14
Ichigo and Chad were training in one of Riruka's dollhouses. The orange-haired shinigami blocked his best friend's fist, but Chad had an idea that Ichigo didn't see coming. The bigger teen created a huge blast of reiatsu that caused the smaller to be sent flying across the dollhouse.
Riruka was watching the two boys train from above with an annoyed look on her face. "How much longer is this going to take? I'm not really seeing any improvement," she complained.
"What are you talking about?" asked Ginjo. "Chad is getting stronger and faster. He also seems to be getting more clever in his attacks."
"Yeah, but he's not learning anything new. Sure he's using bringer light to help him move faster, but he should at least try to use the things around him too. Or better yet, learn a new technique."
"He might not be able to learn a new move," said Giriko, a man wearing an eyepatch over his right eye. "His fullbring ability gives him strength. I can control time, but not enough of it to go back in the past. Just like you, Riruka, who can only put people you like into things you like. So Chad's powers are mostly within his physical prowess."
"Okay, but what about Ichigo? We haven't seen him use anything other than Getsuga Tensho," said Riruka.
"He is holding back," said Ginjo. "He doesn't want to hurt his friend after all."
"If that is the case, then Chad won't be able to improve fast enough to take on someone like me," a voice said by the door. Everyone in the building, minus Chad and Ichigo, shot up and turned to see the man they thought was a friend in the past.
"Ichigo, there is a problem," said old man Zangetsu.
"Wait, Chad, stop!" Both Ichigo and Chad paused in their training.
"Why are we stopping? Are you alright, Ichigo?" asked Chad. He worried that he may have hurt Ichigo after one of his attacks.
"I'm not sure. I feel fine, but Zangetsu said that there is a problem."
"I sense Tsukishima in the building outside the dollhouse, and he is not giving off good intentions," said the zanpakuto/quincy spirit.
"Darn, does anyone know how much longer we're supposed to be stuck in here?" asked Ichigo.
"I lost track," said Shiro. Ichigo could mentally see Muramasa and Kikoo agree with his hollow zanpakuto.
'Well, that's not helping,' the shinigami sighed. He turned to his friend and said, "We might have to blast our way out if we want to help the others."
Chad nodded his head in agreement. The two started to build up as much spirit energy as they could and released their strongest attacks.
"Getsuga Jujisho!"
"La Muerte!" Ichigo's attack crashed into the wall of the dollhouse first, and then followed by Chad's, causing an explosion outward and allowing them out of the box, grow to their normal size again, and shock everyone from outside.
Ichigo's glaring, brown eyes quickly landed on Tsukishima, who appeared to have been ready to destroy the box he and Chad were in. Ichigo's eyes narrowed even farther.
"I'm glad you came, because now I can get payback for what you did to my friends!" Ichigo charged forward and swung both Zangetsus at the tall, skinny fullbringer.
Tsukishima dodged the oncoming attack, narrowly missing the deadly blades by a mere inch. Ichigo came at him again, but this time the bigger of the two zanpakuto slashed through the wall of the Xcution hideout. This gave Tsukishima a quick exit.
Just as the dark-haired man jumped through the hole Ichigo created, the orange-haired shinigami followed. The members of Xcution charged out of the hole as well and began to attack their fellow fullbringer.
Chad was the first fullbringer to attack Tsukishima. He aimed a punch at the man's head, but Tsukishima deflected it with his sword. Soon, the other fullbringers sent out their own attacks, while others that couldn't really use their powers to fight stayed behind.
Ichigo kept clashing with Tsukishima's sword. He had no choice but to hold back since they were fighting in an area where people could easily fall victim to the reiatsu flowing in the air. He saw that the members of Xcution kept pulling the enemy away to fight him themselves, and Tsukishima would sometimes move to try and attack those that are staying out of the fighting. Ichigo, however, wasn't paying any mind to all of this.
At this point, the shinigami/hollow/quincy hybrid was getting irritated. He put his smaller zanpakuto away so he can use both hands to swing down the other, bigger one.
