Power of the Substitute Badge, Ichigo's "Pride"!

 is the three hundred and forty-eighth episode of the Bleach anime.

Summary
At the Kurosaki Clinic, Karin Kurosaki and Yuzu Kurosaki are seen sitting up watching the late night weather reports on the television while waiting for their brother, Ichigo Kurosaki, to come home from Naruki City. Karin tells her sister to go to bed and that she will stay up as she has things to do. She advises her to go to bed because she has to get up early and take care of the cooking in the morning whereas she doesn't, advising that she'll yell at Ichigo when he eventually gets home. However, Yuzu insists that she is not sitting up because she is worried about Ichigo. Karin maintains that it's alright to be worried about him, especially when he has come home late several nights in a row. They begin to argue when the door opens and closes, with Ichigo announcing his return. They follow him into the hallway as he walks up the stairs. Ichigo is shocked to see that his sisters are still awake and although he partly scolds them because they will get up late for school in the morning, they both smile happily and go to bed immediately.

Back at the Xcution's Headquarters, Ichigo is seen standing bemusedly by the door, complaining that despite him having done everything that they asked this past week, he's back there yet again. Kūgo Ginjō remarks that he complains and yet he still came and thanks him for doing so. Ichigo asks why they aren't training properly yet in some big training facility. Just then, the door is kicked open by Riruka Dokugamine who is carrying a dollhouse in her arms, glaring his way. Ichigo looks shocked and she demands to know what he's staring at. Yukio Hans Vorarlberna advises Riruka to stop kicking the door open as he doesn't appreciate having to see her underwear every time she does it. Riruka begins to yell at him, informing him that they are not equals in any sense so he shouldn't talk to her like that. Yukio looks up then, taking a headphone away from his ear, asking her to repeat what she had said because he didn't hear her, aggravating her.

When Riruka repeats herself, Jackie Tristan appears and covers her mouth, not wanting her to. Riruka jumps away and demands that she doesn't touch her. Jackie asserts that she should just get on with explain the box to Ichigo. Riruka screams for him to get over to her so she can do so. Ichigo complains about being yelled at and starts to advance towards her. When he does so, a blush suddenly appears on Riruka's face and she panics, telling him to stay where he was and not come a step closer. Ichigo becomes even more bemused and demands that she make up her mind.

Riruka sets the box onto the table and turns on the light, asking Ichigo to observe the box. When his reaction is minimal, she asks him if it is cute, much to his shock. She advises him that this 'dollhouse' was to be his training facility for a while. She explains that her Fullbring ability allowed her to pull any person or object and place them inside the things she loves or finds to be cute. This ability of hers is called Dollhouse. To demonstrate this ability, she snaps her fingers from which a pink heart, called a "Token", floats in the air and begins to spin towards Ichigo before landing on his chest, much to his surprise. As Ichigo wonder what's going on, Riruka tells him he is allowed to enter her dollhouse house, using the words, "I permit you to". Suddenly, Ichigo is pulled through the air, shrinking as he appears in Riruka's dollhouse, which now appears normally sized to his perceptions.

Ichigo lies on the ground, hurt a little after landing there. He feels sudden vibrations as he gets up, looking up to see a huge pig teddy coming towards him. Ichigo can't believe the situation as Riruka lifts the lid of the dollhouse and asks Ichigo if he think its cute. Ichigo disagrees and demands to know just exactly what is going on. Riruka replies that he needs to defeat the teddy in order to complete his task and training, assuring him that he's not strong and should be able to do it. The teddy begins to chase him around the room and Riruka demands that he act like a man and fight instead of running. Ichigo accuses her of insanity, as he currently can't even grasp the situation he is in so he demands that she explains everything.

A little exasperated, Riruka explains to him that the reason he is so small is because of her ability Dollhouse. She elaborates further by maintaining what Kūgo had briefly touched on before, that Fullbrings the ability of Love. She uses Kūgo's pendant as an example of the only object he really loves and thus he can use his abilities with it. Riruka also states that by comparison, she loves many things and thus she can use her abilities on them all and her Fullbring allows her to give people permission to enter her favorite objects if she chooses. A bemused Ichigo accuses her of enjoying the situation too much, but Riruka explains that it time for him to defeat the teddy behind him.

