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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 23, 2008 1:21:52 GMT -4
A final cool breeze that signaled the appearance of the first rays of sunlight on the horizon swept across the cityscape highlighting the end of what had been a freezing night. A particularly loud and ruckus evening (for a variety of reasons) had now become a desolate and almost eerily silent morning, the only sound coming from the whistling breeze as it passed through hollowed out squatter villas and the occasional early bird speaking with someone else. Upon the top of one of these structures stood a single figure cloaked in black who stood with his hands in his pockets and was looking out over the town and enjoying the breeze even if technically he was not supposed to be able to feel it. He brought his left hand which had a series of white bandages wrapped around it up to his face and balled it into a fist grimacing from the pain a concealed wound there caused him. He lowered his hand and glanced coolly out over the silent city once more before turning his head to his shoulder where three zanpaktou were kept on his back and he tapped each hilt with his knuckles as if contemplating some deep meaning behind what each symbolized. Eventually as the sun broke the horizon and light spilled out he turned around and headed down a set of stairs into a rather ramshackle building in which there were two sleeping humans on a concrete “bed” and another black cloaked figure in the only sizeable room avaliable.
“Suns up…” Kuatura said to Kaiba who had been resting against a nearby wall.
Of course admitted his brother might have noticed the few rays breaking into the room by now but it was just idle conversation. He turned his head to the two kids and walked over to them as he bent down on his knees and looked at the girl with a grin that was indecipherable and in truth you might not want to know the meaning behind it. After a moment or two he returned attention to his brother, while he still bore a smile and his tone was light there was no mistaking the seriousness in his voice.
“It’s just like the General said; we may never find them again. I haven’t just been unable to locate their signatures, it’s like all the hollows in the area just disappeared, all of them. I have honestly never heard of such a coordinated retreat…or even destruction, even the little ones that should have no intelligence are gone.”
He and his brother had been trying to locate more Hollows all night after their battle with the extremely powerful adjucha they fought the evening prior who answered to an arrancar of all things. However shortly after an odd run in with a strange squatter they had, had upon arriving in this building (an encounter they had both silently agreed to not mention it seemed) the hollows signatures had begun disappearing one by one and after an hour the city had just gone blank. Even now hours later they had yet to pick up on anything, on the bright side that had given them plenty of time to reconstitute their powers and prepare for the coming day. Now however it was proving annoying since they planned to move out when the humans awoke and that had to be soon. As if that thought was psychically projected he heard movement from below him and looked down just in time to see the girl give a big long stretch and yawn before opening her eyes. They stared for less than 3 seconds before the girl let out a high pitched scream and in what had to be a speed record went from lying down on the bed completely prone to 20 feet across the room and ‘X’ing off her chest giving him a ridiculing look in the blink of an eye.
“WHAT DID YOU DO YOU PERVERT?!!!” she screamed.
Kuatura blinked for a moment before rubbing his head as was his trademark, “I’m not a-”
“PERVERT!!!”
“Aie, aie…” he said before releasing a sigh, why was he so misunderstood he wondered?
Sera the girl began to take in her surroundings and while she didn’t lose any of her defensive nature she did seem to relax a bit. Slowly but surely she walked toward Kuatura and then held out her hand in a demanding gesture.
“Yes, it’s a very nice hand.” Kuatura said coyly.
She said nothing even though her face said she wanted to and so he reached on to his back, grabbed her zanpaktou and whipping it around handed it to her. She placed it on her back once more and backed up to the wall again without taking her eyes off of him. When the anxiety of waking up in an empty squatters house, surrounded by shinigami and laying next to some guy you didn’t know with another guy staring at you after the last thing you remembered being almost being cut in half by a crazy hollow, she spoke.
“What happened to them?”
“They retreated.” Kuatura responded.
“THEN WE MUST GO AFTER THEM!!!” She yelped obviously not deterred by the pain in her gut from the damage she had received.
“We will…you however will return to wherever you came from, this is our fight now.”
“Like hell…”
She began to give him an angry look but was quickly subdued when for the first time Kuatura shot her a dark foreboding stare. It was easy to forget (if she had known though in this case only Kaiba would notice the rarity) thanks to his slightly perverted and goofy nature but he was one the top members of the first squad, the squad that sat above the rest and when it came right down to it was more than capable of taking control of a situation.
“You will because we tell you so. These opponents are beyond you, they are beyond us even. You would be dead if it were not for us, don’t forget it, do yourself a favor and forget about this one.” As soon as he was done the stern look lifted replaced by his general pleasant look but the sense of demand remained.
Sera paused where she was and then without saying anything she leaned back again the wall once more ‘Hmph!’ was all she managed.
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 24, 2008 11:15:50 GMT -4
“Suns up…”
His brothers voice had fallen on def ears,he was caught up in thoughts. He was reflecting on the growing numbers of factors that added to the task at hand. At as it was, it was looking shaping up to be a near impossible. First the portals, and then the fading presence of hollows in the area. Slowly they started vanish until they were left totally alone. During this time Kaiba had rested and regained his strength his injuries had been minor and was ready to move on and hunt down the bastards they fought the previous day. The people that killed a comrade of theirs. But his mind was brought back around full circle to the initial problem ............... “It’s just like the General said; we may never find them again. I haven’t just been unable to locate their signatures, it’s like all the hollows in the area just disappeared, all of them. I have honestly never heard of such a coordinated retreat…or even destruction, even the little ones that should have no intelligence are gone.”
Kuatura it seemed had come to the same conclusion. Without being able to feel the trio's spiritual pressure or of seemingly every hollow along with any chance of finding one with within the area that could have any affiliation or information with/ on them to be found they were running out of options.
"It's fucked I know. But we'll find something. (ooc-dramatic uplifting music starts playing) We've got to...........And when we do........."
Seeing that his brother had stopped paying attention if he ever had been, Kaiba was livid that he had not been paying attention during his rally the troops speech. And decided he was gonna five him an earful.
“WHAT DID YOU DO YOU PERVERT?!!!” A young girls shrill voice cried out. stopping any thought he had about chewing Kua out as he tried to make sense of the situation.
“I’m not a-” started after a moments pause.
“PERVERT!!!” She concluded vehemently.
There it was again, for some reason or another this girl was convinced that Kaiba's brother was a deviant, which wasn't so far from the truth from time to time. But in this case she was mistaken. Kaiba stood by and watched not knowing exactly how to explain to this girl who rightly was spooked about waking up in a gritty, urine soaked, heck hole.
"Don't misunderstand" He managed to get out. He was always so awkward in situations like this.
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(Daijiro's perspective) The young Quincy had been sleeping for quite a few hours now and was currently having a dream which had him jumping and climbing ladders getting on platforms while dodging barrels being thrown at him by Lorengal (the first adjucha he faced, for those familiar with the titan series thus far) Who was holding Sera hostage. The closer he got to her the more barrels came his way. Some were aflame and after finally reaching Lorengal and removing the bolts holding the platform Lorengal stood on making him fall to his doom. Daijiro faced Sera and looked deep into her eyes.
"I got him, your safe now." He said coming close.
“WHAT DID YOU DO YOU PERVERT?!!!” she screamed. making the boy jump back a step and place a hand on his head.
"Oro........I...i.." He stammered.
“PERVERT!!!” She screamed again. But this time, he was no longer dreaming.
Daijiro woke with a start, causing him to grimace from the ache he felt on the left side of his face and the overall soreness of his body. He felt alot better than he had before he passed out, but there was still some residual effects of the giants thrashing left. It seemed there was an argument going on between Sera and the shinigami that had apparently brought them.............here?........ Looking around from his view on the floor. Daijiro could see just what kind of place he had just spent the night and shuddered to think of they types vermin about. When he looked back in on the group here, they were still at it.
“We will…you however will return to wherever you came from, this is our fight now.” The brown haired shinigami said sternly.
“Like hell…” Apparently the death gods planned on going it alone. He couldn't blame them, he didn't exactly feel comfortable with people who's affiliation make it so they are not officially enemies but not exactly allies. The middle ground was always the most perilous, but Daijiro knew that if he wanted revenge then the best chance he had was to ally himself with these people and take off immediately the hollows had made enough ground from them as it was. Let alone going back to base and reporting to wait for the off chance that they would even sanction it being worthy of sending a team out from the brother hood. Sure they were strong but with no leads it is a waste of time to investigate. Daijiro himself never understood that logic but it has always been so in the brotherhood. At least as far as his experiences go.
“You will because we tell you so. These opponents are beyond you, they are beyond us even. You would be dead if it were not for us, don’t forget it, do yourself a favor and forget about this one.” Kuatura barked out sternly.
"SO WOULD YOU!" The young archer shouted getting everyones attention.
""We took one of them down, we are not weaklings. We are strong. If you don't think we are strong enough to fight them on our own at least acknowledge that we can help you" He finished compelling to the shinigami's sense of reason.
"Kids right. They come." The silver haired man announced.
"You there! Boy. get your shit in gear were moving out" he ordered Daijiro. before turning to the other death god yet speaking loud enough to be heard by all present.
" I say we go back to the battle field, check out where those portals came up. See if there's anything we can find. Unless you got something else in mind. I'm open to suggestion." He said leaving it open for discussion.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 25, 2008 1:16:20 GMT -4
Kuatura brought his thumb to his face and bit on it softly in a rare sign of wanting to talk back. It was true he didn’t often give his brother the respect his position granted him with others and he even badgered him constantly just to keep his head out of the clouds but it was rare that Kuatura seriously thought about locking swords with him over a subject. Yes they were strong, strong except for a very specific point, they were strong for HUMANS… there was a big difference when it was put in context instead of freely throwing around words like that. Regardless after a moment he lowered his hand and simply gave a silent shrug to nobody in particular signifying for them to just do whatever. He had to admit somewhere deep inside he felt a little anger at his brother for contradicting him and was indeed surprised a bit that he of all people agreed the humans could come. He knew they were hard up for any help they could get in this situation but he never thought he would see the day his brother was the one actively seeking a alliance with humans. Neither shinigami had anything against them mind you, his brother just liked power and neither of these humans really fit his typical bill for fulfilling that requirement.
Kuatura looked to his side in time for him to watch Sera put her thumb on her nose and wriggle her fingers at him; he just sighed again and immaturely reflected the motion back at her. She simply crossed her arms and walked off, her senses in this matter obviously conflicting between wanting to learn more and the prospect of working with shinigami. He listened to his brother and nodded his head silently a few times before standing once more to his full height and then he spoke.
“Yes, that is probably the best plan of action for the moment. After all there are no other leads for now.”
Sera made a few shuffling noises behind Kaiba like she was trying to get their attention and he looked over his brothers shoulder saying nothing but indicating with a nod of his head for her to go ahead.
“What about the forest?” she broke out.
“Forest, what forest?” Kuatura questioned obviously intrigued and skeptical all at once.
“Last night, when the first Hollow attacked it came over a building right in front of the forest near the park. It was completely hidden up to that point, there’s nowhere else it could have come from.”
Kuatura put his hands in his jacket pockets once more, he didn’t look convinced one way or another, “Well chances are it might have been hiding there, or even warped in there but I highly doubt there’s any proof of where it actually came from in the forest…still you said it was close to the park so since that’s where we are headed anyway we might as well check it out too.”
Sera put her hands on her hips obviously a tad annoyed that her suggestion was brushed aside so easily, still some signs of vindication showed in her face that they would at least be checking it out. Kuatura brought his hands up to his chest a few times beating on it like he was trying to knock from his throat though he didn’t cough and then recomposing himself he made his way out the front door where he stood outside simply staring into oblivion. It was often hard to tell what he was thinking though at this point it was a good guess to imagine it had something to do with the futility of this endeavor.
Meanwhile Sera looked her new company over, she had come to a few quick decisions in these last few moments and even if she wasn’t particularly happy she would see this through. A few strings were pulling her, for starters as was human nature a tad of revenge burned in her, then there was her simple hate for hollows and the coordination these had left her knowing they were to dangerous to keep alive, something of childish honor and wanting to say she was better than others was also there. However one factor burned above all, to some extent Kuatura was correct, they had been saved by the shinigami and to that end her visions of them had been shattered. All shinigami she had met before had been bumbling fools leading her to see them as such but in their actions she had realized perhaps not all were this way and a desire to see what else they could do, and see if she could compete with them fueled her onward. To these ends she had dropped her apprehensions and prior feelings just to see where this new path might lead, not that she in any way intended to become a new person on the spot, or even that she thought of it in such a way but rather that it intrigued her.
Sera felt her abdomen a few times and while it was mildly sore the spirit energy that filled her body had, had all night to do its work and it would not harm her forward momentum in any way. She considered her condition once more before following out the way Kuatura had, when she spotted the sunlight outside she pranced into the street and brought her right hand up to block the bright but cool light which being early morning played across things gently and was not at all harsh. She took in a deep breath as if enjoying the morning air when suddenly a giant rumble erupted and filled the air in an awkward silence for several seconds and Sera turned bright red. Kuatura broke out into snickers.
“Uh…I think I’m hungry.” She finally said rubbing her stomach.
