Turning back the clock to the morning, when the Gaians were heading to the Department of Research and Development for their Gigais and Toshiro had already gone through the gate, focus shifts to the final three Gaians yet to gain their Shikai. Across from them stood their opponents.
"I'm not going any easier than before." Soi Fon warned Yuffie. "You need to improve a lot faster."
"Ooh, you piss me off." Yuffie scowled at the assassin.
Cid glared at Ikkaku, arms crossed, as the bald Soul Reaper simply grinned.
"Since you've lasted so long against me without a weapon, I'm eager to see your fighting skills with one." Ikkaku said, twirling the Shikai form of Hozukimaru, a long spear with red fur at the butt end, in his hand. "Squad Eleven is the strongest squad and we never go anywhere without our zanpaktou, ready for a fight at any time."
"Like I care." Cid scoffed, making Ikkaku frown. "I'll get it this time and we'll see who's better with a spear."
Last but not least, Barrett faced Marechiyo. The obese Lieutenant had surprised the gun-armed man with speed worthy of his squad and some form of strategic thinking, though most of the time it was used to get out of a tough situation instead of hitting Barrett.
"I'm gonna get my sword today, you just wait." Barrett smirked, pointing at Marechiyo with a determined air.
"I may not look like much but I AM a member of the Stealth Force." Marechiyo replied with a smirk of his own. "So don't think you can beat me without a zanpaktou, or even with one."
From afar, sitting with the spectators, Kisuke looked at each of them in turn. With Rangiku's help, Tifa had managed to teach them Blade Zen and he hoped it worked. Especially since the Lieutenant got in trouble with Hitsugaya for not doing her paperwork, though he was lenient since she was helping the Gaians.
He blew the whistle and the Soul Reapers darted forward. Seeing as it was the third day, they were treating this like an actual battle to try and force the zanpaktou within the Gaians to cooperate. Yuffie dodged as best she could, but eventually Soi Fon had marked her with Suzumebachi and the ninja was bleeding from a gash on her left arm. Cid wasn't as spry as he used to be but he tried, managing to avoid the worst of Ikkaku's quick strikes and powerful blows. Barrett used brute force against brute force until Marechiyo's superior strength as a Soul Reaper outdid him and sent him on the defensive with a massive bruise on his leg.
'You really are useless.' Something giggled in Yuffie's head, though it was a little faint.
'There you are! Help me out, will ya? She hits me in the same spot I'm doomed!' Yuffie said as she twisted around one of Soi Fon's blows and countered with a kick. The assassin blocked, grabbed her ankle, and tossed her a few feet. Apparently ninjas couldn't beat assassins, not undead ones with hundreds of years practice anyway.
'Maybe…well, I guess I can't let you die.' The voice mused.
'Exactly! Now come on!' Dodging a close hit and earning another pattern, Yuffie pleaded her zanpaktou for help.
Alarmed at the rate Yuffie was tiring and the fact that her opponent wouldn't let up, the zanpaktou spirit agreed, deciding now was not the time for debates or theatrics. Though starting out a little fuzzy, the name soon came through and Yuffie flipped away from her opponent to avoid yet another mark and held position.
"Fly, Silivrenmeril!" Yuffie shouted out, her yellow colored energy beginning to shoot off her body. Soi Fon moved back to move away from the wild release of energy.
The ninja's Shikai formed into that of a large Shuriken, just like she normally used, only this four bladed shuriken was white with intricate golden patterns on the edges and a hole in the middle to spin with. The blades curved outward, giving a scythe-like appearance, and the parts that attached it to the center had razor sharp points running down it.
"Ooh, pretty." Yuffie admired her new blade, sensing her zanpaktou spirit puff up with pride and glow a little brighter.
"Training's over then." Soi Fon sealed her zanpaktou once more and started walking away, the black butterflies on Yuffie's body vanishing.
"Hey! I haven't paid you back yet for…the fight…" Starting to feel a little faint as she ran after the assassin, Yuffie tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground, quickly going unconscious.
"…Some ninja you are." Sighing heavily, the Squad Two Captain picked up the petite Gaian and Flash Stepped over to the edge where Retsu waited so the healer could help her.
Two Gaians left. Both men could hear the voices, but we're too busy trying not to get killed to hear names. Barrett's spirit was spouting off about simply shooting up the fat Soul Reaper, which the black man said he couldn't do, and Cid's was badgering him about every little thing. They were irritated, and that was an understatement.
