Chapter Text
Ichigo swore that he was going to kill that damn bastard.
Urahara promised that his latest experiment with would be perfectly safe, and that it would make it easier to visit the Soul Society and back without needing the Senkaimon. But of course, things went wrong. Horribly, horrifically wrong. At least Ichigo could take solace in the fact Kurotsuchi would never let Kisuke live this down.
When the scruffy scientist approached Ichigo with a potential way to travel to the Soul Society and back often, he was conflicted. Being able to bypass the need to enter a garganta or the Dangai would make dropping by easier, even if it may skirt the laws of the Soul Society. Ichigo wasn’t going to lie and say that didn’t sound enticing. He didn’t miss the war by any means, but he couldn’t deny that he missed the constant camaraderie from the people who surrounded him.
Rukia and Renji had been busy for obvious reasons. With the now captain-less thirteenth division sorely missing Ukitake, Rukia had been forced to step up and fulfill his duties. Already used to helping Ukitake when his eternally failing health hindered him, she adjusted to the new responsibilities fairly quickly. While she still wasn’t “officially” a captain, it was only a matter of time. The two lieutenants already had enough on their plates between their roles within the Gotei Thirteen and their recent marriage, so their visits to the world of the living understandably dwindled.
Uryu had buried himself into his degree in the years since Yhwach was defeated. While his feelings on following in his father’s footsteps had already begun to change, Ichigo knew that his cousin (and Soul King wasn’t that still weird to think) still had some lingering guilt over deceiving his friends to infiltrate the Sternritters. Dedicating himself to saving lives seemed to be his way of “atoning” for the crimes of the Quincies. While Ichigo wasn’t in a place to talk about healthy coping mechanisms, he wished Uryu would allow himself to slow down a little. Nonetheless, his work had paid off and he was on track to enter medical school early.
Chad had started to use his fighting prowess outside of defending Ichigo, slowly making his way into larger boxing circuits. When he wasn’t fighting supernatural beings, Chad’s physical strength was miles ahead of most, proving Ichigo’s faith in his ability to win once more. What Ichigo could tell he was most proud of though was his side job, training kids and teens to defend themselves at the boxing gym he went to. It was his way of carrying his Abuelo’s wish by helping others protect themselves, even when he wasn’t around to do so himself.
Even Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo had followed into their own paths. It wasn’t like they had moved, but time was scarcer than it was in high school. They all still talked semi frequently, by it was getting harder to coordinate their schedules as they grew older.
“Ichigo!” Orihime’s bubbly voice shook Ichigo out of his thoughts.
Now, Ichigo not ashamed of his feelings. Even though they had been dating for over eight months, he still felt his heart pick up a little when talking to Orihime. He already invaded Hueco Mundo for her, and yet he knew that he would do far more if it was required. Luckily between his university studies and her job at the bakery, they both felt fulfilled, if a bit drained. But even though they couldn’t be happier with the way their lives were going, they shared in the fact they both missed being surrounded by their friends.
“Ichigo,” Orihime repeated. “Urahara said they’re waiting for us in the his shop.”
“Let’s go then.” Ichigo’s response was short, yet his smile was carefree and genuine.
It took them only a few minutes to reach Urahara’s home, still looking the same as ever. Ururu and Jinta had yet again grown older and were partway through high school along with Karin and Yuzu. Ichigo was happy his sisters had friends who could relate to the insanity that came with being aware of shinigami and hollows. He knows that he would have gone insane if he couldn’t share anything with the people he was close to. Waving hello to Tessai who was sweeping the floor, Ichigo and Orihime made their way to the physics-defying lower room.
They hadn’t even made it halfway down the staircase before they heard Urahara’s voice call out to them.
“Well, well, well. Took you two long enough.” His words carried mirth with no hints of an accusation.
“Shove a sock in it Kisuke, Orihime had to finish her shift before we came.” Ichigo’s reply was snappy, but it was more out of habit rather than proper annoyance.
“Of course, of course,” Urahara acquiesced. “I’m not the one who’s impatient about this anyways.”
No sooner than he had finished his sentence, another voice followed.
“I’m just saying I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ichigo be early to something.” Renji’s smirk could be heard in his remark.
