Ichigo Kurosaki & Izuru Kira vs. Gō Koga

 is a battle which takes place in Karakura Town. It initially involves Ichigo Kurosaki fighting Gō Koga alone, but eventually Lieutenant Izuru Kira arrives and helps out Ichigo.

Prelude
As Ichigo Kurosaki and the others gather outside, they decide to look for the Bounts. When Rukia Kuchiki states they will be splitting up, Ichigo states they need to increase their Reiatsu to alert everyone else if they come into contact with a Bount. Ririn, noticing Kurōdo and Noba are in Gigais, begins to get annoyed that she is not in a Gigai, but Ichigo simply tells her not to worry about it. Later, Ichigo and Rukia are together, and Ichigo asks Ririn if she is able to locate any of the Bounts, but she states she cannot. Rukia wonders when Kisuke Urahara will be finished with his enhanced Bount sensor.

Later, Ichigo and Rukia sense Renji Abarai's Reiatsu disappear, but before they can do anything about it, they are confronted by both Jinta Hanakari and Ururu Tsumugiya. They tell them Urahara finally made the new Bount sensors, but Ichigo does not want to use it, because the Bount sensor is the headband he used during Urahara's training, and he has to activate it with the same phrase he used on it before. Despite this, he, reluctantly putting the headband on, shouts "Take the power of Justice! The Armor and Headband of justice! Protect yourself!" When Rukia is shocked Ichigo would actually say that, Ichigo begins arguing with her. Before he can do anything, he begins to move in a random direction, and Jinta tells him he will eventually reach one of the Bounts because of this. Rukia yells to Ichigo she is going to find Renji, but before Ichigo can fully respond to this, he crashes into a fence. Jumping over the fence, he continues his search for the Bounts.

Meanwhile, Keigo Asano leaves a convenience store with some food. As he walks home, he wonders why he wants to eat junk food in the middle of the night. When Keigo notices some Bitto in front of him, they charge after him. Keigo, running away, eventually escapes from them. Wondering if he is dreaming, he decides to immediately head home and get some sleep. Before he can do that, he is stabbed in the heart by a Bitto, and eventually collapses onto the ground. Ichigo, arriving on the scene, notices several Bitto now surrounding Keigo. Ichigo, beginning to fight off the Bitto, tells Keigo to hang on. When Ichigo is attacked by Gō Koga, Ichigo asks him what he did to Keigo. Stating he is not going to be explaining anything to him, Koga summons his Doll, Dalk.

Battle
As the Doll fires a metal ball at Ichigo, he, blocking the attack with his Zanpakutō, stops the metal ball and it falls to the ground, but he feels his hand go numb, causing the Doll to notice she has gotten stronger. As the metal ball on the ground turns into several, much smaller metal balls, they attack Ichigo again, who blocks the attack with his Zanpakutō, and Dalk attacks the Shinigami. Ichigo, dodging the attack, goes into the air, only to fend off more of the metal balls. As his headband eventually breaks, he falls back to the ground. As Ichigo states Dalk is stronger than before, Koga tells his Doll their investigation is over. Ichigo tells them he is not going to lose, and he is going to save Keigo.

As Ichigo fends off more of the metal balls sent after him, he is eventually overwhelmed by them. When Koga tells his Doll her bad habit is she always plays with her prey, Dalk states when in a life and death battle, you should let your prey feel the ultimate pain and fear, as it would be a tragedy if the prey never got to feel those feelings. As Ichigo gets back up to battle, Dalk begins sending a barrage of metal spikes towards him and Keigo. Ichigo, protecting Keigo, tells Dalk not to mess with him, and Keigo spots Ichigo, who is shocked Keigo can actually see him in his Shinigami form. Koga, stating Keigo can see him because most of his soul has been sucked out of his body, informs Ichigo he cannot save him now, but Ichigo is not convinced this is the case. When Ichigo asks Koga why he is using the Bitto to collect souls, Koga tells him the Bitto gives the Bounts further strength, which helps them further achieve their goals. Keigo, telling Ichigo to run away, passes out, causing Ichigo to angrily fire off a Getsuga Tenshō at Dalk, with the attack splitting the Doll in half. As Ichigo goes to take care of Keigo, Dalk, stretching her arm around his Zanpakutō, immobilizes it. Dalk, stretching more of her arms around Ichigo, immobilizes him as well. As she begins to tighten her grasp on him, Ichigo pulls out enough strength to free himself.

Ichigo is able to escape from Koga's sight due to Ririn's illusions. When Ririn tells him they have to hurry and escape, Ichigo tells her he has to save Keigo first. As Ririn tries to convince Ichigo not to, Ichigo tells her if he cannot save Keigo, he cannot save anyone, including himself. Koga, appearing with his Doll, tells Ichigo he is correct in thinking he cannot save anyone, and thinking otherwise would be a foolish illusion. Dalk, telling Ichigo she will not forgive him if he tries to escape in the middle of battle, creates a metal spider web around Ichigo so he cannot leave. When Ichigo fires off a Getsuga Tenshō at Dalk, she dodges the attack, and Ichigo tells her he wouldn't run away. As Ichigo's Zanpakutō is immobilized by Dalk's arm, he realizes he himself is stuck on the web. Dalk, using her outstretched arms as a whip, begins hitting Ichigo, causing him to kneel down and drop his Zanpakutō. Taking Ichigo's Zanpakutō, she begins to thrust it towards the Shinigami to finish him off, but Ichigo easily catches the Zanpakutō, to the surprise of Koga and Dalk, and, taking his Zanpakutō back, throws Dalk away.

