[Log] 11 - The Unrealized
Date: 05-17-08
Characters: Tousen, Ulquiorra, NPC Hollows and ex-Privaron (spoofed by Tousen)
Summary: Something rotten in the sands of Hueco Mundo. Tousen and Ulquiorra go to investigate and subsequently crush a potential threat.
-=[White Desert - Hueco Mundo]=-------------------------------------------------
White sand pours out before you in all directions, from horizon to horizon. Here and there are clusters of brittle-branched, leafless trees and towering dunes. Far, far away, in the distance, lurks the unreal, towering white walls of Las Noches.
Tousen stands amidst the endless desert sands and you walk upon him, his arms folded. The tall black man seems to stare out into nothing with his gazeless eyes--but of course, he only seems to, as the concept of sight has been alien to him his entire life. His sword remains sheathed, his stance relaxed, but his head raised in alertness. His back in turned to you as you approach, and his head turns to the right slightly as you do. Though he certainly hears you coming, he is not alarmed. As the cool Hueco Mundo winds blow, his robe sways but he stands still, unphased. Finally, he rolls his shoulders back as he stirs out of his trance. "I was unaware Aizen-sama dispatched you to aid in locating the Vasto today, Schiffer-san."
The half-helmed Espada has not made any attempt to mask his presence nor his approach towards the ex-captain. His hands in his pockets, he shows no surprise to Tousen's sudden attentiveness. There were more ways than visual to sense someone, after all, and just because the shinigami was lacking in one, it hardly means that he is lacking in others.
Green eyes glance towards the white fortress not far in the distance before looking back towards the dark-skinned man. His twin coattails floating lightly after him, they rest against the legs of his hakama as Ulquiorra comes to a stop several feet from Tousen. "To ask Nnoitra to do so would not have resulted profitably, especially not with his current mood," he replies, after but a nod in acknowledgment, even though the other cannot see him. It is more a gesture out of respect, if not so much as for Aizen. "...what brings you out of Las Noches?"
Tousen turns his attention back towards the sands of the white expanse. You sense his reiatsu rise slightly, though not in the manner of defense or offense--rather expelling the power to heighten his own ability to sense it. "Espada Cinco has had only one mood since I have met him, and that is belligerant." He shrugs slightly. "Though to his credit, he's intelligent to know which rules to break and which not to, and when." His reiatsu lowers a little, then rises again in the pattern of a strange flucuation. "In answering a question with a question, Schiffer-san, are you aware of what the responsibilities of my former position were? Not that as just a captain, but a member of the 9th Division of Gotei 13?" His head rises a little. "What we specialized in?"
Wordlessly he observes the strange reiatsu patterns of the other. It's more out of habit than anything else, and when it was always an interesting experience when dealing with the blind shinigami, although their interactions have been few enough. "I agree with you in that," Ulquiorra replies. He knows Nnoitra, although as battle-lusting as Grimmjow can be, was not as foolishly headstrong to do anything that would bring him trouble. Which is exactly why he chose to bully the Fourth instead, the other night.
"...your former responsibilities as the captain of the Gotei 13's 9th Division... I may have heard it at a time, but if you would care to explain in your own words from your personal experience, then I welcome it."
The defected shinigami's reiatsu flucuates in a different pattern now, between rising to a high level for a few seconds, then to a level near non-existent. Obviously not a common technique, whatever it is exactly, but Tousen seems to have mastered it. His breathing slows, seeming to move pararell with his control of his reiatsu. "Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence," he says simply. "Our duties were not specifically in combat, such as the--" for the first time, a slight of contempt is within his voice. "--the 13th. It was the duty of myself and my subordinates to gather information through every concieveable way we could." His reiatsu rises sharply again. "The Arrancar have in truth existed for a rather long time. I must admit, Schiffer-san, for as long as the Arrancar has existed and as much as we were tasked to gather information upon your kind, we still know very little. It is why I attempt to 'observe' things in Hueco Mundo as often as I do." He turns around completely, facing your direction, and nods sharply. "I believe now there are others like you out there," he begins in a frank manner. "And they very much disapprove of the prospect of a shinigami not only lording over the Hollow, but doing so better than they ever did."
He wastes no motions on nodding when he knows they could not be seen, and he knows that Tousen is aware of his complete attention upon him. Ulquiorra only mentally notes the rise and fall of the shinigami's reiatsu, and as he speaks of his days as part of the Gotei, the Espada listens respectfully. He has been aware of Tousen's former position having to do with information gathering, something he himself could relate to in that he often has been sent to do such of his own by Aizen. He knows the importance of information, of observation.
"...such as the Privaron Espada..." he murmurs. Even before the Hougyoku had been employed to make Arrancar, there had been those Hollows that had achieved their own abilitiies. Ulquiorra knows this, as well as the fact that most of the former Espadas disdain towards their newer, artificially created replacements. "...and now that you dwell among them, have you come to any new understandings about them?" He looks out across the sands, a desolate place to cross, a place he has only just returned from. "...Hueco Mundo is vast. Most of the stronger ones if they have not been drawn by Aizen-sama's promises and power, keep their distance well away from Las Noches."
Tousen's head obliques to the southheast--and at that exact moment, his reiatsu rises dramatically. "I understand this about the Arrancar, Schiffer-san." He turns around again, and begins taking several moderate paces forward. "-the Arrancar are not inherent of evil. I have met many shinigami, many humans." He pauses as his reiatsu rises a bit more. "We are flawed creatures, much all all sentinent beings. The difference between us is that the shinigami often deny what they are, or sometimes even fail to realize it. Be it good or bad. The Arrancar have no confusion about their purpose or their path to such. Am I wrong?" He takes a few more paces forward. "For your kind, Schiffer-san, much like the Numeros Tacita Mensa I have taken it upon myself to train...it is simple. Become strong to survive, or die, and most arrancar do not attempt to hide that their purpose is to take life solely because you are afraid of losing your own." His head lowers as his reiatsu grows more. "Many shinigami do not know their purpose, many others do not want one." After several moments of pausing and maintaining a steady reiatsu, he nods towards the northeast. "Those that existed before you are fleeing further from Los Noches than they had been, Schiffer-san. I think..." his closes his lips wryly. "...something is calling them."
"It all comes down to survival in the end. That is the main rule, the only rule that has ingrained itself into the lives of Hollows. Live or die again. Eat or be eaten. It is a sad, perhaps even pointless existence, but it is the only one that we had been allowed to know. Hollows don't have much choice until they reach a certain point- unless they reach a certain point." Even those that make their way to Gillian status still need to continue their feeding lest they revert back into mindless Menos.
While Tousen's reiatsu has gone up and down, high and still higher, Ulquiorra has maintained his own spiritual pressure, the standard level of control that he cares to exert when within Las Noches. He is not one to care for announcing his presence to everyone, but nor does he feel it an extreme necessity to hide it as much as he masks it when venturing into the realm of the living. He finds the shinigami's continuous reiatsu fluctuations intriguing, noting the words, the movements that accompany each shift without a word.
"...you are perhaps correct though, Tousen. Perhaps we seem evil because that is what the shinigami make us out to be. It is understandable to a point, but in the end it makes neither one nor the other right or wrong. In the end it is always survival- whether it be the Hollow being hunted, or the Shinigami engaging the Hollow. Reasons are fabricated to be beneficial for those that take action, for morality's sake. In the end, all is meaningless." He's spoken more than he usually does, but then Tousen is one of the few that can elicit such conversation rather than seek out a fight.
Green eyes narrow, turning to look towards the direction the shinigami nods in. The stronger Hollows have all but become scarce, but they have never been completely absent from one place. Ulquiorra's scouting earlier had only resulted in finding an former area of dwelling long since abandoned. He wonders now just how far this man can 'see,' how much he has discovered himself.
Tousen, his arms at his sides, continues walking slowly towards the northeast. His reiatsu spikes just a small bit more. "There is a gathering. Usually, low-class hollows congregating in such a manner is not abnormal...it's what they do to become Menos-class. Though this is quite different." His head turns over his shoulder slightly into your direction. "This is Adjuchas that are gathering. And based on that their Hierro, as you call it, is not decreasing but growing stronger-" he nods. "They aren't feeding upon each other. There is something else."
"Adjuchas...." Amusement faintly touches his tone as he speaks, and he focuses towards the northeast, casting his senses forth with his use of pesquisa to get a better feel for what Tousen has observed. Usually such levels of Hollows are not to be of much concern, but if they are truly banding together, as it soon becomes apparent once Ulquiorra fixes his senses upon them, then that activity in itself is highly suspicious.
"Possible trouble that can be easily dealt with, the sooner the better," he says. It would be no different from the settlements of Vasto Lordes the Espada have sought out and filtered through before. There would always be those dissonant voices, even amongst those their own kind. The cycles endless, the conflict continuing, a resolution, yet to truly be had. Once again, meaningless.
Tousen turns back around, and his reiatsu begins settling back to his usual, supressed level. "We will have to gather information and deal with the matter now, then-" he takes a slow breath, controlling his breathing. "-and supply Aizen-sama with it afterwards. If we wait, we will miss out on quite a bit." He turns over his shoulder to you again. "Will you be coming, Schiffer-san."
