Not as Planned

"You've gotten pretty strong, kid."

Grimmjow said between clashes. He had a grin on his face during the whole fight. Although Orihime told him to fight Ichigo and beat him, that was his intention anyway. Their first fight was interrupted by Ulquiorra, and although he was winning, Orihime assured him that Ichigo would be much stronger. So far, he was satisfied.

"Yeah, you've gotten pretty strong too. But you won't stop me from taking Orihime back!"

"Tch, idiot."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

Ichigo was speaking in a slightly gravely voice due to his Hollow mask. He got angry at Grimmjow's exclamation and landed a point blank black getsuga tenshou. At this point, Grimmjow released his Resurreccion to begin pummeling Ichigo again.

What amazed Grimmjow, was that the more he fought Ichigo, the more stable his Reiatsu became. Orihime had told him that Ichigo had monstrous growth and he understood now what she meant.

Orihime noticed the increase in Reiatsu from Grimmjow and started to pay attention to the fight again. She noticed a subtle growth from Grimmjow while pieces of the armor he gained broke off piece by piece.

She suddenly came to an understanding. The form he took was a sort of chrysalis, similar to Aizen and Kaname before they fully transformed. Once the full body armor fell apart completely, he would reach his final form.

Orihime felt a throb in the depths of her soul. The hogyoku just reached 50% awakening. A large amount of information flooded her head which caused her to begin to lose consciousness. She quickly segregated the information and had hogyoku revert back to the old style to help her filter through it.

[New abilities:

-Akashic Records (third floor)

-High-speed Regeneration

-Energy Conversion: Convert all forms of energy to and from spiritual power. Ratio of conversion dependent on energy ranking.]

The Akashic Records had been updated and the information was overwhelming her, so she had to lock it away for now. This allowed her to notice two new abilities. The regeneration made sense, around this point Aizen had this power already.

Gin Ichimaru had destroyed a majority of his torso with his real bankai, but the hogyoku was still able to heal him completely in a matter of seconds. However, the energy conversion was something she did not see Aizen utilize. Perhaps he was unaware of this ability himself, or it was unique to Orihime.

She held her hand out and with a thought began to concentrate her spiritual power. Soon her hand started emitting terrifying heat waves. She stopped it and attempted another one. Lightning began to form, scattering to nearby objects leaving behind scorch marks.

Orihime switched to another one, and nearby rubble began to lift and move toward her hand. Then she made her hand light up like the sun, and also release a high-pitched sound. There was one type of energy she wanted to try but had nothing to test it on.

'This is like the principle of Kido; except I can do this with a thought instead of following a formula. With this ability, all of my Kido will become several times more efficient and powerful. I can also begin inventing my own Kido based on the principles I understand.'

Before she could explore this power any more, she saw a flash of crimson from the corner of her vision. She turned to look at Grimmjow being kicked away after receiving a powerful slash from Nnoitra. Ichigo was completely exhausted but still jumped out on front of Grimmjow to protect him.

Orihime began to make a move when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Jiggles! We've come to save you!"

Yachiru jumped toward Orihime and hooked her arms around her neck. She giggled and looked toward the Arrancar with the giant crescent moon blade.

"He looks strong, Kenny will have a lot of fun!"

"Yachiru, can you bring Ichigo and the other Arrancar up here so they don't get in Kenpachi's way?"

Yachiru looked over at Ichigo who was about to take a beating, but Kenpachi appeared, kicked Ichigo in the stomach, and blocked the crescent blade behind his back with one hand. Yachiru nodded and used Shunpo to quickly appear near them and bring them up.

Orihime began healing them, creating a steady stream of petals falling over their wounds. Ichigo was surprised at the huge improvement of her abilities, since he was unconscious the last time she healed him.

"That's enough Orihime, I have to go down and help."

However, she just pressed down on his shoulder when he sat up and forced him to stay down. Grimmjow was at the side being healed. He had the same thought as Ichigo, but rather than help he wanted to personally kill Nnoitra.

"Did you guys forget of a certain Espada who will be coming back soon? Grimmjow, watch over Nelliel and stay put."