Ichigo has been taken over by his inner Hollow again, and Koga asks him who he is, only for the Hollow to answer with "I'm me". When Koga states he thought he was only a Shinigami, the Hollow tells him Ichigo is the Shinigami, not him, and he is not as naive as Ichigo, stating as much as he would like to say Ichigo is not a part of him, it would be bad for him if Ichigo were to die. Dalk, thinking Ichigo cannot fight anymore, begins to attack her opponent, but "Ichigo", easily dodging, thrusts his Zanpakutō through Dalk's chest. Splitting Dalk in half, he begins to laugh madly, but his hand, put on his Hollow mask, begins to rip it off. The Hollow, realizing Ichigo is the one doing this, advises him against this, but his words do nothing and the Hollow mask is ripped off, causing Ichigo to come back. As Ichigo collapses onto the ground, Koga tells him a strong heart is needed to control a strong power, but he lacks that strong heart, saying because of this, he will destroy himself in the near future, but before that happens, he will finish him off himself. As he calls for his Doll to come back, Dalk wonders what happened, and Koga, stating the battle is over now, tells her not to make him suffer too much.

Ichigo, getting back up to fight, tells Koga he will not let him use Keigo's life for that. Koga tells Dalk to finish Ichigo off, but before she can, the lieutenant of the 3rd Division, Izuru Kira, arrives to save Ichigo. Ririn, regaining consciousness, notices Ichigo and Kira are about to battle with Koga and his Doll. Ririn, wondering what she should do, decides to run towards somewhere. When Ichigo asks Kira what he is doing here, Kira, revealing Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya sent him and three other lieutenants here, tells Ichigo to stand back, as he will take care of this. As Dalk attacks Kira, he, dodging her attacks, tells her Soul Society has declared the Bounts must be stopped, which is what he came to do. Kira, releasing his Zanpakutō, Wabisuke, fights against the Doll, who eventually notices her body is beginning to feel heavier. Kira, explaining his Zanpakutō's power is to make whatever it cuts feel twice as heavy, tells the Doll she should no longer be able to handle her body's own weight.

Kira yells to Ichigo this is his chance to take Keigo back to the Urahara Shop, but before he can, he is confronted by Koga. Ichigo prepares to fight against him, but hesitates because he realizes while his opponent is a Bount, he is still Human. Koga tells him if he will not attack, he will go first, and begins swinging a steel beam towards him. Ichigo cuts the steel beam in half, but Koga uses this opportunity to drag Ichigo into the ground. Koga, asking Ichigo if he is shocked an unarmed Human could be so powerful, reveals he was able to become so powerful because he is immortal, and what he sees before him is a Human's true potential. Dalk, sacrificing several of her arms in order to battle Kira, eventually gets a hold of Kira's Zanpakutō. As this happens, Koga, holding Ichigo by his neck, pushes him into a wall, but Ichigo frees himself. As Ichigo tells him he will defeat him no matter what, Koga begins to remember Cain. When Ichigo asks him what is wrong, Koga states he has lived for far too long. Koga, noticing his Doll has been defeated, is attacked by Kira. Koga, dodging the attack, decides to end the battle, resealing his Doll, and leaves the area as Ichigo yells at him to come back.

Aftermath
As Ichigo and Kira run towards the Urahara Shop to heal Keigo, Ichigo eventually kneels down from the wounds inflicted on him during his battle with Koga. When Kira suggests to Ichigo he should be the one to hold Keigo, Ichigo reveals that since Keigo is his friend, it is his responsibility to help him. When Ichigo states it is not fair Keigo had to be caught up in this, Kira tells Ichigo he should not feel responsible, since the Bounts are picking Humans at random. Ichigo, telling him it is still his responsibility, begins yelling at Kira. Kira, telling Ichigo he is not his enemy and it would serve no purpose for the two of them to argue, says that since he lost someone who was close to him, he knows how he feels. Kira, picking up Keigo, tells Ichigo if he really intends to save his friend, it does not matter who holds him. Ichigo, realizing he is correct, gets back up. Ichigo and Kira enter the Urahara Shop, and Kira introduces himself to Urahara. As Ichigo collapses on the ground, Urahara has both Ichigo and Keigo lay down on a bed. Hanatarō Yamada states Keigo's Reiryoku is low, but they might be able to save him if they give him some of Ichigo's Reiryoku. As Hanatarō has Tessai Tsukabishi get the equipment for doing this transfer of Reiryoku, Urahara informs Kira that Renji is being held in the next room as well. Tessai, coming back, gives Hanatarō the injections.