It would not be a task too different from what he had been sent out to do earlier. A band of Adjuchas would be no match for them regardless, should problems arise. Ulquiorra gauged the gathering reiatsu a bit longer before withdrawing his pesquisa completely. With Tousen in his immediate vicinity it made things very hard to differentiate the Adjuchas' levels with the great distance between them.
"Very well," the Fourth replies.
There is a sudden, sharp rise in Tousen's reiatsu only seconds after you finish your statement of agreement, and in the next split-second he vanishes from where he stands through shunpo. Though it may be hard to follow with your eyes, you sense his reiatsu moving quickly to the northeast.
It doesn't take long for Ulquiorra to take off after the other, coattails flapping wildly as he darts along and soon catches up with sonido. He allows Tousen to take point, letting himself lag in pace but only slightly. His own reiatsu has been constricted as closely as he can manage, not wanting to draw attention to the Adjuchas they stalk, nor bring the attention of any other Hollows that might be around. There is no point in making things more complicated.
As the pair of you stand amidst the outside of the burrough, you can already hear several raspy, coarse voices speaking below. Nothing can be seen from this distance, but there are at least six distinct--even somewhat powerful Hierro. Above those is a single one, a powerful Hierro on par with that of a member of the Espada with a number of 5 or above. "Mistress Frida," says one of the coarse, masculine voices. "-how can you be certain as to the effect of the devourment?"
"Such plans have failed before," says another voice, this time a female one.
"Even if you are who you claim to be, 'Mistress'," says a masculine voice, "How can you be certain whomever becomes the Vasto Lorde won't as easily simply kill you and take your place?"
"You have not been listening," begins the clear, unmistakable voice of an adult woman. "It is well within my ability to deal with a Vasto Lorde, to be sure." Her voice takes on a condescending tone. "The one who becomes a Vasto Lorde will have this choice, you see. They may attempt to seize power from me, and fail for certain--" the sound of her fingers drumming against stone can be heard. "-Or they may take their chances at using the Negacion cubes given and destroy the rogue shinigami's Espada."
The female voice scoffs. "These cubes are far more powerful than that of the interloper's design. No member of the Espada will be able to escape. If they do, it will be far too late." Her pitch rises. "I will have finished the shinigami by then."
Tousen's face turns towards you, as if his gazeless eyes could determine your expression, even feelings. His own reiatsu supressed to a level undetectable by those in the burrough, he simply shakes his head. He motions with his right hand for you to hold.
Ulquiorra says nothing as they remain listening to the group they have tracked. Green eyes narrow at the conversation at hand, but he doesn't need Tousen's gesturing to keep him from doing anything more. All the same, he flicks a glance towards the shinigami, regarding him in equal silence before giving a nod whether the other can detect it or not. Again the half-helmed Espada looks back towards the direction of the voices.
A single pair of footsteps can be heard from within the burrough, unmistakably belonging to someone bipedal and wearing shoes. "I did not remain within the depths of Seireitei, sealed within for many years only to return to my sovereignty to find that a shinigami of all being has displaced the Espada I helped assemble, and plans to use it to do the same work I attempted to. I shall let the Red Being take me before I let something like that happen." Her voice falls, becoming crueler as she speaks more. "The situation is simple. You will all do battle to decide who becomes a Vasto Lorde. Then, that Vasto Lorde will battle the Espada long enough to use the Negacion to expel them all from reality." The footsteps stop. "I will deal with the three shinigami usurpers myself."
"It is said he is far more powerful than any captain," a masculine voice barks. "And that he may already have a Vasto Lorde under his command, Mistress Frida."
"Oh? And do you believe yourself powerful enough to test my resolve or my strength, pinche' wei?"
Tousen turns his head towards the inside of the burrough, and gives you a slight nod before standing up, and moving down into the hole leading to the inner burrough. He kneels down and slides into the hole, within seconds reaching the bottom. "¿Qué la cogida?!," shouts the voice of a female adjuchas.
Wordlessly, the half-helmed Espada slips silently after the dark-skinned shinigami. He has no trouble following, and thankfully one more understanding and appreciative of stealth and patience than his more hot-headed, battle-anxious brethren. Ulquiorra arrives beside Tousen not three seconds after, his hands in his pockets, his usual, almost casual-appearing stance taken. His head turns in the direction of the Adjuchas, green eyes narrowing once again.
The innards of the burrough are far larger than it appears to be from the outside--the ceiling has to be at least 30 feet high. Standing to your right, left and front are exactly six Adjuchas hollows. One is a green furred-lion type with a striped mask, the second a bipedal creature with grey, ashen skin. The third is a large, weather-beaten bird with it's mask already half-shattered. The fourth is a 20-foot tall bipedal lizard with blue scales, the fifth the same as he except with red scales. Before them all stands the sixth...an almost stunningly beautiful, black haired Arrancar wearing a black-red variation of the Espada robe, with flowing black hair and an athletic figure. The remains of her mask sit upon the right side of her neck so that it resembles a neck-brace--but most importantly, the number 2 is etched onto her cheek in black. She does not attack, rather she stands before you both with her arms folded. "Ah," she simply says with a calm demeanor. "The aforementioned interlopers." She chuckles, and motions to the burrough aimlessly. "Something to drink, gentlemen?"
Not a change of expression touches Ulquiorra's face as he regards those gathered and moved to surround them. He's practically unreadable for his easy stance and his ever stoic features, his cold gaze easily the brightest feature upon him, unblinking as he turns it to take in each of the Adjuchas and finally the Arrancar herself.
"...." No words are spared, there are none he feels he needs to waste a breath with to deal with those that have planned against Las Noches, against Aizen. At least, he feels no need to make a witty retort.
Tousen takes two steps forward, his own expression stern and hard to read. Though he can see none of the creatures, his reiatsu begins to rise moderately as he instinctively places his right hand on the hilt of his blade, though he does not yet make any movements to draw it. "Surrender whatever Negacion cubes you have," he says calmly. "In return, it is possible you will be allowed a position within the Espada Privaron." His head towards towards the different Adjuchas, addressing them as well. "For those of you un-evolved, it will be possible a place can be found for you within Aizen-sama's Numeros once you have been made into Arrancar." He lifts his head a little higher, and speaks in a firm tone. "You will join us or perish. This is offered to you only once."
The beautiful Arrancar turns, taking two steps back, moving amidst her Adjuchas before she turns around. "You don't know who I am, do you, bastardos arrogantes," she says with a hint of superiority in her voice. "Mistress Frida Bruja," she points to herself elegantly. "Espada Dos..." she clenches her teeth. "Of the TRUE Espada." She motions to the bird-type Adjuchas. "¡Peck de sus ojos!"
Despite the impending conflict at hand, Ulquiorra still has not taken up a battle-ready stance of his own. He remains where he has stood, hands still in the pockets of his hakama, eyes unblinking and still scanning the group of misfits before looking to the ringleader. A privaron Espada. Well, what a coincidence, considering the earlier conversation with Tousen.
With Frida's orders to attack given, the Fourth Espada flicks his eyes towards the bird-formed Adjuchas. And still no hint of tensing, not a shift of a muscle.
The weather-beaten, green-feathered adjuchas charges towards Ulquiorra faster, and it's half-masked beak opens as it does. It screeches loud, causing an horrifying echo throughout the burrough which causes Tousen to wince sharply, but not withdraw in any way as the pitch becomes loud enough to break glass. It's beak closes as it nears Ulqiuorra, aiming for his right eye.
He is not called an Espada merely for title's sake. His eyes narrow as he watches the adjuchas come careening towards him, his brow twitching only mildly at the screech it emits. Far be it for him to let this bird even touch him. In one moment he's standing there, and in the next, he's gone. His form blurs as he seemingly reappears behind the adjuchas, his left hand pulled from his pocket in almost an idle gesture. The reiatsu builds before his outstretched hand, released just as quickly into a Bala shot towards the bird-adjuchas' back.
As the lightning-fast Bala fires into the adjuchas, it doesn't have a hope of dodging or blocking as the blast quickly overwhelms the bird, completely obliterating it. Nothing of the hollow remains, not even ashes. Frida's eyes narrow towards Ulqiuorra, and she crosses her arms. "Not bad, fake Espada. I'm tempted to offer you a place within the true Espada." She snickers, then points to Tousen. "Kill the shinigami as a Hollow is supposed to, and I'll consider it."
Tousen's reiatsu rises suddenly as she mentions killing him, then deftly draws his Zanpakutou from it's sheathe. "Cover your ears," Tousen says quietly towards you as he begins turning the blade upwards.
Turning once his feet have set down on the ground again, Ulquiorra doesn't even spare the bird a second glance. He can already tell with his reiatsu senses that the adjuchas will no longer be a problem. The look he casts towards Frida is only slightly more expressive than his usual, clearly unamused at her words, much less so her offer.
"'Supposed to?'" he repeats, his tone bearing the hint of a smirk. He flicks a glance towards Tousen out of the corner of his eye as he senses the other's rise of spiritual pressure, and he says nothing further as he complies with the shinigami's quiet warning.
Tousen The blind shinigami touches the tear-shaped attachment to the hilt of his blade with the side of his palm, speaking in a calm, quiet tone. "Cry, Suzumushi."
