The Old Man Zangetsu leapt forward and bore down on Ichigo first, his two blades flashing in his hands. Ichigo calmly stepped to his right, slashing upwards with his daito as he did so. The daito met the Old Man's cleaver, and both blades locked with a thunderous clap, the area shuddering with the force of impact. Interestingly, both combatants were not straining themselves at all, and had hardly begun to use their power.
"Here I come!" called out the Hollow from their left as he flew into the air, slashing the air feverishly, sending a multitude of black crescent-shaped blasts of reiatsu at the two. Zangetsu raised one eye-brow in amusement.
"Repetitive use of Getsuga Tenshou?" he commented lightly as Ichigo spun beneath him and slashed, breaking their lock and sending Zangetsu flying out to meet the blasts.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo called out as he slashed upwards, attempting to trap Zangetsu in a sphere of black reiatsu blasts. Zangetsu calmly spun in the air, his blades whirling about him, each swipe accented by a Getsuga Tenshou that came forth, dissipating the blasts that came at him. Oddly, all his blasts were red, different from the traditional black or white that came with the blast. The albino demon closed in and slashed at Zangetsu, who blocked calmly with his right cleaver and sent his left daito screaming at his face, the red reiatsu of a Getsuga Tenshou threatening the Hollow. The Hollow tilted his head back and allowed the blade to sweep past him, and continued with the motion, kicking at the Old Man and flipping backwards in the air.
"Ichigo!" the Hollow called out to his partner as he landed back on the building, "You suck at using the Getsuga Tenshou properly! Pass me Tensa Zangetsu, and let me show you how to use it!" The Hollow threw his cleaver at Ichigo, who threw his daito back at him without hesitation. Both partners caught each other's blades and smiled.
"Watch!" cried out the demon gleefully, "Getsuga Tenshou!" The demon leapt up and slashed at Zangetsu casually, a blast of white reiatsu sailing forth. The Old Man hovered in the air and huffed, disappearing and reappearing in-front of the Hollow, dodging the attack completely and ready to slash at his…
The Hollow smiled. The Old Man had appeared exactly where he wanted him to, and his face was now in his left hand.
"Die!" The Hollow thrust his left arm forward, a white light building in his palm. With a decisive push he released the reiatsu and sent Zangetsu flying over the building, slashing fanatically with his daito as he did so, sending a multitude of Getsuga Tenshou blasts after him. Ichigo slashed and fired off another Getsuga Tenshou, and the crescent blast hurled at the fast approaching form of the enemy.
Just before the blast could contact with his body, Zangetsu disappeared and reappeared in-front of Ichigo, who quickly raised his cleaver to meet the onslaught of attacks. Zangetsu spun his blades in a complex pattern and Ichigo barely blocked his attacks, the speed of Zangetsu being five times faster than he recalled when he was training to achieve bankai.
Behind them, Ichigo's blast met the Hollow's barrage of attacks, the white reiatsu bolts negating each other and dissipating into the air.
"Stop reacting!" Zangetsu called out casually, still attempting to dice Ichigo, "Start acting!"
"Kinda tough to do," growled Ichigo, blocking an attack from his left, "When you're moving so fast!" Ichigo began to pour his reiatsu into his blade, the grey cleaver now glowing with a silver hue. His eyebrows rose, and Zangetsu copied Ichigo, his own blades glowing with a golden hue. Now, every clash between the blades saw a firework display, every glancing blow a multi-coloured after-image. Ichigo redoubled his efforts and began to attack, blocking and counter-attacking with increasing speed, his mind now finally focusing on the battle.
0…0…0…0…0…0…0
"You came at him too quickly, Zangetsu!" laughed the Hollow as he stood at the side, "He's only just begun to fight!"
"Shouldn't you be worried about yourself?" asked Zangetsu behind the Hollow. The demon started and spun, his sword raised and blocking the blow that came. The Hollow growled and sliced to the side, breaking the lock and leaping backwards. He leapt forward and began a random series of slashes and thrusts, aimed at confusing the opponent.
The opponent, however, was not put off and twirled his blades in-front of him, trapping the daito in their grip. Zangetsu smiled and slammed all three blades into the ground, lodging them into the building. Relinquishing his hold on his own weapons, Zangetsu spun and his heel caught the temple of the Hollow and sent him to the ground, where he promptly rolled to his feet and leapt forth, his hands outstretched to strangle the Old Man. The Old Man Zangetsu lashed out with his right hand and caught the Hollow's throat in an iron grip.
"Do not forget," Zangetsu commented casually as the Hollow clawed futilely at his hand, "That I too hold immense power in this world. Nothing is beyond me!"
