Title: Wrath of the Ice Dragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, except my OC's.
A/N: Here's some action for you guys. Thank you to those who have reviewed so far, I appreciate it.
Recap:
"Does this frighten you Corazon? I." Toushirou Hitsugaya taunted as he drew his sword. "It's been a while since I used this. Now Corazon, I shall make you understand why a Captain should not be trifled with and why you shouldn't mess with my Division." If Toushirou's eyes could kill, everyone here would be dead. They were so full of murderous intent that Souichiro couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear. The Captain then released an even greater amount of pressure than before. He the uttered one word that made time felt as if it stopped.
"Bankai..."
Souichiro witnessed the immense reiatsu that the Captain had released caused snow and ice to cover the walls and floors inside of the cave. There was a mist, created from the young Captain that concealed himself while his power continued to escalate. The force of the spiritual pressure caused the elite Hollows that were holding Souichiro to release him and retreat as far away as possible from the crushing reiatsu. Even though he was now free, Souichiro eyes remained fixed on the figure hidden behind the cloud. When the mist cleared, it revealed an ice altered Toushirou Hitsugaya. The ice that covered his feet resembled those of a dragon and the hands that gripped his sword tight were covered in ice as well, but the most drastic change in the Captain was that he had developed large intimidating wings and a tail completely made of ice.
"Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" The Captain roared as he sharply swung his sword and the air swiftly snapped the Hollow Shaman's staff in two and a small cut appeared on his chest. The explosive reiatsu left Corazon staring at him wide-eyed in shock as the blood slowly trickled down his pale chest.
'What the hell is this? It- It's just incredible. I could tell that Hitsugaya was strong, but this? This is insane. He swung his sword from a distance and it not only cut the guy, it managed to destroy his staff as well. Is this just the surface of what Bankai can do?' Souichiro thought.
"Get ready Corazon, I won't hold back!" He said as he charged at the Hollow Shaman. Corazon gulped as he narrowly evaded the blade by hair as he leaped backwards, creating separation. Captain Hitsugaya came at him again, but this time Corazon was prepared. The blade was inches away from his throat before he vaulted over the Captain's head and vanished and reappeared on the cliff that Souichiro and the Captain had previously been on and continued in that direction out of sight.
'That movement, it was like flash step, but the pitch lower and it felt darker. He's fast.'
"Focus!" It was Toushirou's loud voice knocking Souichiro out of his thoughts. "Listen, I'm going after him, so I don't need any unnecessary interference." He said with his back to Souichiro. Souichiro nodded and unsheathed his sword.
"Yeah I get you. I have to get rid of the rest of these guys here." Souichiro said as he eyed the Hollows in area.
"Do what's necessary, understand?" Souichiro nodded solemnly. He caught the underlying message that he should kill every hollow in the cave, including his former subordinate.
"Yeah, I do." With that said, the Captain lifted off, taking flight at great speeds, following Corazon's trail through the cave leaving Souichiro by himself, with the Hollows.
As soon as Toushirou's presence left the cave, Souichiro noticed that the Hollows around him had become braver as they slowly moved towards him. There were snarls and hissing coming from the Hollows surrounding him, even though the masks hid their facial feature, Souichiro could tell they were bloodthirsty. Souichiro pointed his blade at the mass of Hollows as his reiatsu started to escalate.
"Hey, just because he's not here doesn't give you the right to underestimate me!" Souichiro yelled. Dust continuously blew outwards as his yellow swirling reiatsu surrounded him. Souichiro may not have known it, but his iris' flickered red before gradually returning to his usual brown eyes as his reiatsu concentrated within himself. The dust became still and Souichiro, now covered in a bright yellow aura, slowly breathed deeply. He pointed his blade at the hollows in front of him, but looked particularly at the Hollow that used to be a Shinigami.
"Sorry about this." were Souichiro's last words before he had instantly vanished and reappeared back to back with the former Shinigami.
'You will not die in vain.' Blood flowed out from the Hollow's chest as its body slowly crumpled to the ground. Not even waiting for a moment, a hand full of Hollows broke off from the rest and lunged at Souichiro with their sharp claws, going in for the kill.
Quicker than the hollows could follow, Souichiro flash stepped a couple of metres away from his previous position. When the group of hollows realized their prey wasn't where it was supposed to be, it was already too late as a yellow crescent wave of energy crashed into them, obliterating them into spirit particles. The sullen expression on his face showed it as he stared at the rest of the Hollows as he realized what could be the catastrophic truth behind the hollows.
