As Ichigo knelt on the ground crying in the pouring rain, one of the two men watching him began to walk away. One of them was Ginjo Kugo, a tall and lean-built man with fair skin, brown eyes with a small vertical scar above his left eyebrow, and combed back shoulder-length black hair. He wore a pair of black pants and a white sleeveless shirt, underneath a black jacket that had a fur-covered collar. He also wore a thin chain necklace that had an X-shaped pendant attached to it. His partner was Tsukishima, who was an extremely tall young man with black eyes and shoulder-length wavy black hair. He also had a long scar running vertically along the left side of his eye. He was wearing a long-sleeved collared shirt with suspenders and dark pants. Both of them were members of a secret organisation of Fullbringers known as Xcution, they had betrayed Ichigo from the very beginning, where they'd been planning on taking him down.
As Ichigo found his determination and demanded Ginjo to return his powers, he was suddenly impaled from behind by a sword glowing with Reiatsu. Stunned, he slowly turned his head to see who the attacker was, and all he saw there his father and Urahara standing behind with serious looks on their faces. 'Dad... Urahara...' he thought with disbelief before more tears streamed down his cheeks. "I see. So that's it? Have your memories been changed too?!"
Isshin stared at him for a moment before saying, "You idiot. That isn't me. Take a good look. Look at who's holding that sword." His son looked further over his shoulder to see that Reiatsu was flowing from the sword handle, though there was no wielder. "You should be able to see her now." Ichigo's eyes widened in shock as, slowly, Rukia who was now a Lieutenant for the 13th Division appeared before his eyes, revealing herself to be the one who had stabbed him with the sword.
"Rukia!" he gasped. The said woman also had some changes in her appearance. Her hair cropped into a bob which hanged about her face. She wore a fingerless white tekko, similar to Byakuya's, which extended above her elbows, as well as her Division Badge around her uniform's left sleeve that had been shortened to reach her upper arm.
Rukia smiled at him before the sword illuminated brighter with more Reiatsu, followed by a powerful wave of Reiatsu and dust. By then, the rain had stopped, which allowed the clouds of dust to temporarily obscure the Fullbringers' view. Once they cleared up, Ginjo was shocked to see Ichigo in his Shihakusho, though he had some slight alterations seemingly caused by the remaining energy from his Fullbring that was removed by Ginjo. It consisted of a thicker strap across his chest, and he had four black vertical lines on his forearms. Black tattoo-like bands crossed over his chest, wrists and ankles. He had similar bands, but with white ends, around his neck that seemed like collars. His Zanpakutou's appearance changed as well due to the traces of his Fullbring, giving the blade a silver hilt with gray wrappings and a short length of chain at its base. The blade itself curved inwards at the backside of the tip, resembling a trench knife.
"No..." said Ginjo. "It's impossible!"
Ichigo wedged his Zanpakutou into the ground and turned around to look at Rukia, who smiled at him. "It's been a while, Ichigo." she greeted. "You've become so strong and mature since the last time I saw you... NOT, IDIOT!" She suddenly kicked him in the face, causing him to spin around a few times before he fell to the ground.
"Ouch!" he shouted out as his left cheek swelled.
"Crying like a pathetic fool!" she berated. "You turned into a wimp the moment I stopped keeping my eyes one you! Pitiful!" Once she'd said what was on her mind, she took some deep breaths to calm herself down. "Urahara told me about the power of this Tsukishima guy. He can write over the past; it is indeed a terrifying power. But so what?!" Ichigo looked at her with surprise. "No matter how much he changes your past, he cannot change your future! Lost bounds can be forged once again! Am I wrong, Ichigo?!"
The said boy blinked at her for a short while before smiling. "Rukia, can I say one thing?" he began. "He didn't change my past, you know."
A vein throbbed on the top of her head, and she swung the sword at him, making him dodge before she could stab him one more time. "Don't make fun of me with that serious look!" she scolded.
"That's dangerous, you idiot!" he yelled once he got away. "Even if it's been a while, that's a pretty harsh reaction!"
"You fool!" she scolded. "This sword has no blade!"
