+1 spirit power for Kuro, and I don't think I'll award for one low bakudo, the post was slightly shorter than I would award extra points for anyhow...

Saroki jumped up a few feet into the air to avoid the dangerous-looking tail swipe, then continueing her attack. Saroki grinned, her kidou had bought her a fair amount of time to ready herself, little did the hollow know the attack wasn't meant to hurt him. Sonido?! Saroki yelled out in her mind, Saroki calmed herself down, a wide grin appearing on her face. Saroki could feel the hollows reiatsu growing by the second, spreading like a fire. Saroki turned herself around quickly. Saroki felt as something grew within her mind, fear? Anger? Hatred? No, it was something far more complex. Saroki's eyes lit up suddenly, Sekkou's reiatsu was a bit more powerful than Saroki's, but she knew if she kept her fighting spirit she could win. Saroki felt as the hollows claw ripped through her flesh, blood splattering onto the ground as a a barrage of bala hit Saroki. A few shooting straight through Saroki as she knocked away most of them with her zanpakuto. Saroki felt as pain shot through her body as a malice smile appeared across her face, "I know no despair!" She yelled out in madness. Suddenly she was engulfed in a large fire-like ball of blue reiatsu, Saroki hadn't had this good of a fight in a long time. Such enjoyment she got from battle, Saroki bursted towards the hollow with all of her strength, soon in attack range. Saroki raised her zanpakuto and aimed a quick slash at the hollows mask, then quickly pulling back her zanpakuto, attempting to thrust it into the hollows chest.

Saroki gave no time for the hollow to react, she detached the hook at the butt of her blade. gripping it tightly with her left hand. "You don't know who your dealing with!!!" She yelled out as she jumped back, pulling her zanpakuto along with her. Saroki grabbed part of the chain connecting the hook with the katana. I don't think close range attacks will work on this bastard...So, maybe a few ranged attacks will prove to be useful.. She thought to herself. Suddenly a amazeing pain shot through her nerves, Saroki coughed up blood onto the ground, Grr...G...God damn hollow gave me a serious wound...

+1 fighting skill to Saroki, You need to tell us what it is you're applying for from now on though...

ooc: i'm gonna get you into the fight now, kuro
Sukauto dashed into the fray seemingly out of nowhere and picked Demō up with his antlers, throwing him easily over his back. "C'mon already, can't take a wimp like that!?" Sukauto taunted Demō as he ran away. Demō was roused enough to throw a couple of explosives at Kuro as Sukauto made good their escape. They closed in on Sekkou's reiatsu signature and ran towards it appearing just in time to see...

Sekkou dodged backward to avoid the lethal cut at his mask, just barely dodging it, but sustaining a long cut across his torso. It was moderately deep, and blood was welling up, and beginning to come down in a sheet down his body. Sekkou had no time to dwell on it, however, because he had to sidestep a quick thrust from her.

"I don't know who I'm dealing with?" said Sekkou. He laughed. "On the contrary...I am dealing with a little girl playing *soldier*!" He charged forward as if his wound was nothing, and aimed a kick at her face. His clawed foot went up and then down, deadly in either direction. Sekkou followed this up with a burst of hot smoke from his core, and then came flying through the smoke with a Sonido enhanced charge, driving his shoulder into Saroki's soft gut.

Time seemed to slow down. She was sliding backward, Sekkou was raising his right fist. It began to glow red. He spoke slowly, to emphasize his point. "You don't know despair? I beg to differ. Look into my face, realize you are beaten, never really had a chance, and...feel despair." Sekkou released his Cero. *insert that awesome Cero sound here*

ooc: fighting skill plz

Kuro coughed as Demo's explosives covered him in a cloud of smoke and debris. He sensed that the spider hollow, and the other one that had just saved him were getting further away from him. He refocused his energy towards his feet and shunpoed after the retreating duo. He could also sense that they were heading back in Saroki's direction. As they arrived on the scene, Kuro saw Sekkou's viscious assault on Saroki. His heart skipped a beat as he saw Sekkou bringing up his claw and a red glow began to shine in it. Cero!

Kuro abandoned his hot pursuit of the two other hollows and shunpoed with haste behind Saroki. Stopping her backwards slide with his right hand, he let her momentum spin him around so that he was standing between her and the lizard. He quickly raised his left hand and released a blast of energy from his gauntlet that met the cero at midway and resulted in a large explosion that took away all sight for a few moments.

"Saroki-san, I know that you hate people that act like heroes, but I could not hold back from helping out a friend. You've done well, but lets work together to finish this fight now."