It seems as if the world itself loses color as the shikai of the shinigami's zanpakuto is released--and time seems to slow down. However, you can hear nothing. The bipedal giant Adjuchas is the first to fall over, coming to it's knees with a groan. The second, the lion-masked Adjuchas, slumps forward making no noise at all--but two others stand. The second bipedal lizard stands behind Frida, who stands behind a black-tinted Negacion wall erected at precisely the final moment. Following her block of the attack, she smiles towards the shinigami, one he cannot see.
He hasn't had the chance to witness Tousen's shikai until now. He can only imagine what sort of terrible pitch has caused the adjuchas to fall, but that's the least of their concerns. Ulquiorra looks to the arrancar female that yet stands, along with the last of the adjuchas. He could commend her, but then he expects nothing less of a Privaron Espada. He'd be more disappointed if she hadn't been able to do anything.
Frida Bruja lowers the Negacion wall, still maintaining a cocky grin on her face. "That is what you fail to understand, shinigami." She sneers as she begins cracking her knuckles. "You've obviously trained your body to it's limits. Finding quiet places...education in-" she scoffs. "-the finest schools. Eating the finest meals, learning the keenest strategies. It's why the Hollow will always be more powerful than you. We have no such thing as schools, homes, or comfort. Our strength is built through survival of the fittest." She takes a step forward, and raises her right hand into Ulquiorra's direction. "The moment we rest is the moment we die. Isn't that right?" Her smile falls into a cruel smirk. "Cer-" An eerie red spark begins to grow within her palm.
She suddenly vanishes in a Sonido step, moving directly behind Ulquiorra. "-ro!"
Were she paying attention, she would have noticed the rise in reiatsu about Ulquiorra as she spoke on. When Frida Sonido-shifts, he is ready for her. Bright light flares between them as two Cero blasts meet, not a complete Cero by the Fourth's standards, but it is enough to disrupt the other's. Not wanting to get caught in the backlash of power, Ulquiorra Sonido dashes back from the point of impact, keeping on the move. His eyes rove the room, but it's his senses he ultimately relies on as he waits for the dust to settle. Lifting a pale, black-nailed finger, he points towards Frida's position. Energy gathers at its tip, glowing brilliantly before firing off another blast of Cero.
Tousen gathers his reitasu, utilizing shunpo as he vanishes from his spot and charges forward with his blade drawn. In an instant, he drives his zanpakutou into the stomach of the Adjuchas left standing, then releases the blade as the 20 foot tall creature doubles over and bleeds. Landing back onto the ground quickly, he moves behind the Adjuchas, and clasps his hands together as he quickly begins to chant. As he does, his reiatsu rises more and more. "Bone of a straggling beast, spire, crimson crystal, disc of steel, when the wind shifts, and the emptiness ceases, let the clash of lances resonate through the relinquished castle--" he launches his hands forth as the incantation finishes. "Hadou 63, Roaring Thunder Burn!"
A massive wave of lightning launches from Tousen's fingertips in a wide arc, completely blasting through the Adjuchas hollow's chest and stomach. As the adjuchas hollow falls to it's knees, disappating as it dies, Tousen turns the spell onto the two fallen hollows, tearing through and obliterating them in the same manner.
While her fledging Fraccion is destroyed, Frida suddenly draws her blade as Ulquiorra fires a fast, powerful Cero. With a fast swing, her zanpakutou collides with the Cero, diverting the blast towards the ceiling. "Hah!" Using Sonido, she suddenly vanishes--her reiatsu trace detectable outside of the burrough, amidst the sands of the desert.
She's stronger than he anticipated. The half-helmed Espada lifts his head as she takes flight, and he takes a few steps towards the mouth of the opening they'd come through. "It will be problematic to allow her to escape." This is as much of an 'I'm going after her' as Tousen will get from him, and Ulquiorra's form all but vanishes shortly after with his own dash by Sonido. At least out in the open there would be more room to manuever. He remains with senses sharp, ever on the alert as he knows the Privaron has the advantage should she be expecting them to pursue.
The beautiful, dark-haired Privaron stands amidst the sands of the endless expanse--already facing both of you as you finally reach her. She does not appear afraid, as she holds a confident, albeit cocky grin upon her face. As the wind begins to blow, her dress-fashioned black robe with white trim billows. As Ulquiorra and Tousen stand before her for a few seconds more of only silence, she simply places her right hand on the hilt of her zanpakutou, and draws it. She calmly crosses it across her body so that it relaxes across her shoulder. "¿Bailar, los usurpadores?" she says in an elegant tone.
Tousen begins stepping forward, twirling his blade in a rapid and fast circular motion over his head, his reiatsu spiking--then steadying at a high level. His breathing changes noticably, and his left fist clenches. "The Negacion Cubes she spoke of," Tousen begins. "I believe they are of her design, and she's already displayed a mastery of Negacion. I am immune to the effects of the cubes, but you are not, Schiffer-san." He pauses, but continues twirling the blade. "If she strikes you with one, you will be lost to Hueco Mundo for eternity." He nods. "That being said, she will attempt to draw out the battle's length to slow you down until she can land that blow. We cannot let that happen."
Caja Negacíon are evil things for lesser arrancar. For them to have been modified to such extent, it would be a dangerous thing indeed to have, especially in the hands of an enemy. Frida has obviously made herself one such.
His eyes unwilling to part their attention from the ex-Espada, Ulquiorra nods in response to Tousen, offering a quiet "Understood" a moment after. He hangs back as the shinigami moves frontwards, his hands having returned to their pockets. He's allowed his own reiatsu to rise, but still mindful of keeping it at a certain level.
The dark-haired Arrancar lowers into a very stiff combat position, her hand paralell with her blade as Tousen steps closer. "Don't be so haughty, soul reaper," she says while still maintaining her cocky smirk. "If I die this day, know two things. I have killed countless of your kind. My only regret would that I could not kill countless more. It was the blood and souls of shinigami that have fed my ascensions far more than the hollow." She lets out a short laugh, her right leg muscle tensing. "And I'm so parched right now." She shouts out as she charges forward, her zanpakuto, fashioned like a fancy spanish rapier, clashes with Tousen's as it spins.
Tousen clashes blades with her as he brings his sword down in parry, then matches her next Sonido-slash with a shunpo parry, then a thrust towards her heart. He utilizes shunpo again, surging with a succession lightning fast stabs aimed at all points of her body. She dodges a few, then blocks more. As the attack ends, she launches a kick at his midsection which he blocks then shoves her back. He fires a fast kidou-lightning blast at her to counter--but it fails to break her still rising Hierro. Laughing, she sonidos twenty feet into the air, and begins gathering reiatsu as she holds out her arms. "Tres Gran Rey Cero!" after a few moments of charging, a triangle-shaped Cero attack fires from the space in her hands. The delta is 20 feet in diameter, the space filled with Cero energy. Caught in the middle, it begins to bare down upon both of you at intense speed.
He hasn't been standing idly during all this time. A hand once again pulled from his pocket, he lifts it over his head, accompanied by an abrupt burst of reiatsu, all too brief to amount for anything useful in regards to an attack. A silent signal of sorts, perhaps. The Espada continues to look skyward for a moment longer as he lowers his hand, and then he turns just as Frida launches herself into the air after tanking Tousen's kidou attack. The reiatsu that he feels pooling before the female arrancar is enough to have him widen his eyes in concern, and quickly he gathers and feeds the reiatsu he's already leveled about him, dashing back towards Tousen's side. It's far easier to charge for a Cero in Hueco Mundo's atmosphere, and Ulquiorra takes full advantage of this fact as he points his finger straight towards the center as the huge triangular blast comes down. ...it's too large for him to counter completely, much less halt bare-handed. If he focuses on only a small portion, perhaps they'll have a chance. He releases his own Cero just as the other is upon them in attempts to punch through enough to lessen if not negate the damage.
Meanwhile the results of his initial actions appear, perhaps unnoticed due to Frida's concentration on obliterating the two below; multiple Menos, their pointed masks the only real contrast against the backdrop of the ever evening sky, their long black lengths appearing like the darkness itself has dripped down to the sands below. Each of them target the dark-haired Privaron Espada, opening their maws to deliver Cero blasts of their own, and although not nearly as powerful as those hurled by the Espada, when concentrated in such numbers, they are not something to be laughed at.
The Privaron's eyes widen in surprise as the Menos suddenly rise from the sands, firing without abandon. "Damnation!" She cuts her massive Tres Gran Cero short, and flips forward out of the air, landing several yards away from Ulquiorra and Tousen. Her zanpakutou drawn, she backflips again as the Menos begin to turn their pointed masks down upon her, preparing to fire another blast. He holds her blade into the air and leaps ten feet, spinning the blade into a full circular arc. "Llamada Del Abismo!" A blade, eerie aura emanates around her sword--the wave striking each Menos surrounding her. Amazingly, it severs each Menos it touches at the lower "waist". As she lands back upon the ground deftly several yards away, she launches out both arms--and with remarkable speed she begins firing a rapid, machine-gun like onslaught of Bala bursts.
The eerie calls of the dying Menos echo across the white dunes, and they are felled like trees, slowly falling towards the sands, most disappating before they even land.
"Don't forget..." the Fourth Espada says quietly, standing with his finger pointed towards her as what sand has been thrown up in the wake of everything serves as a minor screen for cover. He releases the Cero blast at her. She is rapidly becoming an annoyance if she hasn't already been.
