"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORNING IIIICHIIIGGGOOOO!"

"CAN IT, OLD MAN!"

WHAM!

Ichigo's foot crashes into the falling Isshin's face, launching him clear across the room and firmly introducing him into a wall. "Can't you wake me up like a normal parent!?"

Despite his irritation, Ichigo threw the covers off and got out of bed. He grabbed a towel and strode past his unconscious father to the bathroom, unconcerned with what happened to him. "He never got hurt from that before. Most likely something leftover from being a captain. Or reiatsu he had or got from me and Hōgyoku like everyone else." The thought made him pause as he got in the shower. "Though considering how sporadic that damn thing was I'm not so sure."

As he walked into the tub and turned on the shower his thoughts of the mystical item continued to wander. "I wonder why reiatsu caused such strange changes in Everyone. Inoue got a hollow side and the ability to reject reality in a given space, while Chad got a more hollow-like ability but no hollow inside of him. Not to mention the fact I never used Zangetsu's hollow powers until after Rukia got kidnapped."

He frowned as he scrubbed his body. "Speaking of which..." His mind flashed back to when he and Rukia hollowfied right in front of the Gotei 13. It was truly a combination of a miracle and Yoruichi's quick thinking that let them avoid being murdered on the spot.

Ichigo wore his signature scowl in the room, waiting for someone to show up and get him out of here. The shinigami had chained his arms up to the wall and removed all the weapons they could find on him, before sealing his legs in manacles made of the same kind of Seki-Seki used to build the walls of Seireitei. Part of him wondered if he could break out of these considering that fact but he ultimately figured trying to bust out now would only cause trouble. The cool stone itched slightly against his skin, sapping away at his Reiryoku, but he was more focused on his fellow prisoner. Rukia Kuchiki, who was locked up the same way.

"All this time and fighting to save her and I merely ended up chained up with her at the end of the day." Ichigo thought in frustration. "We would have gotten home scot-free if it wasn't for that bastard Aizen and his cronies. We wouldn't have needed to go to Soul Society at all if it wasn't for him."

He sighed. "Nothing we can do about it now." Deciding to shove his feelings of vengeance to the future, he decided to address his currently unresponsive friend. "Rukia, are you there?"

"...I am." Rukia replied. Ichigo frowned, Rukia's tone wasn't opening despairing like when they were leaving, but she still sounded lost and dead. "I wonder when are we getting executed now."

"What do mean 'When are we getting executed now'?!" Ichigo roared incredulously. "It's pretty clear that Aizen was pulling the strings for this whole clusterfuck! Why should we get the blame?!"

"We hollowfied right in front of almost every captain in the Seireitei," Rukia replied, at least somewhat relieved that Byakuya hadn't seen what happened. The thought of her brother seeing her berserk state would be far worse than any death the Central 46 could dish out. "Even if we get pardoned for what happened under Aizen's trickery, we still break Soul Society's laws simply by being alive. I'm fairly sure the only reasons haven't been killed on the spot were Ukitake's help and everyone wanting to know what the hell was going on."

"Well, what about the captains that got hollowfied then?!" Ichigo argued. "They aren't going to kill off their best fighters after something like this, are they?!"

"...I'm not sure," Rukia hesitantly stated. Before Ichigo could say anything else she cut him off. "The captains are far more important than us. You're a complete unknown and despite my crimes getting blown out of proportion, I'm just a rank and file member of the 13th division that gave her powers to...what appeared to be a normal human. They lose nothing getting rid of us."

"...That's bullshit." Ichigo snarled. "How is that fair?"

"It isn't," Rukia stated. "But when changing the system can result in the literal end of the world, if not all of existence, no one is willing to change it." Rukia sighed. "But enough about Soul Society politics."

Ichigo scowled. "Couldn't they at least not chain us up like this? These cuff itch like nothing else!"

Rukia gave a small smile. "Ichigo. You do realize this is probably the highest security cell they have in Seireitei? Even the Maggot's Nest doesn't have these kinds of restraints. They're not going to ask you if you're comfortable here!"

Click.

The two unwilling vizards turned to see the door opening to reveal a masked shinigami.

"The head captain has requested your appearance." The shinigami stated, uncuffing the two. "Come with me."

Ichigo and Rukia turned to each other in trepidation before deciding to follow the man. "How are my other friends?" Ichigo stated.

"Recuperating in the 4th division." The masked shinigami replied. "They suffered greater damage than you two attacking Aizen and needed immediate medical help."

"So they're okay for now?" Rukia hoped. "They haven't been executed?"

"No, they have it. After it was revealed that Aizen murdered the Central 46 and masqueraded as them to give your execution," Rukia went still at that bit of information as they stepped in front of a building. "It was clear acting without thinking might do little more than kill people that have had no part in this incident."

The doors to the building swung open.

"Enter."

With an audible gulp, Ichigo walked in, Rukia coming soon after.

The court assembled seemed to be made entirely of captains, the only seats empty being Komamura, Soifon, the traitors, and Tōshiro. Something both Ichigo and Rukia noticed with growing concern. "Where are they?" Rukia thought, hoping they were sent to the 4th division and they haven't been executed. Somewhat lightening their fears, Yoruichi was also there in what they assumed was the culprit's seat, giving them a friendly wave.

"As most of you are aware, this meeting has been called to discuss the issue of the ryoka." The head captain leveled a severe glare at Ichigo. "What is your name, child?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ichigo stated.

"You have been classified for breaking into Seireitei." Yamamoto accused. "And acquiring hollow powers."

"I wouldn't have needed to bust in here like this if you hadn't dragged her back here to be executed over something that wasn't her fault," Ichigo added. "I never even get a chance to speak at her trial, assuming there was one."

"There was," Byakuya replied. "However, living humans are not seen as acceptable witnesses to the actions of Shinigami. Given that they are incapable of perceiving them-"

"Ichigo was capable of seeing shinigami and hollows long before I met him, and even broke a Bakudō I placed before I gave him any powers." One could have heard a pin drop in the silence left after this most recent revelation. Mayuri, in particular, was giving Ichigo a look he really didn't like. Seeing that most understood the implications – Rukia wasn't quite sure about Zaraki, but was not about to stop to explain it – she continued. "Ichigo was more than capable of testifying for me. The only reason he wasn't that he was believed dead after the captain dispatched to retrieve me pierced his Soul Sleep and left him to bleed out."

The thinly-veiled barb clearly struck Byakuya, if his irritated face was any indication, but he composed himself rather quickly. "This doesn't change the fact that Yoruichi busted into the Seireitei with a Vizard."

"Ichigo didn't show any signs of hollowfication when he first used Rukia's powers." Yoruichi half-lied. "They only happened after Rukia left and Ichigo's powers were destroyed and then recovered."

"They seem rather intent on blaming this clusterfuck on Byakuya." Kyōraku thought, a sweatdrop going down his face.

Yamamoto seemed to notice this as well if his next statement was any indication. "Byakuya had no way of knowing any of this would happen. And considering what you and Urahara were exiled for and what you placed in Rukia's Gigai, I find it unlikely that you didn't either."

Yoruichi pouted. "Oi. The Gigai was supposed to drain the Hōgyoku's power until nothing was left. The fact that Ichigo and Rukia went hollow shouldn't have happened."

Mayuri smirked. "Considering his bungling is what seemed to doom so many captains and lieutenants to a pointless death, his screw up here seemed almost tame. Couldn't he even come here himself to own up to his guilt?"

"Nah," Yoruichi replied. "He didn't want to deal with you. And it was Aizen that hollowfied those shinigami." Ichigo's and Rukia's eyes widen at that. There were more shinigami with hollow powers?

Yamamoto flared his reiatsu before Mayuri could make an enraged reply, cutting the argument off at the bud. "What do you mean by that?"

Yoruichi shrugged. "Exactly what I meant. Aizen was the one to hollowfy Shinji and the others. Urahara just got blamed for it because he was the one who made it."

Yamamoto frowned at this while Retsu, Ukitake, and Kyōraku grew pits in their stomachs at this info. "Where is he now?" Retsu asked.

"...Same town Ichigo came from." Yoruichi relented. "Karakura Town."

"The same place Grand Fisher terrorized?" Ukitake stated, before going still at the grimace on Rukia's face and the murderous glare on Ichigo's. "You know it?"

"...I still have a grudge." Ichigo snarled. "Let's leave it at that."

Deciding to change the subject before something bad happened Kyōraku asked Rukia. "Why did you give him your power?"

"Long story short," Rukia explained. "I was assigned to protect Karakura Town as you all know, but due to Ichigo's incredibly high reiatsu levels, a hollow far stronger than I've ever fought came to the house. Though Ichigo charging in ahead of me didn't." Rukia smirked as Ichigo gave her a playful punch to the shoulder. "I was forced to either die and get eaten with Ichigo and his family, or give him the power to do what I couldn't."

There was a long silence before Yamamoto spoke. "Your report has been taken into account. We will deliberate on what you've told us and decide on a course of action." A few more masked shinigami appeared at the ryoka's sides and led them out of the Council building. To Ichigo's and Rukia's gratitude, they ended up in the same cells as the other ryoka.

