Author note

Thanks to moonray9, Cervantes Osis, and xyzinc for reviewing. Oh, and, about the error Cervantes pointed out. When I said Arturo was incomplete the first time, I did mean the attack before the start of the game.

By the way, I intend to update bi-weekly, I should have mentioned that in chapter 1. The next chapter may be delayed due to real life problems and the fact that I plan to look for a beta reader.

Also, the poll will be closed when the next chapter is uploaded.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach


World of the Living, morning

Isshin was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. He had eventually gone to bed, but he had not slept. He mourned the loss of his son, who had become a Hollow. The worst fate imaginable to any Shinigami. The body had been taken to his friend, Ryuken Ishida's hospital and placed in its morgue as if he was just found dead somewhere. Now came the worst part, telling his daughters.

He heard them downstairs, he knew it was time to tell them, whether he was ready or not. He gets up and walks to the stairs. Yuzu and Karin, sitting at the kitchen table, heard him coming and when they saw him, they both became worried, they knew something was wrong, from his lack of energy and the slightly depressed look on his face.

"Yuzu, Karin…" Isshin says, both girls note his unusual seriousness.

"What is it, dad? What's got you finally acting your age?" Karin states, hiding her fears of her fathers unusually serious and solemn demeanor. Yuzu on the other hand has an expression that is far more easy to read.

"…I received a call last night after you went to sleep, Ichigo…passed away." Isshin says. His daughters eyes go wide from disbelief, how could that be, he had just been home less than a week ago.

"Wha- what are you trying to pull old man!? There's no way, th-that can't…" Karin exclaims as tears well up in Yuzu's eyes. Karin stops talking when she realizes it's the truth from the look on her face.

"I wouldn't joke about something like this Karin, the cause of death is still unknown, they ruled out violence and drugs. Were to come in and identify the body in an hour."

Yuzu begins to sob uncontrollably and runs into her fathers arms. He looks to Karin, who is looking down at the floor, her hair covering her eyes. She stands there for a few moments before running upstairs. Understanding that she wants to deal with this on her own, he tries to comfort Yuzu, who at the moment seems inconsolable.

Upstairs, Karin locks herself in her room, leaning against the door and begins to cry herself. Ever since their mother died she had been the strong one. Unlike Yuzu, she couldn't do much as far as housework went, so the best she could do since she couldn't help with the work that their mother wouldn't be around to do is stay out of the way and not cry, to not worry others. Since she can't stop her tears, the least she can do is keep them from seeing her while she cries.


Urahara shop

Uryu, Chad and Orihime were at the Urahara shop sitting at a table, they had been called there early by Yoruichi. They also wondered why Ichigo wasn't there. Uryu was worried about his rival. He, as a Quincy, had superior reiatsu sensing capabilities and, although it was faint, he had sensed Ichigo's reiatsu the other day, and something had been very wrong with it, although it was too faint for him to discern just what was wrong. They were all wondering what was happening when the door slides open and Kisuke Urahara enters the room along with a dark skinned with long purple hair and golden colored eyes.

"Good, your all here." Urahara states.

"Um, Mr. Urahara, who is this?" Orihime asks indicating the purple haired woman.

"Yoruichi Shihoin, this is her true form." Urahara answers calmly as he sits down, Yoruichi chooses to stand. All their eyes widen at this. This was Yoruichi, the talking cat!? Well, that explained how she could talk but raised more questions.

"But that has nothing to do with why I called you here…" Kisuke states, deciding to get to the point before they brought this up. Orihime decides to ask about there missing companion.

"Excuse me, Mr. Urahara but, where is Ichigo, shouldn't he be here too?" Orihime asks.

"That's actually why I called you here…I'm sorry to say this, but…Ichigo died trying to restore his Shinigami powers."

There is not a sound in the room as the three wide eyed teens process this news.

"No." is all Chad states, he looks at Urahara with a stoic expression not betraying his feelings while Orihime whispers Ichigo's name and looks at Urahara with disbelief, seeing the serious and remorseful look on his face and realizing that this is true, she begins to quietly sob. Uryu looks down for a moment with closed eyes, quietly grieving for his lost rival, one of the few Shinigami he respected, before looking up at Urahara.

"How exactly did Ichigo die?" Uryu asks, knowing that Urahara's training did this and wanting to know exactly what killed him. The former captain didn't want to have to tell them the truth, but it was his mistake, his responsibility.

"The training to restore Ichigo's Shinigami powers was a three step process, with the first two steps being extremely risky, I told him that failure would mean death but…" he trails off, leaving Uryu wondering what it was he was trying to put off telling them.

