"Gugh!" The Orange haired yelled as crashed through a few truck-sized boulders in the training ground of Urahara's shop, his clawed hand reaching out of the edge of the crater he laid to pull himself out of it. Cracking his neck to the side, he bounced back on his feet and glared at the one who did this to him.

Yoruichi walked up in his direction with a nonchalant and disappointed look on her features, the vision was funny since she was just walking forward with her palm extended. The idea of what she did was obvious, she tapped Ichigo lightly in the chest and it flung him through all those stone formations with no trouble at all.

"I'm wearing a Gigai and I can still fling you around like this, Ichigo. Are you sure you want to train under me?" Yoruichi asked with a deadpan expression. With what she just saw, surely he had to be joking and not be serious about this.

Shaking his head from the blow, the teen exclaimed. "Hey! It's not my fault you're that much stronger than everyone that I've seen who wore a Gigai!" He then dashed at her, only to be flipped and put in an arm lock by the Hakuda master.

"That doesn't make much difference, why are you asking me to teach you in the first place?" She looked at his claws, they were sharp and she knew why she would be a good choice to teach him, however, she frowned at the idea of how she would need to do it. "Ichigo… Is there any reason you want me to teach you?"

The lad didn't look at her golden eyes for a moment and appeared to be hesitant. "Orihime got shot the other night… Before that, I tried to chase some cars but I just got lost. And because of that, I wasn't present to help Orihime when she and her friends were attacked by a street gang that usually attacks me and Chad."

A solemn look appeared on Yoruichi's face as she let go of his limbs and helped him get up to his feet. "What is it then? Justice or Vengeance? I can at least teach you how to use your new gifts… But teaching any of my techniques already?" She shook her head as she crossed her arms. "Can't say I disagree with the sentiment, but remember Ichigo, humans do not truly know the Supernatural… Superheroes might be running around saving the world but that's still nowhere near the full scope of it."

The Substitute looked puzzled, what did she mean by that? "What exactly do you mean by that, Yoruichi?" He asked, wanting to know more about what Yoruichi was referring to.

The former Stealth Force Commander shook her head as she gazed at him. "Ichigo, what do you plan on doing? I asked earlier… Vengeance or Justice?"

The youth didn't seem to understand. "What do you mean?"

With a sharper gaze, she pressed on. "You said you gained new abilities, and one of the first things you try doing is getting involved with the business that Law Officers were supposed to handle already, and because of it, you were late to help Orihime, who got shot by someone you claim to know about. When that happened, you felt guilty for doing nothing and now you want me to teach you how to fight. But for what purpose?"

Gritting his teeth the Substitute took a step forward. "I want to do better!" He yelled as he flung his arm to the side. "I want to find that guy and beat the crap out of him for what he did!"

"You want to do better by intentionally making yourself and everyone you know a target?" She inquired.

Ichigo took a step back in shock from this. "What!?"

"Ichigo..." Yoruichi began to approach the young man, keeping a rather firm look. "Can you use your brain for about 5 seconds to think about what you are doing right now?"

"I think I can get more than enough!" Ichigo rebuked back as he clenched his fist. "I just told you what I want to do!"

"No, you do not, what you are doing is just pretending to play as an adult." Yoruichi became stern as she folded her arms. "I understand that you're upset, but you're so invested in your emotions that you're not thinking properly about what you're going to do. Let me ask you this: How are you planning to even track this person down? Surely you don't plan on going out like that, are you?" the former Captain pointed out Ichigo's clothing. "Do you not realize that you would be attracting unwanted attention to yourself and have public media capture your face, and get others to realize your address?"

Ichigo slowly widened his eyes, taking Yoruichi's words into account as he realized what she was saying, and the woman saw the look on his face. "Is it getting through that thick head of yours yet? You're just gonna be repeating the same mistake when you tried to invade the Soul Society, sure you had some clever ideas here and there to save your butt, but that's not gonna work every time. Especially when in this situation where you have humans being way too curious for their good sometimes."

Ichigo wanted to argue back with her, but a nagging voice told him to just listen for once. The teenager groaned in frustration as he clenched his head and got on his knees. "So what am I supposed to do then?!" Ichigo exclaimed as he punched his fist through the ground, forming a crater the size of his hand on the ground. "Just do nothing?!"

"Did you not listen to a single word I just said?" Yoruichi tilted her head as she gave Ichigo a questionable look. "I never said you should do nothing, just do something that's not so stupid." she turned her back against him. "This is why I refuse to teach you any of my techniques. Unless you start acting at least a little more mature, then I might teach you a thing or two at least."

The Orange haired lad looked at the young woman from his position. "Then… I should keep my distance?"

Tilting her head to the side she relented, Ichigo could certainly get obsessed with things when they got out of control. "Yes, and...?"

He thought about more as he felt her judgmental glare, this was her area of expertise and he felt like if he disappointed her he would feel even worse. "Keep a low profile, find out what and why they would be doing this..."

Yoruichi extended her hand towards him and gave a very tiny tremble on her upper lip. "Come on, you know I'm still gonna help you. But do try to convince me more."

