Ichigo came home with his thoughts swarming his head. As of now he just wanted to think about what happened. The second he came in the usual happened, with his father attacking him, him dodging, having an argument and now just going to his room.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in!" Kon came out of his box that sat close to Ichigo's desk. ''If it isn't Ichigo! You're home early... not that I was waiting around for you or anything, but welcome back!" he jumped down onto the floor from the box.

"Hey," Ichigo replied almost blankly, right before he unzipped his bag and took out his clothes, specifically the one Yoruichi gave him.

"What the hell is that?" Kon asked, noticing that Ichigo had.

"Well, it's obviously not a disguise." Ichigo sarcastically replied. "Yoruichi gave it to me."

"I know what it is! But what are you doing with that?!"

"Well, I'm trying to figure out how to hide it better."

"Why?"

"Because I just used this while beating the shit out of some robbers."

Kon had a deadpan look on his plushie face. ''Come again?"

Ichigo sighed before he popped the claws out. Kon had a shocked look on his face when seeing the display in front of him. He pointed a shaky finger at him. "H-how did—"

"Either that spider I am taking care of or something else caused this." Ichigo sat down on the floor. "Though would you mind if you left the room? I need to figure something out."

"What?! Why would I just—"

"Do it."

"Fine!" Kon grunted as he jumped out of the window. "You're no fun anyways!"

Ichigo made another sigh as he sat down on his bed. He reached over to his costume and tried to come up with... anything. But it had been increasingly difficult to think properly. Shinji's words were just getting at him. He started clenching the collar of his shirt much more tightly. "That bastard... I don't need him to tell me that my Hollow is getting stronger. I can feel him myself damn it. If this does keep up..."

"If this keeps up what?!"

Ichigo widened his eyes in shock. He couldn't believe it. He could hear him again. But how was that possible? He wasn't even in a battle!

"Are you trying to scare yourself, Ichigo?"

"Get out..." Ichigo made a heavy scowl. "I don't want to deal with you."

"You're so easy to figure out. By the time I'm done with you, you won't have to fear anything anymore. Don't think that I'll approach you day by day anymore. Oh no. It's going to happen much faster than that now!" Ichigo looked up. He couldn't exactly see him, but he could just feel that his hollow was close to his being. "See?! I'm even closer now than I was just a moment ago!" His hands clenched on the sheets, his knuckles turning white. "The clock is ticking, Ichigo. You better watch it, otherwise, I'm going to swallow you, and there will be nothing else for you to remember!" The Hollow made a mad cackle. "See ya around..."

Ichigo made a deep scowl. This was getting worse than he thought. Just how much time did he have left?

Then the resounding noise of someone knocking on his door came by, it almost made him jump out of his seat. ''It's me... Karin." His sister answered from the other side of the door.

"Just a sec!" Ichigo quickly put the clothes under his bed so they couldn't be seen at all. "You can come in now," he told her.

Karin opened the door and closed it. She walked in, looking as though she needed to speak to her brother at once. "I wanna know what's going on… why are you acting like this, Ichigo?" she asked her older brother.

Ichigo looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Karin looked down on the floor. "I can't hold it back anymore... I know of it, Ichigo..." She looked at her brother again. "I know that you're a Soul Reaper."

Ichigo looked at his sister with a shocked look. He began to seem nervous. Out of all the questions she could have possibly asked him, it had to be that one.

Squad 12 Development and Research Division, Sereitei.

Within the confines of the R&D of Squad 12 within the Soul Society, the people have been continuing to do the work and research that had been necessary to do so.

"Come on, Rin, how many times have I told you?! Those cookies are for everyone! Now go make us some tea, you worthless little twerp!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I was hungry!" she heard a beep coming by. When she checked to see what it was, she widened her eyes when seeing what it was. ''I have a reading!" she announced, shocking the people as she had done so. "Position from 3600 to 4000, Eastern section from Karakura, requesting assistance in verification!"

Hiyosu began to type the keyboards like a madman. "Hey, what's going on, everything alright?" Akon asked as he entered the lab as well.

"Your timing couldn't be more perfect, Akon! Take a look, they're here!"

Kurosaki Household

The older brother could only pretend to play dumb with her. "I'm... a Soul Reaper? Karin... You sure you haven't just made that up?" He knew it was a bad move.

Karin gave him a glare in response. "Don't play dumb with me! I've been able to see them... for quite a while now. At first, I didn't understand what was going on... but—"

Suddenly, both of them felt tremendous Spiritual Pressure. Not just them, but Orihime, Chad, Kisuke, and Isshin felt it. Ichigo stood up from his bed to leave, but Karin grabbed his arm to hold him in place. "Where are you going, Ichigo?!"

Ichigo only gave his sister an apologetic look. "I'm sorry..." he pressed his badge, turning him Into a Soul Reaper before leaving the room. "I'll tell you later."

Karin had now exited Ichigo's door, with her mind still processing what happened until Yuzu came upstairs. ''Hey, Karin! Did you hear that big boom just now?!" Yuzu asked. Karin said nothing as her mind kept playing back what happened. Yuzu noticed the silence. "Huh? Is everything alright?" she asked, as her sister looked as though she was spacing out.

