Ichigo pushed Ulquiorra back as his dead eyes stared back at him for the first time in over a year, the apathetic arrancar leaping back and away from the angry soul reaper. His hierro had been more than capable of stopping Zangetsu's shikai from causing too much damage, yet even then there was still a light gash on his forearm oozing blood. A feat that was near impossible to perform even with his original bankai back when they first fought.
Such was the difference that was brought both by Ichigo's increase in strength and the unification of his powers.
Yet he couldn't help but feel there was just something plain wrong with the green eyed espada. Almost everything about him seemed just about the same as he used to be, and yet there was also these little differences that just really didn't add up. An ever so slight red tinge to his eyes, his gaze looking just a bit more vacant and less focused than he had before. "Ichigo Kurosaki. It's been quite some time." The formerly dead arrancar looked past Ichigo, another eyebrow of his raising as his gaze rested on the girls, "And a silver eyed warrior? I hadn't quite been expecting you to be in such company when I had realized you arrived in this world, soul reaper."
'A silver eyed warrior? What in the hell is he talking about? And did he just call me a soul reaper?' It was odd, and he did have an idea as to what was going on if the odd appearance of his foe was anything to go by, as well as the slight change in his speech, but he needed to test it out. Knowing he couldn't take too many risks with the likes of Ulquiorra, he began to flare his spirit energy, the surrounding area slowly beginning to feel an increase in pressure, "Yang, grab Ruby and activate your semblance. Take her as far away from my presence as you can. I need to handle this guy."
He needed her to run. He had a feeling that simply forcing his opponent elsewhere wouldn't do the trick this time. He couldn't help but sigh just a little bit when he thought of the explanation he was going to need to feed the sisters.
Regardless, he lunged at his enemy with flash step, quickly getting into his space and swinging his massive zanpakuto. Ulquiorra, fast as ever, kicked back to make some distance and unsheathed Murcialago, using his sealed blade to block his next strike. The arrancar was sent crashing into the forest from the force of the substitutes strike, Ichigo following close behind. When Ulquiorra came to a stop it seemed as if he had been prepared, as just as Ichigo stopped over his position with a getsuga charged and ready to fire, a green cero was discharged at close range. Ichigo unleashed a violet getsuga, the blast cutting through Ulquiorras doom blast, though Ulquiorra had already moved out of the way of the giant blast of purple energy with a fast application of sonido.
Though he didn't have the best handle on his completely unified powers yet, he had more than enough to have wiped out that cero and Ulquiorra if he had truly wanted to. Yet the fact is, he still didn't like to kill if he didn't have to, and he wanted to get to the bottom of things. It didn't make sense for the formerly deceased espada to be in Remnant near two years after their final battle. What exactly brought him here in the first place, and what was he up to?
And why did he seem more intrigued by Ruby's eyes than by the man that killed him?
It was with a static buzz that Ichigo was alerted to Ulquiorras approach, the battered and bruised arrancar looking unimpressed as he held another cero at his fingertip. "Cero." The blast nearly consumed him at point blank range, though he was able to flash step out of the way just in time, only receiving the slightest of burns on his arms. Despite the clear difference in their abilities and how much stronger Ichigo had become since the last time they had fought, still his opponent didn't try to release his sword, something he had done in their final battle just to prove a point regarding the difference in their power and abilities. Yet now when he was outmatched, he refused to use his power?
Ulquiorra wasn't an idiot like some of the espada had been, nor was he so prideful as to try and hold back. Something was wrong here.
"There a reason you aren't bothering to try and use your resurreccion? You ain't gonna stand a chance against me anymore otherwise." Yet rather than rise to the challenge, the green themed arrancar narrowed his deadened eyes and once more went ahead and made a lunge for him. Ichigo parried the strike and took the opening to kick Ulquiorra in the chest, sending him sailing away in midair. It didn't take long to catch back up with him once he had stopped, though he seemed to have a need to take a moment to catch his breath after the kick.
At least, that seemed to be what was going on. Yet on a closer inspection, his pupils seemed to be dilating and constricting at a rapid rate while he held an unusually tight grip on his swords hilt. It was so odd to see the normally calm and composed right hand of the former ruler of Hueco Mundo be so distressed. Even when he had been on the verge of death and turning to dust, he had been as collected as ever, as if it was perfectly normal to be dying. There was some sort of struggle going on within him, and it started after Ichigo had called for him to release his sword.
Ichigo had never liked the guy. Who would in his position? He had kidnapped one of his friends than allowed them to say goodbye to a single person of their choosing so that they could appear as if they were a traitor to the rest of the soul society, as if she had willingly gone ahead and joined Aizen for whatever reason. He had succeeded in nearly ending his own life on more than one occasion and had threatened his friends lives multiple times. He should take the chance to end his life while he is in a weakened state and to be done with it before he had a chance to truly wreak havoc on this world. The lives he could take and the damage he could do...
And yet...
Yet there was a part of him that knew he simply couldn't. Not because he couldn't take a life, Ginjo had been the first to truly test his resolve to kill, but because he didn't feel it was right here. Not only was he not clearly in complete control of his own faculties, but when they had ended their last fight, Ichigo hadn't been able to beat him on his own merits. Technically, he had never consciously beat Ulquiorra. And the fact of the matter was, if he was going to finally manage to properly settle the score with him, it wouldn't be while he was struggling to even hold his sword properly.
"Damn it, you gonna let this end like last time? Just going to let me beat you around this forest and turn you to dust, or are you gonna stop acting so weak and actually do something to fight me?!" Perhaps it was a bit out of character for him. It was more something along the likes of what Kenpachi or even perhaps Grimmjow would say and try to do. But if there was something Ichigo had learned in all of his battles, no matter how much he liked to deny it...