Ichigo bit his lip as if having been forced to swallow his pride and accept having help from others. But now he knows that the woman was right in what she was saying. "I... I admit, what you said might have been right." the youth got up on the ground. "The way I would be doing things would be stupid for me and attract unwanted attention. So... I'm gonna need a disguise to not get recognized. And to do that..." Letting out a heavy sigh. "I... Need your help."

Yoruichi grew a smile as she heard this. Now that was more like it. "See, was that so hard now?"

Ichigo then heard his Combat Pass ringing, showing a threat of a Hollow close by. "I guess we'll leave this for later?" Ichigo pressed the badge against his chest separating Kishi from Reishi, before the human body fell to the ground it was properly caught by Yoruichi.

The woman simply nodded. "I'll get some stuff to cover your identity that would suit you."

He waved his hand as he quickly made his way out of the shop, jumping from house to house. 'Let's get this over with.' Ichigo thought before taking a Flash Step. 'So it increased the capacity of my Soul body as well...' he noted to himself, looking over at how he moved, so this came with some perks then, he should check if there was anything else he received.

He could already see a low-level Hollow on top of a rooftop looking for any Plus Soul to feast on. "Found you..." He muttered as he drop-kicked the creature into the ground, and he made a flip before slicing through its head with the giant kitchen knife his Shikai was. "Let's see if there's any more of these before I head to bed." He closed his eyes as he began to sense around town for any signature of Hollows.

"HEY."

Ichigo's eyes snapped open in surprise, turning around he saw Zennosuke, who had been standing on a rooftop of a house close by, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Why are you dressed up like a Soul Reaper?! I see you... what are you up to?!"

Huh? Just who the hell was this guy? And what did he mean by who he was? Shouldn't he know he was a Substitute Soul Reaper? Or has he been living under some rock? ''I'm a Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki." he then pulled out his Pass. "Look, this is my pass."

"A Combat... Pass?" Zennosuke began to laugh out loud as he swung his sword in the air. "Hahahaha! Give me a break, kid! Who do you think you are to fool with that thing?!"

'Yeah, I'm talking to Jushiro about this later.' Ichigo thought, annoyed by the fact he still wasn't recognized even with the Pass on him. "I answered your question, now you answer mine, who are you?"

Zennosuke seemed shocked by this. "What?! Who am I?! I'm Zennosuke Kuromadami!" he pointed a thumb at himself. "I'm an elite Soul Reaper that was sent by the Soul Society—"

"To scare the Hollows with a huge afro?" Ichigo rolled his eyes. "If so, you're wasting my time. You might as well get out."

"What?! Why you little—"

At that moment he could feel as if someone was approaching him from behind, his ability to detect Spiritual Pressure usually was pretty good but this wasn't how he usually felt it. This time it felt as though there was a sonar-like sense telling him of upcoming danger. Ichigo turned around to block a sword that was coming down at his back. He was shocked to see and was surprised who attacked him. 'Hirako?!' Ichigo thought in shock as he saw that Shinji from his school earlier was the one to attack him from behind. There was a strong wind pressure coming between them where Zennosuke had been blown away. Ichigo looked at the Zanpakuto at his disposal. And then the "uniform" as well. "A Zanpakuto?!" Ichigo looked back at Shinji's eyes. "Hirako, who are you and what do you want?!" he demanded to know.

Shinji puts a finger on his lips while smiling. "Shhh... you shouldn't make noise right now, Ichigo. Those who have Spiritual Pressure like you need to learn how to stay calm... or your presence will be felt by everyone. Especially with how agitated you are."

"I asked who you are?! You're not normal!"

"Honestly, children can be so blind and foolish." Shinji sighed before both of them let go of their swords, and he turned his head around when he seemed to sense something. "Huh... It's already here."

"I'll ask again, who are you?!" Ichigo demanded to know.

"I explained it, you're the one to blame." Shinji sighed. ''It's all because you were releasing your Spiritual Pressure."

"And I want to know what your deal is with me!" Ichigo demanded further.

"Ahh, growing a brain are we? Fine. Take a good look." Shinji had his hand on top of his head and slowly started to form his mask. "Try and... guess if you can"

"A Hollow Mask?!" Ichigo was in visible shock from this. He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now.

"Yes... a Zanpakuto and a Hollow mask. Do you get it now? I'm a Soul Reaper who crossed over into the realms of the Hollows." Ichigo was having unpleasant flashbacks of his Hollow taking over in his body against Byakuya, along with his near-death experience against Go Koga and his Doll Dalk, and the brief moment of him fighting Kariya. "You see, I'm a Vizard... you're one of us. You do not belong with the Soul Reapers!" Shunji's tone was raised slightly. "You have to know you do not belong with them at all."

Just then he felt a pulse again, as if to signal him. He felt an oddly familiar Spiritual Pressure he hadn't felt in a while. 'What the hell is this?' Ichigo thought to himself before he started to go there as he leaped away from Shinji.

"Hey! Where are you going?! I'm not finished talking to you yet!" Shinji remarked.

"No thanks!"

