Well it is good to be back and I am glad that this series is so well received right now and I thank you all for everything you guys have done over the course of the last few years. weather it was comment or follow the story's I make to tolerating my absence over an extended period of time... I thank you all for every second of everything you do to keep me going, knowing that there will be someone to read what I post, it warms my heart so thank you. but enough of the sappy crap I have a few things to say first before we begin. first off HAPPY NEW YEAR! Second off I want to tell you all that I have a YouTube channel that i am posting regularly on so if you want so good-ish Me-ish content go check it out since I am now working on a path of radiance lets play that just went live a couple days ago (the channel name is Ethor TCC btw). this year is going to be very productive form me too not only with the new YouTube channel but also with this and the book so keep your eyes peeled for new content on all sides. but enough rambling right now thank you all for being you and DFTBA!

Act 1 Part 1 Chapter 2

It had been close to 70 hours since Ichigo had not only met an eccentric shopkeeper and his eccentric "family" but also pushed into a pit thanks to the same shopkeeper with his real body on the ground above in some sort of screwed up basement landscape.

One thing though was that he did not feel any sort of hunger down in this pit, just pain. Pain from having his chains of fate eat themselves to the last chains.

He could barely hear the voices of Urihara and his "family" from the top of this accursed hole there voices growing more and more distant as time passed… until he did not hear them at all.

Ichigo opened his eyes to see what looked to be a courtroom with podiums set in a circular formation, one of the seats was empty however and it led to a pathway with three people standing on that pathway. One looked to have bleached skin and hair and his clothes were white and black compared to Ichigo's own. The other one was a man with long black hair and a yellow visor over his brown eyes and his body was covered by a black coat that looked to be his whole body at first glance. The final one however was the strangest, he looked to be shorter than the pale lookalike and the black haired man, he stood tall though as both of them looked at the man with apparent respect as he turned to face Ichigo.

He was about five foot seven inches tall and he wore a black coat over a normal white dress shirt, her wore a pair of black pants as well as a choker around his neck that was stark white with a purple orb in the front of the neck, on his back was the same sword that Ichigo had been using this whole time. The strangest thing though was the fact that he had marks under his golden and green eyes, and his black hair that looked like it was blue under the right lighting.

"Welcome to our home Ichigo." said the man with the different colored eyes "Welcome to your inner world."

"Who are you?" asked Ichigo

"Where are my manners! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is -." said the man with different colored eyes

Nothing was spoken outright but the man could tell he said something and smiled before saying, "so you still can't hear it yet." he walked closed to one of the podiums before speaking again, "that is fine… you will after this."

Suddenly all of the podiums lit up with beams of light that were colored differently than the other then they suddenly changed to black enveloping not only Ichigo but the man with two colored eyes as well but he spoke either way, "Find your true Shinigami powers Ichigo, find them by carving your way through despair and become the king of hope!"

"HOW?" Ichigo shouted, 'How could i even do that? It is so dark here?'

Something beckoned to him though. So he stepped toward it. Each step getting heavier and heavier, it was pushing him back with each step… so he held out his hand and grabbed onto something, The thing that beckoned him… and the light dissipated.

Ichigo opened his eyes to see that it was the hand of the man with two colored eyes. The man spoke, "Well done Ichigo! Glad to see you are following in my footsteps! Now about my name, My name is Zangetsu. And all you need to do now is cry out my name. For your powers to come back. We will talk again soon Ichigo, OK"

And just like that he was back in that damnable pit with a hilt in his hand and a white mask growing on his face. And he cried his name, "ZANGETSU!"

On top of the pit though was a different story. They did not know Ichigo was in his inner world and they were preparing to seal and bind him. Until a beam of golden light blasted out of the accursed hole.

"Well that is a good sign." said Urihara

Just as soon as it came it disappeared leaving only a figure with a hollow mask and a shihakusho but most importantly a Zampakto.

