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 Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 3:21 pm
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((Ty, what do you think about a fight in Heuco Mundo soonish? 3nodding ))
"Any luck?" Akihime said from the doorway to Kousuke's office. "Admittedly my knowledge of Quincies is limited to what my mother could relate to me in the short time I had with her. I didn't know that any had survived other than Kenzo and me." She stepped closer and settled into a chair, glancing about, expecting any moment for a closet door to burst open and release a cascade of crumpled paper and papyrus. The case she carried gave a soft thud as she set it down beside her.
"Let us hope that's protection enough for two of us," Zero added, his spiritual pressure wavering and threatening to change into its darker form with such close proximity to so many Hollows. He used Flash-Step to carry him to the ground. A strange, dark excitement rose up from his very core the moment his sandals touched the grey sand. He gazed up at the sunless sky, and swore that the stars had aligned in the shape of a leering skull. This place was evil... and Zero was powerfully unsettled, not due only to this fact, but because something inside of him wanted to enjoy the evil.
Daisuke sensed the Kido too late, and was not prepared to negate it. He let loose the telekinetic blast, hoping to force the girl away long enough to recover from her Bakudo. He snapped the blade of his zanpakuto, so that it grew rigid again, and attempted to take a defensive stance before hitting the ground, but could not. He landed at an awkward three-point stance, dragging dirt with him and leaving three ruts in his wake.
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:17 pm
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((That'd be fun. =D))
"Mm...They survived in handfuls but they keep out of sight and hearing from everyone unless you know how and where to find them." Kousuke mumbled as he thumbed through the first of the two stacks. After a looksee at the other, he discarded the second and frowned at his findings. Despite his high hopes, the material he'd uncovered was what seemed to be a watered down version of nothing that was important. Early life away from everything else, the clan this "Takeshi Endo" had been a part of, his lineage. In fact, all of it was useless except for the last bit where the records he'd gathered from older, frailer Quincies lead to the time that Drekovec began his slaughtering. That was when the man vanished, his name popping up as a resident of some place a few moths later. "Unless you can tell me where a certain containment center is so that I can check out what they have concerning Takeshi I'm largely on my own. Seems he disappeared after my best friend...erm, well..." He trailed off and sighed, dropping the stack lightly on the desk.
"Containment center?" Ryuusha stood up from his crouch beside the unconscious lieutenant. Dark smudges adorned his fingers from drawing on her face with ink as a joke. "You mean...like a nuthouse? Maybe Takeshi's mental."
The other captain snorted incredulously and his voice took on an uncharacteristically bitter tone. "I'm sure that our new Soul King friend is smarter than that to have some psicópata by his side along with the one with the short fuse. He looks sane enough to me."
"It will be." Kaizeloye said confidently as he stepped next to Zero and onto the sand. I hope, he thought unspoken to himself, and inhaled the cold air deeply, spreading his arms wide as if to embrace it. "Ah, home! Nothing like it." He quickly kicked off his boots and fell heavily onto the ground, flailing his arms around to make a crude and almost shapeless "sand angel". He even laughed a little while he did so. Who knew he'd miss the place so much? "Looks like we're a few miles from the boulder I named after the old Larkster and then two or three more to Las Noches after that." His two-colored eyes wandered the sky as he spoke. With a happy sigh he stood up again, although this time he picked up his discarded boots and held them by his side instead of pulling them back on.
Maria skipped backwards away from Daisuke with the remainder of the mostly countered blast, toes touching the ground to keep her from tumbling head over heels. Yes! She'd caught him off guard! Pride filled her chest and encouraged her to take an offensive stature this time, ignoring the fact that the Jedi-Soul Reaper could just be faking it. She darted forward as soon as she could with a Flash-Step and appeared behind Daisuke, her zanpakuto raised above her head as he foot lashed out at his unprotected back.
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:12 pm
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((Okey-doke.))
Akihime raised an eyebrow.
