Disturbing the peace (Takatsumaru+ Archfiend)

The dark sky was littered with clouds. On nights like this the full moon's task was thwarted, and the stars could only watch. Stratus sat upon the large structure observing that hung above the rest. He liked it here. The wind whipping at him, muting the noise of the people below. The quiet was his best friend and the darkness his greatest ally. The shadows lengthened and he dove down to the street level. The whistling wind was replaced with the chatter of the humans; horns honking, people shouting, and laughing. It was simple street corner. Bars lined up side by side filled with patrons. And so the people drank, sang and danced ignorant of the one who watched them.
"Cattle." he grunted as he landed on a lower building. He watched them as they moved. They moved in groups and stayed in the light. But there were strays here and there. "They should fear the night." This was the time of predators. He could feel them; other hollows. It made him smile. How many would die tonight? The hunt had begun.

Tartarax was walking the streets hoping to find something to rid his boredom, but something caught his attention a reiatsu hes familiar with"ha stratus is here"he said as he walked to his allys position. He saw his ally standing on a building watching humans walk around the streets."hows it been going"tartarax yelled at stratus as he started to scratch his scar on his left eye. As he said that tartarax walked towards the building and climber his way up to stratus.

Tatsu had been dispatched to this country side, by his vice captain, apparently a part of the country that had never really been a hot spot for hollows. The night sky was masked by an aria of clouds. Tatsu liked the moon and the sky but at the same time was hoping it would rain, this heat was overwhelming. Tatsu was walking towards a red bridge, sword beside his hips, hair floating in the hair, held together by a red headband that represented the world for him.

The shinigami's spiritual pressure wasn't really high at the moment, one could even say he was trying to mask it, knowing where your enemy was before your enemy knew you were even there was always a good tactic even for a samurai. The breeze seemed a tad rough but that didn't disturb his determination.

Being not that very smart, the shinigami did think of masking his spiritual pressure, but he didn't think that his clothing could betray him with any Humans walking besides him. In his shinigami robes the samurai stayed on the bridge, making sure that a surprise attack would be nearly impossible or very hard to do.

The tree's were ruffled by the wind and the samurai found it to be a very good scenery even though he would probably have to fight very soon, hoping not to meet anything over his own head.

The shouting of his name roused his from his thoughts. He had felt the signal before, his eyes were fast in finding the source. Tartarax; the turtle Moldale had added to their coven. He sighed. "What does he think he's doing?" He ignored creature as it climbed up towards him. Instead he scanned the area. He wasn't looking for quantity of prey, he looked for quality. So many of the people the passed below him weren't worth his time. So few humans could wet his appetite. As his sense expanded he felt something on the edge of his range. A stronger spiritual power than the others. "Perfect." he muttered the talons on his feet dug into the rooftop in anticipation. The turtle had just climbed up, and Stratus leaped from the roof snickering. "This one is mine, go find you own." He hung in the air but a moment before firing a strand of slime to catch a nearby roof and swing forward. At the apex of that swing he shot another strand and in moments was moving through the city. He stopped on a new roof now that the signal of his prey was well within his range. Had he caught up that easily? No, the signal wasn't moving. Stratus looked down the street. Trees, a castle, a bridge.
His target was close. For some reason he was suddenly on edge. He made it a habit to listen to those feelings. He jumped to the next roof and scanned ahead. Yes, the target was very close. There were people passing below on the street, it wasn't any of them. The target was stationary.

Tartarax made it to the roof but before he could say another word stratus swung away on his slime towards something."i wonder what he might of found"tartarax said to himself as he jumped from the building and landing on some poor human"damn" he said as he wiped the body from his feet ignoring the soul he followed stratus, to find him again standing on another building searching for a target"you gonna let me tag along"as tartarax said that he sensed a faint reiatsu not far from here."so thats what youre searching for"tartarax said to himself as he decided to tag along and see this unfold with his own eye, also tartarax wanted to test his new ability out on a good target. Tartarax decided to go after this person first to see if stratus would stop him. He found the person, it was a shinigami one thing that tartarax hated most. He approached the shinigami standing on the bridge"so what do you think youre doing" tartarax said as he walked on the bridge making it creak from his immense weight.

Tatsu had also sensed the other wordly reiatsu in this vicinity, but he didn't move, his eyes darting from one place to another, trying to find the source of it. It seemed as if time slowed down for him, he almost felt stressed because he knew that most likely the hunter owning this reiatsu was near and probably looking for him also.

