Once again, the stood in Urahara's training space below his shop. Yoruichi and Shane stood a short distance apart. Yoruichi was grinning and shaking her head. "I have to say, you certainly are persistent."
"You are arguably the best hand-to-hand fighter Soul Society has ever seen. I want to train with you to become better," Shane said.
"How much stronger do you want to get? There's not a lot I can teach you that you don't already know," Yoruichi said.
"Well, let's just fight until one of us quits," Shane suggested. Yoruichi thought for a moment. "Okay, sounds good to me. Just don't go out as easily as the last time." They began to circle each other. She's very fast, definitely faster than you, Shane thought to himself. How can I overcome her speed?
Let her come to you, Light Tsukuyomi said. Shane got in his stance and made like he was going to charge at Yoruichi. She grinned and disappeared. Shane skidded to a halt and looked around. He put his hands together, but before he could say anything, Yoruichi suddenly appeared. "No you don't!" she cried and lunged for him. Shane grinned as he turned away from her grasp and took a backhand swing at Yoruichi as her momentum carried her by. Yoruichi ducked under Shane's fist and kicked out behind her. Shane caught her leg and and threw her to the ground, but Yoruichi somersaulted and landed on her feet.
"You've gotten faster," Yourichi acknowledged. This time, Shane didn't wait, he charged right at her. Yoruichi disappeared and Shane followed. They spent the rest of the day chasing each other with flash steps and very little contact. In fact, it was more like they were playing a game of tag.
"Okay, I'm done," Shane said. He sighed and rubbed his hands on his face.
"Oh? You're conceding defeat?" Yoruichi asked. She appeared in front of him with a smug look on her face.
"For now. You can only play tag with two people for so long before it gets boring," Shane said. He walked away with his hands behind his head. Yoruichi simply shook her head.
When he was out of sight, Shane ducked behind a boulder and began hitting himself on the head. "Idiot! What's wrong with you?"
Pshh, that's what I want to know, Dark Tsukuyomi said. Shane scowled and rubbed his head. An idea struck him, so he closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. When he opened his eyes, he was back on the snow covered mountain.
"What do you want?" Dark Tsukuyomi asked. Shane looked around and saw Light Tsukuyomi was nowhere to be found. He turned back to Dark Tsukuyomi and gestured to the ground in front of him. Dark Tsukuyomi sat in front of Shane.
"Any suggestions?" Shane asked. Dark Tsukuyomi thought for a moment, then said, "You suck."
"Besides that?" Shane asked.
"You really suck?" Dark Tsukuyomi said. Shane rolled his eyes. "Okay, so in your opinion, how can I not suck?" he asked.
"You're a lieutenant now, right?" Dark Tsukuyomi asked. Shane nodded. "So why are you still fighting at the level of 6th seat or lower?" Dark Tsukuyomi asked. This startled Shane. "My power is that of a 6th seat?" he asked in amazement.
"Yes, your power. Why are you holding back?" Dark Tsukuyomi asked. "Are you that afraid of your own strength?" Shane said nothing and looked down.
"Do you know how it feels to watch someone not live up to their full potential? To only sit on the sideline, unable to do anything but watch? It's so frustrating that I want to kill myself, rather than endure the pain of watching someone eek out an existence, never achieving what they are truly capable of," Dark Tsukuyomi said. Shane could feel a powerful aura emitting from Dark Tsukuyomi. "Is that how you feel?" Shane asked.
"But this is a special circumstance," Dark Tsukuyomi said. "At least you listen to what I'm saying before you ignore me." Dark Tsukuyomi stood and turned away from Shane. "You know many different types of martial arts, but you barely understand the only one that matters."
"My own fighting style," Shane said softly.
"You're too predictable. Anyone who watches you can say, 'Oh, he's using this, now he's switched to that.' People should say 'I've never seen that before,'" Dark Tsukuyomi said. "Fight with your head as well as your fists. Fight not to win a match, but for your life. Isn't that what it all comes down to? Preservation of your existence, your way of life?" Dark Tsukuyomi walked away and faded into the darkness, leaving Shane by himself.
"Develop my own, unique fighting style? I thought I'd done that," Shane said to himself. He stood up and kicked the snow. Shane heard footsteps crunching in the snow. He turned to look and stepped back in surprise. It was the clone of himself. Its eyes were hazy and unfocused and the hole in its chest oozed pale green liquid. Shane let down his guard and walked to meet his clone.
"You again, huh?" Shane said. "How did you get here anyway? I thought you were only in my mind."
"you...me...together," the clone said slowly. Shane nodded his head in agreement. "I need to harness all of my power to get stronger," he said. The clone walked away, leaving Shane alone again. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was back in Urahara's shop.
