Misfits.

[wanzer]

Ein, was walking down the street, minding his own business when some guy just appeared in front of him. He really didn't care, he was used to careless people around Tokyo as it was one of the most crowded cities in the world if not the most. He apologized as he bumped into him.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that I really should have been watching where I was going. Please, excuse me I have some where I need to go."

He was about to continue about how sorry he was for bumping into the young man, when it hit him. His spiritual pressure...the man in front of him was a Shimigami. Ein's mind began to scramble a little as soon be began to feel other pressures, massive ones, he soon began to frantically think to himself.

"This guy...he reeks of Hueco Mundo...he wasn't stupid enough to let the big guns follow him was he?"

It wasn't getting him anywhere to worry about it. He needed to get out of here, if the pressures that he felt were real...he didn't stand a chance if they were hostile.

[kensei]

“No, no, you’re the waste of existence, I know it’s hard for your weak mind to keep straight, but do try.”

Taza sighed as he noticed that the wind started to pick up, blowing his hair to the right. A stroke of lighting appeared not 200 feet from them, lighting the area as the clouds blocked out the moon and stars. The light pools underneath powering down because of the lighting strike.

“Well she did call together all the Espada and then order everyone who didn’t show to be killed. There was also the kidnapping of three kids from Soul Society for no reason, that was a brilliant move, and she did wonders for organising Las Noches; letting everyone run around on their own was a brilliant manoeuvre. Her actions were so great, that they got four espadas either killed or deserted to escape her stupidity. Her reign was glorious from beginning, until its perfect end; beaten, dragged in front of the other arrancar, and gutted like the worthless animal she was.”

Taza clinched his fist, this bitch was destroying Calixta’s name…. but he couldn’t say anything against it. This hollow was mocking her death! But what she said had truth to it… Yet he, Taza, one who hated to fight, hated the idea of hurting the innocent and cruelty. Yet he did fallow her blindly.. Why? Why did he find her so perfect? Was what he thought of her only an illusion? He let out a sigh, he didn’t know what to believe at the time. Confusion had taken hold of his mind as he looked down watching as another lighting strike landed near them, but farther then the last one as rain started to fall, quickly escalating to a hard down pour.

“Since you seem to want to prove that all arrancar are violent morons, what is the name of the disgrace I’ve been forced to put up with for so long? I like to keep track of the idiots I end up fighting; makes telling stories about people you’ve humiliated far easier.”

Taza looked at her and said. “My name is Taza, Dos Espada. And yours would be?” He said as he twirled his katana threw the rain, cutting the water, sending it at her face. Though one would barely notice it in the down pour. He was at a lose of words, unable to figure out what to think about Calixta.

[Darkoda]

The wind started to pick up, as a light rain started. Well okay, lightning did not equate light rain, but the flashes made her look more imposing through the shading, and blew that captain's haori of hers dramatically too. The division insgnia, edited with a red moon painted around it, would look quite ominous to anyone looking. It looked like the Espada was taking her words to heart, or at least had enough of a mind to realise that attempting to refute her words would only end in failure.

The man swung his blade at her face, slicing through the rain, and clashing with the spikes of her arm guard.

“My name is Taza, Dos Espada. And yours would be?”

She replied with an instant cero straight from the spikes that Taza's blade was locked in. He would have a fun time trying to avoid that at near point-blank range.

"Reina Nightshade, Commandante of the Maestro"

Just to keep him occupied, she shot a barrage of balas at the guy from the spikes on her back.

"You might want to release soon, or you're going to die."

[schitzo7830]

Aiko landed with a cat like grace. Miyu had made the comment. She was absolutely the most annoying spirit ever. It was raining now and he had seen lightning as he fell. Aiko drew his Souba. He was ready to battle. There was an unreal amount of spiritual presence in the area. the air was almost to heavy.

As Aiko began to move forward someone ran into him. He was about to keep moving when the individual spoke to him "Hey, I'm sorry about that I really should have been watching where I was going. Please, excuse me I have some where I need to go."


When Aiko looked at the male he was instantly alarmed. The man was giving off a rieatsu. He had recognized this type of power before. Then it clicked. This man he was talking to was a vizard. Aiko was unsure of why the man was in Karakura. As if he didnt have enough to deal with as it already was.

"What is a vizard doing in Karakura? As if the Vastro Lord and Arrancar wasnt enough?" Aiko sighed and readied himself incase the man was hostile. Regardless of the mans reaction he was ready.

