Bleach Remake: Act 01-07 (The Hueco Mundo Arc)
I’m actually a little divisive with this.
I wanted to add in a concept of mine that…I guess could be considered a level 4 headcanon according to this post ^^.
Though, to be honest, with how the Bleach story and lore is, I wouldn’t be surprised if some headcanons probably fall into level 4.
Also…this is probably my longest post for the remakes, yet. (6 pages in Google Doc; SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-)
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Entering Hueco Mundo
Virtually the same as canon.
Though…maybe add another guard along with Demoura and Aisslinger for someone Ichigo could fight.
And then, they meet Nel and her brothers before later when Renji and Rukia reunite with the boys to rescue Orihime.
Also, the trek to Las Noches takes about a few days.
The Menos Forest
I honestly like this mini-arc. I’d say this could happen on the second day.
Ashido is still present, but along with a new character, a mysterious and strange-looking Arrancar woman. She was dressed in a dark, flowing and tattered ballerina outfit with a single-horned deer/dragon-like skull mask covering her right eye and the right side of her head. Her left eye is a deep green sclera with a crescent moon shaped pupil, her skin looked gray with a hint of green, and her flat bob hair is a platinum blonde with a deep green underside.
Her name is Grisgri.
Rukia would meet Ashido and try to help him while Ichigo and the rest meet Grisgri on their search for Rukia.
They would be suspicious of Grisgri, especially since her green accents and expressionlessness reminds them of Ulquiorra. However, they figured she wasn’t an Espada or even a Fraccion, as she lacked a Zanpakuto.
At the end of this, Ashido remains in the Menos Forest with Grisgri, the two having formed an alliance.
Before the rescue team leaves the Forest, Grisgri hands Rukia an ornate mirror, considering her trustworthy enough to have use for it. When asked why, Grisgri merely says ‘To return clarity’.
Battle in Las Noches (or a similar location)
Okay. This is where things get screwy for me as I try to figure out how this could go down without the Gotei 13 taking center stage.
The group makes it to Las Noches after about a day and they enter.
They (including Nel and her brothers) initially stuck together, since their goal was to get Orihime and get out, until they got separated into three groups because of Szayelaporro’s meddling.
Both Chad and Rukia face off against Aaronierro and it is here where Rukia accidentally uses the mirror to ‘blind’ Aaronierro and they are able to kill him.
Just like canon, Renji and Uryū face off against Szayelaporro. He does not leave just to change his clothes after he got Sprengered by Uryū and instead, after he gets hurt by Uryū’s attack, goes into his Resurreccion. He does his voodoo crap and it is here that Uryū uses his ability (his Können: Threads of Fate) to reverse his condition onto Szayelaporro once he was able to attach a spirit thread. Not understanding what he did, Szayelaporro would try to break more of Uryū’s bones and organs, only for Uryū’s to redirect the damage onto Szayel. I’m honestly unsure if Szayel would continue to do this, given that it's clear that it’ll bite him in the butt, but considering that he kept trying to kill Mayuri with his voodoo despite it clearly not working shows that, when pissed and confused, Szayel would forgo rational thinking and give in to anger. He does try to kill Uryū by crushing his heart. But, again, this gets reversed.
And in his dying breath, Szayel hints that something has happened to Orihime. Already exhausted from using his ability, Uryū would then use it to ‘take’ Renji’s injuries so he could continue to fight. This causes Uryū to lose consciousness and Renji carries him.
Ichigo winds up fighting Zommari. Ichigo is pretty fast (at least in Bankai) and I can see that once Zommari tries to take control of Ichigo, his Hollow side would start showing up. You know at the end of the fight, Ichigo would be more cautious over what he’ll do.
Chad and Rukia and Renji and Uryū reunite and try to regroup with Ichigo.
At some point, Ichigo would be looking for any place Orihime could be held until he felt Uryū’s reiatsu drop (since Rukia wouldn’t have been gravely wounded by Aaronierro) and attempts to check what happened until Ulquiorra stops him. He tells him the same thing to rile up Ichigo and stabs him in the chest.
He would come to later, his injury healed. Nel only told him that ‘some lady’ did it. Believing it to be Orihime, Ichigo tries to continue his search, but would be stopped by Grimmjow.