Tousen suddenly moves in a burst of shunpo--just as she moves in a burst of Sonido, sidestepping away from the Cero. "She moves in a pattern," Tousen says before he moves at her, his blade lowered. As she utilizes Sonido to escape Ulquiorra's blast, he suddenly connects with a leaping front kick to her face, catching her completely off guard and sending her staggering back. Launching his left arm out quickly, he speaks. "Badakou 1: Sai." As the Arrancar grimaces and attempts to use Sonido again, she's suddenly frozen in her place--as if completely immobilized. However as she moves more as she struggles, it's clear this restraint cannot last.
Ah, there he is. Ulquiorra has been waiting for that. Frida is a quick one, and had she not decided to rebel then he would have been certain Aizen would have made good use of the Privaron Espada's abilities. He looks on as Tousen makes his move, feeling some sadistic sense of satisfaction in seeing him land a hit on the female finally.
The Cuarta Espada steps towards her once she is restrained, shaking out his hand and fingers as if he's gotten them wet. In the next idle motion he sends four Bala blasts one after the other to strike each of her limbs, both arms and legs. Three fingers curl towards his palm, the foremost pointed again towards her to deliver a more compacted Cero ray than those of earlier, directing it at her chest.
The brunette Privaron struggles against her unseen binds--and her eyes widen in nigh horror as she sees the Bala bursts coming towards her. As it's said when you're caught in a bind and attacked in this manner...all one can do is watch. The first Bala tears through her right arm at the socket, severing it completely. She cries out is an extreme amount of pain, possibly one that can be heard throughout the entire expanse. The second, with equally remarkable precision, tears through her left leg--severing it in the same manner. As she writhes in agony more--the inevitable is certainly coming, and she knows it. As with any Hollow, her base instincts of survial, that need to live and sustain goes into overdrive. As she screams reach a fever pitch--her full reiatsu unleashes, and the binds break. The blasts to her remaining two limbs, somewhat dampened by her Hierro, slice deep into her arm and leg but do not sever them--the Cero aimed at her chest throughly knocks her back to the sands, spilling her blood and tearing a hole straight through her. Reaching for her last resort as she lays amidst the sand, damned, she speaks in a raspy tone. "Ressur..." she gulps. "recion..."
"Che."
Ulquiorra lifts his head as he senses the inevitable. Perhaps he should have Cero'd her first. He casts a glance towards Tousen, expecting him to be at the ready before he looks back towards the mangled Privaron Espada as the levels of her reiatsu erupt at her release.
Suddenly, a black-purple field, very similar to that of a Negacion field surrounds the defeated Arrancar's blade, then her body. It expands, becoming a dome--then a dome expanding over the diameter of 15 feet. There is a shill scream within the dome and the levels of the Arrancar's reiatsu rise to an insane level. The dome crackles with energy and as it reaches 19 feet in diameter, it suddenly shrinks completely and disappates. In Frida's place, her dress has become a complete suit of purple-black tinted armor, her face covered in a jagged mask. On her hands are 8 inch claws with purple tips--her righ arm and left leg, once severed, are replaced by ethereal Negacion-energy limbs. Her blade itself has become of pure Negacion energy. Through her hellish mask, she glares into Ulquiorra's direction. "Let me explain something to you, asno," she begins.
Tousen stands several yards from Frida's left flank, holding his blade towards the ground. He makes no movements, attempting to gauge the extent of the Privaron's abilities.
His green eyes widen once he is able to clearly see for himself the Privaron Espada's true form. Inwardly tensing, Ulquiorra knows to be well on guard now with the female's obvious additions to her powers. His more neutral expression settles into place again, and he cants his head subtly as if to signal for her to go on.
The armored Arrancar folds her blade over her body again, and returns to speaking in a somewhat elegant manner as she strides towards Ulquiorra. "A millenia ago, the shinigami did battle with me." She scoffs. "I took many of their lives, but ultimately I was sealed to the dimension Negacion by them as it appeared I would soon win." She laughs heartily, then points her rapier into your direction, as if daring Ulquiorra to approach her. "It is worse than hell, asno. It is as a void, with nothing. You cannot move, you cannot act. All one can do at first...is simply think. But then, asno, after the first 500 years, you begin to contemplate the meaning of things. And you contemplate the meaning of the Hollow, the Arrancar, the Shinigami. And you learn, asno..." her tone lowers cruelly. "The void is only another dimension outside of this one. Ebbing with more power than this one. And once you learn how to draw from that pool of power...you can master it." Her reiatsu spikes, equal with Ulquiorra's and Tousen's. "You may find an endless source of strength."
Tousen doesn't wait for the Arrancar to speak for a moment longer, he utilizes shunpo as rises 30 feet into the air, and draws a circle around himself with his blade--causing hundreds of smaller blades to materialize as he unleashes his second shikai. "You can't control the power of a universe, Hollow." He points his own zanpakutou down at the Arrancar. "Smash her limbs."
If she is trying to win him over still, she still has to work on her choice of names for him. He's had his own time to contemplate things though, but the were apparently vastly different from what she sought to ponder during her time of exile. Power is a relative matter, not merely based upon strength. Power comes in many forms. It has been more than obvious as to what sort of power the former Second had obtained and for what reasons she desired them.
There is hardly a twitch of movement from the half-helmed Espada that signals his own participation in assaulting the arrancar upon Tousen's words. Sonido aids his steps once again as he dashes across the sands, not directly towards her, but he intends to keep a good distance from her. He splays his fingers towards her, releasing another onslaught of Bala just as before, doubled for each limb this time.
The black-armored Arrancar looks up as the blades come down--and her eyes narrow. She is pinned between blasts of bala and hundreds of blades from above. As she attempts to sidestep through Sonido...she is truly caught in checkmate as one of the blades from above drives deep into her right shoulder, stunning her for a moment--but long enough for one of the Bala blasts to bounce off of her armor. "You..." her protest is cut short as the second Bala tears through her sternum, having more power than the first. While the blasts miss her limbs, they hit her centermass in her body, each burst tearing through her body with remarkable intensity. The blades from above, meanwhile, continue the assault. One tears through her neck, one the top of her head, and more throughout every inch of her body. This time, she doesn't even cry out. Her body impaled, burned, and bloody--Privaron Dos gasps for air as she falls to her knees. He energy blade dissapates as her muscles fail and she releases it.
"...How..." is all that escapes her lips as she looks at Ulquiorra, a sorrowful glare in her eyes. "--Why would...why would you serve a shinigami? They hate us. Why would you kill me for them, hermanos..." she gasps for breath, but then coughs out blood.
Footfalls crunching lightly on the sand, Ulquiorra steps towards the fallen arrancar, his shadow cast by the light of the moon falling across her torn up form. "Where have you gained this notion of hatred? It is a label for convenience. " There is no pity in his gaze as he looks down at her, a cool look of indifference chiseled from equally cold stone.
"Even our own kind feeds off one another, an endless cycle. In the end, there is no other reason than that of survival."
The arrancar's eyes widen suddenly--then slowly begin to close as her wounds become too severe for her to continue to live. She doubles over, keeping herself from the ground with one arm, and coughs up blood again. "The shinigami...will kill you..." she gasps for breath still, and she notices the blind shinigami already standing to her side, raising his blade execution-style. "Ease yourself, hollow. You will soon be at peace, as will the souls of those you took." The zanpakuto rises higher...then with a single, swift stroke, he severs Frida's head from her shoulders. The head and the body disappate before even hitting the ground. While shinigami may not be a member of Seireitei still, his blade still gives 'peace' to lives cut short by it. Moments after the Arrancar's end, Tousen lifts his head, seemingly staring out into nothing. The same way as when Ulquiorra first stumbled upon him. "What do you believe Aizen-sama will make of such, Schiffer-san," he says contently as he sheathes his zanpakuto back into it's sheathe.
...let them come then. The words are unspoken, yet they are there in his mind. Ulquiorra glances at Tousen as he finishes off the former Espada, not watching long enough to see her disintegrate. He looks back towards Las Noches in the distance, and for a time neither speaks. The silence is short-lived as the ex-captain speaks up again, and closing his eyes, it is not hard to hear the words of the fallen arrancar again, in his mind.
"...I shall not second guess Aizen-sama's views..." he replies after a moment. "...but I trust that he would well understand our reasons for acting. This is hardly anything new..." He opens his eyes again, green gaze settling upon the blind shinigami. "...the area is clear now. Shall we return?"
Tousen turns back towards Los Noches. His reiatsu no longer flucuates at all, but settles back into a level that's hardly even perceptible. His gazeless eyes cannot see, but the wind begins to pick up, the sand beginning to swirl about them more and more. With a very sensitive feeling of touch, Tousen can already feel and smell what's coming. "We should," he says in response. "A sandstorm approaches." He begins walking towards Los Noches calmly, already reflecting on the battle that had just taken place. A creature like that, who meddled with the very fabric of chaos, and was too weak to even remotely control it, he thought. Had it not been for people like him in Hueco Mundo...in existence, what damage could they cause with their unpredictability? The training and strength of the Espada and himself was what brought about victory, and maybe many lives in the grand scheme were saved because of it. Once again, in the shinigami's sightless eyes, the ends justified the means. Justice was done.
