I'm back with another chapter, so let's get into it.

Hollow speaking or thinking

Zanpakuto Spirit speaking or thinking

Normal speaking or thinking

Ichigo and his brothers were occupied with their current task of training with Kisuke and Yoruichi at the Urahara Shop. He was teaching them how to unlock their Shikai and it was taking a while for them to do so. However, the way he was teaching them was simply him and the flirtatious were-cat attacking them to force them to complete the task or die trying.

When they had approached the former Soul Reapers to ask for help in getting stronger to defeat Aizen and keep their family and soulmates safe, the inhabitants of the store agreed but Kisuke told them they would have to follow all their directions since attaining Shikai and Bankai was no easy feat. They said yes and followed him through the shop and down into his underground training area. He knocked them out of their bodies with his cane, which was somehow similar to Rukia's special glove, and laid down the ground rules: He would be handling Bennett and Randy while Yoruichi would train with Ichigo. He then gained a knowing and mischievous glint in his eye aimed at the both of them. She was caught off-guard momentarily and looked at him strangely before rolling her eyes and attacking the sputtering teen with a feline smirk.

Kisuke jumped into action against his opponents, thinking that he would need to use his own Shikai against the two boys to push them to their limits. He didn't start off with it, but he was able to fend off both of them without resorting to releasing it. He was a former Stealth Force member and captain after all, so he believed Randy and Bennett would benefit from fighting him with his sealed Zanpakuto.

"Really, Hat-and-Clogs? Trying to go after the mohawk? Just because you have that stupid hat covering your head and dumb haircut doesn't give you the right to shave my own haircut straight off with your sword!" Bennett yelled after a particularly close call with his hair almost getting sliced in half.

"You wound me, Bennett. I think my hair and hat look good on me, don't you thi— woah!" Kisuke narrowly dodged an upwards slash that nearly nicked his hat. "Hey! Watch the hat, it's one of my defining traits!" he whined.

Randy snorted. "Boohoo, cry me a river. Your defining traits are you being a perverted and shady man, that hat is nothing special. Now c'mere so I can put my foot up your ass!" He charged in and started swinging to cut the shopkeeper.

Yoruichi wasn't exactly going all-out on Ichigo, but he was starting to push her a little harder than she expected. 'Ichigo's improving, his strikes are coming closer and closer to connecting with each swing. I might have to kick it up a notch.' She started punching and kicking harder and faster. Pretty soon, Ichigo was on the defense trying to block her attacks with his katana and it worked for a little bit until she yelled, "Shunko!"

The former leader of the Stealth Force used her signature technique against the Strawberry and connected an enhanced punch into his gut and chest, knocking him back into the ground, the lightning shredding the top of his shihakusho and his mask in a freak accident. When he got up from the ground and stood to his full height, her mouth went dry at the sight of him.

Let it never be said Ichigo Kurosaki wasn't in shape. In fact, he was extremely fit and it was the same with his brothers. They took care of themselves and Yoruichi Shihoin could see the results for herself, her eyes going wide at seeing him shirtless and starting to blush and feel like a giddy schoolgirl. He sported a well-defined eight-pack and his pectorals looked like bricks on his chest. The rest of his muscles were just as equally developed as well. She noticed the muscles on his arms from the sleeveless top, but didn't think he had anything to show for underneath it. 'God, those muscles... Berry-boy is cut like a god! Calm down girl, you're supposed to get him flustered, not the other way around.'

He also had a number of tattoos covering his torso. A series of tribal designs encircled his neck and was situated on his shoulders. A scene with a flaming skeleton holding a chain and scythe in Hell was on his back and an Asian dragon rode along his left ribs. On the right side of his ribs, Ichigo had a Spartan warrior holding a spear and shield inked there and to top it all off, his stomach had a metal Terminator skull with half of his own face on the left half of the skull.

Yoruichi hadn't known that Ichigo had gotten himself some ink, but... 'Damn, I can't stop staring at him! It's like looking at a male supermodel, even his tattoos make him look hot!'

