For Whom The Death Bell Tolls (Plot Thread)

[Dizzy]

(continuation of Return Mission to Hueco Mundo)

As soon as Cres stepped out of the crumbling, reiatsu-lined abyss that was the great unknown, the space betwixt the dimensions, his honed shinigami senses immediately hardened. His eyes darted back and forth across the landscape, his reiatsu senses flared up to as receptive as humanly possible. As far as he could tell, no shinigami was anywhere within his range (though somebody as skilled as the former 12th captain would surely have a reiatsu dampener ready, along with being able to hide his reiatsu nearly completely).

A few hollow reiatsu signatures hovered in the near distance, but the captain ignored them. This was a search-and-not-quite-rescue-so-much-as-interrogate mission, not an invitation to get into fights. Even with the 2nd Division captain onboard, he had to be wary of his troops. After all, his sister was among them. No, definitely not the time to be picking fights.

The sands blew softly in the light breeze, which snatched up his captain’s haori and scarf, and allowed them to float with the wind like high-flying flags. The garden-variety quartz crystal trees sprung up all around them, glistening in the pale moonlight. The sky itself was a midnight blue, no different from any other time in Hueco Mundo. The moon was a stark white orb, hanging high up in the heavens like a chandelier. All in all, not very different from any of his other trips.

This time, there was no structure obscuring the view of the desert – they had to be miles and miles away from their previous location. This worried him – if the Kidoushuu’s coordinates were hard to keep steady, and Hueco Mundo was as enormous as legends of it foretold … exactly what were their chances of finding the lost captain anyways? They didn’t seem incredibly high. On the other hand, lack of buildings meant there was a significantly smaller chance that his team would be bombarded with traps like they’d been the last time there’d been a mission here. Blessing and curse on two ends of a scale. Only time would tell which was the heavier load.

Instead of a building, this location had some interesting cliffs in the distance – towering walls of stone, made up of jagged edges and dangerously sharp precipices. They didn’t look quite natural, but not quite like they’d been forged by hollows either. It was hard to explain, but they gave off a rather ... outlandish quality. At the base, the mouths of a few caves – or the networks of a single one – were visible, stalactites drooping from the roofs like the teeth in a hungry mouth. Although not a particularly tempting choice, they might become the only choice for a base of operations if nothing else can be found nearby.

Content with his surveying of the area, Cres turned around to inspect his team as they follow through the abyss, hoping that all of them got through without any trouble.

[BioBomber]

After getting the all clear, Hibiki dashed like a man possessed through the inner cloudiness of the garganta. He could feel the interruptions in the free flowing reishi caused by his companions, and shrugged it off as he powered onwards. The thought occurred to him that it was a little bit strange to have seen Hollows so effortlessly entering an exiting their world in the past, as he'd always assumed they used the same method as his fellow shinigami did to go from Soul Society to the Living World. If they came through in this manner, they must be far better at manipulating reishi than he'd previously imagined...

Lost deep in thought, it was a bit of a shock for Hibiki when he exited the garganta at the other end and fell flat on his face in sand. He jumped to his feet, spitting the coarse stuff out in a rain of particles and frantically brushing down his clothes. A tiny Hollow launched itself off his belt in fright as one of his hands came sweeping down. It landed without sound on the sand and proceeded to bury itself with amazing speed. It was gone in the flickering of its white tail. After getting over the momentary shock, Hibiki allowed the fact that he'd arrived in Hueco Mundo to sink in.

It was like being locked in a closet. The terrain was expansive and open, true enough. The crystal trees that he'd read about littered the landscape and the sky was as open and dry as the ground...but it was oppressive. Even the slightest shadows felt all consuming, as if to look into the shade was to look into the infinite abyss of eternal death from which nothing could escape. Hibiki tore his eyes away from the phantom that was his own shadow and fixed his gaze firmly on Cres.

Aurea-taichou is calm, Hibiki thought to himself, reflecting the captain's attitude against his own. I have to be strong here. I must survive...no...complete this mission, and complete my own research. His resolution affirmed, he turned back to the horizon, steeling himself for the work ahead that needed to be done. The various devices he kept concealed within his robes silently did their work, analyzing the atmosphere, the reiatsu of nearby beings and the samples of sand and crystal tree he'd picked up while on the ground. His gaze turned to follow Cres', to the formation far in the distance that his keen eyes had picked out. As Cres turned to ensure the rest of the party had followed, Hibiki voiced his mind.

'Are we going that way, Aurea-taichou?'

[blackluster]

Shuga's exit from the tunnel ended up being more of a skid than a step. He had picked up speed as he struggled to control the reiatsu. His time spent with Kim seemed to have paid off though, as came sliding to a well balanced stop in the white sand. The dense reiatsu in the air made and incredible kaleidoscope of colours viewed through Shuga's visor.

Fiddling with the zooming settings, Shuga scanned the surroundings but saw nothing of interest. He remembered all to well however, how quickly their attacker arrived on his last trip to this place. Powerful hollows are always only a few minutes away. Shuga was also somewhat concerned about the light trap that Lexi had fallen into the last time.

Well I'm definitely not picking up any stray hollows, that's for damn sure. It must be a curse for these 12th division guys, since they're bound to touch anything if it looks interesting....

[Mystic Serenade]

Second division captain Umeshita Hatsuo scanned the landscape. "Heh, at least it isn't as bland looking as it usually is," he thought looking at the caves and rocky precipices. "I'm going to scout the area ahead, don't get yourselves killed now," he abruptly announced before he shyunpo'd out of view.

[Dizzy]

"Alright," waved Cres, "take care, Hatsuo-kun!"

Lexi looked on upon the desert landscape - not very different from the other times she'd been spirited here. Lune looked uncomfortable being in the hollow world, but then again, not many people wouldn't be. The very concept of the place was enough to make grown men quake in fear.

Luckily, her brother's presence had calmed her considerably, like it had the first time she'd come here. Although to be fair, she'd had reason to believe that he'd practically carried her the entire way. Lexi placed a consoling hand onto the other girl's shoulder to calm her nerves, and Lune looked back at her gratefully.

Suddenly, Cres yelled at everybody to get the hell away, underlining his point by releasing an enormous burst of reiatsu, enough to send all of the shinigami flying away from him. Without warning, a giant sandworm erupted out from the sands below, its gaping maw wide enough to have swallowed all of the shinigami if Cres hadn't just blasted them away.

Instead, only the captain was left in its path, and as the sandworm soared up into the empty night sky, he was nowhere to be seen. Lexi glanced up at the beast, and her eyes widened in shock. Surely not ...

And then gravity halted the sandworm's velocity, bringing it back down towards the gathered shinigami, teeth glistening in its wide-open mouth.

[BioBomber]

Hibiki noticed the Hollow's presence only moments after Cres' warning shout, and he had precious little time to react as he'd been previously engrossed in the readouts he'd been receiving from his instruments. The sand beneath his feet had begun to slide particle by particle inwards and before he had time to think of a direction to run in, a huge reiatsu blast lifted him bodily and flung him into the air. As he hurtled away from the epicenter, his blurred vision afforded him a glimpse of the captain's body being lifted a short way, and then apparently surrounded by a black, undulating tube of flesh.

'AUREA-TAICHOU!' Hibiki's voice carried surprisingly well as he hurtled backwards, reflexes kicking in as he felt his back meet with one of the bleak world's trees. The impact only lasted a moment, as Hibiki cushioned his collision with a pillow of reiatsu. Sliding down the thin tree's trunk, he looked up into the sky as the sand-worm Hollow reached the peak of its flight. As it began bearing down on the assembled group, Hibiki drew his zanpakuto.

'If I live to regret denying the knowledge of your name, forgive me and speak to me once more, aibou.' Staring into the maw of the beast, Hibiki readied himself in a defensive stance.

[blackluster]

Shuga was still examining the distance with his visor, when he heard someone shouting. It didn't really register right away with him, that it was his captain. He hadn't heard the man's voice that often afterall. In the midst of turning to see what the problem was, Shuga found himself airborne. The rush of cold air past his head was deadened by his hood. He was in a violent tumble, unable to discern which way was up. As suddenly as he found himself in the air, he also found himself striking the ground. Luckily the sand was loose, providing some protection. The thud of Shuga's landing resonated in his body. He had landed on his back, and the whiplash caused his head to strike the ground quite uncomfortably.

