Chapter 2- Friends? Comrades?
"Out of the way, Ulquiorra. I'm squishing these worms!" Yammy laughed after he had knocked Ulquiorra aside with the back of his hand. He stopped before grinning widely, "And when I'm done, I will rip you apart!"
Yammy lowered his hand down to Rukia's prone body, about to snatch her in his hand. Renji seeing this action, growled and slammed his bankai into Yammy's cheek.
"Huh? What was that? That itches." Yammy grabbed Zabimaru into his grips and started to crush the segments. Renji cursed and allowed the remaining segments to fall apart. Yammy raised his non-existent eyebrow at the action.
"Higa Zekko!" The cracked segments raised upwards surrounding Yammy before plunging into him, smashing against his skin. After exerting his reiatsu in that attack, Renji dropped to his knee from exhaustion.
'Shit, it didn't work!'
"The hell was that? That barely tickled!" Yammy yelled out as he moved his arm above his head before bringing it down on Renji. His action was stopped when his arm stopped moving and he felt something dig into his elbow.
The sensation in his elbow stopped the moment he tried to investigate it, then he felt someone had landed on his opposite shoulder. "Fool." Yammy turned his head towards the voice just in time to meet a cero to the face. "Betraying me now is futile." Ulquiorra charged into the dust blown up by his cero and slammed his palm against Yammy's hollow bone. Yammy toppled over from the attack, his hollow bone cracking from the attack.
"T-the hell?" He swung his arm in the direction Ulquiorra was, but it was caught. The dust cleared and Ulquiorra was holding it up with his regenerated arm.
From below Ishida was shocked at how Ulquiorra has acquired a new arm. He saw it for sure when Byakuya had cut it off, but how had he regained his arm? Ishida looked down at Ulquiorra's severed arm.
Yammy narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth. "DIE!" He charged up his own Cero Oscuras in his mouth.
Ulquiorra sighed. Yammy fired his cero and Ulquiorra sonido'd out of its way. He landed on a pillar below Yammy. Ulquiorra pointed at Yammy and charged his cero. Yammy did the same and the two black ceros clashed against each other.
Ulquiorra quickly overpowered Yammy and his cero engulfed Yammy's head. The Cero exploded and blew off part of Las Noches above him. Yammy moved his head out of the explosion and went down onto his elbow. The Cero had left burnt his entire face; his nose was charred and his cheeks very red.
"Have I proved to you why I am stronger then you?" Ulquiorra appeared in front of Yammy's forehead and stared at him devoid of emotion.
Yammy locked up and yelled out in complete anger. "Screw you Ulquiorra!" He rashly tried to bite down on Ulquiorra.
"Trash." Ulquiorra stopped him by backhanding Yammy's large nose. Yammy fell over to the side and growled. He swung his massive tail and tried to catch Ulquiorra unguarded from the behind. "As I said, I am much stronger then you."
Yammy grinned as he slowly raised himself back up. His grin lasted until Ulquiorra blocked Yammy's massive tail with his own slim tail. Seeing as this approach not working, Yammy snatched Ulquiorra's body in his hand and began to tighten his grip. "See how you like this, Ulquiorra!" He opened his mouth and fired a Cero at Ulquiorra who was tightly locked in his grip.
Yammy laughed despite the pain in his hand from being scorched by his own Cero. He laughed even louder when he began thinking of ways to finish off the intruders. He kept laughing until he felt his hand being bent to awkward proportions. "Th-the hell?"
"Do you think a Cero is enough to beat me?" A muffled voice came from his hand. Yammy tried to squish Ulquiorra by using his other arm, but Ulquiorra ripped his left hand apart.
Yammy's eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped. Ulquiorra pressed his hands together and a lance of green reiatsu formed as he pulled them apart. "Lanza del Relampago." Ulquiorra charged down and slashed Yammy across the forehead down to his mouth, leaving a long vertical cut. Yammy howled out in pain.
"Unforgivable! I will kill you Ulquiorra!"
He disappeared again and stabbed Yammy through the chest. "Die and disappear, Yammy." His lance shattered leaving a deep hole in Yammy's chest. Ulquiorra did not give Yammy any time to react as he fired his cero repeatedly into Yammy until his cero went through Yammy completely. Yammy fell down with his eyes open and his mouth agape.
Ulquiorra jumped back and formed another. Ulquiorra threw it like a javelin and it struck Yammy. The projectile detonated and engulfed Yammy in a massive green tower of energy. Yammy howled out in pain as he was eradicated by Ulquiorra's attack.
