What goes 'Bump' in the Night? (Finished/Closed)

[Tagz]

It had been a while since the shrewish woman known as Gramica had ventured off into the Living World. She had been antsy for quite some time. However, tonight, she had her own little agenda. She had a habit of playing with the lives of Hollow. This habit was simply to satisfy her of her boredom. Lately her interests revolved around one particular Adjuchas she had been monitoring for quite some time. When she first found this Adjuchas, Haarnita, as a Gillian, her mask was different in comparison to others of her kind. She was almost always off in her own little corner of the Gillian forest. Haarnita’s face was covered by a simple and plain white carapace. Not much of a mask. It had no eye sockets, no distinguishing features, nothing. It was just a plain white mask that covered her head. Gramica watched as other Gillian began to fear her as since of them ended up as her supper. Since the day she first noticed her existence, Gramica made sure to keep tabs on her at all times. Now, Haarnita was a venerated Adjuchas, so she wanted to test her skills against someone skilled.

3:01 A.M.

Gramica crouched down comfortably on a rooftop of a tall apartment building, watching her plan take affect. As she squatted down low, her Zanpakuto was loosely held within her right hand and the blade was allowed to rest lightly on her shoulder. Having sent out a frail Hollow to try and draw out a Shinigami, an evil grin streaked across woman’s face. It worked without fail. Seconds after the Hollow devoured the soul of a young boy, an angered Shinigami appeared. The Shinigami defeated the pathetic Hollow within seconds, then, a dark and spiraling portal appeared at the top of the apartment building that the Shinigami stood under. Then, emerging from the abyss was a sizable figure. Blue in skin tone, it had a hole in its chest where a heart should be. The moment the beast exited the swirling hole, it announced its presence with a loud and bone chilling shriek. Immediately the Shinigami’s attention snapped into her direction.

Taking one step off of the ledge of the roof she stood on, Haarnita plummeted down to the blacktop with incredible speed. It left a large crater in the visitor parking area after freefalling from a distance of almost twenty-five floors. A smile plastered itself on Gramica’s expressions as her new found pet was consumed with the need for a memorable entrance. Her smile only grew bigger as she noticed the look of shock in the Shinigami’s face. Unfortunately, the Shinigami was up to expectations. The Adjuchas did not require a lot of time nor energy to defeat him. As the uniformed man came down upon the Adjuchas, blade-in-hand, bearing his teeth, Haarnita grabbed the blade of his Zanpakuto with one hand and dashed the grown man aside like a used napkin.

Haarnita stood at about eleven feet. Black lines were usually mistaken for tear stains for their odd placements directly under the Hollow’s eye sockets. A long and skinny tail extended from behind the creature and there were several spots that coated the being’s body. The shape of the mask itself was somewhat feline-like. Her body was slim and muscular. Her claws were frighteningly sharp, and her speed was jaw-dropping. Gramica was now grinning from ear-to-ear when Haarnita took off with amazing speed to appear directly in front of the infantile Shinigami and, with a simple swing of her arm, tore the poor Shinigami apart. The Shinigami’s body quickly dissipated into nothing but spirit particles.

“Damn… that was no fun…”

Haarnita knew that if she was put up against a weak Shinigami, she’d have to begin a rampage until a more suitable training dummy showed up, Shinigami or otherwise. Gramica, still in her crouched position, was filled with anxiety. She had been dying to test out her new pet’s abilities. Was she strong? Was she smart? It was already known that her speed outmatches any other Adjuchas, but how far did that uniqueness go? Would she face someone quicker? Stronger? Smarter? All these questions could easily be figured out within Hueco Mundo, but that wouldn’t be as much fun. Gramica stood up, returning her Zanpakuto to her waist. She crossed her arms which evidently propped up her breasts. The woman’s trench coat blew viciously in the cold wind of the night. Her reiatsu was carelessly leaking out, giving away her position. Haarnita was enjoying herself, attacking random civilians that were out for whatever reasons they had and just returning home.

Now the waiting game begins…

[Galihan]

Since the captain's disappearance, the duty of commanding the Second Division and leading the Secret Mobile Corps had fallen on the shoulders of the 2nd-in-command of both of the closely knit factions, vice-captain Tsuno Azuka. He was already well respected throughout most of Soul Society as a competent leader both within the Gotei 13 and by some of the people who remembered him from his earlier days when he and his clan protected the outer districts of Rukongai from thugs and bandits, and he was already used to doing the bulk of the administrative tasks in the office, but still he lacked the raw fighting prowess or massive supply of reiatsu needed to become an actual captain, but he was working on it. He had been training for bankai many nights in the forest below the Sokyoku Hill and was nearly there, not to mention he was already one of the most skilled users of shunpo and unarmed combat of all the vice-captains.

Tsuno had sent out the 5th seat officer, a talented and promising, but somewhat careless young man who shone brighter than most of the people who had been trained by the vice-captain (and that accounted for almost half of the entire Second Division so far,) to investigate an unusually strong hollow signature. When his signal vanished, it wasn't long before he was presumed dead by whatever was attacking, and Tsuno, having sent him out, felt responsible to check the situation out himself. While some of his higher up officers pleaded him not to go himself, Tsuno would not step down and proceeded to cross into the living world through the personal Senkaimon used by the Secret Mobile Corps in order to... mobilize. Secretly.

In the living world, Tsuno was able to conceal his reiatsu and moved hastily throughout the morning undetected as he approached the unmistakable presence of two powerful adversaries who were making no effort whatsoever at hiding themselves. Possibly two adjuchas menos, no, the one who was purposefully leaking reiatsu was definitely a numeros, and most likely the brains behind the rampaging adjuchas. While the the immediate threat to the people nearby was the menos, if he was to engage the arrancar he was sure the rampaging hollow would cease it's reckless mayhem.

This can be over without any struggle, he thought to himself silently. Might as remain hidden as long as possible.

While keeping himself concealed using kido until very close to the target, Tsuno suddenly revealed himself, drawing his blade behind the arrancar, slashing his short bladed zanpakuto towards the target's back in hopes of assassinating her with a single unexpected stealthy strike, but that was just wishful thinking and would be unlikely to succeed. He made no attempt to introduce himself to the arrancar or to have any pre-battle chatter, he was here to kill his targets as fast and effortlessly as possible.