He did like to fight, to an extent at least. And he would not defeat Ulquiorra unless the espada was at his best. His own pride refused to allow it.
There seemed to be a certain strength that filled his opponents eyes after his encouragement. His green eyes narrowed and his own pressure began to rise on the surrounding area, the red in his eyes receding just the slightest bit. His grip loosened just a little bit on his hilt, as he whispered out two words with as much strength he could muster, "Imprison...mu..murcialgo..." And just like their second battle against one another, Ulquiorra's release created a rain of black, tar energy with a coating of green.
Yet as his powered was released, it almost seemed to be more loose than normal, something that Ichigo couldn't explain. As he watched the arrancars body change into his first released state, he noticed something seemed to be getting forcefully ejected from his body. Its body was dark and transparent, only solid near around where its head would be. A single, bruised and bulbous red eye was in the center of what he supposed was likely its face, small little white bumps and spikes going all around its head. It let out a panicked screech and tried to flee, though that didn't seem to go overly well for it.
Not considering Ulquiorra made to grab it and blast it into oblivion with a cero from at point blank range, holding it in is grip as the doom blast destroyed it. For the first time since he had first encountered the pale arrancar, he could glimpse what he may just consider rage glowing in his bright green eyes as the ghostly remains of whatever had been inside him floated to the ground. It seemed he wasn't quite finished with showing the creature his ire, firing off another regular cero at his falling remains, obliterating it before it could fully turn to ash.
Ichigo was content with giving his opponent some time to calmly collect himself, the green eyed man eventually turning back to him with the same bored expression he normally wore. Though this time around his eyes were completely back to normal, with not the slightest bit of red in sight, and he even seemed more relaxed than normal. He didn't have a lance of spirit energy ready for combat, though the arrancar did stay somewhere tense and with wings flared out and ready for either flight or to fight, "Ichigo Kurosaki. It's been quite some time since we last properly met."
The substitute stayed wary as he kept an eye on his once enemy, his grip on Zangetsu tight as he prepared to fire off a getsuga at full power if he needed to quickly end this fight to protect the people of Patch, "Yeah, guess you could say that. Mind explaining what the hell that was all about, or do you want to settle the score?" Truth be told, he wouldn't expect Ulquiorra to be the type to do such a thing. He didn't have the same red hot temper like Grimmjow or even the same superiority complex most of the other arrancars had. At least for the most part.
Though that didn't mean that he could be the slightest bit pissed off from how he had been defeated in their last battle.
Ulquiorra only shook his head however, and upon realizing Ichigo was unlikely to start the fight back up, began to fully relax his stance. Though he didn't dare to reseal his power, not yet, "I don't care for trying to settle things between us, Kurosaki. I wouldn't be completely surprised if you wanted to use this chance as a reason to finish our battle on even footing." Ichigo looked ready to protest, though the pale espada held up a hand to halt him, "Don't lie, I know you wish for us to battle again at some point, but now is not the time. We have a bigger problem at hand, and that same problem has a hold of all the espada that were killed in battle with the soul reapers."
The winged arrancar began to float back down to the ground, Ichigo following close behind him as they both got back down on the ground. Ulquiorra put his hands back in his pockets and sighed, "There was a woman who found us. Whether she was human or not, I couldn't tell you, though her general appearance seemed to suggest otherwise. All of the espada who had lost their lives ended up being infected with that... thing." Ulquiorra's fists tightened as he thought of it, not truly being bothered by the fact that the other espada were being controlled, but by the fact that he was essentially being possessed for over a year.
Ichigo frowned at the information, stabbing the tip of Zangetsu into the ground and sighing as he began to rub his forehead in irritation, "That means this just got a whole lot more annoying." He was certain that a majority of the espada who had died in Hueco Mundo would be easy enough to defeat, especially if most of them couldn't even use their full power and were being restrained, but the fact that this woman had something capable of controlling such powerful beings in such a way was worrisome. He had his worries regarding the primera and segunda espada though, considering both would supposedly be stronger than Ulquiorra's own base form in terms of their ranking.
"Annoying is one way to put it." Ulquiorra turned and looked off back where he came from with a frown, his released form slowly dispelling as his zanpakuto reformed and returned to his sheath. At a raised eyebrow from Ichigo he shrugged his shoulders, "The only reason those things were ever to gain any measure of control over the espada in the first place is the fact that they caught us weakened and off guard. I'll have little need to stay in my released form from here on out. From what I remember, there is little to nothing that can prove a threat to me, or you for that matter."
Ichigo wasn't exactly surprised that was the case. From what he had gathered so far the only person who could even remotely be a threat in terms of strength was Ozpin, and even then that was more due to the fact that he wasn't aware of what the older man was truly capable of as of yet due to him hiding his spiritual pressure. He couldn't exactly feel his spiritual pressure to get a feel for his strength nor did Ozpin seem all that interested in flexing his power in the first place, so as far as he knew Ozpin could either be an absolute powerhouse or a nonfactor as a threat. And though he liked the Xiao-long/Rose household, it was clear that none of them were anywhere near his level, or that of the espada for that matter.
He didn't stop the arrancar from leaving this time around, figuring he would be more than capable of handling himself if he started to have any problems, and in no small part because he didn't see his safety as his responsibility. If the pale arrancar started to go and try to cause trouble elsewhere, then he would set him straight if need be as unlikely as the need to do so would be. Though if anything, he had a feeling that Ulquiorra would just end up helping to end problems that would otherwise cause him a constant headache. So with a buzz of static, the once 4th espada was gone.
