Toshiro took Zilla out of his backpack and pulled the mod soul candy out of the doll.

He swallowed the candy and reverted to his Shinigami form.

"I'm counting on you," he told the artificial soul that now occupied his real body. "No funny business while I'm away. And you'd better not let my grades slip."

"I can help with that," Rukia said. "Memory magic can be very useful."

"I don't understand," Orihime asked. "Why do you have to go away?"

Toshiro looked at those who had gathered with him on the school roof, Zilla, Rukia, Orihime, and Chad.

"It's become clear that I need to do something about this hollow Urahara put in me. It's also become clear that we can't beat the Arrancar alone. I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone."

"How long will you be gone?" Chad asked.

"I have no idea. I just know I can't win if I don't figure this out."

"But I assure you," he declared, "if the enemy attacks again, nothing will keep me from coming back to protect you all."

With that, he leapt away.

The others watched as Toshiro's figure became smaller and smaller in the distance.

"So what do we do now?" Orihime asked. "We were spending all that time training with Toshiro, and now he's gone."

"Would you like to train with me?" Rukia asked. "I can't take Toshiro's place, but my zanpakuto is also an ice-type, so I think we should be able to pick off where you left off pretty easily."

"Rukia … " Orihime said softly.

Rukia looked down sadly. "And who knows? It might actually be better to train with someone closer to your own levels of strength."

"Are you still upset about last night?" Chad asked.

She sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I was jealous of Toshiro."

"Jealous?" Orihime asked. "Why?"

"I've always been very proud of my zanpakuto. Sode no Shirayuki is widely known as the most beautiful zanpakuto in the Soul Society, and it is as powerful as it is beautiful.

"But after you left the Soul Society, all anyone in the Sereitei could talk about was the heavenly guardian and his zanpakuto. Everywhere around me I heard talk of how beautiful Hyorinmaru was, and how it was the most powerful ice-type zanpakuto.

"I guess I felt upstaged, and by a child at that. So when my powers returned and I got this assignment, I jumped at the chance to show off, to prove to Toshiro that my Sode no Shirayuki is equal to his Hyorinmaru. That's why I insisted on fighting D Roy alone.

Rukia shook her head and smiled sadly. "But when the real enemy appeared, I was shown just how wrong I was."

"Everyone was shocked when we saw how powerful Hyorinmaru was, including Toshiro," Chad said. "In fact, he was terrified of what it could do."

"That's one way in which he's different from all other Shinigami," Rukia said. "The obsession with getting stronger is not restricted to Squad Eleven."

She sighed. "I'm pathetic. Getting jealous and needing to prove myself against a child."

"That's not so uncommon," Orihime said. "A lot of people in our grade have been jealous of Toshiro getting better grades despite being so much younger than them. That's why he used to get beat up a lot."

"Now I'm being compared to school bullies," Rukia complained. "I've sure fallen from my days as a respected Shinigami."

"I think it's clear that we all need to get stronger," Chad said. "None of us can stand up to these Espada that Grimmjow mentioned."

Rukia nodded, her expression growing serious.

She had informed Captain Ukitake of what Grimmjow had said about the Espada. The fact that Aizen clearly did not have ten Vasto Lordes should have been good news, but the fact that an Adjuchas like Grimmjow could be so powerful was beyond disturbing. The other Arrancar had released their zanpakutos and transformed while battling the other Shinigami. Grimmjow did not do so and still defeated Toshiro.

Rukia knew full well what that meant. The sixth Espada was even more powerful than more brother, Byakuya. And the five Espada above him were even more powerful than that.

When she thought about it, she agreed with Toshiro that they needed more help, help which the Visoreds could provide in theory. But she was not certain at all that they could be trusted, or how her captain would react to hearing Toshiro's plan, let alone the other captains, who were far less understanding in general.

Zilla could possibly fool Toshiro's classmates and teachers, but she'd have to come up with an explanation for where the boy had gone that would satisfy Ukitake.