Ichigo then realised that he didn't have a wound caused by the stab, proving Rukia statement. "Come to think of it, what is that sword?" he asked.
"This is a sword that Urahara prepared for you." she explained. "Thanks to this, I can give you Shinigami Powers again!"
Ginjo humphed all of a sudden, grabbing their attention. "Don't be ridiculous." he said. "Just because he looks like a Shinigami doesn't mean his powers have returned. The reason why Kurosaki was able to become a Shinigami the first time around was because he already had Shinigami Powers to begin with. But he no longer has any Shinigami Powers! That's because I've taken them from him!" He then proudly showed his Zanpakutou, which took on the form of a large Claymore. The blade was a long, wide, double-edged form of a longsword. The crossguard consisted of a small decorative skull with an 'X' over it. The sword's handle ran through its guard, continuing on through a dark, metallic hollow space at the base of its blade, with the hollow part resembling a spinal column. "He has absolutely nothing." He then pointed the sword at Rukia and continued, "There's no way your Reiatsu alone could bring back his powers!"
"You idiot!" shouted a familiar voice. "It's not just Rukia!" Everyone looked up to find out where the voice came from, and at that moment, a Senkaimn appeared in the sky and opened to reveal six Shinigami, with three Captains among them.
Ichigo's face lit up when his gaze landed on the familiar Shinigami. "Renji!" he said before his gaze landed on the other Shinigami. "Byakuya! Asa-san! Toshiro! Kenpachi! Ikkaku!"
"We put all of our Reiatsu into that sword!" said Renji with a grin. His hair had grown longer, and he wore a maroon bandanna covering the tattoos on his forehead. He also wore long dark straps on each wrist with bandages over his arms. "Restoring Ichigo's Reiatsu would be a piece of cake!"
"You said your name was Ginjo, right?" said Rukia, getting the said man's attention. "You only stole the top layer of Ichigo's power, which was fused with his Fullbring. The power that comes from within Ichigo is not something that you could ever steal!" Ginjo let out an annoyed humph before letting the back of his sword rest on his shoulder. "Ichigo! They don't know that this isn't enough to make you give up hope! They don't know what kind of hopeless situations you've overcome! Show them, Ichigo! Show them that despair isn't enough to stop you!"
"Right." he responded.
"Yeah, yeah." said Ginjo sarcastically before charging towards Ichigo. "That sure is amazing!" He attempted to attack, but the latter blocked it with his sword. "Things won't be that easy!" The two of them then took the battle into the air while the others watched. But it didn't take long for Ichigo to end the fight as he fired another massive Getsuga Tensho and directede it at Ginjo, who tried his hardest to block it, insisting that it'd take more than that attack to defeat him. However, he was soon overwhelmed and fell to the ground as the attack dissipated.
Meanwhile, Ichigo who was now left alone stared at his hand and clenched and opened it, reflecting on how his powers felt very different. "You feel it, right?" asked Renji, who appeared behind him with the rest of the Shinigami.
"Rukia." he began as he took note of whose powers he felt inside him. "Renji. Byakuya. Asa-san. Kenpachi. Ikkaku. Toshiro. No, that's not all. Hirako. Tadashi. Rangiku-san. Unohana-san. Hanataro. Dad. Urahara-san. Yoruichi-san. And even the Old Head Captain!"
"You have all of our powers, Ichigo!" said Rukia with a gentle smile.
"I thought transferring your powers to a human was a serious crime." reminded Ichigo with a smirk.
"We didn't have a choice." said Renji. "It's the Captain-Commander's orders." He then told what happened during the Captain's Meeting, repeating what Hitsugaya told Asa in his office earlier that day. When Renji was done, Ichigo was astonished. "That's how it was. Nice of the Captain-Commander, don't you think?"
"No, it's more than just being nice." corrected Asa, who still had her hair tied into a bun secured by the gold kanzashi Byakuya gave her months ago. "This is not the kind of sane decision you'd expect of a leader. Ojii-sama, no, the Captain-Commander would've probably never made a decision like this in the past." She then gave the Substitute Shinigami a smile and continued, "You changed all that, Ichigo. That power you received is the result of the change you made to Soul Society in all of your battles. You should accept it with honour." The said boy smiled back at her.
