Bleach Arrancar Arc Revised

[Vexarian]

I ended up inadvertantly writing this all as a result of a runaway post in the main, manga thoughts topic. But it was far too long for me to inflict on the poor unwitting public. So instead I'm going to put all of it here. Because what else would I really do with this junk?

*

If I had some sort of weird, Bleach-specific magical wand, there are definitely some changes I'd make.

I'd start immediately after the end of the Soul Society arc, and start by inserting a decently sized filler arc, something light and with more humor. I'd keep the first few Arrancar incursions mostly the same, but splice in more filler between them.

They'd go into Hueco Mundo and I wouldn't change anything until the Nnoitora fight. I'd definitely change the end of that though, I'm not entirely certain how. I'd probably use the opportunity to push Zaraki forward a bit? Possibly have him awaken his Shikai near the end of the fight and use that to win.

From there, we'd move into the fight with Ulquorria, that would go similarly, but with a different ending and significantly less angst. Ichigo pulls his Bankai and his Hollow Mask and he starts strong, but Ulquorria uses his Resurrecion and turns the tables, then does his Second Resurrecion and simply curbstomps Ichigo and kills him. Ichigo ends up going Full Hollow as he did originally, and ends up beating down Ulquorria in return.

That fight goes on for a little while, then we go into Ichigo's mindscape again and we have another confrontation in there. Ichigo, Zangetsu and Ichigo's Hollow. I'm not sure exactly how it would go, but the general idea is to revisit his fight against his Hollow and his later meeting with Zangetsu. Perhaps do the occasional flash to the outside goings on as more of his friends congregate on the roof and watch as he pummels the shit out of Ulquorria.

In the end, Ichigo obviously succeeds in his mindscape, but I'm not sure of the exact situation outside. Either he's pummeled Ulquorria black and bloody and bruised, or he's just flat out killed him and is prepared to, or has already turned on his friends. Either way he stops, regains himself and forcibly tears off his mask. His friends are relieved, everything's awesome. If Ulquorria is still alive, Ichigo just blows him off and leaves. Maybe throw in something about it not being fair anymore? Or that Ichigo is just too strong now.

We then descend into the Dome again, if anyone hadn't gone up top to watch the show then we regroup there. Yammy hasn't shown up yet.

The other captains inform Ichigo of the situation. Aizen and the Fake Karakura town.

There's a problem with the Gargantua, either they can't open one or they can't stabilize it. Either way Nell comes forward and says that all Espada can do so, and that she can help if Orihime fixes her mask. Orihime does so and Nell is restored to her adult form.

Nell opens/stabilizes the Gargantua and a route is opened to the Fake Karakura town. Ichigo, Nell and Orihime all enter and the rest either decline to go or are preventing from going by the Gargantua suddenly and unexpectedly closing.

We immediately switch over to the Fake Karakura Town and the arrival of Aizen's party.

In total we have the following;

Aizen's Side:

Aizen
Gin
Tosen

Stark
Barragon
Hallibel

Wonderweiss

The Fraccion
Stark's 1 (Lilynette)
Barragon's 6
Hallibel's 3 + Allon

Shinigami Side:

Yamamoto
Soi-Fon
Komamura
Shunsui
Hitsugaya
Ukitake

The Vaizard (4 Captains and 4 Vice-Captains)
The Various Vice-Captains

And eventually;
Urahara
Yoruichi
Isshin

Let me think of what to do here...

Aizen clearly cannot be allowed to fight so soon, that would just be anticlimactic and dull. The obvious route to go is to simply have Aizen arrogantly order the Espada into battle while he, Gin and Tosen simply observe from above. Aizen's mere presence and cold superiority is obviously going to be a very stifling presence, both for the Espada and the Shinigami.

Barragon will summon his throne, just as he did originally and send four of his Fraccion to the pillars in order to destroy them, this will unfold as it did originally with three being killed, and one succeeding but being killed anyway.

Barragon's two remaining fraccion, along with Hallibel's three will then be sent against the remaining Vice-Captains. This should be a reasonably quick, but fairly chaotic free for all. Kill off Barragon's remaining two fraccion but leave Hallibel's alive and incapacitate the remaining Vice-Captains.

Hitsugaya then intervenes against Hallibel's fraccion on behalf of the Vice-Captains and they summon Allon, who he then fights. Hitsugaya has a hard time against it and the three Fraccion taunt him about how he'll never possibly match up to Hallibel if he can't even match Allon.

In the end, Hitsugaya manages to defeat Allon, but is completely spent by his victory and out of commission along with the Vice-Captains. Hallibel's three Fraccion are of course shocked by Hitsugaya and want to take him down, but Hallibel simply tells them to stand down as she and the other Espada step up and enter the fray.

Starrk and Lilynette fight against Shunsui and Ukitake, the match-up was a good idea in canon. So let's just replicate it. Shunsui fights Stark and Ukitake chases Lilynette, not taking anything seriously. At some point during this Ukitake comes down in a coughing fit and Lilynette looks at him and wonders if he's dying or something.

Hallibel's first opponent will be Soi-Fon. Soi-Fon will start out with her Shikai, but Hallibel will be able to nullify the danger somehow. This will cause Soi-Fon to resort to using Flash Cry, but Hallibel will be similarly unaffected. In the end Soi-Fon will be prideful and potentially reminiscent of Yoruichi before activating her Bankai in an attempt to take down Hallibel, but she will simply activate her Resurreccion and Soi-Fon will be put out of commission afterward.

Barragon will probably just continue to sit on his throne, possibly make conversation with Yamamoto?

Komamura won't be doing anything important, except maybe focusing on Tosen who will have done fuck-all. In fact maybe lead into the next stage with Komamura shouting at those three traitors?

Flash over to Ichigo, Nell and Orihime who are still in transit. Nell is in her adult form. Ichigo plans to end the war with the first strike. They exit the Gargantua and unfortunately Ichigo's gambit fails. Either because Aizen guarded his neck like he did originally, or because Aizen simply mitigates it with pure skill and reflex.

Either way, Ichigo, Nell and Orihime all arrive, and Ichigo fails to kill Aizen immediately.

Aizen notices Nell and comments on her presence and apparent alliance with Ichigo, Nell likely remains silent. Possibly Ichigo defends her?

Either way, Ichigo mouths off to Aizen.