Karin snapped out. ''Wha — oh yeah, sure, it's nothing. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Ichigo's still in his room taking a nap, so don't wake him until dinner time." Karin started walking downstairs.

"Ok… see ya later?"

Park

"Bah! I came here a few times while I was masked. I see the World of the Living hasn't changed at all. Still boring as ever. The Spiritual Pressure is so thin I can hardly breathe." Yammy complained as he and another companion crashed in a park where a crater had been formed beneath them.

"Stop complaining. I told you I can manage this. You're the one who insisted on coming." Ulquiorra replied, having his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll give it a rest." Yammy then walked away from the crater. When he did, he saw the humans staring at him. Or to be more precise, the crater itself. They started to chat among themselves about what they could do. Needless to say, this annoyed Yammy, as if they weren't even seeing him. "Hey! What are you peasants going on about?!" The humans couldn't see him, so they couldn't hear what he just said. "That's it!" Yammy then proceeded to use his Gonzui to suck out their souls.

Orihime still felt the enormous Spiritual Pressure going by as she was still in her clinical bed. 'What do I do? Should I heal myself or should I not do it? I know Ichigo has gotten stronger but...' She clenched her sheets tightly. 'No. I am tired of being on the sidelines. It's time I do something.' she whispered under her breath. "Soten Kisshun..." Part of her hairpin envelope in a bright orange flash before a shield surrounded Orihime. It took around a few seconds before her body was fully healed.

Orihime got off the bed before opening the windows and jumped through the air as she landed on the ground. She started to sprint away as fast as she could to get to the location where the Spiritual Pressure was emitted from.

Park

Just as Yammy was done using his Gonzui, the crowd surrounding the crater all fell to the ground motionless, dead. "Blah! Awful taste!" he complained as he burped

"What did you expect, Yammy? Weak souls like those will always taste poorly from what I have been told." Ulquiorra commented again.

"Well, I only did it 'cause they kept staring at us like we were part of some freak show!"

"Those people weren't staring at you. They couldn't see you at all."

"I know, but they were still pissing me off! So, how many in the World of the Living are we supposed to kill?" Yammy asked.

"Only one," Ulquiorra answered. ''There was no need to kill anybody else."

Yammy was amused by this answer. "This place is overflowing with humans, and you only wanna kill one?"

"That's correct. I've been told there are only 3 people who have enough Spiritual Pressure to put up a fight against us. It should be easy to find them, and the rest are just trash." Ulquiorra then heard some stuttering movements, as if someone was struggling. He glanced over to see Tatsuki struggling to get up. "Surprising..." Yammy only looked confused. "There seems to be a survivor."

"What just happened to me? I don't get it..." Tatsuki weakly murmured. She then looked up to see Yammy and Ulquiorra start walking towards her. "And who... or what are those guys?" Yammy stopped walking, having already been in front of Tatsuki as she couldn't stop staring. Her body felt far too heavy to move. 'What's going on... I can't look away...' she thought, finding that even the simplest movements were impossible for her.

Yammy made a smirk. "I guess that if my Gonzui didn't suck out your soul, then you must have some pretty good Spiritual Pressure. Come on, admit it, you're hiding it somewhere deep inside of you, right?" he looked at Ulquiorra. ''Hey, Ulquiorra, is she the one?"

"Look carefully. Her soul is about to be crushed just from standing close to her, you idiot. She's just trash."

"So you're telling me she just got lucky she survived my Gonzui? Well fuck it then, her luck just ran out." Yammy raised his leg to kick Tatsuki to end her for good. However, it was at that moment that his kick was held in place by Chad, utilizing his Right Arm of the Giant. "Huh?" Yammy retracted his leg back. "Who the hell are you?"

Chad was forced to a knee as he gripped his arm, feeling quite the amount of pain in it. 'Amazing. With just a simple kick I could feel his enormous power... I don't think I can handle this guy by myself. I wish Orihime was here right now so she could get Tatsuki away from here.' he stood his ground now.

"Ulquiorra! Is this guy one of them?!" Yammy asked again.

"Yammy, you need to work on your deductive reasoning so that you could detect these things on your own. You should be able to tell with just a glance that this individual is trash."

"So I see!" Yammy grinned as Chad tried to attack him with his right arm. His stance was good, it didn't have many flaws and his guard left very few openings, but even skill was useless against overwhelming power, and thus he was sent flying with but a slap from the massive Arrancar. The right arm was shattered in numerous places as broken bones peaked out of the morphed flesh, a puddle of blood quickly forming afterward. Admiring his handiwork, Yammy walked up to Chad and then jabbed a finger to put a hole through Chad to finish him off in an insulting manner. But then his impending attack was once again stopped, this time by a bright triangular shield that formed in front of Chad, to prevent him from dying. "Huh?!" Yammy was confused by this.

"I made it!" Orihime exclaimed as she came into the scene, holding her hairpins.

Yammy looked over to see Orihime holding her hands in front of her. ''Soten Kisshun!" Her hair pins glowed as two prongs came out, surrounding an unconscious Chad as they formed a shield to heal his arm.

"What the — what's going on here?!"

