Chapter 17: Surprises all around

Kisuke was both surprised and slightly angered at his attack being so easily deflected by Ichigo. He could've sworn that attack would have went through Aizen's shoulder if it landed. True, the attack would do nothing, but at least it would've given him a means to gauge Aizen's current power. With Ichigo though, he was beyond surprised to see his attack stopped by her bare hand. Not only that, but she had also defeated Shinji and the rest of the Vizards by herself like it was nothing. Just how powerful was she?

"Now then," Aizen started as he stepped forward to the head captain, completely ignoring the fact that Kisuke was here. "It is over head captain. Tell your people to surrender, and my forces will stop and place your own forces away to recover." Aizen knew this wouldn't work given the old mans foolish pride and his own selfish means, but he needed to buy more time for Wonderweiss to prepare. That boy was currently with Hooleer and the menos', dealing with the remaining soul reaper forces. It would take him a little while to get here unnoticed.

The head captain narrowed his eyes and his anger was at its boiling point. His captains were either incapacitated or still in a losing battle. The lieutenants had been dealt with by the weaker arrancar and were being placed in some kind of field that was neutralizing their spirit energy completely. All in all, this 'war' was really just the soul society losing, badly. However, not one to admit defeat, the head captain dispersed his cane and drew his own zanpakuto, flames ablaze.

"Then I have no other choice." Suddenly, these large pillars of flames started to sprout out of the ground, surrounding the fake Karakura Town. "Then this is the end for you all, no matter the cost."

Aizen narrowed his eyes at this, knowing neither side would be able to withstand this attack. He needed more time for Wonderweiss. "So, you'll just sacrifice your entire army and yourself to stop me?" Aizen started. "That's not what a true leader does old man."

"SILENCE!" Yamamoto shouted out, loud enough for everyone to hear. The battles had stopped once the flames sprouted out of the ground. "Every single soul reaper has dedicated their entire existences into protecting the soul society against any and all who would attack it! For them, this is a noble sacrifice for the greater good!"

"GREATER GOOD!?" This time, it was Ichigo that shouted, letting her spirit energy flare for a second. "So was it for the greater good when you let my mother die!?" She looked straight at the old man with hatred and anger burning brightly in those red eyes.

"Your mother was a blight on the spiritual world." The old man replied calmly as if he were talking to a disgruntle child. "She was nothing more than a Quincy. Plain and simple." This statement caught the attention of everyone still conscious, shocking them at what the old man said to Ichigo.

"That's it?" Ichigo asked in a low tone as she lowered her head. Sosuke knew that look. That look that he had only seen one other time when Apache decided to insult her mother during a training trip into Hueco Mundo. That crater was still there and it was the size of Las Noches.

To Kisuke's surprise, he saw Aizen back away from her. That was a clear sign that she was going to do something dangerous. He got ready to interfere with her and place the kido spell that would take care of her without killing her, but before he could, the heaviest spiritual pressure he had ever felt in his entire life came crashing down onto the area. Kisuke fell off of the railing and onto the roof of the building on his hands and knees. He was able to breathe, but it felt like his lungs were in a vacuum, constantly losing air every second. The espada's and arrancar all felt this energy before and were only a little used to it, but not by much. At least they could stand straight in a sense and not be brought down to their knees for the most part. The same can't be said for the soul reapers though as they were all feeling the effect of Ichigo's rampant spiritual pressure. Aizen wasn't effected though and that was only because of the Hogyoku willing his body not to feel the it.

Ichigo looked up to the head captain and saw that he was breathing heavily now at what she was doing. Her face was filled with rage and she knew what she was about to do would be a major blow to the soul society as a whole.

"She wasn't just a Quincy old man." She started off in a low tone as she took a step forward. "She was a mother of three." Another step. "A wife." Another. "A true protector." Another. "A light in the darkness of everyone she touched." You get the idea by now. "But most importantly." She disappeared and reappeared in front of the old man, shocking him completely. "She was my mother, and because of you, she was taken away from me. I will never forgive you, nor will I make your death swift and painless."

Yamamoto leapt back to give himself some distance from her and gritted his teeth in anger at her. "THEN I SHALL END YOUR MISERABLE LIFE JUST LIKE I DID YOUR QUINCY OF A MOTHER!"

He raised his blade into the air and the pillars were starting to swirl around each other, covering the sky in fire. The look on the head captain was one of arrogance and madness at this point. He was ready to die and end this all, taking everyone with him, but then something unexpected happened. The flames all died down, same with his blade. He looked around, wide eyed and unsure of what had happened just now. Why had his Ryujin Jakka suddenly stopped? Why couldn't he hear it anymore?

"Good job Wonderweiss." Ichigo said in an icy cold tone. The head captain turned around and saw that blond kid who brought the menos' here in a release form of sorts. His hand was wrapped around the old mans zanpakuto and he was breathing hard.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The old man yelled out as he kicked Wonderweiss hard in the stomach, sending him tumbling back to the ground hard.

"That was Wonderweiss sealing off your Ryujin Jakka." Aizen spoke up as he stood next to his Alpha Espada. "It is over head captain, surrender now, and Ichigo won't kill you." Aizen spoke out and Ichigo simply scowled at the old man, begging him to try something. Anything so she can get her hands on him.

The head captain gritted his teeth but reigned in on his anger almost immediately. He dropped is zanpakuto and threw off his haori and shihakusho, exposing his scarred yet muscular body. "I do not need my zanpakuto to kill two mere children trying to play god."

Ichigo smirked as she knew what was to happen now. She would get her own revenge on the man that was the cause for her mother's death, and she would keep her promise to make it slow and painful.

Down on the building where Kisuke was, he was starting to get his bearings once more and was trying to prepare his kido spells to take Ichigo out of the fight. Before he could even start the incantation, he felt the unconscious body of his closest friend fall right on top of him, knocking him back to the ground. He moved a bit and saw that Yoruichi was the one that was in fact tossed onto him. She was knocked out and tied up with some kind of glowing blue ropes around her bare wrist and ankles. Kisuke was about to move to release her when he felt something tie around his wrists and ankles as well. It was the same thing tied around Yoruichi and it was preventing him from using his spirit energy. He turned around and saw two men he didn't think would be here standing over him. One was the former Shiba clan head and his other old friend, Isshin Kurosaki. The other was a long thought dead soul reaper with one arm and silver hair looking down at him.

"Isshin. Ao Shun?" Kisuke spoke up, shocked to see these two stop him like this. "What are you two doing?" He asked, losing his calm composure completely.

"Easy." Ao started with a smile. "We came here to ensure that what happens next will not be interrupted. The rest of the soul reaper forces have also been dealt with while young miss Kurosaki was making her statement clear to my former teacher."

Kisuke looked over to Isshin who hadn't taken his eyes off of the stare down his oldest daughter was having with his former teacher. He knew she would win, but didn't know just how badly she would hurt the old man.

"Good luck Ichigo." He said as the orange haired teen rushed over to the old man.

Getting close to the end with this fic. Next chapter will definitely be the end of the war and the one after it I'm still working on. Hope ya'll enjoy this as we're inching closer to the end.

PEACE!