Vincent looked once more at the three shadows in the corners, hidden from them.
"Why are they hiding?" He turned back to the demon Weapon turned zanpaktou before him.
"They are rather different." Chaos replied, glancing at the three other demons. "After all, they've been turned into Hollows. Naturally they want to stay away from a Soul Reaper."
"But I'm not a Soul Reaper yet, not until I awaken those powers." Vincent argued quickly.
"Which is hidden in one of the rooms, as I've told you. You best hurry, day two is ending, and I think the others are getting hungry." At this Chaos sneered just as the three demons growled or chuckled in a sinister way.
"The way up is blocked."
"Oh too bad."
"You're supposed to be helping me."
Shrugging, Chaos leaped up to stand on the railing of the second floor.
"This is all you now, Vince." Wrapping the cape around himself the demon vanished into the darkness.
Vincent scowled at where he had vanished, looking at the other demons to make sure they stayed put. Galian choked out a laugh at his caution but did not remove himself from the shadows.
"I don't need to know which room it's in." Vincent said aloud, still glaring at the demons. "It's been in this one from the start, hasn't it?"
Chaos reappeared in front of the entry door, frowning deeply.
"You said it yourself, they won't come near a Soul Reaper." Vincent directed at the Weapon and the demon scowled. "Then they stay in the shadows because the power of a Soul Reaper is in the room."
Saying nothing, the demons moved farther into a corner and Chaos's scowl grew fiercer. He'd finally had a chance to be rid of his host and he'd given away the man's only hope without even realizing it.
Allowing himself a smirk, Vincent reached into the floor at his feet with his golden clawed hand, letting it sink through before pulling back out, his hand gripping onto a long black chain with the Cerberus keychain at the end that once hung at the end of his human body's gun. The butt end of a gun began to rise as well before Vincent paused.
"Can you feel that power?" The gunman said to Chaos, who snarled like a cornered beast. "I do."
He pulled the gun from the floor, a modified form of Death Penalty. The gun was black with glowing red accents and a little smaller than the original, but otherwise the same.
"Bring all into darkness, Gurthatsa." Vincent chanted and Chaos hissed.
But, the laws of a Soul Reaper and their zanpaktou were absolute, and the demon had little choice but to allow the power he'd been trying to hide from his host free. Red energy mixed with black swirls rose off of Vincent's body.
It began to do so on his outward body as well. Above him, Toshiro leaped to his feet and Ichigo sat up from his position on the ground, able to feel the sharp rise in Spiritual Pressure emanating from the gunman. Tessai did his best to keep the restraints on, but Vincent's Soul Reaper powers had given him an extra burst of energy and he broke them. Glancing once at the large man, Vincent grabbed onto him before leaping upwards and out of the shaft, landing a few feet away from the startled Squad Ten Captain.
"Well, it's safe to say you made it." Toshiro smirked ever so slightly as Vincent's Spiritual Pressure calmed back down, the large gun in his right hand reverting to a normal sized katana with a pitch black hilt and a crimson tie at the base of the guard. He then noticed something was off. "What happened to that gauntlet?"
Eyes widening, Vincent moved his left hand from Tessai's back and noticed the golden metal claws were indeed gone, revealing the twisted black skin underneath with spider web cracks of bright red light, demonic power, or Hollow power now. His nails were grown into sinister black claws, very much like Chaos's own demonic arm.
'You have far too many demons for your body not to be affected.' Chaos snickered at Vincent's shock.
'What happened to the gauntlet?' The gunman growled back.
'Why wear it anyway? They know about your demons.'
'Not all of them.'
'Oh deal with it, that gauntlet is a limiter, it seals up your demon, or I guess Hollow, power.'
'I'm fine with that, put it back.'
'You do it; I'm a demon myself after all.'
Scowling, Vincent willed the demonic arm to become hidden once more and his Spiritual Pressure rose a little, swirling over the arm and recreating the golden gauntlet.
Toshiro raised an eyebrow in question, hardly taking notice as Tessai left to call Kisuke back as quick as possible.
"Apparently it's a limiter." Vincent answered. "It seals my demonic power."