"Ichigo-Kun!" Orihime squealed nearly jumping into the vizard's arms. "You're okay!"

"How did things go with the trial?" Chad asked.

"Far better than I expected," Rukia admitted. She honestly thought they'd get fried by Ryujin Jakka rather than leave.

"Yeah," Yoruichi added. "Aizen was responsible for everything bad that happened, except for Mayuri and Kenpachi getting wrecked, but I still I'd have to do a lot more to get them off Rukia's and Ichigo's case." Yoruichi gave a stretch, releasing all the tension and stress in her body from Yamamoto bearing down on her. "Either this place has gotten all laxer while I've been gone, or they realized how much they screwed up and how badly Aizen duped them."

"Does that mean we'll get to go?" Chad asked hesitantly.

"...Maybe?" Yoruichi said, not liking how unsure she was. "We weren't supposed to get caught at all, let alone show Ichigo going hollow in front of every other captain. The fact that Rukia also hollowfied further muddles things." Seeing the tense air and rising concern of the others Yoruichi decided to go for the bright side. "On the other hand, considering what Aizen is most likely up to, they'll likely need all the help they can get, which would include getting Urahara and the Vizard on their side. Killing us would do the direct opposite."

"So we wait to see if they need us or not." Uryuu scowled. He had no desire to blindly follow these shinigami. Not after all they've done to him. Except he had no intention of letting Aizen get away with nearly killing Rukia. "Ridiculous."

"...So about those Vizard, you were talking about Yoruichi." Ichigo asked. "What did Aizen do to them?"

"Aizen, in his research, forced them to undergo a Hollowification process and then pinned the blame on Urahara, hence why he nearly was executed with all of them. Through Urahara's efforts, they remained Shinigami, but they now have Hollow powers." Yoruichi explained. "The leader of them all was Aizen's captain when he was a lieutenant, Shinji Hirako."

"Could they help me, Ichigo, and the other captains with our hollow powers?" Rukia asked hopefully. "Or at least ensure they don't act up?"

"Yes," Yoruichi stated, before pausing. "Well, I'm not sure if they would want to."

"...What?" Ichigo asked. "Why?"

"They're all still pretty pissed off at the Soul Society," Yoruichi explained. "I'm not sure they'd help anyone else but Ichigo. And if what he said about Zangetsu was any indication, he may not need it." She stroked her chin. "They might be willing to fight Aizen, but more for vengeance than anything else."

"To hell with that!" Ichigo growled. "Aizen nearly killed us all with just Gin and Tosen! God knows what he'll do with the Hōgyoku now! We can't just leave some of the only people that can help us crippled over a grudge! And Rukia had no part in this. Hell, they've had a hundred years to get over it!"

"I know," Yoruichi stated. "But 100 years isn't that long to a shinigami. Before Urahara came up with the three-day Bankai training technique, it was supposed to take several years to achieve Bankai. Shinigami live for a long, long time unless killed prematurely. Rukia around a century old, and she looks younger than most of you."

"I don't look that young..." Rukia muttered.

"But then again," Yoruichi added. "Aizen getting his plan up and running might spur them to help, and considering what happened to Rukia, they'll be more willing to help her."

It was roughly two hours later when the ryoka were all once again summoned to the Captain Council. They stood before Yamamoto, as the chairs from before were gone. To their relief, Soifon and Komamura were standing before the man as well, with Seki-Seki wrapped around their wrists. The head captain stared down at them for a moment before speaking.

"We have reached our decision." He rumbled. "In the absence of Central 46, we have decreed you all to relocation to Kakrakura Town. There you will contact Urahara and the Vizard for how to deal with your hollowfication. You will not return until the matter is resolved."

The ryoka sighed in relief. That was a pat on the back for all of them. Guess they were going home alive. Soifon and Komamura merely nodded. "It will be done." They stated, leading the ryoka away.

Ichigo sighed at his desk. After everything that happened, school seemed almost surreal, if rather welcome and calming. A needed distraction from all the crazy shit that has been going on in my life as of late.

Of course, that was somewhat cut by a note appearing on his desk, courtesy of Soifon. She and Rukia were in civilian schoolgirl attire, and acting in class in a convenient use of Soifon's short stature. It would have been better, in her opinion, to simply survey the classroom as an invisible shinigami. But the abundance of spirit sensitive teens capable of seeing or at the very least sensing her rendered this option as more trouble than worth, especially as Soifon was fast and stealthy enough to evade the teacher's eye even in a Gigai. Komomaura wasn't able to head to school with them due to his huge stature and adult voice. Even if Urahara could make a viable human-looking Gigai for him, he likely wouldn't get in as a student, and making him a teacher would require more work than was necessary. As such, the man was staying at Urahara's shop, faking as a man in a werewolf costume. As uncomfortable as that job was, he desired to rein in his newly acquired hollow powers more than hide his face. The hollowfied shinigami couldn't hear their zanpakuto at all, despite still being able to use them.

He casually reads the contents.

Meet up at Urahara's shop after school -C

Okay. -R

This is to address the battleplan against Aizen, right? -Q

Yes, but more about our hollow affliction. -C

Right, that was priority number 1 for getting Soul Society's help. -G

And getting strong enough to fight Aizen in the first place. -S

Ichigo nodded to himself. They had come up with different pen names, so just in case the note did get caught by the teacher, no one was revealed. Rukia was S, short for Shinigami, Ichigo was S.S., short for Substitute Shinigami, Chad was G, short for Giant, Inoue was R, short for Rejection. They had chosen those names as they described their powers. Ichigo and Rukia were obvious, but Chad's right arm, when transformed, he called El Brazo Derecho del Giante, or "The Right Arm of the Giant". Inoue's powers were all about rejecting reality, hence Rejection.

Ishida had come into the group rather late, right before Rukia was taken, so he made a pen name after that mess. Q, being for Quincy was an obvious pick. Soifon was admittedly a far harder pick at first, with Shinigami already being taken. Orihime nearly had her head taken off by a kick to it when she suggested B, for Bee. She eventually picked C, for Captain.

He jotted down a quick note: I'll be there. -S.S With that, Soifon swept pass, scooped up the letter, pocketed it, and the group continued class.

At Urahara's shop.

"Ichigo! What a surprise," Urahara greeted, beckoning Ichigo and company in, though he didn't look surprised at all.

"Cut the crap, Urahara," Ichigo said shortly, everyone stepping inside. "I think you have a pretty good idea why I'm here."

Urahara never lost his smile but tipped his head, looking a bit more mysterious in the process. "You mean your Inner Hollow problems."

"Have you made contact with the Vizard?" Soifon asked quickly and curtly.

"Yep. They were very interested in Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad and wanted to make them part of their club. I had a little more trouble convincing them of everyone else though." Urahara explained. "They were willing to help Rukia and the Captains, but the latter were all a little less well received."

Komamura was rather downtrodden. "My attempt at helping matters didn't do so. I offered them positions at Soul Society and was very firmly rebuffed. They may desire to help us destroy Aizen, but they have no intention of returning to Soul Society. After their unfair persecution, I'm not entirely surprised."

"They intend to help us," Soifon states coldly. "So long as they don't intend to antagonize our work and help us with the traitor, that's good enough."

"Wait," Chad interrupted. "I can see why Rukia and the others will need help, but could they help Orihime and me? We aren't Shinigami."

Urahara didn't answer immediately. "Orihime's powers function somewhat like shinigami Zanpakutō. Her spirits are similar to Zanpakutō spirits, and shinigami with multiple spirits are very rare, but they do exist. As for you Chad, your powers are the most hollow of anyone here and the vizards know more about hollow powers than me."

"Okay, so about Aizen," Uryuu asked. "What is he going to do with the Hōgyoku now that he has it?"

"I'm afraid I can only guess at this point," Urahara said guiltily. "With the Hōgyoku, Aizen has the ability to break down the barriers between Shinigami and Hollow. I would imagine he has used it to create powerful Arrancar, Hollows with Shinigami powers."

"Would he hollowfy himself?" Ichigo suggested.

"...Debatable." Urahara answered. "With Hollowification, there is a risk of losing oneself to the Hollow within, I don't know how the Vizard mastered the powers, and neither does Aizen to the best of my knowledge, so he wouldn't bother." Urahara gave a grave sigh. "Although he probably would if he did know how to do so, and he has two captain level shinigami to test it on."

Everyone grimaced at the thought of Gin and Tōsen gaining hollow powers. Komamura and Soifon were particularly incensed by such a suggestion. "Although," Soifon thought coldly. "I wouldn't put that past Gin at least."

"Wait a minute," Rukia rose her hand. "I wasn't entirely conscious at the time, but Aizen said something about taking the throne at the top." Rukia paled a bit. "You don't think he's going after the Soul King?"

Orihime blinked. "Who?"

"Our God," Urahara stated casually, raising a slew of questions from the humans.

