OMNOMNOMNOM (open- plz join!!!)

Jacques Kyoukan stepped out of the Garganta and breathed in deeply. He loved this part of the Real World; it was rife with the spiritually aware. Tonight would be fruitful indeed. There was a slight chill to the air, but honestly, Jacques did not mind. He reached into his jacket, lit a cigarette, and focused on finding a potential victim. A Plus was nearby. Jacques grinned and Sonido'd away.

He appeared in front of the spirit of a young woman. Startled, she jumped back and screamed. "Hush," Jacques said, laying a gloved finger on her lips. "I am here to grant you sweet release." And in saying that, Jacques slammed his fist over her head, shattering her skull and sending blood and brains everywhere. His intent, of course, was not to kill in her in an overdone manner- he wanted his spike of reiatsu to attract the attention of stronger beings...like Shinigami.

Jiro was in the middle of hunting his first Plus in quite a while and this one was a success. The screams of the young boy and his feeble attempts to fight back only made Jiro hungrier. That was, until something interrupted him.

Although it was being used to attract Shinigami, the flashy display caught the eye of a hollow. Jiro leaped toward the source of the Reiatsu and saw Jacques.. This was no Hollow, nor Shinigami, and it was too powerful to even attempt to attack. He noticed the mask and crawled toward Jacques cautiously, feeling fear for perhaps the first time.

A simple stroll through Karakura. Nowadays frivolous walks such as these seemed to be impossible for Hado, whether it be a Hollow randomly popping out of nowhere chasing a five year old kid. Or an annoying Shinigami running through the streets like a deranged madman. Truly, it seemed like there would never be any peace for this young Quincy, his only rest lay in his training with his elders. However, for once, it seemed like nothing would happen tonight, there was a gentle breeze blowing through and the town was in a state of tranquility.

That is, something happened that sent an ice cold chill down Hado's spine. A sinister Reiatsu, one he would expect from a Hollow, only amplified to what he could only perceive as titan levels. The Quincy gritted his teeth, he knew that he would need to engage this monster, distract him until a stronger member of any race came to Hado's rescue.

He sighed, instantly channeling Reishi into his legs and taking off at Olympic sprinter speeds towards where he detected the anomaly. And it was just Hado's luck that it was so near by, but the sight that greeted him only served to further bewilder the young Quincy.

There was man, with what appeared to be part of a Hollow's mask on his face? But there were stranger things still! A hollow, a fairly large one no less, was cautiously approaching as if the beast actually FEARED the man. Hollow weren't afraid of anything normally, if this man was indeed so powerful Hado wouldn't stand a chance, but he had to try.

As he pumped Reishi and Reiryoku into his hands he forced his silvery bow to form from the cross that dangled from his wrist. The Quincy pulled back his bow string and instantly began to fire, sending arrow after arrow at the odd man. But as he fired he would leave no excess Reishi, even with the constant flurry of arrows Hado would still be able to gather more Reishi than he could use. So, this time he reinforced his legs with the leftover particles, a precaution for what was to come.

Jacques absorbed the woman's soul in a curious manner- it seemed that her essence flew to the tip of his cigarette, whereupon inhaling he took in her essence. This seemed to increase the speed at which he smoked the cigarette; it was a stub by the time he was finished. He looked with some distaste at the blood that was soaking into his sleeve. Jacques held his hand over the area and used his reiatsu to heat the blood and dry it so he could brush it off in flakes.

Satisfied, he reached into his jacket to pull out another cigarette and light it, but as he was lighting it, he noticed the presence of another. Turning, Jacques saw an interesting, frog-like Hollow approaching him with...was it fear? Jacques smiled around his cigarette. Hollows being more or less fearless creatures, it was very nice to Jacques's ego that this one appeared to be afraid of him.

"Nice night," he greeted the Hollow. He was about to continue when he felt a threatening, but relatively puny reiatsu from behind. "What-?" Jacques whirled around to see several reiatsu arrows speeding toward him. He reacted instinctively, firing Balas at each of the arrows to counter them; Jacques's Balas hit each arrow and exploded, rendering each one useless. A thin film of smoke began to shroud the two from each others sight.