"The first step was to restore his reiryoku, which he completed, but the second was far more difficult. The second phase, the one that killed him, was called the 'Shattered Shaft', Ichigo was thrown into a deep hole after his Chain of Fate had been severed. The purpose of the Shattered Shaft was to turn him back into a Shinigami. If you succeed, it won't matter that the chain is broken. The hole is filled with a gas that accelerates the erosion of the Chain of Fate, to the point that it will completely erode in 72 hours."

Uryu gasps, he is the only one of the teens who knows what happens when the chain erodes completely.

"I see you know what this means Uryu. The only time a human can access such dormant power is when the soul is in terrible danger, such as the threat of becoming a Hollow. That's what happens when the Chain of Fate erodes completely." He winces at the looks of absolute horror on their faces. Ichigo had become a Hollow!? That couldn't be, it just couldn't! That's what was coursing through their minds more or less, but it was reality.

"I take the blame for this, I should have explained the risks and goals more clearly." Urahara says, looking down with a look of remorse.

Orihime stares down in silence as tears run down her face, she had a crush on Ichigo for years, it looked like she would never be able to tell him now. Then she remembers: 'Hollows are returned to normal and pass on when purified'.

"You… did you purify him?" Orihime asks, hopeful that they may see him in Soul Society.

"Unfortunately no, you know the power he had as a Shinigami, the Hollow he became was far more powerful than I thought possible, he got away, to the world of the Hollows: Hueco Mundo." Urahara explains, destroying the hope Orihime had gained.

"Do you still want to go to Soul Society?" Urahara asks, Chad and maybe Orihime and Uryu had mainly been going for Ichigo's sake, they may back down now.

"It was Ichigo's last wish to save Rukia, I'll go" Chad states calmly, not betraying his sorrow at his friends fate.

"I'll go, I was going to fight Shinigami anyway." Uryu says lying about his reason for going. Orihime nods that she will still go, unable to say another word.

"Good, but without Ichigo, you will need more help." Urahara states

"We won't need help, we can win on our own." Uryu states, confident and determined to avenge his friend.

"Before you continue, there's something you should know, do you remember how powerful the two Shinigami who came here for Rukia were? Well they were wearing a seal to prevent their reiatsu from affecting living souls. They were only at one fifth their real power." Uryu and Chad's (Orihime isn't really listening at this point) eyes widen, the Shinigami who had defeated Uryu and Ichigo had been fighting at only 20%?

"In addition, all the captains, with one exception, have achieved the second and final level of a Zanpakuto's release: the Bankai, which multiplies their power on average five to ten times." silence follows this statement.

"Ichigo had the potential to reach Bankai, which would have allowed him to fight on their level but now…" he trails off. "Ichigo's father has decided to go in his place." Urahara explain, they give him surprised and questioning looks.

"Let me explain, Ichigo got his true Shinigami powers from his father, though he never knew. About 20 years ago, he was a Shinigami captain, I won't go into detail but he fell in love with Ichigo's mother and you get the rest. The catch is that, to hide himself he needed an untraceable Gigai, which slowly destroyed his powers, but I can restore them, and he wants to do this for his son." all their eyes widen again at this revelation, Ichigo's father was a Shinigami captain!? Well, that explained where he got his power from.

"I'm also going to see if I can recruit your father, Uryu"

"What!?" Uryu hisses at Urahara with a furious look, he really doesn't get along with his father, Ryuken.

"I thought you'd react that way, but, despite the way he acts he's a very powerful Quincy." Uryu decides not to argue.

"Look, take the rest of the day off and come back here tomorrow, I'll take over your training."

They nod, get up to leave, Uryu helps Orihime, who is still crying, and they leave in, other than Orihime's sobs, silence. Urahara sighs he was glad that was over, her had not been looking forward to telling them.

"Well, that went well." Youruichi speaks up.

"Yeah, they took the news better than I had hoped." Urahara stated, looking serious. He had a feeling that, despite their preparations, the situation would, once again, end in Aizen's favor.


Hueco Mundo

Ichigo had ended up deep underground in a large forest of enormous tree like crystal formations. At the top of the skyscraper size false trees was a thick layer of sand. He had wandered into the Menos Forest.

He had been searching through the forest for a few hours now and so far nothing. Where were all the Hollows? He was becoming ravenous.

Then, suddenly, he senses a strange reiatsu, or to be more exact, countless small reiatsu signatures which all seemed to be condensing together. Curious, he decides to check it out. There he finds what seem to be all the Hollows in the area, of various shapes and sizes, fighting with and devouring each other. And more and more Hollows were being attracted to the feasting and as the numbers grew, the reiatsu grew denser.

