Ichigo snaps awake from the meditative trance he entered to visit his inner world, the empty feeling in his chest is a clear indicator that a hollow is nearby. Almost as soon as he stands up on the roof, his captain, Shinji appears in front of him wearing an expression that says all he needs to know. With a simple nod, Ichigo grabs his lieutenant's badge and flash steps with his captain heading for the corrupted reishi that they have been sensing. Across the seireitei, Rukia is awoken by the same feeling, it washing over her like a sense of impending doom. Quick as a flash she strips the bedding off of herself then dashes to her closet to change from her night gown to her shinigami robes. Internally she feels her inner hollow get giddy with excitement as Rukia ties both katanas to her side. The same moment that she finishes tying them to her waist, the rice paper door to her room slides open revealing her brother in full uniform. "There's multiple powerful hollows in west rukon, it feels like one of them is a vasto lorde." Rukia nods in response, quickly following Byakuya out of the Kuchiki estate and towards the west rukon.

Ichigo, Shinji, Lisa, Hiyori, Shuhei and Kensei are the first team that has been dispatched by order of the captain commander, while Rukia and Byakuya with Isshin and Shunsui have been sent to deal with the hollows in the west side of the Rukon. The hollows that have appeared in the east, feel like five gillain levels, maybe menoses, and a single adjuchas. However despite the vizards' mastery with dealing with hollow reishi, the power radiating from these hollows is somehow more refined in feeling. Not as chaotic, meandering and fluctuating as a standard hollow of the same strength, this feels almost stagnant but with a foreboding sense of a dam ready to burst. The portion of the Rukon where they had appeared is thankfully all forest, the closest town district is a good couple kilometers away. Each of the soul reapers that arrive at the scene do so in mere minutes after getting the alert, despite the seireitei being more than 40 miles from here. The first to appear is Ichigo who flash steps into a clearing in the forest coming into first contact with the hollows in question. Each of them are sporting white robes with black accents, a complete opposite of what a soul reaper wears. Their bodies resemble normal humans, except for the height and strange hair colorations, the masks that would normally cover a hollow's entire head are now fragments covering only portions of their faces. The most shocking thing of all however, is that they have swords at their hips. Not just any swords, Zanpakutos.

"Just what the hell kind of hollows are you?" Ichigo asks, meeting the gaze of a man who is of similar stature, with wild blue hair and part of a sharp fanged mask covering the right side of his face over his cheek and jaw. Shinji appears at his side coming out of shunpo, followed by Kensei then Shuhei, Lisa and Hiyori shortly after.

"Why should I tell you? You're just a soon to be corpse with flapping gums." The blue haired man responds. "The hell kind of shinigami has red hair like that anyways?"

"The same one that's going to kick your ass." Ichigo responds, meeting the other man's glare. "I am Ichigo Kurosaki, Lieutenant of squad five."

"Huh, guess you might actually be worth my time after all. Here I thought they'd send some useless cadets after us." the leader responds, "I'll answer your first question, Kurosaki." He begins. "I am Espada seis Grimmjow Jaegerjaguez, one of the strongest of Lord Aizen's army, and we are arrancar."

"Are the numbers an order of strength?" Shinji asks.

"Only the espada. The rest of us are by order of birth. I am arrancar number eleven, I have been named Shawlong." Shawlong introduces himself before suddenly vanishing. With his sword drawn he reappears above Kensei. The short gray haired captain merely smirks before catching the blade of Shawlong in his unprotected hand.

"I take it you're the one I'm gonna fight. How boring." Kensei responds, tightening his grip around the arrancar's blade. He jerks his hand harshly to the side causing the arrancar to be yanked along with it as Kensei throws Showlong aside. Grimmjow stares wide eyed at how easily one of his allies is being manhandled.

"What are you idiots just standing around for! Go stab one already!" Hiyori yells before smacking Shinji with a sandal. "You, fat boy. I'm gonna kick your ass." Hiyori shouts as she draws her sword and blitzes the large arrancar standing near Grimmjow. "You fools either have an idiot as a commander or just are plain out of luck."

"Well, seems like the party is getting started then?" Grimmjow smirks before extending his hand giving the order for the others to attack. "Aizen said that you idiots would actually be a challenge. I want to see for myself, Kurosaki. Show me if you're worth my time."

"Guess I have to deal with these people, how boring." Shinji groans before meeting the gaze with a blonde haired arrancar. "What's your name Blondy?" Shinji asks as he draws his zanpakuto from it's sheath.

"Yylfordt Granz." The long haired blonde arrancar responds. "Arrancar number 15, and you smiley?"

