A teen with spikey orange hair was stuck in a hole with a chain coming from his chest, the chains oddly eating themselves. "Stop! Stop!" He screamed as the chains fell apart and the pain he felt became greater.
Ichigo soon screamed in even greater agony as a white substance started to come out of eyes, nose, and mouth. The substance began to consolidate into a mask as Ichigo lost consciousness. He soon found his conscious being dragged elsewhere.
"Oh good, you're awake." A voice called said, causing Ichigo to look around, seeing that he was in a place of worship with a statue of a horned sword wielder in the middle being surrounded by pews and stone pillars.
"Over here sunshine!" The voice said again. The Substitute Soul Reaper turned to his left to see a person around his age sitting in one of the many pews of the room. He had brushed down white hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a long black and red coat with a red sword with a wing emblem on the shoulders, a red zip-up hooded vest, black pants, and leather boots. The most distinguishing features of him was a unique sword sitting next to him and his right arm,
The arm was reptilian and reached his elbow. The last two digits of the fingers and palm glowed blue energy, which connected to blue streaks that ran on the back of the forearm. The front of the arm was covered in navy blue streaks.
It's owner quickly waved to Ichigo while saying, "About time you got here Ichigo. We've got a lot of shit to talk about and little time to do it."
"Who are you?" Ichigo demanded. "And where are we?" He looked around at the room.
"Simple, my name is *** ****" The teen's name wasn't heard by Ichigo.
"I didn't catch your name." Ichigo pointed out, causing the sitting teen to sigh.
"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way." He quickly grabbed his sword and rested it on his shoulder. "This place is falling apart-"
"Shit!" Ichigo swore as he interrupted. "I've got to find my Zanpakuto!"
"I am your Zanpakuto dumbass. And I've got an idea to get you to hear my name"
"What would that be?" Ichigo asked as he was suddenly picked up by a spectral hand. "Hey! What the hell!?" He was then thrown against the statue in the middle of the room.
"Sorry. This is going to hurt you." The teen said as he leveled his sword and threw it, impaling Ichigo in the chest.
"Ugh!?" He screamed as blood began to seep from his impalement wound and his mouth.
"What is my name Ichigo?" The spirit asked. "You must know it, otherwise you will die!" The declaration rang out as Ichigo clawed desperately at the blade impaled in his chest.
'What is his name?!' He asked himself in a panic as he felt himself lose more blood. 'Wait! I know it!' Ichigo grabbed the blade as it began to glow blue. "You're name is-!"
"Huh?" Urahara sounded as figure gazed at him with red eyes piercing the dust cloud. The dust cleared to reveal Ichigo wearing a Hollow Mask and wearing a replica of his Zanpakuto's clothes. His original spikey orange hair had changed to snow white that was longer than it was before.
The masked Shinigami's hand went into his jacket and pulled out a large revolver with two barrels, a wooden grip, and a blue rose engraving on the left side. He smashed the grip into the mask, causing it to shatter, revealing his brown eyes.
Ichigo holstered the revolver and clenched his arm right arm. It was like his Zanpakuto's though was covered in black scales instead of the original one attached to his Zanpakuto's arm.
"Congratulations Ichigo! You've passed-" Urahara's speech was interrupted by a phantom arm slashing at him. "Easy Ichigo, there's no need to get angry."
"There's no need to get angry!?" Ichigo said angrily. "You tossed me in a hole and nearly turned me into a Hollow!" He raised his Devil Bringer arm. "Luckily for me, my Zanpakuto saved me."
"So you've discovered your Zanpakuto's spirit. What's its name?" Urahara asked, earning a smirk from Ichigo.
"Heh, his name? It's...Aoi Bara (Blue Rose)." He told the shop keeper.
"It's time for lesson 3," Urahara revealed. "All you have to do is knock off my hat. The best part is that there is no time limit!" He soon grasped his cane and pulled out a secret blade.
"Meh, that's simple," Ichigo said as he quickly pulled out Blue Rose and fired off a shot of blue Reiatsu, nearly hitting Urahara's hat, but missed.
"Not yet Ichigo!" The shopkeeper said as he swung at Ichigo, striking Blue Rose away from his hand, the revolver clattering against the ground. "What will you do without your weapon?"
"I'm not disarmed!" He declared as he raised his Devil Bringer, the phantom arm mimicking his actions as he slashed at Urahara as he moved towards his gun. He quickly rolled towards it and fired it off as he stood tall.
Urahara's hat had two bullet holes in it but remained on top of his head. Ichigo quickly followed up with grabbing a boulder nearby and throwing it towards the shopkeeper, causing him to jump and declare, Awaken Benehime!" His cane sword transformed into a traditional blade with a curved hilt.
Urahara closed the gap between them and swung, hitting Ichigo's right arm. "Looks like you lose-" His words were cut off as Ichigo's phantom arm swung and knocked off his hat, completing the 3 lessons of Urahara.
