Another Night in Fukuyama

Tigris had followed a Menos through a Garganta, and now he was in the world of the living…again. The Menos had come ridiculously close to killing him, but as the beastly large hollow was about to deal the killing blow it had stopped and listened as if something was calling it. Immediately the Menos had retreated into the interdimensional portal, and Tigris had followed half of anger toward his attacker and half curious: after all he was a cat and cats were notorious for their curiosity. As the Menos moved away from his position, Tigris thought about how it was strange the way that he could still function yet not remember anything about his life besides his death. He had gone up in flames, literally, cursing his enemies and his so called friends-had it been that intense that the memory could override every other memory he had possessed?

The cheetah-looking hollow decided that he should explore the new territory that he had stumbled into and began to stroll through the dark streets of the human world. He loved the cool, crisp, refreshing night air that blew through his fur and through his boney mane. Excitement filled him at the thought of what it would be like to run in this beautifully dark air, how much cooler and thicker it would be blowing against his being at full force. Without another thought he began running, first at a mild pace to test his theory of cold pleasure. The wind was pure ecstasy as it coursed through his thin fur like the icy, frigidly sensational fingers of lady night herself. Needless to say, his pace became more accelerated and his stride more rapid which made his feet an indiscernible blur. In full speed, everything around him became flashes of light and mass that moved by too fast to truly take in; and the wind gave him blissful goose bumps. He was in a running trance for the full thirty seconds he ran full speed, the wind chilling him to his bones. Tigris loved it, almost as much as hunting.

A deep voice penetrated the air as Tigris speed began to decline in speed, “Hado no San: Crimson Strike!”

A red beam of energy crashed down from the sky at Tigris. Luckily, he was able to jump out of the way at the last second which sent him skidding out of control from the running momentum he had built up. He was met by a wall, that stopped him and that he used to cover his back as he took an offensive stance. Tigris’ ears shot back, his fur was on edge, and his four paws dug into the ground while his muscles flexed. He belched a loud hiss at his descending opponent. His new enemy was human in appearance, had a sword and was wearing a black kimono. Tigris knew exactly what his foe was: a Shinigami, the hated enemies of all hollows. He gathered his energy, knowing that he was now at a disadvantage having wasted his full speed for the next few minutes.

“What are you doing here, Hollow?” The Shinigami said, condescending.

Tigris answered in a feral voice, “This is not your world, Shinigami. I do not answer to you.”

“Fine, have it your way. You’re going back to Hueco Mundo…in pieces.” The Shinigami’s brow furrowed, he drew his katana and then shunpo’d to Tigris’s side. Stupid Two-Legger, Tigris thought, I backed against this wall for a reason. As the Shinigami came down with a sword strike, Tigris instantly latched on to his opponent’s thigh with his teeth and used his stretched muscles to sling the Shinigami’s back against the brick wall. Upon impact with the wall, Tigris noticed that the sword attack had been nullified and that the Shinigami was in pain from having his back smashed against the wall. Tigris released his mighty jaws from the man’s leg and backed away to further inspect his new prey. The Shinigami had short black hair, slightly tanned skin and dark eyes. There was a hint of roughness about the man with his rigid jaw line and thin cheek bones.

Ignoring the stinging pain in his back, the Shinigami took a defensive stance again the hollow. The Shinigami smiled and Tigris knew something horrible was about to happen.

“Hado no Ni: Reel!”, The Shinigami pointed his finger at Tigris and suddenly Tigris was pulled towards the Shinigami by his spiritual energy. The hollow fought in vain as his body was dragged by unseen forces towards his enemy. Once he was close enough, the Shinigami hacked at the hollow with a quick but powerful blow from his sword. Tigris pulled back again as the kidou ended, with a large gash in his side. Blood began pouring from the wound as Tigris growled.

The gruff voice of the Shinigami emitted again, “You’re a tough one, Hollow. I don’t think one as low as you will be able to defeat me but out of courtesy I will tell you my name: Ruuisu Pieru. And I am sending you back to hell.”

Tigris was authentically worried about the wound on his side, but he chuckled at Ruuisu’s comment and decided he would share his name as well. “I know for a fact some crippled, no-rank Shinigami isn’t going to defeat me…but I’ll tell you my name anyway since we’re being so courteous. I’m Tigris Felidae, the hollow that kills you. And don’t try to run. You can’t run from an ass kick’in, it follows you.” The last few words ended up becoming half growls. The Shinigami smiled at the last threat from the Hollow and the hollow smiled at the challenge of fighting a worthy opponent for once. And the moon smiled because it was just another cold, bitter night in Fukuyama.

wow... You have impressed me! lol +3 fighting

(OOC: Thank you.)