Finally, Barrett managed to get his spirit to stop threatening the Soul Reaper.
'Okay you, I need a name.' The black man demanded, dodging under the heavy and spiked black ball called Gegetsuburi. 'Then we can worry about beating the shit out of 'im.'
'Damn straight. Okay, listen closely…' The deeper voice of his zanpaktou replied.
Giving him a good distance between himself and Marechiyo, Barrett held his right arm up a little higher.
"Fire, Uryaenda!" He growled out as dark green energy swirled around the metallic arm. It powered it up, starting its transformation into a gun while also changing its shape. The silver arm became streaked with black lines that faded to bright blue at the firing end and it was shaped like a gattling gun, a compact barrel on top whose use was unknown.
"The hell is that?" Omaeda questioned, unfamiliar with guns.
In response, Barrett smirked and aimed his new weapon at the Lieutenant's feet and fired off a few rounds, the bullets encased in dark green Spirit Energy. Startled, Marechiyo yelped and jumped around to avoid getting his feet shot off before running away. Suddenly realizing his exhaustion after those shots, Barrett sat down and let his gun revert to its normal silvery arm form, dark green light seeping off to form a short katana at his side, the handle silver like his arm with no guard, though with an arm of metal Barrett didn't really need a guard.
"Woo, that was intense." Barrett let out a heavy breath of relief. "Now where's the Ice Captain?"
"In the World of the Living still." Retsu replied as she appeared next to him with Flash Step. "Let's get you off the field, shall we? Your Gigai is being prepared so you can join your friends in the World of the Living tomorrow morning."
The healing Captain led Barrett off the field as Cid fought with Ikkaku for his zanpaktou's name.
'Look at you, can't even dodge right!' The grouchy voice growled out.
'Oh shut up! I don't have time for your shit!' Cid snarled back.
'And I don't have time for yours!'
'It's not like you're going anywhere!'
'…shut up!'
They both went silent for a moment as Ikkaku's blade sliced through the air centimeters from Cid's neck with the only reason it missed being Cid's quick reaction to jump back.
'A name would be nice, can't fight without a weapon.' Cid grumbled at his spirit.
'You make a point.' The spirit grumbled back, before saying his name loud and clear.
Ikkaku noticed the look in Cid's eyes and backed off in caution, just in time to see dark blue Spirit Energy curl off of the pilot's skin.
"About damn time." Ikkaku smirked, hoisting Hozukimaru over his shoulders as he waited.
Cid put his hand in the same position he always did when preparing to fight with his spear, the energy seeping off faster.
"Take the skies, Ramaloke!" He shouted out and a bright white light connected into a long weapon between his waiting hands before dimming down once more to reveal its form.
The spear's shaft was fiery red, the butt end golden with a spike and a black chain that curled up from the bottom, around the shaft and to the base of the blade itself. The blade was blood red with golden markings down the center and two short protrusions on each side like small spikes. A dark blue sphere of Spirit Energy separated the shaft and chain from the blade and was inset with gold. To the sides of this sphere were red dragon wings lined in gold.
"That's not all." Cid smirked as Ikkaku gaped at the beautiful spear.
He twirled the spear and held it with blade upwards in his right hand before flicking it to the side. The dragon wings shifted position over the blade and then tilted itself to the side, forming a red scythe blade lined in gold.
"Haha, I like this blade." Cid grinned widely, letting Ramaloke rest on his shoulder while Ikkaku shook away the surprise on his face and stomped over.
"So what, you're the last one." He grumbled. "Come on, you'll be as exhausted as the others and unfortunately I have orders not to fight you after you gain your Shikai."
"Eh, I can fight just fine!" Cid scowled, lifting Ramaloke and shifting him into spear form for an attack before finding his legs didn't want to work and using the spear for support. "Er…damn."
"What did I tell ya old man?" Ikkaku snapped. "Let's go already."
Practically dragging the pilot over, Ikkaku joined the small group where Yuffie and Barrett were and then left the pilot with the healers to return to his squad barracks.
"I suppose one of us should tell Hitsugaya." Soi Fon sighed aloud, glancing at Retsu.
"He planned on coming back later to do some paperwork before stationing himself in the World of the Living for a week or two; he already got permission from the Head Captain." Retsu replied as she knelt next to Cid. "We can tell him then. Besides, their Gigais aren't done and Lieutenant Kurotsuchi is still working on their Soul Candies."
Shrugging, the assassin left the healer to it and left, leaving only the healer with the three Gaians.
