Ichigo nodded to the apparitions of Old Man Zangetsu and Hollow Zangetsu. They nodded and touched their respective blades and Ichigo found himself once more in his inner world. The water that had once dominated the place was gone and he stood on the side of sideways skyscrapers. It had been a long time since he had last come here. His bankai was gone and his two swords were sheathed on his back and at his side.
"So, you really are going to go along with this mad man," the Hollow asked in a teasing tone. "It's unbecoming of you to just follow this stranger at his word. Though if he is right about more war, then I suppose that is something. We can't let you go about wasting all of that delicious power!"
"Ichigo," Old Man Zangetsu said seriously. "Are you sure that this is a wise decision? If you decide to go down this path of violence, we will assist you, but it will not be pleasant."
Ichigo shrugged. "What I saw feels true. There is something deep inside me telling me that everything I've seen and heard just now is real. I'm not dreaming, am I?"
"What, can't you tell," White mocked.
"You are under no spell, though we are all held in the grip of a great power," Old Man Zangestu answered. "It will be difficult breaking free, but if we can teach you to utilize our full strength it should be possible."
"Then we don't have any time to waste," Ichigo replied.
"Oh goodie! Then me first!" White jumped forward and summoned a black, broad sword Zangetsu in his hand. "Ichigo, you and I are going to explore the possibilities of the Hollows! The highest level of these are the Vasto Lorde. You accessed this kind of power when I took over your body fighting that fool Ulquiorra. But, it won't do to let your body get wasted each time. You will learn to use not just Sonido, but the Bala, Cero, and Cero Obscuras at will! Your body will react immediately with instant regeneration, too.
"Having a greater connection to your Hollow powers will also bring out your Fullbring powers, which will allow you to transform from human to Soul reaper at will, as well as grant your physical form even greater strength and spiritual manipulation, both as a human and Soul Reaper. Finally, you wore armor when you were a Fullbringer. You will be able to summon armor to yourself once more, which grant you the defense of a hierro, which will compliment your spiritual pressure defense."
"When did you get so chatty," Ichigo laughed.
"When you started getting closer to realizing your full potential you fool! I've been waiting for this moment for years," White cried ecstatically.
White lunged for Ichigo, who parried and attacked back. They danced around the skyscraper, trading ferocious blows and moving at increasingly faster speeds. To the Old Man, they became momentary sparks, flashing in different spots.
Old Man Zangetsu then spoke, "Ichigo, we will force you into battle, and through watching us and feeling of our attacks, you will gain our techniques and our knowledge. From there, you must make them your own in combat."
As he said this, White shot a cero from his hand and followed it up with a bala from his other fist, before spinning right into Ichigo who was trying to defend. White scored a hit of Ichigo's arm. The teen bit back a shout for pain, and instead gritted his teeth and retaliated.
"Heal yourself, fool," White said. "You are part Hollow after all!"
Ichigo then realized he could feel a desire within his own body to repair himself. That strike was very much on purpose. He started healing himself, drawing on his Hollow powers.
"Faster! Faster," White seethed as he attacked again. "Use those instincts Ichigo, or you'll never survive in war!"
Ichigo responded by blasting a bala right past White's face, getting him to move a fraction off course, and then grabbed him to send the Hollow spiraling into another building. Ichigo fired off a Black Getsuga. He felt power welling up inside him and he finished healing. A scream rose to his lips and a cero began forming. He fired it off, and White dodged it.
"That's better, King! But we are far from done!"
They continued their duel, hacking and slicing at one another viciously. Ichigo was about to draw his second blade, when White cried out, "Don't be so weak as to draw on another power. Feel in the instincts flow within you! That drive to survive, to kill, to devour. That is what will give you the edge. Rely on that! Give into the rhythm and thrill of the conflict! Fight to live! Live to fight!"
Ichigo retracted his hand and concentrated. White bone armor formed along his left hand and arm and he blocked the next slice from White. He felt even more power flow into his body, especially in the hand and arm covered in the armor. With a gesture, he tossed White's black blade aside.
"You are growing fast," White spat. "That is to be expected. One would never take you for the studious type!"
Ichigo used Sonido and appeared right behind the Hollow. "Don't ramble while fighting."
White spun and met the attack. "Well played, King!"
He said I could also use spiritual manipulation, Ichigo thought. That reminds me of what Ginjo showed me. He put the alcohol into his mouth by manipulating its spirit. That should be something that I can do here as well!
Concentrating, Ichigo made the glass panes around White explode. The Hollow was surprised for a moment, and Ichigo slashed him across the chest. As White healed himself through regeneration, Ichigo tried to pull his blade away by influencing its spirit. He found it to be much, much more difficult than to simply burst the panes.
"Nice going, partner," White said grudgingly. "You are implementing your powers quickly. Yes, you can influence your surroundings, but things with sentient souls are very difficult to manipulate. Remember that!"
"Got it, ichigo said confidently.
