Chapter 3: What now?

Ichigo

Ichigo felt like shit, every inch of his body was in pain and he wasn't sure how he was even alive. He hadn't opened his eyes yet but knew he was with Yoruichi, he could sense his spirit energy. Ichigo jolted upright when he remembered that he couldn't sense Chad before his fight, he gasped in pain and fell back to the ground.

"Stop moving, you heal fast but your wounds will reopen if you move too much."

"Chad! He needs help, I have to…" Ichigo stopped struggling when he felt the black cats spiritual pressure skyrocket, he had no idea how the cat could talk or how he had so much power but it scared him.

"Chad is alive, the captain he fought didn't kill him. The same goes for Orihime, they were captured and are being held prisoner." Ichigo took all this in but it didn't make him feel much better, it meant he had to save them too.

Just as Ichigo was about to relax he felt Ganjius energy plummet, he sat up again and reached for the blade at his side.

"Ichigo stop!" But he wasn't going to listen, he had to save Ganjiu. He raised his energy and busted out of the cave entrance, he used sonido cover as much ground as he could. He had never moved so fast before. He found himself below a bridge where a group of energys had gathered, it was here he needed to go so he raised his energy again and jumped.

He landed in front of Ganjius torn up body, he studied it for a moment and realised he was still alive but he needed to get him help fast. He looked and saw Hanataro and gestured for him to tend to Ganjiu, which he was more than happy to do. Ichigo looked and saw Rukia staring at him with her mouth open in stunned silence, Ichigo smiled and moved to her.

"Hey there Rukia, you glad to see me?" She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she managed to speak.

"You… why… dumbass!" Ichigo grinned but before he could respond he turned drawing his blade, he blocked the sword of the captain who had almost killed him the last time he saw him. He hadn't managed to fully draw his sword but he drew it enough to block.

"Hey there Byakuya, Happy to see me? I'm happy to see you." He said this while grinning from ear to ear, something that could rival even Kenpachi on his best day. He pushed the captain back with a burst of energy creating a small shockwave.

"Ichigo you should have stayed in the world of the living, but now you have sealed your fate." Ichigo just smirked as the captain was about to release his shikai, however that's when a dark skinned purple haired beauty appeared out of nowhere.

"Ichigo next time I tell you to stop, you had better listen." then she shoved her arm into Ichigo's wound and he fell unconscious.

Time skip

When Ichigo woke he got a rude shock when he was greeted by a naked purple haired girl, which turned out to be Yoruichi somehow. Ichigo was still having trouble processing that and she was always surprising him by taking her clothes off. He couldn't focus on that now, he had just stabbed his blade into a cut out in order to train.

After a brief flash of light and some dust, Ichigo was face to face with his greyed out reflection from the sideways city.

"Well, hi there king. You wish to train and gain power, fine." He raised his hands and hundreds of blades appeared all throughout the large cavern. "There's two ways to pass this training king, i'll tell you what they are only if you impress me." Ichigo grabbed the closest sword to him, a large butcher knife like blade and charged at his grey reflection.

Time skip

Ichigo was covered in sweat, his clothes were ruined and covered in dried blood. He picked up another sword, number ninety seven if he remembered correctly, he had noticed that as the swords broke he felt a little different, not stronger but different.

"You finally realised it! Guess your not as stupid as i thought. Would you like to know how to pass the training now king?" Ichigo nodded his head and tried to catch his breath as the grey man spoke.

"As you have noticed, when the swords brake you feel something. I told you there were two ways to pass, well this is the first way. Each of the blades represents a weakness in your soul, as they break that weakness is removed."

Ichigo gasped in realisation, break all the swords and you pass. But he had noticed that each sword lasts longer than the last one, so he thought of a work around. He charged his weapon with a getsuga tensho and swung it at a large group of weapons to his left, he felt the change immediately, at least fifty swords broke in that attack.

"Not bad king, but i won't let you do that again. It would be far too easy if I did."

Orihime

She was currently riding on the back of a one armed giant man covered in scars, apparently he wanted a rematch with Ichigo and broke Orihime and her friends out of jail in order to track him down. Though in truth Orihime wasn't worried about that, Ichigo could take care of himself. She was worried about Uryu, she noticed him struggling to keep up and she couldn't sense him anymore, he was also missing his glove.

"Uryu are you ok?" She asked casually.

" Yeah… i'm fine." He was gasping for breath in between his words.

"Uryu don't lie to me please, i can help you."

" I told you i'm fine, really i am." Orihime lost her smile and frowned.

"Then why can't i sense you at all anymore, your out of breath and you can't keep up." Uryu paused for a moment before he sighed.

"Alright fine, i lost my powers in my fight against the captain of squad twelve." Orihime gasped at the sudden admission but then smiled widely in realisation.

"It's alright i can fix that." Uryu looked almost annoyed he didn't believe that.

"How?"

"My power isn't healing, it's rejection. I can reject events from happening, ill just reject you losing your powers and then bam, powers!"

Ichigo

Ichigo was heading for the execution grounds at a fast speed, he had finished his training with almost no time to spare. He didn't know how much stronger he was exactly but he was sure he could beat that Byakuya asshole. He could sense the others and what felt like Kenpachi racing to the grounds too, this made him a little nervous, the man had his arm cut off and yet he was already up and about.

He stopped his thinking when he saw the sky light up with vibrant orange flames, he doubled his pace in the hopes of saving Rukia.

Rukia

There were no words to describe the extreme and impressive feat that she had just witnessed, she had seen Ichigo appear out of nowhere and bash the giant flaming bird away like a giant fly swatter. He smirked at her before doing it again, before it could happen a third time the bird was destroyed by her captain and Kyoraku.

Ichigo didn't waste any time and busted up the stand to free her, she was being held under his arm like she weighed nothing. He lifted her and started calling out to someone.

"Hey Renji! Go long!." Rukia was then lifted above Ichigo's head, she realised what was about to happen.

"Ichigo don't."

"Doin it"

"Don't do it"

"Don't not throw you, you got it." He then threw her down to Renji who managed to catch her in time."Renji get out of here, i'm gonna do an awesome."

Ichigo

Ichigo blitzed the three lieutenants like they were nothing but low level nobodys and blocked a sneak attack by Byakuya in the same motion. He then pushed with greater strength sending the captain skidding across the ground.

The captain wasted no time in releasing his shikia, he intended to send them at the orange haired annoyance but he needed them to block an unexpected blast of immense power. Once the dust settled Ichigo took in the captain's pained expression, the attack had carved through his defence like it wasn't even there. His upper body was now mostly bare except for his arms, his chest was covered in a large painful burn, all in all Ichigo was happy with the results of his attack.

"Ichigo you continue to insult me and the law with your defiance, allow me to put this farce to an end." He then proceeded to drop his sword and it phased through the ground.