With Ichigo on the ropes, an unexpected challenger joins the battle.

Sorry about updating so late, but school started (taking up all my time), and I won't be updating as frequently. Sorry! As an apology, here's my longest chapter to date. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. If I did, I would probably be busy drawing instead of writing fanfictions.

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25: Battle of the Kings

Ichigo gripped his sword tighter to try and stop his hands from shaking. Ulquiorra was the hardest enemy he ever fought, and the only one to ever have a Segunda Etapa.

"It's alright," Ichigo thought to himself. "There's no way he can be stronger than Ulquiorra, I just have to stay calm."

Grimmjow gave his enemy a smirk and asked, "How long you gonna just stand there Kurosaki? It's like you're just begging me to attack!"

Before Ichigo knew it, Grimmjow appeared behind him and sunk his claws deep into both of Ichigo's shoulders. Ichigo gave a very audible scream, but was suddenly silenced when Grimmjow yanked him backwards, sending him crashing to the floor. Grimmjow smiled at him again and stomped his foot down on Ichigo's chest with force great enough to cause cracks all around Ichigo. Blood shooting out of Ichigo's mouth stifled his scream of pain. He reacted on instinct, however, and slashed Grimmjow's foot with his sword.

Leaving no visible mark, Grimmjow just smiled and hoisted Ichigo up by his arms and stared straight into his black eyes.

"I hope you weren't thinking that this was going to be easier than your fight with Ulquiorra," he chided. "I've trained ten hard years for this day, so don't insult me by thinking I'm not as strong as him."

Ichigo gripped his sword as black energy started emanating from it. "Getsuga…"

Grimmjow cut him off with a quick but powerful head-butt, shattering Ichigo's mask completely and forcing him to drop his sword. The arrancar stared at the groaning Ichigo and asked, "Come on Kurosaki, show me that strong will power you have. I want you to rise up and at least wound me." He threw Ichigo to the ground and kicked his sword over to him. He stretched his arms out, exposing his chest and taunted, "Come on, you get one free hit. Try your best to try and wound me. I'll show you how superior I am to you!"

The shinigami captain struggled to his feet and grabbed his sword. "Gotta focus! Focus all of your energy on this one attack. You can do it, show Grimmjow you're better than him. Do it!"

Giving a powerful battle roar, Ichigo leapt in the air with his sword ready. Grimmjow flashed him the largest smirk just before Ichigo brought his sword crashing diagonally across his chest. To Ichigo's surprise and Grimmjow's pleasure, his black sword simply bounced off his chest and flew from Ichigo's hands with recoil.

Ichigo landed right in front of Grimmjow with surprise on his face. "Guess that's all huh?" the arrancar asked. "Oh well…"

Without warning, Grimmjow's tail shot into the lower right side of Ichigo's torso, completely impaling him. Blood shot out as the tail exited. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Grimmjow quickly silenced his scream with an upward slash across his chest. Not stopping there, Grimmjow did a quick hop and kicked Ichigo in his chin, sending him sprawling to the floor. Ichigo reached out and grabbed the handle of his sword and got on both of his knees with extreme pain.

"Tch, you really are a pathetic bastard, you know that?" Grimmjow mocked at Ichigo's prone form. "Don't you know when to quit? It's clear that you've lost this fight Ichigo Kurosaki!"

Speaking between gasps, Ichigo said something that surprised Grimmjow. "It's not over yet Grimmjow; it won't be over until you're the one lying on the ground. I will defeat you Grimmjow!" He steadied his sword and declared, "Getsuga Tensho!"

A black wave of energy shot towards Grimmjow. He simply sighed and knocked the blast away with his arm. "Defeat me? You don't have a snowballs chance in hell to defeat me Kurosaki."

Ichigo ignored his swords and persisted. "Getsuga Ten—"

He was cut off as Grimmjow appeared right in front of him and kicked his sword out of his hand. Ichigo stared at him with determination still in his eyes. Grimmjow grinned at this and commented.

"Those eyes sure piss the hell outta me Kurosaki. You still seem to have the delusion that you can win this. Let me show you why you can't win."

Just as quickly as he ended, Grimmjow plunged one of his hands straight at Ichigo's chest. He quickly pulled it out and wiped the blood across Ichigo's face. Not being able to respond, Ichigo collapsed and was unable to move.

"You're fucking finished Kurosaki," the arrancar gloated. "I've decided to let you die slow and painful while you feel the spiritual energy of your friends disappear one by one. I'll personally make sure to that. 'You'll defeat me'? You seem to forget one thing Kurosaki. While Aizen is the God of the world, I am its king." He started to walk away from his dying adversary and finished, "Don't ever forget that."

"Get up!" Ichigo commanded his body. "Don't let him get away, get the hell up and beat him! He won't be victorious, don't lose this battle…don't lose…"

Much to Grimmjow's surprise, he felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure rising from behind him. He turned around and saw black energy emanating from his body. "What's this?" he asked, slightly amused.

