Ichigo sits calmly in his lieutenant's quarters, tying the wraps of his shihakusho to a comfortable fit. Today they make their move on Hueco Mundo, all that's left now is to get to Grimmjow and escape into the forests near the Rukon in order to open the garganta. Seeing as none of the vizards know how to open the portal to Hueco Mundo, the former espada turned prisoner of war is their ticket. Renji had requested that they get close to Aizen's palace, just not close enough to end up springing the alarm and subsequent trap that would follow. Ichigo has spent the last seven consecutive days firing arrow after arrow through his mother's sanrei glove, training the Quincy blood he inherited from his mother. While he is nowhere near capable of firing as many arrows as Uryu can, the arrows he can fire are devastating and deadly. A single arrow was capable of vaporizing part of a building made from a material meant to absorb reishi. In the time between her kidnapping and now, the last of the hollowfication experiments completed with several members of the captains and lieutenants now having hollow powers. Finishing his preparations, Ichigo feels the spiritual pressure of Renji arrive at his barracks here to collect the youngest shinigami to ever be in the gotei 13.

"You ready to go?" Renji asks as he walks into Ichigo's room, not bothering to knock since he was already expected to arrive. "We have a time limit for the invasion, so we rescue Rukia, take out as many arrancar as we can and get back to the human world."

"Yeah, I got everything I need." Ichigo responds, "Is everything set for the distraction?" He asks, standing up from his cot then downing the rest of his coffee.

"Yep, just gotta give Kisuke the signal and he'll do the rest." Renji responds, giving Ichigo a thumbs up. "Also I got some traveling clothes for the desert as well, Kisuke says they're designed to conceal reishi which will buy us as much time as possible."

"Good, then let's get going. Are Byakuya, Chad, Orihime and Uryu ready?" The orange haired soul reaper acts, motioning for Renji to exit the room then following the red haired man out.

"Everything's set. Captain Kuchiki has everyone over by the main gate so we can get to west Rukon just at sunrise. Just gotta click this button, send Kisuke the message and he'll start with the distraction." Renji explains as the two begin their walk towards the gate on the far side of the seireitei. The button in question is a small rectangular device with a red light button on the side of it.

"Let's get this party started. Today is going to be a long day." Ichigo responds, prompting Renji to grin before pressing said button. Almost immediately a massive explosion rocks the entire seireitei almost causing the two lieutenants to nearly stumble from a pseudo earthquake created by the explosion. "Damnit Kisuke! We needed a distraction not huge explosion!" Ichigo shouts over the sudden sirens and plume of fire rising up from the R and D department.

"Who cares, let's just go, we need to move!" Renji says, grabbing Ichigo by the wrist then flash stepping the two to the rendezvous point with the other members of their little rescue team. "Let's just hope that Kisuke foots the bill for that." The red haired man says between flash steps, the bursts of reishi that he releases when using the technique masked by the dozen other or so shinigami doing the same to head towards the fire currently engulfing the twelfth squad labs.

Far enough away from the entertainment, Renji and Ichigo appear just past the opening of the main gates normally guarded by the giant Jidanbo. Taking the brief moment between movements to finish getting prepared for their journey to the hollow desert, Renji dumps out a knapsack containing their desert clothes that will be needed. Inside the bag are two large burlap panchos with cloaks and turbans made with a special material to conceal their reishi as much as possible. Renji throws the coverings over his shoulders and ties them from the inside before pulling the hood of the cloak over his head. Ichigo's new clothing fits rather well over his head, covering most of his body except for a small opening in the middle of his body, his sword is able to be completely concealed underneath the poncho. Once the two men have finished dressing in the clothes needed for the desert, they give each other a curt nod before flash stepping away from the seireitei and dozens of miles away from the capital of soul society.

"Be prepared, with the equipment that Urahara Kisuke has given us, you won't be able to sense any of us until you get rid of it. Renji and Ichigo will get here any minute no-" Byakuya says before the two in question appear from the use of a flash step. "Guess that fixes that, is everyone ready?"

"I have everything I need, as well as some food depending on how long we're gonna be stuck there." Orihime says in her typical ditsy tone.

"I have made my preparations, and I have everything I need as well." Uryu answers and Chad just gives a thumbs up.

"Alright, let's get this party started, nothing starts off a sunday morning like criminal trespassing, vandalism and murder! Oh it sounds like fun already!" Grimmjow exclaims before scraping his hand across the air just in front of him, the action causes a black void to unzip from the arrancar's touch creating a small garganta for them to use. "Let's go kick some ass!" He shouts before sprinting into the black portal.

