//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Training // Story: Shinigami In Equestria // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// Chapter 12: Training Rukia and I follow Urahara down in into the large rocky basement and stand in a decent clearing. "Okay then, we shall start with basic physical exercises to help get you into shape," Urahara says. "I want you to run around the edge of the room ten times and then we'll move onto something else. While you do that, I'm going to change into something more comfortable," he tells me and I sigh. "Alright," I reply. Unlike Ichigo who wanted to know what this would be good for, I don't question it and start running with Rukia beside me. "This is going to be a lot of fun," I say sarcastically. "Oh quit complaining and keep moving," Rukia tells me. I glance at her and raise an eyebrow. "And why are you running? I thought you'd be working on your Kido or swordsmanship," I ask her. "All Shinigami go through physical training, if we didn't, we wouldn't have the strength or mobility to fight hollows," she replies. I shrug and focus on my running. Thirty Minutes Later I rest my hands on my knees and cough a few times trying to get my breath back. "Man... I feel like... I've ran... all across the world," I say between my coughing fit. Rukia had to stop three laps back as her body gave out. Urahara is back and in human form now. "Good job, Mr. Kurosaki," Urahara says and pats me on the back. "After a ten minute break, we'll begin with upper body exercises," he tells me and hands me a bottle of water. I greedily drink down the cold refreshing liquid and sigh. "Thanks, at least I now know you're not an actual pony," I say and sit down. He chuckles and sits beside me. "It's just a gigai I developed to help us blend in with the ponies, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore since your arrival and walking among the locals," he tells me and smiles. "Word around Canterlot is a bipedal creature in Ponyville who fought Celestia and won a week ago is spreading fast," he says and looks at me. "Would you show me your mask again please?" he asks. "Erm, sure," I reply and form my hollow mask. "Hmmm... Interesting," he says and tries to pull it off, but it doesn't budge. I take it off myself and hold it out to him. "Oh, so only you can remove it, fascinating," he takes it and examines it thoroughly. "This is quiet the ability, Mr. Kurosaki, how much does it boost your power?" he asks. "Erm, right now? I'd say that it at least doubles," I reply in my distorted tone and gulp down some more water. "I see," he says and hands it back and I make it crumble away. "Is there a limit to how long you can use it?" he asks. "Not really, at first when I started training with it while in stone, I could only hold it for a minute at most, but over time I've managed to get it up to three days straight," I tell him and lay down on my back. "Alright then, but while you train here you are not allowed to use that mask at all, ever," he tells me. "Fair enough, so what's next?" I ask. Jinta walks over dragging some heavy looking weights along behind him. "We're going to work on your back and arms now," he says with a smile. Four Hours Later 'Oh god kill me now,' I think to myself as my entire body feels sore, Rukia at least did her own thing while I was stuck with Urahara's program. 'Oh get over yourself, it wasn't that tough,' Bob says. 'Uh-huh, whatever you say,' I reply in no mood to argue with him and roll over onto my back and gasp for breath, I can't even get up I'm that sore. "Good work today, Mr. Kurosaki. Same time tomorrow?" Urahara asks now back in his pony gigai. I just groan and will myself to sit up. "I don't think I'd survive," I tell him and cough. He levitates a pill over to me and a cup of water, I recognise it as the same one Unohana gave me to restore my reiatsu. "Here take this, you'll feel as good as new in no time," he tells me. "Thanks," I reply and take the cup and pill then down them both. "Here," I say getting his attention and hand him forty bits. "Four hours, forty bits, like we agreed," I tell him. "Much obliged, also, I did a reading on Rukia, the Hogyoku is still there and sealed away. Just keep an eye on her and make sure she stays out of trouble, if what you told me about this anime of yours is true, we can't let her do something that would result in the use of the Sokyoku on her," he whispers to me. I nodded and can feel my strength returning. "Alright, well then, I need to head over to the Castle and help the princesses with their zanpakuto's and inner hollow's in a couple of hours... Might just look around Canterlot for a bit while I wait," I reply and slowly get up and stretch my sore limbs. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Kurosaki," he says and we all head back up. Rukia was given her own human gigai that doesn't drain her Soul Reaper powers like in the anime and we say our goodbyes before walking through Canterlot where the ponies either stare, hold their heads up in disgust or stay away from us. Rukia looks a little bit upset at the reactions from the ponies. "Just ignore them, most are just a bunch of snobs and self-centred piles of shite here anyway," I casually tell her. She sighs and looks at me. "It's just I'm used to talking to the ponies and other races in Soul Society who are very friendly, these ponies just look rude and conceited," she replies. Another pony just 'humphs' at us and walks past. "Just act like they don't exist, I find that really pisses them off. To them, ignoring them is considered a great insult, for example," I say and bump into one of the fancy dressed ponies and keep walking. "How dare you bump into me you commoner!" he says and walks over to me. I just continue to ignore him. "Now just listen and don't make eye contact," I tell Rukia who nodded and looks forward. "Don't you dare ignore me peasant! I demand an apology and compensation for getting my suit filthy!" he demands. "See? It's working," I tell her quietly. "So anywhere you'd like to go? My treat," I ask her casually. I can almost hear the steam coming out of the pony's ears. "I'm giving you one last chance before I call the guards," he threatens me. A wicked idea comes to mind and I'm pretty sure it'll damage my reputation in Canterlot, but I really couldn't care less what these snobby fuckers think of me. I suddenly turn around and form my hollow mask and speak sinisterly in my distorted tone with wide eyes. "And what could a little shit like you do to me? The Canterlot Demon!" I say and laugh at him like a madman. I started to laugh in earnest when it looked like his fur changed from grey to white and his eyes rolled up as he fainted, I also notice the street is now empty as all the ponies fled. I smirk behind my mask and chuckle, even Bob is laughing his ass off. "Was that really called for?" Rukia scolds me. "What?" I ask and look at her, I see her shiver slightly from my eyes and tone. I dismiss my mask and continue to walk down the street while whistling the ants go marching one by one tune... 'Why can I remember only a few weird things before I got here?.. Oh well, can't remember much after nearly a millennia anyway.' "I thought you said ignoring them was enough," she says. "It was until he threatened me, so I gave him something to think about... Pretty sure he'll have nightmares after this," I reply with a smile. Our soul pagers then both go off, a hollow is nearby and I believe it's Rukia's turn to get this one. "Your turn this time, I got the last one. I'll just wait here for ya." I tell her and yawn. Since she's now helping with the hollow problem, half the pay I get from Celestia goes to her as well. She rolls her eyes, gets out of her gigai and use's her shunpo to track down the hollow. I stretch my limbs again, place her gigai on a nearby bench and sit down as well. I pull out my pony phone which is ironically named a P-Phone and load up the Angry Gryphons game on it... These puns I swear... Six Minutes Later "Oh come on! Just fall over already!" I shout at my phone, damn tower just doesn't want to collapse. Rukia returns, gets into her gigai and sighs. "The hollow has been dealt with," she says to me with a raised eyebrow. "What are you playing?" she asks and leans over to get a look. "A modified version of Angry Birds..." I growl in frustration and sigh. "Here, you try," I tell her and hand my phone to her and explain how to play it. She has a few practice runs and then on her first actual attempt she clears it with three stars... 'Stay calm... It's just a game,' I tell myself to calm down. "This is rather fun! Where can I get one of these?" she asks. Well, at least we got something to do now. "Let's find the nearest phone store then and get you one," I say and take my phone back and put it back in my bumbag. After twenty minutes of searching, we find the store and enter. "Welcome to..." the mare behind the counter starts but trails off seeing us. "... The Phone Emporium..." she then finishes after a slight pause. We walk up to the counter and she looks up at us with wide eyes. "Hello, I'd like to get a phone for my friend here," I tell her. "Erm... Sure. W-What kind would you like?" she asks. I pull out mine and show her. "Same as this one please," I have the Equestrian Lunar eight model, just like Luna's, or EL-8 for short. "Oh the E L eight. Hold on, I think we have two left..." she says less nervous now. She puts a box on the counter and uses her magic to pull out the phone. "What customization would you like?" she asks. I look at Rukia and gesture to the catalogue of different case patterns and other options. "I'll take the pink case with bunnies on it," she tells the mare. "Okay, what programs and apps would you like on it?" she asks Rukia. Rukia asks for the four different Angry Gryphons games and a few others as well as up to date maps of Equestria. Since there's no internet yet, people have to come to a phone store to have the latest games and software updates put onto them. "Okay then, that'll be two-hundred and twenty-five bits please," the mare says. Ouch, that's going to dig into my pocket a bit. I pay one-hundred and fifty bits while Rukia pays the rest with her small amount of bits she's earn't with slaying some hollows. Once done, the mare puts it back in the box and hands it to Rukia. "Thank