[Tagz]

Patience… patience… patience was a bitch. Gramica was filled with eagerness. Her fervor was soon answered. An unexpected spike of reiatsu appeared directly behind her. The rapid change in wind signified a forceful swing aiming to cleave her. Gramica’s disposition hadn’t altered even for a moment. She calmly but swiftly brought her arm up, over her shoulder, and caught the blade of the man’s Zanpakuto in the palm of her left hand. Her incredibly tough skin allowed her to stop his feeble attack with ease. Her right hand grabbed the hilt of her own Zanpakuto and swung it at the waist of the man. Her upper body spun, slightly lowered itself, and freed the man’s sword in a position that’d prevent him from bringing it down in time to stop her attack, all in one fluid motion. She knew he would easily escape the attack if he simply jumped back, but that was exactly what she was hoping for.

With her outstanding proficiency of Sonido, Gramica managed to put quite a distance between her and her new foe. She then let out a disappointed sigh. Her opponent was clearly confused. It was sad really. The mind was a terrible thing to waste. Haarnita was down below causing a scene by tearing apart passing cars and swallowing the souls of innocent humans as if they were gumdrops, but clearly that wasn’t enough to draw his attention where it belonged. Keeping her eyes locked onto the man that had just recently raised his blade against her, she passed the blade into her left hand and stretched out her right arm. She opened her palm and aimed it at the center of the building that stood dozens of meters to her immediate right. A glowing grew orb quickly formed in her palm and sped off towards the building. It was a Cero, definitely one of the more powerful attacks in a Hollow’s arsenal. Her Zanpakuto was held out in front of her to make sure that the Shinigami was incapable of reaching the blast before she intercepted him. The sole purpose of this was to blast a hole through the center of the building, signaling to the Adjuchas down below that she had a new objective and a new source of food. Gramica understood that Haarnita’s taste was more for Hollow souls, preferably strong ones. Thus the reason she had promised the creature a platter of Hollow souls if everything went well and they both returned to Hueco Mundo.

The moment a hole was blasted through the building, Haarnita, with blinding speed, entered the building. However, she did not go through the entrance created for her. The beast chose to create her own opening simply by pushing through the side of the building. Haarnita appeared in the middle of a bedroom. The walls were blue, there was a spaceship like ornament hanging from the ceiling, there were dinosaur-shaped toys sitting on shelves, on a desk, and lying on the floor, and the bed was in the shape of a car. It was clearly a bedroom made for a young boy. The fact that that very boy was sitting on the floor playing with some sort of portable gaming device would prove to any and all who’d think that it would be sexiest to assume a room like that belonged to a boy because a girl could just as easily choose a fire truck over a Barbie doll as well. Haarnita’s loud and forceful entrance scared the boy stiff. He was too terrified to even make a sound and was instantly gulped down like chocolate milk.

Haarnita, being to large to fit through the doorway, destroyed the side of the wall and entered the living room. She was greeted by a frightened couple sitting on the couch. The male was also speechless, though his female counterpart let out a loud and high-pitched scream. Meanwhile, Gramica greeted her mistaken guest.

“Tsk, tsk. Do Shinigami go around swinging their swords all willy nilly nowadays? Am I not allowed to get some fresh air out here anymore?”

The disappointed woman let out a tired sigh.

“I have to admit, you’re a strange one. The first Shinigami I’ve met to strike from behind with no warning. All the ones I’ve come across felt obliged to make sure they were noticed and state their name, squad, and ranking within that squad. I thought it was protocol. Or do you not follow that procedure because you do not care for rules or are a coward and want to end a battle without endangering your life. If it’s the first one, then I commend you on your criminal mindset, but if it’s the second one, then refrain for engaging in any battles if you fear for your own well being.”

The blonde-haired woman sized up her opponent, noticing his lieutenant badge. Obviously he was a Vice-Captain and obviously he’d be a challenge, too much for her little pet to handle.

“Well, since I feel it odd for a Shinigami not to brag about his position and his squad and speak of his name as if he is royalty, I’d give you some satisfaction. I am Gramica, Numero Trece (Thirteen). Now… do it properly this time. I’m used to knowing the names of all the Shinigami I kill.”

In all honesty, Gramica couldn’t care less about who the man that stood before her was. Whether he was Hizashi Maiya of the Todori Clan, or Jack Johnson of the Johnson and Millard Housing Corporation, he’d still end up dead within the next little while. Gramica was simply taunting him, in the hopes of rousing him into blind rage. Her blade still stretched out in front of her incase her attempts to get a rise out of him went in vain.

[Galihan]

Perhaps Tsuno revealed his presence maybe a split second too early as his attack aimed at the arrancar's back was stopped with her hand and drew her own zanpakuto, a completely white western-style sword, and swung it low, aiming for his waist. He wanted to growl in anger but managed to restrain himself and managed to step out of the way, using shunpo to increase his distance from the arrancar and she did the same, now a considerable distance between the two. She then fired a cero at a building, signaling the adjuchas where to focus it's destruction next. Tsuno didn't hestitate very long before giving his opponent an answer, and wasn't tempted by the insults to attack her in rage.

"I'm Tsuno Azuka, Vice-Captain of Squad Two." He looked at his blade, pausing for a moment before continuing. "You've earned that much at least, seeing as you survived my attack. If I had waited to attack after introducing myself, there'd be no element of surprise, but I suppose I underestimated the strength of your hierro."

He then looked down at the adjuchas who was about to kill a family of innocent people.

"Well you've proven yourself a civilized person, so wait a minute while I take care of that thing."

He dissapeared with shunpo, and for a second every trace of his presence had also vanished into thin air. Then he reappeared just outside the damaged house, behind the adjuchas and he swung his blade swiftly, slicing into it's back to lure it away from the innocent humans. He hollow roared at him and ran at him with it's large claws extended and very impressive speed, Tsuno knew deep down that this was the hollow that killed his subordinate. If he was at full strength he would be able to probably dispatch the monster without even using his blade but because of his rank he had only 20% of his power at his disposal with the limiter in effect. The vice-captain held the short blade with both hands in front of him, and a strong red energy glowed around the weapon. Tsuno adressed the adjuchas directly just as it as about to reach him.

"Prepare to face the vengeance of the innocents you killed you bastard! Whistle, Lotomasa!"