"Hey! Didn't you hear what I just said?!"

"I heard you and I don't plan on joining your club right now, alright?!" Ichigo called out for the last time before he got away.

Shinji sighed. "This guy isn't gonna make it easy for me, is he?" he picked up his phone before clicking a few numbers and pressed it against his ear. "It's me, Shinji... yeah I'm calling Miss Sarugaki to give her a progress report... oh it's you... Yeah, he said he isn't joining right now." he pulled his phone away from his ear with a painful expression as the voice on the other end began screaming. "Quit shouting in my ear, will you?! It wasn't my fault!" he pressed it against his ear again. "Look, don't worry, he might consider it later."

Ichigo kept on making Flash Steps at maximum speed in the air toward the direction he had been sensing, recalling Shinji's words. 'What did he mean...? He's a Soul Reaper and a Hollow? Vizards, that's what he called it. Does that mean there's more like him out there? More… like me?' Ichigo then looked down at the streets to see something... Familiar. 'Wait... Is that...' He descended the road and even though it had been some time since they last met Ichigo could still recognize the form of it, it was indeed him. It was Grand Fisher. ''You..."

"So we meet again at last, Ichigo Kurosaki." Grand Fisher said, looking down at the teenager, whose size merely looked like a bug to him. But this form was different, the hollow now had an actual humanoid appearance instead of a hamster that seemed to have come out of a very fucked up thought from a psycho.

"What the…" Ichigo now checked out the newly transformed Grand Fisher. 'This monster… He looks even more disgusting now… but now he has a giant sword of his own, how did he acquire a Zanpakutou?' he thought to himself. ''You know... I don't know if I should be angry or confused. I think it might be a little bit both." he placed his hand on the wrapped-up 'handle' of his sword. "I don't know why you're here... But I'm not going to let you get away this time. This time... I'm going to kill you."

Grand Fisher suddenly burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha! You came here to kill me?! HAH! Don't make me laugh! You should reconsider asking if I look like an ordinary Hollow! Now watch!" As he then started to transform, his size increased even more than before. Along with the exposed head, damn the fucker was ugly… "I had expected to get a decent fight from you, Ichigo Kurosaki. But I am disappointed at the size of our Zanpakutos. Don't you know that the size of one's Zanpakuto mirrors one's Spirit Energy?"

The scowl on Ichigo's face only deepened as he drew out his sword. ''Tell me... what happened to you? You look far bigger than before, are you similar to the Menos Grande now?"

Grand Fisher seemed to be offended by this. "What do you mean Menos?! How dare you compare me to one of those weak beasts?! No, I am an Arrancar!"

That term...It got his curiosity through the building rage. "An Arrancar?" He raised an eyebrow at the idea

Grand Fisher smirked, amused by this. "Surprised? I am a Hollow that has removed his mask to gain the powers of a Soul Reaper!" he exclaimed.

'So that would be the opposite of the Vizards then, guess I will have to find more about this later.' Ichigo thought. "Is that all? If so, let's get this over with. Looking at you, knowing you killed more innocent people than before… makes me sick that I didn't manage to butcher you."

"I have had enough of your insolence! Prepare to die!" Grand Fisher brought his massive sword down right at Ichigo. However, before Fisher could so much as blink, his sword had been cut in half. This took Grand Fisher by surprise. "What is this?! Impossible!"

"You surprised?" Ichigo set the sword through the concrete road, giving Gran Fisher a cold look. "You should be… After all, you never expected anyone to be able to kill you out of just laziness on their part." As he then made a Flash Step to where he got behind Grand Fisher, the beast's arm fell.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" the new Arrancar yelled out in pain for his lost arm, holding it tightly with his right one. "How dare you! You can—"

"How dare I?! How dare you!" Ichigo now did the same thing to Grand Fisher's left arm, making the imperfect Arrancar scream out more. Ichigo then fired a wordless Getsuga Tenshou at Grand Fisher's knees, making the legendary Hollow fall onto his stomach. "You're the asshole who feasted on my mother's soul and left her to die on top of me when I was a child!"

"Wh — What are you?!" Grand Fisher barely managed to look over at Ichigo, his face now full of fear. "You're not normal..."

"And that's why you decided to attack me that day… And you then attacked my family again, using the reflection of my mother to wound me with you having the gall to say you did not even correctly remember which soul you killed." The lad was furious as his hands gripped the handle tightly, the boiling rage was enough for his claws to pop, tearing the socks in his feet.

The young teen raised his sword above his head, looking down at the weakened monster that caused him and his family to grieve for years. Finally, after all this time he would get to finish him off himself. And this time, he would not allow him to get away. Some of his thoughts were thinking about making Grand Fisher suffer for a little longer, but in the state he was in he couldn't even stand.

His large blade glows with his Spirit Energy being absorbed and condensed into energy. The legendary Hollow widened his eyes, and his face twisted into that of fear. "Getsuga Tenshou!" The lad fired off his energy beam at the Hollow, destroying the form, and cleansing his soul in the process while the Grand Fisher screamed out in pain.