"Was that Spanish?" she asked. "I didn't know you knew any." She opened up her case, revealing a wooden mannequin's arm. On it was a long black glove, etched with blue and silver decorations.
Zero frowned, as something dark appeared on the horizon of his spiritual sense. It was another Arrancar--one who had visited Soul Society once before.
"Let us test out your theory, Captain Frunedes. Someone's coming." The static noise of Sonido could be heard several times about the two, and finally a clear image of their pursuer could be made out. An Amazonian figure stood out against the grey of the environment, sporting a floor-length black braid. The remnants of the Arrancar's mask rested over the brow and cheek of her face, and her lips were twisted in a snarl.
"Espada Dos." It was not a question.
Daisuke's timing was good this time, but the young Soul Reaper was still surprisingly fast. He dodged to the side, letting her kick strike his shoulder, and rotated beside her, diffusing the impact. He raised his zanpakuto defensively for a moment, and then slowly lowered it, letting it rest against the dirt of the arena. The blade sizzled and popped as it vaporized every speck of dust it touched.
"You're very good. You've learned quite a lot since I last sparred with you. Your power is very impressive. So, tell me something. Do you trust in your skills, as well?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:24 pm
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Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:48 am
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Kousuke frowned. "I don't..." He muttered, mostly to himself. Kaizeloye liked to fire off words in Spanish occasionally, he must've picked it up there. A smile crossed his features when he remembered one night that had involved sake and drunken wailing. "Is that...no, the gloves don't normally look like that, do they?"
The irony of first Zero calling him Captain and then the new arrival's use of Espada was not lost on him. "Estrella!" He cried happily, beaming at the obviously disgusted Arrancar. She must not approve of his presence in Hueco Mundo because of the incarceration of their kin thanks to him. Plus the fact that he'd brought a Soul Reaper too. That wouldn't sit well with anyone here. "Number six! You must be the welcome wagon, right? I hope you brought lunch for me, er...dinner maybe, considering that it's nighttime?"
Maria found her gaze wandering down to her feet very quickly. Her zanpakuto fell a little to rest at her side. "Maybe...maybe not as much as I should..." She admitted sheepishly.
As soon as the great doors opened and Mesio disappeared, Takeshi raised an eyebrow at Ossman before placing the bloodied rag lightly on his shoulder. Hopefully he'd gotten all or most of the blood off his face. Then he used Hirenyaku to stand at the other side of Reddo, his normal spot. To keep himself outwardly occupied and to resist throwing a wide, anxious grin at Diego, he focused on examining the miniscule cuts on his palms.
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Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:54 pm
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"Yes, this is a Sanrei Glove, like the one Kenzo used. I had hoped never to use it. However, desperate times call for desperate measures; I fear I am outclassed compared both to the Soul Reapers and our new enemies. I've also been working on a few old Quincy techniques that are all but forgotten. I... I wanted your advice before I put the glove on." She fingered the edge of the long cuff nervously, feeling the reishi scattering about the strange fabric.
"You betrayed us," she growled, gathering energy about her in the form of red, glowing strings. "Casting your lot in with them! How can you fight beside the very beings that hunt us down like animals?" Zero strode forward, feeling something dark stirring harder even than before.
"Hunt you down? You're clearly not reading the same history we remember. You feast upon our people, and kill whatever you don't consume! How can we not fight to defend our own? He isn't like you," Zero hissed, indicating Kaizeloye with a wave of his shikai. Several more Hollows and Arrancar landed just then, forming a rough ring around Kaizeloye and Zero.
"No, traitor," she said, ignoring the Soul Reaper. "This time you're lunch."
"So... are you willing to rely on them, and them alone, right now?" Daisuke asked with a grin. He let his zanpakuto float at chest level between his palms, blade up.
Diego strode in, abandoning his normal detached demeanor in favor a a well-executed facsimile of humility. He bowed deeply, and waited for permission to speak. While his head was down, he fought to contain sadistic laughter. Chouku remained standing off in the corner where she had been, listening and watching.
Candidate, huh?
