisuke said, watching, intrigued by the boy's transformation. "However, that is an issue we shall attend to when the battle has actually come. For now, he needs to do this or he will certainly not be powerful enough to handle Sosuke's clone. It may not be as powerful as Aizen when he was fused with the hogyoku, but who knows what modifications my old top researcher made to that clone and what he was going to do with it."
Suddenly, an annoying voice sounded behind them.
"Well I didn't intend to keep it alive."
The group turned to find it was Kurotsuchi, followed by the rest of the captains who were holding a guard around him. He had his exotic, pharaoh-like head-crest on and his usual face-paint. He no longer wore his captain's coat and was, instead, in a striped prison jumpsuit and his arms and legs chained with spirit pressure absorbing chains.
"Ah, good to see all of you," Urahara said, concealing his face behind his fan. "Now, Mayuri, please tell us, what did you do?"
Mayuri Kurotsuchi smiled deviously at the captain of squad twelve.
**********BLEACH***********
Tensa Zangetsu vigorously attacked Ichigo, leaving him little time to react as he dodged and parried each blow as best he could. He had multiple lacerations from which blood poured down his face and his left arm was nearly useless. His legs were so exhausted that he could barely stand and he had nearly shredded the lower half of his shihakusho, numerous cuts covering his legs beneath.
"Ichigo, until you defeat me, I will not allow the power of the Final Getsuga Tenshou to be used again!" Tensa Zangetsu shouted as he attacked. With a swift swipe of his blade, and a swift shift of Ichigo's own sword he managed to block the strike, but the force was still enough to send Ichigo flying into the wall of one of the sideways buildings, blasting it to pieces and leveling the building onto the sideways ground, only rubble remaining.
"Shit!" Ichigo thought to himself as he held his stance defensively. "I'm not sure how long I can keep this is up. He's truly pissed this time. It's a strange mixture of sadness and rage! I'm not sure I can beat him this time."
"You bastard," Tensa Zangetsu shouted as he moved forth until his blade again clashed with Ichigo's. "I'll never surrender my ultimate power to you again!"
"Please!" Ichigo replied as he flew backwards and straight into Tensa Zangetsu, who'd flash-stepped behind him and struck him again, this time, the force from the blades colliding having an extremely powerful but delayed reaction, causing multiple buildings to suddenly explode into pieces, much like when Ichigo and Aizen had fought. "If I don't have this power, I won't be able to defend my friends and loved ones!"
With that, Ichigo gained his composure and released an onslaught onto Tensa Zangetsu, sending the zanpakutou flying backwards and releasing another powerful explosion that leveled an entire block of Ichigo's inner world. Ichigo charged into the rubble and dust settling in the submerged and sideways city, attacking his zanpakutou relentlessly. As he neared his location, he felt a sharp slicing pain across his back from his left shoulder down across his scapula and to his right hip, deep enough that the gash nearly reached his spinal cord. He opened his mouth to scream in pain, when suddenly, Tensa Zangetsu appeared in front of him and switched his sword to his weak hand, using his strong hand to punch Ichigo so hard in the face that he was sent flying into a dense part of his inner world, crashing through dozens of buildings before stopping in the rubble, nearly paralyzed by the pain.
"What the hell?!" he thought as he tried to process what was happening. "Why does his blade hurt?!"
"Ichigo, if you don't leave this world now and forget about the Final Getsuga Tenshou, I'll have no choice to make you fight for your life," Tensa Zangetsu proclaimed as he stood above Ichigo.
"If you kill me, you'll cease to exist!" Ichigo shouted, trying to dissuade the zanpakutou.
"I'm willing to cease to exist!" came the reply, causing Ichigo to look at him, eyes wide in shock.
"How can you-" Ichigo began before Tensa Zangetsu landed hard on Ichigo's chest, causing a sharp pain in the gash in his back from a rock stabbing him and he shouted out, loudly.
"You suddenly care?!" he shouted as Ichigo yelled out in pain. "You're willing to discard me so easily to save them! What about me?! I am your weapon! I have risked my existence countless times and saved your life countless more!"
