Fanfic / Not Quite As Planned

Not Quite as Planned is a For Want Of A Nail Bleach fanfic written by cerokun.

The story begins with Ichigo in the Shattered Shaft, trying to regain his Shinigami powers. Unfortunately, it takes Ichigo a little too long to figure out how to find his powers in his crumbling Inner World. Fortunately, he manages to grab his powers at the absolute last second, becoming an Arrancar instead of a pure Hollow. Being Ichigo, he doesn't let this little setback stop him and the planned invasion of Soul Society continues... with a few modifications. Epicness and hilarity soon follow.

Not Quite as Planned covers the entirety of the Soul Society Arc. The sequel, Still Not Going as Planned, picks up immediately after the first ends.

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Not Quite as Planned contains examples of

• Action Girl: Pretty much every female Shinigami that has appeared. The author has stated his desire to have Senna be one (as opposed to the movie where she was The Heart).
  • Handled Senna well so far by giving her Kido skills and halting her own kidnapping
• An Arm and a Leg: Mayuri lops off Ichigo's right arm in order to prevent him using his release. This doesn't stop him in the slightest.
  • Aizen loses his left arm to Orihime, much to his surprise.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: The Season II trailer has a scene showing Ichigo and Isshin standing ready to kick ass and take names.
• Basement-Dweller: Ichigo calls out the Visards for being this, since before the events of the story, they last left their base (not including errands) was when they went to see Evangelion 2.0 five and 1/2 years ago!
• Beware the Nice Ones: As Aizen learns the hard way.
• Big Brother Instinct: Ichigo of course. It's threatening his sisters that gets Mayuri eaten.
  • In Ichigo's eyes, Byakuya being willing to put Rukia to death makes him more of a monster than Ichigo who has to eat souls to preserve his sanity.
• Big Damn Heroes: Ichigo, Ishida, and Kenpachi arrive just in time to bail out Matsumoto and the Fifth Division.
  • Before that, Ichigo and Ishida's timely appearance is what prevents Aaroniero from beating the remains of the Thirteenth Division into a bloody pulp.
  • Kyoraku's first appearance in chapter 20 consists of him saving Hitsugaya from Nnoitora.
  • Isshin and Rukia make it to the cemetery in the nick of time to prevent Ichigo from eating Grand Fisher.
• Big Eater: Ichigo. His appetite is so great that, after clearing out all the food in Ukitake's kitchen, he proceeds to move onto the utensils.
  • Plus there's his regular diet of Hollows, most of which are bigger than he is.
• Blood Knight: Once Rukia is rescued and the burden of protecting his friends is lifted from him, Ichigo is actually pretty eager to fight Kenpachi in a death match.
• Body-Count Competition: Ichigo and Ishida have one during the Hollow Invasion of Seireitei. Kenpachi is quick to join in. The winner is Ichigo, after he fires a Cero directly into one of the Gargantas the Hollows are coming from, obliterating everything inside.
• Boom, Headshot!: Attempted against Aizen, but fails due to him dodging. It's more successfully done later on, when an arrow fired by Ishida and powered by both Ichigo and Kenpachi punches through the indestructible Negacion.
• Brick Joke: The Doctor Kurosaki Style. It first appears in Chapter 8 of Not Quite as Planned. It makes a triumphant (not to mention hilarious) return in Chapter 5 of Still Not Going as Planned.
  • When Ukitake first sees Arrancar!Ichigo, he immediately assumes that he's a hollow who has possessed Kaien's body. Cue Aaroniero several chapters later...
  • In season 1, after realizing the sheer extent of the clusterfuck that Urahara's dropped them into, Ichigo vows to send a cero up his ass. He manages to do so in the first chapters of season 2.
• Brought Down to Normal: Sayoko and Wilhelmina are Quincy who lost their powers.
• Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of the Invasion, Ishida manages to defeat Renji by making a roof collapse on top of him. Much later on, Ichigo delivers what he thinks is the final blow against Aizen by causing the Sokyoku Hill to fall on him.
  • When Senna first appears, she punches Ichigo in the nuts. Ichigo is unfazed. When she's grabbed by Ganryu, rather than beating ineffectively against his armor, she blasts him with a Hado #1: Sho. Square in the balls.
• Cliffhanger: Fairly often. Word of God is that it is his Zanpakuto's special ability.
