into the abyss

[Dizzy]

The wind, already fiercer than ever before, came with torrential rains, and the drumming of water hitting water was a monotonous beat that drove her mad with annoyance. She’d already been soaked to her skin, ruining her elegant clothes and hair, and a storm was making its presence known in the near distance. The waters that surrounded her normally tranquil island were no longer recognizable – pelted by the raindrops, spun around violently by the ferocious winds, and even tormented by the girl’s inner thoughts It was an anarchic war between the wind and the water, to see which would be first to consume the entire world whole. The white-clad woman standing solitary on top of her island was growing extremely restless … and by luck, the perpetrator of this weather had just fallen unconscious. She grabbed hold onto the green-haired shinigami’s mind, and pulled her into her violent subconscious.

Lexi awoke with a start. She’d suddenly been submerged in a lake of icy-cold water, and the strong current was slamming her exhausted body this way and that, with no way to control her movements. A brutal downpour was beating down onto the surface of the water above her, but the current just kept on pulling her downwards with no sign of stopping.

“Just WHAT have you been doing since we last met?” thundered a familiar voice … she couldn’t quite place it, but it felt like she’d had it nearby for her entire life. Unfortunately, she was too busy fighting for leverage in the freezing whirlpool and trying to avoid suffocation to respond.

“Do you expect to wield me with that sort of resolve? With the kind of attitude that has caused this storm to ravage your subconscious?”

Lexi suddenly halted her movements entirely, though it was hard to tell when the currents were throwing her around like she was as limp as a rag. The voice was her zanpakuto’s, she was sure of it, and that meant that the tranquil eye of her inner hurricane she had grown familiar with had somehow become this tempestuous deathtrap.

What … what the hell is going on? Inner worlds change when people have particularly strong emotions, don’t they? That was what they said in the academy! But … I haven’t felt happy or sad or angry at all! I’ve just been kind of … detached and empty the entire time. What could’ve caused THIS to happen?

“What do you think? You haven’t had any resolve since meeting your former taichou! Even your initial desire to gain strength was crushed by his reappearance, and once your unlocked the ring, you were completely without any objective! You think that just because you haven’t felt emotional lately, you haven’t caused this? … Maybe you haven’t noticed, but your subconscious is currently redefining the very meaning of turbulence. If you think you can deny that you’re feeling anything, then you can forget about ever leaving that water.”

Lexi was falling into the dark abyss faster than ever, and her oxygen levels were reflecting that.

Then … just what is there to feel? I don’t feel anything at all. In fact, I don’t think I can even feel this water, even though it’s completely surrounding me and throwing me everywhere. I just feel … completely numb, and nothing else. What’s happening?

If it began with Felix … then what was it that happened? He only gave me cryptic warnings about Soul Society, and a ring that let me start talking to you prematurely. Neither of which I acted upon … I just got lucky while I was taking a nap in the dirt. But …

That FUCKER! I knew I’d recognized the reiatsu traces from that ring! It didn’t just help me enter this inner world; it drugged me with its reiatsu as well! No wonder I trusted him so easily! No wonder I’ve been so unfeeling these last couple of days! No wonder I haven’t noticed while my subconscious has been going through all hell and high water!

Lexi allowed the current to twist her body around so that she was facing the sky. Suddenly, the temperature dropped to the point where she wished she’d still been under the influence of Felix’s drug. For the first time, too, she realized she was completely drenched, and that she was falling at quite an alarming rate, and nearly out of oxygen at the same time.

There’s just one thing he didn’t count on … this is MY MIND, and he’s not breaking into it.

She rose out the water in a split second, hovering over it, almost like an angel. The water, though still frothing madly, had quieted by a fair amount, and the wind blowing on every side of her even seemed tranquil compared to its previous state. On the lonely island in the middle of it all stood her zanpakuto spirit, looking just as bedraggled as herself, but giving her a rare smile nonetheless.

“You’ve passed your test this time, child, and you are nearly worthy of knowing my name. However, our time is now up. You’ve got inter-species rape to prevent now.”

With a flick of her fingers, Lexi was sent reeling back into blackness without even a chance to answer. Being sucked in and out of her own skull wasn’t so new to her anymore, though it was still a bit of a jarring experience when she awoke trapped inside the ribcage of her least favorite stalker hollow in the world. The fact that Julia appeared to be running away with her didn’t help matters either.