“You’re acting like you wouldn’t have been late to your own wedding if you didn’t have people keeping you on schedule.”
The two’s banter was a welcome return to the past. Neither would be particularly fast to admit, but they missed the constant arguing during the calmer moments of battle.
“Hi Renji, hi Rukia!” Orihime called to them as she jogged over.
“Good to see you Orihime, I hope your work at the bakery is going well?” Rukia greeted her in kind.
“It is! I finally got promoted to manager so I have a lot more responsibilities, but it’s really nice.”
Ichigo finally walked up to the group, cutting in to the conversation.
“How’s things going with squad thirteen? Are the newbies still complaining about us not taking care of most of their work?”
Rukia sighed. “It’s going well despite the paperwork. Besides, anyone complaining about slightly more hollows is drowned out by the hero worship half my squad has for you.”
“It’s a real mystery why Ichigo of all people got so popular.”
Five sets of eyes turned to see Uryu Ishida walking towards them. The lumbering frame of Chad followed a few steps behind.
“Long time no see Uryu, Chad.” Ichigo waved over his friends. “You all ready to see what hat-and-clogs called us here for? Something that might allow us to see each other more often.”
The crew turned to Urahara who bowed with a flourish.
“Thank you Ichigo. I am proud to present the first use of my brand new, patented dimension transporter that bypasses the Dangai without needing a garganta.” He held up a small device. “This great new invention can fit in your pocket.” He waved with a small flourish. “And best of all, it comes with one of my long range soul pagers that can contact another pager anywhere in any dimension.”
The only response he received was shocked stares.
“Urahara,” Uryu began, “You mean not only you created a new way to travel the three realms, but it can be done through that tiny device?”
“Why of course. It really wasn’t too difficult. Thanks to my work on the Senkaimon and researching the garganta, a lot of the work was already done.”
The looks of disbelief turned to exasperation at the unsubtle brags. They knew it was justified though, a breakthrough of this kind was almost unthinkable.
“Now,” Urahara clapped his hands together. “We’ve done tests on both living and non-living subjects, but we still haven’t started human or soul reaper trials. That’s where you come in. If anyone can test this out without being at risk, it’s all of you.”
Ichigo got a sinking feeling in his stomach. It was logical sure, they were some of the most powerful beings across each subset of people, but something felt wrong. He was interrupted in his thoughts however.
“If I wanted to be used as a guinea pig, I would’ve joined the twelfth.” Renji’s grumbles didn’t stay under his breath.
“If Kurotsuchi came up with this it would have taken another twenty-five years and a few unfortunate soul reapers. Trust me, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. Besides, you six are the least likely to face any negative side effects. The portal is stabilized in part by the user’s reiryoku, something of which all you have in spades. This will also test to make sure most variations of reiatsu won’t destabilize the portal. I would’ve gotten Grimmjow or Nelliel to help out, but they can already rip open gargantas at any time.”
His reasoning was sound, everyone could agree. Combined with the way all of them really did miss seeing each other so often, it was no surprise they would agree to join Urahara in his experiments. The potential for a phone that didn’t cut into call and text limits was another incentive for everyone in the world of the living.
“So, what do you need us to do?” Ichigo’s question made Urahara break into a grin.
“I knew you’d come around.” His glee was palpable. “I’m going to give you one of my prototypes that’s connected to the one I have in my hand. Once you open the portal, I’ll make sure it’s stable before you walk through. Once you’ve crossed to the other side, call my soul pager and I’ll tell you when to come back.”
“Ichigo, are you sure this is a good idea?” Chad had remained silent for most of the conversation, but he now spoke the question on everyone else’s mind.
“Nope, but if I didn’t trust Kisuke’s inventions until now I’d either be dead or powerless.” Ichigo sighed. “Besides, I’ve gone through a lot worse than whatever weird side-effects this could have. We all have.”
Urahara clapped his hands. “Alright then! Let’s get to it.”
That brings Ichigo back to the current moment.
Once Urahara had set up the prototype Ichigo was meant to use, the experiment was on. While Ichigo was separated from everyone else, his friends stood close enough on the off chance something went wrong. Urahara stood further back, monitoring the reiryoku signature of both Ichigo and the prototype. Precautions were taken with very little chance of a catastrophic failure.