Deciding it was time to feast, he leaps into the mass of Hollows, slaying two in one slash of his claw, he took one bite off the nearest kill and moved on.

This continued for about 10 minutes, with him slaying them while more and more were drawn. Suddenly, the reiatsu changes, having reached a critical level of density. All of a sudden, he feels intense pain under the reiatsu and his eyes widen as his body and the bodies of the other Hollows break down into red particles, all of which are being drawn to one point.

He roars as his body completely breaks down and his consciousness suddenly finds itself inside the mass of Hollow flesh, as it begins to grow, in a sea of conciousness consisting of his own mind and those of all the other Hollows. He finds his mind is much more powerful than all the others in the new body and he quickly suppresses them, making the body his. The body fully forms, an enormous Hollow at least two stories tall, completely black except for its feet, mask, and a ring of spikes around its neck. The mask takes the form of a more menacing skull with six red lines, three on each side going down from the top of the mask. He had evolved into a Menos Grande, or to be more exact, a Gillian.

The hunger returns, now stronger than ever, worse yet and to his annoyance, he can hardly think do to a maddening whispering in his head, the voices of all the lesser Hollows that made up this new body.

Suddenly, he senses several similar reiatsu signatures around him, looking around, he sees that all the Gillian in the area are moving towards him, unbeknownst to him, this was because Arturo had ordered that he be watched by Adjuchas, and that Gillians be directed towards him should he evolve, not that Ichigo cares why. There is only one question on his mind: which is the next victim?


Soul Society (next day)

Sosuke Aizen was standing at a computer terminal in the Daireishokairo, the repository of all knowledge and history in Soul Society, deep within the Central 46. In it was the information on the Oken (kings key), which was vital to his goals. For it was only with the Oken that he could open the door to the kings dimension. To kill the king, who had, to Aizen, failed his duties as the one at the top, and become the king, to become god of the world, that was Aizen's goal.

So far, everything had gone according to plan. With him giving orders in place of the Central 46, who he had murdered, Rukia had been taken back to Soul Society, her Gigai destroyed, and her execution by the Sokyoku, which would destroy her spirit body, allowing him to take the Hogyoku, still, just in case, se planned to later research the method to extract items sealed inside souls in this manner.

Killing the Central 46 had been necessary for his plans, not that he regretted it. He didn't like killing those he didn't have to, although he didn't have much of a conscience, or morality or ethics, nor did he care about the lives of other individuals, with a few exceptions throughout his life, even if he did he still wouldn't regret it. They had been corrupt and created many unjust laws, he had done Soul Society a favor by killing them. At any rate, he was one step closer to taking his rightful place on the worlds throne.

Now, next he would have to wait for the boy, the substitute Shinigami who had grown close to Rukia, Ichigo Kurosaki, to come to Soul Society, whether by his own will or by Kisuke Urahara's orders, to attempt to save her. It would be the perfect distraction for him to complete his plans unknown to the other Shinigami.

"Well, well, you seem to be enjoying yourself, captain Aizen." A mocking voice states from the door. Turning around he sees Gin, his second in command, leaning against the door with his arms crossed with his usual wide smile.

"Welcome Gin, why are you here? I take it something happened." Aizen states politely, smiling. He was always polite, regardless of the circumstances. He was also somewhat kind to his loyal subordinates, when he wasn't manipulating them anyway, unless they outlived their usefulness, or acted insubordinate, he enjoyed making those who fell into the latter category suffer for it.

"What, not happy to see your old friend?" Gin asks, acting hurt. "But you are correct, we just got a report from Las Noches."

"Oh, and what was it?"

"Apparently a new Hollow has appeared in Hueco Mundo, despite being a newly created Hollow, its reiatsu is about Adjuchas level and recently, it evolved into a Gillian" Gin states. Aizen's smile widens, a Hollow like that was very rare, it would make an excellent soldier.

"But there's more, apparently, this Hollow was that kid you were interested in." Aizen's eyes widen slightly, this new Hollow was Ichigo Kurosaki, the child he expected to lead the doomed attempt to save Rukia. This had taken Aizen by surprise, something that almost never happened.

"The poor boy" Aizen states sympathetically, anyone who didn't know him would think he was sincere. "And how did this happen?"

"Don't know. Anyway, the Adjuchas are directing the Gillians to him, he should evolve in days at the rate he's going."

"I see."

"Things certainly are going well for us, wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed, I wonder what Kisuke Urahara will do now."

"Good question. Well, I should go. Unlike you, I don't have someone taking my place back at my division."

Gin walks out and Aizen gets back to reading the data in the repository, wondering how this will affect the situation. Knowing that no matter how it changes, he will control the outcome.


