It was Sora who spotted the ship.
"Hey!" He called out to the others. "It's the Black Pearl!"
"Gawrsh, did Jack get her back?" Goofy asked as he and Donald came to the Keybearer's side.
"He's on it, but not as Captain." Toshiro said with a scowl, standing on the edge of the ship and looking out towards the boat. "There's too many Heartless on board for that to be true."
"And Barbossa?" William asked.
The Reaper took a moment to search for the now human pirates, making it look as though he was using sight and not Spiritual Pressure.
"Not there. Just Pete." He returned to the floor of the ship, to Elizabeth's relief, and moved towards the wheel where Will was. "Sparrow is probably a ransom."
"Why him?" Elizabeth frowned.
"Pete probably thinks we're friends with him. While I don't like him I can't let the Heartless kill him, so save him we will."
Nodding, William kept the ship steady as the black and tattered ship approached them. The Black Pearl slowly crept towards them as time went on, nothing else but ocean in sight. Soon they could see the dark creatures flitting about the deck, some able to fly with large purple wings. Though these could easily glide over and attack, they didn't. Once the ship was nearly side by side with them, they spotted Pete, Sparrow in ropes in his grasp.
"You seem desperate, Pete." Toshiro called him out.
"Shut up, Reaper!" Pete growled. "Your little trick took away potential Heartless! I'll get you for that!"
"You have yet to win a fight against me." The Ice Captain drew his blade. "And this time I have my sword."
The obese cat paled but still managed to growl. He lifted Jack off the ground, startling the man.
"Go ahead! You'll lose your pirate friend, too!"
"We'll stop you AND get Jack back!" Sora snapped, holding his Keyblade at the ready. Donald and Goofy stood firm beside him.
"When did I become the damsel in distress?" Jack frowned, very unhappy.
Ignoring him, Toshiro looked down to the water below.
"Captain Sparrow, how much do you want that ship?" He looked back up.
"Don't even think about it." Jack grumbled back, knowing what the boy intended to do. "Might as well kill me now, mate."
"Alright, the hard way it is."
His image vanished, Pete looking around quickly for where he could have gone. Distracted, he failed to notice Sora, Donald and Goofy jump ships and attack the Heartless until he heard the first hit.
"Gah!" He dropped Jack, the man landing with a heavy thud and a pained grunt, and turned to the Keybearer. "Heartless, attack! Get 'em a-oof!"
Pete found himself flying forward before landing heavily on the Interceptor.
"Nice kick, mate." Jack complimented, shaking off the ropes he'd cut with his dagger and looking at the white haired Reaper.
"Hopefully you're not as attached to the Interceptor." Toshiro replied, striking down an approaching Heartless.
"Not at all."
Problem was, William and Elizabeth were still on the ship, Pete beginning to realize this and grinning evilly. Those on the Black Pearl were taking out the Heartless, though Sora nearly had them all defeated, a few gliding over to the other ship where their master was. The humans needed to be removed first before the ship could be retired to the ocean floor.
Toshiro quickly darted back onto the ship and latched onto Elizabeth, knowing Will would want her to safety first. She screamed in surprise as she was suddenly rushed to the opposite ship to be guarded by Goofy, the dog keeping his shield up.
"You okay?" He questioned the girl. "Captain Hitsugaya can be kinda quick."
"I'm fine, it just startled me." She said, taking deep breaths and pushing her hair out of her face.
Satisfied, Toshiro turned around to get Will.
"Haha!" Pete cheered victoriously, two of the flying Heartless holding tightly to William's arms so that he couldn't get away.
"Will!" Elizabeth cried out.
"Let him go, Pete!" Sora snapped, darting over to the edge with his Keyblade held out. Donald zapped the last of the Heartless on the Black Pearl and Jack rushed up to the wheel to keep her steady.
"Aw, how sad." Pete mocked. "The widdle kiddies want their fwiend back. Haha!"
The air suddenly got very cold and the water turned harsh, lapping up the sides of the ships. The already dark skies became darker with storm clouds. In a place where water was plentiful, Toshiro's Spiritual Pressure could cause quite a havoc. The Interceptor lurched, no one aboard to keep it steady, and Pete fell over with a thud.
"Pete's in for it now." Sora smirked, backing away from the side of the ship and grabbing hold of something to keep steady.
Donald shivered and did the same, looking to Toshiro with a fearful glance. The Reaper was definitely furious. If Pete didn't know not to mock him like that before he sure did now.
"Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" The ice dragon created slammed into the side of the ship, shards shooting off the Heartless latched onto William. Frightened, the man didn't know if he should head to the safer ship or get as far away from the boy with white light wafting off of him as possible.
