Reunion

Kurosaki Ichigo was quite literally a blur as he Shunpo-ed up to the trapdoor. Pushing it open, the Vizard leapt up into Urahara's shop proper. Naturally, his rush meant that he made no efforts towards stealth, and the loud noise he was making alerted the residents that there was someone unexpected.

"Ichigo?" Urahara poked his head around the corner. "What're you doing here? We weren't expecting you back for at least another week…"

Ichigo scowled. "That was before Inoue got kidnapped. I'm here to see if I can get some reinforcements before I rescue her."

The shopkeeper shook his head. "Ishida-kun and Sado-kun already tried, right before they left via my Garganta to Hueco Mundo. The Shinigami regiment was ordered by Yamamoto-soutaicho to return to Soul Society to prepare for Aizen's invasion."

"Wait, does that mean that no one's here to protect Karakura?!" Ichigo exclaimed, incredulous that anyone could be that stupid.

"It's part of the plan," Urahara told him with a sly smile. "There is to be a two-front battle. Aizen is to be lured here to the living world, and a special contraption of my own design will ensure the safety of the population of Karakura while allowing all the taicho of Soul Society to fight at their full power. No limiters."

Ichigo, despite himself, was awed at the thought for a moment, imagining facing Byakuya and Kenpachi, the two Shinigami taicho he'd actually fought, working together to kill him. They both almost killed me individually… together? He shivered involuntarily. And combined with all the other taicho, who must be at least as strong? "That's… an overwhelming force."

"That it is. Not all the taicho will be fighting here in Karakura, naturally," Urahara cheerfully continued. "Some of them will be going to Hueco Mundo to take out the Espada there."

"Who will be staying in Soul Society to keep Aizen from invading in the meantime?" Ichigo asked pointedly.

The exiled Shinigami shook his head. "From what I understand, some of the fukutaicho will stay behind and alert us if something like that happens. In that event Soul Society's forces will retreat and take care of the threat. We cannot really afford to keep any of our taicho back in this fight; the Espada are too strong, especially in conjunction with Aizen, Tousen and Ichimaru."

Ichigo had to admit that point. "Alright, sounds like you got a plan for here. I need to meet up with Ishida and Chad. Do you know where in Hueco Mundo they are?"

Urahara looked up and assumed a thoughtful expression. "Hard to say, really… I can't know for sure, but if you take my Garganta you should end up pretty close to them."

Ichigo sighed. "That'll have to do. I can materialize their spirit ribbons if need be and locate them that way. Lead the way, hat-'n'-clogs."

As they got up, there was a knock on the door to the Urahara Shoten. "Who could that be at this time?" Urahara questioned, his voice reflecting obvious curiosity.

As the shopkeeper opened the door, Ichigo was relieved to see the faces of Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji. "Guys!"

"Ichigo!" They looked surprised, but their faces hardened swiftly. "Ichigo, have you heard?" Rukia asked urgently.

"Yeah, Inoue's been captured," Ichigo affirmed grimly. "Heard it from one of the Espada, who was acting as a messenger for Aizen. But I thought you had been ordered back to Soul Society?"

"Nii-sama helped us back," Rukia told him.

Renji grinned tightly. "He said that he had been ordered to bring us back. He had no further orders to keep us there. Who knew that Kuchiki-taicho was so devious?"

Ichigo was stunned for a moment, before he smirked in satisfaction. Looks like Byakuya's lightened up a bit. "Alright then, glad to have you along. Let's go."

"Follow me," Urahara ordered, leading them into the basement. A few minutes later, they were in the Garganta, making their way to Hueco Mundo in the same turbulent space between dimensions that Ichigo had just been traveling through.

"Where've you been, Ichigo?" Renji demanded.

"Hueco Mundo," the orange-haired Shinigami answered shortly. "Reason's a bit of a story, but we got a few minutes, so…" Ichigo quickly explained his situation with Cazador, and told how he'd lost one of their fights, so Cazador had taken over and left to Hueco Mundo per their agreement, to evolve as a Hollow. "… and Cazador managed to evolve to an Adjuchas relatively quickly. We made the acquaintance of a few peaceful-seeming Arrancar, but then we got a message from Aizen's messenger-boy, saying that Cazador had twelve hours to appear before him or Inoue would be killed. I persuaded Cazador to fight me again early, won, and came back here to gather reinforcements. You know the rest of the story."

"That's… a lot to take in," Renji admitted. "You know that we'll never tell Soul Society, of course."

