Once more, the Ice Prince stood at the base of the mountain, teal eyes staring up at its peak. Behind him stood Ruala and Myndræl, Sofia in hawk form on the former's arm.

"She'll be waiting at the top with Hyorinmaru." Ruala said, lifting her arm where her white bird darted upwards. "You can speak to him while on the mountain now."

It was all he could do not to just Flash Step straight to the top.

"I'll be down soon." He said to them and started his way back up. Once on the path he started using Flash Step up the path. Magic prevented a straight up approach, but he could use it on the path itself.

Back at the start, Myndræl let out a whine.

"I hate not being able to tell him things." The dragon growled.

"I'm sorry, Myndræl, dragons generally hate hiding things from their partners." Ruala put a hand on the dragon's side. "But you weren't supposed to know either."

"You won't hurt him, will you?"

"I'll try not to, but he has to be tested to his limit."

A low rumble accompanied by a downcast expression from the dragon made Ruala frown, now uncomfortable.

"He will make it. I promise he will. Your partner is very strong and still growing."

The dragon gave a snort but looked a little less depressed, walking away towards the lake. While his partner trained in the trials, he worked on his ice powers by the lake. Ruala had moved the aquatic life to a hidden pond under the mountain after Toshiro had released the source of his power, correctly foreseeing that the ice wielders would continue to use the lake.

She watched the dragon walk away for a moment longer before she headed up the mountain.

After a few more quick Flash Steps, Toshiro arrived at the mountain peak, an archway of stone marking the end of the path and the entrance to a cave inside. He noticed a shift and realized there was actually a portal. Probably a good thing, the inside of the mountain peak didn't seem like a very big place to fight, nor would the inside be good for his powers.

His eyes darted up to the white hawk sitting atop the archway, a long blade hanging from a chain in its beak.

"Hyorinmaru!"

Sofia lowered the sword down and Toshiro was quick to grasp it, the familiar blade in his hands once more filling him with joy. The dragon spirit let out a roar of victory and when Toshiro looked briefly into his Inner World, he could finally see the ice dragon there, right where he belonged, wings spread wide and icy scales gleaming.

"Go ahead and talk to him for a bit." Sofia said, having reverted to her cat form. "Your opponent will wait for you inside."

He nodded and unsheathed his zanpaktou, the metal glinting dangerously in the light. He stabbed it into the ground and sat before it, closing his eyes again and quickly diving into his Inner World.

The minute he opened his eyes he found himself being wrapped fondly in icy coils, ruby eyes staring down at him with pride.

"Once more we are together." The dragon purred.

"Let's agree to NEVER let this happen again." Toshiro chuckled.

"Never. I am never to leave your side again, not even for a moment."

"I promise."

"Now," The dragon lifted his head high, "Let us prove just how powerful we've become. Now that I've been able to reconnect with you like this I can feel the change in our power."

"Try not to get too power hungry."

"I simply wish to see what has changed."

Shrugging, Toshiro settled for a pat on the dragon's body before he returned to reality. He had an opponent to face.

As he stood and placed Hyorinmaru at his back once more, feeling so much better as he did so, Sofia morphed into a smaller bird and alighted on his shoulder to travel with him through the portal. Together they disappeared into the darkness.

They came out to what looked like the top of a completely different mountain, the top flat and large. It wasn't as cold as he expected it to be for such a height, and there was no snow or even frost. It was barren and dry with no wind whatsoever. Teal eyes scanned the flat rock for sign of his opponent. Sofia lifted off his shoulder and flew forward, catching his eye and drawing it to a figure he'd overlooked, though how was anyone's guess. It was if she was just suddenly…there.

"I see you're surprised." Ruala said softly, dressed in the clothing of the Royal Guard.

"Of…of course I am!" Toshiro snapped. "Are you…are you the one giving me the final trial?"

"That is correct."

"But why? If the final trial is to fight you, who did you fight?"

"I fought a being made by the Elementals that possessed all of their power in order to match my own strength." Ruala put her hand to the side and Sofia followed, morphing into her panther form. "Since you do not have all elements as I did, I am restricted. I will be using elements that would be most harmful to your own. Fire, Lightning, Earth and Flora. Your power is Ice, Water and Air."

"Air?" Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "My zanpaktou is an ice-water type."

"Your zanpaktou controls the weather, which manipulates Air. You can't control that as well as Ice and Water, but you do have it. You have inherited some power over Light as well from your father, so I will also be using Darkness."

'She's right; your power has taken on more of a Light quality over the course of these trials.' Hyorinmaru noted.

"Ready?" Ruala hit her wrists to her side and swords shot out from within her sleeves, startling him. They rested atop her hands, which gripped onto a small handle.

