The long hallways of Las Noches are thick with ice on every surface, the ambient spirit particles that normally would be in the air had been frozen. However, it has proven to be a bit of an advantage when it comes to speed. While Renji, Grimmjow and Byakuya choose to float over ice on the floor, Ichigo and his friends glide across the ice as if they were wearing skates. Using reishi control to force their spiritual pressure underneath their feet into the form of Ice skates. Orihime keeps close pace with Ichigo and Uryu, the spirits of her powers continuously healing Nel as they slide against the ice. Behind them, Pesche figures out how to do the same technique with his spirit energy, but Dondachaka slides against the ice on his belly. "The interior of the walls are basically a maze. Aizen thought this place might get discovered while he was a part of the Gotei 13. It's meant to slow down anyone who gets inside here so that the other arrancar can take care of them." Grimmjow explains. "Before Aizen completed his Hogyoku and helped evolve the current espada and myself, there was another set of Espada that are now wearing the triple digit numbers. They were created with his half of the Hogyoku, while they're weaker than the espada, they're stronger than the other arrancar as well as most of the fracciones. They're called the Privaron Espada."

"Anything else we should know before the fighting starts?" Renji asks, his hand resting on his sword's handle as they sprint down the hall.

"Yeah, I haven't been inside the outer wall like this," Grimmjow says as the group runs into a large room with ten identical corridors on all sides of the room. "Well this is just perfect."

"We're going to have to split up," Uryu says, rather obviously.

"If we're going to split up, we're going to do this wisely." Byakuya adds, "Ichigo is the most important person in this group when it comes to defeating Aizen. I believe Orihime Inoue should go with him."

"I can regenerate with my hollow powers, but it saps my spirit energy reserves so if we have issues her healing will be really useful." Ichigo responds, Orihime walks towards him as the two head towards one of the hallways directly in front of the one they just exited from.

"I will be fine on my own. Lieutenant Abarai and Grimmjow should go together with Yasutora and Ishida going with each other as well. What were your names again? Dondachaka and Pesche?" Byakuya asks, prompting the two hollows to nod. "I recommend going with Yasutora and Uryu."

"We're former arrancar, just as skilled and just as powerful as any of the others. You'll be in good hands with us." Pesche declares confidently, though Uryu just deadpans at them.

"Alright, then it's settled. Stay safe and meet us in the desert outside the fortress in three hours if we can't find you." Ichigo says as he turns to begin his journey down the separate hallway.

"Don't start with that crap. We're warriors and it's insulting to care for a warrior's safety on the way to battle." Renji says, "I get that you're my friend and all and that you care for each of us, but when you speak like that it makes it seem like you don't have faith in our abilities. So instead, there's something I'd like to do before we split up. It's an old tradition that the Gotei 13 used to do before large battles." Renji says as he extends a hand outwards. "Join hands, and if I can do it then you can too Strawberry."

"Yeah yeah whatever." Ichigo groans, complying with Renji's request. Each of them places their hands in the center of a small circle, except for Grimmjow. "Sooner you put your hand here the sooner you go fight shit Grimmjow." Ichigo says, causing the former espada to groan and comply.

"As we approach the battlegrounds, believe that our blades will not shatter, have faith that our resolve will not weaken, though our paths are splitting apart, know that even if the world is ripped asunder know that we will return here alive." The moment Renji finishes speaking, each of them throws their hands down breaking the circle before turning and running down their respective hallways to the battle to come.

The room Rukia was locked inside of has no windows and the wall that used to be a door doesn't have a way for her to open it. The force of the blow that hit her in the chest had knocked her out, and she has no way of knowing how long it's been since she was knocked out. Standing from her crumpled position on the floor, Rukia slides a hand around the surface of the walls looking for a way to open them. "Well that didn't work." The voice of her zanpakuto speaks in the back of her head. "There's a kido on the door." Empiratriz continues. "I noticed." Rukia responds, walking a few paces back to the other end of the room. Raising her hand to the door she flattens out her palm so it's facing the wall directly, she grabs her arm with her other hand bracing it as she begins speaking. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Inferno and Pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado number 31 Shakkaho!" Her spell chant causes the ice in the room to instantly melt before being pulled in towards her hand swirling into a burning red vortex on her palm. The fireball grows in size heating up the air in the room before it fires from her hand, the recoil of the kido spell barely enough to move her arm, before her hollowfication the same spell would have thrown her hand upwards as if she fired a hand cannon. The blast slams into the stony wall before exploding in a large mass of flames and smoke which permeates the room. As the smoke clears Rukia sees a glowing kido seal over the stone making up the wall.

"If Kido doesn't work, I doubt a cero will either." Empiratriz speaks once again.

"That's what I was thinking." Rukia responds, resigning herself to sit on the stony floor in the room. "Why does Aizen want me alive so badly?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, however with Ichigo here it means we're gonna get out of this soon." Her zanpakuto responds.