Characters: Tousen, Ulquiorra, NPC Hollows and ex-Privaron (spoofed by Tousen)
Summary: Something rotten in the sands of Hueco Mundo. Tousen and Ulquiorra go to investigate and subsequently crush a potential threat.
-=[White Desert - Hueco Mundo]=-------------------------------------------------
White sand pours out before you in all directions, from horizon to horizon. Here and there are clusters of brittle-branched, leafless trees and towering dunes. Far, far away, in the distance, lurks the unreal, towering white walls of Las Noches.
Tousen stands amidst the endless desert sands and you walk upon him, his arms folded. The tall black man seems to stare out into nothing with his gazeless eyes--but of course, he only seems to, as the concept of sight has been alien to him his entire life. His sword remains sheathed, his stance relaxed, but his head raised in alertness. His back in turned to you as you approach, and his head turns to the right slightly as you do. Though he certainly hears you coming, he is not alarmed. As the cool Hueco Mundo winds blow, his robe sways but he stands still, unphased. Finally, he rolls his shoulders back as he stirs out of his trance. "I was unaware Aizen-sama dispatched you to aid in locating the Vasto today, Schiffer-san."
The half-helmed Espada has not made any attempt to mask his presence nor his approach towards the ex-captain. His hands in his pockets, he shows no surprise to Tousen's sudden attentiveness. There were more ways than visual to sense someone, after all, and just because the shinigami was lacking in one, it hardly means that he is lacking in others.
Green eyes glance towards the white fortress not far in the distance before looking back towards the dark-skinned man. His twin coattails floating lightly after him, they rest against the legs of his hakama as Ulquiorra comes to a stop several feet from Tousen. "To ask Nnoitra to do so would not have resulted profitably, especially not with his current mood," he replies, after but a nod in acknowledgment, even though the other cannot see him. It is more a gesture out of respect, if not so much as for Aizen. "...what brings you out of Las Noches?"
Tousen turns his attention back towards the sands of the white expanse. You sense his reiatsu rise slightly, though not in the manner of defense or offense--rather expelling the power to heighten his own ability to sense it. "Espada Cinco has had only one mood since I have met him, and that is belligerant." He shrugs slightly. "Though to his credit, he's intelligent to know which rules to break and which not to, and when." His reiatsu lowers a little, then rises again in the pattern of a strange flucuation. "In answering a question with a question, Schiffer-san, are you aware of what the responsibilities of my former position were? Not that as just a captain, but a member of the 9th Division of Gotei 13?" His head rises a little. "What we specialized in?"
Wordlessly he observes the strange reiatsu patterns of the other. It's more out of habit than anything else, and when it was always an interesting experience when dealing with the blind shinigami, although their interactions have been few enough. "I agree with you in that," Ulquiorra replies. He knows Nnoitra, although as battle-lusting as Grimmjow can be, was not as foolishly headstrong to do anything that would bring him trouble. Which is exactly why he chose to bully the Fourth instead, the other night.
"...your former responsibilities as the captain of the Gotei 13's 9th Division... I may have heard it at a time, but if you would care to explain in your own words from your personal experience, then I welcome it."
The defected shinigami's reiatsu flucuates in a different pattern now, between rising to a high level for a few seconds, then to a level near non-existent. Obviously not a common technique, whatever it is exactly, but Tousen seems to have mastered it. His breathing slows, seeming to move pararell with his control of his reiatsu. "Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence," he says simply. "Our duties were not specifically in combat, such as the--" for the first time, a slight of contempt is within his voice. "--the 13th. It was the duty of myself and my subordinates to gather information through every concieveable way we could." His reiatsu rises sharply again. "The Arrancar have in truth existed for a rather long time. I must admit, Schiffer-san, for as long as the Arrancar has existed and as much as we were tasked to gather information upon your kind, we still know very little. It is why I attempt to 'observe' things in Hueco Mundo as often as I do." He turns around completely, facing your direction, and nods sharply. "I believe now there are others like you out there," he begins in a frank manner. "And they very much disapprove of the prospect of a shinigami not only lording over the Hollow, but doing so better than they ever did."
He wastes no motions on nodding when he knows they could not be seen, and he knows that Tousen is aware of his complete attention upon him. Ulquiorra only mentally notes the rise and fall of the shinigami's reiatsu, and as he speaks of his days as part of the Gotei, the Espada listens respectfully. He has been aware of Tousen's former position having to do with information gathering, something he himself could relate to in that he often has been sent to do such of his own by Aizen. He knows the importance of information, of observation.
"...such as the Privaron Espada..." he murmurs. Even before the Hougyoku had been employed to make Arrancar, there had been those Hollows that had achieved their own abilitiies. Ulquiorra knows this, as well as the fact that most of the former Espadas disdain towards their newer, artificially created replacements. "...and now that you dwell among them, have you come to any new understandings about them?" He looks out across the sands, a desolate place to cross, a place he has only just returned from. "...Hueco Mundo is vast. Most of the stronger ones if they have not been drawn by Aizen-sama's promises and power, keep their distance well away from Las Noches."
Tousen's head obliques to the southheast--and at that exact moment, his reiatsu rises dramatically. "I understand this about the Arrancar, Schiffer-san." He turns around again, and begins taking several moderate paces forward. "-the Arrancar are not inherent of evil. I have met many shinigami, many humans." He pauses as his reiatsu rises a bit more. "We are flawed creatures, much all all sentinent beings. The difference between us is that the shinigami often deny what they are, or sometimes even fail to realize it. Be it good or bad. The Arrancar have no confusion about their purpose or their path to such. Am I wrong?" He takes a few more paces forward. "For your kind, Schiffer-san, much like the Numeros Tacita Mensa I have taken it upon myself to train...it is simple. Become strong to survive, or die, and most arrancar do not attempt to hide that their purpose is to take life solely because you are afraid of losing your own." His head lowers as his reiatsu grows more. "Many shinigami do not know their purpose, many others do not want one." After several moments of pausing and maintaining a steady reiatsu, he nods towards the northeast. "Those that existed before you are fleeing further from Los Noches than they had been, Schiffer-san. I think..." his closes his lips wryly. "...something is calling them."
"It all comes down to survival in the end. That is the main rule, the only rule that has ingrained itself into the lives of Hollows. Live or die again. Eat or be eaten. It is a sad, perhaps even pointless existence, but it is the only one that we had been allowed to know. Hollows don't have much choice until they reach a certain point- unless they reach a certain point." Even those that make their way to Gillian status still need to continue their feeding lest they revert back into mindless Menos.
While Tousen's reiatsu has gone up and down, high and still higher, Ulquiorra has maintained his own spiritual pressure, the standard level of control that he cares to exert when within Las Noches. He is not one to care for announcing his presence to everyone, but nor does he feel it an extreme necessity to hide it as much as he masks it when venturing into the realm of the living. He finds the shinigami's continuous reiatsu fluctuations intriguing, noting the words, the movements that accompany each shift without a word.
"...you are perhaps correct though, Tousen. Perhaps we seem evil because that is what the shinigami make us out to be. It is understandable to a point, but in the end it makes neither one nor the other right or wrong. In the end it is always survival- whether it be the Hollow being hunted, or the Shinigami engaging the Hollow. Reasons are fabricated to be beneficial for those that take action, for morality's sake. In the end, all is meaningless." He's spoken more than he usually does, but then Tousen is one of the few that can elicit such conversation rather than seek out a fight.
Green eyes narrow, turning to look towards the direction the shinigami nods in. The stronger Hollows have all but become scarce, but they have never been completely absent from one place. Ulquiorra's scouting earlier had only resulted in finding an former area of dwelling long since abandoned. He wonders now just how far this man can 'see,' how much he has discovered himself.
Tousen, his arms at his sides, continues walking slowly towards the northeast. His reiatsu spikes just a small bit more. "There is a gathering. Usually, low-class hollows congregating in such a manner is not abnormal...it's what they do to become Menos-class. Though this is quite different." His head turns over his shoulder slightly into your direction. "This is Adjuchas that are gathering. And based on that their Hierro, as you call it, is not decreasing but growing stronger-" he nods. "They aren't feeding upon each other. There is something else."
"Adjuchas...." Amusement faintly touches his tone as he speaks, and he focuses towards the northeast, casting his senses forth with his use of pesquisa to get a better feel for what Tousen has observed. Usually such levels of Hollows are not to be of much concern, but if they are truly banding together, as it soon becomes apparent once Ulquiorra fixes his senses upon them, then that activity in itself is highly suspicious.
"Possible trouble that can be easily dealt with, the sooner the better," he says. It would be no different from the settlements of Vasto Lordes the Espada have sought out and filtered through before. There would always be those dissonant voices, even amongst those their own kind. The cycles endless, the conflict continuing, a resolution, yet to truly be had. Once again, meaningless.
Tousen turns back around, and his reiatsu begins settling back to his usual, supressed level. "We will have to gather information and deal with the matter now, then-" he takes a slow breath, controlling his breathing. "-and supply Aizen-sama with it afterwards. If we wait, we will miss out on quite a bit." He turns over his shoulder to you again. "Will you be coming, Schiffer-san."
