Chapter 34: Dream Time
Tom awoke in the building Mitch had originally trained both Ania and himself in after they had just become Shinigami. Looking around he found no one else was here "How the hell did I arrive here and for what purpose" he wondered to himself out loud before Mitch's voice spoke to him from behind "So Tom are you ready to fight for your life?"
Turning around he faced Mitch who had Ashura strung up on his shoulder flames dancing all around his body with his all too familiar battle smirk across his face. "Ummm Mitch what exactly are you doing aren't we meant to be doing my bankai training?" Tom said thoroughly confused as Mitch took a step towards him a massive killing intent radiating from him causing Tom to slightly step back. "I don't know what the hell you're blabbering on about now draw your zanpakuto or I'll kill you right where you stand" he roared charging forward swinging Ashura through the air as Tom drew Tamashii Seigei out purely by instinct and blocked the heavy blow from Mitch.
"Now time for a lesson when attacking a man brute force is but one of the options you can choose from" Mitch reigned down blow after blow as Tom parried away each strike "It's up to you to figure out the other options but I'd be quick otherwise you'll lose your head". The more strikes that reigned down upon Tom the more he became aware of the way Mitch was attacking as he swung down one blow that Tom parried away to the left before quickly ducking through into the opening he had made. "I've got you now!" Tom thought swinging Tamashii Seigei up towards Mitch's stomach only for him to grab the blade with his left hand and pulled Tom towards him "See didn't I tell you there are other ways of fighting!" he yelled as Ashura came flying down towards Tom head inching closer and closer while Tom awaited the feeling of cold steel striking his head.
"Ermmm why are your eyes closed" a womanly voice was heard in Tom's ears as he slowly opened his eyes to find he was in another location this time the arid wasteland he had been sparring with Ania in yesterday. "Hello?" Ania said waving her hand as he suddenly noticed she was standing in front of him and tapping her foot impatiently "Tom are you alright you seem a little lost?" she said as he was gazing around with a dumbfounded look across his face.
"Oh you have no idea" was all he said sighing wondering in the back of his mind "Why the hell am I jumping from location to location!" "If you're going to stand there all day and not make the first move then I suppose I'll start us off" Ania said running towards Tom as Kanzen Bi slammed into the ground where Tom had been standing just a few seconds ago as he jumped back. "Why does everyone keep attacking me as well!" Tom thought but barely had a second to think any longer as Ania darted to her right and then her left moving in a zigzagged line towards Tom attempting to throw him off on where she would strike.
Standing still Tom noticed where she was about to strike as he deflected the blow from Kanzen Bi and then stepped back watching her blade closely waiting for her to attack again. It became apparent after a few more deflections that if he waited for an opponent to attack him he could gain a perspective into how they fought and develop a way to counter them. "Perhaps this is what Tamashii Seigei and Mitch had been talking about" Tom muttered to himself but still the main question the tiger had posed to him still eluded his mind "How can I defeat someone without killing them?" the thought revolved around inside his head as he suddenly felt a surge of reiatsu and a bright flash of pink.
Snapping free of his trance he looked up to find Ania had fired a Juunsui Yuga blast at him that crashed straight into his stomach knocking the wind out from his lungs while the world suddenly started to fade into black and he sunk down into the dark deep abyss.