Ichigo sighed and sheathed Zangetsu, both spirits having stayed silent since the impromptu departure from Ozpin's office. Despite the distance, Ichigo had been able to pick up on the sudden increase in spiritual pressure considering that not only had his own ability to detect spirit energy had improved, but because there was no one else able to match the power he had detected. It helped that he was able to recognize the energy signature, and when he realized exactly where it was coming from, well...
Ozpin leaned back in his desk as he looked at the young soul reaper in front of him, hands clasped together in front of him as he spoke, "I don't intend for you to enroll here as a student, I suspect that none of our teachings would prove sufficient when it comes to increasing your combat ability, though we could provide some basic tutoring so you're not lost when it comes to dust application, Remnants history, and some of our technology. I suppose I could see if you would be interested in providing services similar to one of our hunters, though currently I would wager there is no major need for such services at this point in time." Though at first he seemed to struggle with thinking up something for Ichigo to do, a light bulb seemed to light up above his head as he considered something, "Would you happen to have any experience with hand to hand combat?"
Ichigo, in turn, couldn't help but have a slight sweat drop as he thought back to not only when he had gone to a karate dojo for a short time, but the experience and skillsets he had gained from years of fighting off thugs and other hooligans' from the streets and from the skills taught to him from his father, Yoruichi, and Kisuke. Not to mention he had gone back to the dojo not long after he had lost his powers to refine some of his hand to hand abilities, so he felt it was fair to say, "Yeah, you could say that. Some may say I have plenty of experience. Why?"
"Well, I was thinking perhaps-"
Yet Ichigo felt the increase of spiritual pressure on Patch while Ozpin was talking and immediately tuned him out. It took him a few moments to recognize who it was, having been over a year since he had felt their presence, but it was difficult to completely forget the signature of someone who had managed to bring you near the brink, no matter how temporary it may have been. A purple aura began to light up around his form, something Ozpin took note of as he slowly stopped talking. Ichigo managed to pinpoint the exact position of the signature after a few more moments, his eyes widening as he did.
He wasted no time after that, bracing his legs and kicking off from where he was. Ozpin ducked down just in time for Ichigo to bust through the wall behind him, the soul reaper taking off at top speed to head right back to Patch. With any luck, and considering his speed, he would be more than capable of arriving back at the house on time to prevent anyone from getting hurt.
Well, anyone he didn't intend to hurt at least.
Ichigo sighed as he thought of how he was going to have to explain things to the headmaster when he got back, but first things first, he needed to go check up on Yang and Ruby and make sure they were both ok. Flash step made it a simple matter when it came to getting back to the house, covering the short distance covered in his short skirmish with Ulquiorra relatively quickly. "Yang! Ruby! Come on out, fight's over! Its safe!"
He stood back with his hands on his hips as he waited for the two to come out of hiding, reaching out to sense for their spirit energy. He could tell they weren't too far away and seemed to be coming back his way, their pace being relatively slow as they returned. He began to tap his foot as he waited, the two sisters arriving back at the house after a few minutes of waiting. They still seemed a bit suspicious of whether or not the threat was gone, though they relaxed upon seeing Ichigo relatively unharmed.
Both the girls ran up to him upon seeing he was safe, Ruby being the first to reach him due to her speed with Yang not far behind. The younger girl wrapped her arms around his torso, while Yang stopped just in front of him as she looked him over. Her lilac eyes lingered on the burns on his arms before moving back up to his face, worry and relief clear as day. Once she was more certain that he was mostly unharmed she joined the two in a hug, simply staying silent for a moment as they processed what had just happened.
Eventually Ruby and Yang took a step back to give Ichigo some space, the orange haired soul reaper giving them a small smile, "You both didn't think I'd be that easy to get rid of did you?" Though he was trying to keep things light hearted he couldn't help but glance at Ruby's eyes for a moment, wondering why something as small as eye color was important enough for Ulquiorra to take note of, at least while possessed. What exactly was the importance of someone having silver eyes?
Maybe Ozpin would be able to give him a clear answer...
He shook off those thoughts while Ruby took over the conversation, jumping back and raising her arms in the air, "What was... that?! Who was that guy, why was he here to look for you, what was that guy, what did he mean about the color of my eyes, and oh my god just how strong as you I could feel the ground shaking while you guys were fighting and-" Ruby paused for a second to take a deep breath while Yang simply let her continue, the elder sister figuring Ruby would likely ask the same things she was thinking regardless, "And we heard a bunch of loud explosions and," She paused again, though this time it was because she seemed rather uncertain rather than out of breath, "Um... Ichigo... what are you? What's a soul reaper?"
He couldn't help but wince at how that particular question sounded, as if he wasn't human in the first place. He wasn't exactly hurt by it because he knew he would likely have the same thought process if he was her, though he hadn't exactly planned on explaining things to them yet. He had hoped that with enough question dodging Yang may eventually let what happened in the forest slide, though with the Ulquiorra bomb being dropped he couldn't exactly go with that plan anymore.
Both girls looked at him in silence after that question, Ruby feeling a bit guilty for how she phrased it, while Yang seemed worried as she crossed her arms and frowned at the substitute. Ichigo sighed as he brought a hand up to his hair and ruffled it a bit before he let it drop, "Alright. I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you about all of this so soon, but I guess I don't really have a choice now. Let's head on inside and sit down. This is gonna be a lot."
Ichigo led the way into the house with Ruby and Yang giving each other a quick glance before following him into their house. Ichigo was leaning against the wall as he composed his thoughts, thinking of what exactly to tell them and what not to tell. There wasn't a need to give them both his whole life story, but with Ulquiorra coming back from the past he couldn't exactly keep it to the barebone basics. He would need to give some sort of explanation as to how he knew the arrancar and why he reacted the way he did when he saw him.