He staggered quickly to his feet, realizing that there must be some sort of imminent danger. After such a rough landing, standing up quickly is always ill advised, and his quick attempted leap into a ready stance only resulted in him falling over again. It took a few seconds for his visor to stabilize the image again. Shuga was still on his knees clutching the back of his neck with his free hand, when he saw the cause of all the excitement. The massive worm landed with a massive thud, shaking the ground and causing Shuga to fall over again. Forcing himself into a seated position, Shuga assessed the massive worm thrashing in the sand, bearing its enormous teeth.

That must be some kind of sand crawling hollow. It looks like it came out of the ground. I don't see its mask though....

Shuga remembered the people he had come with. Because of the awkward position he had fallen in, he didn't have a clear view of the others. He finally managed to get to his feet. Taking cover behind some nearby, low lying rocks, he tried to figure out what was actually happening.

It might be an ambush. I don't see the captain anywhere, or the others for that matter. We must have been thrown in different directions I think....

[Dizzy]

Bloody fuck, what th' hell was that? Cres ... was Cres just eaten? There's no fucking way ...

That stupid hollow isn't very strong, Cres could easily blast his way out of its rotten insides ... but ... if he isn't, that means ...

Lexi's gaze was stricken, and as the hollow crashed back down, only reflex allowed her to grab Lune and take a flying leap backwards as it landed, blasting sand up in a long cone of white specks, while it burrowed back underground to ambush them once again. They both landed hard on the ground, her injured body protesting rather loudly at its abuse in its still-recovering condition.

Lune, however, looked worse by far, her face having gone pasty and white from the shock alone. Her eyes had widened, her pupils are dilated, and she was shaking visibly, like she'd soon have an epileptic seizure. With her injured and Lune having a nervous breakdown, they'd both be potential liabilities on the battlefield.

She'd have to direct the other forces for this one, she expected ... but if Cres was still alive in there, they'd have to take care to keep their attacks away from wherever he might be ... not that she had any idea where he was in that gigantic sandworm. But the first thing to do would be to ensure that nobody else would be swallowed up by that thing.

A quick reiatsu scan found it to be circling around underground, biding its time for its next lunge. She'd have to keep an eye trained on it the entire time. Next was to review the human resources she had to work with. Upon remembering who was with her, her face fell.

Shugoshita had proven himself reliable enough, but Hibiki was unseated, and she didn't know anything of his capabilities apart from his rank, and Hanazuki was only good for psychotic outbreaks when seperated from her catnip for too long. This meant she'd probably have to do it herself, unless the other captain returned quickly.

But Cres had to be alive, he just had to, and he was going to return unscathed or she'd find him after she was done with the hollow and kill him herself ...

Cres, what the hell ... you're not fucking dead, what the fuck are you waiting for, burst out of there already!

[BioBomber]

As the worm Hollow dove once more beneath the sand, Hibiki kept its reiatsu pattern fixed in his mind. He looked around to gauge where the other members of the intrusion squad were. He noted that Lexi had given him a particularly weary look, and he really didn't blame her. He wasn't a fighter by nature, while he was good with a sword, against this kind of enemy he was fairly ineffectual as he'd not taken the time to make himself a lot stronger over the 80 odd years since his death. And more likely than not, what strength he had gained since then, had waned since he was withdrawn from active duty in the Living World.

'Lexi-san, I have a plan!' Hibiki shouted in Lexi's direction before he could stop himself. It was a bad situation, and the faster they extracted Cres from the worm Hollow the better. 'I have some shaped bombs in my shihakusho that we could use to disrupt the sand and force the Hollow to surface! I packed them in case we needed to clear any debris!' Hibiki illustrated the point by pulling out several brightly colored objects that resembled cigars, complete with a huge bulge in the middle. 'I'm going to throw some over!' Hibiki wound back with his hand and tossed four of the oddly shaped explosives in Lexi's direction.

'We can get it to surface if we use a pincer formation!' followed the bombs through the air in Lexi's direction.

[blackluster]

As the worm resumed its vigorous burrowing, Shuga finally noticed the other team members on the far side of the worm's hole. The loose sand quickly covered it up, returning the desert floor to its deceptive tranquillity. They were a bit too far away for Shuga to hear them, but he was able to discern that they were planning something. Hibiki seemed to toss something at Lexi.

What are those? Some kind of weapon?.... Well if they're getting ready to do something, I better get prepared to.

Shuga hopped up onto the rocks he was sheltering behind, now fully aware of the threat from below.

I can't sense the worm but I bet he's still down there, probably waiting for a meal. A small fry like that will have a tough time catching any of us with 2 captains around.

Shuga leapt from the rocks onto a nearby crystal tree that overlooked the newly formed battle field. He scaled it to it's highest stable branch in a series of short, quick jumps. From there, he raised his satchel and waved it slowly from side to side, trying to get the others' attention. Suddenly, Shuga became acutely ware of the lack of captains in the immediate area.

Wait a minute, where is the captain? He couldn't have been thrown that far.

Shuga looked around from his vantage point, looking for some sign of the captain. He continued waving at the others, not thinking to actually shout at them. For some illogical reason, he thought he should do things quietly, as if it were a game of hide and seek.

If only I could do kidou like Kim. Then I could blast that stupid worm and bind it all from the safety of this tree...

[Mystic Serenade]

What the f**k, no seriously, what the bloody f**k...

This was so unnecessary. Why couldn't she just be sitting in her lab and relaxing and experiment. You know...stuff she actually planned and liked doing. No instead she was here in a place even worse than the living world watching a giant hollow worm jump in and out of the sand trying to eat every one of them. F**k that.

She saw the whole thing unfold in front of her. The departure of the 2nd division captain, the 3rd division captain being "eaten", and now the rest of them running around with little idea what to do. It was bad enough that she was here, it was even worse now that the safety of being with two captains was now gone. Now she was stuck relying on barbaric psycho midget, mental breakdown midget, bomber boy, and some dude that liked to wave his satchel at nothing. Well...at least bomber boy seemed reliable. She decided to run over to the 3rd division member standing on top of the crystal tree, assist him in whatever way she could. He was pretty far away from all the action too, which was another plus.

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

The worm hollow could sense above it that two of its intended meals had not moved much at all. Instinct told it that these would be the easiest to get at. It sped towards the surface once more, the sands near his entrance point shifted and broke apart violently as he dove up into the air and intended to come crashing down upon the two rather immobile shinigami. Even if they managed to escape, both seemed in no condition to get away from the aftershock that would follow its re-entry into the sands.

[Dizzy]

Upon receiving Hibiki's gift, Lexi nearly tripped from her limp and fumbled all but one of them. She dropped to her knees to pick the others up, and upon hauling herself back up to her feet, she realized that she'd lost track of the sandworm hollow's position. Panicking, she scanned underneath her for its reiatsu, followed by underneath all of her fellow shinigami, finding nothing.

Then she caught it, nearing the surface to her left, and then she saw it, blasting out of the ground like a geyser, spraying sand up and making the ground tremble in concentric waves, rolling the sandy plain and blasting everybody off-balance.

Lexi, her footing rendered already unstable due to her injuries, fell into the dust, choking and spitting out Hueco Mundo's coarse sand. Behind the girl, Lune followed her down, her silence interrupted by furious gagging.

It was much to her chagrin as she noticed the hollow's velocity ebb to a zero up in the sky before gravity allowed it to change direction - right in their direction, in fact - gaping maw wide, jagged teeth glinting in the moonlight.

Oh, bloody fuck. Guess I'll need your help Tempestas, sorry about that.

Acting upon instinct, she wrenched her zanpakuto out of its scabbard, released it - "Nare, Tempestas!" - and then a blinding light swelled out from her like a signal from a faraway pulsar, followed by a blazing-fast circle of gust that blasted forth from her position in waves and swaths.

Her battered body no longer hindered her; in fact, she moved freely through the air particles that she controlled with her shikai, having them swoop out of her way to lift her, guide her, and propel both her and Lune out of the sandworm's range with extreme speed.

[BioBomber]

'Shit, perhaps that wasn't such a good idea,' Hibiki muttered. He waved to Lexi. 'Sorry!'

