So while Ichigo was getting his ass handed to him, and Sora was having the easiest one-vs-one that a person could ask for...
Might leave Grimmjow out to die. Probably not. He may or may not have been on prime Unohana timing right now, but he still had some form of conscience remaining.
A sliver of one.
Hey, maybe he had aired out about 200 Arrancar on their way here, including a Hispanic Hollow and one that seemed to be a goth girl. He was in a rush, okay?
They just so happened to be in the general location of his bullets. Luckily, their souls weren't destroyed, so the cycle of souls would continue.
He said that as if he wasn't going to reduce the Hollow population in Las Noches by 40%, as if, by the end of this, an immortal god wouldn't have died.
Anyway, as the scene shifted, we moved toward the man this rescue mission was made for.
Uryu sat in his cell, arms crossed, head tilted slightly as he tried to make sense of the weird feeling in the air.
It was Sora's Reiryoku.
Except... it wasn't.
It felt off. Like something was missing, something that made it uniquely Sora.
Weirdly enough, he got that familiar feeling from Ichigo instead.
...Wait. What?
He narrowed his eyes.
Something wasn't adding up.
Closing his eyes, he expanded his senses.
Okay, let's think.
Sora's energy felt calm, like an ocean, while Ichigo's was wild and untamed. That remained the same. But Sora's energy still felt odd to Uryu. Alien, even.
Then—he felt it.
A faint, small flicker of spiritual energy.
A butterfly.
Uryu's eyes snapped open.
With a sharp breath, he activated his Schrift.
But before that, he left about 10% of his spiritual energy in there.
In a blink, he was gone.
A butterfly fluttered in his place.
Inside the prison cell, looking all comfy, the butterfly absorbed the energy he left behind. After a few seconds, the butterfly began to change shape, turning into a perfect replica of Uryu, down to the last minute detail.
Perfect.
Another pulse of spiritual energy—this one carrying Chad's presence.
Uryu smirked. Good. The plan was in motion.
He reached out—and switched with Chad.
From the outside, it would look like Uryu never left.
Chad, knowing his part of the plan, began to do something weird. Using his Fullbring, he started to, with a lot of difficulty, phase through the walls.
He knew he could do it. Sora had said he could.
Sora had called what Chad and Orihime had Fullbring, got some notes from Urahara, and from what he could see of their abilities, they were a top-tier race.
Sora's race ranking went like this:
Quincy {Bite him, he was biased.}Hollow or Fullbring {He personally thought either could be second.}Shinigami. {About every race could do what they do, if not better. Also, he was going by the average here—the average Shinigami is not making it to Bankai. That shit was rarer than your girlfriend going to Florida for spring break and not cheating on you with her 6'3" dreadhead friend.}
Plus, Shinigami didn't have an innate skill they could use for defense or boosting themselves. Hollows had Hierro. Quincy had Blut. And Fullbringers?
Fullbringers had the fact that they could use the very air itself and turn into a fucking nuke.
Thinking of it like that, a full-powered Fullbring would be busted.
It hurt Sora's pride so much to admit that. Chad had seen the man almost puke out blood, but in terms of manipulating the area to do their bidding... they were better.
He had then glared at them and told them they better not disappoint.
Flashback – The Plan
Sora stood in front of the group, a detailed replica of Aizen's base floating in the air before them.
He pointed to a cell with the least amount of Reishi.
"Uryu's probably here."
Then, without thinking, he added—
"So while Ichigo's getting his ass beat—"
He paused.
Ichigo's eye twitched.
"Hold on."
Sora quickly corrected himself.
"—I mean, while Ichigo is drawing the aggro!"
Ichigo glared.
"Wow. You didn't even try to hide that one."
Sora waved him off. "You'll be fine. You've got, like, 20 Ginto, each strong enough to seriously wound anyone not named Aizen."
"That's not reassuring..." He wasn't wrong.
Ignoring him, Sora continued.