Ichigo, however, stood up slowly to his full height and cracked his neck. 'Well that happened. Hey, you two. How come I still haven't unlocked my Shikai yet? What gives?'

The Hollow side of his Zanpakuto cackled. "You think it's that simple, don't you? King, open your eyes and figure out what you're fighting for. You always boast about how you are going to protect everyone and all that shit. You need to realize what it takes to protect what you want to protect. You're not getting our Shikai until you get your head out of your ass and realize that!"

The youth was reasonably annoyed with his copy. 'What the hell do mean, you cryptic bastard?!'

The old man in his head decided to give some advice for him. "Ichigo, do you remember when your mother died, what she did for you?"

He thought back to the night of her death. They both had seen Grand Fisher's lure and she tried to stop him from going to it. He blacked out afterward and found her lifeless body laying on top of him. She had protected him from being eaten by the Hollow, sacrificing her very existence to keep him alive...

It hit him like a freight train. What they were trying to tell and make him realize was that he needed the resolve to protect everyone he cared about. He needed to put his life on the line to save others, he had to sacrifice himself for the protection of his loved ones or otherwise it would be meaningless. No matter the cost, losing a limb, getting injured or killed, he had to preserve his friends and family's lives. It was as simple as that.

'I understand now. To truly protect, I must put my life on the chopping block and have the resolve to win my battles. No matter what may happen to me whether it be injury or death, nothing will stop me.' Ichigo firmly asserted his intentions to his spirits.

His lookalike grinned insanely and nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Then call out our name, Ichigo!"

The young man shouted out loud enough for the others to hear, "ZANGETSU!" A burst of a massive amount of spiritual pressure erupted from the replacement Soul Reaper as well as a large gust of wind blowing through the training grounds, and his katana released from its sealed state into its Shikai state.

When the wind died down, Ichigo had his mask and top back in place and undamaged like the Shunko-enhanced punches never hit him, but his sword had changed. Instead of a single weapon, there were now two, a large sword and small knife. The sword was essentially an oversized Khyber knife, completely black in color and having a hollowed-out section of the blade running along the back. There was no guard and the tang was wrapped in bandages for Ichigo to grip. The knife was similar to a trench knife, also black in color, but had a curved guard on the edge side protecting the wrapped tang.

The Strawberry looked at his Zanpakutos and liked what he saw. "Oi, Yoruichi, Kisuke, what do you think?" he called out to his trainers.

The fighting between his brothers and Urahara stopped and the man walked over and looked at Ichigo's weapons. "Well, well. Dual Zanpakuto. You're the third Soul Reaper to ever have two Zanpakutos. I wonder... Ichigo, ask both Zangetsus about why you have two blades, I have a theory and it might affect your brothers as well."

Ichigo asked his spirits, 'Before we get to that, I need to give you names. I can't call both of you Zangetsu, it would just lead to confusion. Quincy Zangetsu, since you seem to look like you're much older than me and the poor excuse for an albino—'

"Hey!" interrupted the other half of Zangetsu, indignant at being referred to as such.

Ichigo ignored him. 'I'll call you Old Man and my Hollow spirit Zangetsu. You're still both Zangetsu to me, it doesn't matter if he is my Soul Reaper and Hollow powers and you are my Quincy powers, this is just so we don't get mixed up or confused.'

Old Man Zangetsu hummed in agreement, pleased that they had a wielder who accepted both parts of them. "It is a good suggestion and I do not mind it at all." If Ichigo accepting all aspects of his soul was any indication, it was of his brothers most certainly doing the same since they were similar to each other in many ways.

Zangetsu couldn't find any flaws in the logic. "Eh, I'm fine with it. As for Hat Man's question, you have two Zanpakutos because of you having Quincy, Soul Reaper, and Hollow powers. The knife represents your Quincy powers, which is the old fart, and the sword is the representation of your Soul Reaper/Hollow powers, which is yours truly." he explained to his partner.

