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Fanfic / Tales of Bleach: Unreal Society

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Tales of Bleach: Unreal Society and its two sequels Return of the Samurai and Blades of Destiny make up a Bleach/Tales of Symphonia crossover trilogy created by draconichero21 that mixes the Bleach cast into the storyline of Tales of Symphonia.

Unreal Society begins with the majority Bleach soul reaper cast virtualized into the land of Sylvarant as per an experiment by Urahara. A lock-in mode transition engages and the cast finds themselves trapped in the land of Sylvarant, forced to play the game to find their way out.

Return of the Samurai does to Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World what Unreal Society did with the original game.

Blades of Destiny, the final installment, is an original addition meant to, in the author's own words, "tie up loose ends created by the other two series". It's still ongoing, but it hasn't been updated in a while in favor of another fanfic the author has written, Soul Chess, which had its page long before this one.

Because of the very nature of the series, spoilers connected to Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World are marked, but spoilers connected to Bleach are unmarked. Also spoilers directly connected to the story are also marked.

This Fanfiction contains examples of:

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    Tropes A to M 

  • Actor Allusion: The inevitable reference that Ratatosk/Emil and Ichigo are voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch is made. And also turned into a Running Gag.
  • Ascended Extra: Virginia As the Emerald Witch of Ymir. Shunsui as a Unexpected Character when he joins the party in Unreal Society for the majority of the fic.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Word of God says that this is the case with Aselia's language of the elves. The language has its own rules, but it's completely nonsensical and bears no resemblance to another elven language
  • A God Am I: Album Atrum. Very very justified as of chapter 28.
  • Alternate Universe: On a meta-level the author has stated that such is a case for the series given the discontinuity it has with canon Bleach. Since the fic was created before Aizen's defeat there are a lot of differences between it and canon. Chapter 1 of Return of the Samurai was Retconned to cement that the series follows the anime's continuity since Ichigo mentions that he losts his powers and regained them the previous April (referring to the Xcution arc). However, before the retcon, Tite Kubo made some of the Visoreds captains and Rukia a Vice-Captain and in Blades of Destiny Rukia is still an unseated officer and there are Original Characters as replacement captains for Tosen, Gin and Aizen despite Ichigo being in college, which is long after the events of canon.
    • After Album Atrum utilizes Crepusculo Palacio Imperial Ichigo, Lloyd and Sheena find themselves in one of these. It eventually extends to the majority of the cast through the use of the Eternal Sword.
    • Even before that Alice kills Dondochakka for being a Panty Thief
  • Artistic License: Invoked to make Lloyd and Colette closer than they were in canon by the end of Unreal Society. Also invoked to describe how Byakuya’s parents died and his and Hisana’s pre-marital relationship.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When infiltrating the cape fortress in Return of the Samurai Zelos utters: "Things are getting pretty damn terrible lately. My sister's been kidnapped, my bud's been impersonated and to top it all off I think I dropped my wallet on the way here."
  • Ass Shove: Zelos does this to Renji using Zabimaru during training for implying incest between his mother and sister and him.
  • Badass Boast: Ichigo tells Volt he plans to take him down in a single strike. He does.
  • Balloon Belly: Cotton after eating a bunch of Byakuya's plants in an omake.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Sheena is normally easygoing and a very big Tsundere. Never have we seen her get as violent as she did when she marked her territory of Ichigo toward Alice. Emil put it the best: “Women are scary.”
  • Big Bad: Album Atrum is this of the third and final installment.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Ichigo’s relationship with Emil in Return of the Samurai. Also, despite being a year younger, this is his relationship with Lloyd in Unreal Society, especially after Kratos' betrayal.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Seen quite a few times
  • Big "WHAT?!": Genis' reaction when Rukia tells him that Raine and Byakuya kissed each other.
  • Blatant Lies: How the Bleach cast keeps the Symphonia cast in the dark about the true nature of the relationship between their worlds. If these were original characters it would borderline Mary Sue status. They're that blatant.
  • Body-Count Competition: Kenpachi tries to have one with Ichigo in chapter 34 of Unreal Society.
  • Born Lucky: Cyrus would have to be this to win 2130 games of poker without losing once. And he does so without cheating.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sort of. Since Aselia is a virtual world, when Ichigo calls upon Urahara in ch 17, an ominiscent narrator outside the world, Shunsui considers the action such. It later turns out that this is not the case since Aselia actually exists.