"Don't just say it like that." Soifon snapped, cutting off those questions. "The Soul King is the one that keeps all the souls of all the worlds in check. Without him, life itself would fall apart! Is there actually a chance that Aizen is aiming for him?!"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's the one thing I can be sure of," Urahara says rather gravely, causing everyone to give each other uneasy glances. "And if Soul Society's intent on protecting this town is any indication, so are they."

The humans went still at that statement. "What do you mean by that?" Orihime squeaked.

"Yes, what do you mean by that?" Komamura questioned in alarm. "Usually, the only way to get to the dimension that the Royal Family resides in is the King Key held by Squad 0, the squad of the absolute strongest shinigami who are dedicated to the protection of the Soul King. How could Aizen get in there, and what does Karakura town have to do with it?"

"That's the thing," Urahara explained. "A replica of the key can be made by gathering 100,000 souls in half a spirit-mile of land that has an unusually high amount of spirit particles, and then sacrificing them all." Everyone went white with horror. "I'm sure you all know where Aizen could find that."

"Oh God," Orihime gasped, holding her hand to her mouth.

"Karakura town," Ichigo breathed, turning pale.

"Tōsen would never agree to such a plan!" Komamura argued. "It goes against everything he and Kakio stood for!"

"Well," Orihime responded. "Tōsen might not know what Aizen's planning. Most of Soul Society had no idea he was evil until we showed up."

The image of Tōsen getting cut down like Hinamori right as he realizes Aizen's plans burned through Komamura's mind and he snarled so ferally even Urahara felt a cold sweat.

"Okay, that settles it," Ichigo growled, just as angry. "We need to get stronger and beat the shit out of this bastard."

"No," Soifon argued. "This town is your matter. Aizen is ours. If you leave and go to Hueco Mundo to fight Aizen, nothing would stop Aizen from destroying Karakura town while you are gone. Soul Society will kill Aizen."

"Excuse me, but that sounds very unlikely," Uryuu says coldly.

"...Come again?" Soifon's dead calm tone sent shivers down Orihime's spine.

"Aizen completely fooled all of you, to the point of where he could fake his death and blame us for it despite both our captain levels fighters already being engaged in battles at that very point." Uryuu retorted. "And when he revealed himself, all you got trying to stop him from leaving was two hollowfied captains."

"Now, now." Urahara laughed nervously as he felt Soifon's reiatsu starting to spike and saw her eyes turning black. "Soul Society has an easy way to take out Aizen."

"Oh?" Ishida leaned in. "What is it?"

"Aizen's Zanpukto grants him the power to put anyone under hypnosis," Urahara began. "But true hypnosis requires one crucial element: trust. That is why he was so successful in his fooling of the whole of Soul Society and how he escaped so easily – everyone trusted him, no one thought him a villain and a traitor until they had already been put under his Zanpukto's hypnosis. As no one in Soul Society trusts him anymore, and without Aizen repeatedly releasing his Zanpukto to replenish the hypnosis, Aizen's hold over them is likely breaking as time goes on, if it hasn't completely broken already."

"And what keeps him from just re-hypnotizing everyone again?" Ichigo argues. "Hell, none of us know what his Bankai is! How is Soul Society going to handle that?!"

"...Good questions." Urahara relented. "I can't know for sure since I'm not it's wielder, but I imagine Kyoka Suigetsu should take more reiatsu to hypnotize if the opponent knows about the hypnosis and/or mistrusts Aizen. Therefore, multiple Captain level opponents should force him to either choose who to brainwash or use an insane amount reiatsu hypnotizing them all, too much to be practical. As for his Bankai...I have no idea how to deal with that, considering he likely never used it where anyone could see."

"That only helps your case so much," Chad says nervously.

"Well," Urahara replied. "Soifon's argument is still sound. There's a reason Aizen never came to get the Hōgyoku from me himself, but I'd rather not take him on myself. The odds of one of us beating the other is too equal for either of us to risk it."

"So the plan is to vanguard our town and hope the captains can dogpile Aizen to death?" Orihime says nervously. "I don't want to be the one to say this but that seems rather thrown together."

"Afraid that's the best plan we can think of for now," Urahara states. "Although Yamamoto might have something up his sleeve in case that doesn't work." He suddenly whipped out his fan and waved it with a smirk. "Now, I think you guys should get to know Shinji by now, wouldn't want to be late would you?"

Soifon scowled at the lackadaisical tone but didn't comment on it. "Where are they?"

The group, sans Ishida, stood in front of a seemingly abandoned warehouse. The Quincy had intended to get some training from his father and had no reason to be here.

"So this is the place?" Orihime asked. She could tell something was off about the warehouse. It was unused and abandoned, but strangely there was relatively little sign of dilapidation despite this. The structure was largely sound and intact. And as they drew closer, she became faintly aware of a barrier.

"I'm fairly sure," Komamura replied.

Soifon stepped forward and clapped his hands together. For a moment, there was silence. Then the barrier split wide open. She then pushed the door open and walked inside, everyone following her. The warehouse was pitch black and seemingly empty. And yet they could sense several strong shinigami in front of them, seemingly ready to attack. "We were told to go here by Urahara Kisuke for Vizard training," Soifon stated in a formal and direct tone. "Reveal yourselves."

"You could have told us that before you busted the barrier." An annoyed voice called out as the lights came on. Eight shinigami of varying shapes and size bore down on the group, taking their hands off their blades. "Gave us a bit of a scare."

Orihime swallowed as she noticed the tense atmosphere and tried to take away from it. "Are you the Vizard Urahara said would help us?"

"Correct beautiful." A blonde skinny man with bone straight hair dropped down, a devious smirk on his face. Shinji Hirako if the reports of the hollowfication incident were right. The other vizard, Love Aikawa, Rojuro Otoribashi, Kensei Muguruma, Hachigen Ushioda, Hiyori Sarugaki, Mashiro Kuna, and Lisa Yadomaru merely stood impassively. "But first you've got to prove you've got the hollow power."

Soifon, Komamura, and Rukia grimaced at letting the hollow power out with no training, but they didn't have much of a choice. Their eyes flickered black as dipped into the hollow as quickly and briefly as possible, Orihime doing the same. Chad and Ichigo, with significantly more faith in their control, merely activated their powers outright. Ichigo calling Zangetsu to his side with the same hollow eyes like the others, while Chad merely formed his Left Arm of the Giant.

"We need to control this power," Soifon said coldly. "And you're going to teach us."

The petite blonde, Hiyori Sarugaki, suddenly burst through the air and gave a kick right to Soifon's face, one she very nearly wasn't able to block. And when she did, her arm throbbed with pain and she was almost knocked off her feet by the kick.

"Fast!" Everyone thought, Soifon especially. That speed was comparable to some of her most skilled subordinates, and the strength was much greater.

"Listen here!" Hiyori snapped at the captain. "You don't get to just walk on the Vizards and make demands like your the boss around here!"

"Yeah, Don't give Hiyori orders. Her temper's worse than most actual hollows." Shinji chuckled, narrowly avoiding a thrown shoe.

Soifon hissed as her eyes turned black again, clearly incensed by the unexpected attack. Most of the other intruders were firmly on guard, half expecting another attack from the midget. Komamura, on the other hand, saw the potential breakdown of negotiations and stood in front of the Vizard. "This doesn't need to devolve into a fight. We came here in peace. We merely desire to cure our ailments and stop whatever's Aizen's planning."

"Y-Yeah!" Orihime said frantically. "And it's not like we just barged in unannounced. Kisuke called for us in advance, didn't he?"

"Alright," Shinji agreed, him seemingly being the representative of the vizard. "As long as you know that we're doing our own thing and don't plan on rejoining you, we're set. Sorry about Hiyori, shortie's a hand full even for us."

"Baka Shinji! Stop going on about my height – it got old over a hundred years ago!" Hiyori snapped at the former captain, who seemed to be getting a kick out of his friend's rage.

Soifon glared at Shinji and Hiyori, the former's familiar childish and lackadaisical nature and the latter's temper was clearly getting on her nerves. Even so, she quickly reigned it in. She had no time to get into petty squabbles at a time like this.

"Okay," Ichigo sighed, glad things hadn't spiraled into a fight. "How do you train hollow powers again?"

"It's simple," One of the other Vizard, Lisa Yadomaru, stated. "First we force you to let your Hollow have control, to get a grasp of its power. Then we measure your spiritual energy, make sure you have enough to survive. Finally, we make you fight your Hollow in your Inner World, where it resides. You win, you can pull on its mask and use Hollow powers, and it doesn't bother you. You lose, you become a complete Hollow, and we kill you. If you win, we give you endurance training on mask usage."

"That's the hollow training program?!" Rukia said incredulously.

"Don't worry! This training has had a 100% success rate! At least with us 8." The bubbly green-haired girl, Mashiro Kuna, placated. "Who's first?"

This gave the group a bit of jolt. Who would be first? Ichigo and Orihime had better relations with their hollows, at least to the point where they'd only take over when they screwup or get beaten, but Orihime's hollow wasn't entirely ready to work with her yet. The best idea was to give one of the new vizards a shot, but which of those three first? Ichigo was going to suggest Rukia, but one of the others cut her off.