Still laughing Kuatura fumbled in one of his pockets a moment before pulling out a small white leather wrapped ration and handed it toward her obviously not wanting to waste time finding food elsewhere, “Here.”
Sera looked at it suspiciously after opening it and seeing the brown packed ration inside, “Why would a shinigami have food?”
“WHAT?!!! We still eat!” Kuatura sounded amused once more.
“But… you’re spirits.”
“Jeez, who teaches you guys this stuff? Look its fine, eat it, yummy yummy.”
Sera continued to give the ration pack a dark accusing look as if she expected it to sprout tentacles and attack her at any moment. Something of realization also spread across her face too but she certainly didn’t seem any closer to taking a bite out of the soul food (hehe soul food). Meanwhile once the other two had arrived he held up his hands, his normal smile back now that his mind had, had time to process the events and the previous interaction had removed some of his anger.
“So, if we are going to work together for a while then we should at least know one another’s names.”
He offered into the air with one of his hands and then took the initiative first.
“I am Katayama Kuatura…” he seemed to consider whether he would continue or not and then spoke, “4th Seat of the 1st Division in Seireitei…you do know what those are don’t you?” He seemed to consider with Sera’s previous slip up about the food this might have gone over their heads.
“OF COURSE!!!” Sera snapped at him as if he was insulting her intelligence, truth be told while they were aware of how Soul Society worked to an extent the Brotherhoods definition of the spirit realm was far from perfect but was organized enough to know what his words meant. Sera collected herself and then figuring since she would be working with them she would go ahead, “Fine, I am Raizuki Seiani, but everyone just calls me Sera, so ya, call me that.”
Kuatura nodded a few times and then offered his hand out toward the other two in the way a game show host signals a contestant. The look on his face was an obvious ‘and you?’
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In the bright early morning light two figures stood on a nearby roof, invisible to all, even the nearby shinigami.
“Can they do it?” a younger and rash sounding female voice asked.
“I wouldn’t have picked them if I thought it impossible, they nearly beat Horus and Beatrix…it isn’t often we will find someone like that coming to this realm.” The voice of a more mature but none-the-less young female responded.
“Those two…”
“Don’t worry, they won’t die…it would take a lot more than what they can offer to put them down for good. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe they can’t at least break past them and do the job.”
“Perhaps, and if they fail?”
“They won’t.”
“I’ll kill them if they do.”
“If they do then they will already be dead.”
“True…so why don’t we just call the big guy out and get this over with? He would create an obvious entrance…if they beat him.”
“That’s a last resort.
“Bah, bull I understand you don’t want to get allot of people in danger but this is important. I am against killing too many as well but a few humans for our goals to be complete is a small thing, more will die the longer we take anyhow.”
The more mature even tempered voice seemed to paused for a moment in thought, “There is still a way back in without doing that, plus they might realize there was something more than just the one force they know at work if we called one out and it works better for us if they only work with a wholehearted urge to take down Glast.”
“Glast…” and the younger one growled as she said it.
“Shhh now, no worries.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Shhhh, come now, their leaving let us follow and see what they discover.”
And so they did.
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 25, 2008 2:39:21 GMT -4
Kaiba could see his brother did not like the idea of letting the humans tag along, and that was partially the reason he allowed it. What was the fun of being in charge of your older brother if you couldn't order him to do things he didn't like?. Besides, Kaiba thought that the two humans had great potential. They were mere children compared to the two brothers who have existed for a century in a half, and yet they possessed enough strength to take down an adjuchas. There was something special about these two, and he was interested in seeing just how special.
Kuatura had kept his reservations to himself, a feat that Kaiba knew was probably difficult for him to do. But Kuatura knew that Kaiba wouldn't be swayed and instead of complaining decided to exchange taunts with the girl. After the group decided on a plan of action, they prepared to head out. The sun outside the apartment felt good on his face as a cool breeze past by and didn't reek of feces. A fact he enjoyed immensely. They were on their way back to the park when a loud grumble had stopped the group in its tracks.
"What was that?" Asked the Quincy who had been silently smirking since hearing that they would get to come along.
Sera's hunger pangs prompted Kuatura to hand her a ration pack and looking over at the boy Kaiba could see that he couldn't be feeling any lees hungry then his counterpart. He tossed the Quincy his rations and smiled as he saw the boy tear in to it after a quick thank you without hesitation unlike the female who eyed her food suspiciously. Kaiba suppressed a smirk as he watched the scene unfold. Sera's questioning of his brother showed just how different the humans were from them. For someone who once was human, feeling the gap between what he is and what he was, was in a way saddening. Perhaps thats why he was so quick to let the humans come along. In hopes that along the way he could connect and once again have ties to and in doing so be connected to the living world once more. Before today, Kaiba had never thought about just how much he yearned for his home land. And spending the night among humans had made it even worse.
“So, if we are going to work together for a while then we should at least know one another’s names.” Kuatura said before introducing himself and then Sera was next.
"Daijiro Kato"The boy said in looking up from his food, and then added. "Quincy"
"Yeah......We saw that last night." Kaiba said patronizing the boy.
"Kaiba Katayama. 3rd seat of the first division,I'll be leading this expedition.Don't like it, piss off! Sooooo...... now that were all acquainted lets get going." He finished before turning in the direction of the park and moving toward its location.
Daijiro quickly packed what was left of the food away and made his way to follow Kaiba after taking a quick glance toward Sera to see if she agreed to him being lead. with her being the senior brotherhood member here and he would follow her lead before committing to anything. He didn't know how this was going to work, but if pairing with these shinigami was gonna get him within range of the hollow who bested him, he was going to make sure he would return the favor
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 25, 2008 5:09:52 GMT -4
“Alright then…well at least that’s out of the way, can’t go killing things without knowing who your fighting alongside right?” Kuatura rubbed his hand on the back of his head letting his minor not-so-funny jibe hang in midair for a moment before turning back around.
As they walked down the city street and drew closer and closer to the massive park Kuatura briefly wondered what other people might think if they saw the two kids talking to thin air and chuckled to himself but dropped the thought when the park came into view around the next corner. He knew they had done a bunch of damage for sure but he had never expected this, now quite clear in the morning sun the park looked like it had been bombarded by the strongest soul cannons 12th Division could make. Giant slabs of rock, flash fried glass from the fine sand sediments in the ground and the heat his brother had used meeting and craters many times the diameter of small car dotted the landscape. A crowd had gathered and was being kept back by police and other security personnel as investigative units dotted the landscape behind them picking through the debris. Kuatura flashed back to when he had learned how Seireitei covered up most battles and those that couldn’t be cleaned up in the cities were easily explained as “gas explosions” or some other accident. He considered what excuse the humans might make for this little scene out in the middle of nowhere and with obviously abnormal origins, he knew someone in Soul Society would be pulling a triple shift in covering this mess up at some point but after they had simply blown their call off the night prior he couldn’t help but not care. The quartet made their way up to the crowd and Kuatura realizing that the two kids wouldn’t be able to get in turned to them.
“You two stay here for a moment…” He said nonchalantly, not carrying the same harsh tone as before, more like a normal order.
“Bu-” However Kuatura just shook his head before Sera could even begin.
“Can you turn invisible Ms. Sera?” He asked matter-of-factly.
“Er…no.” She responded a bit let down.
“Then two plus two does indeed equal four and not five, we will be back momentarily.”
So Kuatura turned around and along with Kaiba they made their way through the crowd and past the barrier, unobserved by all those around them who possessed such small amounts of spirit energy they would have been invisible to a hollow. Kaiba drew a short invisible plan on his hand as he spoke suggesting they would both move in a circular pattern around the field to see if they could find anything and so Kuatura began down his counter-clockwise direction as Kaiba went in a clockwise half-circle. Kuatura passed the heaps of rock or in the case of the craters a lack of which he had seen from farther back, in most of these craters were several technicians analyzing the area, he grimaced as he realized this had gone from bad to worse…he had no doubt they were in a boat load of trouble when they got back to Soul Society though his inner self tried to scream it wasn’t their fault. Kuatura reached a large line of glass on the ground and here there were even more technicians, he couldn’t really blame them since after all it wasn’t often that glass just grew out of the ground in the matter of one night. Some bemused part of him couldn’t help but re-question how exactly the human superiors were planning on playing this one off.
“It was aliens, we swear.” He whispered to himself.
He approached the end of the glass where the general and Beatrix had retreated into their portal, he looked over and saw his brother a short ways away inspecting where the larger hollow had disappeared. Upon arrival he bent down and touched the ground where the portal had been, he didn’t have to look long to realize there was nothing here, these portals left just as little mark as any gate to Hueco Mundo, which from the feelings he felt from the portal he guessed these did not or one of their own Senkai gates. He hadn’t been optimistic about this place anyway but some part inside had at least hoped they might get lucky. After a few more seconds of scrounging the earth and the area around it he stood back up and made a short pass over the remainder of his path before coming to the end and running right up to his brother whose face and speed proved his journey was no more productive.
“Nothing.” Was all Kuatura said.
"No I can't find shit over here either, go ahead and get Sera to show you to the forest where she first felt the hollow. Might as well give it shot. I'm gonna make a last pass here see if I missed something." Kaiba responded in his typical manner.
“Right.” Whoever said you had to be detailed when speaking at work had obviously never run into Kuatura.
Back at the group of people Sera had piddled around for a few moments as she waited for the two shinigami to return. The large group of people just before her was questioning what could have happened and some enthusiastic sorts were making outrageous theories while others laughed at them. Though she knew she would never be traced to the scene she couldn’t help but feel a bit worried being so close once more. She had to admit she was rather amazed by the scene, she knew it had been a big battle but she was starting to feel a little tug inside that said Kuatura might have very well been right, this could very well be beyond either herself or Daijiro. Speaking of Daijiro, she didn’t know much about him but being the obsessive person she was she had noticed him around the Brotherhood headquarters at times so he wasn’t a complete unknown and so she turned to find him sort of glancing in her direction in a beseeching manner, she realized he was probably as at odds with this situation as she was. After a long period she broke the silence.
“Well I’m not horribly fond of the idea of teaming up with these two but it might be our only chance at figuring out what’s going on and they do seem more helpful than other shinigami I have met in the past.” She rubbed her neck awkwardly, it was obviously easier for her to yell at people and accuse them than it was for her to strike up an actual conversation.
“Hey, Daijiro ya? Well now that we know who each other are and all, you having a legitimate reason for being there and whatnot I guess…I was just going to say thanks for helping me in the battle yesterday. Guess I tend to jump to conclusions ya? Don’t trust many people.” She didn’t really strain with the words which she thought was a good sign that she was going to be friendly but had no interest in the boy because she could have sworn from the looks and vibe he had been giving her he might very well have been.
She gave him a mild smile and turned back around to the group and obviously out of all the caring and patience she had in store began crossing her arms and stomping in annoyance all at once. The reason was likely obvious, she didn’t seem like the type to want to wait to long, she was a doer and the two shinigami were taking their sweet time, in her mind at least. She let out one or two long sighs over the next thirty seconds before finally turning back around to Daijiro with a bit of fire in her eyes.
“What say we go check the forest?” Without even waiting for his response she made her way down the street, taking a left and heading toward a large set of trees a good mile down the parks length.
“Now where are you going?” Called out an all too familiar and aggravating voice on her part and she turned to find Kuatura approaching her position, she saw Daijiro had also followed.
“You took forever.”
A flat look covered Kuaturas face as if he couldn’t believe the girls impatience as he replied sarcastically, “If I had moved much faster I probably would have broken a speed record for detective work.”
“Whatever, I’m going to the forest to check it out.” She responded ignoring his comment.
“So I gathered, I am coming as well.”
“Whatever you want to do.” She said and they trotted off toward the tree line again.
Several minutes later they reached the rather large grouping of trees that while far from a forest was still large for the middle of a city. They took a quick look around and while this was still part of the park it was a decent distance from the battle scene meaning nobody stood to impede their progress. Kuatura momentarily considered in amusement and Sera in annoyance what a young guy and girl, with Kuatura being invisible, going into a forest together must look like to anybody watching but both seemed to shrug the concept off quickly and made their way inside beginning their search. They quickly found that if the Hollow had been here there were only a few places it could have fit with how massive its form had been and how close the trees were and so they split up and investigated the few wide open areas they could find. Kuatura walked and walked for a good minute with nothing of note popping up when suddenly his instinctive senses kicked in and he looked to his right. It couldn’t have been more obvious, a giant hole bashed through the brush all the way out to the road where something massive had passed through. He turned to his left and saw there was no hole through the brush and trees in that direction and knew instantly that Sera had been right; the hollow had warped in around her, in fact not around here but right where he stood. Still it wasn’t as if there were going to be any marks showin-
And then Kuatura tripped over something rock hard and being completely absorbed in thought smacked his face straight into the soft dirt ground. He laid there for a moment staring into the black dirt before speaking quietly to nobody in particular, just the nature around him.
“Irony hates me.”