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:42 am
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:48 am
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:10 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:25 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 1:47 pm
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Kousuke eyed the glove warily, as if watching a dangerous animal that had caught his scent from afar. "If I were a Quincy, putting that glove on would be the last thing I'd do. It's too risky in my opinion." He sighed and sat back in his chair, fingers drumming the desk softly. Then he smiled again. It struck him as a little funny how Akihime felt like she needed to be on par with not only her enemies, but also her allies; and she'd just gone the roundabout way of saying that just now. It shouldn't have, but it did. "But it looks like you really think you need to. I can't stop you either way, so I'll say this: Don't ever take it off. At least unless it's absolutely necessary. Your brother got very lucky to be a Fullbringer out of the blue..."
"Aw, I thought you'd liked me, Estrella, but now's not the time." Kaizeloye joked, giving her a large wink with his yellow-orange left eye. Then the smile wiped itself completely form his face, and his eyes became serious. Listening to both the Soul Reaper and Arrancar bicker reminded him much of what his former master had implied with his speeches of Hollows being treated unfairly. A speech that had been double-sided after he'd slaughtered Quincies, and Soul Reapers, alike. It also struck a chord in him. Suddenly, he wanted to be anywhere but there.
"Oh, I'm more like them than you think, Manaki," He said, surprisingly a little disgusted to be lumped in with the Soul Reapers, and he let it drip into his voice. "If you haven't forgotten, I'm still a Hollow. It's a dog-eat-dog world, but there's a fine line between defending and murdering." The Arrancar turned his sharp gaze from the Captain to the Espada, challenging them both to prove him wrong. "We attack you and you attack us without even thinking of who's guilty of the crime. It's a game of "givesies-backies", or a twisted "eye-for-an-eye" with all of you!" Kaizeloye had begun to roar this and as he did, he grabbed the hilt of his zanpakuto and drew the large greatsword out. The purple blade hummed angrily, reminding him of when he had practiced the dark jedi arts evilly. "I know you're angry that I betrayed you guys, but you know what? I don't care! Come on and try to cut me down!" He stomped down hard on the sand with one foot and puffed his chest out. "I dare you."
Maria didn't reply. Then it hit her that if she trusted in her own skills, then wouldn't she have answered with a yes automatically? After a moment she nodded furiously. Doubting herself was the first step to weakness again.
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:14 pm
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"That did seem awfully convenient. I hope he's doing okay." Akihime closed the case and set it down again. "He also gave me his Schneiders and some other effects that he can't use anymore." She sighed, feeling hopeless for a moment. It passed quickly. Hopefully she would be of more use in the next fight.
"Where are our new friends, I wonder? I can't help but feel that they'll return soon. And it troubles me that they're harboring Diego and his new subordinate."
Estrella gave a screech of rage and launched a volley of seven red spirit arrows from her zanpakuto. Kaizeloye's irreverent demeanor infuriated her. He Sonido carried her closer to him, and she released another volley, this time sending a few of the arrows at each of the ones from Soul Society. Zero dodged all but one of the ones directed at him, and stopped the last one with a bolt of lightning from his shikai. He Flash-Stepped to the other side of Estrella, only to be attacked by two or three of the Arrancar she'd brought with her.
"I sense great uncertainty," Daisuke said gravely. "We don't have to continue, if you do not want to. I mean you no harm, but our enemies are not as kind as I am." He smiled warmly. "We can stop for today, if you like. Or, we can continue with our shikai. We might even use our bankai, if you're up to that."
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Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:40 pm
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"Wherever they went to through that portal of theirs, I'm sure it has to be their home or at least some place they retreat to," Kousuke rolled a pink candy in-between his fingers thoughtfully. "But they don't seem to be the type to want to ally with Diego and his friend willingly, either, if you're afraid that they might do that."