The short blade curved into a sickle and split into two identical weapons for each of his hands, connected by a metal chain at the pommels of each weapon. Tsuno's reiatsu flared as he leaped out of the way of the hollow's attack and throwing one of the sickles at an extended arm, he cut a large gash into it's forearm. A pull of the chain brought the sickle back and wrapped itself around the wounded arm, ripping into its flesh as the chain began to burn with a fiery energy. The opponent grabbed hold of the chain and pulled Tsuno towards it, burning it's own hand in the process and drawing in a master at close range combat was a mistake. Tsuno flew close to the adjuchas and didn't hesitate to raise his open palm at it's white, feline mask.

"Hado # 45, Dragon's Breath!"

From his hand a burst of hot flames shot out and engulfed the menos' upper body in smoldering heat, immediately afterward Tsuno pulled on his chained weapon and the sickle wrapped around the arm came back to his left hand while still flying towards the hollow itself. Tsuno landed a kick square into the menos' chest and sent it falling to the ground below, its arm badly cut up and it's upper body scorched by fire. He knew that it was still alive and was probably able to still fight very well but it would be in lots of pain and might hesitate getting back for a while. Tsuno turned back to Gramica and growled,

"It's neither," referring to her earlier comment of wether or not her didn't care about the rules or was just a coward.

"In Squad Two, I have a rule of combat that I try to teach to every one of my soldiers:

1. Never engage an opponent that is too powerful for you to kill.
2. In order to prevent the fight from dragging out and causing harm to the people nearby, never hold back and never play fair.
3. If the enemy is attacking the innocent then disregard rule 1 and fight to protect those in danger no matter what, even if you die in the process."

Deep down he knew he would probably have to have the limiter released in order to fight Gramica, and probably also the adjuchas itself once it got back up because at 20% of his normal strength would probably not be able to defeat the two on his own.

[Tagz]

Gramica watched as the man finally took off to attack what was supposed to be his initial target. Rolling her eyes at his ignorance, Gramica looked on intently to see how her little pet fared against a Vice-Captain. To her surprise, Tsuno handled the creature with little to no effort. This was quite vexing for the woman who had high hopes for Haarnita. What’s worse, Tsuno allowed the Adjuchas to survive. Had Haarnita been able to do more damage she might’ve been allowed to live, but now, that was highly unlikely. The woman listened as the Shinigami explained why he had stricken from behind instead of acting like the rest and blabbering about playing fair.

“I see…”

The woman spoke in a nonchalant and uncaring tone of voice. However she did gain something out of his chattering. She learned that Squad Two was the odd duck out. It was the only squad that simply wanted to get the job done, whether it was by playing fair or by playing dirty. That meant that she would have to keep an eye out for underhanded tactics. This was not a problem… not a problem at all.

As Gramica gripped her hilt of her Zanpakuto tighter, she was blessed with an exciting surprise. A sudden spike in reiatsu had gotten her attention, along with a loud and eerie cry that only a Hollow can make. Spine-tingling screams aside, what surprised the woman was that Haarnita’s reiatsu was more impressive than before. Though it was not yet at the level of neither Tsuno nor Gramica, Haarnita’s reiatsu was still impressive in its own respects. What’s more is that she apparently had more surprises up her sleeve than the Arrancar had originally thought. Turning to look at the creature, a more than obvious change had occurred. Two large, bat-like wings had sprouted out of the Menos’ back. These wings were the same dark shade of blue as the rest of her body. What was also noticeable was the fact that blood began to trickle down her burnt forearms. The blood no longer came from the cuts given to her by the Vice-Captain of Squad Two, but from a gash created when the sharp, ten inch long; twenty-five inch high razor emerged from underneath her skin. Now armed with two, large razors, sharp claws, wings, and incredible speed, Haarnita felt ready to continue her battle with Tsuno. First thing’s first, she had to regain his attention. Though her shout was should have been more than, the Adjuchas did not believe that.

Haarnita opened her mouth wide and a familiar orb began to grow inches from her face. A magnificent crimson glow was emitted from the orb as the air that surrounded the entire area was filled with malicious intent. Haarnita’s incredible hatred towards Shinigami was easily felt and admired by the woman who had brought her to this quaint little city. The beast’s attack was sent blasting forth at a decent pace. It aimed to obliterate the creature’s opponent, though Gramica doubted that it would be that simple. Still, she felt as though she’d stay out of her pet’s way. The man seemed too eager to engage her in battle. What was it about her that instilled so much hatred and spite within him that’d drive him to continuously pursue her despite the fact that she hadn’t done any damage to the city… minus blasting a hole through a building? Regardless, his determination to fight Gramica distracted him from dealing with Haarnita as he was supposed to.

If things were going to be done properly, Gramica needed to flee the scene. It was easily done with the use of Garganta. A spiraling portal appeared before her as Haarnita began charging towards Tsuno behind her Cero, after batting her wings a few times. With a devilish smile streaking across her face, Gramica stepped into her version of a minivan and allowed things to progress properly. She’d keep an eye on things and only intervene when her Adjuchas was about to be cleaved apart, burned alive, destroyed in an earthquake, or whatever the man had in store for the creature. She would then step in and take her pet’s place and satisfy the man by allowing him to die at the hands of a more… presentable Hollow.

Haarnita was quick. She was quick to the point she was able to completely outrun… or out-fly her own Cero. However, due to its size, it took a while to get under it. However, an advantage to that was that she was easily hidden within the shadow of such a sizable attack. Once emerging from the shadows and coming into clear view, the Adjuchas moved past the Shinigami. She stayed out of reach and was armed incase her personal space was invaded. Haarnita continued to move until she stood several feet behind the Vice-Captain. She then outstretched her arms, hands, and fingers. A gleam of pride could clearly be seen within her glowing eyes as her razor sharp and enlarged claws shout out from her fingertips. A giant red orb came from the front, and ten sharp nails came from behind. Even for an Adjuchas, this was an incredible feet to achieve. Haarnita was clearly the one of the fastest and most proficient in the use of Sonido. Skilled in her own aspects, she was truly a pet to be proud of. Maybe, just maybe, Gramica wouldn’t have to step in at all. As unlikely as it was, it never hurts to keep your fingers crossed.

[Galihan]

Tsuno wasn't expecting the adjuchas to be out of it from his earlier series of attacks. He knew that according to the official records, it was expected that the average adjuchas was close to the same tier of power as a shinigami lieutenant, so with himself being only at a fifth of his power, there was no way he could defeat the hollow so easily. The sudden spike of energy coming from this hollow was very intimidating indeed and was enough to catch the shinigami off-guard and apparently surprise the arrancar, Gramica, for a split-moment.

