Chapter 24: Land of Dragons: Dragon Training

The next morning, the five of them walked over to the Captain, known as Shang, for their test.

"Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here." He told them. "They should be coming through the mountain pass."

Hitsugaya remembered what Goofy had told him about Shan-Yu. He was the leader of the Huns and was attempting to kill the Emperor, thus destroying China.

"We'll smash them!" Donald called out, ready for a fight.

"I doubt that." Shang replied, though he glanced briefly at Toshiro. The boy looked like he was ignoring everything being said. "You five will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops."

"That's it?" Sora put his hand behind his head, looking a little disappointed. "Man, Hitsugaya could do that by himself with how fast he is."

"You're going whether you like it or not." Toshiro snapped at him. Sora grinned sheepishly.

"I'll brief you on the details later." Shang cut them off, a little frustrated. "Return when you're ready to depart. Remember, the smallest mission may have the greatest purpose. Stay alert!"

"Sir!" Four of them said, Toshiro remaining silent and simply nodding his head. He outranked this man in years and experience; he had no need to show any extra respect.

"Hitsugaya, I wish to speak with you." Shang called out as the five of them started off towards the outside field for some extra training before they would head out for the mountains.

Curious, Toshiro walked back over to the man and waited for whatever it was he wanted to speak about.

"I was watching how you trained Ping yesterday, as well as the fight with those creatures." He began. "The amount of skill you showed with that blade is equal to that of a man who's been training in the Imperial Army under the best instructor all his life, yet I can't imagine you being any older than thirteen."

'If only he knew.' Toshiro seethed mentally.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I was forced into the army at an even younger age and was taught everything I know in those early stages while I was still growing. By starting early I was able to learn much quicker as children usually do at that point in their life and continued to get stronger and more skilled. However, they were afraid of my intellect, therefore never put me on the front lines. I eventually escaped."

'You managed that fairly well considering you had to admit you are a child.' Hyorinmaru chuckled.

'I admitted nothing, I simply stated that I learned as a child, which I did. I'm not truly a child anymore…not with what I've seen and done.'

The ice dragon had no reply for that.

Shang was obviously still suspicious of Toshiro but got off the subject, assuming it was a sensitive topic for a child to discuss. He instead turned to another matter at hand.

"In the fight yesterday you produced a chain-blade that was attached to your sword, one I didn't see and still don't see on your person."

Toshiro frowned ever so slightly. Crap. Then he thought of something.

"You've seen Sora's blade appear out of thin air, no doubt, and Donald's magic. Seeing as I've been traveling with them is it that surprising I can use some magic as well?"

"Hm…perhaps not. Alright, head out."

The boy nodded and began walking in the direction his comrades had gone. There was still training to do and he had an idea on what to teach Mulan next with her ability to learn quickly. He also wanted to test Sora a little more with using Frozen Heavens; if it was any more like Hyorinmaru than he'd seen already then he wanted to teach the Keybearer how to use it properly.

"Hey Toshiro." Sora greeted as the white haired boy joined them.

"When the others aren't around it's Captain Hitsugaya." Toshiro replied. "And I would still prefer that you use my last name."

"Come on, we're friends right?"

Hitsugaya glanced at him, though with anger or confusion Sora couldn't tell, before turning to Mulan instead.

"You're learning quickly but there's still more to learn." He told her. "Ready?"

She nodded and unsheathed her blade, getting into stance as Toshiro did. Their training started when he lunged forward with surprising speed.

After teaching Mulan several new techniques, Toshiro had them stop, knowing she would need her strength even if they were just scouting. He could sense the darkness of Heartless prowling the mountain path, meaning they had more than the Huns to worry about.

"Sora, your turn." Toshiro called out as Mulan sat on the ground next to the Keybearer and his companions.

"Eh?" The brunette looked at him in surprise.

Sighing, Toshiro held his hand out towards him, motioning for the boy to approach. Sora obliged and summoned his Keyblade, which Toshiro quickly held onto.

"I'm going to teach you how to use Hyorinmaru's powers properly, since we have time to do so." The ice Captain explained at Sora's quizzical glance. "My powers aren't something you can just throw around like the ice dragon you used in Hollow Bastion. There's more to it than that."

"Sweet! Will I be able to manipulate the weather like you did?"

Toshiro shook his head.

"That was an effect of my Spiritual Power as I was releasing my zanpaktou, it's one of Hyorinmaru's abilities that I don't really control. It's also the most powerful, so I'd rather not teach you how to make it storm, especially here."

"Right, good point." Sora laughed nervously.

Finally Toshiro let go of the Keyblade and it changed into Frozen Heavens. Toshiro had put it at exactly thirty minutes, which was adequate time to teach Sora how to properly control the ice dragon made as well as getting rid of the ice he creates. If he learned quickly enough, Toshiro thought maybe he'd teach one of his Bankai techniques. It would be weaker than the real move since Sora couldn't do Bankai, but the Keybearer didn't need such powerful moves for smaller foes, even if the attacks did seem weaker than his own.

"Bring the ice dragon to you." Toshiro said and brought the chain-blade to his hand in a flash of icy light. Mulan and Mushu watched in fascination, the three soldiers from earlier – the men in red, yellow and blue – also coming to see what was going on.

