Hey there! Long time no talk! I've kinda been radio silent for a while, my brain did a total shutdown of ideas and I think it was partly because I wrote myself into corners in my other stories. Hopefully that won't happen again, but in the meantime I'm considering going back and reworking those other ones before attempting to continue them. As for this one…..
The idea for this came from an abandoned story by Dragon Wizard 91. It was only one chapter and only just introduced the concept for it all, but it got me thinking of how differently things could play out with minor tweaks to how Ichigo reacted to events. Whereas they started their loop with the battle Ulquiorra on top of Las Noches, I'm gonna start it at the fight with Zaraki. Here's to hoping I do it justice.
As always Ichigo and Co. Are 18 and in their final year of high school. Anyways! On to the show!
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach.
'Inner Thoughts'
"Speaking"
'Zanpakuto Spirit'
'Inner Hollow'
[System]
Life Is A Game
Ch.1: Game Over/New Game
| Seireitei Corridors |
Ichigo watched in horror as the blade of Zangetsu shattered in half as Zaraki pulled his own zanpakuto back through the hole he'd stabbed through it, blood pooling in his throat and mouth from where the blade had somehow pierced through Zangetsu and managed to stab him in the lung. His legs gave out first, dropping first to his knees before falling forward to lay on the ground. The captain finally spoke, their disappointed tone echoing in his mind as he laid there struggling to stay alive.
"No more huh?" He paused for a moment as he stared at Ichigo before finally turning around and beginning to walk away. "That was no fun at all…" He'd let the tip of his zanpakuto scrape across the ground as he walked away. Ichigo watched this all as his vision began to fade out from the blood loss, unable to speak at all because of his injuries. Though internally he wasn't as silent.
'No! I can't die here! This can't… Rukia… Chad… Orihime… Everyone… I can't give up here, this can't be the end!' He watched as Zaraki finally brought his zanpakuto from the ground and brought it to his shoulder as he was walking away, though in that moment the world froze before abruptly transforming into a black void. Confusion filled Ichigo as he laid there, the world was gone yet he still remained. After a moment he found he had the strength to push himself to a sitting position and began to look around, a small spark of hope filling him as he remembered how Zangetsu had pulled him into his inner world when he was about to become a hollow.
"Zangetsu! Are you there? What is this place?!" His voice echoed out in the space he was dropped into, moving to stand he'd turn and look around while feeling at his chest where he was stabbed. Nothing. He stopped moving and ripped open his shihakusho to look over himself and found the wound he'd gotten from the captain was gone along with all the evidence that he'd ever been in a fight. No minor cuts or scratches, no bruises, no dirt, sand or dust covering him.
As he was inspecting himself a white glow would become visible out of the corner of his eye, his head quickly snapping to look in its direction as his hand reached back for… nothing. Panic hit him as he remembered Zangetsu had been broken, though as the glow came into focus that panic changed to confusion. Floating in the sky were the words [Game Over] and they were glowing like a neon sign, soon after more text began to appear.
[Total Playtime: 2 Months 21 Days]
[Achievements Earned]
[The Black Sun Rises: Obtained Shinigami Powers And Defeated Fishbone D.]
[New Reaper In Town: Accept The Duties Of A Soul Reaper]
[Jealousy Burns: Defeat Acidwire]
[Siblings Reunited*: Free The Soul Of Sora Inoue From The Hollow And Allow The Siblings To Say Their Last Goodbye]
[The Gates Of Hell Will Have To Swing Wide…: Defeat Shrieker And Witness The Gates Of Hell Open]
[Fake Soul, Real Feelings*: Save The Mod Soul From Being Destroyed]
[The Show Must Go On!*: Save Don Kanonji]
[Pride Of The Quincy: Complete A Duel Against Uryu]
[I Will Not Be Doing That Again!*: Fend Off A Gillian Class Hollow Before Achieving Shikai And Live To Tell The Tale.]
[All I've Got Is A Paper Clip And Some Pocket Lint*: Defeat A Menos Class Hollow Before Reaching Level 5]
[Kicking Them While They're Down*: Defeat A Lieutenant Using A Limiter Before Reaching Level 10]
[The Will Of The Heart: Beat Hollowfication And Stay Human]
[City On It's Side: Learn Zangetsu's Name And Achieve Shikai]
[The Cat And The Hat: Enter Soul Society]
[Guardian Of The Gate: Defeat Jidambo]
[You Call This Security?!*: Defeat Jidambo Before Reaching Level 20]
[Second In Command: Defeat A Lieutenant]
[And They Said This Would Be Difficult*: Defeat A Lieutenant Before Reaching Level 30]
Ichigo stared at the list of 'achievements' he apparently earned in shock, recognizing the setup of the menu from the many times he'd played games with his sisters over the years. His mind barely held onto itself as he watched the glowing letters tell him about other stats from his 'play through' before finally he started nervously laughing and looking around again.
