mission 1A: dead winter in rukongai (plot thread)

[Dizzy]

chapter 1: masks, bones, blood
mission 1A: dead winter in rukongai

Scenario:
It has been long known that hollows are capable of entering Soul Society easily; they just don’t tend to be stupid enough. Those that do almost always begin their assault in the outermost reaches of Rukongai, where the souls are weak, but plentiful, and where they will be able to consume as many of them as possible before being repelled by the shinigami forces.
A situation like this has suddenly arisen, as the Keigun has reported the arrival of several lower-class hollows in the 79th and 80th Districts of West Rukongai, where they are systematically destroying everything in their path, eating souls as they go.
As these are lower-class hollows, a regiment of relatively inexperienced shinigami will be sent to deal with it. A resounding success in this mission would look good on any captain hopeful’s résumé. The 12th Division will be leading the attack, due to a recent shortage of research specimens, but members of any other divisions whom wish to get additional experience or pad their résumés are also welcome to volunteer in front of the division headquarters.

Briefing:
The situation in Rukongai is going badly; wreckage is strewn all over the place, and mastery of the terrain will almost certainly be useful towards gaining victory. It is believed that there are ten hollows in total, six located in the 79th District and four in the 80th District. They vary in ability from menos-level to hardly more than an academy graduate. It doesn’t appear to be a planned assault at all; just a couple of overambitious hollows looking for a quick meal.
The skies are a light grey overcast, threatening to rain sometime within the hour. The higher-ups are looking for a quick victory and the prevention of further casualties among the souls of Rukongai.
Transport to the districts will be done by shyunpo; therefore, some may arrive earlier than others. The hollows are first come, first serve, although it is recommended that no shinigami allows him or herself to be overmatched.

Objectives:
1. Repel/purify the attacking hollows.
2. Evacuate any and all remaining Rukongai citizens.
3. Limit property destruction and casualties among Soul Society dwellers.

OOC Notes:
This is a plot thread, and it should therefore be treated as such. No statistics and no battle system will be involved; everything is done by writing. However, stats are still to be used as a rough guideline of characters' abilities (ie: if your character has 5 Speed, he/she cannot run circles around his/her opponent). As the participants arrive at important plot points, I will provide narration. All participants will receive 25 points plus regular RP thread scoring. As a final note, godmoding is heavily discouraged.

---

The grounds in front of the 12th Division Headquarters are no different from their equivalent from any other division, aside from the lack of activity. It is clean and white, but most predominantly, it is quiet - almost eerily so. A few seated members of the division are packed away in a corner, speaking in low voices.
In a more prominent view, right in front of the main entrance to the headquarters, two other shinigami are speaking, one purple-haired, and one green-haired, the former holding a clipboard. Presumably, this is where interested applicants should go and sign up.

[blackluster]

The calm outside of the headquarters was somewhat interrupted as Yasutoko came bounding down from a nearby rooftop. She continued running as she touched down, maintaining her speed. In what seemed like one continuous movement, she ran up the side of the headquarters wall and performed what could only be described as a viking flip from the top. She avoided a fatal fall on her head by performing a complex flash path manoeuvre only centimetres from the ground.

Shortly after, Shuga came leaping from the same nearby rooftop, only to trip as he landed awkwardly.

"Were you even trying?" Kim asked patronizingly. "I wasn't even using Shunpo and you still couldn't keep up?"

Shuga had given up trying to make excuses. He was only here because Kim had recommended the mission as a means of escaping the "maniacal torturer", or the 3rd division captain, which everyone besides Kim knew him as.

"Try not to get killed." Kim laughed as she flashed stepped off to who knows where.

Shuga approached the sign up register, still rubbing his shoulder that broke his fall.

"I'm here for the mission."

[Mystic Serenade]

Mai begrudgingly began to drag herself back once she returned from her rather unsuccessful field assignment back in the living world. "You need to get out more, stop sitting in the lab all the time he says." She sighed and kicked a nearby stone out of frustration. "Not that I distrust his judgment, but that little "life experience" adventure was such a pain." She thought how nice it would be to just look at hollows when they were like dead and on a table under her knife. Yes yes, its infinitely more fun that way.

The entire way until she actually got back to headquarters she skipped along and smiled happily at the thought of getting away from the living world and back here where she could hopefully take a nice nap, eat, and experiment some more. Plus take a bath she supposed, all that unwanted running caused her to sweat a bit. Yea, a bath sounded infinitely good right now.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted as she came to the entrance of the 12th division headquarters and found her captain and a fellow division member (who by the way she didn't really like too much) there.

"Ah Hanazuki-chan, what perfect timing," stated the purple-haired taicho of the 12th Division upon taking notice of her arrival, "how was your trip to the living world?"

"Horrible, Quincies suck and hollows equally suck," she complained.

"Hmmm bad time I see. Anyway it's good that you came back just now, we were just about to head out to Rukongai on a mission, hollow invasion and all." He picked up his pen to write on the clipboard, "Let me just write your name here on the roster real quick and then we'll head out."

Mai stared back in horror, "W-wait, no! I just got back, what about my nap, food, and I got specimens I want to look at!"

"Now now Mai, this will be a good experience for you. Nothing feels better than to capture your specimens for yourself," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Or I can just let others bring them to me," she said with a hopeful smile.

"Not today," the captain turned to Lexi, "alright I guess thats it, gather everyone so we can head out."

And with that Mai felt the intense urge to scream loudly and hey she wasn't one to keep things inside, so she did just that.

[Dizzy]

Lexi let her mind wander while Keiji and Hanazuki-san chatted, interrupted slightly by outbursts of noise from the others. Certainly, she was rather unsure of going on the mission, seeing as taicho had reportedly been sighted there. Cres' word was one she trusted very much, and his warnings to be careful were not to be taken lightly.

But on the other hand, taicho was no idiot. If he'd been discovered, he would've cleared out long ago. And even if he didn't know that he'd been found out, he'd eventually discover Lexi's shikai capabilities some other way. He might even already have known. As far as she could tell, she wasn't putting herself in any more danger than she would by going out for a jaunt in the living world. Here, she'd at least have backup forces on call. And she respected his integrity at least enough to bar the plausibility of him allying with these hollows.

Lexi reached the others quickly, gathering both the members of her own division and the small congregation of officers from other divisions who'd arrived to help - a group of about 8 black-robed men and women. She recognized Shuga from the sojourn to Hueco Mundo they'd just arrived from, and gave him a nod as she walked by.

"Alright, shinigami! As we have now gathered a large enough force to combat the invading hollows, we need to leave posthaste! The location is the 79th and 80th Districts of West Rukongai, and our main objectives are to purify the hollows and evacuate citizens. If possible, I'd like the lower-ranked members of 12th to deal with the evacuation," as she said this, she gave Hanazuki-san a pointed glance, "and for the rest to be involved in fighting. If that's clear, then everybody move out!"

A resounding battle cry was heard, and the gathered shinigami either took off like bullets or began shyunpo-aided sprints to their destination. As Lexi was about to follow, a colleague came up to her - Mahana Shirozuki, the division's 7th seat.

"Ah, Hunter-san," he began timidly, "what if the hollows are merely setting up for an ambush? If that is the case, our force may not be able to defeat them without assistance."

It was a good point. The Keigun's reports were usually accurate, but not always perfect. And frankly, it would take a crystal ball to perfectly divine hollow behavior.

"If it is alright with Hunter-san," continued the officer, "I would like to remain and organize any new troops who might show up late, as a sort of backup force."

"Good idea, you do that." said Lexi. The 7th seat was far more adept at research than fighting anyhow; it made sense that he'd want to stay. With that done, she aimed herself back in the direction of West Rukongai and let shyunpo guide her.

---

So, in case it isn't clear, all of the shinigami in the vicinity are currently leaving to complete the mission. Mahana is staying behind to coordinate anybody else who may want to join in into a backup force.

[Mystic Serenade]

The 12th division taicho quickly looked over the roster for the mission and looked over each of the participants. Those within his own division he was mostly familiar enough with. But all of the other division members, excluding Shuga who he recently went to Hueco Mundo with, were quite unfamiliar to him. Wasn't always the best idea to just go with what was on paper, but on such short notice it wasn't like he could do much else.

Placing the papers elsewhere, he addressed those who had enlisted for the mission, "Alright ladies and gentlemen, I'm not one for inspirational speeches and also we lack time for such a thing so I won't give one. Your orders are simple, to purify or repel the invaders and to limit the number of casualties. If possible, incapacitate the enemy while preserving their form, but the former two take priority. Now with that said this will be our traveling arrangement."

One of the female shinigami amongst the enlisted raised her hand, "Um, what do you mean by traveling arrangement? Aren't we just going straight there?"

"Indeed we are Sabara-chan, but we have wasted enough time as is. According to these resumes, four of you have not yet obtained the ability to use shyunpo yet. Luckily, there are five of us who can so I think you can guess what I mean," he paused for a moment to let the information sink in. "So this is who will be carrying who..."

"Miko-chan, you're with me. Saharu-chan you will be carried by Koichi-kun. Sabara-chan, you will be taking Shugoshita-kun. Katayama-kun will take Tomita-chan. Oh, and Lexi, you'll be taking Mai." He named off the pairs quickly, for the most part considering the size of each person to be carried and the strength of the one doing the carrying. Hopefully they would reach their destination quickly.