I'm not entirely sure what should happen here. Either;

A. Yamamoto decides that it's his place to fight the traitor Aizen. Ichigo gets into an argument with him over it, and in the end Yamamoto puts him in a Hado and faces Aizen anyway.

B. Aizen will refuse to fight Ichigo himself and will instead summon Wonderweiss as Ichigo's opponent. Ichigo will humorously disbelieve, but then Wonderweiss will smash into him and Aizen will reveal that Wonderweiss is the only Vasto Lorde among the Espada.

Hallibel will face down Nell and likely call her predecessor a traitor. Nell will fight Hallibel and likely be forced to assume her Resurreccion just as Hallibel had. Nell will eventually win the fight, but Hallibel will simply be put out of commission and not killed.

Starrk assumes his Resurreccion and fights Shunsui and Ukitake two on one. He'll put a great deal of pressure on them both with his sheer, overwhelming power, but they'll be able to hold their own. At least until Ukitake comes down with another bout of illness and Shunsui has to cover for him, putting them both out of commission.

Tosen finally descends into the fray and fights Komamura. They're even for a bit until Tosen reveals his new Hollow Mask, then his Hollow Form, allowing him to defeat Komamura.

Gin won't fight yet, but will wander amongst the fray, doing his jerk thing. Maybe talk with Rangiku, or torment Orihime?

Yamamoto will try to face against Aizen. Barragon will get between them however, but Yamamoto will simply smash him away with little effort.

(Jesus Christ this is getting long)

We move over to Hueco Mundo for a moment and there's a GIANT Gargantua open, with everyone who was there defeated and bloodied around it. Yammy is the Number Zero Espada and easily dispatched everyone who was left with the intention of joining Aizen in the Fake Karakura Town. He'll be dealt with by the Vaizard. But there are two ways to go about this. Either;

A. Do not show Yammy in the first scene and instead immediately move back to the Fake Karakura Town and reveal the same giant Gargantua and have a released Zero Yammy exit. Then have the Vaizard arrive and face him down.

B. Have Yammy released and holding up a bloodied captain in Hueco Mundo, then have the Gargantua seal itself and the Vaizard challenge him in Hueco Mundo.

Doesn't really matter which, it should be self-contained.

At the same time in the Fake Karakura Town. Barragon pulls himself up and releases his Resurreccion and appears to be intent on fighting Yamamoto with Aizen, only for Urahara and Yoruichi to appear and fight him instead.

At the same time, something will happen with Ichigo and Isshin will bail him out. Isshin will provide some sort of inspiration to Ichigo and face down Stark. Depending on how things went, Ichigo will finally be able to break out of the Hado, and will then put down Wonderweiss in a single hit, but not kill him just yet or even force a Resureccion.

Let's see...

Stark is fighting Isshin.

Urahara and Yoruichi are fighting Barragon.

Yamamoto is fighting Aizen.

Gin and Tosen are doing nothing...

I suppose have Ichigo fight against Gin and Tosen while the Stark versus Isshin and Urahara+Yoruichi versus Barragon fights go down. Leave the Yamamoto versus Aizen fight conspiciously uncovered however.

Obviously Isshin, Urahara and Yoruichi pull wins against their respective opponents. But Ichigo's fight against Gin and Tosen doesn't come to fruition when Aizen finishes off Yamamoto. Aizen's victory could be either legitimate or through some form of exotic cheating. Either way, after doing so Aizen essentially just declares himself the victor of the war.

Actually if the Vaizard faced Yammy in Hueco Mundo this would be a good time for them to emerge into the Fake Karakura town, victorous. They face off against Gin and Tousen and send Ichigo against Aizen.

And how Ichigo's fight with Aizen goes and more importantly how it ends is really all up to what the next arc would be?

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Aizen and Yamamoto standing around is generally the first and easiest fix to make with the arc. The obvious solution to this is to have Yamamoto quite seriously seal himself and Aizen off from literally everyone else in the opening gambit, taking both of the heavy hitters out of the fight to have an epic battle that for the most part will be ignored till most of the other players are out of the picture.


See, the major problem with the whole war arc here was that it wasn't much of a war. Too much focus completely on one on one fights, and hardly much in the way of numbers to try to beef up the hecticness, nothing of battles spilling into each other, and despite the clever introduction of the Pillars, beyond one minor ditch effort to try and destroy them literally no strategy played into this fight at all.


I mean Christ, Mayuri and the science division quite literally built an entire town for them to fight in. And they had NO tricks hidden in the layout to play off of? No hidden devices to catch the enemy by surprise? No hidden passageways to avoid attacks and come out somewhere completely different to use proper positioning against the enemy?

And Aizen went to Hueco Mundo, built an army, and brought 3 elites with him only, who in turn only brought a handful of their mooks with them? Christ he only brought out the mook maker and Wonderwiess, who would have been damned useful at the start if that ability was planned at all (It likely wasn't), when the rest were busy losing. Bring out all the stops from the start, get the other Privaron in here, some of his other experiments, those random ugly looking hollows in his council should have been brought out so we could see what they can do too.



Anyway from here it's hard to say how things would play out, since there are a lot of interesting ways it could go, and a lot of ways it could shape up. One on one fights could still certainly play a role, however for the sake of capturing the 'war' feel there should be some spillover from other fights going on in general to up the ante a bit. The general outline of the fights was good though, bar Barragon and Soifon. But then it's hard to find anyone who'd be a good opponent for that kind of Hax.

I suppose you could argue Hitsugaya could negate Respiera, or at least outlast it till it disperses, but the elemental back and forth he and Halibel had going on would have been more interesting if they had more going on and the fight wasn't a bore, which surprisingly the anime managed to patch up a bit. Ukitake might be a good bet depending how his Zan handles Respiera, especially considering Barragon's own weakness to it.

Soifon and Gin would be an interesting match though, the Assasin with a decidedly not assassiny bankai vs. the Guy whose bankai is only useful for Assasination purposes, ignoring the final change to his powers. Granted there's no it's personal behind it, but bar Matsumoto, Kira, and maybe Hitsugaya hardly anyone has beef with the guy yet. And two of those stand no chance, while the third's purposes are better served elsewhere.

