Invaders into Hueco Mundo!

[Primera Espada]

a warble in space causes an opening from the Soul Society to a desert realm, one of perpetual night.

There, 6 people enter.

These shinigami must first and foremost find... a decent location to house their efforts...

In the distance there is a strange structure, it looks ancient, decrepit, and huge. Surely, menos once used this place, but no longer.

[Mystic Serenade]

After emerging from the portal, Keiji surveyed the area around him. The scenery sure didn't change much from his last visit he duly noted in his mind, the same endless sea of white sand. He'd hate to imagine what it must be like to be a hollow, having such a place for a home. He wondered what they did for fun anyway besides running around killing and eating...well if they even considered that fun that is.

Satisfied that there was no immediate source of danger in the area, he gazed at those who had arrived in this barren world with him. There was Lexi of course, but the other four he was not so familiar with.

When he had heard there was to be a mission in Hueco Mundo for data collection purposes, he prepared immediately. He just obtained the position, but that didn't change the fact that he was now the 12th Division's taichou. It wasn't like he could refuse a research mission. That said this was a good a chance as any to do some good and make use of this opportunity to do some good quality research.

Though...looking over at his companions he really had to wonder what the higher ups Soul Society was thinking. None of them seemed strong enough individually to take on a menos of even the gillian level with the exception of Lexi of course, but even then only the weaker ones. He was expecting a bit more in the way of protection. Of course, he never really planned on fighting anything here as that wasn't the goal of this mission. As long as they kept a low profile they should avoid any major trouble. As a group, they should be fine against most opponents...but a little guarantee wouldn't have hurt in the rare case they’d have gotten attacked by a group of menos or something.

Heh…got to stop being so pessimistic and make do with what’s provided I suppose.

Spying the large structure ahead, he quickly did a reiatsu scan just to make sure there wasn't anything too powerful in that direction. Having found nothing too worrisome, he decided to direct the group in that direction.

"Alright, so how about we set up camp for tonight, wouldn't do good to pitch a tent up in the middle of nowhere eh?"

[blackluster]

Shuga was greeted with a sandy gust of wind as soon he emerged from the portal. Several grains got into his eyes obscuring his vision.

Dammit, he thought, trying to clear his eyes which were tearing profusely. He hadn't been to Hueco Mundo before, and he didn't pay much attention to the lessons about it in the Academy. All he knew was that hollows gathered here. When he signed up for it, it seemed like it would make a good break from the murderous training regime 3rd division members were currently suffering under.

A recon mission shouldn't be that bad. I mean, it's not like we are here to start a fight.

Despite having seen his companions before, Shuga didn't really recognize them. To say he is bad with faces would be an understatement. He was just looking to get along with and everyone and see some cool stuff along the way.

Desolate and dangerous places didn't really bother Shuga anymore.

Considering where I've come from ...

As he finally cleared his eyes he caught a glimpse of the shinigami called Keiji looking back uncertainly at the rest of the group. This caused Shuga to examine the group more closely.

I didn't really notice, but it doesn't really seem like any of us are specialized for recon except the one called Altair. Where have I seen him before ....?

Shuga's train of thought was interrupted by Keiji's suggestion of a camping spot. He looked over at the massive abandoned structure. Looking closely he thought he saw something flutter in the wind and disappear at the structure's highest point.

Was that ..., nah its probably this sand that affected my eyes.

Even though Shuga strained, he could barely sense the reiatsu of the shinigami standing right next to him.

Erm... Keiji-dono... are you certain it is safe? It looks rather... decrepit.

[tari101190]

Kai arrived in the desert plains og huenco mundo along with the other shinigami who went through the portal. One of the others seemed to immediately take charge. Kai was used to taking orders...but this time he wanted to explore alone.

Not really wanting to wait around, Kai made sure had had enough essentials to keep him going for a while, then started to part with his teammates.

"Yeah...go ahead. Sorry 'bout this, but i don't really wanna sit around rght away. i want to explore for a while before i rest. I'm sure you can put up a tent without me? I'll do my share later i guess. Sorry."

Atleast one of the others had something to say about his attitude, but he just walked off ignoring them.

Sorry 'bout this guys...not trying to start trouble. Ijust need to go surveY the area, check out few things...maybe find a few guys to give me information.

So this is Huenco Mundo huh? Just alot of sand, trees, sand and..what the? A building? I thought only hollows lived around here? They couldn't have buIlt that. Or perhaps they did. Well, i found my first destination.

Later guys...

Kai immediately began is trek towards the large building in the distance.

[Vizard_King]

Altair entered the morbid home of the Hollows.
Altair sighed. "Now.... We have work to do."
Altair looked at the current Stand In leader of squad 12.
"What is our next move,Sir?"
Altair noticed Shugo looked a little nervous.
"Be calm, Shugo-san. Thos well be good pratice for us all. And I well be interested in seeing how I can adapt to a terrain with little or no cover."

[Kyoudai]

As he stepped through the portal, Kyoudai's eyes adjusted to the light. Kyoudai surveyed the landscape, seeing only white sand as far as the eye can see. The only things breaking up this desolate landscape were dead trees, also white. However, sticking out like a sore thumb in the distance was a giant building, looking to be in ruin.

This place is very desolate...Real deserts have more landscaping then this place. I don't even know if you could call it a desert.... So, this is Hueco Mundo. Home to the Hollows....And that big building in the distance. I suppose the Hollows stayed in it, but it looks far from hospitable. My geuss is that it hasn't been used in a long time. I never knew Hollows were capable of building structures, either...

Kyoudai looked at his companions, all of them strangers except for Altair. He noticed none of them were very strong fighters, excluding the one named Lexi. Kyoudai had eagerly agreed to this mission, glad to get some more over at him. As Keiji spoke, Kyoudai looked over at him.

"Yes, you are right. We should probably make our way towards that large structure."

Kyoudai used his spiritual energy to sense around the area, feeling, hearing, seeing everything. He searched first around their immediate area, and then forward on the way they would take to reach the structure. After that he searched the structure itself, and the area around it. To his satisfaction he found no traces of Hollows anywhere near them.

"I don't sense any Hollows, do you? I think it is safe to say we can reach the structure without any trouble. We should get going before any Hollow do appear, this is their home, they would be able to find and overcome us easily."

[Vizard_King]

Altair nodded at Kyoudai's statment "Yes, so it seems. But it is best to be safe." The hair on the back of Altair's covered neck stood on end.
It felt like he was being watched.
Aizen? No, he calls himself a God, but all he is is a powerful Shinigami with a God Complex.
Aizen reminded him of something an old friend once said about a man from Persia who fancied himself a God. He and 300 of his fellow warriors fought a massive army and his King was able to make a God-King bleed.
Altair's mouth curled into a smile for the first time in awhile "Aizen...I promise to make you bleed."

[Dizzy]

Lexi limped purposefully through the portal, into the windy desert that the hollow population called home. Her long green ponytail billowing out behind her in the wind, she gazed around the sand-coated landscape. Hueco Mundo looked practically identical to what it had been when she’d last entered, the only difference being that she wasn’t hanging inside a hollow’s ribcage this time.

She leaned more heavily into her crutch, wincing a bit as she did. Had it all been a dream? The skirmish with Keiji in which he’d become completely insane and nearly killed her before she’d managed to figure out her zanpakuto’s trick … had she really been unconscious the entire week? She gave her newly appointed captain a glance. If it’d been real, it made sense that he’d want to cover it up … sudden attacks of insanity don’t tend to go well on one’s résumé … and it had just seemed too real to have been a vision. She’d achieved her shikai for sure, and her body had been battered beyond belief - enough so that she’d needed to use the healing spring for hours just to be cleared for the mission. Still, the combined denial of Lune and Tempestas had been enough to convince her. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her attention back towards the mission.

This reeks of deception here … who in their right minds would send these amateurs here? Keiji and I are representing the 12th I can see, since collecting and analyzing data‘s a pretty big part of this mission, but a bunch of shinigami who don‘t even have a release? I only achieved it a few days ago, and even for Keiji, it‘s only been just over a month. Only Keiji and I could even fight a menos ... the others I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen before, so I shouldn‘t judge them right away, but their reiatsu levels hardly even register.

I took this mission to keep myself from facing taichou … even with Tempestas‘ help, I don‘t think I‘m ready to confront him yet … but he may be right about Soul Society. I feel like we‘re decoys here - meaningless distractions to be sacrificed in the name of progress, while the higher-ups pull who knows what behind our backs. Soul Society probably wants to scare the populace with our deaths or something.

Haha, pessimism is fun. Probably rewarding, too.

She looked around airily - the general consensus was that they were to set up a base in the ancient-looking building a little bit over to her left. Fair enough, seeing as they were planning on being trapped there for days. Last time she’d been here, there was a bit too much of a menos civil war to do much, but this time, she could see a decent amount of research being accomplished. She’d brought along a couple of instruments for the occasion - minuscule little spirit analyzers, barometers, reiatsu trackers, vials of any serum or solution that was both portable and relevant enough to bring along for the mission, all fastened to a belt she tucked away underneath her obi sash. She’d never been into the actual science and research of 12th division very much, instead being lured there by her former taichou’s presence. It was, however, a hobby that she ought to pick up, if she planned to earn a place as the division’s vice-captain. Some light provisions filled a small rucksack on her back up to the brim; Keiji had kept her from being overloaded due to her injuries, but she’d insisted on bearing at least some of the load. Jolting back onto her train of thought, she squinted closer at the building in the distance.

