Powerful Pawns

[GoldenKitten]

The presidential palace was quite large but this was due to it housing most of the governmental factions rather than being an excessively large personal home. Above them the clear blue sky was filled with wispy orange dust trails, Alece preset it so that it changed through a rainbow of forms depending on the day. At one time it had been amazing to witness the hundreds of varieties, but like anything it had now become common, beyond that there were more important things to deal with. Like their current leader trying to disappear on them for one!

“Nein! Not on your life Johnathan!”

He was chasing a fleeting dream as they exited the main hall outside to the steps that lead down into the city. Saschas long pink hair shimmered in waves past her face as she walked backwards and pointed at him. Next to her, her small personal assistant and the princesses watcher, Lei, walked speedily to keep up with the first-ladies much larger stride. Johnathan meanwhile chased after them pleading for them to return to no avail, if witnessed from the outside it looked both comical and somewhat questionable. Eventually after a little more yelling they had reached the bottom of the steps and Sascha gave up instead turning away from him, instead giving him one final wave over her shoulder.

“You'll do fine! You've been the vice-president for two-thousand years! The Shinigami have promised not to trouble us and more importantly I'm not leaving my daughter...there, any longer than necessary.”

Johnathan went to argue some more but Sascha tapped Lei on her shoulder and faster than he could even keep up with they had both disappeared in a flash. The elderly shinigami stopped where he was and bent over at the waist giving a great heaving gasp, he gave up. Sometimes, just every once in a while, he wondered why he didn't just stay with the shinigami so he could get eaten by a hollow or meet some other less than noteworthy end. Death was a whole lot easier than dealing with all this sentiment, at least, he figured so.

Off in the distance a blue flash marked the duos departure from the city realm. He hoped they would return shortly...sometime later he would regret tempting fate with this thought.

--------------------

The look Sascha was giving Kitotsan was difficult to read. It wasn't friendly that was for sure but at the same time it seemed far to concerned with what this meant to be readily angry with him. The man who looked like anything but a “Kitotsan” given his clearly Eastern European features had been minding his own business. Standing in the entry-hall to the ground level of the bunker he'd been instructing Xi, one of the shinigami under his command, on how he should go about meeting a particular contact. Having joined just over a decade prior Xi had been rather limited on what he was allowed to do, but having gained trust over the years Kitotsan had been personally teaching him how to handle the world of information brokering. Today was to be his “test” to see what he had learned and if he could be trusted as a informant of the spirit worlds largest independent black market specialist.

Well, it had been until two women came through the front door with such speed it was a miracle the door wasn't sent into another dimension. From the way Kitotsan reacted it did not appear they were enemies though and the attractive older woman spoke up quickly, “Is Jacquelinia safe?”

An awkward silence permeated and spoke of bad things. However instead of saying he didn't know as was obvious Kitotsan instead remained calm as he was known for and turned around, “Come with me.”

“Kitotsan!”, the woman yelled as she moved in close and stopped him by grabbing his shoulder, Kitotsan had already given a hand gesture to Xi that told him not to act. Of course the fact that the womans guard looked just about ready to make him a pincushion with the numerous shuriken she had visibly stored on her was also a keen warning.

Kitotsan studied the lady for a brief moment before being upfront with her. That he had no idea where she was and that nobody had come through a portal they apparently had set-up somewhere on site. This was the news that had sent the woman reeling and left her with the previously mentioned facial expression. He wasted no time taking control of the situation once more though, “That however is why I said to follow me. If you sent her through this is no time to be standing here and talking about it, come with me and let us find out what has occurred Sascha.”

She begrudgingly followed and her guard fell in step behind, Kitotsan made another hand motion for Xi to follow. It was questionable what he could do since even without her using her reiatsu it was clear she was a powerful...something, but he probably just wanted him to follow in case he needed his help manually. After a moment Sascha spoke up, “How can you not know this!? Don't you pride yourself on knowing everything, doing everything right?!”

He took a deep sigh but did not immediately respond. They walked through the meeting room that looked out across the lake and upon the Eiffel Tower before they reached an old freight elevator. As they proceeded inside he slid the older panel down to expose the new-age tech beneath it and a few button presses later the old elevator had slid away and they were plummeting at an extreme pace into the darkness below. It was only at that point that he finally said something, “I know Sascha, and that's why I'm taking this seriously and not wasting time.” He looked over at her, “It's not just that I didn't know about her being sent here...it's that I've heard nothing about WHY she would have been sent here. You would only have done so if there was a problem in Stadt correct? Well...the fact that I haven't heard about it is...problematic.”

They road in complete silence from thereon as dozens of floors passed before them, some closed off, others giving brief glimpses into the experiments behind them. Eventually they came to a stop some distance down but long before the large opening where the Terra Dome was seated. With a few button presses the large metal door before them spun and unlocked before opening along four seams so they could proceed through.

Beyond the door was a relatively small room which was flat almost the whole way across. There was a single control panel close to the door along with four triangular probes extending from the floor in a square pattern. Even without knowing what it was supposed to look like one could tell that they were damaged and moved out of sync, Kitotsan did not say anything immediately but a keen ear might hear part of a curse in Italian. Walking to the console he picked up a local communicator, “Security station 32 this is Kitotsan, tell me what you see on the monitors on level #79.”

There was a long pause as someone confirmed the call on the other side of the line before coming back, “Everything looks clear sir.”

Kitotsan slammed the communicator on the metal panel before speaking into it again, “Call a tech team to the room now. Also get one up there to the security station to look for abnormalities. We've got someone working us, don't know who yet, teams are to prioritize source and not just fixing it.”

After he was acknowledged he leaned over the panel meanwhile Sascha was now hyperventilating the longer she stared at the broken machine, and her aid was trying to console her with pats on the shoulder. From the way Kitotsan was moving his hands and eyes it was clear he was trying to piece together what had happened but even he wasn't omnipotent. He mumbled something about the “Horror Vacui” though nobody in the room but he knew what that was. When it seemed like the silence would persist forever he turned to Sascha and kindly offered, “Don't worry Sascha, we don't know where she went but with the machine broken like this the destination can't have been purposeful. She probably just found herself dropped somewhere in the human world, you've taught her enough to take care of herself, more importantly no human is going to be able to hurt someone of her power level. So let's just focus on fixing it and finding out where it sent her, right?”

He smiled before turning back toward the machine while speaking in a more authoritative tone, “Xi, get over to the right block and bring it over to that pedestal you see, it's meant to be a diamond. Lei, I could use your help to, work on the left side.”

The young Chinese woman shot him a nasty glare, she clearly didn't like taking his orders. Still she complied, probably more for her own leaders sake than because he had asked it. They proceeded to each grab a piece of the machine while he was monitoring the console while Sascha continued to have a panic attack behind him. His face scrunched up in confusion as he spoke, “We aren't even messing with the settings, why is it....GET OUT!”, the warning was thrown at the two of them just as a bright electric arc shot out of the center of the room.