(ooc: speed)

+ 1 Fighting Skill for Sekkou

+1 Speed for Kuro

"How rude of you to interrupt a fight..." commented Sekkou. "Thankfully, I don't rely on sight to fight my enemies." His lizard like tongue flicked out of his mouth almost unconsciously. "Sogekihei, help me even the odds," he called out, and then used Sonido to appear right behind Saroki, who was behind Kuro, using both the sense of smell granted to him by his tongue, and his ability to sense both their reiatsus. Sekkou lashed out with his left claw in an attempt to literally tear off Saroki's shoulder.

Sogekihei appeared from above, and like Sekkou, used the Shinigami reiatsu signatures to guide his attacks. He flapped his wings at a furious pace, and from the tip of each wing, Balas began raining down toward Kuro and Saroki.

"You're still fighting with me!" said Sekkou to Saroki as he engaged her in close combat. His entire body worked lithely, like a machine, fluidly, like a dancer. Every limb was used as a weapon, and every move was executed with flawless technique. If his style of fighting was compared to swordplay, Sekkou would be a fencer, using lightning-quick slashes and thrusts to keep his enemy at bay and force them to make mistakes.

Sekkou feinted a thrust at Saroki's gut, but quickly used his foot to instead aim a kick at her. His tail lashed up a split second behind his kick in an attempt to catch her off guard. "Tell me, do you know who you're dealing with? I am Niiro Sekkou, and I am despair!" He lashed out again and again, his limbs a virtual blur as he rained blows down upon her. Her stubborn resistance irritated him to no end, so Sekkou's reiatsu suddenly increased with anger. "Despair!" He commanded angrily, punctuating a final strike with a Bala aimed at her head.

ooc: fighting skill plz

+1 Fighting to Sekkou

Saroki quickly ducked, grabbing ahold of her zanpakuto handle. She dived backwards, dodgeing the kick, then instantly standing up onto her feet. Saroki's eyes widened as a screen of smoke bursted out from Sekkou, a flux in reiatsu was sensed by Saroki, she grinned. Saroki gasped as she saw Sekkou chargeing towards her, his attack enhanced by Sonido so he barely gave Saroki any time to react. She knew she couldn't dodge the attack, she tryed to think of a way to lessen the blow, she held out her zanpakuto infront of her, getting into a defensive stance. Saroki felt as Sekkou's shoulder bashed into her stomach, her defensive position only voiding a small fraction of the full force. Saroki felt as pain rushed through her body, she ignored it, trying to focus on her next move. Saroki had no time to think, Sekkou raiseing his right fist, he was chargeing a Cero! A look of pure courage appeared in Saroki's eyes, she was slideing backwards, the ground literally crumbleing beneath her feet by the two forces of reiatsu. Saroki knew if she wher struck point blank by the full force of Sekkou's Cero she would be obliterated. Saroki didn't expect Kuro to come in when he did, Kuro deflected the Cero, something Saroki knew she couldn't have done. Even so, Saroki felt weak, she needed Kuro to help.

"Kuro! Don't interfear! I can handle this by myself!" She yelled out in worry. Saroki quickly turned around, senseing Sekkous reiatsu behind her, she aimed a quick slash at Sekkou's claw as she turnned, hoping to counter the potentially lethal attack. Saroki then quickly spun around, senseing a bala comeing down from above, Saroki aimed a powerful slash above towards the bala as she spun. A very dense wave of reiatsu englufed most of the bala, forceing the many bullets of reiatsu away from Kuro and herself. Saroki then directed her attention to Sekkou, which was letting loose a barrage of attacks, seemingly cordinateing them like a dancer.

Saroki felt as her hatred grew for this hollow, she felt as if Kuro was also threatened. She felt her hatred consume her mind, festering in her very soul. Saroki side stepped to the left of Sekkou, potentially avoiding the deadly thrust from the hollows claw. Saroki then aimed a quick swipe at Sekkou's leg, hoping to have blocked the kick. Catching her off guard, Sekkou's tail slammed into Saroki, damageing internal organs. Saroki spat up some blood as she was knocked back a few feet, falling onto the ground. Saroki felt as blood escaped her mouth, she struggled to stand up once again. No...I can't be defeated, not by this hollow. I won't give this disgusting bastard any more satisfaction! She exclaimed in her mind. Sekkou had already started a second barrage of attacks, his movements nearly impossible to keep up with. Saroki attempted to counter each attack with a thrust or slash with her zanpakuto, her movements her increaseingly agressive with each attack. Her reiatsu going completely wild, she tryed to keep up with Sekkou, showing a equal ammount of reiatsu as his own. Saroki felt a spike in Sekkou's reiatsu, A bala! She thought to herself in alarm. The bala shot towards her head. She held her zanpakuto infront of herself, tightly gripping the handle with both hands. Her feet spread far apart. Saroki closed her eyes and relaxed her mind for a moment before chanting,"...Tsukuru...Ranmyaku...Akugou Naito!!!!!!!" She chanted out loud.