Toshiro unsheathed his blade, a little unsettled with having to fight a Royal Guard, and such a timid one no less. But he couldn't let that bother him, she was powerful, he knew that. If he remembered right, Eilsitha the cat had said she could only use one element at a time. If he could figure out which one she was using he could find a way to counter it. Then again, how fast could she switch elements?

"Ready." He finally replied and pushed aside his worries. He needed to treat this like an actual battle.

He noticed something odd. Ruala's left eye of amber had switched colors. It was now a bright electric blue. He'd seen gold and white before, what did the colors mean?

She leaped into the air and swiped her blade across at him, sending out a shockwave of lightning from the static in the air. He created the energy dragon to cut it off before Flash Stepping underneath her and swinging his blade up, creating a wave of ice-water. He wasn't even in Shikai yet.

The eye changed color again, now blazing red, and she held both blade tips together pointing at the oncoming wave before sliding them across each other, creating a spark. A fireball formed and shot forward, cancelling out his ice.

'Her eye switches depending on the element she uses!' He quickly realized. 'So the blue before was Lightning, and red is Fire.'

The woman landed and rushed him with her swords, her eye now a darker amber-orange color. Which one was that? Their blades clashed, Hyorinmaru letting an icy mist seep off his blade to try and freeze hers. She struck down with the other and Toshiro used Flash Step to avoid her blade. It still managed to graze his arm and he noticed a dark aura covering the wound, making it hurt worse than it should for such a small nick.

'That was Darkness, then.' He growled, unable to use Healing Kido as she rushed him again. 'Light and Darkness are opposites, though. If I have a little power over light then I should be able to get rid of the darkness and heal it.'

'I will do so, focus on your fight.' Hyorinmaru rumbled.

Trusting the dragon to fix things, he clashed blades with Ruala once more, making sure not to get cut. She was a lot faster than he'd expected, and having two blades made it that much harder to block, let alone attack. He was purely on defensive.

His wound froze over and the pain vanished; Hyorinmaru had done it.

'Let's see how powerful Shikai is now.' He mused and moved away from Ruala, now standing at the edge furthest from her. She could close it in seconds but she hesitated before doing so, seemingly wondering why he'd moved so far.

"Reign over the Frosted Heavens," He chanted, rejoicing in the familiar phrase, "Hyorinmaru!"

The sky thundered and grew dark as clouds rolled in from nowhere, smothering the mountain top in a blizzard. A dragon of ice-water shot out from the tip of his blade and curled above him like his energy dragons did, waiting for the command to fly. Ruala's eye switched to red, Fire to counter Ice. Toshiro held the crescent chain-blade in his left hand, holding the slightly longer blade in his right.

"Am I supposed to defeat you?" He questioned as they stared one another down. "Or is there something you're trying to get out of me in this fight?"

"That all depends." Ruala spoke a little louder than her usual soft tone. Then again she kind of had to in order to be heard over the raging winds. "What do you think I want?"

"I don't really know."

"There's no guarantee that you finish this test today. It may take several days for you to prove what needs to be proved, something only you will know to do."

"Is it my control over my powers that needs to be proved?" He saw Ruala blink in surprise. "All these trials have been about raising and controlling my Spirit Energy. I would assume the final test had something to do with that as well. I don't even know what kind of change has undertaken my zanpaktou, if there's anything new I can do. In a way, this test is to help me find that out."

"Yes, it is." She smiled slightly. "You were able to connect the dots easily."

"I'm not a prodigy for nothing." Toshiro spun the chain-blade.

The woman did something he didn't expect; she put her hood up. Now he couldn't see the top of her face, meaning he couldn't tell which element she was using. He scowled and thrust his blade forward, the ice dragon that had been waiting behind him launching forward, jaws open wide. Before she'd put the hood up she was going to use fire, so he had the ice dragon made more of water.

She dug the tip of her blade into the ground and slashed upward. The ground itself moved upwards and blocked the dragon, which Toshiro quickly froze over. The ice expanded and broke through the rocky barrier, but Ruala had leaped into the air and was sending a volley of lightning bolts at him. Damn, she switched fast. Didn't matter that she could only use one at a time, her ability to switch quickly left her enemy wondering which one she was using, unable to predict it by the color of her eye with her hood up. She'd found a way to cover the weakness in her power with just a change in wardrobe.

He did not expect this fight to be easy. He never had.


Hm, sometimes I like cliffhangers and sometimes I don't...this is one of the latter. I think i'll post the second part of the fight as well so the trials will finally be finished ^^ What happens after i'll leave a mystery. Enjoy!