The World of the Living, night

Ryuken Ishida was standing in a training room on the ground floor of the Karakura Town Hospital, the training ground was a large, blue room made of soul-synthesized silver and glass. As much as he detested his Quincy powers it would be foolish if he didn't maintain them. He was the true last Quincy, the master of every Quincy technique, but he wanted nothing to do with the spirit world, helping the dead was useless in his opinion, that was the Shinigami's job and helping the living was more effective, not to mention that helping the dead didn't make a living.

"Yo, been a while, hasn't it, Ryuken?" a familiar voice calls out from behind him.

Ryuken turns around to see Isshin standing there in his Shinigami uniform.

"How did you get in here, Isshin?…That form…did your powers return?"

"Yeah, looks great, doesn't it?"

"I'm gonna be sick." Ryuken states lighting a cigarette

"… Thanks."

"Why are you here?"

"…We want you to help rescue Rukia." Isshin states.

Ryuken looks at Isshin wit a emotionless look. What were they thinking? They knew he wanted nothing to do with the dead, that he thought all of that should be left for the Shinigami to deal with. So why would they think he would help, as a favor for an old friend? Or was it because they both knew his son would go? Either way, ridiculous.

"Are you that foolish? Why would I help you invade Soul Society to save her?" Ryuken states, without showing any emotion. "I know she was important to your son, and you have my condolences for what happened to him, but why would I get involved?"

"…There have been some things we haven't told you, it didn't matter until now, but…"

Isshin goes on to explain about the Hogyoku being hidden within Rukia's soul, and about how the Shinigami were most likely being manipulated. Ryuken's expression remains unchanged but inwardly, he's slightly shocked. He had known about the Hogyoku and how dangerous it was, but didn't know where it had been hidden until now, nor had he known the true nature of the traitor, Aizen's Zanpakuto.

He understood that, until now, the information was useless to him so he wasn't surprised they hadn't told him, but now he understood why he thought he would help, with an army of complete Arrancar, Aizen could easily take over all three worlds, being alive or dead wouldn't matter in the worst case scenario. He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and breaths out.

"I see…sounds like the Shinigami have been causing problems…that being said its still their problem, but I see why you want my help, this could end up a major threat, to the living and dead."

"So…" Isshin asks. Ryuken sighs.

"I'll think about it."


One week later, forest outside Karakura Town

Uryu was resting, sitting on a rock. For the past hour he had trained with the new powers granted to him by the Sanrei glove. Knowing the true strength of the captains, he was pushing himself as hard as possible. At the moment, he was wondering how Orihime was doing, he didn't know if Ichigo knew or returned it, but it was obvious that Orihime cared for him, his death and transformation into a Hollow had hit her hard, he was worried about her. She couldn't stop crying during the funeral. On top of that she seemed to almost completely shut down, her training suffered and Urahara was considering pulling her from the operation.

Speaking of which, Tatsuki Arisawa, a childhood friend, also took it particularly hard, as did his other close friends and many of his classmates were saddened, of course. Thankfully, none of the spiritually aware among them knew his true fate.

Knowing how powerful the captains and lieutenants truly were now, he wasn't sure he would be able to help much against them, although he was sure he could fight on par with the lieutenants, he knew he would stand little chance against the captains, not without removing the Sanrei glove. There were only four days left until the Senkaimon was finished and he wasn't confident in their victory after the captains true powers were revealed.

"I'm surprised your training so half-heartedly, Uryu." a calm voice breaks him out of his thoughts, he turns to see his father, Ryuken Ishida, walking into the clearing.

"What are you doing here, Ryuken?" Uryu says with a glare.

"Calling your father by his first name? How rude, I thought I'd raised you better." Ryuken responds with no emotion.

"You didn't answer my question." Uryu responds in a slightly irritated tone.

"Very well, I wanted to see how far you've come, I have to say, unimpressive, your powers are still immature and you've little talent."

"How can you say that when you turned your back on the Quincy!? I thought you looked down on the Quincy and had given up your Quincy powers!"

"You seem to be misunderstand, I said 'I have no interest' and 'you have no talent'. I have, regardless of my personal wishes, inherited all the powers and techniques of the previous generations Souken Ishida." Uryu's eyes widen at this.

"…If you're here, then I guess you've decided to help, why?"

"…I have my reasons." Ryuken states, not revealing the true severity of the situation. "I want to train you to use your powers properly, if only so you don't die in an unsightly manner." Uryu grits his teeth and narrows his eyes, how dare he speak down to him like this!?