A extremely bright light englufed Saroki, rapidly increseing it's radius, near to Sekkou. Inside the light Saroki's zanpakuto changed, it's size doubleing, the blade extending to five feet, the barbed spikes surrounding the blade growing to two inches long, and, the hilt disappearing. Saroki's reiatsu rapidly grew, Sekkou's bala being deflected by the blue and black mixture of reiatsu surrounding Saroki. Saroki's eyes lit up a bit as she charged towards Sekkou, her zanpakuto blade dragging a bit on the ground, createing a few sparks. Saroki was quickly in attack range, she let loose a barrage of wild attacks at Sekkou, a almost animalistic feature showing in her fighting style. Saroki aimed two quick swipes at Sekkou's chest, then ducking to the right, side-stepping a few inches around Sekkou. Saroki then sprung up, sliceing upwards with her now gicantic zanpakuto.

Saroki would have continued the assault, but, she began to cough up blood. G-God damnit! She cursed in her mind, she started to feel dizzy, she was more than likely experienceing internal bleeding, Saroki quickly retreated a few dozen feet away from Sekkou. She coughed up more blood onto the black street, her vision started to fail, things began to fade a bit. Saroki kneeled down, stabbing her zanpakuto into the ground, then, leaning on it. Damnit...Just give me a few more minutes.. She tryed to reason with her body. Saroki then stood up onto her feet, holding her zanpakuto out infront of her, a bit of blood streaming down her chin. I have to finish this fast, this battle...Will be decided within the next few moves...If it isn't...My body will fail me..

((Ooc: Spirit Power please and thank you.))

+2 Spirit Power to Saroki

Kuro was amazed as Saroki managed to keep them both protected from the raining balas. As she was ingaged by the lizard again, he turned his attention to the hawk-like hollow above them that had fired the balas. Annoying buzzard... He thought to himself. He decided that he'd let Saroki handle the lizard for a while. He had to take care of the unwanted help. He shunpoed into the air to get closer to the bird and stood on a nearby roof that was large and open. He had a clear view of the sky from here and could see the bird hollow. The feathery fiend seemed to be focusing on Kuro now that he'd separated from the fight between its friend and Saroki. Its funeral I guess.

Kuro launched himself from the roof straight at the large hawk. As he came upon it, he swung his gauntleted hand in a straight punch using the momentum from his leap. The bird easily swerved out of the way of Kuro's attack and raked its talons across his back as he passed. He grunted in pain, but continued on his "flight" path into the side of a street light pole. Once he made contact, he vaulted himself back at the bird again. The bird dodged him again, but Kuro had anticipated as such and fired an upward blast of energy from his gauntlet as the bird tried to counter attack. His attack only grazed its neck, but startled it into flinching back without landing a hit on him. Kuro landed on another roof and spun around to face the hollow with a plan forming in his mind. His power circulated throughout his body as he guided it to his left hand and concentrated it in his gauntlet.

As Kuro stood on the roof, the hawk tried to hit him with a cero, but Kuro leapt from the roof with precise timing and avoided the strike. He flew straight at the bird like before and was not surprised when it dodged his obvious assault. Instead of waiting to reach a solid object this time, he gathered a patch of spirit energy in front of him and pushed off from it to soar in the opposite direction, back past the hawk. Its swiping talons missed him and it wheeled around to try and get him back in its sights. He shunpoed from another spirit platform almost immediately and placed himself right above the bird as it tried to find him. He took aim with his right hand and cast a simple kido.

"Hado #2: Reel!" The force of Kuro's spell suddenly yanked the hawk up towards him. Simultaneously, Kuro rocketed downward with a super fast shunpo, aiming right for the hawk's back. As he came down on it, he released his stored up energy in a massive punch that carried both himself and the bird crashing down onto the street below. Kuro could tell that like the spider, this hollow had a drive to live. His attack had not finished it like it would have a normal hollow. He got up and prepared to aim another smash at its head when he sensed Saroki's reiatsu. It almost seemed like it was flaring in a panic, like she was struggling to win...or to live. "I don't have time to deal with you!" he stressed to the hawk and shunpoed back toward Saroki's fight, leaving the hawk in the crushed street.

Kuro arrived at the scene and saw Saroki leaning on her zanpakuto. Blood was all over her mouth and he could tell that she was not in good shape. He shunpoed back in front of her and stood at a defensive stance shielding her from the lizard. Dammit! he cursed their bad luck in his mind, if we had someone else with us to distract this monster I could treat Saroki-san right now. If we don't either retreat or force this thing to retreat soon, I don't think she'll make it. He racked his brain for a way out of the situation. For the time being, all he could think to do was try to draw the hollow's attention away from Saroki.

"You think you're so tough because you can pick on a girl? Why not try taking me on before acting all superior, despair-san!" Kuro tensed up, not knowing if the hollow would take his bait and come for him or continue to attack Saroki. Either way, he was ready to react.