It would not be a task too different from what he had been sent out to do earlier. A band of Adjuchas would be no match for them regardless, should problems arise. Ulquiorra gauged the gathering reiatsu a bit longer before withdrawing his pesquisa completely. With Tousen in his immediate vicinity it made things very hard to differentiate the Adjuchas' levels with the great distance between them.
"Very well," the Fourth replies.
There is a sudden, sharp rise in Tousen's reiatsu only seconds after you finish your statement of agreement, and in the next split-second he vanishes from where he stands through shunpo. Though it may be hard to follow with your eyes, you sense his reiatsu moving quickly to the northeast.
It doesn't take long for Ulquiorra to take off after the other, coattails flapping wildly as he darts along and soon catches up with sonido. He allows Tousen to take point, letting himself lag in pace but only slightly. His own reiatsu has been constricted as closely as he can manage, not wanting to draw attention to the Adjuchas they stalk, nor bring the attention of any other Hollows that might be around. There is no point in making things more complicated.
As the pair of you stand amidst the outside of the burrough, you can already hear several raspy, coarse voices speaking below. Nothing can be seen from this distance, but there are at least six distinct--even somewhat powerful Hierro. Above those is a single one, a powerful Hierro on par with that of a member of the Espada with a number of 5 or above. "Mistress Frida," says one of the coarse, masculine voices. "-how can you be certain as to the effect of the devourment?"
"Such plans have failed before," says another voice, this time a female one.
"Even if you are who you claim to be, 'Mistress'," says a masculine voice, "How can you be certain whomever becomes the Vasto Lorde won't as easily simply kill you and take your place?"
"You have not been listening," begins the clear, unmistakable voice of an adult woman. "It is well within my ability to deal with a Vasto Lorde, to be sure." Her voice takes on a condescending tone. "The one who becomes a Vasto Lorde will have this choice, you see. They may attempt to seize power from me, and fail for certain--" the sound of her fingers drumming against stone can be heard. "-Or they may take their chances at using the Negacion cubes given and destroy the rogue shinigami's Espada."
The female voice scoffs. "These cubes are far more powerful than that of the interloper's design. No member of the Espada will be able to escape. If they do, it will be far too late." Her pitch rises. "I will have finished the shinigami by then."
Tousen's face turns towards you, as if his gazeless eyes could determine your expression, even feelings. His own reiatsu supressed to a level undetectable by those in the burrough, he simply shakes his head. He motions with his right hand for you to hold.
Ulquiorra says nothing as they remain listening to the group they have tracked. Green eyes narrow at the conversation at hand, but he doesn't need Tousen's gesturing to keep him from doing anything more. All the same, he flicks a glance towards the shinigami, regarding him in equal silence before giving a nod whether the other can detect it or not. Again the half-helmed Espada looks back towards the direction of the voices.
A single pair of footsteps can be heard from within the burrough, unmistakably belonging to someone bipedal and wearing shoes. "I did not remain within the depths of Seireitei, sealed within for many years only to return to my sovereignty to find that a shinigami of all being has displaced the Espada I helped assemble, and plans to use it to do the same work I attempted to. I shall let the Red Being take me before I let something like that happen." Her voice falls, becoming crueler as she speaks more. "The situation is simple. You will all do battle to decide who becomes a Vasto Lorde. Then, that Vasto Lorde will battle the Espada long enough to use the Negacion to expel them all from reality." The footsteps stop. "I will deal with the three shinigami usurpers myself."
"It is said he is far more powerful than any captain," a masculine voice barks. "And that he may already have a Vasto Lorde under his command, Mistress Frida."
"Oh? And do you believe yourself powerful enough to test my resolve or my strength, pinche' wei?"
Tousen turns his head towards the inside of the burrough, and gives you a slight nod before standing up, and moving down into the hole leading to the inner burrough. He kneels down and slides into the hole, within seconds reaching the bottom. "¿Qué la cogida?!," shouts the voice of a female adjuchas.
Wordlessly, the half-helmed Espada slips silently after the dark-skinned shinigami. He has no trouble following, and thankfully one more understanding and appreciative of stealth and patience than his more hot-headed, battle-anxious brethren. Ulquiorra arrives beside Tousen not three seconds after, his hands in his pockets, his usual, almost casual-appearing stance taken. His head turns in the direction of the Adjuchas, green eyes narrowing once again.
The innards of the burrough are far larger than it appears to be from the outside--the ceiling has to be at least 30 feet high. Standing to your right, left and front are exactly six Adjuchas hollows. One is a green furred-lion type with a striped mask, the second a bipedal creature with grey, ashen skin. The third is a large, weather-beaten bird with it's mask already half-shattered. The fourth is a 20-foot tall bipedal lizard with blue scales, the fifth the same as he except with red scales. Before them all stands the sixth...an almost stunningly beautiful, black haired Arrancar wearing a black-red variation of the Espada robe, with flowing black hair and an athletic figure. The remains of her mask sit upon the right side of her neck so that it resembles a neck-brace--but most importantly, the number 2 is etched onto her cheek in black. She does not attack, rather she stands before you both with her arms folded. "Ah," she simply says with a calm demeanor. "The aforementioned interlopers." She chuckles, and motions to the burrough aimlessly. "Something to drink, gentlemen?"
Not a change of expression touches Ulquiorra's face as he regards those gathered and moved to surround them. He's practically unreadable for his easy stance and his ever stoic features, his cold gaze easily the brightest feature upon him, unblinking as he turns it to take in each of the Adjuchas and finally the Arrancar herself.
"...." No words are spared, there are none he feels he needs to waste a breath with to deal with those that have planned against Las Noches, against Aizen. At least, he feels no need to make a witty retort.
Tousen takes two steps forward, his own expression stern and hard to read. Though he can see none of the creatures, his reiatsu begins to rise moderately as he instinctively places his right hand on the hilt of his blade, though he does not yet make any movements to draw it. "Surrender whatever Negacion cubes you have," he says calmly. "In return, it is possible you will be allowed a position within the Espada Privaron." His head towards towards the different Adjuchas, addressing them as well. "For those of you un-evolved, it will be possible a place can be found for you within Aizen-sama's Numeros once you have been made into Arrancar." He lifts his head a little higher, and speaks in a firm tone. "You will join us or perish. This is offered to you only once."
The beautiful Arrancar turns, taking two steps back, moving amidst her Adjuchas before she turns around. "You don't know who I am, do you, bastardos arrogantes," she says with a hint of superiority in her voice. "Mistress Frida Bruja," she points to herself elegantly. "Espada Dos..." she clenches her teeth. "Of the TRUE Espada." She motions to the bird-type Adjuchas. "¡Peck de sus ojos!"
Despite the impending conflict at hand, Ulquiorra still has not taken up a battle-ready stance of his own. He remains where he has stood, hands still in the pockets of his hakama, eyes unblinking and still scanning the group of misfits before looking to the ringleader. A privaron Espada. Well, what a coincidence, considering the earlier conversation with Tousen.
With Frida's orders to attack given, the Fourth Espada flicks his eyes towards the bird-formed Adjuchas. And still no hint of tensing, not a shift of a muscle.
The weather-beaten, green-feathered adjuchas charges towards Ulquiorra faster, and it's half-masked beak opens as it does. It screeches loud, causing an horrifying echo throughout the burrough which causes Tousen to wince sharply, but not withdraw in any way as the pitch becomes loud enough to break glass. It's beak closes as it nears Ulqiuorra, aiming for his right eye.
He is not called an Espada merely for title's sake. His eyes narrow as he watches the adjuchas come careening towards him, his brow twitching only mildly at the screech it emits. Far be it for him to let this bird even touch him. In one moment he's standing there, and in the next, he's gone. His form blurs as he seemingly reappears behind the adjuchas, his left hand pulled from his pocket in almost an idle gesture. The reiatsu builds before his outstretched hand, released just as quickly into a Bala shot towards the bird-adjuchas' back.
As the lightning-fast Bala fires into the adjuchas, it doesn't have a hope of dodging or blocking as the blast quickly overwhelms the bird, completely obliterating it. Nothing of the hollow remains, not even ashes. Frida's eyes narrow towards Ulqiuorra, and she crosses her arms. "Not bad, fake Espada. I'm tempted to offer you a place within the true Espada." She snickers, then points to Tousen. "Kill the shinigami as a Hollow is supposed to, and I'll consider it."
Tousen's reiatsu rises suddenly as she mentions killing him, then deftly draws his Zanpakutou from it's sheathe. "Cover your ears," Tousen says quietly towards you as he begins turning the blade upwards.
Turning once his feet have set down on the ground again, Ulquiorra doesn't even spare the bird a second glance. He can already tell with his reiatsu senses that the adjuchas will no longer be a problem. The look he casts towards Frida is only slightly more expressive than his usual, clearly unamused at her words, much less so her offer.
"'Supposed to?'" he repeats, his tone bearing the hint of a smirk. He flicks a glance towards Tousen out of the corner of his eye as he senses the other's rise of spiritual pressure, and he says nothing further as he complies with the shinigami's quiet warning.
Tousen The blind shinigami touches the tear-shaped attachment to the hilt of his blade with the side of his palm, speaking in a calm, quiet tone. "Cry, Suzumushi."