"Although I do not appreciate being called an 'old fart' and will ignore that comment, Zangetsu is correct. What your mentor is possibly theorizing is the possibility of your brothers also having two Zanpakutos if my assumption is accurate."

Ichigo thanked his spirits and explained what they had told him to Kisuke. The information simply confirmed his suspicions on why the teen had two weapons. "That reaffirms what I've been thinking. Alright, can you reseal your swords, Ichigo? We can train with its abilities another time. But right now, I need to give you boys some information; Aizen most likely already has been watching the town for a while with surveillance, but I have made sure he cannot spy into the shop or the Vizards' hideout, or detect any spiritual pressure coming from those two locations. Unfortunately, I could not risk doing the same with your house or other areas you frequent like your school since that would reveal to him we knew he's watching you three and Karakura Town. We don't want to give him the knowledge that you've gotten your Shikai. In the meantime, I'll continue training Randy and Bennett until they achieve their Shikai. But I'll also ask you two to seal your weapons once you have unlocked your released sword forms," he told the three brothers. "Ichigo, you can use the healing hot spring in another section of the training grounds to heal and recover for a little bit."

The redhead said, "Sounds fine to me. Tell me how everything goes, you guys." as he walked off towards the area with the springs. Yoruichi was still a little flushed from seeing his godly physique and quietly trailed behind him, needing to recover herself a bit since he had pushed her farther than she thought he would... and hopefully get back at and tease Ichigo for making her flustered in the first place.

When they were both out of sight, Kisuke began to snicker quietly. "Oh, those two really have their work cut out for them. He may be a bit dense when it comes to women, but she has no idea just how far the extent of her relationship with him goes or will go. It's like they were made for each other, the blushy false delinquent and the flirty princess," he chuckled after he got a sneaky idea in his head. "This is perfect blackmail material."

When he turned around to resume Bennett and Randy's training, they were smirking at him like they knew something he didn't. "Is there something you two aren't telling me?"

Recalling their conversation with Ichigo after the first time they met him, Yoruichi, and Tessai, they simultaneously said, "Wouldn't you like to know."

Ichigo undressed and put his shihakusho and sealed katana to the side, trying to be a little gentle with the lightning burns on his torso as he eased into the water slowly. It was a warm temperature, perfect for curing ailments when needed or simply rejuvenating the body and returning lost energy. 'Kisuke may be a loon, but this definitely is one of his better achievements.' However, he didn't notice the Shihoin princess slowly walking up to him.

"How's the water, Ichigo?" she asked.

He replied, "It's not too bad. I'll tell you this; Kisuke knows what he's doing when it comes to inventing and this is one thing he definitely got right." He sat in the water thinking about nothing in particular.

She said out of the blue, "Good, because I'm gonna join you." She smirked as she began stripping off her clothes, which left Ichigo in a state of shock.

"WHAT?! Hey, you can't just do that!" he sputtered in embarrassment. He blushed and looked away as she slid into the water.

"Ooh, that's nice." Yoruichi moaned as she felt the warm water covering her body. She smiled seductively as she saw him still covering his eyes. "You can look now, I'm not going to bite... unless you want me to."

Ichigo slowly uncovered his vision to see if she was under the water and she was. He mentally sighed in relief. He decided to break the ice by asking a question. "You never really said what you did as a Soul Reaper. My dad told me that Kisuke was the head of the Department of Research and Development and captain of Squad 12 and Tessai was the commander of the Kido Corps, but he never said what you did."

She smiled. "That's easy, I was captain of Squad 2 and the Head of the Stealth Force, which is basically the Soul Society's black ops unit. Interrogations, assassinations, covert ops, you name it, we did it." Yoruichi reminisced about the days where she was one of the top days. However, the smile lessened when she remembered someone from her past and Ichigo noticed it.

"You left someone behind when Aizen framed you guys, didn't you?"

