Alright! I know this has been a long time coming, but Chapter 5 is finally up! I'm sorry for taking so long to get back into the swing of things here, but as I said at the beginning I have no intention of abandoning this story. I hope that you all enjoy this latest chapter as our two heroes meet for the first time!
Chapter 5: Evil's Bane and Slaying Moon
Ichigo and Rukia were surrounded by Hollows. No matter how many they killed, it seemed like a dozen more were there to take the place of every one that fell. Rukia leapt from the rooftop she'd been standing on and held her hand out as she shouted:
"Hado 33: Sokatsui!"
A ball of blue flame shot from her palm and disintegrated a Hollow on impact. Rukia landed on the street next to Ichigo, who had just destroyed two Hollows with a single slash with Zangetsu.
"Ichigo!" she called out. "They just keep coming; we're not having any effect at all!"
"Damn it!" shouted Ichigo as he dispatched another Hollow with his massive blade. "Where are they all coming from? I haven't seen this many Hollows since that time Uryu challenged me!"
Rukia didn't have time to reply. At least 40 Hollows were leaping towards them, jaws and claws open. Just as the Hollows were about to reach their target, a hail of glowing blue arrows rained down into their ranks, wiping them out in an instant. Ichigo looked in the direction the deadly barrage had come from. He recognized the attack instantly, of course, and he wasn't at all surprised to see his friend Uryu Ishida standing on a nearby rooftop. The dark-haired youth was wearing his usual white Quicny outfit and glasses, and his glowing Quincy bow Ginrei Kojaku was held at the ready. Standing next to him were Chad and Orihime, which also didn't surprise Ichigo. What did surprise him was that Jinta and Ururu from Urahara's shop were also there. Jinta had his bat hefted over his shoulder and Ururu was carrying her over-sized cannon. All five of them jumped down from the roof and ran over to where Ichigo and Rukia were fighting.
"Ichigo!" Uryu shouted. "What the hell is going on here?!"
"Why are there so many Hollows?" Orihime said in a worried voice.
"We have no idea." Rukia answered.
"Yeah, what she said." Ichigo replied. "But since you're all here, why don't you make yourselves useful and help us get rid of them?"
"That's what I was just doing!" Uryu retorted.
Chad suddenly pushed past both of them and shouted "El Directo!" A particularly large Hollow had started to rush towards them, but Chad's powerful blast of blue energy fired from his armored right arm not only destroyed that Hollow, it continued on and disintegrated several more that were coming up behind it. He turned towards his feuding friends and spoke in his usual calm, almost monotone voice.
"You guys, this is no time to be arguing. We need to get rid of these Hollows."
"Please stand back." said little Ururu as she stepped forward with her cannon. She proceeded to bombard the incoming Hollows with explosive projectiles, wiping out almost as many as Uryu had with his arrows.
Ichigo and Uryu decided to forget their friendly rivalry for the moment and keep fighting. As the team charged forward to drive back the swarm of Hollows, Jinta shouted to Ichigo.
"Hey, carrot-top!" Ichigo glared at the red-haired boy upon hearing that annoying nickname, but Jinta took no notice. "Tessai sent us here because the boss is away on some important business, but he wanted to let you know that there's a Garganta opening in the park, and…"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence, as a grasshopper-shaped Hollow crashed into him and knocked him down. Jinta got up and waited until the Hollow charged again, then swung his massive bat while yelling out his signature battle cry; "Jinta Home Run!"
The Hollow was destroyed, and Jinta looked back to where Ichigo had been, but the spiky-headed Substitute Soul Reaper was nowhere to be seen. "Ah, whatever." said Jinta as he turned to face more Hollows.
Ichigo heard Jinta say that there was a Garganta opening in the park, but then the younger boy was attacked by a Hollow. Ichigo knew that he'd be fine, he'd heard about all the fighting that Jinta and Ururu had done while hanging out with that ridiculous Don Kanonji. As hard as it was to believe, Ichigo had heard that Don Kanonji and his "Karakura Super Heroes" had done more to defend Karakura Town than the Soul Reaper who had replaced Rukia as the protector of this town. Ichigo could never remember his name, so he always just referred to him as "Afro Dude," the name Keigo had given him.
"Where is Afro Dude right now, anyway?" thought Ichigo. "That guy is totally useless."