But she didn't seem to be paying attention. Hibiki suddenly realized that the Hollow was surfacing anyway, without any coaxing. Its body writhing from the upward thrust that it cut, Hibiki had only moments to think of a next move. Again, on his own he felt quite powerless, so he used the one thing he had at his disposal that could include both himself and others, his intellect.

'Nare, Tempestas!' Hibiki heard Lexi declaring the name of her zanpakuto, releasing it. Thoughts screamed through Hibiki's mind as he watched her being lifted bodily off her feet by the particles of air that her zanpakuto allowed her to control. If Tempestas can lift my bombs, perhaps we can blow away some of the Hollow's flank and make it a little easier for Aurea-taichou to get out of it...I only hope he's not too close to the outside...

'Lexi! Let Tempestas do the catching this time! Ram him with the bombs, I'll set them off!' Hibiki tossed the last six bombs he had, hurling them close to Lexi, within her range of vision. 'Hopefully this plan will work a little more effectively than the last one!'

((Short post, I'm not feeling amazingly well at the moment.))

[blackluster]

Despite Shuga's waving, neither Lexi nor Hibiki seemed to notice him in the tree.

"It's going to be kind of difficult to organize an offensive if I don't know what they are planning..."

Shuga was surprised when he saw one of the other team members at the base of the tree.

"Hey, can you climb up? The sand doesn't look like the safest place to b-"

Shuga was interrupted by the loud noise as the worm leapt from the sand once more. It's aim firmly set on Lexi and Hibiki. Lexi managed to escape somehow, but Hibiki still seemed to be in harm's way. Shuga dropped down from the tree and landed right next to female shinigami who just arrived.

"Please tell me you're good at kidou..."

[Mystic Serenade]

Mai sheepishly raised her hand up behind her head and nervously laughed, forgetting her moment of annoyance and hatred at the world. "Eh, heh...I know a few but I can't say I'm really that good at it general...I don't think I can do anything do damage that thing though," she said whilst pointing at the gigantic beast. "You have a plan?"

[blackluster]

Shuga had hoped that the woman knew a strong binding spell. Killing the beast would be difficult with it diving in and out of the sand like that. Their conversation had wasted too much time though, and they were already too late to help Hibiki. Whatever he was going to do, he was on his own for the moment.

"Perhaps we should move to a tree or rock formation closer by. We can't do anything from this far away anyway..."

[Mystic Serenade]

Oh Jesus...he wants to move closer to that thing...

"Ah heh heh, sure, can't do much here can we. After you uh...what's your name?"

Must stall, must stall.
She'd be damned if she willingly rushed into that gigantic tunneling thing of doom. Like she needed a reason to get another chance at dying today.

[Dizzy]

Lexi nodded fervently at Hibiki's suggestion, easily stopping the explosives in mid-air with her zanpakuto's effect and corralling the lot into her hands. The machinery was simple enough to understand; a trigger to activate it, with different settings for different fuse times. She stuffed half into her hakama pockets for later use and with the remainder positioned for easy use, she scanned the deep sands for the sandworm's location.

... Not there ... judging from where he entered the sands, he ought to be .... right there!

Estimating the amount of time it would take for the sandworm to rocket up through the ground and make itself vulnerable to the bombs, Lexi played the waiting game, propelling a still pale-faced Lune over to Shugoshita and Hanazuki's location, where hopefully she'd be safe. Koizumi was a bit farther, but she was confident that she could evacuate him if the worm went after him.

Luckily, it didn't even come to that; the hollow angled intself at her position, accelerating like a bullet train through the desert depths. Thumbing the catch for a 5-second detonation, Lexi floated herself up, feinting left and right, before the hollow erupted from the sands once again like a volcano begets a fiery blast of hot lava.

She let the beast's gaping, tooth-filled maw get within three meters of her position, and then dropped the explosives in its path, blasting herself off in Koizumi's direction. The bombs entered its mouth and went off in its gullet, spewing acrid gray smoke out of its mouth and leaving behind the searing smell of burnt flesh. The hollow coughed violently to dispel it, falling considerably short of its previous heights and crashing down onto the sands in a belly-flop, dazed and unable to crawl back into the sands.

If they would ever have a shot at taking it down, it'd be now. She just hoped Cres was fine, if he remained alive in the sandworm's belly.

"Let's take it down now!" Lexi shouted, ordering her troops around like a field marshal. "Shugoshita, follow my lead! Hanzuki, Koizumi, cover us with artillery fire!"

Without a second glance, she blasted the air particles out of her way and streaked at the hollow like a speeding comet, Tempestas held out to cleave up its face.

[blackluster]

Shuga had started setting off somewhat and paused when he heard Mai's question.

"My name is Shugoshita Shuga. Sorry for rushing you like this, but I really think we should get moving..."

Turning to face the battlefield, Shuga was greeted with more surprises. Lexi was dashing around at speeds Shuga couldn't really follow. Still trying to work out what was happening, Shuga just barely reacted to a body being tossed in his direction. He made the catch, but not without getting head butted in the cheek. Giving his head a quick shake, he realized that the person he caught was Lune. She really looked in bad shape, though Shuga couldn't help but feel relieved that catching her hadn't broken his visor.

The loud bang of the explosions Lexi used seemed to fill the whole desert of Hueco Mundo.

Well, if there was anyone left who didn't know we were here, they sure as hell know now...

Reacting to her order, Shuga followed as best he could. He performed a series of shunpo and sprinting dashes until he was in range of the hollow. Then executing a shunpo assisted jump, he appeared high above the hollow as it was still writhing in pain on the desert floor. Shuga began to wind up. He'd execute his strongest attack, the circle strike, as soon as Lexi had hit with her effort. The height Shuga had attained would assure much more power in the strike than he could generate with just his muscles and reiatsu alone. In the instant before he began to dive toward his target, the battlefield appeared to play out in slow motion in Shuga's mind.

Him high above, Lexi dashing at incredible speed, aiming to skewer the hollow's brains and Hibiki and Mai preparing a long range attack. an observer might have mistaken them for being an organized team at that particular instant.

heh, you're not going to survive this one my tormented hollow friend...

[BioBomber]

Hibiki calmly tracked the progress of the worm Hollow as Lexi flawlessly dealt it a savage blow. Its body crumpled as its entire mass slammed roughly into the sands, leaving it heavily wounded and unable to seek refuge beneath. Smoke roiled from its mouth, which was open as it appeared to pant, flanks heaving and wriggling just the smallest bit from discomfort and a lack of energy. Hibiki breathed a sigh of relief, but realized it wasn't yet over as Lexi gave the command for Hibiki to provide further artillery support.

'Will do!' Hibiki shouted back as he pulled a round-screened device from his shihakusho and closely examined the data that was rolling across it. 'Aurea-taichou appears to be okay! The analytical parasites in the bombs have penetrated deeply, and I can confirm the captain's reiatsu pulse! Strike hard and quickly, we should get him out okay!' Hibiki put the device back and extracted another, which he clipped onto the hilt of his zanpakuto. Slipping it back into its sheathe, he placed his hands in front of him.

'Bakudō 31, Shakkahō!' A cracking ball of red exploded from Hibiki's outstretched hand, blazing in the direction of the worm Hollow's flank.

[~Sachiko~]

Julia was more than pleased at the location their little group had been brought to. Shinigami were one thing, but this was even better. Amongst them was her very own Pet-chan, injured it appeared too, even better she thought.

"I'm going ahead, I've got business to take care of." At that moment a series of eight scythes erupted out of her back, connected in a way reminiscent of wings. She took to the skies and quickly made her way above the current location of the shinigami. There were five she could readily see, so she sent down one each, exception being Pet-chan who would get four and the motionless one that wasn't worth it.

That done she dropped down from the sky, letting gravity build her momentum as dive-bombed towards her target. (It's obvious who :p)

[Dizzy]

Upon attacking, Lexi realized that she had badly underestimated the sandworm hollow; her Tempestas' strikes, although quick and deadly like cobra strikes, were barely penetrating the hollow's flank. Although no armored plating was evident on its skin, its spirit energy alone was enough to fuel a potent barrier between her blade and its innards.

Now that it was regaining the senses that had temporarily been outweighed by the belly flop, it began wriggling profusely, trying to shake off its attackers for long enough to re-enter the sands. Fireballs and zanpakuto alike were clanging off of it, however, and its balance was compromised by the necessity of maintaining its shield.