"Komamura," Soifon said, startling everyone. "His powers are the most potentially destructive in the hands of mindless hollow besides Ichigo, and he already has some control over his hollow. My powers require genuine precision to use effectively, as does Orihime's and Rukia's."

"Wait what was that about Ichigo?" Shinji gaped, along with the other hollows.

Ichigo smirked, before releasing more of his hollow power from his sword. The other vizard took a step back in shock.

"How the hell did you-" The white-haired muscular man, Kensei Muguruma, rasped.

"I'm fairly sure it's because I already fought my hollow," Ichigo stated, flooring all the others. "My hollow powers work a bit differently than everyone else."

"Really?" The guy with a spiked afro and glasses, Love Aikawa, asked. "How?"

"My shinigami powers and hollow powers are kinda one and the same," Ichigo explained, getting many weird looks from the vizard.

"It's mostly Urahara's fault," Rukia said. She had been rather quiet for most of the conversation due to her nerves getting the better of her, especially after that kick Hiyori, but seeing the situation calm down was enough to get her to speak. "Whatever the dick did, it forced Ichigo into a situation where he could either go hollow or get shinigami powers. Ichigo being Ichigo, got both."

"Ah." Shinji grimaced. "Should've known pin strip had a hand in this. Well then, whatever." He walked over to Komamura with a smirk, raising a hand to the wolfman's face. "You ready, big guy?"

Komamura nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." And everything went black.

While the shinigami and hollowfied humans were starting their training with the vizard, Ishida was walking toward his father's office. Despite the man's dislike of the Quincy ways, Ishida knew his father had at least knowledge of the higher ways of Quincy power. Now normally, Ishida would never go to his father for this. His strained relationship with the man aside, he highly doubted his father would agree with training him. "However, I have a trump card now! Our personal feelings can't get involved with stopping the end of Karakura Town!" He knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Uryuu entered, closing the door behind him. "Father."

Ishida Ryuuken was a middle-aged man, with premature silver-white hair that framed his face. His dark tan skin provided an interesting contrast with his hair, while his height was nothing to sneeze at either, at approximately 5 foot 10 inches. Ryuuken looked up from his paperwork. "Uryuu, what a surprise." His already calculating eyes narrowed. "Why are you here?"

"I come for training in the Quincy arts," Uryuu answered swiftly, coming straight to the point. He looked his father straight in the eye. "I know of your distaste of my choice to follow in my grandfather's footsteps. But he was your father, and if I am right, he must have trained you as well, even if you dislike your heritage."

Ryuuken stood up and looked out the window, his hands clasped behind his back. "You know I reject my Quincy heritage, as it does not provide a way to mete out a living. You can't get a job slaying hollows, son. And the danger far outstrips any possible rewards you could get for it. Why insist on being a Quincy?"

"First of all, Don Kanoji was able to get a job purging spirits, and he no idea what he was doing before Ichigo showed him," Uryuu argued, getting an incredulous eyebrow raise from his father. As ridiculous as the statement was, Uryuu took a small bit of satisfaction in one-upping his father. "Second, my grades show that I can easily get a career and obtain the worldly possessions you are so obsessed with and be an exceptional Quincy at the same time." Ryuuken narrowed his eyes, but Uryuu wasn't done. "And last of all, I'm fairly sure if I and my friends don't team up with the shinigami as my grandfather attempted to do, none of us might have a life to live soon."

Ryuuken frowned at the last statement. "What do you mean by that?"

Uryuu stepped forward. "A rouge shinigami by the name of Aizen Sousuke has stolen a powerful item called the Hōgyoku that can hollow living humans and shinigami." He silently cheered at Ryuuken's eyes going wide at that statement. "And those are only the abilities I've seen from the stone firsthand."

"Firsthand...then-"

"Two of my classmates have already been affected by the device." Uryuu continued. "This isn't just my Quincy pride. This is my personal circle affected in an irreversible way. And they won't be the only ones."

"And why would this shinigami hollowfy living humans?" Ryuuken questioned. "What purpose would he have for increasing the workload of fellow shinigami?"

Uryuu shook his head. "My hollowfied friends were merely collateral damage in his attempt to retrieve it. His true involves sacrificing Karakura Town to create an item known as the King's Key, which will allow him to assassinate the Soul King and warp the afterlife in his twisted image. And if it fails, he'll try again and again in all of the major cities of the globe, or he'll find more ancient rituals. He has no problem sacrificing others to his plans, Father. And if he succeeds, the living world would almost certainly be affected by his actions anyway, and considering the state of Karakura Town, they arguably already have." He let his arms rise, letting his Quincy cross fall as he channeled reishi through it, creating his Quincy bow, which he gripped firmly. "I must embrace my Quincy heritage, Father, if I am to ensure my survival, and that of my friends." He shot a piercing look at his father. "Is my logic flawed, Father? It is quite simple. For me to have the life you wish me to have, I need to live."

Ryuuken looked pained as he saw that he couldn't argue against the severity of the situation. "Your logic… is sound. Before I train you, however, I require an oath, sworn on the Pride of the Quincy."

"What oath?" Uryuu asked, on guard.

"I want you to swear that unless it is to save a life, you will not use your Quincy powers and that you will focus your energies on truly living in our world, instead of merely existing as you have been." Ryuuken peered down his glasses at Uryuu.

"As in finishing high school, going to college, getting a job and wife, and hobbies that don't involve killing hollows."

"Yes."

Uryuu frowned. "That might be tough, as one of my friends is a shinigami."

Ryuuken rose his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that you loathed all shinigami."

"Saving someone from a false accusation will change your outlook on life," Uryuu explained. "As for getting some sense knocked into you after you make a horrible mistake."

A tense silence proceeded the statement, one that Uryuu broke first. "Regardless, I will accept your terms. I swear, on the Pride of the Quincy, that unless it is to save a life, to maintain a relationship, or to maintain my skills, I will not use my Quincy powers. I further swear that after the current crisis is over, I will focus my energies on living my life as any other non-spiritually-aware human would. Is that sufficient, Father?"

"...Maintain a relationship?" Ryuuken thought. "Wait, did he-"

"Was the shinigami you and your friends saved a girl?" Ryuuken asked.

Uryuu blinked, the seemingly random question catching him off guard. "Yes?"

Ryuuken narrowed his eyes, a familiar situation coming to mind. "You...aren't in a relationship with this girl are you?"

"Wait, what?" He ran over what he'd said a second ago and went red in the face as he realized how his words could be interpreted in that way, his bow dispelling from shock. "No." He said a tad too quickly. "I was merely repaying a debt I foolishly made, and times have become too serious and dangerous to warrant getting a girlfriend, anyway. I meant helping my friends."

"I see." Ryuuken sighed in relief. "Good, I would much prefer you to take a normal human girl for a wife."

"Really? Masaki seemed to have a great relationship with Isshin if I heard right."

Ryuuken blinked as he registered the statement Uryuu stated. "What?"

"Isshin told me," Uryuu explained. "Ichigo had started to gain hints of Quincy powers and told me about them."

Another pained look formed on Ryuuken's face before disappearing into cold stoicism. "How much did he tell you?"

Uryuu sighed. Part of him didn't want to say anything about this, as Ryuuken already knew this. But his father should know about how much he did. And he had a promise to keep.

Ichigo and Ishida stormed into the former's father's office with rather nervous expressions. Perhaps this wasn't something to be addressed so soon after rescuing Rukia but they absolutely needed to know. Ichigo for closure with his mother and Ishida for clarity on his apparent fellow Quincy. Ichigo took a deep breath, and gently turned the doorknob, pushing the door open the slightest crack.

"What are you-" Ishida questioned as Ichigo pushed the door and lept back.

"IIICHHIIGGGOOO!" A roar came out accompanied by a flying foot. A flying foot expertly deflected by Ichigo's arm. After that, he grabbed the limb and slammed his father down with brutal efficiency.

"Damn Ichigo." Isshin chuckled, despite the frankly looking pin. "It's clear I have nothing left to teach you at this point!"

Uryuu blinked. "Is this seriously how this man acts? No wonder Ichigo is so thick-headed."

"I think you have something to teach me and Uryuu both dad," Ichigo said, his more serious than normal tone immediately noticed by the parent. "Was mom a Quincy?"

Isshin was quiet for a bit longer, before letting out an explosive sigh, and the two teens can almost see him actively age ten years in that one breath. "Go get the girls. I don't want to have to tell this story twice."

Karin and Yuzu are a bit confused at first, but they latch on to the excuse to procrastinate on their homework like proper eleven-year-olds and follow you back to the kitchen. The family meeting takes a bit of time to get going as Isshin was having clear difficulty.

"So...I think it's time I tell you all why we can see ghosts," Isshin stated.

"It's because we are part ghosts, right?" Karin immediately stated.

"...I thought you were in denial about seeing ghosts." Ichigo said incredulously, him, Ishida, and Isshin.