Ichigo flash-stepped as quickly as he could and reached the park. Sure enough, there was a Garganta sitting open just above the soccer field where Karin and her friends usually played. Ichigo could see that something had just exited the gaping hole and plunged to the ground in a cloud of dust. Even though he couldn't see what had just landed there, he could most definitely feel it. A massive wave of spiritual pressure hit him like he hadn't felt in a long time. Rukia was right; this spiritual pressure was easily equal to that of a Captain-level Soul Reaper. Of course, after his fight with Aizen not much was able to faze Ichigo, and since he had gotten his powers back he had been able to spar on even ground with the most powerful Captains (although he still avoided getting into fights with Kenpachi at all cost).
This spiritual pressure was different, though. Ichigo still wasn't all that good at detecting and identifying spiritual pressure, but at least he could tell the difference between a Soul Reaper and a Hollow or Arrancar. He could also recognize spiritual pressure he'd felt before, and this was entirely new to him. Ichigo walked toward the cloud of dust, Zangetsu held at his side. As the air began to clear he could make out two strange-looking figures standing in the middle of the soccer field. One was about his height and wearing a strange, medieval-looking green outfit with a cap so long that it reached the middle of his back. Ichigo could see the handle of a sword sticking up from a scabbard on his back, and it looked like he had a shield strapped to his back as well. Next to him a small, feminine figure was hovering in midair. This little girl (at least, Ichigo was pretty sure it was a girl) looked equally strange, with her blue and purple cape and diamond-patterned stockings, but what disturbed Ichigo the most was her blank, almost mannequin-like face. It reminded him of the lure that Grand Fisher had used to trick him on the day his mother died.
The two intruders just now seemed to notice Ichigo, as they both looked toward him. He held up Zangetsu in ready stance, preparing himself for any sudden assault. Ichigo called out to them.
"Just who the hell are you guys, and what are you doing here?"
"Who are you?" the green-clad one called back. "Is this Karakura Town?"
"None of your business!" replied Ichigo. "Not until you tell me what's going on here!"
Pointy-Hat (as Ichigo was mentally calling the green-clad intruder) turned to the girl and seemed to be asking her something. Ichigo wasn't quite close enough to hear what they were saying, so he took a few quick steps closer and shouted out again.
"I said, who are you and what are you doing here?"
Ichigo raised Zangetsu, hoping to get their attention. Pointy-Hat quickly reached behind him and drew his sword and shield. He called out to the girl.
"Fi, can you tell me anything about this guy?"
The girl looked at Ichigo with a most disconcerting stare; then turned back to her companion.
"Insufficient data, but I do sense an extremely high level of spirit energy emanating from him. Threat level analysis indicates a high level of danger."
Ichigo decided (as he usually did) that the best course of action was to try and eliminate the threat before they had a chance to react. He shouted at the intruders.
"Alright, if you're not gonna give me an answer, then I guess I'll have to beat it out of you!"
And with that, Ichigo leapt forward with his Zanpakuto held high above his head. As he attacked, the girl vanished into the sword that Pointy-Hat was carrying. Even as he sailed through the air towards his opponent, Ichigo couldn't help but be surprised.
"She went into the blade! Does that mean that guy's sword is… a Zanpakuto?"
Ichigo came down and brought Zangetsu crashing down toward his foe's head. But at the last second, Pointy-Hat launched himself airborne in a perfect back flip, and Ichigo's weapon sliced into the turf of the soccer field instead. As soon as he hit the ground, Pointy-Hat leapt forward himself in almost the same attack Ichigo had just used. Ichigo barely had time to raise Zangetsu and block the incoming blade. He was surprised by the amount of strength behind the attack, as his enemy's sword was much smaller than his own and held with only one hand. Ichigo could sense an incredible amount of power coming from his opponent's blade, but it didn't feel like any Soul Reaper or Arrancar's Zanpakuto.
Link's Point of View:
Link gritted his teeth as the black-garbed warrior blocked his attack. He'd seen enemies with massive swords before, but none that wielded them with as much speed as the foe he now faced. Almost as soon as he'd jumped from the Garganta, he'd been confronted by this hot-tempered swordsman who looked about his age, but was wearing an all-black uniform and hefting a gigantic cleaver-shaped blade. When the stranger asked Link to identify himself, he had asked Fi if she knew anything about whether he was on Kisuke's side or if he was with the evil power they had been sent to fight. Of course, Fi had just said "insufficient data available at this time," so Link decided that it would be wiser not to inform the orange-haired boy of his plans until he met up with Kisuke again.
