Good Practice (solo)

The Senkai Gate opened, and Masaru's class plus their instructors exited. Tonight was a night for the students to get a taste of what it was really like confronting Hollows in real life, as opposed to only learning theory and the like in class, where there was little danger of harm, here, they would get to test their abilities for real. Masaru was actually eagerly anticipating this, though this was difficult to tell. The only indication was that his grip on his hilt continually tightened and relaxed, anxious to come out and do some damage to the lawbreaking Hollows in the area. The instructors decided that the students should work in trios, while the instructors would keep an eye on the groups as a whole, and intervene if necessary.

Masaru was paired with two students that he didn't know. It didn't really matter; Masaru was not really much of a team player, so to speak, and so did not feel that their presence was even required. But it was necessary, and the instructors probably would insist on it. Ah well. Anyway, the trio headed off, with Masaru in the lead, keenly awaiting the scent of Hollow. It did not take him long to catch the smell of one. "This way," he barked to his comrades, and headed off in the direction of the smell. As he drew closer, he began to feel its spiritual pressure pressing down on him, though not to an intolerable level.

Masaru rounded the corner, and there, standing in the moonlight, was a giant Hollow that dwarfed even Masaru. It stood a good 20' high, and roared its pleasure as three prey wandered so willingly into its territory. With a savage growl that resonated from the back of his throat, audible even through his veil, Masaru charged the Hollow. As it swiped at him with a massive hand, he lashed out with his own enormous nodachi, and severed several digits upon the hand. The Hollow screamed its agony at the sky and brought both hands crashing down toward Masaru, who threw himself to the side and rolled to avoid the attack.

Masaru rolled onto his feet, and again, made a charge. This time though, he ran right up the Hollow's arm; it lifted it high into the air, preparing to crush Masaru's comrades, who were staring wide-eyed in terror at the Hollow, with their swords out. Apparently they were not yet ready for combat. Masaru lived to vanquish lawbreakers. Even as the arm rose, it sent Masaru higher; and when it straightened, Masaru fell.

The Hollow's mouth opened. Had Masaru been any other Shinigami, it was likely he would have died. But his great size saved him. Masaru's body hit the Hollow's skull with the force of a wrecking ball- his entire frame was simply too big to fit into its mouth. That sent the pair rolling over and over each other until they landed in a heap on the ground. Completely uncaring of the bruises he had received, Masaru brought his massive blade down on the Hollow's skull, crushing it and killing the beast.

"Wow, that was amazing, Masaru-san!" one of his partners called.

"He's right, that was incredible," said the other.

Masaru nodded his acknowledgment at their praise. There was still justice to be dealt tonight. And that was when two arrows of blue light pierced each of his partner's chests. They were dead before they hit the ground. Masaru whirled to see a teenager dressed in traditional skinhead attire holding a bow made of what appeared to be pure reiatsu pointed directly at him.

"Well well, look what we have here, Shinigami in a Quincy's territory," said the adolescent voice of the ambusher. Masaru growled deep within the back of his throat. "I took care of them first cause they looked pretty useless. But you might actually be a challenge. The name's Kito."

"My name is Masaru Arata, and I will end your law-breaking existence!" said Masaru in his low voice. With unrestrained righteous anger, Masaru punched the wall upon which Kito stood. Apparently, Kito had not expected this, as the wall collapsed beneath him. However, it had not distracted him enough so that a blue arrow coming from the rubble didn't force Masaru to jump out of the way for the second time that night.

"So you're a straight edge like that, huh, Arata? Well, let's see you even get close to me!" Kito raised his bow and began firing arrows at Masaru.

Masaru jumped away from the incoming arrows toward the mouth of an alleyway where he would be temporarily safe from the Quincy's attacks. How could he get close to his opponent? They were too far away from each other at the moment for Masaru to do much of anything, and frankly, sneaking up on the Quincy would be very difficult if not impossible, as Masaru wasn't exactly of the right build to go unnoticed.

Another option was to charge the distance between the two, but again, Masaru wasn't exactly a small target, and he had serious doubts about his ability to dodge every arrow that came toward him. He supposed he could just try to hold out until his instructors noticed his plight, but to be honest, his pride as a self-described keeper of the law prevented him from considering that option seriously.

Well...maybe it was time to put his bestial talents to the test. He looked around the alleyway. There, at the very end, was a rat, chewing on a piece of rotting fruit. "Rat-san," he called in its language. "Please help me, and do your best to distract the man who is shooting arrows at me." The rat cocked its head as if to say, "what's in it for me?" "I will give you this," said Masaru, pulling out a bag of his favorite snack food, sweet&juicy bamboo stalks.

The rat seemed to consider this, and then dove away into a hole in the wall. A minute passed, while the Quincy continued to rain arrows into the wall at the mouth of the alley, spraying Masaru with chips of brick. And then..."what the hell, what's with these rats?!!" Masaru took his chance, emerged from the mouth of the alley to see several rats jumping at the Quincy and biting viciously with their tiny jaws. Masaru ran as fast as he could, his blade drawn and ready to plunge into the chest of this lawbreaker.

But then, the Quincy gave a scream of frustration, and sent a flare of reiatsu coursing through him, throwing the rats from his body in pure rage. He then pointed his bow at Masaru and opened fire.

Masaru dived to the side behind a dumpster as arrows skittered into the ground he had just occupied. In order to take down this lawbreaker, he'd have to get close. But how? "You can't hide behind garbage forever ya piece of trash!" came the Quincy's voice. "Come out and fight like a man! Or better yet, like a Quincy!" Kito's jibe actually spawned an idea in Masaru's head. With a smile, he gripped the bottom of the dumpster.

1...2...3! with a mighty heave, he sent the dumpster flying forward toward the Quincy. He heard a yelp of fear just before the dumpster silenced the Quincy forever. Masaru stood and looked at the blood that was leaking from beneath the dumpster coldly. "Disposing of garbage with garbage...obvious if you think about it. I guess you didn't, lawbreaker."