[Galihan]

It would be foolish to think that none of this would be noticed by the higher powers at work. Something that some people forgot at times was that at any given moment, Soul Society was able to keep an eye on nearly any location on the entire planet known to the living as Earth. Of course the only areas that are monitored on a constant basis are the places where high concentrations of powerful souls were gathered, meaning that is where the hollows will appear and where the shinigami are most needed. Karakura Town was one such location, containing one of the most busy concentrations of spirit traffic in all of the Living World nowadays. The moment two incredibly powerful signatures had shown up on the radar, the command center within Squad Twelve's Shinigami Research Institute was on full alert.

"Sir! Two new contacts! Both Red!" Called out one of the white-clad shinigami behind a small desk with its own regular sized monitor.

"Bring it up on the main screen." Replied the seated officer supervising the station, also clad in an identical white coat overtop of his black shinigami robes.

All eyes turned to the back wall of the large room as its main monitor, a massive screen taking up nearly the entire wall that had on it a digital map of the entire planet. In a short moment, the screen had zoomed onto Karakura Town. Indeed, two massively powerful hollow signatures had shown up, and appeared to be having some sort of dispute. Beings of their magnitude would surely wreak massive mayhem on the area, so they had to be neutralized immediately. The senior officer had never seen anything like this, and quickly decided he'd best have someone contact Squad One to have the Commander General make a verdict, but as he had began issuing said order to have a messenger dispatched, he was interrupted by a metal door sliding open with the captain of Squad Twelve making an entrance. Apparantly, he was already aware of the situation from his own computer and had decided to handle the problem himself.

"I've got this covered, everyone," he yawned, apparently just waking from a nap if the steaming mug of what appeared to be coffee in his left hand wasn't a giveaway. Despite his mild drowsiness at the moment, Minoru promptly issued orders to several men and women present.

"Iura, I want a double-layered barrier set up around the area covering one spirit mile around them. Hozawa, have my clearance ready for full combat by the time I get down to the Senkaimon, I don't want to have to tell you people to lift a damn limiter cause we all know they probably wont just cooperate and settle their scuffle back in Hueco Mundo. Jiwara, send word to Commander General Irashi what's going on down there, we need everyone informed so some idiots from Yun's Tenth don't go and get in the way, everyone clear?"

"Yes sir!" They all called in unison, particularly eager to have their captain prove to everyone else that their squad could surpass Squad Ten at these matters. Even though Minoru himself didn't hold that much of a grudge against Yun, despite the two being pretty much equals and rivals in most matters, many of their subordinates has some sort of deep resentment for the other division. Few saw any reasonable cause for such, but Minoru at least realized it was a good tool to prompt his people to do a better job if they could outdo the work done by the private techies that worked for Squad Ten.

---

Elsewhere, in Karakura Town, it was obvious to anyone who had any advanced knowledge of spirits what was going down. Anyone who was sensitive to spirit energy would be able to detect the two powerful hollows far sooner than Soul Society's computers, especially when the particular group of indivuals were already on edge that Hueco Mundo may have decided to send agents to execute the traitorous former Espada and the rest of his group. Galihan was still feeling sore as hell despite having rested for days after the incident that left him in his reduced state. Inside his special Gigai crafted by Victoria-sama's contact, the former Cuatro Espada now appeared no different than a powerful Quincy, and his three fraccion all passed off as custom-made Mod Souls. When the presence of a powerful arrancar and a powerful menos showed up, the quartet of rouge arrancar in disguise were making their way to the scene.

"Booossss," whined the tired voice of the teenage male in the group, wearing a green jacket. "I dun gettit? Why er we goin tuh them?"

"Shut it, Temor," replied the adult woman wearing a fuschia coat in a raspy, irritated tone. "You do not question Umbra-sama's decision under any circumstances, do I make myself clear?"

"I only 'nser tuh de master imself, nat ye ya stoopid." The teenage boy replied, gloomy and tired as always, making it clear that he would not be taking any attitude from his sisters.

Galihan Umbra just sighed and ignored his fraccions' bickering and replied to the original question.

"It's our duty to try and stop whoever threatens these people, no matter what. Unlike us, most other hollows are savage killing machines that threaten the balance of order in the universe and should be destroyed. I don't care if they were sent by Calixta to hunt us down, sheer power can't overcome the mutual love we share with the living... I think... " Galihan was still not quite fully cognitive in his new body, the head injury he received from Zetsumei was grave enough to render him unconcious for quite a while, so he wasn't aware of the recent change in command within Las Noches.