Ulquiorra looked down at his scattered opponents. Of his five opponents, only two of them were still conscious. Ishida had only recently joined the battle and only his wrist was broken. Byakuya being a captain was strong enough to deal with injuries such as these. Ulquiorra dropped down next to Byakuya and grabbed him by the back of his neck. Before Byakuya could struggle out of it, he was thrown next to Rukia who had still yet to move an inch from the battle. Ulquiorra did the same thing with Ishida and the rest.
"I will finish the five of you here and now without doing much more damage to Las Noches." He charged up a cero in his finger and fired. Byakuya had his sakura petals block the attack, but with his injuries and near depleted reiatsu, he could not hold the Cero back for long. He bit his lower lip as the Cero broke free. 'Forgive me, Hisana!' Byakuya thought in his head as the Cero sped in their direction.
"Getsuga Tensho!" A massive lunar fang crashed into the Cero and diverted its direction.
"Yo, long time no see, Ulquiorra!" Ichigo shouted at Ulquiorra, while carrying Orihime on top of his shoulder as he did prior after the fight with Grimmjow.
Ichigo's bankai overcoat had yet to return to its full size. It covered his right arm and his torso but ends at his left collarbone. Tensa Zangetsu's chain that was broken off in the end was much longer then before. If it was stretched out, it would measure one and a half meters in length.
Ichigo landed on the sand and put Orihime down. "Inoue, go heal them." He quickly ordered Orihime, and turned over to Ishida. "Can you stand, Ishida?"
Ishida smirked. "Of course I can Kurosaki." Ichigo nodded and turned away. "Make sure you stay alive, Kurosaki, or we won't be rivals anymore!"
"Yeah." He looked over at Byakuya and he softly told him, "Take care of Rukia for me." The Kuchiki leader only nodded his head in silence.
Ulquiorra who was standing there calmly observed as Ichigo talked to his friends. "Do you think your timely intervention would save their lives, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Ichigo looked over at Ulquiorra and turned to face him. "Or have you forgotten that you failed to beat me in a prior form and now you think you can win against me at my full strength?"
"Ulquiorra, you talk too much. Of course I probably can't beat you. But I have to beat you because I have to for my friends and for my home."
"For your friends? For your home?" Ulquiorra muttered to himself, before a flashback came to him.
Walking.
Walking.
Walking.
Walking.
Walking.
Blood dripped from his white claws, as he wandered around the sand dunes.
"Let's go Ulquiorra!" Snapping Ulquiorra out of his stupor.
Ichigo sped up to Ulquiorra with newfound speed and brought a downward slash on Ulquiorra. The Espada parried the strike, and thrusts his lance at Ichigo. Ichigo leaned to the side as the lance harmlessly passed through air. Ichigo jumped back a few times to get some distance between him and Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra pounced at Ichigo and attacked. Ichigo blocked the attack and counterattacked by stabbing at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra leaned back and avoided the attack. He retaliated by whipping him across the side with his tail.
Ichigo grunted and released a Getsuga at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra jumped to the side completely avoiding the attack. Ichigo followed up by trying to slash Ulquiorra across the waist.
Ulquiorra quickly blocked the attack and pulled his free arm back. Ichigo dodged Ulquiorra's jab and kicked his opponent in the abdomen. Ulquiorra slid backwards and growled in irritation.
Ichigo vanished out of his sight before reappearing behind Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra quickly turned around and knocked off Ichigo's swipe at his head. Ulquiorra swung his tail at Ichigo's head, and Ichigo ducked down.
Ichigo slashed at Ulquiorra, who parried the attack and tried to jab Ichigo again. Ichigo moved to the side, and moved to the left when Ulquiorra jabbed at him again. Ulquiorra began attacking Ichigo with the same jabs. Ulquiorra swung his tail at Ichigo's ankles.
The Substitute Shinigami saw the attack coming and dodged by jumping. Ulquiorra stabbed at Ichigo again, this time Ichigo knocked the attack aside and slashed Ulquiorra.
The Espada jumped back managing to avoid the majority of his attack. Ichigo's sword had managed to leave a blood cut across his abdomen.
"I see you have improved, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ulquiorra narrowed his green-emerald eyes at Ichigo. "But, have you improved so much that you can withstand this?" Ulquiorra pointed his slender arm at Ichigo with his finger extended. Black reiatsu gathered at the center of his finger, before condensing into a small orb. "Cero Oscuras!"