Rukia, who had known of a lot of this previously, was better able to continue the questioning. "What's the significance of this Hollow ego of yours, this Cazador de la Luna, evolving to Adjuchas?"

"Simply put? My Hollow powers get a major powerup," Ichigo replied.

"Hollow powers?" Renji swallowed the lump in his throat, thinking about just how strong Ichigo was without them."What sort of powers do you get?"

"To my knowledge, I've got high-speed regeneration capabilities, plus a powerful boost to my strength, speed and raw power," Ichigo informed them. "Not sure what else yet. Cazador'll be teaching me more later, provided there is more to teach."

Rukia scoffed. "As if you need any more raw power." Her insides froze as though her own Zanpakuto had turned on her as Ichigo merely gave her a haunted look. The message was clear: I need every advantage I can get.

"Are they really that strong?" Renji queried stonily.

Ichigo shook his head. "Not all of them, I'm sure. The tenth Espada, Yammy, is rather weak outside of his Resurreccion. I could take him out with just my Shikai. According to other Espada, his Resurreccion makes him the strongest of the Espada. The seventh Espada, Zommari, was fast and had the ability to go so fast he can create up to five clones of himself. Not sure about his actual strength. Number six, Grimmjow, was fast, but I presume was much stronger than the seventh. His Resurreccion makes him faster and stronger, and he specializes in Hakuda, with his hands turned into claws. The fifth, Nnoitra, was incredibly strong at the expense of his speed, but also had some regeneration ability. Outside of Resurreccion, he uses a halberd-type weapon, but in Resurreccion he can have up to six arms, each of which wielding a scythe. The fourth, Ulquiorra, is ungodly fast, faster than my Bankai. I don't know anything more about him, or anything at all concerning the other Espada."

"Even so, that's valuable intelligence," Rukia appreciated. "Thank you for the update, Ichigo."

Ichigo merely nodded, sensing that they were about to encounter the dimensional boundary into the realm of Hollows. "Look sharp! There's a good chance we're gonna be in a fight the minute we emerge in Hueco Mundo, especially if they already detected Ishida and Chad."

Two solid nods acknowledged the advice, and then they broke through to Hueco Mundo, landing on the desert surface. A brief look around proved that neither the Quincy nor the human with Hollow-like powers were anywhere nearby. "Any ideas?" Renji asked.

Rukia pointed at Las Noches in the distance. "Ichigo, is it safe to say that that structure over there is the headquarters for Aizen and his forces?"

"Yeah. I'm certain Inoue's in there somewhere," he responded affirmatively. "Ishida and Chad probably headed in that direction."

"Let's start running then!" Renji suggested strongly.

"Why not just take a ride on your Bankai?" Ichigo proposed. "Your heightened reiatsu will alert our friends that we're coming, to just stay put or come to us, and we can move pretty quickly."

Rukia bopped him upside the head. "Because if Renji uses his Bankai here, we'll have Hollows swarming us in minutes! Did you forget that Hollows are attracted to reiatsu?!"

Ichigo rubbed the spot where the midget had smacked him. "Right, right. Sorry I asked."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure I can sense them in that direction." Rukia pointed towards Las Noches. "They're not too far; we should be able to catch up shortly if we use Shunpo."

Renji and Ichigo nodded at her, letting Rukia take point; after all, she could sense their friends far better than they could. They all disappeared in a flicker of Shunpo.

Several minutes later, they heard the sounds of a fight. Ichigo picked up the pace, streaking past Rukia easily, racing up to a large sand dune blocking the way. Ishida and Chad appeared to be fighting a large sand Hollow. Ichigo was only mildly surprised to see they were accompanied by Nel's group.

Ichigo drew Zangetsu from his back and was about to charge a Getsuga when Rukia put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "It's sand; he'll just reform if you don't hit him with an elemental attack, change his composition," Rukia explained, drawing her own Zanpakuto. "Allow me… Dance, Sode no Shiraiyuki!"

Before Ichigo's very eyes, Rukia's sword changed into an elegant white, a long ribbon flowing out from the hilt as the short Shinigami turned Sode no Shiraiyuki counterclockwise in front of her. "Tsugi no Mai," the ice user uttered, lightly piercing the ground rapidly four times in a semicircle in front of her. From each spot, ice particles flowed upwards and began to surround her sword. Rukia took a battle stance, holding her sword up to her shoulder as though preparing for a powerful forward thrust. "Hakuren."