• Combat Pragmatist: Ishida, who actively plans to defeat his opponents by having roofs cave in on them.
  • While he does love a good fight, Ichigo can be this when the need arises. The most obvious example is his decision to blindside the two captains guarding Rukia with his Resureccion in order to prevent them from entering shikai.
• Cooldown Hug: Yoruichi gives one to Soifon after their fight.
• Covert Pervert: Senna seems to have a very dirty mind and is quick to assume that someone wants to do "perverted things" to her, which Ichigo lampshades.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Several, but the most satisfying is easily Ichigo vs Grand Fisher in the sequel.
• David Versus Goliath: Orihime is the David to Aizen's Goliath. Orihime comes out on top.
• Didn't See That Coming: Aizen most certainly did not account for Ichigo becoming an Arrancar. Not that he'd ever tell anyone this, through.
  • Aizen catches this a couple times. The second nearly kills him.
• Didn't Think This Through: The whole Rukia rescue plan has more holes in it that a piece of Swiss cheese, with the most gaping one being the fact that the gang had no clue how they'd get out of the Seireitei afterward. This is lampshaded mercilessly.
• Defeat by Modesty: Played with in Yoruichi's encounter with Gin.
• Dramatic High Perching:
  • In chapter 4, Zangetsu introduces himself to Ichigo and (in chapter 8) Mayuri while standing on a lamp post.
  • Ikkaku and Yumichika are first shown gloating down at Chad and Orihime from on top of a nearby wall.* Dynamic Entry: Ichigo faces off against Byakuya and Komamura in this manner.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Shinji first appears at the end of Chapter 3. The rest of the Vizard are introduced in the next chapter.
  • The Espada also show up a lot earlier than they did in canon.
• Energy Absorption: Since Ichigo can't reign in all of his hollow reiatsu, he uses Zangetsu as a sort of power sink that absorbs most of his excess reserves. While this weakens him normally, it causes his release to be ridiculously overpowered.
• Evil Counterpart: Aizen to Ichigo after the former implants his incomplete Hogyoku. Both of them have to feed on souls, but their motivations are completely opposite. Aizen does it to preserve his own life. Ichigo does it to protect others from himself.
• Expy: Word of God says Ulquiorra's Zanpakuto spirit looks like Thailog from Gargoyles.
• Extreme Omnivore: Ichigo starts eating Ukitake's utensils once he runs through all of his food.
• Field of Blades: Ichigo can create one in his released state, typically followed up by a Storm of Blades.
• Foreshadowing: Right before everything goes to hell in a hand basket, we get a scene of Ishida doing a crossword. What's the answer to the clue he's stuck on? FUBAR
• Friendly Enemy: Ikkaku and Yumichika, oh yes.
  • As an Arrancar himself, Ichigo doesn't mind Harribel and her Fraccion hanging out in Karakura. He's made it clear that this is only so long as they don't cause trouble.
• Gambit Pileup: Seems to be heading for this. The Dark Ones, the Bount, and Shusuke Amagai all have their plans running or getting underway. And Aizen doesn't seem to be taking a break like he did for the filler arcs in the anime.
• Genki Girl: Senna, with a healthy dose of Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!.
• Genre Savvy: When a Smoke Shield erupts between him and his opponent, Ichigo immediately Flash Steps around it. His opponent, who is not familiar with Dragon Ball Z, is taken completely off guard.
• Gone Horribly Right: All Urahara wanted was for Ichigo to gain access to some of his Hollow powers. He did not expect Ichigo to completely embrace his inner Hollow and turn into an Arrancar.
• Groin Attack: Senna attempts one on Ichigo during their first meeting. It fails thanks to his Hierro.
• Healing Factor: In his sealed state, Ichigo heals pretty quickly and can reattach cut off limbs. He can also grow them back at a higher cost to his reiatsu. In Resureccion, he's recovered from nearly getting chopped in half by Kenpachi in the space of a few seconds, purged the poison from Kurotsuchi's Shikai, continued healing despite a poison specifically designed to counter regeneration, treated severed limbs as a minor annoyance, and healed a severed spine and numerous punctured organs in a few minutes.
• Honor Before Reason: Subverted. When faced with two Captains, Ichigo immediately uses Resureccion and doesn't give either of them a chance to use Shikai.
