Buffet (open)

As he slid through the blackness, his mind drifted. It felt like he had been falling for a long time, but suddenly there was an opening and he emerged into daylight. The exit was on the edge of a forest. Stratus always enjoyed nature, the animals knew what the humans had long forgot; the weak are food for the strong. He smiled as he worked his way out of the woods. Already he could the shapes of houses through the thinning trees. As he opened his senses he felt something odd; there was interference. It was almost like there was energy in the air, the trees, the rocks, the buildings. It was hard to get a clear reading of the area. He could sense movement of some signals, but from the distance it was hard to tell. Confused he made he stepped free of the forest and looked about. The woodlands he had just emerged from were on the crest of the valley, below a town of huts and shacks stretched out. In a sprint he ran down the sloping hill towards the town below, as he got closer he noted the building style. Wood, mud, some rock. Such primative work compared to the large cities he'd hunted in before.

"A meal's a meal." he grunted with a leap to the roof of a building. It wasn't that high, barely 10 feet from the ground. As he looked from his vantage point, there were few buildings taller. "What kind of back wood hicks are these people?" There would be no swinging in this town, he jumped to the next rooftop and then started to run about the buildings. He made his way deeper into the town. There were people along the streets as he moved. He could sense them now that he'd gotten closer. As he spied on the people he heard a sudden blood curdling scream. He looked about for the source, there was a woman with long dark hair standing in the middle of the small road. Her bucket of water had fallen to the ground and it's contents poured on her feet. But that was not the reason for her scream. The middle aged woman stare wide eyed directly at Stratus, her arm raised and pointing at him accusingly. The hollow locked eyes with her and pounced. If she could see him, she worth devouring. He landed on the dusty street before her and raised his claw. There were more screams; looking around others stared at him. Those in the street started to run and shout, other just looked on paralyzed with fear. They all could see him? What the hell was going on here!?

Tatsuya ran through the streets of Rukongai with a squad of four other shinigami. They had just received a report of a hollow and they were the closest group. "Our primary duty is the safety of the residents. You four will escort them safely away while I distract the hollow." He strongly ordered the group of shinigami. "Yes sir," they respectfully responded in unison. It wasn't long before they heard a woman's scream and immediately knew what it was. "Let's hurry." He ordered before disappearing with shunpo followed quickly by the others. Tatsuya and his group arrived as the hollow was distracted by all the screams, and he immediately recognized the hollow from back in Rio De Janeiro. "Expedite my previous order, this one is extremely dangerous." He turned his head and forcefully ordered the others. "Sir," the responded and quickly dispersed, one quickly appearing next to the woman closest to the hollow and and just as quickly disappearing with her. "Hey Hollow. You remember me?" He shouted to get its attention and unsheathed his zanpakuto while casually walking closer to it. "Let me be the first and last person to welcome you to Soul Society." He smiled broadly as he approached the hollow.

Something was very wrong. It was one thing to have one human see him, but for so many people to be aware of his presence? It was too bizarre. Try as he might his senses were still muddled at that range. He could barely feel the signals in the immediate area. But none of these people felt human, they felt like souls. Was this some kind of hidden village where souls lived? That was impossible. The woman had been carrying a pail of water. Since when do souls need water? His thoughts were interrupted by a somewhat familiar sensation; shinigami. Their signal was hard to miss even with the strange interference. He could only blink as the woman before him vanished from sight. He had seen such a move before. Three shinigami, he could sense them clearly now. How had they arrived so quickly? He would have to deal with them quickly. One of them called out to him he was stunned. He wasn't stunned that a shinigami dared to address him so casually, it was the fact he recognized the speaker. It was the ape he had fought before. Somehow the big man had survived his attack.
"Soul Society?" Those words sounded familiar. He had heard that name before, but where? He didn't have time to think about it. "Thank you for your welcome shinigami. Here I thought you'd be dead in some gutter." he snickered as he formed a blade in each hand. "As nice as it is to see a new face, I wish it wasn't your ugly mug!" He tossed one of the blades vertically at the shinigami's head. The other he tossed horizontally at his midsection. In the narrow street there was few places for the shingami to go; up, down, back, or forward. Two new blades already formed as the hollow advanced behind the attack.

"Heh, it will take a lot more than you slime sticks to kill me," Tatsuya laughed insultingly while ignoring the latter statement. Tatsuya kept walking calmly towards the hollow as it threw the blades. He swiftly changed his zanpakuto to a reverse grip in his right hand and held it at an angle out in front of his body, blocking both blades with ease. Tatsuya rotated his sword hand to face up and quickly threw his zanpakuto horizontally towards the hollow before using shunpo to appear on the left side of the hollow. "I thought you would have learned something new since last time..." Tatsuya said confidently in an effort to distract the hollow from the oncoming blade. Tatsuya threw a kick at the Hollow before his spinning zanpakuto arrived and intended to grab it with his left hand in a reverse grip whether his kick connected or not to at least block a counter from the hollow. "I know I did." Tatsuya evilly grinned as he finished his previous statement.