"It was kinda hard for her to keep denying it after that massive monster ghost invasion and getting saved by that giant guy you hang out with," Yuzu added.

"...Well," Isshin continued. "We are more part super-powered ghosts to be blunt. Shinigami to be exact."

"Shinigami?" Yuzu tilted her head in confusion.

Ichigo took the reins from here. "Yuzu… Do you know those times that you don't know where I am? That I would just up and disappear?" He felt her nod, clutching him a little tighter. "Well, imagine that there are hundreds of dead people from our world, who live in another world, and they come back to this world to take those monsters out and sent normal ghosts to the afterlife. Those are Shinigami. With me so far?"

"Okay. But why are we part shinigami?" Karin asked.

"Well, I was one of the greatest shinigami back in the day," Isshin said with his chest puffed out. "A captain shinigami and one of the 4 great nobles. One of the leaders of the shinigami."

"We're ghost royalty?" Yuzu gasped in awe.

"YOU were a captain?!" Ishida and Ichigo gaped. The thought of the man in front of them being as strong as Byakuya or Mayuri boggled their minds. "Where did all your power go?"

"I was getting to that," Isshin said. "While I was a captain, one of my subordinates told me about a weird hollow causing trouble in this town."

"Define weird," Karin asked. "Most hollows we've seen are masked monsters with holes in their chests."

"Well, this one was entirely black except for its mask and had a closed hollow hole." Ichigo and Ishida raised their eyebrows at that description. Hollow holes represented the missing humanity that a hollow had. For the to be closed... was intriguing.

"The hollow was really strong." Isshin continued. "But stronger than me. I was handling the hollow rather easily...but then something hit me from behind."

"What? Who?" Yuzu yelped.

"I don't know." Isshin sighed. "All I know was that they were incredibly strong as he hit me before I even knew he was there. After that, they just left me to get eaten by that hollow. But that was when your mother showed up and saved me."

All of Isshin's kid's eyes went wide at the statement. Ishida was far more composed. "Was it with a Quincy Bow?"

"Yep." Isshin chuckled.

"What's a Quincy?" Yuzu asked.

Ishida immediately acted on the questions. "The Quincy is a race of humans that have naturally gained spiritual awareness." He let his arms rise, letting his Quincy cross fall as he channeled reiatsu through it, creating his Quincy bow. "With it, we can use the Reishi, the main component material of souls and spiritual matter, and mix it with the power in our own souls to create weapons of pure energy."

"Woah..." Yuzu gaped at the spirit bow. Karin was also blown away by the weapon. "So cool...Could Masaki do that too?"

"Yeah," Isshin said proudly. "I remember her bow being bigger when she saved my life though."

Uryuu grumbled as he dispelled the weapon. "Get on with the story."

"Okay," Isshin said. "Masaki scared the thing off me with a burst of Quincy arrows, but then charged at her. Unfortunately, Masaki wasn't the best aim in her clan and the beast was insanely fast. Masaki fired arrow after arrow at it but it dodged them all. Eventually, she just charged in and let it get a bite on her so she could shoot it point-blank."

Yuzu winced. "Sounds like something Karin or Ichigo would do."

Karin grumbled while Ishida opened his mouth only to be sharply elbowed by Ichigo. "Don't you even."

"At first, the thing seemed to be dead. But then it tried to self destruct, I managed to shield her from the blast, but we both got flung pretty far by it and we were rather banged up." Isshin added. "Even so, we both got up and hit it off rather quickly. I had to go and report about the hollow we, or more accurately she took out. But that hollow had one last trick up its sleeve. When I got back I found out that Masaki got deathly sick."

Yuzu gasped in horror. "With what?"

"...Hollowfication."

Karin and Yuzu both went white at that while Ichigo's eyes narrowed into furious slits. He and Ishida suddenly had a pretty clear idea as to who cut Isshin down in front of that thing.

"I actually found out through her current fiance, Ishida Ryuuken," Isshin said sheepishly, causing everyone's jaw to drop through the floor.

"She had a fiance?!" Ichigo roared in outrage before pointing to the thunderstruck Uryuu. "And it was Uryuu's DAD?!"

"Yeah," Isshin sighed. "And he was pretty pissed over her. It was an engaged marriage for preserving their bloodlines, so they didn't agree to be married, but they still cared about each other."

"Preserving their bloodlines?" Karin suddenly interrupted. "Was Mom royalty too?"

"...Yes...the last of the Kurosaki before you."

Karin put her hands on her head, seemingly having a breakdown. "Were Yuzu and I basically spirit princesses our whole lives without knowing?" Yuzu squealed at the thought.

"Of all the things we said, that's what you freak out over?" Ishida said incredulously.

Yuzu gave Ishida a look before turning to her dad. "How did Mom get better?"

"Urahara."

"The candy shop owner?" Karin asked, just as incredulous as Ishida was.

"He was a former shinigami too," Ichigo added.

"I thought he seemed shady."

"You and everyone else."

"He said that I could use my Shinigami powers to cure her, but it would cost me them," Isshin explained. "I agreed of course. He then connected our souls, drained my powers, and shoved them in Masaki. And just like that, Masaki was cured."

"After that, I opened the clinic that Ichigo and I still work now." Isshin continued. "And soon I and Masaki got married."

"How did my father react to that?" Ishida said uneasily.

"Not great at first," Isshin sighed. "They were more friends than lovers, so he wasn't heartbroken thankfully and he was actually glad that Masaki could get away from her super strict aunt. But I was the guy that nearly got her killed. But eventually, he got over it, we're actually good friends."

Ishida wasn't surprised by that. The few times he talked about Isshin, his father had the same begrudging respect that he currently had about Ichigo.

Ichigo sighed. That was a huge weight off his chest. He was just about to ask Isshin to call an end to the meeting when someone caught his off.

"How did she die?" Yuzu asked.

The room went deathly quiet. "What?" Isshin said, his voice suddenly gutted.

"I...I don't want you to say if you don't want to." Yuzu said shakily, trying not to cry. "I...I heard it when that monster said she ate mom."

Ichigo felt a sudden gut-punch as memories came flooding back, and an unholy flare of rage when he realized Yuzu and Karin heard that bastard Grand Fisher's taunting.

"If Mom had superpowers...how did it kill her?" Karin asked.

Ichigo had a pretty good idea of how. The same way it lured him the first time they met, and the same way it nearly killed him the last time. "That fucking lure..." Ichigo hissed without thinking, alerting his sisters.

"Lure?" Yuzu breathed.

"Grand Fisher," Isshin growled with a great amount of venom. "The women hunter." Ishida went white at how a hollow could get that kind of title. "Typically hides his body and uses a lure that protrudes from his neck to attract potential victims. Has devoured humans and shinigami alike for 54 years. It's worst trait is that the lure can house the whole hollow and change into the person closest to the heart of the victim." A dead sigh came from the man. "My guess is that the bastard took the form of me or Ryuuken and caught her off guard."

"Having to protect me probably didn't help much either," Ichigo said, unshed tears in his eyes.

Isshin leaped to Ichigo and shook him as hard as he could and roared in his face. "Ichigo! Look at me! Look at me!" The parent glared into Ichigo's eyes. "That wasn't your fault! You were trying to stop someone from falling into a river and he knocked you out! You had no idea what that thing was! Shinigami with more experience than you have been killed by that bastard! What chance did you have as a 9-year-old!?"

"But he's still around!" Ichigo roared back. "He's still around and mom's still stuck in that bastard stomach because I couldn't cut him down last time!"

"Well, you'll just have to find him and finish the job then." Ichigo whipped around and glared a hole through Ishida, who merely pushed his glasses up. "You were never one to give up, Kurosaki. I doubt you would with this."

A roar of 'what do you know?!" nearly ripped out of his mouth but caught just in his throat. He had lost since found out that he was far from the first person in his class to lose a family member. Chad and Orihime didn't have parents or siblings at all, and he just recently found out about Ishida's mother.

"I want to kill that bastard but I don't know how," Ichigo growled. "He could be literally anywhere."

Isshin was all too aware of that. Soul Society had no reason to develop technology that could track specific hollows as they deemed all hollows as the same. And even if they didn't, to track a single hollow across the both all of Hueco Mundo and Living World? The difficulty in making such a devise was nearly inversely proportional to how practical it was.

"Wait," Yuzu thought. "Th-The hollow that t-t-took mom. I-It likes girls, r-right?"

Isshin frowned. "What do you mean by that, Yuzu?"

"Well," Yuzu continued. "What if he noticed two not so strong shinigami girls running around this town?"

Karin's head whipped to her sister with a vicious grin, clearly knowing and liking how Yuzu's idea was going. Ichigo, Isshin, and Uryuu however, did not like the idea.

"No way in hell," Ichigo growled. "I'm not using my siblings as bait."

"And there's not much chance it would work anyway," Uryuu added. "Ichigo's mere presence in this town would ward off all but the dumbest of hollows. And if Grand Fisher was that dumb, he'd likely never have eaten Masaki anyway."

