1 No Way Home...

Prologue - No Way Home...

{Soul Society: Outside the Gates of the Senkaimon}

The once again Substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki stood at the end of two separate columns of ceremoniously decorated Soul Reapers that lined his path to the gate that would lead him back to the world of the living. A light breeze whisked through the air, and the sun beamed brightly in the sky, only a few clouds being present to block its rays.

There was but one singular thing standing immediately before him and the ethereal glow of the portal, and that was the body of Kugo Ginjo. Said deceased man was currently being carried by four Soul Reapers via a stretcher-looking device that held his corpse. Ichigo, however, didn't really pay too much attention to that.

So much had happened in such a short period of time, his meeting the Fullbringers, the battle with Tsukishima and subsequently Kugo Ginjo, and, perhaps most importantly, the regaining of his Soul Reaper powers. Maybe to him that wasn't the most important given that obviously it was protecting his friends that held that coveted position, but still he'd be lying if he said it didn't bring him a sense of joy.

Perhaps the means was a little odd and less than preferable, but in the end Ichigo supposed he wouldn't have it any other way. His friends and family were safe, the immediate threat had been dealt with, he had cleared things up with the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and now, just maybe, a time of tolerable peace and calm would enter his life.

It was true that his life for the previous year or so had been what one could call peaceful, but that was offset by the fact that he had lost his powers. At first it wasn't so horrible, but it gradually got more and more difficult to bear. Not being able to see half of his friends, people he had fought with in the heat of battle, naturally this would bother anyone.

'It's hard to believe that this… all of this…' Ichigo thought and he continued to walk towards the large gateway.

Almost all at once he took in everything that had resulted from his gaining Soul Reaper powers. The people he had met, the friends he had made, the enemies he had fought, the lives he had saved, and even the place he currently walked the grounds of. It was simply all amazing, so much so that it was almost overwhelming to think about. He had pushed such recollections and notions to the back of his mind for over a year, and now that he no longer had to do so it seemed to hit him all at once, as if he was reliving a dream.

'All of this… makes me feel stupid for ever having wanted a normal life so badly.' Ichigo thought.

He couldn't deny that he had wanted to live a normal life for a time, and in fact he was even looking forward to it slightly when he had fully lost his Soul Reaper powers. However, he had been lying to himself more and more every day when he said he was fine with the end result. Any day of the week he would choose to have Soul Reaper powers and the responsibilities that came with them. Ichigo realized, now, that his life would never be normal, and that was just fine with him.

Behind the orange-haired teen as he continued to walk stood two of his closest comrades and treasured friends, Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai. The once again substitute hadn't seen them in so long, and though they said not a word and chose to walk in respectful silence behind him and the body of Kugo Ginjo, just their presence was enough.

It was true that they had not spoken or approached Ichigo in over a year, nor had they made the attempt to do so. However, Ichigo was never one to dwell on the past, and the fact that he now had his Soul Reaper powers once more made any petty resentments seem to be just that.

A moment later the group of men carrying the body of the first Substitute Soul Reaper entered the large portal, alerting Ichigo to the fact that he was nearly at the gate himself. However, that wasn't what broke him out of his nostalgic thoughts. The voice of one of his friends graced the sound of his ears, just as he was at the front of the Senkaimon.

"Thank you…" Rukia whispered quietly.

At this, Ichigo allowed a small smile to come across his features, if only for a brief period of time. The raven-haired lieutenant likely didn't want him to hear that if how quiet her voice was anything to go by, but nevertheless he knew it was directed at him. Still, since it seemed as if he wasn't meant to have heard those last words, he put it off as such.

"See you, Rukia." Ichigo said, his back still facing both the subject of his farewell.

The substitute turned an instant later, catching the quiet look of surprise on the face of his close friend. Very clearly she had been deep in thought as well, but still she recovered quickly and gave the orange-haired teen a small but genuine smile.

"How many times have I heard that now?" Rukia wondered aloud, staring at the ground for a moment before looking back up at the once again Substitute Soul Reaper.

"It's not like we'll never see each other again. Why should it matter how many times I say it?" Ichigo countered in a somewhat cheerful manner.

"You're right." Rukia replied.

Ichigo gave a small smile to the purple-eyed woman before waving her off and turning to run through the precipice world. When his body entered the blue, ethereal glow of the portal, the gates began to close, and with that the ordeal of his return was seemingly complete.

{Within the Precipice World: Unknown Distance from the World of the Living}

'It is really strange how the men carrying Ginjo's body are so far ahead of me. I must've followed at maximum a minute later.' Ichigo thought.

