Game 2 - Chapter 2

It was always apparent whenever Shaku made his arrival. It was impossible not to notice him, that flashy red haori he always wore, his sandals painted red, the handle of his sword painted red, that pair of red-tinted mirrored lenses over his eyes, that gaudy red bandana on his head that (creatively) bore the kanji for "red." And, most of all, the flowing red hair that spread out behind the teenage boy as he walked, like the flames of hell wreathing his head. Not to mention the entourage of very conspicuous bodyguards, all wearing very formal attire, closely following him. Making no efforts whatsoever to keep a low profile, this arrogant-looking teenage boy swaggered up to the bar and took a seat right in the middle, his followers flanking him, paying no mind to the patrons they pushed to either side.

"Hello?" he pounded on the bar, slightly annoyed that seven seconds had passed since his entrance and he hadn't been served yet.

"Hold your horses, Mr. Red," came a sassy-sounding voice from behind the bar. It was a girl, with hair as blue as Shaku's was red. She appeared to be maybe a year or two younger than he was, and Shaku offhandedly wondered if she might be the owner's daughter.

"Yo, lady," one of Shaku's goons grunted. "I don't think you heard the boss. This is someone who don't like to wait. Don't you know--" But Shaku put a hand to the brute's chest, stopping him from talking. "Now, now," he said, smirking back at the girl, a bit surprised to find one this cute in a dive like this on the wrong end of the 68th District. "Let's not be hasty. Take all the time you need, hot stuff. It'll gimme more time to look at that pretty face of yours." But no sooner had the words popped out of Shaku's mouth than the bartender girl was standing in front of him.

"You're not old enough to drink," she said matter-of-factly, semi-emotionlessly.

"Which is fine, because I don't drink," Shaku smiled over the bar. "I'll just have a cranberry juice and your home address, sweetie."

"Cranberry juice?" she raised an eyebrow back at him, eyeing his outfit up and down. "How did I guess you were going to order something red?" She deftly pulled two bottles and a glass from under the bar. "Don't you think you're overdoing it a little?"

"What can I say?" Shaku shrugged nonchalantly. "Red's just my color. So, what--" he started.

"'What's a cute girl like you doing in a place like this?' Is that what you were about to say?" she cut him off.

"N... no," Shaku lied. "I... was gonna say, 'What... beautiful eyes you have.'"

"The better to see you with," she replied dryly. "Sorry for assuming, but you don't look like the type who could come up with anything more original than 'What's a cute girl like you doing in a place like this?'"

Shaku was slightly taken aback. "You've got a mouth on you, don't you," he chuckled.

"Sure do, Firetruck," the girl said without missing a beat, setting a glass of cranberry juice on the bar in front of Shaku with a loud clink. "I've also got ears, a nose and eyes too, and I can see that one of your gorillas is getting cigarette ash all over my floor."

The bodyguard to Shaku's left dropped the cigarette out of his mouth in surprise and jumped angrily to his feet. "How dare you, woman! How dare you call me a gorilla!"

"Gorou, you are a gorilla," Shaku said with a grin. "Now. Be a good boy and pick your cigarette up, put it in an ashtray like a civilized gorilla, and take gorillas two through four over to a booth in the back and get drunk, just like you came here for."

"But, sir!" Gorou started to protest.

Shaku peered over the tops of his glasses. In contrast to everything else about him, Shaku's eyes were blue, a cold steel blue, although rumor had it among his men that even Shaku's eyes turned red when he was angry. There were none who'd seen his eyes turn red and lived to tell the tale, however. So the story went.

He put his hands together and peered at Gorou. "I believe," he said quietly, with still a hint of a smile on his face. "That I gave you an order."

Gorou was at least a full foot taller than Shaku, and built like an armored tank. Not to mention at least ten years older. And it was obvious to any casual observer that he was absolutely terrified of the man in red. After a moment's nervous hesitation, he did exactly as his boss had asked, picking up his cigarette, depositing it in an ashtray that the bartender had conveniently placed in front of him, and marched quickly over to the back of the bar with his face hung low like a schoolboy who'd just been chided for not doing his homework. The other bodyguards silently followed him.

"Heh, sorry about that," Shaku chuckled. But she wasn't listening, already serving someone else.

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Hours passed.

Gorou and the other three gorillas in the back of the bar consumed bottle after bottle of hot sake, slowly becoming more and more inebriated and proportionally louder and less intelligent as the night went on, while Shaku continued sipping on cranberry juice and eyeing the beautiful blue-haired girl behind the bar as she served customers and warded off unwelcome advanced from more or less everyone who came in with that quick wit and sharp tongue of hers. Shaku had decided that he liked this girl. Not only was she completely unafraid to say things to him that he would have killed others for, she was drop dead gorgeous. Perfect face, perfect body. She'd be great for a roll in the covers once she closed up shop. Sassy girls like her were always animals in the sack. Hell, he might even see this one again sometime afterwards.

It was around twelve in the morning when Gorou collapsed out of his seat and began snoring on the ground. Shaku told his bodyguards to go on home, and this time, even as drunk as they were, no one argued. They lifted Gorou's limp form onto their shoulders and stumbled out.

The bar was more or less empty as it approached closing time. "Aren't you going with them?" the bartender asked Shaku.

"Nah, I can take care of myself," he replied. She didn't respond, so Shaku tried to start a conversation again. "So... hey, look. I was thinking. Maybe when you're done with work, would you like to--"

"No," she said, not even looking at him.

"Look," Shaku said, smiling over his glasses. "I can tell that you don't know who I am. Lemme just tell you... I'm something of a big shot, you know? I can make things happen for you."

The girl rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm serious," Shaku went on. "Come on, isn't there something you want? Everyone wants something. Just name it, and it's yours."

An expression came over the girl's face. "Well... as a matter of fact, there is something." She began scribbling quickly on a sheet of paper.

"That's more like it! Now...," Shaku opened his arms, expecting her to come to him, but instead he received the piece of paper shoved into his nose.

"Your gorillas stuck you with the bill. That'll be 38,700 yen."

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His pride stinging more than a little, Shaku wandered out of the bar and out into the street, 38,700 yen lighter. The door closed and locked behind him. Damn, he said to himself. It had been ages since he'd been shot down like that. Oh well, her loss, he tried to console himself as he slid his hands into his pockets and made his way home. Well, one of his homes, anyway. Shaku kept a number of apartments across Rukongai for when he needed to be alone or was away from the main office and didn't feel like going all the way back to his main residence in 11th District. One of these apartments just happened to be across the bridge into 67th District.

And there was someone getting mugged on the bridge, that was interesting. Looked like a girl this time, judging by the shape of her body and the high-pitched struggling noises she was making. Shaku gave the two men accosting her a brief glance over the tops of his glasses before walking by, preparing to ignore something that had nothing to do with him.

