Chapter 17: To Hueco Mundo
"Jigoku talking"
"Hollows talking
Zangetsu talking to Ichigo
Ichigo followed Shizuko back to Xcution's hideout and was surprised to see that everyone was just lounging around. They all saw Ichigo walk with her and froze a bit. Was he here to help them or did he have another goal in mind? Those thoughts went away as soon as they saw him smirk at them with a genuine look.
"So." He started while crossing his arms. "Shizuko told me ya'll need help saving a friend. I'm down with that, so what's her name?"
This new information caused Kiku to look to Shizuko in shock. Shizuko shrugged at her friends look and motioned for her to answer Ichigo's question. With a sigh, Kiku answered him. "Her name is Aqua. Aqua Lorene. She's the one that helped me find everyone you see here and bring us all together. She's special to all of us really."
Ichigo saw everyone in there hang their heads down at this and had to ask. "How exactly did a Vasto Lorde hollow, whatever that means, manage to take her anyway?"
"It ambushed us." Jackie answered. "Caught us all while we were out of town and coming back after a solid month of training." Jackie looked at Ichigo with hardened eyes. "It was me, her, Kiku and Shizuko that were there fighting it off. We told the others to head out since they clearly weren't ready for something like that."
"It picked us all off before taking Aqua away." Kiku finished as she stood up and walked to Ichigo. "We owe her a lot Ichigo, and we'll need your help saving her."
"Okay." Ichigo answered nonchalantly, surprising the group. "I'll help you out, as long as I get to fight this Vasto Lorde thing. It sounds like it would be interesting." This surprised them even more as they didn't think convincing him would be this easy. "So how do we get to this Hueco Mundo place?"
"Easy." Kiku started before heading to a door on the adjacent wall that Ichigo hadn't noticed till now. She opened it and turned the lights on to reveal some kind of circle with markings all around the inside of it. The others went inside followed by a confused looking Ichigo and they stood around the circle. "This took us many attempts to get it right," Kiku continued from across the confused male, "but we finally managed to figured out how to combine our hollow energies together to open up a garganta."
"A garganta?" Ichigo asked them while scratching the back of his head.
"Think of it as a portal to the hollow world that all hollows can open." Riruka answered with her hands on her hips in a mocking pose. "Like that blue haired chick you fought before."
At hearing that, Zangetsu made her voice known to her orange haired host. "Seriously? You can do that too, no problem."
"Really?" Ichigo asked her.
"Duh. I'm a hollow that's also your zanpakuto." She answered in a slightly annoyed tone. "Just focus a bit, conjure up some of my hollow energy and just flick your wrist to do so. Not that hard really."
Ichigo chuckled a bit under his breath, much to Riruka's annoyance at thinking he was insulting her. Ichigo stood straight and took a breath before moving his hand forward and snapping his fingers. A garganta opened up large enough for them all to go through. To say that they were all astound and shocked would be an understatement as they were all staring at him wide eyed and confused. Ichigo grinned and looked at them all, their wide eyes and dropped jaws causing him to laugh a bit at them.
"Well." He started. "We goin to save your friend or just stare at me all day?"
Before they could really say anything, Ichigo jumped through the garganta. After the initial shock, Shizuko sighed out. "He is just full of surprises. I like that."
She jumped through the garganta and was later followed by the rest of Xcution. They all landed on the white deserts of Hueco Mundo and landed not far from a wondering Ichigo. They quickly followed him once they heard the screeches of many hollows and the saw that the garganta closed behind them.
"Ichigo." Kiku started to him as she saw him just standing there, staring off into the distance. "We have to find Aqua and fast. This place is not some kind of vacation spot for you to stare at."
"Found her." Ichigo said suddenly, catching their attention.
"W-what do you mean found her?!" Moe yelled out to him, waving her arms about.
"Yes Mr. Kurosaki, please explain." Gen asked him.
"You said she was more hollow than human right Shizuko?" He received a nod from her in response and continued. "Well, all I had to do was look for the most human-like presence here and found her in that direction." He pointed towards a cave not too far away from them. "Though, there are a lot more in that direction over there." He pointed to some kind of structure that seemed closer than what it actually was.
"Then we should head off to those caves." Kiku said as she stood in front of them all. "Stay sharp. We're in their territory now, so expect to run into some hollows on the way there."
They all nodded and started to head off to the cave. Though they were completely unaware of a certain, pink haired woman watching them in her lab.
Hueco Mundo, Sayida's lab
"Oh, Lady Aizen is gonna have a field day when she hears about this."