She sighed in sadness. "Yes, a good friend. My first student actually, Soifon. She was my bodyguard at first, then she became one of the closest friends I had outside of Kisuke and Tessai. I trained her in almost everything. When we had to flee the Soul Society, I couldn't take her. God, I wanted to so bad but there was a reason why. I needed her to grow on her own outside of my shadow, plus I didn't want her to become caught up in everything that happened with Aizen and us leaving to hide in the World of the Living. I still miss her everyday, she was like family to me." A tear trailed down her cheek.

Ichigo cheered her up, "I know we're not the same as Soifon, but you're like family to us, especially me. I cannot thank you enough for helping with achieving Shikai. If there's anything I can help you with, within reason of course, just let me know."

Yoruichi hugged him tightly in response, trying to quell the warm feeling in her chest when she heard what he said. "Thanks, Ichi."

Wrapping his arms around her, he said, "Anytime, Yoruichi."

They stayed like that for quite a bit of time. Then both of them got out of the water, got changed in their clothes, and walked back to Kisuke and Ichigo's brothers. All three of them were slightly panting, signifying that they had gotten in a good session of training. Kisuke had his Shikai released and it was humming with red energy.

Urahara grinned. "You are some scary kids, you know that? You two are pushing me very far in my Shikai release state, that's hard to do." Without warning, a device went off in his pocket and he picked it up and answered it. "Hello? Slow down, Rukia, what's wrong? Wait... who approached you? And he said... are you sure? Okay, I understand, I'm sending them right now." He hung up and looked the boys straight in their eyes. "Your cousin, Uryu, just encountered Miss Kuchiki and said he knows she and you boys are Soul Reapers and that he wants to talk to you three."

They looked at each other and shrugged, not knowing what Ishida's intentions were but thinking he had something important to speak to them about. Randy nodded. "Sure, we'll go. Hey Bennett, can you track them by their spiritual pressures?"

"Just a second... got it, they are by the park." said the raven-haired teen. They ran out of the shop and Flash Stepped toward the area where Bennett said they were.

Kisuke looked towards his long-time friend with a sly grin. "How was sitting in the hot spring with Ichigo? He blushed when you were in there with him, I know that much."

She sighed, "Yeah... We ended up talking about the past and he told me I was like family to him." She still couldn't get rid of the nice feeling that sentence brought to her insides.

He decided to help Ichigo out a little bit. "He really is a one-of-a-kind guy, any woman would be lucky to have him."

Yoruichi was thinking something a bit different. 'Those girls better stay away from my Ichigo! Wait... why am I considering him 'mine'? It's not like I'm his girlfriend...' She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.

Her fellow exile gave a tiny smile. 'He's already got a special place in her heart. She's got feelings for him and doesn't even realize it.' He frowned however when a stray, unpleasant thought hit him. 'Let's just hope that Aizen is not watching the park when they meet up. That wouldn't be good.'

The brothers made their way towards the park, each of them contemplating on why exactly Uryu wanted to talk with and why he used Rukia to get in contact with them. All they could come up with was that he wanted them to back off of taking care of the Hollows in Karakura Town, but the theory wasn't solid. So why would he need to meet with them?

They came up on the park and dropped down into the area. Spotting Rukia and a bespectacled teen with black hair and in their school uniform, they walked over and stopped in front of them, saying hello to her as they did so. They stared down Ishida and he stared right back, waiting for each other to break the silence.

"Ichigo, Bennett, Randy, you came." said Uryu. He pushed up his glasses and continued looking at them.

Ichigo immediately replied, "So you're Uryu Ishida, a Quincy. Since Rukia never said why you wanted to meet with us, I have to guess you never told her why. Now spill." They had to act like they didn't know who their cousin was so that the three of them could confirm Uryu's intentions, but none of them liked doing it.

"It's about some information I just received, information about my familial relations having something to do with you three." he said cryptically.

Inwardly, they were grinning. So he wanted to talk about their relations and basically get to know them. Deciding to mess with him a little, Bennett said, "What exactly are you talking about? I'm pretty sure we would know about something like that."

Uryu quickly figured out what they were doing and decided to play along. "I thought you would have known... cousin." He smirked at the end, letting the brothers know he caught on to Bennett's little joke.

