Ichigo Hollowified Bankai

Grimmjow was grinning at Ichigo as they stood in the desert, preparing for their final battle. Grimmjow draws his sword and appears before Ichigo in a single instant, swinging quickly. Parrying the blow easily, Ichigo begins to say, "Getsuga Ten—" but with a malicious grin, Grimmjow thrusts out his palm, a dark red ball of energy forming. Cero! Ichigo thought in dismay and quickly uses a Shunpo to avoid the blast.

The moment he reappears a few feet away, Grimmjow appears as well. Grinning, he swings his sword towards his head. Ducking, Ichigo slashes at Grimmjow's chest. Taking a step back, he releases another Cero, which Ichigo counters with his Getsuga Tensho. As the two clashes, Ichigo's and Grimmjow's swords clash a few feet away. The ground beneath them explodes from the weight and ferocity of their Spiritual Pressure.

"Not bad, soul reaper," Grimmjow says, leaping back a few feet. "I've been waiting for this day. The day when I crush you with all my might! Isn't it the same for you? Well, soul reaper?"

"No, I didn't come here to fight you, Grimmjow," Ichigo replies calmly.

"Don't give me that wretched lie!" Grimmjow shouts. "Admit it. You want to rip me too pieces for what I did to that soul reaper friend of yours. If I were you, I'd want to kill me. I hurt you and your friends." He appears behind Ichigo, who twirls around and counters the blow. "Fight me like your life depends on it, Ichigo Kurosaki. Otherwise, I'm going to kill you!"

Ichigo and Grimmjow use Shunpo and Sonido to appear in different places repeatedly, clashing violently and cashing the ground to explode in bursts of sand. Occasionally there'd be a blast of red and a wave of black and red.

Appearing high in the air, they clash again, destroying a few of the pillars surrounding them. "It's time to get serious. Wouldn't you agree, Ichigo?" Grimmjow asks. Ichigo narrows his eyes and sighs. The Sexta Espada glares at him and says, "You're really pathetic, Ichigo. You came here to fight, and you won't even fight me at your full strength. Disgraceful." He soars towards Ichigo as he rises into the air and parries his own blow.

"I didn't come here to fight you. Are you an idiot or something, Grimmjow? I came here to save Orihime!" Ichigo snaps, releasing a wave of spirit energy. Grimmjow easily dodges it and looks at Ichigo with a strange look. A look of…pity or shame.

"Don't you see the path your instincts have you led you, soul reaper? You said you came here to save her, right? Well I have news for you, boy," he says, glaring at Ichigo. "You came here to fight. You're a soul reaper and I'm a Hollow! We have to fight to the death! It's been that way for a thousand years! Now let's do this thing! The last one breathing gets to live!" He sends a Cero soaring at him.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo roars, sending a massive black and red wave flying at the Cero. They clash with tremendous force, sending gusts of wind in every direction. But, despite his effort, the Cero bursts through his Getsuga Tensho and he leaps to the side. As he does, Grimmjow appears before him, slashes his arm and disappears.

Glancing down, he sees Grimmjow on the sandy ground, looking up at him. Ichigo hardens his eyes as he realizes he has to fight for real. "You have a nice murderous look in your eyes now, Ichigo," Grimmjow says, slashing two of his fingers on his sword. "But…not yet. You're still not at the level where I want this fight to take place." Swinging his arm up into the air with an arching stream of blood, a dark blue energy surrounds his hand. "Take this. This is the Cero only the Espada can use!" It grows stronger and stronger, slowly growing in size until its swirling in his hand.

Glancing behind him, up on one of the semi-destroyed pillars is Orihime and Nel. "Wait, Grimmjow!" Ichigo calls out. "Don't release it yet!"

"Gran Rey Cero!" Grimmjow roars as it blasts from his hand in a wide, dark blue streak of energy at Ichigo.

The sound of the raging Cero is deafening as it grows stronger from the abundant spirit energy in the surrounding area. Unable to do move out of the way, letting it hit Orihime and Nel, Ichigo does the only thing he can do. Quickly he brings his free hand to his face, fingertips brushing his forehead, and bringing out his Hollow mask.

