Prelude to the Apocalypse, The Arrancar's Attack

 is the one hundred and thirteenth episode of the Bleach anime.

Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Llargo, two fully-developed Arrancar, show up in Karakura Town in pursuit of Ichigo Kurosaki and face off against its various combatants.

Summary
At the Kurosaki Clinic, Isshin Kurosaki welcomes a returning Ichigo Kurosaki by hitting him in the side of the head with a flying elbow, only for Ichigo to not dodge the strike and instead be sent crashing to the ground, leaving Isshin startled and confused. As Yuzu Kurosaki berates Isshin for this and rushes to Ichigo's side in concern, a flustered Isshin claims he seems unusually depressed and assumes he scored poorly on a recent test at school.

Isshin assures Ichigo that he is not petty enough to reprimand the latter over low grades and proclaims that he should not worry about the quality of his grades since they are worthless anyway, which prompts Karin Kurosaki to comment on how unbelievable it is to hear this coming from a parent. With Isshin continuing that high school students should be more involved in things they cannot speak to their parents about like love, Yuzu questions the logic behind this, only for Isshin to conclude that most young love is like this.

However, while an annoyed Karin corrects him on this, Ichigo gets to his feet, apologetically states that he will be in his bedroom until dinnertime, and goes upstairs to his room, shocking Isshin and leading Yuzu to admonish him for not apologizing properly as Karin stares after Ichigo. When Ichigo reaches his room and sets down his bag, Kon peers out of one of his dresser drawers and observes that he is back early, though he claims to have not been waiting for Ichigo to return, before welcoming him back, but does not receive a response from Ichigo, who remains facing away from him. Irritated by this, Kon berates Ichigo for remaining stoic despite his kind greeting.

With Ichigo continuing to remain silent, an unnerved Kon hops up on top of the dresser and inquires about whether Isshin seemed any different to Ichigo prior to Ririn dropkicking him in her plushie form, sending Kon bouncing off the wall and ceiling into the floor, where Ririn angrily reminds him of Kisuke Urahara's instructions to not speak about what they, Kurōdo, and Noba saw last night to anyone. After Ririn warns him that Urahara will turn him into a mound of felt and cotton stuffing if he continues talking about Isshin and expresses relief at having come over to monitor this, Kon turns to Ichigo and claims that the sheer normalcy of the situation could make him yawn.

As Ririn reprimands Kon for saying something so unnecessary as well, Ichigo lies face-down on his bed, and when a concerned Ririn asks him what is wrong, Ichigo states it is nothing and requests she leave him alone, to Ririn's confusion. Suddenly, Kon ridicules Ichigo for being depressed from the moment he got home and refuses to stay with him before inviting a startled Ririn to go for a walk and pulling her out of the window so Ichigo can brood by himself. On a rooftop outside, Ririn demands to know what Kon is thinking, which prompts him to assert one must be considerate when they are a freeloader and leap away, leaving Ririn unimpressed by his demeanor.

Back in his bedroom, Ichigo recalls regaining control of his body from his inner Hollow by ripping the latter's mask off his face during his battle against 6th Division Captain Byakuya Kuchiki and ruminates on how the mask suddenly disappeared following this even though it had kept reappearing no matter how many times he threw it away beforehand, with his inner Hollow calling out to him in his head ever since. With Ichigo noting that he does not need Shinji Hirako to tell him what will happen if this keeps up, Hollow Ichigo repeats this, causing Ichigo to sit up in shock and look around the room, and mocks Ichigo for getting so worked up like this.

Hollow Ichigo revels in how easy it is to figure out Ichigo and promises to scare him even more by getting closer and closer with increasing speed each day. Appearing in a stunned Ichigo's mind, a grinning Hollow Ichigo points out how he is much closer to the latter than he was a moment ago and declares he will continue doing so until he devours Ichigo, who will disappear, before commenting on how bad this will be and cheerfully bidding Ichigo farewell for now. While a shaken Ichigo wonders what he should do, Karin knocks loudly and repeatedly on his door and asks him if she can come in, snapping him out of his daze as she enters the room and stands before him.

