Back to Back, a Fight to the Death!

Back to Back, a Fight to the Death! fourteenth is the episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: January 11, 2005
 * English Airdate: December 8, 2006
 * Opening Song: *~Asterisk~
 * Ending Song: Thank You!
 * Manga Chapters: Chapter 45, Chapter 46, Chapter 47, Chapter 48, Chapter 49, Chapter 50.
 * Kanji: 背中合わせの死闘!
 * Romaji: "Senaka awase no shitō!"
 * Arc: Agent of the Shinigami arc

Synopsis
Ishida and Ichigo are in the middle of a contest to see who can defeat the most Hollows. Ichigo has been searching for Ishida, and finally finds him, telling him the the contest is no longer about who can defeat the most Hollows, but a personal fight between just the two of them. That's when Kon (in Ichigo's body) notices a crack in the sky while Ishida comments on how Hollows are gathering there.

Ishida runs off to fight the gathering Hollows, calling himself "The Last Quincy". Rukia explains to a confused Ichigo about the extermination of the Quincys 200 years ago. We see Urahara begin to explain to Rukia about the balance between spirits in the human world and Soul Society. Rukia then relays the rest of the information she learned to Ichigo -- Quincys, unlike Shinigami, don't purify Hollows. They completely destroy them. The destroying of Hollows upsets the balance of spirits. If the Quincy situation had not been destroyed, that imbalance would have been the end of the world. Shinigami were given the nickname "Balancers", or regulators, because they destroyed the Quincy population so they could maintain the spirit balance.

Ichigo, believing this to be Ishida's reason for fighting, goes to consult him about it. Ishida says that that is not his reason for fighting. He fights for his sensei, who died right before his eyes. His sensei wanted to work together with the Shinigami, but was rejected every time he suggested it. He died while fighting five Huge Hollows because the Shinigami didn't show up until it was too late. Ishida fights to prove the strength of the Quincys to the Shinigami.

So, of course, Ichigo kicks him in the head and reminds him that his Sensei's wish wasn't to prove the Quincy's power to the Shinigami, but to combine the two powers together. As they fight the Hollows, Ichigo confides in Ishida that his mother was also killed by a Hollow. Ichigo says that he fights so no one will feel the pain his family felt after his mother's death. They continue fighting, but there seems to be no end to the amount of Hollows. Ishida then notices a giant Hollow coming out of the sky. The smaller Hollows around them begin to charge while Ichigo and Ishida are distracted by the giant Hollow in the sky.

That's when Urahara and his shop employees come in and decide to take care of the "small fry", so Ichigo and Ishida can take care of what Rukia describes as "a gigantic Hollow said to be born when hundreds of Hollows pile atop each other and intermingle" - a Menos Grande. Rukia goes to stop the two from fighting, but Urahara uses a binding spell, saying that the fight is necessary for both Ichigo and Rukia.

When neither Ichigo nor Ishida's attacks work, and Ichigo is thrown back, Ishida grabs Ichigo's zanpakutou to pull him back up. The spirit energy Ichigo is releasing flows through his sword and causes Ishida's bow to grow bigger. Ishida suggests for Kurosaki to "control [his] spirit power and increase it to maximum output". However, Ichigo has no idea what he is talking about, saying that maybe his reiatsu (spirit force) is just always on full blast. Chad and Inoue are watching everything that is going on from a distance.

Meanwhile, the Menos Grande prepares to fire a red ball of energy that Rukia describes as a "Cero", which means zero in Spanish. Ichigo charges the Menos as it fires the Ceros at him. Ishida marvels at Ichigo's reiatsu as Ichigo blocks the attack with his zanpakutou. Ishida realizes that Ichigo's reiatsu, in fact, wasn't on full blast before. Ichigo deflects the Cero, hurting the Menos and sending it back through the crack in the sky. The crack disappears, and Ichigo collapses.

All of Ichigo's spirit energy releases at once. If he doesn't get rid of it, he could possibly die. Ishida steps in to help, standing on Ichigo's zanpakuto, and releasing Kurosaki's reiatsu through his arrows. Ishida apologizes to the memory of his sensei for saving a Shinigami, and we learn that his sensei was also his grandfather.