The ice swirled violently around Sode no Shiraiyuki before firing forward in a wave of ice, completely freezing the sand Hollow, before it toppled over and shattered. "And that," Rukia told Ichigo with a look of superiority, "is how you handle enemies that your standard 'Cut your foe to pieces' strategy can't take care of."

Ichigo was highly tempted to scoff at her, but his curiosity won out. "But wouldn't a good slash to the Hollow's mask take out pretty much any Hollow, regardless of composition?"

Renji looked at Ichigo oddly. "You know, that's a good question. That's actually one of the topics for discussion in the Shinigami Academy, meant to inspire critical thinking."

"There's no particularly solid evidence one way or another," Rukia told Ichigo. "I think it would depend on the skill of the Shinigami, and the regenerative ability of the Hollow in question." She reached into a pocket somewhere and pulled out her sketchbook.

Oh no! I am NOT going to submit myself to her drawings again! Too late, as Rukia had already quickly drawn a couple of pictures and shoved it into his face. Ichigo's brows furrowed as he struggled to recognize what was in front of him. There seemed to be a bunny in a chibi-sized Shinigami outfit, wielding a sword that looked suspiciously like Zangetsu, facing off against a comical version of the Hollow Rukia had just frozen, which was only recognizable by the obvious mask and Hollow hole. The next picture showed the Hollow sliced in half, and then reforming.

Directly underneath that slideshow of pictures was another set. This one had a bunny in a coat with a katana. Ok, now I know that's supposed to be me, but that drawing sucks. The Hollow had a lot of scribbles on its mask. Are those supposed to be visual representations of me at high speed? The next picture had the Hollow disintegrating.

Ichigo frowned. "Oh, like if I, in my Bankai, used my high speed and strength to cut that sand Hollow's mask into thousands of fragments, it might finish it as its regeneration couldn't keep up with me. Whereas if I slashed it once, the Hollow would probably reform as it was only a single slash."

Rukia nodded, pleased. "I'm glad my drawing helped you out."

"I would've understood better without the drawings," the orange-haired Shinigami replied deadpan. A second later, he found himself lying face-down in the sand, a pain in his back from where Rukia had kicked him. "Ow."

"Whenever you're ready to join us!" Ishida called out, an impatient look on his face and a tic above his left eye as he stood on Bawabawa, watching the whole interaction. I HATE being ignored like this!

Ichigo picked himself up and jumped down to his friends atop Bawabawa, Rukia and Renji following behind. "Hey guys."

"Not that I'm complaining, Kurosaki, but I thought your Hollow would be in control," Ishida pointed out.

"He was, until about an hour ago," the Vizard admitted. "When Inoue was kidnapped, I fought him again for control and won." Best not to tell them the stakes.

"Itsygo!" Nel cried out, glomping Ichigo's leg. "You did come back!"

Ichigo let out a very small smile as he patted Nel's helmet. "I told you I would, didn't I?"

"Ichigo, you know these Hollows?" Chad queried.

"Yeah. Long story, but they're technically on our side. They used to work for Aizen, but they were betrayed, and now hate him," Ichigo quickly explained, more for the benefit of Rukia and Renji than anyone else. I'm sure Chad and Ishida have already gotten some information. "Pesche and Dondochakka are Nel's former subordinates, from when she was an Espada."

"Wait, this shrimp was an Espada?" Renji asked incredulously, a disbelieving look on his face.

"Espada Tres," Ichigo confirmed with a smirk. "Another of the Espada attacked her and damaged her mask, which made her lose most of her power."

"Before you get any ideas about killing us while she's weaker, we're very, very good at running away," Pesche told them warily.

Ishida sighed. "We're not going to attack you. Like Kurosaki said, it sounds like you're on our side. Besides, our mission isn't to kill the Espada; it's to save Orihime. Bawabawa, would you please continue towards Las Noches?"

The large worm-like Hollow made noises of agreement as it once more began moving towards the palace. "We should be there in about half an hour, don'tcha know," Dondochakka announced.

Ichigo gripped Zangetsu's hilt, the cloth-covered Zanpakuto silently reassuring him as he scowled. Inoue, hold on!

Inoue Orihime sat quietly in her room in Las Noches. She had felt Kurosaki-kun's Hollow reiatsu erupt some time ago, and then it had settled down, more into the Shinigami reiatsu she was accustomed to. And then he had disappeared off her radar. Kurosaki-kun's probably regained control and returned to the living world. She smiled grimly. Which means that he probably knows by now that I've been captured.

