The Hitsugaya troops and Ichigo widened their eyes in shock, as they felt Spiritual Pressure being released from multiple Arrancars at once. Ichigo quickly jumped back from his seat and looked towards the Spiritual Pressure signature. 'This Spiritual Pressure that's being released… more Arrancars. Is it the ones I faced?' Ichigo tried to sense them, and could tell that these were not the same energies from the other day. 'No, they feel much weaker than the pale guy and that blonde woman. There's about 6 of them, with only one of them being a lot stronger than that big guy I took out by surprise, but where are they going?' He then pressed the close key in the archive he was using.
Opening his window he pressed his badge on his chest which made him jump out of his house with his human body left on the bed, now in his Reishi form he leaped a few meters above his house as he locked in to the pressure. 'I don't get it, why are they attacking so soon? It's been barely a day from their first reconnaissance and now they're attacking again? But why are they here? Are they here for me? Toshiro and the others are in the town to defend against any Arrancars that would come here. Maybe I could try to help out someone, and for some reason... I feel like they would need it.' he thought as he sped off.
Toshiro exited out of his gigai, ordering the Soul Candy to hide off somewhere safe, to which it agreed. Rangiku changed into her Soul form as well, standing next to her Captain. "Where's Orihime Inoue?" Toshiro asked, as he unsheathed his sword since he and his Lieutenant stayed at Orihime's place.
"I'm having my Gigai watching over her, just so she doesn't participate in the battle." Rangiku answered him.
Toshiro nodded his head. "Alright… you better get ready, Rangiku, they've arrived now."
Just as Toshiro took a step at that moment, Shawlong and Nakeen immediately appeared in a high speed movement that left off a buzzing noise that took Rangiku herself by surprise. What was that movement technique? It was similar to their own Flash Step, yet it left off a distortion, along with that buzzing sound.
"Pleasure to meet you." Shawlong politely greeted his enemies, right before he used his Sonido to sneak behind Toshiro, trying to cut him down from behind, but Toshiro blocked it with his sword as he turned around quickly. Nakken used Sonido to appear in front, brandishing his sword with a slash to cut Rangiku at her stomach area, but she dodged by jumping back. "I am the 11th Arrancar, and I have been named Shawlong!"
"I am the Captain of Squad 10, Toshiro Hitsugaya!"
Both of them back away as they jump to a building. "A Captain? That means I hit the jackpot!" Shawlong grins in excitement as he steadies his blade in a combat pose.
"I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken." Shawlong only gave the Soul Reaper a confused look. Toshiro's body began to glow as a brilliant blue energy radiated out of him. "In fact, you already lost... as you're about to discover!"
Chad's eyes widened when he sensed the multiple Spiritual Pressures that came from Arrancars. He gets up from the floor and the bright shield dissolved, having the fairies move away a bit. Rukia entered in her Soul Reaper form, and she saw the giant still trying to get himself in the fight. "Chad, you still shouldn't move. You're not finished healing yet." Rukia told him.
Chad only ignores this, right before he formed a fist and activated his right arm before sprinting out of the house. He barely stepped on the street before he stopped running, seeing an Arrancar in front of him. "What's this? You're not a Soul Reaper… no good!"
Di Roy charged at full speed with his palm thrusting forward in a striking motion towards Chad's chest with the full intent of a killing blow, but then Di Roy stopped. No, in reality what really happened was that Di Roy's arm was grabbed in a tight grip that prevented him from moving. "You shouldn't evaluate your attack until after you have won the fight... Do you get what I'm saying?" Ichigo said, giving off a glare at the Arrancar.
"I suppose that's fair. After I kill you, there won't be any confusion. I'll tell the others..." Di Roy backed his hand away before leaping backwards. "That none of you Soul Reapers... know how to fight! Gahahaha!"
Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu from his back, ready for a fight to begin. From behind, Chad had been in complete shock from what happened. 'He would have killed me... if Ichigo didn't show up when he did, I'd be dead for sure.' he thought, dripping in cold sweat from the fear he felt at that moment.
"Chad... You'll have to step out of this." Ichigo warned him.
Chad nearly stood back from what he just heard. Did he hear that right? "W-Wait, Ichigo if you're worried about my injuries then—"
Ichigo only cut him off. "Chad! Please, just let me handle this." he hated this. He could already tell by himself that he was being a jerk. But truth be told, Chad was just not in proper condition to help him as he is now. If anything he knew that Rukia would be better to team up with.