Rather than looking like a solid dome it took a harsh unstable form that encompassed both their followers in an instant. Even if they tried those stuck within could no longer get out, the walls of energy actually being solid. Worse yet several seconds later waves of electrical reiatsu rushed through them causing extreme pain before everything went white. An explosion threw debris in every direction in the room though Kitotsan merely batted any that came his way to the ground. Once the air had cleared he was left with the room now looking completely inoperable with a gigantic crater blown into the heavy metal before them.

Uttering a low whistle beneath his breath he commented, “Oh dear...”

“OH DEAR!!!” Sascha yelled at him from the side as she motioned to the scene before them.

“Yes...oh dear.” He said aloud, then muttered quietly to himself, “I sometimes say 'Oh Dear' when I mean 'Oh by the fucking nine-baby deaths of oh shit'...”

Grabbing the communicator once again he began to call just about everyone he knew versed in dimensional transportation.

--------------------

Somewhere else Xi was waking up from the shock the transport had put him through to find himself alone, somewhere inside a massive cave, with white sand below his feet.

[kensei]

Xi nodded at Kitosan as he went about explaining the details of his mission. It had taken Xi over a decade to finally get to this moment, he was strong enough, and trusted enough to take more important missions. Today would mark the start of Xi working to pay back Kitosan in full for all that he had done for him, and he would be damned before he failed him. However, his instructions where interrupted when an elderly woman and who he assumed to be her guardian by the way she was dressed and carried herself, walked into the room. Instinctively he grabbed the cloth case that held his Zanpakuto on his back. But Kitosan remained calm, and made no movements that suggested these women where a threat, and so he let go; still eying the pair.

Watching with intrigue and distrust as Sascha grabbed Kitosan, he got the distinct impression that even if he had moved to his aid he would have done nothing against this woman. Even though she did not exhibit a strong Reishi pressure or wave off her Riatsu, something about her threw every warning bell he had into full blast; telling him to leave her alone and run away if he valued his life. Of course he would never have done that, but the feeling was still gnawing at the back of his mind. That; and her guardian was starring him down, practically warning him not to move if he valued a his life. That, and Kitosan had already waved him off. He let them be, following behind Kitosan as he motioned for him.

He couldn’t help but feel annoyed as he followed behind Kitosan and the two ladies. The way she questioned Kitosan, without respect or regard for all that he was and had done for the spiritual community outside of Soul Society, it was enough to make him want to slap her. But alas, he doubted Kitosan would allow him to touch her, assuming he would actually be able to do it without getting a hundred shuriken in his chest.. Weird Chinese midget ninja..

As the conversation continued Xi couldn’t help but feel completely lost. Who where these people? What was Stadt? And just what the hell was going on here?! Where some of the questions running threw his mind. He would have to ask Kitosan about more details later once this whole situation was finished. His eyes looked over to the two women, studying there every detail during the elevator ride. The older woman with long pink hair seemed completely confused and worried, her aid was just the opposite of her. A short woman with an ungodly number of Shuriken strapped to her body; and completely calm. Despite her from being of semingly Chinese heritage he couldn’t help but think that they where far different, and they came from different times. After all, in the spiritual world Xi-Lei was practically an infant.

He felt nearly useless as everything that was going on was flying way above his pay grade. He simply stood there as Kitosan went about working on the control panel, he wasn’t anywhere near familiar with the broken machine that lay before them, but from the way Kitosan was acting it seemed important, and that was enough to make him worry. He snapped back to reality as Kitosan gave him instructions, acknowledging him with a quick ‘Yes Sir’ he preformed a technique that was almost to slow to call a Shunpo over to the broken machine as he started to put it back together.

Time seemed to slow as Kitosan yelled for them to move, gathering the spiritual particles around his feet he moved into a shunpo. But whatever was going wrong did so faster then he could move, and his body was slammed into the wall of energy with the force of speeding bullet. He grabbed his shoulder as he yelled out a curse. “Kitosan! What the hell is going on?!” He yelled as the unstable looking energy wall started to send out waves of energy. He let out a scream of pain, falling to his knees as he clenched his head, leaning down till his face met the cold floor. He looked up at Kitosan as his vision started to go white, and then in an instant the energy was gone.

He coughed as he fell to his side, cursing quietly as he grabbed his head. After a minute or so he rose to his feet, calling out instinctively. “Kitosan?!” After a second without a response he looked down to find white sand covered the floor. “Sand? This thick in a cave?” He question as he started to walk towards the source of light. “Just where the hell am I?” He questioned as he grabbed his Zanpakuto.

[Jacquelinia]

With a cough she tripped for the third time since she had arrived. As Jacquelinia received a face full of sand she cursed inwardly, she'd never even seen this kind of material before, much less walked on it. It was very frustrating as she couldn't get her footing though that was hardly the worst of her problems. When her mother had rushed her off and briefly explained the portal she said she was going to a friends...as she looked around she was quite convinced this was not the right place. Moreover she had no idea why she was here in the first place, all mother had done was freak out, then she was tossed in here. It was all extremely confusing and for someone with no knowledge of the outside world she didn't even know how to properly react.

Rolling so that she was sitting with her legs splayed out she blew on her tongue, trying to get the sand out. She firmly avowed if this was what a beach was like she was never, ever going there. It was as she was sitting there brushing her arms off that she first noticed the light off in the distance. Cocking her head to the side as she re-adjusted one of her pumpkin headpieces absentmindedly she tried to squint, but no matter how hard she looked it was just a circular ambient glow. This darkness didn't help matters surely, after being stuck with so little light for so long it was hard to make out any sort of figure.

Pushing herself to her feet she began to unsteadily tip-toe through the sand toward the light. She figured if there was anything of note here it was going to be near that. Despite the oppressing aura of her surroundings and the general ominousness of it all she was more annoyed than frightened. This could mostly be attributed to her lack of experience, she'd never felt a malicious reiatsu before, so while she instinctively desired to get out of this place she felt no real fear. She wasn't even really capable of such...at least for the moment. Somewhere in the back of her head she knew she'd heard about a place with white sand before but amongst all her other thoughts it wasn't important enough to think about in-depth.

Making her way across the sand with no way to procure proper depth perception it seemed as if she was getting nowhere. Left with her own thoughts she was considering how dark and quiet it was here, that was probably the first time she realized just how creepy it was...kind of. Though there was no breeze it was decidedly cold and she was not properly dressed for such prompting her to cross her arms and hold her shoulders. Though she didn't have the senses to realize it she was being watched the whole time.

It took almost twenty minutes for her to reach the light, though time was certainly lost in this place. Coming closer it began to take form, it also illuminated her surroundings though all it showed was that this was in fact a cave...great, that didn't get her any further. Moving up to the light it was comprised of a single bright white globe on the end of a white post sticking out of the ground...just randomly, no real sense to it. She tried to look harder at her surroundings to see if she could figure out why it was there, but she couldn't. Somewhere inside she considered that maybe this was some sort of test, both Lei and father loved to mention how “unprepared” she was, mother covered for her though.

