"Ichigo and Yoruichi are coming too?"
The question came from Rukia, the short Lieutenant with black hair just past her chin and large violet eyes.
"Seems that way." Toshiro sighed in reply. "As well as Ichigo's group of friends. They all want to be in on this."
He, Rukia, Vincent, Cloud and Rangiku were waiting in front of the Senkaimon for the now large group of people from the World of the Living to arrive. The Gaians wanted to see for themselves their tutor to becoming a Soul Reaper.
"So Orihime's coming! Fantastic!" Rangiku clapped her hands together excitedly, turning to the Gaians. "She's an excellent cook, by the way."
"Is she?" Cloud asked, watching as Toshiro shook his head quickly while Rangiku was distracted. "Maybe another time."
"Oh well, your loss." Unfazed, Rangiku returned to her thoughts. She also failed to notice Toshiro grimace at the thought of Orihime's cooking, which the Gaians and Rukia saw. The latter smirked, also having dealt with Orihime's cooking before.
Their thoughts turned back on the arriving group as the doors opened, light filtering through from the Precipice World, which Cloud had learned from Jushiro was the in between world of the World of the Living and the Soul Society, which he had later told Vincent.
Six figures ran out of the light and stopped just in front of them. The only familiar face was Ichigo.
"Well, I'm being greeted already." Said a man with blonde hair sticking out from under a green and white striped hat. There was a robe that looked like an inverted version of the Captain's haori over a green shirt and pants and he stood on tall sandals. As they watched the man pulled a white fan out of his sleeves and covered his smile. "Pleasure to meet you! I'm Kisuke Urahara!" He bowed.
A black cat jumped on his back and Kisuke frowned up at it.
"I'm Yoruichi." The cat said in a husky male sounding voice. As expected, Vincent and Cloud assumed the hidden figure to be male, while the Soul Reapers kept silent, deciding it was better to let Yoruichi have her fun.
"Uryu Ishida." A rather lanky looking teen with black hair and glasses over blue eyes bowed as well. His outfit was rather curious, all white with a blue cross and a white mantle over his shoulders. He pushed his glasses back up his nose when he stood.
"Ah, I'm Orihime Inoue!" A girl with hair nearly as orange as Ichigo's yet still distinctly brown and brown eyes filled with kindness bowed excitedly, letting her rather large assets bounce some. She wore a pink shirt with frills at the bottom and light blue pants. She adjusted a pair of blue flower pins she had stuck to her shirt.
A tall man with dark skin and wavy brown hair hanging in front of his brown eyes bowed as well. His shirt was dark with short sleeves and dark pants. A tattoo on his shoulder was seen, a snake slithering around a heart with wings and the words Amore e Morte written on it.
"Yasutora Sado." He said. "Ichigo calls me Chad."
Cloud and Vincent quickly introduced themselves in the same manner, as it was obvious that was what they were supposed to do. Satisfied, Toshiro turned to Kisuke.
"You have a lot of work to do, there are quite a few people." He said.
"I thought so." The shopkeeper smirked behind his fan. Yoruichi sat next to him, glancing between the Gaians. "So, where are our new students?"
"The Kido Corps is allowing us use of their training field as it's the biggest. The rest of them should be gathering there now. These two," The tiny Captain gestured to Cloud and Vincent, "wanted to meet you before that."
"Oh how nice of you!" Kisuke said dramatically. "You know, the two of you have quite a bit of power. I wouldn't be surprised if they rose to Ichigo's level at the same pace he did."
"That fast?" Even Ichigo looked startled by such a thing.
"Perhaps they can actually control their Spiritual Pressure, though." Uryu said, pushing up his glasses again and smirking as Ichigo scowled at him.
"How exactly are we going to become Soul Reapers?" Cloud asked.
"Well, this one will do it the same way Ichigo did, with a little help from Hitsugaya." Kisuke pointed at Vincent with his fan as he spoke. "You and your friends, whoever is capable, will be trying my new method I came up with last night. I had Ichigo's sister try it out and it works, though he wasn't happy with me about it."
"Wait, Karin's a Soul Reaper now?" Toshiro looked rather concerned about that.
"She's been growing her powers for years now." Ichigo grumbled. "And since she already knew about everything, we told her the missing bits and Urahara used his new method to make her a Soul Reaper."
"I thought you developed the method for the Gaians due to their strange energy." Toshiro turned on Kisuke.
"That's the amazing bit, it works both ways!" Kisuke looked extremely proud of his overnight discovery. "Stop worrying so much, your girlfriend is fine."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
The girls giggled slightly as Toshiro fumed at Urahara and a slight pink tinge crept onto his face. He'd be damned if they thought he had a crush on a human…
"Let's not tease Toshiro anymore, children." Yoruichi said, but was also chuckling to herself. "We have a lot of work to do."