The Old Man's eyes widened as the Hollow disappeared in his hands, his image liquefying and flowing into the air, disappearing into nothingness. He whirled around at the sound of a blade being unsheathed, and saw the Hollow withdraw two daitos from the ground, the white in his left and Zangetsu's black in his left.
"Two Tensa Zangetsu!" the demon cackled, "Two! This just gets better and better!" The demon spun and slashed with his blades fanatically yet again, each slash in the air saw the materialised Getsuga Tenshou. Zangetsu continued staring at the barrage of blows that came, and raised no defence.
"Very impressive," he commented lightly, and flash-stepped to the silver cleaver still lodged in the ground, dodging the blow and stepping in front of the Hollow, "Unfortunately, you've forgotten the rules of the game. You and Ichigo are supposed to work together to beat me. Where is your partner now?"
"If he's too weak to hold his own," replied the demon with a dismissive wave, "Then he is not fit to rule!"
The Old Man chose not to reply, and drew the cleaver from the ground and slammed it into the demon's gut in one smooth motion. The Hollow, his defence briefly down, staggered and attempted to catch his breath, but Zangetsu spun and his hand chopped at the demon's throat, sending the Hollow flying back on to another building.
"I honestly hope," Zangetsu said casually as he followed the dual-wielding demon, "That your partner is alright,"
0…0…0…0…0…0…0
"Your swordplay is as sluggish as it was before, Ichigo!" Zangetsu commented, his blades a flurry of slashes and thrusts, "You really should work to keep up!"
"Quiet!" Ichigo gave a swipe with his cleaver and sent a blast of reiatsu flying forth, forcing Zangetsu back. Behind him, he felt the battle between the Hollow continue with Zangetsu's clone. "You know, cloning really isn't fair, you shouldn't have done that,"
"This is a battle, Ichigo. Whatever power I have, I will call into play, just to defeat the two of you," Zangetsu replied, his blades still flying around him. Flying?!
With a start, Ichigo realised that Zangetsu had been controlling his weapons using only his mind, his hands and feet striking with the cleaver and daito he wielded. No wonder he was striking so quickly! No wonder his speed increased! thought Ichigo. He smiled and chuckled.
"Zangetsu!" he called out to the Old Man, "You're using 6 weapons against me. Your hands, feet, and blades, and yet I'm still here! If you really want to make this a training session, hit me with all you've got!" Zangetsu smiled, remembering their Bankai training session.
"As you wish!"
0…0…0…0…0…0…0
"Wha…?!" the Hollow jerked around in surprise. He stood in complete darkness, and an oppressive silence seemed to strangle him. He felt the presence of Ichigo behind him, his back faced towards him, but decided not to say anything and let the idiot figure out for himself what was going on.
"Zangetsu!" his useless other-half cried out, "Where are you? How are we supposed to fight you…"
"When you can't see me?" asked Zangetsu, his voice a choir of unimaginable proportions. Lights began to flicker around the duo and with a horrible twist in his stomach; Ichigo realized the darkness that surrounded them wasn't darkness at all! It was Zangetsu, millions of them, clustered together in the shape of a dome about them! Their capes drawn so close together it effectively formed a curtain of darkness about them, power radiating from the darkness.
"Ichigo," Zangetsu continued coolly. Or more, the nation of Zangetsu called out coolly, "Since you and your Hollow-self will not work together to take me on in a 2-on-1 battle, then I will force the two of you to work together!"
0...0...0...0...0...0...0
"This sucks," muttered the Hollow, turning to Ichigo, "Notice where the lights are coming from?"
Ichigo spun around, rapidly glancing about him, and colour drained from his face. They were illuminated by hundreds upon hundreds of swords, each one in the hand of Zangetsu, their hands gripping the swords and twitching ever so slightly, itching for battle. The swords glowed with a silver hue, and it was evident from the power that radiated forth that each Zangetsu was pouring his reiatsu into the blade.
The sword that each Zangetsu wielded was very much like a nodachi, the blade being long and seemed to be built for open cavalry warfare. However, the design of the blade as well as the grip simply labelled it as an extra long katana.
"Not that it matters… All that matters is that it can cut…" Ichigo muttered.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing," Ichigo shook himself from his thoughts and looked over at the Hollow, "How the heck did you manage to get two Tensa Zangetsu blades in your hands?!"
The Hollow smiled, "Long story…"
"Here we come!" the multitude of Old Man Zangetsu flew at the albino Hollow and the teenage Shinigami substitute, and the duo raised their blades to meet the challenge.