Chapter 3
Endgame
Aizen slowly walked up to Ichigo's friends (Don Kanonji included). They couldn't move as he had lowered his spiritual pressure to a level they could feel... and feel it they did.
Aizen had changed again, a third eye opening on his forehead and his other eyes turning purple. He had six overlapping wings on his back and a hole with a cross of flesh holding the Hogyoku in the center.
Then Ichigo appeared. He was even taller than before by a few inches. The right sleve of his jacket was severed, and the chain from Zangetsu ran the length of his arm, wrapped around it. It then looped down onto a black glove on Ichigo's right hand.
"Ichigo Kurosaki... how?" Aizen was stunned.
Ichigo put his father down on the ground. "Thanks..."
His friends stared at him with mixed emotions.
Ichigo looked in the direction of his house. "Good. Karin and Yuzu are safe."
Ichigo then looked over to his friends. His eyes had changed; they now glowed saphire blue instead of their previous gold.
"Everyone stay here. I know you have a lot of questions but I'll answer them after I deal with him." Ichigo then turned back to Aizen, who frowned.
"It seems that you have discarded your Reiatsu. What a shame. You missed your opportunity to finish your evolution. Oh well-"
"Let's take this fight elsewhere." Ichigo said calmly. His voice had lost a small portion of the distortion it once had, although it was still watery.
"Only someone more powerful than I can make demands such as that. Therefore, you have no right to-!" Aizen was cut off my Ichigo's hand impacting his face.
The two accelerrated backwards, a great distance beyond Karakura Town.
"Let's do this, Aizen. I'll end everything... in an instant." Ichigo had actually developed a new technique that with his hollow surprisingly.
"Alright so I've been thinking," said Ichigo's hollow.
"That's new." replied Ichigo.
"Please do not antagonise him Ichigo." requested Tensa.
"Fine. What have you got?" Ichigo asked his hollow.
"You remember how Shinji fired a Cero from his sword right?"
"Yeah... why?" Ichigo slowly nodded.
"What if we combine our Cero Gigante with a full power Black Getsuga?"
"The goal is to emulate the Final Getsuga Tensho's power without actually using the move, hence saving your powers... and myself." Tensa added.
"Sounds like a plan. What do I do if it fails?" Ichigo asked.
"You don't want to know." said his hollow grimly.
"End it in an instant?" Aizen asked.
Then he smirked. "I see... Why you lost your spiritual pressure."
Aizen stood to his full height. "I don't know how you did it, but you converted all your spiritual pressure into raw physical power. In exchange for enhancing all of your physical abilities, you discarded your spiritual pressure."
"But," Aizen continued, "Do despair. I will teach you that the physical strength you were counting on... is incomparable to my own power."
The Hogyoku glowed and Aizen's wings began to spread a bit.
"What's that?" Ichigo asked calmly.
Then Aizen disappeared in a flash of light.
Ichigo's eyes darted around before feeling Aizen materialize behind him.
Ichigo turned as Aizen struck out and blocked the attack.
Next to them a mountain crumbled to dust.
The shock wave spread for miles and the two combatants broke apart from each other.
"You parried that strike well," complimented Aizen.
"How shocked you must be though, that the landscape changes with a swing of my sword. That is how powerful I am." Aizen said.
"God does this guy ever SHUT THE FUCK UP!" screamed Ichigo's hollow in his inner world.
"Perhaps you should shut up and stop distracting Ichigo from this fight. Should he make one wrong move he could die. We could die." Tensa said to the hollow.
Ichigo ignored them.
"To be honest I didn't think my abilities had improved to this extent." Aizen carried on.
"I'm happy, Kurosaki Ichigo. Thanks to you I can test these powers that transcend both Hollows and Soul Reapers to my heart's content." Aizen charged and the two clashed blades, another rock formation shattering.
Each time their swords clashed the landscape was ravaged.
Finally they came to a hold, blades pressing against one another.
"By some odd coincidence, it would see we have both arrived at a similar evolved form, where our right arms are combined with our Zanpakto." Commented Aizen. "Perhaps this is the true form of a Zanpakto."
Aizen smirked and let out a light chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Asked Ichigo.
"I realized it during our clash right now. As I expected, your evolution and mine are on different levels. If I so wish, I can shatter your Zanpakto with a single swing!" Aizen reared back, swung...
and had his blade caught by Ichigo's left hand.
The shock wave created a wedge shaped crater behind Ichigo.
'Impossible!' thought Aizen, 'He caught it! Dodging I could understand, though he shouldn't be able to dodge at that speed either... even so... dodging it I could understand...But... He CAUGHT it?'
"Why so surprised?" Asked Ichigo, reading Aizen's expression.
Aizen gasped.
"Why is it so unbelievable that I caught your sword?" Ichigo inquired calmly.