Shrieks of fear emerged from about 100 meters up north, that's when the shinigami blew his cover as he started walking towards the area he heard the cries from, he could recognize those cries of fear anywhere, they were just the type of cry that meant that somebody had died in a very fucked up way.

Reaching the half way mark, his eyes dropped upon a creature standing right in front of him, ironically it was invisible to human eye. Drawing his zanpakuto the shinigami kept his neutral glance and stopped masking his reiatsu not that it was very impressive, in fact it wasn't as powerful as the other hollows, but something was in this shinigami's eyes that prouved to be dangerous.

''Heh, since you can talk'' Removing the hair from his face with two of his fingers, making sure this hollow would see his deep blue determined eyes. ''I'm Tatsu Chirako, prepare to die, and remember my name, you'll need it if you want revenge'' Of course the shinigami was oblivious to the fact another hollow was lurking around them.

((OOC: I'll wait for another full round of posting to start the fight, making sure Stratus doesn't try to surprise me))

Stratus grimaced as the other hollow plodded through the people on the streets. Although invisible, Stratus wished he would think to be more graceful. His attention was drawn away. The signal had grown, but Tartarax's signal was interfering with his search. His eyes searched through the crowd, one was his target. The other hollow's actions rattled the bee's hive. More people were on the street now, panicking.
"Perhaps I should thin the herd." he muttered looking down. In his mouth he gathered his slime and inhaled deeply though his nose. He pumped all his air into his mouth and a bubble of slime grew from his mouth. He huffed again and the sphere was nearly four feet wide. The last time he had tried this attack he had used a larger sphere. But he figured a smaller one would produce a smaller area of effect. He made the green orb only a little bigger than focused his energy into it. The slimy substance crystallized and the bubble became like green glass in his hands. Below he noticed a lone figure advancing on Tartarax. A sword? A shinigami?

"One way to find out." he cackled as the threw the green orb into the air, and then leaped up after it. He easily overtook the sphere in the air, and then on both arms formed thick crystal on his hands. He smashed the sphere between his gem encrusted fists. The moon pierced through the clouds as it began to rain. The stark moonlight made the emerald glitter as it fell upon the unsuspecting populous below. A man on the street felt something hiss by face and touched his ear. Blood was on his hand, before he could formulate the question of what was happening another shard ripped through his chest as another cut through the muscles in his leg. He dropped to the ground, the last thing he saw was same fate befalling others. A woman managed to scream as the man bled upon the ground. She wouldn't know that would be the last sound she would ever make. The hail of sharp and heavy crystal continued to ventilate the people and buildings. Some ran for cover finding none, they ran only to their deaths. Windows were smashed, shards lodged into the brick and stone from it's short fall to earth. The lighter pieces of crystal were sent drifting upon the wind, but the majority of it fell downward into the crowd. Stratus enjoyed the chorus of screams as the havoc unfolded below. If the shinigami couldn't survive that, he wasn't worth his time. He wondered if Tartarax would survive, but a part of him really didn't care.

As tartarax was about to prepare for a fight he saw stratus jump into the air and shatter something, but before he noticed what was going on a human was killed by the falling shrapnel then another and so on"aww crap"tartarax said to himself as he withdrew in his shell to defend from the attack. Tartarax escaped the hailstorm of crystal shards with a few nics in his arms, he wondered how the shinigami would fare against the falling shraonel. Tartarax poked his head out in the direction of stratus"what were you thinking, it wouldnt hurt for a warning next time"tartarax yelled as he withdrew his head back in his shell to avoid the crystals.

The rain started falling from the sky as a ray of moonlight pierced through the sky. The turtle like creature in front of him seemed to prepare for a fight which confirmed that it was a hollow. Not that he had any doubts but in reality, your never too sure when your a world like this.

In a flash of a moment, the moonray that Tatsu saw with his eyes, reflected something that drew his attention, human's dieing around him he understood...somewhat the cause of the nature of the attack, someone that didn't seem like water was going to hit him soon, and by judging from the human's reaction, it wasn't roses.

Bursting into action, the shinigami, took his dagger from within his sword handle and started parrying the shards at what seemed like a blinding speed. What he couldn't block, he'd dodge with a deadly grace, one could say that his speed was hard to match.