When the Cero is close enough, he swings his sword in a wide, sideways arc, slashing the Cero in half and destroying it. It explodes around him but it doesn't faze him in the slightest. Once the mist surrounding him dissipates, Grimmjow says, with s small smirk, "There you are." Slowly, it turns into a full broad smile as he bursts into laughter. "About damn time, eh, Kurosaki? Now I can crush you with all I've got!" Holding his sword close to him, Grimmjow places his other fingers onto the blade. It begins to glow and a low humming reverberates from it. "Grind," he declares viciously, sliding his hand down the blade in a single instant, "Pantera!"

A huge explosion of twirling towers of sand engulfs him. The air seems to freeze as Ichigo waits for the final, deadly battle with his greatest nemesis. Are you sure you can handle this, Ichigo? the Hollow within says. He's going into Resurreccion. If you hesitate, you'll die.

I know that, Ichigo snaps, tightening his grip around the hilt of his sword. I've obtained this Hollowfication by defeating you. I don't need any more help from you.

The Hollow laughs darkly and whispers, Without me, you never would've gotten this far without me. You need my power. If you can't handle this Espada, I'm willing to lend a hand when you need it.

Before Ichigo can respond, the Hollows voice disappears, and at the perfect time. A loud, blood chilling scream fills the air, blowing away all the sand surrounding the released Arrancar. The shockwave hits Ichigo with incredible force. What the hell? He generates this much power just by screaming? Ichigo thought. In an instant, Grimmjow is right before him, in his true panther form, and slams his fist into Ichigo hard. Flying through the air, he mutters, "Damn it," and then he senses Grimmjow behind him. Twirling around quickly, Ichigo counters his blow and takes a swing. Grimmjow easily avoids the blow and says, "Your eyes…I hate those damned eyes! And that's why you got to die, Ichigo!" Thrusting out a hand, he releases a Cero.

Using Shunpo, Ichigo dodges to the left, only to have Grimmjow slam his foot down upon his back, hurling him through the air and crashing into the ground. "What's wrong, soul reaper? You can't be beat yet. Come on out."

As soon as he finishes talking, Ichigo appears behind him and roars, "Getsuga Tensho!" The blackish red wave of energy engulfs Grimmjow in seconds. From within the dark blast, Ichigo can hear the Espada laughing. He appears unscathed from the attack.

"That's the spirit," he says with sheer maliciousness, slashing at Ichigo wildly and quickly. They nick and scratch each other, until Grimmjow bluffs and lunges forward, slamming Ichigo into a pillar. "I see you can keep your mask on longer now. Have you trained since our last battle? Or have you arrogantly been gaining experience here? No, forget it, it doesn't matter. Without your mask on, this wouldn't be any fun. Don't you agree?" He thrusts his clawed hand directly towards Ichigo's heart.

Grabbing him by the wrist, Ichigo says, "Don't make me laugh, Grimmjow. That was my line," and slashes him across the chest. Blood bursts out in a dark stream. "But do you want to know what would be really boring? If you weren't in your released form, so you'd better stay this way!" He slashes at Grimmjow viciously, attacking and defending when they present themselves.

"Try stopping a Gran Rey Cero when I'm in release mode and pointblank range!" Grimmjow sneers, a dark blue sphere crackling in his hand. Instinctively, Ichigo unleashes a wave attack to push Grimmjow back moments before he releases it. Fuck! Ichigo thought, swinging his sword to block it.

The blast slams into him hard, almost knocking all the air out of his body as it engulfs him. I told you, you need my help, the Hollow says. Ichigo tried to ignore him, but it was hard. Trying to silence his mind, Ichigo releases yet again another Getsuga Tensho. This time, he manages to slice it in half from within it. Panting heavily, Ichigo looks around, trying to find Grimmjow. Sensing him behind, Ichigo twirls around and swings his sword, knocking Grimmjow's hand away as it was about to plunge into his chest.

"I'm surprised you managed to survive being hit with that Cero so close and being able to react so quickly," he says. "But you and that mask must be at your limit by now." Using his other hand, Grimmjow slams his fist into Ichigo's head, cracking the upper quarter and shattering. Ichigo lands on his feet on the ground, panting heavily. Grimmjow appears a few feet away, looking at him. "Seems I was right. It was fun, but it's time to end this."

"Limit?" Ichigo says, swiping his hand across the broken half of the mask. The mask reappears, regenerated. "This fights just getting started. To me, it looks like you're pretty banged up yourself." A small crack appears on Grimmjow's upper, bone like eyebrow.