Wonderwiess's ability needs to be removed outright because that shit was stupid. Granted he can be a negator, and given how his scream shattered Hitsugaya's attack and negated Mashiro's cero that seemed to be how it was shaping up to be, but being able to LOLNO Ryuujinjakka with that kind of ease should be out of the question. Now if he catches Yamamoto offguard and negates his finisher at the wrong moment that'd work better in a more overall scale of things.

Tousen and Komamura is a necessary fight that needs to happen, only Komamura needs to win that shit rather than Hisagi pulling bullshit and that moronic "I lost my sight again, no wait I didn't Hisagi let me look at you-BLARGH I AM DEAD" crap. This is the last cool thing the guy is ever going to get to do so a win's happening here even if he's going to be utterly destroyed after.

Also Soul Society literally needs to bring a whole squad of healers (Likely hidden in underground passages Mayuri built) because that Kira used to be a healer and can now regenerate Matsumoto's side out of nowhere tripe was dumb.


By the end though due to the sheer number of characters on the good side if nothing else, most of the fights should devolve to multiples on multiples, most of the crunchdowns I agree with. Soifon might lose to Gin, who knows, and Shinji takes him again or something, maybe the Hiyori thing happened again ("Are you sure you want to dodge that?" "HIYORI!!!") while she tried taking Halibel with Hitsugaya, Lisa and I don't know, Yoruichi, so Shinji is pissed.

Starrk's taking on three captains at once because he's a beast like that (and invulnerable seeking missile wolves just ruin every-bodies day), Barragon's taking the force of Tessai, Hachi, Ukitake, and Urahara to take down, Wonderwiess and Kensei are still going at it. Isshin's probably rolling with Yamamoto to try and take on Aizen with Ichigo as the current failsafe or whatever.

Kensei loses despite doing significant damage to Wonderwiess, who gets an opening on Yamamoto to save it's master as he was programed to do, and because of that precious surprise negation Aizen manages to take him down, albeit barely. Most of the badies are done now, leaving most of the others exhausted as they try to take Aizen on despite the loss of their heavyweight. Only this time thank's to significant amount of teamwork, trickery, and general sheer numbers and determination (And Aizen being thoroughly exhausted after Yamamoto), they manage to get Ichigo that one opening to get a critical wound on the guy which lets him fight on even terms.

No decide bullshit, no Orb tripe, just good planing and teamwork leaving an opening for victory. Kinda like 391 before that stupid KS makes illusion of thoughts too reveal.

 

[Vexarian]

With the match-ups I planned up there, I tried to find a good balance of power to keep things nice and sensible. None of this Hitsugaya versus Hallibel crap. He's probably the weakest Captain, what the fuck is he doing facing against the third/fourth strongest Espada?

Although, I wholeheartedly agree with the Hogyoku. Literally every development that happened with it from the Fake Karakura Town onward was utter garbage. Every god damn thing.

 

[Knyght]

I don't really have a problem with how Hitsugaya's potrayed since I think of him as similar to Ishida. What he lacks in power and physical ability, he makes up for in versatility and tricks. My problem with that fight was that it was basically a rendition of "No, I'm Behind You" but with elements, which they also had a pointless discussion about. -_-

Personally, I'd say Mayuri's the weakest. But he gets by with learning most of his opponent's abilities beforehand and having a lot of tricky shit on hand. I'd probably put Hitsugaya above Soifon and Komamura but that's depends on how you judge them.

Anyway, I'll third that Hogyoku approach. At most I'd have Aizen use it to undergo Hollowfication and once that's done, he'd have no real use for it unless it's something like <a href='http://z14.invisionfree.com/The_Fanfiction_Forum/index.php?showtopic=20399' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>this.</a>

I haven't considered a total rehaul but there various parts of the arc that I felt could be changed:

The initial splitting up of the five-man band (plus Hollows). Rukia and Renji's reasoning against staying together was pretty shit TBH. Gin even commented that splitting up weakened their fighting force. The walls aren't made of that anti-spirit stone so Ichigo could have simply tried to sense Orihime and at least get a general direction. They would choose the closest corridor and run on ahead together, leading to a group melee with the Privaron.

They'd likely get split up either during the fight or not long afterwards, thanks to Gin's meddling with the corridors and Szayel's various traps. Point being that's involuntary and ups the tension since they can't get back to each other. Then it'd be Renji and Rukia, Chad and Ishida and then just Ichigo which are probably the most complementary groups. The tag along arrancars would be split up too.

Instead of the scientist, I'd probably have Chad and Ishida run into the black guy whilst Renji and Rukia meet the fake Kaien. Scientist dude would probably be fucking around with traps and monster hollows instead of fighting directly. Though he'd intervene at a later point, I suspect.

Ichigo's part would stay the same up until the Grimmjow fight where he heads back with Orihime and Nel. Not longer after, he finds his friends getting their tired assess kicked by Nnoitra and that whole thing generally goes the same.

Reinforcements arrive. Mayuri confronts Szayel who hadn't taken part till then and they have a geek off. Kenpachi faces Nnoitra and experiences some actual growth (hello thar, shikai!) instead of whipping out his kendo. Perhaps Yachiru ended up getting hurt or something.

Everything else goes as before and Ichigo faces Ulquiorra with the events going down like Vexarian described. I'd go deeper than that and have this the end of Ichigo's conflict with Hichigo. Ichigo's fighting Hichigo and is desperate to get back 'outside' but he's realising that simply trying to kill Hichigo is pointless. That's when he figures that what's going on is an inversion of the shinigami-zanpakuto relationship. He's already subjugated the hollow so this time he goes for an understanding. The fight concludes with him accepting his hollow and everything that means telling Hichigo his name, thanks some instinctual knowledge crap.

You've both got the FKT arc sorted but one thing I'd add would be having the Kido Corps protecting the pillars in addition to the regular shinigami.

Anything goes after that.

There are two more changes which I'd make which would be Yammy and Wonderweiss. Specifically, their Resurreccions. I don't mind Yammy being the Zero Espada but the way it was shown wasn't that great; big, dumb brute turning into a really big, dumber brute was lame, especially since the more dangerous hollows are meant to look human and Allon already filled the scary monster role. I'd have so that Yammy got smaller when he releases whilst his power expands and he enters a state of perpetual tranquil fury. His design would likely be based on Asura who are wrathful, fighting demons.