And he saw a flash of blue hair.

He paused for a moment and turned back, blinking. No way, it couldn't be.

It was.

It was the girl from the bar, no doubt about it. Being held at knifepoint over the railing of the bridge. Her eyes were terrified, yet still defiant, and she held the two assailants at arms length the best she could, though it was obvious that her strength wouldn't hold out much longer. With a slash, one of the attackers sliced through her obi belt, which fluttered away down into the river below. Without the support of the obi, her yukata fell open, revealing the cloth wrappings around her chest.

My god, it finally hit Shaku. They're not trying to rob her, they're trying to...

He pushed the glasses back up onto his face. Time to go to work.

One of the attackers received a sudden tap on the shoulder. When he turned to look, he received the flat end of a brightly painted red bamboo scabbard right across the face.

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The fight didn't last long, if it could even have been called a fight. The two men were dirty and strong, but Shaku was quick, quicker than either of them could keep up with. Shaku made a game out of it, taking turns smacking one man in the chest, cracking some ribs, and then the other. Breaking one's nose, then breaking the other's nose. Shattering one's jaw, then shattering the other's.

"We give up!" one of the attackers pleaded through a bloody, swollen mouth of broken teeth. "Please, we'll--" Shaku responded with a roundhouse kick to the man's face, sending him sprawling into a pile next to his partner. The other man attempted to crawl away, but Shaku nimbly jumped into the air, landing squarely on the man's ankle. There was a snap, and he howled in pain before Shaku spun around, smashing him once more in the face with his scabbard, knocking him headfirst into the bridge railing. Shaku gave each of the unconscious would-be attackers one last brutal kick to the face for good measure, then caught his breath and turned back toward the girl.

"Fancy meeting you here," Shaku smiled at the girl. Shaku had blood all over his haori, but it couldn't be seen through the red color. "You know, you're crazy for walking down this bridge alone in the middle of the night. And how on earth did you get here ahead of me?"

She held her yukata shut with one hand, not quite looking at him. "I do every night. I live just on the other side of this bridge. And I've lived here my whole life, so I know a shortcut or two."

"Really?" Shaku grinned. "Then that makes us neighbors!" He wandered toward her. "I tell you, it must be destiny!"

"Stay away from me."

Shaku stopped.

"What, you expect me to say something along the lines of, 'Oh my hero, thank you for beating these two ruffians into bloody pulp for me, please take me somewhere and tear my clothes off!'" she said sarcastically. "Sorry, Firetruck. It doesn't work like that." She moved toward him. "You're a punk just like they are, you think I can't tell that?!" she said, starting to poke him in the chest. "You've got money and goons and a big attitude, but when it comes down to it, you're just a selfish, rotten, no-good punk!"

"Hey... hey... HEY!" he said, catching her hands in his hands and pushing her back up against the bridge railing. Her yukata fell open again and his eyes met hers for a brief moment.

She turned her eyes away, her face a little flushed. "So," she spat. "What, are you planning on doing what those two were about to do?"

Shaku let go of one of her hands so she could hold her robe closed again. "What's your problem?" he asked her. "I don't get you, I really don't. You've been nothing but nasty to me since the first moment. Come on, I got a place right around here, how come we can't go have a little fun, you know?"

She quickly reached her hand inside the collar of her yukata. Shaku dropped her other hand, thinking she was about to pull out a weapon. Instead, she pulled out a small piece of paper. "This is why."

Tentatively, Shaku took the paper from the girl. It was a photograph. A photograph of her. Holding a baby in her arms. Written in the space at the bottom, it read "TAMAKO 25 DEC."

Shaku was stunned. "You... this... it's yours?"

"She was born on Christmas, so I named her Tamako. It means 'Gift.' And that's what she is to me."

"You...," Shaku paused. "How... You don't look a day over fifteen!"

Her eyes were tearing up a little. "She cries, she poops, she eats more than I can afford to feed her, but she's also my treasure and she means the world to me. And I'm sure you can't imagine what that's like. I bet you've never had anyone who's ever been precious to you longer than it takes for you to finish a few hours of frantic pelvic thrusts. So, to answer your question, Mr. Red, the reason I can't 'go have a little fun' with you is because I have to pick my baby up from the neighbors, feed her, and put her to bed. So... you can just take your red everything and your smartass attitude and your gorillas and your cranberry juice and just stay the hell away from me." And with that, she tore the photo out of Shaku's hand and started to walk away.

Shaku's mind was racing. For the first time in a very long time, his mind was blank. He had absolutely nothing to say. So he said the first thing that seemed right to him: "I'm sorry."

The girl stopped. She turned back. "What was that?"

What was that? "Look... I'm sorry. I had no idea, I...," Shaku shook his head. "Look...."

"You're tongue-tied."

Shaku stopped talking.

"You know," the girl continued. "You're the last person on earth I ever though I'd hear the word 'sorry' from. Guess everyone's full of surprises." Indeed, it had been quite a while since Shaku could even remember apologizing to anyone.

Shaku's eyes locked with the girl's. And after a long pause, he said, "Can I at least get your name?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Goodbye," she muttered as she turned to leave once more.

"I just saved your life, dammit," Shaku smirked. "The least you can do is give me your name."

She stopped and sighed, then turned her head back over her shoulder. "It's Kyura."

"Kyura, huh. I'm Sato. Azuma Sato. But most folks call me Shaku."

"Shaku. Red. You're just a regular ocean of creativity aren't you."

"I'll see you at work, Kyura."

"I'll make sure to bring pepper spray."

Shaku sighed as Kyura disappeared into the darkness. That girl was really something else, he said to himself.

He looked down at the two bloody and barely breathing bodies at his feet. Oh well, he said to himself as he hefted a man with each arm, slinging them over his shoulders. Might as well salvage something out of tonight. There was a slave caravan headed for the 39th District Mines tomorrow morning. They weren't in the best condition, but Shaku was sure he could get a few hundred thousand from the boss for these two.

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Two weeks have passed since the end of chapter 1...
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In that two weeks all players have received 200 EXP and gained two levels.

Chapter 2 will begin once all players have messaged me with what they'd like to do with those two levels.

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CHAPTER 2
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Off in the distance, the sound of thunder rumbled through the air. The rain was pounding, not enough to cause floods or impair visibility much, but plenty hard enough to get Igarashi Sakimoto soaked to the bone, even under the thick trees where he'd taken shelter, along with the other members of Advance Squad A. Igarashi glanced to his side at the girl who hadn't said a single word during the entire mission. Not that it was in any way unusual, Ashibue Kijou hadn't said one word to anyone during the entire first two weeks of class.

"I'm back!" a hushed, yet high-pitched voice signaled the return of Squad A's third member - Rikiki Brown, with a plastic rainhood on over her head and shoulders. "Scouted all around here, Sakimoto-san. There's a clearing up ahead, but no sign of Hollows anywhere around here."

