Chapter 4: game time

Ichigo

He watched with wide eyes as the countless flower pedals came rushing at him, but just as they were about to strike him he let off an excited grin and disappeared from site. He reappeared behind the injured captain, and before he could even react he stabbed him through the shoulder. The pedals came at him again and he vanished as quick as he came, he was now standing a few metres away from Byakuya smirking. The captain raised his hand and the flowers came again but twice as fast as before, Ichigo doged with sonido, and began to move about the battlefield at blinding speed. But the pedals were not letting up in their pursuit.

Ichigo jumped into the air and charged up a Getsuga, the pedals all seemed to merge together in an attempt to block the attack. Ichigo fired the attack and watched as the pedals seemed to stop it in place for a few seconds, but then the Getsuga tore through them like they weren't even there. Byakuya managed to avoid the blast but he was now worried, this boy had overpowered his Bankai, seemingly with only a Shikai. He wasn't happy about it but he had to resort to drastic measures.

"Senkei" He said quietly to himself, Ichigo looked around to see a large dome of glowing pink swords and the captain standing there with what looked to be his normal blade in his hand. Ichigo charged at him with a powerful strike aimed at his neck, though his blade was stopped in its tracks by Byakuya's own. This shocked Ichigo for a moment, they traded a few blows and during this Ichigo realised that he was still faster than him but Byakuya was matching his strength.

They clashed once more and locked blades with one another, Byakuya summoned another sword to his free hand and stabbed Ichigo in the foot. Ichigo pulled the sword out and crushed it in his hand, then kicked the captain in the chest sending him flying backwards.

Ichigo was now pissed off, that was a cheap shot if ever he saw one. He raised his blade over his head, the colour changed from white to black.

"I suggest you get ready, because now i'm mad. Pierce the heavens Zangetsu!"

Byakuya

He watched in disbelief, the sheer amount of energy and power being generated was staggering, black and red spirit energy was swirling around in an almost feral manner. It felt like the explosive power of a Bankai but that couldn't be right, a child gaining that power was ridiculous yet here he was seeing it with his own eyes.

As the dust and energy cleared Byakuya had no words to describe what he saw, though afraid would sum it up pretty well. Ichigo now had white skin that looked kind of like a thin armour, he had a hole in his chest and a hollow mask with two stripes running down it and front facing horns (he looks the same as he did in cannon when he transformed into a hollow except his sword is the fullbring bankai.)

The now hollow looking Ichigo let loose a scream and his spiritual pressure rose even higher, it was so powerful that Byakuya was having trouble breathing, he had no choice it was all or nothing.

"Shukei, Hakuteiken" his ultimate technique, white energy in the form of wings appeared around him and he raised his energy as high as it could go. He was ready for the final push, so he grit his teeth and charged at the menacing figure in front of him who hadn't moved an inch.

As he came within a few inches of his target he finally moved, almost in a lazy careless manner he swung his blade into Byakuya's ultimate attack. Ichigo's swing tore through his attack like it was nothing, Ichigo's blade sliced into Byakuas face, cutting right through both of his eyes. Then as if in spite the beast that was formerly Ichigo grabbed him around the throat and started to choke the life out of him slowly, every second that passed more pressure would be applied. After a minute or two the monster had seemingly gotten bored with its prey and threw the injured captain with strength far greater than any Byakuya had faced before, he sailed through the air at breakneck speed.

Ichigo

He watched in mild interest as his greatest opponent flew into the distance and crashed into the ground far below the execution grounds. He was pleased with how things turned out, he had saved Rukia, he had beaten Kenpachi and Byakuya, two captains. He could sense that Orihime, Chad and Uryu were no longer in prison and heading towards him. All he had to do now was escape with his friends and his mission would be complete.

Just as he had this thought, three captains along with Renji who was still carrying Rukia appeared not too far from his position, he watched as Renji was cut by the one in glasses and just before he could finish the job Ichigo charged in and stopped the final blow.

"Renji you had one job, get away from the hill. So why is it your back on the hill, closer to the stand than you were when you started running!" Ichigo yelled, his voice being slightly distorted by his mask. Renji couldn't bring himself to answer, the power coming off of Ichigo combined with his menacing appearance had rendered him speechless.

"How curious, I did not expect you to become an arrancar." The voice that spoke was the glasses wearing captain who looked very much like Josh Groban.

"What's an arrancar, whatever it doesn't matter. Cero Oscuras!" Ichigo lowered his head as he said those words, a massive ball of red and black energy gathered in between his horns. Aizen looked shocked at this and braced himself, the attack fired off into the horizon. It tore up the landscape as it went and even parted the clouds as it went.

Ichigo thought he had obliterated the captain at first as he was nowhere in sight, but that thought was lost almost immediately. He felt his body give out under him, he looked down to see blood shooting out of many wounds on his previously unmarked body. He hit the ground hard and his body returned to its natural state, just before he lost consciousness he saw the captain walking towards Rukia and Renji once more.