After what seemed an eternity to the shinigami, the hail storm probably stopped, as nothing was infinite he glanced around trying to find his second foe, for of course this hollow had done nothing to send forth such an offence, atleast nothing that he saw told him. Seeing as the turtoise like creature stuck its head out and looked in a totally different location, the shinigami jumped on the occasion to finish one of them quickly. Quickly closing the gaps between them, Tatsu attempted at a slash dirrectly at the neck of the creature. With the area the monster glanced at, Tatsu atleast knew the general area of his second attacker.

The road was painted crimson below him, those not killed by the onslaught lay bleeding. He ignored the hollow's complaint, he had claimed the prey. Anyone getting in his way best be prepared. Stratus gazed at the newly formed souls as they detached from their husks. As tempted as it was to feed upon them, he instead locked his gaze on the shinigami. He had survived, as had Tartarax.
"Good enough." he as he dropped down to the street. The gray hollow flexed his fingers, and from his hand shot a strand of slime, and in an instant it was crystallized. His fingers spun the crudely shaped weapon then brought it to rest in his palm. The 3 foot jagged crystal shone in the moonlight. He sauntered through the ravaged street. Those souls shied away from him the feel of his presence filling them with terror. Those that lie dying could barely see his form mistook him from the angel of death to relieve them of their pain and suffering. His bone white feet clawed at the ground as he readied himself. His pale hair danced into his face as a sudden wind kicked up behind him. In his left hand he created another blade nearly identical to the first. Stratus tightened his grip on the weapons. He inhaled the smell of the carnage around him and motioned with his right hand.
"Come." he growled.

As the bloodshed ended tartarax popped out of his shell to see the shinigami still alive and preparing to strike at him, tartarax grabbed a body of a dead human and tossed it at the shinigami to distract him as he saw stratus landing on the ground then creating a weapon out of his slime"thats new"tartarax said as walked away from the shinigami."well stratus do you mind if i help out on this one"tartarax said as he walked towards stratus and stood next to him, while he was waiting for a response tartarax started to scratch his scar on his left eye.

The shinigami was darting towards the turtle like creature when suddently a body was tossed in his general direction, judging from the lack of screams coming from the victim, it was dead, in a very cold..very brutal way, the shinigami cut the body coming in his general direction, he had spotted worthy foes, and he would try to dispose of them.

Tatsu eyed the both of them as he darted in their general direction with 2 parts of body flying on either side of him which was a very gruesome thing to do for a shinigami.

From the looks of it the turtoise creature wasn't as agile as the other, so Tatsu litterally attempted to jump on the creature before dashing towards the one holding two blades at blinding speed.

The writter wasn't really sure if the shinigami was able to understand the hollow language, but one thing was sure, the taunt had suceeded.

He looked at the other hollow with scorn. "Do whatever you wish, but stay out of my way!" He ran forward to meet the shingami's attack. He crossed his blades in front of his face. An "X" to block the incoming attack. His feet ate into the ground to brace himself as the weapons impacted. There blades locked he stared at his opponent. Shinigami, he snorted. They looked so much like humans, so weak and frail and yet this one challenged his strength. Unlike dozens that lay dead and dying around them, he had strength to rival his own, perhaps more.
"Only the strong survive." He spoke to the swordsman. "Let's see how strong you are!" Stratus flexed his thick muscles pushed with both weapons as he swung his arms outward in hopes of tossing the shinigami backwards. In his mouth he summoned more slime, and shaped a crystal sliver. His mouth dart had taken many shinigami by surprise, it was time to see how fast this man was. He looked for an opening to fire the deadly weapon.

As tartarax met up with stratus he saw him dart towards the shinigami and lock swords with him. Tartarax knew this one was fast and he could easily dodge his spikes but could he dodge the explosive capability of them, as he was thinking he moved behind the shinigami and released a hail of spikes towards him but aiming them not to hit him the lodged themselves in the ground around him. Tartarax moved away from them as he reached a safe spot he yelled"stratus i would move if i was you"as he said that tartarax snapped his fingers making all the spikes lodged in the ground around the shinigami explode.

Tatsu was holding his grip firmly against the hollow when the other one planted what looked like spikes on the ground, obviously he had done it on purpose, giving a smirk to the hollow in front of him, he left himself be pushed back, as he attempted a shunpo away from the spikes on the ground, leaving the hollow alone in the blast radius.