Ichigo felt relief wash over his mind now. At last, he finally freed his mother from that thing after all these years. He then made a sweatdrop when he saw how much of a mess he made, with the road having a massive molten gash that could fit an automobile thanks to the Getsuga he fired. "Oh, man... I may have overdone it a bit... Hopefully, I don't get in trouble with the Soul Society," he murmured before he Flash Stepped away from the sight.

On the rooftop above…

"That Getsuga Tenshou was a little bit overkill wasn't it?" Isshin said in his soul form as he crouched down on a rooftop with Kisuke standing next to him.

"It proves to you just how hotheaded you two can be," Kisuke remarked with an amused expression shown on him.

Isshin seemed insulted by this. "What?! We're nothing alike at all! I do not resemble my delinquent son in any way!"

"Yeah… perhaps." Kisuke grinned. "So, how does it feel to be a Soul Reaper again after 20 years?" Urahara asked.

Isshin got up. "In some ways, it feels pretty good. I never had a grudge against that stupid Hollow in the first place, and if I'm being perfectly honest with myself, there's only one thing I regretted for the past 20 years, and that despite everything, I couldn't save Masaki that night."

"But we both know what happened that night, don't we?" Kisuke had an unreadable expression, and Isshin thought it seemed serious before the shopkeeper looked back down at the streets. ''Besides, I guess it's good that Ichigo took care of it. It's a good thing he's doing these things since he will be able to get used to his new abilities now"

"Hmmm..." Isshin hummed. '"Probably so. Though I can't be fully sure if some spider could just mix in with a soul though..."

"It wasn't a simple spider, Isshin." Urahara started with a glance. "That was a genetically altered spider. It had been Hollowfied. Ichigo has the powers of a High-level Hollow in his human form as far as I can tell… But I suspect it might be beyond that."

Isshin crossed his arms in question. "What exactly would you be getting at?"

Kisuke closed his fans and tapped his chin. "Ichigo already has Hollow Powers on himself, as a result, his actual source would just assimilate this recent addition which would in turn just make it safe. However, if anyone else were to have been bitten by this spider, they could have easily become a Demi-Hollow right away, as the power and mutation would overpower the genetic makeover."

"I..."

"Don't get it?"

"No."

"Your son is lucky to have Hollow Powers already." Urahara bluntly said. "Because of it, these new Hollow abilities would just be easily taken in by his body while other people would immediately Hollowfy as humans, which would be a disaster."

"I suppose that is true, yes..." Isshin nodded his head, knowing what Urahara meant. ''And it's just as you predicted, Shinji and the other Vizards have made contact with Ichigo. If they're going to those depths, they must be preparing for the battle just like we are. The only explanation is that they must have noticed the change in the Arrancar as well." he said.

"And even despite their hatred for the Soul Reapers, they have no plans on letting Aizen get away scot-free with this," Kisuke informed Isshin.

Isshin then gained a look of worry, along with some sorrow. "Ichigo is gonna be one of the key factors in winning this war, isn't he..."

"Well... I can safely assume he's participating in this." Kisuke tipped his hat, as he quickly approached to talk about another topic. "Though, what about that Arrancar?"

"To be honest, this one confused me. This one had power, but it felt so weak compared to anything I've seen so far." Isshin folded his arms, and Kisuke remained silent. ''That Hollow that I fought 20 years ago was much more difficult to deal with, almost made me use my Bankai as well. But this one couldn't even scratch Ichigo."

Kisuke was somewhat concerned by this. "According to my calculations, it should take a full year for the Hogyoku to achieve full power. But with what we saw as of now, this just felt sloppy. I would hope that the Hogyoku was becoming weaker."

"I wish that were the case, but I doubt it. The Arrancar that Ichigo encountered was incomplete, even for Arrancar standards. The Spiritual Pressure was just a prototype that was sent here to collect data, but the question would be on what. The Hogyoku's power is increasing. It's no question that Aizen's research must be very near complete at this point, and once he has something that can be used on the front lines, he will lead the Perfect Arrancar... an army of Vasto Lordes, and they will conquer the world. So the question is, how do we fight back?"

"We'll figure something out, Isshin. I promise you that." Kisuke answered him, tipping off his hat again.

Kurosaki Household

Ichigo made it home quickly, checking in to see if Karin and Yuzu were sleeping due to the timing being around practically midnight. To his relief, they had been. This was good as he would likely stay up all night at this point. Not that it would bother him since Kisuke tried to kill him for those 5 days, enough to make Ichigo build resistance in his Soul body, but now in his Human body he could stay awake for at least 2 days easily as far as he was concerned. If he had to guess at max, he could handle 3 days. Stamina wise he could stay up for a week but stamìna and fatigue were two different things.

'Guess I can at least tell Orihime I'm gonna be training with Yoruichi for a while...' The lad noted as he walked into the patient's room and saw Orihime stretching up her arms, her chest was stuffed up as she took in air, making her press her boobs forward with a jiggle. Right now he could tell that as she took in his presence in the room she jolted back a bit before clutching her stomach in pain. She held her hand over the area as her other hand went to her forehead, making an exasperated groan mixed with discomfort.