He sighed as he decided to just wing it and see what he could come up with. As silver and lilac eyes stared at him expectantly he crossed his arms and looked at them, "Think the first thing I should clear up is the fact that I am still human, despite what I was called beforehand, though I'm not exactly from around here. In fact, I'm not from Remnant. I'm from a different world. Generally most soul reapers aren't human either, in fact most soul reapers are already dead before they become a reaper. I'm just a bit of a special case I guess you could say. The purpose of a soul reaper is essentially to help certain spirits pass on, to purify others, and generally keep balance."
"As for who that guy was that came looking for me, well..." He stopped and licked his lips as he thought of the best way to explain without telling everything, "There was a fight a few years back. One that was between soul reapers, and another that had betrayed them. I'm only technically a substitute soul reaper, not a full fledged one, so I wasn't going to be a part of that fight. My only job was going to be to protect my home. That guy you saw that came looking for me however, well, lets just say he went and made things personal."
Despite the fact that he and Ulquiorra had left things off on a relatively peaceful note, he still couldn't help but get angry as he thought about how Ulquiorra had managed to get away with kidnapping one of his friends. His fist tightened as the memories came back to him before he squashed them, knowing now wasn't the time to get lost in the past, "Ulquiorra was a hell of a lot stronger than I was at the time. Every time I fought him..." His right hand drifted to rest over his chest, where Ulquiorra blasted a hole through him on two different occasions, "Well, it didn't end well. I should be dead right now, but I had a bit of assistance. I ended up killing him, and I thought that would be the last time I ever saw him. Obviously, that's not the case."
"So, wait, hold up a second. You killed that guy, and he just went and came back? Also, you still need to explain what in the hell he was." And though Yang didn't say it, she couldn't help but be a bit surprised that Ichigo had killed someone so young. He was only at most a few months older than her at eighteen years old, and if this fight happened a few years ago then he would've been around fifteen or sixteen when he had to kill him.
She couldn't help but worry just a bit about Ichigo.
He, on the other hand, simply shrugged his shoulders, "Yep. Not the craziest thing I've seen happen, but I didn't exactly expect someone that I had already killed to come back. He wasn't exactly... normal, however. At least not what counts as normal for him." It was clear that a grimm had been controlling him, and the situation only got more problematic when he mentioned that it was a woman that had put him and the other deceased espada in that situation. This told him the grimm weren't just monsters to be slaughtered, but that they could be controlled and someone had figured out exactly how to do so.
Even though he liked Yang and Ruby, the fact was both were completely inexperienced. They were still students, and even if Ichigo had been dealing with such threats from a younger age, it wasn't because he exactly had a choice. They weren't ready to yet to deal with these sorts of threats. He would tell them more about what he had learned from Ulquiorra when they were ready to learn. And chances were, he'd now be sticking around long enough that he would have to talk to them about the situation at some point regardless.
The fact that the espada were even in this world made it clear that when Kisuke found a way to bring him back to Karakura he would either have to go right back to Remnant after informing him of the situation, or simply refuse to return for the time being. Even if they couldn't access their resurreccion and were limited in just how much they could really do, they were still going to be too much for Remnant to handle from what he's seen. Though it was possible that there were huntsman capable of fighting on even footing with the espada, he had his doubts, and he still wasn't sure as to Ozpin's full capabilities. Even if the old headmaster was strong enough to fight one of them, there was no way he would be able to handle all eight.
He needed to stay, at least for a good while. And he needed to have a discussion with him the moment he was done at Patch. He shook his head after having been lost in his thoughts, "All you need to know is if you see a guy like him with a bone fragment on their face and a hole in their chest, don't go on the attack. Run or get help or just hold them off until I can get there to handle the situation. Don't try to fight unless you have absolutely no other choice, got it?" Though Ruby agreed with some slight hesitance, Yang couldn't help but frown as she looked down, "Yang, you and Ruby are nowhere near ready to fight them. Trust me on that. I need you to give me your word that if you ever run into someone like them, you will not go on the attack. Alright?"
The brawler still hesitated, but eventually she slowly began to nod her head and relax, "Yeah, alright. Got it. Run into any crazy weird people with a bone face and a hole in their chest, I'll try not to fight them." It was difficult for her to swallow her pride, but she had heard the energy blasts and felt the ground shake just like Ruby. She knew she wasn't ready to fight anything on that level, at least not yet. All the more reason to go to Beacon and kick ass and take names.
Only now it wasn't just for the thrill of the fight and the adventure. It was to make sure her substitute friend didn't have to fight such a threat alone when the time came. She would be ready to give him a hand, whether he wanted her help or not.
Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he would have to worry about Yang more than her sister. Though Ruby had a heart of gold and just wanted to keep people safe, he knew Yangs temper was a lot more unpredictable than Ruby's sweet nature. With any luck, he would have handled the espada and whoever this mystery woman was long before they had to fight them.
Even if he hadn't told them much, at least compared to what he could've said, he knew it was a lot to swallow. So Ichigo headed for the front door, opening it as Yang raised an eyebrow along with her voice, "Hey, where are you going? Heading out to look for that Ulquiorra guy or something?"
The substitute only shook his head however, stopping at the doorway as he turned back, "No, not yet at least. Right now he likely won't be a concern, not for a while hopefully enough. I just have to finish up the business I had with Ozpin at Beacon, and think up some sort of explanation as to why I flew through his window in such a hurry. If your dad asks why so much of the forest is torn up, tell him it was me and I'll explain things to him when I get back." Though it was a good thing that Tai already knew he was a soul reaper, he just hadn't exactly gone into detail on the conflicts that had gone on back home. Now he wouldn't have too much explanation to give.
Yang pursed her lips as she looked at Ichigo, her arms crossed as she sighed and glanced at Ruby, "Alright, well, be careful. I know you're super strong and all, but still. Stay safe."
