The same night that Ichigo and the others went home with their bount sensing mod souls, a bount showed up. Ichigo went to see who it was, and caught her trying to suck out the soul of a living human. Ichigo then confronted this bount, but couldn't seem to defeat it. Then, when things looked dire for Ichigo, someone came to his rescue; it was Rukia. She then took on the bount herself but she proved to be a formidable opponent. Rukia was about to be blasted by a ball of fire when another bount turned up to take the female bount away. Just then, Chad, Orihime and their mod souls turned up and were delighted with Rukia's return. She then proceeded to tell them how she had been positioned in Karakura Town once again. They then all decided it would be best to go back to Ichigo's place and try and figure out what was going on.
"Oh that feels so good Rukia!" Kon said as he curled up on Ichigo's bed.
"Look at him. Not a care in the world. Must be nice!" Ichigo commented.
"So what do we do? Anyone have any suggestions?" Rukia asked.
"Well we have these three guys to help us locate the bounts, but even if that works, I'm not sure the bounts will sit down and talk with us. Never mind capturing them," Ichigo explained.
"Hmm," Chad murmured.
"Aside from trickery, what power do the bounts have?" Rukia enquired.
"Well like us the enemy seem to have different powers that differ from one individual to the next, which is a headache! It's hard to know what will work," Kurodo analysed.
"That's for sure. My zanpaktou had no effect on that fire monster Goethe, and that other guy's a complete mystery. We need to learn a hell of a lot more of we won't have a clue how to fights these guys," Ichigo exclaimed.
"Whatever we do, we've got to do it fast before anybody else gets their soul sucked out," Orihime said worryingly.
"I know that. I'm open for suggestions if you got 'em," Ichigo grumbled. "What about the Soul Society? Didn't they give you any information on these bounts?" he questioned Rukia.
"Huh?" Rukia came out with.
"Well you were sent about the same time as when they showed up. They must of told you something," Ichigo expressed.
"No, I'd never even heard of them until that first encounter. The Soul Society may know something about them but they certainly didn't tell me," Rukia declared.
"Well that sucks! Now what?" Ichigo pondered. Just then, Rukia soul pager started to ring. Rukia got it out of her pocket to answer it.
"Hello?" Rukia asked.
"Rukia! Is that really you?" Renji yelled down the phone. Rukia held it away from here due to the noise he was making. "I just heard from the captain that you got reassigned here. That's great!"
"Wait a second, Rukia? Is that the one you and Ichigo have me lecturing me about Renji?" questioned a voice on the other end of the phone. Rukia didn't recognise it at all. She wondered who it could be that seemed to know about her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah it is! Listen Rukia, I'm coming over!" Renji shouted down the phone again.
"Coming over? Renji-!" Rukia began to call but they were interrupted by a noise downstairs. All of them went downstairs and saw Renji on top of Isshin and half of the wall missing.
"Oh no! Dad!" Uyzu exclaimed. Ichigo stared at him in disbelief. Renji then looked up.
"Hey, hi Rukia!" he said. The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Karin confirmed, leaving the rest of them to argue amongst themselves. As she walked down the corridor to the door, she spoke. "Gee those guys sure are a handful. I wonder who could be visiting at this time at night." She opened the door. In the doorway stood a teenage girl with brown hair, a red top on with jeans and knee high black boots. At first she didn't know who the girl was but after she spoke, she realised.
"Hey there Karin! Long time no see! Say, is Ichigo in? I need to have a talk with him," she said. It clicked. It was Sara.
"Whoa…Sara?" Sara smiled back at her.
In the kitchen there was still a commotion but Karin interrupted them.
"Hey dad! Look who's here!" she called as she dragged Sara into the room. Everyone stopped arguing for a bit.
"Sara?" Isshin questioned.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.
"Well Renji said Rukia had turned up, so I wanted to come over and see for mys-" she began to say but was interrupted as Isshin suddenly grabbed her in a hug.
"SARA! It's been so long! How you been? What's going on? How big are your boo-" Sara just kicked him back.
"Back off you lousy old pervert!" she shouted as he went flying straight into a wall.
"Sara!" Uyzu called.
"Hey Uyzu!"
"Excuse me, who are you?" Rukia enquired. Sara turned round to look at her.
"So must be Rukia right?" Sara queried. Rukia looked a bit confused.
"I see. So you're an old friend of Ichigo's," Rukia summed up.
"Yeah, but I didn't get a chance to see the family yet, hence why they were bouncing off the walls. Especially the new comer," Sara replied as she looked down at Kon who was in a heap on the floor after she had kicked him to the ground for trying to get into her chest.
"Right. And you control the four elements. That's quite an impressive power. Care to show off a bit?" Rukia questioned.
"Well Urahara wanted me to do that tomorrow so I suppose you can come along too. Man, I swear I'm turning into more of a freak show than I could ever dream," Rukia chuckled a bit at Sara's reply.