The Shinigami waited for Tigris to move but the hollow remained still as he attempted to come up with a plan. Man, that Shinigami looks pretty comfortable against that wall, Tigris thought, maybe I can fix that. Tigris focused his reiatsu into his mouth and let it sit, compounding its energy until the point of explosion. At the last second he released the pent up energy at Ruuisu in the form a beam. As Ruuisu dodged the simple attack, Tigris fired another beam above the Shinigami’s head. That’s enough wasting my reiatsu, Tigris coached himself. Ruuisu simply thought that Tigris had missed him horribly and continued to watch the cheetah-like hollow. Tigris wasted no time as he moved to the left and forward making the Shinigami circle to the right and away. Perfect, Tigris thought, as a brick that had been loosed from his beam fell down on top of the Shinigami’s head. The Shinigami was dropped to his knees as the brick collided with the top of his head. Ruuisu clinched his head and tried to keep his squinted eyes on Tigris.

Without warning Tigris pounced on the Shinigami, swiping one set of claws to the arms holding the katana and swiping his other paw at the face. He poured what was left of his Spiritual Energy into his claws as he attacked, hoping that his power would make up for his unsatisfying speed. Ruuisu let out a roar of pain as the claws raked his face. Tigris wasn’t done yet; he sunk his large canines into the Shinigami’s neck. The hollow knew that one quick jerk and he could break the Shinigami’s neck, he could kill his prey.

The Shinigami’s deep voice cut through the despairing air, “Bakudo no Hachi: Repulse!” Tigris hadn’t noticed that Ruuisu managed to raise his hand up to Tigris’ mouth with one finger pointed at the hollow. Before Tigris could give the neck one good, final tug he was propelled away from the Shinigami and one of his legs smashed against the wall now to his left. With a thud, Tigris hit the ground unable to land on all fours since one of his legs had been injured by the wall. Tigris stood on his three uninjured legs as he tried to formulate another plan. However, the Shinigami did not give him time to think of another strategy.

“Hado no Yon: Pale Lightning!” Tigris heard the words as a beam of colorless lightning streamed towards him. Damn it, the hollow thought, there’s no time to completely dodge it. He took a chance and ran up the brick towards the Shinigami, bypassing the deadly kidou and performing a wall run. The Shinigami’s eyes widened as Tigris launched off the wall and slammed into his body. Tigris pinned Ruuisu’s shoulder’s down this time, making sure no pesky kidous would interrupt his meal to come. The hollow immediately bite down into the Shinigami’s neck again, making the Shinigami cry out in pain. Tigris didn’t savor the kill, he just wanted the potentially fatal opponent to die; he figured that if he could at least savor the devouring of the Shinigami. With one violent whip of his head, Tigris broke the Shinigami’s neck and the body went limp.

Tigris carefully and methodically ate the delicious meal which use to be Ruuisu. Somehow he knew he would never get another meal that good again so he savored every last bit. To his surprise, the reiatsu infused tissue aided his regeneration and within a few minutes his rib gash was healed and so was his right foot. The taste of Shinigami was addicting, if there was another Shinigami in the vicinity Tigris would have attacked it just to get another taste of the appetizing delight. After he finished eating Ruuisu, his mouth watered at the thought of finding another Shinigami but eventually his mind won the battle and he decided it wasn’t worth the danger to find another delectable morsel. He took a deep breath, and smelt the city smells that the cool night breeze brought to him. And he smelt something that he had not expected, it wasn’t a hollow…or a shinigami…no, it was a human. This human smelled like a person ripe with Spiritual Power, and they were close by.

Tigris hear a voice with a slight British accent speak to the darkness, “Well, Bloody Hell. It would appear that I have arrived too late.” Tigris turned towards the Super Human as he exited the shadows of the midnight city of Fukuyama.

+ 2 Fighting skill

The Superhuman exited the shadows and Tigris could see his short cropped brown hair and his piercing blue eyes that shone even in the night. The human stared at Tigris for a moment and the hollow stared back noticing that he was wearing khakis, a cashmere vest and polished leather shoes. After sizing up the hollow, the human spoke again, “You killed that Shinigami that was here a few minutes ago, didn’t you?” The expression on his young, round, hairless face turned murderous for a moment and Tigris was shocked for an instant. Once Tigris recovered he growled at the human.

The hollow’s animalistic voice erupted, “Who the hell do you think you are? Human. You are my prey so don’t go acting all high and mighty. I’m Tigris Felidae, I’ll kill you were you stand!”

The Superhuman regained his composure and smiled, “Obviously you don’t know who I am. I’m Paul Davis, and I am no mere human.” He paused and extended his hand in Tigris’ direction. “I would love to see a weak hollow like you try to kill me. You couldn’t imagine how many of you wankers I’ve killed.”

The human’s voice lost all compassion and took on a heartless tone as he commanded, “Extend, Shadowetta.”