She waited for a time, meditating as she kept tabs on all the reiatsu signatures she knew. When she sensed Chad and Ishida without Ichigo, she had grown confused, but Ichigo soon after, catching up with them. Good. Now, let's see if I can join them… "Tsubaki," she murmured. "Do you think you can cut through the wall, or the bars on the window?"

The fairy materialized from her hairpin and flew over to the wall, inspecting it. He even punched it a couple of times. "It's made from a very strong material," the ninja-like Tsubaki assessed. He quickly flitted outside and back in, judging the thickness of the walls. "The wall appears to be about six inches thick. I believe if you focused hard enough, I could cut through it. Let me check the bars." A minute later, he descended in front of Inoue. "No good, the bars are made out of something stronger than the walls, even if they are thinner."

Orihime nodded. "Alright. Thank you, Tsubaki."

"No, thank you, Orihime. You're finally starting to consider proper applications of my power outside of a last resort," Tsubaki told her with a slightly approving tone, right before he disappeared back into her hairpins.

The wielder of rejection powers eyed the wall and tried to consider various scenarios. Well, Tsubaki says we can cut through it. If I do, I can use Santen Kesshun to fly to the others safely. Her face changed to worry. But I had a hard time with the weakest Arrancar, and I'm not fast enough to escape. I don't have a high-speed technique like the others. So I'd be easily recaptured if they found out I'd escaped before I could meet up with everyone. She shook her head. I need to stop thinking like that. If I don't want my friends to have risk their lives to save me, I have to risk it.

Inoue steadied her resolve and double-checked that no reiatsu presences were nearby. Sensing none, she brought her hands to her hairpins. "Tsubaki, Koten Zanshun! I reject!" she whispered, using the full-power version. I need to get out of here, to save my friends!

Tsubaki manifested himself into the lethally sharp projectile and fired forward. He sliced right through the wall at about head height, widening his cutting edge to approximately a foot wide. Then he repeated the process a few times, making a literal door before returning to Inoue's hairpins.

The young woman allowed herself a smile before pushing the "door" out of place easily, sending it crashing down into the sands below. "Santen Kesshun," she murmured, stepping out into the open air, and onto her golden rejection shield. "To my friends!" she whispered hastily, sensing someone coming. "Quickly!"

She raced off, kneeling on her shield to keep her balance as she flew to rejoin her friends.

Ishida frowned. "You're not gonna believe this, guys, but I could swear that Orihime is approaching, but she's being pursued!"

Inoue managed to escape on her own? Ichigo gripped Zangetsu's hilt tightly over his shoulder, ready to draw at a moment's notice. "Where?"

"Not too far! Let's go!" Ishida ordered, taking charge as he leapt into the air with Hirenkyaku, flying quickly.

The Shinigami in the party quickly followed, blurring into a Shunpo. Chad activated his arms and followed on land with his Paso del Viento.

"What about us, don'tcha know?" Dondochakka asked Nel and Pesche.

"Well, if we follow, there's a chance we'll get caught up in the fight," Pesche pointed out.

"But Itsygo and everyone else were nice!" Nel insisted. "We should follow them!"

"Are you sure, Nel-sama?" the tall insectoid Arrancar questioned.

"Bawabawa, follow them!" Nel ordered as best she could in her childish voice.

Orihime glanced over her shoulder. She was being pursued by someone whose reiatsu felt completely unfamiliar. Whoever it was wasn't as fast as she had seen Ishida go, but he or she was definitely fast enough to be slowly catching up to her. To Orihime's relief, she could feel her friends approaching quickly, and she quickly began her descent to meet up with them.

"Inoue!" she heard Ichigo bellow. This was quickly followed by several shouts from Ichigo's companions.

Orihime smiled as she recognized them, everyone descending to the ground. "Kurosaki-kun! Uryuu! Chad! Rukia! Abarai-san!"

"Orihime, do you know who's following you?" Ishida quickly asked, hovering next to her while being inwardly impressed that Orihime had worked out how to fly using her Santen Kesshun. Everyone else mimicked him, surrounding their friend and drawing their weapons.

Orihime turned around to face the same way, the direction from which the enemy was approaching. "No, it's a different Arrancar than we've met."

With a minor booming sound, the Arrancar Sonido-ed into view. The Arrancar was incredibly tall, although part of that was almost certainly the sheer size of his head. However, the face was covered by a long, elongated mask, to the point where Ichigo half-considered the idea that the Arrancar was actually a Vizard.

