It begins on the recap of late episode 23, where Kuukaku tells ichigo's group how she's going to get them into the Court of Pure Souls. Then, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko are told by Kuukaku to 'raise it up'. They than start to rotate two strange handles and the ground under Ichigo's group begins to rise up, and the ceiling opens. Kuukaku passes an orb to Ichigo (well... More like ricochets it off of Ishida's head to Ichigo), and tells him to put spirit power into it. However, Ichigo does not know how to do this. She than tells Ganju to show Ichigo how to put spirit power into it. Ichigo is reluctant to let him take the orb and show him. Ichigo than says: "I'd rather die then learn anything from you dumb-ass.", while patting the orb. Kuukaku than hit's both of them, and tells them to "Quit that shit.”
Ganju then gets up and begins a demonstration of how to put spirit-power into the orb. It works, and turns into what Kuukaku says is a cannonball; a giant blue orb appears around Ganju. Kuukaku than explains that; the wall around the Court of Pure Souls is made out of a rare rock called 'Blood-thirst Stone', it completely rejects spirit power. While Kuukaku explains this, everyone listens intently... Except for our favorite death god, Ichigo, who is blinking impatiently? However, he begins to listen when she explains that the blood thirst stone emits a force field around the Court of Pure Souls, from the sky all the way under ground. However, that's where the spirit orb steps in: It can emit a field that can temporarily punch a hole through the barrier- if you fire the ball up into the air using the Kakaku cannon (the big chimney). They then go to an underground hall to practice putting spirit power into the ball. The screen changes to Renji and a Death-god from squad 7 walking on a catwalk. They start walking into a room, and see Hinamori (The 5th squad lieutenant) sitting down. Then the 4th squad lieutenant walks in (Matsumoto). Hinamori then asks Renji if he's seen Captain Aizen lately, because he's been acting strange. The screen then changes back to Ichigo's group training. The screen changes to Kuukaku, who is pouring water (or alcohol) into two cups, and she says: "Sorry bro, for helping those death gods... But if you were live and saw me not helping one, you'd yell at me... and you who loved death gods... and died as one”. Part 2 starts.
Orihime, Chad and Ishida go up to show the progress they've made in making the force field. If it were in places, it would go like this: 1st-Orihime, 2nd-Chad, 3rd-Ishida, dead last... Ichigo. Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko get mad at him telling him he has no talent, than he spars on them and throw's the orb at them. The day goes by, and when the moon comes up, Ichigo is still trying to make the orb form a barrier around him. A dinner call comes, and Chad, Orihime and Ishida go to eat. But Ganju and Ichigo stay behind. Once Ichigo tells Ganju why he wants to save Rukia, Ganju tells Ichigo his secret of how to make a barrier with the orb easier.
The technique worked for Ichigo-But it was to strong. It started to blow away Ganju. The reason for this is because, Ichigo lost his concentration. Kuukaku started to give him shit for this. Because she's so angry, she decides not to give either of them dinner. The screen changes to Soul Society, the squad leader meeting are being initiated. They begging to discuss matters like Rukia's execution- and Ichigo's group (which we learn is called 'Ryoka'). After the meeting, there is another alarm and "Intruders in the Court of Pure Souls!”. "Ichigo..." Rukia says.