A word from Hibiki confirmed Cres' status within the hollow, now her only question was what was taking him so long to get out of the thing. Although she alone was no match for the barrier, Cres should've been able to make short work of it by now. If he was unconscious, stomach acid and bile would've ate away enough of this body to throw his reiatsu pulse heavily off-kilter. What was he doing in there?

Lexi intended to find out. She drew back a couple dozen meters and blasted herself forward like a bullet, gathering up steam and charging her zanpakuto with reiatsu, trying to combine enough momentum and power to bisect the sandworm. Blade cocked to slash, she rammed its edge down hard into the hollow upon reaching it.

Spikes blasted out of its flank to meet her sword - disgusting, cancerous-looking, malignant ones that oozed a viscous slime. Her blade ricocheted off of it wildly, nearly tumbling out of her grip. She relented, but it came a price that sent her careening sideways, out of control.

Just then, an errant spike slammed into her leg, cutting deep into it, eliciting a scream of pain from the girl as she tumbled into the sands, now far away from the others.

But on second thought, how could momentum have carried her this distance from the hollow if one of its appendages was in her leg? Groaning, she looked at her wound and realized that it was far larger, and far worse than having one of those disgusting spikes embedded in her.

This was a scythe. A scythe that she recognized far too well.

"Oh, bloody fuck."

[Mystic Serenade]

Though Mai didn't entirely agree nor like the situation their group was currently in, it also did not mean she wouldn't help at all either. She had fired a shakkoho or two at the worm. But that only proved to her how hopeless the situation really was. The flaming bullets merely just bounced off the damn thing.

So much for that...

Her ears then perked up to a nearby whizzing sound. One that became louder and louder every passing second. A look of panic painted her face as she realized something was coming at her and she quickly jumped backwards and feel on her behind, arms instinctively raised in front of her face as if to protect herself from some threat.

When she looked ahead she saw a gigantic scythe embedded like a grave marker into the sand where she had just been previously standing. She hated to imagine what would have happened to her if that actually impaled her. She also could see in the distance, another hollow plummeting out of the sky in their general direction.

Well f**kles...

[blackluster]

The circle strike along with a succession of lesser attacks had little effect. The hollow had very strange protection, though its continued use seemed to stop the diving in and out of the sand.

It must need concentration to retain that barrier. I'd play the stamina marathon here, but I think this creature can outlast all of us.

Shuga glanced about. The heat of the battle hadn't really allowed an extensive briefing on the events leading to the situation they found themselves in, but Shuga could tell that something was amiss. If the captains were here, this would have been over the moment that thing came out of the ground the second time. Both the 3rd, and the 2nd division captains missing was too strange though.

The creature surged again as Shuga tried cutting it. Its spikes just missing his arms as he completed the attack. Lexi's fast attacks seemed to be equally ineffective. Shuga watched in dismay as Lexi went spinning off as she bailed out of another attack. Shuga remained perilously close to the hollow, trying to find some soft spot to attack. The only reason it was possible was because it was concentrating on defending itself. Shuga glanced around him, looking for more long range fire support. In the in the distance, he noticed Mai jumping backwards, barely avoiding some kind of massive blade that seemed to be thrown at her from above. Shuga was forced to evade the worm hollow as it seemed to buck in his direction, trying to impale him with its spines. Shuga's evasion unwittingly resulted in saving him from the massive scythe that came whizzing past his upper body. The blade intended for Shuga hurtled straight toward the massive worm.

So there was one for me to huh?

[Kolbertt]

The change in scene brought to Azul a feeling she had long since forgotten. The thrill of a battle.

The enormous Hollow had already leapt into action, and the floating scythe-like weapons were strikingly similar to those she had seen once - Could it be possible that this monster was Julia? Had she reached the Adjucha state she had looked for so anxiously?

It seems we now work for the same Bosses. Those Arrancar... Why would they need us for? These doubts runned through her head, but now was not the moment to hesitate.

Her new bosses had already sent her to work, and good first impressions were always important. She sniffed through the air, and chose her target with care - He was not alone, but the man with Hazel eyes and almost Black hair would be her first pray.

Her feather scarf expanded to her fists, creeping around her arm and reaching her fists. The months deprived of sleep and proper nutrition didn't matter now. For once in much time, Azul got to fight and unleash her instincts.

With her hands coverd in Spiked Knuckles, Azul dashed forward to impale her target

[BioBomber]

Hibiki felt the presence of the two menos level Hollows well before they came into view. Their reiatsu was one of the more distinctive types, it felt like a charging pack of hounds with a single dog leading up the front of the pack that forced the rest of them to mirror its every movement. He'd been up against such a reiatsu only once before, and being hit by it felt like a violently flowing waterfall; but every drop was distinguishable. He could also feel the overwhelming hunger for battle and strength bleeding into the air around the two huge figures that sped in their direction. Never mind the bakudō that had glanced harmlessly off the flank of the worm hollow; this new threat was a far larger priority.

What to do, what to do, what to do... Hibiki felt almost completely paralyzed in mind and body by the presence of these Hollow; in terms of raw power, he was completely outclassed. If I keep panicking like this, they'll have the jump on me in intellect, too, he reminded himself. I'd better warn-!

'LEXIIIIIII-SAAAAN!' Hibiki watched as a scythe whipped through the air and stabbed Lexi to the ground. She was too far away from Hibiki for him to tell if she was fatally wounded yet, and in his panic he forgot where his field glasses were. More pressing again however, the other Gillian class was heading right for him, readying her (he assumed, those were some fearsomely big breasts!) weapon to attack. In a strangely inspired moment amidst all the thoughts in his head of a quick and painless death, he drew his zanpakuto, engaged the device he'd clipped to it and sliced downwards. Spirit particles rushed from the sides of it, forming a glowing blue fan which kicked up a cloud of sand, obscuring Hibiki from view. As the sweep ended, the device exhaled a cloud of smoke and fell to pieces. 1 down.

Kaede, if I ever needed anything from our time together right now, it's what you taught me about controlling this stuff...

[~Sachiko~]

Hmmm...it seems I've missed most of them... She giggled, O well, too bad, so sad, at least I got Pet-chan!!! And got her well too it seemed, as one of her scythes had embedded itself into one of her legs. This day was starting off pretty well. As she neared the ground, she called the scythes back towards her, to go back into their winged formation behind her. And as luck so had it, one of the scythes came back with her intended prize. As the blade came swinging back, she made sure to pluck the green-haired shinigami right off the scythe with one hand and then held onto the girl with both, binding the shinigami's arms to her body in the process.

"Miss me, Pet-chan?" she greeted right before she finally crashed down into the sand below, making sure her "pet" landed first and took the combined force of the impact, her weight, and the force of her arms pushing down.

[Dizzy]

"Miss me, Pet-chan?"

Well bloody fuck, isn't this just great. Did I mention I never wanted to be here in the first place? Did I mentioned I was injured too? About a dozen bloody times each, and stupid Keiji and stupid Cres still made me come, and then Keiji randomly decided to disappear, that jackass.

Guess it's gonna be another fun hospitalization for me, then.

The desert wind whistled as it flew by Lexi's ears, while she and her stalker blasted downwards at Mach 1. Her mind worked furiously to manipulate the air particles to slow them down and cushion the impact of the fall, but when they landed, it was still with a bone-jarring, painful crash that instantly knocked the wind out of her as first she slammed into the ground, and then the hollow rammed into her, taking her by surprise and smashing her deep into the sand.

She didn't even want to think about what would've happened over a concrete road. The girl would've been smashed open like a falling watermelon, bits of her splattered all over the ground. She would've become a literal bloodstain.

Gasping desperately for breath while failing to keep the sand out of her mouth, Lexi gripped Tempestas harder, gathering air particles and forcing them between her and her assailant, trying to lift the hollow off. She did this so overzealously that her stalker didn't just yield; the immense torrent of air was enough to blast her several meters into the sky.

Lexi followed her out of the sands, hopping backwards in order to get some distance, as well as a better look at the situation. Her hollow stalker had a group of fellow menos, and if she had arrived, she'd likely have brought her friends.

Giving the landscape a good stare, she discovered that none of them had felt like making the trip. However, on a more interesting note, Azul had deigned to join them for the fun. Another hellow, who'd been far less responsive thus far, skulked farther off. Lexi suspected that this one was either ridiculously strong or completely useless.