"Fine... I'll leave him to you then, Ichigo." Chad went running from behind as he started running, but while doing that he saw Rukia and asked him if he was alright but he merely ignored it before running past her. 'Ichigo... What happened? Don't you trust me to get your back anymore? I wonder... if we'll ever be able to fight as a team again.'
"So… now that we can fight, how shall I go about killing you?!" Di Roy merely cackled, not bothering to use his Pesquisa to see just how strong his enemy was, but instead he merely thought this would just be an easy prey.
It was at that moment that Rukia stepped in as she got behind Ichigo. "I saw Chad on the way here, he seemed upset. What did you say that might have set him off?"
Ichigo bit his lower lip, refusing to show off any guilt he felt. Instead he only played dumb. "I'm not sure, I only just told him to back off and that's it. But don't worry about it. I'll end this soon."
Rukia only sighed out of this. "You're the one that needs to step back, Ichigo."
Ichigo looked at his midget friend with surprise. "What do you mean by that?"
"You look too tense for someone who should count as a small fry. It might even get you killed if you're not careful."
"Oh, bullshit. Do you actually expect me to just—" Ichigo stopped as he saw Rukia clad in her Soul Reaper robes, her Zanpakutou unsheathed from its scabbard. "Rukia, your powers have fully returned? But how?" he felt dumb for not realizing it sooner. Honestly, he was so used to seeing her in a Gigai that seeing her again in those clothes felt different from what he usually saw Rukia in. Sure, he did see her wearing them in the Soul Society during the whole Bount incident, but seeing them in the World of the Living just felt different.
Rukia nodded her head. "Yeah. It took quite a while, but I was able to fully regain my powers. The Gigai I wore from Kisuke, the one that drained my Spiritual Pressure, was mostly the reason I wasn't able to act on my own at all… But after my confrontation with Yoshi of the Bounts, I was able to finally get my strength going." she explained.
Ichigo nodded in understanding as he backed away, only for his eyes to widen in alert when he felt something coming from behind, and in a quick motion took down the unknown assailant, holding her to ground.
Said assailant was no other than Rukia's Gigai...
Ichigo simply deadpanned. "What the fuck..." He then looked over to Rukia, who was surprised to see what just transpired. Even Di Roy, who almost lost his temper while waiting, was shocked. "Rukia, explain this shit..."
Rukia herself bashfully snickered as she tried to explain without bursting into laughter. "This is Chappy, the Soul Candy I tried getting months ago. It was the most popular amongst the Soul Reaper Women's Association."
Ichigo did not look pleased by this, in fact he was annoyed if anything. "What kind of bullshit is that? I thought these Soul Candies were supposed to take care of your body without causing some attention to yourself?" He looked bored while speaking, but the annoyance was still laced in his tone. "And you're meaning to tell me you were planning for THIS thing to take care of my body back then? As bad as Kon is, I'm glad I got him instead of whatever the fuck this monstrosity is."
"Look, you just don't understand what is good taste—" Before she could continued to speak, Di Roy finally lost his patience and charged at her, with his hand thrusting forward to strike at the girl, but Rukia quickly turned around to unsheath her sword, except that she was getting pushed back, creating smoke behind her in doing so. While getting pushed back, Rukia jumped over to a light pole before jumping at Di Roy, as she tried to slash him, but he blocked it with his hand.
"Nice to meet you, I'm arrancar 16, I'm called Di Roy!"
"I'm in the—"
Di Roy cut her off. "Never mind, you don't have to bother telling me! If I had to listen to the names and titles I was about to kill, I'd never get anything done!"
"I see then." Rukia jumped back on the ground. "Listen to this, Di Roy, at the very least you should know the name of my Zanpakuto." She held her sword horizontally. "Dance… Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia's sword turned completely white as a long white ribbon gets summoned at the end of the hilt. "Some no mai..." Rukia used Flash Stepp to get behind Di Roy. "Tsukishiro!"
Before he even knew it, Di Roy's legs were literally starting to freeze and it continued furthermore upon his body. "Wh — What the hell is this?!" The freezing continued somewhere halfway on his body before he broke free as he leaped in the air. "Gihaha! Oh well, tough luck for you Soul Reaper! The sky is my domain! It's where my true strength flies! A sword that can freeze the ground... isn't worth much up here!"
"You couldn't possibly be more wrong..."