With nothing else to inspect she moved closer to the light and dumbly squinted at it as if somehow looking at it closer would change things. Unwrapping one of her arms she reached out, upon confirming there was no heat coming from it she touched the bulb with her hand annnd...IT MOVED! She jumped back at the same time as the post bent over a few feet, while the bulb itself pushed in slightly and made a “ploop” sound. Jacquelinia pulled back to the side slightly while tapping her finger tips together as her eyes shot back and forth nervously while growing to the size of dinner china. Slowly but surely the post reverted back to its initial position and after thirty seconds of silence...she decided to try and tap it again.

Her finger moved much slower this time as if she thought it was going to bite her (she kind of did) but was stopped just a few inches short. She felt a rush of air from behind her along with hearing the sound of pouring sand granules as something pushed them aside. Without much thought she turned around and paused as she was greeted by the sight of a gigantic white face poking out of the ground. For a moment it was unmoving and it sort of looked like a giant white jack-o-lantern. Then with no sound the hollow black points that were its eyes filled with yellow irises and its mouth began to open, that was when the ground where she was standing flipped on its side as to angle toward the face, and with no way to find footing she slid along with the sand below her.

All she could really do was scream since her brain was no completely frozen in time, “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~~~!!!!”

[kensei]

As Xi walked threw the dark cave, he could hardly believe his eyes. Whatever device Kitosan had used was apparently some sort of transporter and had taken him somewhere inside Hueco Mundo. “Tā mā de wǒ.” ( 他媽的我。 Or Fuck Me) He cursed before punching the wall of the cave. He really did have the shitiest luck when it came to these kinds of things, it was almost as if God himself wanted his life to be a living hell.. And well the whole fucking universe was in line to make that happen. Now it seemed even the space time continuum was trying to make it hard on him by transporting him to the worst possible place for a shingami to be. Yep.. Now.. How was he going to get home? “And why the hell did I skip breakfast today..”

He had little choice at this point, he doubted that transferring someone to another dimension was an easy task, it had to have put off a decent amount of Riatsu and if that was the case then his best bet for staying alive was leaving the cave as fast as he could. He wasted no more time as he started to Shunpo away, careful to stay away from whatever riatsu he could sense. But despite all of that, the creepiness of where he was started to settle in. He noticed how he was constantly checking in front and behind him, his hands where visibly shaking with the adrenaline pumping threw his blood. He was sweating slightly despite the chill in the air. He was quite aware he would most likely die in this place.

He slid across the sand slightly as he came to halt. His eyes focusing on what was probably the only source of light in the whole damn cave. He wasn’t a fool; he knew it was probably a trap to get him eaten by some giant ass hollow. But if it was a hollow, then that meant he had to be careful not to get it to come out and eat him even if he didn’t disturb it. He could hardly get a feel for its innate power despite him focusing only on the orb of light. Everything was giving off riatsu here, and the beast was doing a fine job of hiding its own. He could feel the aura it was giving off, and he was certain it wasn’t something he wanted to tangle with, but that was it, no real idea what it could be. But before he could continue his attempt to pin how strong the hollow was a pink haired girl was standing right smack dab in front of the orb..

Xi threw his hand up as he yell/whispered to himself. “She touched it! Of course she touched it! Because that’s not stupid! How can anyone be so dumb? Nothing about this situation screams foreboding you moron!?!” He said before letting off a string of insults and curses in Mandarin towards the idiot playing with the light. OH NO! The unthinkable happened! It was a trap all along and the girl was going to be eaten by the evil hollow! How could this have happened….

He let out a sigh, the girl was naive, but perhaps she knew what hand transpired; that, and her pink hair was really reminding her of that lady.. Gathering the spiritual particles around his feet he shunpoed as fast as he could towards Jacquelinia. He extended his arm outwards, grabbing Jacquelinia before coming to a stop. He threw her a good ten feet before turning around. His hand grasped the grey wrapped cloth on his back, pulling it in front of him as he undid the two buckles. Pulling up on the cloth with one had while positioning his hand underneath to catch the staff. He threw the makeshift sheath to the side as he took a stance with his pole arm weapon. The weapon was a cherry red color, made of wood with two steel looking caps on either end that went about three inches down the five and half foot long staff. One of the caps had the engravings of a Ram, and the other the engravings of a tiger. He pointed the tiger side towards the hollow as he started to walk towards it. From the tip of the cap shot out a small blade, only four inches long and two inches wide, it wasn’t anything to write home about. But with the added striking distance of the quarterstaff it did make for a formidable weapon.

With a slight battle cry he slammed his staff, blade first obviously, into the mask of the hollow. The beast let out a feral roar, causing the ground to shake as it started to rise out. The sand started to pour off of its body as it turned its face towards Xi and Jacquelinia. “Run! NOW!” He yelled as he looked back towards Jacquelinia. Xi started to move away from Jacquelinia just as it charged a cero. He shunpoed behind the beast, just in time to dodge the attack. Luckily he had forced it to move far enough away so that even if Jacquelinia hadn’t moved it would have missed, if only just.

“Tā mā de wǒ.”

[Jacquelinia]

Not having any real way to get out Jacquelinia had thrown her hands over her head and tried to pretend she wasn't there. This had the added effect of her rolling like a ball which could have been bad, but in the next moment the air was kicked out of her as she slammed into the sand. Doing a full face-forward body plant, by the time she had opened her eyes and realized she was in fact not eaten her savior was already well on his way back toward the creature. Still on her butt she began to use her hands to slowly push away as she looked on while the monster began to rise out of the sand, many times larger than it first appeared. As it did so the bits and pieces in her mind finally clicked into place, she had of course never seen a hollow, but her father had told stories. That was what it was, it was the only thing that could fit that description.

But what was she doing anywhere near one of these things? Why would she be here? Where the hell was here? Even her father and Lei would never have put her in direct danger like this. She was to busy thinking about all these things and hardly heard the man yell at her. Some part of her subconscious already knew that was a good idea, or at least she thought so, and her body was moving on its own.

As it turned out this hollow must have been enormous. What Xi initially thought was the rest of its body surfacing instead proved to be only the top of whatever else lay below. A long upper-torso with four large arms came out but more still laid beneath and the sands were buckling and shifting as a row of tentacle like spikes began to shoot out at random intervals. Meanwhile the light globe was pulled beneath the sand which made it far harder for their “human” eyes to see. As it extended upward to “stand” a full four meters above Xi its large circular head opened and let out a far higher pitched squeal than one would have expected...though given its size it was still imposing.

Jacquelinia was oblivious to all of this as she stumbled through the sand, which was probably for the best. However she hadn't gotten very far when a dozen tentacles exploded just in front of her to form a wall, shortly thereafter several came heading her direction. This was the first point at which it became clear she might have some skill no mater how untrained it was. Though her brain was frozen stiff she reacted without thought and instinctively performed a row of flips as the blades impacted somewhere behind her. This did not last long though as the ground was not suited for acrobatics, the sand eventually gave out after the fifth flip and she fell on to her back. The blades did not immediately attack once she was down instead it seemed satisfied to keep her corralled, which was sensible, hollows did like to eat you after and the more alive you were the more soul power you carried.