Never thought menos could build anything like that … considering how that kind of material is nowhere to be found in this desert, I‘ve still got my doubts. Interesting sense of style, though - white, with white tones and textured with streaks of white, just for a bit of variety.

“Feh, no time for idle talk. If we’re going to set up a base of operations, we might as well do it somewhere that gives us cover.”

With that, she began to limp towards the direction of the building, her crutch gouging deep marks into the sand as she did.

(NOTE: Vizard_King, could you keep the thread's turn order going?)

[Primera Espada]

The group of shinigami did not arrive entirely unnoticed. A set of yellow eyes were fixated on them, the owner's mouth began watering at the hint of such savory souls.

But now was not the time.

This hollow was still relatively new to Hueco Mundo. It would instead sit back and watch, to see how the shinigami investigated.

It followed them at quite a distance, having incredible tracking abilities...

[Mystic Serenade]

Keiji turned his attention to the shinigami who addressed him. Thinking back to the files of each individual partaking of this mission, he recalled that this one was named Shugoshita Shuga who was a rather new to this he assumed since he joined third division only a short while ago. "As you probably guessed this structure was not constructed by any hollow...well...any normal hollow anyway. The followers of the one who ordered its construction have long been either defeated or dispersed elsewhere. It should make for a discrete enough hiding place for us while we carry out this mission." He then gripped the handle of one of his zanpakuto with his right hand, "Or if the situation calls for it, we shall just have to make it safe for us to stay in won't we."

Guess someone took my pitching a tent out of nowhere a bit seriously he thought as he watched the one named Nakamura Kai walk towards the large structure alone. They would all soon head there anywhere so it didn't matter all that much to him at the moment, but he really hoped that loner attitude he was giving off now would not persist throughout the mission...could end up quite dangerous.

He took the chance to now address the other questions asked of him. "As it has been suggested, I think it prudent that we should set up our temporary base of operations in that large abandoned building that just so happens to stand before our point of entry. I'd much rather take our chances with whatever is probably not hiding in there than standing out in the open to wait and see if anything decides to show up."

Slinging his pack over his back again, he started walking towards their planned "home" for the next couple of weeks. "Shall we?"

[blackluster]

Shuga was surprised by Altair's assurances.

He must have misunderstood...

"Thank you for your concern Altair-san. Let us work well together." Shuga still couldn't remember where he had seen him. He had had an opportunity to read the information on his companions, but he didn't get far into it beyond their names and ranks. Kim had assured Shuga that reading the profiles was needless.

"What point is there reading some paper about someone?" she had exclaimed. "You learn more about people by traveling with them anyway. Just wing it. That's what I would do." It was just one of the many pieces of advice from Kim that Shuga regretted listening to. He could still remember that weird chuckle she let out under her breath as she said it.

What's done is done is I guess. At least she helped me pack.

Shuga listened blankly as Keiji explained about the building.

Well, if it's good enough for him...

Shuga adjusted his satchel on his shoulder, distributing it's weight. Most of it was supplies, especially medical items. The only special piece of equipment he had with him for recon was a special set of electronic goggles he acquired before they left. It cost him most of the cash he had earned so far, but it seemed to be very popular among enthusiasts. Among the features were zooming, adjustable night vision/light enhancement, thermal view and taking pictures of whatever the user was looking at.

This seems like a good time to use these.

He donned the goggles, raised his hood over his head, and pressed on with the others.


(OOC: the goggles are similar to the ones Renji uses the 1st time he appears in the manga, only a different design.

[Mystic Serenade]

OCC: Just a side note, I've recently learned that each promotion given from the captain interview thread is already in effect. This means that Keiji is a captain and Kai is a vice captain. So yea, recognize them as such as the chain of command would put it. I will edit my initial post to reflect this.

Also a note concerning turn order, this only applies to battles, post as much as you want in the plot thread in any order. But please avoid spam and at least try to keep each post of reasonable length and relevant.

[Vizard_King]

((Roger that,Boss-man))
Altair smiled "That we shall, Shuga...San...."
He hated Japanese Honerifics. He still hasnt gotten used to them.
Altair continued to walk and he noticed the Castlr's full size.
He smiled
"I feel somwhat at home here. Kind of reminds me of Jerusalem withought the City." he looked at Aizen's Castle and chuckled "We even have the Dome of the Rock. How Nice."

[Primera Espada]

(I feel I should point out that Hueco Mundo is a desert at eternal night. so it's cold, not hot.)

[Vizard_King]

((Oh crap,your right. I forgot))

[tari101190]

(i never had a keyboard for a while, thats why i wasn't posting...)

As Kai tried to run through the bleak desert plains, he noticed two things; nobody noticed he was gone, and now there was an extra pressence behind him.

Damn...well that's embarresing. Now i have to go back too? Fine atleast -

*buzz*

Kai's mobile com device had began to transmit a message. He turned over the screen to see a message basicaly stating he was now a vice-captain of the 13th division. Of course his initial reaction was a positive one. He knew he wasn't ready for a fully fledged captain position yet, but was lad he was atleast acknowleged by the higher ups.

Well well. This is good news i guess...Although i don't think i want this position either. Ha, so picky arn't I. May aswell use my new rank to my advantage though.

Kai was finally back at the site where he and the other shinigami and arrive. They hadn't done much. It just seemed as if they were still just realizing where they are and how long they had to stay.

Okay Kai. Time to show the new vice-captain attitude you should have. Atleast just for this mission, then humbly refuse maybe. So here we go...

"Right people. I was just out scouting the area. Nothing seems to be in the immediate vacinity that i can see, although i could feel the pressence of something watching us. This is where hollows dwell, so of course this was bound to happen. I'm sure we can handle this though. I propose we all keep with a partner to watch their backs. We should be able to keep safer in these three teams of two, but still togethe in a large group at the same time.

So...organize yourselfs. I'll go with thehighest ranked out of the rest of you...whichever one it may be. We'll keep to front to protect the rest of you initialy, but obviously you will need to fight in your pairs aswell.

Also, our main objective i believe should be to head to thwe building in the distance. It can't be that far, so lets trek for a few hours then set up a place to rest. This seems to be a sand storm zone so i hope we have a decent enough shelter to put up between us. Anyway..lets get going right? We've wasted enough time."

OKay wow. Didn't know I had it in me, ha. Hopefuly it will take and i'll seem more like a leader figure...and hopefully they'll disregard my running off. That was pretty stupid. Atleast I'll get there eventually. Surely I'll get some useful info...That is, if whatever this pressence is doesn't get us beforehand.

"By the way, I am Juusanbantai fukutaichou, Nakamura Kaio. Just, Kai's fine...Just make sure you acknowledge the rank."

[blackluster]

Shuga was surprised by Kai's sudden return. The mention of a possible onlooker piqued Shuga's interest. He turned in the direction Kai came from and adjusted the zooming on his visor, cycling through the various viewing modes.

"I don't see anything sir. Either there's nothing there or it's really well camouflaged."

[Vizard_King]

Altair nodded.
He had his orders
"It shall be done,Sir."
He looked at Shugo "So it seems we are partners,Lord Shugo"
He had givin up on using Honorifics. He went to the language he knew best.
Altair put his hands behind his back and a sound, almost too quiet to hear.
The sound of his Retractable Hidden Dagger.
"Best be careful. I do not trust the eyes that follow us. We must be prepared for anything,Lord Shugo."

[Primera Espada]

a small hollow, about the size of a puppy wandered onto the domain of the other shinigami.

This was one of those few hollows who were far too weak to even survive shifting to the living world. Instead, it lived entirely on the thick spirit particles.

However, of course, it also meant it would be stronger here than in the real world. It might even be able to cut the skin of a shinigami if it bit reeeeeeeeeaaally hard.

But it was just there to watch. It had never seen shinigami before. It didn't know that it was meant to fear them.

[Dizzy]

Lexi rolled her eyes, back so far that somebody watching her would’ve been surprised to know she wasn’t staring into her own skull.

Scouting, my ass. Idiot probably thought it was going to be a trip to the park, noticed some strong reiatsu, and came rushing back to hide. Protect the rest of us? Maybe I could take it seriously if the kid was at least strong enough to take on a menos, but this is just laughable. At least he’s got some decent ideas floating around in that skull of his.

Perceptive though, I didn’t notice any lurking hollows apart from a couple of nearby midgets, and I’ve got trackers on me, too. Interesting …

She turned to the shinigami who hadn’t yet been picked yet (Kyoudai), and gave him a grin.

“Well, looks like we’re partners for now. Name's Lexi Hunter, fifth seat of the twelfth. What’s yours?”