Ulquiorra observed this. 'A healing power?' He inspected closer as he saw the reconstruction of the flesh, but wait, it wasn't being rebuilt or healed the way the bones were brought back in place and the flesh seemed to mend itself. It seemed like… 'No. It's not a healing technique. She's either somehow reversing time or space. Well, whatever it is, it's not the power to heal. But it is something I have never seen before' he thought to himself. ''You're quite a strange human, aren't you?"

"What do you want to do with her, Ulquiorra?" Yammy asked again. ''Maybe we should take her back to Aizen to show him this weird healing power she possesses?"

"No, Yammy, that won't be necessary... just kill her." He said without missing a beat, the girl had a power similar to Hollows, but it was still Human, it wasn't what they were looking for.

Yammy brought his hand to kill Orihime, but she responded quickly. ''Santen Kesshun!" her triangle shield appeared in front of her. Before Yammy could get any closer to the shield, it was at that moment where Ichigo arrived. He easily stopped Yammy's arm by holding his wrist in place with his bare hand. Which surprised the big guy.

"Who the hell are you?!" Ichigo didn't say anything as he gripped Yammy's hand, giving him a fierce glare. Orihime looked up to see her savior, feeling relieved that Ichigo came to save her and the others here, but also packed with guilt as well.

"Sorry, Ichigo..." she said, looking down at the ground.

Ichigo looked back at her. "It's alright, it's my fault I couldn't make it here sooner."

"I only wish if I was stronger, I might have been able to stop this."

"You tried everything you could. You shouldn't try to put too much strain on what you weren't able to do. Just leave this to me now." Ichigo looked back at Yammy with his glare back in place. "Because trust me, I'll end this as quickly as possible." He pushed back Yammy's hand before he unsheathed Zangetsu forth from his back, the bandages unwrapping themselves as the sun made the blade gleam. "Orihime, you should stand back for this one. These are no ordinary enemies..."

Orihime nodded her head nervously. "Alright..." she backed away slowly, seeing the determination set on his shoulders. She knew everything would be okay now that he was here. She turned and took off at a run to heal Chad.

Yammy scratched his free hand on his head as looked at Ulquiorra in confusion. "Hey, Ulquiorra, is this the guy?" he asked.

"Considering how you've clumsily dealt with the situation, I'm surprised we managed to flush him out at all. The orange hair gives it away." Ulquiorra informed his companion with a flat tone. ''This is our target, Yammy."

Yammy smirked and turned to face Ichigo. "Que Suerte!" He aimed a punch at Ichigo, but the teen brought Zangetsu up in defense, the massive fist hit the blade dead on, but the recoil traveled back into the giant's arm, much to Yammy's surprise as he felt his arm numbing. An equally opposite reaction as the wind continued going forward, but the force carrying it had been brought back.

Ichigo glared fiercely at the tall adversary. "I'm guessing you're the reason why Chad's lying on the ground, aren't you?"

Yammy smirked, thinking that this small fry below him wasn't much to handle. "Heh, what are you gonna do about it?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed in response, and because of this, he swung the massive cleaver against the giant's hand to temporarily unbalance him as the orange-haired teen flipped over to the back of his opponent, and with a long upward slash he bisected Yammy's arm, detaching it from its socket in the shoulder entirely. Yammy didn't notice this until it was too late, and when he did, he held his shoulder in pain. "Wha — aaaaaahhhhh!"

'Idiot, that's what you get for charging in a fight without evaluating the enemy's strength. You should have mastered Pesquisa as I told you so. But even so, he managed to slice off Yammy's Hierro like it was nothing without the Black Sword I was notified about.' Ulquiorra thought as he watched Ichigo dodge Yammy's fist, with Ichigo leaping behind Yammy. 'His Spiritual Pressure is somewhat decent compared to the others. But at the level, he's at right now, he couldn't possibly pose a threat to Lord Aizen.'

Yammy took heavy breaths as Ichigo stood there, resting his massive blade on his shoulder. "Damn… you little runt!" Yammy glared at Ichigo.

"Surprised you can stand there and call me names. I guess you're not as tough as you are ugly." Ichigo bit back.

The pale man took a hand from his pocket. "It seems you're having a hard time, shall I take over?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Stay back!" Yammy yelled, drawing his Zanpakuto with his remaining arm from where it rested on his hip.

Ulquiorra deadpanned. "I can't believe you need to draw your Zanpakuto against someone like this."

"I said stay back!"

'I'm guessing the big guy has a temper, but the pale guy is the calm one with the way he said that he's using his Zanpakuto against me. He must be either really powerful or arrogant… I'm going with option one… and that's what worries me the most… I may need help from Yoruichi and Kisuke, without knowledge of them this is useless...' He needed to buy time, but what could be done to stall as much as possible? Sure the giant guy was a dumbass that could fall for any trick — wait a minute. "Wait… how about a bet?"

"A bet?" Ulquiorra asked.

"How about this: Me and the big guy can continue the fight, and to make it fair; I'll fight him one-handed with my Shikai. I'll continue to do what I was doing before, while he can use whatever technique he has except Resurrection. And I won't use my Bankai. There will even be a 5-minute time limit." Ichigo offered.

"Oh...? What's in it for us? And how do you know about Resurrection?" Ulquiorra asked.

