6 Chapter 6: The sparring session

"Tom and Ania get your ass over here now" Mitch yelled out watching Tom run around outside slashing at tree's and leaves with his newly obtained zanpakuto while Ania simply was sitting on the ground contemplating her new abilities and powers. When both of them arrived Mitch then began to speak "Alright now that you two have obtained shinigami powers it's time you tested them out against me" and just as he finished speaking he leapt towards both of them drawing his katana giving them barley a second to roll away before his blade slammed into the ground sending splinters flying everywhere.

Sensing an opportunity to attack Tom leapt through the air bringing his blade down towards Mitch who merely vanished in thin air but left his sword embedded in the floor. Thinking he was now defenseless without his blade Tom upon seeing Mitch appear behind charged straight at him again angling his sword horizontally to stab him, just as he thrust his blade forward Mitch leapt into the air landing on the tip of his zanpakuto and unleashed a hard kick to his face sending him flying into the wall.

Ania now decided to give attacking a go as she lunged towards Mitch swinging her blade at his head, just before the blade landed a blow Mitch dropped to the floor and swept his feet under hers as she lost balance and fell to the ground with her legs in the air. "HA graceful fall there Ania and by the way love your underwear, is that black I see they match your robes well" he said laughing as he ran for his zanpakuto and picked it up off the ground.

After Ania and Tom managed to pick themselves up off the floor they walked over to Mitch who was still laughing to himself. "Thought that without my sword I was useless well think again, I did happen to train in the art of hakuda which is hand to hand combat while I was in Soul Society". Done with his little informal education he leapt towards them as they both raised their zanpakuto's clashing blades together all at the same time while Mitch slowly pushed his way forward forcing them back towards the wall. Ania at the given chance broke free of the struggle and darted quickly to Mitch's left before circling behind and pressing her blade across his throat all in one swift motion. "Not that bad huh?" she said to Mitch who laughed as he vanished from her sights before she felt the cold touch of steel being pressed against her neck "Not bad, I'll give you credit for that but it's still not good enough" he whispered into her ear.

Ania was about to try and move but Mitch grabbed her around the waist with his free hand as he held her firmly in place and whispered again "I wouldn't move if I were you, wouldn't want to get a scratch on that lovely delicate neck of yours now would we". Tom stood there confused as Mitch had vanished from his sights and was now behind Ania pinning her close to him. He was thinking of a way around this situation because a direct attack could possibly harm Ania and he was nowhere near fast enough to sneak behind Mitch to attack so he simply stood there waiting for Mitch to make his move.

"You know this is kind of hot" Mitch whispered again to Ania as she struggled in vain to break free of his grip around her waist. "Oh and by the way that's not the sheathe of my sword that's poking into your back" he said releasing his blade from her throat and jumping as she whirled around slashing her blade in an attempt to take his head off while Mitch fell to the floor bursting into laughter.

"Alright I think that's enough practice fighting for now" he said picking himself up off the floor while Tom and Ania both sheathed their blades. "So then now what do we do"? Tom asked as Mitch turned around to face him "Well now you two are going to sit and meditate in an attempt to commune with your zanpakuto spirits in hopes of learning its name". Both just stood there with confused expressions on their face as Mitch sat down and took a deep breath before explaining the shikai process.

"In order for you to learn your shikai you must sit and become one with your blade by trying to commune with it in deep meditation. If your sword speaks out to you then you'll learn its name but only if the sword thinks you are worthy of hearing it". After he had finished speaking Mitch got up and indicated for Tom and Ania to both sit on the floor "Now lay your zanpakuto on your lap and close your eyes, attempt to completely cut off your mind and focus solely on the blade and you should be able to hear it calling you. Follow that voice and you should eventually meet your zanpakuto's spirit".

As the two of them nodded off into a trance like state Mitch walked over to the wall and sat down with his back up against it "Well this'll take some time so in the meantime I think I'll catch up on all that sleep I missed out on". With a yawn he closed his eyes drifting off to sleep while Ania and Tom both sat in the middle of the darkened hall deep in a meditative like state.