Ichigo, Bennett, and Randy begin smirking as well at the confirmation. The newly revealed cousins began laughing after a couple of seconds.

After they stopped, Ichigo smiled and said, "Man, I have been waiting for you to say that. So your father finally told you, huh?"

Uryu nodded. "He told me everything."

Rukia was a bit shocked at the information. "You three are Quincies?!" This was news to her.

"Our mother was, our dad's not. Sorry we didn't tell you, but it was only revealed to us right after we met you for the first time. We didn't want to reveal it ourselves unless it was necessary." apologized Randy.

She couldn't fault them for that, they didn't know how she would react to it. Though she was glad they told her sooner rather than later.

Her Soul Pager went off and she pulled it out and checked the orders. "Orders just came in... no way! This can't be right! A massive horde of Hollows is coming to the town!" she yelled in worry.

The four boys' heads shot up and looked at her. All of them then felt the spiritual pressures of hundreds of Hollows appearing from everywhere. The monsters began appearing in droves, swarming to the park where the five were at.

Uryu readied his bow and his cousins pulled out their Zanpakuto. "Get ready, here they come!" They jumped into action, slaying the creatures as they approached them.

The "Last Quincy" fired off arrow after arrow to destroy the Hollows coming after them. Eventually, he cleared a portion of them to give some breathing room for himself, Ichigo, Randy, and Bennett since the three hybrids were close range fighters, albeit only a small opening. However, it was enough to get them going into a frenzy, slashing, slicing, and cutting any unfortunate Hollow that came into their path.

Pure chaos came after. Uryu slaughtered any creatures fleeing the scene and trying to escape from them, Ichigo cut off the heads of the ones brave enough to attack him, Bennett used Flash Step to move around the battlefield quickly and cleave many of them in half at the chest, and Randy vanished and reappeared in front of them, slashing downward towards their heads and splitting the mask and body in two. Agonizing screaming could be heard as Hollows died at the hands of the demons cutting them down.

The rest that were still alive and kicking let out a screech that sounded they were calling for something. As if the Devil himself responded, a black rip in the sky appeared and three sets of large white hands came out and began pulling the tear apart. Soon, three large Hollow masks came into view, shocking Rukia when she saw them.

"Those are Menos Grande class Hollows! You're not ready to take them on, you'll get killed!" she shrieked.

The Hollows' masks were white with glowing red eyes, segmented teeth, and a long nose with holes in it. They were also covered in black cloaks that wrapped around their entire bodies, leaving the hands and boot-like feet exposed. All three of the monstrous Hollows stepping out of their respective portals and slowly walking in the direction of their fellow Hollows and their prey.

The boys just looked at each other and gained large grins. "Finally some entertainment!" they yelled in glee. Jumping up into the air with a large amount of force behind their legs, they stopped in front of the Hollows and let out an extremely large amount of Hollowfied spiritual pressure, which caused the present beasts to realize they had bitten off more than they could chew.

However, the Menos Grandes simply stared at the three. Since Menos Grande level Hollows of that specific class were ruled by their primal instincts and nothing more than mostly large, unintelligent animals, the huge Hollows were in fear of something more dangerous than them: Three apex predators. They were rooted in their spot from their fear and sense of self-preservation.

Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough for the Kurosaki brothers. Each letting out a war cry, they shot forward and slashed the masks of the Hollows hundreds of times, brutalizing the unintelligent creatures and leaving them in shambles. The beasts simply dissolved and left the other Hollows in a state of shock and fear.

The boys grinned. "So who's next?"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the town, Tatsuki and Orihime were walking together and chatting, but the spiky-haired tomboy was not entirely invested in the conversation like her friend was. She was thinking about Ichigo and how she wished she was able to help him. 'I hate being weak. He and his brothers are out there fighting those monsters and I'm stuck here doing nothing to aid them.'

"Tatsuki?"

She shook her head when she heard Orihime try to get her attention. "Oh, sorry, Hime. I was just thinking about something." she assured her friend.

