The other side of the Senkaimon led them to a spacious area with hard packed dirt and various rocky structures scattered around, the sky above them bright blue, though the clouds looked kind of…cartoony. The space seemed to go on for quite a ways and seemed like they were in the desert.
"I thought we were heading to Ichigo's home, Karakura Town." Vincent asked, turning to the three Soul Reapers with him.
"We are." Ichigo replied. "This is the training room under Kisuke's shop. There's the way back up over there." He pointed to a ladder that extended upwards at least ten stories and led to a black square hole in the sky, which he now knew was indeed fake.
"This is underground?" Startled, Vincent examined the endless rocky landscape once more.
"That's right!" Kisuke beamed. "Now, we need to get you started. Ururu! Jinta! Tessai! Our guest is here!"
Despite having yelled as if they were far away, three people ran out from behind a nearby boulder and stood at attention. Two of them were teenagers; one was a girl a few inches taller than Toshiro with black hair and a rather depressed look in her purple eyes, wearing a short skirted school uniform of a dark red color, while the boy next to here was fierce looking and almost as tall as Kisuke with red hair slicked back and wearing sportsman clothing. As for the man, he was taller than Vincent and very muscular with a thick black mustache and dark glasses, a blue apron over top his clothing.
"Alright, who's starting?" The red headed boy smirked. "I wanna take this guy on, Ururu gets all the fun."
From that Vincent knew the girl was now Ururu, and from a soft whisper on her part to reply to the red-head, he must have been Jinta. That left the big man with the name of Tessai.
"When I did it Ururu was my partner." Ichigo snapped at the red-head, scowling.
"Either one can do it, to be honest." Kisuke smirked. "Ururu is just a little more of a surprise."
Toshiro quirked an eyebrow but said no more, deciding that for this method Kisuke needed to work at his own pace. Whatever he'd done before to get Ichigo his powers, it sure worked. Aizen wouldn't be imprisoned without the teen, who wouldn't have gotten his powers without Kisuke.
"Of course, we can't begin until you're a spirit." He handed another of the silver bracelets to Toshiro. "This one is already on. You need to put that on him the second his soul splits from his body or there could be…complications."
Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Toshiro took the bracelet and stepped closer to the gunman, waiting. Vincent was already beginning to feel nervous but didn't show it.
"Alright." Kisuke lifted up his cane to point the tip at Vincent's head, which made the gunman tense. "This part doesn't hurt, so relax."
In a split second, the tip of the cane, which had a symbol on it that he wasn't able to fully see, pierced his head. Truthfully it felt more like it was pushing him, but at the same time he could see it piercing his forehead. Wait, that wasn't right. Someone snatched his right wrist and slipped a tight silver band on; right, Toshiro.
With everything being so confusing, his senses all over the place, Vincent didn't really register the flaming pain inside as his energy switched before it was already over. Once he could think properly again he noticed his body lying on its side in front of him, a long silver chain going from his human body's chest to his spirit body's chest. Not to mention the air felt hard to breathe and a weight pushed down on him, forcing him to his knees.
"Yes, the shift will take some getting used to." Kisuke fanned himself, smirking, which Vincent guessed meant it was a success, though he felt like shit. "But we need to move straight on to Step One. Jinta, since you're so eager."
Grinning evilly, the tall red head reached behind the boulder he'd originally jumped out from and pulled out an enormous iron bat.
"To help raise your Spirit Energy you need to be put in an actual fighting situation, which will force you to raise it." Kisuke explained at Vincent's appalled glance. "If you don't, however, Jinta might do some serious damage. I'd prefer if you didn't shoot him, please, though you probably can't use your gun in spirit form."
That was true. The tripled barreled gun he called Cerberus was in its holster on his human body, which was the only thing not to transfer to his spirit body. Everything else had stayed, including his golden claw. At least he had that going for him.