But Xi had no time to try and retreat or help her any further as he was now in the thick of it. Clearly recognizing him as the greater threat it was attacking relentlessly and hardly giving him any time to go on the offensive. Multiple tentacles would come at him, slashing out like a whip or exploding from the ground in an attempt to impale. The true danger however came from the fact that once it had him cornered it would then come smashing down on his location with one of the large fists, and there would be no getting up from that. Though its power level suggested it was not unbeatable its size made that hard to believe, worse yet there did not appear to be an obvious weak point.

But Xi was going to have to find a way, because it was either that or both of them were about to have a very short day.

[kensei]

Yes Xi-Lei Tan. Fuck you. That is exactly what was going on right now, the tentacle rape monster of Japanese horror hentai was here to fuck you up. And then eat the lovely girl after all, that was the stereotype it had to live up to. He had to admit, he was more then a bit impressed the girl had managed to dodge the tentacles, after all she had seemed completely helpless just moments prior. But before he could even think a second longer about this he was thrown on the defensive. The sheer amount of tentacles coming out of the ground and from the large hollow was sobering in and of itself. Not to mention the speed which the attacks where sent at.

He struck out at the first, cutting it shallowly. But before he could finish the job he was forced to block the next attack. Another one came from the left, and when it seemed like he had no hope of blocking it the quarter staff bent a full six inches from where he had the handle pointed, blocking the attack, courtesy of it being a zanpakuto. He jumped back as he turned the quarterstaff around, so that the ram pointed towards the oncoming tentacles. The blade retreated from the tiger side, but as it did about ten small, half inch spikes covered the two inch diameter surface of his quarterstaff. In an instant the two warriors where locked in a heated battle as the hollow attempted to strike Xi down, but because of his staffs ability to bend he was able to block all of the direct attacks.

The ground cracked underneath him right as the hollow let up on the frontal assault. “Shit!” he said as he jumped to the side, however he wasn’t quite fast enough as it ripped threw his robe, shallowly cutting his left arm. Xi threw his staff into the air as he placed his hands together, focusing Riatsu between them. Another group of tentacles rushed towards him, but before they reached him he spread his hands apart and thrust them forward, sending out several strings of energy. The energy wrapped around the tentacles, causing them to group together as Xi rolled out of the way, charging a ball of light in his hand as he said. “Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!” He threw the ball straight at the Hollow’s face, covering it in the blinding red light; paralyzing it. He extended his left arm upwards, catching his Zanpakuto before staring down the Hollow. In the palm of his right had was a growing orb of fire, and from the slight strain on Xi’s face it was obvious this wasn’t going to be the same strength as the others.

He shunpoed closer to the Hollow, raising his hand as he yelled at it. The red light from his previous kido had faded, and at the same time the Hollow had broken out of the binding he had placed on him. But Xi didn’t need any longer as he raised his hand, firing the kido Abolishing Flame straight into the Hollows face. The beam of red flame slammed into the Hollow’s face, covering it and then its entire body visible body in fire. The hollow let out a beastly roar as it slammed it body on the ground trying to extinguish the flames. Xi jumped back chanting “Carriage of thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six.” When he finished six thin but wide beams of light slammed into the hollows midsection, pinning it to the ground. Xi dashed the hollow, turning his quarterstaff once more before extending the blade. However as he went to stab and kill the hollow, more tentacles slammed out of the ground. However this time instead of being ten or so dozens upon dozens of them came out attacking him. Though he tried his hardest, he couldn’t stop the onslaught as they cut him several times. However as he started to think it couldn’t get much worse another slammed against his side pushing him into the far wall. Coughing up blood he looked at the burnt hash brown tentacle rape Hollow and laughed slightly before getting up and taking up his stance again. It had seemed he had only managed to piss it off.

[Jacquelinia]

As the hollow continued its onslaught on the man who had clearly watched far to much porn in his life, Jacquelinia continued to try and escape. Though Xi wasn't having a great deal of luck doing heavy damage to the beast he was distracting it. Whereas before she had been soundly cutoff Jacquelinia was now back on her feet and this time as she ran forward she was not even impeded, she had become an afterthought. Which was understandable seeing as the hollow had just been LIT ON FIRE...she really needed to learn how to do that, lighting monsters on fire seemed like a good way to stay alive. More importantly she was now succeeding in getting away, she'd love to say that she did so because she realized she was of no use here, but honestly she was just freaking the hell out. Of course one couldn't really blame her, Jacquelinia was no more prepared for facing a hollow than your average Plus save some acrobatic capability.

Back in the house of pain the hollow utilized the opening in Xi's defense to launch a massive counter-assault. This was comprised of dozens of whips flailing back and forth in unpredictable patterns instead of stabbing all out at once. Xi's zanpakutou was made for this kind of thing but even so the sheer number of blows coming from every direction ensured he was in for a tough time. Assuming he succumbed to the attack the hollow would no doubt attempt to pierce him, if he managed to escape it would probably keep up with the whips. That made sense after all, as long as it wasn't hiding any secret abilities then those were the only really valid tactics open to it...

Which was probably a bad thing to consider since speaking of abilities it had yet to show it was just about to do that. With the opening it had bought itself the hollow was able to check in with Jacquelinia. Seeing that she was moments from escaping outside of the range of its tentacles the beasts eyes narrowed while it let out a sound akin to a dogs bark. Its main body shot out toward her, pushing through the sand with incredible ease, it was at this time that it became somewhat obvious that whatever lay beneath the sand was snake-like in shape as some of it rippled behind the main body.

A dozen times faster than her there was no way for her to escape as it went to raise its arm in an attempt to pound her into the sand. Maybe it judged that killing her was better than letting her escape since it couldn't devote the attention it needed to, to her while fighting Xi. Jacquelinia had taken note of it coming after her by now but just because she saw it didn't mean she could do anything, even at her fastest rush it still outpaced her by a mile. When it got close its massive writhing body kicked the sand up in a wave before it which sent the girl off her feet and slamming into the ground. She rolled over just in time to see the massive fist coming down toward her as she held her hands out instinctively, though naturally that wasn't going to help.

But as she watched time seemed to slow, dilate almost to a stop. At first she thought it was the fear but then...

“Heeeellllo Jacquelinia~~~!!!”

At first she didn't contemplate what was happening, she was too focused on the hollow frozen in time before her, “Hey! Hey! Don't you ignore me you little twittleputter!”

With her arms still out she searched wide-eyed for the source of the high-pitched feminine voice. After several seconds she was quite convinced she had gone insane and was imagining things, that was until something kicked her on the shin. With a yelp she grasped her leg as tears welled up in her eyes considering it was pretty painful for a phantom pain. However this caused her to look down which made her pause again...because a pair of giant hollow black eyes were staring at her.

Letting out a squeal she attempted to back away with little success before pointing and making an, “Ah, ah, ah!” sound. Standing at under a foot tall at roughly the size of your average kitten was what appeared to be a gigantic bug...or well, that was the closest thing that came to mind. With oval eyes as big as grapefruit on top of an oblong head that reached back into a segmented point (like leaf) at the back of its skull it certainly wasn't human. It was floating in mid-air with a miniature black body far to small for the head it supported while a series of dragon-fly wings extended from its back. It only had two arms, and two legs like a human but like the torso they were attached to they were far to small compared to the head. Jacquelinia finally managed to spit out, Ah, ah, A HOLLOW!”