'What?' thought Aizen, enraged.
"Are you scared?" Ichigo asked flatly.
"Does it scare you," he began, "that something you can't comprehend happened right before your eyes?"
Aizen regained his composure and chuckled. "Interesting,Ichigo Kurosaki."
Ichigo released his blade and Aizen jumped backwards.
"Something I can't comprehend you say? That was merely a miracle, a fluke; your physical strength merely overshadowed mine for a moment. So, to prevent any further 'miracles'..." Aizen raised a hand to the sky.
"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness! HadÅ #90. Kurohitsugi!"
Ichigo was englufed in a black box that glowed purple... for a moment.
Then he waved his left arm out and the box shattered into millions of pieces.
"You don't seem to realize it, do you?" Asked Ichigo. "My power is greater than the power you have right now."
Ichigo charged at Aizen and delivered a diagonal cut to his foe's torso.
Blood sprayed from the wound.
Aizen vanished in a similar fashion to earlier and reappeared on a cliff high above Ichigo.
He placed his hand over the wound and his eyes widened with surprise.
"What an odd feeling," started Ichigo "When I backed away from you in our last battle you asked why... but now you're doing the exact same thing."
"So let me ask you the same question; Why did you back away just now?"
'I see.' Aizen thought. 'You're pleased that you stopped my sword?'
The evolved being's sword arm was shaking
'Are you pleased that you overcame my Kido?'
The wound began to bubble and heal.
'Are you pleased that you put a scar on my body?'
"Don't be so full of yourself, hollow!"
Then Aizen froze; the third eye on his head "shattered" and a white circle appeared in the center and began darting around.
Blood poured from the organ and his head swiftly fell to the right with a crack.
He began shaking violently.
His face "cracked" like a clay mask and his Reiatsu burst outward.
He was absorbed in a pillar of violet light and began screaming as Ichigo watched calmly.
The pillar cracked and blood poured onto the stone. Aizen had changed again, this time becoming extremely grotesque.
"You can't let that happen, can you Hogyoku?"
His new visage looked down on Ichigo. "That I... let a Hollow get the better of me."
One of the new tentacle-like appendages on Aizen's back reared and fired a violet cero-like blast at Ichigo.
Ichigo retaliated with his own Cero, neutralizing the attack.
"I see. Your Cero is strong. As expected of a Hollow of your caliber." Aizen then charged Ichigo, grabbed his throat and flew the two of them a good distance before stopping.
His "wings" encircled Ichigo and eyes appeared on them. The same violet energy created a ring around Ichigo's neck, albeit a very wide one.
They soon multiplied into several solid white rings of increasing size above the two.
"Can you hear me, Ichigo Kurosaki? Indeed for a moment you broke the boundary between Hollows and Soul Reapers, to become a transcendent being, but that power is no more! Not a trace of it remains!"
"You're not worth even trying to understand anymore! I, a true transcendent being, will kill you. By killing you, I will truly break free from both Soul Reapers and Hollows alike!"
"It's over!" Aizen grasped Ichigo's neck harder, "KUROSAKI ICHIGO!"
"Over you say?" said Ichigo. "Is this all you've got?"
Ichigo slashed the rings and they vanished. This also launched Aizen back several feet.
"Let's end this already Aizen. I've grown sick of your... arguments."
He raised his sword and placed his free hand over his mask.
"I'll show you... The true power of a Perfect Being!"
His sword began to spiral between Red and white and red and black energies as he made the same "clawing" motion over his mask he used to before he became a Perfect Vizard. His right arm erupted in the energies. His hair and uniform turned white. The tufts of fur on his body turned black and his mask reversed colors. His eyes glowed white. His voice became thick with his hollow "accent" once again.
"Eclipse Rojo del Colmillo del Cielo." He brought his sword down and a massive wave of red energy engulfed Aizen. As the sky turned blood red, the sun becoming eclipsed by a red moon.
Once the energy dissipated, Ichigo found Aizen on the ground in a heap. Ichigo's color returned and his "Perfect" Bankai returned to its normal form. Ichigo returned his sword to his back and walked over to Aizen, placing his foot on the villain's head.
"Give up." He charged his Cero Gigante the same way Ulquiorra had been beaten.
Then a series of red lights appeared on Aizen's chest and Ichigo sonido'd away.
"What now?"
"Seems like it's finally taking effect," said a familiar voice. The sound of wooden sandals hitting dirt confirmed this.
"Urahara!" Said Ichigo, surprised.
"Kisuke Urahara! Is this your doing!" growled Aizen.
"Yes," Urahara answered. "Before you were able to completely transform, when you were venerable, I planted a Kido in another Kido and shot it into your body."
Aizen scowled at the man.