"If I win, I get information on the Arrancar. If the big guy wins... it can be whatever you chose. As for Resurrection, let's just say I was already made aware of it by something like you guys."

Orihime heard all of this, as she turned her head around, widening her eyes in shock from what she heard. "Hang on, Ichigo—!"

"Don't worry Orihime… I know what I'm doing. Just trust me on this." Ichigo reassured her with a smile full of confidence, he wouldn't fall easily...

'This is quite unexpected... on one hand, this could prove how strong the boy is... on the other hand however...this could expose Lord Aizen's plans for the boy, so I'll have to—'

"Heh, fine! I accept the bet, don't regret it later!" Yammy interrupted Ulquiorra's thoughts as he blindly accepted the challenge with a smirk.

"I cannot believe you just accepted this bet..."

"It will be easier now!"

"... You know what, do what you wish."

"You not using anything just means you're going to get killed, sucker!" Yammy tried to punch Ichigo again, but he jumped back to avoid the damage. Ichigo charged at him as he brought his Zanpakuto down on Yammy, slashing his chest. "Gaaah! You little brat!" Yammy tried to slap him away, but Ichigo used Flash Step to get out of the way.

Yammy then used Sonido to get behind Ichigo but the Substitute used another Flash Step to get away. "What?! How!?" Yammy widened his eyes in shock from this as if he didn't expect his attack to be dodged like that so quickly. He saw Ichigo distancing himself, and doing this made Yammy angry. "Why you..." he began to charge a Cero from his right fist. "Take this!"

"What the—!"

Yammy fired the Cero at Ichigo, who used Flash Step just in time as he rose higher into the air. "Damn, insect! Why won't you just die?!" Yammy formed a fist as red energy formed around it before firing it. Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise, using Flash Step to get out of the way. "The fuck was that?!" Ichigo asked in surprise, as he looked in the direction of when the ball passed by him before he looked back at Yammy.

Yammy smirked to himself. "That was a Bala! It's not as strong as a Cero, but it's 20 times faster! Here! Have some more!" Yammy continues to fire the Bala's at the Substitute, who stood in the air, jumping to avoid them by making one leap after another. "Stand still!" Ichigo charged at Yammy while avoiding the Bala with Flash Steps before he slashed Yammy yet again. Yammy gasped in pain as he yelled out again.

"You..." he panted. "Bastard..." Yammy was fuming with anger. He couldn't believe he was getting his ass kicked by some kid. That was until he saw Orihime, who was still concentrating on healing Chad and was a little bit revealed to Ichigo's right as it gave him an idea. "Hehehehehe..." he chuckled.

Ichigo looked at him with confusion. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, you'll see..." Yammy began to charge a Cero from his mouth.

'What's he doing? That Cero is too slow, he tried to hit me with an earlier attack that's many times faster… hold on.' Ichigo looked to see Yammy wasn't directly looking at him. 'Wait...' he looked behind at Orihime, then at Yammy as he put two and two together. "No!"

Yammy fired the Cero, and Ichigo just barely managed to save Orihime by taking some damage on his back where the rest had been blocked by his blade. Chad got blown away a little and Ichigo looked back at the girl below him. "H-Hey... you alright?" he asked her with a grunt.

"I-I think so..." she replied to him, her eyes looking at Ichigo with worry.

'That's it. I was hoping to play nice, but now he pushed the wrong buttons. I'm ending this...' Ichigo thought as he got back up and turned around.

Yammy was just in shock from this. His mouth was hanging open, seeing that the Substitute was still alive. "What?! How are you still alive?!"

Ichigo jumped in the air as he seemed to be looking for something before he saw something that caught his eye. 'That's where me and Go, Koga fought...' he thought. "Hey, dumbass! Follow me!" He yelled as he quickly used Flash Step to get there.

"Get back here, coward!" Yammy began to go after Ichigo, using Sonido to go after him.

Ichigo baited Yammy to the construction site and noticed there weren't any bystanders nearby, Ichigo landed on a metal beam and knocked on it, making an echo. 'Now to surprise him.' Ichigo jumps onto a beam, and Yammy appears on the floor.

"Where are you?! Come out and fight, coward!" An echo rings in Yammy's ears, which makes the giant look up, seeing Ichigo appear above him.

"Over here!"

Yammy launched another Bala, with Ichigo using a Flash Step to dodge, destroying a beam that was a little bit above Yammy's height. Ichigo cut the beam that he was standing on before he turned around to see another Bala coming at him. Ichigo dodged another before the Bala tore apart more beams, the few that hit Yammy's face. Feeling more anger bubbling up inside him, he charges a Cero, which is what Ichigo wanted.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" Yammy fired the Cero at Ichigo and once again dodged the attack. Ichigo quickly cut a few more beams before using up a Flash Step to get away. Yammy looked up and saw that Ichigo was gone. However, the brute had finally noticed the damage that was caused to this place. Because of the damage he caused by the Cero, it made the construction site start to collapse. "AH DAMMIT!" The floor collapsed and Yammy fell to the ground with the steel beams falling on him one after the other. They didn't hurt him, no, they were a distraction.