When Karin solemnly inquires about what is bothering him, Ichigo denies there being anything on his mind, but is astonished once Karin reveals that she knows he is a Shinigami. Meanwhile, at the Shinigami Research and Development Institute in the Seireitei in Soul Society, Hiyosu, Rin Tsubokura, and two other researchers sit in front of their monitors and comment on how boring it is to have nothing happen for hours at a time. As Hiyosu reprimands him for continuing to eat sweets instead of making tea for the group, an apologetic Rin is shocked to receive a reading on his monitor, which alerts the others, and identifies it as emanating from eastern Karakura Town.

Rapidly typing on his keyboard after Rin requests assistance in verifying this, Hiyosu responds to 12th Division 3rd Seat Akon asking them if everything is alright by telling him they are here as a massive impact shakes the ground at a park in Karakura Town. While people nearby realize something fell from the sky, the dust begins to clear around two figures standing in the crater. Back at the Kurosaki Clinic, Ichigo attempts to laugh off Karin accusing him of being a Shinigami, only for her to admonish Ichigo for pretending like this and details how she has been able to see his spiritual form for a while now, even if she did not know what it was before Don Kanonji's show taping.

However, before Karin can continue, she and Ichigo experience a powerful Reiatsu pressing down on them, with Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado, and Kisuke Urahara being startled by the same sensation across Karakura Town while Yuzu asks a grim Isshin if he felt an earthquake just now. In his bedroom, Ichigo gets up in search of the source of the Reiatsu, and when Karin calls out to him, Ichigo apologizes for not having time to explain things to her prior to moving toward his window, but Karin grabs him by the wrist and questions where he is going. After a moment's hesitation, Ichigo apologizes again and uses his Substitute Shinigami Badge to enter his Shinigami form.

Unnerved by Ichigo's lifeless body falling on his bed, Karin watches with concern as Ichigo jumps out of the open window. Simultaneously, in Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's office in the First Division barracks, he and his lieutenant, Chōjirō Sasakibe, are informed of two Arrancar being detected in eastern Karakura Town whom the Twelfth Division believes to be fully developed due to the density and stability of their Reiatsu while the dust clears to reveal Yammy Llargo and Ulquiorra Cifer, who unzips his collar to reveal his Hollow hole in his neck. Meanwhile, at Karakura High School, Miyahara and Kudo suggest they and Tatsuki call it a day.

Despite this, Tatsuki asserts they can go in without her since she wants to go for a run and departs after bidding them farewell for the day. Back at the Kurosaki Clinic, Karin closes Ichigo's door and is approached by Yuzu over the loud noise the latter just heard, only to grow concerned upon seeing Karin's solemn expression. When asked by Yuzu about whether she is alright, Karin assures her she is, and as Yuzu wonders if this is true, Karin walks past her and claims Ichigo wants privacy until dinner is ready, leaving Yuzu concerned while she watches Karin descend the stairs. At the park, Yammy bemoans how the Human World is still boring as it was when he was a Hollow.

When Yammy proclaims that the Reishi density is too thin for him to breathe, Ulquiorra tells him to stop complaining since he is the one who insisted on coming despite knowing Ulquiorra could handle this alone, prompting Yammy to acknowledge this and apologize as he walks up the side of the crater to the park above. Upon seeing the dozens of people gathered around the crater and wondering if a meteorite created it, Yammy warns them to not come near him when they do not even have any Reiryoku and initiates Gonzui, causing the Souls of hundreds of Humans in the surrounding area to be sucked out of their bodies and into the sky above them.

Elsewhere in Karakura Town, Orihime and Sado see a man collapse after his Soul is drained from his body, and though Orihime insists Sado stop so they can help him, Sado reveals the man is already dead and draws Orihime's attention to the hundreds of Souls being sucked into the air above them. Despite a stunned Orihime assuming this is the work of the Bount, Sado clarifies it is different from what they did in both technique and scale in addition to the Bount being gone now, leaving Orihime to wonder who is doing this and why. As they resume running toward the source of the Reiatsu, Sado asks Orihime to take and protect any survivors they find at the scene.