The fights with Grimmjow and Nnoitra would still happen because of their importance to Ichigo and Nel’s story.
With Rukia keeping an eye on the still unconscious Uryū and injured Nel, Chad and Renji would help Ichigo against Nnoitra and Tesla.
And, honestly, I couldn’t think how anyone could beat Nnoitra except Kenpachi. So, at this point, Kenpachi and Byakuya were sent mostly to get the group out, regardless if they had managed to save Orihime or not. Byakuya makes quick work of Tesla and, of course, Kenpachi fights Nnoitra.
During the fight, a mysterious Arrancar(?) girl in a cloak appears and takes Ichigo up to a tall tower. Rukia would follow behind while Byakuya uses kaido (since, I can imagine most captains can use kaido; the only one who doesn’t would be Kenpachi) on the others.
(Note: I totally forgot about Rudbornne and the Exequias XD. So, I guess Kenpachi and Byakuya will be busy with them for a while.)
Ichigo wakes to realize that he’s being healed under Orihime’s Shun Shun Rikka.
After all of this, he sees Orihime. And she is wearing an Arrancar mask.
Twisted Princess
And this is where things get interesting.
A lot of people felt that Orihime should’ve been made into an Arrancar or something due to the line that hinted that something about her has changed. Me, I never thought of it that way, only that it was an odd line to say.
Buuuuuuuut…I liked what I was able to cook up.
So, things are relatively still the same (with some slight differences), until Orihime makes her declaration that she would reject the Hogyoku out of existence. Now, this was where I was disappointed that nothing came of it. Here, she will act upon it, to show that she is capable and that she can help Ichigo.
I’d still want Loly and Menoly to be part of this, due to what will happen later as I think Loly was meant to be a reflection of Orihime.
So, for the next couple of days, Orihime actually tries to figure out how to get to the room the Hogyoku was in. By some luck, Ulquiorra gets called away to deal with something and Orihime uses this opportunity to get out and retrace her steps back to the room where the Hogyoku resided.
And either it’s not there anymore or she was unable to ‘reject’ its existence (at least she tried!).
Whatever happens, Szayel (obviously, before his fight with Uryū and Renji) is there to take her to his lab for an experiment, requested by Aizen.
I can see that Aizen was fully aware of her love/infatuation/obsession with Ichigo (how? Idk. Maybe he had spies in the form of tiny Hollows or something) and he decided to use that against Orihime and to further fuck with Ichigo.
And that experiment involved a peculiar Arrancar mask that was found (by someone. Don’t know who). It had a strange property that Szayel wanted to study: that it seemed…parasitic. Like it had a life of its own.
And Orihime was his test subject.
The mask was placed on the left side of her face and it slowly (there’s a reason why I wanted the groups’ trek towards Las Noches to take days) started to grow and take over, twisting her personality.
Rukia vs Orihime
It’s not much of a fight, honestly. It’s more of Orihime ‘protecting’ Ichigo from Rukia and acting like an entitled princess or spoiled brat.
Important Note: While the Arrancar mask is the reason she’s acting this way, it only amplifies already existing negative traits she has. It’s amplifying her love/obsession over Ichigo and her jealousy towards Rukia, making both more apparent. Whatever inhibitions she had over her negative feelings, it's gone. Once all this is over, she’s going to hold herself accountable.
Orihime will attack with Tsubaki (who she healed), but Rukia will act defensively and primarily focus on using Bakudo spells, which Orihime blocks.
Orihime would accuse Rukia of ‘stealing’ Ichigo away. She tells her how she didn’t want Ichigo to go to the Soul Society, even tried talking him out of it, in spite of it meaning Rukia’s execution would be successful. She says that she had Ichigo first. She claims Ichigo as hers and always hers.
Orihime would gush how she watched Ichigo fight for her, revealing that she had seen his various fights.
Rukia does conclude that the mask is probably responsible for this behavior and tries to figure out how to remove it and return Orihime to her senses.
And that’s when it hits Rukia to use the mirror, remembering what it did to Aaronierro. She would shine the mirror in Orihime’s face, burning the mask off of her.