Ichigo stood there unwavering as the streak of black reiatsu struck out towards him. He pulled back his arm as he released more reiatsu. The reiatsu began to swirl around his arm before covering his entire blade. Ichigo thrusted his attack out and shouted "Getsuga Shugeki!"
The reiatsu that was covering his blade shot out like a beam and pierced into the Cero. The attack tore through Ulquiorra's cero and pierced through Ulquiorra's entire arm.
Ulquiorra huffed as blood flowed down from the wound. "What was that attack just now?" Ulquiorra questioned while glaring at Ichigo.
"That was a new attack that Tensa Zangetsu finally taught me" Ichigo raised his sword to eye level and glanced at the blade before back to Ulquiorra. "Getsuga Shugeki, it is a variant of Getsuga Tensho. The thing with this attack is that it is a concentrated blast."
Ichigo commented on his adversary's' wound. "That wound on you is enough; with a missing arm you can't possible win anymore."
Ulquiorra's face quickly changed and he gazed at Ichigo with little emotion aside from annoyance and irritation. "Do you think you won just because I am missing an arm?" He shifted his eyes over to his arm and it quickly regenerated. Ichigo's eyes widened, Ulquiorra as if reading his mind told him. "I can regenerate myself by using my massive reiatsu reserves; as I am the only one that did not trade regenerative powers for brute strength." Ulquiorra looked up from his arm "Kurosaki Ichigo, you cannot win if you just stand there squawking."
Ulquiorra buzzed out of Ichigo's sight before reappearing and began attacking vigorously. Ichigo backed up with each swing dodging or ducking the attacks. Ichigo swung his sword out at Ulquiorra causing him to jump back for a moment.
Ichigo pushed on and clashed weapons with Ulquiorra. The clashing of the two weapons caused the ground behind Ulquiorra to get blasted into the air. Ulquiorra pointed at Ichigo and fired a Cero.
Ichigo quickly moved to the side avoiding the Cero but part of his shikakusho was burnt off leaving a singed patch of skin on him. Ichigo swung Tensa Zangetsu at Ulquiorra without bothering to check on his injury.
Ulquiorra jumped upwards and knocked Ichigo aside with his wing. Ichigo twisted his body and landed on his feet.
Ulquiorra flexed his wings and charged at Ichigo, trying to pierce Ichigo. Ichigo swiped at the thrust and he swept his sword at Ulquiorra's neckline. Ulquiorra twisted his body to the side, but he wasn't fast enough. Tensa Zangetsu severed Ulquiorra's arm at the elbow. Ulquiorra's tail swung out and clubbed Ichigo across the ribs.
Ichigo skidded to the side from the blow; he knew that Ulquiorra had broken a few of his ribs. A little blood trickled out of his mouth, before Ichigo wiped at it with the back of his hand.
Ichigo charged up not wanting to let Ulquiorra regenerate from his wound, stabbed at Ulquiorra. The arrancar swatted the blade aside using his wing and attacked with his lance, trying to run him through the neck. Ichigo side-stepped the attack and followed up by slashing at Ulquiorra's backside.
Ulquiorra used sonido to get away. He reappeared away from Ichigo. Just as he landed down, his wing fell off with a spurt of blood. Ulquiorra glanced at his fallen wing and glared at Ichigo venomously.
Ichigo was about to press forth had it not been for Ulquiorra firing a Cero at him. Ichigo used shunpo to avoid the massive Cero. He looked up and tried to fire off a Getsuga but the only thing he could see was Ulquiorra's head about to make contact with Ichigo's jaw.
Ulquiorra attacked Ichigo, the blow connected and Ichigo was knocked back like a ragdoll. Ichigo roughly landed in the sand and bounced before he regained control and landed on his knees.
Ichigo quickly got up to his feet and spat out some blood. He eyed Ulquiorra, who had already regenerated his limbs. "If you are going to keep regenerating, then this is going to be a problem." Ichigo wiped a trickle of blood coming down his forehead.
Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he focused on Ulquiorra, scowling. He raised Tensa Zangetsu up, shoulder level tensing for an attack.
Rukia's violet eyes fluttered open. She opened her mouth to speak but she found no voice. It took a minute before she was able to speak, "What is happening?"
Byakuya turned to her, "Kurosaki Ichigo and the arrancar are fighting." At the mention of Ichigo's name, Rukia quickly tried to sit up before having to lie back down from the pain. She grasped her side to try stemming the pain.
"Please don't be so active, Kuchiki-san." Rukia turned her head to the side and saw Orihime giving her a slight smile.