"Convenient." Ichigo stood and joined them. "I guess you would need one with three demons. I've only got Hichigo and he's a pain in the ass." The teen paused as his Inner Hollow snapped back only to ignore it.
Vincent nodded to the teen before turning to the smaller Soul Reaper.
"Apparently Kisuke was right, Chaos is still here."
Eyes widening, Toshiro silently demanded more information.
"When I left Gaia, the Lifestream saw fit to put him back inside me since I was host to him before. He had left to gather his energy after using it up on Omega."
"Strange…Hyorinmaru didn't sense him when you arrived. I assume he was being suppressed at the time by the Spirit Energy of the Soul Society."
Deciding that was the most probable solution, Vincent simply nodded. In his mind, Chaos wondered briefly if he should surprise the Captain. Then again, this world was Toshiro's home world, and he wouldn't be as easily frightened as he had been without his powers on Gaia when he was close to the pure Lifestream. That was definitely a one-time thing, and Hyorinmaru would never allow a repeat. Unlike Chaos, the dragon was rather attached to his master and was not about to let him get hurt easily.
"What did Urahara do next?" Hitsugaya questioned, turning to the orange haired teen with them.
"Well, immediately after I came out of the shaft he went to lesson three." Ichigo scratched his head as he tried to remember. "Which was to try and knock off his hat. The point of it was to learn Zangetsu's name and figure out what kind of power he had. But Vince already knows his zanpaktou's name by the looks of it."
"So lesson three is pointless."
"Well…he could still do something. He knows its name but not what kind of power it has."
"It's not that different from Death Penalty, since Chaos is now my zanpaktou." Vincent replied.
"Then I have no idea!" Ichigo threw his hands up in exasperation as he gave up. "Just wait until Kisuke comes back or something."
Stomping away in a huff, Ichigo left them alone. From the side, Jinta and Ururu watched carefully, wondering what the tiny Captain would do next.
"It may be similar to Death Penalty, but now it's a zanpaktou, so using it will take different skills." Toshiro said to the gunman. "It might be in your best interest to practice with it."
Vincent was about to ask what he had in mind when Toshiro reached back and quickly drew Hyorinmaru from his sheath.
"As a fellow Weapon host, I'd probably be your best opponent." Toshiro pointed the tip of his blade towards the startled gunman's chest. 'Chaos still doesn't like Hyorinmaru; he'll be more willing to give Vincent power if he thinks he's doing it to fight him.'
It had been Hyorinmaru himself that had suggested it, knowing full well the demon still disliked him for leaving Gaia instead of accepting the role of a Weapon while keeping the power of one. It was probably one of the reasons Kisuke even brought him along.
Getting over the suddenness of Toshiro's challenge, Vincent held the blade of his zanpaktou in front of him. Since the gunman kept it a blade, Toshiro realized he wouldn't go into Shikai unless he did so as well.
'Alright then.' Toshiro thought to himself as he Flash Stepped a good distance away to make sure Jinta and Ururu weren't within range. Vincent followed but at a slower pace, unable to Flash Step yet. 'But until he learns how to use Chaos's zanpaktou power, he won't be a match for Hyorinmaru.'
"Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" The ice spread out around him as the temperature plummeted quickly. The limiter placed on him immediately toned down the severity of its effects, but it was still enough to pressure Vincent.
The gunman quickly shifted into Shikai with a soft whisper and aimed at the Captain before him, despite being some distance away. Remembering the dark blasts of Death Penalty's power, Toshiro was quick to dodge as a similar beam came rocketing towards him, this one scarlet with black tendrils that swirled around the beam for extra width. In retaliation the Ice Captain sent a serpentine ice dragon in Vincent's direction. The freezing water brushed against his left arm before freezing into solid ice, which he quickly broke off before it could spread.
He'd forgotten how terrifying a fighter Toshiro was.
Sorry for the wait, I was having trouble uploading :( Anyway, here's Vincent's zanpaktou, Gurthatsa, which means Death Claw. I couldn't find penalty in elvish so I changed it from Death Penalty to Death Claw ^^ Almost have all the zanpaktous now! Enjoy!