"Looks like you lose and Clogs!" Ichigo declared with a smirk as he lowered his hand and holstered his revolver. "How was that Urahara?"
"You've passed the lesson Ichigo! Congrats." He said in a cheerful tone as his sword returned to normal and put it back in his cane and picked up his hat. "Would you like to continue-" He was soon knocked onto the ground thanks to Ichigo's fist.
"That's for knocking me into that damn hole!" He yelled angrily before chilling out. "How long till the portal is open?" He asked the recovering shop owner.
"In...about...14...days." Urahara wheezed out as he got up. "You don't want to train with me Ichigo? I was the one who helped you get your powers back."
'He knows a lot about Shinigami and such. Too much not to be suspicious in my opinion.' Aoi told his wielder.
"Fair point," Ichigo answered out loud, earning a smile from Urahara.
"Good! Now let's-" "I'm not talking about you bastard!" Ichigo interrupted the Exiled Shinigami. "I was talking to my Zanpaukto."
"Oh, my bad!" Urahara apologized while thinking, 'Already talking to your Zanpakuto spirit? You really are special Ichigo.'
"I'll be back here in 2 weeks," Ichigo said as he began to leave. "Just be sure the thing is ready." The teen then quickly made his way out of Urahara's training ground.
"So what's with the look change?" Ichigo asked his Zanpakuto spirit as he walked out of a store with several bags in hand. "Not that I dislike it." He quickly said. While the hair change was a bit shocking at first, he started to like it.
"That would be because of the way you learned my name," Aoi answered. "You were impaled and your body was forced to heal itself with an overflow of my own Reiatsu subconsciously. That caused your appearance to resemble mine. That might also explain why you still have your Devil Bringer and Zanpakuto, even in your human body. "
"Meh alright, Nero," Ichigo said as he fixed his coat. It was dark red with three tails and black lining. There were 5 straps on each cuff with black buttons on them. He also changed the rose belt buckle into a sliver, round demonic skull. Along with changing the boots with black combat ones, and a greyish black vest that was similar to the one he was wearing before, just without the hood.
"Nero?" The spirit sounded to himself before nodding. "Not bad, but why the nickname?" He asked.
"Figured you need a nickname and Nero seemed appropriate," Ichigo admitted with a shrug. He didn't really know why he named him Nero, but he thought it sounded good.
"Alright then." Nero relented. Ichigo kept walking down the street, chatting with Nero and smashed into a person while not paying attention.
"Hey! Watch where you're-" The person told them before stopping and interrupting them. The person was a girl around Ichigo's age wearing a schoolgirl outfit that exposed her midriff and reached just past her elbows. She seemed to have many scars, the most apparent one going across her nose, between her mismatched eyes, the left one being red and the other bluish-green.
The lady was heavily armed, the main thing that caught Ichigo's eye was a black rocket launcher with a bayonet attached to the girl's back. She looked at Ichigo's right arm that had a red and black glove that covered his Devil Bringer.
"You okay?" The Substitute Shinigami asked before the girl grabbed his coat and pushed up the sleeve. "Hey watch it!" He yelled as she continued and presented the black scales of his arm. "Oh shit."
"What are you?!" She demanded as she pointed a pistol at Ichigo who held his hands up in surrender. "Answer my question!"
"Ease up alright!" Ichigo yelled. "I'm a human or something like that!"
"Your arm says otherwise!" She responded as she pulled the hammer down on her pistol.
"And how do you even see it? Unless your...Spiritually aware." Ichigo trailed off. "So why are you even being so violent about it?"
The girl merely pressed the gun closer to his head as she stated, "It's none of your concern and now answer the question!"
"I just did," Ichigo commented dryly. "I'm a human who happened to have Shinigami powers."
Her grip on the weapon loosened as her hand fell to her side as her eyes narrowed. "Hmm...Then you could actually help me." He murmured under her breath, though Ichigo caught it.
"Yup, the best way to ask a person to help, aim a gun at their fricken head!" He yelled incredulously. "Also why the hell would I help you?"
The girl just rolled her eyes as she replied, "Jeez, overreact much? Besides, if you don't want to help, let's do a trade."
"A trade?" He asked. "And what would you exactly trade me?"
"Pretty simple. You help me with this thing, and I help you with something you need." She explained.
'Huh...That seems interesting and useful.' Ichigo mused.
"I would recommend doing it." Nero butted in. "I'm going to assume that the chick's plan is going to involve hunting a Hollow. That would let you train with my abilities." He explained.
"Alright fine." Ichigo agreed out loud, before extending his hand. "I'll help you kill this Hollow."
The teen smirked as she grasped his hand and shook it. "Good. Now let's go..." She trailed off.
"Ichigo." He offered. "It's Ichigo. What can I call you?"