Jacques had fought somebody like this before- but that boy, Stuart, had been a Shinigami. This boy did not appear to be a Shinigami- but something else entirely that Jacques was not familiar with. His curiosity was piqued, to say the least. I would like to discover what exactly this boy thinks he's doing- and what he is, before I teach him a lesson. But how to do it without killing the naive idiot? Jacques decided he would do this by attempting to smother him with his reiatsu. He began to glow with a malevolent green reiatsu that seemed to thicken the very air...

As Jacques fired off his Balas, Jiro quickly leaped to the side so he was able to view both of them. The new man was also not a Shinigami and definitely not a Hollow. One of the men attacked them and one had saved him.. even this frog-like Hollow could tell friend from enemy. Luckily, what he thought was a friend, seemed to be stronger than the .. human of some kind that had just appeared.

When Jacques released his reiatsu, Jiro backed up further, his body feeling heavy. Whether either had the intention of killing him was unknown, but he knew that both were stronger than him and unless he chose to fight alongside the stronger of the two, he may not make it through this battle. For now, he watched the human with angry eyes, waiting for the moment he would be able to attack.

Kuroi was running as quick as he could... He had already signaled to the soul society that he needed back up, as an arrancar had appeared, He felt the presense, Kuroi wouldnt waste any of his power increasing his Reiatsu.

Kuroi arrived on the scene, a young quincy, an arrancar and a small fry hollow, The arrancar seemed to be abit pressured by the arrows, but not paticularly worried...

Kuroi had to do something flashy to get his attention, and thats when it struck Kuroi, This is the same arrancar from Hueco Mundo!

Kuroi decided to do something that he remembered quite well...

"Hado 30 Midori Hi Jikkou"

The green ball formed, Kuroi enlarged it to the size of a Shot of Red Fire and fired it at the Arrancar's back...

"It's a party!" Jacques spun around as he registered the presence of a Shinigami (finally). He thrust his left hand out to meet the hado spell directly, confident that his Hierro combined with the extra reiatsu he was pumping out right now would be more than enough to stop an attack from a Shinigami of this caliber. The blast hit his gloved palm and seemed to strain against Jacques's palm, desperately trying to wriggle its way into some form of injury.

Jacques clamped his fingers down, dissipating the blast entirely. He held up his hand to examine it. It was smoking, and his glove had been burned away by the attack. His skin was covered in a thin film of soot. "Care to try that again, Shinigami? Or should I just kill your insignificant self now?" Jacques was very much annoyed that either this whelp or the strange man with the arrows thought they could contend with the likes of him. The very thought was laughable.

As the suffocating force of the strange mans Reiatsu pressed against Hado his knees began to quiver. They would have buckled all together if it weren't for the amount of Reishi that was being channeled into them. The rest of his body remained immobile, but Hado had an idea, but he would need to test it. Through sheer force of will, the Quincy managed to wiggle his big toe.

It appeared that if his muscles were packed with enough Reishi and Reiryoku he could resist the Arrancar's Reiatsu better. So there the Quincy stood, seemingly doing nothing at all, but to the trained eye one could tell that there was power building in his limbs. Seconds passed, and to a passing human it would look as if the Quincy was slowly being released from a block of solid ice, until, he was able to move again.

Even though his movements were incredibly sluggish, the important thing was that he was actually able to move!

More arrows were fired at the Arrancar, the Quincy making sure that the Reishi in his arms and legs wasn't wasted. Each of these arrows were aimed at the Arrancar's head, what Hado thought to be the chink in the humanoid's armor.

Then, a small smirk crossed Hado's lips, it wasn't often a Shinigami and a Quincy were forced to work together, but this opponent was on a different level entirely.

"That's some Reiatsu you got there, Almost broke my spine ya did."