My problem with Wonderweiss is that Aizen had his anti-Yamamoto tool in the form of a living creature which doesn't have a lot of benefits to it. It'd make more sense to me if he created an actual device which could steal Ryuujin Jakka's flame though, as Omega pointed out, being able to completely seal away the flames was OTT. Stealing any existing flames and then turning it against SS would make for a more interesting idea, though there'd be a limit on how much it absorbs i.e. mostly ineffective on Yamamoto's bankai.

Not sure what to do with Wonderweiss in that case. Probably make it so the loss of intelligence provided a different ability or it was replaced specific knowledge about combat and each of the shinigami.

EDIT: It'd be cool if Ishida, Chad and Orihime did something relevant near the end too. Perhaps they could be the ones to lay the finisher on Barragan. Ishida prepares the arrow, Chad adds in some raw power and Orihime uses her spiritual power to give it rejection powers. Ishida takes the shot and it flies straight through Barragan's Respira and time fuckery for a headshot.

 

[shinzero01]

Revise the Arrancar Arc eh. Time to type without really thinking things through.

Make it a real war. Have Aizen drag Orihime to Karakura with him once Stark takes her. Making the Yammy and Ulquiorra fights happen in the Fake Karakura. With everyone fighting on the same battlefield, that forces fights to mix up well.

Soi Fon vs Stark, with her having to pull out her Bankai to deal with the wolves all at once after he keeps her from instakilling Yammy the easy target.
Kenpachi vs Allon and Yammy combo
Ulquiorra and Harribel vs Byakuya and Hitsugaya.
Gin vs Kyoraku where nothing actually happens other than a lot of sword clashing and talking.
Tousen would go largely the same for character development.
Ishida and the Vizard busy with Wonderweiss' Menos reinforcements, a ton of Arrancar and Barragan,
Aizen vs Yamamoto and Ichigo. -Mainly Ichigo getting in the way until Wonderweiss shows up.
Ichigo fighting Wonderweiss, preventing the Yamamoto counter.
Aizen 'killing' Ichigo after using an unconscious Orihime as a shield and Yamamoto literally not being able to see her.
Oh shit everyone's sad moment while Aizen gloats.
Full Hollow Ichigo instakilling Wonderweiss.
Full Hollow Ichigo going nuts on Yamamoto, Aizen, and everyone that gets in its way.
Wonderweiss killed by Ichigo.
Hitsugaya losing to Ulquiorra's second form but getting saved by Kenpachi.
Kenpachi arriving after killing both Yammy and Allon and roughing up the Fraccion.
Angry Harribel vs Kenpachi - ending with Harribel retreating once Fraccion start showing signs of life
Byakuya vs Ulqiuiorra - ending with Ulquiorra dead via surprise Soi Fon.
Omaeda getting killed protecting Soi Fon from a surprise wolf from Stark immediately after.
Soi Fon vs Stark ending with Stark 'dead' via Barragan being an asshole with AoE.
Lillynette getting thrown aside to be picked up in another arc by someone.
Barragan killed by Kyouraku after intentionally killing a weakened Stark for being stronger than him.
Urahara, Isshin and Yoruichi vs Hollow Ichigo while Yamamoto and Aizen keep fighting.
Aizen nearly defeated by Yamamoto only to get stabbed in the heart by Gin.
Hyougoku intervening. Some BS transformation for Aizen. Gin blasted into a skyscraper or something.
Yamamoto defeated via Aizen that won't die but still can use illusions and his skills.
Stuff happens. Ichigo comes back to himself.
Orihime wakes up.
Ishida learns that his arrows can cause direct damage to Hyougoku that force it to heal itself instead of Aizen.
Everyone else gets on the 'lets damage the orb and then maim Aizen while it fixes itself' bandwagon.
Hyougoku eventually neutralized and then destroyed via Orihime.
Aizen still being a dick.
Aizen defeated after desperately showing Ichigo his shikai and finding out the hard way that illusions don't work on Ichigo because Zangetsu has sunglasses. Takes a Getsuga to the chest, tries to deflect but also gets a chestful of rapidly extending sword followed by a face full of hateful flames

Smaller skirmishes would be happening while everything else was. Namely various Fraccion vs Vice Captains.

Keigo finds a semi-conscious pistol-Lillynette while walking down the street one day.

 

[Knyght]

The image of Keigo inheriting Stark's powers interests and amuses me. I could imagine the same happening with the other humans; Tatsuki and Grimmjow, Chizuru and Halibel, Mizuiro and Barragan (though his power's broken, so perhaps not).

On-topic: I wouldn't mind changing the reason Ichigo and co. travel to Hueco Mundo in the first place so it isn't a rendition of the Soul Society. Either than Aizen does something to deliberately provoke Ichigo into coming like attacking his friends and family, or going on a mission to retrieve/destroy the Hogyoku before (they believe) it can be used, if not a combination of the two.

The end of the arc would result in either Aizen simply being killed by Ichigo or Ichigo destroying his spiritual powers before Yamamoto sends his ass to hell.

 

[Dunstan]

I'd make it so that Ichigo's power doesn't bounce around like an insane bunny rabbet. :rant:


Particularly he's speed. :sisi:

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

With the match-ups I planned up there, I tried to find a good balance of power to keep things nice and sensible. None of this Hitsugaya versus Hallibel crap. He's probably the weakest Captain, what the fuck is he doing facing against the third/fourth strongest Espada?

Although, I wholeheartedly agree with the Hogyoku. Literally every development that happened with it from the Fake Karakura Town onward was utter garbage. Every god damn thing.

I'd have agreed beforehand when Pat was used as a benchmark for her (As no matter how you argue it, his R1 form is inarguable weaker than her and it was that state that utterly wrecked Ichigo, with an attack ALL espada know no less) but now I just rectify that by saying HM Ichigo was garbage, weaker than the majority of the bloody captains. Which given his general performance against Gin and Yammi, and the fact that ORIHIME reacted to and blocked something he couldn't in bankai makes logistic sense.

Really the only thing bullshit about that fight was the Ice Cicada, everything else was sensible given his skillset or directly foreshadowed before. It even had decent strategy playing into it, in Hitsugaya pretty much completely avoiding CQC because he knew he'd be destroyed if he tried that crap.

Hell it might have even been almost enjoyable if it wasn't bloody boring and just a bunch of back and forth. The anime had it right, in that it used the positioning of other people (Read Hinamori and Matsumoto) to force Hitsugaya to take an attack directly and showcase some actual goddamn struggle. Which actually plays into the battle spillover I was talking about so there's that too.