"You can call me Lady. Now let's get going strawberry. We have to meet with a friend of mine." She said as she began walking, being followed by a growling Ichigo.
"It means he who protects!" He yelled. "So get it right!" He quickly gained a smirk. "Besides, you can't take out a Hollow with the weapons you have? Not too smart are you?"
"I guess your right." She admitted. "But this isn't a regular weapon." She patted the rocket launcher on her back. "This baby can absorb Reishi and fires it out."
"Hmm, that's interesting," Ichigo admitted, before remembering something from earlier. "Wait, you said you had a friend we're meeting. Where are they?"
"I'm the friend you two are chatting about." A voice called out. Ichigo looked to his left to see a blonde teen that looked to be a year older than him and Lady.
Her hair was swept back with some bangs on the side. She was wearing a black corset with white filigree and a lightning bolt design on the front, with a similar design for the zipper. She had black leather pants with white filigree designs on the hips and held up by a double ended belt. She was wearing knee-high, high-heeled boots. She had a black choker on her neck with a red gem in the middle of it with a gauntlet with three belts on it on her right hand.
Ichigo noticed a handle sticking out behind her back. It had a spiral grip with four skulls and a spike on the pommel. The older teen stepped off the wall she was leaning on and joined the two others. "So who's the cutie, Lady?" She asked as she put her hands on her hips. "And he's spiritually aware? What a catch."
"Nice to see you too Trish," Lady said with a sigh. "He's going to be helping us with the Hollow. Though we owe him a favor in return."
Trish put a finger on her lips while she thought. "Hmm...Alright then. It should be fun at the very least." She told them as they began to move once more.
"What exactly is the deal with this Hollow?" Ichigo asked. "I'm not a big fan of them obviously, but you two seem to be gunning for them really hard."
Lady froze up before turning her head towards Ichigo. "That bastard is my father! Or what's left of him. They killed my mother and that's why I'm going to kill them!" She declared with a snarl.
"I kinda know what you're going through," Ichigo mentioned with a somber tone, earning surprised looks from Trish and Lady. "When I was younger, my mother was killed by a Hollow and it was all of my fault! I was an idiot and got her killed!?" He yelled before calming down. "So I may not know how you exactly feel, but I can relate."
"I'm so sorry to hear that Ichigo," Lady said. "But you couldn't blame yourself for that! You didn't know any better."
Ichigo just sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Let's just drop it. It was stupid to bring up. How much longer until we get there?"
"It should be up ahead," Trish mentioned as they stopped in front of a road that led to a warehouse. "Hope you can fight well sweetie." She commented as she gripped her sword's handle.
Lady stayed silent as she pulled her rocket launcher off her back. Ichigo smirked as he pulled off his glove and rolled up his right sleeve while he said, "Oh trust me. You haven't seen anyone like me!"
He took the lead and stood in front of the entrance of the warehouse. He cocked his Devil Bringer back with its spectral arm mimicking its movement. He smashed his fist into it and sent it flying inwards due to his spectral arm.
Lady and Trish followed him into the dark warehouse. "Now where the hell is this Hollow?" He asked out loud as he began to hear scuttling somewhere in the darkness.
"Let me get the lights," Trish said as she pressed her hand against the wall to find the light switch. She eventually found it and flicked it on. They flickered on and revealed the Hollow.
It was a bulbous blob of purple and blue with stubby hands and a female face that looked like it was screaming in agony. There was a mask on the upper portion of the blob that was white and seemed to have a red marking that seemed to constantly move.
"Let's go!" Lady declared as she leveled her rocket launcher and fired off a rocket, hitting the blob, but didn't seem to do much damage to it.
"Mary...Why must you...Hurt us." The blob said in a distorted tone, seemingly aggravating the girl further.
"Shut up!" She yelled as Ichigo tried to punch the Hollow with his Devil Bringer, but was quickly surrounded by leech like extensions of the Hollow.
"Damn it!" He swore as he pulled out Blue Rose and fired at them, killing the Hollow extensions quickly. He then fired several at the main Hollow, doing slight damage.
The Substitute Shinigami holstered the revolver and launched his spectral arm at the Hollow, gripping the large body and holding it in place.
Trish soon jumped onto Ichigo's arm and began to slash at the Hollow's body, causing more damage. She jumped off with a flip and landed next to Ichigo, who still had a grasp on the Hollow.
"Nice!" She mentioned as Lady moved closer to them after firing several more missiles at her father's Hollow.
"Mary...Join us." It rasped out as Lady shook her head and gained a slightly crazed look.
"Just die!" She declared as she slammed Kalina Ann onto the ground and launched out a barrage of missiles, all going towards the Hollow.
They hit the corrupted father and caused a giant cloud of black smoke. It cleared to reveal a more damaged Hollow with a cracked mask. "Let's finish it off!" Ichigo declared as he gripped the Hollow tighter and smash it into the ground.