Kuatura pushed off of the ground and once back on his feet brushed the specks of dirt off his face and turned around looking at what he had tripped over. There, imbedded in the ground was a small rock arch that he could quickly see was made of spirit particles; it was rather unremarkable except for a simple cross symbol on its face. He touched it but could feel that whatever energies caused it to activate were currently dead. He had never heard of hollows having a solid portal to the real realm and then he developed a hypothesis quite quickly, if as he thought those portals did not lead to Hueco Mundo then they might lead to a realm that all…or as he recalled the way the General opened the portal with no static equipment, most, could not go to without help. Still, as great a find as this was if it was like a Senkai gate then it only opened from the other side or with help from one with access, they had neither at the moment. He inspected the crest for a moment more and then a horrible, horrible feeling flooded over him as a memory he would rather have kept buried rushed back to him.
Remembers Mr. Ghost, the big door is the using a cross key…
“Oh, this does not bode well…” he muttered simply as he recalled the unsavory individual who had told him that.
He had no idea who that person had been or what they had to do with this but the connection couldn’t have been anymore obvious. Still this was hardly a big door and they had no key, but with nothing else to go on he decided it was time to call a meeting. He pulsed his reiatsu rapidly a couple of times and then waited as he was sure the rest would get the picture, sure enough Sera appeared followed shortly by Daijiro but he waited for Kaiba before starting. When his brother finally arrived he told and showed them what he had found, and then with great reluctance he pointed out the obvious connection their good friend had given them last night.
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“They found the gate, I’m impressed.” The mature one spoke first.
“What good does the gate do them? Nothing.”
“True but it means their smart and that’s good, their going to need that once they go through.”
“But obviously getting through is the problem, finding the gate doesn’t put them any closer to the Kingdom. They have neither the key nor the means by which to contact the other side; as far as this is concerned it’s a dead end.”
“….Yes”
“They are not going to find the key, there just isn’t enough evidence. You know me, I like to call everyone an idiot but in this case there just isn’t a trail to find. Let’s call on the big guy.”
“You sure are set to get him out aren’t you?”
“It’s the quickest way and this is the best place to do it after all!”
“How so?”
“Look around, do you see anybody else?!”
“Maybe…maybe…”
“Their going to leave this place soon enough and then when you do want to call him there WILL be people around.”
“…”
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 25, 2008 23:31:02 GMT -4
As the rag-tag group made their way toward the scene of the previous nights battle, Kaiba knew they had made quite the mess and as the four of them came upon the area, Kaiba could see just how much more devastation had taken place in this place than he had ever dreamed of. emergency services were all over the place, humans were running about the place. Taking samples and exchanging excited hypothesis' with one another.
Kaiba was disappointed that he could not hear their version of the events leading up to the decimation of so much land. He supposed that they would come up with something. His brother informed the two humans of what should have been obvious. That they could not follow the two spirits onto the site since it would raise suspicion and for some reason the female objected to this. He could tell from the look on the Quincy's face that he felt the same but remained silent. After Kua pointed out the ridiculousness of the humans outrage, the two shinigami went on inspecting the battle grounds. Kaiba and his brother began searching in an expanding perimeter trying desperately to find some sort of clue as to where the hollows they faced had fled to.
As he inspected the grounds, Kaiba was in a state of subdued disbelief. The earth around him was in shambles. Craters and scorched earth littered the field around him. So much destruction,and still they escaped.Who are these guys? He thought to himself as he surveyed the site of Horus' disappearance. There was nothing there, somewhat discouraged but still hopeful. Kaiba went on to check the rest of the area when his brother came running up to him. From the look on his face, Kaiba could see his brother was hoping that he would say the same thing that Kaiba was hoping was going to be told to him. Unfortunately, neither of them had found anything. Kaiba decided he was gonna stick around to see if there was something he may have overlooked on his first pass, but sent Kuatura to have Sera take him to where she had felt the hollows reiatsu.
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(Daijiro)
"TERRORISTS!!!!.......Who else would do this!" Alarmed voices began shouting.
Daijiro tried to suppress a snicker but was failing to do so. He wondered why people were so quick to believe that a terrorist attack had taken place in the midst of a almost vacant part of town that was mainly open field.Not to mention the fact that there wasn't any evidence to suggest it was true. Daijiro calmly observed the people around him while awaiting the return of the two shinigami. He and Sera had not spoken a word to each other since introducing themselves. He was starting to think that maybe she was the silent type. His opinion of her was mixed, the female member of the odd grouping of spiritual "awakened" beings was still somewhat of a mystery to him. He understood the other two just fine after seeing them interact he pretty much knew what kinds of people they were. But Sera had gone in so many different directions in such a short amount of time, that it was hard to put a finger on what she was really like or if that was how she was at all times. His face reddened slightly as the girl in question turned to face him and he was caught in the act of staring at her. He quickly turned his face slightly, and she spoke.
“Well I’m not horribly fond of the idea of teaming up with these two but it might be our only chance at figuring out what’s going on and they do seem more helpful than other shinigami I have met in the past.” She finished, rubbing her neck.
"I agree i want to get those guys hard.............uuhhh uhuhh I meant bad BAD i meant bad[/b]." He said in a flurry after realizing how that had came out.
Hey, Daijiro ya? Well now that we know who each other are and all, you having a legitimate reason for being there and whatnot I guess…I was just going to say thanks for helping me in the battle yesterday. Guess I tend to jump to conclusions ya? Don’t trust many people.” [/color]
"Ya...yeah, no problem. Couldn't let you have all the fun." He said simply not wanting to embarrass himself further.
For her part she graciously said nothing about his grammatical error and the two humans went back to awaiting their otherworldly counterparts. Sera was obviously getting impatient although the duo had not been gone long and turned back to him saying.
“What say we go check the forest?” she said excitedly.
"O...OI....wait" He called after Sera who had walked off before he could answer.
Daijiro had begun following the girl when the shinigami Kuatura had stopped them. Turns out he was just coming to have Sera take him and the three of them went ahead leaving the silver haired one who Daijiro supposed was still searching. A short while later, Sera had led them to their destination and the three of them had split up to look for clues. The Quincy had found nothing in his search. But the feeling of reiatsu being pulsed alerted Daijiro that Kuatura may have had better luck and quickly made his way to the shinigami.
Kaiba had been the last to arrive and when he did so, Kuatura began explaining what he had found. and said something about a visitor they had last night telling them of just this sort of thing being needed to open the gate.
"That nut! He isn't coherent enough to wipe what the fuck would he know about this." Kaiba had said apparently the visitor had not made the best of impressions.
Daijiro tried to inquire about the man in question but neither seemed to be willing to talk about it. In the end the silver haired man listened to his brothers reasoning seeing as how it was too much of a coincidence to not be related.
"Well, ok guys.....but now what?" Daijiro asked quizzically.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 26, 2008 0:30:48 GMT -4
“You may be right, they aren’t making any progress.”
“I’m always right.”
“A little full of ourselves this morning are we?”
“You would be too if you were made of godliness and awesome.”
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Kuatura had been mulling over the ground for a few minutes after explaining the situation, he knew they stood before the answer but simply didn’t know how to reach it. He felt the cross etching in his hands trying to see if there might be a notch or anything of worth inside but to no great surprise it was just a minor indent in the rock with no purpose. He fell back a bit and then plopped down on his butt still staring at the portal inquisitively but with no obvious explanation to grasp at he stayed perfectly silent. Sera stood behind him but she showed she was just as lacking in the ideas department as they all just sort of sat there looking at it like it were some alien life form. After a while Kuatura stood up and brushed off his pants as Daijiro questioned them.
“Nothing, it’s the answer obviously but we have no way to activate it, it’s nothing more than an exciting but useless dead end.” Kuatura didn’t look all too different from before but something of annoyance could be heard in his voice.
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“On the bright side since the shinigami has seen the cross mark he might understand better when he gets to the door and it activates.”
“He might…are you saying we are going to call the big guy?”
“I’m saying we might; now stop sounding so excited about the idea.”
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Kuatura piddled around the area a bit more before walking away from the clearing.
“We won’t find anything, let’s move on and see if we can find a hollow…that’s our only option now.”
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“Their moving.”
“I see.”
“They will be where people are soon.”
“I know.”
“This might be the last chance to do this with minimal casualties.”
“…Prepare the release.”
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Kuatura paused and turned around to the other three, he lifted his finger up to his mouth as to suggest they should not talk or make noise and he lifted his head. Just barely perceptible on the range of hearing there was a soft flute music on the wind. While not the same as the music from the day before Kuatura would have to have been a fool to not hear the similarity in its otherworldliness, like it was here and yet not all at once. He turned his head to his brother giving his a quizzical look as he tilted his head sideways to see if he could hear it any better but like before it seemed to come from the same distance and at the same volume no matter what you did. Then with no warning a burst of reiatsu flooded the area and Kuatura spun rapidly looking for the source, it took him a moment to recognize the reiatsu that had been released as being similar to the soul tablets he had seen 10th Division use to attract hollows to one of their slaughterfest. There was a high pitched squeal behind him and his vision turned directly to the concrete portal on the ground, anyone could have felt whatever mechanism lay inside activate.
“Why?” he said to everyone around obviously puzzled, “They hid before now, of all times to come out why while we are right here? They couldn’t possibly think we could be ambushed using such a high reiatsu entrance.”
Then a strange feeling crossed over the forest, as if the entire thing was turning into a portal and he looked toward his brother his eyes wide, he knew this reiatsu. Before either of the humans could fight back he turned around, grabbed them both by the arms and launched through the air bursting out of the forest in moments as the air around them crackled to life with energy. He came to a skidding stop on the ground and placed both children down as he stood back up and looked on in awe as a giant orange pillar shot skyward for a hundred meters or more and then ever so slowly a massive white hand shot through the pillar, grabbed one edge and slowly started pulling the very fabric of space away almost like a curtain. He continued to watch, not so much in fear as in utter confusion and surprise.
“How?! Gillian don’t just come through like this…why? Was it really a trap?” he said to nobody in particular, but then his face hardened and he knew the answer.
Someone else was working here as well; he recalled quickly feeling the pulse of energy and knew instantly that it had been attracted here against its better judgment. But who were they and were they a friend or a foe? As the portal was pulled completely open into a full doorway the massive Gillian which looked like any one of their numberless league stepped through and placed its first massive foot into the real world crushing innumerable trees in the process. It made no noise and while its eyes did momentarily set on the group it seemed to be scouting for something else, Kuatura figured it must have been the high concentration of reiatsu he had felt. He momentarily wondered why no other Hollows were appearing but this one and then briefly considered if all the surrounding ones were under this groups control and this had been an attempt to break in by somebody else this might have been the only one they could have enticed. As the massive creature fumbled around Kuaturas eyes set on a slowly closing orange portal and he grabbed out toward his brother.
“We can get through now…” but his eyes returned to the Gillian, “But it can’t just be left to make a mess of this place.”
He reached inside one of his pockets fumbling around for a moment before pulling out his spirit phone intending to get a kill team out here so they could go through while the opportunity was open to them. Its screen flashed a dark red though not the usual danger fire truck red and he stared at it, thumbing a few of the buttons. He cursed several times as he observed what was happening and looked at his brother.
“Get your phone!”
However before his brother could even bring the phone all the way out he could see the same flashing screen covering it and he grimaced.
“Someone out here is really trying to make this difficult…the signal is blocked.”
He considered his options momentarily and watched the Gillian who for the moment was just stomping around the forest in confusion still looking for the meal that had now disappeared. Dismay spread through him as the orange curtain slowly closed up once more and with no other options he reached to his back and drew his zanpaktou, pointing it at the Gillian.
“The hard way it is then.”
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 26, 2008 2:29:44 GMT -4
Kaiba was at a loss for words when Daijiro's question came, he had been going over things in his mind but couldn't come up with anything worth saying out loud. And so he remained silent. Staring at the portal willing it to open with his mind. It didn't work. Seemingly nobody had any answers.
“Nothing, it’s the answer obviously but we have no way to activate it, it’s nothing more than an exciting but useless dead end.” His brother voiced what the group was thinking.
The gang took a few moments to look about the area around the portal unsuccessfully thinking of ways to activate the portal. then it looked as if this was just another piece of a puzzle and they weren't gonna be able to figure it out at the moment. First Kuatura then everyone else starting making their way out of the clearing. Looking forward as his brother turned around, Kaiba along with the others took note of him signaling to be silent and stopped in their tracks. The sound of a flute could be heard playing softly. It was similar to the music from the day before but not quite identical. Nevertheless, everyone was on high alert. Out of nowhere a surge of reiatsu came over them.
“Why?” Kuatura asked aloud.
"What" His brother called back not understanding.
“They hid before now, of all times to come out why while we are right here? They couldn’t possibly think we could be ambushed using such a high reiatsu entrance.”
It was hard to come up with a reason for why it was happening, and it ceased to be a concern as his thoughts were replaced by What was coming. The forest they were in began to resonate with a strange power before giving way to another more familiar reiatsu.