"It's okay. Anyways, have you noticed that Ichigo, Randy, and Bennett have been hanging around lately with the new transfer student, Rukia? Makes me wonder what they do together," Orihime contemplated. "I bet they are going on adventures to other dimensions to discover pirate treasure and fight monsters made of red bean paste, chocolate, and bacon! I wish I could join them!" The bubbly girl had a wild imagination when it came to many things. Unfortunately, Tatsuki was usually the one who had to pop her bubble and ruin her fun since it was almost always unrealistic.

Tatsuki deadpanned. "Orihime, how did you even come to that conclusion? Actually, never mind. I don't want to know. You really need to stop coming up with all these unrealistic ideas regarding everything, it cannot be healthy for your sanity or sense of reality." she scolded her.

Orihime pouted. "You're so mean, Tatsuki!"

"Just trying to keep you centered on what's real. But yeah, they have been hanging out lately." 'And I've been stuck on the sidelines while they do their patrols.'

Unknown to both of the girls, a Hollow was sneaking up on them and hoping to devour them, but first it used one of its abilities to shoot a bunch of seeds on others around them to control the people and their movements.

Tatsuki somehow felt the presence of the Hollow and whipped around, looking straight at it. "Crap! Orihime, we need to get out of here, there's something watching us on one of the buildings!"

The naive girl turned around and saw the Hollow staring at them. "T-Tatsuki, w-what is that?" she squeaked in fear.

The Hollow had a white jellyfish body and multiple purple tentacles. It began cackling insanely in a female voice. "Don't worry, I'm nobody important, just your executioner!"

Tatsuki knew immediately what this thing was. "It's a Hollow, a corrupted spirit. We really need to run!" 'Of all the times to not have any spiritual powers!'

However, their exits were blocked by a bunch of people with green splotches somewhere on their bodies who were moving towards them, cutting off any hope of escape.

"Damn it, what did you do to them?!" Tatsuki yelled. The people had a look on their faces that told her they were not in control of their bodies.

"When my seeds hit someone and explode, it gives me complete control over their bodies and they can do nothing about it. It means you're trapped and at my mercy!" laughed the Hollow.

As the people unwittingly surrounded them, Tatsuki started cursing. "Damn everything, I hate being weak and having no power to keep myself safe. I hate it, I hate it, I HATE IT!" As she clenched her fists and yelled out in anger, her previously unknown spiritual pressure flared and a burst of electricity exploded from her body, pushing back and knocking out the approaching people.

Tatsuki looked at herself in shock. "No way... I did that? I'm no longer weak. Orihime, stay back. I don't know what I just did, but I will do it again to keep us safe!" She assumed a fighting stance and prepared to defend herself.

The Hollow looked on in intrigue. This human girl had some spiritual power... interesting. "So you have a bit of power. Well it's not going to help you stay alive!" She let loose more seeds at the martial artist, hoping to catch her off-guard and potentially bring the girl under her control.

Tatsuki unleashed a spread of lightning and vaporized the seeds approaching her. The Hollow continued to shoot more seeds at her and she continued to respond in kind with frying them with more electricity. She got an idea to use in counter-attacking and gathered up her power in her fist. She punched at the Hollow, unleashing a large bolt of lightning at the female Hollow, who was too shocked to dodge to attack and got hit dead on. The attack took a lot out of Tatsuki, who collapsed to her knees while completely tired and exhausted.

The attack left a cloud of smoke that covered the top of the building the Hollow was on. The smoke cleared and she could be seen with burns on her body. She screamed, "You bitch! Just for that, I'm no longer being merciful! You will die here!" She shot a flurry of seeds larger than before, but the tomboy was out of energy and had no way to avoid the attack.

Time to seem to go in slow motion for Orihime. She was scared. This monster had attacked them and Tatsuki had defended both of them while she stood there frozen in fear and not being able to do anything herself. 'I'm useless. Tatsuki's about to be controlled by that creature and I can't even do anything to help her. What kind of friend am I? I want to save her, but how do I do that?'