In this moment, the adjuchas launched itself at Tsuno with amazing speed using newly sprouted wings and armed with sharp-looking blades protruding from it's arms. The cero it fired was massive for a hollow of it's rank and and would probably mess the intended target right up if it hit, a direct attack probably would be enough to guarantee Tsuno's own death. Luckily, the shinigami was especially skilled at shunpo and managed to distance himself from the approaching red energy beam of death, but he didn't expect such a trap from the hollow who had so far proven itself to be rather bestial.

It had came up from under it's own cero and clawed at Tsuno from behind, barely giving him time to block. He rose his own sickles to catch the claws of the hollow from behind him over his head but still managed to feel the sting of his own flesh being cut into his back. He simply used shunpo again to avoid the large cero, and he began to focus his efforts against the wild menos, in fact unaware of Gramica having even managed to flee from the front lines to watch this battle in the safety of the Ganganta, Tsuno decided he'd have to wait to kill his preferred target. He began to escape from the rampaging adjuchas before it could rip him to pieces, and began to flee as fast as he could to try to distance himself and devise a strategy to defeat the hollow. He knew that this monster was dangerous, and now it's sudden use of it's brain only made it even more dangerous, he had to kill it now before he could think about killing the arrancar that had set it loose. It wasn't typical of Squad Two agents to have to defeat every single enemy, it was their style to simply kill the leader and be done with it.

"Damn, you're a fast one, pretty smart too!" The lieutenant commented out loud and he began to pivot and dive midair to avoid sharp claws being thrown at him, also something unlike the usual Squad Two attitude, taunting the enemy mid-fight was truly something more suited to the savages from Squad Eleven, but seeing as he was already knee-dead in action, he might as well. "I wasn't expecting you'd be such a dangerous prey!"

Tsuno decided to examine the hollow's anatomy. From the front it appeared to be much too dangerous to battle head-on, but from behind it appeared to be open for attacks, just as he had hoped. He threw one of his sickles and vanished using shunpo, reappearing behind the target to catch it and throw the other. Throw, flash, catch, repeat. He did this several times all in less than a second, pushing his limits at his current strength. A pull on the chain to tighten it around the hollow, trapping it and allowing Tsuno to use shunpo one more time to reach his target within range for a direct attack from behind, intending to slice the wings off the hollow's back and burn it alive by pouring his own fiery reiatsu into the chains that bound the enemy in place midair.

[Tagz]

4 min 32 sec

This is how long it took before the pet’s beloved owner, Gramica, finally decided to intervene. She was a little disappointed by how quickly the creature was put into such a dangerous situation. An Adjuchas was supposed to be able to easily defeat a mere Vice-Captain, especially in the Living World. Haarnita was beginning to become annoying. Disappointing her owner, filling her with a great deal of pride, the crushing her with disappointment once again. She was truly vexing. This only left one question. Should Gramica allow Tsuno to dispose of her toothless guard dog or should she spare the poor hollow from the shame of falling before the hands of a Shinigami and dispose of her herself? Or maybe… kill them together…

The women emerged from her little hiding spot. Using her own blessed skill with Sonido, she appeared between the two before the man had a chance to de-wing the creature. Gripping her Zanpakuto with one hand, Gramica blockaded the creature, preventing the sickle from pursuing its target. Her free hand was cocked back and balled into a fist. Her fist began to glow red and was immediately thrust forward. This would cause a Bala shot to speed forward, and at such close range, Tsuno would have his work cut out for him if he wanted to avoid serious pain. She then spun around and slashed at the creature’s neck, relieving her head from the burden of lugging around such a large and hefty body. As the now deceased monster dissipated, Gramica returned her sights on the source for her current displeasure. However, despite her feelings of disgust towards the Shinigami, she pleasing smile plastered across her pretty face and began clapping in recognition of his prowess.

“Well, well. It looks like I was unfortunate enough to get a more than competent lab rat to test my pet’s strength. Too bad but if she can’t even match up to a Vice-Captain then there is no point to her existence now is there?”

There was a momentary pause as Gramica’s rage built up.

“Now normally I’d be generous enough to let you walk away with your life. But there’s just something about your face that disgusts me…”

Suddenly an immense burst of reiatsu could be felt putting a massive amount of pressure down on all those in the area. In fact, bright green reiatsu could be seen flowing around the woman’s features.

“Gratas el Interna Guerrilla… Free the Inner Guerrilla.”[/b][/color]

Gramica whispered to herself before a loud bang resonated throughout the area and she was engulfed in a white haze. A silhouette could be seen within the cloud, standing, arms folded. As the cloud completely cleared, Gramica could be seen in her Resurrecctión. She was equipped with minimal armor, durable skin, a monkey tail, and a small cannon sitting atop her right forearm.

“Tsuno…”

The woman spoke his name with a hint of disparagement. She then took off in his direction with awing speed. When she reached about fifteen feet of her opponent, she disappeared using Sonido. She then reappeared ten feet behind him, and five feet below. Gramica had her right fist aimed towards the man gripping that forearm with her other hand to keep the her right arm steady and increase her accuracy. She then unleashed a massive barrage of small bright green blasts. She fired off about ten of these blasts that are about an inch in diameter, though are just as strong and fast as the speedy Balas she had fired earlier.

“Rápido Balazo!”

Gramica cried before she disappeared again. This time she reappeared five feet above her target’s head and caused seven more of these blasts to rain down upon the man as a devilish grin invaded her facial expression.

[Galihan]

Tsuno appeared night next to the adjuchas from behind and attempted to strike it from behind, but then suddenly the arrancar's presence appeared again and Gramica got in between the shinigami and the hollow. In the last moment, Tsuno pulled back his attack and didn't move in for the kill, and was for once in the longest time was startled in battle.

Damn, she is fast. The vice-captain of Squad Two uttered in his head before she pulled her own fist, charging it with red energy resembling a cero. God damnit!

The distance between Tsuno and Gramica was too short for the shinigami to avoid the bala and was hit hard in the chest, knocking him backwards quite the distance in the air he stood on. Then in one swift strike she decapitated her hollow minion and it reduced to a fog of black smoke that quickly vanished into nothingness. Definite sign of defeat for hollows, and all the details he needed to know that there was nothing to distract him now from defeating this woman in battle.