They continued dueling, blowing the surrounding area apart. Ichigo experimented with his bone armor and found that it greatly enhanced all of his physical traits. He started outstripping White, until the Hollow transformed and took on his Vasto Lorde form. With the angular horns, and flowing mane of hair, White looked impressive and frightening. Ichigo responded by swiping his free hand across his face and summoning the old Hollow mask. His own hair grew longer, though not quite a mane, and he formed the same mask and horns.
Black blades erupted from White's hands. "This is your form as a Vasto Lorde. It is a base for unlimited power, because you can keep growing, even from here!"
They clashed once more and the sky turned dark to their side. They swing and destroyed entire buildings in the clash. The sword in Ichigo's hand shrank to become the same katana he had always used in his bankai form earlier. They fought like demons trying to escape hell. Finally, Old Man Zangetsu stepped in and said, "Enough!"
The sky of Ichigo's inner world cleared and the building reformed.
"Ichigo, you have learned well, sheath your blade and release that form. Then come to me."
The teen responded in the affirmative. The Hollow form he had summoned disappeared instantly and his hair went back to its short, spikey length. White returned to normal as well. Though Ichigo had complied quickly with his sword's wishes, he felt the inner raging of his Hollow side. It reminded him how dangerous it was to use that power. But he was not going to kid himself that he was going to use it sparingly. Now that he knew his enemies better, he was going to use every tool at his disposal.
"Ichigo, you have done well, quickly ascertaining and implementing your Hollow gifts, but let me now educate you in your Quincy side. You were prepared by Ywach to be a weapon for his defeating the Soul King and becoming king of all realities and worlds. He planned on you either joining him or fighting against him, it was the same, because he maneuvered all events for you both to meet and then he could make your powers his own.
"You see ichigo, by merging your bloodlines and different powers together, you have become something that rivals his own Almighty and Uryu's Anti-thesis. You are the Anointed. Your Schrift is A: th Anointed One, because your power is enough to bend all worlds to your whim. You Ichigo hold para-causal powers."
Ichigo went blank for a moment before asking, "Para-what? Wat the hell does that mean?"
"It means that you have the ability to force destiny to your own will. Ywach said that with your power you could always win any fight no matter what. He was certain that he could defeat you, because his Almighty allowed him to choose any future he foresaw and make it happen, however unlikely. He was confident that he could best you, because of how young you are in this power. However, if this power were entirely mature, it would cancel out his Almighty, because whatever future he instated, you could counter it. Uryu's Anti-thesis reverses the power of the Almighty; yours outright defies it!"
"His words now make more sense, when you put it like that," Ichigo said, remembering back to his fight with Ywach in the Soul King's Palace.
"I must also tell you Ichigo, your friend who brought you to this in-between world is watching us. I cannot keep out his eyes," Old Man Zangetsu admitted. "But I can see through this forced connection that if we help you attain your full potential, you could challenge him. He twists fate as well, but in a different way than you do. This para-causal ability is what has allowed you from the very beginning to shape everyone's destiny. It brought the hogyoku to you so it could endow your friends with greater powers. You forced the Soul Society to change so that you could save Rukia. Your Hollow powers are what allowed you to stand toe to toe with every obstacle, and this power is what determined the consequences."
"That is a lot to take in," Ichigo whistled.
"You have already woken Blut Vene within you, and you can also use Blut Arterie, which when combined with instant regeneration means you can attack at top speed and with full force and heal despite fighting like a berserker."
"Now I like the sound of that," Ichigo smiled savagely.
"I have no Quincy powers to communicate to you through combat," Old Man explained. "But you will learn through trial of arms how to merge all of your abilities, and only then will we teach you the technique of the Infinite Getsuga Tenshou!"
White and the Quincy power attacked Ichigo at the same time. Ichigo pulled out both his blades and grinned.
"Come and get it!"
Later Ichigo woke up and looked at Bob, who was floating a ways off in the air, cross legged. The Tscheapwhetzar waved when he came to and asked how the training had progressed.
"Wonderfully," Ichigo said stiffly. "Now what?"
"Now we take the theory of what you have learned and apply it for real," Bob said. "Your sword was right, I could see and hear everything. It is a part of my power." When he said this, red lighting sparked to life all along Ichigo's body. "I insert myself into each world and its people that I come in contact with. I gained especial connection with you when you accepted the letter and swords. This bond will benefit you, too, as you will discover. I enhance what I take, and so too will you become more powerful."
"Is that really a risk you want to take," Ichigo asked lightly.
"Most definitely, if I can't handle a para-causal seventeen year old, then I might as well throw in the towel and forget about saving the realms," Bob laughed. He drew both is blades and said, "Let us begin Ichigo Kurosaki! I'm going to make realms level warrior out of you yet! And when you go back to Rukia, feel free to tell her everything and give her my regards."
"Psh, yeah right," Ichigo said, hefting his bankai blade, since he was no longer in his inner world. "I'm going to cream you, break this contract, and go home to Rukia. After that we can discuss what I'll do with this knowledge and power you've let me have."
"Look how grown up you are," Bob laughed.
He then attacked in a storm of red lightning and flame. Ichigo barely had time to brace himself for the impact.