Ichigo bolted into a speed phantom as a smoldering hot blue burst of Spirit Energy covered the blade as he charged up. "Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo yelled as he launched his signature move, the torrent of Spiritual Pressure hit Yammy dead on as he was engulfed into a massive explosion that made Ichigo jump back on the ground as he observed the result of his attack. The construction that used to be over 6 stories tall in its area was reduced to a giant 10-meter crater full of molten steel.

That was when Ulquiorra showed up and stood close by, observing the result along with Ichigo. They soon heard rumbling which made their eyes narrow. Yammy crawled out of the crater, bruised and bloodied from barely surviving Ichigo's attack. He soon broke into a tantrum, hitting the ground multiple times, with small tremors making itself known to the city followed by an angered scream, just as he got up to attack Ichigo he saw Ulquiorra close by.

Yammy smirked, thinking this was where he could get help now. "Ulquiorra..." he weakly said as he took a step forward. Before he could do so, Ulquiorra instantly appeared behind him and elbowed Yammy in his midsection, making the large Arrancar fall to one knee again. Yammy looked back at Ulquiorra in surprise. "W-why did you do that?!"

Ulquiorra looked at him with a blank look. "Idiot, if you had a brain in your head you should have increased the defenses of your Hierro to turn this battle around, not only that but it wouldn't have been possible for the boy to cut your Hierro to begin with. Yet you couldn't even realize that. And to make things more complicated; Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin are close by. At this point continuing the battle would be pointless." As if his point couldn't get any clearer, the mentioned Soul Reapers appeared in time.

Yoruichi grinned as she approved of Ichigo's work, patting him on the back with her smile flashing at him. The teen's only response was to blush, the woman sure was a tease even when complimenting him.

Ulquiorra turned around and opened up a Descorrer. Seeing this, Yoruichi took a few steps forward as she crossed her arms. "So, you plan to run away?" She states with a smirk.

Looking back with his face impassive, Ulquiorra simply points for Yammy to enter the Garganta, grumbling as he does so. "No, this is simply us retreating, we've already accomplished our objective here. However, fighting Kisuke Urahara or Yoruichi Shihouin would be extremely difficult, even with the help of this buffoon." Ulquiorra explained as he looked at Ichigo. "I'll inform Lord Aizen of the bet Yammy took, and while many would deny it, Lord Aizen isn't one to simply deny agreements. So expect an answer in due time." And with that, he walked into the dark void of the Garganta.

Sighing, Ichigo sat down on the ground, looking at the mess he made. "This is gonna attract way too much attention..." He grumbled as Yoruichi patted his shoulder, offering a hand to stand up.

Tapping his cane on the floor, Kisuke just smiled, he already had a solution for this as usual. "Don't worry about it, this construction site had been abandoned long ago thanks to your fight with the Bount Koga." Pointing with his cane to the entrance, the Orange-Haired teen saw the abandoned sign to which he could only sigh in relief.

"I see..." Looking at Yoruichi in the eyes, Ichigo still had a question to ask. "What about Chad and Orihime?"

The former clan head kept a smirk in place. "As soon as I got there I brought them to the shop, after that Kisuke and I came here." She explained with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Speaking of which, it's best we go there and give the two a rundown."

"But hold on a minute, what about those people at the park?" Ichigo asked in concern. "By the time I got there those people already died. I'm not sure what can be explained if somebody else just got there and saw a bunch of people lying down and not waking up anymore."

"Eh, you can leave that one to me." Kisuke shrugged his shoulders as he tipped his hat. "I'll come up with something to explain an event like that."

"And Tatsuki…" Ichigo pressed on. "What about her? By the time I got to the park, her Spiritual Pressure felt weak. Is she gonna be—"

"I checked in before we came to you," Yoruichi reassured the teenager. "She should be fine. Orihime should be able to heal whatever happened to Tatsuki's soul and recuperate her back to full health. So you don't need to worry about anything."

Ichigo sighed in relief before nodding his head. He put his cleaver on his back, letting the bandages wrap up the sword. With that, the three Soul Reapers left in a single Flash Step.

With the two Arrancars

Ulquiorra and Yammy exited the Garganta on top of a stair in a hall of sorts, shortly making their way through the halls till they encountered a massive doorway with its doors open. Once they entered, they saw Aizen sitting on his throne. To their right and left rows of seats were shadowy figures that sat down. "We have returned, Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra had announced.

"Welcome… Ulquiorra and Yammy... tell me what you have accomplished... here in front of your 24 brothers and sisters." Aizen replied to Ulquiorra's presence, with a grin showing on him.

"Everything will be explained as you will see it for yourselves." Ulquiorra calmly replied. He then went ahead to rip out his left eye before crushing it. Instead of blood, it was dust that was spread into the air, surrounding everyone as they closed their eyes.

This continued for about a minute or so before the dust cleared away. "I see...very interesting." Aizen was the first one to say anything.

Grimmjow glared at Yammy. "You're a fucking dumbass!"

"Grimmjow…"

"If it had been me I would have killed him with the first strike! What the hell is the matter with you?! If the killing was part of the orders, then obviously you and that oaf shouldn't have accepted that stupid bet! And look at you Yammy! You're a mess!" Grimmjow berated the large Arrancar.

"Grimmjow... it was clear, I know you saw what that damn orange-haired bastard did to beat me up," Yammy spoke up.

