Chapter 18

Invasion

Ichigo flash stepped over and caught Nel.

"Nel! What happened?!"

"They….They came in force… So many died…."

She coughed up some blood and then passed out.

Ichigo set her down and stood up.

"I'm going to get Orihime to heal her, I'll be right back!"

Ichigo took off at high speed and grabbed Orihime, but was met by Leeds along the way back.

"I sensed Nelliel's arrival and how weak she was. What's happened, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"I don't know yet, but we're going to get her healed."

When they got back Pesche was there as well, also somewhat injured, although not nearly as badly.

'Nel must have been protecting him…' Ichigo thought.

Orihime went to work healing Nel.

"What happened you two?"

"Hueco Mundo… Was attacked."

"By who?!"

"I've got no idea."

Ichigo turned to Zangetsu.

"Go get Chad and Uryuu. We might need some help with this."

He nodded.

"Fine. But there better be some good fights in Hueco Mundo."

"Tell Kon he's in charge of protecting Karakura while we're gone; whoever did this to Nel and the others might target here next."

"Not bad, planning ahead. Looks like you've learned some things after all, Ichigo."

Zangetsu vanished in blur of Sonido.

"I'm done," informed Orihime.

Nel sat up but remained silent.

"Nel, what happened back there," Ichigo asked.

"They… They killed so many…"

"Who? Who killed so many?"

She looked up at him.

"They had bows like Uryuu's. That…That means none of them will reincarnate…They managed to capture Dondochakka too…"

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"No way… Do you think he knows about this," Ichigo asked Urahara.

"No clue, did he seem off last time you saw him?"

Soon Zangetsu and Chad appeared.

"Where's Uryuu," asked Ichigo.

"Uryuu said he was busy, had somethin' to do," explained Zangetsu.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he frowned.

"What is it? Can't exactly tell what yer' thinkin' since I'm out here. Which is another problem."

"Why's that?"

"As long as I'm out here, we're both goin' at half strength. Also, if I die, you lose your soul reaper powers, poof, gone, finished, cause I'm your Sword Spirit."

"Fantastic," Ichigo said bitterly. "Anyway, to answer your question…"

Ichigo turned to face him.

"It was Quincies that attacked Hueco Mundo."

"What? Isn't Uryuu the last Quincy?" questioned Chad.

"I thought so too. It might have something to do with the legends they have of someone named Juha Bach. He's supposedly going to return soon… or maybe he already has. It would explain why the Arrancar I fought earlier had a bow."

Zangetsu nodded.

"So what're we gonna do? What if yer' buddy Uryuu is in cahoots with em'?"

Ichigo had a serious expression on his face.

"I don't think he would be, but if he is… We're going to fight him. Kill him if we have to. If they took Hueco Mundo they're probably going to come after us next, which might mean Karakura town would be in danger."

Zangetsu nodded.

"Then it's settled; we go in on a recon mission with Nel and Pesche, see what's up, only fight if we have to fight. If they have an army then we're going to have problems, especially since we're both runnin' at half power. Maybe if we were still a Perfect Vizard or whatever we could handle an army, but not as we are now."

He turned to Orihime and Chad.

"You two should stay here; yer' liabilities, sorry t'say. Besides, th'more people we have the more chance we got of bein' found out. Four of us'll be enough."

He turned back to Ichigo, Nel, and her Fraccion.

"Ready to go?"

Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah."

He turned to Leeds.

"You stay here too, help defend. Keep an eye on Uryuu maybe, if you can do it without him catching you."

The Arrancar nodded.

"Right."

Zangetsu turned to his left and tapped the air, opening a Gargantua of his own.

He entered, creating a stable energy path and was followed by Nel and her Fraccion.

Ichigo popped out of his body via his chappy pill and headed to the gate.

Orihime stopped Ichigo before he entered.

"You wouldn't actually…Kill Uryuu... Would you?"

Ichigo looked at her then looked at the gate again.

"…I'm sorry Orihime, I can't promise that."

With that Ichigo took off after his comrades.

The four exited the portal and ended up falling.

"We're gonna fall!" yelled Pesche.