Hoping it would be enough to even slow down the other hollow, the shinigami worked its way, to the turtle like creature, aiming for the soft spots on his body, the shinigami attempted wild slashes at the beast, trying to render it useless for the battle that was to come.

Of course he knew something was to happen, everything was going way too well.

"Bloody_" Stratus curse was cut short by the thunderous explosion as it ripped through the area. The spikes exploded in unison rising into a single ball of flame. The gray hollow was quickly engulfed by the fire. The shock wave of the explosion shattered the remaining windows and sent everything flying. Dead bodies were tossed into the air, cars were flipped over. Chunks of rock sent airborne only to come crashing down causing even more damage to the area. When the explosion died down there was only a billowing cloud of black smoke where the event had happened. Some of the surrounding buildings had caught fire from the blast. The wind stirred the cloud slightly then dispersed the column of smoke. There was now a significant dip in the road where the spikes had detonated, flames licked withing the shallow pit. In the epicenter of the dip was a large murky green crystal. With most of the fire gone, Stratus focused and the crystal surrounding him shattered into harmless shards at his feet. He staggered and coughed, struggling to catch his breath. It felt good to breath again, the fiery explosion had stolen all the air around him. He had been holding his breath while the fire raged outside his green shell.

He stopped coughing long enough to check his body. His gray skin was now covered with random patches of black where he was too slow in forming a cocoon. The slime his body secretes is quite flamible, so had burned hims slightly before turning into hard gem. If he had eyes in the back of his head, he would have also noted that his proud white mane was also singed and burned. His face, arms, chest, legs, almost everywhere has some sign of damage. It wasn't severe, but there was some pain. He looked like some failed offspring of a leopard and zebra with all the spots and black lines across his body. After he finished his assessment he howled as the rage made his blood boil in his veins.
"That little tosser!" he spat as he clenched his fist and and smashed it into a nearby wall. The strength of the blow was more than enough to break the stone, and weakened wall tumbled down. The anger he felt negated any pain his hand might have incurred. Still he felt something else welling up inside of him, and he howled again. This time it wasn't just anger in his voice, it was something primal. The air vibrated around him as his reiatsu flowed out in a torrent. Stratus' mind went blank as a power flooded through him. It was free, something primitive that had been suppressed by Stratus. It flexed it's limbs as if waking from a long nap. Another howl escaped the lips of the creature, this one filled with malicious glee. It sniffed the air and smell of blood and fire filled it nostrils. Delight The feeling that coursed through it. Power It's muscles pulsated with strength. It breathed the air again, but this time it caught the scent of something else. Food

With the slightest of effort the creature launched itself into the air. In the next instant it came hurtling down from the sky right next to the shinigami and turtle like being. The air still reverberated with the outpouring reiatsu, the ground cracked with the combination of his landing and spiritual pressure. It took a minute to observe them, but no analysis was made by the primitive mind. There was just acknowledgment of their existence. Meat Once more it screamed, this to signify the start of a bloody slaughter. It rushed at the large shelled hollow punching it's claws into the armored back.

As the explosion settled and the smoke subsided he saw stratus singed but still alive and the shinigami rushing towards him."ah crap"tartarax said as he prepared himself for the defense until a sudden burst of reiatsu stopped tartarax from withdrawing into his shell then all of a sudden stratus was in between the both of them and then yelled meat."you okay stratus"as tartarax said that stratus came rushing at him and punched at his shell, as it impacted tartarax heard a small crack on his back but before he could see the damage the force of the punch sent tartarax flying towards the shinigami.

A big explosion erupted from where the spikes were, Tatsu had made a good guess to get away from this, and an even better usage of his enemy. Luckily for him the explosion was far enough with his shunpo, and his attacks seemed to have no effects on the tortoise like creature.

The landscape too a hit, and what people were left bleeding on the ground, we're now dead, however, the shinigami felt no guilt, and he hadn't launched the attack on the human beings. The rain settled down most of the smoke but the strength of the explosion still had thrown shrapnel everywhere. Unfortunately, a shrapnel had forced it way right into the shinigami's torso, lodging itself somewhere in there..not a good sensation to be sure. A red fluid started to work its way down the shinigami robes, and pain started to sear throughout his body.