Kuroi was trying to ignore the reiatsu the best as he could, he shouted out,

"I have an idea Arrancar, how about i take neither of you suggestions"

Kuroi drew his new sealed zanpaktou from his waist, this would be the first time he would have to use this in battle.

"Hakai Shinasai, Mudashu"

Kuroi gripped the staff, he spun it on his right side letting sand leak through the seal, he then ended the spinning, the staff in front of him, as he was handling it gripped lower, like a spear , and let the sand fall about half a tube, or half gallon was scattered evenly around Kuroi, Kuroi simulationly drew sand from the oppisite resivoir, but he compressed that into a spearhead, and waited for the arrancar to make his move...

With the new Shinigami showing up, things were starting to get a little more tense. Even this one was stronger than Jiro, but because of his lack of power they seemed to be focusing all of their attention on Jacques. In that respect, being a "small fry" hollow had its advantages.

While they were all preparing for battle, Jiro began to creep far to the side. As more arrows were released and fired from the bow, Jiro took the chance and leaped directly at the man doing it, which took all his strength considering the Reiatsu flowing around him. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest decision to charge into battle with barely the ability to move, but he had to take advantage of the situation. Since he isn't seen as a threat, surprise was the obvious choice and his only way to assist not only Jacques, but to keep himself alive.

OOC: Edited a little for the whole Reiatsu thing.. though maybe I shouldn't have been able to attack in the first place I'll admit it . @ Jacques True, but most of my points are pumped into intelligence so he'd probably come out on top right now unfortunately

ooc: Jiro, i'm pretty sure you and hado are the same rank- so you're more or less on equal footing. check his stats and compare them to yours

"Shikai?" Jacques chuckled with genuine amusement. "I have fought Captains who have used BANKAI on me before, whelp. And here I stand. You think you have a chance against me? Have you ever heard the adage, 'pride goes before the fall?'" Jacques was interrupted by a feeling of those reiatsu arrows speeding towards him again. This time, Jacques chose to just dodge the attacks by Sonido'ing up to the top of a telephone pole behind them. The arrows flew harmlessly by where he had been standing seconds before.

"I am not even going to give you the honor of seeing my Resurreccion; you are not worth it," Jacques said. He held up his hand, palm outward, and a green Cero began to charge in the very center of it. "Get out of the way if you have any sense, Frog-Hollow and strange man. Because I cannot guarantee that the blast radius won't kill you. Cero!!"

Jacques Cero erupted forth from his hand, a deadly force that would annihilate anything and anyone foolish enough to stand in his way.

((OOC: Jiro You should be Affected By Niiro's Reiatsu as well))

"Oh..."

Kuroi had expected a close range attack Kuroi quickly returned the sand to its container inside the staff, not a grain was misplaced. Kuroi, has soon as he had done the previous action, shunpo'ed to the air well above the cero's trajectory.

"I dont expect to defeat you, Arrancar, I never did, I have to follow orders don't I? I have to fight you, although i would rather not. I am not of enough value to the Gotei 13 to disobey orders without severe Repercussions. Now I will fight you full force, Mudashu, dont fail me now Kuroi said this while drawing up his Spiritual Power Reserves Diverting it to His Sand, He also used it to counter the arrancar's massive spiritual pressure, which was pressing down on him like double gravity.

Kuroi swung his staff above his head, keeping the rotation going and letting the sand come out, and having it swirl around him, in a sand storm of such, while he had disapated the glass, Kuroi planned to fight the arrancar to his best ablities, but he couldnt keep this up for more than a few minutes.

((In a wrap up, i shunpo'ed above your cero, and a mini sand storm is spining around me, and i can only fight you for 3 posts max))

A senkaimon gate appeared in the sky of the living world and slowly it opened, from it’s openingcrack Ri emerged sprinting as fast as he could, he’d received ordered to assist a Shinigami fight a powerful entity.

Building and people blew by Ri as he shunpo’d through the city making his way to battle ground, as he drew near he could feel the pressures of a few beings, easiest one to make out was Kuroi but it had grown since Ri had seen him last , the next pressure was familiar ,one of an Arrancars, Ri witnessed Kuro and Saroki fighting some time ago. Two other pressures were there as well thought they were hard to make out, one was a hollow and the other was something else, a human perhaps.