Tigris’ eyes grew wide as the shadows around the human swelled up and then raced at him. Tigris wasn’t sure what to do besides try to dodge the shadows that darted across the ground, but the shadows simply followed. He gathered his spiritual energy as he agilely danced away from the encroaching shadow and swiped at it with his energy enhanced claws. There was no effect what so ever. His eyes slanted as the shadow moved through his attack, unfazed, and surround him. Within seconds, Tigris found that he could not move. Once the man’s shadow had merged with his own, Tigris’ shadow turned against him and began to entangle him with an iron grip.

The well dressed Superhuman taunted the hollow, “What was that about killing me where I stand?” His eyes turned murderous again, thirsty for blood. “I’ll kill you where you stand, Hollow.”

Tigris made an attempt to open his mouth to reply and found that he could. Instantly he swallowed his words for he had a plan. He gathered his energy in his mouth as he had against the Shinigami, feeling his tongue tingle against the pressurized force. Paul, the Superhuman, sauntered over to Tigris purposefully never taking his eyes away from Tigris’ eyes. Almost, Tigris thought, just a little bit more. Once Paul was close enough, Tigris diverted his eye contact to some shadows behind the Superhuman with falsely wide eyes. Paul immediately took his eyes away from the hollow and looked behind himself. At that very moment Tigris released the energy that he had been storing in his mouth. The energy shot out in a blast of blue encircled in red right at Paul’s head. Once Paul had realized that he had been deceived, he turned to find he was face to face with an energy blast which made full contact with his head.

Once released from the shadow prison, Tigris distanced himself from his opponent. He only knew one facet of his opponent’s power, by creating distance he felt he could observe another attack before it reached him. He was hoping his enemy didn’t have any more surprising abilities, but his gut instinct told him not to hold his breath. Tigris knew that he was in a particularly dangerous fight where the tide could turn against him at any moment. He had already decided he hated the shadows cast by Fukuyama: they were his worst enemy.

+1.5 fighting skill, nice work ^_^

Tigris watched as the Super human walked out of the shadows, with only a minor wound across his cheek. The hollow’s eyes widened in pure shock. What!? I saw that energy blast hit him directly, he can’t be unharmed.

Paul informed Tigris, “ I guess you’re not a complete plonker. You moved away from me even though your eyes saw me get hit with a potentially fatal attack. You have good instincts for a dog’s bollocks.”

Tigris tried to thank of what could have happened to save the human but he had no idea and decided not to waste his time with such meaningless pondering, he had to think of a way to achieve victory. He only had two more blasts left and his speed was returning, so he had a chance of winning but only if he could make a full prove plan that would penetrate his enemies abilities. Just as Tigris was thinking about rushing in a making a plan as he went, Paul spoke up during the deadlock.

“I can tell that you are baffled by your lack of movement. An ignorant beast like you would have charged me by now if you thought you even had the slightest chance. I’ll divulge a speck to you: My Shadowetta can also function as Shamour, or armor if you will.” Paul smiled and opened his mouth to continue.

That’s all Tigris needed to know, he lunged forward with his full speed now. The muscles in the hollow’s legs tightened and then exploded with force that propelled Tigris forward like a bullet. In the half second that it took Tigris to cover the distance between him and his enemy, the Super Human had no chance to completely defend. Paul brought up his hands in a defensive effort but his Shamour did not move quite as quickly as Tigris’ claws. As the claws sunk in, Tigris waited and made sure that they hit their target before he channeled his spiritual energy into them and then tore them from Paul’s flesh. The Super Human let out a scream of agony as the claws skinned his arms. Immediately after the hollow’s attack, he saw the shadows around the human surround him and imprison him again. Tigris pretended to look surprised as the shadows bound his legs.

Paul looked at his severely injured and bleeding arms, thinking about how he could heal them. His face began a reflection of the stinging pain that ran up his arms, then the anger in his eyes turned toward Tigris. Paul took a step forward, menacingly but Tigris only smiled. The human yelled, “What the hell is so funny?”

Tigris gathered all the energy he could muster into his mouth as he spoke, his mouth moving up and down with sparks of energy pouring from it. “Your Shamour or whatever is good but it could barely handle my blast. You cocky human, I bet you didn’t know I could combine two more blast to make a more powerful one!”

As his fate donned upon him, Paul’s face went pale and he tried to back away but just as the signal reached his legs to back away as fast as possible it was too late. The reinforced black propelled from Tigris’ mouth in an explosion of fire and booming sound. Within an instant the blast hit Paul Taylor and thus was the end of his career as a vigilante Super Human. Once Paul stopped moving Tigris was finally released from the binding of the shadows. It was there in the shadows of sweet o’, merciful Fukuyama that Tigris rested for the night and thought about how he was going to get home.

Awesome! +2 Fighting Skill