If the city above them yet below Midgar was surprising enough, the fact that the Deepground center looked like an entire world beneath the planet's surface was astounding. In the distance, lit by a pure blue glow of the Lifestream, the same one that was currently trying to push him out if he didn't mask his Spiritual Pressure, was the main complex where they assumed Weiss was.
Thanks to the disability caused by the Lifestream, Toshiro couldn't simply Flash Step to the center and get it over with, so he had to stay with Vincent. He found himself contemplating his predicament. With the Lifestream refusing his power, even with Hyorinmaru's spirit inside him, he didn't have the fighting power he needed. But he couldn't constantly summon Hyorinmaru during battles; he wouldn't be able to handle the emptiness that long.
The way towards the center was definitely going to be a long one, with twisting catwalks and ladders, constantly leading them towards different destinations. The maps on their phones were helpful at least, and the soldiers were easy to take care of. However, there were strange looking mutant creatures reminiscent of the gargoyles humans sculpted on their churches, only bright red in color and able to shoot fire. Vincent took care of those while Toshiro avoided the flames and stuck to the grunts.
Still, Toshiro knew it was a matter of time before a harder enemy or even one of the two remaining Tsviets approached him.
They reached a break in soldiers inside an in between hallway, the doors on either side of them shielding them from prying eyes. While Vincent took a breather, having been running and fighting nonstop, Toshiro took out the materia once more into his left hand, Hyorinmaru still gripped in his right.
"What's on your mind now, Captain?" Vincent questioned, recognizing the thoughtful expression in Toshiro's eyes.
Toshiro told him of his recent thoughts about his power level and using Hyorinmaru as a summon. Vincent looked concerned when Toshiro briefly explained the empty feeling he had when his dragon had left him.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to use the Lifeforce energy of him as a summon to base my attacks on instead of Spiritual Pressure."
"Place the materia in your zanpaktou." Vincent suggested calmly.
Toshiro looked at him oddly, not understanding. Instead of speaking, Vincent held his gun up, finger off the trigger, and grabbed the keychain hanging off the edge where the materia was placed.
"I've been using this materia with my shots. Summon materia really don't work well that way, but since Hyorinmaru is your zanpaktou anyway, placing him inside your zanpaktou as the summon spirit should let you use your powers, but with our magic instead of Spiritual Pressure."
"That…might actually work." Toshiro held both said items up. He didn't have a keychain to attach the materia too. "But…there is the emptiness…"
"You'll be putting him right back into the zanpaktou, it should fix that."
Still looking a little doubtful, and secretly worried, Toshiro decided he would at least try it.
"I don't have a keychain like you do."
"The materia will absorb into it. I use a keychain to switch materia faster."
Vincent seemed to know what he was doing since he was answering so quickly, so Toshiro decided to trust him and asked Hyorinmaru to move into the sphere once more.
The empty feeling came back full blast and he shivered, his face revealing his panic for a brief moment before he controlled his emotions. Once he was calm, he pressed the materia to the blade of his now empty-spirited zanpaktou. The sphere let off its white light, but the light swirled around the sword, dragging it into the blade.
Hyorinmaru returned to the blade and somewhat filled the emptiness he'd first left behind, but his presence was still hazy and didn't completely get rid of it due to him now using Lifeforce instead of Spiritual Pressure. It was enough that Toshiro could fight without being affected by the hollow feeling, but it would always be at the back of his mind. Still, it was enough that he'd be able to fight at full strength again.
"Thank you." Toshiro nodded to Vincent.
Now prepared for any tough fight, the companions moved deeper inside.
They came across a circular platform and were cut off by a small troupe of soldiers. Toshiro was about to step back and let Vincent take them down with his aim, but noticed these soldiers had a different kind of armor on then the others.
Its purpose became apparent when, after a well-aimed shot on Vincent's part, the bullets ricocheted off and a barrier briefly lit up. The soldier rolled his neck and then lifted his weapon to counter fire.
"Bullets are useless, it seems." Toshiro growled as they hid behind a pillar to avoid the barrage.
"Your time to shine." Vincent replied.
"It won't be as easy since I can't use Flash Step, but…well, I guess they don't look too tough."
"Even without Flash Step you're fast."
Toshiro simply shrugged and darted out of cover, going straight for the first startled Deepground soldier. He was quickly dead and a slash of ice took out the two next to him. Vincent's idea had worked; Toshiro could use his powers once more without risk of backfire, with the exception of Kido and Flash Step.
The commander of the group quickly ordered the other two grunts to rain fire on the ice Captain. With a hint from Hyorinmaru in the form of an image, as the ice dragon couldn't speak to him, Toshiro held the zanpaktou out front and an ice shield formed to protect him from the bullets.
'That's useful.' Hitsugaya mused, darting around the shield as the soldiers paused to reload. "Icicle Flock!"
He thought it would work, but since the icicles were projectiles, they also bounced off the barrier. Frustrated by this, Toshiro darted forward and cut them down while they were still recovering from ducking under icicles that hadn't reached them. The commander took fire, unaffected, and managed to graze Toshiro's arm with a bullet before the Soul Reaper cut him down.