"Menos" Stated the Quincy.
directly after saying this, Daijiro and Sera were whisked away by the brown haired shinigami and placed well outside the area that the Gillian was coming through. Daijiro was opposed to this and yelled for Kuatura to let him down but to no avail.
“How?! Gillian don’t just come through like this…why? Was it really a trap?” Kuatura asked returning.
"Don't matter now, we've gotta get through that portal." Kaiba announced. The large black shrouded foot of the gillian came into the real world through its portal with a thunderous crash. Crushing trees underfoot. It slowly came out as the group stood watching it, waiting to see if an opportunity would rise to get into the portal.
“We can get through now… But it can’t just be left to make a mess of this place.” Kuatura said.
Knowing he was right, Kaiba was getting prepared to on the creature but Kuatura had another plan. He reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. His screen was flashing red and he asked to see Kaiba's. When he pulled it out they both knew it was useless. His screen was flashing red. Somehow something was blocking their phone signal.
"What the fuck?"
“Someone out here is really trying to make this difficult…the signal is blocked.”
The gillian was just mindlessly thrashing about as Kaiba took everything into consideration. On one hand he was disappointed that they had missed their chance to jump into the portal. But on the other, at least he had something to vent his frustration on.
“The hard way it is then.” His brother said, pointing his blade at the hollow.
"Let's do it!" Kaiba said.
Breaking into a run to his left, Kaiba started to make a sloping right turn trying to flank the unthinking beast so that he could get behind it and slash at the huge beasts ankle and knock him down.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 27, 2008 0:58:10 GMT -4
Kuatura broke out into a run, heading left away from the direction his brother went as he prepared his zanpaktou by his side. While he didn’t usually launch into his shikai at the smallest provocation he realized in this situation it was to his strategic advantage. He thought about the situation he was running into, Gillian were indeed weaker than adjuchas but their size, armor and the simple massive output of their abilities made them just as dangerous sometimes even if they lacked the thinking and precise abilities their betters did. Oddly the creature didn’t even seem that interested in anything around it, still as was their duty they couldn’t very well leave it here…and that’s when it occurred to him that it was very well still here, if only they could hurt it without killing it. He mused on that point for a moment before turning his head toward his brother shortly before they reached it. “Kaiba! If we can just injure its main points instead of cutting it down it might retreat and open the gate once more!” Without ensuring that his brother heard him with no time before they reached the Gillian and if he had stopped giving the Gillian the edge he pulled his zanpaktou midway through his hands. He called out HarutMaruts name and the blade began its transformation as he hopped into the air reciting his kido which immediately propelled the massive blade kite and its rider high into the air and quickly up to the Gillians face level, luckily at the moment it was turned away from both of them. Just then the creature gave a horrible screech and stumbled for a moment as it began a slow, steady turn, Kuatura didn’t even have to look to know Kaiba had drawn first blood on its legs. Kuatura brought his hands back on the far side of HarutMarut angling it into a spin so that it looped around picking up speed as it moved for the monsters face. He watched as the Gillian finally turned all the way and its eyes set on him, being the only one directly in its vision, regardless before it could possibly get a chance to counter-attack he was upon it and HarutMarut slid along the mask milky white upper layer leaving a vicious if admittedly superficial gash. He flew past the creature and tugging on the front of HarutMarut spinning around to the Gillians backside. He lost sight of it for a second as he spun around preparing speed to go into another flyby only to turn and find himself face to face with the hollow as its head spun around the body like a swivel with its mouth already open glowing a bright red. There was nothing he could do at this point, taking it on was death and at his current angle he was actually moving straight at it with no way to maneuver into another path before it fired. For that’s exactly what it did as a red burst blew outward with the force of a cannon and moments later the following cero lashed out toward Kuatura. He looked left, he looked right and there was no way to move and by the time that was done the cero was there. The red energy continued outward far into the air scorching and completely negating anything it might happen to touch but as it cleared the area Kuatura was no longer there, admitted that might normally have seemed like a bad thing but since he was clearly floating about a hundred feet below where he had just been it was more quizzical than anything else. Kuatura was still braced against HarutMarut as he looked around considering the situation, then realizing what he had managed to do he looked down at his brother and smiled. “Did you see that?! MUHAHA!!!” he giggled a bit more. Then he returned his attention back toward the Gillian once more only to find its eyes once more upon him and a red energy boiling in its mouth. “Oh…right…that…forgot.” He said dully. He brought HarutMarut above him as another cero was fired, this time he knew he couldn’t shunpo again. He and his brother had trained before this point to utilize the skill to great success but using the skill in a contained training environment and in a real battle were two different things, the strain and concentration were just too much to pull together this quickly once more. The cero launched and Kuatura pulled his whole form under the blade, bracing his legs as he knew what was coming. The mass of energy hit with the force of a truck and the ground came racing toward the shinigami a little too rapidly for his taste; impact was moments later as he hit his weight and the cero forcing his feet deep into the solid ground followed shortly by a crater as the rest of the cero connected. The area began to glow bright red and pillars of energy rocketed skyward as Kuatura began to buckle forward under the growing pressure of the cero. Luckily the shape of his blade meant that he did not have to endure the energy directly but that didn’t stop it from being painful all in its own right. Thankfully the cero eventually ceased and after taking a few deep breaths after being unable to breathe in the boiling air from under the cero he spun a blackened HarutMarut around to his side while looking back up to the Gillian…only to find it preparing another cero, he swung the blade back above him. “WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUUUUUCH!!! ” But the cero never came and the beast gave another squeal of anguish. Kuatura used the opportunity to jump back and then observed the situation to find the Gillian now swishing around violently as it tried to find another target. Kuatura could see that it was now bleeding white energy from the other leg opposite that Kaiba had struck, it didn’t take much looking to spot Sera standing behind the Gillian as she resituated to strike again to see she had been the cause. Somewhere in the back of his mind he hated to admit that Kaiba letting them come might have had some validity. Right now wasn’t the time for that though as he ran once more, bringing his blade out and moments later a burst of air shot him skyward once more. ------------------------------ “They didn’t take the opening!” “Their shinigami, it’s their duty to defeat him.” “BUT HE’LL DIE!!!” “I doubt it.” “But it’s four on one…” “At least a few of them down there are smart enough to realize that they can get him to leave and get through the gate if they just hurt him enough.” “…I hope.”
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 27, 2008 1:48:21 GMT -4
Daijiro had cursed loudly at being left out of the battle, left to watch as the exposed torso and head of the gillian stood out in the forest, dwarfing the trees. Sera looked as if she liked being there even less than he and shortly after being set down made a dash back toward the battle field.
"WAAAIIITTT!....Damn it" He called after her retreating form.Pausing for a moment before deciding to following her.
Back with the shinigami Kuatura had formulated a plan of sorts.
“Kaiba! If we can just injure its main points instead of cutting it down it might retreat and open the gate once more!”
"Roger"
Kaiba continued making his way around the unsuspecting giant. Ashe came around behind the creature, Kaiba held his blade parallel to his waist. Approaching the hollow at top speed to ensure there was less of a chance to be counter attacked. Remembering that he only needed to injure the beast and not disable him to the point that he would not be in the condition to escape, Kaiba held back when he made a slash across the back of the hollows leg forcing him to stumble forward in pain attempting to regain its balance.
Kaiba used his momentum to continue forward, narrowly escaping being crushed by the gillians footfalls as Kuatura had transformed Harut Marut and taken to the skies and was at face level with the hollow and launched his massive zanpakuto into the gillians mask creating a slight crack. Seems Kaiba wasn't the only one holding back, Kuatura continued his flight to the gillians rear only to have the black robed gargantuan to turn it head and unleash a point blank cero engulfing the area around the shinigami and destroying everything it came in contact with.
"KUUUAATURRA!!!" Kaiba screamed out in fear of his brothers safety.
“Did you see that?! MUHAHA!!!” Kuatura exclaimed in a giggle unhurt.
"You almost gave me fucking heart attack bro, this is no time for celebration though." Kaiba responded. relieved his brother had been unhurt.
“Oh…right…that…forgot.”
Kaiba sweat dropped at his brothers lack of priority and was too late to interfere as a second blast or ruby red reiatsu was launched from the gillians mouth. Kuatura would not be using shunpo this time and instead used his zanpakuto to hold off the attack. The attack destroyed a the area around his brother making it an impossibility to get to the large hollow. The blast dissipated but it was clear that the black shrouded figure was not done his onslaught on Kuatura. Taking this opportunity, Kaiba began making a mad dash around to the side of the hollow he would not be in time to stop the next shot, but he would be sure there would not be another after. even if it meant killing it.
to his surprise, as he ran. Kaiba did not feel the release of reiatsu that came with a cero nor could he hear anything to the effect of one being fired. Instead what Kaiba heard was the wailing of the Gillian as the petite blond Sera had attacked it from behind stopping him from releasing his attack. Good girl He thought silently praising her. Quickly after commending her, he heard another howl of pain coming from the gillian. As he looked up to see it's face, Kaiba saw that pieces of its mask were being cracked off as Daijiro fired an arrow into the hollows previously damaged face.
"Hey, cut that shit out, We ain't trying ta kill it." Kaiba shouted to the boy.
"What" He called back not understanding
"Just wound it, then we'll follow it in to the portal. Same goes for you" He informed the Quincy finishing by pointing toward Sera so that she also got the hint.
Extending his index and middle fingers forward, Kaiba gathered his reiatsu to his outstretched digits and a shot of lightning was launched from them. His kido attack was meant to Peirce the midsection of the hollow and allow Kuatura to at least get out of harms way if not attack.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 27, 2008 4:11:15 GMT -4
Kuatura grimaced when Daijiro cracked the Gillians mask but despite its angered reaction it seemed to still be quite alive as it thrashed about. He couldn’t help but notice the Gillian while identical in appearance to others seemed to be much larger; thankfully it seemed their abilities were still far superior to it. Kuatura did not even need to move when Kaibas shot of lightning pierced the hollows midsection as he had already sensed the preparation and moved out of the way. Upon this strike it was obvious from the way the Gillian pulled into a more defensive state that it was starting to get the hint that maybe this wasn’t the best place for it to be just now. Noting this Kuatura rushed its mask and pulled HarutMarut back spinning it into momentum and then tossing it straight for the hole Daijiros strike had made in the mask, the entire blade disappeared into the darkness as Kuatura flipped back through the air. He brought his hand out, recited the incantation and hundreds of little blue reiatsu blades launched from his hand, the Gillian already squealing from the zanpaktou strike started backing up as it twisted back and forth under the volley. Kuatura felt a surge from beneath the mask and readied himself in midair as HarutMarut was shot straight at him from within the Gillian; he flipped upside down just as it reached him and grasped the blade by its back end. The momentum ripped him around for a moment but as he grasped the other handle he pulled the entire construct to halt and once again got the blade spinning into a moderate hover.
He turned and seeing the Gillian continue to retreat and a strange orange light form in its hand he spun HarutMarut once more to take off at full speed when the time came.
“This is it!” he called to those below.
Once it had pulled back far enough the Gillian reached out into the air and the same orange pillar from before appeared. It reached behind itself with one of its arms and with one motion that was incredibly quick for its kind it ripped the fabric of space completely open. However Kuatura was no longer paying attention to it, the moment the smallest bit of orange portal had appeared he had ripped the blade around and shot toward it with frightening speed. The Gillian could do nothing though its eyes obviously followed the shinigami racing toward it; he had already reached the opening and blasted over the Gillians shoulder and into the great unknown. Determined to not let any more intruders in the creature had immediately started pulling the portal over it as to close the contraption with the greatest speed but Sera who had also raced off toward the center of the forest when the Gillian began grappling for purchase of the dimensional gate was now approaching as well. The Gillian apparently incapable of attacking while it sealed the dimension could only look on in anger as she too passed right by its legs unscathed and into the realm beyond. Shortly after she got through the creature completed its mission, closing the gate firmly with one last flash of bright orange before that realm was sealed completely, perhaps the last chance anyone would have to get through and it then retreated to its inner sanctum.
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“Goodbye Shinigami…”
“Good luck Shinigami…”
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Kuatura had flown forward at incredible speed but almost like hitting a brick wall only with no pain he had come to an abrupt stop. Or at least that’s what it seemed like, after a few moments all that he could see was just the orange glow of the gate filling his eyes and so that feeling of not moving could simply have been having no point of reference, he noted that in this place despite having flown in he seemed to be at “ground” level and was no longer falling though he could see no floor. He could feel the gate close behind him and with a bit of unease took a look over his shoulder to watch the contrasting black Gillian finish its task and then turn around.
However the moment it did so the world lurched, as if a thousand hands had grabbed him Kuatura felt himself being dragged backwards and not to long later he watched the Gillian rocket forward as if pulled by the same force, beyond its own will. It wasn’t long till he saw the Gillian was diverting from the path the invisible force was taking him and he only got a moment’s glimpse at some sort of rock island with a giant cave that even the Gillian could have fit in just floating in the orange light. He didn’t get time to see if that’s where the creature headed before the power pulled him far away from that place but he did wonder if it had maybe been a guardsman of some kind. With the worry of the Gillian catching up to him being lost he was finally able to recall the others, he looked behind and couldn’t see a single one, he could do nothing but pray they had made it because if they were not who knew what he was about to find himself alone in? He tried to fight the power grasping him to at least see what was in front of and after a short period he was able to spin around. Up ahead, while little more than a pin prick there was a splotch of white light against the rest of the orange background. With some sort of steady point he was able to see how fast he was actually being pulled and he knew it had to be some sort of illusion because if that was his current speed any normal being would be pulled apart.