"Shut up! They'll hear us! And we're not gonna fall!"

The group managed to land safely.

They observed a couple of men in white uniforms escorting a line of hooded figures, who stopped and talked for a moment before moving on.

"Glad they didn't hear us."

Zangetsu looked around, frowning under his mask.

"That's because they know all the hollows and Arrancar that were here… are dead."

He nodded to the Corpses that littered the nearby area.

"It's terrible…" commented Nel.

Ichigo nodded.

"It's their way," added Pesche. "Look at those blue flames; it's condensed Spirit Particles. That's what they use. They were able to set fire to the rocks and sand of Hueco Mundo with it."

"Why's that a big deal," asked Ichigo.

Pesche looked at him.

"They usually can't burn."

Nel nodded.

"Their powers were too strong and unfamiliar to most of us; those of us that knew about them either were captured, ran, or were killed. We barely managed to escape alive…"

"What about our group," Ichigo asked. "They should have been able to put up some sort of fight."

Nel looked away.

"We lost a couple of them early on; they underestimated the Quincies."

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"Impossible… They were Vasto Lorde Class Arrancar!"

"That's what bothered me as well. But they're so powerful and in such great numbers even we couldn't stand up to them. The only ones left are me, Leeds, Cazador, Ulquiorra, and Tia. We don't know where Cazador and Ulquiorra fled to and Tia… She got captured."

"Damn…"

Ichigo looked over the rocks again.

"What will happen to the ones that were dragged away just now?"

Pesche looked away.

"They'll probably be taken at their camp and divided into a group that will be killed and a group that will be abducted. And then…"

Ichigo moved out, noting the beings were gone now, barely visible in the distance.

"I got it. Let's go save them."

"Eh!? W-what?! Wait a sec! Dondochakka isn't among them!"

"So? We'll save him too anyway, but we might as well save some other people in the meanwhile."

"Ichigo…Think about this…" Zangetsu warned.

However, Ichigo simply took off after them.

"Ichigo, wait!" yelled Pesche.

Zangetsu sighed.

"Some things never change I guess. C'mon, let's go make sure the dumb bastard doesn't get m'self killed."

He sped off after Ichigo, soon followed by Nel and Pesche

As they ran Ichigo noticed a spike in spiritual energy.

"Something's already happening over there…"

Nel's eyes widened.

"That's the Tres Beastia, Tia's Fraccion! They're incredibly strong, but they always fight each other. With any luck the enemy will be taken out quickly."

Suddenly there was a massive explosion.

"Woah!"

"We might not actually have to-!"

Nel froze along with everyone else as they saw the bodies of the Tres Beastia lying on the ground with a man in a uniform with glasses and a cap standing next to them.

"Oh…Now it's a Soul Reaper," The man questioned. "And you seem to have brought an Arrancar and some hollows with you. We're having many guests today."

"Th…That's… He beat the Tres Bestia…" said Nel, trembling.

"Why would a Soul Reaper be traveling with hollows? This is curious," the man noted. "However…"

He smirked.

"I know who you are…Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Right… that guy came looking for me too in the end. It's not surprising that you all know me."

"Your information was in the daten given to us by his majesty."

The man raised his arms and smiled, other men in uniform rising behind him and drawing weapons.

"You figured as 'Special War Potential' to deal with right away!"

Ichigo and Zangetsu readied their swords, however the Quincies moved at high speeds, drawing their bows and firing at the two.

Zangetsu pressed his hand to his blade, creating an orb of red and black energy that expanded outward, halting the blasts and forcing the Quincies to back off lest they be caught in the explosion.

"Che! This is gonna be a tough fight Ichigo. They're fast and they've got ranged attacks that are faster. Let's-!"

The man in uniform let loose a flurry of arrows at them, his sword becoming some sort of makeshift crossbow.

There was a huge explosion in the air.

"All hit the mark…" the man looked up grinning. "What happened to you?! You're not that weak!"

Something fell out of the air, covered in flame and smoke.

Soon it hit the ground; it was the blade Zangetsu.

"A Zanpakto…?"

"Weird."

Ichigo had caught the largest of the arrows in his hand.