A cheery voice said in the back of her mind said to her, "Maybe the six of us can help, Orihime."

'Who are you? I'm sure I don't have any people living in my head.' she innocently asked, unaware of who she was speaking to.

An image of six small fairies appeared in her mind, each different from the others. The female sprite with blonde hair smiled at her knowingly. "We're your Shun Shun Rikka, your spiritual powers. You awakened us when you wanted to defend your best friend from the Hollow. You know our names, Orihime. Call them out."

As if she had known their names all her life, she said them without hesitation. 'Ayame, Shun'o, Baigon, Hinagiku, Lily, Tsubaki.'

"Excellent, girl. Now wield us and protect your friend." said the ninja fairy.

Orhime shouted out, "Santen Kesshun, I reject!" Her hair pins glowed and three skinny arrowheads, Baigon, Hinagiku, and Lily, shot out of them, flying in front of Tastuki and made a triangle. A glowing shield appeared in the space between the objects and the seeds disintegrated upon impact. She gained a determined look in her eye and stared down the Hollow that dared to attack her best friend.

The monster was furious and in shock. "That's not possible, my seeds are completely gone! What are you?!"

"You tried to hurt my friend, I cannot allow that. Koten Zanshun, I reject!" she shouted, returning her shield into her hairpins and sending a fourth arrowhead, Tsubaki, shooting at the Hollow. It shot through and split her in half, cleaving her mask in two. She vanished into nothingness, leaving no trace that she was ever there in the first place. Tsubaki vanished back into the pins and Orihime walked over to Tatsuki and crouched down to make sure she was not hurt. "Are you okay, Tatsuki?" the ditzy girl asked.

Tatsuki grunted out, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Exhausted, but good." She looked down at her right hand in concern and winced in pain. "Though I cannot say the same about my hand, it's very red. Like it's somehow been burned." True to her word, her right hand was a nice shade of cherry red and had a look to it as if it was hit by lightning, which was ironic considering that she launched a lightning bolt from her hand like Zeus himself.

Orihime got worried. "That looks bad. I think you overdid it on that attack. Here, let me heal it." she told her friend.

"No offense Hime, but I'm not sure that it is that sim—" she stopped talking as Orihime summoned Ayame and Shun'o and the sprites positioned themselves on either side of her hand. An ellipse dome covered the appendage and after a few seconds, the redness receded and disappeared completely. "Holy crap, that's amazing. There's no redness left, nothing. It's like it never happened to begin with." She flexed her hand, feeling no pain whatsoever.

Her best friend asked, "How does it feel?"

"It feels fine, but I think we should get out of here while we can. I'm not too sure if anyone saw what did."

"Okay, Tatsuki." They supported each other's weight and tried to walk home but only got a little bit away from the area they were at before they both collapsed out of exhaustion, passing out immediately.

A certain chocolate-skinned female exile could be seen walking up to the two teens and lifting them over her shoulders before Flash Stepping away to her fellow exiles' base of operations.

"Kisuke's gonna have his hands full with these two, that much is for sure."

Unfortunately for the gentle giant of the group of friends, he was busy dealing with a Hollow himself. The Hollow had ambushed him in a deserted street and begun attacking him and he tried fighting back, but he did not have the power to seriously damage it. Sado continued to punch it without results as well as avoid the swings it took at him.

He simply could not figure out why he couldn't hurt the Hollow like before when Bennett was with him and the first Hollow that attacked him. 'When I helped Bennett before, I had a lot more strength in my punches. So what's different? Is it the type of Hollow?' he questioned. 'No that can't be it. Could it be the situation? That must be it. The last time I was watching and protecting his back, but this time there's no one but myself.'

He was so lost in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention to the Hollow completely and it got in a hard hit in his stomach, causing damage to his insides. He lost his breath and hunched over, allowing it to sucker punch him in the face and send him flying back into the pavement. 'So this is how I die? In the street, defeated by a Hollow. I never thought it would happen like this. Sorry Ichigo, Randii, Benetto, Abuelo.'