"Oh… I get it… haha Zangetsu, very funny but we really need to get up now. No doubt that crazy captain will have to finish me off… Z-Zangetsu?" Once again he heard nothing in response from the void. He looked back at the glowing letters for a moment, noticing it had just finished up mentioning Character Profiles for different characters, including Zangetsu himself. It then began to display something else that caught his eye.
[Unlocked]
[Load Game]
[Randomizer Mode]
[Character Profiles]
[Achievements]
[Outfits]
[Scene Replay]
[Outfit: Mask Collector]
[Outfit: Showman]
[Outfit: Contender]
Seemingly finished with what it had to display, it showed the words [Main Menu] beneath it all. The words lightly blinked as if urging him to select it. With some hesitation he decided to play along, if Zangetsu was messing with him for some reason then he'd play along until he revealed himself. Finding his voice again he spoke, letting his voice carry into the void.
"Main Menu"
All at once the floating words disappeared from sight and soon color came rushing back into the world again. Taking a moment to refocus on his surroundings he found himself standing in the middle of his room at home in his normal clothing again, he could faintly hear the TV was turned on downstairs and the general noises he'd come to expect from being in his room. Moving to look outside his window it all looked like Karakura normally did, not at all like his inner world. He had nearly reached the conclusion that he hallucinated everything to do with soul reapers and soul society when suddenly he saw himself running down the road in his shihakusho with Rukia in her gigai clinging to his back, like they had when an alert came in.
Bile threatened to come up his throat at the sight, his already strained mind not being able to comprehend what he just saw. Backing away from his window quickly, he smacked into the door of his closet. The pain distracted him for a moment before out of the corner of his eye he saw himself again. Just standing there statically like a group of mannequins in the open space of his room were three clones of himself wearing a shihakusho like normal with Zangetsu on their back, two of them however were somewhat different. Walking up to the one that looked almost completely normal with the exception of a hollow mask strapped to their shoulder like a pauldron. Upon closer inspection it was the mask of Acidwire, the hollow that ended up being Orihime's brother Sora. As he got closer the other two Ichigos would disappear and text would appear around the one in front of him.
[Outfit Selector]
[Unlocked Outfits: Ichigo Kurosaki, Mask Collector, Contender, Showman]
[Currently Showing: Mask Collector (Not Equipped)]
[Masks Collected: 1]
[Named Masks Collected: 1/75]
[Special Ability(s)]
[Negotiator: Heightened Chance (1%, Raised By Collecting Named Masks. Max = 75%) That Regular Hollows Will Regain Their Sanity Will Willingly Be Sent To Soul Society. Does Not Work On Truly Evil Souls Or Menos Class Hollows]
[Backstory]
[Having experienced first hand that hollows are normal souls that were corrupted, in some cases against their will, Ichigo set out to assist as many hollows in freeing themselves of their mask and traveling to the Soul Society willingly. Most shinigami look down on the passiveness of Ichigo and his attempts to talk down hollows instead of just slaying them.]
[Stats]
[Strength: 100]
[Reiatsu Amount: 1000]
[Reiatsu Control: 0]
[Speed: 100]
[Durability: 100]
[Zanjutsu: 100]
[Hakuda: 100]
"That's… What the hell is this all…" Backing up, the text disappeared and the two other Ichigos reappeared, testing it out he stepped forward and back a few times as he watched the text and other Ichigos flash in and out of existence a few times before stopping and moving over to the one that looked completely normal.
[Currently Showing: Ichigo Kurosaki (Equipped)]
[Backstory]
[The eldest child and only son of Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo was able to see and interact with spirits from a young age. One such incident of experiencing spirits led to the unfortunate death of his mother Masaki. As he grew older he would work to assist the souls he met in passing on. Now at age 18 and in his final year of high school he prepares himself for many changes in his life, some of them completely out of his control.]