• Hysterical Woman: Rukia, after she realizes that she's partly to blame for Ichigo becoming a hollow.
• Identical Stranger: Like in canon, Ichigo could pass as Kaien's palette-swapped twin. This nearly gets him into a lot of trouble when he first runs into Ukitake.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Ichigo normally sticks to Hollows, but if you threaten his family...Om Nom Nom.
• Indy Ploy: (Paraphrased) "That's it! We are never planning things again! Not when the things we make up on the fly works 10 times better."
• Ironic Echo: Though he doesn't think of it at the time of their fight, Ichigo later calls Seireitei and tells Byakuya:
  Ichigo: You are slow. Even at falling.
• Jabba Table Manners: Ichigo, particularly during his first Hollow hunt and again when he devours Mayuri.
• Killed Off for Real: Mayuri is the first captain to die. Just to make sure he's dead, Ichigo eats him, then he gets assimilated into Zangetsu.
  • Other characters that bite it during the Soul Society arc include: Nnoitora, Tesla, Dordoni, Cirucci, Gin, Shawlong, Edorad, and Aaroniero.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Thanks to his rather potent HealingFactor, Ichigo has quite a blasé view regarding most of his injuries - up to and including having both his legs chopped off at the knee.
  Ichigo: It's just a scratch!
  Senna: Just a scratch? Your legs are off!
• Marked Change: In his Resureccion, Ichigo has the same red markings that his canon Hollow form had during the training with the Vizard.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Rukia tells Ichigo that eating Grand Fisher would also mean he would be eating his mother's soul, his reaction is (understandably) more or less this.
  • Rukia suffers from this after she learns about Ichigo's hollowfication.
• Ninja Maid: Sayoko and Wilhelmina appear as Brought Down to Normal Quincy. You just have to feel sorry for the Bount.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Ichigo delivers an epic and well deserved one to Grand Fisher, laughing and smiling like Canon Ichigo's inner Hollow the entire time.
  • Hiyori gives one to Ichigo in order to force him to activate his Arrancar powers.
• No-One Could Have Survived That: Aizen gets his arm sliced off by a Koten Zanshuun (along with cutting one of his lungs in two), blasted through Sokyoku Hill by a Gran Rey Cero, and then has a third of Sokyoku Hill collapse on him.. Ichigo is understandably upset when it doesn't take.
• Not So Invincible After All: Aizen's habit of No Selling everything bites him in the ass when Orihime attacks him. Turns out assuming you can shrug everything off isn't a good idea against a Reality Warper.
• Oh, Crap!: Constantly. One of the best comes after Ichigo and company have succeeded in rescuing Rukia when they realize they never figured out how they were going to get out of the Seireitei.
  • Poor Afro-san. He gets a text warning him to stay away from "the spirit that looks like a white Shinigami"... while Ichigo is standing directly in front of him.
  • Urahara freaks out (internally, of course), when he realizes that he's managed to turn Ichigo into a Arrancar.
  • Soifon flips when she realizes that she's inadvertently leaked the location of the ryoka to Aizen.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Anyone who's Captain-class is this. Akon freaks out at the possibility of a Mêlée à Trois between Ichigo, Soifon, and Harribel over Karakura Town.
• Prehensile Tail: Ichigo gains one in his Resureccion.
• Quip to Black: Shinji's debuting line.
  (Upon seeing Urahara, Yoruichi and a bunch of teenagers surrounding a tied up Arrancar) "I give up. What's the punchline?"
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Dark Ones quickly vacate the area while Ichigo's busy kicking Grand Fisher's ass.
• Screw the War, We're Partying: An unintentional example. The Visored spend the last third of the invasion throwing a victory party over Aizen's defeat. They are very displeased to find out that their celebrations are a tad premature.
• Shout-Out: Many
  • "I am the bone of my sword."
  • Bronze bowling balls
  • Renji and Byakuya both wake up to unfamiliar ceilings
  • "There may be some momentary discomfort."
  • Orihime's rambling in chapter 6 is full of references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
    • In Chapter 9 of the sequel, Senna and Ichigo actually get several lines into the Black Knight sketch.
  • When trying to reassure Tatsuki, Orihime says that Ichigo is pretty much the same as he's always been, "just a little more Grr. Arg"
  • Ban and Ho seem to be fans of the Doctor.