With Orihime protesting this will leave him alone in the fight, Sado acknowledges she wants to fight as well, but reminds her he cannot heal the wounded and Orihime is the only one who can rescue the survivors, which he asks Orihime to promise him she will do. Back at the park, Yammy finishes consuming the Souls of the surrounding Humans and expresses disgust at how they tasted, leading Ulquiorra to note weak Souls always taste bad, and when Yammy asserts the Humans were staring at him judgmentally, Ulquiorra asserts they were not looking for Yammy because they were unable to perceive the two of them, only for Yammy to insist it was still irritating.

Upon being asked by Yammy how many Humans they are supposed to kill, Ulquiorra informs him they are searching for one Human and do not need to kill anyone else, though Yammy mocks the idea of only killing one Human in an area overflowing with them. However, Ulquiorra observes there are only three individuals in the entire Human World who are strong enough to fight them and the rest are trash, such that finding their target will be easy, before noticing a trembling Tatsuki lying on the ground nearby and realizing she survived Yammy's Gonzui, to his surprise. While Ulquiorra and Yammy walk over to her, Tatsuki questions who they are and what happened.

Yammy stands in front of Tatsuki, who finds herself unable to look away from him, and comments on her being able to withstand Gonzui, which he deduces to be the result of her Soul having some Reiryoku. However, when asked if Tatsuki is their target by Yammy, Ulquiorra draws his attention to Tatsuki's Soul nearly being crushed just by being near him and calls her trash, which prompts Yammy to express disappointment at Tatsuki having only survived Gonzui by luck and bidding her farewell as he moves to kick her. Before the kick can make contact with Tatsuki, Sado intercepts it with the forearm of his Fullbring, Brazo Derecha de Gigante, while Orihime shields Tatsuki.

With Yammy wondering who they are, Sado clutches the wrist of Brazo Derecha de Gigante and mentally expresses shock at how powerful Yammy's simple kick was prior to noting that Orihime does not stand a chance against him. As Sado instructs Orihime to leave with Tatsuki like they agreed, which she complies with, Yammy inquires if Sado is the one that he and Ulquiorra are looking for. After reprimanding Yammy for not honing his Pesquisa so he can judge this for himself, Ulquiorra bluntly states that Sado is also trash, and when Sado fires an energy blast at him, Yammy casually withstands it and grievously mangles Brazo Derecha de Gigante with one blow.

Setting down Tatsuki, a stunned Orihime runs over to Sado, who has been thrown on the ground by Yammy, and frantically calls out to him repeatedly as a grinning Yammy questions if she is trash as well. Once Ulquiorra confirms this after a moment's pause, Yammy begins approaching Orihime while the latter internally realizes that Sado knew neither of them could stand up to Ulquiorra and Yammy due to their incredible strength, which is why he chose to protect Orihime and Tatsuki by fighting alone. Upon reaching Orihime, Yammy smirks and jabs at her with an outstretched index finger, but Orihime blocks it with Santen Kesshun and stands up as the shield shatters around her.

While a confused Yammy wonders what she is and Ulquiorra watches silently, Orihime initiates Sōten Kisshun to begin repairing Brazo Derecha de Gigante, which leads Yammy to comment on her ability to heal and express annoyance at Sado still being alive. Despite this, Ulquiorra mentally denies Sōten Kisshun being a healing technique since it instead regresses time and space in a manner he has never seen before and calls Orihime a strange girl. Orihime stands before Yammy and internally asserts she has to hang on until Ichigo gets here, but chastises herself for always relying on Ichigo and returning from Soul Society twice without doing anything.

As she holds her hands out in front of her, Orihime refuses to put more pressure on Ichigo and resolves to chase off Ulquiorra and Yammy without involving him since she does not know what is troubling Ichigo right now, which is all she believes that she can do for him right now, before calling out Tsubaki, to Yammy's surprise. After promising to protect Tatsuki, Sado, Uryū Ishida, and Ichigo, Orihime fires Koten Zanshun at Yammy, only for the latter to simply block it with his hand, causing the energy to disperse around him while he crumbles Tsubaki into dozens of pieces and mockingly calls him a fly, which leaves Orihime in shock and calling Tsubaki's name.