"OK you guys have introduced yourselves. Can we get back to the subject now?" Ichigo moaned. Sara gave him an evil stare.
"Fine, we'll talk more later," Rukia replied.
"Thank you. Now where was I? There are these guys called bounts who have been showing up," Ichigo recited. Renji let out a yawn to show his lack of interest. Ichigo cleared his throat.
"We don't know what they're up to and we don't know what powers they have. But there's no doubt that these bounts are very dangerous," Ichigo claimed.
"What are you, an idiot?" Renji told him. Ichigo gave him an odd look. "You're telling me that in your opinion, these bounts are probably dangerous. After fighting them that's all you figured out?" Ichigo jumped off his chair.
"Hey, I don't listen to people who don't know the difference between a window and the front door!" Ichigo yelled.
"Quite trying to change the subject this isn't about me!" Renji yelled back.
"I'm not changing anything you blockhead!" They continued to argue as Rukia spoke.
"This is odd," Rukia stated.
"What's so odd?" Chad asked.
"Normally, the ratio used would be one soul reaper sent out for 50,000 humans. But including the substitute, there are 3 of us here. I think it's apparent that we were sent here as a response to this problem and we're going to have to deal with it," Rukia explained. Ichigo and Renji finished arguing.
"So you guys come up with a plan for tomorrow?" Ichigo asked. Sara just punched the two of them in the face.
"Idiots! Will you quit arguing already?" she shouted.
"Say's you!" the both answered back.
"SHUT UP!" She punched them in the face again.
The next day, the others returned to school including Rukia, having put memory replacements on the kids. It was lunchtime and they were all outside enjoying their break when the mod souls suddenly picked up on the bounts spiritual pressure. They all ran off, except Uryu, and Ichigo got into his soul reaper form and Sara into her soul form. It was the first time she had seen Sara in her form but she didn't ask any questions as such, focusing too much on running. When they got to where the spiritual pressure was they saw it was the man from yesterday.
"You again!" the man said as he dropped the woman he was holding.
"There's something I wanna ask you," Ichigo called.
"What is it?" the man sighed.
"Don't try to lie. You are known as a bount aren't you?" Ichigo claimed.
"Why yes," he responded.
"Where's the girl from yesterday?"
"No comment,"
"What did you come here for?"
"No comment,"
"So you're involved in some scheme you refuse to reveal?"
"I won't comment on that either. Since we're conducting interviews, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Ichigo tensed up. "The soul of a human being or that of a soul reaper. Which do you suppose tastes better? Although if I had to base it on smell alone, I'd say your friend in the amour is most…delicious," he answered licking his lips.
"What was that?" Sara asked angrily. Ichigo grunted and put his hand on his sword, ready to draw it. The man revealed his snake-like doll. They all managed to fight off the hoard of snakes though Sara was sticking to her dagger that she kept in her pocket rather than using her powers. To make the situation worse, Uryu showed up, making himself a human target, and gave himself up when the woman was threatened.
"Humans are such delightfully whimsical creatures!" the man said as he licked some of Uryu's blood of his finger. When he said it, Sara felt rage pouring out of her.
"How DARE he? If someone doesn't attack this guy soon I'm gonna do it regardless of the consequences!" she thought. Orihime noticed how tense Sara seemed. Just then a huge fireball clouded their view. After it cleared a bit, they could see that the woman had returned, Uryu in her arms. Ichigo felt annoyed that she had come back.
"It's that woman again!" Rukia commented.
"What's the deal with her?" Ichigo questioned. "Wait a second. Fire! Sara can control this fire can't she?" He looked at her. He could tell what she was thinking by her facial expression. "Right, she can't risk performing an attack with her own fire. It would put Uryu in danger!" The female bount left, leaving her doll to fight the others.
"Finish things? Alright," he replied. As the doll tried to attack Sara yelled.
"I don't think so!" As he performed a flame attack, Sara hit him back with a flurry of ice. The two of them went into a small battle situation, but Sara found the doll much stronger than she had anticipated. Ichigo managed to cut through the fire balls that Sara had missed. Some of the fire cleared away and revealed Orihime, Chad and the woman were all protected by Orihime's Shun Shun Rika Shield. Ichigo, Rukia and Sara ran over to them. Ririn told them that she still detected the bount woman and began to run, but they were blocked by the man again. Once more, he unleashed a flurry of snakes. Ichigo began cutting them up with his zanpaktou, Chad began tearing them apart with his fist, Rukia was also fighting with her fists and Orihime was using her 6 flowers to fight.
"Guys! Whatever you do, do not freak out! Just concentrate on what you're doing!" Sara yelled. Ichigo and the others didn't understand what she meant by that, but it began apparent. Sara closed her eyes and her whole body went white. Then, when the light died down, they saw that Sara had transformed. She was now in the shape of a lion.