OOC: speed post. I said spirit platforms because I don't know what they call that technique where they can run and jump on air.

Hirenkyaku is what the quincy call it...

+2 Speed to Kuro

"How uncivilized," Sekkou remarked as he jumped back at Saroki's sudden display of savagery. Sekkou roared so loudly it did not seem possible coming from his relatively small body, and he immediately leaped back into the fray, noting with some satisfaction that she was countering his attacks with her own. His spiritual pressure increased with feelings of rage as she landed several hits on his lean torso, and blood was beginning to show on many parts of his body. None of the wounds were particularly deep though, and Sekkou was certain that she would collapse out of exhaustion soon enough.

Two quick thrusts nearly took him by surprise; Sekkou only managed to avoid serious damage by twisting his body around as he ducked close to the ground- even so, his back received two long scratches as he swept down and up. He stood up in time to see her swinging her huge Zanpakuto with enormous strength right up at him. He reacted instinctively and used Sonido to appear off to the side, dodging the lethal attack by a hairsbreadth. His reiatsu flared with annoyance, and it again began to climb steadily.

Sekkou watched as she fell to her knees and spat up more blood. "You don't seem to understand, brat," he said. "You are clearly outclassed. Your courage is...amusing, even admirable, but now, after continuing fruitlessly for so long- well, it is annoying." A slight frown somehow creased his reptilian lips as she stood up and faced him once more. "Well, well, you have some fire left in you...I shall do my best to smother it!"

I should overwhelm her with Sonido, Sekkou thought. And then the Shinigami that had joined the fray was standing in front of her, having used Shunpo to get there so quickly. "A girl who plays at soldier will find that it is harder than it looks," he said out loud. "And you are very stupid." Behind Kuro, Sogekihei had risen from the dust and flown into the air, where he was charging a Cero. "Save yourself or your friend- you cannot do both," Sekkou laughed. "Sogekihei may seem rather unremarkable- but his Balas and Ceros are the strongest I have ever seen besides my own. They seem to be...unique to him." As he spoke, Sekkou charged his own Cero, an evil malice dancing in his eyes. His spirit power was reaching yet another climax it seemed. And then they both fired off their Ceros at near point-blank range.

ooc spirit power please. and it's called hohō

Kuro's mind was racing. He didn't like the odds they were faced with. A hollow in front of them and a hollow behind them. As they began to charge their ceros, Kuro frantically scanned the area for any idea to counter this two proned assault. A lightly wounded lizard in front with a heavilly wounded hawk offering support from the rear. Frankly, Kuro was surprised that the bird had managed to get itself off the ground after he'd slammed it into the street. Saroki was behind him in bad shape with her power going berserk. The street beneath them all was cracked and fractured all over. The buildings were mostly untouched except for the windows that were rattling from the heightened levels of all the reiatsus. Not much to use. He figured that his only chance would be an attempt at a cease fire.

Kuro fired a small blast of spirit power out of his gauntlet back at the hawk, the lizard had called him Sogekihei? At the same time he cast a kido at the lizard. Hado #31: Shot of Red Fire!" A ball of red energy fired from Kuro's right hand at the lizard. Both of his attacks hit the ceros fired from the hollows and threw up a cloud of smoke once again that Kuro made his move in. Grabbing Saroki, he cast another kido on both of them. "Bakudo #26: Curving Light!" The spell hid both of them and their reiatsus as Kuro hoisted Saroki onto his back and shunpoed towards the lizard, following his strong reiatsu signature. He began to shunpo rapidly in circles around the lizard, weaving a kido net of bakudo #12 while he went. As the smoke cleared, he ended his run and revealed himself standing right behind the lizard, Saroki still on his back. His left hand was pressed up against the lizard's back, building energy in his gauntlet. His right hand held the end of his kido string, the net of which was woven efficiently around the lizard. He was focusing his energy to cast another kido if necessary. He had his plan laid out, now the hard part was getting the hollows to talk instead of fighting.

"My friend is badly injured as are two of your...aquaintances. All I want is for us all to go our seperate ways today alive. If you refuse, I'll blow up this net killing you and myself. And don't try any funny moves either. If your tail so much as twitches or your friends attack, I'll release a blast from my gauntlet right through your heartless body. So what do you decide? Do you want to live, or die?"

Kuro knew that he was looking naive, that most shinigami would just kill the lizard where he stood. But he had thought through that angle. If he killed the lizard, there'd be nothing stopping his buddies from attacking. And Kuro didn't know how long he could fight them off while protecting Saroki. Everything rode on the lizard's answer now.

(OOC: Intel attempt for Kuro's plan and his negotiating.)

+1 Spirit Power to Sekkou
+1 Intelligence to Kuro

and yes, the shinigami call it hohō as Sekkou pointed out...