you for shopping at the Phone Emporium, enjoy your new phone," she tells us with a smile. Unlike human cell phones where you need a contract for a number, these phones come with their own permanent number that you just tap the phone with another and the numbers are exchanged into the contact lists, magic is very convenient. We leave the store and get our phones out and tap mine to Rukia's. "There we go, now we're on each others lists, you might want to do it with the Princesses and Orihime's phones as well," I tell her and call Luna's phone. "Alright, so where are we going next?" she asks me. "I'm just calling Luna to see if they're ready for their training session," I reply. After a few rings, Luna picks up. "Hello, Ichigo. To what be the reason for thy call?" she greets and asks. "Don't tell me you forgot we got some training to do in a few minutes," I say in a flat tone. She gasps and I can hear her talking to Celestia. "We art sorry, Ichigo, but it has been very busy today. We'll have to continue tomorrow we are afraid," she tells me. "I see... Alright, no problem. I'll come by tomorrow and you'll have no choice but to train, even if I have to drag you out by your ears if need be," I tease her. I hear her sputter and grumble for a bit and then sigh. "Very well, we know thou art just trying to help us in the end," she says as I can hear Celestia giggle at her. "We shall see thee tomorrow, Ichigo. Farewell," she then says and hangs up. With that over I look back to Rukia. "Well, seems I have the rest of the day off, want to head back to Ponyville? I think I'll do some more training of my own until dinner time," I ask her. "Okay, I need to report back to Soul Society quickly anyway, Renji said he had something new to show me," she tells me and we head back home. On the way I ask Rukia a question. "Would you be willing to teach me some new Kido techniques?" "Kido? I thought you we're a physical type zanpakuto user," she replies. "I am, but I also know two kido attacks as well, Sho and Sai," I tell her. "I see, so you wish to try others as well?" she asks me. "Uh-huh, so are you willing to teach me?" I reply and ask. She hums in thought and smiles. "Sure, it'll be fun being the teacher for once," she says and we continue towards Ponyville. One Week Later I've been visiting Urahara daily and my training is practically the same, running and physical workout sessions which I'm showing great improvement. I've also trained the Princesses and fortunately for them I didn't have to drag them by the ears... Dammit. Celestia has finally spoken to her zanpakuto, her fear was not being able to protect her ponies from a threat and after explaining that letting go of that fear would make her stronger and more able to protect them allowed her to finally speak with him. Apparently her zanpakuto is a large dragon twice her size that looks like it's made of flames named Enten Ranbu or Scorching Sun Wild Dance. Her zanpakuto's released form is a very large flamberge greastsword just as long as mine where the blade is coated in flames. She still hasn't figured out what its ability is yet though. Luna has gotten very good with hers and she's very close to her zanpakuto Reitō Shiratsuki, a few more weeks and I believe she might be ready to face her hollow. Rukia has been teaching me to learn Hado number four, Byakurai or Pale Lightning, where I can shoot out a thin beam of high-density spiritual energy that looks like a bolt of lightning. So far I've managed to zap myself seven times but I think I'm starting to get it. She's even paid me back for the bits I spent on her phone. Orihime now has control of her powers and has applied for a job at the hospital, after a demonstration on a mare who recently lost a wing due to a violent crash, she restored the wing out of thin air, the Doctors were baffled and the mare was very thankful. They instantly gave her a job for critically injured or sick patients. Word has even spread and ponies from everywhere with missing limbs or bad illnesses come to Ponyville and for a small fee, get their limbs back. Orihime was very embarrassed at the new nickname she has gotten, the Ponyville Angel. I'm standing in an open field with Rukia practising the Byakurai kido. "Come on, Ichigo, you can do this. Just concentrate your reiatsu into you finger and focus it to the tip," she tells me. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, I gather my reiatsu and focus it in the tip of my left index finger. After a few seconds, I push the energy out and a thin beam of reishi shoots out and pierces the target we set up. I stare at the target and grin. "I did it!" I shout out in joy of my accomplishment. "Well done, now all we need to do is practice some more until you can do it instantly," Rukia tells me. I was about to reply but our soul pagers go off, a hollow appears before us and this one is large... very large, it looks just like a Hydra with five heads. "Erm... I don't think we've seen one of these before..." I say and draw my zanpakuto. "Yes, I've never seen one like this before either," Rukia replies and draws hers. The five heads look at us with a growl and then roar as they lunge at us.