The time difference aspect of the Dangai never was something he really cared to thoroughly understand, which was especially ironic given the means he used to defeat Aizen, or rather gained the power to do so. That aside, it was still confusing as all hell to see the body of the man he defeated being carried off only to lose sight of it a moment later.

'Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter.' Ichigo thought.

He continued to run through the essential bridge between worlds, somewhat thankful that the cleaner was not being sent through it at the moment. In all honesty he had far too many unwanted encounters with the large unstoppable machine. It seemed that every time he was within this world, so was it, running up on his tail.

Abruptly, however, a large rumbling sound echoed throughout the Dangai, causing the ground to shake and for Ichigo to stop dead in his tracks.

'What the hell?' Ichigo wondered, looking around somewhat frantically. It felt as if it were an earthquake of some kind, and given that he relied on this practical tunnel to travel from the world of the living to the Soul Society, and vice a versa, it definitely wasn't a good thing that it was doing something it plainly shouldn't.

The shaking stopped no sooner than it began, though the substitute still stood in place, looking around for potential sources of danger. The cleaner was still not in sight, but that only gave him more cause for concern given that said device was the only thing that he thought could have caused that much commotion in the precipice world.

'So… if the cleaner isn't causing it, what the hell is?' Ichigo wondered.

The orange-aired teen continued to stay at a standstill for several moments, after which he collected himself and began to slowly walk forwards, his eyes still scanning the surrounding area simply to air on the side of caution.

Just a few seconds later, the quakes began once more, only this time much larger in scale. The restrictive current that lined the sides of the Dangai began to flow at a rapid pace, faster than Ichigo had ever seen it before, and the ground itself began to move in a wayward fashion.

'Dammit, what the hell is happening?!' Ichigo thought, now struggling to maintain his balance despite the fact that he was doing his best to remain unmovable.

The floor of the precipice world itself began to shift and turn in random directions, causing the substitute to panic a great deal given that he now knew very well that he no longer had control over where he was headed. At best he could pray he didn't get slammed into the restrictive current, and so that's just what he did.

Shortly thereafter, the ever shifting floor on which the young Soul Reaper stood began to move in a fashion that suggested it was about to slam into the wall of the precipice world, directly into the rapidly flowing ooze-like substance that lined it's sides.

'Just my luck…' Ichigo thought, immediately after which he felt himself being thrust into the restrictive current.

Just before this happened he knew very well it would be unpleasant. He simply hoped that the substance lining the walls was only half as vile and disgusting as it appeared, and even then being absorbed by it would still hold the potential to be one of the worst experiences in his entire life.

{Fiore: Hargeon Town Harbor, Aboard a Luxury Ship}

A massive tidal surge crashed into the sides of the city onto the beach, drenching the coastline and sending a large luxury ship with it. Water crushed into the outlying buildings of the city, but fortunately the ship itself landed on the sands of the beach.

Nearby the crashed form of the ship, Lucy Heartfilia clung to the ground on her knees, appearing as if she were trying to recover from being swept away in the aftermath of her most powerful celestial spirits' attack. Needless to say, the fact that the spirit caught her in the practical tsunami aggravated the blonde-haired wizard a great deal.

Next to her stood the blue talking cat that had accompanied Natsu, only his mood seemed rather pleasant despite what had just happened. It was actually quite hard to tell given that his head was firmly planted in the sands as his upper body squirmed and squiggled in order to rectify that situation.

Aquarias, her contracted water spirit, however, floated nearby with a small smirk on her face, which was likely due to the fact that her 'master' seemed to be annoyed by her recent actions.

"What's the big deal? You think you could've tried not to sweep me up with the ship?" Lucy questioned in an agitated manner. The blue-haired spirit seemed not to care in the slightest in response.

"Oh, that was an accident. I didn't mean to get the ship." Aquarias replied snidely.

"You were aiming for me?!" Lucy exclaimed angrily, though the water spirit only turned her back from where she floated in the air nearby.

"Don't call me for a while. I'm going on a weeklong vacation with my boyfriend…" Aquarias began, turning her face slightly so as to show her wielder a smirk of superiority.

"And he's hot." She added before vanishing in a bright watery glow of light.

"You don't have to rub it in!" Lucy shouted, though very clearly the spirit either chose to ignore her or didn't hear her. At the same time, the formerly trapped talking feline freed his head from the ground and popped back up to give the mage some words of encouragement.

"I've got an idea. If the fish lady gives you any more trouble you can call me to take care of her!" Happy chirped, raising a paw to the sky in order to take on a triumphant pose.

"I don't think I can handle much more of this stupid cat." Lucy whined, placing a hand over her face in a hopeless fashion.

