Taking a hike (solo)

It took some talking, but he had managed to get permission to the human world to gather supplies. This was Arawn's first time donning a gigai, even his time spent in practice proved useless. His task this time was to find items to help with the stack of unfinished items the rest of the department had graced him with. As a shinigami he would be unable to interact with the people needed. He popped out of the gateway into a darkened alley. It was well past midday and the streets weren't too busy to notice a new addition. The shop was a simple electronics store, but there were many outdated and rarely used parts he could get for cheap. The other reason for picking the smaller shop was Arawn wasn't fond of crowds. Going to a more populated area while wearing gigai would be truly awkward. Cautiously he looked around the edge of the alley, making sure he was unobserved. The people walked by without a glance in his direction. He looked down at his gigai's attire; blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a blue flannel shirt. He was happy with the selection, the fashion taste of the personnel was abit odd. He was fearful he would get a body wearing something from the 1800 century or worse. He exited the alley and walked down the street falling in line behind two women talking. He stopped to look at himself in a shop window. The face of the gigai looked just like his, which was thankful for as well. While it was possible to look like anyone he wanted, he preferred to seem his own face in a mirror. The shop was at the end of the block, he stopped looking at himself and resumed his trek. 'Circuit Buy' was it's name, it was a small shop that actually specialized in repair of things like radios, tvs, and remotes. But also sold various supplies. One of the lab people had suggested it, "If they know about it, why don't they use it to finish those trinkets?" He could hardly complain, he was the less experienced of everyone in the division. He could learn only so much from books. Helping the others with their projects was teaching him some, but by working on the little objects he could improve somewhat as well. He walked into the small little shop that rested on the corner. The store would stay open for another hour or more. So Arawn had time to look around, he wondered how much he could afford with funds given. He had made a short list of objects he needed; tubing, wires, some extra screws and fasteners. Anything he had left over would go towards any odd buys he found. There were only two other people in the shop other than himself. One of them was the clerk, the other was a middle-aged woman wearing a floral dress. The clerk wore dirty blue apron with small pockets lining the bottom edge. The pockets bulged with various items, mainly tools. The clerk was a young looking man, he nodded at Arawn as he entered the store. "Hey, how you doing?" he casually asked. As practiced Arawn smiled at the man "Pretty good." and moved to look at the shelves. He had actually practiced many different responses using the gigai. Facial features and speech felt just as awkward as it was to control the movement. He wanted to speak and move as little as possible; get his items and leave.

The shelves were full of a multitude of novelty items as well as serious purchases. Radios you powered by cranking them. They claimed to be emergency radios, but having to crank it in the middle of dire situation seemed silly. It was a fairly cheap price, so one could expect poor quality of the item. There was also a flashlight with a similar design. Arawn looked down by the door and picked up a shopping basket. He put one radio and one flashlight. Next to the cranked items was some regular flashlights, the first few were standard hand size. Next was flashlight longer than Arawn's arm. Such a item seemed almost fit to be a club rather than a light. The price was higher than Arawn liked, before he could put it into his basket he noticed some smaller pen lights and lasers next to it. The price was low enough for him to get more than one of each. The items were loaded into the basket. The shelves opposite the flashlights housed batteries. Arawn glanced at the back of the items he had in the basket to see which ones he needed. As he shifted through the batteries he wondered if he could create a way to store reiryoku like a battery. Ideally an item working off a shinigami's power would be make more sense. Should they run low on power a battery or some sort would be a nice back up. The next isle had radios, but none like the cheap cranking one in his basket. These were radios that were plugged into the wall or worked using larger grade batteries. Afew doubled as alarm clocks and had cassette or CD players build in. They were much higher priced. "I'll check this row after I get my other items." he muttered, he reached into the left jean pocket and pulled out the list he had made on a small paper. As he rounded the corner of the next row he nearly bumped into the woman he had seen earlier. "Pardon me." she said as she walked around him. Arawn only smiled and let her pass. The shelf had many different wire and plugs. Size was important and type. He tried to compare prices and quantity from each pack. Suddenly there was a chirp from his right jean pocket. He quickly put the shopping basket down and reached into the pocket. He pulled out the cellphone radar. The screen was flashing with a small grid representing the current area. With him as the center it showed a circle like wave expand outward. A dot appeared on the screen what looked like inches from the center of the circle. "A hollow, but it's so close. It should have told me sooner. Is there interference?" He reached into his pocket again for the last other item he had brought with him. A small dispenser with a small cartoon cat head. Arawn opened his mouth and brought the dispenser up to his lips. He pressed down on the head and there was a squeek, a round object popped out of the cat's mouth and into his. It felt like he had stepped off an escalator, he was no longer wearing casual clothes, instead he wore his black shingami robe. He turned to see himself with a slightly happy expression on his face. "Very creepy." He muttered. The gigai, now armed with a soul candy, laughed at the comment. Arawn quickly gave his instructions "Buy everything on the list, try to find the cheaper price if possible. Take the items and wait at the exit point, avoid detection if you can." he spoke quickly as he glanced at the screen of the radar. The signal was moving. "Got ya." the gigai spoke in a slightly high voice. Arawn sighed and ran out the store.