(sachiko, if mystic's told you the plan, go ahead and continue ;o)

[~Sachiko~]

She really despised that purple haired man, always interrupting her when she was having fun. Well...she admitted she did try to eat that one soul he was guarding...but this time was different. No one would cut her time with her pet short, besides, she had special plans for this one. As she sped away, she felt her toy stir, causing her clothes to ruffle against her skin. Hmmm that feels nice. "Oh, I see you are awake Pet-chan!!! You'll have lots of fun the place we're going, I guarantee it."

It was strange, lately her body had felt a little off. She felt a strong urge to eat her fellow hollows. Never thought cannibalism would be on my list of things I'd like to do...o well." It's not like she would be eating her friends or anything. What tastes good, tastes good eh? She looked back over to her pet, "I know some people who would just love to meet you."

Course, she felt the presence of the party crasher coming. [I]Stupid annoying man...how he runs so fast I'll never know She turned to face him, "Buzz off, I don't care if she's your subordinate or whatever, she is 'MY' pet." She opened up a gate back t Hueco Mundo, "Maybe I'll give her back to you when I'm done. Bye bye."

[Mystic Serenade]

Despite his efforts to get there as soon as possible, he could do nothing to stop the hollow as he watched them disappear into the void of the garganta. "Shit...not good." The situation had taken a turn for the worse indeed, but theres no way he'd let another one of his important people get hurt now. He headed back to Soul Society as quickly as he could, he'd need to make special preparations for this.

His first order of business was to get to the 4th Division headquarters. Once he arrived, he asked the receptionist were he could find Lune, seemed she was on her lunch break. He found her as fast as he could. "I'm going to need your help again?"

"it's Lexi again, isn't it?" she inquired back quietly.

"Yea...this situation is a bit special though. I'll explain later, we're going to see your older brother," he said as he grabbed unto Lune's hand in a rush to get going quickly, causing her to blush slightly at the sudden contact.

"Wait wait," she resisted and pulled to a stop. "W-why do we need to go see my brother?" This request was a bit unwarranted. Why would a captain need to be involved?

He sighed, "Look, the situation she's in at the moment...I can't handle it on my own, and I need access to certain privileges of his."

"...where is she..."

Oh man...this wouldn't be easy... "She's been captured and taken to Hueco Mundo," he finally said.

This answer came as a bit of shock to Lune, sure she wanted to help Lexi and be her support...but to go into enemy territory...she wasn't so sure. "H-Hu-Hueco Mundo? Why me? I'm...I'm not so sure I'm ready for such a thing. I'm pretty sure a more higher seated member could..."

"It can only be you," he interrupted. "If we want to get this as done as quickly as possible it has to be you."

"But..."

"Don't worry, Your brother will be there to protect you. I'll be there to protect you. Now come on, let's go." A long silence soon followed.

"A-alright," she finally said.

Keiji and Lune made their way quickly to 3rd Division headquarters. The various shinigami were a bit curious as to why the 12th division fukutaichou had arrived with their taichou's younger sister. However, Keiji ignored any inquiries as he quickly made his way outside Cres' office, there was no time for it. "Wait outside," he told Lune as he knocked on the door.

"Come in," came a voice from th other side.

Keiji opened the door and stood before the 3rd Division taichou. He made a formal bow, "12th Division's Fukutaichou Otowari Keiji reporting. Requesting assistance for the immediate rescue and retrieval of Lexi Hunter from Hueco Mundo."

Cres dropped the pen he was using and shot Keiji a look mixed with worry and inquisition, "What? She's in Hueco Mundo?" He collected himself, "How did this happen?"

"She was defeated in battle and captured by a hollow while on a mission," he tried to keep his cool, "I engaged the hollow in combat...but was unable to stop it before it escaped."

"I see..." he said while getting up "All right ... and I'm assuming you haven't received permission to follow through with this?"

"You really think we have the time to wait to for all the paperwork and approval to get done?"

"Heh, okay. I can get us into there. Do you have any information on where inside it she might be?"