"So we're in agreement?" she asked. "The three of us will train together, and pick up where Toshiro left off?"

Chad nodded, and Orihime said "all right!"

Toshiro stopped flash-stepping when he entered the most rundown section of Karakura town.

'They're somewhere around here,' he thought. 'They're suppressing their reiatsus, but not hiding them completely. Not surprising. Shinji did say they were expecting me to come to them."

Following the reiatsus, Toshiro came to an old, dilapidated warehouse.

"Sure is a long way from the cushy captain's quarters," he said to himself as he entered the building.

He heard a creaking noise as the warehouse's shutter closed behind him.

"How creepy," he said nonchalantly.

"Good job finding this place, Toshiro," Shinji said.

Toshiro looked up. The warehouse had multiple floors, but much of them had been destroyed, allowing those on the ground level to see and talk to those on the top floor.

Toshiro took note of the other seven people scattered along the other levels.

"Does this mean you've finally decided to join us?" Shinji asked.

"No," Toshiro declared.

"No?" Shinji asked, taken aback.

Toshiro grinned at him. "Actually, I was hoping you would join me instead, Captain Hirako."

Shinji gritted his teeth in annoyance, but then grinned back. "So you've done your homework. But aren't you forgetting something? That inner hollow of yours isn't going away, you know."

"Actually, that seems like a minor concern at the moment," Toshiro said. "Seems he doesn't want to come out and play."

"Doesn't want to come out?" Shinji asked in surprise.

'How can that be? A hollow is driven by its desire to consume. There's no way any hollow would be content to just sit inside this kid.'

"The reason I'm here," Toshiro continued, "is because I thought the former captain of Squad Five might want revenge against Aizen."

'He's got to be bluffing,' Shinji thought. 'But at the same time, I thought he'd be too focused on getting his inner hollow under control to be thinking this many steps ahead.'

'Just who is this kid?'

"Am I wrong, Shinji?"

On the floor below Shinji, a small girl spat in annoyance. She leapt down to Toshiro's level.

Toshiro eyed the girl carefully. She had short blonde hair tied in spiky pigtails. She wore a red track suit over a white shirt. A long fang protruded from her upper lip.

Despite not wearing a Shinigami kimono, she carried what was clearly a zanpakuto at her waist.

"What do you think you're doing, Hyori?" Shinji asked.

"This kid's annoying me," she answered. "I'm going to teach him some manners."

"Hachi, add on another five more force fields," she called out.

A large pink-haired man answered her. "Yes, as you wish."

Hyori pointed her finger at Toshiro. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming in here and acting like you know everything about us. Let me tell you something: you've got the wrong idea about this."

Toshiro took note of the way her reiatsu rose. "And where was I mistaken?"

She grinned. "It's true that we've been playing around with the idea of letting you become one of our comrades. The problem is, it's not you're choice. You're not the one who makes the decision."

"That doesn't sound like you want a comrade," Toshiro said. "It sounds like you want a servant."

"Now that sounds like a good idea. The bottom line is, you lost all choice the moment you walked through that door. The choice of whether you join us or not is completely up to us. We look at your power, and after we determine your strength, we decide whether we want you or not."

Hyori's face contorted in rage and she pointed at Toshiro again.

"So don't act like you own the place! You don't have any choice in the matter, do you understand? If you're powerful, we'll let you join us and show you what it means to be a Visored. We'll even teach you how to control your hollow.

"But if you're weak then you can forget it! We'll leave you to become a hollow, and eventually you'll die a pathetic death!"

She turned around.

"Now, if you get the picture, let your inner hollow out. Let's see how powerful you all."

"I already told you," Toshiro said, "he doesn't want to come out and play."

She turned her head to look at him. "Are you serious? Let me make this clear to you. Either you prove your strength right now, or you die."

"Pretty big talk coming from someone who's even shorter than I am," Toshiro said, deliberately taunting her.

"What did you say, you little maggot?"