Or at least that’s what Ichigo thought. Like everything else in the Substitute Soul Reaper’s life, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
The prototype opened a portal that started out relatively safe. However, as soon as Ichigo took a step forward, it began to almost fracture and began sucking in the air and everything else nearby. It was unexpected enough that he stumbled and almost fell into the rapidly destabilizing rift in space.
“Ichigo!” Orihime exclaimed as she rushed to help her dearest.
Her hair clips shot forward, creating a barrier between Ichigo and the hungry portal. This layer of defense allowed Ichigo to regain his footing. He turned to Orhime, grateful for her help, but his gratitude turned to horror when he noticed that her proximity to the rift seemed to strengthen its goal of roping in everything in the vicinity.
“What the hell is going on Kisuke!?” His yell was almost drowned out by the rushing wind.
A panicked voice called back towards him.
“I don’t know! None of my previous tests saw anything like this!” Urahara scrambled across his various monitoring instruments, trying to figure out what could possibly be causing the disturbance.
The other four in the room hadn’t sat idly by either. Uryu, Rukia, and Renji had rushed forward behind Orihime before they themselves lost their footing. Chad had seen this and quickly grabbed Uryu and Renji, the latter of which had grabbed Rukia, and hastily dug his feet into the group to prevent them from being drawn into the tear.
Orihime wasn’t so lucky.
Having rushed to try to help Ichigo, no one was there to help her when she was yanked towards the maw of the rift. Ichigo, seeing this happen, rushed towards her. In a demonstration of shunpo that would make Yoruichi jealous, he pulled Orihime into his arms and made another step away from the danger.
Maybe it was the portal reacting to the release in energy, or maybe his luck really was just worse than Renji’s. Either way, the failed experiment’s strength spiked, pulling Orihime and Ichigo into its void. Before anyone could say anything, it grew further as soon as the two entered it, pulling the rest of the intended test subjects closer. Chad tried to stabilize everyone, but even his formidable strength was no match for whatever the hell Urahara had made.
“I’m shutting it down. We’ll try to open another rift once we make contact with the Ichigo and Orihime. Hang on tight!” Urahara made a mad grab for the emergency kill switch he installed, but a moment before he could hit it, Chad strength gave out leaving the off balanced people in his grip at the mercy of the rift’s pull.
Not even a moment after the four disappeared into the inky expanse, Urahara slammed his hand onto the kill switch.
But it was too late. The only soul still within the shop’s basement was Kisuke himself.
“Shit.”
Yoruichi, Isshin, and the Visoreds were going to murder him.
Ichigo opened his eyes slowly, spots dancing across his vision. He felt Orihime in his arms and panicked slightly, quickly checking her over for any injuries. Once he was satisfied that she was safe, he carefully set her down on her feet. Ichigo looked up, taking in the potential hostile environment they had been dropped into. As far as he could tell, it almost seemed like they were in a subway terminal. Every sign was still written in the same Japanese he was used to, but the construction almost seemed newer. The screens and even the terminal itself looked more modern than even the most futuristic lines in Tokyo.
However, most of these strange characteristics weren’t noted by either of the orange-haired travelers, as the most notable feature of the terminal took all priority. There was blood, a lot of blood. It covered the majority of the floor in the terminal, framing dozens of disfigured corpses in red.
They were almost certainly in hostile territory.
Ichigo turned to Orihime, confusion and tension evident before he realized that something was off. Now that he wasn’t frantically checking her over, he noticed something strange about Orihime’s appearance. She looked younger than she had since Yhwach’s invasion, the last three and a half years seemingly reversed. Judging by the concerned look on her face, something similar likely happened to him.
What was most worrying however, was how both of their spiritual pressures felt limited. It was as if something or someone had restrained both of them to a lower level than before the Quincy Invasion. This revelation was both horrifying and quick, but as soon as Orihime opened her mouth to speak, both their attentions were grabbed by two figures standing on the other side of the room. They hadn’t noticed them until this point (and wasn’t that a testament to how off-centered they were), but a sentence from the half disfigured man echoed through the eerily still air.
“So you’re here too.”