The would-be conversation between the two was cut short upon the nearby pedestrians coming forth from the nearby outlying buildings of the city to view the wreckage. That did make some sense, given that it was their city and it wasn't every day that a luxury liner just up and landed on the beach.

"What happened?" One of the bystanders asked to no one in particular.

"That ship was thrown into port." Another answered.

Within the ship the fake Salamander and his entourage began to gather themselves, helping up those who seemed to be knocked out or picking themselves up in order to assess the current situation.

"That hurt…" Bora sighed out, rubbing his head slightly as he got up from the floor of the ship, or rather the wall given that the cruiser was currently on its side.

His attention, however, was instantly brought to the upper part of the ship on what he supposed to be the opposite wall. Incidentally that part of the ship was acting as the current ceiling, but it really couldn't be called that given that there was an enormous hole that allowed what appeared to be a man to stand on the surface.

"What in the…" Bora trailed off, staring at the smoke-covered figure that stood atop him and his crewmates.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed as she ran up to the side of the ship, his body being very visible to anyone nearby the capsized vessel.

She stopped in her tracks when she became close enough to view the expression on his face, and when it did she was somewhat confused. It was one of absolute seriousness, and what's more the pink-haired teen didn't seem to acknowledge her call as his eyes were fixed in a slight glare down on the man who had aggravated him so much in just the past several minutes.

"So you claim to be a member of the Fairy Tail guild?" Natsu asked in a low, ominous tone.

"So what's it to you? Go get him men." Bora sternly commanded, not caring in the slightest who this man was or why he seemed to upset.

"Sir." Many of his coconspirators responded convincingly.

"Let me get a closer look at your face." Natsu said as if to himself before ripping off the practical cloak he wore.

"Tch." Bora scoffed with an annoyed smirk, not finding the action all that intimidating in the slightest.

"Watch out!" Lucy shouted upon seeing two of the men rush towards the pink-haired teen.

"Don't worry about him. I probably should have told you this earlier but he's a wizard too." Happy said cheerfully from atop the blonde's shoulder.

"HUH?!" Lucy exclaimed, though the blue-furred cat just went back to eating a fish.

The two men neared their intended target, but the pink-haired teen didn't waver in the slightest. When they were close enough, he merely brought his right hand across to take them both down, doing so successfully and causing each to fall over to the sides, bruised and beaten.

"My name is Natsu I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, and I've never seen you before!" Natsu stated in an agitated fashion.

At this, both the pretend member of said guild and the blonde celestial spirit mage were greatly surprised, though perhaps Lucy was more so. It didn't seem true, but the proof was present in the form of a guild symbol that was tattooed onto his upper-right arm.

"What?" Bora exclaimed.

"You've gotta be kidding me. So Natsu is a Fairy Tail wizard?!" Lucy wondered aloud.

"That mark on his arm… this guy's the real deal Bora!" One of the crew said in a panic, having observed the crimson guild mark on the mage's right arm.

"Don't call me that you fool!" The now named Bora, as far as Lucy and Natsu were concerned, shouted indignantly.

However, the said name seemed to ring a bell to a certain blue feline, who currently stood next to Lucy with his arms crossed and his eyes set in a glare on the purple-caped mage.

"I know him. That's Bora the Prominence. Rumor has it he was kicked out of the Titan Nose wizard guild a couple of years ago because of bad behavior." Happy said with derision.

Lucy, on the other hand, didn't seem to respond to those words. All she could do was stare in a stupefied fashion as the pink-haired teen began to walk towards the false pretender who likely didn't think for even a second he was a mage of a decent caliber.

"I have no idea what you're trying to do here buddy, and I don't care if you're a good guy, bad guy, or what. I'm not gonna let you dirty the Fairy Tail Guild's name!" Natsu exclaimed angrily as he continued to approach the formerly legitimate wizard.

"And what are you gonna do about it, stop me?" Bora asked mockingly.

The Fairy Tail pretender extended his arms outwardly a moment later, summoning a great amount of magic energy in the hopes of defeating the pink-haired teen in one blow.

"Providence Typhoon!" Bora exclaimed.

A large ray of dark-pink flames burst forth, charging directly at the Fairy Tail wizard that had just a moment ago challenged him. The section of the boat the young mage stood on was instantly engulfed in a cloud of fire and smoke, which subsequently caused the nearby observers to run in fear.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed in a worried fashion, believing the man she had only recently met to have been defeated.

The blonde-haired wizard made to move in order to assist her presumed friend, only to be stopped by a certain blue cat spreading its wings and flying in front of her with its hands spread out so as to clearly relay a message that she shouldn't go any further.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" The nearby onlookers shrieked as they headed back towards the city.

