(General P.O.V)

"Lord Shuren, our spies have reported seeing a few interesting individuals."

On his throne, Shuren perked up at the news. After the new arrival a few weeks back, a very strong human boy who had some strange powers, Shuren knew the time to plan their escape had arrived.

Efforts to grab the human teen and find out how he had managed to actually reach hell in his physical form were thwarted by Kokuto. A traitor. The very same one had theorized that there was a way to break the chains of hell. Kokuto had made his escape with the boy and was yet to be seen.

"That is interesting news, Taikon. You know what you need to do."

Shuren told his underlings, Taikon, a fat Togabito wearing a disgusting smile, Gunjo a tall Togabito wearing a blindfold on his head and Garogai, a muscled Togabito with green hair braided to fall on the left side of his head.

Shuren had lost the last member of his team, Murakumo to Kokuto and the human boy. He was just after being resurrected at the fourth level of Hell, Shuren decided to punish him by making an example out of him.

"As you wish Lord Shuren."

Taikon bowed in subservience.

"You will shall be done, my Lord."

Gunjo assured right after Taikon. Garogai simply bowed his head.

"Make sure you do not disappoint me. Or else you will join Murokamu."

He said pointing a finger at the body hanging off chains coming from the pike piercing through the Kushinada skeleton that Shuren made his throne.

They shivered in fear and left to do his bidding.

"Oh and if you see that traitor Kokuto, kill him for me will ya?"

He drawled, leaning on his palm.

(Elsewhere)

Kokuto looked down at the new arrivals. They reeked of morality, clearly very very far from home. He was wary to approach them. They had decent strength after all. One of them had managed to punch the lights out of a Kushinada and another was undoubtedly a Quincy. The final two members were also formidable. The tall boy could use his reiryoku to shift his arm into a stronger form.

The last member was what made Kokuto decide to take a wait and see approach. She was powerful. Even in her cat form, her Reiryoku was bigger than the rest of them combined. Kokuto smiled, rising up from his crouch. So this was the rescue party, his new friend assured would come for him huh?

He jumped off the cube and disappeared in a blur. Over 10 miles away, Kokuto appeared again before a deserted area with the skull of a Kushinada laying on the side of a cube block. That being the reason why no Togabito came close. The remnant energy of the dead Kushinada made their souls shiver in discomfort. This particular Kushinada had been taken down in a very unique way.

Killing one was immensely hard. They could phase and were naturally impervious to attacks from Togabito, only especially powerful Togabito could fight back and hurt them. In a place like hell, most of the strong had had their will stripped away because no matter how hard they fought, they could never escape.

The skull was the last place that Shuren and his goons could look for them. Kokuto's face lost the evil smirk as his expression smoothed out. He stepped through the skull of the Kushinada before squeezing through a hole on the skull to enter a new space. A small chamber dug into the wall of the cube.

A sword was instantly pointed at his neck. For a small split second, Kokuto felt fear. He could remember the changes that Ichigo had gone through after the first time dying under one of Shuren's underlings and his group. The fight had been crashed by Kushinadas and while the boy had fought Valiantly, he was all alone, allowing a sword to stab him from the back.

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Then a Kushinada had grabbed him and swallowed his body whole. The huge sword he carried had slammed on to the ground, breaking into two pieces before those pieces drifted away into the air in a blue reiatsu.

Kokuto had turned away to leave...then stiffened in place. Eyes wide with terror. The sky overhead became dark owing to the sudden appearance of an immense Reiryoku. He craned his neck and looked back. Coming face to face with something that should not have existed.

The Kushinada that had devoured the body was overloaded with a dark red reiryoku that pierced through its body from the inside. The Togabito hanging around, all took a step back and turned to run away. The Kushinada blew up with an incredible explosion, all it's flesh being devoured by the dark red energy, leaving behind only bones and a skull that slammed onto one of the blocks on the side.

The energy further on went to drown out the Togabito, killing all of them under the red fiery energy.

That same skull was the one they were using as a base. From the crater formed out of the explosion, the boy laid there unconscious. After seeing the kind of power the boy had within him, a plan had begun to unfold inside his brain. Kokuto therefore decided to leave with the boy.

