Chapter 21: Hollow Bastion: Organization XIII

Once the group of four made it to the bailey, Toshiro took lead towards Leon's Spiritual Pressure and found the brunette leaning against the wall. He was looking towards the castle, though more specifically at the ground around it.

"Look at that." He pointed out.

Doing that, Toshiro noticed that the ground in the canyon below the castle seemed to be black in color…and moving. Teal eyes widened as he realized that the entirety of the blue rock floor was flooded with Heartless, an enormous circle extending all the way around the castle.

'How are there so many Heartless in one place!?' Though he kept his outer façade expressionless he was thinking frantically on the inside. That many Heartless could kill everyone in town, Claymore system or no. It was a literal flood of shadows pushing past each other and surrounding the castle.

"We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be." Leon explained. "Who knows, perhaps even something better. There's still a lot to do and I'm sure we can handle everything."

"Except for that." Toshiro pointed out. 'Even in Bankai it would take ages to clear out all these Heartless. Heck, even with the Limiter removed it would take ages!'

'Calm down, Master, they seem to be confined to the canyon for now.' Hyorinmaru soothed.

'For now…'

"…and that." Leon pointed something else out.

Following his arm, Toshiro spotted several Nobodies heading towards the mass of Heartless.

'Either they're going to fight or work together…I really hope it's the former.'

'As do I. Something like that would keep them off the town for some time.'

"We'll handle 'em." Sora said confidently and Toshiro gave him an 'are you insane?' glare. "Come on, Captain. You've got Hyorinmaru!"

"Hyorinmaru?" Leon questioned.

"My zanpaktou." Toshiro briefly put his hand on the hilt of said blade.

"It shoots out this ice dragon when he summons it and he can control the weather." Sora explained. Remembering what happened last time he blurted out he looked at Toshiro apologetically.

"Honestly, you should learn restraint." Toshiro deadpanned. "But Sora's right, Hyorinmaru would do a lot of damage to their numbers. But even I would have a hard time killing all of them."

"That's why we'll all help!" Donald quacked.

"That's good to hear." Leon said, smiling slightly. "So, do you all know what's going on then?"

As Sora explained about the Nobodies and the organization controlling them, Toshiro sensed a strange Spiritual Pressure outside the bailey. Making sure not to distract the others, he walked over to the open exit that led to a set of stairs; where they went he didn't know. The Spiritual Pressure he was sensing was muffled by something, almost nonexistent. Much like Axel's and Ansem's Spiritual Pressure.

He froze as realization struck him.

"Sora!" He shouted out

The Keybearer jumped in alarm, looking at Toshiro only to see the Soul Reaper on high alert, Hyorinmaru drawn.

"It's them." The ice Captain said just as several laughs echoed throughout the path.

"You're doing well." A voice said from the shadows.

"Who's that?!" Sora demanded, summoning his Keyblade and standing next to Toshiro.

"Allying with the prodigy, eh?" One of the voices sneered. From that context, Toshiro realized with dread that one of the Organization XIII members was the former Soul Reaper who had fallen to darkness. This would not be good. Hopefully he wasn't a high ranking seated officer; he couldn't recall which one would have vanished, for there were always many disappearances as well as deaths, he couldn't keep up with who vanished or who died.

"Show yourself." Toshiro demanded, wanting to know which one was the Soul Reaper.

"From Third Seat to Captain and you double in bossiness." The voice who'd spouted about him being a prodigy snickered.

"Another Soul Reaper?" A deep voice took over. "This calls for a celebration."

Several Dusks appeared and Donald and Goofy both ran after them. Sora was about to as well when Toshiro sensed several more heading towards the gates that led into town. They danced their way past Leon, a strange looking sword in his hands, and were about to head through. Grabbing Sora's attention the two of them ran in to assist Leon. Toshiro cast a Kido barrier under his breath over the gates, which were closing on their own due to some defense mechanism, and when one of the Nobodies rushed in to attack it back open, the barrier propelled it backwards into Toshiro's waiting blade.

"We can't let them get through, the barrier will only hold for so long and I doubt the gates can last forever." Toshiro warned the two brunettes by his side as they stood in front of the gates, multiple Nobodies in front of them.

"Right." Sora nodded "Wait, barrier?"

"I'll explain after we kill them off."

To his right, Leon used a spell to light his blade aflame. Toshiro winced at the heat and jumped forward first to put some distance between himself and the flame blade, killing two Nobodies. He brought the chain-blade to hand and threw it at another one, a new Nobody he hadn't seen before. It had two blades at its back that it attempted to draw before being wrapped in the chain and had a fairly samurai like persona. Once it was frozen, Toshiro quickly broke through it with a tug and moved on, Sora coming up behind him and fighting off two Nobodies attempting to attack the Captain from behind.

A fireball slammed into one of the Nobodies Toshiro was about to head for, dealing heavy damage, and Toshiro used a low powered Kido shot to finish it. He supposed the fire was from Leon.

"I think we got 'em!" Sora shouted as he destroyed the last Nobody.

Toshiro paused and closed his eyes, reaching out for any empty Spiritual Pressures of the Nobodies.

"Seems like it." He opened his eyes again and headed back out to where Donald and Goofy had run off to. "But the ones who sent them are still here."

"He's always been perceptive." The voice, who Toshiro assumed to be the Soul Reaper, said with a laugh.

"It doesn't matter." The deep voice spoke. "The Keyblade…a truly marvelous weapon. Were it only in more…capable hands."

More laughing. Sora scowled as he tried to find out where the voices were coming from.

"Show yourself!" He shouted.