“I’m going to need soul protection over this area,” Ri requested as he drew near the battle, he spoke into an ear piece that relayed his requisition to the soul society.

“Preparation already underway” A voice reported back as Ri prepared himself to enter the battle, it wasn’t like him to join in someone’s battle but he’d set that aside for an Arrancar.

“Kuroi” Ri said as he shunpo’d not far from Kuroi , not knowing the full situation he didn’t enter the fight but from the moment he appeared he could feel the Arrancars pressure on him .

Meanwhile, a few blocks down the road.
Wick looked at a hand.
''Strange. This isn´t mine."
He put it down, and realised it was his. His hand was huge!
He looked down. His whole body was huge. Pale white skin stretched over a massive frame, stretching up to his neck and round the back of his head. His hair, long back and scraggly, fell down his back. He reached up with his new hands to feel his face, and felt the cold porcelein smoothness of a mask.
"Nice." he muttered. Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
He froze, standing stock still as instinct took over.
A man, fearfull and small, stood on the right side of Wicks back. A chain hanging from his chest clinked as he shivered in fright. At the sound, Wick started. Now that he had his target, he spun around and clamped his new mask-teeth onto the mans upper body, fanged protrusions securing the man. Tossing his head back, Wick swallowed the man whole. A warm flush of power ran through his body.
"Not too shabby. Beats a McDonalds any day."
Suddenly, a niggling feeling on his scalp began. Turning, he loped down the road. He had gone two blocks, and had detoured to chase a small girl who he munched on as he continued. The niggling was becoming a minor pain, and he saw four figures in the distance, who seemed to be battling. One, the most prominant figure, seemed to be dominating the battlefield.
Tail swishing... "Wait, I have a tail?" Wick looked over his shoulder, backing up slightly to ease the annoying feeling, to inspect it. It was segmented and pale, like his skin, and by flexing a muscle at the tip, a small spike sprang out.
"Double nice." he commentated to himself.
Turning again, he pushed forward, depsite the growing pain, and crawled up to the top of a roof to survey the battlefield.
One, a tall figure in a suit, seemed to be fighting two humans with weapons. Another, a wierd creature like himself, stuck to the side.
Wick, tail lashing violently from the crushing pain, continued watching. This should be interesting.

"Ah. So you are being dutiful...I suppose that is an admirable sentiment, though it will do you no good. Tell you what- promise not to bleed on my suit...and I'll kill you quickly," said Jacques ominously. His nostrils flared a bit, and his head turned to the side as he registered the presence of yet another Shinigami. "What is this, do they teach you to fight with unfair odds in Soul Society? So much for admirable qualities..." Theme Music! Jacques thrust his right hand out, and a butterfly knife flew into his waiting grasp. He flipped it open expertly and pointed it at Kuroi. "Time to go to the final sleep, Sandman!" He chuckled a bit at his joke, and then Sonido'd up in front of Kuroi.

He feinted a stab at Kuroi's right shoulder with his knife, but before the blow could land, he Sonido'd again...to appear behind the newcomer Shinigami. Jacques hoped to exploit some measure of the element of surprise here. Seeing his comrade apparently taking up an enemy's full attention might have made this Shinigami a little less wary than he should be. He was also gambling that Kuroi would react to Jacques's feint, and so not be able to come to the aid of his fellow. Jacques had flipped the knife to a downward stabbing position as it plunged down towards the newcomer's flesh. The stab was aimed at the man's right lung. Should it land, it would cause severe pulmonary bleeding.

Ri's hand instantly moved onto his hilt the moment Jacques moved, he was fast but Ri could follow his movements to some degree. Ri prepared himself to jump to kuroi aid but Jacques moved, the attack had been a diversion.