[Mystic Serenade]

"Ah, how nice for you to come and join us Kai-dono, we were just about to head in that direction too." He gave the 13th Division's vice-captain a hearty slap on the back, "Seeing as how I'm the only one wearing a captain's haori here at the moment, guess that means you're with me. I entrust you will watch my back to the best of your abilities as I will watch yours."

He soon spotted the small hollow that had somehow drawn so close to them without them noticing. "Well aren't you a cute little fellow," he commented as he bent his knees to look at the hollow eye to eye. "I'm pretty sure we can learn something for you, yes we can." With that he cast a restraining spell on the small beast, engulfing it in a bright red light.

"Hey Lexi, bag the thing so we can be back on our merry way."

[Primera Espada]

The little hollow found itself encased within energy that it immediately did not like.

It hissed at the shinigami, obviously upset that it was being taken like this.

From a much greater distance, a keen hollow eye narrowed, noticing the little critter being snatched up.

Still, it did nothing but watch.

[blackluster]

Shuga nodded at Altair's suggestion for heightened caution.

Better to err on the side of caution, but it'll be a pretty bad omen if we run into trouble this early on. We've barely had a chance to put our bags down yet.

While the hollow specimen was being gathered, Shuga pushed on toward the structure. Though in a run down state, there didn't seem to be any clear entry points. Through his visor, Shuga noticed that the building had a strange glow to it. Moving the visor up and down his forehead, he compared the view with his own eyes against the view through the visor. There definitely seemed to be a slightly different, .... colour, to it. Off to the sides at some distance were some smaller structures. Looking at them through a zoomed view, their shape resembled that of shaft openings. He reported this to the resident captain.

"Keiji-dono, there seems to be some smaller openings around the main building. They might be connected, since they have the same appearance. They might be tunnel entrances. Perhaps a discrete approach via one of those routes would be more suitable rather than walking right up to the building without any cover?"

Shuga turned to Altair.

"There seem to be low sand mounds that have blown in front of the entrances, so I don't think they have been used for a while. What do you think?"

Shuga had had a lot of experience in avoiding potential dangerous situations. More than he wanted.

[Vizard_King]

Altair noticed them too.
Tunnels.
Why are there Tunnels in the desert?
"They have to be there for some reason...But if it lead to the Castle than it would be too obvious. Far too easy. Castles are ment to protect those inside. If they build obvious things like this that led right to it, than there is no reason for a Castle." Altair pointed to the Shafts just a few yards away.
He looked at his new partner
"Well, they seem to be he only entrance....The least we could do is try them"
He could have been wrong,sure. He has been wrong before. But he also has had experiance with this kind of thing.
If only there was a way to climb in.

[tari101190]

What? This little guy couldn't have been what i sensed...could it? Ha, it'd be really embarressing if it was. Although I'm sure that wasn't it. What i sensed was faint, but doesn't seem like this little guy.

Moreover, this guy's supposed to be a pretty new captain, like me. Not even close to a real captain in power, but still he seems pretty powerful and skilled with kido. Perhaps i shouldn't judge him so easily...

Anyway I wonder where that little hollow came from? I dn't see anywhere it could've come from. We would've even noticed if it was from those 'tunnels' over there. Or perhaps...

"Alright. Good going Noticing those tunnels guys. I still say we should all head for the building ahead of us. We will get more out of it, but i have a proposal; maybe Altair and Shuga could go and check out the tunnels? Like you said, we might aswell check them out, but I don't see the need for us all to go. You two should be enough.

Just go through to see how far they go. We'll be kept in constant communication of course. But if something you cannot handle shows up, maybe retreat and one of us will also try to rendezvous with you as back-up, incase you need it.

So what do you think everyone? Taicho? It's not compulsory. Just seemed like a good idea."

I guess we could all go through the tunnels, but I just want to get to the 'castle' asap. We could have enough time to do both in theory though...

"Atleast you two could go off on your own little adventure for a while."

[Vizard_King]

Oh good. They get the Suicide Mission.
"Whatever you wish,Captain" Altair said simply.
He looked at him "Adventure? I think not,Sir."
No, an Adventure is Fun. This is a Job.
"Lets go,Lord Shuga"
He was ready.

[Dizzy]

Lexi winced at the stupidity in the air - the instruments gauging its levels were going off like sirens in her headset. She picked up the hollow puppy by the scruff of the neck, and gave it a stare. It was struggling to move, albeit in no danger of actually breaking free of Keiji's kidou. Tucking it under her crutch arm, she turned back to the rest of the group.

"Do you really think that sending a regiment of two people who, with all due respect, are nothing close to menos-level to investigate random holes in the ground when we've hardly set foot in enemy territory is a good idea?

Here's a hint: it isn't. I know this is supposed to be a reconnaissance mission, but lets not split up and get killed just yet, okay? Best bet would be to set up a base of operations, and as the building over there is conveniently only minutes away, I'll go ahead and agree with Keiji and Shuga that we ought to try in there. If these tunnels are the only way to enter, so be it, let's go. But we don't need any casualties within the first hour of entry."

She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, displacing small clumps of dust.

[Vizard_King]

"I'll take that as Constructive Critisism,Miss Lexi" Altair said.
She has a point.
"A Suicide Mission is not a good way to start things...I agree."
The best way is to use the one with the most experiance in Stealth.
Altair knew who it was.
"I well go in by myself. On my own I can handle sneaking about"

((Damn, I hate Writers Block))

[Mystic Serenade]

"Good observation Shugoshita-kun, but I will have to advise against it as well. Thus far we shouldn't have to worry about any enemies in the immediate area as the only things we can't sense are those too weak to register such as our small friend here," ending his statement with pointing to the small hollow under Lexi's arm. "We should still be relatively safe in the open."

"There is a possibility of course that there is a stronger enemy lurking around that can hide it's reiatsu of course, but in that case I'd much rather face it out here in the open. Cover is nice, but we have no idea exactly how this building is designed nor exactly where these tunnels would be connected to. I'd rather not risk the chance of being trapped by possible cave-ins in the possibility of battle either."

"For those reasons I must also speak against sending these two into those tunnels for now, there are too many risks and unknowns."

He took a few steps forward, continuing his way towards the large structure that they would reach soon enough, "I'd much like you to continue on with making these observations Shugoshita-kun, understanding the architectural planning of this structure may be a good idea once we are more settled and situated to carry out more proper research."

[Primera Espada]

The little hollow fussed a bit, before suddenly growing quiet.

Then, in a flash of light, the hollow and Lexi were gone.

Out of sight, but obviously not out of mind.

Lexi would find her, along with the bewildered hollow pup, in an extremely poorly lit room deep in the heart of the structure she had, moments ago, been looking at.

A voice came from behind one of the shadows.

"Nice little group out there. Maybe I'll have some fun. You won't mind, do you?"

Of course, there was silence for a moment. To set the mood.

"Oh, feel free to wander about now. My friend designed this structure himself, ages ago, it's an intricate set of tunnels and rooms creating a whole hub of deadly traps for you invading shinigami types. Sadly, it kills quite a few hollows as well. Oh well."

The voice could not be identified, it seemed rough, and while a presence could be felt, it did not seem very intense. Someone was definately feeling casual around Lexi.

[Vizard_King]

Altair turned to wereever the voice was, his retractable Blade out and ready.
"Who's there?"
He walked close to Lexi.
"Coward! Show yourself! Cursed demon!"
Where was it? Somewhere near Lexi?
What class of Hollow was it? It had to be an Arrancar. Altair never heard a Menos talk.
Or maybe it was one of the Fallen Shinigami?
Damn,Altair hates not knowing.
"Show yourself,damn you" He hissed
((>< Damn thee Writers block!))

[Dizzy]

(Note: Only Lexi has been transported into the hollow's lair, and nobody else.)

Lexi had realized what was going to happen just a split second before it happened. A blast of incandescent brightness, the strange sensation of zapping out and back into existence, and she found herself staring at a wall. It was discolored by the lack of light in the vicinity, but she bet that if she deigned to check in broad daylight, it would've been white like everything like everything else in Hueco Mundo. However, her first thought upon arriving was nothing so sophisticated.

Fucking hell.

A voice chimed in to taunt her; it didn't appear to be menacing, more just having fun with her predicament for the moment. Clearly, the owner felt itself strong enough to be able to defeat her with little effort. She decided to just get to the point.

"Tche. Who the hell are you, and what do you want?"

The hollow puppy had by now regained its ability to move; the shock of the teleportation had removed the effect of Keiji's bakudou, and she allowed it to drop to the ground. Wasn't like it would do any damage, anyhow.

She lifted her attention back to the room, drawing out her zanpakuto as she did. It was too dim to see anything, though the last remark from the hollow led her to believe that just wandering around in the dark would be a very bad idea.

Gathering mounds of reiatsu into the palm of her left hand, she focused it into a ball of softly glowing flame, the beginnings of a shakkaho. She allowed it to lie still, pulsating in her hand as it took shape and began to reveal the rest of the room.

Now with some light to work with, she gave her reiatsu analyzer a gander, hoping to find out just what breed of menos her kidnapper was, or if it was anything else, before surveying the now illuminated room.

[Primera Espada]

The voice spoke out again.