Igarashi sighed. How long are they planning on keeping us waiting? he grumbled to himself. Here he was, stuck in the mud somewhere in the middle of Indonesia. Where specifically in the middle of Indonesia, Igarashi had no idea. It was some long word that Igarashi couldn't pronounce.

"What do you think?" Igarashi asked Ashibue. The dark-haired girl replied with a blank stare and said nothing.

"Right," Igarashi shrugged. He took a breath. It wasn't doing them any good to just stand here, and this tree was about as much shelter as a swiss cheese umbrella. He nodded to Rikiki and Ashibue. "Let's go," he said, leading them ahead into the clearing.

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A few kilometers to the east, a loud shout of annoyance split the silence in the vicinity of Advance Squad B. "I'm sick of this!" whined Hikari Kijou. "I'm tired, I'm soaking wet, I've got dirt in places you don't even want to know! It's hot, I'm thirsty and I want to go home and take a bath!"

"Would you Please. Shut. UP!" Maka Kasahara snapped at her squadmate. "You joined the Shinigami for crying out loud. This is your job!"

"Hmph!" Hikari turned her nose up at the notion. "I signed up to look cool and kill Hollows. I don't remember anything about crawling around in the mud in the middle of a damn rainforest."

Maka grit her teeth. She'd probably get in trouble for strangling her, so she appealed to her other partner. "Takeshi-san, would you please do something about her?"

Satoko Takeshi looked back and blinked a couple times. "Um...," he started. "What... do you want me to do?"

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A few more kilometers eastward, the three members of Advance Squad C sat in awkward silence. Junshirou Tenkawa sat on a log, idly tracing words and symbols into the dirt with a stick, while across from him, Chiken Kazenosei sat in the wet grass, quietly staring off into space.

"You guys nervous?" Anshou Mizukin said, stepping into the clearing where his squadmates were waiting.

Chiken shrugged, continuing to idly stare off into space. Junshirou matter-of-factly said, "Not really," while not bothering to look up.

"I don't see any Hollows around here, though," Anshou went on. "I know they said we'd be fighting Hollows but--"

"They'll show up when they show up," Junshirou quietly cut him off. Chiken nodded his assent, not taking his eyes off whatever his eyes were looking at.

Anshou sighed and took a seat with his other squadmates, making a sort of circle.

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"Guys! Come quick!" Naomi Oxen of Advance Squad D said excitedly, peering through the brush.

"What is it?" Ryouichi Kanue said, hurrying to her side. "Hollows?"

"No, look!" she smiled broadly, holding a clump of branches and leaves back, revealing a nest filled with leathery white eggs. "I found some eggs!"

Ryouichi's face hit his palm. "Naomi, this is serious. We're supposed to be looking for Hollows."

"But I found something better!" Naomi protested. "Aren't they cute? I wonder what kinda birdies are gonna hatch out of em!"

"Those are reptile eggs, you azure-locked imbecile," a dry, humorless voice spoke behind the two of them. It was the third member of Squad D. "Specifically, those are king cobra eggs. So unless you want the rest of your body to be as deceased as the infintesimal smattering of cells in your brain, I'd suggest we keep moving before Mommy Cobra comes back to check on her babies." Cardinal Ximenez pulled his hat down over his eyes to shield his face from the rain and wandered off, leaving Ryouichi there to shake his head and Naomi to ponder over the large words that Ximenez had used and wonder if she should be insulted or not.

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But yet, despite the fact that none have been seen, a chill of cold reiatsu pervades the air like an icy draft through this hot, tropical rainforest. Just enough to let the members of class 3-A know - there are Hollows here. A fair number of them too.

It's only a matter of time until they stumble upon one...

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Class 3-A has been divided up into three-person squads and sent to Indonesia to eradicate a swarm of Hollows that have infested a series of villages. No Hollows have been spotted yet, but you can tell they're here somewhere. It's just a matter of finding them.

DURING COMBAT SITUATIONS: Make sure you roll your dice EVERY DAY. Also, you may post the actions you are taking and roleplay those actions, but DO NOT roleplay the RESULTS of those actions, since results will largely be determined by dice roll and by the actions of your enemies and allies.

As always, you may post your actions publicly or PM them to me privately.

Ryouichi stared after Ximenez's retreating back. I suppose asking him to wait is out of the question. Quickly deciding on a course of action, he shut his eyes and leaned back against a nearby tree (not the one with the cobra nest, of course). After a few seconds of deep concentration, the sight that Ryouichi had privately dubbed "The Blue World" swam into his vision.

Annoyingly enough, the driving rain was still visible, but at least it was slightly more transparent-looking, and Ryouichi was able to see a little farther this way. Out in the distance, Ryouichi saw a mass of concentrated red ribbons, the telltale sign of a Shinigami, and it was moving farther away at a rapid pace. There were at least a few bundles of ribbons belonging to hollows, but they were still a ways off.

His reconnaissance complete, Ryouichi opened his eyes, and was assaulted by the return of color to the landscape.

Gesturing at his other teammate to follow, Ryouichi began to set off after the wayward red-cloaked student, heedless of the rain.

Igarashi carefully made his way into the direction of the clearing Rikiki had found, making sure to avoid any puddle of mud formed thanks to the rain. As he advanced, he also kept his right hand near the scabbard of his Zanpakutou, prepared to defend himself from a surprise attack. He didn't knew where the hell could the hollow be hiding, but he could feel their reiatsu around him, hopefully, their location could be easier to pinpoint in the clearing, without so many threes blocking their sight and senses.

He also was experiencing a mix of emotions right now, on one hand, he could feel a great anticipation pouring inside his body, after years of training in the Academy, he would now have the chance to engage in a real fight, not just a sparring practice like the ones he had in some classes. Despite the fact he had adapted to the lifestyle of the Academy, he still felt the urge to fight was bigger than anything else for him, it's the one thing he had been good for his whole life, so this mission was the opportunity he needed to sate that urge. And hopefully, if this was successful, he would get plenty more opportunities like it in the future.

But then, he also felt a little worried about his teammates, he was not used of taking care of others, and while he had witnessed the skill of Ashibue before, both her and Rikiki had such small frames, he was a bit afraid that even a small hollow could tear any of them apart in one blow. So he somewhat felt the responsibility to look out for them, even if Rikiki's loud voice irritated him sometimes.He wondered if it was much to ask her to be quiet just like Ashibue, then again, Ashibue's silence was a bit too much sometimes, and Igarashi had no idea of what could be going inside her mind, maybe he was just missing her sister too much, since she spent all the time being next her in the Academy.

Turning his head back before crossing the last trees bordering the clear, Igarashi looked back at his teammates; "Alright, we are almost there, Be prepared for anything that might lie ahead, and Rikiki, try to be quiet, or at least keep your voice down, we don't want to alert any Hollows of our presence because of it."