The signal was moving rapidly, Arawn pushed himself to keep up. With radar in hand he jumped along the roofs. He couldn't see anything on the streets below. "How is it moving so fast?" The signal stopped just ahead of him. From the sky there came a loud shriek and Arawn's eyes shot skyward. "Oh crap." he uttered as large shape swooped down on him. A hand went to his sword and he dove to the side as a large hollow dove from the air. It's claws on it's feet gouged a large hole in the stone. By the time he turned around the creature had already take back into the sky. From what he could see it was shaped like a bat, it's hand and feet held a thin membrane which it used to fly. A spiky tail swung behind it as wings flapped the air. Despite the bat like attributes it's mask resembled a bird. To be exact it was like a pelican's beak with eyes like a chameleon. Arawn could only watch the scary beast circle overhead. The beast let out another shriek and dropped at him. Before it could finish descent Arawn leaped into the air and drew his blade. It was a daring move to charge straight at the beast, but it wouldn't expect such a tactic. But unfortunately for Arawn the hollow reacted quickly; with a mighty flap it of it's wings it pulled out of the dive. Arawn was now at a disadvantage, he was in midair and unlike the hollow he had no way to change directions. The creature turned dived again at the now falling shinigami. Even as he tried to swing his blade, the monster as too quick. It's claws latched on to Arawn's shoulders and ripped into his flesh. Arawn screamed, and the hollow shrieked again and pumped it's wings again taking them back into the sky. Was it going to drop him? He was sure he wouldn't survive such a fall. The clawed foot grabbing him restricted his arm movement. His arm tries to swing the sword at the hollow, but he can't reach. He looked down, they were well out of the city now, he saw treetops blow him."If I get any further from the city, I might never make it back." Arawn focuses his reiryoku outward the sudden reiatsu startles the beast, but it's too late "Thunder shake the heavens, roar and shatter the silence, blaze and split the darkness. Hado #4 Byakurai!” He points his left hand at the creature's wing, the white pulse explodes forth and tears through the membrane. Apparently the wing is filled with nerves, as the creature bellows in pain. But the true purpose wasn't to harm or kill the beast. The hole in the wing causes them to lose altitude. The creature releases it's hold on the shinigami, but before he can fall he grabs the monster's tail. It's balance is ruined with a wing damaged, but the added weight makes things worse. They start to spin in the air as they plummet to the earth. The trees come up to meet them.

The pain wakes Arawn from his slumber. He must have blacked out when they crashed, he remembers seeing the green forest below. His body is tangled the branches of a tree now. He can only assume it helped break his fall. He tries to move and is rewards with another shot of pain running through his body. The tree protected him from the hard ground, but didn't cushion the fall completely. The wounds on his shoulders still hurts and making his arms feel weak. His back hurts and his leg feels limp, he might have twisted in when he fell. There are various cuts and scrapes all over his body, his uniform torn in several parts. A happy point is his glasses aren't broken, but they are scratched up. Arawn tries to look around without moving his body too much. He's still in a tree some feet from the ground below.Above he can barely see sunlight coming through the tree branches and leaves. If he can figure which way the light is coming from he could find his way back to town. He looks down towards the ground. The trees aren't as clustered together as he though, the tree he sits in is part of several that make a clearing. In the clearing below he spots something; his scabbard. When checking his body he hadn't thought about the weapon. But then he spots something else very close to it; the wounded hollow.

The situation couldn't be worse. Between him and his weapon is the monster, and it doesn't look dead. Usually upon death a hollow's body dissolves, but this one just looks as battered as Arawn. Both wings were now in shreds and bled unto the ground. It wasn't moving, perhaps like Arawn it was trying to conserve it's strength. If he did jump down he'd have to dash past the monster to retrieve the sword. Thinking about it wasn't going to solve anything, he had to act before the monster became aware of him. Arawn winced as he forced his body to move, pain came with each move, but death awaited if he remained still. He pushed from the tangle of branches onto another branch below. It was a short fall, but he caught the limb with his hands. His arms hurt as he hung feet from the ground. The best still wasn't moving, he released his grip and fell. The impact of the fall was absorbed into his legs. The shock of pain it sent through his body made him nearly faint, he let out a gasp the monster stirred. All effort was made to keep upright and he moved forward towards the lost weapon and the downed enemy. The creature's eyes shot open as the shinigami made his approach. So close and yet so far, went through Arawn's head. The monster raised it's head and opened it's mouth a purplish tongue shot out. Simple luck saved Arawn as the long tongue flew out and hit a tree he had been standing by. Arawn froze in his tracks. The monster's tongue was longer than expected and the end of if was pronged like a forked with small barbs on it. The tongue retracted into the creature's mouth a large hole was left in the tree.