Ichigo's eyes softened as he nodded at her, "You too. If anything happens and you end up needing me, call me. I shouldn't be gone too long." And so he was gone with another use of flash step, closing the door behind him as he went. With any luck, Ozpin would be able to answer a few of the questions that Ulquiorras appearance had raised. And if not, he would simply need to take more time to get to the bottom of things.
Yang looked at the door for just a bit longer after the soul reaper left before sighing, going to take a seat on the couch before leaning back in frustration. When she had been hounding Ichigo for an answer regarding what had happened the other day in the forest she wasn't sure what to expect. She certainly hadn't been expecting to find out that Ichigo wasn't even from the same world as her and yet somehow wasn't an alien either, and was some sort of soul cop or soldier. It was a lot to take in, though she was still worried about the young man.
She had noted how his hand had subconsciously lingered on his chest when he talked about the fights he had with Ulquiorra in the past, and she couldn't help but wonder just what happened in those fights. She was brought out of her thoughts when her sister spoke up, "Yang, do you think Ichigo is going to be ok? I know he has every reason to be worried considering what just happened, but I can't help but be worried about him..." Yang's own eyes softened at how concerned Ruby was for Ichigo.
In many ways, the carrot top had filled a sort of elder brother role for Ruby in the weeks he had stayed at their home, giving her another role model outside of their family for her to look up to. He was always patient with her and encouraging, and rather protective at that. When they had gotten the call about Ruby having gotten into a fight with a criminal in Vale and having gotten into Beacon early, Ichigo wasted no time in making his way to the city to pick her up and find out exactly what happened from her in person, and as he later told her, to hunt down whoever it was that had started the fight if he still could and to be the first to congratulate her on her early enrollment in person.
When he learned there would be no chance of him hunting him down, he had brought Ruby home to her worried and waiting family. Ever since that happened Ichigo had never declined whenever Ruby asked him if he would go somewhere with her, seeing it as a way to make sure she stays safe to prevent another Dust Till Dawn incident from occurring. It came as no surprise that Ruby quickly came to see him in a similar light, with Ichigo also being one of her only friends considering her less than stellar social skills.
"He'll be fine, Ruby, there's nothing to worry about. Even if this Ulquiorra guy gave him some trouble in the past, I think it's pretty clear Ichigo got a hell of a lot stronger since then. Anyone that tries to pick a fight with him is going to be getting a lot more than they bargained for." Though she couldn't help but worry about him too, she knew for now that all they could do was have faith in him. There wasn't much else they could do till they were put through their paces at Beacon.
Now Yang couldn't help but be even more worried about Ichigo being stuck on Patch without her.
Beacon Academy, The Clock Office
Glynda had just finished fixing up the wall that Ichigo had destroyed in his hasty exit, the combat instructor being highly unamused when pieces of metal and glass had come raining down on Beacons courtyard. Though she was certain the young man had a reason as to why he bust through the wall the way he did, at least she hoped so, that didn't make it any less annoying when the pieces had come raining down. It was also a pain to fix when the pieces were so far from the wall, though she managed it with some difficulty. Ozpin only seemed ever so slightly amused and concerned about the whole issue.
"Relax, Glynda. I can assure you that young man didn't destroy my office wall without good reason. He seemed like something had panicked him, so he likely had good cause to act with haste." Though he was obviously concerned as to why he may have left so fast, Ozpin hoped the young man would return in just fine condition. He seemed strong enough, though there was obviously something truly, extremely wrong for him to have left the way he did. He had his doubts Ichigo had a habit of leaving meetings abruptly, and by busting through walls.
Though he could be wrong and the soul reaper could just be ever so slightly crazy.
The huntress simply sighed as she brought her hand up to massage her temple in an attempt to relieve the headache that had formed, "I would like to have the same faith in him that you do. I just find it difficult to when this is the majority of my first impression of him and having to clean up the chaos he made in the short time he was here." As she said that, the elevator dinged behind her. The huntress and headmaster both looked to see Ichigo exiting the elevator, having used flash step to get back to Beacon quickly rather than trying to avoid attention this time around, looking a bit sheepish as well as more scuffed up than when they last saw him, "Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear."
Ichigo winced as he looked at the freshly repaired wall, rubbing the back of his head while putting together that it likely fell to Glynda to clean up the mess that he had made when he left to confront Ulquiorra. "Yeah, ah. Sorry about that. Something that I had to take care of came up. It really couldn't wait, so, again, sorry about destroying your wall when I left." At least Glynda was likely more than used to having to clean up such destruction. It just likely usually came from her own students rather than someone her boss was curious about.
Before Glynda could speak up to scold him for his manner of exit Ozpin merely raised a palm, a twinkle in his eye at having been proven right about Ichigo, "See? I told you that was the case Glynda. Now, we'll need to have a talk about what it was that made you leave in such a hurry, but first I would like to finish our earlier discussion. And Glynda being here saves me having to have this talk twice." Both soul reaper and huntress tilted their heads, Ichigo wondering how this pertained to Glynda, the professor wondering the same. "Now, I would like you to serve as an assistant in Glyndas class. She is the professor for our combat classes, and considering your own experience and your skill in hand to hand, I believe you could serve as an asset to her class and teach our students hand to hand combat, a valuable skill that they will need to increase their effectiveness as huntsman down the line. Of course, you will be paid well for your services, and if you wouldn't mind assisting with the schools security we'll pay accordingly."
Ichigo raised his eyebrows at the offer while Glynda outright protested, "Ozpin, you can't be serious. He's old enough to be one of our students, what qualifications does he have to protect and teach them?" She didn't notice that Ichigo nodded, knowing she had a fair point regarding his age. As well as his qualifications as a teacher, considering he had never taught anyone before, "Beyond that, think of the problems this could start with some of our third years when someone younger than them without the formal education begins teaching them how to fight up close. Many of them won't take kindly to his assistance."