The sandworm had lost its distractions, and was evidently trying to figure out what was going on. Lexi didn't blame it. But if it decided to escape with Cres still inside it ... that would definitely be a bad thing.

And with that thought, Cres burst dramatically out of top of the hollow like a rocket at liftoff, trailing a viscous green slime below him but looking perfectly fine. He fired several byakurai down at the hollow, blasting it like an electrically-charged machine gun. The hollow screeched horribly, an awful, violent sound that somehow seemed to echo in the empty air.

Newly confident in the shinigami side's ability to take care of the hollows - especially once the 2nd Division's captain returned - she turned back to face her opponent, snatched a pill off her belt, inspected it closely to make sure it wasn't anything poisonous, and popped it into her mouth, instantly feeling a burst of energy flowing through her bloodstream, temporarily granting her rejuvenation. Her reiatsu flared up, like pouring gasoline onto an open flame.

"Heey, stalker-san," Lexi grinned, "long time no see. Nice of you to drop in."

[Kolbertt]

Azul movements were clumsy... After all, she hadn't done anything but rumbling around Hueco Mundo for months. However, slowly but surely, the rush of battle was coming back to her.

As the sand moved away, it was obvious she had missed her target, as there was not a single sign from blood in her knuckles. She sniffed the air, and found trace of her target...

Why is it I'm trying this hard to take down this Shinigami? I mean, I was only told to deliver the message "Dios de Diablo sent us" - Yet, here I am, dealing with some average Joe, and actually enjoying the thrill... And that is when the truth hit her.

As the sands quieted down, she got a clearer idea of his location. Now both eyes and nose helped her. Once seen, she focused on her target and jumped forward a second time.

[Mystic Serenade]

With the third division captain finally free from his captivity within the giant worm hollow, a being that had watched in the distance finally moved into action. By the time it arrived the worm hollow was already effectively dispatched. But no matter, it was more than enough to handle whatever was there. It would make its master proud.

It leapt into the sky and jumped from spot to spot, making use of the abundant reishi flowing about Hueco Mundo to reach its target. It jumped towards the third division captain, baring its claws and enormous jaw that could easily rip away half the shinigami's body in one bite.

(OCC: I be lazy, new hollow looks like a wolf and is captain level lol)

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

[BioBomber]

The sand barrier had already partly taken to the air by the time Hibiki had made his next move. The difference in power between himself and the Gillian menos he was engaged in combat with was massive, leaving him with the disturbing prospect that he may not survive if he let his guard down. It served to heighten his reaction times, and perhaps give him the tiniest of power boosts, but by and large he still had to be extremely careful.

As the particles dispersed, Hibiki wasted little time in clipping a second device to his zanpakuto and engaging it. This device featured two buttons, rather than the single that had been on the previous device, dubbed Blatt Ventilator. This device, Blatt Teiler functioned slightly differently. As he slipped out from behind his visual shield, the button clicked into place, and he swung his sword into place above his right shoulder. Pulling both his shoulders inwards to make his profile narrower and reduce his opponent's chance of hitting him, he dashed madly toward his target.

The menos seemed to be of the same mind as Hibiki, rushing forward to attack him with her weapon at the ready. This had better work, he thought to himself, as he slashed out with his zanpakuto. As the blade sailed through the empty air, he pressed the second button. This time instead of forming a fan, it formed a blast of concentrated reiatsu that sent Hibiki backwards again. Flying back several meters, he let his feet find solid ground, and dashed forward again, hoping the feint would give him the opening he needed. He yelled out as he brought his sword down again, this time to attack. 2 down.

[blackluster]

The skies were filling with enemies at an alarming rate. Shuga was forced to take evasive action as the worm hollow seemed to explode in front of him. Amidst the stream of innards flying everywhere, Shuga could make out the figure of his captain sailing into the air. His relief was interrupted as the captain immediately started raining down lightning blots on the hollow, aggrivating its already extensive injuries caused by Cres' explosive exit.

Shuga stumbled as he ran, unable to find a firm footing to shunpo clear. His disjointed leaps and steps managed to get him clear of the captain's ferocious assault however. He looked around trying to assess the situation. The captain was back in the fight, but a new more powerful enemy had arrived, probably thrilled that a worthy opponent had arrived. Shuga coudn't sense its reiatsu, but through his visor, the bright colours it was giving off was a clear indicator of the calibre of enemy that had arrived.

We have to consolidate our strength I guess...

With that in mind, Shuga set off in the direction of Mai. Even a two person team of weak players was better than trying to go it alone. Shuga shunpo'ed in a series of short darts, trying not to draw too much attention. He reached Mai undetected. The problem now was, what to do next. Perhaps if he handled close fighting around Mai, she could attack their ambushers from afar. It was the only plan Shuga could think of, short of hiding somewhere and hoping that his captain could solo their aggressors.

"It looks like it's you and me for now Mai-sempai...." Shuga said, trying to sound as optimistic as possible with his mono-tone voice.

[Mystic Serenade]

Oh man, oh man...we're so screwed right now...

The captain that was eaten had escaped and dispatched one hollow only to be attacked by an even stronger one. Meanwhile the rest of them had to deal with these other two who were very clearly stronger than most of them. So dead, so dead...

Meanwhile she finally noticed she was not alone. "Uh yea, heheh. Wanna go help out the one fighting the gillian over there?" There was no way she was getting anywhere near the thing green-haired midget was fighting.

[Kolbertt]

Maybe it was the fatigue, maybe it was a massive difference in power, but this particular blast managed to destroy Azul's right hand Knuckle. There was no harm in her hand, but her means of attack had been reduced by half - In fact, all she had was her left hand, so it was even less than half her total physical power.

The feather scarf would regenerate, but it needed time and energy.

"Maybe if I get an arm or two, it'll grow back faster? I lose nothing by trying" Azul pointed the Shinigami, and from the tip of her finger, random beams of light emerged going on every direction, bended, and were redirected towards the shinigami.

[BioBomber]

Hey, not bad! Hibiki silently congratulated himself over the pounding of his subconscious telling him to pull every trick in the bag to stay alive. This was the first Menos class Hollow he'd fought in ages, and though his skill and stamina were slowly returning to him, he was well aware that he was somewhat limited combat-wise compared to when he last encountered one of the gargantuan footsoldiers of Hueco Mundo.

Though, this one has a dominant personality, he noted. I suppose I shouldn't expect any less... His train of thought was interrupted as his opponent's finger began to glow. Shit! Hibiki whipped out another device, identical in appearance to the first. Hibiki found that a fan came in useful more often than he would have initially credited when he'd created the first Blatt Ventilator, but as he swung his sword in an arc over his head, his finger on the button, he was grateful that he'd continued to carry them. Only problem was, he only had one of them left.

The use of the fan proved fairly effective, the majority of the beams that targeted Hibiki's body were deflected by his zanpakuto and the fan of spirit particles that broadened the protective width. He was hit however, in the shoulders and upper back, knocking him face down in the sand. He pushed himself back up abruptly, wincing at the pain and staggered to his feet.

[blackluster]

Shuga had nodded to Mai, and dashed off in Hibiki's direction. Hoping that Mai was right behind him, he ran straight at the hollow. All around them, reiatsu was flaring creating a flurry of distracting colours. Shuga quickly pulled his visor from his face and stuffed it in his beaten satchel. Immediately he felt the cold and sandy wind on his face which until that point had been mostly covered. He pulled his hood down as well to get the best peripheral vision he could. He was thankful that he could at least do some form of shunpo. The loose sand would have certainly been hard to run on otherwise.

Hibiki was already having to do a lot of work, trying to avoid a series of curved blasts which erupted from the hollow's claw. Approaching Hibiki, Shuga noticed him using some device which seemed to aid in protecting him, at least partially. He seemed to sustain some injury, though how bad was unknown. It didn't really matter much, since if they didn't win here, none of them were going home.

As expected of 12th division I guess, always packing the weird gadgets....

Shuga came sliding to a stop in front of Hibiki, placing himself between Hibiki and the Hollow. If ever there was a big test for his technique, it was now. He readied himself in a lower sword stance, his favoured style for drawn out combat.

"I'll start the attack Hibiki-san. Hopefully our combined attacks will work better on this one than the worm...." Shuga's voice trailed off as he charged the hollow. His blade, positioned very low and slightly to the side, ploughed the desert sand as he ran, creating a wall-like wake of flowing sand behind him. Appearing before his target, he shunpo'ed into the air, aiming to attack the hollow's mask directly.