"That's the way it goes. The bigger the talk the weaker the man… hmph…" Bora sneered, turning his back to the column of fire his attack had caused.

"Gah, this is so gross…" Natu's voice called out from within the flames.

'What?!' Bora thought out of sheer confusion, instantly turning to see how the boy was even able to speak.

When he did so, he could see the pink-haired mage standing within the ball of raging fire as if it wasn't even there. In fact, he was patting his mouth as if he was trying to keep down something unsettling. Moreover, he seemed calm and confident, something no one thought to be possible given his current situation.

"Are you sure that you're really a fire wizard, cuz' these are the nastiest flames I've ever tasted." Natsu griped, after which he literally began to swallow the very fire that surrounded his body.

"WHAT?!" Many exclaimed, not having believed this was even possible.

'Did he just eat fire… he just ate fire… right?' Lucy wondered confusedly, her words momentarily failing her.

The faux-Salamander and his crew watched as the teen finished devouring the fire, after which he just seemed to wipe off his mouth as if he really had just finished eating a meal.

"What the hell is going on here, who is this kid?!" Bora exclaimed in a panicked fashion.

"Fire magic doesn't work on Natsu." Happy commented from his position next to the blonde-haired celestial mage.

"I've never seen anything like that before…" Lucy said in an awestruck tone.

"Now I've got a fire in my belly that's raging to get out." Natsu stated menacingly as he walked forwards slightly in preparation for his upcoming attack.

The pink-haired mage pounded his fists together, an aura of fire surrounding his body as he puffed up his cheeks. It didn't seem as if any of his opponents were capable of doing anything to stop them, be that out of confusion or stupidity. Needless to say, the following attack would undoubtedly hit its mark.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" Natsu exclaimed, launching a colossal torrent of fire directly at the Fairy Tail pretender and his gang.

A massive explosion ensued, causing a large puff of smoke to shoot into the sky so high that it likely could have been seen from anywhere in the city. The resulting winds echoed for several miles, and when the dust had finally settled most of Bora's men were lying on the ground, either being knocked out or smart enough to know they shouldn't continue to fight.

The boss himself, however, safely floated on a large collection of flames that kept him suspended in mid-air. He was not harmed in the slightest, but very clearly he was rattled by what had just happened.

"Bora, I swear I've seen this guy before. That pink hair, that scaly lookin' scarf… there's no doubt about it, he's gotta be the real one." One of the defeated men said nervously.

'He's the real Salamander?!' Lucy thought out of surprise. Given what she had seen thus far it did make sense, but even so it was extremely difficult to believe.

"You got that right pal…" Natsu trailed off with a confident smirk.

An instant later he balled both his left and right hands into respective fists, summoning flames to surround them shortly thereafter. Such force was generated by the flames that the surrounding wood cracked and tore just at their formation.

"I hope you guys are paying attention, cuz' this is what a real Fairy Tail wizard can do!" Natsu exclaimed before charging forwards, his sights set on a certain overconfident mage that had irked him so much in the past day of his life.

"Don't get cocky!" Bora exclaimed.

As the pink-haired mage approached, he pushed both of his hands together and called forth a large magic seal from his suspended position.

"Red Shower!" Bora shouted, launching a barrage of bullet-like flame spheres directly at his opponent.

Though the projectiles were fast and substantial in number, the dragon slayer sidestepped each of them and continued to dodge even while in midair, leaping towards the false pretender in an attempt to punch him into another dimension.

"GYA!" Natsu grunted, sending his fist forwards and making direct contact with what he thought to be either his opponent's face or midsection.

The end result was a certain cocky fire mage being sent across the city so quickly that for a short period of time velocity rings surrounded his body. He hit a random building several moments later, the impact of which caused a small uproar of dust to shoot into the air.

Natsu began to walk towards the obvious landing site of his opponent, clearly not wanting to relent so quickly. Lucy, on the other hand, was still trying to grasp exactly what the teen's magical powers were.

"So he eats fire and then attacks with it? But how does he do it, is it some kind of spell?" Lucy wondered aloud, though the dragon slayers closest friend was nearby to explain.

"He has dragon lungs that allow him to breathe fire, dragon scales that help him to dissolve the fire, and dragon claws for attacking with fire. His brand of fire magic is one that allows him to take on all the qualities of a dragon. It's an ancient spell that's rarely used anymore." Happy explained.

"Seriously?" Lucy asked, clearly amazed that this was even possible.

"This particular magic was originally used to deal with dragons. That's why it's called dragon slayer magic." Happy replied.