Of course there were other being nearby also, so they had to be cautious about how they used their powers, they didn't particularly want anyone knowing that they were actually arrancar yet, so they would have to deal with the people ahead of them somehow. A pair of shinigami, crap. No, one also had a hollow energy, a vizard? Galihan and his group stopped about a hundred feet away from the weaker of confrontations, unsure of how things were going to play out. They weren't looking to fight them, and hopefully wouldnt have to since their disguises hid that they were arrancar, but they would defend themselves if need be.

---

Meanwhile, the whole area was shut off from the outside world as a massive barrier was placed by order of the shinigami captain who was just now passing through a Senkaimon gate into the area. Minoru Daichi stood about forty feet away from the fighting hollows, his hand on his zanpakuto ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. Surely they noticed him, but both seemed preoccupied to confront him in this instant.

"What do we have here?" The elderly captain asked aloud, placing his advanced goggles over his eyes to begin a recording of the event for future analysis.

"He's an arrancar, and is that woman a Vasto Lorde? Oh my, I have my work cut out for me, don't I?"

Minoru may have been one of the oldest, most experienced and powerful captains in the Gotei 13, but even a captain of his strength would require some effort to defeat these two. Maybe he could convince them to take their fight elsewhere? That'd be nice, but unlikely to happen.

[wanzer]

Ein watched as the young man took a more aggressive stance and he sighed. He was in no mood for this bull and he really didn't need to piss of the soul society again.

"Hey kid what do you think your doing leading two high levels like that here, they could slaughter us all in the crossfire!"

He also noticed the small group of bistandards, they really needed to get out of here, the level of power coming from the Vasto Lorde and Arrancar could easily level the area and he pointed his finger toward them as a stray cero blast exploded behind them.

"Oh S***"

Ein swore as the explosion happened and he paced away a little from the young shimigami in front of him. He hoped the young man realized without a mask he couldn't fire a cero, but that was unlikely. He sighed and quickly grabbed at his blade knowing the misunderstanding just got him into a fight.

[end]

This was becoming a mess. Two 'Hollow' of tremendous power, now duking it out. Aiko was running off in their direction. A new smell. A mix between Aiko and the Hollow, right next to him. Four smaller scents, one larger than the other three. Closer to the battle. Another one. Big. Like Aiko. Emerging from? Elsewhere. Not earth. Not the des- 'Hueco Mundo'. She was still getting used to the new terminology.

Karla was glad she had her space. The powers present were too much. At least from this distance she could think things through carefully.

And then there was the collateral damage. The building under her buckled for the second time today. It was a bad day for insurance providers.

'Damn it.' Karla said as she tore into Hueco Mundo, 'This is not what I came here for.'

She came here to avenge Margaret. It was the only reason she would stray so far afield. She still had that sense of justice. She preyed on Hollow because they preyed on innocents. When she preyed on a human, it was the worst examples of humanity.

Karla knew where this line of thought was leading her. And she didn't like it.

Karla tore back into the mortal world.

'We need to do something about those two.' She said to Aiko.

[schitzo7830]

Aiko was tired. he had travelled to Karakura for routine check. He was looking for a fight originally now he was looking for a way to a hot shower and a couple z's. This Vizard was looking at him as if this whole colassal mess was his fault.

"Hey kid what do you think your doing leading two high levels like that here, they could slaughter us all in the crossfire!"

Aiko was furious. He thinks im some kid? Who the hell does this guy think he is?

Aiko was about to voice his opinion when all of a sudden the other man pointed at him. Aiko's first thought was. Yes im standing here, whats your point when the wall behind him exploded. He thought he heard the man say some kind of curse. Had this basterd just shit a damn cero at him? No that couldnt be he didnt have his mask on.

Then the man drew a blade. That ment battle. Aiko was completely ready. Aiko pointed his Souba at the man and smiled. "That is a very...very...bad idea"

Aiko's current stance wasnt good for battle. However the building that was just blasted was falling. They both had to move or they would be screwed.

Aiko decided he would make the first strike. Or attempt to. He didnt believe that you should ever go for a kill blow immediatly. Aiko jumped over the Vizards head sliding his souba along the mans blade, He then turned his body slightly and kicked off the mans back. He didnt know how the man would react to his attack but regardless. The vizard drew his blade first. He was the one on the offensive. When aiko landed he jumped straight into the air and flew above the buildings. levitating in the air.

