Water Attack! Escape from the Shutdown Hospital

 is the seventy-second episode of the Bleach anime.

While Uryū Ishida is in the hospital, his friends must fight two Bount who can control water.

Summary
At nighttime in Karakura Hospital, Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado, and 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai stand at the foot of Uryū Ishida's hospital bed while a nurse shows the features and components of the bathroom, as well as the miniature refrigerator, to Uryū. After noting that Uryū's room is currently the only one on the ninth floor that is being used and that the nurses will be on the eighth floor station as a result, the nurse gives Uryū a button to call her with and excuses herself from the room.

Ichigo comments on the accommodations in the room and the convenience of Uryū being the only patient on the ninth floor since it will prevent innocent people from getting hurt should the Bount attack, prompting Uryū to stoically observe that this is likely something his father took into account before revealing that the latter is the owner of the hospital. Surprised by Uryū's family also owning a hospital, Ichigo acknowledges that it is considerably different from the Kurosaki Clinic.

With Rukia instructing Uryū to get some rest since they do not know when the Bount will attack again, Ichigo affirms this and promises they will keep watch, though Uryū claims he cannot rest if Ichigo rushes him like this. Some time later, Renji sits at a table in the waiting room outside with Orihime, Sado, Kon, and the Mod-Souls as he expresses disbelief at the Bount pursuing a Quincy. When Sado wonders why the Bount need a Quincy's power, Kon questions if they should accept this as the truth and raises the possibility of Uryū not being able to tell the difference between his dreams and reality due to his injury, but Ririn notes Yoshino Sōma abducted him for a reason.

Hopping down from the couch she, Kurōdo, and Noba are sitting on and moving to the table, Ririn insults Kon's intelligence for not understanding the situation, and as Kon expresses frustration at this, Ririn claims to have already known of his idiocy before punching Kon in the face when he attempts to insult her in turn, leaving Orihime, Sado, and Renji to sigh in embarrassment. Elsewhere, at a 24-hour convenience store with a few customers browsing the aisles, 4th Division 7th Seat Hanatarō Yamada offers to heat up a customer's meal, which the latter accepts, and watches it rotate after putting it in and activating the microwave behind him.

Hanatarō asserts that the Human World really is as amazing as Rukia described it to be and wonders how the microwave works, only to be startled when the customer impatiently requests that Hanatarō let him pay for his purchase, prompting Hanatarō to apologize as he does so. Suddenly, as the customer leaves with his groceries, a large, burning object falls from the sky and crashes into the ground next to the convenience store, shaking the entire building and knocking items off the shelves while the customers scream in fright. Though initially left swaying by this, Hanatarō recognizes something familiar about the sensation as his manager asks him to look outside.

Unperturbed by the impact, Hanatarō agrees and exits the building through the entrance, where he makes his way through a crowd of people gathered nearby to discover a large crater in the clearing smoke. However, Hanatarō is astonished when Ganju Shiba pushes his way out of the ash in the crater and gasps for air, leading the bystanders to assume he is an alien and flee in terror. With Ganju noting he almost got himself killed, Hanatarō expresses joy at seeing him for the first time since their adventure in Soul Society. Upon confirming this really is Hanatarō, Ganju embraces him and inquires about his presence here as Hanatarō returns the question.

While laughing happily together, Ganju and Hanatarō are alerted by the sound of approaching sirens, which leads Hanatarō to tell Ganju the police are coming and it will be bad if Ganju is found here. After admonishing Hanatarō for not telling him sooner, Ganju lets the former take him somewhere else to hide. Back in the hospital, with the waiting room illuminated only by the displays of the vending machines, Orihime stifles a yawn as she continues to sit with Sado and Renji, who observes nothing is happening, though Sado reminds him it is best if nothing happens. Orihime struggles to keep her eyes open and sinks down in her seat as she admits that she is getting tired.

As the sound of dripping water is heard, Hō criticizes Orihime and her friends as being stupid, prompting Ban to state that it cannot be helped since normal Humans do not have the capacity to learn and have low physical abilities in addition to different lifespans. Admitting that this is true, Hō laments that this will be boring if they do not present a challenge, and when Ban counters that work is not always fun, Hō comments on how unexpectedly philosophical he is today and agrees when Ban concludes that this is the result of living for a long time. Meanwhile, in his room, Uryū sleeps on his side in his bed while Rukia looks over him and Ichigo reads a magazine.