The blue-haired Arrancar got up from his seat "It doesn't fucking matter!" He shouted with a hand to the side.

Ulquiorra stepped in between Grimmjow and Yammy. "Enough." he looked at the blue-haired Espada. "Grimmjow, I don't think you understand... that boy is no danger to us...yet." That line made the Arrancars present in the area perk up, especially a certain blonde-haired one.

"Huh?" Grimmjow raised his eyebrows in confusion at this.

"Lord Aizen isn't worried about his current abilities... It is his growth rate that is the problem. We have learned the boy has tremendous potential. I sense that if everything goes with Lord Aizen's plan, everything will be smooth." Ulquiorra informed.

"I still maintain my stance that you're soft! How can you be so sure about that?! What if he grows stronger than you predicted?! What would be your plan then?!" Grimmjow retorted. And even Ulquiorra had to admit it was a good point Grimmjow was making, but even then...

"Should that occur, I'll just dispose of him, that's all." Grimmjow widened his eyes on that one. "You can't complain about that, can you?" Ulquiorra said.

Grimmjow merely gritted his teeth as he was seething with anger. "Yes, we'll… do whatever you deem best, Ulquiorra." Aizen had spoken again.

Ulquiorra put his fist on his left chest as he bowed a little. "Thank you very much, sir."

"Now it seems that since I have to abide by the rules… I'll have to go meet up with the Ryoka Boy." He stood up from his throne and his eyes seemed to scan the room before setting them on the newest addition to the current Espada. "It seems you'll have your first mission today, Halibel. The rest of you may leave."

Everyone did as they were told, although some grumbled under their breaths with only the blonde Espada standing there by herself before she knelt in respect. The blonde looked up as she saw Aizen descending to the floor and she immediately followed suit, standing at a comfortable distance she stood in silence before he directed his view to her.

Urahara Shoten

Everyone reunited at the Urahara shop due to Sado's injuries, despite Orihime having healed him the blow was still enough to knock him out of commission so he would be "sleeping" for a while.

Orihime sat down on the table and she frowned, despite what Ichigo told her she still blamed herself for not being able to contribute. Once again, Sado and Ichigo did more to contribute, heck against the Bounts even Uryu, who didn't have powers, contributed more than her. Gripping the table, she felt a new uneasy feeling inside her, it wasn't the usual feeling where she would chastise herself as this feeling was directed at the monster who did this to Sado.

"I need more power..." She whispers to herself, acknowledging her weakness. This wouldn't do... She needed help but with who? Miss Yoruichi took 10 days to teach her how to even use her powers in the first place, and even then she never had the full scope of it. Even if she teamed up with Chad again it would not do well. So she needed someone else with powers just as weird as hers. Picking herself up, she went to the room Ichigo and Yoruichi were in, and sliding through the door she saw them sitting by Sado, who was laying down under a blanket. The poor guy took a loss, although for some reason Ichigo had a cut on his cheek with a small trail of blood leaking.

Just as she entered, both Yoruichi and Ichigo noticed her. The teacher and student looked up to see her holding a guilty look on her face. That made Ichigo frown in response, he didn't like it when she felt this way. It wasn't her fault and he was sure of it.

"Sado will be sleeping until tomorrow if you must know. I've done some of the necessary procedures for him to recuperate." The purple-haired woman stated as she looked over to a nearby table where cream, ointment, bandages, and herbs laid at. "Just needed a few resources to do it."

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, it's kinda weird though. Always thought this talk about using these things was just nonsense." He says in response to what she used, it just felt like stuff from stories or games.

"With some practice it is possible, I learned some aid lessons from Squad 4 back when I first joined and it was mostly instructions. It's only when I lived here in the World of the Living for 100 years that I learned how to do this." Smirking, she took a bit of the ointment in a pad and brushed it on a shallow cut Ichigo had on his cheek. As a result, Ichigo backed away with a hiss, gripping the carpet as his claws dug through it. "Yeah, yeah, I know it stings. Sado's left hook told me enough."

The Orange haired lad's brow twitched. "Then why do that?"

"It will help. Anyways..." Getting up, she centered her attention on Orihime, who just watched from the sidelines. "Orihime, I know that you are upset about this but it isn't your fault at all."

The young redhead simply rubbed her arm as she averted her gaze. "I know… It's just that I want to get stronger, I wasn't able to do much before needing help." She bit her lip before staring back into the catwoman's eyes. "I need to train and I need your help for It."

The purple-haired young adult blinked before picking herself up. "I'd gladly do that Orihime, though..." She put a hand on her chin as she pondered over a thought. "Your powers would be best suited for practice against Kido users. While I am pretty good at it myself, I wouldn't say I'm exactly the best to help you on it seeing as I'm a Hakuda fighter."

Ichigo perked up. "Wait. Wouldn't that be better?" He remarked as they looked at each other, the dark-skinned woman took no time to understand what he meant. "After all, if she were to fight, she would need to know how to handle people who'd try to force themselves against her defenses."

A grin took the cat lady's features, making the lad blush. "I like it. It would be practical, also if I'm not mistaken don't you know Karate, Orihime?" She turned her head back to the girl, who simply nodded in response. "Alright, let's head down and practice for a few hours!" Yoruichi held a hand for a fist bump which Ichigo hesitantly responded before he and Orihime vanished from sight in a quick burst of Lightning.

