The Hunter and The Hunted (Hollows, but open to others)

~Cairo, Egypt~

The sands whipped in the cold night of the desert and a lone figure with a shroud was walking the desert in search of a mysterious creature he has seen a few years back before the day he left the military and retreated frome the states. The lone figure walked the sands the only lights to be seen for miles was a small town that was about a mile from the figure.

The sand crunched for every step vector made, he was wearing a long tattered hooded shroud and covered his mask all that could be seen is the cold blue glowing eyes that his gasmasks goggle emmited. Vector made his way to the town of corroded sandstone buildings where the poor lived and somehow thrived. Vector carried his knives on him and also his dual 9mm pistols.

"such a dreary place, its so secluded i could love it here" vector said to himself as he walked the lightly lite sanded streets of the small town searching for a mysterious creature he saw and tracked to these parts. As vector walked the street there was an odd noise from behind him and felt a slight tug on his shroud as vector turned quickly unsheathing one of his knifes and held it at the throat of a small figure holding onto vectors shroud. The figure was a little girl but she wasnt an ordinary girl she had some odd chain extruding from her chest. Vector removed his knife from her throat and sheathed it. "mister are you one of those shinigami" the girl asked shyly as she looked over the assassin. "sorry little one im not one of them, you should just go on and hide" vector said as he looked at the little girl who wore tattered rags and had tan skin, black hair and brown eyes she looked about 10 years old.

"how could a girl this young die" vector said to himself as he quickly turned around and continued his journey to find the creature. As vector continued to walk he felt the girls hand grab hold of his tattered cloak and walked with him. Vector ignored the girl and let her tagalong it didnt bother him really at all some company could do him some good.

Portals to the human world were beyond Stratus' power. So he had to piggyback through gates made by the larger creatures. Menos Moldale had called them. The big towering creatures that could lay waste to cities with burst of energy. He'd seen a one fight off a squad of shinigami before being vanquished. For all their power they were quite stupid. Still they had their uses. When they made portals Stratus hid his presence and followed. The only problem was he couldn't control the destination.
"From one desert to another." he muttered looking at the endless sands. The sense of irony was not lost on him. Still he would have preferred a city swarming with people. It wasn't a complete waste of time. He could feel the energy of humans in the settlement. The long trip had made him hungry. It was time feed. Slowing he moved forth across the simple buildings.

The wind filled his ears as sand tangled into his hair. At least in Hueco Mundo there was less wind. He dusted the grit off his body and moved down the street, he was coming upon a decent signal. Not the strongest he'd felt, but one to slate his hunger. The darkness almost worked against him this night. He could barely see the figure leaning against the wall drinking while staring at the stars. What drove the man to wallow in drink at this time of night? It didn't matter to Stratus, only thing that mattered he was alone. He pounced and man, his hand covering his face muffling any screams. The claws dug into the skull and the man flailed his arms in pain. Stratus could feel the man struggle to breath. With his other hand he stabbed a single digit into the man's stomach. He removed the finger and the hole quickly filled with blood. The gray hollow grinned as he poked another hole. More muffled cries, but no one could hear them. Tired of playing Stratus opened his mouth and bit down into the man's arm as it tried to cover the punctures.

The raging sands blew, harshley battering Bishamon as he stood there in confusion and disbelief. What the hell am i doing here, he thought, hmm the senkai gate should of brought me back too the soul society, "damn what the hell am i going to do now." he mumbled to himself.

He looked around, it was impossible to get a clear view of anything due to the sand flying about in chaos and it was pitch black, "well standing around here isn't going to do me much good" he sighed and started walking in a random direction hoping to find anyone or anything that could help him.

Bishamon had been walking for atleast ten minutes with no destination, he was just direscting himself on pure insinct. He then collapsed to his knees, and looked up at the night sky "im never going to get out of here". And then as his head dropped he heard a muffled voice, he then stood up and kept his spiritual pressure low as too not get detected, and then made his way towards the muffled voice, he then got into view of a dark figure.

Bishamon smiled and went to approach the figure "what a relief i foun..." he quickly darted behind a small batterd wall, he had just seen the unmistakeable apperance of a hollow, and it was feeding upon someone, great just my luck, he thought, he the drew his zanpakuto ready too attack, he had another glance at the hollow. He then sheathed his zanpakuto and looked closer, he clenched his fist, he has seen this hollow before and he remebers its strength there was no way he could defeat something like that.

I will just keep watching him for now and when he leaves an openning i will strike...or run away, he then snickerd to himself "im such a coward" he whisperd to himself.

Vector walked with the little girl who was still holding onto the tattered hooded cloak. Vector turned quickly his blue glowing goggled eyes focused on a spot where he heard a noise of what sounded like a muffled cry of help and pain. "stay here" vector said quitly to the little girl as he quickly jumped onto the building leaving the little girl standing in the whipping sands.

Vector ran across 3 buildings then stopping and looking down to the sandy streets to see nothing but darkness but could hear the noise of the muffled thing. Vector activated his night vision and scanned the ground noticing a figure hiding behind a wall. "who could that be" vector whispered to himself still unkwoning of the hollow near his position. Vector jumped from his perch landin about 10 feet from the figure hiding behind the wall, as he hit the sand it whipped up and his cloak blew in the wind.

Vector stood from the sand and staired at the man hiding behind the wall, this is someone who he met before he was one of the other shinigami who interferred on one of his assassinations. "its good to see one of you people here i need something taken care off" vector said to the man who he met before as he was talking about the little girl. As vector said that a voice rang out "MISTER I GOT SCARRED PLEASE WAITFOR ME" the little girls voice rang out as she ran right past the hollow that vector still hadnt noticed.

The man continued to squirm as Stratus tormented him. But much of the fight had left him as his blood drained through the many holes in his belly. Finally the hollow removed his hand from the man's mouth. No more screams, his eyes had a glazed look. The pain too much it was a struggle to just breathe. The man was on the edge of death his face so pale and ashen. There was no more fun to be had in torturing this person. Well playing with your food was rude in some cultures. He open his mouth once again to begin feeding. The man offered no resitance as he bit into his flesh and spirit. He could feel the body spasm slightly, but that was all. It wasn't a bad meal, but it wasn't great by any means. Just as he started to really enjoy the food there were voices. So enraptured in the torture he had ignored the surroundings. He opened his spiritual sense. Sure enough there were people nearby. But not just ordinary people. A strangely human presence could be felt, but something wasn't quite right about it. Accompanying that strange signal were two more familiar ones; a shinigami and a human soul. He finished chewing and swallowed what was in his mouth. Well they were behind him and yet hadn't attacked. Either they hadn't sensed him or they were stupid. He reached down and snapped the now dead human in half. He took another bite and then threw the two parts in the direction he had sensed his company. He'd teach them the cost of interrupting his meal. Stratus suppressed his own signal and moved into the shadows in attempt to circle around his new pray.

Bishamon was watching the hollow carefully, as it devoured the human "disgusting" he mutterd. He then felt somethings presence, what the hells that it seems farmiliar, another shinigami? no, hollow? no, its a human, but its no normal human. "Shit" he said as he was looking around, it was nearly impossible too see anything further than ten metres away, he then sensed another presence, a lot weaker than anyother presence around, it had too be a soul, "this is not the best place for a soul too be" he mummbled.

Bishamon then heard a slight thud, thinking nothing of it as he continued to watch the hollow, then he heard "its good to see one of you people here i need something taken care off" his head shot round and saw a figure standing infront of him, this was the human i have been sensing, but he can see me? He looked closer and saw that gas mask with glowing blue eyes, he sighed, its that bastard that i fought a week or two back, what a pain this is going too be, a soul was running towards them shouting something."Idiot" he said as he watched in disbelief as it ran past the hollow towards them.

Bishamon turned his attention too the human "Right i don't perticullary like you or approve of what you do, but im not someone too hold grudges, so i am going to ask for your help, you see that hollow over there? we need to take it out, and we wont stand much chance on our own" their was a disturbing cracking sound, he turned around too see what it was, and saw two body parts fly in their direction, Bishamon turned away in disgust as he saw the half eaten limbs of a man.

Bishamon lifted his head once again too see the hollow, and there was nothing there "shit, it must of seen us!" he shouted as he drew his zanpakuto and waited.

Vector listened to what the shinigami ha d said about teaming up to take out some thing called a hollow. "mister theres one of those monsters over there" the little girl said as she ran and grabbed vectors cloak again. "yo shinigami can you do that thing you do for souls for her, not in the mood to see her killed by some creature" vector said bluntly as he took off the shrouded cloak and activated his camo and leaped onto a nearby roof.

"please take care of her while i go hunt down this creature for you" vector said to the shinigami as he vanished on the rooftops and looked for the odd creature called a hollow.

Vector moved across 3 rooftops and then activated his thermal vision and scanned the black sandy alleyways. Vectors sight settled upon an outline of a very cold spot where something was hiding. Vector pulled out one of his pistols aimed then fired 4 rounds at the creature, his aim wasnt at the creatures head it was at its limb which he wanted to disable so he could get a closer look at it.

Perched atop a ledge several stories above, Koga watched the scene unfolding below with increasing trepidation. The Hollow below seemed the feral sort that Koga usually killed to rid the world of. It seemed that something else was going to do the job for him, however. It wasn't a Shinigami though...it was...a human? That was certainly something that Koga had never seen before - nor even heard of. Kaoseu had never spoken of such a phenomenon.

He wasn't sure what to do. Part of him wanted to ensure that the other Hollow died. Another wanted to just leave. Still another felt that he should aid the Hollow - after all, it was unfairly matched. But it was feral after all, and certainly not a reliable ally. Maybe...

Koga spread his wings. They glowed with purple reiatsu, and then he sent four blades of purple reiatsu down at the Hollow below, aimed to perhaps scare it away. However, in doing so, he inadvertently and unknowingly deflected the four rounds the human had fired away from it.

The strange human was moving towards him, apparently his little gift hadn't rattled him at all. But it would seem the shinigami hadn't moved. He stopped waiting for the human signal to move closer. Stratus peeked around the corner of the wall. There was nothing. That was impossible, he could feel the energy signal. Was the human hiding? He glanced up at the rooftops, he still saw nothing. What was going on? Then there were flashes of light from the roof and popping sounds. There was another sound as something swooped by. Ignoring the sound he wildly fired a splash of slime in the direction of the strange flashes. He tried to focus his senses on the area around him. There was no doubt the human was somewhere, but in focusing he uncovered something else; there was another hollow present. Things were definitely getting interesting. The hiding human aside, now he had a hollow stalking him. He was lucky it hadn't tried to attack him yet. But if he didn't finish off the human and shinigami, there was little doubt it would take the tasty morsels for itself. He grunted as he scaled up nearest building. He positioned the human's signal between him and the hollow. Whatever those flashes were it had to be related to the human. Perhaps he could get a better view from above. Stratus climbed upon the roof and looked across the other roofs. He released a hail storm of slime in the direction he felt the faint human presence.
The golf ball sized green sticky ooze peppered the buildings.

Watching as the odd human activated his cloaking device and vanished from sight "you idiot, you can't defeat him on your own!" He was getting ready to join him on the rooftops and then he remembered the spirit, he let off an impatient grunt, and ran over to the spirit and knelt down beside her, Bishamon smiled too try and reassure the girl that everything would be alright " it’s going to be fine, you don't have too be alone anymore" and without giving the girl a chance to respond he tapped the girl on the forehead with the bottom of the hilt of his zanpakuto, a bright blue light surrounded the girl and then she disappeared from this plain.

Bishamon turned around and stood up straight, he heard multiple shots probably from that humans guns, he started running toward the battle and then he felt another presence, shit another hollow?! This isn't good, damn it! He then felt the first hollows spiritual pressure rise as he saw it shoot a hail storm of slime impale the building where the human was standing.

"What an idiot, now i have to fight the two hollows on my own" he sighed and then jumped on top of another building scanning for the hollow whilst trying to keep his presence hid as best he could. This isn't working, it’s too dark and I’m not that great at detecting presences as it is, he sighed again, he held out his zanpakuto in his left hand took a breath "hado 4 blade of flames" it cloaked his zanpakuto in fire he then looked around using it as a torch, he then saw a figure on a rooftop, he placed the hilt of his right zanpakuto in his mouth pointing to the right and lept off the roof and pointed his finger on his right hand at the building the figure was standing on "hado 4 white lighting!" it smashed into the building and it shook violently, he landed on the collapsing building and charged at the figure hoping it would catch it off guard as he swung his flaming sword wide and low hoping to end this swiftly and quickly.

Vector stopped to see some odd blades shoot down towards the hollow he fired upon but as the blades fell they deflected the bullets away from there target. "what was that" vector mummered as he looked for what fired the blades, he looked up and activated his thermal vision to see a cold spot perched high up in the air. "interloping creature, it needs to learn the price of interfering with an assassins prey" vector said with a tone of anger as he pointed one of his pistols at the creature in the air and fired the rest of the clip at the creature.

But as he finished the last pull of the trigger a small figure leapt above the roofs and it was the hollow he fired upon earlier fired a bunch of slime upon the roof to where vector was standing. Vector could hardly react the amount he could do is jump from the rof but some of the slime hit his leg as he left the rooftop and hit the sand and as he hit the sand the impact deactivated his camo. "ahh this aint good" vector mummered as he ribbed off the boot that was covered in slime and grabbed his knife and scrapped it off then put his boot back on. After he put the boot back on he saw the shinigami come into the battle and attack "yo shinigami you better have helped that girl out" vector said as he leapt to a different roof that wasnt covered in that slime and as he landed he quickly reloaded his pistol and holstered it then drew a knife out ready to attack anything that comes near him.

The instant Koga interfered in the battle, he regretted it. Somehow, he felt as if he had just disturbed a very large beehive full of very angry insects. Especially considering that the Shinigami below had reacted in a manner that Koga should have foreseen, but had naively not even considered. He didn't know it, but the action had saved him a great deal of pain. The building collapsing had sent him dropping down, avoiding the bullets that the human had fired at him.

Koga flared his wings open to steady himself before he became lost in the falling debris - through it he could see the Shinigami had actually ascended the crumbling building and was charging straight at him. With a growl that came unbidden from the back of his throat, Koga intercepted the Shinigami's low sweeping blade with his left arm blade.

"What is wrong with you?!?" he snarled angrily. "There were humans in that building! You would kill them in order to kill me? You are no better than the feral Hollows I have sworn to remove this world! You do not deserve the honor and privilege of being a Shinigami!" If there was one thing Koga's meeting with Kaoseu had given him, it was renewed sense of direction, and a code of ethics that was very strict. As far as he was concerned, this Shinigami was not worthy to lick the dirt from Kaoseu's robes, let alone be allowed to cause such wanton damage to the human world.

With that said, Koga raised his right arm blade to deal a finishing blow as he kept his left blade pushing down to restrict the Shinigami from moving it very much; his strike came down hard and fast, blade first, aimed to sever the shoulder joint and cut deep enough into the Shinigami to pierce his lungs.

OOC: Vector you posted too soon, but we can roll (role?) with it

He was unsure if he had hit his target. But a new face came into the mix. The shinigami had arrived and destruction followed. Stratus had no trouble detecting the soul reaper, but then a flame sprang to life. Holding the fire was the very shinigami he has sensed.
"What a fool!" he chuckled preparing yet another barrage of slime. The shinigami acted first. A blast of energy erupted from his hand and struck the building. Before he could laugh at the horrible aim the show structure shuddered. The trembles increased and the four story building started to crumble. The roof started to dip as the whole thing started to fall over. The gray hollow's eyes widened. "Maybe he's not a fool." the hollow muttered as he scrambled off the roof jumping away. He hit the ground and rolled quickly trying to once again figure where the enemies were. The ground shook as the building finished it's decent and crashed. The impact sent a wave of smoke into the air and a small shower of debris in all directions. Even with the smoke impeding his vision he found the targets quickly. The second hollow's signal was now closer to the shinigami, and the human signal wasn't too far from his. He grinned One less thing to worry about.

The shinigami and hollows were close and the human just beside them. It was possible the human was supporting the soul reaper or the other way around. But the way things were going it was hard to tell who was on who's side. The hollow hadn't tried to help him, why was it attacking now? Nothing made sense, and Stratus wasn't about to sit down and try to figure it out. He stuck with what he knew best; kill things. With a leap he arced across the night sky. Midair he formed his slime about his fist and crystallized it into rough edged gantlets. He descent was sharp. The hollow impacted the roof well withing twenty feet of the human. He spied the cloaked figure was he fell from the air, he didn't look like much. But human meat always had such rich flavor. With a growl he rushed the human swinging his right heavy glove straight at him.

Bishamon was surprised that the hollow stopped his attack, and then so swiftly followed up with a counter attack, Bishamon tried to get free but it was hard, and then the building began its decent to the ground, the rooftop collapsed before the hollow was able to deal it's blow; which allowed Bishamon to get free, he jumped back onto another rooftop, a sly grin grew on his face, "that's rich a hollow acting like he cares about human's!" What the hollow said was true, there where people in the building, however there weren’t many and they were all on the bottom floor so hopefully they got out. Bishamon shook his head; he wasn't going to let a hollow have the moral high ground on him.

He looked around on the rooftop in search for the other hollow, but couldn't find it; his flaming sword had diminished so there was no light, and the other hollow was over shadowing the other hollow's spiritual pressure so he couldn't tell where it was. Maybe a roof isn't the best place to stand, he thought, he quickly jumped back and landed on the thick sand below, he stood there in wait for the hollow's surprise attack.