"Ms. Goodwitch, though I do see your point on the matter, that does not mean this will not be happening. Trust me when I say Ichigo has more than enough that qualifies him to teach hand to hand, along with furthering the skills of some of our swordsmen and women. Beyond that, I didn't plan for him to teach our third years. The large majority of them are close to being full huntsman, and began to hone their skills in their second years. I want Ichigo here to assist our second years and to begin teaching the newest round of first years. At least, so long as he is willing to do so?"
At the question they turned to look at Ichigo, the younger swordsman thinking about it for a few moments. Truthfully though, he saw no reason not to accept considering it would give him something worthwhile to do while he figured out how to handle this situation with the once dead espada, and the mystery woman that had managed to take them under her control. So after some slight consideration, he shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head, "Sure, may as well. It's better than sitting around Patch and hunting down grimm all the time."
Nodding as if he expected such an answer, he turned back to Glynda before gesturing to Ichigo, "And, speaking of Patch. He left here, went to Patch, and then came back in under an hour. With that kind of speed, and the strength shown when he broke through the wall, what makes you think he doesn't also have the skill to back him up when need be? He is more than capable of teaching our students a thing or two, and if anything his age will not only help them relate to him, but give them something to aspire to when they get an idea of his skill. His age will motivate them to improve even more."
She couldn't exactly argue the points that Ozpin had made, and knew that with his mind made up there wasn't exactly much that she could do to change it. She supposed Ichigo would just need to go ahead and prove himself capable to the students, and to her, so she sighed before nodding in agreement, "I suppose it couldn't hurt to at least give him a chance. However, it is still my class. I have the right to end whatever he may set in motion if I deem it necessary to do so." Both Ichigo and Ozpin nodded in agreement, the blonde professor nodding in satisfaction before turning to leave, "I am sure you both have more to discuss, and I have lesson plans to prepare. I'll speak to you later Ozpin."
"I'll see you then Ms. Goodwitch." They both waited for her to leave the office before Ozpin finally turned to Ichigo with a serious and worried look on his face, his eyes glancing down towards the slight burns on his arms for the first time, "I see you encountered some trouble while you were out. Would you mind explaining what exactly happened? And would you like some help with that?" At the second question he gestured towards Ichigo's arms.
The substitute only shook his head, waving it off as he answered him, "No, don't worry about it. I've dealt with worse and I can easily deal with this on my own, it's nothing major and I've picked up more than a few things from my dad. Though as for what it was that made me leave in such a hurry, have you ever heard of an arrancar? Or do you only know about hollows and soul reapers?"
"I'm afraid my knowledge is limited only to the existence of the hollows and the soul reapers. Would you mind giving me a brief explanation?" Ozpin leaned back in his seat, his hands clasped together in front of him while Ichigo took a seat in front of his desk.
"Keeping it simple, they're hollows that gained soul reaper powers. One that I killed a while back showed up where I was staying, though he wasn't himself. He was being controlled by some grimm, and while he was being controlled he pointed out that I was with a silver eyed warrior?" He took note of Ozpin's frown and slightly tensed shoulders before he continued, "After that, we had a brief fight. Got him to power up and force the grimm out of him, giving him a chance to kill it. Told me a bunch of other arrancar that had been killed had been found shortly after their deaths and were being controlled by some woman. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
Ozpin's shoulders went from tense to slumped, concern etched all over his face as he brought a hand up to cover it, "Then things are worse than I feared. She already knows. Tell me, and be honest. Do you think our huntsman would be capable of taking on these arrancar that had died back in your home?" His worry only grew when Ichigo shook his head, the headmaster sighing as he sat up in his seat, "Then it seems your arrival here is even more of a blessing than I first thought. Though as for who that woman is... well, that's a long story."
Ichigo seemed to make himself comfortable, leaning back in his seat and putting his hands behind his head, "Well, I'm all ears. If its something that bad, I think I need to know what's going on. Especially if it's interested in my friends and poses a threat to their well-being."
"I will start from the beginning then. Her name is Salem..."
Xiao-Long Rose Household, Patch
Tai hadn't been quite sure what to expect by the time he had returned home from Signal Academy. He thought that perhaps Yang and Ichigo would still be arguing about their forest incident while Ruby watched on the sidelines, a cookie and a glass of milk in hand. He hadn't expected to find craters and fallen trees around his home, with some parts of the forest looking as if they had been blown up or burned. Though he knew his daughters were tough, with Yang especially having a tendency for destruction, he knew neither of them could've done this and Ichigo wouldn't have. At least, not without good reason.
Yang was already waiting for him at the front door, his panic stopping before it could ever begin, his oldest daughter having likely figured what his initial reaction would be when he got home. That didn't stop him from running up to her, ready to raise his aura in case he needed to fight, "Yang, what happened? Why does the forest around our home look like a warzone?! And where's Ichigo?" He didn't fail to note that while he could see Ruby through the window, there was no sign of the young soul reaper that had been staying with his family.
Yang shrugged and gestured in the vague direction of Vale, "Ichigo went back to Beacon to finish whatever talk he was having with Professor Ozpin before he had to come here. As for why the forest has been put to the sword, well. Ichigo told us a bit more about his home. The truth about his home." Tai grew more worried at the implication of the threat level while Yang continued, "Some guy he had killed before had come looking for him here. They had a fight and I guess Ichigo sent him packing. He said he would tell you more when he came back here."