She looked down, discomfort still noticeable but she tried masking it with a smile, before lifting her gaze to meet his own. "Hey, Ichigo...I guess I'm still not 100%, really am becoming a burden if anything." She mumbled that last part but he still heard it.

That didn't sit well with him as Orihime never once felt like that, if anything the one who was a burden was himself. He let this happen in the first place due to his inexperience. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked up to her bed. "You're not a burden at all." Sitting by it, he wondered where she came up with that. "Last time I checked, Jidanbou only has his arm thanks to you..."

"Well yeah, but still—" She did appreciate it but she still felt like she was only to blame.

"You were off guard and the others were there. It wasn't your fault at all..." He continued as she stopped frowning. "So quit beating yourself about it, ok?"

Her eyes wandered off a bit before locking on his again. "Alright, I'll try to."

The teen smiled as he patted her on the head. "Good, now, Orihime. I'm going to be heading off to Urahara to train with Yoruichi."

The younger healer raised an eyebrow in confusion, why would he train with her? "Training with Yoruichi? Why?" She asked in a curious tone.

Ichigo raised a hand as the black claws took the place of his regular nails. "Cause I gotta learn how to control this." He looked at the claws before making them recede. "Gotta go now." He told her with a wave before going out of the room.

"See ya later!" Orihime cheerfully waved.

Urahara Shoten

Appearing back at Urahara's, Ichigo saw Yoruichi standing in front of the shop waiting for him, and he waved at her in greeting. A grin appeared on her face as she invited him inside the shop. The former Stealth Force Commander guided the Substitute Soul Reaper through the store as they went to the storage room. It was a place where Ichigo didn't venture around the shop that often, even when he went regularly during the situation with the Bounts, there wasn't a reason to go there since Urahara usually had whatever was needed in hand or his training ground.

Curious as to why they were here he decided to ask her. "What are we even doing here, Yoruichi?" He voiced his confusion with a tone of fake disinterest.

With a smirk still in place, the Flash Goddess looked back at him in the eye. "Well, I'm searching for equipment to help in our training, Ichigo." She knocked on one of the boxes closest to her. "And in these boxes are a lot of the necessary tools and weapons for the following drills we'll be doing."

Blinking, the orange-haired reaper scratched his head in understanding. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. After all, instead of using swords, we're training my abilities with the body right?"

"Exactly. Unlike the training that I had been giving to Sado and Orihime, this one I can give my spin to it." She said as she pointed a finger gun at him in banter. "Also I'm looking for clothes." She added before looking back to the chest she opened.

As she searched for whatever she was looking for, she signaled him to carry the boxes down to the training ground to which he ended up agreeing. No use arguing since either way he would be doing work. Once she found what she was looking for, she quickly made her way down where she saw Ichigo sitting down against the box waiting for her. Telling him to get up she quickly explained what the boxes had in them. Most of them had weapons like rope darts and talons, she took those and strapped the armored sets of gauntlets and feet to her arms and legs. Wondering what they were exactly for, Ichigo decided to ask the purpose behind them.

But just as the words left his mouth, he quickly dodged a hypersonic strike from the catwoman, and blood trickled down his cheek as he realized she could have chopped off his head.

"This… is their purpose, Ichigo." The purple-haired beauty stated as an electric spark seemed to cackle from her mouth, she readied a stance as if she was ready to pounce on him. "For the next 2 days, I'll be teaching you in a way you would prefer Kisuke's attempts at your life."

And then she lunged.

A Bit Over Two Days Later…

This went… far longer than expected. The Orange haired teen stumbled as he leaned on a boulder for support, they went at this for an entire day if anything. Blood tickled from multiple gashes all over his body, mixed in with sweat and ragged pants that could barely qualify as breathing. He was pretty much spent. If he went for another round he was sure he would collapse, the reason for this could be heard as it slowly inches closer to him.

The purple-haired woman retracted the metal talons, blood dripping from the long 10-inch razor blades. They only had a few breaks in between those sections and by the time they came, the teen was certainly exhausted. He simply didn't have any proper practice in his human body, which would certainly be a problem if he were to ever rely on them shortly, with all they did was her "teaching" how to fight with his claws and utilize the rope dart, and speaking of it...

A grin came upon her features as she unwrapped the rope around her arm and shot it, grappling the boy's foot who turned his back turned to her, she pulled which launched Ichigo into the air and plummeted through the ground literally 6 feet under solid rock. A pained groan could only be heard from the crater. Only for a hand to shoot out of the hole and out of it came an extremely frustrated and angry berry boy.

"What the hell was that about you HellCat?!" The young man yelled, making her chuckle. HellCat was something a few of her students nicknamed her due to either her teasing ways or her damn near sadism in training. Crawling out of the hole, he took the dust off his clothes as he realized how dirty they were.

"Damn, these are gonna be a pain to clean up..." The teen complained as he took another step… only for his body to fail him, as he was sent into an incoming meeting with the ground, but before that happened he was caught by the woman he just cursed at.