From behind him, the teddy attacks Ichigo again, forcing him to evade and begin to run away again. Riruka starts to encourage him, telling him that all he has to do is try, as it isn't that hard to do, then he can complete his training. Ichigo demands to know why he needs Fullbring when they were trying to get his Shinigami powers back, wondering what they had to do with Fullbring. Riruka accuses him of talking a lot and that he doesn't need an explanation to put his life on the line, and he should just do what he's told. Behind her, Kūgo accuses her of sounding like a dictator. Ichigo asks for a hint, but Riruka asserts that they could use Fullbring from the moment they were born so she's not aware of any hints, much to Ichigo's displeasure.

Just then, the teddy speaks and tells Ichigo to stop running away and to fight him. Ichigo is stunned that the beast can talk and Riruka elaborates that his name is Mr. Pork and that inside him was a scary man from the neighborhood that she had captured and placed inside the teddy. Mr. Pork pleads with Ichigo to fight him, scared that if he doesn't he will be stuck inside the "dumb plushie" for the rest of his life. Ichigo insists this is a lie, but Riruka hits Mr. Pork for calling her plushie dumb. Ichigo demands to get out, but Riruka merely closes the dollhouse's lid against his protests and declares that it was time for a snack.

Riruka turns away from the dollhouse and asks Giriko Kutsuzawa to make her some tea as she moves to sit down on their sofas. Jackie asks Kūgo if he thinks Ichigo will be alright and he replies that he doesn't know. Ichigo continues to run away from Mr. Pork inside the dollhouse, despite his protests for him to stop. Whilst running, Ichigo thinks about Riruka's lack of help and knows he has to think of something. He remembers Riruka's words about Kūgo's pendant and how he'll need an object like that in order to do this as Kūgo doesn't seem to show as much outward affection for his object as Riruka does for all of hers.

Outside, while keeping her eyes on the dollhouse, Riruka starts to gulp down some strawberry cake accompanied by some tea, her concentration never leaving the box. Noticing her distraction, Jackie asks why Riruka just doesn't help him if she's worried about him. In response, she spits out the tea she was drinking, declaring that she's not worried, more concerned that if he gets defeated so easily, then he wasn't worth the effort in recruiting him to begin with. Jackie reminds Riruka that they had previously placed a timer on Mr. Pork and that it was becoming close to fifteen minutes since the battle began.

Yasutora Sado then enters the room with groceries and Kūgo thanks him for doing the shopping. When Sado notices the dollhouse he runs over to it in a panic, asking Riruka if she's crazy for starting Ichigo's Fullbring training already. She replies that the sooner he starts his training the better, telling him not to criticize her methods. In the box, Ichigo continues to try and think of an object that is like an attachment to him, like Kūgo's pendant as Mr. Pork endless chases him from behind. Ichigo appears to have a thought at the same time as Sado opens the lid of the box and tells Ichigo that his only chance at Fullbring is to use his Substitute Shinigami Badge. Ichigo stops running and informs Sado that they must think alike, because he had just been thinking of the same thing.

However, just then, it is declared that fifteen minutes were up and that now, since Fullbring was not detected, Mr. Pork would now be forced to switch into Mad Beast Mode. The plushie antagonist does not appear happy about this, as parts of his body begin to distort. Gradually, he transforms into a hideous form of his previous self, gaining a much more muscled appearance that comes equipped with five eyes instead of two. The members of Xcution notice this change and Giriko mention that the timer has been triggered.

Stunned, Riruka drops her fork onto her empty plate and hastily runs towards the box. Angry, she confronts Giriko about making her plushie turn into something so horrible. Giriko reminds her that she asked for his help and that this was the only way he could think how to do so. Sado requests that Ichigo be allowed out of the dollhouse, but Giriko states that this is impossible. He further explains that the box also has a timer on it that requires the organism that has been placed inside the box to survive for thirty minutes before it can safely leave the it. When Riruka expresses those terms to be silly, Giriko again reminds her that she left the stipulations up to him as well.

Giriko further elaborates that removing Ichigo from the dollhouse right then would violate the terms of the agreement and that, in doing this, will anger the God of Time, who will seek retribution. Sado asks what he means and Giriko goes on to inform him of his powers. He makes clear that if anything he has placed a timer and stipulations upon breaks the "contract" he's set the everything in within the contract will burn away in the "Flames of Time". Sado calls his bluff, but Riruka informs him that she has seen it happen many times before. When he looks to the other members of Xcution they confirm this by doing nothing and they are currently helpless to stop the contract.