The Arrancar wore the white Espada outfit in such a way that not a shred of his body could be seen. However, everyone was shocked when the Espada seemed taken aback. "Rukia? Rukia, is that you?"

Rukia could not believe her ears. She hadn't heard that voice in many decades. "K… Kaien-dono?"

Renji's jaw dropped. "Kaien? As in, Shiba Kaien, the Shinigami who died when he was possessed by a Hollow? As in, Rukia's old fukutaicho?" Everyone else leaned back in shock at this information.

"That's me!" the Espada said behind the mask before reaching up and taking it off, revealing a very familiar face, one that made Rukia's knees quiver.

"Kaien-dono…" Rukia breathed. This… this is impossible!

Ichigo picked up where she left off. "Wait, how is this possible? If you're this Shiba Kaien person, how did you become a Hollow? And why are you working for Aizen?"

Kaien nodded seriously, acknowledging the need for an explanation. "As Abarai-san already said, when I was a Shinigami, I was Rukia's fukutaicho." He smiled warmly. "Rukia and I were very good friends."

"Very good friends?" Rukia half-laughed, half-sobbed in relief. He's here. He's alive! "You were the only one who treated me as my own person after the Kuchiki family adopted me." Renji had the decency to flinch at that. "You taught me how to use my sword, you encouraged me, you were the first person I ever showed my Shikai to!"

Kaien smiled more at Rukia. "Yeah. Anyways, I was married to the love of my life, Shiba Miyako. But one day, a Hollow appeared, and Miyako-chan was assigned to track it down." He clenched his fist. "The Hollow killed her, and I swore revenge."

"Kaien-dono pursued, accompanied by myself and Ukitake-taicho," Rukia continued. "We found it in its lair, and Kaien-dono requested to fight it by himself."

"I was granted permission," Kaien followed up, "so I jumped down and fought. But as soon as my Zanpakuto touched the Hollow, it broke. Apparently the Hollow's power was to, once a day, be able to break any Zanpakuto it touches. My poor Nejibana… I fought back using Kido, and was doing well…"

"I begged Ukitake-taicho to let me help him," the short black-haired Shinigami added. "But I was denied, with an explanation." She took a deep breath. "'Rukia, remember this. There are two types of fights. Whenever we are in battle, we must be one of the two. The fight for life or … the fight for pride!'" she quoted, glaring lightly at Kaien out of the corner of her eye. "If it were a fight to protect life, then he would have accepted the help. But otherwise, his pride would have been broken, maybe for good. Men and their stupid pride…"

"Eheh," Kaien chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment before turning serious again. "The Hollow managed to get behind me, and then it showed its real power."

Rukia lowered her head in sorrow. "It merged with him. Ukitake-taicho told me to run, that he would fight it off… but I came back because I realized I could not face myself in the mirror every day if I did that. Ukitake-taicho fell to his illness then, and the Hollow attacked me." She flinched, unable to go on.

"Rukia-chan killed me," Kaien said simply. "But apparently the Hollow had been one of Aizen's experiments, and was designed to reconstitute itself in Hueco Mundo every time it was destroyed. As it had merged with me, my body was restored, and I managed to establish dominance. I became an Espada in order to gain more strength, to take my revenge on the person ultimately responsible for Miyako-chan's death – Aizen Sousuke. I managed to convince everyone that the Hollow was in charge; it wasn't hard, the Hollow's personality is still buried in here somewhere. I keep the mask on, so people can't see my distaste for what's happening, and to keep Aizen from seeing my true face."

When it was clear that Kaien was finished, Ichigo glanced at his friends. Ishida still looked slightly suspicious, but his stance suggested that he was willing to accept the story. Ichigo, however, was unconvinced. His own forays in that line between Shinigami and Hollow refused to let him accept the story so easily. Cazador said that a being is only truly a Hollow once the mask takes over. If he truly is the Shinigami, why is his reiatsu so very much a Hollow's? He paused to reconsider. Then again, I don't see his Hollow hole… Maybe he's a special case. "Oi, Kaien. If you're truly Kaien, a Shinigami with a Hollow body, why don't you bring out your Shikai? I'm sure Rukia will recognize it, and I know for a fact that Arrancar don't have them."

Kaien smiled as he drew his sword, slowly spinning it. "Rankle the seas and the skies, Nejibana." The sword transformed into what looked like a trident, with a blue tassel on the end. Ichigo watched closely, but Kaien's body didn't seem to change any, as was the usual case for a Resurreccion.