Her complements were flattering to say the least, but would not sway him into backing down, especially after the amount of harm done to the innocent lives in the area just for her cheap amusement and testing out her pet menos. Absolutely unforgivable, but he'd have to vent his anger later, for apparently something about his face was enough to piss her off the point of releasing her zanpakuto and activating her ressurecion form. After uttering his name in disgust, Gramica, in the form of some sort of baboon, began using sonido with speed that surpassed his ability to use shunpo as he was now considerably and began lobbing green balas in his direction rapidly. Just as her own reiatsu skyrocketed, he anticipated the need to power up himself and flicked a small switch on the frame of the black shades that concealed his dark eyes, and spoke quietly into a microphone hidden inside allowing him to contact Soul Society immediately.

"This, is Vice-Captain Azuka, it's too dangerous out here with the limiter in effect, requesting authorization to engage the Arrancar with full force. Over."

He was able to pull the chains of his weapon back to him so he could deflect a few of the energy bullets, but most of them hammered at his defenses too hard or just couldn't be blocked at all. At this point he was totally certain he'd have to have the limiter released in order to defeat her, because he was not quite able to use bankai yet. Almost there, but Lotomasa was a diffucult zanpakuto to deal with, being too reckless in battle and too lazy out of it to coordinate properly with his own strategic approach to battle and active lifestyle out of it.

She began firing at him from multiple directions, moving too fast for him to launch any sort of counter attack. But as he was barely managing to avoid the attacks, the call came in he was waiting for.

[Stealth Commander Azuka-sama! you are hereby authorized to use full force!]

"Excellent timing," he uttered back into the hidden transmitter. "This'll be over quickly now."

Once Gramica's attacks ceased for a moment, Tsuno flash stepped not to far away so he could face her and begin fighting seriously.

"Not bad, Gramica," Tsuno adressed his foe. "You've seen what I can do at a fifth of my strength, now prepare to see me fight for real!"

He lifted the shades away from his face for a moment to get a good look at his foe in clear sight, and as a unintentional habit of his that happened to every adversary who he would eventually kill himself. He also pulled away from his head the black hood that he wore in battle, letting the wind flow through his black spiky hair freely, and also loosened his upper body robes slightly, so he could reveal the insignia of the 2nd Division that had appeared on his upper left breast. The black tulip on his chest suddenly appeared to change from the bottom to the top glowing white with energy.

"Limit, release!"

At that moment, a massive explosion of reiatsu engulfed Tsuno and around him formed a giant pillar of blue flames that reached far into the night sky above before dissipating. At that moment, Tsuno began to fight Gramica without any restraint. Instantly vanishing with shunpo, and with his new power, he appeared right behind her much faster than he had ever done so in this battle, slashing at her back with his sickles still in hand for far more damage than if he would have thrown them. Again, he had no intention to chit-chat with the enemy and would attempt to kill her without any struggle, this time hopefully with better success than his previous attempt.

[Tagz]

“Not bad, Gramica. You've seen what I can do at a fifth of my strength; now prepare to see me fight for real!”

Gramica’s eyes rolled as the man spoke in arrogance. It was always quite odd when the prey taunted its hunter. Regardless, she couldn’t help but feel eager to see the full extent of his strength. As the man removed his sun glasses and hood, his features came into plain view. Then a fiery explosion of reiatsu erupted and, in a grandiose display of power, Tsuno was encased in an oversized pillar of blue flames. After which he suddenly disappeared from his location with a great deal of speed, far surpassing the swiftness he had shown earlier.

Straight and to the point, the second squad really was the odd duck out. It was clear that Tsuno wasn’t one for witty banter. No matter, as much as she enjoys it, Gramica survive without.

The Shinigami appeared behind her. Shifting her weight, Gramica turned herself to face her left, raising that arm to block the attack from behind with white carapace that spirals down said arm. She then proceeded to move the Zanpakuto out of her way and quickly attempted a roundhouse kick aimed for his left ribs. After which, whether successful or otherwise, the woman used Sonido to appear five feet forward from her original position, facing her opponent. She would then continue the use of Sonido to move thirty feet higher. She was also using her ‘Great Stealth’ ability to mask her locations. Once her new position, she began shower her target with about seventeen more of the same small green blasts as before. She then disappeared again, and appeared ten feet to his right and pelted him with eleven more blasts. Using Sonido again, she charged up and dropped a sizable Cero blast from thirty feet above the man’s head.

The already cloudy sky of the cold night was becoming darker and bleaker. In the city, surrounded by apartment buildings and other residential areas, a battle was raging on. Gramica was sending out blast after blast. If any one missed, there was an incredibly high chance that more than several lives would be lost with each inaccurate blast. However, the Arrancar wasn’t the type of person to care about the lives of the innocent. As a matter of fact, she had already figured that out and was wondering how the Shinigami would deal with the situation.

“Is this how you fight for real?! Or are you still holding back?!”

The woman called out to her opponent before she disappeared for her location once more. This time she was standing atop one of the few building not in danger. Peering down from the rooftops, with her arms folded once again. It was obvious that Tsuno excelled at close ranged combat if he was forced to remain at a distance, what could he possibly accomplish?

[Galihan]

Tsuno was able to quickly assess the battle as he rushed in to attack Gramica, being a incredibly skilled at close quarters combat, and arguably one of the very best combatants in all of Soul Society in unarmed combat, he was able to block the arrancar's roundhouse kick without as much of a hassle. But it was her ability to fire her bala attacks from that cannon on her arm from a distance that was making her very uncooperative in dying for him. Her sonido enabled her to move from place to place very easily and her movement was almost impossible to track, if it was ever possible for one to meet a truly worthy opponent in battle, this arrancar would have to be that adversary. Her speed and stealth abilities were able to keep up with his own but Tsuno was able to avoid most of the smaller blasts without problem from the distance Gramica was firing them from. It was unfortunate the damage being caused to the city below with every green ball of energy that the shinigami avoided, but it didn't take long at all for him to discern that she was exploiting his preference to attack up close and personal.

