Hey everyone! Time for Chapter 3! It might be a bit short, but I promise more action next chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own ideas and concepts. Tite Kubo owns everything else (lucky punk)
Ichigo woke up slowly, feeling like he had just been stepped on by a Menos. His head was pounding, his whole body ached, and his throat was bone dry. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw he was in a barren stone cell. There was a cup on a table next to his cot, and he reached for it eagerly.
As he thirstily gulped down water, he swung his legs over the edge of the cot and took in his surroundings. There wasn't much to see. The room was made out of gray stone. His cot was a slab of wood projecting from the wall, and the only piece of furniture was the table his cup had been on. As he raised his hand to drain the almost-empty cup, he noticed a slim silver band on his wrist. Only then did he realize he couldn't sense Zangetsu. Or his own spirit energy for that matter.
Ichigo smirked. The arrancars had made a mistake, and it was as big one. They had sealed up his spirit energy and taken away Zangetsu, assuming he would be helpless. And it probably would've worked, on any ordinary Soul Reaper.
But not on one with Hollow powers.
Ichigo could manifest his mask and sustain it for exactly 11 seconds, more than enough to overwhelm most arrancar. In addition, he had learned to tap his inner core of Hollow power, which would increase his strength and speed, harden his skin, and allow him to fire cero blasts of a medium power. With the bracelet to mask his spirit energy, he could break out, sneak through the hallways, find Zangetsu, and….well, he'd figure that part out after he had his sword back. He stood up and moved purposefully towards the door. Then it hit him.
His first, illogical thought was that Zaraki was guarding the door. The massive spirit energy he sensed had the same wild nature, the same bloodlust, as the insane captain of Squad 11. He stopped, hesitating, as the door suddenly flew open.
A tall, thin arrancar stood there. He was wearing a jacket with an overblown spoon-like hood that fastened at the waist. His hair was straight and black, hanging past his shoulders. But the thing that threw Ichigo the most was the white eye patch that covered his left eye. He wore a large, toothy grin that reminded Ichigo of a predator. The smile and the eye patch reminded Ichigo all too much of Zaraki during their fight.
The arrancar glared at Ichigo with his visible eye. "And where the hell did you think you were going?" he demanded. "Did you think you could get past me?" He spread his arms wide and threw Ichigo a mocking grin. "Go ahead, try me! Let's see what you got!" Ichigo hesitated for a split second, then lunged.
Ichigo threw a punch at the hollows face, but he ducked it and threw a punch of his own into Ichigo's gut. Ichigo fell to his knees, then to his right hand. He pivoted, trying to kick the arrancar's feet out from under him, but he jumped, then lashed out with a kick that knocked Ichigo back.
As Ichigo gasped for breath, he felt something stir inside of him. "Let me out", hissed his inner hollow, " I can beat him!" "Shut up," Ichigo snarled back as he got to his feet. He reached inside himself, to touch the core of his hollow power. He instantly felt a rush of energy, and he leaped at the arrancar for a second time.
Half a dozen blows stuck him in half as many seconds, and he flew back to hit the wall with a crunch. He felt his hardened skin and increased speed and strength seep away. He was beaten.
"The hell you are! Let me out, before he kills us both!" shouted his inner hollow. Ichigo hesitated. "Can you really beat him? " The hollow gave him a grin that was Zaraki-like in nature. "I'll take that as a yes…" he said as he let himself disappear into a corner of his mind, letting the hollow assume control. For a second, he stood frozen. Then his eyes turned black, the pupils yellow, and a mask partially formed on his face. A wide grin spread across his face as his spiritual pressure.
"What the…" was all the arrancar got out before Hollow Ichigo attacked, laughing demonically as he did. A dozen or so hard blows landed on the arrancar before he planted a kick in his attackers gut to get some distance between them.
That turned out to be a mistake. Black and red energy gathered in his palm, then flew out to strike the arrancar with surprising force. He flew backwards, hit the door, and kept sailing until he knocked a big hole in the hallway wall. Hollow Ichigo ran out, the mask slipping away as Ichigo reasserted control. He ran down the hallway, leaving the arrancar in an unconscious heap.
Now that he was out of the cell, Ichigo could clearly sense the thread of energy that led to Zangetsu. He followed around three turns until he came to a large, thick wooden door. Luckily for Ichigo, it wasn't locked, so he let himself in.
The room was an armory, with swords and other weapons piled everywhere. Ichigo located Zangetsu fairly easily, strapped it onto his back and took a deep breath. What now? he thought. He couldn't open a gate back to Soul Society, which meant he was effectively stuck here.
Before he could think any more, he heard the sound of swords being drawn. He turned to see five arrancars watching him, each with a zanpakto leveled at him. One of them, a tall man with his mask covering half his face with his hair in a ponytail gestured at him with his other hand. "Let's go," he ordered, "Lord Aizen wants to see you."
Things are getting exciting, eh? Once again, a few things before I leave you.
How'ed you like my introduction of Nnoitra? I thought it was rather good, considering I haven't even read the chapters with him in it.
The half-hollow form was something that I just made up off the top of my head. What'ed you guys think?
So far, 340 people have read this, 4 have faved it and 4 have put it on alerts. And only 3 reveiws? You wound me, good readers. I'll make you a deal, if I have 15 reveiws by the next time I update, I'll write at least 5 pages.
And that's it for now. I'll update soon, I promise. Please read, PLEASE review, and enjoy! Until next time.