"So when do we get Bankai?" Yuffie asked Unohana. "I saw Toshiro's and it looked powerful."
"Captain Hitsugaya's Bankai is indeed very powerful, but all Bankais are. It's the full release of one's zanpaktou, a good five to ten times stronger than Shikai."
"Five to ten?" Barrett's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "He said stronger, I didn't think that much."
Retsu gave him a small smile.
"As for your question, Kisaragi." Retsu turned back to the ninja. "Training to achieve Bankai is far more rigorous than this. For the average Soul Reaper it takes years to learn the name of one's zanpaktou. After that they must train hard and communicate with their zanpaktou often to form a strong bond. Then the Soul Reaper must externalize their zanpaktou and train with it. A zanpaktou will test its master to the fullest to make sure they are worthy of Bankai. It can take decades to achieve this."
"Decades!? Are you crazy!?" Yuffie fell backwards to lie down and groaned loudly. "Just these three days were torture!"
"Kurosaki did manage to achieve his Bankai in three days, but that was through a very rigorous training set up by Urahara. It forcefully brought out his zanpaktou, Zangetsu, and put severe strain on both Kurosaki's body and spirit. Urahara told me that such a method will be too much for some of you Gaians."
"Not sure whether to thank him or pummel him." Yuffie said from her position on the floor.
"On another point," Unohana continued, ignoring the ninja, "You have to master your Shikai first. Since you've only just learned their names you won't be very well bonded with them, nor will you have a good grasp of their abilities. These things take time, unfortunately, and rushing it will be dangerous."
The boys nodded their heads in agreement while Yuffie just lifted her hand up in acknowledgement before returning it to the ground.
Retsu returned them to Toshiro's office, where Rangiku was, surprisingly, working, and told them to practice Blade Zen to become better acquainted with their zanpaktou. Rangiku helped them out all too willingly, before something seemed to click in her head and she did a few more packets of files before moving to help them again.
It was a few hours later that Toshiro entered his office, Kadaj in tow.
"Captain, is something wrong?" Rangiku asked, catching the attention of the three meditating – attempting to anyway – Gaians. She had caught onto the tense air between Ice Captain and Remnant.
"Sephiroth showed up." He stated simply, motioning for Kadaj to join the others while he moved over to his desk. He took a moment to asses Rangiku's noticeably smaller pile before working on his own.
"What?!" Yuffie, Cid and Rangiku shouted at once, snapping to their feet. Barrett stood up too, but his face was contorted with a fierce scowl.
"He tried to take my powers." Kadaj answered. "Thanks to Toshiro he failed."
"That's Captain Hitsugaya." Toshiro snapped on reflex before sighing heavily. "Yes, I managed to keep the Nightmare from taking Kadaj's powers for now, but something about HOW he left is making me uneasy. He gave up far too easily for the person you all made him out to be."
"Maybe he managed to take some of it?" Rangiku offered, eyes alight with worry. "For a Gaian, a little is all he would need to grow his own power against us."
"I'm not sure." Toshiro paused and closed his eyes, reaching out towards Kadaj with his Spiritual Pressure. As the room grew colder they assumed the Ice Captain was upset about something, but he was searching.
His eyes snapped open as he realized what it was.
"He did take part of it." His scowl rivaled Ichigo's natural one as he looked at Kadaj, the Remnant silently demanding an answer. "He took your Inner Hollow."
Hidden in the shadows of Karakura Town, a silver haired figure sat in silence, delving into the depths of his mind where a new spirit dwelt within. There he opened his eyes and found a strange creature standing before him, a black cat with silvery bone-like armor on its legs and down its spine. A feline shaped bone mask with long snout and saber fangs covered its face. Golden eyes stared at Sephiroth curiously through a veil of dangerously mixing Spiritual Pressure and Lifeforce.
"Greetings." Sephiroth smirked. "I can tell we'll get along splendidly."
The feline Hollow grinned wickedly and threw its head back to laugh.
"I believe we will." It purred.
So now all the Gaians have their Zanpaktou and we see what happens after Kadaj is taken back to the Soul Society. Question now is, how is Sephiroth going to use his Remnant's Inner Hollow if just getting near it could kill him? Guess we'll find out later, hehe. Enjoy!
Edit: I completely forget to put what the Zanpaktou names for these three were! So sorry!
Yuffie's: Silivrenmeril = White Star Rose
Barrett's: Uryaenda = Burning Heart
Cid's: Ramaloke = Dragon Wing