Chapter 5 (Arc 1: JAP): Can't Stop

Written By: Ethorthecinderace_TCC_

"Ok! Joker, Skull, Let's get these guys!" said Morgana before leaping forward and unleashing a few more Garus upon the Jack O'Lanturns, Knocking them down and killing them instantly. Meanwhile, Joker and Ryuji pelted the ones coming from behind with Zios and Eihas, hitting some of the Bicorns and Pixies, killing them without much effort, but no matter how much power they put into their attacks, or how fast they dispatched the enemies. They couldn't hold out forever.

But they were certainly going to try.

"THEY'RE BREAKING THROUGH!" shouted Ren before lunging forward, his knife piercing through the small form of the pixie in what looked to be less than a second, before backflippling and slashing at two Bicorns using Cleave. Ryuji was close to act second rushing in to slam his hammer into the Bicorn's heads, corseing Zio Lightning through it at the moment of impact with the Bicorn's face. Ren pointed his finger toward one of the Pixies and then said, "Bang" shooting a Single Shot bolt right at a pixie.

"What the hell man! I want to be able to do that too!" said Ryuji

"Then try it?" said Ren all confused, "Haven't you tried it?"

Ryuji stood silent before pointing his finger toward another Pixie… and nothing happened.

"Told yha," said Ryuji

"Will you both stop screwing around!" shouted Ann, snapping both of them out of it, "Besides! Those tinker-bell-looking freaks are closing in on us!"

"Shit." said the both of them, Ryuji ran toward where the Pixies were coming from across the moat, while Ren ran toward the Bicorns, both of them brandishing their melee weapons

Meanwhile, Morgana was backflipping around, leaving small Garus in his wake, leaping on top of Jack O'Lanturn after Jack O'Lanturns and obliterating them with Garus, it was almost with practiced ease that he went through them, but soon after, another cat thing tried to stab at the Cartoon Cat being. "For Lord Kamoshida!" said the sword-wielding cat.

"I see! Another one to add to my magnificent battle!" said Morgana as he pulled out a cutlass that was twice his size… but where did he get that? Questions for later.

The cat-on-cat duel was nothing to scoff at… or more accurately, it was an absolute slaughter for the larger Sword-Wielding Cat, knocking Morgana back without much effort. Not for any lacking skill on Morgana's part, Far from it, the cartoon cat with a sword was more skilled than the other cat… but what backed it up? THAT was what got him in the end.

An Archangel or a Paladin of Death was the only way to describe the being that came before them, its massive form covered in silver armor and blood-red feathered wings. And it wielded a silver sword in its hand.

"Oh drat!" said Morgana trying to get up, "Joker! Skull! We got company!"

Both of them turned to look behind them, only to get blasted from behind beams of darkness, getting tackled by an Incubus and a Succubus. Sending them in front of Ichigo and Ann, and hitting Morgana as he fully stood up, and subsequently knocking them down again.

"Darn it you two! Get off me!" said Mogana

"No… I want… to protect them…"

"I am working on it! Get off me transfer!" said Ryuji

"I wish I could, but a Lust Sucker is trying to suck mine out!" said Ren

"Damn it!" said Ann before running up with a wooden plank and bashing against the head of the Succubus.

"Of course, Let's rip them apart, Heathcliff."

All of them turned their heads toward Ichigo… as he grasped his mask.

(Meanwhile, Ichigo Pov)

There was nothing I could do to help.

I wanted so much to help them, to protect Ann, Ryuji, The Transfer, and Morgana… But I can't. I can barely even protect Ann anymore, With all the monsters around… and Kamoshida was not making it any better, trying to make it past the sea of bodies around him. Was this really how I died? Is this how we die?

"What? Is that what the person who defeated Aizen has the gall to think?"

My Mind raced, and so did my heart. My heart beating to a tune that I knew all too well… it was my mom's favorite song…

"Enough of this drivel! You are better than this! You put fear into the soul society, you ripped the heart out of Hueco Mundo, and your strength has no limits! And yet, here you are, A king bowing down to someone weaker? To someone more pathetic? Does that sound like the man who rebelled against the people that took Rukia?"

With every word, my ears rang out, with every breath my heart sang out its magnificent tune, my soul cried out in hunger… and I was tempted.

"No… I want… to protect them…" I said, my breaths fading away, my voice shaky and… monstrous.

The voice in my head laughed in response, it was a very familiar laugh… it was almost-

"Good! Finally, you are ready for power once more! That spirit that is within you,"

I could feel my heartbeat grow into a more rapid beat, almost like the drums leading into the main beat of the song "Can't Stop". My eyes and throat BURNED in the glory of this feeling flowing through me.