Kaizeloye grinned. Maybe this was what he'd really been looking for upon his return to Hueco Mundo, a nice fight determined by brutal survival. Or just instincts. Well, this one wasn't so nice but he was ready to embrace it either way. He deflected a large amount of the red arrows with his zanpakuto, side-stepped if he couldn't smack one out of the way. He was unscathed, though, as a few managed to get through his defense and bounce off his skin, his Hierro keeping him from being severely pierced. Any spot that was hit opened a small cut with little drops of blood already welling up. "I'll leave the small fries to you, Zero! Just call out if you need any help." He said, before turning his attention fully on Estrella, who was only a few steps away now. His own Sonido brought his a few feet diagonally away from her. On impulse, he turned on his toes and swung heavily at the other Arrancar, letting one hand go as it descended to smear the blood from his cuts over his ashen colored fingers.
Maria bit her lip and forced herself to look back up at Daisuke. "Shikai...for now. If anything happens, I don't want to be weak and out of the fight."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:09 am
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"Yes... I don't suppose Diego gave them any more reason than he's given us to trust him. However, they still took him with them when they left. They want to recruit manpower for something -- but what does he want?" Akihime stood, thanked her father for his time, and wandered back to her quarters to rest up after a long day of Blut training.
Estrella dodged a thousand wayward droplets of blood, hearing the sound of sizzling as they fell to the sand. She drew out from the folds of her cloak four small, silvery cylinders. In a movement that was nearly imperceptible to the human eye, she cracked each one open, letting loose a lazy jet of crimson fluid. Estrella threw these four tiny bleeding bullets directly at Kaizeloye.
"Ginto number 1, Quincy's sacred bite. Heizen!"
Zero nodded, and lashed out with bolts of lightning at the nearest Adjuchas. He turned to see how his partner was faring for but a moment, and caught sight of the four small projectiles.
"Kai, those are Quincy weapons, made for dissolving Hollows. Move!" ((Hey, would you mind playing for the assorted Hollows, so I don't have to write for both sides? =o ))
"No," Daisuke said with a soft smile. "I still sense much fear in you, young Soul Reaper. This should not be." He made his blade rigid again, and resealed it. As he resheathed the zanpakuto, he sat cross-legged in the center of the small arena, inviting Maria to do the same. "What is troubling you?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:47 pm
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((Well, Strider was supposed to be posting today. =/ But sure, I'll take control of the additional Hollows. ^^))
Kousuke watched Akihime turn and leave before he turned his attention, now divided, back to the papers in front of him. They weren't of much use to him, sadly. Other than giving him the name of a place. Perhaps the library's records might have some hint of it? If so, then he could go there and learn about at least one of their enemies.
"I wasn't there when they attacked..." Ryuusha walked closer to the desk and ran his gaze over the information splayed out. "But I'm sure that any advantage we can get over them if it turns out that they're hostile to us is valuable, right?"
"Yes..." Kousuke popped the candy into his mouth and stood. Mistubishi wouldn't mind if he left stuff on his desk right? After all, he'd done all of his work in record timing. Sort of. "Come on, let's see what the Society's records on this containment center are, if there's any." With ease, he picked up his lieutenant and sat her up in his chair. It was better than being on the floor.
Kaizeloye's mismatched eyes widened at the sight of the small capsules flying towards him and leaking reishi. "Y'know, using that shouldn't be possible for non-Quincies, even for you!" He called to Estrella before crouching, the muscles in his legs tensing, and then leaping powerfully up into the air. Below him, the cylinders flew harmlessly through the spot he'd been standing in to slam into a few of the Hollows who had gathered around. Too bad for them, he thought.
The Adjuchas closest to the Soul Reaper fell back from the lightning bolts, although more than a few felt the shock pass through their bodies and send them tumbling to the sand. More of their brethren, however, took their place and lunged at the Captain from his front and sides, cackling. A Vasto Lorde hovering in the background did not approach, preferring to stay just where it was.
Maria sheathed her sword as well and walked over to the Jedi. As she sat, she rubbed at an arm self-consciously. "I...I don't want to be weak whenever an enemy comes to the city. I want to fight alongside everyone, and not get tired right after my bankai. What if it fails during battle and I pass out?"
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