To the arrancar's surprise, Ichigo stood up and looked at the ground. He touched his own blood Grimmjow wiped on his face and started to laugh. "Don't lose…" Ichigo continued thinking. "Don't give up…" Surprisingly, the hole Grimmjow made instantly regenerated.

"You're spiritual pressure is not like Kurosaki's at all. Who the hell are you?" Grimmjow gritted through his teeth.

"Who am I?" Ichigo repeated. He suddenly looked up at Grimmjow with his jet black eyes, revealing it was Ichigo's hollow side taking over and declared, "I'm the one true king!"

"You did well, now leave the rest up to me," Ichigo heard in his head.

"No, not now…I don't need you know…just go away…"

"Sleep Ichigo Kurosaki, let me take care of the rest. Sleep…"

Without any explanation, a mask appeared on the left side of Ichigo's face. It bared some resemblance to his hollow mask, a large horn was jutting out of the mask and a single black stripe went down the eye portion of the mask.

"The one true king, eh?" Grimmjow repeated. "Sorry, but that title's reserved for me!"

Ichigo's hollow form cackled at this and replied, "Then I guess we're just gonna have to fight for the title then!"

Grimmjow clenched his fists as Ichigo's hollow side brought his sword to his hand using telepathy. "Whether you're Ichigo or not," Grimmjow started, "I don't give a shit. All I know is that there's a good fight to be had here!"

"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing!"

Without exchanging any more words, the two rushed at each other at speeds no mortal eye could follow. Grimmjow struck first by bringing his claws down towards Hollow Ichigo's head. He simply smiled at this and suddenly appeared behind the surprised Grimmjow. He gave a quick snarl and hopped into the air, shooting three darts from his arms towards his mysterious opponent.

Hollow Ichigo gave a quick audible laugh and disappeared, leaving the darts to utterly demolish the floor instead. Before Grimmjow could react, Hollow Ichigo was above him with his sword raised high over his head. He brought it crashing down with lethal force, causing it to sink into the arrancar's shoulder. Blood shot out as Grimmjow grabbed Hollow Ichigo's arm and pulled him closer, only to push him back with a quick kick to his torso.

"He was able to slip through my Pesquisa," Grimmjow thought. "No shinigami should be able to escape my heightened senses, especially in this state, so how is he doing it?"

"I can tell what you're thinking," Hollow Ichigo gloated. "You're wondering how I'm able to get by you without so much as alerting you, am I wrong? Well to answer your question, I'm not using Shunpo, which is why it's impossible for you to tell where I am."

"But with my heightened senses, I should even be able to track arrancars who use Sonido!" Grimmjow snarled back. "So don't tell me all this bullshit about not using Shunpo!"

"When did I say I was using Sonido?" the Hollow smirked.

"What?"

"I'm a very strange person," Hollow Ichigo explained. "Even I'm not quite sure what I am, but I have a theory. You see, I am not a shinigami, hollow, arrancar, or Vizard. I believe I'm a mix of all four, so when I'm using my incredible speed, it is neither Sonido nor Shunpo, it is simply a mix."

"Stop fucking around!" an angered Grimmjow yelled. "It doesn't matter what speed technique you use, you still can't beat me!"

"That wound on your shoulder tells a different story, but let's put that aside for now, and simply continue."

Grimmjow didn't even respond. He simply appeared straight in front of Hollow Ichigo and aimed at his heart. His enemy, however, was quick to respond and brought his sword up swiftly, knocking his arm away. Not wasting any time, Hollow Ichigo swung his sword upward, slicing open Grimmjow's chest. He gave an audible grunt, but quickly used Sonido to appear above the pseudo-hollow, his claws giving off visible blue energy.

"Desgarrón!" he declared, swinging both his claws down in the shape of an X, sending both energy streams down at him.

"Let me show you how to properly use your attacks," Hollow Ichigo said to himself. "Getsuga Tensho!"

The largest Getsuga Tensho Grimmjow had ever seen shot towards him and lightning speed, utterly shattering Grimmjow's Desgarrón. With a mix of shock and poor reaction time, the blast hit Grimmjow dead on. His scream was stifled by the thickness of the spirit energy surrounding him. Hollow Ichigo stood still for a few seconds after the attack. He gave a small chuckle and talked to himself.

"Tough one to finish off, huh?"

"Fuck you!" he heard from behind him. Hollow Ichigo simply responded by dodging his attack.

The possessed Ichigo quickly turned around and thrusted his sword straight into Grimmjow's shoulder. Grimmjow used one hand to hold the sword in, and used the other hand to charge another Desgarrón. Just as quickly as he summoned it, he shot it at his enemy, utterly slashing open his chest and sending him back a few feet. Grimmjow panted and stared at Hollow Ichigo angrily. Much to the arrancar's surprise, his enemy started laughing.

"So it looks like you're not a total novice at fighting," he chided. "While your attack hurts, a little pain gets me going. Now come here and let's finish this!"

"Like hell I'll do that," Grimmjow retorted. He held up his right hand as a blue cero started charging up in it. "I just think I'll blow you away with my strongest attack, my Cero Oscuras!"

