Chapter 19: Hollow Bastion: Arriving to Darkness

The inside of the ship seemed larger than the outside portrayed, and it was filled with controls that Toshiro didn't quite understand. Thankfully there was a fourth seat and he quickly took it, watching how Sora and the others strapped in before doing the same.

A screen flashed on and two chipmunks appeared on screen.

"Howdy, Sora!" One said, leaping up and waving. "How ya doin'?"

"Great, Dale!" Sora replied with a big grin. Donald and Goofy were grinning too but Toshiro kept his face passive.

"It's your favorite Gummi engineers here, ready for duty!" The other chipmunk shouted out, voice higher pitched. "Chip…"

"…and Dale!"

"Happy flying!" They shouted together and the screen cut out.

"Feels like I haven't seen those two in forever." Sora laughed before grabbing the controls. "Alright, let's get moving!"

The ship started up and Toshiro unwillingly clutched onto the arms of his seat tightly. Using Flash Step through the air and flying in Bankai was one thing, flying inside a ship just felt nauseating. The ship slowly lifted itself off of their current world, which turned out to be some alternate side of Twilight Town he noticed as they pulled out, and drifted into the nothingness of space. A map came up on screen showing where they were at, Twilight Town, and one other world.

Toshiro only hoped one of those many stars was his world.

"Only one?" Sora grumbled, smile faltering.

"That's no good." Donald sighed.

"Wait! I think it's a world we know." Goofy interjected.

Donald pulled up a larger version of the world, revealing another large town in its midst with a large castle.

"Hey…that does look familiar!" Sora beamed. "Come on, then!"

Toshiro hardly noticed the difference as Sora sped the ship up, traveling along a path invisible that could only be seen with the help of the ship's technology. The stars never seemed to move at all but lights whirled around them as they either got to close to the pathway wall, therefore close to being shot out into space, or if something tried to get through the thick barrier in. It seemed to be safe, however, as nothing interrupted their flight. Still, the sight was strangely exciting. No one at home would believe him when he got back.

Goofy dared a look back at the Soul Reaper and noticed Toshiro had a slight smile on his face as he watched the lights pass by the window. The dog grinned a little wider and faced front again to check his side in case anything was wrong.

"Alright, almost there." Sora reported. "With the Gummi Ship it only takes a minute or so to get where we need to."

"Convenient." Toshiro replied in his normal passive tone. The excitement was beginning to wear off already and his smile had vanished.

"So what do ya think?"

"Hm?

"About the ride, silly?" Sora laughed slightly.

Toshiro glared and Donald noticed the ship slow a slight bit, sighing.

"First time traveling by space…I'll admit, it was interesting." The Soul Reaper gave in.

The trio up front shared victorious expressions at that as they headed towards the next world.

As they entered the world's atmosphere the ship started to rock and bump again, causing Toshiro to grip onto the arms of the chair once more.

"Now this part I don't like." He muttered to himself.

With the skill of one who'd been flying for quite some time, Sora righted the ship out of its bumpy flight and landed gently amid a hidden area inside the town that seemed made just for Gummi Ships. Did all worlds have this? Toshiro doubted it, as the Soul Society definitely didn't.

To the trio's surprise, Toshiro was first off the ship. He wasn't used to flying in a ship yet and as such felt a little sick.

'It seems flying is going to take some getting used to.' Hyorinmaru grumbled.

'I fly fine in Bankai, what's the difference with the ship?' Toshiro sighed audibly and got over the queasy feeling in his stomach, waiting for Sora and the others to shut off the ship and join him.

'Flying in Bankai doesn't involve so much shaking.' The dragon replied irritably.

'What's got you upset?'

'Let's just say I prefer flying in Bankai over that ship as much as you do.'

"Okay, let's go!" Sora said happily as he and his companions joined back up with Toshiro and led the way outside.

Together the four companions walked out of the alley into the market part of the town. There were little shops situated around with different items for strengthening ones abilities and potions that did various things. Most of the citizens were people, but he spotted a grumpy looking duck working an ice place before he ran off and a small white creature with purple bat wings and big red nose, a gem dangling off its head by an antenna of sorts.

Sora ran over to the edge of the rock balcony and out to an old looking castle that seemed to be in a state of slow repair.

"It's Hollow Bastion!" Sora exclaimed before remembering something. He turned back to Toshiro, who looked surprised about his choice of words. "Not that kind of Hollow, I promise. It's the name of this world."

"I see." The Soul Reaper shrugged and started making his way down the steps to the market area.

"Gawrsh, it looks kinda different now." He heard Goofy say as he, Donald and Sora followed behind him.

"I hope Leon and the gang are doing okay." Donald wondered aloud.

"Leon?" Toshiro asked.

"Yeah, Squall Leonheart, but he likes to be called Leon. He and a couple of others were working on a way to fix the town up last I remember."

Nodding to show he'd heard, Toshiro continued walking.

He froze suddenly as he felt the dark Spiritual Pressure of a Heartless and grabbed his sword.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Sora asked. He had yet to learn about Spiritual Pressure and how Toshiro could sense it.

"Heartless." He motioned onto the roofs where two of the armored Heartless he'd fought before ran before vanishing back into the darkness.

"How did you know?" Sora looked surprised.

"Explain later, it looks like we'll have to fight here."

Sora nodded and the four of them ran to the stairs at the far end. From there they traveled down to the housing section of the town and passed under an arch, Toshiro on alert for any Heartless. They paused in the clearing there to look around. Toshiro could sense the creatures popping in and out of the darkness around town, and he thought he felt a rather large darkness in the direction of the castle but couldn't be sure.