It was difficult to judge the creature based on its face but it crossed its little arms while swirling something about in its mouth, meanwhile it made an annoyed sound like a miniature jet engine. After a few seconds it reached one of its arms out and flicked her on the nose before smacking her on the top of her head as she could only put her hands over her head, “No! No! Bad girl, bad Jacquelinia! Not a hollow, a doll! Not necessarily your doll mind you since your a big baby who couldn't tie her own shoes-”

Jacquelinia somewhat mechanically responded in a passive tone while toying with a curl in her hair, “I...I can tie my sho-”

With its arms crossed the doll shot her a look that could only be called incredulous as it interrupted, “Uhhh-hhhuuuh. Noooow, more importantly! My name iiissss Finsternis! And it's time for your happy fun test time!”, it brought a hand to its chin as if thinking, “Now, what to do...what to do? Just killing your host is the mark of an uncreative doll, hmmmmmm...”

Jacquelinia suddenly became overly excited again as she pointed once more, “H...HOLLOW!”

“Ok, yah, screw that I'm gonna kill ya.”

“N, n, NO! Hollow is moving again!”, Finsternis looked over its shoulder where she was pointing, “Oh...”

Boom! The hollows fist impacted the spot where the girl had been as a giant plume of sand shot into the air, of course to Xi it had all occurred in one fluid motion with no pause in time. Not waiting to inspect the aftermath the hollow turned its body around to face Xi as it now concentrated a whole new barrage of tentacles in his direction. However a few short meters from him a giant black mass dropped onto the tentacles pinning them to the ground as the hollow let out a screech. Even as they watched the black mass continued to grow in every direction, though dark there was enough ambient light in the cave to see the gigantic arm growing before him and the even larger body to which it was attached.

In the darkness a high pitched helium filled voice yelled out but it was slowly growing deeper and deeper until it was a train like bellow, “You INSOLEEENT LITTLE CREATURE!!!!”

The hollow spun around in time to watch the central black mass grow from the spot Jacquelinia had been at. As the central formed continued its upward spiral the other arm slammed into the ground as it dug deep into the sand. The hollow gave out a great scream but moments later the tentacles disappeared as they were pulled down into the ground. As Finsternis continued to grow it eventually became so large that its back slammed into the top of the cave and as it did so it ripped the hollow out of the ground. As the light globe was pulled out it threw a glow on the scene in whole.

Finsternis dwarfed the creature whose entire upper body now fit into just one of its hands, talon tipped fingers drilling through its flesh. The size of the still growing doll was virtually unfathomable as the entire body of the hollow which had so dwarfed Xi didn't even reach halfway down the heavily muscled body. The part of the body that had been hidden was much like a centipede, thousands of little legs with pours on top of its body from which the tentacles were wildly flailing, however as they struck out at the arm the larger doll shrugged them off without concern.

With it lifted high into the air Finsternis brought it up so that its own black eyes were staring into the hollows, “It is RRUUUUDDE to interrupt someone having a CONVERSATION! Now pay your PITANCE!”

Opening its maw Finsternis showed that its mouth was now lined with thousands of sharp spike like teeth, perhaps it had always been but was unnoticeable when it was small. Without hesitation it violently and brutally bit down on the hollows front half as the creature let out one final squeal. It pulled away with its large arm as the body resisted for a moment before the flesh gave way and the hollow was split in half. A wave of blood splashed across the sand and rained down around the area Xi was standing. Swallowing it in one gulp Finsternis lowered its head, held the long centipede like body above it as if it were a grape vine and dropped the entire thing inside.

After performing one more swallow which could be easily heard in all its nauseating glory it raised one of its large fingers and pointed out into the dark underground, “Do any others DARRRRE to have so little manners in the face of FINNNNNSSSSSTTTEERRRRNNNIISSS!!!!?”

The doll held the pose for a few seconds, once satisfied there was not going to be an answer the body once more began to shrink. It did so as rapidly as it had grown in the first place until very shortly it was the small creature it had been, hovering over Jacquelinia. Though it was not immediately obvious what it was saying as soon as Xi worked up the nerve to get closer it turned and looked at him. Laying on the ground completely passed out and breathing incredibly shallowly Jacquelinia had gone bleach white and looked on the verge of death.

Once more in a high-pitched girls voice Finsternis spoke, “Mmmmm, I forgot I was using her reiatsu...yep, yep, maybe that was too much? Hmmmmmm, should I eat her? Can I eat her?....What do you think?”, it questioned Xi, it was tough to tell if it was being serious.

Before he could give an answer no matter what it was the ground beneath him exploded, he was only saved by his own quick reflexes. When the sand cleared the small Chinese woman who had arrived with the other older lady at Kitotsans was standing before him in a battle stance. She was incredibly short, she was no “loli” but instead just very small to the point she was just slightly over the classification of a “little person”. Wearing a black skin-tight top with no sleeves that fell into a large bell-shaped skirt that ended below her knees she was certainly not clothed for combat...though she didn't seem to have a problem with that. She was wearing detached sleeves lower on her arms with black boots. Her features were neither overly attractive or ugly, just normal.

More importantly she had pulled the giant shuriken off her back and was now wielding it somewhat like a chakram. Yes...that was probably the more important part.

The following conversation went something like this.

“What have you done to the princess PERVERT?!”
“I didn't do anything, I just-”
“LIES!”
“NO!”
“He really didn't...”
“What are you!?”
“Oh groooaan, would you people pay attention? DOLL!”
“The princesses doll?!”
“Nobodies doll yet...stupid disrespectful hollow interrupting my test..."
“What?”
“~~~~Lei....?”
“Princess?!!!”
“Nope...just talking in her sleep. So...should I eat her?”
“YOU MAY NOT EAT THE PRINCESS!”
“Then can I at least poke her with a stick. Haha, not like his stick though. *Snicker* Pervert."
“WHAT?!”
“W...wh...WHHHHAT?!!!”

As they proceeded to ramble in an unintentionally hilarious unison Lei was the first to stop as the ground began to rumble. She looked over her shoulder just as they were assaulted by a flood of terrible reiatsu. With no source of light they could not see very far despite the unnatural ambient light of the cave system that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. What they could see though were a half-dozen glowing red eyes staring down at them from high above. Worse yet as they actively watched dozens of smaller red and yellow eyes appeared below.

“We need to go... now...”

She rushed forward and grabbed Jacquelinia, easily hefting her into her arms despite their roughly equal size. Finsternis wasted no time jumping on to her shoulder just before Lei flashed away in the opposite direction of the encroaching hollows. Xi would have to make his own decision quickly because it wasn't long after that, that the first cero came crashing down on that location

[kensei]

Sigh…

Fuck.

Think you deserve more insight into that frame of mind? Well fine, how about this?