"As if a weakling like you could use a proper Cero Oscuras," the Hollow mocked. He pointed his head down slightly so that the horn on his mask was pointing to Grimmjow. A cero started to charge on top of it. "Let's compare Ceros, and see whose is better, shall we?"

Grimmjow smirked at this with confidence and replied, "Fine by me."

In the blink of an eye, they both released their ceros at each other. Both hit their target and resulted in a massive explosion, one larger than the other. A few seconds after impact, Grimmjow jumped out of the smoke, clearly wounded by his opponent's attack. He spat up blood and cursed his enemy.

"Damn him! Where the fuck is he?!"

Grimmjow's blood turned to ice when he heard the voice behind him. "Now that was a good attack." The arrancar looked behind him to see Hollow Ichigo standing there, a large crack running vertically across his mask, with another Cero Oscuras charging on the tip of his horn. "It even put a crack in my mask, but I'm afraid you're finished now arrancar!"

"Fuck!" Grimmjow stammered before Hollow Ichigo released his attack.

Grimmjow's body barreled to the floor and ridiculous speeds, making large cracks to the already destroyed street when he landed. He was panting heavily, blood flowing everywhere, as he desperately looking around for his adversary. He let out a startled gasp as he saw who he was looking for appear right in front of him with a psychotic grin on his face.

Striking fast and striking hard, Hollow Ichigo quickly slashed both of Grimmjow's lets, and cut across his chest. "Getsuga Tensho!" he declared, engulfing Grimmjow in the black attack.

Grimmjow was not beaten yet though, as he quickly shot a claw out, hitting the bottom half of Hollow Ichigo's mask, shattering it completely.

"Cero!" the desperate arrancar yelled.

The blue blast hit Hollow Ichigo square in his face, but he didn't lose any ground, as he brought his head back to its original position, with the top half of his mask cracking every second. The hollow ended it when he stabbed his sword right into Grimmjow's right pectoral. He spat out blood as he staggered back a few paces, releasing the sword from his body.

Grimmjow could feel his power fading as his Resurreccion started to disengage. When his powers completely returned to his sword, he fell backwards on his back. He stared at the sky and cursed his predicament.

"Can't believe I wasn't even beaten by my own enemy, just some psychotic version of him."

Hollow Ichigo stepped on his chest, causing him more pain and smiled at him. "It would be foolish to think of us as different people. He and I are one together, and if he dies, I die, which is why I decided to show up in the first place."

"Ha ha…" Grimmjow surprisingly laughed. "Even if you beat me, your defeat is final. Soul Society will be destroyed by the hands of Aizen himself, and even you don't stand a chance against him."

"I don't give a damn about Soul Society and I don't know who this Aizen is, but when I personally send him to Hell, I'll give him a message to give to you, don't worry. But time is short and I'm afraid I must end this now."

A cero charged on the top of the mask's horn and aimed straight at Grimmjow. The defeated arrancar closed his eyes and accepted his fate, but an audible grunt from his enemy made him open his eyes again. Hollow Ichigo stepped away from Grimmjow and put his hands against his head.

"Guess it's the strain of fighting you for so long, looks like I gotta go," the hollow explained. "My job here's done anyway; I'll let him take care of the rest."

With that, the mask completely shattered, and Ichigo stood there dumbfounded, staring at the defeated Grimmjow. He looked around and asked, "What the hell happened?"

"Your hollow side took over," Grimmjow explained, "and soundly fucked me up."

"Damn it," Ichigo said quietly, knowing what his words meant. "I'm sorry Grimmjow, but this wasn't the way it was supposed to be."

"A little late for apologies now," Grimmjow snorted. "It's all over anyway, so just finish me off."

"I won't do it," Ichigo bluntly stated.

"Huh?"

"My inner hollow wasn't supposed to interfere," Ichigo replied, "and denied you a fair fight."

"Cut the shit!" Grimmjow angrily replied through more blood. "You know damn well you wouldn't have won if he didn't interfere!"

"Maybe so," Ichigo said turning around, "but I can't in all good conscience kill you now. I won't kill you, but I can't save you either, so I suggest you get out of here before someone who's not so noble." He then started walking away.

"WAIT! WAIT GOD DAMN YOU! GET BACK HERE AND FUCKING FINISH ME OFF! KUROSAKI!"

Ichigo ignored his screaming opponent and used shunpo to disappear, leaving his opponent to cry out his commands to himself. He went a good distance before he landed in front of the 4th Division headquarters. Captain Unohana was showing wounded shinigami in when she noticed Ichigo.

"Well I didn't expect to see you come here willingly Captain," she smiled. She noticed his egregious wounds and inquired, "And who gave you those?"

"Long story," Ichigo replied. "I'll explain it later, but I need you to heal me as fast as possible so I can get back out there."

"Of course," she said, signaling him to come in. "I'll personally see to you and get you back to your old self before you knew it."

"Thanks," Ichigo quietly said while walking to the door. Before he entered, he heard a scream in the distance and closed his eyes while bringing his head down. "Sorry Grimmjow, maybe some other time," he said so quietly that even Captain Unohana didn't hear him.

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With Ichigo getting healed, what's going to happen next?

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