"By tonight, Rukia will be in your arms, Aizen will be dead, and the war will be over before it gets started." Renji says nudging Ichigo on the shoulder then walking into the void following the arrancar. Ichigo gives Byakuya a nod before following Renji into the void.

The precipice world between the realms is unlike anything Ichigo and his friends had ever seen, Byakuya and Renji had seen it a few times but never entered it. In front of them stands an infinite expanse of blackness, with no sound, temperature or spiritual pressure aside from their own. The black void expands outwards in all directions infinitely, like the void of space but here there are no stars. Beneath their feet is a floor made of aquamarine blue spirit energy taking the shape of a jungle floor with plants, small shrubs and stones along the path. Looking up they see Grimmjow looking back at them with the path emanating seemingly from his feet. "Here, you have to make your own path to walk on, normally espada are strong enough to make the distance between the garganta gates almost nothing, but since I have you all with me we have to take the long way. Keep quiet and don't distract me, it's not exactly easy making a path sturdy enough for all of us." He explains before turning and beginning to run down the path at a brisk pace. The others don't put up an argument to this and follow him through the precipice world.

As the group are running along the darkness, Ichigo is distracted by his own thoughts. His hollow and the old man, being the bulk of this distraction as the three try to come up with more to the plan that can't be summed up by a short list of felonies in the human world. Those include the ones that Grimmjow mentioned earlier. However, an idea strikes both halves of Zangetsu almost at the same time, but the hollow half of the strange sword is the one who speaks up. "Hey King, I got a bit of a weird idea here but it might work. Y'know how we, for lack of a better phrase, had sex with the queen about two weeks ago?" Ichigo has to hide the slight blush on his face under the collar of his cloak since Byakuya is running alongside him. "I'll take the rise in temperature here as a yes. Well, long story short since our souls are bonded both from her sharing her power with you and the hanky panky we enjoyed I should be able to go to her inner world."

"So you think she'd be able to sense you when you get there?" Ichigo asks, his words being thoughts but they echo as if spoken in his inner world. "I think we'd be better off getting Sode no Shirayuki's attention or that of her hollow to get Rukia's attention."

"Luckily the strangeness that has happened here since she was abducted by Ulquiorra has stopped. The sky is back to normal for the most part and I can feel that she has grown even more powerful. You haven't been here since you started training with tall dark and moody, so you haven't seen half the shit that has happened here." Zangetsu declares with a shout.

"What do you mean?!" Ichigo shouts out loud, startling the others near him but he ignores their questioning looks.

"I mean, that the fucking sky turned purple! It got super windy, her spiritual pressure got weird and now I sense that she's probably stronger than the old fuck you all call a head captain." Ichigo goes silent again, not even noticing that the exit of the garganta has opened and that the others have already stepped into Hueco Mundo. At a full sprint, Ichigo tears out of the garganta and plows directly into Chad, stopping dead in his tracks like he hit a brick wall.

"You alright Ichigo?" Chad asks as he turns and offers a hand for the orange haired man to grab so that he can be helped up. "You should watch where you're running."

"Jeez Chad, what are you made of? Lead?" Ichigo asks, rubbing the side of his head as it throbs in pain from the collision. "Woah... is this Hueco Mundo?" He asks, his attention focused on the shifting sands of the pale white hollow desert. The starless sky, hanging crescent moon far above in the sky, and strange quartz like cacti that seem to grow in the sands. "This place sucks."

"Yeah it sucks." Grimmjow says. "Aizen's palace ain't much better. Sand outside and sand inside in the courtyard. That over there is Las Noches, the palace of Hueco Mundo. Probably as big as one of the countries in the human world. From here, without the ability to use a sonido itd take weeks to walk there." Grimmjow says, pointing to the massive domed building miles in the distance. "He also has a guard dog, a special hollow made of sand. I think his name is Runuganga. He'll be a pain in the ass."

"Back track for a second, what's a sonido?" Orihime asks.

"It's a technique that hollows use similar to the flash step but its able to bypass the reishi sensing abilities of other hollows and soul reapers." Byakuya explains. "We should be able to do the same without hollow masks, but the humans will need to be carried."

"Then let's get going." Ichigo says, getting to his feet. While the stirrings of his inner hollow still echoed in the back of his mind. He takes a deep breath and hardens his resolve in order to do what he came to Hueco Mundo to do. Rescue Rukia.