Just then, a column of light rises up through the sky, and it enveloped him in ice. Di Roy quickly began to panic, and he started to scream, soon before he was shattered into oblivion.
"I never said my Zanpakuto could freeze the ground only. Both earth and sky are within Sode no Shirayuki's frozen domain!" Rukia exclaimed.
Meanwhile, during all of the fighting that Rukia has been at, Ichigo still pinned down the loud Soul Candy as she kept flailing her arms around non stop. "Would you stop with the cutesy talk already?! You just keep getting on my nerves!"
"No!" Chappy suddenly shot her arms and grapled Ichigo's leg and tried to twist it in order to get him off of her, but this didn't have much of an effect.
Just as that went on pathetically, Rukia came into the scene, as she gave a blank face to the scenery on what these two were doing. "Excuse me, but what are you two fools doing?"
Ichigo looked over at Rukia. "So is everything alright? What happened to the Arrancar? Did you defeat him?"
"Of course! That's a silly question, otherwise I wouldn't be back here would I?!" Rukia grumbled as she folded her arms.
Ichigo looked over at the white sword that Rukia had. He gave it a stare before looking back at her. "So... That Zanpakuto you have...?"
Rukia took on a more regular expression as she held her sword up. "Sode no Shirayuki." She answered him. "It's impressive isn't it? It's an ice and snow type Zanpakuto. While your Zanpkutou becomes a gleaming black blade, mine is the opposite as it is a white snow sword. While it can't control the weather itself like Captain Hitsugaya's, it's still very powerful."
"That's… something. But she feels... familiar somehow." Ichigo stated as his eyes narrowed in focus to the blade, the way it gleamed…
Suddenly, there was a huge amount of Spiritual Pressure being released, and the force was extremely close by. Chappy got off of Ichigo, and both him and Rukia looked up to see Grimmjow standing up above them.
"What the hell happened here? Di Roy's been killed? Meh, well in that case I guess I'll just have to kill the both of you!" Grimmjow pointed down to Ichigo and Rukia. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Arrancar 6, you can call me Grimmjow Jaggerjack!"
Ichigo widened his eyes when he heard the number. 'Arrancar 6? But that means that... He's an Espada! This is bad, this is really bad. I wasn't expecting an Espada to be here.' he thought to himself, trying to think of something to get them out of this situation. 'What do we do?!'
Grimmjow was slowly descending towards the ground where his Spiritual Pressure was leaking, making Ichigo and Rukia nervous from the power that the Arrancar was releasing.
'This Spiritual Pressure… is he an Arrancar too? He can't be like that last one, this Spiritual Pressure is too strong!' Rukia thought to herself.
"Which one?" Grimmjow asked as his hands were in his pockets, looking at the Soul Reapers in front of him. Ichigo and Rukia were confused as to what he was talking about. "Which one of you is the strongest, huh? Who is it?!"
Retreat. This was the only option they could have at the moment. She didn't know how strong Ichigo had gotten since she was gone, but she wasn't about to risk it now. "Ichigo, run! We have to get out of—"
Before she could properly react, Grimmjow struck her as his hand went through her gut. Rukia couldn't say anything, having a hard time breathing when Grimmjow tossed her asidne, now having a hole in her gut and coughed up blood. Ichigo was in shock, with his mouth agape and eyes wide.
"Rukia!" Ichigo charged at Grimmjow, who turned around to show a cruel smirk crossing his features before cyan aura radiated out of him. Ichigo made a Flash Step to get much closer to the Arrancar so he could cut him, but he was surprised when Grimmjow easily blocked his sword just by grabbing it with his bloodied bare hand, the one he just shoved through Rukia's body. Ichigo got thrown back in the air by the force of the Spiritual Pressure, and Ichigo managed to stop his tracks. "The hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed, being surprised at how much power was being released.
"Are you even trying, Soul Reaper? I don't wanna waste the effort of killing you if this is all you have." Grimmjow remarked with a bland tone, sounding disappointed. "I'm gonna give you a chance. You'll have to use your maximum strength to survive this, if not then I'm gonna punch you full of holes like I did to that Soul Reaper friend of yours."
Ichigo looked back at Rukia, who was bleeding on the ground and Chappy was holding her hands on the hole looking like she was trying to stop the bleeding. "What's the matter?! Too scared to fight?!" Grimmjow taunted him.