'Great.' Toshiro scowled as he looked at the cut on his arm. 'And I can't use Kido to heal it or have Aerith heal it.'
It wasn't that bad, so he just ripped off a small portion of his sleeve and wrapped it tight around to keep himself from bleeding out again. It would have to do for now.
Vincent rejoined him and they were once more on the move.
'I wonder how the others are doing…' Toshiro mused as they traveled through yet more twisting hallways.
To answer his question, none of the other reactors were yet destroyed. Ichigo, Cloud, Tifa and Barrett were all fighting their way towards separate reactors. With Shalua in tow, Cid also made for one, and Reeve with Yuffie was attempting to reach the last. All groups were being held back effectively by wave upon wave of Deepground soldiers. Unohana was busy treating the wounded and could not assist, though her Kido was badly needed.
As for Rangiku and Shelke, they still rested in darkness, protected by the Kido barrier the former had created.
Back to the now main duo, they had arrived at what Toshiro thought was a dead end. There was a rail car, but the doors were closed shut around the rail. Vincent, however, seemed unperturbed by this and stepped into the car, working at the controls to get it up and running.
"With this we should be able to get deeper in a lot quicker." Vincent said aloud.
"But the doors are shut." Toshiro pointed out.
"They open when the rail car gets moving."
Shin-Ra technology really was strange. He thought about maybe meeting the current president when this was all over. Then again, Rufus didn't know about Deepground so was probably just as shocked as they were to see the group surface and quickly ravage the world. Still, he was doing a poor job helping.
Jumping into the rail car with Vincent, Toshiro began to wonder how he was going to get rid of Weiss and Nero. Without Kido, he had no way to briefly separate their power from their body long enough to purge them when killed. His thoughts scattered as the rail car jerked into motion. It had a slow start, but once through the doors it sped off, leading them through miles of town that would have taken them ages to get through on foot.
'…Fly…' Hyorinmaru's voice was faint, but with it came an image of Toshiro riding on Hyorinmaru's back while he was in dragon form.
Teal eyes looked up. True enough, above the underworld town there was plenty of space to fly.
"You'll be fine on your own, right?" Toshiro turned to Vincent.
The gunman glanced at him, confused.
"I'm taking to the air." He placed a hand to his zanpaktou's blade and removed the materia, ignoring the strong empty feeling, and said the release phrase.
Once Hyorinmaru had materialized, Toshiro leaped onto his broad icy back and they lifted high above the rooftops. Since he was in contact with the ice dragon, Toshiro didn't feel the emptiness as strongly.
"I did not think to do this before, but since speed is of the essence, I finally thought of this."
"Vincent will be left behind." Toshiro countered.
"Chaos will take care of him, it was part of our agreement." The dragon turned to see Deepground planes rushing to greet them. "You are under my care as long as we're this close to the pure Lifestream, Vincent is under his. But, I do believe I can ease his problems."
"I'll be holding on tight, then?" Toshiro sighed, not liking his position of uselessness.
"As long as you're safe on my back I can fight without distraction, master. You're doing more than you think by keeping next to me."
'I hope you're right…'
As the planes closed in, Hyorinmaru snarled. Toshiro had to grip tightly to Hyorinmaru's neck as the dragon turned sharply to face the oncoming machines. His jaws opened wide and a blast of ice shot out like fire, engulfing the planes and freezing them solid to where they crashed to the ground in pieces.
One had gotten around the blast and took fire on the dragon. Hyorinmaru kept his back away from the gunfire to protect Toshiro, his iced scales keeping him safe from the puny bullets. Swinging his tail, the dragon sent a flock of icicles hurtling towards the plane. But the movement caused Hyorinmaru to lower his front enough that a bullet flew by and imbedded itself in Toshiro's left arm. The pain was intense but he bit his lip to keep from crying out.
"Toshiro!" Hyorinmaru was enraged by the injury to his master and shot towards the plane with a single wing beat, tearing the machine apart with his jaws like a knife through butter. The dragon landed on a rooftop and turned his head back to check on his master. "Are you alright?"
"I've been better." Toshiro hissed through his teeth, putting pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding. At least the bullet had gone through so there wasn't a piece of metal trapped in his flesh.
"I was careless." The dragon rumbled in apology, lowering his snout to the wound and blowing out icy air. It covered the wound in a soothing layer of ice and cooled the heat from the pain. It wasn't Healing Kido, but under the current circumstances it was the next best thing.
"I'll be fine now, we should keep moving or Vincent will head off without us." The ice Captain adjusted his position so he could hold tightly to Hyorinmaru with only his right arm.
Looking a little reluctant about taking flight again, Hyorinmaru lifted off the roof and continued on in the direction of the rails. He didn't get into a fight unless forced this time, but did what he could for the gunman below when he was able. Once the gunman was out of the open rail car and once more on foot, Hyorinmaru flew ahead across the city and towards their goal.
That's when the darkness hit.
Whoo, cliffhanger! I remember letting my jaw drop when i saw the inside of Deepground and even said 'How the hell did they get a city under the ground?!' It was complete with little houses and even a river! Then i hated it because it took so damn long to get to Weiss. Well, Toshiro can fly on Hyorinmaru, so there's that going for him, hehe.