Orihime Inoue changed again, though this change was less dramatic. A point of light flashed from each of the six rings on her ponytail. The six glowing motes circled around the tsuba of her Zanpakuto, before wrapping around her left wrist. In their wake, the katana's guard now had the familiar six petal hibiscus shape and coloring. And a thick silver bracer wrapped around the outside of her left sleeve from wrist to elbow, bearing the same motif.
"So you can already use Shikai," Ginjo taunted, "It does matter much, you are still inexperienced. And we have you outnumbered two to one."
"I'd like to know how you are coming by that count," Ishida countered, "I only see seven of you."
"Count again," Tsukishima said softly, "There are eight Full-Bringers here. Isn't that right, Sado-kun?"
Chad stepped away from the edge of the forest, his movements unsteady.
"I'm sorry, Ichigo," the giant teen said roughly, "Tsukishima has guarded me my whole life, and helped me come to respect myself. He is the only main reason I have been able to adjust to life in Japan. I won't hurt any of you, but I can't allow you to hurt him or my new comrades either."
"And that is not counting our other allies," Giriko said in his typical condescending manner. He gestured broadly towards the tree line, where new figures had taken the place of Chad. The Quincy and Soul Reapers recognized Tatsuki Arisawa and Karin Kurosaki at the front, with other familiar shapes still partially hidden by the gloom.
"You bastards are still holding hostages?" Ichigo snarled, Zangetsu coming up and his legs tensing.
"And don't forget we just got a level-up of our own," Yukio noted, gripping his PSP tightly.
Orihime walked carefully forward, stopping when she was just ahead of Ichigo, glaring intently at the Tsukishima and Ginjo. They met her gaze, neither seeming impressed. She raised her sword and placed both the blade and guard against her bracer.
"Would you like to compare our new powers?" she asked sternly.
"Still no form," Tsukishima mocked in response.
Orihime dragged her Zanpakuto along the kote. It threw off sparks and the blade began to glow with the same golden color as her shield. As the weapon and armor separated, she pointed the blade at the ground.
"Soten Kisshun, I reject," she chanted again, this time with angry certainty. She stabbed her sword into the ground. A wave of golden energy erupted towards the Full-Bringers. All of them except Chad and Riruka cringed. The ones who had benefited from Ichigo's Full-Bring flinched because they expected her restoration ability to change them back to how they were before the theft. And Tsukishima and Shishigawara simply reacted instinctively to what looked like an attack. But the surge passed over them without any visible effect.
"It appears you have not mastered your new powers," the memory changer said softly, yet superiorly.
"Ha!" his mohawked flunky exclaimed, pointing at her triumphantly. He took a half-step forward to accentuate the gesture. Except his foot hit a small hole, and he pitched forward onto his chin. Despite its painful and almost comedic appearance, the stumble was a lucky one, as it saved him from having his skull caved in.
Chad's black and crimson wrapped hand passed through the spot where Moe's head had been. An instant later, Bringer-Light appeared under his sneakers, and he reappeared beside Uryu.
"Let's make that five on seven," his deep voice rumbled.
"What did you do?" Tsukishima stared at Orihime, confused and perhaps a bit frightened.
"I know your power," she told him sharply, placing her left hand over her heart, "I can reject it. And I can even the odds."
A rustling attracted the Full-Bringers' attention for a moment. Everyone looked, to see Tatsuki and Karin quickly moving to lead Tsukishima's other victims away.
Orihime wished that she could have stripped Ichigo's stolen power from them as they had expected. But Soten Kisshun was at its core a healing power. She could not remove that power from them unless it was somehow causing them harm. Not that she was going to tell them that. Instead she moved back parallel to Ichigo and raised Shun Shun Rikka in a blatant imitation of how he was holding Zangetsu.
"A fair fight, huh?" Ginjo smirked, while his first apprentice glared at the healer, "You're not quite there yet, but if your floating friends aren't going to intervene or there is anyone else hiding in the woods, this is as close as you are going to get."
Ichigo frowned at that. He could sense his father and Urahara out there. But they were moving away. He realized they were escorting the rest of his family and friends to safety, in case things got out of hand or one of the Full-Bringers made a move on them. Like the Soul Reapers had implied, this fight belonged to his nakama. He was just glad Rukia was a part of that, and that he had Chad back.
"It's not like we aren't used to uphill battles," Ichigo quipped to his team.
"That's so sad it's almost cute," Ginjo shook his head. The he stated one name as a command, "Yukio."
The youngest member of Xcution started to raise his game, when Riruka's stunningly long leg shot up and kicked the PSP out of his hand. By the time he caught it, she had used her powers to land within range of Zangetsu.
"You mind if we make this six on six?" she asked Ichigo nervously.
"Riruka," Jackie exhaled her name uncertainly.
"That is a foolish move," Giriko lectured from across the clearing, "betraying us and putting yourself on the losing team for a crush."
"Shut the hell up," the tsundere snapped, turning bright red.
"I didn't want this," she told Ichigo, bringing her voice under control, just loud enough that everyone could hear her, "I never wanted any of this. This power is a curse. I joined Xcution partly so I wouldn't be alone anymore, but mostly because I really believed his lies. I wanted to be normal."
Orihime studied Riruka, and nodded slightly. She trusted the other girl, based on the time they spent together during Ichigo's training, and Rurika's tsundere nature in general. The new Soul Reaper tried to convince herself that her belief was not just because she still wanted a romantic rival.
"You were the ones who betrayed me," Riruka informed Ginjo, unaware of Inoue's internal debate, "lying to me, making me get stronger, and forcing this on me."
She gestured at the white armor that had formed on her body from her unwanted share of Ichigo's original Full-Bring.
"Isn't it the same for you, Jackie?" she demanded of the American woman, "I thought you hated your powers, your boots, and wanted to be rid of them as much as I do."
"It's not that simple," Jackie's voice was husky, "As much as I hate it, I'm not sure how to live without it anymore. And if I leave Xcution, then I will be alone again."
For a few tense moments the two groups both studied the pick-haired woman.
"Yukio, Riruka's made her choice," Ginjo told the blonde boy, "Do it, before anyone else goes crazy."
"GAME START," the handheld announced, and their world dissolved in a mass of pixels.