"Sara?" Ichigo exclaimed. Just then a snake attacked him from behind but he managed to defend himself in time.
"What did I just say!" she yelled. Her voice still sounded like her own. In her new form, she began to tear up the snakes with her fangs and claws. While she was doing it, she roared from time to time, giving no indication that she was a teenage girl inside the form of a lion. She transformed back to her normal soul form as they all grouped together after the first wave of attacks. He then performed a second wave, but they were taken out by Ururu. It turned out that Tessai, Jinta and Renji had also turned up, but the man still got away.
Back at Urahara's shop, everyone was upset that Uryu had just been snatched up. The group were eager to try and find him, but Urahara reminded them they had no where to start and no idea how capable they were. He also explained how they were initially interested in the bounts and the possibility that they could cause absolute mayhem for the Soul Society and the World of Living.
"But that won't happen unless we stop them right?" Urahara said. Everyone nodded their heads. "So why don't we all take a look at Sara's powers!" he said cheerfully.
"Wait a second! You mean right now?" she yelled.
"Come on you did promise me you would show it to me and I've been dying to see it!"
"You mean you're only interested in for your own gain!"
"Oh of course not where did you get that idea from?" he said jokingly.
"You are such a liar!" she yelled. Eventually her mood toned down and she let out a sigh. "Fine. I'll do it,"
"Excellent choice! Come on everyone let's get down to the training ground!" Urahara exclaimed.
"Since when was this an open invitation?" she yelled, her mood turning up again. She watched as Urahara sent everyone done. When she left the room she fell on her back. "Why did I decide to come back?" she asked herself exasperatedly.
"Oh Sara! We can't start without you!" Urahara called. She let out a moan.
"OK, here is how we are going to test you," Urahara said once they were all gathered in the training ground. "We'll set you up against various opponents and see where you rank in terms of strength," he explained.
"I'm sorry what?" she asked.
"Oh I get it! It's like a competition to see how high you can go!" Orihime exclaimed.
"More or less yes. Now, your first opponent will be Orihime. Then you'll move on to Chad. Next you'll go on to fight Renji. Then you'll be fighting Ichigo. And if you still manage to win…you'll be up against me," he explained.
"Fine. Let's do this," Sara replied.
"Hey Sara there's something I wanna ask you," Ichigo rose.
"What is it?" Sara questioned.
"Huh?" Urahara said looking at Ichigo.
"Back there. You mind telling us how you changed yourself, into a lion?" he asked.
"She did what?" Renji enquired.
"Oh yeah I forgot to mention that," Sara answered rubbing the back of her head. "As well as being able to use the four elements, I can also transform into the beats of those elements. For Earth the lion. For Water the shark. For Air the eagle. And for fire the dragon," she told them. They all looked dumbfounded. "You're doing it again! Quit looking at me like that!"
"Well, you sure are turning into quite an interesting person, Miss Kishi…But let's see if it's all worth it when it comes to fighting in a battle," Urahara said. He indicated for Orihime to join Sara out on the field. The group stood a fair distance away, not knowing her true strength.
"Just so you know Orihime, I don't tend to hold back,"
"Don't worry about it. Just do what you need to," Orihime answered. Sara nodded and turned into her soul form. They both took up their stances. "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I reject!" Orihime yelled. Sara noticed the small arrow heading for her, but she didn't seem fazed at all. Sara lifted up her arm and swung it across her body. It performed a massive gust of wind, ending Tsubaki's attack. Orihime had to shield herself with her arms because of the massive force of wind. When it died down and Orihime opened her eyes, she couldn't see Sara.
"One thing you must learn about combat," Sara's voice came from behind Orihime. "Never let your opponents get behind you." Orihime looked round and saw Sara standing behind her with her dagger aimed at her head. Sara then put the dagger back in her holder.
"Wow! You're really good!" Orihime replied.
"OK, time for round 2. Orihime please come back here. Chad will now be your opponent!" Urahara called. Orihime left and Chad walked in the opposite direction. Eventually Chad stood opposite Sara.
"I just want you to know. I'm not like Orihime," Chad explained as he put his arm out and his right arm transformed. "Although I may not like this, I won't hesitate to come at you,"
"Good makes this more interesting," Sara replied a smirk on her face. Once again they took their stances. Chad was the one to pull of the first attack. As performed his attack, Sara disappeared from view. As the dust settled he saw that she was gone again. He had made sure that she wasn't behind him.
"Up here!" Sara called. She was directly above where she had been, flying higher. Chad look shocked. She had a grin on her face. She stopped going upwards and then put both of her arms in the air. Fire began to form above them, which then compressed into a ball. She then threw her arms down, directing the fireball straight at Chad. His eyes were full of surprise.
"Chad!" Ichigo called as the fire shrouded him from view.