Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I am glad to hear that you are all enjoying the story so far. Now please enjoy this next exciting chapter!
Toshiro sat with a scowl plastered on his face as yet another person attempted to remove the collar from his neck. No matter what they tried, the metal ring remained securely fastened. As soon as Dagateru had taken the Oken, the Shinigami had gathered in the first division halls to hopefully come up with a plan to stop the dragons. While they had argued, one of the few healers that remained managed to perform some minor healing to his broken arm as well as place a protective kido barrier around it to keep it from getting jostled around too much. So far the only plan anyone could think of was to remove the spiritual seal from around Toshiro's neck since he was the only dragon that would help them besides Yasashi.
"Let me take another look at it." Urahara demanded with a similar scowl on his own face.
"We don't have time for this!" the silver haired man's patience was beginning to wear thin. "Dagateru is going to enter the Soul King's realm any moment now."
"We can't beat him without you, Hitsugaya." Shunsui sighed. "Aside from the fact that we know you can fight him without him trying to kill you, the Shiba family's flower cannon was destroyed years ago so we have no way of reaching the Soul King without help from you and Yasashi. And she can only carry three Shinigami by herself, so we are going to need you in more than one way."
"So do you have any ideas how to get this thing off?" Toshiro sighed. "I can only think of one, and I do not like it one bit."
"Unfortunately, he may be our only option." Urahara interjected.
"Fine, let's get this over with, and quit wasting time." Toshiro stood and followed the older Shinigami out of the room and down a small flight of stairs. Luckily as soon as the dragons had left, the Shinigami had managed to apprehend Aizen during the confusion,so it would at least make this next part a little easier. Toshiro's frown deepened as they approached the brunette sitting in a secure cell with sealing bands around his wrists. The man smiled wryly as he watched the group approach him.
"How nice of you all to pay me a visit." he smirked.
"Cut the crap, Aizen. I need you to remove this collar from my neck." the teal eyed man snapped.
"Impatient as ever I see, and why should I help you? I kinda prefer you in this helpless state." he quipped making Toshiro's cheeks flush with anger.
"Calm down, Toshiro, he's trying to provoke you." Shunsui placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I'm willing to make a deal with you, Aizen."
"Oh?" the man smirked. "How about you release me and let me go and in exchange I will remove the collar from young Hitsugaya's little neck." Aizen's smirked grew as he watched anger flare in Toshiro's eyes again.
"I will agree to your terms on the condition that you assist us in retrieving the Oken and stopping Dagateru from invading the Soul King's realm. After that you are to leave the Soul Society and never return. If we catch wind of you coming back here, you will be executed. And do not even think about double crossing us or we will execute you on the spot, understood?" Shusui offered reluctantly.
"What?!" Toshiro shouted at the wavy haired man. "Are you crazy, after all that he has done, all those he has killed, and you are offering him freedom?!"
"We don't have any other option, Toshiro. I'm sorry."
"I accept your generous offer." Aizen dipped in head in acknowledgment.
"There has got to be another way." the silver haired young man pleaded.
"Time isn't a luxury we have, Captain Hitsugaya." Shunsui replied sternly. "You said so yourself."
Toshiro frowned and crossed his arms, but otherwise remained silent as Shunsui gestured to the guards to release Aizen. The man stood up to his full height while rubbing his newly freed wrists. He then smiled and motioned for Toshiro to approach him. The young dragon rolled his eyes before walked up to the man he hated, every muscle in his body tense. Aizen could sense this as he placed his hand on the young man's shoulder once he was in reach.
"Don't worry, Toshiro, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Just get this over with." Toshiro sneered through clenched teeth. Aizen scoffed before releasing a small amount of his spirit energy into the metal band, and with a small clang, the collar fell to the ground. A small smile played on Toshiro's lips as he felt the familiar rush of his spirit pressure returning He closed his eyes briefly at the sensation.
"Shall we get a move on?" Aizen interrupted, making the young man frown again as he walked out of the cell and back up the stairs with Aizen and the other Shinigami behind him.
Be on your guard, Toshiro. I would not be surprised if Aizen betrayed this deal at some point.
Toshiro nodded internally as they reached daylight. Once outside, he transformed into a dragon, once again happy about his powers being returned to him.
"Alright then." Shunsui began. "We need to find and stop the dragons from entering the Soul King's realm, and if they have already entered, we need to protect the Soul King at all costs. Remember, if he dies without a proper replacement this entire dimension will become unstable and be destroyed. So Urahara, Yoruichi, and myself will ride with Yasashi. And Aizen, Ichigo, and Kenpachi will ride with Toshiro. The rest of you will defend the Seretie against any possible retaliation from the dragons."
"Sir!"
Yasashi knelt down to allow her three passengers on her back. She the nodded happily to Toshiro before jumping into the sky. Toshiro repeated this action and allowed Ichigo and Zaraki on his back but he stood up before Aizen could climb on, making the man frown.
"I believe the deal was for me to go with you, Toshiro."
"Oh I wouldn't dream of leaving you behind." the silver dragon smirked as he reached out and grabbed Aizen with his clawed hand as he took off after Yasashi.
/
"Father stop this!" the silver dragon roared as they flew into the dragon village just in time to see Oken open a gate into the Soul King's realm. Dagateru smirked at the sight of his son and the Shinigami coming to stop him, but he ignored them and entered the gate. Toshiro and Yasashi didn't hesitate to fly inside as well.