At that last order there was only one reaction Mai expressed, and that was one shock. Actually that was a complete understatement, she was utterly horrified by this turn of events. Of all the people she had to be paired up with it was her. It was the worse thing that she could have imagined to happen, but orders were indeed orders. Though that didn't stop her from expressing her frustration. She even grumbled quite vocally about having to be carried by a thick-headed midget as she walked towards said midget.

It was loud enough for Lexi to hear and though she didn't really take the comment warmly and would have right about now come back with some witty retort, now wasn't the time and so she opted to just let it pass for the moment. Gotta focus on the mission she thought, and so she merely motioned for Mai to climb unto her back.

Mai begrudgingly does so, why couldn't she have been carried by Keiji, or at least anyone else but her of all people? Once securely positioned, Lexi warned, "Hold on tight," and then quickly sped off to their destination with a push of her foot.

Mai for one was not used to such high speed travel and a queasy feeling growing in her gut agreed with her on one thing, she was moving much too fast for comfort. She probably would have expelled the contents of her breakfast right then and there if she wasn't too busy screaming her lungs off and pulling on Lexi's ponytail.

Lexi didn't quite take the new force pulling on her head well cause you know, getting your hair pulled on, especially with the strength Mai was using, doesn't feel all that good. Plus Lexi wasn't quite known for her patience and tolerance for things which was evident by her cry of, "Oh shit, oh shit, GODAMMNIT STOP IT!!!"

Still screaming, Mai could only yell back, "STOP MOVING SO FAST!!!"

Lexi's patience growing ever more thin answered back, "Stop pulling on my hair, you demented mutant!"

Mai could have took that request easy, it was reasonable and made sense. However the way Lexi referred to her as a demented mutant struck a nerve in the girl. One she responded to by biting down hard on the green-haired shinigami's head.

To this Lexi yelled a bunch incoherently, though one could guess she was probably cursing. So came to a quick stop to cause enough momentum to fling Mai off her back. Mai being larger than Lexi in the first place and thus being sort of awkwardly placed on her back flew easily and tumbled about. Once she came to a stop she winced from the pain and rubbed her head. She yelled out in frustration once she gained her composure again, "I said slow down, not stop!"

Lexi retorted back, "Yeah, and I never gave you permission to eat my head!"

"Yea, well, you deserved it!" And thus began a long back and forth battle of insults.

"You're one to talk, you stupid mutant!"

"You uncivilized, flat-chested, midget!"

"Freakish offspring of a biology project gone wrong!"

"Ugly neantherdal that crawled out of some cess pool!"

"Worthless, mentally-disorded little wench!"

"Pitiful little warmonger!"

"Putrid, stinking pile of compost!"

"Ha, shows how much you know about my habits of cleanliness, at least I don't walk back into headquarters all muddy and scraggly looking like you do," Mai said with a bit more composure than used previously.

Lexi didn't take that comment all too well, "That's because I'm not too much of a wuss to actually fight once in a while!" A devious look came to her eyes, she knew how to get back at the other girl, "besides, I'm not the one who licks myself clean." She let the comment sink in and then let the next blow fly, "stupid mangy stray cat."

"That's because I prefer the intellectual aspects of life you warmonger," Mai replied with all the dignity she could muster, "And..and...I so don't do that," she replied finally a bit flustered. Sure she had a strange habit of licking her hand whenever she was bored or spaced out...but she would never lick her entire body! Given her flexibility that actually might be a possibility...but still...no.

"That's because you're a stinking coward! Why the hell are you even here? Go back to the hole you crawled out of and we'll both be happier," said Lexi, ignoring the second issue completely.

And with that, something finally clicked within Mai given all the frustration that she had built up today. She didn't even want to be here in the first place and it didn't help that the crazy little warmonger who she believed should have been shipped off to 11th Division in a metal box a long time ago was giving her lip didn't help. She gave a feral yell and the claws she modified into her hands extended themselves. Her hair stood on end threateningly. She then proceeded to attempt to pounce Lexi and rip her to shreds

"Oh my God, what the fuck!!!" yelled Lexi in surprise. She dives and rolls off to the side, quickly returning to a standing position.

Mai quickly does a turn about and jumps again now with her foot claws extended, aiming for lexi's back.

In response Lexi draws her zanpakuto, making sure to block the incoming attack with the blunt side. "What the hell are you doing, Hanazuki?!"

To this Mai just made an angered hissing noise. You know, the ones cats make when you piss them off.

"Oookay ... bad kitty, stay down."

This little squabble probably would have taken a horrible turn if it were not for a timely call from Keiji, "Why have you two stopped moving, is everything alright?"

Mai quickly reverts back to her normal self and responds quickly in a happy tone, "Oh everything is fine, that silly Lexi just tripped over a rock, you know how clumsy she can be."

"Alright, just hurry and catch up you two," he says urgently and hangs up. Mai was feeling a little bit better after that. Too bad the midget had to ruin it by talking again.

"... Okay, I'm willing to pretend you didn't just go batshit insane. I am going to grab your wrist and shyunpo there at a good pace, and you are going to behave, lest i decide to throw you there instead, deal?"

"Fine, but you're still a midget."

"Duly noted, mutant."

"Only one as uncivilized as you would not understand the true beauty of my appearance," Mai responds back in a highly dignified manner.

"... Beauty? You're a freaking housecat," a look of disbelief clearly on her face.

"Hater," she sticks her tongue out at the smaller girl.

"Mmhmm, now are we going to leave or what?"

"Lets," and so the duo head back on their way to join up with their companions.

The effect of the attack on Rukongai's infrastructure was greater than expected; entire sections of neighborhoods had been carved out of their foundations entirely, and pieces of roof, glass, and wall are strewn all over the streets. A few of the buildings are aflame, though most have just been trampled and crushed. Several buildings that are still intact at first glance are in fact hanging onto that status by a thread, threatening to topple over at any given moment.

From the rendezvous point upon an overlooking hill in between the two districts, the entire scene is visible to the shinigami. Ten hollows, some massive, some noticeably smaller, wreak havoc in the vicinity, one of them flying overhead and picking off souls in soaring dives. Rukongai citizens run in fear of being eaten, and although their efforts are valiant, they won't last for very long in the face of these beasts.

The quicker shinigami are just now flitting in, surveying the scene. Some of them are looking queasy at the sight of so much destruction, but all of them turn to Otowari-taicho for instruction. Clouds are beginning to build up together in the sky; it won't be long before it starts to rain.

Keiji looked on at the scene before him and was saddened by such an open display of wanton destruction. Quickly analyzing the strengths of the individual hollow before him, he decided on what he deemed would be the best course of action.

He pointed his finger outwards, reiatsu gathering at his finger tips sending out furious sparks. Five times this occurred as he launched them into the bodies of the hollow below, and five times a hollow crashed downward dead as a byakurai pierced straight through their masks into their brains. They were the five weakest of the bunch, it was best to try and get this done as quickly as possible. Now for the other five...

The purple-haired taichou turned back to his team, "Hanazuki, Miko, and Tomita, you are to assist as many residents possible in evacuating the area. Start with those closest to those two hollow," he said pointing into the distance. "Shugoshita, Saharu, Katayama, and Sabara, you will assist those three by engaging those two hollow in combat. "Koichi, you will take that one over there and Hunter that one there. I will take the one that flies in the sky. Assist the others as necessary once you've completed your assignment." With that he shyunpo'd away, entrusting each member to fulfill their task.

[blackluster]

Carried.... by Sabara-san?

Shuga looked in her direction. He honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She seemed equally miffed by the situation, as instead of carrying Shuga, she dragged him all the way to the meeting point. Slightly more dignified than being carried, but not by much.

The hollows had certainly had their way with things. The destruction was immense, though the scene itself, and the screams of souls running for their lives was familiar to Shuga. The four versus one situation was looking manageable. Shuga felt he had become slightly stronger since his excursion in the hollow world. His zanpakuto felt different too. It felt harder. It felt ... sharper. Shuga figured that his teammates were officers, so he waited on their lead.

[Dizzy]

OOC: Sorry everyone about the delay in continuing this thread. The last-second pre-spring-break rush has kept me from writing for a bit. Anyways, just for the record, the preceding scene with Lexi and Mai has not yet been written, although it has much lulz. Just bear with us for the moment >>

Lexi shyunpo’d in last, having been temporarily stalled by the diversion with Mai. Eager to both get to business and be rid of the other girl, she dropped a slightly shaken-from-the-velocity Mai roughly to the ground, brushing off her hands afterwards in an exaggerated motion that sent her fellow 12th division member a clear message, and left her before she could respond. A satisfying feeling rose up in her gut.

The image of Rukongai’s devastation, however, quickly offset that emotion. Wreckage all over the two already run-down districts, blazing remnants of former buildings, detritus scattered throughout the streets as the hollows rampaged through the area, devouring every soul they met. In fact, she was already starting to feel sick for letting such a petty squabble delay her from arriving to prevent this sooner.

Damn, look at all the destruction … and in such a short time, too. We’d better catch their attention or something, get them to stop in their tracks somehow. It must be awful to have to live in such a dilapidated place and not even be able to keep the few things you still have …

Keiji took care of that in typical efficient fashion, selecting the five weakest hollows and blasting five concurrent shots of thunder at them, each one aimed perfectly to shatter their masks and send them down to the ground with a sickening crunch. Shockwaves billowed out from their positions, felling nearby trees and knocking down the remnants of broken-down huts. The hollows were dead before their bodies even landed. It honestly seemed like art, the way her taicho managed that so fluidly and seemingly without even thinking. Had he really grown that much stronger?