Forest

A Descorrer tore itself open in a clearing, and from it stepped out Halibel with her arms folded before the black portal behind her closed up. She looked down at her wrist to see a bracelet that was put on by Lord Aizen. She was told that wearing this would nullify her presence in the World of The Living so that no Soul Reaper would be capable of sensing or even seeing her presence for that matter, unless it was from another Arrancar.

But that's what got her very confused, this bracelet was also made to attract the Substitute Soul Reaper's attention. It didn't make sense to her. If only Arrancars could sense her energy, and this bracelet was specifically supposed to bring this Soul Reaper's attention, then how in the world was this going to work unless he was somehow an Arrancar like her?

But to her surprise, she sensed a strong case of Spiritual Pressure coming right toward her, and she knew this was no coincidence. She only sensed one person as well, and nobody was coming in to give aid. The bracelet worked, but she was confused as to how a Soul Reaper could even sense her if he wasn't an Arrancar…

With Ichigo…

Ichigo's face was sweating bullets as he kept hopping in the air to track down whatever he was sensing. He couldn't believe this. He was finished dealing with those 2 mysterious threats, or Arrancars as they're called, just hours ago, and now not only has another appeared, but it was far more powerful than those two other Arrancars put together.

But that's what was getting him all torn up. If someone this powerful just arrived in Karakura, then where the fuck were the other Soul Reapers at? From what he was able to sense, they were still in the same areas they were at, and yet they were doing nothing about this massive torrent of Spiritual Pressure?

And another thing, what was this person doing out of here in the middle of a forest? He didn't sense any movements coming from whoever was there, but he didn't dare to drop his guard down. Before long Ichigo managed to get to the forest where Arrancar was resident in no time. He spotted her just in front of him.

"So I assume that you're the Soul Reaper that beat Yammy?" Ichigo widened his eyes in surprise at who he was seeing. It wasn't a male like he expected it to be, it was a woman for that matter. ''Rather, you made him accept a bet that he stood no chance of winning." Ichigo hadn't said anything to that but rather waited to see what his enemy would get to do next. "Well, I don't blame you or anything like that, after all, it was that idiot's fault, to begin with." He saw the woman walking towards him, which was something that made him tense up. "And you don't have to draw your sword, I'm not here to fight you."

Having heard this, Ichigo raised his eyebrows in confusion as to what this woman was talking about. On one hand, he was relieved he didn't have to fight her at all, but this made him confused. "Wait… if you're not here to pick a fight, then what are you here for?" Ichigo asked.

"Have you already forgotten?" Halibel stepped closer to him. "You were to be given information about the Arrancars, after all that was what you asked for, and Lord Aizen isn't the one to back down from deals such as this."

"Oh, uh, right…" Ichigo nodded his head as Halibel already got in front of him. He couldn't help but be surprised by the height difference between them, as she was easily taller than he was, as she stood at the height of 6 '1 while he was only 5' 9. He looked down to see her holding a… flash drive?

"You won't expect to get every bit of data when it comes to us, but you should at least get the answers that you're searching for," Halibel remarked as she saw Ichigo take the drive from her. However, she did notice that his head was staring down at her chest, which was something that didn't suit her quite well. "Hey." The Espada moved her head closer to Ichigo's head, giving an intimidating glare despite half of her face being concealed. "Eyes are up here…"

"S-Sorry…" Ichigo gave a nervous gulp. It was already hard enough not to look down on her breasts, they looked enormous. "So uh… is that about it?"

"That should be all." Halibel backed away from Ichigo. "It's the only reason why I came here. Now then—"

Both looked over at the sky to sense another Spiritual Pressure coming toward them. Ichigo widened his eyes when he sensed that it was Yoruichi. Shit, what was she doing here? Did she sense where he was going?

"Damn…" Halibel sighed as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Your Spiritual Pressure must have attracted attention. In that case, it's time for me to leave before I'm spotted. I accomplished my mission here anyways." she turned over to open up Descorrer. "However…" Halibel turned back at Ichigo, and before he could so much as register her movement, she got right in front of him and picked him up by his collar. "Let's make one thing clear…" The Espada brought her face close to the Substitute's, giving off an intimidating glare. "You are not to tell this to anyone, do I make myself clear on that? If you were to do that…" Ichigo tried to push her hand away by putting two of his hands on top of hers to push her back, but it was futile. "Then I will come back here, and have your head roll before my feet."

"Y-Yeah…" Ichigo vigorously nodded his head, feeling as though the woman could rip out his head with her bare hand. "I think I get the point…"

"Good, then in that case…" Halibel let her hand go off of Ichigo's collar before she walked through the Descorrer. "I'll be taking my leave then," she told him before she walked through the portal and it closed off.

'Fucking hell…' Ichigo rubbed the spot of his Shihakusho. 'She sure knows how to be intimidating, I'll give her that.' he thought before he put the drive over his Shihakusho robe.

"Ichigo!" The orange-haired teenager looked above to see Yoruichi landing in front of where he was, as the distance between them was just a few meters apart. "There you are. What are you doing here in a place like this?" she asked as she put her right hand over her hip.