"Let's get you healed up, okay?" Yoruichi whispered to the youth as she carried him to Kisuke's hot spring for healing. "I'll get you some clothes after that, so don't worry about it..."

Once that was done in a few hours, the teen was healed enough to walk around, however, Yoruichi explained that the injuries she caused were a bit too much for the hot spring to heal properly, she added that Kisuke made this training ground overnight and as such this one was nowhere near as developed as the one on the hideout she and Kisuke had in the Seireitei.

Groaning a bit in pain, Ichigo sat on the floor nursing his closed-up wounds and injuries, they may have been healed but the pain certainly would decide to stay for a while. He looked up to see the purple-haired woman carrying a bundle of what was certainly clothes for him.

"Take those torn rags off and wear this. It's your favorite color if I'm not mistaken." She handed them to him and offered a smile, making the teen slightly flustered with pink on his cheeks. "I hope you like it, I was the one who chose it."

The teen grabbed the bundle and went to the bathroom at the end of the corridor of the shop to change clothes, leaving Yoruichi by herself with her thoughts. She honestly felt a bit bad for almost killing him in these 2 days but it would be necessary for when he trains his Hollow powers, it was clear from the start those mutations were a type of Hollowfication. If the Vizards do get him on their side, his instincts would at least be honed enough as these powers were more instinct-driven than theory, meaning she had to be a lot more direct than she was when training Byakuya for instance.

Just as she finished the thought she heard the door slide and stepped out Ichigo, once she got a look at him she widened her eyes at what he was wearing. "Wow..." She muttered to herself.

At Downtown

Tatsuki Ariwasa woke up from another restless night of sleep, it was about 4 in the morning when she checked her new phone, its image was that of her with Orihime in a picture, her eyes trembled as she immediately stood up and went to change her outfit to a hoodie and some yoga pants.

Taking the keys she went out of the house and started stretching her arms and legs. With a few joint pops, she started jogging downtown, ever since Orihime got shot she's been doing this exact routine nearly every day. At first, nobody noticed but in the last 2 days since it was the weekend, Tatsuki would have missed school with what she was doing.

Her breath ragged over 2 hours in, it was still impressive with how restless and tired she's been to be able to jog from her home to the western side of the city. Fatigue would surely catch up to her at this point, and to not just fall on the asphalt and sleep on it she knew she needed to stop by some place, her tired eyes viewed the block around her and saw the spacious alleyway by two buildings. She made her way there, looking back and forth before entering it.

Unbeknownst to her, a few shady-looking men tailed her close by, one of them wore the uniform of another school in Karakura and the other two wore dark green hoodies and a grey jacket. They were part of the local gang that used to bother Ichigo and Sado.

"So that's her?" The member in a school uniform asked the one wearing the green hoodie.

The gang member with the gray jacket nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't forget that face, she was with that orange-haired girl when I tried to mug them. But then that Kurosaki punk showed up." He informed them as he knew they had to take care of all witnesses, seeing as they couldn't have the police on their ass and he had to take care of specifically the person who took his handgun, seeing as it was given to the police.

They've been laying low for some time now as police patrols would take over looking for the criminals involved, with the increase of violence and last semester's constant reports of victims and collateral damage they needed to be careful with their plans.

Making their way to the alley they saw the girl leaning against the wall out of breath. Of course, she had no means to engage them either way. She was tired and they were in a group, even if she was at full strength they brought weapons with them. And it seemed as if she noticed this and looked at them approaching her, her eyes widening as she realized who it was.

"Damn..." She uttered and stepped back further into the alleyway as they closed in. The one in gray stood at the front as the other two went to each side, circling her. She stepped back until she had her back against the wall, she had her only right to run but that passage was blocked by the one in the school uniform with a metal bat, she was officially screwed… "What do you scum want anyway?" She responded with an unyielding amount of venom in her voice, despite how tired she was the anger in her was still burning a scorching heat.

The one in grey pulled up his new firearm. It was a machine gun of sorts. "To tie up loose ends." As he pulled the trigger, the rounds came off but no loud boom was being made from the firing as these machine guns were upgraded with increased firing rate and built-in silencer. This was a new type of firearm that somehow ended up in the hands of low-level scum like them.

The bullets, despite their relatively impressive speed to any other commonly used firearm, never hit her. She completely disappeared in a blink of an eye. The bullets also never made an impact with anything from the lack of metallic projectiles landing on the ground. They couldn't understand, what even happened. Where was the girl?

The soles of boots against the wet ground echoed through their heads as they quickly turned around to see someone standing a few meters behind them. It was an intimidating sight, as they saw a person who was taller than they were as they had average height while the one there easily overshadowed them by at least 5 '10". He wore a knee-length black jacket with dark red accents, a beaked hood that covered his eyes, and two thick dark red lines from the end of the beak extending to the middle of the back. Underneath he wore a black tight shirt that accentuated his muscles and wore gloves. He was using boots and cargo-like pants to carry whatever equipment he chose. To top it off He seemed to wear a white scarf to cover up his face and despite being unable to see who it was, the sheer venom and rage in the glare that they could feel made them pale in fear as they took a few steps back.