The fact that their number had just been halved was enough to catch the attention of the five remaining hollows, who halted and turned to get a look at the shinigami who’d arrived to interrupt their meal. The enormous, flying one swooped down onto a wrecked building and tilted his head, eyeing the soul reapers with a look of hunger in its cold, dead eyes.

“A captain?” the smallest of them rasped. “Fuck, we’d better pull out. We’re in way over our heads. Can’t believe they sent one of the top brass after us …”

“Hold it,” replied the winged one, “this one isn’t nearly so strong. If he was truly captain-level, he should’ve been able to destroy far more of us. He’s just garbage like the rest of them. I shall fight him; the rest of you can take your pick among the rest.”

In return, Keiji began barking out orders, giving a small team of shinigami the task of evacuating civilians, having another four attack the two weaker hollows, and giving himself, Lexi, and Koichi-san the pleasure of getting a decent one-on-one fight, before blasting himself forwards to take the winged hollow. Lexi shyunpo’d off as well, not quite with so much fervor, but excited to be getting a good fight nonetheless. Her target was the small one who’d been the first to speak up – perhaps not the strongest of the hollows, but most likely one with some decent brains. And a decent battle of wits could have Lexi eager to fight on any day of the week.

OOC: For the sake of convenience, I have written short biographies for all of the NPCs, considering how they will be important in the future of the plot as well. As Keiji-taicho has begun directing his troops, individual battles have now begun, although interference between fights shouldn’t be taboo, provided that both parties are in agreement with it. For now, I'm giving you free rein with the characters. Just do with the fighting what you will; you’re both smart enough to know your limits with it. And please try not to kill off any of them too soon.

The current jobs of each shinigami are as follows:
Otowari Keiji VS Quetzalcoatl
Koichi Daisuke VS Deinonychus
Lexi Hunter VS Troodon
Sabara Chiyo, Katayama Ryu, Saharu Hanaka, and Shugoshita Shuga VS Aurus Rex and Tyranno
Tomita Sakurai, Miko Asaki, and Hanazuki Mai evacuating civilians

NPCS:
Name - Gender - Rank - Approximate Reiatsu Level
Shinigami:
Koichi Daisuke - M - 6th Division, 3rd Seat - 4580
With a reputation for reliability in both his division and throughout Soul Society, Daisuke lives solely for his duty as a shinigami. Well-disciplined and orderly like a modern soldier, and dedicated to finishing his job, his immaculate skills are a model for all shinigami. His loyalty to Soul Society is uncompromising, and remains steadfast even when the morality of its actions is unclear. His zanpakuto is called Gattaca, and releasing it transforms it into a reiatsu-based machine gun of sorts.
Sabara Chiyo - F - 12th Division, 6th Seat - 2630
The extreme intellectual type, Sabara is cold and aloof – a particularly antisocial lone wolf. Embittered by the possibility of talking to anybody with a lesser intellect than her own, she only signed up for the mission due to the specimen shortage in 12th division. If it weren’t for that, she’d happily rather be cooped up in her room discovering what types of acid are the most effective for burning hollow masks or whatever it is that these crazy types do. Her self manufactured shikai, Artemis, transforms her blade into a contraption combining several syringes into one long needle, each compartment containing a selection of both antidotes and lethal and non-lethal poisons of her own making.
Katayama Ryu - M - 2nd Division, 7th Seat - 2290
Ryu is part of his division’s old guard, responsible mainly for the training of rookies. Although his skills are waning due to rust and lack of use in combat situations, his experience as a member of the Keigun still makes him exceedingly dangerous. He usually specializes in stealth missions, but he decided to enlist in this one to shake off some of the rust. The officer is known for being outgoing and charming, and immature despite his age. His zanpakuto’s name is Castor, and its released power gives him medieval-styled gauntlets, along with enhanced momentum in his arms and legs – the better to run, jump, and punch with.
Saharu Hanaka - F - 5th Division, 8th Seat - 1650
Hanaka is your stereotypical spoiled rich girl from a noble family – set for life and guaranteed an eventual top-five-seat spot in her division, complete with an excessively whiny and stuck-up attitude. Although she is indeed a skilled shinigami, having been tutored extensively from her childhood, it often goes unnoticed beneath her extraordinary laziness and expectance of having everything done for her. Her temper tantrums are also the stuff of legend within her division, although bribery on the part of her family has kept the news from spreading to other divisions just yet.
Shirozuki Mahana - M - 12th Division, 7th Seat - 1610
Timid and cowardly, Mahana received the 7th Seat position solely because of his abilities in using dirty play to save himself. Not particularly scrupulous and terrified of death, he’s the last person you want to have to rely on in a combat situation. Despite this, he is good at feigning innocence, and most will glance over him, assuming him harmless. His zanpakuto’s name is Minus, and its ability involves coloring a large amount of surrounding area an inverse black and white motif, which creates a variety of effects upon anybody within, enemies and allies alike. His current status is organizing a backup regiment of forces in case of impending ambush.
Tomita Sakurai - F - 6th Division, 13th Seat - 500
Another new recruit to the forces, Sakurai is a kidou prodigy – during her time in the academy, she was already capable of performing mid-to-high level attack kidou without even chanting. Because of this, she was put onto the fast track for promotion – scholarships, salary bonuses, first name terms with her taicho, you name it. Her other skills lag slightly behind, but she is nonetheless a formidable fighter. Unfortunately, the unwanted attention has caused her to be reclusive and shy; the only reason she even signed up for the mission was to get away from the rest of her division.
Miko Asaki - F - 12th Division, 16th Seat - 340
Simply put, Asaki is beautiful. Without a single spot on her body that doesn’t look like it came straight out of a supermodel ad, she captures eyes and hearts alike from all of Seireitei. Although not much of an apt fighter (she was recommended for 4th division but compromised and went to 12th instead), she is eager to learn and a welcome, albeit somewhat distracting presence on the battlefield. Recently, she seems to have taken to her new taicho, following him around when he isn’t paying attention.

Hollows:
Quetzalcoatl - M - Leader - 5350
The toughest competitor in this motley crew, Quetzalcoatl holds sole dominion of the air. The great, soaring pterodactyl-type hollow attacks both by carving up opponents with the sharp talons embedded in his wings, and with spitfire, which he rains downwards from the skies. Apart from this, those enormous, leathery wings also act as a protective shield, and he can charge a reiatsu-infused mouth blast through the crest upon his forehead. Arrogant and condescending, he feels that his place in the sky places him above those who are constantly tethered to the ground.
Deinonychus - M - 2rd-In-Command - 4640
A bloodthirsty, savage breed of hollow, Deinonychus lives for the hunt and nothing but. His behavior is erratic and unpredictable, acting as if completely insane and on a permanent sugar high. His fighting style hinges mainly upon a single enormous meat cleaver of a claw, strong enough to tear through metal; however, his bite is no laughing matter either. His defense, on the other hand, is comparatively weak, and could easily be taken advantage of. The only problem is his ability to break even zanpakutos. A fight with him will be one of almost entirely offense.
Troodon - M - Tactician, 3rd-In-Command - 3900
The brains of the hollow gang, Troodon gets the job of surmising when to run and whether or not a call for backup is applicable. It’s such a bother when one would rather just be gorging oneself on souls, but it’s a living. Small and fleet-footed, with an excellent analytical mind to boot, he is Lexi’s rival in just about every way. Powerful jaws and legs are his main weapon of choice, though when the going gets tough, he has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve.
Aurus Rex - F - N/A - 3210
Tyrannos - M - N/A - 2120
These two hollows are inseparable twins; neither ever being seen without the other. Tyrannos is a boisterous, arrogant blowhard, whereas Aurus Rex is more the cold and calculating type. Neither is a pushover – gnashing jaws, taloned feet, and heavy bodies make them dangerous to even the toughest of foes. However, Aurus Rex has one specialty that not even her twin knows the true powers of – her “Alloraptor” technique. This ability is shrouded in mystery, and although no direct damage is done, it makes her the most dangerous of all of these invading hollows.

Five others were brutally killed by Keiji before they received any screentime. They shall always be remembered in our hearts.

[blackluster]

Shuga's party arrived before their opponents. The element of surprise was lost when the other hollows had come crashing to the ground, so there was no other option but direct confrontation.

One of the hollows laughed loudly at the team's arrival, spraying saliva everywhere.

"Well, well, suddenly I see something I want to kill!" It roared. "I don't usually introduce myself to dinner, but your laughable attempts to look aggressive have compelled me. I am Tyrannos, and this is my dear sister Aurus Rex. We shall be your executioners this evening." Aurus simply let out an irritated grunt.

"Ryu-san. You are Keigun are you not?" asked Chiyo quietly, not taking her eyes off the hollows.

"Yes indeed sister", came Ryu's jovial reply. "Why? Are you cooking up something?"

"Tank diversion with range support, setting up for a two stage covert attack. Weaken the defenses and crush with overwhelming force. Do you have the firepower for that?" Chiyo rattled off the plan instantly, not looking at anyone in the group. She spoke under her breath, so only the group could hear.