Ichigo gave Grimmjow a glare as he looked back at him. He didn't have a choice. He would have to go all out to even survive this. 'I guess my Bankai should be strong enough to take this guy down.' he thought. "You bastard…" He held Zangetsu with one arm while grabbing his other hand around his wrist, with bandages wrapping around his arm. "Bankai!" he yelled out before he gleamed in blue aura, though it was larger than Grimmjow's was.
"Now that's more like it…" Grimmjow commented, sensing an increase in Ichigo's power. When Ichigo did finish his transformation, Grimmjow became more impressed by Ichigo's full power.
Ichigo made the first move as he charged directly, catching Grimmjow by surprise at how fast he was moving. Grimmjow dodged just in time, with Ichigo hitting the ground instead. Ichigo charged at Grimmjow again in the air, swinging his sword so he could cut him, which the Arrancar barely dodged except his left hand got sliced deep enough to draw blood. Grimmjow tried to kick Ichigo, only for him to block it with his left hand, but the force of the kick pushed him back. Grimmjow used Sonido to punch towards Ichigo's face only for the Soul Reaper to use Flash Step to get behind him.
Ichigo continued his assaults on Grimmjow, with the Arrancar being forced to be on the defensive as Ichigo kept trying to cut him in multiple areas, with Grimmjow having a difficult time reacting to all the attacks. At this point, Grimmjow took out his own sword to fight with as he blocked one of Ichigo's strikes. The two of them kept clashing with one another until Grimmjow used a Sonido to stay away as he landed on the ground. He looked up to see Ichigo coming right at him as he swung right at him, except Grimmjow leaped away when Ichigo hit the ground, making a 2 meter deep crater in the ground.
"Fuck!" Grimmjow swore, jumping in the air before seeing Ichigo charging at him once more, but Grimmjow did another Sonido to get behind Ichigo, as he was about to deliver a brutal backspin to Ichigo's head, but Ichigo's danger sense reacted quickly by turning around and blocked the attack with his left hand, albeit barely. Grimmjow then kicked Ichigo in the gut, making him grunt in pain.
Grimmjow kept swinging his sword at Ichigo trying to slash him in a wild manner but Ichigo was managing to hold up somewhat, except he was still getting cut, and his robe was getting slashed in some places. Ichigo was now the one struggling to keep up, as Grimmjow was starting to overpower him. Ichigo used Flash Step to go to Grimmjow's left, but Grimmjow managed to react faster by kicking Ichigo in the gut before going on to stab him in the shoulder, to which Ichigo barely managed to block against. Ichigo used Flash Step once more to get back down on the ground just so he could get distance between him and his opponent.
Ichigo's sword started to get coated by black and red Spiritual Energy, using all his power just so he could somehow get to finish this guy off. "Getsuga... Tenshou!" Ichigo yelled out the attack's name before firing off the attack right at his opponent. Grimmjow widened his eyes seeing this, and tried to use his sword to stop the incoming attack. Except that the Getsuga managed to overpower his strength, and made a direct blow against him.
There was nothing but smoke for a while before it cleared, revealing Grimmjow was standing in mid air, as there was a large scar on his chest, along with bleeding shown on his wrists and some on his body. "Damn… what was that? Ulquiorra never mentioned that move before or any other attack from you, Soul Reaper." Grimmjow commented with a smirk.
"Heh, looks like I wasn't a disappointment at all." Ichigo replied back with a cocky smirk shown.
"Hahahahaha!" Grimmjow laughed at this. "Oh you're right about that, it's obvious you are worth killing after all!"
Ichigo really hoped that this guy didn't have any more tricks up his sleeve. He was trying to stop the Espada from using his sword, but now that already failed. He was giving everything he had in the fight, but something told him Grimmjow was still holding back against him. Unknown to him though, was that Tatsuki was watching the battle as she hid herself in a corner of an alley.
"Alright then, now it's time to kick things up a notch..." Grimmjow's Spiritual Pressure began to spike up, only for it to be quickly interrupted when Tousen showed up with a Flash Step, getting behind Grimmjow. This made the Arrancar and Ichigo widen their eyes in shock, not expecting his arrival at all. "Put your sword away, Grimmjow." Tousen warned the brash Espada as he put his hand on his shoulder.
'Tousen? That's one of Aizen's men, isn't he? What is he doing here?' Ichigo thought in confusion, not understanding how or why he showed up here of all places.
"Mind explaining why you're here?" Grimmjow asked with a grunt.
"You ask why? You can't be serious. You chose to invade the World of the Living on your own and took 5 Arrancars with you without permission, and then lost them in battle." Tousen stated, looking at Grimmjow as if he was some idiot.