"What do I want? Pft. Like I'd tell you. You wouldn't get it anyways, shinigami." he said that word as though it were a curse.

"You're a small fry anyway. Bait. I want to see your bosses. You know, the ones that might actually dent something."

There was a bit of a snicker.

The little hollow puppy seemed just as confused as dizzy, and for the moment, deemed the shinigami the lesser of two evils. It stuck close to her.

back outside, the strange event had caught the attention of the distanced hollow. It began to quicken it's pace to the location with all the shinigami.

No doubt the rest would notice 2 things. Lexi's reiatsu had shifted to the center of the building in front of them, and a menacing force was coming from behind them.

They wouldn't have much option.

[Mystic Serenade]

"Well, well isn't this a nice situation." Keiji gazed at the spot that just moments ago Lexi was standing in. Focusing in on her reiatsu, he soon determined that the she was now located somewhere near the center of the building. He adjusted the frequency on his communicator and hoped that Lexi had remembered to leave the thing on, "Oi oi, its cheating if you just teleport straight into the middle like that to hog all the research for yourself."

"Shut up, Keiji! You're the one who made me pick up that hollow! Stupid lazy jerk," the anger in the girl's tone very apparent. "Dunno where I am, but it's a pretty spacious room, and there are supposedly traps all over the fucking place...also, some hollows are coming after you, so you'd better be on your guard."

"Information is noted, and this sounds like a wonderful thing to deal with now." After a long silence, intentional on his part at least, he spoke again, "And remember, its Otowari-taichou now, you always had a bad habit of not properly using the right honorifics."

"Shut up Keiji."

"Correction, Otowari-taichou," he started sounding out each syllable, "say it with me O-to-wa-ri-tai-chou."

"Just so you know, I'm flipping you off right now."

"I figured as much, now be a good girl for once and stay put and out of trouble hmm."

"You know what, as long as I'm here, I think I will hog all the research for myself."

"I expect numerous findings of vast importance when we regroup Lexi."

"Still flicking you off, byes."

After confirming Lexi was more or less safe at the moment, he turned his attention back to those remaining in the group. He didn't like the sound of Lexi's warning of hollows coming after them, he truly meant that he would like to avoid any fighting if necessary. Though it seemed fate could really give a damn about his preferences as Keiji soon noticed a large, and probably hostile, source of reiatsu heading for their direction.

"Well well, looks like it might be a good idea to catch up with our companion in the building, I'll take the rear. Now run."

[blackluster]

Shuga noted the conversation about the tunnels. He didn't have any preference really, though the colour of the structure through his visor really did seem ominous. He was still observing the building when he saw a flash of light in the corner of his eye. Turning around, he saw Lexi was missing.

What the hell!?

He expected Keiji to fly into a panic, but the man simply focused on something for a moment, took out his communicator, and started chatting away with Lexi as though it were any other day back in Seretei.

As expected of a captain. Those two seem to know each other well if they can talk like that.

After the phone conversation ended, Keiji's casual comment about Lexi's location shocked Shuga. As always though, Shuga's shocked facial expression resembled just about all his other facial expressions, completely blank. Shuga's poor reaitsu sensing skills could tell him nothing about Lexi's location, or the trouble that was rapidly approaching.

How the heck did she end up in the building? Is it some kind of new Shunpo technique?

Before Shuga could ask Keiji how Lexi had managed that feat, he was stopped by Keiji's immediate command to start running.

He'll take the rear? Start running? What is he talking about? Are we under attack or something?

From the position Keiji took up, Shuga deemed the bearing of the threat. Focusing his visor, he saw in the distance a massive dust cloud being churned up by something approaching them at extreme pace.

That can't be good...

"30 km away and approaching fast Otowari-taichou! Do we make for the buildings or the tunnels!?" Shuga asked even as he began turning.

30 km? Jeez, not much of a head start. I haven't mastered shunpo yet so this is going to be a foot dash, and I hate running on loose sand ...

Focusing his his strength into his legs Shuga started a break-neck speed sprint, hoping that Keiji would yell the destination timeously. One of the things Shuga could do well, was run for extremely long distances. He'd had lots of unwelcome exercise in it in his distant past.

Fuck this, I'm not getting caught today... not this early in the game...

[Vizard_King]

((Ah, sorry. misunderstood the post))
She was gone.
Lexi was fucking gone!
"Damn it!" Altair growled.
The hell?
"Shuga! Where are you? Fool!" Altair yelled as Shuga ran.
Damn it damn it damn it!
Oh Allah, why is everything going to Hell? This mission was soposed to be easy. A 'Walk in the park' as they say.
Altair did what he thought was best. He Shunpo'd after Shuga.
After awhile he found himself infront of the Castle.
Such power.
"Damn...SHUGA!"

[Primera Espada]

Inside the dark domain, the man behind Lexi's abduction quirked a brow.

He thought to himself.

"who's this? A hollow following them? Quite strong at that... too strong to be an ordinary hollow..." he thought.

This could be problematic.

He left the room Lexi was in, and proceeded down a cooridoor until he reached another individual.

"You better set off the trap. It'll lead them much closer to here, so there won't be as many chances to kill them, but... I don't want that hollow getting to them first."

The other one, as of yet unidentified, followed the command.

There was a creak, and outside...

A hole in the sand opened up, swallowing up Shuga. The hole led to a long tube, which the shinigami would slide down. It was a rather thin tube, so it was a good thing that none of the people here were abnormally large. A 300 lbs man would be stuck, and hopefully, the hollow chasing could not follow.

Now the others had a choice. Run, or follow shuga down the tube.

[Mystic Serenade]

Well, so much for this being a safe zone...

What a way for things to turn out, they were about to get run down by a hollow and now two of the team's members were separated from the main group. Though, Shuga did seem to be a whole lot closer to Lexi now from what he could sense. There wasn't that much time to decide before acting, but it was better to minimize risk as much as possible.

As soon as the others reached the spot Shuga had disappeared under the sand he ordered them to halt.

Turning on his communicator again, he contacted Shuga this time, "Shuga-kun, state your status and your immediate surroundings if you can."

[blackluster]

Shuga was off, speeding across the sand as best he could. He turned his head as he ran, trying to see what was taking Keiji so long with the directions. Like something straight out of a cartoon, as his attention was focused behind him, he failed to notice the gaping hole that had opened up beneath him. Even as he felt the bottom dropping out as his next step failed to meet solid ground, he couldn't help only having one thing pass comically through his mind.

Crap. I just fell for the old "hole in the ground" trick didn't I....

As he dropped into the hole, his gaze still fixed on his companions, he imagined he could see an image of Kim's spirit behind them, laughing her ass off at him.

Needless to say, the ride down was not a pleasant one. The sides of the tube were anything but smooth. The tube's surface was more like a cobbled street, and Shuga felt as though he hit every bump on the way down.

He miraculously remembered the sensitive gear he was carrying, and just about managed to wrap his body around his satchel. Tucking and shielding his head to protect his visor (he'd be damned if he was going to let it break like this) he went sailing into the darkness.

After what seemed an eternity of endless meetings between his body and unforgiving stone he turned his head slightly to see if there was any end to this. With his visor's night vision activated, he saw that there was indeed an end to the fall, and it was approaching quite rapidly!

Quickly he pulled his zanpakuto from his side, sheath and all, and jammed it across the width of the tunnel. He focused his reiatsu into it as best he could, to keep it from breaking. Sure enough, his descent slowed rapidly as his zanpakuto dug into the tunnel's sides dislodging masses of sand and rock. After plenty of racket and debris, he came to a halt just before the tunnel ended.

The exit of the tunnel opened into the roof of a large empty hall-like space. Shuga let out a long sigh of relief. If he had waited any longer he would probably be a colour scheme on the floor right now. As he dangled there from one arm clutching his zanpakuto, he felt his mobile phone vibrate. Even though he shielded it, it had taken quite a beating. With his free hand he managed to remove it from his satchel.

"Mushi mushi", he said dryly. "Ah, Otowari-taichou. My status? ... err battered and bruised. I don't think I've broken anything, but it's kind of hard to examine myself right now. As for my surroundings,... hmm... I'm currently dangling from the roof of a large hall, maybe, 3 storeys high."

Shuga covered his mouth with back of his hand as he coughed violently.

"Erm, can I call you back please? I'll try and get down so I can investigate more thoroughly. I wouldn't recommend the trip down here. Perhaps there is a less exciting way of getting inside. Shuga out.

[~Sachiko~]

Far into the distance, another pair of eyes watched the events as they unfolded before them. These eyes belonged to no other than the gillian menos Julia Morganna, no special title necessary. She had been spending most of her days lately in Hueco Mundo hunting with her companions daily for stronger and stronger prey, feasting upon their bodies to increase their own reiatsu. It had been a while since she visited the living world as those dead souls hardly could satisfy her hunger nowadays. Imagine her surprise when she sensed the reiatsu of her pet-chan in this world. "What a pleasant surprise, to have pet-chan come here to visit me," she thought happily. What she did not like was that pet-chan was surrounded by a bunch of those other annoying shinigami, especially that particularly annoying purple-haired one.