‘Damn!’, or that’s what he would have said if any sound had traveled in this place but instead all he did was mouth the word the sound lost to the realm.
The white dot approached with frightening speed and as he approached some primal part of his brain questioned if he’d be crushed by what looked like a relatively hard surface once you got closer. There was no time to react though for in between the point where it looked as large as a dime and the point in which he made contact there was but a split-second and upon striking the spot everything went white and then ever so slowly faded a dark orange.
Kuatura felt as if he was falling though he couldn’t tell if this was true at the moment and he had lost touch with his senses for a moment, unable to ready HarutMarut and then with no warning something hit the back of his head like a smack from the largest warhammer one could find and all sense of motion stopped. Slowly but surely he became more aware of shapes before his eyes, a sense of wind and then ever so slightly perceptible the strange but beautiful guitar music that had come from the portal sounded very far off and yet close all at once as he overcame his “orangeout”. Then before all his vision had returned he started taking deep breaths in and out as if he had been under water for a long time, only then did it occur to him he had been holding his breath the entire trip through the portal. He could now feel HarutMarut in his hand though it was saying nothing, he got some sort of sense from it that even it had been surprised by the journey though he knew it would never admit to that…or say much of anything else for that matter. With a renewed understanding that he was okay he called out still trying to gather his bearings from the trip.
“Kaiba? You there?!” No answer, “Sera?...Kid?...Shit, did you guys make it?” he voiced out loud.
Losing the sense of dizziness the swirling deep in his ears had caused Kuatura was finally able to open his eyes and look around. At first all he saw was orange with darker shapes but unlike before he kept his eyes open and focused, soon the world came into view. He was a bit surprised by what he saw, trees, large ones but not irregularly so all before him. They seemed to be some sort of tall oaks and they had their autumn colors, the shadows that played about them showed that there were many more beyond and he was obviously in a forest of sorts. The sky he could glimpse through them was bright orange like an evening sky or the portal but unlike that realm this bore obvious sky qualities, not the least of which was clouds fluttering around. It was at this point Kuatura heard far off running water playing over the music, which source he still could not locate, from behind him all the senses the trip through the portal had lost returning to him in full. Standing to his feet he turned around…and then he gasped, and stared in wonderment.
“Why? Why would a Hollow need this…this is? Is this right?” he didn’t know if anyone was listening, and he didn’t care, he was dumbfounded in more ways than he could fathom.
Before him there was a drop straight down for about fifty feet, then a plateau and another drop that went hundreds of feet, somewhere in the back of his mind he noted the entire area had plenty of healthy growing grass but that was the least of what he saw. Beyond the next dip or as far as he could see since the very base was hidden from him was a massive lake that stretched out to both sides of a large valley on his east and west. On the eastern side looked to be an even taller plateau than the one he was on, a sheer rock cliff leading to it, what was on top he could not see but from the dead look of the incline he imagined it was bare. He did notice it seemed to slump more gently down the back as it reached ground level. On the western side was a series of massive grass hills which he saw had several running grooves running through them, much like where a large tractor had mowed rows. Far to the other side of the lake which seemed to drag on forever, dotted with small islands here and there was what looked to be another forested area though this one came directly up to the lake and looked as if the ground there was moist, perhaps the water from the lake ran through that area. Even thicker foliage laid deeper in the wet forest and far beyond even that were mountains six or seven times the plateau to the east’s height and looking more suitably mountain like with jagged points reaching toward the heavens. Kuatura could not see details that far away but briefly considered the waterlogged forest that ran into the lake might have received water from a river somewhere in that range. Hovering low above one of these mountains was a fire orange sun that cast its light out over the land, Kuatura could not look at it too long though for it shone with such ferocity and brightness despite its orange tone that it nearly hurt.
He stood there for the longest period, taking in the sheer scope of what he saw, unable to explain the why or the how he simply took in what was. He had no explanation for why a Hollow would build something like this, even how they would or why he had the smallest doubt in his heart that said this was just too much like his home in Soul Society and it would be wrong to fight here. But with strength becoming him he brought his emotions and amazement to a stand still and bottled the feelings inside. He took several deep breaths tasting fresh, clean air and let out a long sigh. Then with a start he turned around and for the first time since his initial landing realized that he was still alone, he searched in every direction with his head but his eyes just confirmed what his feelings already told him, he was alone in this place. Kuatura had to stifle some worries upon that realization, knowing full well he had no clue what might be in here and with no way to turn back or bring anyone else here he might very well be a living on borrowed time at this point. He didn’t kid himself, he already knew some of their strength and knowing what sort of force might have built this land scared him, he alone couldn’t stand against that.
Still, he had already told himself, there was no way to go back and so, as he deactivated HarutMarut and placed it on his back, he took a step toward the forest. He grimaced as his foot fell, almost as if he was trotting on forbidden ground but bottling his emotions once more he set another foot forward. Then as he took in the situation he decided to focus on the positive, he was here and maybe he could make a difference by finding those responsible for the actions in the real world…and maybe, just maybe the others were somewhere here as well. With that singular thought in mind he had no problems picking up the pace and finally walking off into the forest, the only viable direction open to him at the moment.
Meanwhile Sera had hit the ground with even more power than Kuatura, slamming whole bodied as a jarring pain shot through her. She was briefly aware of feeling as if she was rolling but everything went black for a bit as if she lost consciousness. Then as her senses had come back to her she felt as if she had a mouthful of dirt and began spitting as the feeling of ground under her feet refreshed her and she pushed up with her hands. She sputtered for a bit while taking in deep gulping breaths of air, having been unable to breath during her race through the portal.
“Urgh, that portal…kill them if I ever find them…make me…go…through there.” She said groggily barely able to hear herself talk.
Sera looked around but was unable to make out anything as her vision slowly came back. She could at least feel the ground she was on was soft and so she turned around and fell back, leaning against what appeared to be an incline. Giving a start she let out a gasp as her vision was filled with orange once more but slowly her returning vision picked out a cloud and realizing it was a sky of some sort she fell back into her laying position. Slowly but surely all the senses she had lost returned to her and she was finally able to stand. She took in her surroundings, finding that she appeared to be in the middle of a grouping of large hills, each had groove like tracks down them like some machine had dug large ditches through the grass. She was confused as to what or where she was but remembered how she got here quite vividly and if this was where those hollows had come it was good enough for her. For the first time she heard some sort of guitar music on the wind but with no obvious source and no apparent threats approaching she didn’t worry, pushing one hand on the ground she stood up and began making her way to the top of the nearest hill.
“Good god…” she muttered when she got to the top.
She now took in the sight of immensity Kuatura had seen previously and observed it with the same amazement. However instead of worry she became rather excited and happy, she had never got to see a place like this before. Nowadays everything was buildings and technology, dark, dank and no fun at all, this was the sort of place you got to only read about in stories. Lost in her thoughts, not taking the place for what it was she sort of wondered if this was the kind of land a prince and princess would live in and if they had a big castle somewhere. She pranced down the side of the hill giggling a bit and saw that if she continued she would eventually reach the lake. Then she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye, far to the right there was a forest area on a high plateau and though just barely Sera made out the form of an odd looking shinigami who she quickly placed as Kuatura as he turned around and walked off into a forest. While she was never really happy to see a shinigami some part of her she hadn’t even realized was manifesting just yet in her excitement relaxed when she saw she wasn’t alone.
“Now how did he get over there? Ah, the portal must have dumped us out in different places.” She grinned, now having no worries eating away at her she walked along slowly taking the scenery in before considering their objective, “Well guess I should find a way to where he was.”
With no way to see just how she would get there Sera simply began walking in the direction of that large area Kuatura had been, beyond which was a massive forest that stretched on and on. She hoped they could find each other in there.
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 27, 2008 19:00:57 GMT -4
Daijiro dashed toward the closing portal, not worries about the gillians attack seeing as Sera had waltzed right past him and the hollow had done nothing. It seemed that all his focus was needed to maintain the fissure, but he had to be quick. The gillian wasn't going to wait for them to just jump while he held the door. Mustering all the speed he could, Daijiro pumped his legs hard, leaping head first into the orange glow of the portal.
Whilst inside, Daijiro was met with strangeness previously unseen by his young eyes. He had no real way to describe the passage through the orange glow of the threshold which he now found himself plummeting through. With a sudden bump, Daijiro saw the massive gillian lurch past him and shoot past him and out of sight. Seeing this made Daijiro concerned that maybe the other shinigami may not have made it in time.
I was sure he was right behind me, he had to make it. He just had too. He thought worriedly.
Daijiro was sure from the conflict from the previous day that all four members of their party were going to be needed to have any chance of being successful. glancing behind him, Daijiro could only see what looked like an endless sea of orange. Gritting his teeth, Daijiro let out a silent curse and came to the exit of the portal. As his vision returned, Daijiro had to blink hard a few times to make sure there were no residual effects, the sky was the same color orange as the portal and everywhere he looked seemed to be lush forests and grasslands. Surely this was not what he had expected. This was something out of a fantasy not a nightmare as the archer had expected a hollow dimension to be. Still, assuming that the hollows that came to karakura were the owners of this place, Daijiro knew that there must be more to this place than meets the eye.
"ANYBODY OUT HERE? SERA? KUATURA?.............KAIBA?" He called out, unsure if the last member had even gotten through.
Taking in his surroundings, Daijiro could see that he was at the base of some sort of plateau. The boy strained himself to feel the reiatsu of the other people he came with but it was no use. Daijiro was left with the almost overwhelming feeling that he was alone in this strange place, but he knew that this could not be right. He witnessed Sera and Kuatura enter before he did. And even though he had not seen Kaiba go into the portal, Daijiro still had faith that he had made it. The young man began scaling the rocky cliff face to reach the plateau's summit in hopes of being able to spot his lost comrades. ======================================================
That was too close, portal almost closed while my ass was half in.
The silver haired shinigami thought to himself. And while the thought of him arriving in this orange tinted place with half an ass was amusing. Kaiba was anything but jovial. He was separated from his brother and team,unable to locate any traces of their energy. and to top it all off he was wet. Kaiba had landed smack dab in the middle of a large marsh. That is he fell face first into the shallow water leaving the aggravated death god soaked from head to toe. Kaiba had pulled himself to his feet and with no other discernible path, Kaiba made his way in the direction of what he assumed to be a lake, hoping that he would be reunited with his brother and their human compatriots.
Kaiba had the urge to flare his reiatsu in hopes that his team would feel it and come to him, but decided against it seeing as it would paint a huge "here I am come kill me" sign over his head and continued to trudge through the ankle high waters cursing his luck. He had taken a few steps when suddenly his right leg had hit a deep spot which had his leg standing in water almost at knee height. Resisting the urge to start a cursing streak, Kaiba simply pulled his leg back out and continued........more carefully to head toward the lake.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 27, 2008 23:01:54 GMT -4
Kuatura proceeded forward at an even pace; he noted that while the trees got thicker the deeper he went there still seemed to be a path of sorts. It wasn’t the usual paved sort or even a well kept dirt road, simply an area that seemed to be devoid enough of trees that it was quite obviously heading in a straight shot south, or at least south to him since Kuatura had decided upon a directional heading to make sense of the place. Every once in a while the trees would shake and shiver as a strong gust of wind blew from the lakes direction and then would quietly cease their movements. If Kuatura hadn’t been expecting something to hop out at him from every little shadow he saw it might have been a peaceful and quiet place to be, especially considering his typical love for the outside. He noticed that the orange sun was hidden by trees behind him and now it shimmered off the leaves and shadows’ causing the forest to look like it was on fire, especially when it lurched in the wind.
Then out of the corner of his eye he saw movement and threw himself backward while he grabbed the hilt of his HarutMarut. He was about to strike out when he lowered his eyes to where the movement had come from, and a confused and slightly embarrassed expression crossed his features. Sitting on the ground below him was a small white creature bearing a hollow mask that was just staring at him, however the two giant ears sticking out of its head told Kuatura one thing:
“That’s…a bunny? WHAT IS WITH THIS PLACE?!!!”
At his words the small creature took off in a hurry, he didn’t really worry seeing as the day that hollow killed a person was the day hell froze over. Though still confused and angered a realization finally came to mind, if a hollow was indeed here then despite all appearances this was in fact the realm he needed to be in. For that small saving grace he at least gave thanks.
That was when he heard the first sound, something like a large object being dropped on to metal, it sounded far away but he still paid attention. Then with absolutely no warning something like a cannon being fired echoed out breaking the almost complete silence of the forest except for the music. He knew it had come from his right side and he tried to peer into the forest though he could see nothing beyond. Now that the silence had returned he picked up the sound of something rotating quickly, almost like HarutMarut would make but at a much higher frequency as if it were faster or smaller. As he heard its pitch increase there could be no doubt that it was headed in his direction but still the forest which became a mesh of shadows several meters in refused to give away its secrets.