  • Sayoko and Wilhelmina appear as maids at Uryuu's house.
• Slasher Smile: This Ichigo is a bit more prone to wicked grins during battle than his canon counterpart. The best examples come right before he eats Kurotsuchi and during the entire fight with Grand Fisher.
• Sneeze Cut: Ichigo has one in chapter 7, which comes right after the captains realize that he's the hollow they're hunting down.
  • Soifon gets one in the sequel, after Senna really starts regretting taking her word about the character of Squad 12.
• So Proud of You: How Yoruichi manages to comfort Soifon during their reunion.
• Spanner in the Works: An entire toolbox worth. Just look at the title!
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • They're trying to do this with Senna.
  • In this continuity is possible that a mixed-blood Quincy can survive having Yhwach take their powers away.
• Subject 101: "Blanks 101" and "Shinigami, Hollows, and Everything in Between 101"
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Ichigo has them after becoming an Arrancar, along with Black Eyes of Crazy.
• Take the Third Option: Urahara outright references this in the beginning of the second chapter when talking about how Ichigo got his powers "back".
• Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted and Lampshaded. Ichigo starts choking Byakuya before he can release his zanpakutou.
• Technical Pacifist: Orihime becomes this after her training with the Visored. In battle she tries to either disarm or disable her opponents without doing them serious harm. Her fight with Aizen is the only notable exception.
• Tempting Fate: Hitsugaya catches himself before he can complete the thought, but everything rapidly goes to hell anyway. Ichigo sadly does truly tempt fate by assuming Aizen was dead after getting his arm sliced off, blasted through a mountain, and having said mountain fall on him.
• The Empath: Karin. After Ichigo's transformation, Karin can feel his Hollow reiatsu. She describes it as being "like a monster under the bed", and it scares the shit out of her.
• They Would Cut You Up: Mayuri would, at least.
  Mayuri: (To Ichigo) "What a fantastic Resureccion! I can't wait to vivisect you in this form!"
  • Also averted by the remaining members of the 12th division, who point out that invasive tests on Senna run the risk of destroying a unique subject. This is why real scientists tend to avert this trope.
• Took a Level in Badass: Orihime. Yes, she still dislikes fighting. No, this will not stop her from severing your arm if you threaten her friends.
  • Chad gains the second level of his Brazo Derecha del Gigante early thanks to training with the Vizard.
• Training from Hell: Ichigo, Chad, Ishida, and Orihime spent a week and a half training with the Visored.
• Training Montage: Chapter 4 shows the Visored putting the gang through their paces.
• Underestimating Badassery: Aizen is guilty of this due to the kids being much better trained than in canon during the invasion. Orihime and Ichigo come very close to killing him due to his arrogance. Then Ishida nearly kills him again with a powered up arrow when he lets his guard down in the Negacion field.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Sung-sun, Mila Rose, and Apache witness what seems to be a Bount eating a Plus. They immediately go back to their earlier conversation.
• Villain Team-Up: The Dark Ones and the Bount seem to be heading in this direction.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Ichigo's Gran Rey Cero, which both tore a hole in the surrounding atmosphere and caused the mountain-sized Sokyoku Hill to collapse on Aizen's head.
• What Could Have Been: The author has stated numerous times that what he had planned isn't always ends up happening.
  • Ichigo and Ukitake's first meeting was supposed to be an all out battle.
  • Originally, the rescue of Rukia was supposed to feature the ryoka, Byakuya, Renji, Ukitake, Kiyone, Sentaro, Yoruichi, and Soifon marching on Sokyoku Hill, ala "The Walk to Arlong Park". Thankfully, we do get to see it in an omake.
• What Is This Feeling?: After having his carefully laid plans reduced to shambles and nearly dying, Aizen experiences an emotion he isn’t familiar with. After blocking a combined attack from Ichigo, Ishida, and Kenpachi that manages to cut his cheek, he finally realizes that he’s feeling excitement over how there’s someone capable of opposing him.
• Worthy Opponent: Aizen seems to regard Ichigo and company as this, after they give him his first real challenge (not to mention nearly killing him).
• Worldof Badass: Seems to be going in this direction. As the author said (paraphrased)"if you haven't seen some characters yet it's because they're busy kicking ass".

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