Ri saw him move out of sight and by experience knew he was coming from behind and that his blade was so small to block. Ri shunpo'd to his left and from it's sheath Ri and slashed for Jacques shoulder.

Ri's sword made contact but the moment it touch Ri knew it couldn't piece his skin. Ri leaped back a few paces out of the immediate range of Jacques knife. Ri face broke out in a smile, it was going to to be an easy fight and he liked that.

"Have you no manner, you should always introduce yourself. I'm Ri O'nocht fifth seat of squad ten " Ri said smiling well maintain an excited look in his eye , Jacques maybe out of his league but with Kuroi it made something of an even fight.

Kuroi hadnt had time to react to the initial blow... Has he hadnt seen it... He barely Reacted to Ri's appearance, which means that sould society had sent reinforcements.

Kuroi turned, gathering all the sand from his little storm into one rotating sphere Kuroi spun and launched it at the Arrancar's head, while the spin was more of a pivot letting him luckily dodge the jab. Which Kuroi couldnt of healed since it was on his back.

Kuroi retracted some of the sand into both tubes, making the tubes glow again, and this would allow him to fight for much longer, since he had reinforcements. Kuroi had to keep his guard up though... Kuroi let the sand flow aroudn him in streams, instead of the big storm.

Wick watched all this in amazement, and yet he was shocked. These people had, supernatural abilities. Did this mean he did as well? He had to find out and the only way he could was to go in and ask for help. He noticed a strange sense coming from the man in the suit, who clearly was the strongest. And also the frog like beast, which was clearly trying to get out of the way of the large laser type thing. He heard something about a, soul society. He had to know. But if this one being was hit by this sand orb, it might all be over. He had to risk it.
He straightened his back getting ready to attack, and at that very moment he felt a rush of energy/rage go through him. He was ready. He tried converting it into an attack, then suddenly his tail retracted its small blade and the whole tail glowed green.
"Impresive!" he had said to himself. Then, Wick, jumped of the roof the building and charge his poisoned whip towards the orb. He knew it wouldn´t end well but he needed answers...

As he suddenly felt an orb like concentration of the Arrancar's Reiryoku the Quincy instantly moved out. Leaping into the air and snapping off multiple arrows towards the strange frog like hollow. Hado would need every shred of concentration to even survive fighting the Arrancar, let alone with a frog trying to eat him. But right now, Hado was in a dangerous position, falling through the air was not somewhere anyone wanted to be.

So, using controlled bursts of the Reishi and Reiryoku stored in his legs he eventually came to rest on the ground. The smothering Reiatsu having relaxed slightly due to the humanoid having just released an energy beam of sorts.

The Shinigami obviously had their hands full with that man, and after Hado dealt with the small fry Hollow he would give the two a helping hand.

OOC: Bad! Dx

Jiro's simple attack was so weak due to the Reiatsu that by the time he landed and the Quincy had dodged, the cero was already imminent. Gathering all his remaining strength he jumped and barely escaped the blast with his life, so he had little to no time to see the arrows heading his way. The first couple missed, but the last hit his right front leg and when he landed he fell forward onto the ground. The hollow stood, enraged, mostly because Jacques fired off the cero, but he had no choice but to focus on the one shooting arrows.

It seemed his opponent could move much easier than he, so attacking first would get him killed before he had a chance to land any hits.. but the enemy could also shoot arrows, while Jiro couldn't fight long range at all. His best chance was to be a coward and hope Jacques could handle the two Shinigami quickly and move on to his opponent before he succumbed to exhaustion due to the Reiatsu.

OOC: Cero mid-leap, I definitely should be dead..

"My name is Jacques Kyoukan- and though I am generally a rather courteous individual, I must say that given the unfair odds my not introducing myself is hardly that much of a transgression," Jacques said. He spat out his half-smoked cigarette and replaced it with a fresh one. "I need something pleasant like a new cigarette to hold my attention while I deal with small-fry like you," he explained as insultingly as he possibly could.