An immense spiritual pressure emerged from within what was left of the smoke cloud, then a howl, nothing to be good to find out in any case. Another howl, yet this one was different from the first, as if something very bad was going to happen, hearing this, the shinigami backed away from the tortoise creature, quickly dashing backwards without turning his back from it, making sure none of those explosive spikes would come into play again.


Another howl, this one much more fearsome, the shinigami made another step back making sure he was in a safe zone, then it happened, the hollow screamed in anger and attacked the other hollow, strongly enough to crack the turtle's shell. A smirk appeared on the shinigami's face as a plan had emerged through his head. A few seconds after the shinigami saw the giant turtle getting smashed towards his general direction, man what immense strength.

Backing up making sure he wouldn't get the turtle crashing on him, the shinigami shunpo'ed on a rooftop nearby, supressing his reiatsu trying to see if the hollow's would fight each other.

This might just turn to my advantage. The shinigami thought lets see what happens now.

The large creature was sent flying in a single blow, but the creature's hand hurt. If it was of sound mind it would release it had broke it's fingers in that last exchange. Bones in his hand jutted out, the flesh torn, and his blood flowed forth. But that didn't matter to him, he only wanted to destroy it. Kill His hollow regeneration kicked in and the stiffness in the hand vanished and the fingers repaired themselves at an alarming rate. It growled at the turtle shell. It ignored all the world, the hard substance was an obstacle, and he wanted it gone. Destroy It raised it's hand to run forward to slam the shell, but stopped. Blood The scent of blood hit it's nostrils. Not from the dead bodies that littered the street. Fresh It sniffed the air like a dog as green drool escaped from his mouth. The smell was putting him into more of a frenzy. It kicked off the ground and right into the wall of the building that shinigami sat upon. It looked up towards the roof snorting the air. Here It's frantically clawed the side of the building as it climbed up to the roof. Pieces of the wall was torn free by his sharp claws as he moved up the wall. Once clear of the edge it's body heaved from climbing, but it didn't stop. It pounced at the shinigami howling with glee. Both it's claws aimed at his head. It's claws reaching to crush the ripe melon.

As tartarax hit the ground from the hit that sent him hurdling towards the shinigami. Tartarax stood in a daze and sharp pain from his shell."damn"he muttered to himself as he felt the crack on his shell but as he felt it the regeneration activated and the broken pieces fell away as the shell fixed itself. As tartarax stood there awaiting an attack from the enraged stratus, he stopped in his tracks and started to climb the building after something else, the shinigami was his new target. Tartarax decided to stay out of this one he didnt want to suffer another blow like that one in his back. Tartarax sat down and grabbed a fleeing soul and munched down on it as he watche stratus go after the shinigami"this is going to be a good show"tartarax said as he munched on the soul and scratching the scar on his left eye.

Tatsu glanced with a smile towards the scene as the beast itself prepared itself to rage once again at the turtles shell at Tatsu's great amusement. For a moment he even considered sheathing his sword back but then, something broke his pleasure, the beast sniffed him out..the god damned blood on his outfit ruined his cover and the whole of his plan. He needed to prepare for the incoming beast as he stood back up not amused.

Allowing a glance towards the other hollow, making sure none of those spikes came towards his direction, but none of them were coming he reassured himself seeing that the beast was just nomming on wandering souls and not his own. Being rather tired of this overwhelming reiatsu on his shoulder, Tatsu decided that it was his turn to show what he was able to do. Revealing a coat of blue energy around him, his reiatsu was not quite a match for the raging beast, but it was no doubt that the turtle might have problems substaining their combine reiatsu.

Seeing as the raging monstrosity tried to climb up the building, Tatsu would save it the efforts of doing so, jumping down on it, with crushing reiatsu and zanpakuto trying to clash against the face of the raging monster hoping it would make contact with flesh even thought he knew how fast the monster regenerated.

If this wouldn't work Tatsu would need to fight it on equal ground untill it stopped regenerating which could really be a hassle.

The creature only growled at the oncoming attack. The shinigami coming to him meant less work for him. The blade aimed at his head he still charged forward. Danger Mindless, but instinct made him jerk his head to the side at the last moment to avoid the weapon. Instead of impaling his skull the blade pierced through his right arm. The sword's edge cut his side after striking his arm. Pain This pain he could not ignore. The weapon burned him, angered him. He lashed out with the back of his left hand to knock the shinigami and his accursed weapon away.