"Yes." Good thing I only got around to disabling the sound on the tracking device.

"Excellent. We'll have to go to a more secluded place to open the gate, so if you'll follow me ..."

"By the way, Lune is coming," his comment made Cres suddenly stop in his tracks.

"And may I ask why?" he asked, a bit hostile in tone.

"We need a healer, she's perfect," he said back.

"No, its too dangerous, I can't allow this," he said authoritatively.

"Look I came to you specifically for a reason. I know you'd help with this and the same goes for Lune, we can't risk stirring up too much commotion if we want to get this done fast. Besides, shes the most familiar with Lexi, she's the best choice," he challenged back.

"I don't care, this is too ludicrous, Hueco Mundo is too dangerous a..."

"I-I agreed to this big brother," broke in Lune as she entered.

"Arg..." he said conflicted on the matter. "Alright if you insist that this is really necessary fine. Now follow me."

The place was not really something Keji expected, When do people get the time to build these things...

"Alright kids, here we go," Cres said as he opened up garganta. "Remember, imagine and form a path with your reiatsu and then traverse that path...Shall we?"

Keiji looked on in surprise, it was the first time he had seen on up so close. He prepared to step through until Cres pulled him back a little.

"Look, I like Lexi as much as the next guy, but if anything were to happen to Lune during this ordeal, I'll have you demoted so fast you'll be teaching lessons to the "slow" kids at the academy," he whispered a bit threateningly.

"Heh, don't worry about it, I'll make sure she's okay."

"You better," Cres said a bit more calmly now, "I hear a lot about you from those two you know, I hope what they say about your capability is true."

"Don't worry, I won't disappoint you," he said with a small chuckle, finally stepping across into the darkness.

[~Sachiko~]

Finally within the relative safety of Hueco Mundo and away from the reach of that purple-haired man, Julia felt a little bit more at ease. "Annoying shinigami..." She then looked down back to her current captive, "But you're a nice shinigami aren't you pet-chan," patting its head, "completely harmless fufu." She then headed towards the usual place she did when she came back to this sea of white sand, her prize in tow.

"Hey girls, guess what I brought in today!" She said enthusiastically.

There was a bit of stirring and soon Eva responded, "Oh what do we have here."

"You actually captured one of these things alive?" questioned Lily

Marylyn took this opportunity to interject, "Bah she's so puny," poking at one of its breast, "you think we can even use her?"

"Of course," exclaimed Julia, "She's perfect." She finally released her pet-chan from her spines to let her fall unceremoniously to the ground. She then picker her up with both hands and licked her face, "She tastes good too, another bonus and reason she's perfect. Just from smelling her reiatsu you can tell how tasty she is."

"She's a bit quiet," said Eva disappointedly.

"It's better that way, her mouth is so dirty. Pet-chan is more cute when she doesn't talk."

"So you really think this plan will work?" asked Lily.

"I'm positive it will. Lina, Merill, Charlotte, and Rosaria are gillian already. We can't fall too behind!" She wrapped her arms around her pet-chan and licked her face once more. "She's the perfect hollow bait," she then said a bit darkly.

[Dizzy]

Okay, okay. Don’t panic, Lexi. Sure you’re in the middle of enemy territory, surrounded by a bunch of gang rapist hollows and your stalker’s talking about using you as bait, but that’s no reason to panic. … Actually, screw it. Panicking sounds pretty good right about now.

Hueco Mundo was exactly as Azul had described it to her – completely empty, covered in drifting white sands and dead-looking trees. Blanketed by a starless midnight sky, with no structures or anything for at least a hundred miles, it was simply a vast desert. Was this truly the world of hollows? It felt almost surreal to actually be here – as far as she could tell, no other shinigami she knew had ever even set foot in this desolate place. She turned her attention back to the hollows, as one of them had just tried to feel her up.

Suddenly, she felt herself being released from the ribcage and she landed softly on the sand, before being picked up by her assailant and licked. Lexi ignored this, and the hollow’s next few words, as she’d just noticed that she was nearly healed … and not only that, but her zanpakuto had returned to its rightful place at the scabbard mounted beside her right hip.

Interesting … I wasn’t aware that my zanpakuto could do that … even more so when I haven’t even achieve my initial release. … I think maybe I can catch them by surprise while they’re talking if I do it right … now!