"Captain Hirako Shinji of Squad Five." Shinji answers, as the two flash step away from the clearing to a more private battleground.

"Go on, you'll find what's left of him if you get back." Grimmjow responds dismissing his fracciones and the vizards to have their own duels. "Go on, Kurosaki. Show me why Aizen is so interested in you."

Ichigo grunts in response, focusing on raising his spiritual pressure as high as he can, he grabs the giant blade from his back as his body begins to glow a soft blue color. Extending his blade out in front of him, the long tail that drifts from the end of the blade's handle wraps itself around Ichigo's right arm. Grimmjow arches an eyebrow seeing this, feeling his opponents reishi get to a somewhat respectable level. Ichigo's eyes flash white for a brief moment before he speaks: "Ban-kai!" He shouts, causing his reishi to skyrocket, creating a windstorm around himself that Grimmjow has to shield his eyes from. A tornado of reishi, dust and fallen tree limbs rips through the clearing almost taking Grimmjow with it but the espada manages to stand his ground against the winds. The spike in power from Ichigo's bankai release interests the espada, especially the shift in how the energy feels, almost reminding him of another hollow. With a subtle flick of the wrist, the tornado is evaporated by the movement of Ichigo's sword causing rings of dust several meters apart to manifest around him. The long slender black blade of his Bankai catches Grimmjow's attention, the blade as dark as a sliver of midnight. While it is small, the spiritual pressure being released by Ichigo is much greater than the arrancar that he had brought with him. "Tensa Zangetsu."

"You're pretty interesting kid." Grimmjow says as he draws his zanpakuto, the blade resembling a chinese straight sword with a crooked 'S' shaped handguard on the blade. Ichigo notes the spike in spiritual pressure when the weapon is drawn, while in Bankai their gap is less noticeable but the pressure exuding from the espada is suffocating. "Got anything other than just that Bankai? You won't even make me release my Zanpakuto."

"Yeah, I got somethin' else." Ichigo responds, tightening his grip on his blade. "Try and keep up." he responds before barely shifting his weight forwards and vanishing.

Grimmjow's eyes widen when he sees his opponent vanish, instinctively he swings his sword behind his back. He does so not a moment too soon as the black blade of the substitute soul reaper slams against the espada's own. The clash sparks in flecks of burning iron as the edges of the blades slam into each other. "Shit he's fast." Grimmjow thinks while locking eyes with his opponent, Ichigo keeps his expression neutral and raises his hand up to the back of Tensa Zangetsu. "Getsuga Tensho." Ichigo says calmly, causing a massive explosion of red tinted black reishi to explode from the blade engulfing both himself and his opponent. The explosion topples dozens of trees around as if a missile had slammed into the forest they're fighting in. the blast sends Grimmjow careening into the dirt head first, burying him in a trench dozens of meters long. The impact uprooted tree stumps that hadnt been obliterated by the blast itself. Ichigo flash steps above where Grimmjow had crash landed, staring at the disturbed dust and smoke of where he should be. Suddenly, from within the smoke, red beams of light cut through the dust being the tell tale signs of a charging Cero. The red light flashes brighter for a brief moment before the reishi attack careens straight for him. The shinigami reacts quickly, slashing another crescent shaped wave of reishi at the incoming beam. The combination of both attacks explodes in a fireball large enough to be seen from the seireitei.

On the other side of the Rukon, Rukia, Isshin and Byakuya stand in front of a destroyed homestead. The souls that lived there had already been consumed by the large espada before them. The giant balding man grins evilly as his mocking gaze looks at the two captains and vizard. "All these souls, consumed by that fat fuck. You should cut his head off." The hollow voice in the back of Rukia's mind drips with bloodlust, enticing her to seek vengeance for the family that was ruthlessly devoured by the arrancars. "Which one of you murdered these people?" Byakuya says calmly glaring at the short bone white skinned man and the large tanned oaf at his side. The larger one steps forwards, grinning widely as he towers over the soul reaper captain.

"Why do you care about those useless souls?" The large man boasts. "They didn't even taste good." Rukia feels the part of her chest where her hollow hole should be, burning with fury and excitement for killing this arrancar.

"Useless in your eyes, you've long since forgotten the sanctity of life." Isshin responds, folding his arms and flaring his reishi to dwarf that of what he feels from the larger of the two arrancar. "The hell's your gimmick anyways. I know you're Arrancar, and that one of you was a Vvasto lorde. So what's your deal fatso?"