    • Ichigo plays this trope straight when he lampshades how Talking Is a Free Action in Return of the Samurai which is after it's revealed the world is real.
    • Pesche comes up with an idea and the lightbulb that signifies this fizzles out. Pesche replaces the lightbulb.
  • Bridal Carry: Ichigo carries Sheena in this fashion to Mizuho while the group goes and collects the Zircoin so she can duel Kuchinawa.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Some wonder just exactly why Momo was put in charge of Palmacosta, until the end of Unreal Society, after the events with Dorr.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: A heroic example. Ichigo saved Alice from being persecuted and she develops feelings for him. Ichigo barely remembers the incident at all.
  • Butt-Monkey: Renji. The author enjoys picking on him.
    • Zelos too to some extent.
  • Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Happens when Emil recruits a Chimera since the thing is a Ridiculously Cute Critter and Ichigo was expecting a multi-headed badass creature of mass destruction.
  • Call-Back: In chapter 32 it turns out that Raine never explained to Lloyd and the others what MILF means.
    • Richter calls Ichigo the Shepard of Regeneration. See Call-Forward below.
      • Sheena is also called a Shepard of Regeneration by Rachel in Blades of Destiny
  • Call-Forward: In chapter 8 Shunsui says that parents might let their kids walk into dangerous situations, but never let them go where death is certain. Symphonia fans will be reminiscent of what is eventually to happen at Altessa's house much later on.
  • Character Development: Pronyma and Mithos' Heel–Face Turn
    • A big milestone for Lloyd in Blades of Destiny killing someone in order to protect Colette. Remember this is Lloyd we're talking about.
      • In chapter 26 Lloyd has the maturity to not be a glory hog and clear a path for Kratos to reach the Crepusculo Palacio Imperial because of Kratos' importance in the general plan against Album Atrum.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Sheena creates a special seal based off of hollows in chapter 22 of Unreal Society. She uses it in chapter 23 against Rodyle. It's a gillian's cero.
    • In Return of the Samurai, Ichigo earns 300 gald for killing monsters in chapter 1. He later uses the money to buy Emil a sword toward the end of the fic.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Hichigo Shirosaki leaves Ichigo at the Temple of Darkness and returns by the time the group fights the Sword Dancer for the final time
    • In Blades of Destiny Serina is noted as having a crush on someone very early on in the fic. It later turns out to be Regal
  • Clothing Damage: Seen here and there, but in Lloyd's duel with Kratos, both combatants lose their shirts at the end of it.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Ichigo saying he'll join the Vanguard when pigs fly. Alice's response is that that can be arranged.
  • Continuity Nod: Ichigo suggests Renji use Shakkaho to light up the Temple of Darkness like he did back during the Hueco Mundo arc, or rather attempted to.
    • Ichigo makes a reference back to Uryu wanting to make an enormous arrow back in Bleach's first arc. Twice.
    • Orihime maintains her promise that she betrayed Ichigo once and won't do it again.
    • Tatsuki says to Ichigo, jokingly, not to have to make her put his head through another window, which she did right before the Hueco Mundo arc.
    • In Return of the Samurai Ichigo mentions how he "isn't working right now" when Richter tells him he isn't obligated to find Marta for him. Remember that Ichigo's job for Ikumi is pretty much the same as the Hawking and Starwind Repairs.
    • In chapter 3 of Return of the Samurai Ichigo notes that Lloyd is back to wearing red and not green anymore.
    • In chapter 5 of the same entry of the saga Rukia reminds Ichigo how it's ironic that he never wanted a relationship with anyone when they first met (Ichigo is in a relationship with Sheena by this point) and yet is trying to push Marta and Emil together.
    • Nel is correct when she says that she was not affected by the Derris Emblem. She stayed back to help Kenpachi and Sajin during the time that the group encountered the trap.
    • Ichigo remembers beating Omaeda's fat ass atop Sokyoku Hill.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: Raine's punishment for Zelos for forcing her to have to tell Genis and Colette about the birds and the bees is having him taste test her food.
  • Cool Big Sis: May to her subordinates as well as being Team Mom. Sheena is this to Kiku.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Uryu had a spare set of clothing and swords prepared for Lloyd just in case his uniform was torn and his swords were broken with regards to his duel against Kratos for Origin's seal.
  • Crutch Character: Several members of the Bleach cast and the Symphonia cast eventually realizes they can't rely on them forever too.
  • Cry into Chest: Sheena into Ichigo after Corrine dies complete with Howl of Sorrow.
    • Presea does this after Ozette is destroyed with Hitsugaya lending a comforting shoulder. She later does the same with Ichigo after killing Vharley because she hasn't had time to mourn her sister's passing.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: See Anti-Climax Boss above
    • Chad's victory over Ikkaku at the colosseum.