"We should get into the city and find out if he needs any help." Lucy stated before running off.

"But Natsu doesn't…" Happy began urgently, however the blonde had already started heading towards the city.

The blue-furred cat began to head after the woman he still couldn't quite remember the name off, figuring that it didn't really matter in the long run. Without any hindrance, the two began to make their way towards the dragon slayer, and additionally the fake Fairy Tail mage.

{Hargeon Town: Remote Section of the City, Bora's Crash Site}

'What the hell just happened?' Bora wondered, rubbing his head slightly as he picked himself up.

The former legitimate mage scowled heavily upon thinking back to being punched so hard by an opponent he had severely underestimated. He wasn't about to let the kid get away with such an insult to his skill.

"You had enough yet?" Natsu questioned as he approached the sizeable hole in the building his opponent had crashed into.

"You…" Bora growled out, the mere sound of the Salamander's voice irritating him more than any man ever had previously in his life.

In an attempt to give himself a bit of space, Bora willed his fire to propel him far into the air so that he would be able to view his opponent from a different angle and potential mount a counteroffensive. A bead of sweat made its way down his cheek as he saw his opponent surely had more in store for him, but even so the battle wasn't over yet.

"Don't talk as if you've beaten me already. This fight is far from over!" Bora exclaimed.

The infamous wizard extended the palm of his right hand and shot a powerful ray of pink fire directly at his opponent, only for it to be carelessly dodged before it could land a direct hit. Natsu appeared atop a nearby structure a moment later, his eyes fixed in a glare at the faux-Salamander as the nearby building he had stood in fully collapsed.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed as she ran up to the nearby area, seeing that the fight had come to a standstill.

"I'm here too!" Happy exclaimed cheerfully, pumping a fist into the air from atop the blonde's shoulder.

A moment of silence took over, both Natsu and his opponent just staring at each other in order to see who would make the first move.

"Get ready Salamander…" Bora began, bringing his arms back as if to prepare for an attack.

Natsu in turn readied to either devour or dodge the expected fire-based magic that would have been launched, but then something occurred that neither he nor Bora nor anyone within the city expected to happen.

Abruptly what appeared to be a hole in space appeared in the skies, about the same height as that at which Bora floated. It was rectangular in shape, and the insides appeared to be a blindingly light shade of blue.

'What the hell is that?' Bora thought confusedly.

The fact that the gate shot into existence, however, was soon made to be the second most surprising thing about it. Something that appeared to have the shape of a man shot out of it shortly after it appeared, the form of which was covered in smoke.

Whatever had so suddenly appeared landed on a nearby building rather easily, still covered in the remaining smoke as the ethereal portal closed just as quickly as it had come into existence.

Each participant and observer in the battle just stared blandly as the smoke finally disappeared off of the man's form. They saw someone that appeared to be no older than eighteen years of age. He had orange hair, brown eyes, and appeared to be fairly tall.

That, to most, would be perfectly normal to see. However, that is where his appearance ceased its sense of normalcy. The orange-haired man wore a black shihakusho, a thick red strap that ran across his chest, had tattoo like bands crossing over his chest, wrists, and ankles, wore standard-looking sandals, and, perhaps most strangely off all, sported a large cleaver-like sword wrapped in white cloth across his back.

"What in the name of…" Bora muttered as he gazed at the new arrival.

'Did this guy somehow come to back him up? I've never seen anyone travel like that before…' Lucy thought confusedly.

Ichigo looked at his surroundings briefly, a look of mild confusion written on his face. Internally he was extremely glad that the restrictive current hadn't killed him outright, however if it hadn't killed him he knew it had to be something else. If it had just spit him out in some random place within the world of the living that'd just be too good to be true, and with his luck that was never the case.

'Okay… this is definitely not right.' Ichigo thought, noticing the odd architecture of the surrounding area and the general feel he got from wherever he was.

He turned a moment later to look at what appeared to be a caped man suspended in the air by a pink, fire-like substance, a teen wearing next to nothing with pink-hair, as well as a blonde-haired woman and a blue cat. To be honest, the blonde-haired girl was the least weird thing he had seen, but due to the fact that she was near a blue cat his perception was somewhat offset.

"Yeah… this is definitely not right." Ichigo muttered to himself before releasing a sigh of extreme annoyance.

"Kid, who the hell are you?" Bora questioned from his position in the air.

The fire mage got the attention of the orange-haired teen an instant later, having been the first to actually break free of his confusion in order to inquire as to who or what exactly he was.

"I'm…" Ichigo began.