[~Sachiko~]

Julia suddenly felt herself being lifted high up into the air and lost her grip on her pet-chan. How stubborn the little girl was. Looking around, it seemed that everyone else had chosen their opponents. This left her and her pet alone. "Why yes, and we'll have loads of fun this time, won't we Pet-chan!"

With that she disconnected all six of her scythes once more and let them rotate behind her for a bit before having them spiral rapidly towards her prey. She sped towards the green-haired shinigami herself as she orchestrated the attack.

(OCC: I got scolded for controlling your actions >;[ , but I see that you have opted to do it once as well. That said lets call it even and play reasonably now shall we ;D)

[Mystic Serenade]

Mai struggled to follow behind Shuga, seeing as how he could shyunpo and well...she could just run. This being her first time in Hueco Mundo, she had a bit trouble doing so with all the sand making her footing a little off. There was no way she would make it over there in time. Well...it's not like she wanted to be that close to the action anyway...

She saw that the two had already begun their attack, so she figured she might as well stick back and play the long range game she loved oh so much. Her fingers began to crackle and spark, as she charged up a byakurai. She waited for the opportune moment to launch the bolt of lightning at the gillian's head.

[BioBomber]

Hibiki took Shuga's attack as his cue to move, staggered forward a bit and steadied his footing. There was pain, possibly a bit of bleeding but it wasn't severe so he felt he was more than ready to continue. He only had use of one more of his devices, at his current level using any more that 4 would cause his reiatsu to completely drain from his body and he'd run the risk of an instantaneous death. The amounts that the system forced through his body were quite large, and they stretched his body a fair bit internally. Depending on his body's ability to recover, based on his strength, he could only use a certain number of the devices safely within a 48 hour period.

Quickly selecting one of them, he clipped it onto his zanpakuto as he dashed forward. He wasn't entirely sure yet what he was going to do, but he formulated something resembling a plan as he drew closer. Sluicing through the sand like a stream of the water that Hueco Mundo never saw, he dashed up to the Gillian's left and ran like a maniac up its side, sword ready to sever the other half of its spiked weapon. He prepared to swing, finger on the button, ready to press it. Presently, he did so. Blatt Teiler emitted another blast, sending Hibiki rocketing towards the ground at an alarming speed. He smacked into the sand and rolled away left as soon as his sensibilities returned to him.

[Kolbertt]

Maybe it was not a good idea to come back at the battle field so fast - Her body was already weakened from hunger. Half her weapon had been disabled, and her strongest skill had been deflected rather easily... To make matters worse, she was now outmatched by unknown numbers.

The one with Hazel eyes had not only dodged her skills with some unknown technique, which made his smell temporally stronger - "It's odd... His smell is not that strong... Does this mean I cannot really trust the smell of people?!" - But now, he created a barrage of sand, not enough to bury her, but high enough to allow a second Shinigami to strike at her face directly. Yet, the one with hazel eyes was nearing with a dangerous speed, and he had proven to be... unpredictable... Maybe a bit too unpredictable

He was nearing her left side, but he would not reach her main body, not easily at least. Her feather scarf had been mainly used as an offensive armor, but it also had a particular skill that first manifested itself when Azul was a simple "Hollow" - The spiked knuckle, exploted on itself, raining the Man with Hazel Eyes with million feathers, each one as sharp as knife, and as fast as a bullet.

Now, to deal with the other one... Azul extended her tattered and defenceless right arm. The Shinigami was coming fast, but the fatal flaw of being airborne would leave him open for a quick splatting on the sand... However, her plan was flawed as well, as she hadn't seen the incoming blast that landed straight on her already damaged right hand.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

At the distance, a... cat-girl? - When the fuck did this turn into a fucking Hentai movie?! - had shot a blast of white lightning at her. It had been to long since she had felt the sensation of lightning burning her flesh - "And to be honest, I didn't miss it one single bit"

But now, she was fucking screwed - The incoming Shinigami neared dangerously fast, her right hand was damaged beyond immediate use, and she had just reduced her feather scarf into little more than a pair of wings over her shoulder in the last attack.

Her right hand was damaged, her main weapon had been rendered useless, all that she had was her left arm - "Maybe, I can recreate the Plumas!!" -

Pointing her left hand at the jumping Shinigami, Azul concentrated her energy, maybe it would be weaker, maybe it wouldn't work, but she'd have to try. A horribly taxing task as she could feel the energy running through her -

The flow of energy made her sick, she could feel the energy concentrating, her own smell raising, but not on her hand - The Shinigami neared fast and deadly, with his Sword raised over. The energy had gotten on her head. He was too close now. She felt too sick. He was only metres away from her head. She'd throw up.

However, when she opened her mouth, the energy that had gathered up on her head unleashed itself in a crimson colored beam that engulfed the enemy...

The relief was almost instantanious, she was still tired and damaged, but her mind had renewed itself...

Not even caring about the Shinigamis around, Azul bursted in a fit of laughter

"Jajaja... I'm becoming less and less of a human every FUCKING day!"

[BioBomber]

'Oh bugger-!' Hibiki watched, alarmed as a massive Cero escaped from the mouth of the towering Gillian. From the ground, he fumed with frustration as it knocked the reiatsu blast he'd fired off course. He'd sustained enough injuries from the razor sharp feathers the Gillian had fired at him to hope that the blast would at least make contact somewhere; as it turned out the entire effort was in vain. It then occurred to him that Shuga had been almost directly in front of the blast.

'SHUGA! Are you okay?' Hibiki yelled as he rose to his feet. Where's Umeshita-taichou gone? He shouldn't have left us all here, we needed to stick together! Gah...why did I bother coming here?

...

Because you've already been here, a voice answered from nowhere in particular. You just don't remember. Well, your conscious mind doesn't at any rate. You've buried a lot of your memories, Hibiki-kun. Hibiki's mind went blank, until a sudden burst of laughter snapped him out of his reverie.

'Jajaja... I'm becoming less and less of a human every FUCKING day!' the Gillian seemed to find the Cero incredibly amusing. Hibiki was out of attachments for his zanpakuto, he was cut up and bruised. He felt more dead, and yet more alive than he'd been in 20 long years. He echoed the Gillian's sentiments.

'You're feeling good, Gillain?' he laughed himself. 'I think we've both just gotten a big wake-up call! I don't know why, but I think this is going to be fun! After 18 years in prison, it feels good to be breathing the sweet air this deeply!' Hibiki picked up his zanpakuto from where it lay on the sand and held it out before him, the blade glinting brightly underneath the light of Hueco Mundo's moon.

'Prepare yourself, Gillian, Koizumi Hibiki has just the bottle to preserve your head in!'

[blackluster]

From perilously close-up, Shuga saw the Cero forming. Oddly enough, he mused at how probably even captains didn't get to see a cero forming from this close. There wasn't much time. Shuga was unsure as to whether his zanpakuto could tank a cero head on, though he wasn't particularly in the mood to take the gamble. To survive this, he'd need a play from Kim's book, combined with some technique of his own. As the blast erupted towards him, he hoped off an explosion of reiatsu at his feet. It was nowhere near what Kim was capable of, but he only needed a small angle. Having offset himself slightly from the centre, did his reverse circle strike on the cero itself. Sure enough, the clashing of energy's caused him to roll off the front of the beam. The attentions of a cero were not casually brushed aside though, the rotational force was a bit much more that he bargained for, and caused him to go spinning off at some speed. As he tumbled through the air, he caught a glimpse of Hibiki shouting something at him.

I'll have to find out what it was later.

After a short flight, Shuga went sailing into a nearby clump of trees. His body shattered each one he hit a in brilliant display of moonlight being reflected and refracted in a rain or crystalline shards. Shuga eventually came to rest after striking a rock, breaking it into pieces as well. He lay still for a moment, and then, feeling the rocks against his back, he was suddenly filled with panic. He felt nervously behind him, almost to scared to discover his obliterated visor. A sigh of relief followed, when he realized that he lost his satchel in the air somewhere.

I'm sure it will survive the desert sand, I'll get it later. Now I just have make sure that I survive.

With that in mind, Shuga charged back towards the battle, covered in sand in bruises, but still capable.