The one with the metal bat ran at him, yelling as he swung the bat at the stranger's head, only for the bat to shatter into pieces against the hooded man's head. The three thugs looked in fright, both the one in grey and the one in green began to rapidly pull the triggers of their firearms to shoot at the man. But just as they fired so many times in rapid succession, the bullets that left the barrels vanished in thin air as they seemingly disappeared. Only for them to reappear just at Tatsuki's original position as they were thrown against the wall, and the cement got cracked and splintered into a fissure of 5 meters in length and 4 inches deep. They almost went through the wall as they felt their bones break, but not enough to tear through flesh though.

Due to the trauma behind the impact, they immediately passed out from it, leaving the hooded man by himself. He held out his closed hand before using another to pull down the scarf and hood revealing Ichigo, with bags under his eyes from the exertion he endured from Yoruichi, opening his hand he let the magazine worth of bullets fired fall to the ground.

15 in total… including the first one that was shot at Tatsuki.

A smirk made itself to his face as he realized the irony, reaching into one of the pockets in his jacket he pulled out a phone with the Substitute Soul Reaper Badge as the cover. Dialing the police number, he called for them before pulling up his scarf and hood to conceal his identity. As the call was made he soon left to find Orihime's other friends as he doubted these guys only went for Tatsuki. Speaking of which, he made a short stop by the park where he left her, the park was across the street from the alley she was originally in.

He made his way to a bench where he saw her sleeping on it, she shivered a bit thanks to the cold as winter was approaching. Running a gloved hand through her hair, he pondered over what just happened. Staring into her sleeping face he nodded to himself. "Don't worry… I'll make sure that this won't go unpunished, Tatsuki." He vows as he lifts her in his arms. "I promise… I'll take care of this mess..." With that said, he carried her over to her house before leaving for the others.

Later…At Karakura High School

Once he took care of the low lives, Ichigo arrived at school with time to spare, landing on the rooftop he opened a spare bag where he hid his other clothes, and in it, there were winter clothes he had in case the temperature fell lower and there were also his school clothes. Quickly changing outfits, he hid the bag on top of the exit to the roof where only someone like Jidanbo would see the spare bag.

Though he still couldn't shake off what Shinji told him that night before he went to Yoruichi to train. Right now, as he then entered the classroom, still contemplating last night.

"Dude, you there or what?" Harry waved his hand in front of Ichigo's face, snapping him out of his stupor.

"Did you say something?"

"I asked if we could hang out next week or something since I wanted to know you more and all of—"

Ichigo sighed in response. ''Fine. What time did you have in mind?"

"Probably on Saturday after lunch since my dad will be off somewhere else. I can call when that will happen."

It was then that Shinji and a blonde girl came into class. Now this seemed to be as good a time as any for Ichigo to talk to him. "Hi, Ichigo! Good morning!" Shinji greeted him in an overly cheery voice. One that Ichigo did not like one bit. "And hello to you as well, new students!" As he then greeted Gwen.

"Hello... My name is Gwen Stacy and well...I already have been studying here for like a year." Gwen told him. "So you're the new one then... Shinji, right?"

"Wow! You remember my name! You're great, Gwen!" Shinji then gave her an exaggerated hug, something that took her by surprise…

"Wait, why are you—"

Keigo then intervened in an overdramatic fashion as usual. ''HEY! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! SHE'S THE POLICE OFFICER'S DAUGHTER!"

Shinji turns around with an annoyed look on his face. "Who's making all that noise? And just who in the hell are you?"

Keigo pointed an accusing finger. "Who am I?! You got a lot of nerve asking me, acting like you're best friends with the people in this class! Well, guess what, I've known them a lot longer than you have Mr. John Camwheili!"

"Already been shot down this morning haven't we?" Mizuiro replied.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER YOU PERVERT, SHE OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T LIKE IT!" Keigo screamed once more.

Shinji let go of her, but he still had his arm around her. "Are you crazy? If she didn't like it, she would have screamed and hit me with her book bag. But she didn't, which proves she's not uncomfortable, am I right?"

This was where Ichigo intervened, having to grab Shinji by his shoulder. ''Shinji, come on we need to talk..." he proceeded to drag him outside the class.

Harry walked next to Gwen. "Well, that was some good show." As he sarcastically replied. "Are you free next week?" He asked, trying to get someone else to hang out in case it doesn't work with the redhead.

"Nope." The blonde replied with a pop with her hands behind her head.

School Yard

Ichigo dragged Shinji outside so they could 'talk'. Ichigo shoved Shinji against the hallway ledge, with both of them far out of the hearing range. "Ow! Maybe you're not aware of it, but that hurts! And what are you getting so mad about anyway? It's not like that girl is your girlfriend or anything!"

"Even if she was, that's not the reason you're here. I want to know what you are still doing here!" Ichigo demanded.

"Well that's a stupid question, I'm a student and I have to go to school." Shinji rolled his eyes, taking out his tongue to point it at Ichigo in a rude manner.

"Don't you start acting like a smartass on me now? I can assume you're only here because of me from all the talk that happened last night. If that's the case, then you're wasting your time." Ichigo told him with an irritated look on his face. ''I am not going to join some stupid organization or their rankings or whatever they have in store for me."

