The airship seemed even bigger inside than outside. The hallways weren't as cramped as he'd expected and the rooms spacious. The most impressive one so far was the main deck where Cid piloted and there were multiple displays of the ship's systems to keep track. The enormous window up front that Cid looked through was thick paneled glass that even rockets would have a hard time breaking.
Toshiro was very impressed. He had to take a moment to look around in a sort of stupor before he could focus on conversations.
Shelke was busy making some adjustments to the airships system to upload her memories of Lucrecia Crescent, Yuffie was found to have motion sickness and was staying well out of the way-for which Toshiro was guiltily happy about- and Vincent was conversing with Cid. With the Jenova War Heroes currently busy, Toshiro found a relatively private spot in a large room further inside the ship. A few soldiers would pass him by, but for the most part, he was alone.
He was quick to dial up his Lieutenant to check in with her and then connect to the Head Captain.
"Ah, Captain." Rangiku answered cheerily, at least not sounding drunk this time.
"Are you working, Matsumoto?" He asked first, just to make sure.
"Ah, well, sort of…"
Sighing, Toshiro just decided to let it be. There were currently more important things to worry about and he doubted it would help much later anyway.
"You best get back to it. Anyway, are there any changes in Azul? Anything to report?"
"Hm…Captain Kurotsuchi hasn't reported in but the Head Captain regularly sends people to check on his progress. From what he's found so far, Azul's soul has been tampered with quite a bit. It's twisted so out of shape, if we were to pull him from his body, he'd immediately turn into a Hollow, and not a small one at that."
"I figured that much. Has Kurotsuchi found a way to fix that?"
"He's been trying, but so far, Azul's been resisting it. He's holding onto the power he gets from the mutation."
"Perhaps getting him to let go of that power?"
"Tried that, but the giant's too stubborn to give it up. The amount of power he has is strong, I can see why you needed the Limiter Release. Which, by the way, you have. Just say the word and you're good to go!"
"Thanks, Matsumoto."
There was a pause then as Toshiro pondered over the information he'd been given. Holding onto his power? If that was the case, then the reason Shelke wasn't as warped was because she wasn't as fond of her power as the other Tsviets. That, or she was losing it.
"Are you all right, Captain?" Rangiku questioned, her voice sounding a little concerned.
"I'm fine, why do you ask?" His teal eyes glanced at the pair of soldiers walking by before returning to the ground.
"You sound…I don't know, tense."
"I am about to head into a battle, Rangiku."
"You used my first name." She pointed it out like she'd caught him red handed stealing something. "You ARE upset about something."
"I told you, I'm fine. I need to speak with the Head Captain." He tried to quickly escape his Lieutenant but she held firm.
"Not yet, Captain. What's bothering you?"
How did she always see through things like that? He gritted his teeth and sighed, knowing his calls to the Head Captain would be cut off until she either got in trouble with the Head Captain himself or he fessed up.
"I'm having trouble with the Jenova War Heroes. Vincent trusts me and I'm sure Reeve does too, but the others are still cautious."
"Because of the Remnants?" Good, she was keeping up with the reports.
"Yes, I look too much like them. They're nervous. And…"
"And…?"
"The leader of Deepground, Weiss…he acts like Aizen, but he looks like an older version of me." He hated pointing out being a kid, but he had no other way to put it. The panic that maybe he was somehow related attempted to resurface but he quickly calmed himself down.
"Captain, you're nothing like Aizen." Rangiku soothed. "Just give him a good ass-kicking and you'll feel better."
He had to smile at that, picturing himself doing just that. It was weird, since his mind kept making Weiss look more like him than he already was.
"Thanks, Rangiku. Now let me talk to the Head Captain."
"Alrighty!" She fell silent and was replaced with the gruff voice of the Head Captain.
"What is it, Captain Hitsugaya?"
After giving a brief explanation of the current events, Toshiro asked for the needed reinforcements.
"How many can Gaia handle?" Was the Head Captain's reply. Obviously sending reinforcements wasn't a problem.
"Three other Captain rank Soul Reapers." Hitsugaya replied, remembering the guess Aerith had made.
"Very well. Any suggestions?"
"If Captain Unohana can spare a Squad Four member I'd be grateful. The WRO has taken quite a beating and having a healer would be a big help."
"Agreed. Any others?"
"Yes, actually." He said the names and could have sworn he heard the Head Captain chuckle. Was his choice that predictable?
"They will be on their way very shortly. Continue to keep me updated, Captain Hitsugaya."
"Understood."
The line went dead and Toshiro let up out a pent up sigh. He really hoped Cid and the others would be able to handle the Soul Reapers coming to help.
'When will you withdraw the limiter, master?' Hyorinmaru questioned.
'When it's time to drop, that way I don't suffocate everyone on the ship before we get there.' Toshiro replied, standing from his seated position and heading back to the main deck. He thought he'd see Shelke before heading that way though.
When he entered the room, Shelke was typing away speedily on the keyboard, eyes fixed to the screen. The tank holding Shalua was on the opposite wall. The woman's health was stable but could still drop to fatal at the slightest danger.
"What are you working on?" Toshiro asked, stepping up next to the tiny Tsviet. Even sitting down, Shelke wasn't that much shorter than him.
"I'm modifying The Shera's system so I can perform a Synaptic Net Dive." She replied monotonously. He needed to teach her how to show emotion…perhaps not him, but someone should.
"That is?" He'd never heard of such a thing.
"My specialty in the Tsviets. While retaining consciousness I project an image of myself inside a virtual reality called a network."
Toshiro looked at the screen she was typing away on but couldn't understand any of it. It was a mix of numbers and letters that made no sense to him. This was beyond his level of tech intelligence, though he doubted even Kurotsuchi's ability to understand the complex patterns.
"It allows me to negotiate with data on a sentient level at a risk to my own sanity." She continued.
"Isn't that dangerous, then?"
"My mastery of it is why I am…was a member of the Tsviets. Simply put, I'm creating a personal network terminal in the airship's main control console with which to activate the SND. I will then be able to upload Doctor Lucrecia Crescent's memory files to the system."
"I suppose I should let you work then."
"That would be satisfactory, thank you."
Nodding, Toshiro turned and left the room, once more heading to the main deck.
On his way there, he caught onto the rise in Lifeforce that meant the Lifestream was making an appearance.
'Must be my reinforcements.' Toshiro mused, speeding up his walk and stepping inside the main deck to see the other Jenova Ware Heroes gathered around with a few soldiers, all of them staring at the grouping of bright green tendrils in the ship deck's center.
"What's going on?!" Cid shouted, worried about his ship.
"That would be my back-up." Toshiro replied.
He stopped in front of the swirling mass as three figures became prominent.
'He gathered them together fast.'
Finally the Lifestream let them go and disappeared. The first figure was one Toshiro hadn't expected. The woman had long black hair braided in front of her and a healing smile on her face; Captain Unohana herself. The next was a well-endowed woman with blue-gray eyes and strawberry blonde hair, the third a tall teenager with startling orange hair and a permanent scowl; Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto and the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki respectively.
It was definitely a good back-up team…even if it meant Rangiku wasn't doing paperwork.
All day of nothing but typing so here it is! The reinforcements! Lol, Rangiku must be loving being out of the office.