Babylon's Guardian
Chapter 5: Search for Ichigo/Welcome to Babylon 5
Recap: While the Gotai 13 mourned Ichigo's apparent death, three people attempted to find him. These were his friends Uryū Ishida, Orihime Inoue and Yasutora 'Chad' Sado, who refuse to stop looking for him. This search will lead them to the last of the Babylon Stations, 250 years in their future.
Uryū Ishida was a good man, and he refused to let Ichigo Kurosaki, who was one of the few shinigami to truly respect a Quincy and someone he saw as a friend (even if he wouldn't admit it) simply disappear after the defeat of their greatest foe.
Chad was one inch from going on the warpath, which is a lot considering the massive Fullbringer's hate of violence.
Orihime was furious, and even closer to killing half the Gotai 13 then any of them.
They wouldn't touch Rukia, though.
She was suffering more then they were: she actually loved Ichigo.
As for actually finding the Substitute, Uryū had a few ideas, but the only way to find Ichigo was to use Ichigo's reiatsu signature.
His best idea was to use the Cleaner and Orihime's Santen Kesshun combined with Ichigo's reiatsu signature.
The theory: it would send them wherever Ichigo was.
The issue? It could kill them.
Still, getting killed finding the 'Hero of the Winter War' was better then nothing: his sisters were bawling their eyes out, his father looked like shit and when Uryū told Tatsuki, the Quincy suffered for it.
He still had a dozen or so broken bones from the girl's assault.
"I have SOME of Ichigo's reiatsu here."
He held up a silver capsule.
"I got this during our...engagement with Ulquiorra in Hueco Mundo."
The two who were there shuddered.
That monster that took over Ichigo's body was NEVER to be spoken of ever again.
"If we get into the Dangai, we should be able to simulate Kurosaki's reiatsu signature, and when the Cleaner arrives, Orihime can use her Shun Shin Rikka to alter what it does, if only for a brief moment."
"We only have one problem."
They both looked at Chad.
"None of us can open a Senkaimon, and Urahara will not help us."
Uryū pointed at Orihime's hairpins.
"To quote Adam Savage, 'I reject your reality and substitute my own'. Orihime could, in theory, do it."
Chad simply nodded, forgetting that Orihime's powers were to reject reality and substitute her own.
"Orihime, if you will do the honors?"
The orange haired girl nodded.
"Soten Kesshun, I reject."
Now that Orihime knew what her powers truly did, she had much better control over them.
She managed to open a Senkaimon with ease.
"We should get moving before the Gotai 13 finds out what we're doing."
Uryū twitched.
"Shit. Someone just figured out what we're doing."
They quickly entered the Dangai, the gate closing before the afro-haired idiot from the 13th Division showed up and ruined the whole thing.
The three walked through and ended up in the Dangai.
"This brings back memories." "Yeah, bad ones."
They heard the Cleaner coming at them, although it was badly damaged from what Aizen did to it. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Orihime, time to put our plan into action!"
"Santen Kesshun, I Reject!"
The triangle shaped shield formed, changing slightly as Orihime prepared it to stop the infernal construct and change its' purpose for a brief time to send them to Ichigo.
Unlike before, her will was as sharp as Ichigo's zanpakutō.
Not even the Cleaner could resist Orihime's will, and it did as it was told, sending them to where Ichigo was.
Too bad they didn't get the memo that Ichigo was 10.5 lightyears away and 250 years in the future.
Epsilon Eridani Sector: Late 2258
Ichigo had seen some weird things in his life, (being a substitute shinigami did that) but a time traveling space station was at the top of that list. Longer and wider then Babylon 5 and green as a blade of grass, Babylon 4 was the biggest object even built by human hands.
Still, finding a copy of himself on the station fucked with his head.
He only saw it for a second, but he saw himself running down a corridor.
Of course, shit got weirder as three people he knew VERY well were thrown toward him.
He didn't know how, but Uryū, Chad and Orihime just appeared out of nowhere.
"Chad? Ishida? What the hell are YOU doing here? Fell out of a Senkaimon or something?"
Uryū got up.
"Kurosaki?! Where the hell are we?!"
Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
"Babylon 4. It's not safe, though. Let's get you the hell off this station."
He didn't give any of them a second look.
To Ichigo, he assumed that they just became shinigami and just fucked up a Senkaimon while getting ready to visit him.
The reality was more...complicated then that. FAR more complicated.
The three followed him toward the hanger bay, where the shuttles were docked.
Ichigo didn't pay much attention to them, only telling them not to wander off.
When they arrived at the shuttles, he shepherded them aboard with members of B4's skeleton crew. While they were forced to buckle in, Ichigo got to the cockpit, taking the controls.
"C&C, this is Shuttle 5: we're on our way back to Babylon 5. ETA: 3 hours."
"Copy that, Shuttle 9." Ichigo piloted the shuttle out of B4, turned it toward Epsilon Eridani 3 (and thus Babylon 5) and kicked in the autopilot while pulling out a massive book. It was a copy of Shakespeare's Complete Works, which was a 3000 page long monster.
Uryū tried to talk to Ichigo multiple times, but he simply ignored the Quincy in favor of his book and piloting the shuttle.
Then the Quincy discovered WHY he wasn't talking to them: everything they did involved the spiritual realms, and that included anything they talked about.
And none of the people he was helping to rescue knew anything about that.
'We can wait a few hours to talk to Kurosaki.'
He then noticed Ichigo's new uniform.
'He joined a military organization?'
At this point, the Quincy realized he was weightless.
'I don't believe we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.'
Kurosaki would tell them everything.
He had to.
Otherwise, Uryū would kick his ass.