But his attitude had grown more and more hostile, and when he raised his sword, Link's warrior training took over and he prepared for a fight. Now their blades were locked and he was wondering if his opponent had any armor on under that uniform, because if he didn't it was going to be one very short fight.
Ichigo and Link's POV:
Ichigo shoved Link back with his blade and swung sideways at him. Link blocked with his Hylian shield. Ichigo was surprised that a seemingly ordinary shield could block a blow from a Zanpakuto at all, and he wondered if the shield was actually part of his enemy's Zanpakuto. Link was fast and immediately countered by stabbing with the Master Sword. But Ichigo was fast too, and once again he deflected the strike with Zangetsu. Link rolled around and spun his blade upward in his deadly back slice maneuver. His sword point came within an inch of Ichigo's back before the Soul Reaper managed to bring his Zanpakuto around and deflect it. Ichigo raised Zangetsu over his head and prepared to strike before Link could bring his sword back into position. But as he was about to swing downward, Link struck out not with the Master Sword, but with his shield, bashing a very surprised Ichigo right in the face.
As Ichigo reeled from the surprise attack, Link did an aerial forward flip and brought his sword down straight toward Ichigo's head. As his head snapped backward from the shield blow, Ichigo saw the blade coming at him. There was no time to block the attack, so he pushed off the ground in a backward flip, barely dodging what would certainly have been a fatal blow. Ichigo kicked out with both feet as he spun through the air, catching Link in the stomach and knocking him backward several feet. Link crashed into the ground and slid several feet through the turf before stopping himself and jumping back to his feet. Ichigo landed on his face after his aerial double kick, and he too jumped to his feet.
Now they were standing about twenty feet apart. Both heroes were panting a little, but neither had managed to inflict serious injury on the other. Link decided to try something different. He reached into his pack and grabbed the gale boomerang; then he rushed forward and hurled it at Ichigo. Ichigo quickly deflected it with Zangetsu and charged forward as the boomerang spun off behind him. As he and Link came back into striking distance, he heard a rush of wind behind him, and out of the corner of his eye he could see the boomerang coming back toward him. At the same time, Link lunged at Ichigo with the Master Sword pointed straight at his face. There was no way to block both attacks, so all Ichigo could do was flash-step upward and avoid having to choose between being stabbed or bludgeoned. Ichigo was now standing in midair about thirty feet above Link. It was now Link's turn to be surprised; he had no idea that his opponent could do something like that.
"Time to finish this." Ichigo thought to himself. He raised Zangetsu and shouted with all his might.
"Getsuga...TENSHO!"
Link heard him call out this strange battle cry, but then saw a huge, crescent-shaped blue wave of energy headed straight for him. Link raised the Hylian shield and threw all his weight behind it as the attack connected. The energy wave slammed into his shield and Link felt as if he would be smashed into the ground by the sheer force of the impact. But the ancient shield held, and with a shout of extreme effort Link thrust the shield forward, sending the energy attack back in the direction it came from. Ichigo saw his Getsuga Tensho strike his enemy's shield, but he was totally unprepared to see it heading straight back at him a second later.
"No way!" he said out loud just before his own attack slammed into his own raised sword.
Fortunately for Ichigo, Zangetsu was more than able to deflect its own attack. Ichigo stared in disbelief at Link. How was this weird-looking guy able to stand up to him when he clearly couldn't use flash-step or fly, and didn't even seem to be using Shikai with his strange Zanpakuto. Ichigo knew that everyone fighting the Hollows on the other side of town would be able to sense what was going on, especially if he decided to use it, but he didn't see much choice. He held Zangetsu our straight in front of him. His spirit energy burst up like blue flame all around him. Down on the ground Link readied his sword and shield again, not knowing what was coming next. Ichigo gritted his teeth and shouted one word.
"BANKAI!"
Well, it looks like things are getting serious! Again, I'm sorry it's been so long between the last chapter and now. I will be updating more regularly now that things are (more or less) back to normal for me :) Please read and review!