"So, You're finally done being pushed around? Helpless to just watch. Ha! C'mon, you can do better than that! Judged for your birth, and dubbed a villain. Y'know what I did, I got mad! I got rough! Now show them, what happens, WHEN THEY MESS WITH THE WRONG PERSON!"

I felt a weight on my face, a very familiar one… it was time.

"Of course, Let's rip them apart, Heathcliff."

I finally grasp at the mask.

(Pov 3rd Person)

The mask itself covered his entire face, hell almost his entire head with the top of the mask covering most of the top of his head as well as his face, its color was white with two streaks that went from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the mask's jaw. It looked monstrous, like a human skull was grafted onto Ichigo's face, and two massive horns protruded from its side, almost like it was a sadistic crown, a mocking one. Ichigo grasped onto it and tugged. His voice rang out through the entire palace as he screamed in abject agony as he kept pulling on the mask. His skin was pulled off with the peace that he managed to pry off of it, his blood flowing down his face like a river, and bone from his skull began to show as the mask was ripped off his face. It wasn't clean, how could it possibly be a clean removal with such a mask? The mask shattered around the top of the crown, but the horns came with the rest of the mask as it was removed, the bottom part of the jaw of the mask stayed securely onto Ichigo's face… but it didn't matter… because finally, in one swift motion, Ichigo ripped off the mask. His bloody face, with the skull being shown to the world… Became an absolute torrent of flame, filling the entire room with ethereal blue flames, burning the shadows that inhabited it and rejuvenating Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana with its warm and present presence, and with it Protecting Ann where she stood. Until it condensed. It condensed around Ichigo before lifting off of the teen, forming his persona in the process, with such a powerful force already becoming trouble to form for the flames. But Ichigo… he stood calm.

His clothes had changed and so did his body, in the place of the semi-muscular teenager with short orange hair with a slight slump, Was a confident and powerful young man with long, flowing, bright, and lively orange hair, golden eyes filled with control and power, and a smile on his face that roared at the shadows around him… that he was here to KILL. His clothes were also different, a black tailcoat embroidered in thick gold designs that covered most of his torso, followed by an outer trench coat that was left unbuttoned. It was all black golden lining and thich red fur around the arms and the neck of the coat, with the remains of the lower jaw of the mask acting as a well-integrated choker, and the head of the mask that once acted as a helmet, now changed into a hood that peaked out from under the thick red fur. His pants were also black covered in thick golden embroidery, and a pair of thick black leather boots lined with red fur kept the pants securely tucked into them. Around his waist was a what sash, keeping the trenchcoat close to his body, almost form fittingly so.

Ichigo moved his hand casting off the flames that were left behind him, revealing Heathcliff in all of his glory. He looked like he came straight out of a mafia movie, his "Clothes" formed into that of a black suit and golden tie with a white jacket resting overtop of his shoulders and bellowing in the wind of his flames, and his pants were black suit pants, but that is where the similarities to a mob boss ended. His head was adorned with thick black hair, and his visage was absolutely monstrous yet strangely appealing. His size was almost three times taller than the teen below him and his gaze was almost as manic as Ichigo's own currently. It pointed one of its monstrous hands to Kamoshida, and so did Ichigo, and then Heathcliff spoke, his words laced with a smugness that rivaled even Morgana.

"Run."

Ichigo and Heathcliff ran toward the Bicorns and Pixies who were stunned by his presence and with what felt like only a few of THEIR attacks, Ichigo ripped them apart without any hesitation.

Kamoshida in response grabbed a claymore from one of his golden knights and tried to stab Ichigo with it, only for Heathcliff to grab the blade before it could even land upon his body.

"Oh Kamoshida, you had one job…" said Heathcliff with a scoff. "Don't expect a coward to listen. Now, RUN!" Ichigo ripped the blade from Kamoshida's hands and then punched him so hard he sent the man flying backward into the wall behind him.

"Now then… Who's next?" asked Ichigo

The Succubus, Incubus, and Archangel were the only shadows that refused to run away.

"Well then! I guess we got some wise guys here!" said Ichigo as he walked up to Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana as they stood up, all the while Ann began to back up a little, confident in the utter ass-kicking that the four were about to commence, "I guess we got our work cut out for us, Don't we?"

"Hell yha we do!" said Ryuji

"Think we can take them?" asked Ren

"I know we can," said Morgana, "Strawberry over here got some power under that hood!"

"SHUT UP!" shouted Ichigo before calming down, his mask blazing back onto his face in the process, taking the form of a modified version of the mask they saw before, Horns on the side of the mask, black streaks going down the mask from around where the eye holes were, and the fact there was no helmet element and the lower jaw of the mask, "No matter. Let's do this team!"