Aiko readied himself for the mans next move and got his Souba ready. Miyu hadnt tasted blood in a few months. She was getting pissy about it. hopefully... Aiko could satisfy her thirst. Then he heard his other new "friend" Karla.

"Aiko we need to do something about these two" She yelled as the building crumbled. Aiko was distracted momentarily and lost sight of the Vizard.

"Shit"

[Larson Toyfa]

"Today is looking like a great day." Saru whispered to his self as he finished up his 2000th push-up. The reason he paused was because he felt the presence of his 3rd seat, Aiko Takeshi, leave Soul Society. Intrigue as to what was going on, Saru quickly finished up the rest of his morning exercises and made his way to Karakura town, "to see if there were any Hollow about." Or so that was his excuse that he left on the note to his office. He was a Captain now, and could do what he felt like, kinda how things were when he was working vice for the police department.

Once in Karakura town, Saru stood on a roof top in his shihakushou and captain's haori, both were fluttering in the wind. Turning his head to scan the town, he was a bit disappointed that there weren't a lot of Hollow about. "Takeshi-kouhai, there are no hollow here. what are you up to?" He whispered out loud, trying to understand why Aiko had come here to the real world.

He took care of the few minor Hollow that he had felt before he noticed that Aiko wasn't in Karakura town anymore. "Where are you leading me, Takeshi-kouhai?" Saru was about to leave when he felt the tiny pressure of a Vasto Lorde and the Dos Espada. He placed his hand on Hitotsubishi and smiled. "Yes, we get to dispatch some old school justice today."

Just as he was about to Flash Step in between the two fighting hollow he felt the presence of another captain. Changing direction mid-step, Saru appeared next to Minoru Daichi. "Doing a bit of research now that you've been given the 'house keys' again, Daichi-san?" Saru gripped Hitotsubishi a bit tighter as he was closer to the two fighting Hollow.

[wanzer]

Ein was distracted when the kid struck at him, he felt their blades slid against each other and the heat of the friction, by that time he had already refocused on the battle at hand. He had no time to worry about the big boys, he would worry about them later. Still, the immense pressure around them felt suffocating, he could feel his legs growing weak from just being around so much power. His inner hollow began to berate him for such weakness.

“Hey, kid can you at least try to hold yourself up with some dignity some of us are actually trying to think in here. I mean come on man, pull yourself together or I might have to start running this show”

“Oh Shut up, it amazes me Rosipo hasn’t murdered you yet, she tried to kill me first time I met her.”

“Oh believe me laddy, the temptress has tried quite a few times, but I always manage to elude her.”

Ein ducked beneath some of the falling rubble as he ran up a flight of reishi platforms he constructed. He was trying to get to higher ground away from the mass chaos below as the building was destroyed, he grumbled about it, but kept his cool making sure to avoid the falling debris such as: glass, pipes, desks, chair and other assorted office supplies, which now fell like rain upon the citizens of Karukara. Ein froze as he cleared the top, then saw the shimigami again. They were in open battle so, it was no time for explaining. He took his blade into his right hand, letting his connection with it strengthen before his assault. He flashed stepped around to Aiko’s side striking his blade head on, before flash stepping again slightly above Aiko,he used the moment of freefall to wrap one leg around and swing himself around to attempt to kick him in the throat while stabbing at his knee. Ein was already letting go of Aiko's leg knowing he was in a very dangerous position and he needed to get out as soon as possible if he got blocked. Ein’s face was stone and there was a perfect calm in him, he was now back to his roots, he was once again the assassin he was trained to be in the Soul Society and he was back in his place. These were the moments he would feel alive and nothing would disturb his calm. Not the two incredibly powerful hollows, not anyone else that came along and entered this already horrendously unstable area, not the chaos below him.

“THERE YA GO LADDY, NOW KICK THAT PUNK’S ASS AND LETS SHOW UM WHAT WE CAN ‘EALLY DO!”

[kensei]

Ah hell, the damn vostro lorde took him the wrong way.. He didn’t mean it as a insult but oh well it couldn’t be helped, the bitch had already made a cero and it was a inch away. Lucky for him, he vanished appearing behind her. Right in the nick of time to not have a huge hole threw him. “Phew!.... Mind actually giving me a heads up before you start the battle?” He said looking behind him to see a barrage of balas heading straight for him. “Oh shit!” he said as he used soindo to move under her right before the balas hit him. Now this girl was asking for it… And who was he to say no? With two fingers pointed at her he created a cero of his own, shooting out in a small highly compressed beam no bigger then a juice glass in diameter.