At that moment time slowed down, the giant oak just feet from Kuatura exploded outward in a hail of splinters showered the shinigami, just barely having time to react he spotted something white and silver splitting the tree open. He performed a flip backwards and was horizontal with the ground as the object passed inches from his face, directly where his neck would have been moments before, a white disc with two long silver blades, much like a frisbe of death passed by him cutting straight through the tree behind. His senses coming to bear once more after that last attack he heard several more of the bladed constructs coming through the trees toward him and turning on his tail he hopped over the stump of the dismembered tree and burst off into the forest away from the incoming death. He tried to concentrate on them but for the first time realized just how void his spirit sense seemed to be here and with only sound to aid him he was going to be in for a tough time. He was bounding from tree to tree and hearing an incoming blade he shot up, taking hold of a branch and spinning around in a complete 360 as the blade passed beneath him as he once more dropped to the ground running. Two more blades could be heard and to his surprise they seemed to actually be surrounding him from both sides, he ran forward toward the closest tree, planted his foot at its base and spun upside down. Placing one hand on the ground he pushed with amazing strength and threw himself high into the canopy of the trees just as the two blades came forward and thankfully as he had predicted the blades slammed into each other full speed. Both shattered into a dozen pieces and he grinned for a moment as he tried to consider where the enemy might have been, that was until he heard the same blade sounds coming from the opposite direction. He briefly reflected back to the two previous blades maneuvering to his sides and cursed as he realized they must have had the ability to home in on an opponent, somewhere much closer this time he heard the explosive sound firing again.
Thinking up a plan quickly he raced off toward the sound of whatever was firing the blades, the sound of trees splintering apart telling him the disc were hot on his tail. He closed in rapidly on where he thought he heard the source when he spotted a long white shaft streaking through the forest straight for his position, he looked down at his feet seeing his one opportunity and knowing he had no time to stop and take the situation in. With one last bounding run he dropped to the ground and slid underneath a massive root, he shot out the other side as the root shattered into a thousand pieces and a quick glance behind showed the blades jamming deep into the ground. He gave one mighty push and went sailing through the air as he once more spotted the incoming shaft, just feet from his position. There was no way to know exactly what it was but he had a theory and this might be his only chance to close in on the source before it fired again. He eclipsed the shaft momentarily and placed his food several feet down its length, pushing off so that it shot into the ground and he went spinning through the air. He saw the massive figure below him and instinct took over as he drew HarutMarut. Behind him the shaft impacted the ground and a massive explosion shook the entire forest sending a fireball skyward and lighting those trees it didn't blow to shreds on fire.
Kuatura came down on the figure with maximum force but found his blade parried by a long hook like appendage. He hit the ground and slid backward coming to a stop as the light from the explosion illuminated the massive creature before him allowing him to see it in full detail. The hollow was at least fifteen feet high but more than that it was bulky and thick. It was a strange mixture of machine and hollow, having boxlike features though there was something of a large lizard also, perhaps like those pictures of dinosaurs he had seen once. However deep in its chest it sported clockwork machinery and he spotted the gleaming blades being prepped within, though its mouth was not open he saw that it clamped up and down on a hinge and could probably deliver a debilitating bite. He could feel the swishing motions a large tail attached to the creatures back was making and two large circular devices were attached to its shoulder pauldrons. Its arms were long and hooked, looking more like they were to be used in defense than offense.
“Well hello there.” He said coyly.
“Huahua, hello shinigami.” The Hollow replied in a booming voice, “Welcome to our Kingdom, I am Vulcan, 3rd Guardian of the Gate. You dodged those well...who might you be?”
“I am Katayama Kuatura, 4rd Seat of the 1st Division.”
And then a volley of blades was launched from its chest.
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Sera walked through the hillside, the initial excitement of the moment having passed and now she was just annoyed over how many hills there seemed to be. Every time she climbed one there was another waiting for her to scale and she never seemed to get any closer to the plateau Kuatura had been standing on. By now she had realized that even if she did reach it he would be long gone in all likelihood. Still with that being the only goal she could keep her sight on thats where she continued to head. In her thought she lost concentration with keeping her footing and spilled over into one of the giant ruts cut up and down all these hills. She just caught herself, propping back up as she cursed, wondering all the while what they were for anyway. It was at this point she spotted a massive mound of dirt down the next hillside sitting in the middle of where several of the long scrapes in the ground met. It was odd not appearing to be an actual hill but not being the same color as the dirt either, being more of a red color. However her curiosity was grabbed when she spotted a black kanji grafted on its very top that said “Silence”.
She walked down the hill, a tad apprehensive at the out of place oddity but equally intrigued by the first item of interest she had seen in this place that was actually within her grasp. Approaching closer to it she could now see that it seemed to be more solid than she first imagined and not really thinking she placed a hand on it. It was soft and smooth, almost like glass but much harder, for the first time since she had seen it she noticed that the ground around seemed to be trembling ever so slightly. With a start she realized that a low rumbling was emitting from the hill and she began to back up unsure of what to do.
“What is it?” she asked herself out loud.
She quickly wished she hadn't as the rumbling and sound instantly stopped. There was a moments pause and then the hill ripped itself skyward and much like a mammoth armadillo two gigantic arms appeared from underneath the hard hill that was apparently really a shell, on the end of each hand were five nails...only these nails were spinning drills. Sera continued to retreat as she drew her zanpaktou and readied it, her eyes none the less wide as the seventy foot or higher behemoth reached higher and higher. More and more clawed drills were exposed attached to the underside of the creature and finally its head pulled out from wherever it had been hiding and a hollows mask, suitably finishing the armadillo look, except for a long spinning drill on its nose, gleamed in the sunlight.
“DOES NOBODY READ THE DAMNED SIGN?!!!” it bellowed into the air.
It seemed to look around unable to find whoever had bothered it when it finally looked down and its eyes burned fiercely upon locating Sera. She could make no reaction, the hollows size was immense and somewhere in the back of her mind she was freaking out despite the cool demeanor she showed.
“It is you...we feared there were intruders when Volstok was lured into opening the gate...” he grumbled lowly.
The hollow brought its arms low and then dropped to the ground with a massive booming thud as to stand on all fours, the wind from the drop almost sent Sera flying. He twisted his neck several times before eying her once more and seeming to prepare to move forward, only now did Sera notice the massive clubbed tail he sported on his back end as it swung high in the air.
“I am the 2nd Guardian of the Gate, Martello.”
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Daijiro had to climb the massive plateau for what seemed like forever, unfortunately it had been the only option open to him but it wasn't a pleasant one. All along the way he had to cope with crumbling rocks under his grip and false paths where the rock simply went sheer for a while with no good hand holds to speak of. Eventually though the quincy breached the top and threw himself on to flat ground. Once he had reoriented himself he found that the top of the plateau was little more than a dead wasteland of cracked rock and small shrubs clinging to life.
However one thing stood out quite contrasting in this dead land, a tall black throne that was forty feet or higher, but it was what was sitting in it that made the scene. A tall yet deathly skinny figure cloaked in black sat in its confines and reached with one of its free hands, picking up a goblet and raising it to its face which looked exactly like a skull, its mouth parted and it downed the entire goblets clear contents in moments though its eyes had already set on the boy. It took its sweet time and then finally tossed the goblet to the ground pushing off the throne. It got to its feet as it reached up and pulled a hood over the back of its head leaving only the skull visage visible. For the first time one could see its dimensions, nearly twenty five feet tall but as skinny as a pole and completely shrouded in darkness. Only its right hand which was horribly bony, its face and a now apparent left hand which was instead a connected white reaping scythe broke out of the darkness. The hollow took its human like hand and reached toward the sky and the light from the sun immediately darkened.
“I GREET YOU PITIFUL HUMAN!!! You have the privilege of standing before Altus-unus, 4th Guardian of the Gate and prince to the most royal of families in the kingdom!”
He lowered his hand and opened his palm out toward the quincy as the light continued to dim. Then in rapid succession seven large circles lit up along the plateaus surface sending light skyward into the now almost night black light that eclipsed the sun and cradled the plateau. He turned his open palm into a pointing motion toward the boy.
“You now stand in my realm...” he let out in little more than a death rattle of a whisper.
The two rings of blue light which Daijiro now stood between suddenly began glowing brighter than any of the others.
“Be strung out and hung to death, 6th row.”
A bright blue light shot out from his outstretched finger for Daijiro, the boy would quickly find if he dodged that the light twisted around like a ribbon as it tried to wrap around him.
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The swamp like terrain Kaiba had landed in was the darkest and dreariest of the four realms the intruders had landed in and also the hardest to see in. While the trees where not nearly as close together as the forest on the plateau their canopy's where much thicker and a dearth of light was to be found. To top it off there were constant ambient noises that could prove distracting, smaller hollow like creatures hopping about, weakened and waterlogged trees cracking in the wind, condensation dripping into the still water and an abundance of other disturbing sounds burst into the silence, each grappling for attention. Regardless despite the rather oppressive and dark tone of the area there really didn't appear to be any danger. At one point a large hollow snake had appeared, swimming in the deeper water but it had passed by Kaiba without even taking note. Kaiba had been closing in on the lake, the water growing shallower so that it just barely covered his feet but he still stood a distance out from it when he would have heard the first sign.
'Kuku-' a laughter echoed out, just barely there on the wind but unmistakable as some ambient sound.
There had been no approach for a minute afterward but then shadows began appearing just on the edge of Kaibas peripheral vision. However anytime he tried to look the figure disappeared before he could get a lock. After a few moments whooshing noises sounded above him as if someone was coming in for a strike, a strike that never came. Then it happened, a black figure launched out of a hidden deep dip in the water directly in front of Kaiba and struck out at him with a bladed appendage, the shinigami was quick on his feet though and jumped back drawing his zanpaktou and meeting the hollow head on as a spark flew off their weapons.
“Hmmm...” it mused to itself in a high tone.
It was just a foot or two taller than a man and had what looked like a large white jacket around its body, however it was obvious it was hardened like a carapace despite appearances. It sported three arms, two on its left and one one its right, both the upper arms were bladed while the lowest one on the left was thick and clawed but otherwise normal. Its mask looked strangely insect like and unlike most hollows it had one yellow eye and one red eye, several large spikes stuck out of its head. A series of armored sheets dropped down its back and into the carapace. The creature seemed to be standing but its legs were hidden by the large armored structure. While it kept Kaiba at bay with its blades it raised its normal hand toward the plateau on the other side of the lake which they were now close to.
“You came to the Kingdom to find the General intruder? HA! You shall never even set your eyes upon the glorious Titian Bastion!”
Far off across the lake and even farther into the forest on the other side a massive fire ball rose skyward. The hollow seeing this giggled.
“And apparently neither will any of the friends you brought with you, you all, DIE HERE!!!” it shrilled.
It cut rapidly at Kaiba and hopped backward disappearing into the canopy above. Then once more its voice echoed out.
“Ombra, 1st Guardian of the Gate and your doom incarnate.”
Then a strike came from the left.
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ZR0 C00L
Junior Member
omae wa mou shindeiru
Posts: 157
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Post by ZR0 C00L on Feb 28, 2008 3:28:49 GMT -4
The climb up to the summit was wrought with treachery throughout it's entirety. Hand holds that fell apart as he put his weight on them, and the sparseness of available holds in general made the Quincy doubt if what he was attempting was even possible and more than once he considered going back down. But he could think of no other option. Finding his teammates was of the utmost importance and so the boy pushed on. By being exceedingly cautious he was able to find a route that led him to the top of the plateau.
Pulling himself up and over the top of the rock face, Daijiro got to his knees and almost kissed the ground in absolute joy, but his pride as a quincy would not allow such things. Taking a quick look at what was on this god forsaken rock upon which he now stood, Daijiro could only see one thing of importance among the dying plants and that was the chair. More a throne then anything else. It was massive and Daijiro didn't have to wait long to see just what type of being would sit upon such a thing. Because the massive owner of the throne was still in it.
The skeletal looking being raised his goblet to his face and downed the contents greedily as the boy looked on in something close to horror. He had seen all types of hollows in his short time with the brotherhood and was told tales of countless more by his parents while they were alive and then from his uncle after their passing. But none of the stories he had heard came anywhere close to describing what he saw in front of him at the moment. This man had looked like a real shinigami. Not like the Katayamas, but the actual thing.
"Reaper" He said under his breath in subdued shock.
The lithe giant tossed his cup to the floor making a clanging sound as it bounced before coming to a rest on the rocky ground. As it stood up,pulling it's hood over it's skull Daijiro could see just how big the being in front of him was. At least 20 feet tall and incredibly slim. Daijiro chalked that up to it's most likely being as skeletal as its face. A scythe where his left hand should be was the first thing Daijiro noticed. After that, it was his bony right hand which the creature lifted to the sky was made out. Just before the light in the area suddenly began getting dim.