"Right. How is Ichigo doing?" Rukia asked to no one in particular as she could not get a view of the two fighters.
"Poorly. The arrancar has regenerative powers and is on par with the boy." Byakuya answered for her. "However, each time the arrancar regenerates his reiatsu slightly plummets."
"I thought Ichigo was defeated by him an hour ago? How could he be fighting on par now?" Rukia continued to question.
"Do not ask anymore. I do not know the answers."
Ichigo crashed violently into the sand. He sat up and leapt to the side avoiding Ulquiorra's attack. He used shunpo to get a fair distance away from the two of them. He wiped off a stream of blood with his sleeve while running.
'Damn it, every time I get him wounded he regenerates it like nothing!' Truth be told, Ichigo had the upper hand in the fighting, but Ulquiorra's regeneration wore him down.
Noticing a shadow under him, Ichigo turned around quickly and blocked Ulquiorra. The arrancar used his strength and pushed Ichigo back. Ichigo quickly did a flip and planted himself on his feet. He looked up and parried Ulquiorra. Ichigo stabbed at Ulquiorra and managed to go cleanly through his right shoulder. Ulquiorra kicked Ichigo in the abdomen before yanking Tensa Zangetsu out.
Ichigo slid on his feet for a few meters before charging back at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra leaned back, dodging Ichigo's attack. Ichigo spun around and slashed Ulquiorra across the back.
'How strong is his hierro?'
The attack had left a flesh wound on Ulquiorra. It was only deep enough to cause blood trickle down.
Ulquiorra's tail wrapped around Ichigo's ankle, and Ulquiorra yanked Ichigo into the air. Ichigo sailed into the air before he regained control and stopped himself. He sped back into Ulquiorra and slashed downwards. Ulquiorra sidestepped the attack, then he began attacking with quick stabs.
Ichigo concentrated his focus on the attacks, but he didn't notice Ulquiorra's tail slamming into his ribs where he was hit earlier. The attack sent Ichigo plummeting into the sand, creating a small crater.
Ichigo sat up and grasped his side while panting for breath. The attack just now had knocked the breath out of him. Ichigo dashed to the right and tumbled to avoid Ulquiorra smashing down on where he was before. His eyes widened as he saw Ulquiorra's tail go out the sand and hit him across the cheek.
Ichigo rebounded himself to his feet and swung his sword upwards. The attack connected with Ulquiorra and cut his tail off. "Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo fired it in the direction where the sand was blowing heavily. He shifted his eyes to the left and saw Ulquiorra going for a decapitation maneuver. Ichigo ducked and slashed at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra took the hit and had a long diagonal cut but nowhere deep enough to be serious.
Ichigo pressed on and continued slashing Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra blocked and dodged, while a few strokes managed to get past his defense, the intruder didn't have enough strength to go deep enough into his body. Ulquiorra stopped Ichigo from attacking by grabbing his sword-arm by the forearm. Ulquiorra folded his wing and stretched it back out.
Ichigo was hit across the chest by the attack and was knocked into the ground. He jumped up into the air, while holding his chest from the pain. Ulquiorra pursued him and slammed Ichigo with his palm at the back of his neck.
Ichigo crashed into the sand with a boom. He coughed violently as he sat up.
'How the hell is he getting even faster? It's as if he was holding back the whole entire time I fought until recently!'
Ulquiorra landed in front of Ichigo, interrupting his thoughts. "You have not brought out your mask." Ulquiorra gazed into Ichigo's amber eyes. "Do you think you could win without using your hollow powers?"
"Shut up, I don't need to be told by you on what I should do!" Ichigo snarled at him. Ichigo quickly attacked Ulquiorra by unleashing a quick Getsuga Tensho. Ulquiorra blocked the attack with his lance while kneeling. The Getsuga sent him skidding through the sand before Ulquiorra knocked it to the side. Ichigo charged in with Tensa Zangetsu empowered by his Getsuga. Ulquiorra quickly put a light defense. His eyes widened as Ichigo caused Ulquiorra's weapon to crack. Quickly thinking, Ulquiorra punched Ichigo with his left arm.
Ichigo crashed into the sand spitting out some blood. Ulquiorra charged in and brought down his lance on Ichigo. The shinigami brought his sword up and stopped the attack. Ulquiorra used his strength to push on Ichigo's sword, forcing him against the ground. His eyes narrowed as Ichigo fired Getsuga up close. The blast from the Getsuga engulfed the two as the continued to clash swords.