Before he could fully make his reply the sound of yet another portal opening, the very same as that which had previously been created, had cut him off. Each of those present once again looked as what Ichigo knew to be a Senkaimon as yet again something was cast out of it in a puff of smoke.

Ichigo, who had been the closest to this event's unfolding, narrowed his eyes skeptically in order to see who or what it was. The form of it was clearly a man but it was currently falling so quickly he seemed to be knocked out or unable to collect himself, which meant it was possibly just a normal human. Whoever it was wore clothes typical of where he was from and had orange hair, the sight of which caused a realization to dawn on the freshly arrived Substitute Soul Reaper.

'Wait a minute…' Ichigo thought.

He began to panic the very second that he realized the falling man was in fact his own body, and he knew very well that it was in no way capable of stopping itself from hitting the dirt like a rock.

Each of the others present sweatdropped at the sight of the orange-haired man diving across another building to grab what looked like an exact replica of himself. However, the freshly arrived version seemed to be wearing much more normal clothing though they were obviously still foreign.

'What the hell?!' Ichigo wondered, glaring angrily at the sky. None of what had just happened made any sense to him, and even more so he didn't even know where he was.

'Even if I'm here somehow it doesn't make sense that my body would follow.' Ichigo thought in an annoyed fashion.

A moment later he reached into his pocket so as to check for something, and he almost let out a hard sigh of relief upon feeling the shape and texture of his Substitute Soul Reaper's Badge. He recalled not leaving it on his body, and quite frankly if he didn't have the thing with him now he either wouldn't have been able to access his powers after entering his body, or he would have had to drag his body around so he wouldn't be powerless twenty-four-seven.

From the perspective of everyone else, this was also true in that nothing made sense to them. This random person dressed so strangely just appeared out of nowhere and a moment later what looked to be a differently dressed unconscious version of himself followed. Certainty this cracked the strangeness scale for each of them.

'Why are there two of him?' Natsu and Lucy wondered similarly. Happy appeared to be chewing on a fish as if to say he had either been distracted or somehow not noticed just yet.

"Alright kid, just who the hell are you?!" Bora exclaimed, his level of anger and annoyance rising in the wake of the multiple events that just continued to confuse him.

The substitute looked over at the hovering from of the caped man an instant later, but he paused after realizing something he hadn't before.

'Wait… they can all see me. Even if this guy has spirit energy that doesn't explain why the other two can clearly see me.' Ichigo thought.

Ichigo felt out the air around him, however doing so confused him more so than prior. He could definitely sense that there was something within the air as far as he could tell, but he didn't know for the life of him what it was. It wasn't spiritual energy, as it would have a feel more akin to Hueco Mundo or the Soul Society, even the world of the living to a degree, but at the same time it was of the same abundance.

'Maybe whatever energy is in wherever I am is allowing them to see me…' Ichigo thought.

Moreover, he could feel a certain power emanating off of the bodies of most everyone in the city. It again was definitely not spirit energy, but it still existed. His thoughts, however, were rather rudely interrupted before he could consider anything more.

"Kid, I asked you a question! Who or what the hell are you?!" Bora shouted angrily.

"Sorry about that…" Ichigo began.

The fire mage looked at him strangely, especially since the teen seemed to be rather genuine in his words. From his perspective he had been demanding, but it seemed as if whoever the kid was he was of the impression that the apology was needed. In truth, Ichigo just acknowledged that his presence was likely a great source of confusion and he had been spacing out for his own reasons while at the same time ignoring the question that was asked of him multiple times.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Soul Reaper. Can you tell me who you are and where we are exactly?" Ichigo questioned.

"W-what…" Bora stuttered off out of disbelief.

"We're in Hargeon Town." Lucy answered warily, her thoughts also being those of disbelief.

"And that's where exactly?" Ichigo questioned, causing most present to sweatdrop.

"You seriously don't know where we are?" Lucy wondered aloud.

"That reminds me, why did you even bother coming?" Bora questioned condescendingly, causing a tick mark to appear on the blonde's forehead.

"Shut up you sicko! After trying to sell me and those other girls into human slavery what makes you think you should even be allowed to speak?!" Lucy shouted angrily.

The orange-haired teen's ears seemed to perk up at this and his expression quickly changed to a rather ominous scowl and glare. He very clearly wasn't happy, and the object of his anger appeared to have something to do with Bora.

"You tried to do what?" Ichigo asked dangerously, his glare slightly unnerving the fire mage.

"It can't be helped if she's sore about it. However now that my plan is ruined I'll just have to get rid of her and this fire mage. In fact, if you wish to stand in my way I'll add you to the list." Bora stated confidently.