The huntsman crossed his arms in concern, Yang moving out of the way and letting him into the house. Closing the door behind them, Tai looked Ruby over and noted that at the least, both her and Yang were uninjured. Turning back to Yang he seemed serious, "Yang, did Ichigo seem like he had been expecting this guy to come looking for him? Or was he shocked by this guys appearance?" If Ichigo had knowingly put his family at risk and had kept silent regarding a potential threat, than to say he was going to be less than pleased would be just a bit of an understatement.
He relaxed a bit however when Yang shook her head, her eyes glancing down at the floor while she kept her arms around her, hugging her sides while she answered, "No, dad. He definitely didn't expect this guy to show up here. Though he was also pissed when he realized that he knew the guy, and I've never seen Ichigo just look so genuinely angry before." Now Tai began to worry about their stranded house guest, though his thoughts didn't get to wander much before Yang interrupted, "Dad, you knew what Ichigo was the whole time he was staying with us, didn't you?"
He hesitantly nodded, though he went to explain as he noticed that Yang's eyes already began to shift from their lilac to their burning crimson, "But I didn't tell you in part because of his wishes, and because I wasn't sure how long he would be staying. And because he was supposed to be the only thing from his world that was staying here. I likely wouldn't know if it wasn't for the fact that I caught him using his powers when he first got here. It was his choice whether you two knew or not, and I'm sure he was going to tell you eventually. He probably just wasn't sure how to do it. Better a little late then never, right?"
Yang glared at him for a few seconds, Ruby notably looking away from the two of them until Yang closed her eyes, took in a deep breathe, and relaxed, "Next time, don't leave us out of the loop like that. I get you're our dad and all, and he had a right to keep his business private, but we also had a right to know the truth if we were gonna be living with him. Even if it probably would've been really ridiculous to accept at first." Ruby turned back to the conversation upon realizing Yang had calmed down and nodded along with her sister.
Tai rubbed the back of his hand with a sheepish grin, "I don't plan to hide things like this from you two again. Though if you want to have a talk about telling you two stuff, you might want to have a talk with Ichigo when he gets back." Though he expected Yang to say something along the lines of that she would do just that, he noticed that her eyes softened a bit as she looked away.
"He already has plenty to worry about as it is. I think he trusts us enough at this point, and we know what we need to know at least for now." Tai thought that for just a few moments, he caught the faintest hint of a blush dusting Yang's face as she thought about their house guest. Tai blinked a few times, both at the blush and the maturity shown by his daughter before narrowing his eyes. As much as he liked the soul reaper, perhaps he did need to have a few words with him.
Some very, very stern words if his hunch was correct. "Well, I'll have a talk with him anyway about a few things and see what he wants to tell me about this guy he had to fight. If there's anything important he needs to tell me about specifically and whatever it was that he and Ozpin settled on. With any luck maybe Ichigo will have something better to do than cleaning and hunting a couple of grimm here and there." Though he wondered if there was anything this little event might've changed about his meeting with Oz. Regardless he would find out when Ichigo returned to Patch.
He would also find out exactly what was going on between him and Yang, if there was anything there.
The Office of Clocks, Beacon Academy
Ichigo sat back in his chair, his eyes slightly widened and blinking every few seconds while he looked at the greying haired headmaster in front of him. Though he hadn't been entirely sure what to expect, the story that had been weaved for him wasn't quite what he expected. After a few more moments of thought processing he leaned forward and massaged the bridge of his nose as he let out an annoyed sigh, "So, let me go ahead and get this straight. Basically, you've been reincarnated for centuries in an unending struggle with your immortal ex because she got some people together and pissed off a pair of gods that made this world. I sum it up right?"
Ozpin gave him a weak smile, chuckling just a bit at the apt description, "Well, there's a few details you left out, but that is essentially what it boils down to excluding the business with the maidens and the relics. And my ex, as you put it, now has gained control of beings that I can only rely on you to put a stop to if need be. Could any of these arrancar be taken down by a huntsman if push came to shove?"
Ichigo shrugged, having already taken the time to think about it as he thought about all the arrancars that had been killed during the conflict, "Maybe one or two of them, but I wouldn't bet on it for most of them. The espada are on a different level, one most huntsman wouldn't be able to keep up with. Our blessing here is, if Ulquiorra was anything to go off of, they can't really use their full power without Salem losing control of them. After losing him I'm sure she'll tighten her control over the ones that remain to help make sure she won't lose them. By the way, any idea why she hasn't used them sooner to capture the maidens and take the relics?"
Ozpin pursed his lips as he thought about it, looking down at his desk as he sighed, "If I were to wager, its because she wants to be certain. She doesn't know the locations of all the maidens, and so she wants to find out where they are without giving them any warning before she goes for the relics. Once she has them, then she can get the relics without issue. And she has recently started to make her move on the maidens." At Ichigo's questioning glance, Ozpin gestured to the elevator, "Down in the schools vault, the fall maiden is essentially being kept on life support. She was attacked with half her powers stolen, the work of Salem's people. I am unsure why she didn't send these arrancar to do the job, though perhaps she struggles to control them and would prefer to use them as a trump card."
"Maybe. Either way, if shes been keeping them back as her trump card, I'll probably be what makes her play it. She has nothing else that's capable of keeping up with me, her included. Though for now, I suppose we'll just need to go ahead and wait for her next move." If the maiden was being kept at Beacon with the assigned relic, then chances were Salem was going to move her plans up. The only maiden she knew the exact location of was the fall maiden as far as they knew, and she was right with the relic she wanted.
"The chances are that her next move will involve Beacon itself. That's part of why I wanted to give you a role here in the first place when I realized you were a soul reaper. It'll be a lot more difficult for Salem and her people to make a move on my school and the students if you're here to serve as a guardian and a deterrent. Though with her plans already in motion, I have my doubts you'll be enough for her to stop pushing them forward in general." Ichigo hadn't been sure exactly what to expect when he realized he had been sent to a whole new world by Kisuke.