It seems as if the world itself loses color as the shikai of the shinigami's zanpakuto is released--and time seems to slow down. However, you can hear nothing. The bipedal giant Adjuchas is the first to fall over, coming to it's knees with a groan. The second, the lion-masked Adjuchas, slumps forward making no noise at all--but two others stand. The second bipedal lizard stands behind Frida, who stands behind a black-tinted Negacion wall erected at precisely the final moment. Following her block of the attack, she smiles towards the shinigami, one he cannot see.
He hasn't had the chance to witness Tousen's shikai until now. He can only imagine what sort of terrible pitch has caused the adjuchas to fall, but that's the least of their concerns. Ulquiorra looks to the arrancar female that yet stands, along with the last of the adjuchas. He could commend her, but then he expects nothing less of a Privaron Espada. He'd be more disappointed if she hadn't been able to do anything.
Frida Bruja lowers the Negacion wall, still maintaining a cocky grin on her face. "That is what you fail to understand, shinigami." She sneers as she begins cracking her knuckles. "You've obviously trained your body to it's limits. Finding quiet places...education in-" she scoffs. "-the finest schools. Eating the finest meals, learning the keenest strategies. It's why the Hollow will always be more powerful than you. We have no such thing as schools, homes, or comfort. Our strength is built through survival of the fittest." She takes a step forward, and raises her right hand into Ulquiorra's direction. "The moment we rest is the moment we die. Isn't that right?" Her smile falls into a cruel smirk. "Cer-" An eerie red spark begins to grow within her palm.
She suddenly vanishes in a Sonido step, moving directly behind Ulquiorra. "-ro!"
Were she paying attention, she would have noticed the rise in reiatsu about Ulquiorra as she spoke on. When Frida Sonido-shifts, he is ready for her. Bright light flares between them as two Cero blasts meet, not a complete Cero by the Fourth's standards, but it is enough to disrupt the other's. Not wanting to get caught in the backlash of power, Ulquiorra Sonido dashes back from the point of impact, keeping on the move. His eyes rove the room, but it's his senses he ultimately relies on as he waits for the dust to settle. Lifting a pale, black-nailed finger, he points towards Frida's position. Energy gathers at its tip, glowing brilliantly before firing off another blast of Cero.
Tousen gathers his reitasu, utilizing shunpo as he vanishes from his spot and charges forward with his blade drawn. In an instant, he drives his zanpakutou into the stomach of the Adjuchas left standing, then releases the blade as the 20 foot tall creature doubles over and bleeds. Landing back onto the ground quickly, he moves behind the Adjuchas, and clasps his hands together as he quickly begins to chant. As he does, his reiatsu rises more and more. "Bone of a straggling beast, spire, crimson crystal, disc of steel, when the wind shifts, and the emptiness ceases, let the clash of lances resonate through the relinquished castle--" he launches his hands forth as the incantation finishes. "Hadou 63, Roaring Thunder Burn!"
A massive wave of lightning launches from Tousen's fingertips in a wide arc, completely blasting through the Adjuchas hollow's chest and stomach. As the adjuchas hollow falls to it's knees, disappating as it dies, Tousen turns the spell onto the two fallen hollows, tearing through and obliterating them in the same manner.
While her fledging Fraccion is destroyed, Frida suddenly draws her blade as Ulquiorra fires a fast, powerful Cero. With a fast swing, her zanpakutou collides with the Cero, diverting the blast towards the ceiling. "Hah!" Using Sonido, she suddenly vanishes--her reiatsu trace detectable outside of the burrough, amidst the sands of the desert.
She's stronger than he anticipated. The half-helmed Espada lifts his head as she takes flight, and he takes a few steps towards the mouth of the opening they'd come through. "It will be problematic to allow her to escape." This is as much of an 'I'm going after her' as Tousen will get from him, and Ulquiorra's form all but vanishes shortly after with his own dash by Sonido. At least out in the open there would be more room to manuever. He remains with senses sharp, ever on the alert as he knows the Privaron has the advantage should she be expecting them to pursue.
The beautiful, dark-haired Privaron stands amidst the sands of the endless expanse--already facing both of you as you finally reach her. She does not appear afraid, as she holds a confident, albeit cocky grin upon her face. As the wind begins to blow, her dress-fashioned black robe with white trim billows. As Ulquiorra and Tousen stand before her for a few seconds more of only silence, she simply places her right hand on the hilt of her zanpakutou, and draws it. She calmly crosses it across her body so that it relaxes across her shoulder. "¿Bailar, los usurpadores?" she says in an elegant tone.
Tousen begins stepping forward, twirling his blade in a rapid and fast circular motion over his head, his reiatsu spiking--then steadying at a high level. His breathing changes noticably, and his left fist clenches. "The Negacion Cubes she spoke of," Tousen begins. "I believe they are of her design, and she's already displayed a mastery of Negacion. I am immune to the effects of the cubes, but you are not, Schiffer-san." He pauses, but continues twirling the blade. "If she strikes you with one, you will be lost to Hueco Mundo for eternity." He nods. "That being said, she will attempt to draw out the battle's length to slow you down until she can land that blow. We cannot let that happen."
Caja Negacíon are evil things for lesser arrancar. For them to have been modified to such extent, it would be a dangerous thing indeed to have, especially in the hands of an enemy. Frida has obviously made herself one such.
His eyes unwilling to part their attention from the ex-Espada, Ulquiorra nods in response to Tousen, offering a quiet "Understood" a moment after. He hangs back as the shinigami moves frontwards, his hands having returned to their pockets. He's allowed his own reiatsu to rise, but still mindful of keeping it at a certain level.
The dark-haired Arrancar lowers into a very stiff combat position, her hand paralell with her blade as Tousen steps closer. "Don't be so haughty, soul reaper," she says while still maintaining her cocky smirk. "If I die this day, know two things. I have killed countless of your kind. My only regret would that I could not kill countless more. It was the blood and souls of shinigami that have fed my ascensions far more than the hollow." She lets out a short laugh, her right leg muscle tensing. "And I'm so parched right now." She shouts out as she charges forward, her zanpakuto, fashioned like a fancy spanish rapier, clashes with Tousen's as it spins.
Tousen clashes blades with her as he brings his sword down in parry, then matches her next Sonido-slash with a shunpo parry, then a thrust towards her heart. He utilizes shunpo again, surging with a succession lightning fast stabs aimed at all points of her body. She dodges a few, then blocks more. As the attack ends, she launches a kick at his midsection which he blocks then shoves her back. He fires a fast kidou-lightning blast at her to counter--but it fails to break her still rising Hierro. Laughing, she sonidos twenty feet into the air, and begins gathering reiatsu as she holds out her arms. "Tres Gran Rey Cero!" after a few moments of charging, a triangle-shaped Cero attack fires from the space in her hands. The delta is 20 feet in diameter, the space filled with Cero energy. Caught in the middle, it begins to bare down upon both of you at intense speed.
He hasn't been standing idly during all this time. A hand once again pulled from his pocket, he lifts it over his head, accompanied by an abrupt burst of reiatsu, all too brief to amount for anything useful in regards to an attack. A silent signal of sorts, perhaps. The Espada continues to look skyward for a moment longer as he lowers his hand, and then he turns just as Frida launches herself into the air after tanking Tousen's kidou attack. The reiatsu that he feels pooling before the female arrancar is enough to have him widen his eyes in concern, and quickly he gathers and feeds the reiatsu he's already leveled about him, dashing back towards Tousen's side. It's far easier to charge for a Cero in Hueco Mundo's atmosphere, and Ulquiorra takes full advantage of this fact as he points his finger straight towards the center as the huge triangular blast comes down. ...it's too large for him to counter completely, much less halt bare-handed. If he focuses on only a small portion, perhaps they'll have a chance. He releases his own Cero just as the other is upon them in attempts to punch through enough to lessen if not negate the damage.
Meanwhile the results of his initial actions appear, perhaps unnoticed due to Frida's concentration on obliterating the two below; multiple Menos, their pointed masks the only real contrast against the backdrop of the ever evening sky, their long black lengths appearing like the darkness itself has dripped down to the sands below. Each of them target the dark-haired Privaron Espada, opening their maws to deliver Cero blasts of their own, and although not nearly as powerful as those hurled by the Espada, when concentrated in such numbers, they are not something to be laughed at.
The Privaron's eyes widen in surprise as the Menos suddenly rise from the sands, firing without abandon. "Damnation!" She cuts her massive Tres Gran Cero short, and flips forward out of the air, landing several yards away from Ulquiorra and Tousen. Her zanpakutou drawn, she backflips again as the Menos begin to turn their pointed masks down upon her, preparing to fire another blast. He holds her blade into the air and leaps ten feet, spinning the blade into a full circular arc. "Llamada Del Abismo!" A blade, eerie aura emanates around her sword--the wave striking each Menos surrounding her. Amazingly, it severs each Menos it touches at the lower "waist". As she lands back upon the ground deftly several yards away, she launches out both arms--and with remarkable speed she begins firing a rapid, machine-gun like onslaught of Bala bursts.
The eerie calls of the dying Menos echo across the white dunes, and they are felled like trees, slowly falling towards the sands, most disappating before they even land.
"Don't forget..." the Fourth Espada says quietly, standing with his finger pointed towards her as what sand has been thrown up in the wake of everything serves as a minor screen for cover. He releases the Cero blast at her. She is rapidly becoming an annoyance if she hasn't already been.