"Keiske-Dono do you think that he could have?" said the burly attendendent

"No, until we see what happened here" said Urihara

The figure took his Zanpakuto and slammed the hilt of the blade against his mask, then a second time, then a third, then a part of the mask broke allowing for the figure to pull the mask off his face, revealing it to be Ichigo.

"Sup."

"Ichigo my boy! You made it!" said Urihara before getting decked in the face by the man himself

"That's for shoving me in a damn whole, hat and clogs, thanks anyway though."

"That was just cruel Ichigo!" said Urihara

"Shudap." said Ichigo "what is the final test?"

"Knock the hat off my head."

…

…

…

"Seriously?" asked Ichigo

"Well i won't just allow you to do it." said Urihara, "you have to do it either way, so why not see what i mean."

"Fine. (This should be easy.)"

Oh boy it was not. As soon as Ichigo went to grab Urahara's hat the man shunpoed over to a massive rock, "as I said Ichigo… I won't make this easy for you." he reached toward the handle of his cane and drew it out to reveille a blade, "Scream Benihime."

The blade changed into a single edged sword with a red tassel at the end of it's pommel. The shopkeeper smirked before whispering something into the blade and the blade shuddered as he spoke.

"You're a soul reaper." stated Ichigo "glad to know that i was right on something."

"You are more astute than you look." said Kisuke "Yes I am an ex-shinigami, but i might tell you more if you beat me."

"I will take you up on your offer then." said Ichigo before stabbing his blade in the air, "Zangetsu!" he shouted before a blast of light engulfed him in a flash black and blue light before dissipating with a new look and sword.

He wore a pair of really dark blue (bordering on black) shihakusho pants as well as a white kimono style shirt as well as a black jacket, under the shirt that under certain lighting showed like the stars in the night sky. Hanging off of his belt was 19 sheaths with only one of them holding a sword in its clutches, Ichigo drew the sword soon after to ravele a pure black katana with a moon on the pommel of the blade. The most striking change to him though was the six triangle tattoos underneath his eyes, the fact his hair was turning a blueish black and that he had pure gold eyes.

"Well that certainly looks interesting." said Kisuke "that is your Shikai state?"

"It looks as if that is the case." said Ichigo with a smirk, 'let's see what you can do, partner.'

The blade shuddered at his thoughts before settling down as Ichigo got into a battle stance, one hand on the pommel of the sword with the other hand pointed at Urahara with a golden beam gathering on his fingertips.

'What are you planning Ichigo?' thought the eccentric shopkeeper before getting into a battle stance.

They were like that for a good few moments before Urihara smirked and disappeared. The ball only got a bit bigger before Ichigo pointed it behind him just as the shopkeeper shunpoed behind him and spoke one thing before firing off the blast, "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

The blast ripped through the ground for only a couple of feet of ground before blasting off into the sky, Ichigo was shocked at the power that came from his own finger for a short time only for him to slightly smirk before holding his hand behind him where Urahara shunpoed to turn his killing stroke into a block with a kido barrier to deflect the blast which did not do much as it blasted Urahara back a few feet before he caught his balance before speaking, "So your able to fire bala's in this form too ay? Good that means I am able to have some fun."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, hat and clogs, but I will take it as what to call this new power of mine."

'So he doesn't know.' thought Urihara, 'Fine by me'

"Nake Benihime," called out Urihara before slashing upward releasing a wave of red energy over to Ichigo which Ichigo blasted through with another "bala" only to find that he blocked it with a red energy shield. And it was like that for a few more seconds before Ichigo turned the tables and blitzed Urahara thanks to blasting a "bala" behind him and using his sword to steer himself toward the shop keep. And they slashed upward… with a single hat flying upwards.

"Good job Ichigo… you're done with your test."

And like that Ichigo collapsed to the ground with a smile across his face… waiting for the moment to strike.

And that is a wrap! as I said in the notice thing before this chapter, I have changed out Makoto for Shuichi because I thought it would be more interesting to work with. the premise will stay the same though since it was fun to think of anyway so why not. either way thank you all so much for reading and DFTBA