“I GREET YOU PITIFUL HUMAN!!! You have the privilege of standing before Altus-unus, 4th Guardian of the Gate and prince to the most royal of families in the kingdom!”
Altus brought his hand forward palm open as the already diminished light in the area got even darker. The boy's eyes went wide as a series of circles lit up on the grounds surface illuminating the area around them, he may not have known what they were for. But Daijiro already knew he had no desire to find out.
“You now stand in my realm...” the hollow said in a low menacing whisper. “Be strung out and hung to death, 6th row."
He called out as the circular markings on the ground the boy stood on grew brighter than the others. Before Daijiro could draw his bow or attempt to move away from the circles of light, knowing they were probably not just for show. Altus released a bright blue shot light at the archer. Daijiro ducked low allowing the blast to pass over him, from a kneeling position, he turned his head to inspect what kind of damage the blast would have caused had it hit him. He was alerted to the fact that the blast had turned and was heading back at him. SHIT! Screamed his brain as Daijiro was forced to do some quick acrobatics. Making a small jump backward and landing on his hands, the boy was just able to push his body up high enough to launch himself over the incoming attack before flipping in the air and landing back on his feet at the outer most ring of light.
Not to be fooled twice, Daijiro was on the alert as the beam curled around ribbon like and heading back at him. He formed his bow as he jumped to the side trying to dodge once more before blasting whatever it was out of the sky. It worked, sort of. When he released his divine arrow, the two beams of energy seemed just pass through each other. While Atlus' attack may have been halted for a moment, Daijiro foolishly mistook this for a chance to strike and prepared a second shot aimed for the hollows forehead.
Before the arrow could be released. The previously slowed attack regained its lost momentum and ensnared the Quincy beginning with wrapping around his right arm binding it to his side and then wrapped around the rest of his body. Before long, Daijiro was completely ensnared. With no other options left, Daijiro used what little motion was available to him to reach into his pocket and with his finger tips was able to slide a few silver tubes into his palm hopefully unnoticed by Atlus. This better work He told himself as he went over the plan he had formulated in his mind.
Daijiro was unexpectedly pulled forward by an unseen force toward the visage of death incarnate ahead of him. Acting quickly, the young boy struggled to reach behind himself while at the same time not trying to be obvious about what he was doing. He was almost at the giant figures feet as he finally felt his fingers brush upon what he was searching for. As he made his way into the innermost circle, Daijiro was ready to put his plan into action. clinking noises reverberated off the plateaus floor as Daijiro dropped the silver tubes he had palmed on to it. forgetting about secrecy, the boy yanked with all his might and gripped the pommel of a seele shneider, while reciting an incantation.
"Tilt the goblet to the west - Emerald Grail!" VOLCORE!
As the flash of light resulted from the explosion, Daijiro was able to touch the "blade" of the seele shneider to his restraints. Loosening the spirit particles and thusly releasing him. With a quick pumping of his legs, Daijiro leapt backward away from Altus landing in the 3rd ring holding up the seele shneider defensively, it's bright blue glow glowing like a torch in the surrounding darkness.
"We'll see who the pitiful one is when this is over" He called out his confidence apparent.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` "Mother Fuckers!"
Kaiba couldn't believe his luck. While he was trudging through the wetlands, images of the other sitting down to a meal and exchanging amusing stories filled his mind. Although it comforted him to think that his brother and new friends were safe and together, he still didn't like being alone to walk through this marsh. Visibility was low, and the dense shrubbery about didn't do anything to lighten his mood. Between his footsteps plodding through the shallow water and the ambient noise of the place, Kaiba was sure that he would be found out any minute.
Just as he came to this realization, a visible movement under the waters surface put him on alert as something came toward him. Kaiba was ready for anything, or at least he thought he was but when he saw that it was what seemed to be a mindless snake like hollow that seemed to have no interest in him that was in the waters with him. Kaiba could only scratch his head. For all it's dreary atmosphere the marshlands were turning out to be pretty tame. Slightly relieved and disappointed at the same time, Kaiba continued his progress through the waters moving ever closer to the lake ahead. He can't say he knew why he was heading there but it seemed as good a place as any other. When suddenly.
'Kuku-' a laughter echoed out.
the laughter was vague but he knew it was not the same as the random sounds he had been hearing up to this point. Kaiba stopped in his tracks straining his ears so he could pin point where it had come from. But almost as suddenly as it had come about, the noise had stopped. As he stood there awhile, the shinigami was about to chalk it up to imagination and continue on but a shadow off to his alerted him to the reality that he was not hearing things but when he turned to get a look at whoever had been approaching, they were gone. He started to walk again only to see the same shadow trailing him and again when he turned it was nowhere to be seen.
Kaiba had, had enough and was about to scream for the coward to stop hiding and face him when a whooshing sound coming from above forced him to raise his arms in defense...........of nothing?. Kaiba was certain he had just been about to be attacked but nothing had come. Whoever this guy was he seemed to like playing games and he was playing with the wrong shinigami.
"You hear that, your fucking with the wrong one" He yelled in his frustration to his unseen adversary.
Instantaneously, Kaiba was forced to draw his blade and defend an attack that originated from under the water. Sparks flew as Kaiba let out a grunt and his opponent looked on in bemused fashion. The "thing" in front of him stood head and shoulders above Kaiba and had a large jacket made of what Kaiba could only assume to be bone covered it almost entirely. It's appearance was like that of an insect and was like no other hollow the 3rd seat shinigami had faced before.Two of the beasts three appendages were bladed,one sort of resembled a humans arm but the other was merely a blade and he held them out toward Kaiba a what could only be described as layers of armor went down it's back as it looked forward. Its different colored eyes fixated on Kaiba. He pointed his normal arm in the direction toward the plateau in the distance and spoke.
“You came to the Kingdom to find the General intruder? HA! You shall never even set your eyes upon the glorious Titian Bastion!”
As he said this, Kaiba saw a massive fireball rise into the orange sky. upon seeing this the insect like creature began to giggle. Kaiba was almost ready to giggle himself. Perhaps even without even realizing it, he had just given Kaiba the location he most likely would not have found on his own. But what the hollow said next made the smile fade from his face.
“And apparently neither will any of the friends you brought with you, you all, DIE HERE!!!” it shrilled.
"NO" He called out.
Taking the opportunity, the hollow made a quick slash at Kaiba before leaping in to the canopy of trees overhead. With his attention elsewhere, the shinigami had little time to react and no time to block. Leaning backward and turning a potentially deep or even life threatening slash into a superficial slash across his chest. It was bleeding but he was in no danger from the wound.
“Ombra, 1st Guardian of the Gate and your doom incarnate.” It announced.
"Kaiba Katayama,..........the last thing you'll ever see" He replied in a serious manner.
Ombra wasted no time in attacking and came in from the left. His bladed right arm raised ready to take the shinigamis head if he did not have his wits about him, unfortunately for Ombra, he did. Kaiba brought his zanpakuto up to defend the strike, sparks flying once more as steel met steel. Ombra raised his second blade arm and went for a diagonal slash at Kaiba who ducked low and to the left avoiding the strike and freeing his blade making an upward slash at the guardian attempting to slice it in two vertically. With its upper left arm Ombra deflected the blow to the side and brought his right arm down attempting to slice the shinigamis skull in half, but a quick leap backward by Kaiba allowed him to avoid it. Kaiba leapt into the air bringing his sword up high and then down but his sword was met by both of Ombra's upper arms. As he came back to the ground, Kaiba and Ombra were locked in a test of strength, neither giving an inch at first, thats when it hit him. Or rather thats when Ombra punched him in the jaw with his admittedly "handy" extra arm forcing Kaiba back a few feet. the pain burned in his chin but it was going to take more than that to stop him. Hearing that his friends were indeed there and in danger, Kaiba decided it was time to get serious.
"Not bad but were just getting started" Kaiba said in a serious voice.
"Kaen ,Yakedo" Kaiba stated as his blade transformed into its shikai form.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 29, 2008 4:15:27 GMT -4
Kuatura had just barely dodged, pulling back and weaving through the blades as they passed on both sides of him. He realized just how lucky he had been when both of the weapons curved and slashed through the air directly behind him. They avoided each other after Vulcan apparently learned his lesson from the last time they had slammed into one another. On the bright side the blades did not exactly turn on a dime and he had a few moments as they ripped off through the nearest trees making broad turns back for him. There would be no time to proceed forward as he was still watching the hollow and it now prepared another volley and fired, he turned about and ran off into the forest once more figuring it wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
He didn't mind as much because now he at least knew there was a source that could be taken out and his mad dodging wouldn't be in vain if he figured out a way to do so. Just then one of the blades flew past him, causing a mad twist of his head to dodge sideways as it did so, picking up speed once it had past to perform a turn back for him again. Hearing the other blades, the two first ones having rejoined there counterparts gaining on him from behind he tried to single out the blade that had passed him moments ago and was now coming back. Deciding he had predicted its trajectory as best he could he readied his sword by his side and launched into the air, rolling head over heels twice and performing one mighty swing of HarutMarut as he caught sight of the silver blade passing below him. The sound of the blades connecting sounded out and the small disc was sent off its initial trajectory straight for the first of its brethren to appear, they collided with a colossal squeal as they ripped each other apart, the ensuing shrapnel tore the remaining blade apart as well and being so close Kuatura had to work hard not to be hit by one of the tiny slivers of metal.
Thats when he heard the tell-tell buzzing of one of the small saws coming from his side and cursed his luck as he realized Vulcan had predicted the movements and sent one of the blades that had previously been behind him to cut off any dodging maneuvers while he had been aiming for the first blade. He had no time to move and could do little more than hold HarutMarut up to his side as the weapon impacted and tore at his blade before its circular motion rounded around the straight blade and cut through the side of his gut. A yelp just barely escaped his mouth but the impact with his blade had kept the majority of the weapon from cutting him so its motion carried it out of his body and slamming into the dirt. He finally came to the ground after that horribly complex maneuver that had really taken less than a second or two. He was almost ready to give himself a congratulatory pat when he heard the sound of Vulcan firing once more, this volley appeared to be longer as he heard multiple booms and one of them hidden toward the back sounded suspiciously like the sound that had accompanied the firing of the white shaft from before. He grumbled to himself as he listened to great swaths of forest be pulled apart by the blades and broke into a run to his left, parallel to the charging line of disc blades, just breaking the lines end as the first reached his location and it completely severed the top of a rather skinny tree from its bottom as it came crashing to the ground. He listened to the wave of blades, there abundance heightening the pitch beyond any ability to calculate just how many and knew that there was only one chance to survive the mass that was coming.
Flicking his head back and forth he searched for a location that would work, the abundance of trees making that extremely difficult. He had picked up the speed to stay in front of the blades and was pulling a lucky streak for the moment with little underbrush to get in his way but knowing that could change at any moment he did not rely on that fact to keep him alive. Then ripping himself about while trying to stay ahead of the blades he spotted a candidate, a small open area among the trees that was little more than a nine foot hole in the forest but it would give him the room to move. He came to a sliding stop in its center as he listened for the incoming volley and jumped into the air as the first came low and tore below him, sending splinters flying through the previously pristine area. As more came he picked up the distinct swooshing noise of a longer item that had no spin to it pushing through the air toward his position and he prayed that this worked, for if he didn't he would be little more than a hole in the ground. A dozen more blades cut through his position and he dodged his way through the majority though one clipped his upper shoulder sending a spurt of blood flying, he steadied himself though as the key to all of this was upon him. Dropping low to the ground so much so that he was almost laying face flat he put HarutMarut beneath him and hoped none of the blades would find there mark for at least two seconds. The white shaft finally came into view, thanking his luck he called HarutMaruts shikai form out beneath him. Reciting the kido a gust of wind send him sailing into the air, moments after waves of energy rippled over him and HarutMarut was almost sent from its skyward trajectory from the sheer force of the shaft bomb impacting the ground he had just been at, blowing another fireball skyward and leveling an area of trees.
Grappling with his weapon he steered HarutMarut into a level spin until he was able to stand upon it evenly he then surveyed the land around. While the two bombs had indeed been more powerful alone and a much larger patch of forest was now in flames where the other had impacted before, the one below likely playing a similar act, he was more amazed by the damage the blades had caused. From ground level it just looked like they had ripped chunks from the trees but now it was obvious many had been completely sheered from there stumps or perhaps could not support the weight after portions had been removed. Whatever the case it was easy to locate Vulcans last firing position as the mass of blades had clear cut an entire portion of the forest. Kuatura quickly noted one of his opponents weaknesses, speed. Vulcan was still cumbersomely trotting along the edge of the firing line trying to disappear into the thicker forest but by now had relocated the shinigami his eyes at first surprised and then obviously formulating a plan. Kuatura spun his blade around angling toward Vulcan and watched as the hollow, realizing he would not make it to cover in time turned to face the quickly descending opponent. Then with great surprise Kuatura tried to judge what was going to happen as Vulcan opened his mouth wide revealing a hole in the center, it didn't appear as if he was amassing energy but the answer came quickly as a burst of fire exploded from within, accompanied by a loud sound and one of the white shafts shot forth. The ballistic weapon closed the gap quickly and Kuatura launched into a barrel roll just in time for the shaft to pass above him as he hung precariously upside down still two hundred feet off the ground. The weapon actually skimmed HarutMaruts bottom and he squinted in mental pain until enough time had passed to show the weapon had not gone off and instead continued in an arcing trajectory, Vulcan apparently giving up on turning it around as it came to a point in the forest much further away and exploded.