Anyway agree with the home team being relevant, I kinda went into it with an assumption that everything before FKT stayed mostly the same (Which given the general wretchedness of Pat vs Ichigo is probably a bad idea), but yeah, them coming in to play a role would be epic.

Presuming we don't change anything about their general skill levels (While I'd prefer to have them grow into straight up captain levels and defeat espada's themselves in not bullshit ways like Rukia, given the gap shown trying to achieve this, particularly in FKT is probably fruitless), having a teamup to save the utterly wrecked VC and defeat Allon might be the most interesting to do with them, unless we want to bring in more Privaron of a higher level than the ones before to shake things up. So long as it's not that spider chick they probably don't have too much of a gap to worry about (Though admittedly she wouldn't have learned Mugetsu yet so that's one load off the mind).


While I'm at fixing utterly wasted plot points, could we get back to whatever the hell Aizen did to Orihime please? That was one of the major points of intrigue throughout the entire arc, major plot bombs dropped by both Pat and Grimmjaw, and nothing came of it and everything went Honky Dorry with her, bar the Ichinator hiccup that may or may not have been her fault.

Christ, I though Aizen corrupted her with the orb and he'd then force her to turn on the team or something. Forcing the buddies to fight her and stop her from resurrecting the already defeated arrancar might be another interesting way to spin this. If something had actually properly been done with this plot point, I'd actually say it was worth the re-rendition of the save the chick arc.

 

[Vexarian]

Hm...

I actually forgot completely about that plot point...

That could be interesting to use I suppose? Easiest would be if Aizen simply gave Orihime an inner Hollow, turning her into some sort of quasi-Vaizard/Arrancar thing as a result. Drop some hints through the preceding arc and cash it in during the Fake Karakura Town arc.

Possibly have Ichigo fighting Aizen and winning and Aizen decides to 'Activate' Orihime and force her to fight Ichigo. Then either taunts Ichigo or uses the distraction to escape to where-ever for whatever plans he happens to have.

Perhaps at some point in my rendition, Orihime should undergo Hollowification into some sort of quasi-Vaizard/Arrancar as a result of Aizen's dickery? Ma

 

[Knyght]

The only thing I'd change about Rukia's fight (assuming I ignore my earlier idea) would be the intention behind the finishing blow. In canon, Rukia basically just gave up before getting her fight back and going for the shot which was pretty lame. My version would have Rukia pretending to give up the fight to deliberately get close to Fake Kaien's main body since acting's one of her characteristics. She knows she can't fight against 33K hollow powers and takes a gamble to get her close, taking advantage of his arrogance and over-reliance on past memories. She pull it off but takes a near-lethal blow, ending in her victory but leaving her incapacitated.

Grimmjow needs to do something though I've no idea what. Maybe he fights on Ichigo's side, maybe he gets eaten by Yammy or maybe he finds Ulquiorra's battered body and they wonder what to do next. TBH, I'm not sure what to do with him but having him totally ignored was annoying.

On the Orihime subject, let's not forgot that she originally resolved to destroy the Hogyoku after Aizen showed it to her. I don't think she even thought about it at any point after said scene.

This time around, she takes an active role and willingly leaves her confinement to find it. Sneaks about for a while before she comes across the bitchy pair of Loly and Menoly, except this time she's on a mission and doesn't have time to waste. she fights, demonstrating the skills she developed with Rukia, and ends up beating them both. If you wanna go for a real "oh shit" moment, Orihime kills them before bringing them back to life and tells them not to bother her again.

Then she reaches the Hogyoku room and starts to reject it. Problem is, Aizen planned this out; he knews what she would and had set a trap with the Hogyoku keyed to her reiatsu from the earlier visit. The Hogyoku activates and the next thing Orihime knows, she's waking up in the same spot and the orb is gone. Not knowing what else to do, she's heads to her friends.

Fast forward past various references to something having been done to Orihime. Then Aizen activates either before leaving for FKT or during that arc, forcing her to use his abilities for his sake in various ways, perhaps even having her kill one of the good guys (I'm thinking Rukia). Protag group tries to bring her, fails, Ichigo kills her to both stop her and save her. Cue emotional talk and Orihime brings Rukia back before dying herself. Ichigo, Ishida and Chad are fucking enraged and go on a vengeance quest.

 

[shinzero01]

The only thing I'd change about Rukia's fight (assuming I ignore my earlier idea) would be the intention behind the finishing blow. In canon, Rukia basically just gave up before getting her fight back and going for the shot which was pretty lame. My version would have Rukia pretending to give up the fight to deliberately get close to Fake Kaien's main body since acting's one of her characteristics. She knows she can't fight against 33K hollow powers and takes a gamble to get her close, taking advantage of his arrogance and over-reliance on past memories. She pull it off but takes a near-lethal blow, ending in her victory but leaving her incapacitated.

Grimmjow needs to do something though I've no idea what. Maybe he fights on Ichigo's side, maybe he gets eaten by Yammy or maybe he finds Ulquiorra's battered body and they wonder what to do next. TBH, I'm not sure what to do with him but having him totally ignored was annoying.

On the Orihime subject, let's not forgot that she originally resolved to destroy the Hogyoku after Aizen showed it to her. I don't think she even thought about it at any point after said scene.

This time around, she takes an active role and willingly leaves her confinement to find it. Sneaks about for a while before she comes across the bitchy pair of Loly and Menoly, except this time she's on a mission and doesn't have time to waste. she fights, demonstrating the skills she developed with Rukia, and ends up beating them both. If you wanna go for a real "oh shit" moment, Orihime kills them before bringing them back to life and tells them not to bother her again.

Then she reaches the Hogyoku room and starts to reject it. Problem is, Aizen planned this out; he knews what she would and had set a trap with the Hogyoku keyed to her reiatsu from the earlier visit. The Hogyoku activates and the next thing Orihime knows, she's waking up in the same spot and the orb is gone. Not knowing what else to do, she's heads to her friends.

Fast forward past various references to something having been done to Orihime. Then Aizen activates either before leaving for FKT or during that arc, forcing her to use his abilities for his sake in various ways, perhaps even having her kill one of the good guys (I'm thinking Rukia). Protag group tries to bring her, fails, Ichigo kills her to both stop her and save her. Cue emotional talk and Orihime brings Rukia back before dying herself. Ichigo, Ishida and Chad are fucking enraged and go on a vengeance quest.

