Ever since Orihime was kidnapped, she never got to leave her room. She remained standing and stared out into the world through her bar window.
"I'm coming in." Ulquiorra said as he entered the room with a servant pushed in a cart of food. "I've brought you your meal."
"I'm not hungry." Orihime said.
"I would consider eating or I'll force it down your throat." Ulquiorra said, but Orihime didn't respond to him. "I know you're still thinking of your friends. I told you to forget about that. I will give you one hour and if you have not eaten, I'll make sure that you do." He stepped out and closed the door.
"How's our guess?" He saw Grimmjow leaning against the wall.
"What do you want, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra said.
"I just want to know how she's doing. It's not every day you have a hottie like her staying around." Grimmjow said. "By the way, have you heard about what happened to Zommari, Nnoitora, and Szayelaporro?"
"Yes, but that isn't a concern. Nnoitora might have been strong, but he's really average with all ten of us." Ulquiorra said. "The other two were just among our weaker members like you."
"What did you say? Care to take that back?" Grimmjow said.
"Not really. You haven't done anything to prove your strength so far." Ulquiorra said.
"That's just because every time I duel Ichigo, someone has to interrupt." Grimmjow said. "I'll show you that you're wrong about me." He stormed off and he had his mind dead set on finishing things with Ichigo.
…..
Karakura Town
"Are you certain?" Ichigo said. He and his four friends decided to meet up at his house and Rukia and Renji told them that Aizen was going to attack soon.
"That's what the Zommari guy just told us." Renji said.
"The energy Aizen needs to get to the duel monster spirit world must be close to maximum levels he needs." Rukia said. "The duels we've been facing so far have been intense and there is worse to come."
"Our only hope is that the Soul Society has managed to track Orihime or Aizen so we can attack him." Uryu said.
"Even if they do, what do we do against Aizen himself?" Chad said. "If the duelist he had are this strong, how strong is he?"
"That's a good point. He was one of the guys in charge of the Soul Society." Renji said.
"He also has Kaname and Gin on his side that held the same position as he did." Rukia said.
"Let's pay the Soul Society a visit. We need to see if they're ready to go yet." Ichigo said and they ran out the door. 'Hold on, Orihime. I'll come and get you soon.' He thought. All of them ran through the city to get to the Soul Society building, but Ichigo saw something ahead of them and came to a stop.
"Ichigo, what's wrong?" Uryu said.
"Look who it is?" Ichigo said. All of them looked and saw that Grimmjow was right in front of them and blocking their path.
"Hey. Long time no see." Grimmjow said.
"Grimmjow!" Ichigo said.
"Isn't that the same guy Ichigo dueled, but never finished?" Chad said.
"It's him alright. What are you doing here?" Rukia said.
"I came to settle the score with Ichigo for good." Grimmjow said.
"You've got a one track mind." Ichigo said.
"I'm going to assume that is a compliment meaning dedicated." Grimmjow said. "This time, I'm going to make sure that nothing interrupts us. I know you want to finish things between us." Ichigo was tempted, but he hasn't been able to play his cards since he lost to Ulquiorra, but he also knew that he needed to do this.
"Let's end this, Grimmjow." Ichigo said. Grimmjow was glad to hear that. Both of them placed and activated their duel disks and Grimmjow was set to make sure this would be their final duel.
"Let's duel!" Both of them said and now had 4000LP.
"Guys, I'm worried. Ichigo hasn't dueled since he fell into that depress state of his." Rukia said.
"We'll just have to hope for the best." Renji said.
"I'm going first." Grimmjow said as he drew his card. "You remember this guy? It's my White Panther." His panther like monster came on the field with 1600atk points. "I'll place these two cards face down and end my turn."
"My turn." Ichigo said and he drew his Swordsman of the Black Blade. 'My swordsman can easily take on that cat. Wait! This is what happened with Ulquiorra. I thought I had him and he destroyed me. What if I made the same mistake?'
"What's that look about?" Grimmjow whispered. He saw that Ichigo looked like he was struggling.
"I was afraid of this. He isn't ready to get back into the duel." Rukia said.
"Ichigo, let one of us take your place." Uryu said.