“Hadou #4, Byakurai,” she murmured, pointing her index finger into Julia’s mask. Her reiatsu charged itself into her finger and built up quickly, taking on the tangible form of crackling electricity before shooting off like a bullet. The hollow wasn’t hurt – no, it hadn’t even left a mark, but it had distracted her enough for Lexi to kick it off of her and draw her sword.

She landed in the midst of the congregation of hollows, reiatsu rising like a swelling river.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t quite plan on becoming bait tonight.”

---

Cres, Keiji, and after much coaxing, Lune as well, had finally broken through into the hollow world. The air had a pungent stink to it, like several things had died nearby recently. They appeared to be in a hallway, possibly underground from the windowless look of it. The walls were a bland, plain white, indifferent from the ceiling or floor, and without any sort of way to tell the room from any other.

Cres stepped forwards and surveyed the passage with a look of curiosity, his captain's haori billowing out behind him. “Hmm, this is interesting. I’ve never actually visited … but from what I can tell, this is part of the Hueco Mundo Underground, a vast series of passageways stretching underneath all of Hueco Mundo. We’ll just have to find our way out to the overworld, I suspect, and most of these passages have guardians … if it was just an ordinary hollow that kidnapped Lexi, it’ll save us a lot of time. If not … well, I’ll just say that invading the citadel won’t be a fun experience.”

Lune clung to his arm and shivered, staring apprehensively down both empty sides of the hall. Cres looked downwards at her and patted her head reassuringly before turning to Keiji.

“Well, you said you’ve got a clue as to where she is, so lead the way.”

[Mystic Serenade]

"Sure thing," he said as he pulled out a tracking device. Good...it can still track her signal in this place. Looks like she's not that far off either. "This way."

They continued down the hallway, concealing their reiatsu as much as they could as to not attract unwanted attention. For the moment Lune was being carried by Cres as she would have not been able to keep up the two using shyunpo. It was a good thing that Keiji was the one leading, he'd hate to imagine trying to follow whatever pace the taichou could set. Keiji was a little surprised at what he saw of the this world so far as he sped through the hallway, the make-up of Hueco Mundo was never explained in depth much at the academy besides the fact it was were hollow lived. He would have never guessed that they had something this elaborate in place.

After a while, they soon had arrived in a large open room and it was here Cres suddenly came to a stop. "Hey, I'm going to ask you to watch over Lune for a while," he said putting her down and directing her to go over to Keiji.

"What for, its only a little bit further until we get out and..."

His sentence was soon interrupted as he witnessed Cres draw out his zanpakuto to block and object that had suddenly dropped from the ceiling. The object then rolled away and Keiji was surprised to see the once ball like object break apart into different armored appendages and held in its hand a zanpakuto. "I am the arrancar Dagmar Richter, as protector of this passage way I shall not let you to pass into Las Noches."

Keiji was a bit shocked to see one of these slightly humanoid hollow, they were supposed to be extremely rare or something...yet Cres seemed to expect such a thing as a normality. Arrancar? What in the world are we doing fighting one of these...

"Oh, but Ms. Arrancar we don't wish to visit Las Noches. You see, we're just here to pick up a friend of ours who simply has been misplaced you see. Would you have the kindness to just let this taichou and his companions pass without conflict hmm?"

"As if shinigami scum, you'd think I'd just let you, a taichou pass here so easily? No, you will die here. The arrancar slung her blade over her shoulder, "Whorl, Circu..."

At that moment Cres had disappeared and was seen again behind the arrancar. "I thought I told you should have let us pass without conflict..." The arrancar's head then dropped from its body and began to wither away. "Anyhow I think its about time to leave this place don't you agree?"

Keiji looked on in awe for a moment before coming back to his senses. "Wait a second...what is this Las Noches and why are we in such a dangerous spot to run into one of the mythical arrancar in the first place?"

"Ah, you'll find out those things soon enough one day. I will have to ask you to keep quiet about the use of this passage way as I have agreed to keep secret about us coming here, that goes for you too Lune," he said as he sheathed his zanpakuto. "Now as this place seems to have begun to collapse, mind leading the way once again Otowari Keiji?"

