Chapter 6: He Started It!

Hey everyone! First of all, I'm sorry for the huge gap between my last update and now, I'm so, so sorry…

But you can't control life, and sometimes it just gets in the way of things like fanfiction. But as I promised, I won't ever abandon this story! Thanks for anyone and everyone who's still reading this! Anyway, here it is! The long-awaited conclusion to the battle between Link and Ichigo!

"Bankai! Tensa Zangetsu."

Ichigo was obscured from Link's view by a cloud of dust as he activated Zangetsu's final release. When the dust cleared, Link gasped in surprise. His opponent was now wearing a long, black trench coat with frayed edges. What caught Link's eye was his sword. It had changed in size and shape, much as Kisuke Urahara's sword had done when he showed him its shikai. Now instead of a massive cleaver Ichigo was holding an average-sized black single-edged blade with a traditional hilt and guard. Link couldn't help but wonder how shrinking the size of his sword would help his enemy, but he knew better than to underestimate his new form.

Ichigo could tell that Pointy-Hat was surprised by his bankai. "Good," he thought. "I'll finish him while he's confused." He launched himself towards his opponent, Tensa Zangetsu raised over his shoulder ready to strike.

As he hurtled through the air, Link readied his shield once again. "He's gotten faster!" Link thought to himself as he prepared to block the oncoming attack.

Ichigo swung his sword and the blade crashed into Link's shield. The incredible force behind the attack caused a shockwave of spiritual energy. Link swung his sword in a counter-attack, but Ichigo wasn't there. Link raised his shield again just in time to deflect another strike from behind him. Ichigo flash-stepped all around Link, attacking from a different angle with each swing of his Zanpakuto. Link had dealt with opponents who could teleport before, but none with the speed possessed by his current opponent. It was all he could do just to keep the lightning-fast slashes from connecting; he couldn't get in any attacks of his own.

"I need to get some room to swing, just give me one chance…" Link thought as the unrelenting assault continued. Just then, Ichigo flash-stepped backward, appearing about 30 feet in front of him.

Ichigo was impressed at how Pointy-Hat had been able to block his attacks, but as he'd hoped, his bankai made him too fast for his enemy to counter-attack between strikes. But simply hitting his shield over and over again wouldn't get him anywhere. He needed to land a killing blow. He flash-stepped back and rushed forward again, Tensa Zangetsu held out in front of him this time.

Link saw the attack coming, but he had already prepared his own move. As Ichigo dashed toward him, he held his shield in front, but held the Master Sword behind him. Ichigo flash-stepped again just before hitting Link's shield, intending to hit him from behind before he could react. But Link shouted out and swung his blade in a full circle, spinning his entire body in the process. Ichigo landed several feet behind Link, the two of them facing away from each other. The two combatants stood there for a moment, and then a small spurt of blood erupted from Link's right shoulder. The Hylian let out a grunt of pain. A second later, Ichigo did the same as a stream of blood sprayed from his own right side.

"How… how the hell did he hit me?" Ichigo gasped mentally. "What kind of crazy-ass move was that?"

"I finally hit him," thought Link. "But my shield arm's gonna be useless now. I hope I hit him somewhere it counts."

Link and Ichigo stood panting heavily, staring at each other across the soccer field. Ichigo was the first to break the silence.

"Hey, those are some pretty fancy moves you've got there. But there's no way you'll be able to pull something like off again." Ichigo raised his sword and pointed it at Link. "Now, how about you tell me just what the hell it is you're doing here?"

Raising his arm turned out to be a bad move, as more blood spurted from the gash on his side. Ichigo flinched and involuntarily lowered his weapon. To his surprise, his opponent looked concerned. Link stepped forward, holding his left hand to his wounded shoulder, still holding the Master Sword tightly.

"You're the one who attacked me!" The young Hylian retorted. "Why don't you tell me who you are first?"

Ichigo pulled himself into an upright stance again, gritting his teeth as he raised Tensa Zangetsu up over his shoulder.

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Soul Reaper."

Link's eyes widened in surprise.

"Did you say you're a… Soul Reaper?"

"Yeah, that's right. So what are you?"

"I'm Link. I was sent here on a mission to defeat an evil power that threatens this world and my own."

"Oh yeah, is that so? What do you mean, "Your world?"

"I was sent here from the land of Hyrule. A Soul Reaper came to Hyrule Castle and told me I was needed here."

"What are you talking about? I've never heard of a place called Hyrule, is that somewhere in the Soul Society?"

"I'd never heard of the Soul Society until that weird guy showed up at the castle, and the way he explained it, it's completely different from Hyrule."

Just then, they were both interrupted as another tear in the sky began to open. Link and Ichigo turned and looked upward.

"Is that that Kisuke guy finally arriving? It's about time he showed up!" thought Link.

"Damn, more Hollows?!" was the first thought that entered Ichigo's mind.

An ear-piercing scream echoed through the air, one which both Ichigo and Link recognized. They both looked up at the growing tear in the sky as an enormous masked face peered through the garganta.