Grimmjow widened his eyes in shock, just realizing that Tousen was right, having been so busy fighting Ichigo that it completely slipped past his mind to check on his comrades. "You disobeyed orders, you understand that much don't you?" Tousen walked behind him. "Lord Aizen is quite upset with you, Grimmjow." he opened up a Descorrer. "Come, your punishment for this action will be decided in Hueco Mundo."
"Tch, fine with me, let's go." Grimmjow sheathed his sword in annoyance before he and Tousen entered the Garganta, but before Grimmjow could fully step in, he looked back at Ichigo one last time. "Don't get cocky, Soul Reaper, you just got lucky!"
"You're leaving just like that?!" Ichigo almost wanted to call back Grimmjow to finish their fight, but something told him not to.
"Don't push your luck! You may have held up against me but I wasn't even in my Released State!" Ichigo's eyes widened in shock. Grimmjow smirked from this. "Yeah, just as I thought. Don't ever forget the name Grimmjow Jaggerjack, Soul Reaper! Cause the next time you hear it, you'll be a dead man. That I promise." The portal then closed up.
Ichigo considered Grimmjow's words, and when thinking about it he was right. Grimmjow was powerful, but he was only just the 6th rank of an Espada. If this was really all he was capable of as of now, he would need to train harder than ever before. It was then he heard footsteps coming by, and Ichigo turned around to see Renji.
"Where did that Arrancar go? Back to Hueco Mundo? Did you manage to win?" Renji asked.
"I'm… not sure." Ichigo answered, part of him felt frustrated he wasn't able to win in the battle at all. If anything he was lucky the battle didn't escalate further. And he hated that.
"What?" Renji became annoyed by Ichigo's answer. ''If you managed to get that Arrancar back home then that sure as hell counts as a win to me."
Ichigo faced Renji with an impassive look in his eyes. Usually that would be the case. It did feel like a win when he drove away that Menos Grande, but this didn't feel right. It's as if something deep down wanted him to purely dominate the fight… but why?
Inside the throne room of Las Noches was Aizen who sat down on his throne, the smirk on his face was as evident as ever as he looked down to where Grimmjow and Tousen were at as they entered the room, the blue haired Arrancar was impatient as ever while Tousen looked at the very least irritated with what Grimmjow did. "Welcome back, Grimmjow." Aizen greeted his minion, putting up the fake comforting act.
Grimmjow replied with just silence, not bothering to answer his superior. Tousen was not very pleased by this. "Why so quiet? Don't you have something to say, Grimmjow?"
"Not really." Grimmjow shrugged his shoulders, not caring to give an answer.
"Such impudence…" Though it couldn't be seen very well, Tousen was glaring at Grimmjow for the disrespect given to Aizen.
"It's alright, Kaname." Aizen waved his hand in an attempt at calming the general down. "The truth of the matter is I'm not really upset."
"But Lord Aizen, he—"
"I believe Grimmjow's actions were an attempt to please me, but he got carried away in doing so. It's how I view this incident." Aizen looked down at the blue haired Arrancar, and he knew Grimmjow was only doing it for himself. He would never in his life consider doing it for his sake. "Am I right, Grimmjow?"
It had already been bad enough that he couldn't kill that Soul Reaper kid, lost all his Fracciones, and was now forced to kiss Aizen's ass. Grimmjow tried not to throw up. "Yes, my lord…" it was then he felt Tousen grab him by his collar, leaving him surprised. "What the hell is your problem...Tousen?"
Tousen looked over at Aizen from above. "Lord Aizen, please let me have permission to execute this traitor!" he exclaimed in anger.
"Kaname, there won't really be—"
Grimmjow got away from Tousen's grip. "Nice try, Tousen! You always hated me, that's what this fuss is about, isn't it?! Is this any way for a Director General to act, Tousen?!"
"I simply believe that anyone who simply disturbs the peace has to pay the price. It's not personal." Tousen simply answered the Espada.
Grimmjow scoffed at this. "You would kill me for insubordination…?"
"Yes, for the honour of Lord Aizen."
"HA! Why am I not surprised… all you ever think about is the cause!" Grimmjow exclaimed with a cocky smirk shown on him.