So... there was a very, very faint constant sound of running or splashing water coming from quite far in the south-east which could only just be heard over the rain and even then only if you listened closely enough, and the sun being where it was put the time at around four o' clock, meaning that... so, what he would have to do would be to listen out for some sort of activity...

A crash of thunder made Junshirou visibly jump. It wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't the eighth time it had happened in what must have been the past half hour (he had been counting). He sighed, and looked at the intricate network of symbols he'd drawn in the mud in front of him, adding a wavy line to the bottom right-hand corner, indicating what was probably a waterfall.

He looked up at the position of the sun again. The last time he'd tried had been at least an hour ago, so he decided it was probably a good idea to try again. He piped up.

"I'll try again, okay? We might have some results this time."

He shut his eyes, his hand lightly touching his zanpakuto.

"So... shall we do this?"

A smirk. "I thought I told you only to call me when you needed me."

"Yeah, I guess so..."

Junshirou concentrated, tuning out all the background noise he could. He started scanning the area, keeping mental notes of where the shinigami teams were, and seeing what else he could pick up. It was all, he'd decided, a matter of focu...

"Anything?"

"Quiet.", he replied as curtly as possible.

He focused again. Sending out his reiatsu like this would be a big tip-off to anybody who was good at sensing reiatsu about what he was capable of, of course, but there were only a few people in the class who could actually manage that. It didn't really matter anyway, of course, because Chiken was fine so long as left to himself, Ashibue was barely considerable as a threat except for her kidou ability, and Ximenez was likely to end up decapitating somebody whether they were good at reiatsu control or not. The only person he had to worry about was Ryouichi, and he'd decided that even if he didn't trust Ryouichi's motives, or methods, or... even if he didn't trust Ryouichi, he was at least intelligent enough to recognise that there was little point in hiding important things like this from him, as he would find out anyway. He must have pieced it together from displays in class and from occasional bursts of focused reiatsu coming from somewhere in the male dormitory anyway.

And, just like that, his thoughts had drifted. He sighed softly to himself, then tried to purge all thoughts from his mind and concentrate solely on the faint traces of reiatsu in the surrounding area, trying to filter out any that he already knew as belonging to his classmates.

{The italic text is irelevant to anything unless you're interested in my characters mental stat, feel free to ignore it}

Quote :

A few kilometers to the east, a loud shout of annoyance split the silence in the vicinity of Advance Squad B. "I'm sick of this!" whined Hikari Kijou. "I'm tired, I'm soaking wet, I've got dirt in places you don't even want to know! It's hot, I'm thirsty and I want to go home and take a bath!"

"Would you Please. Shut. UP!" Maka Kasahara snapped at her squadmate. "You joined the Shinigami for crying out loud. This is your job!"

"Hmph!" Hikari turned her nose up at the notion. "I signed up to look cool and kill Hollows. I don't remember anything about crawling around in the mud in the middle of a damn rainforest."

Maka grit her teeth. She'd probably get in trouble for strangling her, so she appealed to her other partner. "Takeshi-san, would you please do something about her?"

Satoko Takeshi looked back and blinked a couple times. "Um...," he started. "What... do you want me to do?"

"I mean, I could do something, but then we'd have one less teammate..." Takeshi glanced over at Hikari, obviously wishing slience upon her as well. "Then again, If you don't be queit, you're probably going to draw some unwanted company, and before we know it you'll be Hollow chow. Not fun, trust me, their breath stinks." Satoko looked back at Hikari and grinned playfully, although obviously trying to get a message across to the whiney blonde girl. Looking ahead again, Takeshi moved forward, a little dissapointed that he had yet to encounter a enemy, he was listening for even the slightest noise, aside from the rain, which was proving to be a nusiance; it was constantly beating dow on the ground, making it muddy and slippery, washing away any tracks that may have been left behind, all in all it was a pain in the ass. "This rain is a pain in the ass", glancing behind him to make sure Hikari and Kasahara were still within his line of sight, he decided he wanted a better view, and gave a little wave as he bounded upward, landing on a conviently low hanging branch, which proved to be more slippery then Satoko orignally anticipated, and the teenaged boy almost lost his grip. Almost.

As Satoko navigated his way up the wet branches, he found it took all his focus, for with one false move he would slip, fall, and bounce between each and every branch on the way down like a human pinball. Leaping from one branch ot the text, Takeshi finally found himself atop a tree, now fully exposed to the downpour. "That was harder then most trees, less branches", Takeshi observed, now atop the tree he could see relatively everything, giving himslef a very good view of the land and it's physical features, and that he could see nothing of any real interest, no Hollows, and no bodys being tossed into the air, not evn any explosions. Deciding that this had been a waste of time, Takeshi leapt down form the tree, being carefull not to hit any branches on the way down. After a few seconds he landed on the ground, feet first and unharmed.

"Well, that was a waste of two minutes, what now?" Satoko looked at his two teamates, not really expecting an answer, he listened for any noises, anything that might give away an opponents position. Satoko listened intently, ready to defend from any attacks that somehow managed to sneak by him.

Satoko was a considerably different person then he was when the year had set off, and that had been him after two years of developing at the academy. After two weeks with his classmates, Satoko had become more socially relaxed, speaking more frequently, although never actually setting out to start a conversation or make new friends. He still became uncomfortable when he thought he was being watched, or around large crowds, but he had learned to deal with it a bit better, as opposed to imediately searching for any reason to flee the social situation. Although he still only had two people who he would call friends of any sort, he could manage around the rest of his classmates, although sometimes he felt like chopping the louder people in half, and stabbing anyone who acted in a stuck up manner.

Chiken was just sitting on the wet grass, mulling things over. Nothing was happening right now, Anshou's looking around and Tenkawa's reiatsu searching proved that, so he wasn't worried. He didn't really pay attention to Anshou when he asked something, so he just shrugged and gave a slight nod with Tenkawa saying something about something showing up soon. Really, Chiken was bubbling with excitement and thinking, 'I wonder what the hollow will look like. How should I attack it then? I wonder what Anshou and Tenkawa will do. I hope the hollow won't eat any of us. Hmm... what will we have to eat for dinner later? I do hope we can find some... no, focus Chiken. You've got to focus.' He shuffled a little and looked over to see what the others were doing.

He looked over in time to hear Tenkawa talking of trying his reiatsu search again. Chiken nodded, agreeing with the idea for something to hopefully do. Tenkawa closed his eyes and relaxed. After only a few seconds, Chiken could feel the small unusual tingling sensation in the back of his mind. It wasn't very prominent, but it was something Chiken had recently learned to associate with sensing reiatsu. It was still something Chiken understood little about, but he could associate the tingling and reiatsu easier with Tenkawa having done it every so often once they got out into the jungle.