With clarity returned to her, Orihime immediately starts crying and apologizing for her actions, showing her regret, remorse, guilt, and accountability.
Rukia could probably assure her that the person she being wasn’t the real her, but Orihime admits to having those feelings and feels like a monster because of it.
Even so, Rukia still hugs her. And Orihime hugs her back, crying her eyes out.
Ichigo vs Ulquiorra, Uryū vs Yammy, Orihime and Rukia vs Loly and Menoly
Yeah. Yeah. Same as canon and I liked the extended fight with Uryū and Yammy in the OG anime.
But the girls…here we go!
So…Loly. Loly, Loly, Loly…
I hated her…yet I like how she is everything Orihime hated about herself. And now that I have this in mind, I wish that their final encounter was Orihime actually standing up for herself.
So, Loly and Menoly are still in the narrative to act as not just a reflection of Orihime (in Loly’s case), but also as a comparison to Orihime and Rukia’s dynamic.
In their first encounter, Loly and Menoly did their usual bitchiness at Orihime until Ulquiorra came in to stop them.
Second encounter, when Orihime is on her way to the throne room. Since it is Aizen’s room, that pisses off Loly and Menoly even more and proceeds to beat her up until Grimmjow comes around and stops them (sorta like he did in canon) as a way to return his debt to Orihime for healing his arm. And, of course, Orihime heals them and leaves for the throne room.
In their third encounter, Orihime has the mask on, but has yet to be completely taken over by it. Loly and Menoly would antagonize her even more and that’s what fully triggers the take over. With her twisted behavior, she puts Loly in her place.
Now, Aizen no longer sees use in Orihime and the mask is gone, Loly and Menoly will confront Orihime one last time. Rukia would protect her and Loly would call her Orihime’s slave, mocking how Orihime is so pampered that she has others fight for her. Unlike Loly.
At some point, Loly and Menoly would go into their Resurreccion (I have no idea what Menoly’s could be).
Tired of Loly’s words, Orihime would help Rukia in the fight. She doesn’t have the will to fight with Tsubaki (considering what she went through), but she would use her shields to protect Loly’s poisonous strikes.
It’s here where Yammy appears and takes Loly and Menoly out and tries to attack Orihime and Rukia until Uryū arrives.
Byakuya and Kenpachi vs Yammy
I know that a lot of people hated Yammy, be it him being the Zero Espada and his overall character. I will say that, in terms of character…I honestly don’t care. Let him be a brute. Also, a lot of people sorta downplay the damage he had done to Kenpachi and Byakuya and among other things.
Here’s a post from reddit that talks about this.
I will say that him being the Zero Espada is…unnecessary. Cuz, if he’s gaining strength from his anger/rage, that and his Resurreccion probably enough. He didn’t need to have a twist.
During Ichigo and Ulquiorra’s fight above Las Noches (or whatever new location), Renji and Chad assist Byakuya and Kenpachi against Rudbornne and his army until Yammy reappears and goes into his Resurreccion.
Byakuya would have Renji and Chad regroup with the others so he and Kenpachi could deal with Yammy.
I will say that the guy should not be defeated offscreen.
More Witnesses, More Trauma
What this means is that Uryū and Orihime would not be the only witnesses to Ulquiorra killing Ichigo and Ichigo’s full Hollow form. Renji, Rukia, and Chad would also be there.
The strategy here would be Rukia guarding Orihime so she try to heal Ichigo while the boys distract Ulquiorra.
Of course, even with Renji and Chad joining the fray…it still does nothing to Ulquiorra and they suffer some major injuries.
All of this would deepen Orihime's guilt.
And then, they'll witness Ichigo going into full Hollow mode and rip into Ulquiorra. And when Ichigo stabs Uryū, Rukia does attempt to use the mirror again, but it does nothing. She still stands her ground to protect Uryū, even as Ichigo charges up a Cero.
And then Ulquiorra stops him and the rest plays out as in canon.
Going Home, Shaken
Everyone returns home, though Byakuya requests Rukia and Renji to stay at Urahara's for the time being.
In fact, no one is up for going to their respective homes at the moment and rather stayed at the candy store to heal up, decompress…and be together.