She could only stay at a distance, until now that is. One by one each of the members of the group seemed to be separated from one another. Not like any of that really mattered, the only thing of importance was that pet-chan disappeared first and reappeared in the middle of the giant structure. So naturally that is where she would go. She sped forward, for she much wanted to play today.

[Vizard_King]

Altair ran in after Shuga.
So much for a Partner.
He ran up three stories untill he finaly reached him.
"Shuga! What the Hell were you thinking!"
He looked down.
Damn it.
Altair reached down
"Shuga,grab my arm."

[~Sachiko~]

As soon as Julia entered the building, she made a straight bee-line towards the source of reiatsu she deemed to be Lexi's, running through traps and walls alike causing them to crash down. It would only be a small matter of time unless something where to get in her way.

[Dizzy]

Lexi's senses perked up as soon as she noticed the new presence.

Fuck, I was hoping for a bit more time ... hopefully enough to practice a bit with my release ... how is it that in this enormous fucking desert, we just so happen to pop out right next to her?

She quickly deducted the hollow's direction from the reiatsu signals and tore down a corridor in the opposite direction, keeping the ball of flame alight, lest she run into any traps.

As she ran, she ditched the crutch - it would only be a hindrance now. With her now-free hand, she switched on a reiatsu dampener on a belt, making her reiatsu signature untraceable, and turned off her cellular device to remove the prospect of a sudden call catching her off guard.

It's going to take some epic deus ex to find me now ... hopefully, Keiji and the others won't have too much trouble catching up.

[~Sachiko~]

As Julia sped forward, she soon noticed that she could no longer sense pet-chan's reiatsu. So...you want to play hide-and-seek do you...

Since nothing had gotten in her way since entering the building, it was not long before she entered the room where she last sensed the young female shinigami was. She scanned the room, there must be some clue as to the her play toy's whereabouts. In the corner of the room she then spied a small hollow cowering and shaking in fear. She picked it up and examined it.

"Hmmm I wonder if you can tell me where pet-chan is," she said looking at the minuscule hollow. She sniffed and then licked the hollow, it most definitely had the taste and smell of pet-chan on it. How could she forget the most delicious taste she's experienced thus far.

She tossed the hollow aside, beginning to sniff and taste the air with her tongue, flicking it in and out like a snake. She quickly turned her head down a corridor, the shinigami's trail as clear to her now as if she were watching the young girl run before her very eyes.

"Run run as fast as you can pet-chan, this shall be very fun indeed." With the she launched herself forward, speeding towards her target once more.

[blackluster]

OOC
@Vizard_King: I'm not sure it's appropriate, but I'm unsure about your response in terms of the situation. I realize my description was maybe a bit ambiguous, but Shuga is currently underground. He is hanging from the ceiling of a 3 storey high room. The only entrance to which so far is a tube which is only big enough to slide down, not to run in. Besides that, I believe Keiji has already ordered Altair and the other shinigmai on the surface to stop at the entrance to the chute.

[Primera Espada]

Julia stumbled across a rather interesting room.

"A hollow?" A voice, not like the one that talked to Lexi earlier, spoke out.

"You're a bit lost, aren't you gillian? You don't really belong here, do you?"

With that, suddenly, the doors of the room (and in actuality, the walls themselves) slid down, sealing off escape.

"This room is special. I'm glad you came across it. There is an exit. But it's one you cannot see. It's one you cannot feel. The only way out... is by using your head." he said.

This sort of thing was what he enjoyed.

Elsewhere, a lone hollow pup wandered, completely avoiding the various traps, due to his small size, he was not heavy enough to set any of them off.

[Mystic Serenade]

There were certainly so many unexpected guest showing up that there were, Keiji thought as he witnesses a menos speed into the building before them. He'd rather not have to follow in its wake.

He phoned Shuga once more, "The building's main entrance is no longer safe, this will have to do. Secure our entry as best as possible." He turned to those still with them, "Well, shall we enter gentlemen before that other hollow arrives?"

[Primera Espada]

The persuing hollow had quickened it's pace, and was nearly reaching the shinigami. it's mouth began to water as it anticipated it's meal...

However, something was drawing it's attention down below as well.

It would have to decide to follow the shinigami, or the other hollow... which to chose...

[~Sachiko~]

Bleh...I don't have time for this

"Not lost a bit, random voice-san, I merely came here to come get something that belongs to me. And of course I don't belong in this stupid trap of yours, so if you excuse me I'll be getting out now to take what I came here for and be on my merry way thank you."

She touched a wall and scanned her surroundings, "Cannot see or feel and need to use my head you say...well then..." With that she reared backwards and slammed through the wall with a furious headbutt. "There I used my head, bye bye now," she called out to the voice, returning now to her pursuit.

[blackluster]

Secure their entry huh? Ok, but don't come crying to me if you land on your heads...

Shuga yanked his zanpakuto free and landed on the floor of the chamber. Immediately, there seemed to be a change in the appearance of certain spots on the floor.

Damn, it looks like traps of some kind. I'm not an expert in this stuff, so I guess all I can do is set them off before the others get here.

Shuga placed his hand on the ground and performed the only kidou he knew.

"Hadou #2... Spark!"

Small arcs of electricity leapt from his hand and struck the trigger spots on the ground. The chamber lit up as various reiatsu barrier traps activated and malfunctioned. Shuga continued until the entire area beneath the chute was clear.

I wonder what the point of this place is. Barrier traps in an emtpy hall? Why trap people here of all places?

Shuga felt some sand and small stones dropping on his head.

The others must be starting their descent. I might as well investigate some more.

There were no thermal readings from the room. The walls were most likely shielded somehow. The only exit was a low door at one end. One disturbing feature of the door was the carcasses of dead hollows piled in front of it. Shuga approached cautiously. Even as he did, he heard what sounded like an explosion somewhere inside the structure.

It sounds like a wall collapsed. I hope Lexi-san is ok. At least I can see the trap triggers with my visor. I wonder how she is faring.

Looking behind him for the others and seeing that they hadn't arrived yet, Shuga decided to press on. The suspicious door didn't seem to hold any traps as best he could tell. Shuga messaged Keji, informing him that the hall was clear, and that Shuga would be headed through the door. Even as he headed through, he heard the faint sound of footsteps in the distance.

[Primera Espada]

The intruding hollow would soon notice that... no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get any closer to lexi's reiatsu...

"Frustrating, isn't it?" the voice said again. "I told you... you can't go without using your head. Don't play semantics to try and get out" he said.

The room suddenly warbled and... resuming looking like the room julia had just left...

"try again"

[~Sachiko~]

"Well I would have to be lying if I didn't say this wasn't at the least bit annoying random voice-san. So rather let us have a chat shall we. For one, why do you care so much about that shinigami that you'd go as far as to waste time keeping me trapped in a this room."

[Primera Espada]

"Shinigami? Hm. No, that one is far less interesting than yourself. Less tastey as well..." he commented.

he wasnt the one who captured her, afterall.

Things were getting really messy over there.

The hollow had just about caught up with the newly appointed captain...

"You'll be the best snack!" it screetched. There was so much dust and sand and reiatsu that it's image could scarcely be made. However the power eminating from it was... terrible. Enough to bring anyone shy of vice captain power down to their knees.

There was a glimmer, a shine caught by the pale moonlight...

It had a weapon.

[Mystic Serenade]

Well looks like they finally jumped in...just about time too

He witnessed that during his call to Shuga, the hollow had come dangerously close, a hollow with a weapon no less. Well, interesting as that might have been to investigate, Keiji knew the limits of what he could turn into research subjects at the moment. He coolly looked at the hollow as he stood in front of the hole.

"Tasty I might be, but your snack I'll never be," he said as he slipped into the hole to begin his descent to catch up with the others. It probably wouldn't do much, but as a parting gift he shot off a single shakkaho into the general direction of the hollow right before his hand disappeared into the hole as well.

He really wished that Shuga had included how horribly constructed this chute was in his small report back, but not like that would change anything. He drew both of his zanpakuto and gradually drove them into the sides of the tunnel to slow his descent, remembering Shuga's comment on how high above the ground he was. It took a while to get out of the tunnel's entrance, but at least he wasn't beat around as much Shuga described his experience of himself.

After gracefully dropping down to the floor level to join the others he figured he would give Shuga another call as he did not see him amongst the group. "We have entered the area successfully and safely. Please report back Shugoshita-kun."

[blackluster]

Shuga pressed on through the gloom, trying to ascertain the nature of the sound of the footsteps he was following. The tunnel he was in didn't seem to have any trap triggers, so he was making good time. He saw up ahead that there was an exit to the tunnel. As he emerged, he almost tripped on some hollow skeletons in the doorway.

What? Here to huh?

He examined the room he had emerged into. There was a hole in the ceiling with a large mound of sand and rock beneath it. Shuga didn't even have to turn to look at the doorway to realize he was in the same room he had left earlier.

He backed up slowly, turned, and ran back through the doorway. A few seconds later, he emerged in the room again.

"Shit, what now?"

Even as he said that, he got a communication from Keiji.