Indeed with the arrancar's death the building was indeed beginning to collapse, Keiji had no qualms about leaving this place as soon as possible. Once outside he took notice of a gigantic white structure before them. He glanced at Cres, Just what kind of passageway did he make us use anyway...

Noticing that Cres had become aware of his stare, Keiji returned to looking at his device. "She's this way, lets go. It won't take long," he said pointing in the opposite direction of the gigantic white structures thankfully. With that they had set off once again and he hoped that arrancar back there had no direct relation to the hollow they were after at the moment.

[~Sachiko~]

Julia looked on with slight amusement. "Good show, good show Pet-chan. Your little tricks never cease to amuse me," she laughed. "You seemed to have healed too."

Her expression then turned into something bit darker, "However your way of thinking is too naive Pet-chan. How is it that you expect to beat the four us, them being close to my level mind you, when you don't even have a ghost of a chance against me?"

"Be a good girl and accept your fate, hmmm Pet-chan." Just a bit more she thought.

[Dizzy]

Lexi stared all around herself and wondered exactly how she had achieved this entirely too dangerous position. Apart from the captor herself, three other hollows surrounded her, all of them presumably near-gillian, if Julia’s words were to be trusted. Her eyes darted left to right, searching for a weak link within the circle. Her assailant seemed to be the stronger, just from measuring reiatsu signatures alone, but she couldn’t rely on that alone as evidence. The green-haired shinigami perused her kidnappers more intently, searching for a way out. The snakelike hollow with the horn seemed too powerful for her to elude for sure … she turned her attention to the remaining two - the butterfly and the scorpion. On any normal day, she’d have picked the butterfly, but the scorpion actually seemed to have been recently wounded … in fact, oddly familiar marks … that looked like they might have been caused by a particular scythe …

Lexi looked between her captor and the scorpion … there did seem like there was a vague bit of animosity between the two … an attack on this one would be least likely to elicit a response, and perhaps give her a greater chance of escaping. The butterfly … it was much more of a gamble, since it hardly seemed to be emanating any reiatsu at all … either it was pathetically weak or was skilled enough with reiatsu to shield it from being perceived entirely. Considering that the rest of this gang of hollows had not decided to consume it yet, she set her mind on the latter. Besides, she was pretty sure it had been the scorpion who’d felt her up anyhow.

Turning back to the scorpion, she quickly blasted a lower-level kidou into the sand below her, one that would do practically no damage at all but have a large impact, raising a ruckus and sending sand flying everywhere – the perfect distraction. One of the hollows screeched profanities into the dusty air, and a claw slashed into where her head had been just a few seconds ago.

“Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, HITO no na o kansu mono yo! Shounetsu to sōran, umihedate sakamaki minami e to ho o susume yo!”

The shinigami darted backwards, charging reiatsu quickly into her right hand. It flowed through her veins like water gushing from a tap, growing larger and larger all the while. The spirit energy inside her burst outwards onto her hand, growing into dancing flames that flickered madly over her fingers. On her other hand, the rise had been quieter, though still significant. Rather than taking the tangible form of fire, this reiatsu had instead evolved into crackling thunder, glowing with raw attacking power and surging forth from her index finger. She placed her hands together, left pointing into the right, and the energy gushing out was suddenly increased threefold – perhaps enough to be a serious threat to even hollows of this caliber. The aura itself hovering over her hands was truly a sight to behold, golden flames dancing a chaotic waltz between them, electricity jumping to fuel it as well. She flash-stepped forwards out of the smokescreen and found herself in a perfect position – right in front of her chosen target.

“Shakkaho! Byakurai! Torrent of Fire Lightning!”

She released it, and it burst forth through the sky, tearing the very atmosphere of Hueco Mundo apart in its warpath towards Marylyn’s face.

Great, thought Lexi grimly as she sped herself as fast as she could in that direction, even if the attack did work, I bet I’ve already attracted a bloody boatload of hollows.

(umm yeah ... go ahead and make up whatever happens to lexi. she shouldn't be able to escape or deal any critical damage, but marylyn to ought at least be pretty damaged and pissed off)

[~Sachiko~]

(Well for one, since you seem to be referring to that one rp thread, Julia sorta ripped off her own arm and got it back pretty quick so I'm not really sure why Marylyn still has scars from that fight, oh well plotkai.)