Hyori began to glow pink.

'There we go,' Toshiro thought. 'She's bringing out her inner hollow.'

A hollow mask formed on the side of Hyori's face and she turned back to him, grinning from ear to ear.

"If you're just too much of a wimp to hollowfy, then it appears I'll have to go to Plan B. One way or another I'll get it. I'll drag your hollow out, even if I have to end up beating it out of you."

The other Visoreds looked at her in shock.

"Don't be impulsive!" one called out.

"Think about what you're doing!" another one said.

Toshiro reached behind his back and drew his blade. "If you want to fight, then fine. But maybe you should consider who you're fighting first."

A muscular man with light-grey hair approached Shinji.

"This is getting out of hand. We should stop this."

"It's a bit late for that, Kensei."

Hyori pulled the hollow mask over her face.

Toshiro's eyes narrowed.

'There's the reiatsu increase of her hollowification.'

Hyori's voice became slightly distorted by the mask.

"You'd better hollowfy as well. If you don't, I'll kill you."

Hyori disappeared and reappeared right in front of Toshiro, extending her palm at his midsection.

Toshiro leapt back and crouched against the wall of the warehouse.

'Her speed and power have both increased,' he thought.

Hyori drew her zanpakuto and swung it at Toshiro, who dodged by leaping to the next wall.

"What's the matter?" she yelled. "Fight back!"

'Her reiatsu's risen significantly since she put the mask on, but it's not as big a difference as the time my hollow took over my body.'

Toshiro raised his blade to block her next attack, letting the impact push him away from her.

'It must require a large amount of energy to control her inner hollow. That limits how much power she can draw compared to if she just let the hollow loose.'

Hyori growled in frustration and swiped at Toshiro's head, making him duck.

'And if it drains her energy, that means it must be a temporary power-up, just like my Bankai.'

As Hyori took another swing at him, Toshiro summoned his zanpakuto's chain and threw it forward. The chain wrapped around Hyori's zanpakuto several times.

"What?" she said in shock.

Toshiro pulled on the chain, drawing her in close. He grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground.

Hyori crashed into a pile of wooden boxes on the ground floor.

"Is that it?" Toshiro asked. "This is disappointing on multiple levels."

He looked at the other Visoreds. "I came here because I thought captain-level Shinigami with hollow powers would be valuable allies against the Arrancar. And this is the extent of your power after you said you'd kill me? I thought you'd be stronger than captains without hollow powers."

"Or were captains just that much weaker a hundred years ago?"

Hyori rose from among the boxes, shaking with rage.

"That's it! Now you die!"

Shinji flash-stepped between them. "All right, that's enough!"

"Out of my way, Shinji!" Hyori yelled. "I'm gonna rip his lungs out!"

"And just how do you plan on doing that, Hyori? You wanted to test his strength, and he beat you without using his Shikai."

Shinji looked at Toshiro. "You've made your point, kid. And you passed the test. We'll teach you how to control your inner hollow."

"That is, if you are still interested."

Toshiro sheathed his sword. "I am. I'd really like to know why it wouldn't take over even when I was willing to let it."

Shinji put his hand on his chin. "That is interesting. I've never heard of a hollow refusing a free lunch before."

"I suppose you'd better ask it."

"Ask it?"

Shinji grinned creepily and raised his hand up in front of Toshiro's face. The hand began to glow with a white energy.

"Nighty night."

Toshiro could not move. He felt his consciousness slipping away.

The world turned black, and he fell onto a hard surface.

Toshiro rose, realizing that he was on the icy plain of his inner world.

He looked around. Hyorinmaru should have been nearby, but the enormous dragon was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, a single white figure could be seen far in the distance, slowly walking closer.

Toshiro frowned and reached for the zanpakuto on his back. He had seen this figure once before, during his fight with Kenpachi Zaraki.

The white figure stopped thirty feet from Toshir and grinned.

"Hello again, partner," the other Toshiro said.