"You've entered the area you say?" Shuga said curiously, while looking at the room that clearly had no one in it.

Hmmm, either this is the same room I originally arrived in, and Keiji and the others are somewhere else, or they are in the room I originally arrived in, and I'm in some sort of trap. Weird, I didn't see anything strange as I ran.

"Down..."

Shuga heard that single word in his mind, softly, quietly, like someone speaking from behind a door.

"Down..."

The voice was rasping and coarse, like a sickly person forcing the words from their last breaths. Confused, Shuga looked down, and saw a slight distortion by his feet. Hardly noticeable in the dark through his visors, and there was certainly no way he'd have noticed it while running. If he didn't have his goggles, he wouldn't have seen it at all.

The distortion seemed to be like a swirling, wispy cloud of sorts, round about knee height. Looking closer, Shuga realized that the cloud wasn't knee high, it actually began at that height and extended upwards.

Shit!

Shuga immediately dropped to the ground and covered his mouth and nose as best he could. Gradually, the scene he saw on the ground began to change slowly. It was no longer like the empty floor of the chamber he had originally arrived in, but instead it was littered with corpses. The gaseous cloud above him was quite opaque, but Shuga thought he could faintly make out hollows standing around. They weren't moving though, they were just standing there, like they were in a trance.

Crap, that would have been me, but who was it that warned me? Even though I don't recognize that voice, it feels like I've known it all my life... like someone important I'm supposed to remember...


Shuga suddenly remembered the caller who was waiting.

"Err, sorry Otowari-taichou, I seem to have fallen into some sort of trap. I should be slightly ahead of you through the doorway in the room you are currently in. Use extreme caution. There seems to be some sort of poisonous cloud down here. It had me seeing an illusion for awhile. I'm not sure how I ended up in the particular spot I'm in, but I seem to be in some sort of slump in the ground where the gas is not so thick. I'm not sure I can crawl out without being affected again."

"Also, there seems to be other victims and captives here with me. These traps seem to catch shinigami and hollow alike. The corpses on the ground seem to suggest that these traps have been around for a really long time."

Shuga paused for a moment, thinking about how stupid he was about to sound.

"Um, since you're heading this way, I don't suppose you could rescue me?" he asked, glad no one could see the sheepish smile he was sporting.

"Oh and another thing, I heard what sounded like an explosion earlier. I don't think we are the only ones who just arrived... be careful."

[Primera Espada]

The large persuing hollow noticed he was a bit too large to fit through the rather narrow hole...

so it passed it up, and went on to the major entrance.

This did not appeal to one of the building's operators.

"What... oh great" a voice could be heard by Lexi.

"Oh well," he said, as he stepped from the shadows. The voice belonged to an arrancar, one of notable physical stature, with a sort of sleeveless jacket, hakama, and a green mohawk. His mask fragment proved to be nothing more than a small, thumb sized horn on his forehead. He had a few piercings as well...

"Sorry about this, shinigami. But it seems that someone much stronger than the lot of you is entering my domain. I no longer have need for you, but I can hardly have you running around now can I."

He noticed the pup hollow, who had been just now catching up to the shinigami. "Seems you have a friend. Take him with you" he said, reaching down to pluck up the hollow, promptly tossing it at lexi.

The moment the pup touched Lexi though, that same old red light engulfed them.

"It's easier to deal with if you simply aren't here" he said, as Lexi disappeared.

She soon appeared at the foot of the main entrance... in time to see the ravenous raging hollow arrive.

It stared at her, and raised... it's weapon. A zanpakuto!

"Huuuuuuuuungry!" he yelled.


Elsewhere, the mischevious voice that was keeping the hollow inside noticed the intruder.

"Looks like the fun is over. You seemed real tastey too, it's a shame"

The room suddenly shifted back to normal, the door reformed. The voice, it seemed, was gone.

He was working overtime to try and redirect the group that had just invaded. The hollow would no doubt try and escape, to follow it's pathetic prey. They would do their best to use that as a distraction against the massive hollow that was about to invade...

However, he wanted to space out the shinigami more. There were now 3 groups. One on top, single shinigami, one stuck in the catacombs, a single shinigami, and the rest, with a captain, were in the middle, around the entrance tube.

In the control room, the mohawked arrancar arrived. "You think we should step out? I mean, it's nothing we can't handle,"
The other hollow glanced over,

"if this fight gets any bigger, Diablos will come. We aren't ready for that yet. We'll be killed. Let's let it fizzle out. You're strong, but no one's *that* strong... yet."

A bit of a sigh escaped from the other hollow, as he leaned over to the mic. "Okay, shinigami. You have 5 minutes before I hunt each of you down and kill you, starting with the captain. Have fun"

with the mic off, he continued. "that should get them moving."

[Dizzy]

What on Earth -

Lexi had been transported again, this time apparently to the front entrance of the structure. She backed up, avoiding the waves of reiatsu that had suddenly shot out from in front of her. An enormous hollow now stood before her, oozing reiatsu out and looking exceptionally hungry. It roared, blasting forth droplets of saliva and rippling the air.

All pretense of wanting to test out her newly acquired release evaporating, she darted off in the opposite direction with as much speed as her shyunpo could muster, hoping that its massive bulk would slow it down when it tried to go through doorways.

You know, I'm starting to hate puppies more and more today.

[Mystic Serenade]

Keiji concentrated a bit trying to ascertain Shuga's location among the many passageways. It was a bit distorted, but he eventually narrowed it down to a single path that appeared to be the most straightforward path to the heart of the structure. He responded back to Shuga on his communicator, "I will try my best, and you are very much correct in that we're not alone. I'll update you soon, Otowari out."

He turned off the communicator and walked towards the beginning of the path. Holding out his hand, he ignited a sphere of reiatsu in flame to get some light. Interestingly enough there indeed appeared to be some airborne mist that heavily blanketed the hall, so much that he could hardly even see a foot into it. He brought the light in his hand closer to the mist, hoping that would increase his visibility a little bit. It was a rather interesting find when he noticed that the mist seemed to retract in the presence of the light.

Well...guess I can use this to my advantage...

It was a long shot, but it's not like there were many other options at the moment. He disengaged the flame in his hand and drew both of his zanpakuto, releasing both as he grew accustomed to. Wielding both chakram, he brought out Kyokki Hitosashi in front of him and began to spin it rapidly before him until it became only a sphere of light to anyone who gazed upon it. Soon ten rays of light released from his zanpakuto, becoming spears and embedding themselves in a line between him and Shuga, clearing a path among the mist.

"Quickly Shugoshita-kun, I'm not sure how long the path will hold."

At that moment, he heard the voice that spoke out from seemingly everywhere.

Five minutes to do what besides flee I wonder, so much for the theory of this building being deserted.

At the same time he noticed that Lexi's location had changed once again
was now behind them now closer to the entrance they had been trying to enter only moments before and in between what he deemed hostiles no doubt.

That girl just has a knack or something for getting into trouble...

He addressed the group again, "Alright, new plan. Try to recover Lexi who just so happens to be in that direction now," he said pointing behind them, "and to generally stay alive."

[~Sachiko~]

"Well I'm sure you'd be pretty tasty too, but hey, to each our own."

Checking her surroundings, Julia found that where she was now was very different from where she had originally been when she had made her way here. Also, there seemed to be some new comer that she did not sense previously. On the plus side, despite being somewhere totally new and losing precious time being trapped in that stupid room, she could still smell her target, and it seemed even closer before.

Must of been the work of that freak, looks like he did something helpful for me in the end she thought as she rushed forward to meet her pet-chan who was now running in her direction, seemingly away from something else.

[blackluster]

Shuga lay still on the ground waiting for the cavalry. The other hollows in the chamber weren't moving or making sounds. It was cool and quiet.

I guess I better enjoy this. I don't know when the next time will come when I can lay around on the job.

Shuga got a fright as out of no where, some bright shining spears landed in the ground uncomfortably close to him. Turning to find their origin, he saw Keiji and the others off in the distance.

Shuga took heed of the captains advice for swiftness. The gas cloud did seem to be adjusting to fill in the newly created passage. He dashed along, as fast as he could, covering his mouth as he went. He was suddenly aware of a loud voice echoing through the structure.

I guess whoever this house of horrors belongs to is getting tired of games.

"Shugoshita Shuga, back in the game", Shuga smirked as he finally reached the others, though his attempt at a smirk was barely noticeable. Not for lack of trying. He pursued the research team turned survivor team, as they made haste to Lexi's location.

[Primera Espada]

The mohawked arrancar had left, starting to track down the captain who had kindly visited this domain.

The other arrancar, who's structure this was, stayed at his post. There would be no moving for him, he was careful, cold, and calculating.

It was time to force a physical confrontation.

His fingers danced upon the strange keys of the spiritual mechanism, lighting up areas that seemed strangely futuristic.

Julia's path had been made clear, she would now be able to see her little pet-sama... and the behemoth chasing her down.

the captain, however... he would leave the captain up to his own devices.

[Dizzy]

... SHIT, THAT'S BAD.

