The two strangers, that revealed their names were Ulquiorra and Yammy, they also revealed that they were working with Aizen. Yammy was dueling Ichigo with his Ira at 3000atk points and all of his life points. Ichigo had nothing protecting him and had 1800LP. Luckily, Yammy couldn't attack this turn.

"You going to make a move?" Yammy said.

"Here I go." Ichigo said as he drew his card.

"Come on, you can take this guy Ichigo." Renji said.

"I sure hope your right." Uryu said. "This guy is strong. He's able to shatter glass just by playing a simple card. If these two are working for Aizen, this won't be easy."

'I've got to do something about that mutant dinosaur.' Ichigo told himself as planned his next move. 'The problem is that it's a unite card. Only another unite card can destroy it. There's also its ability. If it uses another unite unit, it can destroy another one of my monsters and I'll be open for another attack and that will be that.'

'He's caught in a hopeless situation.' Ulquiorra thought. 'If he summons a monster, it will be destroyed by Ira's ability. Unless he can perform a special summon, this will be over. I failed to see why Lord Aizen is interested in him.'

'What can I do?' Ichigo thought as he looked at his cards and he soon got his answer. "That will help. I use the spell card, Shrink! That will cut your monsters attack points by half." Ira grew smaller and his points dropped to 1500.

"What?! How dare you make my monster look small and weak." Yammy said.

"I'm not done yet. I summon my Swordsman of the Black Blade." Ichigo said. His swordsman carrying a black sword came up with 1900atk points. "I'm not stopping there because I have a spell called Split Soul. By cutting the attack points of one of my monsters in half, I can create a token that gets all of it." A spirit rose next to his swords man with it having 950atk points just like the swordsman. "Now I'll unite my level two, dark attribute token with my level four Swordsman of the Black Blade." Both of them became purple energy that came together. "I unite summon Black and White Reaper!" A reaper that wore half black and half white clothing with a sword came up and had 2100atk points. "Attack!" The reaper jumped up and was diving down.

"Don't think that scares me." Yammy said.

"You should be. I use his special ability. When he destroys a monster, the damage is doubled if I use one unite unit." Ichigo said. One unit went into his sword. "Attack with Spirit Slicer." The reaper slashed down on Ira and it was destroyed with Yammy having 2800LP. "I place one face down and end my turn."

"Trust me, punk, you don't want to make me mad." Yammy said and took his turn. "I'm going to enjoy crushing you. I activate, Reckless Rage! Thanks to this, I can bring back the last monster that was destroyed and it keeps it's unite units if it was a unite monster."

"Oh no!" Ichigo said. His Ira came back and was back to full power.

"The problem is that I have to give up 1000 life points." Yammy said as his points dropped to 1800. "It's worth it to crush you! I use Ira's ability. Using one unite unit will destroy your monster and help me win." His Ira ate another unite unit and launched an energy blast that destroyed Ichigo's monster. He got caught in the blast and his points dropped 800. "There's nothing to protect you now. Ira, finish him off!" His monster reached out with his large hand.

"Not so fast. I use my trap, Training Mannequin." Ichigo said. "Now I can summon a monster during this attack. I choose Kon the Lion." His stuffed lion monster came up with 300atk points. "He's not staying though. If I send him to the graveyard, I can stop the attack." Kon exploded and the attack was stopped.

"I can't believe he stopped another one of my attacks." Yammy said.

"Interesting. He's able to pull off a miracle and avoid defeat." Ulquiorra said.

"He's just getting lucky." Yammy said.

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Ichigo said.

"We'll see about that. I'll end my turn." Yammy said.

"My turn." Ichigo said.

"Can Ichigo defeat that guy?" Chad said.

"Of course he can. He must have some sort of plan." Orihime said.

"But if he doesn't stop that giant's ability, it will be the end of the duel." Uryu said.

"To start, I summon Underworld Guardian in defense mode." Ichigo said. A warrior in gold armor that looked like it was made of bones came up with 1300def points. "I'm also going to use my Treasure Giving. This spell allows me to draw cards depending on the level of my monster. Since my guardian is level four, I can draw four cards. I think I'll end my turn."

That's it. What a stupid move." Yammy said. "I'm going to end this, right here and now! I use Ira's ability. Say goodbye to your monster and the last of your life points." Ira ate the unit and fired and it caused a big explosion.

"Ichigo!" All of his friends shouted.

"Ha! He wasn't so tough." Yammy said.

"You fool. It isn't over." Ulquiorra said. They looked through the smoke and saw nothing happened to Ichigo or his monster.

"What?!" Yammy said.

"Sorry, but that ability isn't going to help you anymore. As long as my Underworld Guardian is the only card on the field, he can't be destroyed." Ichigo said.

"So what? Come next turn, you're done for." Yammy said. "I'll just place one card face down and end my turn."

"I'm afraid you're the one that's finished." Ichigo said as he drew his card. "I summon my Soul Siege!" His black armored warrior came up with 1400atk points. "Now, I unite my level four, dark attribute Soul Siege and Underworld Guardian." Both of them turned to energy and merged when they hit the ground. "I unite summon Zangetsu!" Zangetsu rose up with the knife like sword and had 2500atk points.

"That monster seems impressive, but I'm being careful this time." Yammy said. "I activate my trap, Coward in Rage. Now, you can't attack with the monster you just summoned."

"I had a feeling that Zangetsu wouldn't be enough even with his special ability." Ichigo said. "Luckily I had something else planned. Go, uniteion evolution!" A vortex opened up and Zangetsu went through it. Appear, Zangetsu Moon!" Zangetsu in his new form rose up and had 2500atk points with three unite units.

"How did he do that?" Yammy said.

"I'm not done there. I use two spell cards." Ichigo said. "The first is Black Spirit Energy and it gives him 600 more attack points." Black energy flow through Zangetsu moon and his points went to 3100. "Attack with Moon Fang Piercing Heaven." Zangetsu Moon unleashed the energy and it destroyed Ira as Yammy was brought down to 1700LP. "This is over. The second spell I use is Spiritual Assistance. That allows him to attack again." Zangetsu Moon flew towards him and slashed at Yammy with Ichigo winning the duel.

"Alright!" Rukia said.

"He won!" Renji said.

"Lucky punk." Yammy said, but Ulquiorra just whacked him on the head. "What was that for?"

"It wasn't luck. You underestimated your opponent." Ulquiorra said. "Aizen warned us not to do that."

"You two better start talking. What does Aizen want?" Ichigo said.

"We were not sent here to answer questions." Ulquiorra said as he created their escape route by opening the black hole they came through and both of them were leaving. "Remember this. When we meet again, you will regret ever crossing Lord Aizen's path." Those were the last words Ulquiorra said before it closed up.

"So those two were working for that Aizen guy all along." Renji said.

"We'll be seeing them again." Chad said.

"I better alert my brother and the others about this." Rukia said.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Orihime said.

"Yeah, but we better be ready for whatever is coming. This is just the calm before the storm." Ichigo said. The first battle of what might possibly be a war has started and much more terror awaits.