Having given what Chiken thought was long enough, he asked, "Anything?" only to be shushed by Tenkawa. Chiken bit back a sigh, he still wasn't very patient even though he could focus better from practicing through the past weeks. He got up and walked around a little, stretching. He was still thinking about the reiatsu thing, wondering how Tenkawa was doing it. He was pondering if he should try it too, but he didn't have much of a clue for where to begin and didn't want to interfere with Tenkawa, if it was possible. Rather, he decided to sit back down again and hope Tenkawa came up with something soon.

Focus... focus...

Junshirou tried to tune out Anshou's reiatsu, and then Chiken's. He let the sound of the rain thudding on the muddy grass wash over him, tuning out even the distant splashing of what was probably a waterfall that he had heard earlier, tuning out the sound of the wind rushing through the canopy, tuning out the traces of reiatsu he felt from Ximenez (shuddering when he encountered them) and his other classmates, tuning out even his own thoughts, until he experienced a kind of low hum running through his search radius.

All he had to do was search for any variations. He started turning his mind to each small area, seeing what he could find, and what he could read into it... it was like white noise, but there were definitely distinct traces of reiatsu there that didn't belong to any of his classmates. He overcame the slight feeling of success he felt that sent the image shuddering and stabilised what he could see, hear and feel. So... the more he turned towards the north, the more he felt a blip running through his body. But there was a slight pull towards the south, as well... he felt himself being pulled between them, but it was hard to tell which was stronger. He looked in detail at each in turn.

He sat bolt upright.

"3 to the northwest and 4 to the south."

He continued trying to look at the reiatsu patterns... how strong were they? He didn't even know which group was the strongest... the one with four would have strength in numbers, but he couldn't tell if they were stronger overall than the one with three. He couldn't even tell whether they were stronger individually or not. He looked harder at the pattern... he kind of felt pulled strongest towards the...

A crash of thunder.

"Nine," he muttered under his breath... he wondered how much better he'd be at this in good weather conditions, and when the next half-hour would start for it to be reset back to one.

It was pointless continuing, really... the pull was only very slight, and he'd have difficulty pinpointing it again. He resigned himself to the fact, and started scribbling in the dirt at his feet on the pseudo-map he'd made.

"Okay... so, we need to talk tactics, really. First off, we decide which group to take out first."

"Which one's the strongest?"

"It's too faint to figure that out... I think we're probably best starting off with the group of three, though, because that way they don't have the strength in numbers.

Now, here's what I think we should do. Anshou, you're the strongest one here, so you'll be sensed first. I suggest we fan out, and have me and Chiken surround the group of Hollows from both sides. You attack first, probably from behind, or maybe head-on. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Either way, make sure you attack one of the Hollows as hard as you can. While they're all reacting to the attack, me and Chiken cast Restrain on the other two. Then we concentrate on them one at a time. Sound like a plan?"

Chiken bolted up when Tenkawa started talking about sensing some hollows. He gave a slight shudder of excitement at the news and listened closer to what Tenkawa was saying.

"It's too faint to figure that out... I think we're probably best starting off with the group of three, though, because that way they don't have the strength in numbers.
Now, here's what I think we should do. Anshou, you're the strongest one here, so you'll be sensed first. I suggest we fan out, and have me and Chiken surround the group of Hollows from both sides. You attack first, probably from behind, or maybe head-on. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Either way, make sure you attack one of the Hollows as hard as you can. While they're all reacting to the attack, me and Chiken cast Restrain on the other two. Then we concentrate on them one at a time. Sound like a plan?"

Chiken let Tenkawa's plan wash over him and fully get absorbed. Restrain two to focus on one, it was a good idea. Tenkawa really thought this out good, Chiken thought. He nearly let out another shudder of excitement, but he took a deep breath to relax some.
"Alright, I'll gladly do that." He stood up and took a glance around. "Now... which way is it?" He said, not knowing what direction was where.

Naomi stood there gazing at the beautiful View below her. “It’s breathe taking almost she said to herself.” She almost hit the tree the snake eggs were in when thunder hit! Lucky for her she caught herself on another tree.

Naomi did not care much for the man in the red hat, he somewhat reminded her of the man in the yellow hat from curios George but more evil. Naomi thought Kanue was not that bad of a guy, you just had to get to know him. Naomi turned around to see Kanue gesturing her to follow him.

The rain was terrible that day and it was storming. Naomi may seem stupid at times, but when it is time to be serious she is just as serious as Kanue. Naomi walked beside him not saying a word, they had to keep quiet.

Naomi had thought about the fighting bounts and hollows for a long time, but did not realize it would be suspenseful. Naomi was looking around in several directions. She could see a small bit of Ximenez’s red cloak. Naomi continued to follow until she came across a worse chill. She knew hollows were close. “Kanue” Naomi said in a low voice. “There is a stream down there, could we go check it out? There might be hollows down there! They might be getting a drink” Naomi said in a stupid blonde tone. “Wait, never mind I have to be serious” she said trying not to make him angry.

Duggo felt a bit out-of-sorts in the jungle, lacking cement and asphalt and any semblance of city life. The rain wasn't so bad, though -- at least it was warm. Indonesia. Shit. This was absolutely the last place he expected to find himself. "Ah, well, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, " he murmured under his breath, then snickered a bit at his morbid humor.

Duggo had learned quite a bit from "Lucille" recently. Err, from himself? Never mind: "The exact path to enlightenment is irrelevant", or some such other Buddhist nonsense. Either way, Duggo had found in himself, in addition to his hot-headed impulsiveness, a kind of cool and calculating side to himself of which he had previously been unaware. This dichotomy would certainly serve him well in the future; his instincts had saved his ass many times, but had eventually gotten him killed. Now he had a tool to help avoid such mistakes.

Duggo was still curious about Ximinez. Dude seemed to be sort of organically designed to rub the whole universe the wrong way. What the hell was up with that?

The rain kept coming down. Duggo worried a bit about his leather, but figured he'd just oil it later. Other than that, he was happy to be out of the classroom for a bit. This was, if anything, not boring. That was a step in the right direction.

(Yes, what is all this about being "On Hiatus," hmm? )

Daisuke rumbled through the undergrowth, slapping branches and leaves out of his way as he went. The jungle was definitely not a place designed for a man of his immense size. Twice he'd gotten stuck between tree trunks, thankfully no one was around to make comments about it.

He cursed silently as a branch whipped back and slapped him across the face. Angrily, he wrapped his hand around the branch and broke it right off. Daisuke hadn't had to endure anything like this since his early days in the stable.

And where was everyone? It wasn't like him at all to get lost like this, getting lost was Kazenosei-san's specialty.

There was a figure ahead that Daisuke could see though. "Hey!" Daisuke called, rushing forward, leaving a path of trampled leaves and sticks in his wake.