"That is if he can find us, the longer it takes him to find me, the longer Aizen has to kill everyone else."

"Well, how do you contact him then?" Empiratriz asks.

"You mentioned that when Ichigo and I became one, I'd be able to visit his inner world." Rukia responds, adjusting her seated position so that she's now in a meditative stance. "Think it would work? We did bond our souls that night at the estate."

"It's worth a shot. Maybe Zangetsu can lend us a hand." Empiratriz responds.

"It's our best bet." Rukia ends the conversation. She takes a deep breath then closes her eyes, resting her hands on her lap she begins to focus on her spiritual energy and her inner world. Allowing herself to enter jinsen.

With Ichigo

While not as fast as he would like, Orihime and Ichigo are sprinting down the hallway as fast as the orange haired woman can go and keep her powers on the child arrancar. She has made progress with reversing the effects of the cold and the child's mask is beginning to repair itself albeit slowly. The entire time Orihime is silent as they sprint down the corridor, though Nel has woken up enough to now peek her head out of Orihime's cloak to watch. "Who's dis Wukia lady we're gonna go save?" The child asks, causing Ichigo to look back slightly over his shoulder at the green haired child. "She's going to be my wife." Ichigo answers, "She saved me and my family from a hollow and gave me a life I never could have dreamed of having. I can never repay her for that, so it's only fair that I save her as many times as she needs me to." Orihime notices the resolve in Ichigo's voice, and while it pains her to know that the man she loves is going to marry someone else, she respects his devotion to Rukia if only wishing it was to her instead. "What 'bout owihime?" Nel asks again. "She's been one of my closest friends since as long as I could remember. I trust her with my life and with yours." Ichigo answers, though before Orihime and Nel could respond again the path ahead of them opens into a wide room laced with green tiles on the walls.

"Ah, greetings Intruders." A male voice with a heavy spanish accent echoes through the room. Standing in the middle of the large room is a man with jet black hair, a trimmed and combed mustache, a vizor-like mask fragment and attire reminiscent of a bullfighter. Fringes of leather strips hang down from the white jacket he's wearing with two strange looking hollow holes on his chest and stomach in the shape of tear drops. "I am Arrancar 103, Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio. Who may I have the pleasure of fighting? Niño." (Pronounced Neen-yo)

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo answers, "and I'd rather this not be a death match. I'm not here to kill you."

"Ah, so you are the man that Lord Aizen has informed us of. Then I know why you're here." Dordoni responds. "I am afraid I cannot let you pass, Kurosaki Ichigo, but what about the other two? Will they not be participating in this battle?"

"No, they will not." Ichigo answers for Orihime and Nel not allowing them to speak. "What has Aizen told you about me?"

"Other than that you're betrothed to Kuchiki Rukia?" Dordoni asks, prompting Ichigo to nod. "That you are a dangerous man, and only the privaron espada and the true espada may fight you."

"Then you know what I'm capable of then." Ichigo says, "If you know that then why do you want to fight me?"

"Because it is my duty." Dordoni responds. "Grace me with combat, show me the extent of your power and if you beat me then I shall let you pass." Ichigo nods, lifting his hand up to the handle of Zangetsu before drawing the massive sword. "He has told us that you have hollow powers, may I see them? Niño."

"Do I get anything for showing you my hollow powers?" Ichigo asks as he rests the blade of Zangetsu over his shoulder.

"I will display my full power." Dordoni says, "Do we have a deal, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"Yeah. That sounds fair." Ichigo says as he lifts his sword before stabbing it into the ground. "Shall we begin?"

"Yes, but I thought soul reapers needed their swords to access their power." Dordoni asks as Ichigo walks forwards from his sword.

"Trust me, you won't be disappointed." Ichigo responds, "In order to prepare myself to invade Las Noches, I trained every second of every day for ten consecutive days to get strong enough to come here to rescue her. I trained my hollow powers, my shinigami powers, and abilities that even Aizen doesn't know I have." Behind him, Zangetsu's blade begin to leak black and red reishi that magnetizes itself towards Ichigo. The blade becomes fully enveloped in the reishi before revealing itself once again. This time Zangetsu looks no different from a normal nodachi having been returned to its sealed state. With his sword sealed, Ichigo raises a hand over his face before clawing down at the air, this causes more of the black reishi to materialize before covering his face in the white skeletal mask. "You want my hollow powers, then you're gonna fight only my hollow powers." His warped voice echoes from behind the mask before Ichigo vanishes, Dordoni's eyes go wide as Ichigo displays the use of a sonido, appearing just behind Dordoni on his left side. "Remember, you asked for this." Ichigo says before punching the black haired man in the face with a hand that glows with red spirit energy sending him flying though one of the adjacent walls. "I told you Nel, I'm just like you." Ichigo says, looking at the small girl through a partially lifted mask before vanishing, chasing after the privaron espada.