"Uryuu said… That Quincies only use bows."

Ichigo threw it back, causing a huge explosion.

The two landed on the ground.

"Zangetsu, get Nel and Pesche out of here and someplace safe. I'll handle this guy."

"You sure about that partner? Remember, you're at half strength."

"I'll be fine, get them to safety!"

"Alright, but don't you dare die!"

Zangetsu grabbed the two and vanished in Sonido.

5 glowing blue dots appeared in the smoke, and soon became arrows headed for Ichigo.

He swung his sword, sending out a Getsuga Tensho that blocked the strikes and blew the dust away.

"I see…" The man stepped out of the remaining dust. "When someone is able to dodge, repel, and throw back with bare hands your Heilig Pfeil… You realize how faulty your techniques still are."

Ichigo frowned.

"Do Quincy arrows have such a complex name? Don't worry; yours are more powerful than Uryuu's…though it's been a long while since I fought him."

"Uryuu?" the man questioned. Are you talking about Uryuu Ishida?"

"So you know about him. Who the hell are you?"

The man ignored his question.

"So Uryuu Ishida's Heilig Pfeil would be less powerful than mine? That's weird."

He adjusted his glasses.

"It's impossible."

"What do you mean?"

"Oops. Speech is silver. Silence is golden. Pardon me; I spoke a little too much."

He sheathed his sword.

"It seems that after this fight I'll have even more things to report to his Majesty."

"Who's that 'Majesty' you've been talking about?"

"Answering is pointless. Why do you need to know?"

"Could it be…? Juha Bach?"

The man showed no reaction to the name.

"I was just ordered by His Majesty to defeat you right away. In other words, you're going to die here. You don't need information about us."

Ichigo scowled at the man.

"Well then. It's time to show you…"

The man closed his eyes and slipped on a glove.

"I'm sure you've heard of…" his eyes shot open, a mad look on his face. "The 'Quincy Letzt Stil'."

He thrust his hand skyward and a massive pillar of light with a ring at the top appeared in front of Ichigo.

When it faded, the man had grown wings of some sort and a strange "crown", along with gauntlets of spirit energy.

"Let me teach you the real name of this form: 'Quincy Vollstandig'."

'Well shit,' Ichigo thought.

"Can you feel it? My pulsating power."

Suddenly the man was behind him.

"The power… of the one that will punish you!"

Ichigo dashed away and turned, facing the man, who charged him with a sword of energy, which Ichigo blocked.

"You seem confused. I will read inside your mind and answer… It's different."

"What?!"

The man thrust at Ichigo's head, cutting his shoulder.

"The Quincy Letzt Stil that you know is too weak. It's a concept that died out over 200 years ago, and it's now a Relic of the past. The only person still attached to it is Souken Ishida, the one that refused the progress we made after years of studies. It's as different to Quincy Vollstandig as Heaven is to Earth!"

Ichigo stood his ground, blocking another strike.

"I see… I don't really care about your past, but in other words it's different from Uryuu's powers. I get that."

Suddenly there was a very familiar sound and a beam of Maroon energy sped at the Quincy, who moved out of the way quickly.

Suddenly Cazador was standing next to Ichigo.

"Captain… Or should I call you Ichigo Kurosaki… You've grown weak. You should have no problem defeating this man. Where is your mask?"

"Right here," Zangetsu said, appearing behind them. "I'm his Zanpakto too. It's complicated."

The three stood in a line, facing the Quincy.

"What do ya say we take him together?"

"That's probably the best idea, but are you sure you two can handle him? He's quite powerful, and I sense you're both only at half strength."

"We don't really have a choice," Ichigo said matter-of-factly.

"Another Arrancar? Oh you're one of the Vasto Lordes that escaped, aren't you? His majesty will be most pleased if I bring him your head on a platter, or even better convince you to join us as his servant!"

Cazador scoffed.

"I'd never serve a human, and I believe you'll find I won't even have to release my sword to defeat you."

"We'll see about that."

Ichigo smirked when he saw the man's transformed state.

"If Uryuu transformed into something that disgusting, I might end up killing him by mistake."