Sure, at her range he wouldn't be able to attack her directly with his sickles like he'd prefer, but he was in fact not out of moves just yet. She fired her cero at him from directly above, and while Tsuno would be more than able to avoid the attack and counter similarly to how the adjuchas had done earlier with its own cero, but the risk of causing serious damage to the city below was far too great with an attack of this strength. He stood his ground, metaphorically speaking, as he was actually standing in the air itself and not on solid ground, and held his arms out to try and hold back the cero from instantly incinerating the innocent people below that were in panic from the occasional explosion caused by bala but ultimantely oblivious of the impending doom above, using a powerful hado spell of course. He wasn't an idiot or being controlled by some sort of god-modding asshole after all.

"Almighty serpent of destruction! Soar above the heavens and earth, judge our actions as benign or wretched and punish us accordingly. Deem us worthy of your divine presence, rain catastrophe on the wicked! Hado Number 50, Dragon's Wrath!"

From his open palms a large jet of concentrated flames spewed out and collided with the cero blast, slowing down it's speed considerably before nearly stopping only a few feet from Tsuno himself. The resulting explosion of flames and energy did quite the decent amount of damage and sent the shinigami flying pretty far in the opposite direction, covered in smoke and small burns all over his hands but he's had worse injuries before.

“Is this how you fight for real?! Or are you still holding back?!”

She taunted him from afar, much to his unamusement. He was prepared to show her up at ranged combat, and to do so he'd have to lure her into a trap making her think she could attack him safely from the range she had been doing so far. So in a series of very fast flash steps, Tsuno approached Gramica head on again, as if he was trying again to slash at her directly.

"Cut me some slack, will ya?" He replied casually. "That was an amazing warm up!"

He anticipated that she would probably as before use sonido and at a range of around thirty feet begin firing her cannon at him again for a bit before moving to a new location. If and when she would do that, Tsuno would blast her with a surprise hado spell. He would use his Dragon's Breath attack, a fire kido similar to a less powerful version of his Dragon's Wrath attack used against the cero, but at the range he anticipated Gramica to reappear, she'd still just be within the effective range of the spell. Of course this might only work a few times before she'd start attacking from even farther away, but he could still shoot the fire to hide the sickle he'd then throw at her simultaneously in that case. Of course there was always the chance that she'd not fall for his trap but he was still more than able to come up with new strategies should the need arise.

[Tagz]

The Arrancar raised an eyebrow as the giant malice red orb of doom neared its target and the man did nothing but welcome it in with open arms. He was ready to hug the demonic blast as if it were his son returning home after being sent out to the wilderness filled with ten foot insects and even larger carnivores to learn the meaning of being a man. It was all pretty peculiar, but Gramica wouldn’t complain. She wasn’t looking for a battle, she was looking for a test subject for her little pet, now that the test was over this Shinigami was nothing more than an annoyance. Aw, it was all just a ploy. From the man’s open palms flames burst out slowing the giant Cero down until it stopped and detonated. The explosions sent the man flying back shrouded in flames and smoke. Gramica let out an internal sigh of disappointment. She had hoped that the man was arrogant enough to believe that he could stop a Cero with his bare hands. Unfortunately that was not the case. Damn Squad Two, too fearful of death to act as all other Shinigami would. Though to be honest, the woman has yet come across a Shinigami that was ignorant enough to try to halt a Cero blast with their bare hands.

“Need me to go to Soul Society and pick you up a bandage for that smoking ass of yours? Or are you okay to continue?”

Not long after she spoke the man began charging in. Gramica let out a sigh. Witty banter is supposed to be a two way street, but obviously not in this battle.

“Cut me some slack, will ya? That was an amazing warm up!”

The three-hundred-and-forty-seven-year-old woman simply rolled her eyes as the charging man complained about his little ‘warm up’.

Gramica was disappointed by the man’s eagerness to get her within his range of attack, simple-minded buffoon. As the man charged her, once again utilizing the abilities Sonido and Gran Disimulo (Great Stealth) she changed her location literally in the blink of an eye. She then found her self five feet to the man’s right with her arm outstretched and aimed towards him. With a single shot, she disappeared only to reappear five feet below and five feet behind him. She let loose with two shots and disappeared again. Giving him a little taste of close range Rápido Balazo she put a larger distance between them and appeared twenty-five feet above the man unloading a barrage of shining green blasts to rain down on the Shinigami.

This battle was becoming routine. Sonido, shoot, Sonido, shoot. Tsuno would either have to die soon so that she may go home, or she’d have to switch techniques as to keep her opponent on his toes and her from boring herself to death.

[Galihan]

As anticipated, when the vice-captain attempted to approach the arrancar, she vanished and reappeared to the right of him. A bit closer than expected, he was able to deflect her single shot and slash at her by quickly spinning around, swinging a sickle at her but again she disappeared and this time fired two shots from below and behind. One was deflected but the other did a bit of damage. When she reappeared above him, he decided he'd best execute his plan to get her. As she began firing her cannon at him again, he thrusted his open hand skywards, and cast his hado spell.

"Hadō # 45 - Dragon's Breath!"

A sudden blast of hot flames erupted from his palm, and he instantly threw one of his blades in her direction and used shunpo to appear behind the target after the flames. Hopefully, the sudden explosion would damage her a bit, as well as the thrown sickle that would be hidden within the flames, and finally he be able to sink on of the blades of his zanpakuto into her back for some serious damage, preferably into the hole on her shoulder and then ripping outwards.

The only problem was her ability to mask her presence and move undetected was just as good as his own, if not even better as it was included with her released form's natural abilities. He needed to prevent her from maintaining her range advantage, but was he was unable to detect her when she'd move until she began attacking again, it was unfortunate his only kido abilities were offensive, some binding spells would be wonderful at the moment to keep her in place. Perhaps he'd have to convince that drunkard from Squad Seven to help teach him some bakudo in return for some training to improve his already formidable unarmed skills.

Indeed, it was Tsuno's lack of kido skills asides from his fire hado and ability to mask his presence that kept him from being able to master bankai or shunko, the two things he needed to become both the new captain of Squad Two and the Commander of the Secret Mobile Corps, because everything else about him, his swordsmanship, unarmed combat, shunpo, and leadership, were all widely recognized in all of Soul Society. He would need to defeat this arrancar with what he had, and continue his training to become the most powerful member of the Stealth Forces to ever rise from the ranks of Rukongai to the rank of Corps Commander. This Gramica was only another obstacle and he'd have to keep her in killing range.

Tsuno began firing his Dragon's Breath attack repeatedly from his fists, rushing at Gramica as many times as possible before she'd move and he'd continue shooting blasts of flame at her.