"RIGHT!"

The group charged, running right into the trio of shadows and then clashing with them, Morgana and Ryuji went toe to toe with the Succubus, while Ren went against the Archangel, and Ichigo was quickly trying to dispatch the Incubus. Morgana Jumped off of Ryuji's head and summoned Zorro using Garu to try and disorientate it, however, the winged seductress dodged the attack, but that only led her into another full power hammer swing from Ryuji, who added in the power from Captain Kidd slamming his ship into the hammer by using Lunge on it and making the hammer swing more powerful, before then doing the same upon the Succubus, using Lunge to slam into the Succubus from above, crushing the seductress under the ship's weight. Morgana, seeing that Ryuji was doing mostly Ok without him, went to help Ichigo, pulling out a slingshot once again from nowhere and shooting at the incubus, which knocked it down!

"Nice! Ichigo! If you have the means, Shoot it!" said Morgana

"Thanks for the tip!" said Ichigo before grabbing at his mask and summoning Heathcliff, "I hope you got something for this!"

"Don't worry! I got something better!" said Heathcliff

Right as the Incubus was about to get up, a small beam of Kouha light impaled it right through the head, causing it to stand up for a bit before the light dissipated and Incubus fell over dead.

"Oh crap!" said Ryuji, "That was Effen brutal!"

"So THAT is what you can do… Neat." said Ichigo, "Let's help transfer!"

"Right!"

The trio rushed at Ren and the Archangel, getting ready to back their comrade up, and reasonably so. Before they got there, Ren was holding his own, Using a combination of Eiha and Single Shot to keep it off its feet and to prevent too many attacks from coming his way, but to his anger, this thing just would not die! It was almost like this Archangel was trying to wear him down from attrition alone. However, that was about to change. The Archangel tried to slam its sword into the debonair teenager, but that was before Ryuji leaped in front of him and blocked it with a combination of his hammer and Captain Kidd's Line Guard ability.

"Oh no you don't asshole!" said Ryuji before turning his head toward Ichigo, "Hey Bro! You got a Tarukaja boost! Make good use of it!"

"Got it!" said Ichigo, turning his claymore from its normal grip to a reverse grip and running toward the Archangel, summoning Heathcliff in the process.

As he charged, his sword began to coat itself in an inferno of Kouha and Eiha energy, leaving a trail of it as the tip of Ichigo's sword dragged across the ground. The Archangel saw this coming and tried to run away, but it was too late…as Ichigo was right behind it.

"Nisimono GETSUGA," Ichigo then swung the sword upward, and a torrent of energy followed, "TENSHO!"

As soon as the sword made contact with the Archangel, it was engulfed with nothing but pure Kouha and Eiha energy that was so powerful that it climbed up the staircase behind it, and burst through the door, the swing itself killed it instantly.

Ichigo began panting slightly, all of the built-up power that was within him fading away as he slowly set down the sword, and his clothes changed back to his Shujin academy attire, and he wasn't the only one. Slowly, Ren's and Ryuji's clothes reverted to their originals as well.

"Holy shit… that was awesome," said Ann

"As cool as it was, we need to get out of here! The guards could be coming back with more powerful people on their side!" said Morgana

"Ca-Can we just… have a nap first," said Ryuji

"NO!" shouted both Ann and Morgana

"Right… Lead the way Morgana," said Ichigo

And so he did, they all followed him back to the first floor where they proceeded to bust through the vents and crawl out of the palace. And soon after, out of this messed up world that was the metaverse.

When they made it to the real world, they made it back under the awning where they first met, it was still pouring rain outside, and from the transfer phone came the sound of someone saying, "Welcome back to the real world."

"Well… I guess… we're safe…" said Ren before turning to Ichigo, "Also, the name Ren."

"Pleasure… to meet you," said Ichigo with a drained smile.

"Well, I guess that could have gone worse," said Morgana, but now his form was an actual cat.

"Oh god you can still talk," said Ryuji

The group chuckled at that for a second before pulling out her phone and looking at it in shock.

"OH CRAP! Guys we need to run! School is almost about to start!" she said before pulling out her phone and showing it to the other three.

"OH SHIT!" said Ryuji before grabbing Morgana and throwing him at Ren, "Put him in your bag, we got to go!"

"Right!" said Ren before… stuffing Morgana in his bag

"BE CAREFUL DAMN IT!"

"Book it, you three!" shouted Ann, who subsequently ran ahead of them.

"I guess we are gonna talk later?" asked Ichigo

"YES!"

"Guess that answers my question," said Ichigo before following after the rest of the group.