Only thing...

Aizen never actually did anything himself until after implanting the orb in himself. Before that, everyone else did things for him while he trolled hardcore. Once he got the orb inside him,Thenhe started randomly killing his own allies. Then the cocoon transformation happened and he seemingly forgot he even had a zanpakuto, instead using it like a regular sword.

I really think the orb had detrimental effects on him which caused his plans to go awry. One thing he didn't really take into account is that Urahara somehow made the thing (by accident?) and no one really knew what it did.

I would have loved it to turn out that Aizen's long-winded explanation of things turned out to be wrong because he just assumed he knew what the orb did.

 

[Vexarian]

Grimmjow needs to do something though I've no idea what. Maybe he fights on Ichigo's side, maybe he gets eaten by Yammy or maybe he finds Ulquiorra's battered body and they wonder what to do next. TBH, I'm not sure what to do with him but having him totally ignored was annoying.

I was actually considering exactly this during my big opening post, but I never had anywhere to put it.

I was thinking if at some point things get really dire then some of the other Espada could arrive, healed and ready to fight for Ichigo. Grimmjow being among them of course.

 

[seitora]

So while everybody else has offered their own ideas and elements, I would question what Gin and Nel would be doing.

Now, Nel as in Vex's original posts would go to the fake Karakura Town. What about Pesche and Dondohakka and Bawabawa? The first two were originally Arrancar themselves, probably at the Adjuchas level. With their masks restored, they would probably be nothing more than fodder against most of Aizen's forces, but could reasonably stall Halibel's fraccion. Something I thought about while writing this as well is Nel's healing saliva - it would be interesting for her to use it at least once in Karakura Town, for some Shinigami to see that a Hollow has healing powers of a type.

I assume Gin in your revision would still be plotting against Aizen, though where he would get a chance to pull off a betrayal is a lot more narrow while they are still in the fray. Perhaps while after Aizen has emerged from his cocoon and starts talking again Gin grabs his sword and then activates his Bankai ability? Aizen would still recover and off Gin, but it would be made clear to the rest of the fighters Gin had been plotting against Aizen for a long time (by hiding his true Bankai ability), and his recovery from Gin's attack would temporarily weaken him.

Also I approve of whoever left Lilynette alive to show up later on

 

[daniel_gudman]

The fix I would make would be even more fundamental:

Given Aizen more plan.

More plotting, more schemes, more layers of plans within plans.

The culmination would be this:

The original Hyogoku, the Crystallized Plot Armor, where did it go, the first one? That was sealed in a gigai by Kisuke preseries?

That gigai, was Isshin. It was Ichigo's dad.

That's the real reason why Ichigo's power-level fluctuated like mad, that's why he got absurdly quick power-ups whenever he needed them, but always got his butt kicked when it wasn't important; because his dad loved him and wanted him to succeed, and the reality-warping power of the Hyogoku synchronized with that wish. (This also sets up Karin and Yuzu as stealth bonus heros).

And Ichigo's friends got spill-over, they got contaminated with that warping thing. They're unique humans because they were stained with Isshin's wish, that his son and his friends succeed at life.

Aizen wants that. Becoming a Vizored is ultimately limited but it looks like that isn't.

So Aizen has been watching that, has been experimenting with it; he's the one that manipulated Grandfisher into killing Ichigo's mom, to stimulate suffering and ability growth. He's the one that killed the presumptive love interest's older brother and interfered with Soul Burial to guarantee hollowfication. (He even tried to kill Tatsuki with a car accident, but she's gorilla tough, so it only broke her arm.) Like 80% of their suffering was Aizen secretly fucking with them. When the powers of the humans emerged, he quietly, smugly, started collecting data, and he saw someone rolled a critical success on the "develop wild talent" roll and he smiled like the Grinch.

His objective isn't a war with Soul Society. That's just the cover, the surface layer deception. Even developing a Hollow power or whatever would be deception.

His objective to rip out Orihime's "retcon reality" special ability, and add it to his bankai and create an illusion that can literally replace reality with his imagination. And he'll do it after whamming Ichigo with a Heroic Blue Screen of Death with the "Isshin's Hyougoku won all your battles for you" thing, for the extra layer of troll.

Then we start up the third big story arc, which is Aizen trolling around with everyone while he practices his new powers, until he gets comfortable enough to really try that "turn himself into a god" thing.

Then in the next story arc the gods, like Thor or whatever, show up.

Anyway

tl;dr

If I was gonna fix the Arrancar Arc I'd give Aizen a wicked-cool plan inside a nefarious scheme inside a cheesy villainous plot.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Aizen had plan that arc, the problem was it was retarded, overcomplicated, and made no damn sense. And then he acted like a moron and completely screwed himself over with it.

Granted however I get your point, the twists we got were ultimately lame and moronic cookie cutter designs while a twist like you're designing holds a lot more promise because it's considerably less expected and plays into stuff we already know.

I'd argue that it still wouldn't be significantly better, but if we went down that route again it would certainly be a start. :mellow:

 

[Knyght]

I'd be cool with it if you took away the fact that it's the Hogyoku fault. Aizen making incorrect assumptions about the orb being a wish-giver is my headcanon.

Instead of the orb, I'd use the fact that Aizen realises that humans have limitless potential unlike pure souls. He uses Ichigo, a human shinigami, as his main experiment and sets up events for his growth and the contimination of his friends who developed powers they wouldn't have otherwise. Which Aizen then takes for himself once they've reached a certain point.

Though I'm not a fan of the "I'm the reason behind everything in your life" idea that much anyway.

 

[Knyght]

Okay, here's my version of everything post-Soul Society in full.

Cold War Arc

Most of stuff in the initial Arrancar arc remains mostly the same but with more social interactions, humour, filler-ish content and development intermixed between the fighting. Ichigo would do some regular training with Urahara and Yoruichi. The fact that his bankai would be addressed by telling the reader that Ichigo has to avoid going at his highest speed unless absolutely necessary since it would render him incredibly weak afterwards. His training would be to increase his tolerance for the compressed power (which would be the equivalent of other shinigamiÆs learning to handle the form and power of their bankai). This would mean that the reader isnÆt left to guess whatÆs going on. WeÆd also see hints of the Hollow making its appearance though it wouldnÆt have a proper re-introduction until Yammy and Ulquiorra shows up.