"Of course, it guides my actions, something you have no knowledge of. With no more foundation behind it, killing is murder. But on the other hand, killing with purpose…" The next thing Grimmjow knew, he was seeing his left arm flying away from him when it got sliced off. Tousen already got behind Grimmjow as he unsheathed his sword. "Is justice…" he pointed his hand at the arm he cut off. "Hado #54: Haien!" he yelled out the spell's name before firing off a purple fireball which incinerated Grimmjow's arm off from existence.
"Aaaargh!" Grimmjow held his shoulder in pain as he cried out. "Damn! Damn! Fuck! Fuck! FUUUUCK!" Grimmjow then drew his sword before he started running towards Tousen in anger.
"Grimmjow…" Aizen spoke out, preventing Grimmjow from marching any longer. "Take a moment to think about your actions before you continue. I warn you, I'll be forced to reprimand you."
Grimmjow grit his teeth, glaring at Aizen before he angrily sheaths his sword, walking away fuming.
Aizen was walking down some stairs from going deeper in the halls, and stopping when seeing Gin in front of him.
"That was cruel playing against your men like that." Gin commented with his ever present foxy smirk.
"Were you spying, Gin? As usual…"
"You knew Kaname would react like that, didn't you? He's such a boy scout, wouldn't you agree?" Gin held a mocking tone as Aizen walked past him. "I suspect you encouraged that side of him?"
"Perhaps..."
"We lost 5 Arrancars in that operation." Gin commented, though he didn't expect much reaction from Aizen by this news. "Fraccions of our Sexta Espada at that. That might be considerable if you look at it from a certain viewpoint."
"It could be the case if looking at it from the Court Guard's perspective. However… their outdated information and stubbornness to truly adapt to be a constant no matter how you look at it." The current Ruler of Hueco Mundo spoke as he crossed his arms behind his back, walking forward with Gin behind him. "That reminds me. I wonder if Ichigo Kurosaki did actually read up on the file Tier Halibel gave him?" Aizen said as he looked into the window, his eyes stared at the endless desert.
Gin simply shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, I've mostly been trying to mess around with the Espada a bit, but so far Tia is pretty good at noticing my tricks." He said as leaned against a wall for support. "Is it Tia or Tier?" He mumbled as he had trouble reminding himself how to exactly pronounce the Espada's names.
Aizen simply put a hand on his chin as he thought to himself. "It won't take too long but in this case… Perhaps the next attack can be delayed? November or October?"
"Aro-no, Aaroneiro- not that either." Gin struggled to remember the names.
The wound that used to be on Rukia's gut had completely disappeared, thanks to Orihime's healing powers as she arrived on time to save her friend. Rukia in question was amazed that the hole she previously had on her was gone, as if it was never there to begin with. All the other Soul Reapers and Orihime were seen on a rooftop.
"Your wound is already healed?!" Renji asked in surprise as he crouched next to Rukia.
"Yeah… that was amazingly quick." Rukia looked over at Orihime. "Thank you so much, Orihime. You're better as time goes on."
"Ehehehe…" Orihime scratched the back of her head as she sheepishly smiled, blushing at the praise given to her. "I don't think I'm that good at it yet, I think I'm still learning…"
"Rukia, you recovered already?" Ichigo already got in front of Rukia, being relieved that she was alright now. Nonetheless he still felt guilt weighing down on him.
Rukia was able to notice this. "Ichigo… are you feeling guilty or something?" Ichigo didn't reply to that, only just staying silent which confirmed Rukia's suspicion. "I know that look, don't tell me you're responsible for my injuries, get over it already. My injuries were my own fault, alright? I'm not so weak that I need you to protect me all the time, so quit doing that pathetic face."
"... Fine." Ichigo sighed from this. "I just wish I could have beaten that guy some more..."
"Hm, heh. Don't worry, you'll get another chance." Renji chuckled as he patted Ichigo on the shoulder.
In the Kurosaki home, Yuzu went towards her brother's room, having not responded to her when she called him out for breakfast. She smiled as she went on to open her brother's room. "Ichigo, time for breakfast! Let's eat!" she happily announced, until seeing that no-one was in the room. "Hm? Where did you go? Are you over here?"
She slid the closet door open, but her brother wasn't in it. She then went under his bed and he wasn't there. She pulled the sheets off Ichigo's bed. "Aha!" But she still saw nothing there as well. "Not here? Yuzu then ran downstairs. ''He's not here, dad! I don't know where he's gone!"
"Whaaaaaat?! How can he be missing?!" Isshin's loud exaggerated voice was heard all over the house.
