Awakened II (solo)

He was on a beach, the ocean was crashing against the shore as the sun shone down on him. It felt so peaceful and calm. But something was wrong; the water was red and the sky was black. He awoke, but it the sky was still black and feeling of sand against his feet. He remembered jumping into darkness. As happy as he can be to have survived, the question of where he was left him disturbed. Sand stretched everywhere, there were some rocks and skeletal trees here and there. It was such a barren area. He opened his senses, the signal he got was surprising; he could feel signals all around him. In the air and even below him, there were signals, and all of them were hollows. Still injured this was the worst possible situation to be in. Most of the signals felt weak, but still it could get troublesome if he wasn't careful. He tried to suppress his signal and look for some kind of shelter. It was desert in every direction and there was no sign of any type of civilization. There was no way to swing in his condition and nothing to swing from. With a sigh he picked a direction and started walking, keeping his senses open for any possible attack.

(ooc: Im bored of Kurakara and Soul Society, and i wanna rack up some Bounty Points for my next thread!)

Jin was confused. He wanted to go to Kurakara Town to catch up with an old human friend who was a Spiritually Sensitive, but he ended up in this desert instead.

The Soul Society must have screwed up their portal. Jin felt a new freedom, as his Reiatsu was suppressed in Kurakara Town, where he hung out between missions. He began to run in circles, becoming a blur as he reached a speed he only found in Soul Society. After 20 minutes he stopped.

Jin looked around. He could spy hollows walking around, and he saw a huge hollow in the distance. He tried to suppress his Reiatsu as the gigantic hollow passed him. Jin was nervous.

He sensed thoousands of spiritual presences near him. As Jin re-increased his Reiatsu, he decided to go kill some hollows. He saw a small, shrimpy one in the distance. he ran up to it and sliced it in half with his sword.

This brash attack attracted many more Hollows. As Jin sensed the closing energies, he was slammed in the back. He turned over on the ground to find a hollow's mask-teeth about to bite down on him. He rolled to the side, and sliced the hollow's head off at the base of its neck.

Another hollow came, this one similar to a snake. Jin sliced its arm off as the hollow grabbed for him. The hollow screamed, and then threatened Jin by stating that he killed 30 people while he was human. While he said this. Jin sliced the Hollow's mask open. The gates of Hell opened and Satan took the hollow.

The opening of the gates of hell caused the remaining hollows to scatter. Jin released a Hell Butterfly he kept for emergencies, and instructed it to get him to Kurakara Town. he stepped through the Hell Butterfly's portal, and as he left, he yelled, "Goodbye, stupid desert!"

Jin explained this misadventure to his friend, who said a Seer told him that was Hueco Mundo, and the gigantic hollow was a Menos Grande. Jin was puzzled, and he continued talkin to his freind about this..... (ooc: Ok, i'm done, on with your story, Stratus!)

OOC: Well this is a solo thread (although I forgot to put it up there) No worries mate

The sands were indeed endless. After the initial disorientation (WTH I spelled it right without spell-check, figured there was another "i") wore off he tried moving at a quicker pace. Even at a dead run, the scenery barely changed. A hill of sand became a valley of sand, or the land grew flat. It looked like the horizon never changed nor seemed to move. Stratus wasn't too happy with the feeling, and the signals around him were less than comforting. He wanted some kind of shelter, but there was nothing, he came to a large dune and sat in it's shadow. There was no wind so he strained his ears for any sound. He was alone, and yet not. There were still the signals above and below him. Small and large they moved beneath the sand, he hoped the big ones didn't surface. He wasn't hungry, but he wanted to eat only since it would give himself something to do. Eternal night covered the land and yet it was bright enough to see. The emptiness made it all seem cold yet it was completely temperate. He wondered where the large hollow he had entered with had gone. There were not footprints in the sand for him to follow, but he figured with it's size it would hard to miss.

Stratus figured he had rested long enough and detached himself from the dune's shadow. He forgot what direction he had been heading, they all looked the same. He opened his senses, this time ready for the input. Still there were many signals around him, but now he could feel two large ones from behind him. They weren't there before. He was sure of that much. With those two at his back he decided to move in the opposite direction. Suppressing his own signal he started running. He ran in near silence the only sounds of his breath and the sand's crunch beneath his feet. Onward with as much speed as he could while keeping track of the area around him. There was not clock, but he could feel himself working up a sweat. How long had he been running? Seconds? Minuted? Hours? It was impossible to tell. But a few things were constant; the sand, the trees, and the two large signals behind him. There was not doubt about it, they were following him. He tried changing directions twice, and bother time they kept to his back. Stratus had always figured had mastered the ability to shrink his signal, but it seemed he had much to learn. Unfortunately, it seemed he wouldn't get the chance to learn it. He was tiring, but the signals didn't move any closer. Why would they match his pace? Are they merely scouts? Finally he drops out of his run, and comes to an abrupt halt. The signals stop as well. They were shadowing him as well. He turned to look, but there wasn't anything to see. High and low sand stretched behind him. Sensing them was one thing, but finding them visual was another. He could figure direction and distance to some extent.