[Dizzy]

Lexi

Now that she had ascertained the safety of everybody else, Lexi was able to focus solely upon her hollow friend. Her assailant had righted herself already, which meant she probably didn't have very much time. She winced at the prospect of more 'fun', though if all went well, they’d be out and gone before her stalker even had a chance.

Timing the incoming scythes as well as the speeding hollow, Lexi blasted a byakurai into the frontmost scythe; the electric bullet angled to send it spiraling out of control and to knock a few more of the blades off-kilter, and possibly catch her stalker off-guard enough to have her fly smack dab into it.

With that done, Lexi waved her zanpakuto, gathering and directing air-particle spiritrons like a conductor might wave a baton, and levitated herself forcefully upwards, out of the way of her assailant’s reach for the moment, and giving herself some time to decide upon her next actions.

Cres

Cres was understandably annoyed when the charging hollow rammed into him and attempted to rip off his head within its gaping jaws, flailing spit and gnashing its teeth. Thrusting his zanpakuto into its path and letting loose with a strong surge of reiatsu to repel the wolf-like beast made for an adequate cushion against damage, but the thing was strong – incredibly so.

The impact of the hit immediately sent Cres reeling into the open air, terribly winded and clutching at his lungs with his free hand, until he forcibly stopped himself by creating a reiatsu foothold underneath himself. The hound’s reiatsu gushed forth, like a steady waterfall, sunken into its teeth and claws.

It appeared that while he had been busy playing around and trying to give his regiment a good test, the hollows had arrived and begun to prey upon his team. He silently admonished himself for that; he knew that Hueco Mundo’s sands were incredibly unpredictable, and that anything could happen at any time, and yet, he still failed to act upon it.

Giving the battlefield a quick look-over, he saw that Lexi was embroiled in a skirmish against an adjuuchas, a fight she’d be very hard-pressed to take. The others, his sister included, had gathered around the other menos – a gillian, by the looks of it. They were meeting with more success, but their opponent still had some more leverage due to its reiatsu level. The situation was looking bad; the best he could hope for was a quick return on the part of the other captain.

His opponent lunged once more, this time with its claws outstretched, and Cres took the hit with his zanpakuto, which was nearly knocked out of his hand by the immense force of the hollow’s spirit energy. The captain cursed to himself, this time gripping his sword with both hands. He would be able to match the hollow if he released, but doing do would adversely affect his shinigami teammates – the heavy outpouring of reiatsu pressure might even paralyze some of them, leaving them sitting ducks for the hungry hollows.

His only recourse was to try and lead the hollow farther away so that he could release. Baiting the wolf by firing a byakurai at its skull, he shyunpo’d further north, away from the others. Hopefully, his plan would work and it would follow.

Lune

Still pasty-white and shaking, Lune had been met with some very joyous surprise when her brother had emerged from the hollow’s flank unscathed. Color returned to her face as her heartbeat returned from its irregular pace, and slowly, she regained full awareness of the outside world.

She noticed that she was running, following those who she assumed at been assigned to protect her, towards a menos grande. The daunting fear left her body stiff and uncoordinated; she was meant for healing, not fighting! In the background, Lexi and Cres were both looking overwhelmed by their respective opponents, and Lune began to realize just how small she was compared to the others, how completely and abjectly powerless she was to help.

[~Sachiko~]

\"Nice trick Pet-chan, but it won\'t save you!\" she called out as she grabbed unto the three scythes that had gone off target while directing the other three to go speeding towards the now airborne shinigami. She then spun and tossed the three in her hands, giving them greater force and speed than if she had merely just directed them with reiatsu.

She didn\'t end her assault there as she spat three spheres of acid at the green-haired shinigami, one of them particularly special. Even if it missed her target, once it was close enough it would explode and send countless acid drops raining down in all directions. Let us see how you handle this one.

[BioBomber]

Hibiki strode forward, his footing on Hueco Mundo's sand as sure and precise as one who had lived there his whole life. His zanpakuto cut through the air at his side where he held it, the air whistling over and under it as he madly dashed toward the Gillian. Going by the outburst it had made, Hibiki suspected that it had only just discovered its ability to use a Cero, and he hoped that it wouldn't manage to innately fire off too many more.

You know as well as I that you never truly forget, Hibiki-kun... The voice Hibiki had heard earlier returned. He kept running forward, and the voice continued to speak. I've never forgotten the things we did together before our stay in the darkness of solitary confinement. Hibiki faltered a moment, but kept going.

Are you talking to me at last? Hibiki gave a cursory glance down at his zanpakuto, which glinted again in the light of Hueco Mundo's moon. It is your voice I hear!

Well I'm hardly going to let you perish on the sands of Hueco Mundo without at least letting you know my name, and perhaps a few of the things you've forgotten about yourself, the sword's spirit responded sardonically. There was a momentary pause, and it laughed. Seriously though, I should have done this a long time ago... The world stopped.

Hibiki found himself on a mountainside.

There was nobody in sight.

[Dizzy]

Lexi

Damn, she just doesn't give up, does she?

She had retreated outside of her stalker's reach, but not quite out of her range - the hollow was now blasting her with as many projectiles as humanely possible, a nonstop onslaught that she wouldn't be able to escape from for long. Doing a headcount of the incoming attacks, the girl launched herself up into the air, and charged reiatsu forth into her index fingers, allowing it to condense into the tangible form of electricity, and then blasting her two Byakurai bullets downwards with ferocious velocity.

Two loud clangs indicated that she had hit her marks; two of the incoming scythes had been forced off of their paths, smoldering as they fell. To her horror, she realized that she hadn't knocked the other off of its trajectory, and then, that the other three were closing in at a much higher speed than she had previously accounted for.

Fucking hell, I've got to -

The first scythe ripped into her prone leg, the one that had already taken a deep cut. This one, luckily, came in at a different angle, marking a violent red X over her previous wound. Sharp pain rent her limb and rippled up her side, and she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming.

Her first reaction was to pull the weapon out before she was dragged back to her assailant, but the speed of the other scythes were such that she was forced to propel herself backwards abruptly, kicking the scythe out with her good leg as she did so and spurting a small deluge of blood from the wound. However, she was ready for the next three attacks, putting both hands onto her zanpakuto to defend against them; they slammed into her blade and knocked her a good meter backwards, and their impacts jarred her already battered bones to the point where she nearly dropped her weapon, but she weathered the storm nonetheless.

The orbs of acid, however, would not be so easily deterred. The best strategy would be to try and incinerate them or dodge them, but she lacked the time to pull off the first, and it took two legs to activate shyunpo, a luxury that she didn't have at the moment. Instead, she gripped her zanpakuto harder and blasted herself with air particles to propel herself sideways, moving like a self-controlled marionette.

A nimble barrel roll got her away from the first ball of acid, a rapid upwards thrust had her evading the next. For the final one, she elected to put on a spectacle, allowing herself a graceful cartwheel-flip to move out of its range. And then the sphere exploded.

The acid immediately drenched her good leg, sizzling through her hakama and reducing it to rags, and then searing into her skin, following by devouring her flesh and muscle tissue, even reaching the bone before it fizzled out. The pain was excruciating; Lexi was immediately forced into convulsions, clutching at her newly injured leg and gagging from the muscle spasms that the horrendous stimulation of her pain senses begot her. Doubled over in pain, she panted heavily, cold sweat running down her entire body.

F - fuck! I was not aware she could do that - !

The girl was sudden overcome by an enormous urge to retch, but she barely managed to suppress it. Shivering and wide-eyed from the pain, she could barely summon up the energy to fight back. Even keeping herself airborne felt heavily taxing, and she knew that she'd be done soon; the next heavy onslaught like that would black her out, if not rip her to shreds entirely.

Regaining her bearings, she tried to devise a strategy that might get her out alive. Defending was now out of the question; her ailing body would not be able to go on any longer. If it wasn't for her zanpakuto's ability, she'd have been crumpled up in a heap on the ground by now, rendered an invalid from the loss of her legs.

Gasping for precious oxygen, her vision beginning to blur at the edges, Lexi sailed backwards through the air, putting added distance between her and her stalker. Her only recourse now was to make use of her remaining reiatsu storage and dodge as many attacks as she could.

[BioBomber]

((Sorry about my own hiatus, I've been really busy of late.))