However, they were interrupted by a violent explosion of purple Reiatsu behind Ichigo, catching him off guard. "What is it?!" he said, turning around to look at the huge pillar of Reaitsu, which actually belonged to Ginjo, who was still alive. "No way..."
Hitsugaya then took a few steps forward until he stood next to Ichigo with his gaze fixated on Ginjo as well. "There are two reasons why the Captain-Commanded decided to restore your Reaitsu." he began, prompting Ichigo to look at him. "The first is as we just told you. And the second reason is him." Ichigo looked back at the Fullbringer with uneasiness as Hitsugaya began to explain to him about the existence of Substitute Shinigami. "Long before you ever showed up, a man was issued a Combat Pass as a Substitute Shinigami, then relinquished that position and disappeared." Ginjo swung his Zanpakutou to clear up the Reiatsu, revealing his transformed self. Besides his hair turning messier, his body was covered in armour plates and skeletal bones, with his chest covered in a bone-like lattice resembling a rib cage that further extended downwards to bony plates covering his abdomen. His hands were clad in gloves, the top of each glove resembling hand bones. He also gained shoulder pads in the form of bone plates, and bone plate shin guards that extended to his bone knee-pad plates, which extended up to his mid thigh. He also adorned a belt with a large X-shaped buckle.
"The first Substitute Shinigami, Ginjo Kugo." continued Hitsugaya, looking at the grinning said man.
"The first... Substitute Shinigami?!" repeated Ichigo with disbelief. "What're you talking about?! He's-"
Hitsugaya interrupted him by saying, "When Ukitake first handed you the Combat Pass, he must have told you this, "Soul Society also has a law covering the emergence of a Substitute Shinigami. If the Shinigami is deemed beneficial to Soul Society, it is customary to give the Combat Pass to them." The Substitute Shinigami Law was created for him." Ichigo's eyes widened with shock, for he couldn't believe this piece of information.
Byakuya took a step forward and called Hitsugaya, causing the latter to look at him for a fraction. Instead of the kenseikan, Byakuya wore hairpieces at the back of his head, as well as a variation of the Captain's haori that featured a high collar with light gold edges and small, light gold tassels attached to the corners. He was no longer wearing the silk scarf.
"Be that as it may, we'll save the details for later." said the Captain of the 10th Division. "Right now, concentrate all of your attention on him!"
"You got that right!" agreed Ginjo maniacally. "You guys would have a problem if he's not focused on me! Thanks, Kurosaki. If I hadn't taken your powers, I'd be dead right now." The two Substitute Shinigami stared at each other, with Ichigo calmly returning Ginjo's gaze.
Just then, Orihime arrived at the scene, and upon seeing that Ichigo was no longer crying, she felt a massive amount of relief at this. Shethen spotted the other Shinigami present and expressed joy that her friends from Soul Society had arrived to stop Ichigo from mistakenly killing Ginjo. However, When Sado caught up with her, he realised that something was odd with the situation as the Shinigami were standing with Ichigo, facing Ginjo instead of the other way around. It was at that moment when Tsukishima appeared behind them and asked the stunned Humans if they're having doubts about their past before cramming more memories into their pasts. Sado and Orihime began to shake violently and sweat profusely, admitting that they trust Tsukishima and care for him, but at the same time, they felt that something was terribly wrong.
"Tsukishima!" called Ginjo when he saw what happened. "Don't keep cramming memories into their pasts! They'll become unusable! Think about how many you ruined by doing that!"
Just then, Orihime and Sado were knocked unconscious before being caught by Urahara and Isshin. "Whew, thank goodness!" said the former with relief.
"Hey, no fair..." moaned Isshin, having to hold Sado who was much heavier than Orihime.
Tsukishima's brows furrowed at them. "Thanks to you carelessly unsettling them, we were easily able to knock them unconscious." continued Urahara. "Thank you very much. Now Inoue and Sado have been taken out of action. They won't have to suffer anymore." He then looked at Ichigo and reassuringly said, "We've already moved the others to a safe place, so you're now able to fight without holding back."