"Of course young miss", whispered Ryu, his smile broadening. "Just give me some time to wind up. It's been a while afterall."

"Tch, I'll need some time as well, just make sure you're there", Chiyo replied coldy.

"Then I'll be on my way", Ryu chuckled, disappearing instantly. Shuga marvelled at the sheer speed of Ryu's shunpo.

Man, these guys aren't playing around... wait, where the hell did he just go?

"Right, now we need the tank..." Chiyo turned and looked at Shuga and Hanaka, though Hanaka had already shunpo'ed onto a nearby rooftop.

"Not me nee-san", she shouted from the roof. "Take that mongrel over there. If anyone should die first it should be him. Just look at his hair! Ugh, disgusting!" Hanaka shunpo'ed off to a rooftop further away.

My hair? Wha...

Shuga's thought was interrupted by Chiyo snapping voice.

"Ok, you're it. Execute the plan as I explained it. Don't draw them to far out of position and don't you dare disrupt our cover. Try not to damage them too much, I want good specimens. Consider your survival secondary to accomplish that goal." With that, she also executed a high speed shunpo out of sight.

A gentle gust of wind blew through street, making gentling whistling noises in the empty destroyed buildings. Shuga, now completely alone, looked around frantically. Saying he was dumbstruck would have been an understatement.

Execute the plan? What fucking plan? I've never heard of a plan like that before. I'm the 'tank'? What the hell is that?

He slowly turned and faced the hollows towering over him. Tyrannos was trying desperately not to laugh, but finally, he could no longer restrain himself.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Can you believe this?" he asked, practically convulsing with laughter. "Tell me little one. What is it you can do hmmm?"

Shuga was just as curious as he was, with an extra touch of distress.

"It's a diversion you retard," muttered Aurus, out of the blue. "The others intend to use this one and the other one off in the distance to draw our attention and prepare for attacks of their own. The one before us now is supposed to draw melee combat, and the other off in the distance is meant to support with long range attacks. The two that have now hidden themselves are probably the strongest. Probablity of being correct, 85%.

"Ahahhh", said Shuga, nodding thoughtfully. This was all news to him.

An upset Tyrannos turned to Aurus.

"What did I tell you about calling me retard in front of other people!? You know I don't like it when you do that. You're seriously ruining our working efficiency!"

"Oh, shut up you moron", Aurus snapped back. "You're ruining our working efficiency by being so emo over nothing. More to the point, what do you say to ruining their little plan huh?"

"Fine, whatever," Tyrannos replied, still slightly upset.

Aurus considered their surroundings. "They need cover to effectively ambush us. Wipe out everything."

An evil grin spread on Tyrannos's face. " Heheh, now you're talking..."

[Mystic Serenade]

It was only a fraction of a second between the time Keiji had just given orders and now as he appeared in front of his chosen combatant, the strongest of the group of hollows before them. By the looks of it, this one was also one who just reached adjucha level. It wouldn’t be an easy fight, especially since he just expended a large enough portion of reiatsu killing off those other five hollow to begin this fight at a slight disadvantage.

“So, what brings one such as you here anyhow? Shouldn’t you be off in Hueco Mundo eating some of your own kind, they’re probably more filling don’t you think.” He figured he’d try to buy himself a little time trying to figure out how he’d handle this one.

“What I decide to eat is none of your concern, though I suppose you’d make a good a meal as any menos of my level.” With that the hollow took to the skies, its preferred mode of combat.

Heh, how inconvenient…

It is a known fact that for human’s there is a natural blind spot directly above their heads, and it’s a major inconvenience for one to look constantly upward as it creates much strain on one’s neck. If this battle had taken place in the living world or Hueco Mundo this problem would have been nigh negligible as a shinigami of his level could have easily stood up in the sky via the excess reishi floating about. However this battle was at the moment taking place in Soul Society where such a feat was disallowed.

He guessed at a few options he had for taking on this flying opponent, but he’d hold off using shikai for the moment. Instead he opted to first shyunpo back to create some distance so he wouldn’t have to strain his neck to look at the beast. He fired three bolts of byakurai into the sky at his opponent to see what it was capable of.

Meanwhile Mai was quite disturbed being so close to two gillian. She had enough problems dealing with regular hollow, the idea that if one of that caliber decided to attack her and her small group and be upon them in mere moments was not an idea she entirely liked too much. Hopefully the four combating them would be able to deal with them while they tried to evacuate anyone nearby to somewhere a bit safer.

[Dizzy]

The clouds built themselves up into enormous clumps of grey in the sky, nearly blotting out the sun entirely. The few rays of light that managed to squeeze themselves out from behind the blanket of clouds shone dimly over Rukongai, barely illuminating the village rent apart by the hollow invasion. Firelight kept the wreckage aglow, moving in mystical waves that caused their light to dance delicately over the debris. From up above, the first few raindrops began preparing themselves for the journey down to Earth.

Lexi skidded to a halt upon a decently-sized piece of scrap metal about ten feet away from her quarry, drawing her sword out from its scabbard as she landed. The hollow that stood facing her was small and light, though he would most likely compensate for that lack of strength by being agile and quick on his feet. His comment about retreating also implied that he had some decent brains behind that mask of his. Lexi’s own mirror image. The hollow stood erect upon two muscular legs, a long tail waving slightly behind him. All four of his appendages bore thick, sharp claws at the ends, and when he leered at her, his grin showed two rows of dangerous teeth that glinted in the muted light.

“A hollow, eh? Well, I feel you have the right to know who your executioner is. Lexi Hunter,” she announced, gripping her sword tightly, “jyuunibantai goseki.”

“I don’t give a flying shit,” he spat. “If I stopped to ask the names and titles of all of my food, then I’d have wasted half my life waiting for them to shut up. But as long as you’ve already deigned to assume that I care, mine’s Troodon. Tactician and third-in-command to Quetzalcoatl.”

“A pleasure.” Lexi inclined her head in a mock bow, drew back a bit, and then abruptly leapt to the side, almost bouncing off the nearby walls and ceilings on her path to the hollow.

The wind whistled in her ears as she rushed, bullet-like, between stakes of wood and over rooftops, taking as erratic as path as possible to avoid being predicted. Troodon blitzed himself backwards, crushing a tree as he went, and as Lexi tackled him at Mach 3, he lashed out with a scaled arm and nearly disarmed her in one swing, sending her stumbling backwards and yelling curse words into the empty air.

“Momentum alone can’t compensate for raw strength,” laughed the hollow. “If your idea of an attack is to waste your energy running around in circles until you’re going fast enough to cut me, then you have a lot more circles to run.”

Lexi spat onto the ground, legs aching from the run she’d just performed. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. The jarring collision had shaken her skull enough to give her a migraine; she shook her head to clear it. Elsewhere, Keiji had begun firing at his own opponent, whereas the four shinigami who’d been placed together were deploying a neat sort of tactic to combat their enemies. Koichi-san and his opponent had slammed into a large, mostly-intact building, and were in the process of smashing it and each other up. She couldn’t see the evacuators, but as no other hollows had arrived in the area, she took it as a good sign.

That’s right … this one said he was the tactician … that means he’s probably in charge of calling for reinforcements if it comes down to that. Then I need to keep him permanently occupied, or he might call in more hollows … damn it.

The young shinigami allowed all of her pressing worries – thoughts about taicho and S&M-san and everything else – to drift out of her mind, allowing herself to focus solely on the fight. The adrenaline rush came in through her veins, fueling her with the energy she’d needed. Here she had an opponent both skilled and smart enough to give her a good battle, and she planned to enjoy it to the fullest. A raindrop came crashing down from the sky and splashed itself onto her hand. Lexi never even noticed.

This time, it was her opponent who acted first; crashing headlong into her prone body, he obstructed her zanpakuto with his strong arms and attempted to both tear up her lower body with the talons on his feet and decapitate her by means of biting off her head. Lexi thrust her legs backwards and aimed a byakurai at his jaw to knock him off-course and nullify both his leverage and weight advantage. The sizzling bolt of lightning slammed into his reinforced skin, failing to pierce it, but eliciting a shrill scream and giving the hollow some bad whiplash.

Claws loosened from her sword and the shinigami wrested it free, noticing far too late that they were now aimed at her stomach. She barely avoided having her guts skewered through by rolling off to the side, but Troodon was hot on her tail, lunging after her like a desperately hungry wolverine. Claws raked deep into her left arm, and she felt the warm blood gush out, staining her uniform. In return, she carved a section out of the hollow’s abdomen with her own sword, and winced as a stream of blood splattered down onto her. Kicking him off and hauling herself back up, she pushed Tempestas’ blade into the ground, leaning heavily upon it, sweating and gasping for air. Her opponent wasn’t much better off, blood pouring profusely out of his midsection. He grimaced at her and lunged again, screeching a war cry as he bounded over mounds of rubble to get at her.

Raindrops pitter-pattered down upon Rukongai, as the clouds loomed ever darker.

[blackluster]

Tyrannos and Aurus turned from each other, facing opposite directions as they prepared to lay waste to every standing (and partially standing) structure near them. Tyrannos raised his arms to obliterate a nearby house, but changed the movement at the last second to block an attack to his neck from Shuga's blade.