A dark portal opened on the ledge above them, revealing a man in the Organization XIII garb with his hood up. He lifted his arms and five other figures appeared, clad in the same uniform. Now that they had showed themselves in front of them, Toshiro attempted to track down which one was the Soul Reaper. They all had the empty feeling of a Nobody, muffled by some unknown force, but there should still be a lingering trace of the Soul Reaper power within him.

He was saved the trouble as one of the members waved at him and let his power rise just enough that Toshiro could sense his remaining Soul Reaper power. Even with that, though, he could not recognize the man as one of his own squad, not until he revealed his face.

"Organization XIII!" Goofy exclaimed as he and Donald rejoined them with minimal injuries.

"Good! Now we can settle this!" Sora held his Keyblade at the ready.

"Don't be-" Toshiro began to warn when the one who had summoned the others, the owner of the deep voice, spoke over him.

"What a shame." He sighed. "And here I thought we could be friends."

Teal eyes narrowed as the ice Captain began to memorize each of their Spiritual Pressures. Since their powers were muffled yet still strong enough to fight Sora equally one on one, he could assume they were all frighteningly powerful. And there was no telling what the former Soul Reaper could do since he had no memory of him. Putting Hyorinmaru out in front of him, Toshiro let his power rise. Dark clouds began to form in the sky.

"Uh-oh, time to go." The former Soul Reaper said to their supposed leader.

"Yes, I see that." He replied.

The six of them vanished into their dark portals, to Toshiro's extreme dislike, and the ice Captain quickly reined in his power. The others were starting to have trouble breathing.

"Stop!" Donald shouted and headed off towards the stairs.

"Donald, hold it!" Toshiro ordered and Flash Stepped in front of the duck as one of the members returned to bar their path. It wasn't the Soul Reaper but he still had quite a bit of power.

"Hey there, weather kid." The Nobody said with a teasing voice.

"Shall I kill you first or will you let me pass?" Toshiro snapped back, cold seeping into the air around them.

"Now, do you think that's polite? Shutting me down like that."

"I tend not to extend my manners towards those I'm going to kill."

"Careful there, sounds like the darkness could take hold any minute."

"The darkness won't take me, otherwise you'd already be dead. I'm giving you a chance to step aside."

"As if! You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing."

"Then I suppose I'll have to force you to move." Toshiro leaped forward before the man in black could say anything more.

Startled, the man vanished into a portal of darkness before appearing a few feet further down.

"Way of Binding Number Nine, Strike!" Hitsugaya chanted while drawing a symbol in the air with his finger. A red light then emanated from his body.

The man in black was about to summon something when he was suddenly enveloped in the red light and then paralyzed.

"What the-?"

Toshiro Flash Stepped over to him and held his blade to the man's throat.

"Since I have you here I want answers." Toshiro scowled at him. "What do you want with Sora?"

"And here I thought you were gonna ask about our Soul Reaper ally." The man snickered. "He'll be telling us all about you."

"You won't get to hear a thing." Toshiro pressed his blade closer and ice began to spread along the man's cloak. He heard the Nobody growl.

"Guess I need to show you how tough the crowd you're dealing with is."

"Enlighten me. If you can escape the Kido."

"Sure thing."

A dark portal appeared underneath the man and Toshiro's eyes widened. He attempted to kill the Nobody before he escaped but the man was swallowed by the darkness and his blade pushed back by it before he could do so. He had escaped.

"Dammit." Toshiro growled, hearing the others run over to him.

"He still got away." Leon scowled.

"Yes. But I think he'll have a hard time escaping that Kido bind." Sheathing Hyorinmaru as the Nobodies' presence faded, Toshiro turned to the other four with him. "We should probably see to those Heartless now."

"Right." Sora nodded before seeming to remember something. "Hey Leon, thanks for the membership cards."

To prove what he was talking about, Sora pulled out the purple card and showed it to the brunette.

Light began to shine from the card and Sora let go of it in surprise, the card remaining in the air. It floated upwards with everyone in the group staring at it in confusion, a few of them gasping in surprise. Another light shined and attention turned to Sora's Keyblade.

"The Keyblade will be your guide." Toshiro repeated what Yen Sid had told them not long ago.

"Oh!" Understanding, Sora held the Keyblade out in front of him while the others backed away.

The two lights resonated and a large crown symbol was created underneath Sora made of swirling lights.

'Can you feel that power?' Hyorinmaru questioned, shuddering as the Spirit Energy of an unknown force flowed into Sora through the Keyblade and up towards the item.

'This is the power to unlock gates between worlds.' Toshiro watched as a wind rose up around Sora, surrounding him in light 'Somehow we have to amplify it with our own power to open the path to Soul Society. If I could release the limiter it wouldn't be a problem, but with it I'll wear myself down trying to give him enough power for such a thing.'

'The fairies will find a way to contact Soul Society, be patient.'

Twisting the Keyblade, Sora jumped back and pointed the end at a keyhole created by the light from the membership card. Light shot from the end and into the keyhole, making a sound similar to that of a door unlocking, and light radiated from inside.

When the light died down, everything was back to normal and the card dropped to the ground. Sora picked it up before turning to Leon.

"Sorry Leon, but other worlds are calling." Sora said to him.

Nodding in understanding, Leon instead thought of something else.

"Organization XIII…They look tough. Be careful out there."

"See ya! Come on guys!" Sora darted off back towards the Gummi Ship.

"I guess we're fighting Heartless another time." Toshiro sighed.

"We can keep them at bay for a few days, don't worry." Leon assured.

Toshiro nodded and used Flash Step to catch back up with Sora and the gang.

Anyone wanna make a guess as to which member it is? Eh? Eh? Come on now let me here them XD

Pretty straight forward chapter, not much to say. Enjoy!