Babylon 5: Green 1, Level 5
Ichigo took the three to his quarters as fast as humanly possible.
He knew something was off the moment he saw Orihime's eyes.
They were unchanged. The other one, the shinigami one, had old eyes.
This one had eyes of a young woman: the same ones he saw in Hueco Mundo.
Eyes full of fear and hope: fear of the demon locked within Ichigo and hope of his mastery over it.
Of course, Ichigo knew better then she did: his Hollow was everything he was afraid of becoming, nothing more, nothing less.
And while he feared what would happen, knew mastered his fear and joined forces with his Inner Hollow to kill Aizen.
Something had happened to Ichigo that day 250 years ago, as well, and not because of his Hollow, either. His Shikai and Bankai had changed.
And somehow, he had something else, too. And it felt like Quincy reiatsu. He knew THAT extremely well, considering he hung out with Ishida.
'Great. What the hell happened to me? I know you can't just get Quincy powers just like that!' Something uncomfortable settled in his mind.
'Oh, HELL no.'
'Much as I hate to say it, King, fuck yes.'
Ichigo resisted bashing his head against the bulkhead.
It just wasn't hard enough.
Maybe he'd invite Zaraki there to substitute for the wall.
As soon as he closed the door, he looked at the three.
"What's the year?"
"Kurosaki-" "
The year. Now."
Chad answered, not seeing where Ichigo was going with this, but not seeing any reason not to tell him.
"2008."
'Well, shit.'
"That's the year for YOU. It's actually 2258."
Everyone gaped for a moment.
"We're in the future, Kurosaki-kun?"
"Yeah."
Orihime pouted.
"It's not what I imagined."
Ichigo rolled his eyes.
He had two choices: support Orihime or make her ditch her stupid ideas of what the future was like.
His Hollow and his zanpakutō were yelling for the latter.
And frankly, he was getting tired of Orihime's stupidity.
"Orihime, I'm sorry the future's not what you wanted, but let's review what I've gone through. One, I discover that my family was murdered in a war ten years ago. Two, I have no way back to stop it. Your disappointment is NOTHING compared to that, Inoue!"
'I'm getting angry again. I don't want to be angry.'
'They must understand, Ichigo, even if they are hurt by your words.'
Chad bowed his head, knowing the pain of losing one's family.
If anyone understood, it was him. Uryū, on the other hand, was more curious about what was happening.
"Kurosaki, I know this is a stupid request, but please tell us what happened after you got here."
Ichigo shrugged, then smiled.
"I met Rukia again. That's one of the few good things that's happened."
Ichigo then began retelling his tale: from appearing in Downbelow to the incident with the Soul Hunter to him nearly getting killed a few weeks ago by the Minbari.
"And the best part will arrive in three, two, one-"
The door opened, and in came a shorter-haired Rukia, wearing an Earthforce uniform.
"Ichigo-What the hell?"
Ichigo smiled.
"Take a seat, Rukia."
"Where the hell did they come from? I mean, Orihime's back in the Soul Society, and we never found Sado or Uryū!"
"I found them on Babylon 4."
"Oh. They're from YOUR time."
Ichigo shrugged.
"Don't ask me how. I just brought them back from B4."
Then he looked at Uryū. "Care to explain?"
Uryū sighed. "We were looking for you, Kurosaki. The Gotai 13 assumed you were dead."
Rukia looked at the Quincy.
"With good reason, Ishida."
"If you bothered to look at Kurosaki's reputation, assuming he was dead was a stupid thing. He died in Hueco Mundo, yet he's sitting right there, living and breathing."
Rukia looked at Ichigo.
"He's telling the truth. Ulquiorra blasted my heart out of my chest with a cero. But my Hollow wouldn't let me die, and fought Ulquiorra to the death, killing him and impaling Ishida. Idiot."
"Excuse me?!"
Ichigo looked at the Quincy.
"My Hollow is instinct incarnate, Ishida. He wouldn't stop and hope that he'd stopped his opponent. He'd make sure that the bastard was dead, and what did you do? You got in the way."
Ishida blinked, realizing what Ichigo was saying.
He deserved what he got for being so stupid.
"Still, you died, got back up, regenerated your damaged organs and killed him. Then you turned back to normal."
"And I had nightmares for months afterwards."
He refused to admit that he still did.
Ichigo's link beeped.
"Shiba."
"Ichigo, there's reports of something in Gray 28. I think you should get ready."
"Got it." He cut the link just as Rukia's phone beeped. "Gray 28?"
"Gray 28."
She smacked him out of his body, and Ichigo ran off, phasing through the wall.
"Well, since Ichigo's going to be handling that Hollow for a while, I might as well give you a tour of Babylon 5, since you're all going to be here for a while."
Rukia stood up.
"I'll inform Commander Sinclair of what's happening, too, while I'm at it."
I am back, motherfuckers!
This computer is awesome! I can watch episodes of B5 online with zero lag, read stories online and even play StarCraft II... All at the same time.
Not that I am, but it's nice to know I can.
Best part: Windows 7. More advanced then XP (which I'm used to) but familiar enough that I can use it.
Enough bragging about my computer. Originally, I planned on introducing Draal and the Great Machine, but not this time. Ichigo and Rukia DID meet him, though.
And yes, this means I can update Babylon's Guardian and a lot of my stories once again.
On a further note...I just read Everything but the Rain Op. 9.
Masaki scares me.
...She's right behind me, isn't she?
MASAKI: Yup!
(Author screams and hides in a M4 Sherman)
Next Time on Babylon's Guardian: New Year's Eve, and nothing will ever be the same anymore.
Ja Ne!