His question was answered as Toshiro suddenly grabbed onto him and threw him onto the Black Pearl with surprising force. Once he had the human safely on the other ship, Toshiro proceeded to launch the water up from below the Interceptor into a pillar of ice shards. Pete managed to escape getting skewered only to fall into the freezing water. A serpentine ice dragon rose from the water, jaws open wide to snap up the cat like the Leviathan from myth. He paddled as fast as he could to escape, summoning a large Heartless to protect him.
Teal eyes spotted movement in the water and he shifted the direction of the dragon. Pete wasn't a problem anymore. Their new enemy was. A dark fin peeked above the water, racing just as fast towards the dragon as the dragon raced towards it.
"That's a big Heartless." Sora frowned, gripping tighter to the Keyblade.
Toshiro appeared next to him and grabbed onto the blade, it having run out of energy for its Frozen Heaven form some time ago.
"Let's wait to see what it can do before we rush in headfirst." The Ice Captain warned the boy, Donald and Goofy nearby.
"But what if the boat gets hit?" Goofy asked and Donald nodded to show he had the same question.
"It won't."
Though the animals shared a glance, Sora seemed to trust him and leapt out of the ship, landing on the frozen waters below. The Black Pearl was free of the ice and so started heading away, but Jack kept it at a slow turn so as not to abandon them. Toshiro was standing with the Keybearer.
The ice dragon dove down atop the approaching Heartless, shooting up into great spikes of ice both above and below. The water stopped moving.
"Did you get it?" Sora tilted his head, looking for any sign of movement.
"Don't count on it." Toshiro growled.
As if on cue, a huge shape crashed through the ice and into the air with a deafening roar. It had a fish-like shape but with large fins that extended into bladed fingers and had an elbow to bend at, spines down its back and huge teeth. The Heartless symbol was on its belly. It glared at them with golden eyes before crashing through more ice and back into the water.
"We have to find a way to get it back up." Toshiro said, moving to the edge of the ice floe he'd created and hunting down the creature's Spiritual Pressure to track it. "It will take too much energy to freeze the ocean."
"Let's get it to jump again." Sora said. "Maybe if we both throw an ice dragon at it we can freeze it in the air."
"Only for it to drop like a stone to the bottom. If we get it to jump I can probably freeze a thick enough layer underneath it that it can't dive through. We'll have to be quick."
"Got it."
They weren't sure how to make it jump again and so just waited, Toshiro following its movements closely. It moved underneath the ice floe before suddenly shooting upwards.
'It's trying to shoot up into us.' Toshiro growled.
He spun around and latched onto Sora, moving away just in time to avoid being blasted upward by shattering ice and a large blue Heartless.
"Sorry." He said quickly to Sora before throwing him upwards.
Flipping himself around, Sora threw his Keyblade like a boomerang at the whale. Meanwhile, Toshiro stuck his blade into the water and quickly froze it over into a large circle, thickening it as fast as he could. The Heartless above him twisted around to try and dive into the water but found his path blocked by Sora, his clothing bright blue and magic flowing around his feet to let him glide on air. A new Drive form, what Queen Minnie had gifted to Sora at Disney Castle. Utilizing this magic based form, Sora shot out several bolts of magic energy which, with his current Keyblade, turned icy and sharp.
These bolts dug deep into the thick blubber shield of the Heartless and pushed it back into a collision course with the new ice floe. Gravity brought it slamming down atop the white ice and knocked it senseless for a brief moment, the ice cracking but holding fast.
"Sora!" Toshiro appeared next to the Keybearer and stood using a platform of Spirit Energy. "Use the technique I taught you. It might break through the skin."
"Okay!"
Sensing danger, the Heartless attempted to flip over, scratching at the ice with its bladed fingers.
"Way of Binding Number Nine, Strike!"
A red glow enveloped the creature and prevented it from moving. The darkness immediately attempted to break the bind but Sora was already diving downwards, Frozen Heavens aimed for the chest.
"Dragon Hail Flower!" Sora called out, a white ice dragon curling around him and his Keyblade gaining that blade like aura as it stabbed into the flesh of the creature, ice exploding outwards.
His Drive Form reverted, Donald suddenly appearing on the ice as it used his powers to work, and Sora felt drained, though not as badly as last time. The Heartless gave a roar and, though it was wounded, escaped them and back into the water, turning it black with shadowy blood.
"Not done yet." Toshiro scowled, grabbing the duck around the middle and taking him back to the ship. Donald reluctantly agreed there wasn't much he could do in this water fight, as did Goofy.
Once the Reaper returned they once more waited for the beast to rise.
"I don't think I can do that attack again." Sora said, panting a little.
"Don't exhaust yourself. You don't have much time left with Frozen Heavens, try to stun it with a dragon and I'll finish it off. This thing has thicker skin than I thought."