Giriko begins to summarize the current situation: if Ichigo, Mr. Pork are removed from the dollhouse then all three, including the dollhouse, will be consumed by the Flame of Time. He explains that this is the power of his Fullbring, which is called Time Tells No Lies. Still determined to get Ichigo out of the box, Sado tells Giriko to deactivate his power since he was the one that placed it on all the objects, but Giriko rebukes this request, calling it impossible. Giriko explains that he may be the one who sets its parameters; however, once it is set, even he cannot deactivate the power. He advises them that even one mistake in setting up the terms can lead to death and thus they should never take the power of Time lightly. Just then an egg timer alerts him to the next batch of tea being ready. He asks Riruka if she would like another cup as he walks over to test the aroma of his tea stating, "God dwells in exact time".

Back in the box, Ichigo is struggling to evade Mr. Pork in his Mad Beast Mode as he throws himself at Ichigo and then starts tearing up the floor using his sharpened teeth. Ichigo grabs one of the loosened buttons and throws in at Mr. Pork and hits him square in the middle of his center eye, causing the deformed plushie to recoil in pain. Whilst he is distracted, Ichigo runs and jumps behind a paper wall to hide himself as he catches his breath. Ichigo takes out his Substitute Shinigami Badge and begins to stare at it, wondering what he should do in order manifest Fullbring using it. He stare at it for a long while, thinking about the explanations given by both Kūgo and Riruka.

Just then, Sado appears above him once more accounting for the first time that he had used Brazo Derecha de Gigante, what he felt was pride as the basis for his Fullbring was the skin on his two arms. When Ichigo questions this, Sado goes on to explains that because of his Mexican blood, his skin is darker than those around him. He stresses that while his size and coloring has caused him trouble over the years, he's never lost the pride he had in his skin thanks to his Abuelo, who gave him the strength to be proud of who and what he was.

Sado tells Ichigo to think back to the times of when he was proud of his Shinigami powers, insisting that he remembers what that felt like. Ichigo reflects on Sado's advice, thinking of all those times, from the moment that Rukia Kuchiki gave him her powers, through his time in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo until the day he defeated Sōsuke Aizen and lost his powers. Irritated, he cries out that there were too many time to count of when he was proud of his abilities. Suddenly, the Substitute Shinigami Badge begins to emit a red light, noticed by the rest of Xcution in the room.

Ichigo's badge becomes dark red with dark waves of Reiatsu shooting from it, similar to his the black Reiatsu that accompanied his Getsuga Tenshō when he was in Bankai while still having his Shinigami powers. Suddenly, a black shape evolves from the badge that also emits the red light. Ichigo appears shocked as the shape is exactly how the tsuba of his Tensa Zangetsu used to appear when he released his Bankai abilities.

Quincy Encylopedia
Three nurses of Ryūken's hospital are gossiping about Ishida being warded inside the hospital's private room. One of them states that if she manages to tackle Ishida, it would be like a Cinderella story. But another of the nurses say that Ishida's still a high school student. Another nurse says that is all the more worthwhile if the studious types are seduced, with them laughing at the same time. What they didn't realize is that Ryūken was observing from behind, feeling intimidated. This results in him personally delivering a meal into Ishida's room, with him asking why is he delivering it instead of the nurses. Ryūken replies that a patient shouldn't complain to his doctor and asks Ishida to hurry up and finish his meal, together with a scene outside the private room which has a notice posted: "Uryū Ishida: No Visitors Allowed - From The Hospital Director", followed by a sign which says: "No Child Knows How Dear He Is To His Parents".

Fights
None.

Powers and Techniques Used
Kidō used:
 * (flashback)
 * Hadō #90, (flashback)

Techniques used:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:
 * (flashback)

Bankai:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Resurrección used:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Fullbring used:
 * Ichigo Kurosaki's unnamed Fullbring
 * Ichigo Kurosaki's unnamed Fullbring
 * Ichigo Kurosaki's unnamed Fullbring

Other powers:
 * (flashback)