'Hello?' Hibiki's voice echoed strangely in the misty mountains that composed the inner part of his self. As his echo faded and the reverberation faded into an uneasy nothingness, Hibiki almost spoke again; but a voice replied this time. It was strangely melodious, and it put Hibiki off guard as the spirit of his zanpakuto finally manifested before him.

She appeared entirely unlike anything Hibiki was expecting. His eyes picked out a shapely form clad in a midnight black that both hid yet flaunted the figure she possessed. Hibiki gaped silently until he found his tongue and stuttered out a sentence.

'Y-y-you're my zanp-p-pakuto's spirit, then?'

'Indeed,' the beauty grinned winningly. Her long brown hair flowed about as she turned her head to look out over the world around her. 'You know, it's only been like this in here since you tried that last experiment before our incarceration. The mist descended on some of your mind, and it's almost impossible for me to see what I'm doing sometimes. Of course, you'd get completely lost.'

'What?'

'Hibiki...I want you to venture into the mist and find my name.'

'WHAT!?'

[Mystic Serenade]

The lupine hollow was understandably annoyed by the captain's little bolt of lightning hitting it's head. Treating him as some sort of animal to be baited away, but he would play his game.

Or at least he would of, but in the blink of an eye two figures had suddenly appeared amongst the combatants. Both were shinigami, one being the 2nd division captain who happened to be covered in minor wounds, but not from any hollow. The cuts to his skin and clothing where to thin and clean, most likely from a zanpakuto from first glance. If one was familiar with who the other shinigami was, the most obvious conclusion was that the two were battling, for it was none other than the previous 12th division captain. The very man this team was sent to capture.

"Get out, it's for your own good," is all he said as he opened up a garganta behind him.

[Dizzy]

Cres paused in mid-battle as his fellow captain and former colleague both appeared straight out of nowhere. He was honestly amazed that the former 12th had been so nearby; he had expected far more difficulties in finding the man. His opponent had followed his baiting, but had just as quickly stopped to observe the newcomers as well. Obviously, the hollow didn't think it would fare too well with the arrival of three captains.

Gazing downwards to observe his team's situations, he noticed that most of the other shinigami had been scattered by one of the hollows, while Lexi was faring very badly against the other. He decided it was high time to stop things then and there.

In a couple of quick shyunpo steps, he had swooped down upon Lexi and scooped the battered girl into his free arm, nestled into his captain's haori. She coughed feebly, allowing her shikai to disperse and then falling out of consciousness. He looked back at the hollow she had been facing and said, "We're in a bit of a rush here, or I'd purify you on the spot. If you know what's good for you, then leave as quickly as you can."

With a sideways glance at Umeshita and the former 12th, Cres motioned to the 2nd Division captain to handle the other shinigami while he confronted the latter. Umeshita hesitated, but then nodded his assent and darted off, allowing Cres to meet the missing captain alone.

"Hwang-taicho," he asked, "just what the hell is going on here?"

[Mystic Serenade]

Umeshita quickly went to gather the other four shinigami facing off the gillian. First thing was first, he landed on the hollow's neck and cast a binding spell on it, "Party time's over miss."

That taken care of, he shyunpo'd to each shinigami and grabbed them by the collars of their uniforms, and then proceeded to exit through the garganta the previous 12th had made. He gave him a stare as he departed, That guy...he's just not normal...

The previous 12th then addressed his former colleague. "You came here looking for me, got caught in a bit of trouble, and now I'm sending you away and not coming along with you. Sounds about right correct?"

[Dizzy]

Cres stared at his former colleague like he'd just grown another head. He'd never really gotten to know Hwang, but the man had gained a formidable reputation in the short time he had been captain and had earned Cres' respect. This speech came as an enormous surprise to him.

What? You're just going to stay here? In the middle of this godforsaken desert?

This was wrong. As a captain, Hwang had a responsibility to Soul Society; he'd known that ever since he had taken the position. How could he just walk away from it like that?

Cres shook his head slowly; the man must've had his reasons. After all, he had fought with Umeshita-taicho to prevent himself from being taken back to Soul Society, despite no judgment having been passed upon him. For all that they had been concerned with, it was as much of a rescue mission as retrieval. Umeshita must have told him this, yet he still fought, still was adamant about this self-exile.

He looked into the man's eyes and saw no traces of emotion. Carrying Lexi under one arm, he stepped into the former 12th's portal, his thoughts turning back to Hwang's predecessor and how he had gone wrong too. And then they raced forwards, becoming hope for the future of his successor.

[BioBomber]

Hibiki didn't notice that his body was being moved, indeed he didn't have the sensibilities to wonder what the rest of his fellow shinigami were thinking. He was completely lost in his own mind, and it wasn't proving easy to make his way back out of the labyrinthine maze his subconscious had created for him. The fog was all-encompassing around him, and it only afforded him a view of a few steps in front of him.

'Man, I've seriously messed myself up,' he sighed. 'Though I guess I already knew that after I saw sunlight for the first time in however many years...' His wanderings led him through the trees in near total silence; another infuriating aspect of his internal landscape was the fact that within the mist, no sound seemed to carry. He'd developed a specialized form of echolocation whilst in confinement, but it was useless in his present situation.

'Kyaa!' he screamed out in frustration after what seemed like hours and hours of fruitless searching. Perhaps it was hours, Hibiki had never been privy to this place before, and he had no idea of the relative flow of time compared to whatever time his body were experiencing. A shiver ran through him as he wondered whether or not the Hollow would be taking advantage of his prone state, and he began to panic. 'Damn it, this isn't fair! I can't even tell whether or not I'm walking around in circles! I need help!'

'Ask and thou shalt receive,' his zanpakuto's spirit responded. 'Your voice reaches me through this mist, but only when it is directed at me. The will to fight is awakening in you again, and your perspective, while clouded in some ways by this experience, can move onto a path that will no longer hurt the two of us.' The spirit manifested, however her skin was now visible to Hibiki. He saw nothing of the beautifully rounded and pert breasts, nor the shapely hips. His eyes were instead drawn to the many scars that marred her skin.

'I did this to you?' Hibiki's voice quavered in his throat as the spirit nodded.

'You have also hurt yourself, Hibiki,' she explained, pointing to his chest. Hibiki pulled apart the folds of his shihakusho to reveal scars of his own, crowded around the spot on his skin where his heart would be. 'Only together can we heal these wounds. So when you run into battle, be alone no more. Speak my name, and I shall stand by you.'

...

'Stand at my side, Nijuushin.'

He awoke. He looked around, the Menos was still where it had been. The episode had lasted no longer than a few seconds. He was not long for waking when he felt a pair of familiar spiritual pressures. Taichou... Hibiki very suddenly felt a hand grasp the back of his collar.

'U-Umeshita-taichou!' he felt himself being lifted bodily. 'One moment! I wish to speak to...if it is not a problem...'

[~Sachiko~]

So one moment she was about to capture her weak and dying pet-chan and the next she was completely gone. The fuck was that, and what was up with that captain too with his high and mighty attitude. She'd definitely had a new person to add to her, "to kill eventually" list. No way she'd let some piece of shit shinigami live peacefully after saying such a thing.

And now here was another one, the one who let her pet-chan escape. She could tell he was strong, and she hated it. Hated the idea that her power paled in comparison. "The fuck you do that for?" she yelled at the newcomer.

[Mystic Serenade]

The previous 12th Division captain glanced back at the gillian. "None of your business," was all he said before using shyunpo to disappear from view.

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

The wolf hollow watched the events as the unfolded before him. He probably could have stopped a few of them from leaving, but alas, that was not a part of his master's plans. He let out a howl as if to catch the other hollow's attention and then dashed off into the distance, indicating he wanted them to follow after. If they did, the would find themselves at the base of the Espada, Las Noches.

[~Sachiko~]

Julia launched off all her scythes at the spot where the shinigami was just standing in furious anger, "That son of a bitch..."

For now, she would just follow the wolf hollow to wherever it was going, not like she had anything better to do.

[Kolbertt]

Azul had drifted to a space beyond time. The excitement of the fight had made her forget about her enemies or the fact that everyone was surrounding her at a dangerously fast speed.

However, the howling of a wolf took her back to reality. Everyone had dissappeared, and now, she remained alone...

Alone...

She started walking, hiding the fact that being alone terrified her. Far too much for it to be normal...

The wolf was already too far away, but if she hasted, she'd probably reach it... or it's destination.