Marylyn felt some slight pain from the mixture of lightning and fire that smacked her straight in the face. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!!!" Fueled with rage she sped her way right in front of the fleeing girl and grabbed her around the waist with one of her clawed appendages. "I'LL POP THAT STUPID FUCKING KIDOU CHANTING MOUTH RIGHT OFF YOUR HEAD!!!!! she roared as she placed her other claw at the shinigami's neck. Blood began pouring from where the claw had already dug holes in its body, decorating her claw with intoxicating streams of red.

"O man this is going to be soooo awesome," said Eva, "I call dibs on her legs."

Julia soon intervened however, "Now now, remember she needs to be alive for what we need her for." She then looked out towards the horizon, "though, she is about to serve her purpose from the looks of it."

"Julia-sama has decided your fate, you will not be able to escape it..." said Lily.

"That is correct Lily-chan," she said while patting her head. She then turned her attention back to her Pet-chan, prying her out of Marylyn's grasp, "You see Pet-chan, your reiatsu is so delicious, I bet that little flare of yours has attracted hundreds, maybe even thousands of hollows from miles around. But don't worry Pet-chan I won't let them touch you, well maybe not directly that is." She wrapped one arm around Pet-chan's waist and another slung around her chest, "You're just the best aren't you. Now have a nice final lick with me in this form." She moved her tongue across the girl's face.

Soon, hollow had appeared from far and wide to surround this small group, "Well now, looks like we have company. Do your thing Pet-chan!!!" she said as she tossed the young girl a few meters off to the closest group of other hollow.

[Mystic Serenade]

The trio continued their race against time across the sands of Hueco Mundo, who knew how long it would be before it would be too late to rescue their companion. Keiji looked over to tracking device and came to a sudden stop. Not good...

Cres seeing this also came to a stop, "What's wrong?"

"It's Lexi, its a bit strange. Her reiatsu signature was stable just a moment ago, but now its just jumped all over the place and has now gone really low for some reason." He looked back up, "We need to hurry." He soon noticed that Lune had a look of great fear in her eyes. "Lune, what's wro..."

His question was quickly cut off as he observed numerous shadows moving along the ground. When he looked up to see what it was he was baffled, hundreds of hollow were flying across the skies, all converging to a single point in the horizon. It was were the tracker pinpointed Lexi's location. Shit...what have you gotten yourself into now... "Cres Taichou, I think it's pretty clear where her location is now, I request that you move on ahead."

"Oh, and what will you be doing?" he cocked one eye-brow up in question.

"Don't worry, I'll be there ahead of you," he said as he unsheathed his zanpakuto.

"Heh, if you say so." He turned his attention back to Lune, "Hold on tight, I'll be going faster than I was before," and soon all that could be seen of Cres' were large clouds of sand displaced by his movement.

"Well now, time to put this ability to the test in real time." He held out both zanpakuto, ready to call out his shikai. "Ready for prime time eh you two?"

================================================== ===

Things were certainly not looking good for Lexi, what with the endless wave of hollow streaming about her already ravaged body. Though, Lexi was never one to give up, no even if she could lift her zanpakuto, she'd keep fighting until every bone in her body was shattered, every limb torn apart, and every drop of blood flowed out her body. Some of the weaker hollow close by found this out quickly albeit dying from it. However it was only a matter of time before her stamina would run out and she would fall to this swarm of hollow.

They had gone into some sort of feeding frenzy, many of them had begun to even attack each other in blind hunger and even if she were to fire a shakkoho to dispatch a group too occupied to dodge, more just filled their place. Wish they'd just all kill each other and leave me alone...

It was only moments before she gave the last swing she felt she could muster, loosening the grip on her zanpakuto and letting it fall to the sand below. "Shit...move damn it... FUCKING MOVE!!!!" she yelled, cursing her own body. But no matter how willing the mind is, the body will give up a lot sooner than convenient. The many hollow close enough to notice that the girl was no longer a threat soon began to close in, ready to feast on the rarity that was a shinigami's flesh. Damn...what a shitty ass way to die...