As the Hollow started punching him while he was in the ground and unable to fight back, he remembered what his grandfather had told him once and the promise he made to his three closest friends: How his strength, arms, and fists could be used for other than inflicting pain on others, how the four outcasts made a pact to stick together and defend each other from everything and everyone that wanted to hurt them. 'No... I won't die here, not while that promise still stands! I will use my abuelo's words to keep it intact and protect my best friends!'

Chad lifted up his arms and caught the left fist of the Hollow. His spiritual pressure spiked and a black liquid encased his right arm. His limb became black with a dark red stripe running down the middle of his arm and wing-like spikes jutting out at the wrist and shoulder. Proceeding to shove it back with such force that it fell into the ground, he got up and looked at his arm in wonder. "I don't know what just happened, but I will use my newfound power to keep my promise and stay alive for Abuelo and my friends."

As the Hollow stood up and roared at Sado, he ran toward it and threw a haymaker, unleashing a beam of energy that cut right through it. The Hollow had no idea what happened and just died on the spot. He fell to his knees and coughed up a bit of blood, signifying that his body had sustained some damage to it. The black liquid from his arm disappeared without warning.

Chad heard a trio of footsteps coming toward him and looked up. A large dark-skinned man was crouching down and looking over him to make sure he was not hurt too badly. A pair of young kids, a redheaded boy wearing shorts and a t-shirt with an annoyed look on his face and a timid black-haired girl in a t-shirt and long skirt, were standing behind the man and watching him inspect the mixed teen.

"Who are you?" asked Chad.

The man calmly answered, "I am Tessai Tsukabishi, Mr. Sado. I am an associate of your friends' mentor, Kisuke Urahara. He sent me to find you after his sensors picked up both the large amount of Hollow spiritual pressure and your own, after it was discovered." He stood up to his full height. "I need to take back to the Urahara Shop where I can heal you, you have some internal injuries." Tessai lifted Chad over his shoulder and allowed the two children to climb onto his back, Flash Stepping away a job to the store.

Ichigo, Bennett, Randy, and Uryu cut down the last of Hollows that had come out of the woodworks. No more had shown up after they purified the Menos Grandes. Now they were walking back to Urahara's store to regroup and discuss what had just happened with him.

"What do you think forced all those Hollows to just appear all of a sudden?" came the question that was on everyone's mind from the Quincy. He didn't know what exactly set off all those monsters to attack them, but based on what his father had told him about the past, he had an idea on who cut them loose: Sosuke Aizen himself. Even now he was still causing problems for them all. None of the boys answered, but they knew what their cousin was thinking.

However, Rukia was starting to have doubts on staying in the Human World with the Kurosakis. There was a law against transferring Soul Reaper powers to a human. From the information given to her by the brothers and what she felt in her soul and seen, her powers weren't simply transferred, only dormant. Her spirit energy had helped unlock their own dormant powers by being siphoned off somewhat, which had put her powers into a state of dormancy.

She really did believe what they had told her since she had proof and evidence of her own, but it was not that simple. If the Soul Society saw them, they would most likely get the wrong idea and assume she illegally transferred her powers. They would send another Soul Reaper to come get her and kill the boys she had come to call her friends. And she could not allow that.

She made her decision: She would leave tonight to keep them safe.

They reached the store, walked in, and Randy, Ichigo, and Bennett greeted Urahara and his friends. The cousins walked into the back with him and froze when they saw three familiar faces laying on the floor with blankets covering them and wet towels on their foreheads.

Randy growled out, "Kisuke, start explaining. Now."

And that's another chapter. Things are really starting to heat up, aren't they?

Unfortunately, I will be in an area for sometime where I won't be able to access the Internet on my laptop, so this will be my last chapter for a bit since I now only post new chapters on my laptop. But fear not, I can still type my chapters on my phone while I'm gone. It will definitely help when I have several chapters already written and start writing on more chapters while posting the already-written chapters on my regular schedule after I come back.

Crash, out.