"Shinji Hirako" Torin said "I've heard your name before... Somewhere..."
"Never mind that" Shinji said "what's important now is to begin your training immediately"
Torin frowned "why? We've got 3 years before my time training is up"
"And 3 months before you become possessed by your hollow" Shinji responded
Torin's breath caught "w-what? I was right!? But that was a joke guess!"
Shinji nodded "and an accurate one, all inner hollows attempt to take over eventually, it starts slow, slight blackouts in a fight, a few hours unaccounted for, but then it gets worse. If you can't subjugate it..."
"It eventually takes over for good" Torin finished "got it, so how do I subjugate it?"
"Well you accepted it much faster than Ichigo" Shinji commented "anyhow, let's begin phase 1"
"Eh? Ichigo has one too?" Torin asked, but in response he was forced to dodge Shinji's sword as it pulverized the ground where he had been standing before
"What the hell was that for!" Torin yelled
"The first step is to break you down and determine how strong you are, then build you up to the necessary level" Shinji explained "then we can go to stage 2"
"To hell with that!" Torin growled "I've been training incessantly for 2 years straight, I'm more than enough to handle anything you throw at me"
Shinji smiled "very well, beat me in a fight and we'll move on"
Shinji slashed again, but Torin gracefully dodged with a backflip
"One last question, how do you know so much about this?" Torin asked
Shinji sighed "isn't it obvious? What'd I say when I showed up? 'So you're one of US now'"
Shinji reached up to his head, and his hand filled with black energy, quickly forming a mask.
"Me and you are the same, welcome to the vizards..." Shinji said, then put his mask on "Torin!"
Shinji's voice was doubled now, as if he and the hollow were both speaking. Torin's eyes narrowed, he could feel Shinii's power skyrocket with the mask on. The strange man had been undeniably captain class before, but now he was even stronger.
Shinji came at him again, but Torin stood his ground and blocked. The blades met in a shower of sparks, the force of the strike was great, but Torin didn't budge, which seemed to surprise Shinji. The ground behind Torin shattered from the transferred force, but Torin didn't even appear strained.
"This isn't your combat style" Torun commented
Shinji's eyes widened slightly, and he quickly jumped back into the air before Torin could overpower him.
"Your strength is only because you have a lot of power overall, you don't specialize there." Torin continued "so compared to me, someone who specializes on strength out of necessity..."
Torin prepared to slash "you're nothing" he finished as he swung his sword. A white wave of force and wind blasted towards Shinji.
Shinji blocked, and the wave surged around him, but he was struggling to hold it off "by just swinging his sword he can do this...? I underestimated him... Better take this up a notch before I get hurt" he thought
Torin frowned as his wave flashed red, then a cero burst out of and dispersed it.
"Naturally.., Of COURSE I was right with both gu..." Torin groaned as the cero hit him and exploded
Shinji looked at the smoke cloud with disappointment "great power, but no reflexes, pity" he said, but then he sensed something and turned with a gasp
"Too slow!" Torin cried triumphantly as he slashed and knocked Shinji into the side of a mountain with enough force to cause an avalanche on top of him
"I know I saw that cero hit him" Shinji said "so how..."
Shinji broke free of the rubble and looked to the smoke cloud from the cero, which was dispersing now. On the ground was a haori with a hole burned in it. "He used utsusemi!" Shinji realized
Torin was on the offensive again, coming down and slashing with a two handed smash. Shinji was pretty fast himself though, and managed to dodge, unfortunately for the mountain, which had a cave blasted out of it. The two holes that had been carved into the rock destabilized it, causing the mountain to crack apart and collapse
"I really can't hold back against you after all" Shinji said "very well, I shall fight you at full power"
"Bout time" Torin said "your test hasn't been challenging at all, keep screwing around and you'll just get hurt."
"Well, you asked for it" Shinji said as he held up his zanpakto. Torin tensed, preparing himself.
"Collapse, Sakanade" Shinji said. His blade morphed, taking an odd shape. It had become a large ring with a regular katana attached to the outside, the katana slowly spun along the ring like the blade of a fan. Shinji's hand was in the center of the ring, as if holding an invisible handle.
"A strange zanpakto for a strange man" Torin said "but what...?"
Torin saw a pink mist and stopped
"Too late to hold your breath friend..." Shinji began
Suddenly, Torin saw the entire world flip upside down.
"...welcome to the inverted world" Shinji finished
Torin frowned, this was confusing, up was now down, the collapsed mountain to his left was now on his right, and it appeared his own movements were inverted as well, or they appeared as such.
"Up, down, left, right" Shinji said "hard to tell which is which isn't it?"
Torin scowled, this was a truly dangerous ability. The more someone fought, the more instinctive combat became. With those instincts scrambled, it was impossible to fight effectively.
Shinji darted forward, slashing at Torin's left shoulder. Torin managed to get his guard up, but then his right shoulder got badly cut.
"Wha..." Torin started, then realization dawned on him "front and back too huh?"
Shinji grinned "good guess, you're full of those today"
Torin slashed in retaliation, but Shinji effortlessly dodged. Torin cursed, knowing that Shinji was either trained to fight in this scenario, or he was immune to his own power.
Shinji struck again, but Torin blocked this time "it's tough, but I can still..."
Torin began, but was cut off by a cero to the chest.
"Of course you're still able to fight" Shinji said "but you're only half as effective as you used to be... Meanwhile I'm still at full power"
Torin crashed into the ground, getting disoriented by the fact that he had fallen upwards.
Torin stood up, every action brought more confusion… he couldn't fight like this. There was only one way to win, and that was to attack in such a way that direction was meaningless.
Torin released shikai and rammed his blade into the ground. "Your shikai is powerful Shinji, but it does have a weakness" Torin said as a dome of crystals grew around him
Shinji realized Torin's plan and cursed "you figured it out already hm?"
Torin responded with a volley of crystal shards shooting out in all directions. He didn't need to overcome the inversion, just hit everything.
Shinji did his best to block the shards, but several still got through, mostly hitting his arms and legs. The shards grew inside him, rooting themselves like plants inside his body and securing Torin's victory.
"Got you… shatter" Torin said, causing each crystal in Shinki to shatter apart while still inside him, the force of the break and the shard themselves ripped open his arms and legs, as well as part of his torso. Blood shot in all directions, and Shinji's mask shattered into dust.
Shinki's shikai sealed itself, and the vizard fell to the ground, where he lay gasping for breath as Torin approached.
"I think I win" Torin said bluntly.
"That you do" Shinji agreed with a grimace "Impressive move, not many people can pull something like that off, even if they think to take that approach. We'll move to stage two… once we've both healed"
Torin chuckled "I agree, I don't think either of us can continue like this"
Torin picked up Shinji and carried him into the healing spring. They would rest for the night, the real trial would begin in the morning.