It caused the concrete to break and Ichigo launched himself into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling. He latched his phantom arm onto the back of the Hollow and forced it to stay down while standing in front of it. He pulled out his revolver and began firing at the Hollow.
Lady quickly ran to Ichigo's side and pulled out two pistols and began firing at the Hollow's mask, causing more damage to it. She fired off until they were emptied.
Trish looked on as Lady and Ichigo fired their weapons at the same time. 'Guess I should join in.' She thought to herself with amusement. She quickly jumped into the air, positioning herself above Lady's father.
She quickly launched herself down with her sword pointing downwards, impaling it. She gripped it and kicked herself off it, landing next to the two other combatants, who had just finished shooting the Hollow.
It shuddered as it fell to the ground, the mask was nearly fractured in several places. Lady holstered her pistols and held her rocket launcher and raised it. "This...is for mother." She said quietly with tears running down her face. She quickly slashed with the bayonet at the Hollow, causing the mask to shatter, revealing a face with similar eyes to Lady.
"Mary...Thank you." He said as he turned to Ichigo. "Please, send me to the next life. Before I lose my sanity once more."
Ichigo nodded as he leveled Blue Rose and fired off a single shot. The father of Lady began to turn into blue particles, evaporating into the air.
Lady fell to her knees and soon hit the ground with Kalina Ann clattering along with her. "Shit!" Ichigo swore as he knelt down, noting that she was passed out. He picked her up bridal style and put the strap of Kalina Ann on his shoulder, causing it to run down to her back. "Where were you guys staying?" He asked as Trish reattached her sword to her back.
"We were mostly staying on the road." She admitted, before gaining a smirk. "I thought you would let us stay with you. Don't you want two hot girls to stay with you?"
Ichigo just sighed before replying, "Screw it. Let's go. My dad probably won't care." He left the warehouse with the blonde in tow. "You mind picking up my bags? I've kinda got my hands full."
Trish nodded and picked up the bags and began following Ichigo to his home.
They eventually got to the Kurosaki Clinic, with Ichigo looking at the roof to see if his father was on top. "Alright. My dad doesn't seem to be up. But we have to be quiet, otherwise, we're going to wake up my sisters." He explained as he opened the door as quietly as they could.
Trish closed the door after she entered and followed Ichigo up into his room, keeping as quiet as she could. She saw Ichigo standing in front of a door with a 15 emblem hanging from a nail. "Prepare yourself," Ichigo spoke up. "There's an annoying bastard in here, so just ignore him."
"What do you mean by "annoying bastard"?" She asked curiously, earning an annoyed look.
"You'll see when you see the plushie lion." He explained as he opened the door.
A stuffed lion walked in front of Ichigo while saying, "Where have you been Ichigo?! And what's with the look change!?" Kon soon took notice of Lady in his arms and Trish behind him. "Who are the hotties? Are they here to replace Rukia!?"
"Shut up!" Ichigo replied as moved closer to his bed and set Lady down on it. He then grabbed the strap of Kalina Ann and set it against his bed.
"So that's the plushie you were talking about," Trish commented as she walked into the room. "I can agree that it's annoying."
"Oh, why must the beautiful lady be so cruel!" Kon complained before he starting running towards the blonde and jumping. "I'll change your mind by jumping in between your pillows!"
Trish caught the stuffed lion in mid-air and her other hand started crackling with yellow electricity. "Is it okay if I electrocute it?" She asked nonchalantly.
"No, I've got a better idea." He said with a menacing grin. "Give him here!" Trish did as he asked and tossed the Mod Soul to him. He quickly pulled out a shoebox with some duct tape and set them on his desk.
He quickly got to work, shoving Kon into the box, with the plushie complaining all the way through. Ichigo quickly shut it and rapidly duct taped it shut. It managed to keep the plushie inside, though was shaking randomly.
Ichigo held the shoebox prison of Kon's and pushed it under his bed. "Now that's done. I'm going to sleep." He told Trish as he sat back down in his chair. "You two can share the bed. I'll sleep in my chair or some crap."
"And here I thought you would want to cuddle with us." Trish teased as Ichigo gained a blush. "But oh well then."
"Whatever." He replied embarrassed as he tried to calm down and closed his eyes while leaning the chair back against the desk.
"Night then Ichigo," Trish said as Ichigo began to drift off to sleep.
This has been in my head for some reason for a while, so it's being written.
Nero is Ichigo's Zanpakuto since they have the same voice actor! Which I didn't realize until I looked it up.
His hair is the length it was after training in the Dangai in the Fake Karakura Town Arc. And Ichigo's Devil Bringer is a mixture between the one from DMC 4 and DMC 5, having the general appearance from it in DMC 4, but having the black scales from DMC 5.