"DON'T SCREAM DUMBASS!" Karin also shouted as a smacking sound echoed through the neighborhood, which was simply Karin beating up her dad again...
Perching on top of Orihime's house, the Captain of Squad 10 tried his best to work on the updated Soul Pager based on the older model of an LG Smartphone… as he tried to figure out how to even utilize the applications...
"Damn thing, why is it so complicated to use this?" He said as he punched the keystrokes of the smartphone randomly. He was about to blow a fuse and throw the pager on the ground, but he was suddenly pushed forward as he was glomped by Rangiku.
"Captain! How are you doing?" Rangiku ecstatically said, as she looked over Toshiro's shoulder to see the screen. "What are you doing there?" She asked.
"I was preparing my report…" Toshiro grumbled in annoyance.
"Tell them how we kicked their butts after Gentei Kaijo was released!" Rangiku childishly pumped her fist out.
Toshiro scowled on this. "Those guys were small fry from what we could gather, from what they implied. They weren't Vasto Lorde class Arrancars, no they were at best low level Adjuchas or even Gillians turned into Arrancars to serve their top fighters, the Espada." Hitsugaya stated as he figured out the true scope of their situation last night. "In any event, this battle will be one of the fiercest the Soul Reapers have had."
The Substitute Soul Reaper slashed down a scorpion-like Hollow through its midsection before jumping back as its stinger was in the middle of an attack that pierced its throat. Before it could cry out, the redhead brought his sword down bisecting the creature in two. The Hollow corpse slowly faded as its soul was purified.
Resting his sword on his shoulder, Ichigo walked down the docks where most warehouses were set in, which thinking about it now made sense to choose this as a hiding spot, away from people and pretty quiet as these houses weren't used often, mostly used by mobs to hide their belongings. He continued to walk down until he stopped by the one building that was left open. He sighed as he entered, lookee back and saw the gate closing down once he entered. Looking up. he could see Shinji and the other Vizards standing above him on higher floors although some of them were standing on lower and some of them higher.
"So, you finally came, haven't you, Ichigo…" Shinji commented as he tipped his hat off, showing off his toothy grin. Ichigo didn't give a reply, but instead he was prompted to glare at him. "My, so serious. I wonder if you also wanted to join us. I don't mean to put you down, but it is a surprise you managed to find our hideout considering how much you usually suck at detecting Spiritual Pressure. So, to make it easier for you, we pumped as much as Spiritual Pressure as we could to help you find your way here. I would also say that you decided to join us as well, am I right, Ichigo?"
"What the hell do you mean? You flashing that much Spirit Energy is the reason I took so fucking long in the first place, all you guys did was attract Hollows like a bunch of amateurs. And you want me in?" Ichigo replied back with a smirk. "Well then it seems I've only been underestimated this entire time."
"Huh?!" Shinji seemed to have been shocked by the response.
"I never said that I would join you guys. I said I was gonna think about it, I said I was gonna come to solve my issues and that's what I came here for..." The Substitute stated as he sets his eyes directly at Shinji. "And if this is nothing more than a waste of my time then I'll be out..."
"You just think we're just a bunch of pushovers?" Shinji stared down at Ichigo, looking at him as if he was an idiot.
"If you were, I would be wasting my time, but since you guys do have something to offer that helps me… I don't see why not." Ichigo replied.
"Oh yeah? How so?" Shinji asked as he got up from his position, taking off his hat and setting it to the side.
"I will beat you all into the ground if needed." He remarked as his hand made its way to his sword, its cloth slowly unfolding itself.
Shinji scowled. "You're welcome to try..." Ichigo then brandished his massive sword as He charged towards Shinji, who readied his own Zanpakuto. "But do you really think you're strong enough?!"
Shinji unsheathed his Zanpakuto as he also charged at Ichigo before their swords clashed. Ichigo tried striking Shinji, but he dodged before trying to cut Ichigo from behind, who spun his sword to block it before both of them flipped away from each other. Ichigo charged in, locking swords with Shinji as both of them were struggling to overpower one another. However, Shinji tried to cut Ichigo but he ducked, landing on the ground and Shinji landed as well on the opposite side.
'I should probably use Bankai considering what happened last time...' Ichigo thought as his gaze shifted a bit towards his sword and then back at Shinji. 'He's holding back on me, that much I'm certain...'
The other Vizards were watching the fight as all of them were on the same ground level, seeing both of them run at each other, with their swords locked again.