"No. I can do this." Ichigo said. He wanted to play his swordsman, but went against it. "I summon my Twin Sword Slicer." His swordsman holding two swords came on the field with 1600atk points. "That's where I end my turn."
"That's it? You've got to be kidding me?" Grimmjow said.
"Both our monsters have the same attack points. If you attack, they'll both be destroyed." Ichigo said.
"That's why you powered them up." Grimmjow said. "How about I show you." He drew his card. "First, I activate my face down, Night Vision. This trap lets me see all the monsters in your hand and I can send one to the graveyard." Three of Ichigo's cards were monsters. "What? You had your Swordsman of the Black Blade, but you didn't play it. That was a mistake because I choose that one." Ichigo was left with no choice, but to discard it.
"Ichigo isn't dueling like himself. If he doesn't shape up, this will be over quickly." Chad said.
"What is his problem? Ichigo, snap out of it." Renji said.
"You're done for. I'm activating my Twin Beast face down." Grimmjow said. "Since I have a beast monster on the field, I can make this trap a monster and have that monster have the same amount of attack points with an extra 400."
"He can use a trap like a monster? I've never seen a card like that in person." Rukia said. The trap turned into a copy of White Panther and had 1700atk points.
'Neither of those traps would have stopped an attack. I worried for nothing.' Ichigo thought.
"Go my Twin Beast. Take down that swordsman." Grimmjow said. The copy attacked and mauled Ichigo's swordsman and his points dropped to 3900. "White Panther, your turn." The original did the same movements and Ichigo was down to 2300. Grimmjow didn't seem satisfied. "What's going on? You're not the same duelist as before."
"You wouldn't understand." Ichigo said.
"Are you still bummed that you lost to Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow said. "One defeat, get over it." Ichigo still wouldn't budge. He was too worried he would make a mistake again and it would cost him. Grimmjow wanted to face Ichigo at his best. He thought about it and had an idea that might work. "You want to see your girlfriend, right?"
"Orihime?" Ichigo said.
"Yeah." Grimmjow said. "You're probably wondering where she is. Aizen did give her a nice room, but she is miserable. Well, I'll take you to where Aizen is hiding and you'll find her there."
"Really" Ichigo said.
"Yeah, but there's a catch. You only get to go save her if you can beat me." Grimmjow said.
"I think I see what he's trying to do." Uryu said. "He wants to face Ichigo at his best and Ichigo is not doing that. He's giving Ichigo a reason to duel again."
"What do you say?" Grimmjow said. This was Ichigo's big chance. It was now or never.
"You're on!" Ichigo said.
"That's great! It's your turn now." Grimmjow said.
"Here I come!" Ichigo said as he drew his card. "I'm going to play Demon Blade Man." A demon carrying a menacing looking sword came on the field and it had 1700atk points. "Next, his special ability activates. When he's summoned, he destroys one card. I choose your Twin Beast." It launched an energy slash and destroyed the copy. "Demon Blade Man, take down his White Panther with Demonic Devastation." The demon used the sword and created a sonic blast that destroyed the panther and sent Grimmjow to 3900LP.
"You didn't do much damage, but this is the way that I wanted." Grimmjow said.
"You make your turn." Ichigo said.
"I will." Grimmjow said. "The moment I've been waiting for is finally here. I'm going to summon Wild Spike Cat." A wildcat like monster with spikes coming out of it came up with 2000atk points. "Do you remember my Beast Offspring? I offer my monster and I can summon two monsters who have attack points that equal his. I offer my spike cat to summon Blade Panther and Night Puma." His two cats came on the field that had 1700 and 300atk points. "The time has come. I unite my dark attribute, level four and level two Blade Panther and Night Puma." All three of them became black colored energy and united. "I unite summon Panthera." His monster had a human like body with long blue hair and spikes on his arms with a panther like face and has 2600atk points.
"So this is the monster you've been trying to summon." Ichigo said.
"That's right and he can't wait to sink his teeth into you." Grimmjow said. With the chance to save his love and one beat one of his greatest rivals, the only thing standing in his way was this beast that wanted to end him.
To Be Continued…