"FATSO?!" The larger man roars as his body begins to glow red with fury and his reishi, almost immediately meeting the level of Reishi that Isshin is exuding, however the shorter man just raises a hand stopping the larger one.

"I am Ulquiorra Cifer. This is Yammy Llargo. You're right to assume that we are arrancar." Ulquiorra answers. "Lord Aizen has sent us here to gauge the power of one Kuchiki Rukia."

"So, straight to the point huh? Too bad you chose the wrong side, you might have been a good addition to my squad." Isshin responds as he unfolds his arms. "I am Captain Isshin Shiba of squad ten."

"Captain Kuchiki Byakuya of squad six."

"Are you the girl's father?" Ulquiorra asks, taking note of the Kuchiki surname.

"No. My brother." Rukia responds, stepping forwards, her hand now firmly clasp around the handle of her crimson blade. "What does Aizen want from me anyways?"

"He wishes to know of your power." Ulquiorra answers. "Yammy will gauge that, he referred to you as the Caballero Encima. The Lord of Vasto Lords. He wishes to test that hypothesis. Though, I see no indication that you are a hollow."

"Go on little girl, run along back home." Rukia scowls at Yammy for that statement, Byakuya and Isshin fold their arms allowing her to take the lead.

"Dance." Rukia says, drawing both blades and immediately releasing the two of them. "Sode no Shirayuki." She says spinning the blue steel blade in her hand causing it to become bleached with pure snow. "Leech, Sode no Chimamire Fuyu." Rukia says, flicking her index finger on the red steel blade of her second sword. The blood from the tiny cut matastasizes on the frigid crimson weapon causing it to become a bloody antonym of her white blade. Ulquiorra shows a bare modicam of emotion seeing the duel release, the reishi she is emitting from the red blade feels hollowfied.

"Your reishi feels like a hollow... show me that power." Ulquiorra requests, and Rukia isn't one to deny such a request.

Her stern expression hardens when she turns the red blade inwards towards her chest. She slowly draws the tip of the red blade against the middle of her chest causing frigid black and lavender purple reishi to erupt from the point of contact. The reishi rising up and cladding her face in the energy. Ulquiorra looks on in intrigue as the line that she traced in the center of her chest suddenly expands into a perfectly circular hollow hole as a burst of Reishi causes the remains of the small house to be flattened under its weight. Even Yammy is surprised at the massive spike in reishi, her power alone eclipsing both captains combined. The black and lavender reishi collected on her face cracks revealing a stark white mask pointed with fox ears, the left of her face adorn with light blue tribal markings above a twisted grin of hollow teeth that sit at the mouth of the mask. "This what you wanted to see?" Rukia asks, her voice echoing with both hers and Hoakita's words. The icy feeling that normally exemplifies her reishi is now painful, like the skin exposed to the very air is beginning to freeze and be bitten by the frost. She rests her white blade across her shoulders and the red out in front of her in a relaxed posture.

"I see why lord Aizen is interested in you." Ulquiorra says not breaking eye contact with the glowing amber eyes behind Rukia's hollow mask. "Yammy." Ulquiorra orders the titan of a hollow causing him to lumber towards the tiny soul reaper.

"Pathetic, if you think a puny mask will help then you're already dead." Yammy's voice now shows annoyance.

The giant hollow opts not to use his sword but rather throws a punch with a fist that is almost as large as Rukia's entire torso. The masked shinigami doesn't move, feeling the massive difference in their power, instead she extends the point of her crimson sword towards the knuckles of the giant arrancar. She turns the blade sideways so that the entire edge makes contact with his fist. When he makes contact with her blade, the feeling he was expecting, that of bones breaking and the sword shattering beneath his fist, doesn't occur. Instead he feels pain, as the blade had buried itself almost all the way to his wrist through all of his fingers leaving them severed and in a small pile on the floor. The blood dripping from the finger stumps draining onto Rukia's red katana before freezing and making the blade longer. Yammy's eyes widen as the pain registers in his brain, for a brief moment he is overwhelmed with the feeling of entropy and primal instinctual fear. Even Ulquiorra is impressed by how easily she pierced through the hierro of the large espada. "The bigger they are..." Rukia's hollow voice echoes from over Yammy's shoulder; the espada had been too distracted by the removal of his right hand to see her vanish and appear at his head level. The arm he was still extending towards her from the punch falls off in several chunks from sword swipes that were impossibly fast.

"...The harder they fall." She hisses before scissoring both blades across the espada's neck. Ulquiorra stares without emotion as Yammy's head falls from his shoulders, the wound already having frozen over from the twin blades. "Is that all you need to see, Ulquiorra or do you want another demonstration?" She asks, riding the headless giant downwards as his body collapses without its head.