"Getsuga…" Ichigo started to gather his spirit energy into Shiro Zangetsu, but just as he was about to fire, something that looked like pixels appeared around him and locked him away in some black void.
Ichigo had no idea what was happening on the outside of the void space that looked like the inside of a game. It took him a while to get to the place that looked game-like from the black nothingness, but when he did, he was furious.
"Why did you put me in here?! I had him!" he demanded loudly. He wasn't sure if the members of Xcution could even hear him.
"See, this is why we shouldn't trust these people," hissed Shiro, sounding like an angry cat. "We could have killed the enemy right then and there and ended this whole thing, but thanks to them stopping us, we FAILED!"
'I wasn't aiming to kill Tsukishima, Shiro,' said Ichigo.
"...Are you kidding me, King? People like Tsukishima need to be killed. He is trying to hurt us, and will go after those you care about just to do it. But thanks to your new friends protecting him, he's still out there doing hollow king knows what! Like he could be going after our sisters or something!"
'You just had to make me worry, didn't you?' Ichigo was indeed concerned. He wanted to get out of this game-like place and check on his sisters.
"Calm down, Ichigo. I'm sure your father is capable of protecting your sisters," said Zangetus.
'I guess you're right, old man,' Ichigo said in defeat. He knew he wasn't going to get out of the space on his own and check on his sisters. He'll have to put all his trust in his father to keep Yuzu, Karin, and Tenebris safe. 'Even though that crystal won't allow any harm to come to that crazy dragon,' he thought.
Before anything else could be said, Ginjo came into the game room.
"Why am I here?!" Ichigo asked again. This time he knew his question was heard loud and clear.
"Calm down, Ichigo. We had to put you in here because it isn't the right time nor place to fight Tsukishima. There were too many people around. If you had fired off that attack, you could have missed and hurt or even killed some bystanders," said Ginjo with a serious look on his face and a scolding tone in his voice.
Ichigo flinched at the older man's words. He had forgotten that there were people around for just a moment. There normally wasn't anyone around when he fought the Espada back during the winter war, but this time there was. The orange-haired shinigami bowed his head in shame.
"Okay, now you got that threw your head, we are going to continue training Chad in Yukio's Invaders Must Die. That's where we are now," said Ginjo more softly.
"Alright…" said Ichigo. 'Darn, I can't believe I allowed myself to forget about the people around me. Tenebris would kill me if she ever finds out,' Ichigo told the others within his soul.
"Yeah she is. Maybe we shouldn't tell her? We'll live longer." said Shiro
"She is not going to kill you, Ichigo. I think it might be best you do tell her so she can help make sure it doesn't happen again," said Zangetsu.
"I could pin you down next time," offered Muramasa.
'I doubt there will be a next time,' said Kikoo.
Ichigo sighed and looked up when he saw Chad come in.
"Are you okay, Ichigo?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's get back to training. Maybe it'll take my mind off of what could have happened if they didn't stop me."
"It wasn't your fault."
Ichigo smiled in gratitude. "Thanks, Chad." After Ichigo finished saying his words, the two returned to training.
TBC
I know, the fight wasn't that great. There was like no detail in it at all. I promise that the final fight between Ichigo and Ginjo will be much better than this. Anyway, this chapter was more to show that Ichigo, or at the very least Shiro, still doesn't trust Xcution. I don't like how Ichigo broke down when he was stabbed in the back, both literally and figuratively. I hated that part, so with the distrust there it won't affect him as bad.
Ichi: Good to know that you aren't going to torture me this time.
Shiro: She could be waiting to do it, so don't hold your breath on that.
Enj/Dark: I'm not a big fan of the fullbring arc. ...Did I say that before? ...Anyway, this arc is almost over. They are about to betray Ichigo, and Tenebris is about to awaken. Hopefully things will be more interesting. I know it won't be as confusing anymore.
Ichi&Shiro: That's true.
Enj/Dark: Please review! ^-^