Ichigo swung his blade, releasing a Getsuga.

When the smoke cleared Ichigo heard a voice.

"That's no good. You should aim before slashing."

The man's neck was literally next to Ichigo's blade.

"Shit!"

Ichigo and his allies jumped back.

"Not that it would help, considering that I have no weak points!"

He stood in place, spreading his wings.

"You said that my form is eerie. That's the correct reaction to the eyes of a treacherous Soul Reaper or a filthy hollow. Our appearance of holy executioners should look absolutely horrifying and eerie!"

The man raised his sword and suddenly a large cross of energy began forming from the land around them.

"COME! PREPARE TO RECEIVE IT! My VOLLSTANDIG, 'BISKIEL'S POWER!"

"…Holy shit…" said Zangetsu.

Suddenly the cross was shattered and an enormous beast was there in its place.

"What the HELL is that thing!?" asked the pale sword spirit.

"Did you think we couldn't fight anymore?"

It was Mila Rose, standing up on the sidelines, missing an arm.

"I thought I said you should not underestimate us," added Sung-Sun.

"SHOW THAT FOUR-EYED POSER WHAT YOU CAN DO! AYON!" yelled Appachi.

The being looked at them.

"What are you looking at?" questioned Mila.

"I doubt he is worrying about us," said Sang-Sun.

"… Don't care about us. Go, Ayon," Commanded Appachi.

A mouth and two big eyes opened and it roared.

"Holy shit that thing is monstrous!" yelled Zangetsu before his face turned to an insane grin. "I like it!"

"What's with that thing?" asked Ichigo.

"It's a powerful being formed by sacrificing one of their limbs each," Cazador explained. "It was even able to fight the current Captain Commander of the Gotei 13."

Ichigo's eyes widened.

The two fought for a bit before Ayon started pounding the grounded Quincy over and over.

"Holy… That's a bit too far, don't you think?" Ichigo asked nobody in particular.

Appachi strode up to the man who was half buried in the ground.

"Oooooops~! Maybe we went a bit too far?" She grinned. "I must say you're pretty sturdy. You're still whole even after ayon beat you up so mu-!"

A sword went through her chest, right above her hollow hole.

"Gah…."

A spray of blood came out of her wound and she crumpled to ghe ground.

"Oh…Shit…" Zangetsu managed.

"I see. They didn't warn me about such power…"

The man's neck appeared broken… but he snapped it back into place.

"I must tell His Majesty to adjust our Blut. But before that…" He looked around and stopped at Ayon.

"I'll have you all die quickly."

Ayon simply stared back.

"Well, since you're an ugly monster, you'll be the first to die."

He spread his wings wide, his "Crown" glowing.

"No. To 'live' I should say."

Ayon roared and charged.

"Wait Ayon! Don't!" Mila screamed.

But it was too late.

The being was ripped apart into spirit energy and absorbed into the man.

"Sklavere!" he declared.

All eyes turned to him, full of shock.

"This uses a Quincy's basic ability to gather spirit particles in the most powerful way…It enslaves them. I didn't actually want to use it…"

He had become a disfigured mess of a being, a massive left arm and pectoral muscle with big teeth and tiny eyes, with larger eyes on his wings and a long tail.

Mila grabbed Appachi and the Tres Bestias ran and formed a dome around them and Ichigo, Zangetsu, and Cazador.

"Mula."

Mila turned to them.

"Everything here is made up of spirit particles; you, me, him… If you all were to get absorbed he would be even more of a monster, and the two of you," she nodded to Ichigo and Zangetsu "are weaker than normal it seems."

"My Muda uses an optical disguise and a barrier of spirit energy to completely block an opponent's sensing skills. We should stay concealed and get out of here."

"That's a good idea."

Suddenly the barrier was gone and the monster behind them glowed more, absorbing it all.

"However… you failed to notice that I'm more powerful than you."

Suddenly they felt themselves being pulled apart.

"When I see you all struggling I once again realize how unsightly the death of the weak is. I cannot bear it. Just die."

Ichigo turned to Zangetsu and nodded.

"BANKAI!"

They changed and vanished, appearing behind him and striking at him, forcing him to stop what he was doing and turn and block.

"Cazador! Get them out of here! We'll try to find you later and think something up!"

He nodded and they sonidoed off.

Ichigo looked back to the man and scowled.

"Hey Ichigo… If we crush his head I bet he won't be able to do that Spiritual Slavery anymore!"

Ichigo nodded and looked back at the man.

"It's no use understanding it if you're not able to do it anymore!"

"You really are…"

The man frowned.

"Annoying!"

The three fought for a while, and soon the man was on the defensive, Ichigo and Zangetsu outrunning and overpowering him.

"DAMN ITTTTTTT! I CAN'T DO IT AT ALL!"

He started to run.

"I got this Ichigo."

Zangetsu lowered his horns and fired a Cero Grande.

The man went tumbling to the ground, but raised his blade and fired more arrows at them, but the two easily dodged and appeared before him.

"Why do you want to seal Bankai so badly I wonder," Ichigo said, a serious expression on his face.

"I don't have to tell you anything."

Zangetsu lifted his mask.

"Could it be…that you fear Bankai?"

"NO WAY! WE COULD NEVER-!"

A hole was burned in his chest.

"Thanks to Ichigo the enemy's spirit has crumbled. I could mortally wound him."

"Urahara…"

Urahara threw him a cell phone and he caught it.

"What's this?"

"It's an emergency Situation. Please head over to Soul Society immediately."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

"I understand you might have had a few disagreements with them in the past, but you don't want to leave your friends to die, do you?"

Ichigo scowled but Urahara was right; no matter what they did he had friends in Soul Society and he needed to protect them.

Urahara nodded away and the two followed him to a massive gateway.

"I've opened a door between the worlds. Please hear the details from Akon as you're heading there."

Ichigo nodded and put the phone up to his ear as they ran through.

Suddenly, the gate closed and Ichigo heard a sound behind him before he and Zangetsu were trapped in a cage of energy.

The phone made static.

"Hello?! Hello?!"

"What's going on Ichigo?! Did something happen?!"

"Akon?! I don't really understand but I'm stuck…"

"Hey! Answer me!"

"Dammit! He can't hear me! We're stuck!"

"Let's see if we can get out of here! Stand back!"

Ichigo hugged the back of the cage and Zangetsu fired another Cero Grande, this time at the bars… and they didn't budge.

"Shit…What the hell!?"

"Let's just cut at it until it goes down! It's gotta have a weak point!"

Ichigo started attacking with all their might…

Until it finally gave.

Ichigo let out a battle cry and ripped through the sealed gate, appearing in the sky above Soul Society.

The first person he saw was Byakuya, who was bloodies and embedded in a nearby wall, surrounded by what was presumably his own blood.

"Are Rukia..and Renji….alive..?" he barely managed.

Ichigo managed to sense the spirit energy of his friends.

"Yeah."

"…I see….. Good…"

He paused.

"I will not… last much longer… Despite being a captain of one of the Gotei 13, I was unable to defeat the fowl enemy who invaded the Soul Society. I let many valuable soldiers die, causing the suffering of their subordinates and families…. And in the end I was defeated miserably. I am ashamed of all this."

He paused again to take a ragged breath.

"On the other hand… you are a human. No matter what you might have been before or how you may appear, you are a human; you have a living body, unlike us or hollows. Normally, not only shouldn't you be involved in this… but you should not even be here now."

He coughed up a bit of blood.

"Yet… I'm going to ask you a favor. Please forgive this despicable behavior of mine. Please… protect Soul Society."

Ichigo nodded before silently motioning for Zangetsu to follow him, which he did without any quips or smart comments.

Ichigo looked over a nearby ledge and saw several people, one in a black outfit and threw his sword down amidst them before flash stepping down and drawing his blade, with Zangetsu behind him.

"Go check on the others," Ichigo said to his sword spirit.

"Not this time. You need me for this fight, Ichigo."

Ichigo frowned but realized he was right.

"Your Majesty, here…" started a blonde to his left.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," started the dark haired man "I don't know how you did it, but that was skilled of you to break Kirge's Jail. However, are you really planning to fight me as you are? Even with your Hollow friend there you still won't stand a chance."

"Juha Bach I'm gonna guess. The enemy's leader, right?"

"So you know of me? Interesting. To answer your question… 'I am' and at the same time 'I'm not'."

"Don't mess with me…"

Ichigo clenched his hand around his sword and then yelled "I'M ASKING IF YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MADE SUCH A MESS OF SOUL SOCIETY!"

The man's eyes widened.

"Yes, I am."

Ichigo flared his spiritual pressure, rocks and rubble lifting into the air around him.

"Your Majesty…" the blonde began again.

"As you can see Haschwald, after all we did there's no other choice."

Bach smiled.

"Let's destroy him."

'I'm going to kill him,' Ichigo thought, blind with fury. 'He killed my mother, he nearly killed Byakuya, he killed many more, he destroyed Soul Society and left it in ruins. I'm going to kill him.'

"GETSUGA…." His eyes widened, hate burning in them "TENSHO!"

He let lose a huge wave of power before charging after it at his target, who had blocked it with a wave of his hand.

Juha dodged the strike, causing Ichigo to crash to the ground. The man raised a blade to bring it down on Ichigo but Zangetsu sonido'd in and blocked the strike, but just barely.

"Ichigo, run!"

"No way in hell!"

Ichigo moved to make a strike but Juha blocked, tossed Ichigo to the ground, and made a move for his throat.

The blade hit.

"ICHIGO! Wait…"

Zangetsu sonido'd away to avoid a strike from an arrow by Haschwald, who kept the bow trained on him.

"He's still breathing. Take him to our castle. We'll resuscitate him... and make him join our troops."

Haschwald bowed slightly.

"Yes sir."

However, Juha noticed something on Ichigo's neck under his blade; several angular blue lines.

'This is… No way… Blut Vene!'

Suddenly the ground exploded in black spirit energy.

Ichigo darted out of range, heavily wounded.

"That…was a mistake," declared Juha.

"A mistake? Cause I survived one of your attacks?"

"I don't mean that," said Juha.

The man charged at Ichigo, who barely blocked with his sword, but the man hacked off part of Ichigo's shirt… revealing his forearm and more markings.

"So what I saw was right."

"What do you mean," asked Ichigo.

"I guess it was a mistake to use a pure Quincy to stop you... I should've sent some random Arrancar, because that caused the memories within your spiritual energy to awaken. When you were inside Kirge's jail, you released your spiritual pressure to the extreme to destroy it. When going back to your body, the dregs of your spiritual energy also incorporated the surrounding spiritual energy, and Kirge's spiritual pressure, that slowly reached the deepest parts of your soul, awakened the memories within your spiritual pressure from their very root. Kirge's Jail is made to suppress the enemies. It can't imprison Quincies."

"So you're saying because of that…."

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"So you know of your heritage too? I wanted to take you back and reeducate you from the start, but it looks like there's no time to take it slowly. I'll force you to surrender."

Juha charged at Ichigo, who blocked.

However, Juha grabbed Ichigo's hair.

"This time I'll stab you. Don't think you can dodge with Blut Vene. I'll release my power…"

Suddenly a shadow appeared beneath Juha.

"This is.."

"It's time Your Majesty," said Haschwald "You can't stay outside of the Shatten Bereich area anymore. Please return to Vanderreich. No way…There should still be…!"

He stopped.

"I see… Sousuke Aizen. It must be some trick of his. He managed to slightly confuse my perception in the short time we met. Haschwald, why didn't you tell me if you realized…?"

"I knew that trying to stop you would be useless," the blonde replied.

"Oh well. Let's go."

"WAIT," Ichigo yelled out. "Do you think I'll let you go?! After you did this to Soul Society? To my friends? After you got my Mom killed?!"

The men kept walking.

"I SAID STOP!"

Ichigo charged them, struck…

And watched as Tensa Zangetsu broke in half, right before his eyes.

Suddenly the manifestation of the sword stopped and fell over sideways.

'No…'

Ichigo felt the rage building.

'No…!'

Ichigo started shaking.