With just a few meters left Kuatura resealed HarutMarut since it was not effective for melee battles and Vulcan raised its hooked arms in preparation. He hit the hollow with bone shattering force, even he gasped as the air was rocked out of him but Vulcan grimaced as one of his arms cracked though it did not completely break under the force and so surely got the worst of the blow. Both of them grunted until the forward momentum of the drop wore off and Kuatura had to place his feet on the ground. In the same moment he withdrew his blade and shot low jabbing his blade deep into the clockwork machinery that shot the blades, Vulcan let out a roar as he tried to futilely club the shinigami with his arms that could not reach that low. Suitably convinced he had caused enough damage Kuatura threw his weight on to the blade and propelled himself through the ungainly arms and over the beast head, landing on its broad back just around the neck area. As he had sailed he yelled:
“This ends now!”
When he had turned around and been firmly planted on the back he raised his blade high above the hollows head. However just as he was about to give a firm downward thrust he heard clicking and looked down to his feet, spotting strange circular portals opening all long the creatures backside. He could see that the area around the portals was glowing bright red, like it had been superheated and the sound of air escaped them.
“Do you know who the original Vulcan was shinigami?” Vulcan asked in his booming but oddly calm voice, “THE GOD OF FIRE-” he yelled.
Kuatura saw what was going to happen and through himself over the front of the hollow, willing to take its arms and possibly any weaponry it could salvage over what was about to happen. The vents heated up to a bright blue and then each began firing streamers of flames which at their peak reach forty feet into air. The flames ended up cooking off everything that was around it and heating the air all about to the point that any dry trees or leaves starting catching fire just from the radiant heat. Kuatura righted himself as he landed on the ground and brought HarutMarut to bear while he watched on as Vulcan's entire form started to glow a bright red. He was going to attack the open front side when he watched as the circular pauldrons exploded in flames and two long black objects came out. It took him a moment to note they were actually attached to Vulcan's body and looked like long tubes with holes riddled throughout. He watched as they pointed toward him and realization of just what was about to happen hit him. He spun to his side as Vulcan bellowed:
“AND STEEL!!!”
The noise that followed was extraordinary, loud enough to deafen anybody nearby as red energy bullets began firing at an impossible rate from the two organic guns. A wash of heat covered Kuatura as he broke for the few remaining trees nearby and Vulcan turned his aim after him, just barely missing him with every single shot. Jumping into the forest he hit the ground just as the bullets were catching up with him, the shower of hot energy passed above and trees were shredded into a billion pieces in an instant under Vulcan's onslaught. Kuatura could do nothing as he watched the tops of the trees collapse on top of him, the flames from Vulcan's back still casting an otherworldly red, orange and blue glow on the surroundings.
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Doubling away from the monsters base Sera wasn't quite sure what to do, she quickly flash backed to how hard it had been just to defeat the much smaller adjucha yesterday who seemed to bear little intelligence. Thankfully Martello was taking a few moments to look her over before doing whatever it was he did, as she looked at the many drills covering his body she grimaced realizing she might not really want to know. Then his tail swung about, stretching out much longer than it had looked completely clearing his body and streaking toward her like a scorpion. Barely having enough time to get out of the way she struck out to her side raising her hands to protect her face from any shrapnel that went flying. That turned out to be a smart move as the tail struck home, sending mud, dirt, grass and bedrock in every direction along with ripples of energy through the air as the chunks peppered her. Being so close and being sure that trying to rush the creature without a plan was akin to suicide Sera, who was still blinded from a large slab of mud that had hit her in the face ran as quickly as she could away from the scene. She could hear the massive tail as it pushed air out of its path and was returned to its original position as it was quickly followed by a strike, it was still close but no enough to throw her off balance or hurt her like before.
“Damn...” she muttered quietly to herself unable to formulate a plan, her mind still racing.
As she cleared the debris from her face she was able to witness the colossus on the move, walking after her at a slow gait but with purpose. Its massive size and huge stride made up for being slow in a relative sense and while it never gained on her it never lost her either as she threw herself up a nearby hill. The immediate sense of being in over her head with its size was beginning to fade now that she had managed to live through two hits and she was becoming more rational, trying to see if she could spot any weaknesses. However as luck would have it this new foe looked very...not weak. After having touched its armor up close before it attacked she knew that there was no way to strike the giant hill like construct on its back, the head was armored in sheets and while it might have been less durable she still doubted she could make good attacks while still staying out of its range and of course its tail was the most dangerous part and completely off limits. She briefly remembered when it had raised high in the air that the underside was not heavily armored but the number of drills would make that near impossible as well as its low height to the ground, plus it had been smart enough to talk and that likely meant it was smart enough to tactically keep that area off limits.
Deciding she needed to attack before it came at her again she laid her zanpaktou across her shoulder and recited the fire incantation over and over. Several shots of three fireballs a piece burst from her free hand as she strafed out to the side of the monster hoping its bulky size would buy her some time as it tried to turn. The flames exploded harmlessly over the back of the creature and even one that exploded near its head seemed to cause no damage as it turned slowly toward her completely unphased. She saw its tail twitch and had to run rapidly to the side and jump as the massive club struck out at her position once more and again tore a swath of dirt from where she had been. As she landed she twisted her vision and looked on horrified as she watched despite the awkward position Martello was in he managed to spin around on his end and throw the front of his body up, pulling one of his drilled hand back he aimed toward Sera. Throwing himself down his ability to stretch out much longer than one would first imagine proved near deadly as Sera was still in the motion of backing up when the fist came down in front of her and the concussive energy took her off her feet as deep bedrock shards cut her arms, legs and face. She landed aways back, now blocking her face from incoming rocks as she caught glimpses through her fingers of the drills spinning deep in the ground shooting rocks everywhere. Realizing he had missed Martello pulled his hand out of the ground and readied himself again.
“You run well...is that all you do?” he asked, not sounding chastising as much as disappointed.
It was enough to set her off though and she immediately began thinking up strategy's though none seemed like they would be to effective just yet. Another series of strikes hammered the ground but she managed to stay quick on her feet and none came as close as the last had, regardless the loud pounding plus the rocks and dust flying everywhere were more than a tad disorienting at times. She happened to be running directly in front of him when she saw for once there seemed to be an opening on to his back, while she knew attacking there was useless he didn't seem maneuverable enough to buck her off and if she got off in the back she might spot an opening, at the very least she would buy some time. So she took off at him, dodging as he jerked his head trying to snare her with the side of his nose drill and clambered up his armored “shoulder”, pulling up to the top of his back as quickly as she could.
She tried hard to keep her footing on the slippery surface and a failed attempt to pierce the armor with her zanpaktou to keep hold proved its durability. Still even as he thrashed about and tried to turn Martello still proved the maneuver had been an intelligent one, or so she thought until she felt the body even out and a brief moment of stability saw her spotting the clubbed tail just as it aligned parallel with the top of his back as to launch across it and strike her. She pushed to the side losing her balance sliding on to the right edge of his back just as the tail struck out across the area, clearing the top of the back where she had just been. However she found she was quickly falling off and as she looked back his tail started to sway back and forth in an attempt to knock her off, rather than be beat to death by it she decided to let gravity do its job and pull her over the edge where she collapsed right next to him. She cursed that she had not stayed on and then as she looked left, her back still to the ground she really did curse out loud when she was what was coming. Martellos underbelly had many drills on it that cut deep into the ground as he walked, protecting the soft unarmored region and whether by chance or by attempt he was turning in her direction, the drills with him.
“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!” she yelled, her voice drowned out by the closing drills.
As three of the drills headed on a crash course for her body, each that could easily have ripped her to shreds in an instant, she began rolling furiously to one side unwilling to die being cut to pieces by some hollow. The drills stayed hot on her but soon she rolled out of the creatures turn radius and after just missing one of his large drilled hands as it came crashing down she sprung back to her feet and backed up rapidly again. If she hadn't just wasted about 8 of her lives she might have been angered by the fact that she was right back where she had begun but instead she was just happy she wasn't pureed hollow fodder. Apparently angered by her actions Martello reared back and then coming as a surprise he charged with speed he hadn't shown up to this point requiring her to turn and once again begin running though this time he slowly began to gain on her. She exchanged several worried glances over her shoulders with no idea as to how to outrun him when with no way to stop it she tripped and fell over. She only had moments and seeing she had accidentally tripped into one of the long ruts dug into the hills she began to roll down its length on her back. She just escaped as Martello came barreling past, ripping the ground to shreds in his wake and letting out a mighty bray as he realized he had missed. However for one reason or another he continued charging up the next hill and then came to rest at the top. Sera made her way to her feet and thanked her lucky stars for his mistake before returning her attention to him.
High on the hill he turned around to her position, decimating the earth underneath with his belly drills as he did so. He once more lifted his head and let out a bray before tucking it in tight against his chest and dropped lower on his feet. Sera wasn't sure what he was doing but she prepared her blade before her, certain she wouldn't find herself as open as she had been before. Quickly he began to pull the covering off and then over his head once more, leaving just its yellow eyes peering out from below, he tucked his legs in as well and shortly after the only thing left was the mighty tail still sticking high into the air behind him. She watched as he lifted it up several times while beating it into the ground over and over before pulling it near the back of his shell and struck outwards once before pulling it in to hide with the rest of the body. Sera was just about ready to make a dash for the hills and see if she could run away while he did whatever it was he was doing but then she spotted the first rocking motion of the creature before she made aghast at the fact that ever so slowly the now balled up Martello was rolling on to his side. Then without a doubt he began to pick up speed and realizing that he was very clearly coming toward her position down one of the long ruts dug in the ground, much like a bowling ball in a gutter she began to run. While plenty of areas did not have a rut dug into them they were still all close enough that she figured a massive creature like Martello could make a quick transition to run her over without slowing down to much. Still looking behind and seeing just how ridiculously fast he was now turning end over end toward her she had to try something and so hopping over the lip of the nearest edge she broke into the grass and continued running, unwilling to put anything by the hollow at this point.
Martello rammed his way down the hill and across the straight of the plain, she didn't know how he could see while spinning so quickly but as he ramped up to her side of the rut and then broke over its lip she knew he did. He had incredible control despite his size and as he closed the gap only a last minute jump to the side aided by the wind pressure peeling off the side of his spinning form kept her from being crushed. Still as she had just barely risen back to her feet she saw that he was wheeling around the edge of the next hill, using the curve to keep up his speed while transferring to another track to come back in her direction. She looked around quickly and spotted the closest hill which had a rather steep incline, hoping that it would be enough to halt his momentum she raced for it as she heard his loud spinning closing in on her. Reaching the base of the hill she ran up despite the protest her legs were giving having already run around far to much as she tried to dodge the goliath attacks this monster unleashed. She was about halfway up the hill when she turned about and saw the ball of fury had caught up with her and breeched the base of the mound when the unexpected happened. Its tail shot forth from the confines and the monster bounded high into the air using its momentum. The ball broke open exposing all of Martellos form and most menacing of all the many drills gracing his stomach as he dropped for the ground, his momentum having carried him all the way above Sera.
She screamed as she dropped to her back and the hollow landed with a clatter. Only sheer blind luck if you wanted to call it that kept one of the many drills from skewering her the moment it dropped but that didn't really help her any. Sera was now trapped underneath the massive hollow, its stomach landing just feet above having almost crushed her in an instant and its many drills surrounding her as it shook back and forth tearing the earth apart. Muck and debris smacked across her body with the force of a train and she sputtered several times as she swallowed a great volume of the material having been taken by surprise. As she composed herself best she could she was thrown into a situation of survival where almost all other thoughts were thrown out the window. The ungodly loud noise of the drills surrounding her and the dirt pelting her in never ending volleys made anything but an instinctive urge to get out near impossible. She spun around on to her stomach and looked around, Martello was swaying his body back and forth and over the sound of the drills she could hear him roar several times, only the fact that the drills were spaced far enough apart by the small girls standards had kept her alive from his swaying motions, a larger person would have been clipped already. She spotted light coming in from under the monsters edges and seeing the nearest was to her left she began crawling in that direction, trying to note the motions of the drills around her as quickly as she could and make her way past them. Then just as she had crawled around three or four drills putting her about halfway to her goal she had a sinking feeling...literally. The ground all around had been pulverized and was slowly drifting into the now weakened bedrock under the monsters weight. Unfortunately being on one of the parts that the drills had not cut yet she remained in just about the same place and so with more than a little fear in her heart Martellos massive form started to slide down on to her, its sheer weight more that capable of crushing her like a compactor between the ground and himself.
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