Xi had been having a hard enough time fighting off the predictable attacks of a sound minded hollow intent on making him a shish kabob, but a shish kabob that was still alive enough to eat. Now the burnt marshmallow just wanted him dead, nothing more, and nothing less. Its attacks where coming in at random and even though this was the kind of combat Xi’s Zanpakuto was built for, it was still one versus one hundred.

Xi finally made a mistake in his defense; he had taken to long to block one tentacle, and had left his left side completely open. The whip like attack knocked him a good ten feet from where he was standing, and had sent his Zanpakuto a good ten feet away. The Hollow was already ready to attack once more, Xi brought his hands together once more before thrusting them forward as he separated his hands. The Riatsu strings had managed to capture only half of the incoming tentacles, and he had wasted too much time to get to his Zanpakuto in time. Instead he jumped to the side, dodging the first before he went down into a split, going under the next attack. He rolled backwards, under the tentacle before jumping to his feet. He shunpoed around the large creature, stopping right in front of his Zanpakuto. However right as he grabbed it a dozen tentacles burst threw the ground. He jumped into the air, and like a scene straight out of a Kung Fu movie he flew backwards while knocking the tentacles off course. As soon as he touched the ground, however, he was met with another barrage. And though he was able to block this one as well it seemed his fate was certain at this point. There was no way he would be able to keep this pace up for long, but it seemed that he wasn’t going to have to, not as harsh of a pace at least as the Hollow realized that Jacquelinia was on the run.

The Hollow rocketed faster then Xi had thought it capable of after Jacquelinia, who despite her best efforts, seemed to be standing still in comparison. He tried to get to the girl, but the Hollow wasn’t dumb enough to forget him completely, and so he was stuck there, watching in horror as the Hollow went to kill the pink haired girl. He closed his eyes right as the fit went down, he didn’t want to see her guts covering its hand, but at the same time he prepared himself mentally for what he would have to do in order to fend off the beast.

But.. When he thought that things where going to get a lot worse for him, things quite possibly got unfathomably worse for him as a small creature arose from where the girl had been previously, however the little thing changed quick, morphing into a huge beast that dwarfed the Adjuchas. It was larger then anything Xi had ever laid eyes on, it practically defied logic that anything so large could exist, but then again so did the four armed tentacle snake monster.. Xi stared at it, in amazement and fear, while it grabbed the upper body of the Adjuchas ripping the rest of it out of the ground. He flew into the air slightly to avoid the shattering ground beneath his feet. The sheer strength of this thing was monstrous as it showed when it simply shruged off the Hollows attacks at it fought for its life, and then it took a bite out of crime, literally, and figuratively as the hollow wasn’t actually a criminal, spraying blood all across the cave, and most notably, all over Xi. “What the hell is that thing?” He asked, while backing up away from it. Here he had been tangling with the Adjuchas and had hardly damaged it, and it ended it in near ten seconds! It was the kind of monster that could take on a captain.

In hoisted its bottom half, snake like body above it, before dropping it into its mouth and eating it in one bite. It practically shacked the cavern with its deep voice as it shouted out for another competition. Of course, nothing took it up on the offer, after all, who would when it had ended an Adjuchas so quickly, injured or not.

Eventually he gulped down his fear, deciding that it could have killed him already if that was it wanted to do, and walked over towards it. The creature had resumed its original form, a small, and surprisingly cute form at that. As it started to question him, he could only stare at Finsternis and give a “huh?” sound. Right as he sounded off, the ground under him started to crack, and it was only because of his training that he managed to move out of the way in time for the Chinese lady that was with the elderly lady who was with Kitosan… He was going to have to get her name because referring to her like that is a bit ridiculous. He landed on the ground about three feet away, sliding slightly on the sand as he placed his left hand down for balance. That was when it began, his honor was insulted, and the following conversation somehow ended with everyone thinking he was a pervert..

He stopped right after Lei did, noticing the dozens of red eyes starring at them. “I agree lets go!” He said, only to turn his head to see Lei had already taken off with Jacquelinia and Finsternis. “DAAAMMMN ITTT!” He yelled as he started to shunpo after them, barely in time to miss the first of the onslaught of Cero. “Seriously!” He said as he caught up to Lei. “How am I a pervert! I didn’t do anything!!!”

[Jacquelinia]

One could say that everyone present was having a phenomenally bad day. Of course none of them actually had time to consider this, “considering they were all too busy being in the process of having that phenomenally bad day.”

“Would. You. Stop that?!”

“She yelled at the poor unassuming narrator of the phenomenally bad d-” Lei shot the doll on her shoulder a look that said, 'Say one more word and I'm throwing you off', Finsternis paused for a moment, “Ahem...the narrator decided to pay attention instead to how pretty the young woman was.”

Another cero fired off over their head as a set of hollows appeared ahead of Lei and she once more switched directions. Given that she was a physical person given her density and spirit signature her speed was really rather impressive, even more so with her carting both the girl and the...thing. Of course with her pulling a hefty clip ahead of Xi it was leaving the shinigami down and out. She was darting around the hollows just in time but more than once this left a hollow crossing Xi's path as he had to find a quick way around, in short order this was putting him further and further behind. Obviously his safety was the least of her concerns though having no knowledge of one another and the poor circumstances under which he had been found this was understandable...if probably very annoying for him. Still he couldn't lose track of them, for starters he probably wouldn't survive alone, but the more perilous reason was the fight had clearly woken every hollow within the tri-state neighborhood.

Thankfully the big ones launching cero were slow, and as they put more distance between them their aim became ever worse. Still this could hardly be considered a positive with them being stuck in Hueco Mundo for starters, and secondly there were plenty of fast creatures pursuing them. The most dangerous were several that appeared feline in form and were capable of keeping pace with the fleeing humans. Lei was smacking the occasional one that came close with her oversized shuriken but largely ignored them in favor of hopping about like a gerbil on cocaine.

As she clipped ones leg and darted past she tilted her head slightly and yelled, “Can you not go back inside?! You're a lot heavier than you look and it's slowing me down!”

Finsternis grumbled something about how he wasn't fat but after getting another look in a rather serious tone, “You should know. Until she either succeeds or fails to make a pact with me I'm stuck out here, and as you may notice she's unconscious. Should consider yourself lucky I'm giving her a chance, most dolls just eat'cha!”

“I'm....pretty sure that's just you.”
“Bah!”

However they were cut short as another hollow in the shape of a worm that used the sand as a home came jumping out of it, mouth wide open. Lei shot upward with such force Finsternis actually went flying off in a flip before using its wings to pull up slightly and land on her shoulder. At the same time she raised the large shuriken over her head and yelled, “Zeige dich, Blitz Herrn!

Though nothing seemed to change as it would have been incredibly difficult to see at any point an eye opened in the center of the shuriken. A row of lightning arcs shot out from the eye to surround the blade as Finsternis made “Oooooooh”, and “Ahhhhhh sounds. With a quick downward slash a bolt of electricity shot out and slammed into the head of the worm pushing it into the ground. Not dwelling on whether it had actually killed the enemy or not she continued to move, after about twenty seconds she whispered, “There...”