The ex-sumo burst into the clearing to find one of his fellow students, Duggo-san. Pleased to see anyone, Daisuke bowed a greeting.

(Whoaholycrap, um... lemme think of something)

With a thundering crash, Daisuke Kokubunji smashed his was into a small clearing and rejoined Advance Squad E. Duggo was there waiting for him.

"There you are," said Duggo, shaking a bit of the rain off his slick leather jacket. "That just leaves one more."

"Where is our third member?" Daisuke said, slightly out of breath, as he brushed the debris off of himself.

"Dunno," mused Duggo, staring down the pathway Daisuke had left through the forest. "But at least you left us a path to go." Indeed, the way Daisuke had come was now more or less a tunnel through the trees, littered with fallen leaves, broken branches, and chips of wood.

Daisuke crossed his arms. "Well, at least they'll know how to find us."

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

(Whoever is the next hiatus player to return will become the 3rd member of Squad E. If no one else returns, well... guess we'll have one two-person team.)

Junshirou Tenkawa wrote:

Now, here's what I think we should do. Anshou, you're the strongest one here, so you'll be sensed first. I suggest we fan out, and have me and Chiken surround the group of Hollows from both sides. You attack first, probably from behind, or maybe head-on. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Either way, make sure you attack one of the Hollows as hard as you can. While they're all reacting to the attack, me and Chiken cast Restrain on the other two. Then we concentrate on them one at a time. Sound like a plan?"

With a determined look on his face, Anshou nodded at Tenkawa. His hand went to the zanpakutou at his side. It was time, he said to himself. It was time to show everyone what he could do. What he'd learned from the tough, difficult training that he got from Zaraki every day.

"Let's do it," he said to Chiken and Tenkawa.

"Don't worry, Iggy!" Rikiki chirped, as she hopped into the clearing.

"If any Hollows show up we'll be like POW POW BAZOOM!" she rambled on, making loud noises, and acompanying with exaggerated hand motions. Eventually, her enthusiasm petered out, and she frowned at the sky.

Much to the dismay of her teammates, she bellowed, "HEY UGGGLLIIIIEEEEES! HOLLOWS! UGLIES!" and more statements to that effect.

"Now we can get them all!" she chattered, unaware of her teammates reaction, or if any hollows were really coming.

Igarashi closed down his eyes frowning and clenched his teeth in frustration as Rikiki began to shout loudly just outside the clearing. There goes our chance of ambushing, or even finding the hollows first... Damnit! what a lousy girl! Igarashi was certain that any squad nearby must have heard that racket, and if the chill he felt was any indication, Hollows were no doubt closer than what was apparent.

"Tch!" Igarashi grunted as he unsheathed his zanpakutou and took cover behind a tree just outside the clearing, readying for combat and expecting ashibue to react in a similar fashion, or at least get ready in her own way for the now imminent battle. The one good thing about this was that Rikiki's stunt would allow them to fight some hollows soon, and they were now somewhat prepared. He just hoped that he would be quick enough to strike down or at least restrain any hollows that might try to rush at Rikiki before she could be harmed... or snapped in half.

Naomi walked alongside Kanue waiting for a sign of any hollows. She turned to Kanue. “Where do you think they might be?” No matter where they were Naomi was ready to defend.

General Yamamoto wrote:

(Whoever is the next hiatus player to return will become the 3rd member of Squad E. If no one else returns, well... guess we'll have one two-person team.)

(I'll join them then if that's ok, since I don't know what group I'm in.)

Zestumue was going through the jungle brush. He had manage to somehow lose his group mates.

"Duggo, you around here somewhere?"

He didn't really know the other group member well... so his name was escaping his recollection. If he met a hollow by himself... he knew he wasn't really prepared for that.

"Hopefully this clearing will be a good place..."

As he went through the clearing, he was glad to see Duggo and the other large fellow.

"Hey Duggo, I think I lost you guys for a little while. Sorry I'm so spacey. No hollows so far I take it? I'm glad since I don't think I'm ready to handle one by myself."

"It's odd", thought Duggo, "that I would be glad of teammates."

It seemed that he had shed his loner ways somewhat through the course of training. Both Daisuke and Zetsumei seemed solid and dependable sorts, and Duggo was comfortable in their company. This was new to him. Before, it had always just been gangs, and the constant battle for primacy, and the races, and the thrill of victory and the sting of defeat. Duggo still had a basic mistrust for Authority, but these guys were just like him -- the Next Generation, green as a Flu Booger.

Was this a bit of optimism? He thought for a moment of Rojou Seikatsu's lessons, and the insistence that he live in a broader moment -- neither past nor future, but not merely "now" -- and became dimly aware that he expected these guys to be around for awhile. This, too, was new to Duggo. He wondered if he would have eventually come to similar conclusions in his old life, had he not died so young.

He shrugged -- Rojou Seikatsu certainly wouldn't have him wondering about What Might Have Been If.

He turned to his teammates and grinned. "What's up, Docs? What's the Haps, Paps? What's Shakin', Bacon? "

Duggo wrote:

"What's up, Docs? What's the Haps, Paps? What's Shakin', Bacon? "

"Nothing so far. Have you guys felt any presence of Hollows? Any word on how the other teams are doing? Shouldn't we get a little closer to the village? I think Hollows might be more likely to attack closer to more people."

*Zestumie felt relieved to meet others and yet rushed at the same time. He wanted to have a plan in place to try to prepare for the worst. He knew that such things were impossible to prepare for though.*

Kasahara followed Takeshi from a distance as he trudged through the muddy path. She tried to put some distance between herself and the blonde Kijou sister, but not so much as to lose her altogether. From the moisture in the air and the few raindrops that surpass the canopy layer of the rain forests, her damp hair clung to her face. The tomboy was cold and irritable and having to listen to the petite girl behind her was wearing on her nerves. She clearly frowned as she stood under tree Takeshi was climbing as she waited for the other member of their group to catch up. It felt like Takeshi was above them for only a moment before he dropped down to ask what they should do now.

"Well, since there is no assigned leader or anything like that, we should make decisions that we all agree on." The brunette folded her arms in front of her chest, getting straight down to business. "We were told that there were swarms of hollows roaming around in this area. We're all well prepared thanks to our classes..."

She gave Hikari a glance before mumbling under her breath. ".. I hope."

"I propose we search of these hollows before they catch us off guard, agreed?"

"There they are."

Tenkawa's powerful sensing ability had led himself, Anshou, and Chiken to a Hollow, skulking in the brush around a tall tree, the horns on its head sharp and shining.

"I thought you said there were three of them," whispered Chiken.

"There are three, I just don't see...," Tenkawa trailed off. "Wait... they're up there!"

Flying high in the sky in a circle around the horned Hollow were a pair of smaller batlike Hollows with wings.