"You want to die little man?" Tyrannos asked. His guard changed to attack as he exerted pressure against Shuga's blade. It was too much, and the shinigami was sent hurtling toward a collapsed house. It was all Shuga could do to execute a flip and partially brake his fall with his legs instead of his head.

Aurus had ignored the attack and went bulldozing through the building in front of her. Tyrannos, now with his attention on Shuga, followed his attack in. Shuga executed a roll out of the debris at the last second to avoid being crushed. Tyrannos had anticipated the move, putting himself in a position which had Shuga rolling out right in front of him. Shuga winced as the massive claw came down, but the strike was interrupted by a series of extremely powerful fireballs striking Tyrannos in the head. He defended his mask, but the action cost him his arm.

Way of Destruction #33!!?

Shuga tilted his head back looking behind him in the distance. Hanaka's attack had taken a lot out of her, but they had a devastating effect.

"Move your low class ass!" she shouted. Shuga obliged, rolling back and jumping up on to rubble in a continuous motion. The loss of his arm sent Tyrannos into a fury, and got the attention of his sister.

"Dammit", Aurus yelled. "I warned you what they were planning and you still get drawn into it. Couldn't you sense that this male shinigami bearly has the strength to cut you? Honestly..."

Aurus picked up a neaby rooftop, the entire thing, and tossed it at great speed directly at Hanaka. She shunpo'ed aside easily enough, though the flying rooftop landed dangerously close to the evacuation team.

Dammit, how much more time do Chiyo and Ryu need?

"You know shinigami", hissed Tyrannos, catching Shuga's attention. He was clutching the stump at his shoulder, gushing with blood. "That expression on your face is pissing me off. Are you underestimating us?" Shuga's dead expression belied his true state of mind.

Great, is my so-called boring face gonna get me into trouble now?

He adjusted his stance slightly. "So what if I am?"

"Then .... THEN I'LL HAVE TO DISCIPLINE YOU!!!" He screamed, charging at Shuga at full tilt. The speed of his advance was far too much for Shuga to dodge, even though he could see it happening. Hanaka was out of position to help, and even if she weren't, her kidou attack was sapping, she needed time to recover.

"Stop you fool!" Aurus shouted, but it was too late. Tyrannos passed by a partially standing shack, close to Shuga's position. Ryu came bursting forth from the structure, with his zanpaktuo, Castor, fully released. The heavy gauntlets on both of his fists met with the hollow's torso in a single two fisted strike at shunpo velocities. The damage to Tyrannos's body was catastrophic, not even one bone in his centre mass remained in tact. The devastatingly injured hollow went crashing into one of the few buidlings that hadn't yet been destroyed. Tyrannos lay prostrate, wheezing as he could no longer even draw breath properly.

"Just in the nick of time", smiled Ryu. "You know kid, you really have to get to grips with shunpo so you can avoid sticky situations like that."

Shuga nodded, still amazed at the sheer power of Ryu's technique.

"You bastard", sneered Aurus whose patience was now completely spent. "I will make you pay for that..." Even as Aurus surged her reaistu to attack, unbeknownst to her, the tip of a long needle shaped object, covertly emerged from beneath a nearby pile of rubble.

[Mystic Serenade]

As the bolts of lightning tore straight towards Quetzalcoatl, he simple dipped and dove past the first two and to counter the final one he brought up his wings like a shield to deflect it. He soon moved unto the offensive, dropping downwards to dive bomb Keiji.

Against such a move Keiji had little option but to jump to the side to dodge the incoming blow. It was too powerful to defend against with his unsealed zanpakuto and really, he didn’t want to be anywhere near to that things gigantic beak and talons. As the flying hollow moved past, there came a furious gust of wind with it that obstructed Keiji’s ability to quickly aim a kido at the retreating hollow.

Got all this bases covered huh… the young taicho thought.

Quetzalcoatl soon came in again for another dive bomb and Keiji attempted to fire off a shakkoho this time. It hit the hollow, but the damage was nigh insignificant and did very little to stop its advance. This time Quetzalcoatl burst open his wings earlier than last to make his return back into the sky and in the process clipped Keiji in his left arm. The attack didn’t break any bones, but the pain would be a hindrance.

This act continued for a bit, Quetzalcoatl merely diving downwards to attack the shinigami who really had little choice but to dodge. Every now and then he'd also rain down a series of fireballs upon the shinigami before going to down to strike him.

Keiji knew that he couldn’t stay on the defensive forever; it was more taxing on his reserves to dodge than it was for the hollow to attack. However it was the hollow who decided to change up the battle after now viewing the slight fatigue in the shinigami. His mouth opened and energy began to gather at Quetzalcoatl’s crest and channel towards a sphere in his mouth.

A cero? Keiji thought, but he soon realized this assumption was wrong as the energy composition and speed of the attack was much different from that of a cero. He had no chance to dodge as the large beam of energy sped towards him, kicking up a formidably sized dust cloud as it struck.

“Game over Captain-wannabe,” said Quetzalcoatl as he dropped down to perch on a nearby building.

However soon ten spears of light erupted out of the cloud of smoke and sped towards the hollow. In his stationary state, it was impossible for him to get up in time to dodge them all and he roared in pain as seven of them struck him. As the smoke cleared he could see the shinigami captain still standing, now holding two chakram and what appeared to be a dark shadowy energy retreating back into his form.

Keiji smirked a bit, “Game has just begun.”

Meanwhile the three lesser shinigami had just about finished evacuating the immediate area near the four vs two battle, for which Mai was greatful. The further away she was from the action the better. She was ready to move out when she noticed that the other member of her division was missing.

"Uh, where's Asaki?" she asked the other girl with her who merely pointed to a nearby rooftop. Mai quickly made her way up there to see what was up, "Er, so wanna tell me why you're just standing up here and not helping?"

"Keiji-san is so awesome don't you think."

"Er...what?"

Miko ignored that last comment and just merely continued looking forward with a sort of gleam in her eye. Following the general direction she was looking, Mai soon found that from here there was a clear view of her taicho's battle. It was a rather known fact within the division that Asaki had taken a liking towards their captain much to the chagrin of the other males in the division who had hopes of dating her. Well common knowledge to almost everyone except the captain himself who despite all his intelligence seemed to be pretty ignorant of these sort of things. She seriously wondered if he even knew that the girl trailed him from time to time.

The idea that the girl was staring off at the captain annoyed her a bit too, due to the current situation amongst other reasons. Despite the girl being higher ranked than her, Mai felt heavily inclined to poking the girl with one of her modified claws to get her out of her stupor and hey so thats what she did.

"We have a job to do or did you forget that Miko-san," she said with a horribly noticeable fake grin.

"Er right right, let's carry on then." The disappointed 16th seat took one last look at her captain before going off with the rest of her team on their current assignment.

[Dizzy]

Lexi bit back a scream of pain as she crashed through two successive wooden walls, stopping only when she landed in a heap on the stairway. A lurching sensation in the back of her throat brought up blood with slight traces of vomit, which she immediately spat off the railing before pulling herself back up from the broken stairs. Troodon was approaching slowly, savoring the taste he’d just gotten of her blood and effortlessly smashing through the interior of the hut with his larger body. Although slight by a hollow’s standards, his girth outweighed Lexi by far, and he was making very effective use of that advantage. The hollow was also smart enough to secure all her avenues of escape and to aim for vital points, something that her shattered lower ribs could attest to. She darted up to the second story of the structure, limbs bruised and aching, but still mobile.

Damn it, this is bad … stupid hollow’s got me outfought, outran, and even outthought. There’s no way I can win this without releasing. But I need to get the hell out of here first … I don’t want to be flung through anymore walls at high velocity. In that building in Hueco Mundo, that was easy enough … but kidou here would ignite this stupid wooden building for sure, and maybe even start a fire in the entire district … fuck …

The girl navigated her way through the rooms, hoping for a window or a skylight or any method of escape, but there was none. Troodon had chosen his battleground well. If she was escaping, it would be by using her own body as a battering ram, which didn’t seem like such a great idea considering her injuries. Elsewhere, she heard Koichi-san scream in pain and the deranged laughter of his opponent, followed by the sound of a chainsaw cutting through wood. A foreboding sound to be sure.

The hollow burst through the floor with a loud crash, screeching in the thrill of the hunt. With little other recourse, Lexi whipped a bearskin rug at him to buy some time, and then stabbed into the wall with her zanpakuto to try and carve herself an exit. It didn’t take, and the hollow threw itself at her, crushing the girl with his weight and sending both flying through a side wall into another room. He was on top of her now, jaws snapping and saliva dripping, so close she was nearly suffocating on his putrid breath. His eyes glinted and he leered at her one last time before snapping his neck forward in a biting motion that would surely take off her head –

“Hadou #31, Shakkaho!”

She hadn’t been left with any other choice, and with as much reiatsu as she could afford to spare, the shinigami forged a fireball out of her spirit energy, focused it into her fingertips, and blasted Troodon up like a cannonball, the searing attack lifting him into the roof with a deafening crack. Lexi rolled out of the way to avoid being squished by his return trip down, ran through the hole she’d come through, and yanked her zanpakuto out of the wall. The room behind her had already ignited in flames, and she didn’t have much time. The girl ducked through the hole made by the hollow on his way up and followed the path of wreckage out of the hut. Raindrops were dropping from the sky like shooting stars, though they wouldn’t be nearly enough to put out the fire that was already spreading to the exterior of the building. Lexi didn’t mind, she was just glad to be outdoors for a change. Hopefully, the rest of the battle would go more smoothly.