There was no other option, but to confront the signals chasing him. Running wasn't going to work. He thought of trying to hide in the sand, but the time it would take to dig a hole would be too long and wasted due to their tracking ability. His only advantage was they didn't know his abilities, but at the same time his obviously mangled took that advantage away. If they were smart enough to track him, they might be smart enough to talk. Hostile or not trying to talk to them might buy him time to formulate a form of attack. The only option was to bluff. Stratus stopped suppressing his signal and jumped as high and far as he could in the direction of the other two. The sands fell beneath him as he soared through the air several feet. During his flight he tried to keep an eye out for the sources of the signals that he had felt earlier, none approached as began his descent. He landed in a crouch with a thud and kicked up a large cloud of sand. He stood and looked around. His senses told him they were very close.
"Come out!!" he bellowed as loudly as possible trying his best to sound angry. He stamped his foot on the ground. There was only silence
"I know you're here. And in no mood to play games, if you don't come out now I'll won't be gentle pulling you out of your holes." The holes comment was only a guess. Since there was no were else for them to hide, they had to be beneath the sands. There was a rumble as the sand started to move and part, a shape emerged. Stratus tried is best not to look surprised. The creature freed itself from the sand and towered over Stratus. It's body was quite snakelike complete with scales, but at a glace one wouldn't notice the small clawed along the sides of it's body. They were a nearly skeletal in appearance, their ends resembled a crab's pincers. The head was shaped much like a catfish, complete with barbels falling from it's chin made of the same white bone material. It had row upon row of fangs that seemed to give it the appearance of a smile. It stood at nearly 10 feet high, Stratus silently wondered how he could have missed such a thing. What had to be it's tail freed itself from the sand, Stratus took a step back despite his best efforts. The tail was in fact yet another head, the second head turned itself around and came to sit beside the first. Was this the two signals he had sensed? No. He still felt another presence.
"Is your friend too scared to show himself?" Stratus goaded the beast, praying for a response other than a two pronged attack. The creature roared and he readied himself for it's first strike.
"STOP!" The sound came from behind Stratus, he was more shocked at how close. He turned to face the second hollow. There was another rumble as sand shifted but this time not as much. A small form emerged this time. It had to be bigger than 4 feet but not less than 5. It looked like the sand had spit up a rock. The hollow had a shell that looked like jagged stones made of white bone, it's face resembled a warthog complete with small tusks and it had a mane like a lion. It's short round body was slightly hairy looking, but covered with sand it looked like matted fur. It's arms were like clubs, pointy spikes stuck out along the side of the club like arms almost like fingers. As it pulled itself free from the sand it didn't get any taller. It's legs were way too short for it's round body. It reminder him of a penguin the way it waddled.

"Rei, Roun, stop!" the smaller hollow spoke again, it's voice clearer than before now it wasn't buried. "He passes." The two headed creature hissed again and dove back into the sand. In a manner of seconds it had vanished and the two stood alone.
"Sorry about that, if you had failed he would have gotten to eat you." Stratus still kept on his guard as the little hollow paced around him looking him over. One of his spikes poked at his side, and he stepped away, but not too far. If this thing wished him harm it would have not called off the two heads. He notices the smaller hollower eying his wounded arm. Not much he can do to hide it at this point.
"So what exactly did I pass?" Stratus asks after awhile, annoyed by the silence.
"Well not so much as pass, more like qualify." he stops pacing and sits down in the sand with a flop. "We represent a group that looks certain types to join us."
"Certain types?" Stratus was skeptical, organized hollows? To what end? Hunting down prey was easy enough. But now that he was in this strange area he didn't know were he would get food.
"I'm sure you ran into some hollow that lack the ability to reason. All instinct and desire, kill and eat. Short sighted buggers." he spins his hand in the sand "But blokes like you are more our speed. There's a time and place for killing, but they just can't see past their stomach."
Short sighted indeed. Stratus tries not to admit that was his own mindset.
"We need guys that can think on their feet. Unlike those tossers in Las Noches we look out for our own and try and what not."
"Las Noches?" Stratus asks, not sure what he's referring to.
The little hollow laughs "Well you are new, guess the basics are needed. He raises his clubbed arms as high as he can and gives spins in place
"Welcome lad to Hueco Mundo!"