Rukia's form trembled. "It's you. Oh Kami it's really you!" She rushed forward and hugged the long-thought-dead Shinigami, tears of relief flowing freely down her face. Kaien held her close as well with his free hand. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Ichigo was convinced, and a quick glance at his friends showed that they seemed to be as well. Everyone had lowered their weapons, and both Chad and Renji were smiling softly at the pair. "What can you tell us about Las Noches?"

The lost member of the Shiba clan nodded to him. "Aizen arranged to have artificial sunlight shining everywhere above it. I think this was meant to be an obstacle for me, as one of the downsides of the Hollow that absorbed me is a weakness to sunlight. It burns me, which is another reason for why I wear the mask."

Rukia looked up at her dear friend's face in surprise. "That's horrible!"

Kaien shrugged. "It could be worse."

Ishida stepped forward. "Listen, we came here to rescue Orihime." He gestured towards the girl. "Quite frankly, we're at a disadvantage, coming here onto Aizen's territory. We don't know the terrain, the forces there, and I rather doubt that we're enough to combat Aizen's army."

The Shinigami-turned-Hollow nodded grimly as Rukia broke away, embarrassed at her own display earlier. "I am only the Noveno Espada. From what I've heard of you guys from Grimmjow and Yammy, I wouldn't be much help to you."

"Information is the most valuable asset anyone can have," Ishida pointed out. "What can you tell us?"

Kaien scratched his head in thought. "Aizen is planning to invade the living world and create the King's Key…"

"We heard about that already," Renji told him impatiently.

"Renji," Chad rumbled, putting a hand on his arm, "let him speak."

"Aizen originally wanted us to just stay in our rooms and wait for you to come invade," Kaien informed them. "I suppose that was so we could take you on in our own territory. When the lovely lady here escaped on her own unexpectedly, I was closest, and took pursuit; we were on standing orders not to let her escape, and I figured that I could stage her escape with whoever was coming to rescue her later."

"Anything else?" Rukia asked.

"Nothing. He doesn't really share his plans with us," Kaien told her with a self-depreciative chuckle. "Sorry I can't be much help."

"We should remember that Soul Society is planning to send a few taicho in here to start taking out the Espada," Chad told everyone.

Renji nodded. "It would be bad if Aizen became aware of it and didn't leave any Espada here while going to the living world to create the King's Key. Imagine having some of our strongest taicho here, heavily delayed as they make their way back to a Garganta back to the living world."

"Yeah, that'd be bad," Ichigo agreed. "So, what all do you guys think? Start taking out some of the Espada now while we've got a chance? Or head back to the living world since we've rescued Inoue?"

"I don't think we're gonna get a much better chance," Renji stated. "We've got insider information from Kaien here, all of us are here and at full strength, and according to Kaien they are separated and waiting for us."

"I think we should go back to the living world and wait," Rukia suggested. "We already know that the Espada's Hierro is weaker outside of Hueco Mundo, which gives us a home team advantage. Plus, Urahara's worked out a way to protect all of Karakura's residents, which allows us to fight at full strength, and the Shinigami can come to the living world to aid us far faster than they can get to Hueco Mundo."

"That may be so, but it's usually not a wise tactical decision to wait to be attacked," Ishida pointed out. "We could easily be caught unawares, and then any advantage we have in the living world could be countered. I vote we continue on."

"I'm sorry Uryuu, Abarai-san, but I think we should go back to the living world as well," Inoue told them. "There's too much chance that one of us would be captured again, maybe by a high-level Espada or maybe by Aizen himself! I agree with Rukia, we should retreat so we can have backup if we need it."

"I could go either way," Chad admitted. "All of you have good points. We have two healers here, which means that we could probably hold our own for a long while. But at the same time, Ichigo only managed a draw against the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow. I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say that Ichigo is the fastest one here, and he's not exactly weak in strength either. If we assume that almost every Espada above six is faster or stronger than Grimmjow, then we'd have one hell of a time taking them down, especially on their own turf." He shook his head. "I'll go with whatever Ichigo decides."

"I'll abstain from voting," Kaien said seriously. "I'm still going to be working towards my vengeance against Aizen, regardless of your decision."

The Vizard saw everyone staring at him, waiting for his vote to be cast. It would be his decision whether or not to go on. Ichigo swallowed. Personally, I want to go test myself against the Espada, to see how much I've grown. I'm sure I could take on Grimmjow and Nnoitra. He frowned more deeply. But I definitely see everyone's points. He paused for a moment and made his decision.