"I wasn't expecting them to be airborne," muttered Tenkawa.

"We still going with the plan?" Anshou whispered.

Tenkawa paused for a moment. "Definitely." He nodded to Anshou. "You get behind the ground one and attack it from the brush. Chiken and I will use kidou on the flyers."

Anshou nodded back, "Good luck," before disappearing into the foliage.


Tenkawa, Anshou, and Chiken encountered:

1x Horn Hollow 2x Flying Bat


Surprise attack opportunity!

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

Another peal of thunder. Ryouichi could see Tenkawa's powerful concentrated reiatsu in the distance, looking to him like wave after wave of red energy. That idiot... Kanue muttered to himself as he joined Ximenez under a rocky outcropping for a bit of shelter from the rain. The red-cloaked student calmly removed his hat and began shaking off the moisture. His hair was long, stringy and black underneath. Ryouichi watched him earnestly. He'd vaguely expected Ximenez to melt if he ever got splashed with water.

"See anything?" Ryouichi said, attempting to start a conversation. Ximenez replied with silence.

"Where you suppose Naomi went?" Ryouichi tried again a moment later. There was a sudden crash of broken branches nearby, a brief scream, and the thud of a petite, blue-haired body colliding ungracefully with the ground. "Right there," Ximenez replied.

Ryouichi sighed. Damn Naomi... "Hey," Ryouichi said, trying a third time to speak to the man in the red hat.

"What?!" Ximenez snapped, obviously growing tired of this boy's ceaseless pratter.

"You, um...," Ryouichi paused, choosing his words carefully. "You haven't really done anything... impressive in class lately."

Ximenez looked away.

"Like what you did on the first day of Lt. Hisagi's class. You blew half the room straight to hell. That was really something."

Ximenez remained silent.

"I was thinking... maybe, if you wouldn't mind, you could teach me a thing or two."

"Forget it," Ximenez snarled.

"Come on, don't be like that. If you show me some things, then maybe there's some things I could help you with."

"And what, pray tell, do you suppose I need your help with?" Ximenez stared the boy straight in the eyes.

"Mayuri Kurotsuchi, perhaps?" Ryouichi smiled calmly, not flinching a bit in the taller man's gaze.

Ximenez shot Kanue a strange look, then began to laugh. "Mayuri Kurotsuchi would kill you eighteen times before you could get within a yard of him, and he'd enjoy it immensely, too," he chuckled. "Look," he went on, pointing a crooked finger at Kanue, "I don't know how much you know or how on earth you know it, but think for a moment. If you're weak enough to need help from me, what makes you think that I need any help from you?" Ximenez shook his head sadly. "What is it with you children being so eager to sell your souls to the devil?"

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

"Tch!" Igarashi grunted as he unsheathed his zanpakutou and took cover behind a tree just outside the clearing, readying for combat. Strangely enough, Ashibue didn't seem to be responding at all to anything going on around her.

"We don't need to worry!" Rikiki cheered gleefully. "There's no Hollows around here!"

Ashibue had her eyes shut tight, not moving, trying to block out the noise from her teammate as she attempted to attune herself to the cold Hollow reiatsu around her and pinpoint exactly where they would attack from.

"And if there were..." Rikiki kept bounding back and forth from tree trunk to tree trunk. "I'd tear em up! Just like this!" She pulled out her zanpakutou and began mimicking flashy martial arts moves.

Suddenly, Ashibue's eyes shot open in terror. My god, there's one right...

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

Hikari had grown oddly silent as she trudged along behind Maka and Satoko.

"I still don't see anything," Satoko sighed impatiently. He could tell from the flares of reiatsu in the distance that the others were surely beginning to fight.

"Maybe that's a good thing," Maka said, shooting Hikari a sideways glance behind her.

"Hey!" Hikari snapped. "I heard that!"

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

"Hey Duggo," said Zetsumei. "I think I lost you guys for a little while. Sorry I'm so spacey. No Hollows so far I take it? I'm glad since I don't think I'm ready to handle one by myself."

SKREEE!

Almost as if in response to Zetsumei's words, a nasty-looking Hollow leapt out from the brush, talons poised to attack.

"Look out!" hollered Daisuke, throwing himself into Zetsumei's body, shielding him from the attack. The ex-sumo easily deflected the Hollow's attack with his massive bulk.

SKREEE!

Another of the same Hollow jumped towards them again, this time aiming for Duggo. "Nope," Duggo nonchalantly said as he sidestepped the sneak attack and drew his zanpakutou.

Zetsumei quickly pulled himself to his feet and got into a formation with his teammates, his own zanpakutou at the ready.

Duggo, Daisuke, and Zetsumei encountered:

2x Crawler


Enemy first strike!

Crawler A achieved a SNEAK ATTACK!
Crawler A dealt 0 wounds to Daisuke
Crawler B SNEAK ATTACK failed!

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

"Um... guys?" came Naomi's voice from outside. "I think.. we're in a bit of trouble here..."

Looking out and around, Ryouichi and Ximenez saw their blue-haired teammate with her zanpakutou out. And no less than five Hollows surrounding their present position.

"We'll talk later," said Ryouichi, drawing his zanpakutou.

"Agreed," replied Ximenez, drawing his as well and taking a position at Ryouichi's back.

Naomi, Ryouichi, and Ximenez encountered:

1x Horn Hollow 4x Henchman


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

Ashibue saw it. Igarashi saw it. Rikiki did not.

"Rikiki!" Igarashi screamed out. "Look--!"

Igarashi's words were cut off by the sickening sound of tearing flesh. And a small spray of blood across his face.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Rikiki choked in a single breath as she looked down. Shakily, she tentatively raised a hand to the meter-long cone of white Hollow bone protruding from her chest, dripping with blood and tiny bits of flesh. Rikiki let out a strangled giggle, the shock slowly setting in and refusing to let her brain realize that her body had just been completely impaled. A loud shrieking roar echoed from the enormous wormlike Hollow behind her as it wrenched its tail and flung Rikiki away, blood pouring from the massive wound in her chest, her limbs twisted in an unnatural angle, and a macabre smile still spread across her face as the light faded from her eyes.

"RIKIKI!!!"

Rikiki, Ashibue, and Igarashi encountered:

1x Centipede


Enemy first strike!

Centipede achieved a SNEAK ATTACK!
Centipede dealt 13 WOUNDS to Rikiki
Rikiki has fallen UNCONSCIOUS!

Igarashi froze for several seconds, His eyes opened wide as he stared at Rikiki's

Her eyes...

Time had paralyzed for him at that moment. His mind acting up and his hands starting to shake, even while grasping firmly his Zanpakutou. He had Rikiki's eyes in his mind even after the giant hollow had swung her away like a discarded doll.

...Her dead eyes...

As the Wormlike Hollow started to shriek, Igarashi could swear he could hear a baby crying somewhere in the distance. His eyes still opened wide.