"Sir!"
Now furious, the Heartless rose a good ways away and charged towards them quickly, refusing to jump up and risk exposing its weakened belly.
"Gotcha!" Sora sliced downward through the air, the end slamming into the water where ice spread outward.
A white dragon launched forward, jaws open wide as it charged at the Heartless. Golden eyes flashing dangerously, the whale lifted upwards and roared, leaping just enough out of the water to slam headfirst into the ice dragon and crush it. Ice caked over its skin in rough patches of spikes, slowing down its charge as it tried to speed through the water.
Toshiro tossed forward the chain-blade, snaring it around the dorsal fin with the blade digging into its back. That done, he leaped into the air and pulled hard on the chain, forcing it out of the water and sliding onto the ice floe, the Keybearer having moved off to the side to avoid getting hit. It thrashed about on the ice. With a grunt of effort, Sora stabbed his Keyblade into the ground and ice spiked up around the Heartless, trapping it.
'That's new…' Toshiro thought on it no more and Flash Stepped back down, his blade digging deep into the already deep wound.
Hyorinmaru began to freeze the beast from the inside out. It shuddered beneath him as the life left it, coming to a stop as the blue ice covered it entirely. For the briefest moment, all that could be heard was the waves sloshing around them and against the approaching ship. A crack echoed in the silence, then another. Toshiro removed the chain-blade, sealing his zanpaktou and sheathing it, and leaped off the Heartless just as it shattered into shards of ice and blue spirit particles.
"Yeah! We did it!" Sora cheered.
"You're getting better." Toshiro said, looking amused.
"You bet I am!" He punched the Reaper playfully on the arm.
Sora froze then, wondering if Toshiro would yell at him for that, or possibly hit him. Plus, he'd hit the arm where the scar was. Though there was some annoyance, the Ice Captain simply raised an eyebrow and shook his head, disappointed. An improvement. And no pain. That was good.
"Hey, did you find the key item yet?" Sora changed the subject.
"Actually, yes." Toshiro turned to the ship coming close to them. "But I can't tell you."
"Eh?! No fair…"
"Remember, the Keyblade has to do it. I could be wrong."
"You're never wrong."
"You'd be surprised."
Once the ship was close enough, Toshiro grabbed the back of Sora's shirt and returned them both to the deck.
"An impressive display, mate." Jack called out. "One would think you're not human."
"That truly was amazing, you two." Elizabeth walked over to them, looking past the glare Toshiro sent at the pirate.
"No problem." Sora beamed, hands behind his head. Toshiro rolled his eyes.
"Did you get hurt, Sora?" Goody questioned.
"Nope, we're fine. Maybe a few scratches from the ice but nothing terrible."
Their conversation was cut short as they heard a bell-like sound, turning towards Jack as the Captain gasped in surprise.
"What the…?" The pirate looked at his compass questioningly as it gave off a light glow.
"There's your cue." Toshiro rested against the ship's side; apparently this wasn't what they needed to unlock the way to Soul Society.
Shrugging, Sora summoned his Keyblade and held it forward as the compass rose upward with a subtle light that grew stronger. He easily unlocked the new pathway and the compass returned to Jack's hands, the pirate now examining the item VERY closely to see why it would have done that.
"Well, guess we better get going." Donald sighed.
"So soon?" William asked.
"Yeah, we've got more of those creatures to fight." Sora replied. "Maybe we'll come back another time."
"At least you won't have to worry about pirates anymore." Goofy added.
"Oi, don't be so sure of that." Jack frowned.
"Right, watch out for him, he likes to get captured a lot." Toshiro deadpanned.
The others laughed except Jack.
Saying their goodbyes, the four returned to the Gummi ship to head onwards to the next world. There were two more now as Donald pulled up the map. A desert city atop a giant lamp and a rather haunted looking town. Nobody had a preference, though Toshiro was wary about the desert one, and so Sora picked a random one. They ended up going to the one called Agrabah, the desert city.
"Donald, do you have a spell to keep someone cool?" Toshiro asked said duck.
"Yeah." Donald looked at him curiously.
"You might need to cast it on me two or three times. I'm not going to do well here."
"Oh yeah, deserts don't have any water." Sora frowned.
"And the heat, too." Goofy added.
"I never did well in heat." Toshiro scowled. "And I probably shouldn't use my zanpaktou; I'll end up taking away what little water they have."
"Right, we'll take care of things." Sora said with determination, steering towards their new destination.
Toshiro leaned back in his chair, hoping to whatever gods would listen that this desert wouldn't be too harsh on him.
Meant to post last night but the internet wouldn't connect, something with the router. But here it is! Time for some desert fun! or torture...however you like to think of it ^^ Enjoy!