The speed of the monster's tongue had startled him, but he knew he chance to attack would be when it missed. He had to keep moving, but the options were limited. One end the of the clearing the beast now stood on it's four legs and on the other end was Arawn. The overall shape of the area was slightly oval. Arawn poured out his reiatsu, "Bring forth light, rival the sun, flicker and shine. Bakudo # 5: Senko. His palms facing forward a bright flash of light explodes from his hands, the monster screams as the light blinds him. Arawn moves quickly, he runs from his previous position and exits the clearing hiding behind a tree. The monster screams again having lost it's prey. Holding his breath Arawn strains his ears listening, he can hear the hissing as the hollow looks around. A sudden impact shakes the tree he's hiding behind. Less than a second later another impact, the tree breaks and nearly topples on him. He moves from cover just in time to see the hollow still in the clearing and it's tongue extended. Two strikes and it had broke tree. But how had it found him? Perhaps it could feel his presence? Well hiding wasn't an option, but facing it directly wasn't any more favorable.

As the creature started to retract it's tongue Arawn acted, again he released his spiritual pressure. “Thunder shake the heavens, roar and shatter the silence, blaze and split the darkness. Hado #4 :Byakurai!” He raised his arm and aimed his hand, the pain in his shoulder awoke anew. The white blast of light fired from his finger tip, but just to the right of the monster. Earth exploded where the bolt hit, and the hollow was knocked back. The weakness in his shoulder was effecting his aim, at a distance he wouldn't hit very well.

The small explosion had pushed the hollow backwards; right on top of Arawn's sword. Another complication had appeared. He could destroy the hollow completely, but that went against the shinigami philosophy. He needed to strike it down with his sword and purify it's soul. An attempt to blast it away would require just as much accuracy as trying to hit the hollow. He had to think of something else. Arawn thought of about rushing the beast, but the monster did have claws. There was a lack of confidence in his hand to hand combat skill still. At a distance he couldn't hit, nor could he get in close. His only weapon available was kido, but it wasn't unlimited. Three or four more spells was the best he could manage in this mangled state. The monster had it's tongue for long range, but Arawn could easily avoid it. A though burst into his head, "Perhaps I should move closer." He looked over to the fallen tree and picked up broken branches and stuck it inside his shirt. He turned to face the hollow.

The small explosion had stunned the creature, but when it reorientated itself, it felt only anger. It's target hadn't run or moved, but it didn't think about that. It only knew it would kill him and eat him. Arawn spaced his legs apart and held his hands wide; making his body a easy target. The enraged monster struck, it's tongue rocketed from it's mouth and slammed into Arawn's chest. The branches crunched with the impact, the barbs piercing them, but the barbs on the tongue barely scratched Arawns skin. Quickly Arawn grabbed the slimy tongue with his hands, and released his reiatsu. “From my hand fly, a thousand fangs dig my enemy’s flesh. Hado #11 Tsuzuri Raiden.” Electricity errupted from his hand and danced down the tongue and straight into the hollow. The cries it made with it's tongue extended were gurgling noises of pain. The tongue went limp as the creature collapsed. Arawn pulled the barbs free of his robe and ran forward and stood before the unconscious hollow. His reiatsu still pumping out he made his next chant. “Palace of the dead sleeping within the wombs of the earth, tower above the wicked, pass your silent judgment. Hado # 7 Pillar of Hades!” From the ground a black spike rose beneath the hollow impaling it and lifting it from the ground. Without wasting any time Arawn grabbed his sword from under the hollow and unsheathed the blade. The white mask head hung right before him it's eyes shut. Marshaling his strength he slashed through the mask. The hollow started to dissolve into nothingness and Arawn sat down on the ground. His arms hurt, his back hurt, and the scratches from the tongue itched. He hoped it wasn't poison, out here he wouldn't get any treatment. He reached into his inner pocket for his radar phone. Unfortunately it was broken, the monster's attack had smashed it along with the branches. With a sigh he stood up and sheathed his weapon. He looked up at the sky, the light was fading fast, but the sun seemed to be setting behind him. The city would somewhere to the east. Using the sword and scabbard like a walking stick he set on in the direction.

When Arawn reached the city it was dark. It proved to make it harder to find his extraction point. Well into the night he found the familiar street and the electronic shop he had visited. The streets near empty he found the alley and saw his gigai hiding behind some dumpsters. The gigai smiled and rose "Have a nice trip?" he smiled. Arawn sighed. He was glad to have made it back. The gigai was fitted with an emergency com unit, he could use it for extraction. "Send a signal for the portal, I've lost my phone." he replied and leaned against the wall. He was tired and would like nothing more to go home an sleep.