Now he was in the middle of a conflict that had been going on in the shadows for hundreds of years on a world that was abandoned by those that created it while having to deal with the threat of the espada that had been killed having been brought back to life and were, shockingly, his enemies once more. The only exception to this was potentially Ulquiorra, assuming the former fourth espada didn't decide he wanted to end his life or end innocent lives.
...maybe he wasn't sent to Remnant entirely by mistake. He wondered if Kisuke intended to send him there to help deal with the multitude of issues that were starting to surface.
"Considering how hell bent she seems on just destroying either the world or just civilization in general, yeah. I wouldn't bet that my appearance would be enough for her to reconsider. Especially because now I won't be heading back home until matters here are settled." At Ozpin's raised eyebrow Ichigo smirked just a little, leaning back in his seat once more, "What? Did you think that I'd find out about all this trouble and then leave at the first opportunity? Sorry, but Remnants stuck with me until at the very least, the espada issue is handled." Though he knew he likely still wouldn't leave till Salem was taken care of as well.
Ozpin smiled, seemingly a bit relieved at the knowledge that he now had a trump card of his own to use against Salem's forces in case he ever needed one. "Well, I'm more than happy to hear that you'll be staying with us for a while then. Though I don't think it really needs to be said, but keep this quiet. There are only a select few individuals that currently know about the maidens and the relics, or even Salem for that matter. The last thing we need is for this information to start circulating." He wouldn't have told Ichigo about Salem as it was normally, regardless of his soul reaper status.
These arrancar went and changed the situation though. If they were a factor and they were under Salem's control, then even if he didn't want to get Ichigo involved yet before he knew him better, he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter anymore. He was just going to have to hope that trusting the substitute would end up being the right call rather than another mistake in a long line of mistakes. Though he knew he was going to have to explain the new situation to Glynda, as well as the rest of his inner circle.
While also having to explain what a shinigami and a hollow was all the while. Talks he was most certainly not looking forward to.
"Well, guess before I leave for Patch I only got two other questions. One, mind showing me where I'll be staying while I'm here? And two, well that's the last thing you've yet to explain to me. What's the importance of a silver eyed warrior? And don't act like you don't know either." Though Ozpin had been truthful with him so far, it was because he had no choice but to be. The headmaster seemed like the secretive type, like Kisuke in a lot of ways if not quite as cunning. He liked him, but he didn't want to be lied to if it would have to do with the wellbeing of one of his friends.
Ozpin tapped his fingers together as he raised an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders before standing up, "We have a spare dorm with the first year dorms that wasn't going to be used this year, so you can stay there while you're here. I'll show you to it now actually, though as for the silver eyed warriors I'm afraid there isn't quite as much to tell as you may believe. They're a legend because they have power that comes from having silver eyes, power that directly works at destroying or purifying, depending on the being. Think of them as a prototype to soul reapers, back when they were still around their eyes were capable of purifying hollows as well as destroying grimm. Though there work wasn't quite as fine as a soul reapers. Now, I think it's about time you got a proper tour of the school.
Alright. So I won't say I exactly have many excuses, beyond I suck and life sucks. In part the massively long wait is because I felt I had written myself into a corner. I knew I had a general idea of where I wanted to go with the arrival of Ulquiorra, but for some reason I just stalled. Writers block kicked me in the teeth and made me swallow them. After reading a bit of other fanfiction, writing some other stories, and of course the rising hype for Bleach, I eventually was able to get back to writing this. And today after I got into writing it, I really got into writing it.
I can't promise I'll be updating again anytime soon, or that I'll give a chapter quite as sizeable ever again. At 10.4k words barring this note, this is easily the longest chapter I've ever written. But then again, there is a lot of shit that happens in this chapter, and I felt it was important to progress the plot so much considering how long I'd been absent. Plus I felt y'all deserved a long chapter with at least a little bit of action, at least that is if you still enjoy this considering it's been nearly a year since my last update.
I hope things weren't a bit too ooc for y'all, and I hope as well y'all are of course fine in the direction I'm taking Yang, both in her relationship with Ichigo and how she is as a character. I do feel too many people pin her down as just the protective big sister that's a party girl, nothing more. In some stories this works, but it gets real boring. I'm not some master at writing, but I hope she does feel like a person and not just a shell of the shows version of her.
And of course, the return of the dead espada. Now, I had this idea long before the hell arc became a concern, but there's not exactly all that much I can do about it now at this point. I felt there was really nothing in rwby that could provide a semi reasonable threat even to TLA Ichigo, much less someone that should have the same amount of power as his TYBW equivalent, at least eventually. Even Salem, the big bad of RWBY, isn't really doing much. Let's be real. I've not even really kept up with the shows most recent events, but I have my doubts miss witch has shown off anything that even puts her in the same league as Hollowfied V2 Ichigo, much less TLA or TYBW.
So, how do we add just a little bit more tension if the greatest threat in the show doesn't even leave her base until one of the later volumes? Well, I could of nerfed Ichigo to hell, or buffed Cinder to the point where a casual wave of her hand incinerates a mountain range with minimal effort, but quite honestly I feel nerfing characters to death or buffing characters beyond their reasonable limits is never very interesting. I find the espada serving as a potential threat to Ichigo is more interesting. Now, can any of them really defeat Ichigo?
Well, no. Not at all. Espada five and under won't even register as a threat, at least not as they were. They would be easy pickings, but they still would be too much for most of RWBY to handle. As for the rest, you'll see what happens.
Anyway, ope y'all enjoyed and that I'll see y'all again before 2022.