Instead of Ikkaku and Yumichika, Soifon is a part of the group. This is because a) the first two annoy me in different ways and the latter was useless B) SoifonÆs ideal for scouting the enemyÆs abilities given her occupation and c) she provides a link with UraharaÆs group and would be willing to keep an eye on the humans. Omaeda stays behind to take care of the division and because I donÆt like him either.

We finally reach the point where Ichigo prepares to train with the Vizards which goes as before. But after he gets a grip on the Hollow, we start to learn more about the Vizards. First a greater insight into their relationship and then Ichigo learns about their history, kick-starting the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc. That way Ichigo has an actual connection with these people and the flashback doesnÆt take place in the middle of the action.

Hueco Mundo Arc

Everyone trains, OrihimeÆs kidnapped, the Shinigami return to SS and the humans head to Hueco Mundo. Meet with Hollows, Rukia/Renji catch up and they break into Las Noches. If we knew more about Ashido IÆd include him too as well as a trip to the Forest of Menos but itÆs difficult without knowing what heÆs actually capable of.

The 5MB reach the crossroads and Ichigo ignores the ôdivide and loseö idea. He uses his spirit thread sensing to get an approximate location on Orihime and they move together. At the end of the road they meet up with five members of the Privaron Espada and start a fight. ItÆs a mixed bag at first but they eventually separate into individual fights and the 5MB win the day.

SzayelÆs watching the fighting and messing with the floor controls to keep them separate so they donÆt all manage to meet up again. Rukia and Renji, Chad and Ishida, Ichigo and Nel take their own paths. Pesche and Dondochakka end up getting lost together in some random place.

Rukia and Renji meet up with the Faker. Renji gets badly wounded by a sneak attack and the fight ends up mainly between Rukia and the arrancar. It goes down same as before until Faker releases and she releases that theyÆre screwed because 33Æ000 hollows is a bit too much for them. So she brings out her acting skills and pretends to give up the fight out of guilt, allowing herself to be gutted. FakerÆs arrogance and overreliance of his stolen memories prove to be his undoing as he takes an ice sword to the tank.

Rukai patches up Renji who gives her some reiatsu in return so she can patch herself up. Then they plough on ahead.

Chad and Ishida take on the black guy. HeÆs faster than both of them so they work together to limit his movements until he releases. Ishida uses his spirit threads to override the control and discovers that shooting out the used eyeballs removes their sovereignty. Pissed off at being controlled, Chad goes for the kill with a simultaneous La Muerte and El Directo.

After suffering numerous traps and ambushes, Rukia and Renji get the drop on Szayel and have a fight with him. This doesnÆt work out too well though Pesche and Dondochakka drop in to help out.

Between all this, weÆve got OrihimeÆs side of things. SheÆs resolved to destroy the Hogyoku after Aizen showed it to her and leaves her confinement to go after it. SheÆs confronted by Loly and Menoly on the way and fights them both, demonstrating her recent training by kills them both in their released state (not easily but she does it). She then brings them back to life and tells them to stay out of the way. They piss themselves and run.

Orihime finally reaches the Hogyoku and starts to reject it. However, thanks to Aizen setting a trap and keying it into her reiatsu, it activates instead. Orihime falls unconscious where something is done to her and when she wakes up sheÆs alone and the Hogyoku is gone. Not knowing what else to do, she heads towards her friends and gets picked up by Grimmjow.

IchigoÆs route is the same. Wearied from his earlier fight and mask usage, he fights Ulquiorra and gets his ass murdered. Grimmjow and Orihime arrives, heals him and Ichigo gives in to his instincts to go perma-mask. They fight, Ichigo wins and GrimmjowÆs left alive but beaten. Ichigo, Orihime and Nel head towards where there friends are.

Chad and Ishida had also joined up with Renji and Rukia at some point. But what the Ichigo sees upon arrive is most of friends battered and bruised with a triumphant Nnoitra and Szayel standing other them (though the latterÆs taken some injuries). A fight breaks out but Ichigo had been more focused on getting back than having Orihime heal him so heÆs already exhausted. After kicking his ass, Nnoitra sees Nel and goes for the attack. Pesche and Dondochakka, who had gone into hiding at some point, move into defend her but end up failing heroically and even get killed. That, along with Ichigo trying to protect her too, causes her to return to her original form and fight Nnoitra.

The fightÆs more brutal than canon with both of them releasing but Nel ends up reverting. Cue shinigami reinforcements. Kenpachi fights Nnoitra and at some point, thinking KenpachiÆs down for the count, Nnoitra attacks the badmouthing Yachiru. Kenpachi returns and uses some kendo but Nnoitra ends up feeding on his and SzayelÆs fraccion for healing and power boost. KenpachiÆs on the ropes and thatÆs when he goes shikai and utterly rapes the arrancar.

Mayuri faces off against Szayel and actually struggles due to the arrancarÆs own tricks that he gets set up but it ends up with MayuriÆs win. HitsugayaÆs here instead of Byakuya, purely to avoid that dull fight with Halibel, and he fights against the five Privaron from before who got modified by SzayelÆs experiments and he pulls in a win by going all out. Unohana just chills and heals everybody back to full strength.

Aizen, whoÆd just been enjoying the show, heads off to FKT after making all his preparations. HeÆs finished with the Hogyoku and either keeps it on hand to stop anyone else from having it or he leaves it in HM and leaves it to self-destruct or something. Before running off the human world, he basically summons hollows of every kind to come to Las Noches and destroy everything (or uses that Menos-maker Hollow) whilst locking the dimension shut.

Ulquiorra breaks free of the Caja Negacion and challenges Ichigo. Ichigo, now at 100%, goes off to confront him whilst leaving everyone else to find a way out and/or destroy all the incoming hollows.

Fake Karakura Town Arc

IÆll mostly stick to the highlights for this bit.

Aizen and his army arrive where the shinigami are ready and waiting. The pillars are being protected by a lieutenant/seated officer each and a group of kido corps members who are maintaining barriers.

A healing station has been set up on SSÆs side, perhaps waiting outside the main barrier.

Yamamoto moves in immediately and seals himself off with Aizen and a different dimension. They have an off-screen fight where Yamamoto goes bankai and Aizen whips out his flame-stealing tool to even the odds between them.