At that moment however, a strange darkness pooled out from underneath many of the hollow and bound their bodies in place, pulling them within its grasp. They yelped and roared in surprise at their sudden inability to move, which were soon silenced as many spears of light rained down from the heavens, piercing their bodies. What the bloody hell... thought the girl.

At that moment two chakram, distinctly different from one another tore out of the darkness and tore through many more of the hollow, shrieking in pain and horror. One darker than the blackest moonless night, the other shining brighter than the morning sun. They soon came back to the place they emerged from and two hands shot out from it to stop them. The owner of these hands soon rose out from the darkness beneath. "So you miss me?" Otowari Keiji had arrived.

[Dizzy]

“Heh,” panted Lexi. “You always do like to wait until the perfect moment arrives, don’t you.”

Keiji Otowari stood before her, having just dispatched an entire regiment of hollows with his newly acquired initial release. Lexi had to admit it - it did look impressive. Two chakram, one emanating enough light to be mistaken for the sun, and one siphoning it away, creating a dreamlike sort of darkness that just seemed to hang it the air, truly a sight to behold.

Black and white, eh? Interesting enough. Sure explains why he had two zanpakuto.

She allowed Keiji to help her regain a standing position, leaning heavily into her new vice-captain, sword out to fend off potential surprise attacks. Julia and her kin were a ways off, feasting on the unsuspecting hollow masses, but that didn’t lessen the effect of the colossal army by very much. She never would’ve thought that her Torrent of Fire Lightning would attract quite this many … hell, it wasn’t even anything more than an over-dramatization of two ordinary kidou spells, and she didn’t think shinigami could be that much tastier than ordinary souls. Could this also have been Felix’s work? She doubted it … it was one thing to drug her to coerce her into siding with him, but another thing entirely to convert her into an aphrodisiac for hollows.

“So,” she grimaced, “you decided you’re going to take on half the hollows in Hueco Mundo with just a fancy lightshow? How on Earth did you get in here, anyways?”

“Heh, your words of thanks are much appreciated as always. As to how I got here …”

Keiji trailed off, pointing off into the distance. A small group of hollows literally exploded in the background, miscellaneous pieces of them flying helter-skelter all over the place as Cres Aurea dashed out of the congregation and through another on his way to landing besides them, Lune in one hand, zanpakuto in the other.

“Heh, fast little bugger, aren’t you,” he grinned at Keiji, before staring off into the masses of hollows, who by now cleared away from them, clearly not wanting to die. “It’s kind of incredibile, isn’t it, standing off against an entire battalion of hollows and menos alike, right in the heart of enemy territory … anyways,” he drew his zanpakuto and raised his fingers to perform the kidou that would allow them flight from Hueco Mundo, “it’s about time we left, from the looks of Lexi's condition. Lune, see if you can heal her a bit before we go.”

Lexi had to agree with Cres, it was pretty incredible. But not for the beauty of the standoff or whatever, it was that Keiji, Cres, and even Lune would be willing to come all this way just for her, and by the looks of it, break about a hundred Soul Society laws in the process and start some kind of Hueco Mundo civil war. She smiled as Cres opened the gate back to Soul Society, and gave the hollow world one last look before turning to leave.

Heh, guess this wasn’t such a bad day after all.

(alright, julia might as well conclude her own story, and i guess we'll end on mystic's post and maybe have time to pick up points for the week XD)

[~Sachiko~]

Hmmm didn't get any better than this. Amongst friends and feasting together upon a plentiful feast of other hollow. She looked over to her Pet-chan. The plan had gone more wonderfully than she had expected. She didn't quite expect her to really attract this many. But the continuous flow of hollow and the carnage that followed just seemed to bring more and more. She had to be careful to not lose herself in this frenzy.

She soon noticed that the purple-haired man appeared once again, and was killing off a large number of hollow. How the hell did he get here... O how she'd love to rip off that stupid little head of his and punt it into the distance, but she was more than occupied now. In fact, it was taking a collaborative effort for the four of them to stay alive. Besides, there was more than enough to make up for the ones he killed.