Gripping her blade’s hilt felt good; it fueled her with the energy she desperately needed to keep her battered body standing. She raised it to chest level, pointed it and the blazing hut, and poured her own energy into it as well, a symbiosis that blasted a swath of reiatsu all the way to the skies.

“Nare, Tempestas!”

A bright light blasted forth, and her spirit energy surged forth, creating air currents enough to shake nearby trees. Lexi emerged with an aura of crackling energy, holding her sail-like weapon towards the hut just as an enraged and medium-rare Troodon burst from the wall, smoldering and fuming like a volcano ready to erupt.

“Fucking impudent shinigami scum! I’ll tear your puny little body apart!”

Lexi gave him a cocky grin. “Just try me.”

Again, Troodon lunged at her, claws raised to tear deep into her flesh. Lexi blasted forward as well, propelled by her zanpakuto and ready for a crash of epic proportions.

[blackluster]

The tip of the needle slipped between the scaly, armour like plates of Aurus's foot, and painlessly pierced the skin.

"It looks like Sabara-san has started hmmmm", whispered Ryu, keeping his head focused on the hollow. Shuga wasn't sure what he was talking about though. Before them, Aurus had built up a great deal of reiatsu, toughening her already rock hard hide, and greatly increasing her strength. She picked up and nearby splintered wooden pillar, and adopted a javelin throwing stance.

heh, here we go...

Shuga crouched slightly, trying to predict which way he would have to roll to avoid being skewered.

"Don't bother doing that kid" said Ryu, a strange air of confidence in his voice. "You'll need shunpo for this one. Anything else will just sap your reiatsu. See how the reiatsu is building in her arm. This is going to be one hell of a throw. Besides, we don't want to face off until Sabara's party trick takes effect."

It was all very well and good that Ryu was exlpaining all this to him, but Shuga couldn't shunpo, he thought that would be clear to everyone by now. Ryu's words were almost discouraging, but before Shuga could ponder it anymore, Ryu hugged him tightly, pressing Shuga against his chest.

"Erm, Ryu-san", stammered Shuga, "I'm not sure this is the time..."

"Don't be embarrassed young lad", Ryu interrupted, beaming a big smile at Shuga. "This is a manly embrace. Besides, don't you want to learn the trick to doing shunpo?"

What? He's going to teach me now?

Aurus was taking aim ahead of them. She seemed to be pouring her reiatsu and her hatred into throwing that pillar. Ryu started to explain, but Shuga couldn't help but have somewhat divided attention between the old man clutching him in a disturbing embrace, and impending doom by impalement.

"The trick to shunpo quite simply, is shifting weight, and associated timing. It really is the most efficient way to move." Ryu started to sway back and forth. "You see how shifting my weight creates momentum? There is a sweet spot where timing replaces force, and just a bit of reiatsu to the legs produces a much larger turn of speed. This combination of shifiting weight, and timing, is what creates the ultimate stepping technique, the Shunpo! Observe..."

Aurus had completed her preparation, and she launched the pillar at frightening speed. Shuga could just about see it since it was heading straight for him and Ryu. The pillar was close, but suddenly, because Ryu had been talking about it, Shuga felt it. Ryu was holding him tightly, so he felt as Ryu's body rocked to the side, ever so slightly. The motion felt so slow compared to what was going on in front of him. It felt so slow, like the pillar would strike them easily while they were still swaying side to side like an odd dance couple. In an instant, the landscape was different. Not different, the perspective had changed. Shuga saw the impact as the pillar struck the ground with tremendous force a few metres away. Ryu had pulled him in his shunpo, letting Shuga feel how the weight distribution worked.

That was a little too wierd, but I think I get it....

Aurus had quickly reaquired her targets. Ryu's shunpo speed wasn't particularly impressive to a hollow of her level. She began her attack charging with great power at the two shinigami. Her movements however were becoming slower, despite the reiatsu she was sporting. Her attack was quick, but even Shuga found himself able to evade (albeit barely). The hits still carried great power, but Aurus seemed to be lethargic.

"Dammit, what's going on?" Aurus muttered, completely confused. Suddenly it hit her. "The other shinigami.... the woman. You rat! Come out! Show yourself! What have you done to me!?"

Sabara emerged some distance off, from inside a collapsed shack. "You are subject to my ability now. You are feeling the effects of a poison I developed myself. I'm by no means a master at this art.... but I am quite studious I think you'll find." Sabara wore a cold smile. "You mis-calculated hollow. With your sibling damaged but alive, he should make an excellent test subject for our experiments. Wouldn't you like to join him?"

Shuga was somewhat taken aback by Sabara's coldness. Even Ryu had fallen silent. Hanaka shunpo'ed closer to join the group.

Hanaka continued the mockery, "Hmph, for all their threats, look at them now", she jested.

The hollow though had fallen quiet. She simply looked at the shinigami before her. The poison had begun to affect her vision, but she deduced that the purpose of the toxin was merely to provide a combat advantage, and not actually to kill. If she was still alive, there were a couple of things she could still do....

[Mystic Serenade]

Keiji, though he didn’t look it, was rather disappointed. He had expected to do more than three spears worth of damage to the hollow, but it seemed that even attacking it while it was in an initial sedentary state with a surprise attack was simply not enough. For something so large it was surprisingly quite mobile.

Quetzalcoatl had once again taken to the skies, but this time Keiji was a little prepared to combat the airborne beast. The hollow was fast, but it wouldn’t be able to dodge his much smaller and nimble zanpakuto in comparison. The captain tossed both of his chakram at the adjucha at full speed, hoping to bring this fight to a close.

However, the flaws in this plan became quite evident from the start. The most obvious thing to do in this type of situation would be to destroy the opponent’s wings. Damage even one enough and the hollow wouldn’t be able to fly. Problem was that Quetzalcoatl seemed to know this weakness extensively well and naturally protected against it as his wings were the most heavily defended part of its body.

As Keiji directed any attack towards them, it appeared as if his chakram merely glanced over it and bounced off. Directing his attack from where he stood, he constantly hammered the beast with the same result. He may as well have been using a blunt butter knife to try and penetrate a titanium shield.

Finding any attack at his current disposal would be useless to try to use on the hollow’s wings, he attempted to strike at the hollow’s main body instead. This action elicited a more active response from Quetzalcoatl who began to dive and dodge Keiji’s attacks. It was good to know that the hollow found them dangerous enough that he had to avoid them, but it was as if before he merely let Keiji pound away at his wings just to make a point.

Also, it wasn’t like he was merely going to let the shinigami continuously chase him around with the little spinning disks without doing something himself. The adjucha soon spun in midair and burst open his wings to but a lot of space between him and his opponent’s weapons before letting down a rain of fiery fireballs down upon his opponent.

At this distance it wasn’t too difficult for Keiji to dodge the attacks, but it seriously disrupted the rhythm of his own attack pattern. Also, he couldn’t let such an event occur again, the damage to the surrounding area was great enough as it. It was also starting to become a larger and larger strain on the shinigami’s reiatsu reserve to consistently control his zanpakuto at this distance. He recalled them to return spinning back towards his side so he could rethink his next course of action.

Quetzalcoatl took this as a cue to move onward back unto the offensive, sending more fireballs crashing down the shinigami’s way. Each increasing in accuracy, and well, the more that comes raining down the harder it is to dodge them all.

This certainly was not something Keiji took too very kindly. The district he was trying to preserve would quickly become a smoldering wasteland if this continued. He had little option but to try a completely knew tactic. It was risky, but crazy enough to work.

He tossed both of his zanpakuto back into the sky towards Quetzalcoatl as if to attack, and naturally the hollow prepared to dodge. However this time, Keiji did not move his weapons in pursuit but used shyunpo to launch himself high into the sky next to them, using them as foot holds. From there he used shyunpo again to speed himself towards the hollow’s back. Taking advantage of the opening created from the hollow’s initial response of shock, Keiji made good use of the technique he learned from his other self.

In a simultaneous flash of both light and darkness, the two chakram blinked momentarily out of existence from their position far behind Keiji due to the force of his shyunpo and back into his hands. Raising his left hand, the shinigami captain drove the darker of the two deep into the flesh of hollow and with a yell pronounced his intention, to those who understood the meaning of his cry of “eternal darkness” that is.

Quetzalcoatl screeched in pain as it continued to fly around in desperation to fling the source of his anguish off, but to little avail. Since the weapon penetrated into his back, a dark reiatsu began to flow out of the zanpakuto, wrapping around the hollow’s body and slowing its movements. Soon enough momentum was lost to cause the once airborne hollow to begin dropping downward.

And with that the shinigami captain kicked off his opponent’s back and jumped up into the air, other chakram in hand spinning violently to become an all familiar sphere of brilliant light in preparation to deliver the final blow.

[Dizzy]

Aurus Rex laughed, a cold and haughty sound that echoed through the burning buildings despite the sluggishness in her voice. The poison had slowed her reaction time considerably, given her loads of extra fatigue, and clouded her vision, but she would still be able to move effectively for a while, easily enough to escape. But, she noted, looking around cautiously, her options in retreat were limited … her twin, as insufferably stupid as he was, was already doomed. And although Troodon and Deinonychus appeared to be doing well enough for themselves, Quetzalcoatl was at a heavy disadvantage against the captain he was facing. And the other five had already been killed straight-out. Their group was dissipating so quickly, would there really be a future for them in Hueco Mundo?