"I don't know how many of you are actually Hollows, or how many of you are actually all people that have been transformed into them. For all I know I could be killing people's friends, brothers, mothers or even fathers." He sighed.
"I promise, I'll make this quick." He said as slowly raised the black sword which radiated a yellow glow that exposed his passion. Now acknowledging Souichiro as a major threat, the mass of Hollows charged at the blonde, their footsteps rumbling and echoing inside the cave. Souichiro stared at them once more before he started swinging his blade.
'Sokusha Getsuga Tensho.'
Toushirou was hot on the trail of the Hollow Shaman. He manoeuvred through the damp cave, avoiding any rocks or stalagmites in his way. Captain Hitsugaya was holding a blade of vengeance; he wanted his retribution not only for his subordinate, but for the people he assumed had also been transformed in to Hollows. He had realized this after Corazon's demonstration that he could have done that to countless people before as well. He saw Corazon emerge from the cave and fly straight up and a few moments later the young Captain also emerged from the cave into the cold night air which he gratefully welcomed. The blizzard before had settled into a gentle snowfall and Toushirou looked into the sky, searching for the Hollow and immediately found him waiting high in the sky. Captain Hitsugaya slowly rose into the sky to meet the Shaman with some distance separating them.
"Glad you could make it Captain. It was too cramped in the cave for my liking. This battle should take place in the open." Corazon said casually as if they were friends.
"Shut up! I know what you've done you sick twisted freak."
"Whatever do you mean-"
"Those Hollows in the cave used to be people didn't they?" Toushirou interjected. There was a pause and a powerful gust of wind blew in, ruffling the Captain's hair as he stared at the hollow occupying an area of the sky.
Corazon slowly clapped his hands as he began to speak. "My word, I have a genius in my presence. Yes they did, but I assure you I try my best to look after them. They were perfectly fine until you came along."
"Bastard." Toushirou said through clenched teeth.
"Don't worry, you'll join them soon enough, I have yet to possess a Captain level subordinate."
"I don't think so, not without the staff of yours."
"Hmm, oh that's right you destroyed it." Corazon said not phased. Toushirou became doubtful. Earlier he basically saw Corazon quivering in fear, but now he seemed more confident than ever. Something wasn't right, he had to be cautious. "Enough talk, it's time for you to face your demise." He said as pointed a finger at the young Captain. The Hollow Shaman began charging a red ball of energy which grew larger and larger.
'Cero!' Hitsugaya thought, but I was not what it appeared. Instead of it being released, the red ball of energy transformed and it took the shape of a long lance.
"Not what you expected right? I can manipulate the use of my cero and instead of firing it; I can mould it into a weapon. And while I wield it, its force and pressure's strength accumulates. Now shall we begin?"
Toushirou narrowed his eyes while Corazon's visible eye showed his amusement. The two charged at each to begin a battle that would determine the fate of Snow Point. The Hollow and Shinigami's weapons viciously locked with each other, the sound piercing the quietness of the night. Both fighters' spiritual pressure reeked of viciousness, neither one of them dared to blink as they stared each other down. They both broke away from the lock, but Toushirou, not wasting a second, sent a large ice dragon towards Corazon, a much larger version now that he was using his Bankai. The ice dragon opened its mouth to try and engulf the Hollow Shaman and instead of evading, Corazon dove in head first into the ice dragon's mouth and a few seconds after it solidified, he shattered it from within.
"That's not going to work." The Hollow Shaman said as he flew towards the Tenth Division Captain. Corazon slashed for Toushirou's head, but the young Captain avoided it by flying further up. Toushirou then launched a barrage of ice dragons that targeted Corazon to assault him from different directions. The Hollow Shaman moved swiftly, flying over and ducking under the dragons, skilfully evading each one of them. "I told you that won't work!" Corazon yelled as he looked back to the Captain, but he had already vanished from his spot.
"What?" He said astonished. Before he could even ask himself where the Captain went, Toushirou attacked from under him, managing to scratch Corazon's mask before he dashed back, but the young Captain's assault wouldn't stop there, he pursued the Hollow Shaman, not giving him a chance to breathe. Toushirou pressured Corazon by repeatedly smashing his blade against the Hollow's weapon with heavy, but very quick strikes. Corazon found it hard to keep up with this kind of power and speed and quickly distanced himself away from the Captain. Toushirou raised his sword and immediately generated five large ice dragons that stood in front of him.