"Try fighting me face to face you damn cowardly monkey!"

[Tagz]

How much would one pay to catch a glimpse into the abstract mind of a power-hungry gunwoman? Gramica understood why her little pet had failed to defeat Tsuno. And now she was faced with an opponent that was more than capable to combat her specific talents and skills. His speed and stealth abilities were spectacular. His close ranged skills were nothing short of amazing. Gramica had the pleasure of finding this out up close and personal when her swift and powerful kick was blocked without any effort on Tsuno`s part at all. Now, to make things worse, the Shinigami was spewing flames from the palms of his hands. Quite the troublesome fellow he was. Gramica was given mixed feelings. He wasn`t your average Shinigami, nor was he a weakling. In fact, he was beginning to turn her on. However, those Shinigami robes of his were the largest turn off if there ever was one. He was also pissing her off, you know, with the whole ``I want you dead`` thing. Gramica despised the Shinigami before her, though held some respect for him, as small and minute as it may be. On top of all that, she was just bubbling with the eagerness to kill the man. The excitement of the battle was beginning to get to her. Her usual frightfulness was absent. She felt herself to be superior to the man, though he came in a close second. She was simply overflowing with the thrill of the ongoing battle.

There were many people below their little fight that were still screaming and running in terror from the first wave of damage done to the buildings surrounding them. This caused the woman to chuckle a bit. Humans were so pathetic.

The Arrancar`s barrage continued until the man retaliated with his own blast of burning hot flames. The flames were coming in close at high speeds, however, Gramica moved at high speeds as well. As the fires came close, the woman backed out, avoided the dangers of third degree burn. However, what she was not prepared for was the sickle that had suddenly burst from the flames that concealed it until that point. The woman had actually been taken off guard and was thrown into a slight panic. She had yet to reach a state of level headedness that would allow one to deal with such abrupt dangers in a battle. As the sickle closed in, Gramica blasted it once with a green orb similar to the abundant orbs she had fired off many times before. However, because of the extremely close range of the sickle, the attack detonated and exploded at dangerously close range. The blast sent the woman soaring across the air, only to feel the sting of a second weapon piercing itself through her tough, armour-like skin and into her flesh. A mere second before she felt the sting, she heard the weapon slicing through the air. She immediately tried to position herself to avoid it, though she was completely out of luck. However, she did manage to avoid hitting its bull’s-eye. Instead of slipping into the hole in her shoulder blade, the blade entered her shoulder from the top and dug straight into it. As this happened and before the blade reached the hole in her shoulder, Gramica pointed two fingers on her right hand at the man. Both her index finger and her middle finger were extended and instantly a red orb formed in front of them. The orb grew exponentially and fired off. Gramica knew her opponent was quite swift himself. She created and fired the powerful attack as quickly as humanly... erm... hollow-ly possible.

The second blast was the last thing that Gramica needed. The first left a nasty burn on her chest, but the second forcibly threw her forward at unbelievably rapid speeds. The woman was sent crashing down into the side of a large building and because of the angle she was thrown into it; she went down straight into the basement instead of passing right through. The Arrancar landed face first in a parking lot filled with cars that were thrown and destroyed in the loud and disruptive crash.

The newly renovated parking lot was hidden away but the dust and debris that was raised up into the air. Within a moment, the powered up hollow began twitching. She then slowly struggle to her feet. Blood dripped from the incredibly large gash in her shoulder blade. There were horrible burn marks all across her torso, front to back. Gramica was leaned over and breathing heavily as if she were an overworked athlete. She took her time to allow her vision to return to normal. As she did so, her anger was raised remarkably. Her bubbling excitement transformed to boiling rage. Her keen ability to mask herself would allow herself to reside within the destroyed parking lot until the wait bored the man and he decided to venture into the dark and cloudy abyss.

"Try fighting me face to face you damn cowardly monkey!"

Nothing but a inaudible 'humph' was her reply.

[Galihan]

The sickle in his hand swung down with incredible speed and force, piercing deep into Gramica's shoulder. The thick hierro layer of skin was tough, and the additional added armor of her resureccion form would have dampened his attack considerably had his attack not came from such a direct angle. Of course if he managed to get his blade hooked where he aimed and ripped outwards the damage would have been severe, but the arrancar did manage to move so he actually pierced the shoulder itself, after getting past the hierro the blade did a nice job at running through the fleshy meat below until Gramica shot him away using a small cero from her fingertips, which skimmed against his chest causing some a decent chunk of damage against the stealthy shinigami. Tsuno retaliated with another fire spell that send her crashing down into what appeared to be a brand new parking lot below a building.

Tsuno called out his taunt to the arrancar, but Gramica gave no response. He was able to sense her presence for a moment before it vanished as usual. He stood over the hole in the ground that Gramica had made upon impact and waited, crouched down and examined the darkness below like an owl in search of a mouse buried below a heavy snowfall. Unfortunately, this vermin had proven to be a much more challenging prey than he originally guessed she would be. He concentrated his focus and made his own presence hidden as he rose up, taking a step and falling into the debris below, zanpakuto in hand.

Down here, it was dark and wet, broken water pipes spraying hot and cold water all over the place causing a thick steam and fog along with the dust of demolished concrete, creating an unpleasant slush of watery cement at his feet between the cero, bala, his own hado, and now the environment, his executive militia uniform was pretty well ruined, torn and ripped and charred from constant abuse, his bare chest exposed and his right sleeve missing and his tabi-jika soaked from the bottom as he walked across dirty puddles. Tsuno decided to provoke Gramica out of hiding and fight the vice-captain head on. The confined space of this area was well suited to close-up combat and gave Tsuno a distinct advantage by limiting the enemy's ability to attack from long range, and if Tsuno was to use more hado, the chances of Gramica avoiding harm were slim.

Tsuno walked into the middle of an open area within the parking lot, and stopped masking his presence so Gramica would know where to find him. While he usually didn't take such head-on approaches, preferring stalking and assassination, against this foe he knew that he had to grab the monkey by the tail to to speak. He began swinging one of the sickles of his zanpakuto by the chain, the quiet jingle of twirling metal and the whistle of air being sliced to ribbons was quieted by the sounds of gushing water, car alarms, and the hum of damaged electrical generators. Tsuno took note to avoid stepping in puddles so as not to get electrocuted, not that it would be lethal to a person of his power but it made sense anyways to not get injured.