After observing that Uryū is asleep, Rukia turns to Ichigo and stares at him for several seconds before thanking him, to his confusion. When Ichigo asks her what this is about, Rukia notes that she simply felt like saying it as Uryū silently wakes up and opens one of his eyes to look at them. Having been called creepy by Ichigo for this, an irritated Rukia demands to know what he means, leading Ichigo to clarify that it usually feels strange when someone says something like this suddenly. Rukia questions what is wrong with her expressing her feelings, but Ichigo counters that he did not say anything was wrong and that it just felt strange.

Despite this, Rukia insists that Ichigo just said something is wrong with it again as Uryū begins to pull himself further underneath the covers. Though an annoyed Ichigo claims that the meaning is different, Rukia declares that it is the same thing and Ichigo is just an insensitive idiot, resulting in the two of them glaring at each other before stubbornly backing off and looking at the wall on the other side of the room instead. Sitting in silence as water drips from the faucet in the bathroom, Rukia eventually loses her patience and gets up to turn it off, only to find that it keeps dripping and begins to pour water when she turns the knob on top to the right.

Rukia assumes that the faucet is broken and that this hospital is run-down as Ichigo approaches and offers to tighten the knob for her. However, Rukia refuses and asserts that she can do it herself while struggling to prevent Ichigo from reaching the knob, but stops alongside him when they see the water rising to the edge of the sink. With Ichigo frantically instructing Rukia to find something to catch the water in and her grabbing a bottle in response, Renji steps in and places a bucket underneath the spilling water before revealing that he could hear them making a ruckus in the hall outside as Orihime approaches them with a large tub, surprising her friends with its size.

As water begins to drip from the handset in the shower next to them, Ichigo wonders what is going on since the water from the sink clearly is not stopping. Having joined them in the bathroom, Sado bluntly states the sink is broken while Orihime suggests calling a nurse since the floor will soon be flooded at this rate. Suddenly, Orihime hears a strange noise coming from behind the door leading into the shower, and when she pulls it open, more water floods into the room as she and her friends see the shower room is completely flooded, to their disbelief. Responding to Ichigo's inquiry about what is going on by revealing the water cannot be stopped in here either, Orihime sneezes.

While Rukia runs off to get towels, Renji scoffs at the hospital for experiencing such problems despite seeming to be in good condition, prompting an embarrassed Uryū to sit up and demand that he shut up. However, as Ichigo tells Uryū to focus on sleeping instead, the water from the faucet stops pouring into the sink and instead wraps itself around Renji's left wrist, which causes the Mod-Souls in the other room to sit up and shock and realize that a Doll is attacking them, though Kon does not understand what is wrong. The water bursts out of the faucet, shocking Renji, and separates into two large spheres, each containing the cap of Guhl or Günther.

With Guhl hurtling toward Uryū, Rukia runs back into the room and warns him to be careful as Guhl surrounds him with a large amount of water, causing Uryū to begin drowning. Alerted to this by Orihime, Sado runs up to Uryū and attempts to free him from the water with his hands, but his strikes prove ineffectual due to the water simply reforming each time. Cursing, Ichigo uses his Substitute Shinigami Badge to enter his Shinigami form and tells Sado to move back before slashing at the water with his Shikai, Zangetsu, which disperses the liquid, leaving a petrified Uryū to watch as a small portion of his left eyebrow is severed by the attack.

When Günther moves toward Ichigo from behind, Rukia calls out to him, allowing Ichigo to turn around and cut through the sphere of water comprising Günther, which falls to the ground and pulsates as a blob. Looking at Günther, Orihime expresses fright at it still moving, and as Günther begins sliding toward her, Rukia instructs her friends to get out of the room, leading them to run out into the hallway with Sado carrying Uryū on his back. However, even after Renji closes the door, water continues leaking into the hallway from underneath it and around Orihime's foot, which prompts Orihime and Rukia to cover it with a nearby bedsheet in an attempt to absorb it.

From afar, Hō observes that their Dolls surprised Ichigo and his friends as Ban instructs him to show some sympathy since they will die without ever knowing this is his and Hō's work, though Hō asserts that such feelings have already worn away while the water in the sink begins siphoning back into the faucet. Shortly afterward, Ichigo and his friends run down the hallway in search of an exit, but stop in shock when a water fountain in front of them suddenly turns on and begins spraying water into the air. When he sees the cap of Guhl in the sphere of water, Ichigo grips his Zanpakutō alongside Renji and deduces that they are being attacked out here as well.

Several tendrils of water extend from the sphere past a stunned Sado, where they are slashed apart by Renji before the main body of water containing the cap hurtles toward him as well and is also cut through, leaving it to fall to the ground as Orihime wonders if it is a Doll as well. Startled when the water rushes off into the darkness, Orihime questions where it is being controlled from while Renji suggests they keep heading down the stairs. Upon reaching the dark eighth floor with the rest of the group as she clings to Ichigo's head, Ririn warns him the Dolls are coming as Günther emerges from a nearby faucet and Guhl follows the group down the stairs.