Tousen suddenly moves in a burst of shunpo--just as she moves in a burst of Sonido, sidestepping away from the Cero. "She moves in a pattern," Tousen says before he moves at her, his blade lowered. As she utilizes Sonido to escape Ulquiorra's blast, he suddenly connects with a leaping front kick to her face, catching her completely off guard and sending her staggering back. Launching his left arm out quickly, he speaks. "Badakou 1: Sai." As the Arrancar grimaces and attempts to use Sonido again, she's suddenly frozen in her place--as if completely immobilized. However as she moves more as she struggles, it's clear this restraint cannot last.
Ah, there he is. Ulquiorra has been waiting for that. Frida is a quick one, and had she not decided to rebel then he would have been certain Aizen would have made good use of the Privaron Espada's abilities. He looks on as Tousen makes his move, feeling some sadistic sense of satisfaction in seeing him land a hit on the female finally.
The Cuarta Espada steps towards her once she is restrained, shaking out his hand and fingers as if he's gotten them wet. In the next idle motion he sends four Bala blasts one after the other to strike each of her limbs, both arms and legs. Three fingers curl towards his palm, the foremost pointed again towards her to deliver a more compacted Cero ray than those of earlier, directing it at her chest.
The brunette Privaron struggles against her unseen binds--and her eyes widen in nigh horror as she sees the Bala bursts coming towards her. As it's said when you're caught in a bind and attacked in this manner...all one can do is watch. The first Bala tears through her right arm at the socket, severing it completely. She cries out is an extreme amount of pain, possibly one that can be heard throughout the entire expanse. The second, with equally remarkable precision, tears through her left leg--severing it in the same manner. As she writhes in agony more--the inevitable is certainly coming, and she knows it. As with any Hollow, her base instincts of survial, that need to live and sustain goes into overdrive. As she screams reach a fever pitch--her full reiatsu unleashes, and the binds break. The blasts to her remaining two limbs, somewhat dampened by her Hierro, slice deep into her arm and leg but do not sever them--the Cero aimed at her chest throughly knocks her back to the sands, spilling her blood and tearing a hole straight through her. Reaching for her last resort as she lays amidst the sand, damned, she speaks in a raspy tone. "Ressur..." she gulps. "recion..."
"Che."
Ulquiorra lifts his head as he senses the inevitable. Perhaps he should have Cero'd her first. He casts a glance towards Tousen, expecting him to be at the ready before he looks back towards the mangled Privaron Espada as the levels of her reiatsu erupt at her release.
Suddenly, a black-purple field, very similar to that of a Negacion field surrounds the defeated Arrancar's blade, then her body. It expands, becoming a dome--then a dome expanding over the diameter of 15 feet. There is a shill scream within the dome and the levels of the Arrancar's reiatsu rise to an insane level. The dome crackles with energy and as it reaches 19 feet in diameter, it suddenly shrinks completely and disappates. In Frida's place, her dress has become a complete suit of purple-black tinted armor, her face covered in a jagged mask. On her hands are 8 inch claws with purple tips--her righ arm and left leg, once severed, are replaced by ethereal Negacion-energy limbs. Her blade itself has become of pure Negacion energy. Through her hellish mask, she glares into Ulquiorra's direction. "Let me explain something to you, asno," she begins.
Tousen stands several yards from Frida's left flank, holding his blade towards the ground. He makes no movements, attempting to gauge the extent of the Privaron's abilities.
His green eyes widen once he is able to clearly see for himself the Privaron Espada's true form. Inwardly tensing, Ulquiorra knows to be well on guard now with the female's obvious additions to her powers. His more neutral expression settles into place again, and he cants his head subtly as if to signal for her to go on.
The armored Arrancar folds her blade over her body again, and returns to speaking in a somewhat elegant manner as she strides towards Ulquiorra. "A millenia ago, the shinigami did battle with me." She scoffs. "I took many of their lives, but ultimately I was sealed to the dimension Negacion by them as it appeared I would soon win." She laughs heartily, then points her rapier into your direction, as if daring Ulquiorra to approach her. "It is worse than hell, asno. It is as a void, with nothing. You cannot move, you cannot act. All one can do at first...is simply think. But then, asno, after the first 500 years, you begin to contemplate the meaning of things. And you contemplate the meaning of the Hollow, the Arrancar, the Shinigami. And you learn, asno..." her tone lowers cruelly. "The void is only another dimension outside of this one. Ebbing with more power than this one. And once you learn how to draw from that pool of power...you can master it." Her reiatsu spikes, equal with Ulquiorra's and Tousen's. "You may find an endless source of strength."
Tousen doesn't wait for the Arrancar to speak for a moment longer, he utilizes shunpo as rises 30 feet into the air, and draws a circle around himself with his blade--causing hundreds of smaller blades to materialize as he unleashes his second shikai. "You can't control the power of a universe, Hollow." He points his own zanpakutou down at the Arrancar. "Smash her limbs."
If she is trying to win him over still, she still has to work on her choice of names for him. He's had his own time to contemplate things though, but the were apparently vastly different from what she sought to ponder during her time of exile. Power is a relative matter, not merely based upon strength. Power comes in many forms. It has been more than obvious as to what sort of power the former Second had obtained and for what reasons she desired them.
There is hardly a twitch of movement from the half-helmed Espada that signals his own participation in assaulting the arrancar upon Tousen's words. Sonido aids his steps once again as he dashes across the sands, not directly towards her, but he intends to keep a good distance from her. He splays his fingers towards her, releasing another onslaught of Bala just as before, doubled for each limb this time.
The black-armored Arrancar looks up as the blades come down--and her eyes narrow. She is pinned between blasts of bala and hundreds of blades from above. As she attempts to sidestep through Sonido...she is truly caught in checkmate as one of the blades from above drives deep into her right shoulder, stunning her for a moment--but long enough for one of the Bala blasts to bounce off of her armor. "You..." her protest is cut short as the second Bala tears through her sternum, having more power than the first. While the blasts miss her limbs, they hit her centermass in her body, each burst tearing through her body with remarkable intensity. The blades from above, meanwhile, continue the assault. One tears through her neck, one the top of her head, and more throughout every inch of her body. This time, she doesn't even cry out. Her body impaled, burned, and bloody--Privaron Dos gasps for air as she falls to her knees. He energy blade dissapates as her muscles fail and she releases it.
"...How..." is all that escapes her lips as she looks at Ulquiorra, a sorrowful glare in her eyes. "--Why would...why would you serve a shinigami? They hate us. Why would you kill me for them, hermanos..." she gasps for breath, but then coughs out blood.
Footfalls crunching lightly on the sand, Ulquiorra steps towards the fallen arrancar, his shadow cast by the light of the moon falling across her torn up form. "Where have you gained this notion of hatred? It is a label for convenience. " There is no pity in his gaze as he looks down at her, a cool look of indifference chiseled from equally cold stone.
"Even our own kind feeds off one another, an endless cycle. In the end, there is no other reason than that of survival."
The arrancar's eyes widen suddenly--then slowly begin to close as her wounds become too severe for her to continue to live. She doubles over, keeping herself from the ground with one arm, and coughs up blood again. "The shinigami...will kill you..." she gasps for breath still, and she notices the blind shinigami already standing to her side, raising his blade execution-style. "Ease yourself, hollow. You will soon be at peace, as will the souls of those you took." The zanpakuto rises higher...then with a single, swift stroke, he severs Frida's head from her shoulders. The head and the body disappate before even hitting the ground. While shinigami may not be a member of Seireitei still, his blade still gives 'peace' to lives cut short by it. Moments after the Arrancar's end, Tousen lifts his head, seemingly staring out into nothing. The same way as when Ulquiorra first stumbled upon him. "What do you believe Aizen-sama will make of such, Schiffer-san," he says contently as he sheathes his zanpakuto back into it's sheathe.
...let them come then. The words are unspoken, yet they are there in his mind. Ulquiorra glances at Tousen as he finishes off the former Espada, not watching long enough to see her disintegrate. He looks back towards Las Noches in the distance, and for a time neither speaks. The silence is short-lived as the ex-captain speaks up again, and closing his eyes, it is not hard to hear the words of the fallen arrancar again, in his mind.
"...I shall not second guess Aizen-sama's views..." he replies after a moment. "...but I trust that he would well understand our reasons for acting. This is hardly anything new..." He opens his eyes again, green gaze settling upon the blind shinigami. "...the area is clear now. Shall we return?"
Tousen turns back towards Los Noches. His reiatsu no longer flucuates at all, but settles back into a level that's hardly even perceptible. His gazeless eyes cannot see, but the wind begins to pick up, the sand beginning to swirl about them more and more. With a very sensitive feeling of touch, Tousen can already feel and smell what's coming. "We should," he says in response. "A sandstorm approaches." He begins walking towards Los Noches calmly, already reflecting on the battle that had just taken place. A creature like that, who meddled with the very fabric of chaos, and was too weak to even remotely control it, he thought. Had it not been for people like him in Hueco Mundo...in existence, what damage could they cause with their unpredictability? The training and strength of the Espada and himself was what brought about victory, and maybe many lives in the grand scheme were saved because of it. Once again, in the shinigami's sightless eyes, the ends justified the means. Justice was done.