Hopefully she'd show herself and they'd be able to fight without any hiding or trickery, not that Tsuno himself would be against playing dirty, rarely one actually fought somebody who was just as stealthy as yourself when you became a top-ranking assassin in Soul Society. One thing that had struck as odd to Tsuno was earlier, it seemed as if she had been hesitant to attack him, as if distracted by some sort of unspoken, subtle admiration that bloomed as they continued to try ripping each other's hearts out. And then the way it seemed as if she was lying in wait for him to follow her into the darkness, It was almost flattering, the idea of finding such a worthy adversary, such an enigmatic, like-minded individual, it was a damn shame that he was a shinigami and she was a hollow. That, and he was already a taken man. His wife and duty always came first and his only passion was now to serve Soul Society for the benefit of all good people, living and dead. All threats had to be eliminated no matter what, therefore he had to put whatever personal admirations for the stealthy arrancar was a worthy rival behind him and dispatch her as just another hollow.

[Tagz]

The area she had chosen to continue her battle was eerie. It was dark and damp, and the lights that hung from the ceiling swung wildly giving off a lightshow that was painful to ones eyes. However, Gramica had bigger problems for her to allow the ill lighting affect her as anything more than a barely noticeable annoyance. The parking lot was also loud. The sounds of rushing water and car alarms filled the air. However, the woman remained hidden for several minutes, allowing the suspense to build as well as allowing the irritating noises to die down. When the alarms finally shut off and the humming generators quieted enough to go unnoticed, Gramica’s rage built up along with the suspense that was hopefully killing the man inside. The rushing waters then quieted down to a dripping that could now be heard throughout silent surroundings. Within the obliterated parking lot the man stood, waiting for the pretty girl to come kill him. He swung his niggling weapon around out of what was hopefully building frustration. The area was now suitable. The electric generators emitted a barely perceptible hum and the dripping water from the broken pipes rung out loudly. The florescent lights still swung wildly. The cars were pushed up across the walls. A few were stopped by large pillars that were meant to keep the heft building above from crashing down on its basement. There were a small number of destroyed cars scattered across the floor of the basement. The pillars themselves were damaged and cracked, yet remained sturdy and firm. The place was cramped. There would be no more firing from thirty feet away. This was a problem.

Unbeknownst to Tsuno, Gramica stood directly in front of him. Well, she didn’t so much ‘stand’ as she did sit down leisurely in one of the few dry spots that remained. There was a large puddle to her right that arced around her and stopped before it could connect to the smaller puddle to her left. The Arrancar sat with left knee aimed to the sky and her right leg fully outstretched. She had her left elbow placed on her raised knee and her right hand lazily ran through her golden locks. For a moment, she moved the locks of hair out of the right side of her face, revealing her mask remnants and the brightly glowing yellow-green eye that was surrounded by the darkness of her mask that had an everlastingly melancholic feel to it. As her fingers ran through her hair, she gave an internal sigh before she brought her hand down to her lap and her hair returned to its place. Her rage subsided for a little while as she looked on at the man. His well toned features became visible from the battered and tattered clothes. Slowly but surely, her anger returned to her.

Due to the lighting affects, her position was shrouded in darkness. Then, the frantically swinging lights would, for a split second illuminate her location. No doubt this would catch the man’s attention. A mere second later, the lights would once again shine in that area, however, this time she was not there. The blonde Arrancar easily removed herself for her relaxed position and relocated with her flawless use of Sonido.

“Cowardly? Were you not the one who had attacked me from behind at the beginning of our little encounter?”

Gramica’s voice was echoed by the area, masking her location and adding to her arcane prospect.

“It would seem as though I have made the regrettable assumption that I had finally found a battle were my mystique would be appreciated but I guess I will have to wait longer for such a battle.”

Her voice sounded as though it came from every single direction possible. That’s when it happened. Three sudden blasts of glowing green energy were soaring towards Tsuno. They came in from behind, but when Tsuno turned around, it would appear as though the blasts came from thin air. Two more blasts would come in from in front of him and slightly his right, though by this time he would most likely have to around to combat the first attack. Once all the attacks either hit their mark or were deflected or whatever else the man planned to do about the Arrancar’s attacks, she would come in once more. She stood less than ten feet to his left, clearly visible under the unstable lighting. Gramica stood with her legs spread apart. She held her palm under her right forearm. The miniature cannon on her forearm glowed brightly.

Her use of Gran Disimulo ceased and her reiatsu was unleashed. Though it wasn’t exactly terrifying, it was most certainly something notable. This was only increased by the use of her most destructive technique. Then, the dark green energy that glowed from her weaponry was unloaded upon the area.

“Monoreina Cero!”

It would blast right through the concrete not only further destroying what was currently left of the basement, but no doubt bring the entire building down along with it. This meant that either her opponent was blasted out of the building with deadly force, or withstood her attack and would die under the thousands of tons that the building weighed.

On the other hand, Gramica had the very same problem. Her attack may very well cause her own demise. No, of course it wouldn’t. The very reason for her to have remained in such a confined area was so that she could increase her chances of this being her final blow and due to the confined area, greatly reduce his chances of escaping. The Monkey Queen’s Cero demolished the rubble and caused the roof above to come crashing down upon her. However it was destroyed in a way that it came down in pieces. This allowed the incredibly proficient Sonido-user to slip by the large pieces and avoid being crushed. However, the incredible size of the building caused her to strain her self greatly. She dodged and evaded for a good few minutes as it collapsed inward. During the many times where she found no escape routes, the woman use combinations of Rápido Balazo and Espartiro to blast a hole in the abundant chunks of concrete and create her own escape route. It took an unimaginable amount of effort to escape the death that awaited her at the bottom of the building. Since it was a residence building, there were hundreds of humans that sadly had to face certain doom. Gramica passed by the lot of them during her valiant escape.

Once out of the building, the woman sat down at the top of the incredibly large rubble mound. Her face was dripping with a mass amount of sweat and she was breathing heavily. She leaned back against a large chunk of concrete that had to broken pipes spiking out from the top. Both her legs stretched out and her arms were laid lazily to her sides. The woman looked up at the night sky. There was not a single star up there. The lights of the city were much too bright. For a blissful moment she closed her eyes and let the world slip away, though she instantly brought up her defenses to keep an eye out while her eyes were closed. Tsuno was a sly one indeed, how he faired she had yet to find out.