While Renji curses at this, Uryū realizes that Guhl and Günther are Dolls made of water, leading him to inform his friends of this as he admits that he does not know where they are being controlled from. Suddenly, Günther pushes six small spheres of water out from its central mass and fires them at Ichigo, who slashes through them with Zangetsu after instructing his friends to head for a location where there is no water. However, as he attempts to run off with Uryū, Sado is engulfed alongside him by the water of Guhl and begins to drown, which prompts Renji to declare that he will split it in two before cutting through the water, which separates into smaller masses.

Though Ichigo briefly celebrates this, Günther flies past him and covers the two of them in water once again, and after Ichigo slashes through this as well, Guhl reforms around Sado and Uryū while they continue to drown. Ichigo continues to attempt to free Sado and Uryū with Zangetsu, but is unable to harm Guhl, leading Orihime to wonder what they should do. With Kon on her shoulder, Rukia deduces the weakness of the Dolls and orders Ichigo and Renji to stand back as she recites the incantation for and fires '''Hadō #31. Shakkahō, blasting away the cap of Guhl''' and dispersing the water to leave Sado and Uryū singed and emitting steam while they catch their breath.

As Rukia proclaims it worked exactly like she thought it would, a stunned Uryū asks Sado if he is alright, though the latter does not respond. Suddenly, the fire alarm begins ringing and lights begin turning on all over the hospital, including the eighth floor, which prompts Ichigo and his friends to run off while the patients on the floor begin milling out into the hallway from their rooms in confusion. Observing this, Hō comments on the group having a Shinigami with them and Ban admits they are proving to be more troublesome than he expected them to be. With the nurses escorting the patients through the building and telling them to stay calm, Ichigo and his friends look at a map.

Orihime observes the water systems of the hospitals seem to be concentrated around the stairs as Renji sees the other patients and nurses are not being attacked by the Dolls, which Uryū notes is due to him being their target. After Sado states they should find another exit, Rukia points to an elevator on the map they can use, which the group begins heading for. While watching this, Hō notes they have taken too much time, which Ban concurs with, and casually affirms that they will deal with it as Ban recalls that they have dealt with this situation many times before. With Hō concluding that they should finish it quickly, another faucet turns on and begins pouring water.

Elsewhere, Ichigo and his friends find themselves at a dead end between the rooms, and as an annoyed Renji comments on them having followed Ichigo's lead to get here, Ichigo angrily demands to know why it is so hard to find their way around this hospital, prompting Uryū to explain that the director followed a strange Feng shui when designing it, though Ichigo counters that they should not be concerned with Feng shui as Quincy. As two more faucets and a shower begin spraying water as well, Ichigo and his friends run down another hallway and eventually enter a section with the lights turned off, where they are confronted by Hō and Ban standing in front of the exit doors.

Shocked by this, Ichigo and his friends stare as Hō drinks from a bottle of water and admits that he is tired, which leads Ban to agree as he admonishes Ichigo and his friends for taking so much time when running around. While a stunned Orihime wonders if these two children are responsible for the attacks, water begins pooling at Hō and Ban's feet, startling Uryū, and Ban asserts that it is just water as Renji curses at their inability to find a location without water. After dropping the caps of their Dolls into the puddle of water, Hō and Ban summons Guhl and Günther, resulting in the two caps rising up in separate tendrils of water in front of them.

With Guhl raising two more tendrils after Hō questions where his greeting is, Rukia asks Ichigo what they should do, which leads him to run away alongside his friends and explain to a critical Ririn that they cannot fight with injured people in their group. Ichigo asks Noba if he could transport Uryū away from here, and though Orihime claims he should be able to, Kurōdo and Noba, who sits inside the former's pouch, reveal Noba can only teleport people about two meters away while in his plushie body, prompting Renji to declare this is useless as he and his friends continue to run around the hospital, eventually discovering the two elevators at the end of a hallway.

While the two water tanks on the roof of the hospital begin creaking, Ichigo presses the down button for the elevator on the right, but is shocked when water begins gushing out of the elevator shaft from between the closed doors, resulting in one of the two water tanks exploding and the doors being forced apart by the torrent as Ichigo and his friends turn around and run back down the hallway. Though Sado is uncertain of where they can run to, Rukia and Renji stop and fire two more '''Hadō #31. Shakkahō''' in unison, evaporating the water approaching them in a large cloud of steam. However, as Renji assumes they were successful, the steam clears to reveal even more water.