That being said, he placed the knife back into its holder up his sleeve. Just to make things interesting, of course. Jacques Sonido'd toward Ri, right hand extended for a jaw-shattering right hook. It was a feint however; the real attack was coming from his bare left hand in the form of a palm thrust directed at Ri's chest. He planned on tearing through the fabric because if even a square millimeter of Ri's skin came into contact with Jacques's bare hand, he would be injected with a venom that would render him effectively useless in a short amount of time (see char app for details).

If Ri was particularly weak, the attack might even just tear right through him. Jacques didn't really care if that happened; this one hadn't displayed any traits he was at all interested in, unlike the arrow boy below them. Out of the corner of his eye, Jacques saw a new Hollow attacking the Sandman. Not a problem; Jacques focused on the problem at hand.

((Sandman, i like that nickname))

Kuroi was genuinly suprised that the hollow had intercepted his attack, Kuroi didnt sense it because it was so weak and Jacques was so strongly emitting energy.

It was either very smart or very lucky, as he intercepted the sand, but he let is swallow his barbed tail. Kuroi's Shikai, of course as it was a staff, ment that it wouldnt cut through its tail, although, that wasnt the least of this hollows worries.

Kuroi let the hollow's tail go, but only to send all his availble sand(out of the canisters) at the hollow, his intention to let the abrasive sand push him away and probably wound the hollow.

Kuroi locked his senses on that hollow, keeping a sort of third eye on the hollow as he was sure it would have some other attack incoming later.

Also Kuroi pulled the sand back pulling it all of the the chambers, except for very little, enough to pull out a spear head, that was wickedly barbed.

Kuroi stabbed forward, attempting to intercept the hand. Either that or it would impact, pushing the hand away anyway.

Ri watched carefully when Jacques withdrew his butterfly knife and returned it into his shelve. Ri wasn't sure if himself and Kuroi were enough to beat Jacques but he was going to give it a good go. The next thing Ri knew Jacques right hook was swinging for his jaw, without hesitating Ri leaned back and pulled his head back but that punch had been a faint and the real one was heading straight for his chest.

Ri kicked off his reiatsu foothold trying to avoid the palm but he wasn't fast enough, the palm was gaining on his chest and was already tearing his garment. Kuroi spear made contact with the hand and Ri managed to shunpo'd far off to his left. On his chest was a perfect hole of Jacques palm.

"That was close I'll have to be faster, Ruler of the winds arise! Gáircas” Ri speaking in a tone that should put fear into the fearless, as he walked slowly toward Jacques the air around him began to spin around him , fueling him. A vast amount of wind surrounded his Zanpakuto and replaced with the sky blue blade, Gáircas’s released state.

“Rásúr” Ri said as the wind grew fiercer still , magnificent wings sprouted from Ri’s back , made of his reiatsu. They extended themselves then wrapped themselves around Ri to form a layer of armor around Ri's upper-body and arm's. The armor appeared to be and was very light but it took hard blows to pierce, Ri knew that from experience.

(so did my hand touch your bare skin or not? sorry, i'm not clear. also, something weird happened when i tried to post, forum f*cked up or something, so this is going to be short cause i am too lazy to type all the banter again)

The Sandman interrupting the killing blow was a minor setback; really of little concern to Jacques. It was irritating how he couldn't count on the other Hollows to keep these two separate; so, of course, the tactical thing to do would be to separate them. Jacques raised both hands and fired a Bala at the sides of both the Sandman and Ri. They were aimed at their sides so that it would give them two options; first, to dodge towards each other, or second, to dodge away from each other.

Should the former occur, Jacques would fire a Cero at the pair, and should the latter occur, he would Sonido toward the Sandman and aim a Bala-enhanced punch at some vital section of his body to be determined later.

Wick was amazed that he was able to break through the sand attack. He thought to himself, "WOW! If I can do that before I master my powers, imagine what I can do later". But Sudenlly he felt an exstreme over himself, like a 2-tone boulder just fell on top of him. The weight of the Reiatsu was unbearable.

Wick, with the last of his strength, tried raising himself through this pain. He had to run ... or fight!