Lexi was torn between the two choices - on one hand, the hollow chasing her was a reasonable amount stronger, bigger, and guaranteed to consume her if she was caught by it.

On the other hand, her S&M assailant licked her.

Then, by a stroke of luck, an escape appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Noticing a side passage near the wall that her self-appointed master had seemingly popped out of, she ducked into it as quickly as possible. It was far too narrow for even one of the enormous hollows to fit into, let alone both of them; they'd have to fight for the privilege of catching her.

[Mystic Serenade]

Get Lexi, leave the wacked up structure, survive.

Ah if only it were only as so simple as it sounded. Lexi was currently running around who knows where now being chased by who knows what and the supposedly empty building they decided to walk into was actually a morphing trap-filled nightmare. Scientifically interesting of course, he'd give it that, but a annoyance in all its entirety and everything that resided within it. Not to mention something else was pretty much after their lives and he figured in control of this structure. Bah, why couldn't time worthy research subjects just willingly prop themselves before his operating table. No he had to go out of his way to find such interesting things. Given that he had progressed rather quickly the past few months or so, he figured he'd be surrounded by a much stronger bunch whenever he would have to do things such as this and you know, not be the man leading it.

Unfortunately thats not something his newfound position allowed and it wouldn't change the fact that here and now, this is where he was. He did keep it in the back of his mind however that if he ever did manage to get out of this situation and back to Soul Society alive, he'd most definitely try to get something passed that'd heavily put some sort of restriction on who they let waltz into Hueco Mundo.

He waited a bit for the group to gather before, he continued running along the halls hopefully to where Lexi currently was and also hopefully where she'd generally still be when they got there. He directed some sort of orders at those with him, "Nakamura-kun, guard the rear. Shugoshita-kun, keep a watch out for anything suspicious with those goggles of yours. Altair, if you're really an experienced assassin of the 2nd Division I hope now more than ever your stealth abilities become of some use. Kyoudai, well this more directed to all of you, let's just give it our best to try and leave this hell-hole alive."

After all this was said he attempted contacting Lexi once more, "So what's our pretty little advance guard up to now hmm?"

[~Sachiko~]

She saw her pet-chan and then she saw her pet-chan run away and hide again. Such a bother she was sometimes, always with the running away. But that never stopped her from catching her before. Noticing the other gigantic hollow, her options for pursuit were quite limited now if she wanted to successfully capture her target. Following through the passageway was certainly not an option as it was quite the tight fit and she'd have to deal with something else pursuing behind her.

She turned back into the wall she emerged from. She could hear the fleeing feet of her target through the wall and guessed the path her pet-chan took ran along parallel to this one. When she sensed she was had overcome her prey by a little distance, she rammed and spun simultaneously through the wall to collapse the tiny pathway and break through.

[Primera Espada]

(Not sure what's going on with the lack of posting, so...)

The hollow was through playing. It turned to the general direction that Lexi had ran, hidden into, which also lined up to where the other hollow was leaping into the frey.

He pointed two fingers... while still holding his weapon, a zanpakuto, and let lose a Cero. From him, straight to, and past the shinigami, a giant hole was made...

He could see the shinigami, just right of the hole... and the hollow, also just right of the hole... the hole, however... continued on until one couldn't see the end.

The entire structure shook.

"That damned monster!" the master chess player arrancar screamed, slamming his fists against his table. "He just ruined near half the catacombs!"

In fact... due to this new entance... ALL the shinigami were within sight of each other, and the exit... which had the powerful hollow standing before.

[blackluster]

Keeping look out as ordered, Shuga pursued the group. The situation was far from ideal, and several forces seemed to be heading for a clash. Even though Shuga didn't know what they were, he could sense it. The group's steady progress was quickly halted as the building shook violently. Suddenly, the passage wall on their side got ripped apart by a blinding light.

Holy crap! A cero!

It was Shuga's first time seeing one. He'd seen something similar before, long ago. For some reason the academy lesson where he first heard about cero flashed through his mind.

Heh, what a weird time to reminisce...

The cero caused catastrophic damage to the structure. An added hazard which half amused Shuga was that the falling debris started randomly setting off traps in the immediate vicinity. The level of noise and destruction was like a war zone. Even though the building was falling apart, the exit was clear. Unfortunately, the escape route was framing the ominous figure of an enormous hollow. Even Shuga with his atrocious reiatsu detecting skills could sense it. Shuga's horror was enhanced by the fact that the hollow seemed to be carrying a zanpakuto.

"What he hell? How can a hollow have a zanpakuto? Is that even possible?"

Shuga couldn't help but feel that the Soul Academy teaching syllabus needed some major updating. Closer to them, Shuga spotted Lexi, who had another hollow towering over her.

Geez, will the fun never end?

Glancing around, Shuga looked for options. They could get into a brawl right here and now with some rather strong looking enemies.

Getting to Lexi would be difficult, let alone escaping with her, but escape to where?

The massive hollow stood blocking the entrance. The blast tunnel the cero made was clear, but proceeding further into the structure seemed like a bad idea, especially considering the warning issued by the owner earlier. Suddenly, Shuga noticed a familiar gas venting through cracks in the floor created by the structure's violent shaking. Even though there was still a lot of noise, Shuga discreetly approached the captain and spoke in a lowered voice.

"Otowari-taicho, look. The gas from earlier. It seems to be escaping from the cavern below. It looks to be escaping with enough pressure to fill this tunnel pretty soon. If we can lure the big guy and Lexi-sempai's admirer deeper into the tunnel, the gas can take effect on them. Since your shikai showed that the gas seems to be drawn towards reiatsu sources, those two hollows should get wrapped up in it pretty quickly. Since they don't know it's coming, they should fall under the power of the gas's illusionary effect, giving us a chance for escape. We just have to covertly avoid breathing the gas to escape it's effects without letting the enemy know..."

[Primera Espada]

(just so everyone knows: As of monday, I want this thread finished. Don't worry, I only need about 2 posts to finish it. Also, everyone who has been involved up to this point gets a whopping 30% increase in their soul points!)

[Dizzy]

Holy ... SHIT.

The blood red wave of reiatsu lanced through the structure, disintegrating walls and ceilings as it went. The pure power in the thing was amazing - even from her vantage point a decent amount away from the actual path of the blast, Lexi could feel it searing at her, its blazing energy streaming out like a solar flare.

Char marks dotted the walls that hadn't been destroyed outright, and wreckage from the blast was strewn all over the floor. The foundation of the building was beginning to creak and crumble; a few more jarring attacks like that, and the entire wing was likely to collapse.

She noticed that her communicator's buzzing had stopped; most likely the reiatsu from the cero interfering with its signal. No time to worry about that, however, as her stalker was once again in plain view.

This doesn't look good ... surrounded on both sides ... I can see the others near the other side of the tunnel, but I need to get past my S&M friend ... looks as if I've got no choice in the matter.

Flicking a smoke bomb out of her utility belt, she threw it hard into the ground. A blast of sound echoed through the hall and smoke filled the air, obscuring sight for several meters in the narrow hallway. At the same time, she leapt up into the air, used a shakkaho to blast a hole through the ceiling above her, and emerged on the next floor, which, as luck would have it, was yet another long hall.

This time, she took off in the opposite direction, towards the faint shinigami reiatsu she sensed near the edge of the building, and cradling the extremely bemused hollow puppy in her swordless arm. On second thought, immobilizing it with kidou seemed like a good plan as well. As she ran, she snatched up her communicator and resetting its frequency until it was capable of reaching Keiji.

"Sorry about that, I was a bit held up there. I've still got a trump card up my sleeve to get away from our gracious hosts, so I'm just trying to gain some distance and hopefully arrive at your location soon."

[Mystic Serenade]

A hollow with a zanpakuto hmmm?

He made a mental note in his head to remind himself to research such a phenomenon some day. Arrancar with zanpakuto was one thing, but the being he could vaguely make out in the distance appeared to be no arrancar. But now was not the time to put too much thought into what he observed considering their current situation.

"A sound idea Shugoshita-kun, if it comes down to it I shall play the part of decoy." Keiji stared down the hall and it became clear that Lexi had used a smoke bomb of some sort. Viewing a flash near the ceiling of the cave, he had a good idea what she had done. "But perhaps we can avoid such a situation in its entirety."

He motioned for the group with him to stand their ground for the moment and also blasted a hole into the ceiling above them with a shakkoho, careful to prevent any debris from collapsing on his team. "Go up and rendezvous with Lexi, you lead Kai-fukutaicho. I'll come up after I determine what our two "friends" here plan on doing."

At about this time he received Lexi's message. "We will try to ease that effort for you."

He stared down the hallway once more.
Now lets see how all this plays out...

[~Sachiko~]

Cero, such a splendid and flashy display of power. She'd have to use one herself one of these days. However at this moment, she decided there were easier and less energy consuming methods for getting what she wanted. Plus she wanted to keep pet-chan whole, not wiped off this plane of existence!

Her current position was not something she deemed favorable however. On one end the creator of the cero and on the other stood that insufferable man. That and a bunch of other shinigami, but he was clearly the main problem. It'd be troublesome to let pet-chan meet back up with him.