"I see you dislike this thought, how about a wager then? Prove me wrong, if you can defeat me, I will give you all my documents on the Quincy as well as the Seele Schneider, if you lose, I will train you until Urahara completes the Senkaimon at the end of the week."

"…Very well, lets see if your as skilled as you think you are." Uryu states summoning his bow.


Soul Society

Renji Abarai, lieutenant of the 6th squad was training as hard as he could in a forest outside the Rukongai. Currently, he was so exhausted he could hardly lift his arms, but he couldn't stop. He needed to get strong, to save Rukia, his childhood friend. He could still hardly believe it. He was sure that the Central 46 would simply have her temporarily imprisoned, at worst. They were going to execute her, what was worse was how Byakuya, her older brother (well, adopted but still) didn't seem to care at all.

He was trying to reach Bankai, without it he would have no chance of saving her, he knew he wasn't alone. He knew that captains Ukitake and Kyoraku wouldn't stand by and let this happen.

His mind wanders to that orange haired kid that Rukia had gotten close to, that she had lent her power to. The one he held responsible for all this. Ichigo Kurosaki. He hated the rookie for getting Rukia into this, that being said, he didn't hate him enough to wish him dead, he wondered if the kid survived. He also wondered how he and Rukia got so close in such a short amount of time, it was obvious to him she was trying to protect him back there when she told him not to follow.

He shakes the thoughts from his head, he had to focus on training, he still had a month after all, and he was close to learning Bankai. Still, he had better hurry.


Rukia was sitting in her cell, she had long accepted her fate. Its what she deserved, she had killed her superior, her friend, Kaien Shiba, and now she was most likely responsible for another death. Despite how short they had known each other, she had grown close to Ichigo, she hoped he was safe, but she knew otherwise. She was certain that, if he survived, he would try to save her.

She still remembered, the pain when she saw him impaled by her older brother. She didn't think they could have bonded that much in such a short time. Thinking about him coming, getting killed trying to rescue her was simply unbearable.

'Ichigo, please be okay, and please don't come, don't try to save me…my life isn't worth it…'


Hueco Mundo

Ichigo couldn't think. He had devoured countless Hollows and the voices in his head were so loud now he couldn't hear is own thoughts. But he kept in control of their body, no matter how hard they fought to pull him back.

He had devoured countless Gillians since he evolved, they just kept coming no matter how many he killed, not that he complained, he was getting stronger, that's all he cared about now. Suddenly, something happens, the voices stop and a red reiatsu explodes from him, blinding all who can see him as his form shrinks down.

When the light fades, he feels…good, there is no other word to describe how he feels. The voices have quieted down, although they are still there and he feels so much stronger. He looks at his new form. He is about 12 ft tall now. He isn't bulky anymore, he is muscular but lean, his mask is now more menacing and skull-like now having four red lines coming down from the top of his mask, two stopping just above his eyes. His mask covering not only his face but half of the top of his head and he has two long horns, his hair is the same, long and spiky, and an 8ft long tail. He has 4 red markings coming from his Hollow hole which going around his back and neck and there are more black marks at the end of his tail. Finally, his forearms and claws are covered in bone-like armor, there are three spikes arrayed in a triangle on both his shoulders, and his Hollow hole is larger. Ichigo had evolved into an Adjuchas.

After looking over and getting used to his new body for a few moments, he senses the hunger return and the voices getting a little louder, he decides to go look for his next meal. Until now, he had been avoiding Adjuchas, now, they were his prey.


Name: Ichigo Kurosaki

Species: Adjuchas-class Menos

Appearance: a large, demonic, humanoid lizard. 12 ft tall, lean, has a long tail. Has red markings coming from his Hollow hole and the tip of his tail and bone armor covering his forearms and claws. Has a menacing, skull like mask with 4 red marks extending from he upper corners of the mask, two stopping just short of his eyes.

Skills and abilities: Far above average Adjuchas level reiatsu and abilities, high-speed regeneration, abnormally thick hide, has the unique ability to charge and fire multiple Ceros simultaneously, further abilities unknown.

Current activities: Devouring other Adjuchas.


Author's notes

So ends chapter 2. It came out shorter than I wanted and I am a little dissapointed with it but, oh well. Next chapter starts the Soul Society arc.

Is there anything you think is wrong so far?(writing style, wording, characterization, ect.) And what do you think of the story so far?

Here's a question about what the readers think of a subject.

Arrancar life spans? I think, because Lilinette said Arrancar don't have ages and a few other reasons that their like the Bount and can't die from age, Arturo seems to prove that somewhat being older than any Shinigami besides Yamamoto even when only counting his time as an Arrancar and still looking like a late teen. What does everyone else think?

Please review and answer questions.