And besides, these insects have to pay for taking Tyrannos down, and that girl doubly so for this blasted poison.

Poison girl had shyunpo’d over to join the rest of her group; there would be no going after them for the moment. The four of them were too far away for a convenient ambush, and probably too difficult to corner as well. It would take prodigal skill to snatch up even one of them, with a microscopic allowed margin of error. With the poison already flowing through her veins, she didn’t have a chance.

Instead, the hollow eyed the evacuators for a split second, and then lunged at them, smashing through walls and splintering wood as she made her way towards the three shinigami. Already weakened by the hollows’ previous rampages and wet from the drizzling rain, the buildings came apart easily, raining debris down upon the girls as well as a giant hollow.

Two of the shinigami screamed at the sight, while the other one went through a slightly spastic reaction before hissing and drawing elongated claws out from nowhere. However, even primal instinct was aware that her frail body would not withstand the force of a giant hollow crashing down upon her, and she ran for it, screaming for the others to do so as well. One of them snapped out of her reverie and followed, scrambling over fallen rocks and other detritus. The last one of them, however, was scared stock-still, frozen to the spot, even going into slight convulsions from the fear. Perfect.

Aurus blasted herself at the girl, amid the screams of the other shinigami, snatching her up in her vestigial forearms as she went, making sure to keep the body in perfect condition as she did. She then allowed herself to crash heavily into the opposite building, bringing down three stories worth of debris that buried both herself and the girl she was carrying. She was still completely paralyzed by the fear, surrounded in a cold sweat.

---

Miko Asake tumbled out of the building’s only intact window, shattering it as she crashed to the ground, coughing and exhausted. That ordeal had taken a heavy bite out of her stamina, and escaping from the hollow’s grasp had taken far more effort than anticipated. The other shinigami were just now arriving at the scene, and upon noticing her sprawled out on the ground, gathered around her.

“The hollow kind of missed me,” she explained tiredly, “I think she’s disoriented or something. Somebody bind her …”

One of them obliged, chanting a bakudou to restrict the hollow’s movement. At the same time, Miko felt her own muscles tighten. A male voice shouted a hearty congratulations, while a quiet female one murmured that she was just glad nobody was hurt. Miko’s eyes drifted lazily shut, and for just a moment, glinted malevolently before she passed out from exhaustion.

---

Lexi rocketed this way and that, easily evading Troodon’s charges and outspeeding him in general, earning several slices and parries as a result. The hollow now stood ten feet from her, mirroring their facedown at the beginning of the fight. Troodon had come away with less damage than herself, but he was finding himself increasingly ineffective against Lexi’s amazing speed. He grunted and spat onto the ground, moving his tongue against his lips disturbingly.

“You’re not the only one who can pull shit like that,” he rasped, spitting out a tooth that had loosened during a particularly violent collision.

Lexi tilted her neck at him, daring him to try. She was reasonably sure that hollows had no form of release, so unless this dinosaur was hiding rocket boots or something, she wasn’t about to believe he could triple his speed right there. Troodon responded by lunging forward at her once more, spines raised threateningly, with his claws outstretched to slash at her. The shinigami easily dodged him, swerving behind him to get a stab at him.

Hold on a second, I don’t remember him having spines before -

Suddenly, the spines detached themselves from Troodon’s body, a spectacle that seemed to almost be in slow-motion, leaving them hanging in midair, directly in the girl’s path. The ones that touched her shinigami uniform even stuck onto it. As the spines surrounded her, she realized exactly what was happening and admonished herself severely for letting overconfidence get her into the trap.

They detonated, sending hundreds of small-scale explosions through the air, filling the air with smoke and fire, a flaming, luminescent orb hanging in the sky as a lone figure fell from it, smoldering like a candle. Lexi felt like she’d been plunged in boiling oil and then hit by trucks from all sides, the last of wave of which had enough impact to send her hurtling hard to the ground, heavily singed and badly hurt. She landed hard on a slab of pavement and laid there, her hakama still aflame. Troodon sauntered up to her, leering at her and showing his teeth.

The drizzle lightly falling down from the sky was putting out the fire, but it couldn’t help ease the pain at all. The sneering hollow drove his teeth deep into her left arm, lighting up the pain anew. It tore into sinew, flesh, and muscle, and ripped it apart when he bit down. This time, Lexi screamed, a shrill cry resounding through the village. The adrenaline rush from it was enough to get her back up to her feet, though at the expense of teeth raking through her arm. By now, running circles around her opponent and attacking on opportunity would be a terrible idea, considering the amount of blood now pouring down her arm. Stamina would now be much harder to come by.

From out of nowhere, Koichi-san flew into the rubble behind her, looking not much less worse for the wear. Scrapes, scratches, bruises, bite marks were abundant all over his body, and his forehead was bleeding profusely. His opponent shrieked joyously and let himself down to join them. Suddenly, a brilliant and potentially very stupid gambit occurred to Lexi.

“Nice of you to drop in, Koichi-san,” commented Lexi.

“Shut up,” Koichi grunted, slowly hauling himself back up and leaning heavily upon his machine gun zanpakuto.

“Hey,” said Lexi, “I’ve got a crazy idea. Crazy enough to work, even. We switch opponents, and then we hope you can kill mine before yours kills me. How about it?”

Her fellow shinigami looked baffled. “Are you crazy or something?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “I just said so. So are we going to do this thing or what?”

Koichi paused for a second to think. “Alright, then. Just don’t go dying on me!”

The other shinigami leapt at Troodon, firing off reiatsu from his zanpakuto as he did. Lexi didn’t bother to keep watching. Slightly woozily, she turned herself to face the remaining hollow, assuming a fighting stance.

[Mystic Serenade]

The moment having finally come, ten beams of light finally burst from the sphere with Keiji’s call, “Rain of ephemeral light.” This time each light spear struck their target true, piercing its body and oh so coveted wings, sending it cascading downward to the ground below. Afterwards the light spears held the hollow down, pinning it place.

Quetzalcoatl let out another pain-filled cry as the shinigami captain walked up behind him and tore the chakram he embedded there earlier out of its back. How infuriating it was for him, the great king of the skies to now be brought down so low, practically kissing the ground because of a low class captain.

“So hollow-san,” Keiji stepped unto the base of his adversary’s neck, “before I ultimately cut up your magnificent body into multiple pieces for me to examine on my lab table…” As he said this he directed his weapons behind the hollow’s head, poking him with just enough pressure to make their presence known and to draw a tiny bit of blood, “…you’re going to tell me why you and your stupid friend’s were crazy enough to come here in the first place.”

Quetzalcoatl was in a bad enough mood already, the question didn’t really help, "What are you, fucking retarded?"

"I'm not the one who came running into enemy territory announcing my presence so grandly now am I,” returned Keiji with a smirk.

"Watch your unworthy mouth, you sniveling little insect."

Keiji couldn’t help but laugh at the hollow’s comment in the given situation, he decided to apply a bit more pressure to the beast’s neck with his chakram, "I think it is you that needs to watch your choice of words in this particular predicament hmm?"

"I'd rather die than submit to an inferior being like yourself!" roared Quetzalcoatl in rage as it struggled about in an attempt to free himself.

Keiji listened to the hollow scream out in pain once more as he smashed the heel of his foot down unto it’s spine to stop it’s movement. “Now see look what you made me do, I can’t have you further destroy that body of yours. I like my specimen’s as whole as possible.”

That did it; Quetzalcoatl had to try something at least to escape this horrible situation. He charged reiatsu quickly into the tip of his crest and fired it off, the strength was not as strong as one of his mouth concentrated burst, but if he could catch the shinigami by surprise…

And sure enough he did as the blast ripped the left arm of shinigami cleanly out its socket. However his reaction was quite what Quetzalcoatl expected, he was taking it rather calmly as if nothing had happened at all.

"Well shit, time for an ‘eye for an eye’ don’t you think?" commented Keiji as he commanded his chakram to slice the crest off Quetzalcoatl’s head. "So anything else you wanna try before you decide to co-operate?"

Quetzalcoatl couldn’t believe this freak; just what in the world was he? There was no way he’d go down like this. He could still move his neck and head so he twisted both this way and that in an attempt to aim another fireball at the shinigami.

Keiji sighed and then proceeded to cast a binding kidou on the hollow’s neck to thwart its current course of action. He then took the time to go pick up his severed left arm and walk back to the side of Quetzalcoatl’s head. From there he started poking the hollow’s eye with the bloody end of the arm. "Aw come on, we can get along right?"

This action really, really pissed the hollow off. “Fuck you shinigami, fuck you and all your god forsaken kind.”

Huh…got a mouth on him… Ironically at this moment Keiji felt that his friend and subordinate, who similarly had a rather indecent mouth at times, along with Koichi were at somewhat at a disadvantage against their opponents. He’d have to wrap things up here and check up on them, he wasn’t getting that far here in answers anyhow. "Alright stubborn-san, guess I'll just have to ask you one more time again before I cut you up even further. Guess I'll see if one of your little friends is a little more co-operative"

To that Quetzalcoatl continued his string of curses and attempted to break the binding spell so he could impale himself on the shinigami’s zanpakuto above him and end his misery. Unfortunately Keiji just simply could not allow that and drugged him with a dart which should knock him out for quite a while.