Having been healed to the point where she could sit up, Rukia watched the battle. Along with her, Chad had recovered to the point where he could open his eyes and watch but not speak. Renji was still laying there unconscious, probably from reiatsu overuse. Orihime could heal better then most, probably even better then Unohana herself. But replenishing reiatsu was a much different story.
Orihime felt someone tap her shoulder, when she turned she saw the 4th division fuku-taichou Isane Kotetsu and Unohana Retsu behind her. "Umm…"
"You've done enough for now Inoue-san. Please allow us to do the rest." Isane said while bowing.
"Bu-bu-"
She didn't finish her as Unohana smiled warmly at her. "Please let us do the rest."
Orihime worked up a sweat and felt as if she had been dropped into glacier or left to freeze in Antarctica in the winter. "Ri-right." She stuttered as she allowed her Souten Kisshun dissipate and return to their dormant forms.
"Isane, please
Isane went to heal Byakuya's remaining wounds while Unohana began to replenish the rests' reiryoku levels.
Just then the explosion from the Getsuga erupted and blew sand into their direction. Byakuya narrowed his eyes as he watched Ichigo and Ulquiorra continue clashing in the torrent of black reiatsu. Chad frowned in concern for his friend, as he raised himself onto one arm.
"That boy will not last long if he does not bring out his hollow powers."
Ishida stood there shielding himself with his arms from the sand. "…Kurosaki!"
Rukia raised her hand to her heart in concern for her friend. "…Ichigo…"
Ichigo jumped back sliding on feet. He had come out worst than Ulquiorra did in that skirmish; mostly because of his regeneration and tough hierro. Ichigo had managed to lop off Ulquiorra's left wrist but it was quickly regenerated.
"Getsuga Shugeki!" He fired it quickly and Ulquiorra received the hit through his right thigh. Ulquiorra made a face at the pain, before he blocked an attack from Ichigo. Ulquiorra shifted his lance and forced Ichigo flying back. Quickly regenerating his thigh, he fired a Cero in Ichigo's direction. Ichigo reacted quickly by firing a Getsuga to buy him some time and using shunpo to get away.
Just as his feet touched down on the sand, Ulquiorra was attacking with jabs and quick swipes. Ichigo slashed at Ulquiorra, interrupting the attack sequence, but Ulquiorra rushed back in and stabbed at Ichigo's head. Ichigo dodged most of the attack, but his cheek was cut from the lance.
"Tch!" Ichigo slashed at Ulquiorra's waist. Ulquiorra jumped back and was inflicted a small wound that hardly broke through the first layer of his skin. Ichigo panted as he wiped his forehead for sweat and any blood flowing down. His body was starting to ache from exhaustion and a culmination of cuts from Ulquiorra.
"What are you trying to accomplish in doing without your hollow powers?" Ulquiorra questioned him after observing his tiring state. "If you intend to hold back so that you may reserve some strength for the next battle should you defeat me, you will die."
Ichigo glared at Ulquiorra and scowled. "Looks like I will have to use it. I wanted to hold back so that I can fight Aizen at full power." He acknowledged Ulquiorra's statement. "Then I will show you my full power."
Ichigo raised his hand over his face and gathered his reiatsu forming the outline of his mask. He called forth his mask, and his spirit pressure sky rocketed to the point where Ulquiorra nearly fell on one knee.
The mask instead of having ten red stripes that goes through the left side of his mask, two thick vertical stripes was stretched across the eye-holes. "Ulquiorra. I'll end this quickly!"
Ichigo dashed forth and swung down on Ulquiorra. To Ulquiorra, Ichigo moved so fast that he was only a blur. He frowned and blocked the strike before leaping back. Tensa Zangetsu's blade crashed into the sand and blew sand into the air. Ulquiorra hissed through his teeth as a vertical wound opened up from his shoulder to waist. He backpedaled before righting position and attacking. Ichigo blocked it and struck out at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra sacrificed his wing to avoid being hit.
Ichigo pressed on and pressured Ulquiorra with fast strikes to the side, and strong overhead swings. From the attacks Ulquiorra took a back step from each swing. Ulquiorra lashed out with his tail, and to his shock, Ichigo grabbed the length of his tail. "It's over, Ulquiorra!"
Quickly thinking, Ulquiorra threw his lance at Ichigo. Ichigo dodged to the side, until he realized the attack was heading towards his friends.
"Shit!"
Ichigo took off in pursuit of the projectile. The espada quickly healed his injuries before taking off after Ichigo with another lance formed in seconds.