A light appeared in the air, a small white circle, and startled all of them. Toshiro drew his blade, watching as the circle moved downward with a strange sound and made a small mechanical sphere.

"Hey, what's going on?" Donald questioned, jumping back as one got too close to him for comfort.

Unable to answer, Toshiro kept a close eye as one would pop up then fade away, completely invisible. They didn't have any Spiritual Pressure so they must have been robots of a sort, but what exactly were they doing?

"That's the town's defense mechanism." A female voice said and the trio behind Toshiro jumped in surprise, turning to the voice. Their Soul Reaper companion decided the robots weren't a threat and looked at the new arrival he had sensed approaching earlier.

She had short black hair and wore a band around her head above brown eyes. Her outfit was rather revealing with short tan shorts and a black shirt that showed her stomach, a short tan jacket over that. Her lower arms had bands and she had tall boots.

"Yuffie!" Sore exclaimed, waving happily at the woman.

Just as she waved back, Toshiro sensed the approach of a Nobody and turned quickly, slicing through the Dusk before it could attack Sora.

"Whoa!" Sora jumped in surprise, summoning his Keyblade. As if on cue, several more Dusks appeared to hinder them. "Hey Captain, can I try Frozen Heavens?"

"Fine, here." Toshiro held his left hand out onto the Keyblade, watching the Nobodies in case they made a move.

One leaped and he let go of the Keyblade, noting that Sora had a good four and a half minutes to use the ice Keyblade before it returned to normal, slicing down the Nobody who had leaped.

"While we're experimenting let me teach you something." Toshiro stepped closer to Sora. "Do you remember my zanpaktou's name?"

"Yeah, Hyorinmaru."

"Do you remember the ice dragon you saw in Twilight Town?"

"Yeah." Their conversation paused as they fought off three Nobodies getting too close. "Why?"

"Picture that dragon in your mind." Toshiro instructed, just like he had with Roxas several days ago. "When you slash the air with the Keyblade, say my zanpaktou's name. If it works, you should be able to create an ice dragon."

"Got it!" Sora turned to his animal friends. "Donald, Goofy, back up for a minute."

They did as he asked, though hesitantly, and Toshiro Flash Stepped up next to Yuffie. She jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance, taking the chance to get a better look at him.

"Okay." Sora lifted Frozen Heavens above his head. The remaining Nobodies were in front of him, though two appeared behind him without his knowledge. "Hyorinmaru!"

As he slashed downward, he silently prayed that it worked.

A white dragon of ice and water shot from the icy slash created by the Keyblade, smaller than the one Toshiro had summoned, and snapped its jaws around the Nobodies in front of it. Ice spiked up, destroying all of the creatures. Toshiro noticed with interest that the Nobodies vanished into the same spirit particles they did when killed by his zanpaktou instead of the splash of white and black Sora normally created when they died. He needed to watch for that later.

"Direct it behind you, Sora!" Toshiro ordered.

Sora swung the Keyblade behind and the dragon reappeared from the ice spikes, curling around the boy as it followed his blade's movements and smashing into the ambushing Dusks. With that, the Nobodies were defeated.

"Awesome!" Sora shouted.

With the battle over, Toshiro leapt back down and hit the hilt of his zanpaktou against the ice left behind by Sora's dragon. The real Hyorinmaru's power forced the ice to shatter into dust and become an icy mist that soon vanished.

"You'll need to learn how to get rid of the ice by yourself as well." He told Sora as Donald and Goofy rejoined them, surprise on their faces.

"Wow, Sora!" Yuffie also joined them. "Where did you get such a strong Keyblade?"

"Oh, it's temporary." Sora replied. "The longer the Captain holds onto it, the longer it can stay like this."

"Captain?" Yuffie turned to Toshiro, disbelieving.

"Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya." Toshiro introduced himself.

"Yuffie Kisaragi." The ninja said in turn. "Guess you're a pretty tough kid, but I can relate, I'm not too shabby myself. You too, Sora, I see you're still in top form."

Toshiro's brow twitched at being called a kid and the temperature, which had slowly risen after the ice was broken away, dropped again.

"What did ya expect?" Sora grinned, putting a fist to his chest. "Looks like you're doing okay."

"Well what did YOU expect?" Yuffie laughed.

"How are the others?" Donald questioned.

"Great!"

"I hate to ruin the mood but there are still plenty of Heartless and Nobodies around." Toshiro cut in.

"Ah, one moment Captain." Sora held his hands up. "Yuffie, have you seen the King and Riku?"

"Nope." The ninja replied and began to walk away. "But I had a feeling I'd see you guys again!"

Though Sora had slumped at Yuffie's reply, he quickly became cheerful again and raised his hand, bending the pinky down as he spoke in a mock deep voice.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other." He said.

"Was that supposed to be Leon?" Yuffie giggled.

"Sora…" Toshiro warned.

"Right, Heartless."

"When you're done with that, Sora, everybody's working on stuff over at Merlin's house." Yuffie said before running off down the alley.

The Keybearer looked hopefully at Toshiro. Noticing this, the Soul Reaper sighed heavily.

"I suppose the Heartless aren't that bad, and those…security bots are protecting the people, it seems."

"Alright! Now you can meet Leon and the gang."

"If I must."

The four of them continued down the alley where Yuffie had run off too, Toshiro keeping a close eye out for Heartless, monitoring their movements. He hoped this visit was quick, but he didn't get his hopes up too high.

Meh, I really don't have much to say here...get to meet Leon in the next chapter, Sora starts learning to use the ice dragons...yeah...Enjoy!