"Even so, you can't say we have to stay like this!" Karin snapped. "At least we should be able to defend ourselves instead of needing Ichigo looking after us 24/7! Which is basically what was going since Ichigo became a ghost!"

Isshin frowned. Karin was right. They couldn't bank on Ichigo always being around to save them every time a hollow gets a sniff. Especially considering Aizen's coming to sacrifice the whole damn town. And without his powers, he couldn't protect them at all. Even so...

"You likely wouldn't be able to fight hollows on your own for a while," Isshin argued. "Ichigo's older and has been fighting long before he got shinigami powers."

"That's better than nothing." Uryuu suddenly added. "Even Quincies that didn't desire to be dedicated hollow hunters were trained in the basics to ensure they wouldn't be defenseless to the hollows that were attracted to their high spiritual power. This would be no different."

"Yeah! And besides," Karin added. "Ichigo could just give me and Yuzu a pick me up as Rukia did to her."

Isshin flinches. "Don't-... Don't do that. It's chancy enough when it's a normal Shinigami doing the transfer. With Ichigo? You could blow up your souls." The kids shudder at the thought as he shakes his head. "You shouldn't really need to, anyways. It's slower going, but teaching you two how to do Jinzen should let you call on your own power in time. In a much safer way." He nods at Uryuu. "Having Ryuuken give them help would be great as well."

"It'll be a massive hassle just to get him to train me," Uyruu argued. "Let alone three kids he only marginally knows."

"Tell him this then," Isshin said firmly. "Masaki needs us."

"...I will."

Ryuuken looked as Uryuu in a mixture of frustration and guilt. It was rather clear that this desire to get stronger was not just based on protecting the town. Even so, he could hardly argue against his son's logic now. "Saturday night, bring Isshin's kids and meet me at the doors to the hospital, and I will take you all to train."

A bow and a voice full of more gratefulness than Ryuuken had ever heard from his son was the response. "Thank you, father."

"Been a while since I came here." Komamura looked around his Inner World. To his mild relief, it was all the same as he remembered. A seemingly barren mountainscape, made of stone and hot copper. Speaking of hot, the world was under a seemingly permanent heatwave. Not of dangerous or even debilitating proportions, and certainly not of any level Komamura couldn't deal with. However, a key part of the world was missing.

"Tenken?" Komamura frowned. The giant that usually towered over the land was missing. "Where are you?!"

"He is... indisposed at the moment."

Komamura whirled to see an incredibly alarming sight. Like Ichigo had predicted, another Komamura with bleached white fur stood before him, his hollow eyes boring into his soul.

Komamura unconsciously took a step back but held his ground, this being almost certainly had something to with Tenken's disappearance. "My hollow, I presume. What has happened to Tenken?"

A dark grin crept upon the beast's face as strode over. "I am not entirely your hollow. I am more of your hollow powers. As for Tenken, I've hidden him."

"How could you hide him?" Komamura scowled incredulously, the thought of someone overpowering and hiding his massive Zanpakuto spirit utterly preposterous.

"Simple." Komamura's hollow states, shrugging his shoulders. "As an aspect of your powers, I have as much control over your inner world as he did. And my sudden appearance caught him off guard, allowing me to defeat him easily."

Komamura's eyes narrowed as he drew his blade. "I see." He growled, his blade transitioning into without much difficulty. "Then I will have to free him aa I defeat you."

A massive grin reminiscent of Kenpachi crept upon the other Komamura's face. "You can certainly try." With a roar, he charged the real Komamura with gusto. Komamura met the charge with a glare as he readied his blade. A shockwave rang out when the blades of the two behemoths clashed, and massive phantoms of the same blades clashed above them.

"Took you long enough to get to this point, Alpha." Komamura was momentarily caught off guard by the nickname, but the difficulty of holding off his doppelganger quickly shunted it. "Let's get down to this!"

"Let's." shot back before the two jumped away from one another for a moment, and then engaged in a surprisingly fast-paced duel considering the size of the combatants.

The blades, both real and phantom, two mammoth fighters arced in seemingly endless directions as the two men tried to end the life of the other. The sounds of the two large pieces of metal ringing were accompanied by small shocks like thunder. Each blow was meant to kill and each swing had enough power to cut through several hollows with ease. The power behind each deceptively fast swing was frequently proven every time the blades clashed or when one of the weapons cut or scraped through the ground without slowing down in the slightest.

"Ngh?!" It could have been seconds or a minute, but Roshi was quick to notice something was off. The intensity of the heat of the world was slowly rising, a sensation he very familiar with. "It...This can't be!"

"What is wrong, Alpha?!" The hollow's grin grew as he increased his ferocity. "You could take this heat before, why not now?!"

That statement confirmed what was happening. In his battle to obtain Bankai from Tenken, the environment they battled slowly but surely got hotter and hotter as he scaled and struck at the giant. Clearly, this beast had gained the same powers from his Zanpakuto spirit. Which meant he had to finish this fight as fast as possible.

"I hope I can still do this with Tenken trapped." Komamura thought. "Bankai!"

A minute ago...

Orihime winced as she saw the enormous pillars of metal on Komamura limbs and shoulder blades. A seemingly extreme form of restraining considering the massive kidō box he was in as well. Although considering her powers, she knew this was more necessary than it looked. "That looks painful."

Shinji shrugged. "He's not conscious, so he won't be feeling it anyway."

Everyone was currently in the same kind of training basement that Urahara had. Everyone was seated around the large kidō box, prepared to jump in if necessary. Should Komamura break Gochutekkan, Bakudo 75, they would walk in the box and keep the beserk Komamura at bay until either shinigami or hollow won. Soifon was to be dispatched in case the latter happened.

"So..." Orihime droned, fidgeting with her hairpins. "I've wanted to ask this question for a while. Why is Komamura a dog?"

"...You're just asking this now?" Soifon said with frustration written on her face."

Orihime squirmed curiosity and decency warring within her. "Well, I wanted to ask him but he always seemed so uncomfortable about the subject. I didn't want to be rude or bring up bad memories or something."

Shinji shrugged, not seeing the harm in an impromptu history lesson. "OK. When most humans die in the world of the living, they pass beyond the veil of Soul Society and live there. As do animals. However animal souls are...less powerful and put together than humans, so arrive in scattered pieces, battered by the crossing and far less powerful. They eventually coalesce into fully formed beasts in smaller numbers than on earth. The spirits of a hundred rabbits or a thousand ants may only combine into one or two of their counterparts after crossing over."

"And yet there is a flaw in this formula," Soifon added. "A soul may attract the gatherings of animal spirits if their sins are great enough. The result is an 'anthropomorphic', an individual who appears humanoid in form yet displays characteristics unique to the animal souls that fused with it. And while this is rather rare considering those with large amounts are usually sent to hell, on occasion people may have not accumulated enough sins to warrant hell, but enough to be different from other souls."

"And while this can give a soul some cool abilities via the animal absorbed," Shinji finished. "Being an anthropomorphic means that you were kind of a dick in life, so people tend to not like them. I think there were only 10 or so anthropomorphics that have gotten to be seated members, and I think only two to three other than Komomura became a captain."

Ichigo frowned at the info. "Wow. That sucks."

"Well," Soifon argued. "Whatever Komamura had done in life, he has more than made up for it. He's an exceptional example of Soul Society loyalty, canine traits notwithstanding."

Soon, the hollowfication started with gusto. A violent shockwave of sheer reiatsu boomed from Komamura's body a mere second later, coinciding with when the captain and his hollow powers crossed blades. The shockwave shook the ground to the point where some of the less experienced in the area nearly lost their footing. Everyone watched in varying amounts of horror, grim determination, and concern as in seconds, the same white goo poured from the roaring Komamura's mouth and covered his face in a wolf mask, although with the same eye slits as the ones in his bucket mask. The whites of his eyes were quickly infected and overtaken by black, and the blues of the iris became the amber of a Hollow's. The pillars holding him down were quickly thrown off as if the weight was utterly inconsequential.

"Aw shit." Ichigo gulped as the beast shinigami roared out, the sound creating another ground-shaking shockwave. "Who's going first?"

"I'll go," Chad said, walking toward the barrier. "Open it."

Hachigen obliged, opening the barrier as Chad walked toward and closing it as he passed. "El Brazo Derecha del Gigante." A mostly black armor ran up his right hand up to his shoulder. Red lines ran up it as well, and the armor opened up at his shoulder.

Komamura quickly noticed the intruder and lunged for him. Chad braced himself with his armored limb as he struck, only gasp at his arm nearly breaking from the force of the strike and being launched across the box at that.

"Chad!" Ichigo, Rukia, and Orihime cried out at seeing Chad sent flying. Chad merely gritted his teeth as Komamura launched himself at the still flying Chad to attack again and fired an energy blast to the left, the force knocking him out of the wolfman's second sword strike. A second blast was fired to further the distance and hopefully knock Komamura's blade out of his hand. The Vizard merely cut through the blast, but by the time they hit the floor, the distance had been noticeably lengthened.