[Stats]
[Strength: 100]
[Reiatsu Amount: 1000]
[Reiatsu Control: 0]
[Speed: 100]
[Durability: 100]
[Zanjutsu: 100]
[Hakuda: 100]
"Huh… that is… definitely a way to summarize my life… even if it leaves out a detail or twelve. It seems like the other one was the exact same as this version in the stats, just with the added ability." Backing up, he'd look down to the third option, a shudder going through him as he looked at this version of himself. The look in their eyes was the same brand of crazed and battle hungry as the captain he'd just fought against, and their appearance wasn't all that far off. The shihakusho was torn in several different spots and they had quite a few more scars on their body, curiosity took hold of him and he stepped forward to read about this 'Outfit'
[Currently Showing: Contender (Not Equipped)]
[Special Ability(s)]
[Hardened Skin: The User Cannot be Damaged By Attacks That Do Not Exceed 65% Of The User's Durability.]
[Backstory]
[Growing up, Ichigo had taken to various ways of fighting much more than anyone had expected. Enjoying the thrill of fighting stronger and stronger opponents, eventually surpassing Tatsuki in raw talent and ability. Paired with the attention he gained from bullies and gang members for having odd colored hair, Ichigo grew to be far more violent as he dealt with these people. While he wouldn't attack people randomly most people still feared him because of his reputation.]
[Stats]
[Strength: 500]
[Reiatsu Amount: 1000]
[Reiatsu Control: 0]
[Speed: 300]
[Durability: 500]
[Zanjutsu: 500]
[Hakuda: 500]
"Th-that's… okay that's strong, I wasn't expecting much more from it but that's a lot. Why is it so much better?" As he looked the model and text over he'd find a small line hidden away like the fine print on a contract.
[Granted From Achievement: I Will Not Be Doing That Again!]
Taking a moment to remember what that specific achievement was he lets out a nervous laugh. "Oh… yeah that explains it. Looking back on that situation, I really shouldn't have won that. No wonder it's making me look like that maniac for pulling that off." Backing off once more, he notices some floating text in an arrow icon saying [Next Page], deciding to check on that last outfit before moving on he calls out the prompt.
As the next set of three assemble themselves, two of them are blacked out making it clear they're not unlocked yet, the first of the bunch however… Ichigo cringes as he looks over the model, taking in the look of himself with a hat just like Don Kanonji paired with a black robe/jacket thing with massive shoulder pads inside it. Though unlike the outfit that Don Kanonji wore, he had orange fur accents around the neck area, the same shade as his own hair, and wore an equally orange vest beneath the jacket…
"CLOSE!"
The Outfit Selector immediately closed, leaving him in the room alone again, he'd seen enough and hoped he'd never have to finish looking at that version of himself. He idly remembered how Don Kanonji had given him the status of sidekick or something similar to that when he'd helped the guy out. Shaking away that horrific sight, Ichigo made his way out of the room and began to explore the house.
It was nearly an hour later when he came to rest at the kitchen table. His head in his hands. None of his family was here, though that was to be expected at this point. That's not to say he hadn't seen them, more scenes like what he'd seen outside his bedroom window had happened and one of them was watching himself leave the outer gate with the rest of his family, likely heading up to the graveyard to visit his mother's grave. He attempted to follow after them but as soon as he touched the door he was bombarded with menus and quickly learned that was how you started a new game or loaded one. The reason he wasn't relaxing on the couch was because the TV and by extension the couch and recliner were for the scene replay function, and the portrait of Masaki on the wall was the character profile area, and apparently using it left the most recently opened character as the image for the poster. As of the moment he had an image of Zangetsu pulled up, having hoped for a while that the older man would pop out of the frame suddenly and walk over to him to tell him it's all in his inner world. No such luck so far.
The only oddities from his normal home he'd discovered was a large book sitting on the kitchen counter that contained the achievements function and an odd question mark statue by the front door that was apparently for the randomizer. He'd decided not to mess with that, for now at least.
"Am I actually dead? Is this what it's actually like to die? Or did I get sucked up into some crazy experiment? Have I gone insane and I'm in the psych ward? What the hell is going on…" His gaze drifted over to the area of the front door. 'Is this a test? Is starting a new game Zangetsu's way of seeing if I want to live?'
With a shuddering sigh Ichigo stood up again and moved to the front door, his hand hesitating at the handle as he spoke. "Zangetsu… I don't know if this is your doing or if I've gone insane or something… but regardless, I want to live… no I don't just want to live… I want to win, not just that fight but every one of them that comes after. So if this is your way of having me prove it, then so be it."
With that, Ichigo reached forward and opened the door to another chance at life.
In Canon, Zangetsu slows down time to a stop and appears in front of Ichigo when he loses to Zaraki which then leads into the introduction and initial fight with the hollow side of Zangetsu. Hence why there's no mention of them yet though they'll show up eventually. Same applies to Yoruichi's true form so they're still Mr. Yoruichi, the talking cat, at the moment to Ichigo.
Till next time!