Though she had ignored Xi up until now she seemed to have enough presence of mind that more of them together was a good thing by pointing and yelling, “FOLLOW ME! If you don't make it I'm leaving you!”

As she dashed off into the dark it started to become more obvious what she had planned. While there had been a number of giant rock pillars through the cave serving as supports they had yet to see an actual wall. At least that was, until now. As they drew closer to the wall-face it became clear there was a large cave like opening in it, how she had been able to see this in the dark was a question for later, though logic dictated it had something to do with the electricity from before. Several dozen meters ahead of Xi she was already inside while he was still clashing with the hollows.

From inside another shot of electricity went off and sheared through the roof above the cave mouth. This started a cave-in in short order and massive piles of stone fell to block the entrance. To her credit, she hadn't lied when she said she was leaving him if he didn't make it...terrible as that might be being him, hopefully he had hurried up.

[kensei]

Xi cursed as he watched the female put more distance between them. While normally he would have been impressed, the way she was moving it seemed as if she was purposely trying to get him killed. She dodge one hollow after another, but doing so gave him little opening to do so as well. As she dodged a larger one, it was one of those times it put him directly in Xi’s path. Xi jumped into the air, the hollow opened its mouth, trying to get him to land inside of him. Xi slammed his Zanpakuto down on the hollows mask, using it to pole vault over the hollow. He landed behind him, taking off once more.

One of the feline like Hollows that Lei had knocked back had instead of going back after her attempted to take Xi down. It charged him, closing the distance between them near instantaneously. Xi ducked down, still riding one of his Shunpos as he stuck out the quarterstaff, slamming it into its legs causing the Hollow to fall to the ground. “Haha!’ He laughed as he looked back at the tumbling hollow. However, that joy was gone as he turned around to see a giant worm trying to eat his face. He jumped in the air, and in many ways mimicked Lei as he slammed his Zanpakuto down on the worms face before landing right at the end of its body.

“Follow you where?!” He yelled as he took off from the worm, trying to close some of the distance between them. After about thirty seconds he saw the opening she had taken. However before he entered the cave, she had shot off the electricity, crumbling the ceiling. “Fuck me.” He said.. Again.. As he dashed as fast as he could towards the human, but despite his best efforts he wasn’t out running gravity. As a last ditch effort to save his life as the ceiling was inches from crushing him, he jumped forward, while turning and raising his Zanpakuto against the rock. His back slammed into the ground, as he grabbed the pole as if his life depended on it, as it did. He had managed to get to the last section of the collapsing ceiling on his Zanpakuto, stopping it from crushing him. He glared at Lei before yelling. “ARE YOU INSANE! YOU ALMOST KILLED ME! Please… Help..” He said, looking rather pathetic.

Lei eventually did help him get out without having to leave his Zanpakuto behind. He looked at her, and then Finsternis before sighing and saying. “Now seriously.. How did I get labeled a pervert! I.. I didn’t do anything… Honestly..”

[Jacquelinia]

Xi managed to make it just in the nick of time, if just barely. Luckily for him Lei had remained to ensure the cave was completely sealed off so when he wound up trapped she was not far away. Though her priority was saving herself and the girl, she at least judged it easy enough to free him. With a slam from an electrified fist the rock above him shattered and though thousands of little pieces rained down on him none would cause serious injury. However as soon as he was free she had already turned around, observed her surroundings, and began to walk off. In front of them there was a long tunnel that snaked off into the darkness, unlike outside the cave there was no light here. Thankfully the womans weapon was a near constant light source as it sparked off every few seconds, maybe not as reliable as a flashlight or torch but they could see a few meters.

Calling back to him she stated simply, “I did tell you to hurry. The princesses safety far outweighs your own. I'm not going to kill you on purpose, but I trust you to watch out for your own future. If it comes down to that we are both expendable if it means getting her back safely.”, though her face couldn't be seen her words rung honest.

Of course there was no telling what made her that loyal, but then everyone was loyal to someone even if it was themselves. It wasn't long before he seemed to recall their initial meeting and questioned her in a loud voice about being a pervert. However instead of an answer she stopped where she was and looked over her free-shoulder at him. She was rather good at conveying words without saying them, this time she was saying, 'Burn in fire bourgeois scum.' However what really made the moment was when something roared from further within the cave, she continued to give him that look for a few moments before she turned back around and continued on.

“Were you under the impression we were safe anywhere? You have figured out where we are, right? Staying quiet would be for the best.”

As she walked down the cave, eerily illuminated by her own power, Finsternis appeared on her shoulder looking back at Xi. He began to make letter shapes with his body while what had to be a smirk crossed his face.

'P'
'E'
'V'
'E'
'R'
'T'

After a few dozen meters the cave opened up into three different directions, further down those it could be seen some of them opened into more lanes. On the bad side they could be lost down here for ages and they never knew when something might pop out, on the bright side it made them more difficult to find and they had less chance of running smack dab into whatever had made that sound before.

As if on cue to prove them wrong something wriggled just out of view in one of the tunnels to their right. Lei readied her weapon and angled it so that it cast its light in that direction, however by the time they got a good look nothing was there. Showing she knew what she was doing as soon as she ascertained this she flipped about to see if an assault was coming from the left. Nothing came out but a nearly silent but very threatening hiss came from that direction. She gave an annoyed grunt, she knew full well they could be getting cornered and she voiced as much, but hoping the hollows were too stupid for that she headed straight, the one direction that didn't yet scream death. That didn't last long though as soon they began to see signs that this area had been meaningfully excavated with the tunnel floor and walls being perfectly smooth in a circle.

Just as Lei considered turning around and heading back before they stumbled into a trap the ground shook and a low growl sounded out from behind the trio. Turning around two football sized yellow eyes peered out of the dark not a dozen meters behind them, by the time it charged Lei was already on the move. A brief look back showed that the big brother of the worm they had encountered outside was hot on their tail, it took up the entire cave behind them with no way to turn around and move past it. Despite their speed it was slowly gaining and when it got within six meters its mouth opened to expose hundreds of rows of circulating saw-like teeth which ground like stone on metal.

Lei launched several bolts of lightning from her hand but as if it were just a giant sponge the hollow didn't even flinch as the electricity spiraled inside its maw before disappearing. With no visible way to bring it down and it actively gaining there was little that could be done except run. Progressing it became obvious there were no splits in the tunnel and there was only one conclusion, this was somethings lair and this was a defense they had long set-up. Soon it was close enough that nothing could be heard except the grinding of dirt as it pushed through the tunnel and the sawblade like weaponized mouth it possessed, and that was when they spotted light ahead. Though it appeared far away at the speeds they were going and with the illusion tunnels could play on your eyes it was but a few seconds before they were about to barrel out of it. It soon became evident that where the light began the tunnel opened into a much larger space, finally allowing them to move.

Within literal inches of being ground into a fine stuffing Lei reached the edge of the tunnel and leapt to the left. As she did so she pointed her weapon at it once more, however quite to her surprise they found that the massive worm had stopped at the edge, then it slowly closed its mouth.

Sensing other reiatsu forms Lei intended to briefly looked up but that was where her eyes froze, “Oh...god...”

