getting the rust off
"So now that's settled we can get to why I came here in the first place."Iichigo said.
"Aaawww and here I was thinking this was a social call" the creature said sarcasticly.
Ichigo chose to ignore the comment and continued "Why have you changed shape old man?"
"Hang on, say what?! What the hell are you talking about?"
Ichigo looked at the hollow for a moment before pulling the blade from his back, the creature did the same. The hollow's look of shock was a comical sight.
"Are you stupid or something? You LIVE in my inner world along with Zangetsu and you didn't notice?
"Hey, screw you man, but, why the different shape Zangetsu?"
"Simple, your powers are growing stronger and stronger. If you ask the sou-taicho, or any of the taicho in fact, they will all tell you it is not uncommon for a zanpukto to change as their wielder grows" Zangetsu explained.
"So, in other words we can kick bigger and better ass now" the hollow clarified with a smirk.
"Well that's good to know, I would have thought my strength would have dropped since I haven't practiced in so long."
"Che, you were feeble to start with, its not like you can back slide any further."
"How much you willing to bet on that. Like I said I'm out of practice, and since you're a copy of me so are you."
"Bullshit, I'm never rusty, I'll even show you first hand!"
It was exceedingly easy for Zangetsu to see where this was heading. He sighed in annoyance, they hadn't even waited thirty minutes before starting their first conflict. Since he knew he could not stop it, Zangetsu decided he would remove the risk of it escalating into the previous conflict.
"I will allow this but bankai will be unavailable to either of you."
Ichigo and his counterpart didn't waste time. Within a breath both weapons were out and smashed against one another, both their wielders' fighting with muscle and reiatsu for dominance. Ichigo's counterpart quickly noticed that for all his words of being rusty, Ichigo was still a force to be reckoned with. Deciding to break the lock the creature leapt back and threw his blade forward, using reiatsu to lengthen the chain.
"What's the matter, what you backing off for?" Ichigo laughed as he leapt to the side.
Both of them could feel the power of the other in that first clash.
"Alright so it's bigger and better, sure you're not compensating for something?"
"You tell me we're identical."
The hollow had a maniacal grin on its face as it continued to swing its blade for rapid, sweeping attacks. Ichigo soon noticed he was being kept on the defensive, being forced to waste energy with dodging and running. He had to change the flow of battle, the hollow had defiantly lost the first clash, so Ichigo decided to get up close and personal again, it was just a matter of getting near enough. The hollow threw the blade again and Ichigo was struck with a brainwave. Calling up a getsuga tenshou, he held it on his sword as he slammed his opponent's weapon into the ground with incredible force, burying it in the side of the building and lodging it in place.
"HAHA sucker" Ichigo laughed as he charged forward.
"Aw crap."
Ichigo brought his blade down in a vicious ark as the hollow leapt back with a cry of "getsugua tenshou", sending energy through the chain and blasting his weapon free. Ichigo didn't give him time to retrieve it, swinging his weapon upward he released the getsugua on his blade, sending the wave of energy at his counterpart. The hollow dodged left avoiding the attack and pulled on the chain in his hand. Ichigo spun around to block the blade coming from behind, flicking it over his head. The hollow responded by swinging his sword up and over his head by the chain once again.
"Getsugua tenshou!"
"Oh shit."
In hind sight, Ichigo realised it made perfect sense that a bigger longer slash would make a bigger, stronger getsugua tenshou, unfortunately for Ichigo this was here and now, and he held his ground blade up to defend from the attack. The wave of energy crashed against him, and Ichigo struggled to overcome it before sending it skyward...only to see the hollow charge in under it and come up swinging. Ichigo jumped into the air bringing his sword down.
"getsuga tenshou!" Ichigo shouted, sending a blast at his pale twin to prevent him from following Ichigo as the hollow landed, separated after the skirmish.
"Well looks like Zangetu was right about the changes to our blade, your better with it than you ever were before, but you're still a loser Ichigo!"
"Bite me ya pale ass bastard."
"Not my fault the sun don't shine here, it's always raining you stupid emo."
"Bark bark."
"Get bent, look at that try hard tan, you just wish you were cool enough to be black."
"Ouch, touché."
Zangetsu stood on the sidelines and watched as they went in for another round. He couldn't tell whether the prayers he sent heavenward were that they never notice what he had done or whether it was for forgiveness when they inevitably did.