"Well I've always been a slow learner." Stratus didn't turn his head to look at the shinigami. That quick movement was hard to combat. "But there's one thing I do know; you shinigami are pretty damn useless without your swords." He threw his weapon in his right hand at the oncoming blade just as the kick hit him across the back. The two weapons colided mid-air and clattered to the ground. Stratus rolled in the dirt from the kick and quickly stood. With a small hop he landed on top of the shinigami's weapon. From his feet slime secreted out. "Show me what else you've learned ape man." The slime crystallized fusing the weapon to the ground. He motioned the tall man. "I'm waiting."

"Heh, you must have me confused with some other shinigami. I am far from useless without my zanpakuto." Tatsuya stated with conviction as the hollow seemingly fused his sword to the ground. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo no 9 - Geki." Tatsuya cast out the kidou spell to the hollow and began walking towards it. "Something you should remember about shinigami, hollow. There is much more then their zanpakuto you need to worry about." He spoke softly when he was next to the hollow. Without warning Tatsuya attacked the hollow with his left knee headed straight to it's gut.

The large shinigami's knee knocked the breath from him. Whatever he had done it had frozen his body. Recalled such things from his encounter with the woman with armor. She had unleashed a torrent of attacks like this. But none with such an effect. He tried to concentrate, will himself to move, but the best he could manage was his mouth.
"So you say, but is that the best you got?" It was only talking big, but he focused more and felt his toes wiggle. He managed a grin. "I was right, you are nothing without your blade. You got this magic holding me still." As he spoke he released slime from his clawed feet. Already a small puddle was growing, the shinigami was close enough to be ensnared by it. "Well I guess a big man, has to talk big after all." He felt his fingers wiggle now. Whatever the large man had did was slowly fading. "If that's your best, maybe you should just give up now."

"You know there is something else I learned. You talk too much." Tatsuya prepared to throw a powerful punch into the hollow's face, failing to notice the slime gathering at his feet. "What the..?!" His attention was drawn to his feet which were difficult to move. "Oh you are still disgusting I see." He commented as he looked down and tried to lift his slime covered feet. After a bit of struggling Tatsuya managed to free his right leg. "Tsk. This really is some nasty stuff." He thought to himself as he finally managed to free his other leg from the slime pool. All that time he failed to pay attention to the hollow.

In the brief delay he could once again feel his arms and body regain control. He focused his energy into his feet the slime on the ground hardened into sharp heavy crystal. It was a think layerUnfortunately it made the crystal already below him shatter freeing the weapon he had captured. He could only hope this proved to further distract the shinigami.
"If you think I talk to much, why don't you; SHUT."Stratus drove his hand forward into a punch aimed at the big man's gut. "ME!" He pulled back his arm quickly to strike the man's stomach again. "UP!" He pulled his arm back a third time to deliver a fierce uppercut to the mans face. The effect had almost completely wore off. He could feel his body responding once again.

Tatsuya's attention returned to the hollow's direction upon hearing the shattering of the hardened slime beneath the hollow's feet. Distracted by seeing his freed zanpakuto, he did not have time to react to the hollow's attacks. The two punches to his gut were strong, but only enough to stun him, not knock the air out of him. Being stunned, he couldn't block or dodge the upper cut to his face and fell back a few feet after it connected. He looked up at the hollow who was getting free from the kidou. "Those were some pretty hard punches coming from something that is restrained." He got to his feet and spit the blood from his mouth. He quickly eyed his zanpakuto and knew it was the perfect opportunity. "Hado no. 1 - Thrust." Tatsuya thrust his left hand forward releasing the kido to knock the hollow back before the effects of Geki completely wore off. He dashed forward and quickly picked up his zanpkuto. "You know hollow, I don't think I properly introduced myself to you last time we met. Allow me to do so right now. I am Tatsuya Okibi, 7th Seat of Second Squad." Tatsuya changed the grip of his zanpakuto in his right hand to a reverse grip, palm up. "And this, this is my zanpakuto." He place his left hand along the back of the blade and began sliding it along its length. "Rise from the ashes, Suzaku." The sword disappeared and was replaced by a pair of flaming, bladed gauntlets, that glowed red from the heat. "Before you die hollow. What do they call you?" He had a victorious smile across his face.