Ten minutes later
Xcution and Ichigo finally made it to the caves after having to speed things up. They all stood outside, ready for anything. Well, the ladies at least. Ichigo was just standing there with his hands in his pockets, seemingly bored for some reason. He didn't even wait for Kiku or Shizuko to give a signal as he just waltzed right inside the cave. They panicked and quickly followed him inside. There were a few twists and turns as Xcution could now feel the faint spirit energy of their friend not too far away now. Ichigo could feel it too, but to him it felt off. Wrong even. Something wasn't right here.
They entered a large opening that was mainly composed of marble all around and saw a woman slouched onto a slab of marble. She looked very much malnourished and her breaths were very shallow. She had grown out spring green hair, pale skin, no clothes on to cover her well endowed body, and three scars going across her chest and stomach. The scars all converged onto her naval and one of them looked fresh.
The members of Xcution all gasped at her state and wanted to run over to her aide, but that was when Ichigo stepped in.
"Wait!" He yelled out, surprising them all as he went for his cleaver. "Something else is here."
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a tall hollow stood at the woman's side. To the members of Xcution, they had seen this creature before and took a step back out of fear. To Ichigo, it looked like and felt like a true challenge had presented itself since he fought Grimmjane. The hollow was tall, and looked very similar to horse. The legs at least. It had hairy brown legs with a long brown tail and a completely whited out upper body with a very muscular physique to it. Also, since it had no top, its breasts were out on full display to them. The mask was slightly cracked around its mouth to show her mouth along with that sadistic grin, and the small horns on her head. Ichigo grinned as his right hand twitched a bit in anticipation of this fight.
"Oh." The hollow started in its distorted voice. "Now isn't this something. A soul reaper. Or more precisely, this male soul reaper I've been hearing rumors about." She chuckled a bit as she continued to stare Ichigo down. "When I'm done mounting you, I'll take all of that energy and rule over Hueco Mundo. And why stop there. I'll rule the soul society, the world of the living, I'll even rule hell itself. No one will be able to stop me."
Before she could say anything else, Ichigo had disappeared and reappeared next to Aqua. The hollow looked down in shock as Ichigo grinned before taking Aqua and leaving. He reappeared next to Kiku and Shizuko with Aqua in his arms bridal style. He handed her over to Kiku before unsheathing Zangetsu.
"Take your friend and head out back." Ichigo said after snapping his fingers to open a garganta. This surprised the hollow and Xcution. The hollow at the fact that he could open garganta's and Xcution at the fact he was telling them to leave without him.
"Ichigo-" Riruka started before he interrupted her.
"It's fine. I got this. Go on, and get her out of here. I'll be right behind you in a few minutes." He said with that same grin when he fought both Kiku and Jackie. The girls shivered a bit but reluctantly left him to fight off this hollow.
"Well then." The hollow started while raising its spirit energy. "I'm going to enjoy taking you as a trophy!"
"Bring it on my little pony!" Ichigo insulted before watching her dash at him in anger.
Back with Xcution
The members of Xcution quickly left the room with the circle and went to one of the rest rooms. Kiku and Jackie set Aqua down on a bed as gently as they could and covered her up. Gen, having a medical background, went to work on her malnourished body. She put her on IV bags to at least stabilize her. Who knew what that Vasto Lorde did to her. While Gen was tending to Aqua, the rest of Xcution were outside the door wondering one thing.
Was Ichigo okay?
Back with Ichigo
Ichigo was more than a little disappointed at this fight. This hollow was strong yes, but it lacked two things: style and speed. Both of which Ichigo had in droves. He was practically dancing around her in a seemingly bored fashion. Dodging and deflecting her pretty weak attacks. Compared to Grimmjane, this hollow was far below him in terms of power.
Not wanting to draw this out anymore than it already was, Ichigo decided to go on the offensive. He went for a slash and managed to cut her left arm off at the elbow. She screamed in pain and charged up a cero in her mouth to fire at him. Ichigo simply flashed right in front of her when she was about to release it and grabbed her mouth right when she fired it. The blast was contained and blew a hole in the back of her head, killing her instantly. Ichigo dropped her lifeless body down and sighed.
"Well that was dumb." He said to himself as Zangetsu re-wrapped herself in the bandages and he placed her back on his back. "Guess I'll just head back to them and see how Aqua is doin."
Just as he was about to open a garganta, Jigoku made her voice known for the first time.
"Ichigo." She said in a slow and raspy voice that caught Ichigo by complete surprise.
"Z-Zangetsu?" Ichigo stuttered out.
"That wasn't me Ichigo." Zangetsu said in a shocked voice as well.
"You can save that girl." Jigoku spoke out again.
"But I already did." Ichigo answered in a confused tone.
Jigoku started to laugh slowly at his words. "This hollow was siphoning off her power. She'll die without it, but you can save her Ichigo. We can save her."