Though Yammy suggests that they take Orihime alive and bring her back to Sōsuke Aizen since she has an unusual power, startling Orihime with his mention of Aizen, Ulquiorra denies this being necessary and instructs Yammy to erase her. Suddenly, when Yammy complies and shoves his hand toward Orihime, it is stopped in midair by the tip of Ichigo's Shikai, Zangetsu, pressing against his palm, with Ichigo appearing in front of Orihime at the same time and glaring at Yammy as the latter demands to know who he is.

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
At Captain Byakuya Kuchiki's office in the Sixth Division, his lieutenant, Renji Abarai, rushes in through the door and apologizes for being late. When Byakuya questions what happened, Renji explains that he found himself in a long line when he went to get his hair cut and observes that Byakuya's hair always looks perfectly styled before wondering if he has a personal hairdresser. However, Byakuya claims that he uses his Shikai, Senbonzakura, to cut his hair himself, and when Renji reacts with shock to this, Byakuya informs him that it was a joke, leaving Renji relieved prior to him expressing astonishment at Byakuya making a joke.

Events

 * The Cold War

Powers and Techniques Used
Hollow Techniques:

Other Techniques:

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:

Bankai:
 * (flashback)

Fullbring:

Other Powers:

Anime Notes
Removed Content= Added/Expanded Content= Censorship= Changes=
 * Yoruichi Shihōin reacting to the arrival of Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Llargo.
 * Tatsuki Arisawa mentally noting that her mind is fading from being in Yammy's presence.
 * Ichigo Kurosaki not responding to Kon welcoming him home, prompting the latter to reprimand him for remaining silent and grow increasingly annoyed as Ichigo continues to ignore him.
 * Ririn kicking Kon for attempting to bring up Isshin Kurosaki with Ichigo and reminding him of Kisuke Urahara's warning against doing so, which was given to the other Mod-Souls in addition to Kon.
 * Ichigo requesting that Kon and Ririn leave him alone.
 * Kon taking Ririn with him on his walk so Ichigo can sulk alone.
 * Ririn being annoyed by Kon's attempt to sound cool when discussing Ichigo's emotional state.
 * Zangetsu cutting off Ichigo's thoughts about hearing his voice to taunt the latter about the progress he is making in taking control of Ichigo's body and promise to make Ichigo experience even more fear over it.
 * Yuzu Kurosaki asking Isshin if he felt an earthquake.
 * Karin Kurosaki calling out to Ichigo, who apologizes for not having time to explain.
 * Tatsuki deciding to go for a run instead of going home with her fellow martial arts students and leaving Karakura High School.
 * Karin assuring Yuzu that everything is fine and that Ichigo wants to be alone until dinner is ready.
 * Orihime Inoue wondering if the Souls being drained from hundreds of Karakura Town residents is the work of a Bount and Yasutora Sado assuring her that it is not, due to the technique being of a completely different style and scale than that of the Bount in addition to the latter being completely gone.
 * Orihime ruminating on how she has been to Soul Society twice without accomplishing anything each time.
 * Tatsuki's teenage classmates are not shown being killed by Yammy's Gonzui.
 * Yammy's mangling of Sado's Brazo Derecha de Gigante is drastically changed, with the arm receiving several deep cuts instead of being completely torn off and severed at the elbow while less blood is shed and the entire scene is grayscaled.
 * In the manga, when finding Isshin having knocked Ichigo to the ground with an elbow to the head, Karin and Yuzu approach him from behind a corner to Isshin's right and do so at the same time; here, they instead do so from the adjoining hallway and Yuzu comes first, followed by Karin.
 * In the manga, Yuzu expresses disbelief at Isshin claiming to not care about test scores; here, Karin does so instead.
 * In the manga, Kon remembered Urahara's warning about mentioning Isshin being a Shinigami on his own; here, he is instead reminded of it by Ririn.
 * In the manga, Kon is terrified at the prospect of Urahara dismantling him for revealing the truth about Isshin and frantically assures Ichigo that everything is normal; here, he is instead simply nervous and is much calmer when telling Ichigo everything is normal.