"Wait, what's happened to Nel?"

"She's regaining her original form. She wasn't always a child, Ichigo, she's an Espada. Don't worry, she's on our side."

"Wait, does that mean…"

"Yeah, idiot, did you really not notice I was going easy on you?"

"Grr, you want to fight again! I'll show you who's going easy on whom!"

They both abruptly stopped shouting when space twisted open near them. Ulquiorra had successfully broken out of the restriction and walked over toward the group. Ichigo got up and prepared to battle. Ulquiorra gave him only a single glance before point upwards.

"Lord Aizen has ordered the top Espada not to release our Zanpakuto within Las Noches. Follow me to the roof and I will show you the difference in our power. Then you will realize how pointless your weak struggle has been."

Orihime bit her lip when she watched Ulquiorra and Ichigo go up. She had planned this from the beginning, but the execution was still going to be difficult. She had no confidence in being able to use the power of 'heart' to break Ichigo out of his Hollow transformation.

The only hope was utilizing hogyoku's power on him. After Ichigo loses badly and transforms into a Hollow, Orihime had to pierce his soul and use hogyoku to strengthen his Soul Reaper and Quincy powers. Ideally, activating blut vene in Ichigo at this point would create a harmony between his three powers, however that would be the last resort.

Orihime's reasoning was simple, if Ichigo was too strong and did not resort to final getsuga tenshou, he would never lose his powers. Losing his powers is the only way to smooth out the relationship between Ichigo and the Soul Reapers.

Once the two of them pierced through the ceiling, she followed after them. Any random attack from Ulquiorra could kill her. Fortunately, he is still under orders to keep Orihime alive for Aizen. She is gambling on that to survive this next portion.

When she arrived at the dark ceiling of Las Noches, a sense of dread filled her. This was Ulquiorra's unique Reiatsu. It carried with it all the loneliness he feels. When Ichigo noticed her arrive, he tried to yell out to her but was quickly attacked.

Ulquiorra was already in his first release and Ichigo was barely able to keep up. Orihime could see frustration on Ulquiorra's face as he began to get angry. He shouted at Ichigo about how he is weak and should stop struggling. After being tossed around a few times, Ichigo kept coming back like a cockroach.

"Very well, I shall show you true despair. Not even Lord Aizen knows I have a second form. Resurreccion: Segunda Etapa."

Orihime could swear she heard violins in the background playing a Spanish tune. Or perhaps her imagination had invented it due to how memorable this scene is. Orihime gets ready because this is the defining moment. Within seconds, Ulquiorra grabs Ichigo by the face and drags his body several kilometers across the roof.

Then, he strangles Ichigo with his tail and picks him up. Ichigo tries to struggle, but Ulquiorra points his finger at Ichigo's chest and fires off a point-blank Cero. He throws Ichigo's lifeless body to the ground and sighs.

Orihime immediately appears next to him and shoves her arm into his abdomen. Then, she uses hogyoku to stimulate his Hollow powers. Then retreats while Ulquiorra reaches out to grab her. Before he can move anymore, a white and red hand reached up and tears Ulquiorra's arm off his shoulder.

Although in shock, Ulquiorra's instant regeneration regrows the arm, but Hollow Ichigo throws the dismembered arm at his face distracting him for a second while he charges up a red and black cero between his horns. Ulquiorra quickly reacts with a green lance made out of spiritual power and throws it at the cero.

The lance chips away a section of his left horn, causing it to break from the force of the cero, diffusing its power into a large area. Orihime stood far behind watching the fight happen. She was sweating and breathing heavily at the intensity of it.

Orihime realized that Ichigo's transformation was a bit more powerful than originally and she was most definitely to blame. Not only did she help Ichigo take control of the Hollow more definitively, she also stimulated the Hollow powers. This was all worth it though.

Once that Cero finished destroying half of Ulquiorra's body, she appeared behind Ichigo and attempted to impale him with her arm again. However, it seems she had overestimated herself. Hollow Ichigo turned around and grabbed her by the neck and started choking her. He opened his large mouth and wailed.

"Grrraaaaaaaaah!"