But it was hard to stand even now, and the air was hard to breathe. His new opponent seemed to be enjoying his helplessness. Off to the side, Toshiro was more than willing to step in if the teenager got too reckless. There was training and then there was torture, and Kisuke always managed to walk the line between perfectly. Eyes ever watchful, Toshiro noticed the tense shift in Vincent's muscles as the boy drew closer and a demonic energy just like a Hollow's but mixed with Spiritual Pressure began to seep off of him. It seemed he was using his demons to give him a boost. Dangerous, but it was a start.
It let him dodge at least, as Jinta brought his iron club down with enough force to crack the ground. He swung around for another go and the gunman sidestepped before lashing out with his gauntlet. Startled, Jinta stumbled back to avoid the golden claws, growling as he prepared to strike again.
"Well, his speed has already improved." Kisuke mused aloud, now standing with Ichigo and Toshiro. "I was unsure about him using his demon power at first…"
"He only used it to give him a start." Toshiro corrected. "Notice he's not using it now, only his own Spiritual Pressure."
"Smart guy." Ichigo put his hands behind his head to stretch a bit before returning to being a spectator. "Wonder what kind of Inner Hollow he has, since Chaos was a demon."
"Chaos isn't there anymore, Kurosaki. He returned to Gaia. What you're sensing is probably one of the three remaining demons given to him by Hojo."
"Three?!" Ichigo gaped. "Oh that's gonna be one Hell of a training when the Visored's get to him."
"I was thinking the same thing." Kisuke chuckled. "However, I think there are some traces of that Weapon left."
Toshiro looked at him oddly, wondering how the eccentric shop keeper, who had not been on Gaia and had definitely not even seen Chaos, could possibly know if the demon was still there.
During their discussion, Vincent had managed to get a good grasp of Jinta's tactics and react accordingly, eventually using a side step that got him past a swing and gripping onto the boy's arm, tossing him aside into a nearby rock feature.
Hearing someone clap, Vincent turned to where Kisuke stood next to the other Soul Reapers, noticing his body leaning against the boulder they stood next to.
"Quite an achievement! Jinta's moves are so unpredictable sometimes!" The blonde suddenly appeared before him. If he hadn't been used to Flash Step, the gunman would have jumped in surprise. "How's the air?"
"It's not as hard to breathe." Vincent gripped the chain attached to his chest and followed it to where his body rested.
"You accomplished the task much faster than I thought you would. However, there is the concern about those demons of yours. Since you now run on Spiritual Pressure, they are in a sense Hollows now and will attempt to consume you. And there are three of them."
"I've been dealing with them for years; I have them under control, especially since Chaos left."
"Hm…" Vincent narrowed his eyes at the skeptical look in Kisuke's gaze but neither man said anything about it. "Well, if you're sure, I guess we need to be moving on." He turned his head to look over his shoulder. "That's your cue, Tessai!"
Once again Kisuke had managed to fool him, as instead of coming from behind the shop keeper, Tessai came up behind Vincent wielding an enormous axe. But he wasn't going for Vincent.
The axe fell upon the Chain of Fate and it broke.
"Oi!" Startled, Toshiro was about to jump in when Ichigo held him back.
"This happened to me too." The Substitute said, though even he looked nervous about it.
Too shocked to say anything, Vincent didn't sense Tessai come up behind until the large man had knocked him down, sitting atop him to prevent him from getting back up. With the chain broken, the gunman could feel a strong pull on his chest, as if it was trying to rip away. It kept him from mustering up enough strength to push the heavy man off of him.
"Now this is the tricky part." Kisuke wasn't grinning, but he kept the fan over half his face and his eyes shadowed by his hat. "Now that your Chain of Fate is cut you need to find your Soul Reaper power or else you will be consumed by your demons and become a Hollow."
"Kisuke, are you mad!?" Toshiro shouted, Flash Stepping to be next to the shop keeper. "You'd actually risk killing him!?"