Lily took it upon herself to fly around in the skies, sprinkling a paralyzing dust that would seriously hinder the movement of any hollow weaker than themselves. This however put her in an incredibly vulnerable position to get mobbed by masses of hollow. Julia aided as much as she could, expertly sniping those that got too close with streams of acid. Eva and Marylyn worked their way through any hollow that had been strong enough to still move despite the paralyzing dust that danced around the air around them.

Eva grabbed two hollow by their skulls and slammed together in a display of spraying blood and shattered bone, "Hows it looking on your end, eh Marylyn?"

"Just fine, worry about yourself horn-face," she said, crushing the head of two hollow within her pincers and impaled through the back another that approached too close.

"Geez...grouch," she punched a hole through another's stomach and tore its head off.

Soon Lily floated down to join them, "I have exhausted my paralyzing dust..."

"That's fine, now we just kick lots of ass," she extended both her spines and claws to impale a large group.

"I see...Julia-sama." Lily flapped her wings and caught up another large amount within gusts and flows of wind, disorientating them and sending them crashing unto the ground.

After a good while and many fallen hollow afterwards, they began to feast. It didn't matter if they were alive or dead, they feasted on the fallen, careful not to lose themselves. Indeed it was quite the difficult task. Julia could feel it bite after bite, the consciousness of the hollow she feasted upon merging with her mind, attempting to drown out her mind till it was not "I", but a mindless collection of "we". But she would not allow such a thing to happen.

And it was then she felt it, a complete change welling up within her, the countless number of hollow she feasted on merging with her body, becoming one with her. She let out a feral cry, shouting in madness. As she continued to yell, hollow alive and dead alike began to be drawn to her body, becoming one with it. As she screamed she looked around and could see that the same was happening to her companions. It took everything she had to keep her sanity, to not lose to the countless mind, identities, and existences that bombarded hers. She would not lose her individuality.

Then it was all over, and she picked herself up in her new form, towering over the other hollow. She glanced over to her companions, "Well doesn't it feel good to finally become menos grande hmmm?" As she surveyed the land she noticed her Pet-chan and her companions had managed to open a portal to escape. We'll meet again...Pet-chan...

[Mystic Serenade]

Keiji looked back as well, and noticed some new menos had arose. "Well then, we managed to save Lexi, time to get out before our new guest get to say hello to us." With that he too stepped into the portal, firing off a number of byakurai at any hollow still nearby to prevent any unwanted guests from following.

It was quite comical once they returned to the space in between dimensions. Lexi having been considerably wiped of everything she had due to the recent experience, was having slight difficulty shaping a path correctly with the bountiful reishi that floated about. Stubborn girl would probably yell my head off if I tried to offer help too...

Before long they managed to return to the place were Cres had first opened up the portal. "Well that was a fun trip, wasn't it kiddies," he stated somewhat a bit too cheerily for the occasion.

"Yes a wonderful trip...in fact I think I might want to take this trip every weekend. Get molested by hollows and look death in the face every Saturday, wonderful plan," grumbled Lexi.

She soon found herself being embraced tightly by a teary-eyed Lune, "I-I-I'm s-so-soo glad you're o-ok-okay!"

"Gah, you're embarrassing me Lune," she said trying to pry her friend off. "Stop crying already."

"Okay...but you're coming to 4th Division Headquarters with me for a proper check-up," she stated.

"Bah, I'm perfectly fine. Besides that horrendous experience took out a good portion of my day, I got things to do. So if you excuse me I'll just head this way thank you very..." she soon found herself unable to move any part of her body an inch.

"I think a trip to the 4th Division medical facility is a wonderful idea," said a smiling Cres. "Have a nice trip you two."

Lune soon disappeared with a less than happy Lexi in tow. "Gotta love those two."

"Right, right," said Keiji a bit tired from his experiences. "Except one really is a boatload of trouble."

"That she is, but its a charming point don't you think."

Keiji gave looked at the man as if he were insane.

"Anyway I need to be off, I'm a bit late for an important meeting."

To this Keiji was surprised, "What meeting?"

"Didn't you get the memo? The new soutaichou is supposed to be inaugurated today. Its a bit troublesome that someone of our rank and stature show up late to such an important event don't you think?"

"O damn..." he had completely forgotten. "We're so screwed." With that he sped off as fast as he could. What an impression I'm making as the new fukutaichou...