Chances were someone would come looking for him and he could use that goodwill to have them break him out of hell, or he could do it himself, he had thought, while holding Ichigo's fainted body. His soul reaper garb had been torn apart, leaving behind rags that covered his chest.

Ichigo had woken up and realized that something was very wrong. It wasn't a bad dream and he was actually, in hell. He thought about his body and how his family would react to basically seeing his body in a coma without any apparent injury. The last thing he remembered was fighting a hollow when Uryu's plan had backfired.

Sitting around moping was not going to help anyone. So he decided to get up and do something to find a way back. He was initially distrustful of Kokuto but after finding out he was the one who had saved him, Ichigo decided to believe him.

Recuperating had only taken a week and then another just to get control of his new power, somehow, Ichigo could use a Hollow's power. It was mostly rampaging around uncontrollably though. And the one time he had lost himself, Kokuto had ran away in fear for his life.

Kokuto had come back to see 3 Kushinada corpses. Luckily they were training far away from their base. Kokuto believed that if Ichigo got strong enough and gained control of his Hollowfication abilities, then he could open a gateway to Hueco Mundo, the same as a hollow. From there, getting to the mortal world was much easier.

However Kokuto knew he needed Ichigo even stronger in order to help him break his chains. And that power...that almost endless power he had felt...that power could do it. Another plan begun to hatch in his mind on how he would get Ichigo to such lengths of despair. Despair potent enough that it would give rise to a fury. A fury that would grant power unimaginable. All that went around his mind as he smiled at the boy.

"You have grown more mindful of your surroundings. I'm impressed Ichigo."

He complimented, pushing away the bladed edge of Ichigo's new sword away. Kokuto looked on in surprise. The cleaver like form had been replaced by a long sharp knife form.

"Yeah well, when in hell..."

Ichigo answered lowering his hand. Kokuto scrunched up his nose.

"That's a no. Don't try to change such an iconic expression."

He admonished only for Ichigo to smile and place his Zanpakuto over his lap.

"Why so serious?"

He asked making Kokuto gag.

"Anyway," the Togabito present started off.

"I saw something interesting today. A white clad teenage Quincy, a tall teen who could shift his arm into something else, a boy your age who could change his whole physique into a rock and a black as midnight cat with scary reserves of reiryoku. I could fell a passive pressure from a long distance away."

Ichigo's grip on his Zanpakuto tightened.

"I know three of them!"

He looked at the ground, his eyes watering a little. He had almost given up, time and time again. Going up against his fate had seemed hopeless. The only thing that kept pushing him was the thought of his family. Yuzu probably tended to his sleeping body everyday, Karin would come in regularly and just stay there doing her homework and his dad...

His dad would have been devastated yet trying his best not to break under the pressure. He needed to get back. Ichigo stood up.

"Take me to where you last saw them."

He said with confidence, his long Zanpakuto lying over his shoulder.

Kokuto nodded before frowning.

"You do realize that Shuren and his gang of dummies will most likely be hanging around, looking for them too as well, right?"

He threw cold water on Ichigo. Ichigo gritted his teeth.

"I guess I will have to do what I must." Ichigo decided.

"I will not let Shuren hurt any of my friends!"

Kokuto smiled at his naivety and turned around to leave.

"Well then, follow me."

(With Ash)

Uryu and Chad arrived to where Yoruichi and Ash were. The very first thing Uryu said was,

"We saw what you did, good job!"

He complimented. Then his face gave way to annoyance.

"Wait, are you hurt?"

Uryu enquired, looking at the way Ash's arm was cradled to his body.

Ash looked into his eyes and was about to answer when his eyes widened as his instinct blared out at him.

"Everyone, jump away!"

He shouted as he and Yoruichi evaded the attack which turned out to be pink Reiryoku missiles. The ground below gained cracks and exploded in a shower of small stones and dust.

"Aaww, I was sure that would get them!"

Taikon yelled in glee just as him, Gunjo and Garogai jumped on a block that overlooked the new arrivals. Ash knew that these Togabito were no strangers to fighting. He touched down on the surface of a lower cube and crouched, ready to retaliate incase he was attacked.