"It's a seal. I figured that once you became one with the Hogyoku, killing you would be nearly impossible. So I invented a new Kido to seal you off."
Aizen frowned. "Is that so? I hate to dissapoint you." He leveled the stump of his sword at Urahara. "See? I am about to evolve even further at this very moment!"
"You can't seal me off with THIS level of Kido!"
Suddenly the white on Aizen's arm shattered along with his sword. His skin changed back to its original color and most of the features of his transformations on his face vanished, aside from his left eye.
"It is the Hogyoku's will," began Urahara, "that Kido that I shot into you only taking effect now because your power has weakened."
Urahara looked over to Ichigo. "It's because Ichigo here pushed you to your limit."
He turned back to Aizen. "The Hogyoku is saying that it does not recognize you as its master."
Aizen growled. "That's absurd! It can't be! It's impossible!"
He froze when several red crosses erupted from his back; the Kido had finally begun.
Aizen shuffled towards Kisuke before the seal stopped him.
"URAHARA KISUKE! I despise you! With your great intellect, why don't you take action? Why do you subjugate yourself to that Thing!"
"That thing? You mean the Soul King?" Urahara closed his eyes. "I understand now. You saw it, didn't you? Without the existence of the Soul King, Soul Society would split apart."
"The soul king is the keystone," he continued, "Without the keystone it would fall apart easily. That's how the world is."
"That's an argument a loser would make!" Screamed Aizen in a fury. "A victor should always speak... of how the world should be, not how it is! I-!"
He was cut off as the seal finished.
"So this is what a perfect Vizard looks like huh?" Urahara questioned, his tone still serious.
"What about it?" Ichigo answered.
"How did your dad take it?"
"He was worried at first, but after I explained everything, he seemed ok with it. Well, as OK as you could get if you found out your son turned into... this." Ichigo sighed.
The two stood in silence for a moment, before Ichigo spoke up. "...I'm not sure where to go from here. I don't even know if I can get back in my body."
Urahara looked at Ichigo. Despite his new form you could tell he was unhappy, maybe a bit worried. He had good reason; the original Vizard were hunted because of their hollow powers; Ichigo was pretty much a hollow in most aspects now.
Then again he did technically defeat Aizen using those very powers. Urahara honestly wasn't sure what to say.
"It's fine hat n' clogs. I'll manage on my own. Thanks for everything." Ichigo walked past the man.
"You're welcome Ichigo." Urahara closed his eyes.
Ichigo had traveled back to the Fake Karakura Town. He had someone, more like some people, he needed to see.
He felt their Reiatsu from a good distance away.
He appeared behind the group on a pile of rubble.
"Hey." Ichigo said calmly.
Shinji was the first to turn around. "...Ichigo?"
"Yeah. Sorry if the new look freaks you out. I felt I needed to thank you."
"What happened to you?" Love asked.
"According to my Inner Hollow, I'm a 'Perfect' Vizard now." Ichigo explained his fight with Ulquiorra and his subsequent transformation.
"Aside from the appearance it isn't all that bad. In fact, if it weren't for my Hollow Powers I'd have had to use the Final Getsuga. I'd have lost my powers entirely." Ichigo looked over to Hiyori.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be here to help you all. Will she be OK?" Ichigo asked.
"..." Silence.
"I see. If she does tell her she owes me a sandal to the face for worrying like this." Ichigo chuckled.
He knew that now he had to go check on his friends in the Real Karakura. He had some explaining to do.
End Chapter 3
Yeah the story was mostly fighting between Aizen, mostly verbatum from the show.
Anyways the attack that Ichigo used was called " Red Fang Eclipse of Heaven"
Pretty much Cero Gigante plus Black Getsuga full power.
Fun fact I actually originally planned to have Ichigo eat Aizen's soul, but then I realized that would probably turn this into a fic where Ichigo becomes some dark brooding mess of hate and angst where he cuts himself with Zangetsu more than his enemies.
Anyways I suppose I can answer some reviews here.
AMP 1008: Obviously he doesn't. No this isn't the end, nor will the next chapter be. I might use the Regai filler from the anime since it now makes MORE SENSE seeing as he didn't lose his power. Also, Kon.
ShiroHicih891: I'm glad you're...enthusiastic about the story. Ichigo and his hollow aren't exactly buddies; I'm just portraying the hollow as more Mischevious than Evil, sort of comic relief for Ichigo and Tensa. His hollow doesn't hate him anymore, but he still gets annoyed with Ichigo's stupidity.
The Entity Of Chaos: Let me tell you a story. You see, I used to write a story called Project Eve. Then someone harassed me about writing faster. So it's on hiatus. I doubt our crack headed fangirl ShiroHichi would be too pleased with you if I did that.
Next time:
Ichigo Kurosaki, Human No More?