Just then, few more people joined the scene, which turned out to be the remaining members of Xcution. "What?" said Giriko. "I knew it! This is quite unfair! How could you take Ichigo-san's power all for yourself?!" He was a tall middle-aged man who had short dark hair, brown eyes and a thick mustache. He wore a typical bartender's outfit, which consisted of a shirt and dark waistcoat with a bow tie. He also wore a dark leather-like strap to cover his right eye.
"Hey, Giriko!" called Riruka, who was a young, slender girl with magenta eyes and long hair styled into two pigtails, between which she wore a light-colored hat that had two extensions in the back that made to look like rabbit's ears. She had a fringe covering her forehead, along with a strand of hair hanging down the right side of her face. She also wore a dark dress with white fabric over her breasts with a dark ribbon right above it, completing her outfit with a pair of thigh-length boots.
"Yeah!" agreed Yukio. "You promised to share it with all of us!" He was a young boy with green eyes and spiky, blonde hair with bangs covering his left eye. His outfit consist of a black cap, a matching-coloured coat, white cravat, white gloves, dark-coloured pants and boots. Standing next to him was a tall dark-skinned woman named Jackie, who had straight chin-length dark hair, brown eyes and full lips. She wore a dark brown long-sleeved low cut shirt with form-fitted trousers and dark knee lengths boots.
A gorgeous woman walked up to Tsukishima and stroked his cheek. "Are you alright, my love?" she asked tenderly, to which he responded with an assuring smile and nodded. She had light blue eyes and curly blonde hair that went past her shoulders. She was wearing a light blue dress, which matched her eyes, with the top part baggy and the bottom part was form-fitted. The top part of her dress reached her upper arms, exposing her black gloves that covered her entire arms, and the bottom each side had a high slit that exposed both her legs wrapped in black stockings, completing her outfit with black, high heel thigh-length boots and some gold jewellery.
Riruka ran in front. "Hold on, you guys!" she said, seeming to be the only one who was upset by this. "I don't really care about having Ichigo's powers-" She was suddenly interrupted by Ginjo clicking his tongue.
"Shut up!" he told his subordinates. "You don't have to remind me about it." With his sword glowing with green light slashed all four of them. "I'll give all of you guys a portion of Ichigo's power." At that note, each of them were shrouded by light green aura as their powers greatly increased. Once the light green aura disappeared, their attires changed as well. Ginjo smirked triumphantly as they, excluding Riruka, indulged in their increased powers.
"Aren't you going to share it with Shishigawara?" asked Tsukishima, who walked towards him with his waist around the blonde woman. "It's not nice to leave him out."
"Increasing his power would only cause trouble." explained Ginjo. "When this fight's over, kill him."
The blonde woman looked at Tsukishima, who stared at the leader for a moment before heaving a sigh. "I thought he had an interesting ability, though." he said. He then looked at his lover and lifted his arm to stroke her hair. "How about you, my dear Cecelia? Do you not want some of the power?"
"I've had enough." she assured with a smile.
While Ichigo advanced in attempt to bring down the Xcution members, Asa was gazing at Cecelia and a frown etched on her face, which was noticed by Byakuya. "What's the matter?" he asked.
"That woman." she said, and he followed her gaze, expecting an explanation to her uneasiness. "Though I haven't seen her attack, but I can tell that she has similar powers as Kage Odoriko." She then looked back at him and said, "If so happen we have to fight separately, I'll have to take her."
Byakuya responded with a nod. "Do what you think is best." he said before joining the rest of the Shinigami on the ground, with each of them blocked by one member of Xcution.
"Looks like they spread out just right." noted Yukio, who was standing across Hitsugaya. "Well then, I'll assign rooms." He punched a few buttons on his device, and each pair were placed inside rooms; Ichigo against Ginjo; Byakuya against Tsukishima; Riruka against Rukia; Ikkaku against Moe; Renji against Jackie; Hitsugaya against Yukio; Zaraki against Giriko; and Asa against Cecelia.