Chapter 29

"Burn in agony, Toshiro!"

Xirotosh advanced forward, slashing at Toshiro.

"What is it that you want, fiend?!" asked Toshiro.

"You are a weakling that must be demolished!" Xirotosh released a dragon of red ice. It attacked Toshiro, who reflected it with his ice dragon.

"Why did you decide to do this...fool."

Xemnas appeared behind Xirotosh. He turned his head in surprise. Toshiro and the other shinigami stayed alert, but sensed that they were not going to be in a fight.

"Master, I-"

"We warned you not to go. Your men were not capable of fighting against these shinigami."

"So?! I should at least take down my other self!"

"As you should know, doing that is a waste of time. Not now. Wait until I instruct you."

Xirotosh bit back his rage. Toshiro stared down Xemnas. "Why are you sparing Soul Society?"

"Doing so will be catastrophic for us. Without you warriors, the Keyblade War would have been harder to ignite."

"What?!" asked Toshiro. "What do you mean?!"

"As you reap souls, I collect the hearts. Soon, this kingdom hearts will be more than enough to start this next war."

"How can you collet hearts if the shinigami collect it?" asked Hisagi.

"You see, shinigami only collect the souls. They do not collect the heart. Usually, it stands there until it dissolves, but now, I have worked a way for the hearts to transfer to my new kingdom hearts."

"Impossible!" cried Byakuya. "You could only have hearts if a keyblade slays a heartless!"

"As I said, I found a way to do this. We'll see you all soon...then, I will explain everything to you..." Smiling, Xemnas teleported with Xirotosh away from Soul Society.

"I can't believe this..." growled Hisagi.

Rukia and Renji appeared, glad that their friends are all right. "Do you guys know where Ichigo is?"

"Ichigo's about to arrive here," said Rangiku, pointing at the sky. The ship landed near the shinigami, and Ichigo and his friends got out.

"Are you guys alright?!" Ichigo looked around, noticing the worried faces of the shinigami. "What happened?!"

Byakuya explained the situation to Ichigo. "A new kingdom hearts is being formed. We need to do something about it."

"We can't just break in," said Demyx. "Xemnas is more powerful than you all are. The best we can do right now is train."

"Did someone say...train?" Mayuri appeared out of nowhere, scaring everyone except for Byakuya and Kenpachi.

"Do you have a place in mind?" asked Kenpachi.

"Well...nice deduction. Of course I do...in the Jigokuverse."

"YOU-!" Byakuya angrily stared at Mayuri. "You bastard, of all the people-!"

"What's wrong, brother?!" Rukia said.

"That place...only the leaders of the highest clans, along with a few others, know of this place. It is hell contained within a universe. It is said that there is a place there where you can become a thousand times stronger...if you can survive. Our Captain-Commander couldn't survive a full week in there."

"This sounds like a challenge," said Kenpachi.

"Are you serious?" cried Renji.

"It sounds like our only hope for being on par against these nobodies," said Ichigo. "Besides, I need to unlock my full potential, no matter the consequences."

"But Ichigo-" Rukia started.

"He'll be fine," interrupted Mayuri. "I am planning to take Kenpachi and Ichigo. I also found a certain person that I would like to join me...but in order to subdue him, I need these two to join me."

"Right now?" asked Rangiku. "Soul Society is a mess right now, and the last thing we need is a reduction in our forces!"

"Yes...but the nobodies aren't going to attack us, and the neithermen are doing other things. You can focus on training yourselves so that these beings don't beat you to a pulp."

"What about me?" asked Scar.

"As for you, outsider, we will have to contact Central 46-"

"Wait," interrupted Ichigo, "I thought that he already has clearance to become a soul reaper."

"Sadly, Central 46 is strongly opposed to your actions, Ichigo. These clowns are morons, unable to see the gravity of the situation-"

"Central 46 is still alive?!" interrupted Toshiro. "How?!"

"They moved their base of operations outside of this universe and into the King's realm. Those cowards order from above so that they do not die."

Everyone was silent. Then, Scar said, "I can wait for a time being. I don't like these nobodies, and we are on the same side, so if I can't become a shinigami right now, can I request that I can train here?"

"Absolutely," said Byakuya. "The only condition I have is that you first seek the training center and find a weapon that will suit you. I'll show you where it is."

"Well, if everything is set here..." Demyx started.

"As for you, nobody, we want you to send a message to Yen Sid," said Toshiro. "Tell him everything that you saw here. Rukia and Renji will escort you there."

"All right!" Renji pumped his fists up. "We can go to another world now!"

"Behave yourself," warned Byakuya. "You guys will encounter Sora, too. If you want, you can join his party."

"Are you sure, brother?" asked Rukia.

"Don't worry," said Toshiro. "As Mayuri said, we will be-"

"Can we all just go now?!" interrupted Mayuri. "We have to get on our way."

"All right, man," sighed Ichigo. "Rukia, Renji, stay safe!"

Ichigo and Kenpachi went with Mayuri, vanishing instantly. Demyx, Renji, and Rukia teleported as well, heading towards the Yen Sid tower.

"Will we see them again?" asked Rangiku.

"Don't worry about them," said Toshiro. "We've got bigger issues to deal with. Anyways, Byakuya, you were about to say a name. What was it?"

Byakuya looked up, staring at the sun above Soul Society. "The man whom you saw...his name is Ansem. Ansem the wise."