"It's the only way for him." Kisuke replied somberly, watching as the gunman attempted to push Tessai off once more and failing to do so. "His friends will be put under the same strain, just not in this way. For people who have never had a zanpaktou or Spirit Energy, learning to use it is a risk to their health. But you know we don't have time. I have confidence they will make it."
Still scowling fiercely, Toshiro said no more and backed off. He had known nothing about how Ichigo got his powers back when the ones he'd borrowed from Rukia had been taken, but he had not expected this.
"Now, on to the second step!" Kisuke's smile came back, while his eyes remained hard. "The Shattered Shaft!"
"The what?" Vincent grunted, still unable to remove the large man in his current state.
Urahara tapped the ground with his cane and the dirt shifted underneath the gunman, falling inwards until he found himself falling down into a pitch black shaft.
"Way of Binding Number Ninety-Nine: Part One, Seal!" The shout came from Tessai, who had separated from him as they fell and was off to the side somewhere.
Just as he hit the ground, hard, Vincent felt his arms become pinned behind his back with thick black cloth and further paralyzed by iron shafts attached to the cloth.
"Dammit." The gunman said between pants, trying to stand but finding it difficult without any arms.
"Can you hear me, Mr. Valentine!?" He heard Kisuke shout from above. A grunt was his only reply. "Oh boy, I think he's mad at me.
Toshiro gave Kisuke a 'no shit?' look and peered down the shaft at his fellow Weapon host.
"Anyway, in this shaft you have three days to awaken your Soul Reaper powers and climb out of the shaft! Since Shiro here," Kisuke smirked when the said Captain glared, "is upset with my method I'll even give you a hint! To awaken them, you need to find your zanpaktou spirit, which will be similar to your demon morphing ability! However, it may be a little hard to concentrate!"
Vincent narrowed his eyes at the shopkeeper, wondering what he could possibly mean.
"You see, the Chain of Fate will begin to erode! It gets rather…painful when that happens!"
"And why did you need to bind my arms?" Vincent snapped.
"Well, the point of this lesson is to climb out of the shaft! Of course, you need your Soul Reaper powers to do so, but to make sure you don't cheat, I had Tessai lock up your arms!"
"You best hurry, Valentine, if you don't want to become a Hollow." Toshiro added on. "I don't want to kill someone from the planet I'm supposed to be protecting." He shot a glare at Kisuke for this who simply grinned behind his fan.
"Captain." Kisuke said in a low voice so Vincent wouldn't hear. "I need to return to Mr. Strife and the others. Can I trust you to watch your comrade here and do what is necessary if it comes to it?"
"…You have my word." Hitsugaya said after some hesitation.
Vincent sat up, glared at Tessai, and thought about what he had been told thus far about Soul Reapers and their zanpaktou. If he remembered right, they were an extension of their master's energy and spirit, becoming a spirit of their own in order to assist the Soul Reaper they belong too. So he needed to speak to his zanpaktou. Toshiro had once told him that he and Hyorinmaru could sometimes speak to each other whenever they felt like it, but to truly have a conversation with a zanpaktou they needed to go somewhere…that's right, one's Inner World. How did the tiny Captain go there?
There were times Toshiro would meditate during the peaceful times in between fights when he had been on Gaia and when he came out of it he would simply say to them that he was speaking to Hyorinmaru. But that didn't really help, since he didn't say how exactly he got into his Inner World. Still, it was his only lead, and he had three days to do it. Becoming a Hollow wasn't very appealing.
Tessai watched the gunman sigh and sit cross-legged on the floor, closing his eyes. As far as he could tell, Vincent already knew what he was doing. But the question now was…could he speak to his zanpaktou and awaken his powers in time?
This is where Vincent starts his training, which is a little different from Ichigo's but should be similar enough ^^ The others will be in the next chapter and Vincent will be in and out for a chapter or two until he gets his. Enjoy! Keep reviewing!