    • Hollow Ichigo's battle against the party in the Temple of Darkness.
  • Cuteness Proximity: Rukia and the rabbit that Emil forms a pact with. She actually winds up taking it for herself as a pet. Later Presea has this same instance with Kon's plush body.
  • Darker and Edgier: Blades of Destiny is mostly like this to some considering the things that happen and the decrease in laughs.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Pronyma after her Heel–Face Turn. Kiku's primary powers.
  • Defeat Means Friendship:
    • Pronyma and Mithos both make a Heel–Face Turn after they are defeated and subsequently revived.
    • Naomi in Blades of Destiny is originally an assassin targeting Raine, but after she is defeated by Rachel she becomes a member of Ratatosk's Rangers.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: The Fluffy Chapter of Fluffy Fluff and it is appropriately named.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Considering all the crap the cast had to go through during Unreal Society to reach the heartwarming conclusion that the world exists and everything they did had meaning and for Ichigo and Sheena to happily reunite this trope definitely is not out of place.
  • Enemy Mine: Ichigo and Sheena's relationship starts out as this
  • Epic Fail: Mithos' attempts to possess soul reapers wind up being this because of their territorial Zanpakuto spirits.
  • Equivalent Exchange: Ichigo lampshades the use of this trope. In exchange for never being able to use Origin's power again Ichigo is able to take the form of the Final Getsuga Tensho without losing his Soul Reaper powers in order to defeat his rampaging inner hollow.
  • 11th-Hour Ranger: Pronyma in Unreal Society. Nel in Return of the Samurai.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Ichigo's Hollow does not enjoy a battle royale and prefers that it be him against all of his enemies and not have some of his enemies picking each other off while trying to fight him.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Orihime when joining Cruxis. Nemu during her Face–Heel Turn.
  • Expy: Cyrus is supposed to be one of Vincent Valentine. Serenity borrows traits from Chun-Li.
  • Eyes Do Not Belong There: There is a living eye on the guard of Talbumosuke's shikai.
  • Face–Heel Turn: In chapter 23 or Unreal Society it seems like Orihime is doing this, but it is a facade much like with Kratos.
  • I Call It "Vera": Cyrus calls his weapon Caster
  • If I Can't Have You…: Both Mimi and Alice attempt this on Ichigo. Neither succeeds.
  • If My Calculations Are Correct: Despite being The Big Girl Kiku often spouts knowledge like this when she speaks.
  • I Love the Smell of X in the Morning: Alice gets the line in Return of the Samurai: "I love the smell of burning, destruction and violence in the midafternoon."
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: On a meta-level the author has said this about Kiku from Blades of Destiny. His opinion is shared by members of the series fandom.
    • Orihime actually does get to do this for a few chapters.
  • Interspecies Romance: Byakuya and Raine. It's also a possibility with Altessa and Virginia. Sajin and Virgina is also teased at as well.
  • Insult Backfire:
    • Rukia calls Rodyle a monster, but he takes it as a compliment
    • In Blades of Destiny, Sheena calls Kasumi Atrum a conniving little bitch. Kasumi also takes it as a compliment.
  • It Only Works Once: Album Atrum's Visored mask has a special ability that creates a psionic blast on his target, but only works once on any given target.
  • It's Personal: Shunsui lampshades that this is what drives Ichigo to activate Bankai against Kratos when he betrays the group.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Orihime takes the high road when she finds out Ichigo and Sheena are an item.
  • Just a Flesh Wound: Presea decimates Rodyle with a splitting injury that splits him down from his cranium to the middle of his torso as well as cooking him well done, but he is still able to move around for a bit longer before dying. The narration lampshades the ridiculousness.
&&* Kick Chick: Serenity
  • Meaningful Echo: At the beginning of the story Kratos says to Lloyd, as he always does to "be a good boy and wait here". He says it because he believes Lloyd will only get in the way. Come time towards the end of Unreal Society Kratos says the line again, but this time it's to protect Lloyd from getting his butt kicked by Hollow Ichigo.
    • In the last chapter, not including the epilogue, of Unreal Society, Mithos calls him and Lloyd the Hero of Old and the Hero of New working together. In Return of the Samurai this phrase is repeated with Lloyd as the Hero of Old, Emil as the Hero of New and Ichigo as the Hero of the Outside.
    • Several times during Unreal Society Lloyd says to Colette "Welcome back". In Return of the Samurai she says it to him when he finally comes clean.
  • Meaningful Name: Talbumosuke Atrumier's alias is Album Atrum, a Superboss in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
    • Naomi Libra and Kiku Capricornia. The two zodiacs are opposite each other and the two characters are FOILs of each other.
  • Memetic Badass: In-universe it is stated that if Cyrus Konsama is angry with you he'd rip out your innards and wear your stomach lining as a hat.
  • Mind Rape: Album Atrum pulls this on Senna. No not the one from the movie. his adopted sister

