"Oh, have they already started?" Kisuke questioned as he appeared next to the teenagers watching from a distance.
"Yup." Jinta replied. "Shiro figured out pretty quick why you brought him here and acted. They only just started."
"Good! I wanted to see this!" Quickly taking a seat on a boulder the three of them watched as ice and darkness were launched across the skies.
In the battle, Vincent narrowed his eyes as yet again Toshiro evaded his strike with Flash Step, while he had to expel quite a bit of effort to avoid the icicles and serpents being thrust at him from Hyorinmaru's blade.
'I know he's holding back.' Vincent growled in his mind. 'I've seen what he can do with my own eyes. I need a way to counter that ice.'
'You need Flash Step.' Chaos corrected in a bored tone. 'It's how he's dodging you. Makes sense that you need to do the same.'
'I don't know how to Flash Step.' Vincent hid behind a boulder to try and speak to Chaos more privately, ice smashing into it just as he ducked behind.
'Watch how he does it and copy.'
'It's not so easy when trying to avoid ice dragons at the same time.'
The demon, from what Vincent could tell, shrugged uncaringly.
Vincent sensed him before he saw him. As he had been hiding Toshiro had Flash Stepped to stand behind him and struck downward. Swinging around quickly, Vincent managed to block the icy blade with his gun formed zanpaktou.
"Hm, for a Weapon, Chaos doesn't seem all that strong." Toshiro said aloud, letting the air temperature drop as icy mist seeped off his blade and towards Vincent.
At those words Chaos snapped to attention and snarled at the white haired Captain. The power of the gun cancelled out the iciness of Hyorinmaru and the two Weapons fought unseen for dominance as their masters kept eye contact with the other.
"I seem to have angered your demon." Toshiro spoke again, smirking ever so slightly.
"That's not uncommon." Vincent replied. "He's usually angry at me."
"Must be nice to have his attention off of you."
"Depends on what he's willing to do next."
Hyorinmaru, having been a zanpaktou for far longer than Chaos, won out over the demon's lack of control with his Spiritual Pressure and an icy wave of energy blasted out from the blade, knocking the gunman back a few feet.
"If Chaos isn't willing to work together with you, he won't be able to beat the combined powers of Hyorinmaru and I. The two of you need to find a way to get along or he'll break easily."
Once Toshiro said this, Vincent noticed an odd energy flowing from his gun. Looking carefully at the weapon in his hand, he realized with surprise that there was a chip in the diamond hard surface.
"The stronger zanpaktou always devours the weaker." Toshiro held Hyorinmaru out front, letting his Spirit Energy rise off of him in visible icy white streams, an icy blue-white glow to his eyes. "Control your Spiritual Pressure and find that connection with Chaos or you won't survive this."
As the pressure increased around him, Vincent had no doubt Toshiro would follow through on his words and found a slight panic rising in his chest. This was far beyond anything he'd ever done, and unlike with Sephiroth, he was in this alone.
'You're not alone, dumbass, now focus!' Chaos snarled at him. 'We've fought together before, this shouldn't be so hard! I know we have our disagreements but seeing as we've been bonded for so long if you die, I die, and that is not going to happen! As much as I hate to admit it we're in this together and this brat is not going to kill us!'
Vincent reigned in his panic and replaced it with determination as Toshiro lifted Hyorinmaru above his head. In the distance, Kisuke's eyes widened considerably.
"Jinta, Ururu, get as far away as you can." He demanded, watching as dark wisps of clouds began to from in the pressure of Toshiro's energy. "Captain Hitsugaya is serious about this."
The two ran without a second thought.
'Put as much energy as you can into this attack, we've used it plenty of times before.' Chaos commanded. 'It has a name and by saying it you'll make it stronger.'
Nodding, Vincent lifted the gun in front and aimed at the glowing Soul Reaper. His Spiritual Pressure began to rise to try and counter the icy winds of Toshiro's but the Captain's was still far stronger and wasn't about to let up.
"I don't like using this indoors, nor while in Shikai, but if I did it in Bankai at your level it would most definitely kill you." Toshiro said gravely. "You have a small chance at surviving this."
'Dammit,' Vincent scowled and continued to focus his energy into the gun, Chaos assisting him as much as he could. 'I knew Hitsugaya was strong, but I never had to fight him myself. I can see why Hojo was dependent on him being unable to use his powers near the Lifestream.'
'That's not important right now, focus!'
"Subjugation of the Heavens!" Toshiro swung his zanpaktou in Vincent's direction and a thick wave of ice and snow charged forward, ready to encase its target in an icy prison. A blizzard picked up and spread rapidly through the area, reflecting off the walls and threatening to knock Kisuke over, and the teens rapidly climbing the ladder had to hold on tightly.
"Triple Wolf Shot!"
Three streams of scarlet and black energy raced towards the speeding ice wave. Hardening his gaze, Toshiro did not stop the attack, putting more energy out to strengthen the wave.
Energy exploded around them, sending out a shockwave that reached even Kisuke, who reached up to make sure his hat stayed on. Once the light had died down, the blonde noticed snow falling in the combatants' general area, scarlet lights scattered around among the white before they vanished like dying embers. He raced over to make sure they were both in one piece.
Toshiro panted heavily, some distance away from where his attack and Vincent's had collided. The energy he'd used left him a little out of breath though not too exhausted and some of the debris created by the waves of ice and darkness had cut him across his cheek and arms, but he was otherwise unharmed. Vincent, however, was completely exhausted, though with fewer scrapes since he had already been farther away when the explosion shook the earth around them.