"This may have been a mistake." Chad thought as a ringing still went through his arm. Despite this, he shrugged and fired another blast. "No time to gripe about it."

The shot thundered into Komamoura's side but failed to do more than make him stumble. He snarled and tried to run through the blasts that came after, with success but great difficulty. Chad's heart skipped his panic as Komamura came charging at him. His attacks seemed to be doing something, but they clearly weren't slowing him down much. And it was clear he was advancing faster than Chad could run, even without Shunpo.

"...Wait," Chad thought, an idea suddenly forming in his head. He knew about the shinigami's Shunpo and Ishida's Hirenkyaku, both high-speed techniques for their respective races. "Could hollows have the same? No time to test like now." As Komamura advanced, Chad focused as much reiatsu into his legs as possible and kicked off.

Outside the box, Ichigo and the other shinigami blinked in surprise as they sensed Chad's power spike and the teen in question burst from Komamura's grasp and nearly stumble a few feet away, a minor booming sound echoing from where he'd been. "What was that?" Ichigo gaped.

"Sonido," Soifon explained. "A high-speed movement technique used only by high-level hollows. While Shunpo uses precise movement and control of reiatsu to move at speeds, and Hirenkyaku uses gathered Reishi under the user's feet and has them ride to the desired location, Sonido is instinctual and merely uses reiatsu to charge the legs with insane strength for one burst of speed."

"Well, that clinches it," Hiyori adds. "That big guy's a hollow in human skin."

Back in the fight, Chad managed to right himself right as Komamura looked around to see where he was. Fortunately, the few seconds Chad had before Komamura's animal senses found him was enough to catch his breath and blast him again, this time right in the face. This caused Komamura to stumble as he blinded, but he leaped at Chad anyway, burned, and not slowed down in the slightest.

Chad cursed under his breath, leaning back as Komamura swiped at him with its sword. Leaping back with his newly discovered Sonido, he dodged the attack by inches, nearly catching the teenager on the nose. Komamura didn't stop, rushing after the teen, swiping wildly. In turn, Chad brought up his fist and slammed it right in the jaw, gauntlet firing at the moment of impact. The beast's head jerked to the side, nearly spinning round.

To Chad's growing frustration, this still did relatively little. Komamura reared back around, smacking the young teenager away with the back of its massive hand. Chad barely ducked down out of the way, feeling the massive limb brush his hair. With a growl, he leaped forward, landing three explosive blows against Komamura's midsection.

Komamura barked in surprise, instinctively kicking it's leg up at the same moment Chad went for another punch. Caught mid-motion, the teenager had no chance to block the blow. Komamura's foot connected with his chest, punting him up into the air.

Chad tried to catch himself and hover before he went too high, but Komamura was too fast. The beast had already jumped up after the teenager, its sword raised over its head, bringing them down on the back of Chad's head. Chad had barely managed to twist his body in midair and block with his arm before the blow connected.

Chad let out a yell as he was spiked back down, his body colliding with the ground at a painful speed. Chad groaned as he pushed himself back up, his body feeling on fire as it protested against such.

"Switch!" Orihime cried out, running towards the barrier. The second she passed through, her hairpins burst from her head. "Santen Kesshun! Sōten Kisshun!" The shield made blocked the wolf's follow-up attack, while the other two fairies healed Chad.

"Don't worry, Chad!" Orihime gave a thumbs-up as Chad rose.

"Alright," Chad said before running out.

Orihime swallowed as she turned to Komamura, who was ready to charge again. "Bring it!"

Komamura did. By erupting in flames.

"Weh?!" Orihime yelped as a massive torrent of fire came toward her. She was able to deflect it with Santen Kesshun rather easily. but it still came as a serious shock. But not nearly as much as what came next. Through the flames, everyone could see Komamura doubling in size and a burst of white foam coming from his chest. The foam melted away and revealed a hole going all the way through clear through Ichigo's back – a Hollow hole. His Zanpakuto had changed from a relatively normal blade into an utterly enormous sword, the blade of which doubles in width halfway along its length. If that wasn't enough, flames were constantly spewing from the beast's maw.

"...eep."

Komamura sweated profusely as he jumped back from the swing of a massive blade. The heat of his inner world was sweltering now and his doppelganger didn't seem nearly as encumbered by it as he should be. And the strain keeping his Bankai up as it clashed the one his hollow made wasn't helping.

In the faint distance, he could hear his opponent chuckling dryly. "Heheheh… brings back memories, doesn't it Alpha? If I remember correctly, you never were able to handle the heat of this world for long. Despite how long you spent in here compared to even other captains."

Komamura scowled as that last statement dug harder than he expected. "Indeed I could...but I never really needed to!" Komamura struck out in a feint. The hollow blocked, only for his eyes to widen as Komamura's attack suddenly changed from his chest to his arms. Despite the shock was still able to block the hit, albeit with a cut on his hand and wrist. Komamura couldn't help but smirk in triumph at the cut, only to jump back as the hollow as his opponent raised his blade, readying his blade. The hollow merely laughed as he swung his sword at seemingly thin air.

A yelp came from Komamura as a blast of flame came from his opponent's giant and struck his right in the face. A massive burn appeared on the shinigami's snout. "Gah!" He yelled out, covering his burnt nose. This was not a good place for him to get hit. "Damn it..." He thrust his hand out. "Hadō #58. Tenran!" A tornado burst from his hand and soared toward the hollow, who merely raised the temperature around him, causing the wind to be sucked into it.

"What an issue, Alpha." The hollow taunted. "Your Kidō was never as good as everyone else's considering you spent more time conversing with your blades than reading up. What would Tōsen say right now? Oh wait, you can't tell now, can you?"

His appearance was a constant issue for him. One that he could only tell Tōsen and his blade Tenken about with a clear conscience. As such, he spent much more time in the inner world than most other captains or shinigami in general. And while this made his Shikai and Bankai exceptionally powerful and gave him the only Bankai that could heal by itself, his Kidō somewhat suffered from it. It was still a hole in his abilities that really shouldn't be there. He just never needed to do anything else, and never desired to be the greatest shinigami in existence, merely one that everyone could look up to. And he thought Tōsen was seeing it, a reason to love the world his friend did...

"Wait," Komamura thoughts suddenly drifted to a certain statement his friend said, and an idea that popped up from it. An unhappy but determined look came upon the wolf's face as he suddenly charged his hollow with all the speed Shunpo could grant him. "I know exactly what he'd say!"

The hollow scoffed and swung his blade again, releasing a blast of flame from his giant. His scoff quickly changed into an alarmed gasp as Komamura merely barreled through the flames and thrust his sword toward his hollow. Caught off guard, the was just barely able to stop the blade with his own, another shockwave ringing out as the giants above clashed as well. The hollow scowled and raised the temperature around him again, this time to the point of catching fire, but Komamura merely ignored the flames again and headbutted his hollow. The beast dazed, Komamura grabbed the end of his blade and ripped it from Hollow Komamura grasp. "Those that wield their blades without fear..." Before Hollow Komamura could react, Komamura slashed him clean across the chest with both blades. One covered in flames, and the other in the sharpest reiatsu he could make. "Should never wield them at all!" The giants, mirroring the actions made a final, world-shaking shockwave as the hollow giant was finally felled.

"...Impressive." Hollow Komamura conceded. "I didn't think you take my own blade like that."

"Neither did I," Komamura said. "I was entirely sure that work, let alone so well. I merely had an idea and went with it."

A dark chuckle came from his now disappearing copy. "We are a hollow, Alpha. Going on instincts is how our powers work." Another chuckle came from the hollow at the frown that covered Komamura's face at the last statement. "Why the long face? You came here to gain control of your hollow powers, did you not? Don't run from who you are." And with that, his body completely faded away.

A sigh of relief came from Komamura as he finally won the battle. Turning back to his giant, he questioned. "Tenken? Are you back?"

For a second, the giant stood still and Komamura feared that Tenken was still trapped, but those worries were quickly put away. "Yes." The giant stated, now looking fuller and more animated. "I am."

Komamura fell down on the now cool air, exhausted yet triumphant. "What a relief." Although mild confusion suddenly stuck as he realized the hollow's blade was still in his hand. "Tenken? What is this still doing here?"

"Because you claimed it as your own sword," Tenken stated, now brandishing his two swords with pride and intrigue. "It seems you have gained a new ability."

"To steal another's Zanpakuto?" The thought intrigued him. It would certainly make taking care of Aizen far easier.

"No." Tenken chuckled, shaking his head. "You've gained the ability to use your hollow's sword."

Komamura looked at his twin Zanpakuto with interest. This wasn't a huge boon to him, he was used to using one blade, and training to dual wield would take longer than they likely had. However, if this was applicable to the other vizards, then Soifon could really get better from this.

"I'll be going now." Komamura chuckled. "And Tenken...Thank you."

Knowing what his wielder by that, he merely shrugged and smiled. "You're welcome."

"I hate fighting captains." Orihime thought as she dived out of the barrier, high-fiving Mashiro on the way. It didn't if she only had three other points in time doing so, she could say for sure that fighting captains sucked.