To make things even more troublesome, pet-chan appeared to have attempted to flee from her once again, this time with the aid of a lot of smoke. However, though her vision was distorted for the moment, a bright flash above her and the feeling of small pieces of rubble falling down on her from above gave her somewhat of an idea of what had just transpired.

At this time, she had her two scythes grow and erupt from her back, breaking through the walls next to her. As luck would have it, there was another adjacent hallway on the other side of this current hallway. Whoever designed this building must have loved the idea of hallways that seemingly lead to the same place. At the same time she sent out her scythes, she went the same direction as one to the hallway she had originally broke into this one from.

She sped towards the general direction she had saw the purple-haired shinigami standing, believing that to be the place her pet-chan most likely to flee too. Soon hearing the faint running footsteps of her pet-chan, she guessed her conjecture to be correct. As soon as she guessed from the sounds of footsteps that she was far ahead enough of her pet-chan and far away enough from her previous act of destruction to prevent the halls to collapse from what she was about to do, she struck.

She slammed her hand down and dove up higher this time, above where she judged the ceiling of the past hallway to be. She used the same maneuver as the last one she performed to trap her prey, but this time with a couple of special features. She guided her scythes to come in from opposite ends of the small hallway to block off any escape into the opposite direction. Opening her jaws, she then let flow a strong stream of acid.

[Dizzy]

Huh, she just never seems to give up. Guess it's time for a quick interlude.

She tracked her stalker's reiatsu as it caught up to her location, and at the hollow's intrusion through the floor, Lexi blasted two perfectly-timed shakkahos, one from each hand. The first flew downwards, aimed straight into the hollow's gaping maw. The flames weren't infused with quite enough power to do damage, but the point of the maneuver had only been to buy a bit of time. The second blast was aimed at one of the corridor walls. The plan had been to kick off the opposite wall, escape through the newly formed passage, and pull out the trump card. Unfortunately, Lexi had not anticipated the blast of acid coming out to meet the flames.

The acid was corrosive and come out ferociously, but the shakkaho's sheer reiatsu stalled its path for long enough to allow Lexi to charge a few more fireballs to meet it. Unfortunately, the acid spew's intensity was steadily increasing, and Lexi knew she wouldn't be able to outlast it with shakkahos; the hollow's reiatsu wells were far deeper than her own. Besides, gravity was expected to take its toll upon her soon, anyhow. The only thing still keeping her in midair was recoil from the steady rhythm of fireballs pounding down into the acid.

Instead, she used her left hand to blast down a byakurai - a piercing technique that would go through the acid, and hopefully, wind up somewhere in her stalker's mouth. The flames were dissipating and the acid had begun to reach her skin, stinging badly and burning away the top layer of her epidermis. She'd have to act quickly, lest the situation get extremely ugly.

Firing off a last shakkaho, she pulled her zanpakuto out of its scabbard. She held it lightly in her fingers, almost caressing it, before letting loose an abrupt wave of reiatsu.

"Nare, Tempesta!"

The release let loose a wave of energy, cutting a swath through the stream of acid and flashing the immediate area a brilliant white. With its control over air, Lexi moved herself to the adjacent hall and used the wind to propel herself further down at a far greater speed. Adding her own shyunpo abilities to it, she was off and away in the blink of an eye, nearly having reached the rest of the party.

[Primera Espada]

The two arrancar had made it to the surface... the mohawked individual was furious.

"That's it! We're out of here! Make them go away!" He scolded to the other arrancar, who was hiding in the shadows behind him.

"Sir...?"

"You heard me. Use that ability of yours. Every hollow, GONE."

"... as you wish. Shall we leave as well?"

"Tch. In a minute."

With that, the familiar crimson light bubbled up around not only the little hollow pup, but the rediculously powerful hollow as well. Then in a blink, they were gone.

"Eh? What about that last one." He said, addressing the teleporter.

The response was quick. "She's much weaker than the other one, and moving around a lot in her fight. It's harder to pinpoint. Give me a second..."

The authoritative arrancar stood in silence as the other concentrated...

[~Sachiko~]

Ah...so many random tricks she has now

It was rather interesting to see her pet-chan pull out so many tricks. It would be even more fun to see what more she could do...but now she would have probably catch up to the annoyance that is her comrades. Well, there would be other days, and other opportunities to play. But its not like she'd let her get off that easily. She took control of her scythes once more and violently orchestrated them to crash into the adjacent corridors, causing them to collapse and fall down. She then fired multiple shots of acid down the hall her pet-chan had fled down.

Finishing what she figured what was left she could do. she turned towards the now open entrance and prepared to head out. As she moved to leave, she flicked up her tail, collapsing the last standing corridor of the three.

[Mystic Serenade]

(Note: Primera is taking a break and has given me the authority to do this so yea here it is.)

"Heh, destructive little bugger this last one is...at least she stopped moving around so much." With that the arrancar surrounded this hollow as well in a crimson light to teleport it off the premises. He turned back to his mohawk sporting companion. "It's gone now."

"Excellent," he turned away, "but now that this base is no longer usable we will now take our leave of this place and go elsewhere."

"What of the shinigami?"

"Feh, whatever they do now is inconsequential. Besides, the portals between realms seemed to have stabilized by now so more of the nuisances will probably show up. Let them be for now."

On that final note, the arrancar duo departed from the now truly abandoned structure.

OCC: So yea this marks the official end of the plot thread, feel free to throw in some last words. Awards include the 30% increase Prim mentioned and whatever rp points that will eventually be handed out.

(And now a random edit to actually explain us leaving)

Things just keep getting better and better it seems... Luckily the cave in that just occurred was not followed up by yet another attack by Lexi's special friend. Though he had to admit, it was definitely a plus that the so many threatening sources of reiatsu that surrounded them before seemed now to be either completely gone or moving away from them. A beautiful sign, unless they just so happened to decide to mask their presence again which of course would be infinitely bad.

It was then he received a message on his communicator from Soul Society this time. Guess the pathways between dimensions have stabilized again. he thought. He responded quickly, "Yes, what is it?."

The voice of one of his superordinates back at headquarters rang through the speaker, most definitely in some state of panic. "Otowari-taichou, we finally got readings on your current location and things don't look so hot. The area's reiatsu looks unstable...we think the building is about to self-destruct."

Ah, wonderful, just when we finally had the building to ourselves.

"We're opening another portal so you and your team can escape, we'll try to open it as close to your location as we can. Aurea-taicho will be coming through as an indicator of the portal's location."

"Understood, Otowari out." Closing his communicator, he turned back to those with him. "Alright team, it seems our hosts have decided to leave us a farewell present in the form of an exploding building. As I, and hopefully you, humbly decline this gift, we're leaving."

With that he waited a moment until he could feel the reiatsu of the other captain and headed off into that direction. Luckily for them it was only a few meters away from them.

"They got a lot better at this it seems," spoke Keiji.

Cres chuckled, "Maybe, that or a gracious stroke of luck. Any how, time for you guys to go home."

[Dizzy]

Lexi was left staring in shock after first the hollow pup cradled in her arm and then her assailant both disappeared in abrupt flashes of crimson light - seemingly the same kind that had transported her into the center of this structure in the first place. She breathed a sigh of relief and had just begun to wonder why she hadn't been transported along with the pup this time when she slammed into the opposite wall of the hallway, the impact knocking the wind out of her and putting a noticeable dent in the wall. Still, there was the oncoming acid and the fact the ceiling was caving in from the other side of the hall to worry about.

The rest of the party had managed to regroup about a few meters to the right, while Keiji was below them. Firing a shakkaho into the wall seperating her and the others, she darted through just as the acid whizzed by.

Wow, that was pretty close. I could get used to this amazing speed though, just need to learn to put on the brakes.

As Keiji and their commanding officers back in Seireitei finished their chat and the weary shinigami made their way over to the newly-opened portal, Lexi wondered exactly what Soul Society was thinking, letting a group of such low-level shinigami into the midst of enemy territory. Taichou's words floated into her mind, and although they should've been easier to dismiss now that the drugging had been removed, she found that they stuck onto the back of her skull, like a wisp of cigarette smoke that wouldn't disappear.

The thought was interrupted, however, by Cres pulling her aside as she stepped through the portal, a concerned look on his face. "Heya Lexi, are you alright? You look like you've been beaten up a bit."

"Nothing I can't handle," she replied.

"Are you sure?" He said doubtfully, "because you've been in 4th quite a bit lately. Nearly always with acid burns and scratches, much like the ones you're sporting right now."

Lexi hadn't seen the extent of her injuries just yet, but she hardly felt it; the adrenaline was acting as a temporary anesthetic. It would most likely hurt a lot more once some time passed, but she always had the healing springs to turn to. "I'll be fine," she insisted. "If you want, I'll go for a checkup, but this is nothing."

Cres' eyes darkened visibly. "I still want you to be careful. Rumor has it that Felix Ronsse has been seen in Rukongai. The rumors are pretty sketchy, but if they're true ... "

He trailed off, but Lexi got the gist of it. She bade him farewell, and then walked through the gate and into the world of the shinigami, feeling sick to her stomach.