Collecting himself from the rubble, Dordoni brushes the debris from his clothes and his hair before staggering to his feet. "I'll give you credit Niño, I didn't expect you to put out this much strength only using your hollow side. I believed that you would use your Bankai to fight me." Dordoni says as Ichigo sonidos in front of him again.

"You asked for hollow powers, and I'm using hollow powers." Ichigo says, raising his hands and cracking his knuckles. "What has Aizen done with Rukia?" the vizard demands, raising a hand, Ichigo begins charging a red and black cero on the tips of his fingers.

"Mistress Rukia has been given the title of Cero Espada, or the rank zero. The moment she arrived, Lord Aizen has a special interest in her. For an entire week he used the hogyoku on her hollow self, refining that power into the Caballero Encima he has dubbed her." Dordoni responds, when he finishes speaking he reaches a hand towards his sword, pulling the falchion style blade from its sheath. "Whirl, Giralda!" Dordoni declares, causing the blade to transform into a tornado around his body.

"Resurrection." Ichigo says to himself, watching as Dordoni transforms. Instinctively, Ichigo raises a hand and stops a bullet of compressed air with his palm causing it to dissipate off of him leaving his hand stinging from the attack. From within the tornado, Dordoni reappears, his body is sporting numerous horns over his shoulders, forearms and shins, the horns over his elbows are releasing a bluish smoke that connects to two large cyclones that have formed near his body.

"You have displayed the extent of your hollow powers, and I shall show you what I am capable of. My sword is Giralda the whirlwind, it channels my old self's form as the thunderbird and ruler of the weather itself. I was an adjuchas hollow as you would call it." Dordoni says as the tornadoes begin tearing towards Ichigo forming two bird skull shaped masks over the points of the vortexes. Once again the vizard vanishes from the attack thrown at him, this time he appears right in front of Dordoni punching him hard in the stomach then he slams his heel into the back of the arrancar's spine as he doubles over in pain. The force of the strike sends Dordoni flying into the ground creating a crater with his face.

"Give up." Ichigo commands, appearing at the lip of the crater "I trained with the most powerful shinigami in soul society for the sole purpose of killing Aizen. You can't even make me break a sweat." He threatens. As Dordoni lifts his head up from the crater to look at the vizard, he sees a red and black cero being charged mere inches from his face. "I ask you this once, do you surrender?"

"I'm impressed Niño, you may be powerful enough to defeat the espada afterall. It's a shame that I never got to see that Bankai of yours, but yes I do surrender." Ichigo dispells the cero he's charging on the tip of his finger then turns his hand over opening it up in the process. "You are far more than any of the other arrancar or espada."

"How so?" Ichigo asks as Dordoni's resurreccion fades from his body.

"You offered mercy to an opponent far weaker than you, that is honorable Kurosaki Ichigo. I respect you for that choice Niño." Dordoni says as he accepts Ichigo's gesture. "Now that I have lost, what do you want me to do?" The privaron espada asks, watching as Ichigo removes the mask from his face.

"Let us pass, and tell me where Rukia is." Ichigo responds prompting Dordoni to nod in affirmation.

"Each of the espada have their own palace inside Las Noches. Since Lady Rukia is the rank zero espada she has her own palace here within these walls, however her palace is more of a prison Niño." Dordoni explains. "Lord Aizen had designed it to be able to withstand the resurrections of all of the espada, aside from her, being unleashed upon it at the same time. Even with his precautions her transformation from soul reaper to hollow to espada froze Las Noches and Hueco Mundo solid."

"Anything else I should know?" Ichigo asks, pulling his former adversary up to his feet so that he can look him in the eye as an equal.

"Aizen has a special magic that he has used to confine her within thee palace. It can survive the Cero Malletera that the Primera Espada Coyote Starrk can produce in his resurrected form. Destroying the fortress is nigh impossible Niño." Dordoni explains.

"Thanks, and when this is over and Aizen is dead I'll make sure you have a place within the gotei 13. Just because you're on the wrong side of a war doesn't mean that when it's over we have to be enemies." Ichigo says, offering to shake the privaron espada's hand.

"While I cannot wish you luck, the best I can do is honor my word. You and your friend can be on your way. If anyone asks," Dordoni says before suddenly severing his left arm allowing it to drop to the floor with a slap. "I'll say that you defeated me, which is true mostly."

"You didn't have to go that extreme with it!" Ichigo yells in shock seeing how fast the arrancar severed his own limb.

"Have to make it believable don't we?" Dordoni asks rhetorically. "Now, be on your way besides it's just an arm and I can get it reattached later." With that, Ichigo nods before heading back towards the room with Orihime and Nel so they can continue their search.