Chapter 22: Caging the beast

Tom woke up suddenly inside his room as he sensed that Mitch's reiatsu had suddenly vanished "Where the blood hell could he be" he thought to himself as he got up and raced off to the 10th squad barracks in hopes that perhaps Ania was able to locate Mitch's reiatsu.

"Nope Ania isn't here last I remember she was in the 4th squad barracks undergoing some healing from a particularly rough training session or something" a 10th squad member said as Tom was shocked to only just find out about this now as he turned around and darted off to the 4th squad barracks to go and check on how Ania was fairing.

"Don't worry I'll be alright just a few scratches and cuts nothing to life threatening" Ania said as she sat propped up against her bed in the 4th squad's ward while Tom stood anxiously beside her as he rapidly fired off questions until a 4th squad member told him to slow down as it wasn't doing Ania any good.

"So how exactly did this happen? I heard it was from training but is Mitch really that extreme in his training" Tom asked as Ania laid back down and let out a sigh "Well we were training pretty seriously for awhile until his inner hollow took control of him for a certain amount of time and that's when I got beaten down pretty badly. In the end he subdued the hollow but after he felt really bad what he did, I hope it isn't weighing on his mind to much".

Tom sat down a chair as he spoke out loud to himself "So that may explain why his reiatsu has suddenly disappeared" upon hearing this Ania looked towards Tom and grabbed him by the shoulders "What do you mean his reiatsu vanished that can't be possible". Closing her eyes tightly she focused on tracking his reiatsu as she opened them her face filled with concern "I can't find it at all which means he is in an area where we can't sense it or he is fatally injured". Upon hearing this Tom grew concerned as well as he thought to himself "Where exactly did Mitch go and for what reason?"

Meanwhile Mitch had just arrived outside the entrance to Urahara's shack only to find he was already standing there almost like he knew Mitch was coming, "So you've come back to help quell your inner hollow, well come this way then we must begin immediately" Urahara said as he disappeared and Mitch quickly followed behind arriving in a huge underground desert like place where he spotted 4 familiar faces waiting for him.

Standing in the darkness next to a rock with his arms crossed was a man Mitch hadn't seen for over 5 years. "Dad was all he could say as a man wearing a pair of sunglasses smiled stepping into the light he could clearly be seen, his hair was short and spiked back with streaks of grey through it as he wore the standard shinigami uniform with a long white cloak draped on his back with the number 3 on it but there was a line through it indicating he was an ex captain.

His zanpukto hung from his back and it was huge almost as big as his body, the blade curved slightly at the end while there was no hilt just a short handle. At the bottom of the blade there was a black drake engraved into the grey zanpukto. His blue eyes stared down at his son taking in just how much he had grown in the amount of time they had been apart "My son you've grown into quiet the shinigami I must say" he said as they both embraced in a hug.

Looking up at his fathers face he noticed the diagonal scar he had across his right eye form a fight against the Captain Commander all those years ago, his father noticing that Mitch was eyeing his scar rested his hand on it while his right eye closed slightly "Yeah this old injury still bothers me".

"Hey Auron why don't you let some of the other say hi to Mitch for a change" another voice said as a tall orange haired teenager a few years older than Mitch stepped out from the shadows. Turning to face him Mitch smiled "Wow it's been quiet some time since I've seen you Ichigo guess you got whim about my hollow training and decided to help out?" "Yeah well I've been through it all before so I suppose it couldn't hurt for me to help out."

"Yo Ichigo speak for yourself you're not the only person who's been through the hollow training so have I" another voice said as the last person Mitch knew stepped out of the darkness. "Hey Shinji long time no see" Mitch said as Shinji smirked "Last time I saw you we had to eradicate that pesky hollow for the first time and it's back again sheesh and you got rid of him so quickly as well so let's see how well you do this time".

"I can't believe I've got to help train you again Mitch sheesh" Yourichi's voice could be heard as the final person to participate in helping him out stepped forward as Urahara walked forward with Tessai wandering in behind him as he had a serious look on his face "Alright Mitch it's time to begin are you ready".