"Chad, you'll position yourself near the south. When you see the butterfly, be ready to switch. You'll act like you're escaping with Uryu, but in reality—"
He tapped the map.
"The real Uryu will be where you were, meeting up with Rukia."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes.
"Wait. Are we the only two switching appearances?"
"Yeah. Aizen's smart, smart. If we all switched, he'd figure it out too fast." Sora added nonchalantly.
"Then what's the point?" The fuck was the need for a plan then?
Sora grinned.
"Planting the idea."
Ichigo blinked.
Sora continued, "If we switched, then who else did? Even if it takes Aizen five minutes to realize it's only us, that's still two minutes we wouldn't have otherwise."
Ichigo stared.
"...I feel like your math is off."
Sora ignored him.
Instead, he turned to Chad.
"Can you act like Rukia?"
Chad: "..."
"Can I act like Chad?" Wow, his girlfriend seemed eager to help. Sweet.
"See? That's the spirit!" Sora clapped his hands happily. That was the spirit.
"What about me?" Orihime asked, wanting to be involved.
"You're too innocent. You can't lie to save your life," Sora said calmly.
Orihime pouted.
"But don't worry—you're the only one who doesn't have to act. Just be yourself."
Sora actually sounded sweet. Hm. He was nicer to her than everyone else. Ichigo smelled bias.
Orihime beamed.
Ichigo grumbled.
And just like that—the plan was set.
Ichigo was worried about Chad, like what if he got cornered by a strong Hollow?
"He's a Fullbringer. He'll be fine," Sora said, waving his hand dismissively.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ichigo frowned.
"Apart from Quincy, they're like the best race."
Ichigo gave him a look.
"Their ability, called Fullbring, enables them to manipulate the contained within matter. Everything, even rudimentary objects such as lampposts and chairs, possess a soul, however small. Fullbringers can manipulate the object's movement or even alter its physical characteristics. Like, come on, they can walk on water and all that shit. It's basically matter manipulation. They can heal, and even make themselves intangible. Holy fuck, they're OP... wait, with matter manipulation, wouldn't that mean they're better than Quincy at manipulating the environment?"
Sora fell to one knee... almost puking out some blood.
Ain't no way... How?
How?
No.
He could see the smirk creeping up on Ichigo's lips.
"I don't want to see you smile. Soul Reapers are at the bottom of the list. And this is not my Quincy side speaking—I have shown myself to not be biased at all."
Ichigo gazed at Orihime, who was eating some snacks Sora brought, Rukia with her protection necklace, Chad, who seemed to have also received a buff, and then himself—who all he got was an ass-beating.
Yeah... not biased at all.
Five minutes of a mental breakdown later, Sora looked at Ichigo and said,
"Admit it. Even you are using Hollow power. Or do you want me to believe you got this strong only using Soul Reaper power?"
Ichigo opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out.
"...That's what I thought."
Upon seeing the look on Rukia's face, he elaborated.
"I am not saying soul reaper are weak, they have like the strongest old man alive right now, all I am saying is that they had all the advantage over the other race, a whole goddam school to teach them, thousands of years of history to lean into, and a lot of techs, and still a majority of them get fucked over by basic hollow"
"Sora...you not placing Quincy above because they can destroy hollow are you?"
"No, I am not that bad"
Ichigo would let a sigh of relief that only lasted a second before Sora said.
"They are there because I am one"
"What's your logic?"
"If we consider the average strength of the Quincy, there are only three alive: my dad, who is at captain level, Uryu, who is approaching captain level, and me, who is far above that. So, the average strength among Quincies is significantly higher than that of the other races."
Ichigo opened his mouth to argue, declaring that it was ridiculous—after all, there were only three Quincies left, damn it.
"I dare you to say that, Soul Reaper," was the response.
Ichigo twitched slightly, gritting his teeth. At least he wasn't being included in the average strength of the Quincies.
A/N.
Quincy Ichigo go brrr