Ichigo took a glance back and cursed inwardly before speeding faster. Ichigo made it as the lance was only meters away from everyone. He grabbed the projectile with his left hand. He quickly spun around to face Ulquiorra's direction. Then he felt a searing pain go through his gut, as his friends call out his name.
"Ichigo!" He heard Rukia, Renji, and Chad yelled out.
"Kurosaki-kun!"
"Kurosaki!"
"Kurosaki-san!" The two members of the fourth division cried out.
"Kurosaki Ichigo!" Byakuya cried out. He would have been surprised at this if he wasn't in a fierce battle right now.
He looked down, and saw Ulquiorra standing there with his weapon rammed through Ichigo's abdomen. Ulquiorra's dark eyes stared coldly into Ichigo's own shocked dark eyes.
"You are finished, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo spat out blood, a drop of blood smeared onto Ulquiorra's cheek.
"B-bastard!" Ulquiorra would of scoffed if he wasn't pierced through as well. Ichigo's blade was running through Ulquiorra just under his hollow hole. Blood dripped from the tip of Tensa Zangetsu.
Ulquiorra grimaced as he slowly lifted his finger to point at Ichigo straight in the face. Whatever reiatsu he could muster despite the wound, he gathered into his finger. At the same time, black reiatsu with a red outline was converging into Ichigo's arm. Ichigo's mask cracked and the lower half fell off.
"You are going to fire a Getsuga into my gut as I fire a Cero at you? A bold decision." Ulquiorra commented on Ichigo's actions.
Ichigo scoffed and muttered out in response. "Really? Didn't think you would say that!" Ichigo gasped for breath as he spoke.
Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed as blood started to flow out of his mouth for the first time. "I applaud you for not taking mercy as you are now. It is very hollow-like."
Ichigo scowled. He was about to retort but their reiatsu had finished gathering.
"Getsuga Shugeki!" "Cero Oscuras!" Black reiatsu blew in opposite directions.
"Bakudo 81, Danku!" Byakuya quickly called out as the Cero raced towards them.
"Santen Kesshun!" Orihime's triangular shield sprung forth in front of Danku.
"Bakudo 73, Tozansho!" Rukia and Isane both called out at the same time. The inverted pyramid enclosed the group from the barriers outside as a third layer of defense.
The Cero washed over the barriers as it impacted Santen Kesshun, and engulfed everything in darkness. Santen Kesshun cracked and shattered apart as the pressure came too much. Then Danku held the Cero off until it too cracked and was destroyed. The Cero reached the light blue inverted pyramid and shook the very foundation of it.
Miraculously the group was unharmed as the third bakudo shattered apart when the Cero died down.
Their eyes widened as they watch Ichigo and Ulquiorra lean on each other, should to shoulder ready to give way. They both fell to their knees at the same time.
Ichigo was holding his hand to his abdomen, trying to staunch the blood flow. His shihakusho was completely blown off by the Cero. Shoulder up his skin was charred, cuts and bruises marked everywhere else. Ulquiorra's hollow hole that once stretched across his chest, was almost covered by a larger hole created from Ichigo's attack. Blood flowed freely through his wound.
The two of fighters, slid off of each other, about to fall down face first. Ichigo was falling faster then Ulquiorra was.
Ichigo closed his eyes as he readied himself to meet the coarse sand. Until he heard someone, call his name.
It was Rukia's voice, "Ichigo!"
Ichigo's eyes snapped open. With his willpower he stopped himself from falling by landing on his forearm. He heard a plop as Ulquiorra finally fell.
"How?" He heard the espada mutter out. Ichigo turned over and gazed into Ulquiorra's eyes.
"Because… My friends… I have to win for them!" Ichigo said as he slowly raised himself onto feet.
"Friends?" Ulquiorra slowly questioned as his eyes closed. "Just as I finally acknowledge you lot, I die."
Ichigo looked over at Ulquiorra's fallen body sadly.
Friends…
Alright, the battle was suppose to be longer, but I could not muster any imagination besides a prolonged hack and slash fight. If I did make it longer, I'd have to give Ichigo and Ulquiorra plenty more attacks.
I couldn't capture the emotion that was built up during Ulquiorra's death in the manga, so a flashback is going to take place. The flashback is taken from Bleach Databook 3 Unmasked.
Getsuga Shugeki means Storming Getsuga. Basically a variant of Getsuga, that you thrust out instead of slashing.
There will be two chapters next.
One of them will be Chapter 2.1-Ulquiorra's past
Then Chapter 3- Aizen's provocation!