"Just my luck," thought Ichigo. "A Menos. If I try to fight it, I'll be open to that freaky green kid. Damn it! I wish the others would hurry up and get here!"

Link stared at the towering Hollow as it stepped through the garganta and onto the field. He held the hilt of his sword up closer to his face and, to Ichigo's great surprise, began talking to it.

"Hey! Fi! You seem to have a lot of information about…things, what can you tell me about that thing?"

Fi materialized from the blade of the Master Sword.

"Master Link, while that creature is much larger than the one you encountered before, its appearance and spiritual emissions would indicate that it is another type of Hollow."

"That thing's a Hollow? Are you sure?"

"I am 94.78 % sure that my initial analysis is correct."

"Again with the percents, aren't you ever just sure about something?"

"A 94.78 % accuracy rating falls well within the parameters of surety."

Link groaned out loud as he thought the situation over.

"If that giant Hollow attacks me while I'm trying to fight that guy in his faster form, there's no way I'll be able to hold both of them off! Maybe I should run and let him deal with it? Unless he summoned it himself to help defeat me, then running won't do any good…"

Link looked back toward Ichigo, who was also staring up at the enormous creature. But the expression on his opponent's face looked as uneasy as Link felt.

"Wait, he looks as surprised to see that thing as I am. Could it be that he's an enemy of the Hollows? That would mean that he's not working for the evil power from my world, since that Hat-And-Clogs guy Kisuke said that the Hollows were being controlled by that evil…"

Link glanced at Ichigo again. The Substitute Soul Reaper looked back at the Hero of Hyrule, and he could tell by the look in his opponents eyes what he was about to do. Ichigo called out to Link as the young Hylian turned and rushed toward the towering Menos Grande.

"Hey, wait! What do you think you're doing!? You're in no condition to fight something like that!"

Link ignored Ichigo's warning shouts and dashed toward the giant Hollow. The monster roared again and raised its foot in an attempt to crush him like an insect. Link leapt to the side and rolled, gritting through the pain that shot through his shoulder as he hit the ground. As he pushed himself up from the ground, he struck out with the Master Sword, and the Hollow screamed as the Blade of Evil's Bane cut through its ankle.

Ichigo looked on in shock as the Menos' foot was severed with a single stroke of his opponent's strange sword. The Menos screamed in pain and started to fall, but managed to catch itself by grabbing onto a nearby building, causing a great deal of damage to the upper floors in the process.

Link jumped back to avoid the retaliatory kick he assumed would come from the Hollow. But instead of trying to strike it opened its mouth and a red ball of energy began to form just in front of its gaping jaws. Link had no idea what a cero was, but he could recognize that it was charging some kind of attack. He decided not to wait and try to find out what kind of attack it was preparing (although he assumed it would be a giant fireball) and dove towards its undamaged leg.

Link yelled out a battle cry and put all his strength into the blow, and once again the Master Sword cut clean through the Hollow's leg. Unable to support itself against the building it had been leaning on, the Menos roared and discharged it's cero into the air as it fell to the ground.

The crash of the massive body as it hit the ground kicked up a thick cloud of dust, and Ichigo lost sight of Link for a moment. He swung his Tensa Zangetsu, releasing a large amount of spiritual pressure as he did so. The invisible force generated by his sword swing blew back the dust cloud, and Ichigo looked back and forth across the soccer field for Link. His eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open as he caught sight of the Hylian leaping through the air, sword held over his head, straight toward the mask of the Menos Grande now lying on its side.

Link brought his blade crashing down on the giant mask of the Menos, splitting it from one side to the other as he fell to the ground. With a final roar, it dissolved and floated away into nothingness. He flourished his sword as he slid it back into its sheath before turning back to face Ichigo.

Link frowned as he saw Ichigo staring and pointing at him.

"What?" he asked. "Is there another one behind me or something?"

He turned and looked behind him, just to make sure.

"Nope, nothing there…"

"Ha! I knew it would work! I knew it! Take that Uryu!" Ichigo shouted triumphantly.

Link felt a little creeped out as Ichigo shouted and laughed hysterically, but clearly his reaction was not that of an evil overseer. If he had been on the side of the Hollow, he would have at least shown some disappointment over it's defeat.

"Well, I guess I'm at least 80 % sure that he's not on my enemies' side," Link thought. Then his eye twitched as he realized the way he'd just thought that out. "Darn it! Now I'm starting to sound like Fi!"

Well, as you all probably expected, our two heroes didn't fight to the finish with each other. I hope I did a good job of writing the battle scenes, that's one type of scene I've had little practice with. But you all know why Ichigo is feeling so smug about the way Link defeated the Menos, right? ;)

If any old fans of this story are still reading, I'm sorry again for the drought in updates the last several months. But did anyone get the Doctor Who reference in the opening? Hehe :D As always, reviews and advice are most appreciated. I can't make any promises as to when I'll have the next chapter out, but I'll do my best to make sure it's soon. Until next time!