The moment the duo exited the gate, a group of dragons were waiting with an ambush. Toshiro quickly veered sharply to the right to avoid a large claw that swiped at his head. He then swirled into a barrel roll as another dragon flew behind him trying to grab his tail. Toshiro went into a sharp nose dive as the dragon sped past him before doubling back around. He then flew towards the Soul King's palace but was suddenly knocked out of the sky as another dragon swatted his tail into Toshiro's side. Taken off guard by the attack, Toshiro crashed into the ground. He got up from the ground and quickly realized he no longer had Ichigo and Kenpachi on his back, nor Aizen in his hand. Feeling panic welling inside, Toshiro looked around for the Shinigami, and felt small relief when he could feel Ichigo and Zaraki's spirit energy flaring up as they entered combat, but he still didn't know where Aizen had gone.
He didn't have time to worry about this as a stream of fire hit the ground where he had just been. Toshiro sprang back into the sky as he maneuvered to avoid more fire attacks before releasing his own stream of ice, effectively trapping the dragon. Feeling satisfied he sped off towards the palace knowing that was where he father would be.
As he approached the structure, he was intercepted by a familiar large black dragon that collided right into Toshiro's side sending the two dragons tumbling towards the ground. The larger dragon managed to pin Toshiro underneath him as they hit the ground leaving Toshiro to take most of the impact. The silver dragon roared in pain as his broken arm was jostled during the fall.
"Stop this foolishness, Toshiro. I do not wish to hurt you further." the dragon growled, but the silver dragon ignored his and bucked him off while he jumped up and swung his tail around, knocking the large dragon across his side, making him hiss in pain. The dragon retaliated by quickly striking out with his claws and catching Toshiro by his broken arm and pinning the injured limb to the ground. The silver dragon cried out in pain again and tried to yank his arm free. Toshiro attempted to release a stream of ice on the dragon, but the beast swung his other clawed hand at Toshiro's snout, cutting the young dragon across the mouth.
"That is enough, Toshiro!" the dragon roared. "I am keeping you here until your father is able to exact his revenge on the Soul King. You can not escape, and if you keep trying I will hurt you more."
Toshiro growled lowly as he kept trying to yank his arm free, but the pain from the broken limb forced him to stop. He opened his mouth to try his ice attack again, but the black dragon slammed his hand down on the silver dragon's snout, pinning it to the ground as well. Toshiro whimpered as he tried to to wiggle free.
"I said that's enough struggling!" the dragon roared as he pushed harder on Toshiro's broken arm. Suddenly the pain and pressure on his arm and snout went away as Toshiro looked up in time to see the dragon recovering from an obvious kido attack. He looked up to see a disheveled looking Aizen walking towards the beast. He paused to smirk at Toshiro.
"You better hurry, I won't be able to keep him occupied forever." the man smirked as he turned his attention back to the large dragon who was recovering from the attack. Toshiro waisted no more time as he jumped up and took flight towards the palace once more.
Toshiro entered the palace with little resistance from the dragons along the way. He quickly found his way to the throne room and entered just in time to see his father preparing a strike on the Soul King.
"No!" the young dragon roared as he barreled himself into Dagateru, effectively knocking him away from the Soul King.
"Stay out of my way, boy." the larger dragon growled, but Toshiro ignored him as struck him across his side with his tail, sending him flying. Dagateru grunted as he collided with a column. Toshiro took this opportunity to spew an ice attack, but the older dragon rolled out of the way and responded by sending his own ice attack back that barely missed Toshiro's tail as he dove out of the way. He quickly changed direction as another ice attack hit a column directly in front of him, and he quickly ducked as his father's claws sailed directly overhead. He tried swinging his tail again for another strike, but his father grabbed his tail and threw him into the ground. Before Toshiro could get up, Dagateru released another ice attack that managed to catch Toshiro on his hind leg, freezing him to the ground. Dagateru took the opportunity and landed on top of the smaller dragon and firmly grasped the boy's broken arm making the young dragon cry out.
"You will not interfere any more, Toshiro. This needs to be done." he growled.
"You can't do this. . ." he grunted between waves of pain. "The world can't exist without a Soul King."
"Then I will be the new king." the larger dragon snorted.
"You can still go home. You have a happy life there, why would you throw it all away for revenge." the younger dragon pleaded. Dagateru snorted and stood up and muttered an ancient spell that forced Toshiro into a transformation back into his human form. He was amazed that such magic existed, but now wasn't the time to ask about it.
"Go home, Toshiro. I have rendered your dragon abilities useless for the next few hours, there is nothing you can do to stop me." Dagateru snorted as he looked down on his son. Toshiro stood defiantly with fire in his eyes.
Let us fight together, Toshiro. Manafest my blade,and call my name.
"I can not defeat you as a dragon, that much is obvious." Toshiro began as he stared into the eyes of the massive dragon in front of him. "You have had centuries to master your powers, whereas I have only been practicing for about a year. So I will have to defeat you as a Shinigami." Toshiro reached out with his good hand as his spiritual pressure swirled in amass around his palm, producing a lengthy silver katana. Toshiro smiled as the physical sight of his long lost friend.
"Reign over the frozen heavens. . . Hyorinmaru!"
Sorry for the short chapter, but this seemed like a good place to stop for now. Toshiro is finally able to wield Hyorinmaru again after more than a decade. Will he be able to defeat his father? The outcome of the battle will decide the fate of everything. Stay tuned to find out what happens next. And please review, I love to hear from you guy, it is my fuel!