    Tropes N to Z 
  • Neck Lift: When Tenebrae blows up, Ichigo performs this on Alice for causing it. Later Alice performs one on Marta during their battle at Altamira.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A minor instance in the duel with Kratos and Lloyd in the Torrent Forest. Lloyd destroys Kratos' shield, but it allows Kratos to fight with an entirely different moveset.
    • Blades of Destiny reveals that Yuan and the Aselians forming pacts with the eight elemental summon spirits did more than cause the kharlan tree to destory Palmacosta
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Yggdrasil gave Orihime a Cruxis Crystal. That backfired on him miserably.
  • No Kill like Overkill: Byakuya uses Shukei: Hakuteiken on the Pope. He even notes how it's completely unnecessary, but just doesn't care.
  • Noodle Incident: We are never showed the effects the DerrisEmblem had on Chad and Uryu. When questioned neither desires to talk about it.
    • Presea ties Kon to the support beam in the bathroom in Altessa's house. Ichigo would rather not ask why.
  • No Periods, Period: Averted. Poor Momo.
  • No-Sell: Soifon is immune to the Derris Emblem because she already conquered her own darkness when she fought Yoruichi in canon. In the Alternate Universe arc in Blades of Destiny Lloyd and Sheena are not affected by the time warp effects due to the influence of the Eternal Sword and the pact with Origin respectively. Ichigo isn’t affected because he was too close to the blast when Album Atrum activated the power of Crepusculo Palacio Imperial.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Sheena comes in to see Nel (she's in her adult form at the time) glomping Ichigo. Ichigo tries to explain and Nel does not help the situation. Sheena at the time seems like she is developing feelings for Ichigo and promptly runs away, feeling hurt.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Virginia.
  • Official Couple: Several in-universe in contrast to the source material.
  • The One Guy: Emil is this to Ratatosk's Rangers
  • One-Winged Angel: Album Atrum's Resurreccion.
  • Out-of-Character Moment: This seems like the case for Momo in chapter 5 of Unreal Society, but it turns out she's just experiencing those lovely days of the month.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Kiku, though its more like perpetual deadpan.
  • Phlebotinum Breakdown: Ichigo loses his hollow mask halfway through Unreal Society. He gets it back.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: Averted. The Bleach cast generally is much stronger than the Symphonia cast by default with few exceptions. Only after the Synphonia characters considerably increase their abilities are they even close to rivaling the Bleach cast. This is extremely noticable early on when Shuhei curbstomps the first boss of the game and Renji annihilates Magnius and the guardian of the water temple with his Bankai.
  • Pre-Climax Climax: Ichigo and Sheena in the first installment. Marta and Emil in the second. Nemu and Talbumosuke aka Album Atrum in the third.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Serina, as an elf, has lived almost 348 years, but she looks younger than Rachel, a human, who is 35.
  • Red Baron: Virginia used to be known as the Emerald Witch of Ymir.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: There is a chapter called this and it involves Byakuya carrying it out on the Pope.
  • Running Gag:
  • Sadistic Choice: Does Tales of Symphonia reset or does the game become unplayable to allow the world to continue [[spoiler:and the group lose all memory and influence of Ichigo and friends]]? How about the world actually exists?
  • Scars Are Forever: Subverted. Rangiku had a scar on her eye where Decus, disguised as Lloyd, struck her. Marta later healed it. Played straight with Grimmjow walking around with one hand after Ichigo beats him yet again, but he gets a prosthetic one from the Vanguard.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Emil
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Byakuya, in regards to the Kuchiki Clan, at the start of Blades of Destiny so he can marry Raine.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Halfway through Unreal Society Hollow Ichigo leaves Ichigo's body and goes off on their own.
  • Self-Made Man: Lavirna raised herself and lived off the land. Not bad considering she also had the half-elf prejudice to deal with. Kiku too having lived in Garocchia forest.
  • She Is All Grown Up: Presea in Blades of Destiny. DAMN, she looks good.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Ichigo says this straight out to Sheena about him and Nel, but she doesn't believe him.
  • Shipper on Deck: Ichigo and Sheena are this for Marta and Emil.
  • Ship Tease: Besides the official couples there's also the constant teasing of Yuan and Nelliel and Hitsugaya and Presea as they are the only pairings yet to make any move towards the other or have any sort of confirmed romantic interest, but there is plenty of ammunition to see that they pair up well.