The black cat began to lead the way for the long winding trip to the Kido Crops training area. All the Soul Reapers excluding Toshiro raced ahead with Flash Step, and Uryu went using some other version of high speed movement that he didn't tell them the name of, but demanded wasn't Flash Step. Orihime and Chad walked with the Gaians, though the latter didn't speak and Orihime talked quite a bit.
"Inoue, they can't answer you if you continue asking questions." Toshiro said over his shoulder to the teen.
"Whoops, sorry!" The girl paused to bow before continuing with her walk.
Once the girl slowed down and listened to answers, Cloud found it much easier to talk to her. Some of the things she asked were so strange he just didn't answer, such as things he liked to eat. He didn't know most of the food she talked about, but by the way she put them together, it definitely sounded…odd. He understood why the Ice Captain now leading them had earlier shook his head when Rangiku told them about it.
Eventually they made it, stepping through the large door into the enormous, dirt packed field where the others waited. High walls of thick stone surrounded the area, the top being the spirit warding stones, creating an invisible barrier above to prevent any rogue Kido shots.
"There you are!" Kisuke waved them over. The Gaians joined the others while Orihime, Chad and Toshiro stood with their group. Several other Captains and Lieutenants stood further back as if to watch what Kisuke had come up with.
There were quite a few people. All of AVALANCHE had come, including Red, though the wolf seemed to be a spectator. Reeve and Shalua had come to see as well, apparently having refused the power of a Soul Reaper. The four Turks were there as well, glancing around at the enormous training field with both wonder and speculation. Kadaj stood off on his own, uncomfortable among his enemies.
"Alright, alright." Kisuke got their attention. "Now not all of you will be able to gain Soul Reaper powers. I need a minute to figure out who can and can't. Mr. Valentine and Mr. Strife I already know can so if you two would stand over here. Thank you!"
Going to each person in turn the eccentric man examined them all, including Red to his surprise, and pushed those who could gain powers towards Cloud and Vincent while pushing the others off towards Orihime, Chad and Uryu; the spectators. In the end the head count went like this: Vincent, Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Yuffie, Barrett, Red XIII, Shelke, and Kadaj. The Turks growled at being left out but stood their ground. The least they could do now was observe.
"Now, all but one of you will be doing things my way, so listen well!" Kisuke called out to his gathered group, waving his fan at them. "Mr. Valentine, if you would step aside for a moment. I will speak to you privately in a moment once I have your friends moving along."
Nodding, the gunman went to stand next to Toshiro and Reeve.
"You know, I did not expect this many." Kisuke muttered to himself. "Well, let's get moving! First off, since you came straight here from your world, you're technically still in a human body. To gain Soul Reaper powers, you need to be spirits." He left off on that bit and they shared looks while Toshiro mentally smacked himself for assuming that the Gaians were already spirits.
"You mean die?" Kadaj looked at him like he was crazy.
"In a sense." Kisuke smirked behind his fan and the Remnant scowled. "But since this is Soul Society, separating you from your body would leave you permanently dead, so there is that problem. I did think of a solution, however." Moving rather dramatically to the side, Kisuke revealed a large opened black box with multiple silver bracelets inside, enough for all of them and more. "These are just for you guys, a sort of spirit to human shifter and vice versa. Kurotsuchi was kind enough to give me samples of Lifeforce from that rather giant Tsviet sent by Captain Hitsugaya over a year ago. From that I managed to create a device that used that same Lifeforce and shifted it into Spirit Energy, effectively changing your human bodies into spirits as well. Therefore, it will only work for you Gaians."
He picked up one of the thin silver devices and tossed it to Cloud. Catching it swiftly, Cloud examined it before slipping it onto his wrist, looking at Kisuke for what to do next.
"I would have put a button but that could be too easily pressed for the reverse and could cause problems in battle." Kisuke explained, tossing another of the bracelets to Tifa this time. "So, to activate it, you have to focus your energy into it the same way you would a materia, or so I've been told. Once you do that it works for you and only you so don't lose it." He tossed one to Yuffie and then Kadaj. "I will warn you, it stings a bit. Toshiro knows the feeling."
Remembering the experience of having his Spiritual Pressure exchanged for Lifeforce, Toshiro's eyes widened.
"A bit, Urahara?" He snapped. "That hurt like Hell!"
"Oh, well, I've toned it down some." The fan was in front of that devious smile once more and the Ice Captain knew this wouldn't be good. "Besides, this will be their first time exchanging energy, so of course it will hurt. Over time it will only be a tiny little sting and that's it."
"We can handle pain, Captain." Red said, holding his paw out so Kisuke could slip the bracelet on. "We've fought our fair share of battles."
"As have I before I exchanged energy." Toshiro argued. "It's not a physical pain…not really."