"That was most enlightening." Ulquiorra responds, he calmly raises his hand and presses a point in mid air creating a garganta just wide enough for him to leave through. "I shall send Aizen your regards."

"I'll freeze what's left so Urahara and Mayuri will have something to dissect later." Rukia says, dragging the tip of Shirayuki over the giant's body, freezing it instantly. After encapsulating the body in ice she brings a hand to the mask on her face and peels it away. The mask dissipates back into reishi before it collects over the hole in her chest refilling it.

"That was terrifying." Isshin jokes, wiping some of the blood off of his cheek. "My son really knows how to pick powerful women doesn't he?" He jokes, Rukia blushing slightly as she sheathes both swords at her waist.

"I am impressed by the level of power you possess Rukia, however I think you dealt with this one before he could display his true power." Byakuya says as he produces a communicator to report back in. "This is Captain Kuchiki, we have dealt with the arrancar. One is dead, the other escaped."

"Feels like Ichigo is fighting something extremely powerful as well." Isshin says, looking in the direction of where Ichigo and the vizards went. "With multiple captains and with all of them being vizards, it shouldnt be too much trouble. I'm going to get a midnight snack and head back to my barracks. Want to come with me?" The co captain of squad ten asks.

"I could eat. I'm famished." Rukia says with her brother nodding in agreement at the prospect of food. The two captains and vizard shunpo their way back to the seireitei.

Ichigo slams his blade hard against Grimmjow's sword, the vibration of the steel upon contact radiates up his forearm. The edges buckle and stutter between each other as they're forced together hard in a blade lock, reishi sparking off the two blades in arcs of red and blue lightning from the point of contact. "You're strong Kurosaki, I'll give you that, but I am the king and no one can beat me." Grimmjow gloats, shoving Ichigo backwards before delivering a spinning kick to his midsection sending him flying back. Ichigo focuses reishi to his fingertips and feet in order to slow himself to a standstill in mid air. Both of them bear abrasions, cuts and bruises across their bodies, Ichigo sporting a deep cut by his midsection and Grimmjow with a bleeding burnmark across his back and on his chest. "Come on, is that all you got! Where's that trick you said you had?! You're boring me Kurosaki!" He shouts, extending his arms away from himself in a gesture of challenge.

Ichigo takes a few quick breaths before taking a long deep breath through his nose and out his mouth. He stands to his full height and begins charging his spiritual pressure even higher than it currently is. He relaxes his right hand with the blade pointed away from his body, and raises his left towards his face. Grimmjow arches an eyebrow as he sees Ichigo raise his left hand just over his head and bend his fingers so that it looks like he's about to scratch his face. However, around his hand, the same black and red reishi that he expelled from his getsuga tensho collects in his hand. The reishi pours in from the very air as he draws his hand downwards over his face. The reddish black energy coagulating over his face breaks away revealing a white skull mask with red tribal markings over the left side of the mask. Two under the masks teeth towards his chin, too on the cheek towards his ear and three over his eye towards his hair. Grimmjow stares in total bewilderment seeing his opponent suddenly manifest a hollow's mask. Then he feels the crushing pressure from the reishi that Ichigo is exuding, so much power making him feel like his body weighs thousands of pounds under the reishi.

"W-what are you?" Grimmjow stammers seeing the mask on Ichigo's face. The surprise still present on his own. "The hell is this shit!" he shouts, his confusion and fear turning to anger.

"I am a shinigami with a hollow mask. A vizard." Ichigo answers, his voice echoing with his voice and Zangetsu's. "You said you wanted to see my trump card, how does it look?" he asks, though the only response he gets is Grimmjow scowling at him in return. "Let's start round two, and I'll show you whose king." Ichigo says before vanishing, the movement Grimmjow recognises instantly. That wasn't a shunpo, that was a sonido, the high speed instantaneous movements that arrancar and high level hollows are capable of. As the thought finishes processing in his mind, Grimmjow feels the pressure reappear behind him. In the split second he takes to turn around, he catches a glimpse of that same reddish black reishi collecting behind him. When he gets the rest of the way around, he sees a soccer ball sized cero pointed at his face barely a couple centimeters away. "Surrender or Die, I don't want to have to kill you just because you chose the wrong side." Ichigo says as Grimmjow stares at the cero in horror. 

A/N: Special Thanks to RyanNerd7 for creating the amazing picture of Hollow Rukia. I can't thank him enough for his drawings as they've really helped my stories come to life.