Just when he thought he had gotten the upper hand the shinigami turned the tables. The first spell had worn off, only for Stratus to be hit by a second one. He grunted as the invisible force knocked him backwards. Normally such a push wouldn't have much effect on him, but his body was too unstable from the recent paralysis. The hollow fell back and tumbled to the ground. As he scrambled to his feet he watched as the shinigami retrieved his weapon. He was suprised the man could still stand after taking those strikes. Stratus blamed the strange spell, it reduced his strength. It would seem the spell had completely vanished now, his next attacks would be very lethal. And yet the shinigami had such confidence in his voice once he picked up his weapon again. It was then he saw why. As the larger man spoke the weapon changed. No longer did he hold a sword, his arms began to burn like torches. It was a sight to behold, and for a moment Stratus truly felt like he might not survive this meeting. Fear filled him, and he panicked. But the distraction of the flickering flames died as his mind raced trying to figure a way out of the fight. Stratus started to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" It felt good to laugh, the deep growling voice laughter sounded so sinister even to him. After a few seconds his laugh stopped. "So is that it shinigami? That's your ace in the hole?" the gray hollow snickered. "I admit it's a nice party trick. If you'd came at me awhile back I'd be running with my tail tucked. But now?" Stratus shook his head, and sighed as he dusted himself off. "I guess you're too stupid to remember, I'm death!" Stratus flipped his palms forward and blasted a burst of slime from each hand at the tall man.

The hollow's laughter only served to fuel Tatsuya's determination to slay it. "Well this party trick is going to melt you to the ground." He calmly walked towards the hollow. Tatsuya's eyes were wide with shock as the hollow's slime shot straight at him. The large torrent of slime covered his entire body from head to toe. Just as the slime hit his flame covered arms, it ignited and and turned Tatsuya into a burning mass. "UUUAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" Tatsuya let out the most horrific scream anyone had ever heard as he was being burned alive. Tatsuya flailed his arms around and kept screaming out like a mad man as he tried to put out the flames. His hands went to his face as he fell to the ground and began to wildly roll around on the dirt. Rolling onto his stomach while still burning, Tatsuya pushed off the ground and charged forward at the hollow and threw a powerful punch at it's gut.

The hollow thoroughly enjoyed the man's cries of pain as he became a large fireball. In the end his own weapon had become his undoing. Stratus silently wondered if the meat would taste better cooked as he rolled about trying to extinguish the burning slime. That wouldn't work he chuckled to himself. He knew first hand how hard it was to put out such a blaze. His own slime had almost killed him when a shinigami had used it against him. The smelly black smoke continued to drifted from Tatsuya's body as the fire continued it's grisly work. The only way was for him to douse the burning slime in water or have Stratus himself crystallize it. A shame there wasn't a well or lake nearby. But chances were the large man wouldn't even survive the trip there.
As he began to laugh the shinigami pushed forward and punched him. Stratus' eyes went wide the blow was nothing, he'd been hit with harder. It was the fact the man still tried to attack when he was in such peril. The bladed fist tore into his abdomen and scorched his stomach.

The gray hollow dug his foot talons into the ground taking the attack in full. The fire began to ignite the slime, but he'd suffered such an attack before. A burst of energy solidified the ooze before it could burn him alive. Tatsuya's weapon still lodged in his midsection, he grabbed at the shinigami. As soon as his hands touched the burning slime he pumped his energy into it. The fired instantly died. Most of it had burned through Tatsuya's clothes but there was still enough of it covering him.There were still patches of smoking fabric and flesh. Once it crystallized the shinigami had a thin emerald shell covering him. Still it was strong enough to make a statue of his adversary. He pulled back, drawing the bladed knuckles out. He laid his hand against the bleed wound and covered it in slime and then changed it into crystal.
"The first time you survived by luck." Stratus growled, patting the captured man on the head like a child. "This time you live, only because you might become a worthy foe." He slapped the bigger man across the face and held his hand there and drove his claws into the exposed flesh. The razor sharp edges slices the cheek "And that is something I might enjoy." He snickered and hopped backwards. There were other shinigami in the area, but they weren't coming for him. It was best he take this time to runaway, four on one was hardly favorable.
"So long Tatsuya Okibi, don't die before I kill you." With a powerful leap he rose into the sky only to come crashing down further down the street. The shinigami around him were indeed busy evacuating the people. They failed to secure the area to prevent his escape. Such was their faith in Tatsuya. Stratus laughed to himself as he raced down the alleyway while suppressing his energy. Soul Society might just be a interesting place to be.

Tatsuya's face had a smile behind the flames covering his face as his bladed fist made contact with the hollows abdomen. Little did the hollow know was that Tatsuya was completely unaffected by the flames scorching his body. Tatsuya's eyes narrowed behind the flames as the hollow grabbed for his flame covered arm and began to crystallize the flaming slime. The fire quickly disappeared and was replaced by hardened slime. Tatsuya was stuck in place and had no chance at defending himself from whatever the hollow had in mind. Tatsuya was a bit relieved when the hollow "allowed" him to live, but also aggravated because of his situation. Tatsuya stared at the hollow with anger filled eyes as it carved at his face with it's claw. The hollow then started to leave the area. As the hollow got further away Tatsuya was able to move a bit more. It wasn't long before Tatsuya forcefully broke free from the slime. "AAAHHH." He yelled out as he broke free. "Damn hollow." He muttered as he began to clean off the scraps of clothing from his body. He couldn't feel its presence anymore and decided to rendezvous with the other squad members.