"Might as well give it a try, still." Cid shrugged and clasped the device to his wrist, the last one to do so.
"When you first become spirits, the pressure will seem far more intense than ever." Kisuke turned to the various Soul Reapers gathered around. "For the sake of their health, can everyone step back several feet!? Even being near them when they first shift may just kill them!"
Knowing that to be true, especially with so many of them around, the Soul Reapers Flash Stepped to the edge of the training area, including Toshiro, leaving Vincent with his fellow Gaians and the three human friends of Ichigo.
"Okay then! Go right ahead!" Kisuke called out to his new students, taking several steps back himself.
Some of them were reluctant to use it now that they knew it would hurt, which Kisuke had tried to avoid by telling them it wouldn't. Perhaps he shouldn't have said the part about Toshiro knowing the feeling, since then the said Captain would know what he meant and comment. Which he did.
But Cloud didn't hesitate to begin. The bracelet began to light up in an aqua glow like the Mako color of his eyes and he felt a strange sensation in his body. At first it was just a tickle. Seeing this, the others began to activate theirs, different colored glows for the color of their power. As soon as Yuffie got over her hesitation and activated hers, being the last of them, Cloud began to feel it. A sharp pain in his limbs like thousands of stabbing blades and a fire in his veins. His body felt heavy and he collapsed to the ground, before it felt light again and then repeated. The others soon fell into the same situation and collapsed.
Toshiro grimaced at the scene. It looked like they were being tortured and he didn't like it, especially since he knew what it felt like. An inner scorching pain and weights constantly pushing and lifting. Kisuke watched them intently, keeping a watch on their energy levels for anything dangerous and ready to step in if need be. Out of all of them Shelke seemed to be taking it the best and he put it down to her 'training' to becoming a Tsviet. But it still hurt her and Shalua was doing her best not to jump in and help her.
Finally it was over and, exhausted, the Gaians once more began to stand. Yuffie, Cid and Barrett remained seated, Red laying himself out on the ground. None of them recovered quickly from that since, like Toshiro said, it was no physical pain but deep inside.
"Now that that's done you all need a moment to adjust to your new power. Relax a bit and get used to the pressure around you. The Soul Reapers will suppress their Spiritual Pressure for now to make it easier on you." Once said, Kisuke turned from them and towards Vincent. "You, my friend, get to come with me to the World of the Living. The method you're using involves actually separating your soul from your body, which can only be safely done there."
"Are you sure about this?" Vincent questioned, narrowing his eyes at the shopkeeper.
"This method is tried and true, Mr. Valentine! It's how Ichigo became a Soul Reaper." The gunman turned to look at the orange haired teen at the far end with the other Soul Reapers. Not knowing what they were talking about, Ichigo just looked confused. "If it would help I can have a companion there with you. Sadly, your friends need to stay here, but perhaps one of the others?"
"I'll be fine."
"Excellent! Now, if I remember right, Shiro mentioned you having demons inside you."
"I do."
"Well, I assume when you switch energies during this exercise they will become more like Inner Hollows. So I called on some friends of mine with the same situation but they would prefer to wait for now, and Ichigo will come as well, since he's done all this before. And Shiro himself can come since he's a fellow Weapon host and may be able to help you through it."
"Chaos isn't a part of me anymore."
"Oh? Well, I didn't notice." Kisuke smirked behind his fan but all Vincent saw was the mysterious and cunning look in his eyes. "Perhaps he's not as gone as you would like to think…Oh well! Time to go! I need to get you started so I can come back here to begin their training."
After gesturing to the exhausted Gaians, some of the others coming to check up on them, Kisuke started walking away, waving Ichigo and Toshiro over.
The four of them together went back to the Senkaimon where a Soul Reaper with some Hell Butterflies in a cage waited.
"I thought those were for sending messages?" Vincent asked the white haired Captain with him.
"They also give us passage through the Precipice World." He replied. "There's a restrictive current in there that, if it touches you, traps you in place. A cleaner comes through and destroys whatever soul it happens to find trapped in the current. The butterflies allow us to go through a safe path where the current does not flow yet."
Four of the butterflies flew out when the cage was opened and hovered around each Soul Reaper, the fourth hovering uncertainly around Vincent.
"It's never had a non-Soul Reaper charge." Toshiro shrugged at Vincent's quizzical look.
"Alright, let's go through and get Mr. Valentine started, shall we?" Kisuke smiled, jumping through when the gates opened wide.
The other three quickly followed him, Vincent still unsure about everything that was happening. It seemed like they were wasting time. Then again, if it was taking them this long to gain powers and they had the help of most of the Soul Society, Sephiroth would definitely have some trouble powering up as well.
That was the hope anyway.
And so the training begins! Hm, don't really know what to say here. Enjoy, I guess ^^