"Okay." Sora lifted up the Keyblade. "Hyorinmaru!"

"Hyorinmaru!?" Mushu exclaimed. He could have sworn he'd heard that name before.

The white dragon of ice-water appeared and curled itself behind Sora aggressively. It was strange to see his own dragon look at him in such a hostile way, but Toshiro found it easier to ignore that since Sora's was bright white instead of his icy blue.

"As you noticed in Hollow Bastion, you can control the dragon with the Keyblade. I can do the same with my zanpaktou. You need to have a better control of the ice dragons to use their offensive power effectively."

"Aren't you going to use your Hyorinmaru?" Sora questioned.

"Mine is much more powerful than yours since I've been training with him for years, he'd easily overpower that one and you wouldn't learn how to control a thing."

"Oh…Right then." Sora took stance and the serpentine dragon behind him rose up in preparation to strike.

"First lesson," Toshiro threw the chain-blade before Sora could react, shattering the white dragon easily, to Sora's surprise, "Make him stronger. Hyorinmaru uses the water in the air to create a solid and powerful form. As long as there is water he can never be broken."

Sora twirled the Keyblade and the shattering ice swirled around him before recreating the white ice dragon. It roared defiantly.

"Here!" Sora shouted and thrust forward with the Keyblade, the dragon following his movements and darting forward, jaws open wide.

"Not good enough." Toshiro blocked the icy fangs before forcing the dragon upwards. "Now, bring it back around. Most opponents will believe they'd gotten rid of it and that gives you the element of surprise."

Following the command, Sora twisted the Keyblade and the white dragon curled over itself in the sky before diving back down. Since Toshiro knew about it he was able to dodge out of the way. Ice spiked up from the impact of the watery beast.

"You also need to be able to break the ice on your own, as it can become an obstacle in your way."

"How?" Sora questioned.

"Just like you created an ice dragon on command, you can force the ice apart on command."

Nodding, Sora pointed the Keyblade at the large crystal of ice. It cracked and shattered before dissipating as shimmering mist. Toshiro counted the time; Sora had twenty-five minutes still. Had it taken that long for him to learn to control the ice-water? He would have thought that would be the easier part, but everyone was different.

"Let's keep going." Toshiro took stance, not looking the least bit tired. "The more you use Frozen Heavens the more control you'll have over the ice dragons. When the energy it took from me runs out we'll stop."

"You got it!" Sora held his Keyblade at the ready.

Toshiro fought seriously this time, acting like he was training with Hyorinmaru himself for Bankai, though avoiding hurting Sora himself. Over time, the Keybearer learned he could coat the Keyblade in sharp ice and throw it at the enemy with a swipe, as well as create more than one dragon, though that took more energy out of him then he liked. But he could control the ice dragons with a flick of his wrist now and could swear he felt stronger in a way he didn't know.

'You're raising his Spiritual Power.' Hyorinmaru noticed.

'The more he has the less I'll hurt him when I release you.' Toshiro replied. 'Plus, the Keyblade will possibly be able to go for longer if he has his own Spirit Energy to run on instead of just mine.'

'True, and his powers with that Keyblade will be stronger.'

Toshiro caught one of the white dragons in the chain-blade and quickly shattered it before leaping upwards. Sora sent another dragon at him instantly only for it to be cut down.

'He learns fast.' Toshiro noted, impressed.

'About as fast as you did.'

When they reached the thirty minute limit, the Keyblade returned to the Kingdom Key and Toshiro stopped the training. Sora fell to the ground with a heavy sigh, letting the Keyblade disappear.

"Man, you're tough." Sora groaned, lying back in the dirt. He was sweating profusely and breathing hard.

Shrugging, Toshiro sheathed his zanpaktou and turned to where Donald, Goofy, and Mulan were, only to find most of the soldier camp had come running to watch, including Captain Shang.

'…Dammit.' Toshiro grimaced.

"Wow, that was amazing!" One soldier exclaimed.

"I really hope he is on our side." Said another.

"Captain, did you see that? They have dragons! Ice dragons!"

"Amazing!"

"That kid must be really strong to fight against all those dragons."

"Enough!" Shang snapped and everyone got quiet. "Hitsugaya, Sora…what exactly was that?"

"Eh?" Sora sat up. "Oh, the ice dragons. It was something Hitsugaya learned to do and now he's teaching me. It's really hard though. Man, I'm beat!"

"Already?" Toshiro raised an eyebrow at him. "We still have a mountain to search."

"Right…."

With a loud groan, Sora pushed himself up and walked back over to his companions, Toshiro refusing to look Shang's way as he followed them.

"Guess we better head off then." Sora sighed.

Donald cast a Cure spell before they left, which seemed to grab Toshiro's interest, and Shang simply waved them on, only glancing once as the white haired child passed in their scouting party of five.

'He thinks he can pressure me to tell him,' Toshiro mused. 'He'll find I'm not easily persuaded.'

So Sora's getting some powering up! Eventually he'll be able to do some actual fighting alongside Toshiro instead of the Soul Reaper taking most of the kills ^^ Training's over, time to head up the mountain! Enjoy!