'I couldn't protect any of them…'

He fell to his knees

'Not even my own Zanpakto…'

He dropped the hilt of his sword and clenched his fists before crying.

Ichigo was bandaged up and sitting hunched over in a chair looking at the floor, his most recent failure haunting him.

He'd tried to contact his hollow or the old man, but neither seemed to be replying.

"Ichigo."

It was Shinji.

"I've finished operatin' on Rukia and Renji."

Relieved at this, Ichigo got up and followed Shinji back to the Intensive Care room.

"Was too late to just heal em' with spirit energy, I had to operate to suture the stuff where it was necessary. Still, they're out of danger and their conditions are stable."

Ichigo nodded and turned.

When he reached the doorway however, he heard a familiar but weak voice.

"Ichigo…?"

"Rukia?! Are you okay?!"

"He just said our conditions are stable you fool…"

Ichigo smiled.

"You sure sound healthy."

"Ichigo… You came to protect Soul Society…"

He nodded.

"Thank you…"

"Still… There wasn't anything I could really do."

"Dumbass. Didn't you chase away the enemy's boss? If you hadn't shown up it would've gotten worse. You should be more proud you asshole."

Ichigo turned to look at Shinji, giving him a glare.

"Ichigo Kurosaki? Captain Kurotsuchi is looking for you for the Zanpakto thing."

Ichigo nodded and turned, walking past Shinji, but not letting his eyes leave the Vizard Captain until he was out of the room.

'Maybe he can fix my sword. Still…'

He remembered the look on Zangetsu's face as he fell and shook his head to try and remove the mental image.

He headed to the R&D division's building.

"Impossible?! Why!? Didn't you break your own Zanpakto and then fix it again?!"

"How stupid," the strange captain answered "I didn't 'fix' it, I 'Remodeled' it. To fix a Zanpakto you need the owner's spirit energy and time to pour it into the sword. Just that."

"Okay, so I basically need to take it home and fix it. Well then…"

Ichigo grabbed the halves of his blade up from the table nearby where they rested.

"Listen until the end. We're currently talking about the Shikai. If it breaks during Bankai and not the Shikai it's a whole different matter."

Ichigo slowly put the halves down.

The captain turned to look at him.

"A broken Bankai…never goes back to how it was."

"Wha…?!"

"Of course there are exceptions; in the case of Sajin Komamura's Kokujo Yengen Myouou the owner and the Zanpakto are so strongly bound to each other that when the Bankai breaks the owner also receives damage, and that's a weakness. But on the other side, if the owner is healed the Zanpakto revives as well."

He gestured to a monitor.

"For research purposes I know the Bankai of every soldier, and so far that's the only exception I know of. Ikkaku Madarame's Bankai was destroyed in the fight against Edrad Liones, and even though Akon somehow managed to put it back together it still is not as powerful as it used to be."

"Ikkaku's Bankai…?"

"Oops. I think I was told to keep this a secret. Oh well, whatever."

"So what about Renji's Bankai? He said his Bankai broke once in a fight against Byakuya."

"Have you ever counted the blades on his Bankai? The blades of Hihiou Zabimaru destroyed by Byakuya Kuchiki… Are still broken, since that time."

"What the…"

Ichigo growled and slammed his hands on the table.

"Then how should I…!"

"Ichigo!"

Kon came running over to him.

"They called me here; I was confused when I heard you were here t-!"

He stopped and his face turned from shock to horror to sadness.

"Oh… I'm sorry Ichigo I didn't-!"

"It's fine Kon. I'll be fine."

'I hope.'

There was a beeping noise and the strange captain pressed a button in his "hood".

"It's me… I see…. Indeed. Fine, I'll come right away."

He turned to Ichigo.

"Come with me Ichigo Kurosaki. You should meet them….Though I'm definitely not happy to. The Zero Division…Is here."

Kurotsuchi headed off and Ichigo turned to Kon.

"If it turns out I can't fix Zangetsu, you're going to have to fight for me. Be careful; these guys are stronger than anything you've ever seen."

Kon nodded.

"Got it, I'll be careful."

Ichigo ran off after the R&D captain.