 * In the manga, after Ichigo lies down on his bed, Kon asks him what is wrong; here, Ririn does so instead.
 * In the manga, Ichigo mentions Zangetsu getting closer to taking over his body at faster and faster speeds every second and the risk of him eventually being consumed by it; here, Zangetsu does so instead.
 * In the manga, the Shinigami Research and Development Institute team monitoring the Human World consists of the spiky-haired man on the leftmost terminal, the head-bandaged boy to his right, and Hiyosu to the boy's right; here, the man is on the rightmost terminal with the boy to his left and Hiyosu to the boy's left.
 * In the manga, when Rin Tsubokura announces that he has a reading, the spiky-haired male researcher remains smiling; here, he instead reacts with visible shock.
 * In the manga, Ulquiorra unzipping his collar to reveal his Hollow hole is depicted immediately after he and Yammy land in Karakura Town; here, it is instead depicted after Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto learns of their arrival.
 * In the manga, while denying being a Shinigami to Karin, Ichigo is sitting fully on his bed with his body facing the headboard and his head turned right to face Karin; here, he is instead sitting partially on the bed with his left foot on the ground and his body facing the foot of the bed while his head is turned left to face Karin.
 * In the manga, when recalling how she has been noticing strange things about Ichigo for a long time, Karin remembers staring at Ichigo a week before Don Kanonji's show taping and claiming that there was nothing wrong when he asked her why; here, since that scene was not adapted in the anime, Karin instead recalls briefly seeing Ichigo in his Shinigami form when he rescued Yuzu from Grand Fisher before losing consciousness.
 * In the manga, when experiencing the intense Reiatsu of Ulquiorra and Yammy, Ichigo is sweating downward and Karin is sweating upward; here, neither of them are sweating.
 * In the manga, when stopping Ichigo from leaving, Karin grabs his shirt; here, she instead grabs his left wrist.
 * In the manga, after Ichigo enters his Shinigami form, his body is left curled up in the center of the bed; here, it instead falls over so that its torso lies on the bed and its legs dangle off the edge.
 * In the manga, prior to initiating Gonzui, Yammy warns the Humans standing around the crater that he will suck out their Souls if they come any closer; here, he instead reprimands them for coming close to him when they have no Reiryoku.
 * In the manga, Orihime and Sado encountering a man who has his Soul drained by Yammy, seeing the hundreds of Souls being absorbed from around Karakura Town, and discussing their strategy when they reach the source of the attack is depicted in a flashback after they confront Ulquiorra and Yammy; here, it is instead depicted immediately after Yammy initiates Gonzui in chronological order.
 * In the manga, Miyahara and Kudo are in the park with Tatsuki when Yammy initiates Gonzui and die when their Souls are consumed by him, leaving Tatsuki to see their bodies and realize they are dead; here, they instead remain at Karakura High School when she goes for a run and are subsequently not shown dying from Gonzui.
 * In the manga, Sado intercepts Yammy's kick by catching the tip of his foot with the hand of Brazo Derecha de Gigante; here, he instead does so by blocking the sole of Yammy's foot with the forearm of Brazo Derecha de Gigante.
 * In the manga, when attacking Yammy, Sado leaps into the air first; here, he instead remains standing on the ground.
 * In the manga, when running back to assist Sado, Orihime leaves an unconscious Tatsuki sitting against a tree; here, she instead leaves Tatsuki kneeling on the ground.
 * In the manga, Orihime mentally realizes why Sado chose to fight alone right before Ulquiorra identifies her as trash to Yammy; here, she instead does so after Yammy grins in response to her being called trash by Ulquiorra.
 * In the manga, when Orihime uses Santen Kesshun, the triangular shield is formed upside-down; here, it is instead formed right-side up.
 * In the manga, when standing up to confront Yammy, Orihime is on a prone Sado's left side; here, she is instead on his right side.
 * In the manga, Orihime's Koten Zanshun ruptures the ground in its wake when fired at Yammy; here, it instead does not.
 * In the manga, Yammy grins when breaking Tsubaki into dozens of pieces and calling him an insect; here, he instead frowns.