The baby... someone... someone has to save that baby...

It all happened once again in his mind, but he wasn't thinking anymore. All seemed non-existant in his mind at that moment as he suddenly changed from his frozen stance into a full sprint that was followed by a gigantic leap that surpassed the Beast's massive height. Nothing mattered anymore, he was unaware that Ashibue was there, or that anything was there, other than the target in front of him. A loud, vicious howl filled the clearing and the rest of the Jungle as Igarashi launched a fierce downward strike at the Hollow's head from above

She turns her head in the direction of where Ximenez's group is gathered several kilometers away. Out of all the hollow attacks at this time, their group had the most hollow reiatsu gathered around them. Kasahara stayed silent and stopped moving forward through the thick vegetation of the rain forest. The tomboy was torn between appeasing her sense of duty and continuing on with her group. She wanted to help the group who seems to be in the most danger; it was in her nature. Logically, she knew that if she did try to move towards their area the fight would be over by the time she appeared. Whether or not her classmates would be alive at that time would be hard to tell right now. Especially with Ximenez in their group.

Kasahara had kept an eye on him since the first day of class. His behavior and attitude was hard to go unnoticed but the abilities he had the first few days of school had decreased over the next two weeks. Why? Knowing that he hasn't displayed as much power recently as she has seen him show earlier this semester worried her a little even though he did nothing to warrant her sympathy. Would they really be alright?

The tomboy then turned her head to the direction of Sakimoto's group. Although the hollow reiatsu resonating from that area wasn't as prominent as Ximenez's group, there was a reiatsu missing from their group. With Rikiki down, would their group fair alright with their single hollow?

While she thought to herself, her irritable expression from the cold and annoyance slowly turned into one of worry. Kasahara was falling behind her group and knew it wouldn't be wise to separate from them. The brunette returned her attention to her teammates and progressed through the forests with worry hanging over her shoulders.

"Hmph!"

Daisuke eyed the hollow that attacked him. Without hesitation, he stomped one foot into the ground, widening his traditional stance, and let a powerful, open-palmed smack fly right into the face of that hollow.

"Aw naw", quipped Duggo. "You think we're gonna just roll over and take it?"

His team quickly cleaned up the mess and made ready to join with the others.

Note to everyone:

I knew this would come up, so... If you read the introduction, notice that each group is several kilometers from the others. This means that, if you want to join up with another group, you can. But it will take you at least three to five turns to reach that group, provided no Hollows or other obstructions get in your way.

Satoko glanced at Kasahara, she kept peering towards the directions of the other Hollow attacks, at first towards where Ximenez's group was, then towards Igarashi's group. Satoko could identify that that group was clearly outnumbered, he could actually tell how many Hollows were there, which was something new for him. Turning around to face forward, Satoko didn't turn around to make eye contact before speaking, "They may be having some problems, but we're to far away to reach them in time, by the time we arrived, they'd either be dead or have slain their Hollows, either way, we'd be of little asistance, unless either of you know how to raise the dead." Satoko knew that this was a rather realistic look at things, but it annoyed him how he was the one presenting it. He'd much rather find and help others, but such was unlikely to be occuring. given thta running seven kilometers can not be done in a matter of minutes, it can be made in fair running time, but while avoiding all obstacles, and keeping his team with him? That and he wouldn't be much good to a comrade if he arrived panting and out of breath, it was because of his poor lung capacity he had died in the first place.

Satoko mentally shuddered, he preferred not to think about his death, it was such a terible image, all that blood. Hiis blood. Satoko prayed that he would never have to endure such pain ever again, it had been so horrific, everythign from the smell of the Hollows breath, to the glint of fang and claw he had saw as it tore him apart. Raising his hand, the boy placed it on his right shoulder, he then traced it down to his left hip, running his hand over his Shinigami uniform. These were not the wounds starting and ending points, just what showed on the front half of his torso.

{I'm hoping to expand this a bit later, but if I do it will just be with my character's thoughts and such.}

So... these were Hollows. Of course, he'd heard stories... Seireitei was abuzz with stories of flying Hollows, huge Hollows, and the Menos Grande. This was the first time he'd seen one up close, though.

They didn't seem to have seen him yet. Good. He tried to be as still as he possibly could, concentrating on the trajectories of the flying Hollows. Junshirou would be attacking from the left and Chiken from the right, so it was a matter of keeping his eye on the flying Hollow on the left when Anshou attacked.

There wasn't anything to do except wait, ready to cast Restrain on the leftmost flying Hollow once Anshou attacked.

Peering through the brush, Anshou saw the back of the Horn Hollow. He couldn't tell what it was doing, it seemed to be skulking and sniffing around. Anshou made out Tenkawa's shadow across from him, hiding from the hollows and muttering a kidou spell.

"Here goes nothing."

Anshou jumped high into the air, yelling, with his sword held high and sneak attack the horn hollow.

Chiken had crept as silently though the foliage as he could to get to where he could cast his kidou. He shuffled around to where he could point at one of the flying hollow.

Looking around, he noticed Tenkawa already pointing at the same hollow, waiting for Anshou. Quickly shifting around to aim at the other flying hollow, Chiken heard Anshou jump into the air and shout while attacking the horn hollow. Turning his head, Chiken saw Tenkawa casting his kidou at the first flying hollow. Quickly shifting back to his flying hollow before it could attack, Chiken stood up and cast his kidou at the rightmost flying hollow.
"Way of binding number one, Restrain!"

"We'll talk later," said Ryouichi, drawing his zanpakutou.

"Agreed," replied Ximenez, drawing his as well and taking a position at Ryouichi's back.

Ryouichi gripped Mugenji tightly with his left hand, while bringing up his left hand in the direction of the Horn Hollow, pointing at it with his index and middle fingers. Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath Ryouichi forced his body to relax as he readied a Kidou spell.

Watching Ximenez out of the corner of his eye, Ryouichi's thoughts immediately returned to the conversation they had just had.

Cardinal Ximenez wrote:

"I don't know how much you know or how on earth you know it, but think for a moment. If you're weak enough to need help from me, what makes you think that I need any help from you?"

I don't think he gets it. There are...

Suddenly, Ryouichi's attention snapped back to his spell. His concentration had lapsed, and the reiatsu that he had been focusing was unstable, fluctuating wildly.

Damnit! Ryouichi cursed, I guess there's nothing for it. If I cancel it now, it could backfire on me. This probably won't work, and I'll be a sitting duck, but...

"Way of Binding 4: Crawling Rope."

Ximenez held his zanpakutou over his shoulder, watching with amusement as Ryouichi struggled to cast a simple kidou spell.

He smiled at the boy and gently tipped his hat.

"Ta ta," he said, making a half-hearted salute with two fingers.

And then, in a flash step, he was gone.