"Time for round two," Shane said as he stood up. He found Yoruichi watching Renji and Chad train. She heard him coming and glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Round two?" she asked.
"Round two," Shane nodded in agreement. Yoruichi smiled and shrugged. She came at him again and Shane avoided her blows with ease. She's toying with me again, Shane thought. Yoruichi aimed a punch for Shane's head. Instead of ducking away or blocking, Shane moved closer to Yoruichi and head butted her in the chin. Shane felt her teeth click together and Yoruichi stepped back in a daze. Shane used the opening to move in close and began to pummel her with body blows. Yoruichi finally managed to separate herself and flash stepped away.
"That's cheating," she said angrily.
"The first rule is, there are no rules," Shane said, squatting down in a ready stance. "This isn't some competition for points. When your life is on the line, nothing matters."
"But this isn't a life or death situation," Yoruichi argued, rubbing her jaw. A nice bruise was starting to show where Shane hit her with his head.
"If that's so, how come I always seem to end up dead?" Shane asked. Yoruichi had no answer. "You know, someone once said, 'Practice is bloodless war and war is bloody practice.' If you don't train for the real thing, to know what it actually feels like to either die or come close to dying, then how do I know what I'll do when that time actually comes?" Shane asked.
"Well, you certainly seem to have a lot of practice dying," Yoruichi admitted. Shane winced. "Yeah, it's the staying alive part I'm having trouble with."
Yoruichi wiped her mouth and brushed herself off. "Well, we might as well do something about that," she said. Shane tensed and in the blink of an eye, Yoruichi was at him again. Time passed and they continued to fight. Shane was too stubborn to give up and Yoruichi had too much pride to simply let him win. Neither was willing to let up, since doing so would give the other an advantage. Their fight became more and more flamboyant, flying high, bouncing off the walls and ground, even use of kido.
Urahara watched from above with Olivia at his side. "Is it okay for them to fight like that?" she asked, wincing with every blow. "It's like something out of an anime."
"They'll be fine. Yoruichi is strong and we all know that Shane can take a lot of punishment," Urahara assured her. He turned to look at her and said, "Isn't there something you should be doing as well?" Olivia shook her head.
Suddenly, there was a large explosion and a cry from Shane. The blast wave knocked both Urahara and Olivia to the ground. Before the light had faded, Urahara and Olivia scrambled to their feet and ran to the edge. What they saw shocked them both. What used to be solid ground was now a huge crater. Tons of dirt and rock simply vanished, leaving a gaping void. Yoruichi was kneeling at the edge of the crater shaking violently, her eyes wide with fear. Her orange sweater was gone, leaving her arms, sholders and back bare.
Olivia and Urahara scrambled down the cliff and ran to Yoruichi's side. Olivia began checking over Yoruichi and Urahara kneeled by her side. "What happened?" he asked.
"We were fighting and I used my Flash Cry. He came at me and I released some of my energy. I didn't think it would cause this much destruction. I warned him Flash Cry was dangerous, but he wanted to see it anyway," Yoruichi explained. Past the far edge of the crater was a large hill. At the base was a pile of rocks that had collected there, presumably worked loose from the explosion. The pile began to move and Yoruichi, Urahara and Olivia could only watch in disbelief as the rocks fell away and Shane emerged. He took two shaky steps and brushed himself off. He noticed the three of them grouped together and appeared at their side.
"That was pretty rough," he said. They merely stared at him, unable to speak. "What? Is something wrong?" Shane asked and frowned.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Urahara was the first to find his voice. Shane scratched his head and said, "Um, Yoruichi used her Flash Cry technique and I remember a ball of energy coming at me. I put my hands up and used my Reflection Technique and tried to not die. Then there was an explosion and the next thing I knew, I was digging my way out of another grave."
"I think we'll call it a day. What do you say?" Urahara suggested. Shane shrugged and walked to the ladder that led up to the shop.
Later that night, Shane was all alone under Urahara's shop. He stood at the edge of the new crater and shook his head in disbelief. "How did I do that?" he thought to himself. He played it over and over in his mind, but no matter how hard he tried, Shane couldn't figure it out. He became frustrated and let out a growl. Still feeling heated, Shane felt the cool grip of his Soul Slayer. In a blur of motion, Shane drew Tsukuyomi and the blades began dancing in the pale light. The blades cut through the still air with a metalic zing, the light glinting off the polished steel. With a final flourish, Shane replaced both swords in his sash and walked to the exit. As he turned, the large boulders at the edge of the crater crumbled to dust.