"You're a tough kid. You can handle pain," Grimmjow says, spikes appearing on his arms. "I've never been happier, soul reaper. This is the best day…of my life!" Using Sonido, he appears a foot from Ichigo, eyes gleaming with pure and unsatisfied bloodlust.

"Getsuga Tensho," Ichigo says, swinging the sword. Grimmjow leaps to the side, but then Ichigo sends it at him. It hits Grimmjow as his feet touch the ground. He snarls in annoyance and bursts through it. But as he does, Ichigo brings Tensa Zangetsu directly down the middle of his body. Blood bursts out freely. Grimmjow's eyes widen in pure surprise. "Looks to me like this is the end," Ichigo says.

Grabbing the blades hilt and Ichigo's hand, Grimmjow snarls, "You think…you've…defeated me? Me! Never!" and plunges his hand into Ichigo's side. He gasps in pain as it bursts through his back. "I will not die by you, or anyone else. Anyone who looks down on me, Arrancar, Soul Reaper or human, will be crushed."

Gasping, unable to breathe, Ichigo feels his spirit energy slowly beginning to fade away. Humph. His Hollow was back, and rather displeased. I told you this was going to happen. But you didn't listen, and look at what happened. You can still overcome this though. With my help and my power.

How? Please…tell me, Ichigo thought desperately.

You always perform bankai and then hollowfy. But you need to hollowfy before using your bankai, the Hollow says. It's the same as the Arrancar and Espada performing Resurreccion.

Resurreccion? Your saying I need to become more like a Hollow? Like…you? Ichigo asks, unable to imagine it.

Unless you want to die here and let your friends die. It's your choice, Ichigo, the Hollow adds before vanishing.

Grimmjow tosses him away and says, "You put up a good fight. But now it's time to die." Holding out his arm, hand curling into a claw, he charges a Cero. "I'll make it quick and painless." I have no choice, Ichigo thought. To Grimmjow, when the spirit energy burst away from Ichigo, he assumed it was the sign he was near death. But Ichigo still wore the mask.

Gripping the hilt tightly, Ichigo slowly gets up to his feet and then…his inner Hollow helps him in what he needs to do. Thrusting his blade high into the air, the blade wrapped in the Getsuga Tensho, Ichigo says, "Bankai."

The sudden explosion of Spiritual Pressure blasts Grimmjow back a few yards and releases the Cero in the opposite direction. He looks at Ichigo in surprise as the Getsuga Tensho engulfs him in a sphere. He can sense the change in Ichigo's spirit energy as it becomes less and less like a soul reaper and becomes darker and darker…more like that of an Espada. "What the hell are you doing?" he roars. "This isn't possible!"

From the sphere, a figure emerges. Grimmjow's eyes widen in surprise as he sees the Hollow hole in Ichigo's chest. But what's more…is the number he sees on his chest. It's the number 1. How is this possible? Grimmjow thought in rage. The mask was one thing…but this? This is unacceptable. How can a soul reaper become a Hollow? No, he's more than a Hollow. He's an Espada…not just any Espada…the Primera. What the hell?

As the dark energy unwraps itself from around Ichigo, Grimmjow sees the full extent of his transformation. His hair reaches his waist, jet black with swirling streaks of blood red. His eyes can't even be seen. His skin is as pale as snow, and he's much more muscular. He doesn't have a sword anymore, but it can be seen all over him. There are black and red markings all over his body.

"Who's finished?" Grimmjow flinches at the voice. It doesn't sound anything like Ichigo. It's cold, emotionless, and as soft as fine steel. "What's wrong, Grimmjow? Afraid of me now?" The figure cackles, and finally Grimmjow gets over the sudden shock.

"Of course not. I was hoping you weren't finished yet. But I never expected you to turn into an Espada," Grimmjow replies. He uses a Sonido to appear behind Ichigo and thrusts out his hand. Before he can blink, Ichigo's gripping his hand tightly, almost breaking a few bones.

"Let's see how you handle a Gran Rey Cero at pointblank range," the figure says, slashing his palm open. Holding his hand directly on Grimmjow's stomach, as the sphere of dark spirit energy crackles into being, Grimmjow's eyes widen in terror. Seconds pass and then the figure says, "Gran Rey Cero." It blasts through Grimmjow like a hot knife through butter. He doesn't even have the time to scream before he's obliterated.