As Ichigo writhed in pain, he couldn't help but remember the times his own body couldn't handle his power and Hollow Ichigo would take over at the last minute when it seemed he would surely die, and suddenly release Ichigo's true fury. Despite the amount of regret Ichigo felt for the enemies his hollow form faced, he had to admit he'd be dead, and, in some cases, he'd still be dead, if it weren't for his hollow form.
Suddenly, Ichigo found himself flying from his inner world as his pain rendered his spirit form unconscious and he found himself back in the training room. He looked around and found his modified bankai form. He looked at it in shock before he realized he was completely surrounded by his friends in a radius of at least four meters.
As he stood, he felt the gauntlet suddenly wrap tighter around his lower forearm and he felt the chain wrapped around his right shoulder bury itself deep into his shoulder, painfully, causing him to need to lean on his zanpakutou. As he recovered, he realized everyone was gathered around Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
"I see," Urahara stated simply, holding his chin in his hand. "Sounds like the typical you. Planning to experiment on the clone, keeping it alive until you were finished with your studies, or you were bored with him. You managed to find quite a few things out about him then?"
"I did," Mayuri said with a wicked smile. "Although, that information is in my spare brain at the department. If you take me back there, I'll be more than happy to help you. Besides, I've got a few notes that I'd like to bring back with me to prison."
Urahara looked skeptically at the former captain over his fan.
Ichigo walked up into the group, Tatsuki tensing as she sensed his power but no-one else even noticing because his power level had, once again, surpassed any level they could detect. Ichigo looked over at Tatsuki as he saw her tense, realizing she could sense his power.
"She and I will have to have a discussion soon," he thought as he returned his attention to Mayuri, his statement registering in his mind.
"So you are trying to bribe us? After your little experiment came here and wreaked havoc and tried to kill all of us?" Ichigo asked, his tone ominous. "You sick bastard. You would kill your own people just to perform an experiment! You have no sense of loyalty. You would even destroy the entire soul society just to figure out whether or not you could!"
Ichigo's rage nearly boiled over but Mayuri simply looked back at him, bored.
"What good does loyalty serve me, exactly?" he said, plainly. "You preach about loyalty, but if I chose loyalty over my research, then how would we know half of the things we do? And how would I know exactly how powerful Aizen could be and bring out his true potential. True I couldn't control him, but I know how to handle him if need be, just like I knew how to handle Aizen."
Everyone's eyes opened wide, except Kisuke's.
"W...What did you just say?!" Rangiku, who'd come in with the escort. "You could've stopped him decades ago and you just let him go?!"
Kurotsuchi smiled and shrugged at her question.
"Of course I could've. What kind of researcher would I be if I didn't have a contingency? I mean, I need to be able to survive and continue my work," he said with a slight laugh.
"Why?!" she cried loudly. Tears streamed down her face in anger as she drew her zanpakutou. "Why did you just let him get away with everything?!"
"Simple," Mayuri said waving his hand dismissively. "It's like a bee hive. If you don't bother, them they won't bother you; the opposite being true as well. He did nothing to impede my research and, in many instances, aided me. Why intervene? I had nothing to gain."
As Rangiku charged, calling out her shikai, she was stopped by a swift blow to the center of her chest by Yoruichi, immediately neutralizing her.
"As much as I hate him for his crimes, too," Yoruichi said, looking back at Mayuri, "he'll answer for what he's done. But, for now, to protect the soul king, the soul society, and the world of the living, we need him alive. I'm truly sorry for having to do this to you, Rangiku, but it's for the best."
Ichigo's one rage was to the point of no return as he grabbed the former captain Kurotsuchi and dragged him off a few feet from the rest of the group.
"You have one chance," he explained, holding his blade under the insane former captain's chin. "We'll take you to your precious laboratory and we'll replicate your notes. In return, you give us all of your information on this clone of Sosuke Aizen. Agreed?"
With a truly mad smile, Mayuri Kurotsuchi reached out a hand to shake on their agreement.
"Agreed," he said in a satisfied tone.