"I'll be the judge of that..." Shinji grew more serious as of now, dropping all the facade he had. This somewhat surprised Ichigo. "Surely you don't think I've given up... I mean, just because of what happened between you and me last night? Do you think one simple 'no' is all it takes? You'll find I don't give up so easily. I'm going to follow you around until you say yes. It's too late anyways. Once the symptoms appear, Vizards can never be normal again. No matter what you may think, the dye is already cast. You're already on our side, Ichigo." he sighed. "Orihime, the big guy, four eyes, you think they're all friends of yours? Well, you're wrong. The truth is they're only your friends for the time being. If you continue to be a Soul Reaper, sooner or later, you'll be swallowed up by the Hollow inside, making you lose your sanity. When that happens, it's all over. Your power will destroy everyone around you. Your friends, your family, and even your identity will be blown to smithereens." he made a very wide grin, seeing Ichigo losing his grip on him, along with the worried face he had. "Oh come now, Ichigo, don't tell me you haven't already noticed? Your Inner Hollow is slowly starting to take over. It's already so powerful you can barely control it. You should come with me, Ichigo. I can show you how to save your sanity."

Ichigo was trying not to shake his body, just so he didn't show the fear he had. Just when he started to begin his new career. And now it would all be over before he even knew it, and he might never see it coming. When he thought about it, Shinji may be right. His Hollow started to show up more and more through the battles he fought through. He hadn't been sure if he could push him back through just sheer mental strength much longer. He didn't know how to push it back any other way besides that. He may have to go through with this. ''Fine. You win." Ichigo said. "We have a deal."

Shinji blinked in surprise at this. That had been a little easier than he thought it would have been. But hey, he wasn't gonna complain about it.

"I might show up this week. Best chances should be on the weekends." Ichigo said.

"Well then, it seems we have a deal," Shinji replied with a pleased grin. "Also, dumbass, I had to file a paper to become a student so either way I have to come..." He added before going. 'Maybe Lisa would have been a better choice? No, even though she is still a teen she's way too perverted...'

However, unknown to them, Tatsuki had been listening to a part of their conversation. But it still confused her to a large extent. Just what in the world were they talking about? She didn't know about the entire conversation that was held, but she did hear about the end of it.

Tatsuki and the other girls were seen at their usual place when it came to lunch, that being the garden outside the school. Michiru and Mahana wanted to tell the girls something they would believe.

"Alright so... Michiru and Mahana, what did you wanna talk about?" Tatsuki asked in curiosity.

"Well, we don't know where to start... Michiru and I were going home after going to a concert late last night. Around halfway there, we were surrounded by these guys that wanted to get to Ichigo, but then we were rescued by this shadow" Mahana answered.

"A Shadow… and what do you mean?" Tatsuki asked. She even thought too early on when she was cornered by those thugs the other day…

"Well it's hard to explain, but uh, I think he wore something like a long black overcoat, he looked like an Assassin or something," Michiru remarked.

Mary Jane, Harry's best friend, smiled in amusement. "Wait, so you're saying that you were saved by a guy like that…?"

"It's true! He even moved so fast as well!" Michiru exclaimed. "He seemed to toss some sticky glue to keep them in place"

"That sounds like something Orihime could come up with in her sleep," Tatsuki replied, not believing their story. "I mean, couldn't you have come up with something a little more believable?"

"But what if they are telling the truth?" Gwen asked. She was from New York, and weirder shit happened.

"I'll believe it when I see it. Are you sure you weren't seeing things?" Tatsuki asked with a skeptical look on her face.

"How about if Michiru and I record it?!"

"Wait, you're not seriously thinking of getting surrounded by crooks on purpose, right?" Mary Jane looked at them questioningly.

"Of course not!"

"But then how are you gonna find this guy anyways?" Gwen asked as she took a bite out of her food. The two girls became silent out of this, not having been sure how to answer that. "Thought so. So, does anyone got something else to talk about?"

With Uryu…

He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

What other choice did he have? After his performance from that pseudo-Menos Grande he encountered, he got a major wake-up call that he needed to get his act together by now.

At this point, he would even ask him for help. He needed them.

Uryu opened the door to Ryuken's office, stepped inside, and closed it with a slight snap behind barely glancing up at the noise, keeping his focus on the papers in his hands. For a moment, a cold silence stretched between them. Uryu kept his determined gaze on Ryuken, who finally let out a heavy sigh.

"So you've come." Ryuken put the papers down on his desk. ''Tell me, Uryu, what have you decided?" he asked.

"I thought about it. The truth of the matter is that I want you to restore my Quincy powers to me. I don't want some borrowed power. I want my powers back so I can control them." Uryu gave him a clear answer.

"And if I do?"

"I give you my word... I won't have anything to do with Soul Reapers or their allies ever again. I swear this on my life."

Well, the editing on the second chapter is now done as well. There's gonna be a lot more changes coming up very soon, my co-author and I gotta edit all these to fit the current narrative of the story.