The water reforms itself into a large sphere hovering above the ground with a thin tendril as Rukia realizes they will need more firepower. Looking around, Ichigo sees a lighter lying on one of the nearby desks and picks it up to stare at it before grinning as he thinks of a plan. Upon seeing Ichigo leap over the counter to the pharmacy, Orihime wonders what he is going to do, which prompts Ichigo to tell her to wait momentarily as he finds several containers of compressed oxygen lined up against the wall and takes one. After returning to the mass of water, Ichigo grins widely and sparks a flame with the lighter in his right hand while holding the container in his left.

The resulting explosion blows out all the windows on the eighth floor and expels large clouds of steam, leaving the patients on the ground outside to stare upward in astonishment and fright, and Renji admonishes Ichigo for potentially burning someone with the steam while the two express pain at the heat, though Ichigo claims he had no other options available. However, Hō merely observes Ichigo's group uses crude techniques and Ban dismisses the idea of this conflict being over because of how important water is to Humans as several faucets and pumps turn on, causing water to overflow into the hallway and forcing Ichigo's group to run to the elevators.

When he reaches the elevators, Ichigo presses the down button for the elevator on the left and instructs Sado to go ahead of them with Uryū while he takes care of this. Though initially shocked alongside Rukia, upon being urged to hurry by Ichigo, Sado agrees and enters the elevator, which Orihime joins him in as Renji asserts he will be staying behind. With Ichigo requesting she take care of everyone, Rukia enters the elevator with Ririn hopping onto her other shoulder and demands Ichigo and Renji join them later before the elevator doors close, leaving Ichigo and Renji to face the approaching water tendrils as they attack with Zangetsu and '''Hadō #31. Shakkahō'''.

Meanwhile, in the elevator, Orihime holds Kon as he repeatedly bashes the first floor button on the elevator panel, prompting Ririn to remind him that this will not make them get there any faster and criticize his intelligence for this, which Kon takes offense to. Conversely, Kurōdo details how people perform acts that they know are meaningless and that he understands this behavior regardless of its uselessness if it acts as a release before encouraging Kon to continue pushing the button without any reservations, but a deflated Kon merely questions if Kurōdo is trying to make him feel better with this as he lightly taps the button, which Kurōdo enthusiastically confirms.

Back on the eighth floor, Ichigo repeatedly slashes through Guhl with Zangetsu, only to find himself panting heavily in exertion as the Doll simply reforms itself each time despite his efforts. Releasing his Shikai, Zabimaru, Renji extends it through the mass of water controlled by Günther to disperse the latter. However, upon seeing Günther easily reform as well, Renji bemoans how there is no end to this battle while Ichigo sees the elevator approaching the first floor and mentally notes that they only have to hold out for a little while longer. With Orihime expressing concern for him, Ichigo continues fighting the Dolls alongside Renji.

As an exhausted Renji wonders if the others have made it, the elevator reaches the first floor lobby and opens, to the excitement of those within. Noticing the first floor icon having lit up on the panel behind him, Renji observes that their friends made it to safety and questions how they will escape, leading Ichigo to slash through the doors of the other elevator with Zangetsu to create an opening, leaving Renji impressed. After Ichigo leaps down and tells him to follow, Renji turns around and fires one last '''Hadō #31. Shakkahō at Günther''', which dissipates into steam in the resulting explosion, before screaming in fright alongside Ichigo as he falls with him down the shaft.

Upon crashing into the bottom of the shaft, Ichigo admits that it was a bit much to jump from the eighth floor as he and Renji run outside the hospital, where they find their friends standing still and staring out into the street. Confused by this, Ichigo tells his friends to run away as fast as they can, but is shocked into silence when he sees that it is raining outside, prompting Hō and Ban to remind them that they cannot run away from water as one of the puddles formed by the rain suddenly distorts.

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
On a small television, a newscaster reports that there was an explosion at Karakura Hospital this afternoon, which caused a riot as the forty patients inside were forced to evacuate. When the newscaster reveals that Ichigo Kurosaki was rendered unconscious by the explosion and is currently being treated while his friends have gone missing and the police are investigating the incident, Kon, who is watching the news with Yoruichi Shihōin in her cat form, realizes with shock that he forgot to go along with Ichigo and take care of his body.

Fights

 * Battle against Hō & Ban

Powers and Techniques Used
Zanpakutō Techniques:

Kidō Techniques:

Doll Techniques:
 * Localized Drowning

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:

Dolls summoned: