A Hollow Mission

( Spirit Power por favor)

Shikyo landed deftly onto the ground, placing his palms against the warm sand he suddenly felt Miku hum slightly with happiness. He smiled as he removed his shoes, allowing his toes to wiggle through the dirt like tiny snakes burrowing into the ground. This was his natural element, the fact that he could felt nothing but the dark reiatsu of Hollows did little to abbreviate his contentment with his surroundings. Even his Zanpakuto knew that this was exactly where he needed to be. "Focus." He told himself aloud, looking around at the seemingly endless nothingness that surrounded him. There were few boulders upon which he could stand and even fewer trees under which he could lean, and so he compressed his reiatsu as much as possible, hoping to remain undetected until he could find what he was looking for.

Trudging through the sand of the desert, one might be tempted to talk to oneself to pass the time. Shikyo decided to use this time to communicate with Miku, it had been a while since their last talk and even though he wasn't in her spirit world, the two could still learn from one another. In times previous she was always one of few words, but whenever she did speak it was of the utmost importance that Shikyo listen. The things she taught him have gotten him this far, and if he continued to follow her direction he would go even further. "It's time." He felt a voice say in his mind.

"What?" Unsure of what it meant until he felt the large spiritual pressure of what felt like a gathering of hollows. Turning his attention to the left he peered into the distance, seeing a mass of black objects converging towards one point. Knowing that that was where his target was, Shikyo leapt into action, sprinting through the sand as he gained momentum and then leapt into the air as he used he propelled himself toward the Hollows. As he neared them he noticed that all of the sudden his surroundings seemed to darken, as if something was blocking the sun. Looking above him he was surprised to see a very large Hollow, larger than any he had seen before, passing over him. The Hollow had no arms or legs but was merely a large black floating mass with a white mask. As the hollow turned its face toward Shikyo, he barely registered the fact that the creature was forming a large red sphere in front of its face.

"Cero?!" He commented aloud. He hadn't encountered any Hollow that had used this before and as such assumed that the monstrous beast above him now was a Gillian-type Menos Grande. Crossing his arms in front of his face, the attack hit him almost head on, burning the sides of his cloak and singeing a part of his golden wristbands. Hitting the ground in a smoking ball Shikyo looked himself over and commented almost casually, "These were my favorite wristbands." He locked his hands together, about to start the incantation for a kidou when he felt the joyous hum of Miku once more. She wanted to be released. Shikyo smiled as he removed the emerald staff from its hilt, a golden light already beginning to grow around it.

"Unfortunately for you. Miku wants to come out and play." Shikyo told the giant Hollow, that seemed oblivious to what Shikyo was saying as it attempted to launch a second cero blast at him. "Scatter the Sands, Miku!" He announced, his reiatsu growing within him before it overflowed from his body, the golden light whipping around him with such force that the hollow in front of him was pushed back from Miku's sheer release. The emerald staff burst into a cloud of sand that climbed down Shikyo's arms and up his body until it hovered anxiously over his head. The black hilt in his hand now attached itself to a golden blade as Shikyo expertly spun the weapon in his hand. The golden reiatsu encased his limbs as a wall of sand erupted in front of him, converting itself to glass before the cero attack hit. Shikyo stood still as the blast parted around him, the glass shield bursting into tiny pieces but none of those shards touched him. "You may reside here," He stated as he lifted the blade above his head, "But this is my element."

Using his shunpo, Shikyo appeared above the hollow, Miku raised high into the air before the Shinigami cut directly into the mask, slicing the beast into two pieces. As the creature disappeared, Shikyo turned to see that his release had attracted the attention of other Hollows in the area. A majority of them stayed fixed upon whatever they were about to feed upon but a few unlucky ones attempted to move toward his location. Raising his reiatsu, he poured it into his shunpo, using his increasing speed to cut through the minor hollow as easily as a shark cuts through water.

Arriving to where to majority of the hollows gathered, he was able to make out the body of a young woman, apparently passed out in the center of the Hollows, who seemed almost ready to feed on her if not for his intrusion. Leaping into the air and landing next to the woman, he channeled his reiatsu through Miku, stabbing the sand with the blade as a multitude of glass spikes erupted from the ground, each one impaling the surrounding hollows. Smiling to himself as the last of the Hollows were dispatched, he looked down on the young woman, immediately noticing that her skin was contorting and straining and a cobalt liquid seemed to be encasing her skin by escaping through a hole in her chest.

He was too late. The previous confidence he felt now left him as he knew what would eventually have to be done. The woman screamed in pain as she endured the transformation, her cries burning into Shikyo's memory as he could do nothing but watch. Raising his sword above his head as he watched her writhing in agony...he hesitated. He knew how a hollow was formed but he had never seen the process happening before his eyes. And even knowing the woman's fate he still couldn't bring himself to kill her. Sticking his golden blade into the sand hovering above his head he sealed Miku back up, who was not happy with being unable to finish off the last hollow. "I can't Miku." He apologized.

Turning his back he made his way away from the area, his thoughts caught in the battle between what was the right thing to do in such a situation. However the process had completed itself now and the hollow had no problems with attacking the back of the Shinigami. Hearing the roar of the creature and feeling the spike in reiatsu, Shikyo was acting before he even knew what was happening; in one clean motion he had unsheathed Miku, channeling his own spiritual power through the staff that the force of it broke the hollow's mask upon impact. Looking into the creature's eyes as he watched it fade away he would swear that there was a single tear that escaped from where its eye hole in the mask had been, however he knew it was just his mind playing tricks on him.

(Spirit Power)

Shikyo trudged through the sands, his head tilted downward as he stared into the ground before him. No matter how much he tried the only thing inhabiting his mind was visions of the woman transforming in front of him. "I could have gotten there sooner." He mumbled to himself. His self-depreciating attitude only worsened as he came to a stop, his fists clenching against his side. "We could have saved her." His mind replayed the scene over and over, causing his blood to boil as his adrenaline started to rush. "If it weren't for those Hollows..." His entire body now shook with anger as his reiatsu spiked, the golden energy leaking from every pore. His emotional state caused him to lose control over his spiritual pressure, the bright yellow reiatsu increasing as it whipped around him. The fires that burned within his soul seemed to be visible through his eyes as he released a primal yell at the top of his lungs.

By this time, the amount of spirit power he leaked caused a number of hollow to converge upon his location. He narrowed his eyes, observing his approaching opponents, sensing their own dark reiatsu as it appeared that his anger only served to increase his analytical skills as he focused upon nothing but finding and destroying any hollow stupid enough to cross into his field of vision. At the prospect of fighting more hollow, Miku once again began to hum, "You want to be released Miku?" Shikyo asked, a maniacal smile spreading on his face. "Then I will not keep you locked up any longer." Removing the staff from his sheath, he could barely hold his weapon due to Miku's immense happiness which caused it to visibly shake. While he formally would have attempted to control his reiatsu to prevent more hollows from being attracted than normal, now the only thing on his mind was their immediate and total destruction. "Scatter the Sands Miku!" He shouted, fully releasing his reiatsu and causing the nearest hollows to be fall to the ground, pinned under its weight.

Deftly spinning the golden blade until it was just a blur, Shikyo disappeared, using his shunpo to move through the enemy ranks he decapitated the low-level hollows with ease, not wanting to waste anytime in his purging of the hollows. His movements were crisp and sharp, no extra energy was exerted as he massacred whatever hollows he could reach. Raising his hand as it was encased in a golden energy he clenched his fists, pouring his reiatsu into the surrounding sand and creating massive glass pikes to erupt from the ground and impale the few hollow that remained. He fell to his knees as his spiritual energy dropped, his reiatsu spent. His eyes burned from the salty discharge building up as he grabbed a fistful of sand and watched it slowly seep through his fingers.

Shikyo sat still, his knees deep in the sand as he stared into the sandy expanse in front of him.

Get up A voice intruded in his head. Shikyo looked down at the golden blade in front of him, its eerily shining reflection giving off a dull glow as Miku spoke to him. I thought you were strong

Shikyo's face twisted in disgust as he stared angrily at his Zanpakuto. "You saw what happened to that woman!" He nearly shouted. "I wasn't fast enough to save her. I...I failed."

You fail only if you allow this set back to prevent you from getting stronger Miku replied. I chose you because I know you. I know you better than you know yourself, and I waited centuries for your arrival so that we could be reunited.

"Reunited?" Shikyo repeated. "What do you mean?"

Before you were born into the physical world, I took care of you. I shielded you from the dangers of the spiritual world because you were not yet ready. It pained me to send you to the physical realm but it was a necessary step until you were ready to return and now working together we shield others from those same dangers

Shikyo snickered at the comment. "Obviously you chose wrong. I can't protect anyone."

You have more inner strength than you know, but until your resolve returns we cannot fully be in sync

Shikyo tilted his head as he held the blade closer to his face. "What did you say?" He received no answer as the sand spiraled around his blade, sealing it once more into the emerald staff. "I can't hear you." Shikyo asserted. His power was receding. He had to find his own inner strength once more, he couldn't allow his own self-doubt to cloud the link between himself and Miku, but that was exactly what was happening. His reiatsu was spent, there was no way he could fight off another wave of hollows in his state, especially if Miku was abandoning him. His mind invaded by a myriad of thoughts he knew that he needed to leave this place and return to Seretei. Until he found his resolve once more, the training ahead of him would be even more difficult than he could imagine. With one last look behind him toward where the woman formally was, he launched himself into the air, searching for both the exit and his will to fight.

------> Fin

+2 Spirit Power.