Continuation of "The Shadow approaches!"
"So, you think you can have control over me? Hah! Don't make me laugh! You can't control me if there were a thousand of you attacking me at once!" Ichiog's hollow form sneered. Last time I fought him, I almost died….. Wait… didn't I finish him off before…? Ichigo had completely forgotten that he eliminated his hollow form. "How did you--?" Ichigo's hollow form interrupted him. "That old man of yours got me back. Thanks to him, I'll be able to face you again! But this time, You won't live long enough to even leave a scratch on me!" Ichigo knew why Zangetsu brought him back to life. If he was to master jikai, he had no choice. "Here I come, partner!" Ichigo's hollow form suddeny disappeared from where he was standing. What!? Ichigo felt a strong spiritual force behind him. The hollow took a strong slash behind him, Ichigo barely managing to block it with his soul reaper. I don't remember my hollow form being so- fast! And his spiritual force- it's overwhelming me! His hollow form noticed his surprised face and laughed maliciously. "You want to know why I'm so fast, do you? When you 'eliminated' me, I ended up in soul society's yet unknown place- soul-dump. It takes in all the souls that were either eaten by hollows or killed by soul reapers and throws them away in there. Man, you should have seen all that souls! They were d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! whenever I ate a soul, I became stronger. And now, as you can see, I'm more than 5 times as fast as you are with your bankai!" Ichigo's hollow form disappeared again, making Ichigo look around him again. His hollow form slashed again. This time, however, Ichigo wasn't fast enough. He was slashed right aross his chest. Ichigo gritted his teeth and endured the hit. Ichigo took a swing at his hollow form, missing him completely. "Now you see!? There is no way you can activate your jikai!" Ichigo was just about to give up when he remembered what happened to his friends. I can't give up. My friends need me. Ichigo closed his eyes. "So you've given up, huh!? I'm still gonna slice you in half!" He disappeared again. Ichigo focused on the spiritual force that his hollow form had. He suddenly felt a strong spiritual force beside him. He took a slash, where his hollow form was. "What…?" Ichigo's hollow form slowly disintegrated. "I guess you really improved your skills while I was in soul dump. Well, you've won. I have no shoice but to unite with you…" Ichigo's hollow form disappeared into the open space. From where it disappeared, Ichigo felt a strong, overwhelming force. Suddenly, a strange black sphere, almost looking as if it were alive, came out. "Zangetsu, is this what you were talking about?" Zangetsu slowly nodded. Ichigo reached for the sphere cautiously, making sure nothing was going to happen. When Ichigo touched the sphere, everything went black.
"I'm back, Yamijirou! This time, I'm ready!" Yamijirou looked surprised, not because Ichigo knew his name, but he was alive. "Looks like I understimated you. But you'll still die." Ichigo raised his soul reaper. "Jikai." Yamijirou froze. Could it be? He thought. Could he be the one to master the unison with a hollow? Ichigo's soul reaper suddenly released a great amout of dark aurora. "Zangetsu jigoku." Ichigo became covered in a huge amount of dark force. Yamijirou looked at Ichigo with no expression in his face. The dark force around Ichigo left him. Ichigo was wearing the same mask that saved his life a multiple times- except this time, the mask wasn't white- it was completely black, and had a crossed scar slashed right across his right eye. His clothing changed as well- it was no longer a clothing- it was an armor, also black, except it had strange gold trimmings that seemed to come alive everytime Ichigo took a breath. He was also wearing a cape- It was blood red, and had a strange spiritual force coming from it. "Well, Yamijirou, now let's see who will fight to the finish and win!" Yamijirou smiled faintly. "This is no ordinary child- I guess I'll have to fight you with full power!"
To be continued