"Kouri no Dangan!" Toushirou exclaimed and all five dragons fired hundreds of ice shards at Corazon. He tried to dodge them, but inevitably his was caught by the volley of ice shards. Cuts and scrapes appeared on the body of Corazon as he was blitzed by the numerous amounts of ice shards. He quickly twisted his Cero lance in a clockwise motion at a rapid pace which disintegrated any other shards that came his way. Toushirou commanded the ice dragons to cease firing at the Hollow Shaman for the time being.
"I told you, I'm not going to hold back."
"It wouldn't make a difference. I will have the desired outcome of this battle."
"If that's what you-" Toushirou stopped in mid-sentence when he felt someone's strong spiritual pressure rising up further and further. 'It's that guy. It seems like he's really preparing to destroy the whole cave.'
"You better focus on me child!" Corazon shouted as he threw his Cero lance at Toushirou. The young Captain had seen the attack coming a mile away and prepared to deflect the lance with his sword. As it reached Toushirou, Corazon let out a ominous laugh.
"You aren't going to stop it that way."
As Toushirou opted to repel the lance, his eyes widened as the weapon detonated, releasing a huge bright, red explosion that engulfed him. The blast had a deafening sound that echoed and the explosion lit up the dark, night sky.
Back at the Captain's office, a certain black and slightly purple-haired girl started to regain consciousness because of the loud explosion. "Where am I?" she asked herself as she got up from the chair and rubbed her eyes. She heard giggling coming from somewhere in the room and when Momo turned around to find the source, she found a sleeping Rangiku.
"If Rangiku is here, that means I made it to the Tenth Division station, but where's- Shiro-chan." She gasped. "That's his spiritual pressure out there."
She grabbed her sheathed sword and ran out the door, but instead of a dark night sky, she was met with a bright red light which illuminated the sky from a distance. "What is this other massive spiritual pressure I'm sensing? Wait there's also another somewhere."
"3rd Seat Hinamori!" a Shinigami called, followed by a few others. "We heard the explosion all the way from the inner part of town, what's going on?"
"I don't know, but I think Captain Hitsugaya is trying to deal with the problem. It's probably a Hollow. Listen, tell the men to fall back to the inner part of the town and be on guard if anything comes your way. I'm going to assist the Captain in whatever threat he is dealing with."
"Ma'am, what about Lieutenant Matsumoto?" Another spoke up.
"She'll be fine, now please hurry."
"YES MA'AM!" All of them shouted and travelled back to the town using Flash Step. Momo quickly started running in the direction of her friend's spiritual pressure.
'Please be okay Shiro-chan' she thought as she continued running.
'Sokusha Getsuga Tensho.'
Souichiro then rapidly swung his sword as he released several numbers of his yellow destructive crescent-shaped waves aimed at the crowd of Hollows. Each wave that hit eradicated a group of Hollows in the mass with a blast. The forces of the attacks were so enormous that it caused the cave itself to tremble. Getsuga Tensho after Getsuga Tensho continued to be released until every last Hollow inside the cave was destroyed. Souichiro decided to end it with one final one which he aimed at the roof of the cave, causing the whole area to start collapsing. Souichiro quickly sheathed his sword and made a break for it as there was not much time before the whole place caved-in. He used Flash Step to evade falling chunks of rock as he headed towards the cliff which had the only path that lead to the outside. Once he landed on the platform, Souichiro sprinted. The cave opening was quickly being filled with boulders and rocks and in last effort tactic, he closed his eyes as he dove for the outside, hoping he would make it.
When he reopened his eyes, he found himself lying on a bed of snow. He let out a sigh of relief. He had made it. Souichiro shook off the snow from his face as he got up and turned around to see that the cave had completely collapsed.
"Now to go help Toushirou-" Souichiro felt a sharp pain in his system that caused him to fall on his hands and knees. His body wouldn't move and he felt his energy was beyond drained. 'D- Damn it. It looks like I overdid it. My body, it won't move.' He thought, wincing in pain as he tried to will himself to move. Souichiro lifted his head slightly to see if the Captain's battled had ended, but he found something he didn't expect to see.
'Whoa. What happened?' He thought as he and saw large amounts of smoke in the sky. 'This doesn't look good, I have to hurry.' Souichiro slowly started crawling, trying his best to join up with Toushirou and hopefully put an end to the battle as soon as possible.
Translations:
Kouri no Dangan – Ice bullets
Sokusha Getsuga Tensho – Rapid-fire Heaven Shocking Lunar Fang