But then it happened, not one, but two Captains appeared out of seemingly no where and had set up a barrier, oh joy like that wouldn’t be gone in a moments notice. Taza sighed as he diverted his attention to the Captains. He looked right at them, knowing that in seconds they would be upon them like rabid wolves on a injured deer. “Hey..” He yelled out to Reina. “You pissed off soul society.” He said looking at her, only to have the damn rain hit his eyes and make him unable to see for a split second as he whipped his eyes. His ocean blue hair, along with his odd uniform now soaked threw. His gloves being only a hindrance and an annoyance, he sheathed his sword and took them off showing the blood red “2” on the palm of each hand. Today was not his day..

Tokyo, 30 minutes prior to current events.

[/center][/b]

Sirens, horns, people chattering and yelling. It was just another night in Tokyo as Kensei made his way to the old church that was home for his kind. His short dark brown hair barley moving in the wind. A sigh escaped his lips as he zipped up his green jacket. He hated working at a grocery store. But he had to, he was one of the ones who paid for food for all of the Vizards. As he opened the large wooden doors, his face greeted by the warm air that warmed his body in a instant. His body grew heavy because of the immense spirit pressure of the council members that where evidently in the church. “Who wants sushi?” he said as he pulled a large brown bag with something written in Japanese on it. He laid it in on a alter that served as a table. When a young boy walked up and jumped on his back saying. “Kensei-kun is so cheap, you never get anything other then sushi and rice.” Kensei walked over to a council member with the young boy still on his back. “That’s because..” He stopped to put him down. “I don’t make enough money. I cant afford anything really nice. But you need to eat so go!” As he said this the young boy ran over to the table and stole a box of sushi from one of the other vizards.

Kensei bowed to the council member and said. “Anything needed of me sir?” The man looked at him and said with a hint of sadness in his voice. “Unfortunately yes, one of are members went to Karakura town, and was do back yesterday but he is still gone. Please make sure he is ok.” Kensei bowed once more and said. “Yes sir.” As he got out of his giga, the only thing changing was the fact that he now had a dagger in his hand. It had a five inch handle and a ten inch blade. Its sheath on his black combat boot. He left the church and made his way to karakura town.

He got there in twenty minutes thanks to the bullet train. As he walked around Karakura in search for Ein. That’s when they appeared. “What the hell.” He said as he fell to his knees before getting up under the massive spirit pressure. “Ein where are you.” He said in a mono tone fashion as he continued his search.

[Darkoda]

Taza was busy whining about her blasting him out of the blue. What did he expect?

“You pointed a sword at me. That’s close enough to the start of a fight.”

She then drifted to the side as the Espada shot a small cero at her from below. Really, who did he think he was going to hit with something that thin? Anyway, it seemed that their fight was going to get put on hold now; taking stock of the presences, she had four decently strong humans, that shinigami who jumped in the Garganta with the arrancar, which meant that she was back to, a vizard fighting with that shinigami, another vizard somewhere close by, and coming to people who were actually a threat, two captain class shinigami. One of them was quite familiar too....

Reina stared at the shinigami in the lab-coat. She never got his name, but she saw him fight that reaper hollow, and saw that he was dangerous.

“Hey, you pissed off soul society.”

“So it appears. Vizards, shinigami, arrancar, where are all of you people coming from?”

She sighed at the thought of how simple this day was, before that random adjuchas shot it all to hell. She was really not in a good mood right now.

“And you, in the lab-coat, you’re one sick bastard. You walked into Hueco Mundo, beat up another hollow, then shoved your long rod into him.”

She suppressed a shudder at the memory of that fight. She didn't like the guy, but that was a bad way to go.

“I heard his screams from where I was watching, while you kept forcing your rod into him. Such a bloody mess....then when you were done, you left him broken, and stuck him in a cube to probably use all of your toys on him later. Taza, that guy’s your problem.”

She vanished from her spot floating, and appeared behind the two captains, her finger glowing with energy. There was no way she was fighting that guy, who knew what gadgets he had besides that thing? Let Taza deal with him, she would deal with the other guy, who from looking at his cloak, was an 11th division captain. Well now, that whole division was always fun to mess with. A fully charged cero was probably considered an acceptable greeting to those nut-jobs. The other captain was still right by him, but if they both got hit, it would be killing two birds with one stone.