"Well this is surprising, the boy turns out to be a good fighter. He seems to be holding off Shinji." Rose commented with a smile.
"Idiot! You better get your eyes fixed. Can't you see that Shinji is only playing with him. He's not even breaking a sweat." Lisa scowled at Rose.
"To be honest, it doesn't look like Ichigo is bringing out his all in the fight either. He seems to be holding back." Hachi commented.
"Yeah… I figured the guy's gotta be pretty freaked out." Love responded as he folded his arms.
"You really think so? Over what?" Mashiro asked in curiosity.
"It must be his Inner Hollow. The punk is scared that every time he fights, he's gonna release that Inner Hollow, and he won't be able to control it." Kensei said, his eyes dialing back and forth between the fight. "We've been trying to recruit this guy, and this is the level he's at?"
While fighting, Ichigo ended up losing focus as he overheard what was being commented as he and Shinji locked their swords. This cost him as the Vizard shoved him by pushing his sword. 'Careful now, you don't wanna drop your guard just because I gave you a hint or two on how not to fuck up.' the Hollow from within chimed in, and Ichigo could feel the smirk that was on him. 'Or did you just forget all that? I guess I'll have to do this the hard way after all when I start taking over your body for good…'
Becoming bored with this fight, Hiyori got up and strapped her sheathed katana on her back before walking up to the edge of the second floor. "Hiyori?! Where are you going?! You shouldn't interfere!" Mashiro exclaimed.
"Hachi, add another 5 more force fields." Hiyori demanded. "Do that or I'll kick your butt, baldy."
"Yes, as you wish." Hachi nodded his head and went to do just that.
Hiyori looked up seeing Ichigo and Shinji, who were now standing in midair as they backed off from one another. "Ichigo… you're finished!" Shinji exclaimed.
"Shinji, tag out!" Hiyori then slapped him with her sandal, sending Shinji crashing through an incomplete shield. This made Ichigo pretty confused. Hiyori looks down at Hachi with an annoyed expression. "Get moving! I told you to beef up the barrier!"
"I know, but you didn't give me enough time to do it!" Hachi defended himself.
Hiyori turned to Ichigo. "Let me tell you something, you've got the wrong idea about this."
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked in confusion.
"It's true we've been playing around with the idea of you becoming one of us. The thing is that it's not your choice." Hiyori pointed her finger at Ichigo. "You're not the one who gets to make the decision."
"What do you mean not my decision?"
"It means the power to choose is entirely up to us. The bottom line is that whether you want to join us or not is completely up to us. We look at your power, and after we determine your strength, we decide whether we want you or not is completely up to us. It's just that simple, end of discussion." Hiyori explained. "So, stop coming in here and making empty threats! You don't have any choice in the matter, do you understand?! If you're powerful, we'll let you join us and teach you what it means to be a Vizard and teach you how to suppress your Hollow! But if it turns out you're weak, then you can forget it! We'll leave you to become a Hollow and eventually you'll die a pathetic death!" Hiyori then turned around and started walking away from Ichigo. "Now that you get the picture, let your Inner Hollow out and we'll see how powerful you are."
"You're making it as though that's something simple to do. But even if I could do that, I won't do it." Ichigo firmly answered.
Hiyori stopped walking. "Don't bullshit me! You still don't understand, do you? It's not your choice!" She then turned around as her Hollow mask was slowly starting to form on the side of her face. "You'll do as we say."
'The Hollow mask…' Ichigo practically gulped when seeing it in front of him, as it brought him bad memories of whenever the Hollow took over.
"If you're too much of a wimp to Hollowfy, then I guess I will have to plan one way or another, I'll drag your Hollow out even if I have to end up beating it out of you!" Hiyori threatened him, as the mask fully formed on the side of her face.
Ichigo widened his eyes with this. "Drag my Hollow? Hold on a second here, let's not get crazy. I don't think you understand what you're messing with here."
Some of the Vizards were shocked by this. "Don't be impulsive!" Love yelled out.
"Think about what you're doing!" Rose warned Hiyori.
"Tell me, what are you so afraid of? A mask doesn't make you a Vizard, you still have to control your Hollow!" Hiyori gained a smirk as she saw Ichigo glare at her. "Don't be afraid, Ichigo. Although it's true I'm not as nice as Shinji… If you don't get over your fear…" She put the mask on, and already she got in front of Ichigo as she pressed her palm against his chest. "You'll be dead… because I'm going to kill you."