They should have known better by now since there were no natural light underground but at least Lei had hoped maybe they would find a way out, even if she had doubted it. Set in the roof above them were a dozen stalks with glow globs spreading light through the room, next to them were the same number of faces, each as large as the first hollow Xi had battled when he arrived. Hundreds, maybe thousands of tentacles were extending from the ceiling and though they were not moving at the moment should they have chosen too they would have been dead in milliseconds. Lei could do little but hold her weapon to her side as it latently sparked, switching her view from the roof to the worm that was still sitting in the entrance, then back.

A cool, collected voice rung out from behind them, “Don't worry. They won't attack for now, I just asked them to bring you to me.”

Lei spun around but her head was on a swivel even as she took in what was before her, there were too many threats and she didn't know how to counter them all. Of course in her heart she knew it was good as over now, but as a Ritter it was in her blood to never really give up.

Sitting several meters away on a massive throne carved out of the bedrock something in the shape of a man was watching them. It wore a black suit, shoes, and other matching apparel with a gigantic gold and black spotted bow-tie around its neck. But despite the clothing and human proportions the reiatsu it gave off was anything but, even without using it, it felt stronger than everything else in the room put together. Where its face should have been there was an ovular white mask with two empty black eye-sockets that you could not see into, the mask was featureless save for a black tracer mark that made a jagged mouth-like crevice from one side to the other. There was no real way to think yourself out of a situation where you were so obviously outmatched and so it wasn't surprising when Lei held her weapon out, ready to attack.

“You...really shouldn't do that...

But before the male voice could even finish she had released the shuriken this time, filled with about as much reiatsu as she could put into a single strike. It tore through the large open hall, powerful enough that errant bolts of electricity shooting from it actually ripped through several of the tentacles in the ceiling. It had crossed about halfway between the two parties when it simply stopped in mid-air shortly before it shot back and embedded itself in the wall next to her.

Had you been watching the man-hollow as she threw the disc without moving an inch a maelstrom of nearly invisible reiatsu formed in front of its mask before shooting forth. Unlike Leis attack as this one crossed the room there was no loose waste of energy as it remained in its tight contained form, when it collided with the blade it was as if time had stopped for both Lei and Xi. And then a megaton bomb of reiatsu released above them as both dropped without question to the floor, flat on their fronts. There was no movement, no breathing, no thinking; there was only an encompassing malicious reishi that could have killed them without even attacking.

Their vision faded in and out, they were only allowed to see because the reiatsu willed it and decided not to crush them into the rock floor. The hollows mask warped in their views, the only thing they could see, zooming in and out before going black and then coming back moments later. In a shattering voice that warbled as if on a broken speaker he spoke calmly and yet it felt like it would shatter their ear drums, “I did warn you that was a bad idea.”

An eternity passed and they had been held down so long they were both ready to suffocate any moment. Then without reason or sign the reiatsu pulled off of them and they could once again move, but it was really impossible to do anything but take deep gasps of breath as clarity came slowly back. When Lei's fingers twitched and she began to pull herself up clearness of mind returned and she bolted to her side where Jacquelinia was lying, having been dropped when Lei fell. Phenomenally the girl was still alive despite already being weak when that occurred but she was now breathing slowly...very slow.

With one hand over the left side of its mask it spoke with disdain, “I trust we have come to an understanding? I do not seek to kill you, that would be child's play, but you're such a curiosity I feel it would be a waste to not make use of you if I can.”

Removing its hand while putting one leg over the other and interlocking its fingers the hollow leaned over slightly. Then completely switching gears on the fly it said, “Well then, as I was saying I am Klavier, master of the Forest of Menos. Now would one of you be so polite as to tell me what a couple children such as yourself are doing in Hueco Mundo? It is most intriguing!, it was said with entirely to much joviality.

Lei gave it a brief look of terror but was far to busy trying to focus her own reiatsu into Jacquelinia in a juvenile attempt to bring her back from the edge while occasionally looking at all the threats around them.

[kensei]

He starred at her blankly as she talked about the girl who was apparently some form of princess. It had been to hectic earlier to take note of her mentioning it before, but now in the, relative, safety this cave offered he was more then a bit intrigued by it. However at the same time he doubted he was going to get anything out of the dragon lady. The worst part of it all was that now he owed her one, though on the flip side he would most likely soon have the chance to pay her back.

He gulped as Lei gave him a look that just spoke of her being some form of elitist scum, and looking down on him. But what really did him in was the following roar from yet another oversized hollow. He did have to admit that running for you life, if nothing else, was good shunpo training, gotta find the bright side in everything right? He glared at Finsternis as he spelled out pervert, if he didn’t owe the little doll for saving his life he would have slammed his Zanpakuto into its face, see if it spelled out Ouch.

Xi took a stance as he saw something in the tunnel, extending the blade out. He scanned the area as he followed Lei down the tunnel. “This is not going to end well.” He whispered as looked around the smooth tunnel. Right on cue a growl sounded behind them, and with a quick look behind Xi was off like a rocket, though Lei was still faster then him, much to his discontent he was going to be eaten first.. However, when all hope seemed lost as if by a stroke of luck there was light that indicated the end of the tunnel. Without even thinking about what may lay ahead Xi rushed for it, narrowly making it before being eaten. “ALRI…ght..”

He sighed before saying “Tā mā de wǒ.” It would appear that he had only jumped from the frying pan into the fire as dozens of the hollow tentacle rape monsters lay above them, dangling thousands of tentacles downwards. Xi knew how hard the first one was, and if they wanted to kill them they would be dead.. Why.. Why weren’t they dead? But as soon as the thought crossed his mind a voice sounded off behind him.

He spun around, weapon ready, for all the good it would do him, as he stared at the well dressed hollow. He looked over at Lei as she readied her attack. “Maybe we should..” He stopped as she threw the oversized Shruiken at the Hollow. Xi grunted as his eyes followed the shuriken. And to his amazement it was shot back by some form of an attack. That was when the mother of all Reishis slammed him into the ground. His mind blurred as he started to wheeze as he tried to breath. His vision was distorted, and all he could see was the hollow masks; it was so degrading.. That was his last thought before he blacked out, only to come back a few moments later.

After what seemed like a decade had passed the Reishi finally let up. Xi coughed up a longue before he started gasping for breath. After a few moments he looked over to Lei as he rolled on his back. “Where you trying to get us killed with that stunt? Honestly, what did you think was going to happen!?” He yelled before he started getting up, grabbing his Zanpakuto. The insanely powerful being once again had Xi’s attention as he stated how easily he could have killed them and what they wanted. He glanced over to Lei, her only focus right now seemed to be that damn kid, and so it was left to him to say what had happened.
“In all honesty sir, I couldn’t even begin to explain what had happened, nor have I had the time to put all the pieces together, but from what I have been able to discern it was some sort of hiccup in the device we use to cross between worlds. We didn’t mean to come here, but here we are.. I am afraid that’s just about all there is to it.” He chuckled nervously, knowing full well that if that answer hadn’t satisfied him then he was going to die.