The fraccion and other hollows charge for the pillars whilst everyone who isnÆt a captain moves against them. Various fights ensue. Captains face off against the Espada.

After losing and getting reprimanded, Ikkaku goes bankai to fight against Allon. He fights and tears it apart and likely gets broken in the process. Allon tries to pull itself back together and carry on fighting but Yumichika moves in to drain it dry.

Omaeda sacrifices himself at some point to protect Soifon and give her a shot against one of the enemies.

Wonderweiss turns up after getting lost and its revealed that his lack of intelligence, reasoning and speech was because it had been sacrificed to turn him into a fighting genius.

Gin fights Soifon and Tosen fights Komamura.

Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai and Isshin finally arrive as SS starts failing.

Endgame Arc

Ichigo faces off against Ulquiorra. HeÆs fully aware he needs to break out all the stops and doesnÆt hold back at all in bankai which starts to overwhelm Ulquiorra. They reach the top of the dome where the arrancar releases and the human hollowfies. This is where Ichigo starts bringing out some hollow powers for the first time such as cero and healing and the fights intense until Ulquiorra releases again.

A curb-stomp ensures and Hichigo finally makes his come back. IchigoÆs body goes on auto-pilot and they end up heading back into Las Noches at some point. IchigoÆs mind ends up fighting Hichigo again, desperate to get back outside but with no way out. At some point, he realises the pointlessness of fighting Hichigo given what he represents and deliberately takes the blow. This opens up IchigoÆs path to victory and he calls Hichigo by his name and comes back to reality. In view of everyone, Ichigo takes full control of his Resureccion form and finishes the fight with Ulquiorra himself (in contrast to him rejecting the hollow during the Byakua fight).

If the HogyokuÆs around, Orihime finally destroys it before fixing NelÆs mask to set up an escape. Neliel opens a garganta and she along with humans travel the Karakura but the shinigami are prevented from following when the portal shuts unexpectedly. Yammy makes his appearance, reveals his status as the Zero Espada, and performs his Resurreccion into a human-sized Asura and proceed to ruin the CaptainsÆ day. This turns into a battle where only Unohana remains standing until the Vizard make their entrance and team up on Yammy.

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra donÆt get involved, choosing to neither help nor hinder the shinigami or Yammy.

The hero team arrive in FKT though Yamamoto and Aizen are still out of the picture. Ichigo goes to face Gin whoÆs got his own hollowfication, Neliel, Renji and Rukia face Halibel whilst Ishida, Orihime and Chad attack Barragan. The last group do a literal combination attack to headshot Barragan to finally take the HAXbastard out of the picture. Stark gets half-killed, leaving his power to Lilynette since his body took too much damage whilst Halibel is completely incapacitated.

Things are looking up until the sub dimension shatters and Aizen arrives. YamamotoÆs defeated, either dead or lost his power, but AizenÆs looks near dead himself so no-oneÆs worried. At least until Aizen uses the power he stole from Yamamoto to unleash to destruction on the good guys and activates the final trump card i.e. Orihime.

Orihime cuts down everyone around her, a mask taking over her face and proceeds to restore Aizen to full strength. Using her as a shield, Aizen forces her to fight against IchigoÆs crew whilst he takes on everyone else. A terrible battle ensues where they fail to snap Orihime out of her control until she ends up killing Rukia. Realising what he needs to do, Ichigo goes for the kill and takes her down. A scene similar to KaienÆs death occurs and Orihime uses the last of her strength to revive Rukia before dying.

Ishida activates a natural form of Letzt Stil which is only possible after losing and re-acquiring Quincy powers. Chad dons a full set of armour. IchigoÆs shinigami and hollow powers unite (or he just does a Resurrecci¾n).

Most of the SS side has been taken out. When Aizen prepares to fight against the three humans, Gin takes his shot and manages to give him a severe wound. His Hollowification prevents him from being killed but it gives the human a damn good opening.

The final battle begins. ItÆs epic. Ichigo wins. When AizenÆs defeated, the gates of hell appear and drag him down for a fate worse than death. The Vizards are triumphant on their side and everyone from HM enters the human world.

After being called by SS, the humans return to their regular lives. They grieve for Orihime but due to something e.g. wise words from one of the shinigami about death, seeing a faint ghost of a smiling Orihime at her grave, they donÆt wallow in it. They recognise that life goes on. And it does.

FIN

Anything after that would likely involve Hell and would only be slightly influence by the non-canonical movie.

It's ironic that I've been wondering how to do the post-Soul Society stuff for my own story idea but I ended up doing most of the work for this. ^_^

 

[daniel_gudman]

Instead of the orb, I'd use the fact that Aizen realises that humans have limitless potential unlike pure souls.

The problem with this is, the Quincy didn't ROFLSTOMP the shit out of Soul Society.

That means there had to be something very special happening to allow some Teenagers With Attitude to, in three months, surpass people who had a lifetime of training and generations of heritage, and were still wiped out.

 

[Knyght]

Got me there. I could swear I had a reason for that but, if I did, I can't remember what it was.

 

[shinzero01]

Got me there. I could swear I had a reason for that but, if I did, I can't remember what it was.

Quincy techniques going against the natural order of things and not following the normal routes of power?

 

[Knyght]

It's plausible. Instead of focusing using an internal fighting style which manifest their natural abilities, they steal from the surrounding environment and weaponise it. It provides them with an effective and versatile fighting style which can be learnt by many but it ultimately stunts their potential growth.

Which sort of makes me interested in the idea of Ishida manifesting a natural ability like Chad and Orihime after losing his quincy powers.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Plus there's the whole Quincy final form, which does Roflstomp Shinigami anyway. Granted at the cost of their powers, but that's still pretty damn impressive for a scrub like Ishida.

 

[seitora]

Ryuken could probably ROFLSTOMP most Shinigami anyways without losing his powers. That's why I wanted him to show up in Arrancar arc as well, on the basis that the destruction of Karakura Town would cost him his business anyways.

 

[zeebee1]

He probably would have shown up if his son was actually in the fake realm, or if he hadn't put to sleep with the other humans.

 

[Knyght]

Now I'm imaging Ryuuken waiting outside the barrier for his son so he can pull of a dramatic entrace. Even after Isshin gets his chance, he keeps expecting Ishida to show up for the finale.

Never happens.