"My my, you were into this training, Toshiro." Kisuke smirked as he stood between them. "You know your power is still underdeveloped and using that attack in Shikai could give unpredictable results. You were lucky on Gaia since the Lifestream leveled it out while you were in Bankai."
"But it worked." Toshiro replied, sheathing Hyorinmaru. "Vincent's zanpaktou worked with him long enough to stop my attack from fatally wounding him."
'Why I oughtta…he planned this!' Chaos seethed and vanished into the depths of Vincent's mind to fume by himself.
Ignoring the furious Weapon, Vincent pushed himself into a sitting position, having been knocked onto his back by the blast, and looked at the shopkeeper.
"You did well, Mr. Valentine!" The man fanned himself lazily. "You accomplished your goal far faster than Ichigo had, though he can be a little thick sometimes anyway, and survived a high powered attack from a Captain. I expected much but not this much!"
"Just shut up and get to the point already, Urahara." Toshiro sighed, leaning against a boulder and healing the cut on his sword arm.
"Just trying to be supportive." Kisuke mock-pouted, before turning back to Vincent with a smile. "Now, we should probably get you back to the Soul Society. Oh! Since you're a Soul Reaper now, you should wear the uniform; I went through the trouble of grabbing one for you." He tossed the confused gunman a set of the Soul Reaper garb.
Vaguely wondering how the shopkeeper even knew what size to get, Vincent sighed and stood, moving away to get some privacy before changing.
"You know, Hitsugaya." Kisuke said quietly and Toshiro looked up from his healing. "That was rather dangerous. It could have just as easily been one of the Hollows now in him that came out to block you."
"Once I realized Chaos was the zanpaktou, I was confident that wouldn't happen." Toshiro replied just as seriously. "Those three don't disobey Chaos, if what Vincent told me is true, and I made sure it was Chaos who was helping and not the demons."
"How?"
"It was obvious from the last time we fought together that Chaos doesn't like Hyorinmaru. I simply made a comment to Chaos about how he's weaker than Hyorinmaru and the demon snapped."
"What a devious child you are." Kisuke smirked evilly.
"I'm not just a child, I'm a child prodigy." Toshiro corrected. "And a Captain as well, so stop forgetting my title."
"Of course, of course!" Kisuke laughed while Toshiro glared just as Vincent returned, dressed in the black uniform of a Soul Reaper. "Well, that fits you rather well, Mr. Valentine!"
"It will take some getting used to." Vincent grumbled, shifting the sleeve over his left arm a little more.
"Don't worry, your friends that already have their Shikai are in uniform as well to show that they are Substitute Soul Reapers now as well. You won't be the only one."
Toshiro, finished with his minor healing, began walking back towards where the way up to the shop was, the other two following behind while Kisuke tried to chat with the quiet gunman. The latter's exhaustion was keeping him quiet, as he didn't have the energy to keep up with the shopkeeper.
Once near the ladder, Kisuke had them pause.
"I have your body upstairs, Mr. Valentine, safe and sound. It won't be able to go with you to the Soul Society so I had it moved."
"Thanks." Vincent nodded to show he understood.
"And Ichigo should be back soon, wonder what's taking him so long." While his expression seemed curious, Toshiro took notice to the mischievous look in his eyes and narrowed his own.
"He can get to the Soul Society on his own; Valentine needs to get back to the Soul Society now that he's strong enough in his spirit form to do so."
"Well then, on your way!" Kisuke hid his disappointment about Toshiro dodging his surprise well. "I'll wait here for Kurosaki."
Toshiro just grunted in reply and unsheathed Hyorinmaru once more, stabbing it into empty air where half of the blade vanished. A bright line revealed itself before a pair of doors appeared and opened, two butterflies fluttering out and hovering around the Captain and his charge. The two of them left and the doors vanished just as Ichigo and a second, now furious, figure arrived.
"Dammit, Toshiro." The black haired teen scowled as fiercely as the boy next to her.
"Language, Karin." Ichigo snapped.
"You cuss all the time, brother, so shut it!" Karin snapped back, dark gray eyes daring her brother to stop her.
Not really having a reply to that, Ichigo decided to let it be and give Karin the argument. She was old enough anyways so it wasn't a big deal.
Adjusting her short ponytail, Karin stomped over to Kisuke.
"Alright then get the gate open, I want in on all this and I need to give Toshiro a piece of my mind for ignoring me."
"Eager aren't we?" Kisuke chuckled. "You seem to be adjusting nicely to the role of a Soul Reaper."
"I've watched my brother do it often enough, it's not that much of a surprise." Impatient, Karin tapped her foot against the ground. Deciding he wanted to see what she had planned for the Squad Ten Captain, Kisuke quickly opened the pathway to Soul Society and the three of them went through. The time difference caused them to be behind another hour after Toshiro and Vincent, or so Kisuke calculated as they ran through.
"Who cares?" Karin replied to Kisuke as the shopkeeper explained this. "As long as we get there."
"Someone's eager to see her boyfriend." Kisuke snickered as Karin spluttered and immediately retorted with a kick that caught him in the shin, cutting his snickering short.
So here is Vincent and Toshiro's sparring match where Shiro explains the importance of working together with your zanpaktou and what happens when you don't ^^ I know he never actually says the words for Subjugation of the Heavens, it just happens when he goes into Shikai, but considering its the weaker form of Frozen Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral and is used when in Shikai I thought i'd have him say it this time. Hope nobody minds that. Enjoy!