"Is that so? Now I can't really let you do that for obvious reasons. However, I'll give you this warning. Get as far away from here as possible and I won't kick your ass." Ichigo said, still holding his characteristic scowl and glare.

"Hahahahaha! Sorry, but I don't think…" Bora said.

Before the infamous fire mage could finish his sentence he heard the sound of the white bandages coming off of the teen's sword and the subsequent sound of a body leaping into the air. He moved back a moment later in order to dodge, but much to his, and everyone else's, surprise, his flesh was pierced.

Blood fell down to the streets of the city as Bora recoiled back in the air. The wound itself hadn't been deep due to the fact that he had moved away, but nevertheless he didn't think in a million years the kid would have been that quick.

'Whoa…' Natsu, Lucy, and Happy thought similarly.

"What the hell…" Bora muttered to himself. He looked back over at the form of the orange-haired teen, seeing that he was now atop another building following his leap into the air with the large cleaver resting across his shoulders.

"I did warn you so you can't complain." Ichigo stated, his expression neutral and his tone calm. However because this was the case it sounded more and more mocking to the fire mage than anything the dragon slayer had said thus far.

"You… you… you insolent little… I will burn you into ashes!" Bora exclaimed.

He brought forth both of his hands and fired off a massive ray of energy like he had before. However, this was more concentrated and its target more precise.

'I'd better try to sto…' Natsu thought, only to be unable to finish his mental sentence.

In front of his and everyone else's eyes, the black-clad teen brought forth his sword and blocked the massive torrent of manifested magical energy with only his blade, which subsequently caused their eyes to widen out of shock. Within a moment after that, all Ichigo did was swing his sword off to the side and the attack was instantly reflected before it dissipated into the air.

'That's… not possible… with just a sword he was able to deflect that much magic energy like it was nothing?!' Bora wondered confusedly.

"My turn…" Ichigo trailed off, bringing his sword back once more.

Bora's eyes widened significantly at his opponent's words, but he was still far too shocked by what had just happened to do anything about what happened next. The large cleaver was swung across the air in front of the substitute, and with it shot forth a massive ray of concentrated wind that was caused by the sheer force behind the swing.

The fire mage shot even further up into the sky, his magical flames that had kept him suspended vanishing after he took the hit. His body was now sporting a singular slash from the man's first attack, and the rest of his skin was slightly bruised just due to whatever attack this kid had just fired, he just assumed because of the force behind the gust that it had to be wind magic.

"Your technique was strong, but it wasn't even close to strong enough!" Bora exclaimed as he once again summoned his Red Carper to keep himself stabilized.

"You think that was a technique of some kind?" Ichigo asked somewhat amusedly, causing those present to quirk a curious brow.

"What do you mean?" Bora asked skeptically.

"That wasn't an attack or a technique I am capable of using, it was just the force that resulted from my swing." Ichigo explained, once again resting Zangetsu across his shoulders.

'From his swing?!' Lucy and Happy thought, sweating slightly at the prospect of what one of this guy's actual attacks could do.

'Hmm… not too shabby.' Natsu thought with a grin.

"Where the hell did you even come from?!" Bora exclaimed.

"That's my line… where are we again? As in what world?" Ichigo questioned, sounding serious.

'He has to be kidding… right?' Lucy wondered with a deadpanned expression.

Once again the faux-Salamander seemed to be extremely confused by his opponent's words. However, he quickly shook his head, refusing to allow the kid to mess with him in such an obvious way.

"Idiot's just messing with me…" Bora said to himself.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Ichigo questioned in a annoyed tone.

"Why you little… perish!" Bora exclaimed, extending both of his hands and launching a colossal ball of pink fire at the black-clad teen.

Ichigo merely jumped out of the way and into the nearby streets, deciding that deflecting the attack would likely have served no purpose at this point. However, when he expected a large explosion nothing seemed to come.

He glanced back at the area that attack had landed and saw the pink-haired teen holding it back with both of his hands.

"Thanks for the meal, new guy." Natsu stated, obviously referring to the orange-haired man.

Now it was Ichigo's turn to sweatdrop as he saw the dragon slayer begin to consume whatever type of energy projectile was launched at him. It was definitely strange, but even so he had seen much stranger.

'Eating fire… that is new, though.' Ichigo thought as he saw the pink-haired mage wipe off his mouth.

"Hey, listen, do you care if I finish this guy off? It isn't that I mind, but you kinda jumped in before I got the chance to beat him into a pulp." Natsu stated, his hands balling into flaming fists as he spoke.

"Knock yourself out." Ichigo replied before walking towards the blonde-haired woman in order to see if he was at all needed. Plus, doing so would finally allow him to put his body down.