Ichigo was a little skeptical at first but relented when Zangetsu told to trust in his spirits in his soul. "Okay Jigoku. What do we do?"
"Simple." She started. "Take my blade and force it into the hollows center." Ichigo did as instructed, taking the pure white blade out of its sheath for the first time ever. He went over to the now dead hollow and stabbed the hollow in its center. "Now, let me do the rest."
Ichigo nodded and let go of the handle to his blade. Suddenly, it started to glow as strange red markings appeared on the blade. The hollow glowed a faint blue color and began to pulse with some kind of energy. The energy from the hollow traveled into the blade, draining the hollow and leaving it a lifeless husk. The blade now glowed that faint blue color and Jigoku was chuckling in Ichigo's mind.
"Go ahead Ichigo." She started in an almost mocking tone after she finished chuckling. "Take me back to her."
Ichigo sighed as he grabbed the handle again cautiously. He could feel a foreign energy coming from the sword and decided to get it back to Aqua, fast. He opened a garganta and went through, appearing in the same room as before. He went for the door only to find that it was locked from the other side.
"Hey!" He yelled out in frustration as he banged the door. "Open the freakin door! I'm back!"
Just as soon as he said that, the door opened a crack to show the weary eyes of both Moe and Yukiko. They saw the head of orange hair and flung the door open fast.
"ICHIGO, YOU'RE ALIVE!" They both shouted at him in unison, causing him to chuckle a bit.
This didn't go unnoticed as the other members of Xcution came out of a room just as he exited and were surprised that he looked completely fine. He looked over to the rest of them and could tell that Aqua was in that particular room.
"Take me to her and do the same thing that you did to that hollow." Jigoku said to him, making him a little wary.
With another sigh that caught everyone's attention, Ichigo walked over to the room, avoiding conversations in the process. He went next to the womans bedside with his sword in hand and the rest of Xcution on pins and needles at what he was going to do.
"Man I hope this works." Ichigo whispers as he raises the blade much to their surprise before piercing her center.
They all watched in horror as it looked as if Ichigo had just killed their friend, but that was when the blade started to pulse. The pulsing was subtle at first but then began to get more and more intense as the seconds ticked on. The faint blue energy grew more and more intense as it began to change into light green hue. The red markings on the blade began to subside as the energy began to move down the blade and into her. To the amazement of everyone in the room and even Zangetsu, Aqua's body started to change. Her once frail and malnourished body started to gain back its muscles and health. Her breathing was getting stronger and she was starting to heal from the hollows wounds. Her scars were fading away as if they were never there in the first place and she began to stir from sleep. Once the blade stopped pulsing, the energy receding back into her fully, and the markings disappearing, Ichigo took Jigoku out of her and saw that there was no mark on her center whatsoever.
"What did you just do Ichigo?" Kiku asked the seemingly confused male in the room.
Ichigo looked to Jigoku before sheathing her and looking back to the rest of Xcution. He shrugged. "Saved her life I think. Never really did this before."
That was when Aqua was stirring awake. She opened her teal eyes and immediately widened them before sitting up quickly. She looked around frantically around the room before seeing the girls standing next to her bed. They looked a little teary eyed and before she could say anything, she was bombarded by numerous hugs from most of everyone. The only ones who didn't get in on that were Gen and Jackie who were just happy to see their friend alright.
Ichigo smirked at this happy little reunion and decided to take his leave by way of the window. Before he could really take a step out Shizuko made her voice known to him.
"Thank you Ichigo." She said to him, causing him to turn around and be planted with a kiss to his lips.
The other girls blushed a bit except for Aqua who had no idea who the new person in the room was. As soon as Shizuko parted from him, Ichigo smiled at her then to the others before looking to a now shocked Aqua.
"Hope you feel better Aqua, cause later on, you owe me one." When he said that, they all blushed madly at his words causing him to chuckle a bit. "I meant a spar sometime in the not too distant future." They all were embarrassed and that was Ichigo's cue to leave. "See you beautiful ladies later."
If he would've stayed a little longer, he would've heard Aqua yelling out in a tone that was trying very hard not to sound lustful.
"Who the fuck was he!"
And this will end the Fullbring story arc. They will show later on in this story, possibly for a lemon chapter.
I wanna thank blacklight 1 for the naming of the OC Aqua Lorene. You're awesome dude.
Okay, now that the fan voted arc is finished, it's time to get back on track. There will be repercussions for Ichigo's presence in Hueco Mundo in the next chapter once Sayida(Szayel) informs Aizen of Ichigo's presence.
You guys are awesome and as always, stay sexy out there.
PEACE!