"Oh, uh…" Ichigo rubbed the back of his head, trying to come up with a quick excuse to make it sound convincing. "I-I was just… see, I sensed this Spiritual Pressure from a Hollow coming from here and… created this fog around this forest so I had to fight off. It's gone now though."

Yoruichi raised one of her eyebrows in question at this. "A Hollow came all the way here?"

"Yeah... I don't know what it was doing here. But don't worry, I got rid of it."

"How come you were able to sense it?" Yoruichi questioned this. "I wasn't able to sense a thing until you came in this place, with your raging Spiritual Pressure and everything."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo looked to be rather confused by this. "I just sensed it like any other Hollow, either that or my Combat Pass would be ringing."

"But that doesn't…" Yoruichi was going to continue to reply, but something stopped her from doing so. She merely shook her head. "You know what, forget it. Let's just head back."

"Right…" Ichigo nodded his head, and with that said the two Soul Reapers left the forest in a single Flash Step.

The redhead left his home late as he headed over for another day at school, with someone like Shinji there, he couldn't help but feel like it was getting stale. Fighting Yoruichi was starting to make him like the idea of duels, as when he was young he used to cry a lot when Tatsuki beat him up but he always would do it again, as he liked seeing the heroes on TV fight monsters and save people.

It was hard to exactly put in full detail what it meant to fight really.

"I mean… It wasn't that Bakeneko that we've been fighting before this… just dudes, heck you haven't even fought Tatsuki in a while so you might feel why again." The voice of the Hollow rang through his head today, he didn't hear him yesterday at all so it kinda caught him by surprise. "Or maybe that Blonde Arrancar chick… Although I'm pretty sure she would rip you to pieces no problem 'cause you'd be staring at her like a dumbass."

At the mention of the blonde Arrancar, Ichigo felt his cheeks rush with a small pink before he noted what his Hollow mentioned. "Bakeneko? Why would you refer to Yoruichi like that?" Then he realized the entirety of what he said. "HEY!"

"You did call her Hellcat." Hollow Ichigo replied with a deadpan. "Anyway, you better speed up before you get too late"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it." The redhead sighed before picking up the pace and busting to a sprint to the school. He lived on the other side of the town compared to Karakura's high school. Usually, it would be quicker to take the train but nobody in their right mind would, considering how loaded it got at times so most students go there by car or by foot, meaning they would have to wake up an hour early to get there. He would usually take 45 minutes of running to get there. Tatsuki usually arrived earlier than that seeing as she would take Orihime to school too.

However, it was incredible to notice how useful these powers were as it took even less than 5 minutes to get here. So he shouldn't be that late either. He saw the school building as he took a turn, immediately slowing down to a stop as he didn't need to break into a speeding rocket pace anymore. The last thing he needed was for people to ask him how he was so fast.

Just as he reached the gate he saw a very familiar group approaching, realizing who it was that made Ichigo sweat bullets. There was no way this wouldn't cause a ruckus. Standing together in a group was Renji with other two Soul Reapers that he met in Soul Society, Ikkaku and Yumichika. There were other two of them, one of them being a tall, beautiful redhead named Rangiku and a short, spiky white-haired kid that he didn't know the name of.

He only knew Rangiku thanks to Chad and he was pretty sure she was with the group when they were chasing the Bounts to Soul Society. He was going to smack Uryu for that. Meanwhile the white-haired kid… He literally could not remember who the fuck he was, and he had this stiff posture acting like an adult despite his age, it looked unnatural and a bit forced. Now he understood what Yoruichi meant.

Although the most baffling thing was how Renji was STILL wearing that 60s-style outfit he wore when he first came to the World of The Living while the other Soul Reapers just wore other simple clothing. However, Rangiku wore something more fashionable and pretty fitting to her.

"Renji?!" The words came out of Ichigo's mouth way too fast for him to stop himself which made the group stop and stare at him. The dark redhead simply grinned as he waved a hand to Ichigo as they came close. "What are you guys doing in the World of The Living?!"

Lowering his hand, Renji kept his grin. "What do you think? We heard of the stuff about the Arrancars and came to help as ordered."

Nodding in understanding, Ichigo crossed his arms. "I see, I guess it would make sense. With a threat like that, some reinforcements would be good. The last thing we need is another situation like with the Bounts." As the others nodded in agreement, Ichigo arranged his bag as he looked to the gates of his school and turned back to the group. "Unfortunately we have to talk about this later. I have school at the moment."

As he said that, a voice chimed in. "So we better head inside, don't we?" Turning around to the source the Substitute saw a familiar black-haired girl in a school uniform. "How is it going, Ichigo? Sorry for missing Orihime's birthday though." Rukia said with a warm smile.

Alright, now this got fixed up as well to a better version, especially the whole 'talk' scene where Ichigo met with Aizen in the original to get more information about the Arrancars. It was honestly really weird how I did that when reading back on my earlier chapters. Yeah, my Co-Author got the idea to get the talk between Ichigo and Halibel instead, and as for the location of the forest, think of it like the one in the beginning scene of the Diamond Dust Rebellion movie where Ichigo headed over to see what happened. The end of the Yammy fight got fixed up as well, so that's better as well. So yeah, time to rework Chapter 4.