"You ready pale, cuz' I'm about ready to beat you into the next dimension." Natsu stated cheerfully before lunging at the fire mage.

The two began to fight across the town, likely destroying more property than most people ever got the chance to in their entire lives. On the other spectrum, Ichigo approached the blue-furred cat and the blonde-haired girl who seemed to be somehow connected with each of the fighters.

"You okay?" Ichigo questioned, placing the large cleaver back onto his back and allowing the white cloth to appear once again.

"Yeah… more importantly, are you?" Lucy asked warily.

"Um… of course, why wouldn't I be?" Ichigo responded.

"Because you…" Lucy began, only to be cut off as a large ray of pink magical energy ripped through what appeared to be half of the city.

"What the hell?" Ichigo wondered aloud, shielding his eyes from the resulting dust that shot across the city.

Each of them then saw Natsu fire off a massive ray of what appeared to be raw fire directly at the floating form of his opponent, not landing a direct hit but very clearly showing a good deal of strength.

"Exactly what kind of powers does that pink-haired guy have anyway?" Ichigo asked as he watched the battle.

"His brand of fire magic is one that allows him to take on all the qualities of a dragon." Happy explained.

Ichigo just looked down at the speaking blue feline normally and then nodded in understanding. Inwardly he was confused beyond belief, but the fact that he didn't outwardly seem so greatly confused Lucy. Dragon's, again, were new to him.

"So a cat just talks to you about dragons and its normal…" Lucy trailed off.

"What? No, that doesn't bother me." Ichigo replied, causing the blonde to deadpan.

"See, your just dumb is all!" Happy chirped reassuringly.

"Stupid cat…" Lucy grumbled underneath her breath.

'Still… that cat said magic, right? Then if this place, wherever it is, does have some kind of energy… that must be what I feel in the air and what must be coming off of everyone. It's kind of similar to spiritual pressure, so I guess it isn't too farfetched that its abundance and the fact that everyone seems to have some form of that energy allows them to see me.' Ichigo thought.

He looked down at his body with a look akin to realization. The substitute had almost forgotten he was carrying his literal-self due to everything that happened. Given that the pink-haired 'mage', he supposed, was taking care of it, he saw no reason to stay in his spirit form. That in mind, he still needed someone to hold up his body so he could comfortably enter it, and with that he turned to the nervous-looking blonde once more.

"Hey, could…" Ichigo began, only to be cut off by the climax of Natsu's battle.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu roared.

A moment later a resounding boom echoed throughout the immediate area just due to the contact of Natsu's attack with, unfortunately for a certain someone, Bora's face. The fire mage was sent flying across the city, ramming into buildings and streets alike before ultimately flying straight into a tower bell.

'Not bad.' Ichigo thought.

"That's gotta hurt…" Lucy trailed off, wincing slightly.

"You bet it did, but the creep deserved it." Natsu stated matter-of-factly as he walked up to the group.

"I think you may have overdone it though…" Ichigo stated, looking at the enormous amount of destruction with a deadpanned expression.

"Oh wow! He really did." Lucy exclaimed.

"Aye!" Happy chirped.

"Just shut it cat." Lucy growled.

"Anyway, thanks for the help, even if I didn't really need it." Natsu said in a friendly manner, giving a smile towards the orange-haired teen.

"No problem." Ichigo replied, giving off a small smile himself.

"By the way, what kind of magic do you use? The way you came here was really weird. It was like you just came out of nowhere." Natsu commented with a slight amount of amazement in his voice.

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.

"About that… you see, I'm…" Ichigo began.

"There they are men!" A man shouted from nearby.

Each member of the croup, feline and human, looked towards the source of the abrupt shouting to find a large amount of army troops running in formation directly towards them. Even to Ichigo, that clearly wasn't a good thing.

"Ah crap! We gotta get going!" Natsu exclaimed.

The dragon slayer grabbed Lucy's wrist a moment later before he began sprinting as if he were running for his life. Happy followed in the air, but for a brief moment Ichigo just stood in place, now being highly confused yet again.

"Hey, dude, if you wanna stay out of trouble I suggest you run for it!" Natsu shouted as he continued to run.

The blonde began to say something to the pink-haired teen, but Ichigo couldn't quite make it out over the sound of marching soldiers. He figured that he could have fought them off, but given that he didn't really know where the hell he was, doing so would be a mistake. Thus, he threw his body over his shoulder and began to sprint after the two people who seemed nice enough to follow.

'Maybe they can even tell me where the hell I am.' Ichigo thought.

"Don't let them get away men!" A soldier exclaimed as they continued to give chase...