And this was not an exception as since Komamura hollowfied, Orihime had spent most of the fighting running, or hiding behind her Shield. The fire he spewed was too powerful and the heat was making her woozy anyway. And wasn't counting how fast and strong he was now. She barely lasted 2 minutes before having to switch with one of the vizards. It would have been humiliating if it weren't the fact that Tsubaki managed to get some potshots on him despite the threat of death.

A grin stretched over Mashiro's face as she felt the heat bear down on her, and she raised her fists into a boxing position. "Come and get me, doggy!"

"GROOOAR!" Komamura responded, lowering his head as he began running toward the new opponent. Mashiro tensed her muscles, waiting until she got close enough to pick out the individual teeth of his mouth before charging forward a few steps herself and dropping into a baseball slide that just barely took her under the monster's bulk, with said monster digging his claws into the stonework and forcing himself to a halt the second he registered that he'd missed.

Mashiro rose her hand to her face and summoned her mask as Komamura turned around. "Mashiro Punch!" A massive haymaker slammed into the wolf's face just as he started to attack, making it snap to the left. "Mashiro kick!" After that, the green-haired girl proceeded to use Komamura's chest as a springboard, launching off of it while knocking Komamura down on to the floor.

Komamura snarled, breathing a massive torrent of flame up at Mashiro, who merely laughed. "Mashiro..." Her foot glowed with vibrant green energy as she swung it with gusto. "Super Cero!" A lime-green blast of energy tore clean through the flames and hit Komamura full in the face.

"Aw come on," Mashiro whined, disappointed at the ease of the battle. "Is that all you got?"

The first sigh that Mashiro had stepped in it was Komamura roaring louder than ever. The second was him catching fire.

"Oh boy." Ichigo grimaced as the now on fire Vizard advanced. Mashiro however, merely looked intrigued. She charged as well, using a last-second Shunpo to go around and kick right near his head, another green ball of energy around her foot. "Mashiro Super Cero!"

Another blast rang out as Komamura took the blast right in the face, point-blank this time. Komamura responded with a Cero of his own, and this time Mashiro was a fraction of a second too slow. His attack clipped her, the powerful topspin sending her spinning skywards, and she landed hard. "Oh jeez!" Mashiro yelped as she got back up, narrowly avoiding a blast of flame that came right after. "Guess it's time to break out my new move!"

Kensei sweatdropped. "What is she up to now?" Ichigo and company, on the other hand, were far more interested and tried to take a good look at whatever trick was going to employ.

Mashiro cocked both his fists back, both of them glowing in smaller balls of reiatsu. "Mashiro...Bala..." Komamura charged and Mashiro waited until the beast was right on top of him. "BARRAGE!" Mashiro's fists flew out at insane speeds, to the point where they seemed to multiply to the naked eye, pummeling the behemoth wolf with balls of green energy a dozen times in a second before he could finish his own attack.

Ichigo gaped along with all the others. Even the other vizards, who seemed rather familiar with Mashiro's antics, were caught off guard. It was akin to watching a one-woman firing squad unload on a death row inmate. Komamura flinched and recoiled at the impacts but was too dazed and in pain to retaliate.

To Komamura's credit, he actually managed to resist under the double-fisted energy ball onslaught for all of a dozen seconds before one of his legs lost its traction and be pitched forwards. He instinctively lashed his arms out in a desperate attempt to catch himself, and as a result, left himself open to catching over a dozen high-powered shots to his body. Said shots were enough to leave the vizard reeling, gasping, and roaring in a futile attempt to push through the onslaught.

Mashiro took this terrible act in judgment with gusto, shunpoing herself right below her chin and charging her hand with an actual Cero. "Mashiro...SUPER CERO!" She lashed her right fist up and clocked Komamura right in the jaw, the Cero going off right after and causing the behemoth to literally flip over the fist before landing on his back.

"Holy shit." Ichigo gaped, summarizing everyone else's thoughts quite nicely.

More, to everyone's surprise, Komamura started getting up almost immediately after that onslaught. Mashiro blinked in surprise as Komamura rose to his feet, stumbling like a drunkard.

"Still more?" Mashiro gaped before grinning, ready to finish this.

However, before that could happen, the armor covering the beast suddenly started to crack, and huge quantities leaked out.

Mashiro went white. "Welp, he's waking up. So I'm gonna go!" And with that, Mashiro ran full tilt in the opposite direction and out the door of the barrier.

"Wait," Orihime said nervously as Hachigen upped the power of the barrier. "What's going on-"

Not more than a second later, Komamura exploded in a spectacular fashion, the light bright enough to blind everyone there, and the shockwave enough to knock everyone's on their feet. When the dust cleared, Komamura stood there, back to normal with the exception of a mask on his face.

"Is...Is he back?" Rukia asked hopefully.

"Yes..." Komamura rasped, clearly exhausted beyond measure. "Yes, I am."

"It worked!" Orihime jumped for joy. "It actually worked!"

Soifon sighed in relief. "It looks like we might rid ourselves of this curse after all." Despite her relief, she was already planning on going in herself right after Komamura. She refused to leave her tainted being unaddressed for a second longer.

As such, before anyone could say otherwise she quickly rushed toward the barrier that Hachigen made and opened the door. "I'll be next."

"Hey!" Ichigo roared out, angered by Soifon deciding for everyone else again. "What about Rukia?"

"Captain level shinigami are much harder to contain, as you saw with Komamura, so it only makes sense to stop the biggest potential threat first," Soifon explained. "Besides, we're planning on getting all of us today anyway."

Ichigo frowned, unable to defy that logic. "Fine."

Soifon passed Komamura through the door. "Good luck Soifon."

Soifon took a sitting position inside the barrier, readying herself for Jinzen. "Suzumebachi."

Aizen looked upon the hollow before him with seeming disinterest, but inwardly he was almost shaking with anticipation. Ichigo and his had grown far beyond his expectations for the most part, and the Hōgyoku was also growing toward completion faster than predicted. "Ichigo's hollow power must have been the catalyst." He mused. "Soul Society was filled with to never think of how to incorporate such powers into its ranks." However, while Ichigo's growth in strength was rather welcome, it also necessitated a buffing of his own ranks, so to speak.

Grand Fisher knelt before him, eager for the chance of more power and revenge against the Kurosaki's. "You called my lord?"

"Yes," Aizen stated. "You have a personal grudge against the Kurosakis, do you not?"

"I do." Grand Fisher growled. "In my 54 years of devouring souls, no one has defied me to a greater magnitude or injured me more severely than Ichigo Kurosaki. I was about to devour two morsels of both Shinigami and Quincy when he came in and nearly slew me. What's worse, the fool was a complete amateur that swung his sword like a baseball bat! To nearly perish at the hands of such a fool still burns me inside!"

By the time he was done, Grand Fisher was almost roaring at the top of his lungs and yet Aizen was still calmly sitting on his throne, showing nothing more than amusement. "Would you like the power to defeat him?"

"I would do anything!" Grand Fisher laughed.

Aizen smiled widely. "Stand right there and close your eyes, and I'll grant you the power you desire."

Grand Fisher obliged, mind drifting off to the various ways he would destroy Ichigo Kurosaki. Maybe he could choke the bastard out with his mother's own hands, or possibly shatter his sword and run him through with the pieces. Well, whatever he did, he had to be sure to devour his siblings right in front of him, so the fool would die knowing and regretting his own powerlessness. So entranced in his thoughts of power and vengeance, he didn't even notice the Arrancar closing in on him. It was only instinct born of devouring hollows and fighting shinigami that clued him on the third presence. "Lord Aizen? Who is that?"

"I apologize, Grand Fisher," Aizen smugly explained, his smile growing cold. "But your chances of exacting vengeance on Ichigo Kurosaki are basically non-existent. And even you could, I could hardly let you destroy my pet project."

Grand Fisher's eyes snapped open, instantly realizing what was happening, but also caught off guard by the last fact. "Ichigo?! Pet project? You're responsible for that bastard's power?!"

"His parents were more responsible than I, but yes," Aizen added. "Why did you think I sent you to devour his mother so long ago." His grin grew colder. "Speaking of which, Aaroniero."

Grand Fisher fired a Cero at the now identified Arrancar in a panic, trying to find a way to save his skin. This however proved futile as Aaroniero easily dodged the Cero and pinned the woman eating hollow beneath his before he could.

"I always wondered," Aaroniero hissed in their twin voice. "how the powers of a Quincy worked." They raised their left hand, revealing a deformed, brown-tentacled appendage with a gaping maw at the center, surrounded by various tentacles. Gran Fisher released a scream of rage and fear as he prepared another Cero, this time aiming at Aizen. "You bastard!"

Aizen casually swatted the blast away with his bare hand. "Aaroniero. Stop playing with your food."

"Of course, Lord Aizen." The monster's reiatsu spiked. "Devour, Glotonería!"

Aizen's smile grew borderline arctic as bloodcurdling screams filled the throne room. "Hopefully, Gin and Tōsen's missions went off as easily as this one."