  • Shoo the Dog: Sheena tries to do this to Ichigo after the second set of bad news from Urahara, which is that since the world is virtual (even though this turns out not to be true) the Symphonia cast will forget the Bleach cast ever showed up and anything and everything they've done will revert back to the way it ways before they showed up. It doesn’t work.
  • Shout-Out: While training Colette, Soifon says "Do or do not. There is no try."
  • Shown Their Work: In the chapter where Raine talks about the growth of rosemary in Return of the Samurai it is actually true that the plant is susceptible to frost and grows best in dry climates.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Grimmjow, complete with the use of Precision F-Strike.
  • Spanner in the Works: Grimmjow to Ichigo’s plan in chapter 21 of Return of the Samurai. Sheena, Lloyd and Ichigo to Album Atrum’s plan in Blades of Destiny.
  • Spit Take: Ichigo does this when he sees Derris Kharlan on its way to Earth on the news.
  • The Stations of the Canon: Unreal Society and Return of the Samurai mostly follow this to the letter, but it is completely averted with Blades of Destiny. Word of God says Blades of Destiny was partially created to have an Xover continuation that averted this trope.
  • Squee: This is the standard reaction to any Colloyd fan in chapter 38 when they kiss.
  • Swiss Army Apendage: Both of Decus' arms in his Resurreccion in Blades of Destiny.
  • Take a Third Option: Lampshaded that the plot for Tales of Symphonia is like this and brought up when the Sadistic Choice above is mentioned. It turns out there is such a third option regarding it.
  • Take That!: Sees a lot of use in-universe. As part of the series' charm the characters often knock each other down a peg or two. Zelos is very often the victim of this, but Lloyd and Ichigo sometimes wind up on the receiving end. A lot of times when Ichigo is the victim it is Byakuya putting him down.
  • Taking the Bullet: Despite how he's been acting in Return of the Samurai Colette does this for Lloyd when Ichigo tries to attack him after Lloyd still acts cold when the group rescues Seles.
  • Team Mom: May is this as well as Cool Big Sis to her subordinates as Captain of Squad 5
  • Tempting Fate: Seen regularly enough by both the good guys and the bad.
  • Title Drop: The third installment's 32nd chapter is called Shatter Fate with the Blade of Destiny
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • The Symphonia cast have a mandatory need of this since they are considerably weaker than the Bleach cast. Orihime when she obtains a Cruxis Crystal. Emil takes this trope up a notch in chapter 29 of the first sequel.
    • Orihime's badassery is increased in chapter 8 of Blades of Destiny when she decides to rescind Mayuri's right to live.
  • Unknown Rival: Decus is this to Ichigo. Given his reasoning and the difference in power the use of this trope is to be expected.
  • Unreliable Narrator: When Pesche starts to tell the story of how he wound up in Alice's basement there is a clear difference between his narration and what is actually happening.
  • Weredragon: An ability of May's Bankai lets her transform into a gigantic dragon.
  • Wham Episode: Album Atrum is victorious? And the world has been changed? More importantly: Aizen is the soutaicho??!.
  • Wham Line:
    • I am Orihime Inoue. I am one of Cruxis' Five Seraphim and a member of the Cruix High Order.
    • This from Chapter 32 of Unreal Society
      Storyteller: Soul Reaper?
      Rangiku: Whoops! Forget I said anything.
      Storyteller: No, don't be. I've heard the term used before.
    • From Ichigo to Origin: Just how do you know about the Dangai Precipice World. And later from Origin at the beginning of the very next chapter claiming that He's met Yamamoto.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: In Return of the Samurai Ichigo calls both Kratos and Lloyd on their recent actions. Later, Emil is called on this for nearly killing Magnar.
  • The Worf Effect: Orihime's omnipotent Soten Kisshun proves time and again ineffective on rejecting the paratism of a Cruxis Crystal or Exsphere. And reviving Martel is impossible for her as well. Each instance is given proper justification though.
  • The Worf Barrage: Presea uses her Mystic Arte on Ichigo's hollow and only succeds in breaking her axe.
  • Worthy Opponent: Grimmjow becomes this to Ichigo.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: Album Atrum real name Talbumosuke Atrumier is able to go along with his plan without a hitch due to the trickery he pulls along the way. The good guys are only able to make a move against him when things are down to the wire.
  • Your Head Asplode: Album Atrum does this to Aizen.

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