With that he sped off into the direction of the two shinigami still in combat. On the way he decided to contact Mahana who was still back at headquarters. “Shirozuki, this is Otowari, I need you to request that a detachment of 4th division be sent here right away, the more the merrier. We’ve currently just cleaned up all the hollow in the vicinity.”

“Roger that taicho.”

“Oh and one more thing.”

“Yes taicho.”

“Tell them to bring a large container of ice…” he’d need to keep his detached arm in good condition to examine the thing a bit more.”

Meanwhile the recent turn of events for Mai were rather welcome. Well...it's not like she enjoyed the current situation she was in...but at least any immediate threat was now gone. She didn't really like the idea of an enormous gillian barreling its way right at her quite warmly. She was glad that now they were incapacitated at least.

Though...she noticed that Miko seemed to be acting quite strange right before she passed out...suspicious even. For a girl who was shocked so bad that she could only stand there and practically piss her uniform, Mai was surprised the girl had it in her to get herself out of that situation the way she did...

[blackluster]

The shinigami gathered around the striken house that Miko came crawling from.

"Stay still", said Ryu reassuringly. "We'll get the medics here right away."

His call was cut short with the confirmation on their end that the relief team had already been dispatched. Ryu scanned over the other battles.

"It seems that the other battles are still on. We should assist them."

"No, you do it", Sabara interrupted. "I need to check on my specimen. You two!" She snapped at Hanaka and Shuga. "Check on the hollow under the rubble. See if there's anything left worth using."

Without waiting for a response, Sabara walked off to go check on Tyrannos, who hadn't moved even though he was alive. Ryu let out a long sigh, and headed off to assist Lexi and Koichi.

"Well, I guess that just leaves us th..." Shuga was abruptly stopped by a sheath to the face.

"Forget it loser", laughed Hanaka, "I'm not crawling around in that crap. You do it."

Shuga could only sigh in response. As Hanaka went to sit close to the other shinigami still looking over Miko, Shuga walked over to the house.

"Where did she crawl from?" He shouted back at the others.

"We don't know, we just found her outside", came the faceless reply.

Shuga tried to navigate the collpased building. The was a lot of rubble, but no sign of the hollow.

He looked over his shoulder at Hanaka. "If the hollow is still alive, you'll back me up right?"

"Oh, suuuuure", came the sarcastic reply.

Shuga muttered a short curse as he peered into the darkenss created by the debris, trying to catch a glimpse of something without having to crawl too far in.

[Dizzy]

Her new opponent, as Lexi soon found out, was far more dangerous than her former. Troodon might have been a little bit crazy, and that was being generous. This one was batshit insane, completely psychotic, savagely bloodthirsty, and a whole host of other synonyms. His movements were erratic, like an uncontrollable jackhammer moving at cheetah speed, and completely unpredictable as well. However, for all of the brute strength he had, he still couldn’t match up to the blistering speeds that Lexi’s release allowed her to move at, and the stalling effort so far was a resounding success.

Their skirmish was more a wild goose chase than a fight, with her wind-blasting herself between faraway rooftops, making sure to limit movement of her damaged arm, and watching the hollow hopelessly smashing his way over at top speed, only for her to retreat again. It almost amused her how simple this was. She was using a lot more energy than her opponent, but he was rendered completely useless. The girl marveled at the effectiveness of her release, flawlessly creating air currents that allowed her to dash at amazing speeds. The only caveat was that it served no attacking purpose whatsoever.

In the near distance, Koichi-san was firing at Troodon, whose quickness was far from matching that of the reiatsu bullets, and the long-distance nature of the attack wasn’t allowing the hollow to use his explosives. For the moment, it was looking to be an easy victory for their tag team. Noticing that her opponent was closing in once again, she shot a shakkaho in his path and blasted off once more, satisfied by her expected outcome, not even hearing whatever Koichi-san was yelling at her for, and what the hell was he doing that for, anyways?

A clawed hand burst into her upper back, a twisting pain that nearly had her screaming again. Her muscles were rent apart and blood sprayed awkwardly over her shoulder and she saw every speck as it flew past her and it hurt like a red-hot poker being slammed into her body and her eyes widened and her momentum kept it pushing it further and further in and how did he get behind her and fuck, fuck, fuck, how did she get so careless. How could she have been so stupid?

Troodon ripped his hand out, tearing a healthy piece of flesh off of her back and sending another wave of pain rippling up to her brain. Lexi vomited blood and doubled up in pain, clutching desperately at her stomach as she crumpled down to the dirty ground, sweating and gasping for air.

“Did you think that we’d actually just let you switch opponents and lose like idiots?” he rasped painfully; Koichi-san’s attacks had done quite a number on him. It didn’t help ease the crippling pain in her back at all, but it did give her a contented feeling. “Don’t underestimate us, little bitch! My nakama may be dead, but I can still kill you here before I leave!”

“Hadou … no sanjyuuichi … shakkaho!”

A familiar red flame flickered to life in the palm of her right hand, giving off a warm glow and dancing in her grasp. Alarmed, Troodon lunged forwards, trying to bite her head off before she could attack.

“Hadou no shi … byakurai!”

Crackling lightning arced between her fingertips and intertwined itself with the flames, and she lifted her arm and blasted it into the hollow’s jaw, interrupting its bite just in the nick of time.

"Torrent of Fire Lightning!"

An enormous blast erupted from her location, sending off shockwaves and blazes of golden energy. This one didn’t just knock the hollow up, it sent him flying a dozen meters into the sky, streaming smoke into the air and spinning into a dive like just another one of the raindrops littering the battlefield. When he landed, he did so with enough force to crack his arm and lay splayed over a slab of pavement like a fossil display. Lexi might even have started laughing if her sliced-up back and scorched arm weren’t screaming for attention.

The hollow dragged himself back up, incensed as the entirely of hell condensed into one furious dinosaur, and it was with great relief that Lexi realized that Keiji, Koichi-san, and Katayama-san had all by now arrived to back her up. The hollow managed to grimace and blanch at the same time, opening up a garganta as he did.

“Next time, I’ll be sure to disembowel you,” he spat at Lexi. “Deinonychus, grab the boss and follow!”

His teammate obliged, dashing off to collect their leader’s bound and battered body and stepping through a portal of his own. A glaring Troodon saluted the gathered shinigami with a single farewell finger before escaping into the black beyond.

---

Aurus Rex is unresponsive; the binding spell that Sabara used was extremely effective; even more effective than it should’ve been, considering the beast’s respective reiatsu level. The poison she had chosen must have been a fearsome one indeed. The hollow’s breathing is constant - a veritable metronome, although strained due to the pressure of the bakudou, and she is making no detectable attempt to escape. Even her eyes are glued shut.

… On closer inspection, she appears to have fallen unconscious. She must've hit the building pretty hard.

[Dizzy]

Official Soul Society Report:

The mission has been labeled a tentative success. Despite the overwhelming wreckage, casualties and injuries had been kept to a surprising minimum, among them no shinigami casualties, and all of the hollows have been purified, driven away, or captured. The largest two that had been apprehended were top-quality test subjects, which Sabara Chiyo instantly laid claim upon, hauling them back to her lab to perform experiments on. Two other beasts remain intact from Taicho Otowari Keiji’s initial byakurai, and they have been moved to 12th division for further study.

4th Division is currently running damage control and has set up a clinic to heal the injured. Koichi Daisuke has been treated for severe lacerations and bruising, and is now bandanged and bedridden, although all traces should disappear within three days. Lexi Hunter was admitted to the emergency care ward, and after a successful treatment, is in a stable condition, now just needing to await the healing of her arm and back. Miko Asaki was inspected for injuries, and all tests have revealed nothing out of the ordinary, apart from exhaustion. The others, with the exception of Otowari-taicho, remain unharmed, with the aforementioned having used a regenerative serum to replace his arm.

The two districts have been dealt heavy damage, and a regiment of shinigami in Research and Development has been assigned to create a new section of Rukongai to be fitted in its place. Meanwhile, shelter has been set out for the evacuated citizens until it arrives. Despite some emotional outbreaks, the majority of the evacuees are grudgingly grateful that they were not eaten.

The three escaped hollows were all labeled C-Class or lower, and as they are no threat to Soul Society, no action is expected to be taken regarding them. Sentries patrolling Outer Rukongai will be increased in light of this invasion, and for the moment, all is well in Soul Society.

---

Felix looked on from his vantage point upon a rafter in some old, dilapidated warehouse. He'd nearly rushed out and compromised his position to save Lexi, but luckily, she'd managed to blast her assailant off in time for backup to arrive. It'd been incredibly lucky, in fact.

As the rain fell and dampened his tattered captain's haori, he mused to himself about this turn of events. Perhaps nobody else had seen it, but he suspected very interesting happenings would soon come up in Seireitei. As Lexi had now definitely achieved her initial release, his job was done for the moment. The next time he could isolate her, he'd take the opportunity to hold their next meeting. Until then ...

He tore open the fabric between the dimensions open, and stepped back into the world of the living. The events unfolding themselves in Soul Society would be a spectacle for sure, but he didn't particularly care to watch.

---

OOC: Plot’s over, points will be in on or before Monday, and Mystic has a plot ready for Soul Society dwellers. Party time.