[schitzo7830]

Aiko was going to enjoy this. He hadnt had a battle...Or at least a true battle in a while. He thought it should be fun. Aiko tensed up as he saw the man rising from falling platforms and coming at him. If this vizard wanted to combat shear sword to sword combat he was crazy. Aiko wasnt third seat for nothing. However... It was a vizard. Aiko figured he shouldnt be a problem till he gets his mask. but then Aiko would have a very nice treat for the man.

As Aiko was thinking wether or not to go on the attack the other man made his move. The man flash stepped to Aiko's right and tried to stab at him, Aiko bloacked it with ease then arched his body down. The man then rose above Aiko and locked his legs around Aiko's arm. At the same time the man stabbed at Aiko's knee. Aiko caught the man blade inbetween the two bladesof his souba and twisted. This deverted the mans orignall attack to only slightly graze Aiko's leg barely drawing blood. The man was already loosening his legs from Aiko's arm. Good idea.

Aiko Grabbed the mans leg and through him towards the crumbling building. He was relativily smaller than Aiko. Aiko then flash stepped towards the man and swung the souba in a hoizontal then vertical swipe Hopefully cutting them man. However he didnt feel any direct contact with anything significant. Aiko darted past them falling man and turned around facing the vizard. In a couple of seconds he would be close enough to cut in half.

" Take this basterd!"

[wanzer]

Ein's strategy to avoid being hit after his blow failed and felt his body lurch as Aiko threw him. The world rushed past him in a blurr, but he could still make out the shaped and figures and began to hear what they were saying, primarily focusing on the Captains and the bigger problems, the hollows.

“So it appears. Vizards, shinigami, arrancar, where are all of you people coming from?”

Ein wanted to laugh, that was exactly what he was thinking, what in the hell was going on here!? He had just been heading back to HQ when he bumped into that shimigami. This was crazy, he was surprised the spiritual pressure didn't flatten this area, he knew it was already cleared out, cause anyone with a drop of spiritual sensitivity would think this place was a wild fire. He kept launching and continued to listen as he watched Aiko.

"And you, in the lab-coat, you’re one sick bastard. You walked into Hueco Mundo, beat up another hollow, then shoved your long rod into him.”

Ok, Ein may not have been part of the science divison, but that sounded way, way wrong. He didn't know that scientific studies involved THAT! What kind of sick bastards are they raising in the spirit world now, jesus! He kept listening in and soon heard a familiar voice among all the others and thought great Kensei is here. The messenger boy came to get him because the other vizards were too busy to bother. He sighed and created Reishi platforms to slow himself down, then noticed Aiko was trying to cut him as he twisted a little and ended up with a cross shaped hole in his shirt with tiny cuts on his chest. He frowned and noted he was coming again as he heard Kensei call out for him again.

"I'm in the middle of something Kensei, can we do this some other time!?"

He didn't wait for a reply as he saw Aiko coming to slash him again.

"Take this bastard!"

"Shut up, Seki"

A small round shield appeared on Ein's arm and he held it in the way of Aiko's blade watching it rebound back as Ein came to a stop and held up his thumb and forefinger and a golden triangle shaped itself inside of it.

"Shitotsu Sansen"

*The triangle fired out in three golden lines, moving rapidly to pierce Aiko's body and pin him against one of the nearby buildings as Ein readied his blade to impale him.*

[end]

No sooner had Karla emerged at Aiko's side had a fight broken out between him and the newcomer.

She had no idea why this fight had begun, but it wasn't going to help her current goal, which she wasn't feeling happy about anyway.

She instinctively drew her knife, took a step back and took a combat stance, before lowering her weapon and relaxing her stance into a crouch. Neither combatant much cared about her presence at the moment.

The fight was... unusual. It showcased some impressive acrobatics, but it wasn't exactly the most practical way of fighting.

Karla caught a look of glee on Aiko's face. He was ENJOYING the fight. It explained his fighting style.

And then it ceased to matter. To Karla's shock, each of the combatants disappeared and reappeared in turn, faster than her eyes could follow.

The other was just as acrobatic, but his moves were tighter, less wasteful. Even with only one weapon he was making simultaneous attacks at multiple points.

Karla was presented with a dilemma. There combat movement was within her ability. In fact at the close ranges she preferred, their weapon's superior reach would be an impediment to speed and maneuverability. She was also confident that she had superior strength and leverage. She could break up this fight.

The problem was foot work. Karla's was good. This was entirely inhuman. She could never hope to catch them at that speed.

She would have to wait for them to come to her.

She assumed an aggressive crouch and circled the combat zone carefully. If one of them got too close, she'd catch them.